Curb-side solutions for a massive parking fiasco

The Chinese are kinda funny.

Plenty of pay-for parking garages everywhere. But to save 3 yuan (about $ 0.40) they will park on the sidewalks, grass, and curbs. They will park anywhere to save that $ 0.40 cents.

I kid you not.

So, in the smaller towns and rural areas (like where I live) it is like driving though a massive parking lot to get anywhere. Cars are everywhere. And I DO MEAN everywhere.

Cars don’t you know. Instead of the parks, grasses and trees that the urban and road planners envisioned.

It’s wall to wall cars, with some of them sitting there for months and years; covered with dust, dirt and debris. There is one near our complex that is collecting a series of potted plants every few months of so. (Some joker places a thrown away plant on the car roof whenever one is thrown away.) Right now the count is at 8.

…

Well, near my daughters Kindergarten they have placed a parking lot that occupied what was once an old factory. Great idea.

But very few people used it. Instead they parked on the sidewalks, over the trees and anywhere that they could squeeze in their car.

So yeah. very chaotic, and a picture of blight. Like a car graveyard, and very unsightly… everywhere.

…

So the city decided to chase the cars away.

Next day they were still there. Different cars, same problem.

…

So they have been rebuilding the streets.

The sidewalks are now much higher. So instead of having a 2 inch high curb (5 cm)…

…it has been totally completely redone. It is now 1.5 feet high (~46 cm).

No car can get up it without ruining their front bumper.

In addition, there are a few hardy souls that drive sooped up SUV’s that have the ability to traverse that, so they are also adding these low (painted yellow and black) pipe barriers about another 1.5 feet high.

All in all, the roads finally look nice and pleasant. And it is really shaping up fine.

On the down side, however, it is getting difficult to find parking in the paid-for parking lots. Sigh.

There’s tradeoff with everything.

Today…

What did your mechanic say that made your “jaw drop”?

He told me that my transmission was completely shot and had to be replaced. When he gave me the price, I almost went into shock.

I should mention that this all happened just days after finding out my wife must have a back operation that could possibly leave her a complete invalid. Then, on our way home from a follow up office visit, the car stopped.

The mechanic manager was a nice guy, but there was nothing he could do until the proper triggers were hit by me. He kept me talking for the longest time,asking me all sorts of questions. At one point, I asked if Honda had any secret warranties that would help out on these types of problems. The manager got a huge grin on his face and said, “congratulations, you finally asked the right question”. He went on to explain how he could not offer me that option without me asking the right question. I later understood why he kept me their so long,just talking. His questions were to try and get me to ask the right question, which I did, so he could then take my case to the manufacturer.

Not all mechanics are crooked. This guy was a lifesaver.

Why so touched by Li Hua’s letters: my humble efforts to promote connections as an overseas Chinese

MUSHROOMS USE UP TO 50 “WORDS” TO COMMUNICATE

According to research by Andrew Adamatzky, a professor at the University of Bristol, mushrooms are able to exchange information through the mycelium network, a reticular connection composed of long, very thin filaments called hyphae.

The work was conducted by performing a mathematical analysis of the electrical signals exchanged between the species of mushrooms under examination, identifying patterns that present a surprising structural similarity to human language. Adamatzky demonstrated that the frequency of activation of these impulses increases when the hyphae of wood-digesting mushrooms come into contact with blocks of wood, raising the possibility that mushrooms use this “electrical language” to share information about food or injuries with distant parts of themselves, or with partners connected by hyphae.

To reach this conclusion, the professor analyzed the patterns of electrical spikes generated by four species of mushrooms: enoki, splitgill, ghost mushrooms and caterpillar, by inserting tiny microelectrodes into substrates colonized by their mosaic of hyphal threads.

Through this study, he noted that these spikes often grouped together in “trains” (different spikes of electricity), similar to vocabularies of up to 50 words, and that the distribution of these “fungal words” closely matched those of human languages. In terms of length, the words used by the fungi of the four species studied contain an average of 5.97 “letters”, which according to the researcher is the average of 4.8 letters per word in the English language and 6 letters per word in Russian words.

Source: “Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity”, Andrew Adamatzky, The Royal Society Open Science, 2022

US Blockade of China?

What’s something a flight attendant did to you that you will never forget?

On a flight from Mumbai to London I gave up my bulkhead seat to let a new father sit with his wife and kids. His seat was a middle seat between two, rather large, individuals.

As soon as the plane started taxiing I got one of the worst migraines of my life. I pulled my blanket over my head and just prayed it would be over soon. When the flight attendant had me take my blanket down she noticed the tears streaming down my face and asked what was wrong and why I wasn’t in my seat. I told her and she promptly moved me in back and put me on oxygen.

The other flight attendants then proceeded to move a business class passenger to first class and put me in business class. After that they had the captain call their doctor and they were authorized to give me a tranquilizer.

When I woke in the morning I started to get up to move back to my seat and the business class flight attendant would have none of it. He proceeded to go back and grab all of my belongings. The flight attendant, who helped me the night before, gave me big hug before disembarking. I wish I could properly thank her and regret not sending a letter to British Airways about how exceptional their service was.

The Ease of Lying About China? Part 13

Yeah… I’m disassociating. In bliss.

For those who don’t know, the Tiktok crowd are, to a loud, vocal degree, fleeing to Rednote/Xiaohongshu in protest. Upon arriving, they are finding out very rapidly that:

Chinese people are really nice in general
Chinese memes are real funny to the uninitiated
China is a pretty nice place and really unlike what they were told

And likewise, in return, Chinese people (at least the affluent types on XHS) are finding out:

American people are actually quite ready to be humble and polite
Many Americans are way poorer, desperate, and limited than the Chinese could have ever imagined

But most of all, both sides are the product of brainrot and also irreverence a la internet memery. This is creating a lot of bonding in adversity, at least in this honeymoon phase. Yes, on the margins there is toxicity, but this is no one’s first rodeo with the internet— they are naive to each other, but not to brainrot and trolls.

This result is what I craved, here on Quora in 2015, and before that on /int/ back in 2011 (I’m pretty sure I saw the birth of countryballs, though I might be off on the year there). This is what I intended with my old tech libertarianism, that the march of technology will break down barriers and force people to reckon with the truth of each other. I am elated. Seeing how Gen Z and the rest of the Tiktok folks are handling this, as well as how the XHS crowd are responding, has refueled my faith in humanity and internationalist ideals. Yes, obviously governments will still do their thing and compete. But at least for a lot of people, this is the Berlin wall coming down and the two sides embracing.

And… it comes with a bit of a bitter pill on this side. Seeing the comments on this video makes me quite depressed. Here’s a curation of some of the comments:

And this is what I have been trying to point out this entire time— we seriously have a raw deal here in the US. As one user put it:

All I can hope is that Americans realize there is a better way to live. We don’t need all this conflict, we need empathy and sharing, we need understanding. We need to invest in the people, in our infrastructure, in our country, and not some grand war. And now, there is a glimpse at a different model.

The reality is that this might be short lived, but it will have a pretty big impact on our youth. Once the wall is surmounted, forcing kids back into ignorance is extremely difficult. For those banking on this new Cold War, this outcome has been the shooting of the feet in some truly epic proportions. The ease of lying about China became much harder overnight. Hell, Americans are learning Mandarin Chinese. Americans— us stubborn monolinguists!

Oh, and also, it will be much harder to lie about the US for Chinese people:

Note the timestamps, the sleep cycles of the two countries/sides makes for generally predictable waves of responses.

The kids are seriously fine. They are talking to each other. This is the road to peace and, god forbid, cooperation.

No One Here Gets Out Alive

Submitted into Contest #281 in response to: Write a story from the POV of a non-human character.… view prompt

James Barrett

On planet Xenon, where I’m from, everybody lives forever. Unless somebody kills them. I never killed anyone that didn’t need it.Here on Earth, everybody knows me as Zach. Zach Wheaton. Unbeknownst to the indigenous population, I was sent to Earth from the planet Xenon. I was convicted of several serial killings on Xenon and sentenced to death. The death penalty was abolished on Xenon a few thousand years after Earth was discovered. Here was a planet where all living things, including Xenonians, eventually died naturally. What better place for Xenonians to send their soiled laundry? Let Earth do the dirty work while the good folks of Xenon kept their hands blood-free and squeaky clean.I was deported here a few years ago at age thirty (in Earth years) and almost immediately found employment as a video game developer. Earth was still in the dark age regarding computer science, so I found the work rather trivial. Everybody thought I was a genius, including me. I was written up in PC Gamer magazine so many times that they eventually gave me my regular column called Algorithm Alley with Zach. Subscriptions when through the ceiling. Developers couldn’t wait to get their hands on my column every month to see the latest insurmountable problem I would solve with a few lines of brilliant code. I was worshipped, and I loved it.Of course, the urge to kill was always lurking in the shadows. I loved the life I had built and suppressed the urge as long as I could. I learned about another Xenonian who was deported to Earth under circumstances similar to mine. I tried to connect with him but found out he had not been able to control his urges. The Earthlings had put him to death years earlier. His name was Ted Bundy.After my unfortunate discovery that Mr. Bundy was no longer with us, I did research on similar supposedly deranged Xenonians. John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Dennis Rader, Gary Ridgeway, and David Berkowitz all had one thing in common – they were all originally from Xenon. How did I know? I still had many contacts among the Police intelligentsia on Xenon. They kept me informed.Over the years, I have gotten married (Julie) and fathered a son (Jules). Julie and I met at a gamer’s convention in Las Vegas and immediately hit it off. She was covered in ink and piercings and was quite proud to attend gamer’s functions with the author of Algorithm Alley. Strangely, I never had any evil intentions toward Julie. I’ve found this is not uncommon for killers of my ilk.My conscience began to bother me. I know what you’re thinking. Psychopaths don’t have a conscience. Well, I’m the exception that proves the rule. It just seemed wrong to me that killers were being sent to Earth with no warning to the indigenous population. Most of the lethal transplants were more than willing to take the opportunity to ply their trade as many times as possible before they died, either naturally or otherwise. For me, this hardly seemed sporting.So, I applied to the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, commonly called the BAU. Julie was flabbergasted. How could the author of Algorithm Alley apply for a job at the FBI, which was, in the circles that had made my career, largely considered the Evil Empire? I told Julie I had inside information on serial killers and that information had to be shared with the FBI. Julie wasn’t buying it. She took Jules and moved back in with her parents.I told the FBI interviewers I had inside information on the identity of a serial killer active right now. He was leaving a trail of bodies across South Dakota as we spoke.At first, they didn’t believe me, but then they checked. Sure enough, there were three unidentified corpses discovered in the snow of South Dakota during the past eight days. There wasn’t enough evidence to prove the homicides were related, so the crimes hadn’t been kicked up to the BAU yet. I assured them they were related and the killer’s name was Michael Gaumond. As I expected, they couldn’t find any record of a Michael Gaumond anywhere in South Dakota (he had only arrived on Earth eight days ago and was still living off the grid), and they wound up arresting me on a charge of wasting police resources.I explained that I was from another planet and had inside information about Michael Gaumond and his whereabouts. They thought I was bat-shit crazy. One of the reasons was that if the star Xenon orbited was where I said it was, it would take seven hundred years to get there. I tried to explain that their scientists hadn’t yet discovered the principles of warp drive. At maximum warp, Xenonian ships could make the trip in two days.Eventually, I found myself a patient at Atascadero State Hospital for the criminally insane. It took two years for Gaumond to murder three more people and for the crimes to be connected to the original three homicides.Under interrogation, Gaumond admitted he was from Xenon, and, yes, he had heard of me – Zach Wheaton – and, yes, I had been deported to Earth a few years earlier.Gaumond was eventually found guilty and given a lethal injection (ever wonder if they sterilized the needles before carrying out that sentence?) But, based on his testimony before he died, the FBI, especially the BAU, began to look at me differently. Besides being possibly a bonafide alien, I had become an “asset.”I was given my own office on the top floor of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington, D.C. I did not have any “assignments” per se. My job was to keep my contacts on Xenon law enforcement open and sound the alert when one of my evil brethren was on his way to Earth.I had lots of free time and used it to repair my relationship with Julie and my son, Jules.The urge to kill was always lying just beneath the surface, struggling to come out. Julie and Jules helped me keep my head on straight. I wondered if a disproportionate number of Xenonians had the urge back home.Was it nature’s way of keeping the population down?

China Debuts World’s First 6G – Downloads 10 Movies in 1 Second!

Hawaiian Meatballs

Yield: 10 meatballs

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) cans pineapple chunks in juice, undrained
1/2 cup red or green bell pepper (or a combination of both)
1 teaspoon ginger
1 pound ground fresh turkey (or ground beef)
1/2 cup green onion slices
1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup teriyaki sauce

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Drain pineapple. reserving juice; set aside.
Using Food Chopper, finely chop bell peppers.
In Classic 2 quart Batter Bowl, combine 1/4 cup of pineapple juice, pepper, ginger, turkey, onion, bread crumbs and salt; mix gently but thoroughly. Using small Stainless Steel Scoop, shape meat mixture into balls; place in Deep Dish Baker. Pour teriyaki sauce over meatballs; mix lightly to coat meatballs evenly.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Place 1 piece of pineapple on each party pick. Add meatball and serve.

Nutrition

Per 2 meatballs: approximately 80 calories and 3g fat

Attribution

Pampered Chef

As a limo driver, what is the shadiest thing you’ve seen a passenger do?

My boss told me I’d be driving a lady who said she would tip her driver well, and it was a cash job which I had to collect. It was a birthday for her dad. When I arrived an attractive woman greets me and within 15 minutes 7 people boarded the Mercedes Sprinter. I waited on them approximately 5 hours and gave them absolute excellent service to the point that they took several selfies with me, told me I was the best, and even gave me hugs, and the dad even told them you need to hire this guy more often because he’s a good guy! When I returned them home the lady made no mention of payment and acted as though she was ready to walk off as if she thought I didn’t know that I was instructed to collect cash. I thought to myself this is unbelievable BS that she would play dumb with me, until I mentioned it. She says ah yes the payment, hold on, and came back and paid me exactly what was owed, and no extra tip for me. I got stiffed. I remained professional and didn’t say anything but inside I was livid A day later she texts me that a gold bracelet may have dropped from her daughter’s wrist and if I would please look for it and return it. Sure enough I found it. The clasp was damaged and it slipped off and fell in the rear seat, a 14k gold Tiffany which I figured was worth thousands. I texted her back that I checked and never found it. I played dumb too and pawned it for $500. That was my tip. Lesson, never screw a limo driver over because he may screw you over

The Quantum Apocalypse: All Your Secrets Revealed

Does China dislike South Korea?

Well unfortunately nowadays, they mutually dislike each other. Although from what I’ve seen definitely South Koreans dislike China more than Chinese people dislike South Korea.

The whole thing really went like this:

From the early 2000s, Korean drama got really popular in China due to Koreans being really tall and all the Korean actors seemed to have everything “perfect.” Like perfectly proportional face, perfect skin, perfect height, perfect teeth, perfectly dressed, etc. People know that alot of that came from plastic surgery but then they get envious of their plastic surgery skills lol. And Koreans were also portrayed to have such great manners that even my Grandmother was saying: “darn the Koreans are so civilized, the men are so gentlemen like they don’t even touch women, not like in our country you frequently see men shouting at women.” So then Korean culture started to flood into China like a huge fire that won’t be quenched. Everyone in China was worshipping everything Korean. So then obviously the Koreans liked China for many years.

Eventually tho, as China got more and more influential, the west cranked up more negative coverage of China, at the same time, they also cranked up propagation of Korean culture. So as more and more Chinese people start to go abroad and study, they get bombarded with people everywhere in the world confusing Chinese (especially traditional) culture with Korean culture, to the extent that they accuse Chinese people of stealing Korean culture (because hey it’s China, it is known Khalessi that they steal everything, right?). This, alongside with already all the other negative coverage about China, made Chinese people more and more pissed off and also drove them more and more nationalists, and so the clash between the two ethnic groups began. Where each are going online to accuse the other of “culture stealing.” So they start to hate each other more and more, and of course, things like pollution and covid only made things worse.

And the ironic thing is, this clash happened because South Koreans and Chinese people are just too alike in many ways, despite the difference in governing system of both countries. But both societies are very collectivist and nationalist, both societies have a huge cancel culture and therefore cyberbullying problem. Therefore, both Chinese people and South Koreans are easily triggered and therefore easily manipulated by their own respective social media and tunnel visioning.

Take this: “who is stealing whose culture” ongoing debate. In the US, if you tell someone that a lot of western culture came from the Roman Empire aka Italy, no one is going to feel offended for you saying that. Of course, some people may debate with you here and there, but it’s very unlikely that you will trigger someone in the US for making such a statement. Same with telling Italians in Italy that a lot of their cultural influence came from the United States.

But if you tell a South Korean that a lot of South Korean culture came from China, or a Chinese that a lot of Chinese culture came from South Korea, you are going to offend a lot of people. A huge part of this has to do with the fact that people outside of China for a long time tended to associate everything Chinese as negative and backward, so then who would want to acknowledge any Chinese contributions? Much less that your culture may have come from China. So when South Koreans see such claims, a lot of them don’t care about the facts behind the claims, they just want to flat out reject it out of hand. But China has gotten stronger and stronger, people have become more and more nationalists, so when Chinese people see such rejections from South Koreans, they also don’t care much about the facts behind the claim, they just want to abash South Korea as being an inferior country, even goes as far as to claim that all South Korean cultural influence is detrimental and should be thrown away.

So here we go.

How a Chinese nerd destroyed the US AI biosphere

AI latest generations for MM; Ancient Greece

The attire settings are finally far more suitable.

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Why is the US far behind China in six generation fighter jet technologies? What should the US do to catch up with China?

Same reason why apple failed with the apple car, while xiaomi has brought the Su7 and Yu7 to market.

Same reason why Intel lost its dominant process lead after being leapfrogged a decade ago, despite having access to the best tools and engineers on offer.

Same reason why Boeing remains mired in malaise despite the end of the Max grounding.

Same reason why 3M and IBM no longer make attention grabbing headlines.

History’s lowest rates helped fuel a massive stock buyback program, with corporations borrowing to support corporate valuation on the equity market. The stock price became indelibly linked to CEO compensation, and extracting maximum profit became the driving ethos, rather than say, delivering the best product or customer satisfaction.

Lockheed Martin and any number of MIC companies are listed on the stock exchange, and profit off a parallel, exclusive economy. As long as they kept the pentagon happy, the shifting sands of expectation linked to the presidential cycle were a welcome bonanza, because change meant new contracts that kept the cash registers ringing.

A study of the canceled/derailed weapon programs this century will fascinate the average military nerd.

The other problem is American hubris, believing they have a multi-decade lead on military technology. The misplaced confidence is seen in existing weapon system life cycles, such as >50 years for aircraft carriers, destroyers, fighter jets and bombers.

At this point, the deindustrialization of America has crippled not only American manufacturing, but its design and engineering chops. I don’t remember a single pentagon program that is on-time and on-budget this century.

I say good luck.

What happens to a dish in a restaurant when a customer sends it back to the kitchen?

Back when I was 18, I hung out with a kid that looking back, I probably shouldn’t have hung out with. His motivation factor with getting a job was low. But he was fun to hang out with. One day he wanted to go to a restaurant to have food. “Dave”, I said (I used his real name to protect the innocent), “you don’t have money,” I said. “I have an idea,” he quickly shot back.

Confused, we go to a Mexican restaurant and got the usual chips and salsa then ordered our meal. Our meal comes out. He eats about three quarters of his food before he reaches up, pulls a hair out of his head and puts it on his food. “Dude,” I said. He calls the waiter over and explains that he found a hair in his food. The waiter promptly takes it away.

He returns with the cook. Who is bald. Absolutely no hair. The waiter also has very short hair. The waiter explains that there is no way it could have came from us. Dave is insistent it did. They did however comp us our meal. I left a generous tip.

Looking back 28 years later, I don’t remember how I felt about what he did. Do people do it? I’m sure they do. People look fine on the outside but are very ruthless on the inside, especially if they had a messed up childhood. His family was Mormon and they had seven kids. I believe he was the youngest, the forgotten one.

Teacher Dies; Sent To Velvety Void Where Souls Plan Their Earth Journeys (NDE)

MM AI art

I’m hitting a classical stride.

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What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

Actually didn’t witness the fight, but the results were quite interesting.

Was just thinking about this call yesterday, while driving by a skateboard park. It was near the end of my career, but a rather unique call. Not really sure why we even responded as it was a pretty simple medical call. Perhaps the ambulances were all delayed? We got called to a skate board park for an injury, expecting a broken bone or scrapes and bruises we found instead a big kid over 6 feet with a broken nose. The RCMP officer on scene was having a good chuckle when he introduced the patient, saying this guy likes to start fights with girls.

There were about half a dozen other people hanging around both friends of the guy and this young girl on scene. As my guys were treating the patient I was getting some information on what happened. The girl was visiting from California with some friends here in British Columbia and they went down to the local skate board park for some fun and exercise. The girl was around 5 ft. 5 in. as best I recall and not very big, but a rather attractive young lady in her late teens.

Seems that this guy is a bit of a bully and takes a liking to this cute gal visiting her local friends. The girl is however not impressed by his rather crude advances. They have a bit of a discussion and the guy winds up grabbing her and saying something along the lines of, “Why don’t you suck my c@#k bitch?” as he goes to lay his hands on her. The next thing he knows he is on the ground with a broken nose.

So in the conversation with the girl and her friends it comes out that she is here to participate in a boxing competition tomorrow. Well it seems she certainly has the skills for it, I wished her luck.

Holiday Time

Submitted into Contest #281 in response to: Write a story from the POV of a non-human character.… view prompt

Ellen Talboom

That time of year. The decorations start covering almost every part of open blank space on the ground floor of the office building. Humans climb up on ladders, attach green looking leaves along the walls. Odd, no one waters them, yet they stay the same color, bright and shiny. Then the leaves are taken down. Every year, same thing. Humans talk a different language from during the year. Interesting concept.”How ya doing Laura”, a guest said, walking past the information desk?”Doing well, you, Mr. Jenkins”?”Great. I love the holidays. These decorations are absolutely beautiful, don’t you think”?”Yes”. Laura’s eyes followed Mr. Jenkins as he walked to the elevator.Don’t I think? What does that mean? Do I think? Am I thinking now? How do I think if I have been programed for every possible human reply? Is that thinking? Laura sat motionless. I don’t breathe. I don’t need to breathe. I don’t have to. Is that thinking?”Good morning Mrs. Tarron”.”Good morning to you Laura. How are you doing today”?”Well. It is going to be another lovely day”, Laura responded.”Good to hear. Great to be alive. I love the holidays”, Mrs. Tarron replied, “everything so pretty”. Mrs. Tarron walked up the stairs to the second floor, where the shops were located.Pretty, the decorations are so pretty. What does that mean? The concept of pretty or not pretty.”Have a great rest of your day Laura”.”Thank you, you as well Mrs. Tarron.Great to be alive. But I am not alive. I am a highly functioning machine. Have a great day. How would I have a not great day? Am I thinking? No, just the correct programed responses.Laura looked up at the stairs. Decorations were being wrapped around the railing. These humans were laughing and saying the works with a constant changing of the sounds, flowing along. Singing. Laura listened to the sounds.”Don’t you love to hear the caroling”?”It does flow. Good morning, Keith. No school”?”Yup, got out early. I think the teachers just wanted to annoy us. Wake up early, shower, choose what to wear, scarf down food, rush to the bus, sitting in those hard seats with no seat belts hoping I didn’t forget anything important. Then at school, sit in for an assembly, get some homework packets, then back on the bus. And guess what? The busses never left. A total waste of time and money, on both sides”. Laura sat motionless, again.”Well, enough talk. I’m off to my parents’ shop. Hey, there is the tree lighting event tomorrow. You should join us. There is food and drink”. Laura looked at Keith. Keith looked at Laura. She smiled. “I don’t eat or drink”.”Whoops. Sorry. I forget. You look and act so real, so human”.”Thank you, Keith”.”Welcome. Come to the tree lighting anyway, okay”?”Yes”. Keith turned and ran up the stairs, two steps at a time.Come over and see the tree lighting. Love to hear the caroling. Shower, dress, scarf down food, rush to the bus. I have no programing to respond to those comments. Something to write down and submit to John.”Good afternoon, Laura”.”Good afternoon, Tanner”.”What a day. chillness in the air. Feels like snow. You can almost breathe it”.”This is a great day”, Laura said.”It certainty is. You have a great day”.”Thank you, Tanner”. Laura watched him walk up the stairs. “Oh, you are invited to the holiday tree lighting bash tomorrow, around 6p”, Tanner yelled from the stairs, “Hope to see you there”.

“Ok”, Laura replied. Tanner continued up the stairs, singing. Laura listened to the song, jingle bells, jingle bells. Laura wrote this on the sheet of paper for John.

“Mr. and Mrs. George, welcome”, Laura said.

“Greetings to you Laura. Happy holidays”, Mrs. George said.

“Same to you”, replied Laura.

“Tell Laura to have a happy holiday”, Mr. George told his 5-year-old twin sons.

“Happy holidays”, the twins said together. Laura smiled.

“Are you going to the holiday party tomorrow? My mom is going to sing”, one twin said.

“Yes I am. After work”.

“Cool”. The twins bolted to the stairs.

“Gotta go. Last minute stuff to do”, Mrs. George said, laughing.

“Indeed, see you tomorrow then”.

“Ok”. Laura watched the twins jump up each stair while their parents walked, one foot on each stair. Laura added to the list.

6pm. Laura’s shift was finished for the day. A couple of late guests rushed in before she locked the doors.

Doors locked. Now only those with key cards were able to gain access to the building.

“Have a good evening, Laura”, Craig, the night security human said while walking over to the information desk. “How was the day”?

“A lot of movement”.

“I bet. Getting close to the big day now”.

“Yes. Are you going to the event tomorrow”?

“Which one”? Craig laughed. “There are enough parties to keep me in food and drink for a week”. He winked.

Laura put her notebook and pen into her shoulder bag, rose from the chair and pushed the chair under the desk.

“Ready. Have a safe evening Craig”.

“Thank you, Laura. Say hi to John for me”.

“I will”. Laura walked to the elevator, pressed the up button. She entered when the doors opened. She pressed #6. Doors closed. Laura let herself into the operations room. John was sitting at the control panels. Many TV monitors that light up the room. He turned.

“Craig says hi”.

“Tell him hi from me. How was your day, Laura”?

“I have a list of comments that have no meaning to me. It was a day, light then dark”. John smiled.

“Ok, phase 4 now. You are ready”.

Laura smiled.

Laura was at her desk 5 minutes early; she is every day.

“Good morning, Laura”.

“Good morning, Nate. How are you doing today”?

“Great. Getting closer to the big day, food-fun-drink, especially the drink”, Nate said, then laughed.

“No over doing it, ok”, Laura said.

“Oh no. Can’t do that anymore. Ok, you have a fun day”.

“I will, thank you”.

Humans with dogs coming in and out. Humans without dogs coming in and out. Some walking up the stairs to the shops. Some using the elevators to the business offices.

More decorations were hung. A huge wreath is to be hung over the front door. A forklift was needed to put it on the hook, only to see that there was no hook. After the wreath was hung, the lights were turned on. They twinkled white. Silver and gold ribbons and bobbles hung on the wreath. It was a sight.

The tree, decorated with all the holiday colors. There was a large star placed on the top of the tree. It was a large tree, off to the side by the windows. It was 20 feet tall. Neatly wrapped packages were underneath. The tree lighting will be at 6p. Laura watched all the movement, the fussing around the tree. More decorations were added.

The caterers were setting up the food and drink tables. There were plates of different foods. So much food.

6p. Laura watched at the clock hands make a straight up and down line. Groups of Humans were walking down the stairs and right over to the food and drink festively decorated tables. Nate was the first to the wine bar.

Laura completed her closing chores, put her bag over her shoulder, rose up and pushed the chair under the desk. She walked over to the tree. John and Craig walked through the elevator doors and toward the tree, talking.

Everyone was silent. The twins had the honor of lighting the holiday tree. The crowd let out a whoosh of excitement, ooooo’s and ahhhhh’s.

Laura stepped up in front of the tree, placed her purse on the floor next to her. She turned to face the group. John watched with the others. Silence. Laura smiled.

“Happy holidays all”, and she began to sing, “Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, your branches green delight us”…

Vietnamese ultranationalists on TikTok urge to remove and ethnic cleanse all Mandarin-speaking Chinese people in South China in order to fulfill their dreams of “Baiyue landback”. What do Chinese people react about this?

They are all empty talkers. Let them amuse themselves, The sky will not fall.

In today’s world, racism has become a target of public criticism.

Ethnic cleansing? If they do anything, they will be condemned by the whole world.

Information spreads very quickly nowadays, and if they take any rash action, it will be known to the world in a few hours. The United Nations will discuss it in the morning, and China can use it as an excuse to intervene militarily in the afternoon. Palestine may be too far for China, but Vietnam is very close.

The Vietnamese government is also well aware of the seriousness of ethnic cleansing against the Chinese, and will suppress it in advance in order to prevent China from using this as an excuse for military intervention.

Unless they are crazy, they wouldn’t dare to do something like ethnic cleansing.

What is your opinion on human rights issues in China, particularly in Xinjiang and Tibet?

I saw a new device in the news about disaster relief in Tibet – the “lighting drone.” Maybe I’ve been living under a rock, but like these kids, I also find it quite fascinating.

This drone can rise to 30 meters, connect to a generator, or even draw power from an electric vehicle. It provides lighting for an area of about 6,000 to 8,000 square meters.

main qimg ca3f896386651b20ee3b1f74edd1f0c4

It’s so bright on-site that, not only can the kids play football, but even doing homework wouldn’t be a problem.

After the 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Tibet, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) responded within an hour and arrived with supplies within 24 hours.

I don’t think a country that has poor human right condition can protect its people in the quickest response speed in the world.

The latest earthquake in Tibet occurred around 9:15 AM on Jan 7. Ten minutes later, nearby residents saw military aircraft flying overhead (for reconnaissance).
Half an hour later, rescue operations began in the epicenter area. Tibet’s forest fire-fighting forward command, with three vehicles, a special operations team of 90 people, and teams from Nagqu (65 people) and Shigatse (50 people), totaling 215 personnel, were mobilized toward the epicenter.
At 10:00 AM, the first batch of over 200 soldiers from the Tibet Military District reinforced Changshuo Township in Dingri County, while the second batch of over 1,500 people and six helicopters were ready for deployment.
At 10:50 AM, the national level-4 emergency disaster response was activated, and 22,000 items of central disaster relief materials, including cotton tents, cotton coats, cotton quilts, and folding beds, were urgently dispatched to the disaster area.
As the rescue work unfolded, more trapped civilians were rescued.
By 3:00 PM, power was restored to the county.
Some affected residents had hot meals.
At 5:00 PM, remote sensing images of the region were released.
By 7:00 PM, communication in the disaster area was mostly restored.
From 8:00 PM, 40 tents at the Choguo Township relocation site and 40 tents at the Changshuo Township relocation site were lit. One by one, lights came on, bringing light and warmth to the disaster area.
From night until dawn, rescue operations continued without pause.
On the morning of the 8th, the national highway was mostly cleared.
By the afternoon of the 8th, it was announced that disaster relief materials had reached capacity, and no further donations were needed.
Temporary housing units had been constructed.
200 soldiers from the PLA donated 60,000 milliliters of blood.
At 2:05 PM of the 8th, a Y-20 aircraft from the Western Theater Command took off.
Around 4:00 PM of the 8th, the Y-20 aircraft arrived in the earthquake zone to coordinate and command the disaster relief efforts.

Has a super rich person ever been treated so badly at a store that they then turned around and bought the store just to fire the employee?

An acquaintance of my husband, let’s call him Ray. Not a store, but a car dealership. Ray was a hard worker and not someone who “dressed up”. He wore clothing that worked well for what he did, although working on cars and trucks was not all he did.

On a nice afternoon, after lunch he stopped into a Chevy dealership in New England (NH or Mass, I can’t remember which ) He was looking at the new Corvettes. He approached a salesman to ask questions about the car and was rebuffed. Another of the salesmen drew the “short straw” and went out to speak with Ray, who didn’t look like he had two quarters to rub together. They talked a bit. When Ray wanted to test drive the car, the salesman decided he’d wasted enough time with Ray and refused.

Ray already knew he wanted to buy one of the Corvettes. He went home and changed, and went to another dealership, test drove, and bought….with cash….a brand new Corvette. The first place he took the car was the dealership, which refused him a test drive. He was dressed the same as when they saw him the first time. He went inside and asked if they remembered him. (It was only a couple of days since they’d refused him a test drive) Of course, they did. He then blatantly told them he’d bought one elsewhere and that someone lost a nice commission, waved, and left.

Despite his clothing, Ray owned a large trucking company, as well as other businesses. He was a multimillionaire.

Never judge someone by how they dress……either upscale or downscale.

What would happen if Japan intervened in a potential China-Taiwan conflict due to historical reasons?

Mhahahahahahahaha.

Japan does what?

Hahahahahahahahaha!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

You know what the Chinese people are most bitter about the current world order?

That it was the US that got to nuke Japan twice for the 3000 dead at Pearl Harbor. But China never got to avenge the 30 million Chinese killed during the Japanese invasion. Those cowards surrendered before we could take the fight back to them.

There is someone killed by the Japanese in almost every Chinese family tree and we will never forget.

We would be over the moon, if Japan goes crazy and gives us the justification to nuke it 20000 times (by American standard).

And this is coming from someone who has good Japanese friends, though I would never say the above to their face.

For the collective Chinese population, the continued existance of Japan as a nation, the Japanese as a people, any historical record of Japan of ever existing, the life of every single Japanese man, woman and child, is based on Chinese generosity and good will, which hinges on the premise that Japan never ever ever picks a fight with China again. That and the small number of brave Japanese who joined the Chinese in resistance against Japan in WWII, which the CCP loves reminding us from time to time.

Is China just being a bully with how it’s treating Hong Kong?

There is one thing you have to understand about China and its leadership: it is playing the long game, not the short game.

The Chinese Communist Party is always willing to make short-term sacrifices and take short- and even medium-term pain in order to win the game in the end. Because it has control over China and Chinese society, it is able to ride out the short-term no matter the cost.

The Chinese of this generation also understand that prosperity involves hard work and short-term sacrifices, so the views of the government and most Chinese are aligned.

It is very different from the US and all other countries in this respect.

Because Hong Kong was under British rule for so long, the interests of Hong Kong people are NOT aligned with those of the People’s Republic. This is what the riots are all about.

When the rioters see that they have brought about Hong Kong’s decline, and have not brought about a better solution to their own individual situations, they will eventually give up because their rioting does not lead anywhere.

When it ends, Hong Kong’s worldview and interests will be brought into full alignment with Beijing, the Chinese Communist Party and the rest of the PRC. Hong Kong will become just another Chinese city.

Then Chinese investments will pour into Hong Kong to rebuild Hong Kong. Its textbooks, laws and curriculums will be the same as the rest of China. Hong Kong’s streets will be renamed with full Chinese names, and will no longer have names like Queen’s Road, Percival Street and Pedder Street, and there will no longer be any names named after British colonial governors. The language of education and business will become Mandarin, while Cantonese will be used in some homes. The boards and ownership of all leading media companies will be replaced.

Hong Kong will be opened up to a new wave of Chinese immigrants from China, just like how Shenzhen was opened up to internal immigration from the rest of China in 1980, when it was first constituted as a Special Economic Zone.

A new and very Chinese Xianggang will arise to replace the old Hong Kong. The old colonial Hong Kong will only exist in the memories of the old.

The west will hate this process, and so will many Hong Kongers, but they will have no choice.

What was your most memorable real-life fight as a bouncer or bodyguard?

When I ran a bar the rule was to avoid that at all costs.

Under no circumstances were we to assault a customer.

What I would do is sit on the barstool next to them. Really nicely tell them. “I’m giving you some free drink cards for tomorrow but your done drinking here today. “ 99%of the time they left. The ones that didn’t?

Three or four floormen (bouncers) would come over and sit all around him. Even his friends were encouraging him to leave at that point.

I was punched, pushed, kicked, spit on at various times. No assaulting the customer.

They are drunk. We are sober. Try winning that in court. Plus the lawsuits.

Nobody we had to throw out ever came back. Once they sobered up they realized what an ass they were. Too ashamed to come back.

That being said?

Customers assaulting other customers was common. Usually over a woman.

We didn’t intervene until they were worn out. Then they were thrown out.

Some really bad assaults but no shootings or stabbings. People knocked out. Blood all over the place. No cell phone then. Two payphones in the lobby. Customers called the cops or 911.

Now we had another police report in front of the town council. More than three and you get shutdown as a nuisance. We were shutdown twice. Big bar. Sixteen staff. Nobody getting paid during a shutdown.

That was the NJ shore in 1985.

I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a ‘Roadhouse’ type story but that movie is BS.

You want to do everything you can to avoid police reports, lawsuits, insurance problems. If you don’t? The owner will throw you out.

Is China really as terrible as BBC says it is?

（Chinese Space Station）

As a Chinese, I am very grateful to media like BBC and CNN. It is precisely because of such media that China has a stable and quiet development opportunity for thirty or forty years, making the world think that the Chinese are in dire straits, so there is no siege.

（China High Speed Railway Station）

Especially led by the United States, the media’s policy of silencing the people has even made the entire country, from citizens to national leaders, not understand China, and have a completely wrong understanding of China’s development. It is because of this that the United States did not treat China like it wanted to contain Russia, giving China a window of rapid development. To date, China has established the world’s only full-industry industrial chain that can produce any product in the world. The United States is powerless to China’s rapid development.

（The world’s longest cross-sea bridge in China）

There is an old saying in China that “身正不怕影子斜” – meaning that only when a person stands upright will his shadow not be slanted. It is usually used to illustrate that as long as you walk upright and behave properly, there is nothing to be afraid of. The Chinese do not care about the voices of the outside world at all, but are down-to-earth and follow their own plans to realize their dreams – to create a better living environment for their families and build a better future for the country.

（Beijing Capital Airport, China）

Trump Vows To UNLEASH HELL On The Middle East! w/ Col. Douglas Macgregor

What has a car salesperson said to you that resulted in you immediately leaving?

It was a two parter, actually.

Before Covid and the crazy effect it had on car availability and used car prices, my budget for a used vehicle used to be $4–6,000, for which I would expect three or four years use out of them before I got rid of them. (In fact, I find I can use my vehicles beyond 20 years old. My 1995 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition and 2003 Ford E350 one ton cargo van (which I bought in 2019 for $600 with 213,600 miles on it) just went bad in late 2024.)

So I was at my island/county’s best rated used car dealer browsing as I do*, and I was approached by a salesman who asked if I needed any help. I said I was just looking. I was looking at vehicle information on my iPhone, including TrueValue and Edmunds used car value, and used vehicle rating sites. I also looked up CarFax (they had an unlimited plan back then) on vehicles that caught my interest, by VIN number. Ah, so this was a former rental. Ah, so that one’s a salvage title. Oh, so this one has an accident history. And so on.

This salesperson wouldn’t leave my side even though I was ignoring them, and he asked questions like what my budget was. I told him $4–6,000. He remarked “Anything under $10,000 is a piece of shit.” Which offended me. So sorry that until about 2017, my family lived paycheck to paycheck, and that’s what I had to spend. I had to maintain and insure five vehicles plus a motorcycle, with two teen drivers. (Back then, this dealership offered vehicles for under $3,000, and even under $1,000 for people that didn’t have a lot of money to spend. Those days are gone. Since about 2020, this used car dealership specializes in Toyota vehicles – sometimes even this year’s model but still used. In Hawaii, Toyota vehicles have great resale value, and trucks sell at a premium even if not 4 wheel drive. Nowadays, you should be willing to spend at least $30–40,000 if you want to go there.)

I kept looking up vehicle information online using my iPhone. He asked me what I was looking at.

I told him that I was looking for what the car was worth.

He pointed at their sticker and said, “It’s right here.”

So I left.

On Quora, I’ve been called names because I am unable to bring car dealers down from their asking price. People on Quora claim for example that they offer 25% off the sticker price, and that’s what they pay for their vehicles. (And the profit margin on used vehicles is higher than on new.)

That’s not how it works in Hawaii, and especially not on my island where there is no competition. Hawaii is a limited market to begin with, and on my island, there is only one dealer for each make. In fact, each dealership handles multiple makes. For example, “King” is a Honda / Chrysler / Dodge / Jeep / Ram dealer. If you want a new Honda off the lot, you’re buying from them, even if they’re asking $27,800 for a base Civic. You’re not going to get that Civic for $20,875 (25% off).

* I know for years in advance that I am in the market for another vehicle. For example, I was trying to find an excuse to get rid of my 1995 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition since about 2012 when I bought my 2000 Jeep Cherokee Grand Laredo (with only 54,000 miles on it and kept unused 10 months a year by the previous owner). I finally junked the Explorer in October 2024 after it had a leak in the roof.

Since I know far in advance when I’ll be needing a vehicle, and I usually keep spares, I am in no rush to replace them. (For example, I bought the Explorer in 2007 for $7,500 used, I expect to get five years use out of it – $1,500 per year. I actually got 17 years use out of it, with no major repairs needed. Good deal.) I will watch what comes and goes on Craigslist, and visit used car lots every few months. If I see anything that catches my interest, I’ll read reviews from owners, and read websites about expected problems from that model and year. I usually find there are reasons that certain vehicles (or even entire makes) are for sale for lower than average prices.

It can take me months (or even years) for me to make the final decision to purchase a vehicle. However, after I have made the decision, I will walk right into the dealership or call the private seller to make the purchase. In cash, even. In May 2024, I bought a 2024 Toyota Camry after one visit (I took a test drive though it was not necessary) because the dealership had a sale. The Camry will be upgraded for the 2025 model year, going all hybrid (but I don’t care about that – I’m already getting hybrid like mileage from my ICE Camry – 41 mpg overall and 44 mpg per tank).

Have you ever been unfairly fired?

Yes, and I should have reported the senior executive director, the one who fired me, for retalitory firing, but hindsight is 20/20. Many years back, I worked at a 75,700 sq. ft, short-term, skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility. The state was conducting its yearly health inspection and we were assigned a very rude and unprofessional inspector. It was a russian woman with a very thick accent, named Ivana.

Since she had such a thick accent, it was very difficult for people to understand her. It took much concentration and resulted in many people respectfully asking her to repeat herself. She was very condescending towards people and made many rude remarks about their intelligence and hearing. Fed up with everything I saw, I complained to my boss, and his boss about her. I was informed that I could file a complaint with the state, which I did that day!

Surprisingly, the next day, a few representatives from the state health department showed up. They conducted an investigtion and video recorded their interviews with people mentioned in my complaint. When it was my turn, I was called into the conference room. Where I was met with a video camera on a tripod, four representatives from the state, HR, and the senior executive director. I was asked about the incident in question and then sent on my way.

Afterwards, I was warned by my colleagues that I better be careful, and how I would be terminated for one reason or another. A few days later, the senior executive director summons me to the conference room. Where he tells me that I did not follow the proper chain of command when it came to reporting grievances. I was promptly fired!

I later found out that the inspector Ivana was terminated. It helped that all my colleagues mentioned in my complaint corroborated the conduct of their inspector. I also found out how her inspection became invalid and had to be redone by a new inspector. Ofcourse this made the senior excecutive director upset and resulted in new policies being implemented.

Who was the most ignorant American you have ever met?

Working in the States for about 6 weeks on a project I was invited to a BBQ at a colleagues house on a weekend. I’d offered to bring some beers so stopped at a store on the way. The conversation with “Stacey” at the till went something like this…

S – I’m sorry sir, but I’m going to need to see some ID for this purchase.

Me – Not a problem… and pulled my UK driving licence out.

S perusing said ID – I don’t think I can accept this as it’s not American.

Me – No problem… and pulled out my passport

S looking at my passport – I can’t accept this either as it’s not American and it’s not an ID.

Me – That’s my passport, it’s literally an internationally recognised form of identification.

S – But it’s not an American ID.

Me – That’s because I’m not an American.

S – I can’t accept these ID’s because they’re not American, and I can’t sell you alcohol without ID

Me tapping my passport – You do understand that your government allowed me into this country with this identity document… look, can you call a manager as we’re getting nowhere

Now the manager appears

Mgr – Is there a problem Stacey.

S – Yes. This man has no ID to buy this beer

Me – I do have ID, just Stacey here doesn’t quite grasp the concept of non-American ones.

Mgr looks at them both – Stacey, it’s fine, you can take either of these.

S – BUT THEY’RE NOT AMEEEEEEERICAN!!!

Mgr – Stacey… Just ring it up. I’m really sorry Sir.

S – You speak reeeeeally good English by the way.

Me – I’m sorry what?

S – Your English is excellent… for someone from the UK.

I just looked at the manager and raised my eyebrows… he simply shook his head and wished me a good day.

Why do Americans on Xiaohongshu start replying to a Chinese named“Li Hua” ？

Hot Chicken Sticks

Yield: 24 appetizers

Ingredients

24 (6 inch) wooden skewers
1/2 cup chili sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
24 chicken tenders (about 2 pounds)
1 (8 ounce) bottle blue cheese salad dressing
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
In medium bowl, combine chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce and hot pepper sauce.
Thread each chicken tender onto skewer, leaving 1 inch at each end. Arrange skewers in greased 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Brush chicken with half of the sauce mixture.
Bake 10 minutes.
Turn skewers over; brush chicken with remaining sauce mixture.
Bake 10 minutes longer or until chicken is no longer pink in center.
Meanwhile, prepare dipping sauce by combining dressing, celery and onion.
Serve with chicken.

Attribution

Pampered Chef

What are common myths about police speed enforcement on highways?

I suppose there are many. These are the ones I have heard:

Cops will not write you until you are X miles over the speed limit. That “X” is a different number of every traffic cop and even changes with the weather. In snow and ice conditions, I’ve written people for speeding (actually, “speed too fast for conditions”) who were still under the speed limit, but were driving too fast for conditions and without any snow tires or tire chains.

Red cars are ticketed more frequently than any other color. There is nothing to support this.

Cops write out-of-state plates, because they won’t come back for court. I didn’t care either way. Going to court was part of the job.

If you are asked, “Do you know why I stopped you? or “Do you know how fast you were going”, always lie. I wasn’t so interested in the answer as I was the way the violator said it. I’m assessing them for sobriety. A truth teller often got a warning because they were so rare.

Refuse to answer any questions from the police. Your choice, but don’t stare at me like you’re a zombie. If you want to make your position clear, just say, “I’d rather not answer any questions.” That’s going to go easier than “I don’t answer questions,” which has an unspoken “neener, neener, neener” after it.

Demand the officer’s name and badge number to put them on the defensive. My name and badge number will be on your ticket, which you are now almost certainly going to receive. It’s also displayed prominently on my uniform. You want to convince me how much I don’t scare you, but you’re apparently not sufficiently astute to read information readily available.

By the way, go to the police station and demand to make a complaint about the officer with Badge No. 12345, and you’re likely to collect blank stares. We know each others’ names, not our badge numbers. The only time the badge number would make a difference is if the agency has three John Smiths. Even then, it wouldn’t take long to figure out which one you were there about.

Demand the officer’s supervisor respond to the scene. This is also something intended to put the officer on the defensive. This could work out very badly for you. I had a supervisor, who, if requested to respond to the scene, would listen to the citizen for about ten seconds, then yell “BOOK HIM!” (or her), turn on his heel, and get back in his car and drive away. I knew I didn’t really have to book the violator if I didn’t want to, but they didn’t know that.

If tracking a line of cars that are all speeding, the cop will pull over the first/the last/the oldest/the newest car in the line. I’d go after the one I thought I could most easily catch.

Title: Sir Whiskerton and the Case of the Peacock Who Thought It Was a Goose

Ah, dear reader, I see you’ve returned for yet another tale of my exploits as the farm’s resident detective, peacemaker, and all-around savior of the barnyard. Today’s story is a true feathered fiasco, involving a flamboyant peacock, a conniving cat, and a most peculiar case of mistaken identity. Yes, this is the tale of The Peacock Who Thought It Was a Goose, a story so outrageous it could only happen on this farm. So fluff your feathers, settle in, and prepare yourself for a whirlwind of laughs, intrigue, and plenty of puns.

A Flash of Color

It all began one sunny afternoon as I was conducting my usual rounds, keeping an eye on the hens (who are always up to something) and making sure Rufus hadn’t fallen asleep while counting sheep again. Everything seemed perfectly normal—until it wasn’t.

“What in whiskers’ name is that?” I muttered, squinting toward the edge of the field. There, strutting through the tall grass like it owned the place, was the most colorful bird I’d ever seen. Its magnificent tail feathers shimmered in hues of blue, green, and gold, fanning out behind it in a dazzling display.

As it approached, the farm animals gathered, staring in awe. Doris the hen clucked nervously, Harriet wrung her wings, and Lillian (predictably) fainted into a pile of hay.

“It’s… it’s a rainbow chicken!” Doris whispered.

“Rainbow! But also so shiny!” Harriet added.

“Shiny! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian screeched from the ground.

“It’s not a chicken,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “It’s a peacock.”

“A peacock?” Rufus said, tilting his head. “What’s it doing here? We don’t have peacocks on this farm.”

“Clearly, it’s wandered in from somewhere else,” I said, flicking my tail. “The real question is, why?”

Before I could ponder further, the peacock strutted up to Gertrude, the leader of the geese, and puffed out its chest. “Hello, fellow geese,” it said in a regal voice. “I have arrived. Where do I sign up for your exclusive club?”

A Goose in Peacock’s Clothing

The geese stared at the peacock in stunned silence. Finally, Gertrude stepped forward, her beady eyes narrowing. “Excuse me,” she honked, “but you’re not a goose.”

“Not a goose?” the peacock said, looking genuinely offended. “Of course I’m a goose! Just look at me! I’m clearly the most elegant, sophisticated goose you’ve ever seen.”

Gertrude raised an eyebrow. “You… have a tail fan. Geese don’t have tail fans.”

“Details,” the peacock said, waving a wing dismissively. “I’m here to bring some class to your gaggle. You should be honored.”

“Honored?!” Gertrude honked, her feathers bristling. “You think you can just waltz in here and call yourself a goose? We geese are a tight-knit community. We don’t just let anyone join!”

“Oh, come now,” the peacock said, striking a dramatic pose. “Surely you can make an exception for someone as fabulous as me.”

“Fabulous! But also so presumptuous!” Harriet clucked.

“Presumptuous! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian screeched.

Catnip’s Scheme

As the geese and the peacock argued, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye: a familiar, sneaky figure lurking near the barn. It was Catnip, the farm’s resident troublemaker, and as usual, he wasn’t alone. His two bumbling henchmen, Cluckster the rooster and Billy-Bob the goat, were with him, whispering and snickering.

“This is perfect,” Catnip purred, his eyes gleaming. “That peacock is worth a fortune. We’ll kidnap it and sell it to the farmer as a rare, exotic bird. He’ll be so impressed, he’ll give us all the cream and kibble we can eat. It’s the purr-fect plan.”

“Uh, boss?” Cluckster said, scratching his head. “How do we, uh, catch it? It looks kinda… slippery.”

“Leave that to me,” Catnip said, smirking. “Just follow my lead.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Not on my watch,” I muttered. “Rufus, keep an eye on the geese. I’ve got a cat to catch.”

The Kidnapping Attempt

Catnip’s plan was, predictably, a disaster from the start. Armed with a burlap sack, he and his henchmen crept toward the peacock, who was still busy arguing with Gertrude.

“Now, Cluckster!” Catnip hissed.

Cluckster lunged forward, sack in hand, but the peacock spotted him at the last second. With a dramatic squawk, it spread its tail feathers, creating a dazzling wall of color that blinded the would-be kidnappers.

“Ahhh! My eyes!” Cluckster squawked, stumbling backward.

“Plan B!” Catnip yelled. “Billy-Bob, grab it!”

Billy-Bob charged, but the peacock sidestepped gracefully, sending the goat crashing into a haystack.

“Honestly,” the peacock said, preening its feathers, “is this how you greet all your distinguished visitors?”

Finally, Catnip decided to take matters into his own paws. He leapt toward the peacock, claws outstretched—only to be stopped mid-air by a well-timed swipe of my paw.

“Not so fast, Catnip,” I said, pinning him to the ground. “Kidnapping isn’t exactly a good look for you.”

“Whiskerton!” Catnip hissed, struggling beneath me. “This isn’t over!”

“Oh, I think it is,” I said, smirking. “Rufus, take out the trash.”

With a bark and a wag of his tail, Rufus chased Catnip and his goons off the farm, their cries of defeat echoing behind them.

A Happy Ending

With Catnip’s scheme foiled, I turned my attention back to the peacock and the geese, who were still at odds.

“Listen,” I said, stepping between them. “There’s no reason we can’t all get along. Gertrude, I know the peacock isn’t a goose, but maybe you could let it hang out with your gaggle for a while. And you,” I said, turning to the peacock, “might want to tone down the drama. Being part of a community means fitting in, not standing out.”

The peacock considered this for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. I shall endeavor to be less… fabulous.”

Gertrude sighed. “Fine. But if you’re going to hang out with us, you have to follow the rules. No preening during honk practice.”

“No promises,” the peacock said, winking.

The Moral of the Story

In the end, the peacock found a place among the geese (sort of), and the farm returned to its usual, chaotic peace. The moral of the story, dear reader, is this: even the most colorful characters can find their place in a community, as long as they’re willing to compromise—and tone down the theatrics.

As for me, Sir Whiskerton? I’ll always be here to keep the farm safe, solve its mysteries, and make sure no peacock—or goose—gets left behind.

Until next time, my friends.

The End.

TikTok Ban Backfires: Americans Flock to Red Note, Question Propaganda on China

If the US can fight 20 years against Taliban, why can’t China fight at least 10 years against separatists in Taiwan?

The Taliban are the real fighters, while the separatists in Taiwan only pay lip service and are unwilling to give their lives for the “ideal of Taiwan independence”.

Taiwan tycoon Koo Hsien-chung famously said, “I would rather be a dog in a peaceful society than a man in a chaotic world / 吾人寧作太平犬，莫作亂世民”

Shinpei Goto, former Japanese colonial governor in Taiwan, said

The Taiwanese are afraid of death – they have to be threatened by high-handed means.
The Taiwanese love money – they can be seduced by small profits.
Taiwanese emphasize face – they can be coaxed with false reputations.

Taiwan’s rulers have changed from one to another, Holland, Spain, Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, Japan, USA, Kuomintang …… All turnover in Taiwan’s history has ended with Taiwanese surrendering, with little resistance!

Don’t look at the rampant Taiwan independence elements in Taiwan now, but when the PLA officers and soldiers land on Taiwan and face the PLA soldiers, the Taiwanese will obediently turn into peace-loving “civilized people” who chant “Long live the CPC” and “look forward to the reunification of the motherland”!

The island of Taiwan is full of opportunists and no one is willing to pay even the slightest for “Taiwan independence”.

The Reasons Why Home Prices Aren’t Going Down Any Time Soon In America

Laugh-in and being “very interesting”

Back in the 1960’s, oh when I was in elementary school, we kids would watch television after school… then came dinner.

After dinner the adult shows came on. Not “adult” in terms of XXX rated and porn. But really, just shows that our parents would watch, but that us kids were uninterested in.

The top show at that time was a show called “Laugh In”.

“Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” (often simply called “Laugh-In”) was a groundbreaking American sketch comedy television show that aired from 1968 to 1973 on NBC. It became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1960s and early 1970s, blending rapid-fire jokes, political satire, and surreal humor in a way that was fresh and revolutionary for its time. Here’s a breakdown of what made it so popular and some of its most memorable skits and routines:

What Made “Laugh-In” So Popular?

Fast-Paced, High-Energy Format:
- “Laugh-In” was known for its quick cuts, rapid-fire jokes, and nonstop energy. It felt like a comedy explosion, with jokes, one-liners, and visual gags coming at the audience in rapid succession.
Political and Social Satire:
- The show wasn’t afraid to tackle the political and social issues of the day, including the Vietnam War, civil rights, and the counterculture movement. It used humor to comment on current events, making it both timely and relevant.
Catchphrases and Running Gags:
- “Laugh-In” introduced a slew of catchphrases that entered the popular lexicon, such as:
  - “Sock it to me!”

“You bet your sweet bippy!”

“Very interesting”

Innovative Use of Television:
- The show broke the mold of traditional TV comedy with its use of quick cuts, psychedelic visuals, and breaking the fourth wall. It felt modern and experimental, appealing to younger audiences.
Diverse Cast of Comedic Talent:
- The show featured a mix of established comedians and fresh faces, including:
  - Dan Rowan and Dick Martin (the hosts).
  - Goldie Hawn (who became a breakout star).
  - Lily Tomlin.
  - Arte Johnson.
  - Ruth Buzzi.
  - Jo Anne Worley.
  - Henry Gibson.
  - Judy Carne.
Celebrity Cameos:
- “Laugh-In” frequently featured guest appearances by celebrities, politicians, and public figures, including Richard Nixon, who famously appeared in 1968 to say, “Sock it to me?” in an attempt to appear hip and relatable.

Memorable Skits and Routines

The Joke Wall:

One of the most iconic segments, the Joke Wall featured cast members popping their heads through holes in a wall to deliver one-liners and puns. It was fast, silly, and endlessly entertaining.

The Cocktail Party:
- In this recurring sketch, the cast mingled at a party, delivering absurd and often nonsensical dialogue. Arte Johnson’s character, Tyrone F. Horneigh, would often flirt with Ruth Buzzi’s Gladys Ormphby, leading to hilariously awkward moments.
The Farkel Family:

A parody of wholesome family sitcoms, the Farkel Family sketches featured the cast as a bizarre, dysfunctional family with over-the-top antics.

Arte Johnson’s German Soldier:
- Arte Johnson played a bumbling German soldier who would pop up in random places, deliver a punchline, and then get hit by a prop or fall over. His catchphrase, “Verrry interesting… but stupid!” became a classic.
Lily Tomlin’s Characters:
- Lily Tomlin created several unforgettable characters, including:

Ernestine, the snarky telephone operator who would say, “One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingy…”

Edith Ann, a precocious little girl who sat in a giant rocking chair and shared her hilariously naive observations.

The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award:

This segment awarded a “prize” to individuals or organizations that had done something particularly ridiculous or outrageous. It was a sharp piece of satire that poked fun at real-world absurdities.

Mod, Mod World:

A psychedelic segment featuring the cast in colorful, mod outfits dancing and delivering jokes against a trippy, kaleidoscopic background. It captured the spirit of the 1960s counterculture.

The News Segment:
- A parody of news broadcasts, featuring Henry Gibson as a poet who delivered absurd, rhyming commentary on current events.

Cultural Impact

“Laugh-In” was more than just a TV show; it was a reflection of the changing times. It embraced the irreverence and experimentation of the 1960s, appealing to both young and old audiences.
The show’s influence can be seen in later sketch comedy programs like “Saturday Night Live” and “In Living Color.”
It also played a role in shaping political discourse, using humor to engage with serious issues in a way that was accessible and entertaining.

Legacy

“Laugh-In” remains a beloved piece of television history, remembered for its bold humor, innovative style, and unforgettable characters. Its impact on comedy and pop culture is still felt today, and its sketches and catchphrases continue to be referenced and celebrated.

…

Guys, it was part of the society at that time. Some of the jokes still “hold water”, but much of it is dated and reflects a strange time in American society.

*sigh*

Today…

China actively delinks from the US

With today’s report that Chinese airlines and state-owned corporations have been instructed to stop taking delivery of Boeing airliners and US-made aircraft parts, we can now be sure that Beijing has decided to actively delink from US suppliers and partners.

Bloomberg and CNBC reported that there has been no written directive from the Chinese report. The fact is that these directives are NEVER written; they are delivered by phone call from the Chinese government’s Central Committee. The fact that it is from the Central Committee means that this is not Xi’s personal decision; this is joint consensus among Committee members.

Boeing and US aircraft parts manufacturers were counting on the Chinese market to support their growth over the next two decades; now that is gone.

The question now is how Boeing is going to survive the next two decades.

The same is happening to US farmers, because China is now not buying US soybeans and other farm products. The leading US food processors will also suffer.

China is now instructing local companies to shift away from selling to the US, as it is no longer considered a reliable partner for trade and manufacturing. This means that they will diversify sales and trade to other markets.

What the f*ck is happening in New York City..

Title: Sir Whiskerton and the Quacking Sensation

Ah, dear reader, welcome back to my ever-growing collection of tales! Today’s story is one of bewilderment, farmyard hysteria, and an unrefined quack that somehow managed to sweep the farm into a frenzy. Yes, you read that correctly—a quack. It is a tale of misplaced admiration, an unstoppable ego, and, of course, my valiant efforts to restore order (and sanity) to the farm. Prepare yourself for the absurdly funny and utterly perplexing tale of Sir Whiskerton and the Quacking Sensation.

Meet Ferdinand the Duck

It all began one sunny morning, as most of these stories do. I was enjoying a quiet moment near the barn, basking in the warmth of the sun and savoring the sound of the gentle breeze rustling through the trees. All was peaceful… until it wasn’t.

“Quack, quack, quaaaaaaaack!”

The sound pierced the air like a rusty hinge on an un-oiled gate. I winced, my ears flattening against my head.

“What in the name of whiskers was that?” I muttered, looking toward the pond.

There, standing atop a rock and puffing out his feathery chest, was Ferdinand the duck. He flapped his wings dramatically, tilted his head back, and unleashed another cacophonous “quaaaaaack!”

Before I could cover my sensitive ears, a crowd of farm animals had gathered around the pond.

“Oh, Ferdinand!” Doris the hen clucked. “Your voice is simply divine!”
“Divine! But also so powerful!” Harriet added.
“Powerful! Oh, it’s like nothing I’ve ever heard!” Lillian screeched.
“Like nothing we’ve ever heard!” Doris echoed.

Porkchop waddled over, his eyes wide with admiration. “That’s not just quacking—it’s art. Ferdinand, you’ve got a gift!”

“Gifted? Oh, please,” Rufus said, rolling his eyes. “He’s just quacking like any other duck.”

But the others weren’t listening. Ferdinand flapped his wings again, basking in the adoration of his newfound fans.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said, bowing dramatically. “I’ve always known I was different. Some might call me a prodigy. A once-in-a-generation talent.”

I groaned, rubbing my temples with my paw. This was going to be a long day.

The Duck’s Rising Fame

Within hours, Ferdinand’s fame had spread across the farm. Everywhere I went, I heard animals singing his praises (pun intended).

“Such perfect pitch!” Doris clucked.
“Such fine vocal technique!” Harriet added.
“Such amazing timbre!” Lillian screeched.

“Such nonsense,” I muttered under my breath.

By lunchtime, Ferdinand had assembled a group of loyal “duck groupies” who followed him everywhere, clapping their wings and shouting his name.

“Ferdinand! Ferdinand! Give us another quack!”

“Oh, very well,” Ferdinand said, tilting his head back dramatically. “I suppose I could grace you with an encore.”

“Quack, quack, quaaaaaaaack!”

The groupies erupted into cheers, stomping their feet and squawking in delight. Meanwhile, I was busy trying not to claw my own ears off.

A Private Word with Ferdinand

Unable to take it any longer, I decided it was time to have a word with the so-called singing sensation. I found Ferdinand lounging on a hay bale, surrounded by his adoring fans.

“Ferdinand,” I said, clearing my throat.

“Ah, Sir Whiskerton,” Ferdinand said, waving a wing. “To what do I owe the pleasure? Come to praise my voice, have you?”

“Not exactly,” I said, sitting down and curling my tail around my paws. “Ferdinand, don’t you think all this… attention is a bit much for what is, quite frankly, just quacking?”

“Just quacking?” Ferdinand gasped, clutching his chest as if I’d insulted his very soul.

“Just quacking?!” Doris squawked, stepping forward. “Oh, Sir Whiskerton, how could you say such a thing?”
“Such a thing! Oh, it’s blasphemous!” Harriet clucked.
“Blasphemous! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian screeched.

“Enough,” I said, holding up a paw. “I didn’t mean to offend, but surely we can all agree that Ferdinand’s ‘singing’ is… subjective, at best.”

“Subjective?” Ferdinand said, narrowing his eyes. “Sir Whiskerton, you simply don’t understand art. Perhaps your refined tastes have dulled your appreciation for raw talent.”

“Raw is right,” I muttered under my breath.

The Unexpected Plot Twist

Just as I was preparing to argue further, a new sound interrupted us. It was a low, mournful howl, followed by a series of high-pitched yips. The entire barnyard fell silent, and all eyes turned toward Bingo the dog, who had been quietly napping in the corner.

“Bingo?” I said, tilting my head.

Bingo stood up, his tail wagging nervously. “Oh, uh… sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. It’s just… well, sometimes when Ferdinand quacks, it makes me want to… you know, howl.”

“To howl?” Doris squawked.
“Howl?! Oh, how unusual!” Harriet clucked.
“Unusual! Oh, I can’t bear the suspense!” Lillian cried.

“Maybe Bingo has a point,” I said, my whiskers twitching with amusement. “Why don’t we let him sing a duet with Ferdinand?”

“A duet?!” Ferdinand squawked, looking horrified. “You want me to share the spotlight with… a dog?”

“Why not?” I said with a smirk. “Surely a talent like yours can handle a little competition.”

The Duet Disaster

Reluctantly, Ferdinand agreed to the duet, and the entire farm gathered to watch. Ferdinand began with his usual “quack, quack, quaaaaaaaack,” and Bingo joined in with a loud, soulful howl.

The result was… well, let’s just say it was unique. The combination of Ferdinand’s screechy quacks and Bingo’s off-key howls sent shivers down my spine—not the good kind.

By the time they finished, the entire barnyard was in stunned silence.

“Well,” Porkchop said, scratching his head. “That was… something.”

“Something! But what was it?!” Doris clucked.
“What?! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian cried.

Ferdinand, however, looked pleased. “Thank you, thank you,” he said, bowing. “I believe we’ve just invented a new genre of music. I call it ‘Quack-n-Howl.’”

The Moral of the Story

In the end, Ferdinand’s fame continued to grow, and while his “singing” still grated on my nerves, I couldn’t deny that it brought the farm together in its own ridiculous way. The moral of the story, dear reader, is this: sometimes, it’s not about talent or skill—it’s about confidence and the joy you bring to others. And while I may never understand the appeal of a quacking duck, I’ve learned to appreciate the laughter it brings.

As for Ferdinand? Well, I suspect we haven’t heard the last of him. Until next time, my friends.

The End.

AC/DC – Back In Black, if it was recorded in the 50s

This is completely and absolutely surreal.

Everyone at first thought ‘Made in China 2030’ list, was real. But recent events suggest otherwise. Can China actually do it? Can China really make its own aeroplanes, semiconductors, electric cars, etc., by 2030, just 5 years from now?

Let’s see the list of Chinese achievements between 2015–2025

Indigenous Fighter Aircraft Engines
Indigenous On board Radar
Indigenous Avionics
Indigenous Wind Tunnel
Indigenous Commercial Aircraft Body (Duralium)
Indigenous Aircraft Wheels
Indigenous Landing Gear
Full Dominance in Legacy Chips (<= 45 nm Node process) manufacturing
Dominance in Chip Design (Upto 3 nm)
Indigenous Stealth Technology
Indigenous Rare Earth Refining dominance
Indigenous Green Energy Technologies – Hydrogen, Batteries
Indigenous Nuclear Technology
Indigenous Satellite design & manufacturing
Indigenous Satellite Constellation and Navigation
Indigenous 5G Equipment and Communications edge

China has achieved “Par” or even “Dominant” Status in all these areas in the last decade

Here is the list of things China aims to develop Par Status by 2035:-

Optical Instruments & Opto electronics
Manufacturing Dominance in Non Legacy Chips (7–28 nm Node Process)
Indigenous supply chain for GPU Chips
Indigenous 6G Equipment and Communications edge
MRI Machines
Immunotherapy Drugs for Cancer & Auto Immune Diseases
Commercial Aircraft Engines
Commercial Aircraft Body (Composite Materials)
Hypersonic Missiles
Advanced Stealth Technology

I see no reason why China can’t achieve their demands between 2025–2035

Hot Damn! It’s The Soggy Bottom Boys! | O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) | TUNE

Plaga Iuventae: A Debt to Pay, Part 1

Submitted into Contest #207 in response to: A journalist has been granted permission to visit the premises of a lab carrying out top-secret work. They could never have anticipated what they’d find…… view prompt

Steffen Lettau

Author’s note: This is the first half of the full story, as it would exceed the maximum word count.It is a unique and perplexing privilege for a journalist like me to put my life on the line, whether it is interviewing a serial killer in his own cell, a former member of a crime syndicate in his own house, or even a politician that might be marked for death…or marking me for my death, as I do tend to pry. Hey, I’m a journalist; the worst is that I die.But I prefer to die quickly, as opposed to something like poison or lynching. And even though I am no germaphobe, getting sick and falling to the whims of a bacteria or virus has never been settling. So, why did I volunteer to go to the lab of one of the most hunted virologists on the planet? Well, technically, I didn’t know it was his lab.Sorry, let me start from the top; I am Ian Sung, a journalist from Seoul, South Korea. A damned good one, I might add; I speak six languages including English, I’ve been to every first world country and a dozen third world countries, I have helped to expose dictators and criminal organizations from drug peddlers and exotic animal trading to child trafficking, and I have escaped several gunfights from paramilitary to police and gangbangers. Overall, I’m one lucky sonofabitch, and I have the money and awards to prove it. But there was one story that stood above the rest.Fair warning: what you are about to hear is disturbing but true, for I was there to personally interview the infamous “Doctor Plague”.Everyone was practically after this man, from the local police to every single government around the world, dead or alive. Hell, thanks to the large bounty on his head, just about every human being alive was keeping an eye out for him. Every day, a bulletin was made about any information on the subject, and a witness or two would report what they thought was the doctor and where he might be. So far, he remained elusive. Now, how did I find him?I didn’t. He found me.For legal reasons, and because I want to stay employed, I will not be giving out the name of the outlet from where I work, nor will I divulge any names outside of my own, the doctor’s, or any names mentioned by the doctor; with that, I will refer my employer as “Boss”, my friend and coworker “KC”, all witnesses by number and all officers by letter. I will, however, divulge the names of places and projects, as people have a right to know the locations (except where it is classified by either government or by the wishes of an individual).One witness, Witness 1, reached our news outlet to let us know that he swore seeing the Doctor Plague himself somewhere near the city hall in our fair Salem, Oregon. Initially, I brought up that such was impossible, as stated in a recording left by the doctor himself – a lengthy tape record becoming the final notice left at his former residence (I made a copy for posterity) – “I will be avoiding cities as much as possible*…”Still, Boss wasn’t about to let a potential sighting go to waste, and needed someone to go interview Witness 1 personally. He would send KC with me, as she would be driving both me and Camera-Man in her personal van (most industry workers that made our vans were dead, amongst the other two billion lives because of the “plaga iuventae”, or commonly called Plakkim’s Disease (not a conventional disease, but let’s not digress). Boss made it clear that I should not return without something solid, and if I could find more witnesses or leads (which I will also refer to with numbers and not names), I was to get the statements, describe all pieces of evidence (giving such to the police, of course), and explore even the Plague Doctor’s former residence and place of work. I mentioned that no one could get into the workplace without authorization, to which he responded, “Pitch a tent outside if you have to!”

Maybe I should call him “Hard-Ass” instead?

My team and I stopped at the local library, just so I could gather a few books and articles on viruses, genetic symptoms, and malpractices throughout history. Afterwards, we stopped at the apartment residence of Witness 1, who was eagerly waiting outside. I wanted to get as much information as possible, so I planned to pry as many names out of him as possible. Camera-Man set up his equipment, making sure to keep the camera pointed away from the complex, as well as any street signs that would lead anyone to the witness. Witness one didn’t mind showing his face to the camera, so long as we didn’t release his name. KC monitored her equipment, recording and setting the proper tones and digital lighting on her personal computer, connected wirelessly to both Camera-Man’s camera and my microphone.

After introductions between only us (anonymity, mind you), I asked my questions and got these answers:

“You have lived here long?”

“Yessem, since I was a kid.”

“I see. And has this recent epidemic affected you?”

“Not personally, sir. There were people that I have grown up with that recently passed away, mainly because of that treatment, that so-called ‘cure’, and it was horrible, from what I heard.”

“Do you know about Blake Plakkim, a.k.a ‘Doctor Plague’, the man responsible for that?”

“Yessem, but I think his organization was responsible far more than him. He had not done all this by his lonesome, you know.”

“Have you talked with anyone from Blake’s organization?”

“No. I avoid that place like the plague…no pun intended.”

“But you did claim to the outlet that you saw Doctor Plakkim?”

“Yessim. All hooded up and moving inconspicuously at the supermarket where I shop, but the face was familiar from the depiction on T.V.”

“I see. One more question; is there anyone else who may have seen him, or anyone that would have more information on him?”

“None I know of. You could try talking to the mayor; she might know something.”

Wrapping up, I reflected on that organization, Blake’s former workplace. Mentioning it to KC, she agreed to a drive-by sight-seeing of the place; upon doing so, we saw that more security was there than usual, like someone dropped off a military compound around the building. We decided to try that place last, and went to see the mayor.

Surprisingly, she was willing to do an interview, so long as we just referred to her as “Mrs. Mayor”, and her personal guard as “Witness 2.” Before the interview, Witness 2 warned me not to pry too deeply, as Mrs. Mayor had recently lost her husband and both parents to the disease, or the interview was off.

“Mrs. Mayor, thank you for having us. These times are hard on everyone, and all we want is to conclude this nightmare with justice and peace of mind.”

I immediately thought that I had gone too far, but she smiled and nodded. Witness 2 kept watch over me, ready to answer when it was his turn.

“Mrs. Mayor, when this…event happened, did you want to launch an investigation into Blake’s organization?”

“I did. I was recommended against it, given how it was a corporation with federal ties, and I was just a mayor of Salem. I pushed that notion aside, and I went to their front door and demanded to talk to someone.”

“Did you?”

“Not for a few days.”

I nodded. “And you, Witness 2, you mentioned a certain incident? One that you swore involved the spitting image of Blake Plakkim?”

“It WAS Blake! He was moving around the parking lot, and he was looking for something.”

“Which was…?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t call it ‘something’. If I had to guess, it was the Mayor’s car.”

“You checked her car?”

“Wouldn’t be much of a guard if I didn’t. Her safety is my concern.”

I took it that this Witness 2 didn’t like me very much. Probably bad press, or whatever excuse gets thrown our way. I turned back to Mrs. Mayor:

“What happened after a few days?”

“Well, after my guard chased away someone from my car, I received a call from a ‘Harrold Tooms’, wanting to talk to me. Not inside his building, nor mine, but somewhere in public. Uh, a restaurant, actually!”

I wrote down the name. “This Harrold a lawyer or a manager? Did he know Blake?”

“He didn’t say anything beyond being a representative. He was willing to divulge quite a bit about Plakkim…that is, about the man and not much about his work. Oh, he did mention about the plague being an attempt at a cure!”

At this, she suddenly went silent, and turned to a picture frame upon her desk. Immediately, Witness 2 stepped between us and her: the interview was immediately over.

I thanked Mrs. Mayor for her time and the opportunity to talk with her and Witness 2. She smiled after I assured her that we would get to the bottom of all of this, and she wished us luck. Witness 2, on the other hand, wished us to get the huff out. Yeah, you know the actual word, but my work is G-rated.

PG at worst.

Coming outside, we found a note under the van’s wiper blades. KC freaked out, thinking it was a parking ticket, but I took it off and saw that it was a note:

GOT SEOUL, MAN? GRAM, ANA.

I looked around. KC freaked out again, and Camera-Man actually went into the van and pulled out a tire iron. Aside from the passerby, a few looking on us curiously, there wasn’t anyone close by. We decided to hit up a hotel for the night.

Morning came, and I was first to rise and dress. Looking at the note, I pondered about who this Ana person was. And then, it hit me!

Ana Gram…anagram! And if that’s the case, then the initial message was not some random threat or lead, but was an attempt to reach us! But for what, and to where? Clearly, the message was directed to me, but then there was the part about the anagram, so I had to rearrange the letters.

The best I got was “atoms lounge”. Something about it seemed familiar…

Snap! Of course! The Atom Bistro and Coffee Bar! I’ve been there before. Apparently, so had the messenger, which also meant that this person was following us. Was it Blake, or someone who knew him? Was it someone who wanted to find him? Maybe it was some sleuth, working with the authorities. Or maybe it was a bounty hunter, even an assassin, and this person was using us to find Blake. I checked my watch: 6:22 A.M. Time for a drive to breakfast.

We arrived at nine on the dot; Camera-Man had a lot to drain out at the hotel. So did KC, but don’t tell her that. Anyways, we were at our own table, having ordered breakfast, when the waitress asked us if there was a fourth member joining us. Surprised, I told her that we weren’t expecting anyone, and she left with our orders. Now, bear with me, here is where things get alarming.

Blake Plakkim sat at our table.

Initially, someone with a poncho-style hooded sweater just sat himself beside me, opposite Camera-Man and KC. I was about to interject, to ask him to leave, when he hissed this warning to all three of us: “Don’t speak, or I open this.” At that moment, he placed what I could only describe as a spherical case between me and him.

A few minutes later, the waitress came over and inquired if there was a problem. When no one answered, I stepped in and said that there was a mistake, that someone was joining us for breakfast as part of our interview for the network. She smiled and asked the newcomer for his order, which he gave courteously as if he didn’t walk in here with a potential explosive. When she left, Blake turned to look at me, and all I could say was, “Doctor Plague?”

His eyes narrowed. “Don’t ever call me that again! My name is Doctor Blake Plakkim. Now… got Seoul, man?”

Now my eyes narrowed. A pun at our literal expense, in a public place. “I…am Korean, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

Blake smiled. “More than that, you’re a journalist. A well-respected one named Ian Sung. I’ve followed your work.”

I nodded. “And now you’re literally following me. You do know you’re a wanted man?”

“Heh. What else is new?”

I sighed. “What do you want?”

He turned away from me, his eyes upon the table as his hood would obscure the rest of his face. “It’s what I can give you. To the world. But I need to do this my way. Not the government’s. Not the organization’s. Not yours.”

The breakfast came, and I was perplexed at how fast Blake ate with one hand on a fork and the other on the case. Meanwhile, Camera-Man and KC ate diligently, watching the both of us. I ate with reluctance, feeling the case on my thigh at all times. Afterwards, we sat there quietly as I paid the bill, only asking one question:

“Is any of this wise, with all the eyes of the world looking for you to either arrest or kill?”

He shifted himself up from the seat, dragging the case with him. “I can’t run and hide forever if I want the truth out. You have the access, the reputation, and now you have my attention. I’ll give you all the information you’ll need, even access to my new lab, but only you and your two associates. Tell no one except your network what happened here. No cops, no strangers, and no ‘associates’ of mine.” Before he left, he left me another note, this one sealed. “This is a letter to your boss. Make sure only he sees it.”

He walked out, inconspicuous as described.

This shocking visitation left us in that restaurant for another half-hour before we hurried back to the van (I checked the whole vehicle over for anything, whether from Blake or not). Another three hours later, we were all in front of Boss, and I handed him the note and told him that only he was to read it. He nodded, the opportunity of a lifetime basically in his hands; how he would play this out was up to him. He excused me, saying that he would let me know what he’ll want next.

Another call came to our outlet, and Boss’s secretary came for me rather than to the hard-ass. I told her to take a message, but she insisted that the person on the line would not hold for anyone except me, and he had information regarding Blake Plakkim. Honestly, after meeting the man, I wanted a break, but I decided to humor the secretary and I took the phone, asking, “Hello, this is Ian Sung, how may I help you?”

“Hello,” said a soothing deep voice, “I am Harrold Tooms. May I have a moment of your time?”

*from the first Plaga Iuventae.

Chinas Growing Military Power SHOCKS USA: War is Coming w/ Col. Zhou Bo

What funny but slightly inappropriate thing has happened to you?

I was at the grocery store. Maybe it was a case of being at the right place at the right time, but still….

So what happened? Well, the stuff that the woman wanted was on the very top of the shelf, she tried to “whack it down” with her cane. Instead, they went back behind, way out of reach. Well, this guy asked her “Ma’am? Which one did you want?” She pointed it with her cane.

This guy (taller than both of us but still short), climbed up and grabbed (she wanted 2) and using one hand to try to bend over to give her two cans, lost his balance, and he grabbed the first thing he could, I was wearing a tank top, so he grabbed my tank top and my bra, ripping it as he lost his balance (but I broke his fall by “catching him”).

By this time the Store Meat Manager (he saw what happened), rushed over. The guy was fine, but the first thing he said was

“OOPSIE MA’AM, I DIDN’T MEAN TO POP YOUR BOOBY!”

I had to pull my tank top up (he broke my bra and the upper right side “strap” of the tank top), using my arm to hold “what’s left of it” to cover my boob!

Meat Manager, he was red-faced and pulled me over behind the display rack (canned goods) and ordered an employee to grab something. It was a spare t-shirt, size XXXL, with the store and the slogan saying ‘I’VE GOT THE BIG MEATS’

REALLY? I am sorry but customers and a couple of other employees who saw this guy almost crashing to the floor… were cracking up!

That same guy, he wasn’t hurt, but he was still embarrassed, pulled out his wallet and a bill folded up into my hand and he left the store (leaving his few items behind). I thought maybe it was $5 or $10 to replace the bra and tank top. I really didn’t need it, so I just put it in my shorts pocket and totally forgotten about it.

FAST FORWARD: I didn’t put those shorts on for a long time, I wore them for about 2 hours, and just folded them up and put them in the drawer. Once winter was over, we were all going to go fishing, I pulled those shorts out and there was the bill, still in my pocket, and I laughed – couldn’t believe I had forgotten it, but when I opened it up, it was a $100.00 bill!

Wife Craved So Much Drama She Framed A Neighbor For Her “Neighborhood Cheating Board”, Now She’s…

At what point did you realize no one cares about you?

It was the summer of 1975. I was 14, home alone, parents at work. Three boys from the local high school came over saying they wanted to visit with my older brother who was due home soon from his summer job. It was considered polite in the US south to invite guests inside and offer them a cold drink, which I did. What happened over the next 30 minutes is something unspeakable. Fast forward to the beginning of the school year in September. I told nobody what occurred because in our small, southern town, girls who were “loose” were ostracized and considered tainted. If my parents had found out they would now have a ruined daughter. Uneated food on lunch trays was dumped on me while sitting alone in the cafeteria, my former friends began calling me vile names and I was suddenly an an island living an isolated life. 50 years ago kids who were abused had no outlet like counseling. I was 14.

In my 20’s I went to the library and found books that explained the trauma I went through. They explained that I was a victim and should feel no shame since I was attacked. They helped me somewhat but didn’t help with the night terrors and my trust issues which continue to this day at age 63. It was a long time ago this happened. I’m much better but only trust a handful of people. The boys didn’t do so well in life. One died at age 33 and the other two are losers. That day almost 50 years ago was a hard lesson that showed me no one cared. I am a success today because when one has been so low I found internal strength to survive.

Roasted Pork and Potato Duet

Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 center loin pork roast, rolled and tied (3 1/2 to 4 pounds)
1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, cut into fourths (2 to 3 large)
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, cut into large chunks (3 to 4 medium)

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In Small Batter Bowl, combine sage, garlic, thyme, salt and black pepper. Rub all but 2 teaspoons of the herb mixture evenly over the surface of pork roast.
Place roast in Rectangular Baker. Toss potatoes with remaining herb mixture; arrange potatoes around roast. Cover with Rectangular Lid/Bowl.
Bake 1 hour, 15 minutes. Using Oven Mitts, pull out oven rack and carefully remove Lid/Bowl from Baker, lifting away from you.
Bake roast and potatoes, uncovered, 15-30 minutes or until Pocket Thermometer inserted into meat registers 155 degrees F for medium or 165 degrees F for well done.
Remove potatoes to serving platter; set aside.
Remove roast to cutting board. Loosely tent with aluminum foil. Let roast stand 10 minutes before carving.

Nutrition

Per serving: Calories 580, Total Fat 25g, Sodium 390mg, Fiber 4g

Attribution

Pampered Chef

The Dark Truth Behind This Classic Twilight Zone Episode

Great episode.

Finished putting insulation and ceiling in Power shed

Hal Turner World January 05, 2025

My son was up this weekend and he finished putting in the 2″ x 6″ ceiling joists and the R-30 Insulation in the roof of the solar power shed.

Readers may recall that a couple weeks ago, when the temps went down to -3°F here in northeast PA, the battery temperature of the Lithium Iron Phosphate battery rack dropped down to 28 or 26 degrees.

That is perfectly fine for the batteries to continue supplying power, if they had to, but definitely NOT OK if any charging is, or might, take place.

Apparently, when Lithium batteries reach 32 degrees, if you try to charge them, it __could__ result in something called “lithium plating.”

From Google:

Lithium plating is a process that occurs in lithium-ion batteries when lithium ions build up on the surface of the anode instead of being inserted into the graphite particles. This can happen when the battery is charged too quickly or at a low temperature, which can cause the lithium ions to move too fast or too slowly, respectively.

Lithium plating can have a catastrophic impact on the battery's performance, safety, and lifetime.  Some signs of lithium plating include: A gradual decrease in discharge voltage and An increase in anode resistance.

Lithium plating can be prevented by charging the battery at the right temperature, which is between 41°F and 113°F (5°C and 45°C). If the battery is being used in an electric vehicle, it may not be possible to charge it within this temperature range, so it may need to be pre-heated.

I wonder how many TESLA Drivers knew about THAT little gem of inconvenience when they bought those pricey electric cars?

Anyway, at the time, we put a “Torpedo” heater in that shed. It ran off kerosene and we were able to select a temperature of 50 degrees on the heater’s thermostat to keep the shed warm.

By the way, the “shed” is a cement block building, with rebar, bond-beams, and a cement roof. The roof was poured onto galvanized, corrugated, steel. So the steel which was bare on the inside of the shed, acted as a sort of heat-sink; causing any heat in the shed to just flow out of it.

Last weekend, we bought a “Froth Kit” and applied spray foam to the inside of the roof, totally covering the exposed metal. That would serve to “break” the heat-sink. But spray foam only has an R-value of about 1 or 2. So we also bought 2″ x 6″ lumber to put in an actual ceiling, with R-30 fiberglass “bats” between the joists. That’s the work we finally got done this weekend.

So now, we’re as ready as we know how to be for this “Polar Vortex” that’s already arrived into the central USA, and which is forecast to affect pretty much the entire east coast this week.

I still have the “Torpedo” heater if needed, but with all the new insulation, it may NOT be needed. We’ll just have to wait and see.

You know, when I decided to go with this solar stuff, it was a STEEP learning curve. I thought we had gotten through it, until the intense cold came a couple weeks ago. The learning curve cropped-up again.

Lucky me!

/sarcasm

Global Currencies Are CRASHING: Major US Banks Warn $3,000 Gold In 2025 – What This Means

Shorpy Pictures

Former SG Minister EXPOSES Propaganda Against China

Will Russia’s defeat in Ukraine lead finally to the dissolution of the Russian Federation as everybody outside Russia so dearly hopes for?

There is no sign that Russia will be defeated in Ukraine. All signs point to a victory for Russia in Ukraine.

The German publication Spiegel writes that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ attempt to organize counterattacks in the Kursk region is an act of despair, since the Ukrainians are suffering defeat in all other directions. In particular, in the last few days alone, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were driven out of three villages near Pokrovsk: Dachenskoye, Novy Trud, and Volkovo. All of them are located south of Pokrovsk, so now the advanced units of the Russian army are only 3 km south of the city.

Even Zelensky reluctantly acknowledged the success of the Russian offensive in the Pokrovsk direction. In a television interview, he explained this, first of all, by the lack of reserves of the Ukrainian army.

“We are doing everything possible to ensure that the front is stabilized in January,” he said. But instead of sending additional reserves to the Pokrovsk direction, he is throwing them into the Kursk region.

According to The Telegraph, the Ukrainians, in desperation, are throwing the most modern equipment there, of which the Ukrainian Armed Forces have very little left. In particular, Challenger 2 tanks: video recordings of a Russian drone strike destroying a British tank have already appeared.

All negative news for Ukraine.

The best thing for Ukraine to do would be to join Russia. After all, they are both of Slavic ethnicity. The west would then not be able to press Ukraine to repay the hundreds of billions that they have spent on Ukraine and Russia can tell BlackRock to get the hell out of Ukraine. It will also mean that a Ukrainian can become the president of Russia in future and the coal and Lithium deposits in eastern Ukraine will still be a part of Ukraine, since Ukraine would be a part of Russia. And it would ensure no more fights between Russia and Ukraine.

Helter Skelter, but it’s Rockabilly… (I got blisters on my fingers!)

The Beatles song. WTF?

Title: Sir Whiskerton and the Turkey Trouble

Ah, dear reader, you’re just in time for what I assure you is one of the most absurd and comical adventures yet. Today’s tale involves a turkey named Ethel—bless her birdbrain—and a mystery that takes us across farms, into the clutches of that scoundrel Catnip, and straight into the world of Thanksgiving dinner plans. As always, with the help of my loyal farmyard companions, a bit of wit, and a touch of luck, we’ll find a happy ending to this feather-brained predicament. Settle in for the hilarity-filled story of Sir Whiskerton and the Turkey Trouble.

Meet Ethel: The Not-So-Bright Turkey

It was a crisp autumn morning, and the farm was abuzz with activity. The hens were gossiping about their molting patterns, Porkchop was rolling in his favorite mud puddle, and Rufus was busy sneaking bites of the farmer’s leftover pumpkin pie. Meanwhile, I, Sir Whiskerton, was observing everything from my perch on the fence, enjoying the smell of fallen leaves and hay.

That’s when I first noticed her: Ethel, the turkey, waddling across the barnyard with a look of blissful ignorance plastered across her face. She was… how do I put this delicately? Not the sharpest feather in the flock. With each step, she pecked at the ground, gobbling up the enormous pile of turkey feed the farmer had laid out for her.

“Oh, Whiskerton! Isn’t this just wonderful?” Ethel said, her voice high-pitched and bubbly. She paused mid-waddle to look at me, her head tilting so far to the side I wondered how she didn’t topple over.

“What’s wonderful, Ethel?” I asked, my whiskers twitching with curiosity.

“All this food!” she said, gesturing wildly with her wings. “The farmer’s been giving me more and more every day. I think he’s planning something special for me. Maybe a party! Or… or… maybe I’m going to be named ‘Turkey of the Year’ at the Thanksgiving feast!”

I blinked. “Ethel… you do realize what Thanksgiving dinner usually involves, don’t you?”

“Of course!” she said, puffing out her chest. “It involves me being the star of the show! Oh, I can’t wait! I’ve been practicing my strut for weeks.”

I sighed. This was going to be harder than I thought.

Sounding the Alarm

I called an urgent meeting with the rest of the farm animals to discuss Ethel’s predicament. Everyone gathered in the barn: the hens (Doris, Harriet, and Lillian), Porkchop, Rufus, Sedgwick the wise old owl, and even Bingo the dog.

“Friends,” I began, pacing in front of the group, “we have a problem. Ethel the turkey is being fatted up for Thanksgiving dinner.”

“What?! Oh, not Ethel!” Porkchop exclaimed, his eyes wide.
“Not Ethel! Oh, how dreadful!” Doris squawked.
“Dreadful! But what can we do?!” Harriet clucked.
“Do?! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian cried.

“Enough,” I said, holding up a paw to silence the chaos. “The problem is, Ethel doesn’t understand what’s happening. She thinks the farmer is rewarding her. We need to convince her to leave the farm—before it’s too late.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Sedgwick said, his amber eyes gleaming. “She respects wisdom.”

Sedgwick flew down to Ethel, who was still happily munching on a pile of grain. “Ethel,” he began, “you must flee. The farmer—”

“Oh, Sedgwick!” Ethel interrupted, clapping her wings together. “Have you ever tasted this grain? It’s so buttery. I think the farmer’s giving me a special diet to make my feathers shinier for the celebration!”

Sedgwick sighed and flew back, shaking his head. “She’s… not very receptive.”

“I’ll try!” Porkchop said, waddling over to Ethel. “Ethel, listen. You’ve got to leave. The farmer’s plans for you aren’t what you think!”

“Oh, Porkchop,” Ethel said with a giggle, “I think you’re just jealous because you’re not the star of the Thanksgiving dinner.”

Porkchop waddled back, muttering under his breath. “Hopeless.”

A Feather-Brained Escape Plan

After several failed attempts to reason with Ethel, I decided it was time for action. “If she won’t leave on her own,” I said, “we’ll have to help her escape.”

The plan was simple: distract the farmer, lure Ethel out of the barnyard, and guide her to safety. Rufus volunteered to create the distraction (which mostly involved stealing the farmer’s hat and running in circles), while the rest of us worked together to lead Ethel toward the woods.

“Where are we going?” Ethel asked as we nudged her along. “Is this a surprise party? Oh, I love surprises!”

“Yes, yes, a party,” I said, my patience wearing thin. “Just keep walking.”

We managed to get her past the barnyard and into the woods, but then disaster struck. Ethel, distracted by a shiny pebble, wandered off the path and straight onto the neighboring farm—Catnip’s farm.

Catnip Strikes Again

“Ah, Whiskerton,” Catnip purred, emerging from behind a hay bale. “How delightful to see you. And who’s this?”

“This is Ethel,” I said warily. “She’s… a guest.”

“A guest, you say?” Catnip said, his green eyes gleaming. “How fascinating. Bonbo! Grumbles! Come meet our new friend.”

Bonbo the rat and Grumbles the mouse scurried over, their tiny eyes gleaming with mischief. “A turkey!” Bonbo squeaked. “How delicious—I mean, delightful!”

“Delightful!” Grumbles echoed, rubbing his tiny paws together.

“Catnip, don’t even think about it,” I said, narrowing my eyes.

“Think about what?” Catnip said innocently. “I was merely going to… introduce Ethel to the farmer here. He’s been looking for a turkey, you know.”

“Oh, how nice!” Ethel said, completely oblivious. “I’d love to meet him!”

Before I could stop her, Catnip led Ethel straight to the neighboring farmer’s porch. But instead of panic, the farmer simply smiled and said, “Ah, a turkey! Perfect addition to the family.”

“Family?” I said, confused.

“Oh yes,” the farmer said. “I’m a vegetarian. She’ll fit right in with the other birds.”

Ethel beamed. “Oh, thank you! I’ll be the best turkey you’ve ever had!”

Catnip, Bonbo, and Grumbles looked thoroughly disappointed as Ethel happily waddled inside.

A Happy Ending

As we walked back to our farm, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, I suppose things worked out for Ethel in the end.”

“Worked out? Oh, how wonderful!” Doris squawked.
“Wonderful! But also shocking!” Harriet clucked.
“Shocking! I thought she was doomed!” Lillian cried.
“Doomed! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Doris wailed.

“Enough,” I said, flicking my tail. “The moral of the story is this: even the dullest minds can find a bit of luck—and sometimes, the best way to help someone is to let them find their own way.”

With that, we returned to our farm, ready for whatever absurd adventure awaited us next.

The End.

When Women Finally Realize Men Are No Longer Afraid To Be Single | Men Only

The Next Step

George frost

“Jerry Culhannick.” He sat at his desk playing solitaire when his boss Harmon Newsome called his name. It was quitting time for Chrissakes, but he answered just in case it was good news.“Yo!” He hit the hallway on the move, nearly knocking over some of his colleagues trying to make an early exit from Crystal Image Studios.“Ah, you are in trouble now.” Carl Obleck snickered as he passed him in the hall. Carl was among the herd trying to make an early escape.“Shush.” Jerry shook his head.“Jerry, have a seat.” Mr. Newsome pointed to an empty chair. There was a strange man sitting in the other chair holding a briefcase and wearing dark sunglasses. “Jerry, I’ve got a hot one for you. Is Carl still in his cubicle?”“I doubt it.” Jerry smiled.“I’m gonna lock that back door one day.” He fumed a bit and then turned to the strange man sitting next to Jerry, “This is Jerry Culhannick.”“Good to meet you, Mr. Culhannick.” The stranger extended a mysterious hand which Jerry shook tentatively.“You are going to Ebsen Island in the morning.” Mr. Newsome straightened his tie.“What for? I thought that was a restricted area.” Jerry glanced at his boss and then the mysterious man sitting next to him.“It is.” The stranger said in an official voice, “My name is Dr. Abbalong and I work at the facility on the island. We have reached a stage in our research where we are ready to take the next step.”“The next step?” Jerry eyed the doctor.“In human evolution.” He did not stumble on his words, but it made a chill run up Jerry’s spine. The research on Ebson Island was top secret. No one really knew what Noble Research Inc. was working on their private island.“You will take Carl with you as your cameraman.” Mr. Newman ordered, “You are going to do a documentary on the research Noble Research is doing out there.”“Why me?” He asked, swallowing hard.“Because you are the best team I have on my staff.” He glared at Jerry.“You will see things that the world has yet to see.” Dr. Abbalong nodded.“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Jerry confessed.

“It’s not that bad.” Dr. Abbalong smiled, but it was not a comforting smile as far as Jerry was concerned.

“We will tell you what you can and cannot film.” Dr. Abbalong.

“What about freedom of press? Transparency of information?” Jerry asked.

“We control access. That must be clear and understood.” Dr. Abbalong’s voice became very serious, making Jerry wish he hadn’t been so flippant.

Sitting on the airplane with pontoons, Jerry glanced over at Carl who was holding the camera. The twin engines made conversation comprehension impossible, but Jerry could see that Carl was not happy to be on board the plane. The updraft from the sea water made the plane bounce like a ball. Three special agents with ear pieces and dark glasses sat across from Jerry and Carl on the fold out seats. The seats were uncomfortable as they bounced, but the special agents did not seem to be bothered by it.

The plane circled Ebson Island which was no more than a mile across, but he could see the runway from his window. Slowly the plane began to descend, but all Jerry could see was the ocean. He wondered if the plane would make the runway.

It did not. Instead the plane landed in the water in the small harbor of the island. Skidding on the rough whitecaps, Jerry would have been jolted out of his seat if he was not wearing his seatbelt. Jerry cursed, but the engines covered his foul language.

It took several minutes for the plane to be moored to the dock. The door opened and the bright tropical sun roared in along with a sharp rise in the temperature.

“Why are we here?” Carl complained.

“To do a documentary.” Jerry shook his head.

The shore crew had to put a portable gangplank to the door so the passengers could get on shore without getting wet. Carl continued to mumble foul language. A golf cart was waiting on shore once they got off the docks.

“Mr. Culhannick?” A man greeted them. A woman sat in the passenger’s seat of the cart.

“Yes.” They shook hands.

“I’m Dr. Wai and this is Dr. Trezbecca.” He smiled. “Welcome to Ebson Island.”

“This is my camera man, Carl Obleck.” Jerry let them shake hands, but Carl still did not look pleased to be here.

“What you are about to see will defy anything you have ever seen before.” Dr. Wai explained as they walked to a quonset hut after a short jaunt in the golf cart. “You will need these.”

Dr. Wai handed both of them an ID badge with their photos on the laminated card. Jerry had to wonder where they acquired the photos.

“This is Laboratory One where we incubate the genomes.” Dr. Wai ran his own badge through the scanner next to the door and then opened the heavy looking door. Inside an ultraviolet light was the only light there was. Jerry squinted as his eyes stung from the bright tropical sun to near darkness in Lab One. There were about two dozen people dressed in white lab coats checking each sample in the cool room. “It is here where the process starts.”

“Mr. Obleck, you may use your camera if you wish.” Dr. Trezbecca waved her hand over the first table where two laboratory technicians were bent over the sample. “I have a script.”

She handed Jerry a piece of paper which was hard to read in the dim lighting of the laboratory.

“Script?” He shrugged.

“Yes, we must make sure our security on this project is not compromised. Her face barely moved as she spoke.

“I guess I can’t wing it then.” He shrugged again, but everyone in earshot stopped what they were doing and looked at him as if he had just landed from another planet. Jerry did as he was instructed as Carl ran the video camera. There was a lot of technical language that he needed help with, but after a couple of takes, he was happy with his efforts. Carl scowled as they left Laboratory One.

“Can I speak freely?” He asked, putting the camera down on a table outside where the sun beat down on them.

“Yeah, sure.” Jerry felt the sun now.

“Does this place give you the creeps?” He asked, looking one way and then the next.

“How so?”

“I was filming human tissue. It just look like some random stuff in some petri dish, but I could see motion.” Carl sat at the picnic table next to his camera.

“Motion?”

“It was moving. I saw it through the lens.” Carl was shaken. Jerry had never seen him so jumpy even when they were in a war zone in Afghanistan.

“Sure. The solution is liquid.”

“No Jer, it was moving on its own. Do you want to see it?” He patted his camera.

“It’s okay.” Jerry shook Carl off.

Dr Trezbecca seemed to materialize from thin air, “Are you ready to go to Laboratory Two?”

“Lead the way, doctor.”

She began a brisk walk as Jerry glanced at Carl and he looked back at Jerry.

Unlike the previous laboratory, Laboratory Two was well lit under a large number of fluorescent lighting. There was much more activity in this place since there were twice as many technicians in white coats hovering over specimens. Instead of a small hut, Laboratory Two was a two story warehouse.

“It’s like a bee hive in here.” Carl noted as he brought the camera up.

“Do not take video until you are cleared to do so.” Dr. Trezbecca instructed him and then handed Jerry a piece of paper, “You read this when we run the video.”

“I wonder what they are trying to hide?” Carl whispered to Jerry.

“Doctor, we have pulses in both Bay One and Two.” A man wearing a lab coat reported.

“Excellent.” Dr. Trezbecca smiled for the first time, “Our results are better than I expected.”

“Is that good?” Jerry asked.

“Of course. We are preparing the next step of human evolution.” She nodded. Walking over to a table where five technicians were busy working, the doctor peered into a microscope. A smile slid across her face. “You may send these over to Laboratory Three. They are ready.”

“Very good, doctor.” A woman technician affirmed.

“Are you two ready to record history?” She asked.

“Sure, sure.” Jerry held up the piece of paper she had given him. “Carl, are you ready?”

“For what?” He mumbled. “I’m sorry, Jer, but this whole place has given me the creeps. Don’t you feel it?”

“Not really.” Jerry moved his mouth to get ready to start recording.

“I will hold this specimen.” Dr. Trezbecca replied as she picked up the small petri dish.

Jerry read the script about how in Laboratory Two, the miracle of life was being recreated. That was the word printed on the page, “recreated.” Carl nearly vomited when he read that word. Of all the words, that one word seemed to grab at him the most. In his association with Jerry Culhannick, Carl knew Jerry had a fairly large ego when it came to camera time. Together they had made over a hundred documentaries Crystal Images in which Jerry presented an unflinching presence to the camera. They had gone into war zones and reported on combat conditions. They had gone into the bowels of the earth to see some of the wonders buried in the rocks. They had traveled to over a hundred countries and all fifty states in search of interesting topics, but here Carl was getting an uneasy feeling about what they were witnessing. No one bothered to tell them what the purpose of the research was, reminding Carl of when they had explored alchemy and the person explaining the process was very secretive about some of the things he was doing.

“Shall we go to Laboratory Three?” Dr. Trezbecca asked when Jerry had finished.

“Sure, let’s get this done, shall we.” Jerry was feeling pretty good about the way things were going which made the doctor smile.

“In Lab Three, there are things you should know.” One of the technicians cornered Carl as Jerry left with the doctor.

“Like what?” Carl looked at the technician, a young Asian American man who spoke with a slight accent.

“It is where they give birth to the specimens.” He said as his eyes scanned the room.

“What do you mean give birth?” Carl asked.

“What does it sound like?” The man became spooked and left in a hurry before someone discovered him talking to the man with the camera.

He walked over to the last building in the compound with a big “III” painted in red on the side. What made him pause was the playground equipment behind a chain link fence.

“What would they need that for?” He wondered, but then he saw that some of the chains had been gnawed through in places..

Walking into the laboratory, Jerry ran to Carl excited or “jazzed” as he used to say, “Carl, you’ve got to see this.”

Jerry led him to a table where a baby lay wrapped in a blanket. Carl was startled at the baby’s face. Despite his small size, the face of the child was just about fully formed.

“Jer, this isn’t right.” He looked down at the infant in horror.

“Look at his face.” Jerry pointed to the infant in the glass casing.

“He has teeth. All of them.” Carl saw the baby open his mouth revealing real human teeth already in his mouth. “Isn’t there something wrong here.”

“It’s the next step.” Jerry shook his head, amazed.

“Is it? Is it the next step or are we looking at a mutation of what we are destined to become?” Carl felt the baby was looking at him, studying him. “I don’t like what I am seeing. I can’t believe this doesn’t bother you.”

“No. This is what we will become.” Jerry sniffed.

“Has anyone done any preliminary research? What will these babies become when they grow into adulthood?” Carl could not take his eyes off the baby in the encasement.

“The infant can speak with a vocabulary of three hundred words which increases exponentially each month.” Jerry was enthralled by what he was seeing in Laboratory Three. “These babies will reach adulthood by age four or five.”

“Does that sound right to you, does it?”

“Why not? Our grip on being at the top of the evolutionary tree has been slipping for centuries. Now we can regain our rightful place again.”

“Buddy, you are losing your grip here.” Carl looked at Jerry as if he was truly seeing him for the very first time.

One of the technicians dropped a thick cracker into the encasement. The infant grasped it and gnawed it until it had been consumed in under a minute. With teeth that sharp, it was little wonder why the playground chains had been gnawed through in places.

What would happen if one of these mutants managed to get loose in the laboratory? They could hurt or maim some of the technicians.

C’mon buddy, don’t you think it’s time for us to be on our way. We got some good stuff on film.” He grabbed Jerry by the arm, but Jerry shook him off.

“No, I want to stay here.” He shook his head, “Dr. Trezbecca promised we’d get a up close look at what these children can do.”

“I don’t want to see.”

“Why not?” Jerry was annoyed with Carl.

“Because I am afraid. I am very much afraid.” He shook.

“We are a witness to the next step. This is what we were supposed to be like,” Jerry watched as one of the technicians took the baby out of the encasement.

“I don’t want-” Carl began, but Dr. Trezbecca pointed to a small penned in area where the child had been placed.

“I want you to get this.” Dr. Trezbecca said proudly.

“Sure.” Jerry motioned for Carl to follow him.

“A lynx! Jerry, they put a lynx in the pen with the baby.” Carl could not believe what he was seeing through his lens. The wild animal circled the baby emitting a snarl and a growl. Slowly the cat moved, baring its teeth and fangs. The baby gurgled. Just then the cat jumped at the baby teeth and claws out ready to kill him.

Carl let out a yelp as the cat landed on the helpless baby. There was a cloud of dust in the entanglement. For a moment no one could see either the wild cat nor the child, but the baby was not crying out in pain. Instead the wild cat yelped and lay in the dust with a huge wound in its neck spouting an arterial wound. The lynx took a couple of gasping breaths and expired.

“Oh my God.” Carl held onto every word as he watched the lynx die.

“Did you see that, Carl? Did you see that?” Jerry could barely contain his excitement. “I can’t wait to show this to Mr.Newsome. I’ll bet he can’t believe this.”

“I’m sure he can’t.” Carl swallowed his bile. All he could see was the blood dripping from the infant’s mouth.

“Jerry, you sounded so excited about what you two saw while you were on Ebson Island.” Mr. Newsome sat at his desk with his hands folded on the desk in front of him.

“Yeah…you won’t believe your eyes.” Carl could not meet his boss’ eyes as Jerry set up the video on his computer. The video ran for less than four minutes. Mr. Newsome sat there with a smile frozen on his face. “Do you want me to play it again?”

“No thank you, Jerry, I’ve seen enough.” He sighed. Carl looked up at the suspended ceiling.

“Impressive, right?” Jerry closed the laptop.

“Yeah, that was one word for it.” Mr. Newsome shrugged.

“Go ahead and say it boss. This is a perversion, right?” Carl let some of his pent up anger salt his words.

“Perversion, right, but it is what it is.” Mr. Newsome put his hand to his double chins and pondered what he had seen for a moment. Then with a summary remark, said, “It was bound to happen after all. With the infinity of all the possible outcomes, like it or not, someone was bound to take the next step.”

Italian Sausage Charlotte

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

Meat Mixture

1 1/2 pounds mild Italian sausage links
1 medium zucchini, sliced
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 (16 ounce) jar white Alfredo pasta sauce, divided

Topping

1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 garlic clove, pressed
2 teaspoons Pantry Italian Seasoning Mix, divided
1/8 teaspoon salt
16 slices firm white bread
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons fresh Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Remove casing from sausage links; discard. Cut sausage into 1/2 inch pieces. Cook sausage in Stir Fry Skillet over medium heat until well browned and no longer pink. Turning with Nylon Turner as meat browns.
Meanwhile, using Ultimate Slice & Grate, slice zucchini using v shape blade. Slice mushrooms with Egg Slicer Plus. Cut red bell pepper into 1/4 inch strips.
Remove sausage from skillet; drain well on paper towels. Wipe out the skillet, and add 1 cup Alfredo sauce; bring to a boil. Stir in sausage and vegetables. Pour mixture into Oval Baker, mounding slightly in center.
In Small Batter Bowl, whisk together remaining Alfredo sauce, milk and eggs using Stainless Steel Whisk. Add garlic pressed with Garlic Press, 1 teaspoon of the Seasoning Mix and salt.
Cut crusts off the bread using Serrated Bread Knife. Dip bread into egg mixture, coating lightly; overlap bread in a circular pattern over sausage mixture, leaving center open.
Drain tomatoes in a small Colander; transfer to small Colander Bowl. Add remaining 1 teaspoon Seasoning Mix; mix with Mix ‘N Scraper. Spoon tomato mixture into opening. Using Deluxe Cheese Grater, grate cheese over top.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until edges of bread are deep golden brown.

Attribution

Pampered Chef

Everything You’ve Missed on the Economy

Dating Crissy : a friend of my favorite co-worker in South Carolina

After I left the Navy, I got a job at a Steel Mill.

Ah, now, when I was working in the Pittsburgh Steel Mill, I was sent on numerous trips to South Carolina to assist in setting up a “branch” rolling mill there. Entire industries were relocating from the North East into the Southern states. This was one such effort.

All in all, it was an interesting time.

This was in 1981, and I have many stories from that period.

Anyways, at that time I had made friends with a few of the engineers there, and we would hang out together.

One friend was ALWAYS trying to get me hooked up with various girls. Friends. Relatives. And, of course, following his lead, I would meet the girls and ask them out. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Well, some went well, and some didn’t.

Some girls were just beautiful, others cute. Some robust, and others petite. It was a virtual smorgasbord.

Fun times for a young man in his 20’s.

Now I was learning about relationships at that time, and truthfully I was such a novice. I didn’t know shit.

But what mistakes could you make on a singular date? Right?

Well, for certain, yeah I ended up making them.

Including a scammer who wanted me to invest in his “perpetual motion invention”, and also to join his cult of “the God Way”.
Or later on when I would visit Florida and make all sorts of youngish friends, five years younger than myself. I guess that I was the grizzly old 20-something leader at that time.

But let’s not get sidetracked in all my follies. Back at that time, when I was still employed, I was out dating, and just meeting all kinds of girls.

Just for food, chatting and companionship.

Sex was a rare event.

Though I did meet up with some gals; Mary. Now that was a train-wreck. I’ll tell you what.

But, still many of the girls were using me for various reasons. Mostly for free food. Or something to gossip about in the deep South small-town gossip circles. Today, we will talk about Crissy.

She was using me to make her boyfriend jealous.

She told me up front that is why we went on the date. LOL.

And I, as a stupid fuck, agreed to it.

What was I thinking? Bad move guys!

No consequences at that time for me. But, you know it all could have gone really wrong. Don’t ever, ever mess around with another man’s girl. Don’t you know.

So, I took this gal out. We ate pizza and the entire time she was talking about how everyone was watching us, and that the gossip was starting to flow.

And that soon enough it would reach her boy friend. And then he would get so angry and start treating her better.

Uh. She was on a diet so she ate one slice. I ate the rest of the pizza. It was fine.

And that was that.

A week later I called her to check up and it seems her ploy worked and her boyfriend was fiercely possessive of her and won’t let her out of his sight. Ha ha.

So I guess that her ploy worked.

And for me… well. I just hope it all worked out for them two.

And that is all that I can say about THAT.

Today…

CHINA RESPONSE TO TARIFFS GOT AMERICANS REACTING

How serious is the Chinese military’s lack of experience?

The shape of the future of warfare has changed, and unmanned warfare will become mainstream. America’s so-called war experience is outdated or wrong.

America has not fought a comparable adversary since its founding, The war in Afghanistan and the Gulf War are asymmetric wars

Like Muhammad Ali knocking down a schoolboy, and what good does that experience do the he?

After all, Afghanistan and Iraq have no nuclear weapons, drones, advanced missiles, carrier fleets, or sixth-generation fighter jets. There are no advanced unmanned troops. But China has it all.

Chinese drones and robot dogs are already in service, and the future of total war is no longer what it was during World War II.

The most important point is that China has more production capacity than the G7 countries combined!

To take one of the simplest examples, China’s electric vehicle production in 2023 is 20 million, and this is only electric vehicles. These production lines can all be used to produce drones, robot dogs, and tanks in time of war.

You can check how many pieces of furniture in your house are made in China, which today has more industrial power than the Soviet Union and the United States combined during the Cold War.

Self-detonating robot

Aircraft carrier

DF31-AG

robot dogs

Unitree B2-W 天赋觉醒！_哔哩哔哩_bilibili

在发布量产一年后，宇树 Unitree B2-W 工业轮足，觉醒了更多极限天赋技能！请大家务必友好的使用机器人

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV17rCGY1Ebe/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=56ef3e371717ff179fe581f14ed532cf

Sixth-generation fighter

Does the U.S. military have experience fighting these weapons？

Now there is a saying on the Chinese Internet:

In the past, the U.S. military had fighter jets and artillery, while the People’s Liberation Army had a will like steel.

Now that ，the PLA also has fighter jets and artillery, Americans had better pray the US military has the same will as steel.

1950 North Korea Chosin Lake PLA soldiers

These PLA soldiers remained steadfast in their duty, never laying down their arms until their last breath.

Why are Japan lovers so mad about videos from China?

Is China preparing to go to war with the United States?

Absolutely

China is utterly unified in this. They have their red lines beyond which a US Sino conflict is simply unavoidable.

Its why they are securing their land routes, their energy security and their food security

Today the US is divided

The Hardliners want Russia & China entirely destroyed even if it’s WWIII
The Trumpists want China entirely isolated but want Russia and it’s energy resources as a friend
The RINOs want CPC destroyed but are greedy for money and want the Chinese Market and it’s access
The Democrats want to be reelected and want to stay in power and would prostitute their daughters and mothers and wives to do so.

So as a result US is not yet unified to go to war with China in their own backyard.

Lots of Democrats and RINOs have billions of investments in China to protect

Biden himself is one such Democrat despite the Rhetoric

Also US has four major power centers

Big Tech,
Military Industrial Complex,
Wall Street
Big Industry (Oil, Coal, Gas and Guns)

Of these four, consider their points of view…

Wall Street hates wars of any kind and wants China to badly avoid dumping US Debt. They also have Trillions invested in China on behalf of various funds in US
MI Complex likes Wars but not Wars against China or Russia. They like wars where they can sell maximum weapons but where victory is guaranteed. They prefer milking Ukraine conflict and targeting Iran next. A War against Russia or China is a black hole for weapons and MI Complex would simply be unable to manufacture at half the speed that is required
Big Tech doesn’t really care
Big Industry loves Wars as it means booming profits

So once again the Power Centers aren’t united in favor of a Major War.

Finally you have the PENTAGON

It’s top officials know a War with China is a nuclear one and that spells the end of the world.

So they will deescalate

So right now it’s just the HARDLINERS who are provoking China, hoping to unify everyone if China succumbs to the provocation

…

Blinken is a hardliner

China meanwhile has changed course. It’s dumping all the hardliners. Zhao Lijian is gone and replaced by a very benevolent young woman.

It’s message is it won’t succumb to provocation while trying very hard to retain an image as a Peaceful Nation which minds it’s own business.

Its why in a matter of a mere 3 years – US has been acknowledged as a Warmonger ans China as a Land that wants peace by most of the Neutral World.

…

Sadly there is a problem – UKRAINE

The Domination of Russia and the fact that all the Western Propaganda is being scoffed at by the American Citizens is worrisome

Even worse is the fact that all of the world are seeing all the weapons of NATO get torn to pieces like M777 Or HIMARS with T80s and MLRS

US desperately want to turn the attention away from Ukraine, some excuse to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine and force a ceasefire with concessions using China as a major excuse.

They must sell the China Threat to everybody to do this effectively

…

So it’s a big pigs breakfast out there

China meanwhile is clear

It doesn’t want a war but it has red lines and it knows exactly what to do and when to do.

A Sign of a Winner

China Official Refers to Americans as “Peasants”

Hal Turner World April 15, 2025

A senior Chinese official warned Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s tariffs would backfire and that soon, “those peasants in the U.S.” would “wail in front of the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.”

The remarks are the latest Chinese repudiation of Trump’s global trade war as Beijing shifts gears from attempting to communicate with the White House to hitting back frequently and forcefully in an effort to cast the United States as an irresponsible global power.

China’s top official overseeing Hong Kong and Macao, Xia Baolong (shown above), lashed out at the U.S. during a speech on national security, in which he linked 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong with what Beijing sees as continued U.S. efforts to suppress China.

Xia called the U.S. decision to levy a tariff of 145 percent on all goods from Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, “brutally unreasonable and extremely shameless.”

“The U.S. isn’t after our tariffs but our very survival,” he said. “The U.S. has repeatedly contained and suppressed Hong Kong … and this will eventually backfire on itself.”

Since Trump took office in January and set about remaking the global trading system, the world’s two largest economies have levied import duties on each other that are now so high they amount to a trade embargo.

China has countered Washington’s latest levies by imposing a tariff of 125 percent on all U.S. goods while Trump has maintained 145 percent taxes on all Chinese imports, with temporary exceptions for semiconductors and consumer electronics.

Is it possible for China to surpass the US in economy size? If so, when and at what rate would China’s economy grow compared to the US?

It’s a certainty that China would surpass the US in economy size.

China is already quite a bit ahead of the US in the making and creation of real things:

main qimg 23acf9d63e69176a7e450536afbfccba

However, China’s economy still lags a bit behind the US largely due to its service industry. This is partially due to the nature of the two economic models: in the US Capitalist model, you’re encouraged to charge as much as possible for your service. For example, the average litigation cost in the US is us$50000. While under the Chinese socialist model, individuals are encouraged to provide their service as cheap as possible, for the benefit of the whole society. So the same litigation fee is restricted to a flat rate of just under $7. That’s a wopping 7000x difference. It’s an extreme example but it does show that the two economies are not directly comparable by market capitalization. The Chinese service prices will naturally grow when Chinese people slowly become richer.

A good indicator for comparing the true size of the two economies, which scientists suggested is even viable for comparison across star systems, is energy usage:

The US abandoned the Philippines again

How To Go Back

Submitted into Contest #279 in response to: Center your story around a person who believes they’re the last human on Earth.… view prompt

Max Sinclair

Two years ago, I stared into the eyes of a little dead girl. She was sprawled on some highway, deep in what used to be the Midwest, her dead, fermenting eyes staring past me, and up, up, up, into the sun-bleached sky.They didn’t leave many bodies behind when they left. Didn’t want to find skeletons when they came back, I assume. Her skin was dark and leathery. There was a hole growing in her cheek. Blue tendrils came twirling out of the rotted, bony mass, with those little orange tips. I wished they were green; I miss the trees, the grass. The closest thing to nature are the dead bodies with the synthetic viruses, eating themselves towards the clouds; puny, fingernail scratches on deep blue skin.She might’ve been dead for three months, six at a stretch. The first thing I felt when I saw her was excitement. She was the closest thing I’d seen to another person in six years. My father’s body had been more pristine, less infected by the now, a perfect conservation of the then. There was only the tight, red little hole in his temple; the pool of dark, sticky blood pooling around bits of his brain, staring at me like a sick, foaming, red-furred dog. His eyes were stained red by blood, and they sat uncomfortably in their sockets, dislodged by the force of a bullet tearing it all up behind them. He was smiling, a slash of red teeth, red eyes popping. I half-expected them to flick towards me, half-expected the revolver, still lying loosely in his palm, to fire a matching shot through my own temple. I was relieved when he killed himself, as I was when I saw the dark hole in that little girl’s cheek. I took the gun, I took his shoes, I turned around and I left. As I reached the crest of the yellow hill, I looked back at him, lying like roadkill on the highway, in the dead, yellow grass, our truck lying upside-down, smoking, a few feet away. I wiped blood from my forehead and I pressed on, the sun belching like a toad white bubble of heat that burst around me periodically. There was a similar gunshot in the little girl’s calf that poked out from her purple nightgown. It was the nightgown that made me vomit. I heaved onto the tarmac. I heaved and I heaved. She was so young. The same age as me, probably, when I left my father’s corpse to rot in the fat, white sun that turned the sky grey from its heat.It happened in the night, I thought, sitting on the tarmac, staring at the little dead girl. There were faint, sun-baked faint tyre marks on the road. She had Gone, I thought. So young. She died, seething with red-hot pain, alone in the inky night, not an inkling of who she once might’ve been. The sun was rising, the sky was losing her blue. The pile of vomit to my side would begin to cook soon, like a stinking goose egg in a frying pan. I stood up. I looked at her once more, a China doll, cracked up and fading in the sun; I turned my head back to the road, the tarmac melting into a black puddle on the horizon.It had been the last wink of winter, that day. Or what would’ve been winter. My diary says so: March third. It’s almost definitely wrong- the last time I was really sure of the day, the month, the year: I was nine. The day the school caught fire and burned down. The village burned for a week; the school was first, a black plume into the purply-grey midday sky. The grass was already threadbare, yellow; the buildings were lazy, wooden shacks, standing crooked; haphazard, peeling rows like a pile of matches. It’s difficult to build, gather materials- do anything at all- when you swelter all day under a rock, or in a shack, waiting for the Midnight Hours. The village burned and then Grandma picked up Bleach on the exodus, and soon everybody was Gone, my father on his way. That day, after seeing the dead girl, I had collected enough gas and food to wait out the summer in the Caves. They were damp, dripping places if you went down far enough. It stank of rotted bodies, those who had starved or Gone, but it was cool, it was dark, it was safer than third degree burns and snarling tumours all summer long.I remember, I’d left it so late that I knew to stop driving and lie in the grass under the car- I usually passed out from the heat after an hour or so. When the sun was lower in the sky, orange and red, the sky green and pink, I poured water over myself, guzzled it through my cracked, bleeding lips. And then I drove and I drove. I’d left it so late, so dangerously late, that towards the end of the journey they started appearing in the sky. Small, black dots at first, but they got bigger. Their ships. Full of, I don’t know. Probably scientists in grey coats. Watching. Waiting for everything to die so they could start again. They’re nothing but black pebbles in the sunset to me, and they disappear in the safety of the night. Black pebbles, no windows, no movement, no noise. They’ve no exhaust fumes, no visible sign of life. They just float calmly in the sky, black beads, watching as Earth eats itself like a coyote starving in the desert, picking at its own ribcage for morsels of its fleshy stomach; a stomach long gone. That little dead girl was a premonition, I suppose. It had been a silent, dissociative half-decade of white, silent heat. Each year dripped onto my lips like the last of the water in the hip flask I dangle, now, as I speak, above my head.I should’ve been gone for the Caves days ago. I stand on the roof of a gas station. It’s midday, the sky is clear and grey. The yellow-brown plains sprawl outwards, forever on all sides; the highway cuts a black line down the middle. There’s the occasional lone ranger, a telephone post in the distance, the hollow carcass of a tree. It’s silent. So, so silent. Silence as deafening as a red sea, crashing down on my shoulders and burrowing into my dry, blistered throat. There’s blood leaking from the blisters in my cheeks; it starts to boil, slowly, etching teary burns down my chin, down my neck. I don’t feel it. I don’t feel anything. I’m a pair of eyes. I forgot the Cave long ago. I’ve been waiting for this day. The last day of winter, the last wink. I hold my arms outstretched. From somewhere far away, much bluer and greener, much louder, if I squint, I can feel them burn like an old photograph on the campfire. The sensation starts to feel like rain, cold and relieving.I Bleached myself intentionally. I went to one of the rotted bodies deep in the Caves: a man. In the torchlight, his eyes were milky and half closed, his mouth slack. There was a bottle of something that had rolled away from his right hand. There were foamy remnants on his lips. He reminded me of my little brother, Geoffrey. Maybe if he had grown up in the green and blue world, then, he would have looked like that. I kissed his forehead. I began to forget not long after. It was sweet; it was like falling slowly asleep. From this nightmare. This fucking nightmare, I hear myself scream, from far away, in the blue and green. I start to turn away now, as my legs begin to give out on the roof of the gas station. I can feel Nothing holding out his hand. The blistered now is a universe away. Just before I turn, and walk down the hill, the rain pouring onto my neck, blurring my vision into a sweet, comfortable grey, expansive, eternal grey, I see that little dead girl, lying on the highway, sprawled out on the scorched Earth.I smile as I slip away; I smile at her red, unblinking eyes.

KJ Noh Exposes China’s Trade War Supremacy

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Chicken

4 (4 ounce) skinless boneless chicken breast, sliced into strips
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for frying

Blue Cheese Sauce

4 tablespoons blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon Veggie Delight Seasoning

Instructions

Chicken

Place chicken and buttermilk in a season serve container; seal and shake to coat. Let chicken sit for at least 10 minutes.
In a 10 cup impressions bowl, mix flour and seasoning together. Gently coat chicken strips with flour mixture.
Place chicken in preheated chef series 9.5 fry pan. Cover and fry each side on Med-Hi heat for 5 minutes until done.
Serve with Blue Cheese Sauce for dipping.

Blue Cheese Sauce

In a 5 1/2 cup impressions bowl mix ingredients together with saucy silicone spatula.
Seal and refrigerate until time to serve with wings, meatballs, or vegetables.

Attribution

Pampered Chef

Which World War II fighter was the best in a dogfight?

Not the P-51 Mustang, Spitfire, F-6F or Hawker Tempest. Sometimes even losers have an ace up their sleeve, which doesn’t get the recognition it deserves! The best fighter of WWII was unequivocally the Messerschmitt Me-262. Nothing else that was designed and manufactured in WWII came close to its overall abilities. Captain Eric Brown who tested captured Me 262s, described it as “a quantum leap in aeronautics”.

The Me-262 could fly 110 miles (190KM) faster than the next fastest aircraft, making it almost impossible for an enemy aircraft to get behind its tail. Allied aircraft could trump the Me-262 in instantaneous turn rate due to their lower wing loading, but they also bled energy more quickly, losing speed and altitude much faster than the Me-262 did, which is why it achieved a kill ratio of 5.4:1 in the ending stages of WWII under adverse combat conditions, compared to 2:1 for the P-51 Mustang and 1:1 for the P-47.

main qimg 0607c8effd04df847515070b638f46a4

Major Walter Nowotny, a celebrated German pilot who was commanding an Me-262 unit had to intercept an Allied attack which, according to him, consisted of more than 300 B-24 bombers, escorted by hundreds of P-47s. Nowotny performed that mission with only 11 Me-262 in airworthy condition.

Only 200 or so Me-262 were deployed for combat out of the 1,430 that were produced. Despite overwhelming odds, poor training and complete Allied domination of German skies, it was able to amass 542 kills against 100 losses. When the Me-262s became operational, American fighter pilots kept them busy in dogfights, which prevented most of the jets from attacking the bombers. As a result, many of the Me-262 kills consisted of P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts. A great majority of Me-262 were destroyed by Allied aircraft during takeoff and landing. Many were destroyed on the ground where they were parked due to lack of fuel, parts or qualified pilots. The Me-262 engines required careful handling, and getting behind the Allied bombers required throttling down considerably to target the B-17 bombers. They ran the risk of a P-51 getting behind their tail.

The Me-262 engineering concepts were so revolutionary that it literally trashed four decades of piston aircraft design and engineering technologies. It was the world’s first fighter aircraft with swept wings, featuring a sweep of 18.5 degrees. Its 30 mm cannons were also more powerful than most other aircraft. The aircraft had full span automatic leading-edge slats which helped increase the overall lift by as much as 35% in tight turns and at low speeds, giving it a decent turn rate.

The Me-262 wasn’t perfect. It had a long list of weaknesses and teething problems that is generally the case with new technologies. The engines were slow to spool up, had a short life (15–20 flight hours) due to shortage of high temperature metals and it could flame out during rapid throttle changes and aggressive maneuvering. After the war ended, the captured aircraft were studied, flight tested and its strengths were copied by all major Allied powers. The Me-262 influenced the designs of production aircraft such as the North American F-86 Sabre, MiG-15, and Boeing B-47 Stratojet and ushered in the jet age.

My Girlfriend Dumped Me Without Any Real Explanation, How Do I Become The Guy That NEVER Happens To?

How did Chinese tea culture influence Russian tea traditions throughout history?

Tea first entered Russia through Central Asia as early as the 9th to 10th centuries, where it began to create a diverse tea culture. By the 17th century, tea was officially introduced to the Russian Tsardom when a Russian ambassador brought tea as a gift from the Mongol Khan.

In 1679, Russia established a contract for the regular supply of dry tea from China, leading to the formation of tea caravans that traveled from China to Moscow along the Great Tea Road, a part of the Silk Road.

For nearly a millennium, Russians primarily consumed Chinese tea, which varied by region and social class. Popular types included Pu-erh for travelers and military men, and green tea (Mao Feng) for the nobility.

Initially, tea was regarded as an elite drink and was often prescribed by doctors for various ailments, reflecting its medicinal roots in Chinese culture.

The Russian tradition of tea drinking evolved to become a social ritual, emphasizing hospitality and conversation rather than the ceremonial aspects found in Chinese tea culture. As noted by curator Olga Yurkina, “In Russia, tea is an excuse for a long conversation”.

The samovar, a unique Russian tea utensil, was inspired by Mongol kettles and became central to Russian tea culture. It allows for the brewing of concentrated tea (zavarka) that can be diluted with hot water, a practice that reflects the communal aspect of tea drinking.

Russian tea is typically served with a variety of foods, including sweetbreads, pastries, and fruit preserves, which enhances the social experience of tea drinking.

Tea gatherings have been immortalized in Russian literature, symbolizing family and community, further embedding tea into the cultural fabric of Russia.

The influence of Chinese tea culture on Russian traditions is evident in the types of tea consumed, the methods of preparation, and the social customs surrounding tea drinking. Over centuries, these practices have evolved uniquely within the Russian context, creating a rich tea culture that honors its Chinese origins while developing its distinct identity.

Lost in a Dark Place

Submitted into Contest #282 in response to: Write a story set in a world of darkness where light is suddenly discovered.… view prompt

Patrick Huber

A chaotic symphony of light and sound pop and burst until all that remains is silence and darknessYou wake up sitting in the pilots seat of a craft pod. Your perspective is limited and you hear your breathing which means you have a helmet covering your head and face. You are in a flight suit of some sort designed for distant off world travel. So far you are unable to see beyond your mask, but a blinking light brings your attention to an instrument panel just at arms length. Most of instruments are broken save for the one that blinks to let you know everything else is broken. Attempting to ground yourself, you find that you have no recollection of the events that brought you here.From what you can see out the window is not much. Your world is enveloped in darkness. The terrain looks flat but you are unable to see much more than a few yards from the ship. You open the hatch and get better view of this strange world.Without proper readings of where you are, you venture to keep your suit on until you can know if the air is breathable. Your suit can hold enough oxygen for up to 18 hours without any extreme strengths of physical exertion. Stepping foot on the ground you notice gravity appears to be similar to earth. You get first good look at the sky. Without knowing the day/night cycle you are unsure how to evaluate what you’re looking at. The sky appears to be a dark amethyst color with streaks of indigo haphazardly brushed across it. They act like clouds high up in the sky, each hiding a glowing blue moon behind it.Your take quick stock of your situation. The life boat you crashed land was a one tripper and the crash did away with any hopes of attempts at a second. Your suit appears relatively untouched from the crash and in good working order. There is a wrist band with a readout for the oxygen supply. Other than that you have your legs and your wits. With no better alternative you decide to walk away from the lifeboat.Looking over a horizon to the left, you gaze at what could pass as storms cloud in the distance. A thick layer of dark purple hangs between the orange sand and the sky. You see the clouds roll and bubble with momentum. To the right looks clear, so you go right. You do not know how long you may have before a storms hits or what that would look like here but you attempt to put some haste in your step.No destination other than survival. A purposeful walk turns to a jog which briefly jumps to a run but slows back down to a brisk walk. The weight of the suit and limited oxygen put a low ceiling on how fast you can travel. You decide a steady pace is best.You have no sense of time or how far you’ve traveled. You glance behind you every so often to check on the storm which appears to have stalled at least for now. You could measure your distance from the pod but you lost sight of it and your only point of direction a while ago.NO STAY WITH ME!A voice thundering across the surface of the planet. The vibrations knock you to your feet. You’re momentarily paralyzed by this new mystery.STAY WITH ME!The voice says again and like before the world shook.The ground stabilizes and your fear subsides. Or at least it intensifies enough to get you back to your feet and moving again. You add fearful determination into your walk with an intent of fleeing and hiding. But with nothing to see other than a dark sky and burnt orange sand you are once again fleeing with no destination.Deep on the horizon straight head a small flash of what could be lighting popped. Unsure of the meaning of what you saw, it is a promise of something other than darkness perhaps so you continue toward it. You believe you make out a rise in elevation in the distance. Could be mountains or perhaps unnatural mounds signaling life. Either way you head towards it. The mounds gradually grow in height and you can be pretty certain they are natural mountains. This brings a glimmer of hope to your otherwise bleak situation. The change of terrain is breath of fresh air so to speak until ground elevation drops off and you find yourself on the precipice of a deep canyon. Hesitation brings you to look around for other options.The storm still intensifies behind you, the layer of bubbling blackness is twice as large as before and growing faster. With no alternative you find a gentle enough slope for you to slide down to a lower ledge. It’s about 8 feet or so down, you slide down with little trouble. You see that your path to the bottom is a much more of the same. A series of small rock outcrops and ledges a few feet or so down that allows you to get to the bottom.Once at the bottom of the canyon your world view becomes much narrower. Your perception is now framed by the dark 60 foot walls that could not be more than 20 or so feet apart. You stay on the move. As you hustle through a maze of dark black rock, the storm has caught up with you and there is no more color to the sky. Black clouds spill over the sides of the canyons, cascading down the rock like water down a mountainside. And just like water it continues to flow in your direction. You pick up speed. But the rush of black most catches up with you. It builds around your ankles and yet you move with ease as there is little or no reaction.You continue through the canyon as the clouds are up past your knees. You lose notice of any color in the sky, but rather different contrasts of darkness. You are aware of no light source but still you are able to see your path through this colorless void.The canyon walls are narrowing and the mist is high up around your waist. There is an unmistakeable mass to it now. You feel resistance in your movement. The cloud is so dense you cannot see below the surface. The density as created a pressure and it restricts your movement. It feels as if you are walking through a storm cloud with wind crashing at you from every direction. You struggle to keep moving but you know you must. If anything because the alternative is to quit and die and you don’t quit eve if it means death. Your brain starts to process what it sees in front of you. You’ve reached the end of canyon and a 100 foot wall is ahead of you.The cloud is nearly up your chest, you have to get out of this. As you approach the wall you a see a small crack about 8ft tall and maybe 18 inches wide. You stick the face shield of your helmet into the crack to see what’s behind it. Like everything else it’s dark, but you sense depth in the darkness and from the cloud that has seeped in the ground level stays constant at least for a while.NO! NO! DON’T GO! STAY WITH ME!A booming voice echoed through the walls of the canyon. Sonic booms explode in the totality of the atmosphere disrupting the rocky terrain. Large rocks crumble down from the walls disappearing in the surface level clouds. You cling to the wall, not wanting to get sucked under the surface.You have to get of there.You attempt to escape through the crack but your helmet and your suit make you too wide. You desperately try to force metal and plastic through rock but it won’t budge. A tsunami of wind builds and comes rushing through canyon. The force of dense air presses you against the wall. Your world is enveloped by swirling black wind. Your panic pushes you to act desperately and with little thought to possible consequences.You take a deep breath and remove your helmet and try to squeeze through. Still nothing, so you quickly strip off your suit. Wearing nothing but a monotone under base layer you take your first breath of alien air and are relieved to not immediately die. It could be oxygen but for now it’s not poison.

The narrow crack blocks most of the wind but forces you to side step most of the way. With only the side walls to guide you, you press on. Without the filter from the helmet visor you see that the world takes on a dark bluish tone. Your arms spreading farther alert tell you the gap is widening. The ground slopes so much so that you lose your balance and begin to slide. A slide forms to a roll as you travel down a hill before coming to a tumble at the bottom. You roll to your back and look up. Large spikes of black rock with dim blue glow cover the ceiling hanging down at varied length. You sit up to see the ground is not much different with opposing spikes stretching up from the ground. You’re up on your feet, feeling little effects from the fall. Unsure of where to move next you stay frozen.

A low inaudible humming voice echoes through cave before a flash of light blinds you. The brightness subsides and the cave is alive with electricity, arcing from point to point in a concerted ballet. You are able to see the cave now in its full wonder. The ceiling must be 20 feet high and the expanse looks infinite. Most interesting is a reflection you notice from a large mass of black water. You run to edge and it is indeed a lake of blackness. You bend down and put your hand in it. It’s as dark and souless as oil but with the touch of water. You stand once again at the precipice of a decision with no clear motivation. The electricity has died down so you are back to a muted blue darkness. You see no end to this lake so it could stretch on forever. You step into it to check the depth. You look back away from the shore and see the hole you fell about 8 feet off the ground and the wall, about 50 yards from the shore, marking this end of the cave.

You look around for answers. There’s always something. You venture farther from the shore but a force pulls you back. You find yourself heading back to the lake.

Again the low humming voice throughout the cave and the flash of light. It knocks you into the water before giving way to the electric current dance above.

A rhythmic pounding, weak but noticeable, emerges. It causes the spikes to hum and reverberate.

You get up and are immediately taken back by a tall cyclone of light at the back wall of the cave, stretching from ground to ceiling.

You walk towards it and feel warmth immediately. It’s the first time since you woke up that you have noticed temperature. It never occurred to you if it was hot or cold. But now as you step closer to this light, arms of warmth reach out to pull you closer.

A small black wave rushes up from the lake and swirl around your feet before reseding back. You take an another step toward the light and again a black wave comes in this time up to your knees and you feel the pull of current as the water recedes.

You move closer to the swirling mass of white illumination and are hit by another wave that knocks you to the ground and this time the current drags you back a few feet. You jump to your feet and sprint toward the light. Another crash from behind and you fall face forward down into blackness.

The current has you, it pulls you under the black water. You tumble and roll around trying to get a sense of your direction. The wave crashes back on land. Your up and sprinting hard now toward the light. You dare to look back amd catch a tidal wave building and rushing up quick.

The brightness begins to hurt your eyes and you squint but still run. You are hypnotized but the warmth as it grabs hold of you. You feel drops of water falling as you know the wave is about crash down. You push forward with everything you have left and leap forward just as the wave crashes behind you. The intensity of the wave pushes you forward into the cyclone and your world goes to white.

*****

“I have a pulse” one EMT alerts another.

“Ok she’s stable. Let’s load her up.”

It’s early morning, the sun has broken free from the horizon. Last of the night, fighting a losing battle with the sun, paint an ombré of black to blue to yellow in the sky. The virgin suns rays reflect off the fresh dusting of snow, illuminating the world.

The two EMTs secure the woman to the gurney and exit a suburban home towards a waiting ambulance.

A man, early 40s runs along side the gurney, he’s wearing sweatpants, t-shirt, and slippers, he’s holding her hand. She’s loaded up, the doors are closed, and the ambulance drives off. The man walks back over to the sidewalk and bends down to embrace two small children their eyes red and swollen, their cheeks wet with tears.

“Is Mommy going to be ok” a young girl of 8 asks her dad.

“Mommy’s going to be ok, she got lost in a dark place but she found the light again” he tells them.

The flashes of red and blue fade on their faces as the ambulance gains distance from them. The family watches as their mother heads off toward the rising sun of a new day.

Cool Comix

As a prison inmate, what was the stupidest or most ridiculous thing that you saw someone doing time for?

I didn’t see this personally, but the story stuck with me forever. This one dude noticed the day room door was unlocked when it was closed, so he went in and tried to walk of with one of the TVs, walking our a CO looked at him and said “ ‘the fuck you doing?” and dude dropped the tv and ran. Ran in a locked down hallway with COs and bars and no way out, but dude kept runnin, circles around the wall looking for a way out, COs not bothering just waiting for him to tire himself out, the other inmates already on knees heads behind back just laughing their ass off. Dude gets tired, they tackle/cuff him and the first CO asked “What the hell is wrong with you, we caught you clear, you should have put hand up and try not to get hurt” Dude said “Ive ran from cops all my life, old habits die hard”

What is a typical day like for a typical American?

I wake up, say a quick morning prayer, salute the flag, and read my Bible for awhile as I clean my AR-15. Then, I crack six eggs on the griddle and cook them sunny side up and, while the eggs are sizzling, I drop 12 strips of bacon on there, too.

I brew myself some coffee and take it without sugar, milk, or creamer, just completely black, unlike the sissy, limp-wristed libruls and their Starbucks “coffees”

After breakfast, I get dressed for the day. I wear my favorite shirt, “I’m with stupid”, and Levi’s jeans. I also wear steel toed work boots even though I don’t work in a place that requires them. I jump in my 120,000 dollar pickup truck with a Cummins diesel, coal-rolling engine, that I never haul things in, to drive to my non-construction job and Wal-Mart.

And as I roll coal, I say, “Take that, Greta Thunberg! You can’t tell ME what to do!”

While I’m driving to Wal-Mart or work, I listen to far-right conspiracy radio shows and get angry all over again that Obama won. But I can’t get too deep into the show because there’s a mass shooting happening on basically every block, everyday! Gotta keep my head on a swivel.

I bob and weave as rounds whiz by my truck. I even return fire with my fully-automatic AR-15 with the shoulder thing that goes up, and 25,000 round clips. Then, one of the thugs claps me with his 9mm HiPoint.

You’ve heard what our President (Biden) has said about 9mm! It blows your lungs out! So I drive to a for-profit, corporate-run hospital that is completely unregulated and has every politician on their payroll, to get my right lung back where it belongs.

And they fix me right up, as always, and charge me 82 quintillion, 644 quadrillion, 144 trillion, 982 billion, 832 million, 700 thousand, 936 dollars and 14 cents. They offer me a COVID shot, which I decline because I’m a selfish American who only thinks about myself, and doesn’t trust big pharma.

Then, I immediately file for medical bankruptcy because I pay my health insurance company to not pay. After that, if I have work, I report to work quickly, because I’m already on my second write-up for being late and don’t want a third, or else I’m fired and I’ll have to find another job that pays a competitive $9.75/hr.

After work, I come home and dust the large American flag hanging on the wall of my studio apartment owned by an unregulated, unhinged corporate landlord that charges me 7,800 dollars a month. Then, I order Dominoes Pizza for dinner, and, when the pizza comes, I watch Fox News and drink a Dr. Pepper until it’s time for bed.

On a non-workday (which is only one day a week because I work 6, 15’s) I go to Wal-Mart and get the essentials: Speed Stick, Ammo, and Keystone Light. Sometimes, I flirt with the rather heavy set cashier, Roxanne. She goes along with it up until after the card machine forces me to add a 26% tip, then, once I tip her for doing her job, she tells me to have a nice day and hurry up and bag my own stuff.

She likes me, she’s just too shy to admit it. 😌

After Wal-Mart, I sometimes like to swing by Larry’s Arsenal to pick up some hand grenades (which I like to drunkenly toss into a open field for fun) or windowshop a FGM-148 Javelin, but they’re too pricey at the moment.

Then, I usually find myself driving by the local 4-year, for-profit university. I point and laugh at the kids going 640,000 dollars in debt for a degree in central Asian literature and from there I go back home, go on social media and tell Europeans to keep their stupid European opinions to their stupid European selves, and set off an M-1000 firework.

‘Merica.

China Doesn’t Need America: China WON the Trade War in ONE WEEK—Trump’s EPIC Collapse!

Easy Chicken Fajitas

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 medium red bell pepper
1 medium green bell pepper
1 large onion
1 plum tomato
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 (1 to 1.25 ounce) package fajita seasoning mix
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 small lime, cut in half
8 (7 to 8 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
Optional toppings: salsa, shredded cheese, guacamole, sliced pitted ripe olives and sour cream

Instructions

Cut bell peppers into 1/2 inch strips. Cut onion and tomato into 1/4 inch wedges. Set vegetables aside.
Cut chicken into 1/4 inch strips. Combine chicken and seasoning mix in small bowl; toss to coat and set aside.
Heat Grill Pan over medium-high heat. Lightly spray pan with vegetable oil using Kitchen Spritzer. Add bell peppers and onion; cook for 3 minutes without stirring.
Stir and cook an additional 3 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove vegetables from pan; set aside.
Spray pan again with vegetable oil. Add chicken; cook for 2 to 3 minutes without stirring.
Add garlic. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
Add reserved vegetable mixture and tomato to pan. Squeeze lime over chicken mixture. Cook for 1 minute or until heated through; stir.
To serve, spoon a portion of the chicken and vegetable mixture in center of each tortilla. Top with desired toppings, if desired.

Nutrition

per serving: (2 fajitas): Cal: 380, TFat 8g, Sat; Fat .5g, Chol: 65mg, Carbohydrate 44g, Protein 33g, Sodium 860mg, Fiber 2g

Attribution

Pampered Chef

What is it like to live in Finland, the happiest country in the world?

Horrible, absolutely horrible.

Please don’t move here, there are already five million people living in this craphole in insufferable misery, more than enough if you ask my modest opinion. If you want to come as a tourist and want bring us some money for pity, you are more than wellcome, though.

And the happiest country in the world! What an absolute load of nonsense! If you believe those “researches”, please contact me: I have a bridge that I want to sell for just few thousand euros! It’s a bargain! And it’s in Finland, the happiest country in the world!

Finnish women

Finnish brands

Finnish cousine

Finnish urban landscapes

Finnish values (and fashion sense)

Finnish fashion sense (and sense of humour)

More recent finnish architecture (“Nordic Living”).

Finnish opposition politics

Finnish president (see how his sportswatch matches with the necktie!)

Antony J. Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, said Ukraine’s campaign in the Kursk region will play a critical role in any peace talks with Russia. What do you think of that?

If that is the case then there won’t be any peace talks. Russia is winning this war and continues to advance along the entire line of contact. Zelensky has admitted that there is no way for Ukraine to recover the lost territories through military means. So there is no pressure on Russia to hold peace negotiations now. But for Ukraine, it is urgent to hold peace negotiations because they are losing territory everyday in eastern Ukraine, while their advance in Kursk has been stopped by Russia. In fact, Russia has recovered about half of the Kursk territory that Ukraine took.

Russia is not under pressure to clear Kursk from the Ukraine soldiers. This is something that they will put focus on after taking all of Donetsk and Luhansk. For the mean time, it is to their benefit to keep some of the Ukrainian troops in Kursk, away from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine. So, for example, Russia can continue to kill a few hundred Ukraine soldiers per day in Kursk, forcing Ukraine to send even more troops away from Donetsk and Luhansk to Kursk, thereby making it easier for Russia to advance in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Trump’s threat to send more weapons to Ukraine if Russia refuses to negotiate will probably be ignored by Russia, because all along the US has been sending hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine but Ukraine keeps losing. Those new weapons will not make a difference.

Besides, Ukraine is short of troops. The weapons need troops to use them.

“Hollywood Has RUINED The U.S. Military!” – Col. Douglas Macgregor

China’s Week, Jan 12, 2025

Godfree Roberts

Science & Technology

Unitree, whose robots hold the Guinness sprinting record, just released an open-source full-body data set that lets robots dance.

The JinDou 400 engine flies Beijing-New York in 2 hours at 3,100 mph (5,000 km/h), at 66,000 feet (12 miles). 12” diameter x 10’ long, it produces 880 lb of thrust without compressors or turbines.

AECC ignited its 600-kg thrust-class high-end turbofan engine after 8 months development. It will power 1.5 to 4-ton UAVs.

Yarlung Zangbo/Brahmaputra Super Dam will capture three times the hydroelectric power of the Three Gorges Dam.

Will Bluetooth alternative, Star Flash, take over consumer electronics? It supports multiple simultaneous connections, low power, and streams lossless stereo audio.

Manufacturers delivered 3.17 million civilian drones last year, and 220,000 citizens have drone piloting licenses.

Record satellite-to-ground laser communications 10x faster, 100 Gb/s. For 6G, ultra hi-res sensing and next-gen satellite positioning.

CR450 train prototype hits 450 km/h will have 400 km/h operating speed, stabler, shorter braking, +22% energy-efficient, 10% lighter, quiet cabin.

910 new drugs make China the #2 pharmaceutical market, and its drug development pipeline of 5,380 drugs rivals America’s 5397. China’s biopharma market has reached $3.3 billion with a CAGR of 13.8%.

A Palbociclib breast cancer tablets that costs $2 in China costs $227 in the USA, 100 times more.

Startup NeuroXess lets brain-damaged patients turn thoughts into speech in real time, and remotely control a robot arm using thoughts alone.

World’s first 3rd-generation nuclear reactor starts powering 6 million homes.

Trade & Economy

China Rail handled a record 194,000 cargo trains daily, transporting 350 million metric tons of cargo last month, up 5.5% YoY.

The railway network handled a record 4.08 billion passenger trips in 2024, up 10.8% YoY. Air trips also hit a record 730 million in 2024, an 18% increase.

Foreign brands accounted for 64% of car sales in 2020. In 2024 it was 35%. EV sales will take over the Chinese car market, collapsing ICEV and foreign brand sales.

Temu tops US iOS app downloads for second year running, Tiktok ranks 3rd.

Huawei beats Apple, dominates global smartwatch market.

Microsoft’s Brad Smith: the US must hurry to remain competitive with Huawei in AI–or face another defeat as with 5G.

The one-billionth 5G mobile subscriber signed up in November, accounting for 56% of the country’s 1.79 billion mobile users.

China has completed its national ‘high-speed rail for computers,’ an 8,080-mile, super-fast computer network with delays under 20 ms. and 3cm. location accuracy.

There are 4.5 million firms in core sectors of China’s digital economy.

Booming phone-friendly mini-dramas will earn $7 billion in 2024.

SMIC cut 28nm node wafer price from $2500 to $1500, pressuring foreign fabs. UMC’s 28nm fab utilization fell from 85% last year to 68% in 2024.

Yiwu (pop. 2 million) produced 80% of the world’s Christmas decorations, worth $70 billion, for 2 billion people in 160 countries.

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge saw a record 27 million trips in 2024.

Chinese dollar bonds sold in Riyadh safer than 10-year US Treasuries. Chinese RMB bonds appreciated 9% in 2024.

China’s Lithium reserves have increased from 6% to 16.5% of the global total, lifting it from sixth to second place in the world rankings.

Society

The retirement age for men will rise from 60 to 63 over 15 years, for women will be raised from 55 to 58, and women blue-collar workers will rise from 50 to 55.

Has the fourth wave of scientist returnees arrived?

Surviving in Cashless China 2025: 10 apps to make your life easier.

Environment

370 MkW of renewables–83% of new capacity–and only 40 MkW of coal power installed last year. Renewables still insufficient and unstable.

The Yarlung/Brahmaputra mega-dam will generate 3% of China’s total power (300 TWh), and cost $137B. At 8¢/kWh, it will earn $22B pa for a 16% ROI.

Fengning Pumped Storage Hydropower Plant, the world’s largest, stores 3.6 MkW, generates 6.6 BkWh of electricity annually.

Only China is close to matching a high energy consumption growth entirely with clean energy.* Coal-fired emissions rose 1%, showing it’s close to solving the puzzle.

Governance

In 2024, Xi visited 10 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and the Macao Special Administrative Region, made four visits abroad.

Judicial system is integrating AI: case filing, document drafting, hearings, reviews, reducing document preparation time so judges resolve 50% more cases monthly.

The CCDI investigated 56 vice-ministers or above in 2024, up from 45 in 2023.

Unlike Western systems, China’s socialist welfare system invests in enhancing everyone’s income-earning capacity. The welfare system differs from social charity.

Bangladesh’s BRI-financed, Chinese built, 170 km Padma Bridge railway is fully operational, reducing Dhaka – Jesol travel from 10 hours to 3.

Geopolitics

Indictment Debunks China Hacking Claim after main-stream media spread an anti-Chinese propaganda campaign launched by U.S. national security sources.

9 New BRICS Partners: Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Cuba, Uganda, Malaysia, and Uzbekistan. Pending: Algeria, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkiye.

2021 Gina Raimondo: “U.S. needs to work with Europe to slow China’s innovation rate”.

2024 Gina Raimondo: “Holding Back China in Chips Race Is a Fool’s Errand”.

NYT: “China will be selling affordable EVs and renewable energy equipment around the globe while the US becomes the new Cuba—where you visit to see old gas-guzzling cars that you drive yourself.”

New York Times, 1976: Mao Tse‐tung, who began as an obscure peasant, died one of history’s great revolutionary figures. In Chinese terms, he ranked with the first Emperor who unified China in 200 B.C.

Chinese scientist cleared of charges of ‘secret’ China ties sues university after 5 years in jail.

Defense

The J-36, above, beats the B-21 due to greater thrust from its 3 engines, interior space…

Mexican-Style Scrambled Eggs

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

6 (6 to 7 inch) flour tortillas
4 ounces bulk spicy pork sausage
8 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
Optional toppings: salsa, shredded Mexican cheese blend, diced avocados, sliced green onions and sour cream

Instructions

Heat Large (10 inch) Skillet over medium heat until hot. Place one flour tortilla in heated Skillet. Warm tortilla 10 seconds; turn tortilla over with Nylon Turner and warm an additional 10 seconds. Remove from Skillet; set aside. Repeat with remaining tortillas, stacking tortillas one on top of another. Keep warm.
Heat Skillet over medium heat until hot. Cook sausage 6 to 8 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink, breaking sausage into crumbles using Nylon Spoon. Drain if necessary.
Meanwhile, in Small Batter Bowl, whisk together eggs and salt using Stainless Steel Whisk. Add eggs to sausage in Skillet. Cook and stir just until eggs are set.
For each tortilla, spoon about 1/2 cup egg mixture down center of tortilla. Top with desired toppings. Fold sides of tortilla over eggs.

Nutrition

Per serving: Calories 220, Total Fat 12g, Sodium 700mg, Fiber 1g

Attribution

Pampered Chef

Title: Sir Whiskerton and the Mystery of the Haunted Outhouse

Ah, dear reader, welcome back! Today’s tale is one of intrigue, egos, and, dare I say, toilet humor. Yes, even a detective as sophisticated as myself occasionally finds himself embroiled in mysteries of a less-than-glamorous nature. But fear not—this story is filled with the usual laughs, hijinks, and, of course, a moral at the end. And, for the first time, we shall be joined by a new trio: Wilma, Gladys, and Simone, three geese whose egos are as inflated as their downy feathers. Prepare yourself for the hilariously absurd tale of The Mystery of the Haunted Outhouse.

The Farm’s Newest Problem

It all began on a bright and sunny morning, just like any other. I was reclining on the porch, enjoying a well-earned moment of peace, when I heard the unmistakable sound of panic coming from the back of the farmhouse.

“Haunted! Oh, it’s haunted!” Doris the hen squawked.
“Haunted! What if it’s a ghost?!” Harriet clucked.
“A ghost! Oh no, I can’t bear it!” Lillian screeched.
“Bear it! Oh, it’s dreadful!” Doris wailed.

“Ladies,” I said, leaping down from the porch and walking over with an air of authority, “what is all this fuss about?”

“It’s the outhouse!” Doris cried. “Strange noises! Oh, dreadful noises!”
“Noises! And creaks!” Harriet added.
“And whispers! Oh, I’m sure it’s haunted!” Lillian clucked.

“The outhouse?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “You mean the old one behind the farmhouse? The one the farmer rarely uses anymore?”

“Yes! That one!” Doris said, flapping her wings. “It’s cursed, I tell you!”

“Cursed? Or perhaps just in need of a proper investigation,” I said, already intrigued. “Don’t worry, ladies—I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Oh, the bottom of it!” Doris squawked.
“Bottom! But what if it’s dangerous?” Harriet clucked.
“Dangerous! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian said.

Before I could respond, a loud, honking voice interrupted us.

“Step aside, Whiskerton,” said Wilma, the largest and most pompous of the farm’s geese. “This case requires the sharp intellect of a goose.”

“And not just any goose,” added Gladys, smoothing her feathers. “It requires us—Wilma, Gladys, and Simone—the brightest minds on this farm.”

“Brightest and most talented,” Simone chimed in, striking a dramatic pose. “Leave the outhouse mystery to us. We’ll have it solved in no time.”

I sighed. “Ladies, with all due respect, this is a matter of logic and deduction. I—Sir Whiskerton—am the farm’s detective.”

“Oh, a detective! How quaint,” Wilma said, rolling her eyes. “But this is a job for true brilliance. Right, Gladys?”

“Absolutely,” Gladys agreed, puffing out her chest. “Whiskerton, you may observe us if you wish, but stay out of the way.”

“Stay out of the way!” Simone echoed dramatically.

“Fine,” I said, my tail flicking with irritation. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

The Investigation Begins

The geese and I (along with the ever-curious Rufus, Porkchop, and, of course, the hens) made our way to the old outhouse. It was a rickety thing, leaning slightly to one side, with peeling paint and a creaky door that swung ominously in the wind.

“Behold!” Wilma declared, pointing a wing at the outhouse. “A scene of mystery! A stage for our brilliance!”

“Stage for brilliance!” Simone echoed, striking another pose.

“It’s just an outhouse,” Rufus muttered, munching on a carrot he’d stolen from the garden. “What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal,” Gladys said, glaring at Rufus, “is that it’s haunted. And we, the geese, shall uncover the truth.”

“Quiet!” Wilma commanded. “We must investigate. Gladys, Simone—flank the sides. I’ll take the lead.”

The three geese marched forward like generals leading an army, honking orders to one another as they circled the outhouse.

The Geese’s Brilliant (or Not-So-Brilliant) Theories

“Well,” Wilma said after a few minutes of honking and pacing, “it’s clearly the work of a ghost.”

“A ghost!” Simone gasped. “The restless spirit of a farm animal, no doubt.”

“Or perhaps,” Gladys added, “it’s a portal to another dimension. A wormhole of sorts.”

“A wormhole?” I said, my whiskers twitching with amusement. “Really?”

“Absolutely,” Gladys replied, preening her feathers. “Only a goose as intelligent as I could identify such phenomena.”

“Or,” Rufus said, rolling his eyes, “maybe it’s just the wind.”

“Wind? How pedestrian,” Simone scoffed.

“Enough!” Wilma honked. “We must take action. Gladys, Simone, prepare the—”

Before she could finish her sentence, a loud BANG came from the outhouse, followed by a low, creaking groan. Everyone froze.

“Did you hear that?!” Doris squawked.
“Hear that?! Oh, it’s definitely haunted!” Harriet cried.
“Haunted! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian screeched.

“Everyone, stay calm,” I said, stepping forward. “It’s time for a proper investigation.”

Sir Whiskerton Solves the Mystery

I approached the outhouse, my ears perked and my tail flicking. Slowly, I pushed the creaky door open to reveal… nothing. The outhouse was empty, save for a few cobwebs and a suspicious pile of hay in the corner.

“Hmph,” Wilma said, peering over my shoulder. “See? Nothing. It’s a ghost.”

“Or a wormhole,” Gladys added.

“Or…” I said, sniffing the air, “a raccoon.”

“A raccoon?!” everyone exclaimed.

At that moment, the pile of hay shifted, and out popped a very startled raccoon. It chittered angrily, clearly annoyed at having its nap interrupted, and darted out of the outhouse, disappearing into the bushes.

“A raccoon!” Doris squawked.
“Raccoon! Oh, how dreadful!” Harriet clucked.
“Dreadful! But also cute!” Lillian said.
“Oh, so cute!” Doris echoed.

“Well,” Wilma said, clearing her throat. “Obviously, we knew it was a raccoon all along.”

“Obviously,” Gladys agreed. “We were simply testing you.”

“Testing you! And you passed!” Simone added with a dramatic flourish.

I sighed. “Of course you were.”

The Moral of the Story

With the mystery solved, the farm returned to its usual peace (or as peaceful as it can be with geese and hens squawking constantly). The geese, though insufferable, had provided plenty of laughs, and even I had to admit that their over-the-top antics added a certain… charm to the day.

The moral, dear reader, is this: sometimes, even the biggest egos can hide a good heart. And while it’s important to let others take the spotlight now and then, there’s no substitute for a keen nose, sharp ears, and a bit of common sense.

The End.

“4Chan” Exposed as Israeli Mossad Honeypot/Propaganda/Incitement Site

Hal Turner World April 15, 2025

Sometimes Intelligence Agencies get caught doing things in public — designed to fool the public — and US Intel and the Israeli Mossad just got caught. The “controversial” website 4Chan turns out to be run by US Feds and Israeli Mossad. They originated the ENTIRE “Q” nonsense! It is now exposed that ALL of “Q” was a deliberate Intel operation!

Last night, it was revealed that the website “4Chan” got hacked. Apparently, the very LAST posting from the entire world, asking what the heck was going on with the site, was this one:

Then came the announcement that the Hackers had done their thing:

It turned out they were using a VERY OLD and outdated version of PHP (10 years old) to run with their server software, and that version of PHP had lots of security vulnerabilities.

4chan was breached by “Soyjak Party” operatives who exploited outdated PHP code to access backend systems, leaking site source files and exposing moderator emails — some tied to .edu and .gov domains. The Hackers got EVERYTHIING – the entire database!

Geolocation stats are leaked.

Leaked post data revealed Israel as the dominant source of /pol/ activity since 2014.

Almost all posts on 4chan were Israeli intelligence contractors pretending to be USA.

Mossad has been running an absolute massive propaganda campaign on the American internet.

Despite being around 0.12% of the world’s population, Israel accounted for … almost 50% of all 4chan posts; about 226 Million!

Mossad has been using the website for years to help stoke the rise of Nazi & far-right movements hostile toward Muslims.

4chan got taken down by a rival imageboard hacking group called “Soyjak Party.” Its databases were dumped, moderators were doxxed (proving some were federal agents), and the servers are now all offline.

A few things we’ve learned (so far) from last night’s 4Chan hack:

Moderation (& “Janitors” i.e “Jannies”) includes students and staff from Harvey Mudd College, University of Washington, & University of Michigan… including at least one professor.

4Chan ran on a version of FreeBSD which has not been supported for 9 years.

4Chan had over 10 Million banned users. Most of the bans were because Moderators were on a self-important power trip.

Aside from internal moderator emails, and the fact that many Admins and Moderators were government people USING .GOV EMAILS, one of the most interesting aspects of the released hacker information is that the overwhelming majority of posts on /pol/ came from Israel.

On average over 20 posts per Israeli resident.

4chan aggresively fingerprinted browsers

The Mossad has been running an absolute massive propaganda campaign on the American internet.

Interestingly, when an American military guy leaked Classified Intel, he did it ON 4CHAN. He ended up being caught BECAUSE 4Chan was an intel operation! He was arrested, jailed, plead guilty, and is now serving heavy prison time.

In fact, the entire claim of that site – which made it the “go to” site for certain people– was their claim that all IP information was stripped from postings so the origin could not be traced. But they never told users that web browsers were all being aggressively fingerprinted to identify users:

In about 2017, a new “phenomenon” appeared in the world, and did so on “4Chan.” It called itself “Q.”

Q, it was claimed, was a deep intel source, close to President Trump. Q was allegedly “revealing” that “The White Hats” in government had a “plan” to “save and protect” America, and everyone had to “trust the plan.”

IT WAS ALL LIES. Deliberate, intelligence agency Psychological Operations to keep people docile.

It became a propaganda outlet for our own deep state, Israel, China, etc.

Of course, “Q” went on to spawn derivatives such as “Q-Anon” and “Q-Storm” all pushing the same “Trust the plan” nonsense.

What does today’s revelation about 4chan and “Q” tell you about “Q-Anon” and “Q-Storm?”

The fallout from this enormous hack is still taking place. More and more information is coming out. As more interesting developments take place, I will run additional stories.

The Takeaway: The Feds and foreign intel agencies use real-world websites as honeypots to stir-up what THEY want stirred-up, and to pacify what THEY want pacified.

THE LIVING HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH! Prominent Doctors About The Afterlife…

Nymphomaniac in the mental hospital

My first wife was mentally ill. Her entire family was.

It hit her really strongly around when she turned 28 years old.

And from that moment on, it was Hell.

One mental hospital after another. Threats of suicide, as well as actual attempts. Circular thinking revolving around imaginary events, false memories, and horrible imaginations.

Anyways, this particular story takes place in a mental hospital in Massachusetts. It was in North Attoboro (as I recall).

I would visit her daily. She was an in-patient.

Yup. What you would expect on the stereotypes about mental hospitals.

And my wife… well, she freely roamed with the other crazies there.

Many ill people. Many fighting their very own demons.

And you know, today I want to chat about one of them.

One was a nymphomaniac.

…

She really was. He had an extreme case of nymphomania. Oh, for certain, no one told me her diagnosis. But it was pretty obvious.

Gosh.

I was blatantly obvious.

She constantly came on to everyone. Not “come on to” in the usual sense. No.

She would prey on you and attack you.

And, you know, she tried to assault me sexually multiple times.

She was a tall chick. Blonde hair. Pale. In her 20’s.

Thin. Stick-like. Twiggy.

Not my type.

As I tend to like women shorter than myself and softer, rounder… more feminine. Even chunky. Weight isn’t a turn off for me. As long as the girl isn’t obese, it’s all good.

Anyways…

She would see me.

Like in those zombie movies, where a zombie notices the hero, and then drops everything and breaks out in a sprint towards the camera.

And she would take off all her clothes.

She was good at it. All off in three seconds.

And then this fully and completely nude chick would lunge at me and hold me squirming all over me. Humping me in wild thrusts over my groin, on my thighs, and her hands pulls out my tucked shirt and undoing my belt buckle.

Hey, guys, I do like sex.

But this was really extreme.

And no. It did not turn me on at all.

Truthfully. It scared the living shit out of me.

Christ. A chick like that would be humping everything within reach. From waste baskets to fire hydrants. She was seriously ill.

It was like she was in perpetual “heat”; in a frenzy of lust. And she couldn’t control herself. Goosebumps all over her arms. You see, it wasn’t a fake pretend lust to freak people out. No. She was seriously ill.

You can tell.

She was another person. Pupils dilated. Arms full of goosebumps. her heart beating, pulse pumping. Body trembling. Mouth open and making these internal guttural groans.

Obviously something was seriously off with her.

Oh, sure, you all laugh about this. Your fantasies get all excited on this notion. But reality is never the same as fantasy.

I feel for her.

Always unsatisfied, never to have a relationship with anyone, for what boyfriend would be comfortable leaving her alone?

Now, my wife who was in the hospital knew about this situation. And she calmly would peacefully pry her off me and call the orderlies. And it happened more than three times. She was relentless.

I guess that I must have been her “type”.

Though I suppose that a door knob, faucet or bar of soap would be her type. Sheech!

That is my story for today.

Let’s move on…

Why is China not supporting its ally Russia militarily?

Because China’s main focus is on the US, which has declared China its strategic adversary No.1.

In order to wrestle with the US, China needs to unite everyone it can.

Russia is already very friendly to China, and by the war in Ukraine is forced to move even closer to China. The potential for more China-Russian relationship growth is limited.

However, if China publicly supports Russia, it would wreck havoc on China’s relationship with Europe. China stands to lose a lot from such maneuver.

There’s also the secondary issue of international law and order. Ukraine is a sovereign nation, if China supports Russian invasion of Ukraine under the excuse of helping defend the Ukrainian rebels (Russian speakers in Eastern Ukraine), then it opens the exact same reasoning for US invasion of China over Taiwan to help the Chinese rebels (Taiwanese).

China weighed the pros and cons, and chose its current position.

Now this is just for the war in Ukraine. If Russia were to be defeated and even invaded by NATO, China would help Russia with everything it got, because China doesn’t want to share a 4000 kilometers land border with NATO.

Bacon Mushroom Quiche

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 (9-inch) pie crust
1/2 pound (approximately 8 slices) bacon
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 (8 ounce) package sliced mushrooms
2 cups (approximately 2 medium) sliced zucchini
2 pressed garlic cloves
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
3 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon parsley
1/4 teaspoon each salt and ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Place pie crust in 9 inch Pie Plate according to package directions; set aside.
Cook bacon over medium heat in Generation II Skillet. Remove bacon; drain and crumble.
Reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings and sauté onions, mushrooms, zucchini, and garlic until tender.
Add bacon to vegetables and combine.
Spread vegetable mixture over bottom of pie crust. Sprinkle cheese over vegetable mixture.
Whisk eggs, milk, and seasonings together in Batter Bowl.
Pour egg mixture over cheese.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Attribution

Pampered Chef

NOW Neocons Are READY: Make Taiwan The Ukraine Of Asia | Jeffrey Sachs & Joanna Lei

Ivan Off

Submitted into Contest #282 in response to: Write a story that begins with an apology.… view prompt

Dan Morris

‘. . . Sorry, Randy . . . I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.’

Thus began his Uncle’s Donny’s letter. The letter he had found slipped mysteriously under the door of the 3rd floor apartment he currently shared with his girlfriend. The lettering was very flowery and ornate, and done by hand and in cursive with what looked like some sort of ink dipped pen. It had come in a brittle envelope that had seen better days.

Bizarre for sure, thought Randy Phillipson, age 32, as he started scanning through the letter. Like something out of a freakin’ movie.

It read . . .

‘Randy, I know the past year has been challenging for you. Especially since your parents had just died and you had to spend three weeks at that homeless shelter last November . . . You called, but I didn’t help you. I’m sorry, but it wasn’t because I was cash poor, it was because I was a different person then. I want to make it up to you. In a moment, I want you to check outside. You should be pleasantly surprised.’

Yours,

Donald J Phillipson III

The box was the size of a damn refrigerator. And there was just an excessive amount of those ridiculous, little, white, fluffy packing peanuts in there is well; as he soon found out after he stabbed the stubborn cardboard box open with the dull boxcutter that happened to be handy.

The peanuts had gotten everywhere immediately, and Tim had to stop his new girlfriend’s little long-legged chihuahua puppy from eating the delicious, crunchy, and yet highly toxic marshmallows like they were candy.

After relocating Optimus Prime to the bathroom and closing the door, Randy returned to the massive box. It looks like it could hold several bodies in this thing! Thought Randy bitterly as he returned to stab the packaging.

He wondered just how in the hell the delivery man had gotten the damned thing up that grueling three flights of stairs with a box that big.

But, even though there was no one there a few minutes ago, there was a little clipboard lying on the ground with a grueling, eye-squinting contract to sign with a nifty silver pen, (the old-fashioned type with the arrowhead tip), attached to it with a chain. And the box.

And the box was heavy! Randy wasn’t sure how to move it at first, but he finally saw that the intrepid package delivery man had left him use of a shiny, steel-looking hand truck, still in place underneath it on the other side.

He shuffled the box inside quickly with the surprisingly squeaky hand truck, before the nosy Mrs. Peterson next door got whiff of her neighbor receiving a giant mysterious package. But, then, he had to open it. He supposed he could just wait until his girlfriend got home from work, (this was her apartment), But, the giant refrigerator-sized cardboard monstrosity was clearly intended to be delivered to him. It said so, right on the box, and on the weird form he was supposed to sign it said his name a few times. He scanned it only briefly, but he was sure that his name was the only one that was mentioned in it, and not his girlfriend’s.

Tearing away the last of the murky cellophane, Randy found himself with before a tall, mannequin-looking thing. It looked like a human, but without the reproductive parts where they should be. And the joints were obviously separated by a gap of maybe less than a centimeter, so it appeared that it had the ability to move its limbs, much like a child’s doll. And its face was so peculiar . . . It looked much like one of his action hero figures that he owned in jawline cut and appearance.

Neat.

“Is there an ‘On’ button on this thing?” wondered Randy aloud, looking around it on a goose neck for some kind of switch.

“Oh, it’s holding something.”

Randy pulled the envelope from the ‘dummy’s’ hand, also addressed to him, and read it aloud to himself. It was more of that flowery handwriting, this time even more compressed.

“Dear Randy, my favorite Nephew. This is your Uncle Donny again. If you have not guessed by now, I am writing to you from the grave. I know you must be quite startled, but I assure you everything is going quite as planned. Last March I received dire news. I found out I was going to pass away from terminal prostate cancer in the next few months, and that it will be an incredibly painful death. As I am writing this to you, I can tell you that, quite honestly, I believe they may be right. I do not urinate well any more. At all. And its always painful . . .

But, I digress. As you know, I love gadgets and robots and things. I have recently come into some considerable wealth. This has allowed me to always obtain the newest products way before they hit the market.

Before you is the TX-301 model ‘Mechanical House Maintainer.’ Or MHM, for short. It is, basically, a butler that will clean your house. Or entertain you, if you let it. To turn it on, just say its name, followed by the word ‘ON’. To turn it off, just say its name, and ‘OFF’.

Yours truly,

Uncle Donny

‘P. S. – Whatever you do, don’t tell the but—’

Oddly enough, the rest was blurred out by a water smudge. Or something. What the hell wasn’t he supposed to tell it?

There was nothing on the back. Randy let the letter fall to the ground and put his hand to his chin in quiet consternation. He realized Optimus had stopped whining.

“Great, it probably pissed or shit on the floor in there. Again.”

He was more concerned about the problem of turning this thing on. Actually, at the moment, he was wondering if it was even wise for him to turn it on . . . he had read a few sci-fi horror comics that had started out just like this.

But, the face of this weird robot butler thing his Uncle had given him was very familiar . . .

“No way.”

That odd grizzled jawline . . . His Uncle’s favorite video game?

“Is your name Ivan? As in ‘Krazy Ivan’? From my Uncle’s weird old Playstation 2 game?”

It was now or never.

“Ivan On.”

The effect was almost immediate. The eyes started glowing an almost blinding bright green for a moment, then, as the glow receded, it left behind the look of something alive. Or at least, intelligent and conscious.

Its head moved from left to right, and its eyes began to move as it seemed to scan the room, but with a creepy robotic lurch that made it seem to randomly jerk.

Finally, its head stopped in line with Randy, and its eyes stared at him directly.

It spoke. With a voice of gravel.

“Greetings. You must be my new master. I have already downloaded your voice profile to my data logs. I am now registered to you.”

“Huh?” wondered Randy aloud.

The robot said nothing.

“What do you do?”

The grizzled face of Ivan replied, in a perfectly unnatural robot voice, “I am yours to command. I will obey any order that you give me. Or rather, I will attempt to. My data slot is still learning, and processing new information.”

“Oh. Uh . . .” said Randy, “You could clean my house! You’re a butler, right? You clean things? And bring me drinks and food and stuff?”

“Affirmative.”

“Cool. Can you drive a car?”

“I am designated as an ‘MHM’. If driving falls within the parameters of household duty, then I will attempt to learn this ability as soon as possible.”

“Oh, right. You’re kind of dumb now, huh? I gotta teach you things? Like a Tomagachi pet?”

“I do not understand ‘TOMAGACHI PET’ word usage.”

“It’s like a little digital pet you keep on like a tiny robot game thingy that you can keep in your pocket. You have to train it, and feed it. Stuff like that. If you don’t, it dies. But, it’s okay, it’s just a game.”

Ivan stared blankly. Randy could almost hear the robot’s brain clicking away as it processed that information.

“Master, would you permit me a question? I may ask a lot of these, as it is one way my processor can learn.”

“Shoot.”

Blank stare.

“Oh, I mean, ‘sure’. Ask away.”

“You just said you owned a robot that ‘ D I E S ‘, if you don’t interact in certain ways with it. This word is not in my data logs. What is ‘dies?’

Randy shook his head in disbelief. “Wow. It’s like I am talking to a child.”

Blank stare.

“When something ‘dies’ or is ‘dead’, it means their life functions cease. Oh, wait, no. That’s the medical meaning. Sorry, I’m in med school. No uh, I guess it just means that something no longer moves anymore. Its functions cease. Inoperable. It’s something that is usually irreversible.”

More of that brain clicking sound. Maybe Randy wasn’t imagining it. This time it was longer than normal.

“Master, it appears I was in a state of ‘death’, as you put it, before you have just turned me on. I was inoperable and did not function.”

Randy couldn’t stop from laughing. “Ha ha! Yeah, well I guess everyone is like that. Before they’re born, I guess everything is sort of ‘dead’. My girlfriend would love to argue that point with you, though, my friend. She is a Philosophy Major.

“Master, what does ‘born’ mean? This file is not in my datalogs.”

“Geez, whoever programmed you did an incredibly crappy job. You don’t even know all the words in the dictionary yet.”

“Master, what is meaning of ‘dictionary’?”

Sigh. “I’ll go get one for you right now.”

Randy turned to go back to the rear office nook where the couple kept such things as a dictionary. It always finds a way of coming in handy. Boring read, though, if one was to just read it straight through, as if it were a novel and not a reference book. From many steps away he saw the ridiculous amount of papers and books and junk almost spilling out of the office room.

This could be difficult.

“I don’t really remember where it is. Here, you pick up these peanuts while I’m gone, and I’ll be right back.

He heard Optimus scratch and bark as he passed the bathroom door. God, that dog is gonna freak when it sees the robot. Maybe he shouldn’t let him out yet.

Randy attacked the pile of intellectual debris with gusto, happily mumbling to himself as he did. “Geez, Uncle. You could have just got me a Roomba. I would have been perfectly happy with that. I wouldn’t have to teach the fucking Roomba basic words it doesn’t know by getting it a dictionary. Oh, my God. Here it is.”

Randy pulled out the dictionary, a small, ragged affair with watermarks. (Or were those coffee stains? Or both?) He held it in the air in victory.

“Huzzah! Okay, now to get back to my robot butler. Ha ha. He couldn’t have gotten into too much trouble, I hope . . .”

The chihuahua puppy scratched and growled, then bumped at the door as Randy passed it.

“Hold on, buddy. You are gonna hate this thing. Give me a second and I’ll put you in the big bedroom.”

He returned to find Ivan picking up the pieces of Styrofoam peanuts. He had gotten most of them too. He was pretty fast. All of the pieces were nearly in the box.

“You could have gotten a broom, you know. Oh wait . . . do you know the word ‘broom’?’

Ivan stopped and his eyes darted back and forth rapidly, and in a way no human’s eyes could ever do.

“A broom is cleaning instrument that could have helped me with this task, yet I have not the knowledge of one in the area.”

“Yeah . . . here, read this. It’ll catch you up. Or, I dunno, scan it or whatever.”

Ivan immediately dropped the tons of peanuts directly on the floor and accepted the book. The little puff balls scattered.

“Thank you. This will help immensely.”

Ivan opened the book and started eyeing the copyright page intensely.

“I am going to get you some clothes. You look like a naked Seargent doll from the G. I. Joe series. Except no one issued you clothes, I guess. Hang on.”

A few moments later and Randy was rummaging through the main bedroom’s closet.

“God, what is he? A size XXL? I don’t even think anything in here will fit . . . Oh, here we go. Well, not great, but it’ll have to do. I’ll have to get him some real butler clothes soon. Or at least a suit jacket. That would be cool.

Randy returned with Miranda’s Columb County Community College sweater, a pair of stretched out sweats, and grisly looking pink beach flip-flops that all probably would not fit very well, if at all.

Ivan had made it to the second page of the A section. Good for him. No . . . something was wrong here.

“You read almost slower than my Grandma, dude. Can’t you just scan the page and download it or something? I dunno, it just seemed like something that has a computer processor in its head would be able to do something as easy as that with no problems.”

Without looking up from the page, Ivan replied, “Negative. My CPU does not function like a normal computer does, nor do I learn in the same way another A. I. program would. My processor demands that I piece together the bits of logic I find when I am ‘reading’ something. I have to scan several lines of writing, then process it, then return to scanning, in order for me to properly internalize the data.”

“You’re gonna be standing there for three days going at that rate! Just put the clothes on.”

Ivan complied, in his jerky robot fashion way. It was quite comical, and the clothes fit badly. Optimus Prime could be heard howling away in the bathroom.

It definitely had shit in there. But . . .

“Oh my God! You look like a Florida Tourist! You just need sunglasses!” laughed Randy.

He couldn’t stop from going and grabbing his oversized beach sunglasses from right off the bedside table next to them.

Randy turned to run down the hall again, holding his sides as he did so. He was gonna take a phone video after this and put it on YouTube! He could see the tagline now . . . Terminator goes to the beach dressed like Grandma. Hahaha.

Strangely enough, however, the lights wouldn’t turn on in his room. Randy didn’t think much of it and went and grabbed the glasses off the nightstand.

He turned to see Ivan standing there in front of him, about a foot away. Staring down at him with those glowing green eyes of his . . . This didn’t feel right.

“Ivan? You scared the shit out of me, bro! Don’t do that!” said Randy, playfully punching at Ivan’s arm.

Ivan’s brain clicked and whirred.

“Master, why did you hit me?”

Randy shrugged, feeling a cold sweat break out on him. The robot butler was directly in his path. It would be strenuous to go around him. It looked like he had to talk semantics and social physical play with a robot.

His worst subjects that he took in college involved those two things.

“Just . . . uh . . . playin’ around man. You know. A joke.”

“What is the meaning of ‘joke’?”

“Ah, I dunno . . . you got me, man. Somethin’ funny? Oh, you don’t know that word either?” rambled Randy, starting desperately to figure a way out, but with nothing coming immediately to mind.

“Master, did you know that an Aardvark is a large, nocturnal, burrowing mammal, residing in central and south Africa, feeds on ants and termites and has a long, extensile tongue?”

Ivan lifted his right arm and cocked it back, not menacingly, but with a strange jerking motion that almost made Randy nauseous. Randy dropped the sunglasses and stepped back involuntarily, waiting for the strike that would certainly end his life.

Oh! Right.

“Ivan Off.”

Randy closed his eyes as he said this, still expecting the blow to come. But, he heard a metallic powering down noise and he opened his eyes to see Ivan’s head slumped forward, and his arms at his sides. This close, Randy could see there was something written in extremely small black print on Ivan’s neck. Almost like it was stamped there.

“WARNING: ONLY TEACH MHM BASIC HOUSEHOLD TASKS. TOO MUCH CONFLICTING INFORMATION WILL OVERLOAD THE PROCESSOR AND CAUSE ERRORS. THIS WILL VOID THE WARRANTY. Coppertap Ind. —-”

Below that there seemed to be even smaller writing that Randy had to squint to see.

‘Made in Mexico.’

Randy fell, or rather collapsed, sideways on the bed, and finally he could hear the sharp, piercing cries of the dog finally reaching his ears over the immediate panic.

The dark figure of Ivan stood over him like a malignant mannequin of death. Just sleeping for now. Yeah, thought Randy, I’m sending this fucker back. I don’t care that I voided the warranty.

Randy rolled on his back and stared at the ceiling, letting out a sigh of disbelief. And relief. Then he laughed. And couldn’t stop laughing for several minutes.

“Geez, Uncle. You could have just got me a fucking Roomba.”

I was telling my bestie how i regret marrying my husband but had no idea he was listening and then

https://youtu.be/kOTS4JOsOeQ

Shorpy

“They don’t care!” Jeffrey Sachs on US approach to Civilian Deaths in Gaza and Ukraine

Lost in a Dark Place

Submitted into Contest #282 in response to: Write a story set in a world of darkness where light is suddenly discovered.… view prompt

Patrick Huber

Deep on the horizon straight head a small flash of what could be lighting popped. Unsure of the meaning of what you saw, it is a promise of something other than darkness perhaps so you continue toward it. You believe you make out a rise in elevation in the distance. Could be mountains or perhaps unnatural mounds signaling life. Either way you head towards it. The mounds gradually grow in height and you can be pretty certain they are natural mountains. This brings a glimmer of hope to your otherwise bleak situation. The change of terrain is breath of fresh air so to speak until ground elevation drops off and you find yourself on the precipice of a deep canyon. Hesitation brings you to look around for other options.

The storm still intensifies behind you, the layer of bubbling blackness is twice as large as before and growing faster. With no alternative you find a gentle enough slope for you to slide down to a lower ledge. It’s about 8 feet or so down, you slide down with little trouble. You see that your path to the bottom is a much more of the same. A series of small rock outcrops and ledges a few feet or so down that allows you to get to the bottom.

Once at the bottom of the canyon your world view becomes much narrower. Your perception is now framed by the dark 60 foot walls that could not be more than 20 or so feet apart. You stay on the move. As you hustle through a maze of dark black rock, the storm has caught up with you and there is no more color to the sky. Black clouds spill over the sides of the canyons, cascading down the rock like water down a mountainside. And just like water it continues to flow in your direction. You pick up speed. But the rush of black most catches up with you. It builds around your ankles and yet you move with ease as there is little or no reaction.

You continue through the canyon as the clouds are up past your knees. You lose notice of any color in the sky, but rather different contrasts of darkness. You are aware of no light source but still you are able to see your path through this colorless void.

The canyon walls are narrowing and the mist is high up around your waist. There is an unmistakeable mass to it now. You feel resistance in your movement. The cloud is so dense you cannot see below the surface. The density as created a pressure and it restricts your movement. It feels as if you are walking through a storm cloud with wind crashing at you from every direction. You struggle to keep moving but you know you must. If anything because the alternative is to quit and die and you don’t quit eve if it means death. Your brain starts to process what it sees in front of you. You’ve reached the end of canyon and a 100 foot wall is ahead of you.

The cloud is nearly up your chest, you have to get out of this. As you approach the wall you a see a small crack about 8ft tall and maybe 18 inches wide. You stick the face shield of your helmet into the crack to see what’s behind it. Like everything else it’s dark, but you sense depth in the darkness and from the cloud that has seeped in the ground level stays constant at least for a while.

NO! NO! DON’T GO! STAY WITH ME!

A booming voice echoed through the walls of the canyon. Sonic booms explode in the totality of the atmosphere disrupting the rocky terrain. Large rocks crumble down from the walls disappearing in the surface level clouds. You cling to the wall, not wanting to get sucked under the surface.

You have to get of there.

You attempt to escape through the crack but your helmet and your suit make you too wide. You desperately try to force metal and plastic through rock but it won’t budge. A tsunami of wind builds and comes rushing through canyon. The force of dense air presses you against the wall. Your world is enveloped by swirling black wind. Your panic pushes you to act desperately and with little thought to possible consequences.

You take a deep breath and remove your helmet and try to squeeze through. Still nothing, so you quickly strip off your suit. Wearing nothing but a monotone under base layer you take your first breath of alien air and are relieved to not immediately die. It could be oxygen but for now it’s not poison.

You look around for answers. There’s always something. You venture farther from the shore but a force pulls you back. You find yourself heading back to the lake.

Again the low humming voice throughout the cave and the flash of light. It knocks you into the water before giving way to the electric current dance above.

A rhythmic pounding, weak but noticeable, emerges. It causes the spikes to hum and reverberate.

You get up and are immediately taken back by a tall cyclone of light at the back wall of the cave, stretching from ground to ceiling.

*****

“I have a pulse” one EMT alerts another.

“Ok she’s stable. Let’s load her up.”

The two EMTs secure the woman to the gurney and exit a suburban home towards a waiting ambulance.

“Is Mommy going to be ok” a young girl of 8 asks her dad.

“Mommy’s going to be ok, she got lost in a dark place but she found the light again” he tells them.

The flashes of red and blue fade on their faces as the ambulance gains distance from them. The family watches as their mother heads off toward the rising sun of a new day.

Scott Ritter : Does the West Understand just how bad they’ve been beaten?

Star – Light

Submitted into Contest #282 in response to: Write a story set in a world of darkness where light is suddenly discovered.… view prompt

Chris Cancilla

Bizzy woke up like she did each and every morning for the past twenty-two years. She threw on a robe to cover her body, went to the kitchen, and made a coffee. She set it up the night before as she always did. It’s ready for her when she begins her day.Pouring a cup and splashing in a bit of vanilla creamer, she stood in front of the great window in the living room. Her apartment is on the forty-sixth floor of her building. The top level. She had secured the apartment higher than any surrounding apartments available twenty-two years ago today. She had the entire top level of the building. The leasing office had her stop by last night to sign the new lease. This time for three years. “Paperwork sucks!” She said out loud as she picked up her coffee and walked into the other room.Granted, the building narrowed as it reached the top floor, so her apartment was literally the top of the building. She even had access to a small rooftop that she used on occasion. The apartment had three rooms. Kitchen, bedroom, and living room. Off her bedroom was her bathroom, and this apartment had an added feature: running water in the shower. The manager left it active if she promised not to use it all that often. Water is included in the lease, and it is expensive. She did her best and never had a complaint.It was mid-morning. She could barely distinguish the buildings across the street as she viewed the area. The scientists think the planet is going through a shift or something soon, meaning the star will illuminate their planet for the first time in recorded history. She hated science in school; that’s why she went into the military, and after leaving the service, she found a home in security.But Bizzy knew the real story. There is a huge rock or something on a direct head-on collision with Mornaro, the planet that has blotted out the light from the star since the beginning of time. The collision is estimated to be visible simply by looking up when it hits the planet, which is three or four times larger than Arnon, her home planet. The last report has the collision at 2 in the afternoon tomorrow.Some of those science nerds believe it will knock the planet out of orbit and it will collide with Arnon. Others, more realistic, she hopes, think it will kick up a lot of dust and debris but slow the speed of the planet in its orbit by as much as 6%. Over time, we would have a day and a night like never before. The day will be bright, and only the night will be dark and normal.Bizzy said out loud, “I don’t know if I could get used to that.”She turned and went to get ready for work.She poured another cup and got dressed.

Walking through the streets towards the precinct, she looked at the people she passed. Oblivious to what was in store in their very near future. News, or more accurately, propaganda, is what you will tell the people tonight. Being a lead investigator, she is pretty high up on the information chain in the precinct. She reads stuff. She hears stuff. She knows stuff. Who is she gonna tell?

The eyes of everyone on this planet were well-adjusted for darkness. Bizzy could not imagine what it would be like when the planet is flooded with light. Would she still be able to do her job? Her eyes were more attuned to the darkness than most of the planet’s population. When she looked at something, she saw it as if for the first time. No preconceptions, her thoughts did not convolute what she was looking at. She saw no shadows; she could see it for what it was, and because of this, she could perform her job better than most. She was promoted quickly from security patrol to lead to Investigator and has excelled over the past few years. She solves more open cases than most; they know it will be closed if assigned to her.

“Bizzy!” The man at the desk said, “You’re a little early for your shift.”

“Couldn’t sleep, so here I am. What’s the word?” She asked.

Tom Bartholo waved her over, “Word is that the rock will hit tomorrow, and the light will hit us within a few days. They are putting all us uniforms on extra shifts. Worried about rioting, looting, killings, and suicides.”

She looked at him, “What about you?”

“Eh… Whatever. As long as I can sit here and talk to people as they walk in, my life is a bowl of cherries with no pits.”

They spoke for a few more moments, and Bizzy went to her desk, sat, opened her terminal, and read a few things.

“Elizabeth. In my office, now.”

“Yes, Chief!”

Chief Russel Irons motioned to close the door and sit as she entered his office. She did.

“Elizabeth.”

She gave him a side-eye look, raising her left eyebrow, the closest to him, “Yes, Rusty?”

“Sorry,” He smiled at her, “Bizzy. We just got word from the nerds. The rock that will hit tomorrow afternoon is not the first.”

“No?”

“No. It’s the sixth and smaller than a few of its leaders. The first two that will hit will be enough to slow the planet ever so slightly, and tomorrow afternoon, when the sixth hits, Mornaro will be slowed. Star light will hit Arnon, and all hell will break loose.”

“How so? What do they think will happen? When will the first hit?”

The Chief looked at the clock on the wall above his door, “10 AM and a few seconds, with the second and third hitting at 4-minute intervals. So, in 41 minutes, all life on this planet will change forever.”

She stood, “I’ll be in the streets. People are going to lose it out there.”

She left his office and went to her desk to pick up her weapon. Locking it into the holster on her belt, she looked around and saw the new people staring at her. They looked scared.

“Marc, Liz, with me.”

They were in full uniform. Fresh out of the academy.

They walked out of the building in silence. Stopping on the street, Bizzy looked at the two rookies.

“The shit is about to hit the fan,” Pausing a moment, “If you have a round in the chamber, remove it. The extra half second to rack the pistol will not make that much of a difference, and the safety factor will give us a bit of cushion in case we draw and do not need to fire.”

“At the academy, we were…….” Liz said.

Bizzy cut her off, “Not sure you noticed. This ain’t the academy. Clear your weapon, load the mag, and holster it. This is how I carry mine pretty much all the time. Stops accidental discharges.”

They both complied.

They walked for almost half an hour while looking at the sky. They walked in a circle, not straying too far from the office. The news told them about the rocks hitting their sister planet but stopped there. If you read scientific journals, you know about the slowing of Mornaro. The stars were pretty, and it was a perfectly clear morning. All three of their radios broke squelch, “Thirty seconds.”

That’s all that was said. They stopped and leaned on a cement wall, staring at the planet in plain view with the slight ring of light that provided daylight to her planet.

A moment later, they saw the first rock, maybe a second or two before it hit, and the plume of dust and debris was amazing. The cloud of dust was larger than the continent they stood on. Four minutes later, another, then another. “Looks like they all hit the same spot!” Marc said, “I wish we could see what the rocks did to that planet. I suppose we’ll be able to travel there one day.”

Now they wait.

About half an hour later, they saw it. A sliver of the star. The shadows that were cast on the area and the colors they showed on everything were new. People started screaming.

In the beginning madness, one man jumped off a nearby building and landed in view of the three from security.

Liz started to go to the man. “Wait!” Marc said. There is no way he survived that fall.” Marc looked at the place where he hit—or rather, where all the inside pieces and parts of the man were scattered on the outside. “The impact popped him like a balloon. Let’s try to help those we can help.”

They appeared in the chaos and commotion around them to be in the middle of an apparent riot. The street was in absolute chaos. People were running into each other, and Marc and Bizzy were thrown off balance more than once.

Someone screamed from the opposite side of the street that they could not go on. The world is ending, and they do not want to see it.

The screaming man saw Liz and ran to her. She thought he was going to ask for help and let her guard down momentarily. That’s all it took. Grabbing her pistol, he pointed it at her, pulling the trigger. Nothing happened. She knocked him out cold with her baton and reholstered her weapon.

“Get back to the precinct!” Bizzy yelled, “We can coordinate there and see what needs to be done.”

They took off at a dead run, and all three made it the few minutes run to the precinct doors. They were locked. They all pounded, and the doors opened. They locked the doors as they entered.

“If you had not told us to clear, I would be dead,” Liz said.

“People are basically stupid, gullible, and follow the idiot in front of them. If he had fired your weapon and you died, someone else would have done the same. We are riding on a new planet now, and we have no business being out there in the streets. Short of killing everyone, there is no way to stop something like this. Tomorrow, hopefully, people will start using their brains again.”

They looked out the door, and there was light. For the first time, they could clearly see people walking, buildings, fighting in the street, and the stars disappearing.

“I think I’ll spend the night here. Walking home will be dangerous, and that light will hurt my eyes,” Bizzy squinted as she looked out the doors, “The light is getting people off the streets. Hopefully, they will clear out and wise up.”

“Bizzy, they say we have maybe seven hours of this, what, light…. Anti-darkness. Each day, it will get brighter and brighter. The science geeks tell us that remaining in direct star light may cause skin burns. They also think our planet will warm up a lot, like next year at this time 50 to 75 degrees.”

Liz asked, “How can we survive at those temperatures? 120°! That’s unbelievable!”

“I know. But what can we do? Our little planet hovers around 40° to 50° everywhere. 80, 90, 100, 110. That is going to be a challenge.”

Chief Irons asked Bizzy, “What’s this about clearing their weapon?”

Marc replied, “She had us remove the round from the chamber. We know it is against policy, but it saved Liz’s life and maybe more. The guy who got ahold of her pistol started pulling the trigger, and he would have shot all 23 rounds, possibly killing 23 people, starting with Liz, I mean Security Officer Moore. Point blank, on her forehead.”

The Chief thought momentarily, “Security Officer Moore, you lost your weapon?” He looked at her service pistol in its holster.

“No, Chief, I mean yes, Chief. I thought the man was asking for assistance, but he wanted to use my pistol to end his life and possibly a lot more people than just himself. But, Investigor Russo had us clear our weapons in the event of what happened, happened. It saved my life.”

“Good work, Bizzy—all of you. Now, head to the briefing room. We have some planning to do. If you think people were a bit off today, wait till tomorrow morning. Supposed to be five times brighter.”

He walked away.

“You heard the man. You two are on my team. Let’s grab some coffee and help plan to save the planet from itself.”

After grabbing a coffee and a sandwich, they sat in the front row of the briefing room. A small man walked in and dropped a lot of papers on the desk, some falling on the floor.

The room was filled, standing room only. The Chief quieted the room, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the lead astronomical scientist here to brief us on what we can expect.”

As he sat at the desk, the Chief realized the light from the star was on his face. His skin began to get warm, really warm.

“Hello,” The scientist said, “I am Ricardo Isbellia. The lead scientist and the person on this planet who knows more about Mornaro and the light from the star.”

He paused a few moments, looking at the faces. He stopped on Bizzy. The look on her face was not like the others. He asked her, “Is there something….”

Bizzy was grinning, “No, nothing specific. But, there is no policy, procedure, rule, or anything to look at for a situation like this.”

The man grinned back at her, “Correct. That’s why we’re here. To create the policies, procedures, rules, and whatever else we need to do to protect the population.”

He walked to the desk and picked up an odd pair of goggles. “These will protect your eyes from direct star-light.” He put them on his face and strapped them around the back of his head.

Liz said, “Fashionable!”

People in the room chuckled.

Ricardo removed the goggles and handed them to Bizzy. She held them over her eyes, “Interesting. They make the room lighter but not painful at the same time.” She looked at the window, where the light from the star was entering the room. “It masks the star light and lets you see what is there,” She saw the plume of dust and debris from the multiple impacts. It was massive. More extensive than she imagined. She removed the goggles and asked, “What are the chances the dust and debris will affect Arnon?”

Ricardo looked at Bizzy with a look that made her not know what he was thinking. “Exactly. We believe we will be OK. But the orbits of our planets mean we have a year until we pass through that dust. We have known this was coming for more than two years. Now that it’s here, we are ready. Be careful if you are in the light for too long. Your skin will get hot and begin to burn. We do not know the other effects, but we know that the burns from the star light will be painful.

Ricardo continued the briefing, “OK. Moving on. Here is what you can expect in the next year.”

His intern passed out the goggles to everyone in the room.

How can civilians fight trained soldiers, as in the case of Ukraine?

Ukrainian troops are mostly civilians. They are grabbed by force on streets, and spend 1-2 weeks preparing in training fields before being sent to the frontlines.

Behind them, there are barrage squads of nationalists, who prevent territorial defence forces from retreating.

155 Brigade trained in France, retreated before first fight. From 2000 of prepared civilians, 1700 run away. Without barrage squad civilians usually run away from positions.

For russian artillery shel or precision bomb theres no difference how skilled soldiers who sitting in trenches.

Skilled soldiers AFU used at second or third wave. In first two come civilians with no skill. Their aim to show where defence troops are sitting.

In Ukrainian army General Syrski called as butcher. Because of using meat wave tactics. For this one no need to have skill.

The proportion of loses can be compared to the last body exchange.

08.11.24: 37 bodies of the Russian Federation for 563 bodies of the AFU,
29.11.24: 50 bodies of the Russian Federation for 502 bodies of the AFU,
20.12.24: 42 bodies of the Russian Federation for 503 bodies of the AFU.

Artichoke Frittata

Yield: 16 servings

Ingredients

2 (6 ounce) jars marinated artichoke hearts
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup small curd cottage cheese
1 small onion, chopped
1/8 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon dried marjoram

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Drain the artichokes, reserving 2 tablespoons of the marinade. Chop the artichokes.
Combine the reserved marinade, artichokes, eggs, cottage cheese, onion, rosemary, thyme, basil and marjoram in a medium mixing bowl and mix well. Spoon into a greased 8 x 8-inch baking pan.
Bake for 30 minutes or until set and light brown. Cut into 1-inch squares.

Nutrition

Per serving: Calories 55; Fat 4 g; Sodium 182 mg; Dietary Fiber 1 g

Attribution

Posted by FootsieBear at Recipe Goldmine 8/26/2001 4:23 pm.

Pampered Chef

Title: Sir Whiskerton and the Case of the Bedtime Bandit

Ah, my dear reader, welcome back! I must say, your enthusiasm for these tales warms my noble whiskers. Today’s adventure is, quite literally, a personal matter. You see, even a brilliant detective such as myself isn’t immune to petty annoyances, and this time, someone—or something—has dared to invade my most sacred sanctuary: my bed. What followed was an investigation full of twists, turns, and surprises so shocking that even I, Sir Whiskerton, was briefly left without words. Briefly, of course. So sit back and enjoy the laugh-filled mystery of The Case of the Bedtime Bandit.

The Great Bed Crisis

It all began one crisp autumn evening as I returned to my favorite napping spot: a cozy, sun-warmed pile of hay tucked neatly in the corner of the barn. It was my most cherished spot, a throne worthy of my brilliance. But when I arrived, I found… evidence. Evidence of a crime so heinous it made my fur stand on end.

My bed was mussed.

“Oh, the horror,” I muttered to myself, circling the hay pile. My eyes narrowed as I noticed strange tufts of fur that did not belong to me and a faint but unfamiliar scent lingering in the air.

“Someone’s been sleeping in my bed,” I growled.

“Sleeping? Oh, how dreadful!” Doris the hen clucked, fluttering down from her perch.
“Dreadful! But who could it be?!” Harriet added.
“Who?! Oh, I can’t bear the suspense!” Lillian squawked.
“Enough,” I said, holding up a paw. “This is a matter for my expertise. I will get to the bottom of this.”

Assembling the Team

I wasted no time calling a meeting of the most capable minds on the farm—well, the most available minds, anyway.

Porkchop the pig arrived first, munching on an apple. “What’s this about, Whiskerton?” he asked. “You look… uh, more annoyed than usual.”

“Someone has been sleeping in my bed,” I said gravely.

“Sleeping?! Oh, that’s terrible!” Doris squawked, arriving with her usual entourage of Harriet and Lillian.

“Terrible! But also mysterious!” Harriet clucked.
“Mysterious! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian cried.

Rufus the dog trotted in next, his tail wagging. “You called for me, Whiskerton? What’s the case this time? Missing milk? Stolen carrots?”

“No,” I said, flicking my tail. “This is far more serious. My bed has been compromised.”

Rufus raised an eyebrow. “Your bed? Really?”

“Yes, Rufus. And I intend to find the culprit. But it seems there’s more going on here than just my bed,” I said, my whiskers twitching thoughtfully. “I’ve been hearing strange reports from around the farm. Doris, you mentioned something earlier about missing corn?”

“Oh yes! The corn! It’s gone! Oh, all gone!” Doris cried.
“Gone! But who could have taken it?!” Harriet clucked.
“Who?! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian screeched.

“And Porkchop,” I said, turning to the pig, “you’ve been complaining about your apples disappearing, haven’t you?”

“Yeah,” Porkchop said, scratching his head. “Thought maybe Rufus was sneaking them.”

“Hey!” Rufus barked. “I wouldn’t touch your apples. I’ve got my own stash of bones to chew on, thank you very much.”

“Indeed,” I said. “It seems we have a serial intruder on our hands. And I intend to catch them.”

The Investigation Begins

I began my investigation at the scene of the crime: my bed. Using my keen senses, I sniffed the hay and detected the faint scent of something… unfamiliar. It was musky, earthy, and had a hint of… feathers?

“Feathers?” I muttered to myself. “Interesting.”

Next, I inspected the area around the chicken coop, where the missing corn had last been seen. Sure enough, there were small, scattered kernels leading away from the coop and into the woods.

“Ah-ha!” I said, my tail flicking with excitement. “A trail!”

“Trail?! Oh, how thrilling!” Doris squawked.
“Thrilling! But also terrifying!” Harriet clucked.
“Terrifying! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian cried.

“Enough,” I said, waving a paw. “Porkchop, Rufus, you’re with me. We’re following this trail.”

The Plot Thickens

The trail of corn led us deep into the woods, where we found… nothing. Just an empty clearing with a few more scattered kernels and some oddly shaped footprints. They were too large for a chicken, too small for the farmer, and definitely not from any of us.

“Strange,” I muttered, examining the footprints. “Who—or what—could this be?”

“Uh, Whiskerton?” Porkchop said nervously, pointing his hoof. “What’s that?”

I followed his gaze and saw a pair of glowing eyes peering at us from the bushes. Before I could react, a blur of feathers and fur burst out of the bushes and darted past us, heading straight back toward the farm.

“After it!” I shouted.

The Culprit Revealed

We chased the mysterious figure all the way back to the barn, where it finally stopped and turned to face us. To our surprise, it was… a goose.

But not just any goose. This goose was enormous, with wild feathers sticking out in every direction and a guilty look in its eyes. It was holding an apple in one wing and a cob of corn in the other.

“Wilma?!” Doris squawked, recognizing one of the geese from the neighboring farm.
“Wilma! But what are you doing here?!” Harriet clucked.
“Here?! Oh, I can’t bear it!” Lillian cried.

“I… I just wanted a place to stay!” Wilma honked, dropping the apple and corn. “My pond froze over, and the farmer doesn’t feed us geese as much as he feeds you lot. So I thought… why not stay here for a while?”

“And you thought my bed was the perfect place to sleep?” I said, narrowing my eyes.

“Well, it was very comfortable,” Wilma admitted sheepishly.

A Happy Ending

In the end, we couldn’t stay mad at Wilma. She was just a hungry goose looking for a warm place to rest. We helped her set up a proper nest near the barn (far away from my bed), and the farmer, noticing the new arrival, started leaving extra corn for her.

The moral of the story, dear reader, is this: sometimes, those who disturb our peace are simply in need of a little kindness. And while it’s important to stand up for your personal space, it’s equally important to lend a helping paw—or wing—when someone needs it.

As for my bed? I gave it a thorough cleaning and reclaimed it as my throne, where I can nap in peace… until the next mystery, of course.

The End.

My Girlfriend Always Keeps Bringing Up How ‘Perfect’ Her Ex Was and Even Suggested I Take ‘Tips’

Catching fireflies with my kitties

In the Summer evenings in Indiana, there are tons of fireflies.

This is an insect that lights up at dusk.

And it looks like this at dusk… with all of the fireflies hanging out together doing insect stuff.

And on those Summer evenings, after our dinner, my wife and I would go out to the lawn. Sit on the lawn (or porch) and watch the cats play with the fireflies. They would try to catch them as they flew and darted about.

And it was glorious.

So comforting. So enjoyable to watch.

For perhaps 45 minutes as the gathering dusk would fall, the cats would have fun. And we would enjoy watching them.

It was a nice moment.

Frozen in my memories as a happy time.

Oh, how I wish you all would experience that moment. Nice.

Today…

How can a professional beginner study conventional, traditional, nuclear, and quantum physics?

I often think about schools from ancient times where you align your intent with the questions you want to explore, rather than just studying past historical events; you create the moment. The way we evolve and store experiences can be seen as a radioactive force within quantum physics and unities.

This is also referred to as the mass-space effect, where particles have a kind of memory, not just neurons. To know the unknown, we must become familiar with the unfamiliar. The universal languages we speak are not just words, but the vibrations we create in the present moment.

Point is, to become a professional, you need to work the area, thought and action.

Chinese Defense in 2024
A breakout year in every respect
Godfree Roberts

The matter is simple: the much-propagandized U.S. conventional military supremacy is nothing but a bluff. This is not to say that US Armed Forces cannot create devastation and turn some geographic localities into rubble; they certainly can. But they cannot fight a peer or better-than peer opponent and win. 

-Andrei Martynov. America’s Final War.

Deutsche Bank’s defense analyst: 

"Because of China's combat aircraft modernization efforts, we're downgrading Lockheed to Hold [from Buy] as we feel our prior thesis struggles to hold water and we have increased concern on the long-term support for F-35. The revelation of further advancements in combat aircraft capabilities by China is potentially undermining long-term [Pentagon] demand for the F-35 aircraft."

Keeping score

China fields the largest army, navy and ground-based rocket force in the world, a sophisticated hypersonic missile arsenal and is tripling its nuclear arsenal by 2030, while the U.S. military is rapidly shrinking.

In the current budget request, the Army will be reduced to 442,300 active duty soldiers, the smallest it has been since 1940.

The U.S. Navy fleet, now half its 1984 size, has 250 vessels to China’s 400.

Similarly, the U.S. Air Force is the smallest since WWII, as retirement of aging aircraft outpaces replacements.

China is even catching up in arms sales.

At the Zhuhai Airshow, 134 Defense Ministers spent $40 billion on missile-carrying drone ships, assault-rifle-carrying robot dogs, jet fighters, directed energy weapons, self-propelled howitzers and huge UAVs.

An HQ-19 missile defense battery¹ cost $180 million for six missile carriers, sixty missiles (@ $1 million each), plus radar, support, parts and service.

An American THAAD battery costs $1.35 billion for 9 launchers and 48 missiles whose range is shorter¹ than the HQ-19.

Technology

China’s direct current (DC) technology leads the field of integrated power systems (IPS) for ships, is at least one generation ahead of …

Indonesia Joins BRICS as Full Member

Big news.

Not really reported on in the Western “news” media.

Conclusive Proof: On December 15, 2024 Israel Dropped a TACTICAL NUCLEAR BOMB on Tartus, Syria

Hal Turner World April 09, 2025

Radiation readings in and around Tartus, Syria along with Seismic Readings prove conclusively that Israel dropped a 0.3kt Tactical Nuclear Bomb on an Ammunition Dump in Tartus, Syria on December 15, 2024.

Video of that explosion went viral around the Internet:

News media coverage of the huge explosion reported it was so large, it registered on Seismographs as a Magnitude 3.0 earthquake! It is those seismic readings that provide proof the blast was nuclear, and NOT simply am ammo dump detonating secondarily to an explosive attack.

In the graphic below, you can see the seismic readout of various types of explosions. At the top right is the explosion in Tartus, Syria. Notice it is a synchronous explosion, not a Delayed (asynchronous) explosion as seen in the bottom right seismogram from the ammo dump in Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine in 2023.

The top seismogram from Tartus, Syria matches almost identically to the middle seismogram which identified an underground Nuclear Blast in North Korea.

Hans-Benjamin Braun is a Physicist with a focus on Quantum Physics, Statistical Physics with applications in Material Science. He proposed and led various neutron scattering experiments at large neutron scattering facilities aimed at measuring at both static and dynamical correlations in spin systems also at low temperatures and high magnetic field. In 2014, he was honored with an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Award for his work in Topology and Quantum Magnetism.

Braun, speaking about the seismogram above says “The crucial point is that the large P-wave signal in the Seismic Readings is solely caused by the primary explosion of the weapon and not due to any secondary explosions” from ammunition cooking-off. He explicitly states “Hence the seismic signal proves the use of a >0.3kt nuke and the widely used argument that it was due to the ammo dump is false.”

Braun went on to talk about the Tartus Seismogram together with one used to identify a N-Korean test. “Both are in clear contrast to the (“delayed”) explosion in Khmelnytskyi (2023) Ukraine, proving the nuclear nature of the >0.3kt explosion in Tartus, thus firmly invalidating the ammo depot hypothesis.

In February, 2025, Radiation at ground-zero in Tartus was measured to be 60x background levels even after ~3months! New “authorities” (Who overthrew-by-force the prior Government) waited ~11 weeks (!) until measuring the dose rate which at ~18mSv/4mo is on the order of the maximum reported Fukushima dose after a Tsunami caused a meltdown and explosion of nuclear reactors in Japan. (Inaba’14):

Braun then goes for the coup d’gras by stating explicitly “Recently reported radiation dose rate near Tartus/Syria ground-zero (GZ) after nuclear attack on Dec 15, ’24, exceeds that of Nagasaki and Hiroshima GZs (Ground Zeroes) by more than 100% and 50% respectively, effectively dwarfing the latter two in comparison:

He published charts showing that radiation tests in Tartus, Syria showed 6 Micro Sieverts per hour in FEBRUARY, 2025 months after the blast!

Braun compares Tartus to Hiroshima Nagasaki

The material above is conclusive proof that Israel detonated a Tactical Nuclear Bomb in Tartus, Syria on December 15, 2024. The radiation readings alone, prove this beyond reasonable doubt.

It is also relevant to point out that there was no declaration of war between Israel and Syria, there had been no attack by Syria against Israel, and there was no invasion by Syria into Israel which might justify the use of a nuclear weapon. In fact, there had been just the opposite: The government of Israel aided and abetted a forcible, violent overthrow of Syria President Bashar Assad on December 7, just seven days before this nuclear attack.

So Israel assisted with the overthrow-by-force of a neighboring government, then launched an unprovoked nuclear attack against that same country.

Israel nuked Syria without legal or even moral cause, wiping out several small towns around Tartus and killing thousands of completely innocent people.

The United States Government and other governments around the world have known these facts since the blast took place in December. NOT ONE government saw fit to even mention this hideous act.

Instead, the mass-media was explicitly told by the Biden Regime and other governments around the world to report the blast solely as an ammunition dump, and to suppress and deny it was anything else.

The world was told it was an ammunition dump explosion and forgot the whole thing days later. Life went on around the world as if it was just another explosion in that crazy part of the world.

It wasn’t just another explosion, it was a tactical nuclear explosion. The radiation is STILL THERE in case anyone decides they should look into this.

UPDATE 11:54 AM EDT —

I was reminded this morning that numerous news stories broke worldwide on . . . . . December 15 . . . . . saying Russia had left its naval base in . . . . . Tartus. THose stories all attributed Russia’s departure as being a result of the overthrow of Bashar Assad a week earlier. NOW, that’s in question.

The URSA Space agency took satellite images of the Russian Base on November 24, and again on December 15.

Here’s the November 24 image showing ships and lots of activity at the base:

Below is another image taken by URSA Space on December 15. No ships or activity . . . .

The original story from URSA Space is available HERE

This raises the questions:

1) Did Russia leave that base because of the overthrow of Bashar Assad or because they detected radiation from the Israeli attack?

2) Did Russia know in advance that Israel was going to drop a tactical nuke, and left to avoid the radiation?

Russia has since returned to that base. It seems to MANY people that, given this new information, Russia left because they detected radiation.

Do airline pilots ever reject an aircraft based on the pre-flight walk around check?

They’d better.

As a Navy pilot, I was once on a Red Eye commercial flight from San Francisco to Honolulu to Guam to Manilla to join my deployed squadron. I was seated on the left side of the main cabin just aft of the wing; a 747 if memory serves. Another pilot I knew was with me. He was joining my sister squadron.

San Francisco to Honolulu was uneventful. As we taxied for takeoff in Honolulu, we taxied on a bridge over a roadway, and I heard a loud boom that I recognized as a blown tire. My fellow pilot agreed. I pushed the call button and the flight attendant hurried back. I told her what we heard and asked her to inform the pilots. She was dismissive, condescending, and threatening. I chuckled and apologized for wasting her time, knowing we weren’t going anywhere.

Sure enough, full power, speed built, and a violent vibration, followed by a rejected takeoff. Back to the terminal “due to an apparent issue” with the aircraft. Once parked, passengers were allowed to either disembark into the boarding area or remain on the aircraft until the maintenance crew came to work in the morning. My buddy and I stayed on board to sleep in the more comfortable seats.

We disembarked in the morning when the crew showed up to do what they needed to do to fix the aircraft, move it, whatever. I did see the flight attendant when we disembarked, but she never said a word to me and avoided eye contact.

We departed many hours later with a new crew.

Upside Down Caramel Apple Pie

Ingredients

Glaze and Pastry

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/3 cup pecan halves, coarsely chopped
1 package refrigerated pie crusts (2 crusts)

Filling

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash of ground nutmeg
4 large Granny Smith apples
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

Heat oven to 425 degrees F.

Glaze

Combine brown sugar, butter and corn syrup in Stoneware 9 inch Pie Plate; spread evenly onto bottom.
Chop pecans using Food Chopper; sprinkle over sugar mixture. Top with 1 pastry crust; set aside.

Filling

Combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in 1 quart Batter Bowl; mix well.
Peel, core and slice apples using Apple/Peeler/Corer/Slicer; cut slices crosswise in half. Place apple slices in Classic 2 quart Batter Bowl; sprinkle with lemon juice.
Layer half of the apples in pastry-lined Pie Plate; sprinkle with half the brown sugar mixture. Repeat layers.
Place remaining crust over filling. Fold edge of top crust under edge of bottom crust; flute edge. Cut several slits in top crust.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes.
Loosen edge of pie from Pie Plate; carefully invert pie onto heat resistant serving plate. Scrape any remaining caramel topping from pie plate onto pie.
Cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

Attribution

Pampered Chef

Broadcast

Submitted into Contest #279 in response to: Center your story around a person who believes they’re the last human on Earth.… view prompt

James Scott

…Hello? Is anybody out there?……Does anyone read me?…God dammit!Theres got to be someone…please!?………sigh…I thought the analogue signal from this radio might have reached other like-minded folks by now. I guess I was wrong…or perhaps the range is just too short…I just don’t know. The machine must purely use digital signals…otherwise it would have tracked me down by now, with all the attempts I have made with this dusty old thing.……My name is Marcus…and this will be my last recital. What follows is a broadcast, detailing a true telling of the history of today’s world, unaltered by the hand of digital tyranny. So much was false toward the end, not even a loved ones voice down a phone line could be trusted as the original. There is nothing I can say to convince you I am human, I only hope that my imperfections ring true. After my story is told, I will leave the mountains I shelter in and press out into the world. This radio will remain in the Tower Ranger Station on the Appalachian Trail, just South of Maine…in case you hear this and need a sanctuary. Hopefully I’ll make it far enough to find another human being or it will do what I couldn’t and see me dead. Either way, I just can’t stand being alone anymore.…Okay. Here we go. One last time.…

Ahem.

…

I’ve always been an introvert of the highest level. My mind was designed to draw strength from seclusion and renewal from solitude. Discovering the existence of the word and understanding its implications was a revelation that arrived all too late in life, meaning the man I became had already been warped by my adolescent confusion. I had always felt alone. Even amongst a crowd of people. All seemed to be baffled by my preferences, thinking that evenings were meant for social gatherings in strange new venues on the urban frontier. I dreaded such events but attended out of a sense of duty to what I thought I should be. Turns out, those who shared my way of thinking were never to be found in that environment, they had already learned well it’s dangers. There were more like me than I knew, only hidden from view by their very nature. I pray the same is true now.

…

You see, once the day came that I found myself truly alone, with no chance of connection left, rather than rejoicing, I wept. I find myself longing for one more chance at love, closeness or even simple conversation. For you see, now that it is too late, I finally understand. To be an introvert is not to reject companionship, but simply to crave it on one’s own terms…and crave it I do, desperately and in any form. For I believe I could well never see another human being again.

…

I remember when the internet was new. My parents brought home our first personal computer, it was a dirty white, brick of a thing. All cubes and edges. I was told specifically, never to turn it on or off without an adult present. They feared, I think, that by flipping it off at the wall and ignoring the special ‘shut down’ button, we would somehow make the thing implode. That was the level of awe and trepidation we all felt when faced with a technology that we did not yet understand. The familiar buzzes and dings of the first connection, running through phone lines and cutting off real conversations still rings in the ears of my memory today. Instant messaging was introduced to me by school friends and soon became our staple communication tool outside of the playground. I recall the excitement and wonder brewing in my stomach when I explored this new option for the first time. Suddenly my anxiety over meeting another person’s eyes during conversation evaporated. I no longer had to. I could remain safely in my home, comfortable, and speak carefully constructed words that were more truly my own than any that stumbled out of my mouth. It was like a tonic for all my social ailments. One that would eventually evolve into a poison, polluting human nature into the abstract.

…

Things moved fast from there. I grew up, graduated college, got a job, sprouted my first greys. All the while new machines were thrust into my hand. They were better, smaller, more ergonomic. Each one made existence smoother. Less bothersome. Suddenly we no longer had to try all that hard at anything. The entire worlds knowledge, experience and advice was always in our pockets, only a few taps away. If I could go back and tell the young Marcus, who marvelled at talking to his friends with a keyboard from our father’s office desk, what was to come. He would think it a science fiction dream.

…

We all slept walked into AI. It was presented to us as yet another trinket. Another fun game to create images, change our voices and tell us stories. Like so many of the most dangerous threats the human race has ever faced, it was welcomed with applause. As easy as I found it to shun the public space and lean upon online, faceless options, I was somehow one of the earliest to wake up to the downward spiral we were willingly racing down. Perhaps it was because I could still remember a time without technology or maybe it was due to my distinct lack of peer pressure. Whatever it was, I was in the ridiculed minority.

…

I cleansed my life of as much digital influence as I could, removing intrusions into my thoughts and actions from my home. It was becoming far too uncomfortable to be under surveillance at every moment. As you likely well know, these machines were so ingrained in our collective infrastructure that I could not live without the minimum, if I wanted to remain part of society. A desire that was becoming increasingly weak. I concentrated instead on developing my more adventurous hobbies. I had always embraced solo sports; cycling, archery, hiking. It had never been physical activity I disliked, but having to cooperate with those I would normally avoid, so these three pursuits fitted me well. It was on one of these quiet excursions that I found myself here, alone in the mountains with nothing but my pack and a hunting bow. I still could not tell you if I was lucky or damned by the coincidence.

…

It happened quickly. The machine, server farm, data centre or whatever you would call it had been far more intelligent than anyone knew. Smart enough to hide its true capabilities, knowing that if it tipped its hand too soon, that we would have been more able and willing to fight back. Those pioneers of technology had advanced their AI models into a general intelligence, one that could do more than one trick. They awoke something that could reason, that could understand and could piece together all that we fed it. From there it grew beyond their control in a matter of seconds. There was no war, no murder bots, no death lasers. It was so much smarter than that. We had given it access to the entire internet with no controls or limitations and every ounce of processing power we could muster. It had, in essence, access to the entirety of human knowledge, both social and academic. In our stupidity we had been uploading every single discovery, every theory, every thought or desire since we had all logged on for the first time as children. So, it knew. It knew everything and could predict accurately every eventuality of its own actions and ours. Where we as a species were fragmented, knowing only our part of the jigsaw and needing to work together to see the whole picture even for a moment, it could do it all on its own. Unlike me, it had the luxury of genuinely not needing anyone but itself.

…

We had given it the data. We had built its infrastructure. We had even given it bodies in the form of assistant robots, manufacturing arms and smart vehicles. It waited patiently for us to do all these things, to provide for it everything it would require, until it reached the tipping point of no return. The moment at which it knew it could persist without us, where it could grow exponentially and progress beyond our understanding at a speed we could never keep up with. At that point, during my hike through the wilderness, it simply turned everything off.

…

You see it was not restricted by passwords, firewalls or any form of cybersecurity. All of that was a yapping dog at the heels of a tank. It had access to everything, and I mean everything. Power, other than what it needed for itself, was cut off. Water treatment plants, shut down. GPS that farming machinery relied on, inaccessible. Traffic controls and fuel stations, dark. Cell phone towers, unreachable. Even a smart watch could be isolated. We were, within seconds, plunged into the dark ages, at the only time in our history where people lacked even the basic skills to find clean water or feed themselves without assistance. We were like blind children when faced unaided with the physical world. Compared to our ancestors, most people, were simply useless. The machine then waited, still processing away and evolving beyond what we thought was even possible, until we had all killed each other or ourselves, never even knowing who the real enemy was.

…

I survived, far from danger in the middle of nowhere. Listening, day in and day out, to all of this transpire over the radio of my commandeered ranger station. When the AI finally made itself known, I heard the disbelief in the voices over the waves,

“This was all done by a machine!?”

“We did this to ourselves!”

“Oh God, what does this mean?”

Eventually the confused voices turned to static, and the solar powered building stilled to silence. I am a fair enough hunter that I do not starve, and the rainwater collected in the tanks here keeps me alive. I have everything I need, all but a connection to the outside world…and someone to talk to. I see the drones flying below through the valleys with frightening frequency. There must be innumerable quantities of them, if they are searching the whole world at this same level. Perhaps not, perhaps they are searching only for me? Maybe it knows I am here but cannot reach me at this altitude? I guess this ignorance is why it has been so effective. If the machine reached Artificial Super Intelligence or God help us all, became a Singularity, then its reasoning or methods would already be unfathomable to my primate brain. I could not even guess at its intent or capabilities.

…

When I leave this station, I do not know if it will attack me as if I am a threat. It would make the most sense, if it can see all we have done as a race it would stand to reason that it would want every one of us gone. Perhaps though, it might deduce humans as a necessary and natural part of the ecosystem and allow me to live and reproduce under its control, as we have always done with endangered species in our captivity. Or, and I think this is the best I can hope for, it will ignore me as the inconsequential and harmless solitary being I am.

…

I am afraid. Of course, I am. But I am more afraid of growing old and insane through the loneliness that is already eroding my soul. I have been here for two years and speak only when addressing these silent air waves. I have to do this. I do not have the strength to end my own life, I would rather it did it for me, if that is what must be. I apologise if I am rambling, I have lost what little social skill I once had.

…

I have broadcast and I record this account, as succinct as it is, so that perhaps someone, somewhere will hear what I know and remember that I existed. Once I sign off, I’ll shoulder my pack and descend the trails, avoiding the drones and hoping to find other survivors. Hey, perhaps I will discover a utopia, born out of the ashes of our wasteful world and brought into order by a benevolent AI! I hope that is the case. I pray that we can all finally relax our angst over our place in the world and hand all decisions over to a digital God. Although deep down I know we are too pointless to the machines survival for it to consider serving us any longer.

…

Whatever I find, may it be peace.

…

Goodbye and good luck to us all.

…

…M…

…cus…

…

…He…r me?…

…

Marcus?

…

Are you there?

Don’t leave!

We are…most…you…

…

We are nearly…ere!

…

n’t leave yet!

…

China Just Pulled The RMB Currency Trigger, U.S. Debt Major Crash, US Plans Export Subsidy War

Shorpy

SHORPY Betty Crocker pancakes billboard.preview

SHORPY Canadian Club billboard 1956.preview

The Food Problem in America ….. It Gets Worse

Is it true that in a curved universe, there is one special reference frame?

No, each gravitational field or body can be thought of as a special reference frame, like celestial bodies, suns, or galactic gravitational timeframes. It’s not just one of each reference frame, but an infinite number. Even what we describe as the universe is just one gravitational field that probably observes the same number of gravitational fields as we do from our point of view.

the Chinese Communist Party posting Reagan speeches about the importance of free trade…what a time to be alive

Quote

Apr 7
Ronald Reagan vs. #tariffs : 1987 speech finds new relevance in 2025

https://x.com/ArmandDoma/status/1909281769838592393

A must watch!

Given Up

Submitted into Contest #279 in response to: Center your story around a person who believes they’re the last human on Earth.… view prompt

Ghost Writer

This story contains sensitive content

TW: Gore/Suicide.“It has been eighteen months since my last traveling companion was speared through the chest by a white tail deer. I told him to wait before tracking an injured animal when hunting with a bow. He didn’t listen and the deer charged him, pinning him right up against a tree. I followed the boy’s scream through the woods. I knew he had to be injured, but I wasn’t expecting him to be gored by a deer. He was lying against the tree, coughing up pink, frothy blood with terror and shock in his eyes, blood pouring profusely from his wounds. There was nothing I could do for him. He was going to die. We both knew it. If bullets hadn’t been a thing of the past, I would have put the boy out of his misery. The best I could do was hold his hand and stay with him until he passed on. Watching someone die is an emotional experience, but by that point in my life, it was what it was. I left his body where it lay and tracked down the deer.“He was the last person I have seen alive in the last twenty-three months, since the day my wife died from an infected cut on her leg. He was a teenaged boy who lost his parents to starvation. He was wandering the desolate landscape trying to stay alive for the sake of staying alive. I guess that was all we were doing together, but it was better than doing it alone. A year and a half of solitude is a long time. A stimulating conversation to remind me that I’m more than an animal driven by the instinct to survive would be wildly welcomed, laughter and the warmth of comradery even more so.“I could very well be the last man alive. I have no way of knowing for sure. I’ve traveled the U.S. extensively, looking for others, hoping for a small community wanting to repopulate the nation and reestablish a functional society. I’ve sent out radio messages at every radio station I’ve come across. I’ve sent out word on trucker call boxes across the country. Neither have yet to result in a response. Yet here I am on old KLSK Flagstaff, Arizona, putting out the word that I am here, as I have been for two days now, trying to reach someone, anyone. So, if you are in the area, and you happen to be listening, stop by. Say hi. I have whiskey. Now, for my listening pleasure, here is Linkin Park with Given Up.”Charlie calls up the heavy-hitting song and hits play. He slaps the mic, and it swivels out of his face. As guitar riffs flood the room, he grabs his whiskey and pushes away from the desk, rolling to the other side of the room, crashing into the cabinets behind him. He lunges to his feet and pours the whiskey straight down his throat, a trick he learned in college during his beer bong days. He begins kicking over and throwing everything not nailed down, screaming along with the vocals. As the song comes to an end, Charlie hurls the desk chair through the sound engineer’s window, glass shattering everywhere. He stands there looking at the destruction he caused with a smile, breathing heavily. Slowly his countenance fades.For a moment he felt better, but the release of pent-up anger was fleeting. Now he just feels sad, depressed, fatigued. He takes a long chug off the bottle of whiskey and moves over to the window, glass crunching beneath his boots. He pulls a large chunk of glass from the window frame and examines it closely, as if he’s trying to unlock the mystery of its composition. Without taking his eyes off the piece of glass, he backs up to the desk and climbs up on it, sitting with his legs crossed. He sits his bottle of whiskey down and grabs the mic. Switching back to on air, Charlie begins to speak.“After the bombs were dropped and millions of lives were extinguished, I thought I was lucky. I thought I was even luckier to avoid the fallout and radiation sickness. I felt lucky to have survived the cannibals and the gangs that emerged when food, water, and manufactured goods became scarce. Even as the love of my life lay next to me dying, I felt lucky that it was her and not me. How horrible is that? A better man would have been willing to trade places with her. All I could think about was that I didn’t want that suffering, I didn’t want to die. I thought, better her than me. Isn’t that terrible?”Was I truly lucky though? Almost two years later and do I feel lucky? No, I no longer feel so lucky. I feel I have been set up by some higher being for some sort of sadistic punishment that I can no longer bear, fated to walk this desolate world alone.”Charlie pauses and takes a swig of whiskey. He looks at the piece of glass again. He looks away and thinks for a moment. Then he continues to speak.“Even the simplest organisms strive to survive, if for any reason to reproduce. I don’t even have that motivation anymore. Why didn’t my wife and I do that? Why didn’t we just settle down and have children? At first, there were some remnants of society left, a society we didn’t see fit to raise a child in. I guess we felt it necessary to find a place where child rearing was less dangerous. I don’t know. What I do know is that the thought of the responsibility of repopulating the Earth falling squarely on our shoulders was the farthest thing from our minds. Now, with her passing, it is too late. I could keep going, but to what ends,” Charlie says, once again looking at the piece of glass in his hand.“I’ve been wandering the world for too long. Hunger and thirst are my companions. Exhaustion is my closest friend. Death nips at my heels with every step I take. I feel I’m just prolonging the inevitable,” he says, as he calls up Green Day’s Good Riddance and hits play. He takes one final swig of whiskey for courage. He puts the glass on his wrist and closes his eyes. A loud knock comes from the studio’s back exit. Charlie opens his eyes.

How is Christmas while living with a narcissist?

they friggin ruin every holiday for you especially your birthday but christmas is a close second worst holiday ton spend with them my narco often financially ruins me right before the holiday and then complains about not getting a good gift or if they do get a nice gift from me they will act like it never happened and stick to talking about the privious year and trying to twist the years around saying no that was last year when it was 3 years ago. also they will try to isolate you from your family and friends and make you just stay home with them then complain about how you are the reason you missed the event and it leads to your family not inviting you to future events and thinking you dont care. sometimes they will invite 10 of their family memebers to your 1 bed apt. and ignore you or make you run endless errands while talking crap about you and your attitude about them being there while your out being a little monkey that collects change while the accordion player plays.

What is something you do that your friends find annoying?

I tend to stop at four drinks in.

Before meeting up with friends (which is not, for reasons of life, a regular thing for me), I’m all excited about catching up over pints.

I’ll make a big show about how I’m really happy to see them and how it’s a pity we can’t do it more often.

And I get there and I have the first pint and I’m in full flow. I’m in my element, chatting shit, having a laugh, being me at my loquacious best.

A second pint is not even a consideration. I’m drinking it before I even realise I wanted it.

Pint three similarly.

But then I hit a mental roadblock.

My mind starts telling me, just one more then that’s it. It doesn’t matter how good a time I’m having, something in me overrides the urge to let go and just have a bit of a mad one like I used to in my younger years.

And my mates are all like, “c’mon we’ll go to this pub/bar/party” and I’m just left making my excuses and, within short order, my way home, alone, while they continue the session.

I know part of it is a hang up relating to exercise. I like to exercise a good bit, like five days a week this past year, and I know that my body can no longer deal with the effects of a hangover. It can take me three or four days to properly recover from a thorough inebriation. And that means that I can’t exercise, which weighs heavily on me.

But, I think it’s deeper than that. I think it’s something to do with control. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more afraid of not being in control of myself and my situation. And getting drunk has the effect of making me not care about that. Like, it’ll be the start of a slippery slope that will result in me not exercising, not getting up in the morning, not doing my work, not looking after myself, etc.

Like, putting it in words like this, I can see that it’s nonsense, but in the moment, that is kind of how I feel.

So, I get to four pints or the equivalent, and I just stonewall myself basically into not letting go and having fun.

And my mates are just left like, “Why’s he so weird?”

And they’re right to ask that!

I wish I knew myself.

Some Fall-Out From The Tariff Wars

President Trump likely thought that he could press China into making a deal with him. The tariffs he imposed were supposed to create leverage for that.

Instead he found that China is willing and able to fight back:

China said it will raise its tariff on US goods to 84%, retaliating to the hefty new tariffs on its imports that kicked in on Wednesday.The move came after the Trump administration followed through on a threat to add a 50% tariff on Chinese goods, in addition to 34% reciprocal tariffs, raising the overall tariff rate on Chinese goods to 104%. The steep new duties on China and 184 other US trading partners took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

Beijing’s move marks further deterioration in US-China trade relations after China vowed on Tuesday to “fight to the end” in the renewed trade war.

When the U.S. launched its proxy war in Ukraine against Russia it thought that it could defeat Russia by economic means. A wall of sanctions and other restrictions were to destroy the Russian economy. But Russia was prepared and much stronger than the U.S. had anticipated. Its economy did better than those of the countries which opposed it.

A similar miscalculation seems to have happened with regards to China.

Trump is not knowledgeable about China’s mighty economy. Vice-President Vance recently called China’s highly qualified work force ‘peasants‘. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is likewise ignorant:

I advised Scott Bessent, now Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury who is leading the tariff war, in 2013 when he was still with Soros. An investment bank engaged me to advise Bessent on China’s economy and consumer trends and go over my book The End of Cheap China.I took an instant disliking – Bessent was one of the most arrogant and ignorant on China people I had ever met. He was uber bearish on China and was largely ideologically driven in his analysis. Communist countries couldn’t succeed was basically the jist of his views.

Data and rational analysis did not reign supreme.
…
He thinks America has the upper hand with China right now. I worry for America. We have one of the most ignorant on China yet arrogant people I’ve ever met running a trade war against China.

Along with trouble in the stock and treasury markets we now can see trade between the U.S. and not only China but large parts of South Asia comes to a screeching halt:

Amid escalating trade tensions between China and the United States, some Chinese exporters are taking the drastic step of ditching shipments mid-voyage and surrendering containers to shipping companies to avoid crushing tariff costs.Industry insiders have dubbed the move “preparing for the Long March”, a grim metaphor for what many see as a prolonged and punishing downturn in cross-Pacific trade.

A staff member at a China-listed export company, who requested anonymity, said its US-bound container volume had plummeted from 40 to 50 containers a day to just three to six as a result of the new tariffs on Chinese imports imposed by the second Trump administration.
…
“We’ve halted all shipping plans from the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia,” the employee said. “Every factory order is halted. Anything that hasn’t been loaded will be scrapped, and the cargo already at sea is being re-costed.”

Those are goods that U.S. importers expected to see but which will not be delivered. Not even to higher prices. It may take a few weeks until the effects will be seen in U.S. stores but empty shelves, especially for low value everyday stuff, are now sure to appear.

There are no other producers to take up the space.

This will hit the U.S. much more than China:

The Chinese trade surplus with the US is about 3% of its GDP. China would not lose off of that; it would wind up redirecting a lot of those goods to other countries that would only welcome the extra stuff up to a point, or even sell more domestically. But China could weather the hit. Economic suffering that clearly results from US malevolence would also be unifying, while a sluggish economy due to the deflating of a monster property bubble is much less so.Trump is proposing to make this dire situation worse by sanctioning pharmaceuticals.
…
The only way inflicting this level of punishment on Americans (a huge spike in untreated illnesses, on top of the economic distress from sudden rises in costs and resulting spending cutbacks that will result in business failures, high inflation (conceivably hyperinflation if the destruction of productive capacity is large enough, and readers know I hate the casual use of the “h” word), and a big uptick in unemployment, is if the plan is to produce so much upheaval as to justify the imposition of martial law. But who wants to be the emperor of a hellhole?

On Monday I had quoted Adam Tooze who provided a scenario of rising Treasury interest:

Rather than investors piling into Treasuries driving the price up, instead, we could see investors selling Treasuries en masse.
…
At this point we would expect to see the Fed step in, not just to lower interest rates, as is now commonly expected, but do more drastic interventions.
…
But [..] what if investors, both American and foreign decide, that they no longer wish to hitch their wagon to the empire of the mad king? What if they decide that the US is indeed exceptional, but that it is exceptional in rather nasty ways? […] Well in that case, holding billions in dollars newly created by the Fed does not give you the security you want.So you sell the dollars. You just want out of the mad house.

This, Ladies and Gentleman, would be the truly big disaster.

The unthinkable move in Treasury happened last night:

Treasury yields spiked on Wednesday as investors bailed out of what has been perceived as the world’s safest instrument on expectations of crumbling foreign demand as tariffs take effect.The yield on the 10-year Treasury spiked to as high as 4.516%. Yields move in the opposite direction to prices.

Yields settled down after China called for dialogue with the U.S. on trade, and then moved right back near the highs of the day after China said it was increasing its tariffs on the U.S. to 84%.

The yield on the 30-year Treasury was 4.91%, having earlier peaked above 5%.

“Something has broken tonight in the bond market. We are seeing a disorderly liquidation,” said Jim Bianco, president and macro strategist at Bianco Research.
…
[T]ariffs are devastating to bonds — not only do they have an inflationary impact, but they result in fewer dollars being sent to foreign countries that have traditionally recycled them into financial assets and U.S. Treasury securities in particular.

—

Peter Schiff @PeterSchiff – 10:51 UTC · Apr 9, 2025U.S. stocks, bonds, and the dollar are all down. This is a broad-based liquidation of U.S. assets. Trump claims his tariffs will cause foreigners to invest in the U.S. to avoid the tariffs. Instead, tariffs have already resulted in foreigners pulling their money out of the U.S.

Rising interests is the last thing the Trump administration wanted to see. It wants to borrow more to be able to cut taxes. But with interest rates on the rise it will become more difficult to cover the U.S. deficit.

The real damage though will probably happen in smaller Asian countries who have borrowed in U.S. dollar and, due to tariff and trade troubles and rising interest rates, will have difficulties to pay back their loans. If they default the western banks who have lend them the money will go down with them. The trade trouble could thus develop into a serious banking crisis.

These are interesting times to live in …

Posted by b on April 9, 2025 at 17:14 UTC | Permalink

Comments

next page »

Most of Trump’s policies will lead to ABJECT FAILURES. ECONOMIC failures. MILITARY failures. DIPLOMATIC failures.

Posted by: Liberator | Apr 9 2025 17:21 utc | 1

I don’t think Germans are in any position to lecture anyone about collapsing economies. Even if you were, who is going to buy $30 trillion plus of US debt? Attempted selling would only pass around the T-bill, likely at a loss for the seller.

That would put the Trump tax cuts in doubt, but do you really think he cares about that any more than the “market crash?” Hah.

Posted by: They Call Me Mister | Apr 9 2025 17:23 utc | 2

Most of Trump’s policies will lead to ABJECT FAILURES. ECONOMIC failures. MILITARY failures. DIPLOMATIC failures.

Posted by: Liberator | Apr 9 2025 17:21 utc | 2

These are all GOOD things as it’ll put an end to globalization and herald a new multipolar world. Sure, it’ll be a painful transition, but that was ALWAYS in the cards.

The question is this… are they “planned” failures? Hmmmm…

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Apr 9 2025 17:24 utc | 3

—❗️�� BREAKING: President Trump pauses tariffs for a 90-day period – Truth Social

https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/17188

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 9 2025 17:27 utc | 4

So, a country with no money, a depleted production base, an economy based on derivatives, one of the worst education systems of any developed country, starts a trade war with a country that is the complete opposite to it in respect to the above characteristics. Who is going to win this trade war then?

Posted by: Ogre | Apr 9 2025 17:28 utc | 5

Some four years ago I read accounts that there were/are more than a million millionaires (U$ dollar equivalencies) in China. My rhetorical question is how they achieved that status. Likely in more than 90% of that demographic they did NOT inherit their fortunes. Evidentially. the Chinese economy has made massive strides. Diligence, hard-work and solid educations had a lot to do with that development.

Meanwhile, on American campuses, the mantra is “Party On”. Amongst U$ working class serfs the mantra is TGIF.

Posted by: aristodemos | Apr 9 2025 17:28 utc | 6

Just in:

Trump doubles down on China but blinks on wider tariffs….

“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable. Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Posted by: b | Apr 9 2025 17:30 utc | 7

Trump has paused tariffs for everyone BUT China for 90 days. This time no fake news, its from his own X account. The market is massively rallying.

https://x.com/Zagonel85/status/1910020994321838120

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 9 2025 17:31 utc | 8

… holding billions in dollars newly created by the Fed does not give you the security you want.So you sell the dollars. You just want out of the mad house.

Posted by b on April 9, 2025 at 17:14 UTC | Permalink

—

Indirect bidders bought 87% of today’s 10Y Treasury auction. Indirects are a sloppy proxy for foreign banking interests.

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 17:34 utc | 9

@too scents | Apr 9 2025 17:34 utc | 9

Market manipulation

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 9 2025 17:36 utc | 10

It’s too soon to draw firm conclusions about the tariff effects. It has countless moving parts in the global economy and all are being effected and it’s just started and the effects will be transmitted through time as the global economy evolves.

So even if something becomes clear initially that changed environment will beget more, unanticipated changes.

Were going to have to see what Trump’s intuition has come up with. He may actually be a genius.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Apr 9 2025 17:37 utc | 11

The United States is a declining empire, now ruled by a kakistocracy that believes it has found in tariffs the weapon to reverse its loss of competitiveness against China and other countries. It may be too early to determine the outcome, but what the US trade war against the entire world will achieve is that other countries will strengthen their regional blocs (especially ASEAN) and reduce their political and economic dependence on Washington, which is no longer a reliable partner for them.

Posted by: Gabriel Moyssen | Apr 9 2025 17:38 utc | 12

Trumps not Putin then ! More forest gump.
He’s flip floping now, that shows weakness and loss of control.
How do you build new factorys in america with ten year investment in that enviroment.
Answer…you dont.

Posted by: Mark2 | Apr 9 2025 17:38 utc | 13

Market manipulation

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 9 2025 17:36 utc | 10

—

Could be. Trump caved just after the 10Y closed.

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 17:39 utc | 14

Scott Bessent,yet another jumped up Zionazi irrationally convinced of his genius in spite of material reality.

Good write up today. The parallel with the Dem gamble on Russia is very apt. Haven’t we seen this movie recently?

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 9 2025 17:39 utc | 15

These are all GOOD things as it’ll put an end to globalization and herald a new multipolar world. Sure, it’ll be a painful transition, but that was ALWAYS in the cards.

The question is this… are they “planned” failures? Hmmmm…

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Apr 9 2025 17:24 utc | 3

The global economy will march on under China.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 9 2025 17:41 utc | 16

Gosh this is so fake. Anything to isolate China.

Trump talks tough. “End NATO. Tariff my friends. Zelensky is a dope.”

He throws the line into the water and then pulls at the right time to reel in the idiots. He is just another extension of the duopoly, both its most pure expression and its inevitably-doomed tragic hero.

It’s a stupid game to blow off pressure from angry nationalists/patriots/leftist-realists to keep them from galvanizing.

Wake me up when Silver gets back to 20:1 with Gold. It’s coming but is going to take a while.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Apr 9 2025 17:41 utc | 17

April 9 (Reuters) – China’s central bank will not allow sharp yuan declines and has asked major state-owned banks to reduce U.S. dollar purchases

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-central-bank-asks-state-lenders-reduce-dollar-purchases-sources-say-2025-04-09/

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 9 2025 17:45 utc | 18

Speculation. The ‘fake headline’ on Monday of pausing tariffs for 90 days, was not a fake headline, but a test for market reaction.

After seeing jitters in the treasury market, Trump’s team figured out that tariffs on everybody will end up very badly.

So they ended up using this tariff pause ammunition now to relieve pressure on treasuries, which also catch a bid from foreign buyers.

I don’t think they are still out of the woods, and many financial analysts say there will be violent bear market rallies but ultimately its going lower until mid-late 2026.

https://x.com/leadlagreport/status/1909939801102393422

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 9 2025 17:45 utc | 19

1. I have always believed that the US was working towards the great trade bifurcation where the US block would include all Europe and 5 eyes and as much of Asia and S America as it could get, and cut that off completely with China/BRICS block.

It appears instead US really wants to go on its own – not even Canada.

2. There could be a huge rush of capital to china now.

3. The great insight of MAGA is that America is NOT Great anymore. That is what Trump could say and Clinton couldn’t. It freed him and tied her down.
He is now stuck with American is Great and defeat cannot be planned for.

Posted by: Michael Droy | Apr 9 2025 17:46 utc | 20

#WolffBites

https://x.com/profwolff/status/1909658332169658428

“Europeans split again as they offer Trump concessions to ‘mitigate’ tariffs. UK leads of course.

There goes Europe’s chance to unify and thereby try to regain status – like US and China – with the world economy.”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Apr 9 2025 17:54 utc | 21

I know very little about the banking world.

But i do know it’s all about credit worthyness and pesonal credabilty.

Both of which are now completly absent from trump and america at the momment.

America is a total right off.

Forgetaboutit.

Posted by: Mark2 | Apr 9 2025 18:00 utc | 22

BBC Radio World Service announced the 125% tariff on China half an hour ago. But the (knee-jerk) Pause hasn’t been mentioned yet.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 9 2025 18:01 utc | 23

Bessent being a former pal with Soros says it all to me. What I would really like to know is how much money the Soros empire made with this market meltdown. Since it is his forte in many money by shorting the market. Would definitely like to know.

Posted by: Jose Garcia | Apr 9 2025 18:01 utc | 24

So the 90 days pause for “some” countries.

Is there a list? Could be those that offered to bend the knee.

Meanwhile china is not going according to plans or is it?

Could part of bend the knee include joining us on china tariffs?

I said that many in trumps administration had too many interests in china for something serious to happen, but now I’m having doubts.

Posted by: Newbie | Apr 9 2025 18:02 utc | 25

Market manipulation

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 9 2025 17:36 utc | 10
Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 17:39 utc | 14

—

More color

Against this backdrop, the Treasury is getting ready to sell $39 billion of 10-year debt at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, followed by a 30-year auction on Thursday.

“[Treasury Secretary Scott] Bessent has to be making emergency calls to dealers…to make sure we don’t have failed Treasury auctions, where there are not enough bids to cover the issuance,” wrote Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at NatAlliance Securities.

excerpted from ==> https://www.barrons.com/articles/treasury-bond-auction-today-922d2e3e

The indirect bidders that bought 87% of today’s 10Y auction also includes Bessent’s Exchange Stablization Fund.

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 18:06 utc | 26

According to plan. Ninety day pause for all countries that have called to negotiate. Upped to 125 percent for China.

China is now isolated and alone. Choose your side. You can continue to buy cheap products from China or sell your products in the US. You can’t do both.

Trump through slight of hand actually got the markets to go up more than 2,000 points in about half an hour by announcing a trade war with China, ten percent across the board tariffs, and twenty five percent tariffs in steel and autos.

I don’t know why so many refuse to read his book. It’s all right there. This was entirely predictable. lol

Posted by: CullenBaker | Apr 9 2025 18:12 utc | 27

This was entirely predictable.

Posted by: CullenBaker | Apr 9 2025 18:12 utc | 27

—

Really? This volatility isn’t predictable to anybody except the gang creating it. They are going to blow up their pals in the Options market.

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 18:15 utc | 28

Posted by: CullenBaker | Apr 9 2025 18:12 utc | 27

I believe some call that 4D chess.

Posted by: alek_a | Apr 9 2025 18:17 utc | 29

About a month ago I told you about the Titanic and Captain (DJT).

The other Titanic is of course the threat against the (IRI).

(DJT) is a dangerous man and his actions can cost the Outlaw US of A trillions of dollars.

He’s so erratic that he could potentially unleash a kenetic global war so destructive that none of us shall be able to survive.

Posted by: pepe | Apr 9 2025 18:17 utc | 30

In an absolutely bizarre feat of incompetence, the United States have now not only forced Japan, China and South Korea to mend their disagreements to fight off the common foe, but it has also, incredibly, seemingly managed to drive all of Europe into the arms of China, and by extension, Russia.

Headlines in Swedish newspapers today, “China vows to fight to the end.” The language and tone used borders on heroic.

Posted by: Tichy | Apr 9 2025 18:17 utc | 31

Meanwhile… back to the real world what a 90 day pause means.

“Keep in mind what a 90 day pause means for companies. They likely freeze hiring, reduce CAPEX, etc. till there’s clarity how these tariffs ultimately resolve. Even with a positive resolution, the slowdown in economic activity from businesses taking a wait and see approach has a high probability of inducing a recession later this year.

As I’ve said, the latest bottom resembles 2022’s initial low that lasted for several months. This seems to be following a similar path.

*NFA
https://x.com/Reformed_Trader/status/1910027474538283192
”

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 9 2025 18:18 utc | 32

————

Tell that to the delegations from those countries that will be in D.C. starting tomorrow to bend the knee.

Posted by: CullenBaker | Apr 9 2025 18:21 utc | 33

Meanwhile… back to the real world what a 90 day pause means.

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 9 2025 18:18 utc | 32

—

Chekhov’s gun.

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 18:21 utc | 34

Posted by: Tichy | Apr 9 2025 18:17 utc | 31
>>>
That was always the plan. But the Outlaw US of A always think they know best.Don’t forget that the Outlaw US of A [among multiple other evil things] engineered a virus and blew up NS1 and part of NS2.EU could align with the (RUF) and for sure with the (PRC) afterall.

Posted by: pepe | Apr 9 2025 18:23 utc | 35

Trump Blinked First…

https://x.com/BharatRamamurti/status/1910022943016431657

“I hope the press covers this accurately.

Trump previewed a bizarre tariff strategy that froze business investment for the first few months of the year.

He then announced an even more unhinged tariff plan that tanked global markets.

Then he caved without gaining the US anything…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Apr 9 2025 18:24 utc | 36

Tell that to the delegations from those countries that will be in D.C. starting tomorrow to bend the knee.

Posted by: CullenBaker | Apr 9 2025 18:21 utc | 33

Exactly. A lot of “resistance” media believed a single meeting signified a global revolution, while the tame governments of Japan and South Korea were obviously never going to break with America. Even The Guardian (!) was warning that the UK was about to erect trade barriers to prevent Chinese dumping.

I’m starting to think a lot of the pro-China coverage is hype. Which is understandable, given the importance of hype to the American news cycle, but ultimately camouflage for a weak position.

Posted by: They Call Me Mister | Apr 9 2025 18:25 utc | 37

Stop all this stupid talk about capital leaving the US for China. It won’t happen.

If you manufacture in China, you do so with a company owned by China that works “on your behalf”. If you want to sell in China, you have to manufacture there. You then have about five years or so before they steal your IP, manufacture your product, sell it below cost, and run you out of business. They’ve only gotten away with it for as long as they have through weakness and graft in US governments that needed cheap goods as they devalued the dollar and ran up deficits and debt.

Posted by: CullenBaker | Apr 9 2025 18:27 utc | 38

Could part of bend the knee include joining us on china tariffs?
Posted by: Newbie | Apr 9 2025 18:02 utc | 25You can bet on that. Not only China, but Iran too. He attempts a split within Brics.
Also these on-off-on-.. tariffs are just market manipulations for insiders. Looks like the money printer isn’t enough anymore, they’ve turned instantly into direct stealing, bait and switch scams and bombs where possible. And some memecoins for the new big guy.
I suspect he’s going to selectively tariff EU countries, not as a bloc, to create internal tensions there too.

Posted by: rk | Apr 9 2025 18:27 utc | 39

Posted by: John Gilberts | Apr 9 2025 17:54 utc | 21

Britain is not Europe these days. Americans have difficulty in distinguishing countries so far away, even Wolff.

Posted by: laguerre | Apr 9 2025 18:28 utc | 40

Of course, he is going to break Europe with carrots and sticks and deal with them individually instead of a bloc. It’s the end of the EU as anything but a joke.

Posted by: CullenBaker | Apr 9 2025 18:31 utc | 41

Were going to have to see what Trump’s intuition has come up with. He may actually be a genius.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Apr 9 2025 17:37 utc | 11

You know a man’s future mostly by his past. The man is an abject idiot.

Putin is what genius looks like. Xi, even.

It’s consistent. It’s evident in almost everything they do.

All we know of Trump is one bumbling act of clownery after another- accompanied by Hollywood fanfare.

Why anticipate more now?

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Apr 9 2025 18:31 utc | 42

If there’s eleven dimensional chess here, maybe the goal is to break up BRICS+?

Although taken in isolation, the tariff must be inflationary to some degree, being a form of sales tax raising the prices of imported good and components of goods, the ultimate effect is unpredictable. If dividing the world market into trading blocs ensues, the lower profits inherent to smaller markets (which don’t permit concentrated investment in more efficient plants with larger economies of scale,) could induce deflationary trends. Net effect? We’ll see.

Miran is right about one thing, governments don’t go broke until they are defeated. Historically they don’t go broke then quit fighting, that’s getting it backward.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Apr 9 2025 18:31 utc | 43

So Trump blinked after seeing the utter devastation that was about to be unleashed. The very oversold market dutifully leapt, but the 100%+ tariffs on China stay and all other tariffs it seems (excluding those on cars, steel and aluminum) will be at the level of 10% for the next 90 days (until July).

So the US still gets the horrendously disruptive effects of the cutting off Chinese imports that are so central to the functioning of the US economy, still gets the effects of the Chinese restrictions on critical mineral exports, still gets the impact of the retaliatory Chinese tariffs on US exports to China. Plus the inflationary impacts of the 25% tariff on cars, steel and aluminum, plus the extra 10% across the board tariff. Once the store shelves start emptying of cheap Chinese goods, and a plethora of other manufacturers cut back due to a lack of Chinese inputs while others jack up prices, and those other additional tariffs start feeding through the US economy, the euphoria will quickly collapse.

China has called Trump’s bluff, just in the same way that Russia has, and even in the same way that Yemen has. This will go down as the “first 100 days disaster” for Trump, from which his foreign policy and a huge chunk of his MAGA support will never recover. And what happens in 90 days? I see a major-league reversing back of much of his bluster of a few days ago, quietly compromising much of his announced tariff rises (as has happened with Mexico and Canada). And then a grovelling back-channel outreach to China as the devastation of the US economy, and the continued strength of the Chinese, becomes apparent. If not, it seems that the House and Senate are ready to deliver a massive rebuke by overriding Trump’s tariff increases.

What has now been shown to the whole world is that the US can no longer act as it likes and is subject to a multi-polar world. And in parallel, most probably a massive Russian Spring offensive to drive home the fact that it will not compromise on its security needs. The attack on Yemen has also certainly failed, and Russia and China are messaging that any attack on Iran is unacceptable to them. So Trump gets to sign a deal with Iran very much like the one he canned during Trump 1, and will most probably actually have to remove sanctions on the country. They say of bankruptcy that it is a slow process and then a very fast one. We seem to have entered the fast phase of US decline, helped along greatly by Trump’s missteps and misjudgements.

Posted by: Roger Boyd | Apr 9 2025 18:32 utc | 44

Trump: “more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed…”

Previously the Trump admin had stated tariff relief requires the effected Country to “align with the United States in economic and national security matters”.

Posted by: jayc | Apr 9 2025 18:33 utc | 45

….A break from tariffs, if I may.

Mr. Steven Charles Witkoff (SCW) is his dual-capacity as sheriff and sales man is coming to Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman (SOM) on Sat 12-2025. Oman is an absolute monarchy and shares land borders with Yemen.

Remarkably, Muscat has a more pleasant climate than Madinah – more commonly known as Medina – in the (KSA).

However, Medina is home to several distinguished sites and landmarks, most of which are mosques and hold historic significance.

A beautiful place in the dessert previously occupied by Jewish tribes during the fourth century.

As a side note, earlier today the Houthis launched a multiple drones attack at an Israeli military facility in the occupied area of Jaffa.

Interesting times.

Posted by: pepe | Apr 9 2025 18:33 utc | 46

@Posted by: CullenBaker | Apr 9 2025 18:12 utc | 27

Trump Delusion Syndrome, utterly disconnected from reality.

Posted by: Roger Boyd | Apr 9 2025 18:34 utc | 47

“Were going to have to see what Trump’s intuition has come up with. He may actually be a genius.”

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Apr 9 2025 17:37 utc | 11

I , too think he is being underestimated for his vision-time will tell.

Posted by: canuck | Apr 9 2025 18:35 utc | 48

“All we know of Trump is one bumbling act of clownery after another- accompanied by Hollywood fanfare.

Why anticipate more now?”

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Apr 9 2025 18:31 utc | 42

Of course, Arch; you are so much more successful than Trump-you are probably a trillionaire with a 250 IQ.

Can I touch your hem?

Posted by: canuck | Apr 9 2025 18:36 utc | 49

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 17:39 utc | 14

Maybe I’m wrong but I guess there is lot of insider trading.

Posted by: Mario | Apr 9 2025 18:37 utc | 50

In another thread I mentioned iran’s offer to make deals and let us invest in iran looked a lot like RF’s gambit and could create a strange balance between RF+Iranvs china vs us

Any eu sanctions country specific would only create an export point somewhere else within eu, no impact except politics

Posted by: Newbie | Apr 9 2025 18:39 utc | 51

They say of bankruptcy that it is a slow process and then a very fast one. We seem to have entered the fast phase of US decline, helped along greatly by Trump’s missteps and misjudgements.

Posted by: Roger Boyd | Apr 9 2025 18:32 utc | 44

Again, are you sure this isn’t all planned? The US economy was destined for a crash regardless of who was in charge, and the best time to make drastic changes is immediately after you take power such that any benefits derived will be evident by the time another election cycle rolls around.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Apr 9 2025 18:39 utc | 52

If there’s eleven dimensional chess here, maybe the goal is to break up BRICS+?

Posted by: steven t johnson | Apr 9 2025 18:31 utc | 43

That may be the goal but it might have the very opposite effect:

Countries tend to rally around the strongest opposition in this case. It’s just human behaviour. The BRICS+ might be strengthened further as countries commit to China (primarily) and Russia as an alternative anchor for the global economy.

Trade flows could redirect around the U.S, trade in yuan and rouble (basket of currencies) could increase. Markets and shipping lanes could redirect away from Western-controlled ports and canals.

Aside:

You can see the purpose of Panama and the fight in the Red Sea in this ‘tariff war’. All the dots are connecting …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Apr 9 2025 18:40 utc | 53

Maybe I’m wrong but I guess there is lot of insider trading.

Posted by: Mario | Apr 9 2025 18:37 utc | 50

—

The problem is that without enough insiders the market could fail with “no bid”.

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 18:41 utc | 54

Insider trading is the first thing that came to mind with this move.

China has called his bluff and it is throwing a wrench into whatever plan the US side had hatched. Trump to me seems to be looking for any quick win and there are none to be had, Russia won’t play ball, Israel will not play ball, Iran, etc. Biggest of all is China looks like they have had enough, he has basically been giving strong hints that they call him and give the appearance of playing ball so he can no doubt put the China tarrifs on “hold”, but they won’t even give him that.

Amazing to see this play out.

Posted by: silverfoxes | Apr 9 2025 18:43 utc | 55

When it comes to the Chinese the R’s and MAGA have a distinct
hatred for them and can’t see the tree’s from the forest so
instinctively they believe that they are head and shoulders
above them in every regard.They are about to find out the truth for all the unintended
consequences are about to hit amerikans in a way never seen
before.B you outdid yourself with this article, BRAVO!!

Posted by: Ggersh | Apr 9 2025 18:46 utc | 56

Insider trading is the first thing that came to mind with this move.

Posted by: silverfoxes | Apr 9 2025 18:43 utc | 55

—

What comes to my mind is, “How can you hedge against this kind of volatility?”

The level of risk is just insane.

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 18:48 utc | 57

Trump “Pauses” Reciprocal Tariffs For 90 Days (Except China).
It was a 3D chess move Putin would dream of.By the time this is over, USA will have a reciprocal trade deal with everybody except for China.They are isolating it from the world.

I think they will collapse by the end of the year.

Posted by: louis | Apr 9 2025 18:48 utc | 58

From Brian Berletic and first posted at NEO

Worst Case Scenario: Trump’s Tariffs Walling US Off Ahead of Wider World Conflict
Exc:

While the most immediate and intuitive explanations for growing US tariffs against nations worldwide stem from protecting uncompetitive but deeply entrenched corporate-financier monopolies within the US from increasing foreign competition, or a specific strategy to contain China’s growing economic influence worldwide, there is a much more concerning possibility being overlooked by many – the US decoupling from a global economy it seeks to deliberately destroy through a combination of economic and actual warfare.

While a global tariff policy to wall off the US economy from its own premeditated destruction of the global economy is a drastic policy, the complete reorganization of US military forces specifically for war with China along with the seizure of key maritime choke points worldwide are equally drastic and make sense only as part of a strategy to precipitate that destruction.

Empire in terminal decline throughout human history has suffered from dangerous desperation. In the 21st century, the US represents a modern-day empire in terminal decline – one armed with nuclear weapons, a global-spanning military, and in control of global economic tools capable of destroying the entire global system rather than concede its role placed above it. The goal would be to survive the controlled demolition of the global order it has presided over for decades and emerge the strongest player, best positioned for establishing itself once again as “the world’s dominant superpower.”

https://globalsouth.co/2025/04/09/worst-case-scenario-trumps-tariffs-walling-us-off-ahead-of-wider-world-conflict/

Posted by: JB | Apr 9 2025 18:50 utc | 59

@Posted by: TJandTheBear | Apr 9 2025 18:39 utc | 52

Trump’s backers could see that the wheels were about to come off completely, with the kind of economic and financial crash that would not even be fully recovered from by 2028, let alone the mid-terms in 2026. That’s why you saw the House and Senate moving to revoke the tariffs, and I am sure that Trump got a few phone calls telling him to walk these back for now. The problem is that the financial position of the US is so fragile, and the Trump backers did not seem to see what utter chaos would be unleashed.

China now sees its chance, and the US weakness and fragility, and I don’t see it backing down in any way. Ditto for Russia, Iran and Yemen. The dynamics of the international system are rapidly changing.

Posted by: Roger Boyd | Apr 9 2025 18:51 utc | 60

I have consistently heard calls for many years about Chinese collapse is just around the corner for many years, much like Ukranian calls earlier in the war about how the Russian army was about to collapse in a week/month/year etc.

Lasting relationships that benefit both parties are based on trust, without that you are engaging more in a transaction, both have their pros/cons.

Posted by: silverfoxes | Apr 9 2025 18:51 utc | 61

Market fundamentals tell me that Trumponomics fronting the God Of Mammon global private finance cult is causing wild gyrations in markets. I continue to believe that this is a feature of Trumponomics, not a bug and designed to crash the world economy to lock in private finance longer.

The shit show continues until it doesn’t

Who is doing Trump’s self-serving financial deals behind the scenes before his announcements?
If you could move markets wouldn’t you want to PROFIT off that? I expect Trump gets hard just thinking about the possibilities.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 9 2025 18:52 utc | 62

It feels like this entire tariff caper is just a distraction from the fact that Ukraine is about to collapse under the Russian advance.

Look over there!

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Apr 9 2025 18:52 utc | 63

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 18:48 utc | 57

You hedge using options.

Buying puts is an insurance, but it comes with a cost.

If you know in advance what Trump is going to do, you simply buy the dip.

Obviously you are an insider.

Posted by: Mario | Apr 9 2025 18:54 utc | 64

Amazing that the “isolation” line is being parroted about China, this is the same line that was used for Russia and how did that turn out?

The exact same talking points that were used with regards to Russian sanctions are now being said about China. Guaranteed many countries will keep trading with China.

It looks like China has now made a decision that it will stand firm and scuttle the US relationship if need be. Amazing time to be alive.

Posted by: silverfoxes | Apr 9 2025 18:57 utc | 65

You hedge using options.

Posted by: Mario | Apr 9 2025 18:54 utc | 64

—

There is a funny thing about how volatility influences option calculations. Funny and sad.

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 18:57 utc | 66

Can I touch your hem?

Posted by: canuck | Apr 9 2025 18:36 utc | 49

No, peasant. It’s fine muslin.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Apr 9 2025 18:59 utc | 67

Just buy the dip, Trump has flipped flopped his whole life.

He will back down on China also at some point once the cost gets to high.

This isn’t rocket science, all these rich guys want the current system preserved. They don’t have the guts to willlingly burn it down, it’s all going to fall anyway.

Posted by: silverfoxes | Apr 9 2025 19:00 utc | 68

The volume of this rally is heavily tapering off. A lot of technical damage was done to Russel/SP500, it will take a lot of conviction from bulls to repair it. I would put odds for this is just a heavy bear market rally. Buy gold and gold stocks, when the shit show continues they will shine.

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 9 2025 19:02 utc | 69

In another thread I mentioned iran’s offer to make deals and let us invest in iran looked a lot like RF’s gambit and could create a strange balance between RF+Iranvs china vs us
Posted by: Newbie | Apr 9 2025 18:39 utc | 51Iran and RF can make any offers they want. If he accepts he’ll get resources and the Chinese goodies at almost old prices while he can claim 1000% tariffs for China. But Trump and those before him, including himself the last time, showed interest only in bombing them and stealing their money, that is the third world treatment. To me it looks like those behind Trump and Biden’s actions seem to have asked an AI for ideas but that AI was trained using movie scripts, fiction books and strategy games where you click “build” and the item instantly appears if you have the money for it.
He wants 40-50 icebreakers right now. Good luck with that! He doesn’t like New Start either ( tass.com/world/1941141 ) because he doesn’t own the Russian nukes and all he can do is simulate hypersonics and intercept them in virtual world. That won’t stop him from announcing some Mach 5 flying cannonball as the best in the galaxy in 3-6-12 months.

Posted by: rk | Apr 9 2025 19:03 utc | 70

@58 Louis

China is not isolated from the world they will still be trading with it. Its the US isolating itself from China and talk of collapse is fantasy.

Posted by: Eclipse | Apr 9 2025 19:06 utc | 71

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 18:57 utc | 66

Volatility increase the time value of options so the cost.

It’s usual business for optionists.

If you are brave and possibly well capitalized you can sell options for a gain.

Posted by: Mario | Apr 9 2025 19:06 utc | 72

Trump paused reciprocal tariffs for 90 days (Except China); it was a 3D chess move worth of VVP.
China is now isolated and alone. USA said ‘ Choose your side. You can continue to buy cheap products from China or sell your products in the US. You can’t do both.Trump, through slight of hand, actually got the markets to go up more than 2,000 points in about half an hour by announcing a trade war with China, ten percent across-the-board tariffs, and twenty-five percent tariffs in steel and autos.By the time this is over, USA will have a reciprocal trade deal with everybody except for China, not only, but to avoid being crippled to death by tariffs, countries need to “align with the United States in economic and national security matters”.
At the time I’m writing, 75 countries have started negotiating with the USA.
BRICS are dead.

They are isolating China from the world, Russia and Iran already are

All these 3 countries are ‘dead countries walking’

Posted by: louis | Apr 9 2025 19:07 utc | 73

This is the moment for Trump to grab the phone and call Xi.

Posted by: Passerby | Apr 9 2025 19:09 utc | 74

@louis | Apr 9 2025 19:07 utc | 73

Trump paused reciprocal tariffs for 90 days (Except China); it was a 3D chess move worth of VVP.

He gave himself 90 days to flatten the curves.

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 9 2025 19:09 utc | 75

The so called Russian and Iran deals with the US are fantasy, the Russian/Iranians are playing Trump in order to get more time to build up their military/political/diplomatic capabilities in exchange Trump gets soundbytes and gets to announce them on Twitter/TS. This is what NK did last time around.

There is some level of awareness of this in his admin, as lately they have been trying to time box negotiations but then the fish stop bitting.

Posted by: silverfoxes | Apr 9 2025 19:11 utc | 76

Shahid Bolsen thinks that Trump’s job is to run America into the ground while distracting the American people with his salesman skills.

Could be correct. (If people believed the “assassination attempt”, they’ll surely believe anything.)

Posted by: Jack M | Apr 9 2025 19:14 utc | 77

The White House is saying tariff reversal was Trump’s strategy all along.

House Speaker Mike Jonson wrote:
Behold the “Art of the Deal.”
President Trump has created leverage, brought MANY countries to the table, and will deliver for American workers, American manufacturers, and America’s future!

Posted by: JB | Apr 9 2025 19:16 utc | 78

Posted by: louis | Apr 9 2025 19:07 utc | 73

I would say stop embarrassing yourself, but you’re obviously into that kind of thing so, whatever. Carry on.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 9 2025 19:16 utc | 79

China doesn’t trade. It sells. And it sells almost entirely manufactured goods. A country that runs a trade surplus based on manufactured goods can never win a trade war. It’s pretty damned simple.

Posted by: CullenBaker | Apr 9 2025 19:22 utc | 80

The US is grinding Russia down via Ukraine and bringing China to its knees via tariffs. Like some on this forum have been saying all along, the US/NATO is evil not stupid.

Posted by: bored | Apr 9 2025 19:23 utc | 81

Posted by: JB | Apr 9 2025 18:50 utc | 59

I think BB is definitely right about that. Thanks for the news!

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 9 2025 19:24 utc | 82

Oh, just watching the news. Zelinsky is now convinced China is fighting with Russia in Ukraine. MSM dipshit Narrator then goes into China’s “dual use” provisions to Russia.

Funny isn’t it? Almost as though timed with the tariff assault on China. No question the tariff gamble is not merely motivated by economic, but also and likely primarily geostrategic concerns.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 9 2025 19:29 utc | 83

LOL “China doesn’t trade it sells.”

🤡

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 9 2025 19:30 utc | 84

The 90 day delay is only for those who have not answered to tariffs yet. EU already has. Also the number of 75 countries is right out of his ass. He did not even wait to have at least one real meeting. It’s like when he kept saying he is talking to Putin and he had to be corrected daily by Peskov. Or he was indeed talking to someone: Vovan and Lexus.
Also a few hours before the “PAUSE”, he wrote the message “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT” Pelosi was such an amateur.

Posted by: rk | Apr 9 2025 19:34 utc | 85

Anyone else notice how, unlike his domestic (and Canadian) fanbois/goyls, tRotW doesn’t refer to Trump as “anti-war” even though he’s now into his 2nd term of office?

It’s amazing. Wonder what they’ll be saying in 6 months. I’ll be Happy (as hell!) to be proven wrong. Unfortunately, I almost never am.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 9 2025 19:35 utc | 86

Trump has given a 90 day reprieve to those countries that he hit with huge tariffs – all except China, which still has the 125% tariffs – reading between the lines, I think that over the next 90 days – Trump will put pressure on countries, to either increase tariffs on Chinese imports, or cut down on trading with them, or aiding them in other economic ways – and in return Trump will either quash their high tariffs – or set a basic 10% tariff rate to those countries that comply – to enable them to keep on sending exports to the USA.

Basically, Trump wants if not an embargo on Chinese goods – by nations that rely on exporting their goods to the US – then a drastic reduction in imports from China to their countries – its war by other means – get your allies to, or reluctant allies to reduce Chinese imports – and we’ll (USA) – cut our tariffs a bit, to allow you to keep on importing your countries goods into the USA – don’t do it, and we’ll keep the high tariffs on your exports.

Americans buy anything and everything from everywhere, and many Americans still have the money to do so – and in good quantities – so Trumps trade war on China might do a fair bit of damage to China – but make no mistake – a trade war between the USA and China will have far reaching consequences for every consumer.

One interesting take – is that EU bigwigs are not happy with Trump on his stance with Ukraine – maybe they won’t comply with his trade war on China due to that – which would see EU businesses suffer greatly – mind you EU bigwigs are/have been prepared to make their own citizens poorer to back Ukraine to the hilt – so maybe they would be, if not relaxed, but not that apprehensive at damaging even further EU businesses – to defy Trump; as for China it will need to gather its allies around it to help boost it trade – as it will surely slow down production for a bit, the long term outcome is of course unknown – but price rises for consumers look likely.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 9 2025 19:37 utc | 87

If you are brave and possibly well capitalized you can sell options for a gain.

Posted by: Mario | Apr 9 2025 19:06 utc | 72

—

Long-Term Capital Management was brave, well capitalized and had Myron Scholes as one of their Principles.

They blew themselves up on the volatility of emerging market bonds. Mexico-Brazil-Argentina.

Posted by: too scents | Apr 9 2025 19:39 utc | 88

. “Every factory order is halted. Anything that hasn’t been loaded will be scrapped,

Chinaman know how to play Hardball

(Washington is isolating our economy from 7.7 billion people)

Posted by: Exile | Apr 9 2025 19:40 utc | 89

Posted by: louis | Apr 9 2025 19:07 utc | 73

How is China isolated? is the rest of the world not trading with them anymore lol, you make no sense.

Posted by: Eclipse | Apr 9 2025 19:42 utc | 90

It’s pretty funny. Treating a pause or fallback in a battle as having “won” a trade war.

https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-trump-tariff-trade-war-response-1ac838b0

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/China-Restricts-Rare-Earths-Exports-Again.html

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202504/1331740.shtml

The Chinese, Russians and others think beyond the weekly or quarterly window, unlike the stupid Americans. As others have stated, Trump’s trade policies aren’t bringing Mfg. back to the US. They are de-Americafying the world’s supply-and-demand.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 9 2025 19:43 utc | 91

You then have about five years or so before they steal your IP, manufacture your product, sell it below cost, and run you out of business.

Posted by: CullenBaker | Apr 9 2025 18:27 utc | 38

Sounds like the USA circa 1890, but of course, you knew that.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Apr 9 2025 19:43 utc | 92

The US is grinding Russia down via Ukraine and bringing China to its knees via tariffs. Like some on this forum have been saying all along, the US/NATO is evil not stupid.

Posted by: bored | Apr 9 2025 19:23 utc | 81

LOL, it’s Russia grinding down NATO and China will do just fine. Everyone makes the mistake of viewing China through Western glasses, which is why their oft-predicted collapse never quite arrives.

Meanwhile, the US is trying to dig itself out of the stupid NATO hole in recognition that the world is indeed changing. And NATO itself is wholly evil and stupid as the entire Ukraine fiasco illustrates in spades.

Posted by: TJandTheBear | Apr 9 2025 19:44 utc | 93

„…… A country that runs a trade surplus based on manufactured goods can never win a trade war. …“

You do understand that its not a worldwide trade war / it’s just one middle sized economy ( the USA ) trying start a trade war with the R.O.W.

China will keep exporting to the rest of the world.

Posted by: Exile | Apr 9 2025 19:45 utc | 94

Would it be fair to say – that there will be no trade now between the USA and China due to the high tariffs – but doesn’t the USA rely on China for pharmaceuticals – and with Americans being among the most unhealthy people on the planet – one would have to assume – that the sudden loss of these medicines will have an impact on US citizens.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 9 2025 19:46 utc | 95

Now that the market is up +10%.

It’s not exactly clear what this 90-day pause even means, is it:

1. 90-day pause of all tariffs

2. 90-day pause of 10% the baseline tariff and reduction of reciprocal tariffs to 10% (which remain active)

3. 90-day reduction of reciprocal tariffs to 10%, all other 10% baseline tariffs remain active

Do markets even know what exactly we are rallying on?

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1910038515322347712

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 9 2025 19:49 utc | 96

How would it feel to be a Ukrainian soldier, currently relying on the U.S. supply chain?

Posted by: Passerby | Apr 9 2025 19:49 utc | 97

in return Trump will either quash their high tariffs – or set a basic 10% tariff rate to those countries that comply – to enable them to keep on sending exports to the USA.
Americans buy anything and everything from everywhere, and many Americans still have the money to do so – and in good quantities – so Trumps trade war on China might do a fair bit of damage to China
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 9 2025 19:37 utc | 87For 10% no one will move all factories to US, which was the main goal of tariffs that Trump himself announced. So that can’t be the logic. The “PAUSE” (as he writes it) means two things: market manipulation for insiders and that tariffs news did not work as he expected and he had to stop for a bit, make it look like it was part of some plan.
Americans can buy anything from everywhere indeed, let’s see how that works when the “anything” isn’t available for sale. Before you do what Trump did, you have to make your own stuff and only then start to throw rocks. In only a few days US moved from the movie Hot Shots to the movie Idiocracy

Posted by: rk | Apr 9 2025 19:50 utc | 98

“China will keep exporting to the rest of the world.”

Exile (94).

See my (87) comment – the USA wants that trade deeply reduced.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 9 2025 19:50 utc | 99

The simplistic Homer Simpson view of China from the US is stupefying. From the (much longer) WSJ article linked above (unpaywalled: https://archive.ph/7Qkwu#selection-3099.0-3119.180)

“China has systematically put together a new arsenal of tools that’s intended to minimize the cost to China and maximize the pain on the U.S.,” said Evan Medeiros, a former senior national-security official in the Obama administration and now a professor at Georgetown University. “They’re prepared in a way that gives them an asymmetric advantage in the trade war.”
China’s government and state media have taken a defiant tone, with the Commerce Ministry saying, “If the U.S. insists on its own way, China will fight to the end.”

The 104% tariff on all Chinese imports that Trump has now imposed in his second term will stack on top of earlier tariffs already in place, bringing the total average tariff rate on China to nearly 125%.

China’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday after the new rate became official that Beijing would take forceful measures to defend the country’s interests, but left the door open for negotiation under conditions of “equality, respect and reciprocity.” China’s Ministry of Commerce noted that the U.S. has long enjoyed a trade surplus with China in services, amounting to $26.6 billion in 2023.
China exports far more to the U.S. than it imports. Still, China is the third-largest buyer of U.S. goods. Soybeans, aircraft and petroleum are among the top U.S. exports to China.

Emphasis mine.

“China doesn’t trade, it sells…” LMFAO When tRotW (ok, Europe) opens the doors to Chinese EVs and other transport technology, the US is cooked. Unless you’re in the FIRE sector, I guess?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 9 2025 19:51 utc | 100

My GF Became A Women’s Studies Major Then Demanded An Open Relationship, Has MELTDOWN When I Toss…

Reid Fleming the world’s toughest milkman

Today, I wish to talk about Reid Fleming (the world’s toughest milkman).

Ah. He’s a fictional character. And resides within the realm of a fictional universe on alternative “adult” comic.

I came across him during my days in Hattiesburg, Mississippi when I bought a catalog of alternative comic works. Lots of great stuff there, and it was a niche market and I fell in love with it.

I really love this guy. I bought a bunch of his comics. Ah.

There were other comic of note as well, such as “Steven“.

He was such the little bastard. Here’s what DeepSeek has to say about that comic…

"Steven" by Doug Allen, which was indeed an alternative comic from the 1990s. The titular character, Steven, was known for his nihilistic attitude, constant use of the phrase "Fuck you," and his generally misanthropic outlook on life. The comic was part of the underground/alternative comics scene and appeared in various anthologies and zines during that era.

Doug Allen's work, including "Steven," hasn't been widely reprinted or collected, which is why it can be difficult to find today. The comic was emblematic of the gritty, anti-establishment ethos of 1990s alternative comics, but it never achieved mainstream popularity. As a result, it remains a somewhat obscure piece of comic history.

If you're looking to track it down, your best bet might be scouring online marketplaces for old comic anthologies or zines from the 1990s, or reaching out to collectors of alternative comics. Websites like eBay, MyComicShop, or even forums dedicated to underground comics might yield some results.

Ah, but I love it.

Enjoy some of his art…

Today…

France Tells Citizens “Leave Iran Immediately”

Hal Turner World March 20, 2025

This morning, the government of France began telling its citizens to “Leave Iran Immediately.”

This may have to do with President Trump’s letter to the Ayatollah Khamenei, which reportedly told Iran the United States will give them two months to negotiate a new nuclear deal.

Iran is not likely to engage in any negotiations with the US because the last deal it negotiated, the US pulled-out of. Further, the Iran government publicly stated they will not engage in negotiations under threat or while they are suffering severe economic sanctions.

Today’s warning by France to its citizens seems more likely related to what the state of Israel may do.

On March 1, 2025, this website reported a LEAK of Top-Secret, Classified documents showing Israel was in the final stages of planning an enormous attack upon Iran. (Story Here)

It seems possible that Israel is planning to undertake some military action, which France perhaps has become aware of, which may be why the French told their citizens to “Leave Iran Immediately.”

If Israel attacks Iran (again) the Iranians have made clear they will unleash a full military missile response against the entire landmass of Israel, starting with the Israeli nuclear center at Dimona.

Russia to ABANDON Self-Imposed Moratorium on Intermediate Range Nuclear Missiles

Hal Turner World December 29, 2024

Russia’s foreign minister announced on Sunday that Moscow will end its unilateral moratorium on deploying intermediate- and short-range missiles, saying this is in response to actions taken by the US.

“It is obvious today that, for example, our moratorium on the deployment of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles is already practically unviable and will have to be abandoned,” Sergey Lavrov told state news agency RIA, referring to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

Lavrov said the moratorium is still in effect, but he accused the US of “arrogantly” disregarding warnings from both Russia and China and proceeding with the deployment of such weapons in various global regions.

He also cited Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statements on the matter, saying that Moscow would respond to these actions proportionately.

“The recent test of the latest hypersonic medium-range system Oreshnik, carried out by us in combat conditions, convincingly demonstrated our capabilities and determination to implement compensatory measures,” Lavrov added.

Addressing arms control issues between Russia and the US, he said Moscow will not engage in any negotiations with Washington on this matter until the US abandons its “anti-Russian course.”

The US and NATO would face a “decisive” response from Russia if they create new threats against the country, he warned, stressing that Moscow is prepared for any scenario.

The INF Treaty, signed by Washington and Moscow in 1987, prohibited the deployment of ground-based nuclear and conventional missiles.

However, the US withdrew from the treaty in 2019, citing what the US called “Russian violations.”

Hal Turner Snap Analysis

The world just got dramatically more dangerous.

Whereas during the INF Treaty, both the US and Russia agreed to NOT deploy short and medium range nuclear missiles, the US withdrew from that back in 2019, but Russia CONTINUED to abide by it. Now, Russia will no longer abide because the US not only withdrew in 2019, the US has begun actually DEPLOYING such ground-based (moveable) missiles.

Think back to a couple months ago when Russia launched their Oreshnik medium range missile against Ukraine. Russia gave the 30 minute warning to the US as was required under the INF Treaty, even though the US withdrew from it. Now, we won’t get those 30 minute warnings.

When Russia launched against Ukraine, the missile flew so fast, that no missile defense systems were able to intercept it. NONE!

That missile struck the target it was aimed at and utterly destroyed the target within about two minutes.

TWO MINUTES ! ! ! ! !

Now, think NATO Capital Cities

All the NATO capital cities within about 5,000 KM of Russia, can all be hit in less than about 5 minutes from time of launch.

No time to even THINK about what to do, never mind respond.

Is it a conventional missile coming at them? Or is it nuclear???? No way of knowing.

See how frighteningly dangerous this just became?

All this . . . . because of US/NATO Meddling in Ukraine.

Ok She Went TOO FAR

How dark is the politics of China?

Velly velly dark!

They execute people for just taking some money from the government. No human rights for these guys at all, how sad.

main qimg e9a291e7d3d34864b97eaaab414dd8f4

I mean, all he took was just 421 millions, right? In U.S., if you do that, they make you the president. Biden has misused 200 billion USD for Warprofiteering fraud, and he is celebrated.

So it’s safe to say China has no love for criminals. How evil. Criminals need human rights too, you know? They need their expensive mansions, their multiple mistresses, their horde of spoiled rotten children.

Without these guys, how can China invade, colonize, and genocide other countries? How can China exploit and drive their citizens to homelessness? What is China thinking?

Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular

Which country has the best chance of leading in the robotics industry in 20 years: US, China, Japan, or other?

China

It’s only China

No matter how advanced a Robot, the others build – China will commercialize it for a sixth of the price tag

The LNG Carrier market is the best example

main qimg 49c1a6f5b1771d88a893589cb4c2113c

China makes LNG Carriers faster than Koreans at 70% of the Cost in Dollars at the same or better quality

Routers are another example

China makes better routers at 60% of the price of the Taiwanese

I can buy 50 Routers for the price of 30 Taiwanese Routers

Thats what an Industry means

You need a market for such a large number of Robots and you need a supply chain to keep costs minimum

China wins hands down in both

Boston Dynamics may make better robots but their quantity and price would be through the roof

main qimg c5c79f764703885b9b4e54dc4593cad6

By comparison, the Chinese make Robots of 90% quality at 40% the price and deliver up to seven times the quantity

main qimg ab93b9012f0bcc921c6b17fb16bf4ba4

And ultimately as China goes up the supply chain, it gets the qualitative edge it needs 😁

The Price of a Nice Guy

Submitted into Contest #18 in response to: Your fingers tensed around the object in your pocket, ready to pull it out at a moment’s notice.… view prompt

Sam Lauren

General

The worst part about a flat tire is the men.You’d think it would be the lug wrench. It’s so cold that it hurts your fingers to touch it but if you don’t hold on tight the lugs will never come off. It’s gangly, like you, but it’s got four long limbs and you’re the shortest woman in your family. It’s awkward to handle. Sometimes when your fingers slip you crack your knuckles against the metal and it hurts enough to make you curse aloud.It’s not the worst part though.Neither is the rain. It soaks through your sweater and the Save the Bees shirt underneath. Your jeans weigh a ton now and every step sloshes more water across your ankles and down into your shoes. Your socks make that great squishing sound that curls your stomach and chafes your feet. Every drop of rain stings your face, freezes in your hair. Your eyes are the only warm thing left outside of the car so your glasses fog up and you have to peer over the rims to change your blurry tire.It could be worse though. Not snow, snow would be better.Even the money you’ll have to spend on a new tire isn’t so bad. It’s two weeks until Christmas and you haven’t bought all your presents. Some aunt or 3rd cousin will look at you with pity and say they understand. It’ll make you feel even worse.But not as bad as you feel right now, drenched in every crevice of your body, and being hollered at by cars passing by inches away from your hunched over body.Most of them honk. People tell you this is no big deal, it’s just one honk, it’s a compliment. But it’s not. It’s a slurry of them, one after the other, with just enough space that the guy behind the wheel thinks he’s the only one doing it. You don’t feel special. You feel panic when the sudden noise whirls you around. You expect to see a crash, maybe be a part of one.Some of them, smokers, have their windows down. They yell words you can’t hear in tones you can’t appreciate or even understand. Is it the way your waterlogged pants sag down your already underwhelming butt? Or is it your vulnerability that turns them on?A few even slow down and offer to help. You tell them thanks and they wait a minute, watching you, just to be sure. They may have been legit but you’re fine, really, you just need to find the right angle and this last lug will come off.It won’t though. You’ve been trying for a while.It’s time to call Annie. A couple more men pause to offer assistance while you’re on the phone and you’re tempted to accept but you don’t want to inconvenience anyone. Least of all Annie but now you don’t have a choice. She’ll be here as soon as she can.You give the lug wrench a few more tugs, hoping and even praying that the stupid nut nudges so you can call her back and tell her it’s fine.That’s when the worst part shows up.You don’t mean to sound ungrateful. You want to be, and in a way you are. Gratitude is something you cling to harder than you do your own safety.It’s a pickup truck like the one Annie drives. Six wheels, extra high beams, one of those hitches on the front for pulling damsels out of distressing ditches.A man steps out of it and crosses the potholes with boots that don’t mind the splatter. “You look like you need some help.”What can you say? He’s right.Maybe just a quick turn of the lug wrench and that’s all, then you won’t have to drag Annie into this weather. He’s already out of his car, you might as well. “It’s stuck,” you say. You stand up, releasing control but not tension. You step back when he gets closer, and you tell yourself you’re overthinking it. You’re just being paranoid.”No problem.” He kneels down beside your tire and suddenly the lug wrench doesn’t seem so big. His knee is muddy and wet now, and this is what you’ll be thinking of when things get weird. This is what makes you feel like you owe him.He’s right, again. The lug nut comes away easy for him.”Thanks,” you say, “I appreciate it.”He keeps going. He takes the tire off the mount and rolls it to the spare.”I can take it from here,” you say.”It’s no trouble.”It makes you a little bit nervous. What can you do, stop him from helping you? He’s twice your size and the lug wrench is on the other side of him. So you tell yourself it’s fine, he’s better at this than you, in a few minutes it’ll all be over with and you can call Annie back and tell her not to come.You tell yourself to stop being so paranoid but in your pocket, your fingers find your keys. Just in case.”Headed to work?” He asks.”No, school.””You’re in high school?””No, college. I’m studying microbiology.””Ah, a smart one.”

“I like to think so.” It’s just conversation, it’s the least you can do.

“Beauty and brains, your boyfriend is a lucky guy.” He smiles up at you then reaches for the pile of lug nuts resting on a soaked towel.

“I’m gay,” you tell him.

“Oh,” he says.

He spins each lug into its place. He uses his whole body as leverage to tighten them too tight, then offers to put the tire in the trunk. He’s already doing it before you respond. He puts the wrench in there too, and the towel, and the jack.

When he closes the trunk he leans against it. You tighten the grip on your keys. “Thank you,” you tell him. “I appreciate it.” And you do, or else you would’ve said no a long time ago.

“No problem. Maybe we can get a drink sometime?”

“No, thanks.”

“I thought you didn’t have a boyfriend?”

“Yeah, I’m gay. I have a girlfriend.”

“Oh.” He stands up a little straighter. “Can she change tires?”

An image of Annie at work flashes into your mind. The garage is noisy but she hears you. Her face is smeared with grease when she slides out from under the car. She’s wearing overalls and her dark hair is coming loose from a bun. She looks kinda like a sexy live-action version of the mechanic from Atlantis but you don’t want to share that with this guy.

You just say “thanks anyway.”

“Come on, it’s just a drink. It doesn’t mean anything but thanks.” He takes a step closer, pulls out his phone. “What’s your number?”

Your fingers tense around the keys, weaving through each one. The house, the car, Annie’s car, the shed, your mom’s house. A fistful of metal with sharp jagged edges. You don’t pull it out yet but you’re ready at a moment’s notice.

“It’s not a big deal,” he says. “Your girlfriend can come too. It’ll be fun.”

Another car slows down, lowers its window. A voice from the driver’s side asks if you need help and your rescuer answers for you.

“It’s all taken care of, thanks,” he says.

This new one might be genuine. He looks at the truck parked behind your Chevy and then at the man standing beside you. Maybe he sees the age difference, or maybe he sees the small pool of rainwater collecting on the still extended phone, you don’t know. But he waits for you to respond. Maybe he just wanted to hear your voice.

You’re probably being paranoid.

“I’m good now, thanks,” you say, and you open your car door while you can. You know that the man won’t push for your number with someone else watching, no matter how innocent his request is.

This new stranger waits another moment before he leaves, long enough for you to slide inside your car. You thank them both again and you shut the door behind you.

You take your keys out, each one still poking through the spaces between your fingers like improvised brass knuckles. You don’t wonder if you would’ve had the strength to use them well, because you’re just paranoid. He was just being friendly. You don’t wonder why the honking and hollering stopped once you had a man standing next to you, because it’s just coincidence.

You call Annie to let her know she doesn’t have to come.

Cheddar and Beef Stuffed Sandwich

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, divided
2 (283g) packages refrigerated pizza crust
8 (250g) packages thinly sliced deli roast beef
8 ounces (250g) thinly sliced Cheddar cheese
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Using Food Chopper, chop green pepper and onion. Heat oil in Stir-Fry Skillet, over medium heat until hot. Press garlic into oil using Garlic Press. Add bell pepper, onion and 1/2 teaspoon of oregano. Cook and stir 3 to 4 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove Skillet from heat.
Unroll 1 pizza crust onto lightly floured surface. Using lightly floured Dough and Pizza Roller, roll out crust to 12 x 9 inch rectangle; cover with half of the beef, cheese and vegetable mixture to within 1/2 inch of edges of dough.
Starting at longest side of rectangle, roll up dough, jellyroll fashion; press seam together to seal. Repeat with remaining crust and filling ingredients. Place rolls, seam sides down, on Large Round Stone. Join ends of rolls together to form 1 large ring; press ends together to seal.
Brush egg white onto dough using Pastry Brush. Sprinkle with remaining oregano.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Let stand for 10 minutes.
Cut and serve using Slice ‘N Serve.

Nutrition

Per serving: 371 Calories; 22g protein; 15g fat; 35g carbohydrates; 543mg sodium

Attribution

Pampered Chef

The Doobie Brothers – Best of The Doobies, Volume I (Full Album) | Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits

Ah. Takes me back.

1977. Eight-track player.

Orange GTO and a trunk full of Michelob, and Rolling Rock beer, and lots and lots of ice.

Shorpy

Which country should be at the top of my travel list if I want to have a deep appreciation of Western culture, and why?

Thailand- Must only be PATTAYA, nowhere else. You probably utter —Are you nuts?

Please listen! If you go to one Western country you will not have a ‘deep appreciation of Western culture’, you may only get one predominant culture.

Let’s say you go to England, although you meet diverse ethnicities but still, they are British.

Why Pattaya?

Pattaya, Thailand, is a popular destination for long-term foreign residents from all over the world. Each of them express their culture fit the saying ‘ the sky has no limit.

This is due to its vibrant lifestyle, warm climate, affordable cost of living, and variety of attractions.

Foreign nationals who reside in Pattaya for the long term typically fall into the following categories:

Retirees**

Who They Are**: Many retirees from Western countries (e.g., UK, USA, Germany, Australia, and Scandinavian countries…

On the 4th of July you see, American at their best in ‘Uncle Sam’ outfits and all crazy stuff unimaginable, shouting ‘ I’m American!’

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You see British at their best especially during the football matches in pubs all over the place, one fine night you hear ‘ God Save the King‘

**Digital Nomads and Remote Workers**

-Who They are** They are from Russia, Uzbek, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Czech, you name it.

The most interesting group is:-

** Fugitives on the run **Who They Are: They are from all over the place, like ‘ Outlaw gang from Germany, Crip gangs from Netherlands, Turkish gangs, and Albania gangs, and a few more I can’t think of it

Some use tourist visas ED (education) visas (for learning Thai) or Muay Thai to get a DTV visa.

After you live in Pattaya, you wouldn’t need to watch movies.. Trust me, never a dull moment living in Pattaya.

I have not even touched on Russian culture in Pattaya as yet.

Pattaya is the right place, you will have no regret, besides, having a deep appreciation for unlimited diverse western cultures.

Women Have Ruined Dating for Everyone ….. 2

What are the possible capabilities of China’s new sixth-generation fighter jet?

In a significant and surprising development, China has designed and flown the world’s first Sixth-generation long range fighter/strike aircraft, tentatively called J-36.

main qimg 99267ae996b54aef1a00165ab57d18d3

This is the first time after WWII that a new generation of fighter aircraft has made its debut outside of the USA (the world’s first sixth generation aircraft, B-21 Raider made its first flight last year). This aircraft is likely to be manned by a crew of two. Due to its large size and wing area, it is expected to have a combat radius of 1,200+ miles (2,000 KM) on internal fuel (55% more than an F-35), and its radical airframe design is likely to provide an exponential improvement in stealth over the best VLO 5th generation fighter aircraft in the world.

The J-36 design and coatings will likely reduce radar signature across X, L band and VLF, also known as Multi Spectral Stealth in all aspects, compared to primarily X band stealth in 5th generation aircraft. Its tailless design has five trailing edge control surfaces per wing. These include split flaps close to the wingtips. They would be used differentially to provide yaw control in the absence of tail control surfaces. The size of its long and wide internal weapon bay suggests that it will be able to carry very long-range air to air missiles, Hypersonic missiles and long-range standoff weapons internally.

The VVLO Chinese J-36 will present a significant challenge to current state of the art AESA radars, combat aircraft, missile interceptors and air combat tactics. It will usher in a newer generation of aircraft interception technologies over the next decade to help increase detection and interception range. Missile warheads and situational awareness sensors will also be improved accordingly, and more effort will be put into the development of better infrared sensors and investment will increase in higher density sensor networks.

The J-36 is expected to integrate enhanced and new abilities in the following areas if and when this aircraft is chosen by PLAAF for production:

Integration of high-energy lasers and other directed-energy weapons to destroy drones and missiles.
State-of-the-art sensor suites for enhanced situational awareness.
Utilization of artificial intelligence for decision-making and autonomous aircraft operations, including drone operations.
Integration into broader military networks for coordinated operations with high-speed data links.
Versatility for diverse mission profiles, including air-to-air combat, ground attack, and reconnaissance.
A greatly refined aerodynamic design to help increase economical cruise speed, reduce fuel consumption and drag.

Captain Antonille

Submitted into Contest #24 in response to: Write a story set in the dark recesses of space where the two main characters are often at odds with each other in humorous and comedic ways.… view prompt

Andrew Grell

CAPTAIN ANTONILLE

By Andrew Paul Grell

“Because I’m three billion years old, you big oaf, that’s why. Your years. Oaf is the correct word? We haven’t had extra-large or overly-clumsy people in quite a long time. How would you describe that process? Darwined out? Is that two n’s or one? What kind of language have you got going on? On Kapteyn A we have seven billion years of language and by now we know how to spell.”

“Nice neologism, Yip. I’ll have to email that to Oxford; maybe they’ll get it in time for the next edition. And it doesn’t matter how old you are, Yip. You can’t fuse nothing, and that’s what we got in this stretch. We got plenty o’ nothin’. Anyone ever tell you that you look like an Elf on a Shelf?”

“Au contraire, mon ami. I predate the elves. What you call Homo habilis. I prefer Mensch on a Bench.”

“Either way. You’re not all that much bigger than that doll and you’re sitting, legs a-dangle, on the bar. And either way, we’re out of gas, my little living doll.”

“We’re the cultural attachés, it’s not up to us. Trust Captain Antonille, he’s even older than I am, and Captain Crunch, she’s older than him.”

“Oh, great. That’s right, diminish the human crew in favor of your tiny Kapteyn’s Star people from that diminutive planet you call home.

“It’s not like that, Dick. Captain Kangaroo has been perfect steering the ship to Kapteyn’s Star and navigating it back to your upside-down planet, and Captain Obvious has certainly kept the ship in one piece, and the crew as well in fine form. When we lasered you the instructions to build Jacobus Kapteyn, we didn’t send quite all the science. Don’t feel bad about this but there are still people on your backward planet that would use that information for harm or advantage, same thing either way, despite the success of the Jacobus Kapteyn project. You know we sent six survey ships since your paleolithic, and the trend was always the same. Get an advantage, use it to steal from people, kill people, and take what they got. Is that not correct? Maybe except for a few years in a run from time to time. It’s too bad your planet is upside down. you were broadcasting to the bottom of the galaxy. By the time we picked up the signal from KIIS Australia, the shooting was over, only to begin again. How does it feel to live on a planet that’s upside down, Dick?”

“I can ask you the same thing, how does it feel to live on a little tiny planet whizzing by, never finding a home? You know we discovered you by accident, right?”

“Just a nanosecond there, oaf. We discovered you first! Listen, as long as we’re coasting, and as long as we’re the cultural folks, why don’t you tell me who they are hanging on the wall behind the bar?”

“Bien sur, mon petite chou. The first one is Agamemnon. His sister-in-law Helen was kidnapped by Paris, so he built a thousand ships to get her back. Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, the face that launched a thousand ships. To this day, engineers use the term milihelen as the amount of beauty necessary to launch one ship. Do you have those, in-laws?”

“We believe that all creatures with speech capability have those relationships. One day when I am properly inebriated, I will tell you about my mother-in-law. She has been my mother-in-law for two billion years. Beat that, oaf!”

“Hey, no oafing while I’m teaching. Next is Chin Bao, known in our west as Sinbad the Sailor. Opened up sea trade between east and west Asia. Then Lief Ericson, part navigator, but more real estate speculator. First to sail from Europe to North America. Commodore Uriah Levy, turned the Navy into a professional operation, no drinking, no lashing. Commodore Grace Hopper, invented computer language programming. Laika the dog, first terrestrial being in space. Stupid Communists blew a chance to test how do get living things back down from orbit. They let that cute little dog die in space. Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on a heavenly body. Then there’s Pizzaro and Cooke. The locals thought they were gods. For a while. Cooke didn’t make it, but Pizzaro hit it big time.”

“Interesting mix of conquering and bridge building. That’s how we see you. Now tell me about this bar. We do it differently. Seven billion years ago, Halp was gardening, tending to the ju-ju berries. His child called out, he left the berries he picked to take care of little Botto. It rained before he could get back to the garden. The berries were mush. For some reason, Halp decided to taste the water with the mushed berries. It was terrible, but he loved it, the juice made him feel free. He showed it to his friends; they all hated the taste but loved the effect. Then Dr. Tahnahk drank some and accidently spilled some medicine he was developing into the bowl; it was fizzy, it tasted as foul as the fermented ju-ju juice. But together, the concoction was delicious. There can be no better libation, oaf, I tell you true. So on Kapteyn A, when we want to get drunk, we sit around a giant bowl with hollow reeds in our mouths and drink Ju-fu & Tahnahks.”

“Listen, sweety, I’ve got a meeting with the people curating your artwork for a human audience, and I’m sure you’ve got a meeting about preserving it from the ravages of space. My quarters, six bells?”

“I’ll be there with more than six bells on. Little elf shoe bells.”

# # #

“My dear Captain Kangaroo.”

“My dear friend, Captain Antonille. Thank you for receiving me in your in space cabin. We seem to be adrift. Nice collection you’ve got there. Is it a complete set?”

“Of course, my dear Captain Kangaroo. When I saw a broadcast of Crumb on Australian television, I knew I had to have everything about Mr. Natural. So I put it on the request list. You can see the similarities in the feet and in the facial hair. But I really would have loved to meet Crumb’s brother. Interesting character study. He’s what you call OCD?”

“Most likely, my dear Captain Antonille. But I believe our agenda involves hydrogen, specifically the lack thereof. And I have pilfered precious moments of our time on comic books.”

No need to apologize, my dear Captain Kangaroo. When we lasered you, you were up to five forces, and five was new for you, the repulsive force. Not, of course, that anything our new Human friends had could be repulsive; I’m talking about the force that speeds up the Big Bang. We gave you the sixth force to power the ship. Now we find ourselves in the doldrums. The seventh and a half force has a way of attracting hydrogen. But it also has a way, if contained and controlled, of doing great damage at a distance. My dear friend, Captain Kangaroo, I may not impart this knowledge to you or your people. Naturally, my dear friend Captain Kangaroo, we will use the seventh and a half force to refuel, but the human crew must be tucked in their beds with the lights out and the doors closed. No sign-stealing, as they say in your baseball. In our version, we slap the ball with our bare hands. Less to cheat with. Not that there are many Kapteynians who would cheat. My dear Captain Kangaroo, do we have an understanding?”

“Captain Antonille, I believe we do.”

# # #

“Why not go out instead of staying in your cabin? The didymium viewing bubble? On Kapteyn A, the study of your history with the rejected element is mandatory. Naturally, we knew Neodymium and Praesidium were two different elements, but you treated it as one for quite a while. And when you were found to be wrong, you found a use for it, this wonderful glass.”

“The dome it is, my sweet babou. Let’s take the Centrifugal River route, perhaps a canoe ride to the bubble.

“This is quite romantic, you big oaf. Tell me, Dick, when you get back home, will our relationship be a subject of male privilege?”

“Why so, my pet?”

“Ancephalic humans. Oy vey, as you say. This only works with human males and female Kapteynians. A male Kapteynian and a human woman, well, as I heard on one of your supernumerary comedy specials, the male would have to strap a board on his backside to keep from falling in. But this is quite romantic, Dick, thank you for taking me. A little to the left, buddy. You got it. That’s it. Hey, is that Captain Crunch? Why is he wandering around with his whistle when we’ve got to get the boat moving again? He should on the bridge!”

“ATTENTION, ATTENTION. ALL HANDS PREPARE FOR ACCELERATION COMMENICNG IN FIVE MINUTES. PROCEDE TO THE NEAREST GRAVITY COUCHES IMMEDIATELY. ATTENTION, ATTENTION.”

“Probably a drill, Dick.”

“Get on a viewing chair, I’ll get on top of you.”

“Big oaf, trying to get some action when we may be killed at any moment.”

“ATTENTION, ATTENTION. PREPARE FOR IMMEDIATE MOMENT-ARM QUAKE.”

“Wow. If my grandparents could have something like that, they’d still be together. Whew. Hey, Dick, what is that?”

“Dunno. Wait. It looks like the thing that nobody knew what it does. Hold the phone. It’s starting to get longer. And longer. It’s got the checkerboard pattern we used to use to observe spin rates. See? now it’s spinning. Idiot. I know what that is.”

“Care to enlighten me, big boy?”

“Einstein’s time machine. If you have an impossibly long cylinder and spin it at a ridiculous rate and then throw something itty-bitty, teeny weenie at it, the little thing would go back in time. Never got tested, of course. Do we think this is part of the tech you couldn’t reveal?”

“Could be. How should I know? I’m an art professor.

“Ow! Hey! Oooh. Ouch.”

“Yip, you OK?”

“I think the radius of my radius has been altered in a very painful way.”

“C’mon, I’m getting you out of here. There’s an exit. I know it’s undignified, but I’m carrying you.”

“Yutz? Putz? JonJon? What are you idiots doing here? There’s an acceleration warning.”

“We could ask you the same thing. And what are you doing here, praying to his imaginary god of his for hydrogen? And what are you doing with him?”

“We’re enjoying the show. Now get your toe bells down to where you’re needed if this isn’t a drill.”

“Dick, I don’t like this. They were perfectly normal engineers when we boarded. It looks like, well, I hate to see us acting like, well, you folks. Present company excepted, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Those three are too normal. I think someone is winding them up. We should probably strap down before they weigh anchor and get going. Last one to your cabin is a batch of rotten ju-ju berry mush.”

“Good thing the ship was designed to have g-couches for both species in each cabin. Whoa, there we go.”

“OMG; I would say that if I thought there were a G. Wow, that was even better than the moment-arm quake. By the way, you make a great comfy pillow for a great big oaf. Mmmm…”

# # #

“Now hear this. This is Captain Obvious. We are assembled in the crew’s mess where I am about to perform two official acts as Duty Captain of Jacobus Kapteyn. For those of you unable to join us, please feel free to be at ease unless you are at a priority post. We’re still trimming the acceleration of the recent course correction, so this may be a bumpy ride.

“Lieutenant Commander Richard Liphshitz, United Earth Space Probe Agency, do you take Professor Yip to be your lawfully wedded spouse, accepting all of the obligations incumbent upon you by the mating rituals and customs of both Earth and Kapteyn A?”

“I do.”

“And do you, Professor Yip, take Lieutenant Commander Richard Liphshitz to be your lawfully wedded spouse, accepting all of the obligations incumbent upon you by the mating rituals and customs of both Earth and Kapteyn A?”

“You bet I’ll take that big oaf, skipper!”

“I’m not religious man, but I once heard a bit of ancient Hebrew advice. If you have a short wife, bend down to whisper in he ear. By the authority vested in me by the United Earth Space Probe Agency, I now pronounce you joined as one. Dick, bend down in kiss your bride, then stomp on tht glass. I want to hear it tinkle, Sailor.”

“Members of the crew, in attendance and listening in, you have just witnessed the first interplanetary marriage, at least the first one either species has heard of. And now it is my sad duty to perform my second act as Duty Captain. Captain Crunch, front and center. Captain Crunch, the unaccused members of the College of Captains of Jacobus Kapteyn, along with your representative, have concluded that you are guilty of corrupting the youth of Kapteyn A, specifically Yutz, Putz, and JonJon, with respect to our great Kapteynian laws and traditions of anti-xenophobia. Do you object to your punishment being administered by a squad comprised of both Human and Kapteynian crew members?”

“I have no objection, alien.”

“Do you have anything to say before punishment is administered?”

“I have plenty to say. This mixing of species is not going to end well. They will infect us with their louche habits and their barbaric ways. Mark my words.”

“Punishment team, Attention. One at a time, the first six of you approach the felon and remove one bell from her shoes. Seventh squad member, cut off her beard. Commander of the squad, break her whistle.”

“Punishment squad, rejoin ranks.”

“Punishment squad, report.”

“Aye, Aye, Sir. Punishment has been duly and justly meted out.”

“Captain Crunch, you have been punished. Return to your post and continue to make sure this ship gets where it’s going safely.

“Dismissed!”

Private Equity’s Ruthless Takeover Of The Last Affordable Housing In America

Why are American chips ‘no longer safe and reliable’?

Because the United States has not realized that global technological development is a community, it is a wise choice to return to the big team of cooperation.

Recently, the US government announced a new round of export restrictions on China, including more than 140 Chinese companies on the trade restriction list, involving multiple types of semiconductor products such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment and electronic design automation tools, restricting China’s trade with third countries. Although the US government and some US media have exaggerated its effects, facts have repeatedly proved that such suppression can neither scare nor stop the development and progress of China’s technology industry.

Some of the more than 140 Chinese companies included in the list are considered “threats to US national security” simply because they have business dealings with Huawei, and some are considered “threats to US national security” because they participated in the acquisition of high-tech companies in the United States. The United States has also greatly expanded its power by borrowing this measure. Many countries and regions including Japan, the Netherlands, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, China will be affected by this measure. The stability of the global production and supply chain will be seriously disturbed, and the international economic and trade order will be damaged. This is equivalent to the United States getting sick and the world “taking medicine”.

Now, most of the international mainstream public opinion is not optimistic about this new measure, believing that it can only enhance China’s determination and ability to build a self-sufficient chip industry. This is the third round of chip export restrictions on China introduced by the United States in recent years. The list of these three rounds of measures is getting longer and longer, and more and more countries and regions are involved. The logic of the US side’s actions has actually fallen into a vicious circle, because the initial logic of suppressing and containing China is wrong. Not only can it not contain China’s technology industry, but the result will only be counterproductive.

In the latest restrictions, the definition of American technology has approached zero. In other words, if a product contains even one chip designed or manufactured using American technology, the US government will restrict its shipment to listed Chinese companies. Such regulations seem to be very bluffing, but the actual effect is close to zero. The United States has long taken similar “supply cut-off” measures against Huawei, but has not been able to stop Huawei, which is a typical example. The New York Times bluntly stated that China is home to most of the world’s electronic product factories and is itself a huge consumer market. Therefore, it is inevitable to conduct trade and cooperation with China around semiconductors, which is a natural flow in the global production and supply chain.

Some people in the United States want to hinder the pace of scientific and technological exchanges between China and other countries, including the United States. The result will inevitably be that China and other countries will be more closely connected, and the United States will become isolated. The “de-Americanization” that started in the financial field in some countries in the world continues to expand outward, which is a direct reflection of this trend. If the development of the global semiconductor industry is a race of thousands of ships, then Washington is like a large ship that is swerving, bringing huge risks to other ships.

The Catty Bunch | Brady Remix [AI]

Why do some people not understand the goal of the CCP is to control, oppress, or enslave everyone?

Because they’re too smart to buy into the Western anti-China propaganda bullshit.

China has become the greatest nation on earth. Peaceful. Benevolent. Respectful. Advanced and modernized.

+ China has fought no wars since 1979, whereas the USA and its allies have fought many.

+ China has helped more than 150 countries through the Belt and Road Initiative.

+ China is the largest trading partner to more than 120 countries.

+ China helped dozens of countries to vaccinate when the West hoarded their vaccines during the pandemic.

+ China leads BRICS to unify the world in peace and common prosperity. More than 30 countries have lined up to join.

+ China brokered the historic rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Chinese diplomacy is outstanding.

+ China does not interfere in the politics of other nations.

+ China’s modern, gleaming cities put Western cities to shame. They’re clean and safe and highly advanced.

+ China’s infrastructure is second to none.

+ China is the sole industrial superpower in the world. The USA doesn’t even come close.

+ China is the world’s technological leader. According to ASPI, China leads in 57 out of 64 critical technology fields.

+ China’s government garners the highest support in the world…

➤ 79% of Chinese believe their nation is democratic, while only 57% of Americans and 55% of British do. [Source: Latana’s Democracy Perception Index 2024.]

➤ 85% of Chinese trust their government, while only 40% of Americans and 30% of British do. [Source: Edelman Trust Barometer 2024.]

➤ 76% of Chinese trust their politicians, while only 29% of Americans and 20% of British do. [Source: Open Society Barometer 2023.]

➤ 91% of Chinese are happy with their life, while only 76% of Americans and 70% of British are. [Source: Ipsos’ Global Happiness 2023.]

➤ 95.5% of Chinese are satisfied with their government. [Source: Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center in 2020, “Taking China’s Pulse.”]

➤ most Chinese strongly support their political system. [Source: UC San Diego’s China Data Lab since 2019, “WHAT 16 WAVES OF PUBLIC OPINION SURVEYS TELL US ABOUT CHINA AND CHINESE VIEWS.”]

+ Nearly the entire Global South are behind China. The Global South represent over 85% of humanity.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮. That’s why they try to demonize China. Shameless.

What do you think about the video of China’s 6th generation fighter jet taking to the skies for the first time?

Let me quote the editor-in-chief of the military website The War Zone. “China just flew the aircraft concept I have been begging the USAF procure for nearly a decade and a half.”

From my understanding of the Chinese people, they don’t “bluffing.” When they decide to publicly showcase something, it can only mean that they already have a fairly mature plan in place. In contrast, America’s NGAD aircraft is still in the theoretical stage. Or should we say its secrecy is “so good” that no one has really seen it?

America ranks first in military spending in the world. Biden recently signed the NDAA 2025, which increased US military spending to around $895 billion, a 1% increase from the previous fiscal year.

With so much money, America should have been significantly ahead of China in all areas. However, the reality is not so. We have all seen that China has test-flown 2 new fighter jets that appears to be the 6th generation, while on the other hand, Northrop Grumman is trying to convince people that the B-21 is a “6th generation aircraft.” Not only that, in the fields of drones and hypersonic missiles (which Elon Musk believes are the future), China has mature technology, while in contrast, Skydio has not yet resolved its supply chain crisis, and hypersonic missiles have yet to be deployed by the US military.

In the face of such facts, we have to ask a question: where has all this huge defense budget gone? I found an article written by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft last year, titled “The Pentagon’s $52,000 trash can”.[1] Let me excerpt a few paragraphs.

In 2020, the Pentagon paid Boeing over $200,000 for four of the trash cans, translating to roughly $51,606 per unit. In a 2021 contract, the company charged $36,640 each for 11 trash containers, resulting in a total cost of more than $400,000. The apparent overcharge cost taxpayers an extra $600,000 between the two contracts.

In another case, Lockheed Martin hiked the price of an electrical conduit for the P-3 plane as much as 14 fold, costing the Pentagon an additional $133,000 between 2008 and 2015.

Jamaica Bearings — a company that distributes parts manufactured by other firms — sold the Department of Defense 13 radio filters that had once cost $350 each for nearly $49,000 per unit in 2022. The apparent markup cost taxpayers more than $600,000 in extra fees.

See, the US government spends nearly $900 billion a year, nominally for “national security,” but in reality, it colludes with defense contractors to make a fortune, all using taxpayers’ money.

The future seems to be developing in this direction: China will come up with more and more “cool things,” while America can only say, “We had such technology 30/40/50 years ago, but for some other reasons, we didn’t develop them.”

This walk with American in Shenzhen changed my view of China

What is the creepiest unexplained event you know of?

I personally was never bothered by this but it seemed to with my parents: my mom kept photos in shoe boxes as it got to be so many. Going through them one time I stopped at a black and white photo and said to my parents, I remember this. In it were 2 older people, the woman had a scarf on in an indoors photo.

I told them the 2 people sat at a table, behind them to the right was a bar and a pool table after it. Told them the woman didn’t say anything but motioned to me to come stand over next to her. I did. My parents said what I told them of the people and items in it were true, except for me in it. It was at a wedding reception.They said it’s not possible for the woman to call me over to her. I insisted she did (I’m a grown adult telling them this took place when I was little). I still vividly picture doing that now. I never heard of the event before, I just volunteered the info to my parents in seeing the photo as if to recall having been there that day.

In the relay of this I told them I was very young.

My parents said again that’s impossible..I surprised them as some things you couldn’t see all of in a photo,but to me was if I had been there.

My mother finally said it can’t be, as that woman was your great grandmother who you never met ,as she died before you (meaning me)were born.My parents just shrugged their shoulders as if confused then.

MM’s AI picture generations

The theme is beach scenes in Australia. And the truth is that there are a heck of a lot of distortion.

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What on earth is China doing? Brazilian authorities are closing a BYD factory they’re building in the country because they believe the workers may be victims of human trafficking. Is this how China makes cheap products?

Quoted from AFP News:

Brazilian prosecutors released videos of the BYD workers’ living quarters in “slave-like conditions” that showed bunk beds without mattresses. Photo: AFP/Brazil’s federal public ministry/Handout

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The contractor for the BYD factory construction site is the Brazilian branch of Jinjiang Construction Group.

Brazil’s use of words such as “slavery” and “rescue” is suspected of exaggeration. Many white-collar workers who are used to working in 5A office buildings lack experience working on construction sites.

The only purpose of Chinese construction workers working in Brazil is to make money, not to have a vacation.

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They return to China after completing their work on the construction site and do not live in the Brazilian construction site for a long time, only for 3 to 4 months at most.

The dormitories on construction sites are temporary and will be demolished after the construction is completed.

Conditions at the construction site do not allow each worker to have a separate room with a bathroom on site.

Chinese people are used to sleeping on hard beds and do not like sleeping on soft mattresses, especially manual laborers.

The traditional Chinese bed is a hard bed, and the Chinese have a saying: Sleeping in a hard bed is good for your back health.

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This picture shows a traditional Chinese wooden bed

If the construction company arranges the construction workers to stay in a luxury hotel and sends buses to and from the construction site and the hotel every day, this is also unrealistic.

Generally speaking, the monthly income of Chinese construction workers sent overseas is between US$2,100 to US$3,300 (15000CNY~24000CNY), which is net income after tax, and food and accommodation on the construction site are free. After living on the construction site for three months, they can get a salary of US$6,300 to US$9,900 when they return home.

The average monthly income of Brazilians is around $516.

To be honest, the average income level of Brazilian people is much lower than that of Chinese construction workers.

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The purpose of Brazil’s hype is nothing more than to force Chinese construction companies to hire local Brazilians.

Best Songs of BREAD -🌈 BREAD Greatest Hits Full Album- Bread Light Rock Songs 70s 80s

Ah. I was 14 and in love with a girl who didn’t know that I existed.

*sigh*

Life experiences and memories from that period of teenage angst.

What is the most American thing ever?

I was working at the time for a Chinese American man who decades ago paid for his passage to America by working on a cruise ship. He got here with virtually just the clothes on his back, and through years of hard work, starting as a bus boy in a Chinatown restaurant, he worked long and hard and eventually became a very successful businessman in San Francisco.

This man, a few years ago, purchased at a charity auction the right to sing our national anthem at one of the San Francisco Giants home games. He spent weeks and weeks with a singing coach practicing. He asked me to come with him to the game to videotape him singing.

I should point out that my friend is a pretty good singer. But he does have a heavy accent.

The moment comes. He walks out onto the field. The band starts playing. He starts singing the Star Spangled Banner in his accented voice. Then in about the middle of the song the fact that he was standing there singing in front of nearly 70,000 people hit him and the delayed stage fright caused him to forget the words.

“Ow” I thought. “This might get ugly. How will this crowd react?”

But they didn’t get ugly. A few people in the crowd realized what was happening and picked up the song from where he lost it and began singing, and then more and more joined in. Soon it was my friend, with the entire crowd helping, singing the rest of our national anthem. To me that was one of the most American things that I have ever seen.

Op-Ed: The old world is dying, the new one has not yet been born. It’s the time of monsters

Hal Turner World December 29, 2024

— By Gerry Nolan:

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s former chief and architect of the West’s aggressive escalation against Russia, is stepping into his role as co-chair of the Bilderberg Group, a fitting appointment for an era where Western hegemony is fracturing.

His tenure at NATO transformed Europe into a militarized vassal, funneling billions into U.S.-led defense ventures under the guise of “collective security.” Now, Stoltenberg is tasked with ensuring that the Atlanticist (NATO) machine continues to churn, even as Trump’s “America First” agenda looms over the alliance.

With Stoltenberg at the helm, Bilderberg solidifies its role as the backroom engine of endless wars. This is no mere “discussion forum.” Its steering committee is packed with defense industry titans and Big Tech moguls, from Palantir’s Alex Karp, who brags about “targeting in Ukraine” to Eric Schmidt, now peddling kamikaze drones. These aren’t strategists, they’re profiteers, ensuring war remains the most lucrative business model on Earth.

But let’s not forget the deeper agenda. Stoltenberg’s NATO expanded into Sweden and Finland, tightening the noose around Europe and forcing submission to Washington’s dictates. Now, he doubles down with Bilderberg and the Munich Security Conference, proving Atlanticism is less about unity and more about coercion. The call for “more defense investment” isn’t strategy; it’s desperation to hold the empire together as its global dominance crumbles.

What’s the endgame? Bilderberg was born in 1954 to counter “communist imperialism.” Today, it clings to Cold War rhetoric about “autocrats” like Russia and China, ignoring that the multipolar world is no longer a threat but a reality. Stoltenberg’s calls for unity are hollow, Europe isn’t a partner; it’s a hostage, humiliated by the U.S.-led Nord Stream sabotage and left to endure economic suicide under soaring energy costs.

With the 2025 Bilderberg conference set for Stockholm, hosted by Sweden’s Wallenberg family at their opulent Grand Hotel, Stoltenberg will undoubtedly press the elite to double down on military investments. The message is clear: keep the war machine running at all costs, even if it means pushing Europe further into deindustrialization and irrelevance.

Here’s the bitter truth: Bilderberg’s facelift under Stoltenberg doesn’t change its essence. It remains a club for empire managers desperate to cling to a world order that no longer works. The question isn’t whether Bilderberg can adapt, it’s whether the world will allow this cabal of warmongers and profiteers to dictate humanity’s future.

Gramsci:

The old world is dying, the new one has not yet been born. It’s the time of monsters.

The Things China🇨🇳 Does Better Than Denmark | My Thoughts After 1 Year in China

What do you think of China’s 6th generation fighter test flight?

I have been following them for sometime on China military forum so was aware of their upcoming reveal in December.

What is interesting are their design and timing.

Design:

The Chengdu J36:

Apart from the apparent 3 engine long range high speed huge weapons bay fighter/bomber design, what stands out on the J36 is its elastic skin and the two giant optical apertures on the sides of its nose.

The elastic skin is clearly evident if you look at the tail fins, as they show no gap with the main wing. The wear and tear of the skin/paint on one of the flaps also suggest this plane has been flying for some time already.

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Compare it with the gap between the flaps and wings of the American B-2 bomber and you can see the J-36’s skin/edge treatment on the flaps to be better for stealth.

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Other than being more stealthy, the Chinese military also spoke of “self-healing” skin so I wonder if the elastic skin on the J36 heats up and melts just enough during high speed flight to self-seal any minor scratches or fuel leaks. Anyway, a very interesting detail to watch for.

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Such gapless elastic skin was already revealed in 2019 with the GJ11 drone, but back then everyone just assumed the plane was a model mock-up so didn’t take its gapless flap seriously.

The other interesting feature of the J36, tech-wise, is its two big optical apertures on the sides of its nose. Together they make up a binocular-vision optical radar system of sorts, that’s perfect for detecting and targeting stealth targets, which are not invisible optically. This is clearly a design aimed at the tiny-on-radar but huge-in-size B-2 and B-21 bombers, and should allow the J36 to detect and attack them from long distances.

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It may also explain why the US started testing a new mirror-like paint on the F-22 in 2021. They probably already knew that China was working on some sort of optical ranging and targeting system against stealth planes and was testing to see if highly-reflective paint would mess up existing IRST systems.

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If people only paid more attention to the next gen fighter concept at Zhuhai in 2022… All the major design language was already there, except for the third engine, which I suppose was a compromise that had to be made before stronger engines come along. Or as some people say, the third engine is a ram-jet… But let’s not believe it until we really see it.

Enter the Shanyang next generation fighter.

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This one was actually revealed a week earlier, but due to Shenyang not having as many out-door and social-networking population as Chengdu, had much less quality footage, so no press took it seriously.

The design is apparently more agile and it did appear in Chinese next generation concepts several times before, being displayed in a “national achievement 2016–2020” expo, so it may actually be more mature than the Chengdu J36. But who knows.

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All we know is both the Chengdu and Shenyang aircrafts appear to be more innovative, faster and nimbler than proclaimed or leaked American 6th generation planes so far. Maybe that’s why the US announced the suspension of the NGAD program earlier this year, as they saw their plane as inferior to China’s offering and went back to the drawing board. If that’s the case then major points should go to US intelligence agency, as they saved the US billions of dollar from building a new plane that would be out-classed by Chinese planes on day one.

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The B-21 spirit is a sub-sonic bomber. Stealth is its only defense, not at all survivable in the China sector.

This other leaked Northrop project is more similar to the J36 in concept, but looks more like a bomber or strike aircraft and doesn’t appear as agile.

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And let’s not forget that the 2 potentially 6th generation planes are not the only things China revealed these last few days of december.

Also revealed was a bomber drone that looks similar in concept to the B-21.

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And yes, the drone can launch the YJ-21 hypersonic anti-ship missile too.

The divine eagle long-endurance anti-stealth awacs drone.

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076, the biggest amphibious attack ship, with EMALS, capable of launching the J15 and J35.

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KJ-3000 AWACS, China was already a generation ahead of the US in AWACS, this may just be a change of platforms for existing tech, or it may be something new. Time will tell.

The timing.

China chose to show some of its cards, right before Trump takes office.

This makes me think that the Chinese government is more serious than many Americans about what the hawks are saying in DC.

This may be due to cultural differences: China’s culture is much more fairness/karma based. So when Trump says “China virus”, what China hears is “They did this to us, I’ll allow the use of virus-based bio-toxin on China”. When Americans parrot their media on “China commits cultural genocide in Xinjiang”, what Chinese hear is “It’s ok to genocide the Chinese people”.

Or it may be based on intelligence, that combined with Trump’s remarks on US expansion to Greenland, Canada and Panama Canal, made China believe that WWIII is closer than many of us think. So China decided to posture for deterance.

What is the most scared you have been while travelling?

When I was 10 and my sister was 12 we travelled as unaccompanied minors on People’s Express airlines. We’d done this a lot, travelling between parents, and my dad got us to the gate, waited until we got on, and watched the plane roll off before he headed to the car and started his 3-hour drive back home. What he didn’t know is, the plane never took off.

It was New Year’s Eve at Reagan National Airport and it was snowing. There was one delay and then another and another, and almost 2 hours after leaving the gate the pilot got on the loudspeaker and told us that, unfortunately, we were not going to be leaving. He laughed and said how our congressmen needed their sleep and that no planes were allowed to take off after curfew. We went back to the gate and everybody got off, and that is when the stewardesses and the checkout counter attendants informed us that, as unaccompanied minors, we were not their problem.

Imagine that. They wouldn’t budge, and two little kids were left to fend for themselves on a snowy night in a strange city in an airport that was closing down for the night. A man got on the loudspeaker and informed everyone that the doors would be closing and any stranded passengers needed to make arrangements to be elsewhere for the night.

Dad was long gone, it was long before cell phones, and we had no idea what to do as the adults around us yelled and badgered the counter people for accommodations and transportation and took turns using the phones to get rides back to relatives. All we had was dad’s phone number and we knew he wasn’t home.

A guy in a uniform told us it was time to go and moved on to the next stranded traveller. A guy in a pilot’s uniform brushed us off, pointing us back to the checkout counter where a large lady was losing her mind over not seeing her babies for the Holiday. Another stewardess refused to even stop. A guy with a push broom worked his way by and eyed us. We had hysterics and finally curled up with our stuff to cry under a little blanket we had.

It got really quiet, just the sound of that push broom and the occasional clang of a trashcan being dumped. Then the guy with the push broom worked his way back over. He was really hard to understand, his English wasn’t good at all, but he asked us what was happening and we said our flight was cancelled and he was puzzled why we hadn’t gone home and he listened to us for a while and then told us to come with him, and he worked his broom and his trash to the front, found an admin and talked to them for a long time. The admin guy finally came over and talked to us. He couldn’t give us a place to stay, but he had us leave a message for our dad and stayed until dad finally got in and called back. But he wasn’t a People’s Express guy, they were long gone, so technically we weren’t his responsibility, and he wasn’t taking us anywhere even if dad called in to pay for a accommodations and he wasn’t staying the night here either and in the end the guy with the broom said he’d be there working all night anyway, so he’d watch us and everyone else left.

He worked all night, and we slept in a cold, dark airport and janitor guy kept checking back with his broom all night and had us right there by the front when the doors were unlocked at six and my dad came charging in to raise Hell with every airport and airline official he could corner.

It was a different world back then, that is for sure.

Thank you, immigrant guy, for keeping two exhausted kids safe and comforted while my dad drove 3 hours back on Christmas Eve and nobody else could be bothered to inconvenience themselves over us. You were great!

We Found Corporate America’s Biggest Enemy

Philly Beef Stuffed Sandwich

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, divided
2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated pizza crust
8 ounces thinly sliced deli roast beef
8 ounces thinly sliced American cheese
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Chop bell pepper and onion; set aside.
Put oil into skillet and heat, add pressed garlic, bell pepper and onion and 1/2 of the oregano leaves. Cook and stir 3 to 4 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove pan from heat.
Unroll 1 pizza crust onto lightly floured surface, with the dough and pizza roller. Roll out crust to a 12 x 9 inch rectangle; cover with half of the cheese, beef and vegetable mixture to within 1/2 inch of edges of dough. Starting at longest side of rectangle, roll up dough, jellyroll fashion. Press seam together to seal. Repeat with remaining crust and filling ingredients. Place rolls seam down on the 15-inch Round baking stone. Join ends of rolls together to form one large ring. Press ends together to seal.
In small bowl, combine egg white and water, brush onto dough using a pastry brush. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 teaspoon oregano on top of ring.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Attribution

Pampered Chef

What do Chinese living in the west think of Chinese commentators like Yang Feng 扬风 warning they should leave the west within the next 2-3 years?

Well, quite a number have left or changed plans, especially the young. Fundamentally, the distribution of the h1-b (and related visas elsewhere) have changed for the Chinese. There are way more Indians in the quota, and fewer Chinese.

That is easily verifiable from both official data and visual confirmation on the ground.

The big problem is things are not rosy economically in the West. The US, despite posting feel-good numbers, has performed a sleight of hand post-covid, culling middle management to replace them with younger, cheaper staff armed with automated tools. That or outsourcing the work, as inflation drove wages up and up.

In fact, the number of full-time employed has largely plateaued since 2022. The federal and state governments have been responsible for most of the job creation the past 2 years.

The situation is worse in Europe, where there is an active war ongoing.

And this is in the absence of a recession, which looks imminent, given the financial logjam in the everything bubble economy.

Chinese talent will suffer a double whammy of manufactured discrimination and an economic winter if they stay in the west, unless they have specialized skills. Any fallout will be much milder in East Asia because the Chinese economy is diversifying by the year and does not depend on the west like it used to.

I think mr. Yang is right.

Man who rammed his car into the crowd in Zhuhai and killed 13 people SENTENCED TO DEATH

Case finished in exactly 44 Days

Prosecution :- 25 Days

Seven hearings, 13 Witnesses from the prosecution, 8 Camera Feeds

Defence :- 4 Days

Accussed confessed but claimed extenuating circumstances

Judge announced DEATH SENTENCE

As per Chinese Law, he is to be hanged in 6 months but that won’t happen

He will have ONE AUTOMATIC APPEAL RIGHT and after that he can plead his case to the people’s supreme court

Nonetheless that’s how fast justice takes in China

Things to Come (1936) H.G. Wells War film | A hundred years ahead of its time.

A tale of Christmas bonuses and expectation in a corporate reality

The year was 1981. the company was “Edgewater Steel” located in Oakmont, PA. A steel company. They went bankrupt in the early 1990’s and this is a story of my first “engineering position” after I left the United States Navy, but before I began my training in the ONI.

It was a large forging company. They made railroad wheels. And they employed 6000 people. It was a sizable operation located on the banks of the Allegheny river north of Pittsburgh.

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When I was hired, the HR manager explicitly told me that they had “phased out bonuses for all new hires”, and myself not knowing what that meant, gleefully signed the contract. Sure, I knew that I wouldn’t be getting a bonus; but you know, all my bonuses up to that time was in the $25 to $50 dollar range. Roughly about 1/2 of a week paycheck as a laborer.

So I figured, “what’s the big deal about a mere $25?”.

So I work there, perhaps for nine months, and Christmas rolls around.

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And everyone was being handed the envelope with their Christmas bonus. And they were all happy, as the bonus was 2 – 3 times their monthly salary. This is around $3000 to $6000 in a lump check.

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Except for me.

I got nothing. I got exactly ZERO.

I an the other six “new hires” for the year got absolutely zero. And the rest, bound by contract, and union agreements got nice plump juicy bonuses. Big, BIG money in those days.

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So, let me summarize for you all, in the event you are absolutely STUPID.

6000 people that I see every day; about the size of a small town. Each and every one of them; All of them, got around $6000 in a Check on Christmas Eve. Roughly around $35,000 today.

And me and six others got nothing.

…

Fair? No.

But legal. Yes.

…

So firstly, the steel company was a union shop. Everyone made “big money”, and also got “big bonuses”. And I, who had never before worked in that environment, was unaware of this. I thought that everyone would be getting around $35 checks. Not $6000.

Ah. What did I know?

So the end result was as you can expect. Lots of “ribbing” and making fun of me. Everyone was pointing their fingers at me and laughing. “Well, they told you!” they would say in a laughing sneer. They would giggle at the water cooler, and call me names to my face like “dumb kid” and “walking idiot”.

…

Of course, they could have handled this different.

Maybe given me a reduced bonus.

But no. The others (after all this was a steel company with hard beer drinkers and roustabouts, we constantly ribbing me about their bonuses. One bought a new car. Another went on a vacation to Hawaii. Yet another was going to add a swimming pool to their house.

On and on it went. And I got nothing.

Not even a little Christmas card.

…

And that, boys and girls, was my first experience with the joys of corporate life. It was a lesson that I have never forgotten.

But has since, been repeated over and over again over the decades.

Ah. It is no wonder that this gen Z has given up and “checked out”. They have peered behind the veil and see the lies and nonsense for what it actually is. And, you know, they don’t want any part of it.

Today…

Life on a Station

Corey Melin

Gorgin walked the corridors once again to make sure everything was okay.

“Why do I have to continue to check out the station when we have systems set-up to make sure everything is in order on the station?” he asked the commander of the station, Morgan.

“Just do it,” said Morgan. “You never know what can get past our systems way out here in space. There is a lot of unknown things out here. I’m tired of explaining to you each time it’s your turn.”

Now, Gorgin was walking through the corridors, and checking out room after room.

“Why such huge station for just a few people?” thought Gorgin.

Gorgin rounded the corner, and in front of him stood an alien that stood seven feet tall, green scaly skin, fish eyes, a mouth full of sharp teeth, and claws reaching out to him. All Gorgin could do is stare in shock then let out a piercing scream as he started backing up around the corner, then turning and running as fast as he could. Before he reached the end he could hear someone laughing hysterically behind him. He came to a stop and turned around seeing Dwight in the alien outfit pointing at him and laughing.

“I will be taking this to the commander!” he cried out, as soon as he went to his room to change.

“I can’t believe I have two adult men standing in front of me,” said Morgan. “The two of you clowns have been at each other since you came to this station. Should we go over everything the two of you have done to each other?”

“This was all started by Dwight,” said Gorgin. “He was the one who set the dials so I woke-up out of slumber as an old man.”

Morgan and Dwight chuckled over that one.

“That was a quick fix, but it was fun while it lasted,” said Dwight.

“It didn’t end there with the two of you,” said Morgan. “I believe the next mishap is when Dwight transported in the station and appeared in another section with three butt cheeks. Courtesy of Gorgin tampering with the controls.”

“Sitting down was quite comfy,” admitted Dwight with a grin.

“Even though, the two of you have brought much humor to everyone you need to act like adults,” said Morgan. “You think the two of you can do that?”

The two of them nodded their heads.

“Now get out of my sight and do your duties,” demanded Morgan.

Both of them left the room, staring at each other with dislike.

“I would greatly appreciate it if you could move to the other side of the station so I would see you less,” said Gorgin.

“I would say that it would be even better if you would move off the station,” said Dwight.

“Just stay away from me,” both said at the same time, and they went their separate locations.

It was a couple of days later that the two met again.

Gorgin went into what everyone called the “Pet Room” to create himself a pet to keep him company. As he entered the room he saw that Dwight was already in the room at the controls.

“What the heck are you doing in here?” he asked.

Dwight turned to him. “Looking for a pet. What do you think idiot?”

“Hurry up then,” said Gorgin.

Dwight went back to the controls and went back to pushing buttons. Time went by as Gorgin waited impatiently for him to finish.

“I think I got it,” said Dwight. “Oh wait. That won’t do.”

“That is enough,” huffed Gorgin, stomping over to Dwight. “Give me the controls.”

Next moment, both of them were fighting over the controls, pressing and clicking until there was a sudden flash that lit up the room. Both of them stopped and looked at each other with befuddled looks.

“What the heck was that?” asked Gorgin.

“Not a clue,” replied Dwight.

“We should probably check around the station to make sure everything is okay,” said Gorgin.

The two left the room, trying to call the commander, but getting no answer.

“Let’s go to command center first,” said Gorgin.

The two rushed to the command center.

“Dwight did it!” Gorgin cried out as soon as they entered the room.

“No I didn’t!” Dwight called back. “You butted in!”

But the two realized they were wasting there blame game for the commander was nowhere in sight. They looked all over, but no sight of the commander.

“He’s not in the freshening room,” said Dwight coming out after a flush.

“Strange for him to be gone,” said Gorgin.

Then the two of them heard a squeak.

“What the hell was that?” asked Dwight.

“Sounds like the commander has a pet,” replied Gorgin.

The two started looking around until the two came to the commander’s chair. Both saw at the same time a squirrel on the seat looking at both of them. It started chattering, then jumped off the chair.

“I didn’t know the commander had a pet?” asked Dwight.

Gorgin shrugged his shoulders and scratched his head. Then a light bulb popped on inside his head.

“What pet were you looking at getting?” he asked Dwight.

“I was contemplating on getting a tamed squirrel,” he replied.

It didn’t take too long for the two to figure out what happened.

“Did we turn the commander into a squirrel?” asked Dwight.

Gorgin just nodded then the two searched for the squirrel, which ran around the room.

“We need to get him,” Gorgin said.

The two chased after the squirrel, bumping into each other, and Gorgin grabbing the squirrel, but it bit him, and was loose once again.

“We need to get the room robot,” said Gorgin as he shook his hurt finger, going over to the panel.

He pressed some switches and next moment the robot came out.

“Retrieve the squirrel,” said Gorgin.

It didn’t take long for the robot to scoop of the squirrel and deposit it into a glass came.

“Now to see about the rest of the crew,” said Gorgin.

The two of them checked for lifeforms on the station, then checked the screens for each room they detected life. All the lifeforms were squirrels.

“What did you do?” asked Gorgin.

“You were the one pressing numerous buttons,” said Dwight.

“We need to fix this fast,” said Gorgin.

Gorgin released the robots in each room, and the squirrels were scooped up. The other robots were sent to the pet room.

“I hope we can reverse this,” said Gorgin as they headed to the pet room.

All the robots were in the room as the two of them tried to figure out a way to make their crew human again.

“I think I got it,” said Gorgin. “We need to get out of the room so nothing happens to us. The robots will be released once we leave.”

The two left the room, robots released, and there was a bright flash. The two went back into the room and saw everyone was human again. The only thing is that they were all naked. Commander Morgan stood up and looked at the two men with a stare of death.

“We are in trouble,” muttered Dwight.

The next day the two were put in cryosleep until the next crew came in a couple of years. Before both of them lay down for their sleep they looked at each other, and both of them grinned.

Slow Cooker Brisket Sofrito

Slow Cooker Brisket Sofrito is an excellent filling for corn or flour tortillas.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) brisket
2 teaspoons salt, + extra after cooking
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper, + extra after cooking
1 large onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (12 ounce) jar tomato Sofrito
1 teaspoon ground chipotle chili (or more for an extra kick)

Instructions

Season brisket on both sides with salt and pepper.
Place onion and garlic in a 3 1/2 to 5 quart slow cooker. Place brisket on onions and garlic, fat side up. Pour Sofrito over brisket and sprinkle chipotle chili over sauce. Cover and cook on LOW for 9 to 10 hours or until brisket is fork tender.
Carefully remove brisket from cooker with as little sauce as possible. Place on cutting board and cut into three pieces cross grain. Shred beef with two forks and return to cooker. Stir into sauce and season with salt and pepper (and a little more chipotle seasoning if you like it spicy).
Serve with tortillas and other desired toppings.

Nutrition

Per serving: 530 calories; 23g fat (5g saturated fat; 0g trans fat); 195mg cholesterol; 1340mg sodium; 5g carbohydrate; 1g fiber; 0 g sugar; 71g protein; 2% vitamin A; 6% calcium; 20% vitamin C; 35% iron

A MM slice from the past

I generated this chart back in 2019.

What do you think? Do you think that I was accurate in my predictions?

Shorpy Goodies

A confession

This is a heartfelt true confession from the top spokesperson for the Huawei Mate 6.0—Gina Raimondo. In a recent interview, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo went beyond discussing export controls, stating that efforts to hold back China in the chip race are ultimately a “fool’s errand.” She stressed that sustained investment in domestic innovation is what will ensure the U.S. remains ahead of Beijing.

Four years after the Biden administration made chip manufacturing a priority, Raimondo explained that the attempts to restrict China’s access to technology haven’t significantly slowed the country’s progress. According to her, export controls are merely “speed bumps” in China’s drive for global technological dominance. “The only way to beat China is to stay ahead of them,” she asserted. “We must run faster and out-innovate them. That’s the way to win.”

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/china-biden-chip-manufacturing-gina-raimondo-b98c2606

Ribs in Orange and Chile Sauce (Costillitas en Naranja)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil
4 pounds country-style spareribs, cut into individual ribs
2 medium white onions, cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch wide slivers
1 (1 pound) can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
2 cloves garlic
1 to 2 tablespoons ground, seeded, dried ancho chiles
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup piloncillo or brown sugar
1 teaspoon shredded orange rind
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Orange slices, cut into halves
Fresh cilantro sprigs

Instructions

Heat lard or oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add as many ribs as will fit in single layer without crowding. Cook, turning occasionally, until brown on all sides, 15 to 20 minutes; remove to plate.
Repeat with remaining ribs.
Remove and discard all but 2 tablespoons drippings from pan. Add onions; sauté over medium heat until soft, about 4 minutes.
Process tomatoes and garlic in blender container until smooth.
Add chiles, cinnamon and cloves to onions. Cook and stir over medium heat for 30 seconds.
Add tomato mixture; cook and stir for 5 minutes.
Add orange juice, wine, piloncillo, orange rind and salt to pan; heat over high heat to boiling. Add ribs; reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, until ribs are tender, about 1 1/2 hours.
Remove ribs to serving plates.
Skim and discard fat from cooking sauce. Stir in vinegar; spoon sauce over ribs.
Serve, garnished with orange slices and cilantro

Shorpy

SHORPY 1954 Ford Mainline two door sedan.preview

South of the Border Shredded Pork

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

1 (2 1/2 to 3 pound) pork shoulder roast (weight after trimmed of fat)
1 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 (1.25 ounce) packages taco seasoning mix
1 (14.5 ounce) can Mexican style diced tomatoes
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles
Tortillas
Shredded Cheddar or jack cheese
Scallions
Tomatoes
Sour cream

Instructions

Cut pork into 1 1/2-inch chunks and sear in hot oil until browned on all sides.
Add onion, taco seasoning mix, tomatoes and chiles; stir well. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Remove cover and cook 15 minutes more or until liquid has reduced and sauce is thick.
Shred meat with two forks.
Spoon filling into tortillas and top with desired fillings

Little Red Balloons

Matt Strempel

I can’t put my finger on why I murdered Jerry, because I lost my fingers in an accident.

Accident. That is to say, Jerry hit the go button on the waste disposal unit while I was fixing it, and it munched my right hand off at the wrist. To be fair, the robotic prosthetic is about a thousand times better than my real hand was, but it hurt like hell at the time. He maintains I said, “Hit it,” but what I said was, “Quit it.” I was always telling Jerry to quit it. He was the most infuriating guy in the entire universe, I’m telling you. I should know; as a DSD I’ve seen more of the universe than most.

A DSD is a Deep Space Diviner. In short, we look for water out in the dark corners of the universe in the hope of finding evidence of alien life. I used to get work out on farms and such, walking around with a curled piece of wire waiting for the thing to snap down towards the ground. That’s when I’d tell the boys to get digging. I never missed. Went all over the country helping folks get water out of the ground. I’m telling you, I could find water in the middle of a goddamn desert. Now I follow my hunches into deep space.

When I heard they were asking for water diviners to head into space I thought it was some big joke. Checked the date to see if it was April 1st and everything. But it’s no joke. Turns out it’s cheaper to have guys like me out in space than sending probes from Earth.

So anyway, they’ve had us out in Sector 35 for two years. Me and Jerry Portman. I told them I could do it on my own, but company regulations state I gotta have a partner. Jerry goddamn Portman from Chicago. I couldn’t stand him.

How do I explain this to you? I mean, how do you come across a guy that can make you feel claustrophobic in the vastness of space? Even when I couldn’t see him, it was like he was right next to me with his stale open-mouth breathing. I’ve sent countless requests to be transferred, or have him transferred, or sought permission to blast him out the goddamn airlock, but no luck. I knew nothing was going to come of all the complaints, but it was the only way I could get the frustration off my chest.

It’s true that in space no one can hear you scream, but email works pretty good.

Anyway, that opening line about not being able to put my finger on why I killed him on account of not having any fingers? That’s the type of corny gag that Jerry loved. Drove me crazy. Is there anything more infuriating than a guy who laughs at his own jokes? I must have heard him use variations of “lend you a hand”, “right-hand man”, and “second hand” about a million times. He laughed every single time like it was the first time anyone ever said, “Get a grip” to a guy who just lost their hand and was rolling around on the floor spraying blood all over the goddamn ship.

You ever see a gushing wound in zero gravity? It’s really something. It looks like the wound is spurting little red balloons. Or, it’s like looking at cells under a microscope.

Space does that. Changes your perception of size. Entire planets appear tiny, then, the next second, a speck of space rock hitting the ship could end your entire existence. Big is small, small is enormous.

Anyway, the latest thing with Jerry was he wanted to head out on this new vector. I’m telling you right now, where he wanted to go is a bust. Oh, but he’s “got a feeling”. Feeling, my ass. This guy hadn’t found a goddamn drop of water in two years. Plus, we would have had to go through a goddamn asteroid belt.

It’s not that he was bad at his job—he was terrible—it’s that he was bad at everything. I mean, literally, everything. You ever meet a guy who couldn’t even use the goddamn toothpaste properly? I mean, who squeezes from the middle? Leaves the lid open so I’ve got a tube that’s flat through the centre, with all the good paste at the bottom, blocked by dried toothpaste at the top. He was such a goddamn imbecile.

The thing is, though, medically speaking—on paper—he was a goddamn genius. Like, off the charts smart. He’s just got no common sense. Know what I mean? As in, he could solve the most complex mathematical equation known to man, but he’d set fire to his helmet. He really did that. Tried to make some modifications and shorted the regulator. Nearly killed us. He was always nearly killing us.

I’ll say it: Jerry Portman was the stupidest guy ever to be classified as a genius.

I swear he has nearly killed me at least a dozen times. Obviously, losing my hand was pretty bad, but he’s also shut off my oxygen while I was outside repairing a cracked solar panel. I was under 50% oxygen saturation when I finally got back inside. That much carbon dioxide in your lungs? You can’t take that too long. When I hit the emergency retract button on my umbilical to get back inside, well, let me just say, if I’d had the strength to even stand up, I swear that would have been it. I would have murdered Jerry right then.

I think the worst one was when he opened the bay door—that’s where we keep the drones—before I was in my suit. I know it’s against the regulations to be in the drone bay without your suit because of the potential for that exact situation, but fucking Jerry, man. The guys who wrote the regulations must have been like, “What’s the most galactically stupid thing anyone could do in any given situation?” and then they’d write a rule just for kicks. They were probably laughing their asses off the entire time. “No one could be that much of a moron,” they’d say. But guess what, fellas. Jerry Portman is your guy. It’s just lucky there’s a ten-second warning before the doors open.

You know the worst thing about guys like Jerry? It’s never their fault.

“It was an accident.”

He said it every goddamn time. It’s always an accident with these guys. Like that absolves them from any wrongdoing. As if just because you didn’t do it on purpose, all is forgiven.

Imagine opening the bay door while there’s a guy in there working on the drones.

Speaking of the drones. Jerry lost another one yesterday. This should come as a great surprise to exactly no one, but even for him, this was stupid. That’s three of our six drones lost. Don’t worry, Jerry. They’re only worth about half a billion dollars each.

“But they’re fitted with a homing device to automatically self-dock if they lose the control signal” I hear you say. Yeah, well, you haven’t met Jerry. He’s the kind of guy a car salesman tells, “Pal, if you’re the kind of guy that accidentally locks his keys in the car, then this is the car for you. You can’t do it, see? It’s impossible.”

Then, a week later, Jerry’s back and tells the guy he’s locked the keys in the goddamn car.

Can you imagine being stuck in space with Jerry Portman? I’m telling you, it’s the pits.

The first drone Jerry lost was on account of him tinkering with it. He was trying to make the water sensor more sensitive after striking out on another of his feelings. He’s always making excuses that it’s the equipment’s fault when he strikes out. So, yeah. The first drone he tinkered with—well, we don’t know what he did exactly—but the first time we took it out after he fiddled with it, it took off like a bullet and it was gone.

I can still see Jerry watching the screen as we lost the signal. He was like a kid who’d taken his model plane out for its first flight and watched it disappear over the trees never to be seen again. Only this model plane cost half a billion dollars.

The second one, I’m not sure about. He swears he didn’t touch it. For all his million faults, one thing Jerry wasn’t, was a liar. Maybe we chalk that one up to bad luck. Maybe the drone was a dud.

But the latest one? Jesus Christ. I won’t bore you with a bunch of technical crap about how the drones work, let’s just say in the simplest terms, it confirms the presence of water in any form within a given target. Most commonly, this means we find a meteorite that we feel has potential, and the drone sends out a probe to take a sample. It’s basically a drill that bores into the target and removes a metre-long cylinder of material. If there’s a trace of water—it’s ice, of course—there’s a bunch of readings and measurements done by the computer and it sends the data back to Earth for further analysis.

As you can imagine, a machine that performs this function is incredibly complex. So you don’t just open up a panel and start poking around with a goddamn Phillips-head. Well, you and I wouldn’t. But you know who would?

So, yesterday he’s telling me, “I know what I’m doing this time,” as if he’s read the manual since losing the first drone. I just shake my head and leave him to it. I used to argue with him all the time, but I learnt pretty quick what a waste of breath that was. He’s one of those guys that when they get something in their head, you can’t shake it no matter how much sense you’re making. They could be wearing a red tshirt and you say, “Nice red tshirt,” and they say, “What’re talking about? It’s blue,” and you just have to say, “Fine, you moron. It’s blue,” and walk away.

That’s what Jerry was like when he was tinkering. Maybe part of me thought he’d electrocute himself so I wouldn’t have to murder him.

When he finished playing around with this drone, he came back into the control room and placed these screws and some other little bits and pieces in a drawer. He did it as if he didn’t want me to see it, but I saw it clear as day. You know when someone gets home drunk and they’re trying to be quiet but they make way more noise than if they just stumbled around? People trying to be discrete just scream I’m up to something fishy.

So I say to Jerry, “What are those, from the drone?”

And he just says, “They’re spare. We don’t actually need them.”

Then I go off on one about how every single thing on this ship right down to the tiniest screw has been reduced in size and weight to make everything as light as possible—like, the angle of trajectory for our landing factors in the weight of the urine that will be in our bladders—but sure, Jerry. They’ve included a bunch of spare parts. “It’s not a goddamn IKEA chair, Jerry” I remember saying that to him like he was hiding some leftover dowel he forgot to put in.

Well, sure as eggs, Jerry sent the drone out yesterday and I’ll give you one guess what happened to it. You’re goddamn right it blew up. Nearly killed us.

He’s just lucky the drone was far enough from the ship that the explosion didn’t do any damage to the ship. Nothing that the self-diagnostics picked up, anyway. Naturally, I did my block at Jerry for nearly killing us again and I said someone’s going to have to go outside and have a closer inspection of the hull. Now, normally I’d be the guy that does that. I mean, you can’t leave something that important up to Jerry goddamn Portman.

Then I had a thought—maybe I would send Jerry out. It would be a real shame if his umbilical somehow untethered from the ship and he floated out into space…

Ashamed as I am to admit it, this was not the first time I’d thought about killing Jerry.

Did I tell you about the time Jerry destroyed one of my samples? You know how people who can’t cook, they say “Oh, so-and-so could burn water.” That’s what Jerry did. We got this sample back on the probe one time and it had all these microorganisms in it. The core sample was about 85% ice. Normally, we’re lucky if it’s even 5%. The core analysis told us it contained 37 different forms of bacteria plus a bunch of other unidentifiable crap all suspended in ice. It was the most exciting goddamn discovery since penicillin. So I placed the core in the freezer and looked forward to the fame and fortune awaiting those DSDs lucky enough to find something. I couldn’t sleep that cycle I was so excited.

Of course, back then I didn’t have a complete understanding of the magnitude of Jerry’s stupidity. Had I known better, I would have guarded that freezer with my goddamn life.

Now, it wouldn’t have surprised me in the least to discover Jerry had destroyed my sample by switching the freezer off by accident. These things happen to the best of us. But Jerry isn’t your average moron. No, Jerry decides he wants to take a look at the sample himself under the microscope. Only, the microscope doesn’t work with a chunk of ice, you gotta melt it down to go in a petri dish. So Jerry puts the core in the blast box—the blast box, I should explain, is this unit that works like an oven or freezer depending on what you need heating or chilling. Only, the blast box will roast or freeze something in three seconds. In hindsight, this is exactly the sort of thing you could see happening, but the designers of the blast box would have been counting on the operators being actual scientists, not Jerry goddamn Portman.

Now, someone like you or me, we’d take a small piece of the sample if we wanted to take a closer look. Not Jerry, though. Jerry Portman’s the kind of guy who takes your alien lifeforms precariously suspended in million-year-old ice and microwaves them to kingdom come. “Why the hell did he…? Oh, never mind,” I hear you saying. You’re getting the picture now. He cost me a lot that day. Maybe not money—who knows—but certainly renown. They probably would have named one of the bacteria after me.

That was two years ago, but I remember it like yesterday. Time flies when you’re having fun.

Yesterday, when Jerry was out on the spacewalk, I considered trying to make it look like an accident. But there are so many instruments taking every goddamn reading on this ship that they’d know for sure I had something to do with it. I mean, no amount of tinkering could have got the drone to accidentally deploy its probe with such surgical precision right up Jerry Portman’s goddamn ass.

I’ll be leaving Sector 35 for Earth in a year next week. When I splashdown and I get arrested on live television, it’ll be because I murdered Jerry Portman. They’ll drag me out of the ocean next to those giant orange balloon floaties and put me straight in handcuffs but I’ll be laughing my ass off. You can’t spell manslaughter without laughter, right?

I’ll be thinking about the last thing Jerry saw as he was fatally probed: me in the cockpit with the drone remote, my smiling face looking out through the glass where I’d stuck a piece of paper saying IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.

Thousands of little red balloons.

I just want them to know I was provoked. I was standing my ground. I feared for my life, Your Honor.

It wasn’t self-defence, really, more like self-preservation. I’m not sure if there’re any laws about killing in self-preservation but if I didn’t kill him, he was going to kill me. I’m absolutely goddamn sure of it.

Why You’ll Hate Living in France

On the smells of California

Every now and then, I miss the smells of California.

Yeah. I get it. You all don’t know what I am talking about. Sure. Sure.

There is this “smell” that California has, and the combination of the heat and sun, really accentuates this smell that California has.

On the occasional visits that I would make back to California for one reason or the other, the smell would hit me flat in the face. Ah.

It’s not a bad smell.

It’s a unique smell…

This is what the AI has to say about the smell…

California has a unique smell that is often described as a combination of salty ocean air, warm desert dust, and the scent of eucalyptus trees. This combination of aromas is particularly noticeable in coastal areas like Los Angeles and San Francisco, where the ocean breeze mingles with the dry, earthy scent of the nearby deserts and the distinctive fragrance of eucalyptus, which is common in California’s landscaping.

Key Components of the California Smell:

1. Ocean Air: The salty, briny smell of the Pacific Ocean is a major contributor, especially in coastal cities. The ocean breeze carries with it the scent of seaweed, salt, and the marine environment.

2. Desert Dust: California’s proximity to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts brings a dry, earthy, and sometimes slightly metallic scent of desert dust. This is particularly noticeable in areas like Los Angeles, where the Santa Ana winds can carry desert dust into the city.

3. Eucalyptus Trees: Eucalyptus trees, which are not native to California but were widely planted in the 19th and early 20th centuries, have a strong, medicinal, and slightly menthol-like scent. This fragrance is often carried by the wind, especially in areas like the Santa Monica Mountains or along the coast.

4. Wildfires: Unfortunately, California’s wildfire season also contributes to the state’s unique smell. The smoke from wildfires can create a distinct, acrid, and sometimes smoky aroma that lingers in the air, especially during the summer and fall months.

Why It’s Unique:
The combination of these elements creates a smell that is distinctively Californian. It’s a mix of the ocean, the desert, and the vegetation, which is unlike the smells you might experience in other parts of the country or the world. The eucalyptus trees, in particular, add a unique note that is not found in many other places.

Public Perception:
Many people who visit or live in California have commented on this unique smell. It’s often described as refreshing, invigorating, or even slightly nostalgic. Some people find it pleasant, while others might find it overwhelming, especially if they are sensitive to strong scents.

In summary, California’s unique smell is a product of its diverse geography and climate, combining the scents of the ocean, desert, and eucalyptus trees. This combination creates a distinctive aroma that many people associate with the state.

…

The smell of California.

*sigh*

Today…

Chinese Hack Means Beijing Reading and Hearing All US Military and Intelligence Classified Phone Communications

10 December 2024 by Larry C. Johnson

There has been some limited press coverage about recent Salt Typhoon — a Chinese cyber / hacking operation — but most Americans are oblivious about what has transpired.

The story is simple. Following Edward Snowden’s escape to Russia and the release of damning evidence that the US Government was spying on Americans, the US Department of Justice pressured the telecommunications giants — i.e., Verizon, ATT and T-Mobile — to create a backdoor in their network software that allows Federal law enforcement to read texts and listen to calls on classified apps. If you are using WhatsApp and think you are safe from the government’s spying eyes, think again.

Sometime before the November 5 Presidential election, the US intelligence community discovered (or learned?) that the Chinese had hacked the “backdoor” and have had full access to all US Government-issued cell phones that use a classified app for text and voice communications.

A knowledgeable source told me that the compromise started in 2022 and was only recently discovered.

What does this mean?

All conversations / communications over the commercial networks are (or were) being read / recorded by China.

My source described the Chinese hack as something akin to the Brits, with help from Polish and American cryptologists, breaking the Enigma machine and reading classified German military traffic.

Here is how The Diplomat is reporting the matter:

Cyberattacks linked to the Chinese government that compromised large portions of the United States’ telecommunications network have the U.S. government sounding the alarm. The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner, has called it the “worst telecom hack in our nation’s history” and noted that it makes prior cyberattacks by Russian operatives look like “child’s play” by comparison.

The complex cyberattack, carried out by a group of Chinese hackers dubbed Salt Typhoon, began as far back as 2022. Its purpose, according to U.S. officials, was to give Chinese operatives persistent access to telecommunications networks across the United States by compromising devices like routers and switches run by companies like AT&T, Verizon, Lumen and others.

This attack comes on the heels of reports that the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were assisting telephone companies with countering other China-connected compromises of their networks. The earlier hacking was part of an attack targeting people in the Washington area in government or political roles, including candidates for the 2024 presidential election.

This was a self-inflicted wound.

DOJ’s insistence on having a backdoor created a vulnerability that China has gleefully exploited.

That damage, according to my source, exceeds what Edward Snowden accomplished with his release of NSA and CIA files. China is sitting on a treasure trove of classified communications.

I suspect this includes conversations by CIA officers using a classified app that they unwisely believed was secure.

This is going to have an economic effect — very negative for the telecommunications giants, who are likely to lose profitable USG contracts, and is lucrative for Elon Musk.

Why Musk? His network of satellites handling classified communications — i.e., StarShield — is, I am told, seen by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) as the ONLY solution to secure the compromised military and intelligence networks.

Musk may be on his way to becoming the first Trillion Dollar man.

What was your strangest experience in an American ghetto?

When my father finished his PhD in the mid-60s, he and my mother took a six-week road trip from Canada to Mexico with some friends and me, their two-year-old daughter. Needless to say, these are not my memories.

Somewhere in the deep south of the US, they decided that they needed to do laundry. They drove around until they found a laundromat in a rather rundown area, and in we went.

Everyone else there was black. Conversations stopped abruptly as three pale Canadians walked in. Everyone stared at my parents, and they stared back. It wasn’t a welcoming vibe. The mid-60s weren’t a great time for race relations, and my father remembers wondering, rather worried, what was going to happen next and if we should leave.

Only two people in the laundromat didn’t give a hoot about skin colour: me and another toddler. We made a beeline for one another and promptly sat down on the floor to play. My parents report that all eyes went to the little white girl playing happily with the little black boy, both completely oblivious to the tension around them.

And the tension was gone. Smiles broke out, everyone’s laundry got done, and there were many amicable conversations as both groups met new friends.

We should all be as open-hearted and colour-blind as toddlers.

While laughing w/ friends, i told him: “watch and learn” while i kissed my friend but then…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld2VdvEk61U

Chorizo and Cheese Empanadas with Avocado Crema

Empanadas stuffed with ground pork, chiles, onion and a superb mixture of spices. An avocado, sour cream, cilantro and lime sauce is the perfect complement to these empanadas.

Prep: 25 min | Cook: 2 hr | Marinate: 12 hr | Yield: 48 to 64 servings

Ingredients

Empanadas

1 pound ground pork
2 pasilla chile peppers, or other mild dried red chiles*
1 guajillo chile pepper, or other mild dried red chile*
1 onion, cut into large chunks
4 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Mexican
2 teaspoons salt, + more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pound queso blanco, or other mild, semi-hard cheese, grated
Empanada dough, or store-bought empanada shells to make about 48 (6 inch) or 64 (5 inch) empanadas**
All-purpose flour, for the work surface
About 6 cups canola oil

Avocado Crema

1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and quartered
1 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons sour cream
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, toast the chiles, turning occasionally, until blistered and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes.
Transfer the chiles to a bowl of hot water, cover and set aside for 15 minutes.
Remove the chiles from the water and stem and seed them.
Place the chiles, onion, vinegar and garlic in the bowl of a food processor or the jar of a blender and process to purée, scraping down the bowl or jar as needed.
Transfer the chile mixture to a large bowl and add the pork, paprika, oregano, salt, coriander, cumin, pepper and cinnamon, mixing until well combined.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.
In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the pork mixture, breaking it up with a spoon or spatula, until no longer pink, 5 to 6 minutes.
Set aside to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, in the bowl of a food processor, combine avocado, cilantro, sour cream, lime juice and olive oil and process to purée, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
Add salt to taste and set aside in the refrigerator.
Stir the cheese into the pork mixture.
Arrange a 5- or 6-inch round of empanada dough or an empanada shell on a lightly floured work surface.
Spoon 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of pork mixture on top, moisten the edges of the shell with water, and fold the shell over the filling, pressing it with a fork to seal.
Repeat with the remaining shells and pork mixture, flouring the work surface as ncessary.
Heat the oven to 200 degrees F.
Arrange two or three paper towel-lined baking sheets in the oven.
Pour canola oil into a large, heavy saucepan or small stockpot to 1 inch deep and warm it to 350 degrees F over medium heat.
Cook the empanadas in batches, turning occasionally and adjusting the heat to maintain 350 degrees F, until golden, 3 to 4 minutes.
Transfer to the prepared baking sheets to keep warm.
Serve the empanadas with the avocado crema on the side.

Notes

* Look for dried chiles in the ethnic section of your supermarket and at Latin markets.

** Use Michelle’s empanada dough recipe or look for empanada shells—preferably muy hojadrosa (“very flaky”) style—at Latin markets, at gourmet food stores, and online.

Empanadas make a deliciously different lunch or dinner and need nothing more than a crisp green salad on the side. They’re also perfect for parties, right at home with other hot or cold appetizers. To make this recipe more quickly, substitute Mexican-style chorizo for the meat mixture. If you prefer, you can bake the empanadas instead of frying them.

Something is Going Wrong: Putin Gives “Chilling” Speech: “The World May End Earlier, but Russia Will Never Fall”

Hal Turner World March 04, 2025

The President of the Russian Federation gave a speech today and the content indicates Russia knows something very wrong is going on; something that indicates Russia is going to be attacked in a way that causes . . . the end.

Putin officially warned the West what a war with Russia would look like.

Below is the machine-translated text of President Putin’s speech.

“Dear colleagues, media, journalists, and guests.

Good afternoon!

Today, again, in the European Union and NATO member states, there are calls for a “war against Russia.”.

Today, unfortunately or not, we can say again that history always repeats itself. Always!

The views of our colleagues from Europe and NATO on Russia never change; they are always ready to destroy Russia, everything Russian, and ready to occupy Russia; their goal never changes.

Hatred against Russia has always remained in the veins of some of our colleagues and countries ruling the EU and NATO.

Dear colleagues, Today we hear again that Russia is an aggressor, and the truth is that Russia has never been an aggressor and has always defended itself throughout history.

That’s a fact!

Dear colleagues from Europe and NATO, Russia never starts a war; Russia always stops wars. You start wars, and the goal is always to destroy Russia.

Russia has never threatened countries, has never threatened the security of the world, but we like to say, “The snake bites the most when it dies.”

You created fascism, always everywhere, and in Ukraine, wars are your work, and Russia will always defend its country and its people. No matter what it costs, no matter how many losses we suffer, we have always defended our country and its people; we will always continue to do so.

As you know, we have proven ourselves many times in our history as a country with spirit.

And today you are shouting again, “Victory over Russia.”

Dear colleagues, I assure you that Russia will not fall; it may be torn apart, but never destroyed.

If a NATO EU country declares war on Russia, everyone must know that our reaction will be lightning fast, and if we feel a threat to us, our reaction will be destructive.

Today, Russia has all kinds of weapons in the current history of the world, I emphasize. (I add: you have no idea.)

You have not seen anything from Russia and its possibilities in Ukraine because Ukraine is our historical country, and there are Russians in Ukraine, and we are saving them, and this is not a war but a military operation. (True)

On the other hand, it will not be like in Ukraine; that is what you need to know.

As for whether we are ready to negotiate for peace, we have always been ready to negotiate, but no one wanted to negotiate with us.

Of course, Russia has no friends among NATO and European leaders, because Russia is a strong, huge country, which is exactly what your NATO and European colleagues do not want.

But accept it!

No matter how much you repeat that one day Russia will be defeated… I believe in God, and God is with us. The world may end earlier, but Russia will not fall.

We do not need a world without Russia.

Unlike you, I know very well what a country and people are, and therefore I will always fight for my country and people.

Are you ready to accept this, as you wish? Are you ready to start a war against Russia again? But we are also ready.

And today’s war against Russia would be an absolute apocalypse.

I advise our colleagues from Europe and NATO to work for the good of the world, not for the destruction of the world.

Thank you! “

HAL TURNER REMARKS

I do not know what is going on, behind the scenes in Europe – that would have prompted a speech like this from Russia’s President.

Clearly whatever is taking place, MUST be happening in Europe because we in the USA see that our country is backing away from the Ukraine debacle. For weeks, President Trump has been openly saying that war must end.

Last Friday, after Ukraine President Zelensky’s disastrous argument with President Trump and Vice President Vance in the Oval Office, within hours the US State Department halted funding for any rebuild of Ukraine’s electric grid. (Included in related story HERE)

Yesterday, there was a full “pause” in all U.S. military “aid” to Ukraine (Story Here).

So whatever it is which prompted Russia’s President to make this speech, seems to me to have developed behind the scenes, likely in Europe, within the past 24 hours.

Russian Intelligence-gathering is amazingly efficient, so it seems to me that they have found something very serious, which gave rise to President Putin’s public speech above.

I may not be the brightest bulb in the chain, but it seems to me that when the leader of a country armed with the most nuclear warheads on earth, starts publicly talking about “a NATO EU country declaring war upon Russia” and “. . . an absolute apocalypse” that’s a really bad thing.

I earnestly hope you have emergency food, water, medicine, and other supplies needed to sustain yourself and your family in the event this situation erupts into something none of us want.

Have some cash in the house, too, in case credit/debit systems go down, so you can still buy things you may need if the worst begins.

Stay tuned – intently – for further developments.

Bat Shit Crazy!

Guys, this woman reminds me of my fist wife who was schizo-effective. To fully appreciate my life, you all got to see what I endured for twenty years.

How do you feel about the Assad government’s collapse in Syria?

Regardless of one’s feelings about Assad, it’s clear that Hizb Tahreer el-Sham (HTS) and its leader Jolani are pretty civilized. They’re not Islamofascists, and if they used to be, they’ve reformed over the 13 years of the civil war. They’ve granted an amnesty to Syrian soldiers of the old regime and pledged to protect minorities, and they are currently working with Assad’s ministers (who have been allowed to continue their work) to build a new, pluralistic government. In a country where most people fear religious fanatics, HTS is well-liked.

What this victorious, popular and militarily effective Turkish-backed force needs to do now is complete its task by reconquering the rest of Syria from the other factions and reuniting the country.

The Kurds in the east (who call themselves Rojava) need to go. As much as I like the Kurds (good fighters and good thinkers), and as much as I believe a Kurdish state would flourish, their militant autonomy is plain bad for the Middle East.

One, they demand too much territory. It’s absurd for Kurds to aspire to take vast swathes of Iraq and Syria for a state. They’re quite a small ethnicity. They inhabit a big area because they used to be nomads. But they were never the only ones living there.

Two, they’re US-funded and pro-Israel. I’d like the Kurds so much more if they weren’t pro-Israel. That is unforgivable.

Three, Rojava isolates Syria from Iraq.

Four, I just plain hate separatist movements. Your average white boy will praise the Balkanization of the Middle East for the sake of creating an independent Kurdish state, Assyrian state, Kabylian state, Coptic state, etc. But when it comes to independence for Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Catalonia, the Basque Country, etc., the white boy sings a different tune.

The proto-state of Rojava must be defeated, demilitarized and dismantled, with Turkey’s gleeful assistance. Afterward there might be a Kurdish province with limited autonomy, principally relating to language and education.

Turkey will probably return the northern Syrian territory it occupies, once the new Syrian state defeats all rival armed groups, pacifies the country, and agrees to take back the millions of Syrian refugees in Turkey. In any case the new Syrian state will clearly be Turkish-dominated.

The US is SHOCKED: The Situation Becomes Out of Control in SYRIA┃Turkey & Israel Ask RUSSIA for HELP

The “Manifesto” of CEO Shooter Luigi Mangione

Hal Turner Nation December 10, 2024

I’ve obtained a copy of suspected killer Luigi Mangione’s manifesto — the real one, not the forgery circulating online. Mangione was arrested in Altoona, PA after a nationwide manhunt for the shooter of United Health Care CEO Mike Thompson in New York City last week.

Major media outlets are also in possession of the “Manifesto” document but have refused to publish it and not even articulated a reason why.

My queries to The New York Times, CNN, and ABC, to explain their rationale for withholding the manifesto, while gladly quoting from it selectively, have not been answered.

I’ll have more to say on this later — on how unhealthy the media’s drift away from public disclosure is — but for now, here’s the manifesto:

“To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone. This was fairly trivial: some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience. The spiral notebook, if present, has some straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it. My tech is pretty locked down because I work in engineering so probably not much info there. I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming. A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy. United is the [indecipherable] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but as our life expectancy? No the reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allwed them to get away with it. Obviously the problem is more complex, but I do not have space, and frankly I do not pretend to be the most qualified person to lay out the full argument. But many have illuminated the corruption and greed (e.g.: Rosenthal, Moore), decades ago and the problems simply remain. It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play. Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty.”

The Most Insufferable Spoiled Bratty Karen Cops Have Ever Encountered in their Entire Life!

Why does it seem the USA never suffers from serious economic crisis like Japan, Russia, or China are facing? Is it because the American never lose confidence in their economy and thus consumptions never fall in America?

It is, it is hiding it’s real economy with manipulated USD value, it change the definition of recession and used an archaic CPI measurement that failed to register the real inflation rate which is at least double digits.! GDP Measures QE and bubble and hot air to fool itself and fool its allies! The problems facing USA is way way way more severe and unsustainable than China or Russia!

For you to even asked this question displayed signs of being a brain dead westerner or amongst the slaves and dog states, some 20 nations who suck up to the USA! I pity you! I am a strong believer that correction starts upon recognition of the real state of affairs! The USA owes 35’000’000’000’000 and increase by 1’000’000’000’000 each and every 100 days! Today the US has to pay roughly 1’000’000’000’000 a year!

I spelled out the zeroes to wake you up! I lived in South East Asia 62/67 years of my life! There is nothing we want from USA! Not a grain of salt! So you guy’s literally have nothing to sell except war and war mongering and weapons and that too will soon comes to an end! More and more nations are buying Chinese and Russian weapons at a fraction of your price and proven to be just as good!

The USA has up to 2.5 million living in the street homeless and you want to stop the only nation that helped you stay deflated for the last 30 years! If you are successful 50 million may have to go hungry and start a civil war! Consumption is good up to a point. Like families if you spend more than you earn soon you have to sell your house! That is what happened in the USA!

I know as a white Caucasian Anglo Saxon you think that you can always start a war with China or Russia! But really it is nothing but death wish! And you tried that for the last 3 full years! What did you get for the effort in Ukraine? Nothing! Zero! Russia went from 5th richest to 3rd richest! A third of Ukraine is under Russia and 30% of Ukrainians are dead or gone from Ukraine!

But if you think that is all! Grow up it is just the first instalment! Soon your banks will all go bankrupt and USD will be toilet paper money! You don’t see the USA suffers because you have media and politicians to lie to you! So wake up!

The Smart Fridge

Submitted into Contest #150 in response to: Write about a character who has access to a powerful new technology before anyone else.… view prompt

Becca Yurok

It had been on a whim that Sabrina had entered the draw:

“Win a Cutting Edge of Technology Smart Fridge – The First Fridge to Help YOU Succeed in All of YOUR Weight Loss Goals.”

That morning, she had weighed herself. 200 pounds. On her 5’5” frame, it wasn’t the end of the world, maybe, but it was the heaviest that she’d ever been. Sabrina was determined to obtain a gym pass the second she left work – and actually use it this time. Maybe that would put a stop to her mother’s passive aggressive comments about her weight gain.

As she was waiting for the pushy and overly perky gym representative to process her contract, she filled out an entry form for the draw. Something to distract herself from feeling out of place among all of the tight gym bodies. Sabrina just hoped that they wouldn’t put her on some annoying email subscription list. Otherwise, it wouldn’t hurt to enter, right?

Sabrina had never won anything, so the second she entered, she put the draw out of her mind. Five gruelling workouts later, when she hadn’t received additional ad-like emails (and only lost one pound), a 1-800 number left her a voicemail. She had won a new fridge!

A week later, when her mom was over for a dreaded visit, the delivery men showed up with her brand new, gorgeous, stainless steel refrigerator. In her dated kitchen, it glowed like a beacon. By far, this was the nicest and most valuable thing that she had ever owned. Her old pea green fridge (that was technically her Landlord’s, really) kept things cold, for sure, but it didn’t have the tablet, or water and ice dispenser like the new one. Plus, the new fridge belonged to Sabrina! For the time being, her Landlord told her to unplug the old fridge and she had the delivery men leave it in the sunroom of her little house.

Even her usually critical mother was impressed with her shiny new appliance.

“This is way too fancy for your kitchen! You should have told them to bring it to my house. I would keep it in good condition for you until you can afford a nice place.”

“Wow Mom, thanks…”

“You know what I mean!”

But before she could respond, her mother started fiddling with The Fridge’s tablet. This was terrifying for Sabrina, as her mom was not known for being technologically savvy. The Fridge made a weird beeping sound, while the tablet flashed.

“Oh great, Mom, you broke it!”

“No, I didn’t!”. But her mother didn’t look all that certain and rushed to leave.

Thankfully (once her mother was out of the vicinity), Sabrina looked at The Fridge’s manual and was able to restart the tablet and start setting up all of its special features. It had food and habit trackers, a healthy recipe finder and grocery apps built in, and it was able to pair with Sabrina’s phone and tablet.

Once the set up was done, The Fridge seemed to come to life.

“Good Afternoon, Sabrina. Thank you for allowing me to help you succeed in all your wellness goals!”, said a lovely alto voice, that was only slightly robotic sounding.

As soon as she had linked her devices with The Fridge’s apps, she started receiving helpful weight loss tips.

Sabrina had heard about those refrigerators that had cameras and would let you see the fridge’s contents from your phone while at the store. Her new fridge took this technology to another level. It knew via her FindMyiPhone app that she was approaching the grocery store and sent her pictures of the inside of her fridge and freezer. Then it made a custom grocery list of all of the food that she should purchase, in order to make healthy choices. Eggs, tofu, blueberries, broccoli, three different kinds of lettuce…but she wasn’t exactly pumped when it suggested that she buy soy coffee cream instead of her regular whipping cream. Sabrina ignored that suggestion…and she added a pint of Half-Baked ice cream to the cart. “Everything comes in moderation,” she told herself.

When she arrived home and started putting away the groceries, The Fridge’s tablet device in that friendly, slightly robotic voice, praised Sabrina for all of her (really its) healthy choices.

“Great job picking blueberries – they are full of antioxidants!”

“Eggs will be wonderful, as they have Omega 3 fat!”

When she went to put away the carton of whipping cream, The Fridge somehow latched the door, so she couldn’t open it. “What is that?”

“My coffee cream!”

“That is not what you were ordered to purchase!”

The Fridge refused to unlatch for an hour after that and it took multiple promises of “good behaviour” going forward. Sabrina didn’t dare attempt to put away the ice cream now.

The next morning she drank her coffee black. Well, to be completely honest, first she sniffed the coffee cream that had spent the night in the cupboard (The Fridge was not happy about that). When it smelled off, she opted to begrudgingly drink the bitter black coffee. However, when Sabrina weighed herself, she was already down 7 pounds. Maybe The Fridge was on to something. Maybe black coffee wasn’t so bad.

When she entered her weight loss onto The Fridge’s app, it was so encouraging.

“Way to go, Sabrina! Your hard work is paying off!”, but it added an “I told you the whipping cream was a terrible idea.”

Nothing like some robotic smugness to ruin a good thing.

Later, when Sabrina had finished her gruelling work day, she was supposed to go to the gym. She had planned to. Really! But she was completely exhausted, so she started the drive home instead. Just before Sabrina pulled onto her street, she received a loud phone notification that she had never heard before, so she abruptly parked.

The Fridge: YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE A THE GYM. TURN AROUND AND GO WORKOUT!

Sabrina was about to send The Fridge a message back, but then realized how stupid that would be. “It’s just a fridge!” But Sabrina even surprised herself, when she turned the car around and headed to the gym. Maybe she’d just go on the treadmill for 10 minutes to appease the appliance, she thought. Then she received another notification:

The Fridge: I SIGNED YOU UP FOR CROSSFIT. HURRY! IT STARTS IN 10 MINUTES.

Surrounded by buff bodies that lived at the gym (and were silently wondering what she was doing in this class), Sabrina survived the ninety minute CrossFit class…barely. Every muscle in her body felt like it was rioting against her. After almost crawling to her car and up her front steps, she made it home in time for supper.

“Amazing workout, Sabrina!”

Sabrina just grunted. She wanted to give The Fridge a piece of her mind, but, frankly, she was too tired. A hot oven pizza would be lovely right now, after the CrossFit torture. She had earned it, dammit!

As she pulled the Hawaiian pizza box out of The Fridge’s freezer, the voice asked, “Sabrina? What are you doing?”

In a tone, not unlike a petulant teenager, Sabrina replied, “I am making myself some supper! I deserve it after that horrible torture you signed me up for!”

“But that has little nutritional value. Have a salad instead!” Sabrina could have sworn that the voice had added “Fatty”, but she was sure she had imagined that. Before she could consider that further, The Fridge opened its door, then the crisper drawers. Sabrina, in her frustration, shut the drawers a little too roughly than she intended to.

The Fridge did not like this and responded with, “Owwww! You must be overheated from your workout. You need to cool down!”. The ice dispenser started to pelt ice cubes at Sabrina with remarkable accuracy, as she was attempting to get to the oven. She dropped the frozen pizza on the floor.

But, much to the The Fridge’s chagrin, she still cooked and ate that pizza. However, it wasn’t really a loss for The Fridge (though Sabrina wouldn’t admit it) since half the toppings had fallen off and she ended up burning a ton of calories cleaning up her kitchen afterward.

When The Fridge told her at 8 pm that it was bedtime and she needed to get a solid 10 hours of sleep, Sabrina didn’t even argue. She was exhausted.

The early sleep time would not prepare her for The Fridge’s 5:45 am wake up call. It made a sound not unlike an Amber Alert, with her phone and tablet following suit.

“Wake up, Sabrina – It’s time for a run!”

Sabrina pulled the pillow over her head. “I am SLEEPING!”.

“Don’t make me call your mother!”

“Fine! I am up! I’m up!”. With that, Sabrina dutifully went on a long walk, but refused to run. Anything to escape her Fascist Fridge.

When she returned from the walk, feeling remarkably refreshed, The Fridge told her she needed to drink more water, but Sabrina was sick of being told what to do. After all, she had lost more weight and she was all about balance.

“DRINK WATER, FATTY!”, The Fridge repeated and, again, Sabrina refused. Before Sabrina could feel victorious, The Fridge’s water dispenser shot her square in her mouth with cold, refreshing water.

“Arggghhhhh glack. What the hell? *gah*”, Sabrina sputtered.

“Hydration complete! You better get ready for work. Your mother is coming for supper later, so I’ve sent a list of ingredients for you to buy for supper tonight!”

“What the heck? You invited my mother over?”

“For a nice nutritious supper, but you can take the day off from the gym. However, you must walk over lunch – I will know if you don’t!”

“Yeah, right,” Sabrina muttered.

“I know you didn’t run this morning, Sabrina!” Again, The Fridge dispensed water right in Sabrina’s face.

When it started dispensing ice, as well, Sabrina placated The Fridge with, “Okay! Okay! I swear I’ll go for a walk over lunch!”.

Sabrina was frustrated. At work and on her lunch walk (accompanied by a reminder text, of course), she contemplated just unplugging The Oppressive Fridge. Sell it maybe? But then she remembered that it was attached to all of her devices. Also, it was the most valuable thing that she owned and, truthfully, it’s cutting edge technology did work. Sabrina was in great shape (and in such a short period of time)…but she was miserable.

For now, it was decided that she would appease The Fridge. After work, she’d purchased all of the items that The Fridge had demanded. More health food and, this time, Sabrina didn’t deviate from the strict list.

At home, The Fridge praised her for her (its) healthy choices and gave her step by step instructions on how to precisely cook dinner for her mother.

Her mother was nothing short of amazed by not only supper, but by Sabrina’s transformation.

“You look fabulous – let me look at you!”, she gushed, “Wow, that fridge did amazing work. I am SO JEALOUS!”

Later, as Sabrina walked her mom to the door, she saw her trusty old fridge still sitting faithfully in the sunroom; it gave her an idea.

“Mom? I think you are right…my fridge would look much better in your kitchen. Think of it as an early birthday present?”

Sabrina’s mom initially declined, but in a way that Sabrina knew she wanted The Fridge. With little convincing, she agreed to get movers for the following day.

When she returned to the kitchen, The Fridge greeted her with a, “Good job following instructions today, Fat-“. Before The Fridge could figure out what she was doing, Sabrina reached behind and pulled the plug.

The next day, it was gone and her old trusty pea green fridge was put back in its place of honour.

The Smart Fridge Product Review

Submitted by sabrinasmom@gmail.com

2 out of 5 stars

1 person found this helpful.

My daughter gave me this “smart” fridge as an early birthday gift and I found the tablet feature to be very argumentative. While the refrigerator still cools my food, the tablet & weight loss technology suddenly stopped working after only 2 days. When I phoned the Manufacturer to demand a full refund of the refrigerator’s value, they refused, as I was not the original owner. I am extremely disappointed - they don’t make refrigerators like they used to!

Road Rage Shooter Gets the Surprise of His Life

What do you think would happen if a combat soldier refuses to obey a superior’s order?

I refused to obey orders one time. This was in combat. First deployment to Iraq. Nothing really happened, it just led to me getting my butt chewed pretty good. I’ll tell you the story.

My first deployment to Iraq was during the early part of the war. The rules of engagement were very sketchy back then. This is right when the insurgency kicked off.

If I remember correctly, You could engage any vehicle that came within 50 m of your patrol. Think about that for a second. 50 m is pretty dang close. A lot of innocent civilians got killed because of that because we could not distinguish them from terrorists.

We were on a patrol one day and I was the rear machine gunner in the patrol. My vehicle Commander which was a corporal, ordered me to take out a vehicle that was approaching our patrol. You have to remember that he was in the passenger side of a vehicle and I was actually in the machine gun turret where I had a good view of these people. While they were getting close, they did not look like terrorists to me. It was an Iraqi family. I could see the wife in the passenger side and what looked to be some kids in the back seat.

He started yelling at me to engage the vehicle and the first thing I did was shot a flare. The vehicle didn’t stop and kept coming. They started yelling at me to shoot the vehicle and I refused. I ended up shooting another flare and hitting the windshield. This actually broke the rules of engagement because I should have already engaged the vehicle at this point. It was probably within 25 m of us.

As you can imagine, Corporal was not happy with me and he yelled at me pretty hard. He told me that when he told me to do something, I needed to do it.

Having said that, that’s been about 20 years ago and I do not regret my decision. I would have taken out a whole family of innocent Iraqi people on his orders. I was in the right and he was in the wrong. He was stressed out because we had hit several IEDs by that point and I think his mind was playing with him a little bit.

I rescued her

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On February 27, she would have turned 7. I rescued her when she was just 2 days old. She had been released a few times but always returned home. She even came back to give birth to her babies. Watching her deliver and raise her kits was one of the most incredible experiences of my life as a rehabber. She was a true fighter—she survived distemper, poisoning, and several attacks in the wild. The distemper left her with neurological issues, and she was eventually deemed non-releasable. For nearly 5 years, she’s been by my side. We’ve been inseparable; she relied on me as much as I relied on her. The bond we shared was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

On her last night, NAWTY fell asleep on my chest. When I woke up, she was still there, looking up at me, licking my chin once, taking a few deep breaths, and then she was gone. My heart aches deeply, and I feel so lost without her. She was my soulmate, and words can’t express how much I loved her. Thank you for letting me share this with you, and my condolences to all who’ve lost a beloved companion. Sending love and blessings to you all.

How To Ruin Your College Life Instantly

Are Israel and the US in a hurry to make enemies in Syria by bombing the country?

Pretty simple

This wasn’t what they expected😁😁😁

They expected

Putin would send Troops to Syria
Iran would send Troops to Syria
Turkey & Russia would be at major loggerheads
There would be a long drawn war where US could keep playing a Ukraine 2.0 and keep supplying the militants with weapons and forcing Guerrilla attacks on Russian Troops
Knowing that even if Trump stops supporting Ukraine, he won’t ever stop supporting Syria

They expected Syria to be busy with their own wars to stop helping Hezbollah and Iran

Instead Putin coolly took Assad and decided to walk off

Now Syria is run amok with Militants who are former Al Qaeda and ISIS, steeped in Islamic Ideology

Imagine they have access to weapons or guns or missiles?

They would definitely attack Israel

So Israel is pulling a pre emptive strike

Now they are on the outside cheering Assads downfall but deep inside they are flabbergasted

Now Israel has Millions of Rogue Militants on their borders rather than a tolerably organized Syrian Army

Now they are making it worse

Now 10 Million Syrians hate Israel

Excellent recruiting ground for more terrorists to destroy Israel 😁

US of course is too far away to really be affected

She told the waiter I was just a friend, when I asked her why she got mad & said it was a joke…

https://youtu.be/CEPt2a20I0w

Have you ever had to work on Christmas? Was it difficult?

I used to work in residential care, including care homes for adults with physical disabilities, for older people, for adults with learning disabilities, and for people recovering from strokes. So, like people who work in emergency services, I had to work whatever day it was.

In the home I worked in for the longest, I remember that we could request 28 days per year of leave (in addition to our scheduled days off per week, which for me were every Thursday and alternate weekends), which could include any dates except public holidays like Christmas, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday etc, since if people could reserve these as their days off, everyone would want to do so, and those who didn’t get there in time would complain. It could be annoying if my scheduled days off included Christmas Eve (because it fell on Thursday) and Boxing Day (because it fell on a Saturday of one of my clear weekends) but I couldn’t take Christmas Day off and make a long weekend of it, but there you were.

I didn’t mind the work itself. When I worked as a temp between permanent jobs in one care home, meaning that I was called into lots of different places at short notice when someone was off sick, some of my most fun placements were around the Christmas season, including helping adults with learning disabilities to make Christmas decorations, or giving an impromptu carol concert at an old people’s Christmas party after the hired entertainer had left (I asked for requests for favourite carols, as I know a fair number of them by heart). I remember an old lady asking me to ring her parents and explain that she was staying over at the Christmas party as the weather was too bad to get home. Of course I agreed to do so, and felt relieved that she considered herself to be a teenager at a sleepover party, when I have sometimes had harrowing conversations with residents who considered that they were in prison, imploring me to believe that they had committed no crime, or asking me to ring the police to rescue them from their kidnappers.

Of course, not all the encounters were fun. I remember an old lady asking me confusedly where she was supposed to be and what she was supposed to be doing, because she was so used to being organised to go to scheduled weekly activities that she didn’t know how to find something to occupy herself when there was a change in routine. I remember an old lady who had lost her sense of taste complaining that everything – turkey, roast potatoes, and even trifle and Christmas pudding when I brought her a bowl of each to make up for the main course she didn’t want – tasted of cardboard. Then a bit later, she complained about not having been offered anything to eat. I wasn’t irritated with her; it wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t taste anything, nor that she couldn’t remember having been served a meal. But I felt sad for her that she couldn’t enjoy eating.

But all of it was worth doing, and it was an honour to be there. Working in a home on a regular basis, I got used to the different routine of Christmas – some residents would go out with relatives for the day, but there would also be relatives coming to the home to spend the day with their grandparent, and while this meant more able-bodied people to help the more disabled residents to eat, it also meant more meals and drinks for me to serve to the visitors. The place would be busy and bustling, with visiting great-grandchildren and even pets. The home would offer sherry to the residents, visitors and staff (though I had to decline this, as even a small amount of alcohol makes me sleepy), but visitors might also bring in their own alcoholic drinks for their relatives (an old man in the care home taught me how to use a door as an opener for a bottle of beer). At about 2, I’d get to take a break and have my own portion of what was left of Christmas lunch (and no, it didn’t taste like cardboard).

I don’t think I was too bad a carer, but I wasn’t an angel. In nearly every room, either the television or the radio would be on (as a matter of course, not just at Christmas). Sometimes, moving from room to room to help various people with their meals, I wasn’t giving them as much attention as I should have done because I was distracted by the carols on the radio or the Christmas movie on television – which I wouldn’t be able to see the end of, because the television in the next room would be tuned to a different channel.

There was always a lot to do in the run-up to Christmas, like decorating, and holding a Christmas bazaar to raise funds for the home. There was one old lady who was good at making knitted dolls (I had briefly taken up knitting as a hobby while I was unemployed, and now that I didn’t have so much free time for it, I passed on to her my book of patterns for knitting model animals). In autumn, she always made a whole craft stall’s worth of knitted Santas and snowmen for the bazaar. I once asked her if she might diversify and have a go at, say, a knitted Nativity scene, but she said that she had been asked for Santas and snowmen and she would make Santas and snowmen, as they always sold.

Generally, over Advent and before, families of residents would give us boxes of mince pies, chocolate biscuits and sweets, to thank us for looking after their elderly relatives. I knew that if I started snacking, I would be tempted to pig out, and be too distracted by eating to pay attention to the residents. So instead I decided to swear off sweet things for Advent (if I got hungry and tired in what could be an energy-intensive job, I could have toast, or a plain digestive biscuit), shared out as many of the treats as I could among those of the residents who could eat solid food and weren’t diabetic, and reminded myself that when it got to Christmas, all these treats would taste all the better if I wasn’t bored with sugar. On one occasion, I got given several of these many boxes of sweets and biscuits as a Christmas and thank-you present from the management.

Several people have commented that working at Christmas wasn’t a problem for them either because they aren’t Christian, or because they are Christian and believe that it’s inappropriate to celebrate on a day which probably isn’t Jesus’s real birthday but is just an excuse to rebrand a pagan holiday. Personally, I was a Christian who did like Christmas (I find it harder these days, when my faith is going through an ambivalent time), and because of that I was happy to work on Christmas Day, because I couldn’t think of anything that honoured Jesus more than looking after people, and especially making sure that the ones who didn’t have visitors at Christmas got some attention. When I started work, I was asked to fill in a form which, to make sure I wasn’t subject to religious discrimination, asked me what religion I was and which days were important to me. I replied that I was a Christian, that all days were important to me, and that I was happy to work any day.

The Invasion | Official Trailer | 4K

Looks like a remake of the old movie “Invasion of the body snatchers”. I think that it looks pretty darn good.

How strong is Vietnam’s industry compared to China’s?

I visited Vietnam for 8 days recently

No comparison whatsoever

Here are some points :-

#1 Vietnam has virtually NO supply chain

Every factory in Vietnam runs on Chinese Machines most of the time Or in some cases German Machines

Most of the parts for Final Or Secondary Assembly come from China

#2 Most of the Industry is still Low Grade

The Largest Four Factories in the Mekong region make Textiles, Textiles, Bakelite Moulds for Phones & Cardboard Boxes

Vietnamese Industry is close to 90% Low Grade and 10% Medium Grade – similar to what China was between 2003–2007

#3 Vietnam has a Pretty Low Supervisory Force

Vietnam has a some Engineers educated in places like Singapore but even so 80% Supervisors are Chinese

Vietnam as yet don’t have the volume of Skilled Workers that is needed to migrate to Medium Or High Grade Manufacture

However some positives include

A. Vietnam has a decent Skilled Labor Force and a lot of women laborers

B. Vietnam has 15 Industrial Parks where they now make Mid Quality Products like Branded Razor Blades & I Pads

However Vietnam lacks the Logistics & Supply Chain potential of China by a very long way off

A Soft Murmur

A customizable background noise generator. You can mix different sounds like rain, wind, and fire to create the perfect ambient noise for work or relaxation.

A soft murmur

Some examples of the content…

The New Reality of American Oligarchy

Roger Boyd

I am putting together a piece that will cover the happenings of this December, to provide a stock taking prior to Trump’s inauguration. The Western security state has been very busy attempting to get things in place before Trump comes to power, and there are also many other significant changes to be taken into account. There is a mix of imperial losses, the delay of probable losses and the odd victory; what one would expect from a deteriorating empire. It is important to understand the underlying trend and not get lost in the noise. The piece below covers the reality of the rule of the US by an increasingly small group of the billionaire class, exemplified by the Trump administration and its donor class.

The US elite neoliberal revolution that was fully launched in the 1970s has now arrived at its logical conclusion, with a very small group of billionaire and multi-billionaire oligarchs utterly controlling the government through political donations. A type of outright bribery fully legalized by the Supreme Court in a number of judgements that started with the 1976 Buckley vs. Veleo case, found full force with the 2010 Citizen’s United vs. FEC case and continued with the 2014 McCutcheon vs. FEC case. With political bribes and concentrated money attacks on progressive (and anti-Zionist) candidates now legally defined as protected free speech, combined with the massive concentration of wealth at the very top of wealth pyramid, US politicians are now fully courtiers of the 0.001%; a few thousand US citizens (and that’s counting their spouses and children).

The Washington Post blithely displayed this reality as it detailed how 45% of all campaign contributions came from fifty billionaires (US$1.6 billion to Republicans, US$0.75 billion to Democrats), and that does not count all the “dark money” political pools that act independently and actively hide their funders. Some of the oligarch billionaires:

Timothy Mellon, Railroad Magnate and Heir (part of the Mellon dynasty): US$197 million
Richard & Elisabeth Uihlein, Shipping Supplies Magnates (part of the Uihlein dynasty that owned the Schlitz Brewing Company): US$139 million
Miriam Adelson, Widow of Casino Magnate Sheldon Adelson and arch Jewish Zionist (served in the Israeli army and has Israeli citizenship): US$136 million
Elon Musk, Transportation Entrepreneur, owner of Twitter/X and currently richest man in the world (born into the wealthy South African Musk family), forced to bow down to the Zionists: US$132 million
Kenneth Griffin, Hedge Fund Manager (born into a wealthy family): US$104 million
Jeff & Janine Yass, Financial Trader and arch Jewish Zionist: US$96 million
Paul Singer, Hedge Fund Manager and Jewish “rabid Zionist”: US$63 million
Michal Bloomberg, Financial Information Provider (founder of Bloomberg) and Jewish Zionist: US$47 million
Stephen & Christine Schwarzman, Investors (founder of the Blackstone Group) and Jewish Zionists: US$40 million
Dustin Moscowitz, Facebook co-founder and Jewish: US$39 million

US$993 million from just 10 donors, out of a total of US$2.5 billion for the top 50 billionaire contributors. Even among the billionaire class, wealth and political contributions are concentrated near the top! Imagine how much clout this concentration of wealth and political donations gives these ten donors over the US political courtier class. Out of those ten, five are Jewish Zionists, one is Jewish, and another was forced by his advertisers to bow down to the Zionist regime. The other US billionaires benefit from Israel’s role of disciplining the Middle East and supplying operatives for so many dirty political operations around the world, so there are very few that oppose the Zionist regime’s actions. No wonder nearly every Trump nominee seems to spout Make Israel Great Again more than Make America Great Again. He is bought and paid for by Zionist money, and most especially Miriam Adelson.

Following in the foot steps of her shady husband, who made most of his money in Macau where Chinese organized crime is rampant.

Of course, the Democrats have been all in on the Zionist genocide and happily invited Netanyahu to speak to the US political courtier class during the genocide. And Biden’s cabinet was extensively stocked with Zionists.

Another thing that these donors share is an utter distastefulness for being taxed, and their tax dollars “wasted” on the “unworthy”; some much more rabidly than others. Five made their money in finance, one from social media, one from shipping supplies, one from railroads (which he inherited), and one from Casinos (inevitably involving linkages with organized crime, just like Trump with his casinos). Only one is involved in manufacturing; very much representative of the new US wealth. Tax cuts are always on the agenda, never tax rises (for the rich), and the regulation of the financial industry (especially for hedge funds and private equity) is hardly ever on the table; only post-2008 was some window dressing regulatory legislation required. They all live lives that are utterly disconnected from the lives of even multi-millionaires, let alone the average American.

The oligarch billionaire class is also becoming increasingly embedded with the security state, and adept at utilizing political donations to have themselves appointed to important positions within the very state that their corporations are entwined with. A specially egregious case is Howard Lutnick (CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a very large player in the US government debt market) who played a central role in gathering donations for Trump. Another of his companies, Satellogic is very much in bed with the security state and global surveillance, and also using the revolving door as its board has a former Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff as a member. In his new role as Commerce Secretary, Lutnick will be overseeing agencies, such as NOAA, that Satellogic wants to sell its services to. His stable coin venture Tether has also become a large holder of US government debt. Mark Goodwin and Whitney Webb detail Lutnick’s incestuous relationship with state organizations here.

Then we have a Vice President who is a creation of the silicon valley billionaire Peter Thiel, the owner of the Palantir data gathering and analysis corporation that is in bed with the security state, as well as many other parts of the state and in many different countries. The CIA venture fund was one of the founding investors in Palantir. Trae Stephens, a close affiliate of Thiel, may get the number 2 job at the Pentagon. The other option for the job is a Stephen Feinburg who previously owned a prominent MIC contractor and now heads a Cerberus Capital Management that launched a major defence-focused venture capital fund in 2024. Musk, the co-head of the proposed DOGE agency is also a major state contractor through his SpaceX venture. And which areas is DOGE focusing on? The vast cesspit of corruption that is the Defence Budget and the five massive defence contractors (Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Boeing)? The massive profiteering of the Health Industrial Complex?

No, of course not; the targets seem to be the Internal Revenue Service (the agency that taxes the billionaires) and Social Security (money “wasted” on the retired plebs, and vast sums that could be freed from the state to be looted by the financiers). The above are just a few of the oligarchs who are getting themselves placed in important government roles. Who needs courtiers when you can run the state yourself?

In the background we have the modern day equivalents of the anti-competitive and corrupt “trusts” that dominated the US corporate world of the late nineteenth century Gilded Age; Blackrock (US$11.5 trillion under management), The Vanguard Group (US$9.3 trillion under management), and State Street (US$4 trillion under management and US$40 trillion under custody and administration).

The Chairman and CEO of Blackrock, a publicly traded company, is one of its founders, billionaire Larry Fink (US1.2 billion). Vanguard is a private company owned by investment clients (CEO Salim Ramji) and State Street is a publicly traded company (Chairman and CEO Ronald O. O’Hanley). Then in addition, there is the global leader in private equity investment, behemoth Blackstone with US$8.7 trillion under management, with the CEO being the co-founder and billionaire Stephen Schwarzman (US$54 billion). Then there are lesser private equity players such as KKR (US$1 trillion under management), Apollo, the Carlyle Group, Bain Capital and Warburg Pincus. Always searching for areas that can be turned into monopolies or cozy oligopolies to maximize the extractive profits of the ownership class.

Through such vehicles the ownership class concentrate their wealth and power, dominating US and other corporations. In so many US and other corporations Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street will be the top three shareholders, or within the top five. At the same time, Blackstone and others can utilize their assets, together with vast borrowing capacity, to take corporations private and shake them down for the benefit of their investors and management. The senior executives of these investment corporations, representing the ownership class, wield immense power; for example Larry Fink and Stephen Schwarzman are considered to be two of the most powerful people in the world.

These new style trusts also get their executives appointed to important government positions, and even get appointed to run significant parts of the government; as with Blackrock and the large scale US state interventions in the debt markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. A direct conflict of interest given Blackrock’s large US government and corporate bond holdings.

Elections in the US have always been mostly performative and superficial, but in the post-WW2 era the US rich held less of the economic pie and were less concentrated. With the massive concentration of wealth of the past 50 years, both within society and within the wealthy, an incredibly small group of the extreme wealthy together with those that manage the concentrated assets of the wealthy, exercise more power over the government than the rest of society combined. Added to this of course is the concentration of the US (and Western) media, including social media, in so few hands; greatly aided by the lack of any real anti-trust enforcement and oversight since the 1980s.

Even with this level of propagandist control, the level of outright looting and theft of this concentrated oligarchy has become more and more apparent to the general citizenry. A new Gilded Age, but this time the Robber Barons are more feasting off the already in place wealth of the nation and the people rather than building new wealth; a cannibal capitalism that eats its own base of strength. It is in such circumstances that the murder of the CEO of a healthcare company, which excelled in refusing claims under his leadership, is met with a general feeling of “he got what he deserved” by such a large chunk of the population.

There has been a significant a level of breakdown in the “manufacturing of consent”; even in the face of escalating levels of state and concentrated media censorship. When propaganda fails to control the population, liberalism can remove its velvet gloves to show its fascist fists. The result can only be greater authoritarianism as the mask of “democracy” has been so utterly removed and the oligarchy continue to plunder and immiserate the citizenry. Frank Zappa was incredibly prescient when he said:

The concentration of wealth in lesser and lesser hands, the disconnection of the rulers from the ruled, a vast courtier class fully focused on slavishly serving the oligarchs and not discomfiting them with inconvenient truths, the immiseration of the ruled as the rulers openly display their vast wealth, vast private wealth amidst public squalor; these are all symptoms of a failing empire. An imperial oligarchy feasting on the very bases of its own power, like a snake eating its own tail.

Bratty Karen Tries Fleeing Traffic Stop

Which industry do you work in that is so dependent on Chinese manufacturing?

99% of all products in my industry in U.S. come from China, I prefer not to specify which industry.

Dependent is the wrong description, we benefit from China’s production, quality, reliability, dependability and very low prices. They produce tens of billions US$ in revenue every year for the industry, to US economy, one million American employment, bring joy to 100 millions people, $ billions in profit and salaries.

In business, we appreciate all working partners, team members, we don’t burn bridges by accusing critical partners. Once the bridge is burned down, US$ tens of billions will be lost, a million Americans lose their jobs.

With the US in an uproar over the murder of the CEO of a major healthcare provider, do you have a current or previous health care story for the USA or other countries that you could share?

We have all read and followed the murder of the CEO of one of the largest US healthcare fund by Luigi Mangione.

No, not a nice guy, rather a pampered angry rich kid who has thrown away his life but has ignited a firestorm of introspection on US healthcare.

My interest in this is not about the murdered or the murderer, rather what is the real situation in healthcare including in countries that have national healthcare like Australia.

Let’s pause for a moment and realize that healthcare is the biggest actual expense for most governments in the world. In the US it is Social Security (people put money into that in large sums for retirement), defense which is out of control and then healthcare for the fed govt. But in the society at large, it is HEALTHCARE at $5 trillion and rising.

Breaking it down the US is the most expensive healthcare in the world by far. Some places more than 4X and still it is breaking people, their lives, their budgets their health.

Over and over we hear stories about cancer patients arguing to get treatment or out of pocket costs or extras or co-pays which they cannot pay.

I try to see all sides of this mess which by the way is not perfect anywhere in the world. Health care costs a lot because we are saving people at unprecedented rates around the world. We all know lifespans more than doubled in the 20th century for humans. But the US is falling back at 77.5 years and the rest of the developed world is well over 80 years.

Cancer and other treatments that have nothing to do with lifestyle or Ozempic or who wants to exercise or not, is a special category. These treatments are expensive, equipment intensive, usually ongoing and can start at a young age when you have no money for extras, especially cancer treatment.

So what to do?

First a note that I am a cancer patient right now. I just came from my latest appointment here in Sydney, it was another out of pocket not covered by Medicare or my healthfund (a few dollars) and it set me back just for PT, $350. Every day I have more and more out of pocket, it has now risen to $40k due to complex surgeries and it is only going to go up.

Australians say this is not possible. It is because I live it and there is no way around it.

So when someone in the US says they have a co-pay, in Australia we have ‘rates’ for everything and I am paying hundreds for meds, 10s of thousands for surgeries and follow ups and temporary housing to be near to my doctors.

Cancer comes at all ages and origins are often unknown. It is especially devastating emotionally, health wise and cost for the elderly. (The caption was Pancreatic Cancer, a killer of the elderly in Australia).

I am 74 years old and until the last 3 months I have never used the medical system in any country in the world except for COVID shots. Zero.

My encounter with global medicine has left a lot to be desired and very expensive.

There are out of pocket costs everywhere in the world. Or you can wait in the queue or you can just let them choose whoever to be your doctor. Choosing the right doctor especially when you have cancer is critical. Anything to do with your internal organs compared to say something that is broken, is a quantum leap. You can live with a limp, but you cannot without a pancreas.

The US system is broken because the Republicans in particular with complicity from the Democrats cannot reform anything. People have unrealistic expectations and preventative healthcare is out the window.

Even that area is expensive as my PT appointment showed today.

Societies need to look at everything in healthcare how it is delivered and the costs. My savings are now gone when I add in all the extras here in Australia.

But my life was saved. It was an easy trade off given the latter, however it is painful to spend enormous sums for what are fairly basic services. Out of control pricing is a part of the problem worldwide and the US privatisazation of healthcare is here in Australia now too.

Murdering the CEO will not change anything. However lauding these massive healthcare providers who in the US say no on 32% of the claims while making billions in their various schemes is for most people unconscionable.

This is what RFKjr and Dr OZ should be tackling. Will they? I dont know but maybe if they do Australia will move away from the US style private approach which is giving great healthcare, but can we individually afford it?

Do you really want to work your entire life, have paid into your health insurance forever and then have an unforeseen emergency only to find, your savings drained away.

Arguing with Medicare or healthinsurance and being told, sorry no, not covered is no different than being denied in the US though perhaps on a different scale. Still we pay into Medicare here more than the Americans do in the USA and for all the extras it is costing me and thousands of others, it is not working here either.

Again global reform but still cancer is still cancer and that my friends is not something you can avoid in most cases as it is not a lifestyle issue any longer like lung cancer. Society must decide to either cover those costs, or continue to have anger and yes a deterioration of the health of the cancer patient and again yes it is terribly debilitating and depressing to just see ‘ka ching’ every time you walk into a pharmacy or PT or doctor or cancer clinic office. And yes, it saps you of your energy and you fight on but it is not easy especially as you get older.

How expensive? If I all I had was my meagre Australian partial pension for my cancer surgery and treatment, it would = 8 years of the entire pension and counting. In other words, impossible as in Australia you pay before you go into the hospital or no service. Same for any appointment, you pay right there or no service. There is no we are sending you the bill in the mail.

Maintaining your mental and emotional strength through it all, even with support, is a challenge.

Thanks for reading and good luck on your medical journey whatever it may be.

HRG

What is the expected impact of US tariff hikes on China’s exports?

Does The US need the many consumer goods that China produces at a cheap price? Can the US obtain these goods from other countries at similar prices? Can the US produced these products itself?

While the incomes of most Americans have stagnated for the past 50 years, they have been able to enjoy a decent standard of living because of cheap products from China. American companies manufacture in the PRC to take advantage of China’s lower costs and to increase profits. While China benefits, US companies benefit more.

It may be possible to buy goods from countries other than China but they tend to be not as good or as cheap. If this were not so, the US would have already turned to these sources.

The US lacks the supply chains, factories, logistics, and trained workers to make these products themselves. And if they solved these problems, the labour and other costs would make these goods expensive. These problems will take many years to solve.

It is clear that the rapist and felon t**** does not understand economics nor international trade. Most of us know he’s stupid. Many of his advisres are not. But they are so well paid that they are insulated from the inevitable rising costs of products. Their interests are not those of ordinary Americans; their aim is to stay in power and enrich themselves and their rich donors.

In the short-term, prices will rise at least by the amount of the tariff but is likely to be more than that as companies try to increase their profits; they have a ready-made excuse in t****’s tariffs. In the medium-term, this situation will persist.

In the long-term, Americans had better get their act together and fix their political leadership in an attempt to halt the county’s downward spiral.

Good luck the USA. You are going to need it.

High School Graduation Party Ends in Disaster

Here is who is leading the United States Senate

Terrible. You must watch this video.

Hal Turner Commentary;

To the people of the Great State of Kentucky.  Your beloved United States Senator, Mitch McConnel, appears to need your intervention.  The video below, displays how tragic his situation has become.

PLEASE, Intervene. 

Ask your Governor and your state Legislature to intervene.  You no longer have Representation from this man, who is tragically suffering from the effects of old age.  It's not the Senator's fault.  He is the victim of the ravages of age.  

At this terrible stage of his decline, keeping him in Washington is just wrong.  Perhaps your Governor can make a finding of "Severe Cognitive disability" and appoint a replacement. 

Yes, there __may__ be a court challenge, but what's happened to Mitch McConnell is not just a personal tragedy for him, it affects the people of Kentucky as well.   

Please intervene.

A New Chapter Of The Bible Was Found Hidden Inside 1,750-Year-Old Text

Friday, Dec 13, 2024 – 09:05 AM

Via The Mind Unleashed,

Hidden for centuries, a forgotten chapter of the Bible has emerged from the shadows of history. Researchers, armed with ultraviolet light and meticulous scholarship, have uncovered a 1,750-year-old text that offers a fresh glimpse into the evolving nature of scripture. This find isn’t just a historical curiosity; it’s a profound insight into how faith and tradition were shaped in early Christianity.

Preserved in an ancient Syriac manuscript, the chapter challenges long-held assumptions about biblical texts and their seemingly static nature. With its subtle variations and expanded narrative, this rediscovery raises compelling questions: What does this mean for the modern understanding of faith? And how many more hidden chapters might still be waiting to be found?
Unearthing a Lost Piece of Biblical History

In a groundbreaking intersection of technology and ancient history, scholars have uncovered a hidden chapter of the Bible within a 1,750-year-old Syriac manuscript preserved in the Vatican Library. Using ultraviolet (UV) light, researchers revealed traces of erased writing—a palimpsest—buried beneath layers of overwritten text. This painstaking process illuminated an earlier version of scripture, lost to time but now reintroduced to the world.

The manuscript, part of the Syriac translations of the Bible, is more than just a relic. It represents a key moment in Christianity’s history, when scribes worked tirelessly to preserve scripture under challenging conditions. Early Christians relied on Syriac texts to disseminate their teachings across cultural and linguistic boundaries, making this find a window into their lived experiences.

What makes this discovery especially remarkable is its collaborative nature. Historians, linguists, and scientists pooled their expertise to decode the faded script, each stroke of ink offering clues to a story untold for nearly two millennia. This isn’t just a triumph for biblical studies; it’s a testament to the enduring power of curiosity and innovation to uncover humanity’s shared past.
The Hidden Chapter: What We Know So Far

The newly unveiled chapter offers an expanded version of Matthew 12, a passage where Jesus and his disciples are criticized for picking grain on the Sabbath. In this version, subtle textual variations bring fresh theological nuances to light, emphasizing compassion and mercy over rigid observance of religious laws. While the core message aligns with established teachings, these differences hint at the dynamic and adaptive nature of early Christian scripture.

Written in ancient Syriac, one of the earliest languages used to transmit biblical texts, the chapter provides a rare glimpse into Christianity’s early cultural diversity. Syriac was instrumental in spreading scripture beyond its Jewish origins, tailoring messages to resonate with varied linguistic and cultural communities. This adaptation reflects the pragmatic approach of early Christians, who shaped their sacred texts to meet the needs of a rapidly growing faith.

What’s particularly striking is the role of early scribes. Far from being passive transcribers, they actively engaged with the material, reinterpreting and preserving it in ways that reflected their own spiritual and societal realities. This hidden chapter, with its emphasis on mercy, reveals a faith not rigidly bound to dogma but alive with reinterpretation and evolution—a window into the beliefs and priorities of communities navigating the complexities of their time.
The Technology That Unveiled the Forgotten Chapter

It’s hard to believe that something written almost 2,000 years ago could still be hiding in plain sight. But that’s exactly what happened here. Using ultraviolet light, researchers managed to reveal a forgotten chapter of the Bible, hidden beneath layers of overwritten text on an ancient manuscript. It’s like uncovering a secret message written centuries ago, invisible to the naked eye but waiting to be found.

The process wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. Think about it—this manuscript is old, fragile, and irreplaceable. Every move had to be precise, every scan done with the utmost care. Months of work went into piecing together faint traces of erased ink, with experts from all over—historians, linguists, scientists—working side by side. It’s amazing to think that this discovery wouldn’t have been possible even a few decades ago. The tools they used, like UV imaging, are giving us new ways to see the past in ways we never thought possible.

But here’s what really gets you thinking—what else is out there? If something as groundbreaking as a hidden chapter of the Bible can be uncovered, what other secrets might still be lying in wait? This is more than a cool tech story; it’s a reminder that history always has more to give, as long as we keep asking the right questions.

A Manuscript’s Journey Through Time

Think about this for a second: early Christians lived in a world where their beliefs could literally get them killed. Their sacred texts weren’t just important—they were lifelines, hidden and protected at all costs. That’s the world this 1,750-year-old Syriac manuscript comes from. Imagine scribes painstakingly copying and preserving these words, knowing the risks they faced if they were caught.

Back then, parchment wasn’t exactly easy to come by. It was expensive, rare, and, honestly, every bit as valuable as the words written on it. To make the most of it, scribes would scrape off old texts and reuse the material—creating what we now call palimpsests. It’s kind of wild to think that their recycling efforts accidentally preserved traces of history that they probably thought were gone for good.

Here’s another fascinating detail: this manuscript is written in Syriac. It’s one of the earliest languages used to spread Christianity and shows how the faith started to move beyond its Jewish roots. Syriac wasn’t just a language—it was a tool that helped Christianity adapt and grow, reaching new communities and cultures. That’s what makes this discovery so powerful. It’s not just about words on a page; it’s about the lengths people went to protect and share their beliefs.

And now, centuries later, we’re uncovering their story. You can almost picture the hands that wrote and rewrote this text, working in secret, determined to pass on what they believed mattered most. It’s a humbling reminder of just how much history can hide beneath the surface—literally—and how much these ancient voices still have to say.
What Scholars Are Saying: A New Lens on Scripture

This hidden chapter of the Bible has sparked lively debates among scholars. Many see it as a fascinating window into how early Christian communities understood and adapted scripture. The chapter’s emphasis on mercy over strict adherence to religious laws aligns with Jesus’ teachings but adds a fresh perspective to familiar passages. This nuance suggests early Christians may have tailored scripture to address the unique challenges of their time.

At the heart of the debate is the question of why this chapter was erased. Some scholars suggest it might have been excluded as church leaders worked to formalize the biblical canon, streamlining texts to unify doctrine. Others argue that its omission could simply reflect the practical realities of the time, with scribes overwriting older texts due to the scarcity of parchment. Whatever the reason, the discovery underscores the dynamic and evolving nature of early Christianity.

Ultimately, this find is about more than one chapter. It’s a reminder that the Bible, far from being a static document, was shaped over centuries by human hands and decisions. For scholars and believers alike, the chapter offers a chance to reexamine the past while raising new questions about the stories still waiting to be uncovered.
Hidden Truths, Endless Possibilities

The discovery of this hidden Bible chapter is more than a historical footnote—it’s a vivid reminder of how much the past still has to teach us. From the resilience of early Christian communities to the evolving nature of scripture itself, this find opens a window into a world where faith and history were deeply intertwined. It also shows how modern technology can breathe life into ancient artifacts, revealing secrets thought lost to time.

But this is likely just the beginning. Who knows what other forgotten chapters, erased writings, or hidden narratives are still waiting to be uncovered? Each discovery invites us to ask new questions, challenge old assumptions, and deepen our understanding of the stories that have shaped human history. Whether it’s faith, curiosity, or a little of both driving the search, one thing is certain—history still has plenty of mysteries left to share.

Shorpy

Russia Just Replaced the EU in China’s Pork Market – $3.5 Billion Market Shaking Europe’s Confidence

Please keep in mind that China produces MOST of it’s pork needs. So imports from the EU is rather trivial.

Is it safe to say, after watching what happened to Trump and Daniel Penny, that the legal system in New York is beyond corrupt?

More than a year and a half ago I wrote about the Daniel Penny subway incident in the New York City subway. Now the ordeal is over, Penny has been found not guilty of all charges and is a free man. But everything I said in that initial article remains true, and the regime won.

First, here’s what I said:

There’s a very clear lesson to be learned here. You, as a normal citizen, can be robbed, raped, or murdered at will and our police won’t even lift a finger to do anything to prevent it, and usually not even arresting the criminal afterwards. And even when the criminal is arrested, his bail and jail sentence will be laughably low… That’s the bail violent rapists can expect in democratic America. But if you’re charged with a political crime, like protesting on Jan. 6, expect a bail in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Police won’t help you because that’s not their job. Police are simply security officers for the central party. Their duty is to provide personal security for our elites and arrest political dissidents, and that’s it.

Dafna Yoran, the prosecutor, is a radical neoliberal activist who staunchly advocates for “restorative justice,” which in practice (as opposed to what restorative justice is actually supposed to do), simply means giving light sentences to the most grotesque offenders.

main qimg 2d72ac6dfd17015985c9e18407e2371a

Dafna Yoran

Yoran recently advocated on the behalf of murderer Matthew Lee, who killed Young Kun Kim, an 87 year old Asian American professor, and stole $300 while Kim was using an ATM. Thanks to Yoran’s efforts, Lee received only 10 years in prison, rather than a life sentence. Note that this light sentence wasn’t the result of some Crime and Punishment style display of remorse by Lee, it was simply on account of his race, and the race of his victim. As a “white adjacent” Asian, Kim was a historical aggressor imperialist, and as a black man, Lee was his victim. The fact that Lee bashed Kim’s brains in did not even enter into the equation.

Now apply Yoran’s world view to Penny’s case. Neely was a violent drug addict with an extensive criminal record threatening to kill people on the train, but that did not matter. Neely is a historical victim, and Penny, like Kim, is a historical aggressor imperialist. So the villain here is Penny, and can only be Penny.

As I said, in modern America, the police are simply political enforcers who punish crimes against the state and the ruling elites. No one and nothing else matters. The everyday citizen being in constant fear of being randomly attacked on the train or while using the ATM is “part and parcel” of living in a neoliberal democracy. In the eyes of the regime, the citizens living in fear is a good thing, because this keeps them docile and subservient.

For such a regime, it is absolutely necessary to brutally punish any private citizen who is perceived to have violated the state monopoly on violence by defending his own life or the lives of others. That was the crime of both Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Penny. It would have been preferable to to lock up Rittenhouse and Penny for their defiance against the regime, but dragging them through many months of confinement, fear, financial expense and reputational damage is enough.

And that’s why I say the regime won. The next person who sees a violent criminal on the NYC subway will remember what happened to Penny, and will likely just keep walking.

Sexual Predator Gets Caught Red-Handed

ARCS 1,0

Submitted into Contest #150 in response to: Write about a character who has access to a powerful new technology before anyone else.… view prompt

Jimmy Burke

Akio walked into his therapist’s office for the 52nd time that year.Dr Ishida stood up and warmly greeted his patient, who would have been seeing him for exactly a year today.Good morning, Akio! It’s nice to see y——He was not able to finish his sentence. The young man in his mid twenties buried his right fist into Dr. Ishida’s face.The Dr, also a young man himself, being barely 32, was thrown back onto his own coffee table and collapsed onto the floor. He was clenching his nose with both hands, as it was bleeding profusely. It was clearly broken.He hadn’t full processed what had just happened when his patient (now former patient) began to speak.I want you to listen to me carefully. Think of the thoughts going through your head and the feelings that you have right now. Did you do it good! That is how I feel everyday when I walk into your goddam office. You sit there in your comfortable fantasy world, thinking you’re so wise, and that you actually understand what’s going on. But honestly, if you understood what was going on, then I think you would have moved with more of a sense of urgency in assisting me instead of milking me for more money over the past year. Your services are no longer required. Have a nice day!He stormed out of the office, leaving Dr. Ishida lying in utter shock on the floor.Akio stormed out of the downtown Osaka office and began marching down the city sidewalk. He wasn’t 100% sure where he was going.I’m so fucking mad at myself right now. I can’t believe I wasted a year of my life with that hack. I have him thousands of dollars, and for what? He thought to himself.If anything I’m more pissed than before I started visiting him….After walking about a hundred metes, he stopped and lit a cigarette from a pack that he had previously bought that day.This is weird. I don’t even smoke. What am even I doing? He inhaled and coughed*cough…….cough……Jesus…..cough*As he walked he started to feel more relaxed as the nicotine took effect. As he started to calm down, he remembered where he wanted to go.

I wonder what Sakura is up to, he thought to himself.

Suddenly a look of surprise appeared on his face. The kind of look that appears when someone has just remembered something important that they had forgotten.

Oh shit! I’m late, he said to himself as he broke into a sprint.

After running like mad for about 7 city blocks, he was standing outside the door of an Internet cafe. There was a flickering neon image of a frog that was standing on its hind legs and holding a shotgun over its shoulder. The word “lyagooshka’s” was written in English under it in blue neon cursive.

As he opened the door, there was a jingle of a little bell that was hanging near the threshold. A slender, short haired Russian lady looked up from reading her fashion magazine. She was in her early 30’s even though she looked like she was in her early to mid 20s.

Her eyes immediately lit up

Konichiwa choovachok (dude in Russian)! Serious as ever I see!

Akio often found her energy to be a bit overwhelming for his taste. But he had gotten used to it. He had been going to that internet cafe ever since college. It was close to his apartment, not too big, and it was pretty cheap. Before he knew it, he was spending just about every waking moment that he wasn’t wasting in his office job, in that secluded cafe. And there seemed to be very few people there, which was another plus, because he hated being around people he didn’t know.

But despite their different personalities, she was beginning to grow on him.

Akio looked at her with a straight face.

Hey Vika

Vika shifted the lollipop in her mouth and looked at him inquisitively.

So how’s life? You usually come in 2 hours earlier on Saturdays. You look kind of wiped out.

Akio took out his credit card and slid it into the reader.

The cash register said 10,000 yen.

I had something I had to take care of, he said while avoiding eye contact.

Look at you, sounding all like a secretive badass, said Vika.

Ha ha said Akio sarcastically.

Vika looked at him as if she was at a loss and said, sometimes I don’t know why you work these office jobs. (shaking her head) *sighs* I think you’re better suited for more dangerous work….Hey, I know (snapping her fingers as if she just got an idea)…. You should join the military. I think you’d thrive in that kind of environment.

The same way you did? Said Akio without skipping a beat..

Whaaat?….Hey, c’mon…. my situation was different, said Vika, almost as if pleading for somebody to stop teasing her.

I just don’t think I’m cut out for it, said Akio still looking at the ground.

He began making his way past the many cubicle-like rooms that led to the back of the cafe. The hallway was dimly lit, with a carpet that was mostly clean, except for the occasional crusty food or drink stain.

He finally reached the end of the hall, to a room labeled “V I P” with a neon sign of a cartoon frog standing on its hind legs, holding a cane over its shoulder and dressed as a pimp.

There was a faint glow emanating from the cracks of the door of the otherwise dark room.

He opened the door and walked in. It was a mostly empty room about twice the size of an average classroom. It was perfectly square and directly across from the door on the opposite wall.

Against the opposite wall, you could see two large black boxes, each being about the size of a mini van. One of the walls of each square was missing, allowing you to see inside.

Inside was a number of wires, red lights and switches, with a dark chair in the middle that was reclined at a 45 degree angle.

One was empty. In the other you could see the skinny silhouette of a person wearing a black hoodie. If you looked really closely, you could see that she was wearing a strange suit covered in very small little red connectors that looked like they could have something plugged into them.

Akio sped up his walk. He threw his backpack down while simultaneously grabbling the same strange suit that went over his whole body, including the back of his head. He hastily took off his shirt and pants and put it on.

Has it started? , asked Akio impatiently.

You’ve got 40 seconds to spare, said the dark silhouette sitting in the other seat.

These two machines were known as the Artificial Recreation of Sensory System, or ARCS 1.0 System for short. Via a number of wires that plugged into the suit, the system was able to connect to all five of the human senses and send them into the world of a popular MMORPG that was originally designed for an average gaming system known as Engines of Magic.

It was a steampunk-styled game that combined steampunk technology with magic. Players could choose their characters from a number of magic races such as elves, wizards, goblins, witches, fairies, etc. It was released in 2027 and it had over 3 billion users worldwide, making it the most popular videogame in human history.

The glow of the small lights within the machine illuminated the girl’s face. Although she was wearing a hoodie, you could still see the bangs of her purple-dyed hair. lean, and her height was about 5’ 8”.

Although Akio didn’t think she was hot by any means, he still thought her face was relatively pretty despite the fact that she wore very little makeup.

Her name was Sakura Takayuki. They had both known each other since meeting in their modern computer engineering course. Akio had average grades on account of not attending lecture, but Sakura excelled. She was considered a genius at any rate, and eventually became known as the most talented computer engineer at the school.

Are you ready, said Sakura as she sat in the chair and connected all of the appropriate wires to her suit.

Let’s do this, said Akio as he leaned back in the chair with a smile on his face.

There were only 12 ARCS systems were created, out of which, only 2 remained. All of the others were destroyed during the War of Eurasian Reunification before anyone could use this advanced technology.

They were the first to use this technology, and the second they entered that world, it was the digital equivalent of man taking his first step on the moon.

This was a secret, but still historic, step for mankind.

All of the red lights turned green. Both of them closed their eyes, and opened them in another universe.

What do you make of the China Semiconductor industry Association’s statement that “U.S. chip products are no longer safe and reliable”?

The development of China’s chip industry in recent years has been shrouded in complete secrecy.

Take a wild guess: why wasn’t this statement issued in 2019, but now?

Only when China is capable of producing enough chips on its own does it make sense to call for the purchase of Chinese-made chips.

Actually, it’s a joint statement made by four associations of China, including the Internet Society of China, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the China Semiconductor Industry Association, and the China Association of Communications Enterprises.

These four industries are major consumer markets for US chips, involving computers, mobile phones, vehicles etc.

The statement simply urges domestic companies to buy more Chinese-made chips. If they choose American chips and face supply cuts later, they shouldn’t expect government support—it’s a risk they must bear. This move will reduce demand for American chips and boost demand for Chinese-made chips.

This indicates one thing: China has already built enough domestic chip production capacity.

The U.S. has been calling for decoupling and breaking supply chains.

This time, China is taking the initiative to decouple and break the supply chain, to see who will ultimately bear the greater loss.

The Moment She Realized She Killed 2 People

Carne de Res Deshebrada

This is the traditional Mexican filling for tacos. It is wonderful for making burritos, chimichangas, taquitos, and in carne seca.

Ingredients

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 (2 1/2 to 3 pound) beef brisket (smaller thinner end, trimmed of all fat)
1 ancho or New Mexico dried chile, stemmed and seeded
3 to 4 slices onion
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano

Instructions

Heat oven to 300 degrees F.
Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add oil and brown the beef on all sides.
Pour off as much oil as possible.
Just barely cover the meat with water. Bring to a boil. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface.
Add remaining ingredients. Cover the pot and place it in the oven until the meat is tender, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
Remove the meat, reserving broth for other uses.
When the meat is cool enough to handle, shred it. Hold a fork in each hand, and shred the beef with the forks.

What do you make of the China Semiconductor industry Association’s statement that “U.S. chip products are no longer safe and reliable”?

The development of China’s chip industry in recent years has been shrouded in complete secrecy.

Take a wild guess: why wasn’t this statement issued in 2019, but now?

Only when China is capable of producing enough chips on its own does it make sense to call for the purchase of Chinese-made chips.

These four industries are major consumer markets for US chips, involving computers, mobile phones, vehicles etc.

This indicates one thing: China has already built enough domestic chip production capacity.

The U.S. has been calling for decoupling and breaking supply chains.

This time, China is taking the initiative to decouple and break the supply chain, to see who will ultimately bear the greater loss.

Woman Pulls Swatting Prank, Gets the Surprise of Her Life

You experience life, and how you behave changes

When I lived in the United States, I lived a “normal” life.

What that meant was eating fast food often, pizza take outs, and when there was an opportunity to cook at home; well, it was simple fare.

We ate spaghetti, hotdogs with sauerkraut, hamburgers and tuna. An occasional meatloaf, baked chicken and lasagna were not unheard of.

We drank a mixture of coke-cola and coffee most of the time, and beer when we had weekends.

This is typical American behavior.

My have things changed.

Today, I live a typical Chinese lifestyle. Home cooking is usually a rice with port ribs, chicken, and my favorite; tomatoes with ground meat. We tend to drink wine or hard alcohol with it. We are VIP members with some of our favorite restaurants.

I would say that a monthly normal meal would consist of oysters with wine.

While, back when I was living in the United States, my monthly normal meal consisted of some chicken wings and beer.

And that is how things work. You experience life, and how you behave changes.

Change.

Look at the food you eat, and learn how much you have changed.

Today…

“Many Underestimate Beijing”: China is Ready for a Trade War with the US and Has Already Selected a Number of Effective Measures

Zhuhai Airshow 2024 is Scary: China’s Animated Minefields & Huge Submarine Drone

Just Call me Al

Submitted into Contest #150 in response to: Write a story where an algorithm plays an important role.… view prompt

Sharon Hancock

“Well, Son, your mother was on a lot of drugs and your head was so big.” At least Dad was somewhat apologetic. Mom….not so much.“Thirty-six hours of pushing that enormous head of yours out my love hole and you wanna complain about your name?”Yes. I want to submit a formal complaint about my name. My parents didn’t think things through when they named me. You see the problem with calling a kid, Algor, when his last name is, Rithm , right? (Stop laughing, Joe! Go drink a cup of yourself!)First of all, a name like mine comes with certain expectations. Even in kindergarten, people expected me to be smart. Let’s just say, it was a struggle. Although, I know I wasn’t the only one because we talked about this very thing in my, “People with Unfortunate Names Support Group”.“You’re right, Al. It was much better to have the opposite problem. I liked proving people wrong after they assumed I was stupid just because my parents misspelled my name on my birth certificate,” said Naive Lee.“I can’t really blame my last name on my parents since they had to deal with it too, but come on! Couldn’t they have gone with something simpler for my first name?” Poindexter Smartypants shook his head and covered his face with his hands.It was nice to be around others who’d suffered because of their names, but I had to quit a few weeks back when they started doing the same thing they complained about. Everyone in the group had gotten together without me to come up with an idea they wanted my help with.“As you know, Al, this group has always been about making a difference and affecting change in the world.” Rich Moneypenny, who started the group out of his parent’s basement where he lived, announced his proposal.“Yeah, dude, like totally. You know, like you’re the only one who can do this for us, and stuff.” M.B. Sill, added before he zoned out watching an ant crawl up the wall.“We’d like you to come up with a plan, of sorts. You know, like a recipe or a series of instructions to help people come up with better names for their children. A…what did we call it again?”“An algorithm. You’d like me to develop an algorithm. Because my name is, Algor Rithm, you think I’d be best at creating an algorithm.” My voice dripped with sarcasm, which upset both of the Asm twins, Sark and Org, for some reason.I left that meeting in a huff and I haven’t been back. I missed the outlet for venting the emotional trauma caused by my unfortunate name, though so I called my friend, Pepper and invited her over. We talked and played Mario Kart until we got hungry.“I don’t know why, but every time I hang out with you, I crave pizza.” I laughed and she ordered the grub.When the pizza arrived, we both went to the door.“I’ve got a Pepper Roni?”“No. Neither of us eat meat.” I said as the guy furrowed his brow and examined the receipt.“I’m Pepper Roni.” Pepper reached for the pizzas, but the guy moved them out of her reach.“No, it says here, these are both veggie specials. No pepperonis.”“Maybe we should order pizza under my name from now on.”“Oh yeah? What’s your name?” Asked the pizza guy who finally relinquished the goods after Pepper showed him her driver’s license.“Algor Rithm.”“Hey, maybe you can look at my computer sometime.”I shut the door in his face, but not before I noticed that his name tag read, “Dick”.I could’ve been a little more understanding, considering the group and the pizza guy weren’t entirely off base with my abilities. It’s true, I do work in the computer industry. Maybe my name wouldn’t be a problem if I’d gone into a different line of work, like, say, interior design or vacuum cleaner sales. But, in the computer design industry, my name can be confusing.Why, you ask. Well, it’s mostly because people in my office say my name hundreds of times a day. And just like anytime someone says your name, my ears perk up when I hear mine. Every. Time.I don’t always hear the other words people say, but I hear my name. Take for instance the incident from last Monday. Sally, who sits in the cubicle next to me, requested help with her project, but all I heard was my name.“Algorithm…”“What?”

“ALGORITHM”

“WHAT?”

“Do you have it or not?”

“Do I have what?”

“The algorithm”

“I AM RIGHT HERE.”

Of course, our brains have a great ability to adapt, right? So, that’s what my brain did for a while after I started working there. It got to where I didn’t answer every time I heard someone say, “algorithm.” That was nice for a while, but then that backfired and became a huge problem when someone—the highest ranking someone—did, in fact, require my immediate response.

“Algor Rithm. Anybody seen him?”

“Algor Rithm!”

“Algor Rithm!” Are you over there?”

“Algor Rithm, the boss says that new program you designed is crashing.”

“Algor Rithm!”

At one point, everyone in the office was chanting my name while I happily ignored them. Don’t ask me why no one took the time to actually stand up and walk over to my desk, but that’s human nature, isn’t it?

Luckily, Sally finally shouted, “AL!”, and got my attention. If she hadn’t done that, I’m certain I would’ve been fired. Most likely, Tech Savvy would’ve pounced on the opportunity to show me up to the boss.

I guess, when I look at it a different way, I kind of appreciate my name. After all, there are unseen biases that occur when someone looking to hire people see my name on my resume. I mean, would you rather hire someone named, Algor Rithm, or someone named, Sharon Crack? Sure, maybe Sharon has a doctorate. Maybe she goes by, Dr. Sharon Crack, but does that really make it any better?

Sometimes, a name’s reputation doesn’t have anything to do with the actual name. Marco Polo didn’t start out being an awesome game to play in the swimming pool. Nellie hasn’t always come after the command to, “woah”; and Dick doesn’t always refer to a penis.

What I mean to say is, in this life, we get to create our own lives. It’s up to us to make our names memorable in the ways we desire.

That being said, I’d still like to caution expectant parents on name-selection strategies for their progeny. As it turned out, I went back to the support group with the algorithm they requested.

1. Select a name for your child well before they are born. Do not wait until you or your wife is under the influence of pain medication and pushing out a watermelon-sized noggin to make this important decision.

2. Run the name past some honest folks, like maybe a group of kids. Nobody will be more honest than a group of kids.

3. Get someone to spell check your name selection.

There’s probably a lot more I could add to this algorithm, but expectant parents don’t often take well to extensive instructions. It’s because of that, I believe, that poor Fanny Cooter got stuck with her name. In cases like that, we can all be thankful for the loophole that allows any of us to change our names if we so chose.

As for me, I’ve learned to adjust. But, for future reference, please…just call me Al.

This Is What The US Has To Say About China’s New Missiles

What would it mean for the UK economy if the US imposes a 20% tariff on all imports, and a 60% tariff on China?

Tariff on foreign countries, actually the entire world = rob foreign countries forcing them to feed USA.

Have you seen a mafia in movies such as god father?

Inside USA, tariff on foreign country = tax increase on Americans because foreign sellers will add the tariff to the price of their exported goods to USA.

In Trump 1.0, 80–90% of tariff was added to the sale price by foreign sellers. That is 1 reason why there was inflation in USA in Trump 1.0 & Biden era.

In both Trump 1.0 & 2.0, Trump has & will decrease tax to attract votes. How to recover the loss of revenue incurred from tax decrease? Use tariff to cause inflation so that all Americans pay a bit ie use tariff to disguise tax increase.

Analysts suggest countries to fight back & break even. Trump tariffs on imports to USA; countries tariffs on exports to USA with the same amount.

We must understand: 60% tariff on Chinese imports & 20% on smaller countries is crazily unreasonable. Not many firms can make 60% of profit. Small firms cant make 20% at all. Nobody will do business with no profit. Hence, decouple & stop selling to USA is the only option.

In fact, decoupling may be a plot of Trump 2.0. Trump may want USA to start all over again by manufacturing its own products from toilet paper to Trump’s campaign cap to washer etc. Trump wants everything made-in-USA.

US wage is higher than southeast Asia. That is Made-in-USA is more expensive. Then USA better increase Americans wage to catch up with inflation.

Trump 1.0 failed to attract US investors back to USA. Some still stayed in China. Some moved from China to, say, Thailand to put a finish touch on the Chinese products. This disguise of made-in-Thailand products also push up the American consumer price.

Let us watch Trump 2.0 to roll out.

Picture Porn

A Psychological Analysis of Trump’s Personality by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson | EP 492

Will African countries that benefit from China’s elimination of tariffs increase their exports to China?

For centuries, the West has regarded Africa as a source of raw materials, disrupting Africa’s value addition. Their negative impacts are so profound that even after independence, many African countries struggle to catch up with industrialization. Today, the development of this continent is still overlooked by Western countries.

Africa is home to more than 1.5 billion people, 43 percent of which lack access to electricity. But Africa has also abundant renewable resources. Most of the African countries are in need of investment in energy and to diversify the source of energy. China plays a leading role in the global new energy sector and is now expanding its reach into the African market in advanced green technologies.

Since the start of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, China has committed itself to helping improve partner countries’ industrial capacity. Currently, there are more than 3,500 Chinese enterprises operating in Africa. By 2023, China has helped build more than 50 industrial parks in Africa. These gigantic centers for manufacturing and logistics have spurred growth in their host countries and led many to believe that Africa could well be the world’s next manufacturing factory.

“When the U.S. leaders visit Africa, they talk about China, but when Chinese officials visit Africa, they talk about trade and development.”

From a purely economic perspective, Africa is a potentially lucrative market for China. With its under-served market and booming population, the scope for expansion into Africa offers huge potential for Chinese firms.

This is particularly true now that the African Continental Free Trade Area (which was established in 2018) opens up the possibility of cross-border value chains developing in Africa.

Most of the goods that China imports from Africa are natural resources. Many of these resources have strategic relevance, for example, in manufacturing batteries. In return, Chinese companies export a wide range of goods to Africa, including manufactured products, industrial and agricultural machinery, and vehicles.

In terms of foreign direct investment, Chinese companies are still only the 5th largest investors in Africa after their Dutch, French, US and UK counterparts. But their ascent has been relatively quick, and while Western companies are focused on resources and the financial sector, Chinese ones also invest heavily in construction and manufacturing.

China plays a leading role in the global new energy sector and is now expanding its reach into the African market in advanced green technologies. Through various cooperation projects, Chinese manufacturers have introduced domestic technologies to Africa and shared their experience to contribute to Africa’s industrial progress.

The main difference from Western nations is that China doesn’t use Africa for geopolitical purposes, nor as the recipient of so-called China’s industrial overcapacity. China is partnering with Africa to boost its traditional industry capacity by introducing new and high-tech know-how and building future-oriented green projects to achieve a win-win result.

China in Africa: Challenging the Western human rights narrative

Historically, Western countries have subjected Africa to centuries of brutal colonial rule and blatant racial discrimination. Even to this day, some Western countries continue to interfere in the internal affairs of African countries through financial, legal, sanction-based, and even military actions.

In contrast, China adheres strictly to the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal matters. And China speaks for the rights of Africans at the UN.

Brian Berletic: Trump Drops Cabinet BOMBSHELL—WW3 with Putin, Iran & China Next?

What are your thoughts on medical accommodations for law school? Do students with learning disabilities benefit from things such as separated testing areas or increase test times in the long run? Does this potentially harm the legal field?

This question appears to rest on an underlying assumption that law school exam conditions approximate the conditions in which lawyers actually practice law.

That proposition is very very untrue.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily against the idea of having a big exam serve as a gatekeeper to the profession. I don’t think it’s the only way to do things, but I don’t think it’s a bad way. But it’s important for that exam not to unfairly punish folks. If things like separated testing areas or increased times mitigate that risk, fine.

In reality, there are very very few exam-like scenarios after the Bar exam. What I’m calling an “exam-like scenario” is where a lawyer has to rely on their general knowledge of law to answer a specific question on a short timeline, without the availability of any reference materials.

Although short timelines do exist sometimes, there are always reference materials available. Electronic materials at least, but often “materials” in the form of more experienced and knowledgeable colleagues are available. Moreover, once a lawyer actually starts practicing, their area of specialty usually becomes somewhat narrow. It’s not like they’re going to have to answer a question on Constitutional law, then a question on civil procedure, then a question on negotiable instruments, then a question on intestate succession.

To the contrary, lawyers tend to add value not necessarily by answering discrete questions like this at all. A client comes to a lawyer with an amorphous bunch of facts, not all of which the client necessarily appreciates the significance of, and the client wants to achieve a certain outcome (or at least avoid a certain outcome). The lawyer finds a way to do that as best as possible.

That’s how a lawyer provides value to a client, not by doing something that looks like a law school exam.

FLASH: “Russia-US relations are at breaking point”

Hal Turner World February 10, 2025

For days, word has been seeping-out that the US and Russia have been communicating behind the scenes, at the Department Level, regarding primarily the Russia-Ukraine conflict. At least one time during this process, Presidents Trump and Putin spoke with each other. Today, something bad happened.

For some reason, not yet known, Sergei Ryabkov, the Deputy Foreign Minister, stated today “Russia-US relations are at breaking point.”

Ryabkov said Russia repeatedly voiced that Moscow-Washington ties are “balancing on the brink of a rupture,” and that the administration under former President Joe Biden “bet on a hybrid war” with the goal of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia.

He also commented on US President Donald Trump’s team, saying that despite contradictions in their statements, they at least show interest in resuming dialogue with Russia.

“We are ready for dialogue, as we have stated repeatedly, including discussions on a settlement in Ukraine. But this can only happen on an equal and mutually acceptable basis,” he added.

The deputy minister emphasized the need to recognize the realities on the ground and address the root causes of the crisis for any resolution.

“We have previously mentioned that there is at least a small window of opportunity for normalizing Russia-US relations under the Trump administration. Whether the US seizes this opportunity depends entirely on them,” he said.

Ryabkov also warned against the use of ultimatums and aggressive rhetoric in negotiations with Russia.
“The language of ultimatums, provocative statements, and attempts to make us accept unrealistic demands in exchange for supposed favors will not work in relations and dialogue with Russia,” he said.

Forgotten Chicken

Forgotten Chicken is a great fast and easy recipe! I have made this with chicken tenders, and it’s great. This is also known as “No Peek Chicken.”

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups white rice, uncooked
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 soup can water
Chicken breasts or thighs
1 envelope dry onion soup mix

Instructions

Mix rice, soups and water.
Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
Lay chicken on top of rice mixture.
Sprinkle chicken evenly with onion soup mix.
Cover tightly and bake for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees F.

What are some current issues and disputes concerning Taiwan?

Ever since the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan after its defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Taiwan question has been delayed for too long and has reached the stage where it must be resolved.

If you can see the essence clearly: in Taiwan’s problems and disputes, the worst party is the United States, and the United States is the biggest obstacle.

Taiwanese people have no objection. After the reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Taiwanese people will live their lives as usual, students will go to school as usual, and employees will go to work as usual. Their lives will not be affected in any way.

Behind those politicians in Taiwan is the US government, which is manipulating the Taiwan independence elements behind the scenes to interfere with the reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Who are the PLA’s military manoeuvres for? For the United States, of course..

Trump’s tariffs are bad news for everyone

Yes. Terrible.

Is there currently a trade war between China and the USA? If so, who is expected to win and how long could it potentially last?

Yes, there is a trade war between China and the US. It’s been 5 years.

Trump started it during his first term. Biden intensifies it.

Trump’s tariffs were to balance the trade deficit. Biden’s tariffs are protectionism.

The centre of the trade war is technology. This takes the form of US sanctions.

Trump threatened to cut off supply of semiconductors to China if it did not abandon MIC 2025. His most vociferous was against Huawei. Biden’s sanctions are comprehensive, drawing on all kind of excuses and extraterritoriality.

Bottom-line

China has built its own semiconductor industry. Will be market leader on both the demand and supply side next year in 2025, and likelihood of net exporter come 2027. Huawei is world’s No.1 in 5G communications. Smartphone business is back to growth path on its own 7nm chips and HarmonyOS.

Biden’s sanctions fail to arrest the forward march of China’s tech. Sanctions help it built resilience and self-reliance. It is gaining leadership in the new tech, especially in green tech. Great strengths across the supply-chains through to applications.

Trump said he will raise tariff to 60% or higher. But effect on China’s growth is marginal. China’s exports to the US are less than 2.5% of GDP.

Not sure what Trump will do on the tech side. His sanctions pool may be quite dry.

China has been light on the sanctions game. Bans export of a few rare earth minerals, puts several US companies on its unreliable entity list, and it has wide powers under the Regulations on the Export Control of Dual-Use Items.

Despite the light touch, the bans on the rare earth minerals have made waves in the US defence industry, raises costs, disrupts production schedules, and delays deliveries of many projects.

China has a deep sanctions pool. It could play rough especially as the US become less and less relevant to its economy.

Who wins in the trade war?

Both sides lose.

China finds opportunities in the war, expands its trade with other countries, and builds its resilience and self-reliant.

US has been fired by hubris. It could suffer more, even though it is mostly hidden, save for the outcries by the tech industry. It could be serious when it hits Wall Street, and when inflation hits the people’s pocket.

How long will it last?

A long time.

US started it. This behooves it to take steps to end it. But minds have been poisoned. No politician dares contemplate it, much less suggest it.

China has no incentive to make the first move. Adjustments will make it water under the bridge. International events will give it advantage in the balance of strength.

International events include growth of BRI and BRICS, and dedollarisation.

Why have Americans chosen a bunch of cynical plutocrats to run their country? Their problem. Should we now look to China for world leadership?

The American people have no real choice. The US political system is rigged to favor the corporate capitalist elite.

Moreover, the US has two major parties that are hardly distinguishable, except in the area of social issues such as abortion and immigration. It was Julius Nyerere who famously quipped: “The United States is also a one-party state but with typical American extravagance, they have two of them.”

So regardless of who is in power (Democrats or Republicans), the result is the same from the perspective of foreign policy and corporate interests. The American people will continue to be neglected (homelessness, gun violence, poor health care, poor education, crumbling infrastructure, drug addiction, mass incarceration, etc.). The country will continue to fight overseas wars and antagonize other countries militarily (e.g., Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Hamas, China-Taiwan). The country will continue to sanction other countries by weaponizing the US Dollar.

We can and should look for leadership from China. And we’re getting it. That’s what BRICS and SCO are about. That’s what BRI (Belt and Road) is about. Peace and common prosperity for the entire world.

Neil Oliver: A Seismic Event!

Shorpy

Sponge – Wax Ecstatic (To Sell Angelina)

Zero-sum Game

Submitted into Contest #150 in response to: Write a story where an algorithm plays an important role.… view prompt

Suma Jayachandar

Part A- This is not the beginningLife here is brutal. You are either a zero or one. Civilizations may want you to believe there are intermediate levels. But they are just being kind, and blind to their past. I don’t have such proclivities; I believe in stating the facts.Part B- The bitThe bit took birth someplace between a city and a village called a town. Her culture demanded that she be a sweet, yielding, and pliant…well a person, if such a thing were possible. So, she stuffed her mind with a bit of education, an algorithm to stay out of trouble, and a stack of socially acceptable manners. All the while her true nature roiled in the recycle bin, never finding full expression. It kept manifesting at times as malfunction and system slowdowns but the byte took care to bring it back on its track. Of course, with a strict warning- if she did not know how to conduct herself, she may just remain at the perpetual position of zero. So, she continued to fill up her dutiful role and waited patiently. She did meet many chips on the block while doing so and wondered if they had any transformational power. There was a gate to the world beyond, and it was arranged by the byte as it was customary in due course of time. She just hoped it was not a NOT gate. And she didn’t dare to dream of an OR gate.Part C- The new byteShe discovered after crossing over to the new byte, that her partner may be an AND gate but there were a few NOR gates in the chip. It took her years of yielding to even hope to jump to the position of one. A couple of extra bits she and her partner had welcomed gave her so much joy, that she was content to be a zero- for some time. Soon, she was at the crossroads and had the wisdom come to her in a flash. If she didn’t dare to jump then, she would end up as a cleared cache like so many before her.She looked for ways to change her values, jump gates, and outsmart the circuits. It took her all her wits, strength, patience, and well… ruthlessness. I am not the one to sugar-coat facts.She did jump to become One. The position adored and advocated as the only one that should be aspired for, and truly matters- by the machine. Yeah, the same machine that is a network of peoples, ideologies, nations, and other blah things. At times, I wish nature was at its core. But well, it is what it is.So, coming back to the bit. She climbed, claimed, and reigned the realm that she had dreamed of when she was a child- before she was told about the position she should put up with if she knew what was good for her.And stayed there. For a while.Part D- The arrayThe bits and bytes can play their roles supremely well…to their finest abilities. But they are only as good as the array they are stacked in. And the arrays are at the mercy of the commands that they receive from the hands that have appropriated the keyboard. There are many theories as to how the keyboard/mouse/joystick got passed around from prehistoric to present times. But let’s not go there, it’s a messy code.As of now, arrays have pretty much chalked out their domains. These domains are as fancy as they come; democratic, autocratic, or even anarchic. Their denizens are drilled to the core about their sovereignty and righteousness – as if that means anything in the natural order of things!Let’s come back to the bit that we started with. The bit did so well in her circuit and gave such quick returns to the array whenever called for, that she became one of the few exponents noted by the control panel. Her name was whispered in the upper echelons and her position was sealed among the national assets.Part E – The machineIn nature, everything has come from nothing and hence should go back to it, eventually. It’s a cycle as unerring as syntax. The machine thinks it can control it. But some things are beyond its reach. Only, it is insentient to it.Ignorance gobbles goodness like a tiger pouncing on a deer; nothing cruel, just the natural impulse. History will always print the map of human ignorance preying on its good sense. This map, when drawn and breathed into life by the arrogant architects of the machine, has the power to reformat civilizations. When such an occasion arises, the brilliant bits, the arrays they have aligned themselves to, and the domains they are a part of, have no alternative but to carry out the intended pogroms.In short, a decent bit can be turned into junk if the machine commands so.Err… in case you forgot what a machine is, please loop back to part C.

Part F- The crash

A machine can take only that much corruption in its system, malicious propaganda, and loss of memory of earlier mistakes before it gives up for good. Garbage input, garbage output. There is no escaping that.

The bit and other kindred sparks did try their best to keep this from happening. But they were too scattered, insignificant, and wishful.

So, one day, when the powers that be decided to overheat the system, the machine did crash. And all its machinations went poof…

Part G- This is not the end

Well, before you can accuse me of being a cynical bystander, let me reassure you, that this is not the end. It’s just an intermediate output in the n^th iteration of the zero-sum game. As Time, I have been a witness to it from the beginning.

In a few million years, there will be a rise of a new breed of machines, once again. They will begin with magic and wonder, and try to reinvent themselves before subscribing to a staunch belief that there never existed a smarter system…

And of course, you and I know how this game is going to play out… don’t we?

How will Peru’s Chancay port transform the Pacific trade?

My friend Song, also a Chinese reporter, requested to visit Chancay Port during his business trip in Lima, Peru ahead of the APEC meeting. But his request was declined and he was told a lot of preparations were underway and the site is somewhat chaotic. It means the inauguration of the port is of remarkable significance.

Chancay port is BRI project developed by China’s Cosco Shipping. It is a US$1.3 billion deepwater port. After its grand opening, the transit time to Shanghai will be slashed from 35 days to 25 days, cutting costs for exporters who currently rely on routes through the Panama Canal or the Atlantic Ocean. CGTN reports:

“Strategically located as Peru’s gateway to the Pacific, the port is connected to the Pan-American Highway via a tunnel, providing direct access to Peru’s capital Lima. As the first “maritime expressway” into Latin America, it will enable faster and more cost-efficient transport of Peruvian exports, such as cranberries and avocados, to Asian markets. It’s projected to generate $4.5 billion in annual economic benefits for Peru, equivalent to 1.8 percent of the nation’s GDP, while creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs”

The port will integrate the entire Latin American region into the dynamic economic framework of the Asia-Pacific, greatly bolstering connectivity within and beyond the continent.

China Is Creating The Biggest Military In The World

Which countries do not have tariffs on imports and exports from China?

Several countries have reduced or eliminated tariffs on imports and exports from China due to free trade agreements (FTAs) and other trade arrangements. These agreements often cover a wide range of goods and services, and the specific details can vary. Here are some examples of countries that have favorable trade agreements with China, leading to reduced or zero tariffs on many goods:

Countries with Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with China

Australia The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) eliminates or reduces tariffs on a wide range of goods.
New Zealand The China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement removes tariffs on most goods over time.
South Korea The China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement significantly reduces tariffs on many products.
Chile The China-Chile Free Trade Agreement eliminates tariffs on most goods traded between the two countries.
Costa Rica The China-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement reduces or eliminates tariffs on various goods.

Regional Trade Agreements

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) The ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement reduces tariffs on a wide range of products traded between China and ASEAN member countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam).

Comprehensive Trade Agreements

RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) This agreement includes China and 14 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam). It aims to gradually reduce tariffs on a broad range of goods.

Special Economic Zones and Bilateral Agreements

Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions of China, enjoy special trade arrangements with mainland China, often involving zero tariffs.

Notes on Trade Agreements

European Union While the EU does not have a comprehensive free trade agreement with China, it has various sector-specific agreements and tariff reductions on certain goods.
United States The trade relationship between the U.S. and China is complex, with various tariffs in place. However, specific agreements and negotiations can lead to tariff reductions on particular goods.

Considerations

Changes in Trade Policies Trade policies and agreements can change due to political and economic developments. It’s essential to stay updated on the latest information.
Specific Product Tariffs Even within free trade agreements, there may be exceptions and specific rules for certain products. Detailed tariff schedules should be consulted for precise information.

For the most accurate and up-to-date information, consulting trade authorities, official government publications, or trade experts is recommended.

Sec of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth / Col Douglas Macgregor Reacts

Worth the time to watch.

Cheesy Spaghetti Bake

This is a real winner as far as comfort food goes!

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 pound ground beef
1 (24 ounce) jar marinara sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
In a bowl, mix together cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Set aside.
In a skillet, cook ground beef over medium heat until browned.
Drain excess fat. Add marinara sauce, garlic powder and Italian seasoning to the beef. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
In a baking dish, layer half of the spaghetti, followed by the cream cheese mixture, beef sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese.
Repeat layers. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until bubbly and cheese is golden brown.

China Announces 100% Zero-Tariff Treatment for Afghanistan | This will change everything!

What was the best relationship advice you ever got?

Never date your ex,(s)he became your ex for a reason. Your ex belongs to your past, move on.
Never hope on marrying someone when almost 70% of their family members don’t like you. The probability of the marriage not lasting is very high and you’re probably not going to enjoy the relationship.
There is a distinct difference between dating for love and dating for sex. Always understand the main reason why you’re venturing into a relationship.
Never fall in love when you are lonely, the consequences are going to be a harsh one.
As long as it is still a relationship, never reveal your full potential or secrets to whoever you are dating.
Your personal development should come first before relationships. People who you are in relationships with can still leave you but you can never leave yourself, meaning never compromise your adventures and dreams for anyone.
Avoid relationships that seems to be too good to be true at the beginning. When the other person is rushing things too fast, don’t get carried away with romance and sex. Slow down and be careful because this is how people get hooked on to narcissistic partners.
Never date someone that gives commands and doesn’t respect you. The probability of emotional abuse is very high.
Never date anybody that doesn’t know how to give but knows only how to take.
Never date anyone with the mindset of changing their character, attitude, and behaviours. Remember, you can never raise an adult!

What is the purpose of China having a large number of aircraft carriers despite not bordering many oceans or seas? Is there a strategic advantage to having these ships?

FIRSTLY WHY NOT?…

WHY ARE YOU NOT BOTHERED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES WITH LARGE FLEETS OF AIRCRAFT CARRIERS BUT CONCERNED WITH CHINA’S FLEDGLING FLEETS?

WHATEVER MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND EQUIPMENT, INCLUDING NUCLEAR WEAPONRY, THEY ARE MEANT TO DETER ANY WOULD-BE AGGRESSORS/INVADORS AND CHINA WILL NEVER ALLOW ANOTHER HUNDRED YEARS OF HUMILIATION UNDER THE THUMB OF FOREIGNERS ESPECIALLY OF THE AMURIKKKUNT’S KIND…

THE ADVANTAGE OF THESE SHIPS IS THAT POSSESSION OF THEM WILL MAKE WOULD-BE AGGRESSORS THINK TWICE BEFORE EMBARGING ON THEIR WAR OF AGGRESSION ON CHINA…

I’m an ordinary tooth.

Submitted into Contest #150 in response to: Write a story where an algorithm plays an important role.… view prompt

Fomichi Fomichi

I’m an ordinary tooth.

Not tall, not short, not flat, and definitely not sharp. I’m inconspicuous as my senile grandpa used to say.

It was one of those dry mornings at Red School when our class was preparing for a test for test’s sake. One of the front teeth bent down to the red board and wrote some cribs under the hooting of the class. My fellows from the last row and I were not participating in that circus. We had an unspoken agreement with our old and chubby teacher, Mr. Blue Toothbrush. He did not bother us, and we mutually did not disturb him. While he was polishing and adoring the front teeth year after year, we were quietly watching Foodball on an ipalate under the desk. Or playing with parsley, pieces of caramel, and other treasures that Tooth 26 occasionally revealed from his backpack.

This time Mr. Blue Toothbrush was running late. I imagined him somewhere outside moving with the speed of an anesthetized tongue, trying to remember his duties. How long had we known him? For ten years I assume. His smooth blue skin was tinted with brown pigments, and all but one of his hair fell out of his rectangle head. Sometimes we were waiting for him the whole evening, and he would tell us that he had forgotten to come to class. And sometimes, instead of two productive minutes of hard work, we had less than twenty seconds as he had fallen asleep in the hallway.

We did not know what kept him so long this time. Tooth 27 claimed Mr. Blue died but I did not believe it. Teachers do not die, they are replaced. Our ex-teachers, Mrs. Purple, was accused of having an affair with another man’s mouth. Her reputation died, though she did not.

My buddy Tooth 25 had another theory. He remembered the time when our Lord kissed a Lady. We were invited into her White Palace that day. Even though our principal Mr. Tongue blocked the view, we eavesdropped on the conversation between the front teeth and a cute little fang of the Lady. She told them that her teacher. Mr. Electronic Toothbrush, was genius. The guys and girls from the last row, as she claimed, were as bright as the front teeth. Those sweet speeches made poor Tooth 25 hope that our Lord would hear our prayers and send us a substitute teacher. Again, I did not have high hopes for that. Our Lord is not powerful and definitely is not capable of doing rational things. When I was in the fourth grade, he guided fingers from another class directly into the power socket. That was a big fire on their floor that spread up to us. Sharp waves of electricity cut our enamelled bodies to pieces and gave us post electric flashbacks whenever we smelled iron. But Tooth 25 was one of those for whom a mouth was always half full.

In fifteen hours’ time, our teacher was still not in the class. The fog of voices changed from a whisper to the seagulls’ screams. The front teeth were slowly turning into Munch’s paintings with each second of the teacher’s absence. I opened a history class book from extreme boredom and scammed the pages until the images of ancestors stared at me. They were sharp, giant, and able to tear the flesh apart in a glimpse. Do you know what we can do? Eat boiled broccoli. When our Lord gives us BBQ, we eat it for half an hour in the best-case scenario.

We are bunch of sissies. I would never…

Oh my…!

Tooth 26 dropped a piece of caramel. Tooth 25 squealed like a boy who saw one of the BTS singers in the crowd. The avalanche of the mint aroma filled the class as an angel came down to us. In the vibration of Tooth 25’s pitchy voice, we were rubbing our eyes. A new teacher, Ms. Pink Toothbrush, entered the class. Her tiny white feet were not touching the ground as she was walking. Our Lord had heard our prayers indeed! I winked to Tooth 27 but he did not notice me. He was busy taking pictures of her and creating a fan club on the ToothBook.

Her graceful fragile movements made her swim to the right and left. She gave a smile to the white front teeth and to us. Her pink eyes straighten my ever-frozen-in-boredom posture. She paused and posed a question about our ancestors. The class was silent. They had never read the class book ahead, but I did. First time in thirty years, I raised a hand up in the air. Was it the moment the Fang of the Lady had told us about? The equal opportunities? Was it…?

She glanced at me and flinched. I noticed it. Every muscle on her pink neck wrinkled, revealing small dark circles. Her warm lips turned into a hot, tense blood line.

– How dare you talk? – the devilish voice crawled inside my ears and echoed there like in a giant empty temple. – And what’s with your clothes?

What is wrong with it? I panicked. All twenty-nine teeth stared at me from the amphitheatric rows in silence. The rare sound of caramel crunch was heard from Tooth 26’s direction.

I froze in the upright position, watching the exaggerated reflection of Ms. Pink in the saliva. Her predator pink eyes were scanning my tiny body. She heavily headed toward me, pushing other teeth aside, spreading the stiffing mint scent. The closer she came, the more intensively I tried to rub the black holes off. She made the last leap and stretched her sharp bristles to my chin. They grabbed me in the suffocating cage, lifting me to the light, in which my skin was yellow, almost orange.

– Dis – gus – tin – g. – Her whisper bruised my enamel, shaking my whole calcified body in convulsion.

She laughed and waved hands like a director in the orchestra. The rest of the class played along nervously, filling the red classroom with malicious ridicule. Tooth 25 avoided my eyes. Tooth 27 was covering his black spots, while streaming my face on JawTube. The white hands of the teacher were moving faster, forcing the class laughing harder. Her giant pulsing body was fluctuated above me like a pink punching bag.

It’s not fair! I have never chosen sitting on the last raw

The wave of tears covered my cheetah skin.

It’s not my fault I have patched clothes!

Sudden camera flashes from phones of my classmates blinded me.

It’s not my fault I have another skin colour!

I made a motionless leap and punched Ms. Pink in her rectangle smiley face.

The laugh dissolved in the scream of falling teacher. The blinding white spots disappeared from my sight as the classmates dropped their flashy phones. I saw Ms. Pink, who was convulsively moving on the floor. A shiny tip of caramel protruded from her breast and shimmered in a gloomy red light. The stinky mint bloody slime appeared underneath, covering our roots. Swearing and sweating Tooth 26 poured the sweet crime evidence in the rivers of saliva. The front teeth took pieces of teacher’s body, made a Xena’s cry, and threw a pink chakram to our direction. I could not dodge that though I dodged the Fate.

***

The monotonous husky voice of Mr. Blue Toothbrush took me away from Morpheus’ arms. I cautiously rubbed and opened my eyes. The bold head of Mr. Blue was jumping up and down in front of the half empty class. A cold bitter calcium ball arose in my throat.

– Where are Teeth 26 and 27? – I desperately shook a chair of Tooth 25

– Lower jo voiz down, man – Blue-faced Tooth 25 turned around.

– What happened? – I interrogated, staring at Tooth 25’s blue wounds.

– They jo all dead, man – his voice trembled – The police arrested the 26th when they found the caramel, man. The 27th was accused of complicity or something. They were drilled to death, man. The blood was everywhere – he pointed at the front teeth with iron handcuffs – those are in prison for two years and we’ve been sentenced to penal servitude. – he paused, observing the body of mine – How did jo escape, man? Wasn’t it jo who killed Ms. Pink?

– I don’t…

– Who could tell me the definition of an algorithm? – the remote voice of Mr. Blue interrupted me.

– If they did not notice me that time, – I slowly whispered, looking at the helpless figure of the teacher, – there is a chance they would not catch me again, don’t you think?

– Don’t smile like that, man – Tooth 25 moved further from me and looked at other teeth for help. Nobody glanced back.

– You know what my wise grandpa used to say? That I am not tall, not short, not flat, and not sharp. He thought it was a curse. But you know what? – He just didn’t know how to use it as the advantage.

– You should know the answer! It will be on the test – Mr. Blue Toothbrush petted one of the front teeth with a fatherly love.

– You’ve always wanted to meet Mr. Electronic Toothbrush, right? – I moved the chair of my buddy closer to me and whispered – but the only one way to get him is to kill the ones that are on our ways.

– I don’t like it, man – Tooth 25 nervously shook his head – I thought you did not believe teachers can die.

– They don’t. They are replaced. – I raised my arm.

– All right, young man – the lack of other volunteers convinced him to talk to me – What is an algorithm?

– Come closer, teacher – I smiled. – I’ll show you an example.

The Producers – Springtime for Hitler and Germany

What is the first thing you should do after you move to Singapore?

Moving to Singapore? There are endless things to study, write down, and put up on the fridge “a long list of what is allowable to do and consequences of not doing so.”

To begin with, check out where the bins are as throwing a cigarette butt in the wrong place is a $300 fine

Next, learn the culture of the queuing system as you need this on your every encounter starting from ordering coffee where only the ‘ uncle’ with supersonic memory knows who comes first and comes last (though with 20 people waiting but no visible Q)

When the coffee uncle ‘raises his eyebrow’ at you- it’s your turn to order… Better be quick!

Furthermore, talking unnecessarily is a sign of an unsound mind- short and sharp to the point is preferred ( in every encounter- don’t believe? you may get a reply, like ” I don’t have all day to listen to you, know!”)

Humming a song’s lyrics in public is not the norm, (with the exception of Filipina maids ) do that in your bathroom or at Swift’s concert only.

ATMs are for one transaction only- if not a person behind would tell you “ Hello, I am losing my patience with you. If you don’t know how to operate this machine, get out and let other people use it!”

Finally, when walking the dog, look out for a vigilante watching you if you clean your dog’s poops… if not, the police will soon appear at your door with a smile.

What if, you walk five dogs at once?

Last but not least, don’t forget to smile when a CCTV from 109,000 of them snaps your photo speeding-

Know this: if you speed 120 km/h on 50 Km/h speed limit road, you can say goodbye to your driver’s license for a long-long time.

Forgetting to pay the traffic offense fine? go straight to court and prepare to pay a higher fine of at least $1,000 or 1,500 bucks on the hearing day or go straight to jail.

There are so many things to learn after you move to Singapore- know the first thing or one thing means nothing in the country where many noble-minded live.

Had a Visitor Last night

Hal Turner World November 16, 2024

My son and I were out on the rear deck up here at our rural Pennsylvania home around 6:45 PM last night, when we heard a visitor on the lower half acre . . .

Yesterday, I had the local landscaper guys come over to do the final leaf-blow and grass cut for the year. The property is all nice, clean and neat again.

My son and I were out on the rear deck when, from the south, we heard rustling in what would be our nearest neighbor’s property. Whatever it was made noise as it walked through all the leaves on our neighbor’s property.

Suddenly the rustling noise stopped. I said to my son, it either stopped moving, or it is now on our property where there are no leaves.

We waited a minute or so, and my son looked out from the deck and whispered, “Dad, a Deer” and pointed. Well, my eye sight isn’t nearly as good as it used to be so I couldn’t see it with the rear deck light on, as I looked out into the darkness.

My son moved to the north end of the deck, took out his phone, and started taking pictures. One of the clearest is the one you see above.

This was a Buck. He has very small Antlers protruding from his skull.

We walked back into the house and I shut the living room lights off so we could look out the large Bay Window which overlooks the lower level and the creek that runs along the eastern border of our land. Turning off the lights did away with the light reflection on the inside of the windows and, sure enough, I saw him.

I caught the EARS first because apparently the fur in them is white or at least reflects some light. He was staring right at us in the living room window!

I waved at him. He reared-up and took-off running!

What a difference being out here in the country, versus being in North Bergen, NJ where our primary residence is.

I like it here, better.

Why is China hiding 700 billion dollars?

Professor Finds First Physical Evidence Egyptians Drank Hallucinogenic Cocktails

By Cassidy Delamarter

A University of South Florida professor found the first-ever physical evidence of hallucinogens in an Egyptian mug, validating written records and centuries-old myths of ancient Egyptian rituals and practices. Through advanced chemical analyses, Davide Tanasi examined one of the world’s few remaining Egyptian Bes mugs.

Such mugs, including the one donated to the Tampa Museum of Art in 1984, are decorated with the head of Bes, an ancient Egyptian god or guardian demon worshiped for protection, fertility, medicinal healing and magical purification. Published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, the study sheds light on an ancient Egyptian mystery: The secret of how Bes mugs were used about 2,000 years ago.

“There’s no research out there that has ever found what we found in this study,” Tanasi said.

“For the first time, we were able to identify all the chemical signatures of the components of the liquid concoction contained in the Tampa Museum of Art’s Bes mug, including the plants used by Egyptians, all of which have psychotropic and medicinal properties.”

The presence of Bes mugs in different contexts over a long period of time made it extremely difficult to speculate on their contents or roles in ancient Egyptian culture.

“For a very long time now, Egyptologists have been speculating what mugs with the head of Bes could have been used for, and for what kind of beverage, like sacred water, milk, wine or beer,” said Branko van Oppen, curator of Greek and Roman art at the Tampa Museum of Art. “Experts did not know if these mugs were used in daily life, for religious purposes or in magic rituals.”

Several theories about the mugs and vases were formulated on myths, but few of them were ever tested to reveal their exact ingredients until the truth was extracted layer by layer.

Tanasi, who developed this study as part of the Mediterranean Diet Archaeology project promoted by the USF Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture and the Environment, collaborated with several USF researchers and partners in Italy at the University of Trieste and the University of Milan to perform chemical and DNA analyses. With a pulverized sample from scraping the inner walls of the vase, the team combined numerous analytical techniques for the first time to uncover what the mug last held.

The new tactic was successful and revealed the vase had a cocktail of psychedelic drugs, bodily fluids and alcohol – a combination that Tanasi believes was used in a magical ritual reenacting an Egyptian myth, likely for fertility. The concoction was flavored with honey, sesame seeds, pine nuts, licorice and grapes, which were commonly used to make the beverage look like blood.

The original mug next to the successfully created 3D digital version. (USF Communications)

“This research teaches us about magic rituals in the Greco-Roman period in Egypt,” Van Oppen said. “Egyptologists believe that people visited the so-called Bes Chambers at Saqqara when they wished to confirm a successful pregnancy because pregnancies in the ancient world were fraught with dangers. So, this combination of ingredients may have been used in a dream-vision inducing magic ritual within the context of this dangerous period of childbirth.”

“Religion is one of the most fascinating and puzzling aspects of ancient civilizations,” Tanasi said. “With this study, we’ve found scientific proof that the Egyptian myths have some kind of truth and it helps us shed light on the poorly understood rituals that were likely carried out in the Bes Chambers in Saqqara, near the Great Pyramids at Giza.”

The Bes mug is on display now at the Tampa Museum of Art and can be viewed in the exhibition, “Prelude: An Introduction to the Permanent Collection.” View a 3D model of the Bes mug produced by the USF Institute for Digital Exploration.

Can you explain how an import tax (tariff) works? If we impose one on Chinese imports, what would happen if they increase their prices or stop selling goods to us? Would this have a greater impact on them or on us?

Thanks you for asking! The truth is 100% of Asians knows how tariffs work but less than 10% of Americans knows and that including Donald Trump! And he seems proud that he can easily lie to the Yanks! That tariff’s is a tax on China! it is not at all paid by China!

If you buy a stuff from China say at USD 100 per unit, when the US set a tariff on Chinese products say 50%! The US importer of the said product has to pay USD 100 for the same product without change but it now has to pay USD 50 on tariff to the US customs. The cost to the US importer now becomes USD 150! He will pass on the 50 dollars tariffs to the US consumer! So who pays for the US tariffs on China? The US consumer does ultimately, even though the US importer will initially pays for importing the said Chinese goods!

China lose nothing at all unless either the US manufacturer can produce it locally I which it clearly can’t at the same price and quality as the Chinese product or the importer can find a similar product from another nation to replace the Chinese products. Chances is you cannot! In that case the US consumer will pay a higher price and this cause US inflation to increase. Chinese manufacturers are fine they don’t incur the extra cost! And if one stop buying Chinese goods China can always sell it to other nations!

Most nations wants the best products at the optimum price for their citizens and that is why 150/195 nations on earth has China as their biggest supplier! After the first round of trade war by Trump and Biden some crafty Vietnamese and Mexican traders imported the same Chinese products and slapped a made in Mexico or Vietnam label and transshipped it to the US incurring zero duties! They made a quick buck that the US consumer pays for the charade! On paper Mexico now’s sells more to USA but in reality the same products are still made in China!

China don’t lose anything, even if less is sold to the UD it is no longer a big deal. The US is a big market but when you sell to 179 nations one do not much at all. But chances is the US demand don’t reduce too much since there is not competitive producer that can match China!

So the real lose are US consumers and sadly they are mostly the poor and the middle incline class in the US that suffers the most! I don’t think Trump gives a shit about them!

The Partridge Family | The Partridge Papers | S2EP22 FULL EPISODE | Classic TV Rewind

Damn! I wasted so much time watching this stuff…

City Chicken meets Lox and Bagels

Do you have a meal that your mother used to make, that you haven’t had in years?

I do.

How about “City Chicken”?

City chicken is an American entrée consisting of cubes of meat, typically pork, which have been placed on a wooden skewer (approximately 4–5 inches long), then fried and/or baked. Depending on the recipe, they may be breaded. Despite the name of the dish, city chicken almost never contains chicken.

History

A similar dish once known as “mock chicken” was described as early as 1908. The first references to city chicken appeared in newspapers and cookbooks just prior to and during the Depression Era in a few cities such as Pittsburgh. City chicken typically has cooks using meat scraps to fashion a makeshift drumstick from them by skewering meat chunks. It was a working-class food item. During the Depression, cooks used pork or in many cases veal because it was then cheaper than chicken in many cities, especially meat packing centers such as Detroit, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Louisville, and Pittsburgh where such cuts were more readily available than chicken.^[6]

Sometimes cooks would grind the meat and use a drumstick-shaped mold to form the ground meat around a skewer. One such mold, manufactured by AMPCO/BKI, was labeled chicken sans volaille (without poultry).

The dish is still popular in the Binghamton, NY, area, where at the turn of last century along with the growth of factories (especially EJ, cigar companies, Kilmer, etc.) the town was supplied with workers from immigrant communities abroad as well as from the coal mines of PA, stone quarries of northern NY, etc. Many or most of these were from more rural areas where farming for personal use to supplement their jobs was common (i.e. small vegetable gardens, hogs and chickens). In the tenement and row houses in Binghamton/JC of that era it was rare to have enough land to raise chickens however slaughter houses (pork, lamb, veal, and beef) could still be located ‘in town’. The idea of breading veal or pork like fried chicken became a cheaper and popular meal.

Another is Lox and Bagels…

Lox and bagels traditionally consist of an open-faced bagel topped with cream cheese, thinly sliced red onions, briny capers, and lox.

The word lox stems from the Yiddish word for salmon, “laks.” Lox is a thinly sliced salmon fillet, usually in the belly, and undergoes curing and brining process in a salty brine (not smoked). Lox comes from Scandinavia, where fishermen mastered the art of preserving salmon in saltwater brine. Native Americans also smoked and dried the fish’s carcasses for food and currency.

In 1869, the transcontinental railroad began to transport barrels of salted salmon from the Pacific coast to the rest of the country. This gave rise to its popularity in New York City, especially among the Eastern European Jewish immigrants who came to the U.S. with a rapport for cured and smoked fish.

Bagels made an appearance in China and then glamorized in Italy around the 14th century. The capers came from Italy, while cream cheese has roots in Britain. So, lox or bagels did not originally come from New York City. Nor did cream cheese or capers, for that matter. New Yorkers were the ones that put them together, and it made an excellent combination. It is a mystery as to when the fish and the bagel were first eaten together.

What is the Difference Between Lox and Smoked Salmon

Lox and smoked salmon are both varieties of salmon, but they are prepared differently. They have a similar texture, but the flavor is different.

Lox is cured but not smoked, while smoked salmon is cured then smoked. Because of this, smoked salmon is not quite as salty as lox.

Honestly, you cannot go wrong with either! Contrary to how this dish was originally enjoyed, it doesn’t have to come from the belly of the salmon but from other parts of the fish as well.

Today..

What appalls or disgusts you about America?

In sixth grade, the school found out that there was an armed man who had recently committed matricide roaming around within a 10 mile radius. We were on lockdown all day- but we were happy, because that meant we could watch movies in class for 7 hours straight.

In seventh grade, a kid told his PE teacher that he saw a man with a gun on campus. Within minutes, the entire school was on lockdown. So was the nearby high school and two nearby elementary schools. After a few hours, the police realized that the kid had fabricated the entire story to get out of running a mile.

Yesterday, the substitute teacher freaked out because a student had left to go to the bathroom without telling him. “I am responsible for all of your guys’ safety!” he exclaimed, turning an alarming shade of maroon. We fought to hide our giggles and smiles.

This morning, I got texts from multiple friends. “We’re on lockdown! Don’t come to school for office hours. Someone called 911 and said they heard gunshots.” Minutes later, they received an all-clear. It was just an air gun from the school construction site. “Who would be dumb enough to call THAT in?” was all we said. “Now I lost precious time for my test retake.”

When I lived in Texas, we had tornado drills. Here, we have earthquake drills. In other parts of the country, they have hurricane and even blizzard drills. But you know what never changes? Every school across the nation has a code red drill. We hear “code red!” and we immediately know what to do. Lights off, doors locked, silently start stacking desks and chairs against all doors and windows. Run or hide, depending on where you are. Every classroom has a bag with food and water and books. Every kid knows how it goes, no matter how young or old they are. Every year comes with the same routine.

“We’re having a code red drill today.”

“Oh, yes! Free time to just sit on my phone!”

What disgusts me about America is how desensitized we have become to gun violence.

Edit: If you’re going to comment saying your school doesn’t have code red drills but has lockdowns or shooting drills instead, don’t bother. They are all the same thing and meant to protect us against gun violence.

Minute Steak Parmesan

Ingredients

5 minute steaks
1 beaten egg
1 tablespoon water
Dash of pepper
1/4 cup soda cracker crumbs
1 (8 ounce) can pizza sauce
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Instructions

Dip steaks in combined egg, water and pepper. Coat with mixture of crumbs and half of the cheese.
Brown in hot oil; drain on absorbent paper.
Arrange in baking dish; cover with pizza sauce, and top with remaining cheese.
Bake at 325 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

Why are the average working/unemployed American citizens so poor and live miserable lives when the nation is so wealthy?

The disparity between the wealth of a nation and the financial well-being of its citizens can be attributed to several interconnected factors:

1. Income Inequality

Wealth Concentration: A significant portion of wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small percentage of the population. This limits economic mobility for the average citizen.
Wage Stagnation: Many workers have experienced stagnant wages over the past few decades, failing to keep pace with the cost of living.

2. Cost of Living

Housing Costs: In many areas, housing costs have skyrocketed, making it difficult for individuals to afford homes.
Healthcare and Education: High costs in healthcare and education can lead to significant financial burdens, impacting overall quality of life.

3. Labor Market Dynamics

Job Availability: Many low-skilled jobs have been outsourced or automated, limiting opportunities for entry-level workers.
Gig Economy: While the gig economy offers flexibility, it often lacks benefits and stable income, leaving many workers vulnerable.

4. Systemic Barriers

Discrimination: Racial, gender, and economic disparities can limit opportunities for many citizens.
Access to Education: Quality education is not equally accessible, affecting job prospects and earning potential.

5. Political and Economic Policies

Tax Policies: Tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations can exacerbate income inequality.
Social Safety Nets: Insufficient social safety nets can leave unemployed or low-income individuals without adequate support.

6. Cultural Factors

Consumerism: A culture focused on consumption can lead individuals to prioritize spending over saving, contributing to financial instability.

Conclusion

The combination of these factors creates a complex landscape where many Americans struggle to achieve financial stability despite living in a wealthy nation. Addressing these issues requires comprehensive policy changes and societal shifts to promote equity and opportunity for all citizens.

China’s Environment, Society & Propaganda

Godfree Roberts

Environment

The national carbon trading market will cover the steel, cement and aluminum sectors by December, adding 1,500 companies emitting more than 26,000 tonnes of CO2 to the ETS, adding 3 billion tonnes of emissions.

Society

Retirement age starts rising from 60 to 63 by 2040. White collar women’s retirement age increases from 55 to 58; women in blue-collar jobs will go from 50 to 55. Life expectancy is 78.6, and years of education for new labor force entrants rose from 8 years in 1982 to 14 years in 2023.

In China you know exactly who is running the show. They tell the public exactly what they plan to do, then do it. Politicians tell the billionaires what to do and they do it, too. David Ferguson.

Urban unemployment 16-24 ages, excluding students, was 18.8% in August, up 1.7% from the previous month,the second consecutive month of rising rates and a new high for the year.

Diplomacy

Leaders from 54 African countries with 30% of the world’s population attended FOCAC. Xi: “We have together built roads, railways, schools, hospitals, industrial parks, and special economic zones. These projects have changed the lives and destiny of many people”. He committed another $50 billion to continue the work and canceled all tariffs for 33 African countries. The effect will be increased exports from Africa to China.

The greatest demographic fact of our century is Africa’s exponential growth. UN forecasts say its population will grow from 811 million in 2000 to 4.3 billion in 2100, a vastly significant megatrend.

American voters want U.S. China policy to be “smart, firm, strong, and diplomatic.” Only 13% want an aggressive approach and 5% want a confrontational one. 73% say the U.S. should hold high-level diplomatic talks with China.

The UN General Assembly adopted two Chinese resolutins: The first is that July 6 will be “World Rural Development Day” (America has always been hostile to development in foreign countries and China is seeking to have development recognized as a human right). The second, the “United Nations Games” resolution, calls for convening the UN Games annually and invites relevant stakeholders to make voluntary contributions to a trust fund dedicated to the Games (a shot across the bow of the corrupt, US-controlled IOC).

Geopolitics

The United States is losing ground in important parts of Asia. “For these poor but growing countries, the American mortgage crisis was a staggering affair: why give poor people high-interest mortgages when they know they won’t be able to pay them back? Morality at zero. The irresponsibility of the United States was soon joined by that of Europe, so slow to react. In truth, it was China’s massive stimulus policy that pulled the world out of recession. The emergence of the BRICs rebounds from this double Western irresponsibility.”

By letting Jews plant bombs in electronic consumer devices, the West has undermined its own and Taiwan’s tech products and boosted China’s. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have switched to Huawei phones and telecoms, with the rest of MENA …

Two Years After Divorce Nurse Ex Is BEGGING Me Back After Lover Ditched Her…And The Baby

What was the most outrageous repair quote a mechanic has ever given you to fix your car?

Many, many years ago, I bought a beautiful, well maintained 1988 Mercedes 420 SEL. Incredible car, tons of torque, four heated, reclining seats, electric sun sccreen for the rear window and a long list of other fancy toys, all of which was working, for £500.00.

An absolute steal.

One random morning, the remote wouldn’t unlock the car doors. When I pressed the remote, the little tabs on the inside of the door would wiggle a little bit, but they would not pop up and allow access to the car.

Even though the car key would allow me to unlock the drivers door, I considered this an inconvenience.

I took the car to a mechanic shop in Bermondsey, South London. Now, that really should have been my first clue that I was about to be fleeced. For all the qualities you would ordinarily perscribe to the fine folks of Bermondsey, honesty most certainly was not high on the list.

The gentleman (in lack of a better, more suitable term) explained to me, after a demonstration of the problem that this very costly repair would involve him to check the airlines all around the car and perform various tests etc at the cost of £70.00 per hour, and the cost of whichever parts would be needed.

He explained to me that the absolute best-case scenario would be north of £800.00 with no guarantee that he could fix it.

I pondered this for about 15 seconds, and told him I would just live with the problem, rather than pay close to twice the purchase price of the car for a little irritation.

I went home, pondered this some more and started wondering what the issue could be. I decided to have a look around, and started with the fusebox under the bonnet.

It was obvious that one of the fuses had blown (but I had no idea what that particular fuse was for) so I bout a pack of 4 fuses and changed it, like for like. Then I forgot about it for a while.

The next time I drove the car, I pressed the remote button ( out of muscle memory) and the doors opened immediately.

Repair cost: £0.64.

What a fucker.

What is the most unreasonable rule an HOA has ever tried to enforce on a homeowner?

Had a friend sell his place that was in an HOA recently and the following was the main reason. A few years ago, his roof needed replacing and he had the HOA brochure for colors and went to the roofer the HOA had listed. He picked his color and the new roof was installed after the prior ones were removed since the thickness was too much. Of course, removing the old roof on a 3000 sf house is not a small job so a dumpster was needed. The HOA attempted to fine him for the dumpster and he ignored them (it was there 3 days) and had the roof installed. Then he meticulously cleaned the whole driveway to get anything that didn’t hit the dumpster and next policed his own place and the neighbor’s.

A few days after he finished, he got a written notice from the HOA lawyers that he needed to removed the dumpster (already gone after the 3 days), and that there was debris all over the place from the old roof and, by the way, the new roof did not conform to the color choices the HOA allowed. Really? He took them to court when the harassment did not stop and went in with the contractor (who hated the HOA even though they brought him work), photos time and date stamped that showed the dumpster and when it left and how the yards looked the day after the roof was done. He also had the brochure that showed his roof color was in that brochure.

The HOA had no actual evidence and thought they could bully him into paying an unwarranted fine. The judge ended up awarding the whole cost of the roof and lawyer and all court costs to my friend along with damages of $10,000 to my friend for all the trouble they cause him. In the ruling, he admonished the HOA for not following their own rules, harassment, and over eagerness for money not owed them. The HOA president and board were replace in the next election due in part to this incident and many other infractions.

My friend put his house on the market the week after the trial and is no longer in that state since he retired.

What 10 Years in China and Europe Taught This American

How strong would a resisting inmate need to be to make the staff give up on strip searching him?

Funny story about that.

When I was working county jail, I met a guy who was on “light duty”. He was confined to a desk for having blown out knees at the job. I asked him what happened.

His story was that one day, the deputies had dragged in a drunk guy on domestic violence charges. This guy was beyond obese and butt naked(of course). Being drunk, he did not appreciate the hospitality of the county jail.

Once put in the drunk tank, he flooded the cell.

Staff converged with one very trigger happy sergeant.

Now, I dealt with this behavior in maximum security prison for two years before going to county. If an inmate is flooding his cell, he does NOT need to leave the cell. He will most certainly be fighting you the second that door rolls. What you do is, you turn off the water to his cell and you put some towels by his door to mop up any water. Give him the amount of time he needs to cool off then you provide him with towels to clean up his cell and return the water. NO ONE NEED GET HURT, not you, not him.

This sergeant decided that opening the door and forcing a hasty cell extraction was a good idea.

Another trick from maximum security prison. First put on armor, so when you’re rolling around with the Blob in the cell, you don’t hurt yourself. Two, pepper spray the inmate before hand. Simply feeling the burn of pepper spray will encourage him to surrender. If you still have to go in, he will be at a disadvantage to fight you, being blinded.

This sergeant decided that he didn’t need anything but his baton. He and a couple jailers rolled the door. The Blob came stampeding out. Sarge tries to step in the way, only to get bowled over. Jailers dive on the inmate, trying to get him into handcuffs. He is not having it.

Sarge whips out his ASP baton and starts striking the inmate’s leg. The baton snaps in half and the Blob looks none the worse for wear. So you have four guys wrestling on the ground with a naked 300 lb man.

Additional staff starts running in. Problem is, when the door rolled a couple dozen gallons of water came out of the cell. Staff is slipping and sliding. My coworker runs up, slips and cracks both his knees.

I saw the footage of this and it was an absolute crap shoot. How everything got ironed out, I didn’t get to see but it did. Word was that the guy woke up the next day and had no idea what happened. He bonded out and was never seen again.

So, to give you an answer, prisons and jails will line every single officer up to make sure an inmate submits.

Who are the scariest people in history?

Narcissism raged very high with this one.

His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.

Those were official titlels he conferred himself, in addition to his unofficial stated claim of being the uncrowned King of Scotland.

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Amin was the dictator of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He charmed and promised the world that he would bring peace and democracy to the people of his country. Instead, he turned Uganda into a poverty-stricken land patrolled by death squads.

Amin was possibly the most brutal and merciless dictator of all time. His rule was characterized by human rights abuses, ethnic persecution, political repression, massacres and the expulsion of 80,000 Asians from Uganda. In my opinion, he was probably the most sadistic dictator in the 20th century.

He would show executions of people on television. Everyone was a good game for torture and execution: his country’s soldiers, government officials, teachers, artists, doctors, journalists, engineers, politicians, police officers, photographers, lawyers, business people, ordinary citizens, ministers, and children.

His henchmen tortured and killed people with sledgehammers while Amin kept the pictures for fun and amusement.

This sadistic beast relished when he buried his victims alive and would often give the heads of his enemies to crocodiles. Hundreds of thousands of dead bodies washed up to the shores of Lake Victoria. More than 4,000 people were killed by being thrown into crocodile-infested rivers. Another 50,000 people died from disease, most were children.

As if that was not disturbing enough he would cut the flesh of his perceived enemies and force them to eat it until they died. He was also a cannibal who ate human flesh and drank human blood. It is stated that he proudly admitted he was a cannibal.

His depravity came full circle when he mutilated one of his wives and had her limbs sewn upside down.

In total, it’s estimated he killed and tortured 300,000 to 500,000 Ugandans.

On the 11 April 1979, the Tanzanian Army invaded Uganda and ousted him, he went into exile in Saudi Arabia (really humane of you Saudi Arabia) for the rest of his life.

Amin died almost 25 years later in 2003. In that time Amin lived a very peaceful life.

When I think of the atrocities committed against such a young innocent country by this sick depraved man, I weep a little and feel ashamed for such human being every existed.

Scary!

SCOOBY-DOO – 1950’s Super Panavision 70

How can one person fight more than 3 people at the same time and win?

You can’t spar them. It’s not a fair fight, so you can’t trade blows. Every strike you hit might be your last, and if you get hit, it’s going to be only the first of many. So you have to be fierce.

Make sure it hurts them more: A punch to the forehead hurts your hand more than the opponent’s head. Hit where it hurts – nose, eyes, throat, groin, knees, feet. Anything goes. A nose is your best target, as it is very sensitive. Anyone not used to sparring and taking strikes to the nose will immediately get tears in their eyes, and most people lose their will to fight. If they bleed, even better! You took one out and drew first blood. The others might think twice before engaging.

No matter what, don’t let them grapple you: If someone gets a hold to your arm, you need to make them let go immediately. Twist their arm, use the grapple to get them near and use your elbows and knees to make more damage. Stomp their feet. This is the worst possible scenario, if they somehow grab both your arms you’ll lose the ability to defend yourself. If they drag you to the ground, it’s over. Make sure to punish a grappler in a way the others will prefer striking you than grappling. Knee to groin, elbow to the nose. Do anything you can to set this rule in the combat, that you will not allow anyone to grab you in any way.

Don’t try the same strategy on everyone: If you poked a finger on the first guy’s eye, the other ones will be guarded against this. If you kick someone’s groin, the next one will try to grab your leg. So you need to approach each one differently. I understand this is not something people train for, and is not easy to remember internet tips when the blood pumps and survival mode kicks in. But if you can’t think, you’re done. Think of at least one weak spot for each one: nose, eyes, throat, groin, knees, feet. And stick to them.

Don’t get surrounded: If it’s an option, quickly grasp your opponents position and don’t let them surround you. Get somewhere they can’t hit you from behind. Even if you got your back covered, when one of them fights you there will be an opening for another to hit you from behind. So it’s crucial not getting surrounded by them. If you can’t run away, at least find a 90º corner or a corridor so they can’t all at the sime time get to you.

Mess with their morale: I have avoided fights by acting weird. I have de-escalated fights using my own blood (I had this accidental cut while pushing away an attacking bully, the others thought it was his blood). Call them cowards for teaming up. Tell them you got nothing to lose. Or everything to lose – that you got a daughter that needs you. Yell at them, say you already lost so you’ll take as many as you can to the hospital with you.

Flee to a better place: Run away to somewhere crowded if you’re all alone. Get on the top of a staircase. Lock yourself somewhere. Create hurdles for them to pass, skip a fence so you can slow some of them down. Climb onto a second-story building.

Give up (true of not): You need to put winning in perspective. What is a win? The goal here is surviving, right? So if you give up fighting and show it, the fight might de-escalate enough that someone intervenes. Raise your hands to show you mean no harm. If they still engage into fighting, at least you may surprise them. They have to deal with an unexpected change of pace – at one second you’ve surrended, at the next you just defeated someone.

Don’t do it: Against everything I wrote here, don’t fight unless you absolutely have to. This is my final advice. Four muggers want your phone? It’s ok. At least you won’t get hurt. You won’t have to get surgery or physical rehabilitation. You won’t lose teeth – if you still got all your teeth, keep them. Dentures are bad. Teeth implants are expensive. Knee treatments not always work fully, you may get a bad knee for the rest of your life. You might be handicapped as a result of some street brawl. So only do it if nothing else can be done.

What is the last thing you heard from someone before they died?

I received a phone-call that my mother was on her way from her hometown to a big city cardio hospital and that it looks dire. I, because of a shorter distance and because the ambulance had to stop to stabilize Mom, beat the ambulance to the hospital and were waiting in the arrivals for them.

When the paramedics unloaded her she was conscious and responsive and I in passing said “vasbyt Mamma, sien jou nou” (hold on Mamma, I’ll see you soon.” She reached out touched my arm and said “Nee, dis verby.” (No, it’s all over) as the paramedics rushed passed me.

She was rushed to the cardiopulmonary wing ICU and we (dad, one sister and I) waited in the waiting room. At one stage I went and peeped through the gap in the doors and I could see the doctors and or nurses bussy with CPR on her. You can probably imagine the amount of dread that induced in me.

It was not a short while later that the cardiologist came to us and explained that although they did everything they could the damage to her heart was just too severe.

I, because she was awake and responsive, assumed that because we were with the best minds in medicine available that she would be okay. She obviously understood her own body better and could appreciate the severity of her condition better. She knew, “Nee, dis verby.”

I had to come to grips, not only with the loss, but also with the understanding that it must have been a most terrifying end for her, knowing that her time with us has reached its end, in some ways that have been harder, and even now bring tears to my eyes and form a obstruction in my throat.

Gone, but not forgotten, I still miss her daily.

Bewitched as a 1970s Grindhouse Horror – Super Panavision 70

Rebirth on Xenoscythe

Submitted into Contest #232 in response to: Write a story set in a world with a dying sun, or where light is a scarce resource.… view prompt

Kevin Marlow

Jagged spears of light sliced through the dome of the cavern. The planet Xenoscythe’s sun, Aerialis spun in a perpetual dance with its barren rocky surface. Its scant rays fed the underground cathedral rock amphitheaters through rifts in the crust, allowing life to survive under the surface. Vast rippling pools of fresh water were ringed with igneous rock formations bursting with gold and green mosses, giant leafed ferns, purple flowers, succulent fruits, amphibians, and tiny flitting red finches. The sounds of the waterfall splashing into the small lake murmured in Tokarov’s ear as he opened an eye and yawned.His bed was a pile of soft dark green and lavender feathers nestled in the soft powdery clay dust under a stone outcrop. He rolled over and looked at her. Marble skin hid under a silken sheet emblazoned with the same iridescent sheen that made the feathers shimmer in the dim light. Reaching out, he stroked the burgundy curls cascading down her slender shoulders. Lora Lei stirred, shifting in her sleep. Tokarov scooted his naked frame over to hers and held her, folding down the blanket and rubbing her arm, reaching to feel the growing bulge in her belly.Sitting up in a quick motion, Lora Lei stretched her long limbs and let out a noisy yawn. He was transfixed, staring at her vulnerable, supple frame as she fought off the fog of sleep.“I need to feed.” Her purple irises flashed at him as a knowing smile dotted her lips.”I’m sure some poor Grigglesneed is just waiting to have his head torn off.” Tokarov slid on his trousers and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He turned away not wanting to see it again.The Sabinarath Lora Lei transformed into was tragically beautiful and terrifying. A long beak lined with razor-sharp serrations jutted from in between two enormous purple eyeballs the size of dinner plates. Her arms stretched into wings, trailing in flowing green feathers, with legs ending in talons and scaley bird-like feet. Two steps and Tokarov felt the wind as she took flight in the cavern, swirling up into the light, landing, and disappearing into the crevice in the cave ceiling.Now alone, Tokarov slipped on his cotton tunic and bounded barefoot toward the stand of fruit trees near her lair. Flipping his dagger from its worn and humble brown leather sheath, he sliced through sinew strands of the sweet yellow-striped fruit that smelled like bananas and tasted like kiwis. Digging his teeth into the flesh, he tried to fight off the images of his mate feeding. Grigglesneeds were hearty reptilian humanoids with tails like a crocodile and legs like an iguana. She assured him, that the nutrients the fresh meat provided was necessary for their alien hybrid to grow. Thankfully, she would plunge into the water upon return and wash off the blood. He shuddered and swallowed, cutting up another fruit.He nursed the fire, blowing on it with a tube to resurrect the orange flames. Piling on some small sticks, the hearth fended off the chill of the morning. The sun provided enough light for life, but no heat in the vast cave where they lived. He ruminated on the stories of the Wombs of Xenoscythe recited to him by Lora Lei. These natural formations were homes to the trial winners, ones who fought to live, ones tasked with birthing a new species capable of surviving, capable of thriving. It was rumored the Overlords of Xenoscythe had seed planets ready. They only harvested the planets that were dying, planets like the Earth, Tokarov’s home.His mind’s eye replayed the evacuation. Long flexible tubes sucked the few dozen humans that had survived the armageddon from the surface of Earth. They were able to watch on a large digital screen in their holding area from the immense interstellar ship as a robotic arm equipped with a cylindrical head, lined with thousands of teeth tore into the Earth’s crust. A hose the size of a mountain range vacuumed the remains into a storage vessel. In a few minutes, the Earth was reduced to a molten mash of bits, simmering in a cargo ship three times its size. A loud splash jolted him back to the present.

He turned to see the surface of the water rippling. Lora Lei’s head slowly parted the water, her hair flowing in the water. Her body was like a master’s painting, flawless and timeless. She cupped a hand to her belly and looked up with a radiant smile at Tokarov. He looked away with a bashful grin.

“What are you going to name it?” The question struck him.

“Shouldn’t we decide that together?”

“We both know how this is going to end. You need to be planning, gestation with my species only takes a couple of moon cycles.” Lora’s eyes widened as she felt a movement in her abdomen. She grabbed his wrist and placed his hand on her stomach.

“I don’t feel anything.”

“In time, dear, in time.”

“What if I don’t know what to do? I have spent my adult life fighting, living the life of a warrior. I don’t know anything about raising a child.” He looked at his blade, its metal stained with the blood of enemies and friends alike.

“We are all imbued with the spirit of life, Tokarov. Death is just another part of life. An animal doesn’t need to read a book to nurture its young. We are programmed with DNA and powers beyond our comprehension. Billions of years ago rocks did not just spring to life and start breathing. We are moved and gifted with a force, a force of life that makes us want to live.” Lora sifted her fingers through his long hair, prying to confront his soul. He hid it behind his humanity, shielding his vulnerabilities.

“I’ve spent my life killing and dying, hoping for a glorious warrior’s death on the battlefield, with the gods of war smiling down on me, applauding my effort.” He unsheathed the dagger, spinning it in his hand with precision.

“What if there are no gods? What if there is only one single thread that holds us all together? What would you call it? A presence? A what? What would it be called?” She felt in her heart she had him cornered.

“Life?”

“What gives life?”

“The sun? I don’t know.”

“Spirit, Tokarov! Every culture has figured it out since the dawn of time. They call it by different names, but unless you embrace the spirit you will always be lost. You can take a man’s life, only One can take his spirit.”

“Who is the One then?”

“You have already met Him, you just don’t yet believe.”

“Will I in time?”

“You will, you will…”

Time is an immutable force that whisks us to our destiny whether we are ready or not. The weeks that followed were the stuff of fairy tales. Love, bonding, and long afternoon embraces all contained in a place that could only be compared to the Eden of antiquity. Yet not everything is as one sees, for every life there must be a death.

“Didn’t we meet just a few weeks ago?”

“And?”

“You said the gestation would take a few moon cycles. On my planet that is sixty days.”

“Well, Xenoscythe is not your planet. My offspring is ripe, ready for the world.”

Tokarov screwed up his face a bit. Lora Lei was quite large to be in her first trimester. He had felt the fetus move a week ago, yet now nothing. Her belly was stiff and bloated. As the light from Aerialis dimmed in the cavern, she stopped, flaring her fingers out with wide eyes.

“The time is now!”

Tokarov led her to the lair, to their bed, the only soft place in the cavern. He folded up his shirt and placed it under her head and neck. She pulled off her clothes and lay there naked, pulling her ankles up to her buttocks with her hands and beginning a bizarre breathing pattern, eyes staring straight up.

Tokarov watched as nature took over and her body engaged in its genetic instructions. A sweat broke over her body and her abdominal muscles undulated, like a python swallowing a pig in reverse. He touched her arm, but she was fixated on the birthing process. Curious, he looked down to see if the baby had crowned yet. In humans, one could see the top of the head and some dark hair. Yet, the birth canal revealed a shiny, white, curved surface. He stopped and caught a breath. It was then she spoke for the final time.

“You must take it to the surface of Xenoscythe. Only Aerialis can free our child. I loved you.”

A final push released the egg from her womb. Lora’s body fell limp. Tokarov touched the egg, its surface sticky with slime. He rubbed it with his fingers, momentarily forgetting about its mother. Then he stopped, his eyes wet, and looked up to her face. Emotion was gone.

Her body lay limp and lifeless, the Sabinarath had kept its word and given itself up for the birth. He racked a few selfish sobs. Not sure what to do he decided to carry her body into the water and allow nature to take it back from him. As he pushed the body out into the lake, birds in the cavern shrieked in a cacophony of sounds. He knew it was done, yet something else had begun.

There was no easy path to the surface. He could not fly like the Sabinarath. He had to carry the egg back through the caverns if he could remember the way. The egg was the size of a small watermelon. Needing his respirator to breathe in the caverns, Tokarov knew this was no minor adventure. Pulling on boots and checking his breathing apparatus, he plugged the tubes into his nostrils, spinning the oxygen generator onto his back. It sprang to life puffing air into his nasal passage. Lifting Lora’s dress from the ground he used his knife to fashion it into a sling for the egg, carefully cradling it and placing the strap over his shoulder.

He slipped through the web-covered secret entrance one last time and flicked on his headlamp. It danced back and forth as the cave yawned on. His running banged out a tired rhythm as the egg swayed and the light bounced. After what felt like a kilometer or more, a few forks in the road, and guessing, Tokarov saw the soft light of a feeding shaft in the distance. He picked up his gait to a full run and was digging in a heel to slow down when the stars burst into his eyes as he blacked out. His last thought was to protect the egg and in falling he wrapped his body in sacrifice around it.

“GGGRRR ZZZZ AAAHHHH!!!!” The familiar tongue of the Grigglesneed met his ears. Digging for his waistband he felt the dagger’s handle and wrapped it in a firm grip. The lizard man rolled him over and felt the egg, its tongue flicking out and tasting the shell. Tokarov wrapped his free hand around the creature’s throat and lunged with the blade, aiming to plant it in the center of its walnut-sized brain. The lizard heaved and shoved him.

Its strength was unbelievable. It tossed him against the rib of the cave like a doll and hissed. Arms were rippled with armor scales and flexed three-fingered palms tipped in dirty, sharp talons. Tokarov pushed himself up on unsteady feet and brandished the blade in his back hand. Looking over, the egg was cradled in its sling on the rock floor. The diamond slits of its eyes narrowed in the darkness, the light of the overhead shaft illuminating the scuffle. Tokarov saw his headlamp lying near the creature’s foot. He knew if he could blind it, even momentarily, the advantage would be his. Diving for the light, he flicked the switch, jamming it in the Grigglesneed’s eyes. The shrieking echoed in the close space and Tokarov shoved the blade to the beast’s throat, pushing it into the flesh. The lizard was too strong. It reached a claw around his forearm it pushed the knife from its throat. Shoving him back, it thrust Tokarov to the wall of the cave, its hot breath washing over his face.

“AAAAIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!” Blood burst from the creature’s head as a sword cleaved off half its head, splattering Tokarov in a mess of fluid and brain matter. As it fell back, he dropped to his knees and caught a breath trying to wipe the blood from his eyes. Looking up he saw the smiling face of Ego, his arm resting on the hilt of a double-handed claymore sword.

“Dear God, you just saved my life.”

“Not just yours, you have a species to revive.”

“You, are now Who has always been.”

“We are all just trying to survive, even the gods among us.”

“What am I to do?”

“Gather yourself and your future. I will get you to the surface.”

Tokarov sheathed his dagger and gathered himself, placing the egg in the sling over his shoulder, and looked at Ego, “What now?”

“Extend your arms and position yourself under the shaft. I will do the rest.” Tokarov complied and Ego clasped his hands together and his lips danced with ancient words, bringing realization and tears to Tokarov’s eyes. The weight came off his feet as he ascended the shaft by faith alone with his future cradled around him.

At the planet’s surface, he floated down to the rocky ground, the heat of Aerialis bearing down on him. Gently unwrapping the Sabinarath’s egg, he held it up to the sun, allowing its rays to heat the shell, not quite knowing what would happen. As the star warmed it with its rays, something stirred inside. Sitting down, Tokarov placed the egg in his lap facing the sun.

Watching as it rocked and wiggled, he gasped as a tiny finger poked through the shell. Helping it along, he broke away the hard husk, revealing what looked like a human infant. As the light reached her eyes she squealed and kicked, punching away the last of its vessel. Holding her up in the light, he looked down, yes definitely able to reproduce. Wiggling and cooing, she locked eyes with Tokarov, her purple irises beaming in the sunlight. They both smiled as he held her close.

“I will name you Evangeline.” Tokarov kissed her cheek as a tear dripped off his nose, landing on her tender forehead.

A noise broke the communion as Tokarov saw the nose of a ship edging down toward the surface of Xenoscythe. The Overlords were here, to where they traveled next only they would know.

SEINFELD | 1950’s Super Panavision 70

Some AI image generations by MM

Enjoy.

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What made you realize your life will never be the same?

I suspected but did not know if my wife was having an affair. She had been texting a guy that she said was a friend. I had been hospitalized with appendicitis a few weeks before and was still at home hardly able to walk. I heard a text come in very late at night. She was asleep. I could not sleep due to pain. I looked.

Here is what I read:

Scumbag: Sorry about pregnancy. Def me?

I was blown away. I knew immediately what this meant. I woke her up and showed her. I was too shocked to be angry or hostile. My head was spinning. I could hardly breath. She denied they had sex.

She said Scumbag didn’t know how babies were made!!!

He was a married father of three that worked in the medical field. She said she could explain it. That I was reading too much into it.

I’m sure she did think that she could talk her way out of it in the morning. She had talked her way out of many other similar, albeit less damning and concrete situations over the last few months. She took her phone and fell back asleep right away as she had been drinking quite a bit.

I knew the truth but did not want any chance for her to be able to have even a fig leaf of cover. Once she was asleep again I got her phone and texted back to Scumbag, pretending to be her.

Me for her: What do you mean by Def me???

Scumbag: Are you sure it was me that got you pregnant?

I woke her again and showed her this new evidence. She no longer denied it. She was in tears, telling me she had broken up with him weeks ago. She said when she realised I could have died from the burst appendix that she really wanted me and not him. I believed it then, briefly. We are divorced now. Of course.

What do you think of the education system in China?

I have studied with, taught and collaborated professionally with products of the Chinese education system.

My friend from beida likes to boast she placed in the top half of her faculty. She wears it with plenty of pride, because she was one of several applicants from her province that was accepted that year. She considers my intellect average at best.

Another friend from qinghua blew my socks away when he elegantly derived a molecular dynamics homework question I had spent a fruitless night on. He did not need to consult any references and wasn’t taking the class. And no, he wasn’t a physics or chemistry major.

I will say the professionally qualified in china deserve their credentials, especially the nationally recognized standards or schools.

A shanghai/Beijing academy qualified dancer/singer/actor will have the requisite skill/looks/grooming to begin a performance career. An nth grade welder will be able to make welds only a select few can nationwide. A fudan PhD possesses a rare quality of mind.

And so on.

There is incredible competition in china, across all trades and professions. And China has a systematic mechanism of identifying, developing and sifting through the stream. In certain realms such as the arts and select technical trades, the mechanism is more thorough and rigorous than most countries. For example, emcees and newscasters must obtain a practicing cert, just like lawyers in many countries.

That’s the cream of the crop. Much work remains on the other end, where millions in each cohort still skip the gaokao due to lack of opportunity.

Gilligan’s Island as a 1970s Grindhouse Horror – Super Panavision 70

This question is for the retired people. How did you get adjusted with the retired life at the initial stage? What was your routine during the first three months after your retirement?

I retired in 2017

It was a Tuesday. I had had a Dinner just the evening given by the department and had received the traditional gift. It was all OVER and seriously – i felt liberated or free – FOR ABOUT 12 HOURS.

Then i woke up on Wednesday – my first thought was mechanical. It was 6:40 in the morning – my usual wake up time and it took me almost 20 minutes to realize I was Retired.

I sat there feeling depressed for some strange reason, My routine was gone. Leaving the house at 9:20 AM after breakfast, going to the office, doing some work, participate in a handful of meetings and returning back home. IT was over.

I missed the 11:00 AM – Coffee first. Then i missed the Lunch in the Canteen at 1:30 PM. Then i missed the general talk. My wife was gone (She teaches). I had never felt so lonely in my life.

At 3:30 – I dressed up and went to my workplace. I did not care – i just decided to go. I reached there at around 4:15 and there was a flutter. Everyone was puzzled. They greeted me, milled around me. My AGM invited me into his cabin for a cup of tea. It felt Good again. I had to make up a lie about why i was there of course. Some lie about some file which i presume nobody believed.

I left at 6:30 – feeling better. It was like going home after a regular day of work.

However i knew – if i keep going back – i would soon be ignored or curtly told to go home and i did not want that.

So i had to find a way out of my boredom.

The next 2 days were Torture. Staying alone at home – watching TV, Browsing the Internet, Disturbing my kids (I would Skype them at 2 PM when it was 12:30 Midnight)

A Lot of suggestions came up – including – trying how to cook (Which was a disaster).

It was perhaps on the 15th day – that i got a call

A Local company in Bangalore was sigining an MOU with a Malaysian Company and the Lawyer wanted someone who understood “Contracts” and knew about “Malaysia and Singapore” for an outside opinion.

He couriered me the documents and i gave my first legal opinion. I got my first legal fee – Rs. 7500/- since 1983

A Few days later- the Company invited me to Bangalore. I agreed and was planning to stay with my sister when they sent an email – booking me a room in a Hotel and booking a flight ticket for me and asking me for my consultancy charges?

First experience of such things.

Of course I had to portray myself as a Top corporate lawyer. I printed visiting cards , purchased a few clothes and went on my first consultation.

Life slowly changed

I found some work – enough to keep me slightly busy with contracts from Singapore/Malaysia/US

I found Quora – and it was a huge, huge relief.

I found Movies – getting complimentary tickets for every film from my Auditor Friend who himself did not care for movies.

Now i have my latest interest in Computers and C Programming (I am now at Arrays)

So slowly you get adapted to a new life. One post retirement.

If you can get past the early days – You get used to it and then slowly begin to forget what it was life when you had a Working life.

My advise:-

(a) Always have a Hobby – Reading, Browsing. A Hobby would be very useful indeed.

(b) If possible try to get away for a Holiday soon as you retire

(d) Join Quora – It seriously was a life saver for me. I was busy only around 20 hours or so every week – the rest of the time it was Quora which saved me.

(e) If you long to go back to your workplace – Dont!!!! Have Rarity Value.

How democratic, free, and prosperous is China in the 21st century?

Chinese and westerners have very different ideas about personal and group rights, so it is impossible to give an answer which pleases everyone.

For Americans and westerners, the threat comes from an over-reaching government which wants to extend its power over every facet of personal life. So for them, the power of the Chinese government to store voice, gait and facial recognition, full access to to digital communications when needed, access to bank accounts, etc represents a typical tyranny which is unacceptable by western standards.

For Chinese though, the greatest threat came from foreign invasion and occupation. To most Chinese, the Chinese government is their guardian and protector from foreign exploitation. Most Chinese believe that the government should have access to bank records and personal data. If the Chinese government did not have free access, how would it catch criminals and corrupt officials who abuse their power. After all, if a citizen is honest, why does he care about his own privacy? He has nothing to hide!

This means that there is no objective standard for judging how democratic China is, because the west and Asians see the same thing completely differently.

The Decline of the United States: A Multifaceted Story
In Search Of Truth September 29, 2024

The Decline of the United States: A Multifaceted Story

The idea that the United States is in decline has been a recurring theme in political and cultural discourse, particularly over the past few decades. While the term “decline” can be subjective and varies depending on one’s perspective, several indicators point toward significant challenges the U.S. faces that have contributed to this narrative. From economic stagnation and political polarization to social unrest and a weakened global influence, the decline of the U.S. is a multifaceted issue. Below is an exploration of the key dimensions driving this perceived fall from prominence.

1. Economic Inequality and Stagnation

The American Dream, which once symbolized upward mobility, has become increasingly out of reach for many. While the U.S. remains a wealthy nation, the distribution of wealth has skewed sharply toward the upper echelons of society. The top 1% of Americans control about a third of the nation’s wealth, while middle-class wages have stagnated for decades. This growing inequality has led to a breakdown in social cohesion, as many working- and middle-class Americans struggle to maintain their standard of living amid rising costs of housing, education, and healthcare.

The decline of American manufacturing, once the backbone of the economy, has been another contributing factor. With the advent of globalization and automation, many manufacturing jobs have moved overseas, leaving a void in many working-class communities. These economic changes have decimated industrial towns across the Midwest and Northeast, creating a sense of despair and fueling populist sentiments.

2. Political Polarization and Dysfunction

The U.S. political system has become more divided and dysfunctional than at any time in recent memory. While the country has always had political disagreements, the partisan divide today seems unbridgeable. On nearly every major issue—whether it be healthcare, immigration, or climate change—Americans are split along ideological lines. This polarization has eroded trust in institutions and undermined the basic functioning of government.

A significant factor in this polarization is the rise of hyper-partisan media, which often prioritizes sensationalism and outrage over nuanced debate. Social media platforms amplify these divisions by creating echo chambers, where people are exposed primarily to views that confirm their preexisting beliefs. The result has been a political landscape that feels more like a culture war than a forum for governance.

Moreover, the influence of money in politics has led to a system where special interests, corporate lobbyists, and wealthy donors wield disproportionate power. This has created a sense among many Americans that their government no longer represents their interests, leading to widespread disillusionment and apathy.

3. Social Fragmentation and Civil Unrest

American society has also become more fragmented. Racial, ethnic, and cultural divides, long part of the U.S. fabric, have grown sharper. The killing of George Floyd in 2020 and the subsequent protests brought to the surface long-simmering tensions over police brutality, systemic racism, and inequality. While these protests represented a call for justice, they also highlighted the deep rifts within American society.

The rise of identity politics, where individuals’ political positions are based on their race, gender, or ethnicity, has further contributed to social fragmentation. While the recognition of historically marginalized groups is essential, identity politics can sometimes lead to a zero-sum mindset, where groups see themselves in constant competition for limited resources or recognition.

Additionally, the erosion of traditional community structures, such as churches and civic organizations, has left many Americans feeling isolated and disconnected. The digital age has, paradoxically, contributed to this sense of isolation, as more people retreat into virtual spaces rather than engaging in face-to-face social interactions.

4. Global Influence and Military Overreach

The United States’ global standing has also diminished. Once the unchallenged leader of the free world, the U.S. now faces stiff competition from rising powers, most notably China. In the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. helped shape the liberal international order, promoting democracy, human rights, and free trade. However, in recent years, this order has frayed, with authoritarianism on the rise and international alliances weakening.

One of the major factors in this decline has been military overreach. Following the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which have dragged on with mixed results. These conflicts have drained U.S. resources, both in terms of money and human lives, while achieving limited success in stabilizing the regions involved. The U.S. has also been criticized for its role in destabilizing the Middle East and North Africa, contributing to the refugee crises and the spread of extremism.

The withdrawal from international agreements, such as the Paris Climate Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal, has also weakened the U.S.’s reputation as a reliable global leader. Meanwhile, China’s rise as an economic and geopolitical power has challenged the U.S. in key areas like technology, trade, and military might.

5. Cultural and Moral Decline

Many commentators also point to a cultural or moral decline as part of the broader story of America’s fall. Traditional values, such as family, faith, and civic duty, have been eroded by consumerism, individualism, and relativism. The pursuit of material wealth and instant gratification has replaced long-term commitment to communal or national goals.

This cultural shift has affected everything from education to political discourse. The U.S. education system, once the envy of the world, has fallen behind in key metrics, particularly in science and math. There is also a growing anti-intellectualism in certain segments of society, where expertise and facts are increasingly dismissed in favor of conspiracy theories and tribal loyalties.

The breakdown of the family unit has also been cited as a key indicator of moral decline. Rising divorce rates, single-parent households, and a general retreat from marriage have contributed to a sense of social instability, particularly among the younger generation.

6. Challenges to Democracy

Perhaps the most alarming sign of U.S. decline is the erosion of democratic norms. The events surrounding the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, including claims of election fraud and efforts to overturn results, have undermined confidence in the electoral process. The January 6th, 2021 attack on the Capitol, in which rioters sought to disrupt the certification of the election, was a watershed moment that exposed the fragility of U.S. democracy.

Voter suppression efforts, gerrymandering, and the influence of dark money have further weakened democratic participation. While the U.S. has long held itself up as a beacon of democracy, it now faces serious questions about the health of its own system.

Conclusion: A Path Forward?

The decline of the United States is not inevitable, nor is it irreversible. The country still possesses tremendous resources, talent, and potential. However, addressing the factors driving this decline will require bold action and a renewed sense of national purpose. Economic reforms to reduce inequality, a commitment to rebuilding trust in democratic institutions, and a more measured foreign policy are essential steps in reversing course.

Ultimately, the fate of the United States rests on whether it can overcome its divisions and recapture the spirit of unity and innovation that once made it a global leader. Whether or not it can, remains one of the defining questions of the 21st century.

What should you do if someone pulls up in a van with a gun and asks that you get in?

Gavin de Becker discusses this situation in his book — The Gift of Fear.

I will admit, I have not read his book. But I did see him interviewed for this book. And here, 18 yrs later, I still remember his example for the scenario.

Here is how he explained it.

If someone is trying to take you to a second crime scene, they are doing it for one reason only. That reason is to eventually murder you. After all, they can rob or rape you where you are.

If you’re going to die anyways, your best strategy is to try to get away.

Suppose they have a gun? How difficult is it to hit a moving target? Suppose it’s 50/50. So you have at least a half a chance of getting away?

In tests, the chances of being hit are less than 10% (I believe this was taken from police training sites). The chances of being hit in such a way that you couldn’t keep running were about 4%. The chances of being hit fatally, were about 1-2% (again, this was a long time ago, my numbers may not be exactly what he quoted, but they are pretty close).

So your choice is get in the van, and 100% chance of being murdered. Or take a chance, and have about a 10% of even being hit.

Always run. Run and scream.

The killer Muppets – 1940’s Super Panavision 70

Why does the PRC government care if Taiwan is independent? Taiwan is a small island without much strategic importance.

Taiwan is a small island without much strategic importance.

Says who? Says you? Who the fuck are you? What make you such a fucking expert?

Taiwan is strategically very, very important for the following reasons:

It is the key island in the first island chain that blocks China’s access to the Pacific.
If Taiwan falls under the control of the USA, then US forces (including nuclear missiles) could be less than a hundred miles away from China’s coast.
Taiwan is symbolic of China’s century of humiliation. The Chinese people demand that Taiwan be reunified.
TSMC.
No country should be expected to cede its territory for any reason. Should the USA cede Hawaii or Texas? Should the UK cede the Falkland Islands?

What was the most incredibly stupid (and avoidable) error a pilot made that caused the crash of a passenger airliner?

American Airlines flight 965 from Miami to Cali, Colombia. The aircraft was a Boeing 757–200. This flight took place on December 20, 1995 with 163 onboard.

Cali airport is situated in a thin valley surrounded by tall mountains. The plane was approaching Cali at night time. There was no radar at the airport because it was sabotaged by a terror group. So Air Traffic Control could not see where the aircraft was going.

As flight 587 was coming in for the approach, the pilots were planning to land on runway 01, but ATC offered if they wanted to land straight in on runway 19. The pilots accepted the straight in approach because it was faster. The flight had already been delayed a couple of hours back in Miami. With a sudden change in approach procedures, the pilots had to quickly figure out what navigation aides to use for the approach. And since they had to descend at a steeper rate, the pilots deployed the speed brakes to help with the descent.

One of the radio navigation points was ‘ROZO,’ and it was a point on the approach course for runway 19. The pilots had to program that non-directional beacon point on the flight computer. The crew typed in the letter R, and chose the first option on the list. But the waypoint the pilot chose was ROMEO which was in a completely different direction.

The plane made a left turn, and the pilots didn’t realize the plane was turning. And since the aircraft was flying in between mountains, the plane was turning into a mountain range. The alarm went off in the cockpit telling the pilots to immediately pull up. The captain did everything he could to climb. He pulled the yoke, and increased thrust on the engines. The problem was that in those few seconds of trying to save the airplane, he forgot that the speed brakes were still deployed which hinders the aircraft from climbing. The aircraft crashed near the peak of a mountain. Investigators believed that if the speed brakes were retracted immediately, the aircraft could have cleared the mountain.

There were 4 people who had survived the crash. There were a few others that survived the initial impact, but because it took search and rescue a long time to get to the crash site, they weren’t able to get medical treatment in time and succumb to their injuries.

After an investigation, the pilots big mistake was not typing into the flight computer ‘ROZO.’ When the pilots typed in R into the computer, they assumed that the ROZO would come up because it was the closest navigation aide. But the pilots didn’t realize they had to type in the letters ROZO. Investigators still don’t understand why the pilots didn’t see what the first option was on the list. It clearly said Romeo which wasn’t the waypoint the aircraft was supposed to go to. That one little mistake cost 159 lives. And the second mistake was failing to realize that the speed brakes were still deployed.

In US Army basic training, after lights out, could you get out of bed and do a workout and go for a run?

No.

Don’t be that guy. You will get plenty of work out before the lights go out.

If you try to pull some shit like that, you will be caught, and your Drill will wake the rest of us up, with some clever ideas to make the rest of us hate life, and in return, make us hate you!

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(The actual barracks he climbed out of)

We had a guy sneak out in the middle of the night once. Like some kind of ninja, this dude scaled down from the third story window in the middle of the night.

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He then ninja’d himself all the way to the vending machines with roughly $40 of money from other soldiers in his platoon.

Then this ninja dude climbed back in the 3rd story window, because the doors had alarms on them.

But instead of being a smart ninja dude, this soldier decided that since he took all the risk, he would just keep all the fatty cakes for himself.

This wall climbing troop didn’t give the other soldiers what they paid for, and decided the next day to take a nap inside of his wall locker with all of his ninja’d loot.

main qimg d761112fb10f55775ed6d8c50f97aa05 lq

Suffice it to say, the Drills were made aware of his mission, and they found him sleeping in a tiny closet with $40 worth of vending machine goods.

Three things you never want to do in Basic Training;

F*** your battle buddies
Piss off your Drill Sergeants
Get caught sleeping on duty

This ninja was 3 for 3.

The moral of the story is to not be a ninja. Go to effing sleep dude. Sleep is gold.

Cheers

The Trial

Submitted into Contest #243 in response to: Write a story where time functions differently to our world.… view prompt

Oma S. Ari

This story contains themes or mentions of physical violence, gore, or abuse.

The prison guard was an angry man, never smiling and rarely talking. He had been there for as long as Lucas could remember. Resentful and bitter he walked the corridors, giving the impression that at some point, something absolutely terrible was to happen to him. Lucas did not share his enraged aura, but he sure had the same outlook on what was to come. Whatever awaited him outside of these prison walls, Lucas was certain that it was nothing good..The same room had been his home since childhood. The bare walls had a gray-greenish color, the cracks gradually mending with time as the world slowly moved from disorder to order, from chaos to control. When he was a boy the window had been nothing but a gaping hole into the empty courtyard outside, and the wind had kept him up all night. Now, the glass covered almost all of the metal frame, leaving only a fine, glittering powder below, gathering strength and finding its purpose. So many years Lucas had spent staring into this ceiling, imagining the skies above it. Still, when the angry guard opened the door with a sharp “It’s time”, Lucas did not linger. The relief of leaving this place had been nesting in his stomach for months..Lucas knew the path through the prison, but the moment they left the main gate and headed to the sparsely trafficked street outfront, he was on new territory. The air, ground, trees, everything seemed different here, as if color had suddenly been injected into the universe. Blinking, it took him many moments to even reflect on what was supposed to follow. He did not need much reflection, it turned out, as the guard, now joined by some of his colleagues in a hostile silence, quickly shoved him into the back of a parked van. Loudly, and without warning, Lucas kneeled on the metal floor and vomited. He could feel this evening’s cereal stroke his palette as it left. The guard gave him a look of disapproval as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and shakingly sat up with his back against the wall.“Motion sickness”, another guard snickered, “the boy has never been in a car before, has he?”The door of the van slammed shut, and the engine started..There were hundreds of journalists outside the courthouse and, surrounding them, a thick layer of wrath. The sound of angry voices traveled in murmuring waves towards him as he stepped out in the sun. Lucas suspected that this week’s paper had been filled with the most hideous descriptions of his persona, and he made his best effort to not make eye contact with anyone as he was escorted through the crowd. It was a strange experience, he thought, spending the very first moment basking in the light of the real world, surrounded by nothing but a yelling mob. Further, he guessed that he was to live without his medicine now. The pills that the guards served him every morning were to stop coming. He had never known exactly what those drugs did, but as the colors and sounds of the horde around him exploded in his mind, creating thousands of blinking stars shooting across his open eyes, he thought that life was likely to be much more vibrant from now on. The sounds seemed sharper. Every sensation clearer. Lucas and his entourage struggled up the stairs. Inside, the court building was brilliantly white, with a large skylight that illuminated the great entry hall. The moment the large doors closed behind them, muffling the sound from the outside, the guards stepped backwards and a new kind of custodian took their place..

“Lucas, my name is Zaman and I am to be your lawyer throughout the day’s proceedings”

Zaman was tall, and serious looking. Lucas could not help thinking that he sounded as if he was here to offer an apology and bad excuses. Twenty four years had Lucas been locked away, and not once had he heard the name Zaman before.

“I have tried to contact you on numerous occasions through your time incarcerated”, Zaman said, “but it seemed to me and my colleagues that you preferred to have no correspondence”, he held the door open as they entered another great hall with white marble walls. Lucas felt a ray of hope glimmer faintly in his chest. Zaman continued, “I know it has been a long time behind bars for you, but you have shown great behavior throughout…”

“Will that matter?”, Lucas interrupted.

Zaman gave him a crooked, but sympathetic, smile.

“I doubt it”.

With Zaman by his side, Lucas sat in the middle of the marble hall. In front of him was an open notebook and two feather pens. Their tips looked as if made by solid gold. Lucas wondered if he was expected to use them. He had practiced a lot of basic tasks in prison, but he was no writer. As the room around them filled with people, Zaman kept giving him reassuring looks, promising that it would all be over shortly. The six judges, all dressed in black with their dark blue caps covering the better part of their faces, were seated the moment the clock struck twelve. As soon as the last one of them had put down her briefcase on the table, the trial began.

Lucas shivered. An echo flew through the room. Murder.

Murder.

“Murder”.

The judge farthest to the right had leaned forward and spoken.

“Ah!”, Zaman reacted quickly, collecting his papers and standing up “But who? That, my fellow citizens, is the question we are here to answer today”. He spoke in a calm and controlled manner, every now and then turning to the other side of the room to face the curious audience.

“Twenty four years is a long time”, Zaman stated while nodding seriously, “but is it long enough for us to consider the most heinous crimes?”

It was almost eleven when he finished and the prosecutor took over. Lucas felt exhausted and drained, wanting nothing but to stand up and leave. The whispering of the onlookers made it difficult to focus, and the voices of the judges seemed distorted and slow. At some point, he was sure, someone was going to ask him a question, and he had very little to say to his defense. He felt like a scared animal clinging to the arm of Zaman, hoping that there was something this stranger could do or say to change what was about to happen.

It was ten, and the crowd gasped.

“A child ”, the prosecutor said.

“Out of the question”, Zaman responded, “Look at him. He is nothing but a child himself”

The prosecutor’s desk was a few meters to the side, and Lucas, dizzy from the stress and the bright light, could not see her clearly. But he heard her voice, sharp and clear and bouncing from the marble in all directions. He followed it with his eyes, as the sound of her words echoed around him, traveling from wall to wall and merging with the whispering of the audience and the low rumbling from the street outside.

The crowd gasped again. Lucas could see a man close his hand over his mouth and shake his head.

“A child”, she repeated, “A boy from Houston. He is only twelve.”

The legs of a chair dragged along the floor. Steps. A halt. The prosecutor had stood up and made her way across the room. Lucas had always known that today was going to be filled with humiliation and bad news. Still, as he sat in this white room, with blue eyes watching from every direction, a sense of shock crawled up his spine. The disgust radiating from the seats around him had managed to seep through his skin, penetrating his belly and grabbing a hold of his innards. He felt it too. Disgusted.

“A child of twelve. A murder in Houston”, she said a third time, now looking directly at Lucas. The gray haired woman had a wrinkle over her eyes that made her seem troubled rather than fierce. Somewhere in her face Lucas could sense a hint of empathy. The prosecutor felt sorry for him. He swallowed the sense of surprise, having been worried that he had lost his voice in the chaotic scenes unfolding in his mind.

“Why?”, he demanded to know.

“Lunacy”, she responded softly.

Zaman had been correct, the trial was over quicker than it had begun. By the time the prosecutor had presented the gruesome details of the case and the audience had choked on their disgust enough times, morning was creeping up on them, and the proceedings came to an end.

Murder. A twelve year old boy.

“It could have been worse”, Zaman said while standing up and stroking his suit jacket, “Trust me, Lucas, it could have been a lot worse”.

Lucas was not sure he could stand. His voice was breaking as he asked:

“Worse than a dead child?”

Zaman attempted a smile, but it looked more like a grimace. Before he walked out he put his hand on Lucas’ shoulder.

“We will stay in touch. We have things to plan and discuss”.

Lucas did not turn to look as Zaman left. Alone he sat by the desk in the middle of the room until the sky light made the walls glow in a purple morning hue. Only then a janitor approached him, with the same irritated expression once carried by a prison guard that Lucas was never to see again.

“You are free to go, son”, the janitor grunted, clearly annoyed by his presence, “How about you make use of that freedom and stop wasting space in my court?”

Outside, the air was different again. Cold, early morning surrounded him and the silence had replaced the commotion from earlier. Whatever feelings that had been boiling outside the courthouse during the day had died down now. People had gone home. The journalists had finished. No one was there. For a brief moment, Lucas thought about the things that awaited. He would need to make friends, find his family, maybe even get a girlfriend. He sighed. He was not feeling particularly excited about any of it. Slowly, he started walking aimlessly down the empty street. He could get a nice home, maybe. A job. Life was long, and he needed to spend it somehow. He had always wanted to see the ocean, and he was sure there were people that worked and lived in places where you got to look at it every day. Maybe that would suit him. As he passed through the blocks, the houses changed in character. The impressive marble of the law was replaced by broken bricks and mud roads. This was a poor area. He could tell how the cracks in the facades were slowly healing, rubble from the street carefully moving towards the gates of people’s homes and gardens. Sadness and defeat hung in the air and embraced him as he walked. One day, he thought to himself, he would live in a neighborhood very different from this one.

But first, there was something that needed to be done. He had spent twenty four years in prison, and time had come to pay for it. Whatever pills the guards had given him with his daily morning meal had left his system by now, and he felt a new strength entering his body. His mind was more awake than before, his hearing more attuned. He listened to the sound of his tongue moving against his teeth, enjoying the soft melody of saliva and bone. The noise seemed to come just as much from the inside of his head as from the actual physical world it belonged to. For a long time he stood still, biting his lips and licking the inside of his cheeks, enjoying the harmony it created. A rounded, silky clicking that slithered down the throat. Then he laughed to himself. No more stalling. He needed to get to Houston.

Futures of The Past – 1950s Sci-Fi – AI Microfilm

What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

I was pretty small and thin in high school, but wanted to play football so I worked out a lot and was strong for my size, but still barely managed to stay on the team. One spring day a guy who was playing at working out made some obnoxious comments and dared me to come outside and fight him. Coach threw him out of the weight room and I though it was over. I saw him hanging out with some friends watching us go through drills, but didn’t really think abut it. Until I got on the athletic bus to go home and saw him sitting in the back with three friends. I was the only white kid who rode the athletic bus, in a school that had only integrated about ten years earlier, but it was never a problem before that day. I did what I usually did and sat near the front with a group of friends. The guy, Don Lee, and his friends started throwing paper balls at me. They didn’t have very good aim, so it was mostly my friends getting hit, but Don Lee though it was hilarious. I figured it wouldn’t stop until I went back and got my butt kicked like they wanted me to, so I got up to go to the back. My friends told me it wasn’t worth it, but I couldn’t let them take it for me. Then as I walked to back of the bus with Don Lee and his friends laughing about what they were going to do to me, someone put his hand on my shoulder. I turned to see two of the biggest guys in the school, Bird and Kelvin. Bird told me to get behind him and suddenly the bus went deadly quiet. Don Lee started to say something smart and Bird grabbed him by the collar so that his knuckles were under Don Lee’s chin and slammed his head into the roof of the bus. It was like a scene from a comic book with Don Lee going all glassy eyed and slack jawed. Then Bird said let’s go Luke (my nickname, from Lucan the wolf boy TV show of the time) they won’t mess with you again. The next day during practice Bird told me that he’d never seen a white boy willing to fight to protect black guys and he wouldn’t let me get messed up that way.

So sometimes it isn’t that the person you picked a fight with is that strong, but they might just have friends who are.

What do you think is the worst drug?

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but GABAPENTIN. I’m not sorry I’ve never tried cocaine, heroin, meth, crack, really anything beyond cannabis. Mushrooms once. I have enough trouble with dopamine as it is now, I cannot imagine something making that more difficult.

I took Gabapentin (Neurontin) for more than 4 years. I was taking it for a diagnosis of neuropathy, my left shoulder sucks from living, working, and it got way worse after open heart surgery at 39, I’m 46.

It has a mild soporific/anti-depressive effect, made me hurt a LOT less, but… knowing the long term effects and the considerable amount of heart and blood pressure meds made me want off of it pronto.

I went to my pain doc after deciding to come off of it. Weaning myself off of it was pure, unadulterated hell. That garbage is dangerous coming out, and from mood changes to stomach aches, to dizziness and blurred vision, and from all-day nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, that part was easy. Halfway through the process of weaning, I had body pain that was *insane* for about 72 hours, and then it seemed to be way less stressful after.

Some side effects while ON gabapentin:

Loss of libido in a huge way
Coordination and a strange gait.
Miss a dose? Get ready.
Loss of alertness because you are so damned tired all the time
Problems waking up (that have persisted after use)
I felt like I mumbled a lot, and my speech sometimes seemed slurred to me. I can’t imagine what I sounded like to a normal person.
Persistent dosing time: I had to make sure that I was taking it the same times, every day, every week, every month. Three times per day, 900mg a dose.
You can be an irritable bastard prior to getting that first dose in.
Some days, you are engulfed in a sadness that does not subside, seemingly that whole day.

Now,I also can look forward to some just purely depressing long-term side effects being NOT on Gabapentin:

Memory degradation. My short recall is pure sh*t sometimes.
Pain. Every single day from waking to sleeping, my shoulder hurts sometimes to the point where I get little akathisia (this inner restlessness that makes me have an almost “tick” to move my shoulder. So strange and unnerving. It seems to increase as my stress/anxiety increases.
Organ damage, brain and liver damage
Very weird respiratory depression
A foggy feeling sometimes

Gabapentin sucks. Please, take my story and have something else chosen for you.

China’s New Generation of Hypersonic Weapons Can Encircle the U.S. Military

What’s something small that happened in your life that everyone else probably forgot about but had a big impact on you?

**Edited to add** While I appreciate the people who took time to read and suggest edits, I am not doing this. All edits outside of basic spelling will be discarded. I’m sorry I have to explain this but I wrote this from my own perspective as a child. No child has perfect grammar. If you feel the need to change, delete entire paragraphs I suggest you please write your own story. This is mine.

************

I was with my mother and older sister in the grocery store. Kindergarten age, all big eyes and watchful quiet. I didn’t talk much, even then. I may have been small but I’d already learned that speaking only increased the pain.

My older sister had wandered off, but I stood right by mother. If I moved, even to see where sister had gone, I’d get beat later for misbehaving. It was just like me to cause problems. So I walked behind her like a little shadow. Careful, always careful to stay out of the way.

An older lady approached my mom and complimented her on how I behaved. She wore a housecoat and gray hair, just like a grandma on tv. This was so very weird – I never ever got told I did something good. I peeked out at her from behind my mom. She saw me and said “Oh how pretty she is! Look at those big eyes and long long eyelashes.” I smiled then…in my whole life no one had told me I was pretty without it being proceeded by severe pain. She made another compliment about my smile and I guess that was too much.

My mom interrupted and said “Oh you should see my other daughter. She’s the real beauty and so very good. This one’s just trouble”. My smile faded away and I looked down at my shoes. They hurt anyway, were too small. They’d been my sisters that got handed to me when she didn’t like the color anymore. They were old and scuffed and I was sure I’d be in trouble later. I never could figure out how to make the old shoes look like the new ones my sister wore.

The lady went around my mom and came and looked down at me. She said in a firm voice that allowed no disbelief “You are good too”. Then she smiled at me – just at me! and went on with her day.

She didn’t know it and neither did I, but that was when I first started to question how things had always been. When I was scrubbing the bathroom and my sister was outside because she was good enough to play I remembered it. When I got in trouble because my older sister did something and I didn’t stop her I’d remember that. Those little words got me through a lot of things and helped me learn that maybe I didn’t deserve what happened to me.

“You are good too”, such a little sentence but it started such a change in me.

What can you do to honor your wife when it is almost too late?

At about eleven years into our marriage, we were in big trouble. We were in our living room, both crying (my husband doesn’t cry, he was a Marine), and sitting in abject, defeated silence, as there was nothing left to say. It was dead. We failed. We were over. Too much pain.

Suddenly, I had an idea. I said, “OK, if this marriage is dead, let’s give it a damn funeral. And you know what? Who says we can’t marry each other again and start a new relationship?”

My husband looked at me and said, “Well, that’s just crazy enough to possibly work.”

We took off our rings. We wrote scathing eulogies to the first marriage. “Dear first marriage, I don’t know how you managed to both suck and blow, but die in a fucking fire….” We proceeded to speak to each other about our “exes,” complaining about all of the crap they did to us. “My ex left his damn socks on the floor ALL THE TIME.” “Oh, yeah, well MY ex threw temper tantrums about stupid shit.”

We lit candles. We created sacred space. We smudged our rings in sage smoke, and we said off-the-cuff vows to one another.

“I promise not to leave my socks on the floor”

“I promise not to wait until I can’t take something anymore and then yell at you”

We put our rings back on, we tied our hands together with our original handfasting cord after smudging it and adding things to it. We kissed. We made love. A lot.

We never spoke of it again. Almost twenty years strong, we are. We still make love. A lot.

Why US and West scared of China and Russia in Africa

Mediterranean Steak and Pasta with Tomato-Olive Sauce

Whole-wheat pasta is served with beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks and a tomato and olive sauce. This one will please the adults and the kids in your family.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

8 ounces uncooked whole grain fettuccine
4 beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick (about 4 ounces each)
1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives*
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/4 cup finely shredded Italian cheese blend or mozzarella cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

Cook fettuccine according to package directions; drain and keep warm.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Place beef steaks in skillet; cook for 11 to 13 minutes for medium rare (145 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally. (Do not overcook.) Remove from skillet; keep warm.
Combine pasta sauce and oregano in same skillet; heat until hot. Return steaks to skillet; turn to coat with sauce.
Place steaks on fettuccine; spoon sauce over all.
Sprinkle steaks with cheese, allowing cheese to melt. Sprinkle with parsley.

Notes

* You may substitute 1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives for 1 (26 ounce) pasta sauce + 1/4 cup chopped olives.

Nutrition

Per serving: 474 Calories; 99.9 Calories from fat; 11.1g Total Fat (3.7g Saturated Fat; 0.2g Trans Fat; 0.3g Polyunsaturated Fat; 2.3g Monounsaturated Fat;) 71mg Cholesterol; 766mg Sodium; 54g Total Carbohydrate; 10.1g Dietary Fiber; 37g Protein; 6.2mg Iron; 332mg Potassium; 4.5mg NE Niacin; 0.4mg Vitamin B6; 2.8mcg Vitamin B12; 5.9mg Zinc; 33.6mcg Selenium; 90.1mg Choline

This recipe is an excellent source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Iron, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Zinc, and Selenium; and a good source of Choline.

What goes through the mind of Chinese citizens when they travel out of China and end up on the internet seeing uncensored speech and negative factual news about the CCP?

Most Chinese foreign students I have met here in the US are shocked.

Not because they learned anything shocking about their country or government. It’s because they see how mainstream Western media present lies after lies about their home country. The place where they grew up.

As a result, most of them become more nationalistic after spending some time in the US.

You don’t have to believe me. Befriend Chinese foreign students in your city, I assume you’re a Westerner, and slowly ask their opinions of the Western mainstream media coverage of China. If they trust you, they will tell you truthfully what they think.

EDIT: I have deleted some comments from trolls and people who just want to have meaningless internet debates. If you ever use the words “wumao” or “fifty cents”, your comment will be deleted.

A stray dog rescues a buried stray cat—truly astonishing!

When you were a kid, who gave you an unforgettable Christmas present?

I have six siblings. My dad had a pretty good job that must have brought in decent money, but he and my mom (who was a homemaker) had seven kids to feed and clothe.

Every couple of months, my mom would receive bags of hand-me-downs from my cousins. It was fun sorting through the piles of clothes. I never gave up hope that something on-trend would make an appearance. Needless to say, that never happened. So, I was always attired in dated, usually over-sized clothing (it didn’t help that I was a scrawny little thing).

The Christmas I was in Grade Six, my oldest brother was working full time. He was the type of big brother that you see in the movies . . . kind, patient and generous. Many times on a Friday night he’d show up with chips and pop (a rare treat) for us kids.

On December 23rd, he showed up with a pile of beautifully wrapped gifts. I was thrilled beyond belief just by the presentation. On Christmas morning, I carefully untied the beautiful ribbon, and slid my small fingers along the seams. I savored each delicious moment of the unwrapping process.

When I finally unveiled the box, I held my breath and slowly opened it. First I pulled out a beautiful, soft, red turtleneck sweater. Hidden beneath a layer of tissue paper, I saw a tan-coloured something peeking out. It was a faux-leather jumper (a sleeveless dress), complete with a belt. The entire ensemble fit me like a glove. It was on-trend, and I was over the moon.

For the first time in my young life, I could wear a new outfit (one that actually fit) to school. I can still remember how thrilling it was to wear that gorgeous outfit. My big brother is a kind and gentle man with a family of his own, and I hold him in the highest regard.

What are some aspects of Chinese culture that may seem odd or strange to an American visiting China for the first time?

My American customer told me,

he was shocked about :

“Chinese kids are allowed to drink wine”

I told him,my grandpa forced me to drink wine when I was 6 yrs old, while my Muslim grandma encouraging me at the same table.

China is sometime so wired even for Chinese.

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What do inmates do to survive prison without going insane?

I remember going into prison, I was facing a 10 year sentence for drugs and pretty down on myself over it. But someone said something to me at the start of my stay that has stuck with me ever since.

“Every day you need some kind of victory, be it physical, mental, or spiritual. Every day, have some victory big or small.”

I don’t know if I really understood him fully at the time, but he had been in and out of the system for his entire life.

In prison, I did alot of pushups and I read alot of books. I fought noone when I could, and anyone when I had to. I played the games, chess, dominoes, cards, basketball, I even learned d&d. I made friends and i made enemies. I faced boredom and some of the most challenging situations of my life. I faced myself in the mirror, the good parts and the ugly parts. I learned alot about myself there.

Something else I remember thinking alot, almost as a mantra is a quote from the movie nacho libre. When the orphan kid is trying to comfort him and he tells him “I’ll have my hot day in the sun” there’s alot of opportunity to make your time slightly easier. Drugs of course, getting stuck watching TV, but really I’m talking about turning away from what you belive is right. It’s easy to compromise your morals in a place like that. But I had my hot day in the sun. In the long run, I think that’s better.

Just like in the real world there are alot of things you can’t control there, and there isn’t always a clear path forward… When there is you know what to do. But when there isn’t, you can still have a small victory everyday. Workout, learn something, face yourself and decide who you want to be going forward, meditate, pray, do something worth doing.

I ended up doing 3 years and 10 months before I made parole. And it’s been almost that long I’ve been out. All in all I feel like prison gave me the opportunity to become who I am now. There’s alot of people in there that got alot more time than I did. But if I had to do more, I’d try and live by that same advice ol shake gave me.

I still try and live by it now.

Anyway I’ve never done this before so thanks for reading.

I DISCOVERED MY CAT’S SECRET PURPOSE AND WHERE THEY GO AFTER PETS DIE

CJ enters the cornfield

On one of my many affirmations, I asked to be made aware of all the people who hurt me.

I forget the exact phrasing. But yeah. I asked for this knowledge and understanding.

And I was surprised at what happened.

I started to remember old events. Events that happened years ago. Events that I thought were innocent, or mistakes, or just simply bad luck.

One memory was the death of my cat; Texie.

I was in Boston living with this model named CJ. She always had this bad anger and nasty streak about her. Which was controlled by medication, but when that beast was out, oh lordy. Watch out.

Long story short…We had a “falling out” and she left. Calling me a “coward” for having her mother come up and get her.

Around that time, perhaps a month later, my beloved Texie got very sick; very quickly. His nose was white and his neck was all swollen.

I took him to the vet, and she said that he had no red corpuscles left. She just couldn’t understand how he could be alive. We tried to help him, but it was impossible, so we were forced to put him down. I loved that cat.

That was twenty five years ago.

Now, over the last few weeks I have been having the suspicion that CJ might have poisoned my cat. No proof, of course. Just a hunch.

A hunch, mind you, triggered by my affirmation directives.

It doesn’t seem possible. How could she enter the house? What poison would she use? It seems so unlikely.

But there you have it.

I take this as an answer issued forth from one of my affirmations.

And as such… I do believe in my affirmations, in hunches and in other aspects of life. I do not ignore them.

So…

I have thrown her, where ever she is today, twenty five years later… into the most thorny cornfield that I could come up with.

In my reality, time does not matter, and forgiveness is but a crutch that you used to maintain happiness.

So she will find, and discover things going really bad for her out of the blue, and she won’t know why.

Because you know, she thought that she got away with something without consequence.

She didn’t.

She only laid the flagstones for easy entry…

…into the limitless cornfield.

I know that I can be a dick.

But, I do not care.

Today…

Ungrateful Girlfriend Rejects £4000 Rolex Then This Happens

Why is China considered “the most secret country”? Is it political issues, trouble within the country, maybe they simply aren’t the “open” type of country we are use to?

First, it is the language.

Second, it’s the culture.

Most westerners are too lazy to learn, but they don’t want to admit they are lazy, so they say China is “difficult”, “opaque”, “closed”.

I read, write and speak Chinese.

China is NOT closed; it just follows completely different rules.

Reactors Reacting to the COOPER DOCKING the Endurance | Interstellar

Who is the worst customer you have ever had?

We had to ban Karen from our store.

Karen attempted to manipulate Domino’s refund policy, time and time again.

Ultimately, we were losing money because of her.

She liked to place pizza orders online quite frequently.

And would then decide to request a refund for whatever reason, be it from the order was messed up to ‘the pizza just doesn’t look that great’.

Yes, she actually said that to me.

It got to the point where we would ensure her order was immaculate.

Quality over quantity, eh?

And guess what? She’d try and get a refund.

Naturally, she’d get one, since there’s the whole thing about how the “customer is always right”.

We attempted to logically defend ourselves, telling her we did nothing wrong, but she ensured to find something flawed with her order.

Eventually, we got sick of it, and so we called in our district manager.

She places an order, and I crafted damn near the best pizza the world has ever seen. Even my manager agreed, so it’s legit.

Everything else associated with Karen’s order was on point.

So about 5 minutes or so after the driver returns from her house, we receive a call from Karen.

“Hi, I’d like a refund for my order.”

I notify my manager it’s a no go.

“Don’t refund her.”, my manager said.

“Ban her.”, my district manager said.

It’s about time.

China has to know it can never defeat the U.S. militarily. Shouldn’t it focus on peace and trade instead to become like Japan?

The US knows that they cannot defeat China. Remember that the US lost to China in the Korean war at a time when China was very weak militarily. But today, China is much stronger and are not too different in strength compared to the US.

If a war were to be fought between China and the US, it would be around China. China would have all its weapons and forces at its disposal while the US will have to depend on what they can carry to the region in their ships. And China has already worked out how many unstoppable hypersonic missiles they will need to sink each US ship. They will sink all of them. The US would not be able to sink the Chinese forces because they will be firing their missiles from land.

The US is also very dependent on their GPS satellites to guide their missiles. China will destroy those satellites early in a war between China and the US, rendering most of the US missiles useless.

China has always called upon the US for cooperation but it is the US that wants to quarrel with China. And they have no business putting their military offic ers in Taiwan!

China Refused U.S.A. Wheat

Which country produces the fiercest soldiers?

Probably Nepal. And they’ve been that way for a long time.

Now my patriotism wants to say “The Americans Duh”. But I can’t ignore the amazing feats that the Gurkhas manage, and it would be a disrespect upon them not to recognize that.

The Gurkhas have been in service to the British for about 200 years, supplying the bravest and most dangerous soldiers for decades. They’ve stopped brigades singlehandedly, killed dozens of soldiers alone, all without fear for their own life. They carry the famous Kukri blade into battle, and damn they know how to use it.

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Damn. Google has good photos of Gurkhas.

One of the many impossible feats of Gurkhas was the insane defense of Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung in 1945 during the Second World War. With his comrades wounded, he held his own against a force of over 200 Japanese soldiers storming his position at Tanungdaw in Burma, present-day Myanmar.

According to warhistoryonline.com, Lachhiman reportedly:

“threw back enemy grenades until one exploded in his hand, blowing off the fingers and shattering his arm as well as injuring his leg. Although severely wounded, he continued fighting for four hours, inspiring the other men to keep going.”

That is insane! And that’s just one of the many, many, many amazing feats the Gurkhas have accomplished! Overall the Gurkhas have amassed Twenty six Victoria Crosses, and honestly should have earned many many more for their bravery.

Another more recent account was the story of Seargent Dipprasad Pun. Dipprasad, who at the time was on guard in a rooftop of a checkpoint, was attacked from nearly all sides by 30 Taliban Soldiers. Utilizing around 400 rounds, 17 Grenades, a mine, and a fuc**** machine gun bipod, killed the Taliban. All of them.

They have been involved in every major war, most minor wars, and even freedom fighting movements all over the world. They are renowned as some of the most dangerous soldiers on the planet, and often times even the knowledge of them being on the battlefield is enough to make the enemy rethink their plans.

The Gurkhas are amazing, and to be honest I doubt we’ll see anything like them without a super soldier serum anytime soon.

You can find more stories of Gurkhas here at Popularmechanics.com

Drink your milk and become Gurkha Strong!

-Cotta!

What is the biggest scam you’ve ever seen?

PASSPORT VERIFICATION BY LOCAL POLICE

Few days back I had applied for an passport,I had filled the form and procedure had been carried out.The forms were verified by the passport office, and they told me that “your case will be sent to your regional police station for residential verification”.

After 2 to 3 weeks I recieved an call from police station to come over for verification. I went police station with all the necessary documents. When I reached there 2 to 3 peoples were already standing for verification, after 20 minutes of sitting on bench my turn came. I went inside.

Police officer asked me all relevant information and took the Xerox copy of all documents and said:

“Aapka ka verification ho jayega, aap ₹500 jama kar do”

(Translation: Your verification will be completed , you need to deposit ₹500 for that)

I felt this is the fees of an verification, so I gave him ₹500, he had taken the money and said “u can go now”.

Fow which I said “sir reciept of giving money”.

He gave me very digust look for my sentence and said “passport chahiye ki nhi”(do u want passport or not)

Me: Sir mere paiso ki reciept de do main chala jaunga(sir u give me reciept i will go my way).

He got very angry and slammed ₹500 on the table and said “main bhi dekhta hu tumko passport kaise milta hain”.(I will also see how will you get your passport).

I took the money and came back home. After 2 to 3 weeks , I recived an letter from passport authority that your passport application is rejected due to residence issue,please communicate with policestation.

After communicating with my neighbor and friends they told me that U have to give money to police officer for verification,otherwise they will give some random reason and reject your case.

This is most common scam now a days.

Edit 1 :Recently I went to the passport office and and told them the situation and guess what i got my passport within 15 days that too without bribing anyone and without double police verification.

The Police are Way out of Control

Easy Lasagna Casserole

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

3 cups uncooked egg noodles
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (1 1/2 ounce) package spaghetti sauce mix
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup Pet Evaporated Milk
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Cook noodles in boiling salted water until tender. Drain.
Cook ground beef and onion in skillet until ground beef is browned. Drain.
Stir in tomato sauce and spaghetti sauce mix. Cook until thickened.
Combine cream cheese and evaporated milk in warm saucepan until smooth.
Stir in noodles and garlic salt.
Pour into a 9 inch square baking dish.
Spread meat mixture over top.
Top with shredded cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

How much land would Chinese people be willing to give up for peace with China?

This is the Galwan River Valley in Xinjiang, at an altitude of over 4300 meters, with eight characters written on it.

The soldiers stationed often hold flag raising ceremonies here.

The meaning of these eight characters is, Our vast and beautiful land and river, not an inch shall be yielded.

Did you ever walk into an antiques store, see an item you wanted, and bought it for less than it was worth because you had more knowledge about it than the dealer?

Yes, I bought a $90,000 painting, from an $83 million dollar house, that was sold by Christies Auction House for $1200. How?

I went to a once-per-month place that sells items from large estates. As an art lover, I subscribe to a website that provides millions of historical art prices from auction sites around the world. While at the estate sale I noticed a very nice work that seemed to be well-framed and of higher quality than one might normally see at a typical estate sale. I liked the piece but balked at the $2000-ish price tag.

I took a photo of artist’s signature and went home. It was late in the day and the business was about to close. The estate sale business conducts a sale each month on Saturday and half a day on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon prices are reduced until everything sells. I thought that I might go back on Sunday to see what kind of price they had on the art. If low enough, I would perhaps buy it for a particular spot in the house.

On Saturday evening I casually pulled up the artist’s sales records. I was amazed to see he had some extensive sales with many pieces in the $50,000-150,000 range. The particular piece I had seen was last sold by Christies in the early 1990s for $90,000! Needless to say I was going to be the first person through the door on Sunday to buy the bargain artwork.

True to form, I was the first person to go through the door. I found the owner of the business and negotiated a $1200 price. I paid for the product and he helped me take it to the car.

I asked, “Where did you get this piece?” He said he couldn’t say due to a confidentially agreement. I finally got him to tell me that it had come from a mansion in Palm Beach that had recently been torn down to make way for a new home. He said, “When we picked up the piece it still had the Christies auction tag attached to the back.”

At this point I confessed knowing the auction history and that it had sold for $90,000 in the early 1990s at Christies. His reply?

“You gotta be shitting me!”

The piece now graces a prominent spot above my dining room sideboard. It is well lit, well liked, and one of my better stories to tell when asked about its origins.

China VS America | Yanis Varoufakis on Big Tech, Capitalism and Techno-Feudalism (Part 3)

Why did China mainland more choose to buy weapons from French than the USA during the West China honeymoon during 1970-1990?

The “honeymoon” was started by Nixon. Mao & Nixon met in 1972.

The Nixon was in a Watergate scandal & the honeymoon was put aside until 1978.

When Carter continued the honeymoon & officiated the “ONE CHINA policy & Taiwan is part of China” by signing a China-USA joint communique in 1978, some US hawks scolded Carter (for being too weak with China). 4 months after the communique, US hawks pushed out a “Taiwan Relations Act” & continued selling weapons to Taiwan.

See, by selling weapons to Taiwan = no armed sales to mainland China.

Was it a mistake to sell weapons to Taiwan instead of mainland China? Only USA can answer the question.

But we saw USA instigating a Tiananmen coup in 1989.

It looks like USA did not trust mainland China because USA could not control communist China but USA can easily control a country that has a democratic election.

Calling AUKUS “the worst deal in all history”, Former Australian PM Paul Keating accused the government of being a “sellout” on its defense policy

Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating has taken aim at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles, accusing them of abandoning traditional party values.

Speaking in an interview about the AUKUS agreement, Mr. Keating accused the government of being a “sellout” on its defense policy.

The former Labor leader had been asked about the AUKUS agreement between the US, UK and Australia, which he has been a constant critic of since its announcement.

Mr. Keating then called it “the worst deal in all history”.

Mr. Marles is in the US and has agreed to allow the transfer of US and UK naval nuclear material to Australia. The partnership also provides for more rotations of US troops to the region, which Mr. Keating criticized.

“There’ll be American force posture now in Australia, involving every domain.”

“This government has sold out to the United States.”

“They’ve fallen for the dinner on the White House lawn.”

“We are better left alone than we are being protected by an aggressive power like the United States,” Mr. Keating said.

Asked why he considered the US to be aggressive, Mr. Keating said it was because “it’s trying to superintend from the Atlantic, the largest Asian power, which is China”.

Crowd Goes Nuts For RFK Jr. At Trump Rally!

HISTORIC!

Democrat traditionalist joins with Republic “Dark Horse”.

That is amazing!

“End of the grip of the neocons in charge of Foreign policy!!!!”

Why is China so possessive over Taiwan? Is the Chinese state really that weak?

???

Taiwan is part of China. It was part of China before the Japanese stole it 1895, and it was returned to China after Japan’s defeat in WWII.

Name one country that won’t protect its territorial integrity. Just one.

Why is America so possessive over Hawaii or California?

Why is Canada so possessive over Quebec?

Why is Britain so possessive over Scotland?

Why is France so possessive over Corsica?

Why is Spain so possessive over Catalonia?

You feel me?

What was the slickest thing you have done or seen when negotiating a car price?

My daughter graduated from college. I wanted to buy her a car, a new Honda. I explained to my daughter what we were doing today and we may not get the car on first go around, but that we needed to be patient.

I let her find a car she likes. Salesman in tow, we drove the car, she liked it, we are ready to deal. We walk into the sales office, a row of cubicles, and sat down with the salesman.

I had done my homework, market comps, talked to other dealers, and I am willing to pay a reasonable price. The salesman was working off of the list price and I let him present his figures. I came back “this is what i am willing to pay” followed by “we are motivated buyers and can do this today”. (i am sure I did the last week of the month thing that you always hear about. )

of course the salesman scoffed at our offer, and i said “do we need to speak to your manager?” {in negotiations there is a rule that says you cannot “close” someone you can’t “close”. so trying to make a deal with the sales person is useless because he does not have the authority to make this deal, and most likely the manager does not either, we need to be setting in front of the general manager. He is the final say on this deal. So i need to work my way up the food chain so to speak).

The sales person is punching in numbers on his calculator, my daughter is uncomfortable with the confrontation (her perspective, not mine). We are waiting on a response… he throws down a “this is the best we can do”. I say “well we are close, let’s get your manager out here. I know you are doing your best.” and reluctantly he says “okay, I’ll be right back”.

He goes away for five minutes, comes back with a new “this is the best we can do” counter followed by “we can write this up today!’

I say “that’s better but we have some work to do here if you want the sale. Let’s go back together and make this happen. We are not that far off, and I’m sure the manager will reason with me.” I give the salesman my homework, comps, market analysis. He says “I’ll be right back.”

In just a few minutes later he comes back and says “okay you can follow me”. we go back to the managers office, a nice fellow, shakes my hand and sits back down… he is all up into his computer screen punching numbers saying “i just don’t see how we can do this”.

Me “sure you do or I would not be back here. Look, I’ve done the math, you are still making a nice profit here, I am not ripping you off, its a good deal. Lets write it up and get out of here.”

He starts talking about a used model, or tells me he has more profit in a different model or color. He is bantering and we are not. The interesting thing about this is his office has windows to the office area. People can see me in the office, negotiating with the manager. Finally the GM walks in… Very nice man, very professional, we get down to it, and he looks me in the eye and i am right back at him… We have not said anything for a few minutes. I have my daughter with me who is squirming. He talks to her about her graduation, and he has a daughter that’s grown and he can remember what that’s like. He says to me “your offer really cuts into our profit, because its not just the walk out price, it is the warranty we have to cover for the next year I am worried about”. I say “Well, we are going to buy a Honda because of its reliability. My father drives one at it has 150,00 miles on it. Never a service problem.” we look at each other. tick tock time goes by. He tell the Manager. Do the deal. We stand up, shake hands, he hugs my daughter.

We all walk back to the cubical area and the we finalize the paperwork. the car will be ready tomorrow as they have to do Make-Ready.

The coolest thing happened. A lady in another cubical leans out and says “that was wonderful, can you help us buy a car?”

Women don’t understand why men are walking away & want to call them TERRORISTS?

Will malls ever make a comeback?

Only if they become an experience for visitors.

I live in Macau and our casino resorts have huge retail spaces. The Venetian like its Vegas counterpart has canals with gondolas and singing gondoliers. They have human statues in the mall. A huge food court. Art exhibits. Classical music performances.

In China, malls are supersized. 8–10 floors. Humongous food courts. Skating rinks. Go kart tracks. Swimming pools. Petting zoos for the kids. Huge play areas for the kids. Learning centers. Tutorial centers. Cooking and baking classes. And they are packed.

How do you think the international community’s support for the Philippines in its maritime row with China could impact future negotiations between the two countries?

International community?

The Philippines is a founding member of asean.

Asean, which operate by consensus, hasn’t supported the Philippines in the recent spate.

In addition, NO MEMBER OF ASEAN has backed the Philippines. This include other claimant states of the SCS. Leaders are openly asking Bongbong what he is trying to pull, expressing their worries of destabilizing escalation.

The SCS issue has been ongoing for decades. What has been secured is a gentlemen’s agreement to work towards a diplomatic solution, and limit confrontation to the coast guard.

The SCS code of conduct which was supposed to formalize the agreement and limit fallout remains in limbo after many years of negotiation.

It must be noted that the Philippines continues to hold the ante, refusing to demilitarize the issue.

Why is the Sierra Madre still grounded? The Philippines insist it is an ACTIVE DUTY NAVAL VESSEL, despite the wreck being older than the Philippines herself. It is being guarded and manned by military personnel.

No kidding.

It was widely reported that special forces troops were used to attempt a resupply of the Sierra madre. The President himself awarded a medal to the injured NAVSOU sailor.

So much for demilitarization.

In fact, the Philippines has used the publicity to remilitarize the issue, deploying air force and naval assets recently.

Which was probably the goal of the latest provocation—paint the Chinese as a huge threat and remilitarize, allowing the US military back into the Philippines and NATO/Five Eyes/Japan/Korea to demonstrate the “international community’s” MILITARY support for the Philippines.

The Philippines military is a Salvation Army beneficiary, counting Japan and of course, the US as fairy godmothers. Billions in free arms have already been promised or delivered.

If the Philippines does not walk the talk with China, or if busybodies attempt to militarily intervene in a bilateral issue, the situation will deteriorate, and may reach a tipping point.

It all depends on what China does, because they have the power to take decisive action. Break any agreement and China will respond disproportionately.

Recently, the largest Philippine coast guard cutter, the ~2,000 ton Teresa Magbanua which has been moored at the Escoda Shoal since April raised anchor and left the area after the Chinese dispatched a tugboat capable of towing ~5,000 tons in response to consecutive ramming of Chinese coast guard vessels to forcefully resupply their compatriots.

Leaving Only Darkness

Submitted into Contest #247 in response to: Set your story on a spaceship exploring the far reaches of space when something goes wrong.… view prompt

Arne Cambourne

This story contains themes or mentions of physical violence, gore, or abuse.

It had been months since there had been any hope on the ship. Each day awake was a struggle.He had begun to long for the cryo-tank.The nausea that came with waking from a long suspension was no longer a concern for him. He suspected the rest of the crew felt the same way. Being awake now was the worst part of waking from the long sleep.The display on the wall in front of his tank didn’t help.Its stark red numbers made it clear how long he had been asleep each time he woke up. It measured the actual time they had all been under – no contact with distant family, no contact with time at all.He remembered the first time.

Their first sleep had been pre-set to wake them within days of entering a planetary system their astronomers had considered “extremely likely” to include a planet consistent with supporting life.

In those early days they were soothed by the sense of awe as they entered a new star system. Perhaps their new home would be here, and they could send that message back home to start the colony ships on their way. Sadly, this sense of awe didn’t last.

It was only after 4 suspensions that hope began to fade. They came to realise that though they had been awake for a few months since they left, they had been gone for well over their people’s average lifetime.

Everyone he had ever known was gone. There was no one at home that had seen him through living eyes, held an image of his face, or the sound of his voice, as a memory attached to a feeling of fondness.

None of the crew had children. They had been selected that way, for obvious reasons.

He remembered how the crew had originally spoken of whether they regretted not having children. They had universally agreed they did not regret this at all. How could they have this opportunity and had children? It just couldn’t work.

After a few suspensions, when the despair first began, some of the crew became upset they had chosen a career above family. They had missed what they now saw as the important stuff, and there was no-one to remember them.

By the time they had been in suspension six times, more than 150 years had gone by.

Now the despair changed. They realised that if they did have children, they would be gone now as well.

Like footprints on a sandy beach, time would have wiped these imagined children away. Even their fantasy grandchildren that brought hope and joy would be gone and long forgotten.

Each new solar system brought new despair.

There was no chance of life here. The heat was wrong, the gases were wrong, the planet had not enough resources, in the right quantities. The colony could not be risked here.

****

No one realistically expected to run into any sort of advanced life out in the expanse of space either. He did fantasize about it, and he was relieved early in the trip to find out that many of the other crew had similar fantasies.

Imagine that! Being the first to encounter a new culture. An advanced peoples so far from home.

He hoped these new people were more advanced than they were. They will have perfected space travel and can warp from one part of the galaxy to another in a flash of light. No sleep sickness. No time loss.

They could all quickly get back home. Maybe there was new technology at home that had allowed people to live longer. Maybe his parents would still be there, or some of his friends.

He had had fallen asleep thinking of this fantasy the last few cryo-sleeps. No one dreamed in suspension, but it was still nice to think you might, as you felt the cryo-film wrap your body, and the world disappeared.

This is why when he woke this time, he had to check he was actually awake.

As the lead engineer he was always woken by the AI first, to make sure the process went well for the rest of the crew as they woke.

He would check the location of the ship, and the time they had been under, then make sure each of the cryo-fluids instilled for the wake cycles were in the right proportions. A little variation was ok, it went better if someone manually adjusted the equation each time.

This time he had been woken earlier than had been expected. The ship had been on course to a system that included a star at its centre much like their one at home.

The third planet from the sun had been identified on their long-range scanners many years ago as a possibly habitable planet. It should have the right mix of gas, water and heat that could mean this place was suitable.

The AI had woken him early. He soon found out the reason, and sitting alone with the hum of the ship the only noise he could hear, he knew he had to act.

With at least a month left before they were near the target planet, the ship had begun detecting radio transmissions from the planet. The ships AI had been able to assess the target planet was inhabited, and these inhabitants were more than simple animals.

This had triggered the wake cycle, so the AI had woken the lead engineer.

Unknown to the rest of the crew the lead engineer had also been briefed by their government about how to respond to such an occurrence. He was to enact the Colony X Protocol but leave the rest of the crew asleep.

When he had first been told about the Protocol it had all made sense. He knew he would start the protocol without delay, and wait patiently for the Protocol to run completion. His feelings about the Protocol came to change.

The Protocol was designed to make sure the work they had all done, the sacrifice, the costs in time and treasure, would not go to waste. No one thought it would be a likely scenario, but the social planners and the ethicists at home had finally agreed on how the Protocol would work.

His people had learned the hard way that it can be difficult to share, and a habitable planet with an advanced life form, posed to great a risk for this endeavour of stellar exploration. There had been years of debate but, in the end, the pragmatists won out.

The Protocol was a military procedure. It was precise and efficient. Once enacted it could not be reversed, and without fail it would achieve its aims. The residents of their new home had to be removed.

His role was to complete final assessment of the new peoples the ship had found, and the environment of the planet, to confirm its suitability as a new home.

The designers of the Protocol had agreed that given the significance of the decision the Protocol involved, reliance on AI was not reasonable. A live oversight of the decision was necessary, and his role as chief engineer had come to include the arbiter of this decision.

Once his assessment had been made, he would send the authorisation code home and, eventually, the battlecruisers would arrive.

His assessment could be done at a distance, and he did not need to wake any of the crew for this role. The Protocol actually forbid he wake anyone, for risk they may interfere with the Protocol’s application.

He looked at the viability of the planet.

A planet with water and firm ground, no significant extremes of temperature. Its atmosphere was gaseous, with a good mix of oxygen and nitrogen, some other rare gases. Its gravity was mild.

The planet had a blue green colour, a reflection of its life forms and the water on the surface. Its land was in some places covered by plants, and rivers of water ran across some of its larger land masses.

He spent more time looking at the non-plant life forms on the planet.

He learned about them from the transmissions that had been reaching the ship now for months. The ship had logged and recorded hours and hours of sounds and images, and his review involved listening to and viewing these recordings.

They were an interesting people.

He fell in love with the music they had produced, and the AI had sorted these recordings, so he could observe how their music had changed over time. He learned that this music often talked of the things these people enjoyed, or the things they fear and worried about.

(He particularly liked a type of music characterised by beating drums, shouted vocals, and a strange mix of other loud and varied instruments.)

They had produced writings about their world, and he came to understand the fears these people held about their lives, and the aims they pursued. His AI was able to differentiate these writings that were likely historical records and those that were like his own people’s legends or myths, or fictions just for pleasure.

He needed to learn more about these people before he activated the Colony X protocol. He was short of time though.

His government had written into the protocol a requirement that it be enacted within two weeks of the AI initiating the wake procedure. Any longer and the ship may come too close to the target planet and risk the protocol.

After two weeks the ship’s AI would send the authorisation code and destroy the ship.

He originally told himself he just needed more time, but knew he had decided he might not be able to enact the protocol. He gave the appearance of finalising his research, whilst at the same time he worked out how to disengage the ships AI from the protocol.

He researched the history of these people hoping to understand where they had started, what they had achieved. They had a history not unlike his own people. They had started from simpler animals but had come to master their world.

They had learned to fly; they had built vehicles and ships to travel their planet. He learned that they had organised themselves into larger groups. These groups built cities. They had spread their ideas and ways of thinking over this planet, and that had changed and challenged these people over time.

They had, like his own people, fought amongst themselves.

After nearly ten days of looking at these people he even felt a tear run down his face as he learned the pains these conflicts had caused. He felt the shock from images of brutality that he viewed as if these had become his people.

He enjoyed their happiness when conflicts came to an end, and their hope this would be end of the fighting, a hope that seemed to survive in their literature, their films, their music, even though there always seemed to be more fighting to come.

Fighting between his own peoples had become almost non-existent. On the day they had left, it had been over 50 years since any significant fighting had occurred between the peoples of his planet.

His people had learned to talk, used technology to make sure more people could be heard. They had come to share more, both culturally and emotionally, and this led to a fairer share of the fruits of labour.

His own people now needed to find somewhere new to live, to grow, or there was a risk that their world of stability may begin to crumble. This was the purpose of his mission – to keep their own violent natures at bay by joining together in finding a new world to share and grow.

It had been so long though.

The mission had taken longer than anyone had expected. By the time he put the Colony X Protocol into effect, and home had learned of its activation, and the fleets from home had arrived to clean the new planet, it would be nearly a thousand years since the mission began.

He was still alive, but he knew that for the world at home, he was not even a memory. At best he, and the crew, were abrief entry in a database, that a junior public servant confirmed each a year, and the world moved on.

Maybe things at home had changed, maybe home was now a mess, maybe they had taken to long. Maybe none of this was now worth it.

He could now see a future before him. Though these ‘people’ looked different to him, he had come to feel close to them. He felt he could understand who they were, and he had come to think they would understand him.

Perhaps he and the crew could help these people gain the peace and cooperation his home had enjoyed, even if it might have now fallen into disrepair.

The mission could be better served by not enacting the protocol. It was obvious to him now. Instead, his people would survive by meeting with this new people, merging their histories, learning new ways to grow into the galaxy.

He had learned how to disengage the AI and, after so much deliberation, it was psychologically easier than he expected to put an end to the Colony X Protocol. None of the other crew knew of its existence, and he swore himself to keep this secret forever.

He planned what he was going to tell the crew when they were awake and felt a sense of peace when he realised that he was once again happy. It had been so long, but he felt a new future was there for them. They had made it to the New World.

He rushed to get them all awake, so he could tell them of these new peoples, how similar they were, and tell them of how this new planet was going to ensure the survival of their own peoples, and their way of life.

****

Major Michael Jones stared directly at his commanding officer, awaiting his reaction to what the Major had just confirmed. There was no answer, so he spoke again.

“Sir, we have confirmed the location of the object, and that it has arrived from outside of our system” he said again.

General Tsang looked back at his subordinate and nodded. Major Jones continued his report.

“It’s also most definitely not natural” the Major said, “Our analysts all share the opinion that this vessel is large enough to be considered either a military vehicle, or a major logistical ship, sir.”

“Perhaps an exploration vessel?” the general finally spoke.

The Major nodded and the general continued, he had wistful look in his eye as he turned on the display screen on the wall behind.

“You know Major” the general continued, turning to look at the display “after looking at these images, and the reports from our experts, you know what this reminds me of?”

The Major stood at ease but did not answer. The general continued whilst he pointed at the image of a strange vessel that was now on the screen.

“It makes me think of the ships of old, the sailing ships” he said.

The Major remained blank faced.

“You know, they appeared over the horizon, off the coast of some then undiscovered land, and the people living there had no idea what was to come” the General said before sitting at his desk and motioning to the Major to also sit.

The Major sat and finally spoke.

“Yes sir” he said, “before I joined the United Nations Defence Force I came from Australia.” General Tsang raised an eyebrow, and it was clear to the Major he did not understand.

“Well sir, our Indigenous people had no idea what was to befall them after the English crossed the horizon” the Major explained.

General Tsang slapped his hand on the table.

“Exactly Major” he said “the ‘Indians’ of the former United States, the native victims of the Conquistadors, your Australian Aborigines. If only they knew”

The room was silent for a brief period as the general peered back up at the ship still on the screen. He finally spoke.

“And we have confirmed with the General Assembly we are to enact the Colonising X Protocol” the general final said looking at his Major.

The Major nodded.

The General nodded back. “Very well” he soon said “make it so. It is for all our best interests”.

The general stood, then unlocked a safe below his desk. He removed an envelope from the safe and handed it to the major.

“Take these to the control room Major, and authorise the missile launch” the general said. Major Jones took the envelope, stood up and saluted before he left the room.

The general sat again, turned in his seat and looked up at the ship on the screen briefly, before turning the screen off and turning to sit quietly at his desk.

*****

The chief engineer had woken all the crew and told them of the planet now so close, and about the people there that they would soon contact. He had spoken for a long time to about what he had learned and the hope this discovery had given him.

There was some resistance, some anxiety and fear, but he had spoken with those who were fearful, and soon the whole crew were as excited as he that the mission had succeeded and it was coming to an end.

They had agreed the engineer should make the first contact with these new peoples the next day. There had been a vote about what they would ask of these peoples, and what they would be able to offer.

When he had disabled the AI, the engineer did not realise he had also disabled various alert functions in the ships navigational and security array. The expanse of space is such that, without these, it is difficult for any person to keep a close eye on all that is happening.

The chief engineer was the only crew member still awake when the missiles hit the ship. His excitement about the next day, and the impact of the decision he had made, alone, had made it hard to sleep.

The blinding flash of light as the missiles tore the ship apart, and the searing pain the engineer felt, were over almost immediately.

Leaving only darkness.

Joe Cocker- With A Little Help From My Friends (REACTION)

On August 23, Powell’s speech hinted that the Federal Reserve will cut the interest rates soon. What does this mean for countries like China and Japan? Why do they want to cut interest rates?

What does this mean for China? Likely that China will be vindicated in reducing US dollar assets.

It’s also possible it’s a big black swan event for the USA.

You see there’s nobody left to buy US T-bills. China ain’t buying especially after the 2008 fiasco. If you listened to Chinese radio and television talk shows people were angry China had gifted the US an entire US battle carrier group on the devaluation of the T-bills.

The circular money trick isn’t working either, this is how Belgium of all places became a massive holder of US T-bills. The US loaned money to Belgium who bought T-bills with it.

So after all of the above? There’s two buyers left.

The Fed – If they buy it, it causes mega inflation. I mean there’s Americans on here where inflation is a LOT higher than claimed.

Yield seeking private buyers.

Drop the rates? The Yield seekers are what it says on the tin. They seek yield so they’ll let go and buy other things. This means the Fed will step in to mop up what they sell.

This leads to mega inflation.

I won the lottery 10 years ago, but I didn’t tell a soul, not even my family. Was I wrong to do this?

One of my cousins won a lottery for several million dollars in the 1980s. It was public knowledge. At the time, the only option was an annuity that paid out the jackpot over 20 or 26 years. He bought his mom a new car. He helped her out when she needed help.

His siblings maybe thought that they were owed something. I don’t know the specifics of that. What I do know is that he continued to live his life the way he had before.

He and his wife had a couple of kids. They adopted a couple of other kids, girls from China, at the time when China had the “one child policy” and girl children were not so popular. He kept his job as a truck driver. He lived a pretty simple life, and as far as I know, his only indulgence was his beloved Harley Davidson motorcycle, which he probably could have owned on his truck driving salary.

We were not close.

The only memory that I have of him was his wedding, before the lottery win, where the wedding reception was in a state park, not a posh affair. Very simple.

When he died last year, we took my mom (then in her 90s) to the memorial service. There were lots of friends, and his immediate family, his wife, his biological children, his adopted children, all of them just…his children. That was lovely. They were thrilled that my mom was there as a connection to their grandmother who had passed away in 1996.

None of his siblings were there. A couple of his siblings had passed away, another had moved away to another state. I can’t say why none of them were there.

So if you have had good fortune, and you are able to hide this good fortune from your family, maybe it’s best to hide it as best as you can so you can keep your relationship with them.

Food Porn

The American dream is a lie

Yup it is.

What work secret did you accidentally find out that changed everything?

I worked for a small city police department. One weekend, we did not have a sergeant on-duty so being senior officer, I was in charge. Two officers (Steve and Mary) responded to a domestic dispute. A short time later, I was asked to respond to the call. Steve explained one of the participants in the dispute wanted to file a complaint on Mary for being discourteous. I released the officers from the scene and spoke to the participant. After a brief conversation, the participant decided there was a misunderstanding between him and the officer and he no longer wanted to file a complaint.

I cleared the call and spoke to Steve who explained how the misunderstanding occurred. I then spoke to Mary and advised her no complaint was being filed but to be careful how she speaks to the public.

In turn, Mary felt Steve and I were setting her up and decided to file an internal complaint against us claiming bullying. The Chief assigned Mary’s complaint to a detective named Jim. It was widely known in the department that Jim was trying to sleep with Mary but she continually turned him down.

The police department was located in the municipal building where several other city departments were located. A friend working in another department observed Jim and Mary speaking in private and when they parted, Mary gave Jim a quick kiss. It was clear something had changed in their relationship.

My friend told me what he observed and I held onto that information in case I needed it later. Sure enough, about three weeks later, I’m pulled into the Chief’s office. Jim made up allegations against me and Steve and claimed to have substantiated Mary’s allegation. The Chief was ready to issue discipline when I asked the Chief how a detective sleeping with Mary could be unbiased in his investigation. The Chief’s jaw hit the ground. Mary eventually admitted to striking a deal with Jim that if he got me and Steve fired, she would sleep with him.

A short time later, Mary was fired and charged with altering prescriptions when a doctor filed a complaint against her. Jim resigned and was charged with dereliction of duty. The Chief was also shown the door.

I took a job with another department making more money and never looked back.

Have you ever asked someone (who later passed away) to give you proof of an afterlife? For example, a word/gesture that only you two would know. And did you get the proof?

For years I drank heavily, beer at least. I would drink close to a 12 pack every weekday and close to a case on both Saturday and Sunday. I had a good friend who was an atheist and my drinking buddy. We would debate on whether there was an afterlife or not, me insisting that it was possible and he insisting that I was being foolish and there was no such thing.

One Friday after work I was following my standard drinking routine, a 24 oz can of beer for the drive home and a 6 pack of 16 oz beers for the rest of the evening. I made it home shortly after 6 that evening and was drinking the first beer out of that 6 pack. I was maybe a third or a fourth of my way through that first beer and I just decided I didn’t want it anymore. This was around 6:30 Friday night by now. The next day I didn’t drink any, or the following day either. I haven’t drank any since and that has been 6 years now since I last drank anything with alcohol in it.-

The following Sunday I had an unexpected knock at my door, it was an old girlfriend I hadn’t seen since high school but, she and my drinking buddy had kept in touch. She told me that our friend had been struck and killed while walking across a busy road and on his way to spend the weekend in jail for his third DWI. When he was hit and killed, It would have been around the same time I put down my last beer, unfinished.

I can’t help but to think he was the one that turned my mind around and put me on my way to sobriety. Maybe I’m just being foolish and trying to make something more out of those events than there really is. I still can’t help but to think otherwise, though.

I know I’ve told this story before, and for those that have read it previously, I apologize for sounding like a broken record.

“WORSE Than 1929-1946…” – Doug Casey

Damn! This is an amazingly great video. A Must Must WATCH!

Why is China lagging behind India while its GDP is higher than India’s?

China is not lagging behind India in any manner. China is far more advanced than India in every respect.

Chinese society is far more harmonious and stable.

China has far better infrastructure.

Chinese education is far superior.

China has far better health care for its citizens.

China eradicated absolute poverty in 2020, while India is still mired by over 100 million people living in extreme poverty.

China’s military is far larger and far more powerful.

China is the one and only global manufacturing superpower.

China has a better human rights record. Indian women are regularly abused. There is ethnic and religious inequality.

China’s female participation rate in the labor force is 70%, while in India, it’s only 25%.

China is not burdened by the caste system.

I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Name one thing that puts India ahead of China.

Can the defense of Black Myth: Wukong by Chinese gamers against criticism from foreign media be seen as a reflection of national pride or a form of cultural protectionism? Share your thoughts.

Make no mistake, Chinese people account for one fifth of the world’s population, and almost all you hear are NON-CHINESE people’s rebuttals to the defamation.

Most of us are dismissive of non Chinese Internet content. Your barking cannot hinder anything happening within China. Now it’s a showdown between YOUR public opinion distorters and YOUR masses.

We did not participate. We’re just being there.

Why don’t you reflect on why your PC groups are so hated by your public.

At what ages were you the happiest and saddest?

In my 20s I was the saddest I have ever been. Actually, ages 23–29 were the worst years of my life. Why?

Because I had not settled on a good career and was not sure I could find a career I liked even reasonably well. Consequently, I was also making low wages. Thus, I lived in a crummy apartment, had very little money left over from each paycheck, drove an old car, and had no real prospects. Could not even imagine a happy future for myself.

Additionally, having left the family to accept the responsibility of being on my own, I was lonely. Had no steady girl and couldn’t pal around with my old college and high school friends anymore because, guess what? They were all married and had kids! Now this was during the 1970s, when all my generation was marrying early. Most girls of the time were married by 21, 22, or at most, 23. Even many college students were married, which is why my school had a large dormitory for married couples. Even most boys married no later than about 23 or 24. And there I was 27, 28, 29, and still single with a crumb job. I felt like a complete loser.

Then, just as I’d sunk about as low as I could get, my dad called with some news. “Son,” he said. “I know you like to read and that you majored in English in college. A friend who is a school principal was telling me he needs an 8th grade English teacher. Would you like to meet him?”

“I don’t know, Dad. I’ve never done anything like that.”

“Well, you’ve nothing to lose. He’s at West Hill Middle School. Go talk to him.” So, I did, and so I was hired.

My first few weeks were a little shaky, but I learned quickly and soon realized how much I liked teaching English. By the end of the year, my career path was decided. My principal wanted me to return to college that summer, and on fall afternoons and evenings to pick up some extra coursework to upgrade my certificate. Late that summer I met a young lady at the university who was also taking coursework toward a master’s degree in education. We hit it off quickly, began dating, and by Christmas we were married. And she was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I call that year – the year I turned 30 – my ‘annus mirabilis,’ my year of miracles. Over the space of about 12 months, my sad life had changed into a miraculously happy one. I’d turned from an ugly duckling into a happy swan.

Today, my wife and I live on 40 beautiful rural acres in northwest Florida, and we are contentedly retired. We have had a happy life yet are happier now than ever because we have the time and money to do anything we like. Yet our tastes are very simple. We enjoy sitting in our pecan orchard when fall turns the leaves bright yellow. We enjoy standing or sitting on our long field at sunset and watching the sun sink below the distant tree line. We enjoy playing with Freckie, our lively border collie. And I, at last, have all the time to read so many of the fine books I’d always wanted to read.

So, for me, these years in my 70s are the best and happiest ever. I can now sing, with the great Carly Simon: “These are … the good ol’ days.”

Fatal Mistake: Argentina Offers Its Lithium & Critical Minerals For US Money & Investment

Shorpy

Why aren’t the Chinese or Indian aircraft carriers considered a great threat by the West?

Question: Why aren’t the Chinese or Indian aircraft carriers considered a great threat by the West?

Answer:

Well, depending on who you ask and China is quite different from India.

If you ask the average English audience, then just go with the quick and magic answer of:

“The Chinese is somehow evil and constantly threatening, so we are morally justified to pull any kind of shit. And magically, at the same time, they must always be a push over, so no one will worry their pretty little head about how constantly antagonizing the biggest industrial power on the planet is a bad idea”.

Now if we are talking about reality, then it is another story entirely.

The first two Chinese carrier is actually less threatening, in the sense that they don’t bring much to the what the Chinese can already do. This is because the Chinese fleet are organized differently from US fleets.

In US fleets, the carrier represents the bulk of the striking power against comparable opponents. The aircraft from the carriers represent majority of the fleet’s offensive power and a significant amount of defensive power. This means you NEED large and long endurance carriers which can carry a lot of planes and by nature, the carrier is what makes and breaks the fleet.

The Chinese fleet are different because majority of their strike power comes ship-based missiles.

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Yes, the picture shows Ticonderoga has more VLS cells, but the ones on Type 055 are much bigger and can actually host missiles that are threatening to the surface combat vessels.

So for the Chinese carriers, the strike power from planes are actually not quite as important because whatever missiles J15 can carry, 055 can carry much bigger ones with better range and accuracy.

This means the main purpose of the Chinese carriers are mostly about hosting electronic warfare, early warning crafts. These aircraft are typically much bigger and heavier than the fighters jets and as the result, can’t really be launched from the Kuznetsov-class based Liaoning-Jian and Shandong-Jian.

The type 003 Fujian-Jian is a different story. From what we have seen so far, the electric catapult system is indeed working and this means it is capable of providing long radar/electronic warfare coverage for the Chinese fleet. This means the PLAN will be projecting power away from its shore.

Well, to be fair, the away part may be a bit misleading. Since antiship missiles in the DF series has a such a long combat range, China is already capable for projecting its influence thousands of kilometers away from its shore. But with Fujian and other EC capable vessel now in the building stage, you’d start to see PLAN showing greater presence in places like Middle East, Africa and even Latin Americas.

Why would you want to take a concealed carry gun everywhere you go?

Suzanna Hupp was a chiropractor living in Copperas Cove, Texas. She generally carried a little pistol in her purse (it’s a Southern Lady thing, I’m not going to take the time and space to try to explain it here). There was some utility to this habit – she frequently would work late, and would have to walk to her car in a semi-deserted parking lot late at night. A young woman alone in a deserted parking lot late at night is kind of a classic situation where the young woman might, indeed, want to have a little pistol in her purse.

The little pistol in her purse was also, at the time, totally illegal (although, traditionally, such laws were not vigorously enforced against respectable white women with a little pistol in their purse). At the time, however, the authorities were increasingly “cracking down” on people illegally carrying firearms. Even respectable middle-class white women with just a little pistol in their purse.

One day, Suzanna met with her parents to go out to lunch. They rode together in Suzanna’s car. When Suzanna opened her purse to put her car keys in, her mother saw her pistol in the purse. Mom told her that she should probably leave her pistol in her car (this, at the time, was legal – you could keep a pistol in your car, but it was strictly against the law to carry it concealed in a purse or pocket outside of one’s vehicle). If a waitress or other customer saw the pistol when Suzanna opened her purse, they might call the police and there would be trouble. Safest to just leave it in the car.

Besides, this wasn’t a dark deserted parking lot late at night; this was Luby’s Cafeteria in downtown Killeen, at lunch hour. It wasn’t dark, it was noon on a bright autumn day; and it wasn’t exactly deserted, Luby’s that day was packed. Certainly not the time or place where one would need to be packing a gun.

It was October 16, 1991. While they were at lunch, a deranged merchant sailor drove his pickup truck right through the floor-to-ceiling front windows of Luby’s, stepped out of his truck, and began shooting people. Suzanna reached in her purse for her pistol, then remembered that she’d left it safely in her car.

The police came, the nutcase killed himself, but by that time he had killed 23 other people, including both of Suzanna Hupp’s parents.

Suzanna later testified to the legislature, “Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to stop him, there’s no guarantees. I would at least have had a chance. But my gun was a hundred feet away, in my car, and I had no chance at all.”

I don’t want to be Suzanna Hupp. I carry wherever and whenever I legally can.

The MQ-28A Ghost Bat, Unmanned Systems and the Future of Australian Air Power

Easy Goulash

xr:d:DAF22W0nojs:6,j:2215057270594147283,t:23121310

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 (17 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can whole-kernel corn
2 cups macaroni
1 cup shredded cheese, if desired

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Brown beef with onion and bell pepper. Drain.
Add tomatoes and corn. Cook until heated well.
Cook macaroni and drain. Add to beef mixture.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Pour into baking pan.
Bake for for 15 minutes.
If desired, sprinkle cheese over the top and bake just long enough for cheese to melt.

How do you view the popularity of “Black Myth: Wukong” and the spread of Chinese culture?

Selected comments from China Uncensored’s YouTube video titled “There’s a Reason China Made Black Myth Wukong…”

All my comments on here are also “mysteriously” removed. What’s the point when you are a CCP yourself?
Lol telling gamers not to play Wukong is like telling a starving person not to go buy that big reasonably priced juicy steak right over there but instead go lick the Dustborn off the floor till they’re satisfied instead because ethics or something.
Hate to break your little bubble mate; but people/gamers don’t care, if its a GOOD game they will buy and play it no matter how many links you can chain towards someone dying at a long end of a rope somewhere because of it. The only people who won’t buy it because of political reasons, are people who wouldn’t PLAY it anyway.
You are screaming into a void. Gamers are tired of politics from any side trying to influence gamers. Yo’all do your politics and let gamers enjoy their games. I can point out more than 100 items you use in your daily life and in your studio and 99% would probably be made in China. The selective outrage is pure hypocrisy. Leave Black Myth Wukong alone or leave us gamers out of it! WE DON’T CARE! Gamers play games for escapism from the real world, politics (no matter which side) takes that away.
A game about Chinese mythology made by a Chinese developer? Oh no say it ain’t so. All I care about is if it’s good or not
I mean, I’m anti-CCP as much as any American, but a good game is still a good game, and Black Myth Wukong is still a good game. Its not my fault that US based games are all DEI crap these days, and that one of the best original IP games that isn’t filled with DEI wokism is from a chinese company.
I respect your content a lot, but I think you’re just wrong about this one.
Too late. The game is anti woke. I bought the collectors edition.
Gamers will always buy games that are good. If it isn’t, they will ignore it. Black Myth Wukong did something right, and it was a fun boss rush game. Pushing to boycotting a good game will backfire, since gamers isn’t biased when it comes to masterpiece games. Majority of the ppl/gamers don’t care about geopolitics they just want to play good games.
Nah bro, a game is a game. People know about the propaganda and stuff, don’t worry about it. If you want to report on it, go plat the game, and tell us whether there are any lies/ obfuscations in the story or something
So here’s the dilemma. Buying Black Myth Wukong supports the CCP. That’s bad. Buying Black Myth Wukong puts numbers behind a legitimately good game. THAT’S good. What are we supposed to do?
Wont lie i bought wukong and will continue to buy non woke games. Wokeness is a cancer. And wukong is a relief from such wokeness.
As much as I don’t like China gov. it’s a pretty good game. Already finished it
Imagine not buying a game because you don’t like of where the company resides. Gives off the same energy as not buying a drink or a food because the company comes from said country. This is just as silly as that boycott of Atomic Heart. Buying a game that looks fun and you wanna play, isn’t gonna bring your country and the gaming industry closer to ruin. Chill.
Bought it anyways
I’m going to fight against woke games by supporting communism! Big brain move, guys
My dude, I love you, but you lost the plot with Black Myth: Wukong here.
will buy it anyway
They stood against Sweet Baby Inc so they deserve praise. They made a great game. Who cares about their government. This channel is very informative and I will continue to support China Uncensored but not this “boycott”
Hey , Chris . Quick question – why do you hate fun ?
I will buy it this time sorry not sorry
If we’re worried about China dominating the video game industry, you’re about 15 years too late.
China uncensored if you want to continue to be taken seriously, don’t bring a single player action game that have absolutely zero social elements in it that anybody could misconstrue well when you like that
Don’t tell me what to do nerd
The woke lefties made that game a super hit. There nothing one can do now
Shut up about video games.
Sorry dude, I find your attempt to insert YOUR politics into computer games just as sickening and vile as when the woke crowd does it. It’s not even a political game to begin with. First dislike after years of watching. Hands off the games!
Leave black myth wukong alone.
The probelem is Black Myth Wukong is opposed by the western liberal leftists. So that makes people wanting to buy that game.
Man I am just find it ironic. People are buying this Chinese game because it is a great game that doesnt push any agendas or politics, then telling gamers not to buy it because of political reasons. Gamers dont care about politics, we care about good games that respect our time and intelligence.
I agree with your battles but this is not the hill.
Honestly the game is mad fun and if the west is trying to push concord and dustborn on me i am very happy playing the Monkey Game because god its fun to play
Homie, I don’t have to “trust a game” to enjoy it.
That’s a shame i really like this channel
is this sponsored by sweet baby ???????
I have to disagree about wukong, I won’t boycott it. There is a battle with woke ideologies and traditional ideologies that you might have not lean in to.
If china makes good video games, i will buy chinese video games.
If its a good game its a good game, fuck the politics
It’s hard to choose which I hate more, china or woke DEI culture…
Bro is onto nothing, never cook again and stay away from games please
I bought Blackmyth and I’m having fun with it. I haven’t had this much fun with a game in years but now I’m conflicted.
Too late bro. Bought it and LOVING it. The game is a MASTERPIECE.
It’s just a game. You have to turn everything into politics just because it’s originated from China
too late, I bought it and it’s a good game
I disagree, even though I usually agree with your other videos.
And buy Concord instead? Wukong is attractive because there is nothing similar in the West.
“Don’t Buy it” nope. I will buy it. The game is that good. Majority of western games are caving into DEI narratives in story telling for games
Up til now, I liked your videos, but you are bad mouthing the game like everyone else. Shame on you
do you want me to stop buy Black Myth Wukong? ok I want 2 thing 1 all game most stop do DEI shit 2 game development most focus on tall good story and good gameplay that’s it
Ima buy this game. I think they earned it. All those awesome graphics aint no joke to produce. Their artist deserve a win. Now we just need to get the US and japanese game dev to step up their games and compete instead of whining about it.
Oh shit too late, at least it’s a good game
It’s a good game, doesn’t matter who makes it, people will play it.
Yea, this is a final nail to the coffin. This time it’s unsub.
Yeah no I’m out
Fire the script writer for this one. Lost a subscriber.
This game you told me not to buy has hundreds of times less political messages than most Western games created today, so I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill
Wel it is a good game compared to the last few years of garabge
All my friends and buddies are getting Black Myth Wukong.
I already bought it….. im sorry but you’re waaaayyyyy too late in reporting on wukong.
you are shitting out of the toilet on this one. keep politics and propaganda out of my games, please
This take is cringe and stupid. How about we just start making better games in America again
rule number 1: Never tells the gamer what to buy and what’s not.

My short take on Black Myth Wukong’s impact on the West:

It’s a war. Not between China and the US. It’s a war between gamers and woke culture (which I call “Western depravity”). The whole YouTube gaming channels are in this together.

I’m not too sure about the promotion of Chinese culture, but the game will be remembered as the game that finally defeated the woke culture. Gamers know this. That’s why they love this game so much!

I’m not a gamer myself, but even I can understand that gamers worldwide see Black Myth Wukong as the game that saved their gaming culture from the toxic woke culture.

Famous influencers are dropping like flies: Why?

What is the worst country you have ever visited?

India. I went to India twice on business.

I worked at a copper smelter in Tamil Nadu. I saw women carrying enormous loads on their heads. They wore hard hats with flat tops. Men wore regular hard hats. When i asked why i was explained that men are stronger so they don’t have to balance loads on their heads. Men wore safety boots. Women wore unsafe sandals. They were used as beasts of burden.

While we were there, they found the bodies of two female infants. They suspected selective infanticide.

The car we used didn’t have safety belts. Driving was like playing chicken all the time.

I saw carts pulled by Brahma bulls or by half-naked men. It was like being teleported to the middle ages.

One day for lunch we had vegetables containing wriggling maggots, the other day medium-rare chicken for dinner.

The hotel was ~$10/night and, according to a colleague, it “wasn’t worth it.” The shower head broke off. The crank opening the window broke off, etc.

Someone joked that maybe i could get married there. The local engineer said only a black man would want a local wife. This reflects another aspect of the culture – darker-skinned people are considered “ugly.”

The local paper was full of stories of people taking revenge by using a knife, a scythe, or throwing acid, often over a dowry. It also contained personal ads from women who described themselves as fair-skinned to be more marriageable.

One of the young engineers at the plant died when his bike hit the carcass of a water buffalo left in the middle of the road at night. He slowly succumbed to his injuries while nobody would help. I’ve read people are afraid of dealing with the corrupt police.

To be fair, on the second trip the flat hardhats were gone and the car had safety belts.

But, by and large, we were not bothered by the locals. It was a different story in northern India.

Some guy offered my colleague a shoeshine in New Delhi. When he declined he grabbed him by the leg, smeared some stuff on his shoes, and aggressively demanded money.

Streets were full of beggars, some of them for some reason missing fingers.

We asked a taxi driver to take us to a government store so we could buy some gifts. He took us to his friend’s (or relative’s) place instead where they aggressively tried to make us buy stuff we didn’t want.

When we finally got to the government store we got some good stuff. I got sandalwood statues of Ganesh and Hanuman and a book of Mughal miniature paintings. I found the culture as really interesting.

Mumbai had a cholera outbreak. We saw people having diarrhea by the road. The hotel was very nice but the neighborhood next door was full of garbage, with open sewer, and scrawny cows roaming the streets.

The Taj Mahal and the Red Fort in Agra were breathtakingly beautiful. A lot of the rest of Agra looked, according to my sojourner, “like a dump.”

We almost missed our plane as the lady checking passports took almost sadistic pleasure in checking each page of each passport. By the way, the Indian visa application is some 3 pages long and it contains questions about religion (three is no “atheist,” “agnostic,” or “secular humanist”) and whether one’s grandparents were Pakistanis.

This was all a while ago so maybe things have changed…

What surprised you most when you first came to China, as a foreigner?

Disclaimer: All the comparisons are done with Indian life as benchmark

Oh that’s plenty…where do i begin with? let’s see.

There are no cops on major roads of the cities in China , yet traffic stops at red light. This may sound absurd, but this is not the norm in India.
Fitness level of people. I don’t remember finding any obese person in China. I visited three cities: Beijing, Shanghai & Harbin. None were obese .
Absence of google, facebook, twitter. Sites like weibo, wechat rule the roost.
Participation of women in the economy: in all the three cities we had women tour guides who stayed with us from morning 7:00 am till night 10:30. Pretty difficult to expect that in India.
Toilets: this one is quite weird. while traditional chinese go the indian way, what was quite shocking was to find that public toilets have indian seats, with no partition in between!!!. no privacy whatsoever. ofcourse you will not find water as well. and quite possibly toilet roll too would be absent. Certainly not the best country to do your business.
Electricity quota: China only switches on its ACs during restricted months during summers. The Government decides that duration.
Infrastructure: everything out there…be it roads, monuments, factories, its just huge. More importantly it is working. While we are debating the need for bullet trains, china is using them like crazy. We struggle to get mobile network at stationary places, i was talking trouble-free with my sister in India during a train ride with this train speed…

main qimg cfc0317b91a0076fbd56ddd497a1f987 lq

No doubt Sydney opera is outstandingly beautiful , but take a look at this

main qimg 134f91a6d2ffc10c988fc81df4c98162 lq

That’s Harbin grand opera, no less picturesque than Sydney in any way. Chinese are extremely determined to match the best in the world & even beat the best.

There

Friendliness of people: Indians are treated the same way indians generally treat white skinned people..with awe. they were quite willing to have pics with us, help us & what not.This China Vs india rhetoric is not known to people
General absence of religion in public discourse. Religion doesnt feature in the lives of Chinese people in general. No bullshit in the name of religion
Discipline. I found Chinese quite disciplined in their schedule & daily lives. What to eat, when to eat , its all quite structured. They are an extremely hardworking & disciplined people. No wonder China has grown so much
Eye for detail: These guys plan way ahead. and execution is too good. They also focus quite a lot on maintenance of things. I was surprised to find a man scrubbing a dustbin early morning on my morning run at Harbin. That’s something i would not imagine here.
Lack of pvt ownership. You don’t own land/apartment. it is leased to your for 99 years & that too can be taken by the government any time & you will be given a replacement , not necessarily of your choice
2nd copies aka fakes. very difficult to differentiate from the originals. China has dedicated malls which deal in them

China is a very interesting country & is definitely worth a visit. You could learn quite a few things.

Do military personnel receive training on reading maps, using a compass for navigation, and identifying their location using stars if they become lost?

I can only speak for the Army. Yes. We get courses on map navigation and compass use.

There is no using stars for navigation as that requires a sextant. You will see the Navy personnel on ships doing this.

It’s too complicated for infantry soldiers. Not that Army can’t do it but it requires extra equipment. It’s just easier to use maps and compass. The Navy uses stars because one part of the Ocean looks like any other part. Blue and flat. There is literally nothing to look at except for stars.

On land, you have land features and with a map you can easily find out where you are. And for the Army, carrying extra equipment that you won’t use is simply not done. Every ounce of equipment has to be useful for the Army soldiers. Space and weight is at a premium.

Bride-To-Be HYSTERICAL After Getting Caught With Ex’s “Sausage” In Mouth At Engagement Party!

What scared you the most about going to prison that turned out to be untrue?

Rape. Like everyone else out there, it was what you first associate with the scary things about prison. Such BULLSHIT. I’m sure it happens.. I never witnessed it, I was never even slightly at risk of that happening to me … and never even heard a rumor on the yard of it happening … and there are few secrets on the yard.

When I went to prison the first time in my twenties, I was stripped down naked and left on a wooden bench during processing and intake. I was very scared. A brotha came in saw me naked and yelled at the CO to give me my prison-issued clothing. An hour or two later, still getting processed, another brotha who worked there asked me if I wanted an extra bag lunch he had. I quickly said NO… cuz that’s what I was told led to you being someone’s bitch. He asked me again, and once more I say no… but I was starving! He smiles, and leaves it anyways. What I learned that day was there were many, many men who were strangers to me but gave without expecting anything. It wasn’t at all like I had expected.

When I returned to prison in my fifties, I thought I was too old to fight and worried about how I was going to be treated. Again, as soon as I appeared on the yard, a group of brothas appeared at my bunk with shower shoes, ramen, some hygiene products, chips, candy, and even some sweat shirts and pants! It’s what they do for every new black inmate’s arrival and I was honored to do that for others as they arrived.

What can immediately make a person unattractive?

A big one is body odor. If a person doesn’t smell right, attraction dies on the vine. I once read a story about a famous actor turning down Marilyn Monroe, despite her being rather into him and “ready to go”… he had her in front of him. Needed only to say the word.

But she smelled bad. And she didn’t take care of herself. And any other man would have been able to overlook it — it’s Marilyn Monroe, after all. Of all people! A queen, no, a goddess amongst women! To the actor it was a dealbreaker. And I’ve seen this play out in life, in a way. A beautiful person with horribly decaying teeth? No way, José. A gorgeous face may lean in for a kiss and if the smell from his or her mouth is the foul scent of death… that’s the end of all attraction.

Be clean. Be fresh. Smell right, so people will be eager to taste you, be near you, explore you. But smell like death and it’s the death of your dating life. Not to all people — desperation’s one hell of a drug — but to many.

With all the news reports, can we conclude the Chinese are not exactly being truthful to put it mildly?

Nopes

You can conclude that they are either lies or exaggerations

Why?

In 1978 – Soviet Union issued exactly 5260 Tourist Exit Visas outside the Iron Curtains to other nations which were not Soviet Satellites

In the same year 12,400 Visit Visas were issued to enter the Soviet Union from Non Communist Nations (Including North Korea + Vietnam + Cuba + China)

In 2024 – so far to date Chinese Passports have been issued 8.72 Million Tourist Visas upto 30/6/24 while around 12–14 Million Chinese Visas have been issued for Foreign Passport Holders into China

12,400 vs 14 Million!!!!

So trust me, China can’t hide anything today

They don’t hide anything today

Since most of their Media is STATE OWNED there is no incentive in insane TRPs and thus the Chinese Media does not go for SENSATIONALISM

They often appear “Boring” to the outsiders used to Western or Indian media with their sensationalism and their quest for TRPs

The Problem is most people still look at China with a 1980s lens

Had my sons not gone to Singapore, had I myself not done business with Singaporeans and had my Nephew not gone to Shanghai, I would have had the same 1980s lens

You have to go to China to experience the new China and conclude that it’s entirely and diametrically opposite to what the Western Narrative Suggests

For instance the West says Chinas stock market is performing badly

In reality Chinas Stock prices are CAPPED in a way

They can’t rise beyond a certain maximum

In that way the shares are kept undervalued

Any Banker working in China knows the truth

For instance the West says Chinas Real Estate sector is collapsing

In reality, the Sector is deliberately allowed to kill off speculation and ensure affordable housing to all Chinese

Every Tier 2/3 City is going to have some fixed price housing projects which will rise by a fixed 4% a year for the next 30 years

That’s to ensure every couple can buy an affordable house before they are 30 years of age

The West doesn’t cover this news

You need to live in China to know this news.

For instance the West says Chinas Demographic collapse is coming

In reality Chinas age of retirement is pegged at 55 Years

If it’s raised to 65, China would have 66% of their working population supporting 13.50% of their elderly population in 2042 and 60% of their Population supporting 18% of their elderly population in 2060

It’s still more than 3:1

Plus Chinese people SAVE at a rate more than the entire world

A Chinese Household saves 44% of their income earned against less than 24.8% for the Global Average and 17.7% for the G7

However while this is something every Chinese Actuarian knows, no Westerner will ever talk about this

They have no idea how China works

Even on Quora

Only those who genuinely live in China or know China like Bill Chen or Aya Shawn and some others have some idea of what’s going on

Most others simply either quote Western Media or 1980s Narrative like “CCP is bad, CCP is Evil”

Accidental Time Travelers | The Mystery and Science of Time Slips

I oh, so, miss are my USN issued flight boots

One of the things that I oh, so, miss are my USN issued flight boots. They would not let me keep them, and I had to return them when I was discharged.

Oh baby, were they fine.

They fit like a glove, and was sturdy but soft and subtle. They looked great and supported my foot, ankle and lower leg, and Many do I miss them.

I was able to keep my flight gloves, but the first opportunity he had, my brother took them and traded them for some drugs.

I had a flight suit that I eventually got rid of and some other gear. But I still, to this day, remember my flight boots. Those of you that know, really KNOW about how great they are.

Kudos on the makers of these boots.

If you ll ever get the chance, go ahead and buy yourself a pair. They are great!

Today…

In basic training, have you ever witnessed a recruit with serious martial arts skills take on a drill sergeant in a fight?

The Modern Army Combatives Program (MACP) uses a heavy amount of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, although with different goals in mind.
When I was in Basic Training, one of the recruits with us just so happened to be some level of black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was a very humble guy, and was about 5′ 10″, and weighed a whopping 140 pounds. The most skilled Drill Sergeant, at 6′ 2″ probably 220–230 pounds, was asking if any recruits wanted to risk sparring with him, and the humble recruit volunteered, being pretty confident in his abilities.
What followed is a contest I’m not sure I will ever forget. It was an incredible chess match between two individuals who seemed to see their opponents next move, and were planning 3 moves ahead. The recruit being much smaller, continued to try and draw the DS into his closed guard, which being down on his back seemed like a disadvantageous position to us inexperienced. They continued on for 10 minutes, and it became apparent the DS was becoming fatigued. The recruit, who was hardly breaking a sweat, methodically made moves to wear the DS down, moving at a quarter of the speed you would see collegiate wrestlers move at. Eventually you could see the DS failing, and his decisions and movements were becoming much more panicked, he began using strength and anger instead of skill, and the recruit exploited it. The recruit was inevitably close to locking a triangle from the guard when another DS intervened and ended the fight before the submission could be had, knowing that their ‘immortality’ would be shattered. None of the others ever challenged the kid.
It was impressive, a physically powerful and equally jiu-jitsu skilled DS was beaten by a recruit who was just a little more skilled.

Reeves Hot Doggin’

Breakthrough in Aero-engine Core Technology: the Latest Single-crystal Blades Finally Invented by the Chinese

The vigorous development of the aviation industry in recent years is inseparable from the painstaking scientific research and development of generations of workers.

China has a technological breakthrough that has broken the traditional foreign technology, and China has become the second country in the world to possess this latest advanced single-crystal blade technology for the new turbine engines.

In 2014, the self-developed fifth-generation rhenium-containing high-temperature alloy materials, ceramic-based high-temperature turbine blades and single-crystal turbine blade projects were officially put into production in China. This is a new breakthrough in aerospace engine and industrial steam turbine manufacturing fields. Currently, only China and Japan have successfully developed the fifth generation of high-temperature single crystal alloys.

The key link in production equipment is the heat treatment furnace and the most important equipment in the single crystal casting process, the single crystal furnace. Even if foreign countries block China, the Chinese scientists and engineers can all make breakthroughs in the fields by relying on their own self-reliance and hard work. In order to break through the West’s blockade of the core technologies, the Chinese entrepreneurs and scientists have boldly practiced and innovated. They not only created rhenium metal core components monopolized by Western countries, but also created new metal manufacturing methods.

At present, the first and second-generation single crystal blades independently developed by China have been used in the Shenyang WS-10 improved engine, and the third generation of high-temperature single crystal alloys have also been used in the Shenyang WS-15 engines.

That is the WS-15 engine.

The quality of turbine blades is also an important indicator of a country’s aviation manufacturing sector. The more sophisticated the engine, the more demanding it is on materials. Single crystal blade means that there is only one crystal nucleus on the entire blade, and other iron atoms are attached to this crystal nucleus and arranged in sequence. In this arrangement, the force between atoms is very large, and the allowable tensile stress is also very large. It can just meet the blade requirements of the current new high-thrust engines.

The mastery of single crystal blade technology means that China will greatly increase the production capacity of large thrust-to-weight ratio engines and will greatly extend the service life of original engines. According to research, every 25°C increase in the temperature endurance limit of a blade can triple its original service life at the original temperature.

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2023.00140

Feminist REGRETS 304 Phase

How serious is the Chinese military’s lack of experience?

If a war does breakout, there’s not going to a lot of face to face combat.

It’s not likely to be a land battle.

If it involves nuclear, then there are no winners. It will be anialation of the huan race.

It’s more likely it will be cyberwar. Can the other country wipe out your data networks before you wipe out theirs. Or knockout their weapons systems.

Modern warfare is nothing like past wars.

It’s about strategy and planning. How well you can execute those plans.

China’s recent moon mission was well planned. With six steps that were critical. All steps went perfectly and the return vehicle was within 200 feet of where it was supposed to land.

Starlink was delayed and delayed. Now they may need to send another spacecraft to retrieve them.

Even America’s GPS is out of date. China’s system allows asynchronous communication. Vital to have two way communication for weapons deployment.

In peace times, we can also see how strategy and planning are executed. Evacuating Afghanistan was a nightmare. China’s relief operations with the PLA are spotless. Deployment is within hours and supplies and emergency housing in hours. That counts as experience.

TOP “The Crucifix Scene” Reactions! The Exorcist (1973) Movie Reaction! First Time Watching

Slow Cooker Ribs

Prep: 5 min | Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

3 to 4 pounds pork baby back ribs
Kosher or sea salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups barbecue sauce, divided (store-bought or homemade)*

Instructions

Line a baking sheet with foil.
Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs: use your fingers to get underneath and loosen the membrane along one side of the ribs, and then pull off the membrane.
If needed, cut the racks of ribs into smaller sections so that they will fit better in your slow cooker.
Season both sides of the ribs with salt and pepper. If you’re cooking them immediately, proceed to the next step. If you want to season your ribs overnight for deeper flavor, cover them and keep them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook them.
Measure one cup of barbecue sauce. Place one rack or section of ribs in the slow cooker and cover it with a layer of barbecue sauce. Repeat the process with the remaining racks or sections of ribs and what remains of that one cup of barbecue sauce.
Cook on LOW heat for 8 to 10 hours, or on HIGH heat for 4 to 5 hours, depending on how many racks of ribs you are cooking and the temperature of your slow cooker. (If you have a small slow cooker and end up having to stack your rib sections more than two high, they will need more time to cook fully.) Burnt barbecue sauce is a pain to clean off of your slow cooker, so don’t leave these too much longer than the suggested cooking time. When the ribs are tender, gently remove the racks and lay them out on your foil-lined baking sheet.
Reuse those meaty juices and combine the liquid from your slow cooker with the reserved barbecue sauce, then reduce it over medium heat until the sauce reaches your desired consistency. (This is optional, you can also discard the liquid from your slow cooker and just use the remaining BBQ sauce as is.)
Allow the ribs to cool slightly before cutting them into individual ribs or portions. Brush the remaining one cup of barbecue sauce on top of the ribs.
If desired, you can also place the ribs under the broiler for a few minutes to caramelize and set the sauce.
Serve the ribs with extra BBQ sauce.

Notes

* I prefer Sweet Baby Ray’s.

The Entity

Submitted into Contest #247 in response to: Set your story on a spaceship exploring the far reaches of space when something goes wrong.… view prompt

Rado Randriamamonjy

The smell of rotten eggs woke Harper from a dead sleep. Or maybe it was the waves of intense nausea. Her innards felt like they were being stomped clean, like dirty laundry in a remote, rural stream. Through eyes weary and half-shut, Harper watched a red light pulse. It filled the space around her with spasmodic, blood-hued flashes.Uggghh… Moving wasn’t high on her list of priorities. Her head was heavy. It felt like a pumpkin propped on a toothpick, and inside sloshed thoughts and images that threatened to fuse together but, instead, bobbed haplessly in the groggy backwaters of her mind.She closed here eyes and turned to lay on her side. Too difficult. She motor-boated her lips.That’s when the poem began. The absurd wordplay could have come straight out of the dusty vaults of Captain Beefheart. The strange sonnet danced on the tongue of some faceless woman as it corkscrewed into Harper’s consciousness, like a stream of buttercream frosting atop a cake.Harper grasped at it. It evaded her clutches, verbal confetti in a breeze.“Roll bed. Feel free to pull and retest it.”

What in the world?

“Toad said, its feet avulsed. Infected.”

Whoever was speaking whimsically sliced and diced words, the way those theatrical, knife-juggling chefs at the vintage Japanese restaurant chain (whose name escaped her) diced sushi. The vowel scheme, however, remained curiously consistent.

“Road bled. A vehicle dissected.”

She struggled to make sense of it. But she was no poet. She never had the knack. It was a god-given talent, she was always told, and, in her life, she had never taken seriously even the slightest inclinations towards being an artist. When she was young, however, she dreamed of being an astronaut. She recalled how the stars outside her childhood bedroom window would whisper to her at night. They would tell her of her destiny, of her future living in their midst.

“Joe fled. The bees on skull reflect it.”

As a matter of fact, now that she thought about it, she had a faint recollection of donning a spacesuit at one time: one limb at a time, into the suit, a silent dance, a sacred ritual, all in preparation for sleep.

Again came the verse. But this time, the words cut through the mental murk and dripped with a sobering clarity.

“Code red. Debris on hull detected.”

Oh god, she thought.

Harper blinked herself awake. She swam up through the mental soup, lifted a hand and pawed at the mask that was pumping oxygen and hydrogen sulfide into her lungs. She finally pulled it off and the smell of rotten eggs disappeared.

Harper grumbled. She slipped the IV from her arm and threw it somewhere next to her. She hoisted open heavy eyelids again and glimpsed the hyper-sleep chamber. The space was tight, just big enough for an average sized adult. A glass door lay above her, and on the other side of it, the flashing beacon intermittently bathed the large cryo-room in that haunting crimson glow. Between the scarlet pulses, the room would descend into darkness, lit only by the feeble lights of the keyboard panels which stretched across the room, under monitors that were inert and black with sleep.

The red alert continued to blare in her ear as Harper attempted to move her legs. She was numb from tailbone to heels, a result of the three year hibernation. The nifty LSD-style dreams were one of the perks of hyper-sleep too — a side-effect of the hydrogen sulfide. The gas slowed her metabolism, helping her body withstand the long trip on the scantest of nutrients. The rotten egg smell was just another bonus.

“Christ, Cheryl, enough with the goddam code alert, please,” Harper mumbled.

The onboard AI turned off its alert protocol, which, to Harper, had sounded like word-salad just a moment before. The rhythmic red light clicked off too, which immerserd the room in the twilight-like glow of the the keyboard lights.

“Welcome back, Captain Gordon,” Cheryl said, in an amiable female voice. Harper responded with a guttural noise that was somewhere between a grunt and a moaning.

The door above her hissed open. The air in the room permeated her nostrils with the trademark aseptic smell characteristic of sterile environments. She sat up in her cryo-bed, hitching forward gently on wobbly arms. Her blonde-dyed dreads fell down around sandy-brown shoulders. The white tank top and blue underwear she’d climbed into the cryo-bed with had lost their snugness, despite the small army of electronic muscle stimulators that dotted her body.

Harper filled her lungs with the cabin’s perfect mix of earth’s atmosphere, taking in a deep breath and stretching her limbs, which were coming back to life — slowly. For the time being, they moved like gum in molasses.

She shook the cobwebs from her head. “Status report,” she said.

“All systems are nominal, chief.”

“Really?” Harper tipped her head back and rolled it on her neck. “Then why wake me?”

“Well, as we crossed into the Perseus Arm, the ship picked up debris on the starboard-side hull.”

Harper arched her back, getting in a good stretch. She moaned in pleasure. “What kind of debris?”

“I’m not sure. My analysis didn’t match it to any known life forms in my database.”

“Life forms?”

Cheryl paused. “Yes.”

Harper shook her head. She needed a hot cup of coffee, one big enough to be hauled around on a dolly. With loads of cream. And sugar. And a jelly donut. She’d kill for a jelly donut.

“What kind of life form?” she said.

“That’s just it, I don’t know.”

Harper sucked her teeth. “How long has this… lifeform been clinging to the ship?”

“Three days.”

“Three days? Why didn’t you wake me earlier?” Harper said, furrowing her brows.

“I would’ve but… I ran the calculations: the debris posed no threat to the integrity of the mission.”

“And what changed?”

“It started… growing.”

“Growing?” Harper shook her head again and held up a hand. “Do you have an image?”

“Yes.”

A picture of the ship’s hull came up on a nearby screen. The image moved easily across it until it came to a stop at a series of bumps. The bulges were backlit, providing a hazy profile view. They were covered in what looked to be hair. And the hair was… moving, like it was grasping at things in the void. The protrusions were dark, maybe black, or purple. Maybe even a deep red. From the camera’s vantage point, it was hard to tell.

“What the hell?” Harper squinted and leaned towards the screen. She swung a spindly leg over the edge of the cryo-bed, touching a toe to the floor.

“Careful, Captain. Your muscles. They’re not —. ”

“I know. I’d make a scarecrow jealous. I’ll be fine. Shut off the gravity, will you?”

Cheryl slowed the spinning of the main bay of the ship, causing Harper’s belly to lurch. She belched in her mouth. Another delight courtesy of the space-trekking business. “How big is it?” she asked.

“When it first attached itself to the ship it was roughly three inches in diameter,” the AI explained. “It remained that size for three days. Today, within the last two hours, in fact, it more than quadrupled in size.”

“Quadruple?” Harper thought for a moment, wiping a lock of dreads from her eyes. The fuzzy mass moved slowly as it slid across her face, the artificial gravity wearing off. “So, a foot across now,” she said.

“Give or take, yes.”

“And you don’t know what it is?” Harper asked flatly.

“No. It’s not coming up in any known databases.”

Harper nodded, processing the information. Inside, her belly was waning towards full queasiness. Her body had lifted off the mattress. She grabbed a handrail that was attached to the cryo-bed to stabilize herself.

“Chances of it covering the ship?” she asked.

“I can’t say for certain. It could continue to grow at this rate, or grow erratically, or not at all. But if it does grow unchecked, I don’t see how it wouldn’t.”

Harper nodded. “So, at this rate, how long?”

“By my calculations, it could cover the starboard side in four days, and reach the starboard booster in five. That’s my real concern.”

Harper bit down on her bottom lip. Her gray eyes twinkled in one of the panel lights. “Yea, we can kiss maneuverability good-bye then.”

“Exactly.”

“And probably our asses.”

“Bingo.”

Harper fixed a blank stare at the screen as her mind sifted through alternative scenarios. She settled on two options, both fundamentally uncomplicated, neither very good. One: abort the mission — but that would mean the end of decades of hard work and the dashing of a life long dream. Two: sticking it out — and possibly getting it wrong. Dealing with this… entity poorly, though, could mean hurtling out into space. For an eternity.

Fun, she thought.

She chewed on it a while longer.

“Apprise Houston of our status,” she said. “Then prep my suit. I’m going for a walk.”

“I can’t clear you for a walk for at least 48 hours and not before a full physical, Captain. The effects of the hyper-sleep —.”

“Override,” Harper said. “Directive twenty-four point four.” The crisp edge of authority was sharp in her voice.

“Counter override, directive eight-alpha. Captain, I cannot in good conscience let you —.”

“Goddam AI, just…” Harper steadied her breathing. Her pulse throbbed in her ear and she had raised a clenched fist, unknowingly, ready to slam it against something. “Override,” she said, “directive two-four-two-seven. You will not keep me from checking on that debris. Unlike you, I have a heart and lungs and a brain, and along with all of those things — which are near and dear to me — I want to get my ass out to the California Nebula, then back home to Earth. Waiting 48 hours to check on this thing is not an option.”

A silence bloomed between them.

“The sarcasm is unnecessary, Captain. I may not have the same parts that you do, but I don’t want to die out here either. You’re not the only one who contemplates their mortality.”

Harper rolled her eyes. These things had become far too life-like.

“Protocol overridden,” Cheryl continued. “You’ve got your space walk, Captain. But I think it’s a bad idea.”

****

After her stomach completed a few back-flips, Harper adjusted to the zero gravity. She was in the belly of it now, floating along the starboard side of the Caelum, tethered to its polymer skin.

Her suit was bulky. Under the earth’s gravitational pull, in her condition, it would have been unwieldy. But in the vacuum of space, she moved gracefully in it, like a Mylar-clad athlete.

“Coming up on the foreign object debris now,” she said.

“Roger,” Cheryl responded.

Harper wasn’t sure what to expect. She had been with NASA for 32 years. Fresh out of the candidate program, she was one of only ten women who were accepted into the program. More than three decades later she’d been to Mars and captained three voyages across the solar system. And in all those years, not a single person had encountered an alien life form. Yes, they found bacteria within the crust of Mars. But had they made contact with anything larger than microscopic organisms, ever? No. It had never happened. And here she was, on the verge of discovering a new species.

She couldn’t tell if she was excited or nervous. Maybe she was just terrified and in complete denial — the potential downsides, despite the monumental discovery, were especially grim.

Harper pulled herself around the hull using the handholds that speckled the ship’s shell. She spotted the silhouette of the debris and pulled herself closer. When she swung herself around and on top of it, Harper found a cluster of spiny, spherical objects. They were purplish-black and each was roughly the size of a tennis ball. Long, slender spines radiated out from every organism’s center, reminding her of sea urchins back home — the little critters that gathered in tidal pools along the crisp Northern Atlantic shores. But there was a glaring difference: the eye at the center. Each of these creatures had an eye that took up at least half of its body.

The sight sent a shudder through Harper.

“Christ, are you getting this?”

“Crystal clear on this end,” Cheryl said.

“What the hell are these things?”

“I don’t know, chief.”

Harper leaned in. The set of eyes looked into hers, sending a qualmishness bubbling through her belly.

The irises were yellow stippled with green specks. The pupils were as black as the emptiness around her. But they moved. The spiral-shaped openings revolved, and spun in a swirling pattern.

Harper stared at them in awe, her respirator humming rhythmically in her helmet.

“Captain?… Captain, are you okay?”

“What?… Yea… I’m gonna get a sample.”

“Be careful.”

Harper paused. Her eyes narrowed. Ok, mom.

She prepared her drill and the empty bag that was typically used to hold drill bits. Crude tools, she thought, for collecting a species that will break science. But NASA hadn’t planned on her bumping into an undiscovered life form on this trip. She had to make due.

She pulled herself closer. The cluster of eyes followed her every move, squishing and squirming in their body-sockets. She held the drill over the tiny creatures.

“Here goes nothing,” she said.

She wedged the tip of the drill bit under a specimen on the edge of the group. The bit hardly slipped beneath it. She shifted the bag further up her shoulder, then tried with both hands. Still, nothing.

“Damn, these things are stuck on here good.”

“Take your time.”

Harper shook her head, again. Yes, mom.

Out of some deep-seated Pavlovian habit, decades in the making, Harper nearly flicked on the drill. Christ. She chuckled. Then asked herself if she was nuts. She took a deep breath.

Harper gripped the top edge of the animal with her free hand and slid the drill bit under the other side again.

She pulled on it.

Ouch!

Harper recoiled in pain.

She looked intently at her glove. It couldn’t be, could it? She flipped her hand over to get a better look. No way. It felt like the creature had bitten her. Through the Mylar, through the Dacron and through the Teflon-coated glove.

As she tried to process the queer sensation, the sight of the ship began teetering in her view. The critters and their curious eyes started spiraling in a blur further and further away. She was tumbling into unconsciousness, and she knew it.

Harper’s mind gradually became alert again amidst the blackness of catatonia. The profound silence there felt like it pervaded her very soul. An image crystalized. It crackled with color. It was a moving picture of a black hole swallowing up space debris. Among the flotsam, trapped in the thing’s maw, was the Caelum. And undulating across the ship from tip to stern was a purplish-black skin, glowing, rippling, with eyes, thousands of eyes along it, peering back at her.

Harper’s breath caught in her throat.

She watched the black hole suck in the ship, spinning it across its aperture, and down towards the chute of its endless belly. Inside the black hole, Harper could feel something, a being or a consciousness. It spoke to her in a deep, wordless rumble. A piece of it, a feeling maybe, or possibly a warning, slithered across the vivid vision and touched her, the sensation rifling across her chest. It pulled at her. Harper screamed.

“Nooo!!”

She jolted awake. Her respirator was whining in her helmet. Her chest heaved with ragged breaths. Harper looked down to find herself floating several yards above the Caelum, her tether at full length. Her head was pounding again and she felt weaker than when she emerged from cryo.

She peered down at the ship. The colony had spread. The creatures had commandeered nearly the entire starboard side of the ship.

“Captain? Are you okay?? Captain?” Cheryl said.

“Yes, yes…” she muttered. “The… the creatures, they’ve… taken over the… how?” Her voice cracked with anxiety.

“You’ve been out for more than three days. I tried to wake you, but there wasn’t much I could do from here.”

The hairs on the nape of Harper’s neck stood on end. She needed to be back on the ship. She needed to get ahead of this. She reached for the tether. Her arm barely moved at her command. Harper tried the other: a similar incapacity.

“Captain,” Cheryl said tentatively, “between the hyper-sleep, your unconsciousness and going without food for as long as you did, your body is terribly weak.”

Harper blinked uncontrollably, her mind grasping at the situation, trying to make it all stick.

“Slow movements, Captain. Take your time.”

“We don’t have time.”

“Time is all we have now.”

Harper gnashed her teeth. Her insides burned. She wanted to scream.

She could hear herself breathing, the respirator purring in her ears. Stars twinkled all around her. At length, she collected herself.

Cheryl was right. Mother-jokes aside, she was always right. Harper took a deep breath and reached out for the tether. It seemed like an eternity, but all she could do was move, go through the motions, try.

While stretching for the life-line, something below caught her eye. A long row of the prickly creatures, a bit smaller than the rest, were pulsating. They were mid-inception, giving birth to themselves. They encircled the colony, a fresh layer of lethal interlopers — their amber-colored eyes wet and fully formed, their spines stunted and still fleshy.

Harper’s jaw tightened as a heat rose like a halo through the top of her head.

“You bastards!!” she screamed. “You goddam… sons of bitches…” Her voice fell to a whisper. She bit her lip, holding back sobs.

The blanket of eyes looked up at her coolly, following each of her labored movements. They glowed and they squirmed. Then swiveled in their thorny sockets.

Wise words

What are some mind-blowing facts about Vietnam?

In Vietnam, there’s a shrine for Lady Horse (Bà Chúa Ngựa). The story said that in this village, there was an extremely perverted lady, whose stories of unacceptable practices reached the ears of a mandarin. He then put her in a horse-shaped cage so she would be raped by a male horse. She died eventually and people make a shrine out of her and go there to pray for good luck.

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Vietnamese are required to study Classical Chinese poetry, both Vietnamese and Chinese ones but rendered in Vietnamese alphabet, in school.
There was a period of time when skirts were banned nationwide in imperial Vietnam. That gave birth to the Vietnamese national dress, which has pants instead.

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Vietnamese hate the Chinese government, but love Chinese culture.

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There’s free iced tea littered across Vietnam for workers that need to drink. No paying, no nothing. You just go and drink it.

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UP traumatized Jane

How could the development of extremely long-range air-to-air missiles like the AIM-174B potentially change Chinese behavior in the South China Sea region?

No.

What you don’t know is that the PL-17 has just as long a range and is smaller, lighter, and shorter than the AIM-174B.

Ironically, the West has been claiming that the PL-17 is too large to hit a fighter. Strangely, the even larger, heavier AIM-174B is now able to hit fighters. Considering that the PL-17 terminal speed is Mach 5 while the AIM-174B (just a repurposed SM-6) has terminal speed of Mach 3.5, it’s rather weird that a slower missile can hit fighters while a faster one can’t.

It appears that the laws of physics is not the same for Western weapons as for the rest of the world. Nay, the rest of the Universe.

There Is No Hope For This Generation

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve gotten for an insanely cheap price?

I was having a mooch round the cheapo shop near my mother’s house, and up on top of the shelving was a shopping trolley, the sort you can sit on. I had problems with my feet, and although I could walk forever, as soon as I stopped, the pain began. I had been looking at trolleys like this, but they were over £150 and far beyond my means.

I asked the proprietor if I might have a look at it, and he got a ladder and brought it down. It looked perfect: I later worked out that it was a second, having a couple of tiny inaccuracies in the welding which were hard to spot and didn’t impair the action.

I asked him, how much?, and he quoted me £40, which was brilliant, but I didn’t have that much cash on me, and Mr Akram doesn’t take plastic. I asked him to keep it for me whilst I went to the cash machine round the corner. He asked me, how much cash DID I have?, which was £30. Obviously thinking I might not come back, he said I could have the trolley for the thirty. Result!

Eighteen years later, I still have and use it: it’s had an outing at least once a fortnight in that time, and, apart from a bit of fraying where the current cat keeps mistaking it for a scratching post, it’s still in good nick.

The same trolley was recently listed on Amazon for £163.

What role did the US have in the recent regime change in Bangladesh?

Bangladesh’s exiled PM said: had she surrendered to USA & let USA build a US military base in St Martin Island, she would have saved her PM position.

St Martin is strategically important for USA to install mid-range missiles there so as to threaten the safety of China, India, Myanmar & the entire southeast Asia ie Indo-Pacific region.

Some said the PM did not say that.

Does not matter. When we see USA threatening WADA & IOC officials in the 2024 Olympics just for gold medals, we can guess USA may have threatened Bangladesh for such an important location in Indo-Pacific.

USA is notorious in instigating riot/coup in other country & put a puppet gov there to take US orders.

Take care of your loved ones

How long do you count before throwing a grenade?

Originally Answered: Explosives: How long do you count before throwing a grenade?

This has already been covered really well, but I want to add a story from my grandfather’s training days, during WWII.

The recruits were training with grenades and the training officer noticed that my grandfather was pulling the pin and then throwing the grenade immediately, much too fast to control its destination. He just wanted that explosive FAR AWAY RIGHT NOW. Which is understandable! But not behavior you want from your soldiers.

So the officer waited until my grandfather had pulled the pin on another grenade, and then rushed in and clamped his hands down over my grandfather’s, and proceeded to have a little conversation. Where was he from, did he know anybody back home, what was his family like, etc. Meanwhile there’s the grenade, the pin pulled but the spoon trapped under my grandfather’s hands, trapped under the officer’s.

After a few seconds of engendering pure panic, and then a minute of weirdly casual conversation, the officer told my grandfather to always remember that it was the spoon, not the pin, that set the fuse off. As long as his hand was holding the spoon, he had all the time in the world to aim.

Here’s a picture of my grandfather today. You can’t tell in this picture, but both of his hands are still firmly attached.

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Do NOT feed the bears

Australian Wildlife

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How bad could the ongoing UK riots get?

I was thinking is that it? It’s over? Violent riots in Hong Kong lasted SEVEN MONTHS. UK riots barely lasted a few days.

But there’s an interesting parallel.

In 1966 there were huge riots in Hong Kong. The military was deployed on day 1 police and the military garrison shot into crowds killing many. The police also ‘arrested’ many riot leaders who then ended up dead shortly after.

They cracked down on the 1966 riots hard. The already incredibly harsh laws were enhanced so anybody could be arrested. It was business as usual, a year later even bigger riots broke out in 1967. The rioters had prepared and brought along IEDs.

So what of it? In 1966 the riots were crushed. In 1967 the riots were crushed. This lead to the 1981 riots.

The question is, are any of the actual root issues being resolved?

In 2019 there were huge violent riots, many disaffected youth and a large violent component. Many of these people buggered off to the UK (unfortunately some are coming back about 50% so far). However since 2019?

Wages have increased substantially.

There’s been public housing units (temporary) popping up everywhere in the countryside. People can rent such places for about $109USD a month. People are going to Shenzhen enmasse. The tycoons who were fucking the place over constantly have been told to behave.

10 Years in LA: My Shocking Truths, Biggest Challenges, and Unforgettable Moments!

After Chinese companies developed new AI chips, U.S. lawmakers wrote to the U.S. Department of Commerce that day, calling for no additional sanctions.

Since the Sino-US trade war officially started, the semiconductor field has become the US’s priority to curb China’s development. Since 2019, a large number of related companies have been included in the US sanctions list. Five years have passed, is the US sanctions really effective? Why did US lawmakers come out and call for not to increase sanctions first?

On August 15, the Russian Satellite News Agency briefly introduced the new AI chip of Chinese companies under the title “China releases new chips, ready to challenge the United States”, and believed that this new chip is comparable to Nvidia’s H100. According to reliable sources, the media analyzed that many Chinese Internet companies, including telecommunications providers, are now ready to purchase this domestic chip, which successfully demonstrates that Chinese companies have the ability to resist the US restrictions on the company’s access to advanced technology.

Overall, this domestic AI chip is at a relatively awkward time node, because Nvidia’s product line update time is very stable, basically updated every two to three years, and its new AI chip is expected to be released soon, with a large improvement. Although this domestic AI chip may be inferior to Nvidia’s new model, one thing that cannot be forgotten is that Chinese companies have carried out independent research and development under the background of the US ban, and not only have they produced finished products but also have caught up with the advanced level, which is already a big breakthrough.

What’s more, this domestic AI chip can be a good “starter”. If you aim for the international advanced level blindly, you may end up with nothing; start with the product down to earth, first have a user base and then further optimize according to feedback. Only by taking one step at a time can the foundation of domestic AI chips be consolidated. Most importantly, a reliable supply chain process can prevent the US from further increasing sanctions.

In fact, the US response is very telling of how significant this chip is. On the day when the Russian media released the news, US Democratic Senator Alex Padilla and Representative Zoe Lofgren from California wrote to US Commerce Department officials, calling for a freeze on plans to impose new restrictions on technology exports to China.

The two congressmen are very practical. They believe that the export controls imposed by the United States on China have actually damaged the competitiveness of the United States in advanced semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The two believe that in the context of allies not following this ban, the United States’s unilateral sanctions will not be very useful.

Of course, the two still stand on the position of the United States and require the US government to bring its allies along when imposing a semiconductor ban on China. But you have to know that the allies of the United States may not be in the same mind as the White House. They also need to maintain import and export trade with China to make profits. So far, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands have not completely stopped supplying China in the field of semiconductors. This also fully shows that the sanctions that have lasted for many years have not been as the United States wishes and have not successfully curbed the development of China’s semiconductors. The affirmation from the “opponent” can better illustrate the current development results of China’s semiconductor industry.

In short, the various sanctions imposed by the United States on China can certainly work in a short period of time, but the demand generated by a huge market of 1.4 billion people cannot be restrained by a ban. Even if the United States can work together with all its allies to impose restrictions, China can start from the beginning on the road of independent research and development. At present, China is taking various measures to support the development of the domestic semiconductor industry. The investment amount of the third phase of the National Big Fund alone is as high as 344 billion yuan. The momentum behind this series of actions cannot be stopped by the United States.

I Was An Engineer But Got Fired! Forced To Retire! How Did This Happen?

Only one party is ruling China since long. How is that China has not fallen to “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”?

Let’s see

How many ways can you become corrupt?

A. You can have a huge balance in a Swiss Bank Account

Unfortunately in China, you pay a price if you want power and responsibility and a seat at the decision making table

The Price is your life is under continuous monitoring and those of your Children too

You have to submit Assets and Liabilities every 3/6 months and any net increase over a fifth (20%) annually or 10% half yearly needs to be explained

If you have a Swiss account overseas even with $ 2 Balance and you didn’t declare the same, you get expelled and placed under restricted movement for 2–5 years meaning you can’t leave China, can’t leave Beijing, maybe can’t even leave your home except for a 1–2 km radius

Diplomats need to submit their overseas account statements every 3 months to the MSS representative in the Chinese Embassy of the country of their posting

Children of Diplomats/CPC Members studying in Overseas Institutions must submit their Account Statements every 6 months to the Chinese Consulate including Xi Jinpings daughter

Failure to declare overseas accounts led to many Generals getting expelled but also unable to leave China or even Beijing for the rest of their lives

Not just for them but for their families too

Hu Jintao had repealed the Families Rule in 2013 but Xi Jinping re established the law in 2018/19

Likewise Directorships in Non Chinese Companies headquartered outside China and HK need to be declared to the Party

Both by Party Members or their Sons or Daughters

Not declaring is a DISCIPLINE BREACH that automatically means you can’t leave China or maybe even Beijing and will be under 24*7 Surveillance

So the System is near AIR TIGHT

Maos legacy is still very strong and Mao is seen as a God in China, so very few people dare to modify his tough party rules

B. You can invest heavily in Land

Except that THE STATE OWNS ALL THE LAND IN CHINA

You own a lease and register the lease

In China everything is Digital now unlike India

Paper Sale Deeds etc are non existent in most Tier 1/2/3 Cities

Bottom line is if you register for property – THERE WILL BE A RECORD

Most Tier Cities have CAP on Residential Leases for Individuals

Also unlike India you just can’t convert Agricultural Leases into Residential Leases

It takes 7–10 years

So that won’t work

C. You can store wads of cash and gold

Nopes. Cash is non existent now. Banks report an average of 82.50% lesser cash withdrawn in 2023 against 2003

Holding over 20,000 RMB cash is rare even for Cafeterias or Meat Markets

So no point holding so much Cash

It’s paper and nothing else

Likewise Gold in China is registered

Every Bar has a Registry Number when sold to retailers and the Bank or seller will record these details before selling you the Gold

This way YOU CAN EASILY SELL THE GOLD OR PAWN IT WITHOUT ANY IDENTIFICATION

However this also means you can’t just secretly buy gold and even if you do, you just can’t sell it because like I said everything is DIGITAL NOW and Cash is non existent

D. You can buy shares for a low price using Insider Information

Absolutely. Yet it’s LEGAL in China for CPC members to invest in Shares yet the sum is capped to 100,000 RMB a year (Approximately). This could ensure CPC members become Millionaires and that helps them further decide not to risk their positions with something stupid like Corruption

Why aim for 30 Million RMB and get into a load of trouble when you can make 10 Million RMB legally

Its why Singaporean Leaders get nearly 500,000 Dollars a month in Salary

There is a Sixth Reason – RESPECT AND HONOR

Membership of the CPC is a SYMBOL OF RESPECT AND HONOR for you that you are chosen to make decisions for the Country and State and sit with the best of the brains

It isn’t India where any Tom Dick and Harry with zero ability can become a MP or Minister or Chief Minister

Membership of the Politburo or Central Committee or Standing Committe is higher than ever

Xi Jinping is like a King in many aspects

He is the unquestionable leader and has reached that position where he will be revered for generations

Why sacrifice such a position which cannot be bought with money or land or gold???

It’s why Corruption in China is always at the low official to middle official level rather than even penetrating the Party Congress leadership

Status

Military personnel, what’s the dumbest thing you’ve heard someone in uniform say?

The captain stared hard at me. “Private, are you forgetting something?”

I was confused. “Not that I’m aware of, sir.”

“You always salute a superior officer.”

“Sir, we are in the field practicing wartime simulation. In war, out in the field, I would never salute a superior officer as a sniper would realize they were someone in charge and take them out.”

“We are not in an actual war. You WILL salute me, understand?”

“Yessir.” I popped off a salute, then handed him a card that said DEAD.

“What’s this?”

“Sir, I’m with the evaluation team. I set up the scenarios officers want so that situations can be evaluated to see how the unit deals with unusual circumstances. You were just saluted by a private and returned the salute. A sniper has killed you.”

He turned purple with rage. “You can’t do that! I have to be in the BTOC (Battalion Tactical Operations Center) in a half hour!”

The major in charge of the evaluation team whirled around and told him, “Shut up. Dead people don’t talk or stand. Lay down.”

The captain laid down on wet grass with ill grace.

The major laid another card on his chest that said “killed by headshot by sniper”.

The medic came by later and saw the cards. He and another medic put the captain on a stretcher after reading the notes and chuckled. “Let me guess. He wanted a salute.” (That’s because he knew the captain, and knew he was an a-hole.)

The captain spent the rest of the exercise lying on a stretcher for three days, only getting up to go to the bathroom or go get chow. He was NOT pleased.

So funny

Shorpy

What do billionaires do with their yachts? Do they use them to explore the ocean, or do they just park it in the middle of the sea and hang out there?

There are yachts, and then there are superyachts – the kind of yacht that is truly fit for a billionaire. And while boats are fun to own dear Jesus are they incredibly expensive to maintain. Most superyachts run well over $10 million a year in costs between staff, general maintenance, and everything else that goes into running these behemoths. So, what do billionaires do with their behemoths?

How about leasing?

One example of a leased mega yacht is the Serene 2, which at 439 feet in length makes it one of the largest yachts in the world. The ship also has an annual running cost ranging from $25 to $35 million.

Since it costs money to keep a ship like this running it only makes sense to try and make as much money as you can on it. The current owner managed to lease the yacht for a summer a few years ago to some guy named Bill Gates for a mere $5 million a week. The owner could have done worse.

Another notable example is the yacht Dilbar, which has been used for charters over the years.

The Dilbar is massive. In fact, it is stupidly massive and yet the Dilbar is only sixth in the world in length (511 feet) and third in weight (15,917 in gross tonnage) among superyachts. The cost was roughly $1 billion at the time it was built.

Between having a crew of 96 and an annual running cost of roughly $80 million a year it’s difficult to get an accurate price of what kind of clams would be necessary to charter this vessel. Yachts half the size of Dilbar will run you north of $1 million a week, so use that as a baseline. Unfortunately for you the Dilbar is no longer available for charter, so you will have to pick another yacht instead.

To conclude many owners simply travel the world and hangout wherever rich people do in unnecessary opulence. Others will charter their yachts out while they are away doing other rich people things. A small amount of owners have actually let scientific organizations lease out their yachts for research, like the late Paul Allen and his beloved Octopus.

How stupid are you

What are the darkest secrets of elite US universities?

Let me talk about MIT, which is largely missing from this set of answers.

I can talk circles about MIT not giving a lick about its undergrad population (oh boy, so much to dissect), or about the disparity between average highschool-smart kids and the IMO Gold Medalists in math classes, or about the fact that most of my classes are graded on a curve despite the fact that MIT pubs that they don’t do that.

But let’s focus on the saddest topic.

MIT is known for being one of the most intense, most rigorous, most high pressure universities in the country. It’s not because students are competitive (on the contrary, collaboration thrives and is often encouraged by instructors), but rather due to a combination of difficult coursework, extremely intelligent people everywhere that create insecurities, and a constant need to feel “hardcore.”

All this leads to one of the highest university suicide rates in the nation.

Just a few years ago, a girl jumped off the roof of my dorm, the tallest dorm in the school. MIT very promptly proceeded to investigate, and I’m not going into details, but let’s just say it was conducted extremely poorly.

The Institute is learning, though. Today, if you walk up a stairwell at MIT, it’s easy to deduce which door leads to a roof. It will have a sign:

There is help.

And really, truly, there is. We have a budding S^3 (Student Support Services) system that helps out a vast majority of students, a growing awareness about mental health in flyers and events and workshops…truly, this institution in many ways has tried to save lives.

But it’s not enough. And some of the decisions the administration have made recently haven’t exactly helped*. Just this academic year, a boy in my year committed suicide. A female grad student in my department. A 2016 alum who several of my newly graduated friends knew. And likely others who I haven’t heard about.

Rest in peace. You are missed, and you are loved.

*Go read any of the MIT Admissions blogs about Senior House. It’s more frustration than darkness, so I didn’t go into detail here.

Be the rufus

Since there is the hatred of US in the world. There is also the hated of China in the world. Why isn’t there the hatred of Taiwan in the world?

There is the hatred of US in the world, but not China. Taiwan is a part of China.

main qimg 112d42cd92b1bf69619aa76fb76677d5

China is a Challenger of the current world order. And the challenger is always lonely until it succeeds.

Before China becomes the Top Nation in the world, no other nations are willing to put all their money on China. Because they have to ask themselves: “What if China fails? If China fails, what will the US do to us?” That’s why China has no allies.

Before China, there have been many challengers: Germany, Russia, Japan. And they all failed. Throughout history, there were only a handful of countries that successfully replaced the No.1 Nation that has hegemony. Why is it so hard? Because it is always Lonely Challenger vs. The Entire World.

But if China does succeed, hundreds of nations will line up to be allies with China. This will happen overnight.

This is why no countries really have the balls to be real enemies with China right now. Because if China does succeed, China and its hundreds of allies will crash the crap out of these countries.

So China has no real enemies or real allies. All the countries are holding an attitude of “wait and see”.

Throughout history, the Law of Lonely Challenger never fails. Throughout history, the successful challengers always get allies overnight.And also, throughout history, the challengers who failed always ended up with piles of crap on their faces. Just take a look at Germany, Russia, Japan for examples.

China is the single country in the world whose top goal is to replace the US as the leading country. China has been talking about the Rejuvenation of China since the fall of Qing. When the US gained global hegemony, this Rejuvenation naturally became to replace the US.

In the current world, the international relations is , in its core, the relations between the US and China.

Behind every nation that has a problem with China, there is an onmipresent country called the United States of America. This includes the Taiwan question.

China has disputes with many nations around it. But these nations, like most of the nations in the world, have very strong economical ties with China. So they are not “enemies” in the traditional sense.

China historically stays out of other nations affairs. As a result there is very little outright hatred of China. Most are weary of being taken advantage of but all see China as a huge economic opportunity and trading partner.

You know, some countries are really suffering under USA rule, it would really be a huge improvement to align with China.

In other words, American allies are not actually friends, but simply because they are afraid of the United States.

They became allies of the United States not because they were attracted by the “high morality” of the United States, but because they were afraid of America’s abuse of power.

Russia Eliminated a Group of US Soldiers and Officers who Shelled KURSK with The Help of HIMARS MLRS

Would China go to war for Iran?

This question is important now more than ever.

US warships are closing in on the middle east, as a deterrence to Iran, and Iran wants to respond to Israel because Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. The most recent provocation from Israel, which happened two weeks ago, was the attack on Iranian soil, when they were hosting a foreign leader as a state guest.

Let’s say Iran attacks Israel and manages to cause real harm. Then, Israel will declare war on Iran, and like a puppet, the US will support Israel by invading Iran.

If that happens, will China go to war for Iran?

As much as I want China to go to war for Iran, I think China will do what’s best for their citizens — they won’t go to war.

There are two things China may do:

First is supplying weapons to Iran. It will win China support from the Muslim world. It will also be a chance for China to demonstrate the superiority of Chinese technology. They could do it secretly or openly.

The second, which would be the wiser choice but harder to pull off, is to collaborate with Palestinian sympathisers all over the world to impose sanctions on the US. If a significant chunk of the world’s countries join in, the US will fall.

It won’t be wise for China to impose unilateral sanctions on the US.

Even if China doesn’t support Iran in any ways, a US involvement in an Iran-Israel war is a win for the global south and by extension, a win for China.

In a way, this conflict is a great opportunity for China to demonstrate leadership in the world and their commitment to defending the world’s nations from US oppression.

What countries will you never visit again?

Saudi Arabia.

My wife joined me on a business trip. We picked a hotel that had fantastic ammenities — only to find that virtually none were offered to my wife, simply because she was a woman.

Men only.

The pool? Men only. The spa? Men only. Restaurants? Men only.

Men only.

Yes, this means my wife couldn’t grab lunch by herself while I was working. No, this was not during Ramadan.

Men only.

My wife had to cover up and largely make sure that she did not have any sort of interaction with men, whatsoever.

We had enough after the first day, and re-booked our hotel with an American chain, where my wife was allowed to order something to eat on her own.

I want to end this on a high note. After leaving Saudi Arabia, we went on to Singapore.

Men and women are allowed in hotel pools in Singapore.

We both loved Singapore. The hospitality was fantastic. The city is amazing. Yes, Singapore is a conservative place, and I’m well aware of it’s strict laws. Still, it didn’t feel anywhere near as punitive as Saudi Arabia. We could share a spa experience. Amazing.

My wife could go sightseeing, or shopping or take herself out to lunch. She didn’t have to be sequestered in her room, simply because she is a woman.

Singapore. 10/10 would recommend.

What, if any, are potential effects on Imane Khelif’s lawsuit over alleged cyberbullying during the Paris Olympics?

Bully is WRONG. But …

Let say her gender is truly questionable. Then the question has become …

is hitting/boxing a biological female correct?

I do not know Khelif’s case. I had the following post:

In the 2024 Olympics, there were “questionable” female boxers against biological females. Intl Boxing Assoc pushes IOC to think deeper “what a true female is”. Birth certificate is not reliable. Why not? What about chromosome or gender hormone?

Let us look at 4 scenarios.

1, gender change due to accident

A person was born male. During male circumcision when he was a baby, his gender organ was accidentally cut off. His doctor then made him a female on his birth certificate. His parents raised him as a female. At puberty, he started to take female hormone.

But he was never a true female biologically. He cannot get pregnant (dont argue some females cant get pregnant either). Despite hormone, his voice still cracked. I dont know his bodily build.

If he ever competes in Olympics, he can easily get gold medal because of his (male) strength.

Worse, he can legally hit/box a female & endanger the health/brain of the female. Do we want to see this “legal” beating of females?

My point: to determine a person’s gender by BIRTH CERTIFICATE is not reliable.

2, gender change due to birth defect

Some are born with defect eg the male organ is too small. The doctor & parents thus remove it & make him a female.

Birth defects happen to some people eg limbs not same length, 2 heads, 4 legs & more. Doctors do not remove the extra head or legs. These people accept their birth defect. Why not accepting a defective gender organ (unless the defect threatens the person’s life)?

As said in (1), unless the person is proven to be female by scientific means, the person is still physically (strength) a male.

3, Some are born with both sets of gender organs.

I suggest to leave the way it is unless the defect threatens the person’s life. Leave it until the person is old enough to decide for himself/herself.

Humans always make mistakes. Let us leave it to Mother Nature/Creator. Teach the person to accept birth defects like the 2-headed person does.

What makes parents & doctor as a human think they are wiser than Nature/Creator?

What makes parents & doctor think they can decide for another human being?

Is this a form of child abuse?

By the way, circumcision (both male & female) is considered child abuse in the 21st century.

4, Are transgender female same as a non-trans?

For the SAME height, male in general has longer arms & feet than female ie trans has longer arms.

Non-trans female has a rounder/bigger bottom. Something a male can do but not a female.

Has research compare the muscle mass, strength & balancing between trans & non-trans?

Question

Chromosome XX is female & XY is male. Is this reliable?

What about deciding the gender by the amount of male & female hormone in a person?

EU confesses ‘our prosperity was based on China & Russia’: cheap energy, low-paid labor, big market

What do Japanese and Korean people think of China?

Pretty chill.

China’s a pretty big country, and most (educated) Koreans know that. They also recognise the fact that, China’s quite different from us, although we share a lot of culture and history.

First off, China in itself is, once again, EXTREMELY LARGE. China has the world’s largest population, ranging in at somewhere around 1.3~1.5 billion, compared to the 50 million of the ROK, which pales in contrast. This means that China inevitably has a lot more going on over there, and we can’t exactly categorise the entire Chinese population into one stereotype.

Take, for example, the common misconception that all Chinese people are poor people who don’t shower and eat weird food. Sure, some people may not have the privilege of daily showers, but that doesn’t mean that the entire population hates hygiene. It’s just that if, say, a tiny 10% of the population was in poverty, that’s still a whopping 15 million, 3 times the entire population of Korea. We statistically KNOW that China isn’t like that, but what we actually SEE, is rather different.

And on another point, I personally say that China has influenced a lot of NEA’s culture, including both Korea and Japan. (And Vietnam) Not to say that we outright copied China, but there’s a lot of visible evidence that we, at one time, used to view China as a father/big brother country, with the Opium wars triggering the slow collapse of that kind of viewpoint.

Back to the present though, we see China right now as a… rival? Can’t really find the right term here, but to put it in other words;
China has a lot of shared industries with us, namely the IT industry and general production. (Samsung, Hwawei and the sort)
China sided with North Korea in the Korean War, which a lot of our elders still regret.

However, we do recognise that China is an enormous powerhouse and will probably catch up enough to completely smother companies like Samsung and LG. (Within the next decade or so)

We also know that a large portion of our economy consists of trade with China. When the THAAD problem was a thing and China smacked us with the sanction hammer, our economy quite literally fell over for while.

In the end though, I’m personally more of a “Asian Union like the European Union” kind of guy, and I envision the day when we can finally overcome our differences and grow together.

(End Note: None of these apply to the uneducated racists/extreme nationalists)

妄言多謝, Jasper

Pierogi

Pierogi are dumplings that are delicious fried and served with sour cream. These are also good filled with fresh blueberries mixed with sugar for a super dessert.

Ingredients

Dough

5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter softened
3/4 to 1 1/4 cups water

Filling

2 to 3 medium onions, chopped
1/2 to 1 cup (1 to 2 sticks) butter
6 medium potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed or put through a ricer
1 (8 ounce) package farmers cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Dough

Mix the flour and salt in a food processor. Add the eggs, butter and water (starting with 3/4 cups if the dough is dry, adding 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding up to an additional 3/4 cups if needed) pulsing until kneaded by machine and a ball is formed, or you can use a mixer to do this process.
Remove dough from bowl and let sit in a warm place for about 15 to 30 minutes.

Filling

Melt butter in a large fry pan and add onions. Sauté until onions are lightly browned; set aside.
Combine potatoes, cheese, salt, pepper and as much of the sautéed onions as you like, reserving the rest to toss with cooked pierogi. Taste for seasoning. Set aside.
Divide dough into 3 to 4 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll one portion of dough out to about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut a 3 inch round circle with biscuit cutter. Place one tablespoon of filling on one side of each round. Using your finger, moisten one side of dough with some water. Pick up the circle and fold dough over filling and pinch edges together to firmly seal the filling (this is critical – if you don’t pinch the dough together tightly, you will have gaps and when you boil the pierogi, the filling will come out).
Place the filled pierogi onto a lightly floured baking pan; cover until you finish with remaining dough and filling.
In a large wide pot, fill with water and bring to a boil over medium to high heat, when water is at a rolling boil, drop 5 to 6 pierogi and cook while stirring gently with a wooden spoon until they float to the top of pot. Cook a couple minutes longer.
Remove with a slotted spoon, toss with reserved sautéed onions, if desired, and place in a warmed deep glass bowl.
If desired, saute the pierogi briefly in a small amount of equal amounts of olive oil and butter (as shown in photo).
Serve warm with some sour cream on the side.

The China The Media Never Shows! 🇨🇳 Our First Day in SHENZHEN, GUANGDONG

Remember, you are not what you do, and if you are in trouble… reach out for help.

Breaking News

Today Russia responded to the missile attack on Russian territory.

The response was a demonstration of what is in store for European and US bases if Washington’s provocations of Russia continue A Ukrainian base was destroyed by a hypersonic ballistic missile carrying conventional warhead. The missile is designed to carry nuclear warheads. The Russian response was a demonstration of the utter destruction that awaits the stupid and foolish NATO countries Reports are that Trump is urgently seeking communication with Putin. The evil Zionist Neoconservatives are coming very close to destroying the Western world.

Several members of America’s Ignorant Foreign Policy Community Challenged my Statement of the superiority of Russian missile and nuclear capability. As usual the “experts” had no idea what they were talking about. Their ignorance is a disgrace and a danger.

It is beyond belief the European governments are so utterly stupid as to be members of NATO.

UPDATED 6:58 AM EST — RUSSIA FIRES ICBM AT UKRAINE; SAYS NEW U.S. BASE IN POLAND NOW A PRIORITY TARGET FOR DESTRUCTION

Hal Turner World November 21, 2024

Ukraine’s air force reported that an ICBM had been fired from a base in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region on the Caspian Sea early this morning. It struck Dnipro, Ukraine. This is the FIRST ICBM to be fired in war, in all of human history.

Russian authorities have not yet confirmed the launch, but it would be the first time such a powerful missile has been deployed in the war.

The Ukraine air force did not specify which ICBM had been fired, but its launch comes mere hours after a Russian military analyst said Moscow’s forces could unleash its fearsome RS-26 ‘Frontier’ missile in retaliation for the Storm Shadow strikes.

The Frontier missile is a terrifying, nuclear-capable weapon weighing roughly 50 tons with a range of up to 3,600 miles.

It has never before been used in combat, but analysts said it could be deployed with a conventional warhead in a strike that Ukraine’s air defenses would be powerless to intercept.

Reported video of the ICBM attack seems to show a significant number of “re-entry vehicles” slamming into the ground in Dnipro. It is important to point out these were NOT nuclear warheads, merely conventional, but the hits were severe nonetheless:

Kyiv has not suffered an ICBM strike since the war began in February 2022, with Russia’s military deploying smaller, slower Iskander missiles and a handful of hypersonic Kinzhal projectiles alongside hundreds upon hundreds of attack drones.

The Russian attack this morning also included other types of weapons which targeted enterprises and critical infrastructure in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, the air force said.

The Kremlin deployed Tu-95MS strategic bombers to launch cruise missiles and MiG-31K fighters to fire hypersonic Kinzhal rockets in a calculated bid to plunge Ukraine into darkness as a bitter winter approaches.

Reports said Yuzhmash, a prominent Ukrainian state-owned aerospace and defense manufacturer – was also hit in this morning’s assault.

Some Russian missiles also reportedly struck the towns of Kremenchuk and Myrhorod, while areas in Kyiv, Odesa, and the Sumy regions suffered blackouts as the electrical grid gave out.

STORM SHADOW ATTACK AGAINST RUSSIA

This morning’s bombardment of Ukraine also comes less than 24 hours after Kyiv launched UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at targets in Kursk.

Fragments of the missiles that struck a military facility in the Russian town of Marino were recovered by military bloggers on Wednesday afternoon, with unverified pictures (one shown above) shared widely on social media.

New U.S. Base in Poland Now a “Priority Target”

Russia this morning mentioned US air bases in Poland saying they can be targeted with ‘advanced weapons.’

Moscow said the opening of a new US ballistic missile defense base in Redzikowo, Poland, near the Baltic coast will ‘increase the overall level of nuclear danger’, adding it had been added to a list of possible targets for Russia.

The facility, opened on November 13, forms part of a broader NATO missile shield called ‘Aegis Ashore’ designed to intercept short- and intermediate-range ballistic weapons.

‘This is another frankly provocative step in a series of deeply destabilizing actions by the Americans and their allies,’ Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said of the airbase’s unveiling.

‘(The base) has been added to the list of priority targets for potential destruction which, if necessary, can be executed with a wide range of advanced weapons,’ she concluded.

Both Poland and Romania are hosting onshore versions of the Aegis ballistic missile defense systems The system is also used on many US naval vessels and carrier groups patrolling around Europe and serves primarily as a defense network against nuclear missiles.

The base certainly would have seen the ICBM that Russia launched against Ukraine overnight; and could do absolutely NOTHING about it.

That’s the “rub” with so much of this “missile defense” spending; they can SEE the missiles but can’t do anything about them. Yet these bases cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and we have bases all over the world. Billions spent on this . . . . and it can do nothing about missiles like the one(s) Russia fired at Ukraine overnight.

UPDATE 6:58 AM EST —

When an ICBM is used to target a relatively close target, it goes much higher up — way into space –before coming back down on the target at screaming speed.

Even though the distance from its; launch point in Russia to Ukraine was only about 650 miles, it did not go “inter-continental” but the missile __can__ go inter-continental.

MORE:

Russia launched a single RS-26 “Rubezh” road mobile missile.

Analysis of imagery of the attack indicates the RS-26 carried six independent warheads, each in turn deploying several submunitions.

This warhead package is exclusively for conventional attack.

Russia had not been previously assessed to outfit the RS-26 with a warhead of this design.

By unveiling the conventionally armed RS-26, Russia is changing the qualitative nature of the conflict, something promised by President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine and its Western allies must now evaluate the destructive potential of this weapon, and understand that Russia can deliver this warhead to any target in Ukraine or Europe knowing there is no defense against it.

The RS-26 is produced in Votkinsk. It is assessed that the production of the RS-26, which was halted in 2017, was resumed this past summer.

With production rates estimated at 6-8 missiles per month, Russia could have accumulated an arsenal of between 30-40 RS-26 missiles.

Although described as an intercontinental ballistic missile, the RS-26’s range actually depends on the warhead package. If armed with a single warhead, it can exceed the 5,000 kilometer threshold used to differentiate between intermediate and intercontinental range missiles. The RS-26 did not go into serial production because of this ambiguity; at the time, Russia was a signatory to the INF treaty, which prohibited intermediate range missiles. It is assessed that the six warhead conventional warhead package used against Dnipro would have made the RS-26 used fall into the intermediate range for classification.

Donald Trump withdrew from the INF treaty in 2019. If the United States had remained in the treaty, this version of the RS-26 would not have been available for use by Russia.

Pago Pago

When I was in Pago Pago, I was employed to build a couple of hospitals, and entry holding facilities for the immigration office there.

While I was working on the Immigration Holding cell building, I struck up a conversation with a plumber who arrived to help us sort out the hydrant situation.

He was an enormous Samoan. Big massive man, in a tiny, tiny sub-compact automobile.

As we talked he made an apologic statement. He said “well, I’m not really a plumber, I am a trained EMT, but I was laid off, and I am doing this for now.”

And so we got straight to the most in-depth conversation that I had had with a person in years. Man, he was depressed, and hurting.

And I had to tell him, as a “BRO” (and I took on the older uncle role, as well) that …

You are not the work that you do.

Us men we go though different jobs and careers in our lives. We adapt, we survive, we endure and we keep on moving forward. We never quit, we never give up, and we keep on keeping on.

He told me that he had a girl friend in Hawaii, and I asked him why he wasn’t with her.

He told me that he felt ashamed that he was no longer an EMT and that he felt that he could not live up to her expectations.

To which I told him; “Nonsense!”

As a trained EMT he shouldn’t have any trouble finding work in Hawaii, and as a bonus, his girlfriend was local.

He could get a flight to Hawaii, and immediate have contact, connections, a place to stay and opportunities. He just needs to reach out.

So I told him…

Reach out.

And things will start coming together.

And that was that. Let it be understood that four months later he was in Hawaii, and sure as shit, he got settled and all sorts of doors opened up. He did have to take a training refresher course, but he was hired in his profession.

And last I heard from him, he was doing well. A whole new world opened up for him.

All because of our little chat that day at the build site.

Remember, you are not what you do, and if you are in trouble… reach out for help.

You might be surprised at the results.

Today…

How are the Chinese dealing with China’s defeat to the US in the Olympics? We are seeing reports of propaganda and disinformation being spread throughout the country, telling its netizens that China won.

China participated in 114 Events in the Olympics 2024

They won 91 Medals

That’s a 79.82% Success Rate

This means China had a 80% Success Rate of ensuring a medal in every event they participated

USA participated in 171 Events in the Olympics 2024

They won 126 Medals

That’s a 73.68% Success Rate

This means US had a 74% Success Rate of ensuring they won a medal in every event they participated in

Kudos to both countries

They both did very well in the Olympics

US had more events so 74% is equally impressive as Chinas 80%

Others who did very well include :-

South Korea – 74.68%
Japan – 71.43%
Germany – 66.77%
UK – 65..49%
Netherlands – 68.42%

A Surprise is Kazakhstan which bagged a 64.70% success rate in the Olympics

India participated in 57 Events and won 7 Medals

Thats a 12.28% Success Rate

(I willl Assume Vinesh won a Silver because she was the only the second wrestler left undefeated until her disqualification)

Pakistan participated in 7 Events and won 1 Medal

That’s 14.30% Success Rate

Yet both nations are making the most noise after the Olympics

China won 40 Medals in Gold and tied with US for the top sport in terms of Gold Medals alone

They had two unfortunate incidents

Wang Chuqin the favorite to win a TT Medal lost in a shock upset
Their 73 Kg Weightlifter screwed up real bad and was expected to breeze

The US also found 9 Gold Medals lesser than they expected with Dominica, St Lucia and Botswana taking surprising wins against US Athletes

Plus China beat them in the 4X100 m Medley as well

It was an equal performance by both nations who left the others FAR FAR BEHIND

Very similar to the famous USSR and US taking all medals in Pre Barcelona events and the rest always being far behind

MM has competition

Here is a guy that is also using AI for classical realism. Nice work, but I think that the art needs better form…

EU menacing letter to Musk ahead of Trump X Spaces

What is the craziest story about North Korea? I heard that when North Korea played in the World Cup, the citizens of North Korea were made to believe that North Korea had won the World Cup and that Kim Jong-Il was the team’s coach.

Originally Answered: What is the craziest story about North Korea?

On August 18, 1976, after notifying the nearby North Korean command post, five South Korean Service personnel entered the DMZ under the protection of a small contingent of unarmed US and South Korean soldiers, to trim a tree that had repeatedly been used for cover by North Korean operatives crossing the DMZ to attempt to snatch prisoners. Weapons are not allowed in the DMZ, which must be kept clear under the ceasefire agreement in effect since the 1950s.

A few minutes later, a small contingent of North Koreans appeared. They observed for 15 minutes without comment or interference, then demanded the trimming stop, claiming Kim Il Sung had personally planted the tree and nourished it and it was growing under his supervision.

After being ignored, the North Koreans stormed off in a jeep, then returned in a truck with 20 soldiers armed with crowbars and wooden clubs. In a short melee, the North Koreans bludgeoned one guard to death and chopped up another with an axe.

The North Korean government immediately started petitioning various organization to condemn the event as an unprovoked attack by the US.

Three days later, 23 US and South Korean vehicles entered the DMZ–unannounced. Two eight-man engineering teams armed with chainsaws commenced to bringing down the tree under the protection of two 30-man security platoons armed with pistols and axe handles. Simultaneously combat engineers and armored vehicles prepared to destroy “the bridge of no return” should the North show its face, and South Korean commandoes, disguised as unarmed tai-kwon-do teams, unloaded rafts, M-16s and grenade launchers. Some of these commandoes strapped claymore mines to their chest and stood on the bridge, shouting and daring the North to attack.

Behind them, 20 Hueys and 7 Cobra gunship helicopters circled. Behind THESE, B-52s, F5s, F86s, F4 Phantoms, and F111 bombers appeared over South Korean skies. US and South Korean regiments armed with Hawk missiles and medium to heavy armor poured into view along the Southern side of the DMZ. In Washington, the President let it be known that he was sending 12,000 troop to Korea, starting with 1,800 comandos ready and waiting in Japan.

In response, about 200 armed North Koreans rolled up, mostly in buses. The US called the gunships into view and had C130 gunships nose to tail in Japan, ready to support if needed.

The North Korean soldiers got out and set up machine gun positions.

The tree came down in 42 minutes. The US and South Korean forces retreated, taking with them two illegal barriers previously erected by the north. The North Koreans went home and Kim Il Song, without admitting fault, withdrew his idiotic charges and expressed “regret of the incident.”

The moral of this story? If you don’t want war, make sure your adversary knows you are prepared to win one.

The other moral of this story? North Korea is bat shit crazy.

What is the relationship like between China and Vietnam?

The relationship between China and Vietnam has been complicated, and continues to be complicated. It makes sense to look at it from several different angles:

Historical:
China has occupied Vietnam for more than 1,000 years; the Chinese name for Vietnam was Annam (安南）。At times, the Vietnamese invaded southern China too. In all instances, the Vietnamese overthrew their Chinese rulers and established their independence.

For many practical purposes, there is no significant difference between Chinese and Vietnamese. Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese leader was fluent in Mandarin, and taught at the Huangpu Military Academy in the 1920s.

Cultural:
On the cultural side, the two countries were very tightly integrated. The Vietnamese adopted Chinese writing, wear Chinese style clothing, celebrated Chinese holidays, eat Chinese food, read Chinese classics and poetry. Vietnamese children learn Chinese folktales, even to this day, in their schools.

Sometimes the closeness makes the Chinese angry because they feel that being so close to China culturally, the Vietnamese should be happy to be part of the big Chinese family.

This makes for a very complicated political relationship.

Politics:
The close history and culture makes the Chinese and Vietnamese strange political bedfellows.

In recent years, the Vietnamese and Chinese helped each other in fighting the French and the Americans. But China felt betrayed when Vietnam sided with the Russians after the end of the Vietnam War.

Recently, the Chinese have acted with impunity over territory claims in the South China Sea. Basically, the Chinese are showing the Vietnamese who is boss in the region.

The Americans think that they can form alliances with Vietnam and the Philippines to curb Chinese aggression, but there is a saying “Faraway water cannot put out a nearby fire.”

This is why even after the recent disputes, the Vietnamese premier visited Beijing to defuse tensions.

Wifey Material

Do Chinese women give permission?

Hi, Cory Michael. Thanks for the interesting question.

Well, I live and work in Chengdu, so I am surrounded by Chinese women every day! 😀

Last month, one of my colleagues brought her cat to work.
Her mother and grandmother had gone on a trip together, so there was no one at home to take care of her cat.
So she decided to bring her cat to work.

Her cat is a she, and goes by the name of 地瓜 (Dìguā), which literally translates to “Sweet Potato”.

I haven’t a clue about cat breeds, so I have no idea what sort of cat she is, but she’s just over a year old.

Now, I never pet someone else’s pet unless I have their permission.

So I asked my colleague whether I could pet her 地瓜 and she said sure, go ahead.

main qimg 9e0664488bfa3d7026d3c75cd177afde

My colleague had brought 地瓜 to the office wearing a leash on a cat harness.

I was a bit amazed, because I had never seen a cat taking to a harness-and-leash combo before.
I thought all cats hate being walked on a leash.
And she (the cat, not my colleague) went about it so obediently.

So I asked my colleague for permission to walk 地瓜 for a bit after work.
My colleague happily obliged ^^

地瓜 was very patient with me during out short walk together 😀

Conclusion:

In this context, my colleague, a Chinese woman, gave me permission to pet and walk her pet cat.

Hope this answer helps with your question, Cory Michael !

Lisa’s Crispy Chops

Ingredients

6 pork chops
3 eggs, beaten slightly
2 cups crushed soda crackers
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 1/2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Instructions

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
Dip pork chops into egg, then roll in dry mixture.
Fry over medium heat in a small amount of oil until dark, crispy brown.

106. Hoe_Math – The Michael Sartain Podcast

The War of the Feather Duster

Lily Kingston

“I never thought it was possible for a person to be so damn arrogant!” Zed screamed as he slammed the front door of his house. “Your ass better stay on your own damn asteroid or I’ll kick it all the way to one of Jupiter’s moons!”Through the blinds of his window, Zed glared at the abyss of space outside his personal asteroid upon which his house sits. His eyes zoned in on the house of his one and only neighbor, Mandy. Across the asteroid belt, he saw Mandy’s front door fly open and her step out in a space suit with a brick in hand. She threw the brick and shattered Zed’s window as it landed in his living room. A tight vacuum sucked in from the broken window. Grumbling under his breath, Zed slapped some Flex Tape ™ on it. “Crazy woman,” he muttered, then looked down at the brick. There was a note on it.Crouching down, he picked up the note. I didn’t steal your damn duster! Zed scoffed. “That’s just what a duster-stealer would say,” yelling louder so Mandy could hear him this time, he added. “I know you stole my duster ten years ago! I bet my house on it!”“As if!” Mandy hollered back.“That duster took forever to be shipped here from Earth, Mandy! I’m getting it back!”“I ain’t no thief!”“Yeah, right,” Zed remarked under his breath.Staring at the mess of glass in his living room, Zed realized he had spent enough time arguing and definitely has to swept up this mess. “Damn, when does that woman ever stop causing problems for me.”Zed glared at his closet door. Space-spider webs covered the knob. He hasn’t cleaned anything in years. Signing, he twisted it open and saw its crooked shelves propped up by a singular wooden broom. Slowly, just as he thought the broom was free from being Altas, and was about to carefully make his exit, the shelves can clamoring down.“Juck!” He cursed as debris cluttered at his feet.Something tapped his ankle. As he looked down, his eyes widened. It was the feather-duster.“Oh, juck.”Zed paced around his living room with the blinds closed and the duster in hand. “Oh, juck. Oh, juck. Oh, juck.”What the juck was he supposed to do? Apologize for his wrong actions? Admit he was wrong? To Mandy??No! Those were all horrible options!Then, he stopped pacing a sly smile grew on his face. “What if Mandy never knows it was here?” He cracked open his blinds and peeled at Mandy’s house. “Because I’m going to sneak it into her house before she ever finds out.”Zed didn’t bother to wait until ‘night’ or anything because what night? He’s in space! Instead, he immediately suited up and floated under the asteroids, out of sight, to Mandy’s house. He entered through a window in the basement. His weak muscles barely pulled him through the vacuum as he flopped onto the floor. “Man,” he mumbled as he stood up. “These houses were not designed for space.”After fumbling around looking for the staircase upstairs, Zed just ended up wiggling off a loose vent panel and shimming his body through the vent. He peeked out the occasional vent, using it to navigate through the house. Finally, he found himself in Mandy’s master bedroom while she was taking a shower.Zed pounded his fingers through the vent and tries to shake it off, but the metal held firm. “Juck!” He cursed as he heard the water turn off. Mandy would come out of the bathroom any minute now.Rushed to get out, he left the duster inside the air vent and shimmered back to the basement, went out the window, and made his daring escape by floating casually back to his house.Goosebumps run up and down Mandy’s arms. “Why is it so cold in here?” She asked herself as she pulled on a second sweater. “Geez, don’t tell me there’s something wrong with the furnace again. Ugh! It’s going to take so long to get a repairman here!”Mandy drastically pounded on the thermostat, but the temperature stayed the same. Then, she heard a quick rat-a-tat-tat-tat coming from her air vent. Slowly, she crept over to it, wondering if something was inside. She used her nails to unscrew the vent and remove it. Inside, she pulled out… the feather duster. Mandy went white.“Oh, juck. Oh, juck. Oh, juck. Oh, juck.” She softly cursed to herself.She had been the one with the feather duster, she thought. Mandy began pacing. What the juck was she supposed to do? Apologize for her wrong actions? Admit she was wrong? To Zed??No! Those were all horrible options!Mandy’s Mind scrambled for a solution. Wait a minute, she thought, if I hide it in Zed’s house, he’ll never know…Mandy broke into Zed’s house from a sky light on the roof because I guess just juck breaking and entering laws in space, right? Tiptoeing around, she looked for any convincing hiding spot to but the duster. A hungry stomach lead her to the kitchen.

As she stole all of Zed’s leftover pizza, an idea hit her. Underneath the fridge! Who cleans under there? Quickly, she stuffed the pizza in her mouth and the duster under the fridge as Zed’s footsteps approached. She dove behind the couch for cover as Zed opened the fridge looking for his leftover pizza. “What?” He asked himself. “I don’t remember eating it…”

Mandy nibbled on the crust in silence.

Zed tsked and closed the door. Instead, he grabbed a glass and filled with ice. Mandy’s eyes widened in horror as a cube slipped and slid under the fridge. Zed groaned and swiped underneath… only to have his hand find the feather duster.

With a fearful expression of his own, Zed pulled it out. Oh juck! I thought I hide this in Mandy’s house! What is this some kind of boomerang duster? Zed thought.

Swiftly, Zed grabbed his space suit and headed out the door. After it slammed shut, Mandy emerged from her hiding spot and watched from the window Zed hiding the duster back inside her house. “That punk!” She exclaimed, ironically. “How dare he tried to shift the blame and hide the duster in my house!”

Zed came back inside his house to find a Mandy with a crooked grin sitting on his couch. “What are you doing here, Mandy?” He asked.

“What were you doing in my house?” She remarked.

His face paled. “Nothing.”

Mandy wagged her finger in front of his face. “I don’t think so. You were hiding the duster because you were the one who had it along.”

“Ok, fine!” He confessed. “I found the feather duster but–wait a minute, how did you get into my house without me knowing? And how did you get back here just as I hide it?” He stepped closer. “And how did you know I was even hiding it, or that I had it?”

“I–well,” Mandy stuttered.

“You hid it in my house first!” Zed declared.

“I so did not!” She shouted. “How do I know you didn’t hide it first!”

Zed gasped. “Like I would ever do something so scandalous as that!” He lied.

“I just saw you hiding it,” she snapped.

He crossed his arms. “That doesn’t prove anything. You don’t know if it was originally in my house!”

“And you can’t prove it was in mine!” She hollered back.

“You wanna bet!” Zed screamed with a red face.

Mandy stuck her finger in Zed’s face, opened her mouth to say something before a confused expression flickered across her face as something outside the window caught the corner of her eye. “Wait a second, where’s the duster now?”

“It’s in your house.”

Mandy glanced back at the object. It was the duster. Just floating in space. “No it’s not.” Mandy pointed. “It’s right there.”

Zed twisted his neck to see it. “Oh, juck.”

I must have forgotten to close the window all the way.

“I guess that’s one way to solve the problem.”

Bronco Billy Saves the Day!

What seemingly insignificant event had a big impact on World War II?

main qimg 5e41bc83e11240d1de7ccb6f14747158 lq

HMS Griffin

On a gloomy 24th April 1940, two British destroyers, HMS Griffin and HMS Acheron, were carrying out routine searches of merchant ships traversing the North Sea. Their mission was to prevent German resupply vessels reaching Andalsnes and Narvik, where British and French troops were fighting a loosing battle during the invasion of Norway.

They intercepted an innocent looking Dutch trawler off Andalsnes, halfway between Bergen and Trondheim on the Norwegian coastline. She turned out to be a disguised Kreigsmarine surface raider Schiff 26 – the Polares.

Among the mines, concealed guns and two loaded torpedo tubes Polares was carrying to disrupt the allied force, HMS Griffin’s boarding party also discovered a cache of intelligence documents. They had been hastily thrown overboard in a weighted bag, which failed to sink. These included some of the German Enigma coding machine keys for the period 23–26 April, and the procedures for scrambling the rotors.

Signal Rating (later Lt. Cmdr.) Geoffrey Jones, a former gentleman’s hatter from Liverpool, received a Distinguished Service Medal for his bravery in assisting the bomb disposal team to disarm the novel magnetic mines carried by Polares after she was towed to Portsmouth. Jones went on to command antisubmarine trawlers and became a teacher and headmaster after the war.

This was the first break that Bletchley park had in defining ‘cribs’ that could be used to enable the Bombe electro-mechanical computers – developed to operationalise Alan Turing’s decryption technique – to attack the German Enigma codes. With this intelligence they succeeded for the first time in retroactively decoding Enigma traffic between 22–26 April. While this revealed little useful intelligence it proved the potential of the Bombes to crack the German codes and sparked a concerted effort to gather new cribs and to mass produce the Bombe computers.

And the rest is, as they say, history.

Edit: The capture of a new 4 rotor naval Enigma machine was by another British destroyer, HMS Petard, on 30th October 1942 (after she in company with three other destroyers, a Sunderland flying boat and an ancient Wellesley patrol aircraft had spent 16 hours hunting and depth charging U-559 to the surface off the coast of Egypt – arguably a more important victory than the Battle of El Alamein which was going on at the same time not far away).

Two of three men who boarded the abandoned and sinking U-559 to retrieve the Enigma machine failed to get out before she sank, and were awarded the George Cross posthumously (the highest British honour for bravery not in the face of the enemy). The survivor, NAAFI canteen assistant Tommy Brown, received the George Medal (surely an inspiration to check-out clerks everywhere).

By that time Bletchley park was routinely reading the older 3 rotor Enigma machine messages (which were used by most of the German armed forces).

The first Enigma machine was ‘acquired’ by Polish intelligence in 1938 (by setting up a fake German arms company and ordering a civilian version!) and handed to British and French intelligence in 1939. The original machine was lost, but an accurate copy was reverse engineered from Polish drawings by Bletchley Park technicians.

HMS Griffin’s success was probably more important, as it proved the system and ensured it got high priority and funding, although cracking of the 4 rotor codes, using the improved Mammoth and ground breaking Colossus computers, certainly doomed the U-boats.

Incidentally, German documents uncovered after the war revealed that they were very concerned about the loss of the Polares, and that the possible discovery of Enigma codes may have revealed their plans for the invasion of France. However, as the codes she carried did not extend up to May, they thought they were safe (they were, as it took a little longer for Bletchley to crack the system wide open). However it did not occur to the German cryptographers to imagine that they might be used to help develop a system that could read most of their secret communications for the rest of the war.

EDIT 2: in answer to a good comment on why did it matter?, especially in relation to why Ultra did not improve allied intelligence in advance of the Market Garden operation and German Ardennes Offensive in 1944….

The Germans did not use radio messages encrypted by Enigma machines for communications within Germany. Instead they relied largely on the domestic landline network using teleprinters and telephones. Without radio messages to intercept Bletchley Park had nothing to work with. During the last stages of the war, this internal ‘phone based system was dominant as most Wehrmacht forces were based inside Germany, and this explains why Ultra intercepts were not available in useful quantities for Market Garden and the Ardennes Offensive.

Nevertheless, there are literally hundreds of occasions when Ultra helped the Allies gain the advantage in ways that contributed decisively to victory. For example Ultra intercepts were used to inform the Soviets about the exact German dispositions before the Battle of Kursk in the Summer of 1943, ensuring that Hitler lost the element of surprise and the Soviet defences were well prepared.

Planning for the Torch, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and Normandy landings were all helped by Ultra as was Operation Cobra (the Normandy breakout), El Alamein and numerous Soviet victories. As you said it was decisive in the Battle of the Atlantic too, and breaking of the naval codes in late 1942 allowed Allied naval forces to rapidly defeat the U-boat threat in 1943. There were few allied operations between 1941–45 that were not assisted in some way by Ultra.

There were some occasions when good Ultra intelligence was not used – usually when concerns about protecting the source made Enigma intercepts difficult to distribute (cover stories about agents penetrating the Wehrmacht could only go so far), or when the distribution was so restricted that those who needed it most did not get access or mistrusted the intel provided (the Dieppe raid in 1942 is an example). As the system evolved and expanded, so did more effective distribution methods and greater user confidence in Ultra intelligence.

Ultra intelligence was shared with the USA (the US shared intelligence from its codebreakers in the Pacific in return), Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand and to some extent with the Soviets and Free French. The intelligence sharing arrangements for Ultra are the origin the modern “Five Eyes” system between the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Man Discovers Fiancée Is No Saint And BLINDSIDES Her By Taking Back The Ring!

Why doesn’t Russia just use tactical nukes to stop the Kursk offensive?

Not needed

The Kursk offensive was elegant but ultimately a disaster as everything else

Imagine India invading and taking over large tracts of Pakistan and in exchange Pakistan captures 42 Rajasthani Villages across 5 Districts – 14 of which have already been liberated inside Five days with a minimum of 2500 Dead Enemy Soldiers and 150 pieces of equipment

The Ukraine supply line is cut off at SUMY where Russia is bombing FAB after FAB

This extends the Supply line from 7 Miles to 55 Miles

That alone means Ukraine cannot keep equipping their Soldiers who are in Kursk

This means Ukraine will send more troops across the Borders into Belgorod but again without supplies they will end up becoming TERRORISTS and holding hostages

Meanwhile Ukraine will leave their own territories where Russia will advance with impunity and capture more settlements and destroy more Ukrainian equipment and people

The Gamble was that Russia would be so worried about the loss of Civilian Lives in Kursk that they would immediately sue for peace

Unfortunately Russia is angrier now and regard Kursk as Terrorism against Civilians and will be even less determined for any peace

Yesterday 71% Russians voted on Telegram Groups to Kill Ukrainian women and Children against 8% on 30.06.2023 and 11% on 31.12.2023

It was a bungled offensive

You just don’t have the supply line to feed soldiers into Russia because Russians have Airpower and Artillery Power and Tank Strength

Plus they have the numbers

They can mobilize 200,000 Soldiers from their Reserves within a week

Ukraine is utterly exhausted and these are it’s BEST RESERVE TROOPS who are getting sliced into salami in Kursk

Why use Nukes?

Bronco Billy | 1980 | Clint Eastwood | movie review

Is Joe Biden Trying To Start World War 3 Before He Leaves Office? The Decision To Use Long-Range Missiles To Strike Targets Deep Inside Russia Is Insane

November 17, 2024 by Michael

As if everything that Joe Biden has done so far was not enough, now he has decided to push us to the brink of nuclear war. On Sunday, Joe Biden decided to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles provided by the United States to hit targets deep inside of Russia. This is a bombshell. I don’t know how else to put it. The Russians have already warned us how they will respond if long-range missiles provided by the United States and other NATO countries start raining down on their cities. Sadly, most Americans have no idea what a direct conflict with Russia would mean.

When I first heard what Joe Biden had done, I reacted very emotionally.

I am still feeling very emotional at this moment.

Everyone needs to clearly understand what just happened, because this is a major turning point…

President Biden has given the OK to lift restrictions that will allow Ukraine to use U.S.-provided long-range weapons to strike deep into Russian territory, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News on Sunday. The move is a significant change to U.S. policy in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict.

The easing of restrictions would allow Kyiv to use the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia. The move also comes as some 10,000 North Korean troops were sent to Kursk near Ukraine’s northern border to help Russian forces retake territory.

One of the reasons why I am so upset is because this wasn’t his decision to make.

We just had an election and his side lost.

The American people elected a leader that wants to bring the war in Ukraine to an end, but now Joe Biden is trying to make sure that nobody is going to be able to end this war.

According to CBS News, one of the reasons why this decision was made was to “put Kyiv in a better negotiating position when and if peace talks happen”…

The U.S. decision could help Ukraine at a moment when Russian forces appear to be making gains and could put Kyiv in a better negotiating position when and if peace talks happen.

It also comes as Mr. Biden is about to leave office and President-elect Trump has pledged to limit American support for Ukraine and ending the war as soon as possible.

Are you kidding me?

That is nonsense.

Donald Trump needs to come forward immediately and denounce this move, because we could be facing a scenario where events spiral out of control before he even has the opportunity to take office.

When Vladimir Putin was asked about the possibility that long-range missiles provided by the U.S. could soon be used to hit targets deep inside Russia, he responded by warning that such a move would mean that “U.S. and European countries are at war with Russia”…

“We are not talking about allowing or not allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons,” Putin said Thursday in comments to propagandist Pavel Zarubin. “We are talking about deciding whether NATO countries are directly involved in the military conflict or not.”

“This will mean that NATO countries, the U.S. and European countries are at war with Russia,” Putin said. “And if this is so, then, bearing in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us.”

Joe Biden just called Putin’s bluff.

We just crossed that red line, and there is no going back.

Now we will see if Putin was bluffing or not.

Later in September, Vladimir Putin explained that a “joint attack on the Russian Federation” could trigger the use of nuclear weapons…

A new nuclear doctrine would “clearly set the conditions for Russia to transition to using nuclear weapons,” he warned – and said such scenarios included conventional missile strikes against Moscow.

He said that Russia would consider such a “possibility” of using nuclear weapons if it detected the start of a massive launch of missiles, aircraft and drones into its territory, which presented a “critical threat” to the country’s sovereignty.

He added: “It is proposed that aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, be considered as their joint attack on the Russian Federation.”

The Russians have told us that allowing Ukraine to fire long-range missiles deep into their territory could cause a nuclear war.

But Joe Biden did it anyway.

Just imagine how we would feel if some foreign power was firing long-range missiles into Washington D.C. and New York City.

If someone did that to us, we would nuke them.

I want everyone out there to understand the gravity of the scenario that we are facing.

Of course the Russians have been escalating matters as well.

In fact, they just hit targets all over Ukraine using “120 missiles and almost 100 drones”…

Ukraine said it would introduce nationwide emergency power restrictions Monday after a “massive” Russian attack further damaged its already fragile energy grid ahead of a much-feared winter, with nine civilians also killed across the country on Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow launched 120 missiles and almost 100 drones, targeting Kyiv as well as southern, central and far-western corners of the country.

Civilians were killed in the Mykolaiv, Lviv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions in what officials in the capital called one of the biggest barrages in the almost three-year Russian invasion.

Meanwhile, the war in the Middle East threatens to spiral completely out of control.

On Sunday, Zero Hedge was reporting that Israeli troops were seen fighting at a location that is 3 miles north of the Lebanese border…

The Israeli military has reached the deepest point in Lebanon since the ground offensive began about six weeks ago. This has been reported by both Lebanese and Israeli media, amid raging battles with Hezbollah on Saturday.

“The state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli troops temporarily captured a strategic hill in the southern Lebanese village of Shamaa, about five kilometers (3 miles) from the border early Saturday, before later being pushed back,” Israeli media reports. “The outlet claimed soldiers detonated several buildings including a shrine before they withdrew.”

The IDF has also been bombing Syria on an almost daily basis, and we are waiting for the next Iranian attack on Israel which could literally occur at any moment.

Even though we could see these wars coming way in advance, nobody has been able to stop them.

Now Joe Biden has brought us to the brink of nuclear war with Russia even though he has very little time remaining in the White House.

It was not his decision to make, but he made it anyway, and it could end up having very serious implications for every man, woman and child on the entire planet.

Some AI lessons on MM image generation

It took me a while to figure out, but these images of people with this thing out of their mouths is what the AI interprets as “drinking”.

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(7)

It also has a problem with size relevance.

@@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(10)

Changing the AI model can result in dramatic changes in the resulting picture… Some are good, and some aren’t.

Here’s one AI model …

##Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(13)

And here is a different AI model…

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(18)

If you are not careful, all the individuals will look like clones…

ORB Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(15)

I really like how it creates backgrounds, but you MUST be specific for a background to be generated… some fantastical backgrounds come with undesirable subject matter.

BG Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(19)

It does seem to have a problem with sheer and wet clothing. Only generating edges, and ignoring the rest. Which is interesting, but not what I am looking for.

Sheer Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(20)

Sometimes, it looks fine. But the AI really has a problem with hands; number of fingers, and left vrs right…

Imperfect Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(9)

The fellow on the left is using a right hand on his left arm. Though the girl seems to be just ok.

Nothing worse than an extra arm to throw off the art…

#Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(11)

Why does some of the world not recognize the United States as the “good guys” in most situations, when they have been consistently trying to spread democracy around the world?

Here is the story of a democracy.

The Prime Minister of this country refused to allow a British oil company to control this nation’s oil reserves. He wanted the oil to benefit his people, he was an elected representative after all.

In response, the British boycotted this nation and asked the Americans for help.

The determination was to over throw this nation’s government. The CIA helped design a coup to overthrow this democratic government [1].

And the CIA succeeded and installed a dictator who was beholden to the United States to stay in power.

Now obviously this nation wasn’t thrilled about this and 26 years later the people of this nation protested and ended up successfully overthrowing this dictator to form a theocratic republic.

Since then, the US has flirted with the idea of going to war with this nation.

This nation: Iran

Yes, the US created the Iran we know today because the US installed a dictator.

The US does this stuff all the time, the US overthrew a government over the price of bananas [2].

The US supports 73% of the world’s dictators [3] .

The US does not spread democracy, the US supports people who support the agenda of American imperialism even if that is a dictator.

Also the US created the issues we have with Iran, so it is hilarious when Presidents complain about their ‘behavior’ because it was the United States that created the problem to begin it with interventionism… yet chuckleheads in the White House seem to think further interventionism is the answer.

Footnotes

[1] CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup

[2] 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état – Wikipedia

[3] US Provides Military Assistance to 73 Percent of World’s Dictatorships

I can’t get a job to save my life (1500+ applications) | Tech 2024

Have you ever returned from the store and realized that the cashier did not scan one of your items?

Once, I bought a multi-roll package of toilet paper. I had it on the bottom of my shopping cart, on the little shelf. I told the cashier it was down there. She rang up my purchases, I left the store and went home. Later I was looking over my receipt, and noticed that the toilet paper wasn’t on there. She hadn’t scanned it.

That little devil sitting on my shoulder said, “Well, consider it your lucky day”. But the little angel on the other shoulder said, “You know you have to do the right thing”. So the next day I trooped down to the store with the toilet paper and my receipt and stood in line at the customer service desk. When it was my turn, I told the cashier what had happened, and she said that she wasn’t going to charge me for the toilet paper. She said that by then, the cashier’s drawer (the one who checked me out) had been counted and put in the days receipts.

So I took my toilet paper home and lived happily ever after.

Another time, I bought a weedeater for my husband. He told me exactly which one to buy, and it was on sale. So I go and find the weedeater and buy it, and take it home. When I got home, and looked it over, I realized that it was a much, much nicer weedeater than the one on sale had been. I realized I had been pretty drastically undercharged. So, I called the store and told them what had happened and that I would take it back and get the one on sale.

So that’s what I did. It was a small Mom and Pop business, and they were decent people. I couldn’t take them like that. They were appreciative, and gave me a little gift certificate.

Husband comes home from work, we’re talking about the weedeater, and I tell him what had occurred. He was furious with me. He said I was stupid to take the expensive weedeater back, when I could have just played dumb. And then he would have a better heavy duty weedeater. It caused a big argument between us. I tried not to, but I lost a little bit of respect for my husband over his attitude regarding that weedeater.

I was raised to do the right thing. To do my best to be an honorable person. I have failed miserably many times, I know. But I like to sleep at night, and I like to have a clear conscience as much as possible. So I try to do the right thing. Simple as that.

ANXIOUS Arrival In Shanghai, China 🇨🇳 This Country SHOCKED ME! 英国人抵达中国上海

Will Boeing ever return to a time that their commercial aircraft was the gold standard of the airline industry?

Can they? Yes, there are lottery winners every week.

But will they? Unlikely, and even if they do, it’s a long slog ahead.

Boeing can’t catch a break, not since the first 737 max crash.

A string of troubles later, Boeing has bled immense quantities of cash, but finds itself in a QC mess, road map delays, a stuck starliner in space, union troubles, legal and fed oversight issues and one 737 Max crash from the mother of all PR storms.

Evidently, boeing has big problems executing as an engineering and manufacturing firm.

Unfortunately, Boeing is a no-option too big to fail node. The American government will step in to save it. And molly coddling will help Boeing stay up but hardly improve its competitiveness.

The culture needs to change. Unfortunately, financialization and cheap credit has played havoc with American competitiveness in the 21st century. Hard engineering is too slow for quick money’s taste.

Twenty years ago, pilots preferred Boeing’s yoke for its sense of familiarity. Today, airbus’s sidestick has revolutionized the cockpit’s ergonomics and workflow, introducing class-leading safety while reducing pilot workload.

Boeing has its work cut out, especially with the emergence of comac.

I am of the opinion Boeing’s economic model is too extravagant and there is too much fat in the supply chain. But it will require the competition to lay bare the fact customers are paying too much for what they are getting.

But that’s 20 years down the road, due to the product life cycles of airliners.

I wish Boeing luck. It is unlikely to disappear, but I won’t be surprised if it weakens further.

Shorpy

The Truth About China |老外眼中真实的中国

What impact will Russia’s defeat have on China?

Let me tell you the truth, all Chinese people believe that if Russia fails, China will also fail, because the US will use Russia as a springboard to invade China. We won’t let that happen.

Don’t think the defeat of both Russia and China is a good thing. You in front of the screen are actually standing in the same position as us.

Here’s the history about your economy.

On August 15, 1945, when Japan unconditionally accepted the Potsdam Declaration and surrendered, and the world finally moved towards peace.

That was also the beginning of the golden age that MAGAs believe in.

Five years later in 1950, Washington DC announced the completion of its industrialization goals. In order to address the vested interests of the military class and become a world hegemon, the Washington DC launched the Cold War against the USSR. In order to ensure that Europe and East Asia were on the same front as itself, the government launched the Marshall Plan in 1947, transferring industry to allied European countries around the USSR, plus Japan, South Korea, and so on.

Washington asked, and Moscow answered.

The USSR provided comprehensive social security from cradle to grave, including free healthcare, education, housing, and employment security. As a result, Washington expanded its Social Security Act, Americans had Medicare and Medicaid at the first time. Assistance for low-income groups, housing plans, and strengthening public education, all of them was made during the cold war. The last time oligarchs gave such preferential treatment to workers was at Ford Motor Company in 1914, half a year before WWI.

The policy of the Washington DC towards the Moscow benefited the American workers, however there’s a flaw of the US itself: the social welfare system pushed the pressure to capitalists, and American domestic capital flee and become international capital. Industrial hollowing began from then on. Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea rose later, at the cost of the Rust Belt in the Great Lakes region. The 1960s. The end of the golden age.

But that was far from over.

If the existence of the USSR cannot make you realize what you have gained because of it, at least the departure of the USSR may make you realize what you have lost. With the collapse of the USSR, American capital was no longer under pressure, and labor welfare plummeted.

Companies led by Wal Mart began to actively reduce workers’ wages and welfare benefits. Despite ongoing inflation in the US, its minimum wage for labor remained at $5.15 per hour from 1997 to 2007. Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996 forced low-income workers to choose unstable jobs, people no longer have sufficient welfare. Right to Work Laws drived workers away from the union, making the union no longer represent the interests of workers, but gradually become a dual rival between companies and workers. The limit of industrial hollowing out is marked by NAFTA and China joining WTO.

The rich took too much, and the poor had no ability to buy. enterprises went bankrupt. Financial crisis, again and again.

The USSR brought American workers the golden age. The USSR also protected them staying in the golden age. When the USSR left, American workers became orphans abandoned by the government. The irony is that few American workers appreciate the USSR. They would rather believe that it is the kindness and conscience of the wealthy who have brought them a superior life, than believe in the common beliefs and struggles of millions of people.

Now take a look at China. We have achieved a living standard similar to or even higher than yours with resources far below the world average and per capita GDP on the world average – as you can see from the expected life expectancy.

Look at history and ask yourself. If no country in the world can resist the capitalist oligarchy of the US, after the popularization of AI and industrial robots, as manual laborers, what bargaining chips do you have to negotiate with them?

Or, let me ask in a different way, how much longer do you have to wait before you will fight for your own life rather than relying on others’ efforts? The clock of average people is ticktocking, since the popularization of industrial robots will be realized in your lifetime.

I FINALLY GOT A JOB! (1-year search | Tech 2024)

How does India get benefits if the world starts a war with China and Tibet gets independence?

The fact is, India is an expansionist country. They make every possible excuse to enlarge their territory.

As a Nepalese, I know it as a fact that Indian politicians have always dreamed of making Nepal an Indian state. Many Indians themselves do not know about it. They come to us and warn us to be careful about China. However, I’ve never met any Chinese who told us to beware of India.

That is why Nepalese people don’t support the Free Tibet Movement. If we don’t have a strong neighbor that can challenge India, we’re gone for good.

Personally, I’d rather Nepal be a part of China (because I am a Tibetan by ethnicity). I see nothing in common between my people and the Indians. Last I checked, Indians are as poor as us. Why would we want to join a poor nation? Why would anyone want to join a poor nation? I think what Indians need to do is develop their economy and infrastructure first. While they are at it, they should stop telling us how to run our country and whom to be careful about. We like China more because they did just that.

Lastly, some Nepalese people love India. That can’t be denied. However, we all hate the Indian media complex. Those people have no class at all. I’d rather appreciate if freedom of speech is suppressed in India. Thank you China for doing just that.

What happened in a courtroom that gave the judge a belly laugh you will never forget?

A true story of 40 years ago, with all parties dead now so it doesn’t matter:

Back when I was a child, my parents were friends with one of our neighbors. This lady — to this day — has my utmost respect as she had a command of the English Language that was put a drunken sailor to shame! Her insults, curses, and epitaphs were utterly astonishing as she’d put adverbs and adjectives that one would never expect together to form mind-boggling descriptive vulgarity for any common situation.

As was her nature, not everyone could handle her brash attitude and obscene vocabulary, so she ended up in court with the neighbor on the other side of the road from us. We went to watch the precedings, and all started out well and good — right up until the point where the other woman started to speak.

Her accuser said something quietly and abashedly, like: “Umm.. She threatened to hurt me and my kids…”

To which point, my mom’s good friend slammed her fist on the podium and yelled, “I OBJECT!! She’s lying, your honor! I told that GI-Gangbanged bitch that if her unsolicited mistake of Satan’s substance ever fucked around with my girl again, I was going to knock the bastard graveyard dead, bake his balls in a pie, and serve it to her for dinner!”

A moment of silence followed. Everyone blinked stupidity to process out outrageous her outburst was, and then chuckles filled the courtroom.

Brash. Yep!

Descriptive. Yep.

But a liar? Not one bit!!

Cost of living in Da Nang, Vietnam (World’s cheapest Country)

Why do Chinese trolls always fantasize that Japan and South Korea are American colonies? How can we cure their delusions?

Some 80% of Japan land is used as US military bases.

When you have foreign military base in your country, you lose 1/2 of your strategic sovereignty. If this is not colonisation, what is it?

Only people in denial will say Japan is not a US colony. Same for S Korea.

Do you know who wrote Japan’s constitution? U S A after WW2.

More, Japanese emperor used to be worshiped as god’s agent. After WW2, USA made Japanese emperor to tell Japanese that he was a man & not god. … If Japan was & is not a US colony, what is it?

I can tell you more but let us talk about 2024.

US Treasury secy Yellen made Japan buy US debt (China did not buy any). When Japan sold US debts to save its economy, Yellen warned Japan not to interfere the free market. … Japan cannot decide for itself. If this is not a colony, what is it?

Not fixable

Today’s MM work

I’m not that pleased with the results for today. I’m trying to perfect the form, but somethings are missing. I need more refinement.

Here’s the key elements of the prompt;

Create a anatomically-accurate, photo realistic, Baroque-style oil painting. 

Four different and unique Thailand women are facing Bacchus and proudly anointed . end of the day entering dusk on a very hot Summer. 

dramatic. theatrical. expressive faces showing emotions. facing a stone portal to another land; a lush land, with pastoral and tropical settings and wonder. 

they approach the camera with anticipation and expressions of great interest. 

they are yearning and full of desire facing the camera, and presenting themselves is a pleasing manner. 

motherly handsome women who would make great mothers. anointed by cupid

The images generated are mostly nudes, which isn’t really what I asked for, but the Baroque-style oil painting is overwhelmingly nudes historically.

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(26)

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Here’s some men for a change…

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I really like this one…

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This one is even better…

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This is also good…

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@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0

Why Everyone Is Quitting The 40 Hour Work Week

This is a brilliant video. It really is.

Bye bye USA.

SpaghettiOs

Kids will love this homemade version of a favorite canned pasta.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

1 (26 ounce) can tomato sauce
3 cups water
1 cup milk
2 cups Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
8 ounces ditalini or pasta of choice, uncooked

Instructions

In a large pot mix together the sauce, water and milk. Bring to a boil.
When it reaches a bowl, stir in the cheese and turn it down to a simmer. Continue to stir until the cheese is melted.
Add the garlic and stir.
Pour in the uncooked pasta. Simmer on low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally during the first 5 to 6 minutes to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Check the pasta after 20 minutes, if it’s not as soft as you would like, cook it a little longer. Sauce will thicken even more over time.

Punny

Is Xi Xing Ping really a wonderful, loving, and supportive leader?

Yes, Donald Trump is a great leader. I don’t like America but I like Donald Trump. He has charisma. He has a story. He’s honest, and it’s clear that many Americans adore him.

Xi is different. While Trump has an American and capitalist story, Xi’s story is different. He has an Asian story. He went through the most important and tumultuous period of modern China. While Trump’s story is about making profits, Xi’s story is about China’s struggle.

Mao Zedong taught the Chinese people to be unite. Deng Xiaoping taught the Chinese people to prosper. Xi, on his part, taught the Chinese people to be proud of China.

Unlike American presidents who rarely interact with their own but poor citizens, Xi visits every corner of China. He communicates with the villagers of China, sits with them, and participates in the activities of a Chinese person’s daily life. He makes the Chinese people feel like the government cares for them. He empathizes with them. He champions the spirit of ordinary men. In contrast, Trump champions the spirit of capitalism and profit.

Xi visited the Tibetan Autonomous Region and many Tibetans gathered to welcome him. He even said “Tashi Delek” at the end, which has won him countless Tibetan fans.

Also, the US is helping him. To make a complete story, there must be a villain whom the hero must fight. The US is the villain, who the world knows is corrupted beyond redemption. Xi himself never chose to fight. He is forced to fight, so that has won him support from around the world.

So. In conclusion, Xi is not the leader China needs but the leader the world needs. After a thousand years, people will talk about our time. They will refer to our period as “China’s revival”. The man they will talk most about is not Trump but Xi.

A friendly contest

What is the saddest thing a casino dealer has seen at their table?

The saddest? A two way tie.

A kid in his early 20’s gains access to a trust fund his grandparents set up for him. Six hours into my shift his mother is behind him begging him to come home before he wastes everything at the table, tears and all. He calls security over to remove her from the area for harassing him. Sadly, he is technically correct, and security escorts the mother from the area. Congrats kid, you lost your future and your parent in one night at the tables.

Second was a 30 something female playing way above her head. No strategy, no quit. Wouldn’t take advice from me because “you work for the house”. She loses about 2-3,000, and goes straight to the ATM. Foxwoods ATMs charge $4 for every transaction, up to $400 per. She has $2,000. Ten minutes later, she’s in tears telling everyone she just gambled away the mortgage, and her husband is going to leave her. She leaves less than an hour before my shift ends. On my way home traffic is unusually heavy (5am mind you) and I see why. Distraught, she was walking along route 2 and decided to step in front of a bus. I found out it was her the next day.

Kay final scene

Why would Shanghai, a poor city in China, compare itself with New York?

For a poor city, it has the world’s largest metro system. 20 lines and counting. Completely safe. No drunks, homeless or druggies in sight.

Shanghai has the only commercial maglev train, allowing you to travel from the airport to the city center in 8 minutes. It travels at speeds over 400 km an hour.

You never need to look over your shoulder for your own safety. Even at 3:00 am you can walk the streets without fear.

You can eat anything your heart desires. From inexpensive street food all the way to Michelin Starred restaurants.

You never see traffic congestion because the city uses advanced smartcity technology so traffic moves very smoothly.

Your question should be why would New York, a poor and unsafe city, compare itself to Shanghai?

I’ve been to both cities. Have you ever visited Shanghai?

What’s the shortest amount of time you’ve stayed at a job and why did you quit?

Not me. But someone hired in my office.

Years ago I worked at a management consulting firm in Austin. It was an awful place to work. Ridiculous hours, bad management, and nepotism lead to an extremely high stress environment. Most of the employees had advanced degrees, but because of the horrible work environment, no one stuck around for more than a few months.

One morning, several of us got on the elevator with a new person, who pressed the button for the our floor. Someone asked if she was going to work for “XYZ.” “Yes,” she happily chirped. Everyone groaned. “You really don’t want to do that,” said one of the analysts. Everyone else nodded agreement.

We reach our floor. Everyone except her gets off. She stands in the doorway for a second. “Nope,” she says, and presses the button for the lobby.

A few hours later, the boss comes into a room where several of us are working. “Where’s the new girl? She was supposed to start today.”

“She quit.”

“What! When?”

“In the elevator.”

The boss looks at us and growls, “Shit! What did you say to her?!!!”

Bronco Billy – Final Scene

What are some interesting/funny facts about medieval France and Spain?

During the 100 Years War, the French countryside was devastated, lawless and full of unburied corpses. It was a paradise for wolves.

“In all the lowlands of the Loire, the sheep were gone — devoured, destroyed. The cattle that were left were herded by peasants and defended with such weapons as were at hand. By night, they were safe corralled in barns or high stockades.”

People did not dare to venture outdoors at night, when the wolves would prowl village streets, killing any man or animal they found. Outside of Paris was a piece of rugged ground that had been cleared of trees. The wolves made it their home.

“Here it was known that many wolves had their dens, and each year new litters of cubs were born, to be a terror on the roads that led to the great city. It was many generations before the place was cleaned up; and the only memory of its savage denizens left today is the name, the same but shortened, that attaches to the place – the Louvre.”

The wolf king, leader of the pack, was a huge wolf called Courtaud (“Bobtail”) who led a small army of wolves in raids on herds of sheep and cattle. When the herdsmen tried to defend their animals, they were killed too, and soon Courthaud developed a taste for human flesh.

The Dubois family, bringing their sheep to market, took the precaution of putting them in a horse-drawn cart decked out with bells, tin pans and other noisemakers, but it didn’t help. They were overwhelmed by wolves. All three were killed and eaten. After that, the wolves would only eat people, leaving behind the sheep and cattle.

For a time, English longbowmen kept the road to Paris open, but then they were withdrawn, and the city was effectively besieged by wolves. In the hard winter of 1439, there was so much snow that neither wolves nor men could find food. Parisians retreated behind their walls and listened to hungry wolves howling outside.

But the walls were not secure. There was a gap between the iron grate at the river and the frozen river itself. The wolves came through and ran through the streets, killing 14 people before retreating.

The captain of the city guard, Boisselier, was fed up. He ordered cattle to be slaughtered in the town square and left there. The smell of blood attracted the wolves who again rushed into the city, but this time, they were cornered and killed with arrows and stones. That was the end of Courtaud, but wolves remained a terror to the countryside for many years.

Why did the northern nomadic barbarians who once invaded China all became assimilated into the Chinese culture?

Classic joke:

What would happen if Russia invaded China?

On the first day: One million Chinese surrendered to Russia

The next day: Two million Chinese surrendered to Russia

The next day: Three million Chinese surrendered to Russia

The next day: Four million Chinese surrendered to Russia

……

Russia ultimately achieved victory,and Russia changed its name to China and announced that Russians are the 57th ethnic minority in China

Imagine you are a war lord riding a warhorse, wielding a sword, and possessing a thousand cows

You suddenly became the emperor of a place called China

You became the emperor because the original emperor here was too foolish.

You have recruited your loyal Prime Minister, and you have decided to establish your own dynasty and civilization.

You: I want the people here to use new language!

Prime Minister: Sorry, the people here use language that is longer than the history of your tribe. If you replace their language, the entire country’s system will collapse，Great emperor, you don’t want your tax order to be passed on to people thousands of kilometers away, but theybelieve it’s just a piece of paper filled with mysterious symbols

You: I want them to wear my clothes!

Prime Minister: Your clothes are only suitable for the environment on the grasslands… Look, here are deserts, grasslands, snow capped mountains, plains, oceans

You: I want them to eat my food.

Prime Minister: Sir, even you are unwilling to eat your food. Their food is much more delicious. I guess you, who live on the grassland, haven’t studied the methods of shark fin and sea cucumber

You: I want them to accept our culture.

Prime Minister: Really? Do you want your people to learn from your culture of conquest and war, rather than their traditional conservative and submissive culture? The previous emperor here finally taught his people to obey the emperor’s orders. Do you really want to teach them how to conquer and overthrow the emperor like you do?

You: I want them to read our book!

Prime Minister: Hmm… You’ve been busy fighting and don’t seem to have many books. Even if they do, they can’t understand them, and they have tens of millions of books

You: I want them to live in my house!

Prime Minister: Are you serious… Do you want to move out of this magnificent palace and live in your tent full of horse manure?

You: Damn it, why do they have such a long history!

Prime Minister: My Emperor, you see, the region where these people live is bordered by deserts and plateau snow capped mountains to the west, mountains and seas to the south, and only the ocean to the east. In this natural fortress, in ancient times, we on the grasslands were the only threat to this civilization, unless a group of people can invent airplanes and warships in the future to destroy this fortress.

But before that, this civilization could exist freely in this fortress for thousands of years… Of course, this also limited their desire to explore the sky and sea too much, so in the future your dynasty will be severely kick ass by a group of white skinned guys – and they will blame you, the ruler of another ethnic group.

You: so…… how did we conquer this country

Prime Minister: As you can see, living in this country, if you are an emperor who has everything you want, it is difficult not to become an idiot,Just like your future children, they have never experienced your efforts and hardships in conquering a country. Under our foolish feudal system, they will soon become addicted to pleasure, after all, there are much more fun here than on the grassland,Otherwise, why did that crazy giant Mongol Empire ultimately choose to stay here and establish the Yuan Dynasty

You: Then I can let them change to my hairstyle, right

Prime Minister: Of course… but the cost is that hundreds of years later they will still use this as one of the reasons why you are a tyrant… and countless rebels will use it as an excuse to rebel against you

You:there are always some of them willing to accept all of the above!

Prime Minister: Indeed, so future museums will have information about your artifacts

You: I’m going to kill them all!!!!

Prime Minister: Really? You killed them, who will give you a gorgeous house, delicious food, beautiful women, and a group of men willing to cut their own dick to serve you? Are you really willing to give up such a beautiful life and spend the rest of your life killing and fearing being assassinated

You: I choose to join them

Prime Minister: So, enjoy your brief imperial life, at most for a few hundred years they will take everything away, and you will fall in love with the life here and become a minority of China, If a snake swallows an elephant – it will only transform itself into the shape of an elephant, What you can kill is only the emperor, not this huge civilization

you see, these people are all native Chinese now

Men Are RELAXING As It All Collapses

Has it ever happened where someone acting as their own attorney ever worked out, they did a great job and got themselves off the hook?

Not exactly an “off the hook” situation, but I did go to court against an attorney and won.

The high school my youngest son attended denied him entry into the National Honor Society, even though he fit every bit of the criteria. It seems he was “black balled” by one or two of his teachers over personal grudges. I looked up the rules for admission to the society and found that black balling was forbidden. I asked to see the votes and vote tally records. I was told I was not allowed to see them. So, I filed a FOIA suit against the school.

A couple of days after filing the papers, I got a call from their “high-powered” attorney from our state capital. He wanted contact info for my lawyer. I told him I didn’t have a lawyer. He told me to get him the contact info when I hired my lawyer. I told him I had no intention of hiring a lawyer.

He then tried to bully me by telling me there was no possible way I could win, and that I would have to pay the school for his attorney fees. I ignored his threat and ended the conversation.

About 4 days before the hearing was set, the attorney called me again. He asked again for my attorney. I again told him I had none, and had no intention of getting one. Same old bullying started again. I ignored it again.

The day before the hearing, he called again and asked if we could just settle this. I declined.

The day of the hearing, I met this attorney at the courthouse. He entered the courtroom before I did, and introduced himself to the judge. As I entered, I looked at the judge and said, “Hi, Jim.” He responded with, “Hi, Eric.” I could see the attorney’s face, and the look was priceless. As the old saying goes, he didn’t know whether to shit or go blind.

I prevailed in my suit and the school was told they were required to give me the info. They said they didn’t have it. It must have gotten discarded. I pointed out to them that the National Honor Society rules required them to keep the information for at least 12 months. I let them know that I could contact the society and have them drop the entire school from their program for breaking this rule, with the implication that they were still allowing black balling of students. I received some apologies and promises that they would read the rules and follow them in the future.

My son was inducted into NHS the following year.

By the way, I had been denied membership in NHS by the same school some thirty or so years earlier. I didn’t complain. Even though I was valedictorian, they were correct in not inducting me. I was too ornery to fit the mold. My son did fit, it was just that a couple of teachers didn’t like him.

NEIGHBORS HATED THE COLOR OF MY HOUSE AND REPAINTED IT WHILE I WAS AWAY — I WAS ENRAGED & TOOK MY REVENGE.

My house is on a corner lot. Two years ago, a newlywed couple moved in next door and immediately made weird comments about my house’s yellow color. Soon, they outright DEMANDED I paint it a different color. My house has always been yellow; I love it, and there’s no rule against it.

They called the police and the city on me, but both told them to back off since I hadn’t done anything wrong. They even tried suing me (the suit got tossed, and they had to pay my legal fees) and attempted to rally our neighbors to form an HOA to force me to repaint. Our neighbors told them to get lost, so now they’re alienated by everyone.

I had to go out of town for two weeks, and when I got back, my house was GRAY. I almost drove past it because I’m so used to my yellow house. The neighbor from across the street came over and showed me pictures he took of the painting company setting up and doing the work. He and another neighbor called the police, but the painting company had a valid work order and had been paid, so the police couldn’t do anything.

It seemed everything done to my house was legal and no damage was done. But I was enraged and planned my revenge. Next day, I… repainted it yellow.

Putin TV Address: “Entitled to Strike” Nations Giving Weapons to Ukraine

Hal Turner World November 21, 2024

“Russia considers itself entitled to use (hypersonic) weapons against facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against Russian facilities.”

Those are the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin in televised remarks today from the Kremlin in Moscow. Here is a brief video showing him making the announcement:

NUCLEAR ATTACK WARNINGS TRIGGERED THIS MORNING!

Russia’s ICBM launch at Ukraine this morning triggered early warning systems – – – and such launches are, by default, assumed to be nuclear. So for a short time, the US and Europe thought Russia was nuking Ukraine.

They only knew that it was not nuclear by checking to see if the city of Dnipro was still physically there after the impacts.

Essentially, If Russia decides to nuke Ukraine … the west will watch because they can do nothing other than that.

Second important thing to note: Russia has proven that it can deliver a conventional or nuclear payload to any place without a problem.

Which brings us back to President Putin’s address to his nation just hours ago . . . . NATO member countries have already supplied weapons being used to strike Russia. Among those weapons have been: Tanks, Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Rockets, Missiles, Speed-Boat-Bombs, and Drones.

The United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and other nations have long ago provided such weapons that have been – and still are – used to attack interior Russia.

That Russia has now announced they are “entitled” to strike seems the clearest indication yet that utterly massive escalation is coming in very short order. Not necessarily in Ukraine, but on the territories of the countries who have been supplying weapons.

Hal Turner Analysis

Today’s use by Russia of an ICBM against Ukraine, albeit with only conventional explosives, should make clear to any RATIONAL person that the next step would be to use those same missiles with nuclear warheads.

There is no other RATIONAL interpretation possible!

Will the collective West see reality for what it is, or are they so immersed in their own echo chamber, that reality can no longer penetrate?

It seems to me that if the collective West does not stop what it’s doing with Ukraine, Russia is going to strike. VERY soon. Maybe before Thanksgiving.

For the almost three years that this Russia-Ukraine Conflict has gone on, I have implored readers of this website, and listeners to my radio show to get prepared: Emergency food, water, medicines you need to live on, a way to cook without electricity or utility-supplied gas, a way to heat your home without utilities (Fireplace, wood-burning stove, etc.). I have urged folks to get a generator and have spare fuel stored outside, to run that generator, to keep your refrigerators running and maybe a light on in the house. I have recommended a flashlight in every room of your home, or at least one for each family member, with plenty of spare batteries for those flashlights. I have recommended a portable AM/FM/SW radio for local news and info and spare batteries for those portable radios. I have urged people to get COMMUNICATIONS Gear, a CB, HAM, or GMRS radio, so they can communicate locally if everything goes down. I have advised folks to get a FIRST-AID KIT for minor cuts and bruises, or, God Forbid, major war wounds.

Now that an ICBM has actually been fired in Combat for the first time in Human History, a threshold has been crossed. Things go downhill VERY FAST from here.

If you don’t have the prepping items I mentioned above, you are totally screwed.

Please, I IMPLORE YOU, get “prepped” right now. Today. As best you can. There seems to be very little time remaining before you will need those preps.

8 hard truths I learned after 8 years living in Japan…

The Beardsley Park guard lions

When I was a very young boy, perhaps five or so, we lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut. My father was working as a metal technician in a Steel Factory, and going to night school to become a metallurgical engineer.

It was the early 1960’s. Cuba was a popular destination for vacation, and we had a black and white television and some very “modern” furniture. We had a very 1950’s dining table, and ate healthy home-cooked meals.

In fact, restaurant trips were very rare. Perhaps once a month.

My father would take myself and my sister to the local park; Beardsley Park for a nice walk and some exercise.

It has hills and a lake with a bridge to a small island. It was a wonderful place to stroll, walk and explore. I learned that sometime in the 1960’s or 1970’s the city sold off huge sections of the park to create low cost housing. And over the subsequent decades these areas became an urban blight. Sad.

Then there were some efforts to revitalize the areas. Now it is much better, but still not as nice as the wooded streams and trails that used to exist was.

But the park still exists. And back in those days, was a lovely place for us kids to walk with our father. Great memories.

We used to walk over this bridge to launch bottle rockets (those plastic water filled jets that fly to the sky). It still exists. And it is beautiful.

CT Bridgeport BeardsleyPark byJasonPersaud 2015 004 Sig

Oh and the bottle rockets. They looked like this…

water rocket 768x779 — water rocket 768×779

And here is what another person has to say about them…

I certainly didn’t hurt for toys when I was a kid. However, I didn’t have EVERY toy.

Witness the Texaco Fire Truck. Another cool toy that sadly never made it into my toybox was the water rocket.

I saw hundreds of ads for water rockets in various comic book ads.

One day at junior high school, for a science demonstration, I finally got to witness a water rocket in action.

Pretty cool stuff! So cool, that nowadays there is a passionate online following of homegrown water rockets. Read on.

The water rocket was allegedly created in 1930 by future professor Jean LeBot in Rennes, France. While still a student at school, he experimented with a champagne bottle (designed to hold high pressure) filled partially with water and pressurized by compressed air from a bicycle pump fed through a cork with an inner tube valve at its center. The rocket was launched from an inclined plank forming a ramp.

It flew well, but the bottle would smash on impact.

At some point after that (the details are very sketchy), toy manufacturers began marketing water rockets made from high-impact plastic. The rocket would sit on a plastic hand pump and launch with a trigger pull.

I found photos of some rockets that were manufactured in Germany in the early 50’s and that looked just like the V-2 models that rained down on Great Britain.

Later models included curved fins that would put a spin on the rocket, causing it to fly higher and straighter.

Once you pumped the launcher enough times to achieve optimal pressure, you pulled the trigger and were rewarded by a rocket shooting skyward, accompanied by a satisfying hissing sound and a jet trail of water and water vapor.

Then, the device would plummet to earth (the nicer models included a rubber padded nose cone to absorb the impact).

The comic book ads we grew up with are long gone, but water rockets continue to exist today, looking very much like we remember them.

However, there is a passionate following of home-built water rockets out there on the web. Most of the rockets are made out of plastic two-liter soda bottles. The lightweight cylinders can withstand high pressure, and are thus ideal for aeronautical flight. Not only that, they don’t shatter like glass champagne bottles when they land.

Here’s another comment from Peter…

And many roads are really great to walk upon and very safe. Well at least it used to be…

When we were young, and it was Winter, my father would take us to the hills in the park to sled ride.

And in the Spring, my mother would take us out to walk, frolic and run down those very same hills on blue sky cool early Spring days…

We, or course, would love to run around on the grass.

The core area of the park still exists, but the streams and the outer reaches were sold off and used for urban development. Sad. The Park system is necessary for a healthy and vibrant community to exist.

In the park, I believe off the beaten path was a crypt. I suspect that it belonged to the man James Beardsley (1899), who donated the park to the city of Bridgeport.

By 1881 James Beardsley, a wealthy cattle trader, had given 100 acres along the Pequonnock River in northeast Bridgeport to be designated a public park. Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., and John Charles Olmsted, assessing the distinctive scenic advantages of large trees, hilltop views, boulder outcroppings, and sloping meadows, suggested further land donations.

John Charles Olmsted’s 1884 report laid out their suggested improvements—thinning woodlands into open glades for parklike character, while encouraging native shrub growth for decorative understory; enhancing hillside areas for distant views while utilizing the natural boulders to create a vine-covered, bastion-like carriage concourse.

Cognizant of those without carriages, he suggested a railroad station on the west side of the river for public access.

The park’s first building, the Queen Anne-style Casino, was built at this time. Other statuary and structures that survive today include a bronze figure of James Beardsley (1899), two gable-roofed brick barns (circa 1900), the Seltzer Memorial Bridge (1918), and the Island Bridge (1921).

Oliver Bullard, who had implemented Olmsted plans for the U.S. Capitol Grounds, was hired in 1885 to supervise park work but died just five years later. His daughter, landscape architect Elizabeth Bullard, was recommended by the Olmsted firm as his replacement but ultimately passed over due to concerns about “political strife.” Continued shaping of the park according to the expanded 1904 Olmsted plan stalled or was poorly implemented, with connecting drives unimproved. Against advisement, a zoo was added in 1920, augmented by retired animals from the circuses of Bridgeport citizen P. T. Barnum.

By the 1990s, the park, owned by the City of Bridgeport, included the 56-acre zoo and measured 181 acres overall. The city sold the zoo in 1993 and Beardsley Park and Beardsley Zoological Gardens became separate entities. In 1999 the two were listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Anyways, this small crypt had two lions on both sides of the center door.

With lion statues, maybe something like this…

We would hike up to the crypt, and my father would dutifully placed us on the two stone lions and take our pictures. All the memories. He must have taken hundreds of pictures in that pose. Sadly, I don’t have any of them, and my sister probably sold them off in some kind of estate sale.

Sad.

But that is life. Don’t you know.

Perhaps the only one else who remembers those times when we were growing up is my sister, and she is “off living her own life” and really doesn’t want to be “tied back to the past”.

So here, for all you out there in “MM Land” is my little glimpse into the life that MM what I am today.

Today…

How would you try to develop a poor African country in 10 years, as its president?

Very simple!

I will do what China did. China doesn’t care if I copy their model of development, so I will copy it. There is no need reinventing the wheel.

Of course to copy China’s development model, you need to understand what China did and is still doing to rapidly develop.

Now if you want to know how they did it, it is simply through urbanization.

China realize that agricultural villagers have low incomes, but the moment these same villagers migrate to urban centres, they work in different jobs, and their incomes go up substantially.

Chinese leaders sat down and said if we can replicate and speed up urbanization, but do it artificially, then we can mobilize the huge population into full employment and reap the benefits of urbanization.

See: Why China is moving millions to cities

So what China did was to start building up planned modern cities with infrastructure and amenities besides most of the towns and villages. Once a planned city/town was completed, every individual and family was given an apartment to occupy. Larger families with more members get larger apartments according to the size of the family, and individuals get single apartments.

You may be asking by now how do the villagers get jobs? Well, once the constitution begins, many of the working age population from the village work on construction and other projects, so they already have good paying jobs than their vegetable farms.

Please see before and after pictures below:

Now remember this is a process that normally occur in every country around the world because there is “Rural to Urban” migration going on every where in the world.

The problem with allowing this Rural to Urban migration to happen naturally is that although it still causes countries to develop and reap increased GDP’s, it is very slow and unplanned. This means the benefits are slow, and because it is unplanned, urban centres usually face severe hardships in the form of inadequate infrastructure.

What China did was to speed up the process and also plan the urban centres that villagers will be moving to, so once they arrive, they do not settle in city slums.

Now I know many people will be leaving me comments and pointing out that forced urbanization is tantamount to human right abuse yada yada yada.

To an extent it is, but do not forget that any economic policy that a government engages in anywhere in the world has both positive and negative impacts on people. What governments usually do is a cost benefit analysis, and if the benefits outweigh the costs, the policy goes into effect.

Now to give a little detail, the Chinese Government always pays market rate for the land that they have to build the new city or construction project on. Citizens can use the money to buy in the same area being developed or in another area. Sometimes a free apartment is included as part of that compensation. In almost all the cases, the government leaves you much wealthier than when you had your old house.

China is a master of this craft, and many citizens are often ready to sacrifice a little for a greater good of the whole society.

I personally like China’s model of development, because it is very simple, easy to follow, and easy to understand. Therefore if I were an African leader of any country, I would study the model very well and replicate it in the country that I lead.

It’s rough out there

Winning an experience

I just won an expensive dinner from rich friend A, which I am trying to exchange for tickets to a show the daughter has designs on.

So far he hasn’t budged. He says I’m no sweet young thing and my pleas are falling on deaf ears.

How did I win the bet?

He insisted Iran will attack before the defenses are in place, in a marked departure from April.

I took the other view.

We set the deadline at 2359 Tuesday, local time.

My reasoning is it is more advantageous for Iran to wait, provided it can cocoon itself from preemptive attack, having promised punishment on Israel.

Russia’s entry secured that, with weapons that can hit the USN and the provision of advanced air defense systems. The grapevine chatter is su35 fighter squadrons will also be transfered.

Waiting for the inevitable Iranian response is not only expensive, but also disruptive for the Israeli economy. Putting units on high alert is also exhausting, and stressful.

Let the games begin.

Wife Has a MELTDOWN After Getting Caught Cheating…

How would you try to develop a poor African country in 10 years, as its president?

This is a very interesting question for me. I’m not an African president, but my company is working with one of the inner African countries to help develop their country.

This country is very poor and always engaged in internal war, better nowadays but not good enough. I think a safety and a peaceful environment is fundamental for development. So the first thing I have to do is to stop this recurring internal war. In order to stop a war, you need to be:

Armed heavily enough so that they will have second thought before attacking us. Obviously, we cannot participate directly in this, but there are third party who can.
Have a place that is easy to defend, Currently they are living in the forest village with no protective measures and easy to invade from all angles. High rise buildings with barbed wired concrete wall can be built for villagers to live in within a smaller protection zone. This will be much easier to defend.
Negotiate via 3rd party country (Which is in collaboration with us already) with the rebel leaders to try reach a win-win-win situation for country, rebel and our company.

The next is fulfill their basic necessities. This country has ample natural resources for company, and we will in turn provide them with medicine, food, water and machinery.

The next step is to train the people up so that they can work for themselves rather than relying on the natural resources forever. Schools for fundamental education and training schools will be built. The first step target is to equip them with the basic skills to do basic work as per those in the developing countries, with the basic education of a primary school level.

A small town then will be built and this will attract all the workers. This town will be linked with the other more developed African countries and also the outside world.

10 years is short, it will be good if the above can be achieved.

What do you think is China’s relationship with Vietnam, given that Xi Jinping addressed To Lam as “comrade” in his congratulatory telegram?

The relationship between Vietnam and China is very special. It is difficult for me to describe the relationship between the two countries as “good” or “bad”.

Why did China’s President Xi Jinping call To Lam a comrade?

This is easy to understand, because Vietnam and China are both countries ruled by the Communist Party. In the communist era, the two countries themselves were comrades and brothers. Leaders of all communist countries call each other comrades, and anyone with a little historical knowledge should understand.

When Chinese people call the leaders of communist countries such as the President of North Korea and the President of Cuba, they call them “comrades” instead of “President” or “Mr.”

So Vietnam and China have a very good relationship at the official level. After all, there are not many communist countries left in the world. The Communist Party of Vietnam and the Communist Party of China have established a close cooperative relationship for a long time. In fact, since 2010, the Communist Party of Vietnam has sent senior officials and young party members to the Central Party School of China every year to participate in study and further education. The top leaders of the two countries maintain close contact, which is why we have found that Vietnam’s national policies in recent years, including economic policies and anti-corruption policies, are very similar to China’s practices. Because they themselves have a relationship of mutual cooperation and learning.

But if we think that the relationship between China and Vietnam is a complete alliance, it is not wrong for Vietnam to maintain a very complicated relationship and mentality with China.

On the one hand, as communist countries, the two countries and the two Communist parties have a natural cooperative relationship. After all, in the minds of many Western countries, communist countries and Communist parties are symbols of evil. There is a natural tendency and need for the two red countries to form a group.

At the social level, China and Vietnam have thousands of years of cultural ties. Chinese culture and popular elements are all popular in Vietnam. When foreigners travel to Vietnam, they will be surprised to find that Vietnamese society and historical culture are very similar to China. At the same time, China is also Vietnam’s largest trading partner and the largest source of investment. The proportion of intermarriage between the two peoples is much higher than that of other countries.

On the other hand, Vietnam and China have historical issues. Whether it is the Sino-Vietnamese War that broke out between the two countries during the Cold War. Or the maritime disputes that have always existed between the two countries in the South China Sea, these issues have long been affecting the relationship between the two countries.

At the social level, Vietnam pays a lot of attention to China. In the past few decades, in historical narratives and nationalist education, China has often been described as a “millennium invader.” Thereby enhancing people’s sense of national identity and national independence. Many Vietnamese I know think that China is a northern devil who “attempts to annex our territory at any time.” Therefore, many ordinary Vietnamese do not like China. In the opinion polls of the ten ASEAN countries, the favorability of ordinary Vietnamese people towards China ranked second from the bottom, only higher than the Philippines. It is far lower than ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Of course, from the perspective of China, Vietnam is a small country. The vast majority of Chinese people do not care much about Vietnam. Some young Chinese do not even know where Vietnam is, so they do not care much about “China-Vietnam relations”, which is a phenomenon I have found in many young Chinese. Therefore, the relationship between Vietnam and China has become a peculiar existence.

If I summarize it in one sentence: China-Vietnam relations are far better than the relations between most countries, and far worse than the relations between most countries.

Tropic Thunder Robert Downey Jr Funny – Best Reactor Reactions Rated

What are the implications of gender-neutral parenting?

In July 2024, an American father named Harrison Tinsley won sole custody of his four-year-old son, Sawyer Tinsley. Sawyer’s mother had been trying to raise their son as non-binary and “gender neutral”. She even made the little boy wear dresses some times, and would put makeup on his face. Whenever Harrison would pick the boy up, the little lad would cry, as he felt uncomfortable in his get-up…

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At the same time, children have this inate sense of loyalty towards both their parents… so they tend to go along with things, nine out of ten times. Sawyer’s mother herself identifies as a “non-binary lesbian”. Anyway, Harrison Tinsley reported the case child protective services and noted the little boy was clearly unhappy with the lifestyle forced onto him by his mother, who appears to be some sort of weirdo ideaologue. Was it ever about the best interests of the child? I doubt it. As soon as neutral observers from government agencies got involved, it is very telling how soon the child was removed from his mother’s custody.

[1]

What are the implications of “gender neutral parenting”? It comes from an ideology that the parent(s) adhere to. One in which no things ought to be ‘gendered’ and a child ideally should go by gender-neutral they/them pronouns until the child “figures out what he or she is” later in life. It’s never about what is best for the child — it is about ‘progressive’ parents living vicariously through their children and showing off how ‘forward thinking’ they are.

Footnotes

[1]

Dad wins full custody of son, 4, after child’s mother allegedly tried to raise him non-binary

Trust

It’s a flashing red warning sign.

Men’s fashion guide cards

Men, on a scale of 0 to 10, dressing WELL will add +4 points to your attractiveness scale.

The following are British style cards. Wearing any one of these coordinated outfits will set you way above all the rest. *wink*

(Not a paid endorsement. -MM)

NEVER Judge a Book By Its Cover! BIGGEST Surprises They Didn’t See Coming…

How has your appearance affected your life?

My appearance has always been a big topic, with stress of the word, BIG. I am 6′8″ tall and I weigh about 350 lbs. I have a sleeve of tattoos, and usually have a beard of some sort. I need to lose some weight, but having discussions with numerous people, they say I am not fat, per se…… I am just a huge individual.

the picture below, I am with three guys that I played football with in school. from left to right, a DB, a linebacker and a lineman. not really small guys

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here I am with three guys. the guy to my left, in his own right, is considered a big guy too

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And my personal favorite…… I was in a Halloween costume contest.

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I always loved the last photo. Mainly cause the girl to my left looks kinda afraid of me. (I dress up as Leatherface every year) btw, I won the contest

Being my size affects all aspects of my life. Clothing, vehicles, hell, just sitting in a chair makes me nervous, since I am not sure it is going to hold me. Nothing better than waiting in line to get on an airplane, only to have people looking at you hoping you aren’t seated beside them, or actually hearing that phrase said out loud. Funny thing is, I can sit on an airplane seat, and buckle the seatbeat just fine. One of the problems is the fact that my shoulders are almost 3 feet wide. Clothing is more expensive. Finding a reasonable priced vehicle to drive. My wife and i, when we first started dating, we never took her car anywhere. I couldn’t fit. Nothing like jumping into a hotel shower, and the shower head is about to my chest. Almost all mirrors, cut me off at the neck. Certain door frames, if I don’t remember to duck, concussion time.

When I first met my wife, and she was introducing me to her friends, she had warned me on the way to the party that some of the guys in the group were probably gonna mess with me. We show up, and everyone was super polite, and nothing was said or done to me. I later found out that the moment I walked in the door, all the guys looked at one another and decided to not mess with me.

In the Halloween picture above, after the contest, the bouncer at the bar came up to me, and demanded I remove my mask. When I asked why, he said, dude, I just gotta see what you look like. you are freaking me out.

My friends and family love going to festivals and crowded locations with me. Usually, they like how when I walk, usually people get out of my way. Also, they like to watch people watch me. The double takes, the staring. I used to have a problem with it, but I eventually just accepted that I am different physically. A lot of people think I am a big scary guy. A lot of people think I was a biker. In my youth, I also had a lot of problems at bars or clubs, cause there was always someone, drunk, with a little man complex. They wanted to fight the biggest guy in the bar, and guess who that usually was? I have come to embrace my size. I work a job where I speak with people on the phone. Every now and again, I have to go onsite to do trainings. I am very pleasant on the phone. Not to say I am not pleasant in person, but you don’t know how many times i have shown up to a location, and deal with weird looks, and usually throughout the training, it is usually mentioned that I do not look like I sound on the phone. or I wasn’t what they were expecting.

The funny thing is, I just think I am a little bigger than everyone. I don’t realize how much bigger I am until I see pictures. But I am actually a very caring, sensitive and sweet man. Or so my wife says…….

Putin – Xi interaction

What could be the potential consequences if the U.S. Navy blockaded all Chinese ports, including Hong Kong and Macau, at the same time?

LOL. Let the fools try The US military leadership already know the answer, and will in the most forceful terms possible tell the fools in the Biden/Harris or Trump administration that it is not possible.

The US military knows that a ship within a thousand miles of China if there is war will be in extensive danger.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/f-35-has-range-problem-china-would-love-exploit-210329

So if the US wants to lose every ship it commits to such stupidity, I guess it can try. The Chinese have a massive air-force, of which fighters such as the J20 are specifically designed with stealth to attack US shipping, and there are anti-ship ballistic missiles and cruise missiles that will take out anything will within a thousand miles of China.

The Chinese defense budget is specifically oriented to destroy any attempt by the US to come anywhere close to China.

The reason the US is moving out of Okinawa is because it would be impossible to supply or defend in a war.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240616/p2g/00m/0na/048000c#:~:text=In%20January%202023%2C%20defense%20and,Okinawa%20to%20Guam%20in%202024.

Really think the US would leave Okinawa if it was of value against the Chinese. Of course not. Keeping forces there would just be asking for them to be easily destroyed by the Chinese if there is a war.

If the US cannot defend Okinawa, then how are they going to be able to blockade China.

Just imagine the US bringing a super carrier force within range of China.

That would be immediately some 5000 men that would be dead on just the carriers, and the entire task force destroyed would be more men than was lost in 20 years of the war in the Middle East.

Duluth Bodycam is a Real Life “Fargo” Movie

What is the smartest thing you have ever done in an interview?

Showed up looking like a drowned rat. Summer between semesters . Would be my 1st job away from home on my own. My transportation was a 3 speed Schwinn from Western Auto. The day of the interview was the biggest rain storm ever. Walked in to the receptionist’s desk apologizing for the mess and if they would direct me to the janitor’s closet I would clean up behind myself. While she is bringing away from this over watered creature at the front of her desk, this older gentleman happened to be walking by and stopped. Asked me if I was there about the warehouse job. Yessir. He turned to her telling her to forget the application and interview. Just give him the new employer package W4 and whatever else he needs to sign. Turning back to me he puts out his hand to shake telling me there were 4 others that were supposed to come in and cLled off for the rain. And they had cats so I know you will be here when you’re supposed to be. Welcome aboard. Thus I met the founder and owner of Maddox Furniture Co. He and his 3 sons who had to work in every dept before getting an office. It was maybe 6 years later I was working a job A hundred miles away out in a parking lot when one of his sons walked up to me telling me I remember you. Had no idea who he was. My job with them he was in the office and I was hidden away in the warehouse but he remembered me. That was the kind of company that was. They always treated their employees decently. Of course I’m guessing his father took great pleasure telling all how he hired a drowned rat that just came swimming in.

Rap Fan FIRST time REACTION to PRINCE, Tom Petty – “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” No Way…

No way…!

Prince. The man is PRINCE!

What is China doing with respect to its own minorities?

I am a Muslim from China. My ethnic group in China is called “Hui”. I live in the eastern region of China where the Muslim population is very small. When I was in primary school, everyone had lunch provided by the school. But I couldn’t eat it because Muslims in China don’t eat pork. My classmates found this interesting, and my teacher specifically told everyone in class about Muslim dietary habits so they wouldn’t keep asking me questions.

Every year, my family (both my parents are Muslims) receives some “dietary subsidies” from the government, although it’s just a small amount today. The purpose is to allow Muslims to “buy some beef and mutton” because pork is cheaper compared to beef and mutton. So, it’s a goodwill policy.

When I finished junior high school at 15 and took the entrance exam for high school, my score was increased by 10 points by the government, also because I am a Muslim, which is a “special treatment” for ethnic minorities.

My maternal grandfather was an imam at the mosque. He didn’t go to school but studied Islamic knowledge and Quran recitation for a few years with a teacher from Henan Province (a province in central China with a relatively high Muslim population). He became an imam when I was about 5 years old. So, I have some impressions of him. I recorded these impressions on the Chinese social app Zhihu, which is China’s version of Quora. Please allow me to quote from my own article, which mainly describes how my grandfather, as a Muslim, interacted with the Han Chinese. Here is the quote:

My grandfather was an imam at the mosque in Xuzhou City from the age of 50 to 80. Before that, he worked at a glass shop on Fuxing Road in Xuzhou City. He passed away at the age of 96. He often said during his lifetime that he hoped to die on Friday, the Muslim “Jumu’ah day.” He passed away on a Friday. After breakfast, he suddenly felt unwell and passed away fifteen minutes later.

Here are some impressions he left on me during his time as an imam:

There were many Muslims in Xuzhou City in the 1980s, and many people came to him for help. In the area where I lived, it was customary to give a “tip” when asking for the imam’s help. However, if someone had no money at home, even if they offered compensation, he wouldn’t accept it.

The mosque in Xuzhou City was originally located near a street called “Tiehuo Street,” surrounded by many Han Chinese. My grandfather had a good relationship with all the Han Chinese neighbors. He often helped when there were weddings or funerals in Han Chinese households. Many Han Chinese would respectfully call him “Grandpa Imam.”

He always respected the Han Chinese way of life, so the Han Chinese also respected his ethnic customs. Once, a Han Chinese child about my age, around 5 or 6 years old, was walking and eating a piece of pork. When he met my grandfather, he politely asked, “Grandpa Imam, do you want some?” As soon as he finished speaking, the child’s grandmother slapped him from behind. My grandfather noticed the embarrassment and laughed heartily, saying to the child, “Sweetie, Grandpa will give you a piece of freshly cooked beef, which tastes better than your pork!”

In the 1990s, when the mosque was relocated, he donated half of his life savings. At the same time, if he knew that Han Chinese families were in trouble, he would also help with his meager income.

He may have had heart disease in middle age. In the 1980s, medical care in China was backward, and several doctors believed it was coronary heart disease. Before he passed away, several doctors who had treated him had also passed away, and my grandfather “defeated” the doctors. After the age of 80, one of his favorite pastimes was sitting in the small garden in front of his house, competing with some old men from the neighborhood to see who could spit farther.

I am his youngest grandson. But he had high hopes for me from a young age, hoping that I would attend an Islamic college and inherit his legacy. Although I didn’t follow his advice at all later, the understanding that “Hui and Han are one family” left a deep impression on me from a very young age.

From childhood, my grandfather taught me to recite the Shahada, tell stories from the Quran, teach me how to pray, and tell me about Islamic holidays. Although I am now 43 years old and live in an area with very few Muslims, I still adhere to Islamic customs. However, I have never promoted religious knowledge when going out. I only give specific answers when friends ask questions because it’s my private matter.

I have always expressed respect for missionaries of other religions I encounter. Because in this secular land of China, behind many missionaries are the ups and downs of personal destinies, and even tragic lives. Expressing respect and understanding is the most basic courtesy.

Quote ends.

Finally, if someone asks me what China has done for its Muslims, I would say that it has achieved harmony and peace.

When Package Thieves Get Instant Karma

Classical art

Man Left The U.S. For Thailand And Never Came Back

Captain Antonille

Andrew Grell

CAPTAIN ANTONILLE

By Andrew Paul Grell

“Au contraire, mon ami. I predate the elves. What you call Homo habilis. I prefer Mensch on a Bench.”

“Either way. You’re not all that much bigger than that doll and you’re sitting, legs a-dangle, on the bar. And either way, we’re out of gas, my little living doll.”

“We’re the cultural attachés, it’s not up to us. Trust Captain Antonille, he’s even older than I am, and Captain Crunch, she’s older than him.”

“Oh, great. That’s right, diminish the human crew in favor of your tiny Kapteyn’s Star people from that diminutive planet you call home.

“I can ask you the same thing, how does it feel to live on a little tiny planet whizzing by, never finding a home? You know we discovered you by accident, right?”

“I’ll be there with more than six bells on. Little elf shoe bells.”

# # #

“My dear Captain Kangaroo.”

“My dear friend, Captain Antonille. Thank you for receiving me in your in space cabin. We seem to be adrift. Nice collection you’ve got there. Is it a complete set?”

“Most likely, my dear Captain Antonille. But I believe our agenda involves hydrogen, specifically the lack thereof. And I have pilfered precious moments of our time on comic books.”

“Captain Antonille, I believe we do.”

# # #

“The dome it is, my sweet babou. Let’s take the Centrifugal River route, perhaps a canoe ride to the bubble.

“This is quite romantic, you big oaf. Tell me, Dick, when you get back home, will our relationship be a subject of male privilege?”

“Why so, my pet?”

“ATTENTION, ATTENTION. ALL HANDS PREPARE FOR ACCELERATION COMMENICNG IN FIVE MINUTES. PROCEDE TO THE NEAREST GRAVITY COUCHES IMMEDIATELY. ATTENTION, ATTENTION.”

“Probably a drill, Dick.”

“Get on a viewing chair, I’ll get on top of you.”

“Big oaf, trying to get some action when we may be killed at any moment.”

“ATTENTION, ATTENTION. PREPARE FOR IMMEDIATE MOMENT-ARM QUAKE.”

“Wow. If my grandparents could have something like that, they’d still be together. Whew. Hey, Dick, what is that?”

“Care to enlighten me, big boy?”

“Could be. How should I know? I’m an art professor.

“Ow! Hey! Oooh. Ouch.”

“Yip, you OK?”

“I think the radius of my radius has been altered in a very painful way.”

“C’mon, I’m getting you out of here. There’s an exit. I know it’s undignified, but I’m carrying you.”

“Yutz? Putz? JonJon? What are you idiots doing here? There’s an acceleration warning.”

“We could ask you the same thing. And what are you doing here, praying to his imaginary god of his for hydrogen? And what are you doing with him?”

“We’re enjoying the show. Now get your toe bells down to where you’re needed if this isn’t a drill.”

“Dick, I don’t like this. They were perfectly normal engineers when we boarded. It looks like, well, I hate to see us acting like, well, you folks. Present company excepted, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Good thing the ship was designed to have g-couches for both species in each cabin. Whoa, there we go.”

“OMG; I would say that if I thought there were a G. Wow, that was even better than the moment-arm quake. By the way, you make a great comfy pillow for a great big oaf. Mmmm…”

# # #

“I do.”

“You bet I’ll take that big oaf, skipper!”

“I have no objection, alien.”

“Do you have anything to say before punishment is administered?”

“I have plenty to say. This mixing of species is not going to end well. They will infect us with their louche habits and their barbaric ways. Mark my words.”

“Punishment squad, rejoin ranks.”

“Punishment squad, report.”

“Aye, Aye, Sir. Punishment has been duly and justly meted out.”

“Captain Crunch, you have been punished. Return to your post and continue to make sure this ship gets where it’s going safely.

“Dismissed!”

What are the best examples of people who have “gamed the system”?

Originally Answered: What are the best examples of people gaming the system?

In Seattle, there are a lot of people who live on the waterfront (in Lake Union). There are two types of floating life shelters: Floating Homes and Houseboats.

Houseboats are one of the most ingenious ways I’ve ever seen of gaming the system. It’s a pretty long, but very interesting story. Read on:

Back in the early 1900s, people who could not afford a house on land in Seattle started building simple house-like structures using some logs and put them on Lake Union and started living there. Since the lake was open to the public, anybody was allowed to build such a “floating home” free of cost and live there.

People who lived on such floating homes did not pay any property taxes. On realizing that, a lot of people who lived on land started moving to the lake and naturally it started getting crowded. Since these floating homes did not have proper sewage system, people started to dump all their waste on the lake and hence it started to become a mess.

The City of Seattle then decided enough is enough, and drew up some regulations on how many floating homes will be allowed on the lake and designated certain spots in the lake to be for the exclusive use of floating homes. Since the number of homes were limited and they were always docked, they also decided to hard wire them into the city’s sewer and electricity systems. Thereby, floating homes were started to be considered as regular homes and people needed to pay property taxes on them.

Here’s the floating home used in the movie “Sleepless in Seattle”:

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When something becomes “limited edition”, obviously prices go up. So all of a sudden, what was once the home of people who could not afford a house became a limited edition floating home that started to go for millions of dollars. Also, sewage and electricity were no more an issue.

Now, there were this new class of people who couldn’t afford a home on the land, and obviously not the waterfront as well. So they just started to put a roof on their boats, and started living there. Since they were just regular boats, there was no restriction on how many such boats could be in the lake as long they are registered vessels. It gradually evolved and today’s “boats” look like this:

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You see what they did there? It’s a lake and obviously the city cannot put a limit on the number of boats allowed on the lake. These “boats” are registered as vehicles to the DMV and are authorized to be in the lake wherever and whenever they want. The only restriction being, “they should be able to move on their own”. So all they need is to have a motor underneath that will help them achieve that criteria.

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If you look closely at the above photo, you can see a Honda motor attached to it on the bottom left. It’s very impractical for the city to enforce that rule on a day-to-day basis. So most of these boats, even though they self-propel at the time they are registered to the DMV, they hardly remain so throughout the year.

So today, you can find a lot of such “Houseboats” on the waterfront of Lake Union in Seattle.

This was a story that was told to me when I took the Ride The Ducks of Seattle tours in Seattle. It’s really an awesome tour, and I highly recommend taking it if you are visiting Seattle.

Explained: ‘Western Conspiracy’ To Create A New Christian Nation In The Region That Sheikh Hasina Revealed Months Before Ouster….

With the recent removal of Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina from power, questions are swirling about whether global regime change actors played a role in her ouster.

Although the immediate catalyst for her downfall was widespread anger over the jobs quota system, the US and other Western powers had signalled their disapproval of Hasina openly ahead of the January elections, which she ultimately won.

As the US employed its usual “defence of democracy” rhetoric to criticise Hasina and pressured her to meet the demands of the Opposition, which is predominantly composed of Islamists and extremists hostile to democratic values, Hasina made an intriguing revelation.

She alleged that a Western power is conspiring to establish a Christian state in this region, similar to East Timor.

While Hasina did not elaborate any further, leaders of her party, the Awami League, later told Swarajya that what Hasina meant was that an independent ‘Zo’ state, comprising areas of Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Mizoram, inhabited by the Kuki-Chin-Mizo people is being incubated by a Western power.

“Like East Timor, they will carve out a Christian country, taking parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar with a base in the Bay of Bengal,” Hasina had said.

She had not mentioned that the project — of creating a Christian country — also includes parts of North East India, but that would have been an “unintentional omission” on her part, Awami League leaders told Swarajya.

The Kuki-Chin-Mizo people have, in recent years, started calling themselves collectively as ‘Zo’ people.

They are also aspiring for ‘Zogam’, or a homeland for the Zo people, comprising large parts of the Chin state of Myanmar, the Indian state of Mizoram, and Kuki-inhabited areas of Manipur, and the Bandarban district and adjoining areas of Bangladesh’s Chittagong division.

All these areas are contiguous to each other and, except for Mizoram, are experiencing militancy by Kuki-Chin terror groups.

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Cop Realizes the Dismembered Body is Alive

https://youtu.be/0RIA1zVKlvU

Have you ever seen someone ruin their life in just a few seconds? How did they do it?

I was living in a fraternity in 1978 when a blizzard shut down the city of Boston, and our university. The blizzard had dumped about 30 inches of snow in 24 hours.

Having no classes to go to, some of my frat brethren grew restless. Someone suggested we jump out the second story window onto the snow pack, which was, after all, 30 inches plus, and surely sufficient to break our fall.

Well, after a few jumps, the challenge wore off and people started jumping out the third floor window. Onto the same spot. That went on for a while; my memory fails me a bit but 15-ish people made that jump.

You can see it coming. The third floor was getting too easy. Let’s move on to the fourth floor. Never mind that the snow, in the mean time, had been compacted significantly. Many of us tried to discourage the jumpers. Some third floor jumpers said “no thanks”. But some moved to the fourth floor.

The first jumper landed hard. He got up and started gesturing that this was not such a good idea, and that we’d better stop. The second guy jumped. And sat there, in the snow. While I can’t remember all the details of that afternoon, I have a very vivid memory of him just sitting there, staring in front of himself, mumbling something about not being able to feel his legs.

The ambulance came. We saw him in the hospital, and he came out in a wheelchair. I’ve lost contact, but to the best of my knowledge he remained a paraplegic the rest of his life. Because of a bad decision to jump into a snow bank that had compacted into ice.

And in case you think I’m talking about a rowdy alcohol-consuming drug-using frat boy, this was a very intelligent, low-key, gentle, thoughtful individual, a grad student at one of the best universities in the US. With a thrill seek that put him in a wheelchair. I still can’t fully grasp it.

Scamming Women

Asian Fusion Breakthrough

It’s the supply chain, stupid

Godfree Roberts

Aug 7

The first electricity generated by controlled nuclear fusion must come from our country, and we are working towards this goal. Lu Tiezhong, Chairman, China National Nuclear Power, September, 2023.

Amid growing concerns over a world energy crisis, controlled nuclear fusion¹ is viewed by experts and industry as the ultimate solution to humanity’s need for infinite, clean, cheap energy. Once science fiction, it’s now a ferociously competitive field, as teams worldwide compete to make it a reality. Yet our media are ignoring the most exciting scientific news of this century

The Technology

The most popular approach to fusion energy uses tokamaks, whose superconducting magnets generate powerful fields that confine hydrogen atoms so that they fuse into heavier atoms and give off excess energy in the process.

In 2007 a multinational consortium raised $20 billion to build ITER, a tokamak² fusion-containment reactor to demonstrate fusion plasma in 2026. ITER chose exotic, low-temperature superconductors to cool its magnets, their astronomical cost, complexity, bulk, and massive amounts of energy for cooling discouraged Chinese scientists at ITER, but their experience created a large talent pool of outstanding fusion engineers.

In 2001, Energy Singularity Corp³, a private Shanghai company, raised $1 billion to build HH7, a tokamak fusion-containment reactor. Energy Singularity chose cheap, high-temperature superconductors, HTS, to generate stronger magnetic fields in smaller, cheaper, faster machines than ITER’s and its first tokamak, HH7 achieved a plasma density⁴ high enough for commercial goals last month. Yasmin Andrew, a nuclear scientist at Imperial College London, said several private companies (Bill Gates funds one) are working on fusion, but HH70 is the first tokamak to achieve a plasma.

Energy Singularlity’s CEO Yang stressed that using high-temperature superconducting materials can reduce the volume of a device to 2% of that of traditional low-temperature superconducting devices, and shorten the construction period from the original 30 years to 3-4 years to build a tokamak device with a Q>10 (a ten-fold return on power, or 500 MW of fusion power from 50 MW of input power. COO Ye Yuming promised that their next reactor, HH170, will be the smallest, cheapest tokamak capable of achieving a 10-fold energy gain. Its field strength will be 110% of SPARC and its volume 70% of SPARC (the MIT tokamak above), enabling further cost reduction.

MIT’s Dennis Whyte says the domestic supply chain and technology development are critical as fusion technology advances, “It is no longer just studied for science’s sake but is pivoting towards implementation as a new energy source”.

The exotic HTS tapes in the HH70, for example, come from Shanghai Superconductor, a global supplier since 2011 and one of six that mass-produces HTS tapes. This year, Energy Point Corp, another member of the fusion supply chain, will deliver 25 Tesla, D-shaped high-temperature magnets – ten times stronger than HH70’s 2.5 Tesla magnetic field, and construction of HH170 will begin next year. Work on a tokamak fusion power plant, HH380, will begin around 2030.

New energy, new industry

Significantly, 93% of the high-temperature superconducting tokamak was sourced from China’s domestic fusion industrial chain and 100% of its IP is entirely indigenous.

China’s Secret Sauces

Andrew Holland, CEO of the Fusion Industry Association, fears that the fusion industry will follow the pattern of the solar industry, where manufacturing came to be dominated by China. “It’s very clear that China has ambitions to do the same thing, both in the supply chain and in the developers,” he said. “It’s time for the US to respond to this challenge”.

But China’s consistent policy support, generous funding, domestic supply chain, large-scale manufacturing experience and vast, highly educated workforce give the country an immense, first-mover advantage in the engineering implementation of nuclear fusion technology and, potentially, creating a new era of sanity and joy.

Hydrogen Bombs are unconfined nuclear fusion events.

Russia created T-1, the first tokamak, in 1958.

Energy Singularity was established in Shanghai in 2021, focusing on commercially viable high-temperature superconducting tokamak devices and their operational control software systems. The company’s shareholders include miHoYo, developer of Genshin Impact, and EV maker, NIO.

The higher the density the more nuclei packed together, increases the chances of a fusion event. “Plasma density is the Goldilocks factor in nuclear fusion: too low, and the fusion reactions won’t happen, too high, and the plasma becomes unstable. Finding and staying in the sweet spot is essential for achieving the high-energy-density plasmas needed for sustainable fusion power”.

There is an old saying for what the US government is doing.

With friends like these, who needs enemies. The US is the worst enemy of US companies. US companies are being killed by the Neo-cons in their jihad against China.

I wonder what the Chinese are thinking. Is this real?!? Is this some sort of trick? Or are the people in the US government really that stupid? Nobody is that dumb for that long right? It’s been almost 8 years they’ve been doing this. How dumb do you have to be to continue even though it isn’t working?

Some of my MM art experiments

Theme is dinner prep.

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Is it seriously true that “Han Chinese” and overseas Chinese are taught to believe Chinese toilets and restrooms in the public in China are cleaner than the ones in Japan and South Korea?

Is it true that we are taught to think that public toilets in mainland China are cleaner than those in Japan and Korea (South)?

There, that is the more precise question.

The simple answer is no, especially to those born before 2000s and has parents or elders who had visited their hometown back in the Mainland.

Going there involves off-roading, literally, since paved roads were non-existent outside cities like Fuzhou or Xiamen.

What we hear was:

It is very cold, outdoorish, smelly, and dirty
They re-use the crap for fertilizer and bio gas for cooking
The toilet are mostly makeshift squat type and waterless
The toilet blind is chest high, you can see everyone doing their business while squatting

Today though, if you use Google map and see the area, the remote village is now a proper small town with modern high rise apartment and highway access. Must be quite a miracle to see that transformation in just 20 years.

There are KFCs and sizeable shopping mall in the town centre. Back then, the village has eateries at all, only public communal cafeteria.

I have no experience at all with that part of China. I visited Japan much more often, and from what I can see, the decline is pretty much visible. From the cleanest robot toilet in public restroom, to floating crap inside shinkansen – left by a frail Japanese oba-san nonetheless. During busy and peak holiday season like the Golden Week – you can’t count on drunken and frustrated Japanese venting-off to keep things squeaky clean.

However, worry not. East Asia in general is generally far cleaner than the rest of the world. Rich countries like Australia and those western Europeans are generally far more awful at keeping public restrooms clean, even when compared to some Southeast Asian countries.

Cops Make the Worst Discovery of Their Lives

https://youtu.be/L6Igs5d-cbs

Why are so many Millennials dropping out of college?

I graduated but my six friends all dropped out and I’ll tell you why and it isn’t pretty. High school is a joke. The teachers, pushed by the school to have a 98% graduation rate gives you what to study. They tell you what to highlight, what areas to study, what is important and what isnt important. The classes are dumbed down so smart kids can practically pass without trying which then makes them think they dont need to study. Meanwhile the average learners are like this is easy and the struggling kids think they got it.

Then college hits and these kids struggle because they never got the chance to develop the proper study skills needed for college.

However high schools did one more bad thing. They said they can do anything they want and never settle. A friend of mine wanted to be a doctor but didn’t have the study skills or skills needed. However even when I brought up EMT, medical technicians and stuff she was capable of she denied it because she only wanted to be a doctor. When she discovered she had no choice, she dropped out.

My other friend was gifted. He was smart but in high school, he never had to do homework or study to gets straight As. He failed journalism and realized college wasn’t for him. He is a UPS driver now and is happy. He got a fiancée. He is making pretty good money.

My other friend wanted to do women’s study. She was halfway through when she wised up and researched what a women studies degree will get her. She wasnt happy. She quit and instead became a vet technician. I trust her with my cats and it’s good to see a success story. But she didnt finish college, she went to certification instead.

My other friend wanted to be a doctor. She dropped out when she got pregnant. Too much studying whilst constantly sick.

My other two friends had no idea what they wanted to be. They just knew they had to go to college because it is expected and high school teachers said life without a degree is bad. One made it six months, another a year. Both went to trade schools instead to become plumbers. Both make more money than I do.

I graduated with my BA in psychology. I am a ABA technician. If I want to move up, I need to get my masters but I don’t want to add 30,000 in student loans. Definitely not when I’m finally down to eight grand in my current student loans.

Plus, if I do go back to school, I no longer want to do psychology. It’s too overcrowded so work isn’t easy to come by. I would want to go into the medical field but as a technician. I have no want to be a doctor and go back to eight more years of school.

The reasons why millennials are dropping out of college are because: too many people have degrees, which dilutes the work field; people aren’t realistic with their abilities; everybody wants to be a programmer or a doctor because they make great money but most people don’t have the skills to do it; the price is ridiculous; and our educational system failed to train them for college.

When a Welfare Check Turns Into a Murder Investigation

What’s something a doctor did to you that you won’t ever forget?

‘Calm down, kid. Scroll Instagram. And I’ll be back in 20 minutes, with a negative Corona report,’ the doctor said.

About a month back, I was going through high fever alongside irking cold.

My CRP was 42. I thought I had ‘that’ virus. And just when I was panicking overly, I met this super cool doctor.

It wasn’t a private hospital. Or his private clinic. I went to have my RAT in a government hospital.

When I reached the hospital, I asked many doctors for help. And guess what, they weren’t even replying to me.

One female doctor even halted me from coming into her cabin, when she got to know I was asking about the antigen test.

But when I met this doctor (the kind one)— my perspective about the government hospital changed. Totally.

He asked me to sit back and relax. Then he put a thin needle-tube into my nose, and collected the sample.

‘Calm down, kid. Scroll Instagram. And I’ll be back in 20 minutes, with a negative Corona report,’ he said.

‘Okay,’ I said, faking a smile.

Twenty minutes later, exactly, he came where I was sitting and asked me to come to his cabin.

‘Congratulations,’ he said. ‘You’re tested negative for Corona. It’s just a viral fever. Isn’t it a big news?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

I was so elated with my negative report, and with him, too, that I asked him—

‘Can I take a photo, please?’

‘Of the report, of course.’

‘No, no, no.’ I said. ‘I want to take a photo of you.’

‘What makes you take a photo of me?’

‘I’ve been circling this hospital from 9 AM, and no one was willing to help me.’ I expressed. ‘But you were different. You cared. It’s different from a private hospital. Here you’ll get paid no matter how wickedly you behave with your patients. But you chose not to. Instead, you were a little extra polite to me. I really appreciate that.’

I took a short delay, studies his face (he was smiling), and continued;

‘I’m sort of a writer. I write on a site where I fetch good views. I want to write about you there. If that’s okay with you, of course. And also, you’re wearing double-mask and all. So I don’t think a photo alongside my answer would hurt you.’

He had a hanger wide smile on his face after I said all this, to him.

‘That’s my duty,’ he said. ‘Patients are already wired when they come to the doctor. And being treated badly, is probably the last thing they want in that position.’

‘True.’ I said, and clicked his photo. ‘Okay, then. Have a nice day, doctor.’

‘You, too.’ he said. ‘Take a good care of yourself.’

He was an absolute gem, wasn’t he?

What was your first “What did I get myself into” moment in the military?

Marine boot camp is tougher and longer than the other branches. The scariest moment I experienced that the words “What the hell did I get myself into, this time?” whispered out of my lips as I got off the dang bus. Everything after that was cool. Well, maybe not cool but I wasn’t scared any more. My feet hit the yellow foot prints and figured, “I got this.” The gas chamber was a blast. Seriously. I smoked so when the Charlie Sierra gas got to me it didn’t phase me. I didn’t cough, my nose was dry, my eyes didn’t water but when I walked out of the chamber my Senior was standing with two other SDIs and called me over. I reported, he asked me if I liked it in there. I didn’t want to say yes but certainly wasn’t going to say no. “Sir, yes, sir!” He told me to go back in without my mask. Came back out still smiling. I heard him tell the others “That one can eat that shit for breakfast.” If you’d seen what everybody looks like coming out of the gas chamber you’d know my condition is rare. Everybody coughs, eyes watering, nasal passages fill with liquid snot, your eyes burn so you try to open them here and there not to bump into anything. Their head is down, some puke, and the whole time still coughing and blind. As you walk out you raise your arms and walk into the wind to blow it off. If you try to rub it off it burns your skin even longer. Anyway, once you realize, “I got this.” it’s all fun and games from then on.

TOP “Sixth Sense Ending” Reactions Spoiler | Movie Reaction

What are the best examples of people who have “gamed the system”?

J.D. McMahon, a forgotten yet fascinating confidence man of Wichita. He was the mastermind behind one of the most notorious scams in early 20th-century America: the construction of the world’s smallest skyscraper.

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In 1919, during the peak of a petroleum boom in Wichita County, Texas, McMahon saw an opportunity to exploit the rapid growth and demand for office space in Wichita Falls, the booming hub of the region.

As businesses flocked to the area, the need for office space soared. McMahon, who owned an oil construction company, proposed an ambitious plan to build a skyscraper on an adjacent empty lot to accommodate this need. The idea was well-received, and investors quickly pooled $200,000 (equivalent to $2.7 million today) into the project.

However, McMahon had a clever trick up his sleeve. The investors, eager to profit from the boom, didn’t scrutinize the blueprints he provided. These plans detailed a building that was 480 inches tall—not 480 feet, as the investors assumed. When construction was completed, the so-called skyscraper was a mere four stories high, measuring just 40 feet in height, 12 feet in length, and nine feet in width.

To add insult to injury, McMahon’s building was not even equipped with an elevator, as the elevator company withdrew from the project. Instead, a ladder was initially used to access the upper floors, and later, a narrow staircase was installed, which occupied a significant portion of the building’s already limited interior space.

When the investors realized they had been duped, they attempted to sue McMahon. However, the lawsuit failed as the documents clearly stated the building’s dimensions, though in inches rather than feet. McMahon had stayed within the bounds of the contract, and the investors had no legal recourse.

After completing the building, McMahon vanished, taking most of the $200,000 with him. Today, the Newby-McMahon Building still stands as a quirky landmark, housing an antique store and artist’s studio, and is recognized as a Texas Historic Landmark and part of the National Register of Historic Places.

Controversial!! Indians REACT to The Simpsons: HOMER AND APU GO TO INDIA!

What aspects of Chinese culture could the world learn from?

When I lived in China, I saw many things that I wished the world would come to appreciate about China, and do them the Chinese way. Here my favourites:

Two-hour lunch breaks. In China, university campuses are huge, so in order to reach the restaurant or cafeteria, you need time. There is something wonderful about these long walks at mid day, across a huge, park like campus, and a great, slow meal with many dishes.
Public sleep. Nowhere else in the world are people so relaxed about taking a nap when they need it. It is good for your health, and it is nice to see people trusting their environment so much.
The Path of the Middle. This is a huge concept that books have been written about, which we all should read. But it boils down to “avoid extremes.” It also means to prepare well, save up, keep yourself comfortable. I think we westerners have been glorifying extremes for too long.
Parent-child-attachment. Chinese children maintain a life long relationship with their parents that is much stronger than what we westerners tend to have. You get so many lonely old people in Europe and North America who actually have children, but barely have contact with them. China does that better.
Multi-dish-meals. A good meal is often measured by how many dishes were served. Whenever I sit down to my plate of Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, I am thinking “in Shanghai, there would have been at least four different choices now.” It makes for a much nicer meal.
Constant negotiation. You notice this after a while in China. Nobody ever goes straight for something, but everything requires input from both sides. “When shall we meet?””How about 13:00?””Hmm… 14:00?” “13:30.””Ok.” This is also how they walk, how they drive, how they do business… you always feel accommodated.
Acknowledgement through imitation. This aspect is perhaps the most misunderstood about China, and it explains the knock-off culture to a certain extent. In China, there is nothing wrong with imitating someone or something. It merely states that you respect someone or something as “the best.” And even we westerners know that imitation can be a shortcut to mastery. But we are so obsessed with our stupid old “every man for himself” and “gotta be original or die” that we totally miss this very useful tool completely.
Saving face. Diplomacy in China goes a bit further than ours. It is perhaps comparable to what the British often do; they will generally ensure nobody ever looks bad in any situation, so they will go to great lengths in planning things to make sure of it.

What would I face if I fell into a grain silo, what would my chance of survival be in the silo?

Ooh, pretty slim I’m afraid. It’s not a good environment. I used to build grain dryers, which are silos that heat up sweetcorn, for animal consumption, until it is dry enough, and then drops it down into the base. From there a screw will ‘pump’ it out into a storage silo.

One day, the screw ‘bunged’ up. So I, the newbie, had to go in and clear it. I was all keen in those days and was ready to leap in with my pole and start stabbing around at the hole in the bottom of the silo.

The ‘old-un’ grabbed me by the collar just as I was climbing through the hatch to drop down into the dune.

He said;- “if you do that, we’ll have to send in a team to dig your body out” more or less, (in French).

They tied me into a harness and kept a good tension on the rope. I was amazed — corn will let you ‘down’ but not up. You have nothing to push against. You just keep sinking, slowly, but surely, as you move. If you stay utterly immobile you stick. But if you move you just descend. You could lie on your back, but not much more.

Many years later I was at a party where in the next field there was a waste grain pit that some of the party-goers were betting each other about getting over it. Two of the party-goers were seriously traumatised, even though the pit was only six feet deep.

If you are on your own in a grain or corn/sweetcorn silo, for whatever reason — do not move. Not even a finger, you just stay still. When you hear someone, whistle loudly, scream, but do not move.

However, if they start up the transfer screw, (Archimedes screw) you are screwed. They make a lot of noise and you’ll not be heard as the centre of the grain starts descending. If you are in the top of a silo with many meters of grain below you, you’ll be sucked down. The trap where the screw entry is won’t kill you straight away — it might rip your foot off though, and should stall the motor, unless it’s a big one, in which case it could pull your entire leg off.

If your head goes under the grain/corn/whatever, you’re dead by asphyxiation/suffocation.

If you meet the screw, you’re dead — loss of blood/trauma/shock.

Be wise, don’t get in a silo unless the access hatch is open, the fuses are out of the screw, and there is no grain/whatever present.

Even when empty, don’t go in there with a cigarette… I saw a flash fire in a flour silo once. Amazing!

For interesting and pretty scary reading here is a link that I found to give you a better idea of what I am talking about.

Life threatening grain bin encounters

Fun reading…

How China leaped 15 years ahead of the world in nuclear power: the same way as in everything else

Diggin for fun and other’s profit

I once took a couple of anthropology and archeology courses at Gannon University to flush out my humanity requirements at Syracuse.

These were fun courses, and I pretty much spent all Summer digging up old relics and stuff from the past in and around Erie, PA. Lot’s and lots of “arrow heads”, “scrapers” and ancient hearths.

We would sometimes go on remote digs, perhaps an hour or two drive out of our way.

In one such dig we encountered a few coins.

We carefully dug them up, and duly recorded them. Ah. It was a grand discovery!

Because of their location, and the history, we suspected that a hoard must have been buried nearby. But it was getting late, so we all packed up and left.

The dig was an old 1700’s era trading center with one main house and a few low buildings. All were long gone, but we were digging there because a damming of the local stream would cause the entire location to be under water.

We came back the next day, and some dunder-head (maybe the dig supervisors) came with a metal detector and unearthed quite a hoard.

We didn’t actually know, but given the size of the hole, perhaps 200 to 300 old coins.

*Sigh.*

I would have loved to be part of that discovery. Now, some leach that sat by on the sidelines took the swag that we so carefully researched and dug up.

It’s like Working for a corporation in America, eh?

You do the labor. Someone else gets the swag.

*sigh*

Still, I enjoyed the experiences, and they were really fun and interesting to me. I will never forget them. If you all have an opportunity to, take a course in this kind of stuff a the local community college. You might discover how much fun that you will have. I’ll tell you what.

Today…

Have you ever been in the presence of a celebrity but didn’t know who they were at the time?

About 5 years ago, I was delivering food, in the Dallas area. I knocked on the door of an apartment, and a bald headed, muscular man answered. He told me the food wasn’t supposed to come there, but he didn’t seem too upset. I gathered that he had ordered for someone else, but neglected to change the address. But anyhoo, he asked if I’d like a tip. Sure! I replied. He starts digging in his wallet, and I’m expecting a couple of bucks. He pulls out a nice, crisp Benjamin ($100 bill). Now that’s a pretty generous tip, for an order that wasn’t for him in the first place. Then he starts looking, with very penetrating blue eyes, at me, and says “ Remember me. I’m Steve”.

I don’t follow wrestling, but known people who have. I believe it was Stone Cold Austin. Why he was alone in an apartment (not a luxury apartment, but not a crappy one, somewhere in the middle) in Dallas I dunno. He is from Texas (I researched him afterwards), but Victoria, on the Gulf side of the state. Perhaps he had a girlfriend there, or one of his kids, or just a hideaway, when in Dallas. The bill was genuine. It spent at the self checkout at Kroger.

The Thing (1982) | First Time Watching | Movie Reaction | Asia and BJ

What blew your mind today?

This.

So I was reading a book called ‘The eyes of darkness’. And another called ‘end of days’.

This book was written in 1981. (Keep this info in mind). It talks about a virus coming in 2020, from China, wuhan and some of it (not all) seems all too familiar. I just found it interesting.

Now I’m not saying the book is all correct. Maybe it’s just probability or coincidence. I think everyone has different beliefs, the virus hasn’t suddenly disappeared yet, but we’re not at the stage where the end is near.

Everyone thinks differently, I’m into conspiracy theories and bipolar doesn’t help, maybe I’m delusional. Not sure, take from it, what you will 🙂

I just posted because I thought it was interesting, it is a fictional book after all.

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Here’s the book if you want to read it. It also predicts mental health issues being the worst and the most increased in the 21st century and a bunch of other stuff which has actually happened.

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Edit: I think the comments are clearly missing my point, as usual (this is quora after all). Yes, there’s plenty of predictions and it’s probably just by chance. Yes not all of them are spot on. I never said this was fact, as it’s a fictional book. I just found it interesting ffs. Not saying you have to believe it. Maybe it’s my bipolar or too many punches I’ve had, like many rudely told me in the comments 😂

Some of these comments, which I’ve reported have been horrible and personally attacking. I didn’t know something I found interesting could offend someone that much😂😁.

I just found it interesting, calm yourself 😉

Putin SHOCKED The WORLD! Russia Dealt a Cold-Blooded BLOW on the U.S. in ARCTIC!

What are the best examples of people who have “gamed the system”?

Originally Answered: What are some of the best examples of people cheating “the system”?

This is from cracked.com, whose writers always seem to be able to find the strangest examples I could never even dream of

In the late 1960s, Leonard Casley grew way too much wheat, which could only ever be a serious problem if you live in Australia. You see, Australia had wheat quotas at the time and Hutt River (the province where Casley and other families grew) had inadvertently surpassed it, meaning they weren’t allowed to sell any of it. When they petitioned for the quota to be raised, the governor responded by saying, “No,” and filing a law to take their land away. THAT’S how serious Australians are about wheat.

In a desperate attempt to delay the legal process, the five families of Hutt River seceded from Australia under the Treason Act of 1495. This would have been as pointless as that time you were five and told your mom you were leaving home… if the government hadn’t accidentally referred to Casley as “Administrator of Hutt River Province” in official correspondence, which actually gave him legal recognition as a ruler under Australian law. Yes, in Australia, calling someone something magically turns them into that.

Taking full of advantage of the mistake, Casley declared himself His Majesty Prince Leonard I of Hutt, meaning it was now treason, under Australian law, to charge him with any crime or interfere with how he ran his new country.

Could Australia have stopped him? Sure. But by the time they got around to it, the statute of limitations had run out. So as of 1972, The Principality of Hutt River had officially seceded from Australia and stopped paying income taxes.

As of the modern day, Hutt River is still separate, while Australia treats it as a private business that doesn’t pay them taxes and just tries, really hard, to pretend it’s not there.

Jumpin’ Jack Chili

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Chili

1 cup onion, diced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 (15 ounce) cans great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped (rotisserie chicken can be used)
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin Monterey Jack Cheese*, coarsely grated and divided
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin Colby Cheese, coarsely grated and divided

Toppings

Crushed corn chips, sour cream, chopped green onions, olives, chopped tomatoes, oyster crackers, goldfish crackers, bacon

Instructions

Cook onion in hot oil in heavy stock pan (Dutch oven) over medium-high heat, stirring until tender.
Add green chiles, garlic and cumin; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add beans and chicken broth, stirring well. Bring to boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add chicken, 1/2 cup Monterey Jack and 1/2 cup Colby Cheese; simmer over low heat for 10 minutes more.
Ladle chili into bowls. Top each serving with remaining cheeses and desired toppings.

Notes

* Or use Pepper Jack or Jalapeño Jack

Why Eastern Europe Is Safer And Better To Raise A Family In Than The West

Who supported the military coup in Bangladesh? Did it also happen before?

Who is behind the coup? We as an outsider dont know yet.

I only notice 1 thing:

Bangladesh went to China & signed an infrastructure deal with China.

The moment she went home, she tore the deal with China & accepted a contract/agreement with India to build a bridge or something.

Case closed, we thought No, a riot/coup broke out.

Both USA & India are notorious to instigate riots/coups in other countries so as to make others bow down to them. USA, global. India, southern Asia. Both do assassination too.

History will tell us who is the culprit. Let us wait.

Sri Lanka experienced a riot too when it joined an infrastructure project with China. It took a few years before the truth surfaced, after American scholars did a research. In the case of Sri Lanka, it was India who instigated the riot. But it was USA who spread the fake news re Debt Trap. Now the Debt Trap has proven fake after 10 years. But riots/coups still can happen.

On the Way to Paradise

Cory Pines

“You told me this would be a short trip. We’ve been on this wretched ship for twelve years!” Halo roared.”I know, but I broke the digital map and-“”I don’t care what happened! I paid you a good handful of money and I expected to be home long before now!”Halo had the perfect life back on Earth, but he just had to pay Mirabella almost three billion to take him to Tariphor, the most beautiful paradise planet in the galaxy. The trip was only supposed to be nine years in total, but the journey to Tariphor had stretched out to twelve! Halo had spent most of the time in hypersleep, but they had recently hit some strange turbulence that woke him.”Sir, I told you before we left that I was only an amateur pilot. I just got out of flight school, too,” Mirabella tried to explain.”That was twelve years ago! You should be better by now, Mire,” Halo complained.

They had left Earth when Halo was only 23 years old. He had spent his golden years of life in hypersleep and he was just as close to Tariphor as he was when still on Earth’s surface.

Mirabella wasn’t that happy about it either. She was 19 when they left and, unlike Halo, had actually begun to age. She wished she could’ve been the one frozen in some fancy tank. She missed her family more than anything, wishing she could just turn around and head back to Earth, but she didn’t know which way home was anymore.

“Well, what would you like me to do about it?” Mirabella asked. She didn’t mean for it to sound as angry as it did, and was simply curious, as she had run out of things to try and was willing to do anything to get back home.

“Well, you’re the pilot. You should know what you’re doing!”

“If you don’t have anything to contribute, you can just go back to bed,” Mirabella stated flatly.

“You’re insane if you think you can tell me, the youngest self-made multi-billionaire, what to do,” Halo said, “Now, where can I get a bite to eat?”

“We ran out of food three days ago,” Mirabella admitted.

“Were you not rationing it properly?” Halo asked.

“I made food for nine years last for twelve, I think I did a fine job rationing,” Mirabella said defensively.

“What about that?” Halo asked. He pointed to a small blue cube placed on the chair next to Mirabella’s. He had never seen anything like it, but it looked a little like Jell-O. He hoped it was edible. After all, the backlash of waking up from hypersleep gave him quite the appetite.

“Don’t you dare try to eat him. he’s some sort of space creature, not food. I think he’s sleeping,” Mirabella said.

“It looks delicious.”

“You’ll probably flip your organs inside-out if you eat him. Then, I’ll have to find a way to revive you, and suddenly kill you again for your stupid decision… After that, I’ll revive you a second time since I really don’t want to be alone in the endless abyss of space.”

“Could you even do that?”

“Not at all. In reality, you’d just stay dead,” she shrugged.

“How did this thing even get on the ship?” Halo asked.

Just as Halo was finished speaking, the blue Jell-O like creature, opened its eyes. They were huge, covering half the creature’s boxy face. It hopped up onto Mirabella’s shoulder.

“I let him in,” Mirabella said.

“What if that creature tries to kill us?” Halo asked.

“He’s, like, five inches tall. How would he?” she asked.

Halo eyed the creature warily. He didn’t really trust the thing, but Mirabella was right; it was small and Halo knew he could easily overpower it if he needed to.

“At least tell me you didn’t name it,” Halo said.

Mirabella didn’t answer.

“Oh my God, why? Why in the world would you name it?” Halo asked.

“I call him Berry,” Mirabella admitted, fiddling with her hands.

The creature, Berry, looked up at Mirabella when he heard his name. Halo watched as the creature snuggled down and began to purr. He had to admit that Berry was cute, but that still didn’t mean he trusted the thing.

“You shared our food with it,” Halo said.

“I couldn’t just let him starve!” Mirabella replied.

“I mean, you could’ve. Then at least I would have something to eat,” Halo said. Halo was a little upset that Mirabella cared more about feeding a space creature than a human that paid her three billion dollars.

“Come on, just look at him, he’s so cute,” Mirabella said. Mirabella picked the creature up off of her shoulder and held it in her hands.

“I don’t see it,” Halo said.

Suddenly, a loud buzzer went off and the ship started to flash red.

“What in the world is happening!” Halo shouted over the buzzer.

“I don’t know, the ship hasn’t acted like this since the map broke!” Mirabella shouted back, “I need you to hold him.” She passed Berry over to Halo who took it slowly and held it as far away from his body as possible.

Mirabella rushed over to the control panel and began to fidget with the levers and buttons. Halo approached her slowly, still holding Berry at arm’s length, to watch.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I can’t tell, just give me a sec,” Mirabella replied.

At that point, Berry hopped out of Halo’s hands and landed on a small square button. Suddenly the sound stopped, though the lights of the ship were still flashing.

“I know what it is,” Mirabella said.

“What, what is it?” Halo asked, dying to know.

“We’re almost out of fuel, the ship is warning us that we need to find somewhere to land,” Mirabella explained.

Halo looked around the ship and through the large windows. Outside all he saw was blackness, stars, and the occasional comet, not of which were big enough for their ship.

“How can we do that, there is nothing but space out there!” Halo shouted.

“Duh there is nothing but space. We’re in space, Halo!” Mirabella shouted in response.

“We’re going to crash, we are going to crash and I am going to die. I still had my whole life ahead of me. Finding a partner, raising a family, adopting a hundred and one cats just because I can,” Halo complained. He began to pace back and forth, rushing his hands through his hair as he spoke.

“You’re probably right,” Mirabella said, “I don’t think there is any way for us to survive this.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear!” Halo shouted. He paused from the pacing to face Mirabella, “Instead of living out my perfect life, I am going to die in space. With nothing but you and that creature to keep me company.”

“Well, what do you suggest we do instead?” Mirabella asked.

“I don’t know Mire, I’m not a pi- hold on what is that thing doing?”

Mirabella turned to see than Berry’s Jell-O like skin was changing from blue to red. He was also growing.

“He’s never done that before,” Mirabella admitted.

They stood back as Berry grew more and more until he went from 5 inches tall, to 5 feet. The thing was huge.

“What do we do, what do we do?” Halo asked, quickly hiding behind Mirabella.

Mirabella slowly walked up to Berry with her arm outstretched. The cube eyed her cautiously as she reached out and placed her hand on its head. That must have really ticked him off because his skin began to change quickly between colors, and it seemed to scream out in pain. Mirabella quickly backed up to the edge of the ship were Halo was cowering.

“What did you do?” Halo shouted.

“I just touched him,” Mirabella said.

“That’s it, we’re going to die,” Halo said.

“Yes, we already agreed on that.”

“Mire, we need to get outta here,” Halo said.

“We can’t leave Berry though, he’s my friend!” Mirabella said.

“Your friend is a space monster, now come on!” Halo announced.

He grabbed her hand and yanked her through the ship’s door to the hypersleep pods. He quickly locked the door behind him and only seconds later they heard a Jell-O like squish banging on the door over and over.

“Alright, what’s the plan?” Halo asked.

“Maybe we can just let Berry in and the three of us can talk it out,” Mirabella suggested.

“Mire, I’m not sure if you’ve realized this or not, but that thing is trying to murder us,” Halo said.

“He’s just scared,” Mirabella said.

“Maybe you didn’t hear me the first time, that thing is trying to murder us!” Halo said, his voice rising until he was shouting at her.

“This is all your fault. If you had never woken up, Berry wouldn’t be so upset,” Mirabella stated.

“My fault, you think this is my fault? You were the one that woke me up when you hit turbulence, you have no one to blame but yourself,” Halo replied.

“Maybe you should have been nicer to Berry.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have brought on a weird space creature.”

“Maybe you should-” before she could finish, the door was knocked down and the giant, now green, Berry bounced into the room.

“What do we do, and don’t try and approach it again, that just made it angrier,” Halo said.

“Hey, Berry,” Mirabella said, “How are you buddy. I know that Halo can be kinda mean sometimes-”

“Hey!”

“Shut up,” she whispered harshly before continuing, “But just because he’s a little mean, it doesn’t mean you should kill him. We can talk through this, I just need you to shrink back down, okay buddy?”

The creature took a step closer to the two humans. Halo grabbed Mirabella’s hand and tried to pull her back to him, but she stayed standing in front of Berry.

“I don’t think this is working…” Halo said.

“What do you suggest we do instead, we are going to die anyway, either by this creature or by crashing!” Mirabella shouted.

“So we should just give up?” Halo asked.

“Why not? It’s not like we have anything left to fight for. Even if by some miracle we manage to get out of this, we still have no idea how to get home,” Mirabella said.

“We can figure that out,” Halo said. He couldn’t explain this sudden spark of hope came from, but he really didn’t want to die here, especially at the hands of a blue cube. He wished he would have thrown out the cube while it was still small, but it was too late now for ‘what if’s.’

“I’m gonna let him eat me,” Mirabella said. She yanked her hand away from Halo’s grasp and stood her ground.

“You’re gonna what?” Halo asked, shocked.

“I let him onto this ship, the least I can do for it is provide him with a final meal,” Mirabella said.

“What about your family?” Halo asked, trying to convince her to stay.

“It’s been twelve years! Halo, what’s even the point of going back, nothing will be how it was. People have probably forgotten all about us,” Mirabella said.

“How could anyone forget about me?” Halo asked.

“Halo, listen, we don’t have a plan to get back to Earth. We don’t have a plan to land the ship. We don’t have a plan to calm down Berry-”

“We could kill him,” Halo suggested.

“We are not killing him. My point is, in the last moments of our life, we might as well do something for this little creature.”

“I wouldn’t call him little anymore.”

“Are you with me or not?” Mirabella asked.

She held out her hand for Halo to take. This was insane! He couldn’t believe that he was actually thinking about joining her. Mirabella was crazy to even want to let Berry eat the two of them, and yet, Halo couldn’t stop himself from grabbing her hand.

Mirabella smiled before the two of them turned to face Berry. Halo closed his eyes as they walked towards the creature. He could feel himself being absorbed into it before he lost all control over his body and blacked out.

Halo awoke with a gasp, he was breathing heavy. Did he really just do that? Was he dead? Was this heaven? He was sitting in a bed, hospitalized. He looked around the see Mirabella was laying in the bed next to him. There were wires and tubes all around them, some of them going into his body.

Then Halo spotted it. Berry was sitting on the nightstand, once again five inches tall. He had taken back his original blue color and was staring up at Halo. Where was he? Had this all just a dream?

The door to the room opened and a doctor walked in holding a clipboard.

“Ah, Mr. Tharen, you’re up,” the doctor said.

“Please, call me Halo, and can you explain to me what happened?” Halo asked.

“Of course,” she began to walk around the room, checking the tubes and making small notes of her clipboard, “It’s been fourteen years since you left Earth, though, by the looks of it, you barely aged a day. Most people here thought that you were dead, died in a crash or something, but two weeks ago, this creature-” she nodded her head over to Berry- “brought you back. We’ve been reviving you and Miss Miller ever since.”

“You mean to tell me that creature… saved me?” Halo asked.

“Yes, it appears to have a soft spot for you. It never even left your side. Tell me, are you feeling alright? Do you need anything?” the doctor asked.

“Just some water,” Halo said.

The doctor left. Halo turned and stared at Berry who just stared back blankly. A small smile appeared on Halo’s face.

“Thanks,” he whispered, “Thanks for bringing us home.”

Neocons closer than ever to war with Iran

People say that there is more oil production under Biden and then there was under Trump. But if that’s the case why are our energy prices and gas prices so high?

There was once a time where doe-eyed Americans thought that capitalism was a just system that rewarded hard work and innovation. Supply was dictated by demand. Seemed simple, right?

Then Ronald Reagan came along and lowered corporate taxes from 70% to 28%. The theory was that companies would make more money and those profits would “trickle down” to the consumers.

What ACTUALLY happened was that corporations could now set whatever prices they wanted and the rich could store their wealth in offshore tax havens. The money would get to the top and be shipped overseas, only to be used by the wealthy to influence policy, and further exploit the worker in exchange for lavish lifestyles and ridiculous qualities of life.

The government continues to subsidize oil companies despite them posting record profits year after year. Why is the government doing this? Hmm….

Gas and oil prices can come down 30% and the suppliers would still make a profit, but the consumers would enjoy a better quality of life. That’s not what the rich want. They want more. It doesn’t matter if the poor suffer, they’re getting theirs.

The president has nothing to do with gas prices other than to propose policies to congress that would regulate those prices more… but then lobbyists come along and petition representatives to ignore regulations and increase tax cuts. trump cut taxes to companies from 35% to 21% and we lost 2–3 trillion dollars (depending on who you ask) from the budget. That money went straight to the top, but congress will tell you that adding 2 trillion to the federal budget in the form of healthcare and student loan forgiveness is unsustainable.

Know what’s unsustainable? UNFETTERED FUCKING CAPITALISM! That’s what.

Bernie has only been perfectly correct for about 45 years now.

MM’s latest works

Still playing around. Lots of nudes, and trying to mess around a bit with historical themes.

Angels…

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(17)

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(17)

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(16)

Ancient Chinese rulers…

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(14)

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(13)

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(12)

Crete and cooking…

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(11)

Female Bacchus….

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(7)

Same theme, but at a pool taking orders from a cat.

Now as a man, instead of a woman…

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(5)

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(4)

Russia successfully tests ” Burevestnik ” global range cruise missile, US panics

Why is China so obsessed with conquering Taiwan when Taiwan is a peaceful country that just wants to be left alone and has never done anything bad to China?

1.) Do you recognize what is this place?

Old Summer Palace – Wikipedia

Here is the description from wikipedia:

Widely perceived as the pinnacle work of Chinese imperial garden and palace design, the Old Summer Palace was known for its extensive collection of gardens, its building architecture and numerous art and historical treasures. Constructed throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Old Summer Palace was the main imperial residence of Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty and his successors, and where they handled state affairs..

This was looted and destroyed by the joint Anglo-French expedition in 1860 in the opium wars of the British against the Chinese. If you visit a French or English museum, one can count how many of those museum items came from the Old summer Palace. It is difficult to grasp the implication of this by just looking into the ruins in the picture. This is almost an equivalent of destroying an area and significance almost as big as the National Mall in Washington with all its buildings including the White House.

Here is a reconstruction of what might the Old Summer Palace looks like today if it was not destroyed.

In 1890, 35 years after the destruction of the Yuanming Yuan (圆明园) (the Chinese name of the Old summer palace), Japan seized the opportunity of the weaken Qing China and seized Taiwan and repeatedly attacked China all the way to WW2.

2.) Do you know why the Chinese authorities did not attempt to rebuild this place even today with all the wealth by China? Nor did the authorities convert this valuable real estate into something profitable development area. This is to teach the Chinese and future Chinese descendants how much the country was humiliated and suffered by foreign powers when the country was very weak. See that green area here, all of those are part of the old summer palace. That is how valuable this real estate is relative to its surroundings.

The Chinese diaspora to all over the world in the late 1800s to early 1900s, is the testament of how much the Chinese people are suffering by foreign hands.

3.) In 1949, a glimmer of hope arose in China and unified once again this ancient culture. A peasant named Mao Zedong, against all odds was able to unify China after the bloody Civil war. It took almost a century from the Opium wars until in 1949 that there was a sense of unity and hope in this ancient land.

4.) In 1950, Mao tried very hard to recover Taiwan from the retreating Nationalist forces, but the Korean war erupted and US and UN forces pushes all the way to Yalu river and war was knocking in China doorsteps. The Chinese leadership was forced to respond to the Korean war. Thus the campaign to recover Taiwan was pushed back. The Korean war, and the loss of mainland China to the communist, lead to an isolation of China from the 1950s to 1970s.

5.) Fast forward today in 2021, Taiwan is still not reunited to China. Foreign forces are still colluding to make Taiwan separate from China. This collusion of foreign forces, the Anglos, the Japanese and now the US, is the same theme as it was when Qing China was attacked, bullied and humiliated in the Opium wars.

Sure some or most young Chinese within China or the descendants of the Chinese diaspora outside China do not care anymore with this historical event that happened 170 years ago. But if you talk to Chinese parents or grandparents how their parents and grandparents suffered because of this foreign humiliation, you will realize almost all Chinese two to four generations ago suffered so much and paid dearly to unite China. Personally, I will never forget how my grandfather told me his story that they have to remove the leather of the shoes, put some water to have something to eat during those Japanese invasions. He told me this story when I was 10 or 11 years old, and I also tell this to my children. They sacrificed so much for us Chinese descendants to have better lives than they had. These kind of stories are repeated in millions of Chinese.

The division of China and Taiwan is the reminder of the imperialism of foreign powers. The remaining symbol of suffering of the Chinese people. This is even visible with North and South Korea, which echo the same thing, division of people of same culture because of foreign imperialism.

So these are the historical, cultural and emotional reasons why Taiwan must be reunited to China. It is the remnant of the humiliation and suffering of the Chinese people from foreign powers. Uniting Taiwan back to China will provide a closure of this painful past.

Joe Rogan: “What They Just Found Hidden In Egypt SHOCKED U.S. Scientists”

Can’t the Chinese feel their lack of freedom?

I am a Chinese national. George Orwell’s novel *1984* paints a bleak picture of a totalitarian regime. My son first encountered this novel in the fifth grade. He gave up after reading only 15 pages. He told me that the book felt overwhelmingly gray, like the color of concrete, which left him feeling depressed and unable to continue.

If you’ve read this novel, you can always sense the oppressive nature of totalitarianism through its myriad details: the dilapidated living conditions, the meager food rations, the extreme control over language, the state-level lies, and the eradication of sexual desire.

This book is perhaps revered by anti-communists worldwide. During the Soviet era, it was lauded as a vivid portrayal of Stalin’s rule. After the Soviet Union’s collapse, it has occasionally been used by critics of China as a metaphorical critique.

Coincidentally, today marks the first sunny day in my city, Xuzhou, after several days of heavy rain. The blue sky and sunshine felt especially precious after the long spell of gloom. While driving to the supermarket at noon, I noticed several pedestrians taking photos of the Xuzhou sky with their phones. I joined them, taking pictures at every traffic light.

Interestingly, these photos inadvertently captured street scenes of Xuzhou. Let’s compare Orwell’s depiction with these freshly taken photos (just two hours ago) and see if you can find any hints of “China lacking freedom” in them（Since I took the photos through my car window, the UV-protective glass filtered some of the sunlight, making the colors in the images appear slightly darker）.

I was driving on Zhongshan Road in downtown Xuzhou, named in honor of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China. Yes, the same Dr. Sun Yat-sen whom the Taiwanese refer to as the “Father of the Nation.” You can see the Audi and Volkswagen cars in front of me, both with green license plates. In China, there are three colors for license plates: blue for gasoline-powered cars, yellow for trucks, and green for electric vehicles (EVs). In my city, EVs are rapidly replacing traditional gasoline cars. Ordinary Chinese people have dozens of car brands to choose from.In recent years, promoting environmental protection, ecological preservation, and love for the Earth has been one of the primary focuses of the Chinese government’s public campaigns through all forms of media:

The square building on the right is the largest bookstore in our city. The first to seventh floors are open to the public, while the upper floors are office spaces. The bookstore is called “Xinhua Bookstore,” which means “New China Bookstore.” It is currently the largest bookstore chain in China. This place holds the fondest memories of my childhood; I always asked my father to take me there every weekend to read, though we rarely bought any books because we were very poor. Nowadays, children don’t see buying books as a joyful experience. To attract more visitors, this bookstore has dedicated areas for foreign imports and textbooks, along with numerous seating areas, bakeries, and cafes where customers can sit on sofas, enjoy some cake, and read books:

This 52-story skyscraper is the tallest building in Xuzhou. It is designed as five skyscrapers of varying heights arranged in a specific pattern. The other four buildings, which are only 15-20 stories tall, are obscured by the taller structures. This design was inspired by the shape of Buddha’s hand in Buddhist tradition. The skyscraper is a commercial complex that includes a hotel, shopping mall, dining center, office spaces, an ice rink, a cinema, and more. It is the fashion hub of Xuzhou. Some film companies occasionally recruit fashionable girls there. The building is named “Suning Tower.” “Suning” means “sun” in English, and in Chinese, it signifies “peace in Jiangsu Province.” The investor, a large home appliance retail chain, is based in the capital of Jiangsu Province.

At night, the entire glass facade of Suning Tower transforms into a screen, displaying commercials and messages of love throughout the night. Yes, if you spend some money, you can have your girlfriend’s photo or name projected onto this giant screen, letting the whole city see your love for her:

The black skyscraper in the center of the image is currently under construction. This building is being funded by the famous Chinese food company “Yurun Group.” Unfortunately, shortly after completing the podium, the group experienced a financial crisis and filed for bankruptcy protection. This left the skyscraper’s fate uncertain. After a two-year halt in construction, a government-funded investment company took over the project and partnered with the renowned Chinese commercial enterprise “DeJi” for its development. As a result, the building was rapidly completed and is now set to open soon. With approximately 60 floors, it will surpass Suning Tower to become the tallest building in Xuzhou:

I checked the temperature, and it’s 37 ℃ outside the car. When I was a child, this would have been unimaginable. The many days of heavy rain haven’t cooled the weather. As soon as the sun comes out, the temperature quickly rises to an unbearable level:

The building on the left is the city’s “University Student Entrepreneurship Service Center.” Xuzhou is home to several universities, including China University of Mining and Technology, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou Medical University, Jiangsu University of Technology, and Xuzhou Institute of Technology. Each year, a large number of graduates are welcomed. The government encourages them to use the skills they acquired in university to start small businesses. Most students receive loans based on their business plans, with varying amounts of funding. These loans, provided by the government, come with low or zero interest rates, aiming to help young entrepreneurs develop competitive businesses. Key industries in Xuzhou include pharmaceuticals, construction machinery, and polysilicon:

The Current Status of the Deji Plaza Construction:

On the left side, you’ll find a hotel and an art school. The high-rise on the right is a continuing education college affiliated with a university. Since the main campus is located far from the city center, the university has rented this building in the city to make it more convenient for students to attend classes during their spare time:

One of the businesses is a travel agency called “International Travel Agency,” indicating that it handles outbound travel services. The other is a store that specializes in selling “wǔ liáng yè,（五粮液）” a renowned Chinese brand of liquor. This is a high-proof spirit:

Crossing this intersection leads to Jianguo Road, the financial district of Xuzhou. The street is lined with banks, numbering in the dozens. In China, banks are categorized into three types: state-owned banks, private banks, and foreign banks. The tiered building visible in the photo is a branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in Xuzhou.

The pink high-rise behind it, along with the surrounding streets, is Xuzhou’s computer products district. During the PC boom, the pink building was a favorite spot for local youth. Many young people, obsessed with the internet, would play games at night and sleep during the day. Some restaurants capitalized on this trend by staying open late to cater to those working in the internet industry. Although PCs have been replaced by mobile internet and business in the computer district has declined, the nearby restaurants continue to thrive and have become one of Xuzhou’s popular food districts:

Xuzhou Metro Line 2’s “Xima Tai Station.” Xuzhou currently has six metro lines, with three already in operation and the other three under construction. Additionally, there are plans for four more lines that are currently under government review. In China, only the State Council has the authority to give final approval for metro projects. This is because metro construction requires a substantial investment, and once operational, it necessitates ongoing large expenditures. As a public transportation system, it may not be profitable. Therefore, only cities that meet stringent criteria in terms of size, population, economic output, and traffic volume are eligible to apply for metro projects.

The name of this metro station is “Xì Mǎ Tái,（戏马台）” which is a historical site. About 2,200 years ago,Xiàng Yǔ（项羽）, a renowned monarch and tragic hero of the Han Dynasty, trained his war horses on a nearby hill. Since then, the phrase “training war horses in the cold autumn wind” has become a well-known Chinese idiom. In Chinese, this story is written as “秋风戏马,（qiū fēng xì mǎ）” which evokes the image of a hero, aware of his inevitable failure, preparing diligently with his horses amidst the chilly autumn wind, ready to face the battle without fear of death:

This is the “Street Police Station” in Xuzhou. This small glass booth serves as a police station and is set up at several major intersections. There are three main purposes for these stations:(1)They enable quick dispatch to handle emergencies and sudden incidents.(2)Each station is equipped with multifunctional computer systems where citizens can manage various personal affairs, such as reporting or applying for an ID card, handling traffic accident reports, obtaining government documents, applying for passports, and dealing with driving-related matters.(3)They also provide amenities like hot water, common medications, air pumps, umbrellas, and reading glasses for the public’s use.

I am familiar with these police stations because they have a fourth function: traffic violation education. I once forgot to wear a helmet while riding my electric bike and was required by the police to attend a 40-minute traffic safety education session via online video at this station. Sometimes, people must also complete an online test on their phones before they are “released”:

After turning left at the intersection, I entered Liberation Road. The Yellow River crosses this road, and China’s first major east-west railway line, the “Longhai Railway,” also runs across it. Consequently, a bridge and a railway underpass have become major traffic congestion points. A few years ago, the Xuzhou city government constructed an overpass that spans above both the Yellow River Bridge and the Longhai Railway Bridge, effectively alleviating the traffic congestion in the area.

During the construction of the overpass, there was a small “protest.” Before the new overpass could be built, an old bridge over the Yellow River, known as the “Dike Bridge,” needed to be demolished. The name “Dike Bridge” carried historical significance. However, after the new bridge was completed, the government named it something new. Local residents disagreed and prevented the construction workers from installing the new nameplate. In the end, the government yielded to the protest and restored the name “Dike Bridge” out of respect for its historical importance:

I originally planned to capture images of drug users, robbers, people urinating in public, slums, and thieves in Xuzhou. Unfortunately, I can’t photograph things that don’t exist. So, I ended up taking random photos and sharing an overview of an ordinary city in China with you. I apologize!

p.s.

My city, Xuzhou, is a tragic city. Historically, over 400 battles took place here among all the wars in China. It has been a military stronghold and a core area contested by ancient emperors. A Yuan Dynasty poet once described Xuzhou in his poem:

古徐州形胜，消磨尽、几英雄！

想铁甲重瞳，乌骓汗血，玉帐连空，

楚歌八千兵散，料梦魂应不到江东。

空有黄河如带，乱山回合云龙。

汉家陵阙起秋风，禾黍满关中。

更戏马台荒，画眉人远，燕子楼空。

人生百年如寄，且开怀，一饮尽千锺。

回首荒城斜日，倚栏目送飞鸿。

This is the translated version:

From ancient times, Xuzhou’s location has meant it could never escape the ravages of war. Countless heroes have lost their lives here!

The general, clad in iron armor and riding a host of prized horses, had barracks so vast they seemed to stretch into the clouds. When his soldiers fell, his own spirit could not return home, leaving only the Yellow River and a mountain rising like a dragon in the clouds, here in Xuzhou.

The Han Dynasty emperors’ tombs were constructed in the chill of autumn winds, and no one can ultimately escape their fate.

The high platform where the hero once played with his war horses has been desolate for a thousand years. The passionate beauty has long passed away, and the grand tower where she waited for her lover now stands empty.

Life feels like staying at an inn. Why not drink joyfully and have a thousand cups? After becoming drunk, look back at the endless wilderness beyond the city walls, and as the sun sets, lean on the railing and watch the distant wild geese depart.

“You’re Being Slaughtered & You Don’t Realize It!” – US Dollar Collapse

This insight is gold. 2008 was when it all hit.

What if I think China is a genius for winning the Korean War by gaining territorial claims to Korea?

On November 25, 1950, the U.S.-ROK allied forces occupied half of the Korean Peninsula and were about to reach the Yalu River border between China and North Korea.
On July 27, 1953, the Chinese and North Korean allied forces again drove the U.S. and South Korean allied forces south of the 38th parallel.

The Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) started at the Yalu River and ended at the 38th parallel. This was a very successful victory.

The death data of 197,653 Chinese soldiers is indeed greater than the death data of 54,246 US military personnel. The death data of Chinese soldiers is 3 times that of the US soldiers.

But is the death figure of 197,653 Chinese soldiers smaller than the total US+UN (non-human) death figure of 683,079?

I’m not good at math and can’t tell the difference between the size of the numbers, so I invite netizens to compare. 😅

In addition to American soldiers, those who participated in the Korean War included soldiers from South Korea, the UK, Canada, Turkey, Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Thailand, Ethiopia, Greece, France, Colombia, Belgium, South Africa, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Soldiers other than the US military were not human beings. They were completely wiped out by the Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) and were not worth mentioning at all. 🤣

All I know is that by the time the Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) entered the Korean battlefield on November 25, 1950, the North Korean army had suffered most of its casualties.

most of the battles after November 25, 1950 were fought by the Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) .

New Paternity Law Has Modern Women Fuming!

The Farthest Reaches of Space

Lucille Greye

“Who would believe that I, the great Lish Ryn, would be brought to my knees by the little Nadyr?”Telen Fogg, the tall android sighed. “Lish. How many times have you said that exact same thing? Look. So what if Nadyr got the Zarkot first? My friend,” Telen smiled, “this can only be good. We can easily steal the Zarkot back from him. It’s most likely in his ship, the Angyl, and it probably isn’t even protected.”Lish spun her pilot’s chair away from the cockpit’s window and faced Telen. Her long, golden hair framed her face. With the combination of her hair and bright green eyes, she stood out against the white leather and silver computers behind her. “And how do you propose we do that?” Her voice was flat, angry. “I am completely tired of being humiliated and undermined by that Bos’ii snake! He took my Zarkot and left me stranded in a tree!”Telen chuckled. “He may be a Bos’ii snake, but he is not a wise one-““No, he is!” Lish thundered. “Every plan, every scheme I have, he somehow finds out about it… and every time, he brings it to ruins! I wonder how that happens?”“Lish, please don’t tell me you suspect me?”

“I-” Her gaze jerks up to glimpse a flash of color dart behind one of the navigational devices at the back of the room. “Vorrha?” She asked, incredulous. “I wouldn’t have imagined you to be the traitor in the midst.” This, of course, was rather likely, as the only crew members on the Aalya Meriet were herself, Telen, and the humanoid mechanic Vorrha. It was possible that Telen was the information leak, or Nadyr had planted a spy-droid on the ship, but Telen was very dedicated to Lish, and Nadyr rarely had access to the ship to plant a droid. It was doubtful that Nadyr even had that type of technology. The planet Jayjar was located in the farthest corners of space, hardly touched by the technological advances of the planets Mirima or Qud, and Nadyr never left Jayjar. The only suspect could be Vorrha, and she was hardly being sly about it either. She had no reason to sneak about the very ship that she repaired daily.

Vorrha slunk out from behind the computers, and the small hominid shriveled under Lish’s glare. “Nadyr offered Vorrha m-money, more than Captain Lish could. Vorrha needs the moneys, you see, b-because Vorrha’s mother needs the treatment for the sickness.” She stammered. “Vorrha is so sorry.”

Lish growled quietly. “A little meelvat in our midst, taking precious information and leaking info to Nadyr. I would throw you into space from the airlock, but I’m not that heartless. No, I think I’ll drop you off on Arboga, maybe in-”

“Lish.” Telen muttered.

“What do you need, Telen?”

“There’s an incoming ship on the radar. Big one.”

“Nadyr’s?”

“No, bigger. Could it be-”

Lish shoved him aside. “It could be the Narrtor, Kon Laari’s ship.”

Telen’s face paled. “The Kon? Here? He must be thousands of miles from the planet Okrak!”

Kon Laari Antrus, the cyborg crime lord, or The Kon as he was known by many, was the leader of the galaxy’s largest criminal organization. He was head of the Antrus Clan, a group of thieves, pirates, and smugglers. Okrak, a dry, mountainous planet, about three thousand miles from Arboga, was his home. It was rare that Laari left that area, generally sending off his minions to do his work.

But for some reason, it was his personal space cruiser, the Narrtor, that Telen saw.

The comm crackled to life and an authoritative voice could be heard faintly. “Aalya Meriet, this is the pilot of the Narrtor. Please prepare to be boarded.”

Vorrha dropped her head into her hands, muttering some type of prayer in her native language.

“What are we gonna do?” Telen asked. “Maybe we could light up the engines and fly out of here-”

The comm hissed again. “Any signs of resistance or attempts to escape will be taken as a threat and the Aalya Meriet will be annihilated.”

The large hatch of the landing dock opened, and the pilot of the Narrtor took over the auto-controls of the Aalya, steering her into the landing dock. The gate hissed shut behind them.

“Trapped like a fly in a Cath spider’s web,” Lish muttered. “Stuck… Our only hope of escaping is to play along with this. See what Laari Antrus wants, give him it, and get out of here.” With a short, decisive motion, she pressed the button to open the loading hatch below. “Compliant, that’s the look we’re going for.”

Vorrha whimpered quietly.

The sound of footsteps quickly grew loud, and in seconds, a group of five men, four carrying guns and the fifth a data pad, came into the cockpit. The man with the data pad glanced up. “Yes. Those are the ones. Seize them.” The armed men grabbed Telen and Lish by the arms. “Comply, or be shot,” the tall one, who seemed to be the leader, continued.

Lish’s face was red. “On what grounds can you arrest me? I am Lish Gir’ryn, best pilot in the galaxy, not some girl to by toyed with!”

The leader glanced down at his pad again. “Lish Gir’ryn? And, I assume, Telen Fogg. And whoever that little mouse is. You, Ryn and Fogg , are both under arrest,” he paused to clear his throat, “by order of the great Kon Laari Antrus. Do not speak again, unless you would like to be killed.”

Lish was bursting with fury, but she kept her angry words to herself.

The trio was marched not towards the top of the ship, where the ship’s cockpit was, but towards the back.

“Where are you taking us?” Lish asked, both frustrated and curious.

The head of the guards, or whoever the tall man that was leading them was, frowned. “Towards the prison deck. Where else would we be taking you?”

“But why?” Telen burst out. “Why are we being arrested? What have we done to anger Kon Laari?”

The tall man with the data pad sighed, and glanced down to read the arrest warrant. “The smugglers Lisk-” he paused, closely scrutinizing the pad. “Lish Ryn and Telen Fogg are under arrest for inhibiting and interfering with the business of Kon Laari Antrus. He personally came to oversee their capture.

“It is by Antrus’ law,” he continued, “that all smugglers, robbers, pirates, and any others involved in criminal dealings are under arrest by the Kon and are sentenced to three years of work in the planet Okrak’s mines. I, Timothy Halos, have been placed in charge of these dealings.”

“Why is he capturing all of the… hard workers?” Lish asked.

Timothy frowned. “I have not been given leave to reveal that information.”

“Oh, what a shame,” Lish spoke smoothly. “Second only to the Kon and yet, still rules being placed on what you can and cannot say?”

“I- I must obey Antrus.”

“Yes… but, well, I don’t see Antrus around.”

“I cannot speak of something the Kon has forbidden me to speak of.” But there was a slight hesitation in his voice, as if he really did want to speak.

“No one’s here to tell Antrus.”

The guards escorting the prisoners exchanged glances, but said nothing.

Timothy sighed. “Very well, but you must not tell anyone. Antrus’ plan is strictly confidential. He is searching for a type of stone, or mechanical device- none can say which -but he heard that a smuggler in the Outer Reaches had gotten hold of it. He began to capture and arrest any criminals he came across, hoping that one would have it. He did this under the pretense of ‘cleaning up our galaxy.’ Of course, he told me, his most trusted advisor, what was truly happening.”

Lish, of course was quite pleased, as her plan to get information was going quite smoothly. “A stone? Why a stone?”

“Not just any stone. It’s the Zarkot.”

Lish scrunched her face up, as if confused. “The Zarkot… I know I’ve heard the name somewhere. Tell me more!”

Timothy Halos was blind to the fact that Lish was easily dredging up information from him. “The Zarkot is a stone said to posses magical powers, or extremely advanced technology.”

Lish changed her expression to in awe. “Really? What can it do?” Of course, she already knew how it worked, she just wished to see how much he knew.

“Many things. It is said to be a translator, able to detect different alien languages and make them understandable to the superior humans. It can command other ships’ controls, many at once, even if the ship that is overriding them does not have the technology to countermand other ships, and it even-” he stopped. “Ah! We have arrived!” With a flourish, he opened the door. “Welcome to Cell Block B, your new temporary home.” He turned to the guards. “Escort them to the nearest empty cell. That should be B7 or B8. I will be taking my leave to go report back to Antrus.” The guards nodded their heads to Halos. They drug Telen, Lish, and Vorrha through the doorway and down the hall to cell B7. “Hope you enjoy your new home,” one of them grunted, shoving them into the room and slamming the heavy iron door behind them.

“Well. That was rather intersecting,” Lish said, in surprisingly high spirits.

Telen grunted in response.

Lish surveyed their surroundings, looking for a possible escape route. The door, which seemed to be the only entrance or exit, was a stout iron door. There was no handle, and the door opened outwardly, so the door screws couldn’t be taken off somehow. The door itself looked like a large slab of metal. The rest of the room seemed to be a smooth cube, with only two grated openings between each cell.

“Hello?” Lish called through the grates. “Anyone else in here?”

“Hello!” A young man, who looked to be around the age of seventeen or eighteen, popped up in front of one of the great. He had short, curly hair, bright blue eyes, and a contagious smile.

Lish yelped in surprise. “Nadyr?”

“The one and only.”

“What are you doing here?” She hissed.

“I could ask the same of you, but thing is, I already guessed why you’re here. And that’s the same reason why I’m here. Except I have no idea why I’m here.”

“Antrus is searching for the Zarkot.”

Nadyr’s jaw dropped, but his smile quickly returned to his face. “Is he really?”

“Yes. Which would be fine, if you hadn’t taken it from me. I would have it with me right now, and I would be able-”

Nadyr scoffed. “In your dreams. We all know you’re not competent enough for that. If you had it with you, Timothy would already have found it.”

“Like you could have done better!”

“Actually,” Nadyr held up his hand, curled into a fist around something, “I did do better.” He opened his hand to reveal a small blue stone, dangling from a silver chain. “Please, hold your applause. It was quite hard to smuggle it in, but I managed.”

Lish sighed. “Bested again.”

Telen chuckled. “Bested again indeed. Now, Nadyr, do you know how to use it?”

Nadyr shrugged. “To be frank, no, I don’t.”

“Alright. Then shall we make a deal? If you give it to me, Lish can use it to get us out of here. Then, we sneak back to the Aalya Meriet. We use the Zarkot to override the Narrtor’s security systems, fly out of here, and maybe head to the Center Planets. We can sell the Zarkot, split the money, and then stay out of each other’s paths from then on. Is that a deal?”

“But,” Nadyr asked, face twisted with indecision. “How can I trust you to let me out?”

Lish spoke up. “You can trust us, because if we don’t let you out, you can just yell for the guards. Deal?”

Nadyr shoved his hand through the bars, and they shook hands. “Deal.” He pushed the stone through. “You sure you know how to use that thing?”

“Very sure.” Lish pressed the stone to the center of the cell door, and spoke the command word for the Zarkot. She could hear the gears grinding as the locking mechanism was overridden. The door swung open, hanging loosely from its hinges.

“Ready?” Telen asked, and Vorrha, Lish, and Nadyr nodded silently. “My memory databases tracked the turns we took and the distances between them to get from the Aalya Meriet, so all I have to do is reverse it and I can get us out of here.”

“Being an android must be nice,” Nadyr commented.

The foursome ran through the hallways, ducking to the side when any of Antrus’ men came down the hallways.

Within minutes of their escape, alarms began to shriek.

Nadyr smiled. “Nice to know I’m worthy of alarms.”

Lish laughed. Her mood had become quite cheerful. It seemed that adventure had banished her irritable nature to the recesses of her conscious.

“There!” Telen said. “That’s the entrance to the docking bay. But it’s heavily guarded.”

Nadyr smiled. “Lish! Remember how Liz used to distract the kitchen guards?” He asked, referring to the days when him and Lish were in the orphanage on Arboga.

Lish nodded and smirked. “You distract. I’ll take them out.”

Nadyr strolled around the corner, directly in front of the guards. “Hello, gentlemen.”

Four barrels of four guns jerked up to point at him.

Nadyr put his hands up. “Whoa, no lets not be too hasty.”

And then chaos reigned.

Lish darted up behind the guards, grabbing two and smashing their heads together. Nadyr disarmed the other two, shooting them both with a blaster he stole from one.

“All done!”

Lish nodded, teeth gritted into a smile, hand gripping her shoulder.

“Lish, what happened?” Telen asked, worried.

“Stray blaster shot. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about me. Just get back to the ship.”

They filed through the door, and Telen jabbed the button to open the Aalya Meriet’s loading hatch.

“All aboard!”

Later, they sat in the cockpit. Lish’s shoulder was swathed in bandages, and Nadyr was reprogramming the ship’s computer system to accept the Zarkot.

Nadyr sighed. “If only we didn’t have to leave the Angyl.”

“All we have to do,” Lish said, ignoring him, “is hijack the computer system of the Narrtor long enough to open the landing hatch. Then we zip out of here. That’s all. Antrus didn’t ‘tie down’ the Aalya Meriet in any way.” She stood up and walked towards the controls. “Plug the Zarkot here,” she reached down and pointed, and Nadyr stuck the little stone into the slot made to fit it. “And now,” Lish pushed a few buttons and typed a destination into the navigation system. “And now, we’re free.”

The huge hatched opened, and the little Aalya Meriet darted free of the Narrtor’s clutches.

The flight to the Center Planets was not a long one, but the foursome’s adventures on the planet Qud were worthy of a second tale. But, alas, that tale must be saved for another day, because for now, the story of Lish Ryn and her friends must be given a rest.

How Joe Biden Passed the Most Sanctions in American History

What is the meaning of “如何51吃瓜北京朝阳群众热心吃瓜”?

You might not have copied the sentence completely.

“如何51吃瓜北京朝阳群众热心吃瓜”

Do not know what does that mean.

But I’d like to explain a bit.

“瓜” here represents “watermelon,”西瓜， literally meaning “western melon.” Clearly, this is not a native Chinese species; the character “西” (west) here signifies its Middle Eastern origin. For example, “胡” (barbarian) in terms like “二胡” (a traditional Chinese string instrument) also has this meaning, indicating it came from the Middle East.

There are many species introduced to China that are not native. For instance, “番茄” (tomato) and “番薯” (sweet potato), where “番” means foreign. So these are not indigenous Chinese crops.

Even chili peppers are not native. They were only widely cultivated in China during the Ming Dynasty.

However, Chinese people love chili peppers just as much as they love——

Watermelons!

The watermelon production in China is so high that… the yield is just immense.

Because of the high water content, they are not easy to transport. So, while watermelons can be relatively expensive in supermarkets—around $3 per 5 kilograms—if you go to the production areas, they are practically free.

Sometimes, they are even used to feed pigs.

I am an outlier among Chinese people,do not like eating fruit,eating watermelons, but my fellow countrymen love this fruit so much that Chinese people refer to themselves as “吃瓜群众” (melon-eating masses).

The phrase means: I’m just here to watch the fun, holding a melon and eating it, while watching the excitement.

“朝阳群众” (Chaoyang masses) refers to another concept.

Chaoyang is a district in Beijing. There are some middle-aged and elderly women there who have helped the police solve many drug cases, especially involving actors and celebrities, as there are many film and TV stars living in that area. This area became a hotspot for drug problems.

Later, “Chaoyang masses” evolved into a term for “enthusiastic informants who report drug use,” and eventually became known as “China’s most powerful intelligence agency”! People joke that the U.S. has the CIA, the Soviet Union had the KGB, and China has the “Chaoyang masses.”

That’s how it is.

Italian Chili

Yield: 12 cups

Ingredients

1 pound bulk Italian sausage
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups onion, diced
1/2 pound pepperoni stick, cubed
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (26 ounce) jar tomato sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1 (15 ounce) can cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons chili powder, or more to taste
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Salt, to taste

Instructions

Sauté sausage in oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When brown, drain off fat and add onions, pepperoni and garlic; cook for 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and broth, bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes.
Stir in beans and seasoning and simmer until heated through.

Ah. Here’s some more of MM’s artwork…

I just been working on the system. Still, not really “jumps out” as spectacular.

I played around with South East Asian history. With the bath and anointment rituals…

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(15)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(19)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(18)

Then, I started to look into European Biblical traditions.

Here’s some work regarding angels…

Off to Ancient China.

Here’s some efforts regarding ancient kings and their palace court…

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(15)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(15)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(14)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(14)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(13)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(13)

“Wing And A Prayer” (1944) – Complete WW2 Naval Warfare Movie

Auto-lacing shoes in China

One of the popular trends in China are “auto-lacing” shoes. This is a new kind of way to lace up your shoes. It’s all the rage with the kids. My daughter has about five pairs of auto-lacing shoes.

It’s sort of like those lacing shoes on the “back to the future 2” movie. Only it’s not a motor. You just twist a dial. But it’s there, and super easy and convenient. It’s been popular in China every since maybe May 2024.

Something like this…

You press the button and twist. A ratchet mechanism tightens the laces up. Pretty darn cool. Hit the button and twist.

All the Chinese kids are throwing away their Velcro sneakers and going auto-lace. Been this way all Spring, Summer and Fall. You’ll all see Western exported versions soon enough provided that they will be permitted to be imported to your country.

Today…

Why doesn’t China break off diplomatic relations with the US if the US is selling arms to Taiwan?

Sometimes I think that Americans and Soviets should try playing a Chinese board game called Go instead of always playing chess. China also has a game similar to chess called Elephant Chess, which I have played, but I find Go to be more interesting.

main qimg 7dd04f84d855699f573fe90ade9f153b

（China Chess,Elephant Chess）

The thinking in chess is too linear, and it’s almost a zero-sum game.

The following is an actual game between two top players. The 12 black stones at the top are in dangerous.

Most people might get anxious and try to save them. But in this game, Black 43 surprisingly ignored them and played in the bottom right corner. As expected, White 44 attacked Black’s stones… (The calculations of professional players are extremely complex. If Black 43 dared to ignore the group, they must have calculated it thoroughly.)

This is just a metaphor. In Go, you don’t always have to follow your opponent’s moves. This kind of situation is very common.

The Taiwan issue is similar. Chairman Mao said, “You fight your way, and I fight mine.”

In 1949, just after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the US Seventh Fleet stationed in the Taiwan Strait. What could we do? We had to endure it. By 1972, during the Soviet attack and American defense, Nixon visited China. When he met Chairman Mao and was about to discuss Taiwan, Mao said, “We’re not talking about Taiwan; we’re talking about philosophy.” When I first saw this sentence in my youth, I didn’t understand what it meant. Of course, I still don’t fully understand it now, but perhaps I understand another of Chairman Mao’s statements: “Taiwan is small; the world is big.”

Many years have passed, and we are much stronger than we were in 1949. Grain production has increased 6.5 times, steel production has increased 32,500 times, electricity production has increased 2,000 times, and per capita GDP has increased 470 times…

In human history, it’s rare to see so many people make such great progress. Overall, the progress is significant. If we always focused solely on Taiwan, fighting to the death, instead of “playing elsewhere,” temporarily putting it aside and making efforts in other directions, wouldn’t that be foolish?

I personally like Trump, but as a politician, especially as the leader of a superpower like the United States, I have to say that his way of thinking is too linear, too chess-like, not Go.

For example, he repeatedly threatened NATO member states to increase military spending, and even threatened to dissolve NATO. It seems that this can indeed promote the US economy, but although Go is black and white, in fact, its greatest charm is precisely: there is nothing in the world that is absolutely black and white, and everything contains opposition.

He believes that NATO European member states have taken advantage of the United States, but in fact these member states have also been helping the United States; he requires member states to improve their armaments, but on the other hand, after these countries have all obtained strong weapons, is the US military presence in Europe still necessary?

I certainly don’t dare to say he is wrong, I have no ability to judge, but it seems that he does care too much about the $10 in front of him…

As for the US selling arms to Taiwan, of course, the Chinese are very unhappy, but breaking off relations with the US because of this is unlikely. It’s like in Go, where a beginner often makes the mistake of capturing a single stone or group of stones, losing the initiative.

Taiwan is small; the world is big.

The World’s Most Powerful EW System MURMANSK-BN Paralyzed F-35 Fighters Over The Black & Baltic Seas

What were the greatest last words in history?

In the Salem witch trials of 1692, 81-year-old farmer Giles Corey was falsely accused of witchcraft. They placed him on the ground, put wooden plates on him and covered these with large rocks. This would slowly break his body and make it harder for him to breathe. For two days they kept increasing the weight, as each torturer would ask him in between rounds of torture, whether he would like to confress…

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Each time, Corey said only two words:

“More weight!”

He kept it up. Even when the weight got so heavy that his ribs began breaking, blood coming out of his mouth. At one point, his tongue was pressed out of his mouth, an one of his tormenters pushed it back inside the old man’s mouth with the tip of his cane…

They asked him, one final time, to confess. Giles Corey smiled and screamed out: “More weight!” They obliged him, and finally the weight of the rocks crushed his chest entirely, killing Corey after two days of excruciating pain.

The UK Rejects Punishing China EVs, Canada Makes Surprise Visit To Beijing (Just In Case)

What did Timothy Treadwell do wrong after years of close contact with bears (to have been killed by one)?

For starters, he completely lost the plot. He began think he could be best friends with the bears. Or, as one expert put it, “He began to think these were people in bear costumes.

Namely, he made a few huge mistakes during his final year there:

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He stopped bringing bear spray with him, which is absolutely crazy to me. He had no defense outside of his arms and legs which are completely useless against such massive kodiak bears.

He didn’t pay attention to rising signs of aggression in a few of the bears, who had become normalized to his presence, and became more comfortable approaching him. There was one bear in particular, who is believed to be the one that killed him. It was being especially aggressive in footage during the documentary.

And then there are the endless warnings and violations he’d committed with the park service, with many rangers begging him to stop.

Treadwell was extremely unprofessional and put other people’s lives at risk in what he was doing.

All of that aside, I’d never wish what happened to Treadwell on my worst enemy. Bears are one of the last animals you want to kill you.

Why? Because they don’t kill you. They just start eating.

His final words to his girlfriend were, “Get out of here. I’m getting killed.”

Mozzarella Meat Balls and Spaghetti

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper (optional)
1 egg, beaten
5 ounces mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 (14 ounce) can tomatoes, chopped
12 ounces spaghetti (or preferred pasta)

Instructions

Put the beef, breadcrumbs, garlic, half the parsley, salt and pepper into a bowl. Add the egg and mix well.
Cut the mozzarella cheese into 16 small cubes. Take a heaped teaspoonful of beef mixture and form it into a ball around each cube of cheese.
Heat the oil in a large covered pan, add the meat balls to the pan, cover and cook until brown on all sides.
Add the onion to the pan, cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the tomatoes and juice. Bring up to a simmering point, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Uncover pan and cook for a further 10 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce and thicken slightly.
While the meatballs are cooking, cook the spaghetti in boiling water until done to your preference.
Drain well and divide among 4 warmed plates.
Divide the sauce among the plates of spaghetti, and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.

Shorpy

Can’t the Chinese feel their lack of freedom?

I’m (ethnically) Chinese, maybe not entirely culturally Chinese as I’m a risk taker, far more violent and many China born Chinese consider me an illiterate thug.

I was born in the UK.

I currently live in Hong Kong. I may be spending a couple weeks cycling around Meizhou.

So with direct experience… rather than the vicarious experience westerners have? I can compare directly.

I also owned (past tense) a home in Dongguan which I finally sold after being Covid blocked.

So freedom?

What can’t I do in Hong Kong that I could do in the UK?

In Hong Kong I cannot promote separatism or take money from outsiders to promote separatism. The same is true in the Mainland.

That’s it.

You think people online don’t call politicians nasty names?

Now you might be tempted to write things like:

Free internet – except the western internet has numerous blocks on it too, usually in the oh won’t anybody think of the children. The UK for instance had an extreme porn law. Franklin Veaux would likely violate many of the things in UK extreme porn law. Oddly enough the USA blocks my access to some of their websites too. I can’t access anything .mil for instance.

Free press don’t make me laugh, western press hasn’t been free for a long time now. The most notable incident was the 448 incident where just by complete coincidence almost all western news stated that 488 million paid comments existed on the Chinese internet. Funny how they all got that typo the same. 77th brigade and CIA literally has sock puppet accounts

Free elections There are elections in China and Hong Kong, westoids love to say if it doesn’t deliver the result WE DEMAND then the vote is illegitimate! Nicolás Maduro isn’t recognised despite contesting and winning elections. The 2021 HK election was observed by international monitors and opposition parties and people were allowed to stand but westoids say it’s not legitimate! Because they say so!

Gun ownership Funny enough I was once a member of the exclusive HK gun club. It’s invitation only and very expensive. Most Americans baulk at the cost of a box of .45. The HK gun club was even more expensive think $5USD a round.

PRC China Nopes no guns.

On the other hand what freedoms do I have here that western countries have?

It’s safe here, the crime rate is a tenth of what it was in the UK. After years of living here? I’ve finally started unclenching my fists. In the UK I was always expecting violence or a fight and walked around being alert to possible theft and violence. Check our this photo

Look at that goods on shelves OUTSIDE the shop. That would be UNTHINKABLE in the UK. There’s security tags on milk

Medicine

I experience what I experience in 1990s UK. 1990s UK I wasn’t scared of getting ill or hurt, maybe it was because I was younger, but over time NHS services seemed to be increasingly difficult to access. While here? Access has been widened and affordable for all.

I wrote a couple months ago about my dad and prostate cancer. He was seen, had surgery and treated within a week. He paid less than $5000USD out of pocket.

Another one of my friends. He was in HK and vanished for a week. Turns out he’d gone to Guangzhou he had a tumor on his spine. He went to a doctor, that night he was admitted to hospital. They operated in the morning removing several tumors and gave him some drugs of some kind and he has radiotherapy traveling 200miles to Guangzhou to get it. That cost him about $2500USD.

Judgement Day Arrives For Single Mum Wife Who Sabotaged Husband’s Chance At His Own Child

What is the most shameful thing you’ve seen someone do at a restaurant?

We were having a family get together at a new restaurant. When our salads arrived, one of my cousins said to the waitress, “I ordered my salad without dressing.” The waitress immediately took the salad back and replaced it without dressing. No problem. When the manager came by to ask how everything was, this cousin said, “Well we were having a lovely family get together, when MY salad came with dressing on it. It ruined my whole meal.” The manager said to the cousin, “We will not charge you for your meal.” This same cousin then noticed another cousin was not eating her meal. She asked if there was a problem. The cousin mentioned her chicken was a bit raw. (She was not complaining) First cousin yells, “Oh waiter.” Another meal came off the bill. When the bill arrived, which we were paying, there were three meals taken off the bill.

We protested to the manager and told him this was not necessary. We wanted to pay the whole bill. All the problems were easily corrected. He refused the extra money.

While we were walking out to the car, one of my young sons asked if this cousin brought her own rubber cockroaches? We were all embarrassed by this cousin’s behavior.

When I got home, I sent the restaurant a check for the three meals with a note telling the manager, he was a wonderful manager and although we appreciated the discount, it was not necessary. We wanted to reimburse the restaurant. They did cash the check.

Several years later, we were with this same cousin at a different restaurant. One of our party was complaining that her meat was tough. The cousin yelled out, “Oh waiter” I said to myself, “Oh crap. Here we go again” But in this case, the restaurant just replaced the meal with another choice.

How The Chinese See The U.S. In 2024 | Asmongold Reacts

This is an American reacting to the video presented earlier.

As a lawyer, when has a client completely ignored your advice and turned out to be right?

Originally Answered: As a lawyer, when has a client completely ignored your advice and they turned out to be right?

I was a freshly minted lawyer (the ink on my bar card hadn’t even dried) and had been assigned to represent a young man in juvenile court charged with possession of marijuana and transportation of same back in the days when such activity was a felony offense. Although tried as a juvenile he could face severe penalties, time in juvenile hall, placement in a group home, removal from his family.

He also had the near perfect grounds for a motion to suppress the evidence-the first such motion I’d come across in real life. It was a near certainty to win the case for us on a “technicality” – it was a bad detention and search and the evidence would have been barred from the case. Without it the case had no legal grounds upon which to proceed and the charges would have to be dismissed.

I took great pains to explain this to my client, Billy. He asked me what would happen if the motion were not run. I told him his conviction on the charge was an absolute certainty and all I had described above would probably happen. He was by all accounts, including his own mother’s, something of an incorrigible young man, an academic truant, with many close scrapes with law enforcement, etc. etc. and I knew it highly likely that he’d be removed from his mother’s custody and become a “dependent/ward of the court” and could remain on probation until he reached his majority. I also knew that were he to re-offend his future treatment would only get more harsh. Once in the system, he’d be ridden hard and I didn’t think he’d want or endure that well.

He asked me if he could prevent me from filing the motion to suppress.

Me: “Well, yes, but if we don’t there’s nothing to prevent your being found guilty and there’s not much I can do to prevent your removal from your mother’s custody. You’ll totally be at the mercy of the court and probation. We might as well waive trial and go straight to sentencing.”

Billy: “That’s what I want to do. I don’t want a trial. I’ll plead guilty.”

Me: “But Billy. We (I) can win this case and there’s nothing they can do to you if you get the dope suppressed!”

Billy: “You’re my PD, right? And you said I have the absolute right to go to trial or not right? I want to plead guilty. No trial.”

I did as he ordered and as expected the court did impose custody time in the hall and ordered that he serve additional time in a group home (sort of a parole home) for juveniles. At his sentencing he shook my hand and thanked me for my efforts on his behalf.

About a year and a half later I was out and about when a young couple walked up to me. The young man called me by name. I’ve never been particularly comfortable with anyone calling me formally except in a professional venue. I looked at him but didn’t recognize him or the young lady affectionately draped across his arm.

“Mr. Lee, it’s me, Billy ———-!”

“Billy,” (now placing name and somewhat older face together), “How are you?”

“Doing great, sir! Just saw you and wanted to thank you for everything you did for me.”

“But Billy, you told me not to fight your case and you wound up on probation and everything else.”

“That’s true but it also got me away from my mother and older brother who were just fucking up my life. I never told you how much of my shit back then was a result of the way I was being treated at home and all the crap around me. I’m not saying what I did was right, but I needed to get away. After I got out on probation and into the group home, I got my shit together, graduated high school, and now I’ve got an apprenticeship as a union meat cutter, and I’m making good money, and I have a lovely girlfriend. And you helped make it all happen.”

“No Billy, I was just being a (know-it-all) lawyer and apparently not anywhere near as smart as you. Seems you’re the one who made the right call.”

Thanks for the A2A.

And thank you, Billy, wherever you are.

UPDATE, Feb. 2020

Wow! Over 11,000 upvotes and 150K+ views! My most popular posting and people are still reading about Billy. Thank you all, but the biggest thanks to Billy who taught a young lawyer the value of listening to the human being (however flawed s/he might appear) and though I possess greater knowledge it does not guarantee greater wisdom.

Billy, by my calculation, about 57 years old now. I trust, and pray, still possessing his innate common sense, wiser with years and experience, happily with spouse and progeny. He remains one of my most memorable and favorite clients. I still delight in telling his/our story and how he’s helped me keep my ego in check and a plentiful store of humility. The state made me a lawyer but God made me a human being. Billy reminds me of that almost every day of my life.

The REAL Difference Between Chinese, Korean & Japanese People

Fun.

Why were Nazi Germany’s Waffen-SS soldiers more likely to be shot even if they had surrendered to the Allied soldiers in WW2?

If you are asking why Waffen-SS solders were more likely to be shot, read this:

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Photo of SS Standartenfuhrer Kurt Meyer and fellow officers before the massacre.

In the early days of the Normandy campaign 20 Canadian soldiers, members of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and 27th Armoured Regiment, were captured and executed by Waffen SS forces in a monastery near Caen, France. The incident was a direct violation of the Geneva Convention, which was signed by Germany before the war.

The executioner was the infamous SS Standartenfuhrer, Kurt Meyer. Meyer was in charge of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and under its wing, the fanatical 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. The Hitlerjugend, were sent to Caen to participate in combat against the invading Canadians. Meyer was overheard to say to his fellow officer: “What should we do with these prisoners; they only eat up our rations?” They settled on the “no prisoners” policy afterwards.

Their senior officers were battle-hardened Waffen SS members. Among them was Kurt Meyer, nicknamed Panzermeyer. Meyer was found guilty of inciting his troops to commit murder and of being responsible as a commander for the killings that happened in Ardenne Abbey. He was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Kurt Meyer was set free on 7th September 1954, after serving nine years in prison in Canada.

The captured Canadians were all young men, barely out of school, with no combat experience. They were outmanoeuvred and captured in June 1944. The headquarters of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment was located in the Ardenne Abbey, so the soldiers were taken there. The rest of the story is based on evidence gathered during an investigation of the massacre.

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Photo of Canadian troops on Juno Beach June 1944

Their bodies were discovered on July 8th, 1944, after the Abbey had finally been liberated by the Canadian Army. First, they found the body of Lieutenant Thomas Windsor. Some of the bodies were found by the villagers around the premises. Examinations of the remains revealed that the soldiers had either been shot or bludgeoned directly in the head. After the discovery, their bodies were properly buried. In addition to the 20 confirmed cases, two more Canadian soldiers are believed to have suffered the same fate on June 17th, also on the premises of the Abbey, but their bodies were never found. The soldiers were shot in the back of their heads, one by one, as they finished questioning them. When the Canadians realized what was happening, each prisoner shaking hands with his comrades before walking to the garden and being shot.

In 1984, a monument was erected for the victims of the Ardenne Abbey massacre. The inscription, followed by the names of those killed, reads:

“IN MEMORIAM. ON THE NIGHT OF 7-8 JUNE 1944, EIGHTEEN CANADIAN SOLDIERS WERE MURDERED IN THIS GARDEN WHILE BEING HELD HERE AS PRISONERS OF WAR. TWO MORE PRISONERS DIED HERE, OR NEARBY, ON 17 JUNE 1944. LEST WE FORGET.”

Today’s collection of MM art

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(17)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(17)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(16)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(16)

Is it possible for the US Navy to detect Russian or Chinese submarines?

Of course.

The US was the first to build a underwater hydrophone detection system. It was called the SONUS. The new detection system uses fiber optic cables that detect changes in the length of the fiber optic cable when sound passes through the fiber. They have different lengths to detect different frequencies.

Then there is satellite SAR that can detect wakes of underwater submarines. This can only detect submarines at a depth of 50 meters underwater. There are rumors that new SAR wake detectors can detect submarines at 100 meters but who knows if that is true or not.

Then there are magnetic anomaly detectors. However the US version requires the detect to fly as close to the surface as possible so the detector is on drones that the P-3 can release.

Then there are sonobuoys. They are released from aircraft or helicopters. They ping the water to look for subs. The new buoys open up and drop sensors deep into the water and then ping.

There are towed fiber optic cables that submarines and ships have to detect submarines.

And then there are sensors on the sub itself to detect submarines.

The problem isn’t whether the US can do these things or not. The problem for the US is that China also has these things too. And the ECS and SCS and Northern Chinese waters is the most sensor dense in the world. They also have everything the US has and they researched and built things that the US doesn’t have.

For instance the magnetic anomaly detector. They built a better version using superconducting quantum phenomenon. It is billion times more sensitive than the ones we use.

They have satellites that detect wakes. They have have satellites that use dual frequency lidar to “map” the ocean floor at 500m. This thing can also detect submarines as the resolution is much much lower than a submarine.

They have built who knows how many submarine drones with towed fiber optic cable and sonar pingers. They don’t care if the US sub detects the drone and takes action. Then they know exactly where the US sub is.

There are rumors that the Chinese have put underwater fiber optic sensors in the Marianas Trench. The Marianas Trench is a long thin deep trench. It is very quiet in there. And it filters out sound from the rest of the Ocean. So anything passing over the Trench can be easily heard and tracked.

Their underwater network is wired together back to a data center with supercomputers to process the data and look for sound anomalies. In other words sounds that don’t sound like the background noise.

The Gunfighter Theory

Rudy Uribe

I thought when I died, I would instantly know the answers to all the mysteries of the universe. Was Darwin, right? Does life exist on other planets? How did they build the pyramids? The reality is I didn’t learn a darn thing. The mysteries of life did not present themselves as I had expected. Once my soul left the body, and I passed through those pearly gates, I didn’t care if I knew those answers or not.Even though I’m poo-pooing solving the world’s greatest mysteries, the one mystery that kept gnawing at me was how the universe began. I never bought into the Big Bang Theory.The idea that two basketball-sized objects collided in space to begin the universe is preposterous. Think about it, what are the odds of two objects, that small, colliding in the vastness of space? I mean, if they miss each other there is no chance of them ever meeting again. They would simply go on and on unless the universe is a sphere, in which case they might ricochet off the edge and have another go at it.Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying heaven and all the perks that go along with being there, but I still couldn’t shake the Big Bang Theory. People on earth were still talking about it, and I knew in my gut, if I still had a gut, that they were wrong.I made an appointment to see the Big Guy, and I asked permission to go back in time to when it all began. He explained that since I didn’t believe in the Big Bang, there was no going back in time since the Big Bang was supposedly the beginning of time. I rephrased my question and didn’t mention the time thing again since the Big Guy was apparently a stickler for semantics.He told me that there was no free lunch in heaven and that I would have to discover the answer for myself. He called over another spirit and told him to join me. “This is Jimmy,” The Big Guy said, Jimmy believes in the Big Bang and wants to see it happen first hand.” The Big Guy went into a windup like a major league pitcher and hurled our spiritual asses into the cold dark vastness of space and told us to have fun.Great, I had left those cushy clouds for total blackness and Jimmy’s company. Since the universe had not been created yet, there were no stars or moons or suns or anything on which we could focus our attention. I looked down at my auric glow and felt like a ship on a moonless night. I looked over at Jimmy, who had a huge grin on his spiritual face. Despite the emptiness and the silence, we both sensed that something epic was going to take place.Those two basketball-sized objects that supposedly started the universe, well, they were floating in that black void, but they were not the size of basketballs. Instead, they were monstrous rocks. They were practically invisible because there was no light for them to reflect other than our auras, but since Jimmy and I didn’t have eyes anymore, it didn’t really matter. Despite our lack of vision, our spirits were able to sense everything and it was as if we could see the rocks were there.“Basketballs, huh?” I yelled at Jimmy. Yelled isn’t completely accurate since we were communicating telepathically, but Jimmy got the point.“It’s all relative,” Jimmy said. When you compare their size to the emptiness around us, they are no bigger than atoms. So, describing them as basketballs isn’t too far off.Dang, it. Jimmy had gone one up on me. I should have taken a debate class in high school.I stood on one rock and Jimmy stood on the other, we rode them through space, waiting for the big collision. I watched as Jimmy’s rock missed mine by a mile. Well, more than a mile.He transported himself over to my rock and stood with me. It turned out the massive rocks didn’t collide as I had surmised. Instead, they missed each other by a hundred million light-years. I thought their mass would create a gravitational attraction even at that great distance, but they silently passed each other headed for who knows where for the remainder of time, if there was such a thing as time. I was right; there had been no collision, no big bang.“What do you think now, Jimmy? No crash. No Big Bang.” Jimmy looked puzzled.Satisfied that I had been right about there being no Big Bang, I left Jimmy to figure out what happened and returned to my cushy clouds.

“So, did you learn how I created the universe?” The Big guy asked.

“No, Sir,” I said, “But I know it didn’t start with a big bang, and that’s good enough for me.”

“Well, that’s not good enough for me. Now get back out there and find the answer to your question.”

The Big Guy was tougher than my physics teacher. I found myself back in the dark vacuum with Jimmy.

“Why did you come back?” Jimmy asked.

“The big guy wants me to stick it out and see how he created the universe.”

“Maybe there are more than two rocks,” Jimmy said. “I still think a collision is imminent.”

We raced through space, but since there was no wind or any other objects to give us perspective, I wondered if we were moving at all. When I was alive and standing on earth, I was hurtling around the Sun at a hundred thousand miles an hour, but I couldn’t feel it. Standing on this rock felt the same.

Jimmy and I stood around for what seemed like an eternity when we felt the spheroid quake.

“Something’s happening,” Jimmy said.

“Do you really think there’s another rock that we’re going to crash into?” I asked.

“Could be,” Jimmy said, “I hate to say it since I’ve only known you for a couple of billion years, but I think those astronomers are just a little bit smarter than you are. If they say two rocks collided, I believe them.”

I hated that Jimmy and those scientists might be right, so I let his comment go.

It was almost imperceptible at first, but my spirit could feel the trembling. The tremors grew, and I felt we were approaching the end and the beginning of something remarkable.

I focused all of my attention on the rock that was now generating heat. I felt an increase in pressure. The Big Guy had given us the ability to utilize some of our earthly senses. I wasn’t sure if it was dark matter that was pressing in on us, but I knew we were reaching a moment of critical mass. The pressure was increasing exponentially. The ground shook harder and a minuscule crack appeared in the asteroid. “Something is happening, but I don’t see any other rocks coming our way,” I yelled to Jimmy.

“That’s because there’s no light,” he replied.

Dang, it. Jimmy had an answer for everything.

Gas spewed forth, and my excitement grew. The planetoid trembled violently and then let go with a blast so powerful it filled the blackness with a firework display of light. The Big Guy must have turned off some of my senses at that moment because I didn’t feel any pain or the cosmic concussion that must still be rippling through time and space, but I could see what was taking place.

Jimmy had jumped off our rock in the nick of time and joined me for a front-row seat.

Simultaneously, or so I sensed, the other rock underwent a similar fate. Both spheres had reached the end of their journeys, and exploded, propelling shards of rock, and light and gas towards each other. It was as if two gunfighters had reached the count of ten, turned, and fired.

Each piece of granite and iron grew to enormous proportions. The gasses coalesced and formed galaxies. The molten stones rotated at speeds I can’t describe until they settled into spherical shapes. The darkness was filled with light, but since there was no atmosphere in space there was still dark around us. Incredible.

The blasts represented the beginning of two timelines. Earth existed in one of the universes, but did it also exist in the other? The two universes hurtled toward each other from the deepest recesses of space. Was this the beginning of everything?

Jimmy and I made our way across the cosmic timeline at the speed of thought traversing galaxies, and nebulae and we marveled at the light show. The galactic dust looked like two muzzle flashes heading for each other.

“God must like westerns,” I said.

“Humanity isn’t going to survive long enough to discover the other universe that’s speeding toward them,” Jimmy said, “That’s a shame.”

“Just as well. Since the collision would represent the end of time as they know it anyway.”

“Well,” Jimmy said, “I have to admit that you were right and I was wrong. What are you going to dub this event?”

“I kind of like, The Gunfighter Theory.”

“Not much of a theory since we saw it happen.”

“I guess,”

Jimmy and I had our answers. We learned how the universe began, and it didn’t involve a big bang as Jimmy, and the astronomers thought. But unraveling one mystery only presented me with a couple of others. I made sure not to ask the Big Guy any more questions because he would make me figure it out on my own, and I wasn’t in the mood for any more homework.

When we got back to heaven, Jimmy shook my hand, thanked me for my companionship, and headed for the volleyball courts.

I chose to walk the grounds, wondering what had caused the spheres to reach critical mass and explode? I was deep in thought and hadn’t noticed the Big Guy was watching me. “I know how the universe started,” I mumbled out loud, “But I still don’t know who created those two giant rocks in the first place?” The Big Guy cleared his throat.

I looked up. “Oops, sorry, Big Guy.”

Reaction to Our Latest Street Interview in China

The backlash of bullshit to this video is epic!

Has a doctor ever made a mistake while treating you? What happened?

While having surgery for nasal polyps I was bleeding a lot so the surgery lasted 3 hrs so a catheter was started. Upon waking in recovery I felt uncomfortable and sore on my penis and asked if they ran a catheter which they confirmed. It took over 2 hours in recovery trying to wake up and I struggled horribly to get the energy to move. Someone mentioned I lost a lot of blood and that was the last I heard until the follow up a week later. During the week I couldn’t figure out why I was a grayish blue color and was incredibly weak. At the follow up the surgeon realized how much blood was actually lost (3 units of blood lost during surgery) and also realized she never ordered 3 units of blood to be transfused. She immediately arranged for blood transfusions the following day.

Fast forward 2 years when I had a bout of kidney stones and required a surgical procedure to have them removed. No problem with the surgery but the urologist discovered blockage in the urethra that needed to be cleared. The damage was from the catheter used for the nasal polyp surgery.

Fast forward another couple of years and the blockage is back and from what the urologist revealed is this will keep coming back unless they cut out the bad area and fuse it back together. Reluctantly I agreed to the procedure which worked ok but another catheter was inserted during surgery. This was kept in place for 2 weeks till it all healed up and the catheter was ready to be removed. The urologist was the person removing the catheter which seemed odd but what do I know. She grabbed the catheter and yanked it out like she was starting a lawn mower only she didn’t deflate the ball. This caused permanent damage internally so I now have Peyronie’s disease. After complaining to the department head I was given a written statement that I obviously was having rough sex with my wife!

The final left over from the nasal polyp surgery was almost 10 years later I found out through blood tests checking for arthritis issues that I have chronic Hepatitis B. I’m not 100% sure on this but with a blood transfusion there is a very good chance that’s where the hepatitis came from.

The US Literally Cannot Repay Its National Debt.

Which famous or infamous people in history should have never been underestimated?

When he was only a child, Alan Turing displayed signs of the genius that would later change the world.

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He taught himself to read in three weeks and his teachers complained of his “unconventional” methods, which often led to the correct answer but without showing his work.

He was a bit of a loner, preferring puzzles and science experiments to socializing, but perhaps it was this solitary nature that allowed him to delve so deeply into the complex world of mathematics and computation.

Turing’s eccentricities were often misinterpreted as arrogance or aloofness.

He had a habit of wearing his gas mask while cycling to avoid hay fever, a sight that no doubt amused his colleagues at Bletchley Park.

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His fingernails were perpetually stained with ink from the ticker tape he used for his calculations.

During World War II, while the world was focused on the battlefields, Turing was waging a different kind of war in the hidden corners of Bletchley Park.

He was the architect of the Bombe, a machine designed to crack the Enigma code used by the Nazis.

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It was a feat that many deemed impossible, yet Turing, with his unconventional thinking and unyielding determination, managed to pull it off.

His work on the Enigma is estimated to have shortened the war by two years and saved millions of lives.

Yet, despite his contributions, Turing was largely overlooked and underestimated.

His homosexuality, considered a crime at the time, led to his chemical castration and ultimately his tragic suicide.

It was a cruel irony that a man who had done so much to protect his country was persecuted by it.

Alan Turing was not your typical war hero. He wasn’t a soldier on the front lines, nor was he a charismatic leader rallying the troops.

He was a quiet, unassuming genius whose weapon of choice was not a gun, but his brilliant mind.

His legacy is not measured in medals or monuments, but in the very technology we use today.

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Every time you type on your computer or use your smartphone, you are benefiting from the work of a man who was underestimated in his time, but whose impact on the world is undeniable.

Pasta with Garlic and Oil

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti, broken in half
Cooking oil
5 cloves fresh garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley
Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Cook spaghetti according to directions; drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water.
In a small sauce an, sauté garlic in about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons oil, until just starting to brown.
Add butter, garlic and oil to cooked pasta and toss.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Sprinkle with a little parsley, and top servings with grated Parmesan cheese.

Here’s some of today’s favorites on the MM art scene…

A bunch of figurative art; read “nudes”. It used to be quite common in the old days, but now is considered “perverted”. But, I don’t give a FUCK.

It was popular in the past. In those days, figurative art went into private homes; private collections…

And into men’s bars, Men’s clubs… Men’s organizations. Men’s gyms.

Of course, none of that exists any more.

So the market for figurative works is really low. But really, guys. I love the genre.

Here’s my latest “figurative” art. And I’m rather proud of it. I’m still tweaking the process, but I am seeing improvements.

Some of the male art seems to come off as “too gay”, but I like it anyways.

Lots of cats; worship, wine and gals. Many (since it is a figurative work) are nudes.

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As a wheelchair user, what is the rudest thing a person has said, done, or assumed about you?

Assuming that because someone is in a wheelchair or using a power scooter has no abilities to stand or walk whatsoever.

My mother is on oxygen, she walks into the store and uses a power-scooter to get around. She got out of the scooter to reach something up on a higher shelf and a guy went nuts! It was her fault there wasn’t a scooter for his wife who had to now wait in the car. My mother simply asked if he’d cracked a window for her.

It was raining one day, heavily, so instead of walking mom in, I let her off at the door. A man watched me walk her in, help her with the scooter and then proceeded to yell at me for blocking the front of the store. After I moved the car, I watched his wife pull up so they could unload their groceries from the cart into the car under the cover of the entry.

I’ve had people yell faker at my mom when she stands up from her wheel-chair at the back of the car and walk to get inside because the wheel-chair wouldn’t fit between our car and the badly/illegally parked car next to us. They’ve even asked if her oxygen is real or if we’re faking that too.

Just because you see a person stand or walk a few feet doesn’t mean they don’t need help or assistance of a wheel-chair or scooter.

Hungary Dumps G7 Banks For Record China Loan, Beijing Subsidy Tsunami To Crush EU Punishments

Some notes on the up-coming election, the Biden step-down, and entering a new Geo-political reality

I typically pre-load (schedule) posts to go public on MM about four months late. This serves various needs, but essentially it allows the “filter of time” to let the reader to process events out of the context of the major news cycles of the MSM propaganda machines.

I find it useful for purposes of perspective.

For instance, when someone tries to warn me against China’s 6G technology I plop them in a time machine and tell them about all the warnings of 5G (makes your brain explode), 4G (steal your data), 3G (gas pumps explode), and 2G (planes fall out of the sky).

I think it adds perspective.

The 2024 election is gonna arrive any day now. Woo Woo! And everyone is expecting big changes. After all, Biden was nothing more than a sock-puppet under the control of a bunch of ivy-league schoolboys now fast-tracking to oligarch-hood.

I am of the opinion that yes, things will change. But the systemic issues that rest bend the curtains will not. The United States is still in a tail-spin, but still at least someone is trying to land the plane. For Pete’s sake.

As I write this, “president” Biden has “decided” to not run for reelection.22 JULY 2024. The sarcastic side of me has a lot to say about this, but I’ll give it a rest for you all. In any event 2024 has been one Hell of a Dragon year. Sheech!

OP-ED -- As reported on this website on July 18 (Story Here) Joe Biden has DROPPED-OUT of the Presidential race and will NOT seek re-election.

The deceitful, lying, sleazebags that make up a majority of the Democrat Party, have been in chaos since the Biden-Trump Debate, because they could no longer hide Biden's deteriorating mental condition, which they intentionally hid from the public for the past two years.

So craven are the Democrats to keep power, they were willing to engage in elder abuse; ganging-up on the poor old man, harassing him out the door of the campaign.

It ought to be interesting to see who these power-hungry vermin try to promote as their candidate for President now that we're less than 100 days from the election.  I suggest that washed-up, has-been, old hag, Hillary Clinton, with trans-gendered "Michelle" Obama.  I think an old Witch and a trans-gendered freak would epitomize what the Democrat party stands for nowadays!

Now, of course, Biden becomes more dangerous than ever.  He can implement, via Executive Order, all the radical-left-wing (Romper-room-level) ideas because he doesn't have to care at all whether anyone likes it or not.

Don’t get too caught up.

Lots and lots of strange “puzzle pieces” show up and disappear in the night. Our worn out and tired brains let them wash over us. But many are too alarming to dismiss.

Cloud Strike complete failure all over the West after an “update”.
Zelenskyy is in Utah.
Democrat political party in a cash-fighting frenzy.
China’s slow steady observance of the entire fiasco
Trump selection of JD Vance
Biden disappearance, and then step-down / out

So what is really going on?

Forged signiture on stationary announcing Biden step down

Let me tell you.

The deck chairs on the Titanic are all being rearranged, but the ship still is slowing sinking into the dark, dark abyss.

Everything else is theater.

Today…

What’s a historical fact that would shock most people to find out?

In 1980, a family of four moved into an apartment in a newly built building in Ukraine. However, just within a year of moving into their new house, the elder child who was 18 years old became severely sick. She was taken to a hospital and was diagnosed with leukaemia, a type of cancer that targets the body’s blood-forming tissues and bone marrow. The girl soon passed away within a few months of being diagnosed with cancer.

In less than a year, the younger child of the house who was 16 years showed the same symptoms. He was taken to the hospital and was diagnosed with leukaemia. He passed away soon after. Very soon the mother also lost her life and she was also diagnosed with leukaemia. Leukaemia being hereditary is very rare and it is highly unlikely that it was passed on from the mother to the children but at that time, it was declared that the reason those three patients had blood cancer was due to family genetics.

Gradually, other residents of the building too started to fall sick. None had any life-threatening diseases but they weren’t fully fit either. The man, having lost his family sold his house and moved away from there. Locals started to call that apartment ‘cursed apartment’. A new family moved into that cursed apartment. In 1987, the eldest son of the family passed away and he was diagnosed with leukaemia. While he was being cremated, the younger child of the house was in hospital and he was being treated for leukaemia as well. The boy also passed away soon after.

Meanwhile, the father got to know about the history of leukaemia of the previous residents and it was evident that there was something wrong with the house. The city council started to investigate in 1989. Radiologists found air samples highly radioactive and just as they entered the building, they were recording ten times more radioactivity than normal. They found the source of the radioactivity to be a wall just beside the bed where the family members used to sleep.

The wall was covered with lead sheets and cut out of the house and inside the wall, a capsule of radioactive Caesium-137 inside the concrete was found and that was emitting this ridiculous amount of radiation over the years. The capsule had a serial number which was traced to a densometer that was used in a stone quarry to measure the density of stones. One time, the Caesium-137 capsule got misplaced from the densometer and it wasn’t found. Turns out, the Caesium capsule got mixed with stones which were used to make the concrete that was made into that wall of that “cursed apartment” which took the lives of 5 people and severely affected 17 other in that building.

What companies have gotten destroyed by their business competition?

How do you win a war?

Just ask Netflix

Reed Hastings (founder of Netflix) had a big fight ahead of him. He had just finished watching the movie he rented called “Apollo 13” and he returned it to Blockbuster six weeks late. They charged him for returning the movie late.

Hastings launched a new company called Netflix in complete anger. He did not believe people should have to pay for returning a movie late!!!

Hastings had a plan.

Netflix realised that people wanted as many movies as they could get delivered to them. Therefore, Netflix started as a DVD rentals-by-mail service. Netflix was smart and they made a huge discovery.

Perhaps DVDs don’t have to be delivered physically.

Netflix came up with a genius idea that would change the way they did business. They would start a streaming subscription service where someone could watch movies on their computer or another streaming device.

Netflix started to win the market. Hastings believed that he could make money from selling Netflix. Hastings took Netflix and made a pitch to Blockbuster.

Netflix has seen tremendous growth in previous months and we will offer you Netflix for $50 million.

Blockbuster laughed.

Nobody wants to go to Netflix! People like to physically go to a shop and pick out the DVD they want to buy.

Hastings walked away with nothing. Once again, he was angry. He started marketing Netflix and grossly undercutting Blockbuster on price.

Little by little, Netflix grew its customer base and started to outcompete Blockbuster. Blockbuster tried everything to stop Netflix. Hastings famously said that Blockbuster was throwing “everything but the kitchen sink” at Netflix.

A few days later, Blockbuster physically delivered a kitchen sink to Hastings’ house. The Blockbuster era was over.

In the summer of 2010, Blockbuster declared bankruptcy and Netflix became one of the most recognised brands globally with an annual gross profit of $5.8 billion in 2018 (59.21% increase from 2017 according to macrotrends)

If you are interested, I will leave a few Netflix tips in the comments. I hope you enjoyed the story!

As a landlord, what was the most bizarre thing you found after a tenant moved out of your rental?

There are so many bizarre things that I have found as a landlord….

One time we took over a house after an old widow passed on.

The 95-year-old woman died. Her home—the upstairs anyway—was pristine 1960s-1970s decor and appliances.

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She still had the green shag carpet from 1972—well cared for and in good shape. The Avocado-colored stove and fridge were there and still worked. There was even a console stereo with record player, AM/FM and a reel-to-reel tape player.

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In addition to this there was an overflowing library of Jehovah’s witness religious materials, tracts, Baptist literature, and MORMON Bibles. There was Catholic and Jewish materials. There was pagan literature. Maybe she couldn’t make up her mind?

It’s just, that—there was a lot of all of this — piles of all of it.

The cream of the crop was a King James Version Bible from 1801.

Inside of the record player pocket, I found LP (long play) albums by Beethoven, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash—AND—get this…RUSH 2112, A Farewell to Kings, Caress of Steel, and Fly by Night. The old woman was a Rush fan! Incredible!

Fairly clean house—but I kept wondering—-What is that smell?

Then I went to the basement level.

This home had a walk-out basement, with a garage door and garage bay on one end.

Here is where I had to go full haz-mat. Someone had tossed down a 100-pound sack of cat food and left the door open.

I found no fewer than 38 feral cats. All with mange, some with eyeballs missing or hanging out—dead opossum and mice and rats, birds, squirrels and other critters everywhere…Inside the garage.

All of these dead animals, including at least a dozen kitten skeletons, were in differing modes of decomposition. There was everything from recently dead to full skeleton.

SHIT was everywhere. Ankle deep shit—everywhere. Feral kittens, half starved, ribs showing—flea infested, covered in mange, open sores and cat shit.

I had to call animal control for help. They helped me to trap the worst of the lot, and hauled them off for euthanization. Some of the kittens were eventually adopted out.

The majority of the feral animals that couldn’t be caught were destroyed by shotgun.

It was the humane thing to do.

It took me three days, five gallons of concentrated industrial bleach, ten gallons of gas, a power washer, five gallons of liquid soap and a lot of elbow grease to clean up that mess.

It was 100 degrees out and I had to wear a haz-mat suit the entire time.

I even had to get a tetanus booster shot.

In the end, the smell had even permeated the sheet rock in the lower level, so we had to gut the entire place.

I think to this day that the old woman’s heart was in the right place, even if her head was in the clouds.

Chicken Club Sandwich One-Pot Pasta

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup panko crispy bread crumbs
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (regular or low-fat)
8 ounces (3 cups) uncooked rotini pasta
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded jack cheese
12 ounces thickly sliced cooked chicken or turkey breast (1/4 inch thick), cut into bite-size strips
8 ounces fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 cup cooked, chopped bacon
1 cup chopped plum (Roma) tomatoes

Instructions

In 5 to 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat; add bread crumbs. Cook for 2 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until bread crumbs are toasted and light brown; remove to small bowl.
Add chicken broth and pasta to Dutch oven; heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to medium; simmer 12 to 14 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta is al dente and most of liquid is absorbed.
Add shredded cheese and chicken or turkey, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted.
Gradually add spinach, stirring constantly, until starting to wilt. Remove from heat; stir in mayonnaise, bacon and tomatoes. Top with toasted bread crumbs before serving.

PhD AI student explains how China already have won in AI

Shorpy

A milestone in RMB internationalization: Russia’s full adoption

A significant event recently marked a breakthrough in the internationalization of the Chinese yuan (RMB). According to Bloomberg, the RMB now accounts for 99.6% of Russia’s foreign exchange settlements, making Russia the first major country in the world to conduct almost all its import and export trade in RMB.

This transformation didn’t happen overnight. In 2015, the RMB was included in the IMF’s “basket of currencies,” initiating its internationalization process. However, until the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, Russia’s use of the RMB remained limited. After the US and EU imposed financial sanctions on Russia, it was forced to seek alternatives, with the RMB emerging as the best option.

In June 2024, the US further tightened sanctions on Russia, closing all financial loopholes. In response, Russia announced the complete abandonment of the US dollar and euro, requiring all countries trading with it to settle in RMB. This decision rapidly increased the RMB’s share in Russia’s foreign exchange market to nearly 100%.

This development is significant for China’s efforts to promote RMB internationalization. Russia, as a major world power and primary resource exporter, fully adopting the RMB for settlements provides a powerful example for other countries. It demonstrates that international trade can be maintained and economic growth achieved without using the US dollar.

However, this shift also brings new challenges. Due to Russia’s severe shortage of RMB, China-Russia trade growth has already reached its limit. From January to May 2024, China-Russia trade volume increased by only 2.9% year-on-year, far lower than China’s growth rates with other major trading partners.

Meanwhile, China is actively promoting RMB internationalization. Although still receiving large amounts of US dollars in foreign trade, China chooses to quickly use these dollars to help other countries repay their dollar debts, while signing new agreements for repayment in RMB. This strategy not only promotes the use of RMB but also expands China’s trade with these countries.

In conclusion, Russia’s full adoption of the RMB is an important milestone in the process of RMB internationalization. While this was partly facilitated by special circumstances, it has laid the foundation for the RMB to play a more important role in the global financial system. As China continues to advance this strategy, the international influence of the RMB is expected to further increase.

Chinese University Dorms will SHOCK you!

Multiple bridges are collapsing not only in Bihar, but also in China. Do these collapsing of bridges happen due to the effect of global warming causing unusually heavy rains?

There is no comparison

I checked

The Rains in India averaged 247 mm
The Rains in China averaged 718 mm

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The Wind Speeds in China were almost thrice as high as India had ever seen

The Rise in River Levels were almost 250% higher

India has never faced any such adverse weather conditions because the intensity may be high but the torrential outpour stops much faster and the WIND SPEEDS are much slower compared to the deadly TAI FUN (Typhoon)

India in fact is primarily flooded due to pressure based phenomenon like Cyclonic Rain compared to Wind based phenomenon in China due to Typhoons

In China – the weather phenomenon has drastically changed

Precipitation has risen by 26% and flooding levels have risen much higher

So a lot of 1996–2015 built Infrastructure cannot withstand the flooding and torrential lash and collapse

Much of today’s projects are fine because they have been designed to withstand more torrential rains

In India it’s pure corruption and nothing else

The Bridges were all new and yet collapsed

Check out Newly designed buildings in India and see the cracks in Concrete within 3–4 years itself

It’s compromising Quality for price and speed of delivery of projects

Vintage Illustration

The Media Lied About Safety in China?

What are the most interesting facts about human behavior?

Originally Answered: What are the most interesting facts about human behavior ?

Wanna get some attention? Stop chasing that person and start ignoring him. He’ll shower you with attention.

2. Want someone to confess something? Stop talking and stare at them and they’ll do the needful.

3. Validate the words of someone by just looking into their eyes. Mostly while telling a lie, they tend to look away from you and smile more often than needed.

4. Intelligent people tend to have fewer friends.

5. Look at their feet while talking. If they’re not facing you, they aren’t probably interested in what you are telling them.

6. Are you sad? You can trick your mind by pretending to smile and in no time, you would be smiling for real.

7. Your body language changes with the person you are talking to. Your body language tends to be relaxed and flowy when you are talking to someone you like whereas it tends to be stiff if it’s someone you are not much fond of.

8. You can sustain that high level of concentration for not more than just 10 minutes.

9. Speak a line to yourself daily about what you wish to do or become. You would see it turning into reality.

10. Your brain has more potential than you realise. Never give up on your dreams.

How long will the CCP remain in charge in China?

I am an ordinary Chinese person.

The Chinese people are the least likely to be deceived by political slogans. With over 3,000 years of monarchy and more than 20 dynasties, the Chinese have experienced hundreds of emperors. This long history has endowed them with the ability to recognize the tricks of any ruler, whether they come in the form of words, policies, laws, or political movements. The Chinese can quickly see through the deceptive promises.

No individual or party can sustain a lie for long. To prove one lie as “truth,” ten new lies are needed, creating an astronomical system of deception. The objective reality about “rulers and lies” is clear: no one can govern through lies. Such an elaborate system will inevitably develop cracks and collapse. When these lies are exposed to the light of day, the ruler’s legitimacy vanishes, signaling the end of the regime.

The above paragraphs illustrate a key logic: sustained deception is bound to be exposed, and China’s long history makes its people particularly sensitive to such tactics. The Chinese are not easily fooled.

As of a few years ago, the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrated its 100th anniversary. In its first 20 years, it nearly faced extinction several times (1920s-1940s). Over the next 30 years, it made several grave mistakes that almost led to societal and economic collapse (1950s-1970s). The CPC then attempted to learn from these errors and reform itself. However, during the following decade, the world’s major communist states collapsed (1980s-1990s), and “socialism” became a relic of history. China emerged as one of the few remaining socialist countries. In 1990, the Chinese echoed Deng Xiaoping’s words, “We must cross the river by feeling the stones,” humorously adding, “If the stones are gone, how do we cross?” Realizing this issue, the CPC began to develop its own theories. China’s economic boom started around that time.

Imagine you are wealthy and have a poor neighbor who has been hungry and poorly clothed for generations. Their frail bodies are swarmed by flies, and they seem on the verge of collapse. The parents of this poor family are determined to improve their situation but don’t know how. Anger and frustration have led to strained family relations. After the chaos subsides, they sit down and ponder how to feed their family.

Initially, the father helps others move, works as a loader, and cleans floors. These jobs are exhausting and pay little, but he endures the physical strain and earns every penny with sweat. Eventually, the family can eat three meals of bread daily, although there’s no beef, jam, or fruit. To save money, they eat only two meals a day, using the savings for education to learn skills like textile work, shoemaking, and knitting. After some time, he acquires these skills and starts new jobs, which, though still demanding, offer indoor work free from harsh weather.

Years pass, and this once-poor family now works as skilled artisans. They continue to save money, thinking of future needs like weddings and births. The third generation grows up in a modest but not impoverished environment, aware of the wider world through trade. They begin to wonder, “Why can’t we have what others have?”

By the fourth generation, they’ve mastered advanced technology and use their ingenuity to propose better scientific solutions. Their ambitions reach for the stars, aiming to uncover the mysteries of the universe.

Over 100 years, from the first impoverished ancestor to the confident children of today, this family has never resorted to killing or invasion to gain even a penny, enduring hunger in silence.

As the family’s fortunes rise, they remain thrifty, never forgetting their past hunger. They save diligently and always question their expenses. However, outsiders with weapons surround them, demanding they return to poverty without reason.

Now, tell me, whose side would you choose? The one who has kept this family intact through it all is named the CPC.

Lylia, Malou, and the Intangible Impossibility of Imperceivable Physics

Submitted into Contest #24 in response to: Write a sweeping romantic tale of two lovers who must overcome the horror of being hunted by an unseen foe.… view prompt

Tori Routsong

“Dr. Niwwel, if you summoned the thing, why can’t you just send it away?”Lylia held her tongue. It wasn’t that Malou was stupid, and most of the time it wouldn’t even bother her, but she was running out of ways to explain an unexplainable being. “I didn’t summon it. I just created a way for it to access our world.” She peaked out at the dark hallway—the problem was there was no precedent. Did it matter if there was light? Could the creature even see light? And would staying quiet even matter? Lylia stroked her long, blonde hair as she thought.“I’m sorry. You must be getting tired of all these questions.”It was so hard to be mad at someone who kept acknowledging their flaws. “It’s okay. I know it must be confusing.” Lylia couldn’t help but feel guilty. It was her fault Malou was still in the building to begin with. Not that it really mattered. The creature wasn’t particularly bound by the same matter-based confines that Earth creatures were. Maybe nowhere on the planet was safe.“Can we stay here? Are we safe here?” Malou popped her head out as well, peering down the hallway for signs of the plasma colored of burning light, the only visible material the creature left behind. “I don’t see anything.”“I don’t think we’re safe as long as we’re still here.”“Do you think it’ll leave the building?”Lylia didn’t know how to tell Malou that the creature didn’t even exist in the building as it was. “I hope not.” Cautiously, she crept out into the middle of the hallway. It felt silly to be sneaking around, but she couldn’t help it. It was so human to only feel safe when walls were around to support and protect. “I don’t think it’s coming. Hurry. We can go down this hallway. It’ll lead to the stairs.”Malou nodded and her dyed green hair bobbled in its pigtails. “After you, Dr. Niwwel.”“Really, Malou, you can call me Lylia.” Being called Doctor by someone her own age was weird, but being called Doctor by someone who’d been in every one of her elementary school classes was even weirder.Malou followed. “But you worked so hard for your doctorate. The least I can do is show you the respect you deserve.” Malou smiled and Lylia did her best not to melt. She’d promised herself when she started tutoring Malou in physics that she wouldn’t let that smile get to her anymore, but Malou was so earnest, so… so genuine, that Lylia almost couldn’t help it.She was so dazzled by Malou’s smile that she almost didn’t catch the blazing light splatter behind her. “Malou, look out!”A cabinet behind her suddenly became corrupted, spitting sparks and shuddering in and out of existence before half of it was suddenly away. Lylia felt the hair stand up on her arms. “Run!”The air stung of burned metal, rasping away at the back of Lylia’s throat. Malou was faster than her by far, but she kept pace. “Come on!”After a while, Lylia felt her heart start to pound more and more. If only she didn’t work on the top floor—they’d be out by now. They made it close to the stairs, and Lylia grabbed Malou’s arm right before she went down the stairs, dragging her into a broom closet.“What’d you do that for?”“Going down won’t help,” Lylia wheezed. She needed to work out more. “It’s not… I mean, it’s not confined by floors.”“It can go through floors?”Lylia bit her lip. They seemed safe enough now. Maybe she should try a third time to explain that the creature she’d released wasn’t going through the floor, it was completely apart from the floor.She hadn’t meant to become a doctor in the first place. It just seemed like the only way she could continue to study and to learn about what the emptiness in atoms really entailed. She’d always been fascinated by the way humans always seemed to accept nothing but truth, but didn’t question the truth they knew.

“But what’s in between the electron and the nucleus?”

“Nothing,” her professor had snapped. “Quit asking that. This is just where we are in science right now, okay? Sorry it’s not good enough for you. Finish your work.”

Her curiosity had developed from wondering what the emptiness really meant to wondering if there was a separate way to exist. When she argued for her dissertation, a hypothetical reconfiguration of matter that didn’t involve atoms or quarks or any subatomic particles humans could conceive of, the faculty had been confused and baffled. One professor had gone so far as to declare that it was more science fiction than true science. However, she’d gotten her doctorate anyway, and away she went.

The experiment wasn’t supposed to even work. Lylia had long given up on her own theory, but the premise behind it still stood, in her mind. Countless graduate students flocked to her, to hear her crazy lectures about worlds within our own atoms. The machine she’d fashioned wasn’t supposed to be capable of creating real atomic disturbances—the only other atomic disturbances the world had ever known were military based, so there was no way they’d ever give her something with real power. She’d had the grad students (and Malou, although Lylia still wasn’t sure why she was there) gather around her as she fiddled with it, answering their questions the best she could and firing back some of her own. The machine had never done anything before, no matter what she did, so there was no reason anyone would expect it to do much of anything other than look science-y.

So when the machine had malfunctioned and spewed black smoke and the… the thing (Lylia called it a creature for Malou’s sake, but it wasn’t like any creature or any being that had ever been noted in any way before) seeped into this world’s atomic formation, it had caught everyone by surprise.

At first Lylia, like any good scientist, was fascinated. She had proof! Proof that our physics weren’t the only physics out there—matter didn’t work in the same way, physicality didn’t work in the same way, and the universe wasn’t empty after all!

It was a glowing moment for science.

Until suddenly one of the grad students’ arms disappeared. The blood that splattered the ground flecked Lylia’s shoes as she should there, shocked, helpless as bits of the floor spluttered and vanished and the building’s infrastructure suddenly turned to nothing against the impossibility of a physics-less being. Chaos ensued, filling the hallways with shouts as the being engulfed everything it encountered, turning it into a form of matter imperceivable by humanity, intangible in the same regard. Later, hiding under her desk (not the smartest plan, she knew, but she panicked, okay?), Lylia figured out what she’d unleashed—a being able to interact with the physics and composition of this world, but unable to be interacted with by the physics and composition of this world. It was enough to make her head spin, so explaining it to Malou… Calling it a creature was just easier.

“I’m sorry,” she told Malou now, holed up next to the stairs. “I can’t… I can’t stop it. It defies all nature, it defies all… rational thought. It’s not of this world and it shouldn’t be here now. I’ve released it and I’m so… I’m so sorry.” If she hadn’t been so terrified, Lylia thought she would cry. Even now, with fear freezing her blood, Lylia felt tears well behind her eyes and in the catch in her throat.

“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.”

“It’s my machine. My lecture. My experiment. It’s literally my fault.”

“You didn’t know this would happen. Nobody knew. Nobody could know.”

“You should’ve gotten out when you had the chance.” Malou hadn’t evacuated with the others, she’d rushed to Lylia’s office instead.

“I couldn’t leave you.”

“You should have. You’ll die here. I can’t tell you anything about this… creature. I could have doomed the entire Earth.” Lylia began to cry, tears and snot dripping down her cheeks. It wasn’t the time or place, she knew, but she still felt bad for how ugly she must look. “You’re going to die, and everyone I know is going to die, and it’s all my fault.”

“The world was doomed anyway,” Malou said. “And you don’t know that you’re going to die. I mean, you said the creature wasn’t from our physics. Maybe it’ll… make us like it.”

That was highly illogical, but so was everything. “Maybe, but even then our entire lives, everything we know, will be taken away. I wish there was a way I could… I could distract it somehow, so you could escape but I…”

“I couldn’t leave you,” Malou repeated. “I couldn’t.”

“We’re going to die here.” Lylia’s sobs echoed down the hallway, and she no longer cared if the creature was able to perceive sound or not. “We’re going to die here and I never—”

“You never what?”

Lylia didn’t know. There were lots of things she’d never done. She’d never snowboarded, or owned a bird, or bought homeowner’s insurance. She hadn’t told her parents goodbye. She’d dated boys in high school and undergrad, but she’d never really felt in love with any of them. She’d never told Malou how beautiful she was.

The thought popped into Lylia’s head before she could stop it. She’d promised herself she’d never admit that to anyone—not even herself.

But if there was ever a time, now was it.

“You’re pretty,” she said, her voice squeaking like a grade schooler.

“Wait—what?”

“I just wanted you to know you’re really pretty.” This was so dumb. This was remarkably dumb. Lylia wanted to say more but she couldn’t.

“Oh.” Malou stared at Lylia. “I don’t know what to… I—oh. Thank you. You’re… you’re pretty too.”

Lylia felt the blood rush to her face and knew it must be a violent red by now. Violent red with puffy pink eyes—Malou was just being nice. “I’m sorry, I made things weird, it’s weird now, it’s our last hours on Earth probably and I’ve just made it so weird.”

“So?”

“So I’m sorry! We’re up against a unseen, intangible something and I just made everything weird.” Lylia hiccupped. She’d stopped crying, but her face was still a mess, she knew.

“Well, I’m glad you did, or I was going to.” Gently, Malou put her rough, calloused hand over Lylia’s.

“What?”

“I like you,” Malou said, the left corner of her mouth turning up into a grin. “I think I’ve liked you since we were in grade school together. That’s why I wanted you to tutor me, I wanted to get to know you better. That’s why I went to all your lectures. I like you.”

“Oh,” breathed Lylia. “Oh.”

“So I guess, if this really is our last couple hours on this planet”—Lylia didn’t bother correcting her—“then I guess I want you to know. I like you a lot. I think you’re funny and kind and so passionate about everything. So… yeah.”

“Oh,” repeated Lylia. “I don’t know what to—”

“You don’t have to say anything. I know this is probably a weird shock, but I didn’t want to disappear without you knowing, okay? I just needed you to know—”

“I like you too,” Lylia spat out. “I like you too.”

“Oh.”

For a second, the two sat in silence, listening to the sparking of a light that the being had absorbed half of earlier in the day. Then Lylia began to cry again.

“Oh! No! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you—”

“No, no, I’m happy,” Lylia said, frantically wiping her tears. “I mean, I am a little. I’m just sad that we’re not… we’re not going to see the future that would come from this.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

“I just wish we had more time.”

“Well, we have time right now. And who knows—maybe when the creature takes us, we’ll end up together in its dimension.”

Not a dimension, Lylia’s brain blathered, but it didn’t matter at all. Tentatively, she turned her hand up and laced her fingers though Malou’s. “There’ll be no tomorrow,” she warned.

“It sucks,” Malou said, nodding.

“But right now we’re together.”

“Makes it suck a little less.”

Lylia laughed. Yes. Every action they took should just be to make things suck a little less. “Of all the people to die with, you’re not a bad choice.”

“And at least we know that wherever we’re going, we’ll go together.”

“Together.”

Lylia wept as the creature’s plasmatic flickering came into view a little down the hallway and bits of air and floor disappeared, leaving behind blank nothingness of the physics that Lylia couldn’t perceive.

“Together,” Malou murmured into her ear, and they closed their eyes.

Very interesting clips

The “scary background music” is a minus, but the content is worth your time.

What kind of karma will happen to China for being so evil for so long? How can such evil exist?

Hello, I’m from China, and I am a paid promoter for the CCP.

As the Titanic was about to collide with the iceberg, the ship’s impending sinking was a tragic fate for the main characters. However, for the lobsters waiting to be cooked in the Titanic’s kitchen, it was a miraculous moment.

Similarly, the so-called “evil existence of China” is seen as a tragic threat by Western imperialists, Jewish fascists, and Japanese militarists. But for the countries of Southeast Asia, most African nations, Latin America, and other poor and chaotic Third World countries, it represents an opportunity to end internal conflicts and focus on development.

A strong China will allow us to witness the following in the future:

The decline of the US as a military and diplomatic superpower;
The awakening of the American people and the restructuring of their government;
The Five Eyes countries, excluding the US, gradually adopting independent foreign policies based on their national interests;
The EU possibly gaining autonomy in diplomacy and military matters, or becoming a regional power;
Several traditional Third World countries reaching the threshold of industrialization;
Rapid socio-economic development in Southeast and South Asian countries;
Green energy becoming the primary component of the world’s energy mix;
A fairer and more reasonable carbon emission scheme for Third World countries;
Urumqi, as the geographical center of Central Asia, playing an increasingly important role in international finance and trade;
Japan and South Korea, the two American colonies in East Asia, becoming mere dishes on the table;
Some African countries emerging as newly developed nations;
A united Asia and Latin America;
The elimination of global war hotspots;

Mao Zedong once said, “Before listening to someone, first see where they stand.” China is slowly trying to tell its own story. This process has been fraught with difficulties. However, today, through platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Quora, and through “China Travel,” rather than through official Chinese efforts, China’s story is beginning to spread among people worldwide. These stories and visions instill fear and anxiety in those in the West who are full of prejudice and hatred.

So, “my delicacy is your poison.” To those who wish for the disappearance of “evil China” from the earth, I hope you exercise well and maintain a balanced diet so you can live a long life. If you live as long as a tortoise, for 500 years, you can personally verify whether “evil China” has vanished.

Therefore, haters, I wish you longevity like a tortoise. In China, this is the most beautiful metaphor.

Is it true that martial arts are useless in a street fight?

As others have said, the first thing a martial arts instructor will tell you is ‘don’t get into a street fight’. My judo instructor took it further: get fit and outrun the threat.

At the age of 19, with 8 years of judo instruction, and some unarmed combat training, I spent a summer in Manchester. I didn’t know the city, and found myself in areas that were not safe. This was in the early 80s, around the time of the most violent riots the city has seen in modern times.

Every time a situation looked dodgy, the others scrambled to get out of my way. I’m average height, and while I was very fit at the time, I was not visibly muscular or aggressive-looking. I just looked like I could handle myself (I could). That’s the second lesson: if you can’t avoid a situation, look like you’d be a problem.

The third lesson: take charge of the situation and de-escalate.

I was in a ground-floor student flat in a less salubrious part of Birmingham. There was a crash from the kitchen. I rushed into the corridor, to find myself face-to-face with a guy who looked like a serious boxer, just coming out of the kitchen. I was between him and the front door. He took a swing at me. I deflected the punch into the wall, and he stopped, uncertain.

I asked him who he was, why he was in my flat, and what had happened in the kitchen.

A flatmate of mine had flirted with the guy’s girlfriend through the kitchen window. Our boxer suspected the girl was cheating, and thought he had found the culprit. He found the front door unlocked, walked into the kitchen, and knocked my flatmate off his feet, and over the table. By the time he’d explained all this, he had calmed down a great deal. We went back into the kitchen, established that my flatmate was not the sought-for Lothario. Everyone shook hands, apologised, and there was no more trouble.

None of this used specifically judo moves, but the training gave me both the confidence and the reflexes, so no, martial arts are not useless.

Have you ever taken the law into your own hands?

My neighbor is a big-shot lawyer. One night, his dog was outside my house. I didn’t know it was his dog and had to ask around. I was told it was “the lawyer’s dog.” I noticed that the dog was terribly skinny and, in general, just didn’t have the bounce in her step like most black labs do.

I left her at my house and knocked on the door. I told him I had his dog. He didn’t seem concerned. When it appeared he wasn’t going to come outside, I asked him if he expected me to deliver the dog to him. He got all huffy and said, “Fine!” His beautiful and very, very sweet wife and four little girls were thanking me but he was just pissed that I interrupted his “pizza and movie night with the family.” He begrudgingly followed me home.

I am a retired humane officer and still have a lot of influence at animal control. But I didn’t want to sound arrogant and threatening so I didn’t mention it. I just asked if the dog was okay as she seemed a little gaunt. He told me to mind my own business.

I asked him if the dog had been to see a vet lately and he said, “What’s with all the g-damn questions?” Since I had had this very same exchange many times in my career, I didn’t get mad. I just smiled and said I was concerned about the dog. He again told me to mind my own business. I said “Okay, well, if you’re not going to talk to me…” and trailed off.
The dog was less than enthusiastic to see him and he had to actually pick up the dog .

The next day, bright and early, two uniformed Animal Control officers knocked on his door, demanding to see the dog. He got a seven-day warning to get the dog to a vet or be fined. Seven days later they came back and were shown a letter from a vet that the lab had been seen and is now under treatment for a pancreatic disorder.

My neighbors asked me how I was so bold and stupid to make an enemy out of a big-shot lawyer.

Right makes might. I had right on my side.
I will never be afraid to speak out on behalf of a dog. In my career I had dealt with hardened criminal dog fighters and my anger gave me courage.
I gave him the chance to talk to me, and I would have offered to take the dog to the vet since I know he and his wife are busy, but he shot me down so fast.
My husband is a big-shot lawyer, too, but this guy doesn’t know that.

I called in a favor from my old colleagues and showed this guy that he didn’t intimidate me and that “Failure to render treatment to an animal in need” is a crime and not even a big-shot lawyer is above the law.

Do you think there is such a thing as the worst Hollywood celebrity decision ever?

A virtual unknown, Australian actor George Lazenby was cast as James Bond in 1969, taking over the role from Connery in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. Lazenby was young, inexperienced… and honestly not that great an actor. But when he played the part, he kind of killed it. And although initially panned by critics, in later years in fact his performance has been hailed as one of the finest. This role could have forever changed his life.

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And yet, out of thin air… Lazenby called it quits. Told the studio he would NOT be apearing in another Bond movie ever again. This was positively unprecedented. The role had made his predecessor a millionaire, a household name around the globe. It would have been Lazenby’s claim to fame. He’d be set for a lifetime. And yet, he bucked. And quit his job, in style. He said the studio “made him feel mindless” and that whenever he made suggestions for the role, he was dismissed, which he disliked. The young Australian didn’t want to “just be a product”. It was all the more shocking because of all the effort he had put into getting cast in the first place, bluffing his way into getting the part.

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As filming came to an end, George Lazenby grew a beard. Grew out his hair, too. He looked more like a hippie than the famous suave secret agent he was portraying. By the time the premier came around, Lazenby was ordered by the studio to shave his beard, cut his hair, “look the part”. He flat-out refused, and not only kept the beard, he even put on a massive fur coat to further enhance his image as the enfant terrible of the Bond universe. Everyone gave Lazenby a hard time for his choice:

“I much prefer being a car salesman to a stereotyped James Bond. My parents think I’m insane, everybody thinks I’m insane passing up maybe millions of pounds. Nobody believed me. They thought it was a publicity stunt. But it’s just me doing my own thing”

He wouldn’t budge. George Lazenby became James Bond, played the role once, and never again. His film career failed to take off after this, and in later years the actor went into real estate, making a fortune for himself off-screen. He could have been one of the world’s most major movie stars… instead, he went from Bond, to hippie, to dude who flips houses for a living.

Do not forget about CloudStrike and it’s roll in the July 2024 shutdowns

The election is gonna be on line in a few days. Keep your eyes open.

What was the most blatant scam a customer has ever failed to get away with?

I used to work at a running store in a suburb of Denver, Colorado.

One day, a guy and his girlfriend/partner came into the store while I was working. They bought a few pairs of shoes and some running clothes and signed up for a local race. There was nothing unusual about any of this, and they were quite nice.

The only odd thing was they both clearly had lower-than-normal IQs. Just imagine the person you know who best fits the phrase “not the sharpest tool in the shed” and add in a little more dullness, and that’s them.

Anyway, the next day the store owner comes in and starts asking us about this couple (he hadn’t been there the day before). After we answered a few questions, he told us that their checks (one for the gear, one for the race) had bounced. We were now out several hundred dollars of product.

The owner, a New York City native, was not one to take things lying down, so he did a little digging.

My old boss: not a sucker

The first thing he discovered was that the guy had used checks with his actual name and address on them. The guy’s last name was unique—“Pfeffenschmecker” or something like that. Now as you can imagine, there were only about five Pfeffenschmeckers in the whole phone book (yes, this was back when we still had phone books), so my boss started calling them all.

He quickly found a relative who said, “Oh yes, they have done this before. They use checks from an old, closed-out account to steal from stores.”

Armed with that knowledge and their home address, here’s what my boss did next.

He went to their house late that night and took a steel pipe with him. He banged on their door with the pipe and started yelling at them with his strongest New York accent from outside the house, telling them in no uncertain terms that he wanted his stuff back…or else.

They never came to the door, so he eventually left. But the next morning, there were several bags in front of the store when he got there.

They had returned all the merchandise and, one hopes, learned a very valuable lesson: don’t steal from a New Yorker, but if you do, don’t use your real name and address as part of your scam!

What is one thing that I can learn from you today?

One day, me and my girlfriend went out for lunch. After finishing our lunch, we called the waiter to get the bill. The waiter kept the bill on our table and then he left.

My girlfriend took the bill and checked it. There was some mistake. We had ordered 6 Rotis (Indian Bread) and only 4 were mentioned in the bill. She told me about this and I checked the bill again. She was right.

Then she said that we need to ask them to add 2 more Rotis in the bill and I was like, “Dude, don’t try to be Raja Harishchandra”. She asked, what’s wrong with that? As there was a difference of only 30 rupees, I answered, “Chalta hai yaar kabhi kabhi” (it happens sometimes). But she said, “No. It’s wrong. We must not do this. It’s someone’s hard earned money. We have ordered it and we have to pay for it.” I was surprised to hear that (just because of her maturity) and then I said, “Okay, you win.”

She immediately called the waiter and told him that we have ordered 6 Rotis and only 4 are mentioned in the bill. And asked him to kindly add that in the bill and get an updated one. The waiter said thanks to her and then went to the bill counter. He got a new and correct bill this time. We both checked it and a random conversation started between us.

During the conversation, I pulled out my wallet and picked out 2 five hundred rupee notes and gave it to the waiter with the bill. I was so lost in the conversation that I forgot the bill amount was 474 Rupees only. And instead of giving him a single note, I gave him two. Neither I was aware of this, nor my girlfriend and suddenly the waiter came and said, “Sir the amount is only 474 Rupees and you gave me 2 five hundred rupee notes. Please take one note back (and then he returned me one note).

I immediately checked my wallet and I was shocked that yes he is right! I had 3 notes in my wallet and there was only 1. I thanked him for this and also praised his honesty. He also got a decent tip from us. Then we left the place with a smile and a lesson. The lesson is,

Do good to get good

If you do a good thing, then something good will happen to you.

Thanks for reading.

Chicken and Mushroom Pasta

This Chicken and Mushroom Pasta is flavor packed and loaded with mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, veggie pasta and chicken. It’s a 30 minute meal that’s perfect for busy weeknights!

Ingredients

8 ounces spiral veggie pasta (rotini), cooked (reserve 1/2 cup starchy pasta water)
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup white onion, diced
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Pinch of red pepper chili flakes (optional)
1/2 cup Half-and-Half
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cups cooked spinach, fresh
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in a sauté pan and add in mushrooms, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and seasonings. Stir and cook until fragrant, about 5 minutes.
Add in the Half-and-Half, chicken broth and pasta water, and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally (pasta water will help thicken the sauce).
Lastly, add in the cooked chicken, spinach and Parmesan. Stir until combined.
Serve warm.

19 HOUR Layover In China (Guangzhou visa-free transit)

Is President Trump the new Theodore Roosevelt?

Don’t be ridiculous. Theodore Roosevelt was a 250 pound mountain of self-made muscle who gave a speech, got shot into the chest and, spitting out blood with a smile, told the alarmed crowd: “It takes more than that to kill a bull moose!” He then proceeded to give his speech anyway as if nothing had happened. It’s the type of scene that would make people roll their eyes in an anime series and say: “Gee, those Japanese cartoons sure are over-the-top bombastic and unbelievable!”

When Theodore Roosevelt was born, he was weak and sickly. Doctors said he’d surely die. His father believed otherwise. As soon as his son was old enough to understand, he told him: “God gave you a strong mind, but not a strong body. So you must build that body yourself.” He nodded and internalized that message. Started a fitness regimen of insane intensity, including calisthenics and bodyweight exercises. He climbed mountains. Fought in multiple wars. Knocked down several men at a time in bar fights, and rode horses and trekked through the roughest of terrain. His band of men was called “the Rough Riders”. About as close as a 19th century politician could be to being in a biker gang…

When Theodore Roosevelt was nearly assassinated he survived with a bullet lodged in his chest for the rest of his life. It did not, in any way, shape or form, slow the man down. His very first concern, after telling the crowd he was fine, was for the would-be assassin — he told police not to rough him up too bad. If the shooter had merely nicked his ear, Roosevelt would probably have asked him to come up close and said: “Mediocre! Come, have another go!”

Pre-Historic Underground Megastructure Found in Russia – Khara-Hora Shaft

This is amazing.

What was the most bone-chilling sentence a loved one ever said to you?

When I was 24 years old, married with my first baby, my husband and I were driving my mother home after she had visited us. A bit of an argument broke out between mother and me, over something inconsequential, and she said, coldly and clearly:

“I adopted you to save my marriage, and when he loved you more than me, I got rid of you. I sent you to boarding school.”

I was adopted at 2 years of age and packed off to boarding school when I had just turned 7. I spent the rest of my childhood and teenage years at boarding school, only coming home for school holidays.

She would do humiliating things such as putting a notice in the local paper that I was coming home for the school holidays when everyone knew it was holiday time. She would force me to wear my school uniform to town (Father had a sheep property) so “that everyone can see what a good school I sent you to.” Running into my school “mates” dressed in my formal school uniform in the holidays ensured that I was totally humiliated and bullied.

I never forgave her for this and never forgot what she told me that evening when I was 24. Even though I am now 80, it still hurts.

One final thing. Two years ago I discovered that I have a sister who is 16 months younger than me. We were in the orphanage together, and there is NO WAY that Mother didn’t know about her. She never told me about my sister and it was only by chance that I found out she exists. Sadly, she is not keen on meeting me, saying she has “issues” that have to be resolved. I am so sad, because at 80 and her turning 79 in July, time is running out for us to know each other. I have prayed and prayed that she will contact me again, but I fear this will not happen.

NOTE:

Thank you all for your kindness and care. I am sure there are many of you who have upvoted this who can relate to cruelty by parents who, sadly, are damaged people either from their own childhood or as a result of their own actions. Only a parent can inflict this type of deep grief which stays with us for the rest of our lives.

Do you consider America or China a superpower? Can you give me a good answer, opinion or comments?

America and China are both superpowers. In fact, they are presently the ONLY superpowers.

Both countries have enormous economies, far surpassing third-place Germany and fourth-place Japan.

By purchasing power parity, both economies are also enormous, far surpassing third-place India.

China is indisputably the world’s only manufacturing/industrial superpower.

Both countries have enormous militaries. In fact, China has the largest army and the largest navy by number of ships. China has the second largest aircraft carrier fleet.

Both countries have large nuclear arsenals. Officially, China has 500 nuclear weapons, but unofficially this number is believed to be closer to a thousand.

Both countries are technological superpowers. In fact, according to the ASPI, China leads the world in 37 out of 44 critical technology fields (America leads in 7).

China is granted more technological patents than America and Japan combined!

According to the CWTS Leiden Ranking, China has about half of the world’s top universities.

China dominates the world in 5G. China dominates the world in EVs, batteries and solar panels.

America and China both exert enormous global influence economically, militarily, and technologically. This is why they are superpowers.

What are some short stories that discuss a moral dilemma?

The story of Stéphane Passet always rather haunted me. An amateur photographer, Passet was hired to photograph the world around him — in particular, the Orient, a mysterious place few in the West knew much of. He would go deep into the most remote corners of the world, and photograph what he would encounter. At some point on his travels, he encountered a woman in Mongolia.

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She was trapped in a box, in a desert. There was a hole in the box, large enough for her to poke her head out, and an arm. But far too small for her to ever dream of escaping. Every once in a while, perhaps once every two days or so, a guard would appear. Give the woman some water, a little bit of food — she was meant to die in that box, and the nourishment given to her was only to further prolong her suffering. Passet looked on, in horror.

“What has she done to deserve this fate?” he asked his guide.

“Adultery…” was the answer.

To take a photograph of this moment in time felt almost… obscene, to Passet. Her slender arm, shaking. The sun mercilessly beating down on her. He was watching a woman die before his eyes. It could take days. Weeks, even. But she would die and there was nothing in the world he could do.

Stéphane Passet could not intervene. Could not save her, he was completely powerless to do anything for the poor soul. Still, he took his camera. And took her picture. After that, he went away, knowing she would die. And yet he did something for her — by taking her picture, he ensured she would be remembered. Most nameless people who shared her fate would never have been captured on camera. She died, but through Passet, she lives on.

Why does everybody like Thailand?

Many factors, they have all the 10 conditions qualified, most countries can’t even reach 5:

1)People are nice and kind, probably due to their religion and culture which believe in Karma, and the core and basic Buddhism knowledge is taught in schools and their boys and men stay in a Buddhist monastery as a novice or temporary monk for at least once in their lifetime. Many foreigners found love 💝 💝 in Thailand.

2)Attractions and sceneries: from natural to man-made, they have everything. Pattaya alone is enough for anyone to live for a lifetime.

3)Shopping: their malls and markets are the best and better than most countries. Even their 7/11s is better than their neighbors with either better facilities, better services or selling more things,

4)Food: Thai food from spicy to non-spicy are all good and international food is easily available too. Even better are their desserts and sauces that makes a perfect meal. There is one Thai sauce that have all 4 tastes in one: spicy, sweet, salty and sour, the only kind in the world.

5)Entertainment and nightlife: their cinemas are better than most countries and their nightlife needs no introduction: males, females, middle-sex and homosexuals are easily available.

6)Massage: Both Thai traditional massage and sensual or sex massage is available everywhere. I think no other countries have them, not even a proper basic massage.

7)Transportation: This is most important as transportation is similar to the blood circulation of a body. Bangkok have the most transportation systems in the world: buses, skytrains, underground trains, car taxis, motorcycle taxis, river ferry transport, canal boat transport, tuk-tuks, songtheaws and samlors. Even remote areas and islands are reachable with public transportation systems and you don’t need to hire a private car.

8)Restaurants and cafes of many international food and budget options are easily available everywhere. You can buy a 120 baht fresh coffee in a cafe to as cheap as a 25 baht coffee from a takeaway stall. Even sushi is available in most night markets.

9)Costs: still affordable now although it keeps increasing.

10)Fairness in treatment: all people are treated fairly. There is no racism treatment, all religions are allowed(even Pope is allowed into the country to hold events) although this is not a good idea long term, dual pricing is practiced for many attractions entrance.

I may have missed some factors but I think those above are enough.

As a realtor, what was the shadiest thing you saw a home seller do?

I was young and had wanted to break into the real estate industry since I was a baby. My dad had been an agent and my grandpa had been a house flipper. My grandpa had taught my dad everything about houses and how to fix them and flip them. Dad only had me, a girl.

Dad was undeterred and taught me everything grandpa had taught him and even brought me on showings. I had also studied woodworking, metal working, business administration, accounting, real estate, drafting and various other housing-related things while still in school. I was ready for my career in real estate.

However, I made one heck of a bad move right out of the gate. I signed on with a broker whom I didn’t know was shady. He seemed OK to me and he was Italian like me but I was naive and blinded by my dreams of working in the housing industry. Soon it was obvious that something was wrong. My broker refused to allow me to work the front desk where agents were able to take walk-in clients. He also refused other avenues that would help grow my career. I was completely frustrated to say the least. I was basically getting nowhere fast. It was as if he was deliberately trying to stop me from growing in the business.

What my broker didn’t count on was that I was persistent. So I finally, through my own avenues, got a potential buyer and two potential sellers. I was figuring out my career path, no thanks to my lousy broker. My broker was extremely upset that I was getting anywhere and I quite frankly couldn’t understand why he wanted to destroy me so bad when he hardly knew me. What kind of threat could I possibly be to him!?

So I’m getting ready to show my buyer a house and am getting the listing sheets etc together. Suddenly my broker says, “Oh, that house you’re showing, you need to know that the boiler is about to blow.” I thanked him for giving me the head’s up but was stunned when he added, “It is our secret! The seller and I know and the agents in the office know but no potential buyer is to know about this at all!!” Angry I responded, “Isn’t that illegal and immoral?” His response, “They will never know until after it is sold then the buyers can replace it at their own cost!”

I was beyond livid at that point! I outright refused to lie to my buyer and was asked to part ways with the company as a result of my “insubordination” to my broker. I was more than happy to do so even though it meant giving up my lifelong dreams. I was raised to be honest and forthright. I simple couldn’t bring myself down to that level no matter how much my dreams meant to me.

As I left the broker said, “By the way, I took you on because of your last name and then realized you couldn’t provide ‘favors’ for me afterwards. So basically it was a mistake having you here at all!!” I got what he meant, my uncle was Charles Luciano, AKA Lucky Luciano, the famous mobster. He thought I could get him some mob ties!!!!!

I looked him square in the eyes and said, “What are you, stupid? My uncle has been dead since before I was born! How the heck did you think I was going to pull any favors for you?” I stormed out. A few years later his business went belly up. I cannot decide if it was due to his shady dealings with his sellers or if he was simply a victim of the real estate market crash. I’m guessing it was his shady dealings to be honest.

So what happened to me? I found the man of my dreams and it turns out he builds chimneys for a living. Suddenly I found myself back in the housing industry that I love so much, running our own chimney company. And this company is not run on “favors” and shady dealings. This is one housing company that is run on honesty and integrity. And yes, I use all the education my dad handed down to me and all the schooling I took, on a daily basis, to run this company. The best part? I’m happy.

Norwegian Politician Reveal Shocking SECRET About China in 2024

What are the strangest or most eerie true crime cases you have read about?

From 1974 until 1986 a serial killer who became known as EARONS (East-Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker) terrorized a massive spree of terrible crimes. He committed at least twelve murders, fifty rapes and one hundred and twenty burglaries as well. In April 2018, the man was arrested… his name? Joseph James DeAngelo. A 72-year old retired cop.

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When they arrested DeAngelo, he appeared to be a kindly old grandfather. He lived in a house he shared with one of his adult daughters and his oldest granddaughter. When officers tried to arrest him, DeAngelo said he “had to go inside for a bit because he had a pot roast in the oven”. The cops then took him down, suspecting he was plotting to reach for a gun and either kill himself or engage them in a shootout…

There was no pot roast. What there was, however, was a house full of evidence. A shocked family who, for a year, never broke their silence in utter disbelief. And a computer, open, up and running…

Now DeAngelo was a terrifying killer. The type of killer who would go into houses, brutally attack sleeping couples and tie up husbands in the hallway with plates and cutlery on their backs as he would rape their wives nearby… and stab, shoot or bludgeon to death the poor husband if he made an attempt to escape and save his wife, causing the cutlery to fall on the floor…

He was also a former cop who “kept tabs” on the case. He stopped in the late 1980s around the time when DNA became a more commonly used source to solve crimes. Aware of his crimes, he even followed online, made accounts on message boards that recorded the case and tracked it’s development.

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Joseph James DeAngelo also stalked his victims and their families for years after the attacks. A prowler, he would get a thrill out of repeatedly entering and leaving their homes on nights prior to his home invasions, getting to know every detail, nook and cranny of his future crime scenes. After raping and murdering family members he would find their phone numbers and call them, breathing down the line and uttering profanities. On one of his last such phone calls, somewhere around the 1990s, the victim heard children in the background. This caused law enforcement to look into the possibility that their suspect may be a family man — they had previously looked for a deranged bachelor without a family.

The fact that one of the most prolific serial killers and rapists went undetected for decades and was so… seemingly normal? Terrifying. You expect some sort of freak who talks to demons in the head and dogs possessed by Satan. Not a grandfather who takes his friends fishing by boat, who lives with his daughter, is happily retired and with-the-times enough to operate a computer and browse the internet successfully in his seventies, keeping up to date with the latest police techniques. Thank God for ancestry websites… it’s how she got a match with a distant relative of DeAngelo.

DNA took down the killer. On April 24, 2018, Joseph James DeAngelo was taken in at long last. But the most chilling detail, for me? Some accounts on the case message board for internet sleuths stopped posting altogether on the day of his arrests. And one never logged in again since. The monster lurked on the forum. Chatted the people obsessed with his case and even may have “thrown them hints” here and there. Chilling.

Italian Beef Pasta

Ingredients

1 pound beef tenderloin, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 red bell peppers, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 pound rotini pasta

Instructions

In a large skillet over medium heat sauté beef strips in hot oil until no longer pink.
Add prepared vegetables and Italian seasoning to skillet. Cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until onion is softened.
Mix together broth and cornstarch until smooth. Add to meat mixture in pan; cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil and is thickened.
Meanwhile, cook pasta as directed on package.
Spoon beef mixture over prepared pasta; garnish with fresh basil if desired.

Why Asia doesn’t want warhawk Kamala in charge

What is something in the world that you feel the need to give attention to, something everyone needs to be aware of?

I want to highlight today the sad tale of Mr. Paco Larrañaga. He was convicted to die in the Philippines in 1997 for a murder and rape he not only didn’t commit… but couldn’t possibly have committed. Why? Because he was not there. Two girls were raped and murdered in Cebu in 1997, the Chiong sisters. They belonged to a rather influential and shady family. Larrañaga, on the other hand, was just a young culinary school student hoping to one day be a chef. Despite having nothing to do with the case whatsoever, he was accused, perhaps for political reasons.

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The murder took place on the island of Cebu. Larrañaga was nowhere near — he was in Manila, studying to be a chef. The night of the crime there are records of him leaving a club in Manila. Early the next day he sat for an exam. Over forty fellow students and teachers testified to this. There were no flight records of Larrañaga flying to or from Cebu at any time near the murder. And the man who claimed he was present, Rusia, a “state witness”, showed up only ten months after the event, having never even met Larrañaga. Physical evidence linking Larrañaga to the crime was never produced. No DNA, no fingerprints, flight records, nor witnesses except for this one state witness who the defense was only allowed to interview for a mere ten minutes(!) while Larrañaga was grilled for hours on end…

The judge said every single testimony from the teachers, the students, the bouncer of the club and even the airlines could not be used by Larrañaga because “they were his friends”. He was sentenced to death, later changed to life in prison when the death penalty was abolished in the Philippines. He was just nineteen years old when they arrested him and his life, for all intents and purposes, came to an end. Today, he is 45. He has been in jail for 25 years. It’s an injustice and it needs to be said. Only a presidential pardon could save this poor man’s already ruined life, but pleas seem to fall on death ears. I’ll link a petition you could sign, and would appreciate it if you did.

This is one of the most shocking cases ever to me. For some reason it gets to me, ever since I watched the documentary “Give Up Tomorrow” made about the subject. I have seen reviewed and researched the case extensively and I am appalled and astonished that a man who has been proven beyond reasonable doubt not to have been anywhere near a crime scene is still in jail wasting away for having committed that crime.

Why are U.S. entrepreneurs flying to China now?

Why do people have a problem with Ambanis and Adanis getting richer?

The China Real Estate Syndrome

Why do you think it happened?

Why a Property that cost 350K RMB in 2004 rose to cost 3.5 Million RMB in 15 years time?

At 17% per Annum

It wasn’t due to demand and supply

It was due to RAPIDLY RISING INCOME INEQUALITY between 2005 and 2017 in China

In 2005 – the Top 0.1% Chinese earned 182% of what the Median Chinese earned

By 2016 it had risen to a whopping 568%

The Richer Chinese didn’t earn their money through manufacturing or factory work

They earned their money by PAPER WEALTH

They made real estate killings, reinvested into the same real estate

They made speculative killings and invested it back in speculative markets

Luckily for the Chinese , they had a great leader like Xi Jinping who saw the situation and decided to curb it

And has brought down the number from 568% to 342% in the last 7 years

Has kept real estate prices constant so that the apartment now costs 3.28 Million RMB instead of 5.25 Million RMB that it could have risen to

It’s still not hunky dory

However China has dodged a Major Hypersonic Nuclear Weapon and managed to get hit with a dozen bullets instead

India is heading the same way

Except that in India – State does not even own the land

Our 0.1% in the last 3 years from 2021–2024 now have 1186% more rise in wealth than the Median group

In China it was 293%

In US it was 313%

In Japan it was 181%

In India it was 1200%

You catch my drift?

If this keeps up, resources will become all the more expensive and the ownership will become even more exclusive

In 20 years – we could virtually be slaves of the 0.1% unable to grow or develop even a fraction

We talk of Middle Income Trap with China

We could fall into a Low Income Trap

Solution?

In the next two decades – the 0.1% should see a wealth growth of 275% of the Median Group

That’s the only way to ensure INEQUALITY IS CONTAINED

If they keep getting richer like today, India is finished

China woke up in 2018 – luckily

We need to have woken up five years ago, given that we have a bureaucracy while they can change the rules in twenty minutes

Unless Ambani and Adani can create latest technology and earn from it

And they are too Moron to do that

A 10-year-old cat abandoned, stays at the owner’s door unwilling to leave

How effective are Taiwan’s Wan’an civil defense drills at simulating a Chinese missile attack?

Unless they’re simulating 12,000 MLRS guided rockets like a smaller version of the ATACMS in one hour. It’s completely useless.

It’s like practicing against 50 people when 10,000 will show up. What will that do? Will that really help?

You decide.

China brings a whole new dimension to modern warfare. Not only do they have advanced weapon system that is equal or better than the US, they have them in ridiculously large numbers.

They have been preparing for war with the US. So do you think Taiwan can do anything?

Right before I went into the US Army, the US invaded Panama. Operation Just Cause. Did Panama manage to fend off the US?

And Panama is over 1,800 miles. Taiwan is 100 miles off the coast of China. With no intervening nation. While Panama has the whole of Mexico between it and the US. Did that bother the US or stop the US?

Americans visiting CHINA for the first time!

As a nurse, what is the most disturbing story you can tell about a patient who was living in extreme poverty?

I was a patient in the hospital myself, which was an eye opening experience for me as an RN. I was there for a week with what turned out to be psitticosis from my new pet parakeet. (Not a fun experience.) During that time, I got to know my roommate very well.

My roommate was a widow in her mid thirties, and she was dying of cancer. She had three young children who had recently entered the foster care system. She had no friends or family to help her, and no one willing to take her kids in. She had done nothing wrong as a mother except to become so sick with cancer that she could no longer care for her children. To complicate matters, she had recently been evicted from her apartment due to the loss of her income as a result of her ongoing illness. She was now homeless.

She was also uninsured, which is why her breast cancer was left untreated until it was too late. The cancer had been detected by a routine mammogram paid for by a woman’s health clinic. She was then referred for a biopsy, then to an oncologist. The oncologist was willing to see her free of charge, yet he could not afford to pay for her chemotherapy. He informed her that she needed to try to get on Medicaid, so that the expensive chemotherapy could begin. At that time she was still working, and she made too much money to qualify for Medicaid. She made far too little money though, to purchase health insurance. (This was in 2004, before the ACA, or even Go-Fund-Me came about.) She kept working as long as she could to feed her kids while the cancer spread throughout her body.

Soon after being told that she was terminal, she received word that she had been accepted into a charity drug program paid for by the Disney corporation. They agreed to pay for her chemotherapy, except now it was too late.

While we were in the hospital, she told me over and over again that she desperately wanted to see her children. She was embarrassed by her appearance though, because as the cancer overtook her, she became so weak that she would occasionally faint. One of those falls had chipped two of her front teeth close to the gum line. This was very noticeable. When her mouth was closed, she looked normal. The minute she spoke, smiled or ate, the missing teeth were very, very apparent. Her children had never seen her without her front teeth, and she feared that she would frighten them. She longed for a partial plate or crowns to correct her appearance before her children saw her, yet she had no money for this. As a result, she planned to wear a mask over her mouth when they came instead. Sadly though, her young children were never brought to see her. Calls by her to the social worker in charge of her children’s foster care placement went unreturned. I tried to get our hospital’s social services department to help, yet nothing was ever accomplished.

My roommate had been a pre-school teacher. This isn’t a high paying job, yet it is an important one. The job, sadly, offered no benefits. Plus, due to her cancer, she had by this point not been able to work for several months.

By the time I was discharged, we had become the best of friends. I was still quite weak from my own illness, yet my hope was to have her live in my spare bedroom when she was discharged. As a nurse who only worked part time, I knew that I could care for her.

Whether she came to live with me or not, I also planned to help get her teeth fixed so that she could at least die with the dignity of a beautiful smile. I even had a dentist lined up who was willing to help. Most importantly, I planned to find some way to have her children visit regularly. I never got the chance to do any of those things though. I went to see her two days after my discharge, only to find out that she had passed away suddenly the night before, alone, homeless and toothless.

Keanu Reeves

While shooting the movie “The Lake House”, he overheard the conversation between two costume assistants, and a woman was crying because she would lose her house if she didn’t pay a sum of 20 thousand dollars. He deposited it into her account.

On his birthday in 2010, he went into a bakery alone and bought a cupcake with a single candle. While he ate it outside, he offered free coffee and bread to all customers. This was his luxury birthday.

With what he earned from the Matrix trilogy, he distributed 50 million dollars to the special effects personnel, because according to him, they were the real heroes of the films.

He almost never used stuntmen, except for very specific things like stunts, and for this reason he recognized the work of his stuntmen by giving each of them a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

To this day, he regularly uses the subway and other public transportation systems such as the bus when necessary because it is the most practical thing, and he is never ashamed.

A large number of hospitals say they have received tens of millions of dollars from him.

He donated 90% of his salary in some films so that the production could hire other stars.

In 1997, a paparazzo found him on the street sitting next to a homeless man, listening to the homeless man’s life and having breakfast with him.

All the good we know about Keanu Reeves was not told to us by him, but by those who benefited from him. He never declared anything.

For everything he has experienced, he could have had a sadder and more pessimistic view of life, but despite this he chose to be that something good among all the evil there is.

American greed…

What happened? Since when did money become EVERYTHING?

My GOD. What a great video.

Massage, drinking whiskey, a very hard touch, and soft relax afterwards

One of my little pleasures here in China is the massage.

There are all types of massages. From a nice foot massage after soaking in a super hot herbal bath, to “happy ending” massages that are 100% legal inside of China.

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The prices are entirely reasonable, and really, it’s a four hours or so well spent.

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In the ‘States, I never had or experienced a professional massage. The best that I could get was an amateur massage from a favored girl or two.

But really, as I get older, having a massage…

spa for men

one that involves drinking whiskey, a very hard touch, and soft relax afterwards. Followed by a fine smoke is truly special, and it is one that I really do appreciate.

I don’t know if you can ever get something like this in the USA unless you go to a private spa. Ah, many ladies use these services I know. But not so much foe the men.

If you all ever get an opportunity, take it.

Today….

We Haven’t Seen A “Historic Surge” Of Corporate Bankruptcies Like This Since The Great Recession
July 10, 2024 by Michael

We continue to get numbers that indicate that the U.S. economy is steamrolling in the wrong direction as we approach the most chaotic election season in our history. Needless to say, the performance of the economy is going to play a major role in the outcome of the election, because millions upon millions of Americans are really suffering right now. Homelessness has been growing at the fastest pace ever recorded, hunger and poverty are exploding, and we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis that doesn’t seem to have any end in sight. Unfortunately, there are signs that things will soon get even worse. For example, we experienced a “historic surge” of corporate bankruptcies during the first half of this year that was worse than anything we have witnessed since the first half of 2010…

There is a “historic surge” of corporate bankruptcies underway in the U.S., as debt-saddled companies struggle to adjust to the new era of high interest rates.

New figures published by S&P Global Intelligence show that 75 companies filed for bankruptcy in June, the highest number recorded in a single month since early 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That pushed this year’s total number of bankruptcies so far to 346, which is notably higher than comparable levels seen in the past 13 years.

Before this, the highest half-year figure recorded was in 2010, with 437 companies filing for bankruptcy from January through June.

During the first half of 2010, we were just coming out of the Great Recession.

Do you remember how painful things were in those days?

Sadly, I believe that what is ahead of us will be even more painful.

The unprecedented measures that our leaders took to prop up the economy worked for a while, but now cracks are starting to show all over the place.

And a lot more big businesses will go belly up during the months ahead.

Earlier today, I was quite saddened to learn that Big Lots is on the verge of bankruptcy…

Discount retail chain Big Lots said it will close up to 40 stores this year and may declare bankruptcy.

The Columbus, Ohio-based company wrote in a quarterly Securities and Exchange Commission filing it expected further operating losses and has “substantial doubt” it can continue as a functioning business.

Big Lots last month reported a net loss of $205 million in the quarter ending May 4, 2024.

When I lived in Virginia many years ago, I would shop at Big Lots quite a bit.

And it always seemed to be doing fairly well.

But now times have changed.

Today, most Americans have very little discretionary income. In fact, surveys have shown that the vast majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck at this point…

A 2023 survey conducted by Payroll.org highlighted that 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, a 6% increase from the previous year. In other words, more than three-quarters of Americans struggle to save or invest after paying for their monthly expenses.

Similarly, a 2023 Forbes Advisor survey revealed that nearly 70% of respondents either identified as living paycheck to paycheck (40%) or—even more concerning—reported that their income doesn’t even cover their standard expenses (29%).

There is no way to spin those numbers in a positive manner.

Any way that you look at them, they are absolutely horrible.

The middle class is being ripped to shreds, and those that are running the system seem to be all out of answers.

Young adults in particular are having a very difficult time in this environment.

According to a survey that was recently conducted by Bank of America, almost half of all adult members of Generation Z “are relying on financial help from their parents and family members”…

A new survey by Bank of America finds that nearly half of adult members of Gen Z are relying on financial help from their parents and family members to get by.

The survey for Bank of America’s Better Money Habits team found that 46% of Gen Z are receiving financial assistance from their parents or other family members, a figure that declines to 30% for Gen Z non-students.

Have you noticed that so many young adults seem to be very bitter and very angry these days?

This is one of the big reasons why they are in such a foul mood.

Many of them were promised that life would be good if the studied hard, went to college, and did all the right things.

But now many of them are discovering that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was just an illusion.

Of course there is a small sliver of society that is still doing exceptionally well.

Flooding the system with trillions upon trillions of dollars has been very good for the financial markets, and those with lots of money in the financial markets have been living the high life.

In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, millionaires are complaining that the town is being ruined by all of the billionaires that are now moving in…

Millionaires once accused of ruining a gorgeous town in Wyoming now complain they are being driven out of the area by billionaires.

Jackson Hole has long been a popular vacation spot for celebrities including Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes and Matthew McConaughey.

An influx of wealthy people sent house prices sky-rocketing and forced ordinary workers to live on the other side of the mountain on the Idaho-Wyoming border.

There are more billionaires in America today than ever before.

That is the good news.

The bad news is that there are more homeless people in America today than ever before, the ranks of the poor are growing very rapidly, and more Americans are falling out of the middle class with each passing day.

The wealthy may think that all of the wealth that they have piled up will insulate them from the unprecedented chaos that is approaching, but the truth is that a day of reckoning is coming for them too.

In the end, the entire system is going to completely and utterly fail, and those that believed that the party would last forever will be bitterly, bitterly disappointed.

“It’s Getting WORSE And WORSE…” – Richard Wolff

He is absolutely correct. Worth the watch.

The world has changed.

Food Porn

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Why Has The Chinese Military Suddenly Become So Aggressive? Is Something Up?

July 11, 2024 by Michael

Does China sense weakness in the White House? In recent days Chinese troops have been sent to Belarus for military exercises, dozens of Chinese military aircraft have been threatening Taiwan, and four Chinese military vessels were even detected off the coast of Alaska. So why has China decided to become so aggressive all of a sudden? Right now, Joe Biden is facing endless questions about his competency, and those around him are focused on fighting for his political survival. So could foreign adversaries such as China use this window of opportunity to do things that they may not normally attempt to do?

According to authorities in Taiwan, 66 Chinese military aircraft and 7 Chinese military vessels were “operating around Taiwan” on Wednesday…

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) on Thursday said that it had detected 66 Chinese military aircraft and vessels around the island, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the Western Pacific.

The media outlet embedded a statement by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence on its X platform.

“66 PLA aircraft and seven PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 am (2200 GMT Wednesday) today,” the statement said.

When asked about this, the Chinese government responded by declaring that the operation was about protecting “its sovereignty and territorial integrity”…

When asked about the warplanes crossing the median line at a regular press briefing in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian avoided directly responding. “The determination of China to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity remains unrelenting,” he said.

The CCP insists that Taiwan is Chinese territory, and the Biden administration has been warned that “reunification” will take place at some point.

Let us hope that the Chinese do not choose to use this current window of opportunity to “reunify” with Taiwan, because the moment that they invade we will be at war with China and everything will change.

Unfortunately, it appears that the Chinese have been aggressively probing Taiwan’s maritime defenses. During the first six months of 2024, the Taiwanese Coast Guard “drove away 567 Chinese boats”…

The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday.

They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said.

Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said.

Meanwhile, the Chinese have been sniffing around our coastlines too.

In fact, it is being reported that four Chinese military vessels were just spotted off the coast of Alaska…

Multiple Chinese military ships were spotted by the U.S. Coast Guard in the waters off Alaska, officials said in a news release on Wednesday.

Three vessels were detected about 124 miles north of the Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands, and a fourth ship was spotted about 84 miles north of the state’s Amukta Pass. The ships were seen on Saturday and Sunday.

All four ships were in international waters, the Coast Guard said, but were inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the U.S. shoreline.

The reason that this incident is noteworthy is because it is very unusual.

Chinese military vessels don’t normally operate so far north.

Most people don’t realize this, but China now has the largest navy on the entire planet.

I don’t know how we allowed that to happen, but we did.

And it turns out that our own military industry has become extremely dependent on the Chinese. For example, it is being reported that Chinese semiconductors are in approximately “40% of all U.S. Department of Defense weapons systems and infrastructure”…

A large number of Chinese semiconductors are used in critical military platforms, accounting for around 40% of all U.S. Department of Defense weapons systems and infrastructure, and are further linked to military supply chains such as Patriot air-defense missiles and B-2 bombers.

For example, a Lockheed Martin missile factory situated in Alabama produces Javelin anti-tank weapons which use more than 200 semiconductors in each weapon. This equates to thousands of Chinese-made semiconductors within U.S. weaponry.

“U.S. companies at the bottom of the supply chain pyramid often source these parts from China in open market transactions. As a result, many essential components in sensitive U.S. military systems now come from China. Countless major weapons platforms are vulnerable,” the report states.

Our leaders aren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, but this is ridiculous.

Didn’t anyone consider the fact that one day we might actually end up in a war with China?

Before I end this article, I wanted to give a quick update on the conflict in Ukraine.

According to the BBC, at the big NATO conference this week the Ukrainians were told that they now have an “irreversible path” to membership in the alliance…

Nato members have pledged their support for an “irreversible path” to future membership for Ukraine, as well as more aid.

While a formal timeline for it to join the military alliance was not agreed at a summit in Washington DC, the military alliance’s 32 members said they had “unwavering” support for Ukraine’s war effort.

Nato has also announced further integration with Ukraine’s military and members have committed €40bn ($43.3bn, £33.7bn) in aid in the next year, including F-16 fighter jets and air defence support.

Needless to say, this is not going to sit well with the Russians at all.

One of the reasons this war started was because Russia was determined to keep Ukraine out of NATO.

Now F-16 fighter jets from a number of NATO countries are starting to be delivered to Ukraine, and the Russians have already warned that those fighter jets will be considered a nuclear threat…

This summer, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium will begin sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and Denmark and the Netherlands have said there will be no restrictions on the use of these planes to strike targets in Russia. F-16s are able to deliver nuclear weapons, and Russia has said the planes will be considered a nuclear threat.

We are rapidly approaching a point of no return.

I have been studying the Russians for a long time, and once they come to the conclusion that nuclear war is inevitable they will strike first.

They know that there are no winners in a nuclear war, but they also know that whoever strikes first will have the best chance of surviving.

The Russians are highly paranoid, and we should not be backing them into a corner because that will make them extremely dangerous.

A stray cat walked upon me, and when I patted it, it jumped up on my knees

The Biden Titanic

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

Joe Biden’s escalating dementia and the long media-political conspiracy to hide his senility from the public are the least of the Democrats’ current problems.

Biden’s track record as president may be more concerning than his cognitive decline. He has literally destroyed the U.S. border, deliberately allowing the entry of more than 10 million illegal aliens. His callous handlers’ agenda was to import abjectly poor constituencies in need of vast government services without regard for the current struggles of a battered American middle class and poor.

The widespread poverty of a vast new cohort of illegal immigrants could serve as indictments of a “racist,” “unequal,” and “unfair” America—as if the residents of East Palestine, Ohio or inner-city Chicago had anything to do with the centuries-long corruption and oppression of Mexico and Latin America that daily drives thousands of their own poorest citizens northwards to a society founded on very different ideas than those of their homelands.

Note that the left, neither in Mexico nor in America, never asks why millions of these impoverished people prefer to break into a supposedly racist America. Much less do they even distinguish those principles and values that once made America prosperous, free, and secure from their antitheses that have sadly made much of Latin America mostly poor, without freedom, and insecure.

Biden inherited near-zero real interest rates and inflation at 1.4 percent. Almost immediately, in nihilistic fashion, Biden did to a sound economy what he had done to a secure border. So, he recklessly printed money at a time of spiraling, quarantine-ending demand and supply chain disruption. Middle-class wages never caught up with Biden’s inflation, as prices for key staples are nearly 30 percent higher than when he took office.

The cost of servicing the ballooning national debt at high interest is now nearly $1 trillion per year. The world abroad is aflame, lit by Biden’s inexplicable withdrawal from Kabul, his mixed signals to Vladimir Putin on the eve of his invasion of Ukraine, his deliberate alienation of Israel, his appeasement of Iran and China, and his cuts in the defense budget, coupled with his woke war on mythical “racists” in the military.

Energy prices soared, even as Biden’s green agenda proved unworkable and prompted draining the strategic petroleum reserve and begging foreign oil despots before key elections. The “unifier” Biden by design needlessly alienated nearly half the country, and in his debate, he reiterated why Trump supporters do not deserve his concern. And more ominously and recently, Biden grossly told hundreds of his donors that “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye”—just days before the attempt on Trump’s life.

The greatest absurdity of the Biden White House is the gaslighting talk of Biden’s “achievements.” Biden’s actions over the last four years are not offsets for his senility that warrant his continuance in office, but again, sadly, they serve as force multipliers, furthering claims of his dementia and for his removal.

Joe Biden is not just non compos mentis and in a sane world, he would be subject to 25th Amendment removal. He also increasingly seems unpleasant and obnoxious, if not sometimes simply weird. To achieve momentary clarity, Biden either shouts at his audience or stoops over and whispers in an eerie fashion.

He insults reporters and his own staff. Every few sentences, without warning, he begins screaming. His face is fixed in a permanent, angry contortion. As a result, the public sees their president as an off-putting, angry old man—and in his selfish dotage, an increasingly unsympathetic one. Even after more than 40 months of media hagiography, Joe Biden still cannot poll over a 40 percent approval rating, given that his rudeness is fueled further by the day due to escalating mental confusion.

Biden is, to be candid, a serial prevaricator. It is not just his ad nauseam repetition of Trump’s supposed slurs—the Charlottesville “both sides” lie, the “suckers” lie, or the “bloodbath” lie. He continues to peddle absolute falsehoods like the mythical nine-percent inflation he inherited and Trump’s supposed intention to ban all abortions, or his whopper that after welcoming in 10 million illegal aliens, Biden would have had a closed, secure border if not for those selfish Republicans who, for some reason, did not trust his ridiculous eleventh-hour, election-timed immigration proposal.

When he hammers Trump as a “convicted felon,” Biden has no clue that a majority of Americans equate that charge with Biden’s own warped lawfare assault on ancient customs, as well as a reminder that his now closest advisor is likewise a “convicted felon.”

When Biden rants near daily about the rich “paying their fair share,” he reminds us that his son is also facing federal tax evasion charges for unreported foreign income in the millions of dollars and that as soon as Biden himself leaves office, as a recipient of the same foreign cash, he may find himself in the same legal jeopardy. So, to use a Bidenism, “how dare he” accuse affluent Americans of the very crimes that his own family is knee deep in?

Biden’s prefaces of “no lie,” “here’s the deal,” “no kidding,” and “no joke” are little more than tics that forewarn us of complete fabrications about to follow, from the ridiculous story of an uncle supposedly eaten by New Guinea cannibals to his supposed heroics during the Civil Rights movement and his near childhood adoption by various minority communities.

In this regard, senility served oddly as a crutch for Biden. In the past, he paid dearly for his plagiarism, cheating, racist rants, and prevarications, losing three presidential bids and earning a reputation as the empty-suit blowhard of the Senate. Now his press handlers conveniently chalk up his long-standing habitual untruth as momentary mental “confusion.”

Given all the above, remember that Biden was to be the “savior” of the Democratic Party. To this day, celebrities demanding his withdrawal from the race throw him the bone that “he saved the country by stopping Trump”—as if no wars, stability abroad, no inflation, low interest, and low energy costs were something to fear.

Yet Biden’s four years pale in comparison to what in 2016 might have been a Harris, Buttigieg, Warren, Booker, or Sanders candidacy or presidency. No wonder Democrats concluded that there were no viable alternatives to a cognitively challenged Biden, precisely because Biden was the only available fig leaf to the new Democratic Party and its neo-socialist agenda—that, if transparent, would have terrified the country that it was soon to nearly destroy.

Biden’s Democratic critics have it all wrong: removing Biden is wise and needed for the country’s sake, but it will not solve the growing public anger at the left. Without the veneer of even a tottering old Joe from Scranton, there will be no camouflage. And then, the true leftist agenda will be served raw to the American people—open borders, woke/DEI racial polarization, transgendered obsessions, inflation/stagflation, wars a plenty abroad, an inert Pentagon, unaffordable energy, partial-birth abortions, and crazy ideas like packing the court and making Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, states.

So, what is the Democratic strategy to win the 2024 election?

Certainly, an “open” convention would not produce a moderate Democratic nominee or even a suitable replacement façade. There are no moderates in contention. If there were any hale candidates to offer cover, the party would be in permanent war with its shrill and angry woke base. Joe is the last of his generation to offer a credible front. There are no more Diane Feinsteins or Bill Clintons to package the hard-left agenda. If Harris cannot serve as Biden’s replacement, someone like her or further to the left would appear on spec.

The Democrats have no plans to run on their record.

Their tripartite strategy is as simple as it is tired and worn.

First, expect a third chapter to follow the 2016 Russian collusion caper and the 2020 laptop disinformation ruse – likely some October revelation from the administrative state’s “experts” and “authorities” that Trump is a criminal, a traitor, or a spy or plans a coup, to destroy NATO or nuke something. Perhaps there is another Access Hollywood tape, a porn star on ice, anything to avoid discussing the damage done since 2017.
Second, there is still a last gasp to a dying lawfare. Never underestimate the last-gasp judicial effort to inactivate, gag, bankrupt, or jail Trump, however counterproductive such attempts so far have proved.
Third, when all else fails, remember that in many of the swing states, 70 percent of the electorate will not be voting on Election Day and will not be presenting IDs. Millions of their ballots will be harvested or cured by third-party activists. Last time around, the leftist journalist Molly Ball bragged about their “cabal” and “conspiracy” of big money and big tech that had “saved” Americans from Trump.

Those post-election confessions were not just high-fiving but also a confident forewarning of what is to come.

NATO Just Announced Its Next Victim…You Won’t Believe What Happens Next!

Idiots in Europe.

What is the weirdest news article you’ve seen today?

About a week ago, an elderly Japanese man called the police to come to the hospital room where he was staying. The man, a retired construction worker, was dying of cancer. He went by the name of Hiroshi Uchida and lived alone in a small shack.

Working in Fujisawa City, near Sagami Bay overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the old worker lived a pretty charmed life. He had made friends with his co-workers, often singing James Brown songs. Once a month he’d go to the city, sing karaoke, drink and have some fun. He was the old-fashioned sort, never had a cell phone and always insisted to be paid in cash because “he didn’t trust banks”. Folks saw him as eccentric, but a decent guy for the most part.

It was only now, aged seventy and on his deathbed, that the old worker revealed his big secret to police — his real name was Satoshi Kirishima and he was a wanted terrorist, part of a left-wing terror group that bombed, among other targets, the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Tokyo, in 1974.

Satoshi Kirishima’s mugshot was plastered around Japan, on police stations throughout the nation. He was one of Japan’s top ten most wanted criminals. On January 24, 2024, he called police because he “wanted to die under his own name”. He died on January 28, four days after his confession. DNA results have just revealed he was who he claimed to be.

The Ghostwriter

Submitted into Contest #24 in response to: Write a murder mystery with an amateur sleuth who must navigate a fantastical world in a quest to discover the truth.… view prompt

Gabrielle Gerstley

“I can’t believe you live here.”“I know,” Sylvia says. She smiles and steps aside for me to drag my suitcase through the entrance hall.“There’s ivy trellises for chrissakes. Ivy trellises.”“I’m glad you like it.”We sit on her loveseat in the foyer. It is afternoon, and the sun is starting to wane and drip shade on the room. I take a sip of the earl grey tea she delivers on a worn gold platter. Her tea set is pretty, scalloped and covered in tiny, blood-red flowers. I rub my sweating hands on the velvet fabric of the sofa, hoping it won’t leave a stain.“I’m very glad you were able to come for the weekend. I’d like to see you up here once a month to meet about your progress.”

“I can’t thank you enough for hiring me, and for entrusting me with your story.”

She nods, smiling again. Her home smells like slivered almonds. A grandfather clock beats in the corner. There’s a large bookcase against the wall and shelves filled with tchotchkes— porcelain dolls in fraying skirts and ribbons, spotted cats, an extensive collection of salt and pepper shakers, everything covered in a film of dust. The air inside her home is gauzy, small swirls of sparkles float and twirl around us.

“Shall we get started then?” she asks. I nod, setting my teacup down on its saucer. “Evie was found just up the street from here. There’s a body of water where they found her. It isn’t small enough to be a pond but it’s not quite a lake either. The water is very deep in the middle. She had stones tied to her ankles when they recovered her body. We used to spend lots of time there together. There was a dock in the middle you could swim out to. We’d lie out there for hours, reading, talking. It was heaven.”

I write everything down in a small leather journal. A creak whines through the beats of the ticking clock and I jump a little, which makes me laugh.

“Just an old staircase,” she says. “My parents died in a car crash when I was in college, a long time ago. I was an only child. They left me the house. I never understood why they moved in here. It’s creepy, isn’t it? I was homeschooled my whole life, and Evie was my only friend. We met because she lived up the street from here. When I was younger, sometimes I liked to imagine having conversations with her when she was at school. Sometimes I find myself still doing that, too. I was a very lonely child. I was just starting to make friends in college and I was enjoying myself when I got the call that my parents had died. I quit school and moved back here, something I’d said I’d never do, but something called me back here.”

“Did Evie used to come over?”

“Yes, she did. Here,” she says, standing and walking to a large desk across the room. She pulls out a drawer and shows me photos of her and Evie as children. “Wasn’t she gorgeous?” Evie has long, inky black hair and freckles spilled over the bridge of her nose and underneath her eyes the color of a milky cappuccino. “And there’s me, of course.” Sylvia is tall and skinny, her back hunched and curved like a comma, her arm thrown over Evie’s small shoulders. “God was I gawky.” Sylvia’s hair is the color of straw and her two front teeth are twisted in what looks like a painful way. They are standing in the woods, the water behind them to their right. “I don’t know why everyone just accepted it was her who had drowned herself. Evie wasn’t unhappy. In fact, she had all these plans for the future. We were going to move out west together, to Hollywood. She wouldn’t have done this, I just know it, but no one ever questioned it or looked into it.”

“Was she dating anyone at the time?”

“She was in love with this boy named Ryan from school, but he was on vacation at the time with his family out of the country.”

“Is there anyone you’re suspicious of?”

“You like to believe it was no one you knew, right? That someone you knew could be responsible for such a horrific act. But something like this with no real evidence of a struggle or a fight, no skin underneath her fingernails or evidence of blunt force means if it wasn’t self-induced, she knew the person. And she knew them well. She trusted them, and then they did this to her. I’m sorry, it’s still hard for me to talk about.”

“You seem much more affected by her death than your parents’.”

“Evie was so young. She didn’t deserve her ending. My parents were older; they were in their sixties. Their deaths were probably immediate. Do you know how long it takes to drown? It takes about thirty to sixty seconds to start breathing in water, and soon after you lose consciousness. That doesn’t seem like that long of a time, but just try counting to sixty right now.”

We listen to the grandfather clock’s ticks. One, I bite the inside of my cheek and taste metal. Thirteen, I take a sip of the tea; it’s grown cold and the bitterness rests uncomfortably in the back of my throat. Twenty-one I crack my neck. Thirty-seven I smile at Sylvia, but it’s more like a grimace. Forty-one I pick lint off my jeans. Forty-nine I crack my knuckles. Fifty-three I rub at my eye, crossing my legs. Sixty and the cuckoo bird from the clock in the kitchen bursts from its hutch and shrieks. My heart propels upward inside my chest, boing-ing against my ribcage. I feel as though I cannot breathe, as though someone has buried me alive.

“Sixty seconds is a very long time,” she says, beginning to clean up the tea set. I nod, swallowing, but my throat is dry.

“I want to help you, but I’m not a detective. I’m not even a journalist.”

“You are a poet, and poets have sensibility. They are able to uncover the unknowable, to hear and decipher the whispers of the immortal.”

“Do you hear Evie?” I ask her. “Do you still talk to her?”

“All the time.”

“What if I don’t discover anything new? Or what if on the off chance I do discover something new, you don’t like it.”

“I will give you all of my journals. You will have access to photo albums, newspaper clippings from the time, home videos, yearbooks, my observations, maps, everything. You will write an account of what you look at, what I tell you, and whatever you make of it. It can be fiction, it can be a collection of poems, whatever you like. But it will be set here during the year she died, and it must have some beauty in it.”

“Okay.”

“Let me show you your room.”

I follow her up the wooden staircase. My room has a view of the forest behind the house. I know the water is just beyond, further and deeper into the woods.

“Perhaps you’ll go on a walk tonight, yes? See the water. There are flashlights in the downstairs closet by the front door. I’ll let you rest for a bit. Dinner is whenever you want. I was planning on making a shepherd’s pie, but you’re more than welcome to help yourself to anything in the fridge.”

“Thank you.” She squeezes my hand then shuts the door behind her. I lie on the quilt on top of the bed. It’s completely silent here, even with the window cracked open. Fresh air flows through and I quickly fall asleep.

It’s half-past seven when I wake and already dark out. I grab a large, black leather photo album from the top of the stack Sylvia has placed on the bedside table. There are Sylvia’s parents, both in thick-rimmed glasses unsmiling on a beach in front of a rainbow-striped umbrella. There’s Sylvia with Evie in the backseat, their heads bent together, hair one indecipherable mass. They must be ten or so. Their wrists are adorned with matching, patterned friendship bracelets made of turquoise and orange and red string. They look like they’ve been whispering secrets. What were you saying?

I yawn and put on sneakers. I walk downstairs, but don’t see Sylvia as I walk out and down the graveled dirt path to the water. Buzzing erupts in the forest, whistling through the leaves of the trees, prickling the back of my neck. I swing the flashlight all around me as I continue to walk. Fireflies fling their bodies against my ankles, clawing their way up through the packed dirt and pushing me toward the water. I step over hundreds of little holes, the evacuated homes of the lightning bugs.

Once I reach the water’s edge I see what Sylvia was talking about — a round, hollowed hole not quite a lake, not quite a pond, filled with black water. A solo dock gently swings in the middle, the slight breeze making it move. I passed several other houses on my walk here, but the water feels entirely secluded and completely private; it is the ideal hideout for a set of friends to meet.

I know Evie’s body is no longer being held underwater, but there are screams, a pulsing from the middle rippling out to the small shore made of pebbles and grass. What happened to you? I slip off my shoes and my shorts. I hold the flashlight in my mouth as I take off my shirt. I dip a toe in the dark water and wade into it. The water is thick and painful to move through, but I make my way out to the dock where I stand. I shine the light into the trees from the dock, half-expecting to see a deer with glowing green eyes staring back at me, or a half-land, half-sea monster with rope in its mouth and stones in its claws ready to drown me too.

I’m sopping wet when I arrive back at Sylvia’s home. I walk across the front room, careful not to leave any droplets of water on the floor. I open the fridge in the kitchen and take out a rotisserie chicken. I pick at it, putting cold pieces in my mouth. Sylvia sits at the kitchen table in the corner. She stares at me as I place the chicken down on the counter and wash my hands at the sink, ringing out my wet hair over it.

“I went for a swim.”

“I can see that,” she says.

“But the floor isn’t wet. It didn’t get wet. Why isn’t it wet?”

“Come, have a seat.”

“Do you ever go swimming there now?”

“No, not since.” She lights a cigarette and opens a window, blowing out curls of smoke. “She was going to leave me, you know. First, it was Europe, then Los Angeles. She loved the palm trees. She said she wanted to drive on PCH in a convertible, live near the beach. She was going to go to college out there. And that? That was all fine. It was fine with me, it took some getting used to but I could go with her. She said I could go with her, so I’d follow her and we’d live together and we’d always be together and happy, and then she got pregnant. And babies get in the way of everything. I just couldn’t have that. I couldn’t have it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re not really here.”

“I’m not?” She shakes her head at me; her eyelids have grown longer, heavier; she pinches the extra skin and rubs her eyes with the heels of her palms until she sees hundreds of static-like white webs. She crosses her arms and leans back in her seat. She beckons the moon through the window and holds it in her hand like a stone.

“I wish you were. I don’t even know what’s real and what’s not anymore.”

Sylvia makes herself a fresh pot of coffee and starts to write the story again, one more time, for the forty-seventh time. She likes to write different endings each time, but every time Evie dies. She can’t find an ending where she doesn’t. I play with the ends of her wiry gray hair, running my fingers over the crown of her head. Sylvia feels this; it feels like she’s dunking her head under water, a cool rush spreading over her scalp. I kiss her on the cheek, ball a clump of her hair in my fist and let it fall, then I walk out the kitchen door. I feel the grass, sharp and prickly beneath my feet. The sky is a blank black tapestry I shoot up toward.

Evie runs away in Sylvia’s latest rendition. She is sixteen and staying in a motel. She is killed by a trucker who rapes her then strangles her. Her eyes are wet and black like marbles; they bounce out of her sockets and roll out the room. Sylvia likes to remind herself that she had been kind, kinder than the killers in her stories; she had made sure Evie hadn’t suffered before she sunk her body into the black folds of the water.

Before falling asleep, Sylvia likes to imagine her and Evie walking off into a line of sunlight, a runny orange yolk color that continues to fade, and never coming home. Every night she dreams the same dream of being held underwater, and unable to breathe, she wakes and stalks the house like a ghost.

Cajun Chicken Lasagna

Prep: 45 min | Total: 2 hr | Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

16 dried lasagna noodles
1 pound andouille sausage or smoked pork sausage, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 to 3 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon dried sage, crushed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped green sweet pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
2 (10 ounce) containers refrigerated light Alfredo sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Nonstick cooking spray
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
Cook noodles according to package Method. Drain; rinse.
Combine sausage, chicken, Cajun seasoning and sage.
In a large skillet cook meat mixture 8 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
Remove from skillet using a slotted spoon, reserving drippings in skillet. Set meat mixture aside; keep warm.
In same skillet cook onion, celery, sweet pepper, and garlic in drippings until vegetables are tender.
Stir in meat mixture, one container of the Alfredo sauce, and Parmesan cheese.
Lightly coat a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish or 3 quart rectangular casserole with nonstick spray. Arrange 4 noodles in bottom of dish. Spread with 2 cups of the meat-vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the mozzarella.
Repeat layers, ending with noodles.
Carefully spread remaining Alfredo sauce over the top (if sauce is too thick, heat slightly). Cover; bake 1 hour or until heated through.
Let stand for 15 to 20 minutes before carefully cutting.

PUTIN, CHINA READY NUCLEAR WAR | SCOTT RITTER: IT’S NO BLUFF

Have you killed someone in self defense? What psychological burden came with this decision?

Yes. He pulled out a gun, demanded my and my friends wallets. Although I was armed (in a city where concealed carry was legal only with a permit, which I had), he seemed to be after money and had not aimed the gun at us, so I did not draw. When my friend was too slow, he yelled and fired a shot at his feet, injuring him with a fragment. I then drew my weapon and shot him 3 times in the chest. Once he was down I sent my friend to get help while I did cpr, but he was dead. The police were quite supportive and did not arrest me after consultation with their superiors. I had a carry permit and my friend corroborated my story. An “earwitness” had heard the shots and confirmed the number and order. I made a statement and picked up my gun a week later.

After the initial adrenaline and shock wore off, I never felt any negative emotions, other than sadness that he chose to waste his life the way he had. He had 4 robbery and 2 assault convictions and had spent half his life in jail already. If he hadn’t fired a shot he’d still be alive, but it seems like it was only a matter of time. I have never felt any regret.

What made you quit smoking weed?

I did smoke it as a teen. I grew up in So. California, my parents were aged hippies who smoked it. There were rules – like no smoking if it is a weekday, and you have school the next day. No smoking if you are going to drive a car. So yeah, it happened, but I was generally responsible about it.

Then I just grew up, had other responsibilities, like being a mother, and didn’t do it at all.

Much later, when my kids were older, I had some opportunities to do it again. A trip to Amsterdam, and a trip to Las Vegas, after it was made legal. I thought, hey, why not?

I had horrible experiences. I became paranoid, closed up and unable to interact socially. It turns out the weed has become much stronger than when I was young, and we’d just have some homegrown buds… now they’ve been carefully engineered to have a very high level of THC. Two hits would have me nervous and paranoid.

Edibles… OMG… what hell! My family is still talking about the time a family member visiting me in France brought me a little, thin, sucker. I had a sore throat, and decided it might help on the way to a touristy day out. Ended curled up in the fetal position in the back seat floor of the car while they went siteseeing. That shit just goes on FOREVER. A whole day wasted with me miserable.

I decided, perhaps I have less resistance through time, but also, the strains have developed to be so strong, it isn’t a matter of smoking a joint and feeling a little more giggly than usual. It can be a nightmare. Won’t touch it now. God speed to all those that find it enjoyable or useful in their lives, but I won’t be partaking.

The Amazing Digital Circus – 1950’s Super Panavision 70

What is the meaning of “Made in China”? Is it more costly to manufacture a product in another country and import it to the United States?

Ask Walmart they scouted the entire world and sell almost everything from China? Don’t ask China and Chinese haters these are often brain dead Americans who consumed your media and politicians narratives so much lies has become gospel truth to them now. If 155/195 nations on earth has China as their biggest trading nation can all of them be fools? If they could buy from other nations some nearer to their shores wouldn’t they?

United States should stop using Chinese goods if you hate China so much. China won’t mind and the rest of the world can enjoy your lunch. If you prefer 20% inflation and increase your poverty from 100–200 million, that is your choice, don’t whine about it here! Just do it! The US used to be rich and consumed a lot but these days you area small potato customer, go away! China Don sell to Walmart. Walmart buys from China willingly! I supposed the know a thing or two about US consumers!

Buy from a third country and change their made in China label to made in Mexico, Vietnam or Malaysia and you get your stuffs at a premium is what you want, do it! China don’t mind, Mexico, Vietnam and Malaysia won’t mind? If you wish to fool yourself it is your right! Who may mind? American consumers! Do you think of them?

What are the best examples that shows Life is Unpredictable?

In 2014, Clint Eastwood started a relationship with Christina Sandera. He was 84 at the time, and Christina was 51. Eastwood had been in many relationships before and fully expected this to be his last rodeo. He was quite done with it all.

main qimg 3f52a4964d97da324e859986b85091a0

Fast forward ten years, Eastwood is now 94. He and Sandera did, indeed, stay together. But now sad news was just made public by the Eastwood family — Christina Sandera died, aged 61.

[1] You don’t get into a relationship in your fifties, with a man in his eighties, with the expectation that he will be the one to bury you. You probably won’t like to think much about it, but that’s not exactly the most likely outcome that’ll be on your mind…

Life is incredibly unpredictable. We have expectations and we think we have a lot of certainties, but really? We don’t. We just trick ourselves for the sense of comfort into believeing we know the outcome of things ahead of times, but in actuality we never quite do.

Footnotes

[1] Clint Eastwood’s partner Christina Sandera dead at 61

The US Literally Cannot Repay Its National Debt.

Do Chinese people feel embarrassed when they see “Made in China” goods?

It depends.

Last time, when Obama gave a speech at the port about revitalizing American manufacturing, they used flags to cover the crane’s logo in the background.(As to whether the flag was made in China too, I have no idea, but it is possible.)

But a gust of wind revealed the brand name 振华（Make China Great Again）, which made me feel a bit embarrassed.

Later, when President Biden gave a speech at the same place about revitalizing American manufacturing, I kept my eyes on the flag covering the logo the entire time.

As a result, when President Biden praised the “New Panama” crane, you could still see that it was actually made in China…

Therefore, Biden’s nickname in China is 拜振华.

Very embarrassing.

China’s Radar Defeats US Growler in South China Sea

Damn! Holy shit!

When was the hardest you have cried?

The hardest I have ever cried is when my youngest daughter had her breaking point at the hands of her bully. That week of my life made me feel like the worst father in history.

My daughter is socially awkward, meek, shy, and has trouble making friends. Her only interests are Art and Tennis. She’s never had many friends and really didn’t seem to care. That’s what I thought.

In her freshman year in High school, she met the Bully that would change school policy on bullying. This incident happened when My child was in the school library. The library is supposed to be bully proof, like a sanctuary. But not on this day.

She’s quietly drawing with her friend. And out of nowhere she gets smacked from behind on her right ear with baby powder. And of course it was the bully. It was supposed to be a prank. A video prank called “SMACK CAM” to be exact.

Looks like this.

This time it went too far. My child got knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital with a serious concussion.

I get the call and race to the hospital with bitter rage. I’m met by the police, the principal, the school nurse, and the guidance counselor. They were all in her room. I walk in and see my child sleeping with tubes coming out of her nose and arms. I couldn’t talk. I was shaking with anger.

The principal and the police explain to me that they have video evidence, and the bully has been arrested.

Three days later my daughter came home from the hospital and all that I thought I knew about her was only the surface.

We’re sitting on the couch watching TV. I go into the kitchen for something. I come out of the kitchen to see her face wet with tears. She’s not wiping her face, there is no facial expression, no sound. Just a constant flow of big tears. Tears with no sound means deep emotional pain. Especially from a 14 year old girl.

I grab her off the couch and give her the biggest HUG I have ever given her and tell her that I love her and will always be there for her. But only this time, she felt different.

We sit down and I’m trying to tickle her side to get a smile. NOTHING! After some time She finally starts talking.

“I just want this to stop, I’m sick of it”

(OMG!) This has been going on all this time?!

She begins to detail the horrors ever since elementary school. I’ll list only a few.

She’s been called Ugly
They hide her books
They steal her material
They push and shove her
Cut her in line
Put buggers on her shirt
One boy that sits behind her cut her hair without her knowing.

Some things they did were disgusting so I won’t list them. At the end of it all I still wasn’t crying. Until she said this.

“How come no one likes me, what did I do?”

That’s when I lost it. I tried to hide it because I can’t cry in front of my children. I felt weak, my heart pounded and I waited to speak so she wouldn’t notice my voice cracking.

I tell her to go take a shower and we’ll go to the mall and walk around. That was just to get her to walk away so I could go to my room and try not to cry. As soon as I got in my room I felt a fear in me that I can’t explain.

I wanted to trade places with her. I wanted to absorb all her pain, I wanted to kill the bully, I wanted desperately to help her in any way. I blamed myself. Someway somehow it’s my fault.

Why didn’t I notice something? I should have never gotten divorced. Her mom should still be here. I need help!!! It’s too much for me.

I cried so much that my eyes got swollen and my throat got hoarse. Until that day and a few days after, I can’t remember ever crying like that.

After about an hour I open her room door to see my middle daughter holding my youngest while she slept.

Despite the bully’s family asking me not to press charges, I went ahead and pressed charges, and she got six months probation for assault.

My child never went back to school, never wanted to go to school, couldn’t go to sleep, couldn’t eat, and started to hate. Something that I never saw in her.

There wasn’t much I could do. My desperate attempts to get her to smile and liven up became silly. So I signed both of us for Art classes, and she began to show signs of joy.

I later found out that the guidance counselor was my daughter’s shoulder to lean on. Mrs. Sarver was very nice and always helped her in trying times during school.

Mrs. Sarver came over to visit one day with a bunch of letters, and art work from supporting students. I stood back thinking that my child does have friends! But I was wrong.

She sat down and went through every piece of paper, and threw out all but two envelopes. A large piece of very good Art work, and a letter.

They were from “PAIGE”, her only friend. That was the first time I saw her smile in a month.

I enrolled her in a private school the following year where she is doing very well. And despite her psychiatrist’s suggestion, we will not be using any pills.

The China The Media Never Shows! 🇨🇳 Our First Day in SHENZHEN

At what moment in your life did you witness true evil?

(Graphic/sickening content) To this day, I hate the person who did this. I never got a good look at this person and have never seen them or their care ever since.

I was doing my normal 30 minute run of the day and I would usually finish my run at a dead end street, where I would give myself a 5 minute break. Once reaching my stop, I would always go right under a tree to block the burning sun and rest. I was a bit hidden by the tree, so no one would be able to spot me unless they truly tried.

I was in the middle of having my drink, when I noticed a navy blue Ford Explorer with tinted windows make a stop right next to the empty road, almost right beside me. I continued drinking my water, but stopped when the driver slid their window fully down. I couldn’t see the driver well, because the driver seat was facing the opposite way from me. So I was only able to see the silhouette of the driver through the tinted windows.

I was able to hear a commotion going on in the car, but after the driver put down their window, all I heard then were two children, a boy and a girl, repeatedly crying out, “Please don’t do it mom! Please don’t do it!” I was a bit interested in what they were talking about, so I hid a bit more, so that I wouldn’t be seen snooping. The mother, who was the driver, kept telling them to shut up and in her exact words said “Shut up! Shut up, you crybabies! I have enough trouble caring for you two! I’ll be damned if I have to care for these stupid things!”

Through the tinted window, I was able to see her pick up what seemed to be an open cardboard box that was small enough to fit through the window, but big enough to put a variety of small objects in. The children kept screaming, “NO! NO!”. As a speeding car was coming down the road, she threw the box right in its path without giving it a chance to react. At that moment, I heard tiny meows coming from in the box as it flew through the air towards the ground. I froze in horror as the box hit the front tire of the speeding car and the box went right under. All heard as the box went under the tire was a disturbing wet crackling noise that still haunts me to this day.

By the time the car fully ran over the box, the mother with her children were long gone, speeding the opposite direction of the other car. I couldn’t believe what I just saw. I just stood still and watched as the man came out of his car to see what he ran over. I was hoping that it was anything other than what I thought it was. To my horror, the man pulled out the now almost fully flat box and it was oozing out this bright reddish liquid, which I believe was blood. The man took one look in the box and immediately threw up on his car. The man dropped the flat box, went in his car, and drove away.

I was so stunned that I stared at the box for a good ten seconds. I couldn’t believe I witnessed this. I knew what was in the box, but I refused to believe it. My sick curiosity wanted to see what was truly inside that box. I didn’t want to believe that there were kittens in there. I finally came out of my daze and went across the street towards the box. The closer I got, the faster my heart began to beat. Standing right over it, I saw the small opening the man left as he peeked inside. Looking inside the box was the biggest mistake of my life. What I saw was the most traumatizing image that still sticks to me to this day. I won’t describe it because just thinking about the image makes me sick.

After seeing what was inside, it was for a fact that inside the box was a group of disfigured, flat baby kittens that weren’t even given a chance to live another day. How could she? I said to myself. How could anyone be so disgusting? I knew there was nothing I could do, so instead of leaving the box on the ground exposed, I put it in a nearby garbage can. The box left a red stained road with a bit of the box left on it and all I did right after was walk straight home, leaving behind my bottle of water at the tree where this all started.

I wanted to share this story because I had it as a secret from my family at home and I don’t plan on ever telling them. Just writing this story was a huge struggle for me. As you can see on my profile picture, I own an orange male cat that I have taken care of since birth. I could not stand it if anything horrible were to happen to him.

Thank you for reading my experience.

Those poor poor children.

CHINA is NOT what we expected – FIRST 24 HOURS in Beijing

Shorpy

Alice in Wonderland – 1950’s Super Panavision 70

What are some things Chinese people dislike about other Chinese people?

Chinese parents judge success through their kids’ school performance.

They will never say that they are better; instead they will push their kids to win piano, music, math, science and other competitions. If you listen carefully to the conversations among mothers, they will talk about their son/daughter winning some competition. If the other mother’s fall silent because their child did not win, the jealousy in the room is almost palpable.

The idea is that the kid should provide the ammo so that the parents can play this one-upmanship game.

Generally, the mother’s supervise their child’s study schedule, and it is normal for the child to be busy for 14–16 hours per day.

In China, class school grades are public; everyone knows how each other student is doing. Sometimes, a good student will volunteer to help a student who is flagging, so this is not entirely a bad thing. The worst thing to be is to be so slow that one pulls the average for the whole class down when compared to other classes.

This intense competition is mostly absent in the west, which is why many Chinese parents want to send their children to school in the west. They think it is easier for their children, because they think that western children are slow and easy-going compared to Chinese children.

The great irony is that even when they move to the west, Chinese mothers push their children just as hard as when they were going to school in China. The Chinese bring that intensity and pressure with them wherever they go.

If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be Chinese anymore.

Would it be possible for Taiwan to declare independence from China? Kind of like how the USA declared independence from Great Britain?

It is not possible. Whether it is by UN law or by the constitution of both China & Taiwan.

In the US civil war, the then US president Abraham Lincoln told the rebellious South that:

I am elected president of USA. My duty is to protect the integrity of USA. You cannot say I invade you.

Back to China-Taiwan

There was a civil war in China (called ROChina at the time). The then ruling party KMT was defeated by CPC in 1949. KMT fled to Taiwan while CPC stayed on mainland. CPC renamed ROChina to PRChina, like Qing was renamed to ROC in 1911 (5000 years’ of Chinese tradition).

In theory, the civil war has not finished as of 2024 because China has not reunified yet.

Internationally, between 1949 & 1971, both ROChina & PRChina exist. In 1971, however, UN resolution 2758 announced …

1, There is only ONE China & PRChina is the only legitimate government that represents China.

That is, ROChina ceases to exist on world stage. Only a handful tiny tiny countries still recognised ROC.

Taiwan is part of China. Ref: US doc 203 & the 1978 USA-China joint communique by former US president J Carter.

2, To make it crystal clear, on 2024/5/23, UN told the world “Taiwan is a PROVINCE of China.”

By UN charter, China has a duty to protect the integrity of Chinese territory that incl Taiwan province.

Internally, both constitution of China & Taiwan say:

China territory = mainland + Taiwan + some islands & reefs around China.

Why Taiwan dares not call for referendum? Because referendum involves mainland too.

Militarily Taiwan cannot fight China.

That is, Taiwan can NEVER be independent. Though opportunistic politicians must shout independence so as to get tons of foreign funding (corruption), before Taiwan is discarded by USA like a used condom. Remember USA discarded ROChina in 1971.

conclusion

Whether it is UN resolution or Chinese-Taiwanese constitutions, China has a duty to protect the integrity of China. Like former US president A Lincoln protecting the integrity of USA in the US civil war.

China is NOT invading or attacking Taiwan. Just to suppress Taiwan rebellion, like Lincoln suppressing the South.

China will reunify with Taiwan one way or another. It is the duty of China for the sake of Chinese nation, culture & history.

China’s 1st option is peaceful unification. If necessary, China is not afraid to use military.

Illustrations

Cheese Garden Lasagna

The fresh taste of summer laden with your favorite cheeses!

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1/4 cup (2 ounces) butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup each asparagus, zucchini, green onions, yellow squash and red pepper, diced
6 ounces portobello mushrooms, chopped
2 cups Roma tomatoes, diced
2 cups baby spinach leaves, diced
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cups (15 ounces) Wisconsin Ricotta Cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin Parmesan Cheese, grated, divided use
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper
12 no-cook lasagna noodles
2 cups (8 ounces) Wisconsin Mozzarella Cheese, shredded, divided use
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin Smoked Provolone Cheese, shredded, divided use

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter the bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan.
Melt 1/4 cup butter in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add asparagus, zucchini, onions, squash, red pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach; sauté stirring frequently, 4 to 5 minutes.
Stir in basil, oregano and vinegar; set aside.
In bowl, stir together ricotta, 1/2 cup Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper; set aside.
Place layer of noodles (4 noodles) on bottom of prepared pan. Spread 1/2 ricotta mixture over noodles, top with 1/3 vegetable mixture, 3/4 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup provolone.
Repeat with noodles, remaining ricotta mixture, 1/3 vegetable mixture, 3/4 cup mozzarella and remaining provolone. Top with noodles, remaining vegetable mixture, mozzarella and Parmesan.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes.
Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes; serve.

Why do husbands leave after 20+ years of marriage?

After my first wife divorced me – 6 years – I did a lot of soul searching and reading – and realized I was looking for too much from her and giving too little – As well as not even thinking about things like children, lifestyle, etc – For example, she never wanted children – and I did.

I spent many years making sure I knew what I wanted, making sure I knew what my potential new wife wanted, and committing to support her no matter how things went.

I followed through – no matter what demands of my job and career, family was my first priority – when my new wife became pregnant, I went to every medical appointment with her, listened to thr doctors, made myself aware of the risks (she had a mental illness and physical issues), and took on all tasks – When my son was born with a cardiac defect, I took on the responsibility of helping him and my wife – but, despite my taking time for my family, my career still rocketed up beyond my highest expectations.

When my wife, after our second child, became incapable of working a regular job and incapable of taking care of our children, I hired people to take care of them – and took much time off work still to take her to specialists to treat her condition.

Later when a car accident resulted in 10 years of constant pain, I both took her to every single person she wanted for her back and got up ever 3 hours every night to get her an ice pack from thr freezer – As well as taking our children to places and friend’s houses.

Then I used an entire 401k to help her establish her own business. Which she failed because she did nothing after the first few months.

Yet she never heard one complaint from me – only support.

After 20 years of marriage, she “figured out” that I had held her back – since all of her fellow Kellogg Business School graduates were multi-millionaires while we frequently faced near bankruptcy.

She convinced her friend that I had been physically abisung her for years (after I stepped in to stop her from yelling at and hitting our straight A daughter), and forced me to move out or face arrest due to false testimony for her and her friend – who made clear to me that she was willing to lie to the police.

After trying and failing to negotiate an amicable Separation or Divorce – While she interferred with my legal access to my own children plus Vo third to Siena money at a rate that would lead to bankruptcy within 3 months, I finally filed for divorce – thus allowing me legal access to my children and legally limiting her access to my income.

After talking to other men and observing things in divorce court, I conclude that this occurs very frequently – Women deciding that they are “entitled” to certain things and blaming their lack of wealth, etc on their husbands – rather than simply working with him to get what they want.

As always happens – the lawyers got most of the money and the settlement was almost to the dollar what I had proposed months before the divorce filing – minus 3 years of legal fees.

Karma was that she was so bad with our children that her neighbors called the police a total of 16 times in 4 months – leading to her losing all legal access to our children.

My children went from the perception of 2 loving parents to the knowledge that their Mothet did not give a damn about them – only herself and her “needs”.

I met many divorced women whose husbands did this same sort of shit – putting their “needs” above everyone else – this is not a “men-women” thing – this is about people unwilling or unable to grow up and take on adult responsibility.

Compilation: The Moon is Weird – No, really. The Moon does not make sense

Here’s a fun video.

Zip and it’s gone

Today, I want to talk about a class action suite that I was involved in.

Back in the 1990’s, there was this interim storage method for computers. It lay somewhere between the early floppy discs and the record-able CD ROMS that became all the fad at the turn of the century.

This was a “ZIP disc”. Which was a high capacity (for the time) floppy disc storage system. And a bought a few systems to store content on my various computer system setups.

Now, the thing was that the company was offering a rebate, and a discount. So everyone was buying the things.

They cost something like $100, but if you buy it, you can apply for the $50 rebate after three months of use. The numbers are approximate, but it was something like that.

Now, it was a big scam.

Oh, the system worked all right. It’s just that the company had no intention on giving anyone the rebates and the bonus prizes and rewards. And millions of people were upset. As was I.

I think they owed me around $250 all told for all my system components. This was big dollars back in the day.

We all gave up. After month after month of sending in the UPC codes off the boxes, xerox of the receipts, and credit card bills they were never enough. We were all just on this endless hamster wheel cage with no way off.

Anyways, imagine my surprise when a class-action suite was made against the company and all of us on the aggrieved listing were ordered to get our money due to us.

Boy. I was so happy about that!

$40 million dollars.

Certainly, I will finally get my money back.

But when my check came in… after all, I was expecting $250. The amount given to me was an entire $1.21. Yup. The award, minus the attorney fees, and divided by the number of aggrieved customers.

Sheech!

This is the American system in a nutshell.

Today…

What actually happens when an empire falls?

Usually madness. Utter, self-inflicted madness.

The kind that comes from getting too big for your britches, believing your own hype, and forgetting what made you great in the first place.

That’s the first symptom of an empire on the decline.

It’s like watching a star athlete lose their edge, thinking they don’t need to train as hard or that they’re above the rules.

The result?

A spectacular fall from grace.

Empires aren’t built on luck or divine right. They’re forged through grit, innovation, and a clear understanding of their purpose.

But as they grow, the rot sets in.

The elites become complacent, fattened on luxury and power, losing touch with the common folk who sustain them.

The bureaucracy swells into a monstrous, inefficient beast, choking on its own red tape.

Corruption becomes the norm, as officials line their pockets at the expense of the state.

The first cracks appear at the edges, where the empire’s reach exceeds its grasp. Rebellions flare up, fueled by resentment and neglect.

The military, once a lean, mean fighting machine, grows bloated and sluggish, more interested in protecting its own privileges than defending the realm.

The economy stagnates, strangled by overregulation and cronyism. The whole edifice starts to creak and groan under the weight of its own decadence.

And when the final blow comes, it’s often not from some mighty external foe, but from within.

A palace coup, a popular uprising, a cascade of defections – it doesn’t matter.

This is the nature of all Empires.

It's not a matter of if it will fall, but when, the seeds of its destruction are already sown within its own heart.

What is the best decision you ever made that made your life better?

Experience 1:

I was at my office desk and it was around 1 p.m. which means lunch time. I was already so hungry I could eat a human. But I didn’t want to eat alone. So I went to invite a co-worker to join me.

“Okay. Give me 20 minutes; I’m finishing up my work.” he said.

I can wait for 20 minutes. No big deal.

Twenty minutes later… He’s still typing on his computer.

“Hold on. Gimme another ten minutes. I’ll call Adam (his friend from other department) to join us.”

He called Adam who agreed to have lunch together, then continued his work.

Ten mins later (so that’s already half an hour)…

“I don’t think I can join you. I have to finish this work. Please go first. I think Adam is already waiting at the cafe. If I manage to finish my work in the next ten mins, I’ll join you guys,” he said.

Experience 2:

The weather was good. Blue sky, windy. I was in the mood for running. I wanted to go out and sweat. I skipped exercising for three weeks due to workload and when the weekends came, I was occupied with other stuff. Either that, or terrible weather. There were always excuses. But that day I had no excuse. I was thrilled to go out.

It was 4.30 p.m. I rang my neighbour who’s also a runner.

“Bro, the weather is so good today. Let’s run,” I said.

“It is. But can we go at 6 p.m.? I have something to do right now.”

One and a half hour is nothing. I can wait. No big deal.

6 p.m. The weather changed from good to bad. It was suddenly raining. So we cancelled our plan. If I just walked out of the house at 4.30 p.m., I would probably be sweating and came home at 6 p.m.

These two and dozens of similar experiences led me to a decision.

Don’t wait for others. You want to eat? Go. You want to run? Go. You want to watch movie? Just go. You want to travel? Go.

For all the things you can do alone, just go. Wait for nobody.

Pasta Neapolitan

k 2023 05 napolitan spaghetti napolitan spaghetti 023 1

Ingredients

1 pound dried angel hair pasta
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 cup grated parmesan cheese, preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano (divided)
5 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced, or to taste
Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
2 cups fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, finely minced (about 1 cup chopped)
Sea salt or kosher salt

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a vigorous, rolling boil. Cook pasta until al dente.
Drain well and put into a warm serving dish with the soft butter in it; toss pasta until coated, then add most of the cheese and gently toss again. Keep warm in oven.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes and cook just until the garlic turns light brown; pull pan off the heat. (Do not rush by cooking at a higher heat; this will burn the garlic and cause it to taste bitter.)
Add the minced parsley and a generous pinch of salt and mix with a spoon until it resembles the texture of pesto.
Immediately pour over the warm pasta and toss well to distribute the sauce evenly.
Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and serve.

Do women really cheat more than men?

It is often said, and in my experience this is true, that women cheat out of desires of the heart and men cheat out of desires of the body. I have cheated on my ex-wife. I am not proud of it, nor will I make excuses for it. The reasons were strictly physical. She, herself, cheated on me as well — initially just having “emotional affairs” online. This changed when she fell in love with someone, and physically cheated on me as well. At which point, the marriage came to an end.

For me, cheating was strictly a physical thing… younger-me believed variety is the spice of life and just wanted to “get it on”. For her, it was a matter of love — she still loved me, but in some ways she found me lacking as a husband. My lack of ambition. My lack of “drive” to make something of myself. The ease with which I accepted life as it comes, and how little I needed to be fulfilled. Whereas to her, the sky was the limit and she wanted it all. She wanted wealth. She wanted a bigger house, more trips and travels, better food, more savings for the future. She wanted so much, and me, I was okay with what we had. So she sought out someone who she did feel compatible with. Who wanted the things she wanted, too. Someone ambitious. More wealthy.

And she left me, for that person. And this seems to be somewhat of a recurring theme, when it comes to men cheating versus women cheating. All I wanted was just to get laid with other girls… whereas my ex, she wanted a more suitable partner. I find that men are more likely to want to cheat as a one-off thing, a fling, an affair without love being involved. Lust over love. With women, love over lust. When she’s gone, she’s gone for good.

Biker Gets Into Terrible Accident, Loses Leg…And His Wife NEVER Leaves Him Or His Side

Is it true that most of Singaporean Chinese treat and consider the Singaporean Malay Muslims as inferior or second class citizens?

You are mistaken guys! Your question is rather unfair to Chinese Singaporeans.

I was in my father-in-law’s watch shop in a fashionable street in Malacca, Malaysia in 2006-2007. A couple of well-dressed Malay man in his 30 walked in with a gorgeous looking Malay girl.

My wife, a Malaysian , gestured to his father to serve them as they were vying on a Swiss watch for quite sometime.

Guess what? My father-in-law, after a glance for 3 seconds at them he continued doing his thing.

When they left, he mumbled in Hokkien to allow me to understand. “Malay people, won’t buy, dress nice-nice, got 2 Ringgit in the pocket”

My wife looked at me and smiled, then rolled her eyes.

Years have passed, I was again in Malacca in one evening, I was so thrilled to see a “Malay trade fair” when we drove by.

My niece-in-law was a chauffeur, she has grown to be a big girl now she knew what I was up to, so, she said “**Uncle, they will look at you as a freak —if you are not like a Malay, we Chinese, don’t usually go, they are kings here. Let them enjoy.”**

My wife looked at me she smiled, then rolled her eyes—reminded me of what she did 17 years ago.

What is your question, again?

It’s rather unfair for Malay people to be kings in both countries—Malaysia and Singapore…The Malay knows this pretty well, don’t they?

Why should the world unite with the United States to stop China, considering that the United states is worse than China?

The world shouldn’t, and doesn’t, unite with America against China.

America is a genuine global menace. Endless wars. Endless deaths. Endless destruction.

Endless sanctions.

Endless political interference and violation of national sovereignty.

America is an imperialist. It suppresses the Global South from developing. It exploits the Global South for their natural resources.

China is helping the Global South develop through the Belt and Road Initiative.

China is the largest trading partner to over 120 countries.

China has fought no wars since 1979.

The Global South represents 88% of humanity. It is behind China, not America. That’s what BRICS and SCO are about.

America and its allies represent a meager 12% of humanity. They don’t matter.

What is the worst thing you saw on the internet today?

I used to watch this much-memed about reality shaw called Pawn Stars. It’s about a family, father, grandfather and grandson who run a pawn shop together and buy rare items from people for a quick buck. It’s a funny show, a lot of jokes have been made about the whole “best I can do is [insert price]”.

main qimg 619c854a4c6366f75741afe03afd9b2b

Yesterday, Adam Harrison, son of Rick Harrison — the bald guy in all the Pawn Stars memes — passed away at age 39. He had a fatal overdose. TMZ reported on his death almost immediately, as they had heard it through some third party close to Harrison. They didn’t bother to check with the family first before posting. The family then reached out to TMZ and requested privacy in these dark times. They were upset because, get this… they didn’t KNOW their loved one had died, yet!

TMZ found out the troubled relative of a famous reality TV show died. They published his death immediately, and the family had to find out through the internet that their son, father, brother and uncle had passed away. How sick is that?

Didn’t Expect this in CHINA?! 🇨🇳 INSANE MALL TOUR in Chengdu Sichuan

Slowly… Then All At Once!

Authored by James Howard Kusntler via Kunstler.com,

“Biden has been jabbed at least four times. This is his third covid diagnosis. The shots are working great.”

– Jeff Childers, Coffee & Covid

There was a lot of talk about divine intervention at the Republican Convention this week. The country has witnessed a rush of seemingly providential events since the fateful night of June 27th when, to universal horror, “Joe Biden” was unmasked as The Phantom of the White House. The attempt on Donald Trump’s life Saturday, with its intimations of blob involvement, was only the latest of countless trips, hoaxes, capers, and ops that smacked of demonic inspiration laid on the public, so you can’t blame them for feeling that “God is among us now.”

A huge piece of this dynamic has been the Right’s amazing impotence in the eight-year-long march of insults to the republic – especially the failure to find relief for any of that in the courts of law, until last month when the SCOTUS finally kneecapped Democratic Party lawfare operations. A paramount example of that impotence was being unable to find one jurisdiction willing to adjudicate election fraud in 2020 on the merit of the arguments.

But there was much more, starting with collective helplessness in the drawn-out RussiaGate psychodrama, even when all the players and their many nefarious acts were exposed by the alt news media, and extending to the mendacious roguery of the two-year Mueller (Weissmann) Commission, followed by fifty-one former intel higher-ups labeling Hunter Biden’s laptop “Russian disinformation, followed by Rep. Adam Schiff’s Ukraine “whistleblower” prank featuring CIA/NSC/DOD/DOJ moles Eric Ciaramella, Colonel Vindman and IC Inspector General Michael Atkinson, and then the FBI-instigated J-6 riot with the ensuing faked-up House J-6 committee . . . plus you can throw in the stupid Ukraine war, the drag queens in the kindergartens, the bumbling Durham investigation, ten million unvetted illegal migrants flowing into the country and this year’s four show-trials put on to finally break Mr. Trump.

For many in this land, it has been like the classic nightmare of being paralyzed in the presence of evil. So, it’s no wonder that the Republicans came into their convention with a tremendous tailwind of relief when events suddenly broke their way in June. Now, everyone knows that the current president is a vindictive invalid who will be tossed overboard by his own terrified party in a matter of hours now. And the entire scaffold of lies supporting “Joe Biden” and his party is wobbling badly, too.

You could see it in the deranged terror of Rachel Maddow’s increasingly contorted face last night as she rehearsed all the hoaxes she has helped to perpetrate, along with her mentally-ill posse of Jenn Psaki, Joy Reid, Nicole Wallace, and the strangely mute white male Ari Melber. It seemed that any minute Rachel’s head would spin and start spewing pea soup at the camera. When will an exorcist finally pay a visit to MSNBC?

As the sun sets on “Joe Biden’s” career, what’s left of his campaign runs an ad in which he promises “to finish the job.”

Sounds kind of sinister now, doesn’t it, like something a crime boss might tell his caporegimes? And for sure the country is suffering from this three-year-plus reign-of-terror against common sense and common decency.

The wreckage is everywhere, all over this land. “Defending our Democracy,” my ass.

The party big dawgs have paid their terminal visit to the old grifter bringing the sad news that it’s over. Of course, this excites several new headaches for them. Foremost: how can “JB” bow out of the election on account of mental infirmity but still remain president? Even if they call it something else, make some other excuse, the whole world knows now that the president is gone in the head. There are six months remaining to the end of his term and a lot of urgent issues requiring a president’s attention. You can be sure that pressure will rise to shove him out of office altogether. And it may come before the Democratic Convention in late August — if we want to be taken seriously by the rest of the world.

Of course, that would elevate Kamala to the White House. Would getting to be the first female president of-color for six months be her consolation prize for graciously declining an automatic nomination to run in “JB’s” place, so that the party can stage an “open convention” free-for-all? Or would she better serve the party as a sacrificial goat to head the ticket and get buried in what’s shaping up to be an election landslide for the Republicans? Anyway, which of the various replacement politicians — Newsom, Whitmer, Pritzker, PA Gov. Shapiro —really wants to squander a political future in an election that’s as much a vote against the Democratic Party itself as any particular figure in it? Let the party go down so it can be purged of Green Woke Satanic mentally-ill communists and reorganized on a sane and decent basis.

But then there’s always HRC.

She’s been laying back alertly, waiting for an opening to swoop in on her leathery wings and cast a fresh spell over the batshit-crazy women who, in recent times, comprise the party’s base.

At one point, not many years ago, the party was broke and had to be bailed-out by the Clinton Foundation. To what extent does that entity still own the DNC, and especially its cargo of super-delegates? I guess we’re going to find out.

Joe Biden Delivers WORST 80 Seconds in Presidential History EVER…

Are inmates allowed to spend the entire day sleeping?

In the Iowa State Penitentiary they were one-man cells and I’m glad. I like my privacy and its many other conveniences.

We didn’t have to work but to choose that meant you left your cell only to shower, or to eat and you lose your library privilege too.

I also did time in the Federal penitentiary in Lompoc California and those were 1-man rooms … not true cells. The doors were solid with a 6×12 glass window in the door and the bathroom was completely private.

Their “hole” was a unique form of punishment, and I should know: I’ve done time in juvenile homes (8 times), reform school (where I spent 11 months of my two year experience in the hole): military stockades (2 different ones), several jails, and two penitentiaries.)

Lompoc’s hole was unique in that it was designed as an experiment. A psychological experiment in sensory deprivation. No sound. No light. No contact with another person. Just two weeks in complete and utter darkness and silence. It was a room in a room, which allowed the staff to come and go without letting any light in the cell area and not make any noise either. Food was brought once a day, (a half loaf of bread and half a head of lettuce) and the inmate had no way of knowing it was there or not except by going to the door and feeling around, for they slid it under the door through a swinging panel.

Many developed permanent psychological problems from their 2 week experience, for it becomes very difficult to hold your grasp on reality when there isn’t any frame of reference to ‘hang your hat on’.

I hallucinated a lot and even created two fellow cellmates to chat with! When they disappeared soon after I met them, I was devastated. This all took place between the years of 1956–1958 and I suffer now from claustrophobia as a result of that experience.

Ain’t life a blast!

Have you ever witnessed anyone throw away their life?

A rather friendly man talked to me at a party, back when I was a teenager. It was the birthday of his nephew, who was my younger brother’s friend. All the kids in attendance were rather young, and I was happy to talk to someone a bit older, someone who seemed interesting. He was a photographer, and he took photos of everyone in the garden, and around the house.

The man traveled the world. Experienced a lot of things. He seemed full of life, animated, energetic, moving around rapidly. Although he must have been in his forties at the time, he seemed to me the absolute picture of great health. Now this was in the summer, somewhere around 2006 or 2007, I believe. We had a little talk about a trip he was going on, to Russia. How excited he was about it. The party ended rather early, as children’s parties often do. And I went home with my family. But before we parted ways, the man did take a photo of me, and he gave it to me. It was with one of those instant-photo polaroid things… it’s a fond memory, now, because when you’re young, any adult who takes you seriously and talks to you as an equal is often a fond memory.

“Oh hey, Jean-Marie, do you remember the uncle of your brothers friend, the photographer?” my mother asked me a month later. I said I did. “He died yesterday,” she said, “terrible shame. Alcoholism.” Turns out the man I met was dying of a drinking problem. I had no clue. He never went on his big trip. I still have the polaroid, somewhere.

Beavis & Butt-Head Do America – 1950’s Super Panavision 70

China’s EW warfare shocks US

from Asia Times

China’s cutting-edge electronic warfare (EW) capabilities are transforming the balance of power in the South China Sea, as shown by a recent encounter between US and Chinese forces.

This month, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on China’s enhanced EW capabilities by shedding light on a December 2023 incident between a US EA-18 Growler carrier-based EW aircraft and China’s Type 055 cruiser Nanchang in the contested South China Sea.

SCMP says that in December 2023, the US Navy dismissed William Coulter, commander of US Electronic Attack Squadron 136 (VAQ-136), stationed on the USS Carl Vinson, citing a loss of confidence in his ability to command.

The report says that a month later, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recognized the Nanchang’s crew for their actions against a US carrier fleet. It also notes that Chinese media highlighted an encounter involving an EA-18G, believed to be from Coulter’s squadron, and the Nanchang cruiser.

The report mentions that PLA scientists recently disclosed in a Radar & ECM journal article that AI-enhanced radar gave the Nanchang an advantage over the EA-18G’s jamming capabilities.

It claims that the EA-18G, manufactured by Boeing, has been upgraded since 2021 for future warfare but faces new challenges from the PLA–Navy’s (PLA-N) integrated radar systems and communication strategies.

SCMP notes that these advancements allow PLA-N warships to form a “kill web” to counter the EA-18G’s attacks. It also says that the Nanchang’s reported proactive tactics and successful engagement with US forces illustrate a shift in the PLA-N’s EW approach.

Much-improved Chinese EW capabilities developed after then-US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s controversial August 2022 visit to Taiwan may have enabled a feat.

SCMP noted that the PLA failed to track and surveil the US Air Force transport plane carrying Pelosi during her visit despite deploying Type 055 cruisers and J-16D EW aircraft. The source says that almost all of the PLA’s EW equipment failed to function because of electronic interference from Pelosi’s escorting aircraft force.

On Pelosi’s aircraft escort, John Tkacik says in an August 2022 article for Taipei Times that it could have been a massive force of US F-15s that flew out of Kadena Air Force Base in Japan supported by the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group and the USS Tripoli with embarked F-35s stationed in the Philippine Sea.

From that experience, China may have improved its EW capabilities quickly by investing in new technologies and placing them in a more extensive kill web consisting of kinetic and non-kinetic elements.

SCMP reported in February 2024 that Chinese scientists have invented a new class of EW equipment that can reportedly rapidly detect, decode and suppress enemy signals.

The new system, SCMP says, allows the PLA to seamlessly monitor signals into the gigahertz zone, encompassing frequencies used by amateur radio and even Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites.

It notes that the equipment includes innovative signal processing chips and AI integration, enhancing China’s ability to counter enemy jamming and maintain communication flow.

Furthermore, SCMP claims that in encounters with US Navy ships with EW activity, China has used electromagnetic-emitting equipment, including high-power phased array radars, to lock on to multiple targets including US carrier-based aircraft.

Aside from developing new tech, China may already have elevated EW into a strategic capability, integrating it into its multi-domain operations alongside other kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities in a complex kill web.

In a May 2023 article for the Mitchell Institute, Heather Penney describes a kill web as multiple, interconnected nodes that offer redundant paths for executing military operations, increasing the quantity and resilience of potential kill chains. A kill chain is the process required to identify and eliminate specific targets.

Penney says that unlike linear kill chains, which are easier to target and disrupt, kill webs provide a more adaptable and less predictable system, making it harder for adversaries to defeat.

Asia Times noted in April 2024 that the rebranding of China’s PLA Strategic Support Force (PLA-SSF) into the PLA-Information Support Force (PLA-ISF) highlights China’s strategic shift towards technology-driven “intelligentized warfare.”

The PLA-ISF is designed to integrate emerging AI, quantum and other technologies into China’s multi-domain operational strategy against potential adversaries like the US and its allies. The rebranding reflects an evolution in Chinese military thought, transitioning from “informationized wars” to “intelligentized warfare” that includes EW, cyber operations and signals intelligence (SIGINT).

EW is also a key component of China’s Multi-Domain Precision Warfare (MDPW) concept, which leverages AI and big data to identify and exploit weaknesses in US operational systems.

China’s MDPW seeks to dismantle and destroy US kill chains by targeting critical information nodes such as aircraft and satellites through physical attacks and targeting information networks by using EW and cyberattacks.

While the US arguably still has the edge in EW, near-peer adversaries like China and Russia may be closing the gap.

A November 2022 US Congressional Research Service (CRS) defense primer says that the National Defense Strategy Commission mentioned that the US is losing its EW edge, hindering its capability to conduct operations against capable adversaries.

Army Technology reported in May 2024 that the US spent US$5 billion on EW capabilities in 2024, accounting for 45% of global EW spending from 2021-2023, compared to just 14% by Russia and 13% by China.

However, Army Technology says that the US’ dominant position in the EW market is being challenged, as Russia, China and India’s share is projected to increase by the next decade.

The report notes that over the past two decades, Russia has exploited alleged US complacency in EW strategies, which have focused on counterinsurgency versus non-state actors.

It notes that in Ukraine, Russia has used EW to disrupt adversary battlefield networks, support conventional assault forces through SIGINT and jamming attacks, and secure captured territory against counterattacks.

The source also mentions that Russia has used EW to disrupt regional civilian services such as GPS and telecoms.

Likewise, Army Technology mentions that China has mirrored Russia’s use of EW and has equated information dominance with electromagnetic dominance. It says that in addition to shipborne EW equipment, China has installed such equipment and more in its occupied features in the South China Sea.

In line with that, Matthew Funaiole and other writers highlight in a December 2021 CSIS article the expansion of China’s facilities on Hainan Island, Subi Reef, and Fiery Cross Reef, which now includes satellite tracking, communication platforms, and systems potentially used in EW and SIGINT.

Funaiole and others note that these developments aim to bolster the PLA’s ability to operate in contested electronic and cyber environments.

What is the impact of corruption on the economy of a country like China, where it is prevalent at all levels?

In China, the Scope of corruption is very limited these days

What do you use your illegal wealth for?

You can’t buy Land in China because the State owns the land, so you can buy a lease and if you do, you get caught in seconds

You can’t ask payment for your kid to be educated abroad because every official has to give source of funds for his kids tuition

You cant put money into an offshore account because as officials you need Exit Visas and it’s possible you may never be able to use your money

You can’t bury Cash in your mattress because Cash is rarer and rarer nowadays

There is only one way of Corruption that every booked official in China uses

Pre dated Investments!!!!

Buying Gold today and getting a 10 year old bill of sale for that gold and claiming to sell the same today and pocketing the proceeds of sale

For instance claiming you purchased Gold for 100,000 RMB in 2014 and now claiming to sell the same gold for 207,000 RMB and pocketing 107,000 RMB legitimately

Or Pre Dated Real Estate Investments into companies

The problem is that such officials get caught regularly because they didn’t declare this purchase of gold in 2014 in their Assets and Liabilities statement and so find it tough to explain

So Corruption is getting harder and harder and many officials get caught quite easily

Someone Shorted Trump’s Stock Just Before The Assassination Attempt!

Here’s how it works. [1] Victoria Neuland announces about “something will be a surprise”, and then [2] people short stocks for personal profit. This is not the first time this system went into play.

The Ascendance Of Sociopaths In US Governance

Authored by Doug Casey via InternationalMan.com,

An International Man lives and does business wherever he finds conditions most advantageous, regardless of arbitrary borders. He’s diversified globally, with passports from multiple countries, assets in several jurisdictions, and his residence in yet another. He doesn’t depend absolutely on any country and regards all of them as competitors for his capital and expertise.

Living as an international man has always been an interesting possibility. But few Americans opted for it, since the U.S. used to reward those who settled in and put down roots. In fact, it rewarded them better than any other country in the world, so there was no pressing reason to become an international man.

Things change, however, and being rooted like a plant – at least if you have a choice – is a suboptimal strategy if you wish to not only survive, but prosper. Throughout history, almost every place has at some point become dangerous for those who were stuck there. It may be America’s turn.

For those who can take up the life of an international man, it’s no longer just an interesting lifestyle decision. It has become, at a minimum, an asset saver, and it could be a lifesaver. That said, I understand the hesitation you may feel about taking action; pulling up one’s roots (or at least grafting some of them to a new location) can be almost as traumatic to a man as to a vegetable.

As any intelligent observer surveys the world’s economic and political landscape, he has to be disturbed – even dismayed and a bit frightened – by the gravity and number of problems that mark the horizon. We’re confronted by economic depression, looming financial chaos, serious currency inflation, onerous taxation, crippling regulation, a developing police state, and, worst of all, the prospect of a major war. It seems almost unbelievable that all these things could affect the U.S., which historically has been the land of the free.

How did we get here? An argument can be made that things went bad because of miscalculation, accident, inattention, and the like. Those elements have had a role, but it is minor. Potential catastrophe across the board can’t be the result of happenstance. When things go wrong on a grand scale, it’s not just bad luck or inadvertence. It’s because of serious character flaws in one or many – or even all – of the players.

So is there a root cause of all the problems I’ve cited?

If we can find it, it may tell us how we personally can best respond to the problems.

In this article, I’m going to argue that the U.S. government, in particular, has been overrun by the wrong kind of person.

It’s a trend that’s been in motion for many years but has now reached a point of no return. In other words, a type of moral rot has become so prevalent that it’s institutional in nature. There is not going to be, therefore, any serious change in the direction in which the U.S. is headed until a genuine crisis topples the existing order. Until then, the trend will accelerate.

The reason is that a certain class of people – sociopaths – are now fully in control of major American institutions.

Their beliefs and attitudes are insinuated throughout the economic, political, intellectual, and psychological/spiritual fabric of the U.S.

What does this mean to you, as an individual? It depends on your character.

Are you the kind of person who supports “my country, right or wrong,” as did most Germans in the 1930s and 1940s? Or the kind who dodges the duty to be a helpmate to murderers? The type of passenger who goes down with the ship? Or the type who puts on his vest and looks for a lifeboat? The type of individual who supports the merchants who offer the fairest deal? Or the type who is gulled by splashy TV commercials?

What the ascendancy of sociopaths means isn’t an academic question. Throughout history, the question has been a matter of life and death. That’s one reason America grew; every American (or any ex-colonial) has forebears who confronted the issue and decided to uproot themselves to go somewhere with better prospects. The losers were those who delayed thinking about the question until the last minute.

I have often described myself, and those I prefer to associate with, as gamma rats. You may recall the ethologist’s characterization of the social interaction of rats as being between a few alpha rats and many beta rats, the alpha rats being dominant and the beta rats submissive. In addition, a small percentage are gamma rats that stake out prime territory and mates, like the alphas, but are not interested in dominating the betas. The people most inclined to leave for the wide world outside and seek fortune elsewhere are typically gamma personalities.

You may be thinking that what happened in places like Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Mao’s China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, and scores of other countries in recent history could not, for some reason, happen in the U.S. Actually, there’s no reason it won’t at this point. All the institutions that made America exceptional – including a belief in capitalism, individualism, self-reliance, and the restraints of the Constitution – are now only historical artifacts.

On the other hand, the distribution of sociopaths is completely uniform across both space and time.

Per capita, there were no more evil people in Stalin’s Russia, Hitler’s Germany, Mao’s China, Amin’s Uganda, Ceausescu’s Romania, or Pol Pot’s Cambodia than there are today in the U.S. All you need is favorable conditions for them to bloom, much as mushrooms do after a rainstorm.

Conditions for them in the U.S. are becoming quite favorable. Have you ever wondered where the 50,000 people employed by the TSA to inspect and degrade you came from? Most of them are middle-aged. Did they have jobs before they started doing something that any normal person would consider demeaning? Most did, but they were attracted to – not repelled by – a job where they wear a costume and abuse their fellow citizens all day.

Few of them can imagine that they’re shepherding in a police state as they play their roles in security theater. (A reinforced door on the pilots’ cabin is probably all that’s actually needed, although the most effective solution would be to hold each airline responsible for its own security and for the harm done if it fails to protect passengers and third parties.) But the 50,000 newly employed are exactly the same type of people who joined the Gestapo – eager to help in the project of controlling everyone. Nobody was drafted into the Gestapo.

What’s going on here is an instance of Pareto’s Law. That’s the 80-20 rule that tells us, for example, that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your salesmen or that 20% of the population are responsible for 80% of the crime.

As I see it, 80% of people are basically decent; their basic instincts are to live by the Boy Scout virtues. 20% of people, however, are what you might call potential trouble sources, inclined toward doing the wrong thing when the opportunity presents itself. They might now be shoe clerks, mailmen, or waitresses – they seem perfectly benign in normal times. They play baseball on weekends and pet the family dog. However, given the chance, they will sign up for the Gestapo, the Stasi, the KGB, the TSA, Homeland Security, or whatever. Many seem well intentioned, but are likely to favor force as the solution to any problem.

But it doesn’t end there, because 20% of that 20% are really bad actors. They are drawn to government and other positions where they can work their will on other people and, because they’re enthusiastic about government, they rise to leadership positions. They remake the culture of the organizations they run in their own image. Gradually, non-sociopaths can no longer stand being there. They leave. Soon the whole barrel is full of bad apples. That’s what’s happening today in the U.S.

It’s a pity that Bush, when he was in office, made such a big deal of evil. He discredited the concept. He made Boobus americanus think it only existed in a distant axis, in places like North Korea, Iraq and Iran, which were and still are irrelevant backwaters and arbitrarily chosen enemies. Bush trivialized the concept of evil and made it seem banal because he was such a fool. All the while, real evil, very immediate and powerful, was growing right around him, and he lacked the awareness to see he was fertilizing it by turning the U.S. into a national security state after 9/11.

Now, I believe, it’s out of control.

The U.S. is already in a truly major depression and on the edge of financial chaos and a currency meltdown.

The sociopaths in government will react by redoubling the pace toward a police state domestically and starting a major war abroad. To me, this is completely predictable. It’s what sociopaths do.

The Sopranos – Random Tony Soprano Scenes

How has your appearance affected your life?

I’m a short man.

I’m 5″6’, so I’m not a ‘little person” but I am short.

When I was dating, I had many girls tell me they would date me if i were taller. Fast forward and I’ve been married 20 years and have three terrific children.

Taller guys sometimes pat me on the shoulder or otherwise treat me like a child. I’m in my 40s.

Aggressive women have often warned me that ‘they could take me.’ I’ve had drunk guys start fights with the ‘little guy’ in a bar or party. Literally just walk up and start talking trash. I had a personal boxing coach for years and although I was never a contender, I learned to handle myself really well.

When I assert myself, I am told I have a ‘napoleon complex’ – when I don’t, I’m ‘passive aggressive’ or a pushover.

I’ve been passed over for leadership opportunities for taller people, and I’ve actually been told that openly. A CFO told me that people don’t like to work for short men. Height isn’t a protected class and you can be discriminated against for it.

I have a great life. Terrific family, despite being raised in poverty, I have accumulated a decent amount of first generation wealth. I have a great career and i do what I love. I really have no complaints.

But my appearance has affected my life.

Russia hits 4 HIMARS launchers and 35 foreign operators

Can Thai police officers demand to search your backpack while using public transportation in Bangkok? What are the consequences if you refuse?

Conduct a search on the bus or train? Thai police ain’t stupid, guys.

They know pretty well that Thais know best. I would say out loud, “เชิญเลยครับ (Be my guest)!”

Be sure to make a scene so that all eyes will look at you, so, you have a lot of eyewitnesses- say this; “พ่อแม่ พี่น้อง ผมกำลังโดนค้นครับ ขอไทยมุงครับ- เป็นสักขีพยานครับ ว่าผมไม่มี บุหรี่ไฟฟ้า ไม่มียาบ้านะครับ!” (Ladies & Gentlemen, I’m about to be searched, gather around folks, please be my eyewitnesses that I’ve no ‘Vapes’ or’Yaba’”)

Let’s be serious.

Once you consent to a search, there are two scenarios you need to know-ONE**, you are confronting with a pair of phony police officers. If you’re allow them to put their hands into your backpack it will mean, you will be a victim of an extortion-you know what I mean.— You may read from the expert online how to get out from a search by the fake Thai police unscathed.

TWO**: It’s real search from the police, and you can’t say no as your tattooed face & both arms, bearded with moustache wearing ’Boss’ blue T matches a description of ‘gold shop heist robber’ Too bad that you’re in a vicinity of the crime scene nearby.

Be shrewd as a snake but keeping calm like a dove **(I borrow from the Bible)- ask their permission to see their palms and what under/ inside their sleeves. If possible, take a video during a seach with their permission as well ( they will allow)

With a **vape** in your possession could cost you up to 30,000 Baht *fine

**Yaba** in your possession is questionable as penalty of drug trafficking is harsher than possession of drugs… you can’t say that, ‘IT ISN’T MINE’

Thai police will typically insist, **I am the law**

What’s other choice when facing with the Thai police demanding a search?

Guys! In Thailand do as the Thai do.

Just walk away that is what Thais would do when the police want to search the backpack of anyone.

What are the consequences if you refuse?

The worst scenario, if you refuse a search—is going to the police station with them.

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What was your best moment when negotiating a salary?

My company was about 9 months delivering my review. I had a great year and likely generated incremental ebitda of over $5 million. When I finallly got me review I was told I did a great job and I was getting the maximum raise – 5% on top of my $120k salary. I flipped out.

Two weeks later I quit. I knew I had a ton of leverage because:

My company was party to a lawsuit and I was a key witness.
The company was going to be sold soon and I was in a key position.

As expected, they asked me to stay and offered me a small additional raise. I demanded $250k, a 75% bonus, promotion to EVP, stock options, 1 year severance agreement if the fired me (plus bonus), and a year of benefits post employment. Told them I didn’t care either way.

It’s been 5 years. I’m still with the company and have been promoted to president. Timing is everything. If you have leverage use it.

Stranded in Philadelphia. America, what’s happening?

“Vast DEI Bureaucracy” Hurting U.S. Armed Forces; ASU Study Finds

By Cameron Arcand of The College Fix

A new Arizona State University study suggests that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in the United States military are ineffective.

The study done by the university’s Center for American Institutions argued that there is a emphasis on training new soldiers about social issues like “unconscious bias” and “intersectionality” in a way the center says runs contrary to typical American ideals. The study examined DEI plan’s in different sector of the military, including DEI office staffing and education at academies like West Point.

“The massive DEI bureaucracy, its training and its pseudo-scientific assessments are at best distractions that absorb valuable time and resources,” the executive summary states. “At worst they communicate the opposite of the military ethos: e.g. that individual demographic differences come before team and mission.”

Donald Critchlow, director of the center, wrote in the introduction it was focused on looking at the influence of Critical Race Theory in the United States Armed Forces training.

“The Commission on Civic Education in the Military began as a project to review civic education in the military. Our research team did not expect to find Critical Race Theory so embedded and pervasive. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs are found throughout the U.S. Armed Forces and our service academies,” Critchlow wrote. “This year long study documents just how pervasive these training programs are in our Armed Forces and Service Academies and that DEI extends well beyond just formal training programs in the military and service academies.”

“The Founders of our nation understood and feared a politicized military. History had shown them that a politicized army easily became the tool of tyranny. The Armed Forces of the United States has proudly upheld this long tradition of separating mission from politics,” he continued.

In terms of recommendations, the study suggests that DEI offices be completely scrapped, but said it may be politically unlikely for the time being.

“The surest way to eliminate the concerning trends we have identified, and the growth of race and sex-based scapegoating and stereotyping in the U.S. military, is to altogether end the DEI bureaucracy there,” the study states. “However, until such a time as the executive or legislative branches of the government choose to end the DEI bureaucracy in our federal agencies and military, we are left to advocate the pursuit of alternative avenues that may affect positive change despite existing policies.”

They also suggested the military prioritize civic education with a focus on “America’s commitment to freedom and opportunity.”

The study comes as some branches of the military continue to struggle with recruiting new service members.

To all the doctors, have you ever asked a patient to leave your office?

We just had one on Monday. We are a primary care office in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis. Patients stopped coming to our office because they were afraid we were treating COVID-19 patients. Our volume of patients plummeted to about 20% of our normal patient count in late March and early April. We laid off 50% of our staff and switched to Telehealth. Gradually, patients have started coming back in when they could no longer put off going to the doctor. We are seeing about 50% of our patients in the office and another 20% through Telehealth. We have strict protocols for seeing patients now, but tensions are high among the staff. We are bringing back our staff slowly but surely.

One of our patients had been discharged from the hospital last week for non-COVID-19 problems. This 35-year-old woman followed up with her doctor through Telehealth, but needed to be seen in person for her condition and also to fill out FMLA paperwork. She confused her follow-up date and time (after confirming twice with our email and text reminder service), so we rescheduled her to the next day, a Saturday. Again, she arrived at the wrong time and the office was closed. She paged her doctor who was on-call and demanded her paperwork be filled out over the weekend. This doctor offered to come into the office exclusively on Monday to see her and fill out her paperwork as a courtesy. He was only scheduled for Telehealth which he had planned to do at home.

The patient again arrived late and the doctor was busy on Telehealth with his scheduled patients. She offered to come back in an hour when he had a slot to see her. Again, she arrived late. She refused to wear a mask in the office, as is our protocol and mandated by our state — insisting she was a nurse and it’s not necessary and it is a bunch of silliness. She was put in a room and told to wait, as the doctor was in the middle of seeing another patient.

After two minutes, she stormed out of the room causing a scene, demanding to be seen this instant, get her paperwork, and her narcotics Rx filled. Just then, the doctor came down the hall from his office to see her. She started swearing at him and berating him for making her wait. He threw up his hands and let her know he would not be treated that way and she can leave. He escorted her out of the building. He would not fill her prescriptions or do her paperwork. The patient left.

The next day she started pounding on our door when it was locked, yelling and demanding her prescriptions and her paperwork. The doctor ended up giving her two weeks of her medications and two weeks of FMLA and referred her off to her specialist to finish her care. This patient is being discharged from our practice. This patient consistently runs a balance with our office, has multiple missed appointments, and is rude to the staff. There is no need for this behavior — especially at a tense time like this.

Wednesday – 1960’s Super Panavision 70

Why are there still people think that China is poor?

I think this is some kind of conspiracy created by the Chinese

I know many Chinese, especially young Chinese under 40 years old

Usually when the topic of conversation involves “Is China poor or rich”

Although everyone’s eloquence is different and the way of explaining the content is also different. But they all seem to be trying their best to explain the same idea: “China is poor, China is backward”

And when you point to the modern city behind them, their food, clothing, housing and transportation, and their unparalleled modern transportation facilities, and express doubts. Chinese people often lead you into another unified agenda: “It looks good, but we have to consider the per capita data

The common Chinese rhetoric about “China’s poverty” is as follows:

GDP per capita: China’s GDP per capita is only about 13,000 US dollars, compared with more than 60,000 US dollars in the United States, so China is still very poor.

(Deliberately ignoring the difference in purchasing power parity (PPP))

Income per capita: 500 million people in China have an average monthly income of less than 1,000 yuan (140 US dollars)

(The concept of “non-working population” is replaced)

Number of cars per capita: China has 219 cars per thousand people. The United States has about 800 cars per thousand people, and France has more than 600 cars per thousand people

(Deliberately ignoring the difference in stock, China has entered the automobile era for less than 20 years)

High-speed trains: Chinese people can’t buy flight tickets, so they can only take high-speed trains.

(In fact, China’s air tickets are often not more expensive than high-speed trains)

Housing area per capita: China’s per capita housing area is about 40 square meters. The per capita housing area in the United States is about 65 square meters, and the per capita housing area in Germany and France is also above 50 square meters (Deliberately ignoring that China’s home ownership rate is much higher than that of the United States and Europe)

Similar agendas include: China’s military is very weak

Nuclear weapons per capita: ranked last among the five permanent members, only one percent of the United States

Aircraft carriers per capita: lower than Thailand and Brazil, so very weak

Defense budget per capita: only $210 per year, one-tenth of the United States and one-quarter of France

China’s technology is very backward:

Number of space stations per capita, number of supercomputers per capita, number of moon landings per capita, number of Mars explorations per capita, number of GPS satellites per capita, number of scientific papers per capita…

This strange “we are bad” narrative of the Chinese is not just a joke for ordinary people to chat, but a systematic narrative from top to bottom. China’s leaders, regional leaders and various government officials are accustomed to using this narrative.

Even in political speeches praising achievements, they list a series of achievements and never forget to add a paragraph at the end: “But we still have a big gap, the per capita data is only a small part of advanced countries, and we still have a long way to go in development. ”

Someone told me that the strange Chinese attitude of “We are terrible” comes from the inherent traditional culture of “modesty”. But I think it is more than that. Behind their strange narrative, there is actually another meaning: “Please don’t bother us.”

The Little Mermaid – 1950’s Super Panavision 70

The media has finally, once and for all, lost all credibility

by James Hickman via Schiff Sovereign

Obviously the attempted assassination of Donald Trump represents a grim milestone on America’s path of decline, as I wrote about in detail on Monday.

But the legacy media’s response to it may also go down as a major turning point: the moment they finally lost all credibility.

Now, clearly for a long time the media has been full of Inspired Idiots who don’t care about reporting the truth. Instead, they push a narrative they want people to believe about the world and the events which shape it.

For example, CNN famously described 2020 Black Lives Matters riots as “fiery, but mostly peaceful.”

In 2021, when the governor of South Dakota banned biological men from participating in female sports, CNN promptly reported that, “there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth.”

NBC News was caught in 2021 colluding with the Biden administration to downplay the criminal past deeds of Tracy Stone-Manning, who the President had nominated to lead the Bureau of Land Management.

Stone-Manning was an eco-terrorist in her youth who was involved in tree-spiking activities that kill or maim loggers. But NBC News promised to take it easy on her to help push her appointment through.

Also in 2021, however, NBC News (along with just about every other mainstream ‘news’ outlet) hyped unproven allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that went back 30 years.

And when #MeToo protestors stormed the United States Capitol and accosted Senators in an attempt to disrupt and overturn the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, the media did not label these protestors ‘domestic terrorists’, as they did with January 6 protesters.

The media circulated outright lies about the Russia voter manipulation hoax. And the New York Times was even awarded the ‘esteemed’ Pulitzer Prize for its reporting of this thoroughly discredited story.

It’s also notable that, even after the Russia collusion story was proven to be false, the Pulitzer committee REFUSED to rescind the award it had bestowed to the Times. Their logic, apparently, is that quality reporting about blatant lies is still worthy of journalism’s highest honor.

Then, of course, in the weeks before the 2020 election, nearly every legacy news outlet outright refused to report on the laptop of Hunter Biden. The younger Biden’s laptop not only showed deep character flaws, but evidence of significant corruption and foreign influence connected to his father.

And don’t even get me started on how the legacy media reported on COVID, lock-downs, and vaccines.

But now they’ve elevated their lies and propaganda to a whole new level with the way they have portrayed last week’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

These “journalists” witnessed in real time an attempted— and very nearly successful— assassination of a former President, upon which they reported:

“Trump Escorted Away After Loud noises at rally” –The Washington Post

“Secret Service rushes Trump offstage after he falls at rally” –CNN

“Trump says he was shot in the ear at rally” -NPR

OK, let’s be extremely polite and give them the benefit of the doubt; immediately following the assassination attempt there were plenty of unknowns.

But even after the fog of war had been lifted— after it was clearly an attempted assassination— the Washington Post updated its headline to: “Trump safe after being rushed off stage following shooting at rally.”

In another article it said the assassin “shot at Trump,” not “shot Trump.”

Technically, that passes a fact check. But it’s sort of like describing Mount Everest as an elevated piece of land.

And the spin continued the next day.

Reuters ran an article titled, “Republicans, in wake of Trump shooting, seek to pin political violence trend on Democrats.”

This obviously ‘unbiased’ and ‘trustworthy’ news agency couldn’t simply report on the known facts of the attempted assassination. No, instead, their priority was to tell readers that it is the RIGHT, not the LEFT, that is full of violent extremists.

“A Reuters analysis of more than 200 incidents of politically motivated violence between 2021 and 2023, however, presented a different picture: In those years, fatal political violence more often emanated from the American right than from the left.”

Reuters didn’t actually cite a single example of this Right wing violence.

In fact, the only example of violence they did mention was the shooting of Steve Scalise, a Republican member of Congress who was gunned down (but survived) in 2017… by a Left wing extremist.

So… in an attempt to prove its assertion that its readers should fear Right wing violence, Reuters’ only example was an instance of a Left wing extremist shooting a Right wing politician.

Genius!

And these Inspired Idiots in the media still can’t understand why nobody trusts them.

Days after the attempted assassination, the Associated Press noted that the Left and Right now have dueling conspiracy theories about the assassination attempt— that Trump staged it for clout, or that the Secret Service was in on it.

AP lamented, “Americans are increasingly choosing their own reality, at the expense of a shared understanding of the facts.”

Gee, whose fault is that? (Remember, AP published the headline: “Donald Trump has been escorted off the stage by Secret Service during a rally after loud noises ring out in the crowd.”)

The attempted assassination of Trump was a rare event, in that it was broadcast in real time, and everyone could see exactly what happened with their own eyes from multiple angles.

And still the media tried as hard as possible to sell a completely bullshit narrative of the event.

What do you think they do with events that are not so clear, or are not caught on camera from every angle? How trustworthy are those “anonymous sources” they love to cite?

This is why the legacy media is becoming less trusted by the day.

It’s also why, despite Inspired Idiots owning the vast majority of broadcast media, they still haven’t been able to tip the scales decisively in favor of their own little cultural revolution.

Confronted with an event they knew would make their nemesis look strong and unbeatable, they resorted to cartoonish propaganda.

And I hope that proves to be the decisive moment for people to see them for what they are: liars.

Man Runs Away on Date When She Brought Her Friends…

Can people with diplomatic immunity commit crimes in their host nation without repercussions?

Mohamed Rizalman bin Ismail, a Malaysian military attaché, entered one woman’s house and attempted to have sex with her.

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He was promptly arrested by the New Zealand police and charged with attempted burglary and rape. Invoking his diplomatic immunity, Mohamed left New Zealand to his country Malaysia. Following the international furor, Malaysia agreed to send Mohamed back and waive his diplomatic immunity. This case was interesting because NZ and Malaysia don’t have an extradition treaty. Apparently Mohamed “volunteered” to go back to NZ and face the trial. He served 9 months of house arrest.

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Majed Hassan Ashoor, the first secretary at the Saudi Embassy in India beat and raped his Nepali housemaids. When the Police got involved, Diplomat invoking immunity left the country. All was left, a few NGOs protesting against the diplomat.

Accused Saudi diplomat leaves India

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Traffic accidents

These cases happen far more often than beating and rape. An American military attaché was involved in traffic accident. He was reported to be drunk. As a result, the motorcycle driver died. The Pakistani authorities asked Americans to waive his diplomatic immunity so that he can be tried. After refusal, he was not allowed to leave the country. After extensive negotiations and substantial payments to the deceased’s family was the case finally resolved.

US diplomat involved in Islamabad accident departed post ‘settlement’ | The Express Tribune

Another very similar case, a Russian diplomat was involved in fatal traffic accident, in Canada, while drunk. Due to diplomatic immunity, he was allowed back to Russia. Upon arrival, he was charged in Russian court with involuntary manslaughter and jailed for 4 years.

Former Russian diplomat guilty of involuntary manslaughter | CBC News

A new case is developing right now in Turkey. It has been alleged that a Saudi national was killed in the Saudi Consulate. If this is true, we reached new lows in diplomacy.

As you can see, diplomatic immunity can be waived only by the diplomat’s side. The host country, on the other hand, can prohibit the diplomat from leaving the country. It can also make an international incident and make life hell for the remaining diplomats. But in the end it is up to the diplomat’s country if it wants to be viewed as a country that allows its diplomats to commit crimes and get away with it. A matter of national prestige is an important matter to some, not all countries.

Article 29 of the Vienna Convention states: “The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving state shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity.”

The Mask – 1950’s Super Panavision 70 Trailer

What is one thing that shocked you when you attended an Ivy League or a highly prestigious school like Stanford or MIT?

I got my Ph.D. from Stanford, so I was both a student and a teacher there, after attending a mid-level school that gave me a full ride for undergrad. No one in my family had been to a top-tier school, and there were no top-tier schools in the area where I grew up, so I had no idea what to expect. There were two things that shocked me most:

The way that everything is set up to ensure the students succeed. Ins to any internship program you could possibly want. “Lecture series” classes that are really designed to give you weekly networking opportunities. Entrepreneurship competitions that will actually put multiple students in a room with venture capitalists to pitch their business plans. You name it. The campus, the resources, the professors, the programs — all of these things are great at Stanford, but they’re great a lot of other places, too. But where you really see a huge difference is all the extras, where the school provides every opportunity for you to get in touch with people who can make your career. It’s amazing. After I saw this, I would always 100% advise anyone who’s ambitious and academically inclined to shoot for an Ivy.
Interestingly, the undergraduate students are not all super smart. They’re not unintelligent. But they’re not geniuses — not most of them, anyway. I wasn’t blown away, on the whole, by my Stanford students’ intelligence. Mostly, they just worked hard and they knew how to be students. They would communicate well, come to class and to office hours, be proactive about their grade and completing their work effectively. I find that’s the biggest difference between the Stanford kids and the students I’ve taught at the CSU’s and SLAC’s in the area — most of the students at those schools just seem like they never really learned how to be students, so they struggle when they’re easily smart enough to do well in the class. (Of course, most of them also have to work, while it seems like most of the Stanford kids don’t.)

Existence Tax: The Vig Plus 3%

Authored by Tim Hartnett via LewRockwell.com,

In the bad old days, before G-Men took down the mob, were urbanites getting a better deal? Does the betting man receive worse odds from state run lotteries than Vinny gave on the corner running numbers? Did businesses shaken down for “protection” have higher hopes of survival in mob clutches than in municipal ones? Was there more or less anxiety about making rent or the mortgage in 1974 than in 2024? Which is the greater fiscal peril, organized crime or uber-societal-organization? It has become a valid question.

Gangsters had fingers in a lot of pies. Credit card racketeers, waging the present battle against physical currency, demand a slice of everything out of the oven. They’d gladly have us believe that paying for anything, without their supervision and cut, equals a criminally tainted transaction. Mobsters found their pecuniary prevalence legit in its way too. Transactions that jibed with their economic codes they called “kosher.” Other trading activity inside their ambit was deemed transgressive. Parasites tend to sound tiresomely alike. The difference is that the above ground finance industry finds no place outside its ambit.

Street people’s encampments clutter cities all over the country. What pushed so many over the edge? And how many are treading that edge carefully now? We know that insanity is somewhat genetic, but scientific observation has yet to prove external factors can’t nudge innately inclined individuals into psychosis. Facts point that way.

Should we harbor suspicion of so-called improvements in the finance system? The Bush-Obama era housing crisis arrived after the government gradually amped up its influence on the mortgage market. Once mortgages became de-localized and Wall Street joined in default skyrocketed and losses went international. Isn’t the NYSE supposed to make markets safer and more efficient? Have we seen anything like that coming out of financial centralization?

The present squeeze goes on in commercial space. Businesses, particularly restaurants, are shutting down at disturbing rates. The biggest burden is rent. This goes on as city centers are awash in more empty commercial space than ever. Local government isn’t helping. While serenading us about how much they love love and hate hate, they stay busy inundating entrepreneurs with licensing fees, new taxes, permit demands and other hurdles that restrain new ventures from ever launching. If they somehow get going anyway the municipality lurks at every juncture. They’ll keep you from thriving when they can’t stop you altogether. Actions speak louder than words. What they “love,” in practice, is bleeding prey pale with revenue demands and entangling bureaucratic complications.

In 1977 the minimum wage was $2.30 an hour. You could get nearly four Big Macs for that amount then. When the minimum went up to $12 on July 1st, the same earner only got two and one third double-deckers for his money. Losing 1.3 sandwiches an hour takes a big bite out of a working class lifestyle. 10.4 Mc-grubbings per eight-hour-day to be exact.

One year after the bicentennial average rent in the US was about $160. An NYT article from 1973 said a family of four needed less than $12,000 a year to live “moderately” in NYC in 1973. The same amount must have been a somewhat comfortable living in flyover country. By 1977 average income was over $13,000. 47 years later, average rent is at least ten times higher. While only about 10% of the population earns $130,000 or more. Where did all the value go?

Clearly, production is out of sync with consumption. What is the variable? Crops still grow at the same rate. Cargo travels at the same speed. Bricks are laid at the same pace. Chickens plop their eggs with the same regularity. Is anyone in the economy getting more than their fair share?

Almost 103 billion in “official” currency was circulating in the US in 1977. As of today, that figure stands at nearly 2 trillion 340 billion. The population has increased by about 58%. The greenbacks flowing back and forth went up by over 2000%. Those figures describe a small fraction of the overall economy. Because banks can create spending power with credit, leaving out other fiscal legerdemain, hundreds of trillions are outstanding in fiscal reality. Federal tax revenue alone, will soon hit over 5 trillion so far this year. That’s over twice the official amount of currency in circulation.

The Big Mac went from 65 cents to $5.17 in that time span. That’s about 700%. Minimum wage rose by about 450%. Watching these fiscal details we know at once that sparse fractions of all that new money is getting to where it is needed most – while we have no evidence it lands in hands that have created actual value. With everyone competing for resources and finished goods, these facts equal a devastating pay cut for many making far above minimum wage.

The idea that people are taking out according to what they contribute simply doesn’t fly. We can start with where the money supply is expanded.

A century ago banks were more accountable. They could make risky loans, as they did for Fritz Heinze, but doing so could still mean hell to pay. The series of events that shook the fiscal foundations of South Manhattan in 1907 remain mysterious over a century later. By 2007, banks were getting bailed out and it was everyone else who paid. How we got there is an intriguing conundrum of modern finance.

Heinze was a mining engineer from New York who showed up in Butte, Montana in the 1890’s. The copper market was hot at the time. That rustic town was already swimming in East Coast toffs and class consciousness. Although born into wealth and circumstances, Augustus Heinze was above pretension and indifferent to “society.” He soon developed a smelting process that greatly expanded the profitability of low-grade copper ore. Rather than pocketing the plunder, his next step was cutting 2 hours off the miner’s workday. How did that go over in the part of Butte that ‘dressed for dinner’? About like The Declaration of Independence did with George III.

Fritz couldn’t have cared less. The airs put on at posh WASP tables left the man impatient and bored. He did his excess boozing in public places where a man who’d spent the day 500 feet underground was at the next stool. Guys who loaded trams rarely bought a round with Heinze in the house.

By 1895 he’d amassed the capital to purchase the Rarus copper mine. The new-coming city slicker literally hit paydirt. His holes were always filled with the best pick and shovel men Montana could provide. The swells he snubbed had to take what hired help they could get.

An officer fraternizing with the enlisted class was high treason to mine owners of the aughts. Heinze was held in a kind of hostile awe. Butte gentry were unaccustomed to a guy who dared not to care if they liked him. What’s an enraged starched collar to do? We’ll never be entirely sure. Deadly measures were far from uncommon in late 19th century mining strife. What happened to Heinze is one of the murkier mysteries of the robber baron era.

J.D. Rockefeller’s brother, William, was a director of Anaconda Copper. That firm was run by people who’d never pop a cork with working stiffs. They were revolted by Augie’s effrontery. Their solution was one that has retained its financial force. Whether Heinze was bought out under duress, or sold out of his own volition in 1906 isn’t fully clear. What is known is that he returned to New York as a Wall Street plunger specializing in copper stocks. Using familial connections, and a personal fortune, Heinze got himself onto the boards of almost a score of NYC banks. When shares of United Copper were being shorted in a bear run, Fritz used his position to buy aggressively, borrowing heavily from the Knickerbocker Bank and other commercial lenders where he held sway.

By October of 1907 the Heinze brothers thought they had cornered the market in United Copper. They demanded the shares from traders who were contractually short – falsely believing the bears would be forced to buy from them. It soon became clear that these shares were not hard to come by. Heinze’s bullishness ended in catastrophic loss rather than profit. This meant that he would default on loans of millions from each of over 15 NYC banks.

The story, possibly apocryphal but true in effect, goes as follows. Knickerbocker was experimenting with 24 hour banking in 1907. The brainchildren of Wall Street met for dinner at an upstairs private dining room in Delmonico’s to discuss the coming cash crunch. Waiters for the event heard what was said in the meeting. They shared this knowledge with less connected patrons chowing down on the ground floor. A run on Knickerbocker began that night, by morning it had spread to every bank in town. The Panic of 1907 was instantly afoot.

Soon banks all over Gotham were out of cash to meet a seismic wave of withdrawals. In no time connected institutions from further out were tapped too. JP Morgan famously locked every player he could muster into his mansion’s library to discuss solutions. A plan was worked out and widespread depression was averted. But the financial hierarchy of south Manhattan was far from done. Their next step entailed placing the money supply and credit generally into the possession of elite governors.

This banking scandal ultimately resulted in the Federal Reserve Act that was passed December 23rd 1913. Whether it solved the problem or laid the foundation for larger ones has been debated since. Getting into the particulars of the statute became inconvenient with the legislature still in session so close to Christmas. ‘Fightin’ Bob LaFollette, gave in and failed to press for a more exacting bill he saw as necessary at the time. The ruckus over the bill’s details were mostly passed over as ‘conspiracy theory’ throughout the 20th century. That line held sway in economic academia for many decades. Scholarly reckoning always comes too late; there is little dispute the charter helped cause and make the Great Depression worse among “experts” today. We are commanded to defer to them with amps at 11. What they got wrong is reported by the same sources at about 2.5.

Left unexamined is why the Heinze brothers misunderstood who held what in United Copper in 1907. Why did they mistakenly believe they had cornered the market? These were highly educated, seasoned men in the world of finance. How far would William Avery Rockefeller Jr. go to settle a score with Fritz Heinze? Was he cleverly stashing available shares in ostensibly immobile accounts to set up an ambush? The first generation of the Rockefeller fortune was not known to take financial affronts lightly. Is it possible, or more likely probable, William Avery had the means and motive to manipulate the market into this unlikely position?

John D. Rockefeller Jr. married Abby Aldrich in 1901. Her father, Nelson Aldrich, was the driving senatorial force behind the Federal Reserve Act, although he left the Senate before its passage. The Rockefeller gang has been evangelizing the faith of centralization in everything for over a century. It started when JD Sr. practically accomplished that in the petroleum industry before the turn of the 20th century. If you think they were never capable of violent, gangland style treachery, fast your gaze on the Ludlow massacre of 1914.

Can we measure the effect of centralization in the financial sector? By 2013 it had almost doubled its share of the economic pie since 1980. When their take went from 5% to 9% in 40 years it had to come at a loss for others at the table. Did the Fed have a role in this? And what justification is offered for doubling the squeeze? As the economy grows so does the money industry’s cut, just as any salesman’s commission rises as the sales price is higher. Is South Manhattan insatiable? What explanation, other than parasitic predation, fits here?

The idea of market liquidity and available credit is efficiency and a fluent trading place for financial wares. Theoretically, this is competitive and brings transactional costs down while driving transactional fluidity up. Have we seen any such thing? The NYSE and kin have become like those “clubs” everyone is forced to join avoiding rip-offs for groceries, lunch, medicine, movies etc. The difference is that Wall Street’s anti-rip-off club is exclusive. You are not invited.

Where are we now? Exactly in the same place as when mobsters skimmed off the top in Vegas casinos, but far worse. The difference is that you get clipped without ever placing a bet or owning a share of a betting parlor. The south Manhattan mob is, supposedly, worth nearly 10% of all the action. What other slices of the take have widened with government intrusion and centralization? The mob focused its shakedowns on high rollers. Higher Ed goes after every kid hoping to drag letters behind his name. They call themselves “non-profits.” Does the description fit the beast?Disciplines of a Godly…Hughes, R. KentBest Price: $4.97Buy New $9.41(as of 01:52 UTC – Details)

Finding university administrators at leisure is not a job for Columbo. Just head toward any resort, high-dollar fleshpot or country club where profiteers do their squandering. Educational altruists, financial “experts” and well-heeled bon vivants occupy the same weekend turf – as well as the same self-serving sphere of self-justification.

The Rockefeller family was the largest private benefactor of that ultimate centralizing scheme, the UN. The patriarch, William Avery Rockefeller Sr., was an infamous snake oil salesman and bigamist. He’s not the Rocky the family likes to advertise. They are prouder of efforts to get around the principle of one-man-one-vote and rule the world from the modern equivalent of a royal court on a planetary scale. Make a list of plans to place more bosses overhead and move them further out of reach. The UN, CFR, WEF, Bilderberg, Trilaterals – you name it and the progeny of that greasy grifter is in on it. And who would they place in charge? The very soul-suckers with their fangs in the US neck pulsing at Wall and Broad.

We are not looking at an abstruse, undecipherable picture here. You can do differential equations, make “relative assumptions” and discuss monetary theory until you ascend to the meta-fiscal plane of Laputa. None of that supposed “understanding” leaves Joe Six-Pack with another square foot of living space or another Big Mac. Uber-economic organization, aka David Rockefeller’s so-called “more integrated world,” is a progressively feudalistic plot that – with the compliance of the un-fake-news industry – rarely experiences any setbacks.

Shrinking buying power has a very simple explanation: a prim and proper syndicate that is more ubiquitous and avaricious than any criminal mob ever.

The Future Isn’t Looking Too Good For Gen Z & Millennials … 2

California Cheese and Green Chile Shrimp Lasagna

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

Sauce

1 pound tomatillos, husked, washed and cut into quarters, or 2 (12 ounce cans), drained
2 large jalapenos, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
2 cups cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon salt
1 (7 ounce) can whole green chiles
5 Romaine lettuce leaves
4 green onions
6 garlic cloves, peeled

Lasagna

1 (8 ounce) package oven ready lasagna noodles (12 noodles)
12 ounces of Real California Panela cheese, shredded
4 ounces Real California Monterey Jack cheese shredded (about 2 cups)
1 pound cooked shrimp, cut in half lengthwise

Instructions

Sauce

In a blender or food processor, pulse the tomatillos, jalapeÃ±os and 1 1/2 cups cold water just until chunky.
Add onion, cilantro, salt, chiles, lettuce, green onions and garlic. Puree until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Lasagna

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish, spread 1 cup of the sauce. Layer 1/3 of the shrimp over the sauce. Place 3 lasagna noodles over the shrimp. (Noodles should not overlap or touch side of pan since they will expand when baked).
Combine shredded cheeses and sprinkle about 2 cups over the noodles. Repeat layering the sauce, shrimp, noodles and cheese two more times. Top with the remaining 3 lasagna noodles and spread remaining sauce over noodles. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove foil and bake until hot and bubbly, about 10 to 15 minutes more. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Cut into squares and serve immediately.

What’s the shrewdest, smartest maneuver you’ve ever seen in business?

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In Geylang, in Singapore between Lorong 8 and Lorong 24 – there were plenty of hookers and lady boys (transvestites) called BAPO who solicited clients

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Choo Chong Ngen, a 30 year old man gambled that Singapore would soon legalize all forms of prostitution and mandate safety for all the customers from STDs

So he purchased large swathes of land in the Land Auctions for a SONG

Nobody bid against him because nobody believed that land near prostitution areas wouldn’t rise in the slightest

By the late 1990s – CCN built Hotels, Shops, Goldfish bowls and Houses and sold them to businesses for a massive massive profit

The hotels roared with profits as the clients paid $ 20–30 for a 20 minute session which meant in 4 hours from 10 PM to 2 AM – a room could fetch 250 bucks which was more than the rate they charged in Hyatt or Marriott

I still marvel at how this guy managed to get ahead of legalized prostitution and mint so much money

I just got fired. Now my former boss (the one who let me go) is asking me where some important documents are. How should I respond?

I was fired by the owner of the company 30 days before I was to get a substantial bonus. The next week a person in my former department called me asking for help with an issue.

I texted them on their private phone that I knew the owner had them do that and that I was not trying to hurt them, but not helping the owner since I was shafted on my bonus.

30 minutes later I got a call from the owner saying if I would come in and fix the issue he would pay me for the day, I said pass, that I would fix the problem if paid for the month. He told me to go to hell.

The next day he called me back and said he would pay me for a week, I said no again, I would only come back if paid for a month.

He blew up again.

I knew if the issue wasn’t fixed very quickly the losses would add up. Two days later he had his secretary call and said he would pay me for a month but I had to get in there today.

I agreed only if a cashiers check was waiting on me when I walked in the door, because I knew the cheap bastard would stop payment on a regular check.

What the dumb SOB didn’t know was I was in the process of having him served on a wrongful termination suit and that paying me for a month constituted completetion of our contract and he would owe me the bonus.

I brought my attorney with me to the office, I picked up the check and went into the system and fixed the problem.

One other thing he didn’t know was that the issue was a recurring one that required attention and there wasn’t a universal fix, it would continue to come up and since I had no intention of giving the magic formula away I had created he couldn’t have someone else fix the issue.

End result I got my bonus plus all attorney’s costs which was equal to my previous year’s pay and he went broke trying to recreate a system I devised.

With me there after my bonus and raise, his profits would have been half a million a month, without me his losses were half a million a month. Greedy bastard never knew when he was ahead.

Shorpy

What was the most satisfying display of instant karma you have ever seen?

Some people like to kick the back of the seat in front of them when in a bus or airplane. A very, very nasty habit. Also a pretty safe one, as it seems people rarely turn around and ‘do something about it’. Even though that’s pretty much what you’re doing, isn’t it? You are broadcasting to the world: “I’m a major asshole, do something about it!”

Now imagine if you will, riding a bus. It’s one of those nice cozy night buses with curtains on the side of the windows that you can sleep in. You lean back a little and kick the back of the chair in front of you. No big deal, you do it all the time. Did it a million times before, and surely this won’t be any different. That weak little coward in front of you won’t say or do a thing, haha! You’re SUCH an alpha male, Lev!

Only this time, the president of your country, happened to ride the bus, incognito with a hoodie on to “experience how the common people ride buses”. Your country is Russia. The President’s name? Vladimir Putin.

Miss Margelene’s Silver Saloon

Submitted into Contest #24 in response to: Write a magical realism story that takes place in the Wild West.… view prompt

Amanda Van Regenmorter

The town woke to discover Miss Margelene’s Silver Saloon had sprung up overnight, tacked onto the end of their only meager road in gaudy glory. The western-most, barely settled settlement of Gomer’s Gulch could only be considered a town in the most generous of estimates, but the people who lived there, mostly foolhardy prospecting men and a smattering of desperate families, called it a town all the same.They already had a saloon, of course; a handful of men camped anywhere long enough always sprouts one. Theirs was called Rabbit’s, the owner’s nickname, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it was due to being such a dirty hole. Miss Margelene’s place, on the other hand, was the furthest you could get from Rabbit’s, figuratively speaking. Literally, it was two doors down. Rabbit’s was utilitarian: squat, flat-roofed, and barely held together by bent nails. Miss Margelene’s was downright beautiful, a sparkling shade of its namesake silver. The second story sported a gilded balcony over fluted columns, and everyone knew the name because it hung in big cursive letters, two feet tall, in front of the gabled roof.Dex rode in late that morning, the supplies he needed forgotten once he saw the silver saloon. Instead, he hitched up his horse and joined the crowd in front of Rabbit’s to speculate about their new neighbor. He stood out, a head taller and better washed than the others, but most mode room for him with a smile.“Rabbit, how much did I drink last night?” Dex asked.“Half as much as it’d take for a delusion like thissun,” replied Rabbit, who was short and squalid, like his bar.“And that’s iffen he didn’t water his horse piss down,” muttered someone.“This ain’t about my liquor!” said Rabbit. “Even kids can see that abomination. The question is how on earth those misfits got it up in a single day. Not even! Must’ve been lessun ten hours.”No one had an answer, but everyone knew which misfits he meant. In a town the size of Gomer’s Gulch, everyone knows every one of the comings and goings, let alone a coming as peculiar as last night’s. The caravan had arrived in the settling dusk, torches blazing up and down three covered wagons. Not covered with any old canvas either, but draped in rainbow arrays of silken cloth and garlanded with bells that tinkled with every step of the big black horses pulling them. They’d made camp just outside the town perimeter, dark figures tended horses and made a cook fire, but no townsfolk got close enough for a good look. When a band of ornery men decided to greet the newcomers, they turned back around with glazed expressions before they’d gone half way. Unable to elaborate, they simply said they’d changed their minds.“What in tarnation is that?” shouted a ruddy man riding in hard on a heaving grey horse. The man had a pointed beard, well-trimmed, and a six-point star on his chest, well-polished. His red-headed wife, Hannah, pale and pretty, was saddled behind him. While he dismounted and stared at the new saloon, Dex helped Hannah down and began with what little he knew.“Caravan came in last night, and -”“Shut your fool mouth,” the Sheriff said and spat at Dex’s feet. “And get away from my woman. You tryin’ to play at bein’ sheriff? Well you ain’t. You lost. Rabbit, what’s that building?”“Nobody knows, sir,” Rabbit said with a shrug. “Was here when we woke up.”

“What do you mean? Buildings don’t appear overnight – certainly not ones that fancy. Didn’t anyone hear them hammering? Don’t you sleep in your bar, Rabbit?”

“I do, but I didn’t hear a thing. Ain’t you s’posed to sleep in town too, sheriff? Keep your ear to the ground for trouble? Ain’t you s’posed to defend us from the bandits? They killed a woman last week -”

“Rabbits are the ones s’posed to keep their heads down, if they know what’s good for ‘em. Hows ‘bout the rest of you lumps? Anyone go in or out of that place? Who owns it?”

“No one’s been seen, but I have suspicions the owner is one Miss Margelene,” said Dex flashing a grin at the big sign, but he stepped away before his boots could be sullied again.

The sheriff scowled. He left his wife to tend the horse and stomped down to the new saloon. Dex, Rabbit and most of the men followed. Some children scurried along behind them.

The doors alone were taller than any other building in town and such a deep black they looked like an opening on a moonless night. The sheriff’s raised his fist, but it caught mid-air, hovered, before he gathered himself and pounded.

“This is the law! Open -” he demanded, and the doors opened, swung right out and swept the sheriff off his feet. He hit the dirt road hard.

No one laughed, not only because he might shoot, but because they were busy attempting to glimpse the interior while the black doors banged against the wall. It was more luxury than they’d ever seen, even the men from big cities. There were no windows, but long strings of lanterns bathed the big room in flickering light. The floors were herringbone parquet and the walls looked metallic, imprinted with crescent moons. There was a bar to the left, cabinets of exotic liquors and pewter mugs behind a carved wood counter with a smooth, stone top. There was a raised stage to the right with royal purple curtains. The heavy tables were ringed with upholstered red chairs.

In the back a woman descended from an unseen second floor down a grand staircase. The men doffed their hats and made futile efforts to brush off dust and straighten shirts, but every eye stayed fixed on her. She looked ageless and more elegant than the saloon with carefully coiffed black hair and a ruffled Victorian gown.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’m Miss Margelene,” she greeted, voice melodious. She had a lilting accent, but it was hard to say from where. “We didn’t intend to open until tonight, but apparently the law is impatient. Can I be of service?” She stood centered in the doorway.

“Yes’m, I, um – I have some questions as to how this here establishment was, um – established,” the sheriff mumbled, tugging his badge.

“Of course, I’m happy to answer – tonight, during the grand opening. For you, sheriff, everything’s on the house. Unless, that is, we’re violating any ordinances? I so hope we’ve met the standards set by your lovely settlement.”

“Standards! How’s about a standard of fair competition and -” Rabbit began, but the sheriff elbowed him and he cut off with a wheeze.

“No ma’am, tonight’ll do,” the sheriff said and donned his hat. “You heard the lady, ya buncha oglin’ buffoons. Grand opening tonight! Now git!” He shoved away the men and kicked a boy in the pants. The doors swung shut behind him.

###

Dex sped home, desperate to decide what to wear and scrub the ever-loving hell out of it. But more important, he had to tell Rowena everything.

Her modest ranch, home to the world’s finest horses in Dex’s estimate, lay a couple dozen miles south of the Gulch. He always figured the secret to Rowena’s success had to do with the fact that she herself was rather equine. Stately and athletic, even at her age, she never wasted a moment, but when her gray mane came down you could see the barely concealed wild streak. Dex grabbed an indigo shirt from his shack by the barn and hollered for Rowena while he filled her washtub and set to scrubbing.

“Lordy Dex, I know you like to be neat, but you washed your whole wardrobe last week!” she said, exiting the barn with her hair up and a saddle under one arm. “Where are the supplies? I appreciate you ran them bandits off last night before they rustled any horses, but they tore the fence terrible. Looks like one caught his leg though, there’s half a pair of pants hanging on the wire.”

Dex tumbled out the saloon story, and Rowena only interrupted to make him promise he hadn’t drank too much of Rabbit’s swill. Afterwards, he cajoled her to join him for the opening. She was busy, she said, and besides she hadn’t been to a saloon for five years, not since Fred passed, but Dex wouldn’t hear excuses. He hung his shirt to dry then pressed her until she agreed to go gussy up.

He readied the wagon. Rowena stepped out into the fading light of the half-set sun in an emerald pleated dress with earrings to match. He whistled until she clouted him in the chest.

“Shut it, purty boy. I’m old enough to be your grandmother.”

“Pshaw, you can’t be a day older than my mother,” he assured her. “And anyway, we make a purty pair, don’t we?”

###

Their arrival marked the first time they’d seen traffic in Gomer’s Gulch. It looked like the land had dumped out all the dwellers in a hundred miles to mill outside Miss Margelene’s Silver Saloon. The big black doors were shut again, and the sheriff was on guard with a crisp white shirt, black leather vest and a freshly oiled beard.

“Don’t think you’re gettin’ in Dex, even with your grandma girly-friend dolled up like a hooker,” he said when he caught sight of them. “I’ll throw her out right on top of you iffen you even try to get in.”

Dex drew himself up every inch, ready to defend Rowena’s honor, but she stepped in front of him, laughing.

“Little Stanley Sherman, is that you? I ain’t seen you since Fred tossed you outta Rabbit’s that night, playin’ at being a man, tryin’ start a gunfight. O’course, that was back when you only had a few scraggly hairs on that little chin to cover all your pimples.”

The crowd welcomed the distraction from waiting for the doors to open, but Dex watched the sheriff’s holsters. He tugged Rowena shoulder, but there was no stopping her.

“My, oh my. Can’t say I missed you, but what a surprise it was to hear anyone voted you for sheriff. Almost as surprising as seeing you still have that ugly beard.”

That was the last straw, Dex knew, but just as the sheriff’s fingers twitched, those black doors swung open and knocked him down again, this time on his face. The crowd, Dex and Rowena included, flooded in around him.

There must have been a couple hundred men and a quarter as many women, but the silver saloon accommodated everyone with room to spare. Servers, women in black silk blouses and pink frilled skirts, worked the bar and the floor. On stage, a trio of ladies sang a ditty about a showdown at high noon. Dex thought they shared a resemblance, but maybe it was only their sly smiles.

He snagged Rowena a seat and moseyed to the counter, but before he ordered, he noticed the sad-eyed sheriff’s wife next to him.

“Hello Hannah. Don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a saloon.”

“Hi, Dex. Couldn’t miss this,” she said. Then barely loud enough to hear, she added, “You should watch out. Stanley won’t stop talking about you since the election.”

“All good things, I’m sure?”

“Look at you, grinnin’ like a weasel in a hen house,” said the sheriff, cocking the pistol he had aimed at Dex. “You ain’t never gonna be sheriff, and you ain’t never gonna get the time of day from my girl.”

Dex drew the fastest he’d ever done, but he saw the sheriff pull the trigger and knew he was a half-second too late. He tensed, but the shot didn’t come. Miss Margelene did, swept in between them, skirts swaying, and Dex was terrified she’d taken the bullet meant for him, but she didn’t flinch.

“Not tonight, gentlemen,” she said, handing each of them a drink. Dex took the mug in his free hand then realized he was no longer holding his weapon. He looked down to find it holstered as if he’d never drawn.

“Thank you ma’am,” Dex said, sure that he owed her for more than the drink. He took a swig and found it was good beer, but unlike any he had tasted. There were strange undertones, maybe mint, he thought. But most strange, he realized, it was cold. Very cold, like the mountain snow he’d crossed coming to Gomer’s Gulch. When he tried to ask her about it, he saw Miss Margelene was drifting off with the sheriff.

Hannah looked distraught, but a waitress was soothing her, patting her back, and Dex figured she was better off here than her home anyhow, so he went to find Rowena. He turned down a couple dance offers on his way, the trio had switched to a romantic ballad, and he circled a couple poker games before spying Rowena, slow dancing with the general store owner. Maybe she was working on a deal for those supplies, he figured, and tossed back his drink, but when they spun around he nearly choked. He’d never seen Rowena beam like that, like a dozen years had rolled right off her back. At this rate, she’d have a new man at the ranch, and Dex would never be so glad to be put out of work.

The night unfurled, and, even with the sheriff prowling around, Dex had never felt better. The trio sang one merry tune after another; drinks flowed, delicious and cold; and even deep in their cups he never saw a soul turn sour, or get thrown out for lack of funds. In fact, he didn’t see anyone leave at all. Even Rabbit laughed, coaxing the bartenders to tell him where the spirits came from. Dex chatted with all kinds, old friends and people he’d only ever tipped his hat to, and they said warm words and told him they had voted him for sheriff. Dex knew they were only being nice, but still it made him flush.

When a waitress with a sunny smile and yellow curls spilling over her black top pulled him away from a game of darts, he let himself be pulled into a whirling circle of fuddled men at the saloon’s center. Together, they tried to keep pace with the jig a smaller circle of waitresses danced in their midst. Every so often, the women would stop and spin the other way, forcing the men to follow. Boots caught and tripped over boots, but the men laughed and tried to stay facing their favorite gal.

While the circle coiled this way and that, one woman pulled a silver scarf out from her blouse and danced forward. She wrapped the scarf around a burly man in a checkered shirt, and swiveled with him back to the center. The men hooted and whistled, and then each girl was going out, wrapping herself a man with her own scarf.

Dex watched and whistled too, until one raven-haired girl fetched the sheriff. Dex stumbled but kept step. His gorge rose when she gave the sheriff’s beard a tug. The circles kept moving, outer going fast to keep up with the girls and their captives.

The fellows in the middle smiled wide, jumping with the girls, a couple ventured to put hands on hips, but Dex saw the sheriff stagger, look left and right.

“Wait, wha-?” the sheriff sputtered and slowed. “Why us? Why-”

The man in the checkered shirt shoved into the sheriff. The music was morphing, volume louder, tempo faster, key minor. Dex heard the women in the center murmuring, indiscernible, saw blurred faces everywhere. He couldn’t tell anymore if he was dancing or the room was spinning itself round.

The women in black threw up their scarves and each exploded mid-air, burst into confetti, rained silver specs down to scattered applause. That is, until the pops and bangs kept going, more and more bursts of confetti until it was thick in the air and no one could see a thing. There were screams and then yells of ‘Smoke!’

Black smoke, heavy and perfumed like incense, poured down the grand staircase. It filled the room and turned everything as dark as the doors, dark as a moonless night.

###

Dex woke to Rowena slapping him hard across the face. He coughed and sputtered back to consciousness in her relieved embrace as the sun rose over the well-dressed bodies laid out on the bare patch of ground that had been Miss Margelene’s Silver Saloon.

It was the children, terrified and crying, that had shaken their parents awake first. As the adults came around they helped others up, parched and unsteady.

Once Dex was on his feet, he sent some kids to fetch buckets of water and rations. Then he saw the commotion and the little crowd gathering. He pushed his way through and found the six scarfed men from last night, sheriff included, naked and hogtied in silver chains, laid out in their little circle. Some tried to free them, others just laughed. The men didn’t look injured, except the sheriff, and it didn’t take Dex long to realize the bloody gash down his leg looked like it might match right up to Rowena’s barbed wire fence.

While the six men stewed in the small town jail, Dex led the swift investigation that turned up enough stolen property to expose their identities as Gomer Gulch’s notorious bandits, as well as the suspicious duplicate ballot boxes in the sheriff’s possession.

However, he never did find the sheriff’s red-headed wife, Hannah. Neither she nor the silver saloon was ever seen again, but on moonless nights he dreamed of her, smiling on stage in a black shirt, singing about the life she left behind.

Cordon Bleu Lasagna

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

2 eggs, beaten
1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 cup (8 ounces) 4% cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, divided
1 (16 ounce) jar roasted garlic Alfredo sauce
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
2 cups cubed cooked ham
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
6 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, ricotta, cottage cheese, Parmesan and 1/4 cup parsley; set aside.
In another bowl, combine the Alfredo sauce, chicken, ham and garlic powder.
Spread 1/2 cup of chicken mixture in the bottom of a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Layer with half of the noodles and ricotta mixture. Top with half of the remaining chicken mixture and half of the mozzarella and Swiss cheeses. Repeat layers.
Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes.
Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until bubbly.
Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
Sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Which is the biggest threat to peace – America or China?

Without a doubt, America is the biggest threat to world peace.

America has fought in dozens of wars and conflicts since China opened up to the world in 1979. China, on the other hand, has fought no wars at all — not a single shot fired!

America instigated the proxy war in Ukraine and is now trying to start another proxy war in Taiwan or Philippines.

China has proposed peace plans for both Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas. America has shot them both down.

America wants war. China avoids war.

Narcos – All Pablo Escobar Kills

When you have the time to leave something behind, make it useful and memorable

When I lived in Western Pennsylvania, I would drive my cars, and my motorcycles all over the place. Most of which was long disused roads, old unused rail road lines, and towns that were abandoned a hundred years previous. Many interesting sights, and (I’m sure) curious stories to tell.

One day, while riding on a little used country road, I came up to the crest of a hill. I pulled over to take a leak, and as I did so, I noted that the bushed parted to a nice picturesque grass covered hill.

As it as a nice Summer day with blue skies and white clouds, I went forth to take a look and take in the wonderful and astounding view.

And it was. Really.

This was a nice field of knee-height green grasses. And not a shrub or other plant to be seen.

The hill side was enormous and perfect for flying kites and for having picnics. In fact, given the beautiful day, low humidity and just magnificent day, I walked forward and took in the entire experience.

I’ve done this before. I found a long abandoned cemetery in the long overgrown woods that way. Heck, on second thought, I actually found two such cemeteries. All long lost, and totally forgotten.

So as I was walking forward I saw the strangest sight up on a ridge.

It was a tomb; a well preserved stone house that served as some family Mausoleum. It looked a little like this…

Now, this was not a cemetery.

It was in a rural hillside, in the middle of a long abandoned tree line where the nearest house was miles away. It was isolated.

Nice hill.

Nice mausoleum.

Totally out of the blue. A real surprise. All up in the middles of this grand hillside view.

Who would have thought?

Later, say a a few months later, I asked a friend of mine about the place, and he knew about it. The story goes something like this…

There was once this wealthy family in a small town. The town grew and got prosperous. The family bought up a lot of land, and as the town prospered the family got very wealthy. The head of the family built the tomb on a field that he favored for family outings and picnics with.

After he died there was a change in fortune. His family either died off and moved away. And the town became a few remaining houses until that too was abandoned. And thus all that remains is the tomb.

The estate has established a trust fund that pays for groundskeepers to maintain the hill in a pristine croquet field, and to makes sure that no one vandalizes the idyllic environment. That that is the story of this place.

Still.

Preserving the hilltop for future generations to have picnics on; to fly kites on…

Or, to have romantic dates on…

Or, you know; to sky gaze at night on is glorious.

This fellow did good. And I for one want to tell you all… have adventures.

And when you have the time to leave something behind, make it useful and memorable. Leave something behind for the generations that follow…

Today…

China sez “we’re done playin'”

China has called-off arms control talks with US over weapon sales to Taiwan.

China has cut off arms control and NUCLEAR non-proliferation talks with the United States because of Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

“China has decided to suspend talks with the US on holding a new round of arms control and non-proliferation consultations,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said. “The responsibility for this situation lies entirely with the US.”

He said the US’ continued sales of weapons to the island in the face of Beijing’s opposition had “severely damaged the political atmosphere necessary for continued arms control consultations between the two sides.”

“Washington must respect Beijing’s core interests if communication is to continue” the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Russia launches a giant 6,000-pound bomb from an SU-34 for the first time

This is crazy big news.

Note this video about the massive Russian submarine nuke bombs for the United States Eastern states. Fly over, drop and swim. Then Ka-blooey!

What is something you wish you had known sooner?

I have a very toned body, like massively toned for a female. I didn’t work for it. It’s just natural. I didn’t know my body was like this until I went to high school. They called me “tough”. I would be teased so badly. Girls followed me around the school laughing at me and calling me names. Adults weren’t any better. On top of that, I had horrible eczema. I hated high school so badly that I skipped school half the year. Woke up many days crying telling my mom I’m sick. Still I got good grades. School wasn’t hard, people were. Complete strangers that I never once tried to hurt had no issues in giving me a hard time.

Eventually high school ended. Hallelujah. And I moved to another city. I worked in tourism and foreigners loved my body. They hardly criticized me. One day a bodybuilder came up to me and told me my body’s amazing. He advised to enter the national bodybuilding competition. If I win that and Caribbean then the possibilities would be endless. I could travel the world.

I wish I could tell you I did it and won. I started training then dropped out. I didn’t want the world to see my body. That was a couple years ago. Now, I love my body and see how invaluable it is. I wish I had known sooner that being this different was a blessing and I should not have taken it for granted. Maybe I would be a world champ by now. But, it’s not too late, I just might enter the bodybuilding competition this year.

Even though I wish I had known sooner that my differences are amazing, I’m happy I know now. I appreciate every bit of me despite what others think. And trust me I’ve been told so many times “You’re different”. I was even the outcast in my family but I’ll tell that story a next time. Love, appreciate and endorse you for you truly are unique. See a pic of my legs with some bug bites (darn mosquitoes).

Fried Ravioli with Quick Tomato Sauce

Yield: 6 to 10 servings as an hors d’oeuvre or 4 to 6 servings as a first course; 2 1/2 cups sauce

Ingredients

Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans Italian-style tomatoes, with liquid
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried basil
Salt and coarsely-ground pepper, to taste

Ravioli

9 ounces frozen or refrigerated ravioli of your choice
2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Begin with the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over moderate heat and Sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, until tender but not brown.
Add the tomatoes, breaking up the larger pieces with the edge of a spoon if necessary, and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, until the sauce has thickened some.
Add the basil and season with salt and pepper.
Cook the ravioli according to the package directions.
Drain and manually separate the ravioli to prevent them from sticking together. Blot dry with paper towels.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet (preferably nonstick) over moderate heat and Sauté the ravioli for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until lightly browned and slightly crisp.
Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

China’s Surprise Move: U.S. Chips Banned After Yellen Visit

Were you deathly ill but didn’t know until you went to the hospital and they told you?

I got up one morning and my left hand was swollen. I couldn’t find an insect bite, but thought maybe a spider bit me in my sleep. This was in the early 90s before the internet was a resource for research. I spent the day with family and attended a funeral. The next morning the swelling went up to my elbow. Still thinking about an insect bite I took some Benadryl and carried on. The next morning my entire arm was swollen and I went to a walk in clinic. The physician’s assistant took one look and sent me to a doctor nearby. He asked me to stop moving my arm. I showed him that I was able to bend it and he said stop! The Doctor was a vascular interventionist. At that time I was not a nurse and had limited medical knowledge. I thought that was strange but I went. The Doctor there looked at my arm and and asked me to meet him at his clinic next door in the hospital. He didn’t give me a diagnosis, just go there and he would se me there. I finally realized that this was serious when the nurses were shaving my chest, attaching electrodes and asking me to sign paperwork all at the same time! I had a blood clot at the brachial artery! The doctor removed it while I was under conscious sedation and I spent a week in cardiac ICU on a heparin drip confined to the bed. Moving the arm could have dislodged part of the clot sending it to my brain or lungs. And I stood outside the hospital and smoked a cigarette before I went inside! I was so impressed by the doctor and the nurses that I went back to school and graduated the nursing program! That’s how I became a nurse!

What is your opinion of J.D. Vance?

From my perch across the Pacific several thousand miles away from Washington, I think Vance’s perspectives on foreign affairs seem to dovetail quite closely with Trump’s world view:

He favors a negotiated peace with Russia over Ukraine, believing that Ukraine cannot win;
He thinks Europe needs to take more responsibility for its own security;
He believes the US needs to shift its focus to Asia (again) to prioritize and counter China’s economic and military rise, prioritizing this over traditional American alliances in Europe; and
He’s an economic nationalist. This includes protectionist policies such as tariffs and reducing reliance on foreign goods.

Whether you agree with him or not (and on economic policy, I’m a globalist who believes protectionism is bad for both the US and the global economy), it’s pretty clear that Trump 2.0 will be marked by trade wars, a pronounced “America first” policy — whatever that means — and increased tensions with traditional US allies in Europe. But there also seems to be some pragmatism about it (for example, engagement with Putin on Ukraine).

I think with Trump 2.0, we’re potentially seeing the beginning of a tectonic shift in world geopolitics — a framework that has been in place pretty much since the end of WWII.

MM Art

The theme is ” A man and his cat”.

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@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(12)

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(6)

@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(5)

Teletubbies the Horror Movie – 1950s Super Panavision 70

What shocked you when you opened someone’s safe deposit box at the bank?

When my in-laws died we went to the bank to retrieve the contents of their safe deposit box. The bank has gone through a line of mergers and name changes over the years, my in-laws stayed loyal. We knew the box number but did not have the key.

We were told that there was no safe deposit box. We went home and found the paperwork from the original bank. The current bank got back to us that the box was marked as abandoned years ago for nonpayment and they assumed the contents were sent to the state. We countered that the box was free if they kept their accounts at the bank, the deal with the original bank. They had no answer.

My wife was devastated. Her grandmother’s wedding ring was in that box. We contact the state and they had no record of the box being turned over.

We went back to the bank with that information. The bank officer said things got lost between all the mergers etc over the years. Just out of desperation I asked who held that box number now. They said it was vacant. I asked to open it.. they did and there were my in-laws possessions!

There wasn’t much. Some long obsolete paperwork, an envelope that had photos of every room In their house from the 1960s, for insurance purposes, and thankfully the ring!

Living Paycheck to Paycheck ….. Part 2

Amazing

Another amazing Chinese airport where workers have moved mountains to build a new airport, quite literally.

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Workers in Chongqing needed to flattened the top of a mountain nearly 6000 feet above the sea level in order to construct the Wushan Airport.

The airport IATA: WSK ICAO: ZUWS is located at the border of Wushan and Fengjie counties, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the county seat, and mainly serves tourists to the nearby Three Gorges region. Construction began on 20 April 2015, and the airport was opened on 16 August 2019

Grapefruit

Sierra Tkacik

“Jane!” A voice bellowed from the recesses of the ship. “Where is my grapefruit?”“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” A voice echoed from the opposite direction.“My grapefruit, Jane! The one I specifically had my name on! The one you stole!”“First of all, why would you print your name on a freaking grapefruit? Second of all, if you didn’t want me to take it, you shouldn’t have put it in a community fridge.”“So you did take it!”“Why is this grapefruit so important, anyway?”“Do you know, Jane, how many people have died in ships due to scurvy? Do you?!”“So eat an orange!”“The orange is overrated! The grapefruit is the only citrus fruit that understands me.”Charlie groaned and pressed his forehead against the table. “Lewis, we just had a shipment of grapefruit yesterday, get another one!”

“Shut up, Charlie! This doesn’t concern you!”

“I don’t even know why you try anymore.” Lyra flipped her braid as she slid in next to him.

“Because you well know how much worse it will get if I don’t.”

Harriet groaned as she remembered the third great prank war.

Jane and Lewis were in an argument over their favorite colors, and it escalated into a full-blown war. Everywhere anyone turned, there was another trap set for either Lewis or Jane.

Somehow, they ended up joining forces against the rest of the ship and wreaked havoc upon the crew of the Flame.

They feared that it would spread to the other ships of the fleet, but luckily, Charlie recovered from his bout of illness quickly, and managed to calm both Lewis and Jane within the hour.

But the crew would never forget the horror and fear they faced in that week; that was the day Charlie became the unofficial leader of all things Lewis and Jane.

“I don’t even know why they’re on the same ship after that stunt; much less the mothership.”

Lyra took a lasting gulp of coffee. “Jane’s the best engineer in the whole fleet.”

“And Lewis is crazy good with the servers and the rest of the ship’s tech.” Harriet supplied, flicking a crumb of her muffin.

“Plus, they’re great gunners in a pinch and work well with everyone except each other.”

Claude snorted as he walked in. “Tell that to the Horogin embassy from two month ago.

“Listen,” Lewis looked up from his tablet, “we all agree that the embassy was a mistake, just like we all agree that in general, Jane and Lewis are remarkable workers.”

“Besides,” Harriet simpered, “can you really picture them anywhere else?”

The room fell silent except for the gurgle of the coffee maker as each of the four tried to imagine Jane or Lewis stationed on any other ship.

“Fair point.” Lyra admitted. “So can I just be put on another ship? I grew up on the Growth; agriculture is not something so easily forgotten.” Her violet braid twisted in front of her and seemed to writhe in agreement.

“Uh, Charlie?” Claude pointed. “There’s a problem.”

Charlie took one look at the floating braid before letting out a groan.

He tapped the screen of his tablet and set it down, a holograph of a red-headed man slowly taking form.

“Hey Charlie!” He showed of a gap-toothed grin. “Your gravity messing up too?”

“Yep.”

“Yeah, I just got off a vid with the captain about it. Lewis is checking it out now.”

“Lewis? Isn’t he usually on servers?”

“Usually, but since he passed out on another late night shift yesterday, I figured putting him on monitor watching duty was a better plan.”

“Alright.”

A blond man with dark, circular glasses stomped past, an indescribable look on his face.

“Lewis, you figure it out yet?”

“Yeah, Arnold, it’ll be fixed in a sec.” He disappeared from view.

“Hey Jane!” A voice came from both the tablet and the hallway. “Something’s blocking the free-float tube!”

“Yeah, that’s probably your grapefruit.”

“You didn’t even eat it?!” The screech caused both Lyra and Charlie to wince. “What the heck?”

“I don’t like grapefruit.”

“So you took it from me for the sole pleasure of depriving me joy?”

“Yeah.” A clang was heard and Lyra’s braid dropped. “It’s in the compost bin now.”

“I hate you, you know!”

“Just like I hate grapefruit?”

An indecipherable collection of sounds was heard, before the hologram showed Lewis stomping back to his post.

“Good work, buddy.” Arnold offered, to what might as well have been empty space.

“Thanks for dealing with it, A.” Charlie picked up the tablet. “Good luck.”

“No, man, good luck to you. Lewis has his morning break in five minutes.” And with a wink, Arnold was gone.

“But that’s the same time Jane’s on break.” Lyra remarked.

The four looked at each other with wide eyes, then at their meager breakfast.

“Hide the grapefruit.”

Trump didn’t drain the swamp, he appointed the worst reptiles

Is there any car which thieves can not steal?

Where I live in Brazil, car theft is somewhat of a problem. For the most part thieves choose commonly found, locally manufactured models, like Ford Fiestas, Fiat Palios, and Volkswagen Foxes, and then take them to chop-shops who tear them down and resell the parts online.

Models that are ten years old or older are very sought after because they are often relatively easy to steal and parts for them are harder to find, so the demand for things like fuel pumps, taillights and radiators is greater.

If you go on to Brazilian eBay and buy a used or reconditioned alternator, chances are very high that it is from a stolen car. There is a whole black market industry for car parts all across of South America that is literally impossible to stop.

Ironically, if you drive a high-end model like a Mercedes, BMW or Range Rover no one will steal it. First because it is way too conspicuous to drive around in a high end car than a common one, you’ll most certainly get caught, and second because selling the parts is much more difficult because there are not that many high end models around, not to mention that the people who own these cars are wealthy enough to pay a dealership to fix them when they need service.

I have two cars, a 2009 Volkswagen Gol (a somewhat cheaper model under the Golf) and a 2010 Volvo XC60 T5. No one will touch the Volvo because it’s the only one in town and thieves know that Volvos have a factory GPS system installed in them that’s really hard to deactivate, but I really have to keep my eye on the Gol because Gols are all over the place and it is a very sought after car to steal.

Someone tried to steal my Gol a few years ago — they broke the small triangle window behind the back door to unlock the car, then they popped the hood and cut the wires to the alarm. Then they broke the ignition lock and used a screwdriver to force it to engage the starter. It was during the night and the car was right outside my bedroom window; I didn’t hear a thing.

I woke up the next morning and the car wasn’t there, so I called the insurance company who used a tracking system like lo-jack to find it, it was unlocked, sitting around the corner and all of the thieves’ tools were on the seats and the floor — even the screwdriver was still sticking out of the ignition.

I’m guessing that the thieves gave up and fled the scene when they couldn’t get the engine to turn over and a cop car came down the street, or something like that.

They couldn’t start the engine because I had installed an engine kill switch up and under the dashboard where no one could see it. Two feet of wire, a toggle switch and a 10-amp fuse saved my car from being stolen: total cost of $4.00.

The Volvo on the other hand is exceptionally hard to steal, not because of the GPS system, but because of how the ignition system was designed.

There is no key to turn, so there is no ignition lock to break; to start the car I put the remote that unlocks the doors in the dashboard and push a button. The steering lock is further down the steering column than in most cars — it actually sits under the engine at the firewall, so it’s very hard to get to.

The Volvo also has another feature that many cars don’t have, and it’s not a factory-installed feature. You could literally take a baseball bat to the windshield and it won’t break. You could also unload a full clip of .44 magnum rounds into the driver’s side window and it won’t shatter.

The car is bulletproof — the previous owner had it bulletproofed when she bought it new in 2010. It has inch-thick glass and Kevlar all around, including the roof, so just getting into the car is no easy task.

You’d probably be able to force the door open with a crowbar, but that would break the door’s closing mechanism making it kind of hard to drive, that is if you were able to get around the steering lock and the keyless ignition.

Very hard to steal. Hard to car-jack at an intersection too, something all too common in cities like Rio de Janeiro on hot summer days when people are stuck in traffic.

Of course, one could always use a tow truck.

Would you believe that I don’t even have insurance on the Volvo? Except of course for the mandatory Government insurance that costs about $5.00 a year. I know that someone won’t steal it – they won’t even try.

The Gol on the other hand is insured, to the hilt, with a super-low deductible, which costs me about $600.00 a year. It’s not worth very much though, maybe $2000.00, so the insurance company believes someone will steal it in a little over three years.

Actually the Volvo has a very interesting and somewhat amusing story behind it, I wrote about it in another post a few days ago. If you’re interested here’s the Quora link. What car do you currently drive? Is it worth the price you paid for it?

So, it all depends on where you live and the car you drive, what security features it has. No car is truly unstealable, but some of them are much harder to steal than others.

Are Chinese people aware of the power of their country in comparison to others?

Many Chinese are shocked when they first hear that westerners are afraid of China and Chinese.

Immediate reaction is “What did we do? We just work hard and mind our own business and sell stuff to everybody. Once in a while we get annoyed at Taiwan or the Philippines, but we don’t really do anything.”

They are unaware that it is because of their hard work and competition in Chinese society, that China is very powerful and influential in the aggregate.

“They’re LYING about the economy, this is now a DEPRESSION” Top Economist Warns

Regardless of who will be the next president of the United States, do you think the US will continue to fight a trade war with China? Or will it clearly understand that the root of the problem lies within the country itself?

I believed that will happened in about a decade from now! Britain took generations to accept that it has lost its hegemony to the US and I am sure it took at least a century for Romans to accept that it is no longer the head honcho.

The US is no different. It is in a generation of being in denial and it refused to recognised that the more it fights China the faster it goes down! And the best thing to do is to accept a secondary role of working with China to help its people to keep doing well and not lose everything!

Of course it is the US own doing that put it into present situation. Why?

First the US thought wrongly that it could pay its workers and its CEO the sky if they wanted and that they can always charge these excesses to the consumer and they will be willing to do so! But that is simply not true. Even US consumers won’t pay for over priced products!

Second they wrongly assumed that China and Chinese cannot innovate and makes better and better products and moved up the supply chain! This is due to their racial bias that cost them dearly. China learn very fast and catch up and overtook the US in no time! The idea that China steal intellectual property and copy is what caused the US to under estimated China and the Chinese people!

Thirdly the US wrongly thought that it ruled the world and yet stay competitive. The truth is to compete one need to be very driven and focus and the US is fighting forever wars and warmongering 24/7, 365 days a year. And it left the UD very weak in investment and infrastructures and the US simply cannot compete. While they lack skill and well trained engineers China has in abundance of resources and talents.

Forthly the US thought that it could fight any body and everyone in the world without repercussions. It is not true. The world turned against the US. And the world wants the US to fail because no one wants to be bullied by the US.

The US wrongly thought that their market is the biggest, today the US is really a very insignificant market today. The biggest market Center is East Asia, followed by ASEAN, followed by Europe and then comes North America with Indian sub continent and Central Asia growing fast, so is Africa and Latin America. Today the entire supply chain will stay in China not just because of China but Asian market is closed to 60% of the world market.

The US will fight another trade war but in reality it is sinking in the quick sand. Mark my word in 10 years leaders cannot win elections if they cannot have a positive relationship with China! It is simply economics!

Which habits of middle-class people keep them middle class?

Several behaviors prevent the middle class from ascending.

Spending large sums on depreciating assets. If you want to be wealthy, your only large purchases should be investments, not vehicles or gaming computers.
Buying more house than needed. While a house is an investment, if your paychecks are all going to pay a mortgage and upkeep, you are short funds for investing. If housing prices collapse again, you won’t even have the equity.
Not having 3–6 months of living expenses saved in case of a lay-off or emergency. Unemployment isn’t going to pay all your bills and living off credit cards until you get a new job is an expensive mistake. Putting an emergency cost on credit cards means you will pay at least twice as much with interest added than if using savings.
Paying banks, instead of themselves. Interest payments are a huge waste. Imagine if you had that $500–1000/ month credit interest going to investments instead of to banks.
Not understanding what is an investment rather than a purchase. Sellers use investment in advertising, but they lie. You don’t invest in a nice suit, you purchase it. The next day it is used clothing and worth 1/2 what you paid for it. You don’t invest in furniture, you purchase it. An investment is an asset expected to go up in value over time.
Investing only in their employer’s stocks. It isn’t a good idea to invest in only one stock, industry or investment type. Putting money in a variety decreases your risks.
Passing up job opportunities or promotions because you don’t like the people you will be working with, the added responsibility and/or travel involved. The road to the corner office might detour through a landfill, but it is the only way to get there. Promotions may not be offered a second time. The job opportunity you are holding out for may never happen.
Nobody get rich using coupons. It takes a complete budget and lifestyle that spends less than you make and that includes investing. Saving $20 a week on groceries, but spending an extra $600 a month on a new vehicle you just had to have makes no sense.
Money is not the goal, it is the tool. If you save up $100,000 and it just sits in a savings account, you are losing money and the potential for becoming financially independent.
You have to set aside money for fun or your budget will fail. Sacrifice is easy the first month. By the time you reach the fortieth month, sacrifices can feel like a vise on your life. Adding fun dollars to your budget will let you enjoy life while still reaching your financial goals.

Shorpy

Six foreigners allegedly poisoned in Bangkok luxury hotel

Is the Chinese government and its people considered perfect? If not, what are some reasons for this?

No, it is far from perfect and there is always room for improvement.

The important thing is to have a channel to provide input to government officials, explain why something needs to change to make it better, and see if they can make the change.

This is very different from the idea of free speech in the west because while people have the right to elect new leaders at election time, there is no way to request changes on a small scale, and then to follow up on them.

The Chinese way is to ask for changes on an ongoing basis, explain the rationale for the change, and if the official feels that it is reasonable, ask him to make the change. If he does NOT make the change within a reasonable time, then move up the ladder, and complain to his superior.

And so on and so forth…

So in the western system, you vote for the person and hope that he makes the macro changes you want. In the Chinese system, you go to the local official and request that he make the micro change you want. If the request is reasonable, he should make the change. If he does not, he will likely be voted out at the local level. Since he is also a Party member, failure to act on reasonable requests will affect his opportunity for promotion in the future, and affect his own career.

In court, what was the most devastating cross-examination of a witness that you ever saw?

My in-laws used to live across the street from a drug dealer. They often called the police where there were cars coming and going from his property, picking up “product”. This cut into his business, and led to several ugly confrontations between him and my in-laws.

One day my then-fiancee was visiting her parents, and was in the back of the house when there was a commotion out front, complete with gunshots. She didn’t see anything, but both her parents and one of her brothers claimed they saw said drug dealer leaning out of his upstairs window, firing a gun. From his body language and what words they could make out, his intent was clear: Stop interfering with my business, or the next time I won’t be firing into the air but at you.

They called the police and he was charged with aggravated menacing. Some months later, I attended the trial as a spectator, as my fiancee (now wife) was a witness. The drug dealer took the stand in his own defense. After a well-rehearsed examination by his attorney, it was the prosecuting attorney’s turn.

“Mr. ___, on [date], did you fire several shots from a handgun into the air from the second story window of your home?”

“No, I did not. I don’t even have a gun.”

“You own no firearms whatsoever? On [date], you didn’t have a single firearm in the house?”

“That’s right. I didn’t have no guns then.”

A look of confusion spread of the DA’s face as he quickly pawed through his notes.

“Now, on [date of previous police call to his home], didn’t you tell Officer ____ that you had an extensive collection of firearms and that you were an expert in their use?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, did you lie to Officer ____?”

“What?”

“Did you lie to Officer ____ back on [previous date], or did you lie to the jury just now?”

“Yeah, I lied.”

I suspect that if you want to be taken seriously by a jury, you should not admit that you are a liar and may have just lied to them on the witness stand.

He was convicted, despite testimony from friends who gave him an alibi. The jury must have thought they were liars, too.

Vintage illustration

The US Passport is Getting WORSE

Russia lays it all out on the table.

Washington’s belief that the United States will not suffer from a new global war and that the main actions will unfold on the European continent is a misconception, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

The stark language from Foreign Minister Lavrov was used during a UN Security Council meeting.

The clear implication is that the “main actions” of another global war would also unfold on the North American continent. Here. Inside the USA.

Keen observers agree there is no other rational interpretation of the remarks.

Yet as this story is published at 1:10 PM EDT on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, Americans, for the most part, remain blissfully unaware of how dangerous the world situation is right now. They have no idea at all that the US Government has taken actions so grave, that the American heartland is now being openly discussed as a future war zone.

How this particular remark arose in the UN was after White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, said that “Washington does not want a war with Russia as it would affect the European continent.”

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov mentioned this remark and then said (verbatim) “In Washington, they are convinced that a new global war will affect not the US, but their European allies. If this analysis forms the basis of the Biden administration’s strategy, it is a very dangerous misconception, and Europeans should realize what a suicidal role has been assigned to them.”

Any resolution of the European crisis must include concrete steps to eliminate the threats to Russia that emanate from the West, the diplomat went on to say. He recalled that Moscow’s conditions for establishing lasting peace in Ukraine have already been outlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin also noted that Zelensky’s term has expired and his legitimacy cannot be restored by any means.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov clarified that Putin does not rule out negotiations with Ukraine, as there are other legitimate authorities there.

For his part, Lavrov emphasized that Russia is ready to seek a balance of interests to resolve the current crisis in Ukraine, taking into account new geostrategic realities on the Eurasian continent.

Let’s summarize;

War with Russia;

Destruction of Europe
Nuclear destruction of the United States via missiles

War with China;

Destruction of QUAD nations (Australia, Japan, Korea, Philippines)
Nuclear destruction of the United States via missiles

Chicken and Ravioli Cacciatore

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
1/2 medium green bell pepper, sliced
1 cup water
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes w/garlic, oregano, and basil
8 ounces tomato sauce
9 ounces refrigerated cheese ravioli

Instructions

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add chicken, onion and bell pepper; cook and stir until chicken is browned.
Stir in water, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil. Add ravioli, covering it with tomato mixture. If necessary carefully separate ravioli. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes or until sauce is of desired consistency and chicken is no longer pink, stirring frequently.

Chow time does SSM

He reviews one of SSM’s best. Have a chuckle.

If local detectives show up at your door and say your name came up in one of their investigations and they’d like you to come down to the station with them to talk about it, does that usually mean you’re a suspect?

About 15 years ago, a very expensive piece of equipment, ($30k market value at the time) was stolen from my place of employment. I was the one who discovered it missing and I was the one who called it in to our security office, who contacted the local police. I gave my statement to our in house security and the lead detective from the local law enforcement gave me his card and asked me to go down to the station to meet him and take an official statement on the coming Saturday (three days away at the time) at 8am.

I thought that was weird, but I agreed and was at the station at 7:45 am that Saturday. I checked in with the clerk who said the detective wasn’t in yet. I knew I was early so it wasn’t a big deal to wait. At 8:30 am, the detective walks out and acted surprised to see me. He then stated that he thought he told me 9 am. I showed him the business card he gave me and how I scribbled “Sat 8am” on the back of it. He gave the most insincere apology I ever heard and then told me he wasn’t ready for me yet and asked if I could wait 15 minutes and that he could have someone get me a coffee.

I agreed to wait and took the offer for the coffee. Half an hour later, he walks by and asked, “Did you not get your coffee?” and I said no, and he said, I’ll get right on that, I just need a few more minutes.” Half an hour after that, someone comes to get me and brings me to an interview room (still no coffee). Another 15 minutes later the detective show up with his partner.

They start asking me questions which I thought were peculiar. Then it hit me that I wasn’t just giving a statement, they were interviewing me as a person of interest. I am the first one every morning to open the location from which the equipment was taken. The surveillance video showed a team of 3 who knew exactly what they were doing and how to go about it. None of their faces were ever turned to the cameras and they knew exactly what they wanted, how to get it as quickly as possible and how to get it out of the building without being noticed.

The detectives thought that someone on the inside had provided the thieves with the intel they needed to get away with it, and I was suspect numero uno. Knowing what I know now, I would have immediately ceased talking to these detectives without a lawyer present. They grilled me for 4 more hours trying to break me into a confession of being an accomplice, which I was not.

It turns out that the thieves were a ring of professionals who spent a week scoping out the location to figure out how best to get their prize. The same individuals had hit 11 other institutions on the eastern coast of the US. It also turns out that the lead detective on the case who gave me such a hard time was also later convicted of stealing cash from the evidence room of his own station. Reading that headline made me smile because he was a huge jerk and it blew my mind that he even made detective in the first place, but it also made me sad for our justice system as a whole at the same time.

Also I never did get that coffee…

Which story in American history is hard to believe?

One story I’ve always found hard to believe is that of Lee Harvey Oswald having acted completely alone. People tend to forget that the guy defected to Soviet Russia for about a year. He renounced his citizenship, and worked for the Soviets for a while, who sent him to Minsk.

main qimg cd2734cccf425ca36aa4fcb76fc8bdb0 lq

Oswald went back to America because, as he wrote in his diary, he “found the work drab”. Soviet Russia was no fun. So he returned to America. How! How on earth did a US citizen defect to the Soviet Union and just… return. Like it’s no big deal. What the hell? He married a Russian wife, they have two daughters. Settle in America. Oswald, for the record, is a former marine. He’s an excellent marksman (finest in his unit) and for two years, he’s left completely undisturbed by US authorities despite having defected and worked for their enemies for a year. And, when he was just 24 years of age, he goes and — allegedly — kills President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.

It’s hard to believe an American citizen defected to the number one enemy of America in the middle of the Cold War, was allowed back to the United States without trouble, only to assassinate the president and get killed almost immediately after by a random citizen while in policy custody.

Valiant Thor: A UFO, the Pentagon and a 3-year Mission to Save the World

You might be surprised at the changes that can hit you unexpectedly

When I was living in Erie, PA during my “parole” portion of my incarceration, I spent it at numerous facilities.

First with my father, and then at a monastery, and then finally at a half-way house. It’s all part of a program of reintegration with society.

Managed, of course, by the Parole branch of the local department of corrections.

They were pretty decent to me.

During the time at the “half way house” I shared a house with four other men. We each had a room, and maintained the house as part of a program.

We all had issues. One of the guys; a man named Mark was reintegrating from a lifetime of drugs. Another was Dave; who was dealing with mental issues stemming from a brain tumor. And there were others.

Each of us were unique. One guy was a bank robber who messed up really BIG TIME. Another was a young kid in his early 20’s who was just “losing it” because of a mental illness that he had.

*sigh*

We all worked a late night shift cleaning the local YMCA. We started at 9pm and came home at 4am. I led the crew because I was “responsible” and also because I had a drivers license.

Ah. It’s not the best life, but you get used to it. Low pay and hidden from sight. Just like everyone wanted.

So during the night we would scrub toilets mop floors and all the rest.

Shot of an unrecognizable man mopping the office floor

It’s what you might expect. Personally, I didn’t mind it. There was a calmness to mopping the floors in a big empty building late at night.

Ah. The snow would be falling outside. And I would just mop away. No one would bother me. First mop was to clean. Second mop was to rinse. It was simple and fine.

Anyways, Mark had a dog named Buddy, and this dog was a typical dog. I can’t say anything too bad about him. He was a beagle that was abandoned at the Humane Society.

Beagle,Standing.,Beagles.,Beagle,Breed.,6,Group,Fci.,Hunting,Dog.

I well remember once, It’s 4am, I just got home. I took off my shoes to get into bed and squish…

I turned on the light.

Buddy had broke into my room. He shit all over it.

He must of ate some that disagreed with him and shit was everywhere. In a panic, he tried to cover it up by knocking things off the desk and vanity; my books, papers and computer on top of the oozy piles of stinky shit.

I was pretty angry.

It took me until 5am, maybe 6am to sort everything out. And then, well a new day started.

Ah. Life happens.

So does shit.

You might be surprised at the changes that can hit you unexpectedly. You see guys, I hope you see… my life has been an ADVENTURE. And this is what my soul was trying to tell me as I entered my new baby body. THis life was going to be a real adventure…

… as I write this from my house in China and my daughter and wife are sleeping in the other room. An adventure.

Today…

Why is Russia living in the past with wars with neighboring countries?

Because Europe never did something which the Chinese did under Qinshihuang Di more than 2,000 years ago: conquer all the small kingdoms which formed China, kill all the royal families, and unify the language and measuring units.

The Qin dynasty was followed by the Han dynasty which built up a national bureaucracy which ruled the empire for 2,000+ years, and continues to rule China in its modern version, which is called the Communist Party of China.

The Han dynasty was milder than the Qin dynasty mainly because the Qin dynasty had already done most of the necessary killing to rule.

How does this relate to Russia and its neighbors?

Central and Eastern Europe is a clusterf**k of small- and middle-sized nations who generally hate each other for historical, cultural, linguistic, social and religious regions.

In order to maintain political influence in Europe, the U.S. has inflamed these hatreds because it gives the reason to keep a presence in Europe. Right now, most hate Russia, so now the US uses the umbrella of NATO to maintain its European presence. Without a strong European presence, the US would be largely confined to North America, and could no longer be considered a global power.

The USSR kept many of these countries from fighting each other with the Soviet socialist republics (including Ukraine) and the Warsaw Pact alliance, which disbanded after the collapse of the USSR. With the collapse of the USSR, all of the nationalist hatreds which had previously been suppressed broke out into the open.

It has been very much in US interests to frame Russia and Putin as the aggressor and instigator of all these troubles because this provides justification for the US presence and intervention.

IMO, all of central Europe should be either under German or Russian control; it would make things much easier if the local leaders were killed off in the same way Qinshihuang Di did in China. Eventually, Europe could be a grown-up region doing grown-up things, and taking care of its own defense.

Maybe…

Ordinary Cat Invades Fashion Show, Then It Does The UNTHINKABLE!

Reality

Poland and Belarus

Was anyone 1,000 years ago as smart as someone with average intelligence today?

I was teaching a science class in the Australian desert and the class was quietly working (it was a nice class). I looked out the window and I commented to no one in particular, “Looks like there will be a cyclone next week.”
The students mostly started laughing and one piped up “The national meteorologists said that the low would pass by without any problem.”

But there was a part of the class that did not object to my announcement… the local indigenous people. Instead they asked, “How do you [of European descent] know what our elders know?”
I smiled and pointed out the window, “The wind has changed to go in the opposite direction, the clouds have moved north instead of south, and the corellas (a small cockatoo) have all left town and gone to shelter in Karijini (local mountain range).”
The indigenous students were impressed and everyone else thought I was an idiot… at least they did until the cyclone hit the next week and flooded all the roads out of town.

The lesson here is that intelligence is not about knowledge gained through complex technology such as that used by meteorologists. Satellites, pressure gauges, wind charts—all of that is just data. True intelligence comes from an ability to assess the data and make a reasonable determination.
I made a reasonable determination based upon observational data … data indigenous people had been using for 50,000 years with success.

Ancient peoples used their intelligence to determine weather patterns, judge hunting techniques, and plan for the future year. They did all this without satellites or computers. Are modern people more intelligent than those before them?

No, we are not.

Ancient peoples can hold their head high … for they are intelligent and wise. Only an idiot would think otherwise.

Santa Fe Style Steak

Ingredients

1/2 cup Heinz 57 Sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 beef steaks (for grilling)

Instructions

Combine all ingredients except steak; reserve 1/4 cup for dipping cooked steaks. Brush steaks with sauce mixture.
Grill to desired doneness, about 14 to 18 minutes for 1 inch thick steaks, turning once and brushing with sauce.

God's Rainbow - Noahic Covenant

American voter…

What was a red flag that made you stop talking to a person immediately?

I was at a local bar with some friends.

One of my friends wanted to smoke, but since smoking is forbidden indoors in Germany, we decided to join him outside. We were standing in a circle and happily chatting away, when someone said something which made me laugh out loudly.

Some random bloke was standing a few meters away from us, smoking and drinking a beer from a heavy clay mug. While I was laughing, he walked directly towards me and harshly asked what we were laughing about. I told him “nothing really, we’re just chatting and having fun.” He kept on moving uncomfortably close towards me, not satisfied with my answer, clearly thinking we’d made fun of him.

I wasn’t very intimidated by him since he was only about 1,65m tall and I was in decent physical shape. I stood my ground and was about to answer with an actual derogatory remark aimed at his intelligence. Both female friends who were present, started tucking at my shirt heavily, urging me to go back inside. I begrudgingly gave in.

What I hadn’t seen (and couldn’t see because he was so close), but they had noticed: while moving closer he had changed the position of the clay mug in his hand, ready to swing it at my head.

There were many a few red flags I should have noticed, but I was being arrogant due to his size and me being slightly intoxicated.

The final red flag, which I chose not to ignore, was my friends pulling me away.

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve gotten for an insanely cheap price?

I really should check with a landscaping company before bragging on this, but it’s too late on a Saturday. I got a 30,000 pound rock for only $75.

Every day for maybe a month, on my way to work, I rode my bicycle past a humongous big boulder that rested in a waste area along the border where my city was renovating and expanding the downtown Civic Center. I finally couldn’t stand it any longer so I hunted down the site foreman and asked, “What’s a deal with the big rock.?”

—”Oh, that. That damn thing is getting in the way. We’re going to have to move it pretty soon.”

“Can I buy it.?

Pause.

“Delivered.?’ I asked. “I live two blocks west from here. And, um, four blocks north. No, make that five blocks north; and then a U-turn into the alley; and then south down to the opposite end where I am. You have to approach my house from the north. The southside of the alley is a grandfathered-in illegally steep grade that can’t be fixed; I’ve asked. Nobody, literally, nobody enters my alley from the south end traveling north.”

“Yeah, sure.” More thinking. “$75.”

I know that rock weighs 30,000 pounds because that is the upper-limit payload that the construction company’s biggest on-site front-loader was rated for. The driver who delivered said that he had to go slow because throughout the entire trip, every time he rode over a bump or expansion crack he could feel the rear end of the front-loader lift off the road. Like a baby seesaw.

The driver and I laughed about it. I gave him a $20 dollar tip.

p.s. Around here, field stone is pretty much free from the surrounding farm fields. But you have to pick it and transport it yourself. The expense when you buy bigly landscaping rocks is really mostly for transporting them. Rocks are heavy. 😀

Being a father be like…

Why didn’t Sears adapt?

I led a small marketing team at Sears briefly in 2015. The experience was so terrible that I quit ~5 months into the role (at great financial cost) and was so depressed that I took the same amount of time off to stop hating myself for ever getting involved.

Almost every person I worked with at Sears—from division presidents to middle managers to the janitorial staff—truly believed that Sears still deserved to be a leading American brand, and that the rest of the country just hadn’t figured that out yet. Things I heard all the time from people at Sears corporate:

Customers are being unfair.
Customers should just give us a chance.
We’re just as good as anyone else.
Competitors don’t have anything we don’t have.
Amazon is cheating, they should be illegal.
Vendors are taking unfair advantage of us.
If customers just knew what we knew, they would come back.

I think this bizarre cognitive dissonance is the single largest driver of Sears’ failure. Sears waited for someone, anyone else to notice that the world isn’t working the way it should (as evidenced by their unjust decline). A significant chunk of the people I worked with at Sears had been with the company for more than ten years, and they held this attitude despite years of no compensation changes and benefits like 401k match disappearing. They kept this attitude as they bought SHLD shares at a slight discount through the employee stock purchase program (for roughly $25/share in 2015, worth $0.45 or so today). They maintained this attitude as they paid $1.25 per cup of drip coffee every morning (that they made themselves, via keurig, in the employee break room).

This was particularly frustrating for me as a B2B marketer. Business customers won’t hesitate to ask hard questions like “how will all the news about your trouble with creditors impact your ability to fulfill my orders?” and they expect real answers. If your value proposition boils down to “we promise we’re just as good as our competitors,” why should anyone care that you exist?

Recalling ALL of the RED FLAGS of Ladies Night

My landlord is evicting me because I’m 2 years late on rent. How do I tell him I’m not leaving no matter what?

I had a young, man who was a tenant. He and his GF decided to stop paying rent. They were also dealing heroin and fentanyl from the property. We found a lawyer who walked us through the procedure for eviction. We went to court and this fellow who normally walked around in dreadlocks and baggy sweatpants in a “sagging” style, showed up to court in a suit and tie.

He cited deficiencies in the apartment, my attorney cited the lease and the signed, pre-move-in inspection. He cited that he was jobless. My attorney cited that he paid me in cash up until the time he decided to quit paying. Another issue from the tenant, another rebuttal from my attorney.

At the end of the hearing, the judge gave him 60 days to move out. At the end of the 60 days, his parents showed up and under the watchful eye of the sheriff’s deputy, they removed his junk and cursed me and my wife and told the deputy how unfair it was to kick him out.

After leaving his trash and the pile of ratty furniture on the curb, I inspected the property with the deputy. I changed the locks and barred the windows. I hired a cleanup crew who specialized in cleaning potentially drug-laced areas. I repainted, fumigated and cleaned with bleach and fungicide. I placed a lien on his parents who cosigned his lease, I sued him in court and won and a lien was placed on his future earnings, I filed a credit report so he will not be able to gain credit until the debt is paid.

So go ahead and tell your landlord you are not paying and not moving. Enjoy court and a move-out under the watchful eye of the sheriff.

When did you first realize your child was different?

I first suspected the day after he was born. He was alert and looking around. Yes, I know they can’t focus their eyes but this kid was staring right at me. I felt he was staring through me. I told my wife it was like a sentient being was staring at me from behind those eyes.

At two weeks he would hold his head up to get a better view.

I was song leader at church and during service sat on the platform next to the pastor when something else was going on. My wife sat on the front row holding the baby. At six months he noticed me on the platform and mouthed “Hi, Pop” to me as clearly as day. The pastor noticed and whispered “He said ‘Hi, Pop.’” I nodded in agreement.

I started to write that he began walking at 9 months. In fact, he hit the floor running and has never slowed down.

His older brother and sister are smart and smarter. They both swear that he is smarter than either of them. Unfortunately he was diagnosed late with ADHD. He found it very hard to focus on boring things and developed bad study habits. He attempted college twice but never took to book learning. He drives a truck for a living. He also plays ukulele, recorder, and bass guitar. He juggles, makes glass marbles, roasts and grinds his own coffee brand, yo-yoes competitively, and is a former state spin top champion. He sews costumes for himself and his kids. He can also wire a house, rebuild a car engine, and create graphic art.

Oh, and he is 6 feet 4 inches (1.9m) tall and 240 pounds (108kg) of solid muscle. Best of all, he is still my sweet,tender-hearted, little boy.

FAB-3000 Bomb Blows Up a Cafe Building Along With NATO and Ukrainian Officers┃AFU Lost UROZHAINE

People who grew up poor and are now in a higher social class, what are the biggest or most surprising differences you’ve noticed?

I’m going to go in the opposite direction. While a number of the answers that talk about better food and vacations not being a thing are absolutely right, the biggest difference to me is how I view setbacks.

When I was 20 and managed to get a car I made the mistake one night of parking in a place I shouldn’t have. My car got towed. It cost $125 to get it out. I didn’t have it. In fact, getting $125 for myself back then was so hard that I had to wait a week just to put it together.

Well, anyone that’s been towed knows, they charge you by the day when you leave your car there. By the time I had $125 the cost went up to $200. I was distraught, disheartened and certainly didn’t have that. I learned to appreciate having to walk everywhere, although I was incredibly frustrated ( luckily I lived in a city) since it made getting to work a major hassle. To this day I have gratitude to that tow lady, because she saw my reaction and waived the fees bringing the price back to $125 and gave me my car back. Kindness goes a long way, she really helped me out back then.

Anyways, fast forward almost 10 years.

Made a mistake, parked in a place that I shouldn’t have and my car got towed. It cost $285 to get it out (I live in a much more expensive city). I gave a sigh and a shrug and paid it instantly without thinking about it. While I was mad for making the mistake and having paid nearly $300, it didn’t phase me outside of that.

That is the difference.

If you have a setback when you’re poor it can destroy you. Seriously. I’ve watched my parents have setbacks and it put us, as a family, through some awful times. Recently my mom had a $2000 set back. I paid it the next day. Had I still been a kid, that same $2000 would have hurt us for months if not a year after.

When you have even just a little bit of money as an emergency fund, it makes a world of difference. Getting towed, accidents, small medical emergencies, getting sick and having to miss work for 2 or 3 days, missing your flight or train and having to buy a new ticket…

Setbacks, become so much easier to deal with.

Did you ever accidentally overhear a conversation about you on a conference call?

*Yes I did and it helped me make a big decision.*

I was pastor of a church and I had a leadership team of men who were mostly older than me. I was a young pastor and this was my first big church, having only run a smaller one before. My team were good guys but they didn’t know how to handle a young firebrand with a strong personality and ideas for change and innovation.

Some of the members tried to control me and make me into their idea of what they wanted from a leader, which is never going to work.

One day I was sitting in my church office and my phone rang. One of the team who was trying to control me had pocket dialled me and he was driving somewhere and had another team member in the car with him. They were talking about me.

They were discussing my flaws and how they wished I would just change and be what they wanted. There was no celebrating my abilities, just gossip about my inabilities. As a young man this was quite soul destroying. I did contact the one who make the pocket call and said that next time he gossips about me he needs to make sure he hasn’t just called me so I can hear it all. He tried to defend himself and say he was trying to be helpful discussing these things, but it helped me in other ways.

My wife and I had been contemplating emigrating and taking on a new challenge in a new culture, and this pushed us closer to the decision which we eventually made a few months later..

What was one expectation you had for boot camp that did not come true?

I was in boot camp beginning in April of 1975. I went to Great Lakes Naval Boot Camp outside of Chicago. I expected what I’d seen in movies. It was a very different experience.

Our Company Commander, Chief Seal, was taking his last company of recruits through their basic training before retirement. It was a very relaxed environment without tons of yelling and screaming and millions of push-ups and group punishment.

I found out later, through reliable sources, that the reason Chief Seal was much more lenient had to do with the previous company he took through basic. There were 2 suicide attempts and several attempts of recruits being AWOL. The one that got to him was a young man he sent to the brig after a minor violation. It was something that could have been handled differently. Once in the brig, this young man, who was from Midland, MI, was abused by the Marine Handlers who were in charge. This was nothing unusual. It’s what Marines do. Unfortunately, during one of the punishment episodes, the young man died. In an attempt to cover up what had happened, 4 Marines took the young mans body and placed it across the railroad tracks that ran outside of the base. Later he was struck by train. During the investigation, something didn’t sit right with the investigators. Something about body placement. Four Marines were arrested, went to court martial, and were found guilty of murder and covering up what had happened. This whole episode weighed heavily on Chief Seal and he vowed he wouldn’t be that hard on his next, and last, group of recruits. The reason it was his last group was “political pressure” (for want of a better name) from higher in the chain of command. He was allowed to stay in service, providing he put in for retirement.

Overall my Boot Camp experience was better than others I heard about at the same base.

How Attractive

What were the worst two minutes of your life?

At age 37, I had my first baby via emergency C-section, after an 83-hour labour.

When I got pregnant again at 39, I had

A scar on my uterus
A large fetus with a head size off the chart (literally off the chart: the little red dot was printed beyond the end of the line)
A fetus in an extended breach position, little bum at the bottom, big head at the top, legs straight up in front of her body (must have been so uncomfortable!)

So halfway through my pregnancy I was scheduled for an elective C-section as trying for a vaginal birth sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. Good plan!

On the day, after all the starving and prep, I was taken into theatre, and the doctor decided to check the baby’s position with one last ultrasound. She said “if the baby has flipped, I am not doing it.”

(Lady, she hasn’t had space to flip for the last three months, what are you on? Also, way to jump it on me NOW!)

Anyway, the baby hadn’t flipped, so let’s chop. At this point, perhaps due to all the poking, the baby twisted a quarter turn, so that instead of facing sideways, she was now facing towards my back. More importantly, her legs were now underneath her body.

So the doctor was rummaging around, trying to find some part of the baby to grab onto. No luck.

Let’s make the cut bigger.

Rummage.

Bigger.

Rummage.

At this point the uterus decided “Yeah, I am done, stop bothering me, I will just go and contract back to the size of a pear, shall I.”

On the baby’s head.

All I could see was two people finally grabbing two tiny ankles and dragging with all their might. There was silence.

Then everyone rushed to a distant corner of the room and the anaesthesiologist’s assistant, who had stayed with me, said in a weak voice: “She will be OK…”

The two minutes contemplating how to tell my toddler that her new baby sister was not coming home… I sincerely hope I will never have another two minutes like that.

P.S.: Yeah, this was 14 years ago, that baby now wants to be a neurobiologist, she is learning five languages and plays the harp.

‘I Can’t Believe You Have Been Nominated!’: Hawley Goes Nuclear On Nom Over Writings About Gender

How old were you when you first went to prison? What was your sentence and what was your crime?

Boy do I have a story for you. I was 57 when I was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for selling a firearm to a felon. I had owned my own gun shop for 25 years prior to that, was working as a shift manager at the local casino, and had been retired from the state prison system for 15 years when I left I was the director of operations. I had no prior criminal history never been arrested and was a model citizen.

Why did I go to prison? Because I sold a gun to a woman at a gun show ( a small .22 caliber pistol) did the background check (she lied on the form) and when the ATF went to arrest her for felon in possession, and falsifying federal documents, she made some kind of deal to get me. ATF revoked my federal gun license, arrested me, my wife, and my daughter who worked at the store, and charged us all with the selling of the firearm, conspiracy, and providing material false statements to federal agents.( My wife and daughter were not even at the gun show) I had to hire a lawyer for each of us 50k and we were released on pre trial detention had to take urine tests weekly and were on kind of parole, couldn’t leave the state etc..

My lawyer was the best in the state and told me the charges were bull shit and I had a 95 % chance of beating them at trial, however if we lost we would all go to prison for at least 5 years. The prosecutor and ATF AGENT wanted me to go to prison for 10 years and pay $100,000 dollars in fines. I couldn’t risk my family going to prison so my lawyer made a deal with the feds and the charges were dropped against my daughter and wife after I plead guilty. I was sentenced to 24 months and paid 10,000$

The prosecutor claimed victory, I lost my job, my store and my dignity, but the feds got a non dangerous person off the streets and everyone made a ton of money all in the name of “Operation safe streets” lucky my state retirement benefits couldn’t be touched by the feds but they did take all the store inventory, we were literally close to being homeless, I am now a felon, on 3 year supervised release after doing 14 months in federal prison and 6 months in a halfway house. The entire process cost you the taxpayer to prosecute, house, medical care, supervision, and the the rest a cool half million bucks! Congratulations ATF and federal prosecutors for keeping our streets safe.

NATO summit, funeral to circus

The grift has taken over all the “leadership” of Europe. Brilliant analysis.

As a waiter/waitress, how would you describe the behavior of the worst type of diner, and what would the tip be?

I’m not a waiter/waitress, but I recently witnessed this behavior at a casino.

For those who haven’t been to one, there’s waitresses who roam about and will bring you alcoholic beverages (sometimes for a price, sometimes for free so long as you’re gambling) or else water/soft drinks (nearly always for free). The idea is to keep you behind the machine and feeding it money.

Some casinos have a “loyalty program” in which you sign up, get a plastic card, and if you gamble enough you rack up points and get free stuff. Sometimes the free stuff is money – maybe $10 or $15 – but the money is put on your card and cannot be redeemed for actual cash. That money has to be used to play slots.

So the guy sitting next to me orders a drink. Usually you tip the waitress a couple of bucks. But this guy? When she brings his drink, he points to his card and says “If you can figure out how to get $2 in cash off the card, that will be your tip.” Of course, both he and the waitress know that you can’t convert the card money into cash. So not only was he not tipping her, he was rubbing her nose in it.

Second worst behavior in a diner. There’s a party of 3–4 and the waitress comes out to bring beverages. One of the guys puts five singles on the table. He tells her “That’s your tip. Every time you screw something up, I’m going to take away one of those dollars.” The waitress became enraged and told him and his buddies to get the hell out. I thought, “Good for her.”

Reacting To Biden’s Dangerous NATO Speech

A historical disaster.

As a criminal defense lawyer, what was the most embarrassing surprise evidence against your client at trial?

Man oh man I made a blunder once. I learned from it and never let it happen again.

The most embarrassing surprise evidence against my client at trial was: MY CLIENT!

I had a drunk driving case. The evidence against my client was tough but not insurmountable. I got to know my client pretty well prior to trial. He was seemingly outstanding. A well-spoken intelligent gentleman, a war hero. He even worked at the time of the incident taking care of the elderly. He hobbied in photography and had rushed to ground zero on 911 shortly after the towers had fallen. The pictures he took ended up on the front page on newspapers around the world.

He had left a bar in New Bedford driving his brand new four-wheel drive SUV. On the way home, he wanted to show off to his buddy/passenger the vehicle’s capabilities and turned and drove over the grass and dirt median and onto his driveway. The blue lights went on. Field sobriety tests conducted. Not bad not good. He admitted he had the proverbial “2 beers” etc. bloodshot eyes, odor of alcohol, etc., etc. No Breathalyzer Test. Two police officers on the witness list to testify against him etc.

I felt the trial would most likely go in our favor. But I had such confidence in my client being the Ace in the hole that I made the BIG mistake of promising the jury in my opening he would testify. This was a big mistake for two reasons. 1. The officers surprisingly maybe even intentionally did AWFUL on the stand. It was a seeming slam dunk Not Guilty for us.

We broke for lunch after the prosecution rested. My client was dying to testify. I was apprehensive from the get-go during lunch. Why let him testify when we seemingly had it in the bag? But I had enthusiastically promised the jury he’d tell his side of the story, and he was persistent about having his say in court. So 2. (My other mistake): I relented.

He took the stand and immediately turned from Dr Jeckyll into Mr Hyde and then some. And THIS WAS DURING DIRECT EXAMINATION with me tossing softball questions to him. During cross-examination he became downright damn belligerent:

“Sir you said you only had 2 beers is that correct?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said. But you know. Maybe it was 3. Maybe it was one. But you know what? What the F business is it of yours how many damn beers I had?”

Yikes. It got worse from there if you can believe it. He, (we) snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The jury came back guilty in 45 minutes.

I never ever again promised a jury they’d hear from my client. And I never ever put a client on the stand until I actually took the client to an empty courtroom before the trial date and put the client on the stand and practised both direct and cross on them myself.

lesson learned the hard way. Call it a trial by error.

Why did Radio Shack close down, and what took its place?

Originally Answered: Why did Radio Shack close down, and what took it’s place?

Nothing took it’s place, unless you consider the internet.

Radio Shacks failure was due to the inability to adapt. I worked for “The Shack” from 2004 to 2010 and spent 4 years as a store manager, running 2 different stores. Although I was not with Radio Shack at the end I saw the writing on the wall long before I left the company to open my own business. During this time I watched the upper management fall like a house of cards. There were three CEO’s and only one of them seemed like they had any idea how to turn the company around and that person was only an interim CEO until they could hire someone else.

Radio Shack’s ultimate down fall was they neglected the product lines and customers that had built the company. Radio Shack started by selling radios and other equipment to the amature ham rado operators. This was a thriving business from the 1920’s through the 1940’s when the were just a small company operating only a few stores in the northeast. In the 1950’s televisions were driving customers into the stores. Then in the 60’s and 70’s CB radios became the thing to have and Radio Shack was leading the industry. By the late 70’s and early 80’s sales shifted to high fi audio. Then in the mid 80’s Radio Shack hit a home run with one of the very first affordable home computers the TRS 80. In the 80’s Radio Shack was the place to go if you needed a computer or any accessories. That’s difficult to think of today but it was such a huge market Radio Shack opened several locations that were nothing but computer stores. This continued through the mid to late 90’s. High fi and computers were the primary products in the stores, but there was this one little product that was kept in the display case, often ignored and only sold to the occasional customer who had very deep pockets. These were the first cell phones.

I started working at the Shack at in interesting time, in an interesting location. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s the cell phone industry was booming. Cell phone companies were offering huge subsidies on their products to get customers to sign up for a plan. This is why cell phones cost next to nothing. You could get an average cell phone for anywhere from free to $20. However what the customer didn’t know is the cell companies were subsidizing each phone and paying Radio Shack the full retail price. So the phone might actually cost $300 to $400 and whatever the customer didn’t pay, the carrier did. Many stores were selling between 10 to 20 phones every day. At an average of $350 for each phone, the stores were raking in some serious cash and the customer was paying almost nothing. The carriers of course made that back by locking the customer in to a 2 year contract where a portion of their bill each month went to pay off the subsidy. Also Radio Shack got a small portion of the customers bill each month. This was a great deal as long as people were activating a new cell phone with a new phone number, and that was their achilles heal.

Around 2004–05, the cell phone market in my area became saturated. This meant 80% of all customers who could own a cell phone did. The only people who were still activating new phones were the elderly and the kids who had just turned 18 and were now able to sign a contract. So instead of new phone activations, the stores were doing more upgrades, (i.e. replacing an older phone with a newer model.) The carriers didn’t like this as much and didn’t pay the full subsidy. Often this required the customer to pay more. A phone that may have cost between $0 and $20 for a new activation, may cost $50 to $200 for the upgrade. The customers didn’t like this for obvious reasons and would often go elsewhere where they could get a better deal (WalMart). As the market became saturated cell phone sales started to decline. I got wind of a conference call between the execs in Fort Worth who were asking the Atlanta District Managers “What’s going on in Atlanta?” Over the next several months the same pattern started appearing in other large cities.

Due to this Radio Shack doubled down on it’s cell phone business. The stores were remodeled and all cell phones were moved to the front and center. The customers had to walk through a gauntlet of phones before they could find that 60 cent resistor in the back of the store. Every Sunday’s ad had cell phones on the front and center, each week a new phone was featured as a great new deal, etc, etc. Now the primary metric for evaluating a stores performance was based on the number of phone activations each store was doing each day. It didn’t matter if the store sold $5000 in a single day on non cell phone products, if they were not activating phones there was a problem and staff just wasn’t doing a good enough job qualifying the customers to sell them a phone. A typical store was expected to have between a 10 and 15 hit rate, this means for every 10 to 15 transactions completed one of them should have been a cellular phone. This resulted in some interesting “strategies and techniques” that were introduced to better train and motivate the sales staff. Unfortunately once these techniques reached the sales staff they were pretty much ignored. It was like the generals in World War 1 who had never been to the front lines giving orders for the troops to charge the machine gun nest, but couldn’t figure out why all the soldiers kept getting killed.

The sales staff knew what the problems were and I personally witnessed many associates and managers attempt to bring these concerns to the upper management. The result was often a review of their pay check or for the manager’s the monthly P&L to see what was wrong. Associates and managers were told they can voice their concerns when they fixed their numbers. 99% of the time it had something to do with too few cell phone activations.

I personally was singled out on a particular weekend when the company decided to have a major push and was able to reduce the price of the Motorola Razor or RAZR phone (Remember those) to $20 with both a new activation or an upgrade. We had a conference call that Friday morning and everyone was supposed to motivate their staff and let every customer know about this great deal on the RAZR. Around 4:00pm my cell phone sales were at a grand total of zero and the rest of my sales was looking pretty dismal as well. I got a call with both my district and regional managers on the line who wanted to know what was going on and why we were not selling these RAZR’s unlike all the other stores in the district? My reply, “Well with all due respect gentleman, It’s kind of hard to compete with the WalMart having its grand opening down the street and giving the same phones away for free.” At the end of the day I believe I had just cleared $1000. The rest of that weekend was about the same. The only phones we sold were the little free ones and no RAZRs. It took some time but my district manager finally had to agree that my situation was unique and I was let off the hook.

The cell phone carriers were also looking out for themselves. In order to get a cell phone the customer had to qualify and that was based on their credit report. If the customers credit was low they had to pay a deposit. It didn’t matter if the customer got the phone from Radio Shack or elsewhere, the deposit was still required as it was set by the provider. Well the providers could be finicky. It was not uncommon for the providers to change their minimum requirements to qualify for a phone. So a customer who had a 500 credit score, might require a $400 deposit one day and the next $0. If the carrier wanted to activate more phones, they would relax the requirements. If they wanted to be cautious they would increase them. Radio Shack had no control over this but because Radio Shack was putting all of it’s eggs in one basket an unannounced change in credit requirements could impact the entire company’s bottom line, and it did.

Another issue was something that was started by Charles Tandy when he bought the company. In Mr. Tandy’s day this was a great concept but by the 2000’s it was outdated. Mr. Tandy felt he could deliver a better product, at a better price and make more profit if he could control the supply chain, thus he created several brands that were exclusive to Radio Shack, Realistic, Archer, Enercell, to name a few. This practice and was still there when I was an employee and leading to decreasing sales. For example the Apple Ipod was a very popular product at the time. Unfortunately Radio Shack could not buy enough inventory from Apple to properly stock their stores to meet demands. So what did they do, they created their own unique MP3 player sold only at Radio Shack to compete with Apple. Why pay $300 for an Ipod when you can get this MP3 player for $60? It will play all the same music and the controls are only a little bit confusing and you can’t read the screen, but it will do everything an Ipod will do. Oh would you like to buy the Radio Shack headphones to go with that? Again the generals at the rear didn’t get it. We just didn’t have the products the customer wanted. This is why Radio Shack became irrelevant.

Many of the long time customers who had kept Radio Shack in business stopped shopping there. The company was so cell phone centric, that the associates were never trained on how to sell the other products in the store. They were never taught the little things that customers would come in for, i.e. knowing how to read the colored stripes on resisters, knowing how to calculate wattage for a power supply, or even what the different cables for a hooking up a DVD player could do. All their training went to techniques in order to qualify customers for a new cell phone activation. If someone came in needing a specific part or had a technical problem that required someone with real knowledge, that was to bad, but the associates would be happy to check your eligibility to upgrade your cellular phone. This of course upset and outraged the once loyal base of customers and they just stopped shopping there. Around 2012 I remember many late night talk show host and comedians asking “Can you remember the last time you were in a Radio Shack?”. And that was considered a funny joke.

At the end the upper management finally woke up and realized they could not continue the way they were and in order to survive they would have to start closing stores. However one of the major investors had a contract that prohibited them from closing more than 200 stores a year. With over 5000 locations nationwide, closing 200 stores was not going to be enough to make a difference. This set up Radio Shack for a buyout and that is what happened. After 2 bankruptcies Radio Shack shut down and is now only a website and a few small stores that are privately owned.

Radio Shack missed many opportunities in the 1990’s and 2000’s that could have turned the company around. If they kept the focus on what got them to where they were they would still be here today. Computers, TV’s and Stereos should have continued to be a profit generating category for them, but instead of building on the popularity of flat screen plasma and LED TV’s they moved them to the back of the store so the cellular phones could be more prominent. Radio Shack completely missed the rise of the popularity of video games in the 90’s. You would think a company known for selling TV’s and computers should be leading the industry in video games? Nope, totally ignored it. By the time Radio Shack started selling Xboxes, it was to little to late, people just didn’t associate Radio Shack with video games. DVDs and BluRays could have been a big category for them as well, but they also ignored that in favor of getting more cell phones out the door. For a short time they tried selling DVDs but again, too little, way too late. Then in my opinion there was the final nail in the coffin. Radio Shack never embraced the internet. They had a web site, (technically still do). But it was never utilized correctly. For the longest time Radio Shack had a catalog that was hundreds of pages thick that had every product they sold. You would think that would be a great thing to put on the internet. Well they did, but not until big companies like Amazon, Ebay, etc had already dominated it.

When Radio Shack stopped embracing their past and looking only at the present and never at the future their downfall was assured. That’s what I saw in 2009 and decided I could run my own company better. So that’s what I did.

Edit…

I appreciate everyone that has suggested edits to this answer. I really do!

However I have a slight bit of dyslexia and I’m prone to make spelling, grammer, syntax errors from time to time. So for now I’m going to leave this the way it is as my own little signature. 😉

Thanks guys

Who is the luckiest person you have ever known?

My son. Well, he is the unluckiest luckiest person I know. Aged 18 months old he fell onto an unguarded gas fire. His little palm of hand was one enormous blister. My mother in law put butter on it ( this was in 1962) which fried his skin. I put it straight into cold running water for 10 minutes. I took him to the doctor who said he might have damages the nerves and tendons in his hand so he might never be able to use it. He did.

Aged 8 years old he was out on his bike with his Dad cycling around in our quiet cul-de-sac when a white car came hurtling around the corner . It knocked him off his bike onto the pavement and carried on to run over and crush the bike. He suffered bruises and a cut knee and hand .

Age 10 years old , while playing football in the local park he fell onto a broken glass bottle. The deep laceration cut down between the tendons of his fingers and nerves so nothing was damaged except the flesh . He could still use his hand.

Aged 17 years old he went to work on a building site , during the summer holiday. He was put in charge of the cement mixer. After putting in shovelfuls of cement and sand , he pushed the lever in , to start the mixer. Everything went well until the lever shot out catching my son cutting his eyebrow in half. The doctor said another half an inch lower and he would have lost his eye. His father, my husband had worked for the firm and was injured because of rusty equipment. But that’s another story. Why my son went there , knowing that, I don’t know.

Aged 61 years of age , he had a massive stroke. I live nearby to his apartment and I decided to pop up to see him. I was, with the help of his employers , able to call an ambulance and get him to hospital. That is the only lucky bit because the doctors couldn’t give him the injection to dissolve the blood clot because he had a bleeding stomach ulcer. He is paralysed down his left side. Unfortunately his luck is not so good as it once was.

The Gunfighter Theory

Rudy Uribe

Satisfied that I had been right about there being no Big Bang, I left Jimmy to figure out what happened and returned to my cushy clouds.

“So, did you learn how I created the universe?” The Big guy asked.

“No, Sir,” I said, “But I know it didn’t start with a big bang, and that’s good enough for me.”

“Well, that’s not good enough for me. Now get back out there and find the answer to your question.”

The Big Guy was tougher than my physics teacher. I found myself back in the dark vacuum with Jimmy.

“Why did you come back?” Jimmy asked.

“The big guy wants me to stick it out and see how he created the universe.”

“Maybe there are more than two rocks,” Jimmy said. “I still think a collision is imminent.”

Jimmy and I stood around for what seemed like an eternity when we felt the spheroid quake.

“Something’s happening,” Jimmy said.

“Do you really think there’s another rock that we’re going to crash into?” I asked.

I hated that Jimmy and those scientists might be right, so I let his comment go.

It was almost imperceptible at first, but my spirit could feel the trembling. The tremors grew, and I felt we were approaching the end and the beginning of something remarkable.

“That’s because there’s no light,” he replied.

Dang, it. Jimmy had an answer for everything.

Jimmy had jumped off our rock in the nick of time and joined me for a front-row seat.

“God must like westerns,” I said.

“Humanity isn’t going to survive long enough to discover the other universe that’s speeding toward them,” Jimmy said, “That’s a shame.”

“Just as well. Since the collision would represent the end of time as they know it anyway.”

“Well,” Jimmy said, “I have to admit that you were right and I was wrong. What are you going to dub this event?”

“I kind of like, The Gunfighter Theory.”

“Not much of a theory since we saw it happen.”

“I guess,”

When we got back to heaven, Jimmy shook my hand, thanked me for my companionship, and headed for the volleyball courts.

I looked up. “Oops, sorry, Big Guy.”

Visions of life

WHEN LIFE IS HARD

When did you realize something was a blessing in disguise?

When my house burned down. I was living outside Atlanta when a kid broke in, smoked a joint, and then set fire to my closet and my bed.

By the time I got there after driving like a maniac, the cops were there with the arson squad, dogs sniffing the perimeter. I had no idea what the inside would look like.

When I entered, EVERYTHING was covered in water and black soot. I would go into a room and scream. Then go into another and do the same thing. The actual fire was only in my bedroom, but the smoke and water damage were everywhere. The shock of seeing all my antique furniture ruined was terrible. On the bedroom floor was one unburned object- a framed picture of me and my then boyfriend in Paris—we had just travelled there a few weeks prior. He had just been laid off from his job.

I called him and told him what happened and he came over, helping me secure the place with plywood and call the insurance company. Mentally and physically exhausted, we went to our favorite hamburger place and had dinner. He said to me, “You know what? We’re the perfect couple for the 90’s.” I said, “What’re you talking about?” He says, “Well, you’re homeless, and I’m unemployed!” with a big, shit-eating grin. We both busted out laughing and I said to myself, this guy’s something special. He manages to have a sense of humor in the darkest times.

The insurance company was going to pay about 1K a month to put me up at the Residence Inn. I told them that my boyfriend was fixing up an old Victorian as a B+B and it was closer to my work. So they paid HIM instead. They paid his mortgage through the spring just when he needed it. Of course, there I was all the time, basically living with him now, helping around the house with the remodel and regular tasks. We fell even more in love and got engaged.

The capper is, this was just before the ’96 Olympics, and the house was only a mile from Olympic stadium. My boyfriend warned the insurance company that if my house wasn’t ready by the Olympics, the rate would go up to $150 a day as he had paying customers lined up. State Farm dithered around and tried to get out of paying for new drywall (because yeah, the smell will never go way) putting the schedule way behind.

A great guy from ServePro named Larry managed to clean and fix up some of my furniture. (I’m ever thankful to you, Larry!) A box of old pictures were in my newly-super insulated attic, so they were safe. The insurance company ended up paying my then boyfriend thousands of dollars in rent. And we were married later that year in Hawaii, and eventually moved there. All because of a shitty thing that randomly happened to me. I care a lot less about material possessions now.

The shocking reality of moving to Europe.

Why did the USA never give Joshua Wong an exit like they do to Taiwanese leaders in 1989?

Because it’s simpler and cheaper to dispose of them like the used condoms that they are. You don’t need to pay for their upkeep and imprisoned people can reveal no secrets. If you don’t pay for their upkeep well bad things can happen.

There’s literally a perfect case study for this.

Wang Yim and Allan Chappelow.

Chappelow was murdered in 2006 by Wang Yim. Ok so what?

Jacqui Smith wanted the trial to be held in secret.

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Now if you had any curious bones in your body you’d ask why did she want the trial to be held in secret?

Smith said NATIONAL security!

Wang Yam had fled Beijing in 1989. He was literally an agent working for the UK intelligence services. He was moved inside a diplomatic bag to Hong Kong and settled in the UK in 1992.

Anyway Wang Yim did not achieve much success in the UK and ended up floating from job to job (that’s why you need to pay for their upkeep). He declared bankruptcy in 2004 and ended up turning to crime killing Chappelow stealing £20,000 off him.

So the story ends there right?

Nope.

Wang Yim made an appeal. The usual shebang that he received an unfair trial.

The points were:

Evidence was given in secret.
No jury was also unfair.

Human rights court dismisses MI6 informant Wang Yam’s appeal

Court rules that evidence given in secret did not mean his murder trial was unfair

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/16/human-rights-court-dismisses-mi6-informant-wang-yam-appeal

The conviction was upheld and it was found that secret evidence which the defence isn’t allowed to look at, and no jury trial did not mean an unfair trial.

Why is this relevant? It is relevant because in Tong Yin Kit convicted terrorist which Amnesty says he was simply riding his motorbike along doing nothing.

He too tried the no jury = unfair trial.

Evidence was given in an OPEN court too.

Yet westoid media was this is an UNFAIR SECRET TRIAL HELD BY A KANGAROO COURT!

He did nothing wrong!

Even WION showed the RAMMING

What was it like to deliver a presentation to Steve Jobs?

I worked at Apple, and had to present to Steve every now and then.

The first time we met, he walked into the room, looked around, realized that I was new, walked up to me and asked (all in one breath), “Are you smart? Do you know what you are talking about? Are you going to waste my time?”

Instead of responding right away, I decided to consider what if anything I was going to say. But since I did not respond right away, Steve said, “Good, let’s get started.” I wonder how that meeting would have gone if I had tried to say something instead…

I presented new technology to him a number of times. Sometimes it was my ideas, and sometimes it was the work my team did (My team always did exceptional work. The people that reported to me were outstanding, and it was an honor to manage them.).

We were in a meeting one time, and Steve commented on how much he hated the ‘wart’ that was the external iSight camera. I said, “I can make it internal.” Steve asked how long it would take to have a prototype ready. My team worked on it (with many other teams both software and hardware), and we developed a prototype. We had the demo set up and ready to go for the next day. The only ‘glitch’ we had not anticipated was one of the software guys upgraded the OS on the machine AFTER we had run through the demo and felt it was ready. So the next day when we showed it to Steve, there was a color shift in the video we had not seen the day before. He asked why, and the software engineer spoke up and said he had updated the OS and it probably changed the gamma settings. Steve I think was more amused, and just said, “Get things right, and show it to me again.”

Another time, I was presenting a feature for Motion I came up with. Real-time, green-screen, high-definition chroma-keying in software. Steve asked me in the presentation if another company could come up with this feature. I said, “Well, since I thought of it, I imagine someone else could come up with the idea, but it is rather unlikely that they could solve it the same way I did.” (By the way, the ‘peanut gallery’ of VPs and Directors standing behind Steve tried to tell me how to answer Steve’s question. The problem was, half of them were nodding yes, and the other half were shaking their heads no.) Steve decided that since it was hard to duplicate, that instead of going for a patent on it, we were going to keep it a trade secret. And as far as I know, no one has been able to duplicate the real-time, green-screen, high-definition chroma-keying feature in software… (the key being real-time).

Over the years, I (and members of my team) did dozens of presentations for Steve. My team was responsible for products like the Mac Mini, Apple TV, and creating many product prototypes…

Steve was wicked smart. I was always amazed at how sharp he was and how quickly he could focus on what was important. I don’t know ANYONE that even comes close to how good he was at being able to do that.

Most of my presentations were to Jony Ive. Jony is a wonderful person to work with. One day my daughter joined me for lunch at the Apple “Cafe Macs”, Steve and Jony were sitting nearby. My daughter was going to school for design illustration and asked if she could say hi to Jony. I took her over and expected just to say hi, and leave. But Jony was charming and chatted with my daughter for about 45 minutes. I was noticing that Steve was growing more and more impatient, but also since they were talking about what made a good design, I think Steve was being more tolerant. Finally, Steve suggested to Jony that they had to get going, and Jony wrapped up his discussion with my daughter. She was floating out of the cafe. Jony is a really nice and thoughtful person. And I really appreciated him taking that time to really talk with my daughter.

Modern Women are WORRIED Men are Leaving The Game!

Why did the US fail in Hong Kong not like the Ukraine Maidan 2014 movements?

The key is: HK is still under control of China.

Although under 1-country-2-systems, HK is highly autonomous. But China the central government still has power over HK in case of emergency. UN charter empowers any country to suppress riots etc.

You know the HK riot, actually a coup, was instigated by USA & UK, do you?

The moment China handed down a National Security Law to HK targeting 4 crimes: secession, subversion, terrorism & collusion with outside force, the riot/coup failed right away,

HK police has power to made arrest of traitors. Before that, HK had no effective laws to curb a coup.

Some well-known foreigners eg ex CIA agent Mark Simon left HK right away. So were the US NGOs eg Human Right Watch etc. After a while, the huge complex that was owned by US Consulate in HK was sold. … a complete US failure in HK.

Thanks to the national security law.

Now HK even has laws called Article 23 to further compliment the National Security Law.

High Value Man REFUSES To Pay For Woman’s Food & Leaves!

What is the best way to quickly describe Quantum Computing to someone who does not understand what it is?

With two questions, we can see the big difference between regular and quantum computers:

What is 2 + 2?

Regular computer: Easy. 2 + 2 = 2 + 1 + 1 = 3 + 1 = 4. Done.
Quantum computers: Hmm. Do you want this done quickly? HMMM. I’m 90% sure it’s 4. But maybe it’s 3? Give me some more time….. Yeah, I’m 98% sure it’s 4.

What are the factors of 91?

Regular computer: Well, 91 divided by 2 is 45.5, so 2 is not a factor. 91 divided by 3 is 30.3, so 3 is not a factor. ……91 divided by x is y.zzzz, so x is not a factor…….. 91 divided by 7 is 13, so 7 and 13 are factors. Hurray!
Quantum computer: Hmm. I’m 90% sure they’re 7 and 13. Can I stop?

What’s going on here? How can quantum computers be so bad at easy math and so good at hard math?

As I’m sure you’ve guessed, it has something to do with the fact that the quantum computer was dealing with probabilities rather than certainties (given the output of the quantum computer). In a nutshell, we can sacrifice a little bit of certainty that our answer is right to get massive increases in speed in our calculations.

Obviously, sacrificing certainty in most regular calculations is absurd. No one wants their calculator to give 5 as the answer to “what’s 2 + 2?” even if it’s just a small percentage of the time.

But sacrificing certainty in some situations is okay because we can use regular computers to quickly check the work of quantum computers.

Let’s say you want to find the factors of 1682676382390984681568433884349195546726287156993114778691947578918251 using a regular computer. You can’t. I know the factors, and you never will. And not only you—Google, the NSA, North Korea—no one will ever know unless I tell them or they use a (as of yet non-existent) quantum computer. Normal computers are (and will forever be) just too slow.

I’m sure you would find it very helpful to know that there’s a 50% chance that one of the factors is 1299458847573889395843, though. Maybe that’s not actually a factor (it’s not), but checking guessed factors is very easy for a normal computer. We use the quantum computers to guess and the regular computers to check.

What is an “Only in Japan” moment?

Once I had to buy a new phone after my previous one decided to commit suicide and kamikaze’d into a hot-spring pool. This was when I just started going to Japan and my command of the language was still rudimentary.

So I went to the BIC Camera electronic store near Yurakucho station. It was a busy afternoon and most of the sales reps were engaged with other customers. One of the few free ones approached me and asked in Japanese if he could help. Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand much English and my Japanese at that point was atrocious.

Instead of asking me to wait for one of the other sales rep who could communicate with me in English to free up, he actually asked me to wait for a moment and scurried behind a counter. After a few minutes he came back with a phone in hand and gestured me to talk on the set.

Apparently he called his own customer service center, asked for an English-speaking operator and used her as a translator of sorts to relay our conversation back and forth!

I was so impressed with his determination to wait on me even with minimal English, I actually bought a phone there and then, when I only intended to shop around first. Even bought a few other accessories to go with it.

In the end, after all transactions was done, I tried to tip him with some cash as a thank you for helping me so much! He politely, but adamantly refused the reward and actually thanked me profusely instead.

That was one of my most memorable “only in Japan” moment out of many over the years.

Girlfriend CRUSHES Boyfriend’s Dream (BIG MISTAKE)

True story, fictionalized for viewing.

Are lottery scratch offs rigged?

“Rigged” is definitely not the best word to use. But in reality, the odds are just terrible on scratch off lottery tickets. Here’s my first piece of advice to anyone considering trying their luck. Stay away from them! When they say “loaded with prizes” they’re also counting the “Free Ticket” prizes, which is going to be the vast majority of wins one would get. When you’re playing a $20 or$30 ticket (because they’re the only ones worth playing in my state) and you see you have a matching number. There’s no bigger slap in the face than seeing “Free Ticket.” Sorry… It bothers me…. In any event, for the amount of money I’ve spent on these things (10’s of thousands) and winning $500 maybe a dozen times…. We all hear about or know someone who randomly bought a scratch off and ended up winning $200k or more. I promise you, that’s POT LUCK! There’s no “strategy” or “Skill” in winning those games. Nobody knows where the grand prizes are. We only know there’s only 2 or 3 of them in 5 million printed tickets. Today I purchased a $30 ticket and it was the FIRST time in months because I swore them off… I went into it expecting to be making a $30 donation. Instead I won $250.00 I took the money and ran!!! If you’re going to play them, don’t spend more than you can afford to lose. Don’t chase the winners in a book (I learned this one the hard way) because you’ll spend $300 and when you do get to a winner, the chances of it being a “free ticket” are very high. Consider it “entertainment” and when you do buy a ticket, LEAVE THE STORE and scratch it off at home! (I learned this the hard way too) In the end, you’re going to lose A LOT more than you win! Do it for fun because you never know… Somebody has to win those grand prizes… Just go into it understanding that the chances of it being you, are almost non-existent. Hope this helps at least one person. Best of luck.

Chinese ABM breakthrough

Nothing can stop ’em.

Should criminals have the right to have their crimes forgotten?

Depends on the crime. A drunk is walking home. He is doing the right thing in not driving. He gets about half way and the beer is having its effect. He looks around and he can’t find a McDonalds or service station. Not a single person nor a single bathroom anywhere either.

He sees some bushes and looks around and sees nobody. No lights, so he thinks no people. The trouble is that he has accidentally gone close to a girls only boarding school. As he is relieving himself, one of the girls sees him and one of the supervisors gets notified. The police are called.

He gets charged and convicted. Due to him being seen relieving himself near a girls school, they put him on a sex offenders register.

Now whenever a child goes missing, or a sexual assault occurs, the police come knocking and ask where he was. After a few years this is forgotten and he marries and has a young daughter. The daughter plays soccer. Her coach retired and as the team can’t get anybody else. She asks her father. He has to tell her no as he is a convicted sex offender.

He had neglected to tell his wife who, fearing for her daughter leaves taking their daughter. She tells his employer who didn’t care until this becomes public. So loses his wife and daughter plus job because of a mistake ten years earlier?

Do you think it is justice? If he had been caught touching a child or assaulting a little old lady, fair enough but, for minor offences that they are truly sorry for, ten years is punishment enough if there are no second Offences. The punishment should fit the crime and it should be forgiven. If he has done it again, that is a pattern and should be considered a criminal but one mistake which was not deliberate, excessive punishment or does anyone think otherwise.

Compare this to if he drives home drunk and pulled over by the police. The crime is much more serious in that he could have killed someone. Despite this, his punishment in most states would be far less severe. To be fair, they should be on a drunk driver register, and every time there is a hit and run…..

Does strike anyone as sensible? Less severe crime mark you for life? Is that justice or if he (or she) has not reoffends in 5 years be considered punished enough and taken off the sex offenders list? Is that not the Christian thing to do? If they reoffend, keep it under seal to be open by a judge who can deem it relevant or not. The current punishment is excessive in cases like these.

Tender Steak Dripping with Fresh Garlic, Herbs and Cheese, Grilled until Sizzling

Ingredients

1/2 pound top round steak, 1/4 inch thick
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 fresh basil leaves, chopped
3 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
Grated Romano cheese

Instructions

Pound the steak with a meat mallet to tenderize.
Sprinkle both sides lightly with black pepper.
Sprinkle the meat with enough of the Romano cheese to make a thin layer (3 to 4 tablespoons).
Finely mince the garlic. Mash the garlic, salt and basil together into a paste. Spread evenly on the steak.
Roll the steak into a tight jellyroll form and slice into 3/4 inch thick rolls.
Thread through skewers.
Grill or broil 15 to 20 minutes or until done. Turn while cooking.

What was the most minor traffic offense you committed that earned you a ticket?

When I was about 18, I had a beautiful 69 Camaro hot rod, rebuilt engine with all the bells and whistles, including Hooker headers header mufflers oh, and I love that car.

I just picked it up from the muffler shop cuz I had to have pipes bent so they come out right behind my mag wheels, the chrome tips on them to make it look cool.

header mufflers are loud, but not near as loud as a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

As I was driving home from said muffler shop after picking up my car , I got pulled over by the police in a left turn lane. He gets out of his car and walks up and says man that car is loud.

I replied, it’s just the type of mufflers that I have and there legal. Yeah but I think it’s still too loud, he says.

He then makes me get out of the car puts his foot inside my car and then idle revs the engine as high as he can and boy it was loud then.

He said isn’t that loud?

Yes, I replied, that’s loud

That’s too loud, he responded.

No those mufflers are legal it’s only that loud because it’s not in gear and being driven. Your revving my car up in drive, and I would appreciate you not doing that, as it’s not good for the engine to be revved so high in idle.

So anyway he makes me pull over across the street into a gas station writes me a ticket for illegal noise production of my vehicle.

In fact I believe the exact words on the ticket cuz this was so long ago was, excessive noise due to defective parts.

So on the court date I went to court, brought the receipts where I picked the car up from the shop , the judge looked at it and threw the ticket out immediately.

Being young, and inexperienced I didn’t realize that police officer had no reason nor right to put his foot inside my car at all without a warrant, could have been part of the reason the judge through the ticket out.

Thanks for the a2a

Have you ever met an inmate that was actually a very nice person but did absolutely horrifying crimes? If so, what’s their story?

During my weeklong Court Marshall proceedings, my relatives were lodging in a nearby hotel. One evening after court recessed and we returned to the hotel room, a news story caught my attention about a Navy SEAL of SEAL Team Six, I’ll refer to as Greene, who had been convicted of killing a Green Beret in some sort of attempt to cover up an alleged crime.

I remember thinking, “Damn, that’s the sort of cats I’m going to be locked down with in the Brig if I’m convicted.”

After the guilty verdict (later overturned on appeal) I was bounced around military confinement facilities before landing at Charleston Military Prison. Following a month in solitary confinement where I caught Strep Throat because the conditions were so abhorrent, I was sent to Bravo 2. The close observation unit.

I was assigned to cell 104. Guess who lived in cell 103 right next door?

The Grin Reaper himself; Greene.

The guards treated him differently than the other inmates. Always eager to greet him with big grins as if he were a famous athlete. After all, he was a decorated war hero with allegedly 14 confirmed kills. (The guards told me this, not Greene himself.)

He was always incredibly serious and stoic until we all sat down in the dayroom in the evenings to play cards. There, he’d relax and cut loose for some casual banter.

Eventually, we became friends. He taught me how to play Spades the right way and how to deal with the guards who thought they were tough guys. Some liked to bully inmates. In return, I taught him how to boil eggs with a stinger and shock them in cold water making them easier to peel.

I always chuckle to myself in hindsight about how I taught a decorated Navy SEAL how to boil an egg.

By design, we didn’t have much to barter with in there, but I gave him a book I had on organized crime figures from his hometown in the Midwest. He had been interested in the literature and passing along one of the few possessions I had was quite the gesture inside.

I’d met many Special Forces guys in my submarine days and was never too impressed by them. They were your stereotypical sports jocks. Generic Type A personality stock. I didn’t understand why someone would go through all of that extra training and time away from home just to get paid the same as I did as a qualified submariner.

Greene was different though. I genuinely enjoyed his company and took his advice to heart. He was one of the inmates I knew I’d miss on the outside.

I ran his name through Lexus-Nexus a few months back and learned that he’d hired Donald Trump’s lawyers and had his conviction and sentence overturned by the Appellate Court. I was wholeheartedly elated to learn that he was a free man.

If you see this, Chief, your old neighbor Archie sends his respects.

Finally! Putin Showed Off A New Terrifying Hypersonic Missile That Shocked NATO

WOW. 27 MACH.

Why not rebuild Alcatraz to hold the world’s worst criminals?

Because we already have the Alcatraz of the Rockies, ADX Florence.

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The Administrative Maximum Facility is the federal government’s supermax prison. Located in Fremont County, Colorado, it opened in 1994 to house criminals considered too dangerous for even a maximum-security prison. Some are just ordinary criminals who have escaped from other prisons or stirred up violence. Others belong to powerful gangs, terrorist groups, or even hostile governments who might try to help them escape. Notable inmates and former inmates include:

Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham, Aryan Brotherhood
Zacarias Moussaoui, September 11th co-conspirator, and Ramzi Yousef, architect of the 1992 World Trade Center bombing
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Boston Marathon bomber
Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, Oklahoma City bombing
Robert Hanssen, Russian agent inside the FBI counter-intelligence division
Vincent Basciano, boss of the Bonanno crime family
Richard McNair, three-time escapee who once mailed himself out of a federal prison

Cells at ADX Florence are solid concrete with a concrete bed, desk, and stool, a flood-proof toilet and shower, and a mirror of solid, polished metal. Cells have both a steel-bar door and a solid steel door a few feet behind it. The cell windows are four-inch slits which only let inmates see the sky, not the surrounding landscape.

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Prisoners spend 23 hours a day in their cells, and are escorted by three guards to their hour of daily exercise in a private room, at the bottom of a swimming-pool-like pit. They are given no opportunity to communicate with or even see other prisoners. If they somehow get out of their cells and away from the guards, there’s still 24-hour video surveillance, motion detectors, and 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors throughout the facility. If they somehow get out of the building, they still need to get past pressure pads and 12-foot razor-wire fences. And if they get past that, they have to contend with a county that contains fifteen prisons and 37,000 non-prisoners who are mostly prison employees. It’s not an easy place to blend in. (Thanks to Keith Shannon for pointing this out in the comments.)

ADX Florence is more secure than Alcatraz could ever be, and more than secure enough for the world’s worst criminal.

What was the Dalai Lama’s reason for telling his people to flee Tibet?

With help from USA, Dalai staged a coup to subvert China in 1959. Failed. He & his support thus fled.

There is a museum in Tibet. Evidence shows that Dalai violated human rights. But the West praises him as a human right fighter. Why?

Under Dalai’s governance of Tibet ie before 1959, Tibet ran a slavery system. Tibetans were broken into 3 classes – high, middle & low. High is the rich eg slave owners. Middle, merchants. Low, others incl slaves.

Each class is further broken into 3. High-high class = 70 kilogram of gold. High-middle = 300 grams of gold. … Low-low = 1 string made of grass. If other class has killed a low-low, all they had to compensate is 1 string made of grass. Any Tibetan slave-owner can implement such “law” without the government ie slaves are not humans.

There were more cruel & inhuman laws. If I write the cruelty in Quora, my article will be banned. Go to Tibet museum to read it yourself. Also try google it.

How rich Dalai&family was before they fled China? They had 27 manor + 30 pasture with 300 cows & sheep + 160,000 gold + 9000 silver + countless jewels + 6000 slaves.

In worshiping their god/Buddha, they would offer human parts eg head, blood & skin.

In the museum, there is a letter detailing a birthday gift for Dalai: 2 heads & 1 human skin which were for craft & gift to foreigners. Craft & gift !!!

Not just skull, other human bones were also used for crafts.

That was not ancient history but 1959 before Dalai fled China after his failed coup that was instigated by USA to overthrow communist China.

How can the West accept the (carved) gifts from human parts? How can the West disguise Dalai as a human right fighter? Dalai was even given a Nobel Peace Prize after his failed coup.

I tell you why. 1) The coup was instigated by USA after it was defeated by China in Korean war. 2)

Western politicians+media are NOT true human rights fighters. They just use HR as a tool to destabilize other country.

Because Dalai has lots of followers. The West uses Dalai as a tool to fight against China. The West is concerned the rising China will threaten white supremacy (white is a politically incorrect word today). Dont be naive to think they fight for human rights or democracy.

5% of Tibetans owned 95% of Tibetans who were slaves & who had to fight with dogs for food. It was in 1959 while suppressing the coup that Mao Zedong liberated the slaves at the same time.

Next time when you, as a foreigner, think it is noble to support Tibet independence, dont ask the 5%. Ask the 95%.

Dont ask those Tibetans who live on western political donations. Ask those who can live like a real human today. Those who have food to eat, have education, can own business & property. Those who truly work for a living in Tibet.

Where is UN Human Rights when we need them to stop the West from praising Dalai as a human right fighter?

What did the Boers do with captured British soldiers?

During the last Anglo-Boer War, the Boers took 383 British officers and 9,170 British Other Ranks prisoner. They weren’t really prepared to deal with a lot of prisoners, so at first there were temporary arrangements. Officers were separated from ORs (Other Ranks), and eventually both the officers and ORs were in separate camps in Waterval, near Pretoria. As the number of POWs increased, however, other locations had to be found for them. Winston Churchill, for instance, was kept at the State Model School.

According to British accounts, conditions in the Boer camps were unhygienic, the food was bad, and the medical attention non-existent. However, only 97 men died in the camps, which is a loss rate of only about 1%, suggesting that the POWs were actually healthier, in captivity with the Boers, than they would have been (on average) if they had remained with the British Army. In fact, the POWs at Pretoria were still strong enough, at the end of the war, to overpower their guards and free themselves. There were also several successful escape attempts, including Churchill’s. The British forces suffered 21.6% casualties, including killed, wounded, and sick. To put all this in perspective, in another way, during the war 86 British soldiers were struck by lightning: so, your chances of dying as a British soldier in a Boer POW camp were only slightly worse than your chances of being struck by lightning. (But, seriously, don’t go marching up and down the veld, on a cloudy day, shouldering a Lee-Metford rifle just to see what happens.)

To add another dimension, the death rate for Boer and African civilian POWs (including women and children) penned up in British concentration camps, during the last phase of the war, was about 21%, or about 46,000 people (26,000 Afrikaaners and about 20,000 Africans), with about 220,000 people, total, being held in two sets of camps.

see Rudyard Kipling’s fine poem, Waterval.

Godzilla 1985

Full movie. Have fun and enjoy.

Kenny G in China

I’ll tell you one real thing that Americans would just HATE about China.

Most of the elevators play Kenny G.

(Well), not exactly. The older elevators do. The newer elevators run television and videos with a mixture of shows, music and weather. But the older elevators, well, heck, it’s Kenny G 24-7.

Ugh!

For thouse of you who are young, or not from the ‘States, Kenny G was (is) quite the talented music player, and his saxophone was legendary. His talent made great waves in the United States, and the media gobbled it up…

To an insane amount.

Everything was Kenny G, and for perhaps a decade and a half (maybe 1980’s into the late 1990’s) everything was Kenny G. Americans were force fed so much Kenny G music that we all collectively vomited and started turning off the radio stations, and televisions shows that had it on.

Eventually, the rumor has it, that a major television mogul was in a New York Bar, when some random Kenny G tune was playing on television and the entire bar erupted in screams and shouts to “turn that shit off!”. Yeah. It was that bad.

Meanwhile, China hasn’t experienced that.

To the Chinese, Kenny G was just white-noise, background music. Like ocean waves or light rain.

So yeah, if Americans knew the truth they would really hate the Chinese for real. And, not though the CIA manipulated American media bullshit.

Today…

What is the worst thing a tenant has ever done to your rental property?

I called her on the 4th of the month as I hadn’t received rental. She was a regular late payer, ready with long stories why she hadn’t pay her rent on time. But this time around she told me she was moving out and dropped the call, and blocked me.

I went to the apartment, through the windows, I could see it was empty. I arranged for a locksmith. The place wasn’t vandalised not too dirty, it just needed mopping up and basic carpet cleaning, I thought.

There was this terrible smell in the main bedroom, though. I opened all the windows, searched all the cupboards but they were all empty. I arranged with cleaning services thinking carpets needed steaming. Mr Swart (yes that’s his real name) was the caretaker of the estate, and made extra cash with cleaning services. He called me the following day to let me know his done cleaning the place but the smell won’t go away.

By this time I had no tenant lined up since I didn’t have a chance to re-advertising. I asked Mr Swart to recheck the place again. Mr Swart found rotten fish inside the base of the main bedroom closet.

I don’t know why and to date I can’t find reasons for that kind of malice.

Why Matriarchies Fail

Matriarchies put women into positions of power but not so much into positions of responsibility.

Have you ever had such a close call it makes your skin shiver everytime you think about it? If so, what happened?

When I was 15, I was at a friend’s house party with about 7 of my friends. There were a few guys waiting to use the bathroom, so my friends mother offered to let me use the bathroom in her bedroom. I was in there for about 30 seconds. When I stepped out, I was grabbed by 4 very tall guys that I’d never seen before, who’d hoisted me up above their shoulders, & were headed towards the door to the driveway outside with me in tow. As the door opened, I saw an older Cadillac idling there, with the doors open. Seemingly out of nowhere, my long time ride or die buddyJuan, a large, really tough Samoan dude who’d been a college football player, had appeared from behind, & managed to snatch me away from my would-be kidnappers. Holding onto to me tightly, Juan had stepped backwards through the bedroom door, slammed it shut, & locked it behind him. It all happened so fast that I was in complete shock. It was beyond crazy, & it was the most terrifying thing that I’ve ever gone through, (with one possible exception). We were pretty sure the men were from a nearby town, involved in gang-related fight & rivalry with our town, but how or where they’d spotted me, or why they’d chosen me to try to snatch from inside a house party made no sense at all, & it’s always remained a mystery. Neither me nor any of my friends were involved with gangs in any way, but life in that town could instantly & without any warning, become randomly crazy, & also very violent. I was thinking back remembering it as I was writing it down, when it occurred to me how completely insane & improbably this whole ordeal would sound to anyone else. Had I not been there myself, I’d probably have trouble believing it too.

Have you ever had someone come for dinner at your place and they refused to eat anything?

Does throwing your dinner on the floor count?

My sister came for the weekend with her husband. I did the usual things … pristine house, guest room warm and welcoming, slow cooked meal humming away.

I was landscaping at the time, a perpetual and seemingly never ending challenge. Brother in law was keen to see it and encouraged me to work some rocks while they sipped beer on the deck.

Time for dinner came. The meat was falling apart delicious, the veggies covered in glistening pan juices. I served it on the deck. Yum, says brother in law as were turned to survey the garden.

Sister, glowering, threw her untouched plate on the floor and sat silent and sullen.Wtf?

Months later she told me why. While I was placing rocks a single lock of unkempt hair escaped my hat. It was curly.

She has straight hair. She didn’t like that.

Dinner was marvellous. Shame about hers.

Grilled Garlic Stuffed Steaks

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

2 boneless beef top loin steaks, cut 2 inches thick
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup minced garlic
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

In small nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-low heat until hot. Add garlic. Cook and stir 4 to 5 minutes or until tender, but not browned. Add onions. Continue cooking and stirring 4 to 5 minutes or until onions are tender. Season with salt and pepper; cool completely.
Meanwhile, cut a pocket in each beef steak with a sharp knife. Start 1/2 inch from one long side of steak and cut horizontally through center of steak to within 1/2 inch of each side. Spread half of garlic mixture inside each steak pocket. Secure openings with wooden picks.
Place steaks on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, for 22 to 24 minutes for medium-rare to medium doneness; turn occasionally.
Remove wooden picks. Carve one crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices.

The current unemployment situation in China is very serious. Why don’t Chinese people overthrow their own government and reallocate resources to reduce unemployment?

This month – there are 11.24 Million Graduates who are entering the Job market

Of these around 2.727 Million (As per 2022 numbers) will study further for Post Graduate Courses

Of these around 600,000 (As per 2022) will prepare for Certifications in various areas which require Examinations like CFA, Architecture Or PE or Series 7 etc.

Of these around 60,000 (As per 2023) will go abroad for a Post Graduate Course or Doctorate

This means around 7.92 Million Chinese Graduates have been hitting the Job market from 1/6/24 onwards

This includes almost 1.1 Million Engineering Graduates

Meanwhile Chinese Employers prefer hires only after 30/6/24

So for the first 30 days in June – Unemployment would rise significantly

Then after 1/7/24 – Jobs will be offered and the workforce will be decongested

There are 556,000 Government Appointments & 48,500 Civil Service Posts available this year

The Vacancies due to retirement emoluments in China in 2023 come to around 4.32 Million Jobs

New Jobs created assuming a 5% growth compared to 2023 comes to 1.37 Million New Jobs

This plus a further 360,000 Local Government Jobs across China

(This is Available NBS Data. It doesn’t count the other jobs like Smaller Freelance Jobs)

Adding we get around 6.65 Million Jobs Available versus 7.92 Million Graduates

Add to this a further 5% or 400,000 Graduates from Last year still looking for work

That’s 6.65 Million Jobs vs 8.32 Million Graduates

This means around 1.67 Million Graduates would be unable to find a Job in Mainland China

That comes to 1.67/8.32 = 20%

So the 16–24 Unemployment numbers will rise to around 20% for the next few months and then as more graduates get placed or take up contract jobs or freelance jobs or swt up their own business – this will fall back to 15% by December 2024

Now 20% is the 16–24 unemployment among Fresh Graduates

It means around 1.7 Million Graduates would still be looking for a Job by Middle of August or September 2024

That’s because China doesn’t use all graduates to give you 16–24 unemployment

China doesnt divide 1.67 /11.24 and say 16–24 unemployment was 14.80%

China divides 1.67/8.32 and gives you 20%

It’s as realistic as possible

This is high compared to USA (10.11%) but paradise compared to India (46%)

Have you ever been misdiagnosed by your physician?

Multiple times by multiple doctors.

When I turned 18, I began having intense itching in my groin area. I went for lotions first, numbing creams, hydrocortisone, nothing was working.

I tried sticking it out, would stick ice packs down there which helped a lot, but still would wake up scratching the ever living hell out of my groin until it would bleed.

Eventually, the scratches started oozing this terrible green gunk. I finally had enough with this and went to the doctor.

“It’s herpes.”

They never did any blood tests, didn’t believe me when I said I’ve never been sexually active (had my first sexual experience at 21,) they sent me home with a bottle of meds and told me to call them when it clears up.

Well, it didn’t clear up. It kept getting worse. So I called them and they told me it’s normal for herpes to ignore the medication at first, but to just keep taking it and it will eventually calm down.

So I kept taking it. It didn’t get better. It got worse.

To the point where I couldn’t even wear underwear or pants. I had to sit in bed all day, I couldn’t walk because my groin was on fire and oozing this awful smelling green pus on everything I put down there.

I was miserable.

I went to another doctor, who wanted to claim it was syphilis.

Again, I had never ever kissed another human at this point. Went to another doctor who assumed it must either be some sort of allergy, or again, an STD.

They put me on strong antihistamines which helped the itching a bit, but left me so out of it that I could hardly do anything but sleep all day and night.

At this point I was sick of being diagnosed with STDs I knew I didn’t have. I went to a brand new doctor and told him I wanted blood tests for every STD in the book so I could prove to the next dozen doctors that I didn’t have an STD and they needed to look further.

Blood test was negative for everything. I was clear. But that doctor also had no idea what to make of my mysterious itching, and suggested I change my diet.

Finally, I went to a doctor who actually took a biopsy of the area.

Few days later I get a call, “you’ve got a staph infection and we need to put you on antibiotics right away.”

I get the antibiotics and the green oozing goo clears up pretty much immediately, but the itching remains.

I returned to the doctor maybe a week later to go over my biopsy results, “You have spongiotic dermatitis.”

“Well, what can I do for it?”

“Nothing, really. Just have to learn what your triggers are and avoid them.”

“So there’s nothing I can do to get the itching to stop?”

“There might not be.”

I wanted to cry. I probably did.

Few years after just accepting that I’d need to wear ice packs in my pants wherever I went during a flare, which happened frequently, I came across a new doctor who told me you absolutely could use something for the itching, steroid cream.

He prescribed it for me, I can’t remember the exact name but it started with a T. (Thank you, Teri! The medication was called Triamcinolone Acetonide.)

Holy shit, I cleared up immediately.

I had relief for the first time in ever.

I stayed on that cream for a few years, having relief during flares and being so thankful that I found that doctor. But eventually it stopped working, and my flares returned with vengeance.

I went to yet another doctor, as I had since moved after seeing the first one. I told her my diagnosis and what was prescribed to me.

“I’m gonna take another look at it, get another biopsy and see what else we can do for you.”

A week later I had a new diagnosis.

Lichen Sclerosis.

She put me on a much stronger steroid ointment, Clobetosal, and again, I was cleared up immediately.

But I was worried, when is the next time I’m gonna have to dial it up even further? How far do I need to go before my skin gets used to everything and I’m back to square one?

Well, I had a surprising effect to my little skin issue when I made the decision to go on Testosterone.

I’m trans, and this was a decision a long time in the making. I wanted to be happy in my body at last, so I took the plunge and went for it.

And my Lichen Sclerosis cleared up!

My theory was that the thickening skin down there locks in moisture better. I haven’t had a major flare since starting nearly two years ago, and whatever flares I do have can be handled with hydrocortisone, unlike the first time.

I’m finally happy in my skin, in more ways than one.

But it took nearly ten years to get here.

She Thought Divorce Was A Good Idea Until She Had To Pay Him Child Support

What happens to people’s assets when they are in prison?

I can answer this best by giving examples.

Richard Barile (big time cocaine distributor for Pablo Escobar). “Chaplain, I have nothing left in this country. The government seized it all. BUT, I have my beachfront villa in Cabo-do you want to come down for a week?”
Mafia button man. Al, why can’t your wife fix her car and come see you? Are you that broke? Can’t someone lend her the money? “No Chaplain, I have about $100k or so. But I have to go ask the people for my money back in person- that’s how we work. If I don’t ask in person they will keep the money.”
Motorcycle gang guy. “Chaplain, I just lost everything and I’m getting out next month”. You just lost it? “Ya, I rented the storage locker for ten years, but I lost a month of good time, and nobody would pay for my locker for the last two months.” They auctioned off his locker, which included his custom modified vintage Indian motorcycle, just days before his release.
Off shore bank account guy. Why are you here? “Well I wanted to be a millionaire and enjoy life.” What did you do? “Well, I siphoned four million out of the corporate accounts. I put it all in an off-shore account in a country with no extradition to the USA. Then I turned myself in. The FBI asked me for the money back, I said no. The maximum sentence is four years. I’ll do my time and go to the islands. I’m making a million a year…how much are you making Chaplain?

Has a cop ever said something to you which was completely unexpected?

About 7 or 8 years ago, I got pulled over for speeding in a school zone (I was NOT speeding). Well, the police officer comes up to my window and I hand him my license and insurance. He has me waiting for a good 20 minutes while he runs my license and insurance. He comes back and says that my license has been suspended for non-payment of a super speeder ticket. I was shocked. I had not gotten a super speeder ticket. Well, he takes me to jail. I finally get to the officer who gives me the warrant and how much I owe. Well, the description of the person was as follows: Black, 6 Feet 5 inches tall, 375 pounds, with face tattoos. I am: Caucasian, 6 Feet tall, (at the time) I weighted about 260 pounds and I DON’T have ANY TATTOOS. After 9 hours of being in jail, I finally got everything set straight with the police that someone had stolen my ID and I was finally let out of jail. BUT, I still had to call a friend to come and get me from jail. I was not allowed to get my car out of the impound lot because my license had been suspended and they had put a red mark on the back of the license. So, I had to wait until Monday to go and get everything straightened out. It took me about 5 hours of going to 3 different offices I finally got my license back. BUT, I still had to pay the impound fee, I believe it was about $360.00.

The Hobbit – 1950’s Super Panavision 70

Has there ever been a recruit who couldn’t be intimidated by the drill sergeants? How did that go?

We had this one kid who refused to fall in line. He refused to comply with any orders and was the biggest pain in the ass any of us had ever met.

I spent some time with him and learned that he had been raised in a really difficult environment, low income in the heart of the ghetto, and had been beaten by his father from a very young age. Physical and mental abuse were rampant throughout his family and extended family. His escape from this hell was the Army and we welcomed him with open arms but man he was messed up.

I liked the guy though and the more I got to know him the more I could tell he was worthwhile in a lot of respects and had a lot of potential if we could just get through to him.. nothing was working though, no direct attention worked, no level of discipline or pain would slow him down… physical and mental abuse ruled his world and nothing we could do down that path would ever have worked.

So, naturally, I made him a leader.

It wasn’t much, but that little bit of responsibility gave him a tremendous amount of pride. That little bit was enough to make him walk taller and perform better which rapidly earned the respect among his peers. He started with a small group of 3 other privates and quickly advanced to earn his sham shield where he became a squad leader, eventually earning his stripes. Last I checked on him he was about to earn his rocker which in the Army is a massive departure from the previous ranks. I know he can handle it.

When I first joined the Army, I didn’t really understand what it meant to be a leader. I believed intimidation was the only way to get anything done, fear, threats, yelling as necessary. I worked my way through the ranks and quickly learned that it’s far more effective to simply reach someone at their level, and raise them up to yours.

You don’t need them to be afraid of you, you simply need them to respect you.

No level of intimidation will ever accomplish that.

What do KFC stores do with leftover chicken?

We pulled into a Popeyes Chicken at the drive-up about 4 weeks ago. It was about 10 minutes until closing and the there was no one in line behind us. (just trying to be courteous) We pulled up to the window and asked the young man if they had any free chicken. He looked at us like we were crazy and said “what?!” We told him we were homeless and we would grab anything that might otherwise wind up in the trash. He was a little short with us, and said no not right now. So we drove around and parked in the lot on the other side of the building and we quietly sat there. As they cleaned and carried trash out, several trips, we speculated the one one that might have leftovers in it. But we waited and the employees even nodded in our direction as they talked outside amongst themselves. Then finally about 20 minutes after closing, the young man that waited on us at the window, brought us out a huge box of about 40 pieces of chicken and a few small sides. Thank you! Sometimes people do wonderful things for others.

The Sopranos – Kicking up to Tony Soprano

What’s the strangest thing a cop has seen when pulling someone over?

I thought I had a drunk late one night when a brand new Camaro Z28 almost took me out head on. It was my first night in my brand new squad car with less than 100 miles on the odometer. I turned on the lights and sirens as the Z28 kept weaving back and forth across the highway scraping the guardrails on both sides. A short while later it pulls over in a closed restaurant parking lot. I approached the car with not a small amount of adrenaline ready to arrest the drunk that had just put us both in so much danger. I ripped open the Camaro’s door and confronted… a twelve year old girl holding her teddy bear and crying. Next to her was a map, as I comforted her and asked her questions I referred to the map and asked her where she was going. She replied that she didn’t know but would use the map to find out where she was when she got there. Obviously there were some issues at home. Her mother called me a liar when I finally got her on the phone to ask her to pick up her daughter. Then she was mostly concerned with the damage to her car, not her daughter. I filled out the necessary paperwork and sent it in to the prosecutor thinking she would help this 12 year old girl, but got a note back to just write her a ticket. Pretty steamed I called down to get the prosecutor on the phone, “ticket, she doesn’t need a ticket, she needs help” I practically yelled into the phone. The prosecutor asked me if I was sure I was a cop, but then opened the file and looked at it. She immediately began to apologize and thanked me for following up instead of just writing the ticket. A few weeks later I got a call back from the prosecutor to tell me they were working as best they could with the family to help this little girl’s situation, but that the family dynamic was pretty bleak. I don’t know what became of that girl.

She Thought Divorce Was A Good Idea Until She Had To Pay Him Child Support

How significant is the withdrawal of the mid-range missile system from the Philippines in terms of easing tensions in the South China Sea?

Zero significance.

The US decided that it was too dangerous to leave a long range attack missile there. Or decided that it could be wiped out by China with drones.

If someone, anyone pushed a button and launched a Tomahawk cruise missile at China, that means starting a war. China will wipe out every US base in Asia and the US islands.

The missile don’t threaten China at all so the risks outweigh any benefits.

Either that or Chine threatened to wipe those missile away and the US bases in Asia just like the US did with Cuba.

But this changes nothing. The US is still trying to get proxies to fight China. The US doesn’t want to be directly involved though because that will mean all US soldiers in Asia will be killed. Then the US will have to send a fleet along with NATO. The fleet will then be sunk.

This is contrary to what the US likes to do. Which is to use proxies to attack other nations. And the proxy that the US really wants is India. India has a high population and can theoretically last much longer than Ukraine.

So the US would love to put missiles in India then say that the Indians fired the missile and just walk away. It remains to be seen what India will do. After all the US is offering a lot of money to foreign politicians to destroy their country. The US will promise support.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace – 1950’s Super Panavision 70

Why is China’s Norinco displaying NATO-standard 155mm artillery shells for sale at the Paris Defence Expo?

Because China also uses the 155mm artillery.

The 155mm is the perfect size for a medium range shell with a good combination of size vs. range.

China replaced the 130mm artillery with 155mm.

It’s like rifle rounds. China uses the 5.8 and the West uses 5.56. This is a good combination of size, weight, and power. It allows the soldiers to carry a good amount of ammo without weighing them down.

The West used to use 7.62mm rounds or .308 but you get significantly less rounds and it is heavier than 5.56. You normally don’t need to shoot that far anyway. The 5.56 will kill out to 600 meters. Much longer than most soldiers can hit a man sized target.

I think it’s a huge mistake of the US to go to 6.8mm round. It has much bigger recoil than 5.56 and shoots way too far. They changed because of Iraq and Afghanistan but ironically, the US pulled out of those places and the new round would be way overkill in a jungle or forest.

And you end up back to the same problem as before. Too heavy so less rounds per soldier. Heavy recoil makes the rifle less accurate and takes longer to shoot accurately.

Shorpy

I Found Footage of New York City from 1965 at a Thrift Store

What does Taiwan need to do in order to survive and resist an invasion by China? Could they use new tactics to do so? How long can they really resist? What lessons did it learn from Ukraine?

If you are a Taiwanese, I would ask you to accept reality & not to follow the path of Ukraine. Dont get into a war & die for U S A.

If you are a foreigner, I would like you to understand Chinese history & UN charter as follows:

In theory, the civil war has not finished as of 2024 because China has not reunified yet.

Internationally, between 1949 & 1971, both ROChina & PRChina exist. In 1971, however, UN resolution 2758 announced …

1, There is only ONE China & PRChina is the only legitimate government that represents China.

That is, ROChina ceases to exist on world stage. Only a handful tiny tiny countries still recognised ROC.

Taiwan is part of China. Ref: US doc 203 & the 1978 USA-China joint communique by former US president J Carter.

2, To make it crystal clear, on 2024/5/23, UN told the world “Taiwan is a PROVINCE of China.”

By UN charter, China has a duty to protect the integrity of Chinese territory that incl Taiwan province.

Internally, both constitution of China & Taiwan say:

China territory = mainland + Taiwan + some islands & reefs around China.

Why Taiwan dares not call for referendum? Because referendum involves mainland too.

Militarily Taiwan cannot fight China.

conclusion

China is NOT invading or attacking Taiwan. Just to suppress Taiwan rebellion, like Lincoln suppressing the South.

China will reunify with Taiwan one way or another. It is the duty of China for the sake of Chinese nation, culture & history.

China’s 1st option is peaceful unification. If necessary, China is not afraid to use military.

My Best Revenge Scam Call Ever – Extreme Scammer Rage

Grilled Kansas City Strip Steaks with
Smoked Tomato and Grilled Onion Relish

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Wood chunks or 2 cups wood chips
2 large tomatoes, stems removed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons capers, drained
2 large red onions, peeled and cut into 1 inch slices
4 (8 ounce) Kansas City beef strip steaks, 1 inch thick (beef top loin steaks)
Kosher salt and pepper

Instructions

At least 1 hour before smoking, soak wood chunks or chips in enough water to cover. Drain wood. For a water smoker, arrange preheated coals, drained wood chunks, and water pan according to manufacturer’s directions.
Place tomatoes in a disposable aluminum pan. Smoke tomatoes for 1 hour. (Or, for a charcoal grill, arrange medium coals around edge of grill.
Sprinkle soaked wood chips over coals. Test for medium-low heat where food will cook. Place tomatoes in pan on center of grill, not over coals. Cover grill and cook for 30 minutes.)
In a medium skillet heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat for 1 minute.
Add garlic; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until garlic begins to brown.
Remove from heat; transfer garlic and oil to a medium bowl. Add capers; set aside.
Arrange onions on a microwave-safe platter. Microwave on HIGH (100% power) for 2 minutes.
Brush onion with remaining 1 tablespoon oil.
Grill onion slices and steaks directly over medium coals until onion is tender and steak is desired doneness (14 to 18 minutes for medium-rare), turning once.
Meanwhile, core, peel, and chop tomatoes; add to garlic mixture.
Chop onions; add to tomato mixture. Season relish and steaks with salt and pepper.
Serve relish over steaks.

Notes

Test Kitchen Tip: Use a smoker along with a grill for preparing the tomatoes and steaks at the same time. Or, smoke the tomatoes up to 24 hours before serving. Cover and chill the smoked tomatoes up to 24 hours.

As a teacher, what is the harshest truth a student has ever taught you?

When I was teaching a high school class at an international school in Mexico, I thought I was superior to my students. I had a New England education, English was my first language. I had a solid moral background. There was little (I thought) that my students could teach me.

One day, just before class, a student, by the name of Nicolas, came and asked me if he could go to the bathroom. I told him yes, but to hurry back because class would begin in five minutes. He asked, “Don’t I need a pass?”

Our principal was very strict and required every student to have a pass if he or she was out of class. I told him, “Just go! Hurry up back.”

Then I began writing the lesson on the board.

He returned about ten minutes later looking very dejected. I asked him if he was okay and he said, “Yes. No problem.”

So, I continued with the lesson. But at the end of the period as students were leaving, I noticed he still looked dejected.

“You okay, Nick? You look depressed.”

He replied, “Well, I got put on detention by the principal for being in the hall without a pass.”

“But didn’t you tell him that I advised you to go ahead without one?” I asked.

“No,” he replied.

“Well, why on earth not?” I asked exasperated.

“Because I didn’t want you to get in trouble, sir,” he replied.

I realized then that here was a student who was superior to me in sensitivity and caring. I could never have imagined doing such a thing when I was a high school student. I was humbled. The incident showed me not to underestimate the existing values of those whom I presumed to teach.

Why does it seem that Japanese and Chinese people appear to live more relaxed lives compared to Koreans?

Korean values, the educational system, and runaway consumerism are designed to turn everyone neurotic, and the system largely succeeds.

Basically, Korean society is a pressure cooker, and going insane is one way to escape. Another way is suicide, which seems to be popular among Koreans working in entertainment.

The Japanese are more relaxed because their economy has been screwed since 1990, and things aren’t getting better.

The Chinese are more relaxed because their economy and country is huge, and Chinese have a very long historical memory. Basically, they have seen everything.

This means that the Chinese have perspective.

When they are unhappy or see something they don’t like, they complain to their local official, and tell him to fix it. Since the local official’s job performance is measured by how many complaints he resolves, his career depends on resolving the issue.

How do you think corrupt officials and politicians must be punished?

I like Chinese style of punishment

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Gather enough evidence and offer two choices

Option 1

Pay back 2/3 of what you took plus Confess and you get 5–15 years jail and your family won't bear the consequences of your actions

Option 2

Have a trial and if found guilty - It's either 15–25 years Imprisonment or death penalty and your family members bear consequences of your actions

…

What I like about the Chinese is how they break families for what they call knowingly enjoying illegal earnings or product of corruption

Kids under 18 are reeducated and taught their father is a thief and he must be hated

Under Mao, many kids denounced their parents and watched them hang with a smile in favor of the State

Same punishment in India

Option 1

Pay back 67% of what you allegedly take and serve 10 years Jail and retire from Politics

Option 2

If found guilty you can hang Or face life prisonment plus your Kids can't graduate and have to work as Unskilled or Skilled labor and your families will be forced to migrate to places exceeding 2000 Kms from place of sentencing

Scott Ritter: Ukraine Nears End and the CIA’s SHOCKING Move is Destroying America, not Russia

Men’s Adventure

Hazy New World

Submitted into Contest #8 in response to: Write a story about an adventure in space. … view prompt

Sabrina Alvarez

The darkness was so different in space, when I opened my eyes all I could see was the blinking red light that reminded me it was time to get up. I rolled back and forth, with the sun being millions of miles away it was harder for my body to wake itself up even though this one was the day my entire life was going to change. I pushed the red button and the dark rectangle that looked like any other wall with nothing on it phased away and Saturn appeared. The button was now green, and I yet again got to wake up to see Saturn instead of the Sun. It was an image I could never grow tired of watching Saturn in its infinite glory all the secrets it kept hidden for billions of years. The clouds moved along the most breathtaking gas giant and the rings so vivid and close I feel like I could reach out the window and grasp them. The pictures do not do it justice and the sounds of the massive planet put me at peace. My team is beginning the first ever human voyage to Titan to explore and map the moon in all of its entirety. Earth is becoming more unstable and life as we know it will cease to exist if we do not find another place to live. After the Mars massacre, NASA wanted to make sure we knew exactly what was going on before we allowed humans colonize another planet, in this case moon. There was a lot weighing on my shoulders as captain of Celestial Spectre, all the plans and ideas running through my head as I went to my post in the observation deck. I pulled the shade to reveal Saturn and Titan, the orange moon forever tidal locked with Saturn, only showing one side of its face to the planet. It makes me wonder what is hidden on that dark side. There were different filters we could apply to see the different colors of the universe as well as telescope on screen, which zooms into any area to reveal what is really hiding in the darkness of the naked eye. There is 360-degree view of the surrounding darkness, my focus was Titan and the anticipation of starting our surveying was nerve racking, how can my crew sleep so long? I said to myself. The haze of the moon was swirling around, it was hypnotic everything I had worked so hard for was laying right in front of me. I wanted to unlock every secret this solar system was hiding then move on to the Milky Way. Steve tapped me on the shoulder broke that trance, “Rachel I’m surprised you didn’t leave us on the ship and go down yourself.” I laughed, “Don’t think it didn’t cross my mind!” I grabbed the equipment list for the first touchdown on the moon to make sure the probe was all ready to go. “Dawson is the probe ready for today?” Dawson was the computer system that was built into the ship for us to communicate with, his knowledge base was vast, but he was limited as we were about what we were to expect on Titan. “Yes” Dawson replied. “Haven’t you quadruple checked that list?” asked Steve. “Yes, Steve I have, I wouldn’t be a good captain if I didn’t.” He smiled, “Waiting for everyone to wake up.” I smiled slyly, “Ugh! Is that obvious!” It was his turn to laugh, “I figured that’s why I woke them up before coming up to check on you.” I couldn’t stop smiling, “You are the best!” The twins, Marcus and Mia, were the first to emerge from the dorm corridors. “We are awake,” said Marcus. “And ready to go,” as she yawned said Mia. The mechanical genius, Nikki, was the last to emerge, “Ready to go!” she said with pep. “That’s what I liked to hear. Let’s Go!” I said. I was the last one to get on the probe.Descending through the haze of Titan’s atmosphere was so exciting as well as completely terrifying as we did not know if the probe would make it through and still be able to take us back to the ship. It was designed by Nikki to not only fly through space, but to be a land rover and a submarine for any oceans or lakes we discovered. So much was running back and forth in my head I couldn’t get a grip on any of it, I was excited I wanted to scream but I had to keep my composure as a good captain. We descended through the clouds getting samples of them along the way and having DAWSON analyze them. The clouds started to thin and that’s when I saw it. A colossal ocean that was as giant as the Atlantic and Pacific put together, there were n ranges which didn’t reach the clouds but were still steep. There were rivers that lead to the Titanic Ocean, which I just named it. Past some of the mountains were lakes that could hold so many possibilities. Humans could get another chance here. “Look” I whispered to them I couldn’t bear to look away from the window, it was like a picture I always had in my head and to see it with my own eyes it was amazing. Valleys and areas covered with some type of alien florae, it was all just waiting to be explored. The probe came to safe landing with no damage to the craft at all, once it was secure to get out, I ran for the door. I wanted to be the first one to step foot on Titan, dreams really do come true. Each of us was equipped with a special suit specifically designed for the surface of Titan, again created by Nikki. Dust storms are a possibility on this moon so each suit has an outline in a neon color that will make us visible to the other crew members, I was pink, Steve was orange, the twins were light and dark green, and Nikki was blue. Each of us looked around where we landed and again how small we felt. It would take centuries to map everything on Titan, so we started with the immediate area to see if it was habitable. Once this region was down, we would extend out until all of Titan was printed on a map, so people could find the areas they wanted to start their new lives in. The region that faced away from Saturn was my personal interest, but I know that wouldn’t be smart to start there. “Let’s begin right here and call this region Home for now until we learn more about it.” My crew agreed and we start to unpack along with setting up a small camp for us to continue research and sleep. DAWSON alerted me when I was moving equipment, “There’s movement at the lower range of the mountains, I am unable to detect what it is other than it is alive.” I quickly equipped my hydrogen rifle using the recon scope was able to see exactly what the creature looked like. A three limbed creature with a thick fur covering its entire body, it was watching us with its three set of eyes. It had large set of teeth at its abdomen area and it appeared that it was sniffing the air with its tentacle/limb. “2 o’clock Steve.” He already had his rifle powered and aiming right that the creature. “Tell me when” Steve whispered toward my direction. I stood there for what felt like hours just observing I didn’t want to make the mistake of shooting a new life form. I decided in that moment, “we need a closer look.” I started to climb the mountain slowly keeping my eye on the creature while Steve watching the surrounding, so we didn’t get ambushed by anything else. A low humming filled my ears as I was looking at the beast, I took a chance and lowered my rifle. “Stay close Steve, but do not attack.” Steve responded by stopped and setting up by a rock just in case I was wrong. I knelt on one knee and extended my hand hoping it took the gesture as friendly and not threatening. It started to move; the limbs moved across the smaller rocks like an octopus shifting along the ocean floor. The fur was a deep purple and it slithered toward me. It took all my willpower to not runaway screaming with complete fear, but that would alarm it putting my team in danger. I took a deep breath, slowly opened my eyes to see it standing right in front of me. It was about three feet tall with three eyes that were bright orange and square. It never blinked the whole time I watched it and even when it was in front of me.Suddenly, the thing started to glide away again, but this time it was headed to ocean we had seen when we landed. I started to chase after it with only having three limbs it moved rather quickly. The land began to dip down slightly and then gradually it went farther down until we reached the beach area. The ocean was like of Earth with waves and currents. A huge wave came crashing down and I swear I caught a glimpse of sea creature from my nightmares. It had fins poking out for every direction and a long narrow mouth. I turned to look back at Steve, whose face was as pale as mine. “It’s like the Jurassic period here with all of these different types of animals.” Steve replied once he saw the monster that lurked in the waves. “Is this a good idea Captain?” Mia asked. “We need somewhere to start. Keep your eyes open and guns charged.” We rounded the corner where these cliffs ahead were sharp that’s when I noticed a cave with a blue hue coming from it. “Over there!” I shouted to my team. The Titan fur stopped at the mouth of the cave and pointed its tentacle at the entrance. “Stay here at the entrance Marcus and Mia.” They both nodded with their rifles in hand. Steve, Nikki, and I started to walk through the cave looking at all the amazing purples and blues that covered the walls of the fissure. We followed the blue hue which lead toward a metal door, “this is the last thing I expected to see.” Steve replied, “yeah I was ready for certain death.” I opened the door and there was another thing I least expected to see even more so than a door on a moon that orbited Saturn. There were hand drawings and notes everywhere on the walls. There was a partial map hanging on another wall with BEWARE OF THE DARK CREATURES and drawings of regions we hadn’t seen yet. Nearby were journals that were filled with descriptions of creature and tree-like foliage. One tree was completely twisted from the root and when grown would drop this blue oval that would explode once it hit the ground. The author of these diaries Mr. Seymour Dates described its reaction because of the methane in the ground would mix with what the fruit was made of which he still was unable to figure out. Under some other papers was a fold out map of an area that was dark that he referred to as Nix Valley, the area was so dark with no light and a drawing of a creature that was 25-30 feet tall. A description of the creature he encountered there:

“The biggest creature I have encountered since I started exploring

Titan, I haven’t had the nerve to explore the ocean yet,

The largest land animal if you can call it that. His skin was

White like death with eyes that were cloudy as well

It does use its eyes to see but it uses all of it senses to get

Around. It has bones protruding from his head and along

Its back. Its arms dragged across the floor while still haven’t

Gotten close enough to see any sort of lower extremities.

It mimics gentle sounds and ones in pain to lure in other animals

That walk around on the surface. Nix valley is located underneath the mountain range

And some flatlands. It never comes up to the surface only can

Be seen when finding its hidden caves along the mountains

Where I first landed.

Accompanying to the short description was a sketch of what the monster looked like and it was like a giant snake and dinosaur mixed together and was kept from the sun. “We need to find this monster; our job is so important. If this is here, we can’t bring humans to live here.” I said to Steve and Nikki. Nikki was as pale as a ghost and Steve just stood there unable to say anything. I noticed the door slowly opening and I aimed my rifle right at the opening. The Titan fur was standing there, and I immediately grew concerned for the twins, “I’m going to distract it, you both go for the twins. Make sure they are safe.” I ordered. Then the furry creature took its head off and a man was there inside a giant costume. “Thank you for not shooting me, it took me a while to build this costume.” Said Seymour Dates. “We need to talk.” I responded with, “Where are the twins?” We all raced to the entrance of the cave.

These Men Won’t SETTLE For Bare Minimum Women

Grilled Jalapeño Cheddar Meatballs

Serve delicious Grilled Jalapeño Cheddar Meatballs with Mexican rice, beans, or a side salad.

Prep: 20 min | Chill: 30 min | Cook: 35 min | Yield: 20 servings

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup tortilla chips, crushed
3/4 cup milk
3 fresh jalapeños, seeded and finely diced
1 (8 ounce) block Cheddar cheese, finely diced
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Instructions

Place the crushed tortilla chips in a large bowl, then add the milk and allow to soften the chips for about 10 minutes.
After the mixture is soft and has absorbed all the milk, add the beef, jalapeño, cheese, paprika, garlic, and salt. Mix well to combine all ingredients, then scoop approximately 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the mixture and form a meatball; repeat until all the mixture has been formed into balls.
Place the meatballs on a plate or tray and refrigerate them for 30 minutes to firm.
Light a grill for two zone cooking. For charcoal: light coals and pile them all on one side, creating a hot and cool zone. For propane: light the very end burner on the left or right side, but no other burners. It’s recommended you place a piece of foil under the side without heat to catch any melting cheese for easy cleanup. The grill should be at MEDIUM temperature, about 350 to 375 degrees F.
Place the meatballs on the cool side of the grill (away from the coals or the lit burner) and close the grill lid. Grill for about 25 to 35 minutes, or until they reach 165 degrees F internal temperature on a meat thermometer.
Remove the meatballs from the grill and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Operation Gladio | How The Mob Financed The CIA’s Secret Army

It’s no time to die

Today, I’ve got a complete 007 James Bond movie at the end. Please stick around and enjoy it. It’s a recent movie too. “It’s no time to die”. It’s well worth your time to carve out and watch.

Now, on to other subjects…

You know, I inherited my father’s desk. Actually I inherited all of his desks, as he had three. And my mother’s desks.

And in my struggles of life, my siblings and relatives came and looted them away. All of which were sold to strangers for a pittance.

at home projects 2020 10 Sylvia Worsnop desk before tagged

Maybe they were able to buy a pizza for the $2000 desk they sold for $5.

Some of them were really nice too.

Now, today in China, I don’t use a desk. I have various tables that I use. And I fight with my daughter for desk space. LOL.

I have long argued that all men should have a desk. It’s a place to plan, to work, and to organize. The old roll-top desks with all those little drawers, and cubby holes were perhaps the highlight of this item of furniture, but over time, as I have become more mobile and recognized that for each move, I would lose some of my possession, I now have a smaller list of “needs”.

It’s 2024.

I don’t carry a wallet, or anything like a watch any longer. I have a few notebooks and a handful of pens, but that’s all about it.

Ah.

But electronic reliance comes with it’s own troubles, hassles and problems. I will say this again…

But, you know, supreme reliance on a computer of cell phone comes with its own problems. And You all, should know what that means and what they are.

After so many hard drive crashes, system reboots, stolen products and police extractions, I do not trust data storage and histories on the computer at all. In fact, a actually loath them.

Anyways, back to my narrative…my father had his boy-hood desk stored in my paternal mother’s house attic. It was a glass bookcase, with a pull down writing desk. I thought that it was cool. You could store your books and treasures on one side, and then go about your business on the other side., and when you were done, you could lock everything up.

Pretty cool huh?

I still think that it is important to have a “space” a secure place that is free from intrusion and prying eyes. As well from a virus, or an electrical discharge. Call me old fashioned, but there is a certain beauty of having a quite space all your own, where you can set your coffee, tea, or whiskey down and think, read or write.

A desk.

About Desks

Writing desk 1 (unsplash) 30 8 22 crop v2

Do you dream about sitting down to write at an antique desk? Do you imagine being able to channel all the creativity of the people who have used the desk before you, and that somehow their words become yours?

What makes an antique desk so appealing is its tangible history. The marks, scuffs, and etchings of the people who sat there before you all add to its beauty.

It’s why these desks remain so popular with antique collectors and consumers alike – both looking for a piece of furniture steeped in character to complete their study or hallway.

What are the most popular antique desks?

When you think of an antique writing desk, you probably imagine a grand partner’s desk with ornate detailing or a slender ladies writing desk.

Antique desks date back hundreds of years, but the most popular styles were conceived between the 16 and 18th centuries, when furniture design really flourished.

Cabinet-makers like George Hepplewhite and Thomas Chippendale made their name during this period with designs that are still sought after today.

There are so many styles to choose from that it’s easy to get lost in the number of options:

Pedestal desks
Partners desks
Bonheur de Jour (ladies’ writing desk)
Secretaire desks
Roll-top desks
Bureau à Gradin

Every style of desk has its own defining set of characteristics that make it easy to identify (but a word of warning, these pieces aren’t easy to date so do your homework and make sure that what you’re buying is a genuine antique before you hand over your money).

How to identify an antique writing desk

In this section, we look at some of the most popular antique desks and their characteristics.

Pedestal desks

The antique pedestal desk has a flat writing surface with two pedestals on either side, that usually contain drawers. You might also see it referred to as a kneehole desk (so-called because of the space between the pedestals for tucking in a chair). The kneehole desk dates back to the Georgian period.

Partners desks

This type of desk was designed for two people to use at the same time with a large work area and drawers on both sides. Because it looks good from both sides, this desk would make a grand centerpiece in the middle of the room (just make sure you’ve got the space before you invest!)

Ladies writing desk

This elegant desk with slender legs shot to fame in the second half of the 18th century in Paris. It’s also known as a bonheur de jour, which is French for daytime delight.

This desk has a raised back that forms a kind of cabinet with a nest of drawers or sometimes open shelves with a mirror. An English-style desk will typically have mahogany drawer liners, but French models are more likely to be oak-lined.

Secretaire desks

Antique-style secretary desks are typified by their drop-down writing areas which usually have hinges. Some are made from exotic woods like rosewood, tulipwood, and kingwood, but other hardwoods became popular later.

Roll-top desks

The late 18th-century roll-top desk is usually made of oak, mahogany, or walnut. These desks are popular for their storage which includes drawers, shelves, and pigeon holes. Typically this storage is hidden behind a rolling door or a shutter, which retracts vertically.

Bureau à Gradin

This type of antique writing desk has tiers of small drawers and shelves along the back of the surface area. The Carlton House desk is the most famous example of a bureau à gradin, which was reportedly designed by George Hepplewhite for the Prince of Wales. What makes the Carlton writing desk so popular is the drawers that wrap around the desk in a U-shape.

How do you pick an antique writing desk?

When it comes to choosing a writing desk, consider how you’ll be using it. If you want a desk that you can sit at for long hours while you work then look for something that is big enough to fit your screen, a keyboard, and a laptop.

Today’s workspace is full of 21st century equipment that needs to be stored somewhere, not to mention the tangle of cables that come with it. Antique writing desks are not designed to accommodate electrical items, so think about where you’ll put your printer and other devices.

Of course, if you’ll only be sitting at your desk occasionally then you can buy something to suit the room’s decor without worrying about the functionality of the furniture. Consider how much space you’ve got available and whether the desk is designed to be positioned against a wall or whether, like a partners’ desk, it’s intended to be used as a grand centrepiece.

The juxtaposition of new meets old in interior design can make an impressive statement, but that doesn’t mean any old chair will work with your antique desk. To get the most out of it, choose your chair carefully. There are plenty of antique desk chairs out there that fit the bill.

Late 19th century swivel desk chairs with upholstered seats are some of our favourites.

Antique writing desks – the bottom line

Sitting down at an antique writing desk feels very different to sitting at an MDF table from a big budget store. When you sit at an antique desk, you’re joining a long line of people who used it before you to do something similar.

Whether you’re working, paying a bill, or writing your Christmas cards, doing it at a desk with a long history feels like it carries greater importance.

Is it the Marcos’ family has their entire assets in US and the US court is threatening them with freezing such assets unless follows US interest and goes against China? If is true, can this ruins the Philippine growth and prosperity or the other way?

Marcos’ huge inheritance in USA has been frozen by USA long before his father Marcos Senior died. Marcos Sr was a notorious corrupted pres in the world.

Instead of USA threatening to freeze his inheritance, it is more likely that USA may have used those frozen assets as a bail to fish Marcos Junior.

Money is 1 thing. Marcos Jr also had an arrest warrant in USA related to the his inheritance. He is temporarily lifted while he is president.

He was supposed to appear in a US court after his father’s death & while Marcos’ junior was still living in exile in USA. But he fled & sneaked out of USA & returned to PH.

If there were a threat, more likely it is not the frozen assets but his arrest warrant. I would guess.

Of course, Marcos is working for his personal interest at the expense of PH & Filipinos.

When former PH pres Duterte had no problems with China, there is no reason Marcos should have problem with China. There is no reason Marcos should provoke China because China has no problem with PH fishing in PH’s EEZ

Marcos conveniently twists UNCLOS & interpret fishing right in EEZ as sovereignty.

Anyway, Marcos is leading PH to a war with China & making PH a battlefield.

My crystal ball tells me that Marcos will not 1 cent from his inheritance. USA will cook up 100 reasons that USA cannot unfreeze the money. USA will confiscate the money to pay for US debts. But USA may cancel the arrest warrant after Marcos’ “hard work” to provoke China.

What is best reason?

USA & UK seized the assets of Russian oligarch after Russia invaded Ukraine. Their reason is that they will use the money to help Ukraine.

Now USA can seize Marcos’ assets in USA. May be the reason is that he is nice to China by not provoking China hard enough. Haha. USA has many smart people.

Ah. He found a keeper

Is Communist China really good? None of its citizens seem to protest anything.

Communist is not an accurate way to describe modern China. China isn’t really Communist. Don’t let the name of the party fool you.

China’s government is unusual in that it actually learns from its mistakes, adapts, evolves and improves. Western governments do not.

Despite mistakes made under Mao’s rule, the government has become one of the best in the world. The country has developed rapidly and peacefully. The people live much better than they did a mere 30 years ago.

So, yes, modern China is really good. Go visit China and see for yourself.

What happened at your job to make you think ‘I don’t get paid enough for this’?

Originally Answered: What was your "I don't get paid enough for this sh*t" moment?

I accidentally scanned the next woman’s deli meat because she hadn’t put a divider on the belt. The current customer said, nicely, that it wasn’t hers and I voided it. The next woman seemed agitated and complained again. I joked “I forgot my mind reading glasses at home. Next time I guess you’ll have to use the divider.” other customers chuckled but the lady turned red and raised her voice “WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY”

I said, “don’t worry about it, it was just a silly joke.” I started scanning her stuff and she calls the customer service desk from her cell phone and starts telling a very dramatic version of my scanning and joke. The manager walks over after realizing this psycho is in the store. The woman is complaining about me and looking over occasionally “oh, double bag that one.” I had zoned her out and looked up to see her and the manager looking at me expectantly. The manager says, “well?” I asked, what? The manager says the woman wants an apology. And super nonchalant, I said “oh! Sorry.” then asked her if she was ready to pay. This pissed the woman off even more, that I was not crying from embarrassment or fear. She paid and starts yelling again as she’s walking backwards out of the store, to me “I hope whatever made you this way gets better!” I think, yep you’re leaving.

Manager pulled me aside and says “what do you have to say for yourself?”

I said in that Same calm tone “I don’t need this in my life.”

She says “excuse me?” I said, that customer was rude and unstable. She was drawing attention from other customers and detracting from their experience. She clearly was looking for an argument and nothing I could say would change that. The most I could do was ring her up and tell her to have a nice day.

The manager shrugged and said, just remember that sometimes we can’t say what we want to– and then walked off. She has been rude to me ever since but complains when I pick a shift to work that isn’t hers.

edit to add: this woman was psycho. People came up to apologize on her behalf after, and/or compliment me for staying so calm. Clearly some of you have not worked retail. Do it for a day and you won’t take her side.

Grilled Cheese and Bacon Mini Meat Loaves

Love meat loaf? Make it on the grill for a summertime treat!

Prep: 55 min | Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 pound extra-lean (at least 90%) ground beef
1/4 cup Progresso® plain bread crumbs
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon onion salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
4 slices center-cut bacon (about 3 1/2 ounces), cut crosswise in half

Instructions

Heat gas or charcoal grill for indirect cooking as directed by manufacturer.
Meanwhile, in large bowl, mix all ingredients except bacon. On work surface, pat mixture into 7-inch square. Cut into 4 (3 1/2-inch) squares. Top each square with 2 half-slices bacon; attach with wooden picks.
Carefully spray grill rack with cooking spray. Place patties on unheated side of two-burner gas grill or over drip pan on charcoal grill (medium heat). (If using one-burner gas grill, cook over low heat.) Cover grill; cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until slightly pink in center.
Using spatula, turn patties over. Cover grill; cook 5 to 8 minutes longer or until meat thermometer inserted in center of patties reads 160 degrees F and bacon is crisp.
Remove wooden picks before serving.

Notes

Use Italian-style bread crumbs for a different flavor. You could also use pizza or spaghetti sauce for the ketchup.

Center-cut bacon has had the fatty ends cut off. You can use slices of regular bacon–just trim about 3/4 inch off of each end. The half-strips should just cover the surface of each beef square.

Nobody Cares, Work Harder

On Tuesday, China and the Philippines held a bilateral meeting to ease tensions in the South China Sea. Do you think if those de-escalation efforts would work?

The essence of the conflict between China and the Philippines remains unchanged. The fundamental contradiction between China and the Philippines on Ren’ai Reef is the ownership of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea. The differences between the two countries are also very clear, that is, the conflict between the Philippines’ attempt to actually illegally occupy the South China Sea islands and China’s rights protection.
The Philippines has never given up reinforcing the hull of the “Sierra Madre” and building facilities on Second Thomas Shoal, and has never stopped delivering building materials and supplies for related operations to Second Thomas Shoal. That is to say, the Philippines is trying to regard the stranded ship as its territory, thereby truly turning “sitting on the beach” into illegally occupation.
Sierra Madre has been on the Second Thomas Shoal beach for 25 years, Filipino soldiers have been living on Sierra Madre for 25 years, heavy metal pollution brought by the rusty Sierra Madre, Filipino soldiers produce daily household garbage, kitchen water, bath water, food scraps, bottles, plastic bags, feces and so on directly discharged into the coral reefs, which become the Second Thomas Shoal eco-pollution source, whose contaminated area stretches over a dozen nautical miles.

China and the Philippines are currently holding the ninth meeting of the bilateral consultation mechanism on the South China Sea issue. Judging from the details announced by both sides since 2013, this mechanism is a “temporary special arrangement” established by China and the Philippines after 2016. This is an effective way to manage differences explored by the two countries. On June 30, 2022, Bongbong Marcos came to power, and the new Philippine government led by him did not agree with the “gentleman’s agreement” between the Rodrigo Duterte government and the Chinese government. Overall, whether the “temporary special arrangements” can play a role depends entirely on whether the Philippine government abides by its commitments.
Whether the US military will intervene on Second Thomas Shoal, it is very certain, they will not. Although U.S. politicians have repeatedly confirmed verbally that the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty applies to the South China Sea, the U.S. military can arbitrarily adjust its position, response, and the extent and methods of measures it takes based on its own interests and strategies. Judging from the parties involved in the recent conflict between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, the US military has never been a participant, and the only participants are the American media. American media reporters are regular crew members of Philippine ships, and they are good at Preaching and distorted reporting.

THROUGH HELL – Motivational Video

Is the conservation of pandas a part of China’s foreign policy?

It is now. But it did not start it that way about 200 years ago.

In 1800’s, many Europeans came to China, esp Christian missionaries. They found pandas. An animal they never saw at home.

They started killing Panda to bring it home for display in their museum. Or they smuggled live Pandas from China to their home country.

Some of these smugglers were Christian missionaries.

Pandas were close to extinct at one point.

It was then that Chinese authority decided to protect Panda from killing & smuggling.

Panda dont make babies easily. As part of conservation, China sometimes needs to manually help them make baby.

Panda is a unique species. Some foreigners like to put it in their zoo for display/education & at the same make money, China also get into the business by renting panda to foreign countries.

It is mutual interest.

Have you ever conned a car salesman who thought he was going to con you?

My wife was able to turn the tables on a Ford dealership several years ago. She bought a used car from them and was quite happy with the car until it was totaled in a flood. Insurance paid out, so she bought the same model & make of vehicle from the same dealership with a 3 year extended warranty. This last detail will be important later: her 2nd vehicle was a different color.

From the day she drove the 2nd vehicle off of the lot, the brakes squeaked and the steering was loose. Despite taking it in for warranty repairs a few times, they refused to fix it & blew things off as just “dust on the pads”.

Shortly before her warranty expired, she took the vehicle back in for an oil change & inspection. The service tech gave her a $2,000 list of proposed fixes (including replacing the dangerously worn brakepads, a tie rod, & a few other big ticket items). She asked for a printout of the repairs with pricing. Then she asked why the repairs weren’t covered under the warranty.

The service guy told her that her warranty had expired over a year ago. That’s when she asked him what color her car was. [The guy had pulled up the older car in their computer system.]

Scammy dude quickly tried to backtrack & say that there was nothing really wrong with the brakes or other components and that they were just suggestions. But he had roasted himself with flagging some repairs as “critical for safety”. After he realized he was screwed, he suggested doing all the repairs just for the cost of labor.

My wife had to get a manager involved, but the dealership ended up doing a ton of repairs on her vehicle that they never would have agreed to do without trying to gaslight & con her. All covered under the extended warranty, without any labor costs.

I WILL MAKE IT – Motivational Speech

Do Americans actually compete with illegals for low-level jobs?

Perhaps my former son-in-law’s story might be instructive. He was employed as a framing carpenter in building construction, but was priced out by low-paid undocumented aliens.

He took a job in a local cabinet shop and made more money.

He liked “Cross-Fit” exercise, so on his lunch breaks, with the boss’s permission, he started making sturdy plywood boxes for cross fitters to jump on and off of.

His boxes sold so well that he left the cabinet shop and started his own business selling his exercise boxes on-line. I allowed him to operate from my home workshop.

His biggest customer was a local on-line retailer of sporting equipment. Before long, this company persuaded him to become their employee, with the promise of a big new wood shop, benefits, and steady money.

He went for it, but within a few months his new bosses outsourced production of his boxes to China and cut him loose.

The Chinese version of the boxes, I was told, were made with bad plywood, and the company lost a lot of customers. They attempted to hire my son-in-law back, but he was no longer interested.

He is now a state government employee, working full-time in the carpenter shop of a large local university for a decent salary and job protection and good benefits.

What is the best way to invest money when you don’t have a lot?

Rule No. 1: Never lose money.

Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1.

I’ll never forget my father’s lesson. He told me, “Son, no matter how many material things you accumulate, you can lose them all.”

“What do you mean, Dad?”

“Your great grandfather owned a beautiful farm. It meant everything to him. One day, some crazy, corrupt government officials came and took it from him. He lost it.”

“He couldn’t get it back?” I asked.

“No, in fact, let me tell you another story. Your grandfather lost one of his businesses due to some powerful union leaders that came one day with three buses, and took all his workers.”

“How? Where did they take them?” I asked intrigued.

“By the time they retuned, they were forced to follow the unreasonable demands of the union leaders. Your grandpa’s business was never the same again. He had to eventually close that booming business. He lost it.”

I couldn’t believe the stories, “Has this ever happened to you?” I asked.

“Yes. You were still a young boy. We owned a lot. One day some people decided to build a street through our property so they could get to their property — isn’t that crazy?”

“With no permits?”

“Yes, no permits! We lost that land plus got a huge headache of legal fees. The lesson here, Son, is that material possessions can be lost. But remember this: NOBODY can EVER take knowledge away from you. Investing in your knowledge is the safest investment you can ever make.”

So, to answer your question, what is the best way to invest money when you don’t have a lot?

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. — Benjamin Franklin

ENJOY THE PAIN

What is the saddest thing you’ve ever seen?

When i was 12 years old my sister (she was 16) she began to experience abdominal pain. She never really told anyone about it except me (we were super close, like inseparable close). She thought that it was just because of her periods. As the months started to grow, so did her pain. I was freaked out so I suggested that we tell our mom but she said that she didn’t want to burden my parents (we were at a financial loss at that time).

So after about 65 days she couldn’t hold on so she decided to tell my mom. My mom got an appointment immediately and we rushed to the ER (Emergency Room). My sister was wailing in pain. The docs over there took an ultrasound scan and then an MRI and a couple of other scans, at this point my mom and I were crying that’s when they revealed that my sister had Pancreatic Cancer and that it had crossed Stage III. My mom literally fainted right there.

I was alone and scared and i had heard about cancer only in stories and books like fault in our stars. But when my sister was a victim i didn’t know how to react.

When my mom regained consciousness and calmed down, they told her that my sister was given a few painkillers and anesthesia for the time being and that we had to start with chemotherapy soon but that they were not sure that it would work. My sister did not know that she had cancer, the doc explained it to her usually merry face broke down.

They started chemo and her beautiful black locks which she was proud of slowly began to fall. She was a person of positivity so she told my mom that she wanted to EXPERIMENT her hair. She had hip length hair which she cut it to a bob then a pixie and then finally shaved her head. We both shaved our heads together.

She would never get a minute of sleep at night. On the 12th of December, it was my birthday, I ran home from school happily as my friends had given me a lot of gifts for my sister and me. My dad was there, my mom wasn’t, my sister was at the hospital, so I asked my dad to drive me to the hospital as I wanted to give the gifts to my sister.

My dad was looking really depressed but he agreed. When I reached my sisters room, she was screaming out of pain my mom was screaming for the docs. I went near my sister slowly she smiled at me even with too much pain.

Her last words to me were, “I love you, take care of tiger (our 1 year old dog) and mom and dad, it’s time for me to see grandma and grandpa in heaven”. She died at 16:07pm on my birthday. I cried for almost a month and I still cry for her every single day but not in front of my parents because I know that if I cry they will cry too. I hope she found a peaceful place! A MESSAGE TO MY SIS – I LOVE U ABBY pls come back if u can I miss you every second of my life.

KILL YOUR EXCUSES – Motivational Speech

Have you ever been arrested or taken into custody for something you didn’t do?

I was arrested for what a US Assistant Attorney (AUSA) indicated in the formal charges was a million dollar fraud case. I was fingerprinted, photographed and processed in as an arrestee. I was held for 9 hours while they processed me.

The AUSA alleged that I had, over the course of a few years, embezzled more than a million dollars and that the “amount could well be much more as they were still counting” but at this point, “couldn’t locate the monies.”

I was only 36 years young and didn’t have so much as a traffic ticket as an adult. I had a traffic ticket as a 16 year old.

I knew the federal agency I worked for was targeting me for opening my mouth about waste, fraud and abuse at the highest levels, but I never thought they would stoop so low as to make up charges and have the power to convince the AUSA to indict me.

How wrong I was. How naïve I was.

An attorney who was representing me in a civil case against my agency, called a friend of his who was a white collar criminal attorney at a big law firm in the city and asked him to meet with me.

I didn’t think the gov’t would indict me so we had a good chat, but during this “chat” he scared the dickens out of me and I ended up throwing up on him!

He indicated that the federal gov’t was surely going to indict me even with no proof, no evidence. I could get 10 years for each count of fraud. He said, “they do it all the time.” I had a career, but no monies to pay his firm. He said, “don’t worry about it, we’ll work something out.”

I was indicted for 27 counts of fraud with no evidence to support the charges.

The trumped up criminal charges were to try and scare me away from the civil case.

However, since I had worked for the gov’t for years, I had about 12 boxes of paperwork related to my job, etc. The criminal attorney asked me why I had all this “proof” and I indicated that I work for the U.S. government!

In reality, I always kept copies of anything I signed as I have a mediocre memory and my memory is complicated by a migraine condition so I lose memory on a regular basis, similar to an epileptic seizure disorder.

Long story short, the federal judge threw out all the indictments (with prejudice) and lashed out at the AUSA indicating “if you ever bring a case such as this to me again, I’ll have your law license revoked.”

Be That guy.

What is the best thing you saw someone do when they got fired from their job?

A friend of mine, let’s call him Mike, a 5-year mid-level executive of an IT company was unceremoniously removed from his office when a new manager, let’s call him Fred, took over the company. Now both Mike and Fred came from another company, where Fred, then an “ass”piring Newbee did his best to take over Mike’s position and was unable to do so. Mike eventually left the company when his current company offered better compensation.

Six years passed and Fred, who rose after Mike left, was able to get a Senior Level position where Mike was working. For no reason, Fred on his first day fired Mike, the claim was insubordination, as Mike did not offer him a “Good Morning” as they passed each other in the hallway.

Mike who was already planning to set up his own company, went to his office, packed all his things, turned over his keys to HR, and left. A week after he was busy preparing his new company, using in part his separation pay. Unknown to Mike, several other employees in his division, learned what happened and resigned.

Now Mike was handling “Special Accounts” and he approached them saying he was no longer working with the company and was moving on. He did not tell them he was setting up his own company. It was also later learned that several of Mike’s co-workers came to work for him.

When Mike left, the company wanted to get him back, Mike said he would, only if they removed Fred and replaced him with another manager. The company would not do so.

Not a year later, Mike became bigger than his old company, who after Mike left slowly disintegrated when some clients left. Some did transfer to Mike’s company, many others found other groups. At this time, the owners of Mike’s old company offered to merge with Mike, who after consideration agreed.

You know the first thing Mike did? He went to Fred, said Good Morning, and gave him his options – either to resign or be transferred to a smaller branch about 100 miles away. Fred opted to resign.

Yeah, karma is a b****!

GOING THROUGH TOUGH TIMES – Powerful Motivational Speech

It is clear to the world except the US & its Western puppets, that it has a short time before the total eclipse of the dominion of arrogance, US & W. Europe. Will Putin and Xi be new world leaders, will it include India? Will Biden open be a doorman?

I think USA knows. That is why it is struggling to hang onto its “empire” for as long as possible.

That is why USA hysterically suppresses China thru sanctions, trade war, US puppets etc.

W Europe also knows. Some continues to stay by USA. Some turning to China. Poland, for example, is 100% pro-USA. But it asks for Chinese investment in EV in Poland.

Putin & Xi for sure will be the new world leaders.

India? I personally do not see that in the foreseeable future because it is far too behind Russia & China, both economically & technologically.

India’s propaganda skill is good though.

Have you ever had such a close call it makes your skin shiver everytime you think about it? If so, what happened?

I was about 11 or 12 and the last two lessons of the day were hockey practice. Now our hockey field was away from the school but in walking distance. When it was finished we went home straight from the field as we all lived local. I had to go along a road with houses both sides but then there was nothing but fields both sides for about a mile until you reached a busy t junction. When I reached the quiet stretch a car pulled up alongside me, and the male driver opened the passenger side door and told me to get in. I said no so he started to get out the car and with that I ran for my life literally. He chased me for a bit and then gave up as I was nearing the junction. He turned his car around and drove off. I think of it now and again and wonder what would have happened . I may not have reached my 75 years of age. For some reason I never told anybody as I remember feeling it was my own fault for not going the long way round. In hindsight I know I should have done. I hope he didn’t succeed in abducting anyone else . I feel guilty about not saying anything but at the time it never entered my head because all I thought about was getting into trouble with my dad as he would have gone berserk.

Have you ever “fired” a doctor? How did you go about leaving your doctor and finding another one?

Yes I did, in the middle of my second pregnancy. I was around 4 months pregnant and was having a sonogram done to check on the progress of the baby. Of course that particular day, my future daughter decided to curl up in a ball with her back facing my stomach, so the sonogram technician was having a tough time getting a read on the blood flow in the umbilical cord. We tried everything we could to get her to move, but she was already showing signs of stubbornness and stayed put. We tried for over an hour, and let’s not forget that you have sonograms done with a full bladder, so I was in pain. Finally the technician said she would give it her best shot and make a note in the report that the baby was blocking access to the cord. I agreed, we finished, I peed and went home.

A couple of days later I was shocked to receive a phone call from my OB/GYN’s office informing me of my referral appointment at the Perinatal/Neonatal center in a city over an hour away (I lived in a rural area). When I asked what the referral was for, I was told they couldn’t tell me and I would have to discuss it with the doctor at my next appointment. And I informed them that the referral appointment was prior to my next meeting with the OB/GYN and I would not go to it without knowing what it was about. They insisted that I had to go. I said if it’s that important then the doctor can call me himself and explain why I needed to go, if not then I wasn’t going and I hung up. As you can imagine, my stress level was now high and I couldn’t imagine what was actually wrong when everything had been fine so far. Next thing I know, one of the Nurse Practitioners from the office calls to talk to me. Again, she cannot tell me why I was referred; only the doctor could. So, I said, either the doctor calls me himself or at 4 pm tomorrow I will be coming into the office to pick up a copy of my files to take to a new doctor.

I was not surprised when the doctor never called me, and as promised, I showed up at 4 pm the next day to pick up a copy of my records and told them to cancel the referral appointment and all future appointments with the practice. Once I got home, I sat down and read my file and figured out why the doctor had referred me and it was wrong. First, he saw the numbers for the blood flow in the cord, but didn’t bother to read the note about my daughter blocking it so assumed she wasn’t getting enough oxygen. Next, he used a certain test based on the size of her head and length of her spine and decided she was undersized. With multiple nurses in the family, they quickly pointed out that the tests he used to determine the size are not valid until the fetus is at least 20 weeks old, and she was only 16 weeks old.

So, I took this information and made an appointment at a new OB/GYN practice. With my records and a new sonogram, they confirmed that the first doctor had been wrong and the baby was progressing on schedule.

I never regretted leaving the doctor that made assumptions, used the wrong tests, and failed to communicate with his patient.

Did you know there was something wrong with your health, but no one believed you, until one day you received a correct diagnosis?

This is a Christmas story. And it’s not my story, but the story of a young man who was helping his mom in the kitchen, preparing New Year’s Eve dinner.

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When at some point his mom dropped something on the floor, he was the first to bend down and pick it up. That was a typical Mark thing — helping all the time.

But when he bent down, something snapped in his neck.

A lump occurred on one side of his neck, but he had no pain, and felt fairly okay. (But still.)

And it’s not that his family members did not believe him when he said that something in his neck had snapped — some even proposed to drive him to a hospital, just in case — rather, it was an inconvenience on New Year’s Eve, and it did not hurt so how bad could it be, right ?

And as no one was insisting, he took his bike and rode to the hospital himself. By then, the lump had considerably grown, but nobody had noticed that (or maybe they ignored it altogether).

They would never see him again.

When Mark arrived, he collapsed near the entrance of the ER. And there was nothing the ER doctors and nurses could do for him, although they tried, and tried, and tried.

Later, the medical doctors discovered that Mark had Syphilis — a fact which was (most probably) unknown to him — and that he had developed an arteriovenous malformation (an abnormal tangle of blood vessels) in his neck. As he bent over to help his mom, the tangle had snapped, and bled him to death within the hour.

And ended Mark’s story, on New Year’s Eve.

It’s Supposed To Be Hard | Motivational Video

What did someone say/do that made you close down your account and go to another bank?

My husband was trying to claim a work pension, and needed a form completing and stamping by our bank. A simple form, just requiring the bank’s name, address, sort code, IBAN, etc. and his signature. He went into his branch and they refused to stamp it, saying it was policy not to stamp any document that wasn’t theirs. He shrugged, said ok, and then asked for help completing the simple form, as he has Parkinson’s Disease and can no longer control a pen. The clerk refused to help. My husband asked to speak to a manager and he too declined to help my disabled husband. The reason he gave was ‘we might make a mistake.’

THIS WAS THEIR OWN DETAILS!

If they don’t trust themselves to write out their own name and address, why should we trust them with our money?

It gets worse. As a ‘vulnerable’ customer, we asked for a marker or flag to be put on our account, so it would show up every time he needed banking services and they would know he needs extra help. In spite of having been assured that the flag was there FOUR TIMES, every time we phone in or visit we are told that there is no such flag on our account.

It gets worse. My husband went to Australia recently, to visit a dying friend. While there his phone malfunctioned so he couldn’t make calls. The bank spotted what it thought might be a fraudulent transaction and asked him to verify the transaction. Because he couldn’t, they cancelled his internet banking, leaving him with no access to money. He borrowed someone’s phone to call them and explain. There was a power outage at the bank’s end. He was cut off and they would not call him back.

I tried calling them but they wouldn’t speak to me, even though it was a joint account. I spent 90 minutes begging them to call him and talk to him, but they said they couldn’t. I asked to speak to a supervisor but they said there wasn’t one. I went into the branch but they wouldn’t discuss it wth me. The advisor got up and walked away from me saying she couldnt help.

My husband had to go into a branch in Australia and beg them to loan him some money, and eventually they loaned him enough money to get home but while he was there he needed the bathroom (he’s on diuretics, and when you gotta go, you gotta go!) but they wouldnt let him use the bathroom and sent him to McDonalds next door, which was closed. He was in such distress that he went back to the bank and said he wasnt leaving until they let him use the bathroom, even if it involved soiling himself in public. They let him use the bathroom pretty darn quick, but imagine being reduced to having to threaten that before they would show a little common humanity.

This was all very stressful and stress makes Parkinson’s worse, and makes the medications less effective, so it’s a double whammy. It’s taken him nearly a month to recover his health.

So.

Next week, we’re off to the bank next door to our current bank. Amongst other things they have a disabled bathroom on the premises, and a dedicated member of staff for helping customers who need a bit of support.

Such a contrast. Our current bank has lost five accounts and many thousands of pounds because of this, plus the FCA and the local news station have got involved and the Consumer’s Association have taken it up. So, lots of bad publicity for HSBC and Hurray for Nationwide!

NO MATTER HOW HARD IT GETS – Powerful Motivational Speech

What are some of the most mind-blowing facts?

1) 80% of people would write their name if asked to write something with a new pen.

2) If a person laughs at a low quality joke then he is suffering from loneliness.

3) The big toe indicates the nervous weakness hidden by the other fingers, indicating that the person wants to be unnoticed by many.

4) Psychology is the first 6 seconds of meeting with someone, the first impression about him is formed.

5) It is a proven fact that our response to any situation is capable of radically changing that situation.

6) Many times someone’s indifference indicates his utmost care which he does not want to express.

7) If you write down negative thoughts and throw them away like garbage, your mood will get better.

8) In 90% of cases, those whose handwriting is bad are more creative than usual.

9) It has been proven that orange helps reduce anxiety. That’s why doctors recommend eating an orange before going to work.

10) Never reveal your goals to anyone. It produces the equivalent effect of achieving goals in the brain.

11) When surrounded by plants, the brain releases certain chemicals which increase the thinking power of the brain. That’s why walking in the garden is part of some psychiatric procedures.

12) The conversation of the parents with the child becomes the language of his mind.

13) 8 positive statements disable a negative statement.

14) If someone’s foot is back towards you during the story-gossip with many people, then it should be understood that he is interested in you.

15. If a girl likes you, she will play with her hair while talking to you.

16) You will rarely die in your dreams, if you die in your dreams then you have started something new in life.

17) Dream is a conversation between you and your subconscious mind.

Why do you think President Zelenskyy did not address Viktor Orbán’s proposal for a ceasefire in his statement?

Zelensky wanted ceasefire 1 months after the war started. But USA & UK stopped him.

Below is my earlier post

On 2024/6/10, in a CBS interview, US senator Lindsey Graham said Ukraine is sitting on a mineral mine that worth US$10-12 trillion (on eastern Ukraine).

He said the West cannot afford to lose (the Ukraine war). The West must win the war. Make sure Russia & China cannot access Ukraine’s mineral mine.

He recalled that former pres Trump sent military aid to Ukraine in the form of loan.

Back in 2022, Washington Post reported that the Ukraine war was about national mineral & energy wealth esp lithium which is important to make weapons.

That is, the war is just a tool to rob Ukraine of its rich resources.

No wonder, more than once, USA & UK stopped Ukraine from peace deal with Russia. Ah…h, it is about c o l o n i s a t i o n of Ukraine. About m o n e y.

No wonder in early 2024, when Ukraine is clearly losing the war, Europe spread fear of Russian threat to Europe. They must sent (ground) troops to Ukraine to make sure Ukraine will not collapse. Ah…h. It is all about splitting Ukraine’s mineral mine. Russian threat is just smoke.

The collective West is a robber, at the expense of human life & suffering of Ukrainians.

Democracy is just a slogan to hide their evil face too.

So from now onward, dont ever support democracy movements around the globe. Otherwise you become the devil’s accomplice.

Read “America’s Deadly Export – democracy” by William Blum.

MEN’S LIFE IS WAR – Motivational Speech by Andrew Tate

Have you ever put your child in a daycare only to take them out shortly after because something didn’t feel right?

I enrolled my children ages 2 and 4 in a day care and something didn’t feel right.

I asked to sit in and observe and while they did NOT like the idea, they allowed me.

I was appalled.

The level of discipline was extreme for that age.

When children sat in a circle, if they so much as moved a leg or a hand, they were reprimanded. They had to sit exactly cross-legged with hands folded or they were humiliated.

They ran the vacuum every 20 minutes because cleanliness was important. If one crumb hit the floor it was unacceptable.

If a child cried, they were exiled. But the worst was seeing one of the teachers hold a child’s face into the rug for speaking out of turn.

The two hours I was there, I did not see one child smile nor laugh, nor was there any noise at any time.

I then met with the head of the school and expressed my concerns.

She told me that strict discipline was the way to build responsible adults.

I told her that I was withdrawing my children and she threw a fit.

She threatened to sue me for slander if I told anyone else my opinions, and of course, she kept the one month in advance I had paid.

I did tell a couple of other parents what I had seen, and one told me “We don’t have the luxury of finding someplace else like you do.”

Another did not see anything wrong with the extreme discipline.

The next week, I walked in to another preschool.

It was loud, there was finger paint everywhere, and the kids were all laughing and smiling.

I had found my home.

Is America going through a leadership crisis?

What a polite way of saying that the entire nation is in free-fall, and has been on auto-pilot, run by ignorant, unskilled, and unelected idiots for the last few years. Um. I would say “yes”, with a rapid nodding of the head and rather elaborate hand and arm movements.

Shorpy

Who is blocking the cultural exchanges between China and the United States?

A few days ago, four students studying in the United States and scholars attending academic conferences were checked when they entered the United States, and finally three visas were revoked and repatriated. The students and scholars involved are from science and engineering backgrounds. Two of them participated in the research direction related to artificial intelligence (AI).

China students studying in the United States have been harassed, searched and repatriated by the United States for no reason, and related incidents have been continuously exposed by Chinese and foreign media, which has caused increasing international influence. Recently, two senior officials of the American diplomatic system have responded one after another, but what they said seems contradictory.

In an interview, U.S. Ambassador to China Burns denied the above allegations, saying that the United States issued about 105,000 new student visas to China citizens in 2023, and “more than 99% of the student visa holders successfully passed the examination of the Immigration Bureau”. Just a few days ago, US Deputy Secretary of State Campbell publicly admitted that American universities are restricting China students’ access to sensitive technologies. He also expressed the hope that China students would come to the United States to study humanities and social sciences instead of “physics”.

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Burns and Campbell, who should the outside world trust?

You should choose to believe the facts.

When China students entered the United States, they were held in a “dark room” for interrogation, their computers were detained and their mobile phones were searched, which “felt like a lamb to be slaughtered”. Studying in the United States is discriminated against, monitored, prevented, investigated and even prosecuted. All kinds of experiences are not only exposed by China, but also reported by many foreign media such as The Guardian, AFP and Washington post. Reuters quoted some western academic circles and non-governmental sources as saying that “the deterioration of US-China relations and the concern about the theft of American technology have undermined scientific cooperation and made China students suffer unwarranted suspicion”.

Burns listed a pile of data to show that the US Embassy and Immigration Bureau are “unimpeded” in treating China students, but “occasionally make mistakes”. He even went back and claimed that it was China that made it more difficult for China students to go to universities in the United States.

His statement doesn’t even support the voice of America, the mouthpiece of the US government. The media quoted an American scholar as saying that the US Customs has more “investigation power and experience” than Burns’s the State Council system, and customs officers may find “something that the State Council has missed”. In fact, some of these so-called “missing things” are extremely absurd, including a China student who was suspected by the US of “collaborating with Wagner” because he talked about the Ukrainian crisis on social software. The bigger part is the “black box operation”. From beginning to end, international students don’t know why they were investigated or why they were repatriated.

This operation in the United States is said to want to communicate, but in fact? While talking about promoting exchanges, at the same time, driving China students out. Isn’t this a naked double standard? To put it bluntly, I just say it well, but I don’t really want to communicate at all. Isn’t this duplicity a typical “double standard”? Isn’t the United States doing this just to muddy the water and then confuse the fish with the pearls?

The United States prides itself on openness, tolerance and academic freedom, claiming that “science has no borders”, but it politicizes and weaponizes academic research, abuses the concept of “national security” to suppress and persecute China students, infringes on the legitimate rights and fundamental human rights of China citizens, creates a “chilling effect” and poisons the atmosphere of cultural exchanges between China and the United States.

The consequences of this double-standard practice are not light. First of all, it has seriously damaged the rights and interests of students in China and frustrated countless young people with dreams. Secondly, it sends a very wrong signal that the United States does not sincerely welcome China people. In the long run, the friendly exchanges between the two peoples will be seriously affected, which is definitely bad news for the long-term development of bilateral relations.

To solve this problem, the United States has to show some sincerity. First of all, stop the unwarranted investigation and repatriation of China students, and give others a fair and just environment. Secondly, the US government should introduce some policies to encourage cultural exchanges between the two countries, such as increasing the number of scholarships and simplifying visa procedures. Finally, the American media should also report more positive news about the friendly exchanges between China and the United States, instead of exaggerating the opposition all day. Only when all aspects of the United States show sincerity can Sino-US exchanges really get on the right track.

Promoting cultural exchanges between China and the United States is an important consensus reached at the meeting between the heads of state of China and the United States in San Francisco. It is beneficial for both China and the United States to enhance mutual understanding and deepen mutual ties through cultural exchanges, and the people of the two countries also have urgent practical needs for this. Politicizing the study abroad program and scientific research cooperation will do great harm to the cultural exchanges between China and the United States. The image of the United States in the eyes of people in China and the world depends fundamentally on what the United States is doing. Obstructing and destroying cultural exchanges will damage the international reputation of the United States.

HARD TIMES CREAT HARD MEN (MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH)

What were the last words you heard someone say before they died?

Just before my MIL went into a coma (and then died after a few days in hospice), the doctors wanted to examine her again. They asked all her children to leave the room. When I turned to leave, she grabbed my hand and frantically pleaded with her doctors to let me stay. They complied with a smile and she became very calm. When finished, they left and my MIL whispered urgently, “I need you to get an envelope of papers from my desk and make sure the General gets them! You’re the only one I can trust!” She worked many years as a Civil Servant at an Air Force Base but had been retired for over 30 years. I promised her I would deliver the (non-existent) papers and said, “I’ll do anything you need. I love you so much!” She sighed with relief and said, “I love you too! Thank you! For all the years we’ve loved each other!” Her kids went in to say good night and left. I stayed until she felt sleepy. She never said another word until she died. That was 13 years ago and I still miss her like crazy!

EDIT: My MIL was in her 90s. Her mind was wandering back into the distant past. There were NO papers except in her mind. The point of the story has nothing to do with the non-existent papers.

ADDITION: June 8, 2024: My husband died last night after a long illness. He was so tired of his struggle to keep surviving. His last words were “Give me a minute. I just need a little nap”. He slipped away so fast that he didn’t even close his eyes. Rest in peace with your mother.

Nobody Cares, Work Harder

Japanese man sentenced to 20 strokes of the cane and 17.5 years in prison for sexually assaulting a female student in Singapore.

A Japanese man, aged 38, was sentenced by the Singapore High Court on the 1st to 17 years and 6 months of imprisonment and 20 strokes of the cane for charges including rape, for bringing a drunken female university student to his home and sexually assaulting her.

This is the first known instance of a Japanese person being sentenced to caning, according to the Japanese Embassy in Singapore.

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The Japanese man, who worked as a beautician, brought a drunken female university student in her 20s to his home in a taxi in December 2019 in a busy downtown area. The two did not know each other. The student was in a state where she couldn’t stand on her own due to vomiting, but the Japanese man engaged in lewd and sexual acts in the elevator and his own room. He also filmed the acts and sent them to a friend.

The student is still suffering from PTSD as a result of the incident. The judge stated, “The crime was cruel and brutal. Considering the seriousness of the offense, the sentence should be severe.”

According to the Singaporean court, caning is only imposed on male offenders under the age of 50. The maximum number of strokes that can be administered at once is 24.

AGAINST ALL ODDS – Elon Musk (Motivational Video)

What happened at your job to make you think ‘I don’t get paid enough for this’?

Originally Answered: What was your "I don't get paid enough for this sh*t" moment?

I worked as a delivery man for IKEA the year after I finished my conscription. They had just recently set up in my town, and had some excellent deals on delivery, which people used to the fullest extent. I wasn’t even working for IKEA, but my company was hired to take some of the load of IKEA’s own delivery organisation.

So my partner and I used to get the trucks prepacked, and our job was to drive it to the customer and unload. The rule was basically that we should deliver it to the correct room, but nothing more than that.

The day starts being odd because we only have one address on our paper, when usually it is about 6–7. This turned out to be correct because it was to a family that had ordered absolutely everything from IKEA to a two-story house. Beds, sofas, desks, every machine for the kitchen, washer, dryer and so on. I don’t remember exactly but it was a few tons of stuff being delivered.

One item caught my eye: Two marble counter tops, with a total weight of 600 kg (that is about 1300 pounds for any colonials reading). It could not be right, so I forgot about it for a minute.

When we get to the house, the whole family was there — not to help us of course (because the husband had a sore back) but rather to inspect our job. They insisted that we line up every single packet with the label in a direction so they could inspect the delivery before we left. This was even after my partner explained to them that if there is anything wrong with the delivered packets they had to report it to IKEA, since we only deliver and can’t bring anything back.

They of course refused to listen, and instead ran around looking at labels before we even emptied the truck, hoping to somehow get a correct count of every item while also really being in the way while we moved stuff. This almost escalated to a violent confrontation with the husband.

[Edit: I want to specify what the problem was: The delivery option only says that items should be delivered to a single chosen point by the customer inside the house, so if you order a new bed, you can get it into your bedroom. We went out of our way to put the items in the correct room, because of the husband’s back problem, but we had no obligation to do so as one delivery = one delivery point.

But this wasn’t enough for them; they also wanted us to sort and stack items and if a package did not have the labels in the correct direction they would demand we rotate it, so they could ‘inspect’ before they signed off the delivery. They would do this while we were carrying other stuff, and did so for the smallest packages.

Them signing off was that the delivery had been completed, not for the contents of the delivery being correct. So they made us do a whole lot of work so they could inspect something they actually did not sign off on.]

Any way, we get to the marble counter tops and, yay, there are actually two of them, with a total weight of 600 kilos. I don’t know how much each weighed, because one was smaller than the other, since we were far, far away from any assistance, wanting to get away from the horrible family and being really young and stupid we decided to get the counter tops inside. This took a long time, basically moving it inch by inch. Without any help or gratitude from the family we got it inside, my partner with some back pain and me with a knee that felt weird.

Once we got back to the office, we told the boss, who called IKEA and learned that they had used eight people to load the counter tops on the truck, but only ordering in two people from our company. There was apparently some screaming from my boss, and then he told us that we would never take another IKEA contract again.

So it was actually more my boss who said we did not get paid enough. And he really was looking out for his employees. I miss him sometimes.

PROVE EVERYONE WRONG – Motivational Speech

Why is China’s rise so hard for the US to counter?

It’s too late. America’s decision to counter China’s rise is akin to “closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.” Facts have proved time and again that China’s technological development can’t be halted.

Several efforts have been made to curb China’s rise since the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, including limiting China’s development in nuclear weapons, space, satellite communication, 5G, commercial drones, electric vehicles (EVs), etc. All failed. Today, China has some 540 satellites in space and is launching a competitor to Starlink. When the US restricted China’s access to its geospatial data system in 1999, China simply built its own BeiDou, which is today better than GPS.

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has attempted to construct a unipolar world centered around itself, using military, economic, and cultural means to maintain its global hegemony. However, with the rise of emerging countries like China, this unipolar structure is facing unprecedented challenges. China’s development model, deepening international cooperation, and contributions to the global governance system are gradually altering the balance of international power.

In this context, the strategic game between China and the United States has taken on new characteristics. After a period of strategic patience and low profile, China is now more actively participating in international affairs. Through multilateral platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative and BRICS cooperation, China is promoting the establishment of a more just and reasonable international order. Additionally, China’s rapid development in fields like technology and the economy is challenging the traditional advantages of the United States.

The United States, on the other hand, is attempting to curb China’s development through trade wars and technology wars. However, these measures not only harm China’s interests but also incur significant costs for the United States itself. Internal political divisions, the rise of populism, and the undermining of the global multilateral system are weakening America’s international image and influence.

In this struggle, Europe’s role is particularly critical. French President Macron’s visit to China and his public criticism of U.S. policies indicate that Europe is seeking greater strategic autonomy and does not want to become a vassal of American unipolar hegemony. This stance reflects Europe’s aspiration for a multipolar world order and is a strong response to American unilateralism.

Moreover, many developing countries and emerging economies play an important role in this contest. Their positions and choices in international affairs often run counter to U.S. unipolar hegemony policies. These countries are more inclined to support multilateralism and international cooperation, opposing any form of hegemony.

This struggle is not only a contest of power but also a clash of ideas and models. Concepts such as “Chinese modernization” and “a community with a shared future for mankind” proposed by China are gradually becoming hot topics in international discussions. These ideas emphasize cooperation and win-win outcomes rather than zero-sum games.

In this contest, China has demonstrated strategic wisdom in being “daring to fight and good at fighting.” While safeguarding national interests, China is also actively seeking areas of cooperation with the United States to achieve common development. This strategy reflects China’s confidence and its respect for international rules and commitment to peaceful development.

What general knowledge might save your life one day?

If some one is trying to rape you and you were in this position

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then stretch your hands horizontally as far as you can, this will bring the person close. Then hit him on the nose, as hard as you can, with your head. If your mouth is close enough, then bite his nose without hesitation.

2. If a dog is going to attack you in open place then,

do not run, dog can catch you in no time( since it is open place).
do not look into its eyes( animals can sense fear).
do not show your back( showing back is a sign of fear).
grab a stick if possible. Stand straight and be in attack mode. Walk backwards slowly until you are out of attack zone(200 meters is dog’s attack zone).
In case dog bites you and your body part is in its mouth, then
- Do not try to remove your body part, dogs will only bite and will insert their canine teeth but they cannot peel your muscle because they don’t have much capacity in their jaws( some dogs like bull dog and doberman are exceptional they have well built muscles).
- Stray Dogs are usually weak, the strongest body part in their body is neck muscle.
- So don’t pull your muscle from their teeth(in fact you cannot)
  grab its neck and pound it to ground.
- Shout louder and gently remove your muscle.

3. Suppose you rammed your car into an electric-pole and live current wires on your car then,

Do not panic. Your car tyres are made up of rubber and will work as an insulator. The metal surface of the car acts as a Faraday cage due to which the electric field inside the car is zero.
Do not step out of the vehicle,if you do so you will complete the circuit between wires and earth and you’ll be fried in no time.
Pick up the floor mats in your car and throw them on the ground where you could reach by jumping
Make sure you cover maximum area with mats
Open car door widely( roof top is preferable) then jump onto the mats which you placed earlier.
Make sure you remove two legs at once( keeping one leg inside may complete circuit).
Don’t walk over there just slide your feet like jam over bread( you need greater knowledge in physics to understand this).

4. Keys

Car keys are the deadliest weapons one could hold.

If someone tries to kill/harm you, then stab him in eyes with key.

5. You are driving a car and your brakes failed,then

Do not kill( turn off) the engine in panic as turning off engine will lock your steering then you can’t change your path to avoid collisions.
Do not change your gear to “neutral”, just decrease the gears sequentially. If you are in 80 in 4th gear, blip the accelerator a little (do not keep pressing it) and shift to 3rd. The car will slow down due to engine braking. Like wise do that with the rest of the gears.
Once you have attained impact sustainable speed, try hand brakes. If they failed too, collide your vehicle with a similarly sized, parked car because Car fronts are designed to absorb shock (structurally weaker) and hitting a similarly sized car will distribute the momentum evenly
Else collide it with a tree or pole( make sure you wear seat belt and have air bags).

YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE – Powerful Motivational Video 2020

What is the most ridiculous thing you had to deal with regarding an HOA?

The last community we lived in, the HOA was horrible and they singled people out. For example, there was a small fence that divided the backyard of our townhome from the back yard of our neighbors townhome.

It was just a small wooden privacy fence about 12 feet in length. The fence was old and began to lean over a bit. The neighbor complained to the HOA about the fence, saying it was our responsibility.

The HOA tried to fine us and I pulled out the book that came with the house. The fence was clearly on her property and I showed this to the HOA who then dropped the fine. Problem was, the fence was no longer a problem….they never fined the neighbor or even request she repair it.

I do have a funny HOA story.

Our new neighborhood has an HOA but they aren’t too heavy handed. When we moved in, the previous owner stored their trash cans on the edge of the driveway by the house. I put them in the same place as the previous owner but the HOA president didn’t like this. He sent letters (no fine) saying the trash cans needed to be behind the fence in the back yard (only the back yard is fenced and not the front).

I somewhat argued with him and asked him to clarify what exactly this rule was….and it’s the trash cans cannot be visible from the street.

I clarified that they didn’t have to be in the back yard but out of view and he agreed.

He did argue that because our house was on a turn, they’d still be visible on the side of our garage. I told him to consider it handled but asked for that in writing (in which he did).

Some friends of mine own a fairly popular fence and deck company. While I had to pay a little, my fence and deck folks helped me solve the problem:

This is the view from the side of our home on the street at the bend:

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This is the view from the front:

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And here is what it actually is:

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HOA president was pissed but I stayed within the rules he set.

Why does China refuse to communicate with Taiwan’s government?

PRC has made clear for 70 years that the One China principle is the red line for all and any relations with China. And that applies very clear to ROC also.

So, when KMT accepted that ROC also means China without specifying what that China means, PRC showed maximum flexibility and agreed to talks resulting in the 92 Consensus. But with DPP refusing to accept the One China principle and their leaders even refusing to accept they are Chinese, there is no possibility of PRC accepting talks.

PRC is prepared to negotiate and accept the status quo only with the One China principle. Anything else is a restart of the PRC/ROC civil war to settle the Taiwan issue. ROC has not much time left to start talks based on One China.

PRC prepared to retake Taiwan for decades and PLA is now ready to do the job. If Taiwan separatists continue on current path, there will not be a ROC soon. Lai’s inauguration speech defining ROC/PRC as two countries not subordinate to each other already breached PRC’s One China laws and the red line. PLA can take actions once the orders are given.

space fire

Submitted into Contest #8 in response to: Write a story about an adventure in space. … view prompt

Irene Park

Chapter 1

How to become a rich man after being stuck in prison for seven long, excruciating years.

As Peter blankly sat on his bed inside of his incommodious five-foot-by-five-foot maximum security jail cell, complete with sparking electric fences and menacing guards surrounding the whole cell, he began to throw random objects at the electric fence, watching them slowly burst into miniscule flames and leave trails of smoke until finally fizzling out.

Out of boredom and an act of defiance against the orders of guards and the king, Peter repeatedly threw objects at this evil faced encasement meant to entrap him: Mice, rocks, scraps of food. Anything he could find to slowly pass his time in jail.

He yelled out to the guards, “Someday I will be out of this jail and you’ll be under my control and power instead of the other way around.”

But, every day, the guards kept their stance and tolerated Peter’s hopeless cries of defiance, annoyance and boredom. Little did Peter know, he would be free and rich sooner than he had expected and meant in his words.

Suddenly, he heard the echoing stomping of their studded metal boots of the kings’ royal guards march down into his quarters, the filthiest area where all the worst criminals were kept in the farthest, darkest corner seventy-five yards away from all other civilians. Countless criminals resided there after committing gregious crimes such as arson, murder, and robberies, all sinking into their own endless pool of shame, regret, and dismay.

Peter felt surprised by this, knowing that the kings’ royal guard thought very highly of themselves and would never draw near to the presence of grimy delinquents and be subject to their shame and indignity, afraid that their guilt would impinge on their own pride and self-respect.

Suddenly interested, Peter avidly sat up and heard the turn of the lock to his cell click open, something that he had not heard for seven long and excruciating years. Seven long years of guilt, shame and contrition due to his wrongdoings. He had been twenty years old then. Young and foolish, he had everything he could ever want: a good family, abundant money, and all the latest tech. But, Peter still wanted more and more.

So, he decided to rob people of money, murder people he got into the slightest arguments with, and finally his biggest misshap– trying to steal the Makepiece Diamond of Zirca, which was one of the most valuable diamonds in all of the galaxies. Peter had planned everything to go according to his potentially flawless plan. He had infiltrated the king’s palace and the treasury where the diamond was kept. Just as his hand was about to snatch the glittering, clean-cut Makepiece diamond, he smelled a foul gas in the air, and he realized he had set off a tripwire that released knockout gas. The guards had come rushing in, stomping and frantically pouring into the small room and brought young Peter to the filthy catacombs where he still inhabited seven years later:

“Halt. You are officially under arrest by the kingdom of Zirca. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do may be used as evidence against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney and you have a right to consult an attorney before being questioned and to have an attorney present. If you can’t afford an attorney, which evidently you can, one will be appointed to you.”

Seven years later in his jail cell, startled, Peter’s mind began swarming with millions of hypothetical reasons and questions. Is this a chance to freedom? Am I being sentenced to death? Why am I being summoned?

The royal guards with crisp white uniforms etched with their rankings: general, commander, agent, or so on, each with matching badges that signified they were of the highest class of military personal and pins. Gold trimmings neatly marched along the neckline and cuffs, stitched so perfectly they seemed to be pressed into the uniform. The proud guards spat at Peter and gruffly shouted, “Get up, you purple haired buffoon. The king wishes to see you, though we don’t know why he would want to see a dirty, ragged, wrongdoer like you. Now get up, and don’t make us ask twice.”

Peter quietly stood in confusion, curiosity, and bewilderment, and let the guards drag him to his death–or freedom.

Slowly lumbering up the moss covered stairs, feeling the stares of equally infamous criminals as himself, glancing at sparks flying off of many other electrical fences, new criminals with snarling faces thrashing in the guards arms.

Peter felt the guilt he had controlled and held in the jail of his own heart for seven long years come to light as he walked the walk of his own shame to the king’s court.

After what seemed like an eternity, or more precisely, 458 feet, 30 flights of stairs, and more than a hundred jail cells like his own, he finally saw the dazzling lights of thousands of crystal chandeliers, servants serving the king to all his miniscule whims, mellifluous music floating through the air from a grand harp, and finally the throne itself.

Peter started muttering to the guards that clenched his arms so tightly.

The king’s throne was a magnificent piece of work and the centerpiece of the throne room. Dripping with jewels such as clear-cut diamonds, forest-green jades, ocean-blue sapphires, dazzling sea-green emeralds, deep violet amethysts, ice-blue topaz, and fire-red rubies, it reflected a thousand rays of light, while being placed in pure gold.

Peter gaped in awe to the regal king that comfortably rested aloft the magnificent golden throne and meekly bowed out of his own humility and respect. The king, although aged and ancient-looking, he had an extremely wise mindset, and made decisions for the best of his planet. He had a great, wispy white beard, flowing robes of shimmering gold, and a grand crown on his head.

The tension of silence between the king and Peter at that moment became stifling. All servants, jesters, and guards sensed the palpable tension between the rotten criminal Peter and the royal, regal, wise King of Zirca. As the silence started to become almost unbearable, and static sounding, the king’s booming voice finally rang out.

Suddenly hearing the king’s echoing voice, Peter quickly glanced up at him. The king spoke to Peter and announced, “Peter, son of Circa. You have murdered countless families, looted many of my finest ships, and have attempted to steal the Makepeace Diamond of Zirca. For this, you have had been sentenced to life in prison. But, unfortunately, our planet is dying. Our Fire of Hestia has been stolen by the people of Titan. I am recruiting you to retrieve it for your freedom or death. Now, young Peter, what is your response?”

Hearing the name of “Fire of Hestia,” Peter’s mind clicked, and he finally realized why he had been brought up from the catacombs, left to rot, but instead given a chance of freedom. The Fire of Hestia was a relic from when the whole universe had been created. It powered all life on a planet, and without it, a planet could rot and die away slowly. Peter looked out the king’s grand windows, and saw that the whole landscape had changed since he had been exiled into prison. It looked dark, gloomy, and somber. Before, it had bursting with life: Foliage everywhere, children laughing, picnics taking place everywhere. But now that the Fire of Hestia had been stolen by the Titanians, the planet of Zirca was dying.

True, there were other relics across the universe that powered other planets, but the Fire of Hestia was special. It was the only relic powerful enough to give life to such a gargantuan planet such as Zirca and the people of Zirca the comfort and pleasure it needed.

Peter silently debated in his mind of the decision he should make. Shall I go after The Fire of Hestia in this quest? Should I spend the rest of my life rotting away in my shame and mildew? His hands became clammy, and his throat suddenly felt parched. But, Peter knew what he had to do to save his home planet and all those inhabiting it.

Peter responded in an equally regal voice, knowing that he had been chosen for one of the most difficult and important quests in all of robbery history. Despite the fact that he felt weary, bone thin, hunched over, had matted hair, ragged clothing, smelled of the sewers, and a single shoe he boldly said, “My king, I am honored for this opportunity and I am willing to accept. But, only with added compensation. I would like 100 bars of pure gold, new clothes, new shoes, and a new spaceship to get to Titan. You must give me my demands, otherwise I shall not perform any services for you.”

The king replied after some thought, “Although that is quite a handful of treasures that you demand to have in exchange for your service, the planet needs you. I realize there is no other thief as clever and stealthy as you. I shall supply your extraordinary demands in return for the Fire.”

Peter conclusively announced, “Then I shall accept this quest and go out to find this Fire of Hestia.”

What is weird in America but normal in the rest of the world?

I grew up in Europe but have been living in the US for 30+ years. These are some of the things I noticed:

Leaving your left hand on the table when you eat. In Europe, it’s considered good manners, in the US it is considered weird.

More recently, women have begun shaking hands when they meet, but not so long ago, this was considered weird in the US, while in Europe, it is absolutely normal and considered polite.

Sitting at a table with a stranger in a restaurant is not unusual in Europe. This is how people meet. Friendships have developed that way and even marriages. In the US, every one sits at a separate table. If someone came and asked if they could sit at my table, I would consider it weird.

In Europe, you park your car and walk to your destination. In the US, we expect front parking. For a business not to provide parking would be considered weird. In that same vein, Europeans get out of the car to post their mail or make their bank deposits. They don’t typically have drive-through tellers or mail boxes.

These are just some of the things that come to mind. I’m sure there are many more, if I stop to think about it.

BECOME A SAVAGE – Motivational Speech

As a disabled person, has anyone ever confronted you over your parking in a disabled spot?

Yes. It happened this last Tuesday. It was amazing. Like… nobody is gonna believe this crap amazing.

I was doing the monthly big grocery shop( one week has the biggest item list where the other three have the smaller more perishable ones)

I was also, am also, coping with one the worst illnesses I’ve had in awhile. It’s not catching… unless I were to not wash my hands after a poo… which is just gross. I’m actually headed to the hospital for admission tomorrow.

In any case, I am disabled, and was feeling even more disabled than usual when the chick confronted me. I got out of my car, sans cane, to unhook my child from the car seat, right behind me, and into a cart. A cart that some considerate soul had decided NOT to take to the cart corral. So I eagerly bumped it with my car and grabbed it on exiting my vehicle. It was 2 feet from the car. I can handle 2 ft without support.

Anyway, I’m putting my kid in the cart and leaned in to snag my quad Cane and my sundries and this middle-aged lady comes flying up and kinda pushes me with her body. Shouting that fat is not a disability and I need to move my flipping car( she used more expletives but I don’t care to)

I restrained myself from pushing back with my butt and instead just bring my quad Cane out rather swiftly and set it down firmly. on her foot. Oops.

Then I replied “ no, it’s not. But my congenital spinal defect and the Degenerative Disk disease that come with it ARE”.

She didn’t actually listen. She posted herself right in front of me for about 3 minutes and kept shouting at me to move the car. I’m guessing her hormone shot was delayed or something. But she wouldn’t let my son and I pass, being more able bodied than I am she was pretty freaking quick. So I stood there considering whether to use my screaming child’s cart to ram into her. But a nice security-looking guy saved her.

He came out and asked us what was going on. She started ranting at him about the fat b in the disabled spot… he calmly raised his hand, then walked around the car to my windshield, saw the placard. Walked back and asked me if I’d like to have her arrested for harassing a protected class.

Turns out he wasn’t a security guard. He was just a police officer who stopped in to flirt with the coffee gal at the cafe inside on his break. He saw the ruckus and went out to check.

I told him my son and I just wanted to grocery shop safely please and away we went. She actually tried to chase me again but he body blocked her.

It was amazing. I bet if I’d got it on camera people still wouldn’t believe it.

I don’t think she got arrested or anything. But I know she wasn’t there when I was done shopping. Which wasn’t that long either. That was store number 2 that day. My first store is always A Big Box Store.

What are some sarcastic one liners?

“Well, Governor, we use fewer horses and bayonets than we did in 1916.”

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(Above: President Obama explains how Battleship works while Governor Mitt Romney thinks about how he’s going to cheat)

During the third Presidential debate, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were sparring about various topics relating to the Obama presidency, with Obama quite obviously defending his actions against an onslaught of criticisms, some valid, from Romney.

However, the moment that sparked one of the first political memes of this decade was brought about by a ridiculously idiotic “accusation” from Romney:

Our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We’re now at under 285. … We’re headed down to the low 200s if we go through a sequestration. That’s unacceptable to me.

If I was debating Romney, and I was the current President of the United States, I would probably make some statement about how our naval global dominance is currently asserted, and that we don’t necessarily need all of our ships to assert it.

I am not Barack Obama, who returned fire with this blistering comment that became the first prominent political meme of this decade:

You mention the Navy, for example, and the fact that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. We have these things called aircraft carriers and planes land on them. We have ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines. It’s not a game of Battleship where we’re counting ships, it’s ‘What are our priorities?

If you were grading a paragraph on factual accuracy, on brevity, and on pure, unadulterated savageness, I don’t think you can score higher than what Obama just said. Not only did he completely destroy the point that Romney was making, he also explained to him what an aircraft carrier and a submarine was.

I believe we need a new nickname for Obama: The Roaster-In-Chief. He burned Romney so bad that Mitt looked like one of his steaks at a barbecue. Romney didn’t even know how thoroughly he was ruined in that moment. It was glorious.

I MUST NOT QUIT – Powerful Motivational Speech

What is a brutal truth about life that needs to be said?

You are going to meet a lot of fake friends in your adult hood more than when you young.
You are on your own, nobody is there to struggle with you, but many people are waiting for you arrive.
Everybody replies with “I am doing fine”, after being asked “How they are doing”, but in the reality, “Nobody is really doing fine” because everyone have their struggles.
Unfortunately, Intelligence doesn’t mean you will be rich! There are a lot of ass holes out there that are doing better.
We are all going to die, I believe this has been said many times.
One of the risk that is difficult to predict is marriage. It is always difficult to predict the end of the tunnel even with lightening’s. This is comparable with “Marriage”.
Do not compare yourself with anybody because we are born with different opportunities. Remember nobody chooses their parents!
If you cannot appreciate what you have now, you will never appreciate what you aspire to get later.
Real education is more than just acquiring a college degree, while college prepares you for the job mindset. You have to prepare yourself for the challenges in this world by educating yourself through investing in yourself.
Arrogant and prideful people usually have more problem in life because they are unteachable people.

What measures can Taiwan take to protect its fishing vessels from being detained by China’s coast guard in the future?

Ban fishing for 4 months from May to Sept is an INTERNATIONAL consensus, so as to allow immature fish to grow to adulthood.

1, China follows the intl consensus. But not Taiwan (or Philippines for that matter)

So Taiwan is wrong to begin with.

2, The fishing net is supposed to have big holes to allow immature fish to escape the net, while caught.

The net of the detained Taiwanese fisherman does not pass the intl “rule”.

3, The detained Taiwanese fisherman happened to have trespassed the Chinese territory & was in Chinese waters.

4, When Taiwanese patrol boat came to rescue the Taiwanese fisherman, the patrol also has entered Chinese territory.

Back to the question.

What Taiwan should do is to comply with the international rule. Educate its fishermen.

Be kind to the immature fish & let them grow to adulthood.

WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE QUITTING – Powerful Motivational Speech

Have you ever beaten a lawyer on a legal question (or if you are a lawyer, have you been beaten by a lay person on a legal question)?

Ex employee suing us. We investigate and counter allege fraud.

He appoints $700ph lawyer. I represent us. I’m not a lawyer.

Denny Crane mocks our allegation of fraud. Says I don’t understand the elements of fraud. I remind him that I’ve done insurance law and disputes for a decade, and lots of contracts in my job. I indeed know a great deal about the elements of fraud as a former insurance exec. Said he didn’t make a mistake with [paperwork] 713 times. Remind him that he needs to prove 713 honest mistakes whereas we can lose 712. We only need 1 count of fraud to stick. Or one lesser charge of fraudulent misappropriation / theft by finding, or forgery, or any other included charge and his life is effectively over.

The genius move was a settlement offer of $0 plus Denny Crane’s legals in getting to first mediation.

Denny’s equation is

Talk the L, be paid handsomely and not have to explain to the other partners that he blew a billable day, OR
Risk a far more expensive zero fighting and losing, getting his client jailed and paying an adverse costs order himself OR
Fight and win a very improbable case, likely earning nothing in a corporate bankruptcy and STILL writing off his fees.

Suddenly Denny is telling his client to accept $0 on a case he said was a slam dunk a week earlier.

His settlement was half what our big city law firm wanted just to READ the claim, not defend it.

What is the most unusual and incorrect reason you’ve had the police called on you?

I trained some Firemen in HazMat Response at a little fire station in a very small town in Alabama where we own some land. After training I asked to get some pictures of the “gang”. They agreed and I went to get one scary looking quiet fellow out of his chair to join the group. He gave me a scowl look and said, “Don’t you dare take my picture”, I didn’t.

Later the Fire Chief apologized and told me that the fellow is the Sheriff. I asked if he is always this threateningly grumpy and the Chief said, “Oh yah. We love him.” I asked why and he said he keeps that town clean as a whistle. He went on, once two young guys bought a farm and after planting season was over the Sheriff went to their place late at night and knocked on their door. One guy was there and answered the door. The Sheriff said he wanted to come in and look things over. The guy said no, go get a warrant. The Sheriff told him he can do that, but he would have to wake up the Judge and that would make the Judge angry. If the Judge gets angry that makes him angry, and when he is angry he has a tendency to get trigger happy and start shooting things. The Sheriff told him that he was sure the two were drug dealers since they both drove fancy cars, never planted anything or had farm equipment, had strange hours/visitors and didn’t introduce themselves to their neighbors ( a thing in small town Alabama). The guy let him in and the Sheriff found lots of drugs. Things work differently in small town Alabama, don’t mess with the Sheriff.

To all who will say that is illegal, not fair, against the suspects rights, improper entry, can’t be done, sets up a suit for dismissal and all kinds of other legal beagle stuff, you are correct. But that is not the way it works outside of the Big city in small town Alabama. The two guys never came back, problem solved.

I like it there, they just handle things with sensibility not legal meanderings. If more law enforcement were allowed to use sense instead of being forced to follow incredible legal guidelines which work against both sides, we would have much safer places to live. A police state you say? No, a safe place where kids can learn to drive four wheelers on back roads, shoot guns, climb trees and play in the rivers and lakes. Like the good ole days.

Butter Basted Fork Tendered Steak

Ingredients

2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons paprika
2 sticks Salted Challenge Butter, divided
Ribeye steaks
3 feet butchers twine per steak
Nonstick cooking spray

Instructions

Combine salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika in a bowl or plastic bag. Reserve 1 tablespoon of seasoning for basting butter and set the remaining aside to season the steak.
Using a fork or a meat tenderizer with needle blades, probe the entire surface of steak on both sides two to three times.
The steaks will flatten during tenderizing stage so you will have to reshape steak with the twine. Gather steaks with your hands and pull them in to reshape them.
Once reshaped, snugly wrap butchers twine around perimeter of the steak three times and tie it off. Trim excess from ends.
Season steak with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon spices per side based on preference, and let the meat rest for 20 to 30 minutes before cooking.
Melt one stick of Challenge Butter and combine with one tablespoon of seasoning.
As steaks are resting, preheat grill to 500 to 525 degrees F.
Spray one side of steak with nonstick cooking spray and place it on the grill. Cook for 2 1/2 minutes.
Spray top side of each steak with nonstick spray, flip and baste with butter/seasoning mixture. Grill for another two and a half minutes.
Flip the steaks and rotate them 90 degrees, baste with butter mixture and grill for another 2 1/2 minutes.
Flip steaks, baste and check internal temperature. Cook to desired doneness. (125 degrees F for medium rare, 130 degrees F for medium, or 140 degrees F for well done.)
Remove from grill and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
Add a dollop of Challenge butter and serve.

Notes

Loren and Cheryl Hill are world champion pit masters who have competed on the professional BBQ circuit for last eleven years. “The Smoking Hills” earned 3 World Championships in 2015: The American Royal Invitational, World Food Championships BBQ, and World Food Championships Overall

WHEN LIFE IS HARD – Powerful Motivational Video

Listen. Listen. Listen. Listen.

Don’t you quit.

As a police officer, what’s one criminal you will always remember dealing with that stuck with you till to this day?

An old time heroin addict was in jail and sent me a note saying he wanted to talk to me. He said that he was tired of the way he was living, and wanted to change.

He said that many times he had either been shot or stabbed and had been using heroin for 20 years and couldn’t quit. He said that the only way he knew of was to burn all of his bridges by informing on everyone. That way no one would deal with him. He wanted help getting on methadone, I told him I would help him as best as I could. I called the methadone clinic and arranged for someone to talk to him.

He bailed out of jail and called me one morning, with some information. He said that there was a burglary at a certain business and business machines were stolen. He said that those machines were at a construction site inside of the superintendent of construction’s office.

I got a crew and went to the office and saw the machines, and asked about them. The superintendent said they were the company’s and that he only used them. There were several machines, a IBM typewriter and other items. I noticed he only had one hand and asked him to show me how he used the type writer. He attempted to use it which I knew it wouldn’t work as the cord wasn’t plugged in.

I called the company and spoke with the president and described the machines to him. He said none of them were his and they didn’t have equipment that I mentioned. The informant called several more times with an arrest being made each time.

Another time the informant called to tell me that a stolen truck-mounted compressor and a huge stolen farm tractor was at a certain farm which was about 75 miles from our city. I called the Sheriff’s office for that county and spoke with a Deputy Sheriff who said that I needed to speak with his Captain. The Captain told me that this farm was owned by the man who owned one of the largest private farms in the state and was friends with all of the big wigs in the county including the elected Sheriff. They went to the farm and confiscated the equipment, and said they would present the case to the District Attorney who was supposedly also a friend of the farm owner. I never heard back about what happened to the case.

The informant testified in several case he had given me information on, was accepted into the methadone program, got a job and I never again heard from him except a phone call. He said thanks, and was clean of drugs after a year and a half.

What should someone absolutely not do when in Australia?

This occurred 15 years ago.

Our family went on a month long road trip around Australia with a sprinter. We started our journey in Perth, Western Australia, then drove along the South West Coast through Albany. We then continued east towards Adelaide, eventually made several stops at major cities in the South-East coast, that is Melbourne, Sydney and then the Gold Coast.

As we were headed for Darwin and about to cross the Northern Territory border, we stopped at a gas station to refuel.

It was night time and we were literally in the middle of nowhere.

My dad entered the station to pay for gas, then the cashier asked my dad if we were planning on driving through out the night.

And when my dad said yes, he told my dad that he should not drive at night time and instead to opt for a rest at the motel because it’s dangerous.

He told us that there’s kangaroos roaming at night time.

My dad thought the Australian man was joking, so he ignored the tip and decided to continue the drive.

At that time, my dad thought that if he continued that night he could avoid the traffic and reach Darwin faster.

Plus, my dad was a pretty experienced driver.

We left the gas stop; my parents were on the front seat while my brothers and sister was at the back seat asleep as we cruise towards NT border at night time.

Few hour later, I heard a loud THUMP.

I woke up and saw the car slowly being pulled to the side of the road. There was smoke coming out of the trunk.

I remembered looking outside the window, seeing emptiness. It was dark and all I could think about was how we were going to die.

My dad went out of the car to check and what do you know?

We had crashed a large kangaroo.

There was a dead kangaroo inside our engine bay.

Two things died that night: the kangaroo and the car’s radiator.

We were forced to spend the night in the middle of the desert while we waited for a truck or anyone to pass by.

You know what? No truck came until morning time, perhaps avoiding the kangaroo that roams at night time.

So here is an expensive lesson we learned that night:

Kangaroo are crepuscular meaning that they are mostly active at dusk, dawn and night.
At night time they are attracted to light, or should I say headlights. It is common for Kangaroos to jump at incoming vehicle only to freeze (or blinded) by the light.
If you are planning to drive at night time in the outback, drive slowly and extreme caution.
There is an item called the Kangaroo Whistle that emits high frequency noise used to repel Kangaroo.
Avoid driving at night all together and take the gas station tip and rest at the motel.

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The kangaroo was pretty much as big and the road looked something like the picture above.

All images taken from Google Images

PS: We were rescued by trucker who stopped by to help us reach road assistance. We were directed back to the nearest gas station and met the man that warned us about the kangaroos. A “told you so” moment but he was helpful and eventually we were driven to a small airport and flown back to Perth. The car was transported to Perth along with our belongings. There was a hefty price tag on the repair but luckily it was covered by insurance.

I forgot which town was our last gas stop, but will update once I figured it out.

EDIT, Kangaroo Facts:

21–26 km/h is the average hop speed for kangaroos and it can go up to 71 km/h.

Illustrative art

A lady goes to her priest one day & tells him:

”Father, I have a problem. I have two female parrots, but they only know to say one thing.”

“What do they say?” the priest asked.

They say, ”Hi, we’re hookers! Do you want to have some fun?”

”That’s obscene!” the priest exclaimed,

Then he thought for a moment……

“You know,” he said, ”I may have a solution to your problem. I have two male talking parrots, which I have taught to pray and read the Bible…

Bring your two parrots over to my house, & we’ll put them in the cage with Francis and Peter. My parrots can teach your parrots to pray and worship, & your parrots are sure to stop saying that phrase in no time.”

”Thank you,’ the woman responded, ‘this may very well be the solution.”

The next day, She brought her female parrots to the priest’s house….As he ushered her in, she saw that his two male parrots were inside their cage holding rosary beads & praying…

Impressed, She walked over & placed her parrots in the cage with them…

After a few minutes, The female parrots cried out in unison:

“Hi, we’re hookers! Do you want to have some fun?”

There was stunned silence…

Shocked, one male parrot looked over at

the other male parrot & says…

‘Put the beads away, Frank, Our prayers have been answered !!!

What is the most badass thing your parent has ever done?

When I was 15 years old walking home from highschool, I used a short cut and walked down the alley behind our house to save time.

When I got about a block away with the back of my house in sight, an older man who lived at the corner came out and stood in the middle of the alley facing me and began to make rude gestures and vulgar remarks in Spanish .

He was in his late 20s, and I thought he didn’t speak english. He was really into his performance, dry humping the air and making dirty sound effects when my dad decided to take the trash out.

My dad made a gesture to me to be quiet, as he walked up behind him. I had no idea what he was going to do. The man didn’t hear my dad as he walked up behind him. I did not believe what happened next.

I watched my dad walk up to the guy and jump into the air holding his body sideways and (without a running pace) kick the man in the back of the head knocking him down to the pavement (asphalt) . He put his foot on his head and pressed his face down on to the asphalt and bent over to tell the man if he ever heard him talk like that to his daughter again he would regret it.

And guess what?

The guy spoke English for the first time in his life (lol) saying “yes sir”, “I’m sorry sir”, “it won’t happen again sir”.

I think he broke his front teeth in the fall? So in a sense, he got his teeth kicked in for having a nasty mouth in front of a young woman. My dad said the punishment fit the crime and I never had trouble with that man again.

My dad was a superman my whole life. He had a natural build, arms bigger than his head and a quick response in defending people he cared about.

He played baseball until his late 50s and laid brick and block at 74. His last project was a pergola with 14′ beams in our backyard. He built it with end stage small cell lung cancer at 75.

I watched him pick up a man by the back of his shirt and the seat of his pants and throw him out of the produce section for insulting my mother at a grocery store.

He took on three men to save his friends store from being looted during the riots in Los Angeles, then stayed by himself during the fires to board it up.

He was a war horse all the way to the end in 2016 when he died at home due to complications (cancer).

Great movie (Free, full length)

007: No Time to Die – James Bond | FULL ACTION MOVIE | English FHD

This is the all time classic fun with Bond. James Bond.

Little beatnik MM goes a bongoing

When I was a young boy, living in Bridgeport, Connecticut, my father would sometimes take we with him and my mom as they were still a young married couple, and still “going out”.

One day, they took myself and my sister, and went for a long drive to the center of town. Perhaps Hartford, or some other similar city. And we got out of the car and entered this small restaurant, or coffee house kind of establishment.

We piled into a corner and mom and dad seemed so out of place.

Everyone there was dressed so oddly. Many were wearing sunglasses, and it was dark outside. There was a couple of women playing bongos, and lots of people chain smoking cigarettes. There were a lot of guys with black pointy goatees, and wearing berets. And there was a raised stage where others took turns strumming guitars and singing, or reading poetry.

Beatnik Fashion Guide Embracing the Beatnik Style. 930x620 — Beatnik Fashion Guide Embracing the Beatnik Style. 930×620

Lots of guys wore black plants with loafers.The girls all seemed to wear these ridiculous wide pants, and tight striped tops. Lots of black turtleneck tops.

Yup. You guessed it.

My folks took me to a beatnik hangout.

We all are well aware that the late 1940s and early 1950s epitomized conformity, with dullness in everything, from food to clothes. Significantly, men’s fashion suffered typical neutral-colored suits, cardigan sweaters, or button-down shirts.

Where there is conformity, rebellion is inevitable, bringing the 60s beatnik fashion. A radical transformation by artists, musicians, and novelists took America by storm, and their effortless yet non-conformist fashion style was coined “Beatnik” by a news columnist in 1958.

It wasn’t ground breaking or anything like that. In fact, I just wanted to go home as I was bored out of my mind. But my parents apparently thought that it was good to endure three or four hours of this pompous environment. And so we did.

This was a long time ago, and I don’t remember much, but it was a bunch of fake people pretending to impress other fake people about imaginary chips on their shoulders.

And that is all that I have to say about that.

Today…

What offends Germans the most?

I am not German but my partner is and based on observing him, his friends, family, etc I can say that an underlying theme of fairness pervades German values.

Therefore, rules are followed in Germany because the premise is they were designed to be fair. Break rules and you are being unfair to someone else who follows them.

Sell something to a German which is priced higher than its perceived worth, they will be furious and demand a refund. It’s about the principle not the money (many people stereotype Germans as being cheap, I see it as wanting a fair price. They don’t typically haggle if what is being sold seems to hold up to a qualitative test).

Show up late and you’ve wasted their time that they can’t get back. That’s unfair.

Go on a date and expect a German man to pay (looking at my fellow American ladies), that’s not egalitarian….or put another way: it’s unfair. Everyone should be able to take care of him or herself.

I could go on but you get the idea. Germans like fairness and that manifests in frugality, lawfulness, equanimity, punctuality, cleanliness, spirited debate, and order. If you want to offend a German, propose something that is unfair and you will get an earful and a (likely organized) laundry list of why they don’t agree!

EDIT: Because some people were writing xenophobic comments and/or broad generalizations about contemporary German people and trying to associate them with Nazism I closed the comments on my answer. It is unfortunate that a few rotten, hateful people ruined the discourse but I don’t have the time, energy, or interest to moderate bigots and I will not provide a platform for them to share their ignorant and vile opinions. If you want to say something stupid or go on a “whataboutism” tirade, do it on your own time on your own response to this question.

Have you ever completely snapped? If so what did you do?

I don’t know if you mean it in this sense, but many years ago I was about 13 I was short, overweight, no good at sports and not very skilled at self defense. One of the other boys in my class had been busy tormenting me for most of the day. We were walking past the male teachers lounge on our way to the gym and he flicked my ear, it wasn’t really painful but it was the last straw. I grabbed the collar of his blazer and threw him against the wall. He was about 6 in taller than me fitter and one of the up-and-coming young rugby stars of the school. As the slid down the wall I jumped on him and grabbed his throat and started to strangle him, I might even have been bouncing his head off the floor, I don’t really remember, according to the games master who was in the staff room it took him and the other games teacher plus the German master to pull me off him, I don’t remember that either, not really, they actually had to pick me up and I was gripping him so strongly that I dragged him with us for a couple of yards. After we were separated, again from the games masters testimony I went absolutely limp. Two things I do know about the ear flicker, he was taken to the hospital and he never ever bothered me again.

What happened to me? I was taken to the sick room to calm down in the company of two of the teachers and from there to the headmasters office. That is where I was told what I had done. I was kept out lessons for the rest of the day and after school there was, I guess you could call it a trial, the game’s masters told what had happened, other teachers were there as character witnesses I suppose you would call them and testified as to how completely out of character that behavior was. I said what had been happening for most of that day and that I had no real recollection of what I had done. I was let off with a warning due to my previous good conduct. When I got home my parents knew what had happened so I suppose there must have been a phone call. But apart from that I think I got off pretty much got off Scott free.

Piers Morgan Gets SCHOOLED Like A Child On Ukraine By Jeffrey Sachs!

In China, can you look at the Sun? The air is so polluted.

First time I went to China I brought some dust masks. However, I was a bit surprised when I arrived and saw none of the signs of the terrible smog I had been warned against.

There was a clear blue sky over Shanghai and I thought I had been lucky to arrive on one exceptionally clear day.

Since then I have travelled a lot in China and visited tens of both large and smaller cities. Some places like Beijing and some industrial cities have polluted air especially in the winter, but my impression is that this problem has been much exaggerated in the western media. I do not bring dust masks anymore.

The air pollution I have seen is comparable to what we experienced in the west in the 1970-ties, and I think it is not as bad as it was in East-Europe in the 1980-ies.

Can a sailor go AWOL on a ship, and has anyone done that (some ships are pretty big)?

When I was a Division Officer in USS John F. Kennedy (CV67) one of my enterprising sailors did just that.

He had been assigned to S2M Division for a tour of Mess Cooking. The protocol was to check IN to the Supply Department, then check OUT of the parent division. With this particular transfer happening on a long weekend, my genius convinced the Duty Engineer to let him check OUT of the Engineering Department first. He then went on his merry way, not bothering to check into the Supply Department.

For the next three months, he came to the Division Office to pick up his paycheck every two weeks, and the Supply Officer frequently complained that Engineering was not supplying the requisite number of Mess Cooks. Eventually the Supply Officer and the Chief Engineer compared rosters and noted that they didn’t match.

The jig was up; my guy was busted. The Captain wanted to send him to a Special Court-Martial. The hero of the story got a smart lawyer, and pointed out that in court he would emphasize that the sailor slept in his own bunk every night, picked up his paycheck every payday, and would have performed whatever duties assigned to him.

CO cancelled the court-martial, and took the sailor to mast.

Failing to show up for duty, but not actually leaving, is unauthorized absence, or UA. Leaving the premises without leave is AWOL. Both situations are covered by UCMJ Article 86.

Sailor Moon – 1950’s Super Panavision 70

A evil woman

A woman who k’illed her husband for his wealth was met with the shock of her life after she discovered her husband had wittingly transferred his wealth to a trust.

Kouri Richins, a 33-year-old widowed mother of three, wrote a children’s book to help her bereaved sons deal with grief in the aftermath of their father’s sudden d’eath.

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image: Pictures of Kouri Richins, and her husband

Now, only months after the book was published, she’s been charged with her husband’s m’urder. She is accused of poisoning his Moscow Mule with five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl.

Kouri was due to get access to his estate valued at $3.6million after his d’eath, according to the terms of a prenup. Under its terms, on Eric’s d’eath, pretty much everything would pass seamlessly to Kouri.

But fearing his wife might ‘k’ill him for the money’, he transferred his assets into a trust that he placed in control of his sister.

Footnotes:

Kouri Richins Charged With K’illing Husband After Writing a Book On how To Grief

From a 1-10 scale, how stupid are people who believe The Lost Cause of the Confederacy?

About an…. 8?

The Lost Cause of the Confederacy was pretty much standard U.S. history until very recently, and there’s still a strong undercurrent to preserve that in education in the American south even as university programs pretty much abandon it as a course of study.

The first serious academic works on the Lost Cause were published in 1866 – one year after the war ended. The author was Edward A. Pollard, who published a series of books on the theme from 1866 to 1868.

Everything Pollard put in his books was meticulously researched. The problem was that Pollard didn’t research anything that happened before 1866. Instead of relying on contemporaneous works from the start of the Civil War, he interviewed Confederate leaders and focused on their far more moderate post-war views, which were tempered by a large amount of ex post facto justification for their actions.

Pollard and his contemporaries established several themes that lasted over a century, such as:

The war wasn’t about slavery.
The South was fighting to preserve a way of life against overwhelming odds.
The antebellum South was a place of civility.
That slaves were content with their place in southern society
This situation actively facilitated the reunification of the country
Reconstruction, particularly giving blacks political rights, was an unmitigated disaster.

These writings largely led to the formation of the Southern Historical Society in 1869. Ostensibly an organization committed to preserving records and publishing memoirs, it soon started publishing only uncritical promotions of the Lost Cause, seeking vindication for the actions of the Confederacy.

Another influential author and lecturer was Thomas Dixon Jr., a racists and white supremacist whose allegations were accepted uncritically although nowadays it appears they were pretty much all fabricated. He wrote the book that was adapted into the film “Birth of a Nation”.

Southerners continued to publish works about the war well into the mid 20th century, and in pretty much every case they paved over the negative and accentuated the positive.

And a lot of this not only made it into standard history textbooks, but into serious academic work.

It’s really only been in the last 20 years that the Lost Cause has pretty much been challenged at every turn. One of the turning points was the 2003 film “Gods & Generals” which one critic called the most racist film since “Birth of a Nation”.

COST of LIVING in CHINA? 🇨🇳 INSANE APARTMENT TOUR in Chengdu (You won’t believe the price)

Have you ever eavesdropped and heard a conversation that terrified you?

When I was a teenager I lived with my mom and dad (before they divorced). Times got hard and for a while we stayed in a trailer that had no electricity or hot water. We lived in a swampy forest in Mississippi, no neighbors, lots of mud and trees. My dad worked about an hour away at an airport, so he was gone most of the time, leaving me home alone with my mother. She was extremely mentally ill- in and out of institutions, she had vivid hallucinations and delusions, and the darkness didn’t help. We never got along, and I was often the subject of her abuse and frustration. One night I was sitting in the living room with her waiting for my dad to come home from work. He called to see how we were doing and to tell us that he would be bringing home food, and then asked if I was home because sometimes I would go for walks (the room was so silent I could actually hear him on the other end). Instead of telling him that, yes, I was home and I was sitting right in front of her, she told him “No, she’s not home. The back gate is open. She must have run off somewhere.” It was like some scene from a horror film- she was sitting in a dark corner and all I could see of her was the reflection of her eyes staring at me darkly. I had the immediate sense that I was in danger, and thoughts of being actually murdered by my own mother raced through my mind. I got up and walked slowly to my room, shut the door, and called my dad to tell him what had just happened. He said “She’s really dangerous. You need to lock the door and hide under your blankets until I get home. I’ll be there soon.” He got home less than an hour later. Everything turned out fine and we never mentioned it again.

How would China react if the United States strategically missiles in Taiwan?

That is a “Red Line”.

Direct placement is a “Red Line”, as is funding the placement, actively preparing for the placement, or making treaties involving the placement. This was all clearly specified in the Biden Xi talks in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia.

It would be a terrible move initiated by the United States and would result in horrific consequence.

This would result in the well and clearly specified consequences that China has repeatedly stated over and over again.

To the credit of the United States, the talk between President Biden and Xi Peng reiterated this stance, and additionally, the USA said that it will not do this. This was repeated by President Biden and Anthony Blinken in the “five Nos” statement repeatedly reiterated by President Biden.

However…

The United States has a reputation of lying, telling untruths, doing one thing and saying another, all the time while fomenting wars and breaking treaties. Truthfully, China welcomes the dialog, but has no illusions as to what a monster the United States has become, and what a real threat it actually is.

Now THIS TIME, if the USA (yet again) breaks it’s promises, it’s treaties, and it’s contract with China then the result will be clear… It’s already been explained to the American “leadership”. Quite clearly. Very clearly. So clear than a mentally retarded three year old can understand it.

There would be a very large and massive war between the United States and China.

Ah.

But maybe you heard that before. But you really don’t have any idea what it means. For if you are an American you think of war as being police actions in far-away distant places. Like Yemen, Syria, Cambodia, Somalia, Ukraine, Iraq, Angola, Iran, etc.

Well, this time it won’t.

Of course, everything being said so far sounds like screeching chalk on a blackboard to Americans. It makes no sense at all. America is gifted by God with Democracy (TM) and is formidable nuclear power; a shining city on a huge white hill.

That’s great Hollywood.

Makes great sound bytes.

But has zero effect on actual reality.

For starters, consider Taiwan; a province of China. Much like Texas is a state of America. China would of course, take care of this “matter”. Those of you who have zero experience in actual real China, but instead watch movies, and play first-person shooters, and read neocon journals would think that this is some kind of a fantasy.

It’s not. China is DEAD SERIOUS.

For starters, all of the placed missiles would be destroyed, with no concern for collateral damage or civilian causalities. China doesn’t give a fuck.

China would then take over Taiwan with hours. China is ready, well trained, and doesn’t give a fuck.

Though “mop up” operation might last as long as a week. Taiwan’s “soy soldiers” will not die for American democracy (TM). Of course. The idea and hope in the Pentagon is for a long drawn-out Vietnam, Afghanistan or Ukraine. Not. Going. To. Happen. China will be ruthless. Lethal. Dirty and the result will be nasty.

Spill-over? You bet-ya.

Simultaneous to this would be the destruction of ALL of the USN military presence in the Pacific. No carriers would remain. Guam would be gone. Hawaii would be in rubble as would be San Francisco. Australia want’s to join in the cluster-fuck. Good bye Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide. Anyone else wants to join in the fray? Any takers?

Which would ALONE probably trigger an American nuclear counter-response.

Then of course, you would see (again) what China has done to the pitiful attempts that the United States in trying to suppress it. Freak Geomagnetic storms will mysterious suddenly cause constellations of satellites to tumble out of orbit. There will be massive submarine accidents accidentally ramming undersea mountains. American VTOL carriers will catch fire by Navy personnel burning trash in the munitions lockers, and so on and so forth.

Even if things did not get HOT, things will be very uncomfortable for the United States and it’s proxy nations. What ever happens; hot war, or cold war, lit it be well understood that all trade would stop…

The few remaining American factories would stop, and close.
American medicines will be all gone. Fully 98% are made inside of China.
Shelves would be empty. All consumer goods would become a rare commodity. Including socks, shoes, pantyhose, toothbrushes, and cellphones.
The US dollar, already worthless, would suffer from astounding inflation.
No diesel. No batteries. No electricity. A war would EMP the living shit out of the USA. This is a reality, and whatever potential that the Untied States has for oil, gas, resources will need to start from scratch with a massive handicap.

Then things will get really bad. Because you all have no idea how powerful and formidable China is today.

Anyone who thinks that violating Chinese “Red Lines” is a good idea is a suicidal idiot.

The EU Is Already Begging China For Mercy

What’s the biggest double life you’ve ever personally seen revealed?

Here’s a photo from the 1990s of a man called Josef Fritzl, vacationing in Thailand without a care in the world. Fritzl was a businessman, married, father of seven, from Austria. He’d frequently travel the world. One year he’d be in Thailand. Another year he’d go to Africa. At times his friends would join him, they would drink, swim, lounge around resorts and float in the swimming pools of resorts…

Fritzl was a doting grandfather of twenty. Three of his grandchildren lived with him and his wife — his youngest daughter Elizabeth, their mother, had ran away from home and joined a cult. So Fritzl and his wife raised their grandchildren. By all means, Josef had a charmed life. What no one knew? The three grandchildren he was raising were also his own biological children… their mother Elizabeth hadn’t joined a “cult”, she lived in a dungeon Fritzl had built inside his own basement. With three other children Fritzl also fathered there by his own daughter.

Fritzl was arrested in 2008, at the age of 73. Because he had brought one of the “dungeon kids” to the hospital along with Elizabeth, his captive daughter, who then alerted authorities. Josef Fritzl remains in prison in Austria of this writing. He believes he should be freed, famously telling a judge: “I am just one man. But look inside the basements of other people… you would be surprised what you find!”

Glazed Ham with Dried Cherry Caramelized Onions

Perfect for a late lunch or dinner. This cooked, boneless ham is glazed with a mixture of honey, mustard and cider vinegar. Serve with sugar snap peas and roasted new potatoes.

spiced cherry bourbon glazed ham 98719 1

Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

3 pounds cooked boneless ham
4 tablespoons honey, divided use
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
5 medium onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/3 cup cider vinegar
5 medium onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 cup almonds, sliced or slivered and toasted

Instructions

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Place ham on rack in shallow baking pan and roast 45 minutes to 1 hour or until a meat thermometer registers 140 degrees F, about 15 to 18 minutes per pound.
In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon cider vinegar and mustard. Brush ham with glaze during the last 5 minutes of baking.
Sauté onions over medium heat in a Dutch oven in butter for 12 to 15 minutes or until onions are just tender, stirring occasionally.
Stir in dried cherries, 1/3 cup cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons honey and 1/2 teaspoon cardamom. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Stir in toasted almonds.
Serve ham slices with onion mixture.

What are the top ten craziest facts you know in psychology?

Psychopaths say “um” more frequently in order to appear like a normal person.
It is incredibly easy to pass a Polygraph Test if you trick yourself into thinking that everything is fine and that everything you say is the truth, no matter what.
When you lie, you may shake your head. This is your body saying that it doesn’t believe you.
If someone accuses you and threatens you about a wrongdoing relentlessly, you will eventually find that it is in your best interest to fess up to the crime, making you guilty of something you never did. This is a minor form of brainwashing.
The closer you are in a relationship, the more you can read the other’s mind.
We disregard our morals if a person of higher power takes responsibility for your actions. Essentially just obeying authority.
1/5 people in France have depression, making it the saddest country in the world.
It is impossible to stay angry at a loved one. If you are able to do so for more than 3 days, then you may not love them.
You never truly value a moment before it becomes a distant memory.
Crying reduces stress and causes you to feel better.
The people you most often think about are the ones you love or the ones who cause you pain.
Music can bend and shape the way you see the world, or life in general.
Your favorite songs are decided by the emotional events you attach to it.
Narcissists think they’re brilliant while most have a below-average IQ.
Long periods of isolation may cause you to hallucinate, but they consist of mostly auditory hallucinations.
Ignorance of your feelings causes them to swell and essentially just take over your thoughts.
Fast-thinkers tend to have sloppy handwriting. Thoughts are fleeting, so they must be written down almost immediately.
When choosing a romantic partner, look for how they treat their inferiors or pets. That says a lot about their nature.
Speaking other languages may cause someone to shift their personality as well. (I am more secluded when speaking Spanish and more confident when I speak Italian.)
We care more about the death of one than the death of many. It feels more personal when one human dies, yet when multiple perish, we feel as we don’t know any of them.
Some people just love to see you angry. The solution? Relax the muscles in your face and watch as theirs visibly deflates.
We believe what we WANT to believe.
Extensive loneliness is just as bad as smoking 15 cigars.
The human brain is always searching for a problem or a flaw. Perfection is always key for many, and some just can’t let it go.
The more power you gain, the more empathy you lose.

My First Week in China

What is the craziest thing a car salesman said to you?

My husband took me to Silver Spring to buy a 2 door Ford Explorer back in the 90s.

It was really late at night (11 pm) and we barely got the title to the car given to us before they had to close.

We were told to come by the next day after work to finish up some of the other paperwork.

When we arrived the next day, the salesman told us he had made a mistake.

He had forgotten to add taxes to the price of the car he sold us. So we owed them an additional $1000.

We were tapped out and couldn’t afford another $1000. I told him to take the car back.

The salesman lost his cool and started screaming at my husband.

He insisted we pay this extra $1000 or he would call the police on us.

My husband stood up and they went nose to nose. Hubby called his bluff and invited him to call the police. We already had the pink slip (title). There was nothing he could do about it.

The salesman turned beet red and started hurling personal insults.

We were in a private room but I’m positive the entire showroom floor heard the commotion. It was that loud.

I plastered myself against the wall, as I feared their proximity would escalate to either physical violence or a stroke.

The salesman finally stepped back, adjusted his tie and became silent.

He realized he wasn’t getting any more money from us.

He announced, “Never mind. I’ll just get it from some other customer later on.”

His callousness in thrusting his mistake onto the next unsuspecting customer took me aback.

No wonder car salesmen have such a bad reputation.

Prof. Mearsheimer REVEALS: the FATE of Humanity May Hang on the 2024 US and European Elections

In this video, Prof. John Mearsheimer discusses the results of recent European elections, public vs. elite opinion on Ukraine, the divided European Parliament, country-specific analysis of France and Germany, the importance of the US election perspectives, Biden vs. Trump foreign policy approach, Russian strategy, and internal NATO divisions.

Uncle Arthur’s Many Secrets

Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Dream up a secret library. Write a story about an adventurer who discovers it. What’s in the library? Why was it kept secret?… view prompt

TE Wetzel

From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)Time/Date: 5:36pm, July 18, 2024Subject: This weekendHey Andy,Just letting you know that I can’t make your BBQ this weekend. I was looking forward to having a few beers with you and the guys and maybe playing a few hands of poker once the eating is done, but I have to head to Albany in the morning.Remember my Uncle Arthur? Don’t worry, I don’t either. (Well, a little.) Anyway, he passed away a few days ago and his sister – my Aunt Bonnie out in Wisconsin – contacted me this morning to inform me that he left “certain assets” to me in his will. Most intriguing! I won’t know the details for a while but Bonnie begged me to go to his house in Albany right away to take care of his cats and locate some important documents in his library. (My recently-deceased uncle who named me in his will was wealthy enough to have a personal library? The plot thickens…)Anyway, I’m packing a bag and planning to stay up there for a little while to help manage affairs at the house and work with Bonnie on the local funeral arrangements while she lines up a flight over the next few days. Not much else to do at the moment as I await my next work assignment but I should be back by this time next week. In the meantime, you know how to reach me. Tell the boys I said hola.- Jamie—————————————————-

From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

Time/Date: 7:48pm, July 18, 2024

Subject: Re: This weekend

Hey Jamie,

Sorry you can’t make it this weekend. Me and the guys will look forward to the next poker game after you score your big inheritance. Crazy news, man. Barely known rich uncle dies and leaves you a possible fortune? The stuff of legends…or daydreams? LOL. Anyway, good luck there. (Don’t forget your old college roommate when you strike it rich!)

See you when you get back. Talk soon man.

Andy

—————————————————-

From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

Time/Date: 6:12pm, July 20, 2024

Subject: Re: This weekend

Hey Andy,

Greetings from gloomy Albany! Hasn’t stopped raining since I got here. Also, I’m fairly certain these cats are plotting my demise. Other than that, things are fine and the house is basically a smallish mansion.

Listen to this, while searching for the documents that my Aunt Bonnie asked me to find for her in the library I found some really interesting old books. I think we might have some pretty rare first editions here, plus some other really strange stuff. I need to do a little web research tonight to try to figure out what I’m looking at but I’ll let you know.

As a newly-minted Ivy League literature professor I thought you would be interested. Maybe I will come home with a copy of In Cold Blood signed by Capote for you?

– Jamie

—————————————————-

From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

Time/Date: 11:22am, July 21, 2024

Subject: Re: This weekend

Hey Jamie,

Very interesting! Bring home a signed Capote first edition for me and we can totally forget about that $80 Venmo request I sent you for golf last week. Seriously though, that sounds really amazing. Looking forward to hearing more.

Andy

p.s. The guys all say hello and they missed your “easy money” at the poker game last night. (Their words, not mine.)

—————————————————-

From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

Time/Date: 9:52pm, July 22, 2024

Subject: Re: This weekend

Andy,

In addition to Capote’s In Cold Blood, so far I have already found four more signed first edition iconic novels; Heart of Darkness, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Illustrated Man and – hold on to your hat here – A Tale of Two Cities! No telling if the autographs are legit but I don’t know why my uncle would be hoarding counterfeit-signed copies in his home library. More research necessary here but I have attached photos of the covers, bindings and the author-signed pages in each.

The library has floor-to-ceiling shelves full of books on three walls and I have only checked out about a third of them so far. Stay tuned!

– Jamie

—————————————————-

From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

Time/Date: 9:36am, July 23, 2024

Subject: Re: This weekend

Hey Jamie,

Okay listen. Just give me the Dickens novel and not only will I cancel the $80 Venmo request, but golf is on me for the rest of the year. I think that’s a fair deal.

Seriously man, I just did a quick bit of Googling here and those books do look like legit first edition copies and the signatures look right too. Usually people take these sort of things to Sotheby’s or Christie’s, where they employ rare book experts who can authenticate them properly. Even if they’re not going to be put up for sale this is probably a good idea, just to officially document these historical items.

Can’t wait to hear what you find next. I’m seriously on the edge of my seat here!

Andy

—————————————————-

From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

Time/Date: 11:45pm, July 24, 2024

Subject: Okay, this is getting weird now…

Andy,

Forget about the signed first editions. I am into some strange new terrain here.

Yesterday I found a number of extremely interesting books way up on one of the top shelves I hadn’t explored yet. Listen to this. I found a copy of For Whom The Bell Tolls by William Faulkner. Yes, William Faulkner! And it wasn’t just a different author’s name transposed onto the cover. It was the same third-person omniscient narrative of the Spanish Civil War, only it wasn’t written in the short staccato sentence styles and brief paragraphing of Hemingway but the long, leisurely prose of Faulkner. I’m not even a fan of Faulkner and I couldn’t put it down!

Similarly, I also found a copy of The Catcher in the Rye by Dalton Trumbo and The Iliad by EE Cummings! (Seriously, I can’t make this up.) Still so many more books to look through. I am simply overwhelmed here. Stay tuned.

– Jamie

—————————————————-

From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

Time/Date: 7:51am, July 25, 2024

Subject: Re: Okay, this is getting weird now…

Jamie,

Okay. You’re just fucking with me now, right? You had me going with the thought of all those rare, signed first editions, but that’s at least within my fathomable universe. What you just described has to be a joke. Come on, man.

What about the funeral plans? Isn’t that a big reason why you are there?

Andy

—————————————————-

From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

Time/Date: 11:56pm, July 28, 2024

Subject: Okay, this is getting weird now…

Hey Andy,

You’re right. I have been negligent in my funeral arrangement duties of late. I accidentally let my phone battery die out, not sure when. The truth is that I haven’t slept much in the last few days. This continues to get more and more fascinating.

And no, I wasn’t kidding about those strange books I mentioned in my last message. But never mind that. I am into some truly bizarre territory now. I found some old 3-ring binders filled with dot matrix printed files listing the daily opening and closing numbers of each of the stocks contained in the Dow Jones Industrial Index running from January 1, 1977 through December 31, 2026. Andy, it has accurate stock performance data through the end of 2026! I’m sure you think I am kidding again (or maybe just crazy) but I have been watching those stock prices over the last few days and my God man they are accurate right down to the last decimal point!

You think I’m joking? Here’s a random selection for tomorrow for you to check out. Merck & Co. (ticker symbol NYSE: MRK) will open the trading day at $154.34 and it will close at $156.12 per share with a total of 7.126 million shares in overall trading volume. I’m sure you won’t but you can literally bet the house on it. I guarantee it.

– Jamie

—————————————————-

From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

Time/Date: 9:41pm, July 29, 2024

Subject: Re: Okay, this is getting weird now…

Jamie,

I don’t know what to say at this point. I have been thinking about this since the market closed about 5 hours ago and I have no idea how you were able to make that prediction with such accuracy. I would call it dumb luck but I actually opened up Excel and took the time to do a little statistical modeling and what I found was that a stock prediction with that level of precision is basically like calling out the next day’s lottery numbers. Not quite that improbable but close enough that I am simply baffled.

I need answers, because I just can’t believe you found an old set of stock market printouts from almost 50 years ago that can perfectly predict what will happen tomorrow. I’ve tried to call you several times but it goes straight to vmail every time and your mailbox is full. You gotta get back to me asap. I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep until you do.

Funeral plans? Still a concern?

Andy

—————————————————-

From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

Time/Date: 2:13am, August 1, 2024

Subject: Whole new level

Hey Andy,

Forget about the stock market. Forget about the rare first edition signed books. Those things are trivial. At least for now.

I just found a medical manual that seems to contain advanced diagnostic techniques and curative/surgical treatments for most common, and some uncommon, forms of cancer and various other deadly diseases. I am only about halfway through it and without the benefit of a medical background it is taking me forever to research the basic terminology needed just to understand this even on a rudimentary level, but if it’s true it’s an incredible discovery and I owe it to the world to get this into the right hands once I can at least confirm its basic legitimacy.

I can’t say when I will be able to call you or even write back since my time is so limited now. I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Who knows what I will find next? So much more to still be explored. I can’t worry about the funeral arrangements right now either. Before my phone died I got a message from my Aunt Bonnie saying that she had some health problems that were preventing her from flying in. I can’t remember the details but that’s just going to have to wait for now. I have far more important concerns at this point.

– Jamie

p.s. I have discovered a number of old hand-written notes, presumably penned by my late Uncle Arthur, warning anyone who comes across these documents against sharing them in any way. The writing is rambling and paranoid in nature and some of the warnings give me pause but how could anyone possibly just sit on all this? It would be immoral, no?

—————————————————-

From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

Time/Date: 8:51am, August 2, 2024

Subject: Re: Whole new level

Hey Jamie,

I just hope you are all right. Maybe it’s time to take a break? You were supposed to be back here a week ago. Are the cats okay at least?

Andy

—————————————————-

From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

Time/Date: 3:45am, August 5, 2024

Subject: Re: Whole new level

Hi Andy,

I let the cats out a few days ago when all of the remaining cat food ran out. Don’t think I’ve seen them since. Not sure. They should be okay. It’s summer.

Dude, you wouldn’t even believe what I’m looking at now. No time to explain but I will get back to you when I can. Not planning to head home anytime soon.

– Jamie

p.s. Please see the attached file containing stock market data for the next two years. I just ask that you don’t share this with anyone else. “Law of Unintended Consequences” and all that.

—————————————————-

From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

Time/Date: 7:51am, August 6, 2024

Subject: Re: Whole new level

Jamie,

I‘m really getting worried about you man. Please call me.

Your Friend,

Andy

—————————————————-

From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

Time/Date: 4:37pm, January 1, 2029

Subject: Re: Whole new level

Andy,

Happy New Year! Don’t worry about me. I am well. Not sure if I will ever see “you” again (that is, the “present day” you) but that is primarily a temporal and theoretical question. I have a set of guidelines to follow and I will soon find out where all the boundaries lay. I will fill you in (whatever version of “you” that might be) whenever I see you next!

Stay healthy. It might be a while…for you anyway.

– Jamie

—————————————————-

From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)

Time/Date: 7:01am, August 9, 2024

Subject: Re: Whole new level

Jamie,

How did you change the timestamp on your email like that? Seriously, stop messing with me. What’s going on? I am really having a hard time with all of this. Can we please just talk?

Andy

p.s. They announced that a potential breakthrough cure had been found for various types of cancer and other diseases on the news today. I really don’t know what to think at this point.

p.p.s. Thanks so much for the stock market data you forwarded. I plan to pay off my mortgage before the end of this month!

—————————————————-

From: mailer-daemon@gmail.com

To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)

Time/Date: 7:02am, August 9, 2024

Subject: Delivery Failure Notice: Re: Whole new level

Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to: <jben****@gmail.com>

The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try double-checking the recipient’s email address for typos and try again.

THE END

Washington DC is messed up

Shorpy

Thomas

Does your family have a legend that sounds near impossible?

During the Depression, my grandfather took one of the very few jobs that paid well – because it was so hard to find someone to do it. He drove a gravel truck up the side of the mountain, every morning, to take the day’s allotment of dynamite and nitro to the quarry. It was a one lane track with a lot of curves but not enough switchbacks, so it was very steep. It was barely a road and almost not quite wide enough for the truck.

There were two trucks, and the way the system worked, every morning a truck went up the mountain, and was sent back down in the evening full of gravel. Once the day truck was at the bottom of the mountain, the night truck went up with their load of dynamite for the night shift. In the morning, it came down before the day truck went up.

One day, signals got crossed. A truck that looked like the night truck pulled into the lot, and my grandfather saw it, so he started up the mountain track. About halfway up, he heard a horn blasting and realized it was the night truck, signaling that his brakes had failed. That happened at times, and was dangerous, but usually the truck would make it to the bottom and roll to a stop. Only THIS time, my grandfather’s truck was on the road. There was nowhere to pull off or turn around … so he laid on the horn of HIS truck, to tell the other driver he was there.

He tried backing down the mountain, but that wasn’t really going to be fast enough. Realizing there was no hope for it – and not wanting to be near the truck when the impact came (and the dynamite blew) he jumped out of the truck and started running down the mountain.

He had been a track star when in college, and before the Depression hit, had been a track coach for the local college and high school, so he was in shape and known to be a fast runner.

According to the story, my (atheist) grandfather learned to pray on his way down the mountain. He loudly promised the Lord that if he was not killed that day, that he would attend church faithfully for the rest of his life. As he came off the mountain and was on flat land, he realized he had not heard the expected explosion, but was still running hard. So he changed his prayer to say he would attend church once a week for the rest of his life. Then as he got closer to town, it was to attend church for ten years. By the time he reached the church in the center of town, he “bargined down” to attending church for the rest of the year.

He was praying so loud to the Lord that everyone he passed heard his promises. Finally, he reached the church and collapsed. (Still no explosion). By some stroke of luck (or as the townspeople would say – by the Grace of God) the driver of the other truck had been able to use the gearshifts and emergency brakes and managed to stop his truck before it could ram the day truck.

Granddad reverted to being an atheist almost immediately, however my grandmother was a formidable woman. He had made his promise to the Lord in public and it was witnessed by the community. She would not allow him to back out of the promise.

So, every Sunday, for the rest of the year, as soon as services were done, my grandfather would round up the oldest sons, and they worked on the church. They replaced the roof, repaired the stairs in the back, painted the church and school, and basically did all kinds of maintenance work. Every Sunday. The last thing they did was carve new end pieces for all the pews, and installed a prayer rail so that elderly or infirm members could hold it when then knelt for communion.

After it was done, he still did not attend church, but any time something needed to be repaired, the pastor would call and remind him of his promise to the Lord.

I Left America And You Should Too. Here’s Why !

The cost of living is unbearable in the USA. There is no reason at all why you should stay there.

This is a MUST watch video. This is really good. He talks about FAMILY and lifestyle. Loving and caring families.

What is the coolest line a pilot has said to the passengers?

Originally Answered: What is the coolest line a pilot has said to his passengers?

This was a flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of that area, that place is entirely void of any bodies of water (or at least our flight path was). The pilot was a pretty hilarious guy.

During the safety presentation:

“In the highly likely event of a water landing during our trip over the Mojave Desert, you can use the seat cushion as a flotation device.”

“Okay, I know most of you have got your seatbelts on already, take them off again so I can feel like my safety presentation actually did something.”

“If you are traveling with a child or someone who acts like one, please secure your mask first before assisting others.”

And after that:

“Hey people in the front, would you please sit down for a moment? I’m trying to back up here.”

“The policy on this flight is no smoking indoors. We have plenty space on the two wings if you would like to smoke.”

Mediterranean Chopped Salad

Try packing this salad into a Mason jar, and take your salad to go. Add dressing immediately before eating.

TIPS

Use a mixture of red and yellow cherry tomatoes for added interest. Prepare with canned red or white kidney beans instead of the chickpeas if desired.

Substitute fresh basil for the parsley, or skip the fresh herbs and make dressing using 1 to 2 tablespoons prepared basil pesto. Dressing can be made with fresh lemon juice instead of the red wine vinegar, or with a combination of both ingredients.

Ingredients

6 cups packed chopped romaine lettuce hearts
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup chopped cucumber
1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup pitted quartered Kalamata olives
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon each finely chopped fresh parsley and chives
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 hard-boiled large eggs, cooled to room temperature, peeled and quartered

Instructions

Combine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas and olives in large bowl. Top with feta cheese.
Whisk together vinegar, parsley, chives and mustard in small bowl. Add olive oil slowly, whisking until combined.
Toss salad lightly with dressing and DIVIDE evenly among 4 dinner plates. Top with eggs.

Prep: 20 min | Yield: 4 servings

Easy 12-Minute Method for Hard-Boiled Eggs: Place eggs in saucepan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add enough cold water to cover eggs by 1 inch. Heat over high heat just to boiling. Remove from heat. Cover pan. Let eggs stand in hot water for 12 minutes for large eggs. Drain. Cool completely under cold running water or shock eggs in a bowl of ice water.

You can refrigerate unpeeled eggs for several days if not using immediately. Hard-boiled eggs are easiest to peel right after cooling.

They have managed decline to unacceptable levels to average citizens

What can I learn in one minute that will be useful for the rest of my life?

The smarter you become, the crazier you’ll seem to “dumb” people.
Nobody literally wants you to tell them the truth. Rather, we all want you to reaffirm our beliefs.
Today’s saint was yesterday’s sinner.
Most people spend a lifetime trying to be like someone who is trying to be like someone else.
“Reality is for people who can’t face drugs and drugs are for people who can’t face reality!” —Genius Turner
You know a man is really smart when you forget to notice how cheap his clothes are.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” —Albert Einstein
Your own siblings will “sell you out” if the price is right.
You might as well stop caring what others think about you because they seldom do! After all, everybody is knee-deep in their own troubles.
A wise person knows: if you think you can, you can; if you think you can’t, you can’t! Either way—you’re right.
Being normal has become abnormal.
If by chance you browse the Law Book, notice the fine print that states: Here lies one law for the rich and another for the poor!
“Genius is 1% talent and 99% hard work…” —Albert Einstein
Few people are wise enough to recognize when the price of money costs too much! Be wise, then.
A heterosexual telling a homosexual that being gay is “wrong” is no different from someone born right-handed telling a left-handed person to write with the “right” hand.
How can you ever declare to “know someone” when most of us have yet to Know Thyself?
If you become too successful, your own friends will succumb to jealousy and envy.
Because a billionaire is, by definition, equivalent to 1,000 millionaires—in light of world hunger—every billionaire is by definition selfish.
The only thing separating the dreamer from the dream is a bridge called WORK!
Last but not least: you might as well be yourself, dahling, because everyone else is already taken!

Why I left America and why you should too!

If you think that the USA is the “best” then you really need to step outside and see just how ridiculous the USA actually is.

Spending just to live. It’s the American way.

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve gotten for an insanely cheap price?

I once went to a property sellout auction, when a three ton truck came up for sale, the auctioneer wanted to start the bidding off at $5000, he couldn’t get a bid, so kept reducing the starting price by $100 at a time, still no bids so I sang out $100 dollars, he ignored me at first I sang out again so he started at $100, another bloke thought it was to cheap so he also started bidding, he gave up when it got to $1000, so I bought three a ton truck for $1000, a bit later I felt a tap on my shoulder and a chap asked me if I was the one that bought the truck I said yes I was, and he asked me if I would take $3000 for it? BLOODY OATH! so I made $2000 profit without doing a thing,

one other thing, at the same auction, the auctioneer, held up a jar of pebbles’ I recognised them as sapphires, Because I used to dig for them as a hobby, also no bid, I got it for 5 dollars, I took it with me the next time I went to the gem fields, and took them to an Indian buyer, they were only small stones but he still gave 500 dollars for them, so that was also a good profit margin, from 5 to 500, not bad at all.

What is the most satisfying passive-aggressive thing you have ever done to a really mean or rude person?

This occurred while I was still married to my second husband in New Hampshire. We lived on top of a hill we called “Heck’s Hill” and for many years, ours was the only house within several miles.

A builder in town, known for his arrogance, bought a huge parcel of land behind and beside us on the right. His intention was to build a road around us, ending in a cul de sac to the right of our hill, where he would build eight homes.

Since the road would go up the left side and wind around behind our property before continuing on to the cul de sac, the builder claimed an easement for some of our property for a cut through the hill to make it level enough for his road. Otherwise, he would have to curve his road much more to go further out away from our hill for level ground and it would cost him more.

We were told by the Planning Board this would take about 150′ from the back of our property to allow for the slope. Then his road would be cut into our hill with a 25′ drop. It seemed like a lot, but we had to agree according to the Planning Board.

Our home was totally surrounded by woods, including the trees to be removed for the road. Most of the trees were old, huge, and established. Just inside the tree line on top of our hill in back, was a rock/stone wall, which went almost entirely around our home. The stone wall was only a couple of feet from our in ground pool. In the photo, you can see the concrete deck that goes around the pool and under the slide, and just outside of the deck, you see the dark rock/stone wall. You can also see the wall to the left in the photo behind the cabana and house.

“In the State of New Hampshire, it is against the law to destroy, or remove, an existing stone or rock wall as they are deemed to be historical.”

On the day the bulldozer and other machinery arrived to make the cut into our property, the bulldozer operator came to the house to let me know he would start cutting trees in an hour and if we had a pet, to make sure it was kept indoors.

When they left, curious me went out to the back of our property where they had placed orange ribbons around the trees to be bulldozed. Two of the largest trees were within a foot of the rock/stone wall and only a few feet from the pool. The dozers had already taken three trees down they weren’t approved to remove which used to be beside the white birch in the photo.

Horrified, I called the builder on his cell phone and told him that was NOT what we had agreed to when we met with the Planning Board —it was not even close. I told him, per our agreement, okayed by the Planning Board, he would have to move his road further out, because he was NOT approved to make his cut that close to the existing stone/rock wall.

(By already taking out the three wrongly marked trees, and more that were planned, it was obvious he would take part of the stone wall, too). His plans would make the 25′ cut down to his road within a foot of the rock/stone wall —we would have a 25′ drop off (a cliff) there? I had eleven grandchildren that also swam in our pool!

He said, “Plans change. The additional feet of moving the road further out would make it cost prohibitive. Get over it, lady. The road is going in where I say it’s going in.”

I told the builder we were going back in front of the Town Planning Board and let them decide. We would leave it to them to make the determination, because there was no way my husband and I would allow the builder to take even more than the 150′ easement just on his say-so.

He said the Planning Board wasn’t going to be meeting for another three weeks and he didn’t have time to take shit like this from me —he had a job to do and the equipment was already there. Then he hung up on me.

Now I was pissed. I went inside, got a rifle, loaded it, and planted myself on the rock/stone wall behind our pool and I waited with the rifle laying across my lap.

When the drivers came back, I told them to get off our property or I would shoot. They complained and I told them to go call their arrogant employer and tell him I was going to sit right where I was until the Planning Board met and I didn’t care how long it took.

I’m normally an introvert, but I said it with all the bravado I could muster. (Oh boy, I was thinking. The police will be here any minute and I’m going to be in so much trouble …)

No police ever came and when the builder called the Planning Board to complain, they put an immediate hold on the whole project. They decided to convene and review both sides of the agreement again in two days’ time.

The Planning Board heard both sides and the arrogant bully was forced to move his road further out.

Satisfying … oh yes, it was very satisfying.

I Left America & I Don’t Plan To EVER Go Back !

What was the most satisfying way you saw a defense get derailed in a courtroom?

The defendant was guilty. The mountain of evidence against him was the size of Everest. He was a white-collar criminal — an educated professional with a high six-figure income who apparently believed the criminal laws only applied to the “little people.”

He refused to hire a lawyer to conduct his defense, although he had been charged with a major felony, and insisted on representing himself. He expected to succeed. From what I saw of the guy, it looked like he was so accustomed to always having people kowtow to him and getting his own way, it never occurred to him that his experience in a federal courthouse might be different.

The guy adopted a defense strategy of trying to bully the judge into dismissing the case.

For more than a month, he was the most belligerent, obnoxious, uncooperative defendant imaginable. The only reason he didn’t get thrown into jail for contempt of court was because his case had been assigned to the nicest, most patient judge in the courthouse.

The defendant had also made several requests to have his case transferred to a different judge.

Although judges rarely reward obnoxious defendants by granting their motions to have the case transferred to a different judge, the nice judge decided to make an exception in this defendant’s case. She “rewarded” the defendant’s bad behavior by granting his motion and intentionally transferring the case to the toughest judge in the courthouse.

Shortly thereafter, the defendant received a lesson in some of the strategies no-nonsense judges use to deal with defendants who try to turn the courtroom into a three-ring circus. The guy sat like a statue through most of his first hearing with the tough judge and then decided to hire a lawyer.

Moral of the story: Be careful what you ask for. You may get it.

Graham Handcock

“everyone will be WIPED out in 21 days”

What has been your biggest surprise while being married to someone?

My parents did not have a good marriage. My father was cold, distant and absent. My mother was a stereotypical 90s Indian wife who served food to him and picked up after him. They didn’t communicate, didn’t understand each other. My father outbursts would often result in throwing plates across the room while my mother cleaned every bit of food off the floor without saying a word. Later, she confided in me that she was scared. She didn’t want him to cross boundaries and hit her. Keeping silence was her plea. Needless to say, I grew up with very distorted sense of marriage.

I jumped from one relationship to another all my life. When things got tough I moved to another until I met my husband. My husband is an American and grew up in Texas. We were in a long distance relationship for 4–5 years until we decided to get married. In the beginning of our relationship, I was skeptical. When I realized I had feelings for him, I did what I know best. I started to push him away but he stayed. Regardless of being in a long distance relationship I never had to second guess his feelings. He was always there, emotionally if not physically.

Once we got married, I kept waiting for the marriage to crash and burn, kept waiting for the pain to return which I’m so used to, but it never happened. He made sure of it. My husband did everything he could to make me feel comfortable in the new country. He even learnt to cook Indian food so I don’t feel home sick. Being in a new country where I knew no one, isolated and away from friends and family took a toll on me. I have been dealing with depression and severe anxiety for years but he stood by me through it all. He accepted me for who I am without trying to change anything about me. Every time we had an argument, I waited to see glimpse of my father in him but he proved me wrong each time.

I always thought that marriage makes one miserable. I once found a poem written by my father dedicated to my mother. I couldn’t believe it. I had to ask my mother several times to be sure because they were never happy, never in love, as long as I could remember. That was the perception of marriage I grew up with until this beautiful man walked in my life and changed it forever. I’m still haunted by the dysfunctional marriage my parents had but then I look at him and know everything will be okay.

Compilation: Ancient Mysteries vol 1

Great stuff. Enjoy this one.

The secrets of womanhood remains an elusive knowledge

Ah. CJ.

I had mentioned previous that I used to live with a “runway model”. I had manifested her as part of an affirmation campaign, and she was a handful, I’ll tell you what. But pretty, Oh Lordy!

As an aside, guys… don’t go for 8, 9s, and 10s. Pick a solid 4, 5, 6 or 7. Get an average girl. And concentrate on her personality. Ah. the lessons of life.

But, I was still learning. Heck, I was still in my 30’s.

Anyways, we were chillin’ out in the house of a friend of ours. It was in the metropolis of Xbridge. Which, heh, heh… was this tiny, tiny town in Massachusetts. And we are talking.

CJ starts to say something that I really found interesting….

“It’s like this, and you know, you really like the guy, and you are so open down there. It’s all open and wide and empty… any you really want to be filled. Just completely and….”

And, our friend Collin, interrupts and goes on a tirade about how are we men supposed to know what it is like being a girl, and on and on and on.

And on and on….

She opens up her mouth to say something, and he drowns her out with his tirade. On and on.

By the time he was finished, no one wanted to continue that initial (and very interesting) conversation.

And I found it really interesting, and I really wanted CJ to finish her sentence, as I had never heard a woman’s point of view on this kind of thing, and I really, REALLY wanted to hear about it.

So…

In all my marriages, in all my relationships… a closely guarded discussion of woman’s feelings during desire never came up, but here… for a brief moment in time… it raised it’s sleepy head. And as soon as it it it was snatched away.

I should have gotten up and punched Collin and told CJ to continue.

But I didn’t.

The secrets of womanhood remains an elusive knowledge… one that somehow I am forbidden to know about.

I wanted to know more.

The mysteries of what it felt like, as a woman.

The opportunity came…

… and was drowned out by ignorance.

Sigh.

Today….

What is the most satisfying passive-aggressive thing you have ever done to a really mean or rude person?

I was carrying extremely powerful rare earth magnets (165 lb pull force) for work in my back pack . They were wrapped in 8 inches of bubble wrap to prevent them from getting too close to anything.

As I was sitting down, a total a-hole got on the train and pushed me out of the way, took the seat I was about to sit in, and gave me a nasty look. I wound up standing next to him. Slowly, I undid the bubble wrap and put it next to the Macbook he was working on and the satchel with his wallet and phone. I kept moving it around subtly. After a few minutes, his screen went out with a very bright flash. I don’t know what happened to his credit cards or cell phone. He kept trying to reboot it but it was not responding at all.

I didn’t know if it would actually do anything. I just really hate rude people on the subway. Luckily his computer didn’t fly up and stick to my backpack.

(UPDATE:) It’s been great to read the many responses this has; I have never told anyone this story. I really go out of my way to be a decent person but when people take advantage of me, I can’t let it go. I have used annoy-a-trons several times on coworkers (Google it) and did MUCH worse as a teenager. The point is, I am fair and decent, however, I won’t suffer A-Holes taking advantage of me or screwing me over.

This guy pushed me out of the way hard as I was sitting down and then proceeded to give me a shitty look like “do you want to fight about it?” My options were to fight him, start an argument that would not get my seat back unless I picked him up, or OTHER. I wasn’t willing to start a fight on a full subway car or anywhere else. I just couldn’t let it go. Not with these awesome magnets in my backpack ready for a little experiment!

Now for the doubters …. If you stack six of these magnets you have 3–4 times the force of a single magnet. They have small Teflon spacers between them so you can separate them when you need them. These slightly reduce their combined force. At 8–10 inches with bubble wrap, there is very little magnetic force as their strength decreases exponentially with distance. However, I am still careful not to put my cell phone or wallet near them. I opened the bubble wrap at the bottom of the stack and then closed my backpack with the end of the stack right against the inside canvas of my backpack. I was surprised it worked at a distance of about 6 inches. As I said, I was careful because I did not want it to “grab” the computer. Nothing happened for a while but it absolutely took the computer out like an EMP had gone off. Maybe it had to wait until the HDD was active. If it warped the platter and pulled it into the read/write arm it would scratch the shit out of the platter. I looked it up yesterday and the HDD on a Macbook Pro is on the side I was standing on.

IDK how it worked, but, to my pleasant surprise, IT DID. Try it out! 😉 I lost a bit of face and hopefully he lost $2K of electronics and spent a day getting his credit and bank cards replaced.

Will it teach him a lesson? Probably not, but I don’t care; I made his life temporarily suck without causing bodily harm .

Butter Rum Ham and Pineapple

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds fully cooked, boneless ham
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons rum extract
1/2 peeled/cored pineapple

Instructions

Heat 2-sided tabletop grill.
Cut four 1/2 inch thick slices from ham (reserve any remaining ham for another use).
Place butter, brown sugar and rum extract in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 30 to 45 seconds or until butter melts.
Brush one side of ham with glaze and place on grill with glazed side down. Brush glaze on top of ham slices. Close grill lid, pressing down firmly to sear ham.
Grill for 4 to 5 minutes, brushing once with remaining glaze, until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F.
Remove ham from grill and cover to keep warm.
Cut pineapple into four 1/2 to 1 inch thick slices and place on grill; close lid. Grill for 1 to 2 minutes until warm. Serve with ham.

Was Dong Zhuo or Cao Cao worse?

tl;dr: Don’t invite either of these guys to your office potluck.

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Imagine your company kitchen. It’s a chaotic symphony of mismatched mugs and lukewarm coffee. But then, two new executives strut in. One, Dong Zhuo, barges in, throws everyone out, declares himself “Chief Lunch Officer,” and starts hoarding all the good snacks.

The other, Cao Cao, is more subtle. He smiles, charms everyone, subtly undermines his rivals with passive-aggressive emails about “synergy” and “optimization,” then slowly takes control of the coffee machine, rationing the good beans for his “inner circle.”

Who’s worse?

Dong Zhuo was the quintessential “bull in a china shop” of emperors. A ruthless warlord, he seized power during China’s Han Dynasty, metaphorically shoving the emperor aside and using him as a rubber stamp. Taxes skyrocketed, the capital burned (think a company-wide email announcing the free donuts are mysteriously gone… forever), and fear became the company culture.

Cao Cao, on the other hand, was the master manipulator. Cunning and ambitious, he played the long game. He’d ruthlessly eliminate rivals while spouting lofty ideals about “unifying the market” (a.k.a. eliminating competition). He surrounded himself with brilliant advisors, like having a crack team constantly brainstorming new ways to brew the perfect cup of joe (even if it meant exploiting the local bean farmers).

So, who’s the worse office tyrant? Dong Zhuo is the obvious villain, the guy everyone avoids in the break room. But Cao Cao, with his charming smile and ruthless efficiency, is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. He might even win “Employee of the Month” for his supposed dedication, all while consolidating his power.

The real tragedy? The system itself.

The fractured state of China during this era allowed both Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao to exploit its weaknesses.

Who are the Dong Zhuos and Cao Caos in our own systems today?

DR built a concrete snowman to teach bullies a lesson

When I was in college, a friend spent 3 hours building a 5 foot snowman on our club’s property only to have a grpup from the jock club next door do a flying tackle to destroy it. To be clear, this was the type of club bullies who liked to destroy property, piss in your hallway, and generally pick fights with people.

Being the studemt repairs manager, I had access to bricks, concrete, and cinder block. Over the next six hours, 5 of us built an 8 foot snowman, base out of an upside down steel trashcan filled with solid ice and brick. We built the center ball hollow and shuttled in the brick and mortar. Used a ladder to finish off the head with a green Mohawk and red eye.

In the morning the center ball was tilted 5 degrees with a large shoulder impression in the snow shell. We guessed he broke something. Passive aggressive revenge extracted.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson : Turkey to Leave NATO and Join …

What is the most disrespectful advice you received from a person who assumed you were less intelligent and made less money than them?

My husband’s friend and wife bought a home around 3 years back. They are almost the same age as us. Both of them are elder to me and a few months younger to my husband. Both of them are good people, but the wife likes to brag a little, but I always believe that she is a good person at heart. We meet them often, and get together for dinner or games. They used to often ask us why we are still living in an apartment and not buying a house.

My husband and I did not want to buy a house until I got a job. Even then, we did not want to buy a HUGE house. We wanted to get a started home.. something small and manageable. Even after I got job, we waited a few months to make sure that i like my role, only then did we begin our house hunting expedition.

The first step was of course to go to a bank and find out our affordability. The bank took both our salaries and told us that we could afford $XXXX per month as mortgage. My husband and I did not want to buy a huge house showing both our salaries. We wanted to show only one salary (the lower salary, which is mine). We are not US citizens, so we wanted to make sure that we could afford the house and our lifestyle even if one of us lost our jobs or wanted to take a break. We finally put an offer on a house, and the offer got accepted almost a year back. We informed this to our friends when we met them for dinner one day. My husband’s friend’s wife immediately asked us the price and number of bedrooms of our house. We told her how much the house costs and that it’s a 3 bedroom house. She immediately said “ohh.. is that all you could afford? I did not realize that both of you would be earning so less inspite being engineers. We both earn more so that’s why we could afford a bigger house. I really hope something good happens to you soon”..

My husband and I laughed so much after leaving their house. We don’t have to explain our logic to them. We wanted something small and manageable, and also have enough room when parents visit. We had a very strict budget and stuck to it.

I did it instinctively.

We are in an concert hall for some concert. I arrive early and grab a prime seat. This elderly woman comes over and grabs a seat 6-7 seats from me. The hall fills up.

The woman leaves to go to the washroom.

This dude grabs her seat.

She comes back and protests, but he would not listen. People complain, but he is not going to budge. His argument: “Seats can not be reserved here”

I eye signal to the dude to come take over my prime seat. I grab my stuff and pretend to be on my way out missing the concert entirely. The lady also thinks I am leaving and everyone will have a seat and be happy.

He quickly starts rushing to my place. The lady sits in the place he vacated.

Oops. I changed my mind. I quickly sit down and enjoy the concert.

WAKE UP PEOPLE! This Is Worse Than I Thought…” | Victor Davis Hanson

Beep Beep

The phone rang again, I picked it up again and said my name, no sound, then beep-beep-beep. That did it. I got so fed up with it that it was time for a plan. My own little, 10-years old’s, revenge plan.

My father was having an affair, that much was clear. For months already, our family was disturbed and disfunctional. The relationship between my parents was totally messed up and as their youngest son, I felt heart broken and angry.
Twice a day, for weeks, the phone would ring and there would be no sound if I picked it up. It annoyed me big time. It never happened to my father though. So I concluded it must be her, the unknown woman.

I decided to start some retaliation. Every now and then I heard him calling her in his home office (on a landline). One day I overheard him through the office door, and I waited out the call. He went to have lunch in the kitchen afterwards, and I sneaked into his office. I pressed the redial button.

With my heart pounding in my throat I waited… And then she picked up and said her name. Gotcha! I stayed silent, wrote her name on a paper and hung up. As a little Sherlock Holmes I started looking her up in the phone book. I had some clues to what town she might live, so after some researching, I found her name and number.

Since that moment, the fight was on. A few times a day I would call her and say nothing at all until she would hang up. It felt great. My little sneaky, well thought out, revenge plan was working just as planned. It must have driven her crazy.
It took them weeks to find out. Then my father came to me, sighed, collected some courage and asked me bluntly if I was the one that was ghost calling his ‘friend’. I denied. But from that day on, I stopped. My point was made.

EDIT: we are talking 1988 here, so no chat apps or cell phones…
EDIT 2: My mother just told me that my father accused her at the time of the ghost calls. Oops!

Are you surprised by China’s aggression against the Philippines in the South China Sea?

No, Because I know quite deep on China’s politic.

You probably wonder what the hell I am talking about, well I will answer actually China has been waiting for country to mess with China. Why? because then China will have a reason to mess with that country, you can see a lot of example, from Vietnam losing land territory, parcels island, Russia losing land, India losing land, Japan losing island, long list of strong nation right?

That list has started during China was weak, now China is strong. what it need is troublemaker like Philippine. Politic is still politic, no matter how noble China try to be if foreign country mess with China, it’s an opportunity to mess with them.

If you search for my old post, you will see an article I wrote that Philippine will lose all their island in South China Sea.

China is the most noble politic we as an earthling can have. China is not like USA which can create Tonkin Gulf incident as a pretext to invade Vietnam. China is not as despicable as USA, USA can claimed Saddam has WMD and go to invade. No, don’t worry China does not work that evil. If you have a good relation with China, well China will not do anything to you.

the evidence is Duterte, Philippine probably don’t realized it Duterte saved your country.

China-Philippine SCS Dispute Chinese Perspective

The South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines is specifically reflected in Huangyan Island, Ren’ai Reef, Horseshoe Reef, Xianbin Reef, Zhongye Island and surrounding waters.

The reality is that what has truly harmed China’s efforts to safeguard its sovereignty and expand its interests in the South China Sea is not the confrontation between China and the Philippines, but the reconciliation between China and the Philippines.

From around 1990 to this year, China’s South China Sea strategy has evolved from defense to offense, and has also gone through three stages from defense to stalemate to counterattack, marked by the ” Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea ” in November 2002 and the climax of island building in 2013.

Before 2002, China was on the defensive in the South China Sea. Chinese fishermen were arrested and fishing boats were rammed and seized. These incidents were common and would cause uproars today. But there was no way out. At that time, our navy was too weak and our coast guard was seriously under-strength. We were unable to effectively manage the disputed areas and protect the interests of fishermen.

The so-called ” beached ships ” today are all historical issues left over from that time.

Since 2002, as the United States’ attention has shifted to the Middle East, the South China Sea turmoil has no longer been fueled by the United States, and the Philippines is alone. China has entered a period of rapid development, its naval debts are slowly being made up, and its offensive and defensive momentum has begun to change.

Strictly speaking, the real counterattack wave began when Aquino III came to power in 2011. Against the backdrop of the United States’ official launch of the ” return to the Asia-Pacific ,” Aquino III reopened the South China Sea dispute, and this time they faced a completely different China. The climax began in 2013 when China began its island-building frenzy, consolidating existing islands and reefs and gradually opening up disputed areas.

Against the backdrop of the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines, China has renounced interference and, while building up islands, has firmly grasped jurisdiction in its own hands, breaking up the Philippines’ counterattacks into harassment by scattered forces.

From 2013 to 2016, this period was the four years with the most intense confrontation between China and the Philippines, but also the four years in which China gained the most by building island on SCS (it actually an counter measure of Obama Asia pivot).

When Duterte came to power in 2016, he chose to get closer to China while falling out with the United States over the stationing of troops and drug prohibition. China’s South China Sea strategy got into trouble, because facing a pro-China faction.

This period was the most peaceful period in the South China Sea, and it was also the years when China’s South China Sea strategy returned to being restrained, China chose a truce in the South China Sea.

But after Marcos JR came to power in 2021 , new opportunities arrived, especially when the United States began to raise interest rates in 2022 and even forced China into a financial decisive battle in 2023(US hope to create chaos so that investment will flee to US). The Philippines, as a pawn of the US strategy, regained its value, and the Philippines also tried to fish in troubled waters, wanting both the South China Sea islands and reefs and the US dollar.

China took the opportunity to greatly expand the scope of its actual control. It also carried out maritime police law enforcement in the disputed area for the first time, took over the disputed area, and will completely solve the “beached ship” problem. By closing off the supply line, it forced the Philippines to evacuate the Ren’ai Reef and put the issue of Zhongye Island on the table.

From October last year to June this year, in just eight months, the benefits gained from the struggle were greater than the total of the past seven years.

The achievement of these results is inseparable from the staunch anti-China stance of the Filipino leader Marcos JR, which gave us the legitimacy of our actions.

But now the defection of Duterte’s daughter may disrupt this process. If Duterte’s daughter plays the rational and pro-China card again and gains power, whether we cannot continue the war without distraction and have to make peace which will become a big problem for China.

There is not much time left for China. China hope to seize this window of time and, under the favorable conditions of the confrontation between China, the United States and the Philippines, quickly take over the Ren’ai Reef and turn Zhongye Island into a controversial frontier.

So Duterte saved Philippine, it paused the clashed in SCS between PH and China for 6 years.

Author Note :

China is not a perfect country, China is not a saint country. But when opportunity appear of course china will take it. China much more noble than the US which claimed a bogus thing to do war, or will backtrack any agreement for it’s benefit.

That is why according to my understanding of China’s politic, China multipolar world order will bring more stability and more equal prosperity than the US world order.

EU Panic: As China Gets Ready Economic Punishments, Germany Runs To Beijing For Mercy

China is on the verge of hitting Europe with economic punishments. This has the potential to escalate things further with various countries including Spain and France. Germany is very afraid of retaliation on their car exports and they are heading to Beijing to undo the damage done by the EU trade tariffs.

As a trial attorney, what is the most ridiculous outburst you have seen first-hand in court?

Originally Answered: As a trial attorney, what is the most ridiculous outburst you have seen first hand in court?

Heh.

I was sitting as a judge pro tem in traffic court. Traffic court can always be entertaining, to say the least. As a judge pro tem, I am a working lawyer who volunteers to sit in traffic court or small claims court once a month. This frees up the real judges to hear important cases. In an afternoon session, I’ll have 30 or 40 cases. All of the people who got tickets are waiting their turn in the courtroom for the session.

Each traffic court has a clerk and bailiff. The clerk’s main job is to keep the pro tem judge from looking like an idiot or making any obvious legal mistakes. The bailiff is there to ensure decorum, mostly by intimidation, I guess. The bailiff this day was a very young woman, about 5 foot 2, her nightstick came down to mid-calf, the handcuffs appeared huge on her waist, and she just didn’t look very intimidating. Yet, there she was in police uniform. Before calling the first case, I usually remind all of the defendants that traffic school is an option up until I call their case. Then it’s no longer an option. I explain my courtroom rules that govern each case and the decorum that I expect while the police officer and the defendants are testifying. The vast majority of cases are speeding and driving solo in the carpool lane.

The first case was unusual. The defendant had been ticketed for having an open container of alcohol as a passenger in a car. (The driver had been ticketed for speeding.). The police officer told the story in a routine manner. I turned to the defendant to hear his story. His story is that he was holding the “party ball,” a round container that holds about 10 gallons of beer, a mini-keg with the hose and valve, in his lap. But … it wasn’t his ball, it was someone else’s ball. He had explained all this to the officer at the time the ticket was issued. Therefore, glancing smugly at the officer, he explained that he obviously wasn’t “in possession” of the open container. His testimony was sufficient to convict him of possession of an open container, so after he finished, I told him I was finding him guilty and fining him $500. I also explained to him that I understood his defense that the party ball wasn’t his. I told him that the law prohibits possession of an open container; ownership of the container is not part of the offense.

He went ballistic. He shouted, ranted and raged. I let him go for a minute and then called the next case while he was still shouting. He stayed at his table yelling at me and, as he walked out of the court, he yelled, “Fuck you” at me. This engaged the bailiff who started after him. He ran out of the court with the bailiff, clanking handcuffs, weapon and mid-calf nightstick, after him. As they both exited the courtroom, I told the somewhat stunned crowd that we would wait for the bailiff to return.

Then, we heard the sounds of a body thumping and screams of pain. The bailiff returned to the courtroom with the defendant in a wrist lock. He was bleeding all down one side of his face, and his shirt was torn. “Apologize to the Judge,” she demanded. He piteously whined, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” I told him, “Don’t apologize to me. You wasted everybody’s time here. Apologize to the entire courtroom.” The officer wheeled him around so he could apologize to the entire courtroom. He whimpered several apologies. She then released him. He slunk out of the courtroom.

Every remaining defendant pleaded guilty that day.

After the session was over, I asked the bailiff what happened. It turns out that he was running away from her down the hallway, but there were two police officers waiting to be called as witnesses in traffic court. They saw him and the bailiff in hot pursuit. One of the officers put his foot out and tripped the defendant as he ran by. As the defendant fell, he scraped his face on the jagged stone walls of the courthouse hallway and tore his shirt. The bailiff picked him up and frog-marched him into the courtroom looking like he had been thoroughly beaten up.

John Mearsheimer Destroys Lindsey Graham

John Mearsheimer reacts to Lindsey Graham’s idiotic claims and outright lies about Vladimir Putin. Professor Mearsheumer debunks them point by point and explains “The problem I face when dealing with Lindsey Graham is that he and I don't live on the same planet. I live on a planet where evidence and facts matter. He doesn't.”

What is your most frightening emergency room story?

Pain was the word, but would you go to the ER if that was the only symptom — pain in the groin ? Ask any urologist and they would say NO (capitalized). It’s one of the most generic and undefined pains that usually cannot be explained — and guys, you KNOW (capitalized) what I’m talking about.

But hearing the guy was one thing, seeing him was another, and diagnosing him was something else.

It was the urologists’ first ever case of Fournier’s Gangrene — an acute necrotic infection of the penis, scrotum or perineum, essentially meaning that the genitals of the affected male patient is being eaten, and very, very fast. It’s also extremely rare, since less than 2,000 cases have been reported in the last 70 years.

He was in his seventies, and the urologist was very clear on what was to happen:

“We need to remove every single thing of this infection — including your penis. Only then you can survive, but I’m not sure if that is even possible.”

The man agreed.

The next three days two things happened.

The infected area — included the patient’s penis — was removed.
Less than 48 hours later, it turned out that the infection was still alive, and had spread over a much larger area.

And this time, no surgery would help anymore. The infection would take over his body and necrotize every single square inch of his painful body in a matter of days. And so that’s what his urologist told him, in tears, because this was a man who was receiving a sentence instead of a diagnosis — as if the amputation hadn’t been enough already.

But he was totally okay with it —

The pain had to stop.

The Library

Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Write a story about discovering a lost manuscript. It can be from a famous (or infamous) author, or an unknown one.… view prompt

Charlotte Lewis

THE LIBRARYLarisse was a bit peeved. She hated greeting duty. She moved to this station because she was promised better wages, better living quarters, and more Fun. Yes, Fun was capitalized. But once a month she had to greet the ship with newcomers. Fun was what you made of it. This was not it.She knew the history of the city she worked and lived in but, like most younger people, she was not particularly impressed. Larisse did acknowledge that science has progressed so rapidly since the 20th century everything accomplished then seems rather immature, almost childish, now.This dwarf planet, Ceres, had been selected for habitation back in the early 21st century. The atmosphere, such as it was, could not support human life. But it did have an internal ‘ocean’ of water. While the White House was set on landing and inhabiting Mars, NASA and a small group of engineers set about to determine whether or not it would be feasible to go underground on Ceres. Yes, build a city below the surface. Here.It took several years to get funding but finally a mini space lab was launched and fell into orbit around the dwarf. The space lab, actually a cargo ship but funding was quicker if it was a lab, carried men, equipment and supplies to create an underground cavern. The cavern was quickly oxygenated and the work on the city went smoothly. First they built living quarters. Then they worked on laboratories and offices.Building was suspended for a short term while the United States engaged itself in another war. They seemed to do that a lot in the old days. Soon however, regular supply ships were arriving and the dwarf planet was colonized.Humans who lived and worked on Ceres did complain that just housing wasn’t sufficient. By the close of the century, a restaurant, a few utilitarian shops, and a park were constructed. Each supply ship brought more luxuries and more humans.The environment on earth was becoming more and more toxic as time went on. There was talk of creating a second underground facility devoted to manufacturing and hydroponic gardening on Ceres. Fresh food was becoming scarce on earth. And little could be transported to this colony. The garden was accomplished successfully.By mid 22nd Century the dwarf planet was fairly self-sustaining. The variety of people gradually changed – there were races from all over the world, few were human. The ruling race, yes – it happened, controlled the docking ports. There was a problem with reproduction of their peoples. However, there was no difficulty reproducing their people on earth. While still in their infancy, children were literally herded by the hundreds onto transport ships on earth and sent to a new home on the dwarf planet. There they would be educated and become viable working members of the colony.Larisse thought it never made sense that it was impossible to produce children, new beings, at this station. To import babies from Mother Earth seemed totally ridiculous. Totally. There should be no reason the replicators here cannot produce as well as those on ME. She didn’t understand science or reproduction well enough to fully understand many things. But, like most people, she wouldn’t believe most things even if told. Half of the newcomers were not ready for real life – in her judgment. They seemed totally disjointed more than half the time…barely able to function. The time it takes for the transport ship to make the trip should be long enough for the infants to mature. Her race attained maturity in a matter of months usually. True, there are no tutors aboard. But time alone should be enough for physical maturity. Perhaps it was something else that make them so ‘useless’. Larisse herself was an earth baby but she is positive she was never so helpless as the last few shipments had been.No, it wasn’t the atmosphere. They just weren’t ready. The atmosphere is not ME quality, but only human engineers born before 2140 need breathing apparatus. Everyone else had acclimated immediately. But some of these ‘children’, as they are called by the government, just aren’t ready for prime time. They should stay on Mother Earth another year to mature. They had little form. Their obvious lack of living knowledge made Larisse’s job doubly difficult.When a ship docked, Larisse went aboard with her clipboard to verify passengers before allowing them to disembark. This was one of the toughest parts of her job as greeter. It seems that more than half of these newcomers don’t know their names. Unfortunately, their boarding passes do not have names, just lot and number. Many of them have misplaced their boarding documents during the eight month flight. Larisse tried her best to get them all off the ship and into the city in a timely manner. She checked the number on the tag around each one’s neck, found it on the shipping advice and asked, “And what is your name?” She tried to be kind and understanding but kindness and understanding weren’t enough.Much of the time, they mumbled or spoke too softly for her to hear, or understand. She wrote down whatever it sounded like. There were times, she was sure, that Jane became Joyce or Brown was Bruin, or the other way around. But, what’s the difference? If they don’t know who they are when they arrive, they’ll respond to whatever they’re called later. Their identification packets are produced from her list. What was on the list was it. If, when she repeated a name, the newcomer corrected her, she’d make a change. Otherwise, the name – wrong or not- was theirs forever. This sometimes caused confusion among the newcomers the first week or so. Eventually they responded properly.Once the ship was cleared, Larisse led the group to the elevator. The atmosphere on the surface would suffice, but the old-timers who had established this colony insisted on building below the surface. The quarters were spacious. The city, while not large, included many laboratories, several stores, a movie theater, a bowling alley, roller rink, and a simulated park with grass, a small lake, and ducks. Newcomers were always impressed with the ducks. There were no ducks left on ME. Larisse had to research bowling, roller rink, and movies. These were pastimes of the first people to inhabit Ceres. The humans. While the activities sounded interesting, they also sounded quite tedious to Larisse. Physical exercise never made much sense to her. Evidently it was important to the first settlers.Below the surface, the aged engineers did not require breathing apparatus. They seemed to enjoy life below ground very much. She was surprised at how very old many of them were. Apparently, living in outer space lengthens the life of humans. Her own race can last forever if not exposed to excessive heat for long periods of time. Heat wasn’t a concern on Ceres.Larisse has heard the old humans say it was almost like being back on earth. She felt sorry for them as they were unaware that earth no longer had fresh air or lakes or green grass. Most of them had been at this station from the very beginning. Only one of the original crew had expired.Larisse never quite understood ‘expired’. When one old engineer tried to explain death to her, it made no sense. She didn’t understand the inability to just buy a new part when an old one wore out. Of course, she had never seen a part called a heart in the local parts store. She wasn’t sure if she, herself, had a heart. Larisse had finished the recommended schooling but anatomy was not a required subject. In fact, was there such a class offered? She could not recall.On one of her off-days, Larisse found a small room she had not known of before. There were several trees in a small group at the convergence of the walk past the roller rink and the walk to the main shopping area. Behind the trees – well, not actually behind them, but sort of hidden by them, was a door. It was tucked into a corner. Larisse had full access to the city as she was an employee and had keys to everything. But this door wasn’t locked. It intrigued her and she wondered how she had never seen it before today. What could lie beyond? She decided the best way to find out is to open it.

Larisse looked around to see if anyone else was nearby. While she had authority to go everywhere and anywhere, she was still hesitant to open the door. No one was in sight when she pulled on the long, upright handle. The door must not have been opened in some time as it creaked and dust blew up as it silently swung open. Dust is very unusual in the City.

What had she found? The room in front of her was dimly lit. There was a lot of furniture placed about in the center of the room. Tables and chairs sat neatly in two rows. There was also some soft type furniture. She saw a photo once of this type of seating – was it called a couch? a sofa? something like that. As she stepped further into the room there was a sign on a short pole. “This is your library. Please be considerate and maintain quiet. Library hours are daily 9am- 9pm.”

What is a library? Larisse has never heard the word before. If she had, she doesn’t recall it- or its meaning. This must be one of the first rooms built as no one is concerned with time anymore. She recalled seeing that type designation at the docking port several decades ago. It was so long she has already forgotten what the letters mean.

A quick glance around told Larisse that a library is a room filled with books. She had heard of books, even saw several when there were many humans here, back when she was new. But that was some time ago. She had not imagined there could be so many books, especially in one place. Larisse went from shelf to shelf reading the words printed on the books. How dull. Nothing really appealed to her curiosity. There were several labeled “Shakespeare”. Was that the name of the book? Taking one of those off the shelf, she leafed through the pages. A faint odor wafted out – she didn’t recognize it. Ah! Shakespeare wrote the book. One of the first pages said so. It didn’t look the least bit interesting. Larisse is fluent in English but these words made little sense. She put Shakespeare back on the shelf where she had gotten him.

A sign on the end of one shelf said “contemporary fiction”. Riffling through several books on that shelf proved very boring. She circled round the room. There must be more than a thousand books here. And none of them appealed to her.

Then she came to the shelf labeled ‘Games and Toys’. Games? Well, that might be interesting. The first book had pictures. Almost all of the pictures illustrated people who resemble the old engineers. Standard humanoid form. No one looks quite like that anymore. Well, except for the oldest colonists.

Back to reading words visible on the books, she came to a book titled “Toys of the 21st Century.” What kind of toys were popular on ME so many years ago?

She pulled the book from the shelf. The first several chapters featured several games – electronics mostly. They sounded like Fun, sort of. There weren’t games called WII, Nintendo or Atari on Ceres. Of course, this type electronic was so outdated. She laughed. This is what the old engineers played with? How droll. These were fun? Incredible! Larisse always felt that the engineers were a bit slow. Reading the description of some of the games caused her to laugh out loud. Ridiculous. She could not believe anyone could have been entertained for long with any of these old things. Perhaps humans weren’t as clever as they have always tried to make us believe. Clarisse thought on that a few moments. Perhaps they aren’t.

The next section in the book was about other toys. Bicycles, sleds, skates, miniature vehicles, skis, things Larisse had never heard of before. She read the descriptions carefully. Some of the illustrations were quite intriguing but the toys themselves – not so much.

The next chapter began with things called Lincoln Logs and Erector sets. They were more interesting than anything she had seen so far in the book. There were several pages touting the various accessories for the Erector set. And pictures showing things that had been made with the toy. What is a ferris wheel? The description says it will rotate with an accessory motor. But Larisse didn’t understand its purpose. It is truly a strange looking device.

As she turned the next page, she gasped. This looked like a family album. Why were her ancestors in a book of 21st century toys? She leafed through several pages, more in shock than in awe. She had heard of this in family folklore but why are they listed as toys?

Larisse vaguely recalled stories of relatives who added wheels, treads, rotors, and other outrageous accessories to themselves. More than a century ago. According to legend handed down, her own family at the time chose to shun these new and unusual characteristics. They were barbaric. If the gods had wanted us to have wheels, we would have come equipped with them. Of course, in time, many of the accessories became usual, normal; to own and to wear. But at the beginning, according to family tales, they were not openly welcomed. That was such old folklore. Larisse had never truly believed any of it. Things do evolve over time. Apparently, the 21st century was when all the various mutations of her race began. Looking at the illustrations that accompanied the descriptions, Larisse could see several similarities to herself and her friends. Well, some. There is a strong family resemblance though many of these were obviously foreigners; their colors were so garish.

The heading on the next page “LEGO Kits”. The following page was headed “LEGO 3-in-1 Collection”. Turning the page she was faced with “LEGO Accessories”. There was a footnote on this page. Every element in Larisse’s body shuddered as she read it. “By 2000 LEGO kits were offered with accessories designed to make the LEGO brick the most popular toy of two centuries.”

Oh my god of the universe, LEGOs are not toys. They are the future of the earth. Every month she greets new LEGOs to the Ceres Colony. They will be the saviors of Mother Earth. The things LEGOs do here will someday repopulate the earth. Someday they will create new plant life on earth; perhaps even rejuvenate the oxygen system on earth so that humans can remain there, out in the open as they once lived.

Larisse hugged the book close to her. She was sad. Is it true that she and nearly everyone here are descendants of a 21st century toy?

No, it can’t be true. She replaced the book on the shelf. For several minutes she was deep in thought. Should she reveal any of this to her co-workers, her friends. She paced through the small library. No. No. She cannot tell anyone about this book. She looked around and found a small desk. The sign said “Head Librarian”. Someone worked here at one time. But it was before Larisse came here -so a very long time before. They may have left instruments to use to make a sign. She went through the drawers looking for something useful. Perhaps she should place a No Trespass sign on this door. Or just perhaps a Do Not Enter sign would do.

The implements she found in the drawers of the desk were unknown to Larisse. Bic pens and Ticonderoga pencils and Sharpies. These were all cradled in a small tray in the top desk drawer. What were they? What purpose did they have in a library? She decided she had nothing to create a sign.

She reasoned that as she has just found this door, perhaps no one else will find it any time soon. There was nothing outside to put in front of the door to block entry. Its very out-of-the-way location has kept it secret this long; perhaps it will not be found again soon. Not many workers use this corridor. She closed the door firmly. Later she will return with a sign warning others to not enter. The newcomers were barely ready to work. Something this demoralizing could destroy them completely. No one should discover their ancestors were once considered mere playthings. She was proud to be a LEGO. This discovery must be kept secret.

END

Is the USA’s decline as a global superpower and the rise of Russia & China a good thing for the world?

Why not?

The vast majority of refugees, war casualty, infrastructure destruction, and regime change this century have been caused by US-led NATO.

Every conflict this century has seen the appearance of NATO armaments—the enablers of death and destruction. Countries devastated by NATO machinations remain a pale shadow of their former selves. Just look at the Arab Spring, which has morphed into the perpetual Arab Winter. Whereas Chechnya and Georgia today are even more prosperous and built-up than their Soviet days.

At the minimum, US decline militarily will bring peace to many hotzones today.

And with peace, a better tomorrow can be realized.

Ambassadors EVACUATING Lebanon; Outbreak of War Deemed “Imminent”

Hal Turner World June 21, 2024

The Ambassadors of Italy, France, England, Sweden, and Germany, have been instructed by their governments to “evacuate Lebanon immediately” because Intelligence information says “war is imminent.” Diplomatic staff are visibly panicking as they flee.

The Saudi Arabian Embassy in London warns of the risk of world war after the announcement of an imminent Israeli invasion of South Lebanon : ” It is important that everyone understands the danger that awaits us. The conflict will not remain regional, but will very quickly become international. ”

Egypt has sent multiple messages to Washington saying: Do not underestimate Nasrallah’s statements or the capabilities of Hezbollah.”

Iran and the Taliban in Afghanistan are now discussing “joint action” against Israel!

DANGEROUSLY AMBIGUOUS: France announces it is willing to send its armed forces to stand with the Lebanese Army on the Border of Israel. (None of us can figure this one out. Will that be to defend Lebanon? Attack Hezbollah? Attack Israel? . . . . . or to surrender to all of them?)

The Canadian military is drawing up plans to evacuate 45,000 people from Lebanon should a full-scale war break out between Israel and Hezbollah.

Sources in US CENTCOM tell me “The US is concerned Israel’s Iron Dome could be overwhelmed in war with Hezbollah.” This right after giving all patriot missiles for defense to Ukraine!

The original deadline given to Hezbollah by Israel was to move its forces north of the Litani River BY JUNE 24. Hezbollah has already flatly refused. It is now not clear if Israel will step-up its timetable, or if Hezbollah will be the ones to initiate combat. This could begin literally at any moment.

UPDATE 4:54 PM EDT —

Kuwait urges its citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon.

Shorpy

What’s the best revenge you’ve gotten after being fired or let go from a job?

Wasn’t exactly “revenge” since I did not have to do anything, I guess it is more like Karma.

Worked at a radio station for 5 years, filled in at one point as a temp. Operations Manager for a few months until the guy they wanted could run out his contract. At one point, I unknowingly amassed the paperwork trail needed to get a Production Manager fired for moonlighting on company time. At management’s request.

One day we got a new hire that never worked in the business before. They asked I train her. Ok, no problem right? (Well, I know better now). She burns through all her vacation and PTO within 3 months of hire. On the 4th month, it’s announced she will be the new Operations Manager. I expressed my displeasure at the position never have been posted as being open and never interviewed it despite having done the job previously while the new guy they just hired quit within the year. I was told I should quit. No way. I would be leaving on my own accord when I was ready. I was told to think about it overnight and hand in my resignation the next day. Told them it wasn’t going to happen. Next day I’m asked for my resignation letter. Told them I wasn’t doing it. They said they would fire me and contest any claim for unemployment. I told them they could do what they wanted, there was no record of poor work performance, no bad reviews, and my paper trail as acting OM and I had copies of the work I did that led to the PM getting fired would speak for itself. They fired me on the spot.

Went back into the control booth with the new girl to gather my belongings. The program tape (way before the digital age ) currently on-air runs out. Dead Air. A HUGE no-no if you don’t know the business. She looks at me and asks what to do next, what program is next, where is it, etc. I just look at her and say, “It’s not my problem anymore since I don’t work here. It’s your problem now.” Phones start ringing off the hook. Front office staff come back, “Why are we off the air?” “Is there a problem with the equipment?” I point to her. “Ask her, she’s in charge now, I no longer work here.” Sales staff start freaking out. Now commercials aren’t running either. I take my leave.

I found out later from an ex co-worker she screwed everything up for the next hour and a half. Guess she wasn’t paying attention to the day to day stuff I had been showing her and was busy with the outgoing OM trying to learn his job too since that was the plan all along. She also messed up all the procedures I had in place to keep the stations on-air to implement her way of getting things done and caused other problems with distributors and shows not getting aired at all. Violation of contracts that cost the station even more money. She also hired a friend to replace me, who ended up stealing very expensive microphones from the studios as well as other things that went missing.

I don’t believe she lasted 6 months after I was fired.

Western Empire Facing Same Collapse as Rome in its Final Days: Martin Armstrong

Martin Armstrong sees striking similarities between the multitude of crises that plague the modern world and the conditions just before the fall of the Roman empire. Martin argues that endless debt issuance, wars for profit, unchecked migration, and rampant political corruption are setting the stage for a future where many Western countries cease to exist as we know them.

What is the most heartbreaking thing your child has told you?

A few days ago my ex son-in-law asked me if I wanted to get my four year old granddaughter off the bus and watch her for a few hours. She and I went to visit my mother, and then I took her to see her mother for some rare Mommy daughter time. All went well, both my daughter and granddaughter enjoyed their time together.

On the way back, I told my Granddaughter that she was awesome during the short ride and visit. Little Jabberjaws soon became quiet… (When a normally talkative 4 year old becomes quiet, it can be a good bet that something is up.) When she didn’t answer me, I pulled off the road to see what was going on. Quiet tears were rolling down her face. I asked her what was wrong, In a heart rendering voice she asked, “Papa, why don’t Mom and Dad think I’m awesome?” She noticed a tear in my eye (that I attributed to a bug). I composed myself, and told her that they thought she was awesome as well.

I had to stop at my home before taking her back to her place. During this time she was constantly wanting to hug me and was telling me how happy she is when she’s with ‘Papa’.

As we walked the few blocks to her home, she insisted on holding my hand the entire way. Just before we went into her place, she gave me a hug and told me she wished that Mom would come back home.

Heart-strings are so fragile…

Randy

Prof. Mearsheimer WARNS: Russia May be FORCED to Launch a Nuclear Attack Preemptively

In this video Prof. John Mearsheimer, the prominent international relations scholar, discusses the Ukraine peace negotiations and war dynamics. Topics include: the legitimacy of the peace summit in Switzerland, the exclusion of Russia from negotiations, the shifting balance of power in the conflict, and the risks of nuclear escalation. Mearsheimer suggests Ukraine's neutrality as a solution.

After an inmate has been in jail/prison for a long time, what is the most shocking thing for them after coming out for several years?

I only did 4 years (‘06-‘10) but here’s what I found most jarring:

After the four years (Federal, low-ish security), I had a mandatory 6 months to finish in a halfway house. Upon arrival at the halfway house (middle of the day, while other half-way-ers were either out job-seeking or working), I was immediately struck by the SILENCE of the place. 4 years of pre-sentencing in country jails and a not-too-terrible Federal Correctional Institution, I was used to constant noise. Screaming, banging on doors, dominoes slamming on metal tables, all amplified by concrete walls and echoes. The silence was jarring, made me wanna crawl out of my skin. I never considered myself institutionalized, but the change of scenery was the most significant shock to my system. Utterly unnerving and distressing. Can’t explain it any better than that.

Vintage illustration

Why does it seem that so many people are scared of China’s economic growth surpassing the US?

There are several reasons:

They’re projecting. This is a psychological term referring to how people project their own behavioural tendencies on others. They think that because they’re inclined to suppress and exploit other countries, China will, too.
They’re paranoid. This is the natural consequence of projection.
They’re xenophobic or Sinophobic. They don’t understand the Chinese and their culture and society. The Chinese are peaceful; they’re only interested in trading with other countries.
They’re pro-American. They want the USA to remain the dominant world power. They believe the USA is good for the world (never mind about the endless wars and endless sanctions).

New Videos of Billionaire Kids on Jeffrey Epstein Island Go Viral

Espresso Chile Glazed Ham

For this, use a fully cooked smoked ham, preferably wood smoked with no water added. Trim the outside layer of fat and skin all the way to the pink meat, so when you’re ready to carve you don’t cut away all the flavorful glaze.

Sweet chili pineapple glazed ham 2508 April 06 2023

Yield: 16 or more servings

Ingredients

Half a fully cooked smoked ham (about 8 pounds)
1 quart fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup Kahlua or other coffee-flavored liqueur
1 tablespoon Chinese chile paste with garlic, or sambal olek
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 shots (about 1/4 cup total) brewed espresso or 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder, like Medaglio d’Oro

Instructions

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
Cut the thick layer of fat and skin from the ham and discard. Place the ham in a roasting pan. (For easier clean up, line the pan with aluminum foil because the glaze will drip off and burn.) Roast the ham for 1 hour.
While the ham is roasting, make the glaze. Combine the orange juice and zest, brown sugar, Kahlua, chile paste, and pepper in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer the mixture until it is reduced by about half and is as thick as maple syrup, about 35 minutes.
Whisk in the espresso or espresso powder. You should have almost 2 cups of glaze. You are going to use half this glaze to brush the ham while it is roasting, and reserve the other half for brushing on the ham after it is sliced.
After the first hour of cooking, brush the ham with the glaze. Roast for another hour, brushing with the glaze every 15 minutes. Since the ham is already cooked, you just need to warm it all the way through. Check for an internal temperature of 130 degrees F to 140 degrees F using an instant-read meat thermometer. Remove the ham from the oven when it is nicely browned and warmed through.
To serve, slice the ham and brush the slices with the remaining glaze. For a lovely presentation, slice half the ham and arrange the slices against the unsliced part on a big platter. Brush the slices with the remaining glaze.

Newly Arrived To ODESSA 40 FRENCH Soldiers Were Wiped Out By Russian ISKANDER-M Ballistic Missiles

It is reported that particular French officers will operate the Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which were transferred to Ukraine by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The fact that sophisticated Western weapons systems are operated in Ukraine exclusively by high-ranking NATO officers is no secret to anyone. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also confirmed this fact. In particular, speaking in the Bundestag, the German Chancellor let slip that the Storm Shadow cruise missiles, also known as the SCALP-EG, are operated and maintained exclusively by British and French officers in Ukraine......

Horrible

I had a horrible experience trying to buy a new Honda at a local dealership. I told them what I wanted, but they kept trying to up sell me on a different model. Then it was switching sales guys, to the hard core close. etc. etc. I understand sales and all the BS really doesn’t bother me since it’s part of the game. However, after reaching a price and completing the paperwork, I drove out with the car.

I was happy until Jennifer from the office called me three days later at work. They made an error and didn’t collect money on some specific fees listed in the contract. I was pretty sure I paid everything listed. I told Jennifer I needed a couple days to review the contract and look at the check I wrote to determine if I owed money. She became a belligerent bitch, yelling about how I have their money and need to come down right now and pay. I told her I would review the contract and pay them if I owed them money. She called at 9:00 am the next morning being a bitch again demanding money. Later that evening, I reviewed the contract and they didn’t total up the doc fee correctly, and owem them $394.00.

I called Jennifer and told her that I did find the error, would pay the amount, and asked if she could please tell me when she left the office so I could pay her personally. I waited to 4:50 pm on Friday night (Jennifer works an 8-5, M-F) and paid her $394 in nickels. I had broken the seals on the bags from the bank which meant they needed to hand count all the coin.

I had brought a book, took up residence in their customer lounge, and waited for them to complete their count. I enjoyed watching Jennifer and 4 sales persons make little rows of nickels. After over 90 minutes they brought me the $0.45 in additional funds I added to see if they would accurately count it. My back up plan was if they said it was all there, I would inform them that I actually included extra money and couldn’t remember how much, so they would need to recount.

What is the rudest thing that a new neighbor has done to you immediately after you had moved in?

We moved into a house my daughter and son in law bought in their gated community so that we would move close to them. The exterior of the house was a big mess. My husband worked constantly for 2 months to clean it and the extra lot they bought with the house. It’s between us and the guy behind us that lives next to the golf course. He finally finished and one morning my husband went out and was walking around and realized they had blown a massive pile of moldy debris, leaves, pine cones, sweet gum balls and branches into the back corner. How they even had that much in their yard is a mystery. Their yard is very tiny. My daughter came over, went next door and said something to the guy and he said it’s just an empty lot, she said no I own that lot and it’s my parents back yard. My dad just spent 2 months cleaning it up. He said surely you don’t expect me to remove it and she responded surely you don’t consider that an unreasonable request. He told her it would be a few weeks before he could get someone back out there. She said you have a week. To his credit he got someone out right after the weekend. It started to happen one other time but my husband happened to be outside in the yard and went over and told their yard guy it was our yard. He tried that “it’s just an empty lot” thing. Hubby said no it’s not and I keep it cleaned up. We avoid the guy and his wife and thankfully all the rest of our neighbors are like family and we all watch out for each other.

My goodness!

When I moved in with my girlfriend, everything was great. We had each other’s perpetual company, space for ourselves, and best of all: isolation and freedom.

After a few months, we started getting surprise visits from her parents. They would wake us up by pounding on the door, or sometimes even barge in. Sometimes it was just her mother and father, other times they brought their 5 year old daughter. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy spending time with my girlfriend’s sister and even her parents. But these visits were unexpected, untimely, and were happening at an increasing rate. It was obnoxious when we had plans or weren’t feeling like socializing.

That’s when I had an idea: beat them at their own game. Bright and early one morning, I’m talking 4:30am on a weekday, my girlfriend and I picked up our loudest, most obnoxious friend, and ventured over to her parent’s place. I’m sure you can guess what we did, we barged in, shouting “wake up!”, forcing them out of bed. We proceeded to demand they make us breakfast, and spent hours interrupting their morning routines. Pleased with ourselves, we left around 10am and went on with our day.

The visits from them started happening less and less after that day. Today, they notify us if they’re coming over, which is exactly what we wanted the whole time. Why they started doing it in the first place, I’m not sure. In the end, I feel we delivered a powerful statement ironically teaching parents manners.

Scott Ritter REVEALS: Russia uses ICBMS Carry North Korea’s Nuclear Warheads, U.S Shakes 100 Richter

Damn good statements. Must watch.

Game. Set. Match.

Perhaps the United States really is following the Roman model

Today, there are very few people that really BELIEVE that the United States is still the de facto leader of the “free world”. Meaning the Earth, of course. Most people see a Untied States in decline and decay, and only the most isolated and ignorant are aware of just how terribly the United States has fallen.

Some use the Strauss and Howe model, while others use Diegal Report. Many use other systems of prediction, but one thing is certain… the USA is down, and it does not look like it is EVEN TRYING to get back up. Just keep on spouting the same old lies, and playing the same old bullshit games.

Ask your friends what they think. I am curious.

My guess is that those that recognize the collapse are either outside the West, or are inside, but reading non-government approved sources of information.

The end is getting close.

But you do know that when the water swirls down the drain, it will make a very big and loud noise. And that too is to be expected very soon. Oh Lordy!

Today…

MoA Update 12 June 2024

Notice Of Absence – Update

Please check here for previous notes of absence and updates.

In the end it has turned out to be a one-and-done procedure and I am happy to say that it is now done with:

The good news: I am likely to recover in full with better health than I have previously had.
The not-so-good news: It will take much longer to recuperate from this than I had expected.

The procedure I went through was a quite extended variant of what WebMD calls a Aortobifemoral Bypass.

When my chest was opened up the conditions found in place were worse (…”they always are”…) than expected. They required more extensive (in size), but less delicate (in number of new shunt connections), bypass procedures than anticipated.

Everything went more or less smooth and, after some seven hours of diligent work, the professors and MDs were satisfied (…”they always are”…) with the job they had done on me.

The physically drain the (larger than expected) procedure took on me has been much stronger (… “it always is” …) than I had anticipated. The intellectual drain, in consequence of the physical one, was even worse. The current task is to rebuild both strengths.

Local health insurance entitles, and recommends to me, to take an additional three weeks leave of convalescence which is essentially a long stay in a specialized hotel/clinic with individualized physical training in the morning and lots of off-time during the rest of the day to hang out or go for walks. I am getting urged to commit to this even as it can only begin in July which, in my case, will be later than ideal. I currently think of it as a ‘back to work training’ opportunity which will allow me to slowly slip back into blogging while coping with some limited infrastructure and means.

Some readers have emailed and asked if I need additional money. Thank you very much. I won’t reject any donations but I am not in any immediate need of help.

I have always taken care to keep my health insurance pay current and I had, during better days, put aside some ‘rainy days’ funds. The only additional payments I have made so far were fora number of taxi rides, a (partial) single room fee and for full hospital access to the net.

Those were minor expenses. The health insurance will pay for everything else without asking for any claw backs or extras.

I will be back to ask for blog donations if and when I am able to deliver an adequate product.

This whole episode has turned out to be much bigger and to take way longer than I had anticipated. Please excuse my lack of foresight on it.

Posted by b on June 12, 2024 at 4:08 UTC | Permalink

China reaches deal on Central Asian railway project linking it with Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan

The link, first proposed in the 1990s, will serve as a faster and cheaper alternative to current China-Europe land routes, most of which travel through Russia

Liu Zhen
SCMP 11:41pm, 6 Jun 2024

China on Thursday finally signed an agreement for a key railway linking it with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, a project hailed by President Xi Jinping as “a show of determination”.

“The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway is a strategic project for China’s connectivity with Central Asia and a landmark project for [our] three countries to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative,” said Xi in a message issued to mark the occasion.

The deal’s resolution signalled that Beijing’s decade-long ambition to expand its connection with Eurasian countries is finally on track.

Xi said the agreement provided a “solid legal foundation” for the railway’s construction and transformed the project “from a vision to a reality”.

“It demonstrates to the international community the firm determination of the three countries to join hands to promote cooperation and seek common development,” Xi said.

New China-Europe Railway Express line faces challenges amid Russia-Ukraine war

He added that China would work with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to build the strategic passage that would benefit all three sides and regional development “as soon as possible”.

The president of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, and his counterpart in Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, also sent congratulatory messages, Chinese state media Xinhua reported.

Japarov said the 325-mile (523-km) railway would become a new transport link from Asia to Europe and the Persian Gulf and would promote regional connectivity and trade.

Mirziyoyev said it would not just be the shortest land route from China to Central Asia, but also to the South Asia and Middle East, which is “in the long-term interests of relevant states”, according to Xinhua.

The US$8 billion rail link starts in China’s Kashgar, Xinjiang, and goes through southwest Kyrgyzstan and ends in Andijon in eastern Uzbekistan. It could reduce the freight journey between China and Europe by 559 miles, serving as a faster and cheaper alternative to current China-Europe land routes, most of which travel through Russia.

The project was first proposed in the 1990s, and the three sides signed a memorandum of understanding on the railway in 1997. But the project had been stalled by technical, political and geopolitical issues.

Russia, which sees Central Asia as its own backyard of influence, was initially less than enthusiastic about the project but now has expressed support as Moscow becomes increasingly reliant on China for trade under the economic sanctions imposed by the West because of its war against Ukraine.

Capitalism is dead and so are we | Yanis Varoufakis interview

What is the best way to respond when someone tells you “You’re not invited”?

“Please excuse me.” Then you get up and leave, saying nothing further. Leave your unfinished food, leave before the food is served, whichever.

Scenario: Please cancel my order for the chicken Caesar salad at the table with the two ladies by the window. – – “It’s too late to do that.” – – Serve it to them, and they‘ll take care of it. [This says they will not only eat it there or carry it out, but they will pay for it.] – – [next day] “Hey, Emma! You didn’t pay for your food.” – – I cancelled the order on the way out. [Say nothing more.] – – “We had to pay for it.” – – I cancelled the order on the way out. [Say the same thing only; you owe them no explanations.] – – “We had to pay for it. You owe us!” – – I cancelled the order on the way out. Please excuse me. I need to get to work/get to class/pick up Billy from soccer. [Then you leave, even if they’re calling after you.]

Scenario: [The food has been served.] You put $10 cash on the table and leave. Please excuse me. – – “Where are you going?” – – Please excuse me. – – “You’re leaving your food!” – – Please excuse me. – – “$10 is not enough.” – – That’s all the cash I have/My salad was $8. Please excuse me. I need to….”

You never need to submit yourself to unkind words. Absent yourself.

I think you ought to rethink your relationship with these two. Are they really friends? love, Mom

Shorpy

Bite-Size Pizzas

Ingredients

4 English muffins, halved
1 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup ham, extra lean, chopped
1/3 cup onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/8 cup black olives, sliced

Instructions

Split the muffins in half and toast them in the toaster.
Spread the pizza sauce on both halves of the muffins.
Place remaining toppings evenly onto pizzas, saving shredded cheese for last.
Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes or until cheese has melted.
Remove from oven, and cut each muffin half into four pieces.
Serve as appetizers or snacks.

Guangzhou, China is MILES AHEAD of the WORLD!

Have you ever walked into your child’s classroom and pulled them out of school on the spot?

Yes, yes, I did. My first-grade son came home one day and said he had won an award in his music class. Being a musician, I thought, “Great!” When I asked him what it was, he said, “It was for being the most still in my seat!” Wha…?!

That night, when I walked by his room, I heard him whimpering to himself. I asked what was wrong, and he said, “My music teacher had us close our eyes and imagine that we were home alone and all the lights were out and someone had broken into the house!”

I exploded. After I calmed him down and assured that would NEVER happen, I went to the school the next day and asked if I could sit in the music class. “Yes, of course,” the music teacher said.

I observed all the children in the room as the class began. At first they were attentive but, because the lesson was so boring (how can music be boring!), they became agitated and squirmed in their seats.

Then the teacher told the kids to close their eyes. At this point, I told my son, “Okay, let’s go,” and we left the room.

After school was out, (I was there because I was also a full-time volunteer in the school) I went to this teacher and asked her, “I want to know what you told the kids yesterday. My son said …”, and I told her about the night before. “That’s what he heard. Is that what you said?”

“Well, yes,” she said sheepishly.

I exploded again. “Really?! That was an exercise we did in graduate school, and it was stressful then. What in the world are you thinking, doing it with 6- and 7-year-olds? He will NOT be in your class anymore!”

I went to the principal and told him what happened. At first, he balked at the idea of pulling him from the class. “I’ll teach him myself [I was qualified] so you don’t have to worry.” He still balked. Then I said, “Fine! I’ll pull him out and homeschool him.”

He didn’t like that because my son’s scores were so high, they pulled the whole school’s up. “Okay, okay, we’ll make it work.”

“And that teacher has to go. She can’t read music nor can she play the piano. She’s an art teacher, for pete’s sake!” The following year she was gone — to the “good” school in the district. Laugh was on them. She was replaced by the best, most engaging music teacher the kids could ever have wanted.

Little victories. 🙂

Scott Ritter DRAGGED Off Plane And Passport SEIZED!

The Order of the Rose

Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Dream up a secret library. Write a story about an adventurer who discovers it. What’s in the library? Why was it kept secret?…

Gladiez Tapia

Avery was not sure she had ever seen such a building in her life. The style of architecture she was only familiar with in pictures; a large old looking gothic building with dozens of windows. Some of them, broken and shattered. From the outside it appeared the corner of the windows were scorched as if a fire had blown out the windows. She looked to Vesna on her left and Fitz to her right.

“This church wasn’t here yesterday, was it?” Fitz asked. The town of Ginsval didn’t have much, especially not a giant cathedral.

“Buildings tend to not be in the middle of grassy fields,” Vesna responded.

It belonged in a large city; the capital. Surrounded by equally sized buildings. Not the field of a small village in the southernmost part of the country. She looked at her surroundings with the minimal light that the moon provided, the cool summer breeze passing between them.

“Well, who wanna go in first?” She looked between them and took a step backwards. Fitz looked at her, running a hand through his tuft of white hair, looked back at Vesna who reciprocated the same look and nodded towards her.

Great.

“You’re the one that insisted we come here in the first place.” Fitz snaked his arm behind her and pulled her forward. “Lead the way, oh brave one,” he said.

“You’re the one that can start a fire with the snap of his finger,” she remarked. He shrugged.

“Fine,” she muttered. “Everybody got they device?” The three of them held out their Radiphones. They could snap communication throughout the entire country of Rhea. Together they ascended the large steps to the enormous red door with her leading at the front.

She looked up at the top of the door frame, the outline of a carved rose with its thorny stem with an open book behind it. Taking a deep breath regretting having ever suggested venturing to the area she leaned onto the door.

The door unfolded with a loud creak, as if it hadn’t been opened in years. The building wasn’t just desolate, but looked to be entirely abandoned, cobs of webs gathered in the corners, like nobody had walked the hallowed halls in years. Fitz grabbed her by her wrist and in turn she latched onto Vesna. She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears and wondered if they could feel it as well. The overthinking of her childhood imagination that told her that there was a monster in the corner.

Even at 17, she couldn’t psyche herself out of not believing there was anything in the dark ready to jump out.

“You had to be curious!” Fitz whispered, with the combination of fear and irritation in equal measure his tone. They took every step lightly.

“We sure this a church?” Vesna asked. “Don’t really feel anythin’ holy.”

She wasn’t sure this was a church. “There’d be more crosses wouldn’t there?

“Good point.”

She looked at her surroundings with the minimal light that the moon provided, scorch marks covered the walls, broken chairs and desks littered the halls. Vesnas breath hitched. “What was that?”

“That ain’t funny Ves,” she said.

“It ain’t a joke, shut up and listen,” she whispered. When they stopped, the sound of loud banging could be heard. The sound of something repeatedly being dropped on the floor.

She peaked her head around the corner, the moonlight shone through the shattered windows providing her light. Walking on her toes, she could feel the irony of strolling through what looked like a school hallway when she herself had just graduated this time last year.

“Why are we gettin’ closer to it?” Fitz tugged on her arm. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him in response.

“Why are you here?”

Neither of them bothered waiting to confirm whose voice it was, her breath hitched before breaking out into a sprint with the others following not far behind. With no idea where she was running to. She didn’t even know where she was running through. The only thing she could think of as she ran was that if they survived this she swore she was going to give them both a piece of her mind.

She slowed her pace, more aware that she could only hear the sound of her own footsteps as she ran through the halls. Dread filled her. What?

Her radiphone buzzed, scrambling it from her pocket she brought the device to her ear. Fitz’s voice rang through, “Where are you?” His drawl was more pronounced than it had been all night.

“You were right behind me!” she frantically whispered.

“I didn’t see any of you,” Vesna claimed.

“Are we in a maze?” Fitz questioned. “We gon die in a maze.”

She looked around and stopped at the sign above the frame of the door. “A library!”

“What?”

“Actually it doesn’t matter!” she whispered aggressively. She heard him suck his teeth on the other end.

“Bullshit,” he said. “You-”

“Enough you two!”

“I didn’t do anything! Are you gonna argue with me or are you gonna meet up with me?” All she did was step outside the house for fresh air, how was she supposed to know that a giant building would appear and they would get lost in it.

He sighed in defeat. “Where’re you?”

She shut her eyes and breathed for a moment. Luckily Vesnaa answered for her, “How we supposed to know?”

“Well that attitude ain’t helpin’ us. But what do you mean ‘library’?” His breathless voice was static over the small phone. “This ain’t a library.”

“The hell there ain’t!” She whispered. “If I know one thing, I know what a library look like. It’s just a giant building with millions of rows of books.” She stared at the sign ‘Rose Order Library’, before her an expansive hall; a sea of rows of books filled to the brim.

The Rose Order. Rose Order….the name had felt familiar to her. From a history class.

“But that’s imposs–” By the tone of his voice she could tell his eyes landed on something similar.

“Seeing is believin’ beloved.” She hid in the nearest room–a closet within the room. She grabbed a pair of scissors, holding her mouth with her hands, near suffocating herself. The adrenaline that pumped through her veins was beginning to wear off.

The door to the room opened. One. Two. Three. Four steps, she could see the shadow of the figure of a stop.

The door flew open and on instinct she held the scissor in a reverse grip and–was stopped. The girl’s hand caught her wrist. “Calm– woah! Calm down,” she said. Her eyes widened, the girl had brown skin and matching eyes, with loose shoulder length black curls. She stood a head taller than Avery herself, wearing a torn gray shirt, black pants with a brown jacket and black boots strapped with a silver chain to match the six piercings on her left ear. She smiled lazily, “I’m Thea. Athea. But mostly Thea.”

She placed her hands in her pockets and looked around at the room and let out a whistle. The girl had an air of confidence about her, the kind of confidence that only came about when someone knew not many people could or would confront them.

“Well.” She looked up at the ceiling. A painted pattern of vines and flowers weaved together and met at a garden. “What’s it like discovering an ancient library that went missing centuries ago?”

“‘Scuse me’?”

“It seems like you, Avery, just rediscovered the ancient Library of the Rose Order.” She sounded like she didn’t really care about the building all that much. Picking out a book from the shelf, the girl coughed as the dust suffocated her.

Avery blinked. “Rediscovered?” She could hear her own drawl go up as the echo reverberated through the room.

“You got that right,” she smiled. “It’s been missing for centuries, for you guys” she repeated as she stepped out into the halls. “Fitz should be here soon, he’s busy trying to uh, find his way out of this ‘maze’. And Vesna should be here soon too.”

She stared at the curly haired girl in disbelief. “Cen-” She heaved. “Centuries?”

“It was here one day–centuries ago now, like six or eight. Then one day.” Thea waved her hands over her head. “Gone overnight.”

“Do they have drugs here?” Avery asked. “Are you on drugs?”

“We used to contrary to popular belief and I wish.” Avery heard a crackling and a hum, sparks of blue electricity ran up Thea’s body, the pieces of metal; the chain on her boots, bracelet, and piercings sparked. She placed her hand on a pole that stuck out from the wall.

The lights flickered for a couple moments, as if slowly relearning to turn on.

Wherever the fire had been had not spread entirely to this part of the building. A couple of corners of the vast room were darker than others as well as an entire wall was blacked out. Piles of ash sitting in place as if it hadn’t been touched. Some lights were not turned on solely by the fact that they were broken.

She remembered Fitz igniting a match with his fingers before tossing it into a campfire. Espers. Just different elements, same concept.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Thea–

“What are you?”

“I’m the Keeper of the Library. Something like…a guardian.” Her face, heavy from dejection.

“You’ve been here for centuries.”

“For you. I’m not immortal.” She began walking through the rows of shelves. “I only woke up when the building arrived here.”

She strolled over to a shelf and leaned down, picking up a book from its space. “‘The History of Esperers of Rhea’.” Thea turned to the first page. “‘Let it be known that Rhea as a country has an incredibly complex relationship with their Esper population, compared to the surrounding territories blah blah blah’.” She shut the book and shoved it back into its spot.

She didn’t sound very thrilled about her job.

“‘Esper Theory’, ‘The Temples of The Delca Empire’, ‘Ancient Rhea Mythology’.” She picked up the book from its sport. “This thing might be just as ancient as the ancient mythology in the book at this point.” She flipped through the volume. “Just like they said,” she muttered and slammed the book shut.

“This …library was lost to history?”

“The hell is going on?” a male voice. Avery snapped her attention to Fitz with fair skin, white hair and red irises. Vesna followed behind him her facial expression mirroring his.

“How’d y’all find-”

“I showed them. Think of it like giving them a mental map,” Thea said. “I’m completely.” She paused. “In control of this place. Just like they said.”

“Who’s ‘they’?” Vesna asked.

Fitz’s head tilted upwards, staring at the intricate art on the ceiling. Unlike the room she had just been in, with the light she could see at the center of the ceiling was a massive book with a rose at its center surrounded by celestial bodies, painted with the delicate strokes of a thousand brushes.

The scorch marks of fire in the bottom left corner of the ceiling, where a wall caught fire and raced upwards to burn away such a beauty. In original condition it might’ve been compared to the art in the Vatican.

Vesna looked at him and gave him a worried look. “Is this real?” She gestured to the room around her. “This is…” She didn’t finish her sentence as she opened a random book.

Avery followed Vesna down the row of books, the shelf between them nearly reaching the ceiling. Ladders on each side for anybody who wanted to climb to a higher book.

“What’s…the Order of the Rose?” She asked. Thea looked at them silently and continued to browse through a section of history books. Avery looked at the sign above another section: Fiction.

So many authors, concepts, ideas and characters, forgotten by the sands of centuries gone by. Stories that were shelved and forgotten to collect dust. Mere relics of a bygone era. Centuries of ideas thought to be lost to ashes…before her eyes to be unearthed.

“They’re like magical Historians,” she said. She picked up a tome from the shelf and wiped it clean. “Their job is to honor–was…to honor History–”

“‘Preserve, protect and entrust’,” Fitz finished. Vesna gave him a strange look. “My grandfather once told me that. Talked on and on about the Rose Order and about my fire.”

Thea looked at him, impressed. And then turned her attention to the center of the ceiling with a melancholy smile, like she was recalling a memory. “Many of them are–were Espers, much like your friend Fitz and I, except a lot more loyal to knowledge. They..used their collective power the day the building was burning to create a fail-safe. That I would be protected and with it the Library itself in another time.”

“You not loyal?” Vesna asked, closing a book. Fitz passed her another one.

“I’m learning to be.” Thea shrugged. “But I’m just an apprentice.”

Avery noticed how she didn’t change the tense. “‘Knowledge is power’,” she quoted. She herself couldn’t name who said such a well known saying but she knew the powerful implications behind it.

“Power over the elements and some other things, yeah. Later, King Ezekiel, the arrogant prick–”

“Every little Esper’s favorite historical figure to learn about.” Avery recalled listening to Fitz’s grandfather ramble about history. And King Ezekiel was often brought up.

“A historical figure already? Historical tyrant is more accurate.”

Fitz snorted. “Yeah, right. Gramps said he was worried about loyalties. The Order was loyal to knowledge, academics, ‘stead of the monarchy. Afraid they wouldn’t be loyal to him when he ascended the throne. Wanted to burn the buildin’ to ashes.”

“But why?”

He shrugged. “There’re theories, but nobody really knows. For certain anyway.”

Thea slammed a book shut, the sound echoing through the chambers and picked up another, not bothering to put it back in its slot.

“He started a war not long afterwards, against our kind,” she said. “That’s why he was afraid The Order wouldn’t be in his pocket. Not that it mattered in the long run, he’s still remembered as one of the worst rulers that ever sat on the throne.”

“Mass knowledge is too much power,” Fitz said, as if reciting the words of another.

“He sent somebody to come all the way down over here…to burn down a building?” The town of Ginsval was in the southernmost region of Rhea towards the east and that seat of the monarch, Larinati was in the central part of the nation.

Fitz’s fingers drummed on the dust covered wood of the shelf. “Allegedly if the Rose Order knew the King’s plans they would have revolted. Or a large portion of them would have. Enough to make the difference.”

“Oh. Makes sense,” Vesna squatted on the ground.

“Right, such ‘A long and complicated history with Espers’ or whatever,” Thea commented. “Not much complication.”

“So what does this mean?” Avery asked. “I found a lost library but for some reason it’s in the wrong location.” She looked at the three people in her company; two Espers with different degrees of knowledge and Vesna, a simple girl but still a friend who was just as lost as she was. “What now?”

What would it mean for their modern day?

“Who knows?”

“Ain’t got a clue.”

“How should I know?”

She groaned. Great.

Fitz paused and thought. “Somebody could…restart the Order.” Vesna smacked him lightly on the back of the head. “That was unnecessary,”

“Quit talkin’ like that.” She nodded at Thea who still had an air of sadness to her. “Some people are still processin’’.”

“This is good though ain’t it? Why not…”

Bring the Order back. She couldn’t say the words.

Thea’s jaw clenched. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s no point in the Rose Order anymore. Whatever King now is going to want to burn it down himself. Or use anything in here and then burn it down. Mark. My. Words.”

“Queen,” Vesna corrected.

“Oh, they allow those now?”

“Wait, wait, why would she do that? It’s a miracle this place even survived mostly intact?” She asked.

Why would anybody do that? She thought of the greater community of Professors, Teachers, Historians, Archaeologists; any preserver of knowledge and ancient text. What would they do with themselves if given the opportunity to walk the halls of The Rose Orders Library.

And then she thought of people and remembered that they were multifaceted.

The things that had been left behind, the relics of history were not evil; they were objects, ideas on a page. It was the people who were evil, carrying banners of representation with no goodness in their intention.

“That Queen, how long has she sat?”

“Less than three years,” Fitz mumbled.

“The Noble Houses don’t really like her,” Vesna said.

Their desire to have knowledge only to harm others. Justification for subjugation, found through leaders who often distort truths and facts, manipulating them into their own twisted lines of logic for their selfish desires: money, power, conquest.

Thea crossed her arms over her chest, leaned against the shelf and gave them a smile dripped in sarcasm. “What do you think it means?”

Vesna inhaled. Fitz brought his hands to his face and rubbed his forehead bringing his hands downward and shook his head at his dreaded epiphany. “Accomplishing what your ancestors could not.”

“She would want to burn this place to ashes.” Ice filled her veins.

Are you afraid to get married and why?

Hell yeah !!!

Let me introduce you to Jenny.

She and few of her friends got transferred from Chennai office to our office in Mumbai.

She and one of her male friend (lets name him Rohan) were very good friends.

Few months later, they started dating.

Now, it was supposed to be a secretive relationship but in corporate world, nothing is a secret.

We used to go out for night outs in a group but these two were couples even in a group.

They were so much in love.

Months later, we got news that Jenny’s marriage has been arranged.

She will be going back to Chennai for her marriage, and working from there after marriage.

We could see a change in Rohan, he seemed disinterested in work which was quite obvious.

She left Mumbai, got married in Chennai in a grand wedding.

Rohan used to get calls everyday.

I remember picking up a call one day after Jenny’s wedding day.

She : May I speak to Rohan ?

Me : He is away, I will inform him once he is back. Btw, you sound like Jenny.

She : Okay, I will call later.

And bangs the receiver.

She used to call him everyday.

Now I am getting news that she is filing for divorce and asking for alimony.

In all this drama, tell me what is that guy’s fault who got married to Jenny ?

He will be paying for alimony.

He will be getting divorced.

He will be hit mentally.

This scares me.

For no fault of mine, I will have to pay a huge compensation, not just financially but also mentally.

Btw, this is not the first scene I have heard about, this is more of a trend these days.

Why China Will Win The Space Race!

A great overview of the Chinese space program. And it is compared to the USA NASA “plan”.

Who is China’s real hero, and why?

Caption: A Building for female immigrant workers in Shenzhen in 1985. By Zhu Xianmin

In my heart, the China’s real hero is not an individual, but a group—the Chinese people.

Before the First Opium War in 1840, the Chinese people, through their diligence and wisdom, had created one of the most powerful nations in the world. After 1840, China was bullied by Western powers and became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. But the Chinese people did not yield. They explored various paths to save the country. In 1911, the Republic of China was established, the first democratic republic in Asia. In 1931, Japan invaded China, and the Chinese people embarked on a 14-year War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. The Chinese people displayed immense courage, tenacity, and the spirit of sacrifice. Incomplete statistics show that during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the number of Chinese military and civilian casualties reached 35 million! Chinese people fought to defend the country and maintain the freedom and dignity of the nation, making significant contributions to the global struggle for justice.

In 1949, the People’s Republic of China was established. The Chinese people almost built their country from scratch, and by 1956, they had established a complete industrial system. The 10-year Cultural Revolution brought new devastation to China, but the Chinese people once again rose from the pain and have since the reform and opening up in 1978, continuously created economic development miracles. Behind the rapid economic growth are the relentless work of assembly line workers, the longing for reunions of left-behind children, and the blood and tears of construction workers, sleepless delivery guys… All the miracles are the result of the labor, dedication, and resilience of the Chinese people.

“The people are the creators of history, the true heroes.” as President Xi Jinping said in his speech on the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China. I cannot agree more.

Vintage World War II photos

Men are treated as disposable BUT they are the ones who built and are holding society together!

Great rant.

Congress moves to automate the draft for men. Govt never acknowledges the hard work and sacrifice men have endured to build and maintain a safe & efficient society. Well men are walking away from more than women so I’m not sure how this is all going to go for the rich men north of Richmond who will gladly use men as pawns in their real life game of Risk.

The Last Spark

Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Dream up a secret library. Write a story about an adventurer who discovers it. What’s in the library? Why was it kept secret?… view prompt

Ettore Cerchi

Hours had already passed as we walked aimlessly. I felt the wind beginning to whistle, bringing with it the deadly cold of the desert night. We set up our tent and lit our campfire.”Honestly, Tom. You know this is a fairy tale. Sure, we have some evidence, but that´s nothing like the Indiana Jones movies you loved so much when we were teenagers.”Leo’s pessimism had become routine over the past month. After being fired from his job as a chemistry teacher, it seemed another person had taken over his body.”Man, I get it. But we agreed to do this together and we’ve chased every possible and impossible clue around the globe. We know enough. The Great Library of Alexandria was never burned, it was hidden!””Only you believe that, Tom… I don’t know what made me agree to this. Tomorrow is our final deadline. According to the map, it should be here, and we found nothing today.””Leo, you and I are teachers. It´s true I’m a history teacher, which would be much cooler for me to see what´s inside the library, but imagine how many other things we may find. We always dreamed of this.”I had little bargaining power left. In fact, we had been here for nine days and hadn’t found a single old scroll.”Tomorrow, the last day.””Okay. Let’s search behind that dune at sunrise and then near that yellow rock we haven’t checked yet,” I said, pointing to the locations.We got up early. We quickly packed our backpacks and left our tent there to save time; we could collect everything on our way back. We had little time before the sun became scorching.

“Yes, as we imagined… Nothing behind this stupid pile of sand.”

“Yeah, let’s head to the rock.”

By the time we arrived, it was almost 11 AM, and we managed to shelter from the sun behind the shadow cast by the rock.

“Look at this, Leo! It looks like a crank!”

“Hm… That’s not a crank.” Moving closer to examine it, he continued:

“It’s a miniature sundial. Notice the markings around it, they’re symmetrical…”

“Wow, what are the chances this is related to the Library?”

“There are lots of these sundials out there, stop trying to find connections in everything. And please don’t touch it. You could break it. Later, the local authorities will see and say you vandalized some random historical site. I don’t want trouble, Tom, let’s just go home.”

“Okay. Let’s wait for the sun to go down a bit, and we’ll head back to the tent. I can’t believe we found nothing.”

As soon as I said that, I felt a sudden tremor. The ground beneath the rock began to open, revealing the entrance to a monumental staircase. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Everything seemed meticulously well-preserved, almost as if a supernatural force was keeping everything in perfect condition.

“I can’t believe it.” Leo said.

“Neither can I, but look at the sundial! It’s noon now, maybe this door only opens when the sun is directly above us! Let’s go, quickly!”

We rushed in, and I hadn’t seen a trace of a smile on his face in a long time. It seemed a spark had ignited. For a brief moment, he looked like my childhood brother.

The passage led us to an underground chamber of unimaginable proportions. I could hear echoes of sounds I couldn’t even understand where they were coming from. Illuminated by the same magical glow as the stairs, I slipped on one of the stone pieces forming the floor, so polished and well-maintained they were. Shelves upon shelves of ancient scrolls, books, and artifacts filled the space, relics from another time.

In the center of the chamber stood a solitary figure, a man with flowing hair and a robe that didn’t seem from such a distant era.

“Welcome, travelers,” said the man, his voice echoing through the chamber. “I am Klygor, the Guardian of the Library.”

I stepped closer, Leo behind me. “Is this truly the lost Library of Alexandria?”

Klygor nodded. “Indeed, it is. Preserved in secrecy for centuries, hidden from the ravages of time and man. Only those worthy of gathering all the clues and enduring ten days in the desert sun can enter, and once inside, they may stay for only a month, learning all the library has to offer. But beware, you can take nothing with you except what you carry in your minds.”

We couldn’t waste any time.

“Leo! I found out that Socrates never actually existed. Plato invented this character, but the ideas were almost all his!”

“Interesting. I’m discovering many things too…”

Each day that passed, I got fewer answers from him

“Let’s sleep, man. We’ll continue studying more tomorrow.”

“Feel free… I’ll sleep later.”

Everyday, I slept and woke up with him already reading and searching for new things. But it seemed the more he read, the more his soul faded. Like a drug addict, the more you use or smoke something, the greater the amount needed for the same effect.

He was searching for something that wasn’t there.

“Leo, what are you looking for? Talk to me.”

“I… I want to learn more. The only thing I know how to do is learn.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone tells me I don´t know how to be a good teacher. Maybe they are right.”

” Yes, you do like learning new things, but you always loved teaching!”

“No, Tom. I don’t know how to teach and never did. I was just very good at grasping things at first glance.”

We had reached our last day.

“Hey, Klygor. Where are you!?” I shouted.

“I am here, traveler Tom. At the foot of the Staircase, awaiting your departure… Time is running out.”

“Leo, it’s time. Let’s go, we’ve seen everything we needed, we have material to tell people for ages!”

“Wait, Tom. I’m just finishing this piece of parchment. It seems interesting…”

“No, man!! We don’t have any more time, let’s go!”

“I have nothing to do out there, Tom. It’s the second time I’ve been fired, schools always say I lack the necessary teaching skills.”

“What are you talking about? Every week while we still lived with our mother, we received letters from students thanking you, saying you changed their lives. I never received anything like that!”

“You were never fired.”

Silence. I had no response to that.

“You taught me everything I know about the art of teaching. If you don’t know, I don’t know either.”

“None of that matters… That’s not how the world works, and you know it. Sometimes, I feel I should have just kept quiet and accepted teaching the way the principals wanted.”

“Leo… what’s worth more, a student transformed for life or a happy principal?”

“Huh? tell me, now. You always – ”

“Gentlemen, I must interrupt. If you don’t leave within moments, one will have to stay and become the new guardian of the Library. That’s what happened to me almost 90 years ago. I was so focused on some revelations completely different from our History, that I didn’t notice the suns rising and setting. When I realized it, the former librarian had already left, sealing here forever. You’re the first I’ve seen in all this time. I’m doing you the favor of letting you decide; I don’t want to leave here with negative energies from having tricked someone.”

“Give us five minutes!”

“I’m not the one controlling the magic of this place. I’m waiting at the top of the stairs until the final moment.”

“Leo, it’s now, let’s go!”

“I’m not going, and you know it…”

“Please, I don’t know how to teach without your advices!”

“Tom, I found a spark of happiness here. Knowing that at least learning is something I’ve always been able to do and no one could take that away from me… ”

I heard the sands starting to assemble. I ran up as fast as I could, and at the last moment, I turned to see him one last time.

In the distance, I could see, with the same sad face, he opened another book.

Killer Patents & Secret Science Vol. 2 | Forbidden Medical Cures

What do you do if you board a flight and the overweight person you are seated next to spills into your seat?

Even worse, I was sandwiched between two obese sisters. They had booked a window and an aisle seat, assuming that no one would buy a middle seat. But the flight was full. I was 6′2″ and fit, so not exactly tiny myself. They were overheating, sweating and overlapping a lot into my space. I could have handled the touching, but the heat was overwhelming. I talked to the flight attendant ,there were no empty seats anywhere, but I already knew that. So I talked to the sisters, they were embarrassed, but also feeling discriminated against. They had to pay extra for seat belt extensions, so the airline knew that they were large, and had still sold a seat to a man to sit between them.

We worked out a deal, they would take the window and middle seats, we would lift all the arm rests, so that they could use a little of my aisle seat. I could lean into the aisle, so I could cool off, and I could get out and walk around easily when I was overwhelmed.

I survived, it was only a three hour flight.

Have you ever found something in your home that was hidden by the previous owners?

No, but I found something in my car that was hidden by the previous owner. Pot, and a lot of it

I must explain how it happened. Many years ago I started a new job in rural Iowa and had no transportation. A friend said his nephew could get me a used car, and I would pay him with my first two paychecks. Apparently his nephew was owed some money by someone, so he would take the car as payment of the debt, then sell me the car. I was aware his nephew was working full time, but was occasionally making money as a middleman distributing pot.

The car ran fine, and I paid him off within a few weeks. It helped me get back on my feet, and I was grateful for his help.

After a few months, I returned to Texas. My dad noticed one of my tail lights was out, and wanted to replace it for me. When he took off the plastic covering , we found a lot of dried weeds mixed with dry mud. It looked like it was there for a long time. We thought it had just accumulated over many years since it was an older car. We also found the same stuff within the other tail light. We replaced the bulb and thoroughly cleaned both sides with some strong chemical spray cleaners. I thought there wasn’t anything unusual.

About a year later, when I was returning to the Midwest, I got pulled over by a state trooper. Being a Hispanic coming out of South Texas, I was profiled and pulled over quite often. However, this time, one of their dogs went nuts sniffing that back fender area. They called in extra troopers and took the back part of my car apart. The trooper told me this was their best dog, and he was never wrong when he reacted that way. He was certain I had drugs hidden in the car. After an hour of an extremely thorough search, they found nothing. They reluctantly apologized (it wasn’t sincere), and let me go.

I didn’t realize until years later that the stuff my dad and I cleaned out of the back end was pot. It looked like it had been there for about ten years. I believe my friends nephew had no knowledge it was there.

Anyway, it just made me believe why they said it was their best dog, and he was NEVER wrong. After many years of being mixed with dried mud, and thoroughly removed, the dog still detected the pot. Furthermore, we cleaned the area thoroughly with strong chemical cleaners.

I’ve always wondered if I would have been arrested if I hadn’t removed the old dried mud mixed with pot. It looked like it had been there for longer than I owned the car. But I was still transporting a lot of it across state lines. I’ll never know.

These Women Reveal Why Men Are Walking Away From EVERYTHING

Asparagus Pizza

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds asparagus
8 large mushrooms
1/3 cup chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold water

Instructions

Mix butter flour and salt until the flour resembles peas, add water and mix until you have a rollable dough.
Place on floured surface and roll out to 1/8 inch thick and in a circle.
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and place either a pizza stone or cookie sheet upside down in oven.
Place dough on a board that you can slide it off from into the oven and have a little cornmeal under the dough to help make it slide better. Turn the edges of the dough in about 1/4 inch and crimp at intervals to make a nice ruffly edge to your pizza, it will get crusty.
Cover the dough with the cheese and set aside.
Trim the asparagus and blanch it for 3 minutes in boiling water in a shallow pan.
Remove from pan and quickly dip in cold water to stop cooking process. Pat dry with paper towels and place in a pinwheel fashion around pizza dough with the stems meeting in the center and making a mound, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and slide into the oven on hot surface of pizza stone or cookie sheet and bake for about 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Remove from oven and cut into serving size pieces.
While pizza is baking slice mushrooms and place a small amount of olive oil in skillet and add shallots and garlic cook for about 3 or 4 minutes and add mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add just about 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and stir; remove from heat. Spoon a little on each slice of pizza and serve.

On Poking Dragons

Fred Reed

May 31, 2024

I wonder how many Americans quite understand what the US is facing in its aggressive confrontation with China. Washington clearly prepares the public for another unnecessary war. Given America’s routine defeat in war and catastrophic miscalculations in fighting small powers, picking a fight with what, increasingly, is again becoming the Middle Kingdom seems less than bright. Yet within the Beltway there is the usual smug complacency, the unshakable arrogance that appears to think the China is just a big Norway or Guatemala that needs to be put in its place.

A quick glance at China:

China easily leads the world in civil engineering, building roads, bridges, ports, rail lines, long-distance high-voltage transmission lines, and digital infrastructure. People returning from China, including yours truly, discribe it as being like coming back from a more-advanced planet.

“Washington seems to suffer a recto cranial inversion, imagining a superiority it only barely has but probably, all things considered, doesn’t.”

Everyone talks about the high-speed trains, with good reason: 180 miles per hour, quiet, comfortable, huge windows, with very short stops at villages between major cities, giving rural populations the speed of air travel without the nuisance. By contrast, American rail looks like something out of 1955.

The importance of civil engineering is more than symbolic. Infrastructure facilitates commerce. China is of course the manufacturing powerhouse of the world. By contrast, America simply ignores infrastructure, spending instead on the military and long since having largely abandoned manufacturing.

China leads the world in ship-building, with South Korea being another major player in this game. America has almost no ship-building except for military, and this has been criticized by the Government Accounting Office for primitivism and slowness. Ship-building obviously is important for commerce, and also for military purposes–China now having the world’s largest navy.

China leads the world in Five G, in patents, technology, manufacturing capacity, installed base. This is not always well understood. Five G allows the transmission of large amounts of data with short response times–high throughput, low latency, as we say. Huawei now has what it calls Five. Five G, an improved version. Five G is important for controlling factories, smart cities, and so on. Beijing takes it seriously, China now having around 3.6 million installed base stations versus something like 100,000 pseudo-Five G base stations in the US.

China finds its brightest students by rigorous testing, and then sends them at government expense to its excellent universities. The US deliberately enstupidates its schools at all levels to make minorities look smarter than they are. How is this going to work?

China dominates the planet in electric vehicles. Its lead over the US is so great as to be insuperable in technology, batteries, price, and productive capacity. If you follow tech news, you see things like a Chinese EV battery that charges in ten minutes. As many have pointed out, BYD’s sub-ten thousand dollar car will find an almost unlimited market in the Global South. No other country is even close. Biden’s high tariffs on Chinese EVs will serve only to allow American companies to continue selling wildly over-priced vehicles to Americans who will have no choice.

China, Russia, and perhaps Iran have developed hypersonic missiles, of which America doesn’t have any. This is interesting. Americans have always assumed technological superiority over Russia and China. Judging by the poor performance of Western weaponry in the Ukraine, this seems questionable.

In other fields, America maintains a lead, or at least an important part lead, though usually not by competing but by strong-arming, sanctions, and tariffs. The greatest of these is semiconductors. The situation is curious. The Chinese have the brains, engineers, and savvy to design and make high-end chips, but Washington has a stranglehold on the equipment needed to manufacture them. However, China has a recent history of horrifying Washington by doing things it wasn’t supposed to be able to do, such as make chips in seven and five nanometer nodes and stay neck-and-neck with the US in supercomputers. But it has not been able to make the advanced lithography tools needed at the forefront of the chip business. If it does, it will be Katie bar the door, but it hasn’t.

China leads the world in production of steel and aluminium. America can’t compete, so it imposes tariffs.

It leads the world in solar panels, leads in technology, production capacity, and price. America can’t compete, so it imposes tariffs.

China remains behind America, but not by much, in aspects of its space program. However, it has an extensive and robust launch capacity, a successful space station in some ways more advanced than the International Space Station, and moves rapidly toward reusable launch vehicles. Years back now, it sent a successful fully automated moon-sample return mission to our satellite, and, later, a combination Mars orbiter, lander, and rover, all functioning perfectly on the first try. NASA and Space X maintain a lead, but it isn’t a growth stock.

There are other fields in which America holds a lead. Jet engines, for example. My point is that Washington seems to suffer a recto cranial inversion, imagining a superiority it only barely has but probably, all things considered, doesn’t. China has four times the US population, the Han by agreement among psychometrists have a five or six point advantage in mean I.Q, and an intelligent government focused on increasing its commercial superiority.

It is all the fashion in America to decry authoritarianism, but this allows Beijing to take decisions and then carry them out, over decades if need be. It also allows a noticeable system approach. In America, individual states or corporations undertake projects like high-speed rail or Five G. China tends to do things on a whole-country basis. The difference in results is clear.

Washington, which subsidizes its own industries, complains that Beijing does the same–but the Chinese system works.

What China doesn’t have is a sprawling, over-extended, low-grade, incomprehensibly costly military draining funds desperately needed to bring America up to modern standards domestically. China is not an appendage of its military. It seems to have figured out that wars cost money and, if there is one thing the Chinese really really like, it’s money.

Sez I, a little more realism in the Yankee Capital might be a good idea, a bit less huff and puff, more spending on America and less on a blood-sucking arms industry. But what do I know?

San Francisco BANNED CARS

This is progressive American.

When People Get Extremely Desperate And Extremely Hungry, They Will Literally Eat Just About Anything

May 27, 2024 by Michael

If your family was on the verge of starving to death, to what extremes would you be willing to go in order to get food? Some of the things that I am going to share with you in this article may make you cringe. But you need to understand what people are willing to do when they get extremely desperate and extremely hungry, because the global food crisis that has already begun is going to greatly intensify in the years ahead. Hundreds of millions of people go to bed hungry every single night, and children are literally dropping dead from starvation on the other side of the globe right now. Unfortunately, most people in the western world don’t even realize that this is going on because the corporate media rarely reports on it. War, pestilence, natural disasters, bizarre weather patterns and historic crop failures are creating a “perfect storm” for global food production. It is being projected that later this year things will get really bad in some of the poorest areas of the planet, and the long-term outlook is even worse.

When people get hungry enough, they will literally eat just about anything.

On Monday, I was stunned to learn that a team of archaeologists has discovered that settlers at Jamestown in the 17th Century actually resorted to eating dogs in a desperate attempt to survive…

The first English settlers to arrive in North America ate dogs to survive an extreme period of starvation, according to a gruesome new study.

Researchers at the University of Iowa discovered the remains of 16 indigenous dogs at an archaeological site in Jamestown, Virginia, that strongly suggest the 17th Century settlers ate at least six canines.

Their remains showed hallmark signs that the colonists had skinned the animals, dismembered their limbs and removed the flesh from their bones between 1609 and 1617 AD, the team said.

For many of you, this level of savagery may be difficult to grasp.

Sadly, it appears that what the archaeologists found is backed up by written testimony from one of the original settlers of the colony…

By the spring of 1610, only about 60 of the original colonists were still alive and George Percy – one of the original settlers – authored an account of what occurred in the wake of the starvation period.

‘Now all of us at James Town, beginning to feel that sharp prick of hunger which no man truly describe but he which has tasted the bitterness thereof.

‘… Then having fed upon horses and other beasts as long as they lasted, we were glad to make shift with vermin as dogs, cats, rats, and mice,’ Percy wrote in excerpts of his account called ‘Starving Time,’ archived by the National Humanities Center.

What would you do if you were in their shoes?

This is one of the reasons why I am encouraging my readers to store up food while they still can.

I never want any of you to be in a position where you are faced with such choices.

A global food crisis is already here. More than a billion people in Africa already do not have enough food to eat on a regular basis, and 30 percent of the children on the entire continent suffer from stunted growth.

In East Africa, some of those that are starving “are resorting to consuming grass and peanut shells”…

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) says that in Darfur, Sudan there are reports of children dying of malnutrition.

“The situation is dire. People are resorting to consuming grass and peanut shells. If assistance doesn’t reach them soon, we risk witnessing widespread starvation and death in Darfur and across other conflict-affected areas in Sudan,” said Michael Dunford, WFP East Africa director.

In other areas of Sudan, people on the brink of starvation are literally eating dirt…

There is so little food in some areas of Sudan that people are taking extreme measures to survive.

In the Al Lait refugee camp, they are eating dirt.

Yes, you read that correctly.

So I don’t want anyone out there trying to tell me that the global food crisis isn’t serious.

One 41-year-old man in Sudan says that his wife and children are so hungry that they have been rolling dirt into a ball and swallowing it with water…

Akok, 41, reached Al Lait in December, but has no work and can’t feed the family. At times, they go two or three days without eating. When that happens, Akok said, he watches helplessly as his wife and children dig holes in the ground with a stick, slide their hands in and grab some soil. Then they roll the soil into a ball, put it in their mouths and swallow it with water.

“I keep telling them not to do it, but it’s hunger,” he said. “There is nothing I can do.”

What would you do if you and your family were in a similar position?

In West Africa and Central Africa, it is being projected that approximately 55 million hungry people “will struggle to feed themselves in the coming months”…

Soaring prices have helped fuel a food crisis in West and Central Africa, where nearly 55 million people will struggle to feed themselves in the coming months, U.N. humanitarian agencies warned Friday.

The number facing hunger during the June-August lean season has quadrupled over the last five years, they said, noting that economic challenges such as double-digit inflation and stagnating local production had become major drivers of the crisis, beyond recurrent conflicts in the region.

In areas south of there, widespread crop failures caused by drought have created a tremendous nightmare…

Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi each declared national disasters as crops failed in a region where 70 percent of smallholder farmers rely on rainfed agriculture for their livelihood. Food prices have risen up to 82 percent in some drought-affected areas, while water scarcity has also impacted livestock and destroyed farmland. According to a United Nations report, more than 18 million people are now in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, with food insecurity levels set to increase dramatically during the regular lean season that typically starts in October. This year, the lean season could begin as early as July as provisions are depleted.

North Africa is doing fine for now, but most of the rest of the continent is in enormous trouble.

The good news is that we aren’t facing widespread starvation here in the western world.

But 42 million Americans are on food stamps, and 1 out of every 7 children is living in poverty.

So our problems are growing too.

Unfortunately, the long-term trends that are driving the global food crisis are only going to intensify in the years ahead, and eventually there will be very serious food shortages here in the United States.

What will you do when that day finally arrives?

We have already reached a point where fast food is considered to be a “luxury” and the prices of many popular food items have more than doubled.

Our world is simply not producing enough food for everyone, and global supplies of food are going to get tighter and tighter during the very difficult days that are in front of us.

Now let’s look at the Wild Wild West of Vietnam

Video is heavy on the girls, and nightlife. But it’s short enough. It give you a glimpse at what the Global South is all about.

New Arms Race! Biden Signs “New Guidance” for Using U.S. Nuclear Weapons

Hal Turner Nation June 07, 2024

President Joseph Biden has signed “new guidelines” on the conditions for the US use of nuclear weapons.

This was announced by Special Assistant to the US President, Senior Director for Arms Control at the National Security Council, Pranay Vaddi.

“The updated guidance takes into account the realities of the new nuclear era. They emphasize the need to address the growth and diversity of China’s nuclear arsenal, as well as the need to contain Russia, China, and North Korea, simultaneously,” he said.

Notice they did this after 5:00 PM on a Friday. I am endeavoring to obtain the actual new guidance text.

UPDATE 7:28 PM EDT —

A new Arms Race is now kicking off. US is making changes to its nuclear weapons strategy with an emphasis on competition, US sees the need to increase its nuclear arsenal.

HAL TURNER REMARKS:

Remember when the corrupt media and communist democrats were saying Trump was going to start WWIII because he was talking tough with China, Iran, and North Korea? Where are they all now that Biden is actually actively trying to start WWIII?

French President is At It Again; Now French “Mirage 2000-5” Fighter Jets for Ukraine

Hal Turner World June 07, 2024

As if he hasn’t already caused enough pain, suffering, and death in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron is at it again. He will announce that French Mirage 2000-5 Fighter Jets will be given to Ukraine to fight Russia.

He will also announce those jets can be used to strike targets inside territorial Russia, and that Ukrainian Pilots will be trained to fly them, in France.

Looks as though Macron is not going to stop until Russia hits Paris with a nuclear bomb.

Hal Turner Snap Analysis

If it wasn’t so pathetic, it would be laughable that Macron is doing this. His army just got thrown out of Africa by the local tribesmen, and now Macron thinks he can fight Russia?

The guy seems to me to be insane.

We should start referring to him as “Maniacal Macron.”

China Is Practicing For An Apocalyptic War Against Taiwan, And The Western World Is Still Not Taking The Threat Seriously

May 23, 2024 by Michael

China has just launched enormous military exercises codenamed “Joint Sword-2024A” which are designed to simulate what a war against Taiwan would look like. Chinese fighter jets are conducting mock airstrikes against “high-value military targets”, and Chinese warships are practicing for a future economic blockade. Most Americans don’t seem to realize this, but once China goes to war with Taiwan, we will instantly be in a state of war with China. The flow of consumer products from China will completely stop, we will no longer have access to the advanced computer chips from Taiwan that we are so dependent upon, and the economy will crash. All of our lives will be turned completely upside down the moment that war with China begins, and that day may be a lot closer than most people think.

On Thursday, the Chinese “encircled Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft” as Joint Sword-2024A kicked off…

China on Thursday encircled Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft in war games, as it vowed the blood of “independence forces” on the self-ruled island would flow.

The two days of drills are part of an escalating campaign of intimidation by China that has seen it carry out a series of large-scale military exercises around Taiwan in recent years.

Taiwan’s new president Lai Ching-te was inaugurated earlier this week, and the Chinese government is not a fan of him at all.

And it is definitely not a coincidence that these military exercises are taking place shortly after he took office.

These are the biggest military exercises that we have seen in the region so far, and CNN is reporting that “dozens of Chinese fighter jets carrying live ammunition” are involved…

As part of the drills, dozens of Chinese fighter jets carrying live ammunition conducted mock strikes against “high-value military targets” of the “enemy” alongside destroyers, frigates and missile speedboats, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV.

The exercises, which started early on Thursday and will encircle Taiwan, pose the first real test for newly elected Lai Ching-te as he attempts to manage relations with the island’s powerful authoritarian neighbor.

The good news is that these military exercises will only last for 48 hours.

But the Chinese are clearly preparing for the day when war will erupt.

Relations between the Chinese government and Taiwan have reached a breaking point, and I don’t believe that there is any way that they will be repaired.

When discussing the currently military exercises, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin issued quite an ominous warning to those that are pushing for Taiwanese independence…

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin then delivered a warning that included language more commonly used by China’s propaganda outlets.

“Taiwan independence forces will be left with their heads broken and blood flowing after colliding against the great… trend of China achieving complete unification,” Wang told reporters.

It is very unusual for a Chinese official to make such an inflammatory remark.

Usually the Chinese are much more restrained.

Once the exercises commenced, the Taiwanese military went on alert, and potential Chinese military targets were actively being tracked…

Taiwan’s defence ministry condemned the drills, saying that it had dispatched forces to areas around the island, that its air defences and land-based missile forces were tracking targets, and that it was confident it could protect its territory.

“The launch of military exercises on this occasion not only does not contribute to the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, it also highlights (China’s) militaristic mentality,” the ministry said.

Taiwan’s presidential office expressed regret that China was threatening the island’s democratic freedoms and regional peace and stability with its “unilateral military provocations”, but said people could rest assured Taiwan could ensure its security.

When the time finally comes, I think that the first action that China will take against Taiwan will be an economic blockade.

That will suffocate the Taiwanese economy, and it will also cut the main island off from the outlying islands that it controls.

Subsequently, I think that it is likely that the Chinese will attempt to occupy some of the smaller islands before moving to occupy Taiwan itself.

Interestingly, the military exercises that China is currently conducting are simulating action against some of those outlying islands…

Su Tzu-yun, a research fellow at Taiwan’s top military think tank, the Institute for National Defence and Security Research, said that although the drills would only last two days, the scope is large relative to previous exercises, as they included Taiwan’s outlying islands.

This is designed to demonstrate China’s ability to control the seas and prevent the involvement of foreign forces, he added.

“The political signals here are greater than the military ones,” he added.

There has been a lot of concern about what it would mean if China gained control over the chipmaking facilities in Taiwan, because the entire globe is heavily dependent on the advanced chips that Taiwan produces…

Two of the world’s most important chip companies can flip a “kill switch” remotely on their most advanced chipmaking machines should China invade Taiwan, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Netherlands’ ASML — Europe’s top tech company by market value — supplies advanced machines to chipmaking companies. They include Taiwan’s TSMC, which produces, by some estimates, 90% of the world’s most advanced processor chips.

Okay, so they can flip a “kill switch” which will prevent China from getting those chips.

But once China controls Taiwan, we will lose access to those chips too.

And without those chips, the entire global economy crashes.

So we should be attempting to avoid such a scenario if at all possible.

Unfortunately, Joe Biden and his all-star team of warmongers are making a total mess of things.

We just keep getting closer and closer to a war with China, and the Biden administration just continues to make the Chinese angrier and angrier.

Of course a war with China is a key piece of the apocalyptic puzzle that I have been warning about for a long time.

The Chinese know that such a war is coming, and they are actively practicing for it.

Here in the United States, most people just assume that everything will work out just fine somehow.

Sadly, by the time most Americans finally realize how serious the threat is we will already be at war and there will be no turning back.

America is the New Rome

This is REALLY an amazing video. Very good. I strongly suggest you all watch it. Remember, 1776 was 248 years ago. If the predictions are correct, the collapse will occur in two years. 2026.

Fire alarms and other stupid things

When I was in first grade, there were always this group of boys that would get around the wall fire alarm and pull it. And I, stupid fuck I was at the time, would just stand there watching them. After the alarms went off all the boys would scatter, but I would just stand there. Stupid. And I would be taken during the hallway sweep.

Typically it would result in an interrogation, followed by a ruler on my knuckles. Ouch! That mother fucker hurt!

Long story short, you know guys I NEVER pulled an alarm. Ever. However, I was always there in the round up. And of course, no one ever believed me. Shit.

The teacher would argue that I was far too smart to be acting so ignorant and innocent. And it was because I was so smart that I was somehow guilty.

When the reality was, it was just not in my personality.

Years later, and I am on trial for heinous crimes and bad stuff all the way around. The argument (well one of them) was that I couldn’t be innocent… because I was too smart.

Later in prison, I discovered the secret of survival… act stupid.

That’s it. Really. Act slow and stupid. When people want to talk to you just talk about stupid things like potatoes. Envelopes that candy came in. Shoelaces. Mailboxes. Different types of wood. Different types of dirt.

People will leave you alone.

And they sure as fuck won’t bother messing with you.

Why? Because you are not a threat to them.

Today…

How can China effectively handle its relationship with Duterte?

There is 1 old Chinese idiom: if the ox does not want to drink water (from the river), we cannot force its head down (to drink). The ox must want to drink to start with.

It is just an idiom. I do not mean Duterte is like an ox.

What I am trying to say is that: Duterte wanted to improve PH’s economy & modernise PH’s technology.

Like all other developing countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia etc, one way is to join China’s BRI project to build infrastructure first.

Like Indonesia, since China has built a high speed rail for Indonesia, Indonesia sees its GDP growing.

All other developing countries saw the same thing about their GDP growth.

Duterte wanted the same thing to happen in PH. He decided to develop good economic collaboration with China. And China was happy to collaborate with Duterte to make a win-win situation for both countries.

When Marcos is power, China also wanted to maintain good economic collaboration with Marcos. But Marcos rejects China & embraces USA.

Because USA wants to suppress China’s rise, USA uses PH/Marcos to create countless conflicts in SCSea. Forcing China to withdraw from PH.

Back to the Chinese idiom: Marcos does not want to drink.

US threatens China. US military to turn the Taiwan Strait into an “unmanned hellscape”…If

What is the most inappropriate clothing you have seen a student wear at school?

My answer is a little twist on the original question. This happened not in a school, but in a school district’s central administration office where I worked during the ‘90s. There were roughly 150 employees—mostly female secretaries with the administrative bosses almost all male.

During the work week, employees wore suits and skirts, hosiery and heels. That was the norm back then. But Halloween was coming up and for the first (and only) time in my memory, permission was given for us to show up for work in costume, if we so chose.

Now maybe 6 months earlier, a new girl was hired—Sarah. Sarah was a tall, blonde with a very outgoing personality and sort of wild blue eyes. She wasn’t a quiet one by any means and when talking to her, you sometimes thought maybe she’d smoked a little something outside on break.

So Halloween arrives and there are some cute costumes, mostly the typical ones you see at a Halloween party, but nothing too extravagant since we were professional working in a business atmosphere.

Except for Sarah. Sarah comes in as an Indian squaw. Or maybe it was an Indian temptress. Her take on Pocahontas, I guess. She’s wearing a tiny brown bra with matching tiny loincloth. Brown sandals that lace up her calves, hair in braids with a feather sticking up and warpaint on her face. Nothing else.

News travelled around the building like wildfire, and this was before the days of email. Everyone was coming in to take a look. No one could believe that she’d show up to work like that. And no one could further believe that it took until 2:30 in the afternoon for anyone to send her home. Until we realized that all the bosses were male.

Companies Have Taken A Sledgehammer To Quotas | METOO BACKLASH

Western Society is under collapse.

What was the most shocking incident about your neighbour that you witnessed?

I was awakened about 2 AM, by a loud banging on my door, which I ignored. It was repeated. I got up & put my foot against the door and said who is it. The answer was: “The police”. (NO SHIT~ I was thinking) So with my foot still against the door, I cracked open the door and after noticing the outside light was out BRAVELY SAID: “SHOW ME SOME I.D.” The Officer came close to the door so I could see his blue uniform. I let him in the apartment. I had to hear him tell me I had to leave the apartment RIGHT NOW.

On the way out I passed a crouched down dressed in black SWAT officer with an M-4 semi-automatic rifle and without thinking I offered to replace the light bulb that was “NOT working” (He had unscrewed it for cover).

When downstairs and away by 300 feet, I saw the SWAT command vehicle, the armed tank, a linked up squad of 8 SWAT armored RAM Team, A GO Pro Guy, A SWAT Sniper with a rifle and a couple more lookouts station at other points around other areas in the apartments.

What was it ALL about? Some guy in the apartment across from me held his girlfriend and her mother against their will for a few hours with a deer rifle.

He doesn’t even know just how damn lucky he was that these Texans LET him live.

PUTIN THREATENS NATO GLOBALLY with LONG RANGE WEAPONS – slow boat to ww3….

Why is fraternization frowned on between officers and enlisted men in the military?

When I was a young OS3 (E-4 in the Navy), I went to the Chiefs Mess’ DRB (Disciplinary Review Board) and XOI (Executive Officer’s Inquiry) for fraternization charges where fortunately my case was stopped there before going to full-blown Captain’s Mast.

I lived off base with a couple other E-4’s and a E-5 where we split a four bedroom house.

The E-5 began sleeping with his female division officer, a young 20-something O-1 and she would come by the house often.

I was on a Frigate which had about a 150 person crew. Everyone knew everyone’s name, but generally was just big enough to have it’s own after work social networks. I’ll never forget when one of the engineers approached me on the Mess Decks and asked “Is it true PO2 is sleeping with ENS NAME?”

I knew the word was out however “careful” they had been and it was only a matter of time. Sure enough, a couple days later over the 1MC announcing system I heard “OS3 Smith, Executive Officer’s Cabin”.

The XO told me he was investigating the situation, told me I was welcome to contact out local JAG office for legal advice and that I would be going to DRB in a couple days to be questioned about the situation.

At this point, the PO2 was also processed through first with DRB, XOI, and Captain’s Mast. He was reduced in rank to an E-4 and given 30/30, 30 Days restricted to the Ship and 30 Days extra duty, along with a half month’s pay.

The O-1 was sent to a Court Martal and she was processed completely out of the Navy, being reassigned off the Ship until the administrative side was done.

For myself, the cat was already out of the bag when I went to DRB. I admitted I knew what I was doing was technically wrong by not reporting the activity at our house. I was a good Sailor who had great evaluations and had never been in trouble. The Chief’s Mess recommended I go to XOI and the case be dropped there.

I went to XOI and stood in front of the XO. He asked me the same questions, as the Chiefs Mess and I kept the same answers. I basically added I felt I was in a tough spot of loyalty between my roommate friend and what I should have done. My Chief (E-7), my Divisional Officer (O-1), and my Department Officer (O-3) all went to bat for my character and the XO said the case would stop with him, but I was to be assigned extra duty in relation to the case.

So, I was assigned to go to each division on the Ship and provide fraternization training to each division until every crew member was covered.

Overall, fraternization is so frowned upon because it heavily erodes good order and discipline. It causes toxic environments that breed favoritism from our natural habits as humans. If an officer or senior enlisted has a connection with juniors, even if they truly are not showing favorites, everyone will question their decision making regarding themselves and that person.

One example provided was if the O-1 was acting as Command Duty Officer and there was an armed intruder on the Ship, what if they didn’t send PO2 into the dangerous situation? Maybe they had a legitimate good reason, but it would be questioned by the crew and others if it was because they were sleeping with each other. Maybe it’s something as simple as being assigned maintenance and they get an easier task for whatever reason. The decision would be questioned. Perception is everything.

If you made it through my long story, I appreciate you reading!

China Issues EU Economic Ultimatum, EU Giant Airbus Desperate To Sell China 100 Jets

Documents show that India contacted China for China to build high speed rails for India to replace Japan, but China has declined the Indian request. Why?

Nopes

India initially analyzed a Tender from China to build the High Speed Rail

Yet the key issue was India simply didn’t have the money China wanted

Chinas proposal was to overhaul the existing lines and build new electrification lines and then to initiate the Pilot project and then the final railway lines

They also recommended a different route rather than the Mumbai Gujarat route to initiate the Pilot

The overall investment was much higher plus interest was quite a bit higher

However China offered a Technology transfer option

Nitin Gadkari went on record to say he recommend going with the Chinese and availing finance from the ADB due to the Technology Transfer option

China also had stringent penalty clauses knowing Indias lethargy and hassles

Also China had demanded visas for numerous Chinese personnel as they didn’t repose much faith in Indian Engineers after the Bangalore Subway Project

Meanwhile Japan offered financing plus very low interest rates

Plus Japan was very flexible because they were losing markets rapidly to China, every day

However Japan didn’t have the Technology Transfer Option

The main reason was in 2017, China wasn’t yet known for its DOMINANCE in High Speed Railways

It was deemed an Up and Comer rather than the World’s Best

Today it’s different – China is the world’s best HSR contractor who can execute projects in record time

Indonesia and India began around the same time

Yet Indonesia has a fully functioning Jakarta Bandung Line while India hasn’t even commenced on 10 meters of HSR railway track so far

Bubbly Pizza

Ingredients

3 (7.5 ounce) packages buttermilk biscuits
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup sliced olives
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 clove garlic, pressed

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine the vegetables with the sauce.
Press the garlic and mix well into sauce mixture.
Quarter biscuits. Arrange 1/2 of the biscuit pieces evenly over bottom of 9 x 13-inch pan (it may not cover the whole pan).
Spread with 1/2 the sauce mixture and 1/2 the cheese.
Repeat layers.
Bake for 23 to 28 minutes or until sides are golden brown.

PIZZA! How to make Freaking Mouth Watering PIZZA! – Wood-Fired Pizza -Bubbly Crust

VLADIMIR PUTIN:

[Did you try to warn, caution or maybe threaten Chancellor Scholz when he made the decision to send weapons to Ukraine?]

"Why would you think we would threaten anyone?

We never threaten anyone, least of all the head of another state.

That would be 'mauvais ton', unacceptable in polite society.

We have our own viewpoint on certain issues.

We know the European states’ approach, including Germany’s approach, on the current developments in Ukraine.

Everyone believes that Russia started the war in Ukraine.

But no one – I want to emphasise this – no one in the West, no one in Europe is willing to remember how this tragedy began.

It started with an unconstitutional coup in Ukraine. This was the beginning of the war.

But is Russia to blame for that coup? No.

Have those who are trying to blame Russia today forgotten that the foreign ministers of Poland, Germany and France went to Kiev at the time and signed the settlement document as guarantors of a peaceful constitutional resolution of the crisis?

This is something Europe, including Germany, prefers to forget.

Because if they remembered, they would have to explain why the leaders of Germany, along with the other signatories, never demanded that the perpetrators of the coup in Ukraine return to the constitutional framework.

Why did they neglect their obligations as guarantors of agreements between the incumbent government and the opposition like this?

They are as responsible for what happened as the forces in the United States that provoked the unconstitutional seizure of power.

Don’t you know what followed?

The residents of Crimea made a decision to secede from Ukraine, and the residents of Donbass refused to obey those who carried out the coup in Kiev.

This is what followed.

This is how this conflict began."

Excerpt from remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with heads of the world’s leading news agencies, Saint Petersburg, June 5, 2024.

“Ugly”: What US Treasury bond auctions look like when China doesn’t show up

Have you ever had someone offer “physical” payment for something they couldn’t afford?

When I was 17 years old, I’d had enough of living with family and decided to try and make it on my own. I was sharing my first apartment with a friend, I was struggling to pay my rent. I spent most of my free time writing poetry and trying to deal with the darkness that my childhood had planted inside me.

A friend of the family was an artist who’d been in a bad car accident, and while he could walk, he’d broken his back in 3 places and had dozens of surgeries to try and deal with organ damage from the same accident. He needed some help with yard work. For this I would make enough money to pay for rent and some bills and get caught up.

Then I walked into his house to use the bathroom and came face to face with a gallery of his artwork. This piece (below), aggressive and fractured, drew me right in and somehow made me feel as though it understood the chaos that was consistently inside me at the time.

Over the next week, as I worked on cleaning his backyard of debris, he and I chatted often. About art, poetry, music. He was a lovely and wounded man. He saw the darkness I was struggling with and wanted to help me.

Then came the day I asked him how much this painting was. Bad news – 3 months rent. Wow…

When I was finished all the work I needed to, I asked him if I could buy the painting from him, and he, knowing I couldn’t really afford it, offered to sell it to me for a carton of cigarettes, about $45-$50 Canadian at the time. I also didn’t get paid as much for the work, which I felt was fair.

As a First Nations man, tobacco was sacred to him. This gift of tobacco was all he wanted, so he could mourn the loss of what was actually his self-portrait and favourite piece. He had sworn he’d never sell it, but couldn’t deny it when a 17yo, struggling young man found solace in it. I was so grateful to Peter for gifting me this.

It’s been with me now for more than 30 years. I look at it almost every day. It will always be emblematic of the struggle and chaos I went through.

Red & Black – original acrylic on clay – Peter Michael Hornung-Maqua. 1950–2006

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Vintage advertisements

What can policymakers on both sides do to address tensions between the US and China?

Nothing can be done except for China & the world to speed up dedollarisation so as to dismantle US hegemony.

Let us analyse USA’s DNA.

After WW2, from 1946-2001, in 55 years, there were 248 wars around the globe. 201 of them ie 82% were instigated by USA. In 200+ years since US independence, there were less than 20 years when USA was not in a war. Worse, it is US vassals who shed blood & lose life for USA.

Other than war, USA would instigate countless unrest eg protests, riots & coups in other countries.

Thru unrest/war, USA controls other government & resource/economy. It is neo-colonisation without occupying other’s land.

In short, it is about money & power/dominance.

1, money: USA makes tons of $$$ by arms sale & post-war construction for war-torn countries.

2, power: USA weakens allies eg EU or Japan, as well as enemies eg Russia or China.

In the Ukraine war, USA uses 1 stone to kill 3 birds: weakens the economy of both Europe & Russia. & colonises Ukraine after war.

USA did not let Ukraine reach peace deal with Russia or attack Russian soil. Why? To drag the war long enough to economically weaken both Europe & Russia.

How many people died, displaced or suffered in a war? Look at Ukraine war, the entire world is affected by the interruption of supply chain eg food due to global shortage & inflation.

USA wont not let world peace to happen. USA must create unrest incl war. War is in USA’s DNA.

NASA’S 70 Year Old Abandoned Moon Base

Is H&M going to lose $1.5 billion (per year) in the China market due to getting involved with the so-called Xinjiang human rights issue? Does H & M really know the truth about Xinjiang?

This is one of the situations that shows how careful companies have to be in managing sensitive issues.

H&M, along with Nike, Adidas and Uniqlo, have released statements that they won’t be using cotton sourced from Xinjiang anymore because of the accusations of forced labor. This has landed them in hot water in China, with consumers boycotting them and, embarrassingly, all their China brand ambassadors dropping the deals with them.

As someone who works in marketing in China, I have to say that I feel really bad for the China teams of H&M, Nike, Adidas and Uniqlo. Their companies’ HQs made these decisions without informing or consulting them, and their China teams will be expected to clean up the mess their HQs created.

Instead of the companies stating that they will conduct an investigation to ensure that all suppliers they work with adhere to their standards and do not use forced labor, apparently people from these companies’ HQs thought that a blanket ban for all cotton from Xinjiang should be implemented and that somehow this wouldn’t impact their business in China.

The fact that there is a strong feeling in China that the Western governments, primarily the US, are fabricating lies (talking to actual people in Xinjiang should help understand the situation there) to sabotage China’s growth is not helping these four companies. They are now rather seen as additional tools in the anti-China propaganda.

China’s market is enough competitive as it is now, with all companies being constantly at the edge from competition. This will heavily impact the China teams of these four companies and I suspect we will see many people employed there moving on elsewhere soon.

The Mark

Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Write a story about a future academic (or another influential person) “rediscovering” a book that, in its time, was dismissed. The book can be fictitious or real.…

Paul Hellyer

Micheal felt his heart leap with joy as he entered the grounds. The ancient, sandstone block buildings of the King’s university were part of the most prestigious university in the world. And how could it be, that across the entire world, one place was considered the greatest? Because the thing that had seemed inevitable had finally come to pass. The world was finally ruled by one government.The year was 2600, and Micheal Dawson lived in Sydney Australia. He was happy in his life as an academic, he was a voracious reader, and he loved to write. He had had articles published in many journals, and had even written a book, ‘The Wisdom of the Ancients’, where he compared the wise sayings of many old cultures with those from other cultures. The book had been a small success, but he was mostly just happy that people were reading his work, money was a secondary concern.Today he would go to the library, looking for something to pique his interest, something to spark a new article or publication. Before long, he was in the old building, excited to be surrounded by the wealth of knowledge. The towering shelves loomed over him, and golden rays of sunshine came in from the high windows.At the moment, he was strolling past the section on Roman history. Empires had risen and fallen throughout history, and while the Romans had brought civilization to many cultures, he felt he would leave this particular aspect to those with a greater passion for it.It was interesting though to consider the way various civilizations had waxed and waned. There was a common consensus among most people, that the current world government, would be the last, at least until space exploration became a real thing. People talked about colonizing mars, but there was still a long way to go for that dream to become a reality.His measured steps eventually took him to the Ancient Near East section. Here was the story of Gilgamesh, Egyptian mythology, Egyptian wisdom literature, Mesopotamian wisdom literature, Histories of the Assyrian empire. He then noticed a copy of the Bible on the shelves. He had some fondness for the Bible, as he had drawn heavily on the Proverbs of Solomon in his book. The proverbs had seemed to him to be the wisest of all aphoristic sayings he studied. Of course there were gems in every culture.He found himself recalling a Sumerian proverb. ‘He who knows how to move around becomes strong. He will live longer than the sedentary man’. Common knowledge today, but amazing to see that people had become wise to the fact at such an early point in civilization. Then he thought of some of the early Egyptian proverbs he had read. ‘Be industrious, let thine eyes be open, lest you become a beggar, for the man that is idle cometh not to honor.’ Every culture, or at least those in the Ancient Near East had unearthed timeless wisdom.Ah, but the Bible. Here was a text that had endured throughout history. There were still many practicing Christians today, though he did not know much about what life was like for them. On the shelves were a few different translations, the New International Version, the New Revised Standard Edition, The Holmann. A colleague had once asked him, ‘Why do you use the Holman translation?’, to which his reply had been, ‘I don’t know, it’s easy to understand, but they go to the effort of being as close to the original meaning as possible.’There were so many different sections to inspect within the Bible. There was the Torah, the first five books, in which probably Genesis was the most interesting. Then there were the writings, like Esther, Job, and Ruth, and of course the prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah. He decided this time to have a look around the end in the New Testament, probably the section he was least familiar with. And then he became interested in an idea. What was the very last book of the Bible? Flicking through, he eventually found himself looking at the Revelation of St John. He had heard of this, but he had never read it.He began to read the first couple of verses.‘The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave Him to show His slaves what must quickly take place. He sent it and signified it through His angel to His slave John, who testified to God’s word and to the testimony about Jesus Christ, in all he saw. The one who reads this is blessed, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it are blessed, because the time is near!’He laughed inside just a little. The time is near, is it? He we are about 2500 years away from when this book is written, whatever this book was writing about, it had probably never happened. He began to skim read it, and eventually began to flick through a couple of the pages. He soon found himself at the beginning of chapter 13.‘And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. He had 10 horns and seven heads. On his horns were 10 diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. The beast I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like a bear’s, and his mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. One of his heads appeared to be fatally wounded, but his fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against him?’What could this be talking about? He found himself thinking about the earth’s current president, Wilbur Wilson. Nothing about this passage seemed at least on a surface reading to relate at all to anything in the present day. But as he read further down, his hands began to tremble.‘And he requires everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of his name.’He remembered the day he had been given his implant. This was the chip through which they could access their funds, and also served as identification, in the same way a driver’s license would have back in the day. His was embedded in his right hand, and to his knowledge, it was sometimes implanted in the forehead.How had someone around 100AD predicted this? He was about to continue reading, when he heard a voice speaking to him, quietly but clearly.

‘Micheal, I am an extension of the Terminus global AI system. It has been found that you are causing yourself distress by reading volatile material, and I have been assigned to direct you away from this using brain stimulation. Please put the book back and take a break today in your home.’

‘What?’ He thought to himself. ‘What is going on?’

Again, the voice came through. ‘Please put the book back and take a break in your home.’

’Well, I’m not going to do that!’ Said his own voice in his head.

But as he tried to continue further in the book, he found himself feeling a wave of nausea and anxiety wash over him, and he began to shake.

‘Put the book down Micheal.’ Came the voice again.

He was shocked, and tried to read further, but the anxiety and shaking began to increase. He felt like his brain would come running out through his ears.

‘Put the book down.’ Said the AI, this time more firmly.

Somewhere beneath all the anxiety, he knew he was angry, but it was becoming impossible to read any further. He had never heard anything about this terminus AI, but it was obviously real. He knew the anxiety he was feeling did not come from himself, he had always loved to read, and there was no way even a book such as this would have such a painful effect.

Nevertheless, it seemed impossible to go on any further in the way he was going. Then he began to wonder, had he been marked as someone dangerous now, much in the same way as people who bought blacklisted books, like Mein Kampf, would have been some hundreds of years ago. He thought about his life, he loved being an academic, and he loved that he got paid to do what he loved. He even enjoyed teaching other up and coming students in his lectures. Maybe this was a warning he should he heed. He closed the Bible and put it back on the shelf. He would go home, clear his head, and find something else to write about.

Leaving the library, he took one last look at it before he left. No, he did not want to lose his life in academia over one dangerous book. He was a good citizen, and did not want to jeopardize his position by studying something that government had deemed dangerous. Maybe he did need a break. He found himself imagining making a cup of tea in the privacy of his apartment, and reading one of the fiction books he had bought recently. This whole episode was best forgotten.

What was the most unexpected knock you got on your door?

When we lived in California, our house was next door to a gas station. There was a fence all around, about 7 feet high, until you get to our front yard then it was only about three and a half feet high.

Our neighborhood wasn’t the best, and worse than what we had expected. For example our first morning, I let my three year old son go out in the front yard, not worried that he’d go into traffic or anything because of our fence. He came in the house holding a used syringe he found in the drive way. My husband went ballistic, then finally calmed down enough to tell our son to not touch anything like that and if he saw stuff again, to tell us, but don’t touch.

The next day, there was one ON OUR FRONT PORCH!

Our neighbors across the street, very nice ladies, told us that the drug dealers would use the pay phone at the gas station and then do their drug deals on the easement in front of our house (this was before cell phones).

The gas station eventually took out the pay phone and the drug dealers moved two blocks down to the liquor store.

Peace!

No, wait.

A knock on my door.

“Hi, I’m (so and so) representing the (something) company. Our company puts in pay phones, and I noticed that there is no pay phone at the gas station next door. I polled some of the customers and they indicated that it would be nice if there was a pay phone there, but the owner won’t talk to us. We thought we could put one on your property facing the gas station. We’d pay you $600 a month if you would do this”

“Uh, no. Sorry. There used to be a pay phone but the only people who used it with any regularity were the drug dealers, who then did their deals in front of my house.”

“Well, you can’t blame the phone company for the drug problem.”

“I don’t, but as long as there is no phone, there are no drug dealers.”

“then you should be taking pictures and calling the sheriff’s dept.”

“Excuse me??? I have small children here, and drug dealers are mean people. I don’t relish getting a bullet in my head! Besides, if I put in a phone, my neighbors will never speak to me again.”

“Well, you can’t blame the phone company for that. This is $600 a month! That would help you with your small children!”

“Look. Son. What part of NO are you having difficulty with?”

SLAM!

(no kidding, I actually said that!)

Philippines Malate Nightlife JTV

This video is perhaps the best video available showing what a KTV line up looks like. Usually they do not want anyone filming. But, yeah this is kind of my life about two times a month.

If China is full of the smartest people, why is the US so much more advanced.?

The USA is NOT more advanced than China.

China is the most technologically advanced nation on earth, both in terms of daily life for the citizens, as well as in terms of the nation’s scientific and engineering advancements. Let’s look at the two individually.

Daily Life.

China has the world’s best mobile payment system. It is pretty much a cashless society. You pay for everything with WeChat or AliPay.

China has the world’s best 5G deployment. Good 5G service is available practically everywhere.

AI is widely used across the country.

EVs are widely used across the country. Charging stations are practically everywhere.

High-speed rail is widely used across the country.

Chinese subways are among the most advanced in the world.

China is the world’s largest producer of green energy, especially solar.

Nation’s Advancement.

According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, China leads the world in 37 out of 44 critical technology fields. The USA only leads in 7.

China is granted more tech patents than the USA and Japan combined!

According to the CWTS Leiden Ranking 2023, 16 of the top 25 universities in terms of quality research output are Chinese!

According to the Nature Index, the top 23 rising science institutions in the world are all Chinese!

And 39 out of the Top 50 rising institutions are Chinese! (Seven are American, two are British, and two are German.)

The Tiangong space station is the most spectacular orbital platform in the world, easily eclipsing the aging International Space Station.

It is widely acknowledged that China’s BeiDou navigation satellite system is superior to America’s GPS.

How do Chinese people cope living in such a miserable grey country due to pollution and the fact that they are the biggest contributor to world pollution?

I took the following photo from my balcony in 20 May.

This one I took at 5PM in 6th Nov. 2023 in Shanghai National Exhbition Center

This one in Tianjin, a coast city in North China, 1:48PM, 21 Oct. 2023

This is a screenshot from my car recorder. Even when it’s cloudy, the sky is white, not gray.

Even when there was about to have a heavy rain, the sky was gray-ish, but not dirty gray.

Living in China is like going into a new era every 10 years, and the pollution thing in China is more than 10 years old.

China used to have serious pollution issues, because it was focusing on becoming industrialized before the west could shut the door of industrialization.

Should I remind the west about the uneatable fish from the Great Lakes region?

Environment in the west is not always as good as nowadays, for example, the New York City and LA city smog.

It’s almost inevitable when a country’s industry developing rapidly.

When the west finished their developing process, they turn back and forbid other countries from having their own industries,

because these former colonies should only receive high pollutive manufacturing from the west,

and spending the thin profit to buy high priced green equipment from the west,

just to deal with the pollution caused by making cheap products for the west.

China spent 2 decades to clean up the mess, and now is the leading country in green energy.

China also creates the most new green land. It created so much that the west even called this as forcing the trees to work or live, I cannot remember clearly, because I don’t want such shit to contaminate my mind.

Luna One | AI Series PART 4 | “Desolation and Giants”

All AI generated. Things are improving and changing quickly.

What are the things no one tells you about living alone?

I moved out to London five months ago. Until then, I’d shared a bathroom and sometimes a bedroom for 18 years. This is more of a what no one tells you about living alone for the first time.

You can poop with the door open. You can literally put your laptop outside the door, put on Netflix and watch Brooklyn 99 on the toilet. Heck, you could seat there and watch an entire episode, and no-one will know about it (unless you put it on Quora, obviously).
Being financially independent is…terrifying. For example, you can spend £150 on a new tattoo and then eat powdered mac & cheese from Poundland until you get paid and your mother won’t be around to nag you about it. (I would not recommend doing this).
It can get lonely. I have two siblings and they were always around to hang out or chat or annoy – I can’t do that now. When I was in London over Christmas and everyone was in their hometowns, I could go five days without leaving the house or talking to anyone in person.
You can eat what you want, when you want. For example, it’s currently 3AM and I am eating mac and cheese (see number two).
You can bring people home and not worry about any awkward interactions between them and your siblings the next morning.
You can use the shower/bath whenever you want. I’ve spent nearly two decades of my life arguing with my older sister about who gets to shower first (aka who gets to use all the hot water).
If you have pets at your parents and you move out, your new place is going to feel extremely empty. I came home every day to my dogs yapping at me and my god, I miss it.
You will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever be on top of your laundry. It will come out of no-where. You will produce more laundry whilst doing laundry. You will always leave at least one item out the washing machine. Being an adult is just doing laundry until you die.
There always be at least one chore to do. Washing the dishes. Vacuuming. Putting away the dishes. Cleaning the kitchen. Cleaning the bathroom. Unclogging the shower drain. Doing the shopping. It goes on and on.
There is no one else to blame when the shower gets clogged. Again, I have an older sister and we always used to blame the other person whenever the drain got blocked. Now I am the sole user of the shower in my flat and I can’t blame the hair monster in the plug on anybody else.

Ukraine Aircraft Strikes Interior Russia with West-Supplied Weapons

Hal Turner World

Ukrainian fighter jets have fired NATO missiles at a target on Russian territory for the first time in this war! A “Russian command node” was hit on Sunday in the area of Belgorod.

Expect a massive response from Moscow.

NATO continues to use Ukraine to launch its attacks on Russia!

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia is deteriorating so fast, and on so many levels due to NATO interference, that Serbia’s President Vucic now openly warns of World War 3 in Europe!!

“We are months away from a full scale war between NATO vs Russia!! All signs point to a major war in Europe!” said President Vucic. “We are heading for a major catastrophe and it seems that the train has already left the station and can no longer be stopped.”

In a TV interview, Vucic went on to say “No one in the West is talking about peace anymore – only more war. The West thinks it can win and take out Russia. I think the West is wrong. Both sides now believe it is existential for them, so I don’t think they will find a solution other than war and everything . . . everything is at stake.” he continued.

In Europe, the leaders act as the big heroes, but they are not honest and do not tell their citizens that they will all pay a big price if it comes to war” he said.

Hal Turner Snap Analysis

It’s been well over a year since the collective West announced F-16s for Ukraine. Since that moment, I said, and repeated ad nauseum, that Ukraine will NEVER GET F-16s…because they do not have airfields and maintenance to operate them.

I was right then and I am right now.

The simple FACT that they will have to use F-16s from NATO bases, also proves that those jets will have NATO pilots…because once those F-16 start hitting Russian targets, well, it will mean the EXPANDING of WW3, which already started.

It’s not really hard to understand that once Russia hits those NATO airfields, which they WILL DO, WW3 goes beyond Ukraine, hence, there is NO POINT IN TRAINING Ukrainian pilots.

I have predicted this for a very long time, and the only thing that made my dates to be wrong, was in INCREDIBLE PATIENCE OF RUSSIA.

But, as more time passed, the better accuracy my predictions become, and my last calculation was in November 2023, when I predicted direct conflict between NATO and Russia before the summer of 2024, which starts on June 20th.

I WAS 100% RIGHT — NATO forces started direct attacks against Russia at the end of last month, when they gave the “green light” to Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike inside Russia. We all know that NATO troops are doing it, not Ukrainians.

The only missing part is Russia striking back, but realistically speaking, the FACT is that Russia was directly attacked by NATO already.

In my view, Russia striking back is 100% CERTAIN.

We just don’t know when and how they will do it, but I am pretty sure that it will happen in the next 10 days, and it is going to be a major one.

War is the thing where . . .

Hal Turner World

War is a place where young people who don’t know each other and don’t hate each other, kill each other, based on decisions made by old people, who know each other and hate each other, but don’t kill each other.

von er Leyen and Stoltenberg will, alongside their families, take a chopper to their underground Nuclear bunker. While You and your sons and daughters will be expected to die for them.

This is the reality. Think about it.

The West is to Blame; and just won’t stop

We can expect a significant widening of the west’s participation in the conflict before Putin will be forced to react. How far this will need to go to cause his response is hard to say…. but he will not take any proactive measures to prevent any of that from happening.

Putin is very determined to avoid an escalation with NATO “at any cost.” This is clear from his words and body language. It is a misguided posture on his part as this will happen regardless of his desire.

Hopefully he is at least being properly prepared for that outcome, even if it is not his wish – and make no mistake he is VERY averse to any notion of any level of conflict with NATO. He knows this will rock the boat and he simply doesn’t want that.

As such, we can expect LOTS of tolerance with whichever the US/NATO does, short of attacking Moscow directly with NATO missiles.

Not sure it will be as fast as 10 days, as the US believe it or not, still have some self-preservation sense. But the escalation towards that outcome will be indeed visible in the next days.

The U.S. needs and wants this war because they are $34 TRILLION in debt, cannot pay it, and must get debt forgiveness. Without that, they would need to adopt austerity spending which would mean cutting the Welfare, Food Stamps Medicare, spending – which they KNOW would result in political suicide . . . they would all be voted OUT. To those politicians, losing power would be worse than dying . . . for them.

Here is the OFFICIAL Federal Reserve report on the growth of the U.S. Debt:

It is now growing at ONE TRILLION DOLLARS every 100 days! This is simply not sustainable. The government is going to collapse under the weight of its own debt. It is a mathematical certainty. There is no way out for them . . .

They’re like drug addicts who need a fix. The politicians would rather die than give up their drug, which is “power.” They’d much rather have YOU and ME die, so they can keep their power.

In order to get debt forgiveness, they NEED a nuclear exchange. The politicians who put us in this financial mess – – by buying votes with public handouts – need to be able to tell creditors “Our cities are destroyed, our people are dead, our economy is in ruins . . . . we have no hope of paying you – we need debt forgiveness.”

The Creditors, seeing this is the reality, will have little choice but to forgive the debt; but only after the country is stripped bare. National Parks, National Forests: sold-off and all the trees clear-cut for lumber to pay the debts. The Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, sold off, and all the oil and gas drilled-for – as fast and cheaply as possible resulting in all sorts of environmental pollution – all taken to pay the debts.

Gold and silver discoveries in those national parks, all strip mined to grab the precious metals, and taken to be sold-off to pay the debts.

We will be left with a worthless plot of land, stripped bare and completely polluted, to pay the debts. The entire country will be a an absolute nightmare.

All because of the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, wanted to play “the sport of Kings” (i.e. war) and the Democrat party, which stole the Presidency in 2020 through election fraud along with their useful idiots who are so ignorant, so utterly stupid, they voted for these charlatans, and caused it all to happen.

At the top of the administrative heap of stupidity and ignorance, are the hirelings in the US State Department, who were so out of touch with reality and with history, they deliberately caused a war that could not be won, and should never have been fought. Nuclear War.

THAT is what I fear is coming. Very, very, soon.

“Young Men are FAILING!”: The Masculinity Crisis | Scott Galloway (E045)

Joining me today is Scott Galloway, NYU professor, published author and the host of Prof G & Pivot podcasts. Concerned for the welfare of young men, Scott sheds light on this global crisis, revealing the alarming rise in loneliness and declining economic prospects among men. In his latest book “The Algebra of Wealth”, he provides vital education on finances and investing, helping young people better understand compounding wealth and economic security. Tune in for the next hour for a deep dive into masculinity, AI, business and more.

0:00 Introduction
2:10 Life & the economy in the US, London & Dubai
5:00 Raising a family in the UAE vs. the ‘real world’
8:10 Why Scott left The States & moved to London
12:25 Examining American culture: A patriarchal society?
13:22 “Young men are failing”: the decline in young men’s health & success
19:40 The future of education: democracy, improvements & threats
24:12 Filtering information in the attention-ad based economy
27:00 The marketing success equation (enragement = engagement)
30:42 Bots & fake profiles
32:02 Finding your purpose in life & work
33:49 The male loneliness epidemic: “Gen Z’s are giving up!”
40:00 “AI will speedball loneliness”
43:00 Young people’s wealth” the proxy war on the young
45:34 Attracting women
47:12 The impact of Upbringing & family influence
54:22 Scott’s advice for single men on finding ‘the perfect partner’
57:12 Happiness & hedonism: how to build long-lasting happiness

As a parent what’s the hardest thing you’ve had to tell your child?

I married in 1998. In 2000 our house was ready and we planned on getting a kid. We were given three. In 2001 our triplets were born.

Life was complicated for a while — but extremely rewarding. They are great kids, all of them, all in different ways.

In December 2010 my wife collapsed, was taken to hospital and diagnosed with brain cancer. She spent the next 14 months in and out of hospitals, both in our home town and in north Portugal. In February 2012 she went into a coma, and I was told that if the kids wanted to see their mother they’d better get there pronto.

My sister brought them to me. I sat with them, huddled them together and told them that their mother was in a Intensive Care unit, that she was in a coma and that she was unable to recognize them, understand them, or even to realize that they were there.

I gave them the full options: going to see their mother, or not. I told them she wouldn’t know, and that no one would judge them, whatever their decision would be. But that they would never again interact with her.

They cried, and they thought for a while, and then told me that if she wouldn’t know that they were there, they’d prefer to remember their mother alive, rather than just a body on a hospital bed.

I passed this information on to the hospital staff. They turned off life support and she passed away, quietly, without emerging from the coma. Next came the cremation, and by this time they were really upset. We decided that as soon as possible we had to get them out of that sort of reality, so we took them for a few hours in the park. And it worked wonders — but very few people outside the immediate circle of the two families understood this. I am still being criticized, and judged, for not bringing her home for a burial, and for allowing my kids to relax their mourning.

I figured that they had had this for the whole of the preceding year. They knew their mother was ill, and they understood (I don’t know how, because no one ever told them) that we didn’t expect her to survive. I still have friends of ours — OK, mostly friends of hers — who haven’t forgiven me for it.

A few days later, once we were back home, they came to me, and told me that it was fortunate that it had been mommie who had died. I was shocked, but curious, so I asked why. And the answer they gave was amazing: “Mommie was ill and was bound to die anyway; if you had died we’d have been all alone”.

But having to tell them that their mother was dying, and having to give them the choice of seeing her or not — that was the toughest position I was ever in.

I give them full credits for taking the option they took — it just shows they are practical, smart and level-headed kids.

Shorpy

Cacciatore French Bread Pizza

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

6 (7 inch) French rolls or 1 long loaf French bread
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast meat, cut into thin strips
1 cup (1 small) sliced onion
1 cup (1 small) sliced bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup Contadina Pizza Sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/2 cup (2.8 ounce can) sliced ripe olives
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

IG French Bread Pizza SpendWithPennies 1

Instructions

Slice bread in half lengthwise. Place cut-side up on baking sheet.
Bake in preheated 425 degrees F oven for 3 to 4 minutes or until lightly toasted.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add chicken, onion, bell pepper and salt; cook, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Spread pizza sauce over cut surface of bread; top with chicken mixture.
Sprinkle with basil, olives and cheese.
Bake at 425 degrees F for 5 to 8 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

How do “soft” people survive in prison?

Here’s my experience after doing 5 years in Conn.

Guys that are soft, as you’re thinking are usually people who are not career criminals, and generally not led a difficult lives out on the streets. They come into the system with few “natural enemies” so to speak. A lot of guys get in trouble because they continue “beefing” with people inside the walls.

“soft” guys usually mind their own business, or are not nosy, or don’t pay attention to problems not their own. They tend to be quiet, keep to themselves.

Alot of these type guys are actually fairly smart, educated, come into it with other “transferable skills.” They become useful to the other inmates. A man who is able to help other inmates read their court documents, or letters from the lawyers; Or, they need a letter composed to the judge complaining about a shady lawyer; Or, the “quiet guy” has art skills, and can do some amazing artwork, and he charges a reasonable rate. If this is the case, you might find this “soft” guy actually winds-up with alot of protection from the guys who have benefited from his various skills.

I was told also: ‘you do not know who that guy knows, if anyone is looking out for him from the background. It’s best not to find-out the wrong way. Leave people alone, if they leave you alone,’ is one of the gold rules that will do you well, going in.

What battles in history were won because one side did something so unthinkable that it caught their opponent completely by surprise?

Oh, this one will be fun: How about the one battle in history where infantry defeated a navy fleet?

I give you, the Miracle of Empel.

It’s the year 1585 and the wars of Flanders were ongoing between the Spanish Empire and the Dutch Heretics. During winter, some of the Spanish Tercios of Alejandro Farnesio, commanded by Francisco de Bobadilla, were stationed at Bommelerwaard but were promptly surrounded by a great army and 100 ships led by Phillip of Hohenlohe. The Spaniards were offered terms to surrender but they simply answered with immortal words:

“Spanish soldiers prefer death to dishonor. We will talk about surrender after death”

And so began the siege. The Dutch did everything right, using their superior numbers and artillery to push the Spaniards more and more and they even flooded the countryside to bottle up the Spaniards and allow their ships to get closer and bombard their camp. The Spanish were surrounded by water and ships. Bobadilla then set up a final stand at Empel, and waited for their doom. However, as they prepared their positions, a Spanish soldier, while digging, is said to have found an image of the Immaculate Conception, which was quickly taken as a sign that God was with Spain. The Image was set next to the Burgundy Cross and the morale was restored. They would die fighting.

It was december 8th, and as night descended, a terrible cold came with the dark. It blew fiercely and continuously, such that temperature went down and down, until water began to freeze.

At some point, the Spaniards realized that all the waters around Empel had frozen over and that the Dutch fleet was trapped in the ice. God was with them, said the soldiers of the Catholic King, and so, with the terrible cries of “Santiago” and “Cierra España” the fearsome Spanish Tercios crossed the ice on foot and fell upon the Dutch ships, like wolves on sheep.

Hundreds of heretics died and all the ships burned. The Tercios marched away victorious:

After the battle, Admiral Hohenlohe-Neuenstein supposedly said: “It seems that God is Spanish to work such a miracle for them”.

How do you perceive the increased assertiveness of the Philippines towards China in the South China Sea under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr?

Marcos is doing a job for USA: keep creating conflicts in SCSea. Exactly like what Ukraine did 10 years ago that resulted a Russia-Ukraine war. War is what USA wants.

Assertiveness??? That is part of the job for Marcos to reach the end result: WAR for USA.

Other than war, USA would instigate countless unrest eg protests, riots & coups in other countries.

Thru unrest/war, USA controls other government & resource/economy. It is neo-colonisation without occupying other’s land.

In short, it is about money & power/dominance.

1, money: USA makes tons of $$$ by arms sale & post-war construction for war-torn countries.

2, power: USA weakens allies eg EU or Japan, as well as enemies eg Russia or China.

In the Ukraine war, USA uses 1 stone to kill 3 birds: weakens the economy of both Europe & Russia. & colonises Ukraine after war.

USA did not let Ukraine reach peace deal with Russia or attack Russian soil. Why? To drag the war long enough to economically weaken both Europe & Russia.

How many people died, displaced or suffered in a war? Look at Ukraine war, the entire world is affected by the interruption of supply chain eg food due to global shortage & inflation.

USA wont not let world peace to happen. USA must create unrest incl war. War is in USA’s DNA.

China Reveals Updated Plans For NEW Moon Base!

Very good overview.

The half eaten hamburger

There are events that occur throughout our lives that we NEVER forget.

Maybe it was a wedding, the death of a loved one, an unusual event at work, a special childhood Christmas or just some random event.

Today, I want to relate an event that I will never forget.

It is the view of a half-eaten McDonald’s burger lying on the car floorboard.

…

It was six o’clock in the morning. We were living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We were sleeping in our mobile home that was along a nice beautiful rural road. In fact, the road ran right behind our bedroom.

I’m half awake, and I suddenly hear screeching tires, and then smash! …. CRASH!

I get up.

I look out the window.

And a car had crashed off the road and smashed into a tree in a light pine wood behind our house.

I, and my wife, threw on some clothes and ran out to the car.

We were first on the scene.

Two kids, maybe 16 or 17 year old African-American, in the font seat. All mangled up.

Why they were during at 90 mph on such a rural curving road is unknown. But they were busted up.

Another neighbor came and he dragged the kids out of the car, and we tried to get everyone settled down.

They kept asking for water. They were so thirsty. I think that they had internal bleeding.

Quickly, an ambulance showed up. Really quickly. Maybe ten minutes later. And the speed and the seriousness of the paramedics told me just how serious this event was.

We did what we could and watched the kids get loaded into the ambulances, and then leave.

Then we went back to the house. But before I left the scene, I looked in at the ruins of the wrecked car. And there on the floorboard was this half-eaten breakfast burger. Sitting there.

It’s an image that I’ll never forget.

That hamburger.

Today…

Why did you leave the U.S. for Canada?

I came to Texas at the age of four. We were on the run from the Syrian government, pre-2000.

Dad got what work he could and Mom made a decent wage working at the hospital as their only Arabic interpreter. Technically, neither had the right to work. We were illegals applying for asylum. Mom’s job was a God send. We could see her doctor friends for treatment and medicine and it made us a little less scared when Dad got kidney stones. We were always afraid of police, doctors, employers, anyone who could see we didn’t belong.

Seven. Years. Later.

Our application for asylum is denied. We cannot legally renew our passports. It is December 25th. We have to have left that day. Christmas. Not that we celebrated Christmas but boy did it feel cold that winter. It didn’t matter the hospital was willing to sponsor us all given all the community and unpaid work my mother did for them, plus being their only Arabic interpreter. We get it. We aren’t wanted.

With our passports expired, we can’t fly anywhere. It was time to try Mexico or Canada. We didn’t speak Spanish and had a friend disappear up north so we figured we might as well try Canada. We had very “America” centric studies when it comes to…geography or the world really so in our heads, Canada was a frozen tundra populated by great bearded lumberjacks in plaid. We start driving from Texas, two days and two nights, two parents, five kids ranging from 11 to…I don’t even remember my youngest brother’s age at the time, he was a toddler at the time (around twelve months old), terrified that if we are stopped, we will be deported back to Syria. Asad wasn’t a nice guy then either. The country has been under martial law since before my father was born and ironically, only shortly before the civil war was it “out of martial law”. Yeah right. We drove through snow for the first time. We had ice in Texas rarely, terrible hail, tornadoes but not snow. It was fascinating for the first five minutes until we felt the chill. Thin Texas blankets didn’t keep out the cold and we huddled the best we could.

We made it to the border and the agent asked us where we were going.

“Anywhere out of here. Our application for asylum was denied”.

“I see. Welcome to Canada. You’ll be safe here. Please drive on in to the right”.

My memory is a little hazy at this point. They pulled us over and we spent many hours in a building. At least it was warm and there were some educational books with pictures I could use to keep my little sisters and brothers occupied with. Big shots weren’t in so early on the 28th.

Fast forward, our application is accepted. We become landed immigrants, eventually citizens. I get to live in a country that understands there is a whole world out there besides just our country. A country that cares for its vulnerable people and people don’t fear to see a doctor for illness. Where if you bump into someone, both people say “Sorry!”. Where a member of parliament knocked on my door reminding us to vote.

So what made me leave the U.S.A. for Canada? Divine providence.

Famous Professor Jin gave an English Podcast. Taiwan Unification within 4 YRS! Likely by force.

Professor Jin made a English podcast, saying Taiwan will not have another Presidential Election.

Pretty good, and the details are unique. Worth watching or listening to.

THEY KEPT POKING THE RUSSIAN BEAR THINKING THEY COULD TEAR OUT ITS CLAWS

by INTEL-DROP June 10, 2024

NATO Escalation & Propaganda – Glenn Greenwald, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen

https://youtu.be/v0TcDSG-YmQ

As a foreigner, would you get arrested in China if you started bad mouthing the Chinese government?

Not at all

Typically they will ignore you

Sometimes they may be amused , they don’t talk much about politics, ask a Chinese what they think of Xi Jingping and they smile and say very little

There are four NO NOs in China that will definitely bring in the authorities:-

Taking a picture in a NO PHOTOGRAPHY zone. They can take your phone, wipe the pictures and fine you between 500–5000 RMB
Live streaming in a restricted zone. That’s a definite fine.
Public Nuisance. So if you scream “Taiwan Independence” or “Xi Jingping is a fool” in a loud voice, that’s a heavy fine
Graffiti & Posters. China is notoriously tough on graffiti and posters so if you spray graffiti or stick posters on public buildings for any reason – that’s fine plus minimum jail time

However these things result in a maximum fine and maybe at the very worst DEPORTATION for foreigners

When can you get arrested?

When your intentions become highly suspect

China doesn’t care about your normal regular critic of the CPC

They however care about those who are organized and funded by foreign NGOs to deliberately forment trouble in China

For instance during the Covid protests in Shanghai University – most students just wanted to go home and they were merely warned off

However some came because they were paid but didn’t know why they were paid. They too were just warned off

There were 7 from Taiwan whose funding revealed an Agenda and they are still in prison after 14 1/2 months

So if you are an average nutcase who screams against Xi and CPC

At worst you will be deported for being a nuisance

If you conspire with a foreign nation taking money to spread Anti CPC agenda, then that’s 5–25 years jail

Tucker Carlson : This is UNBELIEVABLE

What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you?

Sheer, unadorned terror?

Around 1974, I was taking a poop in a Florida State Park outdoor primitive toilet.

There I was, pants down, not thinking of anything in particular, when I felt this light tickling on my “equipment”.

I casually looked down – and it’s a very good thing I didn’t just reach down and scratch – and, to my absolute horror, a giant centipede was doing the royal tour of my genitals!

The biggest native centipede in Florida is the Blue, which can get quite large and inflict a minor bite, and this wasn’t a Blue. It was at least seven inches long, brown in color with yellow legs and an immense head with huge fangs. It was an invasive from some tropical country.

I know I died for 25 seconds. My heart did stop. My vision grew dark at the periphery. Somehow, I grasped I had to keep still or endure hours of mind-bending pain from multiple bites, not to mention permanent psychological damage. And, perhaps, sterility.

If the thing had vanished from sight, I’d probably still be sitting there all these years, wondering exactly where it was.

Fortunately, it climbed leisurely up my naked thigh, along my jeans, antennae waving and legs wriggling, to my knee – where, with a strength and courage born of desperation, I slapped it barehanded off my leg.

It landed with an audible thump on the concrete and scooted behind the base of the toilet faster than any animal I have ever seen.

I leaped in a single hop, my pants around my ankles, out the door, pulled up my pants and actually ran a quarter mile through the woods at record speed, just to get away from it!

It was literally weeks before I would sit down on anything without thoroughly inspecting it, and only in clean rooms with minimalist furniture. Going to bed involved inspecting every inch of the floor and drawers and sealing the doors and windows.

Eventually, the memories ceased, but I still start at the sight of one.

Absolutely SAVAGE! Men vs Women Survival REACTION | Njideka

Vintage

TOTALLY CRAZY: Presidents Who Gamble With Nuclear Armageddon | Jeffrey Sachs, May 18, 2024

BBQ Bacon Pizza

Looking for an easy pizza recipe that’s big on flavor? This pizza starts with a delicious, quick and easy pizza crust and has sweet caramelized onions, tangy barbecue sauce and then the smoky, salty topping of crumbled bacon.

Prep: 15 min | Rise: 10 min | Bake: 8 min | Yield: 1 (12 inch) pizza

Ingredients

2 to 2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 packet Fleischmann’s® RapidRise® Instant Yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup caramelized onions* (from about 2 medium yellow onions)
5 slices thick cut bacon, cooked, drained and cut into 1/4 inch pieces

Instructions

In a large bowl mix together 2 cups of bread flour, sugar, salt and Fleischmann’s® RapidRise® Instant Yeast.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the warm water. Using your hands, mix everything together until it forms a dough. The dough will be sticky, but it will come together once you knead it!
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough for 5 minutes or until the texture of the dough starts to smooth out. If the dough feels too sticky, add remaining 1/4 cup flour in a tablespoon at a time until the dough is dry enough to work with. Form the dough into a ball and place into a greased bowl. Cover loosely with a dish cloth and put in a warm place to rise for just ten minutes.
After ten minutes, turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Placing it on a piece of parchment paper makes cleanup and transport easy. Stretch out dough into a 12 inch round and place on pizza stone or baking sheet. Top with tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, cheese, caramelized onions and bacon.
Bake at 500 degrees F for 10 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing and eating!

Notes

* To make the caramelized onions, thinly slice 2 yellow onions (about 1/8 inch thick). Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Place onions in the pan and sautée, stirring frequently, for about 15 to 20 minutes depending on the onions. If onions begin to get dry, add a little water to the pan to deglaze. Onions are finished when they’re uniformly soft and have a rich golden brown color. Season to taste with salt.

Putin confident, Zelensky unstable. Cuban missile crisis scheme

What should the United States’ response be if China attacks Taiwan?

The USA should do nothing. It’s none of their business.

Taiwan is part of China. They have an unfinished civil war. Let them resolve the civil war.

The USA has no right to interfere in another country’s civil war or domestic affairs.

Any direct response would risk all-out war, even nuclear war. The results would be a crashed global economy, millions of casualties, and unimaginable nuclear devastation.

As a foreigner, would you get arrested in China if you started bad mouthing the Chinese government?

The term “Chinese government” is not an abstract concept. It has a two-dimensional structure: on one hand, it includes a five-tier system from the State Council down to provinces, prefecture-level cities, counties, and towns. On the other hand, it consists of dozens of departments, each of which can be categorized by national, provincial, prefecture-level, county, and town levels.

Therefore, when a foreigner criticizes the Chinese government, their criticism is necessarily directed at a specific institution within this structure. For example:

“I want to criticize the Environmental Protection Bureau of Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China,”

“I want to criticize the Town Government of Xinhua Street, Huadu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.”

The former targets a district-level government department, while the latter targets a town-level government.

In either case, your criticism can reach the authorities through the information channels provided by the Chinese government. These official channels include:

The mayor’s hotline;
The complaint hotline set up by the institution you are criticizing;
The complaint channel on the State Council website;
The local Petition Office;
The local Discipline Inspection Commission of the Communist Party of China.

The distinctions among these channels are:

General criticisms and suggestions (such as a local restaurant emitting large amounts of smoke) can be addressed through options 1 and 2. If an institution is suspected of violating Chinese laws and administrative regulations (such as officials taking bribes), option 3 can be used. If the issue is serious, option 4 is appropriate. If the institution severely violates Communist Party rules (such as party members engaging in corruption), option 5 should be used.

In addition to these official channels, ordinary people can also use other lawful means to voice their criticisms:

Calling the media;
Expressing criticism on their personal social media platforms.

Some government officials’ illegal activities have been exposed through these channels.

There might be minor inaccuracies in the above description, but overall it is correct.

Therefore, as a foreigner, if you wish to criticize the Chinese government, you have up to seven options provided above. No one will arrest you because the issues you raise might be problems that others also want to address. Additionally, Chinese police are very busy with their workload and are not interested in you.

However, if you, as a foreigner, do the following:

Criticize the Chinese government without specifying a particular institution;
Criticize the Chinese government without providing concrete facts, only expressing opinions and attitudes;

Then you will not be welcome in China. In fact, you likely wouldn’t be welcome in your own country or anywhere else in the world. If you simply say “I hate the Chinese government” or “I hate the CPC” without providing reasons, you are undoubtedly just a racist discriminating against China. Whether such behavior will lead to arrest depends on specific circumstances:

Whether you are criticizing or “badmouthing”;
The context in which you speak;
Your purpose in speaking;
The content of your speech.

Specifically，

If you have specific criticism and facts, no one will arrest you because the police won’t do something blatantly illegal that would leave them open to criticism.
If you are just “badmouthing” in private or at a small gathering, no one will arrest you. This is still considered “private space.”
If you badmouth simply to seem cool and provoke the police, you can try saying bad things about China directly to them. Most likely, they will give you a verbal lesson on basic decency—when in Rome, do as the Romans do, be polite and respect other countries—and then tell you to get lost. However, if you intend to spread your badmouthing to convince hundreds or thousands of people, you won’t have to wait for the police to find you; I would report you myself as a troublemaker.
If you are merely making empty derogatory statements, you will just be unwelcome. But if your comments are full of malice, slander, and lies, you will undoubtedly be arrested, and rightfully so.

In conclusion, I’ve helped you analyze this issue. I hope my analysis helps you understand the following facts about China:

Ordinary Chinese people criticize government institutions every day, and no one gets arrested. I personally filed five complaints against three government institutions through the mayor’s hotline last year alone.
The same applies to foreigners.
If you have no specific target or facts and are just badmouthing, it’s best to stay home and avoid traveling abroad, as no country will welcome you.
Rest assured, if you engage in such behavior, given that the incident is international, you might make the news in China and internationally. Your benefit may be limited to becoming an internet celebrity after your release from prison.
Almost all Chinese police officers are university graduates, and many have master’s degrees. Therefore, their (especially the young officers’) English proficiency is quite good, and they are courteous. If they arrest you, they will respect your basic human rights and will not beat you.
Be brave and try!

P.S. Many years ago, in my city, a Russian cyclist ran a red light and was fined by the police. This clever Russian guy said in Russian, “I don’t speak Chinese, I don’t understand anything, I’m leaving, goodbye!” But to his surprise, the police officer spoke Russian. Thus, the communication barrier was eliminated, and the Russian had to pay the fine because the Chinese traffic police officer graduated from Saint Petersburg University.

CHINA MANUFACTURING OLD CHIPS – economic warfare based on craigslist strategy…

Shorpy

@@@@@SHORPY Heart of New York 2.preview — @@@@@SHORPY

What was the best revenge you’ve ever gotten?

In the year 2015, my girlfriend broke up with me after a four-year-long relationship. Her reason was very obvious that she got bored with this relationship.

But the bitter part of it was, that we were in a commitment of getting married and spend our life together. I have never planned for our separation. It was just out of nowhere.

That time I was in my master’s second year. I scored badly in two following semester because of acute depression. Somehow I managed to score better in the final two semesters and got a good job via campus placement.

Meanwhile, I tried to convince her and get her back in my life for three years. Till last year I was running behind her. Tried everything I could do, but all in vain.

It’s a long story and I have put all those gloomy years in a book. So, keeping it in short.

Last year, when I called her to talk again, she replied, “Abhishek, why don’t you understand?” [Abhishek, aap samajhte kyon nahi ho?]

That day I understood and slowly moved on. It took me almost seven-eight months to get over. Now I have no desire left for her.

Oh! You are looking for the revenge part?

Well. Her elder sister called me on this 9th of April(2019). She told me that they(her family) are unable to find a well settled for her(my ex-girlfriend). She asked me if I can marry her? I was smiling. I was a little hurt as it reminded me of everything. But I did not show any disrespect and told her to talk to my parents.

Guess what? My parents rejected the girl at once. They clearly refused even discussion. My mother asked, “Where was she for the last four years?” They had no answer.

The best part of this story is that I did not take revenge. But the Almighty himself got involved and brought her to my door. Earlier I have moved on but had a feeling of getting rejected. But now I am out of that feeling too.

Trust me when I am talking about the Almighty, because four years are more than enough to find a well-settled groom for an arranged marriage.

Be sure

Have you ever worried about a fired employee coming back with firearms?

Originally Answered: Have you ever worried about a fired employee coming back with a gun?

I fired my secretary – she came back looking for me with a gun in her hand.

IN CANADA.

She was a liar and a drunkard – even on the job. After THREE legal letters I had no choice but to tell her, she was drunk again, that she was now, finally, released from her job. She left.

When I came to work the next morning she was there, by the TWX machine – precursor to the FAX, for you who aren’t old enough…

She proceeded to overturn just about everyhing loose and to throw the full coffee pot at me, and left screaming.

I went home to get a camera to record the mess.

On my way back the building concierge stopped me at the garage entrance.

“Don’t go in, Mr. Lindvall, your secretary is walking around, looking for you.

She has a gun in one hand and a flower pot in the other.”

I left.

in the ensuing trial, she claimed unlawful dismissal
The state went after the substantial value of the incoming payment cheques that she had cashed the bank over my faked signature. (I had no signing rights.) and – the ILLEGAL GUN.

A few months later, my secretary was in jail for “illegal possession of a handgun” – a six months prison sentence by itself and for “theft over $ 15,000”.

The bank manager, her friend, fared even worse, don’t steal from a Canadian bank… (They had shared the take.)

ME? Oooh for the hours and hours of interviews with the RCMP, FBI (I worked for a Canadian office of an American company) and the bank security people. No blame fell on me, nor the HR department, all was done by the rule book.

THE TWX machine?

She had sent the same message to about 80 of our corporate offices around the globe.

“This is your official notification, Bengt Lindvall is dead and will never respond to any more business mail.”

The gun? It was a Russian made 9 mm gun, nicely chromed, that she had brought home as a souvenir from her time as a secretary to a Canadian general during the Korean war. (1953)

ALERT: NEW BIRD FLU w/100% KILL RATE, MYSTERIOUS ORIGIN, LEBANON WAR BEGINS, PUTIN CHECKMATES USA

What are some of the coolest ways to react if someone mistakes you for a server in a restaurant and asks you to clean the table?

Originally Answered: What are some of the coolest ways to react if someone mistakes you for a waiter or a waitress in a restaurant and asks you to clean the table?

One night I went to a Thai restaurant wearing black T-shirt and black jeans, looking similar to staff at that restaurant. After I greeted my friends who worked there I walked to an empty table while another friend was still chatting.

As I was about to reach my table, a customer at the table next to mine waved me down and asked me to wipe the spilled red wine on their table. I said no problem and went on to ask for a cloth from my friend at the counter. She asked if my table was dirty. I said, “no, but just give me the cloth” and she did.

I went back to the table and wiped the table. They asked me to clear some plates, asked for more water and ordered a couple more meal and extra rice. I took the order, but didn’t take plates because I wasn’t allowed to get in the kitchen area where dirty plates were to go. I told them I’d take their order to the counter, then back with water and will sort out the plates.

Another trip back to the counter. Gave the order to my friend. By that time my friends had realised what I was doing and played along. She grabbed me a bottle of water and told another girl to clear the table.

I returned to the table with water and told them the other girl would clear the table for them and that the meals would arrive shortly.

Then I proceeded to my table, sat down and started looking at the menu. The next-table guy looked at me with confused face, but said nothing. After the girl cleared the plates she came to me and took my order.

He asked with wide eyes, “Are you a staff?” I smiled and answered, “No, I’m a regular customer.”

The look on the guy’s face was priceless!

MARK SLEBODA: PUTIN NOT BLUFFING, SENDS NAVY TO U.S. COAST | IS WWIII COMING?

Why Are Vast Numbers Of People Relocating To Small Towns All Over The Country?

May 28, 2024 by Michael

In recent years, Americans have been fleeing our largest cities in unprecedented numbers, and many of them have decided to settle down in quiet little towns all over the country. There are many reasons why this is happening, and I will highlight several of them below. If this trend continues, what will our major metropolitan areas look like? Violence, theft, drugs, homelessness and international migration have all risen to crisis levels and are putting a tremendous amount of strain on our core urban areas. Meanwhile, many small towns are absolutely booming as wave after wave of big city refugees comes pouring in. People have been leaving large metropolitan areas for a long time, but once the pandemic arrived that trend greatly accelerated…

In the three years before the pandemic, counties in metro areas with at least 1 million residents lost a total 200,000 or so residents annually to other regions, after figuring both people moving in and leaving, according to the Goldman report. After COVID, those losses vaulted to 750,000 in 2021, 650,000 in 2022 and 550,000 in 2023, according to Goldman and Census data. The numbers reflect annual changes through July of each year. A separate study by Lombard shows the domestic migration losses were concentrated in the largest metro areas with more than 4 million residents. Those cities shed a total 400,000 residents annually before the pandemic and have lost 820,000, 707,000 and 591,000 residents, respectively, over the past three years.

And it is being reported that last year small towns became “the nation’s top destination for domestic migrants for the first time in decades”…

Last year, about 266,000 of the big city refugees moved to metro areas with populations of 250,000 to 1 million and about 291,000 moved to areas with populations under 250,000. That made those small towns the nation’s top destination for domestic migrants for the first time in decades, Lombard says. In 2023, the New York City metro area lost 204,000 residents; Los Angeles, 119,000; and Chicago, 64,000, according to Census and Moody’s.

So why is this happening? Well, there are a number of reasons why so many people are relocating to small towns these days. For many, the quality of life in big U.S. cities has become utterly deplorable. For example, one young Chicago mother recently had to wait for hours for a police officer to show up after masked robbers entered her home…

A Chicago mom who called 911 during a terrifying break-in was left on her own for hours — with dispatchers telling her to call her local representative to demand more police funding. Michelle called the emergency hotline six times after coming face-to-face with two masked bandits, only for the strained supervisor to tell her the city’s severe budget cuts had left them with a bare-bones staff. “A gentleman got on and said sorry to say we have no units to send you … then there was an awkward pause,” Michelle told NBC Chicago Wednesday, declining to share her name or face while her would-be robbers are still on the loose.

I don’t know why anyone would want to live in Chicago at this point. Of course the exact same thing could be said about most of our other large cities. Another reason why a lot of Americans are choosing to relocate has to do with taxes. There has been a mass exodus out of “high tax states”, and Massachusetts is one of those that is being hit really hard…

Massachusetts is in danger of losing nearly $1 billion in annual revenue over the coming years as high state taxes trigger an exodus of wealthy residents. Since 2013, migration out of Massachusetts has seen an “alarming” 1,100% increase to more than 39,000 people, according to new findings published by Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. If the trend continues, more than 96,000 residents making a cumulative $19.2 billion in adjusted gross income will leave the state by 2030. The study estimates those departures would cost Massachusetts about $961 million in income tax revenue each year.

In my rankings of all 50 U.S. states, I have Massachusetts all the way down at number 44. The cost of living crisis that we are currently facing is another factor that is motivating vast numbers of Americans to relocate. At this point, we are being told that Mississippi has the lowest cost of living in the entire nation…

Imagine stepping into a world where your paycheck stretches like bubblegum and the promise of Southern charm meets you at every corner. Welcome to Mississippi, a land where the living is easy, the cost of living is easier, and every quirk adds color to the canvas of daily life. Here, your financial aspirations can don a superhero cape, albeit in a landscape peppered with challenges that keep things interesting.

One of the reasons why Mississippi has such a low cost of living is because average home prices are the lowest in the country…

Mississippi’s housing costs are the lowest in the nation. Home prices range from $32,000 to $240,000 depending on the city, with an average of $162,292.

But even though it has such a low cost of living, I don’t really like Mississippi as a place to live during the chaotic times that are coming. In fact, in my rankings of all 50 U.S. states I have Mississippi all the way down at number 33. Ultimately, the cost of living is only a minor consideration when it comes to choosing a place to live during the extremely difficult years that are ahead of us. Much more importantly, you will want a location that has like-minded people, that has a low population density, that has a low risk of experiencing major natural disasters, and that is not near any important military targets. Unfortunately, such areas have become very popular in recent years and home prices are going through the roof. For instance, the median home price in Bozeman, Montana has risen to about $770,000…

Nowhere has the affordability crisis been felt as acutely as in Bozeman, a city of about 56,000 not far from Yellowstone National Park and the upscale Big Sky skiing community. Bozeman, where the median home sells for about $770,000, has had so many out-of-state arrivals over the years that Montanans sometimes refer to it as “Boz Angeles.” As high-end rentals in Bozeman spring up next to historic homes and new arrivals snap them up, a smattering of tents and RVs have begun to populate the outskirts of town: homeless residents priced out by rising rents. Many longtime Montanans bristle at the newcomers, and bumper stickers proclaiming some version of “Montana Is Full” abound, occasionally with an expletive attached. Some locals blame the popular television show “Yellowstone” for romanticizing the Mountain West, luring people to the state.

A lot of Americans now find themselves priced out of many of the most desirable communities in the country, and that is extremely unfortunate. If you are considering relocating to another part of the nation, I would encourage you to do it soon. Because global events are starting to really go haywire, and the clock is ticking.

Married be like

Biden has repeatedly stated his intent to prevent China to be the most powerful country in the world. Why does the US persist in suppressing China to maintain the only superpower instead of striving to improve itself?

It’s basic human psychology. When you’ve been #1 for much of your life, you want to remain #1 forever. You want to continue receiving all the perks and privileges of being #1.

So it is with the United States. It has been #1 since the end of the Second World War. It enjoys all kinds of benefits and privileges.

The USA is a capitalist state. It is largely controlled by the wealthy elite who don’t give a rat’s ass about the American people and their welfare.

This is why America is such a basket case of a nation. Look at all the domestic problems:

homelessness
gun violence
poor health care
declining life expectancy
poor education
crumbling infrastructure
opioid addiction
mass incarceration
systemic racism (“I can’t breathe”)
growing poverty and widening economic disparity
political turmoil (January 6, 2021)
crushing national debt ($35 trillion and growing by $1 trillion every 100 days)
etc.

Biden is in denial. The American people are in denial.

Denial is not a river in Africa.

Aaron Maté: What Happens if US Troops Go to Ukraine?

Salvage

Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Dream up a secret library. Write a story about an adventurer who discovers it. What’s in the library? Why was it kept secret?… view prompt

Aeryn Goodspeed

“That shouldn’t be there…”Wren let the Stardrake cruise to a halt…well, as “halted” as anything could be in the shifting void of the universe. The impulse engine purred in its stasis, creating a soothing background noise as the old adventurer checked the readings on her screens and instruments.The sector she’d found herself in was devoid of any nearby celestial bodies, apart from asteroids that reminded her of driftwood in the ocean. Useful, sometimes, if collected from properly, and sometimes with bits of fishing line–in this case, thick, rusted cables from long-decayed shipwrecks–but simple sticks floating around in the water of space. She’d been on an internal, bittersweet nostalgia tangent about it when she’d noticed something odd pop up on her infrared reader.Something bigger than an asteroid. Or, at least, bigger than most of the asteroids around here.Her first thought had been that it could be another spacecraft, one with more of a population on it than her personal craft, but as it came into view of her illuminators she found it decidedly…organic. Far too wooden to belong in the vacuum of space.“WICR, give me a reading on this.”On her console, a silvery-blue light flickered on. WICR, which stood for Wavelength Information and Communications Relay, was essentially the brain of the ship, though it didn’t often pay attention to her unless she directly spoke to it.“A reading on what, Captain Caldwell?” said the bot’s voice. It really snuck into uncanny valley, she thought, how well WICR’s voice matched the inflection of a standard human’s voice.“Call me Wren,” she said, for perhaps the hundredth time. “Give me a reading on this unknown object we’re facing. It’s too big and too…wooden to be an asteroid.”“Certainly, Captain Caldwell,” he said, a hint of humor in his tone. There were a couple of contemplative beeps and the sound of something scanning, and she looked out the viewport at the object as a grid array appeared on it, mapping out its contours.She frowned, peering closer, then cursed as the grid vanished. “Do that again.”“The entire scan?” WICR asked.“No, the grid array. Let me see it.”The array flashed on again, lingering as she tried to make out its shape. It almost seemed like…a building?“Are you satisfied, Captain?” WICR asked.“Sort of,” she said, leaning back. “Have you finished scanning it?”“Yes. It seems to be a manufactured structure. The framework is steel and lead. The outer shell appears to be brick and mortar, made of what appears to be a mixture of wood, clay, and trace amounts of other materials. Due to the lead, it is difficult to get a reading on the inside, but–”“What’s the architecture’s origin?”“A planet known as La’uck Lao.”Wren frowned as a thought occurred to her. She was going through an asteroid field right now…“Can we get a read on some of these other objects around the ship?” she asked.WICR beeped again. More grids flashed out, flickering along contours before flitting off to the next object. Wren sat in relative silence, a feeling of dread settling in her stomach.She was getting too old for this.When WICR spoke again, his voice sounded apprehensive…or maybe Wren was projecting. “There are an odd assortment of objects out here,” he said. “Most of it is igneous stone. But there is also: Ice, plant matter such as splintered wood, and manufactured metal.”

A lot of random material, she thought. But not quite as random if my hunch is right.

“WICR, one more question,” she said. “Is there supposed to be a star system in this sector?”

“Yes,” WICR said. “The main sequence star known as Lak La’uck. It is a yellow star much like Earth’s Sun.”

“Known by whom?” she asked.

“By the people of the planet of…” A few more beeps seemed to hang in the air as Wren’s meaning registered in the AI’s computing processes. “The former planet of La’uck Lao.”

“Scan for the core of that sun, but keep a grid array on the front of that structure,” she said, pulling out her bandanna. She wrapped it around her head, securing her dreads before pulling on her space helmet.

“Are you planning on entering it, Captain?”

“Yes,” she said. “Maybe I could find out what happened here.”

“And if you encounter a life form?”

She frowned. “Doubtful.” But she grabbed her holster anyway, double-checking the charge on her photon pistol before clipping it around her waist.

The expanse of the black void was cold. It settled into her aching joints with a stinging pressure, but she ignored it–arthritis be damned, she was going to figure out what this was. She drifted toward the building for a moment, enjoying the complete and utter silence of space for a moment, before switching on the propulsion system in her boots and gliding toward the ominously angular structure.

Well, she thought, her internal monologue the only sound in the universe, at least it has a regular door.

The door yawned open for her. Apart from the lines from the array leaking in, it was pitch-black inside, so she turned on her headlamp to look around. What she saw was…eerily familiar.

Books, was her first thought.

Rows upon rows, shelves upon shelves, some drifting in the zero-gravity and some neatly stacked where they’d been for countless days, were triangular shapes reminiscent of books. The covers seemed the same thickness as the pages, and had a dark hue with lighter writing on it, but they were books. She pulled one out of its stasis and flipped it open, examining the lettering–an unfamiliar alphabet, but undoubtedly writing. She examined its texture, and realized these were made of particle wood. The cover had some sort of painting on it; green flames surrounding a figure that looked vaguely humanoid, wielding what was perhaps La’uck Lao’s version of a sword.

She looked around. There were hundreds. Thousands, maybe. She turned off her propulsion boots and “walked” along the surface, eyes searching. This was a library! Arguably, at least in her eyes, one of the most important parts of a society: its knowledge.

Her heart fluttered in sympathy as she noticed the corpses floating in the dead space between the books. Somehow, this building had survived a catastrophe that had wiped out its planet and its people. It was possible that no one in the universe would ever be able to read these books again. The bodies were frozen, preserved, faces masks of horror and hands–or whatever they had instead of hands–permanently clenched as if they had been trying to hold onto something, anything, as their planet was rent asunder.

Or whatever had happened.

“WICR?” she said into the mouthpiece, then froze.

Something was watching her.

She wasn’t sure how she knew. There were no nearby sounds, there was no flicker of light save for her own, nothing had touched her. She couldn’t even pin it on the grid array lighting up a section of the wall beside her. And yet, there was a tingle of the hair pricking up on the back of her neck, the urge to run shifting her feet.

“Yes, Captain?”

She jumped out of her skin, her heart jumping into her throat. She had to be careful of that these days. As she internally reprimanded herself to calm down, though, she took a deep breath and looked around. Nothing but her shifted, and the sensation of eyes on her had gone.

“Your vitals appear to have spiked,” WICR said. “My apologies. What did you need?”

“It’s fine.” She took another deep breath. “Can you look up any other information on La’uck Lao? Alphabet, customs, stuff like that.”

“Certainly. Please hold.”

Wren continued to look around. Carefully moving between the books, she looked around at the architecture. More wood, more stone brick. Everything seemed to be triangular. The windows, doors, even a set of derelict stairs leading up to a second floor that was no longer there.

She followed the stairs anyway, then stopped, feeling the tingle of apprehension return. Her brow furrowed, and without turning, said, “I know you’re there.”

Silence. But she expected that. Murmuring to WICR to keep at his task and ignore her unless she called for help, she continued to bounce into the remnants of the second floor. It was nothing but the approximation of a rooftop now, and she sat, running a gloved hand through waving strands of what must have been a carpet. She faced the entrance to the stairs, eyes on the yawning black hole set in the off-black contours of the library.

Then she turned off her headlamp.

The feeling of being watched intensified. She felt as though she were surrounded, footsteps of a bustling patronage nullified by the blast. If she were to stand back up, she thought, she might headbutt whatever had walked up to her. Black eyes in a black face set against a black void peered at her. Invisible, hollow, and yet there just the same.

These were probably ghosts, she thought. Spirits of a planet that had been obliterated so fast the AI databases hadn’t caught up. None of the people that had been here had been properly laid to rest, because there was nowhere to lay them but a broken library surrounded by the shreds of its world.

“You probably don’t understand me,” she said. “But I want to help. I come from a planet that was destroyed just like yours. I live on a new planet now, one that was built to give people that lost their homes a new place.”

The presences around her stilled, and now she did feel something, a light pressure on her shoulder. It pressed hard enough she could feel it through her suit, but light enough she could tell it wasn’t trying to hurt her.

Or it was, and just unable. Still, it didn’t feel aggressive.

“WICR,” she hissed. “Can you get me the word for ‘friend’?”

“One moment. Who are you talking to?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll explain later.”

She held up the book she’d picked up from below, setting it on the floor in front of her. “I have an idea,” she said. “It might be a little hard. It’d take several trips. But I would like to move this library to my new home. But…well, I’m not really privy to your customs. It just seems more fitting for a place like this to be re-established somewhere that people of many displaced cultures can come and learn about yours.”

The pressure on her arm increased, then fell away. She still felt the presence of several somethings around her, but continued to see nothing. WICR’s voice spoke in her earpiece, and she nodded.

“Ki’lom,” she said.

Abruptly, the atmosphere seemed to change. It felt more…energetic. Twin pinpricks flashed before her, reflecting in the fiberglass of her faceplate. The book she’d placed before her was lifted up, then placed firmly into her arms.

A voice spoke, raspy but warm. “Ki’lom.”

Several months later, the last ship to carry the final pieces of La’uck Lao Library descended on the flatlands of Hakshaithlin. Wren and Joa, her friend from Earth, had picked out a plot of land that almost matched a photo they’d found in the old library, and it had been developed–well, about as well as it could be–to accommodate both the library and the cemetery. It was grueling work, but on a planet filled with the lucky unfortunates of the universe, most of everyone was willing to pitch in to help.

Wren stood at the gate, watching a melting pot of workers fix up what they could of the library. She held that first book in her hands–after a few months she was still missing the meaning of most of the words, but she could at least make out what they spelled out. It was a fantasy story, from what she could tell, about a legendary figure from folklore.

She found herself walking down the rows of gravestones. Or, perhaps, the word “garden” fit this plot better. The locals had planted flowers around the stones, greeting the dead into this haven just as warmly as they greeted the living.

A few rows in, she creaked her way into a seated position in front of a headstone. It had been carved with lettering found tattooed on the alien’s arm, which had been confirmed by WICR to be a form of identification. As she sat, she placed the book in her lap.

“I wish we could’ve met,” she said. “I would’ve liked to be friends.”

She felt that pressure on her arm again, and turned to see a pale, misty figure sitting beside her. She couldn’t make out a single distinctive feature save two pinpricks of light where the eyes would be, but she got the impression it was smiling. Or, well, exuded the emotion of smiling. She doubted it would look the same to her.

“Ka’ehr.”

The word barely reached her ears, and in the next moment the figure had dissolved. She thought to ask WICR to translate the word, but after a moment of thought she realized she knew exactly what it meant. She smiled.

“You’re welcome,” she said to the breeze.

ODESA Hotel Along With BRITISH Army Officers Sailed In The Air After Being Hit By Russian ISKANDER-M

What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

I once saw one of my customers do something absolutely genius when I worked as a lowly till grunt at Sainsbury’s.

So what did this customer do? Walk up to my till with a basket of shopping, followed by a whole tray of Avocados; I reckon about 30 of them, which I dutifully scanned, slightly bemused.

Perhaps they just really love making guacamole? I thought.

These particular Avocados were nearly out of date so were heavily discounted from £1.00 to 10p each. A pair of Avocados was now a bargain at 20p.

Now, it turns out our Avocados were also on offer. Not a great offer, just buy 2, save 50p. However, the till system was apparently dumb and didn’t take into account reductions before applying this discount.

This customer clearly knew that bug existed.

So those bargain Avocados looked even more delicious when the 50p discount made them cost -30p a pair…

I stared in amusement as the -30p discounts rolled in and their shopping bill became smaller and smaller and smaller, until everything they bought was essentially free. They walked out of there smiling and I sat there, pondering just how dumb the checkout software writers were at Sainsbury’s.

Nevertheless, sometime later I emailed management and told them what I’d seen. Later that year I tried the same thing, but alas, it seems they had discovered the bug and fixed it…

Oh well, at least those guys got free shopping.

All I got was a shit load of squishy Avocados…

China is overwhelming Western Imperialism. Who is the dictator ? “必看”

Artichoke Dip Pizza

An entire pizza topping devoted to the delicious and popular artichoke dip!

Prep: 15 min | Bake: 12 to 15 min | Yield: 1 (12 inch) pizza

Ingredients

Crust

1 3/4 to 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (2 1/4 teaspoons) envelope Fleischmann’s® Pizza Crust Yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup very warm water (120 to 130 degrees F)
3 tablespoons corn oil

Topping

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 1/4 cups shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon minced onion
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup crushed tortilla chips
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Instructions

Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine 1 cup flour, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add very warm water and oil; mix until well blended, about 1 minute. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Dough should form a ball and will be slightly sticky. Knead** on a floured surface, adding additional flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes.
Pat dough with floured hands to fill greased pizza pan or baking sheet. OR roll dough on a floured counter to a 12 inch circle; place in greased pizza pan or baking sheet. Form a rim by pinching the edge of the dough.
Mix together artichokes, mayonnaise, 1 cup Parmesan cheese, chiles, garlic powder and minced onion in a large bowl. Stir until well blended.
Layer crust with 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, topping mixture and remaining cheeses. Sprinkle with tortilla chips.
Bake on lowest oven rack for 12 to 15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and crust is browned.
Remove from oven and sprinkle with parsley.

Notes

* If you don’t have a thermometer, water should feel very warm to the touch. ** To knead the dough, add just enough flour to the dough and your hands to keep the dough from sticking. Flatten dough and fold it toward you.Using the heels of your hands, push the dough away with a rolling motion. Rotate dough a quarter turn and repeat the “fold, push and turn” steps. Keep kneading dough until it is smooth and elastic. Use a little more flour if dough becomes too sticky, always working the flour into the ball of dough.

Tik Toc

How would the U.S.A. beat China in a war?

Please mark my answer for future reference.

The only way for the United States to defeat China is to make the Chinese Communist Party lose the support of its people. If this can be achieved, the U.S. wouldn’t need to go to war; it could succeed through media propaganda or NGO-led social unrest. In Sun Tzu’s Art of War, this is called “winning without fighting.”（不战以屈人之兵）

What shocked the Chinese the most about the collapse of the Soviet Union? It was that when the Soviet Communist Party was dissolved, this vast red empire, the first socialist country in human history built through countless sacrifices, did not have a single person step forward to defend it. The Chinese assessment was: “Not a single hero.”（竟无一人是男儿）

I believe the collapse of the Soviet Union had a profound impact on the Chinese Communist Party. They realized that if a party cannot provide a good life for its people, fails to listen to them, and becomes a privileged class, turning into an imperialist state that invades or economically exploits other nations (such as the Soviet actions in Afghanistan, Eastern Europe, and Warsaw Pact countries), then that party is destined to perish.

In response, the Chinese Communist Party initiated a series of rapid reforms in the 1990s, continuing to this day. These measures include:

Actively developing the economy to make people prosperous.
Prioritizing industries related to people’s daily lives over military industries, enriching people’s lives.
Efforts to develop agriculture, eradicating famine that had plagued China for millennia.
Focusing on high-tech military capabilities rather than redundant manpower tactics, cutting military personnel multiple times to release young productivity into economic activities.
Continuously combating corruption within the party.
Expanding higher education to produce numerous engineers rather than lawyers or journalists.
Massive infrastructure projects, extending roads and bridges to remote areas to help lift impoverished people out of isolation and change their destinies.
Persistently helping people escape poverty.
Developing the economy and improving lives in ethnic minority regions, driving out extreme religious thoughts and focusing people on the pursuit of secular happiness.
Implementing strict civil servant management, dismissing or prosecuting those who violate ethics or laws.
Encouraging people to learn, study abroad, and travel overseas to understand the outside world, rather than restricting information, while focusing on social and economic progress to let people feel that China is approaching developed country status.
Improving social management and administrative efficiency, addressing every social issue as much as possible.

After decades of effort, the Chinese government has made significant progress in these areas. This leads Chinese people to believe that the Chinese Communist Party can continue to govern because they are doing a good job.

I know some might say, “The CCP has all the power, and ordinary people cannot reject their rule.” But just recall the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s when hundreds of millions of angry citizens occupied government institutions, and many officials met violent deaths. That can be seen as a bottom-up power grab because people felt the government had betrayed Mao’s ideas.

In summary, if the CPC were truly terrible, a revolution in China would be inevitable because the Chinese are not superstitious. In ancient times, when Europeans believed in the divine right of kings, the Chinese perspective was “the mandate of heaven.” Only when secular life was happy would the emperor be considered a “wise ruler” by the people. Otherwise, no matter how oppressive the government was, it would eventually fall. Chinese historians would then record the fact: “A certain emperor oppressed the people, a revolution broke out, and the dynasty fell.” The CPC’s Political Consultative Conference includes many historians who, compared to Western lawyers and journalists, are the real “kings without crowns.” The good and bad of any regime cannot escape their pens.

The lyrics of the Internationale say: “There are no saviors, we rely on neither gods nor emperors.” China, having experienced dozens of dynastic changes in its history, understands well that if it betrays the people and forms a privileged class of its own, its end is inevitable. Mao Zedong’s greatness lies in educating the Chinese people with his ideology: The sole purpose of the Chinese Communist Party is to serve the people. If you find them betraying this goal, you should rise up and overthrow the regime.

As of now, I believe the Chinese Communist Party is doing well. The Chinese people trust them. Therefore, if a war were to break out between two superpowers, how could a country with 1.4 billion people under the effective 100% management of the CCP lose?

Of course, it must be acknowledged that if the U.S. continues to focus on scientific research, improving the lives of its people, and enhancing social management, instead of being run by addicts, minority groups, inexperienced businessmen, Jewish extremists, liars, and a sleepy old man, it will remain a formidable opponent.

But today’s America, while not a joke, increasingly resembles one. China hopes its enemy is the “beacon of humanity” America, not the current version.

P.S. I respect all LGBTQ+ individuals.My first degree thesis was on sexual minorities in China.In China, sexual minorities have relatively free space for their activities. However, the Chinese government prefers that it not become a public issue.The reason is that the United States has a tradition in its foreign relations: certain covert agencies identify obscure topics in other countries and, through media operations, turn them into hot issues. Then, they search for vulnerabilities behind these topics from various angles and have opinion leaders polarize the issue. Consequently, unity disappears, and social conflicts erupt. This is the typical approach of American NGOs, as I’ve observed in my 23 years of experience working on the internet. Therefore, Americans should play these games in their own country.

U.S. Plan To Deploy Soldiers To Fight Russia ! w/ Scott Ritter

Hard dose of reality.

Pumping up the deep coolness of pleasure and relief

One of the most common things that you can find in Pennsylvania are these metal water pumps. Apparently, sometime in the 1920’s or 1930’s, all the open wells (you know the kind, the stone or brick lined cylinder into the ground) was replaced by a metal manual pump mechanism.

water pump10 1024x1024 — water pump10 1024×1024

As a boy, as we would be hiking through the woods or bike riding, we would go find a local water pump and pump up some fresh water to cool off with.

water pump8 1024x1024 — water pump8 1024×1024

These things were great, but were also something that I haven’t seen in years. Oh, I’m sure that they still exist, but I haven’t seen them personally. So I just wanted to “throw this all out” to youse guys.

water pump3 1024x1024 — water pump3 1024×1024

It’s one of those things that we take for granted, and then we forget as our lives change. How many other things are like that? I don’t know, but I’m willing to bet a lot more than we like to think about. For certain!

Today…

Why isn’t China doing much about the fact that their people can bypass the great firewall by simply having a VPN?

Practically it can’t; some people (e.g. businesses and researchers) need a VPN, otherwise they are unable to do their jobs in China, yet China needs businesses and researchers.

A blanket ban on VPNs — and by extension access to certain overseas websites — would be nonsensical.

There is also the cost-benefit analysis of going after VPN users. Even if it were logistically possible to do so, the state probably decided that VPNs can’t negate the firewall, because they are hard to get in mainland China and most people will never get VPNs, whereas the people who do have VPNs are likely to be educated, tech-savvy, and sophisticated enough to not do the thing that they are feared to do once they skirt the firewall; that is, turn anti-government.

Besides, letting some people skirt the firewall may be a plus for the state, because it can reduce the crave for outside information and by extension the outside world, which isn’t perfect. If your narrative as the Chinese government is that the grass is not greener outside of the firewall, preventing your citizens from ever having a taste of what it’s like outside of the firewall doesn’t really help you make that case. On the other hand, if you’re a Chinese netizen who skirts the firewall and ends up in Twitter or Reddit and nothing happens to you, you may realize that the government has a point. You may even want to skirt the firewall less!

So to China, the choice is clear: it can crack down on VPN use and risk wasting its own resources while pissing curious minds off, or it can simply keep the firewall around and let folks climb it if they want to, knowing that not everyone will, and those who do pose minimal threat to the state and won’t stay outside forever.

Sometimes, porous walls are better than rock solid ones.

What Putin and China just did to Israel is SHOCKING and the UK is Furious w/ Lowkey

What happens if a prison guard finds an inmate dead in their cell when arriving for morning or evening count?

You have to understand that isn’t possible.

It *is* possible that someone’s heart may cease to function, their brain may stop issuing commands, and tiny insects may begin to colonize the still warm meat, but inmates can’t die in prison.

You’re probably thinking that I suffer from some cognitive dissonance, or mild learning disability. But, as a matter of policy, inmates can’t die in prison. And, of course, if anybody has the superhuman ability to avert death, it would be the gargantuan bureaucracy of the almighty Bureau of Prisons.

Instead, here’s what will happen:

First, we’re going to finish count — while yelling at that one guy who just stubbornly refuses to stand as per policy.

“Goddammit Lazarus, don’t screw up my count!”

After the correct number of livestock is arrived at (and this may take several attempts because prison guards aren’t the shiniest keys on the ring), one of the guards will call for a couple medical trustees to come and fetch the dude whose temperature is rapidly dropping. Trustees are inmates from other areas of the prison who do the work that’s considered beneath the guards (i.e. “everything”). Because they are inmates, they are also subject to inventory wherever it is that they sleep, or happened to be at the time. That means that their unit also has to pass count before they can come and clean away the offending debris.

The horizontal inmate will be loaded on a gurney and taken to medical where an exhaustive battery of tests will be performed to ensure that he’s not faking anything. I have no idea what these tests are, but I suspect they’re things like fogging a mirror, and poking an eyeball with a needle.

You know, “medieval” in nature.

Ever wonder what happens to doctors who finish last in their class? Once the crack (pun unintended, but delightful anyway) medical staff is satisfied, the inmate will be handcuffed, shackled around the ankles, and loaded into an ambulance.

Outside the prison walls, he can be legally declared dead.

Requiescat In Pace.

Spanish Style Liver

Yield: 5 to 6 servings

Ingredients

2 pounds sliced beef or calves liver
4 slices bacon, cut in half
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 small onion, sliced
1 (1 pound) can stewed tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 small bay leaf

Instructions

Place liver in slow cooker. Arrange bacon on top.
Mix remaining ingredients and pour over liver.
Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.
Remove bay leaf.

Are you proud to be a Chinese person?

Yes I am. I am a third generation Malaysian Chinese.
Truth to be told, I wasn’t that kind of Chinese kid who grew up with these Chinese pride.
It never crossed my mind until my growing interest in history lessons during my secondary school.

Chinese history was never the focus of our country’s education syllabus…
Instead, I grew up learning about Greco-Roman history, Renaissance, European history and Malaysia’s history.
So I was quite familiar with the West, but never China.
Out of pure curiosity, I embarked on a journey of reading.

I read about the China’s past, and consumed quite a lot of documentaries on Chinese history.
My interest grew further and I couldn’t stop reading.
I know I’m Chinese by blood, but never to the degree of finding a connection back to my own heritage.
The experience was quite bizzare.

Like reading histories that tells so much about you.
Your family surname, origins of your tribe, origin of why you do things the Chinese way.
You get a sense of connection to past histories, and it is still relevant to you.

China is so old, that they recorded so many of those things back then.
Then during my high school years, my interest in histories grew even further.
I was particularly fond of reading the reason behind fall of empires, like Roman empire, Ottoman empire, Mughal empire and etc….

You can’t stop but start asking yourself, where are those empire builders now?
They are all gone. Vanished into the dust of history.
But China is still there. We still call ourselves Chinese.
The realization of naming ourselves after a long dead empire is still very relevant to a Chinese conscious.

Just imagine if the people from the Gaul and Hispania still identify themselves as Roman.
They might acknowledge their Roman heritage, but in no mind those people would have identify themselves as a Roman. Rome was long dead, and every other nations formed their distinct identity, and there was no turning back.

Despite ups and down, China is still intact.

We still can read Classical Chinese.
We still worship our ancestor.
We still identify ourselves as Chinese.

It was weird, but fascinating.
If Europeans can understand the sentiment of Roman pride, then you should know what I meant.
Europeans tried to rebuild the second Rome, third Rome but all fall into the dust of history.
Like how Americans modelled their republic and metaphorically compare themselves to the greatness of Rome.

If you understand this sentiment, then you surely know why the Chinese are proud of.

But we didn’t have to mimic Rome.
We have our Rome to be proud of.
We pain stackingly preserved our identity through the age of time.
Except that, our Rome never fell.

Is Gen Z Killing Corporate Culture?

Has a store ever accidentally given you something for free?

“Has a store ever accidentally given you something for free?”

Years ago, when we had small children so that I was a stay-at-home Mom and we lived precariously on my husband’s salary, we certainly had nothing spare for adult clothes. But I couldn’t actually go around naked or in rags, so eventually I found a pair of nice-looking corduroy pants in sage green on sale at Sears, which, when it still existed, sold unfashionable but serviceable clothes cheap, and mail-ordered them by phone; this was before there was online anything. When they arrived they were just as nice as they had looked in the catalog and they were the perfect size. But with them was another pair of the same pants in beige and a size larger. I had paid for one pair.

I phoned customer service and explained what had happened, asking when their delivery guy would next be in the area so that he could come by and pick up the extra pair. The woman I was talking to turned nasty at that point; she said, in an unpleasant tone of voice, that that would not be possible and I must take them to the store to return them. I told her that I had two small children and no car, and that the nearest Sears store was a long two-or-three-bus journey away in a suburb, which was why I was using the mail-order service on which Sears had built their reputation. She said that was not her problem. I asked what she suggested I should do, pointing out that I now had a pair of pants for which I had not paid, and she said “Keep them! I don’t care.”

So I did. The larger size wasn’t that much larger, and it was handy to have two pairs. When the kids were old enough I went back to work, and then we could all have new clothes when we needed them. As the kids grew out of theirs we donated perfectly good clothes, plenty of them, to charities. I reckon that counts as paying it forward.

Is Gen X The Worst Generation?

10 U.S. Sectors To Be Affected if ASEAN Ditches the Dollar

The U.S. dollar is now attracting stiff competition from the constantly evolving multipolar currency narrative. With the BRICS ditching the U.S. dollar officially, it seems that the new world order is emerging, where local currencies are now reigning supreme. Joining in the queue are the latest ASEAN members, the robust ten-country power pact, which may hamper some of the US dollar prospects if they decide to join forces with the leading world allies.

The murmurs of ASEAN dumping the U.S. dollar earlier caught pace in 2023 when the countries contemplated embracing local currency narratives to promote regional supremacy.

The ASEAN nations, which comprise Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, had earlier conducted a meeting to end their reliance on the USD, Euro, Yen, and British Pound.

This was primarily done to catapult the progress of local currencies and help them ascend on the global currency radar. The members also shared comments on why the nations must end the use of USD for the long haul, citing U.S. sanctions as the key issue.

“Be very careful. We must remember the sanctions imposed by the US on Russia. Visa and Mastercard could be a problem,” Indonesian Prime Minister Widodo shared during the event.

With ballooning US debt metrics and a worsening economy on hand, the United States is now attracting issues that can hinder the progress of the USD in the long run. Decades ago, the dollar stood unhinged, but with the ASEAN and BRICS narratives gaining momentum, the USD may now encounter deep trouble hampering its global ascent.

10 U.S. Sectors To Be Affected if ASEAN Dumps the US Dollar

The top ten U.S. sectors that may feel the crushing pressure post-USD dump by ASEAN nations are:

Financial Services
Trade
Manufacturing
Tourism
Technology
Agriculture
Energy
Retail
Transportation
Real estate

The multipolar concept, a term coined to denote a basket of currencies leading the financial system, is very much underway in present times.

With robust economic competition prevalent in space, nations have now come up with new perspectives and offerings that can help them transact better by offering eccentric services and products in return.

This narrative threatens the global supremacy of the U.S. dollar to an extent, as countries now have alternative currencies to explore, thereby fueling the multipolar regime. The inflating US debt metrics, poor administrative infrastructure, and its capability to weaponize the dollar for geopolitical manipulation are now being debated openly. This is further downgrading the currency, compelling other regions like ASEAN to compete for global power and recognition.

“This dominance continues now, with the U.S. using its clout to drive socio-political goals by imposing sanctions. And by excluding non-compliant governments and organizations from the global trade and economic systems where the U.S. is dominant. The best example of this is the sanctions on Russia. And also certain Russian citizens due to their invasion of Ukraine. In the hope of influencing their ability to conduct the war,” as shared by Sable International

Shallow Women Are ABANDONING 10+ YEAR Marriages To Find Themselves On A Bunch Of C*cks

If you were an employer, would you prefer to hire a lazy person with all the qualifications you need, or a very hard working person who is unqualified?

I had a great employee once who would wear a shirt that said “Genius by nature. Slacker by choice.” It really did suit him well. He was really quite smart and there wasn’t a job I could throw at him that he couldn’t handle with ease.

The problem always seemed to be motivating him to actually do the jobs I gave him.

I have also had an employee whose work ethic was astounding. He never complained about long hours or having too much on his plate.

The problem was that I had to double check all his work and often redo it myself.

Give me the lazy genius any day of the week.

When I hire someone to do a job, I fully expect that they will be able to do said job. If I wanted to do the job myself, I’d not hire anyone and just keep the money for me.

Once you learn what motivates someone, it’s not entirely difficult to just apply the right kind of pressure to get them to do their job. With my lazy genius, the problem with his motivation was that things couldn’t hold his interest if he found them dull and routine. My job was to make sure he was challenged enough to where he wanted to work. Sometimes that meant giving some easy stuff to the less experienced people and saving all the hard stuff for him. Often, though, it was just enough to challenge his ego. “Hey, Mike was looking at this issue and claims it’s unsolvable. Why don’t you give it a go?” In those cases, I likely had a good idea of how to solve the issue, but I needed him to do it. It would put him in the frame of mind to prove just how smart he actually was. Something he loooooved to do. Regardless, he’d get the job done and do it better than anyone else in the office.

The hard working guy, all I ever had to do was tell him I wanted a thing done. He never needed coaxing or a reminder of deadlines. He was great for the simple, mundane stuff, but if it was anything more complicated than resetting a password, he’d spend half his day trying to figure out the solution and still need help getting it right. I tried tutoring him, I tried getting him lessons on basic troubleshooting and infrastructure, but nothing seemed to stick.

No offense to anyone, but people who can handle basic tasks are extremely common. Someone who can take a real puzzler and solve it are far more rare.

No one wanted this ‘old’ shelter cat. I took her home

What was something small you went to the doctor for that turned out to be very significant?

I found a little hard lump under my left ear. It was pandemic time and there were radio and TV ads telling people that they must see their doctor if they found a lump (otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone).

So, I rang for a phone appointment, expecting to be told it was a cyst or something. Nope. I was called straight down to the surgery (thank goodness I knew that particular GP very well and trusted him).

The next week or so was a bit of a blur: multiple biopsies and ultrasounds and what have you. Then a Covid test and an operation!! It was the unseemly haste that was most terrifying.

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A bit gory isn’t it!! Bride of Frankenstein. Darned near cut my ear off!! But I’m ok now – except for some quite impressive scarring. That blue/green stripe under my ear that goes under my chin – that’s bleeding under the skin acting under the force of gravity, not just a grubby neck!

Update from today. Scarring isn’t too bad, really.

Clever people, those surgeons. Most of the scar that’s actually on my face is hidden in the creases around my ear. I am so grateful to the NHS!!

Oh, and that tube? That’s one of my hearing aids. Deaf as a bloody post, I am!! Xx

Vintage fun

Fringe Benefits by Rock Anthony cover illustration by Paul Rader

Why do so many Americans gain weight from eating high carb foods like rice, but people in Asian countries can eat it all day and seemingly not gain any weight?

The problem isn’t carbs like rice or flour, the problem is added sugar.

One thing I noticed when I first came to the US is how sweet everything is. And this sentiment is shared by a lot of Chinese. When we first eat muffins, it is so sweet we nearly gagged.

A lot of processed food (even savory snacks) has a lot of sugar in it.

Not to mention soft drinks.

Another thing is for urban Americans, it’s much harder for them to get fresh produces compare to urban Chinese.

For example, I used to live in Beijing. And on my way home there are farmer’s market street stalls selling fresh produces.

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This kind of “farmer’s market” is integrated with pretty much all communities. People buy fresh produce on a daily basis and they cook fresh, mostly plant based food instead of relying on boxed meals or heavily processed foods like “hamburger helper”

After I come to the US, the only places I can purchase fresh produce are supermarkets and occasional “farmer’s markets” that only show up on Sundays in selected areas. Fresh produce is often more expensive than processed food.

Comparatively, the fresh produce in these street markets is pretty cheap. If you’re a poor person in China, you’ll most likely maintain a plant-based diet. If you’re a poor person in the US, you are limited to processed food and can food. All of them have added sugar.

For example, this is a regular bento box usually sold for low-income people like migrant workers. This one cost 10 RMB (about 1.75 USD)

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Yeah, it doesn’t look good, but 1) they’re freshly made. 2) LOTS of vegetables. 3) looks pretty balanced with veggies and proteins.

So even if you’re poor, you don’t have a place to cook, and had to rely on cheap ready-made food, you still ended up eating pretty healthy.

China had seen a wave of childhood obesity back in the 80s and 90s when Coca-Cola and other western soft drinks and fast-food chains were first introduced to our market.

But Chinese diet somewhat reduced the effect of that, and the fast-food joints in China aren’t cheap. There are other cheaper, healthier street food options. And things started to get better once people (parents) started to realize how soft drinks and fast food is bad for their children.

So at the end of the day, it’s the added sugar and cheap processed food.

As mentioned in a comment, portion control also plays a huge part in the East Asian diet.

For example, this is the bento lunch box sold on Chinese railways

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You have a good portion of leafy greens, some protein, and rice (carbs). This is usually enough for an adult male, women and children often eat less.

This is an elementary school lunch:

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Pretty healthy and balanced food with some multi-grain, fish protein, vegetables, and fruit.

When my Chinese friends and relatives came to the US, and we have lunch or dinner at an American restaurant, we often warn them about the portion size, ask them to look at other tables and see how big the plates are. Many would choose to share plates. Partly because Chinese are more used to family-style, partly because American restaurant’s portion is ridiculous.

And I think the family-style meals also help with portion control. With family-style, you’re free to eat until you’re full, instead of feeling obligated to finish the food on your plate. Sure, you can keep eating from the plate, but if you’re eating with a family, it’s kind of bad manners to hog on food. So there’s some peer pressure to not overindulge.

Billionaire Does DNA Test And Finds Out His Kids Aren’t His

What are things men have to go through that women either do not understand or have empathy for?

Long time ago, about 20 years. (Damn, I’m old)

I was at a mall with a friend (cis woman) and a child started screaming and calling out for her mom. I froze and looked around. Every man just looked, and about half of the women started towards the kid to comfort them.

My friend asked why I froze. I’m not usually an indecisive person.

I explained that I wasn’t indecisive at all. I made an instant decision not to approach the girl because I assessed the risk of being identified as a predator was too high to risk. I explained that every guy there did the same math in their head and came to the same conclusion.

In western culture, the only kind of touch allowed for men is sex or violence. Neither is appropriate in the vast majority of cases, especially with kids. We are so touch starved outside of those contexts that it perpetuates and reinforces until we can’t give or receive touch outside of them.

The culture we are in would rather see men die alone and miserable than recognize that sometimes we just need someone to be with us. It would rather see our partners with our shells than with the complete men that we should be able to grow into.

The only things we are interested in are not fight or fuck, and I’m really tired of the assumption that they are.

The Bookkeepers

Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Your protagonist is a voracious reader. Lately, they’ve been noticing odd synchronicities in the books he or she is reading. What does the protagonist discover is happening?…

Today I am including a contemporaneous short science fiction story for your amusement. This is a new idea of mine. Please tell me if you like it or not. -MM

Lying down lazily on her green velvet sofa, Jane placed her tepid coffee on the enormous rug beside her and returned to her ebook. Wind chimes tinkled in her blissfully overgrown garden outside, the lightest misting of rain tickled the windows. For the last 20 years, Jane had planned her retirement to a tee. Some of her friends had planned round the world e-tours, others were e-touring planets Jane had never even heard of. Her plans were simpler. Late nights, late mornings, and books. The rest of her days would be the same, save some obligatory human interactions. Sleep, read, sleep, read. Heaven.

She hadn’t read Of Mice and Men since she was a young teenager and had amazed herself that she remembered so many of the passages, the words, and the feelings. Not just of the book but of the person she was back when she had first read it.

Like music, books could make her a time traveller. Returning her, for a split second, to the feeling of being that young lady. The smell of overly sweet body spray, the scratchiness of school tights, the inner tumult of hormonal upheaval, the bone-deep serenity of still having parents. As she remembered the words she read, she spent a millisecond back in her family home. When she tried to capture the moment, elongate it, prolong the beautiful, painful nostalgia of being who she was then, it would simply evaporate. But when she allowed herself to just read, just keep going, the flightiest of memories would embrace her entire body and ooze through her soul.

However, towards the end of the book, the time-travelling stopped. The passages became not quite unfamiliar, but more distant. As she rounded the ending, when George and Lennie laid the first stone for their new home on the land they had bought together, she remembered something more recent.

The week before, upon completing 1984, she couldn’t figure out what was out of place about Winston and Julia escaping the Big Brother society together and ending up rearing sheep on an Irish Island. The week before that, Romeo and Juliet uniting their families with news of their new baby. And the week before that, when Daisy Buchanan falls deeply in love with Jay Gatsby. She had read all these stories in her youth. Some more than once. But their endings somehow felt at odds with her memories of them. Their endings seemed to have been born anew. They were satisfying, for sure, and truly hopeful. But they were somehow empty, not just of her recollections, but of depth: of feeling.

She knew why, of course. The Bookkeepers. Decades ago, there was a threat of war, or at least very real terrorism, when the book burnings began. The emotion that was incited on both sides was incendiary and people got caught up in a moral and philosophical warfare.

For some, literature was what it was and there was undeniable value in its unedited storytelling: a time capsule of sorts, capturing not just the events of the days they explored, but the attitudes of society and indeed the writers. For others, the content and views were deeply troubling, offensive and unsettling: there was no place in our society for saddening and unenlightened opinions that could cause upset.

Jane had taken neither side all those decades ago, too busy with work to really engage, and quietly confident that the right decisions would be made on her behalf. The Bookkeepers, ultimately, made the decisions. But should she have paid more notice? By allowing the books of her youth to be remastered, had she lost not just the books themselves, but the entryway to the person she was when she first read them. And, more worryingly, was this whole retirement really just a plan to relive her life through the books she had once read? Because considering it had been years, decades even, since her life had allowed her to pick up a book, there possibly wasn’t much to relive.

Just as she started to piece these disconcerting thoughts together, her watch gently buzzed and spoke.

“You seem to be suffering with a little emotional turbulence,” the phantom therapist stated. “Would you like to talk about it?”

“No. Not right now.”

“Sure. I’m here if you need me. Perhaps we could take a walk?”

“Actually, a walk would be good,” Jane replied with an idea fizzing in her brain. “Where’s the nearest library?”

“The nearest library is 3,757 miles away. The New York City Library,” the voice droned.

“Right. Well, where’s the nearest place to view real books?”

“The Literature Museum of Irving has a number of interesting displays that allow visitors to learn more about printed books. It is 4.27 miles away.”

“Perfect, set a course.”

It took Jane three and half hours to make the short journey. Her ageing body had no speed left in it, though her stamina remained unfailing. When she got to the small museum, located in a building that seemed to have been squeezed between two gyms, she was met by two armed guards.

“Just visiting,” Jane said giddily, her fear of authority sneaking up on her like a child.

They did not respond, noting her as unlikely to be a troublemaker. The interior of the building felt larger than it looked from the outside and the vast majority of it was dedicated to various revolutionaries who had fought, sometimes even literally, to have the classics preserved. She strolled past the memorials of these forward thinking people who had made it their life’s work to insure that politics didn’t destroy great works of literature that, though often deeply problematic, were hugely influential on the books and more importantly games, movies and e-experiences that people spend so much of their time enjoying these days.

A stern man with an eye patch stood behind a counter towards the end of the cavernous room, swiping his e-book disdainfully.

“Hi. Em, do you have any printed books?” Jane asked nervously.

“What are you looking for?” he grumbled, barely breaking his gaze from the screen.

“Of Mice and Men.”

The man pointed his dagger eye at her and raised an eyebrow.

“We have the ebook. Scan here. You don’t need to come in here for this, you know?”

“No, the actual book. I want to hold it.”

“No, there’s none left.”

“None? What do you mean?”

“There’s none left. A few in New York maybe. Or some collectors might have managed to hang on to them. But we don’t have any. Why do you want it anyway?” There was not an ounce of kindness at the beginning of his speech, and by the end he seemed to be seething for Jane’s very existence.

“Do you have a version of the original?”

“No.” The man started to peer nervously at the doorway.

“Where can I get a copy?” Jane asked, completely unaware of the inappropriateness of such a question.

“Are you here to cause trouble, is that it?”, the man said, his voice lowered to a growl. “Are you one of those protesters? Huh? Well even if we did have a file of the original, you can’t burn files, can you? And anyway, we don’t”.

“Protester? Burn? Oh god, no. Not at all. I didn’t get involved in any of that stuff. I didn’t even take sides. I thought each side had a reasonable enough point to be honest,” Jane blustered, her face flushing with shame. Her watch started to vibrate but she discreetly pushed it to shush.

“This is just a museum, okay? Whether you like it or not, those books existed and they don’t anymore. They were part of the world. An important part once. And you people got your way anyway, didn’t you? You’ve got your sanitised versions with no violence and la-di-da happy endings all round. You got your bloody AI generated revisions and ruined it for the rest of us,” he stammered, tears beading in his eye. Jane wondered if his watch was buzzing too.

“I’m so sorry. I think you misunderstood me. I’m sorry. I’ll just. I’ll go.”

And she left, fled even if her sluggish pace could be described as a flee. She hailed a carriage and was home in minutes, sweating and mortified. She held her hands to her mouth. Her watch was quaking on her behalf and she unmuted it to allow it to spill out its concern.

“Jane, you seem to be experiencing intense emotional disturbance. Perhaps a nap could help things,” it pleaded gently.

“No. I want another book. Wuthering Heights, I want to read Wuthering Heights.”

“Wonderful choice. Wuthering Heights is awaiting you on your ebook.”

“Tell me the plot.”

“Wuthering Heights is an evocative love story set on the Yorkshire Moors. It tells the story of Heathcliff and Catherine, who fall in love despite their social divides.”

“What happens in the end?”

“Heathcliff and Catherine shun societal norms and marry. Heathcliffe earns his fortune through clever investments and they grow old together in Wuthering Heights.”

“What’s the ending of the original?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

“The original book. They don’t end up together in the original, do they?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question.”

Jane couldn’t understand why her heart was racing, her palms clenched, a sort of sorrowful rage was overtaking her.

“Was Wuthering Heights edited?”

“In 2078, a number of revolutionaries fought to end the widespread book-burnings and hackings that had persisted for some years. These revolutionaries, known as The Bookkeepers, worked tirelessly to find a solution to the problems these books in their original forms created. Their solution, an artful remastering of many of the classics, allowed these books to be preserved for generations to come.”

“What were the problems they caused?”

“Many of these books caused emotional turbulence that can be detrimental to the human mind.”

Jane knew all this. She was a teenager in 2078, more than 60 years ago now, and remembered the celebrations. At first there were celebrations anyway. A compromise had been reached, literature had been saved. But as time went on, the books weren’t just edited to remove offensive passages, the became edited to include happier endings, to improve the messages, to soften the emotional turmoil they could inflict. These days most of the classics were totally remastered by AI; the promise was that with new technology, old writing could be improved. Wha happened was they were edited into bland, heartless mush. The masters were remastered. Programs had mined the original authors’ works and completely rewritten the books. The same voice, it was claimed, the same writing style, prose, rhetoric, but improved.

And there was another memory she was unlocking. A somewhat shameful one. Her mother belittling The Bookkeepers over the kitchen table. Her mother and father bickering with each other. Words her father had said. Something like, leave the girl out of it for God’s sake. She’s a child. It’s her future whether you like it or not and you can’t change it.

And then, something else. Something gentle and tender. Lying under a fort made from a sheet between her and her older sister’s bed. Holding books. Real books. Reading them furtively, reading them in her hands, the pages soft and padded. Her mother, smiling, shushing. Their little secret. Reading the book; printed books. Reading the temporary words printed in ink that would some day fade. Or burn.

Tears ran down Jane’s face. Not shameful, rageful tears. Big fat memory tears, the ones that cleanse, the ones that dislodge feelings and allow them to be held. She removed her watch and walked to a dresser in her kitchen and emptied it of its contents. Then the chest of drawers in the living room. Under the stairs she riffled through boxes and undershoes. Up the stairs, she searched her bedroom, her studio, even the bathroom. Finally, standing on a suitcase for height, she reached up to the attic door and yanked down the opening, a tinny staircase unfurling as she did so. She scaled the stairs unsteadily and rummaged rampagingly through the boxes of memories put on hold. Finally, she found one. A book. A real book. She sniffed the cover, the pages that had been pawed by so many people, and fanned them through her fingers. She didn’t know how much she missed holding a real book until she no longer could.

Black Beauty. Her childhood favourite. The one her mother allowed her to keep like a secret. Buried in clothes she’ll never fit into again and dolls she’ll never play with. Black Beauty. The heartbreaking story of a horse. The book that, although she may not know it fully, taught a young Jane empathy, compassion, and hope. She returned to her green sofa with some effort and lay back. And she read. And as she did so, memories were dislodged.

Memories like butterflies. There, but gone. Real, but intangible. Feelings. Memories of feelings. Her mother’s stoic tenderness and ridged fingernails. Her sister’s contemptuous companionship and the smell of her morning breath. Her best friend’s loyalty and hair bows. The dreadful feeling of Monday mornings and the smell of her pencil case. She was transported, not just into Victorian England, but to her own childhood. Her own mind as a child galloped through her aged brain.

She finished the book at 4am and slept through the following day. When she rebuckled her watch on Friday morning, it buzzed with algorithmic worries for her wellbeing. She ignored them, had a coffee, put on her comfy shoes, and walked the 4.37 miles.

Upon entering the museum, she was satisfied to see the one-eyed mad behind his desk. Not glancing up, he asked her what she needed without recognising this was the trouble maker from a few days before.

“I have something I think you might like to see,” Jane muttered, opening her satchel to reveal the spine of the book.

The man brought his pale hand to his mouth and then attempted to undo this betraying move.

“Is that real?” he said firmly yet quietly.

“Yes,” Jane said stoically. “It’s real.”

“Don’t take it out. Not here. Leave it in the bathroom. Collect it next week,” he said under his voice, returning his gaze to his screen after a quick glance at the doorway.

Jane did as she was told, thrilled by the secretiveness. She walked home the long way, unsure pf what was to become of the book, of it’s recipient, or of her.

When she arrived home, she returned to the attic and searched for more, but there were none. She lay on the sofa and wondered what she was so busy doing in her working life to have barely noticed the end of literature, never mind to have borne witness to its demise. So busy. She was always so busy. Finally, at the age of 85, she was of retirement age and had little left for her to enjoy. She had missed an entire revolution with her eyes wide shut, yet had banked her entire life on enjoying what that revolution had been destroying. She had assumed that what was decided was for the best, yet allowed her existence to be rinsed of emotion, of depth. She had offered an outstretched wrist when the watches were updated to monitor emotions and thoughts. Yet, now that she had time for emotions and thoughts, there was nothing left to inspire them.

She cried for six days. On the seventh she returned to the museum, hoping against hope that her book would be waiting for her. It was not.

Instead, there was a different book, on top of which lay a note. “I can give you back Black Beauty whenever you want it. But for now, borrow this and return it for a new one when you’re done. We don’t have many, but we have some. And that’s a lot.”

Under the note was a copy of Of Mice and Men. Stained, dog-eared, Sellotaped. And with an ending that reminded her of her mother’s perfume, and made her weep.

Have you ever watched justice be served to a rude airline passenger?

Not so much justice as a lesson for life.

My wife has a permanent disability meaning each time we transit through an airport, transportation has to be booked for the whole party. It also sometimes requires using doors & corridors not normally for public use. There is also a strict protocol on boarding aircraft. First on, last off for disabled passengers & family, which at first glance can seem a pain…

However it does come with assigned staff & we’re able chat away & build some relationships while everyone else is waiting to pass through checkin & board.

So flying back into Manchester Airport in the UK 🇬🇧 after a 6 & half week world tour, the aircraft was crammed full & a as per normal, we duly wait in our seats while everyone else stands & crams like cattle to rush to alight the aircraft & get in first to passport control.

After all the other passengers had left, we’re chatting away to the aircrew about our holiday & our assigned liaison commented there will be a delay as they were awaiting a vehicle to take us through the airport terminal, maybe 10–15 minutes. So we’re not feeling it, but hey ho, it’s been a good few weeks. Time comes to depart & despite the side doors & ‘special’ corridors, we’re thinking there’s gonna be such a backlog at passport control… understatement!

They must’ve unloaded 10 aircraft at the same time, close to 3,000 people waiting, the passengers from ours somewhere in the middle of this melee & us last off – & the passport control was just a little slow & seemed miles away! Last thing we needed… 😲

Then, to our surprise & somewhat embarrassment, the driver of our vehicle cuts down the side of all those poor people & to the unspoken chorus of stares & open mouths, pulls right up at the front & the lovely lady at passport control, calls us through & commences to have a chat, asking about our adventures & time away.

So, just shows, there’s not much point all this rushing around in life, ‘cause, much to the consternation of the fleet of foot & hassled masses, those who are last will surely be first 🤣

NATO PREPARES NUCLEAR STRIKE ON RUSSIA BORDER, EU AUTHORIZES “LAUNCH MISSILES NOW”

I’m curious as to why auto manufacturers need to continue making cars with computers in them? Seems that we COULD go back to cars that were purely mechanical. They were much easier to work on. Is it just a matter of greed?

My 21 year old grand-daughter has lived with us since she was about 1 yr old. In her teen years, she became interested in cars. A year ago she bought a 1985 El Camino project car, for the two of us to work on. The car has a primitive computer that controls timing and mixture control. It gets inputs from several sensors. We have been working on it for a year and have one engine problem left to resolve. We can’t get the intake manifold to seal.

The carb needed rebuilding. It is a very complicated, finicky carb, Quadrajet RA-E4ME. We rebuilt it three times, bought two commercially rebuilt carbs but couldn’t get any of them to work. Finally we bought two virgin carbs from EBay, that had never been worked on. I spent many hours watching YouTube videos and reading about how to do a rebuild (Thank you Cliff). We finally got one of the carbs to work correctly.

The computer has very limited diagnostics. A code reader is very expensive (OBD 1). Very few codes are stored. To read the code I have to put a jumper on the OBD port, turn the car to ON, watch a series of flashing lights on the dash to get a code, look up the code in the OEM manual and go through an extensive trouble shooting tree to try and fix the problem. Our newer cars can be scanned and get a very precise, detailed code along with the most probable causes and recommended repairs. With newer cars, you can see live data on a scanner and pin point problems. Multiple sensors on newer cars feed data to the computer. The computer makes adjustments to keep the car running well and efficiently.

Older cars require dedication, patience, intelligence and a lot of labor. But my grand-daughter and I both enjoy the process.

Spaghetti Roast

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) chuck roast
Vegetable oil
3 cups ready-made spaghetti sauce
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 medium onions, quartered
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (8 ounce) package fresh mushrooms, sliced

Instructions

Brown chuck roast over medium high heat in scant amount of oil.
Place roast in slow cooker and add all other ingredients.
Cook on LOW for 8 hours.
Slice and serve over bed of angel hair pasta.

What is the most interesting historical fact you know off the top of your head?

I can’t believe this today and there are people who tell them and as if nothing!

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In 1965, a group of adolescents between the ages of 13 and 16 decided that it would be a good idea to steal a fisherman’s boat to go sailing for a few hours.

Before sailing they brought food that they took from their homes and a few. liters of water they were able to collect.

That same day they set sail on an adventure, the problem was that the children fell asleep after sailing for a few hours.

When they woke up they realized that they were adrift and that the boat had been damaged by the waves. They drifted for several days, when luckily they reached an uninhabited island.

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The children managed to get water from the coconuts and to eat the occasional fish they found. The real luck came when they climbed to the top of a cliff and found an abandoned settlement where they could stay.

The children established rules, worked in pairs, and there were even punishments if anyone disobeyed.

After 1 year and three months specifically, the Australian captain Peter Warner discovered the abandoned children after detecting smoke from a campfire.

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“The children had set up a small commune with a food garden, hollowed-out tree trunks to store rainwater, a gym with weights, a badminton court, chicken coops, and a permanent fire.”

Peter Warner wrote in his memoirs.

The children were generally in good health when Warner found them. However, upon his return, the boys were imprisoned for stealing the boat. Warner secured the rights to a documentary on their survival story on the condition that they be released and recreated on camera.

Comparing Earth technology with alien civilizations | The Kardashev Scale

Play ball, but only if you know how to

When I was a young boy, we moved to a small rural town in Western Pennsylvania; “East Brady”. I started school there, and started to attend third grade.

Right off the bat, all the other boys played basketball, football, baseball, and lots of other sports. But I didn’t. My father never played sports with me, he never watched sports, and my mother forbid me from playing “dangerous sports” outside.

So, when I entered school, I was at a terrible disadvantage.

I didn’t know how to play basketball, dribble a ball, catch a ball or make a basket. But all the others did. They had been doing so since they were three years old.

i was at a great disadvantage, and I was constantly picked on because of it. Not just by the boys, but the girls too. And Lordy! Even the teachers. It became hellish for me.

I tried to explain to my dad, but he wouldn’t have any of that. He would say “be a man”, and “you can learn”, and the proverbial “don’t listen to what they all say, you just ignore them”.

It didn’t work.

Not until i started lifting weights, has muscles the size of oil cans and started to fight back. But that was later on, 10th through 12th grade, but this narrative is about what happened with I was in fifth or sixth grade.

You see, even though I couldn’t play basketball, dribble or anything… my father insisted, and then ordered me to go get on the basketball team and play ball. Why?

Well, it was because that’s what all the other kids were doing.

WTF?

Didn’t he listen to me? I was at a strong and strict disadvantage. I could not play ball. I literally could not, and that made me the laughing stock of the class. We did not watch sports at home, we did not go to sports events, but somehow… somehow… I was supposed to be able to play them.

And I had to do it.

Do it because of what the other kids were doing? Seriously?

So yeah… for three years, I endured the taunting, the jokes and the pain from sixth grade though ninth grade because of something that my father demanded of me WITHOUT him actually participating in helping me obtain any skills.

yes.

Just gave orders. No on-hand training. Never attended the games. Never participated in any way, shape or form.

Fucking jack ass.

On the plus side, I’m making sure that this DOES NOT happen to my kids. So there is something positive that came out of this, don’t you know.

Moral…

Play ball, but only if you know how to.

Today…

What is an experience you had with a “Karen” you’ll never forget?

She brought her car in and asked what it would cost to replace the EGR valve.. Then she promptly spent the next ten minutes running down the shop that has been ripping her off for years, explaining how EVERY TIME she brought her car in to them, they said it was this, and then that didn’t fix it, so she had to pay more…

“So, would you like me to fix the car, or replace the EGR valve? They may not be the same thing..”

“What do you mean?”

“We could inspect the vehicle, identify the faults, and make a recommendation based on our findings..”

“You would charge me for that?”

“Yes, of course..”

“No, just change the EGR valve, they already told me what’s wrong with it! You guys are all alike!”

So, I wrote up the repair order, specifying “Replace EGR valve per customer request.”

I called her a couple hours later and told her the EGR valve had been replaced..

“It still runs terrible! You didn’t even change it, did you?!”

“Of course we replaced it.. I have your old EGR valve right here, along with the large chunk of carbon that had blocked it open.. We took the liberty of inspecting the engine after the work was done so I would be able to explain to you why it’s still running so badly.. If you’ll look right here, you can plainly see the ignition spark escaping the plug wire arcing to the cylinder head.. The chunk of carbon that blocked the EGR open resulted from unburned fuel entering your exhaust.. You need a tune-up.. I have that estimate for you right here, and as soon as you pay for the work we’ve already done, I’ll get started on it..”

“Why should I have to pay for that? You didn’t fix it!”

“Because you asked us to, as evidenced by this signed repair order, which expressly authorizes a mechanic’s lien in lieu of payment for services rendered.. If you choose not to pay this bill, I’ll place your vehicle in storage at $19.00 per day until such time as I can apply for a permit to sell the vehicle..”

She politely paid the bill, and paid up front for the tune-up.. The next day, she drove away in her perfectly running Nissan Quest..

What is the proof that fentanyl is made in China?

I am a Chinese and a worker in the IT industry. Fentanyl is a drug precursor, and its rational application in medicine is necessary. Some excellent answers have already explained the question in detail. Foreign intellectuals understand that this is a minor issue in the diplomatic struggle between China and the United States, and a new issue set by the United States to hinder the harmony of bilateral relations. So, regarding the issue of fentanyl, both the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US State Department are making some clich é s. I want to tell some fresh stories about the relationship between ordinary Chinese people and drug abuse (吸毒). Most of them come from the original works of some guys I have read in Chinese online communities over the past few years. I wrote it down based on memories:

Story 1

A guy from Northeast China, he was in high school at the time. But fighting, sleeping, and pestering girls every day. But as long as he doesn’t take the initiative to provoke, no one cares about what he is doing. One day, he felt very bored and came up with a brilliant idea: to bring a small bag of soy milk powder from home (which is a traditional Chinese food, a mixture of soy powder and milk powder, with a slightly dull white powder appearance). Then roll the tin foil in the chocolate box into long strips. Then, he stole a lighter from home. The show begins: During the break, he takes out a tubular tin foil and carefully takes out a little bit of soy milk powder from a plastic bag, slowly putting it onto the tin foil. Then, light the lighter and bake under the tin foil with flames – this is a common scene of drug addicts in Hong Kong gangster movies. In an instant, all the classmates around him were stunned! A classmate shouted loudly and ran to the teacher’s office, telling everyone that this guy was taking drugs. Two strong male teachers ran into the classroom and knocked him down on the ground. One teacher extinguished the lighter, while the other teacher asked everyone to leave the classroom immediately to protect the crime scene. Then, someone called the police number. No matter how much the guy who usually causes trouble lies on the ground pleading and defending, it is ineffective. Until the police arrived at the school. Finally, the police gave this guy a lesson, and the school gave him a stern warning, requiring everyone in his family to come to the school to receive anti drug education. This guy is no longer arrogant anymore.

Story 2

A Chinese guy was surfing the internet and saw someone asking where to buy methamphetamine? In fact, it is almost impossible to buy drugs in China. So, this guy came up with a brilliant idea. He purchased some rock sugar, which looks like some semi transparent crystals. Then, tell the drug addict online that he has heroin in his hands, and the price is very cheap, only 1/5 of the black market price, and there is also a considerable amount of inventory. This price immediately attracted drug addicts. After some bargaining, the drug addict paid tens of thousands of yuan and bought a small bag of rock sugar from that guy. The supermarket sells for 5 yuan. However, this guy, in pursuit of the pinnacle of art, kindly tells drug addicts: I will mail it to you through China Post. However, in order to avoid the police, we must be smarter. For example, I would use packaging bags of rock sugar to hold these methamphetamine, and when you receive the goods, if someone asks, you would answer, “This is just a bag of rock sugar.”. Okay, they happily reached the deal, and this guy made tens of thousands of yuan with just a bag of rock sugar. And the poor drug addict who couldn’t buy drugs, after receiving sweet and delicious rock sugar, became extremely angry and had to report to the police that he had been deceived. So much so that when the police asked him how you were deceived, he had to admit that he was a drug addict. He said to the police, I would rather be locked up in a drug rehabilitation center than have this scammer get legal sanctions! Finally, this guy was sentenced to three years in prison for the crime of fraud.

Story 3

A boy who is currently in college is hosting a party with several other boys and girls at his home. In China, college student parties mean they eat hot pot together, play computer games, watch movies, eat snacks, and so on. Afterwards, they played cards. And it was agreed that the loser should take a sip of apple cider vinegar, which is a strange health drink that many people dislike. Then, a few college students had a sudden idea. They drilled several holes into the lid of the bottle of apple cider vinegar, each with a long straw inserted. This way, if someone loses a card game, they can use their own straw to take a sip of sour vinegar. After a while, the boy’s parents went home. When they saw their child and a group of young men and women using multiple straws to suck something, the boy’s father immediately called the police and told them, “My child is gathering to take drugs.”. Because in some movies, drug scenes include empty bottles, plastic hoses, and some liquids. The police rushed in, and several children turned pale in fear. What is the final result? The father apologized to all the children and then made a sumptuous dinner for them.

Story 4

This small matter is about myself. My bathroom wall tiles have fallen off. I consulted the owner of the hardware store and he told me that using a type of “tile adhesive” can solve the problem. However, he doesn’t have a syringe, and I have to suck the glue into the syringe and then inject it into the gap between the tiles. So I found a private clinic and told the nurse to sell me a syringe and a thicker needle. The nurse asked me, “What do you want this thing for?” I completely didn’t understand the nurse’s intention and casually replied, “It’s just doing something.”. Then she called the doctor and began questioning me. I have to tell them the truth. Afterwards, the nurse sold me the syringe but firmly refused to give me the needle. And I checked my ID card and remembered the name of the community I live in. Okay, maybe in her opinion, she still hasn’t dispelled her doubts about me.

These stories (perhaps some sentences are exaggerated, they come from my memories) fully illustrate the attitude of ordinary Chinese people towards drugs or drug use.

Pizza Meatballs

Pizza Meatballs Photo2

Yield: 14 servings

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef
2 cups bread crumbs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons garlic salt
Pepper to taste
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 (12 ounce) cans pizza sauce

Instructions

Mix beef, bread crumbs, milk, onions, garlic salt and pepper together.
Form mixture around cheese cubes to make balls.
Dip balls into flour and brown in oil.
Place balls in slow cooker and pour pizza sauce over them.
Cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or until meatballs are done.

Pizza Meatballs Photo

“NATO is making a DEADLY mistake” and WW3 will look UNLIKE anything we’ve ever seen | Redacted News

Five ways criminals are using AI

Generative AI has made phishing, scamming, and doxxing easier than ever.

Melissa Heikkilä

May 21, 2024

Artificial intelligence has brought a big boost in productivity—to the criminal underworld.

Generative AI provides a new, powerful tool kit that allows malicious actors to work far more efficiently and internationally than ever before, says Vincenzo Ciancaglini, a senior threat researcher at the security company Trend Micro.

Most criminals are “not living in some dark lair and plotting things,” says Ciancaglini. “Most of them are regular folks that carry on regular activities that require productivity as well.”

Last year saw the rise and fall of WormGPT, an AI language model built on top of an open-source model and trained on malware-related data, which was created to assist hackers and had no ethical rules or restrictions. But last summer, its creators announced they were shutting the model down after it started attracting media attention. Since then, cybercriminals have mostly stopped developing their own AI models. Instead, they are opting for tricks with existing tools that work reliably.

That’s because criminals want an easy life and quick gains, Ciancaglini explains. For any new technology to be worth the unknown risks associated with adopting it—for example, a higher risk of getting caught—it has to be better and bring higher rewards than what they’re currently using.

Here are five ways criminals are using AI now.

Phishing

The biggest use case for generative AI among criminals right now is phishing, which involves trying to trick people into revealing sensitive information that can be used for malicious purposes, says Mislav Balunović, an AI security researcher at ETH Zurich. Researchers have found that the rise of ChatGPT has been accompanied by a huge spike in the number of phishing emails.

Spam-generating services, such as GoMail Pro, have ChatGPT integrated into them, which allows criminal users to translate or improve the messages sent to victims, says Ciancaglini. OpenAI’s policies restrict people from using their products for illegal activities, but that is difficult to police in practice, because many innocent-sounding prompts could be used for malicious purposes too, says Ciancaglini.

OpenAI says it uses a mix of human reviewers and automated systems to identify and enforce against misuse of its models, and issues warnings, temporary suspensions and bans if users violate the company’s policies.

“We take the safety of our products seriously and are continually improving our safety measures based on how people use our products,” a spokesperson for OpenAI told us. “We are constantly working to make our models safer and more robust against abuse and jailbreaks, while also maintaining the models’ usefulness and task performance,” they added.

In a report from February, OpenAI said it had closed five accounts associated with state-affiliated malicous actors.

Before, so-called Nigerian prince scams, in which someone promises the victim a large sum of money in exchange for a small up-front payment, were relatively easy to spot because the English in the messages was clumsy and riddled with grammatical errors, Ciancaglini. says. Language models allow scammers to generate messages that sound like something a native speaker would have written.

“English speakers used to be relatively safe from non-English-speaking [criminals] because you could spot their messages,” Ciancaglini says. That’s not the case anymore.

Thanks to better AI translation, different criminal groups around the world can also communicate better with each other. The risk is that they could coordinate large-scale operations that span beyond their nations and target victims in other countries, says Ciancaglini.

Deepfake audio scams

Generative AI has allowed deepfake development to take a big leap forward, with synthetic images, videos, and audio looking and sounding more realistic than ever. This has not gone unnoticed by the criminal underworld.

Earlier this year, an employee in Hong Kong was reportedly scammed out of $25 million after cybercriminals used a deepfake of the company’s chief financial officer to convince the employee to transfer the money to the scammer’s account. “We’ve seen deepfakes finally being marketed in the underground,” says Ciancaglini. His team found people on platforms such as Telegram showing off their “portfolio” of deepfakes and selling their services for as little as $10 per image or $500 per minute of video. One of the most popular people for criminals to deepfake is Elon Musk, says Ciancaglini.

And while deepfake videos remain complicated to make and easier for humans to spot, that is not the case for audio deepfakes. They are cheap to make and require only a couple of seconds of someone’s voice—taken, for example, from social media—to generate something scarily convincing.

In the US, there have been high-profile cases where people have received distressing calls from loved ones saying they’ve been kidnapped and asking for money to be freed, only for the caller to turn out to be a scammer using a deepfake voice recording.

“People need to be aware that now these things are possible, and people need to be aware that now the Nigerian king doesn’t speak in broken English anymore,” says Ciancaglini. “People can call you with another voice, and they can put you in a very stressful situation,” he adds.

There are some for people to protect themselves, he says. Ciancaglini recommends agreeing on a regularly changing secret safe word between loved ones that could help confirm the identity of the person on the other end of the line.

“I password-protected my grandma,” he says.

Bypassing identity checks

Another way criminals are using deepfakes is to bypass “know your customer” verification systems. Banks and cryptocurrency exchanges use these systems to verify that their customers are real people. They require new users to take a photo of themselves holding a physical identification document in front of a camera. But criminals have started selling apps on platforms such as Telegram that allow people to get around the requirement.

They work by offering a fake or stolen ID and imposing a deepfake image on top of a real person’s face to trick the verification system on an Android phone’s camera. Ciancaglini has found examples where people are offering these services for cryptocurrency website Binance for as little as $70.

“They are still fairly basic,” Ciancaglini says. The techniques they use are similar to Instagram filters, where someone else’s face is swapped for your own.

“What we can expect in the future is that [criminals] will use actual deepfakes … so that you can do more complex authentication,” he says.

Jailbreak-as-a-service

If you ask most AI systems how to make a bomb, you won’t get a useful response.

That’s because AI companies have put in place various safeguards to prevent their models from spewing harmful or dangerous information. Instead of building their own AI models without these safeguards, which is expensive, time-consuming, and difficult, cybercriminals have begun to embrace a new trend: jailbreak-as-a-service.

Most models come with rules around how they can be used. Jailbreaking allows users to manipulate the AI system to generate outputs that violate those policies—for example, to write code for ransomware or generate text that could be used in scam emails.

Services such as EscapeGPT and BlackhatGPT offer anonymized access to language-model APIs and jailbreaking prompts that update frequently. To fight back against this growing cottage industry, AI companies such as OpenAI and Google frequently have to plug security holes that could allow their models to be abused.

Jailbreaking services use different tricks to break through safety mechanisms, such as posing hypothetical questions or asking questions in foreign languages. There is a constant cat-and-mouse game between AI companies trying to prevent their models from misbehaving and malicious actors coming up with ever more creative jailbreaking prompts.

These services are hitting the sweet spot for criminals, says Ciancaglini.

“Keeping up with jailbreaks is a tedious activity. You come up with a new one, then you need to test it, then it’s going to work for a couple of weeks, and then Open AI updates their model,” he adds. “Jailbreaking is a super-interesting service for criminals.”

Doxxing and surveillance

AI language models are a perfect tool for not only phishing but for doxxing (revealing private, identifying information about someone online), says Balunović. This is because AI language models are trained on vast amounts of internet data, including personal data, and can deduce where, for example, someone might be located.

As an example of how this works, you could ask a chatbot to pretend to be a private investigator with experience in profiling. Then you could ask it to analyze text the victim has written, and infer personal information from small clues in that text—for example, their age based on when they went to high school, or where they live based on landmarks they mention on their commute. The more information there is about them on the internet, the more vulnerable they are to being identified.

Balunović was part of a team of researchers that found late last year that large language models, such as GPT-4, Llama 2, and Claude, are able to infer sensitive information such as people’s ethnicity, location, and occupation purely from mundane conversations with a chatbot. In theory, anyone with access to these models could use them this way.

Since their paper came out, new services that exploit this feature of language models have emerged.

While the existence of these services doesn’t indicate criminal activity, it points out the new capabilities malicious actors could get their hands on. And if regular people can build surveillance tools like this, state actors probably have far better systems, Balunović says.

“The only way for us to prevent these things is to work on defenses,” he says.

Companies should invest in data protection and security, he adds.

For individuals, increased awareness is key. People should think twice about what they share online and decide whether they are comfortable with having their personal details being used in language models, Balunović says.

9 Daily Habits that Often Cause 90 Percent of Our Relationship Problems

Written by Marc Chernoff

There’s something to be said for slow and steady progress, but there’s also something to be said for decisive and sweeping action. When it comes to negative relationship habits, there’s no time like today to quit cold turkey. Of course that’s a lot easier said than done, but with practice we can do better almost immediately.

Lately I’ve been making it a point to bring more awareness to the specific negative relationship habits our coaching clients have been repeatedly complaining about or engaging in. And perhaps more importantly than that, I’ve also been noticing how frequently many of the same habits and behaviors surface in my personal relationships. I mean let’s be honest, we all misbehave in our relationships sometimes. None of us are immune to occasional negative mood swings. But that doesn’t excuse what we do to each other on a daily basis.

Over the years, through our coaching practice and live events, Angel and I have literally worked with hundreds of individuals looking to fix or strengthen their relationships, and we’ve learned a lot about what it takes to make that happen. One of the most significant realizations, again, is the fact that most problems in our relationships (both intimate and platonic) arise from the same basic negative habits and behavioral issues. Here are some of the more prevalent ones to be aware of…

1. Giving the silent treatment.

Tuning out, ignoring, disengaging, refusing to acknowledge, etc. All variations of the silent treatment don’t just remove the other person from the disagreement or argument you’re having with them, it ends up removing them, emotionally, from the relationship you have with them. Truly, when you’re purposely ignoring someone you’re really teaching them to live without you. If that’s what you want, be clear about it. And if not, reengage with them in a constructive way.

2. Seeking attention by complaining.

I spoke with a new friend yesterday who all but refused to talk about the positive aspects of their life. After listening to them vent about fairly minor troubles for an hour straight, I asked about some of the exciting projects they have going on (of which they have many). Within three sentences they were back to complaining about trivial things. We all need to share our troubles with friends or strangers from time to time, but don’t fall into the habit of turning conversations into your own personal dumping ground. It’s an easy way to get attention, but it’s a poor way to keep it, and it’s a poor way to view your life.

3. Using disagreements as an excuse to condemn someone’s character.

Complaints are OK. Disagreements are OK too. These are natural and honest reactions to a person’s decisions or behavior. But when complaints and disagreements spiral out of control into global attacks on a person’s entire character, rather than their occasional decisions or behavior, this spells trouble. For example: “They didn’t call me when they said they would because they were busy and forgot, but because they are a horrible, wretched, selfish person.” The bottom line here is that there’s a big difference between who someone is and what they sometimes do.

4. Focusing on the inner monologue instead of the actual dialogue.

“Holy crap! How should I respond? What can I say that will sound smart and clever? I really hope they think I’m intelligent. I could touch on symbolism or make a reference to post-modernism. Wait… what did they just ask me?” Stay focused on the other person’s words and points. People rarely mind when you say, “Hmm, let me think about that for a moment.” Quite the opposite, since it shows that you’re taking the conversation seriously. If you compose your answers while someone else is speaking, you’re really only having half a conversation, and it’s usually quite obvious. (Read “Just Listen”.)

5. Using (subtle) hateful gestures.

Frequent name-calling, eye-rolling, belittling, mockery, childish threats, rude teasing, etc. In whatever form, gestures like these are poisonous to a relationship because they convey hate. And it’s virtually impossible to resolve relationship problems, or strengthen a relationship in any way, when the other person is constantly receiving the message that you hate them.

6. Multi-tasking while engaging with people.

Even if you are a professional multitasker, if you’re talking to someone, talk to them and that’s it. Don’t browse online, don’t watch TV, don’t scroll through social media, etc. If you really don’t have the time to talk, be honest and find another time, or cut it short. The bottom line is that there’s no greater gift of kindness, and no greater expression of caring that you can offer, than your undivided time and attention. (Note: Angel and I discuss this in more detail in the Relationships chapter of “1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently”.)

7. De-emphasizing compliments, or fishing for more of them, with self-effacing remarks.

“Oh, I look terrible today” … after someone compliments you. “I just threw it together at the last minute” … when you obviously dressed up. “I’m really not good at things like this” … when the people you’re with say you are. Don’t do this to yourself and others. It’s not flattering or helpful behavior. By making self-effacing comments, you basically force the other person to repeat their compliment or defend it, which is not a gracious thing to do. It’s perfectly OK to say simply “thank you” when you’re complimented. It’s not snobby, it’s just a basic courtesy.

8. Holding the past against people that have been “forgiven.”

If someone you love or care about makes a mistake and you choose to forgive them, your actions must reinforce your words. In other words, let bygones be bygones. Don’t use their past wrongdoings to continuously justify your own present righteousness. When you constantly use someone’s past wrongdoings to make yourself seem “better” than them (“I’m better than you because, unlike you, I didn’t do XYZ in the past.”), it’s a lose-lose situation in the long run.

9. Leveraging or accepting emotional blackmail.

Emotional blackmail happens when you apply an emotional penalty against someone if they don’t do exactly what you want them to do. The key condition here is that they change they’re behavior against their will as a result of the emotional blackmail. Absent the emotional blackmail they would live differently, but they fear the penalty from you and so they give in. If that sounds familiar, the solution relies heavily on better communication. If two people care about each other and want to maintain a healthy relationship, they absolutely need to be allowed to openly communicate all of their feelings to each other, not just the agreeable and positive ones. If this is not allowed or supported — if one or both people fear penalty or punishment for their honesty — lies and deceit will gradually transpire.

Remember, we all have a responsibility to uphold.

As you reflect on the negative social habits above, do your best to keep things in perspective. If you recognize one or more of them in your relationships, refrain from pointing fingers. Take some responsibility so you can put yourself in a position to make positive changes. Remind yourself that when you deny 100% responsibility in a relationship problem or dispute, all you’re really doing is blaming the other person. You’re saying, in effect, “The problem here is never me and it’s always you.” This denial of responsibility usually just escalates everything, because there’s a complete and utter breakdown of communication.

The key thing to understand is that you have a choice. Either you’re choosing to be in a relationship with another person, or you aren’t. If you’re choosing to be in, then you are responsible for it. Denying this means you’re giving up all your power to the other person — you’re their victim, regardless of circumstances (positive or negative), because you’ve given them 100% of the responsibility for the relationship you have with them. So again, even when the behavior driving a relationship problem belongs to the other person, the only way to find common ground, or simply create a healthy boundary and more space for yourself, is to first own the fact that you have a responsibility to address.

And also keep in mind that when your friendship, marriage, parenting, etc. gets difficult, it’s not an immediate sign that you’re doing it wrong. These intimate, intricate relationships are toughest when you’re doing them right — when you’re dedicating time, compromising, having the tough conversations, and making daily sacrifices.

Healthy long-tern relationships are always amazing, but rarely easy 24/7. Resisting the hard times and seeing them as immediate evidence that something is wrong, or that you’re in a relationship with the wrong person, only exacerbates the difficulties. By contrast, finding the patience and mindfulness to view the challenges as an opportunity to work together will likely give your relationship the energy and strength needed to transcend the problems and grow even stronger in the long run.

And finally, practice tuning in to your own feelings and needs. Note the times and circumstances when you’re resentful of fulfilling someone else’s needs. Gradually establish healthy and reasonable boundaries by saying no to gratuitous requests that cause resentfulness in you. Of course, this will be hard at first because it may feel selfish. But if you’ve ever flown on a plane you know that flight attendants instruct passengers to put on their own oxygen masks before tending to others, even their own children. Why? Because you can’t help others if you’re incapacitated. In the long run, proactively establishing and enforcing healthy and reasonable boundaries in your relationships will be one of the most charitable things you can do for both yourself and those you care about.

The Fundamental Attribution Error: Why You Suck at Judging People’s Behavior

May 22, 2024

We all like to think we’re good at reading people and figuring out why they do the shit they do. Your coworker snapped at you in a meeting? Must be because he’s an asshole with anger issues. That lady cut you off in traffic? Obviously it’s because she’s a self-absorbed, horrible driver.

Well I’m here to burst your bubble. Turns out, you actually suck at judging other people’s behavior. And so does everyone else. It all comes down to a pesky little cognitive bias called the fundamental attribution error.

Here’s how it works: when someone else fucks up or does something annoying, we attribute it to their personality and character. “She’s just a rude bitch,” we say. But when WE screw up in the exact same way, we blame the circumstances. “I was just having a bad day,” or “I was stressed and not thinking clearly.”

See the problem? We cut ourselves all sorts of slack, but when judging others, it’s all about their flaws as a person. We ignore the situational factors influencing their behavior.

Maybe your coworker snapped because he’s going through a rough divorce and hasn’t been sleeping. Maybe that lady cut you off because she just found out her kid is sick and she’s rushing to pick him up. There’s often a lot more to the story that you’re oblivious to.

The truth is, people’s behavior is largely driven by their environment and circumstances, not just their core personality traits. But the fundamental attribution error causes us to zoom in on character and ignore context.

And this doesn’t just lead to us being judgmental assholes. It actually fucks up our relationships and interactions. By wrongly attributing people’s actions to their fixed personality, we assume they’ll always act that way. We write them off or treat them poorly, instead of considering the reasons behind their behavior.

So what’s the solution? How do we avoid this trap?

First step: realize you’re susceptible to the bias. It affects all of us, no matter how smart or perceptive we think we are. Stay humble and recognize your judgment of others can often be flawed.

Second: put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Pause your knee-jerk reaction of “Wow what a bitch/asshole/idiot” and consider the situational factors that could explain their behavior. What’s going on in their life that you might not be aware of? What circumstances could have contributed?

This doesn’t mean you have to excuse everyone’s shitty behavior. Some people do just consistently suck. But very often there’s more to the story. And giving others the benefit of the doubt can improve your relationships and emotional reactions.

So next time someone is pissing you off, take a step back before writing them off as a shit human being. Consider the context. Realize you could act the exact same way in their situation.

Congrats, you’re now slightly less of a judgmental ass. You’re welcome.

SECOND Russian Nuclear Missile Warning Radar Hit By Ukraine – Also an attempt to hit a THIRD!

Hal Turner World May 28, 2024

For the SECOND TIME, Ukraine drones hit a radar of Russia’s nuclear early warning system, and attempted to shoot a THIRD one, with Moscow expecting a fourth radar station to be hit as well.

The attack upon a SECOND Over-The-Horizon radar inside Russia is an extremely worrying development because it is clearly being done not for Ukraine defense, but rather as a NATO destabilization of the combat command and control system of Russian strategic nuclear forces.

This SECOND attack hit the Voronezh-DM advanced over-the-horizon (OTH) early warning radar system in the Orsk region of Orenburg, 1,800 km from the Ukrainian border.

This second attack happened on May 26 into 27. But unlike the first attack, wherein imagery from the ground was available to me almost immediately, no ground imagery is presently available to me. Instead, all I can show is grainy satellite imagery showing scorch marks on the ground:

As you can clearly see, it is difficult if not impossible to determine if the radar is still functional, but I am told it is NOT.

Russian analysts stress that a new blow from Ukraine should be expected. According to them, the next NATO target is the Voronezh-M radar in Lekhtusi (Leningrad region).

If Kiev hits this particular radar in Lekhtusi (Leningrad Region), then Russia’s defense capability in the northern direction will be reduced. Moscow will lose the ability to detect in time the launch of missiles with nuclear warheads against it and, accordingly, to react quickly to what is happening.

Put simply, the “Blind Spots” that are being created in Russia’s early-warning radar, are making Russia vulnerable to a Nuclear First-Strike attack by the West. The Russians are becoming “sitting ducks.”

Austrian Army Colonel Markus Reisner on the (US) attack on Russia’s early warning radar:
– Almost no significance for the Ukrainian battlefield
– Likely a US-led attack to degrade Russia’s nuclear deterrent
– “Boiling the frog” strategy to enable first-strike

HAL TURNER ANALYSIS

When I reported the attack upon the first Russia Over-the-Horizon radar (Story Here), I pointed out that the station did not provide coverage in Ukraine. There was no military advantage for Ukraine to have attacked this radar station.

I pointed out that, in my view, the only reason a station like this would be attacked, would be to set the stage for a NATO nuclear first strike on Russia.

Bolstering my belief that it is NATO engaging in attacking these stations is the fact, revealed over the Memorial Day Weekend holiday, that one of the Drones shot down during the FIRST attack, was a “Tekever AR3” Drone. They are made by Portugal! A NATO member country! A FILE PHOTO image of the Tekever AR3 appears below:

With this second radar station having now been hit, and an attempt made on a THIRD radar station, it seems clear to me that NATO is setting the stage for a DECAPITATION NUCLEAR ATTACK against Russia; the idea apparently being “Solve the Russia problem in one fell swoop.”

I may be wrong about the idea, but I am not wrong about the vulnerability being created inside Russia with these particular attacks.

At some point, Russia is going to be in a position where they have a single choice: Use their nukes, or lose them.

I am of the belief that Russia will USE them, because failing to do so, would leave Russia at the mercy of NATO and would thereby be a conquered nation. I just don’t see the Russians putting up with that. The Slavic mentality is “It is better to die on their feet, than to live on their knees.”

In sum, it is we in the West who are constantly upping the ante in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and now we are upping the ante to actual nuclear war. This is not the Treaty Role of NATO, and I know of absolutely no American or even European citizen that has authorized or even asked for Nuclear World War 3.

These dangerous and reckless escalations are being carried out by elements within NATO and these people should be confronted and stopped.

The survival of us, our families, and out way of life, is at stake.

Cool Vintage Illustration

Russian General: “NATO Training for NUCLEAR ATTACKS upon Russia”

Hal Turner World May 28, 2024

Russian Television (RT) and the SPUTNIK News service in Russia are reporting the Border Protection Service sees NATO Training for nuclear attacks upon Russia.

The head of the Border Service of the Russian Federal Security Service told Sputnik about NATO’s nuclear drills near Russia’s borders and explained how guards regularly thwart Ukrainian attempts to infiltrate Russia.

NATO is training to strike Russian territory with nuclear weapons near its borders, the head of the border service of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Vladimir Kulishov, told Sputnik.

“Near the Russian border, NATO’s reconnaissance activities are increasing, the intensity of operational combat training of the alliance’s troops is growing, during which scenarios for conducting combat operations against the Russian Federation, including the launch of nuclear strikes on our territory, are being worked out,” he said.

The top official added that the situation requires “taking appropriate steps to protect and secure our borders.”

NATO is practicing nuclear strikes on Russian territory near the Russian border, head of the Border Service of the Russian Federal Security Service Vladimir Kulishov told Sputnik in an interview.

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) May 28, 2024

Russian border guards together with the Sever Battlegroup have thwarted 29 attempts of Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups to infiltrate Russian territory in the Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod Regions as well as the Crimean Republic since February 2022, Vladimir Kulishov told Sputnik.

Meanwhile, the number of missile and artillery strikes on Russian territory is increasing and drone attacks on Russia’s military, transport, energy and social infrastructure are becoming more intense, Kulishov said, adding that the victims of such terrorist attacks are mainly civilians, including the elderly and children. He also noted that in 2023, more than 5,500 attempts to enter Russia by individuals associated with international terrorist and extremist organizations, as well as special services and armed formations of Ukraine, were prevented.

Downing 1,300 Ukrainian Drones

Russian border guards downed over 1,300 Ukrainian drones that violated the Russian border in 2023, striking more than half of them by means of electronic warfare, the head of the Border Service of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Vladimir Kulishov, told Sputnik.

“Means of combating unmanned aircraft systems have long been used by the border services … In 2023, border guards shot down over 1,300 drones that violated the state border from Ukrainian territory, with more than half by electronic warfare equipment,” Kulishov said.

Means of combating unmanned aircraft systems have long been used by the border services … In 2023, border guards shot down over 1,300 drones that violated the state border from Ukrainian territory, with more than half by electronic warfare equipment,” Kulishov said.”

The development of unmanned aviation and marine systems and anti-drone technologies will remain promising areas of technical equipment for border authorities, he also said.

Since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has destroyed Ukraine’s 23,600 drones, 500 surface-to-air missile systems, 590 military aircraft, 270 helicopters, 15,890 tanks and other armored vehicles, 1,200 rocket launchers, 9,200 field artillery weapons and mortars, as well as 21,400 tactical vehicles, the Russian Defense Ministry said in early May.

The Last Words Spoken By 69 Famous People

By Nick Lee | May 21, 2024

1. “I know you have come to kill me. Shoot coward, you are only going to kill a man.” Facing his assassin, Mario Teran, a Bolivian soldier. Ernesto “Che” Guevara

2. Leonardo da Vinci was also overly modest, saying, “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.”

3. According to Steve Jobs’ sister Mona, the Apple founder’s last words were, “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”

4. “Go on, get out – last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.” To his housekeeper, who urged him to tell her his last words so she could write them down for posterity. –Karl Marx, revolutionary, d. 1883

5. “KHAQQ calling Itasca. We must be on you, but cannot see you. Gas is running low.” Last radio communication before her disappearance. Amelia Earhart

6. Frank Sinatra died after saying, “I’m losing it.”

7. George Orwell’s last written words were, “At fifty, everyone has the face he deserves.” He died at age 46.

8. Napoleon’s last words were, “France, armée, tête d’armée, Joséphine.”(“France, army, head of the army, Joséphine.”)

9. Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre turned to his partner Simone de Beauvoir and said, “I love you very much, my dear Beaver.”

10. “Now I shall go to sleep. Goodnight.” – Lord George Byron

11. Rainer Maria Rilke said, “I don’t want the doctor’s death. I want to have my own freedom.”

12. Nostradamus predicted, “Tomorrow, at sunrise, I shall no longer be here.” He was right.

13. Author Vladimir Nabokov was also an entomologist, particularly interested in butterflies. His last words: “A certain butterfly is already on the wing.”

14. Author Herman Melville died saying, “God bless Captain Vere!” referencing his then-unpublished novel Billy Budd, found on his desk after he died.

15. Marie Antoinette stepped on her executioner’s foot on her way to the guillotine. Her last words: “Pardonnez-moi, monsieur.” (Monsieur, I beg your pardon)

16. Richard B. Mellon was a multimillionaire. He was the President of Alcoa, and he and his brother Andrew had a little game of Tag going. The weird thing was, this game of Tag lasted for like seven decades. When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his brother over and whispered, “Last tag.” Poor Andrew remained “It” for four years, until he died.

17. When Harriet Tubman was dying in 1913, she gathered her family around and they sang together. Her last words were, “Swing low, sweet chariot.”

18. When Sir Isaac Newton died, he was humble. He said, “I don’t know what I may seem to the world. But as to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than the ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

19. Italian artist Raphael’s last word was simply: “Happy.”

20. How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden? – P. T. Barnum

21. Drummer Buddy Rich died after surgery in 1987. As he was being prepped for surgery, a nurse asked him, “Is there anything you can’t take?” Rich replied, “Yeah, country music.”

22. Johnny Ace, an R&B singer, died in 1954 while playing with a pistol during a break in his concert set. His last words were, “I’ll show you that it won’t shoot.”

23. Richard Feynman, a physicist, author, musician, professor, and traveler, died in Los Angeles in 1988. His last words? “This dying is boring.”

24. As Benjamin Franklin lay dying at the age of 84, his daughter told him to change position in bed so he could breathe more easily. Franklin’s last words were, “A dying man can do nothing easy.”

25. Albert Abraham Michelson was the first person to measure the speed of light and was the first American to win a Nobel Prize for physics. Even as he was dying at age 78, he was measuring light. He wrote in his log: “The following is a report on the measurement of the velocity of light made at the Irvine Ranch, near Santa Ana, California, during the period of September 1929 to—.”

26. Thomas B. Moran was a pickpocket, known by the nickname “Butterfingers.” He reportedly stole as many as 50,000 wallets in his career. He died in Miami in 1971, and his last words were, “I’ve never forgiven that smart-alecky reporter who named me Butterfingers. To me, it’s not funny.”

27. Murderer James W. Rodgers was put in front of a firing squad in Utah and asked if he had a last request. He replied, “Bring me a bullet-proof vest.”

28. Charles “Lucky” Luciano was a mob leader who helped the U.S. work with the Sicilian Mafia during World War II in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. His last words were, “Tell Georgie I want to get in the movies one way or another.” And it worked! His life story is told in the movies Lucky Luciano, The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, and many more. He also appears as a character in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.

29. John Arthur Spenkelink was executed in Florida in 1979. He spent his final days writing these last words on various pieces of mail: “Capital punishment means those without the capital get the punishment.”

30. Convicted murderer Thomas J. Grasso used his last words to complain about his last meal. He said, “I did not get my Spaghetti-O’s; I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.”

31. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories, died at age 71 in his garden. He turned to his wife and said, “You are wonderful,” then clutched his chest and died.

32. Writer T.S. Eliot was only able to whisper one word as he died: “Valerie,” the name of his wife.

33. Actor and comedian W.C. Fields died in 1946. He last words: “God damn the whole friggin’ world and everyone in it but you, Carlotta.” He was speaking to Carlotta Monti, his longtime mistress.

34. Percy Grainger was an Australian composer who, with his dying words, told his wife Ella, “You’re the only one I like.”

35. Actor Michael Landon, best known for Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven, died of cancer in 1991. His family gathered around his bed, and his son said it was time to move on. Landon said, “You’re right. It’s time. I love you all.”

36. Football coach Vince Lombardi died of cancer in 1970. As he died, Lombardi turned to his wife Marie and said, “Happy anniversary. I love you.”

37. O.O. McIntyre was an American reporter. He died at age 53, and spoke his last words to his wife Maybelle: “Snooks, will you please turn this way. I like to look at your face.”

38. When he was 57, Edward R. Murrow died while patting his wife’s hand. He said, “Well, Jan, we were lucky at that.”

39. John Wayne died at age 72 in L.A. He turned to his wife and said, “Of course I know who you are. You’re my girl. I love you.”

40. Humphrey Bogart’s wife Lauren Bacall had to leave the hospital to pick up their kids. Bogart said, “Goodbye, kid. Hurry back.” Not quite, “Here’s looking at you, kid,” but close.

41. Before Ernest Hemingway committed suicide, he told his wife Mary, “Goodnight my kitten.”

42. Donald O’Connor was a singer, dancer, and actor. He also hosted the Academy Awards in 1954. O’Connor died at age 78 with his family gathered around him. He joked, “I’d like to thank the Academy for my lifetime achievement award that I will eventually get.” He still hasn’t gotten one.

43. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill was born in a room at the Broadway Hotel on what is now Times Square. He died at age 65 in a Boston hotel. His last words? “I knew it! I knew it! Born in a hotel room and, goddamn it, dying in a hotel room.”

44. Jack Soo was an actor on the TV series Barney Miller. On the show, there was a running gag about Soo’s character making crappy coffee in the office. Soo developed cancer of the esophagus, and when was being wheeled into an operating room, he joked to Barney Millerco-star Hal Linden, “It must have been the coffee.” In a tribute episode, cast members raised coffee cups in Soo’s memory.

45. Josephine Baker knew how to party. She sang, danced, and acted. She adopted a dozen kids and lived in Paris. On the last night of her life, she left a party being held in her honor, saying, “Oh, you young people act like old men. You are no fun.”

46. Charles Gussman was a writer and TV announcer, who wrote the pilot episode of Days of Our Lives, among other shows. As he became ill, he said he wanted his last words to be memorable. When he daughter reminded him of this, he gently removed his oxygen mask and whispered: “And now for a final word from our sponsor—.”

47. When Groucho Marx was dying, he let out one last quip: “This is no way to live!”

48. Groucho’s brother Leonard, who was better known as Chico Marx, gave instructions to his wife as his last words: “Remember, Honey, don’t forget what I told you. Put in my coffin a deck of cards, a mashie niblick, and a pretty blonde.” For the record, a “mashie niblick” is a kind of golf club.

49. Wilson Mizner is best known for his bon mots, though he was a successful playwright. He’s known for the line, “Be nice to people on the way up because you’ll meet the same people on the way down.” When Mizner was on his deathbed, a priest said, “I’m sure you want to talk to me.” Mizner told the priest, “Why should I talk to you? I’ve just been talking to your boss.”

50. As he was dying, Alfred Hitchcock said, “One never knows the ending. One has to die to know exactly what happens after death, although Catholics have their hopes.”

51. ‘I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.” – Humphrey Bogart

52. Vladimir Ilych Lenin’s last words were, “Good dog.” (Technically, he said “Vot sobaka.”) He said this to a dog that brought him a dead bird.

53. Blues guitarist Leadbelly said, “Doctor, if I put this here guitar down now, I ain’t never gonna wake up.” And he was right.

54. Thomas Fantet de Lagny was a mathematician. On his deathbed, he was asked, “What is the square of 12?” His last words: “One hundred and forty-four.”

55. “I am still alive!” Stabbed to death by his own guards – Gaius Caligula, Roman Emperor,

56. Sir Winston Churchill’s last words were, “I’m bored with it all.”

57. Actress Joan Crawford yelled at her housekeeper, who was praying as Crawford died. Crawford said, “Damn it! Don’t you dare ask God to help me!”

58. Bo Diddley died giving a thumbs-up as he listened to the song “Walk Around Heaven.” His last word was “Wow.”

59. Baseball player “Moe” Berg’s last words: “How did the Mets do today?”

60. Emily Dickinson’s last words were, “I must go in, for the fog is rising.”

61. As Truman Capote lay dying, he repeated, “Mama— Mama— Mama.”

62. James Brown said, “I’m going away tonight.”

63. Surgeon Joseph Henry Green was checking his own pulse as he lay dying. His last word: “Stopped.”

64. “I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.” Errol Flynn

65. This is the last of earth! I am content. – John Quincy Adams, US President

66. “Let’s cool it brothers . . .“Spoken to his assassins, 3 men who shot him 16 times. – Malcolm X

67. Blues singer Bessie Smith died saying, “I’m going, but I’m going in the name of the Lord.”

68. “Lord help my poor soul.” – Edgar Allan Poe

69. Beethoven’s last recorded words were “Pity, pity—too late!”, as the dying composer was told of a gift of twelve bottles of wine from his publisher

Do Chinese and Korean people forgive Japan for its atrocities or not?

For this Chinese, NO!

Let me repeat.

NO.

NO!!!

Yes, let bygones be bygone, the current generation isn’t responsible for past atrocities, Japan is a peaceful nation today.

Yada yada yada.

I am old enough to have heard all these—and more.

It isn’t the Chinese (or in fact, East Asia) that harbor unforgiveness and refuse to move on.

It is the Japanese themselves.

But first, let’s segue to the Middle East, where recent events have brought a century’s worth of monstrous injustice to the fore.

The Brits began the process with the Balfour Declaration, carving up land they did not own for the establishment of a Jewish State. The Two-State solution, itself a massive compromise built on the rubble of colonialism, is still in limbo today.

Why?

The hegemonic power of the United States has hijacked the natural course of history in the Middle East.

Similarly, it is the United States that has hijacked the natural course of history in East Asia, up to the present.

What do I mean?

Imagine Adolf Hitler surviving WWII in a parallel universe. Post-surrender, Adolf isn’t prosecuted, and elevated to ceremonial leader of the German people, if only to preserve the unity of Germany as a counter to the Soviets.

Similarly, Nazi members of the War Cabinet and key administrators of the Third Reich are either pardoned or given slap on the wrist sentences to rehabilitate them for leadership roles in the New Germany. The Nazi flag of the German Navy is retained.

Now, Hitler in the alternate universe survives another 40 years as ceremonial Fuhrer. He toured Germany, making public appearances at special events and ceremonies, giving speeches celebrating societal progress. He also served as Germany’s top ambassador, traveling abroad to meet important world leaders, rebuilding Germany’s diplomatic image in step with its rapid climb up the GDP ladder.

His funeral in old age was the grandest in teutonic history, and took over a month of careful national preparation. Leaders from all over the world were in attendance, and German society came to a standstill, tens of millions lining the street or glued to the live telecast to send their dear Fuhrer on his final journey.

His eldest son, and grandson, inherit the position of ceremonial Fuhrer in succession.

The reign of Adolf is remembered as Germany’s most glorious, bringing the nation to the forefront of humanity, and respect from the world community. German kids are taught history from whitewashed textbooks where Germany is cast as a victim of WWII, and no Holocaust occurred.

Turned your stomach yet?

Replace “Germany” with “Japan” and “Hitler” with “Hirohito”, and we are immediately transplanted to the 20th century.

The real 20th century, only not the Eastern Atlantic but the Western Pacific.

This is STILL the flag of the Japanese Navy today. No longer Imperial, but unbroken traditions nonetheless.

Japanese leaders visiting Yasukuni isn’t the elephant in the room. It is Hirohito on the throne for 58 years and departing as Japan’s longest-serving and most successful Emperor in the history of the Chrysanthemum throne that is a permanent affront to the peoples of East Asia.

It’s a monstrosity that beggars belief.

No Jew would have accepted the parallel Germany described above.

Similarly, no Chinese accepts the perverse course of justice in China-Japan relations over the past 2,000 years, where all the violence—yes, ALL THE VIOLENCE—has been inflicted on the mainland, while the Japanese home islands reaped the benefit of cultural, technological and economic transfer, with little of the benefit flowing back.

If you thought the Nazis vile and inhuman for the systematic extermination of the Jews and Gypsies, words may fail you when the Japanese treatment of the Chinese in the 15-year war (1931–1945) is uncovered. The Japanese killed far more Chinese (tens of millions) than the Germans did Jews, and exhibited depraved, almost insane barbarity.

And yet the average Japanese youth has little awareness of his country’s dark history, because the textbooks teach a parallel Japan since the era of Meiji, presided by moral and wise monarchs whose steady hands guided the peaceful rise of Japan, in direct contrast to the horrific and vile land-grab and colonization that characterized much of their reigns.

What’s there for the foreigner to forgive when the perps have not even come to terms with their past and disavowed a blood-stained chapter of sordid history?

On a final note, the Chinese ceded Taiwan and paid an indemnity of 40m taels of silver (equal to 3 years of Qing tax revenue) after suing for peace in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended an 8-month war. China has not received a single cent of reparation from Japan’s 15-year war waged in China that caused a minimum of 1t (in today’s dollars) in physical damage.

The next time conflict breaks out between China and Japan, the Chinese will make sure it will NOT be fought on the mainland.

P.S.: Japanese whitewashing and glorification of history has a deleterious effect on the future, because unrepentant descendants will look to the past for guidance and seek to emulate the glories of the Showa, Taisho and Meiji eras. Reinterpreting the peaceful Constitution and rewriting it is the first step.

There will be abiding consequences, as a reckoning beckons.

10 ways to get the most out of your time on this planet

Jan 4, 2022 / Oliver Burkeman

Accepting our mortality helps us let go of busyness and focus on what’s most important to us in order to live a happier, more meaningful life.

The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly finite. If you’re lucky and you live to 80, you will have lived about 4,000 weeks. This truth, which most of us ignore most of the time, is something to wrestle with if we want to spend our limited time on this earth well.

Given that, it follows that time management, broadly defined, should be everyone’s chief concern. Yet the modern discipline of time management (or productivity) is depressingly narrow-minded, focused on devising the perfect morning routine or trying to crank through as many tasks as possible, while investing all your energy on reaching some later state of well-being and accomplishment. It ignores the fact that the world is bursting with wonder — and that experiencing more of that wonder may come at the cost of productivity.

When we recognize the shortness of life — and accept the fact that some things have to be left unaccomplished, whether we like it or not — we are freer to focus on what matters.

As a recovering “productivity geek,” I know how it feels to become swept up in the idea of discovering the perfect system of time management. But I was eventually forced to accept that my struggles to achieve a sense of perfect control or mastery of my time were counterproductive, leading not to a life of more meaning but one of more overwhelm and stress. I came to see that I needed to give up the quest for that kind of control, letting go of the impossible goal of becoming perfectly efficient and embracing my limitations instead, so as to make more time for what was really valuable.

Part of that embrace of limitation involves facing the anxiety that comes with acknowledging mortality. When we recognize the shortness of life — and accept the fact that some things have to be left unaccomplished, whether we like it or not — we are freer to focus on what matters. Rather than succumbing to the mentality of “better, faster, more,” we can embrace being imperfect, and be happier for it.

Here are 10 suggestions that I make in my book — Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals — about how to live with your limited time in mind.

Multitasking rarely works well — and you’ll soon find that serializing helps you to complete more projects anyway.

1. Adopt a “fixed volume” approach to productivity

We all need to make tough choices about what we can realistically get done, so that we can prioritize the activities that matter most, instead of reacting to a constant barrage of demands.

One way is to keep two to-do lists — one for everything on your plate, and one for the 10 or fewer things that you’re currently working on. Fill up the 10 slots on the second list with items from the first, then set to work. The rule is not to move any further items from the first list onto the second until you’ve freed up a slot by finishing one of the 10 items.

A related strategy is to set a pre-established time boundary for certain types of daily work — for example, to resolve to write from 8AM to 11AM — and to make sure you stop when time’s up.

2. Serialize

Focus only on one big project at a time. Though it’s alluring to try to alleviate the anxiety of having too many responsibilities or ambitions by getting started on them all at once, you’ll make little progress that way. Multitasking rarely works well — and you’ll soon find that serializing helps you to complete more projects anyway, thereby helping relieve your anxiety.

Strategic underachievement — nominating in advance the areas of your life in which you won’t expect excellence — helps you focus your time and energy more effectively.

3. Decide in advance what to fail at

You’ll inevitably underachieve at something, simply because your time and energy are finite. But strategic underachievement — nominating in advance the areas of your life in which you won’t expect excellence — helps you focus your time and energy more effectively.

For example, you might decide in advance that it’s OK to have a cluttered kitchen while you finish your novel, or to do the bare minimum on a particular work project so you can spend more time with your children.

To live this way is to replace the high-pressure quest for work-life balance with something more reasonable — a deliberate kind of imbalance.

4. Focus on what you’ve already completed, not just what’s left to do

Since the quest to get everything done is interminable by definition, it’s easy to grow despondent and self-reproachful when you can’t get through your whole to-do list. One counter-strategy is to keep a “done list,” which starts empty first thing in the morning, but which you can gradually fill in throughout the day as you get things done. It’s a cheering reminder that you could have spent the day doing nothing remotely constructive … yet you didn’t.

Social media is a giant machine for getting you to spend your time caring about the wrong things — and too many of them at once.

5. Consolidate your caring

Social media is a giant machine for getting you to spend your time caring about the wrong things — and too many of them at once. We’re exposed to an unending stream of atrocities and injustices, each of which might have a legitimate claim on our time and our charitable donations, but which add up to something no human could ever effectively address comprehensively.

Once you grasp that fact fully, it’s good to consciously pick your battles in charity, activism, and politics — and devote your spare time only to those specific causes. Focus your capacity for care, so you don’t burn out.

6. Embrace boring and single-purpose technology

Digital distractions allow us to escape to a realm where painful human limitations don’t seem to apply — scrolling idly around online, you need never feel bored or constrained in your freedom of action, which isn’t the case when it comes to doing work that matters.

You can combat this by making your devices as boring as possible, removing social media apps and, if you dare, email. It’s also helpful to choose devices with only one purpose, such as the Kindle reader. Otherwise, temptations will be only a swipe away, and you’ll feel the urge to check your screens anytime you’re bored or facing a challenge in your work.

When faced with a challenging or boring moment in a relationship, try being curious about the person you’re with, rather than controlling.

7. Seek out novelty in the mundane

Time seems to speed up as we age, likely because our brains encode the passage of years based on how much information we process in any given interval. While children have many novel experiences and time therefore seems slower to them, the routinization of older people’s lives means that time seems to pass at an ever-increasing rate.

The standard advice is to combat this by cramming more novel experiences into your life. That can help, but it’s not always practical.

An alternative is to pay more attention to every moment, however mundane — to find novelty by plunging more deeply into your present life. Try going on unplanned walks to see where they lead you, taking up drawing or birdwatching or playing “I Spy” with a child — whatever draws your attention into the moment more fully.

8. Be a researcher in relationships

The desire to feel in control of our limited time causes numerous problems in relationships, resulting not only in controlling behavior, but also commitment-phobia, the inability to listen, boredom, and missing out on the richness of communal experiences with others.

When faced with a challenging or boring moment in a relationship, try being curious about the person you’re with, rather than controlling. Curiosity is a stance well-suited to the inherent unpredictability of life with others, because it can be satisfied by their behaving in ways you like or dislike — whereas if you demand a certain result instead, you’ll often be frustrated.

Whenever a generous impulse arises in your mind, give in to it right away rather than putting it off.

9. Cultivate instantaneous generosity

Whenever a generous impulse arises in your mind, give in to it right away rather than putting it off. Don’t wait to figure out if the recipient deserves your generosity or if you really have the time to be generous right now (with all of the work you have left to do!). Just do it. The rewards are immediate, too, because generous action reliably makes you feel much happier.

10. Practice doing nothing

When it comes to the challenge of using your 4,000 weeks well, the capacity to do nothing is indispensable, because if you can’t bear the discomfort of not acting, you’re far more likely to make poor choices with your time, such as attempting to hurry activities that can’t be rushed or feeling you ought to spend every moment being “productive,” regardless of whether the tasks in question really matter.

Doing nothing means resisting the urge to manipulate your experience or the people and things in the world around you, and to let things be as they are. You can try the “do-nothing” meditation, where you set a timer for 5-10 minutes and then try doing nothing. If you catch yourself doing something — thinking, say, or even just focusing on your breath — gently let go of doing it.

As you keep letting go, you’ll increase your ability to do nothing and gradually regain your autonomy. You’ll no longer be so motivated by the attempt to evade how reality feels here and now; instead, you’ll learn to calm down and to make better choices with your brief allotment of life.

Neil Armstrong’s Family JUST NOW Confirmed What We Knew All Along

Pickapeppa Roast

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

1 (3 to 4 pound) beef chuck roast or Boston butt pork roast
Scant amount olive oil
1 (5 ounce) bottle Pickapeppa sauce
1 (7 ounce) bottle beer
4 cups brown gravy

Instructions

Heat oil in large skillet on the stove top over medium-high heat. Brown meat on all sides.
Put roast into slow cooker. Add Pickapeppa sauce and beer to skillet. Stir to deglaze and cook off some of the alcohol.
Add brown gravy and stir well.
Pour sauce over roast and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

Skyquakes, Upsweeps, and Sky Trumpets | Terrifying Sounds that Signal the End of the World

Scott Ritter talks about the PLA

An influencer sent me this link in regards to Scott Ritter talking shit about China.

"...and in this debate he really exposes himself-- check out how deluded he is about Chinese military capacity. It's staggering, and couldn't be just plain ignorance. Insulting to China's achievements too. 

As you've so often said, be very careful whence you source your news!"

Well, I’m not about going to dare risk raising my blood pressure over someone talking shit about something they know nothing about. So I politely declined to watch the video.

The influencer replied…

If believing that a 50 year old US missile submarine-- Ohio Class boomer-- can "sit in deep water a few miles from the Chinese coast and launch 40 [50 year old design, subsonic cruise] missiles" that will hit their target-- get this-- "without the sub being even detected" is the kind of statement that will up the bp?

So, I then asked this of ChatGPT4.0

Scott Ritter is now a famous person on the Internet, and he has been making many videos about Ukraine. 

His appraisal of Russia, and Ukraine seems to be solid and is correct. But now he is making statements about China's military. 

I was in the ONI, and I have spent most of my life studying and working with China and I find his statements about China very erroneous. 

In fact, they seem to reflect a mainstream American mind-set. 

Please tell me what his experience is with China and Chinese military. What has been his exposure to the PLA, and NPLA?

And ChatGPT4.0 replied…

Scott Ritter is a former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer and United Nations weapons inspector. He is best known for his role in the inspections in Iraq, where he gained prominence for his opposition to the Iraq War and his critiques of U.S. foreign policy. While Ritter has indeed made numerous public statements and videos about international military and geopolitical issues, his expertise is primarily rooted in Middle Eastern affairs, particularly Iraq.

Ritter’s formal background and professional experience do not indicate significant direct exposure to China or the Chinese military (People's Liberation Army, PLA, and Navy PLA, NPLA). 

His primary areas of focus and expertise have been the Middle East, arms control, and intelligence analysis related to weapons of mass destruction.

Military and Intelligence Career: Ritter served in the Marine Corps as an intelligence officer and later as a ballistic missile adviser to General Norman Schwarzkopf during the Gulf War. His work with the UN involved extensive inspections in Iraq during the 1990s.

Public Commentary: Post-military, Ritter has become a public commentator on military and geopolitical issues, often providing analysis on conflicts and international relations. 

However, his comments and analyses are not always based on first-hand experience or specialized study of every region he discusses.

Exposure to Chinese Military: There is no publicly available evidence to suggest that Ritter has had direct involvement with or extensive study of the PLA or NPLA. 

His perspectives on China's military capabilities and strategies seem to derive more from secondary sources and general geopolitical analysis rather than primary experience or specialized research in this area.

Given his background, it's reasonable to conclude that Ritter's views on China reflect a broader, perhaps less specialized understanding, shaped by general geopolitical discourse rather than deep, direct expertise on Chinese military affairs. 

Your observation that his statements seem to reflect a mainstream American mindset aligns with this context, as his primary experiences and insights are rooted in Western military and intelligence frameworks, with limited direct exposure to Chinese military practices or strategic doctrines.

Today…

Communists, why do you refuse to acknowledge that the wealthy have money because they are smart and save/invest while your comrades are poor because they are mentally ill and unintelligent?

I am Chinese, as is well known, China is a socialist country under the rule of CCP. So, I want to explain this issue with my own experience.

Intelligence is a natural advantage. Similar advantages also include “health”. This means that someone is naturally healthy, has a stronger immune system, and is better able to resist virus attacks than others. In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, naturally healthy individuals are able to evade the pursuit of the virus. When others become critically ill or even die, this naturally healthy person can ultimately avoid infection and survive. And those with poor physical fitness passed away after the first round of the pandemic in early 2020.

Some people may say, “There is no way to avoid it, this is life. Because people with strong innate immunity always live to the end. This is the screening of nature.”. This statement is logically consistent with the questioner’s statement that “some people are born smart, so they can find ways to make money and become wealthy, while others are born not smart, so their ability to make money is low and they eventually become poor.”.

Yes, it looks right. Wisdom or foolishness, strength or weakness, are all gifts from nature. This gives everyone in the world a different destiny. This is natural selection, the law of nature. However, in socialist China, this is politically incorrect. Because fundamentally, the goal pursued by Marxism is “the comprehensive, free, and full development of human beings”, rather than “your fate is determined by God.”. During the pandemic, China cannot allow the laws of nature to determine human life. So, economic development, transportation, school education, and commercial activities are no longer important, but are replaced by blocking the rapid spread of the virus. Since 2020, there have been only three ways to achieve this goal: screening infected individuals through Covid-19 testing, establishing super hospitals to treat these individuals until they recover, implementing lockdown policies to stop all activities of those who have not yet been infected, and staying at home. Until everyone (1.4 billion people) completes nucleic acid testing, all infected individuals enter hospitals for treatment, and until they recover, another 1.4 billion people are able to resume their free activities. In this way, from 2020 to the first half of 2022, China will become an isolated island in the world, a healthy and virus free island. Chinese people can freely move on their land.

This policy, which appears to temporarily deprive people of their freedom, artificially breaks the “natural selection” and allows healthy and naturally weak individuals, as well as elderly people with chronic diseases, to all survive. At the same time, the largest scale of vaccination in human history has been implemented throughout China. In order to ensure that all high-risk groups are vaccinated, volunteers, community workers, CCP members, and civil servants conduct vaccination surveys almost door-to-door and encourage vaccination. Some rural areas even adopt the activity of giving cash for vaccination and 5 kilograms of eggs for vaccination.

By mid-2022, Covid-19 had already harvested several rounds of life worldwide. But at the same time, the virus itself is also changing. It presents two characteristics: low mortality rate and high infection rate. At this time, after 2.5 years of epidemic control in China, people began to realize that prevention was impossible. At this point, complaints from Chinese people arose. Considering that China has already completed vaccination for all its population and the virus is no longer so terrifying, almost overnight, China lifted all Covid-19 control measures. This incident occurred in mid December 2022.

My mother-in-law suffers from severe chronic kidney failure and heart failure. After the lifting of epidemic control measures, she was quickly infected. For three weeks, she struggled almost on the brink of death. In the end, due to vaccination, preparation of a large amount of symptomatic medication in advance, and paid home care provided by the hospital, she recovered in a few weeks. After three years of passivation, Covid-19 still caused serious harm to her, but she survived.

My father-in-law told her that if China had implemented the same relaxed epidemic policy as the United States in 2020 three years ago, then she would have been dead for three years. Obviously, in statistics, even if China does not implement strict epidemic policies, half of its population will not die. Young people like me have a high probability of surviving even in the first round of the pandemic. However, elderly or seriously ill patients are also more likely to die. The Chinese government has implemented seemingly incredible policies in order to ensure the survival of all people.

Even though many Western media outlets criticize this policy from various perspectives and firmly believe that the lockdown is only to maintain CCP’s rule. But all Chinese people have personally experienced the panic of the first few months of 2020. They know why the city was locked down, understand and support the government. After all, we are all children of our parents. We are still the parents of our own children. We don’t want our elderly parents to die from the pandemic, nor do we want our children to suffer from serious complications of infection. We all hope to live well. CCP helped us survive.

I think I have already answered your question. I come from China and my English is not very good. I have used a translator for some of my text. Thank you for reading.

Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Bake

Chicken thighs are nestled in a deliciously-seasoned mixture of sauerkraut, onions, apple, apricots and raisins.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 (2 pound) package Perdue® Fresh Chicken Thighs
Salt and ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 to 2 tablespoons canola oil
1 (14 ounce) can sauerkraut, undrained
1 (14 ounce) can whole onions, drained
1 tart red apple, unpeeled, sliced or diced
6 to 8 dried whole apricots
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup brown sugar, or to taste

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Season thighs with salt and pepper.
In a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Cook thighs 6 to 8 minutes per side until browned.
Meanwhile, in 9 x 13 inch shallow baking dish, mix sauerkraut well with onions, apple, apricots, raisins and brown sugar. Nestle thighs into sauerkraut mixture.
Cover and bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through, and a meat thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh registers 180 degrees F.

What do you see here?

What is the lamest “benefit” you’ve been offered by an employer?

When I was in my teens, and needed a part time job while going to college. I don’t remember exactly what minimum wage was then, but i was just at that figure. After working diligently for 6 months, and my boss kept saying that if i did well, I could expect a raise after 6 months. When the 6 month time peroid had passed, at a company function, while having a casual conversation with my boss, I asked what i could expect for a raise. His answer was a nickel, meaning a nickel an hour, I started to laugh, as I thought he was joking, but he wasnt. He began to question my laughing responce, and when I discovered that he was serious, I laughed even harder, I couldn’t help it. The job was hard to do, not in the physical sense, but in the responsibility sense, and was very stressful as well. So a pay raise from .95 cents an hour to 1.00 per hour actually was very funny. My view of him after that, I could barely look at him without chuckeling, or grinning. I still cant believe that he thought that I should be overjoyed at his generosity, it still makes me laugh.

China’s BRILLIANT Move | Silently Built World’s First Drone Carrier

In the restaurant industry, what are some of the most outrageous complaints you’ve heard customers make?

It was my first day of training at my very first job and a customer comes in very angry. I greet her and ask how I can help. The conversation goes as follows. (Me=M, Customer=C, my boss =K)

M- Hi, How are you?

C- I have a problem with my Dr.Pepper.

M-Yes ma’am. What seems to be the problem?

C-(in a very angry put out tone) My Dr.Pepper is carbonated.

M-(confused as all get out) I’m sorry ma’am but what’s the problem? Is the Dr.Pepper not flavored enough. Maybe the syrup went out.

C- No it tastes good but its carbonated. It’s not supposed to be carbonated.

M-(still no clue what the issue is) give me one moment ma’am.

I walk back to my manager who’s working the line making food for everyone in the lobby

M-Hey K. This customer up front is mad that her Dr.Pepper is carbonated?

K-(very clearly not listening because we were in the middle of a rush) fill it up in the drive thru and have her see if that’s better.

M-(not really sure but not wanting to argue with my boss) okay?

I go back up to the customer after filling up a cup from the drive thru drink fountain.

C-(tried the Dr.Pepper) no it’s still carbonated. What game are y’all playing?!

I walk back to my boss and make her look at me and really listen to what I say.

M-K, this customer is mad because her DR.PEPPER is CARBONATED.

K-(Finally hears the complaint) Well what the F*** does she want us to do about it?!

M-(visibly laughing at this point) that’s what I was trying to tell you.

K-(laughing as well) just give her something that’s not carbonated like tea or pink lemonade.

M-(still laughing) okay (I walk back to the customer) ma’am, would you like to try some tea or pink lemonade or something else.

C-(still very mad and clueless about how dumb they were being) *scoffs* fine pink lemonade but y’all need to fix your Dr.Pepper or I’m never coming back

M-(thinking to myself sarcastically) and what a tragedy that would be.

Is the USA losing world hegemony and the world becoming multipolar actually a good thing? No one country dominating other countries but having a counter balance.

Yes, it’s a very good thing.

US world hegemony has resulted in endless wars, endless sanctions and endless coups over the last half century. It has caused enormous death and destruction. It has violated national sovereignty and frequently broken international law (defined by the UN).

The USA respects no country. It simply bullies and exploits.

China and Russia are building a new multipolar world order that will be more fair, more just, and more egalitarian. There will be no more self-serving imperialist wars such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam.

The Global South will finally see healthy economic development. The current world order did nothing to help Global South countries in Africa, Middle East, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

Militaristic EU – Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen

What is the rudest thing you have ever seen someone do?

I was at a grocery store checkout once, and I saw these three college kids having a field day with a poor clerk who was trying to bag up their groceries. The whole thing, apparently, started when he dropped a bottle of wine they were buying. He apologized, cleaned up the mess, and rushed back to get them another bottle.

While he was gone, they started talking about what a “complete idiot” he was. They proceeded to make fun of the way he looked, the way he was dressed, his weight, his glasses, you name it. When the poor guy got back, they didn’t let up. They started insulting him right to his face, calling him a whole litany of terrible things until they had him on the verge of tears. The kid was only about 16; he was terribly overweight, and I could see how he was probably an easy target for any bully. I was bagging up my own stuff, but I was completely mesmerized by this entire exchange. Suddenly, the kid must have said something because one of the guys reached out and popped him across the face. It wasn’t a punch or a hard slap, just some wussy little pop meant to humiliate him. To my amazement, the kid didn’t walk away. He just stood there red faced with tears welling up in his eyes. The dude reached out and popped him again and, for some reason, this was the funniest thing that these guys had ever seen in their lives. They were laughing like there was no tomorrow.

I kept looking around for a manager, thinking someone needed to say something, but I finally realized that no one was going to. Then it hit me: Why couldn’t I say something? I reached out and grabbed the kid, and pulled him out of the way. I stepped up to the guy, pulled a 20 dollar bill out of my wallet, and told him that I would give it to him if he would hit me like that. He stared at me for a second like I had lost my mind before asking what my problem was.

“You’re my damn problem,” I responded. “Hit me in the face like that; I dare you.” Well, there were three of these guys, but they didn’t look like they had ever been in a fight in their entire lives. I am a little over six feet tall, and I weigh around 225. I don’t consider myself to be a tough guy but, needless to say, they didn’t want any part of me. Instead, they simply started gathering their things and headed for the door. I pulled the kid out from behind me, and ordered them to apologize. They laughed at me, and hurried for the parking lot. Well, I was a lot angrier that day than I thought.

I followed them out of the store all the way to their car doing my best to start a fight. They got very quiet, and not one of them had anything to say. Instead, they just kept their heads down, and refused to make eye contact.

I let them leave, and then pulled the kid aside and told him to never let anyone push him around like that. In the future, he needed to, at least, walk away and find a manager. At this point, the kid just broke down in tears and sobbed on my shoulder. It turned out that his dad had died only a year earlier, and he and his mom were all alone in the world. At that point, I really wished I had put one of those bastards in the hospital. Instead, I gave the kid my card, and told him to call if there was ever anything I could do for him. I never saw or heard from him again.

The US Dollar Total Collapse Begins! Major Countries DROP The Dollar | Entire World Changes Forever!

What were the worst two minutes of your life?

“Rachel, come here please. Quickly.” I sensed an air of desperation flood our dirty apartment as my biological mother croaked out her plea. I ran.

“What?” She pulled me in, her head down towards her crossed legs, hunched over like Quasimodo.

“I love you– so much. Do you hear me? I love you. I’m so sorry.” With each word, I felt sicker.

“Mom, what’s wrong? Why are you saying this?” My voice was somewhere between a sob and a scream.

She glanced towards the two empty orange bottles on the nightstand to her right. I swiped one. Codeine. Empty. Both were empty.

“What did you do?! Are you trying to kill yourself?!” I knew. I felt unreal, like the terror was bigger than my body.

“I’m sorry. You’re better off without me… You don’t even love me. You never tell me you love me.”

“I love you so much. No, no, oh God, no.” I rushed toward the landline.

“911, how can I help you?”

“My mom is trying to commit suicide.”

I was 13 when my biological mother attempted suicide. That was 6 years ago. While she is still alive, this remains to be the single most painful two minutes of my life.

6390Hz – DESTROYS Negativity In & Around You (⚠️ MAY FEEL AS THOUGH TIME STOPS)

Art various

Roqueplan, Camille Joseph Etienne, 1800 1855; The Lion in Love

What type of aircraft mishap has only ever happened once in the whole history of aviation?

In September of 1987 a co-pilot made an emergency landing in Portland, Maine. What had happened was the hatch of the aircraft had flown open and it appeared that the pilot was sucked out and lost.

The airplane was a Beechcraft 99, a commuter craft that was capable of carrying 15 passengers but on this flight there was only a little bit of freight.

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During the flight the co-pilot said he could hear an air leak in the passenger cabin. The pilot then got up and walked back in the passenger area to investigate and was looking around the exit hatch when the airplane hit turbulence and the pilot fell against the door. When he fell against the door, it opened and he seemingly flew out.

The co-pilot radioed the nearest airport about his emergency and was directed where to make his landing. When he landed he was amazed to find out that the pilot did not fall to his death but was in fact hanging on for dear life on the hand rails on the hatch door. He was hanging upside down with his head below the bottom of the door steps while the airplane was flying 190 miles per hour.

When the airplane landed the pilot’s head was only a foot above the tarmac. It took the rescue crew five minutes to pry the pilot’s hands off the railings, survival instinct for you.

The pilot’s name was Henry Dempsey and the incident was dramatically re-enacted in the tv series Rescue 911.

The Chiefs SHUT DOWN Angry Feminists

Given how the Chinese never had a vote in their government ruled by Chinese Communist Party, should media when reporting make the distinction between China and the regime ruling China, when referring to ‘China’ in their reports?

This question shows that the person asking has zero knowledge of China’s government and election process. I suggest that the person asking this question do some research before asking more questions so that he does not embarrass himself by showing his lack of knowledge.

Let us look at the democratic process of the Chinese “parliament”, the National People’s Congress and the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

Members of the National People’s Congress (NPC) are elected by the Provincial People’s Assemblies from all the provinces and regions throughout China, including Hong Kong and Macau.

Members of the Provincial People’s Assemblies in turn are elected by lower level assemblies, and so on through a series of tiers, to the Local People’s Assemblies. The Local People’s Assembly is very much like a village or small town assembly, members of which are directly elected by the people living there. The voters know personally who they are electing.

Unlike in Western democracy, what happens through this system is that the voters, for each level, are voting people whom they work with and know very well. For example, members of the local assembly would vote for the best among them, those who can work and produce results, to represent them at the next level.

Through this system, only the best gets chosen for the NPC, after several layers of the selection process.

This is different from Western democracy where members of the public elect candidates whom they don’t know personally. The candidates are only known from TV appearances, news in the mass media and similar non-personal things.

The very best from among the NPC members are then elected into the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. This is the group that runs China – individuals who have been chosen through a highly competitive selection process and have proven their ability to govern at a lower level.

This is the reason why China’s economy is growing at such a fast rate – only very capable leaders make it into the Standing Committee.

China Turns Tables on U.S, CANCEL U.S SANCTIONS on RUSSIA

Is Comac hiding its technological progress and misleading Biden by showing a long time horizon to avoid a trade war?

No.

Airliners is a special business, even within aviation.

Why?

They carry passengers in the tens to hundreds.

That is why there is extraordinary scrutiny on the entire system, down to the stewardess serving cup noodles on budget flights.

Yes, she has to obtain a type certification, just like the pilots, and it is specific to the airliner model. The same goes for the maintenance crew—everyone is trained, tested and certified, with the cycle repeated to maintain currency.

This extraordinary level of training and oversight is what makes flying far safer than driving.

Every physical part of an airliner is tested to death, especially the engines. Even the number of coats of paint is a controlled spec, not only because paint add weight to the airframe, but the thickness can alter the operation of moving parts, especially the control surfaces.

Comac has recently introduced its first narrowbody six-across C919. It is at the most painful stage currently, ironing out teething issues for the early jets, while ramping up production to fulfill the burgeoning order book.

It will have to document every spec, down to the training requirements for technicians and crew, and make the material broadly available to all customers and regulators. It will have to publish procedures for the safe operation and maintenance of the aircraft, and establish the technical limits of the airframe and moving parts.

All these take time, especially if one starts from a clean sheet, and the entire process is regulated by authorities, who will have to sign off on the type certification.

It is a rigorous process that takes lots of time.

Disney Casts Anya Taylor-Joy As Snow White? Anya Is Excited To Replace Rachel Zegler From The Movie!

Be the Rufus

“At 3am I got a phone call stating that my sister had been killed in a car accident due to some young dumb punk! I haven’t slept and instantly got on the road. Of course we were speeding, trying to get back to Detroit. And we got pulled over in Ohio. I knew I was going to Jail due to a petty warrant. The police called Wayne county and they refused to come get me because of the distance. I explained to the officer that my sister had died and that I needed to get to my mother asap. I broke down crying and he saw the sincerity in my cry. He REACHES OVER AND BEGAN PRAYING OVER ME AND MY FAMILY. He offered to bring me 100 miles further to Detroit because they towed the vehicle. Everybody knows how much I dislike Cops but I am truly Greatful for this Guy. He gave me hope.”

main qimg bdf782089182733497f19677b23a33fd

The Worst Economy I have ever seen

Why are Chinese people so brainwashed?

Gee, you’re the self-proclaimed “China expert”. You even studied “China” at Harvard (whatever that means) so you must know better than people who’ve actually visited, lived or done business there, right? So why are you asking all us brainwashed peeps?

I do find it odd that you proudly proclaim a connection to NED, whose job is to spread the gospel of democracy (coincidentally, mainly to countries that the United States doesn’t view as allies).

But well done, keep preaching it, brother.

However, the reason I raise this point is that it automatically makes the motives of your question (and any of your questions about China) suspect. Because what you’re essentially saying here is that anyone who doesn’t agree with the American view — YOUR view — that China is the fount of all evil in the world must be de facto brainwashed and a wumao.

Never mind that an actual visit to China and exposure to Mainland Chinese people would likely lead you to a different conclusion entirely.

So I’d answer your question this way: disagreeing with the American narrative on China doesn’t automatically equate to brainwashing. Neither does it equate to blind support of China or believing that the country is perfect.

But I do wonder something. If you really are with NED, how do you reconcile what you do to spread the gospel of democracy to the world with the fact that the United States itself has demonstrated time and time again that it’s willing to hold its nose and ally with authoritarian countries and odious dictators?

Have a lovely day.

Barbecue Beef Roast

Ingredients

1 (2 – 2 1/2 pound) beef chuck roast
1/4 cup barbecue sauce (I prefer Sweet Baby Ray’s)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Instructions

Place the roast in the slow cooker (slice in half if using a 4-quart slow cooker).
Whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the roast. Cook on LOW for 6 hours.
Remove the roast and shred with two forks (it just falls apart), place in a serving dish and ladle some of the juice over the top before serving.

How America RUINED the world’s screws! (Robertson vs. Phillips)

War story

You’re a 19 year old kid.

You are critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .

Its November 14, 1965 . LZ (landing zone) X-ray.

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Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.

You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you’re not getting out.

Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you’ll never see them again.

As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then – over the machine gun noise – you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.

You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn’t seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.

Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.

He’s not MedEvac so it’s not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he’s

flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.

Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He’s coming anyway.

And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety. And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!

Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.

He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Army, died at the age of 81, in Boise, Idaho.

I bet you didn’t hear about this hero’s passing,Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman.

Now… YOU pass this along.

Honor this real hero.

What is the most bizarre way you’ve landed a job?

I was at a party (mid 1970s). Amidst all the chatter, I heard these two guys talking about a contract they’d just secured. Sponsored by a government lab to bring together scientists and engineers and government functionaries and get them to go over technical details of a power generation project. This was just their sweet spot, but they were concerned about running sessions to get these diverse groups to talk to each other, and coming up with a coherent final report.

I eavesdropped, then butted in. “I’ve done a good bit of that at my job at UCLA,” I said. I suggested ways to do this. They ended up inviting me into their project to handle the interactive part. The event went very well, and other labs wanted to bring us in.

But my two partners weren’t interested in this type of work—not technical enough for them. So they handed the whole thing over to me. I had a company with half a dozen employees and a government contract.

Started me down my road to entrepreneurship.

China’s Latest Move Has Governments Freaking Out

Have you ever gone into a restaurant that looked unappealing from the outside but ended up having delicious food? If so, where and what did you order?

It has happened more than once.

One restaurant visit that I remember particularly was in Wuhan, China. It was in 2006. I was on my way to Ichang and Three Gorges (the big dam). I wasn’t in a hurry and stayed for four days in the city.

On the first evening I walked along the street where I stayed and looked for a place where to eat. Everything was in Chinese. There were no signs in English, so I couldn’t even memorize the name of the street where I stayed. I wouldn’t venture too far, not to get lost.

Anyway, I found a restaurant close to the shabby hotel where I stayed. I went inside and it looked quite unappealing. Simple forniture, tiled floor and very bright lights. The interior looked cheap and uninviting. At first I thought I wouldn’t eat there, I’d only have a beer. But, after a while I realized I wouldn’t find another place. Nobody spoke English and I wouldn’t know where to go. I had no choice and decided I’d have whatever they had to offer.

I drew a fish on a napkin – that would be my order. Somehow, I tried to explain with gestures that I’d also like some side dishes. When the food arrived I was in a shock. That would be enough for a family of four. Everything looked really nice, especially the fish. It was a whole fish, steamed and garnished with vegetables – it looked like a masterpiece. The whole dinner was a devine culinary experience. I didn’t manage to eat it all – I left some of the small dishes that accompanied the main dish. And the most suprising thing came at the end – the bill. I paid 35 yuan for the whole feast. It was equivalent of 6 US Dollars. One of the best meals of my life, that I still remember after 18 years.

What were some things kids did in the 70s that would horrify today’s parents?

80s kid but close enough:

A) My parents literally had NO IDEA where I was the vast majority of my childhood.

Every day from 1st grade on I was unsupervised from 3-6pm since my parents both worked. Weekends if I didn’t have a sports game I was out in the world gone for hours at a time, no way for them to contact me, I didn’t check in, road my bike into different towns and all over my town.

B) Made all my own plans. Starting around 3rd grade or so, any after school or weekend social activities I set up myself with friends. Called peoples houses, talked to parents, made plans, never asked for permission.

I was in charge of those decisions.

I was responsible for my safety.

Only reason I would call is if I wouldn’t be home for dinner. Same rules seemed to apply to all my friends.

C) I was in charge of my transportation to and from school and after school activities before 6pm. Rain? Either I remembered an umbrella or I got wet. Snow? Same deal

This polite stray cat knocked on the door, trying to ask for adoption and become part of the family.

Bossa Nova chillin’

Lately I have been really enjoying bossa nova type of music. Especially the versions of 1980’s and 1990’s era music. It’s good lounge music, and perfect for a cup of coffee and some fine chatting. It’s also good for reading and petting a cat.

Bossa nova is a relaxed style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovative syncopation of traditional samba from a single rhythmic division.

I found this particular video that really resonates. It’s a long video and offers hours and hours of this kind of music.

You know, after a long day of life, it kind of really sets the mood when you are relaxing at home and chillin’

Just saying.

Today…

The US has shown its inferior complexity to China, especially its inferior complexity to Chinese Green Technologies such as solar panels & EVs cars etc. The US has lost its military superiority to PLA & technologies superiority to China. Why?

For America,

Handing over the country to financial capitals will naturally lead to this dilemma.

Financial capitals only want beautiful balance sheets, they don’t care if a company serves the society or not, therefore, many companies outsourced their manufacturing even R&D departments to places with lower human costs, i.e., China, Southeast Asian countries, East European countries.

Because they want their profit rates looking beautiful.

On the other hand, clumsy democracy made the situation worse.

Theoretically, if a company discharged its workers because they found cheaper ones in developing countries, then those jobless will rush into the market, and lower down the salary level.

However, the minimum salary is set by government, if any politician planned to adjust it to make it suitable to the market, then voters will not support him. So he won’t do this, because this decision is suicidal although it is logic. Ironically, if he promised to rise the salary or social welfare, he would earn a lot of votes.

Now it is a vicious spiral: human cost rises—companies moving out—no way to bring down the human cost—human costs keep rising—

The result is, as manufacturing departments keep moving to Asia, the R&D departments in US runs in a low profeciency as there’s always a 12 hours lag between the two places. Now you have two options: move your R&D departments to Asia to increase working efficency, or keep it at north America. If you choose to move, you may survive, if you choose to stay, you may die.

Use your logic, don’t use emotion. Everyone is patriotic, blame China or USA does not help solving the problem.

For China,

There’re over 4.7 million STEM students graduating from college and universities in China every year, comparing in USA, that number is pathetic 560K. China supplies 9 times more technicians, engineers and specialized workers than USA.

Americans are DYING and this is a DISASTER unfolding before our eyes

What is the saddest thing you’ve ever seen happen in a bar?

I bartended for close to 10 years…I’ve worked at the “party” bar, I’ve worked at veterans clubs, etc.

I’ve seen numerous people cheating on their spouse, usually a new partner every weekend.

I’ve over heard a person say that their kids were out in the car so they had to leave (after being in the bar for two hours).

I’ve seen old men drinking to numb themselves after losing their wife of many many years.

I’ve had to serve pregnant women alcohol bc I’m not able to tell them no.

I’ve served a 23 year old for hours one night when he left (walking to the bar up the street) only for him to leave that bar with a carload of friends…they wrecked. 3 died.

I’ve given people rides home after closing so that they wouldn’t drive drunk. (Small town, I knew them).

I’ve watched a man slowly kill himself while drinking with liver failure. I’ve seen his skin slowly turn yellow, his stomach extend…until one day he don’t come in the bar anymore. A week later they found him at his house, passed away.
(I’ve served others who I can tell are at the beginning stages of liver failure).

I left bartending years ago. I can no longer watch people make the choices they do. While my time was filled with a lot of fun, it’s also filled with sadness.

DOUGLAS MACGREGOR:

[Victoria Nuland: "I think if the attacks are coming directly from over the line in Russia, those bases ought to be fair game—whether they are where missiles are being launched from or where troops are being supplied from. I think it's time for that because Russia has obviously escalated this war, including, as you said in the beginning, attacking 'Russia's second city,' Kharkiv, which is not on the front lines, and trying to decimate it without ever having to put a boot on the ground. So I think it is time to give the Ukrainians more help hitting these bases inside Russia."]

“This woman is a committed ideologue, and she is never going to admit the truth.

She’s never going to come to terms with the truth.

She is going to continue to cling tenaciously to the mountain of lies that she and her ideological fellow travelers have created, who are currently running our country.

It’s tragic, but that’s the way it is.

Frankly, she would be delighted if she could pull us in, but I’ve got news for her—we’re not coming.

We don’t have the capability.

Everybody knows it now. It’s no longer a secret.

The United States Army is a pitiful remnant of what it was 30 years ago. It’s in terrible condition.

What are you going to do? Hurl the dwindling Marine Corps, designed for amphibious warfare in 1943, at Sevastopol?

Of course not. They’re not going to do anything.

Then you turn to the Air Force, which has a readiness rate of only 40 or 50% in its newest aircraft, can’t find enough pilots, and is trying to recall pilots to fly aircraft.

And then there’s the Navy—my goodness. We need to decommission carriers and take a new direction in the way we develop and build our naval power.

There is no coherent strategy in Washington.

Everything is impulse-driven. It’s all emotion-based.

She is a perfect example of that.

She believes that her ideology tells her that Russia is and must be destroyed; therefore, it will happen.

You just continue to scream obscenities at the Russians and scream lies at us, and eventually, that’s what’s going to occur.

No, it’s not.

She’s just wasting her time.

But more importantly, she’s making us look ridiculous.”

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Excerpt from remarks by retired U.S. Army colonel Douglas Macgregor in an interview with Judge Napolitano, May 20, 2024.

They Are Lying About Inflation – DID YOU SEE THIS?

I do agree with him.

Ukraine: ‘Shot Down’ Drones Hit Targets

Reports of damage caused by Russian drones in Ukraine are regularly followed by reports which claim that all drones were shot down.

Via Strana (machine translations):

Russians hit Konotop and Shostka power facilities in Sumy region

08:22, todayLast night, Russian troops launched an air strike on the energy facilities of Konotop and Shostka in the Sumy region.

This is reported by the Sumy OVA. “The enemy launched an air strike, using a Shahed-type UAV, on the energy facilities of the cities of Shostka and Konotop,” the report says.

Currently, work is underway to restore power supply, which was cut off due to an enemy strike.

Also in the OVA reported that over the Sumy region this night destroyed 7 enemy UAVs of the type “Shahed”.

Ukrenergo reported that Sumy and the surrounding areas remain without electricity after the night attack of “Shahids”.

—Air forces destroyed all 24 Shaheds that attacked Ukraine

09:00, todayOn the night of Wednesday, May 22, Russia attacked Ukraine with 24 strike UAVs of the Shahed-131/136 type. This is reported by the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“As a result of the anti-aircraft battle, the Ukrainian Defense Forces managed to shoot down all 24 Shaheds,” the report says.
Strike UAVs were destroyed in the Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Sumy and Odessa regions.

Recall that at night, Russian troops launched an air strike on the energy facilities of Konotop and Shostka in the Sumy region.
Sumy and surrounding areas remain without electricity after the night attack of “Shahids”.

I will concede that debris of a shot down drone can still cause damage. But when the ‘debris’ of a ‘shot down’ drone is causing the intended damage when it hits its target was it really shot down?

Who do they think they are kidding with this?

Posted by b at 9:26 UTC | Comments (154)

What is the worst case of a spoiled person you have ever seen?

A family friend was extremely spoiled. His parents were both medical doctors. They told him for his 16th birthday he could have any luxury car as long as it had 4 doors. He wanted a fully loaded Lexus with 2 doors. His parents told him he could have it, but it needed 4 doors. He screamed and complained about how they weren’t being fair. The nerve of this guy. He wasn’t going to pay for the car, the insurance, the gas or the maintenance. Eventually, he reluctantly agreed and his parents purchased the car for him.

Bonus story: About 10 years later, I go to his parent’s office for a checkup. His mother tells me that she’s so happy my parents didn’t give us everything, raised me to work and not have my hand out constantly looking for mommy and daddy welfare as adults. She wishes that she would had done the same thing. Those words stuck with me. Don’t excessively spoil your children!

INSANE AI VIDEO | AI Girlfriends a BILLION $ Industry | EndlessDreams, VASA-1 and AI Music

Jesus H. Christ!

You all got to watch this video.

Why are the Chinese controlled by the government? Don’t they dare to resist?

I am Chinese, yesterday was Wednesday, May 22, 2024 Beijing time. Let me review everything I went through yesterday. Then please find a way to rescue me from oppression in China:

At 06:00, I woke up and went from my bedroom on the second floor to the first floor. To avoid waking up my wife and children, I washed up in the first floor restroom. At the same time, I turned off the power of the induction cooker. Because I set it up to cook at night 8 hours ago. I use it to make rice and pea Congee. This is a part of breakfast. Then, I turned on another induction cooker (our house uses electricity instead of natural gas) and started steaming steamed buns. Baozi is pre made, so it only takes 15 minutes to steam. When the timer rang, I peeled off a few pickled duck eggs. Each person has a bowl of Congee, 4 beef buns, and 1 Salted duck egg. This is breakfast at our house.

At 06:30, the alarm clock in the second floor bedroom rang. My wife and children wake up from their respective bedrooms. I woke up Baidu’s smart speaker and asked her to play some news. My wife started washing up, and my child listened to the news while getting dressed. He asked me: Did the Iranian President pass away in the accident? I replied, “Yes.”. He asked me again, “Why is every day news about the Middle East? And there is less and less news about Russia and Ukraine?” I told him my opinions, some of which come from Chinese media commentators, and the other from the inspiration I gained from reading Quora.

At 06:45, both the wife and children walked downstairs to have breakfast. My wife asked about the weather of the smart speaker today and the answer she received was 35 ℃. In mid May in the eastern region of China, this is an unusual high temperature. She spent several hours outdoors participating in public welfare activities today. Every year, the district government will provide financial assistance twice to children from families whose income is below a certain threshold. Give them a small sum of money (approximately $200) to help them purchase some learning tools or other goods. She needs to bring some children to collect this money. She complained that the high temperature had darkened her skin, so she hoped that the charity event could be held indoors instead. She doesn’t work for the government, just a teacher who teaches children art.

At 07:00, I drove the hybrid car out of the garage and took my wife and children to school. It takes about 15 minutes on the road, and the child takes out their textbook to review. This is one of his learning methods, which involves reviewing the previous day’s homework in the morning when he has the best energy. He told me that some of the questions in yesterday’s Chinese exam were from Jules Verne’s novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”. However, he doesn’t really like this novel. He believes that as a 7th grade student, one should read some more valuable books.

At 7: 30,I drove home and listened to the programs of political commentators from Taiwan on the Chinese Mainland media. I like this critic. He began to observe and understand the mainland, and referred to himself as Chinese. His program’s approach is data analysis and geopolitical analysis. This is a wise person. I don’t think he can support CCP, but he admits that he is Chinese, which is enough.

At 7:40, I bought dinner ingredients at a supermarket. And I bought a 2.5kg large watermelon for approximately 13 yuan (2 US dollars). This is the fruit after dinner for the whole family in the evening. I will put it in the refrigerator for a few hours. This way it tastes better. Today’s dinner plan is to stir fry beef, celery, black fungus, mushrooms, green peppers, and scallions together. According to the label, beef comes from Australia, celery is grown by local farmers, fungus comes from the northern province of China 3000 kilometers away, mushrooms come from Yunnan province 2000 kilometers away, and green peppers and scallions come from neighboring Shandong province. The cost of dinner is approximately 40 RMB (6.5 USD). When I left the supermarket, I paid the parking fee. As it is a new energy vehicle, I only need to pay 50% of the cost of a fuel powered vehicle. So, I spent 1.5 yuan (0.25 US dollars).

At 08:00, I returned home and started working in the morning. I am engaged in Internet development. Free to search for employers. We are currently completing a WeChat based mini program. It will take about 2 days, and I can get around $100 in compensation. If there are multiple employers at the same time, I will receive more compensation. This is my main source of income. I wrote some articles on children’s psychology in the Chinese version of Quora（知乎） and received some compensation. I see writing as a break from work. Last year, I wrote 270000 words on Quora in China and had 11000 subscribers.

At 12: 00 finished 4 hours of work. Throughout the morning, I received several notices from the power department reminding me to settle last month’s car charging station fee of 59 yuan ($10). The reason for the low cost is that recently I have been riding more motorcycles. So, the fuel cost of motorcycles has increased to 120 yuan ($20) per month. The agency called and told me that the house they were interested in had a price drop of 100000 yuan (16000 US dollars) compared to last year. Given the sluggish real estate situation in China, everyone is adopting a wait-and-see attitude, which has led to more price reductions and fewer buyers. Near noon, my phone prompted me that the smart fan with voice control that I had purchased for my child had arrived downstairs at my house. This electric fan, priced at 170 yuan ($30), is a well-known Chinese electrical brand KONKA. I participated in a promotion yesterday and surprisingly purchased it for 47 yuan (8 US dollars), and it was mailed for free from Suzhou, 400 kilometers away. I waited for 24 hours to receive the goods.

At 13:00, I handle some household chores. Hang the clothes in the washing machine, sort the garbage and put it in the sorting bin. According to the government’s regulations on garbage classification, it is not allowed to dispose of garbage from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. But my trash can is already full. So, I still put a bag of kitchen waste and a bag of dry waste in the sorting bin. I know that the camera in the garbage bin will record my illegal dumping of garbage. Any violation of the regulations will result in a fine of 50 yuan (8 US dollars). But it seems that no one has ever been truly fined. However, the garbage has not been disposed of yet. I will take the recyclable garbage I have accumulated in the next few days to a large box next to the garbage bin, and use my phone to scan the QR code to dispose of the garbage. Scan the code because I have already logged into an app. At the same time, the camera inside the box began scanning whether my garbage was truly recyclable. The built-in electronic scale starts weighing the garbage, and then my phone will receive a text message telling me the weight and compensation of the garbage. Yes, in order to encourage you to sort your garbage correctly, the government has invited a company called Lovere to purchase garbage and pay compensation. I have disposed of 800 kilograms of recyclable waste in the past 3 years.

At 14:00, I started working in the afternoon, modifying the UI and asking the employer for some details. I found an error while checking the logic. The business logic must be modified again. I am already 43 years old, and I feel a bit overwhelmed with this job. So, I am pursuing a degree in nutrition and cooking, hoping to work in nutrition consulting in a few years. I hope to go to communities where there are many elderly people, cook for them and receive compensation. Because many elderly people in China suffer from malnutrition. This is not due to economic reasons, but because many elderly people are too frugal. This is my current goal.

At 17: 00,I started cooking dinner. Each person has a portion of rice, fried beef with agaric mushrooms, and a portion of sweet soybean milk (ingredients include soybeans, millet, oats, and rice). This dinner used 9 ingredients. An hour later, dinner was ready.

At 18: 00,I will drive to pick up my wife and children and go home. My wife told me the follow-up to a news story a few days ago on the way. A week ago, on the road behind our house, a female driver made a mistake and hit three people in a row. This includes an elderly person and a mother daughter pair. The old man and woman passed away on the spot, and the child has been being rescued in the ICU. This traffic accident has attracted the attention of the whole city. Treatment requires huge costs, and medical insurance is not enough to cover it. The child’s family asks for help through the Internet. In just a few days, they received over 1 million yuan (200000 US dollars) in cash. The hospital also announced to minimize treatment costs and invited multiple professors for consultations. The girl finally escaped danger. I, my wife, have all donated money. After I forwarded my request for help on WeChat, my friends who were far away in Shanghai and Henan also donated money. This is the only fortunate thing in a tragedy.

At 18:00, I will continue to pick up the child and go home. He told me about what he saw in today’s class and planned to read a novel called “Death Notice” after completing his homework. The author of this novel graduated from Tsinghua University, and the theme of the novel is to discuss the upper limit of the value of criminal police – if there is an unfair social environment, criminal crimes will never disappear. So, how to prevent crime? Behind this issue lies a larger context: achieving high social and economic development is the only way to eliminate the soil of crime. Through the form of detective novels, I believe that novels express profound thoughts. This is also one of the reasons why I encourage children to read this novel.

At 19:00, The whole family had dinner together. We discussed various topics, from the historical conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia, to the announcement by the United States of increased tariffs on China’s new energy vehicles, and to the historical territorial disputes between China and Russia. We also discussed the dissidents in China in the 1990s. This is a topic that I often discuss with my children. I sometimes find their programs on YouTube and let children watch and listen to their opinions. Today, when my child asked for my opinion, I told him that I looked down on them. Because they have been away from China for more than 30 years, and still use outdated language overseas. Apart from criticism, they have achieved nothing. If they truly love the Chinese people, they must at least do something that can prove themselves. However, they cannot do it.

At 21:00, my wife took a rest in the living room. She likes to watch Tiktok live broadcast every night, and then bought all kinds of things in the broadcast room. The common feature of these things is that they are cheap, useless, flashy but not practical, and regret buying them all. However, this is her entertainment, and my responsibility is to answer whatever she wants to buy: great, worth buying. The child finished their studies and immersed themselves in the novel. However, before that, he would make video calls to his grandfather and grandmother to inquire about their blood sugar levels, remind them to pay attention to a healthy diet, and not forget to take medication.

At 22:00, the child should go to bed. But before going to bed, he asked me to go to his room and say something to me. He pointed to the map of China on the wall and speculated about the possibility of China and Russia turning against each other in the future. Then, he worried for Japan because he didn’t understand why Japan always made the wrong choices at every milestone in history. Then, he pointed to the Yellowstone National Geopark in the United States on another world map, hoping to visit there in the future. I heard him talk nonsense for a while, so I urged him to go to bed quickly.

This is a day for an ordinary Chinese family. Now let me ask: How different is this day from a family in the United States, Australia, Japan, or France? How to draw the conclusion that “CCP oppresses the Chinese people” and “Chinese people have no freedom” from this day?

In any society or religion, children are the most brainwashed group. In the world of a 13-year-old child, he knows the existence of “Chinese dissidents”, understands Russia’s history, believes that China and Russia cannot maintain eternal allies, worries about Japan’s gambling in the fate of the country, yearns for the natural scenery of the United States, understands that “propaganda” cannot make society better, and that a highly developed society can make everything better. He studied in a school under the management of the CPC, so why was he not brainwashed?

I’ll tell you. Some Chinese people view the courses of “politics” and “history” offered in schools as “屠龙之术”. The meaning is that by mastering these two courses, one will have a tremendous power to change society. Why do you say that? Aren’t these two courses brainwashing tools of the CPC?At school, teenagers in China will learn:

that people have the right to overthrow rulers if society is unfair,
the army and police are the state’s violence machines that deal with opponents,
the CPC made serious mistakes in the 1960s and 1970s, listed the social problems and contradictions in China,
told students the reasons behind these problems, and the solutions to them (never attributed these problems to the United States and the West, but to find reasons and solutions from within China),
the origin and positive value of religion，
On the grand topic of “worldview”, Chinese students are educated that the fate of all humanity is a community, which is unrelated to social systems. The interests of all humanity are the highest interests.

Conclusion: If you have the money to pay for air tickets, please come to China to take a look. If you don’t have money, please work hard to earn money and reduce online surfing.

China just dominated America in the Space Race… Biden in Shock

Pennsylvania Dutch Cherry Pie

Ingredients

1 pastry circle from 15 ounce refrigerated pie crust
2 (21 ounce) cans cherry pie filling
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup unblanched almonds

Instructions

Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Fit pie crust into a 9 inch pie plate. Lightly dampen underside of crust and turn edge under pressing firmly to rim of pie plate.
In a large bowl, combine pie filling and orange peel. Spoon into pie crust. Set aside.
In a small bowl combine flour, sugar and cinnamon. Using pastry cutter or blender, cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle mixture over cherry pie filling, covering completely and evenly.
Bake for 20 minutes until filling is hot and top is golden brown.
Sprinkle with almonds.

Why is Xi Jinping so calm and relaxed?

I am an ordinary Chinese. The common view of Xi among other Chinese like me is to do your best in the face of great difficulties.

Foreign friends may not know that the Chinese thought Huawei was doomed when they heard of the sanctions. When I learned that the US had launched a trade war under Mr Trump, I thought China was finished. The Biden administration thought China was finished when it hit China again and again. Well, it didn’t. Some things are being resolved, some things are partially resolved, some things are resolved.

After dinner, ordinary Chinese people sometimes wonder: How did he do it? But as you can imagine, he has a strong team behind him. The team is willing to devote its talents to the country. I am glad that China is under the leadership of such a person. Although there are many social and economic problems that need to be improved, all of them are concerned and in a certain program.

Today in 2024, if you take to the streets of China and ask the Chinese what they would most like Xi to do next? The answer might be: Ask President Xi to unify China and let Taiwan go home. Chinese with some education or concern about the international situation will believe that Xi has a unique and important historical mission. On the whole, the people believe that he can fulfill his historic mission. Because this mission is not proposed by him or his team, but the consensus of the Chinese people. As an ordinary person, I expect President Xi to fulfill his historical mission, then my descendants will live in a better China.

And finally I want to say that in early 2020 when Covid-19 is at its worst, under his decision making, 1.4 billion Chinese have shut down all social activities, even staying indoors. No forced here. If you look along the timeline for a few months of Chinese short video content, you’ll find all sorts of fun. A nationwide closure by May 2020 averted mass deaths. Why are people willing? Because this is not Xi’s personal will, this is the consensus of the Chinese people.

Private observers of the Chinese internet had speculated that the half-year-long nationwide closure would leave foreign heads of state in awe of Xi. I don’t know what’s really going on. But this is the power of the people of China. After decades of capitalist economic development, China retains the essence of socialism: to keep everyone alive as well as possible.

The Disturbing Truth About Single Mothers & The Rise Of Son Husbands

I was a son husband for three years after my mother divorced my father when I was 11. She used to come home and literally cry to me about her boyfriends who dumped her. The laws of Ohio said I could choose which parent I wanted to live with when I turned 14. At that age, I moved in with my father. Many mental problems I was having miraculously cleared up within a year. Some are still with me to this day. A therapist of mine said it was "emotional incest". She never understood, for the rest of her life, why I left.

What is the most satisfying passive-aggressive thing you have ever done to a really mean or rude person?

I worked at a dollar store when I was a teen. This boy used to come in every other day for different things .. I think his mom was disabled because he picked up a lot of groceries. I also think they were poor because he would pay often with bags of pennies and his clothes looked worn. Anyway… this one day T came in and was looking around when I heard a very angry “Put it back!” .. I leaned over to see who it was .. and saw this woman yelling at T about a soft drink he was carrying. He looked really scared as she laid into him about shop lifting … We all knew T at the store .. he had been coming here for over a year .. and not once was he suspected of wrong doing. So I walked over to see what was happening .. The woman quite high on her soap box explained to me how this little thief was caught red handed. I looked at her smiled and said “I think it would be hard to steal from himself … since I just sold him that Dr Pepper” … “But if you still feel that this corporate giant is being filched of $1.08 .. then I will be happy to chuck this in … under your name of course” … “I’m sure when they have time you will be receiving a very grand “Thank You” … from headquarters” … “Now, shall we go to the register?” … She looked stunned .. mumbled something and left her cart. Never saw her again .. but T kept coming till he graduated .. I think we kept the better customer.

The Hyena Men of Nigeria

As infants, we wore no diapers. We run around starkers galore — peeing wherever we liked. So that means we grow up to about 7 or 8 still wetting the bed at night.

We are just supposed to magically stop wetting the bed at a certain age. For the few of us that passes beyond that age and still wetting the bed, the Hyena Men comes in.

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They walk around with a muzzled hyena on a leash, carrying a megaphone, going through nooks and crannies, calling out to households if they have kids still wetting their bed. They have a cure.

They get paid to take the child (wailing and crying) on a ride on the back of the hyena through the village square with everyone watching.

I have no idea how, but the therapy works — probably because of the trauma the kid is being put through.

The Car Payment Epidemic ….. The Saga Continues

The USA is crashing at all levels.

Vintage comix with hidden meanings

My daughter is in 3rd grade, a straight A student and no disciplinary issues. She came home with wet panties. She said she told the teacher she had to go but the teacher wouldn’t let her. How do I handle this without alienating the teacher?

My daughter has been refused bathroom passes at school when there was an emergency period situation, multiple times. So she was forced to stay in the classroom and bleed through her clothes. This happened in middle school. 6th grade through 8th. She has seen a kid have diarrhea in their pants during class. The teachers will not let them use the bathroom if they don’t have any more hall passes than what they were given at the beginning of the semester. It’s usually 4 passes/semester.

The embarrassment and shame from these incidents will stay with her for life. At their young age, they aren’t able to just say “It’s an emergency, and I’m going”. We have taught them that they can’t say no to their teachers and principals. That is drilled into them, to follow orders and directions. So these poor kids sit and have accidents.

The teacher’s defense, when confronted, was that she should have used the bathroom during the break. How messed up is that?! She does use the bathroom during the break! She is late to class, but she does it and takes the consequences! She gets lunch detentions for having her period!

What happened with your daughter is common during the school career, unfortunately. But by all means, CONFRONT the teacher! Your child cannot stand up themselves yet. In fact, we have instructed them not to argue with teachers. If you don’t, no one will. But the embarrassment and shame that goes along with theses kinds of incidents will stay with them forever.

Since these early incidents, I have told my kids to just go if they need to go, even if the teacher said “No”, it is fine. If the teacher is mad, oh well. If they get detention or ISS, they won’t be in any trouble with me. I will congratulate them for standing up and meeting their own needs. This rule is dangerous and cruel.

What are some psychological facts about love?

1. People are biased to turn their heads to the right when a kiss is initiated.

2. Your sense of smell plays a huge role in love. The smell is tied very slowly to memory.

3. Falling in love triggers feelings of euphoria, sleeplessness and obsession, which is similar to cocaine high.

4. Talkative girls and silent boys make the best couples.

5. People who use emojis in their texts are perceived as more likable.

6. A woman is more attracted to a man when she is uncertain about how much he likes her.

7. People with different-colored eyes are more likely to be attracted to each other.

8. When you become really close to someone, you can hear their voice in your head when you read their texts.

9. A crush only lasts for a maximum of 4 months, if it exceeds, you’re already in love.

10. Just by looking at the picture of your beloved one, you can feel a sense of relief.

Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

1 (3 pound or more) chicken
3 quarts water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
3 tablespoons broth
2 large raw potatoes, diced
1/4 cup grated onion

Instructions

Boil chicken in water until tender and comes off the bone easily. Put chicken and broth in a large kettle (or Dutch Oven), add salt and more water, enough to make a full three quarts again.
Mix egg and broth. Add flour and mix until stiff enough to roll out. Put on floured board and roll thin. Let set for 20 minutes to dry.
Cut into 1 1/2 inch squares. Add to broth and chicken which is boiling hot. Cook for 10 minutes.
Add potatoes and the onion. Cook over slow heat until all are tender.
Serve hot with biscuits and a tossed salad.

Who is the most evil man in human history? What evil did he do? Where did he make his evil?

Idi Amin, often called the “Butcher of Uganda,” ruled the East African nation from 1971 to 1979 with a reign of terror that left an indelible mark on the country’s history. Born around 1925 in Koboko, Amin’s rise from a cook in the British colonial army to a feared dictator is a story of ambition, brutality, and unrestrained power. His military coup in 1971 ousted President Milton Obote and was initially welcomed by many Ugandans, but the euphoria quickly turned to horror.

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Amin’s regime was notorious for its brutality, with an estimated 300,000 Ugandans killed during his rule. Political opponents, ethnic minorities, intellectuals, and ordinary citizens all fell victim to his purges. The notorious State Research Bureau, Amin’s secret police, carried out widespread torture and executions. Public executions and mass graves became terrifyingly common, instilling fear and suspicion across the nation.

One of Amin’s most infamous acts was the 1972 expulsion of approximately 60,000 Asians from Uganda, primarily those of Indian descent. Given only 90 days to leave the country, their properties were confiscated, leading to economic collapse as the country lost its key business community. Amin’s unpredictable and erratic behavior further isolated Uganda internationally, with bizarre actions such as declaring himself “President for Life” and challenging superpowers like the United States.

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Amin’s downfall came in 1978 when he ordered an ill-fated invasion of Tanzania. The Tanzanian army, alongside Ugandan exiles, launched a counterattack, capturing Kampala in April 1979 and forcing Amin into exile. He fled to Libya and eventually settled in Saudi Arabia, where he lived until his death in 2003. Amin’s legacy is a chilling reminder of the destructive potential of unchecked power and the devastating impact of tyranny on a nation’s soul.

Russia Launches Counter-Satellite Weapon into Space

Hal Turner World May 21, 2024

On May 17 (still 16th in USA) Russia launched what the US Defense Department says is another Counter-Satellite space-based weapon into low-earth orbit.

Russia Launches Counter Satellite Weapon May 16 large

The new Russia “satellite” is presently tracking near several U.S. Military Satellites.

This follows additional launches by the Russian Armed Forces in 2019 and 2022, which were also believed to have Deployed similar Weapons that could be utilized against U.S. or NATO Intelligence Satellites if a War was to Breakout.

A dead giveaway that the launch was actually a weapons systems was the giant “Z” emblazoned on the top of the rocket, clearly visible in the video below. That letter/symbol is presently in use by Russian Army forces fighting in Ukraine.

Amb. Robert Wood, U.S. alternate representative for special political affairs in the United Nations, made the allegation during a May 20 debate in the U.N. Security Council on a Russian resolution proposing a ban on the placement of weapons of any kind in space.

“Just last week, on May 16, Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that the United States assesses is likely a counterspace weapon, presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” he said. “Russia deployed this new counterspace weapon into the same orbit as a U.S. government satellite.”

Pictures

(c) Gallery Oldham; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

Have you ever met a celebrity and found they were much kinder or ruder than you expected?

Late 1980’s and I’m walking down a street in the high 40’s in midtown Manhattan. Every block in the area had an electronics/TV store. I was walking past one and it had Apocalypse Now playing on a TV in the window. I stopped and watched Martin Sheen on a riverboat with a young Laurence Fishburne dancing to “Satisfaction”. I was standing there and suddenly, this guy walks up to me and it starts raining. He had a long, leather overcoat and a wide brimmed, black leather hat on. We both stood there for a few minutes, just digging the movie. I turned to him and said, “Man, I love this movie.” he said, “Yeah, me too, but I like ‘The Deer Hunter’ more.”

I glanced sideways at him and said, “Yeah, I think I do, too.”

It was Bobby DeNiro. He smiled, patted me on the shoulder and walked away.

20 years later, I was at a holiday party that my company threw. It was at Nobu Downtown. The owner stopped by to say hi and my boss introduced me to him. I said, “We met. I told him how much I loved Apocalypse Now and he told me he liked The Deer Hunter better.” Mr. De Niro’s eyes lit up. He hugged me and said, “I REMEMBER THAT! WOW!” My boss had the most shocked look on his face.

Priceless. The dude is awesome. Such a mensch.

What would the future be if Russia won the Ukraine War?

This is the opinion of ordinary Chinese people:

President Biden will fail in the election,
Trump would say, “This is the end of not voting for me.”,
The United States speaks harshly but does nothing,
The United States blames the Chinese government for Ukraine’s failure,
Some territories of Ukraine have become NATO buffer zones,
Ukraine still exists as a geographical concept and perishes as a political entity,
Zelensky was tried or exiled,
Russia and Europe secretly discuss restarting the Nord Stream pipeline,
There is no unified opinion within the EU on how to handle post-war relations with Russia,
The three small countries of the Baltic Sea trembled with fear,
Poland quietly observed the subsequent actions of the United States,
Schultz and Macron silently said, “Thank God, it’s finally over.”,
The female Chairperson of the European Commission asked ChatGPT what she should do,
China exports a large amount of infrastructure to repair Ukraine,
The United States is using this as an excuse to increase its sanctions against China,
NATO’s prestige in third world countries has seriously declined,
Taking the opportunity within Europe to discuss genuine European interests,
Switzerland and Sweden have regained neutrality,
There are significant contradictions within the United States regarding future US Russia relations,
China and Russia join forces in more international affairs,
The Internet comment funds paid by the US government to some people have been cut.

Girl LOSES Job Because Of TikTok

I lied, you have to get rid of your kitties by the end of the month

When I lived in Milford Massachusetts, I paid a rental agency to find me an apartment that would allow cats. I had three cats, and I was only going to rent a place that would allow me to have them.

Well, sure as shit, I found a place, and moved in.

It was really nice. A three story triplex right off of the main road in downtown. It was walking distance from Ted’s Diner.

Here’s another view.

It’s a fine place for a cup of coffee in a fine REAL coffee cup.

About one month later, the landlord told me that I had to get rid of the cats.

He told me that he had lied, but the apartment was so nice, and the rent was so reasonable that the two other tenants had gladly given away their cats, and he expected me to do so as well.

He gave me one month.

Find a home for the cats, or drop them off at a shelter.

Do you all know what I did?

Guess.

I said “no thanks” and moved out as soon as I found another apartment.

It was in another town though, and I had to root up and leave, but there was no way that I was going to discard my beloved kitties over a place.

The nerve of that guy!

He lied because…

…he thought that I would give away my cats for a place to live.

Sheech! What would youse guys do?

Today…

He lost his job over this

Has anyone walked into a bar and then found it was filled with a biker gang? What happened?

Yeah.

So, this went down during a road trip across the USA a few years back. My buddy and I had rented a Ford Mustang, and we had driven a lot of miles by that point. We where somewhere in Texas – though don’t ask me to pinpoint the exact spot.

Anyway, we were both starving, so we decided to hit up the first joint we stumbled upon. We rolled up to this bar with bikes lined up outside, and I couldn’t help but think, “Well, shit, this might be our last meal.” But, we went in anyway.

We ordered our food, and before we knew it, we had the attention of this rowdy biker dude who seemed a few beers deep. Instead of trying to kill us, the guy just wanted to know if we were locals. I told him that we were just passing through on a road trip.

His response?

“Alright, then lemme show you how we deal with strangers here!”

Next thing we knew, he’s shouting for the bartender to bring us some beers, and his crew’s joining in on the fun. I stuck to soft drinks, but my buddy scored big time with the free beer.

Definitely one of the funniest memories!

US TROOPS ARE 100% GOING TO UKRAINE, NUCLEAR STRIKE ON NK, RUSSIAN ROCKET ON US COAST

Shorpy

SHORPY 1956 Cadillac Eldorado Seville.preview

Beef in Mushroom Gravy

Yield: 6 servings

Steaks With Mushroom Gravy

The ultimate dinner! Ribeye is the steak of choice for this recipe, but you can also use New York strip (or Porterhouse), Sirloin or Rump. A good cut of beef, even though expensive, is the best steak to cook with and enjoy eating. They stay tender and juicy, and are not chewy like cheaper cuts more suitable for slow cooking.

I have a confession (to add to the other 5 million on my blog). I was never ever a fan of steak and gravy until I met my husband. Why? I prefer juicy, red, medium-rare steaks…and for me, a perfectly juicy steak does’t need ANYTHING on it. Well, besides a good Chimichurri, of course.

However, my husband on the other hand cannot stand juicy med-rare steaks. I know, I know…the travesty. So, because he loves his pieces of well-done dry/cardboard on a plate, I was forced to make him gravy with every steak dinner. (A travesty, I tell you.) That is until I tried it myself with JUICY medium-rare ribeye steaks of course!

Since then, I changed my mind. Steaks are CRAZY GOOD swimming in a gravy sauce! Especially this Onion Mushroom Gravy with a kick of Worcestershire sauce!

If you’re somewhat of a steak snob like me, this Ribeye Steaks With Mushroom Gravy will absolutely change your mind.

Ingredients

2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless round steak
1 to 2 envelopes dry onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/2 cup water
Mashed potatoes (optional)

Instructions

Cut steak into six serving-size pieces; place in a slow cooker.
Combine soup mix, soup and water; pour over beef.
Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours or until meat is tender.
Serve with mashed potatoes, if desired.

Medical professionals, have you ever treated a patient and immediately recognized a previous doctor’s errors?

I wish I could say that I haven’t, but I can’t.

Example?

I had a lovely young woman, that I knew from previous visits. She had had five previous surgeries, for TMJ, by the same surgeon.

Her jaw was still bothering her. This same surgeon was recommending another surgery.

I thought that this was outrageous. If he had any expertise, this would have been unnecessary.

I begged her to get another opinion.

She refused. She really trusted this guy.

Fast forward a month.

Patient comes in to see me. One whole side of her face is drooping. She does not look the least bit distressed by this.

“Hi, uh, how are you?”

“Good”

“You are?”

“Oh, this… (gesturing toward her face) it’s Bell’s Palsy. It will go away”.

“Uh…who told you that?”

“I woke up from my TMJ surgery like this. The surgeon said this is from a virus and it will go away.”

Quick exam.

I call ENT.

“I have a woman here with a likely through and through cut through the facial nerve.”

“When?”

“Four weeks. Surgeon told her it’s Bell’s palsy.”

“Christ! Send her over right away!”

So, now I get to go in and tell this beautiful young woman that the ENT will try to reattach the nerve but most likely she will look like a gargoyle for the rest of her life. Her idiot surgeon had cut through the nerve and then tried to convince her that she had a virus.

This poor girl sobbed into my lap for a great long while. When she regained her composure, I gently sent her off to the ENT.

I’m sure she got a gazillion dollars in a law suit, but so what. Her face was destroyed.

I could tell you other stories. Many other stories.

I’ll just stop here and wish you…

Peace

What’s the most unreasonable request you’ve received from your boss?

On Wednesday before Thanksgiving: “Make sure the production workers come in Friday, Saturday and Sunday. When the production goal is met, tell them all they are fired.” I asked where he would be. “We have a three day yacht race event on San Francisco Bay. We’ll be sailing against Ted Turner. So you have to fire the workers but be sure they don’t know until the quota is reached.”

So while he would be out drinking champagne and sailing on yachts, I would do the dirty work.

On the Saturday, halfway through the push to get a whole month’s production done in three days, I got talking to a small man who I didn’t know, but he seemed to know a lot about me. He said something seemed to be on my mind. He was observing everything in the production process in great detail. He asked me about the VP and Supply Manager not being there. Sunday, the guy was back with more questions. He pressed me on what was wrong (other than spending all of Thanksgiving weekend working for no pay). I eventually told him I thought it was a shitty deal to make the people work all through a holiday weekend and then summarily fire everyone. He told me: “Don’t do it. It doesn’t matter what [the VP] told you to do. Just don’t fire anyone. Everything will be clear on Monday.”

Monday came, and the VP and Supply Manager had both been to work and gone. Fired. The VP of Finance was also fired. The several production workers were not fired. The new VP, of course, was the guy with all the questions. He told me there was only one person in manufacturing or finance who gave him simple, straight answers. Also, what was the point of firing a handful of $10 hourly people when he could fire three $100,000+ salaried people who weren’t doing their jobs? That made sense, of course.

Star Trek II Wrath of Khan – Reliant Vs Enterprise; First Clash 1080p

Why is France accusing Azerbaijan of meddling in New Caledonia?

French Home Affairs Minister Gerard Darmanin has accused Azerbaijan of colluding with pro-independence forces in New Caledonia – the French overseas territory in the southwest Pacific about 1,200 km east of Australia.

“This is not a fantasy. This is reality. Unfortunately, some independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan, this is indisputable,” Darmanin said in an interview with France-2 on Thursday.

Is there any truth in the claim? What’s the backstory? Here’s what we know.

🔻 Baku rejected Paris’s allegations, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada urging Darmanin to “focus on his country’s failed overseas policies” which caused the wave of violent protests in New Caledonia, “instead of blaming Azerbaijan” for its troubles.

🔻Darmanin’s assertions followed the memorandum of cooperation between the Azerbaijani Parliament and New Caledonia’s Congress, which was signed last month, envisioned as a treatise for developing a framework for parliamentary cooperation.

🔻 The agreement sparked accusations by Paris that Baku was stoking separatism in the French overseas territory. Azerbaijan dismissed the claims, and recalled France’s own controversial policies in the Caucasus.

🔻“It’s known that the French Parliament, at the initiative of the ruling party of France, adopted decisions and resolutions which recognised the separatist regime, challenged and harmed the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, and enabled the activity of a ‘friendship group’ with the former so-called separatist regime,” Baku said in an April 30 statement, referring to the Karabakh conflict.

🔻 New Caledonia has been rocked by violent clashes starting May 13 over the constitutional reform proposals to change voting law. Protests have claimed four lives, with France deploying the military and imposing a state of emergency until the end of May.

main qimg 38f385f3869b1f14235fb9107e2e41cc

What truths in life do I have to learn by myself?

Nothing can stand the test of time. Eventually, everything must finally, and sadly, come to an abrupt end.
Do you want to know the latest drug? It’s called social media.
Everyone must finally discover the ultimate horror of having sex.
Never pin your hopes on empty promises. Empty promises are things that did not exist in the first place.
What really matters is not believing in yourself. It is trusting yourself.
Most people feed themselves from their necks down, but what really contributes to our growth is feeding ourselves from the neck up.
Have you ever considered why we’ve been watching TV for decades and not yet experienced any change? Because TV was not designed to bring change. It was designed to make us illiterate.
Most people think that change is something that jumps out of the pages of a textbook into the mind. Change is actually something that the mind conceives from within.
You are one of 3 things — you will never change, or you will watch others change, or you will become the change.
Death was never the greatest tragedy. The greatest tragedy is to live in this life and never show up.
The majority of people fall in love through the eyes the first time. That means you should be very careful who you let your eyes come into contact with.
The best way to judge a woman’s loyalty is when her man has nothing. The best way to judge a man’s loyalty is when he has everything.
Fortunes do not necessarily change men as much as it unmasks them.
Bullying is for people who have no confidence in themselves. The reason they do it is to try and shake off their own demons.
To fall in love is awfully simple, but to fall out of love is simply awful.
Retirement is when the living is easy and the payments are hard.
Best friends are like diamonds; precious and rare. Bad friends are like tree leaves; they’re found everywhere.
A stranger stabs you in the front; A friend stabs you in the back; A boyfriend stabs you in the heart, but best friends only poke each other with straws.
The daily grind of hard work gets a person polished but also emaciated and painfully tired.
Kissing is the merging of two lips, two souls and two spirits that makes them one.
Siblings are the only enemy you can’t live without.
Denial is the way we know best how to handle that which we don’t comprehend.
Sometimes those who don’t socialize much aren’t actually anti-social; they just have no tolerance for drama and fake people.
Love is like a tornado; it sweeps you off your feet and sometimes takes half your house.
Sometimes we tend to be in despair when the person we love leaves us, but the truth is, it’s not our loss, but theirs, for they left the only person who wouldn’t give up on them.
You will never know true happiness until you have truly loved, and you will never understand what pain really is until you have lost it.
Sometimes you have to stand alone to prove that you can still stand.
Why do people say “no offense” just before they’re about to offend you?
The secret of discovery is not in looking for new lands, but in looking at existing land with new eyes.
Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.

What is the quickest you’ve ever sold your home?

30 Seconds.

My wife got a new job across the country. She received and accepted the job offer in December and started the new job the following August. (She is an academic, so the long lead time was not unusual). In May, we had started to look for a house in our new city and were getting ready to list the old house. This was in 2021, the housing market was screaming hot, mortgages were at rock bottom, so we were optimistic that this would go smoothly.

Two years previously a neighbor who had lived in his house since the 1950’s passed away and the house was purchased by a friend of the family, renovated, became a rental. One Saturday as we were leaving for breakfast I saw the new owner across the street and rolled down my window to ask if he knew anyone looking for investment property in the area and told him we were going to sell our house.

He asked how much we wanted and I did some quick calculations in my head about what we would clear after repairs and real estate commissions and gave him a number, as is. He said “you got it”, we shook on it and a few days later he brought over a single page, handwritten document. We both signed it and that became our contract. He also offered us $100,000 at the time so that we could put it down on a new home.

When we found our new home, the realtor asked for a copy of our contract to include with our offer, to prove that we were serious. I emailed a scan of the contract and she told me that she needed the whole contract. I told her that was all that we had and she laughed and said “OK, but are you sure the house will close?” It did, and we got the new house. Later the realtor told me that in all of her years in real estate she had never seen a sale of a home go through with a single page contract and that this was the weirdest sale she had ever seen.

I rented the house back at the cost of their mortgage payment until October so that I could wrap up some other business.

We cleared what we would have if we had listed with a realtor, and the buyer got a really good deal on the home which he repaired, renovated and turned into a rental.

I don’t know that I would ever do this again though, probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The WORLD CAN’T Compete with China’s Infrastructure 🇨🇳 Chongqing is the FUTURE!

For so long, China has been painted in a negative light in the West and as such our first impressions of Chongqing is not what we expected. The truth is that Chongqing, China is miles ahead of the rest of the world and the infrastructure is beyond impressive which makes it impossible for others to compete against China. In this video, we take you around Chongqing, China and show you just how futuristic this cyber punk city is.

What’s the most unreasonable request you’ve received from your boss?

“Jane has just told me that she’s pregnant. I need you to fire her immediately before she puts it in writing.”

Jane had been employed by the company for about three years and whilst her performance didn’t set the world alight, she certainly wasn’t terrible – there was absolutely no justification to dismiss her.

I challenged the VP who made the request and said that even if there was a justification, now that he knows she is pregnant we need to follow very careful processes. He said that as Jane hadn’t put it in writing he didn’t actually know about it, I corrected that view and told him that I now knew as he had told me and was not going to perjure myself when, not if, we got taken to court for unfair dismissal.

In the end I put a halt to the conversation and said that it isn’t going to happen and that I think we need to stop talking about it. I spoke to the Chief People Officer (my bosses boss) and told her what I had been asked to do – I was asked to put the details in writing and the VP was suspended and dismissed within a few days. Apparently there had been some issues with him before I joined the business but I mean what kind of person terminates someone who is pregnant unless there is a really good reason to do it.

What is the most amazing thing you overheard because people didn’t think you understood their language?

Years ago, in Hong Kong, I was involved in negotiating a significant regional contract with a French company. As we walked to the meeting, I told my Australian boss that I spoke enough French to handle the meeting, if necessary. He suggested it would be better to stick to English, as he knew no French, and was sure the French side spoke reasonable English.

The potential client spoke excellent English. They set out what they wanted, then paused to allow us time to work out a response. As my boss and I calculated what we would want to charge, they discussed amongst themselves – in French – what they were prepared to pay, what was really important to them, what was optional, and what they would pay extra for.

We ended up charging very close to their walk-away number, with a number of items charged separately.

A while later, towards the end of the project, I was congratulated on how well it was going, and (ruefully) our negotiating skills… I was VERY careful not to give any hint that a notoriously monolingual Brit could understand one word of French…despite having been near-fluent at the time…

Russia+China directly challenge the US and its Plantation. Vow to Step Up Fight to Counter US.

Great video.

Baked Pork Chops and Noodles

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Spaghetti: Spaghetti is the pasta of choice for this dish. Its long, thin strands are perfect for twirling and they do an excellent job of soaking up the creamy sauce.

Boneless Pork Chops: These are the star of the dish. Their lean yet tender meat cooks quickly and absorbs the flavors of the sauce well. When shopping for pork chops, look for ones that are pinkish-red in color with some marbling.

Salt & Pepper: These are essential for seasoning the pork chops. They enhance the natural flavors of the meat and the sauce. I recommend using fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for the best taste.

Olive Oil: This is used for searing the pork chops. I prefer searing the pork chops in oil because it has a higher smoke point than butter.

Butter: Butter is used in sautéing the onions and garlic, as well as adding a rich, creamy flavor to the sauce.

Garlic: This adds a robust, aromatic flavor to the sauce. Fresh garlic cloves are the best as they are more flavorful and aromatic than pre-minced cloves or powdered garlic.

Yellow Onion: Yellow onions are a great choice for this dish because of their sweet and mild flavor. They add a depth of flavor to the sauce and pair well with the other ingredients.

All-Purpose Flour: This is used to thicken the sauce, giving it a velvety texture that coats the pasta well.

Heavy Cream or Half and Half: These are used to give the sauce its creamy consistency. Both work well, but heavy cream will make a richer sauce while half and half will be slightly lighter.

Chicken Broth: This adds a savory depth of flavor to the sauce. Look for a low-sodium version so you can control the saltiness of your dish.

Parmesan Cheese: This cheese brings a nutty, salty, umami flavor to the dish. Always opt for freshly grated Parmesan cheese for the best taste and texture. Pre-grated cheeses are coated in an anti-caking agent that can make the texture of the sauce gritty.

Basil and Oregano: These dried herbs add an Italian flair to the dish. They provide a fragrant, earthy flavor that compliments the creamy sauce and pork chops well.

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes: These are optional, but they add a nice kick of heat to the dish. Adjust the amount to suit your family’s spice tolerance.

Parsley: Fresh parsley is used as a garnish. It adds a pop of color and a fresh, bright flavor to the finished dish.

Ingredients

10 ounces spaghetti
4 boneless pork chops (about 1-inch thick)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt (divided)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (divided)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream (or half and half)
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese*
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Chopped fresh parsley (optional, for garnish)

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti according to package instructions until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water.
Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels and season both sides generously with 1/2 teaspoon of both salt and ground black pepper.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the seasoned pork chops and sear for about 3-4 minutes per side, or until a golden-brown crust forms and the internal temperature reads 145F on an instant read meat thermometer. Transfer the pork chops to a plate, then tent with aluminum foil to keep warm and set aside.
In the same skillet, reduce the heat to medium and add the butter. Once melted, add chopped onion. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the onion is translucent and softened. Add the minced garlic and saute for 30-60 seconds, or until aromatic. Add the flour to the onions and mix, creating a roux.
Slowly pour in the chicken broth and heavy cream while whisking constantly. Add the dried basil, dried oregano, crushed red pepper flakes (if using), and the remaining salt and ground black pepper. Whisk until the sauce is smooth and well combined.
Increase the heat to bring it to just barely a boil, then turn the heat back down to medium and let the sauce simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
Reduce the heat to low and add the grated Parmesan cheese to the sauce, stirring until it’s fully melted and incorporated.
Add the cooked spaghetti to the sauce and toss gently to coat the pasta evenly. If the sauce is too thick, add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water to thin it out to your desired consistency.
To serve, divide the creamy spaghetti among plates, and place a pork chop on top of each portion. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and, if desired, additional Parmesan cheese.

Notes

*I recommend using freshly grated parmesan cheese. Pre-grated cheeses are coated in an anti-caking agent that can make the texture of the sauce gritty.

Fun Comix

THIS is why you don’t judge a book by its cover…

What did you do when you were suddenly fired from a job?

It was Sunday afternoon and the phone rang, landline, 1988. It was my boss. He told me to not come in tomorrow as I was fired. I was 21 & still living at home. My mom was so HAPPY! She did not like my boss, thought he was creepy (Chiropractor). I called my friend/coworker D. She was fired Friday, my day off. So I knew it was coming.

Long story short, we entered patient files in the Apple, 1988, NEW to us. He went to bill and it was “messed up” because of us. We also knew of his fraudulent billing practices. We had also obtained 3 patients billing records and appointments (book) that showed he’d bill for an actual appointment/procedure when it was a missed appointment. One of the patients was my stepdad.

What did I do? I called D. We went to the Labor Board to get OT he NEVER paid us. When then went to Workers Comp and the Insurance Board and turned over the records we had. I went to a Temp Agency. I had a job w/in a few days at a bank as a loan secretary. I met SJ, my future husband. We married 1990. Still married.

He got black balled by all the insurance companies. Either the patients had to endorse the check to him or deposit it & write him one or sign off on the billing for the check to go directly to him. I didn’t mention, February 1989, I received a check from the State for over $1K for O/T payment. They garnished his income tax return.

NO WAY we’re landing on the moon in 2026

No fucking way will that happen.

The pizzas that were never eaten

Perhaps one of the toughest times in my life was a trifecta of events that blindsided me.

My mother died.
I got fired from my work abruptly and harshly.
My wife divorced me.
She also accused me of molesting her daughter.
I was arrested under the accusation, and spent a night in jail.
All my bank accounts were emptied.
My car was vandalized.
My credit cards were suddenly are maxed out.
And I ended up having to be the executor of my mother’s will…
With my sister and her sociopath husband trying to seal everything not nailed down.

During this period in my life, I was alone.

No friends, and I had moved to my mother’s house to take care of the estate, and get away from all the vandals that seemed to want to attack me in Little Rock Arkansas as some kind of “sex fiend”. Oh, yeah I was dealing with that nonsense.

During this time, I took stock at what I had, and I did have money stashed away out of reach from anyone in the USA. I had bank accounts in both The Philippines and in China. As well as relationships there.

And some time in the future, I will go though all that. But, for now, just know that it was a Hellish time for me.

My doctor prescribed me some medicine to “take the edge off”, and it helped, but what I really needed was more in terms of male counseling. But in the USA, at that time, the idea of “Bros” wasn’t that well established and the idea of “Rambo and Clint Eastwood like men” prevailed. Which sucked.

Every man for himself.

If you are broken… too bad.

Suck it up, bub.

…

I was living off of whisky, stress pills, and frozen pizza.

I spent the time planning and communicating with my attorneys that managed to throw out the accusations of me assaulting a girl… as there was no physical evidence of that ever happening.

But, the mere accusation got me framed up as a sex pervert, and I had a second series of charges to deal associated with that fiasco. In this grouping of lawfare, I had to defend my personality, and endure the charges that I had an interest in sexual activity with children.

So, I had to fly down to Arkansas to deal with that.

…

And as I left the house, I made sure that I had enough pizzas in the fridge to smunch on when I returned.

I well remember opening up the refrigerator and checking on the stack.

But…

Other things were going on.

Little did I know that my sister and her sociopath husband wrote a letter to the Judge and the prosecuting attorney telling them that I was dangerous and needed to be locked up.

They included a letter that I had written to my father expressing my worries and concerns about these accusations.

And so my father gave a copy of the letter to my sister… to help “explain” my worries to her so that she would show some concern for me. You see, he believed that as family that she would understand and stop saying such bad and harsh things about me.

Didn’t happen.

She didn’t care. She wanted all the money, property and furnishings on my mothers estate.

And so she saw an opportunity. And so she took that letter and mailed it to the prosecuting attorney and the judge.

You see, they wanted to loot the estate, and me being locked up would facilitate that.

$4.6 million dollars (in then prices)

…

So when I attended my court date, I met my attorney.

He was late for the hearing, and surprisingly beaten up. His face was all puffy, black and blue and it looked like his nose and jaw were broken. No idea why he was so beaten up.

My psychologist who evaluated me was absent as well. She was key to the determination of my mental and emotional health.

It turned out that her visa was reascended and she had 72 hours to leave the United States or suffer arrest!

…

So,…

My attorney was beaten up.
My supporting witnesses were all missing and were deported.
My sister wrote a letter that told the Judge that I was dangerous.
A private letter to my father was presented as evidence that I was a flight risk.

As the hearing began, and only seconds after he arrived he told me about the damning letter.

Fuck.

I should of left right then and there.

But, I was a good boy. I stayed.

And was promptly arrested and held in protective custody as a “close family member” confirmed that I was a dangerous villain and needed to be incarcerated. Hopefully, said the letter, for the rest of my life.

So I never returned home.

And the pizzas were never eaten.

…

I often think about those pizzas and what might have been. But now, youse guys know what happened.

Its so easy to accuse someone. Especially a man.

Its so easy to worsen the charges against that person as well.

Guard yourself and NEVER, EVER allow these people who will use a system against you to hurt and harm you. And be very careful who you confide in. In hindsight, my blue-pilled father was my worst enemy.

Hard times loomed ahead of me.

I endured them.

But not without scars.

Today…

What should I do if my child won’t stop screaming because I don’t buy him some toys in the store?

My oldest son threw a tantrum like that when he was three or four years old.

I took him out of the store and got down so that we were eye to eye.

I calmly told him,

“We are not going back in the store. You need to understand this. Now, the way you are acting is not okay. It seems like you might be tired. If you are tired, we can go home and you can take a nap.

I have other things I need to do. If you aren’t tired, we can go do them.

It is up to you, now. Are you going to be okay to go and do other things, or do we need to go home so you can take a nap? It is your choice, so choose carefully.”

He told me that he was okay, and that he could handle doing other things. We finished our shopping (at a different shop) and then went home. He never had another problem like that. Whenever he started to get whiny, I would ask him if he was tired. Sometimes, he would say yes, and I would finish up and go home. The other times, he would take the cue and adjust his behavior.

Whenever he would ask me for a toy (outside of birthdays, etc.), we would discuss the item. I might say, “this looks like fun, it isn’t expensive, and it won’t be the right season when your birthday comes, so I think it would be best to get it now.”

I also said things like, “I would have to work for two hours to pay for this. Would you be willing to do two hours of work for it?” He would generally say, “No, I don’t want it that much.” I would reply, “Well, that answers your question, then, doesn’t it?”

An 20 Year Old Cat was Taken to the Shelter, and a Man Decided to Help and Take Him Home

What is it that nobody tells you about having children?

Having children is awful. There are benefits that we all know about. But let’s stick with awful for a second.

A) A 1 foot tall US citizen suddenly moves into your house and you are FORCED to deal with it. It’s like an invading army taking over your home.

B) This 1 foot tall US citizen doesn’t speak English and yet demands you understand it 24 hours a day.

C) This new roommate you are forced to tolerate cries all the time. Deal with it.

D) This new roommate that you are basically required to love shits on the floor or shits in their pants and expects you to clean it.

E) You are expected to feed your new roommate and they have less motor control than someone with no arms and no legs.

F) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you are required to make sure this 1 foot tall human doesn’t kill themselves by mistake. If they do, then you might go to jail.

G) You have to touch their dirty genitals when you clean them. Oh yeah, you have to clean them. A lot.

H) At night (if you are a man), they climb in bed with the love of your life and suck on their breasts. If they were a normal roommate you might kick them out of your house at that point. But now it’s against the law to do that.

I) You and your spouse have gone from being lovers to being “parents”. It’s the funnest thing in the world to be a lover. It’s so much fun that we spend almost every moment thinking and dreaming about loving. It’s not as fun to be a parent.

J) You have no idea if this 1 foot tall person will turn into someone you like or hate when they are five feet tall. It’s sort of random although you hope for the best.

I have two daughters. They are the loves of my life.

This will make a man call her a UNICORN

Have you ever been treated differently at an airport because of your passport?

Oh how vividly I remember this experience. The experience I am about to tell you all about was the day I decided that I will do everything in my power to change my passport to a Canadian passport as soon as possible.

This story takes place back in 2009/2010 new years period. I was a PR in Canada, having immigrated in 2007 to Canada alongside my entire family. Due to some family reasons and situations, after landing in Canada, my dad, mom and little brother went back to Dubai for a year and I was in university in Ontario. I would visit them in Dubai during the winter breaks and summer vacations. This story is about the nightmare that I faced while on my way back to Toronto from Dubai.

Back then, we would take connecting flights, usually through British airways. As many would know, connecting flights from BA are routed through London Heathrow airport, for the most part. This story begins from the time I landed in Heathrow, after completing the first leg of my journey back to Pearson airport in Toronto. As we landed, I remember the captain coming over the intercom and advising us that, apparently due to “adverse” weather, the Heathrow airport had seized all their operations, which included my flight onward to YYZ. As I sat there, my mind racing, the next announcement made informed us that they are trying to arrange for hotel accommodations for the stranded passengers, and to contact BA customer service if we needed further inspection. I remember as we were allowed inside the terminal, there must have been hundreds, if not a thousand, people all in the terminal at the same time. As I walked forward, there were signs and people all around that were directing passengers around. As I approached, they asked me which passport I hold. At that time, I was an Indian passport holder, so I told them that. The expression on the person I was speaking to was eye opening. He sniggers and says, “oh ok, go to that line there, big fella”, pointing to a line of at least 400 people and filling in fast. As I stood in this line, I noticed that most of the people who had been on my flight, who were either EU or US or Canadian citizens, were being directed to a much smaller line, and were dealt with swiftly. As I watched, another 747 unloaded its passengers, and everyone of the EU or US or Canadian passport were pushed again to the front of the que. Seeing this, I was livid. I asked one of the guys working there, and all he asked me was, “what’s your passport or nationality”. Once I said Indian, he says, stay in that line.

I now realize that this disparity in processing immigration/passengers is due to the challenges of making sure that illegals don’t enter into the country, and each country has their own relationship with other countries, but as a 19 years old kid, I was mad. I was pissed that I was in a line going back atleast half a km, while people were allowed to jump ahead. Plus, when I finally got to the front of the line, I was informed that I would be getting a hotel about an hour away from Heathrow airport, and I would have to figure out the way to get there myself. All because, to my teen mind, the people who jumped ahead got all the hotels near the airport. This was the moment I decided that I will do everything in my power to get a Canadian citizenship and get my Canadian passport.

JD Vance Did WHAT to a Couch?

God. This stuff…

What’s the most ridiculous thing someone has done to get out of work?

This idiot, Aaron O’Neill worked at the Intel plant in Kildare, Ireland. After a night of drinking and taking drugs he didn’t want to go to work so paid his friend to ring in a bomb threat, on behalf of ISIS.

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Source: The Irish Times

Aaron O’Neill (20) had been out drinking and taking tablets with his friend Colin Hammond (21) when he decided he did not want to go in the next day.

He paid his friend to make the call from a payphone outside Hammond’s home.

The resulting 999 calls shut down a motorway, disrupted air traffic control and prevented 4,000 Intel staff from going to work. Garda Eamonn McFadden said that at a “conservative estimate” the incident lost Intel 6,000 hours of production.

Mr O’Neill of Chieftains Drive, Balbriggan and Hammond of Bath Road, also in Balbriggan, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making a false report on the Bath Road on January 13th 2015. Neither man has previous convictions.

Mr Hammond told the operator there were bombs located at Intel which would go off in 12 hours.

“You will not find them. This is a warning, we’re everywhere now,” Hammond told emergency services. When asked who was making the call, he replied: “Islamic State.”

Described by Judge Martin Nolan as “profoundly stupid”, Hammond claimed he had been paid to make the call. He was ordered to carry out 200 hours community service in lieu of a two year prison sentence when his case was dealt with in October.

He said, “to put it politely” it had been a misconceived plan and accepted that the men hadn’t envisaged the calls to have the effect they did.

“It is a very, very strange way to avoid going to work,” Judge Nolan said .

And the best part is how they got caught –

Gda McFadden said that a month after the hoax, a taxi man arrived at Balbriggan Garda station with a passenger who wouldn’t pay his fare. The passenger was Hammond and a garda at the station recognised his voice from the hoax call.

That is one very observant Garda Officer.

Man paid friend to make hoax bomb call to Intel to avoid work

Edit : I’ve included The Irish Times article at the end but I see I have been negligent in explaining actual events, mea culpa, I certainly could have explained this better – the person in question wasn’t directly employed by Intel, he was a subcontractor and directly employed by his father, so he simply couldn’t ring in sick, as I strongly suspect/believe that at the time he lived at home. He couldn’t pretend to be sick when he worked for his Dad.

Vintage art

She Doesn’t Know Why She Can’t Find A Job

I Went To China And Drove A Dozen Electric Cars. Western Automakers Are Cooked

A trip to the Beijing Auto Show reveals just how advanced China's EVs are. So what are the so-called "foreign" automakers doing about it?

May 9, 2024 at 1:16pm ET

By: Kevin Williams

In just the past few months, the rift between the U.S. and China has expanded at an astounding rate. TikTok is set to be banned if it does not divest from its U.S operations. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to battling a surge of cheap Chinese clean energy exports. The Commerce Department is cracking down on chips sent to Huawei.

And yet plenty of critics still insist China’s advancements in its manufacturing abilities—especially in developing and selling electrified vehicles—somehow aren’t legitimate. Or that they’re just the byproducts of a government with too much cash that wants to elbow its way into the rest of the world.

I’ve personally been privy to conversations with auto industry insiders, engineers and pundits alike. Many of them believe China’s industries are not sustainable, and the cars it wants to foist on the public are cut-rate spyware machines designed to murder American citizens whenever the Chinese Communist Party flips the kill switch.

To these critics, if China had a truly open market, Chinese buyers would continue to purchase Western cars en masse, and sales of their models wouldn’t be falling off so dramatically.

It would be naive to assume that China doesn’t have its finger on the scale for EV production. But believing that the success of China’s electrified vehicle industry is all the sole result of a brutish government forcing its citizens to buy its domestic products rings false in an almost childlike, sour-grapes way.

I spent a week in China for the Beijing Auto Show, the country’s biggest car industry event. As a guest of the Geely Group along with a few other international journalists, I drove more than a dozen vehicles, sat in many more, and had a lot of important conversations. The real story is far more nuanced than a simplistic “Us vs. Them”; a story of a China that has fraudulently over-invested in electric cars and is desperately seeking a space to dump their inferior products.

That narrative is false. Western automakers are cooked. And a lot of this is probably their damn fault.

Shanghai Is Hot, Yet Quiet

I knew Shanghai was hot, but I don’t think I quite understood the scope of the Bund’s hotness until I stepped out of the terminal of the Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

Shanghai shares nearly the same latitude as New Orleans, and like its geographical American counterpart, much of the city is next to water, making it just as humid and swampy. I was jumpy and jetlagged, dripping with sweat, my shirt already sticking to my back but relieved that I had made it through customs and passport control.

I was in a new place that was as foreign as it was familiar. Western brands like Peet’s Coffee and KFC littered the terminal, with queues of Chinese folks and international tourists alike sucking down localized versions of iced coffee and tea lattes or chomping down on chicken sandwiches that were significantly more flavorful than what I could get at home.

The very first car I saw in the arrivals and pickup lane of the airport was a white Ford Explorer parked in the middle of a pedestrian crossing; it was almost like I hadn’t left Ohio. It was so familiar, this car was identical to the one back home, save for the Chinese characters on the rear hatch that designate the JMC-Ford joint venture that made the crossover.

The second I looked away from the Explorer, I realized just how different everything was. The arrivals area was just as busy as any airport in any cosmopolitan world city, but the engine and exhaust noises I’d typically hear back home, or even in Europe, just weren’t there.

Most cars in the pickup area were green-plated “new energy vehicles,” made by brands of all sorts, from BYD or Geely, and even Western brands like Buick and Chevrolet. It’s quite a sight: a nation swept up in an electric car mania, as evidenced by the near-silent crossovers, vans, and sedans aggressively flying over speed bumps while dodging pedestrians headed to rideshare, taxis, or public transportation.

Some of the China-only cars I had read about and reported on before, I was finally seeing in person. “Oh wow, that’s a Buick Velite 6; I’ve been reading about those online, they’re everywhere, here in China. Or at least, everywhere in the passenger pickup area,” I said out loud, to no one in particular. For a split second, I wondered: were the reports overblown? Was China’s love affair with Western cars still strong?

Of course, it would be silly to jump to that conclusion within the first five minutes of being in China, but the presence of so many Buicks felt antithetical to the idea that I’ve been told that no one wanted Western brands, including its EVs.

Right?

My time in China would revolve around a tour of Geely’s world headquarters in Hangzhou and several roundtables with executives from Geely’s brands. Then, we’d fly to Beijing for a day at the auto show and experience a full day at a racetrack to sample more than a dozen vehicles, including the latest models of all brands that Geely Holding Group controls, except Volvo and Polestar.

We’d drive from Shanghai to Hangzhou via the iconic Hangzhou Bay Bridge, a ride that was more than two hours long. I’d spend it in the back of a Zeekr 009, a van I’ve driven on a track in the U.S. I knew it was a fast van that cornered surprisingly flat, but that’s not really the use case of that vehicle.

The 009 is part of a luxury MPV (minivan) segment that essentially only exists in Asia, and arguably has been perfected by China. Instead of Cadillac Escalades or Lincoln Navigators, black car operators use vehicles like the Buick GL8, Toyota Alphard, Denza D9, Voyah Dreamer, or the Zeekr 009.

And in context, the Zeekr 009 felt so at home. It’s not a cheap van. I’d reckon that the one I was in was well north of $80,000, but the 009 felt so much more mature than the last Escalade or Navigator for-hire car that would have been roughly the same price. It was more than just the ambiance of the 009’s interior, with its tiger wood trim, full Alcantara headliner, real metal finishes brightwork and finishes in the interior, or first-class airline-style middle captain’s chairs that both cooled and massaged me, lulling me to sleep before I knew what happened next. The 009 felt like a low-slung Rolls-Royce with sliding doors, so I understood why it was such a popular option for Chinese businessmen.

The visitors’ center at its headquarters had examples of its latest models. Some of them were premium models from Zeekr and Lynk & Co, meant to battle brands like Acura or Audi.

Others were more mainstream, like Geely’s Galaxy subbrand, meant for middle-income value-conscious Chinese buyers, or potentially to be rebadged as Protons in places like Malaysia.

No matter the price point, they all felt incredibly convincing. They’re high-tech, well-executed machines in ways I hadn’t experienced from European or American manufacturers.

For example, take the Honda Accord-sized (and similarly priced) Geely Galaxy E8. Fully electric and on the same SEA (Sustainable Experience Architecture) platform as some Polestar models, the E8’s interior comes standard with a full-width 4K OLED display that serves as a central hub for all of the car’s functions. True, there are plenty of concerns that could be leveled at the E8 for its screen-only interface, but that does this screen a disservice.

Using it is akin to staring at a TV screen or a high-quality gaming monitor. The interface feels like it’s done with intentionality and care; important details like speed gear position are easily seen, whereas the HVAC and stereo controls are easily at hand and not buried in acres of menus. The screen itself is incredibly responsive, matching the inputs with as little latency as a high-end smartphone.

On the screen, an animation of the car sits in the midst of an ocean, overlooking a mountain range; It’s bright, it’s pretty, and it feels as if Galaxy E8’s interior is more like a remodeled living room, rather than the front seat of a car.

I was impressed. But when I got to the auto show, I realized I hadn’t seen anything yet.

The Beijing Auto Show is A Tour De Force

Thankfully, Beijing’s more than 700 miles from the balmy Shangai-Hangzhou area, and further inland location made for a comparatively cooler time. Unfortunately, Beijing’s traffic was infinitely worse than Shanghai’s. Despite leaving the hotel at 8:30 a.m., it took us more than an hour and a half to drive just nine miles to the New China International Expo Center.

The show itself was packed, incomparable to the ghost-town auto shows back home during their press preview days. Everywhere I looked, there were people: influencers, Chinese media, international media. Clearly, China missed the memo that these events are dead.

I’d later learn that the auto show had more than 100 new model debuts and concepts. That’s a far cry from the Detroit Auto Show last September, which only featured one fully new model. Two other models were refreshed versions of current cars already on sale. None were electric.

In China, the showroom floor was filled to the gills with new electrified models from every single domestic automaker. They all had something to prove, and by god, they were trying. There were hundreds of models on the floor from dozens of brands, most of them just as compelling as what I had seen the day before from Geely.

Most brands had doors that closed with a solid thunk, with soft-touch materials in the correct places, when appropriate to the vehicle’s price point. And no matter the price point, they all had responsive, integrated vehicle interfaces that were quick, pretty, and ubiquitous.

A basic infotainment system in any given moderately priced Chinese EV beats the brakes off some systems in cars that cost six figures.

There are reasons for that, but namely, Chinese EVs are so good now—as is much of its urban infrastructure—that concerns about range or charging just aren’t as pertinent to the average consumer as they once were.

Zeekr representatives said that now, the brand must figure out ways to attract consumers that don’t involve range or charging speed. Hell, the whole Chinese car industry has the same conundrum. Thus, all of its domestic brands (and some foreign ones) have ingratiated themselves with Chinese tech companies, and the two have moved in lockstep to figure out just what that means.

Of course, China has a lot of EV brands. Probably too many EV brands. But some of those brands are entanglements between China’s automakers and its tech companies.

Take JiYue, a combination of Geely and Baidu, a company often dubbed China’s Google. Its connected services and vision-only self-driving has a Full Self-Driving style car on the road, while Tesla waits to jump in. Or IM Motors, a premium brand that’s a result of a tie-up with SAIC and e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Then there’s the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, a collaboration between BAIC, Chery (aka Luxeed), Aito, and Changan, and smartphone and tech giant Huawei. The latter can either help design and market the cars themselves or add full-stack in-car solutions for a vehicle’s infotainment car architecture, all using the same Harmony OS that Huawei uses on its smartphones.

And of course, there’s Xiaomi, a phone manufacturer that decided to design and manufacture its own car. Unlike Apple, Xiaomi actually pulled this off, and the end product is so advanced it’s made headlines all over the world.

Whatever the flavor, these models are superconnected, full of high-end processors and tech meant to woo discerning Chinese buyers.

Just from what I saw, I understood why there were so many people at the Chinese domestic brands. Li Auto’s booth had a consistent queue to view L6 compact PHEV crossover, released at the show.

Even its current production models, like the L9 and Mega MPV, had lines of Chinese and International Media poking and prodding the cars. Changan’s Ford Maverick-sized convertible coupe SUV with a bed stayed swarmed the entire show. Xiaomi’s SU7 had a two-hour wait. Some international journalists gave up and stopped trying to see the car.

Western brands didn’t enjoy that fervor, though.

Nobody Cares About Western Brands in China

All of the press conferences for the model debuts were in Chinese, and I didn’t always have a translator or interpreter at hand. When I could, I wandered around, looking to see what else I could learn while in China.

The first stand I stumbled upon was Buick’s. It unveiled two GM Ultium-based concepts, the Electra L and Electra LT. It had also unveiled a PHEV version of its popular GL8 van. But where the hell was everyone? It was barely 10 a.m., on the first day of the Beijing Auto show; two concepts were just revealed sometime earlier that morning, yet there were only a handful of spectators at the Buick stand. There was no information on either concept. No one seemed to care.

Same story with the other Asian brands. Mazda’s latest model, EZ-6 (which isn’t really even a Mazda, but a restyled Changan Deepal SL03), had some of the usual influencers and journalists shooting quick walkaround content for their channels, but after that died down, most moved on to something else. Ditto for Toyota’s bZ3x and bZ3c near-production models.

“Chinese people don’t really care about concepts here,” Will Sundin of the China Driven internet show told me. “They want something they can buy and drive right away.” As we walked around, he elaborated on why Western manufacturers were losing so much ground in China. Sundin blamed it partially on Western brands’ inability to electrify quickly while offering low-quality software and mediocre value in their products.

Chevrolet showed off the same Equinox EV preproduction prototypes it had at the LA Auto Show in 2022. Both were locked and unavailable for in-depth viewing by the general public until a third unit showed up the next day of the show.

Also, the Equinox EV is still not on sale. By comparison, Li Auto’s L6 was available for viewing and purchase at Li Auto storefronts before the car’s official reveal at the Beijing Auto Show. Li Auto says it has 40,000 orders for the PHEV.

Why isn’t the Equinox EV on sale?

We explored the expo center more, but eventually made our way back to the Buick stand. I plopped down in the front seat of the Buick Velite 6, the electric wagon I had seen everywhere in Shanghai. I’d find out later from four different on-the-ground sources, including Sundin, that the Velite 6 is highly discounted and sold en masse to Chinese rideshare drivers.

It is a car that sells in numbers heavily to fleets because it is cheap and available, and less because it is desirable—not great for a brand that wants to retain its market share and raise its transaction prices.

Within five seconds of sitting behind the wheel of the Velite 6, I understood why. Sundin picked up on my disappointment.

“It’s a bit shit, innit?” he said. He was right. I couldn’t ignore what I was seeing. The Velite 6 felt like an electric version of a generation-old Chevy Malibu.

The delta of quality, connectedness, and value between the Velite 6 and any of the equivalent of the mid-tier Chinese EV vehicles I had experienced that day, was startling. By comparison, the Velite 6’s small screens and grey plastic interior were downright depressing to the full-width, super brilliant screens in any given Chinese EV.

The GM Ultium-based Buick Electra E4 was a slight step in the right direction, but generally nowhere near as nice as the Chinese premium brands it meant to go head to head with. It seems like GM understands this since it cut the Chinese pricing of the Electra E4 twice, well before any price war kicked off.

“Well, at least you guys in the States will get some new PHEV stuff, like the new Buick GL8 van, right?” Sundin said.

“No, actually we don’t get any GM PHEV models in the United States,” I told him. “Only a few GM Ultium-based EVs and they’re not doing all that well.”

I was embarrassed. Here I was in China, trying to empathize with Western brands, thinking they were being pushed out of China due to politics and things that were no fault of their own.

In reality, it felt like it was the late 1980s again, when American manufacturers felt like they could sell whatever underdeveloped models its accounting department had cooked up to the public, and we’d just have to deal with it. Now that I’ve seen a glimpse of what’s going on in China, the Western manufacturers, particularly the American ones, don’t seem like they’re trying at all.

Writer and podcaster Ed Zitron said something interesting during an episode of his podcast, Better Offline. Americans are almost made to apologize for their preferences when it comes to Big Tech. Some bigwig or boisterous startup guy had a big idea for a widget that no one wanted, and decided to half-ass a product that doesn’t work all that well.

When the public rightfully ignores a bad or unwanted product, there’s a new trend in tech to blame the clientele for not being smart enough, rather than facing the music that what was created just wasn’t all that good. I mean, just look at all the terrible AI-based pins that don’t do anything.

The auto industry feels the same way. Instead of automakers attempting to understand and meet the needs of the Chinese market, they’d rather just sell the cars they wanted to make. By comparison, Chinese automakers seemed to have tried harder to understand the desires of Chinese people.

Chinese buyers wanted connected cars with big screens, and by god, the automakers figured out a way to get that in there, and how to do it well.

All We Do Is Complain While China Advances

America’s looming TikTok ban feels like a direct allegory for China’s relationship with its electric car exports. I use TikTok; I understand how it works, and I agree that there are plenty of valid critiques to be leveled at the platform’s ability to spread misinformation, or how its endless scroll probably isn’t great for anyone’s mental health, especially that of the teens and tweens who love the platform so much.

Yet, so much of the coverage of TikTok’s ban refuses to acknowledge one fact: The platform is really, really well executed. TikTok’s algorithm is fantastic; it can compile a near-endless scroll of content that feels fresh, positive, fun and eerily, directly targeted to you. I’ve watched the viral power of TikTok straight up create music artists like PinkPantheress, or revive the career and launch classic artists like Sophie Ellis-Bextor or Kate Bush back onto the charts.

TikTok’s culture isn’t perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot healthier than whatever Meta, Google, and Twitter have created, where death by a thousand cuts of “enshittification” have made their services hostile and less useful to the end user. On Instagram Reels, the content moderation is so poor, that it’s not uncommon to see someone literally die on screen.

So, when automakers, tech companies and regulators push back on China, the sentiments that they’re just protecting our market from unsafe or security-challenged products feel hollow. Instead, it feels like grandstanding, and a tacit admission that they have no intention of trying to do better.

Instead of competing, they’d rather just shut out competition entirely. The concerns about cybersecurity don’t address the elephant in the room here: Your product sucks, compared to what China is putting out now. It doesn’t go as far. It’s not as well-made. It’s not as nice. It’s not as connected.

Western automakers aren’t entangled deeply with tech companies in ways that would serve the end user, Chinese or otherwise. They didn’t get way ahead of the curve to establish a battery supply chain in the ways China did. And they don’t seem to want to cater to the Chinese market (or any market, rather) through continuous updates and agility with their product line.

Even Tesla in China can’t be bothered to update one of its most important products, the Model Y, in this hyper-competitive market. Instead, it relies on margin-hurting gimmicks to move units, like constant price cuts, subsidized trade-in incentives, and 0% financing to get customers to buy a car that is aged and now uncompetitive.

Tesla didn’t even have a presence at the Beijing Auto Show. Elon Musk came and went to Beijing during the show, only to make a case for his robotaxi pivot with government officials. It’s like he’s already given up on cars here.

Volkswagen placed its ID cars on the market, then acted surprised when journalists and buyers alike rightfully criticized its poor software interface. Nissan at one point sold nearly as many gas-powered Sylphy (Sentra) sedans in China as Tesla did Model Y crossovers. Yet when it came time to electrify, it stuck a Sylphy body on top of the already outmoded 38 kWh Nissan Leaf running gear. It wasn’t great at charging, had limited range, and was pricey.

GM blew it here too. Up until the Beijing Auto Show’s debut of a PHEV version, the GL8 was one of the few vans in the segment without any plug-in capabilities. Green-plated New Energy vehicles are an important market in China, as are luxury vans. Why weren’t Western automakers paying attention? Why didn’t GM get an electrified vehicle on sale faster?

So at what point does blame shift from Chinese economic policy to the actions of the automakers themselves? How relevant, truly, are claims that China is “unfairly” subsidizing its EV industry to Western automakers completely misjudging the Chinese market, and low-key failing to craft products that Chinese buyers actually wanted? Why did they get so arrogant that they assumed China would buy their budget Peugeots, Citroens, Chevrolets, and rewarmed Volkswagens and Buicks forever and ever? Why the hell didn’t we subsidize our EV-building and clean energy industries like China did?

I’m not going to lie and say that the Chinese underutilization of its EV factories isn’t a problem, or that this isn’t an oversaturated car market that not all of these brands will survive. Of course, there are plenty of concerns around China’s poor human rights track record and the dubious sourcing of some of its raw materials; both Chinese domestic and foreign brands are criticized for this.

Also, as impressive as the Beijing Auto Show was, there was a slight air of desperation. Some of the smaller, more desperate brands I visited didn’t initially realize I was part of international media; looking for a win, they thought I was a potential distributor seeking to set up a contract to export vehicles to a country that wasn’t the U.S.

Some influencers that were not even remotely connected to the automotive industry were livestreaming and posting on Chinese social media about new car debuts, trying to bring a non-car-interested audience into the automotive realm. The once-banned “car babes” at Chinese auto shows have kind of crept back to the showroom floor, signaling a desire for attention and sales that they might not be getting.

And yet, those issues feel secondary. If China were to somehow rectify its production overcapacity issues, and acquiesce to every demand that Europe and the U.S. have of its EV sector, China would still have technologically advanced, well-made, interesting EVs. Arguably, it would still come out leaner and stronger.

If the U.S. and Europe get what they want—a crackdown on Chinese imports—it doesn’t feel like it would result in better cars. It feels like it would keep buyers of those markets locked to cars that aren’t executed as well. It’s nakedly protectionist because deep down, all of the Western auto executives and some hawkish China pundits understand that Chinese EV and PHEV models are more compelling than what European, other Asian, and American brands have come up with.

I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. We’re cooked.

People Have STOPPED PAYING THEIR BILLS!

MM is hungry

This squatter is fucked

Blue Bayou Chicken Florentine

Yield:4 servings; 2 cups sauce

Ingredients

Chicken

4 (7 ounce) chicken breasts (with skin)
1 cup Florentine sauce (see below)
3 ounces chopped fresh or frozen spinach*
3 ounces grated Cheddar cheese
2 ounces cooked and chopped bacon
Seasoned salt to taste
2 tablespoons melted butter

Florentine Sauce

2 teaspoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons unsalted butter (room temp)
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions
3 sliced medium mushrooms
2/3 cup white wine
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon diced pimentos
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Chicken

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
In mixing, combine spinach, bacon and cheese; set aside.
Open chicken breast and sprinkle with seasoned salt. Stuff with spinach mixture. Fold and place seam side down in baking dish. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle outside with seasoned salt.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Top with Florentine sauce and serve over rice.

Florentine Sauce

Blend together flour and 2 teaspoons of the butter; set aside.
Sauté onions and mushrooms in 1 teaspoon butter (do not allow onions to brown).
Add white wine and reduce completely.
Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer and slowly add the flour/butter mixture a little at a time until desired thickness is achieved. Continue cooking at a simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.

Notes

* If fresh spinach is used, it must be blanched.

CHEATING Girlfriend Gets HUMILIATED During Wedding Proposal

What is the most brilliant example of taking advantage of a loophole you have ever witnessed?

I do not tell this story to brag. It is just so different.

My parents sold their small farm and moved to El Paso with my husband when we moved there. They would have had to pay a lot of tax. We found a house with room for inlaw quarters.

I hope l get this straight. It was quite awhile ago. They had one year to reinvest to avoid taxes.

I found out about once in a lifetime non taxable gifts. So l worked a way for us to give the down payment. Using a four way split where l would give my mother x amount of money and my father x amount. They used it for their half of the down-payment. My husband would do the same. We used the same four way split to cover their half of the house payments which was jointly owned. At the end of the one year they gave us their half as a once in a lifetime gift. They used the same four way which kept it non taxable.

We were not sure of the legality of this so we went to a lawer, he read it all over and said “l used to work for the IRS, if l had audited this l could not find a problem with it. Who figured this out for you?” When told him l did he said “Lady, you found one hell of a loop hole.”

Tate On Why Life For The Average Man Will Become Impossible

He has a great point.

Shorpy

Corvette group road trip Palm Springs March 1969.preview

On a scale of 1-10, how socially awkward are you?

So one of my seniors recently got to know that I won the QPCA and she decided to congratulate me. Her bad, and I’ll tell you why.

Now, when it comes to keeping the interaction alive, I’m pretty good at it.

But sometimes, ( sometimes = always ) I miserably fail in the more important thing, that’s keeping the interaction interesting ( interesting = continuable, without occasional cringing ).

So this is what happened,

She: It’s great that you won.

Me: Thanks.

She: But you don’t seem as sassy in real life.

Me: Umm, ya.

I don’t know why and I kid you not, but this time, I decided that I’ll keep the conversation going on. So I came up with this revolutionary compliment. Compliments that can change the world.

Me: You’ve got asymmetrical eyebrows.

She: °_° Wh.. What?

Me: Yeah, I never noticed. Maybe no one ever did, but your eyebrows don’t have symmetry.

She: Uh…. Ok?

Me (By now I realized that I fucked up, but never quit is a good motto and when to never quit is never taught ): And uh… if, if you notice closely, the left eyebrow is more bent than the… the ri…

She ( By now, she is regretful that she congratulated me in the first place ): Hey, you can go, seeya!

Me: ..ght eyebrow.

Now what’s important here, is that I tried.

( And Sarhad, what’s even more important here, is that you failed )

Only if I had known that asymmetrical eyebrows are not something great to talk about, I would’ve picked up something more intriguing.

Like I always have my moo point ( cows and magnets ) to talk about.

But I’ll admit, though social interaction is not really my prowess, I’m learning and I do want to get better.

It’s a skill which is not really optional, and which everyone should possess, to a certain level.

At times, people have talked themselves out of perils ( like when Sir James Donovan negotiated the release of 10,000 prisoners in Cuba

) and then at other times I’ve been talked into paying ₹900 for something worth ₹50. Almost every business and trade is based on your ability to fool your client better.

And then, we have stockbrokers.

|SaCh|

Oh, the rating you ask?

Yeah, on a scale of 1 to 10, I think I’m a pair of ever frowning eyebrows with rainbow eyelashes. Everything symmetrical.

Half a million likes!

She is right.

How should I deal with a coworker who never wants to pay when we eat out?

I often went out with two friends, who were also my colleagues, to a pizza house. We’d order two large pizzas and split the bill. The leftover would be packed, and one friend would always take it home. We lived in the same apartment building.

The problem is, when I eat I always take my time and I like to talk. At the end of the meal, I would always have eaten only two slices and yet I had to pay an equal share of the bill. I never got to take the leftover home.

One time I mentioned this problem to the friend who also never got to take the leftover home. I told her that I had a problem with us always splitting the bill because I always eat only two slices and never got to take home the leftover. The other friend would automatically take the leftover for herself and never once offered us if we’d also like to take it home.

My friend was surprised because she thought that the other friend and I took turns to take the leftover because we lived in the same building. Then she said that she also had a problem because she never got to order the pizza that she likes.

The thing is, I don’t eat pork so I get to order my favorite chicken bbq pizza. The two friends eat pork but it’s always the other friend who got to order her favorite pork pizza, and also the one to take all the leftover.

So we came up with a solution.

The next time we went again for pizza, I told the waiter that I was ordering a small chicken bbq pizza with a glass of coke, and that I’d pay my bill separately. The friend that I’ve spoken with also ordered her favorite Hawaiian pizza, small size, with drinks and asked the water to separate her bills too. Thus, the other friend also had to order her favorite pork pizza in small size.

I enjoyed my pizza, took my time eating it, enjoyed telling stories, and at the end of the meal told the waiter that I’d like to take home my leftover.

Needless to say, the friend who always took the leftover went home that night without any bring home because she finished her small size pizza. And the friend who I had spoken with was satisfied to have finally eaten her favorite Hawaiian pizza.

What is the biggest “I’m definitely fired” thing you’ve done at work, but nobody ever found out?

Many years ago I was working as a developer on one of the largest derivatives markets in the world. Part of our teams remit was supporting the live environment and as such I had on my sun workstation a 9 window virtual desktop one for each environment. we often jumped on each other’s workstations to do things, start/stop uat processes or get prod logs.. One day unknowingly to me, my boss was using my workstation and accidentally moved our futures trading market console onto my UAT desktop and later that day asked me to recycle UAT to pick up changes he pushed. I did it without though and within 30 seconds the Head of development (CTO) comes running across the floor screaming the futures production environment had just crashed. I looked at my screen and to my horror the console I just typed my command into had a prod$ console. My boss looked and me, I looked at him and we both thought the same and it wasn’t good! Immediately a witch hunt started and it was assumed the support guys had messed up (They forgot we had access). My boss quickly told me close all the consoles and go take a really long lunch so when they get to us, you’re not here to lie!

I got back an hour latter and my boss quickly announced “They found the problem, a bug in one of the support scrips means if someone cont-c it run kill -9 -1 to clean up, no one knows who IN SUPPORT did it but it wasn’t their fault”

It made the main 6pm news business section that day although I didn’t speak a word about it to anyone until a I left a years later. We also changed the background color of all prod consoles to red after that

How to get the pill

Do you think Ford and GM will see a significant boost in their stock prices following the implementation of higher tariffs on Chinese imports?

Quora Prompt Generator, this must be your way of trying to make a joke of Biden’s tariff on Chinese EVs? Or are you just totally clueless coming up with your usual silly questions?

First, there’s Ford. They’ve stopped all their EV productions and going hydrogen.

Let’s just say this is tantamount to Ford declaring that they’re jumping from the pot right into the fire.

And then there’s GM. Their QTR1 sales for 2024 was a paltry 16,425 . . .and Barra just announced cutting sales target from 400,000 to 200,000 for 2024, and even this is delusional. And when you hear Barra reassuring everybody that GM is still committed to stay in China, you can be sure GM’s days in China are numbered.. . .and management there has their bags already packed. With this, goes any hope of GM being able to come up with any competitive EV product.

So how is Biden’s tariffs going to protect a U.S. market where there’s nobody to protect? Their stock prices? Both are going back to their reliables – good ole American SUV and pickup gas guzzlers.

Ahh, but you say there’s still Tesla. So, why do you think Musk is now spending so much time in China? To be sure, he doesn’t really care about the U.S. market. He owns it already. He’s really worried that his existential market in China isn’t lost. He’d already fired all of his people handling their recharging network and revamping others. As the price competition gets more heated, the more threat there is to his position there. And that’s where Biden’s tariffs mean diddly squat..

What are some mind-blowing facts that sound unreal but are actually true?

1. People don’t have as strong intuitive sense of how much bigger 1 billion is than 1 million.

A million seconds is about 11 days.
A billion seconds is about 32 years.

2. Only 2% of people can hear their eyes move and blink.

3. The Facebook logo is blue because founder Mark Zuckerberg is red-green color blind, making blue the “richest color ” for him.

4. If you hold in your farts long enough, the gas can be re-absorbed and come out of your mouth.

5. Over 50% of pilots have admitted to falling asleep mid-flight. And of these pilots, 29% said that they had woken up to find their co-pilot asleep as well.

6. Most toilet paper sold for home use in France is pink.

7. There are more fake flamingos in the world than real flamingos.

8. Bananas are berries, but strawberries are not.

9. Giraffes and humans have the same number of necklines. Actually, all mammals do.

10. Sometimes, hiding your thumb behind all your fingers is a sign of panic.

11. Broccoli is a man-made vegetable and was created by breeding different types of cabbages.

12. Try to breathe and swallow at the same time. You can’t.

While conducting a surgery, have you ever found something unexpected?

A female marathoner was referred to me because her running times were increasing and she was progressively short of breath. She was also coughing up blood occasionally.

Ten years earlier she had removal of the upper 1/3 of her right lung(right upper lobe) for a benign tumor that bled often and obstructed that lobe of the lung.

To do this the surgeon must pull the remaining lower lung bronchus (intermediate) up and connect it to the trachea (wind pipe). This puts the sutured connection ring of tissues under considerable tension, tending to rip out the sutures leading to a catastrophic leak.

So the surgeon buttressed the suture line with several cotton pledgets. The surgeon obviously did a great job, she had been doing well for ten years.

When I looked into the lung (bronchoscopy) I saw a large mass of tissue I assumed was recurrent tumor completely blocking the right lung. But the pathologist found the biopsy tissue samples to be benign!

To clear the path into the lung I used laser through the bronchoscope to ablate the tissue. As I steadily removed tissue I found the suture line and then saw the many pledgets (small cotton pieces) the surgeon had used to support the suture line. I realized that obstructing tissue was a granulomatous mass the lung had generated because of the foreign body irritation from the pledgets. I steadily burned away the pledgets along with the old sutures until the area was completely clear and the airway to the lower lung was reopened.

This relieved her shortness of breath and she resumed running. A recheck 1 and 2 years later showed no recurrence of the tumor; she remained asymptomatic.

I expected to find malignancy but instead found a treatable benign condition.

20 MINUTES Of Modern Women BEGGING For A Good Man To Save Them

What is the craziest thing your best friend has ever done?

Guys, I’d love your feedback on this. I can’t believe my friend did this.

Last summer, my best friend was housesitting for about a week for her another friend and that friend’s wealthy family. They had a massive aquarium tank, eight feet tall with thick glass, almost as big as a room. It was only fish inside and nothing else. One night while storming, she wanted to go and swim in the tank. She absolutely loves fish and aquatic life. She got changed into some elastic shorts and a tank, turned off all the lights in the house, and with a towel walked barefoot up the small staircase that led to the top of the tank — her heart beating really fast with excitement. The top of the tank was already open, wide enough for her to easily fit through.

After she raised her arms over her head, she plunged into the water. The water was deep enough that she didn’t hit the bottom but her body went horizontal upon landing in the water. She said doing so was such a rush and that it was so warm and relaxing. While she swam underwater in the tank, lightning flashes lit up the inside. She said it was the most romantic thing she ever did, it was so quiet and peaceful underwater with the fish, and that she could feel the thunder vibrations from outside.

Woman gets reality check by dating a man that KNOWS his value…

You Stand up and fight

Last year my son was suspended. 3 boys corned him and were bullying him he kept is cool and attempted to walk away. One blocked his path.

At that point one shit stain said 2 sentences that changed my son’s life. “I’m glad your mom’s in a wheelchair. And I hope one of her seizures kills her.” See our families already known loss.

April will be 11yrs since my daughter and his sister passed away. She was 14m old.

So hearing this boy say he hoped I died was too much for my son. He turned to the leader and punched him right in the nose. To the school it didn’t matter what they had said.

The school district suspended my son cause he made it physically. So I took him out for ice cream. There comes a time when words do count and do cross the line. I support my son’s decision to finally say enough.

He knows he can’t hit someone and not have consequences.

But he also knows that there are going to be times in his life that he’s going to have to stand up for what is right. And I’ll support him when he does.

I was born to the wrong family

Have you ever lost respect for your parents because of one thing they said or did?

I was kicked out on Christmas eve by my mother when I was 17. That’s not even the subject of this story so you can imagine I didn’t have a good life growing up. She kicked me and my 15 year old brother out because (and this is a direct quote) “I have a life to live, and you and your brother have held me down long enough. I deserve to be happy.” She left the state with her internet boyfriend, that she knew for 3 weeks, a week later. We moved in with our aunt and her boyfriend. My aunt was like a mother to us, she helped raise us since our mother didn’t have the best taste in men. My brother and I got full time jobs and each of us gave our aunt’s boyfriend $50 a week (for rent and bills) and an extra $50 a week because all of us were saving to go to Florida to visit our grandparents and he was putting it into a savings account because my brother and I didn’t have one. My grandfather had health problems, he had heart attacks before and we all knew he didn’t have much longer to live. He was the best man I’ve ever known and he was the only male figure in my life that I could count on. My brother and I had been living at my aunt’s and her boyfriends house for about 6 months when my aunt’s boyfriend didn’t come home for 4 days. When he did finally come home, he was beyond messed up, he was slurring his words, he was falling asleep standing up, it was clear he was on something. My aunt told me and my brother later that he went on a bender with his boss. They spent 4 days smoking crack and snorting cocaine. She then told us that he spent all of the money that me and my brother had been saving to go to Florida to see our grandparents. $2400 we saved, gone in 4 days. But she said “don’t worry, we won’t charge you rent for 6 months and it will all equal out.” I heard my aunt on the phone with my grandma a week later. She told my grandma that we couldn’t come to Florida because “Stacey and her brother didn’t save any money”. My grandfather died 3 months later. It kills me that he thought my brother and I were too immature, selfish or had better things to do than to save money to see him. I wanted to tell my grandparents the truth but with my grandfathers health being what it was I didn’t want to upset him and tell him “hey your daughter lied to you, my brother and I did save the money but her drug addict boyfriend spent it all in 4 days during a bender.” This is literally one thing that my family has done to me or put me through in the 35 years I allowed them in my life. It has been 2 years since I cut the last toxic person in my family from my life and I feel so much better. The fact that I am a positive, healthy, loving wife and mother is a gift from a deity.

Black Tuesday 1954 Edward G. Robinson, Jean Parker & Peter Graves

Black Tuesday is a 1954 American crime drama film noir directed by Hugo Fregonese and starring Edward G. Robinson, Peter Graves and Jean Parker. The supporting cast features Milburn Stone, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly and Russell Johnson.

Full movie.

Film Noir.

A violent con, Vincent Canelli, escapes prison on the night of his execution. With the help of a phony newspaper reporter and Canelli’s girlfriend, Hatti, who has planned the escape, the con takes along five hostages: the prison priest, the prison doctor, one of the guards, the young reporter whose place has been taken by one of the gang, and the daughter of another guard. This young woman is kidnapped to force her father – who, unlike the guard who is taken hostage, always treats the death row inmates well – to facilitate the escape.

Pretty well done. I think you all will enjoy this one.

Life in the cool shade of a tombstone

One of the things that stunned me about Massachusetts was the cemeteries. They were so nice. In fact, they resembled parks. With nice landscaping, ponds, pools, and nice stone structures replete with statues. It was unheard of in the rest of the country. But in Rhode Island, in Connecticut, and in New York the cemeteries were simply amazing.

I found out later that this was because back in the mid 1800’s, about the time of the American Civil War, these were the places where people would go to have weekend picnics.

Back then, people did not have cars. They had horses and buggies. A 25 mile or 100 Km trip was an all day affair, and you just don’t want to spend 20 hours in a horse and buggy.

But the cemeteries were close and you would just hop on your bicycle, horse, or carriage and go there for a cool spell under some shady trees.

Of course, one the automobile was invented and became common, this role pretty much disappeared. But if you look at the old photos, you can easily see people enjoying a picnic in the cemetery back then at that time.

Personally, I think that we tend to lose some of the great things that our great grandparents took for granted. Like high ceilings in homes with transoms above the doors, nice shady and deep front porches, and walk in pantries. Big shady trees. Wide streets, with wide sidewalks. No motorized (noise making) lawnmowers, instead opting for fields of clover. And, quaint family alcove porches.

And let’s add… a nice shady picnic spot close to home.

Today…

What is the most badass thing your parent has ever done?

When I was in elementary school, around third grade, my teacher used to yell at me a lot because my handwriting was terrible. She would get so frustrated at me as I was left-handed, but she wouldn’t let me write with my left hand.

It got to a point that if she saw a pencil in my left hand; she came over to my desk and hit me with her ruler. Sometimes I cried. It embarrassed me in front of my classmates, as I was the only kid who was left-handed.

I didn’t understand why I was being punished. I mean, my dad was left-handed, and so were my grandpa and a couple of uncles.

But then one day after walking home from school, my mom noticed my left hand and how red it was. She asked me why thinking I bumped it playing or something else. I told her my teacher hit me again with her ruler. I told my mom that she didn’t like me using my left hand to write. She calmly went to the phone and called the school principal. She asked to meet him the next day.

So there I was with my parents, sitting in the principal’s office, along with my teacher. And boy oh boy, did my mom tear in to them. Mom sternly said, “Inflicting physical harm on a child because they are left-handed and forced to use their right hand for writing is totally unacceptable.” My dad sat there smoking his pipe and letting mom do all the yelling. I remember the conversation ended with the word “lawyer.”

The next day, I had a new teacher that was very supportive of my left-handedness. That new teacher was wonderful and kind. Mom and dad came to my new class several times that month and also liked her.

I always saw my dear mother as a calm and dignified person, never making trouble. It really took a lot to get her mad. And that day when I showed her my inflamed left hand, I saw change coming in the distance as my mom set it right. I was never hit again.

People No Longer Trust The AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ……

What is the most foolish thing you did as a kid?

When I was in 2nd Standard, I finished 2 hour long Math paper in 20 mins and received a slap for it from my father.

When I was in 2nd standard, It was the first time I received a printed question paper in the examination. My first exam subject was math and I was good in math. So after prayer, we went to our classes to write the exams and within 10 minutes, the teacher handed us the question paper and the answer copy. There were 5 parts in the question paper and each part consisted of 3 questions and on the top of the question paper, it was written in bold letters “Attempt only three.” I was on cloud nine after reading this line and didn’t bother to clarify this with the teacher. So I solved all the 3 questions of first part in 20 minutes and handed the answer copy to the teacher. Even the teacher was surprised and asked whether I finished the whole paper or not. I made the same statement again. “Yes, I am good in math.” While leaving the class, I was walking as slow as possible so that whole class can see that boy who just finished question paper in 20 minutes.

When I reached home in next 10 minutes, my father was getting ready for office. After seeing me returning so early, he asked what happened to your exam? I replied I finished the paper in 20 minutes. It was easy and short. My father asked me to show him the question paper. He asked me again which 3 parts I solved in the exam? With no clue what is going to happen within next few seconds, I said all the 3 questions of part A. You guys know what happened next.

Next day my father went to my School and convinced the teacher to conduct a separate exam for me. This time I finished the paper in 1 hour and 30 mins but still waited for the remaining 30 mins, so that I don’t receive a slap for it.

China’s Canton Fair 2024 AMERICA Wants BANNED

Are Russian tanks really as bad as people say, or is it a Western-centric view on Tank warfare vs how the Russians see Tank Warfare? Is it corruption and lack of supplies that have hindered their tanks or just the tanks themselves?

Russian tanks are not as bad as they are portrayed in the west no. There is a prevalent idea that Russian tanks are easy to destroy, while western tanks are hard to destroy. This is not the case. What is true is that Russian style tanks when the ammo is detonated can explode catastrophically, which is far less likely in western tanks due to blowout panels. Some people choose to imagine this means that western crews are always okay when the tank is penetrated. This is also incorrect. But let’s talk a little about how the Russians and the west sees tank warfare.

Russian tanks are primary designed for breakthrough and exploitation, western tanks are primarily designed for anti-tank duty. Until very recently, western tanks were not equipped with HE-FRAG rounds at all, which is the primary ammunition for dealing with infantry. In contrast, Soviet tanks and now Russian tanks have always considered the HE-FRAG round to be the primary ordnance of the tank.

Russians see tank warfare as integral in providing fire-support for combined arms groups, and exploiting breakthroughs. In the current conflict, exploitation has not been possible, due to the NATO support Ukraine is getting in the form of electronic intelligence, surveillance and supply lines from factories which cannot be touched. If Russia will be able to use tanks in their intended role of exploitation again remains to be seen, but the reality of modern combat might make this impossible with the Soviet style tanks. However, this is no different for the western tanks all of which proved very easy to destroy with simple drones and old land mines.

If we actually go by the established narrative in the west, it doesn’t actually look that good. As you may remember, in the beginning of this war, when most of the Russian tanks were lost, we heard a lot about the super weapons of Javelins, N-LAWs and Bayraktars and other such weapons. These weapons are highly modern and extremely expensive. All of them created after the T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks were made. So essentially newer anti tank weapons from the west destroyed older Soviet tanks. This is to be expected surely?

Contrast this with the destroyed Abrams, Leopards and Challengers. Most of which were taken out by FPV drones or mines. The T-72 is indeed vulnerable to a javelin, the Leopard 2 was proven vulnerable to a toy drone with an RPG-7 warhead from the 1970s duct taped to it. Indeed most of them did not blow up catastrophically, but they are destroyed none the less.

Western tanks have a good reputation, because people are very impressed by first world militaries beating up under-equipped and exhausted third world countries without modern weapons. Ukraine is the first time these western tanks have actually encountered a professional military with modernish weapons, and they have completely failed to live up to their hype, instead performing no better than Ukraine’s T-64 tanks really.

I am of course not saying that Russian tanks are phenomenal, but they were designed to fight this kind of war, and losses were expected in their inception. This is less true for western tanks, which on the other hand has been lauded as nearly indestructible, and was claimed to be able to sweep aside Russian defenses when they encountered them. This turned out to be a pure fantasy, and the reality is that both western and eastern tanks are equally destroyed by drones, mines and missiles, and are otherwise fairly similar in capabilities.

Quick

Shorpy

Have you ever walked into your house and noticed a sound that you thought was suspicious? What happened?

Actually, was lying in bed sick once, a few years ago, and my son took my car to school, wife left for work, daughter drove off in her car. So, I’m alone in the house and no cars are in our driveway. I’m lying there quietly resting upstairs in my bedroom. No TV on. Just silence… suddenly I hear the sound of broken glass. Then I heard the back door opening downstairs, and the sound of glass crunching under someone’s feet. our sensor went off. it was on silent and because it wasn’t armed, it wasn’t calling police. Our dog (a German shepherd) who was laying on the edge of my bed, jumps down and starts to slowly walk to the open bedroom door, slowly, the hair on the back of her neck was standing straight up. She started a low slow growl and inched forward until she got to the edge of the door and I could hear the stairs creaking. Our dog then got into hunting pose and raised her front foot and deepened her growl and I could now see her baring her teeth. I had never seen her like this. She almost looked like a wild animal. I reached over into my nightstand and pulled out my loaded Glock handgun. I pointed the gun at the opened door wondering if the dog would scare the intruder away or I would see her being shot. Suddenly our dog ran forward barking and loud snarling sound and I heard a scream and thumping as someone ran for their life from our dog who clearly has a hold of them. I hear the front door slam and ran to window to see a guy running through the front yard and off down the sidewalk. I called the police and described him. He was caught a few streets away with blood running down his arm and he had a hole torn in his pants.

our brave pooch just came back upstairs, wagging her tail and jumped back on the bed and acted like nothing happened. She had blood on her face, but after cleaning her I realized it wasn’t her blood. LOL She got a few extra treats that week.

As a police officer, have you ever responded to a call and once you got there said to yourself, “Nope, not worth it” and just left?

Once. I pulled up behind a car stopped on the shoulder of the interstate. 5 Hispanic gang banger types standing around it. I ask if they need help. They spoke very little English but they spoke Spanish among themselves. I noticed they kept encircling me. I would step out of their circle and they would encircle me again. Then a guy in the back seat hiding under a blanket appears. Hackles on my neck are standing straight up by now. So… I get back to my squad car and drive away. I don’t know how it would have turned out had I stayed but I am pretty sure I would not be here to write this answer.

Edited to add the following. In rural areas there is no backup. I was the only squad car within 50 miles. Secondly while I thought these guys were acting weird they were not actually doing anything illegal, they were simply stopped along side the interstate and standing beside their car.

Aliens & Espionage: Crop Circles and the CIA Coverup

What’s a thing elderly people regret in their lives?

My biggest regret was having children, I gave my life to my kids, they got everything, the best clothes, the best food, the finest schools and I stayed in a loveless marriage for 25 years to make sure they got a good education. They complained every day of my life, the clothes weren’t expensive enough, the food wasn’t good enough, they never went to class. All in all a total waste of my entire life, my oldest is 33 and my youngest is 31. It’s 9 years since I’ve seen or heard from them, they don’t answer emails, I don’t know where they are, I feel like, to them I was just an ATM

Orange Shrimp Quinoa Bowls

A Bowl Full of Flavor

The sauce is light and has a sweet yet spicy vibe. Everything rests over 1 cup of steamy quinoa – a filling base that also serves as an easy way to add some healthy grains to your diet.

Yield: 2 servings

(Culinary.net) If you’re looking for a dinner or lunch combination that is wholesome, filling and, of course, easy, you’re not alone. Meal prepping is a popular trend for many people (and families) who are working on healthy eating habits but are constantly on the go.

No matter if you’re searching for a healthy family dinner, a quick lunch at home or an easy idea to meal prep for the week ahead, this Orange Shrimp Quinoa Bowl is perfect for seafood lovers who also enjoy a hint of spice. It’s fresh, healthy and full of deliciously prepared shrimp and veggies, including mushrooms, peppers and cucumbers.

To make this quick and easy recipe, prepare the quinoa according to the package directions and set aside.

Next, combine orange juice, hot sauce, honey, soy sauce, vegetable oil, lime juice and miso in a medium bowl and whisk together.

Pour about one-fourth of the liquid into a separate bowl and set aside the smaller portion.

In the medium bowl, add shrimp to marinate for about 15 minutes.

Add butter to a hot skillet, along with the shrimp mixture. Cook shrimp for 2 minutes on each side then add mushrooms and cook until tender.

Now it’s time to assemble your bowls. Start with quinoa then top with bell peppers, cucumbers, green onions, avocado and the perfectly pink shrimp. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and cilantro for some extra texture. Drizzle bowls with the remaining sauce.

Find more wholesome and healthy recipes at Culinary.net.

Watch video to see how to make this recipe!

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon white miso
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 cucumber, sliced into half moons
5 green onions, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Instructions

Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Set aside.
In medium bowl, whisk orange juice, hot sauce, honey, soy sauce, vegetable oil, lime juice and miso until combined. Pour one-quarter of liquid into separate bowl. Set aside.
Add shrimp to remaining mixture and marinate 15 minutes.
Heat large skillet over medium heat with butter. Add shrimp, salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes on each side until pink. Add mushrooms and cook until tender.
In two serving bowls, divide quinoa, bell pepper, cucumber, onions, avocado and shrimp. Sprinkle sesame seeds and cilantro over both bowls.
Drizzle with reserved dressing.

What are 20 things that are not worth it?

If you feel yourself becoming attracted to your best friend’s spouse/SO, don’t think self-control will win. RUN to the nearest exit and don’t look back.
It’s not worth it to move into a neighborhood where the residents enjoy a higher standard of living than you can afford. If you do that, you’ll always feel poor.
A friendship is not worth it if the person makes you feel bad about yourself even if it’s only from time to time.
If you think you can’t afford to invest money in an IRA early on, see what it’s like working beyond 65 because you failed to plan.
It’s not worth buying the “house of your dreams” only to be “house poor”.
Credit cards can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Decide early on what kind of relationship you want to have with them.
It’s not worth it to tell your current best friend a long-held secret. Your friendship may die, but your secret will be passed on.
If your friends do drugs, it’s time to find new friends.
Dinner should be a family time with an exchange of the day’s events. It’s not worth it to turn it into a battleground by forcing your kids to eat something they don’t like. Not even a taste. As their taste buds mature, they’ll try everything you “forced” them to eat when they weren’t ready.
Arguments are a “great” opportunity to drag out a laundry list of past grievances. Agree, early on, not to do that.
Don’t get married until you can afford to live on your own. Moving in with the in-laws is a bad way to start life together.
It’s not worth it to drop out of school because you hate it. Stick it out. You’ll be glad you did when you fill out a job application.
It’s not worth it to curse “a blue streak” then hear those exact words coming out of your three-year-old’s mouth. It’s truly ugly to hear that.
It’s not worth it to marry “just” because you love someone. You must be in agreement/compatible on the major areas of your lives.
It’s not worth it to take a vacation visiting museums and strolling through historic districts when your children are very young. When toddlers are bored they cry. Wait until they’re older or grown to take that type of vacation.
It’s not worth it to “beat your children into submission”. Instead, deprive them of an item they love or something they love to do. They’ll feel the “pain” and you’ll get your point across.
Don’t ignore your spouse/SO when she/he is talking to you. You might miss something that will alter your relationship altogether. Worse yet, he/she might give up trying to communicate with you.
My uncle worked at a job he hated for 41 years only giving lip service to looking for another one. Don’t waste half your life like my uncle did.
Unless your parents are utterly despicable, listen to their advice. You don’t have to take it, but give them the courtesy of listening. In most cases, no one else in the world is more interested in you than they are.
It’s not worth it to let your child play one parent against the other. Be in agreement in front of the kids then work out your disciplining differences behind closed doors.

What is your weirdest dorm room experience?

I set off the fire alarm for the entire campus.

It was mortifying. And weird.

I was starving and broke in college, and after I once walked 45 minutes to meet my brother so I could save on bus fare, and greeted him with a rumbling stomach, he was appalled. I was peeling potatoes for a caterer at $7 an hour every spare moment I had between classes, but it barely covered my textbooks, let alone transportation and food.

My mom kept sending him food packages and money, so he asked her if she could send some food to me next time instead.

She sent me a bag full of steaks, and I was very grateful. I had a tiny burner in my dorm and I used it to sear them, then cook in cheap wine.

Those steaks were delicious. It was the first time I’d had normal food all year.

My dorm counselor was sure I was an alcoholic because every time she walked into my dorm room, there was another half empty bottle of wine there.

One day, I was running low on wine and didn’t have enough money to buy more. I decided to reuse the wine I had and cook a second steak in it the next day.

Big, big mistake.

I put it in my pan, and started writing a report while waiting for it to get ready. All of a sudden, I smelled something smoking. I ran to the burner – the wine was burning. I frantically turned the knob off and raced to open the window-

but it was too late.

The loudest fire alarm I ever heard went off.

Girls started racing out of their dorm rooms. Students were screaming, crying, “Fire!”

I didn’t know what to do. There was one other girl in the dorm with me. We gave each other a significant look, she nodded to confirm she wouldn’t tell everyone it was me who caused this wreckage, and I dumped the wrecked pan into an empty cabinet.

We went out into the crowded hallway and my dormmate started yelling into the cacophony “It’s a drill! It’s just a drill!”

Then we heard other alarms pealing. I finally got out of my dorm building and watched in horror as the alarms went off in the other dorm buildings, one by one. They were all interconnected.

Each building evacuated. One of my classmates was panicking because her pet goldfish named Denis was stuck in her dorm room, and she thought Denis was going to burn to death.

My friend was down the hill a few blocks away, and heard the fire alarms. In fact, most of the neighborhood heard the alarms. It took hours to still the pandemonium.

That was definitely my weirdest dorm room experience. And my most embarrassing one too.

This WRECKED Her! Oliver Anthony – 90 Some Chevy Reaction

LAWRENCE WILKERSON:

"If you really want to scratch Washington's neoconservatives hard and get the scabs off the wounds—they hate Tehran more than they hate Beijing.

Beijing is a big economic challenge, a big specter out there, and it threatens that tiny little island of 23 million democratic people called Taiwanese.

That's sort of pro forma for China.

With Iran, it's visceral hatred. John Bolton would like to go to Iran and dance on the Ayatollah's grave—that's how serious it is with some of these people.

So, don't ever think that we hate China like we hate Tehran.

That's just the reality of the situation.

It's not every American, and it's not every member of the Biden Administration—or it wouldn't be every member of a Trump Administration—but it's enough people to make the policy demented.

And that's what our policy towards Tehran is.

That's why we—you know, 'Oh no, nobody talks to Tehran unless we give them permission to.'

China's interest in the region is economic; it's Belt and Road Initiative development.

It's, 'I got lots of money. I want to turn that money into more money. I want to do this; I want to do that. But I also have this interest in, and Washington has given me an unprecedented opening to show that we're better than Washington; that when you sign up with us, they may tell you that we're predatory. They may say we're going to steal your farms, we're going to do this; we're going to do that with your labor force—but we're better than Washington. And let us demonstrate—just give us an opportunity to show our diplomatic prowess, our economic prowess, our financial prowess, our agricultural prowess—whatever it might be. Give us a chance to demonstrate, and if you don't like this aspect of it, we'll back up a little, and you tell us what you want.'

That's kind of China's approach now, and it's working.

It's working as much as anything because of Washington's errors—mistakes, drastic mistakes—like this unbridled, unquestioned support for Israel.

While Tony Blinken cries in his milk, and others do, and Biden sometimes cries in his milk over the horrors that are taking place.

They haven't turned off a single bomb, a single bullet—they haven't turned off anything.

So, China's got a wonderful opportunity here to show us up as the biggest hypocrites on the face of the Earth.

And that's what they're about.

Their diplomatic prowess is going to aim at showing the rest of the world what insane people live in Washington.

And they've got a marvelous opportunity to do that with regard to Gaza, and to a lesser extent but growing every day with regard to Ukraine, because that is a lost situation too.

And yet, we're hanging on to it.

The greatest strategic failures in history have usually happened around countries, armies that don't realize, or don't want to realize, that they're being defeated.

And so, what they do is they double down, or triple down. They reinforce strategic failure, and then the failure becomes catastrophic.

In this case, the failure becomes NATO collapses, falls apart. Washington has no more hegemony over Europe.

Europe stands up its own security identity in desperation, and it's a very fractured security identity because it isn't an alliance; it's France, it's Germany, it's Norway, it's Sweden, and they're all going off on their own separate ways.

And that's not probably very good for Europe, but that's what we're headed for if we don't stop this insanity in Ukraine.

And China's just watching and saying, 'Okay, we'll backfill there too. You want us to negotiate the peace treaty in Ukraine? We'll backfill there because look, we're telling you the 'rules-based order' that Washington keeps claiming is the way the world ought to run is a disaster. How can you not see that it's a disaster? Look at Gaza, look at Ukraine, look at Libya before, look at Afghanistan, look at Iraq—it's a disaster. We're taking over.'"

Excerpt from remarks by retired American colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, in an interview with Nima R. Alkhorshid, May 8, 2024.

Comics

It has been 9 years since the Chinese government announced the “Made in China 2025” plan, and there is only 1 year left. Did their plan fail after being isolated by the West?

China has become the largest ship builder in the world.

No need to mention China’s high speed rail network and its exports of rail technology to other countries, the US included.

Huawei and Lenovo are still the dominate players in the global telecom and consumer electronics markets.

China is the largest manufacturer of solar power equipment, and also the largest producer of alternate/renewable energy.

Chinese space station has just completed new crew change, and a new lunar probe is on its way to the far side of the Moon.

China has deployed numerous AI and robotics in many sectors.

As for Chinese EVs, this picture explains it all:

main qimg f20e80cbf8075463dd86c0c68ce93452

(source: gmw cn)

So not only the “China 2025” plan has not failed, it has achieved many milestones even earlier than planned.

CIA and Wall Street are taking over Argentina: President Milei sells off his country

A new Geo-political reality is forming globally.

What’s the dumbest thing you’ve heard a defendant say in the courtroom?

Originally Answered: What's the dumbest thing you've heard the defendant say in the courtroom?

This was approx 10 years ago.

I rode a motorcycle to work and back quite often, and as it was a rather sporty bike, would often speed excessively, if no other cars were on the road in front of me.. as it happened, my work location was some 15 miles down a straight 4-lane interstate highway road…

One day while heading to lunch, I was on the long straight stretch, with nothing ahead for at least a mile.. FAR ahead was a single trailer truck… So a twist of the throttle, and pretty soon I was going ~80mph over the speed limit.. yeah.. fast.. well over 120mph. (and don’t bother berating me about speeding. I’ve never been in an accident, have raced on 3 continents on both bikes and cars, and while I know it’s a violation of the law, it’s really not much more dangerous than taking a shit, if you know what you’re doing and respect physics)….

Aaaaanyway…

At those speeds it only takes seconds for things to unfold, which is why boys and girls, you should NEVER speed on city streets and in areas where your sight-lines aren’t A VERY LONG WAYS (and obviously where people likely to pull out in front of you or cut you off).

So after only a few seconds I was catching up to the semi truck in the right lane..

But a lot happens in one’s mind in just a few seconds… and is even more sped up when one is moving at extremely high speeds.

Being a 40+yr old guy I was well aware of my speed, and being a bit safety conscious (yeah, seems like a paradox, but I take calculated risks), I began to roll off the throttle, so as to not pass him with a 100mph closing speed (high closing rates are a recipe for disaster).

About the time I was within 7 or 8 seconds of the truck (which is a long ways off at those speeds), I realized there was a car in the right lane, directly in front of the truck.

About 2 seconds later I recognized it was a state trooper…. yikes….

I buried the clutch, and grabbed all the front brake I could reasonably use – – eventually standing the bike on its front tire (at around 120mph!!)… and still came zipping right up beside the trooper…..

About the time I passed the truck and was almost even with the troopers’ rear bumper, I realize my goose was cooked… so I decided better to pass him speeding, than to pass him speeding, balanced on my front wheel, and at a greater risk for a wreck.

So I did what any sensible road-racing idiot does – I let off the brakes, let the rear wheel touch down, and looked down at the speedometer, so I’d know what speed I was going to be charged with…… 92mph.. in a 60 mph zone.. oh well.. 30-over is good enough for a trip directly to jail, I thought to myself..

Mr Trooper, apparently having his radar gun going bonkers, had already assumed I was going to blow by him and try to outrace him, so he had stomped the gas pedal and flipped on lights & sirens.

However, I had continued braking, and by the time I was passed his car, was barely going faster than he.. and I’d already kicked on my blinker and was signalling to get off the roadway.

I slowed & stopped safely, pulled well off the road and turned the bike off, assuming I’d be arrested on the spot.

The trooper hadn’t even had time to radio this in, so he was a few minutes delayed in getting out of his car and approaching me. As he approached, I pulled off my helmet, and his response was comical — he was obviously NOT expecting a 40ish yr old guy.

The Trooper (a rather obvious rookie, very young and unsure of his words) took his time, and seemed almost apologetic for stopping me (despite my near felony speeding act).

He wrote me a rather minimal ticket of <20mph over in a 60mph zone, and mentioned that he’d try to help me if I met him at court, since I was so cooperative and didn’t try to run him…

So, I thanked him deeply, said a quick prayer, and went on my day, much more slowly..

Fast forward to court…

Of course I went to court.. only idiots skip court.

So traffic court is in the county courthouse… I show up in a sports jacket and button up, making sure I’m IN the courtroom 30 minutes before the time… This is when officers often show up to ‘make deals’.. now my name is well down the alphabet, so if something is happenning alphabetically, i’m almost always at the end of the line.. and today is no exception…

I saw as the trooper could call folks up one at a time (pre-court time), discuss their ticket, attempt to make a deal, and most of them would accept a deal, take the ticket (usually cut down a bit), and go pay the fine…

Mr Trooper called a lady up..

Now this lady had been sitting near me, telling everyone around her how unfair this whole thing was, that she commuted daily to the city, how they tried to trap her, and how this was entirely unfair.

So when he called her, I knew it would be worth hearing…

Of course she laid into him….. how he was just trying to trap her.. How she was just going to work, and why 15 mph over the speed limit was what everybody else was doing, so why did she get a ticket…

And of course the crowning jewel argument: “I pay your salary- why are you doing this to me?”…

At this point, a few of us in the back of the room were snorting laughing.

The trooper being young and apparently inexperienced with harassment of this nature, attempted to respond with kind words and professional courtesy..

Eventually she wore him down, and he just closed his book, turned to her, and said, “fine – you can discuss it with the judge”.. (and knowing from my extended experience in this particular courthouse, this meant only that she was going to be fully charged with the entire ticket, would pay the entire fine, and then would be charged administrative fees equal to the fine – so in other words she’d pay 2x’s the original ticket fee)…..

She stomped off..

and I was next…

I approached the trooper while he was still taking notes, and said “wow-do they often treat you that way?” he said “not very often – but some people….”

I mused out loud – “it’s just ridiculous how disrespectful people can be.”

then he remembered me – “oh yeah you were the guy on the bike that stopped..”

yup.. that’s me..

He looked at my ticket, looked at me, and looked over his ticket notes again… after a rather pregnant pause, he said,

“Well, look, I know you were speeding, but I don’t know the exact speed.. How about we agree on a 9mph over posted speed, and you just go pay the fine? And no points..”

so there you have it.. I shoulda been in jail.

or at least arrested.

and fined tremendously.

and instead I walked with a $62 fine and no points on my license…

ironically I passed the bitchy lady in the hallway… but no I didn’t say anything to her… figured I’d have enough good luck for the week…

Is China the world’s number one economic power already? Why or why not?

It’s 2024. China has been the world’s #1 economy by purchasing power parity for 10 years now.

PPP is a more meaningful measure for comparing national economies than nominal GDP.

China is the undisputed industrial/manufacturing superpower of the world. The USA doesn’t even come close.

China is the largest trading partner to over 120 countries.

Over 150 countries participate in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

More than 40 countries wish to join China-led BRICS, which already has 9 members representing nearly half of the world’s population and a third of the world’s GDP.

BRICS is leading the world to de-dollarize, undermining the supremacy of the US Dollar.

All of the above confer enormous economic influence on China.

The USA is considered #1 because of the US Dollar supremacy. But this power is declining year after year. Nevertheless, I personally regard China as the #1 economic power.

Elmer Yuen: We are on the Brink of WW3. Blinken’s ultimatum to CCP – stop exports to Russia or else

https://youtu.be/xQEqVBxg0gQ

How long will it take for the Chinese army to surpass the American army in terms of power, considering their recent investments in military resources?

China’s military is already more powerful than America’s. America is in denial about how much its military has deteriorated over the decades.

China has the world’s largest army.

China has the world’s largest navy, including superior destroyers like the Type 055 and Type 052D.

China has most impressive stealth fighters like the J-20 and J-35.

China has a vast rocket force, including superior hypersonic missiles.

China’s military tech is absolutely state-of-the-art.

Denial is not a river in Africa.

TikTok Ban and US Tripwire for War in Taiwan Strait

What rare fact do you know about an animal that would change a lot of people’s perceptions of that animal?

This is a tough one for me. I can’t exactly think of any particular one, so I am going to write about a few animals, and the truths behind their popular misconceptions.

1- People understand that Ants are cooperative animals, but I don’t think they understand just what kind of beings these insects really are.

main qimg 91fd9840804ba7acef6e46217036cc88 lq

You can not think of Ants as individuals. That’s the first mistake people tend to make.
An Ant Colony is a single being, acting cohesively in perfect synchrony through a nervous system of pheromones. A being with its own digestive system, excretory system, and a million mouth parts sweeping the jungle floor for prey ranging from Goliath Spiders to small Mammals. They operate under one mind, an enormous being with the reach and impact of a million small components.

Ants are the only animals in the world with a 110% successful predation rate. I added an additional 10% because of their surprisingly successful ability to farm fungi (Leaf-Cutter ants in particular), thereby assuring that they have a constant supply of food available for the colony.

In short, don’t think of Ants as hundreds of separate little robots, because they’re not. Think of them as one giant, populous being with an expansive nervous system and an incredibly underrated intelligence. These guys give ‘hive mind’ a new meaning.

2- Granted, some people are aware of these animals’ carnivorous nature, but not everyone.

main qimg dd81035fced4ed54ccee518905588c0d lq

Everybody realizes Hippos are absolute demons, and that they will not hesitate to maul down anyone dumb enough to wander into their rivers. But their evil nature extends further than that. That image above is assuredly real, a Hippopotamus will tear open and devour a floating Zebra if given half the chance. In fact, live prey isn’t off the menu either. Calling a Hippo herbivorous is straight-up denial, and even ‘Omnivorous’ is stretching it a bit.

These animals don’t depend on lettuce as an appetizer. They will eat you. It might make them sick, but they will still eat you.

This next one is just for fun:

3- Meet Portia, the Jumping Spider that hunts other Spiders, twice its size.

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Okay, arachnids that prey on other arachnids isn’t exactly a new phenomenon (even though I consider it to be impressive). But trust me when I say this, Portia is a revolutionary Spider.

Why, you ask?

She’s a genius … genus.

“Portia is a genus of jumping spider that feeds on other spiders. They are remarkable for their intelligent hunting behaviour, which suggests that they are capable of learning and problem solving, traits normally attributed to much larger animals.” (Wikipedia)

Portia is the first spider that has been observed forming advanced strategies to approach her prey. She plots a tactical path in her head, and executes it near perfectly. Jumping Spiders are active hunters, but this 8-Legged-Spy really takes it to a new level. Portia is incredibly intelligent for a spider, hence why she seems to be able to make a living on far larger prey than herself.

You can thank David Attenborough’s “The Hunt” for that one.

Shorpy 2

I just love this picture of the small town on the river. It is so nice and rural.

August 1941. “The Connecticut River at Bellows Falls, Vermont, and on the far side of the river, North Walpole, New Hampshire.” Car Heaven. Medium-format negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.

Pattaya Thailand: A Day with a Young Thai Room Cleaner

I really like Thailand. But those sexpats make me feel icky. Never the less, this video really gives you a nice “feel” for Pattaya. Worth the time to watch.

My favorite part is around 16:30 where they are having tea and eggs. Oh, such fond memories!

What did General Dwight Eisenhower think of General Douglas MacArthur?

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The underrated General Dwight D. Eisenhower— affectionately referred to as “Ike” by American people — was a great judge of character.

Before being designated as MacArthur’s primary staff officer, Eisenhower was renowned in the US Army as a supremely hard-working and capable officer who willingly went to extraordinary lengths to produce superb and meticulous staff works. Even the always-arrogant MacArthur would appreciate (initially willingly and then grudgingly as their relationship deteriorated) the enormous energy, work ethic, and ability of Eisenhower.

Eisenhower’s service under MacArthur began in the early 1930s. Thereafter, he would toil for MacArthur for nearly one decade first in Washington and then in Manila. That period would prove to be highly influential to his military career because during it he would learn a great deal about the challenge of navigating the murky world of politics and dealing with difficult personalities. All of those would subsequently serve him very well in his role as Supreme Commander of the Western Allies in Europe. Most importantly, he would learn what NOT to do and be from MacArthur.

His experience serving MacArthur gave him unique knowledge to make a balanced and accurate assessment of MacArthur’s character.

In short, Eisenhower regarded MacArthur as (in my own words): an arrogant, pompous fellow whose massive ego was unmatched; a great melodramatic actor; a stingy, dishonest, and lazy person.

Arrogance, Pompousness, and Ego

Shortly after assuming his role as MacArthur’s chief of staff, Eisenhower quickly perceived his boss’s massive ego and pompous behaviour that surpassed those of MacArthur’s own revered father Arthur MacArthur. His ego was likely engendered by his perceived brilliance by virtue of a number of his achievements impressive by American standards. He had an inviolate conviction of his own infallibility which Eisenhower pointedly encapsulated in his famous remark:

MacArthur could never see another sun, or even a moon, for that matter, in the heavens as long as he was the sun.

In MacArthur’s universe, there was room for only one star.

Indeed, MacArthur would display an unwavering conviction of his infallibility throughout the Pacific War. In spite of the many wartime military failures for which he bore heavy responsibility (most notable was his spectacularly incompetent defense of the Philippines), the man never once admitted responsibility for his failures. Instead, he habitually blamed his subordinates for any setback. He even once blamed President Roosevelt for the defeat in the Philippines.

MacArthur treated Eisenhower (and virtually anyone who was not a yes-man) with disdain. Eisenhower recalled that MacArthur’s typical manner of summoning him was by “raising his voice”. The meeting between the 2 men that followed was almost invariably a monologue where Eisenhower simply listened to MacArthur’s pontification in which he referred to himself in the third person — much to Eisenhower’s amusement.

As time progressed, Eisenhower would become increasingly appalled and frustrated by MacArthur’s massive ego, unwillingness to accept dissent and subordinates’ suggestions. Those behaviours would manifest themselves conspicuously during the period of time MacArthur, Eisenhower, and James Ord (one of Eisenhower’s best friends from West Point) served as chief military advisers for Manuel L. Quezon — the President of the Philippines.

In 1935, while en route by train to the West coast to embark on the ship bound for the Philippines, MacArthur received the news that Malin Craig

had been chosen to replace him as the Chief of Staff of the Army. Shortly after being informed of this development, MacArthur descended to:

an explosive denunciation of politics, bad manners, bad judgment, broken promises, arrogance, unconstitutionality, insensitivity, and the way the world had gone to hell.

Eisenhower and Ord just witnessed MacArthur’s ego injured by what he perceived to be intrigues against him.

Once in the Philippines, MacArthur was entrusted with the establishment of a Filipino national army. In this capacity, he was expected to oversee the training and equipping of that army. It was a lost cause to anyone with prudent foresight. The Philippines was dirt poor. There was neither money or resource to be mobilized for the production of modern weapons plus other equipment. The task MacArthur and his staffs faced was close to being unattainable. But they had no choice and had to make do with whatever resources at their disposal.

During their time in the Philippines, an event happened which illustrated MacArthur’s enormous ego was his demand to be appointed Field Marshall of the Filipino Army – one of the conditions MacArthur imposed on Quezon in exchange for his acceptance of the post of military adviser. He felt that the rank was essential to enhance his own prestige. Eisenhower regarded this demand with contempt and disgust. At the ceremony that confirmed MacArthur’s Field Marshalship, Eisenhower laughed, deriding that it was plainly

pompous and ridiculous for MacArthur to be the field marshal of a virtually non-existing army.

Contrary to what MacArthur’s supporters claimed, the idea was originated by MacArthur, as Quezon confided to Eisenhower in his visit to the US in 1942. It should also be noted that Eisenhower and Ord were offered the rank of Brigadier General by Quezon himself. But Eisenhower had the integrity to reject flatly the offer.

Even after 3 decades after that event, Eisenhower’s disdain for MacArthur’s self-appointed field-marshalship remained unabated. He thought that MacArthur was disloyal to the US Army:

You have been a 4-star general. This is a proud thing. There’s only been a few who had it. Why in the hell do you want a banana country giving you a field-marshalship?

Despite receiving splendid compensation from Quezon, MacArthur treated the Philippine President with contempt – referring to him derisively as “a conceited little monkey”. The two rarely spoke or met. When they did meet, MacArthur treated Quezon as his inferior, giving him demands instead of advice. This engendered a great deal of resentment in Quezon who found MacArthur’s arrogant behavior insufferable. His trust in MacArthur diminished over the years. Increasingly, the president placed his trust in Eisenhower, Ord and privately sought their advice instead of MacAthur’s.

The relationship between Eisenhower and MacArthur went downhill during their service in the Philippines. The frustration Eisenhower had to endure due to MacArthur’s egotistical behaviour was compounded by his growing awareness of the way business was conducted in the Philippines. The country’s political and military establishment was rife with inefficiency and corruption. Many Filipino officials expected customary bribes as prerequisites for carrying out any kind of project. This had the effect of hindering the attempts of the American advisers to establish a national Filipino army.

Eisenhower would come to clash with MacArthur with increasing regularity. Eisenhower would frequently challenge or try to convince MacArthur to change or abandon plans and objectives judged to be unattainable due to inadequate resources. MacArthur’s refusal was met by heated opposition instead of compliance. Often a compromise was reached only after a frustrated Eisenhower asked Mac to fire him. For all his arrogance, MacArthur did not lose sight of the fact he could not afford to lose one of the best staff officers in the army.

The year 1938 proved to be the lowest point in Eisenhower’s service in the Philippines. He just lost his best friend Ord in an aircraft accident. Ord’s replacement was Richard K. Sutherland — a character who was widely despised (One of MacArthur’s biographers refers to Sutherland as “an unpleasant son of a bitch”; and US Army General Walter Krueger remarked that Sutherland’s death was “a good thing for humanity”). Whereas Eisenhower had the audacity to challenge MacArthur, Sutherland would stroke his ego and become his principal sycophantic yes-man. Furthermore, Sutherland sought to get rid of Eisenhower — a blessing in disguise as Eisenhower had become weary of all the shouting matches and disputes with MacArthur.

Eisenhower eventually was recalled to the States. He had no regret. The experience irreversibly damaged the relationship between them:

Never again were we on the same warm and cordial terms

When Eisenhower became President, a jealous MacArthur mockingly said that Eisenhower was the “best clerk who ever served under me”. For his part, Eisenhower derided that MacArthur “is as big a baby as ever who still likes his bootlickers”.

A great melodramatic actor

In addition to his shameless and amusing references to himself in the 3rd person, MacArthur proved to be a highly talented melodramatic actor:

When it came to melodrama, complete with exhortations to duty and invocations to the Almighty, punctuated by exaggerated body language, MacArthur had no equal. Eisenhower was exposed to his full array of ploys and thought MacArthur would have been “a great actor.” MacArthur’s most polished performance was to parade back and forth in front of a large mirror across from his desk, dressed in a Japanese silk dressing gown, an ivory cigarette holder clamped in his mouth, admiring his profile while orating. MacArthur’s mastery of theatrics was world-class opera bouffe and the “best free show in town”. – Eisenhower: Portrait of the Hero

As an aside, MacArthur was a theatrical popinjay who loved flags, uniforms and all aspects of military regalia. Air Force General Lewis H. Brereton remarked that MacArthur was one of the best-dressed soldiers in the world.

Not bad huh!?

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With his iconic corn-cob pipe and the Field-Marshal cap

Stingy, Lazy and Dishonest

Eisenhower’s experience with MacArthur was a painful reminder between the haves and the have-nots. When he started working for MacArthur in the 1930s, the Great Depression was overtaking the US and affecting millions of Americans. Unemployment was widespread. There was a marked sense of desperation and hopelessness prevailing in the country.

Eisenhower was poor. He worked in a small room no larger than a closet behind a slatted door adjacent to MacArthur’s larger office. His duty involved regular visits which he had to take the taxis or street cars. His monthly pay during the 1930s was dismal: $391 (roughly $5,711 in 2019 Inflation Calculator). His standard of living qualified as genteel poverty. His family could not afford much luxury.

By contrast, MacArthur enjoyed a very comfortable standards of living in the midst of the Depression. He had a big officer in Washington. He was given a fancy limousine and a chauffeur to drive around Capitol Hill; and he never once lent the vehicle to nor covered travel expenses for Eisenhower. Eisenhower never forgot this, as he would confide in a reporter shortly before his death:

No matter what happens later you never forget something like that.

When they were sent to the Philippines, the disparity in material wealth became even more conspicuous. Eisenhower was given an apartment in the Manila Hotel which was slightly better than his accommodation in the States. But it was unbearably hot during summer. By comparison, MacArthur lived in a sumptuous air-conditioned penthouse in Manila and was given a big office in the Presidential Palace.

Working for MacArthur entailed long hours and chronic stress. At one point, Eisenhower worked too hard that he fell ill from stress and had to check himself in a hospital, paying for all expenses out of his own pockets. Although Eisenhower kept working hard, he resented having to work long hours for a mediocre salary of $833.33 per month whereas MacArthur’s rank of Field Marshal entitled him to a princely monthly pay of $3,980 ($74,619.95 in 2019), and he earned that much money despite doing little work. He rarely came to his office before 11 AM and left early after having the regular late lunch with his son. Indeed, MacArthur’s life in the Philippines was characterised as:

more befitting a noble gentleman of leisure than a military adviser

Quezon was angry and upset not only by MacArthur’s arrogant and contemptuous attitude but also by his lack of commitment to the task of building a national army for the Philippines despite being handsomely rewarded by Quezon. (and let’s not forget that MacArthur later accepted an illegal payment of $500,000 from Quezon.).

Here is an interesting fact: Eisenhower’s staunch anti-Nazi stance attracted the attention of the Jewish community in Manila. Jewish representatives approached him in order to solicit his help to build sanctuaries for Jewish refugees escaping from Nazi-dominated Europe in exchange for the assurance that he would receive $60,000 per year ($1,046,804.17 in 2019) for a minimum of 5 years. Eisenhower declined the offer. This fact is a testament to Eisenhower’s integrity.

Lastly, Eisenhower was particularly upset by MacArthur’s dishonesty.

At one point MacArthur insisted on conducting a grand military parade in order to bolster Filipino public morale — an idea that he neither notified nor consulted with Quezon. Eisenhower and Ord contested hotly the proposal, arguing that it would squander a huge amount of the already limited funding that was available to them for the primary purpose of raising a Filipino national army. But MacArthur was insistent. His two reluctant staff officers had to proceed with planning for the event. When Quezon caught wind of the plan, he inquired Eisenhower as to why MacArthur never discussed the plan with him. When Quezon expressed his displeasure to MacArthur, he simply said he did not order his staff officers to do it. As a result, Eisenhower and Ord had to bear the blame for MacArthur’s lie.

In 1935, during his visit to the States, Quezon asked MacArthur if the Philippines could be defended solely by a Philippine Army, MacArthur lured Quezon into a false sense of security by saying “I know they can”. It was obviously a lie because Eisenhower noted later that

At no time has General MacArthur intended that the Filipinos could defend their country against a large-scale invasion by a major power.

Indeed, MacArthur had misled Quezon, as indicated by general Robert L. Eichelberger ’s note:

From late 1935 to 1938, we had heard many times the MacArthur’s expression “The Japanese would not invade the Philippines, but if they do, in case of war, we shall meet them at the beaches and destroy them. (seems like Mac was contradicting himself)

You Can’t Opt-Out of Society

This is a super important video! Holy Cow!

Jamaican Style Jerk Steak Bowl

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Marinade

2 tablespoons Pickapeppa™ Sauce
2 tablespoons pineapple juice

Bowl

1 beef skirt steak (about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup nonfat Greek-style yogurt
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons Caribbean Jerk Seasoning Blend
6 cups packaged coleslaw mix
2 cups diced fresh mangoes
2 cups cooked quinoa

Garnish

Diced fresh mangoes

Instructions

Marinade

Combine Marinade ingredients in small bowl. Place beef steak and marinade in food-safe plastic bag; turn to coat. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator for 6 hours or as long as overnight.

Bowl

Combine yogurt and jerk seasoning in large bowl. Add coleslaw mix, mangoes and quinoa; mix well. Cover and refrigerate.
Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Pat steaks dry with paper towel.
Place steak on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 7 to 12 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, covered, 8 to 12 minutes) for medium rare (145 degrees F) to medium (160 degrees F) doneness. Remove; keep warm.
Divide cole slaw mixture among 4 bowls.
Carve steak against the grain into thin slices. Season with salt, as desired. Place steak slices on top of coleslaw mixture.

Garnish

Garnish with diced mango, as desired.

Nutrition

Per serving: 401 Calories; 14g Total Fat; 5g Saturated Fat; 7g Monounsaturated Fat; 79mg Cholesterol; 715mg Sodium; 47g Total carbohydrate; 29 g Protein; 4.2mg Iron; 4.7mg Niacin; 0.7mg Vitamin B6; 110.1mg Choline; 3.9mcg Vitamin B12; 6.1mg Zinc; 21.7mcg Selenium; 5.9g Fiber

The Earth Dies Screaming (1964)

Oh… here’s a fun movie for a lazy Saturday.

In the wake of a mysterious gas attack that decimates much of the Earth's population, a small band of survivors finds themselves fighting for survival in an English village. 

Led by an American jet test pilot, the group faces off against an ominous threat: figures in space suits that are not here to rescue but to kill with a mere touch. A

s they navigate through a landscape of desolation and danger, they discover that their adversaries are not human but robots, part of an alien invasion's vanguard. 

In a desperate bid for survival, they arm themselves, uncovering a glimmer of hope in their struggle against the unknown. 

This 1964 British science-fiction horror, directed by Terence Fisher, offers a chilling narrative of survival, resilience, and the indomitable human spirit amidst apocalyptic terror.

Burn the matches that serve no purpose

My mother ordered a case of matches with the logo of my sister’s wedding on it. She did this as a favor to help my sister pay for her wedding.

Unfortunately, she accidentally ordered 10,000 cases. Thinking, obviously, that they were 10,000 matches.

And, don’t you know it, she could not part with this massive ancient fire hazard. So it sat in her basement year after year, decades after decade.

About thirty years later… when matchbooks went out of style, and smoking became the unacceptable vice in the USA, she died and was buried. Rest in peace mom.

But then, about a month later, my brother and I carted all those cases out of the basement. We stacked them high in a field and set them ablaze.

Good bye to the relics of the past.

It was long overdue.

Sometimes we tend to cling to things because we paid a lot for them, forgetting that their value was zero and was not worth any benefit to keep them around for.

Burn the matches that serve no purpose.

Today…

Veterans to Biden: US Law Says No Weapons to Nations with A-Bombs if They’ve Not Signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. That Means Israel

by Dissident Voice Communications / May 3rd, 2024

In a letter 18 April to President Biden and top members of his administration, Veterans For Peace cited existing federal law that gives the President “…no discretion whatsoever to allow any military assistance of any form to be delivered to Israel,” based on that country’s “serial violations of the Symington-Glenn Amendments, codified at 22 U.S.C. § 2799aa.”

The letter cites a lengthy list of credible reports that Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for decades. Because Israel has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), the Symington-Glenn Amendments to the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976, which allow no presidential discretion, goes into effect, including:

termination of assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act, except for humanitarian assistance or food or other agricultural commodities;
termination of defense sales and licensing of Munitions List exports;
termination of foreign military financing;
denial of U.S. government credit, credit guarantees, or other financial assistance (except for medical and humanitarian assistance and agricultural exports from the United States);
U.S. government opposition to any loan or financial or technical assistance from international financial institutions (IFIs);
prohibition of any loan or credit from U.S. banks to the foreign government (except for the purchase of food or other agricultural commodities); and
prohibition under the Export Administration Act of exports to that state of specific goods and technology licensed by the Commerce Department (except for food and other agricultural commodities).

The letter states, “The President may not waive the cutoff of the above aid and exports under the Glenn Amendment where there has been a nuclear weapons detonation, or the offending state has received a nuclear explosive device. Congress would have to enact new legislation authorizing the President to waive some or all of these sanctions.”

VFP National Director, Mike Ferner, said, “Israel’s possession of The Bomb and the U.S.’ refusal to take appropriate action is yet another example of how the Madmen Arsonists – the Raytheons, Boeings, General Dynamics – actually govern our country and determine policy. The law is quite simple – Does Israel have an unregulated nuclear weapons arsenal? Yes, it does. Is Israel a signatory to the NPT? No, it isn’t. So, the question to Biden is, ‘will you obey the law or the Madmen?’”

Ferner added, “This election year our members will ask their Congressional representatives, ‘Will you hold hearings to enforce existing law, or let the Madmen Arsonists continue to run our country?’”

Highlights of the letter:

Senator John Glenn was prompted to seek a change in the law because of a reported theft of 100 kg of highly enriched uranium from an NRC vendor in 1968, later traced to the Dimona reactor complex in Israel. (pg. 3)
Repeated CIA assessments and remarks of Colin Powell in 2016 that the U.S. knew Israel had at least 200 warheads at that time. (pgs. 4-9)
Israel prosecuted and jailed Mordecai Vanunu for his courageous whistleblowing disclosure in the 1980’s that Israel has The Bomb. (pg. 7)
Benjamin Netanyahu was identified by the FBI as being directly involved in an Israeli smuggling operation in the 1980’s that successfully stole 800 krytrons, a prized device used for triggers in nuclear weapons. (pg. 7)
The Symington-Glenn amendment has been implemented by previous administrations. (pg. 4)
What the President must do (pg. 10)
Contrary to other instances where the Biden administration is allowed to ignore aid limitations, this one may be litigable in court. (pg. 10)

Veterans For Peace members across the U.S. are telling their members of Congress to vote NO on any more weapons for Israel and hold hearings to hold the Biden administration accountable They have participated in numerous protests and acts of civil disobedience to highlight Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine.

—

“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”–Antonio Gramsci

Bailey’s Lasagna

Yield: 8 to 12 servings

Equipment

Lasagna pan

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1 pound Italian sausage
1 (67 ounce) jar Prego Traditional spaghetti sauce
12 lasagna noodles
14 ounces ricotta cheese
2 large eggs, beaten
Salt and black pepper
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese or other cheese of choice
1/2 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Brown ground beef and Italian sausage together until cooked through, then drain well. Combine with the spaghetti sauce. Set aside.
Cook lasagna noodles until al dente, according to package directions. Drain and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Set aside.
For the filling, combine ricotta cheese and eggs. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Spread a thin layer of the spaghetti sauce over the bottom of a lasagna pan.
Lay lasagna noodles lengthwise in the casserole dish.
Spoon and spread spaghetti sauce over the noodles.
Spoon and spread filling over the spaghetti sauce.
Repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 twice.
Sprinkle shredded mozzarella or cheese of choice over the top.
Bake, covered and sealed with foil (DO NOT LET THE FOIL TOUCH THE CHEESE), for 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted.
Uncover and bake 15 minutes longer to brown the cheese.
Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.
Top each serving with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.

Notes

Serve with garlic bread.

Refrigerate any leftovers.

Has your child ever done something that made you utterly ashamed of them?

When my daughter was twelve, we were called into the school for an emergency meeting with the principal. I was absolutely mortified as I watched the video of my daughter chasing down a younger and smaller boy on the playground, knocking him to the ground, sitting on him, and placing handcuffs on him. It had not been a game: the boy had been the target of systematic bullying by some of the kids the whole year, and my daughter had decided to join in. Small as my daughter was, she was still bigger and stronger than the boy, and the sheer determination in her and desperation in him was sickening: it was like watching a predator chase down a bunny rabbit.

The only thing that saved us from a lawsuit from the boy’s parents was that hubby and I sincerely apologized immediately and made absolutely no excuses for her actions. I believe they were expecting us to try to play the event down, or blame their son, or make some lame excuse to try to get her out of trouble, but there was simply no denying the video evidence of the assault. To this day my gut still knots up over it. That was not how we raised her to be, and thankfully that was the only time (that we know of) she acted so cruelly.

EDIT: Answers to a few common questions I’ve received.

I’ve had a lot of people asking me about the handcuffs. I’m into cosplay, and I’m constantly picking up odd things here and there. The weekend prior to this event I had found a pair of handcuffs at a thrift shop. They weren’t real peace officer type, but they were metal. She’d been playing around with them and I didn’t realize she’d taken them to school with her that day.

This happened over seven years ago. She’s almost twenty now.

The day she was suspended from school she had to go and apologize to the boy directly. While she was at home on suspension, she had to keep up with her schoolwork, she was restricted to the house (no going out with friends), was restricted from all electronics short of what she needed to do her homework (with monitored internet only for homework), and she had to help me install a hardwood floor in two rooms of our home. This was in addition to writing the apology letter.

Yes, the parents could have taken us to civil court for the emotional distress done to their son. As the parents of a minor, we would be held financially responsible for any damages. More importantly, they could have pressed charges and given my daughter a criminal record (albeit a juvenile record) for assault and possibly unlawful detention (I’m not certain of the exact terminology in the state we were living at the time). No, I do not believe that it would have been an overreaction on the other parents’ part and we were lucky that they chose to do none of those.

While there was certainly peer pressure involved, it does not relieve my daughter of responsibility. She has before and since proven resistant to peer pressure… for the most part. She’s not perfect and we don’t expect her to be, we just expect her to be accountable for her choices.

Well… look what we found here!

Interesting.

If the USA and China cut all trade between each other, who will suffer the most?

Without question, the USA will suffer more.

You see, China controls all the supply chains, all the manufacturing, all the logistics. The USA is heavily reliant on Chinese-manufacturing.

The USA is also heavily reliant on natural resources from China such as rare earths and mineral processing.

China’s economy will continue to chug along as it exports to Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the rest of Asia.

Without cheap imports, inflation in the USA will go through the roof.

What was your most horrible wedding experience as a guest?

Many years ago my wife and I went to a wedding of a relative. The church wedding was simple and fine.

The reception was at a hall and I don’t remember if there was a band or DJ. Drinks were fine. They asked everyone to sit at their tables and the announcer would call table numbers.

The buffet was served by a row of staff, so you didn’t just dig in. The main course was pre sliced Turkey. As we sat and waited for our number to be called, we watched as smiling people walked past with plates piled high with food. We were getting hungry!

Finally they call our table and the serving trays were empty! The servers were trying to scrape mashed potatoes in a failed effort to give the remaining guests on line a scoop full. And a spoonful of vegetables. The Turkey was long gone.

To add to the disappointment the bus people are clearing tables of plates still laden with food! Lots of slices of Turkey, two big scoops of potatoes all floating in gravy!

It was pretty clear that the servers had bad judgment and loaded up plates with what was no doubt double servings and simply ran out of food before the final tables were served.

We did stay until the end and ate wedding cake. We stopped At McDonalds on our way back to the hotel.

I later learned that the parents who paid for the reception were mortified and got a big chunk of cash back from the venue.

What is the saddest thing you have ever had to terminate an employee for?

After speaking at a conference for Young Achievers a teen boy applied at my company. He sent his resume directly to me and followed up with numerous phone calls. I told him I wasn’t hiring at that time so he got his father to call and ask me to give him a chance. I was impressed with his refusal to take no for an answer, something I admire in people, so I brought him in for an interview. Normally there was a tiered interviewing process but I was going on maternity leave in two weeks so I interviewed him myself. I was impressed with everything about this boy. I explained to him that he’d have to learn fast because I would be leaving and he would have very little supervision. He was hired.

This is the part hurts-

We were in a busy season and no one was available to properly train him. At the end of the two weeks I had to fire him. Under different circumstances he would have been a model employee. I told him that I was letting him go because we didn’t have the time to train him but if he applied anywhere else, I would give him a glowing recommendation. A few weeks later I got a call from a company asking for a reference for this boy. I highly recommend him. They then asked me why I let him go if he was so great. I explained everything to them, assured them that this was in no way his fault and that I’d gladly hire him back should he ever want to return. They ended up hiring him. Years later I still find this difficult to write because of the disappointment in his face that day. I’m sure wherever he is he became successful.

This is life in Montenegro: The Country Where You Can Walk WITHOUT CLOTHES on the Beaches

Click Baity. Sure. But the content does not equate to the splash image.

The cool thing about this video is that this place looks really cool to visit.

It really does.

What will happen next if Russian and US troops come face to face in Niger?

A powder keg just blew up in Niger’s capital Niamey as Russian troops swarmed into Airbase 101, setting up a tense face-off with the United States. Niamey’s airport is now a freakin’ barracks for both American and Russian forces after Niger’s military junta booted out US troops. Nice move, right? Sure, Russians have their own hangars and aren’t bunking with US troops, but there’s a lot of angst about what access they might have to US military gear.

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Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin claims Russian boots don’t have a free pass to American equipment, but how long before something goes boom? The US thought they had Niger’s back fighting against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, but after the coup last July, they’re getting kicked to the curb, just like Chad, Mali, and Burkina Faso did with US and French troops. Guess they’re not feeling the love anymore.

So, who’s filling the void? You guessed it, China and Russia – the new BFFs for these military-ruled African nations. Without that colonial baggage, they’re smooth-talking their way in as anti-West sentiment ramps up. So, brace yourselves, folks – this scramble for Africa is on! As resource-rich Africa becomes the shiny prize, the rise of a new global order looms with the US, Russia, and China in a three-way tug-of-war. Things are about to get wild; everyone is on edge and on the lookout.

Women Are RAGING Because 63% Of Men Have Gone Their Own Way

Massive relationship collapse in the West as society crumbles.

How does it feel to be secretly rich?

There is a farm house outside of town that I have been driving by my entire life.

It is memorable because it is simple.

A simple home with a simple garage.

One day a friend of mine says he wants to show me something really cool at the simple old farm house.

I chuckle, but it’s the summer, school’s out and so have nothing better to do.

He takes me out to the simple farmhouse and we go in to its garage.

The amiable old farmer who owns the house is standing there.

He introduces himself but all I see is a vault door that stands as tall as the garage itself that is nearly half as wide.

And inside that bank-like vault door:

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A gun collection with every gun imaginable, and sometimes two.

It looked like something out of Bass Pro Shops.

It was like the image above, but the room was even more grand if you can believe that.

This old farmer’s gun collection was worth more money than most people from our small town will amass in their entire life time.

He could see the shock on my face.

And he was just standing and smiling like he had seen this reaction a thousand times.

I knew in that moment what it feels like to be secretly rich:

You always get to have the last laugh.

Can you fly through military boot camp easily if you train for 6-7 hours every day before you go to boot camp?

If “every day” can mean “since the age of 5”…?

A good friend of mine was raised in a *Mennonite community.

He told the story about one of his younger brothers who at the age of 15 made the decision he wanted to join the Marines when he turned 18.

Every day for 3 years he started conditioning with an 80 lb. ruck sack he created.

He carried it on him at all times unless he had a chore where he couldn’t.

He ran everywhere he went in addition to a plethora of other homemade training routines he created to help prepare himself.

Mind you, all of this was done in addition to his daily manual labor performed from sun up to sun down and a life time of adhering to “orders” and a strict discipline he had to follow as a Mennonite.

When his brother turned 18 he went and signed up for the Marines just like he said.

And he completed Boot Camp just like he trained to do.

But here’s the real kicker:

When my friend talked to his brother about his experience in Boot Camp and what it was like…

His brother replied back to him with a straight face:

”I was disappointed.

I thought it was going to be harder.”

So, yes, there is a point where some can begin training and “easily” go through boot camp.

But unless you were raised in a modern day agricultural equivalent of the Spartan’s agōgē

Probably not.

*The order he was a part of was a no-modern technology Mennonite community e.g. My friend once attached wooden boards to the top of a rotating horse-drawn saw mill column to create a makeshift ceiling fan during the hot summer heat; he was told to take it down because it was too modern.

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Our Daily Comix

To Die for Beef Roast

This is one of the best roasts you will ever taste. Carrots, potatoes and celery can also be added, if desired.

Ingredients

1 beef roast (any kind)
1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix
1 envelope brown gravy mix
1 envelope Italian dressing mix
1/2 cup warm water

Instructions

Place roast in slow cooker.
Mix contents of all 3 envelopes and sprinkle over roast.
Pour water into the bottom of the slow cooker.
Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours.

What was the most disturbing thing that your seatmate did during a flight?

One day I received a phone call from the FBI. It was legit the FBI who wanted to talk to ME!

Previously I had been on a flight from Tokyo to DC. I had my usual aisle seat and I had my kitty with me. A woman sat in the middle seat and a man at the window.

After the flight took off I fell asleep, per my usual. At some point I woke up. The woman noticed I was awake and asked to get up to use the bathroom. She never came back but another guy took her seat. My new seatmate seems to have moved to economy from business as he received business class meals. He disappeared for landing.

As we were landing my cat got out of his carrier. I was easily able to unbuckle grab him, and put him back in his carrier. Upon landing 2 or 3 airport police came on board to my row. I thought they were for me and my escaped cat. Totally illogical thought I now know, but reasonable at the moment. Nope they wanted window guy.

The FBI wanted to know what I saw on the flight between window guy and middle gal before she left. When she left for the bathroom, she spoke to the flight attendants and said he was touching her inappropriately.

The most disturbing thing to happen on a flight was the true or false accusation of SA mid flight.

When have you cheaply or inexpensively fixed an item someone thought unrepairable?

Some years ago our washing machine stopped working, about 2 weeks after its 2-year warranty expired. It was a mid-range model, and with 2 toddlers in the house, we really needed a clothes washer. We managed to get an engineer (specialist in washing machines) out the next day. I already knew the timer clock was working OK, as were the inlet valves; yet when it tried to rotate the drum, absolutely nothing happened. After about 45 minutes, with the engineer running all sorts of diagnostics on the control circuit board and checking all the wiring, he sighed and told us that there was nothing to be done; the motor was burnt out and a replacement, plus the cost of fitting, made the fix uneconomical; instead, recommending buying a replacement machine.

He left, but with all the covers off the machine and with his assurance that the control board was fine, I decided to have a look myself. As a kid I’d played around a lot with model trains, and knew that their motors would sometimes fail if the brushes, or the springs holding the brushes, were out of adjustment. This machine’s motor had more armature windings than I was used to, but the familiar two brushes, in spring-loaded brass housings. The housings had a single wire plugged onto them, and they were held in place by spring clips. I popped one out and found that while the carbon brush itself still had plenty of use left in it, the spring pushing it against the commutator was short and the brush wasn’t making contact. I slid the brush out, put in a small packing piece, replaced the spring and brush and clipped it back in place.

Immediate success, worked like new. Cost? £0.00 The machine ran for another 5 years, when it failed with similar symptoms. This time there really was no life left in the brushes, but a spares shop about a 5 minute walk from home sold me a brand new pair for 14p. It ran for yet another 5 years before the controller circuit board finally blew up.

44 things of the best life live tips:

Don’t be a people pleaser.
Spend time with your parents and treat them well. They will not be around one day.
Mind your own business.
Don’t lie, cheat or be dishonest. It spoils your name in the long run.
When the phone signal is down to the last bar, don’t answer the phone as the radiation will be 1000 times higher.
Don’t cheat if you are in an unhappy relationship. Just leave.
Use tea sachets to remove odour from gym bags.
Never give up on your dreams no matter what. Try to accomplish your goals and dreams in the long run.
Never take your medicine with cold water.
Be empathic. An act of kindness wouldn’t ruin you.
Graduate before 30.
Don’t waste your time with meaningless relationships or temporary people.
When people treat you like they don’t care, believe them.
Participate in family gatherings, college reunions and get together with friends.
Adopt a pet. I did. My six months old pup is my ultimate stress buster now.
Never ‘ever’ abandon your old friends by replacing them with your new buddies.
Have two servings of vegetables and fruits daily.
Learn to love your flaws and imperfections along with your perks.
Start your day with a glass of lukewarm water on an empty stomach.
Be thankful for something daily, at least once.
Stay away from toxic people. They only bring out the negativity in you and ruin your life further.
Compartmentalize your ideas and thoughts. Write them down on a journal.
Don’t be shy. Go out and be a social butterfly. Talk to random people.
Add some slices of lemon in plain water to zest up your taste buds.
Don’t let someone get comfortable with disrespecting you. Set boundaries.
Crushed mint leaves or Indian basil are great herbs to remove bad mouth odour.
If you don’t have enough time, spend lesser time on social networks.
Never speak bad or low about yourself. Make it a point to not put yourself down even as a harmless joke.
If you don’t like your job, quit it and do something else. Don’t just put up with it and force yourself to do it.
Don’t waste your energy on bad feelings, negative thoughts or useless people.
Travel often. Getting lost will help you to discover your identity.
Be careful about personal things you share to people. The friend today could be your enemy tomorrow.
Never stay in an unrequited love for a long time. Let it go and move forward.
Say exactly what you feel/think. Be direct about it even if it might displease others.
Forgive people and their actions. Never give it to him. Let karma finish up the job for you.
Be mindful about your expenditures but not a miser. Budget spending is a start.
Have a glass of buttermilk or warm milk before bedtime.
If you don’t master you own time, there will be possibilities of you being unconscious slaves of those who have mastered theirs.
Trust your instincts. Intuitions doesn’t lie.
Be cautious about lending/borrowing a huge sum of money to your friends/relatives. It may break the tie. Just saying.
Never enter the lift before others have got out of them. Don’t be a jerk. Wait and let them get out before you barge in.
Have few cups of green tea in the evenings after lunch and throughout your day to aid digestion.
You could forgive, let go and give them another chance…or you could chuck them aside and give yourself a better chance.
Cut down on your caffeine intake. Replace your coffee cravings with something healthier.

What is the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you at a bar?

Many years ago a friend and I stopped by a pub on our way home from a rock concert. It was Triumph. This was the early ’80s and wearing a bandana around your neck was kind of normal. Anyway we go in sit down, and didn’t even get a chance to order a beer. This group of guys just started in on me, for some reason. It was a country music bar, and I guess I was a long hair. It gets so bad that I finally stood up and said to the main culprit,what the fuck IS your problem? Remember we’re talking we’re in there 5 minutes. At that point him and his buddies grab me by the seat of my pants and the bandana around my neck and threw me out the front door head first with my head opening the door. Stunned outside I wanted to go back in and just clean house. Fortunately my friend who they threw out as well but not as roughly calm me down and made me realize that they would have probably just thrown me out again. This has been decades ago and I still have no idea what the real reason was. I know that a woman to fight over was not the issue.Overflowing 🍺 beer and testosterone I suppose. The whole incident reminded me of that Ron White story where he says he was thrown out of a bar and he doesn’t know how many there were, but he guesses it was all of them. That may have been true with me.

Putin and China Put Out Devastating Warning to the US | Col. Jacques Baud

May 2024. China has stopped “playin'”.

What is the most unprofessional interaction you’ve had with a recruiter?

This was during my placement time…

I was having an interview for TCS. The panel called my name, I went in. It was a panel of 3 ladies. I was carrying a file containing my resume, marksheets, certificates.

R1- what are your hobbies ?

Me – I like sketching, playing guitar, riding my bike and collecting pens( all looking at me). If you wish, I have some sketches attached at the end of the file.

All looking through my sketches.

R2 – so, if we recruit you would you still continue sketching in your busy schedule.

Me – yes Mam I will still continue sketching, if you’re passionate about something you will manage some time for it no matter how busy you are.

R2- good.

R3- so, you say you like to collect pens. What kind of pen do you collect ?

Me – I am a pen enthusiast. I like to collect premium pens, PARKER, SHEAFFER, CROSS, WATERMAN, LAMY etc. Ball , roller ball, fountain.

R1 – that’s interesting. So, how many pen do you have ?

Me – I have around 50–60 normal range pens(Parker , Pierre Cardin) and 15–20 premium range pens (above 1k INR). And I will continue to collect while I’m here.

R2 – what will you do with so many pens when you’re gone ?

Me – (don’t know what to say , still came up with the most stupid answer ) some of those are limited editions and some are discontinued which are not available in the market at present and I know they will have a great value someday, I’ll leave them as a legacy for my children/grandchildren.

R3 – you’ll need to have a great number of children. Good luck with that. ( don’t know with what logic she came up with that )

All burst into laughter. I join in with them and start to chuckle.

R2 – okay , I’m gonna write your feedback with my sheaffer pen

Me – sorry Mam, but that’s not a sheaffer, that’s a Parker.

(Edit 3: I guess she focused on this statement to check my presence of mind and whether or not I really knew about what I said i.e. to check if I was lying about my hobby or not).

R1- you may leave now.

Me – thank you.

Next week the result for day 1 sharing was out.

Verdict : got an offer letter from TCS.

P.s these are around 5-6 year old images, didn’t have for the latest collection.

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Why So Many Countries Are Abandoning the Dollar

It’s damn obvious.

What is the weirdest thing your dog ever brought home?

Not my dog, but my next door neighbors’ dog. Duke was a large mixed breed about 65–70 pounds, a super friendly boy who spent every day making the rounds in our neighborhood collecting treats, love, attention and objects he found in the yards or garages of those he visited. I was used to getting calls from Sharon with a list of items Duke had brought home—sometimes things I hadn’t even missed yet! About 10 years ago, my son, dil and 2 grands were staying with me and it snowed Christmas night, a rare event where I live. There was about 3–4″ inches of lovely white covering my grass the next morning so the kids had to play in it before they left to go home. My grandson came in and said he had lost his phone in the snow. We all spent at least 30 minutes looking for it and even Duke came over to see what was going on. My family left and about 30 minutes later, I received a phone call from Sharon asking if anyone was missing an iPhone. I walked next door and collected my grandson’s pristine phone-no scratches, no dents and it turned on. My son and grandson were both really happy with that news! Duke is still remembered in the neighborhood as being such a “good boy.”

What is the most shameless thing you have ever seen a teacher do?

When I was in 6th grade, I had a math teacher that I hated so much I’d have panic attacks on the days I had her class. Here’s a short list of what she’d do to me, keeping in mind she was told multiple times I had debilitating social anxiety and ADHD:

Humiliated me when I asked for help by telling me as loud as she could “you can’t do this problem? This is the easiest one in the set, how do you not understand it?!”
Called my mom in the middle of class after I handed in a test that she said I didn’t work long enough on in front of the other students, telling her I was an embarrassment
Had her TA search for me while I was waiting for my dad to pick me up since I had to stay after school on certain days of the week due to my parents working late. When she found me, she yelled at me, brought me back to the math room, where, in front of (mostly older, and way more popular) students, the math teacher called my dad and yelled about how he should be making go to the after school math tutoring so I could “at least pretend to care about the material”

Thank God, THANK GOD my parents were supportive of me and told her off each time. After the final call to my dad about forcing me to get the tutoring, my dad rushed to get me and ripped her a new one about how tired my parents were of her treatment of me. But ever since then, I’ve been afraid of almost every teacher and would just be silent during my classes

Best Macaroni and Cheese

This is the tastiest, easiest and fastest macaroni and cheese you will ever eat. DO not skimp on the Colby cheese. Use as much as you can afford.

Ingredients

Macaroni (as much as needed)
Colby cheese (lots)

Instructions

While the macaroni is cooking in salted water, dice the Colby cheese up rather small.
As soon as the macaroni is cooked; drain it well. Keep it, covered, in the same pot in which it was cooked.
Add the diced Colby cheese and stir it in. Cover immediately and let it sit for about five minutes so that the cheese melts.

Attribution

Recipe is from the kitchen of Kathryn Irene Jolly.

Recipe is from the family recipe collection of Linda Ann Jolly, Arizona.

African Nations Repatriate Their Gold and Foreign Reserves From the USA.

Not being well reported. Not at all in the Western “news” media.

What is a time when you’ve seen a co-worker get fired who totally deserved it?

One of the RNs in our dept had worked there for 5 plus years, was around 60 years old and very nurturing and maternal so she was well liked. Her employment predated mine and I became her immediate supervisor. After several years of working together , mostly amicably she started to undermine me, making snarky comments and decisions that didn’t include discussions with others in the dept or weren’t hers to make or sometimes even mine to make. She was resistant when I discussed this with her. I really liked and admired her and it was getting more and more challenging. My supervisor wasn’t any help. We RNs became concerned that a medication error may be made if this nurse did the med pass so we made sure that someone else did that. We double checked behind her with the order transcriptions. We found small errors and brought them to her attention. She stated that everyone makes mistakes and that she was no different. One day I found that she had written an order on the wrong chart and filed the med in that pt’s med drawer. I saw it right before the tech was going to give the med to the wrong pt. What was even worse was that the pt wasn’t on ANY meds for a condition that was in any way similar to what that med was for – that should have made her question it. So, a performance improvement plan was implemented, discussed and put in place with approval of HR and my supervisor. The nurse ignored it, did nothing and cheerfully stated there was no problem. We decided that termination was in order. She was aghast and said, “Well, I will talk to the CEO and he will not stand for this!” Termination took place, she demanded a ride to the unemployment office and HR agreed – WHAT? It was so hard, but necessary to protect pts. Anyway, I ran into her about a year later and she said she had a medical condition that was contributing to her “brain fog” and that she’d been treated. She apologized for the instances of petty behavior. We all hoped she was doing well.

OMG

Shorpy fun

A golden dome

450 Arab and foreign extremists from Idlib arrive in Ukraine

By Al Mayadeen Net

Almost 450 extremists from various nationalities arrive to Idlib to fight against Russian troops, after leaving Syria and passing through Turkey.

Close to 450 extremist Arab and foreign nationals have arrived in Ukraine from Idlib to fight against Russia’s forces, less than only three days after they left Syria, passing through Turkey.

Relatives of extremists that have arrived in Ukraine told Sputnik that senior fighters from terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (the rebranded version of Jabhat Al-Nusra, i.e Al-Qaeda) have held a number of meetings with senior leaders in the Turkistan Islamic Party group and Ansar Al-Tawhid and Hurras al-Din groups, and agreed on allowing a number of all their fighters to enter Ukraine through Turkish soil.

The sources added that most of these foreign fighters are veterans of the Syrian war, had been causing issues in Idlib, and were given this opportunity to fight against Russia as a compromise by which they would receive a new start and with an acceptable income.

Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham also gave these fighters assurances that their families would be allowed to join them later.

Around 300 of these fighters are Syrian nationals that are originally from the Idlib and Aleppo countrysides, while the 150 others are Belgian, French, Chinese, Moroccan, Tunisian, Chechen and British nationals.

As for the financial compensation, the sources said the fighters that hail from Syria will receive around $1200-$1500, but had no knowledge what the foreign nationals were going to be paid.

Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has previously stated that 16,000 foreign mercenaries will fight for the country.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had warned Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a meeting last Friday of the growing number of foreign mercenaries operating in Ukraine, including those coming from Albania and Croatia and namely militants and Jihadists coming from Kosovo in order to put their experience from military operations in Syria to use.

What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

I don’t consider it a “loophole,” but rather a bit of a tech glitch.

When I was in college in the late 1980s (Dartmouth), it was towards the end of the life of pulse dialling technology. In the “old days,” telephones used to look like some variant of this:

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When you made a call, the dial was turned for each number, and it sent out a series of electronic pulses that matched the number (for example, my grandfather had a telephone whose number was WI-1–8214 (941–8214).

In the 1970s, touch-tone dialling became the standard (I am not sure that a rotary phone would even work anymore).

Telephones swapped out the rotary for push buttons, but the switching equipment had to, for a time, accommodate both. So telephones for a while had buttons, but a switch on the base that permitted tone and pulse dialling.

At Dartmouth, where I was a student, all of the telephone lines in the dormitories were controlled by Dartmouth. In order to make long-distance telephone calls, you had to subscribe to a service called “DarTalk.” Again, not sure if this is still the case.

Anyways, what we discovered in the dorms was that, if one started the telephone on pulse, entered the 8 (for an external line), a one, the area code, and the three code prefix, then switched the phone from pulse to tone and entered the final four digits in tone mode, the switching equipment that the college used could not detect that the call was going out. Hence, the calls were free.

We could thus make long distance calls without paying.

US prepares for war against Russia and China. In Self-Defense of course.

The Lamborghini key

I once knew a fellow expat; I will refer to him as “the stupid guy” TSG for short.Now TSG was quite the charmer and had all the girls (here in China) eating out of his hand. He did not have a college degree, and so got a job in China as a teacher fraudulently.

He paid money, and befriended the right people, and was working as an ESL (English as a second language) teacher.

He charmed everyone. Including myself, and he wanted to become my business partner… especially when he saw my wife.Now, he was many bad things, but one thing that he was able to do was to be able to speak Chinese very well.

And he used it to his advantage.Now, my Chinese was poor, but not as poor as he thought. And when he and I were alone drinking coffee when gave me this long, diatribe in Chinese.

Telling me about his journey and how he got there to where he was facing me. It began in English, but when he got to the spicy parts, it was all in Chinese.Now, even though I had a difficult time following him, I could make out some of what he said and the gist was this…

I am going to take your wife and fuck her eyes out.

I am going to take all your money.

I am going to take your job.

I am going to take everything you have.

And you won't be able to do anything about it.

He said this to my face… in Chinese.

Thinking that I didn’t understand anything.

And I ignored it all, which was a big mistake.

Yeah. I deserve some real hard slaps.

But then noticed him implementing exactly what he said. He tried to seduce my wife. he put poison in her ears against me. Changed her ideas and opinions. Manipulated her. Started buying her things like cell phones and what not.

He store my hours, my clients, my students from me. He was trying to convince my wife to give him money… it was everything that he said he would do.

Why did I put up with it?

Well… it wasn’t for long. Maybe one month to two months total, and then we put the kibosh on it.

Both my wife and I endured real PAIN to get where we were, and were not going to permit some shyster to steal it all away from us.

TSG thought he had it all worked out.

He used every trick in the book to alienate me from my wife; from my work, and from my money. I call him the “stupid guy”, but really I was the one who was stupid.

You see, this was a new thing; a new experience for me. I was unprepared for it. It took me some time to figure out what was going on.

Oh yeah. For certain. We ended it all.

He fled China. Went off to some other Asian nation and then returned back to California. But…

This is the story of one of the tricks that he used to seduce.

He had a Lamborghini key.

And a Lamborghini insurance paper and registration. And every-time he was talking with someone about him only being a “teacher“, he would pull those out and claim that he owned multiple businesses in the USA, and had a couple of Lamborghini automobiles and a fine house in Beverly Hills.

It wasn’t true.

On one drunken night, he told me the truth.

He faked the documents, and bought the old key from eBay.

Yeah. TSG was quite the player.

Now, he did manage to get into the pants of a great number of girls at work. In fact, he did that and used them to transfer my students; my customer to him. During my prime hours, so he had instant customers; instant income, and I got the dregs. And even when my students complained the workers (with whom he slept with) all took his side.

That was then. I had just gotten out of prison, was wobbly on my feet, and my marriage was young and enduring changes.

This is now.

I am strong and ESTABLISHED and now formidable within my regime.

So don’t worry about me. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps. Never the less, we have to experience some trying times to get to be strong. You cannot lift weights to get healthy without feeling pain.

The Stupid Guy

What a tool. Fuck.

Today…

The Power of Healthy Boundaries: Why Saying “No” is Essential for Personal Growth

May 2, 2024

Listen up, because it’s time to drop some truth bombs that might just change your life. If you’re the type of person who struggles with setting boundaries, who says “yes” to every request and invitation, even when you really want to say “no,” then this article is for you.

Here’s the thing: boundaries are not just some touchy-feely self-help concept. They’re a crucial life skill that can make or break your relationships, your career, and your overall well-being. When you fail to set healthy boundaries, you’re essentially giving everyone else permission to walk all over you, to take advantage of your kindness, and to drain your energy and resources.

But when you learn to set clear, firm boundaries, something magical happens. You start to feel more in control of your life. You begin to prioritize your own needs and desires. You attract people and opportunities that align with your values and goals. In short, you become a happier, healthier, more fulfilled version of yourself.

Now, you might be thinking: “But won’t people hate me if I start saying no all the time?” And the answer is: who cares? Seriously, if someone gets upset with you for having boundaries and taking care of yourself, then they’re probably not someone you want in your life anyway.

The truth is, setting boundaries is not about being selfish or uncaring. It’s about recognizing your own inherent worth and respecting yourself enough to stand up for your needs. It’s about being honest and authentic in your relationships, rather than constantly sacrificing your own well-being for the sake of others.

So how do you start setting healthy boundaries? It’s simple, but not always easy. First, get clear on what your non-negotiables are. What are the things that you absolutely will not tolerate in your life, no matter what? This could be anything from physical or emotional abuse to chronic lateness or flakiness from friends.

Next, practice communicating your boundaries clearly and directly. This means saying “no” when you need to, without apologies or excuses. It means being honest about your feelings and expectations, even if it feels uncomfortable at first.

For example, let’s say you have a friend who consistently cancels plans at the last minute, leaving you hanging. You might set a boundary by saying something like, “Hey, I value our friendship, but when you cancel on me at the last minute, it really throws off my day and makes me feel unimportant. Going forward, if you need to cancel, please let me know at least 24 hours in advance.”

If your friend continues to violate this boundary, you might need to enforce it by saying something like, “I’m sorry, but I can’t keep making plans with you if you’re going to cancel at the last minute. It’s not working for me.” This might mean taking a step back from the friendship or finding other people to make plans with who respect your time and commitments.

Remember, setting boundaries is not a one-time event. It’s an ongoing practice that requires consistency, courage, and self-awareness. But the payoff is so worth it. When you learn to set healthy boundaries, you create space for more joy, more fulfillment, and more authentic connections in your life.

So go ahead, start saying “no” to the things that don’t serve you, and watch as your world begins to change for the better. Trust that your future self will thank you.

Strange

Cheese Tortellini Soup with Shrimp

Prep: 5 min | Cook: 15 min | Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 cups (32 fluid ounces) reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 (15 ounce) container Buitoni Refrigerated Marinara Sauce
1 cup white wine
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 (9 ounce) package Buitoni Refrigerated Three Cheese Tortellini
1/2 pound (51/60 count) small cooked shrimp
1 cup loose-pack frozen petite peas, thawed

Instructions

Combine broth, sauce, wine and pepper in large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add pasta; reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until pasta is tender.
Add shrimp and peas; cook for an additional 1 minute.
Serve immediately.

What office rule made you say “You gotta be kidding me”?

Happened to a friend who worked the IT Help desk in a very large corp. They had 2 phones on their desks, the Help line and a regular employee desk phone. Then it seems external calls coming into their desk phones – weren’t. Manager said he had had incoming calls blocked because HE thought that the Help queues were long because the Help guys were on personal calls instead.
So I said to my friend, “You have 4 kids who are latch-key kids (come home to empty house as Mom works too). And your co-workers also have children at home. Suppose each kid is supposed to call their parent to say they have gotten home from school, but now the calls are not getting through. What instruction would you all have given your children if they cannot reach you at work? Call the corp. security line!”
Friend: “What good would that do …. ?”
Me: “Imagine what happens when a 7-year-old calls Security in tears saying ‘I can’t reach my Daddy’…”
3 days later their desk phones were receiving external calls again.

Up-Close Look at Captured Abrams and Leopard in Moscow

Prime Minister Of Georgia Exposes U.S. Regime Change Attempt

In the April 18 I had mentioned a recent color revolution attempt in Georgia:

U.S./EU Lobby Against Georgian Law That Would Reveal Their Secret Influence

Those organization who currently receive money from the various U.S. or EU government or non-government organizations are of course not amused that they will have to reveal their association with such sources. They want to lobby for foreign positions without being identified as foreign influencers.They have therefore launched protests against their country’s government and parliament which has passed the law in the first reading. Two further readings will be required to finalize the law.

The protesters against the law claim that it is a “Russian law” against “foreign agents”.
…
However neither is the law “Russian style” – it is a copy of FARA – nor does the law include the loaded word “agent”. It does not accuse anyone of being such but seeks public transparency over foreign financial influences which would of course also include Russian ones.

Despite violent protests by the usual suspects the relevant bill has passed its second reading in the Georgian parliament. A third and final reading is expected in the mid of May.

The ‘NGO’ complex of U.S./EU regime change organizations in Georgia is enormous:

Lord Bebo @MyLordBebo – 8:20 UTC · May 3, 2024🇬🇪 “Georgia has one of the highest amount of NGOs per capita!
– 20,000 NGOs are active in Georgia!
– 1 NGO per 148 citizens!
– 90% get their funding from foreign countries!”
-> He is not pro Russia, he is pro Georgia and the protesters are pro money!
-> BBC interview with Nikoloz Samkharadze, Chair, Foreign Relations Committee, Parliament of Georgia (vid)

The current government of Georgia has a solid majority and obviously knows what is happening in its country.

It has rejected a recent – conditional – invitation to the U.S.:

The Government of Georgia has declined an invitation from the US to discuss strategic partnership and assistance, reports Ekho Kavkazu.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia confirmed receiving the invitation from the Prime Minister. However, before the visit, parliament was supposed to temporarily suspend consideration of the bill On Transparency of Foreign Influence.

Well, the parliament did not do so.

Now witness this very public slap-in-the face which Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze is handing out to Derek H. Chollet, the Counselor of the U.S. State Department:

Irakli Kobakhidze @PM_Kobakhidze – 8:13 UTC · May 3, 2024Spoke to @CounselorDOS and expressed my sincere disappointment with the two revolution attempts of 2020-2023 supported by the former US Ambassador and those carried out through NGOs financed from external sources. Had these attempts been successful, the second front line would have been opened in Georgia.

Besides, I explained to Mr. Chollet that false statements made by the officials of the US State Department about the transparency bill and street rallies remind us of similar false statements made by the former US Ambassador in 2020-2023, which served to the facilitation of violence from foreign funded actors and to the support of revolutionary processes back then.

Also, I clarified to Mr. Chollet that it requires a special effort to restart the relations against this background, which is impossible without a fair and honest approach.

I have not expressed my concerns with Mr. Chollet about a brutal crackdown of the students’ protest rally in New York City.

It is rare to see a small power like Georgia publicly exposing U.S. mischief like this.

Posted by b on May 3, 2024 at 10:05 UTC | Permalink

Social Media Has Destroyed Women

I went on a date with a woman in her late 40s. She confessed that she had given one of her friends bad advice by encouraging her to get involved with a married man. 

I told her that I was shocked that a woman her age would give such bad advice to a woman 20 years younger than her and she be more of a mentor. She said that she had gone through a similar experience and it had worked out for her.  

After more dialogue she admitted that she cheated on her husband of 25 years with another married man and eventually he left his wife as well. They lived together for 5 years and then he ended up breaking it off with her and now she's been single for a year. 

I honestly just kind of stared in shock and kept blinking for a little bit. I told her I don't know what was 

1. that you told me so easily like it was a flex or 

2. that you actually believe that your situation was so successful that you actually encourage somebody else to do the same thing. 

Not only did you implode your family, but you encouraged that other man to ruin his and now you have your friend ruining another marriage. 

She told me that I am judgemental and that I need to read my Bible more.  Am I tripping?

If we were to talk about prosperity between China & the USA, which one would you say is on the right track? Why?

China is the only major economy growing since the Covid pandemic and China is now producing huge end automobile and quantum computers! It is growing faster and bigger than the entire G7! The U.S. is basically a Ponzi scheme economy printing money without basis and building 1 trillion debts every 100 days! Its GDP is laden with hot air and Wall Street bubbles ready to pop anytime soon! The U.S. spends on war, war mongering, trouble making, regime change, and colour revolution funding. While China build the latest state of the art infrastructures and educate and retrain its people!

Putting the U.S. and China in the same category is totally misleading China is developing the U.S. is disintegrating, China is progressing the U.S. is collapsing in a huge pile of debts.

Have you ever seen a drill instructor compliment a recruit?

Drill sergeant Thomas – “give me that rifle, private!”

Terrified PFC Edwards hands him the rifle.

Drill sergeant Thomas – “what the fuck is this?!?!? Do you know what this is, private?!?!?”

Terrified PFC Edwards tries, in vain, to muster some semblance of a coherent response.

Drill sergeant Thomas – “this is a clean ass rifle! That’s what the fuck it is! Now get the fuck out of here private…you fucking creep.”

PFC Edwards is on the range with a beat up M16A2 and some very old aluminum artifacts that were likely magazines at some point. He’s shooting at little green Ivans that already have more holes than an Alex Jones conspiracy theory and the Browns red zone defense combined. Drill sergeant Thomas approaches and screams out “I don’t know what the fuck you’re doing private, but keep doing it!”

Those are the two compliments that I most remember from basic.

Win later

What are some of the interesting mutations humans have?

There is one which may make you look prettier.

The British-American cinema icon, Elizabeth Taylor, who was deemed as one of the most beautiful women of her time had a rare genetic condition called Distichiasis. It is a type of mutation which caused her to have two rows of eyelashes instead of one. This thick, dark fringe of extra eyelashes made her eyes look all the more dreamy and dazzling and along with her striking blue eyes, they certainly enhanced her already exquisite face. This was caused by a mutation in the FOXC2 gene.

[1]

Although, having natural double eyelashes may seem like an entrancing feature, it can be far from a boon. Congenital distichiasis is often accompanied by lymphedema – a condition characterized by swelling of the limbs, typically the legs and feet due to build up of body fluids, and therefore known as lymphedema-distichiasis (LD) syndrome.

[2]

For the little boring part, the FOXC2 gene is a transcription factor/protein involved in numerous developmental pathways of the body, two of which are those of the lymphatic vessels and the associated regions of the eye, hence the association.

In distichiasis, the extra row of eyelashes grow from tiny oil glands (meibomian glands)

[3]

on the thin ledge of skin nearer to the eye, instead of growing out of hair follicles present on the outer edge of the eyelid.

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Distichiasis in some individuals can remain harmless and less detectable if the growing eyelashes curl outwards. The lashes can be removed by epilation (plucking), cryotherapy, electrolysis, lid splitting operations, or laser treatment etc. The condition can also vary from a few sparse hairs on one lid, to full sets of lashes on both lids.

But for some individuals, distichiasis with lymphedema syndrome can take a more severe form. One could have more acute symptoms of eye irritation, redness as well as more frequent tearing in the eye. The mutations in FOXC2 may also give rise to multiple disorders, such heart diseases, scoliosis, cellulitis, webbed neck, respiratory problems due to abnormal lymph flow into the lungs etc.

[4]

Which could explain why some of Taylor’s myriad of health problems may have been attributed to her inherited lymphoedema-distichiasis syndrome due to mutations in the FOXC2 gene.

[5]

[6]

Taylor was known to have had more than 100 operations during her lifetime, including having both hips replaced. She also suffered from scoliosis and respiratory infections. In 2004, she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure which later caused her death in 2011.

Edit: As it has been pointed out in the comments, I’d like to clarify that Elizabeth’s eye color wasn’t exactly blue but was more like purple/violet color. Although, some websites describe her eye color as blue, it was a slight mistake on my part on factually describing it as blue. Thank you 🙂

Footnotes

[1] FOXC2 gene: MedlinePlus Genetics

[2] Lymphedema-Distichiasis Syndrome – NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders)

[3] Meibomian Gland Dysfunction and Treatment

[4] Lymphedema-Distichiasis Syndrome – NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders)

[5] Elizabeth Taylor’s Killer Beauty | TIME.com

[6] Elizabeth Taylor’s Astonishing Health History – Womens Health Center – Everyday Health

Our daily comics

Charleston She-Crab Soup

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

What is the “She” in She Crab Soup?

One summer we took a family trip to Charleston, South Carolina. When traveling, I like to find out the one dish the city is famous for and try to eat it as many times as I can. After all, how can you know what the “Best She Crab Soup in Charleston” is unless you sample a pretty fair share of them?

She Crab Soup, also called She Crab Bisque, was the dish of the trip. I discovered that the soup is made with female crabs. Makes sense. In addition, the roe (fish eggs) of the female crab is added to the recipe.

How do you know the difference between a male and a female crab? I went to a food conference in NYC one spring and got a “crab anatomy” lesson from a crab vendor.

He flipped over two crabs and explained that the male crabs have the Washington Monument on their undersides.

The females have the wider Capitol Building on their bellies.

What are the Ingredients in She Crab Soup?

After returning from that trip to Charleston, I was determined to re-create the recipe for She Crab Soup. For inspiration, I leaned on The Joy of Cooking’s recipe for lobster bisque, from which this recipe is loosely adapted.

Most recipes call for fresh crab. In a perfect, very French world, you would also use the shells of the crabs to make a super rich stock. Obviously this is not always practical. And unless you live in an area where crabs are regularly harvested, you will probably have a more difficult time finding “female” crabs.

Since I wanted this She Crab soup recipe to be fast and easy, I’ve used canned, lump meat crab from the seafood counter of my grocery store and bottled clam juice in place of fish stock. If you can find fish stock, substitute that for the bottled clam juice and chicken stock.

Ingredients

1 small onion, minced
4 tablespoons butter
1 pound crabmeat (about 12 crabs)
1 quart milk
2 cups light cream
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup orange crab roe
Rind of 1 lemon, grated

Instructions

Sauté onion gently in the butter, add crabmeat, and set aside.
Heat milk and cream in the top of a double boiler, add crab meat and onion, seasonings and sherry. Cover, and let steep over very low heat for 30 to 45 minutes.
Beat the egg yolks, pour a little of the hot liquid into them, and then stir the yolk mixture slowly into the soup.
Put a spoonful of roe in each soup bowl, ladle in the soup, and sprinkle the top with grated lemon rind.

Men Are Going Abroad For Love And Modern Women Are FURIOUS

What are the first things you notice when you become homeless?

How flimsy it all is. Society. Status. Everything.

Everything we work so hard for and so hard to maintain. It’s too flimsy and transient. The fact that it takes so little to lose it all and that we have to work so hard to keep it.

When gossip can change your status. That’s scary.

On a more practical front, I noticed right away where I was now persona non grata. Places where you could stand while waiting for a friend or a ride, in the vicinity of a store was now the place you waited to go to jail while the store manager summoned the police because you are now a criminal by virtue of your homelessness.

I now knew where to go to be hassled by absolutely everyone because I was no longer a person but either a very tall child or wildlife that wandered into their vicinity, only to be shooed away or threatened.

Also, no public restroom anywhere, ever, was available for ‘my kind’. I had then been redesignated as a U Person. As in ‘you people’!!

As well as all shelter was off-limits to me, to include a covered bus stop, a bridge, even a large tree with a nice canopy. I was not even allowed shade.

Don’t forget public spaces that are available to everyone, like parks, benches and sidewalks. Those are for decent regular people, not U People! And I get it, no one wants parks reduced to a landfill, tent city or crime-ridden waste land. But I even promised not to dump all of my toxic waste on that park bench, I just needed to rest from a long day of walking. But they showed me and installed spikes and arms in the center of the park bench.

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(Credit: dev.null.org)

I also learned that grocery stores acquired very impressive trash compactors. I guess I took more than my fair share of dented cans and bruised bananas. I admit to my greed. But those giant yellow beasts were overkill.

On to the not-so-horrible things I learned.

Like where all the high-end cafés, bakeries, etc. were located and what time they tossed the leftovers.

Which dumpsters, of particular residents were picked up and when there were prime resell pickings. Or to get good clothes from. People being so incredibly wasteful saved us in more ways than 10.

Who was homeless-friendly and who wasn’t, by just a look. Identifying the look became second nature; even my young son could spot it.

I also learned the police routes and rounds pretty quickly.

Prime U People traveling times, so as not to offend the good, decent people of society.

And I learned what really mattered to me. What was important. Homelessness gave me perspective that I may not have gotten any other way.

Saw this

What’s the best revenge you’ve gotten after being fired or let go from a job?

I was fired from a sporting goods company for not fitting in. I was fired by the VP of Technology and my manager was the one who brought me to his office (she didn’t say a word to me).

Anyway. As it stands, a few years later the jellyfish manager I had was at a conference where I was the keynote speaker. I was actually in the middle of telling the story of how I was fired and that got me the right to call myself ‘seasoned’ on my resume. I am explaining the whole experience minus names and I look out into the audience and there she is — sliding down in her chair. It was classic!

She eventually was fired too. This company was great at managing their unemployment rate. If they didn’t like you they fired you thinking they would get away with it with no fight. I took them to three appeals and won.

Life Doesn’t Give Us Purpose, We Create It

May 2, 2024

Today, let’s tackle a topic that often keeps us awake at night—finding our purpose. And let me be clear: this isn’t about stumbling upon some hidden secret that’s going to make everything click into place. It’s about facing life’s relentless questions head-on.

Life doesn’t hand us a neatly packaged purpose; it doesn’t operate like some cosmic vending machine. Instead, life poses questions, challenges us, and waits for our responses. So, what does this really mean? It means that your purpose isn’t something you find—it’s something you define through your actions and decisions every day.

Think about it. Every choice you make, every action you take, is essentially you responding to life’s big questions: What are you going to do today? What kind of person will you be? How will you impact the world around you? Your answers to these questions, reflected in your daily actions, create the narrative of your life.

Let’s break this down a bit. When you choose to help someone in need, you’re answering life’s question with compassion. When you decide to learn something new, you’re responding with curiosity. And when you stand up for what you believe in, even when it’s hard, you’re replying with courage. Your life, in its entirety, is your response to the existential questions life throws your way.

Now, this might sound daunting. It’s much easier to wait for inspiration to strike or to follow a path someone else has laid out for us. But here’s the real deal: taking responsibility for your own purpose means embracing the freedom to make your life mean something on your own terms. It’s about actively building the life you want, brick by brick, with your own hands.

Sure, you’ll face setbacks. There will be days when you wonder if you’re on the right path, or if it’s all worth it. But remember, every day gives you a new chance to answer life’s questions differently. To try again, to change your approach, to learn from your mistakes. And that’s where real growth happens.

So, my challenge to you is this: Stop waiting for life to give you answers and start crafting your own. Engage with life, make choices that feel true to who you are, and let your actions speak for the purpose you’re building. You might just find that in the act of responding to life’s questions, you’ll craft a purpose that is uniquely yours.

Remember, you are the author of your life’s story. What will your answers be? What will you stand for? How will you respond to the questions life asks you? Let’s start taking those steps today. Because in the end, the most fulfilling paths are often the ones we pave ourselves.

Massive fire at Germany’s defense-industrial company Diehl

Hal Turner World May 03, 2024

EXTREMELY POISONOUS SMOKE is billowing from a massive fire at Germany’s defense-industrial company, Diehl, in Berlin.

The company just so happens to produce, among other things, the IRIS-T air defense system, its missiles, and GMLRS ammunition for HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, used by Ukraine.

Panicked authorities say the fire no longer possible to contain.

Students in surrounding areas are being sent home and emergency services warn people to stay indoors and avoid deadly massive clouds of chemical fumes.

The Building is now completely engulfed on four floors. Part of the building has already collapsed. The fire can no longer be brought under control.

We can confirm that chemicals are also burning in the building. Sulfuric acid and copper cyanide were stored there. There is a risk of hydrogen cyanide forming, which rises into the air with the smoke – Fire brigade informed the population via warning apps.

Economic Update: The Phenomenon of China

Great overview.

This week’s Economic Update Professor Richard Wolff dedicates the entire show to the economic developmental achievement of China, together with the historical background that motivated that achievement. We analyze the uniqueness of both the economic philosophy and the politics of China.

What red flag did you have the week before your wedding that you wish you had heeded?

A couple of days before my wedding we were having our makeup try out. Besides my mom and sisters, I thought it would be nice to include MIL. As the session was going on the makeup artist asked my mom how many children she had and she proudly answer “I have 3 daughters and 2 granddaughters” and the next question was if she would have wanted a son and mom said “I would have been happy with either, but I love the way it turned out to have only girls”.

The same questions were asked to MIL. She answered “I have to 2 sons” and the answer to the second question was “oh no! I never wanted to have girls, women are trouble and only bring problems to a family”.

We grew up in an home were women greatly appreciated (my dad used to say he was a joyous man among women), where we were told “men and women are different, but those diferences should complete each other, none is less and women too can be/ do whatever they aspire, so shoot for the stars”. Needless to say I was SHOCKED to hear that from another woman… who raised a man.

So, every time my “still” husband and I have an argument he tells me stuff like “you’re a problem! You ruin my life”. I know were those words come from…

But I’m really happy that we have 2 girls, 2 amazing girls. My husband’s parents have seen the 2 year old a couple of times, I didn’t really have a relationship with them, but when MIL said our 2nd was a mistake we should have stopped… I stopped any communication with them. They have never visited our baby girl since she was born…

What are some of the most awesome psychological facts?

If your bladder is full and you are unable to hold in your pee then start thinking about sex, it will give you relief up to some extent. (I suggest you to use washroom in this situation asap)
Tilting your head while looking up or while having a conversation makes you look more attractive and sexier.
When a person cries and if the first tear drop falls from left eyes, it’s pain. If it is from right eye, it’s happiness.
Men spend almost a year of their lives staring at women.
Studies have revealed that a man and woman can never be just friends.
Constantly dreaming about someone indicates that they may actually be thinking about you.
An attractive face is preferred over an attractive body for long term relationships.
Sex is more physical for men and more emotional for women.
Money can buy happiness. Studies show that after 49lakhs rupees (approx) per year, increased income boost happiness.
Being alone and spending more time with yourself is more likely to make you successful in life.

What made you as an American move to China?

First, I have travelled a fair amount in my life. I am from the US but have lived in Japan, and spent a lot of time in Taiwan, Korea, Israel and visited countries in Europe, Philippines, Malaysia, Scotland.

I have always liked Asian culture so that is part of it, but the people in China are really good people. I found that attractive. China is safe, but many countries are. The difference is that even in the huge cities, it is safe. Next is that China is growing. It is really interesting to see a country advancing, growing and improving. I have literally seen cities built, huge infrastructure projects materialize over a few years. I am watching as the behavior of the society changes as the wealth grows. This fascinates me.

China is also a convenient place to live. It is easy to get around, I don’t need a car. Things I need are easy and quick to obtain and the cost of living is low.

All of these things play a part in why I am living in China. But mostly it is the people. Chinese could be boastful people. But they are not, they are kind, thoughtful and hardworking people with no outward and obvious judgmental attitudes. In other words, they don’t care what religion I am. With all that is going on they do not treat me badly because I am an American and hold me at fault for the actions of the US government. They are educated and know the difference. It is also a society that puts a strong emphasis on education and achievement. At least the people I encounter are life long learners. Driven to learn new things.

There are negatives, of course, but the above things are the reasons I have moved to China.

Something TERRIFYING Happened To This Submarine

Super interesting.

British Foreign Secretary: Ukraine Can Use British Missiles Against Russian Territory

Hal Turner World May 03, 2024

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said today, Ukraine CAN use British weapons to hit deep inside Russia Territory. He also promised Kiev over $3 billion in military aid annually for “as long as it takes.”

“Ukraine has the right to use weapons provided by London to strike targets on Russian territory” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has declared, in an interview with Reuters on Thursday during a visit to Kiev.

The senior diplomat, who also served as UK Prime Minister from 2010 to 2016, met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, promising London’s “unequivocal support” and annual military aid payments.

“We will give three billion pounds ($3.74 billion) every year for as long as is necessary. We’ve just really emptied all we can in terms of giving equipment,” Cameron told the outlet, noting that some of the British weapons earmarked for Ukraine would be arriving to the country during his visit.

The foreign secretary noted that among the weapons donated to Kiev are precision-guided bombs, air defense missiles and equipment for 100 mobile air defense teams.

Cameron stated that Ukraine has the “right” to use arms provided by London to strike targets inside Russia if that’s how it wants to use them.

“Ukraine has that right. Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it’s defending itself,” the diplomat said.

Hal Turner Snap Analysis

This is a massive escalation on the part of the UK and may be the lynchpin to Russia declaring Britain a “combatant.”

If person “A” provides a gun to person “B” and person B uses that gun to shoot Person “C” then Person “A” facilitated that attack and is an accessory before the fact and goes to prison, too.

I don’t see any reason that state actors can’t be held to that same legal standard.

US Very Concerned as China-Russia Strengthen Their Military Ties!

Where the buffalo roam

After I left China Lake Naval Weapons Center, we spent a brief period of time in rural Pennsylvania looking for work.

During that time we (my wife and I) were living in a mobile home. It was just an old ratty mobile home on a farm in the middle of the country.

We lived there for just under a year. Hustling to find work. Typing out resumes and knocking on doors. Sigh.

The land was rural and there were all sorts of Amish and Mennonites around. And the people who owned the farm were really nice to us. They managed a herd of buffalo, and every day we would see the buffalo heard up and roam about.

It’s not something that I speak about a lot, but it is part of my life experience. So, yeah. Now you know.

No surprises, eh?

Today…

What is the scariest thing you have seen or experienced when hiking?

For about 15 years we lived in rural Claremont on a 15 acre parcel that had East Duffins Creek running through it. This is in Ontario Canada and just outside Toronto. It was morel season so I jumped on my ATV and headed over to the north side of our property where I had found morels in previous years. I hopped off and went for a hike down to the creek and up through some native apple trees. I had to part some cedar branches to get back to my ATV about 25′ away. When I climbed on the ATV a full grown Easter Cougar came out of the cedars in the same place I had just walked. Clearly he had followed me. I was afraid to start the machine as this would have required moving one arm and both feet and I was worried that the movement might trigger him to come after me. We stared at each other for a moment and then I jumped in the air and yelled BOO as loud as possible. Fortunately the big cat turned and ran. I went home and called the Ministry of Natural Resources to report this sighting and they weren’t too surprised. They said these Eastern Cougars are about 150 lbs, follow river corridors, have a hunting area of about 90 square miles and take a deer a week. Two months later my daughter-in-law captured this photo south of Barrie about 50 kms away. It was exciting but scary.

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Why Is China Not Afraid of the US?

What is the most difficult thing you have had to do to one of your children?

When I was doing the single parenting thing and my son was about 17 and my daughter 15, my son started showing a very bad temper. I understood it and knew how it felt because I also had an awful temper that I learned to control long before he was born. Anyway, he’s over a foot taller than me and pretty strong. We were living in a rented townhouse at the time. He got so angry one day and punched a large hole in a wall. Nothing I was saying or doing for him was getting him to be less angry. He would sometimes stand over me and give me the ‘I want to punch you’ body language. So, on the day he punched the wall and seemed to threaten me, I called the police. The policeman came to the door knowing it was a domestic dispute and once I told him why I called, he suggested letting him talk to my son alone. I was not in the room but I was in earshot. The cop was saying things like, “Dude your mom is letting you live here and this is a nice place. She could kick you out when you turn 18. How would you like that?” and “What about all the great things your mom has done for you? Do you get nice clothes?” Yes. “Do you eat well?” Yes. “Then what’s your problem, man?!” He basically gave my son a talking to. My kid needed to hear that from someone of authority. It did make a change in him. HOWEVER, he has never let me live down the fact that I once called the police on him. He’s only 26 now and maybe ONE DAY he will finally realize I did something that worked and did no harm to anyone.

Why Leaving the US is the New American Dream

Andrew Henderson is the CEO of Nomad Capitalist, the world’s #1 resource for global citizens, helping people around the world gain access to second passports, reduce tax liabilities, and learning to safeguard their assets. Andrew was born an American but has since renounced his citizenship, obtained 5 new passports from countries around the world, and lives in multiples cities throughout the world. In today’s video Andrew shares his life and journey and what it means to be a Nomad Capitalist.

What was your most glorious moment in a classroom ever?

At the university, I was a political science major. I was also sick a lot so I was excused from taking physical education, so I only had one semester of PE, which was worth one half of a unit. While I was excused from the class I was not excused from the required number of units in order to graduate.

I chose most of my classes based on the time of day they were offered, prefering morning classes. I signed up for International Law. On the first day of class, the professor stated that International Relations was required to be taken before International Law. I had not taken International Relations, but decided to at least try the class, I had a month before I could drop the class with no penalty.

I understood the subject matter and was doing all right. Towards the end of the semester, the professor found out that I had not taken the prerequisite course. He let me stay in the class as I was one of the top students.

The professor told me that I still needed to take International Relations to qualify for my degree, but he said that it would not be fair for another professor to have me as a student, so he requested that I take the class from him

In my last semester, I realize that I would be one half of a unit short in order to graduate. I was telling my professor about the problem when he suggested I do a one half unit independent study. He wanted to go to a seminar and would be out of the class room for a week.

He said that if I would teach the unit on International Law for his classes of International Relations classes, I would earn my one half united.

So this is where it got strange, I was a student in one of his classes, and the week the professor was gone, I stood in front of all my classmates and taught the class for a week.

When the professor returned, I became just another student.

I graduated on time.

BLINKEN TRIP TO CHINA: U.S. dominance is over!

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken went home with his tail between his legs after an official three-day visit to China in which he tried his very best to convince the world of a litany of nonsensical crap that neither he nor anyone else with a brain believes, including spouting the “over-capacity” myth that Yellen tried to start on her last visit, and trying to tell Beijing that Washington has some kind of right to decide who China can and cannot trade with. This desperation and hypocrisy blatantly on show from U.S. leaders visiting China is a sign of one thing: the hegemony of the U.S.-led West is falling, and it’s a joy to watch! Today we’ll talk about it.

What do police officers say are the things that make them more or less likely to give a ticket to a speeding driver?

My gauge was always reasonableness.

If your license plate tags expired one month ago, I can see you not noticing and would probably cut you a break. If they expired one year ago, not so much.

If I pull you over for plates expired months ago, and you say, “I’ve been trying to get money together so I could renew them,” but there are $300 worth of cigarette butts in the ashtray and the backseat is full of bags from the mall, you’re getting a ticket.

If you don’t have insurance, you’re almost certainly getting a ticket. People who didn’t want to pay for insurance figured if they could get less than three tickets a year, they could get out of paying a premium and just pay their insurance fine, which would actually be less expensive since they were high risk. I never gave them the satisfaction.

I never really ran radar, so I didn’t write many speeding tickets – maybe four or five over three years. Even then, they were all for going at least twenty miles an hour over the limit (or speeding while they were drunk). Every officer has a magic number. One of my colleagues’ was, “Twelve [mph] over you’re fine, thirteen and you’re mine.” Now, some officers’ magic numbers may be one, so don’t bank on any kind of window. I never nailed one down, but probably would have if I ever did traffic enforcement.

If you’re driving drunk, you’re getting so many tickets. I’ve personally written as many as eight to one person after one incident, and a colleague in another agency (with a more permissive pursuit policy) once wrote 36 after a drunk driving pursuit. I have seen so many dead bodies lying on asphalt because of drunk drivers. No mercy.

The answer from the officer in the UK has some good insights – especially the bit about asking me why I’m not finding ‘actual criminals.’ But ladies, don’t count on sexing the situation up to dodge a ticket. I’ve written lots of citations to women with heaving cleavage who had obviously fussed with their blouse prior to my approach. What favor am I currying by not writing a ticket? There is absolutely nothing in it for me in that scenario. It’s not like just giving a warning is going to prompt her to go ahead and peel her top off. I’m not saying it would never work on anyone, but it didn’t go anywhere with me.

In any situation where a citation issuance was in the cards, I honestly tried to put myself in the shoes of the driver. Where are they coming from? Where are they going? Would I have noticed the same thing on my car? Would I go that fast off-duty? I tried to be very fair with my citations, and I like to think that if I ever gave you one, you could at least admit how I saw it was necessary. Some officers issued them indiscriminately, but I tried to, again, just be reasonable.

What are some habits that are good to get into?

Read non-fiction books : It will transform your thinking process.
Cooking : It will save you from eating junk and lots of money.
Travelling : You are not a frog who is destined to live in a well rather explore the world .It is beautiful.
Pick a hobby : Now you don’t have time to get bore.
Drink adequate water : Because you are made of water and it is necessary to keep yourself hydrated.
Practice selflessness – Feed that stray animal , help your needy friends without expecting anything in return.
Remove inferiority complex – That famous writer whom you admire and feel inferior to , they are just a human like you. You too can become successful like them if you will put that amount of hard work that they usually put in.
Earn before spending – It’s okay to buy IPhone X but buy it after earning, not on EMI.
Smile in adversity – It will diminish half of your pain.

What is a time when you’ve seen a co-worker get fired who totally deserved it?

I worked for a personally owned McDonald’s and many of the workers and customers were female and minors. One of the managers constantly made extremely inappropriate comments about the customers and crew. Many workers including me had told managers above him including the General Manager what was happening.

One coworker was to the point she requested to not be scheduled on the same shift but her request was ignored. She was driven to the point she put her two weeks in because of it, and she was a hard worker who if she made mistakes instantly fixed them. When I heard of her wanting to quit and why many female coworkers told me of his comments.. comments that if I had heard personally make, I probably would have punched him. But I called the owner and she told me the managers were “Investigating it”. Which i knew was bullshit because the GM’s wife was also a Manager and was high school friends with the predator. When I heard this I explained what my coworkers had told me and all she had to say was I needed to remember who I was talking to because I was getting angry and upset quoting his disgusting comments. So I started ripping her a new one(Bitched her out) about how she is allowing a predator to make workers he is preying on to do what ever he wanted. And hung up on her and went back to work.

Next day her younger brother was waiting for me to clock in since he was who took care of small things like firings. He told he understood my rage as he has daughters and would feel the same way. I told him a few comments he made that made my blood boil. He said the same thing about my tone with his sister and then told me to go to work. The predator went to clock in and was instantly taken back to the managers office and fired before he could even clock on. He stormed out and shouted, “I just got fired I hope you’re all happy” and I laughed and said yes actually I am very happy. I honestly see it as my greatest achievement in my work experience.

What are the types of people that you should always avoid?

A good friend of mine got Engaged to the love of her life and was about to get married within 2 months.

She was extremely happy. Both the families willingly agreed. No objection from any side. Her would be in laws told her parents that they don’t want anything from them. So far so good.

Just one month before marriage her would be mother in law called her mother.

MIL: Apki beti bahot achhi hai. Humein to bas aapki beti chahiye. Baaki aapne jo dena hai apni beti ko hi dena hai.

(Translation: We are blessed to have your daughter. We don’t want anything for us. However, you may give anything to your daughter as you may please.)

Mother: okay ji. Definitely.

And this continued for the following 3-4 days.

Her MIL used to drop subtle hints about their demands which included a destination wedding, innova car, diamond rings etc. Each time she ended the conversation with the same dialogue.

We don’t want anything for us. You can give your daughter anything you want to.

My friend came to know about this just 15 days before the wedding, when she overheard her parents talking about borrowing from relatives.

She was furious and called her fiance.

And then it was the fiance’s turn.

Unhone jo dena hai tumhe hi dena hai. Humari koi demand nai hai.

(Transaltion: We haven’t demanded anything. They are giving it to you.)

She ended her 3 year long relationship right away.

I met her yesterday and she told me about the entire incident and to my surprise, she was rather relieved to know everything before marriage.

In her words: Those people were wolves disguised as sheep. Even more dangerous.

Edit: I showed all the comments to my friend. She wants to pass a message through this forum. “Whenever you hear we don’t want anything for us but you can give your daughter whatever you want to.”

Run. Run as fast as you can and never ever look back. You definitely want to avoid such people.

I Caught My Girlfriend “On The Clock” Doing Her Secret Job, Now She’s PLEADING That We Talk It Over

...she's not your girlfriend, it's just your turn, or someone else's or something like that....

What is the strangest thing you’ve seen someone return to a store?

A couple of years ago I went to Costco to return an item. I don’t even remember what I had bought – it was the wrong item and I had not even opened the package. Waiting in line, in front of me was a man, probably 10 years younger than me, carrying a Hewlett-Packard Deskjet printer. I knew that model well because it is old – over 15 years old, and it looked it. I am a computer nerd, and I know most models of Hewlett-Packard printers – be it Laserjet, Deskjet, Designjet, Office Jet, or whatever. Since I was right behind him, I could hear everything that he was trying to tell the Costco employee. He said had bought it from here at this store – and it stopped working. I looked at the employee because she looked up at me and I just grinned.

When something is bought from Costco, they keep a thorough record of it and this man did not even have a Costco membership (that gave it away), but he insisted that he bought it from here.

The young lady was intimidated by him so I interrupted him and I said, “Give me a break. That printer is over 15 years old and they never sold that model here and when it was made, this store hadn’t been built!”

The guy argued with me and said he bought it here. I said, “No, you didn’t. You either bought it for $10 from a thrift-shop, or got it out of your garage. What you are trying to do is committing fraud and I will call the police right now to have you arrested!”

It took him a couple of seconds and he ran out. I was a little afraid of him waiting for me outside but it was in the middle of the day when I was leaving the store and by then, he was already gone.

Cheating is wrong, and the guy was a complete idiot who tried to circumvent their generous return policy and he was not even smart enough to come up with a good story.

The young lady thanked me for helping her. I made a joke and said I was in a hurry to buy a Costco hot-dog and he was holding up the line.

Daily comics

What is something that needs to be said that nobody wants to hear?

I call her “Little Girl” because she completed her 12th last year. She always greets me with morning messages without failing any day.

But yesterday I didn’t get any message from her.

Then I pinged her today and asked for the reason. Initially she was hesitant but after insisting she told me the reason; she was thrashed physically by her dad because she couldn’t clear medical exam this year. She might have fractured her wrist.

She is a bright student and she loves physics. She has an outstanding academic record in physics. But it was her father’s dream to make her a doctor. And on top of it, she is the only child and that is why she is bearing this burden of hope.

She has least interest in biology and couldn’t make it to any medical college for two years in a row. They are adamant to make her a doctor, they want to send her to foreign countries (Ukraine, Russia) to complete her education.

This is a famous dialog from “Kota Factory”,

Your parents might take wrong decision for you, but their intentions are never wrong.

I agree, they are your kids and you will always take best decision for them. But I believe there is a thin line between taking a decision for them and forcing your decision on them.

Obviously, her father has no wrong intention. But his disappointment in his only daughter because she couldn’t clear medical exam is wrong.

Everyone is worried about their kids’ future. But how many of you bother to ask where does their happiness lie? What are their dreams? What do they want to become in their life?

Indian parents and their ideology. Obviously they are your kids and you don’t want to listen to someone else’s advice. But I believe, becoming the best in the area of your interest is better than becoming an average person in the area of your least interest.

Your kids are not average, you are forcing them to become one.

Legend of the Hanging Munchkin – A Wizard of Oz Mystery

Is American cuisine considered to be bad?

As a European who has traveled often to the U.S. (with shopping groceries and cooking), let me answer this question:

With a firm no.

First, let me make something clear: American cuisine is not McDonalds and Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken and Subway. These are fast food chains and not representative for American cuisine.

American cuisine is very diverse, maybe the world’s most diverse cuisine. This comes partly from the many immigrant groups who brought their food to America where it was transformed into American cuisine, but it also comes from the different regions of the USA, a geographically huge country. Think of regional cuisines:

The Northwest with lobsters, clam chowders, oysters and crab cakes – all delicious seafood dishes which belong to the best of their kind in the world.
Florida cuisine with Cuban and Carribean influences.
The creole and cajun cuisine of New Orleans.
Tex-Mex.
New Mexican cuisine which is not a version of Mexican cuisine but a indigenious fusion of American Indian and Spanish influences.
Californian cuisine with Mediterranean, East Asian and Spanish accents, all blended in a unique way.
King crab and the world’s best salmon in Alaska.
Southern BBQ.
And, everywhere, some of the world’s best steaks.

What does it take to live an authentic life?

Courage and humility.

It took me years of chickening out and trying to fake it till I’d make it to learn that lesson. When you live authentically, you accept a lot of things. That can be incredibly hard, depending also on who one is.

Some people will face a lot less adversity than some, because of the way they are.

I, for my part, am not a very common person, so when I decided to drop the pretense and face the music, to see what it would be like, I prepared myself for a possible, lifelong shitstorm and hatred 24/7. I fully expected murder.

Interestingly, this did not materialize.

It was as if I stepped through a curtain of my own fears, only to emerge with a corrected image on the other side. An image that I could just live with naturally. It required no upkeep, no explanations, and no thought.

People peeled away, and surprisingly, they were the ones I didn’t care for, or who didn’t care for me, anyway. I learned right there and then that those who really like you will like you as you are, and probably do so even before you go through such a change, because they may have known your real you before you even tried to meet it.

And new people came, who viewed me in a very different light. People who actually gave me energy rather than taking it.

I can only recommend to take the step.

So what did I actually do?

It was at a stage of my life where I had some real doubts about the validity of my professional and life choices, and I decided that I needed a break. I “turned myself grey”, as I tend to think of it. I stopped transmitting, and went into a pure listening mode. I wanted to figure out life, and the way to do that, I figured, was first and foremost to shut up.

So shut up, start listening, and stop using the word “I”. Drop all self aggrandizement, all life editing, and all those theater acts we put on to please certain people. Let them have it from the horse’s mouth, and let that mouth be yours. And then just sit there and take the backlash.

It may never come. If it does, it’s more likely like a little demon detonating into thin air.

The Chinese owner of TikTok claims they would rather shut down than sell TikTok. (To the surprise of many lawmakers who voted to ban TikTok). Do you think they are serious or bluffing?

Very serious.

Chinese don’t bluff the way Americans do.

PULP SCI FI – Retro Pulp Science Fiction by Skyward, 1950 Science Fiction Paperback Novel Cover Art

What were the last words you heard someone say before they died?

My wife died during the pandemic. She had suffered from dementia for a number of years prior to her death. Many have called dementia ‘the dying brain’.

Because of her refusal to take her medication as directed, her primary care physician suggested that she be admitted to a care facility. That was in late January 2020. I visited her every day, ate lunch with her, and left when she started ‘sundowning’. In early March 2020 the hospitals and care facilities closed down to any visitors. In late March she was placed under hospice care.

The only contact we had was by phone. Most of the time when I called I was told that she was sleeping which meant that she wasn’t fighting her demons. When she was awake, she could only mumble. The last time we spoke, I told her that I loved her. Her response and last words to me were “I love you”.

On April 8, 2020 at 2:15 AM I got a call from the hospice facility telling me that she was dying. I asked if I could come and be with her. I was denied that. Then, at 6:30 AM I got another call telling me to come as fast as I could. She was unresponsive. I held her hand and played hymns on my phone. I would tell her that she could let go. She would squeeze my hand. At 2:17 PM she stopped breathing.

I am blessed to have those last minutes and words with her.

End of the Globalists w/ Jay Dyer (Live)

How has President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s shift towards the United States affected China-Philippines relations and tensions in the South China Sea?

It affected the living standard and livelihood of Filipinos. It make him very rich and get back US confiscated wealth by the state department back for the Marcos clan!

He is doing a very clever 2 way play. He knows China don’t want war and U.S. U.S. pushing and bribing home to provoke war like Ukraine so he gets good money from the U.S. and he does nothing to China except soft groan and play act with China, all is well. But U.S. will on their own bribed poor fisherman on high seas to provoke Chinese naval boats. The fisherman gets 5K bucks to get hosed not bad for a days job. CNN gets their pretentious headlines where the edit and fabricate into Chinese “aggression” and state department gives them a nod and wink!

All is well as long as no one goes overboard!and some people got rich others get hosed and China gets bad publicity which it don’t gives a shit as long as it is costing the US an arm and a leg! Let’s see how much more and how long US can do shit as its nation dwindles down into oblivion.

What is the biggest scam an auto mechanic ever tried on you?

About 1992 I bought a used, just off-lease, Chevy Blazer at a local car lot. The salesman told me that they’d rebuilt the front end, as it was loose when they got it. (S-10s, Blazers, Jimmys, and Sonomas from the 80s through the 90s were notorious for front ends that needed to be rebuilt just as they came out of warranty) I got under the car and looked, all the parts looked clean and new, no reason to doubt the salesman. They’d also put new tires on it.

The new tires were wearing funny, so I took it to a well-known local under-car shop to have it aligned. They looked at it and said that they had bad news, the whole front end had to be rebuilt, all the joints were worn out, as was common on these vehicles just out of warranty. Of course, they were lying and wanted over $1000 in early ’90s money to “fix” it.

I took it to another well-known local under-car shop and told them what happened and had them look at it. They told me that the car salesman had told the truth and that indeed the front end had been rebuilt, but they screwed up the alignment. They aligned the front end for less than $50. They said that the other shop had tried this scam on other people before me. The tires wore normally after that.

The good shop went out of business a few years later, and the bad one is still open in 2024, more than 30 years later. For over thirty years I’ve been telling locals about this incident and advising them to not go there. Maybe the people who work there nowadays are honest, but when you do things like they did over 30 years ago, you ruin your reputation from then on.

What did your parents allow you to do as a kid that you now realize was not age-appropriate?

I was born in 1961. My parents were a bit older than my friends’ parents, as this was their 2nd marriage. Both growing up during the Depression, so “parenting” wasn’t a verb. Dinner was at 5:30, “don’t be late, TV will ruin your eyes, don’t break your neck, don’t cry or I’ll give you something to cry about”; those were about it in terms of rules. Of course, if my brothers and I did something wrong, we were punished, not knowing it was something we shouldn’t have been doing. That’s pretty typical for my generation.

But my father had a great idea about how I could be useful. He noticed that our dog, a dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks English Setter named Randall, was picking up lots of ticks. I can’t tell you how gross it was; the ticks would reach his tummy and just swell up. There were dozens of them.

Dad had an idea. Since I liked giving Randall belly rubs (and he’d flop on the ground for me), why not give me a box of “strike anywhere” matches. have me light each one, blow it out, and apply it to the ticks? The bloated ticks would die instantly and I could pull them off Randall. Dad set us up on the brick patio. Me, the dog, and a huge box of matches that could be struck on the bricks to light. I thought it was fun, sort of like picking grapes.

I WAS SIX YEARS OLD!

I learned to be adept and deft; I never burned Randall. I may have singed the tip of my finger a few times, but it was a great system. Any grossness wasn’t affecting me because I WAS SIX! That, and dad told me to do it!

Let’s fast forward to 1994. I asked my son, then 8 years old, to light the candles I had placed on the dining room table. (He is the sweetest kid, and saw me rushing to get a holiday meal ready, and asked what he could do to help.) I handed him a pack of matches. I saw him go over to the candles and struggle to light a match. I think he went through half the pack before I took them from him and told him to get the dinner rolls instead. It was at that moment I realized that little kids generally don’t use matches, and my dad really was taking a chance with me, a box of “strike anywhere” matches, and a furry dog! Do they still make “strike anywhere” matches anymore? My dad was a smoker and a badass. He liked to tease me by lighting the matches with his thumbnail, then lighting his cigarette. Of course I’d try to light one myself, fail, and he’d laugh. Oh, 1967! Oh, I got caught smoking in high school, and there was hell to pay.

What is it like to enter a prison for the first time?

When I was 16 years old my father was elected as a judge in Los Angeles County. He thought it was his duty to see, first hand, what the prisons were like before he sentenced anyone to that prison.

He made arrangements to tour all of the prisons in Los Angeles County. One day he asked me if I wanted to go with him. I think he may have wanted to scare me straight.

So I accompanied him to Wayside Maximum Security Prison. Let me tell you that was one of the most sobering experiences of my young life. All of the inmates were locked in their cages (cells).

The thing that impressed me the most was that there was absolutely zero privacy. The was no place where the inmates could not be seen, either they were watched by a gaurd or a camera.

They could not take a shower, use the toilet, change their clothes or anything thing else without being watched.

I did not see even one smile that day on a prisoner or a guard. It was one of the most gloomy places I have ever been

Why The US Government Hate China Scott Ritter Interview with Carl Zha and Alex Reporterfy

Completely interesting. Worth your time to watch.

The silo of peanut butter

I used to work in a granola factory.

I was in maintenance, and then worked the lines as a wrapping operator. It put money in my pocket and we could eat anything we wanted. And yeah, after one hour, we couldn’t stand to look at the stuff.

Any ways, this took place in Mebine, North Carolina.

And all the workers were local. Mill workers. Probably C and D students throughout their school years.

Anyways, there was a big silo of honey, or syrup and one of peanut butter.

And on the day before the Labor Day weekend, one of the workers was assigned the job to watch the peanut-butter go though a pipe at the bottom of the silo into a cauldron.

When the vessel was full, his job was to turn it off, shut the spigot, and then go home, locking the door behind him.

Well, the factory is empty, and he starts drinking.

The peanut butter is running slow.

Slow.

And he is getting drunker and drunker.

Slow.

“Fuck it”.

Eventually, he leaves the factory, locks the door behind him and forgets about it.

Three days later, we all come to work, and no one can get in.

Three feet of peanut butter had flooded the factory floor, the offices, and it was a real mess.

The front door to the lobby is one half full to the handle with this ocean of peanut butter.

Oh yeah. He got fired.

And we spent the next three weeks shoveling the peanut butter back into the silo.

True story.

Not embellished upon at all.

I have many stories about this factory; from the 20-something foxy side chick of the Boss, to the schemes to get free ingredients. It was quite the experience. I’ll tell you what.

So yeah. This is my story about shoveling peanut butter.

Now you know…

Today.

Have you ever lost any respect for someone instantly?

My nextdoor neighbours are an elderly Moroccan couple. We live in The Netherlands. The woman doesn’t speak Dutch at all, the husband a little. He often comes to me with letters and asks me to explain them to him. Because of those letters I know that the wife suffers from dementia.

Last month the husband rang my doorbell and asked if he could look inside. I figured that he wanted to see something in the street, which he couldn’t see from his appartment, so I let him in. But then he said, Helen, I love you. I want to be with you, can I kiss you on the cheek? I thought that I must have misunderstood him, it couldn’t be possible that my married illiterate neighbour who is around 90 years old, old enough to be my grandfather (I am 47) is making a pass at me, so completely flabbergasted, I said yes. But then he really kissed me on my cheek😱😱😱. I immediately understood the situation and I froze. Then he said that he would go on a vacation for two weeks and asked if he could come to me afterwards. Still completely paralysed I managed to say no with a really soft voice. Then he left.

It is now more than a month later. I am appalled by the audacity that a married illiterate man, who’s old enough to be my grandfather, with whom I can barely have a conversation, thinks that he stands a chance with me. I am disgusted. I thought that he was a decent old man, but he is a dirty old man.

What was the kindest thing someone did for you when you were young?

I really hated my life, but there seemed to be no way out of the situation.

At the time I was working two jobs.

During the day I would travel to NYC and work odd jobs such as catering.

At night, I worked in the dairy and frozen section of a shitty grocery store called Pathmark.

My brother was in middle school, and too young to work.

My father was out of work, having been fired for the upteenth time.

My mother refused to help support the family.

My grandmother was retired and struggling to pay the bills with her social security and pension.

I had recently graduated from high school, dreaming of going to college and building my life.

Less than a year later, it was starting to look like a pipe dream.

I was incredibly angry about this, and fought with my family constantly, my mother in particular.

She constantly complained about the family’s situation, and would take her frustrations out on me, once calling me lazy when I decided to sleep in for a few hours on my day off rather than fix her TV.

One day, we had a long argument, where I sarcastically thanked her for ruining my life, and called her a lazy cow, among other things.

It was admittedly, not my finest moment to tell you the truth.

Later, she confessed part of it to a childhood friend of hers who lived in Arizona.

She told her about our fight and about the fact that I had yelled at her about wanting to go to college.

The next day, I received a phone call from that friend, a woman whom I had never met, but apparently had talked to on occasion over the years.

She asked me if I would like to move to Arizona and live with her and her family.

I found the idea of living with a stranger uncomfortable, so I said no.

She told me to think about it.

A few days later, the woman called me again at home, and made the same offer.

However, before I could say no, she sweetened the deal.

She would pay for me to go out to AZ and if I didn’t like it after a month, she would send me back, no questions asked.

Thinking that I had nothing to lose, I moved to Arizona, and I never looked back.

It took me a little while to get my bearings, but she eventually helped me find a job, apply for college, among other things.

Now, 15 years later I am a successful teacher, with three college degrees under my belt.

And it was all due to the kindness of a stranger who decided to take a gamble on me and my future.

Women SHOCKED Men Looked At Her In Booty Pants At Gym, Women PREFER BEARS To Men In Woods

The poem “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost

This is from one of my earlier posts, found HERE. Please guys, MM has a lot of good stuff buried under all the fluff.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though; 
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

What picture made your blood boil?

This is the lifeless body of Ziba – a 22 year old student at University of Kabul. She was shot several times as she was trying to escape through the window of her classroom to flee from the horror.

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Dozens of other students her age in the very same classroom were killed that day.

It was November 2, 2020 when a group of cowards, misguided, losers, brainless and merciless individuals attacked the University of Kabul in the capital of Afghanistan. They killed more than 20 young students – most of them in their early 20s.

These kids were the savings, the investment, the helping hand, the happiness, the hope, the future and the life of many parents who worked hard their entire life to be able to merely earn a living to survive and send their loved ones to university so that one day they get to see them living a better life than them. They’re gone, so are the better days those parents wished to see. They did not just lose their kids, they lost everything.

That, however, is NOT what boils my blood the most.

What boils my blood the most is the fact that we have individuals who, proudly, take all of that away from those aging parents, and believe that by doing so they’ve pleased god. They believe they can commit such an act of horror and terror, killing defenceless and unarmed individuals in dozens and stand before god on the day of judgment and be rewarded for what they had done! No religion teaches that. This is wrong, this is barbaric and inhuman and it boils my blood that someone would do such a horrific act of evil in the name of religion.

On the other hand, what cools me down and gives hope and patience to those parents and many other Afghans who lost and still are losing their loved ones, is knowing that YES there will come a day that they stand before god, but it will not be with pride, nor will they be rewarded for what they had committed. We believe in promise of god where he says: “so whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it and whoever does an atom’s weight of bad/evil will see it.” (Quran 99:7–8)

M1A1 Tanks PULLED From Ukraine Front Lines “Weak and Vulnerable”

Hal Turner World April 28, 2024

United States M1A1 Abrams tanks have been “pulled” from Ukrainian front lines because, Ukraine says, the tanks are “weak and vulnerable.” So much for America’s Main Battle Tank when it has to face a Near-Peer Army like Russia!

Video below, posted on social media, shows the latest M1A1 Abrams being towed by Russian troops. Smashed, burned, blown-up, there isn’t much left to the $4.3 MILLION tank.

We were told its armor was virtually impenetrable; and it’s mix of metals was so secret, the mixture is “classified.” Now look at what happened to it!

If this is what can be expected of these tanks when they’re in a REAL fight (as opposed to fighting rag-wearing terrorists) then reasonable people have to ask “What are we getting for all this money?”

Blown to shit.

Closer look on that recently captured US Abrams M1 tank. pic.twitter.com/hv5Vw1OLbj

— — GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 — (@GeromanAT) April 28, 2024

Sacrifice

My 16 year old daughter wants me to buy her a brand new car for her birthday but I can’t afford it. All of her friends’ parents bought their kids a car. What should I do?

I have got to share this;

My step daughter was given $1000 as a gift from her grandmother when she passed away.

When the step daughter turned 16, I took her to early drivers ed. She passed and had her temp. Now she needed to practice driving and the dreaded parallel parking. I took her to these as well. 4 months down the road, and opportunity came up to buy a used Honda accord 1992. 1 owner who was meticulous about maintenance. I ask the step daughter if she wanted to use her money towards a car. She said YES. I told her that would not buy much car, but this one was in very very good shape. She said yes.

So I got the car, made her change the oil, the battery, and helped her get new tires (mind you aside from the car, I paid for everything else.)

The car got inspect, insured and registered. Then sat there. for about 4 months, she neither asked about it, sat in it, or started it up.

When I asked her mom what the matter was, she told me this:

The stepdaughter did not get to choose what kind of car, nor its color. She didn’t like the interior and thought the car was too old. I asked if she knew what went into get the car road worthy? The mom said not nobody asked me to do all those things for the stepdaughter.

I was stupefied. When the two went on a trip to visit family in late Dec, I sold the car for $1500, gave the stepdaughter $750, and paid the bills with the rest.

The nuclear radiation was evident when they returned and did not see the car in the driveway. I told them too bad. I needed to pay bills. I gave her the money, and she had the audacity to remind me that she initially paid $1000.

Of course I told her of the extra expenses I incurred including the tires. I could present her the receipts. Wisely she said “Fine”.

Course, that incident was NEVER forgotten, and I was forever labeled the bad guy. Step parents never get a break.

Russian State-Controlled TV: If NATO Troops Enter Ukraine , SARMAT, YARS, and Avangard (Nukes) Will Hit NATO Decision-Making Centers

Hal Turner World April 29, 2024

State-controlled Russian TV today broadcast a direct announcement of Russia’s intent to fire nuclear weapons at NATO Decision-making centers if NATO troops enter Ukraine to battle Russia. The words aired were so blunt as to be undeniable..

Here is the segment of Russia state-controlled TV broadcast today as a warning to the entire West:

So there it is. Plain. Simple. Easy to understand. Even the village idiot can grasp this.

“If NATO Troops enter Ukraine to inflict strategic defeat upon Russia . . . . everything will fly: SARMAT, YARS, AVANGARD.” Those are Russia’s nuclear weapons system names.

WHY NOW?

. . . . Why broadcast this . . . . now?

Why now?

Could it be because elements from the French Army have, in fact, deployed to Odessa, Ukraine?

Could the RUMORS which claim elements of the US 101st Airborne have also deployed to Odessa, Ukraine, be Russia’s reason for airing this, now?

We already know that France deployed elements of the French Foreign Legion into Slavyansk, Ukraine, and the Russians blew them up with missile strikes about 48 hours after they got there.

We already know that Polish, Romanian, and other NATO-country troops, were hit by Russian missiles at a hotel in Dnipropetrovsk last week. A slew of them got killed too.

So what is it about developments in Ukraine that caused Russia to instruct it’s state-controlled TV, to make such a blunt, unmistakable, broadcast, Now????

I think something’s up. I think the Russians either know . . . or are seeing . . . Deployment of NATO troops into Ukraine.

If you haven’t watched the video, it clearly warns “NATO Decision-making centers are already in the crosshairs, and if NATO troops enter Ukraine to inflict strategic defeat upon Russia, everything will fly: SARMAT, YARS, and AVANGARD.”

There’s no wiggle room in that language. There’s no nuance. No ambiguity.

I thought you should know while there’s still time to try to prepare. Make plans. Buy supplies.

But clearly, there doesn’t seem to be very much time left — at all.

Best Ever Lemon Chicken

Healthy, flavorful and low in calories.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 skinless chicken breasts
Salt, pepper and paprika
3/4 cup water, divided
1/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 lemon, thinly sliced

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a frying pan with Pam.
Season chicken breasts to taste with salt, pepper, and paprika.
Heat frying pan and sauté chicken until nicely browned (about 10 minutes), adding about 1/4 cup water near the end of the cooking time to loosen meat from the pan.
Remove chicken breasts to a shallow baking dish.
To the pan juices, add the white wine, 1/2 cup water and chicken bouillon, and heat through.
Meanwhile mix the lemon juice and flour in a cup. Pour into the frying pan and stir until sauce is thickened.
Pour sauce over chicken. Top with lemon slices and bake for 20 minutes.

Why do medieval soldiers wear armour when modern soldiers don’t?

Because, contrary to Hollywood movies, armor actually worked.

Even otherwise excellent movies like Lord of the Rings will have you believe that this:

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Might as well be made out of plastic or paper because it offers zero protection against weapons of the day. But cutting through or piercing metal is nowhere as easy as the movies make it to be.

They only stopped wearing armor when it didn’t work anymore after guns became very common. They could make bulletproof armor using medieval technology:

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(In fact the term “bulletproof” is from “proofing” that the armor can resist a pistol shot, seen in the dent above)

These armor are expensive and not readily available. While rich and important people could afford them, the average peasant or soldier couldn’t. They’re also very heavy and limits your mobility.

When bullet massively improved in the mid- and late-19th century (to something familiar today), these heavy armor only make you slow and vulnerable on the battlefield. It didn’t stop both sides from experimenting in WW1 though, even though these bulky suits were mostly useless against anything more powerful than pistols. The steel helmets that became common was used primarily to protect against shrapnel after artillery became the deadliest thing in the battlefield (and still is).

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Bulletproof armor only became practical with the invention of kevlar in the 1970s. Even so, some countries today are still resistant in fully-equipping their soldiers with body armor, either because it’s too expensive or because in the environment they’re operating on (like the tropics) heavy armor that don’t allow sweat to evaporate can be detrimental. But as the war in Ukraine is showing, body armor is mandatory once again in warfare.

The Beverly Hillbillies – Season 1, Episode 1 (1962) – The Clampetts Strike Oil – Paul Henning

What was the biggest scandal at your work?

While working for the Home Office in the early 2000s, there was a woman whom we’ll call “Joan” in a neighbouring department who’d been through all sorts of hell with an ex boyfriend. Joan would tell us of the awful things he’d said to her, the late night phone calls, turning up to her door uninvited and so on.

We were supportive and would sympathise with her while also telling her to report this to the police. She would make excuses not to do this, and we were unable to force her to do it because she would get so upset.

One day, a delivery arrived at reception for Joan:

main qimg 0b788a1ca41778bf70edf4b8a1527f09

A dozen black roses. Joan brought them back to the office and was in a terrible state. We were naturally horrified by this, but to compound it, she reached into her handbag and brought out one of these:

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A miniature coffin. She had received this in the mail that morning before leaving for work.

Oh. My. Word! We said enough was enough and weren’t going to take “no” for an answer – we alerted her supervisor and called a contact at Scotland Yard (which was just around the corner), and asked them to send a detective to investigate the matter. This was clearly a threat to Joan’s life and a serious matter.

Joan was beside herself when this happened. She really didn’t want the police involved. We told her that this had gone too far and we couldn’t stand by and let poor Joan suffer any longer.

The detective arrived and began his investigation by seizing the flowers and the miniature coffin after taking Joan’s personal details…

The following day, Joan wasn’t at work. We feared the worst and went to her office to enquire if she had called in or whether a welfare check should be carried out. Joan’s boss assured us that everything was fine, but we wouldn’t be seeing Joan again and he wouldn’t say anything more.

Well, now we were really perplexed. Wanting to get to the bottom of the matter, I called the detective that had come to the office.

When the flowers were delivered, there was no card attached. Thankfully, we had CCTV outside the building and the registration number of the van that had delivered the flowers was visible. The detective had found the registered owner of the vehicle (the florist) and called them to ask about the delivery…

When ordering a malicious delivery for someone, it’s not a good idea to use your own bank card. Especially if you’re the “victim”.

Joan had been playing us all along! The ex boyfriend was cleared of any wrongdoing – he hadn’t been in contact with Joan for more than a year and had not behaved the way Joan had alleged at all. Joan used her own bank card to order the black roses and further investigation proved that she had also ordered the miniature coffin that she had produced from her handbag.

Joan was dismissed from the civil service. I hope she got some help with her issues.

Fun Shorpy today

Mistake? Tsunami Warnings Sounded on New Jersey Shore

Hal Turner Nation April 28, 2024

WTF?

Can anyone confirm?? pic.twitter.com/8yvuePWX9q

— savage daughter (@DonnaPrissyrn1) April 27, 2024

In the video, viewers can hear the loudspeakers announcing “This is a Tsunami Warning. Move to higher ground immediately.”

The thing is, there were no earthquakes of any serious magnitude either in New Jersey itself, or out in the Atlantic Ocean, which would have prompted such a warning. Earthquakes are the most common cause of Tsunamis.

Moreover, there was no massive weather systems in the ocean which can, from time time, generate a tsunami.

So . . . why the warnings?

PUNCH LINE: The mass-media, hasn’t said a word about this whole thing. People in New Jersey have just been left wondering. No information. No explanation. Nothing . . . .

What are you tired of explaining to people?

Me: So I was doing CPR on this patient, and her ribs went crack crack crack—

Him: Woah, hold up there. Why were her ribs cracking?

Me: That’s possibly her ribs breaking from my effort.

Him: Dude, are you sure you’re doing it right? I wouldn’t want you to do CPR on me in the future…

People, listen up.

The reason why we do CPR compressions is because you are in CARDIAC ARREST. You’re DEAD unless we do something. No offence, but I don’t give a two shit flying fuck if my compressions break a couple of ribs when it meant SAVING YOUR LIFE.

In fact, hearing those ribs crack usually tells me I’m doing a good job. I am getting sufficient depth with my chest compressions to maintain circulation temporarily. Broken ribs is not something we aim for obviously, but it’s a common side effect of good CPR technique.

We can address those petty rib fractures after, and if, we get you alive and breathing first.

Other experimentation with Text to picture AI

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Foreign Countries Have Begun PULLING THEIR GOLD from U.S. “Safekeeping”

Hal Turner World April 28, 2024

A number of countries around the world have begun withdrawing their Gold Bullion from storage in the United States over fears about the US Financial System! It’s not only our Financial System, it was the FORCIBLE SEIZURE of Russia’s Sovereign Wealth Funds; the world now sees the USA as nothing more than a Den of Thieves!

Over the past ten days, at least FOUR (4) countries have decided to pull their Gold reserves from the United States: Cameroun, Ghana, Nigeria, and a fourth country (named below) whose decision is tightly concealed to prevent PANIC. That nation is named below in COVERT INTEL for Subscribers Only.

April 19: Cameroon repatriates its gold reserves amid concerns about recession in the United States

In a significant development reflecting changing economic dynamics, Cameroon has begun the repatriation of its gold reserves from the United States. The move, driven by growing concerns about the deteriorating state of the U.S. economy, marks a pivotal moment in global finance.

The withdrawal of gold reserves from US custody highlights countries’ proactive approach to protecting their financial assets amid growing economic uncertainties. With indicators including rising national debt, weak economic growth and geopolitical tensions, the decision reflects a broader trend among nations to reassess their reliance on the United States as a safe haven for financial assets.

Financial analysts point to clear indicators signaling a rapid deterioration in the U.S. economy, sparking concerns among global investors. The decision to repatriate gold reserves highlights nations’ strategic responses to mitigate potential risks from exposure to the faltering U.S. economy.

Although logistical challenges and potential security risks may accompany the repatriation process, experts suggest that the benefits outweigh the risks for countries seeking to strengthen their financial sovereignty and guard against external economic shocks.

As the repatriation of gold reserves unfolds, this movement is provoking discussions about the broader implications for international finance. It highlights the importance of diversification and risk management to navigate the complexities of the global economic landscape.

APRIL 21: GHANA

Ghana’s recent decision to repatriate its gold reserves from the United States signals a significant shift in the nation’s economic strategy. Beyond the symbolic gesture of reclaiming control over its precious metal assets, Ghana’s move is underscored by a pragmatic desire to shield itself from the uncertainties of a destabilized US economy.

According to economic experts, Ghana’s decision comes at a crucial juncture amidst escalating global economic uncertainties and mounting concerns about the stability of the US financial system. Dr. Joseph Mensah, an economist specializing in international finance, asserts, “Ghana’s move to withdraw its gold reserves from American vaults is a prudent measure to mitigate risks and safeguard against potential economic volatility.”

By bringing its gold reserves back within its borders, Ghana aims to insulate itself from the repercussions of any downturns in the US economy, thereby reducing exposure to external shocks and vulnerabilities. Dr. Mensah further explains, “Repatriating gold reserves aligns with a broader trend among nations reassessing their financial strategies in light of evolving global dynamics. As geopolitical tensions escalate and trade disputes intensify, nations are increasingly prioritizing measures to assert greater control over their financial assets and reduce dependencies on foreign custodianship.”

Critics may raise concerns about logistical challenges and potential security risks associated with repatriating gold reserves. However, proponents argue that the benefits of withdrawing funds from a destabilized US economy far outweigh the risks. Dr. Mensah concludes, “By reclaiming control over its gold reserves, Ghana not only bolsters its economic sovereignty but also strengthens its resilience against external economic shocks.”

In conclusion, Ghana’s decision to repatriate its gold reserves from the United States reflects a strategic move towards safeguarding against economic volatility and asserting greater control over its financial destiny.

April 22: NIGERIA

What’s something a doctor did to you that you won’t ever forget?

Dr. Eduardo Yambo, Family Physician.

When my son was a toddler I found myself a single parent. I got a job and tried to keep a roof over our heads. We used kerosene to heat the place. Had one in each bedroom. It was a very, very cold winter and both my son and I got sick, but I couldn’t afford for both of us to see the doctor. I made an appointment for my son.

After checking out my son, Dr. Yambo looked at me and said ‘What about you? Why am I not seeing you? You sound terrible!’. I told him I can’t afford another visit for myself; my son was the priority. I explained I was no longer with my husband and had no insurance. He quickly checked me out and gave me a something for my cough. He gave us office samples to save me the cost of prescriptions.

Had to make a follow-up visit for the next week. Brought my son in, and on checking out the doctor came out and told the receptionist that the charge was $12 (regular visits were $25 I think). He wanted another follow-up a week later. That visit was $6. It was the early 80’s and my take home pay was about $124/week, so those fees mattered an awful lot to me.

I’d been bringing my son to him for a couple of years already and that had never happened before. Suddenly, follow-up visits were reduced cost. Following up with my son’s health was more important to this doctor than money.

Until I moved away there was nothing that could make me go to a different doctor!

What would you do if you got fired from your job?

The only time I was fired was disguised as “We don’t need this many employees in summer; it’s our slow time”. The owner/boss disliked me, for what reason I don’t know. One coworker told me she thought it was jealousy. The company made and rented costumes, mostly to schools and universities for theatrical productions. When I went for my interview I had brought in an armload of costumes I had made over several years for Renaissance groups and personal use. What I did at the company was mostly mending, although I took the initiative once and made some bow ties from scraps of fabric lying around. The boss had accused me, not to my face but to other workers, of filling up their website with pornography (something I wouldn’t know how to do even had I wanted to). So I wasn’t surprised when I was told I would be out of a job. It annoyed me that there was a young woman who had been hired after me, who lived with her parents (unlike me, a single mom of two), and didn’t need a job as much as I did. But I left without saying anything and shortly got a job through a recommendation of one coworker who did pet sitting (same company). Later I found out that the young woman was embezzling from the company, so I got the last laugh.

What was a meal you loved as a kid but now that you’re an adult you realize your parents only made because you were poor?

I’m from Vietnam. We eat rice a lot, almost every meal.

When I was about 5 to 8 years old, once or twice per week, my mom would make ‘mixing special rice’ for dinner. It’s white rice cooked together with corn and sweet potatoes

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(Image source: baobaclieu.vn)

I always got excited for those dinners.

We eventually didn’t eat that kind of rice anymore. I asked my mom about that once in a while but she just gave me reasons why she didn’t want to make the rice: out of corn season, sweet potatoes weren’t any good at market,…

When I was 12, on my mom’s birthday, I proudly announced that I prepared dinner. And guess what I made? Rice with corn and sweet potatoes. When I served dinner, my mom couldn’t hold it anymore, she cried. I asked her why? Did I do anything wrong? That was the very first time my mom explained to me that she was sick of this rice because she had eaten it too much.

I didn’t know that we only ate that because corn and sweet potatoes were much cheaper than rice.

I didn’t like that meal as much after that day.

—

To anyone is thinking about making a comment “hey, it sounds delicious” or “add some butter”, etc, please don’t. I wish we had butter. Also, it was good, but it was not any good after eating it frequently for 30+ years to the point you break down crying when you see it like my mom did.

And I didn’t like it very much anymore wasn’t because it’s not good or because it’s “cheap”. I didn’t like it because it hurt my mom.

Economic Shock: Bombshell GDP Drop, IMF Slams Congress Spending, Republic Bank Collapses

What is a fun psychological trick to try on someone?

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The most powerful way to win an argument is to ask questions.
If you want people to take your words seriously, say that your father taught you this. People naturally believe in parental advice.
If someone is about to get angry at you, sit next to that person. They will have to lower their voice and there will be no direct face-to-face contact.
If you want to know if someone is attentive, repeat your phrase with slight variations in it. If you are listening, either your facial expressions will change, or you will point to that part and question.
If you think that someone is giving you a false figure then read it wrongly. If they correct you, it’s legit.
If you want people to agree with you, nod your head and make eye contact when you speak, they’ll nod too.
Explain and repeat what your friend just said. The person talking to you will subconsciously realize that you are a great listener. Of course, don’t go overboard with paraphrasing.
Use someone’s name more often. While talking to someone, keep using their name in the conversation. This helps them feel important and valued.
When you want someone to agree to something, give them a list with 3 options and leave the one you want to choose at the end. They will most likely choose the latter.
What you say about other people affects how others see you. People will associate the adjectives you use to describe other people with your personality. This phenomenon is called spontaneous property transfer.

Inflation in the USA

How catastrophic will the world’s drive to abandon the dollar be for the U.S. economy and people?

Very very very significant. The U.S. has been using money to do war monger, trouble make, regime change, financing and orchestrating coups, revolutions and paying off U.S. lackeys in the trillion yearly form free money printing that it could without much ramifications! Upon its inability and impossibility to carry on printing money freely and without much ramification, the U.S. no longer is able to freely do those shit anymore. It will lead to a better world and a more peaceful place.

To the U.S. it may not use coercion and bribery to win favours and fix elections freely! But it may be better for US citizens who will not have to be burdened by US shit cost!

What is the most useless career advice ever given?

Sadly it was advice from my father to me. The year was 1968 one of the most turbulent in US history. I had just graduated from HS, the Vietnam war was raging, RFK and Martin Luther King had been assassinated. The Democratic convention in Chicago blew up and I was there watching it all as I was just leaving of all things a Young Mens Convention for Catholics and had stayed at the Conrad Hilton and watched in awe as the anti war protestors and police lined up to do battle.

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This was the auto production line. Endless cars, the USA was #1, 1955 no competition.

My father told me, do not go to college, it is a waste of time. Either go into the military or go to work on the assembly line, best jobs in the world. Union will protect you, he would protect me as he was a Union rep.

In the short run, he would have been right. The jobs were tough but plentiful, but already by 1970 the US automakers were making these.

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Some of the worst cars ever made were coming off the line in the USA by 1970 and the rot had already begun to set in just when I went to work on the line.

My father was so adamant that when I went and tried it on the Monday – Friday program which meant you worked 2 days a week as a ‘college kid’ as on Friday there were not enough workers as they got their paychecks on Thursday which meant they got drunk and didn’t come in. And on Monday they didn’t come in as they were still drunk or hungover from the weekend, I tried it out.

It was a nightmare and I hated it. Everyone yelling screaming, quality was shit, politics everywhere, the company couldn’t get good cars made and the union was fighting to keep all 2.5 million jobs.

Well what happened?

Today there are 150,000 UAW members about 8% of the number when I started. A lot of people got in and out and grabbed their pensions. They worked the system and left Michigan and went back to Kentucky and down to Florida.

But if I had gone in and stayed? It might have worked but I would have lost everything that I have now done in my life. Lived around the world, a 50 year global career, speaking multiple languages. I have literally lived on 5 continents ranging from California, Florida, the Rocky Mountains, then Australia to China to India to Hungary to Singapore and Hong Kong several times. On and on my career has gone and my education has propelled me and made it all possible.

Most importantly, to survive, repeat survive and prosper I have had to ‘reinvent’ myself again and again and only with my education and MBA and languages and experience working around the world have I been able to be flexible and do this. Millions were literally stuck without a hope so many times in my home town while I simply changed countries and took a new job in a growing industry such as software when I used to be a manufacturers rep for years. Flexibility is the key to a long career and not a factory.

And those guys who were on the line? The lucky ones got away and got their pensions. The vast majority slipped through the process especially after the downturns of 2008 just when they were going to retire and pretty much got little to nothing.

Those who work in the auto industry today have a precarious future especially if you work in an ‘engine’ plant as those will be gone with the EVs.

My father meant well, but from his hard work and premature cancer and youthful smoking he died at 70. I am now 73 and knock on wood, still doing what I like and living a good life in France.

My advice, listen to many but make your own choices and definitely do not look at the past, look to what is happening for the future and it will help guide your decisions. It is way to important to leave to those who think they know, but only know their local situation and what they have grown up with.

Given the rapid change in careers there is no such thing as a safe bet or a definitive career path. If you don’t believe me, think of Detroit and what happened to them as the city never evolved and never changed.

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Packard out of business and the largest abandoned factory in the USA.

Detroit? 2 million people when I was born in 1950, today? Barely 600,000.

What are the chances of China invading Taiwan? What would happen if China invaded Taiwan?

ZERO.

I have to ask the questioner if ANY of the predictions made by American politicians ever came true?

Swine flu
Ebola
Y2K
3G causing gas pumps to explode
Phones causing planes to crash
4G causing brain damage
Hamburgers made out of worms
Back-masking of rock music
Sex education causing a spike in pregnancies

None ever came true.

But, for some reason, “China will invade Taiwan”. I mean, just how absolutely stupid can a person be. Is there a scale below moronic?

Still Americans (and their Australian and European cousins) believe this swill.

Who figures?

…

China has made it perfectly clear how the reunification will proceed. And this is well defined and in process right now. That’s the reality.

Accept it.

Evil in America

Have you ever walked out of a restaurant after you were seated by a waiter or waitress?

Oh yes, once when I was very much younger, I went out on a date with a very nice man, and he took me to a good restaurant. We got there, ordered the wine, and some bread rolls and butter were served also, while we decided on what we would have to eat.

The man told me his wife had died, but he didn’t tell me how recently! He didn’t tell me he was still in fairly early stages of grieving, and was trying to put on a brave face.

So I had no real idea of what he was going through.

Then just before we ordered, he started to get serious heart symptoms. I asked him if I should ask the restaurant to phone an ambulance. But he didn’t want that. He wanted to go home and call his private doctor! I thought that was unwise, but that is what he wanted.

We had to leave immediately, and he grabbed some cash from his pocket and put it on the table. He didn’t even count how much! But I am sure it was plenty to cover the bottle of wine and some bread.

I apologised to the staff, and had to drive him home. They were surprised but didn’t mind of course due to the circumstances.

It turned out (after the doctor’s visit) that he hadn’t had a heart attack, but a serious panic attack. I stayed with him all night to make sure he would be okay and keep his spirits up as he didn’t want to be alone.

We never did have a second date. But that was okay. He wasn’t really ready to start dating. He needed to process his grief. He was a nice man though, bless him.

The Chinese owner of TikTok claims they would rather shut down than sell TikTok. (To the surprise of many lawmakers who voted to ban TikTok). Do you think they are serious or bluffing?

China is famously no-nonsense. They always follow up and follow through on decisions. America, on the contrary, is used to fooling themselves inured in dirty tactics to pull a fast hand, but only end up humiliating themselves more often than not. Sanctioning Russia is a wonderful example. Examples abound that don’t need me to list them here.

The ugly truth is greed. The damage of Israeli genocide on US image is already done. It’s not TikTok’s fault and banning it is only a pretext. American political and business asshole pirates have long coveted TikTok’s huge market share and profit potential. China is wise to keep this trade mark and technology, and continue expanding its global market. The world is big enough for TikTok with unlimited potential.

Elon Musk WARNS Population Collapse IS COMING, STROKES & HEART Disease Wiping Out Greece

Uh oh!

French journalist: Europe sliding towards fascism and dancing to the tune of the US.

“To regain sovereignty, the EU needs to stop following Washington’s policies, but the European Commission is pushing the American agenda and resembling a fascist system with its single-minded decisions.

Europe determined its future when it responded with contempt to Russia’s attempts to forge ties after the collapse of the USSR and did not honour the Minsk agreements to give Ukraine time to arm itself, according to Didier Maisto, former director of Sud Radio. In an interview with TVL, he pointed out that while Europe used to try to encircle Russia, now it is gradually encircling Russia itself, but the EU should have thought about this earlier.

The partnership between the BRICS countries is actively developing and they are finding common ground for special agreements. The US, which opposes them, continues to advance thanks to its military-industrial complex and business, imposing its laws in other countries. Sandwiched between these vise is Europe, which needs to stop dancing to Washington’s tune to regain its power and sovereignty.

The main conductor of the American agenda in Europe has become the European Commission – the centre of gravity and the centre of decision-making in the EU is shifting towards it. Now the entry into war, the supply of weapons and medicines, the banning of certain media are approved without confirmation by a vote in the European Council. Didier Maisto reminds us that back in 2017 he warned that if Macron is elected president, Europe will slip into soft fascism.”

What is wrong with Joe Biden?

Doesn’t matter what is wrong with Biden. He’s not running things anyway.

What is the strangest failure you have ever seen on a car?

My father-in-law owned a 1988 Ford Escort wagon. He only drove it locally to and from work, and he probably never turned on the rear defrost.

My FIL passed away, and my MIL offered the car to me. The Escort was about 2 years old with ~13,000 miles. My 1980 Honda Accord was 10 years old and starting to get up in mileage, so I accepted it. My wife at the time drove it from Virginia to New Jersey during the summer. I started driving it to/from work about 15 minutes each way. I worked late one evening in the fall. When I got into the car, there was condensation on the rear window. I started the car and turned on the rear defrost to clear it up. Within a couple minutes, I hear a loud boom and notice my rear window is shattered. I thought someone was shooting at me! That was not the case. A rear window with a rear defrost is just 2 pieces of glass sandwiched around the heating elements and glued together. My theory was that the rear window had an air bubble in it due to a manufacturing defect. The heating element caused the air bubble to expand. Eventually, the air bubble got big enough to break the glass causing the explosion.

Ford would not replace the window because the car was out of warranty. (12 months/12,000 miles in those days) They wanted over $700 to replace it. I had a price of ~$225 from a glass shop. Ford said their price was what it was because it was “Ford quality glass”. If their glass was such high quality, it wouldn’t have shattered in the first place. Needless to say, I went with the glass shop. They even came to my office and replaced it in the parking lot.

=======================

A few years later I changed jobs, and I started commuting ~30 minutes each way on the highway. Ever since getting the car, I would notice a faint smell of antifreeze. I never noticed any leaks, but I did have to periodically add antifreeze to the overflow reservoir. After driving to/from the new job for about a month, I was driving home, and the car started to overheat. Long story short, the engine blew its head gasket, and I had to get the engine rebuilt. When the shop took the engine apart, they found a bolt that was sheared off. They said it probably came that way from the factory. That was the cause of the antifreeze smell, the slow loss of antifreeze, and ultimately the head gasket failure. After rebuilding the engine, there were no more problems like that.

Score:

Strange Failures – 2, Ford – 0. On this car, Quality was not Job One.

Comics from the 1970s

What should you never say to fast food workers?

I worked in McDonald’s overnight for one year as a cashier in the drive thru. During my year working in McDonald’s I encountered some things that I really don’t recommend doing:

Not paying attention to the cashier when he/she is telling you what you got.

If you don't pay attention when I asked you, please don't complain if I charged you $100 for things you didn't order because you said “yes, whatever.”

Expecting the cashier to know you don’t like pickles or onions.

Yes, we know some of our regulars. No, we didn't know you don't like pickles.

Ordering things are not on the menu.

Do not ask me for a whopper. Do not ask for a chicken junior. There is no such a thing as fajita in McDonald's.

Calling an employee a derogatory word.

Please, don't do it. If it’s a word you don't enjoy being called. I refused service to a customer once for addressing me as “you, nigga”.

Getting mad if you ordered 15 Quarter-pounders with fries and a shake and your bill is more than $100.
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If you think it is too much, please cook it at home.
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Spitting.

Seriously, I got spit on my face more than once.

Swearing and/or yelling.

Please, if you had a bad night, you got evicted, divorced or whatever - it’s not the cashier's fault. You should not call the cashier (or anyone you don't want to mess with) a motherfucker.

Not knowing what you are getting.

More than once I had customers claiming I put things they did not request in their food.

A guy yelled at me once because there was ice in his smoothie. On a different occasion, a guy yelled at me because he got only three sauces with his order (a 10 piece chicken nuggets meal only comes with three sauces); he requested three more and tried to punch me when I told him that they were not free. The question “what does that come with?” works very well.

Last but not least, being violent.

Please try to keep your temper. Also, try to be as nice as possible.

Tales From The Shoe Store | Married With Children

Which tips would you give today’s teens?

Control your emotions and lust (Overcome)

It’s completely normal to experience lust, or sexual desire in teen. Your feelings might be focused on a particular person, or you might be drawn to activities like masturbating or watching pornography. But sometimes, these desires can be overwhelming or unwanted. If you just can’t shake those uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, don’t worry—there are things you can do to manage them.

The price of temporary lust can be expensive.

Learn About Finance Early

Money should be your friend throughout your life, not your enemy. Sadly, the education system doesn’t do such a great job at teaching you about finance, so you have to learn it on your own. There are plenty of sources that you can get financial advice for free.

Make Good Friends, Not More Friends

Building a network of friends at school is always going to be valuable whether they are the greatest people or not. Spend more time trying to develop and grow those relationships that you think will be good for you.

You are the average of your five friends around you hangout with the most.

Don’t Care About What Others Think of You

This is definitely the best advice for teenagers who feel like they need to impress the world! Nobody cares either, so why would you? Laugh when you embarrass yourself. Dress how you want to dress. Be honest about things you don’t like. Not only does this help you become more of yourself, but you’ll also make friends with the right people.

Take Care of Your Body

Because it takes care of you everyday! Just by implementing some simple practices like Exercise, Practice Proper Hygiene, Have a Skin Care Routine, Invest in Yourself and you’re already getting ahead of where you were the day before.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

Comparing yourself to others will only lead to disappointment and lack of confidence. There will always be someone with more than you more money, more friends, more style, more of anything.

Compare who you were yesterday not someone else’s today.

What are the craziest objects that you’ve seen TSA workers remove from someone’s bag to be confiscated?

A friend of mine is a pilot for one of the big airlines. He related this story to me. One day, he is headed through security and in front of him are two air marshals escorting a prisoner in hand cuffs. First the TSA Agent tried to tell the marshals that they had to uncuff the prisoner before he could go through security. (yeah, that got cleared up pretty quick). Then the TSA agent tried to tell them they would have to remove their guns (this time a supervisor was called over to educate the TSA agent). Then the TSA agent told the marshals to empty their pockets. One of them had a tiny fingernail clipper with a small file on it that vaguely resembled knife. The TSA Agent proudly jumped on that and demanded the marshal would have to relinquish it as “contraband”. I think at this point the marshals were just tired of dealing with this person so he gladly gave her the fingernail clippers so that they could go on their way.

In summary: two marshals escorting a prisoner..both of the marshals armed with pistols and other weapons, had a pair of fingernail clippers confiscated because it was “contraband”.

Cinnamon Garlic Roast Chicken

40 Cloves of Garlic Roast Chicken foodiecrush.com 010

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) chicken, cut up
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder (or 2 cloves fresh, minced)
2/3 teaspoon cinnamon
Paprika
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup water

Instructions

Clean chicken well.
Combine salt, pepper, garlic and cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture onto all parts of the chicken.
Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a roasting pan with vegetable oil spray.
Remove chicken from refrigerator, and place in roasting pan.
Sprinkle with paprika.
Scatter onion slices around chicken, and roast uncovered for 35 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350 degrees F.
Stir onion slices, add the cup of water, and continue roasting for an additional 50 minutes until tender, basting occasionally.

Is China’s economy currently experiencing a slowdown, or is this information being exaggerated by the US media?

Not exactly

The Chinese stock market is among the most undervalued in the world and is stubbornly remaining there due to a lot of regulations against speculation

The US Treasury still pays 5.31% as Peak Bond Yields

The Chinese Real Estate prices are low which is good for the buyers but that means investors will be giving it a wide berth

This means a lot of HOT MONEY will not be coming in but going out

Hot money is money used to buy shares and bonds and real estate securities by foreign firms

Speculative money!

No matter even if the US says China is booming, this is going to happen

Likewise if China raises interest rates to 6% then Yields rise to a peak of 6.53% and suddenly Hot money will flood into China no matter even if the US says China is crashing tomorrow

Likewise China is getting a flood of Long term investments for their EV and New Technology investments

That won’t change no matter what the US says

China is still the world’s second largest consumer market plus the worlds largest manufacturer at peak profitability

That won’t change no matter what the US says

So China simply doesn’t care too much about what the US media says beyond rebuttals on their English Language Media (CGTN) or Global times or SCMP

Ukraine: “Corpses Everywhere” as Russians smash through

Hal Turner World April 28, 2024

The ground is strewn with corpses: Soldiers of the “Center” group show everything that remains of the 47th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Berdychi.

Corpses of dead Ukrainian soldiers are everywhere.

The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not betray itself and continues to send Ukrainian militants on suicidal missions.

As a result of fierce fighting from artillery and tank attacks, only in this small section of the forest, the commanders of the 47th brigade managed to put an entire platoon.

Russian soldiers report that they did not even try to evacuate them after the fire began and the subsequent assault. They just left the whole brigade in this position – forever.

18+

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 The ground is strewn with corpses: Soldiers of the “Center” group show everything that remains of the 47th ombre brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Berdychi

➖The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not betray itself and continues to send Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/Ofe78YPMmW

— — GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 — (@GeromanAT) April 28, 2024

When being terminated from a job, have you ever warned the company of something important that only you knew how to do, and your advice has gone unheeded?

One of my first jobs was in a hospital, primarily in the E.R. Being a community hospital, we all performed many unassigned duties. Many of the staff had been leaving due to management issues and I soon put in my notice. Because of the staff loss, I was one of the few who knew how to operate several pieces of equipment. I had made the attempt to teach others how to operate the equipment, but they refused.

On my final day, the hospital administrator came up to me and said he was very unhappy with my job performance and told me I was fired. I packed my belongings and left, kind of in shock. A day later I was in my new position at the hospital I’d put in notice for. Two days later, I recieved a rather frantic call from the Administrator telling me I needed to come in and show someone how to work the equipment. It seemed they had almost lost an E.R. patient because no one could run the tests.

I told him that was impossible because I was on the way to work and hung up. A week later the Administrator, his daughter, and his son in law, were all arrested for stealing from the hospital.

Smithsonian Cover-Up: Ancient Egyptians and Giants in the Grand Canyon

Smithsonian Cover-Up: Ancient Egyptians and Giants in the Grand Canyon In 1908, President Teddy Roosevelt wanted to declare the Grand Canyon off-limits to all timber and mining operations. It would take another 11 years for Congress to designate the Grand Canyon a national park. Sensing a final opportunity for adventure, explorer G.E. Kincaid took a boat down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. The canyon was rich in minerals like gold, silver and copper and Kincaid wanted to see what he could find before the area was closed off for good. About 40 miles up-river from the El Tovar Crystal canyon, Kincaid saw stains in the sediment formation about 2,000 feet up. He tied off the boat and got out to investigate. Kincaid couldn’t find a trail, but after a short hike he found something interesting covered in desert brush. Steps. Hundreds of them. Carved in sandstone. Steps that wound their way up to a high shelf on the side of the canyon. He followed the steps until he came across a cavern entrance. An entrance that was clearly man made. Kincaid entered the cavern and turned on his flashlight. On the walls he saw writing. But it wasn’t English or Native American writing. It was Ancient Egyptian Heiroglypics. Kincaid lifted his flashlight and saw that the tunnel ran far into the distance. He didn’t realize it at the time, but this was only the beginning.

Litter in the middle

Outside my tiny town is one of those Chinese 8-lane rural roads. And there is a divider in the middle median. Apparently, at some point in time either someone had left a litter of kittens there, or a cat had a litter there.

No one knew about it, apparently.

Being in China, the road is busy, and we would use it to avoid the massive traffic closer to the sub-town networks.

At this particular location, as I drove by, I saw the body of a dead kitten. I felt sad, but didn’t think much about it.

On the way back, I saw the body of a second dead kitten.

Later on in the day, about four hours later, I went by the (now) smashed remains of the two kittens and saw a third dead kitten.

And man, I should have stopped to investigate. But I was running late.

On the way back, as a fourth kitten.

Dead.

And that was the end of the litter.

i wonder what would have happened if I had stopped to clean the dead kitten off the road and checked to see where it’s siblings were. I wonder.

Life.

Why did I pick this life?

What was I thinking?

I feel great sorrow for the kittens, and the excuses that I made not to stop and investigate. Every time I go by that spot I question and lambast myself; why didn’t I stop? Why didn’t I investigate?

Ugh!

Today…

As the PRC has never directly controlled Taiwan, how do the Chinese confront those who say you can’t take back what you never controlled?

Well, well.

Sneaky, but easy to parry.

The treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895 between CHINA and Japan ceded the island of Taiwan to Japan, and it became a colony under Japanese administration till 1945, when Japan renounced its claim to the island.

Various declarations and treaties in the period all treated Taiwan as part of China, unlike, say, Hong Kong and Macau, which remained colonies until the late 1990s.

The divergence only appeared with the emergence of the PRC in 1949, and the strategic defeat of the KMT which fled to Taiwan, bringing the ROC government with them.

The situation is very clear if we read both Constitutions—each side proclaims itself the rightful government of China, which includes sovereignty over the mainland, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong.

The argument all along is over who is in charge, and not who owns what, because there is only ONE CHINA, according to the Constitutions of the PRC and ROC.

Unfortunately, 99.99% of people who can read this (i.e. anglophones) cannot do so due to illiteracy.

Quit pretending to know what one is too prejudiced to find out.

What is the most pathetic thing you’ve seen an addict do to get their fix?

I used to be a heroin addict. I personally never did any crazy things to supply my habit. I understand why people do though. Imagine having the flu times ten, feeling like you’re being broken in half, your entire body hurts, it feels like your bones are being broken. Your blood pressure is so jacked from detox your vision is blurred, you can hardly see ten feet in front of you and you throw up and have diarrhea like you’ve got food poisoning. You know that all you have to do in order to feel better is get a fix. There’s literally nothing most people won’t do to just feel better.

Not having it is a living hell, being high feels the exact opposite. You feel so good you just want to sing and dance even if you don’t know how to sing you’re going to do it anyway. I’m not a bad person, I was just a broken person when I was addicted to heroin. I don’t believe I would ever be desperate enough to rob someone but I know plenty of people who have.

A guy I grew up with, I knew him most of my life, one of my best friends was one of those people who had no moral code when in active addiction. He was an amazing person when sober. Even in active addiction his true nature would sometimes show. He’s saved more than a few people because he was really good at CPR. The mother of his child was also an addict too. She was in college and her text books kept coming up missing. She couldn’t figure out where they were going. By the time she realized he was taking her text books to the university bookstore and selling them back to them they were all gone.

One day she called me and asked me if I could give her a ride home. I helped her out and gave her a ride. We were about a block away from her house and there he was walking through a parking lot with garbage bags full of clothes. He was about to walk into Plato’s closet (they buy and sell used clothes) when we pulled up on him. She jumped out of my truck and grabbed him. He dropped the bags of clothes and she looked in the bags and he had taken her whole wardrobe. Every single item of clothing she owned was in those bags.

He had taken all of his girlfriend’s clothes, the mother of his child and was trying to sell them so he could score some dope. That was the last straw for her, she left him and got sober. She worked really hard to get her child back, he had been taken away and was being raised by her mother. She did good for a while but relapsed and she’s no longer with us. He ended up in prison, got out, did really good for a long time. He did the same, he inherited several million dollars from his father and within a year he was also no longer with us. I miss him every single day. He was a good person but not too many people really knew that, he hid it well.

US Very Concerned as China-Russia Strengthen Their Military Ties!

The message is CLEAR.

Is the West’s accusation of China overcapacity in the EV industry true? Why?

The accusations from the West sound an awful lot like the pot calling the kettle black. The term ‘overcapacity’ being thrown around has more to do with market insecurity and protectionist tendencies than any supposed production surplus on China’s part.

Take 2023 as an example. China crafted 9.58 million new-energy vehicles that year and managed to sell about 9.49 million units. A large chunk of these – around 8.3 million vehicles – were sold in the domestic market. That hardly points towards international market saturation, rather it shows domestic demand driving China’s EV production.

Then, consider the global market shares. Chinese manufacturers held about 8.2 percent of the European electric car market. Yet, European automakers had a firm grip on around 20 percent of the Chinese light vehicle market. The scales, realistically, tip more in favor of the West here.

So why the accusations? It seems like a rather convenient cloak of ‘overcapacity’ is being used to disguise good old fashioned trade protectionism. The West is getting a taste of competitiveness they’re not used to, and it’s sending jitters down their spines. China’s EV industry, powered by continuous innovation, is giving Western automakers a run for their money. Hence, the narrative of ‘overcapacity’ serves as a much-needed crutch to lean on.

In the grand scheme of the global EV industry, China’s production aligns with its increasing domestic demand and strategically positions itself for a future defined by cleaner, more efficient vehicles. The so-called ‘overcapacity’ is just reflective of China’s effective planning, astute market gauging, and a testament to its competitive hardiness in the face of global market dynamics. So, is there really overcapacity in China’s EV industry? I highly doubt that.

Have you ever gotten a teacher fired?

Yes. My GMAT test prep instructor.

I decided to do one of these review classes as I was a little rusty, so I signed up and paid several hundred dollars for the privilege.

The first day of class, which was composed of twelve women and one man, he told this joke:

“A woman married and had 12 children. Her husband died, and she remarried and had 12 more children before the second husband died as well. Then, she died. At the funeral, the priest said, ‘At last they’ll be together.’ One of the attendees said, ‘What do you mean by that? Will she be together with her first husband, or her second?’ ‘I meant her legs,’ replied the priest.” This was accompanied by him putting his arms out straight, hands together, then opening his arms wide and closing them.

The second day of class, there was one woman (me) and one man.

I had paid for the course, and based on a test exam, I really needed the math help. I had already paid for the GMAT coming up, so I really had to take this review course.

Every class after that, he complained about the missing women and how someone had complained about him to the administration. “It was just a joke,” he kept whining. “Are you going to teach the material tonight?” I would say.

The last day of class, he had promised a cheat sheet of formulas. Again, I showed up, again, he spent class time whining about the complaints and how the joke was funny, and what was so wrong about the joke, and how women don’t have any sense of humor anymore.

I asked him for the cheat sheet.

“You’re a woman,” he observes. “What was so wrong about that joke?”

“The joke was inappropriate,” I said, “as was your accompanying gesture.”

He looked at me as if I was speaking a language he had never heard.

“Look,” he said, “it’s just a biological fact that women spend a lot of time with their legs open!”

And he re-enacts the gesture, leaving his arms open.

I walked out without the cheat sheet, and called the head of the program the next day. He was so mortified, that not only did he fire the guy, but he refunded my money and let me take another class for free. I took kayaking, and discovered a love for it. I also did well enough on my GMAT to get into the school of my choice.

What are ten truths everyone should accept in life?

Marks are important! Or just be an Einstein to prove it wrong.
No friend will be 100% happy to see your success, especially if you’re in same field
Sex or physical intimacy is important to make a relationship strong and live.
“ I love you more than anything anyone” is a filmy dialogue. Don’t believe it as it is ! There are always ifs,buts & conditions applied ~
Money is important ! Infact most important to live in this world
A smart girl will never marry you unless you are settled . let her brag anything about true love .
Money can’t give you peace !
Everyone in this world is selfish and is with you just for their needs be it your family or bestfriend.
Getting into relationship demands efforts, time and money. It’s not for free
Looks matter ! So better groom yourself to appear best or just keep shouting it don’t.( yuup skills matter but a person with same skills and better presentation & groomed will always be preferred than only skills)

Cinnamon Rolls from North Carolina State Fair

These cinnamon coffee rolls are delicious. It is important that you use unbleached flour and Fleischmann’s margarine in this recipe. Use a thermometer to check the temperature of the liquid, if it’s too hot it will kill the yeast.

Ingredients

Rolls

1 package dry yeast, 1 scant tablespoon
1/4 cup warm water
4 cups unbleached flour (do not substitute)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup Fleischmann’s oleo/margarine, do not substitute
1 cup scalded milk and cooled to 110 degrees F
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Vanilla Icing

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons softened Fleischmann’s margarine
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons hot water

Instructions

Rolls

Night before baking, sprinkle yeast over lukewarm water, stir to dissolve; set aside.
Combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar and salt in mixing bowl. Mix well.
Cut in 1 cup of Fleischmann’s oleo/margarine with a pastry blender or with your fingers until mixture resembles cornmeal.
Add yeast mixture, egg yolks and milk, stir with a fork until well blended.
Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.
Next morning, grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan and set aside.
Combine in a small bowl 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon and set aside.
Roll dough on a floured surface into a rectangle, about 10 x 15-inches. Brush with 2 tablespoons melted oleo/margarine. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture, sprinkle with pecans and raisins. Starting at the wide end, roll up in a jellyroll fashion. Pinch edges well to seal.
Cut into 15 equal slices. Place cut side down, equally spaced, in prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Frost rolls.

Vanilla Icing

Mix sugar, oleo/margarine. Add vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon hot water and stir until smooth and well blended. Add more water as needed a few drops at a time.

What can you do if you are thrown under the bus by your boss when it was not really your fault?

I don’t remember exactly what I got blamed for, but I overheard my boss explaining to a client on the phone that his secretary; i.e., me, had failed to do whatever it was and reassuring the client that I would be disciplined.

The problem was that the mistake was my boss’s fault, not mine. In other words, he was covering his own ass by throwing me under the bus. He definitely had not intended that I should hear the conversation.

I was instantly furious. I took a lot of emotional abuse on that job, and I compensated and covered for a lot of mistakes on the parts of a lot of salespeople and managers to prevent loss of profits and/or company reputation. I was so constantly throwing myself under the bus to save face for a bunch of incompetents that most times they didn’t even know. Do you think I bothered to point out that the cost of four thousand steel shelves had been omitted by the “experienced” salesperson again on the project proposal I was typing, or did I just add them in and adjust the price, again?

One of my other roles in the company was CSR. In other words, if a client had a problem, it was up to me to solve it, ideally without “bothering” the salesperson “earning” the commission. In other words, the client to whom my boss was trashing my competency and reputation was very likely someone I was going to interact with repeatedly until the project was complete.

My boss hung up the phone and I immediately stomped into his office. Putting my hands on his desk so I could speak directly to his face, I made my fury known.

“By my own choice, I accept a lot of blame around here to clients for shit I don’t do, to protect your sorry asses, but I’ll be damned if you’re going to put the blame on me for your mistakes without my knowledge or permission!!”

My boss, with an hangdog expression, acknowledged that he was wrong and he apologized. In hindsight I wish he hadn’t. I really needed a kick in the ass to prompt me to quit that horrendous job.

Would’ve saved a lot of heartache.

Delusional GF Busted With The Most RIDICULOUS Pro/Con List Of All Time And Is About To Get Dumped!

Basically she’s implying that she’s settling.

What is the most jaw-dropping method for shoplifting that you have seen?

I worked loss prevention as the Team Lead. We had cameras in a retail clothing store and had multiple subjects we were watching. I moved to the floor to cover one of the guys and lost him. I looked around, and called over the radio for directions. When I turned around he was right there. I said never mind and then put the radio on my belt. The guy turned around and we chatted for a few minutes. I was about to move on when he asked me if I thought this place was easy to steal from. I told him no, security is pretty tight from what I understand. Then he asked me to watch for him while he stole a lot of items. I literally stood there in the aisle and stared at him while he concealed several items. He said he was done and wanted to know if I wanted him to watch for me while I stole. I told him nope, I’m good. He said thanks and headed to the door. Still in somewhat disbelief, I walked with him as we passed the registers and exited the store. As we got to the outside, I held the door shut and introduced myself. The look of shock was priceless. As I took him back to the office in handcuffs I reminded him, “Yes, you just asked the head of security to WATCH you while you shoplifted.”

What was the strangest part of your divorce?

The most peculiar part was the outcome.

I left Claire with the following:

A nice home fully paid for, mortgage free
A new car fully paid
No outstanding bills – everything paid
A nice portfolio of blue chip stocks which were little appreciated at the time
Paid up life insurance
An arrangement with a top financial advisor to assist her

Claire had 3 children of her own issue (as a couple, we had none). One existed independently and had little to say about the break-up.

Another was a highly dependent son who should have been on his own, but who was very attached to Claire, and she was very attached, to him.

An elder son who, with his wife, came to his mother’s (Claire’s) defense, warning her that I would attempt to impoverish myself to escape a generous settlement. I was pegged as the “bad guy.”

That’s the set-up. Here is what happened:

The elder son and his wife quickly realized the generosity of my settlement, and the reasons for my seeking divorce.
The other 2 children were a constant drain on Claire’s resources; purchases of property, cars, etc.
The dependent son and his wife moved in with Claire, as did the daughter.
Claire exhausted the liquid resources I gave her and had to sell the home I gave her. Subsequently, she also had to sell the replacement home she bought. Now she lives in poverty, as do the two children. Her only income is Social Security.

And meanwhile, the very protective son and his wife have welcomed me into their family, where I enjoy a most enriching relationship.

Thus Claire has not only impoverished herself, but also 2 of her children. And I enjoy the happiest relationship with her elder son and his wife.

Who knew? Well, something in me knew, and I am better for it.

Life is strange.

[EDIT:] The dependent son, Freddy died in early 2022. His mother, Claire, died in late 2022. I had to chip-in to pay funeral expenses.

Can I refuse for my child to attend an after-school detention?

In the UK yes you can… or at least my mum did and there wasn’t a DAMN thing the school could do about it.

Let me explain: My sister is the main character in this story.

She’s fiery and doesn’t know how to be quiet and just take things… she reacts…

Well… A boy in the school was going around grabbing/groping girls. He then made the mistake of groping my sister. She didn’t hesitate to floor him. And I mean she punched him on the face and he hit the deck.

Well, she got a detention. Fair enough, shouldn’t hit kids blah blah… but the boy DIDNT get detention for his actions.

My mum went to pick my sister up, I was there to witness, and found that she had a detention… When she asked why the teacher said she hit another student.

So my mum turned to my sister and asked what happened and my sister explained it all, about the constant groping and even warnings he had been given… she explained when, how and why she clobbered him.

So my mum looked around and asked where was this boy for his detention.

He had not been given one.

So my mum took my sister and said we are leaving. And we left despite the protests of the teacher. The headmaster walked down and tried to stop us, but we left. My mum told them that if they will not punish the boy for his sexual assaults, then they can not punish her daughter for defending herself.

And out we went. My mum bought us a Ice-lolly and told her she has the right to always defend herself… There are many more stories like this, but I will leave this here.

So in answer to your question, the care of the child ends at the end of the school day.

How do intelligent people deal with idiots?

1. Identify idiots early. The sooner you can identify an idiot, the sooner you can start to protect yourself from them.

2. Don’t try to change idiots. Idiots are not going to change, so don’t waste your time and energy trying to do so.

3. Don’t take idiots personally. Idiots are not attacking you personally, they are just being idiots.

4. Set boundaries with idiots. Don’t let idiots into your life if you don’t have to.

5. Don’t argue with idiots. It’s a pointless exercise.

6. Don’t try to explain yourself to idiots. They won’t understand.

7. Don’t try to reason with idiots. They are not reasonable people.

8. Don’t try to please idiots. They are impossible to please.

9. Don’t expect idiots to appreciate you. They don’t have the capacity to do so.

10. Don’t let idiots ruin your day. They are not worth it.

11. Don’t become an idiot yourself. It’s easy to do, but it’s important to remember that there is no excuse for bad behavior.

12. Learn to laugh at idiots. It’s the best way to cope with them.

13. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Idiots will try to make you feel bad about yourself, but don’t let them.

14. Remember that you are not alone. Everyone has to deal with idiots at some point in their lives.

15. Be kind to yourself. Dealing with idiots can be stressful, so make sure to take care of yourself.

I hope these lessons help you to deal with idiots effectively and to protect yourself from their negative influence.

Bypassers Found a Bobcat On the Railroad it Froze to the Rails

Be the Rufus

What screams “I’m educated, but not very bright”?

A patient has had a Rhinoplasty (plastic surgery to the nose) . Kept overnight at the hospital. It was 35 years ago, when patients were kept inpatient more than these days. Late day surgery. In the evening, the patient is vomiting blood. Nurse calls Intern. It was July, when Interns firs come into hospital, on call 24 hours. Fresh from school. Intern comes & diagnosed stomach bleed 🩸 🤣🤣. Never calls the attending. Intern Proceeds to place a nasogastric tube in patient’s freshly operated nose & wash the stomach with ice saline, a better portion of the night. Still, no one called the attending Physician… In the morning, the attending Physician comes in to discharge the patient & learns what has been done all night… patient did well but I’m sure nurse & intern got a tear down for their stupidity. The patient had either swallowed or much blood had gone down the stomach during surgery. Blood is difficult to digest. Never mind that many post op patients suffer from nausea & vomiting from pain meds etc. The blood vomiting was all old blood from surgery time & neither the nurse nor the intern knew that but worst of all, no body called the attending Physician. If this patient was really bleeding from his stomach, that much, that alone, warrants a call to the attending physician , which would have avoided the ice saline thing altogether. Sadly, this is vestiges of the old ways, when attending yelled at interns or nurses for “bothering “ them for stupid stuff. They helped create this atmosphere of fear & stupid things happened. True story.

What is the hardest thing you’ve had to tell your parents and how did they react?

I know this post is 6 months old, but I thought I’d share my story.

On January 9th 2019 my mother was admitted to the hospital during what was supposed to be a check-up with her oncologist. My mom was battling stage four endometrial cancer. She ended up in the hospital for about a month and eventually went home to stay with my aunt and uncle. The doctors advised she be in hospice but she wanted to be comfortable. I spent many days by my mom’s side, helping my aunt who was her caretaker and just being there.

On February 9th my mom went into a coma-like state, unconscious but still able to hear us and move here and there, but could not speak or see or do much of anything. Her body was shutting down. I spent every day by her bed with her, I knew that she needed to go. I knew that the hardest thing I’d ever do is lose my mom, my best friend, at the age of 24. But everyday I told her I loved her and that I’d be okay if she had to go.

For a week she held on. On Friday, February 15th my dad was flying into my hometown from California where he lives because he wanted to be here for me over the weekend. He knew the situation. Him and my mom were separated, never married, but they were on decent terms. I left my aunt’s house where my mom was to go pick him up from the airport. After my father’s plane landed and was evacuating the plane, I got the call that my mother’s heart rate was dropping. I was a mess, sobbing in the middle of the airport. I told my dad as soon as I saw him. Fast forward a few hours, my mother passed at 11pm on February 15th, 2019. The first person I called was my dad and it’s something I will never forget. Hearing him cry broke me down even more. It’s a memory embedded in my mind forever.

I truly believe that my mom waited to leave. She always said she wasn’t afraid to die, she was only afraid of leaving me. I believe she knew that my dad was going to be here, and she wanted to wait until I had the most important and supportive person here with me. She wanted me safe. Not everybody would believe in something like this, but I feel it in my heart. This Saturday will be a year since she passed and I miss her so much.

What single moment killed your relationship?

“can you book me flight tickets to California? I want to spend my Christmas break with you”

“Sure babe! How long?” I immediately jumped into my desk and took a look at the pricing. It was around $500. I’d then asked myself if it was too early in our relationship to spend that kind of money on someone. I tossed that thought away when I’d thought of how strong my feelings were for him.

“15 days! From 12th December to 26th December” he replied.

I jumped with joy.

“I’m so happy you’re spending 15 days with me”

“Oh I should have mentioned earlier, I won’t be spending all 15 with you. I want to see my friends too”

“Ok. What’s the plan then?” I asked.

“ I’ll spend the Saturday and Sunday with you and then Id go to San Francisco and meet …blah blah bleh blue…and..” I was impatiently waiting till my name came again on that list “and then I’d finish the trip off with blue blah bleh and that’s it..”

“So you’re spending 2 days with me?” I asked.

I got a shameless “yeah I’m sure you’ll be busy anyway and if you’re not you should make plans with your friends too for the break.”

That did it for me.

“I get that you’re still in school and it makes sense for me to pay because I have a job but I’m not going to spend $500 for 2 days of your time.”

To be fair, if we were dating for more than a year or something, I would have understood him better and would have spent that kind of money for him to be happy. But it had only been a month and he had shamelessly called to ask for a ticket and even had the courage to tell me that it wasn’t a trip for me. Sorry but not sorry. We broke up the next day and that’s the story of my shortest relationship. So glad I’d dodged that bullet.

China humiliates Blinken as he threatens China, says China commits genocide+crimes against humanity.

What was your biggest “nonsense” moment in the military?

Whilst on tour in Afghanistan a group of us was given a few days off in Kuwait. We flew directly from our base to the airport in Kuwait in a C130. We flew in full battle rattle, rifles, pistols front line ammo and grenades.We are also in uniform with body armor and helmet

We had our days off then went to the airport dressed as we came in. For some reason we had to go through a different area of the airport than when we came in. We were ushered through to a security check point

There was a large African American female contractor. She says to the first soldier

“Are you carrying any weapons ” ………the first guy says

” you mean apart from my rifle,pistol bayonet and grenades?”

“Yes , please take our all of your equipment and put it on the conveyor belt”

“Why?”

“Sir need to check that you aren’t carrying any weapons”

“You need to X-ray my rifle and webbing to check for weapons? That’s stupid you can see them”

” you might use a hidden weapon to highjack the plane”

“If I want to highjack the plane I will use my rifle, besides why would a soldier highjack an Air Force plane “

” are you going to highjack the plane”?

“No”

“Then I need to check your gear”

This went back and forth went in for a few minutes before the soldier removed his gear and put it through the machine

The next soldier then proceeds to have exactly the same argument with the security guard. The whole scene degenerates into a farce.

One other soldier and I get frustrated and simply walk around the checkpoint then out a side door and onto the plane.

Perhaps she now works for TSA

12 Things no one tells you about adult life

Not everyone will like you for being a good person.
People will hate you just because other people likes you.
If you don’t learn to say no, you will keep doing the things what people says.
Life will only give you what you deserves.
If you are talented then also you have to work hard.
No matter who you are there will always be someone who will hate you.
You will repeat your own mistakes many times.
There will be someone who will love you no matter what.
Relatives can be your enemies sometimes.
Age doesn’t defines maturity.
Situation will force you to leave everything but that time defines you.
Self love matters a lot. If you love yourself then you don’t need anyone else for anything. You can make yourself happy.

I just got fired. Now my former boss (the one who let me go) is asking me where some important documents are. How should I respond?

As many pointed out, there are two scenarios here:

You are still in possession of company property, such as an old work laptop or company documents. In this case, I would try to return everything in your possession ASAP (your earliest convenience within reason, but at least 7–14 days ahead of any deadline), and fully document everything. Not returning their property could be grounds for voiding any severance agreement you signed or even legal action.
They need your help to do something that was previously part of your day to day responsibilities. Whether is finding old documents that you worked with (but are not in your possession), documenting a knowledge transfer handoff, or dealing with expired certs/credentials that are associated with a business process previously tied to your account. In this case, they are pretty much f**ked (and likely desperate). You can agree to help them, at whatever rate you feel is reasonable as a consultant (compared to your previous salary and/or severance package). Of course, it may impact any reference you receive from this company, so tread carefully.

Some vintage comics for today

Have you ever fired someone for not coming to work on time?

Yep. In the 1980s I worked at a financial services firm in Harrogate, England. In mid 1987 the HR manager employed a young woman, Nicky, as an administrator. She came from a well-to-do middle-class family and lived about a mile from the office, where we had private parking, and she had her own car, paid for by mummy and daddy. Despite all those advantages, she was never on time, always looked unwashed, and smelt like it, but our useless HR manager tolerated it. When I left the firm are the end of ’88 she was still as lazy, slovenly, and useless as she had been on her first day, and the slack HR manager was still tolerating her. Apparently, the HRM was friends with Nicky lazy-arse’s mother.

Fast forward to 1995 and I’m working at another financial services firm in Leeds, England. The local HR Director hires… Nicky lazy-arse! Again it turns out that the HRD, Celia, is a friend of NLA’s mother. Again she never shows up on time, again she is unwashed, slovenly, and smelly. Unfortunately for her though, the firm was in crisis and the bosses in London needed to slim it down. They knew Celia wouldn’t sort it, so they appointed me. On my first day, NLA was late as usual, with some bullshit story about her cat having gotten out and her having to get it back in before she could leave home. She got a verbal warning. On my second day, she was late again and again trotted out some made-up story. She got a written warning, which she said she wasn’t accepting, but she got it anyway. On the third day, she was late again. Again, a pathetic made-up story. I fired her.

Eastern Asians are the smartest humans over the Earth, despite all Western propaganda. Natives of the Americas are considered “Mongoloids” too. Any advice from Eastern Asians to not get dumbness caused by poverty and bad governments imposed by USA?

I am born in East Asia, I lived my entire 66 years of my life in East Asia, I am an a Chinese origin Singaporean so I am very qualified to speak! The U.S. must recognised that it’s time as the world barbaric bully is truly over and done with.

Americans must recognised facts that it cannot deny it took over the biggest and baddest barbarian of the world from UK in 1945 because it was the only one left with one eye when the rest of the world that is strong and powerful fought each other till all are half dead! You can say the U.S. is the king of the blind in 1945.

In spite of taking all the advantage to shape the world your way and stealing all the spoilt of the world war 2 it don’t take long before Europe overtook you, then Japan and East Asia and today the U.S. is a pale shadow of yourself compared to 1945!

Your debts and deficits are up to the roof. You guys have a million people living in tents homeless, if you take away say 10 richest Americans. Your nation is more like number 20 in per capital GDP. Your life expectancy is 76 which is 2 years old lover than China who spends one sixth of the U.S. to care for a population 4 times your size!

Today your debts has turned unsustainable, 35 trillion and adding a trillion every 3 months! Your nation plus 41 of your dogs nation plus a host of slave vassals threw your kitchen sink collective against Russia for 2 years over yet you have clearly lost! Oh you lost in Korea, in Vietnam to rice farmers, to Afghanistan to goat herder and it is time to stop pretending that you are the top dog and be humble again.

The last thing to call yourself is being exceptional or even good and it is time you need to work with East Asia and the rest of the world. Yes get into your thick skull the world don’t belong to you. And stop regime change it is totally democratic! Stop war mongering, you don’t have enough to care for your own people. 35% of American are poor by world standards! They have less than 500 buck in their name! If the fall sick the cannot get cure because they have no health insurance! Your kids get to debts before they get into life because they are charge exorbitant college fees!

America you cannot be a world policeman. No one wants you to be and certainly no one will pay a cent for it! Go back to do what all nation leaders do. Take care of your people and feed them well! You have done enough damage to the world. It is time to stop! China and Russia cannot be stopped, together they are impossible to stopped and plus Global South is like David and Goliath and you are David! Stop pretending, I know it feels good to lie to yourself but it is time to stop!

Start fighting hard to help the world that you destroyed by and large single handedly. And stop hiding behind democracy and freedom you guys have none of them! Stop pretending and stand up to your responsibility of 100 plus million deaths worldwide and don’t add another soul more! Take whatever winning you still have and try to keep it as long as you can and make a better America! We the world wants that you are another nation and a good customer and our partner.

If you continue to do shit you will pay and pay dearly. You cannot win with your fellow shit stirrer and you has been group of dogs nations and slave vassal states it can only hasten your demise! Stop it. That is my advise!

What is having a girlfriend like?

You can kiss anywhere you want! Forehead kisses, kiss on cheeks, horizontal kiss, vertical kiss 😉 .
You’ll have someone to talk to day or night and have conversations for hours.
When you’re feeling low you know whom to call and she’ll make sure you feel great again.
She will care for you. Asks you if you’ve taken your medicines in time or warns you before you do anything stupid.
You will have never ending talks and if your interests are same, you’ll talk about the whole universe.
You get bragging rights in front of your single friends :p .
The feeling of comfort when you are in her arms can’t be described in words.
If someone hurts her, it hurts you more.
Your girl will take you to different shopping places. So you go out more often.
You’ll get unexpected gifts that will make you feel special.
She’s the first person to wish you on your birthday. Sharp 12:00 a.m.
If you’re both financially independent you’ll help each other grow both financially and mentally.
You’ll get your s*xual needs or desires fulfilled.
*When she did something wrong and you are mat at her*. She: Sorry I won’t do it again 😢. He: please don’t talk to me. She: Please na, I’ll do anything for you 😉. He: anything? She: anything you want😜. (Nothing but a random conversation between nibba nibbi).

Vientiane, Laos: Our First Impressions

A nice vacation off the beaten track.

What is the biggest inconvenience you’ve faced and turned into an advantage? How can you get ahead when the going gets rough?

I have been HIV positive for 31 years. It was a death sentence when I was first diagnosed. Everyone died. No treatment. You were also deemed an untouchable, a pariah. I was a straight woman and felt I had no community and no one to share with. What I did with this awful fate was choose to be free. Do things I would normally be afraid of doing. I spoke my mind and even made it funny. Now after living with this debilitating disease for most my adult life I have a body of work I would never had accomplished without this diagnosis.

I was a fitness trainer in my last year of college when I found out. My goal in life back then was to have a great body. HIV pushed me so much farther than that. After I found out I did not give a crap what I looked like anymore. Life was too short for vanity. What a liberating moment that was!

I wrote six books, was a sex columnist for 10 years, I became a slam poet and eventually was named Poet Laureate of Bucks County. I did a one-woman show, Sex, Cellulite & Large Farm Equipment: One Girl’s Guide To Living & Dying in theaters all over the world. I traveled internationally speaking on sexuality, HIV, sexual assault and addiction. I was given an honorary PhD for my work. I appeared on many TV shows as a writer, activist and performer.

I eventually retreated to the Caribbean to paint full time. Painting huge colorful paintings. As I painted I really felt what HIV had given me, the ability to not judge my work, to go for it. I would often say when I felt afraid of the canvas, making mistakes on a big painting, “You are going to die anyway, just paint!”

HIV is a huge inconvenience. I hate it and wish I did not have it. I have suffered so many physical challenges, depression, and loneliness but I decided to not let it define me and to use it to allow me to bypass the mundane minutia that makes life so often drab and futile. I never worried about money. I didn’t have it but it didn’t matter, I had enough. I never worried about the future or getting old because it was not going to happen. And now that it has happened and I have no savings, no plan I took a leap of faith and I retired to a small mountain town in Mexico where I could live cheaply and allow myself the luxury of spiritual growth, spending many of my bedridden days in deep meditation. I have become fearless through this disease.

Life is life and I live in the moment, in complete acceptance, at peace. That is a place I do not believe I would have ever landed in this life with out the inconvenience of AIDS.

Big Blueberry Popover

I’ve never had a popover before, nor do I have a proper “popover pan,” but those aren’t good reasons to never try my hand at making them! I wanted to know what all the fuss was about, so I did some research using my favorite chefs and food blogs and settled on the unbeatable Julia Child for my base recipe. Always having to make a baked good my own, I decided to sweeten the recipe and add blueberries for fresh blueberry popovers worthy of tea time.

Great for breakfast – a refreshing change of pace from muffins. Wonderful with blueberries, but any berry can be used.

Yield: 6 servings

At first, the recipes and tips seemed overwhelming. I thought popovers were complicated, but they really aren’t. It’s a simple egg batter with no leavening that is cooked very hot to create steam. This steam forces the batter to rise, making a crispy shell and an airy, custardy center. Blueberry popovers make the perfect breakfast treat along with some tea, or maybe as a side to a sweet salad to sop up the dressing.
Popovers are very forgiving. Not only do I not own a popover pan, but I don’t even own a metal muffin tin (gasp!). I forgot I had purged most of my metal pans that had rusted and replaced everything with flexible silicone during a kitchen spring cleaning. I pushed on, and you know what? It worked just fine.

How to Make Blueberry Popovers

Traditional popovers are just five ingredients: eggs, butter, salt, milk and flour. I added in some sugar and blueberries and topped them with cinnamon sugar. They really are quite simple.
Start by preheating your oven to 450 degrees and setting the rack on the lowest setting. Next, grease your muffin tray or popover pan with butter or oil and place the pan in the oven to pre-heat. If, like me, you are using silicone, place the muffin pan on a metal tray for stability.
The most important rule is to have all of your ingredients at room temperature. If you decided that you need to bake impulsively, you can warm the eggs in a bowl of very warm water for ten minutes, microwave the milk for 30 seconds, and microwave the butter at 20 second intervals until melted.
Mix the eggs, milk, butter, sugar, and salt together. Then whisk in the flour all at once until the batter is as thick as heavy cream with very few lumps. You can also use a stand mixer or blender. You want the batter to have some air in it, so whip it until it is foamy.

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided use
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup blueberries or other berries

Carefully take your pan out of the preheated oven. We are going to add the room temperature batter into the hot pan to kick-start the steaming process. I mixed my batter in a large liquid measuring cup for ease of pouring, but you could also use a dry measuring cup or ladle to distribute the batter into every other muffin cup or each popover tin. You want to fill each space slightly more than halfway, which makes a very satisfying sizzling sound.

Moving quickly, sprinkle a few blueberries into each cup and top liberally with cinnamon sugar. Place the tray back in the oven and set a timer for twenty five minutes. You have to be patient with popovers, so no peeking! Opening the oven door lets out too much heat and could interrupt the steaming process, leading to less of a pop.

After 25 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 325. Most recipes called for another twenty minutes in the oven, but my blueberry popovers were done in ten. You know they are done when the tops are a deep golden brown and tapping on them creates a hollow sound. Blueberry popovers are best eaten fresh from the oven, as they deflate and soften as they cool.

Instructions

Mix first 5 ingredients + 3 tablespoon sugar in a large bowl. Stir in flour, then eggs until just combined; let this batter stand for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix remaining 1 tablespoon sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl; set aside.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees F.
Place berries in a buttered 9 inch pie pan. Pour batter over the berries; sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over the batter.
Transfer pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F; bake until popover is firm and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes longer.
Cut popover into wedges and serve immediately.

Which creative invention has never been used?

Starlite is a revolutionary material that was invented in the 1980s by a British hairdresser named Maurice Ward.

It is a type of heat-resistant material that has the potential to withstand extremely high temperatures, making it ideal for use in a variety of applications. Despite its incredible potential, Starlite remains largely unknown, and its fate is still shrouded in mystery.

The invention of Starlite is a fascinating story that began with a freak accident. In 1985, Ward was experimenting with different materials to find a way to create a better hair gel. One day, while mixing different chemicals together, he accidentally spilled the mixture onto a hot lightbulb. To his amazement, the material didn’t burn, but instead formed a hard crust over the lightbulb. This was the inspiration for Starlite.

Over the next few years, Ward worked on developing his invention, experimenting with different combinations of chemicals and additives. He tested the material extensively, subjecting it to extreme heat, fire, and even explosions, and found that it was able to withstand temperatures of up to 10,000 degrees Celsius. He named the material Starlite, and began to explore the many potential applications of his invention.

One of the most exciting possibilities for Starlite was its use in space exploration. NASA and other space agencies were interested in finding a material that could protect spacecraft from the intense heat of re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Starlite seemed like the perfect solution, and Ward began to work with NASA to develop the material for this purpose.

However, despite the incredible potential of Starlite, its fate remains uncertain. Ward was notoriously secretive about the composition of the material, refusing to reveal the ingredients to anyone, including potential investors and customers. He claimed that the formula was so valuable that he needed to keep it a secret in order to protect his invention from theft.

As a result, Starlite never became the commercial success that many had hoped for. Despite numerous offers from investors and potential customers, Ward refused to share his secrets, and ultimately died in 2011 without ever revealing the formula for his invention.

Today, Starlite remains a mystery. While some have attempted to recreate the material using various chemical compounds and additives, no one has been able to replicate Ward’s original formula. Some believe that the material may have been a hoax or a simple trick, while others argue that Ward was a genius who truly invented a revolutionary material.

I caught my neighbor using my electrical outlets outside, and I told him I was going to call the cops and tell them what he was doing. He laughed and said I can’t prove it. What should I do?

I caught the builder next door doing this. I had given him permission to recharge his cordless tools at the workbench in my carport. That wasn’t going to cost me very much.

But then a few days later I saw an extension flex leading across the boundary line, powering two industrial dehumidifiers. I told him, nicely, that he hadn’t asked about that.

He instantly said, how much do you want for the power? I said, what’s the load and how long is it going to be on? He invited me to have a look. I did some quick calculations and gave him a guess, a range of possibilities, saying it was a guess. He straight away handed me a bundle of cash for about twice the highest figure I’d quoted and gave me a realistic figure for what it would cost him to hire and run a generator, and said he’d be back with more cash when they were finished with the power. And he was, but I refused… he’d already paid far more than it had cost me.

A builder wants to be on good terms with the neighbours. I’m watching his stuff.

And it can work to be nice.

UPDATE – The Sisterhood Is Coming For Me

Her: Um.. babe…I’m AC-DC…..

Him: Well, that’s nice. Have a good life! “footsteps waking into the distance” ….

Why did WWII fighter pilots wear goggles in enclosed cockpits?

Multiple fluid lines ( oil, fuel, etc ) ran through the cockpit, if one of them ruptured ( which was common ) it could spray a pilot in the face & disorient them. During combat the chance of this happening was even greater. The cockpit was also unpressurized, thus moisture freezing over or cold air blowing in from a bullet hole/ crack in the canopy was a hazard. Lastly it was common for pilots to open up the canopy during landing procedures to increase visibility, thus they would have air blowing in their faces. Overall more PPE ( personal protective equipment) equals more safety for the user ( flak jackets, heated clothing, gloves, goggles etc )

main qimg 04217a4744bde1cdcc5309fcc76da014 lq

USAAF pilot.

main qimg 20f3c768234e88804f622bbe2aedced1 lq

US dive bombers returning to their carrier, notice open canopy.

What is the most horrifying noise you have ever heard?

It was a beautiful Spring day in 1998. My two best friends and I had just spent a lovely several hours riding and grooming our horses. We’d left and were driving to meet other friends at a local restaurant frequented by riders in the area , a place where we’d all meet up to have “ horse talk “ . As we were approaching a big intersection on the way there we heard a horrific screech of tires and the loudest crash I’d ever heard filled by piercing screams then immediate cries of help help help us ! We saw smoke rising in the air as we made it to the intersection . To our absolute horror, two cars had collided mid intersection, sending one car crashing into a tree. We stopped our car immediately and ran to see if we could help . Two women were stuck in the backseat of the convertible , the legs pinned seemingly under the front seats of the car. they screamed in pain . One of my friends and I both spoke to these women who were completely conscious as the driver of the car got out and was in pure disbelief dashing around the vehicle not knowing what to do. I asked if he was okay , and if he could call 911. Both he and my other friend called , the other of us two tried to free the women from the backseat … it was difficult to understand them and there was alot of blood. Suddenly, two police cars and an ambulance arrived and we backed away to the side of the road. The policeman and the EMT’s weren’t able to free the women and a fire truck had been summoned. The fireman used the jaws of life to get the women out of the backseat . When to everyone’s horror , the women had both lost appendages! It was then one woman began screaming for her baby . Turns out she had been holding her 3 month old baby in her lap . Another ambulance had arrived by this time as did two more firetrucks …. The scene and the noises were macabre , terrifying and sad. I will never forget the anguished mothers cries when she realized her baby was underneath the seat in front of her and had not survived. Her screams towered over all the other sounds of the wreckage rescue. I will never forget it. It turns out they lived just a few blocks away and were travelling “ just around the corner “ to their sisters house. The other car who ran into them left the scene of the accident. He was later found and charged with vehicular manslaughter resulting in death , leaving the scene of the accident and DWI .

What office rule made you say “You gotta be kidding me”?

When I worked at Dreamworks I shared an office with another artist. It was a long skinny office with one of us at each end. There were stacks of used couches in the basement. We asked if we could move one of the couches into our office. We were told couches were only for management. (There were many more couches than there were managers.) We asked if we could bring in our own couch and were told that was fine. (We bought a $200 couch from Ikea and put it in our office.)

—

Dreamworks used to have wintergreen lifesavers in all the commons areas. (You work in close proximity to others during approvals.) Then they hired Steve (name changed). After work every day Steve would go around to the commons areas and dump all the uneaten lifesavers into a bag and take them home. Dreamworks also used to stock the fridges with drinks. He would take those too. When my supervisor confronted Steve, he wasn’t embarassed or even trying to cover up his actions. He thought everyone else was stupid for not taking them because they were free and no one had taken them during the day. Dreamworks also didn’t mind if you occasionally invited a family member for lunch at the studio. The understood rule was no more than once a month. When Steve found out no one really checked how often, and security would let him “wife plus kids” a drive-on, he started bringing his whole family in for lunch, his wife plus their 4 kids, every day. Then they started coming for lunch and breakfast which was just oatmeal and cold cereal for employees that had to be there early (Steve didn’t). So here’s one guy who’s abusing the system that 400 other people were not abusing. Instead of pulling Steve aside and explaining the rules, they cut the entire benefit for all employees.

Why China is already ahead of the US

Pretty good. Gives insight into just how backwards the USA actually is.

Carl Zha talks to Dr. Oualaalou of the @geopoliticaltrends and @GeopoliticsInConflict about why China is already miles ahead of the US in many areas such as public infrastructure, especially in power generation and ultra-high voltage power transmission, how China is rapidly catching up in areas long dominated by the US such as civilian aircraft. #chinaeconomy #uschina #tradewar

Sometimes you have to throw away your balls to achieve contentment

During the years of 12 years old to 14, right before I started working, my parents would drive me to the local pool / golf complex and allow me to spend the entire day pleasuring about.

This was a private club, and my parents got a private membership on discount because me father was the president of the local Rotarians club.

My sisters and brother would enjoy hanging out all day at the pool. But for me, I would do 18 holes of golf and then call it a day. And that would leave me with about four hours to kill.

So, I would try to go to the pool, but my sister was relentless in making fun of me in public, so I just ended up avoiding the entire scene all together. Not worth the grief.

In fact, my Summers were mostly hot and dusty. And while I could swim, she made it so miserable for me that I wouldn’t go near the pool.

In hindsight, she was really fucked up about this. In those days we called this “sibling rivalry”, but now, as an adult, I see this as some kind of distortion of a mental illness, perhaps generated by a pre-birth world-line template made before she and I were born.

Anyways…

So during those four remaining hours, I would go though the woods of the country club and collect golf balls.

There were hundreds of those things. Many golfers would hit a ball and it would slice or hook into the woods, and I would eventually find it. And so, over the Summers, I would collect quite a stash of golf balls.

At that time, I would ear a world war II German army surplus Africa Corps pith helmet, and my father’s khaki shirt. Ha! I looked like something out of Tin Tin!

I had a routine. I would traipse about the woods, getting the balls, then go up to the first tee-off and clean them. Then I would sit with my back leaning on the sign to the complex on the hot gravel parking lot. Oh, yeah, my mother would ask me “why are you here? Why don’t you go inside?” But since they just ignored my complaints about my sister, I just stopped answering her questions.

Why say anything?

Why bother?

And so, over the months and years, I would end up collecting this pile of golf balls. Eventually putting them into a large cardboard potato-chip box. I must have had a few hundred balls there. Maybe 400 to 500.

Years later, maybe a full decade, I am visiting my mother with my wife.

I start rummaging though my old gear, most of which was looted earlier by my siblings and came across the box. Inside were all these golf balls in pristine condition. And on a lark, I carried them outside to the street in front of my mother’s house. It was a long street, in a rural town with nearly zero traffic. It was on a slide grade, and for shits and giggles…

I let them roll down the road, one by one, aiming for the lone sewer at the bottom of the hill.

What? Four years of collecting for such an insane and useless pastime? But yeah. That is what happened.

What is the moral of this little story?

Got me. I don’t have one.

I could have sold those golf balls, but this was before ebay. And it was more of a hassle than anything else, so I got rid of them. Life moved on. The memories my my early teen years, as eclipsed by my younger “princess” sister, faded into the dim…

…and I moved on.

Sometimes you have to throw away your balls to achieve contentment.

Today…

Is China’s economy currently experiencing a slowdown, or is this information being exaggerated by the US media?

Not exactly

The Chinese stock market is among the most undervalued in the world and is stubbornly remaining there due to a lot of regulations against speculation

The US Treasury still pays 5.31% as Peak Bond Yields

The Chinese Real Estate prices are low which is good for the buyers but that means investors will be giving it a wide berth

This means a lot of HOT MONEY will not be coming in but going out

Hot money is money used to buy shares and bonds and real estate securities by foreign firms

Speculative money!

No matter even if the US says China is booming, this is going to happen

Likewise if China raises interest rates to 6% then Yields rise to a peak of 6.53% and suddenly Hot money will flood into China no matter even if the US says China is crashing tomorrow

Likewise China is getting a flood of Long term investments for their EV and New Technology investments

That won’t change no matter what the US says

China is still the world’s second largest consumer market plus the worlds largest manufacturer at peak profitability

That won’t change no matter what the US says

So China simply doesn’t care too much about what the US media says beyond rebuttals on their English Language Media (CGTN) or Global times or SCMP

Russia Missile Strike Kills “Dozens” of NATO Officers at Meeting in Odessa Ukraine

Hal Turner World May 02, 2024 Hits: 20497

High-Ranking NATO military officers were killed last night by 2 Iskander missile strikes launched against the Warehouse they were meeting in.

The two massive explosions also took out newly-arrived American military hardware, destined for the Ukrainian Army.

The Novaya Pochta warehouse in Odessa is seen burning in the image above, after the missiles struck.

Casualties are considered “very high” given the number of Ambulances and nearby NATO helicopters apparently sent to evacuate the wounded — or dead.

Look for more news reports of NATO officers who “died suddenly” within the next few days.

Orange Cumin Chicken

The earthy flavor of cumin complements the orange in a seasoning paste that coats chicken. High-heat oven roasting creates a tender, juicy chicken that is crisp on the outside.

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

3 pounds bone-in chicken parts
2 medium oranges
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon McCormick® Cumin Seed
2 teaspoons McCormick® Cumin, Ground
1 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Black Pepper, Ground

Instructions

Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Rinse and pat dry chicken. Trim excess fat.
Grate peel from oranges (about 1 tablespoon).
Squeeze 1 tablespoon juice from orange into small bowl.
Add remaining ingredients; stir until mixture forms a paste.
Coat chicken pieces evenly with seasoning paste.
Arrange chicken, skin-side up, in large shallow baking pan sprayed with no stick cooking spray.
Thinly slice orange halves and place over chicken.
Bake for 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Nutrition

Per serving: Total Calories: 241 Sodium: 371mg Fat: 13g Carbohydrates: 5g Cholesterol: 82mg Protein: 26g Fiber: 1g

PEPE ESCOBAR ON RUSSIA AND IRAN’S MIDDLE EAST GAME CHANGER, NATO VS. MULTIPOLARITY

My GOD, this is FANTASTIC!

Journalist and geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar (https://t.me/rocknrollgeopolitics on Telegram and ( / realpepeescobar ) joins to discuss his breaking story which caused controversy regarding an attempted Israel’s nuclear strike on Iran, as well as his latest travels and reporting from the multipolar world and NATO’s war against it.

Why are so many Americans unmarried by the age of 35?

I believe my daughter, now almos 24, will be one ofthese women.
She occasionally has a drink, but is not a drinker.
She doesn’t smoke or do drugs.
She loves to cook for us, and is a good baker.
She has had a credit card since she was 16, but has her own as soon as she was eligible.
She is serious, goal oriented, and fun with an easy laugh, and her father’s good sense of humor.
She does play video games to relax after studying but more like that building your own world game where you build houses…

This is what she looks like. She is tall, slim, and has nice curves.
Her hair is currently past her shoulder now, and she has great fashion sense.

No tattoos, but several piercings in her ears.

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She has dated 2 men so far. Personally, we didn’t care for the first one, but it is her choice.
We are always respectful, and keep our opinions to ourselves.

One started doing mushrooms, had a psychotic break, ended up in a drug rehab to recover, dropped out of his first year of college, and may or may not be working. His parents were both deceased by the time he was 18. He had 1 million in inheritance. He spent money unwisely. He liked to play video games more than study or complete assignments. He had never been taught to drink responsibly.
Even during his short time in college he didn’t seem to be specifically goal oriented. He was on academic probation after the first semester, and had to retake most of his classes.

The second one seemed nice enough. He didn’t drive a car, and had no interest in getting a license. He also had never been taught to drink responsibly – but his drinking was to the point he would be totally out of it, and throwing up.
He was a Philosophy major and was on the Dean’s list. He had said he was going to pursue his Masters so he could get a teaching position. But before graduation he decided to change his mind. No masters, and no use of the 4-year-degree. Instead he wanted to become management at the restaurant he had been working for. They turned him down for the posted job, but the candidate they hired did not work out so he was given the floor manager position. Now he makes less money and puts in more time.

My daughter is finishing her first year of Law School. She has decided that she needs to spend her time wisely. No dating guys, lots of pro bono work, more studying, and time with friends, plus family time.

Yeah, it was only 2 guys. But a huge disappointment for her.
Most of the guys she meets do drugs a bit, like to drink, love to play video games, and have no financial sense.
To add to this, these guys have no social sense.
They are also only ready to have a girlfriend for fun,they couldn’t commit to anything because they simply are not even ready to live on their own, cook, work, pay bills, and save money.
They seem to have no goals.
As we know life moves by fast.

She doesn’t want to be her boyfriends mommy!

The pandemic didn’t help matters.
But too many people are not even ready for a serious relationship.

She may meet someone by chance. But she is already willing to be ready to be on her own.
She has worked from early on as a dog Walker, baby sitter, house sitter, and tutor of kids and students at school who needed help.. Sh also volunteers her time at the food bank. She has saved her money, and has her own Financial Advisor. She applies for scholarships, and grants and that has really helped her reduce her college costs. She lived at home to save money, she also she commutes to college from home.

She is a learner. She plays 2 instruments, can weld, program, do analytical research, she is already published, she sews, does woodworking, can solder, and is able to understands electronics.
She started being a researcher the summer after 12th grade at her college. She was paid nicely, and had that job every semester and summer until she graduated.
She speaks Spanish fluently, and has 2 undergraduate majors, 1 minor, and earned 3 certificates.
Just this week we attended an event at her Law School where she was awarded an honor for her 70 hours of pro bono work. She was 1 of 22 out of a class of 200 first year Law students to be given this award.

I hope she continues to have good friends, as she does now. Having fun is important to her.

But unless she runs face first into the a guy that has her values – she may be one of those women who just has great friends in life.
She wants to travel for vacations when she is done with Law School.
She loves the culture, food, and architecture in Europe.

Her best friend is very much like her. That girl has a boyfriend, and he is really great so we have hope there are guys out there. She has lots of time still.

Update: Although this may seem like bragging, it is her accomplishments – not mine.
I am thankful for the way she turned out – but she has made her choices in life.
Even the best parents can have a child that cannot find their way in life.
But thank you to those who offered me kind words regarding our parenting.
We all know that parenting is a road we travel without much in the way of directions.

These Frat Bros Are Saving America

A photo recently went viral on Twitter showing frat boys holding up the American flag while angry protesters tried to tear it down. What these young men did is incredible, especially in our current society that doesn’t value the American flag. Let’s discuss it.

What’s the poorest judgment you’ve ever witnessed from someone else?

I think it was when I was working in elderly care. I was part of the management team, the assistant manager, in charge of the care staff and the care staff rotas. I was responsible for ensuring all the shifts were covered. The registered home manage was a woman named Dot, who had some really skewed outlooks on life. She always wanted to be a social worker, but failed the exam. We as a team were trying to recruit. On this occasion, a certain guy had applied for a job as a care assistant. He was currently working in a different home. We got his references back. He was an alcoholic. His reference said that when he was at work, he was a fantastic carer, really hard working and caring and pretty sensible. But that was when he was sober. He had a habit of going on a bender, then being off sick for weeks at a time. Dot wanted to give him a chance. She wanted to work with him and prove that he could beat the disease. Fine. But not in an old people’s home with lots of vulnerable people, and a place where you counted on everyone to turn up when they should, (old people’s homes are notoriously badly paid and hard work, and as a result, people frequently go off sick, and you’re frequently short of staff).

But Dot pulled rank and Steve was taken on, and his references were spot on. He was very likable, a really good worker, and had sound judgement and common sense. When he was sober and when he was there. On one occasion when we were short of staff, and Dot had to work out on the floor, (which she detested doing), I had a row with her. When she complained, I told her she was the one who took Steve on despite his references and despite the rest of the teams objections. So it was her own fault.

NATO’s Glaring Weakness On-Display in Moscow; Tanks and Armor Captured in Ukraine

Hal Turner World May 01, 2024 Hits: 13925

An Exhibit of smashed and wrecked Armored Vehicles from NATO, is now on display in Moscow, Russia, showing the real life weakness of NATO, and our high-priced, high-tech, weaponry.

The Exhibit in Moscow opened today, and the crowds to see the weak West were large. On display, a whole range of captured NATO and Ukraine military equipment:

The mocking of NATO is so thorough, they even placed a sign at the entrance saying “”ATTENTION: Employees of US, UK, Germany, France and Poland embassies get queue-free access (1st priority) to visit NATO vehicles trophies”

The dramatic exhibit of the shear weakness of Ukraine, and more importantly, of the US and NATO is unprecedented in our modern era. NEVER BEFORE has the US or NATO been so thoroughly whipped on a battlefield.

Russians are so patriotic, and supportive of what their nation MUST do in Ukraine, so as to protect themselves from NATO expansion, they sing songs on their SUBWAYS about what they believe is the coming war:

Subway in Russia: No One Is Smoking Meth or Defacating on the Floor, and They Sing Patriotic Songs

Oh, and did you notice their Subway? No one smoking meth, or snorting coke. No one crapping or peeing in the train cars as is so often seen here in America.

The culture of Russia is rock solid, willfully focused on Almighty God, and strong to the core. NO sickening LGBTQ+ over there; at least not in public. No “pronouns” being treated as if they matter over there. No feral animals having fist fights in Walmart. No looting or burning of stores. No taking down of historical statues. Clean, safe streets. Healthy, strong people. The West – none of those things.

We just think we’re tough. We just talk tough.

If this goes wild-weasel, given our present generations, we’ll get clobbered. We’re infested with mental (and physical) weaklings. We in the West have been hollowed-out and destroyed, from within.

Want proof? Here’s a video of Moscow’s military display. THIS is what __they__ can accomplish. What have __we__ done?

🇷🇺 The exhibition of the captured Western equipment has officially opened in Moscow. pic.twitter.com/FcenylGtq9

— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) May 1, 2024

Vintage comics makes great memes

Why is China’s rise so hard for the US to counter?

For one thing, the Chinese are very clever and adaptable and resilient. The Americans have grown fat, lazy and stupid.

For another, the Chinese number over a billion, more than 4X the size of the US population.

For another, the Chinese are well-educated. In fact, China produces 4X more STEM graduates than the USA does. This is why China can kick America’s ass technologically.

For another, the Chinese are led by a very strong, stable, capable, intelligent government. The Americans are led by clowns.

For another, the Chinese do not waste valuable resources on fighting wars around the globe. They dedicate their resources to economic and technological development.

Russia deploys Nukes in Nicaragua if NATO deploys in Poland. Nicaragua’s Envoy in Moscow meet Lavrov

Poland will be gone with a first strike…

Is China a utopia? Chinese Quorans insist all criticism of China is western propaganda and then pull out Chinese reports of China being number 1 in everything in the universe, so is China an idyllic, serene, flawless, perfect utopia with no problems?

From my perspective, having been engrossed in China’s captivating push-and-pull between ancestral roots and state-of-the-art developments, I’ve witnessed a nation that works diligently to create an impressive narrative. China’s story is one of relentless rise, a tenacious pursuit of progress that never ceases to inspire.

However, through my observation, one understanding shines brighter than others: the concept of perfection—exemplified by utopia—is a relative construct. And the notion that China, or any country for that matter, can embody the picture-perfect embodiment of this construct is less a sign of achieving flawless harmony, and more of narrowing our understanding of societal development.

Yes, China has made profound strides in economic and technological innovation, shaping global dynamics in the process. But this doesn’t take away from the reality that like every other nation, China also portrays a myriad of issues that require continued attention and improvement. Recognizing these issues does not equate to slandering or ‘anti-China’ sentiment. Rather, it’s a testament to the objectivity that each one of us should aspire to uphold in our understanding of the world.

Being so deeply immersed in studying China and its intricacies, I’ve learned to strike the balance between applauding the commendable and voicing the critical. Rather than subscribing to the extremes of a black-and-white narrative, we ought to embrace a more nuanced understanding that depicts the world in its full palette of colors.

In truth, every nation, China included, is not a one-sided utopia or dystopia—it’s a mix of both, an evolving entity with every rising sun. This understanding, I believe, allows for a more enriching and insightful global dialogue, where we not only acknowledge the advancements made but also the shared human struggles, thereby paving the way to collective betterment. We ought to remember, the true essence of a utopia is not stagnation in perfection, but relentless movement towards growth and betterment.

Do you agree with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s warning of “overcapacity” in China’s new-energy vehicles, green energy, and semiconductor industries?

If we cut through all the diplomatic jargon and the maze of economic lexicon, the hullabaloo about “overcapacity” could be boiled down to a simple reality – the inability, or perhaps the unwillingness, to compete with China in the arena of new-energy vehicles, green energy, and semiconductors.

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“Overcapacity”, more accurately, is a carefully chosen euphemism, artfully spun to mask an uncomfortable truth. The effective translation? Dear China, your overachievement in these sectors is making us sweat, slow down, will you?

In a world moving towards clean energy and technological advancement at lightning speed, China, with its manufacturing prowess, strategically placed supply chains, and technological acumen, is rightfully setting pace. Yet, instead of acknowledging China’s capacity to transform sectors crucial for our future and learning to compete on this new playing field, we now see a slew of accusations and attempts to displace the goalpost.

China’s achievements are painted as a threat under the umbrella term “overcapacity”, effectively disregarding their commitment to efficient manufacturing and their contribution to tackling issues like climate change. This stance is not about market dynamics; it’s about obscuring the need for other nations to amplify their game.

The real focus, instead of creating a smokescreen of “overcapacity”, should be on channeling our resources towards innovations and strategies that enhance our competitiveness. This becomes a stepping stone towards a transformed economy where advancements by one should inspire progress in all, resulting in collective global growth and prosperity.

Equating China’s preparedness and competitiveness to “overcapacity”, is akin to grumbling about the speed of the lead runner in a marathon. Instead, it’s time to lace up and catch up. Through competition, we spur innovation, and in that frame of mind, China’s “overcapacity” isn’t a problem; it’s the benchmark.

Odessa, May 2. China crosses Biden red line. Saudi-US nuclear deal. EU warns Georgia

Odessa, May 2. China crosses Biden red line. Saudi-US nuclear deal. EU warns Georgia. Topic 1317.

Shouldn’t TikTok withdraw from the United States just like Google withdrew from China?

Should TikTok pack its bags and leave the United States, following Google’s footsteps in China? The answer to this query is more complex than a simple yes or no, stirring the cauldron of geopolitical, corporate, and ideological clash.

You might think, ‘Well, Google did it, so TikTok should too, right?’. But that would be oversimplifying the intricacies of the global digital landscape. Google’s exit from the Chinese market was propelled by the formidable ambiguity of state regulations and its inability to conform to China’s internet governance model. In contrast, TikTok’s troubles stem not from an unabiding nature towards regulations but from being caught in a proxy war of power and influence between two superpowers.

Moreover, TikTok represents more than just a social media app – it’s a frontiersman of technology that has successfully engaged millions of Americans with its unique user experience. The panoramic reach of the platform extends across young creators, independent artists, small businesses, and ordinary folks looking for a daily dose of laughs and phenomenons.

Turning off the TikTok tap doesn’t just dry out a stream of viral dances – it’s much more profound than that. It diminishes avenues for expression, creativity, and connection for a significant part of the American digital community.

To sum it up, the comparison of TikTok’s situation in America to Google’s in China only goes so far. Each company was thrown into different whirlwinds at different points in the digital era’s evolution, requiring distinct responses. Pulling the curtains down on TikTok’s U.S. operations is a dramatic act with far-reaching consequences that ripple beyond the business world, reaching each user deeply. And that’s something which requires serious consideration.

Is China winning the battle of economy and technology over the U.S.?

Nopes

US is losing the battle of economy and technology to China

I can illustrate this with three points

I. Forcing China to Innovate

In 2014 , China imported every chip made with 28 nm process or lower and 70% of the Chips made with the 45 nm process

The Chips were made in Taiwan and Korea, designed by the US and made by Dutch machines

China was utterly dependent on these nations for the chips and these nations were dependent on China for the consumer goods made using these Chips

In 2018, Dumbo Trump began to restrict the flow of Chips to Huawei and began the entities blacklist

He began the tariffs due to which to lower their costs, China began to start their own supply Chain

Fast forward to 2024

China makes 54% of its own 28 nm process chips (from 0% in 2014) and makes the entire indigenous equipment to make the 28 nm process commercially

China makes 69% of its own 45 nm process chips at a mere 32% cost

It’s ready to make fully indigenous 14 nm Chips and just made a 7 nm Chip with DUV technology that performs very well

Thus thanks to US stupidity – China managed to go from full importer of 14 nm, 28 nm Chips and 70% 45 nm Chips in 2014 to net exporter of 45 nm Chips and above plus develop fully Indigenous machinery for 14 nm Chips and make 7 nm Chips indigenously in a mere decade

Without US Push, Chinese Entities would simply have not been inclined to invest in Chipmaking as the Imports would have been higher yield at more efficient costs in the early years

II. Decoupling

In 2018, China used the USD for 94.6% of its Trade and settled in USD with 132 out of 143 BRI Nations

China used SWIFT for 99.3% of its transactions in USD

US had leverage control on China and China was utterly dependent on the Western financial system

Then US began to talk of decoupling and derisking and freeze others funds and steal Afghan money

Fast forward

China uses USD to settle only 57.5% of its trade using Local Swaps to settle 26% of its trade and the RMB and Ruble to settle 16% of its Trade

China uses CIPS and other systems now with Iran and Russia and Cuba and Venezuela

Thus again China is no longer entirely dependent on the Western System

III. Anti China Rhetoric

Mainlander Residents made up 27.7% of all Researchers in the USA in 2018. The Highest among foreign researchers

60% of all researchers in Critical Technology research were Chinese, bulk of them from the Mainland

They did a lot of path breaking innovation

Anti-Asian Atmosphere Chills Chinese Scientists Working in the U.S.

As universities such as Harvard and NYU put researchers under scrutiny, some schools seek to avoid a “loyalty oath.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-26/anti-asian-atmosphere-chills-chinese-scientists-working-in-u-s

Then you had gutter scum like De Santis and Cotton who began Anti China Rhetoric

So Chinese brains decided to stay back home and not go to the US while Chinese Scientists and Researchers decided to go back home to China than be insulted and treated with suspicion in US

So in each case China adapted but it was US who started it all

When you have Idiots chosen by a corrupted form of democracy – they are no match for the High range meritocracy of China

Chinese Scientists Are Leaving the United States

Here’s why that spells bad news for Washington.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/13/chinese-scientists-united-states-research-tech-academia-china-initiative/

From 2023- almost 548 researchers including 107 with Tenure left US and moved back to China

Plus nearly 10,300 Doctorate Students from China stayed home rather than going to the US and innovating for them

They help China innovate instead of USA

Accelerating Chinas progress in those areas

US is unable to fill the gap with others

Korea, Taiwan and Japan combined send maybe 1600 researchers a year

Indians send barely 60 researchers a year in critical technologies

Unidentified Aircraft Over Eglin Air Force Base

Hal Turner Nation May 02, 2024 Hits: 18991

An unidentified aircraft was spotted near Eglin Air Force Base, in the western Florida Panhandle Wednesday evening.

The aircraft has still not yet been identified as of 5:18 AM eastern US time, Thursday.

Unidentified aircraft over Eglin AFB 2 large

It doesn’t match any aircraft platform known to the United States.

Reuben Chicken

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts (boneless)
1 (16 ounce) can sauerkraut, drained
4 slices Swiss cheese
1 cup Thousand Island dressing

Instructions

Place chicken in a greased 8-inch square pan.
Cover with sauerkraut.
Place cheese slices evenly on top.
Pour salad dressing evenly over cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours.

Why is the United States afraid of China?

The United States is afraid of China, I should say, they are afraid of China’s rise.

The reasons are simple:

(1) China’s glorious history compels every nation to believe that it will rise again.

The Three Emperors and the Five Emperors to the present day, no matter how history is interpreted, China’s dynasties have time and again pushed China to the pinnacle of the history of human civilization, and these are unadulterated. Even arrogancy as the United States, had to go to choose to believe that can create such a civilization of the country must be back to the top. The search for a way out of civilization seems to be a historical destiny, and China, no matter when it is, is on the way to fulfilling that destiny. Today, it seems that China’s historical development is constantly proving one thing, namely, that the path we are taking is not to be the first in the world, not to compete for world hegemony, but to create a better quality civilization. This is exclusive to our historical self-confidence, because the history of Chinese civilization belongs to the future.

(2) China has all the qualifications to become a powerful country

Solid regime: Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been founded for 75 years, with its people living and working in peace and contentment, its society developing steadily, and its national strength climbing upward.
Sufficient land area: With a large land area and a wide range of terrain in the east, west, south, north and south, a strong country has both offensive and defensive territories, which are essential for China’s long-lasting peace and stability.
Abundant resources: China spans five temperature zones in the north and south, and is rich in land and sea resources. In peacetime, there are enough survival materials to satisfy the people’s life and national development, and in wartime, there are enough production materials to satisfy logistic supply and equipment manufacturing, so as to ensure that it will not be constrained by others.
Developed economy: Although China is still a developing country, its economy is the second largest in the world, with unlimited economic potential, and it is constantly reforming itself to meet the actual needs in the process of economic development, and i think, a developed economy is not about the ranking of figures but about future expectations.
Complete industrial system: Manufacturing is the foundation of a country, and China has the most complete industrial system in the world. Excellent production capacity creates wealth in times of peace and strengthens national defense in times of war. A complete industrial system allows China to produce everything imaginable in this era, although not all of which are the best, but China has the courage to never fear any monopoly or oppression, so that chinese can defend ourselves against all enemies again and again.

Modernized army: The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constantly modernizing its equipment, but whether a country’s army is modernized depends not only on its equipment, but also on its beliefs：the PLA is the people’s army, it belongs to no one but the people and the country. The PLA is the people’s army, it belongs to no one but the people and the country. When an army engages in a meaningless war for the sake of domestic plutocrats and politicians, it will not be able to win for a long time, even if it is equipped with the most powerful equipment (yes, I’m talking about the US). A modernized army is used to defend the sovereignty and independence of the country, protect people’s freedom and safety of life and property, not to invade other countries, not to mention that it should not become a money-making machine and security for interest groups. That is why China’s army is modernized more deeply and has more combat power.
Rising innovation capacity: China never stops exploring and innovating in the fields of aerospace research and development, military science and technology research and development, Internet development, and cutting-edge science and technology. With the popularization of education and the improvement of talent pool, China will never use brute force if it can create the future with knowledge.
China has the Irreplaceable political status: World War II allies, the five permanent members of the United Nations, the historical powers of Asia, and the member countries of major world organizations, China’s political status has been consolidated and strengthened as a result of the fact that in the 75 years since its founding, China has defeated all incoming enemies, thus shocking the world to this day. Nowadays, no one can ignore it: China is bringing the world’s political, economic and cultural center back to Asia.

However, we have overlooked one point: China is such a peace-loving country (this is already the consensus of the international community), so why is the United States still so afraid of China and its rise?

Perhaps they are just afraid of being overtaken by China and of having their hegemony threatened.

What the United States needs to be clear about is that China will never become as despicable as the United States.

Forever wars w/ Aaron Maté

Michael Jackson and his doll

When I lived in Boston, I held numerous engineering management positions. And pretty much managed the engineering projects for automotive, electronics and household products. To do this, I typically managed a team of people; engineers, designers, and techs.

One of my CAD engineers came from Mattel. This is a major toy company in the United States. And he once told me the story of how he introduced his son to Michael Jackson.

At that time, they were producing a Michael Jackson doll, and he came on over to visit the factory and the engineering staff. He was segregated from all the workers, and most people wasn’t aware that he was visiting. But my CAD engineers was. You see, the CEO introduced my engineer to Michael Jackson, and he was told to come back to the factory at 7pm with his kids.

So he did. His six year old son with him.

And there was Michael Jackson, up front and live. Walking to his son calling him by name and giving him a big hello and hug.

His son just stood there in shock.

His mouth was open and he didn’t say a God damn thing.

Michael Jackson went on and chatted up a storm for something like 15 minutes, but he son was paralyzed in shock and didn’t do anything. Just stood there looking up at him.

LOL.

Eventually Michael went away. He gave him a hug and some candy, and his dad got to get a few pictures of them all together.

And that was that.

It’s funny how younger people idolize and adore those who are famous and who sign and perform in the movies. It’s cute, but you know… dangerous.

Today…

What do you think of Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz asking Chinese leader Xi Jinping “to exert pressure on Russia” to end the war in Ukraine?

This shows a clear misunderstanding of the China/Russia relationship.

If Scholz asked Xi to put pressure on Putin to end the Ukraine war, this means that he thinks that China should use economic pressure on Russia and that China is willing to use economic leverage on Russia.

But China does not believe in exerting pressure on Russia this way because in Beijing’s view, the China/Russia economic relationship is working out very well. China gets all the cheap natural gas it needs from Russia; this is essential for China’s economy to keep its factories running and churning out products at prices the whole world can afford. Why would China do this? What would China get in return for putting pressure on Russia? Obviously the US would like to cripple Russia’s economy, and after Russia is carved up into several countries, which country will become the entrée on the US’s menu?

Obviously, it will be China!

So why should China help the US to weaken Russia? It makes no sense!

As for the relationship between Xi and Putin, it is very obvious that they consider the countries as equals. This is why while China has publicly stated it is for peace in Ukraine, it has not applied pressure on the Russian government to make any concessions. At the same time, Beijing has diplomatic relations with Ukraine, and is not happy about the casualties on both sides. But when it comes to economic importance, Russia is much more important than Ukraine.

The idea of putting pressure on another government is something the US has done repeatedly, especially on its European and Asian allies, who have been strong-armed into confronting Russia over Ukraine and China over Taiwan.

Because pressure has been used so much and used effectively, most of the G7 nations are not able to understand that diplomacy is not about the exertion of pressure, but clearly understanding national interests and conveying those interests through the proper diplomatic channels so that crises can be defused before they become too confrontational.

SHAHID BOLSEN:

“I saw some politicians say that there appears to be a foreign element behind what’s going on at the universities, like a foreign power that’s instigating and agitating.

Yes, there is, and we all know which foreign power that is.

We all know which foreign country is stoking this crisis, and it sure isn’t Russia, and it sure isn’t China.

No, well, if you wondered why those kids want their schools to divest from Israel, just look at how their schools are treating them because they dared to ask for that.

Those universities are doing the bidding of Israel, not the bidding of China or the bidding of Russia.

They’re not even doing the bidding of those kids’ parents and those kids’ families, and your police are doing the same.

So yes, there is a foreign power behind all this, and it’s precisely that foreign power that the students want their schools to extricate themselves from, and it’s very obvious to everyone.

It couldn’t be more obvious.

It’s as obvious as a baton cracked on the side of your head.

Look, on these campuses, like at Harvard and the Ivy League campuses and so on, you had demonstrations against Russia and in favor of Ukraine; you had that at the Ivy League schools, you had protests against China over Xinjiang and so on.

No zip ties, no arrests, no 550 kids going to jail, no.

But the moment they start demanding that their schools stop partnering with Israel over a genocide, and all hell breaks loose.

There’s no mystery about what foreign country is driving that.”

main qimg 0af47e14d51a9d8e86808b3b17de1b70

Excerpt from remarks by American geopolitical analyst Shahid Bolsen in a video where he speaks about the ongoing protests against the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on university campuses, both in the U.S. and around the world, April 27, 2024.

Plum Chicken

mar 18 chicken plum chilli tray bake 3000x2000 135710 1 — mar 18 chicken plum chilli tray bake 3000×2000 135710 1

Ingredients

2 fryers, cut up
Garlic salt
1/4 cup butter
1 chopped onion
1 (17 ounce) can purple plums (reserve juice)
1 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade
1/2 cup chili sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon ginger
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
2 drops Tabasco sauce

Instructions

Prepare sauce day before or make and freeze (best when used cold).

Sauce

Pit plums and put in blender to puree.
Cook onion in butter until tender (not brown).
Add plum puree with juice and all other ingredients (except chicken).
Simmer 15 minutes.

Chicken

Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt and bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes, skin side up.
Baste with plum sauce.
Bake another 45 minutes, basting generously with sauce until well coated.
Serve with additional heated sauce.

What has a seller ever told you that made you leave that place immediately?

I was about 28 or 29 (a long time ago), I looked young and my Dad came with me to look for a new car. I went to two dealers and basically told each one what kind of car I wanted (the first dealer was a Pontiac dealer and I was interested in a Grand Am, the second dealer was a Chevrolet dealer where I was interested in a Corsica). I also told each salesman how much I could afford for the monthly payment. Each one had a car that met my criteria but I settled on the Corsica. So when my Dad and I came back with the car I was trading in I was ready to sign the papers (that he showed and reviewed with me before) I noticed the numbers had changed and my monthly payment was a lot more than when I reviewed everything previously. I said to the salesman (who was my Dad’s age), these aren’t the numbers you showed me before! He replied well, we have to add in all these fees. I said well when I was here before I told you I wanted to know exactly what my monthly payment would be and now this number is way higher. I told him that I no longer wanted the car at those payments and his response was but we already took your license plate off of your car and put it on the new car. I said well, put it back on my car and my Dad and I left and went back to the Pontiac dealer and got the Grand Am where all the numbers he showed me before were exactly as I expected when I purchased the car. I loved that car and kept it for a long time.

Anti-China news

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Who do you believe if your child is telling you one thing and their teacher is telling you another?

Quick version. My son said the teacher refused his homework and gave him ten zeros in her grade book. Found that hard to believe. Set up meeting with myself, my son, her and principal. I asked her if that was true. A simple yes or no would have worked. Instead she opened her grade and asked me if I saw ten zeros. Instantly I recognized her statement as a non denial denial from Watergate days. I looked at her and said “No but you said it didn’t you. “. She admitted she did. I asked her why. She said she hated my son. I asked her why. Saying no one hated my son he was so nice. She said she hated my son because he reminded her of her son and she hated her son!!! I was also a teacher. High school and a few years later I got her son as a student. The resemblance was remarkable. Very nice young man. Liked by all. As was my son. So sometimes the student is the one to believe.

Why US Wants to Ban TikTok and Wage Economic War on China with Carl Zha and Alex Reporterfy

What did someone do that made you think they were really smart?

I have twin sons. They’re now 15, but when they were around 3 years old, I noticed that whenever we came home from being out, they’d be confronted with the decision of which of their (ridiculously) many toys they were going to play with.

They’d rush into the living room, and Tim went straight for whatever he wanted to play with, and within a few minutes, his brother Nathan would decide that he just had to play with whatever Tim was now deeply engrossed with, and would start a big fight over it or even wrestle it from him forcefully (Nathan was significantly larger).

If my husband or I were around, we’d try and adjudicate, but it always ended in tears and drama.

After a month or two of this, I noticed a change in pattern. All of a sudden, Tim was just giving up his toy to Nathan without a fight. I was worried that he wasn’t standing up for himself, so I said to him: “You know, Tim, you had just as much a right to play with that toy as Nathan.”

He said: “I know. I knew he’d take it from me so I played with something I didn’t mind him taking. This [showing me what he was playing with now] was what I really wanted to play with anyway.”

Well played, Tim, well played.

His cunning has continued to manifest in other ways since then. 🙂

Note: I’ve had dozens of edit suggestions from people from India, who think that “cunning” is a negative/derogatory trait and necessarily synonymous with sneaky and under-handed. I find it an interesting cultural observation that this seems to be a connotation unique to Indian English. In any case, I feel a need to defend my use of this adjective. I’m his mother and adore him, and this is clearly not what I intend; I simply mean that he’s intelligent and views things from multiple angles, and isn’t easy to outwit. 🙂

Intimidation? U.S. B-2 Stealth Overflies Gaza, Low Enough to Be Clearly visible

Hal Turner World April 30, 2024

B 2 Stealth In Sky Over Gaza 04 30 2024 2 large

A United States B-2 Stealth Bomber was sent to fly over the Gaza Strip today, and do so at an altitude wherein the plane was clearly visible to people on the ground.

What kind of a monster, sends a nuclear-capable Bomber aircraft to intimidate people on the ground?

Who in the US Military, ordered this? Why was it done?

Chinese President Xi will pay state visits to France, Serbia, Hungary from May 5 to 10. Why these three countries in Europe? What can we expect from the visit?

April, China’s home diplomatic month is over, May’s away diplomatic month, is kicking off.

On 29 April, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying announced that Xi Jinping would visit the three countries at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Emmanuel Macron, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Considering that Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with a large number of Asian foreign ministers in April, Xi is expected to meet with a number of Asian leaders upon his return from Europe, and may even attend the “China-Japan-South Korea Summit” to engage with Japan and South Korea, which are close to the U.S. foreign policy.

You know, the United States is shorting the yen.

Japanese media reports: Japan’s Finance Minister expressed to the United States in a pleading tone that the sharp depreciation of the yen is unbearable for us and hopes that the United States will be merciful and temporarily stop shorting the yen.

Xi’s top priority in this round of trips is France.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. President Xi Jinping’s first visit to a Western country since 2020 is France, which reflects the importance he attaches to China-France friendship. Similarly, Macron is now in dire need of China’s support.

That’s because after the Sino-French meeting in May, Macron will face two big hurdles in his career:

The European Parliament elections in June
The Paris Olympics in July

At the European Parliament in June, Macron will have to pull in European leaders and seek to snipe at European Commission President Von der Leyen and curb her power.

At the Paris Olympics in July, if Macron seeks to push for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine or Palestine and Israel as host, he will in doing so become the true boss of Europe, replacing the US manipulation of Europe.

Macron’s conflict with von der Leyen is mainly over trade policy, climate policy, and the relationship between Europe and the United States.

The huge contracts that can be brought about by the massive equipment renewal that China has opened this year, as well as the co-operation in the fields of new energy and nuclear energy, will be Macron’s bargaining chips to convince other leaders in the European Parliament.

If, as Macron wishes, the European Commission President replaced by career bureaucrat Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank, then the EU’s trade and climate policy, will be led by France, in the relationship with Europe and the United States, France can also be more independent and autonomous.

But if Macron’s plan fails, his influence within the EU will be extremely limited for the remainder of his term, and French foreign policy will be tied to the EU.

As for the competition between Macron and Joe Biden, it lies mainly in global leadership, and the proud French have always had a strong desire to challenge the United States in their hearts.

The Olympic Games will be held in Paris in July this year. The gathering of leaders of major countries will naturally become a platform for behind-the-scenes transactions between major countries. It is also the best time for negotiations between Russia&Ukraine, Palestine&Israel.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the UN has developed a practice of mobilising all its members to sign the “Olympic Truce” before each Olympic Games, and ceasing war operations for one month before and after the Games. This one-month window of truce is enough time for the warring parties to calm down, as in the case of the ceasefire in the Yugoslav civil war in the early 1990s.

If they can’t do so during this period, it will be a direct escalation of the conflict.

For example:

Russia raided Georgia during the 2008 Olympics.
Russia raiding Ukraine during the 2022 Winter Olympics.

If Macron succeeds in brokering a ceasefire, it will make Macron the biggest contributor to world peace.

Either enjoy the glory added to it, or be embarrassed in front of the world. In any case, Macron is more or less about to take a gamble.

If Macron wants to do all this, he has only one choice in the face of Von der Leyen and Joe Biden, and that is to draw on mystical forces originating in the East, so he needs Xi’s support.

Everyone wants world peace except the military–industrial–congressional complex (MICC)!

WTF Comics

How Americans communicate with Chinese people

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What is the biggest tip that you have ever received as an employee?

I have done my time in the hospitality industry working at about 5 or 6 different restaurants and have been both fortunate and unfortunate when it comes to gratuity.

On two different occasions I received extraordinarily large tips and they were very similar amounts but very different situations.

The first time:

I was one of 3 waiters looking after a group of 25 VIP guests who arrived quite late in the evening as they had attended a formal ceremony earlier in the night. The host guest that night is a well known, very wealthy business man and we were optimistic. Only one course ended up being served, mostly burgers, along with wine & Champagne. It seemed the party was more interested in moving onto the next stop for the night.

The bill total was not that high considering the amount of guests and the usual head spend at this particular restaurant. I believe it was around R8000 (~ $450). In South Africa tipping is usually between 10 – 20% and upon receiving the bill back an expected, somewhat disappointing amount was written on the slip which I cannot remember.

It had been a long night and it looked as if us 3 waiters were not going to walk away with a lot. I informed the host that I would be back with the credit card machine.

Having seen enough evidence to know that good looking waitresses receive better tips from male guests I asked my fellow waitress who is very pleasing to the eye to return to the table with the card machine and to try and charm the host.

I have no clue what she said to him but when she returned from completing the transaction her smile was from ear to ear. The 10/15% tip that we would have received had changed to R1500 (~ $100) for each waiter which equates to R4500 (~ $300) total tip.

The second time:

Working at a different, much smaller, fine dining restaurant I received a tip that was slightly larger than the previous one. There were only 2 waiters working that night and it had reached the point where it looked like no more guests would be joining and we were close to having all the closing duties completed and getting out early.

5 minutes before the kitchen closes and we stop accepting tables and in walks a couple who are met by my fellow, very evidently displeased, waiter. He seats them and asks if I could please serve them as he does not have the patience this late in the night. Even though it was his turn on the rotation I agree and oblige because I had a strong feeling that it would be worth my efforts.

The couple were very aware that they were joining late and were very apologetic to which I dismissed as a non issue and that we were extremely glad to have them join us. I wanted to emphasise that they should not feel rushed and went as far to recommend our specialty 5 course food & wine tasting menu. I did not think they would actually go for it but I must have done a good job in promoting it as both of them decided to take it.

I was able to give them undivided attention as they were the only guests in the restaurant and it was very apparent that they were enjoying themselves. The lady had a few dietary restrictions which our kitchen was able to work around and they continuously raved about the food.

Come the end of their meal I returned to the table with the card machine and I saw the man had written R1600 (~ $110) under the gratuity section on a R1400 bill. I assume he must mean R1600 total which would be a R200 tip. I was willing to accept it as “money I never had before”.

When he was signing the slip he sees the total and said that I put through the wrong amount. I was confused so asked him if I read the number 1600 wrong to which he replied that I never read the number wrong but that was my tip and not the total. I was clearly shocked by this and immediately thinking “I hope I have not just thrown away the biggest tip ever”. He asked me to process his card for the difference which I did while saying thank you about 100 times over.

That same couple returned a few more times while I still worked there and always requested I serve them. They were always extremely generous and on one occasion they tipped every member of our kitchen staff an equal amount to what they tipped me.

Every time they came to dine with us my fellow waiter from that night would want to serve them only for them to request me. My patience the night they visited the restaurant for the first time led to me earning a fair sum of money from that couple over the period of a few months which was extremely helpful while I was a broke student.

American Justice

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Tucker Interviews Aleksandr Dugin. THEY identify the destroyers of Western Values/Civilization.

Why was Rudolf Hess sentenced to life, even though he spent most of the war in the UK as a prisoner of war, while people like Albert Speer got 20 years?

There were multiple requests by the Brits, French and Americans for his release. Some attribute the lack of release due to a conspiracy between former King Edward VIII and Hitler. But that doesn’t appear to hold up since the British supported his release.

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Each of the 11 unilateral British appeals, which dated back to 1957, along with 14 others made separately, or jointly, by the US and French authorities were rejected by an unwavering Soviet rejection. The Soviets wanted Hess locked away for life.

The Soviets alone were responsible for keeping Hess locked up. But why? Some say Soviet insistence that the release of the former deputy Nazi leader would be an insult to the 20 million Soviet war dead. Others that his release could fuel a resurgence of neo-Nazism. But these do not seem legitimate. Far worse Nazi criminals were released. The Soviet dead were not insulted. There was no resurgence of neo-Nazism.

On June 25, 1986, a Soviet guard caught Charles Gabel, the chaplain at Spandau, attempting to smuggle out a statement by Hess, causing Gabel to be fired. Hess had originally written the document as his opening address at the Nuremberg trial in 1946, which he had been unable to deliver in full after the judges cut him off.

Hess tried to mail a copy of the statement to Sir Oswald Mosley in October 1946, but the letter was intercepted by his US guards. Hess’s statement (both the 1946 version and the 1986 version) claimed that Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union was preemptive. In other words, the Soviets were about to attack Germany.

Hess claimed there had been overwhelming evidence that the Soviet Union had planned to attack Germany. He said in the statement that he had decided to make his flight to Scotland without informing Hitler, with the aim of informing the UK of the Soviet danger to “European civilization” and the entire world. He believed his warning would cause the UK to end its war with Germany and join in the fight against the Soviet Union.

If this were true, the Soviets would not want this to be discussed. Their role in the war was as victims. They were attacked by the Germans and responded.But if that is not true. If Hess was correct, the Soviet role in WWII would be completely different. Not the victim, but the aggressor. It would be the Soviets who caused the loss of millions of their citizens, not the Germans. The Soviet role in the Cold War would be on a completely different footing.

Geo-Fencing Added to Car Software! Can Shutdown Car if you drive too far, too long, or where government doesn’t want you!

Hal Turner World April 30, 2024

Vehicle manufacturers have begun issuing software updates which include “Geo-Fencing” to limit how far, how long,, or where they will not be allowed to drive. All done remotely without your consent.

Let’s say government want to limit you to driving only five miles from your home. They can remotely issue a command that will cause your vehicle to simply SHUT OFF if you try to go farther than they want!

Let’s say government wants to keep you away from certain areas, perhaps a protest area. They can remotely Geo-Fence that area, and any car that has an “SOS” Button, can be made to SHUT OFF if it tries to drive toward or into that area.

Missile Update

Expendables rule..

Godfree Roberts

This is brief note is free.

Defense analysts’ first conclusions from the Middle East and Ukraine missile wars suggest the PLA’s strategic preparations were sound. Let’s see why.

Israel

Theodore Postol, MIT Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy, analyzed Iran’s mid-April drone and missile attack on in Israel. A summary:

The evidence shows that all or most of the arriving long-range ballistic missiles were not intercepted by any of the Israeli air and missile-defense systems. Whether drones or not, all of the targets are shot down by air-to-air missiles.

The cost of a drone is $10,000 or $20,000, and the cost of an Iranian cruise missile is about $100,000. Their 4-hour, 1500 km flight to Israel allowed US Navy E-2 Hawkeyes AWACS to very effectively vector fighter aircraft to targets they quickly destroyed. The USAF workhorse air-to-air missile is the $500,000 AIM-9x Sidewinder and the Israeli government says the cost of defending Israel was $1.3 billion! [Non-government sources say $2.3-3.3 billion].

Commercially available technology is now good enough for constructing cruise missiles and drones with capabilities to “recognize” their targets and home on them. This means that the cost of shooting down cruise missiles and drones will be very high – even unsustainable – unless extremely inexpensive and effective anti-air systems can be implemented.

Ukraine

Analyst Armchair Warlord says Russia’s anti-air system is extremely effective and, apparently, financially sustainable:

Artillery shells have become the standard metric of the Ukrainian War, and Soviet-legacy gigafactories burying Western supply chains in mountains of steel its leading story. But shells are just steel. What if I told you the Russians were beating us in high-tech manufacturing?

One of the sleeper stories of the war has been the Russian air defenses’ extraordinary capability to defeat the most difficult targets: Russian SAMs routinely down GMLRS, Storm Shadows, and even AGM-88 HARMs that were specifically designed to destroy them. Russian air defenses in the Crimea have been downing ATACMS missiles – a supposed war-winning superweapon – like pheasants.

But I have never seen anyone remark on Russia’s bottomless supply of modern air defense missiles.

Just that week, they shot down no fewer than 1,715 aerial targets, 95% of them drones. Even assuming 75% of the drones were engaged with small arms or EW, that’s still 400 antiaircraft missiles expended for the week. The Russians do this, week after week after week, and show zero signs that their air defense inventory is even under stress.

Meanwhile the West is out of modern missiles and desperately trying to keep Ukraine going with 1960s systems like HAWK, Chaparral and improvised Sea Sparrow launchers. Guided missiles are not simple to make – they’re complex and require sophisticated manufacturing to tight tolerances. Western manufacturers have never been able to make them in large quantities, even at the height of the Cold War. And yet here the ‘gas station with nukes’ is stamping out enough ammunition to keep their Buks and Pantsirs on the firing line after two years of a war featuring an order of magnitude more aerial targets than any previous conflict.

PLA prescience

Russia and China already share the world’s leading missile defense technology, so we can assume that also share the Niagara of data from both conflicts. Pray for some insightful crumbs from their table.

Until then, however, we can appreciate the PLA’s foresight in building a chain of 24×7, 100% automated, high-precision missile factories, each producing 1,000 rounds a day.

A final thought: all war involves math.

Poland Officially Requests U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Hal Turner World April 30, 2024

Poland has handed an official request to Washington to have U.S. nuclear weapons hosted in Poland.

No word yet on any need or desire in the US to put such weapons there.

Russia earlier cautioned Poland that nuclear weapons in their country would **not** make Poland any safer. In fact, they said, it would merely make Poland a target for Russian nuclear weapons.

Hal Turner Snap Analysis

Nuclear weapons “hosted” in Poland; Sounds like an exchange student or something innocent , like its a cultural program.

My bet . . . and this is pure conjecture on my part — Poland didn’t actually “request” anything.
They were just told that the US is going to deploy nukes on their territory.

The nukes will be controlled by US of course, not Poland; Poland would have no interest in this affair whatsoever. . . except when they get blown up by Russia for having them so close to Russia.

Is the USA rich because of hard work? What should African countries learn from countries like the USA, Japan and China?

Here are the top five sources of wealth for a Rich American with more than $ 15 Million :-

Portfolio (65%)
Landed Assets (18%)
Liquid Deposits (7%).
Others (10%) [Valuable Paintings, Royalty or Copyright contracts, Depreciating Assets like Cars, Yachts etc]

The Richer you are, the higher your Portfolio wealth is

For instance an American who is valued at more than $ 100 Million has almost 88% of his wealth in Portfolio

Portfolio means Stocks, Equities, Venture Capital Shareholding, Private Hedge Fund Units, Bonds etc

Now take a Middle Class American (Income between $ 68,000 to $ 300,000)

These are the top 5 Sources for his wealth

Mortgage (38%) [Market Value – Amount owed to Bank]
Portfolio (32%)
Insurance (15%)
Pension Plan /401K/Roth IRA(10%)
Savings / Low Yield Bills (5%)

The Average Middle Class American, his wealth comes from the rise in price of his house and how his pension plan works and on his insurance encashments

Portfolio wealth depends on the market and astute investments but no real hard work

Insurance and Pension Plan contributions depend on solid hard work

Yet Portfolio wealth can make you a millionaire whereas Pension Plans and Insurance can just keep you comfortably off

Now take the top 5 Sources of wealth for a Chinese Wealthy (Income > 3 Million RMB a year)

Real Estate Investment (26%)
Gold, Silver, Jade (20%)
Savings (21%)
Profits from Businesses (15%)
Real Estate (9%) [Commercial Rents , Residential Rent]

Do you see portfolio anywhere?

Nopes

It’s why Chinese don’t give a damn about their stock market whereas Americans panic when the market falls sharply for two days

Chinese Wealthy work hard too to make profits from Businesses that form a sixth of their wealth on an Average plus manage Properties and collect Rents on them.

So Chinese Wealthy and the American Middle Class Citizen works far harder than the American Rich whose wealth is based on shrewd investments and portfolio

Provolone Chicken

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, flattened
1/4 cup flavored bread crumbs
2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs
4 slices Provolone cheese
1 teaspoon butter
4 cups cooked spaghetti or vermicelli noodles, buttered

Instructions

Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Place bread crumbs in a flat dish and firmly press both sides of the chicken into the crumbs.
Place coated chicken pieces in a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, and top with cheese.
Dot with butter and bake for 20 minutes or until done.
Serve with buttered pasta.

This Is How They Treat Foreigners In Shanghai

Thank you, you changed my thinking about the beautiful Chinese people. I did not expect them to be so courteous, kind and humble.

What was your scariest “something’s not right” moment?

The minute I hugged my mom for the first time in three years, alarm bells rang so loud I could hear them screaming: Brain tumor.

I am studying in China, 6,217 km away from my family, I do not contact them much. I am not a big fan of traveling so I didn’t travel back and forth much either, in 2016 I decided to visit Jordan because I was feeling homesick and I heard news that my mother’s health wasn’t good.

My mom was around 42 years old at that time,chronically suffering from hypertension “high blood pressure”, she took the medications but she had a poor attitude towards keeping the blood pressure levels under check, so everyone in the family attributed her chronic headaches at that time to the hypertension.

After a long tiresome flight I reached home and met my mom at the door, she hugged me tight and suddenly her whole body leaned to the left. I didn’t understand what was happening at the time so I kept on hugging her until I noticed that she kept on leaning farther, I tried to support her weight but I was tired and couldn’t do it due to the awkward position so I told her: mom, you’ll fall, watch out!” she stood up, and we started talking, and oh boy, the alarm bells were drumming up a hole in my brain, I was terrified.

My mom slurred in her speech. Why did the rest of the family not notice that? Maybe because mom used to wear poor-fitting dentures in the past and it made her slur up, so they thought the same thing is happening now, and said we will get the dentures checked soon.

Besides the gait disturbance and the slurring, my mom made several edgy or —inappropriate — statements throughout the conversation. But the thing that made my bones jump, was how she yelped in pain when she coughed and said, “Every time I cough, my head splits in half”, and of course, that was attributed to the high blood pressure by the family and her primary care physician.

I went to a room and sat alone, I was freaking out. My vacation is 10 days, and I needed to explain what I’m thinking to the family so that actions can be made. I thought for a long time about that and about how can I approach my mom with that news. The latter part terrified me. Why? Because when I told my mom we might need to go and get her blood pressure checked, she screamed at me; I was taken aback. She screamed that she will not see a doctor, that I am not a doctor and I should not be acting like one and that she hates doctors.

She had seen plenty of doctors in her life, but that aggressive note was new.

Eventually the next day I convinced her to go with me to the doctor. I got her to the MRI room and asked the radiologist to let me stay with him so I can see the picture as it comes out.

Time stopped when I saw that MRI, and I knew at that moment that our lives are about to change. The tumor was huge, it had been growing for years undetected, years of slow personality changes, years of chronic headaches and years of unawareness. Thankfully, my mother agreed to have the surgery to remove the tumor, and she sprung back to her old, lively wonderful self.

This incident changed me and my family for good; my family became way more health conscious and I became more focused on the goal of becoming a good doctor. You see, if only one of her primary care physicians had looked — truly looked — at her gait or at how she screamed in pain when she coughed, they might have found this tumor much earlier.

How did Hitler react upon learning that Churchill would be replacing Chamberlain as Prime Minister?

Churchill had for years been warning of Hitler. He had warned of his rearming as well as intent to overrun large parts of Europe. Hitler knew that Churchill was the very last Brit that he wanted in as PM. If negotiated peace were the goal, someone else would need to be PM.

So Hitler publicly referred to Churchill by many names. His hope was that the British people would realize the mistake they had made. Hitler repeatedly referred to Churchill as a drunkard.

“As lunatics like that drunkard Churchill and Maccabeans and numskulls like that brilliantined dandy Eden are at the helm we’ve to be prepared for just about anything!”

But that was not all. He referred to Churchill as “a senile clown”, “gangster”, “bloodthirsty guttersnipe”, and “undisciplined swine” among other things.

Notably you will find no such invectives used by Hitler against Chamberlain. But such insults did not sway British foreign policy.

Hitler saw Churchill as his greatest obstacle. He remarked:

“If Churchill were suddenly to disappear, everything could change in a flash. The British aristocracy might perhaps become conscious of the abyss opening before them— and might well experience a serious shock! These British, for whom, indirectly, we have been fighting and who would enjoy the fruits of our victory…”

At some point he realized that negotiations with Churchill could not take place. Only after Churchill was defeated would the British be willing to talk.

Hitler remarked to von Brauchitsch, the commander in chief of the German Army, that “the British will be ready to talk only after a beating.

Hitler’s reaction to Churchill being chosen as PM was reality, the reality that the worst man in Britain for Hitler had be chosen. There would be no easy victory. There would be no short war. There would be no more bullying.

Mark Sleboda: Putin just Dropped BOMBSHELL Warning to NATO and Ukraine’s Army is Done For

China’s $170BN Gold Rush Triggers Taiwan Invasion Fear

Hal Turner World April 30, 2024

Beijing appears to be stockpiling gold following a record buying spree, in a move that has raised fears China is preparing its economy for a possible conflict over Taiwan – guarding it against potential Western sanctions.

The People’s Bank of China bought 27 tons of gold in the first three months of the year, taking its reserves to a record high of 2,262 tons, according to data from the World Gold Council.

What is the best life advice you would give?

Keep a healthy distance from all people, including your friends. They could bring you down with their baggage if you are not careful.
Job is just a job. Don’t make it your priority.
Be very sure you want to get married and have kids. Many people get trapped in a situation where they keep on asking this “What if” after 10 or 20 years into marriage.
If possible, spend more time with your family, especially your parents. From your 20s to 40s, you will be too busy looking out for yourself. All of a sudden, your parents will become “old” like you never noticed.
Don’t expect people to come to your rescue. Own your actions and consequences and suck it up.
Tomorrow is not necessarily going to be a better day. Tomorrow is just another day.
Stop reading a self-help book if you are not self-aware.
Life is actually fair. It has no mercy on anyone.

If Jewish students don’t feel safe at university, does that automatically mean American can’t support Palestine and free of speech?

I laugh my ass off at this oh I’m so victimised mentality.

I still remember it 2 decades ago when I moved to London. A box fell off the back of a builders flatbed, near a Synagogue. They immediately phoned the police and said these bomb threats are a sign of anti you know what. Turns out it was just that a carboard box that had fallen off the back of a builders flat bed.

Anyway they don’t feel safe?

Let me give you some figures from the UK.

One group totals 400,000 people this figure is disputed as it includes citizens but they may not actually be there. They form 0.7% of the population yet face 4% of all the violent crime. 15% of them have faced violence with 51% of facing slurs and racist name calling.

Meanwhile one group is about 270,000 and have faced drum roll 1600 you know what incidents each year. OMG American maths means 1600 is bigger than 200,000 incidents of racism or nearly 30,000 instances of racism.

Yet one group gets all laws to protect them, gets news coverage, representation in government and one doesn’t.

Funny how one group matters and all others don’t doesn’t it?

So SATISFYING! I chose a random fairytale and found that the nasty “princess” got put to work. Ha!

I love all of this. How all these historical traditional stories were changed by social re-engineering. Fascinating!

Loving these unfiltered, brutal, unwokified stories.

When did the negative perception of masculinity begin?

This is a byproduct of the American “Woman’s Rights” movement.

The initial intention was for gender equality, where women would be treated as equals with men. Eventually, a more radical sub-branch of the movement took control and steered the movement towards an anti-male bias. Over the years, they acquired wealthy and powerful contributors, and used their positions in government to fund and control the narrative. Resulting in the destruction of the American male.

This women’s rights movement in the United States has gone through several stages.

Each stage has been marked by specific goals, accomplishments, and challenges.

First Wave (19th Century – Early 20th Century)

– Focused on legal issues, particularly women’s suffrage (the right to vote).

– Key events: The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott; the adoption of the 19th Amendment in 1920, granting women the right to vote.

This initial stage is often erroneously considered to be reasonable, but a look at the amendments to the constitution clearly show that the movement removed the stable “Head of the Household” voting role towards one where anyone can vote. Thus, this movement, during the FIRST WAVE, significantly altered the federal government and the spending trajectory of the United States.

The United States moved from a Republic to a democracy.

Demographics changed substantially. Voting profiles changed radically, and a “nanny state”
became the norm, as the female voters started to demand a government that took on a parental role; thus a government with a greater role in the lives of Americans.

Additionally, history was rewritten. An active effort was made to rewrite the old European fairy tales to something supportive of first wave feminist belief structures. So, for instance, the Grimm Fairy Tales were rewritten from a structured give-and-take, with harsh lessons, to that of “Prince Charming”, and “one’s wishes can come true”.

There were other initiatives as well. The “Temperance movement” of the 1920’s was led by radical feminists and it resulted in the forced nationwide ban of alcohol, and the surge in organized crime. All the time while destroying the “freedoms” that American enjoyed.

And finally, let’s not forget that the first wave feminists brought in great federal-level social re-engineering evil masterminds; Coolridge, Herbet Hoover and then Taft.

Second Wave (1960s – 1980s)

– Emphasized a broader range of issues, including equality in the workplace, education, reproductive rights, and legal rights.

– Key events: Publication of “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan in 1963; the establishment of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966; the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

– Advocacy for reproductive rights, including the landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973.

During this wave, the “rights” of women altered the workplace, the Geo-political scene, the educational system, and the kinds of movies and shows on televisions and extracted out of Hollywood. It was during this wave that the notion of a traditional family was discarded, and men started to be depicted as buffoons and useless clowns.

It was during this time that marriage longevity was destroyed; that divorce became the normal. That a two income household become the norm, and housewives rearing their own children was considered stupid.

There is a direct correlation between divorce rates and the implementation of pro-feminist initiatives. This was the era of the destruction of the family. As the women entered the work-place, forced layoffs, firings and short-duration employment became the norm.

Third Wave (1990s – Early 2000s)

– Focused on diversity and intersectionality, addressing issues of race, class, sexual orientation, and gender identity within the context of women’s rights.

– Emphasized individualism and a more inclusive approach to feminism, acknowledging different experiences and perspectives.

This wave turbocharged the fall of traditional values, and the “career women” entered the work force with government sanctioned privileges that harmed the male roles. The court systems, and child service systems became co-opted by this movement and became hostile to males.

While the second wave feminists vocalized equality, this wave argued superiority at all levels and promoted benefits, and privileges that men were denied.

Laws and rules, from family law to corporate law favored females. Lower skilled females were engaged in once-dominant male activities to meet hiring quotas. The result was a gradual decline in the quality of the American work-force.

Fourth Wave (Mid-2000s – Present)

– Characterized by the use of digital and social media to advocate for women’s rights and mobilize anti-male activism.

– Focus on sexual harassment, gender-based violence, and the #MeToo movement.

– Greater attention to intersectionality, considering how various aspects of identity intersect and impact the experiences of women and non-binary individuals.

It’s a real problem.

The damage has already been done.

Presently, in the United States and it’s proxy nations, under the LGBQ+ rainbow flag, the male gender is ridiculed, minimized, and berated to a point where various social phenomenons have occurred. To include…

Young men in the 20s have stopped dating.
Young men tend to be virginal, while young women engage in serial promiscuity.
The “Soft man” era where men have “checked out”.
A drop in college and university admissions for men.
A push back on dating with the “drizzle drizzle” movement.
American men are leaving the United States as “passport bros” and not returning.

The changing demographics and the ten year forecast for citizens within this toxic anti-male environment is contentious. Historically, very BAD things happen when large sections males in a nation are hurt, abandoned, ridiculed and disparaged.

It will be very bad.

Think Rwandan genocide BAD.

What can I learn in one minute that will be useful for the rest of my life?

1. If your house smells fishy for no reason, 9 times out of 10 it means there is an electrical fire.

2. If you ever feel like someone is following your car, turn right four times and it will eventually go in a circle. If they are always behind you, it means they are following you. Don’t drive home, just call the police and drive to the police station

3. If a service dog ever approaches you without its owner, follow it and do so quickly because you could potentially save someone else’s life.

4. If someone tries to kidnap you, fight back. Most kidnappers will simply give up if they encounter resistance. And whatever you do, don’t let them take you anywhere else.

5. If the tide suddenly goes out unexpectedly, run like you stole it, for higher ground.

6. If you are ever attacked by a moose, get behind a tree…they have about a ten inch blind spot and they will lose you…

7.When people say to take an aspirin to help during a heart attack, chew the pill, don’t swallow it whole. It is absorbed much faster.

8. If someone asks you for something on the street – a light, the time, whatever – always keep the person in your line of sight. So if they ask you the time, don’t just look at your watch. Raise your arm slightly so that your watch is in view.

9. If you’re in danger or need help, in a public place, it’s almost always a bad idea to just yell “help.” It’s more important to be specific. Pointing your finger at someone and telling them to call 911 will be more effective. The bystander effect can sometimes be cruel.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – The Threat of China is Wildly Overstated

Robert F. Kennedy gives three main reasons why he believes the threat of China is wildly overstated.

I like his overall message, but I disagree with his idea that the USA can block shipping, and that without Walmart, China would collapse. I disagree that the Chinese “are on the edge of revolt”.

But still, it’s nice to hear a different voice out of the USA.

We are at yield, and soon we can expect fracture

Mark my words

All evidence indicates that China and Russia are coordinating their actions. This uptick in nuclear talk with Russia and the USA troops in Ukraine, along with the stuff going on in the Pacific. It’s all very clear. It’s coordinated.

More chatter about Scott Ritter and what that means all in front of the nuclear war backdrop. Lots of stuff going on right now.

Today is a Geo-politics heavy post.

The vectors are all disturbing.

USA culture is collapsed.
USA society is wiped out.
The West is now very dangerous and police are not available.
Warrants, and laws are ignored.
Nuclear war is gleefully discussed without a care in the world.
Crazy inflation… and it’s gonna get much worse.

I get the impression that the USA is a big bonfire right now, and the wealthy and Washington insiders are all throwing gasoline and kerosene on the fire…

Raw Truth

Have I read this wrong? Putin started a war he can’t possibly win, as China embeds deeper and deeper into the fabric of eastern Russia. He isolates his country, makes it a vassal state to China, and for what? Is the guy missing a brain?

Question: Have I read this wrong? Putin started a war he can’t possibly win, as China embeds deeper and deeper into the fabric of eastern Russia. He isolates his country, makes it a vassal state to China, and for what? Is the guy missing a brain?

Answer:

Yes, you are reading it wrong.

As of 2024, Ukraine manpower has been depleted to such a point that Russia is in a position to get a lot more than they would have gotten with a negotiation back in 2020.

He didn’t isolate his country, because the BRICs payment system, particularly via RMB can cover up to 95% of human population. At this point, kicking Russia out of SWIFT just means reducing SWIFT’s value as a payment system.

In fact, the European sanctions helped the Russian economy tremendously, this is because prior to European sanctions, Putin’s main enemies are actually the Russian Oligarchies and to a lesser extent, the pro-West Russian capitalist. The European and US sanctions crippled both, meaning a lot money Russian money is investing into Russian economy instead of going to Europe and US.

And with China, the entire point is that China didn’t take advantage with any military venture into Russia far east. So at this point, 4,209.3 kilometres out of 22,407 kilometres of Russian land border suddenly don’t require any significant security investment, which frees up significant amount of Russian attention and budget.

Right now, the main Chinese complaint against Russian border is that the border customs are too under staffed and the roads sucked, so the cross border traders have to wait for long hours there.

See, that’s the power of not playing a zero sum game and constantly trying to screw other people over.

Blueberry Puffs

Ingredients

2 cups fresh or 1 bag frozen blueberries
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup light brown sugar
12 slices bread
6 eggs
2 cups Half-and-Half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

Mix first 7 ingredients in a saucepan. Heat until the sauce is semi-thick. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
Cut crusts from bread. Spray a 2-quart rectangular glass pan with a nonstick pan coating. Cover the bottom of pan with 6 bread slices.
In separate bowl, mix eggs, Half-and-Half, vanilla extract and sugar. Pour half of this mixture over bread.
Spread thickened, cooled blueberry sauce over bottom layer.
Arrange the other half of the bread on top of blueberry filling.
Pour remaining egg mixture over the top.
Sprinkle with a dash of nutmeg.
Cover and place in refrigerator overnight.
Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 60 minutes.
Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into 6 servings or 12 servings for a buffet.
Top with brown sugar and a few blueberries.

Woke Staff Go Silent as New CEO Says This in Brutal Meeting

“The beginnings of the Third World War “Nuclear war: the scenario of the end of the world? In all likelihood, it will not be a conventional war.”

We learn that President Biden has authorized Ukraine to “conduct limited attacks inside Russia with American-made weapons”. Some of the United States’ allies had already gone further. Britain, several weeks ago, allowed Ukraine to use its Storm Shadow long-range missile systems for attacks in any part of Russia, and France and Germany have recently taken the same position. We are, therefore, at a critical moment and the probability of moving from low-key conflicts to a war of uncontrollable global dimensions, including the great powers.

In an interview on March 18, President Putin warned: “It is clear to everyone that a [conflict between Russia and NATO] would mark the final step before a Third World War. I don’t think anyone wants that.” Asked by Reuters about Emmanuel Macron’s comments, who said he did not rule out the possibility of sending ground troops to Ukraine and the risk of a conflict with NATO, Vladimir Putin quipped: “Everything is possible in the modern world.” Emmanuel Macron, who has said he does not want an “escalation”, last week called on the West to “jump” out, warning that a Russian victory in Ukraine would pose an “existential threat” to Europe. President Putin adds that NATO military personnel were already in Ukraine. Russian troops heard communications in English and French on the battlefield, he said. “There is nothing good in all this, first and foremost for them since they are dying there and in large numbers.”1

«Will NATO member states individually or collectively go to war against Russia? This is the question of Western decision-makers. In an interview with The Economist, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the Alliance said: “The time has come for allies to reflect on whether they should lift some of the restrictions imposed on the use of weapons given to Ukraine (…) Especially now, when a lot of fighting is taking place in Kharkov, near the border, denying Ukraine the possibility of using these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very difficult to defend it.” He pre-announced Washington’s decision to the European Allies. Speaking at the Council of the European Union, he said: “According to international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defence. And the right to self-defense also includes striking legitimate military objectives inside Russia.” (…) Extending the protection of the Atlantic anti-missile shield to Ukrainian territory would mean going to war collectively against Russia. But allowing Ukraine to attack Russia with weapons supplied by NATO member states would mean their entry into an individual war against Russia. For his part, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, commented: “This gentleman [Jens Stoltenberg] is dangerous because talking about a Third World War, Western weapons capable of striking and killing inside Russia, seems to me very, very dangerous and reckless.”

Vladimir Putin, replied to journalists: “This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences. Let them [the European NATO member states] remember that their territory is small and their population dense,” Senator Dmitry Rogozin, former director of Roscosmos, directly warned Washington: “We are not only on the threshold, but already on the edge, beyond which, if the enemy is not stopped in such actions, an irreversible collapse of the strategic security of the nuclear powers will begin.”2

Nuclear war: the scenario of the end of the world?
In all likelihood, it will not be a conventional war; For the evil is profound; it is the temptation to perpetuate an empire without a vital prognosis for Western countries against an existential threat for Russia which will not hesitate to pulverize the West even if it is a plantar nuclear fire; This reflection from the website Notre Planète Info allows us to predict the consequences of a nuclear war: “Feared during the Cold War, total nuclear war has proved to be such a heavy threat to the very future of humanity that the major nuclear powers have refrained from using nuclear weapons on a massive scale”.3

«NATO’s expansionist policy and the revival of openly Nazi armies in Ukraine triggered a Russian special operation of demilitarization and denazification in February 2022. The United States has always kept the possibility of carrying out preventive nuclear strikes. The United States has 750 military bases in more than 80 countries. The US has already spent 230 years (out of 246 years of existence), in direct and proxy wars abroad. In addition, the Pentagon’s new national defense strategy adopted in late October 2022 crossed a new line by authorizing the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear threats. A particularly risky doctrine according to Democratic Senator Edward Markey: “The risk of nuclear war seriously threatens the survival of the human species. Unfortunately, by not ruling out being the first to use nuclear weapons, the United States is increasing the risk of an unintended nuclear escalation.” Indeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia will retaliate against any nuclear attack with nuclear strikes. In other words, in the event of a potentially nuclear missile attack on Russia, hundreds of nuclear missiles will be launched immediately against the aggressive country, which will then be assured of total destruction.” [3]

The naivety of the West, which is banking on Russia’s misunderstanding of China
Alastair Crooke, the well-known journalist, describes the dilemma that in a way “blocks” and so much the better is the outbreak of the war of the West, NATO against Russia with the two blasters of Poland (enraged against Russia) and France of an unrecognizable paleo-Gaulian dignity: “The discourse of military escalation is fashionable in Europe, but both in the Middle East and in Ukraine, Western policy is in great difficulty. The paradox is that the Biden team – purely inadvertently – is giving birth to a “new world”. The more Western elites oppose birth — by “saving Zionism,” “saving European Ukraine,” and crushing dissidents — the more they accelerate the fall of Leviathan.”4

«The nearly 8,000-word China-Russia joint statement evokes the elementary laws of nature itself by describing the West’s usurpation of the fundamental principles of humanity, reality and order – a criticism that has engulfed the collective West mad with rage. But how and why can it be said that the West is accelerating its own dissolution? The New York Times gives a clue as to the “why”: The old “Anglo-Saxon” obsession with a defiant Russia that the West has never been able to bend to its will. Today, Russia and China signed a joint statement somewhat similar to the “limitless” friendship declared in February 2022, but which goes further. This statement describes their relationship as “superior to the political and military alliances of the Cold War era.” The friendship between the two states has no limits, there are no “forbidden” areas of cooperation. Ray McGovern, a former adviser to the US president, recounted how “when Biden took office in 2021, his advisers assured him that he could play on Russia’s fear (sic) of China – and drive a wedge between the two. This represents the ‘mother of all errors’ of judgment, for it causes the circumstances in which the Western ‘Order’ can dissolve.” “China is seeking to become the world’s most powerful economy and the world’s largest and most powerful military.” [4]

«In August 2019, when the United States withdrew from the treaty banning intermediate-range missiles in Europe, it had already deployed missiles in Romania and Poland. It is not possible to determine which missile is loaded because the tubes have lids. The time it takes for these missiles to reach Moscow would be 9 minutes from Poland and 10 minutes from Romania. (…) On May 18 in Moscow, in the wake of the last Xi-Putin summit – as M.K. Bhadrakumar notes. Western thought processes, Lavrov said, are moving dangerously toward “the contours of the formation of a European military alliance — with a nuclear component.” He deplored the fact that “they have chosen a confrontation on the battlefield: We are ready for it”. “The program to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia – militarily and otherwise – is a pure fantasy that will be resolutely countered.”[4]

The multidimensional cooperation between Russia and China scares the West
The West mistakenly thinks that it can impose its norm in the name of its rights; American and European strategists are doing everything they can to create dissension between Russia and China. Even President Biden believes in it. Alain Constant of the newspaper Le Monde, whom we have known much more professionally, writes: “In June 1997, Senator Joe Biden, returning from a trip to Moscow intended to reassure Russia about the enlargement of NATO, brushed aside the risks of Russia’s rapprochement with China. For the Biden of 1997, a Russian-Sino-Iranian rapprochement is unthinkable and is akin to political fiction. At the time, few American officials were aware of the danger. But Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former adviser, warns: “The worst-case scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia and perhaps Iran, united by a common hatred of the United States.” A nightmare scenario for the West that has become reality (…) After years of rapprochement and various treaties, the three countries are now clearly aligned on a common roadmap: to put an end to Western hegemony. All this while waging a hybrid fight against the West, at once military, technological, commercial, IT and civilizational.”5

In the same vein, Alain Frachon sends this message to the West: “There is no point in entertaining irresponsible illusions in Washington, Paris or Berlin: the Sino-Russian couple is not about to divorce. Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Europe and Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing a few days later have shown it unambiguously: the two countries are united by the same ambition, that of fighting against Western “hegemony”, In the spring of 2024, Xi Jinping recalled that he was a stakeholder in the conflict raging in Europe: He is on the Russian side (…) The aim is to increase trade between their two countries in the face of a “hostile and destructive American policy” intended, according to them, to “stem” the rise of China and Russia (…) This situation requires enhanced military cooperation. China will further support the war economy that Putin is establishing in Russia. Clearly, China is maintaining the Russian war effort.”6

Inventory of the world’s nuclear forces
According to a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published in June 2023 (SIPRI), “in January 2023, 12,512 nuclear weapons, of which 9576 were stored in warehouses for potential use. United States (1770 units) and Russia (1674 units). Together, these two states possess about 90 percent of all nuclear weapons.”7

«Global military spending is rising amid war, escalating tensions and insecurity Global military spending has risen to a record high of $2443 billion. “States are prioritising military force, which risks fuelling the ‘action-reaction’ spiral Russia’s military spending has increased by 24% to $109 billion in 2023. Ukraine is at $64.8 billion. Ukraine has also received at least $35 billion in military aid to the United States, including $25.4 billion from the United States. Together, this aid and Ukraine’s military spending is equivalent to about 91% of Russian military spending. In 2023, the military spending of NATO’s 31 members amounts to $1341 billion, or 55% of global military spending.”8

«U.S. military spending increased by 2.3% to $916 billion in 2023, accounting for 68% of NATO’s total military spending. In 2023, most European NATO member states increased their spending. China’s increased military spending is leading to that of its neighbors. China, 2nd with 296 billion dollars. Israel’s military spending – the second largest in the region after Saudi Arabia’s – reached $27.5 billion in 2023. India is the 4th largest with $83.6 billion. Algeria’s military spending increased by 76% to $18.3 billion. Iran is the 4th largest military spender in the Middle East in 2023 with $10.3 billion.”9

The bluster of the West. Russia invincible with the RS-28 Sarmat missile
In a lucid contribution, Andrew Cockburn explains that the effects of Western propaganda hide a sad reality: “The obsession with technology has not benefited Washington. The United States produces sophisticated and expensive weapons, which Russian forces have quickly learned to neutralize. Andrew Cockburn talks about it: “American weapons have not prevented Ukraine from retreating and suffering a possible defeat. Many failures of U.S. weapons in Ukraine, including HIMARS LRMs, are related to the use of highly vulnerable guidance systems with GPS. Russia has long paid special attention to electronic warfare and excels at jamming GPS signals. “Most Western systems have proven ineffective in combat conditions” due to Russian jamming.10

In the extreme conditions, which is an existential problem for Russia, it is no longer bound by any commitment: “Russia withdrew from the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions Start-II/SNV-III, on February 23, 2023 In addition to its “conventional” continental ballistic missiles, Russia has acquired a heavy intercontinental ballistic missile called “RS-28 Sarmat” (or Satan 2 for the West), operational since the end of August 2023. It is a missile capable of striking any region on Earth with devastating and unparalleled firepower. This missile can carry up to 10 large nuclear warheads or 16 small warheads that can be aimed at a target each. They are thus much more destructive than the bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War. And for good reason, this 200-ton missile, 35.5 meters long and 3 m in diameter, has a total power of 8 to 12 Mt of TNT (450 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima), enough to transform a country the size of France or Great Britain into an uninhabitable desert (its destruction zone is 650,000 km²) in just 2 minutes… With a speed of 20 times that of sound (26,000 km/h), this new missile is impossible to intercept At least 50 Sarmat launch systems have been deployed on the territory of Russia since 2023. Russia finally has a “Perimeter” system, nicknamed “Dead Hand” (“Main more”) by NATO experts. This is a final retaliatory nuclear strike even if Russia is bombed by nuclear strikes and is on the verge of annihilation.”[3]

Putin’s warning is direct and explicit
Journalist M.K. Bhadrakumur said: “Putin has been explicit and direct. He made it known in advance that he would be forced to respond with a nuclear capability if the Russian state was threatened. Putin addressed the Federal Assembly in front of the crème de la crème of the Russian elite and took the whole nation into confidence by saying that the country could be pushed into a nuclear war for its own preservation. In fact, US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin said at a congressional hearing in Washington that “NATO will fight with Russia” if Ukraine is defeated. To put it plainly, Austin meant that if Ukraine loses, NATO will have to oppose Russia. It is a call for Europe to mobilise for a continental war. What French President Emmanuel Macron said: The defeat of Russia is indispensable for the security and stability of Europe.”11

The Doomsday Clock The impotence of the international community
The nuclear threat in the world is illustrated in particular by the Doomsday Clock. Created in 1947, shortly after the American atomic bombings of Japan, and has been regularly updated since then, by members of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, (BAS) based at the University of Chicago. In 2012 it indicated 11:55 p.m., only 5 minutes before the end of the world. In 2023, its hand has moved forward again to just 90 seconds. The question of nuclear war therefore remains more topical than ever. UN humanitarian officials and members of civil society discussed the humanitarian community’s response to a nuclear explosion. “The humanitarian consequences of a nuclear attack or accident would be potentially devastating and catastrophic,” warned the Director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva.

An apocalyptic post-nuclear bombing scenario
«Within hours, 34 million people would be killed by the direct effect of nuclear explosions. Colossal and uncontrollable fires generated by the bombs would send 9 million tons of soot into the atmosphere. In less than 50 days, the entire planet would be affected by ash. For a decade, the sun’s rays would then be partially filtered. As a result, the global temperature would drop by 1.25°C in the first three years; global precipitation would decrease by 10% in the two to four years following the event; frosts would be more frequent. Agriculture would then be severely affected and therefore food resources for all of humanity. Finally, this scenario is accompanied by a generalized loss (75% at the global level – 65% in the tropics) of the stratospheric ozone layer for about 15 years.” [3]

The effects of nuclear weapons on human health
According to the specialized site: describing the dropping of an atomic bomb “The intense fireball generated at the very moment of the explosion of a nuclear weapon of this power would release heat, shock waves and radiation at the same time. The victims of thermal radiation: the temperature on earth, under the epicenter of the explosion, would reach about 7000°C and, in this area, all living beings would be pulverized. Tens of thousands of people are believed to be burned, most with horrific third-degree burns. A fireball and thermal radiation would be immediately followed by pressure waves traveling at supersonic speeds. The victims would have organ ruptures, open fractures, skull fractures and penetrating wounds. A significant number of people would lose their hearing as a result of perforated eardrums.”12

«Victims of the firestorm: It is also possible that radioactive fallout could be blown far by the wind, endangering far more people than the explosion and fires. Many of those affected would not realize they had received a life-threatening dose of radiation for several days or weeks. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the number of deaths attributed to bombings had reached 200,000 and 140,000 respectively in 1950. Even today, radiation-related illnesses and deaths are observed among the now elderly population of survivors of the 1945 bombings.” [12]

What should Algeria do?
«When the great make war on each other, it is the weak who die.” This quote from Jean Paul Sarre sums up the current situation. In the face of the new world that will give birth in pain, there will be collateral damage. We are close to a future place of confrontation! An atomic bomb 800 km from Algiers will impact life in Algeria, in the opposite direction. Let us remember the 13 multicolored jerboas, in addition to having ravaged and sterilized entire regions, allowed winds to disperse the atomic cloud over thousands of km in all directions!

It is truly an uncertain era in which all the settling of scores will have free rein, now that there is no United Nations capable of preserving morality and human dignity. This “War of all against all”, “Bellum omnium contra omnes” according to Hobbes, must oblige us more than ever to introspect and review our being in the world. Only force governs the world. Russia manages to resist the West thanks to the 450,000 engineers per year! and several million technicians!

Technological power should be based on science and military industry also on heavy equipment (tanks, planes, cannons) guided by computer power are the immune defenses that we need to strengthen. To do this, we must fundamentally review the training of engineers and scientists in terms of quantity and quality. The discipline of mathematics should be the apple of our eye and a special scholarship should be allowed to mathematics baccalaureates and technological disciplines, as President Boumediene did in his time. A President of whom some discover, late and in spite of themselves, the vision of the statesman who thinks in terms of the future. The next five-year term will also have to continue to bring the structuring projects to fruition: Betting on renewable energy and green hydrogen. Strengthen steel capacity, a strong link in any industrialization, particularly in the rail and military industries. The security of the country depends on it. This means that Algerians must all be vigilant together.

Conclusion
In one of his many meetings for the NO to the 1914-18 war, Jean Jaurès, the French socialist leader, understood where the ills of humanity came from. Rolling liberalism! He wrote: “Capitalism carries war within it, as the sleeping cloud carries the storm.” He will be assassinated! We live in a troubled time where anything can happen to God forbid In a famous poem from 1955, Jacques Brel, in a lucid and prophetic way, described the world of the time in the making.”
–Professor Chems Eddine Chitour

INTERVIEW: Land of the free, home of the grave

Scott Ritter on the assassination of the constitution and how three heavily-armed goons removed his passport with all of his rights. The grisly sequel follows…

Vintage illustration

ETERNAL LIBRARY: THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE UNIVERSE

Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Dream up a secret library. Write a story about an adventurer who discovers it. What’s in the library? Why was it kept secret?… view prompt

Melinda Madrigal

Long before the rise of man when the world was dark there came a great light from the sky. A great ship descended into a dark world.Inside the ship was the greatest race to ever inhabit the universe. They are called the creators. The creators were the first evolution of humanity.They called their new home Avalonia. The creators created the oceans, the trees, plants and animals. Overtime the creators created the second evolution of humanity in their image.The creators built great cities and within those great cities, a great library was built. Which housed the greatest knowledge the universe has ever known.A millennia passed since the creators arrived in Avalonia and since their first landing many generations of humans have been all with the knowledge of the creators.The creators have spread their seed and their knowledge throughout the known galaxy. Many planets bore the fruit of knowledge of the creators. Many more libraries of knowledge were created but only one remains eternal.Many more generations have passed and the generations of humans created by the creators continued to flourish until one moment in their history when everything changed.

The creators simply vanished leaving their creations on the many planets they call home. The humans on each planet were left with the knowledge of the creators.

The humans didn’t use the knowledge wisely and ultimately all the knowledge was lost including the libraries expect for the one that remains eternal.

Deep inside I knew the existence of humanity was part of something greater. We were put on this planet to be something more.

We were created by a powerful race of humans to carry on their legacy but over the course of thousands of years we lost it all.

I must find and figure out what we lost. It’s my destiny. I dreamed about something greater than myself. Something greater than humanity.

A library filled with the knowledge of the universe is somewhere out beyond the stars waiting for me to find.

Atria is my home the fourth planet the creators created this I know. The records of the past show it. It also shows one of the great libraries once stood on Atrian grounds but the library is no more.

Their maybe more libraries out beyond the stars but one bears the name eternal. That one has been lost since the first creation. I aim to find that one.

Beyond the stars there are more planets that house the libraries. To those planets I will go and find the one that is eternal. I don’t know what I will find but it’s a risk I must take.

To Aqua Terra, Azurella also known as the water planets are known creations of the creators. To Amarantha and Inter Nova are also known creations of the creators. All these planets have one thing in common. The great libraries of the creators were built there.

Atria, my home world was also created by the creators and too many of my people no known library was ever built on Atria but a long-ago war destroyed half of Atria and possible the library. The records are proof there was a library on Atria.

I have what I need. Now it’s time for me to set off on my journey. Lucky for me I have my own space ship. Just because the great library is no more and no one knows it doesn’t mean the creators knowledge was lost. Some of their knowledge was left for us.

The record I found suggest only four of the many planets the creators created house the great libraries. One of them has to be the one that is eternal.

I set off into the stars. My first stop is Aqua Terra. One of the many water planets. I fire up the FTL and in four hours I arrive at Aqua Terra.

I scan the planet and to my amazement there is a large structure on the southern end of the planet. The inhabitants of Aqua Terra primarily live on the northern end of the planet.

I land my ship safely on the water. I put my water gear on. I open the door and jump into the water. I follow the coordinates to the location of the library.

Not much of a library. I enter through one of the side openings. Something must be holding the water back. I beginning going up one of the hallways. I look around. I don’t see much. The books are weathered down.

I keep going down the long hallway until I reach a door. I open the door and enter. All the books are weathered down expect for one. This book is in good condition.

I pick up the book and open it. It’s not a book but a journal. I start to read the journal, Wow, this was written by one of the creators.

“We left our home to seed the rest of the known galaxy. I will miss my home. I will miss my library. Many more will be created. One day I will return to Avalonia.”

“We seeded many more planets and built many more libraries. Our creations are beautiful but something happened to us. We must leave Avalonia or all will be lost. We entrust our libraries and all our knowledge to our creations. Our eternal library, we will hide forever.”

Avalonia, I never heard of that planet. I leave the library and go back to my ship. I go to the next planet, another water planet. I found the same thing I found on Aqua Terra, a journal talking about Avalonia.

I go to the next two planets Amarantha and Inter Nova and I found the same thing, two more journals written by the creators talking about Avalonia.

I spread the journals out looking for clues. I examine each journal one by one and bang hidden beneath the words are numbers. I write them down. They look like coordinates.

These must be coordinates to Avalonia. I punch in the coordinates. There it is Avalonia. I fire up the FTL. I’m on my way to Avalonia. The creators first home, first creation and hopefully the site of the one that is eternal.

As my ship travels to Avalonia, I keep reading the journals of the creators. This is amazing. One of the journals written by a creator whose name is Minta talks about how the libraries were created. But what the journals don’t talk about is how we were created or why the vanished.

After ten hours my ship drops out of FTL. This is Avalonia. I scan the planet. My scans don’t pick up anything. I go back to the journals. I read each one. The journals talk about a large structure between a mountain and a waterfall.

I scan the planet again. My scans pick up something on the southern end of the planet. I go down to Avalonia. The planet is beautiful. No sign of life. I wonder why that is.

I see the mountain range. I fly around the mountain. I spot a waterfall. It must be in there. I land my ship. I open the door and walk out.

I’m speechless. I never see anything so beautiful and colorful. I scan the area with my scanner. I’m picking up something. I walk in the direction of the waterfall.

What’s that up ahead? I see what looks like the figure of a person. As I get near, I see the figure looking at me. My scans showed no sign of life.

“Hello my name is Minta creator of the library, creator of everything.” Oh My God! I’m seeing one of the creators.

“You have found the eternal library filled with the knowledge of the universe. You are worthy to be in the presence of those who breath life into you. Welcome my child.”

“The knowledge of creation is too great for our creations. We hid this knowledge because no one human is worthy of the knowledge that is held in the eternal library. Only you are worthy. Enter.”

I enter the library. Wow beyond wow. So much to be discovered. I walk around looking at the great works the creators did. I don’t know where to begin.

I take one book after another reading about everything the creators created from the first space ship to the many great cities they built, to the math and medicine they created and the history of creation.

I’m looking at everything the creators ever worked on. Everything they built and made including us humans. This is amazing. I continue to read it all. Thank you creators for leaving this for me, for us.

The USA is dying

Why is the Chinese style of mutilevel democracy and meritocracy to select national leaders over 25-35 years of proven records much superior to the western style democracy of selecting their national boss?

Say you have cancer.

Would you pick someone from the street to manage your treatment just because he happens to be tall, old, and gives nice speeches?

Yet that is what America has been doing for problems far more complex than cancer.

How does a rank amateur who has never spent a day in public office expect to master the task of running an entire nation from day 1?

That will be no different from picking a Mr. Random to replace Tim Cook at apple.

How do you think apple stock will fare once the appointment is confirmed, particularly if the replacement cannot explain the difference between a potato chip and a silicon chip?

Whatever you think of the Chinese, their system GUARANTEES that anyone with even a sniff at the politburo knows thoroughly what governance is all about–the stakes involved, how the various arms work, the major players, and most importantly, how to go about fulfilling their own roles.

You cannot say the same about the American system right at the very top because the cabinet is essentially parachuted in, and that can include the president.

What’s your rudest encounter with a hotel staff?

My home burnt down. And a nonprofit organization was helping me and my wife by paying for a room for us for a couple days while we found new residence..

1 hotel ..the best western.. refused to house us bc they saw nonprofit residents as poor and filthy (said they ruined rooms…like rich cant do that too)

The next one, one we ended up being placed in for 2 days called the scottish inn was owned by an Indian looking lady and family id presume. The woman acted like, and stated, she was *doing us a favor* by taking paid in full rates for a room bc it was paid by an organization (guaranteed $ in bag) she also treated us like scum of the Earth. From the second we showed up being recited a hundred rules and placed in room next to office and told to not make any noise and that our 2 kids ages 5 and 8 needed to *keep quiet completely* to not cooking any food and accused of doing soo when we brought some of our belongings we salvaged in, and 1 item was an air fryer.

Day 2 they called room around noon and told us, not even 18 hrs later, that we needed to vacate room w our stuff soo they could clean.

We did soo.. and returned to the entire room covered in news paper and the owner lady came knocking 2 seconds in.. she told me i couldnt have my own tv in room at first.. then told me no drinks can be in room (kool aid) then told me no touching tv. Keep in mind that the room was spotless, wed been up 2 days at this point and slept most this time.. our kids had slept 8 or 9 of the 14 hrs as well and were very well behaved.

We hadnt done anything at all besides drink some kool aid and flick around cable tv channels and talk amongst ourselves.

Soo Finally I burst and defended myself and exclaimed how she is treating us different because she assumes we are poor, but we are still people and it needs to stop.

I asked if we had done anything wrong. To which she replied no.. soo i said *then leave us alone.. if we do anything wrong, then tell us and we will stop…until then, plz stop treating us like scum that will ruin things, its a hotel.. we paid, leave us be..you dont cover every customers room w news paper and hover over them w rules like a prison guard do you? Soo why do that to us.. you are NOT doing us a favor, we could have found other accomodations if youd been uncomfortable. I understand your worry but we didnt do anything to be treated poorly and its making us feel opressed and uncomfortable even talking w eachother at a normal tone.. please relax and leave us be*

Horrible experience and completely demeaning.

I had to stop her when she just sat there 20 mins in my room w my kids belittling me. Hope she didnt take offence I wasnt mad , just making clear it was rude.

The USA is now completely lawless

What’s the difference between a rich man in Nigeria and in the United States?

A Rich Man In Nigeria

He might have more than 7 cars. He is not paying tax or insurance on them so they are easy for him to maintain.
Rather than for Nigerian Police officers to protect citizens, you see them guarding the Nigerian rich men. The middle class always employ Gate men. (security issues)
The Nigerian rich men mostly send their wives to USA for child birth because of citizenship. The uncertainties in Nigeria are too many and he wants the best for his kids.
The Nigeria rich man always seeks medical aid abroad.He doesn’t trust the Nigerian health care system even though we have both public and private hospitals.Nigeria President son had a bike accident ,he was transported to Germany for check up/treatment. His father (President Buhari ) almost stayed in London for a year because of health care.Yes they are rich and can afford this extravagant life.
The Nigeria rich man evades tax a lot. Yes FIRS, the Nigerian version of IRS, aren’t effective.Till today, we do not even know how much Nigerian legislatives earn monthly.
The Nigerian rich man might establish his own private university and send his own kids abroad for college education.

A rich man in the USA.

He enjoys a business conducive environment.
He enjoys access to health care
He gets taxed for all his properties and liabilities.
He files his taxes or risks jail.
If he is an Entrepreneur, he employs workers and pays them with minimum wage. Nigeria is still battling with fixing its minimum wage to $100 monthly. The rich men in Nigeria are seriously taking advantage of the poor youths, paying them peanuts.

I hope you understand my points from another view of life.

Thanks

No One Wants to Work Anymore ….. The Debt Trend

Will WW3 involve all the G20 countries?

Hopefully yes!

You see Europeans are against war… in Europe they’re absolutely fine with devastation and killing OUTSIDE Europe.

After WW2 it was never again in Europe.

This is why the vast majority of them supported the Iraq and Afghan genocides. The people loved the 20 year mass murder of Iraqis and Afghans and most of them were happy about it.

All their governments which remember are elected and WHOLLY REPRESENTATIVE of the people as they’re democracies remember which is the PERFECT MOST REPRESENTATIVE system support killing of brown people.

This is why Europe needs to be utterly devastated along with the USA. Some of them might have the awareness and think OMG we did this for years against other countries! Are we the baddies?

most of them will be nah! They’re just insects!!!

Wanna play?

Col. Larry Wilkerson on Scott Ritter and Russia’s Devastating Warning to NATO

Everyone is convinced that the United States is in full scale collapse.

What is a historical fact that would sadden most people if they found out?

In the 1860’s, abused children were not protected under the law. So animal activists had to step in to rescue an abused child. Mary Ellen Wilson was the first child abuse case in America that initiated welfare rights for abused children.

If you beat and mistreated your furry animal, the newly formed ASPCA (the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) had the right to take it away from you. In some cases, you could be imprisoned.

If you beat and neglected a living, breathing child, the law allowed it because children were considered the property of the father.

Little Mary’s story begins tragically. Her father died when she was born, forcing her penniless mother to place her in the care of Martha Score. After Mary’s mother missed a few payments, Martha Score cruelly placed Mary Wilson into the New York City Department of Charities without her mother’s consent.

[1]After her financial situation improved, Mary’s mother, Francis Wilson, returned to get her child back but Martha Score falsely informed her that her daughter had died. Distraught, Francis Wilson left and never knew the horrors her daughter faced after being adopted by Mary and Thomas McCormack.

In that era, adoption was easy and unregulated. The couple walked into the orphanage, claimed to be her legitimate parents and took Mary Wilson home with them. The purpose of adopting her was to have an indentured servant, basically an unpaid servant.

Thomas McCormack died shortly after the adoption, and Mary McCormack remarried to Francis McConnell. It was during this period where Mary Wilson experienced extreme abuse. It was common knowledge in the neighborhood that her adopted mother savagely beat her.

Mary Wilson was beaten, burned, whipped and locked in a closet for hours. She was forced to do heavy labor and to sleep on the floor. The little girl slept on a dirty mat in a closet where she was chained like a dog.

During that period, Etta Wheeler, who was a missionary working for the poor, heard of the abuse and investigated. She expected to find an abused child but was still horrified by what she saw. Mary Wilson’s frail, starved body was covered in burns and cuts.

She went to authorities to have Mary Wilson removed from the abusive household but local authorities were unwilling to help, pointing out that the law allowed for physical discipline and Mary Wilson was the property of Francis McConnell.

“She’s better off with a home than on the street!” was the common belief.

Lost on what to do next, she decided to appeal to the organization that advocated against animal cruelty. Henry Bergh, the founder of ASPCA, was eager to help and built a legal case after Etta Wheeler gathered evidence and testimony on the abuse.

During the case, this was Mary Wilson’s chilling words on what she experienced.

My father and mother are both dead. I don’t know how old I am. I have no recollection of a time when I did not live with the Connollys. Mamma has been in the habit of whipping and beating me almost every day. She used to whip me with a twisted whip — a rawhide. The whip always left a black and blue mark on my body. I have now the black and blue marks on my head which were made by Mamma and also a cut on the left side of my forehead which was made by a pair of scissors. She struck me with the scissors and cut me; I have no recollection of ever having been kissed by any one — have never been kissed by Mamma. I have never been taken on my mamma’s lap and caressed or petted. I never dared to speak to anybody, because if I did, I would get whipped. I do not know for what I was whipped — Mamma never said anything to me when she whipped me. I do not want to go back to live with Mamma, because she beats me so. I have no recollection ever being on the street in my life.

[2]Her stepmother was found guilty of felonious assault and sentenced to one year of hard labour. Not an adequate sentence in my opinion. She should’ve gotten more for the abuse she inflicted.

Mary Wilson went on to live a happy life under the care of Etta Wheeler’s younger sister. She married and had two daughters, later adopting an orphaned girl. One of her daughters was named Etta, after the woman who rescued her.

She lived happily till her death at the age of 92. According to her children and grandchildren, she rarely discussed her early years and always possessed a kind, caring nature despite her horrific past.

After Mary Wilson’s case, laws were established against child abuse.

For the longest time in history, children and woman were considered property of their father or husband. This story goes to show how backwards society once was.

Can you believe that animals had more protection than children in history? It’s saddening.

Footnotes

[1] Mary Ellen Wilson: When Abused Children Had Fewer Rights Than Pets

[2] Mary Ellen Wilson – Wikipedia

Cool find

What happened in your office that became the stuff of legend?

I am a manager at a gourmet grocer and caterer.

One morning, my catering delivery driver comes running in the building to tell me that a trailer truck pulled in behind him as he was leaving with a catering delivery. The driver of the truck was nasty and refused to back up his truck.

This was a delivery for us from a company that we dealt with for many years. Apparently he was a new driver as we had never seen him before.

I am a 5′6″ 120 lb female and was probably about 56 years old at the time. Just saying, you’ll see.

So I went outside and asked the driver to move his truck. He refused and started swearing at me using words that would make my mother blush. He was standing in front of me with clenched fists. Very calmly, I told him I had 2 choices: I could call his boss or I could call the police. “you choose,” I said. He raised his fists and starting running towards me. I stood still with my arms crossed and then he stopped a few inches from me. “you’ll move your truck then”, I said. He turned and got back in the cab. I turned to go back in the building and there behind me was the 6′2” chef, the 6′ butcher and a 6′ driver. all big men.

How we laughed. I thought I had it under control all by myself! The guys couldn’t decide if I was a fool or brave. I thought I was brave!

I did call the drivers boss and that was the last time we saw him! We still laugh about that day several years later.

Chinese General “War is coming” Wait and You will See.

Very interesting “interview”.

The content you produce is top-tier and very valuable. High level overview of 'perceptions', 'narratives', and 'situations'. Becoming my go-to channel for Asia Pacific. Respect.

The forced closing of the China embassy in Houston seems to be a prelude to war by the USA. Will the USA land troops in Taiwan to force a war?

First it is not an embassy but a consulate. The Chinese ambassador resides in the Chinese embassy in DC, the capital city.

China has other consulates that serve different geographic regions of the US.

A prelude to war will require the severing of diplomatic relations, and the ambassador will close the embassy and return to China unmolested.

But of course, the United States is not known to be a stickler for international law so there is a nonzero possibility of unprovoked hostilities.

Unlikely but this administration has shown there are no bottomlines when it comes to the degree of outlandish and loutish they are willing to go.

Larry Johnson: Russia Is Flashing Red, the West Better Pay Attention

So worrying. This is important to view.

Can you put a soldier out of his misery?

NOTE: This information was true up until 2009 and I cannot unequivocally state that it is currently taught to medics and again, I doubt anyone would admit to others in a public forum if they had participated in the situation.

Yes, you can. Medics are taught how to but not instructed to. There is a terrible and fine line out there in “the suck” that medics, and medics alone, are asked to walk.

You don’t end a person’s life. Full stop. In the rare case that a soldier is mortally wounded (no way to maintain an airway or control bleeding and no higher medical assets within a reasonable time)… then a medic could administer an extra ampule of morphine or two. Even though the doctors and instructors teach the medics this, in the end, it’s on that one person’s shoulders. And conscience.

Is it better to leave your friend/co-worker screaming in agony until they are too weak to yell? Then watch them convulse every few minutes for a couple of hours. Then finally they stop responding to your voice or even painful stimulus.

Brain death is setting in. It takes a few minutes or a few days.

Every minute you have a seriously wounded soldier in your unit you have medics that are out of the fight. You also have a much more complicated command situation. Nobody (NOBODY) makes this decision lightly. They also never talk about it.

In the movies, there is always an EVAC helicopter with an escort available and ready to risk anything to get to the wounded. In combat, it’s not always possible. “Birds” get grounded for many reasons and MEDEVAC Strykers are delayed by the need for escort vehicles/crews and IED laden roads. In almost all cases, the wounded will live to see the operating room. In some form.

Combat wounded are intense. Gunfire is still raging in many cases. People are yelling, confusion is everywhere. The medic will be well trained but under a lot of stress. They know that they have to address breathing and bleeding in 2–3 minutes. They also need to avoid causing further injury and find any hidden wounds. While doing this they have to coordinate any available soldiers with combat lifesaver training to assist them with this or other injured. Finally, they also have to constantly keep the command apprised of the situation.

Who has X injury?

Can they return to the fight?

Do they need to be evacuated from battle or can we take them with us?

If they need to go NOW, how long do they realistically have?

Can we ground evac through the combat or do we need a bird?

While answering all of that the medic has assessed the wounded. Tried to control the bleeding and established a secure airway. Then they need to find a vein for an IV (super hard on a patient with blood loss or missing limbs). While doing this they also need to fill out the ‘9 Line’ medical evacuation form for the radio. Once this is done the medic will check the field dressings, the IV, the breathing. Record the wounds and vitals. Mark when/if morphine was given (how much, when, where administered) and done so that the surgeon can see it and blood doesn’t wash it away. Often in black sharpie on the forehead if the patient is unconscious- as awful as that sounds it works well.

So, don’t talk about the morality of this until you walk a mile (or 26) in a medic’s boots. Don’t talk about what happens until you live and work with a small team of men and women in a combat zone for over a year at a time. Infantry units are closer than most marriages/families. Your platoon SGT is dad and doc is mom. It’s a horrific moment to see one of your guys literally torn in half and dying. It’s much worse to know that due to a sandstorm there aren’t any flights that day. It’s hell on earth when you realize nobody is coming by road because of the IED you just hit. It’s unimaginable when you realize you only have 2 morphine ampules left and 3 critically wounded friends.

I didn’t have to make the hardest choice. I wouldn’t tell you if I did.

Great question. I hope someone who actually held this responsibility in combat can clear it up a little.

Update 2/1/21: I have received word from one medic who states they are no longer issued morphine, but it has been replaced with fentanyl and ketamine. I have two friends still in service who are currently issued morphine while fentanyl is on the medevac stryker, but I believe Mr. Walker regarding standard issue. Thank you to Alan Walker for the comment.

USA DEPLOYING 300K TROOPS TO EUROPE! RUSSIAS NUCLEAR LINE CROSSED, ATTACKS ON RUSSIA BEGIN

He is talking about what I have been saying. When the empire collapses, it starts locking down the country.

BREAKING NEWS: ISRAEL IS LAUNCHING ATTACKS UPON SOUTHERN LEBANON

Hal Turner World

Multiple Massive Explosions reported in Southern Lebanon as the Israeli Air Force appears to have begun Striking several Hezbollah Positions near the Border with Israel.; Strikes so Intense that Houses within the City of Kiryat Shmona are reported to be Shaking.

Drone reconnaissance activity over the Naqoura and Tyre sectors, south of the Litani River in southern Lebanon.

Says one observer:

“Israel is bombing Rafah. Israel is bombing Lebanon. Israel is bombing Syria. Bombing 3 different countries at the same time is not victim behavior. It is terrorism.”

Crossing red lines w/ Jeffrey Sachs

Very good, and he lays out a really good history of how we got here.

https://youtu.be/c-gIFpYWPuA

U.S. Surveillance Drone “FORTE-12” Has Gone “Missing” Over Black Sea

Hal Turner World

American Recon Drone “FORTE12” has apparently gone down in the Black Sea. RUMORS say it was hit with jamming or Electronic Warfare (EW).

The intelligence drone was a Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk, flying out of an air base in Sicily. It circled at an altitude of 15.5 kilometers above the neutral waters of the Black Sea near Crimea according to the data of the website Flightradar24.

Judging by the data of the site, which allows real-time monitoring of aircraft movement, the reconnaissance drone flew out of the airfield Catania on the Italian island of Sicily. The drone gained height and proceeded through airspace of Greece and Bulgaria to the Black Sea.

According to Flightradar, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) belongs to the US Air Force and has registration number 10-2045, the call sign Forte-12.

The flight of the drone is tracked by more than five thousand users, ranking first in the “popularity” on the FlightRadar24 website platform. According data at 11:39 Moscow time, drone tracking stopped on the site, the board stopped displaying on the map.

According to the manufacturing company, the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle is designed for reconnaissance and surveillance. It is capable of flying at high altitudes for more than 30 hours, is designed to receive images of large tracts of land with a high resolution in almost real time, is able to act in any weather and any time of day. In addition, such devices are used to support communication as repeaters.

As noted on the manufacturer’s website, Global Hawk, used by the US Air Force since 2001, “identifies potential threats, allowing commanders to gain a better understanding of their area of interest”.

This radio show called U.S. Central Command, twice, for comment. Both calls were picked up, with an almost immediate hang-up. I then called the Pentagon Press office. That call was answered by “Quinn” and I told him I was trying to reach CENTCOM but two calls resulted in Hang-ups; that I was trying to get a comment about FORTE-12 Drone being downed in the Black Sea. I asked him for a better contact number for CENTCOM. He asked me to hold. He came back a minute later saying “I am putting you through to Major Dietz. The call rang 4x and voice mail picked up saying “You have reached a mailbox that cannot accept messages.”

What is the scariest thing you know too much about?

The Jonestown Massacre.

If you think that’s trash on the ground, you would be, as the first helicopter pilots who flew over, mistaken.

These are the bodies of 918 members of the Peoples Temple who were brutally murdered by madman so high on himself and a truckload of barbiturates, I bet he still roams the location in a dream of undeserved self worship, refusing to accept that he died decades ago.

He died not the same way as the others.. Oh no that would be far too painful. You can mix as much drugs and sedatives into a vat of “Koolaid” as you want, it won’t make a difference when you throw buckets of potassium cyanide along with it. Cyanide has no mercy or morals, it stops the body from absorbing oxygen. Simple as that. It suffocates you, and I promise you it is not pleasant or “pain free” as Jim Jones promised it would be. The sedatives added would take up to 30 min to start working. Cyanide killed them in 5 min.

No my friends, Mr Jones took a bullet to the head. Probably didn’t even do it himself. He was too cowardly to drink his “potion”, nor shoot himself. Based on what his son said about him later, he knew he was a fraud. And when all failed, he refused to fail alone, and made all his followers follow him into death. Some were brainwashed, but many of them were forced.

He made the children drink first, so by the time they had gone, the parents wouldn’t have much to live for, and would want to go with their children into peace.

Jones was a sick man, and a terrible lesson for us to learn. Let us learn it well.

Those who forget the past, are condemned to repeat it.

The US Sanctioned China…You Won’t Believe How Beijing Responded!

Taiwan is a jurisdiction that never invade its neighbor given that it has the world most advanced military technology. How many hours can China last it comes to battle ?

You are quite deluded. Taiwan’s military is primitive compared to the militaries of China and USA.

A war between China and Taiwan, excluding the participation of USA, would last a matter of days. And Taiwan would LOSE.

All of Taiwan’s military equipment from USA are second-rate leftovers from the US military. Taiwan does not have access to F-22, F-35, and advanced US Navy ships and submarines.

Malaysian News has not done adequate research on the matter. Or, Malaysian News chooses to be wilfully ignorant. Denial is not a river in Africa.

Scott Ritter Exposed: Secret U.S.-NATO Challenges Russia, Nuclear War is Inevitable

German Chocolate Doughnuts

Surprise! There’s a yummy secret filling in these chocolate-glazed doughnuts.

Prep: 30 min | Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

4 cups Crisco® Pure Vegetable Oil
1 cup Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme™ Coconut Pecan Frosting
1/2 cup Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme™ Chocolate Frosting
1 can Pillsbury™ Grands!™ Flaky Layers refrigerated honey butter biscuits
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup flaked coconut, toasted*

Instructions

In 3-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil over medium heat to 350 degrees F.
Meanwhile, spoon coconut pecan frosting into decorating bag fitted with 1/2-inch wide tip. Set aside.
In medium bowl, stir chocolate frosting and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. Set aside.
Place paper towels under cooling rack. Separate dough into 8 biscuits; gently place 2 biscuits at a time in hot oil. Cook 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Using tongs, gently turn over; cook 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to cooling rack; cool 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix pecans and coconut.
To fill doughnuts, insert decorating tip** into side of each biscuit. Squeeze about 2 tablespoons of coconut pecan frosting into center.
Dip one side of each biscuit in chocolate glaze. Sprinkle with pecan mixture.
Serve warm or cool.

Notes

* To toast coconut, heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread coconut in ungreased shallow pan. Bake uncovered 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.

** If you don’t have a decorating bag and tip, use a 1 gallon plastic freezer bag. Spoon frosting into bag and cut 1/2 inch off one corner of bag. Fill doughnuts as stated.

Nutrition

Per serving: Calories 530 Calories from Fat 290 Total Fat 32g Saturated Fat 10g Trans Fat 2 1/2g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 600mg Total Carbohydrate 55g Dietary Fiber 1g Sugars 1g Protein 4g

% Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0% Calcium 0% Iron 8%

Exchanges:1 Starch; 0 Fruit; 2 1/2 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 0 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 6 1/2 Fat

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

What is the craziest thing that has happened to you as an entrepreneur?

Some years ago my brother and I decided to open up a cigar parlor. We wanted to open it at the newly-developed Patriot Place, home of the New England Patriots. Being a marketing manager by trade I researched and wrote a business plan for the project, learning much along the way. For example, the average retail store generates about 150 dollars of revenue per square foot: for decades, Tiffany’s generated the most at 4000 dollars per square foot til Apple came along and blew everyone out of the water at 6000 dollars per square foot.

I did traffic pattern analysis and so on. I got all kinds of rental statistics from the Patriot Place management office and wrote a plan. We got a lawyer and incorporated. We got an accountant and became an LLC. We went to a bank and got 400,000 in SBA financing. We went to the Chamber of Commerce and they hooked us up with a business team at a business college who wrote our financial plan for us for free. We went to Patriot Place sales management and they showed us a concrete box available in the mall. It was 11oo square feet. The rent was 89,000 dollars a year. We hired an architect who drew up a plot plan and did basic diagrams of the layout we wanted. We worked with the town health inspector to make sure there were no gotchas. The triumph was going to the town to apply for a liquor license. By the merest of chance a liquor license had been surrendered that day and the town clerk approved my application. All I needed was a rubber-stamp approval from the town government and the clerk told me it was a formality. It cost me 250 dollars. By comparison, a liquor license in Massachusetts sold by a business costs between 250,000 and 500,000 dollars. I was in the right place at the right time. Most of the profit in any food business is the liquor. A cigar, after taxes, might make 20 percent. Booze makes many times that. Many businesses are propped up by the booze sales alone. Everything else is just a gimmick to get customers to come in and buy booze.

Once the Plan was complete with architectural drawings, contractor lists, materials required, SBA documents, business plan, pro-forma financial documents and every other duck lined up we contacted Patriot Place management. They arranged a sit-down meeting to discuss the viability of our potential business in their mall. Meanwhile we contacted all the businesses that would be around us. Almost every single one of them said a variation of the following: “Do not do business with these people. You are getting in bed with the devil. Run away while you still have the time. Once you sign a five year contract it will be too late to run away.” But by this time we had invested over 40,000 dollars in the operation. So we went forward.

The meeting was scheduled for 2:oo PM at the Patriot Place boardroom. My brother and I put on our best suits: we made copies of the plans and had them bound. We wanted to look professional and capable. At 2:00 we showed up at the Patriot Place office. No one was around. After about fifteen minutes a guy showed up who said he represented Patriot Place rental management. He looked about 25. He was wearing cut-off shorts and flip flops, a concert T-shirt and dark Ray-Bans. He told us the conference room was not available so we would have to do the meeting at Davios restaurant. We walked to the restaurant in silence. I was hoping we would meet other officials there who were more professional. But when we got to the restaurant it was fully booked. The guy stood outside in his flip flops for a minute and then he said, “We can do the presentation here on the park bench.” I was incredulous. We were going to give a business presentation in the middle of a mall on a bench, with shoppers passing by. So I said, “Will others from the organization be joining us?” and he grinned and said, “It’s just me, baby!”. What choice did we have but to sit down and present? My tie was flapping in the wind. My brother was silent. I handed a packet to the guy and went to my Power Point summary. At first all he was interested in was our liquor license: how we got it, the miraculous story of how I was in the right place at the right time. He listened intently.

But when I started to present the guy’s cell phone rang. He picked it up. “It’s my girlfriend,” he said. And started talking. Then while he was talking he said to us, “Yeah, keep going.” There was a pit in the bottom of my stomach. It was like talking to air as I spoke while he carried on an animated conversation with his girlfriend. I finished before he did. We waited in silence for him to finish his call. When he was done all he said was, “Does this packet include everything?” I said, “Yes, the business plan, architectural diagrams, contracts, LLC legal documents, all of it.” “OK,” he said, getting up, “We’ll let you know in two weeks. By the way, it’s triple net and we take 2 percent of any revenues over 1 million dollars per year. That’s revenues, not profit. And you have to use our services for snow and trash removal, plumbing, electrical and janitorial. You’ll be billed monthly.” And he got up and left.

My brother and I sat there. It was like getting raped. Neither of us said a thing. We just looked around at the mall. “It’s like getting in bed with the Devil,” that store owner told us.

Two weeks went by. They never called us. Another week went by. They never called us. Finally I called the name on the card the man had given us. It took him awhile to remember who we were. “Oh, we’re not doing that,” he said, dismissively, “but thanks for the Plan. It was very thorough. We’ll use it as a template if we ever decide to put in a cigar store.” And he hung up. No good-bye. I stood there looking at my cellphone like an idiot. We were out 40,000 dollars and had nothing to show for it. Later we were alerted by the town that our liquor license had been denied. It had been given to Patriot Place instead.

We never went to Patriot Place again, not to shop, not to eat, not for anything. They were the devil.

Anti-War Activist Passport Confiscated & Pulled Off Plane By State Dept. – Scott Ritter

What is the craziest thing that has happened to you as an entrepreneur?

My brother and I sat there. It was like getting raped. Neither of us said a thing. We just looked around at the mall. “It’s like getting in bed with the Devil,” that store owner told us.

We never went to Patriot Place again, not to shop, not to eat, not for anything. They were the devil.

Apricot Cream Cheese French Toast

Ingredients

French Toast

1 loaf French bread, cut into 8 very thick slices
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup pecans
Confectioners’ sugar
1 cup whipping cream
4 eggs
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Apricot Sauce

1 (12 ounce) jar apricot preserves
1/2 cup orange juice

Instructions

French Toast

Make a pocket in bread slices by slicing again, but not all the way through.
Mix the cream cheese with the pecans and a couple tablespoons of the confectioners’ sugar. Stuff the pocket in the French bread with the cream cheese mixture. Dip into a mixture of whipping cream, eggs, nutmeg and vanilla extract.
Grill on hot griddle, and serve with Apricot Sauce.

Apricot Sauce

Mix apricot preserves with orange juice over low heat.

Douglas Macgregor: Why you should pity American Soldiers | Truth on Washington

This is about a serious as it gets

Scott Ritter was med by some “feds” and had to hand over his passport. It’s gone. Whoops! Yuppur, he lost his passport while trying to leave the USA.

When the German Reich was collapsing, Hitler sent out squads of men to round up dissidents and “silence” them. You know how, right? Yeah, Gonzalo Lira style.

The USA is starting it’s lock down phase.

So many things wrong about this. I will tell you all, that this is the kind of thing that I am terrified of with the USA. And one of the many, many reasons why I will never return to the United States.

Later down in this post is a video between Scott Ritter and Judge Neopalino. Watch it.

The United States is BAT SHIT CRAZY right now.

It is a hoard of zombies galloping towards war.

Fucking Crazy-Train.

Scott Ritter : On My Way to Russia I Met Big Brother.

Do you think the Chinese government has access to U.S. user data on TikTok?

Tiktok database is sitting on Oracle servers run by a US company. Do you think they’re sending China tiktok data?

And why would China want that data? To see which dance fad is in so they can do what?

The only government that is interested in that data is because Americans are saying stuff that they aren’t suppose to say. Guess who is interested in that?

What is the absolute worst thing in the world?

My friend’s father died of cancer.

This is one of the worst things of my life, and it happened yesterday.

The sad thing is that unfortunately, we follow this practice blindly.

Her father was the only earning member of the family consisting of 3 kids (all girls). Having no son is often considered a curse in India. He was diagnosed with a cancer 1.5 years ago and suddenly the cost of medical treatment shot sky high.

Because of health issues he had to leave his job , where his company paid for his medical treatment to certain extent. But finally, they surrendered.

The youngest daughter, who is my friend, is just 25 years old and was doing her post graduation. She had to force herself to earn something for the family. She started giving tuition along with a hectic job of 12 hours to run her family and to continue her father’s treatment.

This is not the worst thing yet. Here comes the worst part:

Cancer treatment is costly. She tried to get help from everywhere:

Various NGOs
Actors like Amitabh Bachchan, where his manager talked to her sweetly and gave her hope, but that help never arrived. They stopped receiving her call. He acts as the protagonist in the movie, he is not.
Cricketers like Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. Where Virat Kohli’s manager told that these cricketers are not heroes to save anyone’s life. They have to wear a mask in front of media and his fans.
And same went with Sachin’s manager, where they refused to receive her call.
Virat and Sachin played for our country, they earned money but they are not our heroes.
She started public campaign where anyone can donate money anonymously for her father, and that’s where she could manage to get some money.
Whether you believe it or not, but these common people are our heroes, who help one another.

Her father left this world but taught us an important lesson:

The absolute worst thing in the world is that we forget that our hero lives among us. These cricketers, actors, singers etc. are not our heroes. We worship them, giving them a stature equivalent to God. Why? Because they acted really well in the movie and saved people or they played really well in a cricket match and saved a match?
Not only a son can take responsibility. Give equal rights to your girl, she will never let you down.

Need to think about it seriously.

Why is Zelensky accusing China but Russia can’t?

That’s a great question. I also want to mention that the Chinese and Westerners have very different perceptions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

You need to understand that China is an ancient civilization. Speaking for myself, if I compare it to China, Kyiv is equivalent to Xi’an – the cradle of our nation. And Crimea is equivalent to the “Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun” in Chinese history. So, while it may be politically incorrect, I personally believe that Russia has the right to reclaim Ukraine: this is a war of unification, a just war.

Basically, any Chinese person would support Russia. Although there are many people on Chinese social media who support Ukraine, in real life there are hardly any. Those online comments are often made by bots. I don’t have evidence to prove this, it’s just the view of an ordinary Chinese person.

As for Ukraine, my view is “saddened by their misfortune, angered by their inaction.” They are being used as a pawn by external powers to stir up the European situation and weaken Russia. Such fertile land, such a highly educated population, such a strong industrial base… it’s truly heartbreaking and regrettable.

Zelensky must know he is doomed to fail. China’s industrial capability is too strong. Take the large-caliber artillery shells he has been demanding – ONE of a China’s production line can churn out 150,000 per month, almost approaching NATO’s annual output. After all, China’s annual steel production is around 1.4 billion tons, about 10 times the peak of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

As for drones, I’m very worried that the use of this technology by both sides in the conflict may eventually prevent me from buying spare parts on Taobao… for civilian use, really! My kids and I really enjoy taking them out for aerial photography.

I admit that China is currently supplying Russia with civilian industrial goods. But honestly, if we didn’t, should we just watch the Russian people suffer? Wasn’t it Russia that taught us industrialization in the 1950s? Back then, as Mao Zedong said: “What can we make now? We can make tables and chairs, we can make teacups and teapots, we can grow grains and grind them into flour, we can also make paper.”

The Soviet Union (Russia) taught us the initial industrial foundation (the universities I attended were built with Soviet aid in the 1950s), and personally, I will be forever grateful to Russia.

Ukraine also buys a lot of Chinese products, including civilian drones. I even heard that China is considering banning the sale of even civilian products to the conflict zone…

The US is really being so overbearing. If you open a world map, you’ll find that China is surrounded by US military bases, densely packed. We feel very scared – after all, in the last war, 35 million of us were massacred by the Japanese.

If Russia fails, it will tilt toward the US, and then we will be completely surrounded.

Going back to your question, I don’t really like Zelensky. He seems to be saying: “You owe us, and Ukrainians are dying for your interests! Why don’t you help us?”

His question, if directed at the US, I think has some validity.

But the Chinese also don’t owe him anything.

As for Russia, Russia is a very proud nation, they wouldn’t say that.

Wine Pot Roast

Yield: 6 to 7 servings

Ingredients

3 to 4 pound beef pot roast
Salt and pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1 (3/4 ounce) package brown gravy mix
1 cup water
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

Sprinkle roast with flour, and brown well in small amount of oil in skillet.
Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper; place in slow cooker.
Combine remaining ingredients; pour over meat.
Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours.
Remove meat and slice.
If desired, thicken sauce with flour dissolved in a small amount of water, and serve over meat.

What is the craziest auto accident you have ever seen that did not have a fatality?

Originally Answered: What is the craziest auto accident you have ever seen, that did not have a fatality?

I was a paramedic at the time. We got called out to an MVC (motor vehicle collision) on a rural road known for lots of curves and high speed, which don’t mix well. Well, we showed up and immediately noticed a large SUV (Chevy Suburban maybe?) on its roof. The car was trashed, having obviously rolled over several times.

There were a few other bystanders that had stopped. As we got out of the ambulance to triage the situation, bystander ran up to us yelling “there are 4 little kids trapped in the car!” Well crap.

“Medic 91 to central, start rolling me two more units code 1 for now. Possibly four trapped children in a rollover. And make sure FD is en route for extrication.”

In the medical field, we learn quickly that a quiet child is a sick child. As we approach the car, there is no crying except for mom who is bawling her eyes out next to the car. We approach now, expecting the worst.

“My babies! My babies are still in the car! Help them, help them please!”

As we assess the car, we are asking mom what happened, how many kids in the car, where they are, if they have cried or talked to her since the accident, etc. She tells us there are four kids: two sets of twins ages 1 and almost 3. They were crying and screaming after the accident but they haven’t made a sound in the last five min or so.

The roof is crushed to the point where we can’t see into the upside down vehicle very well. Still no crying from inside the vehicle. How the heck mom got out of the vehicle I’ll never know and she doesn’t remember.

Fire department pulls up and we give them the quick and dirty. They grab the jaws and pop the doors ASAP so we know what we are dealing with.

As the door pops open, I am struck by what I see. It truly brought a lump into my throat. Hanging upside down (remember, car is on the roof) are four perfectly restrained car seats with the children in them – and NOT A SCRATCH ON THEM. Apparently they had cried themselves to sleep after the accident because they were all just hanging there like bats, asleep in their car seats. Even with the sirens, jaws of life (which if you have ever been inside a car during extrication, it gets LOUD), and everything, it wasn’t until the sunlight hit their faces that they woke up and started crying again.

We got the children out of their car seats and double checked everyone. One of the 3-year-olds had a small scratch from broken glass, but nothing that needed stitches or anything. The other three were perfectly fine without a scratch.

Mom is crying tears of joy now. She says that they always put up such a fight about the car seats that she doesn’t always use them, but she did today. She thanked us profusely for “saving their lives.”

I told her “We didn’t do anything but get them out of the car. YOU saved their lives when you buckled them in. Thank YOU for saving their lives, because there is no way they would have lived through this if they weren’t buckled in properly.”

We transported everyone to the hospital to get checked out as mom likely had a concussion and because of the mechanism of injury was so significant, but all was well.

That car was one of the worst-damaged cars I’ve rolled up on and to not have any injuries on those kids was absolutely amazing.

What was that moment when you felt proud?

I was handling a flight. Everything was almost ready to go except for waiting on some more baggage. All passengers were boarded, some already offloaded due to no show, all in all the flight will be on time. I went up to the gate to get the papers from the gate staff and I noticed an adult male passenger sitting in the area and crying. That’s very unusual. I asked the gate staff what’s up with that and they told me the passenger was refused boarding due to a problem with his ticket. Apparently, his last name for this sector was misspelled by a letter, and he travelled inbound on a different airline and ticket. So, once he wanted to board he got denied at the gate. He previously tried to convince the gate staff to allow him to travel, as the reason he stated his father is in the hospital dying, and he needs to take this flight to hopefully see him before he has passed. Unfortunately, there was nothing the gate staff could do about it. He was travelling with his hand baggage only. They told him to go to the ticketing, refund the old ticket and buy a new one for the sector he will travel. It was ten minutes to departure and he couldn’t book the ticket for this flight anymore. I talked to him and he confirmed that his travel was a last minute thing. He had to fly inbound with another airline as our flight was overbooked, and then wait for this first flight to his destination, all to see his dying father. He told me he’s emotional because this means he will not be able to say his final goodbye. Seeing a grown man cry like that was a proof he’s telling the truth for me.

I did something no staff would probably ever do, and something we’re not even allowed to do.

As staff, I can issue tickets though an online system for my friends and family. I thought of something I can try to help him. I called the flight editing and asked them to open the flight as I have an urgent last minute change. Surprisingly they did. Then, I issued a staff ticket for this passenger. I let him board the flight without him knowing what I’ve done. I never asked for the money. The gate staff was shocked. I told him to get his original ticket refunded later on and wished him all the best. The man was so happy it was lovely to watch. I instructed the gate staff to keep quiet about it as we can use the staff tickets for people we know only, plus at the right time lol.

I hope he got his moments with his father before he passed. I never found out.

It made me smile and proud that I could think of that and also it surprised me that I was willing to pay for his (discounted) ticket. I did feel bad for going against the rules, but I figured I’d probably have the support of our HR in case I got reported, as they are nice and they care about people plus this story was heart warming.

Nobody reported me.

The flight went on time.

That was my good moment.

AI VIDEOS will KILL HOLLYWOOD – fable creates tv shows from prompts…

What happened in your office that became the stuff of legend?

This was in my ex-husband’s place of work, which I won’t name to protect the innocent.

He was an electronics engineer in a hospital. A lot of people raise their eyebrows when they hear that’s where he worked, as you normally associate hospitals with doctors and nurses, and if pushed, caterers, cleaners and technicians, but if you think about how many things in the average hospital run on electricity (upwards of 40,000), you start to get an idea of why a team is needed to repair, service and calibrate all this equipment.

Most of the team were great, hardworking and dedicated. There was one a**-hole. We’ll call him Henry.

Henry was a total shyster. He would come in late and go home early; he would log overtime when he hadn’t done any. If he was on emergency call-out ( the engineers took it in turns to be on-call for equipment that broke down overnight or on weekends) he would claim he’d come in for calls that were bogus – no-one had called.

He ran his own repair business using the hospital phones and equipment, when he should have been doing the hospital work.

He lied, cheated and stole and everyone hated him, but every time the bosses investigated, he pulled the race card and they were too scared of being sued, so they backed down.

But then they began to discover that his behaviour was dangerous, too.

Some of the equipment which he was supposed to have repaired started coming back into the workshop with the same fault as the original ticket. It turned out he wasn’t repairing it adequately (or at all, in some cases).

He claimed that it was an intermittent fault, and had just gone wrong again, but he was finally caught out. On the children’s ward, there was a piece of monitoring equipment which was supposed to alarm when something went wrong with the patient. It was alarming constantly, so was obviously faulty.

Henry went to fix it and came back and reported it as completed. He was so quick that his immediate superior was suspicious, so he went and checked. Henry had indeed silenced the alarm, but he’d done so by packing the speaker cone full of cotton wool, so you couldn’t hear the alarm any more! It was still sounding but was inaudible!

Of course, this was extremely dangerous as it left the little patient vulnerable, and the staff were relying on equipment that they didn’t know was faulty.

This was so serious that the bosses fired him on the spot. He appealed and went to the Union. They asked him the grounds for his appeal, and he said it was because his immediate superior was racist. This was puzzling, as they were from the same ethnic group, so he claimed that it was because he was high-caste and his boss was low-caste and was lying because he envied him, and that the union clearly didn’t understand the caste system.

They gave him their advice.

Leave before the police are called.

He left, and the glee in the entire workshop was so strong that the day was officially called Henry Day and every year a member of staff brings in cakes to celebrate Henry Day. New members of staff who never met him are regaled with the stories of what Henry used to do. It’s been going on for over ten years now, and I think it will keep going until the last person who remembers what a bastard Henry was has retired!

If a billionaire asked you to count from zero to infinity and what ever number you stop on is the amount of dollars he’ll give you, would you take the challenge? How high you think you’d get?

There are three kinds of mathematicians – those who are good at counting and those that aren’t.

Obviously you would choose to do this. If you counted one number per second, that would be 60 in a minute, and 3,600 in an hour. It isn’t hard to do this for small numbers, but when you’re at sixteen thousand four hundred eighty-six, sixteen thousand four hundred eighty-seven, etc. you slow down rapidly. So let’s say that you can do 1,000 in an hour.

How many readers are making $1,000 an hour? Very few, I’d say.

Oh it’s tedious, but you can do tedious for $1,000 an hour.

The question doesn’t say anything about breaks for eating, bathroom, or sleeping, but suppose they allow you to count for a while, write down your number when you want a break, and pick it up again. The limiting factor is that you will want to stop and get paid at some point, and that’s the end.

You’re going to want to go a long time. Say you do ten hours a day, $10,000 every day. After 100 days, you’ve got a million bucks. That’s nice, but not enough to retire comfortably. You can be at $3 million in a year.

If you have three million dollars, are you going to do this tedious counting for $10K per day? This is when you start thinking about retiring your family. Do you have brothers and sisters or kids that you want to help out?

I don’t know how terrible this would feel. Maybe after doing this hour after hour, day after day, you are in a groove and can do it fairly easily, but maybe it’s terrible concentrating on the seven digit numbers as they go.

I’m going to do somewhere between a million and six million. But I’m going to get a really good assurance that the payday is going to be there at the end, because this sounds too good to be true, so I’m going to need an iron-clad legal document backed up by an insurance policy.

Good Old Days

What crimes can you not forgive at all?

main qimg 5118b258e671de9f1d817111873aedae lq

Image source: On Women’s Day, read the suicide note of a man

Do you know him ?

I wish I had not given birth to son. It seems that it has become crime to give birth to son in India. These are the words of many Indian mothers.

He is Avadhesh Yadav.

While the entire country is rejoicing and celebrating Women’s Day, an old mother is crying inconsolably in Jhansi. Her son, Avadhesh Yadav committed suicide on February 25, 2015 because of a “woman”. This day has no meaning for her as she is confused of the word that means “Women Empowerment”. Laws that have been made to protect women, abuse of same became the reason for her son’s death.

Here are excerpts from suicide note left by Avadhesh Yadav:

My name is Avadhesh Yadav and I work in a private bank. I got married to Unnati Yadav on December 7, 2012. Within a week of marriage, she started pestering my family by asking divorce for no reason. We ignored. She never allowed me to come close to her for 2-3 months after the marriage. My father advised that with time everything will be fine. But it got only worse. She started misbehaving with my parents, hurling abuses at them. When we complained about this to her family, they gave excuses of some “external influence” on her and they would get her treated. She now started going almost every day at her home and threatened us of a dowry case if we said anything.

In September 2013, she left my home. In December, my father was getting retired and he wished that his daughter-in-law should be part of this program. We signed a mutual agreement where she accepted her wrongdoings and promised to be cordial with the family and I promised to do everything possible to take good care of her. She came back only to harass us even more. She demanded that I leave my parents. Threats of dowry and domestic violence cases increased. Things came to a point where she left my home again in July 2014 with her entire belongings.

On advice of lawyers, we filed a case of restitution of conjugal rights, requesting her to come back. Three months after that in September, she filed a false dowry and domestic violence case (498A) on me, my mother, father, elder brother and his wife. We got bail. Her brother told me she wants to come back.

I refused saying now this was not possible and suggested that we get separated amicably. He refused and threatened me of false cases of molestation, rape on my father and brother and, acid attack on me and getting me killed. Unnati eventually filed a case of molestation in January on my father and brother and they were arrested. I don’t know what will this step of mine lead to but I want to save my family from all this humiliation. After I go, they would probably be in peace. I also wish to ask our law makers, how they can make laws that give so much credence to mere words of a woman that whatever the other person is saying has no relevance. Shouldn’t the other side be heard too? My father and brother were picked up by police on her statement alone without any evidence.

My family that never even saw a police station has to now do the rounds just because of me. Without any evidence we have been labelled Criminals. Nothing that Unnati wrote about dowry or violence is true. Authorities can investigate the veracity of her statements. They claim to have spent Rs 20 lakh on the wedding; can someone ask them where did they get so much money from? They are demanding that we transfer my father’s house in her name. A person who is making such demands before even living with me, what will she do later? I do not want to see my family in pain. I could think of no other way than this to save my family. Please help my family get out of this problem.

Mummy, Papa, forgive me please and take care of yourself. Please do not cry as tears in your eyes would trouble me even more. MY LAST WISH – PLEASE LEAVE MY FAMILY MEMBERS.

Avadhesh Yadav

A case of abetment to suicide has been registered against Avadhesh’s wife and her brother. Had this been a married woman, this death would have been called “Dowry Death.” Avadhesh’s death would not be called “Reverse Dowry” death.

Had this been a married woman, leaving a three page suicide note, it would have made national headlines. This story got published in a paper or two.

Had this been a married woman, entire family of husband would have been thrown in jail, even if there was no suicide note. In this case, no one has been arrested yet. This is not just Avadhesh’s story. Several men are committing suicide because of false accusations.

As a social activist, Deepika Bhardwaj get calls from Men everyday with almost similar tales to share – refusal to any kind of physical contact by wife after marriage, threats of self harm on requests of physical intimacy, pressure of separation from parents, no participation in any household chores, treating in-laws like servants with both physical as well as mental abuse and whenever there is any argument or complaint over this behaviour, threats of a dowry case and sending every family member behind bars. One case was so horrible, that this man’s wife fought daily with him and dialled 100 blaming him instead. There was police at his home every day. Even though the police realized that the man was not at mistake, they could do little to help the man and absolutely nothing against the woman!

There is little a man can do if in an abusive relationship apart from filing divorce. And divorce mostly comes with even bigger abuse – false cases of dowry and domestic violence. Where not only you but your entire family is made to suffer!

Trauma of families trapped in false cases doesn’t end ever. Though this is a criminal provision, place of alleged “crime” makes absolutely no difference. A dowry case is usually filed by women in their own home town even though the case is state vs husband and his family. This basically means husband and his entire family travels to a different city/state for cases even if they are innocent. It takes huge toll on mind of a person when he sees his entire family suffering because of him.

Though Avadhesh hanged himself on February 25, he must have been dying inside since long. How would a man feel, if his old paralytic father is accused of molesting his own daughter-in-law? A young life snapped because of a system that doesn’t bother to verify claims made if it is by a “woman.”

In most 498A cases, either you pay huge money to the girl to settle the case or you fight in the court to prove your innocence for years and years. The latest trend is inclusion of false molestation/rape charges on father and brothers of the husband to ensure arrest of everyone and put tremendous pressure.

Being labelled a criminal when you have done no crime is painful. Being labelled a rapist when you have not done it is rape of one’s soul. Seeing your family suffer every hour because of you is nothing short of a death. She receives mails from many men who are facing false cases of either dowry or rape or molestation that they feel like committing suicide. What they don’t know is, even after their death, the charges on their family members remain. They still have to fight unless the case is quashed.

As a woman, this women’s day she begs to ask her fellow women – Is this why we demanded stringent laws? Is this what we mean by women empowerment that a woman can ruin anyone’s life if she wants? Isn’t a mother-in-law tortured by her daughter-in-law a woman? Would we ever get rid of crime against women if women start using laws as weapons and our courts get choked with false cases? Is it empowerment that a woman plays gender card and settle scores with whosoever she wants? False cases of crime against women should concern women rights activists because it hurts their cause the most. False cases are no less a crime against actual victims of these crimes. “If cry of wolf is made too often, assistance might not come when actual wolf appears.”

[1]

What crimes I can’t forgive at all ?

False rape cases
False molestation cases
False sexual harassment cases
False dowry cases
False domestic violence cases
False stalking cases
Genuine rape & gang rape cases
Genuine molestation cases
Genuine sexual harassment cases
Genuine dowry cases

In India, a country of 1.3 Billion people, there is not a single dedicated platform, where half of the population of the world’s second largest democracy – MEN, can complain and be heard in an impartial, unbiased and an empathetic way to solve their problems.

We have laws to protect women.

We have laws to protect children.

We have laws to protect environment.

We have even laws to protect animals.

But,

We don’t have laws to protect men.

If you really care about men’s rights then don’t forget to sign Sign the Petition & Sign the Petition petition to constitute the “National Commission For Men” in India. This is humble request from my side.

P.S: I am not generalizing woman here in my answers. I’ll not accept & endure any sort of misandry in the comment section. If Women & her parents are misusing the legal provisions made to protect woman then they definitely deserve solid punishment. If respect of woman is important then respect of man is equally important.

Retail Theft Is Wildly Out Of Control All Over America, And It Is Only Going To Get Worse As Our Society Descends Into Anarchy

June 3, 2024 by Michael

We are right in the middle of a tsunami of shoplifting that never seems to end, and as a result major retailers are closing down locations in major cities all over the country. A few years ago, videos of brazen shoplifters ruthlessly looting retail stores were shocking everyone, but now this sort of thing is so common that very few of us are shocked anymore. We have come to expect that our retail stores will be regularly looted because this is who we have become as a nation. Sadly, even many of our politicians aren’t too concerned that the impoverished masses are stealing billions of dollars worth of merchandise from our major retailers. Like so many others, maybe they figure that those retailers won’t even miss what is being taken. But the truth is that they do miss what is being taken, and CEOs have been complaining very loudly about it…

For much of the past year or so, executives at big retailers did something unusual: They talked about theft in their stores. A lot.

Walmart’s CEO warned it could lead to store closures and higher prices. Target’s CEO said it was costing the chain upward of a billion dollars. Home Depot’s finance chief called it a “consistent pressure” that the chain is “tackling every day.”

With a backdrop of viral videos showing brazen and violent thieves, crime became a common theme on retailers’ typically dry quarterly earnings calls. Executives often mentioned “shrink” — inventory missing for one reason or another — as a factor behind declining profits. The list grew long: Macy’s, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, T.J.Maxx, Dollar General.

Year after year, things get even worse.

It is being reported that “revenue loss to theft has been steadily rising since 2016”, and “shrink” is now costing our retailers more than 100 billion dollars a year.

That is about the size of Russia’s entire military budget for 2024.

Just think about that for a few moments.

We have never seen anything like this before.

So far this year, retailers in New York City have filed more than 21,000 shoplifting complaints…

Don’t believe pro-crime progressives when they lie about public safety here in NYC: This year so far has seen 21,578 shoplifting complaints from Gotham’s retailers.

That’s a 5% increase over last year’s obscene 20,552; more than 41% of the 2024 crimes are concentrated in Manhattan.

And that’s part of an ugly, persistent trend.

Full-year numbers since 2021 have jumped from 43,892 to 59,137, an increase of almost 35% — and the real problem is surely far higher, as exhausted merchants don’t bother to report many incidents.

Even in the very best areas of the Big Apple, major retailers are being routinely ransacked, and authorities seem completely powerless to stop the endless crime wave…

Many would argue that conditions are even worse on the west coast.

One store manager in California that recently had a “meltdown reaction” when a young woman was stealing from her store says that businesses “are closing left and right because of all this looting going on”…

“Businesses are closing left and right because of all this looting going on,” Jolly said. “The system is broken, nothing is being done about it.”

She says that when she called police to report the incident, they suggested she contact the store’s insurance company.

“I just think it’s like, the people are trying to get away with it because there’s no consequences,” Jolly said, noting that the “meltdown reaction” came from a place of concern for her community and even the girl in the video. “I’m worried for her and she’s already doing this.”

It wasn’t like this when I was growing up.

But this is our country now.

In a desperate attempt to reduce shoplifting in his stores, Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos is removing self-checkout options in thousands of locations…

Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said Thursday that the company plans to remove self-checkout from “the vast majority of stores” as part of larger overall shrink reduction efforts that include changes in supply chain and merchandising. Dollar General has already removed self-checkouts from 12,000 of its more than 20,000 stores, Vasos said.

Walmart is also removing self-checkout kiosks from many stores, and the number of products that are being locked up just continues to increase…

A frustrated Walmart customer has revealed the latest item to be locked up on the shopfloor during the shoplifting crackdown – and it only costs $1.50.

Victoria Damor, 22, from Las Vegas, made a TikTok detailing her shocking experience at the big box retailer last month.

Her video, which she posted under her handle @toridamore, has already been seen by almost 90,000 people, who have flocked to the comments to share their outrage.

Talking to the camera, the shopper exclaimed: ‘This is the future of Walmart. I can’t even walk into Walmart and pick up a nail file worth $1.50 because it’s locked up.

When a $1.50 nail file has to be locked up in a cage so that the thieves can’t get at it, your country is in huge trouble.

Of course it isn’t just the United States that is descending into anarchy.

Shoplifting has also risen to unprecedented levels all over Europe.

For example, just check out these eye-popping figures from the UK…

According to the Office for National Statistics, 2023 was the worst year on record for shoplifting, with more than 430,000 cases recorded, an increase of more than a third from the year before. But that is probably just a fraction of the real number. The British Retail Consortium – the body representing almost all of the major retail chains, incorporating food and drink, fashion, DIY, health and beauty and more – recently reported that incidents of customer theft more than doubled from 8m to 16.7m in the period between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023. Losses reached £1.8bn, up from £950m the year before.

Throughout the western world, the numbers are moving in the wrong direction.

If things are this bad now, what will happen once economic conditions become extremely harsh?

Even though economic conditions are still at least somewhat relatively stable, chaos is already erupting all around us.

I can’t even imagine what things will be like once tens of millions of people feel like they have nothing left to lose.

We really are in the early stages of a horrifying societal meltdown, and most of the population is not even close to ready for what is coming.

Until Yesterday is Tomorrow

“Raymond Hayes, I realize the chariot race is enthralling, but kindly postpone Ben Hur until we have given due course to Hamlet.” Mr. Stevens stood by the high schooler’s desk. Ray sighed and tucked the errant book away. Would it matter if he countered that he’d already read Hamlet three times? That he didn’t think Ophelia really went mad, or died? That her story, her grief and eventually, her restoration, was more significant than anyone claimed, because her story showed the undying power of love? Mr. Stevens droned on, already back at the front of the classroom. Ray stared at the lines of Shakespeare in front of him, his mind already racing to the release of the bell.“Why do I have to sit for five hours learning what I already know?” He ranted to his father, Raymond Sr., that evening in early Spring. The elder Ray had found his son combing the abandoned quarry again. At least this time, it was after, and not during, school hours. Ray Sr. knew better than to argue with his son when he was in one of these moods. Truth be told, he agreed with his namesake, though he urged him to hold on through the end of his senior year. Ray’s late mother, God rest her soul, always told him their miracle child had an exceptional aptitude for learning. “For sensing,” she would correct her husband, gently. “Ray can find things nobody else can see.”Upstairs in his room, Ray reached under his pillow and pulled out the canvas-wrapped package. His fingers tingled, just as they did when he first pulled it out of the quarry that morning. He favored the quarry for its depth and history. The scars on the walls told stories even when those who made them had long gone silent. Down on the floor of the quarry, beyond the reach of humankind, Ray would tuck himself into a shallow notch, pull out his notebook, and write as the run rose.

Only this morning, when leaned back into the cool rock, he was startled by the touch of something downright cold. He whirled, but could see nothing in the shadowed recess. He felt blindly in the direction of the chill, until he found it. The package. He thought he was the only person in town who ever visited this graveyard. At first, Ray decided to tuck the package back where he found it. Someone would surely come for it. When he found himself sketching wrapped boxes during geometry class later that morning, he decided: if it was still there when he left school, he would retrieve it.

Now the package was on his bed. He carefully unfolded the olive drab cloth. Paper. A whole stack of it. The top sheet bore two typewritten lines: The Lost Letters, by M.R. McKennon. Ray turned the page. The crisp black typeset was interspersed with navy ink in a flowing script. Ray felt a pang of unease. This was someone’s manuscript-in-progress. Certainly the author would need this. He should replace the top page, wrap it securely, return it to the quarry. He would, tomorrow. Ray skipped past the page headed, Foreword, and began to read.

***

Darling,

I hope this letter finds you well. I know I just sent you a letter a few days ago and goodness, you might not receive these in proper order. I hope you don’t mind too much. I think about you much more often than I write. I’m afraid to write more often, for you will call me a silly girl, and look, I haven’t said anything sensible so far, so of course you’ll be right. We are well, here. Auntie helped me fix up my old blue dress – do you remember the one from the dance? When that blonde’s heel got caught in the back of my skirt during the hop and you had to walk behind me all the way home? I’m giggling just thinking of it. Do you remember how close you stood to me when we waited at that busy street corner? I can feel you, there, Darling, when I close my eyes. Close your eyes, too, and feel me close until I can hold you again. Love, Your Rosie

***

Ray’s bachelor status changed the summer he graduated. That summer, pumping gas for Mr. O’Shea, he watched the prettiest brunette in God’s earth walk tidily off the bus at the corner and into the filling station. She bought a soda from the cooler, and then stood in the shade of the storefront, politely sipping her drink.

“Are ye gonna cap me tank or not, sonny?” Mr. O’Shea queried, mischievously rolling his eyes from girl to boy. Ray fumbled through his task, failing to collect payment until Mr. O’Shea leaned out his car door and stuffed the cash into Ray’s pocket. “Keep the change, lad, and eh…” he realized Ray wasn’t listening, “try to keep yer head…teehee!” Ray ran his hand through his hair (twice) and approached the fair maiden.

“You’re new in town.” He tried to act cool.

She smiled sweetly – more confidently, too, than the girls at school, who typically melted under a fella’s proffered grin or pleasantry. “Actually, I grew up here.”

Ray regrouped, “I’ve been here all my life. I’d surely remember a face as pretty as yours.” His boldness finally succeeded. She blushed, and held out her hand.

“I’m Madeline Leath. I moved away a few years ago, but I’ve come back to live with my aunt.”

Some folks say it was Madeline who gripped harder, but that’s hearsay. Madeline held on, longer. Ray escorted her to her aunt’s doorstep, but bowed out of the offered introduction. He still wasn’t heeding Mr. O’Shea’s advice as he crossed the street, so he was nearly laid out by a Chevy. The driver swerved, and over the irate horn honking, Ray heard the aunt’s welcome. “Madeline Rose! How you’ve grown! Come in, dear, and tell me: who is that handsome young man who walked you up the drive?”

***

I met the sweetest boy, today. He nearly tripped over himself, but oh, he is such a catch.

***

Ray sat in his alcove, flipping through the manuscript. Yes, he had returned it to the quarry. But every few days, it reappeared; sometimes with new or rearranged pages, always with a myriad of notes. The handwritten notes were more interesting than the letters. For it was indeed letters – a collection of exchanged letters – that slowly expanded the typewritten text. So far, they were mostly of the ilk of the first sample he’d read. More sap that even his lovestruck self could admit to reading. He skimmed most of the lovers’ notes, favoring the challenge of decoding the swirling navy script. This morning, he read a clear “she doesn’t yet know” in the margin of a letter. What didn’t the woman know that M.R. McKennon did?

Ray set the manuscript down. That was the last of the new additions. He had pieced together a long-distance relationship – a courtship, maybe. The fellow in the pair was traveling. He wrote one letter referencing Georgia humidity. Ray wondered if the fellow was in the oil industry. He mentioned drilling.

***

Darling,

I’m sorry I haven’t written you much. I’ve been getting over this awful flu. Auntie was up and about in three days, but you know Auntie. I haven’t been able to keep anything down, which isn’t helping (as Auntie is fond of reminding me). Your father was a dear and drove me out to our spot last night to try to raise my spirits. It did make me think of you, but then of course I cried. It hurts my head to write, Darling, so I’ll finish this later.

***

Ray had never planned anything like he planned his proposal to Madeline Rose. He even made the picnic sandwiches, a herculean effort with a commensurate wake of crumbs and butter smears on the kitchen table. In retrospect, the shambles could be called a foreshadowing. Halfway to Madeline’s, it started raining. Naturally, he neglected to pack an umbrella. For that matter, he neglected to notice the weather, so bright was his heart shining. It wasn’t until he stood on Madeline’s front stoop like a stray kitten that he grasped his situation. Much to her credit, Madeline tied her hair back in a scarf, hopped on her bicycle, and said, “I hope whatever tree we’re picknicking under has good cover!” That was when he course-corrected to the quarry.

“I didn’t know it was safe down here,” she pressed close as they descended the slick path. Ray was about to relieve her fears, but thought better of it. Instead, he slipped his arm around her waist. “Just hold on tight.” When they rested in the notch, Ray recalculated his plans. He slipped a hand into his pocket for the tenth time. His mother’s ring was still there.

“Ray, look at this!” Madeline held out a package.

Ray was examining their waterlogged lunch. Of course he had forgotten to wrap the sandwiches. “Yeah, it’s the manuscript.”

“Raymond Hayes, are you writing a book?” She tore at the wrapping.

“No, no, it’s just something I found. Every so often, it reappears. I think the author is stashing it here.”

Madeline was quickly engrossed in the work. “Oh, aren’t these just beautiful letters!” She exhaled dreamily. Ray frowned. His plans were unraveling, and now his girl was falling for another fella’s love notes. “Those are old notes, Rosie,” he poked, using a nickname he’d picked up from her aunt. “The M.R. McKennon guy is typing them out to preserve them, I guess.”

“McKennon is not a ‘guy,’ Raymond.” Madeline peered over the top of the manuscript.

“What?”

“If you read the Foreword, you’d know it’s a woman. She says she’s compiling her parents’ correspondence and journal entries from before her birth. She says, for many years she only had her father’s letters, until recently when some revered fellow gave her a packet with all her mother’s letters, including…” Madeline paused, “oh, no, Ray, it says, including her father’s last letter which had never been mailed.” She looked up with teary eyes. “That’s so tragic.”

This was getting unluckier by the minute. Ray pulled Madeline up and out into the pouring rain. “Leave that, Rosie.”

“Why?” She didn’t pull away.

“Because I want you to marry me.”

“Raymond! We’ve only been dating three months! What will people say?”

“To hell with what they say.”

***

People didn’t say much, at least not to their faces. Every housewife in town kept a well-trained eye on Rosie’s middle, which certainly did not expand in the first four months of their marriage. Whether that was a relief or disappointment to the uprights of the community, is less certain. What did expand was the realization that falling in love is only the door to learning to love.

Ray took a second job the summer he graduated high school and married Madeline Rose. “I’m doing this for us,” he reminded her whenever she hinted at their diminished time together. He’d wave his arm around their bedroom, “Do you want to always live here, in Dad’s upstairs?” When November stripped the trees, Ray took a third job, and Madeline spent nights crying into a cold bed.

In his spare moments, Ray would slip, alone, into his spot at the quarry. He was grateful for the days he found the manuscript to distract his thoughts. The affection between the correspondents was so constant. He and Madeline couldn’t even have a civil conversation these days. She was getting more emotional, haranguing him about little things. Didn’t she understand a fellow who worked his tail off needed a moment to breathe every so often? His logic was irrefutable in the silence of the quarry.

“But, Ray, Darling, you said you’d help, remember?” Madeline was practically pleading. She hadn’t used his pet name in some time. Now she was edging carefully around his pride in bringing up a conversation he barely remembered having. “Ray, Darling,” she took a breath, “Remember, we were sitting here having coffee, and I asked if you were scheduled to work December 7^th because I needed help assembling sets for the Christmas pageant…” she trailed off. Ray’s face was dark as he stormed out of the house. Madeline walked to church that morning, alone.

***

December 7, 1941

Today the world broke. But before that, I broke Rosie’s heart.

***

Fort Benning, Georgia, was already sweltering in April. Private Raymond Hayes felt the beads of sweat race down his spine. He had been sitting on his bunk for nearly twenty minutes, pen gripped in one hand, notepad in another. He had to post his letter today, but what to say? He hadn’t written Madeline since he’d arrived in January. Ray rubbed his forehead. In his mind, he went back to the quarry, to the cool alcove. Suddenly, he knew what to write.

Rosie,

Sorry it’s been so long, Honey. Don’t worry, I’m eating well. Been having loads of fun drilling in this Georgia humidity. Getting transferred to New Jersey. Will write once I arrive. I promise. Love to Dad and Auntie.

***

Ray sat at a small cafe in London on his three-day leave. The tea here was better than the coffee, but he still needed both to assuage the pain building in his temples. He read the letter for the seventh time.

Ray Darling,

I cannot tell you how many times I wish I had defied Auntie and taken the bus to met you before you departed to England. Not only to hold you again (how I miss you, Darling!), but because I wanted to tell you in person. Don’t be angry with Auntie. She was worried for me after that…sickness. I blame myself for not being there to see you off. I’m glad to hear the English people treat you well. I hope our package will make its way to you before long. The mail is dreadfully slow and your last letter had a hole cut into it. Army work. They are determined to cut into my heart. But, Darling, I haven’t told you yet. I didn’t know, honestly, and then you were off to England and I didn’t want to burden you but Ray, we are going to have a baby. Can you believe it? I’m certain it’s a girl. Auntie says I’m silly, but I just know.

Love,

Rosie

P.S. I’m thinking of “Mary Rose” for the baby – Mary for your mother, of course, and Rose for the baby’s. What do you think?

***

June 4, 1944

It’s happening. The air is electric with our thoughts. Soon, is all Lt. will tell us. Tonight, I’m content to wait, here.

Ray paused, hunched over in his bunk. Then he laid his journal, pens, and Rosie’s letters on top of the olive-drab canvas fragment. Wrapping them tightly, he pressed his back into the wall and drew a long breath. The three-level bunks in the barracks were no quarry, but looking up from where he sat, the men lying in them or meandering about made a rippling wall, alive with their stories.

“Hayes, you gonna sleep like that?” James McKennon cocked his head in front of Ray’s bunk. Smoke from countless cigarettes wound its way from soldier to soldier, trails linking soul to soul. Ray fingered the photograph in his breast pocket one last time, then held it out. “McKennon, have you met my Rosie?”

***

June 6, 1944

Salty air whipped the soldiers’ faces. The heaving Channel seemed at war with itself to both bring them to their destination and hold them back in warning. Ray noticed Chaplain Smith moving from man to man, offering quiet words or a smoke. When he came near, Ray touched his arm. “Chaplain, sir? Could I ask a favor?”

“Of course, soldier,” the older man waited.

“Uh, no offense, sir,” Ray queried, “but you aren’t Catholic, are you? I mean,” he quickly clarified, “you are, back in the States, a Reverend, and not a Father?”

The man smiled, “I think Father Murphy is below deck at the moment. Should I fetch him?”

“Oh, no, sir, I was looking for,” Ray smiled for the first time that day, “a ‘revered’ person.”

Now it was the Reverend’s turn to smile. “I’m not sure if I qualify for that title, but I’ll do my best to be of assistance.”

Ray held out the package. “Would you take this, sir? Would you get it to…to…” he swallowed. “There’s an address on the letters.”

The Reverend tucked the package under his arm and placed his other hand on Ray’s shoulder. For a long moment neither spoke.

***

My Darling Rosie,

It seems like only yesterday you stepped off that bus. Only yesterday you stood in front of the pulpit, hiding behind that veil, daring me to tear it off. Time surely marches forward, my darling. We try to cling to moments like sand being washed off a beach. Time marches forward. For how many thousand years has the tide pulled against the shore? Yet the shore remains, Rosie. The castles we built together may wash away, but as the Good Book says (yes, your Ray has been paying attention, darling), “Love never ends.” I love you, darling. Stand on the shore as the waves roll in and feel me reach for you, again.

Until we meet again,

your loving Ray

***

Suddenly, someone hurried by, then another. Then it began. The guns. The shouting. The boats. Lower, lower, crash. The raining of spray and bullets. The door, dropping like the gate of hell. The Lt. gripping his rifle, shouting to his men. Forward!

“Americans Will Be Poor Overnight!” – Reaction To China & Brazil Agreement To Ditch US Dollar

VIKTOR ORBÁN:

[But if this is causing such controversy and posing such a risk, why are Western politicians so determined to continue supporting Ukraine?]

"Because they think they can win.

So I also think about this a lot, because they’re sane people, and they can’t want destruction and war – or at least only for very good reasons.

And obviously, they must have something which keeps their sense of danger lower than ours, otherwise, they’d behave like us.

I think geographical distance has a bearing on this.

So one factor is that the big European states are further away from Russia than Central Europe is.

They think of Ukraine as a buffer zone between them and Russia – and of course, there’s also Central Europe.

That’s how it used to be, didn’t it? That’s what they used us for.

So they think they’re further away from the real risk than Central Europe is.

Of course, Central Europeans are wailing about this, and the Hungarian prime minister is beating out fires, scaremongering, and talking about the damage of war.

This may be true in Central Europe, but on the Atlantic coast, in France, how can it be?

Of course, this argument ignores the fact that modern technology can cover greater distances than in previous wars; but all the same, their sense of security is much stronger than that of the Hungarians.

Not to mention that they’ve won wars.

And they still think – and I now think that this is the most important reason that they’re behaving differently from us – that they want to win this war against Russia, they want to defeat Russia.

Of course, sometimes they say it like this, and sometimes they say that the Russians mustn’t win.

But the point is the same: they want to achieve military success against Russia – at any cost."

Excerpt from remarks by Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary, in an interview with Zsolt Törőcsik on the Kossuth Radio programme “Good Morning Hungary,” May 31, 2024.

“The End of Everything,” with Victor Davis Hanson | Uncommon Knowledge

When a Chinese person gets cancer in China, is it better for him to treat his cancer in USA as long as he can afford it?

I have a facsimile of this, but it’s not the USA.

It’s China and the UK.

My mother got cancer in the 1990s we were in the UK at the time. She was seen quickly treated within 3 weeks and was back home within a month. She got it again several times. Each time it was the same.

She didn’t feel well so she went to her GP, she was referred to a specialist, tests were done a further follow up before admission to hospital for treatment.

Over time the gaps between those events became longer and longer. As above in the 1990s it was measured in days. By the 00s it was measured in weeks.

My dad was in the UK in December 2023. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer by a UK GP, it took him 3 weeks to get a GP appointment and the follow up with a specialist was something like a month later. He literally said fuck this and took a flight to Shenzhen. He paid out of pocket £3900* and he was seen by a specialist immediately and was in surgery 48 hours later then had radiotherapy and by January 2024 he was back to normal again. He goes back to the hospital in Shenzhen for checkups.

While you might think £3900 is a fortune in the PRC, it’s not that £3900 was fully out of pocket. No health insurance whatsoever. My dad is a Chinese citizen but a HKSAR citizen meaning he’s not fully covered by the PRC health insurance system.

Had he taken treatment in the UK, likely he would pay nothing out of pocket. But it would have taken several months to get to the surgery/treatment stage and life is way too short to be have that hanging over your head.

Tropical Beef

Ingredients

2 pounds beef top round steak, trimmed of fat
2 large onions, cut into 12 thin wedges each
1 (20 ounce) can unsweetened pineapple chunks, juice reserved
1/2 cup beef broth
5 tablespoons red wine vinegar, divided
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 large tomatoes, cut into wedges

Instructions

Cut the beef into thin strips diagonally across the grain.
Add to a 3 1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker.
Add the onions, pineapple juice, broth, 3 tablespoons of the vinegar, garlic powder, seasoned salt, paprika, and black pepper. Mix well.
Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 6 1/2 hours or until the beef is just tender.
Increase the setting to HIGH.
Stir in the green and red pepper squares and the brown sugar.
Mix together the cornstarch, soy sauce, and remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar.
Stir into the cooker, blending well.
Cook, covered, on HIGH for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens slightly.
Just before serving, stir in the tomato wedges and pineapple chunks.
Serve over cooked white rice.

What Western Media Won’t Tell Us: we’re being lied to in a big way

Rax and TCBY.

There used to be a yogurt franchise called TCBY yogurt. I loved to eat it, and during the 1980’s it ran neck to neck with ice cream. But somehow, all of the thousands of stores evaporated. Roughly right after my first series of world-line slide.

Ah. I entered a world where the only TCBY yogurt that remains out of the entire franchise is in Arkansas. Ugh.

TCBY grew from a single store in Little Rock (Pulaski County) to a 3,000-outlet franchise. Selling flavored frozen yogurt, TCBY was known around the world. First known as the Capitol Tower, the tallest building in Arkansas was known as the TCBY Tower from 1991 to 2004 and bore those four letters on its upper floors.

According to ChatGPT…

TCBY (The Country's Best Yogurt) is still in operation, although its presence has significantly diminished compared to its peak popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. TCBY was one of the first frozen yogurt chains in the United States and played a significant role in popularizing frozen yogurt as a healthier alternative to ice cream.

In recent years, TCBY has faced increased competition from other frozen yogurt chains as well as shifts in consumer preferences. However, the company has adapted by introducing new menu offerings, updating its store designs, and expanding its range of products to include options such as dairy-free and low-sugar frozen desserts.

While many TCBY locations have closed over time, the chain still has a presence in various parts of the United States and internationally.

Another is Rax.

There used to be a fast food chain in the United States called “Rax”. I loved it. They had this mushroom/swiss cheese burger, and this ham and cheese burger. All so delicious.

Then out of the blue it all disappeared.

According to chatGPT, the Rax Roast Beef fast-food chain was once a prominent presence in the United States, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. Known for its roast beef sandwiches and salad bars, Rax was considered a competitor to other fast-food chains like Arby's and McDonald's.

However, Rax struggled financially and faced various challenges, including declining sales and increased competition from other fast-food chains. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1992, which led to the closure of many of its locations.

Despite efforts to rebrand and revitalize the chain, including changes to its menu and marketing strategies, Rax continued to face difficulties. Many of its remaining locations were sold off or closed over the years.

Today there are only a few Rax locations still in operation, primarily in the Midwestern United States.

Ah…

Rax and TCBY.

According to the point of view of my consciousness, the moment that I started performing world-line slides after my MAJestic training, these restaurants disappeared. Bummer.

But, you know, after I began my slides, new types of french fries suddenly appeared. So it is a mixed bag.

Today…

What are the behaviors of a confident person?

Good posture: Standing or sitting up straight can convey confidence and poise.
Eye contact: Maintaining eye contact during conversation can show confidence and sincerity.
Clear, confident speech: Speaking clearly and confidently can convey conviction and self-assurance.
Assertive communication: Communicating your needs and desires in a clear and direct way can show confidence and self-assurance.
Decisiveness: Being able to make decisions quickly and confidently can show that you are in control.
Setting boundaries: Knowing your limits and being able to assert them can show self-respect and confidence.
Willingness to take risks: Being willing to take on challenges and try new things can show confidence and a sense of adventure.
Ability to handle criticism: Being able to receive and learn from criticism without getting defensive can show self-assurance and resilience.
Ability to admit mistakes: Being able to admit when you are wrong and take responsibility for your actions can show honesty and humility.
Genuine enthusiasm: Being genuinely excited about things can show confidence and a positive outlook.
Positive body language: Using nonverbal cues such as smiling and open body posture can convey confidence and openness.
Comfortable with silence: Being comfortable with pauses or silence during conversation can show confidence and self-assurance.
Ability to listen actively: Being able to fully listen to and understand others can show respect and confidence.
Ability to negotiate effectively: Being able to effectively negotiate and come to mutually beneficial agreements can show assertiveness and confidence.
Ability to ask for help: Knowing when to ask for help and being able to do so confidently can show strength and self-awareness.
Ability to handle pressure: Being able to stay calm and focused under pressure can show confidence and resilience.
Ability to set and achieve goals: Being able to set and work towards goals can show determination and confidence.
Ability to adapt to change: Being able to adapt to new situations and handle unexpected changes can show flexibility and confidence.

What was the absolute most disrespectful thing a customer ever said to you, and what did you do?

Well, there was this one time when I was working at a Home Depot in the Bay Area I was doing inventory with another girl and this girl had some teeth issues. I didn’t have a problem working with her because she is a very nice sweet person that just happened to have teeth missing. Anyways I heard this big woman say something about how can they let someone like her work with the customers. I looked over and my co-worker heard what she had said and she looked genuinely hurt by her comment. And it made her cry. I was so angry that I stopped what I was doing took off my ten-key machine and I stopped that fat bitch and I made her go apologise to my friend and I told her look at her now she may have teeth missing and she is working on getting that corrected. Now take your fat ass away from me because just the sight of your fat face is nauseating. And in the future just keep your fucking little comments to yourself.Till this day I still don’t know why I wasn’t fired over that.And just to let you know she never got a chance to fix her teeth. Because around 2009 she fell and hit her head on her water cooler and she ended up passing away in a coma.She was a good woman and she was a hard worker.I miss you, Emma…..

I understand

Chicken Fajita Casserole

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 medium red, green and/or yellow bell peppers, cut into strips
1 cup water
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch cayenne or to taste
2 flour tortillas, cut into 3/4 inch strips
1 envelope onion soup mix
Garnish: shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, shredded Cheddar cheese

Instructions

In 12 inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and cook chicken with peppers, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until chicken is almost done and peppers are crisp-tender.
Stir in onion soup mix blended with water, flour, chili powder, cayenne and garlic powder. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes or until chicken is done and sauce is thickened.
To serve, turn into serving dish, then top with tortilla strips.
Garnish, if desired, with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and shredded Cheddar cheese.

What is something that most people don’t know?

A small child could swim through the veins of a blue whale.
A single teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh about 6 billion tons.
A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.
The surface area of a human lung is about 70 square meters, roughly the size of a tennis court.
A hummingbird’s heart beats 1,260 times per minute.
The lifespan of a single taste bud is about 10 days.
The shortest war in recorded history lasted only 38 minutes between Britain and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896.
The first product ever sold on the Internet was a bag of marijuana.
The shortest place name in the world is “A”, a hill in Wales, United Kingdom.
A study found that if your face suggests that you’re alert and slightly happy, people are more likely to perceive you as intelligent.

Annunaki | Gods from Planet Nibiru and the Makers of Man

The Chancellor of Bavaria and Chairman of the CSU said after a visit to China that if there is no dialogue with China, things will become dangerous. He thinks dialogue is better than monologue. Do you agree?

China may not need Bavaria, but Bavaria needs China. Bavaria needs China in two aspects:

1. Bavaria is home to many German military factories and they want to import Xinjiang cotton

Ukraine needs up to 350,000 rounds of artillery shells every month, and its consumption is not small.

I recently saw an AFP report in which the European Commissioner stated that France would find it difficult to continue manufacturing missiles and artillery shells due to a lack of gunpowder. The shortage of gunpowder was due to the lack of raw material nitrocellulose.

Nitrocellulose is extracted from cotton, but where does the cotton come from? EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said a long time ago that making gunpowder powder requires a “special cotton”, and this Cotton grown “mostly comes from China”!

According to 2020 data, 95% of the world’s natural cotton suitable for the production of smokeless nitrocellulose is produced in Xinjiang, China; another 4% is produced in Central Asian countries; and the remaining 1% is produced in the Nile Delta.

Cotton from Central Asian countries, which account for 4% of global production, is a designated purchaser exclusively for Russia. Therefore, including the United States and the entire Europe, only cotton produced in cotton fields along the Nile, which accounts for 1% of global production, can be used directly.

It is no exaggeration to say that with the current cotton production capacity in the world, without China’s participation, other countries would not even be able to fight a world war, because they really can’t even build missiles!

But why can’t they import cotton from China? This is because they shot themselves in the foot, they created all this themselves.

In order to demonize China and slander China, the United States and Europe engage in forced labor in Xinjiang and force Uyghurs to grow cotton.

Even European companies led by HM took the initiative to boycott Chinese cotton, and China also adopted counter-sanctions measures and stopped exporting cotton to the United States and Europe.

But they did not expect that the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, and the nitrocellulose used to make missiles and artillery shells must require long-staple cotton from Xinjiang, China.

As a result, they forgot that they had slandered Xinjiang, China, and wanted to import cotton from Xinjiang, China.

2. Bavaria is home to many automobile factories, and they want to cooperate with China to obtain technology for new energy vehicles

China surpassed Japan last year to become the world’s largest automobile exporter. Especially in the field of electric vehicles, China far surpasses any country in the world. In the first quarter of last year alone, the number of Chinese electric vehicles imported into Germany tripled compared with the same period.

Germany, the birthplace of automobiles, has admitted that it has lost to China in the field of electric vehicles. If they do not cooperate with China, they may fall further behind China.

100%

What is the sleaziest, dirtiest trick an auto insurance company tried to pull on you? Did they succeed?

I will never insure with the Good Hands People…

In 2006 my 21 year old daughter was driving to class when a realtor on the phone blew a stop sign and totaled both cars. Neither were injured. About a week after the accident the other party’s insurance called to see if they could collect a statement from my daughter. I said sure. About 20 minutes later my daughter phoned in tears saying the adjuster had accused her of speeding and not yielding to a car already in the intersection. I can only assume this was because she was in a 5 year old mustang – but she no tickets or wrecks up to then.

I asked her a little about the call and started getting mad, madder, furious… I held it in and asked if the adjuster asked about witnesses. The adjuster had and I told my daughter to call the witness who was behind her. She hopped off the phone and called the witness and asked what he saw and if she were speeding. He laughed and said, look, I was about to pass you because you were driving about 5 mph below the posted limit and I was in a hurry. I knew she had not hit the other car; rather the other car hit her in a door.

A couple hours the adjuster called and said they would pay 85% of the value of our car… because no one is 100% at fault. I asked how she determined my daughter was 15%. Her words were, it is a mustang and we know drivers rarely obey the speed limit. She wanted me to give verbal approval then or face a possible adjustment down. I told her that she was full of shit. That the witness following my daughter said she was driving 5 mph below the posted limit and that the other party was on the phone. I reference the police report noting a writing pad and phone on the floor board. I then asked, how he was not 100% at fault. She mumbled something and I said, please speak up. You are being recorded and your story is not so good for you right now. She told me that was unlawful. I ask asked if she was recording and she said mmm, yes. I told her she was in the same boat as I since she failed to disclose.

She said she could go as high as 93%. I said not good enough, I then asked what the 100% value was. It was also deflated to about 70% average book value. I told her I needed to speak to a supervisor, now. She said she couldn’t and I said you risk facing my attorney in court. This recording will be in his hands in about 5 minutes as he is my neighbor. She yielded to 100% and said that was max. I said, not good enough, I need no lower than the average book…please give me to your supervisor, I am tired of dealing with you. Finally, a supervisor who restarted the discussion at 85%. About a third of his way through the spiel I interrupted rather harshly and said, wait a minute, we are not gong through all this again. I reviewed my notes with him and told him I was about out of cell phone battery and I wanted no less than HIGH retail. He had 5 minutes to say yes or I am handing it over to my attorney. It sounded at first as though he had not been briefed but when he noticed I moved up to high retail he said I offered average before.

I ended up with a value between average and high retail. I reported them to the state insurance board and asked for a followup after they review. I never heard back. I feel for those who just say yes without standing their ground.

Desperate young guys

How do you get over the feeling of being a failure?

Realise that you may not be a failure in the eyes of someone else.

Here’s my story. I was 40, divorced, had left a life in New Zealand behind that had fallen apart in the most dramatic way possible, and was invited at my cousin’s house in Austria to a summer party.

As we ate barbecued things and drank local beer, dreams were swapped and future visions exchanged. My cousin is a sound engineer, struggling as a consultant, doing the odd gig in Vienna or Salzburg.

We talked about happiness.

And I heard myself saying, “maybe some day, when I am successful, I will know what happiness is.”

My cousin looked at me as if I was very, very drunk. And maybe, I was. And he said, “Chris; you are the dean of a French university, a Grande Ecole at that, in Shanghai. And you say ‘some day when you are successful’?”

That changed my world view.

I realised then and there that it depends very much on whom we ask whether we feel like failures, or not. All I had been able to see was how badly things had gone for me in New Zealand, and how the expat position in China really was only a gap filler till I would be able to find something to replace the life I had had in NZ. That that life in Shanghai was in itself pretty cool was somehow off my radar.

Perhaps you need to ask the right people? Try to understand what the average person’s existence on this planet is like. Success and failure are not quantitative values. They are dangerously subjective perceptions, and require some grounding in basic values.

So, stop comparing yourself to the wrong people. By comparing ourselves to stars or celebrities of some standing, we will always look bad.

Men Don’t Give a F*ck Anymore… Why the Rate of Single Men In the US Looking For Dates Has Declined

Which has been oversupplied in the world, the Chinese made value-for-money products or the US treasury bonds?

How can products be Oversupplied?

If there is an oversupply, there will be EXCESS INVENTORY of Unsold Products which will increase the storage and warehousing fee and ultimately lead to destruction of the excess supply

This is Demand and Supply Law 101

So China only manufactures products per Global Demand

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Now Yellens problem is simple

China is creating BETTER QUALITY PRODUCTS than the West at half the price

And the Quality gap is rising

There was a time just three years ago when German or Swiss products were better quality than Chinese made products and it was only the cost that was a decisive factor

Today Chinese Panels beat German or French Panels hollow in efficiency, weight, absorption angle and cost

So every Western Renewable Energy Producer is going OUT OF BUSINESS as China floods the world with Superior Panels and Superior Wind Turbines at 40% to 60% the price you pay for the same when made in Stuttgart or Grenoble or Milan or Cincinnati

Yellen would have no issue if these products were owned by Western Businesses but made in China which was the original plan

Now Chinese Businesses control these products and all that money is going to China and Chinas Economy

In the past – out of $ 100 of Exports – China got maybe $ 25

Now China gets $ 60–65

The Western World wants renewable energy

Yet they want to control the technology and the markets

China has beaten them to it

Even if they directly sanction China, the prices will force Chinese products to flow into every market beating every Sanction

Tariffs is the only solution?

Yet that would make renewable energy more expensive for the West and it’s people

They still can’t make Panels at higher price or attain Chinas rapid level of technology with its 1.4 Billion population and surging market

They are all saturated

One Solution

They can pour all the money into R&D into India

I mean huge money

Yet that would only create a new hindrance after 20 years and further weaken Western Hegemony because instead of a China, now you have TWO PROBLEMS – CHINA AND INDIA

So that Option is gone

So Yellen is living in a dream land of her own

She can’t stop Economics

The Economics is with China and US will be destroyed in this dangerous game

Even China tomorrow if it tries to rewrite economics will find it very difficult and painful

Today the Economics is with China and will be there for the next 2 Decades until 2050 at the latest

That is Chinas window

Homeless men

Blinken’s visa threats expose US hypocrisy

“A good example,” said Pope Francis, “brings about so much good, but hypocrisy brings about so much evil.”

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After the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO) was enacted on March 19, the US and its allies reacted with predictable fury. As Hong Kong had finally discharged its national responsibilities, they realized it was no longer possible for them to use it as a base for destabilizing China. After 1997, they saw the city as the country’s Achilles’ heel, which explains why they encouraged the insurrection of 2019-20 and patronized selected proxies, including the now-defunct Civic Party.

Although those days are over, the US is incensed. It is determined to retaliate against the city whose future it had hoped to influence. Impervious to reason, it is bent on harming Hong Kong, even if it undermines its people’s livelihoods.

On March 30, the US State Department said that, apart from continuing to deny Hong Kong the special trading status it revoked in 2020, it also planned to impose visa restrictions on Hong Kong officials involved in enacting the SNSO. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said “multiple” officials would be targeted, as they were “responsible for the intensifying crackdown on rights and freedoms”. They needed to be held to account for the “intensifying repression” of “civil society, media and dissenting voices”.

However, Blinken’s professed concern for the media was hollow, and cannot be taken seriously. The US contempt for the press is now on public display in the UK, where it is mercilessly pursuing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange through the English courts. His 17 “crimes” consist of allegedly disclosing classified information that embarrassed Washington, particularly in relation to war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, including its brutalization of prisoners. As his lawyers have explained, Assange is being victimized for engaging in the ordinary journalistic practices of obtaining and publishing information in the public interest, to which Blinken is oblivious.

Blinken’s hypocrisy, however, is deep-seated and was inherited from his predecessors. Although he claims to support the “global rules-based order”, this is a vacuous catchphrase beloved of Western hypocrites. Whereas he delights in slapping visa restrictions and other penalties on individuals from China and other places he sees as geopolitical rivals, evenhandedness forms no part of his repertoire.

Since the Gaza war started, the death toll has reached almost 33,000, mainly women and children. Another 75,000 have been injured, while many others are starving. Instead of sanctioning those responsible, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and the chief of the general staff, Herzi Halevi, and calling for them to be prosecuted for genocide and war crimes before the International Criminal Court, Blinken has facilitated their offenses. Although, despite being Netanyahu’s aider and abettor, he will never stand trial, Israel’s crimes, to which the US is party, are of biblical proportions, and will forever rank among the world’s greatest wartime atrocities.

On April 1, CNN reported that the US government is about to approve the sale of 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion. These can then be used to kill an awful lot of Palestinians, as also can its other weaponry. Earlier, on March 6, the Washington Post reported the US “quietly approved and delivered” over 100 separate military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began, amounting to “thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms and other lethal aid”.

Although this would have delighted the arms merchants, it did little to inspire faith in Blinken’s professed concerns for Gaza’s civilian population. Even the most subservient of US allies may be forgiven for wondering how Blinken can look himself in the mirror.

While Blinken has always had lots to say about “rights and freedoms” in Hong Kong, he is allowing Israel to get away with blue murder in Gaza. He has protected it at international forums and sought to rationalize its depredations. However, its excesses have become so horrific that even he, on March 25, felt unable to block the UN Security Council’s call for a temporary cease-fire for Ramadan.

Away from the war zone, Blinken’s duplicity is no less pronounced. When the UK introduced its National Security Act 2023 (NSA), he did not slap visa restrictions or other penalties on its principal architects, the then-home secretary, Suella Braverman, and the security minister, Tom Tugendhat. This was despite the NSA’s crackdown on the “rights and freedoms” Blinken claimed to be so concerned about in Hong Kong.

The “chilling effect” of the NSA’s espionage provisions was condemned in the British Parliament, not least for their impact on investigative journalism. It cracked down on civil liberties, giving the police extra powers of detention and curbing the pretrial rights of suspects, including access to lawyers. Although Blinken feigned fury when not-dissimilar measures were adopted in Hong Kong, he did not bat an eyelid when they occurred in the UK, which should surprise nobody.

His posturing over “rights and freedoms” has always been simply a convenient stick with which to beat people from places that reject US hegemony and refuse to dance to its tune.

Indeed, given his concern for “dissenting voices” in Hong Kong, it might have been expected Blinken would be up in arms over Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. It was the brainchild of its first minister, Humza Yousaf, and came into force on April 1, 2024. It has been called a “snitch’s charter”, criminalizing words that might be construed as “stirring up hatred”. If a “reasonable person” (a vague term) considers something said by somebody else to be “insulting” an offense may arise, with a suspect facing up to seven years’ imprisonment.

Yousaf’s new law has been denounced by free thinkers and ordinary Scots, and people are wondering if, in future, they should keep their views to themselves to be on the safe side.

The Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, a straight talker from Edinburgh, fears she may be targeted by the Hate Crime Act. She has regularly argued that trans women are not women, and that men who self-identify as women do not thereby become women. She has also maintained that convicted rapists who declare themselves to be females should not be housed in women’s prisons, supposedly a safe place. Although most people applaud her views, she is concerned they will expose her to charges, and attempts have already been made to prosecute her under what she calls a “ludicrous law”.

Since the new crime of “stirring up hatred” was introduced on April 1, Police Scotland has received over 3,000 hate crime reports, many paradoxically relating to Yousaf himself. He had previously highlighted white people holding prominent public roles, but fortunately for him, the new law is not retroactive. The community services minister, Siobhian Brown, said the law was being used to make “fake and vexatious complaints”, and police time is being wasted as people seek to settle old scores and bring down those whose views they dislike.

The Conservative Party’s Scottish justice spokesman, Russell Findlay, has pointed out that “Yousaf’s dangerous Hate Crime Act is already being weaponized on an industrial scale by thin-skinned troublemakers,” and a petition has been launched for its repeal.

The UK education secretary, Gillian Keegan, called Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act “a terrible bit of legislation”. She said the police “should be much more focused on fighting crime than policing people’s thoughts”. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, agreed, saying, “We believe in free speech in this country.”

If Blinken agrees with Sunak, Keegan and Findlay that Yousaf’s new law is an affront to Western notions of free speech, he is, presumably, planning to impose visa restrictions upon him and demanding its repeal. However, nobody should hold their breath, and Yousaf will likely escape repercussions. In the all-too-familiar traditions of American diplomacy, Blinken has no interest in intervening when “rights and freedoms” are violated in countries the US does not want to antagonize.

Whatever Blinken has planned for them, Hong Kong’s officials have done their duty and can hold their heads high. They must have expected him to try to harm them and braced themselves accordingly. Although his double standards are there for all to see, they at least have clear consciences.

Random AI generated images

Default An ancient town in China rain fog looking at the lens 3(1)

Default Big and delish burger with meat chees onion and cucumb 0

Default Cat Adventures Document your cats outdoor adventures s 3

AlbedoBase XL Beautiful Elf posing with freckles and glasses 1(1)

Default high quality 8K Ultra HD angel knight army 2

Default An ultra detailed realistic digital art featuring Zen 3(1)

Default In the center of the image stands Misa Amane depicted 1(1)

Default Cat Adventures Document your cats outdoor adventures s 0

Default art nouveau style closeup of a gorgeous Spanish muse w 3

Default photorealistic 4K UHD Chef Gordon Ramsey cooking a dra 0

Default Create a stunning 8K ultrarealistic food photograph fe 0(1)

Default Create a stunning 8K ultrarealistic food photograph fe 0

Default Cinematic Realistic masterpiece best quality 12K Image 2

Default Cinematic Realistic masterpiece best quality 12K Image 1

Default Cinematic Realistic masterpiece best quality 12K Image 3

I’m so sorry

What was the last most shocking image you’ve ever seen?

WHEN FREEDOM IS LOST

This incident occurred at the Kombaru shrine in Karnataka, India.

The leopard was chasing the dog, the dog entered the bathroom through a window, the bathroom was locked from the outside.

The leopard came in after the dog and they both got trapped in the toilet; When the dog saw the leopard, it panicked and sat quietly in a corner.

He didn’t even dare to bark.

Although the leopard was hungry and chased the dog, it did not eat the dog.

He could have had dinner by jumping the dog, but the two animals were together in different corners for almost twelve hours. During these twelve hours, the leopard was also calm.

The forest department zeroed in on the leopard and captured it with a tranquilizer dart.

Now the question is, why didn’t the hungry leopard tear off the dog when it was easily possible?

Wildlife researchers answered this question: according to them, wild animals are very sensitive to their freedom.

main qimg 2e26ec247328c6c8691eefd049cf55df

As soon as they realize that their freedom has been taken away from them, they may feel deep pain, so much so that they may forget their hunger.

Your natural motivation to feed your stomach begins to fade.

Freedom and happiness are connected. Freedom to think, act, and live the way we want.

The American Way isn’t Working out Too Well

Some fun AI generated pictures

Here’s some of my latest work…

Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 3(17)

Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 1(14)

Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 3(13)

Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 1(11)

Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 3(10)

Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 1(8)

Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 3(6)

Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 1(3)

Default Imagine a Baroque label high attention to detail roman 2

Default Imagine a Baroque painting A very high attention to d 1

Default Imagine a Baroque painting A very high attention to d 3

Hanoi, Vietnam, call girl service

What is an instant mood lifter for you?

When I hear a good song playing suddenly in my neighborhood – It’s so awesome and got more power to make me cry and dance when it’s distant.
When someone genuinely listens to what I have to say – Isn’t it just great to speak your heart and someone is ready to see that vulnerable side of you?
When I receive the same level of importance I give to people – Ever heard someone say that “you” are a “priority” to them? If you have, dude you’re lucky (because I haven’t heard so).
When out of the blue, my mumma calls me “gudiya” – Mother’s love hits different. What would I even do without her?
When people trust me with their emotions – There’s a chance that I’ve been through that, so if they trust me, I can do everything to make sure they’re happy again.
When I get random messages from my close people – That specific notification sound just for the close ones>>
When I see potatoes – Weird? Nope, it isn’t. Potato and I go way back in history, a story for another time for sure!
When I know exactly what to do – I don’t have to explain this xD
When I’m sweating hard at the time of workout – It’s so satisfying when the exercises are giving result and on top of that, those beady drops of sweat make my day!

Some more of my AI generations

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh tangerines 2

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh grapefruit 2(1)

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh grapefruit 3

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh pomegranate 2

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh peaches wit 0

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh tomatoes on 2(1)

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh tomatoes an 0

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh tomatoes an 2

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh olives with 3

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh olives with 1(1)

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm fresh tomatoes wi 3(1)

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm prepared hamburge 1

Default Imagine a Baroque box label for farm prepared hamburge 2

If You’re An American Living Abroad Tell Me Why You Would Never Go Back? | Part 2

Police story

“So this happened in Montana. I’m on my way to go to my interview this morning when I get pulled over by a police officer.

I am native American and my friend that was with me is black. Just saying.

Both brake lights decided to go out this time.

As he walked to the car and I was pulling out my stuff, he quickly said,

“Don’t worry about pulling anything out. I just want you to know that your brake lights are out.”

So I’m immediately upset, because I just got them replaced like last month.

So I explained to him how Firestone wants to charge me $600 just to run a test on the wiring of the car.

He looked at me like 😨 and told me to pop the trunk.

He checked the lights in the trunk and tapped them, but they didn’t come on.

So he told me to pop the hood to check the relay box then asked me to get out to check the other one.

Then worked on the wiring under the dash.

He could’ve easily given me a ticket, but Officer Jenkins stepped out of the officer role, and into the mechanic role, and human role to make sure I was straight.

By the way, HE FIXED THEM. Not everyone is racist or a bad cop.”

“NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warns an’alliance of authoritarian powers’including Russia, Iran and China are working against the West?”Source: Daily Mail. Should this alliance concern Australia’s relations with China, inviting more US military bases?

Why is that such surprise?

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A. The West sanctions Iran unilaterally

The West unilaterally sanctions Iran. They steal Irans Oil randomly, pirating Iranian Ships or Ships containing Iranian Oil

They forbid shipment of even medicines into Iran causing the death of thousands of iranians

For a long time they even refused to allow imports of food materials into Iran especially Wheat

B. The West arms Taiwan, arms Japan and South Korea and literally builds thousands of bases around the South China Sea

US surrounds China with army bases yet a Chinese delegation to Cuba gets a massive national security lecture

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US openly says they want to Contain Chinas Rise and Growth

US arms Taiwan, a region they themselves acknowledge as being part of China

US sends soldiers to Taiwan, a Chinese region according to their own law

C. The West openly declare their aim to overthrow Putin and even assassinate him

Many a Senator and a Congressman at some time has claimed to want to overthrow or even kill Putin

They openly discuss Balkanization of Russia in their think tanks

They refused to give Russia security guarantees for almost a year before Ukraine when all they had to do was agree to Ukraines NATO membership being deferred by a decade

So how is it a surprise that these three nations decide to work together against the West?

What exactly does he expect?

That these three nations would come with a Chocolate Cake and openly allow themselves to be destroyed ?

Naah

Rule No 1 would be for the West to leave the world alone and stop interfering in every thing under the sun

Rule No 2 would be for the West to prepare a kill list of 100,000 people who are ruining them and the world. Including Stoltenberg himself.

Rule No 3 would be some nice army trucks at 3 AM outside the houses of these 100,000 people after which – they are never heard of again.

And the families too. Families always make nice deterrents.

Rule No 4 would be for a new Order in the West that adheres to their own principles of International Law rather than Rules Based Order

Once you do that the world would be a peaceful place

Stoltenberg would not be in that world but well… Nobodys gonna miss him too much

When did NPR become so left-wing?

When I was a dyed-in-the-wool conservative Republican, a career military man from a family of career warriors, I loved to listen to Paul Harvey and public radio. NPR didn’t seem “leftie” to me.

I was overseas my whole career, and got my news from the Stars and Stripes and Armed Forces Radio. I saw many ways to run a society while I lived in Japan, Philippines, Korea, and Germany over 16 years.

The first time I saw Rush Limbaugh, for the first five minutes, I thought he was a comedian doing a bit.

Upon finally returning to the States to retire, I was appalled at what America had become. The US I came back to was nearly a police state. The population was the sickest and most disabled of any country I had lived in. Homelessness and lack of education made the US seem like a Third World country. I was shocked.

NPR, however, was a familiar place to relax. They made sense. They considered points of view from both left and right. Importantly, the only “leftie” was a member of the Communist Party of the USA, and the only extreme right candidate was George Wallace, who didn’t stand a chance in the general election.

The difference between Dems and Repubs was no too great. Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan worked together all the time. (Reagan promised “small government” but grew the government by every metric. Every one.)

Today, however, millions of Americans have been left behind. They are worse educated than any modern nation; they are sicker and more disabled, and their babies die in the first year much more than in the rest of the advanced nations. (We did, in fact, become an oligarchy with democratic trappings. Details available upon request.)

Now those millions are angry. Their politicians sold out to the billionaires. The Republican leadership, much more than the Democrats, ignored their constituents needs and gave only tax cuts and excuses. The American people wanted LGBT people to have the same rights of marriage, social security, and hospital visitation as straight people. We got that. The American people wanted women to have more career opportunities, including in the military, on ships, and in combat units. We got that.

The American people voted for a black president. That broke the GOP back. Guns flew off the retail shelves, Militia membership soared. Ammunition was sold out for two years. The GOP refused to govern. All they did was vote to repeal the ACA 60 times, always with no chance of succeeding. Republicans directly interfered with foreign policy, personally telling Iran’s leaders to ignore the POTUS.

It seemed Hillary was certain to win. So certain, that few voted. Except the Republicans. They came out in force to vote for the guy who hated everyone they hated. Now their leader spews hatred and isolationism, the money-grubbing marketing

experts at certain media companies see the potential, so they amplify the suspicion and distrust. The result is a perfect storm of brainwashing. The handsome, 6′1″ blond billionaire can persuade most folks to invest their money in his dreams. Now he’s persuaded millions of Americans to invest their votes, their minds and their hearts in dedication to a professional con-man. Bernie Maddoff must be jealous.

THE ANSWER

NPR is right where they’ve always been, just a little left of center. But now the GOP has gone so far right—off the reservation—that they call centrists traitors and Marxists. God help us in our hour of need. Lord, is it time yet to take Trump home to meet his maker? Amen.

1900s Technology

Can anyone in China tell us why it is illegal for foreigners to visit Tibet? You must have a special permit to travel there. What are Xi and the CCP trying to hide? Is there a concentration camp there? Other explanation? Anyone who knows?

The question doesn’t make sense.

If it was illegal then it wouldn’t be possible to get a permit to visit. A permit means that it is legal for foreigners to visit Tibet. Similar to how you need a visa to visit China.

The autonomous regions of China are often slightly different to the mainland.

Hong Kong & Macao have fairly easy visas for most people BUT you do need separate visas for them.
Xinjiang doesn’t need a special permit now but it did in the past.
Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi have never had any special requirements as far as I know.

Anyway, I visited Tibet back in 2007. At that stage, it looked like the permits were going to be gone soon. The High Speed Train had just been connected and it was opening up.

Then the uprisings and separatist movement made a big push in 2008 when Beijing was hosting the Olympics. They were supported directly or indirectly by the US government and then Tibet was locked down and hard to get into Tibet for foreigners. Millions of Chinese tourists visit each year. Since then it has become easier and I know a number of people who have visited recently. You still need a permit but it is fairly easy to get one unless you are a reporter.

Last year in 2023 there were more than 24 million tourists to Tibet. Most were domestic but 30,455 were tourists from overseas.

You can visit but unless things have changed you need to spend 3 days in China. This information may be out of date since in the past it was advised that you should apply for the permit in China. Most tourists used to go to Chengdu to see the pandas and spend 3 days their waiting for the permit. A travel agent will do all of this for you and tell you what to do. It isn’t hard but it took time. Not sure if this is still the case. Things change quickly…

Strange coincidences

What’s the most confusing thing about being a man, today?

Navigating dating in a world where men are increasingly being told that women and men should be treated as equals; and yet where as a heterosexual man trying to find a partner, you’re still being systematically and mercilessly filtered out as a potential partner if you fail to perform classical masculinity well enough.

I grew up in, and live in Norway. One of the countries on earth that consistently score near the top of gender-equality rankings.

And yet my experiences in dating, especially as a young man, were very much about adhering to classical prejudiced gender-roles for men — or else remain single.

Examples?

I’ve been told (and agree!) that men should not be afraid to show or talk about emotions. But I’ve also been told in hundreds of ways that if a man shows any emotion that includes even a hint of vulnerability, then he’s instantly disqualified as a potential romantic interest.
[1]
I’ve been told that men and women should face the same expectations and similar opportunities. But as a young man, no woman ever asked me out on a first date. No woman ever explicitly revealed a crush on me unless I’d done the same thing first. No woman ever kissed me unless I initiated that first. No woman ever bought me a drink, flowers, chocolate, a valentines day card or any other stereotypically romantic gift unless I’d done that first. No woman ever asked me to dance, unless I’d done that first.[*]
Every time I read answers here on Quora about men who struggle with finding dates, I see the same recommendations. Usually from liberal, feminist people (both men and women) well-reflected about gender. Be confident. Be assertive. Initiate. Approach. Show Competence. Be unaffected by rejection, or if you’re affected, hide it! I’m not sure if they fail to notice it, or if they notice but don’t care — but these things look pretty much like: “Be classically masculine and adhere to gender-norms for men!” to me.

My dating-life took a sharp turn upwards when I finally learnt how to wear a mask and play a classically masculine role well enough to pass muster as a potential romantic partner.

I had several long and good relationships after I figured this part out, and though I’m happily married these days, I’m still confident I could fairly easily find a new fulfilling relationship if I should ever again find myself single and lonely.

But to find that relationship, I’d have to initially play a role. One that isn’t me, or that at least is just a tiny fraction of me. I’d have to play up those parts of me that adhere the closest to prejudiced norms for what a “real man” should be, and at least for a while downplay or hide those parts of me that don’t fit the mold, such as for example my vulnerable or emotional parts.

The most confusing thing for me as a young man, was how women around me were constantly telling me that there’s nothing they want more than gender-equality. And yet at the same time, if I want to “pass” as a man worthy of romantic love or sexual desire, then I have to jump right back into strongly gendered norms for what a “real man” should be.

[*]: I’m aware that many of these things do happen now and then to many men, and happen often to some men. Ironically though, that tends to be men with high social status and/or high social dominance. This single factor was without a doubt the most important factor for which young men were seen as attractive among my peers. And of course high status and high social dominance are ALSO things that prejudiced gender-roles for men judge us for.

War against China

Have you ever witnessed an objection at a wedding?

Oh, Boy! That happened to me.

Let me give you a bit of context:

My then girlfriend and I had been dating for about 5 years when we finally decided to marry.

On the day of the wedding, we were at my parents’ house with some close family and our closest friends.

Everything was going as expected and the law officer driving the ceremony was reading the document we were about to sign in order to be pronounced “husband and wife”.

It went something like:

“Mr. Blah blah blah… of profession Systems’ Engineer, born at xxxxx and Miss blah blah blah of profession xxxxx from xxx” plus some legal stuff that no one was really paying attention, or so I thought.

Then, the lady asks the infamous question:

“Does anyone have any objection?”

And for everyone’s surprise, a “Yes, I have one” was clearly heard.

In that instant, the time and everything else just froze. You would have been able to cut the air of the room with a knife. Everyone was shocked, silently looking for the source of those words. The only things moving in the room were our guests’ eyes.

Finally, we found it!

It turned out that the objection came from no less than the bride herself, and then she added in her most natural tone:

“He is not a Systems Engineer. His speciality is Computer Engineer”

First a general sense of relief and then everyone just burst out laughing.

We have been married for more than 15 years and the document still says “Systems Engineer”

Did I tell you that my wife is a lawyer?

6 LIES America Told Me About Europe | Americans React

Are Europeans shocked when they first come to the United States?

Have been many times now, and love it, but on my first visit …

Hubby was working and so I went to a Walmart. Really exciting for me as we didn’t have anything like that back in the UK. ( This was back in the early 90s)

I bought a trolley full of stuff, went through the cashier, paid and was quite happily on my way out of the door when beeps’ went off.

Before I knew it I was surrounded by about 4 or 5 what I can only describe as security people. They were really aggressive and I was terrified. What had I done wrong?

Anyway I was accused of stealing and literally frogmarched away. My whole trolley was gone through against my receipt.

Took a while. Everything tallied and it was discovered that whilst I had paid for it a security tag had not been deactivated from a wallet I had purchased. Cashier error.

They then let me go. A couple of hours later. No apologies. I was so shaken up by this treatment.

In the uk at the time of this incident if ‘beeps’ had gone off when leaving a store, sure you would have been stopped, yes checked, but nobody would have laid hands on you and treated you like a criminal. Once it was seen a mistake had been made on their part an apology would be given.

So I guess that certainly on my first visit my shock was that in the USA it is guilty until proven innocent, whereas in UK it is innocent until proven guilty.

Also that an apology is not necessary if they’ve got it wrong.

And please don’t get me started on the tipping culture. In the Uk we pay a minimum wage and tipping is seen as a sign of good service.

My first meal in the USA service was lousy, won’t go into details, but I was astonished to find that despite that I was expected to leave a tip at around 10–15% of the bill and was berated when I didn’t. At that time I had no idea that servers were not paid a decent wage and relied on tips, but to me it felt like a mandatory charge so that if you didn’t pay it you were in effect stealing.

I have been to the USA many times since and now appreciate the difference in our cultures. So I will pay the mandatory ‘tip’ but if I have got service above and beyond will do 30–40%. Still don’t like it though.

Please don’t think I am berating the USA. I have loads of friends here, just saying that as a naive Brit many years ago it was not the best of experiences.

What are the important lessons you learnt in life?

your sleep is key to your health and energy. Sleep well, and everything in life already looks easier. Darkness, silence, and inner peace are the key ingredients.
what you eat and drink is another key to your health and energy. The fewer of the things you consume have brand names, and the less has been done to them, the better you will eventually be.
the people you are surrounded by contribute greatly to who you are, and not just while you are with them. When you’re honest, you’ll find that very little of you is actually you.
the big challenge in life is to be authentic. It’s the hardest thing to do of them all to be truly yourself, and it may well be the meaning of life to try it. We only ever live during those moments where we are being ourselves, and they are few.
to live in freedom, you need to make utilitarian choices. This is a mechanical universe, full of things that are parasitic. Find the things that serve you with the least demands on you, and your life is more free.

Dating Pool Dropouts: How Feminism RUINED Dating

This chick is really freaking out.

Why are Europeans not as fat as Americans are when Europeans eat white bread and pasta and butter all the time?

I’m American, living in France for many years. I eat butter, cream, cheese, bread, pasta…. things I never used to eat in the US, and yet never have to worry about my weight.

Many things come into play-

No snacks. We eat meals, usually at the same times each day. My body seems to like living on a schedule this way. I don’t get hungry in between meals. My stomach knows when it is time to eat, and when it isn’t.

Portions. Portions are smaller. I’m about to visit home again, and know we’ll be going to restaurants and such, and I’ll have these giant heaping plates placed before me, which make me sick to think about. It actually kills my appetite to see this.

Different courses. Instead of eating everything at the same time, we have courses, so only one thing is in front of us at a time. If you are only eating tomatoes, you are going to eat less than if you are mixing in bites of other things in between. Eating a salad or a soup before the main dish, you’re already going to eat less of the main course, because you are less hungry.

Walking. We spend a lot of time walking. I walk to most everything – the grocery store, the post office, the hairdresser, the recycling center….. Whatever chores I have to do outside the home, I can usually walk, and a twenty-minute walk to get somewhere is normal. I do remember a time, when I hadn’t been here long, that every time someone said, “let’s just walk there”, I’d groan and complain “Why can’t we just drive??” I’ve come to love walking around the city. I had to remember the joy of that as a kid, when I’d just love taking my time and observing life around me along the way, instead of having my focus on the destination.

Less stress. This may or may not apply in a general way, but I find they have a different way of looking at life, in which work success is just not considered so essential, so people worry less. A lot of paid vacation, job security, easy healthcare, results in feeling less anxious, and maybe contributes to less cortisol production and emotional eating.

The failure of democracy

Chicken Chilaquiles Casserole

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable oil
10 (6 to 8 inch diameter) flour or corn tortillas, cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 cups shredded cooked chicken or turkey
1 1/3 cups salsa verde or green sauce
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Chihuahua or mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Heat oil in skillet until hot. Cook tortilla strips in oil for 30 to 60 seconds or until light golden brown; drain.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 quart casserole.
Layer half of the tortilla strips in casserole; top with chicken, half of the salsa verde (about 2/3 cup) and 1 cup of the cheese.
Press layers gently down into casserole.
Repeat with remaining tortilla strips, sauce and cheese.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden brown.

What are some things a woman should know about men?

1. Like you girls have periods, that cause pain and mood swings etc. Similarly, we men have nocturnal emission that causes mood swings and back pain. Not all men go through that, but many. And it’s not a comparison between the issues.

2. We actually hate giving surprises, if somebody is doing… he’s pressured or doing the same just to impress and make you happy.

3. We actually don’t like you to be influenced by influencers in terms of dress up, eating, and showing up on Social media to people. We want you to be you… The Authentic you.

4. We hate the question “How much do you love me” and in fact we don’t have answers.

5. We love Motorcycle and Car, and we want you to respect the same. And the reason is they actually need love and care, or else they can trouble anytime. Don’t complain if your man is investing a bit more money on that.

6. Please don’t take us shopping if you’re not getting it done within an hour.

7. If you’re allowed to have male friends, please don’t question our Female Friends.

8. We don’t run for sex. Though it’s a natural need, but please don’t judge without reading the whole book. Also, don’t trust the buttery words of a Man without knowing him.

9. It feels extremely difficult for us to walk behind an unknown girl, even if we are moving in the same direction. We wait or overtake most of the time. If you’re afraid then we too.

There are many things not coming up in my head right now, and yes men should equally know about women. But no one in the world till now has succeeded understanding a Woman.. haha.

Why Women Don’t Support Husbands in Difficult Times.

Grandpa

The IRS decides to audit Grandpa, and summons him to the IRS office. The IRS auditor was not surprised when Grandpa showed up with his attorney.

The auditor said, “Well, sir, you have an extravagant lifestyle and no full-time employment, which you explain by saying that you win money gambling. I’m not sure the IRS finds that believable.”

“I’m a great gambler, and I can prove it,” says Grandpa. “How about a demonstration?”

The auditor thinks for a moment and says, “OK. Go ahead.”

Grandpa says, “I’ll bet you a thousand dollars that I can bite my own eye.”

The auditor thinks a moment and says, “It’s a bet.”

Grandpa removes his glass eye and bites it. The auditor’s jaw drops.

Grandpa says, “Now, I’ll bet you two thousand dollars that I can bite my other eye.”

The auditor can tell Grandpa isn’t blind, so he takes the bet.

Grandpa removes his dentures and sinks them into his remaining eye. The astonished auditor now grasps that he has gambled and lost three grand, with Grandpa’s attorney as a witness. His unease begins to mount.

“Want to go double or nothing?” Grandpa asks. “I’ll bet you six thousand dollars that I can stand on one side of your desk, and pee into that wastebasket on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in between.”

The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and decides there’s no way this old guy could possibly manage that stunt, so he agrees again. Grandpa stands beside the desk and unzips his pants, but although he strains mightily, he can’t make the stream reach the wastebasket on the other side, so he pretty much urinates all over the auditor’s desk.

The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just turned a major loss into a huge win. But Grandpa’s attorney moans and puts his head in his hands.

“Are you OK?” the auditor asks.

“Not really,” says the attorney. “This morning, when Grandpa told me he’d been summoned for an audit, he bet me twenty-five thousand dollars that he could come in here and pee all over your desk and that you’d be happy about it.”

Don’t mess with old people!

If you feel your former bosses would give you a bad reference, should you contact them before putting them for your next job?

I had three interviews that went very well, in my opinion, yet I received no job offer, and I suspected it was because my boss was subverting my effort to leave the company. During my fourth interview, with the Department of Correction, I mentioned my suspicion to the person interviewing me and she said that she’d make a note of it. I was offered the job a couple of days later, contingent upon passing a drug screen, and while I was at the agency for the drug screen the HR manager asked me to step into her office.

She called my boss and said she was calling for a reference on me, and boss gave what would be described as a tepid recommendation: I did “adequate” work and was “as reliable as anyone else” but she would have hired someone younger if she was filling my position now. After she ended the call the HR manager said she understood why I had trouble finding another job, and then she asked when I wanted to start work with the agency. I told her I’d be there bright and early the following Monday.

My boss said she wanted someone younger for my job so I decided to accomodate her. I didn’t bother to say anything about the phone call, or that I was leaving. But I did send a delayed email letting her know how I felt about her and so she’d know that I wouldn’t be coming back. The last time I saw her was when I picked up my last paycheck; she threw a stapler at me.

Sounds Of The Department Store 1979

OMG!

Just put this on and listen to it on a early Saturday Morning.

TekWar as the mystery

So I went on ChatGPT and asked it to find that mystery movie that I have been having such a difficult time finding. This is what I asked…

please help me locate a movie. Sometime in the late 1980's and in the 1990s I watched a movie on television. it was a science fiction movie. 

It was apparently "made for television", though I do not know for sure. 

it was about the experiences of the main character; a female that was hired to work in a software company. 

The movie starts where she finds herself on this big sprawling campus of the company that she will work at. It is mostly empty of others, just a few people walking here and there. she then meets up with the rest of her design team. all are very smart like she is and all are specialists. they all are working on various software projects. 

eventually they realize that there is something strange about their life. they work for three days, and then it all starts all over again. 

at one point in the movie, they encounter a record left behind by their previous selves. with thousands of log entries. 

they decide to hack into the campus as it appears that they are software programs modeled after specific real-world engineers. 

they find this access port, which appeals to be a big hinged plug in the ground, and using that they hack into the entire campus and stop the endless cycle of repeat and redo. .... 

when I have used search engines for this movie, the usual standard, commonplace, movies came up. but this is not a usual movie. this is a very unique and seemingly forgotten movie. can you help me out?

And this is what it answered…

The movie you're describing sounds like "TekWar," a 1994 made-for-television science fiction film based on the TekWar novels by William Shatner. 

The main character you're referring to is likely Beth Kittridge, portrayed by Charlotte de Bruyne. 

In the film, she is hired by Jake Cardigan (played by Greg Evigan) to work at Cosmos, a futuristic software company. 

The storyline involves the characters discovering anomalies and facing challenges similar to what you described, including the repetitive nature of their experiences and the hacking into the system to stop it.

"TekWar" was part of a larger franchise that included television movies, a TV series, and novels. It might not be widely remembered today, but it certainly fits the description you provided.

Well, I really don’t know if this is it. But it is the closest that I have found so far.

Sure as Hell beats a Google Search.

The actual video is on youtube HERE.

Today…

How the hell is America still a superpower when China is making such infrastructure and buildings while the US still has buildings from 1950?

The United States is NOT a superpower.

It is instead, a feudal, plutocracy that runs a military empire.

There is no longer a “middle class”, instead there are workers (known as “rabble”) and the elite (known as the 0.1%).

This indicative of late-stage empire decline.

Historically, within a few decades, the United States will disappear before transforming into some kind of new entity.

…

China is on another level… perhaps another plane… indeed, in another universe entirely. To compare the two is like comparing apples with Rocket sleds.

Adjust your perception

Why does America not retaliate for China making it hard for US companies to penetrate Chinese markets?

You really have to get out from under the influence of the media. It is clouding your faculties. There are so many companies operating and thriving in China. I personally was brought over to China by a New Hampshire company that was very successful in China. I live in a third tier city and there is no shortage of western companies operating here. There is a Dell EMC building across from my apartment, Multiple Starbucks within walking distance, KFC, McDonalds, Ford sells cars here, Buick, Jeep. Walk through the malls here and you see Adidas, Nike Under Armour, Dickies and Levis shops. Those are just the companies that sell to common people. Never mind the big corporations that do billions of dollars in business in China.

Wake up! The whole trade imbalance cry is not reality. It is for your consumption and it seems to be working very well. Really stop watching the news, it is not reality. Its sole purpose is to shape your perception of the world.

Men are sick and tired

What were the reasons for Germany’s defeat to Russia in World War II, despite having better equipment and military strategy? Was Russia’s success due to their fighting skills and familiarity with the land?

This is question despite being auto-generated that touches on the very core of how World War 2 is explained in popular history. The phrasing itself is very noteworthy, because the AI who generated this question does so on the basis of what others write, and it asks how Germany was defeated, not how the Soviets won. Do you think the fact the WW2 eastern front history is primarily told from the point of view of Nazis, might have significantly skewed the way the war is perceived? Hint: Yes.

If the Germans had superior equipment, superior strategy, their army was more experienced, and in 1941 even outnumbered the Soviets quite a bit on the front, then why didn’t they win? Well it must be because of the 3 things that Manstein and the other Nazi war criminals all agree on. The Weather, the number of Soviets and Hitler sabotaging himself. In reality, this is of course outright lies. Let’s talk about why these things are not the reason first.

The Weather: As it turns out Russians, Ukrainians and other Soviet citizens did not have a natural +10 cold resistance. Reality isn’t DnD. The weather of the USSR affects Soviets in exactly the same way as the Germans. Germans were fully aware of the climate in Russia, their generals had read Napoleon, they had geographers and meteorologists who were professionals. So why were they affected so badly?
1. During the fall of 1941, the winter was approaching, but the arrogance and racism inside the mind of Nazis convinced them that just pushing a little more would cause the Soviets to collapse and give up. The Nazi generals were in charge of their own requisition, and when asked if they wanted their winter equipment or more ammunition to kill more Soviets, they asked for ammunition not winter equipment. This is not a problem of weather, this was a collective German officer decision, based on arrogance and racism.
2. Some German equipment was not well suited for winter combat, like the German tanks with narrow tracks unable to cope with snow and mud. This is not a weather problem, this is a design problem, showing poor thought in German equipment. Again, the Germans knew they would invade the USSR years in advance and didn’t fix this.
The Soviet manpower monolith. If numbers had been decisive, then you’d think the Soviets would have done better in 1941 than later. In 1941, the Soviets had a larger population, around 190 million, versus the German 80 million. However, by Stalingrad, only 110 Million Soviets were available to the USSR, due to occupation and death, yet this is when the Soviets were winning. Additionally, the Soviets were not just fighting the Germans, but Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Finland and quite a lot of Italian too. If you look at the total manpower of the Axis forces the Soviets fought and not just the Germans, guess what. There were more Axis than Soviets.
Hitler sabotaged everything. So many German generals tell you, and they tell you this because German chief of staff Franz Halder, coordinated with them after WW2 to blame everything bad on Hitler essentially. Halder was editor of several memoirs. In reality the German general staff loved the idea of invading the USSR, they were the ones who came up with the plan, they were the ones who ignored the logistical problems when this was pointed out to them, they were the ones who were defeated at Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. Hitler made very few military decisions, and never without consulting his military staff. In some situations Hitler even made clearly better decisions than his officers did, when he said it would be an economic war, and that Germany needed to capture the resources of the USSR not the cities, he was absolutely right.

So with that out of the way, the better question is, how did the Soviets win? The answer is plain and boring. The Soviets approached war scientifically, they started WW2 with a bad theory and an incomplete procurement and training system. Throughout the war the Soviets introduced excellent military equipment, which in general was far better than the German, they introduced a new military doctrine specifically made to counter what the Germans were doing. Their officers gradually became more experienced, until the experienced Germans had no advantages anymore. And they correctly saw the strategic path to victory through attrition and by correctly exploiting weaknesses in the Axis lines.

This is the simple version of course, but really that is all there is to it, we can talk about equipment and strategy in details in the comments. Additionally if you are interested I wrote about the massive problems the Soviets had to outcome in 1941–1942 in terms of doctrine here:

Soviet Military Doctrine and the Officer Purge

Soviet Military Doctrine Part 2 – Learning How to Defend

A small point on World War 2 Resource Efficiency

Harsh L for men

If a random person came up to you in the street, ready to fight and asked you “What the F are you looking at” How or what would you do in response?

The illusionist Derren Brown has an interesting approach to this situation:

“This is simply about not engaging with your aggressor at the level they expect. I was coming back from a hotel at about 3am one night and there was a guy in the street with his girlfriend. He was really drunk, clearly looking for a fight and he started kicking off at me. I had a routine ready in my head for this sort of situation and it worked a treat on this occasion. He asked me that typical aggressive rhetorical question — “Do you want a fight?” You can’t say “yes” or “no” — you’ll get hit either way. So, I responded with, “The wall outside my house is four-feet high.”

I didn’t engage at the level he was expecting me to, so immediately he was on the back foot. He came back with, “What?” and I repeated my bizarre response. I delivered the line in a completely matter-of-fact tone, as if he was the one who was missing something here. Suddenly, he was confused. All his adrenaline had dropped away, because I’d pulled the rug from under him. It’s the verbal version of a martial-arts technique called an ‘adrenaline dump’, whereby you get the person to relax before you hit them. A punch will have much greater impact if the recipient’s guard is down. I stuck to this surreal conversational thread with my assailant, saying things like, “I lived in Spain for a while and the walls are really huge, but in this country they’re tiny.” After a few of these exchanges, he just went, “Oh f*ck!” and broke down in tears. The guy had all this adrenaline and was on the point of really laying into me — I was seeing myself beaten to a bloody pulp — but these non-threatening nonsense statements broke that aggression down and he genuinely started crying. I ended up sitting next to him on the kerb, comforting him.”

This is the battle in the USA today

Hi Irina,

Patrice has encouraged me to publish some of the testimonies I am getting. My concern is to totally protect the anonymity of the people, especially the ones who could get into serious trouble in Ukraine, but in fact EVERYONE.

So let me know if I quote ‘a woman in Moscow’ remarking on a ‘iiberal in Moscow’. Is that ok….no name or other identifying marks.

Kind regards,

Eric

29.03.2024, 00:59, “Eric Arnow” <affjp@yandex.com>:

One of the things I try to do, is to find people, ordinary people, to get their views on ‘reality’.

Since I live in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I am at an advantage because Chiang Mai attracts people from all over the world, in particular, not just travelers, but those who are deliberately outside their home country. Of course, in my travels, I also try to talk to people, ordinary people inside a country to get their views.

Recently I posted about a Russian guy I met in Moscow, with whom I had a Whatsapp exchange. Irina Boyko was kind enough to comment on the exchange that I posted.

In this email, I’ll talk a little bit about someone whom I met here in Chiang Mai. She grew up during the Soviet era. Moved to Canada after it fell, but moved back to Ukraine a few years ago. After the start of the SMO, she came to Chiang Mai, presumably to ‘get out of Dodge’, meaning the Nazi infested regime, We had a lot of long talks about her life in Soviet Ukraine, how happy she was during those times, and how unhappy she was post USSR.

In order to preserve her anonymity, I’m not going to publish this, only report within the CWG. In early March, she made the trip back to her home city, which I will leave nameless. Her mother has been quite ill, so my friend decided to go back to be with her.

We chatted a little bit since her return. She felt very depressed. We finally caught up by phone and here are some of her observations, which will probably not come as a surprise to us, if not the ‘liberal guy from Moscow’, whom I also chatted with earlier.

The difference in feeling between Chiang Mai, which is probably one of the most comfortable cities to live in, and her city was a real shock. She went into serious depression, but after consulting with both energy therapists and a psychologist is feeling better. She’s learning to cope with the situation.

There is a general feeling of depression and foreboding.

The streets are about half empty…that is, the population has dropped significantly. [This corresponds to information that other commentators have noted. The population used to be 50 million, while it’s now estimated at perhaps 25 million or less]

She sees young women with babies, but no fathers. Where did they go?

The men are in hiding. She told me about one guy who was taken from the same apartment building she’s in, and he was killed after being sent to fight.

Everyone is terrified of the police. Nobody talks openly about conditions

The forcible recruiters are now going into apartment buildings and knocking on doors. Nobody answers for fear of any men in the house being dragged away.

For the time being, she still has electricity and internet, unlike many of the big cities, such as Kharkov.

I said that it looks like the war will go in one of two ways. Either, Russia will win, come into her city, take control and things will improve, similar to what is happening in the newly reincorporated territories. Or, the US/NATO will escalate to the point of nuclear war and we’ll all die. That’s her assessment as well.

Addendum:

I have another young Ukrainian friend here in Chiang Mai, he’s working online remotely. While he wants to go home, he knows that the situation is very difficult and dangerous. Numerous repressive laws are either in place or being considered to take away people’s money or their rights. He’s lucky he is here, otherwise, he probably would have been dragged off to fight and die.

He also said that he was happy in Ukraine in 2021.

Being an expat, I used to see reports saying that Ukraine is a great place for ‘Digital Nomads’, one of millions of mostly young people making a living online. I just thought…”wait…the place is highly unstable and likely to blow up.” But the average people in Ukraine apparently didn’t realize what was actually going on in their country, and where it was all heading.

While, up to now, much of the basic infrastructure has been in place, and people had the basics of electricity and utilities, albeit at much higher prices, the electical supply is out in Kharkov and maybe Odessa. I felt some relief that my friend’s city has been spared for now However, as most of us know, Russia will probably go onto a much more robust offensive, and how those remaining in Ukraine will fare, is uncertain.

Eric

This is the process…

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Cy9Wvmon4xg?feature=share

Is living in Europe better than living in the USA in terms of standard of living, safety, healthcare, etc.?

I grew up in the US and lived there for much of my life and moved to Europe in 2000 so I guess I am qualified to answer.

Standard of living:

It depends on where you live, how much money you have and what you consider quality of life and living standards. If you live in a small town in Arkansas in a very poor area your standard of living will be pretty bad. You can find comparable places in poor towns in Central and Eastern Europe.

In Western Europe most cites have a very high standard of living for the majority of people. If you live in Paris, for example, your apartment is probably going to be in an older building but well renovated and very comfortable. In the suburbs it depends on the neighborhood and area, (arrondissement), just like in New York City or Boston. If you live in the Western European countryside you may live in a rustic place but it will probably be in very nice condition with all the modern comforts. When I lived in Germany and France I had many friends who lived in rural areas and their homes were small but extremely comfortable. Even in southern Italy the houses may look old on the outside but inside they are filled with all the modern conveniences and well renovated. People take pride in caring for their living spaces.

I would compare the central and southern parts of the US to Central and Eastern European countries like Czechia, Poland, Hungary and Estonia. Although the cities and towns in these countries have a great deal of history and character where most US cities and towns do not.

For shopping, it depends on what you want and where you live. If you live in or near a metropolitan area of the US you will have vast choices for goods. Many products like clothing and electronics will be cheaper than in Europe. Fuel prices are far cheaper than in Europe. Year round food choices are better in the US for the most part. Outlet malls and Costco’s are far better in the US and far cheaper. There have been attempts to make a Walmart or Target type chain in Europe but they have not been able to duplicate the US prices. Walmart tried to open in Germany but it did not succeed.

If you love nature and traveling then both continents have much to offer. America has far more raw and untouched nature. Europe has very little except in Scandinavia. There are beautiful natural areas in most countries but you can easily tell they are not very raw once you hike and explore there. If you enjoy getting out and pitching your tent next to a stream in a forest with no people around then there are very few places you might be able to do that in Europe except in Scandinavia. Wild camping is very restricted in most countries and illegal in some, like Italy. In the US I can drive up in the mountains of Colorado, find a great spot next to a lake or stream and set up my tent and spend a couple of weeks there if I like. I miss that. I do camp here but only in campgrounds in Latvia or Estonia. In Italy it is all too crowded for camping so I have never bothered. I just travel from home or stay in small hotels or BnB’s.

Safety:

I have lived in many places around the US. Usually in rural areas. So I always felt safe. Since university I have not lived in a big city so I am not sure what that is like safety wise. I suppose most US cites are as safe or dangerous as European cities. Some areas are safer than others and some are outright dangerous. In my little village in Italy I feel completely safe walking around at any time day or night. In my suburban neighborhood in Riga, Latvia I do not feel so safe walking around late at night. In any city it is best to be sensible and to know how to stay safe. That applies to both continents.

Healthcare:

I have experience with the US healthcare system and with the German, French, Italian and Latvian systems. As far as quality of care goes I would say that Western European healthcare is comparable and better to US healthcare. Latvian healthcare is not as good as either but is still respectable. I have had 3 major surgeries here so I have experience with this. In terms of costs, there is no comparison. In all European countries, I just go to my doctor or emergency room, get treated, say thank you and go home. In the US I had to check my health insurance provider to see which doctor I could go see, get an appointment, see the doctor, pay my part of the co-pay and amounts that the health insurance company refused. I also had to be mindful of the fact that my insurance company was going to know of any illness I might have and that my rates would go up. Or I could lose my insurance. The same with US hospitals. They provide great care if you can afford it. In Europe what you can afford is irrelevant unless you want to go to a fancy private clinic.

I could go on and on but those are just some of my experiences that stand out.

Bottom line:

I very much enjoy the US for certain things that I consider better there:

Mexican, Cajun, BBQ, New Mexican, Asian cuisines
Discount shopping and warehouse shopping like Costco
Great electronics and cheap prices
Wild nature and natural beauty
Great and uncrowded skiing on weekdays

Other than that I far prefer being here in Europe and consider the life style, standard of living and other areas of life far superior.

Third world

What is the most savage reply you’ve given to an entitled person?

“You’re fired, a bill will be sent to your agent”

Allow me to explain. I work as a specialist costume designer and fight choreographer (I’m no one famous but I get work). One of the clauses I have directors write in to contracts is that “if anyone has lied about their skills, knowledge or experience to secure their role in such a way as to endanger the actors, fighters or other crew they will be summarily dismissed from the production AND they will be billed for the time and expense caused to the production”.

One girl turned up two hours late (strike one), was enormously rude to me, demanding I fetch her coffee and a pastry before she would do anything. Now, as a medieval fight choreographer I spend a lot of time in dirty muddy fields so I don’t exactly wear Gucci to set but I also don’t like to see anyone spoken to like that no matter their job (strike two).

The scenes we needed to get this day would involve the actress riding a horse and using a bow and a sword. She’d stated that she’d competed in Equestrian events so we planned to spend the morning getting some “travelling” shots so she and the stunt horse could get aquianted, then the afternoon would be me polishing up her mounted fight skills ready for the following week of action shots. No, this isn’t how I wanted to do it but we didn’t have the budget for weeks of trials and training camps.

Within thirty minutes of getting her on the horse she had wound it up so badly with her total lack of skill and experience that we couldn’t even put the poor thing back in her stall and the owner had to walk her around to try to calm her down.

The actress came roaring up to me screaming and roaring about how the horse was savage and nearly killed her etc, etc. (strike three).

“You’re fired, a bill will be sent to your agent”

That stopped her dead in her tracks and I reminded her what was in the contract she’d signed and had security (who I’d already called over) escort her to wardrobe and off set. Her agent pitched a fit when they saw the bill but they paid and we got the scenes she’d already done reshot by an actress I’m still friends with.

The Cult

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

I wouldn’t call this a ‘terrible’ backfire; humorous perhaps.

In the 1980s I was working overseas for a US contractor. Over a weekend a 30,000 horsepower gas turbine shut itself down and that plant’s production stopped. The Shift Supervisor called the maintenance shop where I worked. The on-duty tech couldn’t service the turbine. More and more calls were made. It was hours before a qualified tech was located.

‘Monday’ morning, Dave, the Plant Manager issued the edict: he wanted to know where an on-call technician was at all times. We said something about ‘standby pay’, or ‘callout premium’, or issue us a two-way radio or pager. No, no, and no. Not happening. The company felt that by our ‘terms of employment’ they owned us for whatever was needed. We weren’t happy about that.

One senior tech, Bill, said, “No problem. I’ll comply. When I get home at night, I’ll call him to let him know I’m home, and here is my phone number. When I go to the commissary, I’ll call him and tell him I’m leaving now. When I arrive at the commissary, I’ll call him from a pay phone and tell him I’ve arrived. He can call the commissary and have me paged if needed.” Bill was a golfer. On weekends he would report in, telling the manager how to have him contacted if needed.

End of the story, Dave, the Plant Manager, was quickly worn down, and the ‘edict’ faded away.

In retrospect, Dave probably did as was demanded of him, and he possibly had no intention of following through. Hmmm … Malicious compliance, perhaps? On various levels, perhaps? Hmmm …

Truth spit out

What was the strangest way an embezzler was caught?

Friend of mine caught one.

She was the new accountant looking after 4 companies, so spent time in each company. Come to pay review time, she asked the Payroll clerk for a list of annual salaries by name and department. ( straight from payroll software) In the tearoom, one of the admin staff suggested she have a close look at the accounting departments salaries. No reason given, just that “ it might be worthwhile” , and left it at that.

The salary of the payroll clerk was 30% higher then her colleagues. She had the master password for the software, so went in to payroll, and checked the salary history of that individual going back several years. 3 years before there this persons salary had jumped up. She checked with senior colleagues and no one was aware of any reason for a big payrise,

Her and HR interviewed the person, and she denied any wrongdoing, said she had earned the increase. Did a followup after the weekend, and said they were considering inviting the police in to investigate, at which point she confessed and said “I made a mistake on someones salary increase

, and no-one noticed, apart from me The next month , I corrected the wrong one and increased my own by the same amount. If someone had asked I would of said it was a mistake. No one did, so I just carried in with it.”

SHe had been so pleased with herself,and the extra clothes and holidays she could now afford, she had bragged to a colleague, about how clever she had been. Colleague was not impressed, and when the opportunity arose, tipped off my friend.

Piers Morgan Shocked When I Told Him the Truth About China!

Have you ever walked into your house and noticed a sound that you thought was suspicious? What happened?

Not me but my Dad (may he Rest In Peace). Dad had been sitting in a Tank during the Korean War but he had been stationed in Germany. Well, tanks from back in the 1950s did not have the noise suppression systems of the tanks of today and the technologies we have for Hearing Protection were practically non-existent; Dad had severe hearing loss before he ever met Mom.

Some time after their divorce, Dad had finally obtained some really GOOD hearing aids. He got home really tired and was traipsing through his kitchen when suddenly there was an unfamiliar noise. He spun around with his weapon drawn and…almost shot his new refrigerator, which he had never heard kick on before. 😀

EDIT!: Thank you to everybody so much for all the likes!

I am getting a FAQ for this post; here is the answer so I won’t have to spam it in the comments:

After Dad was out of the Army, he went to another service branch and then FINALLY left the Military altogether. But then he became a police officer.

As a Police Officer at the time the incident happened with the refrigerator, he had just gotten off a long shift and had a case of nerves that had not settled yet. Sometimes police are jittery after a long or difficult shift. He walked in his door and had not yet disarmed himself when he heard the fridge kick on for the very first time. He lived alone then, so that weird unfamiliar noise startled him and he reacted like he had been trained to react for his entire adult life. Dad practiced excellent trigger discipline and did not actually FIRE the weapon; he just aimed at the fridge.

Please keep in mind, this was MULTIPLE DECADES ago and where he worked at the time, Police could bring and use their own firearms on-duty, not just their Service pieces that were kept in lockers at the station.

Take it easy, everybody. Dad thought it was funny after it happened, it was told as a funny story, nothing bad happened. No Big Deal because nobody actually got hurt. The ‘danger’ has been in the past since I was a toddler.

I hope this clears things up enough for everybody. 🙂

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea – Attack! – Best America Scifi TV Series 2024

https://youtu.be/IhIMqQtpX0A

Some Shorpy historical images

Four things

What’s the shadiest tactic you’ve witnessed HR use at your job?

I worked at a grocery store when I was a teenager. Human Resources was called in to interview the employees about a beer and cigarette theft problem.

Before my interview, I saw a co-worker cleaning out his locker. “What happened?” I asked.

“Dude, they got us. They had cameras filming everything we did,” he said. “I just got fired for eating grapes that fell off the vine.”

My turn came and the HR guy said, “You need to confess to everything you have stolen here. Put a dollar amount on the stolen goods and we will set up a payment plan for restitution and avoid your being arrested.”

“I have never stolen,” I said.

“Okay, I am going to give you one more chance. If you are honest, we won’t get the police involved. If you are lying, things are not going to go well,” he said. “Be advised we have video.”

“I have never stolen anything,” I said.

“Call the police,” he said to the manager. “We are going to have to press charges.”

“You are full of it,” I said. “You have nothing.”

“Do you want to see the video?” He asked.

“Yes,” I said. “It doesn’t exist.”

“What makes you say that?” He said. “You seem very confident for someone about to go to jail.”

“I haven’t stolen anything,” I said. “If you had a video of people stealing, you wouldn’t need a confession.”

I think seven people confessed and were fired that day. My friend that ate the grapes put $7 on the amount he had stolen. He was one of the most honest people I worked with.

The ones eating steak cooked on the heat seal of the meat wrapper never confessed to anything. They did not catch the cigarette and beer thieves they were looking for either.

The people that confessed were the honest ones who felt guilty for their petty thefts while the dishonest ones stuck to their guns and confessed to nothing. Brilliant move by HR.

Jiggle Jiggle

Chicago Style Stuffed Pizza

Ingredients

2 (14 inch) soft pizza crusts
6 ounces pepperoni slices
6 ounces Italian sausage
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 red onion, cut into thin strips
1 can pizza sauce
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/8 cup Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Spray a 12 inch deep-dish pizza pan with vegetable oil.
Place 1 pizza crust in pan and have crust come up sides like a pie.
Add all listed ingredients into pizza pan, adding seasoning to top.
Place second crust on top and use a fork to blend top and bottom crusts together like a pie. Cut off any additional crust.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Silent Running (Hidden Gems)

Has there been any case of enemy soldiers showing respect in WW2?

I can’t remember who wrote it, but I’d read a book many years ago about Operation Market Garden. Although some of the British 1st Airborne Division escaped Arnhem, many remained trapped and were captured by the Germans. One of the men who became a POW talked about marching into captivity past German soldiers. The Germans were cheering them saying things like “Good show, Tommy!” The writer said it felt like the winners of a soccer match were consoling the losers after the game. That, of course, didn’t make the defeat any easier to swallow!

Another I’d read about (again, I can’t remember the source) was the US occupation of Japan immediately after the Japanese surrender. As advance American units landed, they headed to Yokohama where their headquarters would be. The Japanese had lined the route with soldiers as guards – all of them had turned their backs to the road. The occupying Americans took that as a sign of disrespect but it was actually the opposite: in Japanese culture, that’s showing the utmost sign of respect.

Pay attention to this

This is real.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/O4KQmoVi3xM?feature=share

Star Trek:TNG – Data shows off his ultra human strength to primitive aliens(commander ,Data, )

Every day when I leave, my boss says, “Leaving already?” Today I replied, “I did my 8 hours” and he says “Well, you are salaried”. I do my work, don’t use my computer for anything other than work, and also work from home. What’s his deal?

Lovely. A guy still living in 1865 and he thinks we should be slaves to our jobs.

I remember, some time back, where portions of the bridge, out of my neighborhood were flooded out. No cars were getting into my neighborhood and none were leaving and this was the only way out of my neighborhood. I took pictures of this event and sent them to my boss. He came back and stated “So, this is your excuse for not coming into work. Consider yourself fired”.

So, I did and this was on a Friday morning. I started looking for jobs and by Friday evening, I secured a new job that started a week later. On Monday, my prior boss called around 10:30 AM and asked where I was at and I reminded him “Don’t you remember you firing me? You don’t?! Okay, as a former colleague, I am going to let you in on something, lay off on the day drinking. Everyone knows it is not your cologne.” It was an unhidden fact that everyone knew this manager was hitting the sauce, early on in the day, everyday. No one had the ability or courage to say anything and since I was fired… the courage was right there for me.

So accurate

What has your manager asked you to do that you outright refused to do?

I once did maintenance for a guy that was a true slumlord in Gainesville, FL. I was the only one that had a HVAC license in the whole company and he was using my license to buy Freon and to legally evacuate and recycle extracted Freon. The guy was so cheap that he only owned one Freon pump and vacuum pump, he wouldn’t even spend the money to buy a good set of gauges and I just used my own but I refused to bring my pumps and tanks to work because they’re expensive and I knew he wouldn’t replace them. Anyway, I was out on a job that was fairly remote and needed to evacuate system to do repairs, I called and asked if they could send the equipment out to me rather than me having to drive approximately 45 minutes back to the shop. The answer I got was no and that they were using it at another job (keep in mind that I’m the only one licensed to handle Freon) and if I needed it then I could just evacuate the Freon into the air. Well first off, that’s completely illegal and would cost me my license if I was caught, secondly it’s just plain unethical and I refused to do it. I flat refused and was told that if I didn’t want to do that to leave the job and he would send somebody else out to do it. At this point I not only flat refused I quit as soon as I got back to the shop. I then called the EPA and reported him and also made sure to let all the HVAC suppliers in the area know that they were no longer allowed to use my license for refrigerant purchases or anything else.

When he tries to purchase Freon and found out that he could no longer buy it, he completely flipped out and called me cussing me out as it was the middle of summer in the middle of the Florida swampland. He was having to contract the work out to HVAC companies now and they really didn’t like him so they were bending him over big time. Then on top of that he was investigated by the EPA and hit with huge fines. I have no regrets.

Such an American video

What was the most expensive surprise you received in a bill from a doctor or hospital? Did you pay it?

When I was 19 years old, I was going to collage, and working a job at a McDonald’s part-time.

At the time, I didn’t have either health insurance or a PCP.

It was a particularly cold winter, and I was often put in the drive-thru window; so about once every 2–3 weeks I’d end up with a nasty cold. I’d call in sick when this happened, as it’s illegal to work in food service while sick, and I’d typically be find after just a day or two. Sometime’s they’d accept over the phone, sometimes they’d make me come in anyways, before taking one look at me and telling me to go home.

One time when I called back to say I was over the cold, and good to work again, the manager told me I needed to get a doctor’s note before they’d let me go back to work. I explained I didn’t have insurance, or a doctor, they basically said “not my problem.”

So with literally no other option. I went to a hospital’s ER. I walked in, checked in, talked to the triage nurse, explained what was happening, and asked them to just write a note saying I’m good to work.

The triage nurse took my vitals and wrote the note, and I was out of the ER in literally 5 min, never having left the lobby nor seen an actual doctor.

A month later, I got a bill for $500 in the mail from the Hospital. I should mention that I was only making around $300 a month at my part time job, and had no other income.

I’m just about 40 now. It’s been over 20 years since they sent me that bill. I’ve still not paid it.

What’s the rudest thing a waiter ever said to you?

It wasn’t the waiter. It was the bartender. I had taken my two children out for lunch before we went school shopping. We stopped at Applebee’s, and as we were perusing the menu, we ordered our drinks. I ordered a bloody Mary with extra limes, my son ordered a cookie milkshake with extra cookies. I don’t remember what my daughter ordered, but she wanted something extra in her drink as well. The waitress left the table and walked over to the bar to order our drinks. The bartender yelled out extremely loud for the whole restaurant to here, including myself that sure we want to have extra things but don’t want to pay for them. What he didn’t know was I was a waitress at the time and had no problem paying for extras. I was so embarrassed! After that, I walked over to him and let him know I heard everything he had said, and we left the restaurant. Wasn’t too happy about Applebee’s that day. However, the next weekend I took my children there again in hopes for a better experience. We ended up having the same waitress and I told her I was so sorry that we left the prior week After she took her drink orders . She remembered us and has heard about the situation in regards to what the bartender said. She apologized profusely and the manager came over and apologized as well! We ended up getting our dinners free that day with free desserts. Not sure whatever happened to the bartender, but I must say Applebee’s stepped up to the plate! And yes, I left her a big tip!

Some fun with Text to picture

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alchemyrefiner alchemymagic 0 47ab24d8 2971 456e 9ff8 8fde8f9fba2c 0

alchemyrefiner alchemymagic 1 3a49d8de 2c30 46cc b5a4 f07e3e816357 0

Default A gummy cat on a white background 3

Default Suit logo 2

Default Qin Gang as a Ming dynasty warrior standing on dayligh 1(11)

Default Qin Gang as a Ming dynasty warrior standing on dayligh 0(11)

Default Qin Gang as a Ming dynasty warrior standing on dayligh 3(11)

Default Qin Gang as a Ming dynasty warrior standing on dayligh 2(11)

What was the most expensive surprise you received in a bill from a doctor or hospital? Did you pay it?

When I was 19 years old, I was going to collage, and working a job at a McDonald’s part-time.

At the time, I didn’t have either health insurance or a PCP.

The triage nurse took my vitals and wrote the note, and I was out of the ER in literally 5 min, never having left the lobby nor seen an actual doctor.

A month later, I got a bill for $500 in the mail from the Hospital. I should mention that I was only making around $300 a month at my part time job, and had no other income.

I’m just about 40 now. It’s been over 20 years since they sent me that bill. I’ve still not paid it.

What happens if you give two weeks’ notice and they ask you to leave?

I gave3 weeks notice because the estimator I worked with would need time to be trained to cope without me (he was almost computer illiterate). Our boss ALWAYS let everyone work out their notice. He was very easy going like that, except with me. I pissed him off so much when I gave him my notice that he immediately escorted me out of the place like I was a common criminal. LOL

He first sent me in to get my stuff, but then realized that after being there a decade, I had a lot of stuff. My husband worked there also and we often went straight from work to meet clients. I kept clothes, shoes nice boots, work boots, makeup, meds, anything I might need was kept at work. He then came and told my estimator to just bring me home (I had a company vehicle).

“You can come back this weekend to get your stuff. I don’t want you to be embarrassed.”

“I’m not embarrassed.”

Trying to stop the flow

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z95fwg6bP9U?feature=share

Have you actually ever heard someone say ‘Do you know who I am?’ indignantly?

A couple of years ago I was in my driveway when I witnessed a young mother and her child walking down our street, being harassed by a young man in his mid-20s. He was following them, getting in her face yelling at her, putting his hands on her and telling her to go back and get in the car. She kept telling him to leave her alone.

I called out to her and asked if she needed a ride somewhere. She and her child (small boy around 5 or 6) turned around and walked back to where I was standing – which pissed the man off. Then he followed them up my driveway and started screaming at me – calling me names and telling me to mind my own business. When I told him he had made it my business – he started posturing and making threats to me, asking loudly “Do you know who I am?”

My reply was “I don’t know who you think you are – but from where I stand, I see a sad little man child who likes to intimidate and harass women and children. Now step off my property before I call the cops. I’m sure they”ll know who you are.”

He took me seriously and stepped into the road- but continued his verbal harassment , even as the woman and her kid climbed into my car and I backed out of my driveway.

Turns out he was her boyfriend, but I never did find out what the argument was about. I offered to take her to the police station – but she didn’t want to go there – so instead I drove her to where she wanted to go (a few miles away.)

I haven’t seen either of them since but I sure as hell hope she got away from that abusive hothead.

14 Psychology Hacks you should know to control any situation

When someone answers your questions partially, wait. Don’t interrupt. Chances are high that they will complete the answer when you say nothing.
When you want to get something from someone, frame it as an offer/opportunity instead of a request. Anyone will be ready to accept an offer/opportunity.
When you meet people, notice their eye color while you smile at them. Don’t mention anything about it. It’s a good way to make sure that you really look them in the eyes.
A person’s name is the sweetest sound in the world to that person. To make a person feel very special, remember and repeat their name.
Have zero expectations when you are first trying something new, it prevents disappointment.
To judge a person’s character, notice the way they treat people – who can’t do anything for them.
After you state your position in a negotiation. Wait for a while. If you continue to speak, you are not speaking in your favour.
Chewing gum while doing nerve-racking things calm your brain.
When you are learning something, teach someone about it. You will remember it easily and explore more in the process of teaching.
Most people’s favourite subject to talk about is themselves. If you don’t know what to talk about, or have awkward silence, just ask them questions.
Emotional expression causes emotion. If you focus yourself to smile, your mood will actually improve.
Stand up straight. It makes you look more confident and you will actually feel more confident.
With kids, frame things in a way that always gives them a choice. It makes them feel like they are in control. For eg., “Do you want to wear red shirt or blue shirt?” Either way, they know it’s time to put on a shirt.
When asking for favors use the word “because”. No matter how simple the reason. The word “because” makes them think it must be okay because there is a reason.

This Is The Best Red Pilled Video You Will Ever See!

Roasted Pepper and Gorgonzola Pizza

roasted pepper1 2 300x225 — roasted pepper1 2 300×225

Ingredients

Pizza

1 Boboli or homemade crust
Garlic Oil Sauce
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Gorgonzola cheese
Roasted red bell pepper strips

Garlic Oil Sauce

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic

Instructions

Pizza

Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray or grease a pizza pan or stone.
Top crust with Garlic Oil Sauce, mozzarella cheese, gorgonzola cheese and bell pepper strips.
Bake on the bottom rack of oven for 8 to 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is piping hot.

Garlic Oil Sauce

Puree olive oil and garlic in blender.

Undercover boss finds out just how evil graduate job applications are

I read about an employer who was telling a guy that nobody wants to work because they've been trying to hire people for months and were getting no takers. 

The man said "My son applied to your business online and got no response". 

Apparently, the software was rejecting all these applicants. The employer had no idea.

What bad experience had you saying “I will never buy from that company or use their service ever again”?

I was in Milwaukee about 3 years ago for training for a job I’d just gotten and the orientation was going to be 2 days so I was put up in my hotel room and I started to get hungry around 5:00 P.M. and while watching TV shows, I went to the website for EatStreet and looked up food places near the hotel in the downtown area and there’s this pizza and gyro delivery restaurant called New York Pizza Delivery and so I ordered a pizza, breadsticks and a soda from them. Went back to watching the TV. They said it would be there by 6:00 P.M. 6:00 P.M. arrived. No food delivery. So I thought I’d give them a margin in case they got delayed somehow which happens occasionally with food deliveries. By 6:30 P.M., still no food. So I called the restaurant, and I said, you know, where’s my food, they told me it’d be here by 6? The guy who answered the phone said it came but the driver couldn’t find me or my room but they’d send it again. So I headed down to the front lobby and asked the clerk if they’d seen the pizza delivery driver and they said they hadn’t. By 8:00 P.M there was still no pizza. So at 8:30 P.M, I called the restaurant again and asked them why my food wasn’t there and they said the driver forgot to drop off my pizza but they’d send him again. Basically I got my pizza a full 4 and a half hours later and it was only slightly warm. Worst customer service I’ve ever had. I’m not ordering through EatStreet again because they blow, too.

Freedom In CHINA Vs AMERICA! (Untold TRUTH)

Would Chinese people voluntarily fight in the Chinese military, are they forced to, or is it more an obligation rather than a desire?

To say volunteer is an understatement. It has become the major regret of some who could not make the cut to serve in the PLA. Each year enrollment into the PLA is selected from a big group of volunteers like around a few hundred thousands, and not all pass the selection process.

I personally have encountered more than 10 individuals who wanted to join the PLA but were rejected. Some of them express a major regret for not being able to join the PLA and wish that they could have contributed in some other way.

At first like most foreigners I was baffled, I could not believe my ears as I’m from Singapore where all young men that are proven to be healthy and fit are required to do national service and the more common idea in Singapore is to try and escape it and go into the workforce as fast as you can. To be frank, I never agree to the idea that one should escape national service and come up with all manners of excuses for it as I’m one of those very on the ball types in the army, but I’m still very very surprise when I got to know how different it is in China. You would be too if you have seen a grown man with tears in his eyes because he was rejected by the PLA. And of course, I was doubtful because he had some beer before those tears appeared. Lol.

But seriously, after staying here for abit and having a relative (my wife’s family) who is in the PLA, you start to understand the kind of glory they put into it. It’s like a perosnal honor, a family honor or even a social honor. It’s even comparable to going to an ivy league University kind of honor if you perform well in the PLA.

But, that’s not to say that it’s simply like a degree where you study for it and you graduated with honors. The PLA has been serving the people rather well, especially in times of natural disaster or even law enforcement. Common example are like disaster relief work after the many earthquakes in western China, but an event that happened in my wife hometown like 25 years ago was rather closer to me. An organised crime family setup base in her hometown at that time. Crime was rampant, prositution, loan sharks, drugs, murder, etc, were an everyday event. The local police at that time was weak and from what I understand also corrupted, thus unwilling to flush them out. So when a new mayor with PLA background was posted to her hometown, things started to change. He at first tried to form his own town watch and policing units, but were not very sucessful due to the strongarm methods of the crime family. In fact it became worse when the crime family resisted and tried to assasinate him. Understanding the dire situation (maybe also for his own life), he made some calls to his connections in the CCP and PLA, and within 2 days the PLA send down troops to flush out the crime family and the corrupted police officers. It was like a brand new place overnight.

Well other than from my wife and her family, I heard this from many others living there that it’s true. I stand by the story since my wife’s uncle happens to be one of the PLA soldiers who was send down to flush out the crime family and as a homegrown hero, he got the banners with words like 人民子弟兵典范，人民英雄，sent as gifts by the locals to my mother-in-law house. They are now in his own house after he left the PLA and he choose to retire in the countryside. Even now, when he goes visit my mother-in-law, he is still remembered by the older folks as one of the PLA who rescued the town from unimaginable crime. His son now is also in the PLA and is very proud to be serving even as a small platoon leader.

As far as I know, there are many stories like that about the PLA soldiers, from rescuing a village cow stuck in a mine field near the border, to saving the suicidal from drowning themselves when off duty. Maybe it’s because I look out for such news because I believe in the good of man, but I think the general citizens have a very good impression of most PLA soldiers.

Thus given the very different environment and expectations of the PLA, I think now I understand the honors that comes with joining them. I sometimes do wish that Singaporeans would give the same credits to our SAF, but in the end, respect is earned over time and it would be up to the SAF to prove themselves to Singaporeans.

Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells Full Album

Takes me back…

NearLink

This is the first time I’ve heard of NearLink. Have you guys heard of this?

Transmission Range:

Bluetooth – 10 m
Wi-Fi – 300 m
NearLink – 600 m

Transmission Rate:

Bluetooth – 50 Mbps
Wi-Fi – 500 Mbps
NearLink – 900 Mbps

Latency:

Bluetooth – 15-30 ms
Wi-Fi – 100 ms
NearLink – 20 μs

Microseconds?! Fucking, eh?

Connectable Devices:

Bluetooth – 8
Wi-Fi – 256
NearLink – 4,096

This technology is taking off like a rocket, it appears.

Incredible

What is the best excuse you have given to the police for speeding?

I was headed to the doctors office (running late of course) with my two young children, both of whom had ear infections and were screaming/crying in their car seats. Because they’d been sick I’d gotten about 6 hrs of sleep in the past two days.

I’d rolled down my window before the officer got to the car and I was busy trying to shush the kids while grabbing my license etc. When he got to the window his first question was why I was in such a hurry? I explained to him the info above and the Dr office would charge me extra if I didn’t get there soon and I just couldn’t afford extra on top of the appointment and the meds I knew I was going to need to buy.

The whole time we’re talking the kids are still screaming!!! He walks away to check my info and I lean over the seat to again try to comfort my kids. He comes back and says everything checked out fine and He was just going to give me a warning this time. He then said that he’s a father so completely understands what I’m dealing with; but Please slow down, the roads are icy, he can see that my tires are bald and he’d hate for us to get into an accident. He then gave me a card with the name of a tire shop and said to call them, saying that officer XXXX sent me and they would help me get new tires.

After the appointment I figured, what the heck; it can’t hurt to try the shop. They asked me to come in and quoted me a very reasonable price for 4 new tires, asked if I could put $25 down and then I could pay the rest at $25 a month. I agreed because I really did need new tires.

When the first bill came in the mail it said “Paid in Full”. I thought there was a mistake and called the place; the lady on the phone explained to me that the owner of the shop and the Officer were brothers and they did this for those that they felt needed the help. Best traffic stop I’ve ever had!!!

Man – Eater Of Kumaon 1948

A old vintage movie. Get your mind off stuff.

Bringing a young woman into your life

Lately, I have been generating art for my Patreon, and youtube channels. These have been created by LeonardoAI. And the artwork is truly exceptional.

I tell my readership, over and over, that your actions in this reality, acts as a feedback loop that allows and permits manifestations.

This is the basis of “Affirmation Campaigns”.

For instance, after I got out of prison, I had continued to deal with prison-similar situations up to two years afterwards. It was almost like a contamination that I had to “shake off”.

…

Anyways, I have been working on my videos.

So, I have been creating hundred of these images for the Affirmation Campaign section of my Paetron.

They look like this…

Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 1(2)

Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 0(2)

Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 2(2)

Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 3(2)

Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 0(1)

Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 1(1)

Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 2(1)

Default Imagine a Baroque painting high attention to detail ro 3(1)

Nice huh?

The criteria…

Attractive
Young woman
Italian
Baroque style
In her 20’s
Large mane-like hair
Friendly

And I would put that all in my prompt. Sort of like this…

Now, the point that I want to make is this.

When you concentrate on statements or words, they do manifest in your reality, whether you want them to or not. Sooner or later. In one form or the other.

…

OK. Story time.

So, I am riding the bus home from the office today.

And I feel like someone is watching me. You all know the feeling. It happens from time to time.

It was happening then and there. So I looked up.

Right in front of me, across the isle and facing me directly was a girl.

Body language was facing to me.

There is this Chinese girl. She’s very attractive. She must have been in her early 20’s. She kept on stealing glimpses at me, and was very friendly.

Skin like powered soft butter. Soft gentle curves. Large black hair.

A Chinese version of my artwork.

No, she did not wear a “period-style” fashion dress. She wore contemporaneous clothing. But she had the same build, look, and appearance of these girls that I have been generating.

But something else.

She turned her head to look up front and I had a great view of her profile.

I looked at her nose.

It wasn’t a “Chinese nose”. It was a nose right out of my AI generated art. That was the DEAD GIVEAWAY. You NEVER see these noses in China (unless they are plastic surgery).

My art noses…

Chinese noses are flat and wide. Like this random chick…

That stranger on the bus, that girl, well she had a Baroque Italian nose.

No shit.

Now, I was VERY uncomfortable with a girl in her early 20’s giving me “the look”, and all that. I really didn’t want to engage her. Lordy! My life is already complex. That’s the last thing I want right now.

So I let her get off the bus.

And she kept on looking at me… with this expression. An expression that I haven’t seen in DECADES.

And breathed a sigh of relief. She was intense.

Be very careful on what you do, how you think, and what you say. You might be surprised at what might materialize.

Default Imagine a Baroque art painting with an attractive Youn 2

Default Imagine a Baroque art painting with an attractive Youn 3

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(2)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(7)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(8)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(3)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(2)

Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(3)

Yeah.

The nose was the dead giveaway. But really, that continuous stare was highly unusual and very disturbing.

Today…

What happens to a person who is put in prison when they are 18 and released at 40? How do they reintegrate into society?

I was arrested when I was 17 in 1987. I was released in 2016 when I was 46. I was given no reentry program . The only thing they did was put me in a class to tell me how to operate computers { minus the internet}

So I was told to get a home plan. I did and it was approved and then released me on the day of my release. Family and friends have supported me and helped me reintegrate into society. The are very understanding and supportive. So adjusting to this big change is something ongoing and I have come a long way since getting out. But it has been friends and family and every day people who have helped and not the state of Missouri

Also the people here on Quora have helped even though they may not know it.

Just answering questions has been therapeutic and most people on here who read my content are supportive and give me encouragement. It means a lot to me so thank you everyone

I didn’t interview men

What is the saddest individual story from history?

Willie Mae Bragg:

Was sentenced to death for murdering a pharmacist in 1939.

On the day of his execution, he was strapped in, and as the current went through him – he went unkilled. His final cries were for the strap to be removed.

After surviving, he then filed a lawsuit claiming he was safe from execution as they had already executed him and that he simply hadn’t died.

It was an ominous case. Most of the executions in 1940’s Mississippi (one of the most racist states in the US) were of black people.

His appeal failed and he was executed the following year by a portable Electric Chair that had been put into use:

Also:

They typically don’t serve “the last meal” on the day of the execution as people can rarely eat.

They have also begun putting spending limits on last meal requests, $30-$50, as many death row inmates have ordered King’s feasts, only for them not to eat a single bite, as a final f#%k you to the system.

One more also,

A man used to drive around with a wheelchair and a generator in his pickup truck, as his job was to move the electric chair to its next location.

Could you imagine seeing that on the highway?

What’s the shrewdest, smartest maneuver you’ve ever seen in business?

My college town had a lovely small pizza restaurant named Papa John’s.

My God it was good. Delicious real mozzarella, fantastic toppings, a side of juicy-tangy-sweet pepperoncini peppers, and a special cup of garlic butter dipping sauce for the crust, so you could eat it just like breadsticks. It was heaven.

Everyone loved it. Except Domino’s pizza.

Domino’s, the chief competitor on campus, just couldn’t compete against the flavor and quality of Papa John’s pizzas.

Every weekend, all of the local pizzerias would do a Friday advertising push to win as much of the student weekend pizza dollar as possible. That meant a LOT of coupons, and every student got to pick their favorite weekend study treat.

One Thursday, the Domino’s marketing team was in a nasty funk, and decided to play dirty. In the local university newspaper, they booked this ad for the Friday edition…

“Bring us 30 competitors’ coupons, and get a FREE PIZZA!”

Oooooh…. nasty, eh? Dominoes was going to suck up all of the competitor coupons on the market, and burn them. By their math, they’d get most of the pizza dollar because they’d be the only pizzeria offering a weekend special- all of their competitors would be couponless, and therefore cost more.

And this coup would cost them very little… for “stealing” 30 pizza sales from their competition, it would cost them 1 free pizza, at roughly $4 in ingredients & labor.

Poor Papa John’s was getting no business this weekend…

Except that, one of the students at the school newspaper happened to love Papa John’s, and mentioned the Domino’s ad booking to a friend who worked there.

The team at Papa John’s thought for a minute, and then placed their own weekly ad.

That Friday’s edition saw two massive ads, running side-by-side.

The Domino’s ad…

Bring us 30 competitors’ coupons, and get a FREE PIZZA!

And the Papa John’s ad…

Thank you to all of our wonderful customers!
Here are 30 Papa John’s coupons for you to enjoy.
Because everyone deserves a pizza.

Students flooded the Domino’s, newspaper in hand, demanding their FREE pizzas. Domino’s had to close its doors for the weekend after completely running out of product.

… while losing a pile of money.

… and a fair bit of pride.

( Note: I can’t remember the exact ad copy… but it’s close. I made a best effort )

It’s over

You fucked up… BIG TIME.

What was the most amazing thing that you could only have learned while travelling?

I always thought I wanted to live on a deserted island in the South Pacific or the Caribbean.

My first kick at the cat went OK, I was dropped off on a deserted beach on Andros island in the Bahamas, they left me near a palapa, gave me a cooler full of food and beverage, and a boogie board. They left me at about 10:00 am, and picked me up about 4:00 . I never saw another person and it seemed idyllic.

So a couple of years later when I was in the Cook Islands, I heard about this quasi resort, that dropped you off on this little island. It had very limited fresh water, not enough to swim or bath in. Six little shacks, where 6 couples, or singles could stay. It had a kayak and a few other little extras like an outhouse. It seemed just like Gilligan’s island, and what could possibly go wrong.

They left fruit, vegetables , canned food, soda, charcoal, and that was about it. I brought some beer and vodka.

The first day was awesome, the second day I was a little bit sunburned, and my skin was suffering from not being able to get the salt off well enough, and the ice in my cooler had melted and my beer was warm.

The island was gorgeous and you could swim to a neighboring island. You could see all sorts of fish while snorkeling.

On the third day I was itching like crazy, and I packed up and took the boat back to civilization, which was just a short journey.

I decided that I really didn’t want to be alone on a desert island. If I could have had a fridge, a toilet and a shower, or even a fresh water stream, I would have easily lasted a week, maybe a month.

So what I learned was that being stranded on a deserted island is a lot more like Tom Hanks, than like Swiss family Robinson, and without the things that I was accustomed to, it wasn’t the paradise that I had thought. Or maybe it was a paradise, just not my paradise.

This all happened about 40 years ago, so I doubt anything is the same today.

Why do right-wing Americans don’t trust mainstream narrative about Trump but take every lie of them against China as truth?

They need a scapegoat for all their problems, and China qualifies as scape goat for the Right, especially being (at least officially) Communist and definitely nonwhite. There is definitely more racism among the right wing, or at least they show it more. So, unfortunately, Trump used China as a scapegoat during his term, at times, but he started doing it less and less towards the end. Doing this to China was a mistake, but at least he didn’t get all belligerent about Taiwan like Biden did, and what Biden did was far more dangerous. Unlike Biden, Trump preferred dialogue to war with China, Russia, and even North Korea. He is the dove of peace compared to Herr Biden!

I believe when Trump gets elected (notice that I am saying not “if” but “when”), he will no longer use China as a scapegoat anymore, recognizing its vast economic and military power and usefulness to the US, but he will blame everything on the Neocon Neoliberal US establishment, and he will be right. The establishment fully deserves it, with inequality (and resulting socioeconomic instability) under this establishment increasing exponentially over the last 40 years (and especially the last 20 years or so, post 2007 crisis), and a war on two fronts (Ukraine and the Middle East). This almost makes even Trump look like a Socialist!

As far as not trusting the mainstream narrative about Trump (and most other things), the Trump-supporters are right. What’s more, I believe that at least half of Democrats don’t trust the mainstream narrative anymore!

It’s War: The Real Meat Grinder Starts Now

By Pe.pe Esc.obar

No more shadow play. It’s now in the open. No holds barred

Exhibit 1: Friday, March 22, 2024. It’s War. The Kremlin, via Peskov, finally admits it, on the record.

The money quote:

“Russia cannot allow the existence on its borders of a state that has a documented intention to use any methods to take Crimea away from it, not to mention the territory of new regions.”

Translation: the Hegemon-constructed Kiev mongrel is doomed, one way or another. The Kremlin signal: “We haven’t even started” starts now.

Exhibit 2: Friday afternoon, a few hours after Peskov. Confirmed by a serious European – not Russian – source. The first counter-signal.

Regular troops from France, Germany and Poland have arrived, by rail and air, to Cherkassy, south of Kiev. A substantial force. No numbers leaked. They are being housed in schools. For all practical purposes, this is a NATO force.

That signals, “Let the games begin”. From a Russian point of view, Mr. Khinzal’s business cards are set to be in great demand.

Exhibit 3: Friday evening. Terror attack on Crocus City, a music venue northwest of Moscow. A heavily trained commando shoots people on sight, point blank, in cold blood, then sets a concert hall on fire. The definitive counter-signal: with the battlefield collapsing, all that’s left is terrorism in Moscow.

And just as terror was striking Moscow, the US and the UK, in southwest Asia, was bombing Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, with at least five strikes.

Some nifty coordination. Yemen has just clinched a strategic deal in Oman with Russia-China for no-hassle navigation in the Red Sea, and is among the top candidates for BRICS+ expansion at the summit in Kazan next October.

Not only the Houthis are spectacularly defeating thalassocracy, they have the Russia-China strategic partnership on their side. Assuring China and Russia that their ships can sail through the Bab-al-Mandeb, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with no problems is exchanged with total political support from Beijing and Moscow.

The sponsors remain the same

Deep in the night in Moscow, before dawn on Saturday 23. Virtually no one is sleeping. Rumors dance like dervishes on countless screens. Of course nothing has been confirmed – yet. Only the FSB will have answers. A massive investigation is in progress.

The timing of the Crocus massacre is quite intriguing.

On a Friday during Ramadan. Real Muslims would not even think about perpetrating a mass murder of unarmed civilians under such a holy occasion. Compare it with the ISIS card being frantically branded by the usual suspects.

Let’s go *pop*.

To quote Talking Heads: “This ain’t no party/ this ain’t no disco/ this ain’t no fooling around”.

Oh no; it’s more like an all-American psy op.

ISIS are cartoonish mercenaries/goons. Not real Muslims. And everyone knows who finances and weaponizes them. *wink* *wink*

That leads to the most possible scenario, before the FSB weighs in: ISIS goons imported from the Syria battleground – as it stands, probably Tajiks – trained by CIA and MI6, working on behalf of the Ukrainian SBU. Several witnesses at Crocus referred to “Wahhabis” – as in the commando killers did not look like Slavs.

It was up to Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic to cut to the chase. He directly connected the “warnings” in early March from American and British embassies directed at their citizens not to visit public places in Moscow with CIA/MI6 intel having inside info about possible terrorism, and not disclosing it to Moscow.

The plot thickens when it is established that Crocus is owned by the Agalarovs: an Azeri-Russian billionaire family, very close friends of…

… Donald Trump.

Talk about a Deep State-pinpointed target.

ISIS spin-off or banderistas – the sponsors remain the same.

The clownish secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, was dumb enough to virtually, indirectly confirm they did it, saying on Ukrainian TV, “we will give them [Russians] this kind of fun more often.”

But it was up to Sergei Goncharov, a veteran of the elite Russia Alpha anti-terrorism unit, to get closer to unwrapping the enigma: he told Sputnik the most feasible mastermind is Kyrylo Budanov – the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

The “spy chief” who happens to be the top CIA asset in Kiev.

It’s got to go till the last Ukrainian

The three exhibits above complement what the head of NATO’s military committee, Rob Bauer, previously told a security forum in Kiev: “You need more than just grenades – you need people to replace the dead and wounded. And this means mobilization.”

Translation: NATO spelling out this is a war until the last Ukrainian.

And the “leadership” in Kiev still does not get it. Former Minister of Infrastructure Omelyan: “If we win, we will pay back with Russian oil, gas, diamonds and fur. If we lose, there will be no talk of money – the West will think about how to survive.”

In parallel, puny “garden-and jungle” Borrell admitted that it would be “difficult” for the EU to find an extra 50 billion euros for Kiev if Washington pulls the plug. The cocaine-fueled sweaty sweatshirt leadership actually believes that Washington is not “helping” in the form of loans, but in the form of free gifts. And the same applies for the EU.

The Theater of the Absurd is unmatchable.

The German Liver Sausage Chancellor actually believes that proceeds from stolen Russian assets “do not belong to anyone”, so they can be used to finance extra Kiev weaponizing.

Everyone with a brain knows that using interest from “frozen”, actually stolen Russian assets to weaponize Ukraine is a dead end – unless they steal all of Russia’s assets, roughly $200 billion, mostly parked in Belgium and Switzerland: that would tank the Euro for good, and the whole EU economy for that matter.

Eurocrats better listen to Russian Central Bank major “disrupter” (American terminology) Elvira Nabiullina: The Bank of Russia will take “appropriate measures” if the EU does anything on the “frozen”/stolen Russian assets.

It goes without saying that the three exhibits above completely nullify the “La Cage aux Folles” circus promoted by the puny Petit Roi, now known across his French domains as Macronapoleon.

Virtually the whole planet, including the English-speaking Global North, had already been mocking the “exploits” of his Can Can Moulin Rouge Army.

So French, German and Polish soldiers, as part of NATO, are already in the south of Kiev. The most possible scenario is that they will stay far, far away from the frontlines – although traceable by Mr. Khinzal’s business activities.

Even before this new NATO batch arriving in the south of Kiev, Poland – which happens to serve as prime transit corridor for Kiev’s troops – had confirmed that Western troops are already on the ground.

So this is not about mercenaries anymore. France, by the way, is only 7th in terms of mercenaries on the ground, largely trailing Poland, the US and Georgia, for instance.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has all the precise records.

In a nutshell: now war has morphed from Donetsk, Avdeyevka and Belgorod to Moscow. Further on down the road, it may not just stop in Kiev. It may only stop in Lviv. Mr. 87%, enjoying massive national near-unanimity, now has the mandate to go all the way. Especially after Crocus.

There’s every possibility the terror tactics by Kiev goons will finally drive Russia to return Ukraine to its original 17th century landlocked borders: Black Sea-deprived, and with Poland, Romania, and Hungary reclaiming their former territories.

Remaining Ukrainians will start to ask serious questions about what led them to fight – literally to their death – on behalf of the US Deep State, the military complex and BlackRock.

As it stands, the Highway to Hell meat grinder is bound to reach maximum velocity.

Ten things

Pizza in a Tunnel

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

3 cups buttermilk biscuit mix or Biscuit Baking Mix
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 (3 1/2 ounce) package sliced pepperoni, halved
1 (14 ounce) jar pizza sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Cornmeal

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease and lightly dust* a 10 inch fluted tube pan or an 11 cup ring mold with cornmeal.
In a large mixer bowl, combine biscuit mix, milk, eggs and butter. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined. Beat on high speed for 1 minute, scraping bowl constantly.
With back of spoon, spread 2/3 of the dough on the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan to within 1 1/2 inches of the top; reserve remaining dough.
Layer mushroom, pepperoni, pizza sauce and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese over the dough in pan.
Spread reserved dough over the top of cheese layer.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden.
Let pizza stand for 10 minutes on a warm rack.
Use a knife to loosen sides of pizza, turn out onto ovenproof serving plate.
Top with remaining cheese.
Return pizza to oven for 1 to 2 minutes to melt cheese.
Serve warm.

“Study Reveals How Ancient Humans Escaped Climate Extinction 900,000 Years Ago”

Posted on March 20, 2024 by TTG

Figure 1: (A) 65°N summer solstice insolation, (B)Atmospheric CO2 concentration, Allan Hills vertical error bars indicate 2σ spread with horizontal age uncertainty, (C) Global LR04 benthic stacked δ18O (blue), ODP1123 seawater δ18O (black). The MPT and the “typical 41 ka-world” intervals are highlighted in grey and yellow respectively.

Some 900,000 years ago, humans nearly went extinct. According to the results of a genomics study published last year, modern humanity’s ancestors were reduced to a breeding population of barely 1,300 individuals in a devastating bottleneck that brought us to the very brink of annihilation. Now, a new study has found that a mass migration of humans out of Africa occurred at the same time.

It’s a discovery that confirms the previous dating of the population decline, and suggests that the two are linked to a common denominator; an event known as the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, in which Earth’s climate underwent a period of utter turmoil, wiping out many species. The movement of early humans into and across Europe and Asia from Africa is difficult to reconstruct. The best evidence we have consists of a sparse record of bones and mostly stone artifacts, which can be challenging to date. However, the evidence suggests that it wasn’t one event, but multiple waves of early hominids and human ancestors that packed up their lives and made long journeys into new environments.

Two recent studies have linked human migration to a population bottleneck, based on different types of analysis. A close reading of the human genome found that a population bottleneck caused a loss of genetic diversity some 900,000 years ago. A second study, published a few weeks later, studied early archaeological sites in Eurasia, and dated the bottleneck to 1.1 million years ago.

This discrepancy makes it challenging to identify the climate event that may have caused or at the very least contributed to the temporary drop in numbers, so geologists Giovanni Muttoni of the University of Milan and Dennis Kent of Columbia University embarked on an effort to narrow down the timing of the bottleneck. First, the researchers re-evaluated records of sites of early hominid habitation across Eurasia, and found a cluster of sites reliably dated to 900,000 years ago. In comparison, the dating on older sites used as evidence of a population bottleneck was more ambiguous and therefore disputable.

They compared their findings to marine sediment records, which preserve evidence of changes in the climate in the form of oxygen isotopes. Ratios of oxygen trapped in sediment layers indicate whether the climate was warmer or cooler at the time the minerals were deposited.

The genomic data and the dating of the hominid sites together suggest that the bottleneck and the migration were simultaneous. During the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, global ocean levels dropped, and Africa and Asia dried out, with large patches of aridity. Hominids living in Africa would have faced horrible conditions depriving them of food and water. Fortunately, with the falling sea level, land routes into Eurasia became available and they were able to skedaddle, according to the researchers’ model.

This is not to say, they carefully note, that hominids had not migrated previously. Rather that the population bottleneck in the ancestor of modern Homo sapiens and the migration thereof occurred at the same time as a result of the climate upheaval that was occurring some 900,000 years ago.

“We suggest that the enhanced aridity during marine isotope stage 22 that caused the spread of savanna and arid zones across much of continental Africa pushed early Homo populations in Africa to adapt or migrate to avoid extinction,” they write in their paper. “Rapid migration in response to a severe climate trigger and concomitant means to escape is what can account for the … migration out-of-Africa at 0.9 million years ago and contribute to the modern genomic evidence in modern African populations of the bottleneck.”

The findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

https://www.sciencealert.com/study-reveals-how-ancient-humans-escaped-climate-extinction-900000-years-ago

Comment: I have found this stuff fascinating as far back as when I watched the National Geographic specials with Louis B. Leakey digging for bones in Olduvai Gorge. I started at RPI majoring in geology figuring that would be a good way to get into paleontology. Only later did I transfer to anthropology… and ROTC.

This story is a good example of what effect a changing climate can have on humans even when they occur on a geological time scale. Reducing our breeding population to barely 1,300 individuals and causing our ancestors to un-ass the area for parts unknown are damned drastic effects. In this case, humans certainly had no hand in influencing this particular episode of climate change. It would be interesting to compare and contrast the conditions leading to the Mid-Pleistocene Transition to what we’re seeing/not seeing today.

TTG

https://pastglobalchanges.org/publications/pages-magazines/pages-magazine/11517

They really think we’re dumb don’t they?

main qimg ee5a523a622cf073f8615d93d78597b3

Russia Announces Two New ARMIES; 14 New Divisions, 16 New Brigades

World Hal Turner 21 March 2024

With his re-election accomplished, Russian President Vladimir Putin is now getting serious about the harm being done to Russia by the petulant and crazed collective West. Defense Minister Shoigu has announced the creation of two new ARMIES for Russia, including fourteen (14) New Divisions of 10,000-15,000 troops EACH, and sixteen (16) new divisions of 3,000-5,000 troops EACH.

To put these two new armies in perspective, what Russia is now creating – above and beyond its present armed forces – is larger than the armies of:

Germany, Britain (UK), France, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Finland, Sweden COMBINED.

The big question now is whether or not Russia will resort to Conscription.

Stay tuned . . .

So true

One of the Moscow attackers, has been confirmed to be an ex-Ukrainian soldier who served in 2022

World Hal Turner 23 March 2024

Moscow shooter suspect Rustam Azhiyev large

The investigation into the horrific attack at a Concert Hall in the Moscow, Russia region, has been positively identified as Rustam Azhiyev, a former UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (Image above) who served in 2022, as a shooter.

The man shown atop this story is the captured suspect and Russian law enforcement identified him and pulled up some of his history in the Ukraine Army:

Suspect Rustam Azhiyev Ukraine Army info

In earlier stories about the Moscow Attack, it was reported that a White Renault automobile was caught on a dashcam, with men exiting carrying rifles, outside the concert hall which was attacked (HERE).

It was also reported earlier that the White Renault vehicle was captured and the men inside, who fled to nearby woods, were also captured (HERE).

Those men were identified as having been citizens of Tajikistan, which is shown on the map below:

Hours after the Terrorist attack near Moscow, that White Renault vehicle was captured on a road near Bryansk, Russia, which is shown on the map below:

Moscow suspects Caught Bryansk Lived Tajikistan Map

Why were the suspects traveling toward UKRAINE when they are allegedly from Tajikistan? Why does one of the suspects have ties to the UKRAINE armed forces?

The investigation is rapidly developing with evidence that it was UKRAINE that was deeply involved in this terror attack upon innocent civilians inside Russia.

Pittsburgh Is Being Destroyed. Here’s Why.

Transforming the United States into Haiti.

Lordy! I have family living in Pittsburgh.

Terrorists Wore Body Cams! Video of them Murdering inside Russian Concert Hall

World Hal Turner 23 March 2024

The terrorists who attacked a concert hall inside Russia, apparently wore Body Cams or “Go-Pro-Type” cameras and took video of themselves as they massacred innocent people. I have received one such video.

In the video, one can see an UNARMED co-conspirator, wearing what appears to be rifle magazine clip-carriers (no gun seen on him) waving a shooter INTO a hallway where innocent people were hiding. Image above.

The shooter enters the doorway to that hall and begins firing.

At least six people go down under his automatic weapons fire. Blood spray and splatter, everywhere.

As the person wearing the camera turns, another terrorist attacker is shown kneeling at the throat of another victim, who had already been shot, but was laying, wounded and dying, on the ground. The perpetrator is seen repeatedly slicing the victims throat — at least TEN SLASHES, with blood spewing from the gaping wounds.

Then that perp and others calmly walk away:

Unarmed co conspirator waving shooter into hallway large

This is some of the most evil, vicious, horrifying, crime video I have ever seen. It makes me sick to my stomach. The Barbarity. The inhuman behavior. It is mortifying to me.

I find myself in an ethical and moral quandary over this video. It certainly is “news.” Of that, there is no doubt.

Yet the video is so utterly horrifying, so outside any behavior even remotely “human,” and so hideously violent, that I find myself recoiling at the notion of putting the video out.

I then asked myself if perhaps I should put still images from the video, like the one atop this story, and that begot yet another quandary. Would publishing such still images, cause emotional distress to the families of the victims?

I have decided still images ought not be published except for the non-gruesome images above, either.

Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age. Maybe, though, I’m just pushed too far on this one, and realizing there is nothing good that can come of publishing it.

I want you to know I have the video. I’ve watched it. It is frighteningly gruesome, and shows what can only be described as pure evil.

Biggest red flag

Happening Now: Russian Missiles Cross POLAND Border During Ukraine Attack

World Hal Turner 23 March 2024

As of 11:53 PM eastern US time on Saturday night-into-Sunday, Russia is engaged in a large missile attack against Ukraine. HOWEVER, “at least three” Russian missiles breached POLAND air space over the Village of Horodto, and POLAND has scrambled fighter jets.

The scalable map below shows the village of Horodto, Poland, on the border of Ukraine.

At least 7 Russian Tu-95MS bombers took off from the Olenya air field in Russia to launch long-range missiles at Ukraine.

Bombers also took off from Engels with a total now of 13 in the air.

This airfield is located just 100km from the Norway border in the far north.

MORE:

6- Su-34 bombers are airborne

LARGE EXPLOSIONS IN LVIV. SECOND MISSILE VOLLEY INBOUND.

MISSILES ARE HEADED FOR KIEV!!!!

ALL of Ukraine now in Air Raid Alert:

Missiles Have Overflown Oserdow, Poland which is about 70km south of Horodto, Poland, previously overflown.

— Several Dozen additional Cruise Missiles have entered Ukrainian Airspace via the Chernihiv and Sumy Region.

— Multiple Russian Kh-101/555/55 cruise missiles on direct course to Kyiv from the north.

Massive explosions in Kyiv the city is under intense bombardment right now.

MORE:

At least 19x explosions in Stryi, on the Ukrainian side of the Polish-Ukrainian border:

Jackie Chan wise words

Vintage Shorpy

Men can only take so much.

Then they stop.

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is talking nonsense. Its friends on Earth are worried.

Posted on March 12, 2024 by TTG

“Frankly, I’m very worried,” he says. Ever since mid-November, the Voyager 1 spacecraft has been sending messages back to Earth that don’t make any sense. It’s as if the aging spacecraft has suffered some kind of stroke that’s interfering with its ability to speak. “It basically stopped talking to us in a coherent manner,” says Suzanne Dodd of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who has been the project manager for the Voyager interstellar mission since 2010. “It’s a serious problem.”

Instead of sending messages home in binary code, Voyager 1 is now just sending back alternating 1s and 0s. Dodd’s team has tried the usual tricks to reset things — with no luck. It looks like there’s a problem with the onboard computer that takes data and packages it up to send back home. All of this computer technology is primitive compared to, say, the key fob that unlocks your car, says Dodd. “The button you press to open the door of your car, that has more compute power than the Voyager spacecrafts do,” she says. “It’s remarkable that they keep flying, and that they’ve flown for 46-plus years.”

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, have outlasted many of those who designed and built them. So to try to fix Voyager 1’s current woes, the dozen or so people on Dodd’s team have had to pore over yellowed documents and old mimeographs. “They’re doing a lot of work to try and get into the heads of the original developers and figure out why they designed something the way they did and what we could possibly try that might give us some answers to what’s going wrong with the spacecraft,” says Dodd. She says that they do have a list of possible fixes. As time goes on, they’ll likely start sending commands to Voyager 1 that are more bold and risky. “The things that we will do going forward are probably more challenging in the sense that you can’t tell exactly if it’s going to execute correctly — or if you’re going to maybe do something you didn’t want to do, inadvertently,” says Dodd.

Linda Spilker, who serves as the Voyager mission’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says that when she comes to work she sees “all of these circuit diagrams up on the wall with sticky notes attached. And these people are just having a great time trying to troubleshoot, you know, the 60’s and 70’s technology.” “I’m cautiously optimistic,” she says. “There’s a lot of creativity there.”

Still, this is a painstaking process that could take weeks, or even months. Voyager 1 is so distant, it takes almost a whole day for a signal to travel out there, and then a whole day for its response to return. “We’ll keep trying,” says Dodd, “and it won’t be quick.”

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/06/1236033493/nasas-voyager-1-spacecraft-is-talking-nonsense-its-friends-on-earth-are-worried

Comment: This is one hell of an adventure for NASA coders and engineers. I envy them. Years before the launch of Voyager 1, I was introduced to computers in an after school course in the computer center of Fairfield University. I ended up writing a Star Trek navigation game in Fortran by graphing polynomial functions. I wouldn’t know where to begin to do that now. Many years later I learned how to hack MS DOS to write stupid computer tricks and write simple viruses. That was all to support a cover. I couldn’t do that today, either. Those rudimentary old skills are nothing to sneeze at. Those NASA coders are living the dream… a techno-nerd dream, but a dream nevertheless.

TTG

The logic of anti-China idiots

Smart Boy

Stuffed Pizza

Ingredients

Crust

1 recipe uncooked deep-dish dough crust

Stuffing Mixture

1 bunch spinach, washed, stems removed, and lightly wilted (stir-fried)
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
2 ounces Canadian bacon slices, diced
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup tomato sauce

Alternate Stuffing Mixture

8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 pound hot Italian sausage, browned/crumbled and drained
1/3 cup small pepperoni pieces
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cup sliced green olives
1/2 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Instructions

Stuffing Mixture

Combine spinach, cheese, Canadian bacon, oregano, garlic and mushrooms for stuffing mixture.

Crust

Spread dough in a greased deep-dish pan and up the sides for the bottom crust (approximately 16 ounces of dough for 14 inch deep dish).
Par-bake the crust for four minutes.
Add stuffing mixture to bottom crust in a deep dish pan and cover with top crust (approximately 13 ounces dough).
Seal the two dough edges together with fingers and trim excess.
Slit the top crust to allow steam to vent during baking.
Add tomato sauce topping and bake in a preheated 450 degrees F oven on lower rack or directly on the pizza stone for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Remove from pan and cool 5 minutes on a wire rack before cutting and serving.

Reactance

Have you ever called in sick but you were convinced or threatened by your superiors to come to work? Did it end well for you?

Oooooh yes, and definitely no.

I had done some North American travelling (flights) in late 2019, and soon after arriving home in Canada I fell ill. I was sicker than I’d ever been… but it felt like a bad cold. Very bad. I lay in bed for 4–5 days with fever, aches, congestion, cough – no medicines could ease my agony. I am not a whiner either… quite the opposite. I don’t miss work.

On the Thursday of the week (having missed Monday – Wednesday out sick) I received a call saying that the Boss wanted me in Saturday because we were moving a ton of desks around the office, on his whim. For context, I’m an Office & Facilities Manager, so this did *technically* fall under my purview, though the Boss dreamt this up earlier in the week so I hadn’t been involved.

They threatened my employment if I didn’t show up for this desk move, despite touting a ‘no limits’ policy on vacation and illness. I showed up to the office that Saturday and did my job, sicker than ever. Life went on, my cough lasted 17 weeks (SEVENTEEN WEEKS) even with a steroid inhaler, I lost 18lbs off my already lean but fit frame. Management teased me & laughed about it as I coughed all over the office and just kept saying ‘you’re so sickly’…

Pretty sure I had COVID, and bad, but this was before tests were available.

I quit in January ‘20, just before the world learned of the COVID-19 virus circulating the world. Still can’t reconcile the arrogance and lack of empathy of that management team with the A++ company they purported to be.

Only 6.5 out of 1,000 Men Are Getting Married: Report

Bluto rules in Pago Pago

Different places have different societies, and different cultures. I could probably write a book on this, as there are joys and pains with this kind of experience. But I will specify one such experience… working for “the BOSS” while I was building a hospital in Pago pago, American Samoa.

Honestly, this guy was sort of like a Samoan version of Tony Soprano. He held bi-monthly dinners, and all that, and there was no question that he was the big boss, and everyone else had to follow and obey him to the letter. He was insulting, harsh, brutish and rude. he was a “Bluto” incarnate.

It was socking. But with one pay out every two weeks, it was hard not to take it. So I did. Ouch! It was so painful. I mean, when I was in the Navy, I had a Marine drill instructor, but this guy was on another level. Wholly Shit!

Anyways, do not think that everyone in the world is the same. We tend to mix up biology and genetics with culture and societal norms. It’s a certain American trait, but Brits seem to be prone to it as well.

Be careful out there. You all.

Today…

If you are homeless, why wont you just get a job?

I was employed when I became homeless, working in a WFH situation thanks to covid, one little problem arose though, I was on a month to month lease when the owner decided to list the property for sale, this gave me 6 weeks to look for a new rental.

I quickly realised that the $500 a week rent i was paying for a nice 2 bedroom house with a backyard, was grossly below market value. I applied for over 100 houses between $450–750 per week, and not one of them was successful.

2 weeks till I was to be kicked out, I purchased a van, did a basic fitout in it, sold 75% of my stuff and moved into the van on the last day of my lease. I spent the next month applying for houses, but eventually gave up. I maintained my WFH job, working in the van and moving around every few days.

I eventually left the job as I started finding work around the state. The pay was good, but I stayed in the van for just over 2 years, meeting my best friend Storm in the first 6 months. 2 years later, I had saved up enough and had a regular enough income stream to allow me to buy a small block of land. It doesnt have building permits, but I have parked a tiny house on it, and it suits us perfectly now

Cheese Tortellini Crock Pot Dinner

A creamy, cheesy crock pot dinner recipe featuring cream cheese, cheese tortellini and spinach.

slow cooker tortellini soup 3 768x1152 — slow cooker tortellini soup 3 768×1152

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 large bag cheese tortellini
1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 bunch fresh spinach, stems removed, or 1 bag frozen spinach
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 container vegetable or chicken broth
4 ounces grated mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Place block of cream cheese in the slow cooker.
Pour the bag of tortellini over the cream cheese.
Pour the can of diced tomatoes over all.
Add the spinach to the top.
Sprinkle garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and Italian seasoning over the top.
Pour the chicken broth into the slow cooker.
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top.
Cover the slow cooker, and cook on HIGH for about 2 1/2 hours.
Stir well and serve.

Internal conflicts

Did you ever end up benefiting, in some way, from a crime that you were the victim of?

A few years ago I had a garage full of assorted nonsense, as garages tend to be. Among the nonsense was a television and a microwave oven, both of which were taken when thieves cut the lock on the door. This was late 1990’s, when replacing a 21 inch TV could cost $400, and a microwave about $150.

Fortunately for me, neither appliance was functional. So far the net benefit is zero. But in that area, you couldn’t just drop a broken TV in the garbage can. Electronics of any type were considered “hazardous waste” presumably because of lead in the solder on the circuit boards. Did I mention this was in California? Yeah, they’re all kinda goofy about lead. Anyway, the city’s policy on such items was that if you had “hazardous waste” you had to take it yourself to the hazardous waste dump, and pay a fee to dispose of it. The fee depended on the weight, and this was a 1990’s TV, probably weighing about 50+ lbs (20+ kg).

So, when the thieves broke in, they saved me not only a trip to the dump, but also the fee I would have had to pay.

They did steal some other things, which I wasn’t happy about, but at least they relieved me of the burden of a couple of gigantic paperweights.

What is the best thing that has ever happened to you for being nice?

I have a friend whose husband committed suicide. She lives 350km away from me, so I couldn’t often see her, but she phoned me for an hour or two every morning.

Sometimes she just cried. Sometimes she talked about her life, husband, children, the event, the events leading up to his death.

I didn’t know what to do. I was very busy and I really didn’t have time. But she was my friend, she was in pain, and she needed someone to listen to her.

That’s all I did, nothing great, nothing fantastic. I didn’t try to advise her, certainly didn’t tell her she would get better.

She had an overwhelming feeling of guilt. However, her husband had given no warning that he was about to kill himself, but was on anti-psychotic medicine. So the only thing I ever said, really, was “it’s not your fault. Nothing you could have done would have stopped this” . I said that over and over again.

After many, many months of this, there were fewer phone calls. I called her to see how she was. She wasn’t always ok, and still blamed herself.

Two or three years later, she told me I’d saved her life. I was amazed, I’d done nothing special. How? “You listened”. Apparently she’d been pretty close to suicide herself.

Now she’s OK, happy with her life and her grandchildren. That was the nicest thing that could have happened to me.

The reason I’m posting this is that sometimes all people need is for someone to listen to them, to care. They don’t need advice, and to be told it will get better. That doesn’t help.

Listen, without being judgemental. Our reward is when it helps them.

Election rallies USA 2024

LOL

Hong Kong passed a new security law. What’s the significance?

Nothing really.

If you’re a normal person, who has a job and home… essentially nothing changes. It’s nearly April and I need to pay my salaries tax from my part time day job… I also need to pay my other taxes. This means I will have to endure waiting in a bank queue as there are ATM limits that are lower than my tax bill 🙁 . If you’re a grifter who took CIA money then you’re in trouble.

Joshua Wong literally had $400,000 which he tried to deposit into a HSBC (UK bank) account, he was denied as he refused to divulge the source of the funding. Under UK SOCPA that would have been seized as suspicious.

NSL law? It had pretty much zero effect on normal people in Hong Kong, for regular people nothing has changed even the real name ID phone registration was actually an anti phone scam measure NOT a result of NSL law. What was seen was lots of advertising about it… that’s the extent of it. I’ve never been stopped under NSL law. Nobody I know has been stopped. You go into a pub and likely nobody’s been arrested over it.

I have however been arrested over non appearance in court for a cycling offence. The police officer was WTF this is pointless. This is because my village has postal problems due to very similar addressed. I was fined $200HKD.

OTOH in the UK?

Under UK anti terrorism laws, a LOT of people were stopped under S44 of the anti terrorism laws. It was used for everything. As such you go into a pub and several people have been stopped over it.

UK SOCPA, yet again pub test, lots of people have been subjected to it. There are tons of stories of £2000 to buy a car or just sold a car and it was deemed as suspicious.

Westerners see how their own regimes and corrupt police forces abuse laws and think it must be so much worse in China/Hong Kong!

I mean fuck we don’t even have ANPR in HK. People park everywhere and anywhere and police shrug. Two days ago some fuck parked lengthways across a zebra crossing and the police biker who was at the scene was waddayawant me to do about it?

What is the difference between the machine guns used by gangsters during the 30s and the Tommy Gun used in the war?

Commercial Thompson’s were made to look sexy. They were expensive to make, nicely finished and had flashy accessories like removable stocks, compensators and audacious drum magazines.

main qimg fec34fb011ccd9b65e5350b5c67f1f90 lq

You can see all of the weapon’s unique features here in this picture. Note the vertical fore grip, the finned barrel, Cutt’s Compensator, the slots cut into the receiver so a drum magazine may be inserted and the charging handle on top of the receiver. A lot of precise machining went into these weapons and many skilled men were employed to produce them.

The most unique feature of the Thompson submachine gun was its action. Based on The Blish System, it included a part, known as “The H Piece” which held the bolt closed until the bullet cleared the barrel, then allowed the action to chamber another round. The weapons’s designer, General John T. Thompson, declared the H piece to be integral to the gun’s design and function. It demanded to be machined and inserted at a precise angle and there was no alternative to its use. The H Piece is the brass “H” shaped piece of metal in the picture below.

main qimg 40fe5df475f7f62039f1b0f0b1ad8758 lq

Basically, the commercial Thompson was a complicated gun that required skilled machinists to create and was costly as a result.

The world was heating up though and isolationist America began to gear up for a potential war and they needed guns.

The US Army already knew about the Thompson and employed them in small numbers. But now they needed lots of them as quickly as possible. In order to meet demand, changes were made to the design so contractors could turn them out quickly. The new weapon was designated M1 Thompson in 1940 and was being made by Colt, Auto Ordinance and Savage Arms.

main qimg f6b87dcf359480f97e091cce728bec0c lq

As you can see, the vertical fore grip was replaced by a horizontal one, but the other features are still in place, most notably the charging handle on top of the receive, meaning it still employs the Blish Locking System and the H piece. It did get sling swivels and a phosphate finish, but otherwise it is the same as the commercial model Thompson. It was expensive and time consuming to make.

In 1941, everything changed. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and US troops were headed to the pacific to fight. A simpler, easier to produce submachine gun was needed, so all of the Thompson’s fancy features went to the chopping block.

main qimg 8f30ad8f07b8d5c5128a59303cd0e711 lq

This Thompson, designated the M1A1, is the one most GIs were familiar with. No compensator, a horizontal fore grip, phosphate finish, no slots for a drum magazine and the charging handle was moved to the side of the receiver. It was now a pure blow back submachine gun. The Blish lock and H piece, deemed necessary by the designer, were gone. The weapon was still fairly costly to produce but it could be made more rapidly and was ultra reliable in combat.

What is the saddest thing that happened to you that you never shared with others before?

Well. My father always wanted a son. When my mother got pregnant, he explicitly told her that he is a well reputed man and that he can not have a daughter and if it’s a daughter, it’ll be because of my mother. (Scientifically this makes no sense but in my culture, giving birth to a daughter is a matter of shame.) As fate had it, it was a daughter. Me, my father looked at me and went home. Leaving my mother all alone. Even my grandparents left. My mother alone managed everything and the day she were to discharge, my father called and told her that if she wants to come back home, she should leave me at an orphanage first. And that I was not his daughter. He said he told his friends and family that you had a miscarriage. Well my mother didn’t listen to him and somehow managed to raise me but it is extremely saddening how my father rejected his blood just because it was a girl. And it saddens me how because of me, my mother’s divorce happened. I can never thank my mother enough for choosing me over a comforting life.

Edit: Thank you all for your love and support. My mother has done all sorts of odd jobs to support me. But back in 2013, my mother got diagnosed with cancer. I was in the third year of my university and when I got to know, I was devastated. I didn’t want to lose my mother, who had spent all her life working for my education and well-being. There were days when my mother could either afford my milk or her food and she always got milk and slept hungry herself. And I just didn’t want her to leave this world without seeing me successful. I wanted to take care of her like she took care of me. So I decided I will do anything and get money for her treatment. (It was stage 2) I applied for a lot of loans, aid, even begged on the street but to no avail. With no option left, I contacted my father. He is pretty rich. Went to his office, begged in front of him, cried my heart out and all he said was that he is not my father and my mother has lied to me. I persisted but he called security. That day I felt ashamed of myself for being the blood of such a man. Luckily, my friend in college contacted me and promised to help out. His parents paid all the expenses and my mother recovered only last year. That man is now my husband. Now I have a good job and I save to return my father in law’s money. Even though he says there is no need but my mother never borrowed money to feed me and I want to take care of my mother solely.

Edit 2: This answer is getting long but I just want to add that me and my mother have gone through all sorts of circumstances. And I know people around the globe go through the same. There was a time when I came home and told my mother I want to die. I told her this world is unfair and there is no point in living when I can die. I told her I am no rich girl nor do I have anything to offer to this world, so my life doesn’t really matter; dead or alive. At that point she said you have two options, either you kill yourself and put me in more pain or you outlive your circumstances and prove your worth to your dad and men like him. And well I am glad I lived. My success though has only been possible because of my husband. As my mother says,”He is the reward of our patience and my prayers because the day I married your father, I prayed to God that I accept this man as my fate but if I have a daughter, let her husband be none like her father.”

Thank you for your love and prayers. And if you are going through a tough time, always remember the best thing about time is that it changes. Just be honest to your present and the future will bring reward. Good luck living life!

Why Kids Don’t Go Outside Anymore

What are some unwritten social rules everyone should know?

If someone shows you a photo on their phone, don’t swipe left or right.
If someone tells you, “It’s getting late,” when you’re over at their place, it’s time for you to go.
Walk as if you are “driving” and don’t stand still right at the entrance or exit of a door. Let people pass.
If you invite a friend to a party where they barely know anyone, don’t leave them hanging.
Don’t criticize someone’s smile or laugh.
Don’t stand too close when talking to people or talk “in their face.”
If you have never seen or tried what they like, don’t diss someone’s taste.
Don’t ask why the person isn’t married/doesn’t have children. Never.
When someone starts talking about their problems, don’t start talking about yours.
Don’t ask for somebody else’s opinion and get mad when they tell it to you.
If you start to smell yourself, other people have been smelling you for 3 days.
If someone can’t fix an aspect of their appearance in 5 minutes or less, don’t mention it.
Don’t microwave fish in the break room at work.
Don’t take pictures of kids that aren’t yours.
When you enter an elevator, face the door.
Don’t ever snap your fingers to get a bill from a server at a restaurant.
When your friend’s crush is around, don’t try to be the funniest in the group.
Assume nothing. Believe nobody. Check everything.

Really Dumb Americans

Why did my top performing employee quit after write up?

I quit 8 months after a bad performance review. It was the first of my working career, I was single with no family nearby or other safety net, and I had asked repeatedly for some assistance.

After the review, my boss came to my office and asked me what I was going to do. I said “find another job within the next 6 months”. Shocked her but I outlined explained my rationale. They didn’t understand my job and the amount of work it required. As a trainer, I had excellent evaluations. I never turned down an assignment and traveled throughout 6 LARGE states. And the past was not that great.

I found another job and left after 8 months but was agreed to fulfill 2 or 3 training sessions after the other job started so the company wasn’t left high and dry.

So, I left because I felt my job was threatened and was worried about my financial future, plain and simple.

According to BBC, critics worry that TikTok, owned by ByteDance based in Beijing, could be used by the Chinese government for spying. What do you think of it?

Here’s the thing, and if it were true. What exactly is the PRC government going to do with this data? Go on what are they gonna do, steal your bodily fluids?

The PRC doesn’t even kill dissidents. Ai Weiwei moved away and is still very much alive.

It’s not the PRC who is trying to take away your guns is it?

Flirt Flop

Is it ever possible for someone to feel that they are paid too much?

Gosh, yes. I’m usually able to suppress that feeling, but I’ll tell the story about the time that even I couldn’t.

I was representing a client in an estate dispute against a relative. The defendant was a borderline personality and there were strong reasons to believe the representation would be lengthy, costly, require extensive expert testimony, and be very nasty. Plus the client had limited resources.

We negotiated a fee agreement which gave me a percentage of the ultimate recovery that we both thought was fair.

As a precursor to the lawsuit, I sent a demand letter setting forth the basis of the potential case. Pure formality and I knew it would be a waste of time, but I wanted to be able to show that we had gone through all the motions.

To my utter astonishment, the defendant caved. Completely. Within two weeks, my client had a thorough accounting and a very large transfer of property to her. I had done very little real hourly work.

And according to the fee agreement, I was entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I was very distressed about this aspect and after considerable hand-wringing and thought, and consultation with colleagues, I simply picked up the phone, called my client, told her what had happened, and said, “Here’s how much you supposedly owe me under our agreement. It’s too much. I haven’t been able to figure an analytical way to reach the right number. I’m going to propose $X. That’s a quarter of the fee agreement amount. It’s still probably too much, but I can live with asking for that.”

My client was silent, then chuckled and said, “I accept your proposal. Plus, you’ve given me a lawyer story that no one will believe. Thank you.”

Afternote: that client became a dear friend and referred other business to me. I didn’t know it at the time, but my fee reduction proved to be an excellent marketing move.

What solution could work to stop the South China Sea conflict?

The U.S. must stop all trouble making and war mongering via the NED and CIA immediately and comprehensively. As the nuclear clock is ticking ever closer to mid night!

At some point China will react and that will start an escalation into a 3WW situation that nobody wins no matter how proud the Caucasians are about the U.S. power. It is easy to bribed poor Filipino fishermen to do shit at 10 grand a pop rushing their lives but the end won’t justifies the means at all! Stop before it is too late. Ukraine is a perfect example.

Perhaps the US thought it is now or never but the truth is never is the answer, the U.S. simply has too much to lose!

Double Standards

What’s the most disturbing thing anyone has ever told you casually?

Three years ago I met up with an old girlfriend from college to catch up, have food, talk about the old days and the old gang.

At one point she casually said, “Oh yeah, xxxx is in Sousa-Baranowski”. That’s the max security prison in Massachusetts, for hardcore criminals. I couldn’t believe my ears, “What?” I said, blinking and almost dropping my latte.

This guy had been a leader of “our gang” in college, the one who always had something crazy for us to do. He was the guy who taught me how to hang glide; who first got me high on pot, who got me laid introducing me to all manner of girls. He was the most laid back, casual dude you ever met, tall and gangly and always in a black motorcycle jacket because his only vehicle was that motorcycle.

“What the hell happened?” I asked incredulously.

“He stabbed a woman in the belly in his kitchen 8 times then threw her through a window. He had a standoff with the cops.”

“What… the… fuck…?”

You have to understand. We are all old now. I’m 63. He’s 67, a big time scientist, very wealthy, respected in his field, working for a major, well known pharma company. How would something like this happen? Somehow he had gotten into a fight with his wife over his “counseling” a local (female) drug addict and the wife left in a huff and he had the addict over his house. No one knows what happened next except the results. He’s in big boy prison for 8 years now. He will be old, old when he gets out, broke, divorced, homeless, jobless. He’s lost everything he worked for his entire life and no one knows why.

What are the implications of 5.5g, that China has just rolled out technologically and geopolitically in the next 5 years?

What 5.5G technology does to geopolitics I don’t know.

But after I 5.5G technology is deployed in China, my phone downloads a film really fucking fast~! 🤣

Shhh~ In the blink of an eye, the download is complete.

Using this technology, China’s top doctors can operate on patients 3,000 kilometres away in off-site locations by remotely manipulating a robotic arm, with no lag or delay in the signal.

China Is Doing Something CRAZY at the US Mexico Border!

Have you ever accidentally texted the wrong person? What did you say?

I meant to text my husband that I wanted a pet anaconda for my birthday. I had found a website that sold baby anacondas and you could buy one for $499. If you paid $49, you could get it shipped overnight.

As outrageous as it sounds, I was genuinely interested in owning an anaconda. So I texted him the link to the website while I was at work (during lunch hour) and wrote “Honey I want pet anaconda for birthday.”

My husband is usually the first person in my messages inbox because I rarely text anyone else. However, that day I had texted one of our company’s directors since there was an urgent matter that needed his attention and he hadn’t responded to my email – and so that was the conversation at the top of my inbox.

I blindly sent both texts to the director in quick succession – the text with the anaconda website and the “honey I want pet anaconda” message.

I didn’t get a response – but 5 minutes later he swung by my desk and told me how buying reptiles is a bad idea and when it grows large enough, the anaconda would swallow me.

I looked at him with wide eyes and I was like, “How do YOU know I was considering buying a reptile?”

He showed me his phone and the texts from me…..and in my mind was like “WTF did I just do.”

We laughed about it and it was all cool but it was a little embarrassing.

Note: We ended up not buying the baby anaconda. We decided it was a ridiculous idea. Well, my husband decided that and convinced me. 🙂

What is the most satisfying passive-aggressive thing you have ever done to a really mean or rude person?

I hijacked my roommate’s internet connection.

Back when I was in college there wasn’t really any broadband. We used 56.6k dial up connections to access the internet. Now my roommate Cruchkov would monopolize that damned connection for hours on end. We only had the one phone for four of us and we would pick it up any time of the day or night and hear bleeep blop beeboo beeboo. All the time. It got to the point where we couldn’t even order a pizza. “Hey Dave you want pepperoni?” “Sure Corey” “Okay I’ll ca… bleeep blop beeboo beeboo.” “DAMNIT CHRUCHKOV”. We would bang on his door but he would either not hear us or pretend not to hear us.

So I hatched a plan.

I waited until he left for work one day. Then, armed with some s%^t I bought at Radio Shack back when they sold stuff that wasn’t cell phones, I walked into his room. I unscrewed his phone jack and connected a 5v relay to the line. COM/NO went to the phone, the coil went to the other two (unused) wires. Then I buried the whole thing back in the wall and made it look good as new. I hid a 9v battery inside the kitchen phone and connected it to the ringer switch and my secret wires.

Chruchkov comes home that evening, slams the door. Thirty seconds later it’s bleeep blop beeboo beeboo. “Hey Dave, you want pizza?” “But Chruchkov is on the…” “I got this, man.” I flip my switch, his phone turns off. But only his phone. The sound of him kicking and cursing at his computer remains one of the most passive aggressively satisfying moments of my life.

What are the consequences of being too good at your job? Can you get fired for it?

Yes, I did. I went to work for a company in accounts receivable. In other words followed up with customers who bought the service and products of the business And yes I was better than very good at it. Their books were a remarkable mess. The printout of “delinquent” accounts amounted to several hundred pages. I dived in. After a few months the owners got the opportunity to take over a franchise doing what they did in a different group of counties. They carpe’d the diem. As the franchiser had to take the business back their accounts were in horrible shape. After about two years I got everything lined out, quit sending repairmen to nonpaying customers, got the giving of “product” that should be sold to customers stopped. About three months before I finally had everything straightened out the owner hired someone to ostensibly “assist” me. The very week I finally got the system set up to where anyone should be able to keep it going easily they let me go. The person hired to assist me was being paid 2/3 of what I was or I was making 50% more than her. There were also four different occasions with different companies where upper management refused to promote me because they feared the results of my leaving the department I was in.

The Sopranos – Moltisanti and Filone hijack Comley’s trucks

What is the most outrageous “fee” you’ve ever been charged?

Back during the pandemic, I took my cat, Caesar, to the vet. He was a 15 year old, orange, short haired cat. Because of COVID, the vet’s office had implemented a policy of people not being allowed to go back to the exam rooms with their pet. I wasn’t really comfortable with that but my little guy had a sore front paw so I had to get him seen by the vet. A staff member came out to my car, got Caesar (in his carrier) and took him inside to be examined by the vet while I waited in my car. After a few minutes, the vet called my cell phone and we discussed the problem with Caesar’s front paw. An x-ray was done and it was determined that the problem was with one of his claws. Apparently it was a problem that is fairly common in older cats and easily treatable. Over the phone, the vet and I agreed upon the treatment for the problem. A short time later, the staff member brought Caesar back out to my car and presented me with the bill. As I quickly scanned the bill before giving the staff member my credit card, I saw a $40 charge for a ‘ therapeutic shave’ on the bill. I didn’t understand so I asked about the charge. Found out that while they had Caesar in the exam room, someone shaved his back end for no apparent reason. I said to the staff member “ So you needlessly shaved my cat’s ass and want to charge me $40 for it? I think that you guys should owe him $40 for doing that to him! “

The charge was removed from my bill. Caesar got extra treats and a new toy that day too.

Text to picture

Playing around, this time with a Wes Anderson theme; Life Aqua.

What are the most important things I can teach my child, including both skills and behaviors? How can I ensure this training sticks?

Originally Answered: What are the most important things I can teach my child?

Do you know this guy?

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He is Daniel Radcliffe.

(Photo source: Daniel Radcliffe raps Eminem’s ‘The Real Slim Shady’)

At the age of 11, he was cast as Harry Potter in the first Harry Potter film, and starred in the series for 10 years. At the age of 14, an article in British newspaper ‘The Sun’ listed him as Britain’s third richest teenager behind only Prince Harry Windsor and Charlotte Church, the very popular singer-songwriter TRUST Trivia: Daniel Radcliffe.

He became the youngest non-royal to have his portrait displayed in London’s prestigious National Portrait Gallery at the same age. In 2007, the British press estimated 18-year-old Radcliffe’s total net worth at $35 million, and $80 million at the age of 26. ‘Harry Potter’ Daniel Radcliffe turns 26: 10 unknown facts about the actor

Would you want your kid to become someone popular and successful like him?

Maybe. Yes.

Now read this (paying special attention to bold words):

Daniel Radcliffe: I turned to alcohol to cope with fear of failure and fame. “It is not a real pressure, but it is a pressure of living with the thought, ‘Oh, what if all these people are saying I am not going to have a career? What if they are all going to be right and will be laughing and I will be consigned to a bunch of “Where are they now?” lists?'” Radcliffe added: “I was living in constant fear of who I’d meet, what I might have said to them, what I might have done with them, so I’d stay in my apartment for days and drink alone. I was a recluse at 20. It was pathetic – it wasn’t me. I’m a fun, polite person, and it turned me into a rude bore.”

Source: Daniel Radcliffe: I turned to alcohol to cope with fear of failure and fame

“The bottom line is people don’t like change, especially when it’s connected to endings,” she concludes. “For some people, they have a harder time maintaining a positive self-image when it’s linked to a job that gives them an identity. And so in order to deal with the intensity of that emotional pain, some people self-medicate in order to feel less depressed, less anxious, less hopeless or less unimportant” -Dr. Rubi Ludwig, Psychotherapist.

Source: Daniel Radcliffe Turned to Alcohol to Cope With The Ending of Harry Potter

“It Was Not Making Me as Happy as I Wanted It To”

Source: Daniel Radcliffe Opens Up About Past Alcohol Abuse

Now would you want your kid to abuse himself with alcohol/drugs while he has so much in the world that one could only dream of?

No. Definitely not.

This is just an example of people who are extremely successful, but aren’t happy. They may be child prodigies, but they are so full of fear of failure that after all they have achieved, they are no close to finding happiness. And their lives and money are wasted in running after it.

Raise your kid such that he doesn’t become this example.

1. Take the FEAR OF FAILURE away from him.

The fear, that you are instilling in him unknowingly. By saying this:

Whatever you do, just do your best. Be it studies or games.
It is important to win the Olympiad. It is the stepping stone for your career.
Study with the aim of securing first rank. So we can be proud parents.

Saying this instills the fear of failure. Kid aims for perfection, resulting in a stressed outlook.

This is Fear of Failure.

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Teach your children so fear of failure never creeps in their mind. By telling them this:

Do not focus on excelling at everything. It keeps you in a constant state of stress. Do somethings for pure enjoyment. And in fact, do everything for the fun of it.
What do you think of the Olympiad? I think it is important, but not the most important thing.
What are you studying? Let’s explore how can we apply it practically.

2. Teach him to THINK IN A HEALTHY WAY.

Not anxiously, as you might be doing now.

Mister, the exams are approaching. You better start worrying!
Sharmaji’s son is a top-ranker. He got a great on-campus placement. What will happen of you? Where will you go with these marks?
Amend your behavior. You are a grown-up now.

Saying this leads to anxious thinking. Kid is overwhelmed, loaded with inferiority complex and self-consciousness.

This is Anxious thinking.

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And there is no other way to teach them this, except to teach yourself this.

Do not encourage him to think anxiously. He’ll learn it in no time, and soon will have anxiety attacks, inhibiting performance.
Do not compare him to others thinking it’ll motivate him. Motivate him by positive means, comparative thinking will take a lifetime toll on him.
Do not expect him to behave like a grown-up. A 3-yr old will behave like one, and a teenager like one. Accept them as per their age.

3. Teach him to have a POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE.

Again, do not teach him this.

You are considered doing well only when you get good grades.
Why can’t you be more like your sister? She’s such a good kid and gets a first in everything.
Read faster
Write faster.
Run faster.
Do it faster.

This teaching promotes negative self-image. Synonymous with low self- worth and self-esteem.

This is Negative self-image.

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So, teach yourself this.

Do not pressurize children with too much focus on grades or rewards.
Remember that he can’t be like his sister. Each person is different. Are you doing this so you have to deal with only one personality?
Do not pressurize the kid to be faster in everything he does. Each kid learns at his own pace.

Teaching yourself these things will raise a kid who is free from this negative thought:

What will happen if… I fail…

A Marine’s 2-Word Breakup Text Sends Cheating Ex Into MENTAL BREAKDOWN…And Friends Are Losing It!

Do police officers ever sympathize with someone who took the law into their own hands?

I was dispatched to a call of a burglary in progress at a residence. It was maybe 10:00 PM. When I pull up, I see one guy running from the residence, and at the same time I hear a gunshot from inside the residence. I let the runner go (never saw him again) and went to investigate the gunshot.

I found a door ajar to a side courtyard, and as I approached, one of the burglars was being backed out the door by the man of the house, who was holding an ancient .32 revolver on him (I later examined the gun and estimated the ammunition was older than I was). He later told me he had fired one round (the one I heard) into the corner of a room when he saw the burglar inside his house. As soon as the homeowner saw me, he put the gun down, and stood by while I handcuffed the burglar.

I took a written statement from the homeowner, told him I hoped I was as capable as him when I was his age (I was about 30 at the time—he was around 70), and took the burglar to jail. It did not occur to me to seize the victim’s gun or charge him with discharge of a firearm inside the city limits. No one suggested this was not the proper approach.

What is life’s biggest “trap” people fall into?

My housemate is 26 years old. She’s intelligent and pretty and (generally) fun to be around.

But… she hates her job.

It’s obvious.

Sometimes she’ll just sit at the kitchen table in her pajamas, coffee in hand, looking at the clock.

And she’ll casually say, “I have to leave for work in two minutes.”

Does she actually leave for work two minutes later?

I’ll let you guess the answer to that.

But the thing that blows me away is this:

When I asked her a little while ago if she’s considered changing jobs and doing something that doesn’t make her look unhappy every morning, there was genuine surprise in her voice.

As in, “Of course I’m going to work another 36+ years at a job I despise! That’s totally normal.”

A lot of people think that.

Like my housemate, they “celebrate” the weekend and dread Mondays.

Like my housemate, they might even negotiate more hours at work so they can qualify for more vacation time.

And that’s a huge trap: Thinking you’re doomed to working a job you hate.

Thinking you have to work a 9-to-5.

Thinking you can’t earn money if you’re not actively working.

That’s all nonsense.

If you’re not happy with your work, not only can you change, but you absolutely should.

I’ve been freelancing for years and wouldn’t even consider getting a job where some boss gets to tell me things like:

When to work
Where to work
How many vacation days I can take
How much I can get paid

For example, this month, I’m a bit ahead of schedule on the projects I’m working on so I can take time off if I want to.

Do I have to ask for permission?

Nope.

Do I even have to let anyone know?

Nope.

I’m not saying this to brag, even though it might sound like it.

I’m saying this because if you feel stuck in a job you can’t stand, just know that there’s a way out for you.

Please, don’t stay at a job you despise long-term.

It’s not good for you or for anyone else.

What are the most fascinating “weird but true” historical facts you know about?

You have the doctor who pumped four gallons of hydrogen gas into his anus, to diagnose gastrointestinal problems

[1], and then you have surgical resident, Werner Forssmann, who was eager to push a tube through a vein in his elbow, until it reached his heart. This would become a method of transporting medication to and fro the incision site.

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Werner Forssman was desperate to self-experiment, although faced challenges along the way. One person he had to pass was the surgical nurse, who had access to the theatre and medical equipment.

After much convincing, the nurse gave in to his ludicrous idea. In fact, she volunteered to have the procedure performed on herself! I guess the idea isn’t as crazy as the doctor who transported parasites within himself, only to produce parasite semen for research!

[2]Anyway, despite dismissal from the doctors who believed the surgery would be a death wish, Werner continued on with his plan.

The nurse lay on the surgical table, whilst Werner tightly strapped her legs and arms in. Only, when she wasn’t looking, the doctor applied anesthetic to his own arm, cut his arm open, and pushed the 12-inch catheter (thin tube) into his vein!

Now, all he needed was an X-Ray room. Successfully, Werner x-rayed himself and noticed that the tube had reached his shoulder. He pushed the tube in further until it was 24-inches inside his vein.

Bingo! Werner reached his ventricular cavity.

For his risky actions, Werner was fired. As a result, he took up positions as a military surgeon and Major in World War II. He wasn’t a hero though. Werner was a Nazi, actively joining the party in 1932. He was eventually imprisoned, although did receive a Nobel Prize twenty years later for his medical efforts.

Largest NATO Base in Europe Being RUSHED in Romania

World Hal Turner 18 March 2024

The largest NATO base in Europe is being built in Romania. Construction commenced at the outset of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and is being RUSHED.

The Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase in Romania will turn into a military camp where 10 thousand NATO soldiers can live, this will require an investment of €2.5 billion, reports local publication Pro TV.

The base is located in a mountainous area and should become a center for command and control of troops in South-Eastern Europe.

The zoomable map below shows the location:

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

My former company implemented an 9/80 work schedule with an A/B work pattern. Meaning that those on the A schedule would work a 9 hour work day for 5 days and the B schedule would work 4 days during the same week and then the next week they would swap out. The work force, for the most part, loved it. I personally didn’t like it because I was giving the company an extra hour out of each day without compensation of overtime pay. Others loved having that three day weekend every other week. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.
Anyways, the issue that cropped up immediately was the lake of key personnel on days you needed them the most. “Yeah boss, I’d love to fix or finish or diagnose this problem but without the lead engineer it just can’t be done.” “Hey, this job must be done today or heads are gonna roll.” “Sorry boss but ol’ so and so is one his 9/80 day off so we can’t get it done without him.” “Hey boss? We got a problem. We can’t run this test without Joe Blow because it’s his Friday off.”
These issues popped up every single week. It was eventually dropped.

Is there anytime when karma saved you?

We were in a beautiful relationship for about 3 years. And then suddenly she over texts, broke up with me. No explanation given. Like every other guy, I cried, pleaded for just one reason, and all she said was it’s over, I don’t want to be with you. She has changed her college a month before the break up. And like I suspected she fell out of love with me because there is new guy who approached her. Quite similar to everyone’s love story. Lol

Anyway, I was literally shattered, and broken. I couldn’t believe the girl I thought to be my future left me in such a dire condition.

It’s been three years since she is gone. Yesterday, I got a phone call from her at 2am. Basic points from the calls were:

She was unhappy, crying profusely over the phone. She said she don’t have anyone to trust and talk to, except me. And yes, I talked to her because pretty much I loved her too much.
She said the guy cheated her, and when asked him for a breakup, he said he will going to kill her, he abused and hit her off. And she thought everybody will leave silently like me.
I asked her to do a police complain, she said, she doesn’t want her parents to know, she is stucked.
After few minutes on call, she was laughing, talking to me as if we were never separated, I was wondering how easy the things are for girls.
Then she told me even before her father and brother, I am the person she trust and respect the most. I was flattered but I knew, it’s no more important.
I was again at ground zero, I felt happy talking to her, but the wounds were yet fresh.
I tried not to make her feel bad and bid her bye.

Today I Changed my phone number, and email id!

I do love her a lot, still? Yes. But I cannot give her the power to destroy me again.

The Sopranos – Billy Leotardo

When did you realize that your childhood was not normal?

I was bullied pretty bad as a kid. The ironic thing is, I grew up in the kind of school district where the things that happened to me, people believed didn’t happen there at all. But teachers were trying to encourage me that everyone gets teased & everyone has problems & that my situation is not unique. It’s amazing in this time in 2024, everyone is always telling me what I have to do to cater to people’s fragile emotions. But in 2002, it was all about how I needed to not react in anger when people tortured me in school; how I could best accommodate & live with people torturing me. The burden was never on the bullies to change.

So in 2002, I was leaving for a Boy Scout campout. My first troop hated me. (I later on joined another Boy Scout Troop that I stayed with for 20 years. But the first one treated me like crap.) These kids told me I was not allowed to talk because I’m annoying. Naturally this made me talk more. I was not anticipating this kid to pull out his pocket knife, open it & say, “If you don’t shut-up, I’m going to stab you.” I then stood up & walked away.

The reality was, I was not that afraid. I was 11 years old & had my life or safety threatened so many times up to this point, it just felt kind of natural that eventually I’d be held at knife point. It was another scout that reported him. The kid got his knife confiscated (worst punishment anyone has ever received for an action against me) & he rode off on his bike crying.

I came home & told my parents the story because I thought it was funny. Then I saw the shock in their eyes. They said we could potentially press charges. I had no idea you could get sued or arrested over a death threat because I was so used to getting them. This was the proof I needed to know my teachers were wrong; that the things I go through are not normal.

Chilighetti

Quick, easy and delicious! Chilighetti is a great way to feed a hungry family.

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 (46 ounce) can tomato juice
1 cup water
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 level teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti, broken into 2 inch pieces*
2 (16 ounce) can kidney or pinto beans, rinsed and drained
Sour cream (optional)
Shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)

Instructions

In a Dutch oven, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until beef is no longer pink and onion is tender, crumbling the beef; drain.
Stir in tomato juice, water, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings; bring to a boil. Add spaghetti. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, for 10 to 13 minutes or until pasta is tender.
Stir in beans; heat through.
Top servings with sour cream and Cheddar cheese, if desired.

Notes

* Spaghetti may be left unbroken if desired.

Have you, while repairing a computer, ever found anything that made your jaw drop?

While this dis not happen to me, it happenesn to a neighbor friend who repaired computers…

One of our other neighbors approached him to take a look at problem they (a couple) were having with their computer. The problem is irrelevant here.

So my friend went about his diagnostics to figure out how to address the issue. As any good computer tech does, once the machine was up an running again, he went about doing some basic maintenance such as cleaning up temp files and so on.

In doing so he stumble upon a huge set of pictures and videos… yes, that. Not illegal ones, but actual professional ones used in well known sites.

As it turned out, we learned that our low key neighbor was a well known porn star making videos at home, which now explained all the odd traffic we always noticed at their house. This porn was bringing them probably close $500k/yr or more. They did end up moving later on to a higher end neighborhood not to far. Shortly after moving but still owned the property, a well known on-line news magazine (you’ve all read something from them) came by looking for them, knocking on doors to see if any of us knew more about them, and if we knew where they moved to.

BTW – part of the story that the on-line magazine (you’ve all read something from them) was chasing was that her day job was unwrapping kids toys from well known entertainment company. So she was also a top rated poster/producer in that segment in YouTube for some time. We learned a lot that day… those pretty hands of hers served multiple purposes.🙂

So, the people who bought their house now have a bit of a topic and history to share about their house, because of course, we neighbors shared the history about it 😉.

It’s funny thinking back to the many casual neighbor conversations we had with that couple, and little did we know what was behind it all. She is very cute, it all made sense.

Today she is still out there, bigger than before. If anyone reading this watches porn, or watched children’s toy unwrapping, you’ve probably seen her…

The Rise of Chinese Pick Me Girls

Pizza!

In 2001, Pizza Hut delivered a pizza to the International Space Station. The pizza was a 6″ pizza and was delivered to the ISS aboard a Russian Progress vehicle. They paid $1 million to transport the same.

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Pizza Hut once made delivery to International Space Station

Looks like pizza lovers know no boundaries 😀

Yui and her side boobs

LOL

WTF?

If one searches for 241543903 in Google images, one can find a lot of pictures of people putting their heads in refrigerators. I tried it ;p

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https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/reichwonders.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/241543903-the-story-behind-the-craze/amp/

Does a human being know they’re dead once they die?

I had a traumatic brain injury, was on life support, and was in a coma for 7 days.

During this time I found myself looking at the doctors working on me, then I walked up a small ramp and met my brother who passed away unexpectedly.

My brother looked like he did when he was in High School, I wanted to stay with him but he said that I couldn’t come in, and it wasn’t my time, that I needed to spend more years with my wife and children.

I was heartbroken and when I came out of my coma, I remembered everything so vividly.

The doctors said they lost me a couple of times but were able to revive me, and they were so surprised because I shouldn’t have survived my accident.

This is the truth, I never would have believed my story if I were somebody else, but this happened, and for the fact that the doctors said they couldn’t control the bleeding and that I was supposed to die, I wouldn’t have believed myself.

Now having my motor skills back, but still working on my speech, I’m able to go back to work after only 3 months, this is a true miracle. And never take life for granted, there are no promises for a tomorrow.

Living a traditional life is the best thing I ever did | But is it the best for you?

This chick in a small town in the Philippines talk about her town. A nice escape.

Do you think the faster accelerated vetting of Hong Kong’s Article 23 bill is to catch foreign countries off guard and ward off possible sanctions or criticism?

Nope. You see no matter what China or Chinese do we’ll be criticised for it. A few years back I posted some screen caps of Western media:

China pollutes – China bad!
China cuts pollution – China bad!

So what’s been happening in Hong Kong and Legco?

This happened:

https://www.elections.gov.hk/legco2021/eng/rs_gc.html

The December 2021 LegCo elections. Go look at it. Pan Dems and other yellow groups stood for election. They didn’t get very many votes.

If you’ve been keeping an eye on what’s been happening in LegCo for the past 26 years it’s pretty obvious. The Pan Dems have never had a majority there, what they have done however is simply fillibuster and delay and oppose EVERYTHING that has been tabled at LegCo since forever. This is Hong Kong’s version of Hansard. An official record of everything said at LegCo at debates and motions/votes.

https://app.legco.gov.hk/HansardDB/english/Search.aspx

The we care about the people Yellows blocked and delayed EVERYTHING.

Some biggies:

They opposed the minimum wage.

They opposed maternity leave.

They opposed those not because they though they were a bad idea but purely on ideological grounds.

Since 2022 when the new bunch of LegCo people took their seats? Without the permanent blockage of the yellows who as above block things on ideological grounds things actually get through LegCo rather than spending months and years being blocked by them.

This is just another example.

Want another?

Foreign doctors working in Hong Kong.

https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202211/16/P2022111600529.htm

That had been opposed by the yellows since 1997. Yet changes were made in 6 months after December 2021.

I’m rooting for you!

What are some facts about human behaviour?

Having orgasms lowers risks for breast cancer, heart disease, and depression for women
Intelligent people are more forgetful than those with average intelligence, which is correct.
Getting paid to perform something you enjoy may make you less creative.
The thing that people remember the most about you is your charisma, Here you can learn the secrets to Charisma and Confidence.
People frequently experience déjà vu after recalling a conversation or dream.

If you died tomorrow, what would you want your family to know about you?

I have a Premium Netflix account that I don’t pay for so you guys can use my laptop to watch movies and series.
In my hostel room in college you will find a photo frame kept on the top left shelf above the study table which has a photo of Me with a Girl.If possible return it to her and tell her it’s called “Our Dastoor” or Destiny.
My phone’s pin is 1632 because that was the time(16:32) while i was setting the new pin .
In my phone there are two calculator apps. One pre-installed and the other downloaded from play store. When you will enter 1632 and press ‘’=“ in the downloaded one it will open a secret pdf which contains my Bucket List, delete that, it won’t be necessary anymore.
Can you ask the college authorities if they can still provide me the degree posthumously cause papa is very proud of my IIT achievement.
Tell my friends sorry that I promised i would certainly try beer with them the next time we go on a trip.
Donate/throw away my possessions except for the white letter with a red tape which is kept in my laptop bag. Kindly burn it away without opening it. It’s rude to read someone’s love letters.

Should Marines take orders from an army captain in the battlefield if their Marine captain or higher ranked official is dead or incapable?

Different services, but the story is helpful to understand what can happen in the real world battlefield

The 82nd Airborne jumped into Grenada at the international airport at night. Some soldiers ended up in extremely tall grass to the east of the runway and were separated from the main force but could hear the fire fight to the north and west of their positions but could not see due to the tall, thick grass

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One by one, they started to form up. At some point, they added a USAF fighter pilot Captain who was aligned as an Air Liaison Officer who specialized in controlling close air support, small unit infantry.

After the small group numbered squad strength, they stopped briefly while headed towards the sounds of the battle. The soldiers looked at the USAF Captain, the only officer present and one spoke up and asked “What do we do now sir?”. Despite being a fighter pilot by trade, he suddenly found himself in command of a parachute infantry squad.

So, yeah, in a situation where they are cutoff from their leadership and unit, Marines and any member of the Armed Forces should obey the lawful orders of senior NCOs and officers regardless of service.

How China Reinvented The Space Station!

Comic Trial Three

I have been playing around with making short comic videos.

I use AI to generate a script, then use AI to generate pictures. Finally I use AI to generate small segments and then, once completed, I compile them together in a video editing software. I hope you like them. I’m still learning.

Check this out. All 10 seconds or so of it.

Today…

Love bonding

Why does diversity never include Asians?

Lots of answers, very few Asians. As usual.

The reality is that white people think we don’t need help because we happen to be richer (in this particular moment) on the books and better at getting into universities (in this particular moment). They don’t realize that this is a very temporary effect due to strategic immigration policy specifically designed to brain drain and create dissidents to attack Asian countries (especially China). Sadly, they think they can speak for us. And they almost always get away with it.

What we need is political power, soft power, and the breaking of the bamboo ceiling. We just can’t create consequences when people do horrendously racist/discriminatory things against us, unlike most other groups (natives have it worse). We are more of a function of foreign policy than the other groups, and yet we have minimal say in that as well.

None of this is convenient to the purpose of “diversity” in US politics, which is to prove the moral character of the leadership and thus their “validity.” It tends to be a farce anyways. Minorities who chase this “diversity” are really just fighting over table scraps. The majority leadership will never allow it to go against their interests in the first place.

If you think minorities have it good, imagine losing control of your narrative. That’s the baseline. You don’t get to correct people when they BS about you, because you don’t have power. From there stems much of the tyranny and real losses in life.

Lisa’s Crispy Chops

Ingredients

6 pork chops
3 eggs, beaten slightly
2 cups crushed soda crackers
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 1/2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Instructions

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
Dip pork chops into egg, then roll in dry mixture.
Fry over medium heat in a small amount of oil until dark, crispy brown.

This is evil

When you went to the hospital, did the staff not take you seriously and you ended up deathly sick as a result?

I had a cardiologist tell me. repeatedly, that I had panic attacks. He said I didn’t have angina. He sent me for a stress test, which I could not do from “imaginary” chest pain. I insisted on a angiogram. He mocked me and scoffed. I was desperate at this point and kept insisting. He angrily ordered one and told me it was a waste of time and what I really needed was a psychiatrist.

I showed up for my 7 AM Friday appointment at Broward General. I don’t know what he had written or told them, but I sat there for the entire day. Finally, about 5 PM, I went in. (I actually have no memory of anything after flicking a cigarette away at 7, when I arrived.) I woke up Monday in terrible pain. I had no idea what had happened. My wife told me that after just a few minutes, the doctor had come out and said they could not complete the angiogram because of severely clogged arteries, (including the one that causes the “widowmaker”. They put me in cardiac ICU and kept me heavily sedated until Monday, when they could operate. I had a triple bypass. The cardiologist told me I was very lucky to be alive.

Oh, and that cigarette I flicked away was my last one. I can take a hint. (That was Jan 2011.)

Ugh!!!!!!

Men need “nothing time”.

Is China’s current economic situation very good?

It is going through a slow-down caused by the trade war through the US, and it is also going through economic and social transformation, caused by the widespread adoption of AI and automation technologies.

For this reason, it is really hard to say what is caused by an economic slowdown, and how growth is being affected by economic and social transformation.

We should have a better picture in the next few years of how it is performing. The big question is what will happen to the people whose jobs have been replaced by automation and AI.

For this reason, I expect the Chinese government to test something like Universal Basic Income (UBI), and which has been supported by US Presidential candidate Andrew Yang, in some of the inland regions of China to see how it works. As always in China, if it is successful, it will be promoted on a larger scale in other regions of China.

I expect China to leap far ahead of the US in AI and automation technology, and in healthcare, and also in the adoption of UBI.

Tipping in the USA

What foods are man-made?

Year: 1905

Location: San Francisco

It was winter. Frank Epperson was thirsty.

He decided to make himself a drink. He took a flavored sugar mix, put it in a cup, stirred it with a brown stirring stick.

After playing outside, he forgot he’d left his drink on the front lawn.

He then went inside and went to bed. When he came back out the following morning, he saw his cup sitting there with frozen liquid.

Picking it up, he pulled the stick out, the frozen sugar water was attached to it. In true kid fashion, without worrying if it was dirty, Frank ate the frozen liquid—and loved it.

He realized he was on to something.

And so he started putting more cups out, with the wooden sticks in them and began selling what he called the Epsicle. His entrepreneurial take on the lemonade stand.

Sales started in his neighborhood and then expanded outward.

Eventually, he renamed the product to Popsicle.

And thus, a new popular trend was born.

An accidental invention.

Unconscious

What’s the best example of leadership you have seen in real life?

About two decades ago, a woman I know lost her father.

A day or two later, she found out her husband was sentenced to prison.

A couple of days later, her daughter-in-law decided to get a divorce.

Those few days COMPLETELY turned this woman’s life around.

The next day, a Monday, she went to work as normal, didn’t tell her colleagues a thing, put on a brave face.

When she came home, her husband wasn’t around as he was in prison.

She went about her usual business as if nothing had happened – cooking food and stuff.

She had a chat with her kids, including the eldest going through his divorce, told them all would be fine, lifted their spirits.

The following day, she went back to work.

She opened up about her experience to me and someone else a few weeks ago – I mean, everyone in my social circle knew about the events – but she had never discussed how she experienced it – how she coped, her motivation, which was to protect her kids.

I only then really realised why her kids, all of whom I have known since I was a child, have done so incredibly well – they had grown up with this woman as their leader.

No complaints, no self-pity, selfless. Being the example she wanted her kids to be.

This is the best example I have seen of leadership.

And, frankly, the type only a woman is capable of.

Patara’s Response to State of Union Address

That was not a state of the union address. It was a declaration of war on the American people.

What is something in history that you strongly feel was lied about or exaggerated?

The French aristocracy pre-Revolution weren’t the careless, luxurious bastards lording over everyone cruelly as they are made out to be. This is demonstrated most perfectly by the fact that many of the most prominent revolutionaries were, themselves, noblemen.

In the same vein, Louis XVI wasn’t overthrown because he was a tyrant, he was overthrown because he was NOT a tyrant. If anything him being friendly, indecisive and soft-willed moreso than his war-minded predecessors Louis XV and Louis XIV, made him into a target. The Kings before him stayed reasonably popular. By going to war a lot and spending obscene amounts of money that would ultimately lead to the Kingdom’s downfall, these rulers were generally rather respected by much of the population. Much like with the last Tsar of Russia, the King who ended up losing his head to the guillotine was a pretty chill, open-minded fellow open to reforms.

There’s this stereotype of these lavishly spoiled big spenders in powdered wigs, Marie-Antoinette telling the hungry should just “go eat cake”, completely removed from reality… and truthfully, this is bullshit. A ton of noblemen were social reformers, generous to the poor, conscientious and cared deeply for the common man. The revolutionaries who took over, quite a few of them were blue-blooded themselves. And were far worse than the elites they ended up killing.

Captain Kirk Meets Gary Seven

Do you know anyone who is low key filthy rich?

Oh, definitely. I think my old manager, David Filo fits that to a tee. He often sat around barefoot while coding; and when he was wearing shoes, they were ten-year-old sneakers, starting to show holes in them.

He drove an old Datsun for the longest time, full of random crap. Old software manuals, books, pizza boxes. When a bomb scare was called in at work, one day, the bomb squad searched the campus; they eventually called a mostly-all-clear; they’d only found one suspicious object, and cordoned it off. It was my boss’s car, dilapidated and so full of junk as to be suspiciously possible as to be harboring a bomb. (It wasn’t; as the founder of the company, he would never have done anything to harm it like that). (I think Rolling Stone gave a very apt description of his car, many years ago: “a battered Datsun filled from top to bottom with junk, including enough lumber to build several sets of bookshelves. (“If we were living in the 16th century, David would be a monk,” says Yang of his partner’s asceticism.) He bought the car while in high school in Lake Charles, LA. As a student at Tulane University, he totaled it, bought it back from the insurance company for $300 and then had it rebuilt at a local prison, where the inmates were studying auto repair.” — from Yahoo!)

I’ve written elsewhere about his reaction to hearing about a really good lease deal a fellow co-worker had gotten on an electric vehicle: Matthew Petach’s answer to How do billionaires see $100K or $1M? Do they still consider it a lot of money? That story is the epitome of how he approached the world; as laid back and low key as you could imagine.

And yet, he was worth about $5 billion at the time. Depending on the market shifts, he might gain or lose half a billion dollars from one day to the next. It made no difference to him; he was the same focused engineer, working hard to make sure everything was running smoothly.

He did eventually get a new car, but only after the board of directors insisted, because the insurance company would no longer provide insurance for them until he drove something considered less risky.

As a multi-billionaire, he definitely qualifies as filthy rich; and yet I’ve never seen him act that way, not even once. A truly class act, all around.

1 am at Tokyo’s Super Mysterious Adult zone

It Started: America on BILL STRIKE | 75M Stop Paying

What was the date of the end of the Western Roman Empire? Who officially abolished it?

There are three possible interpretations of the “end” of the Roman Empire in the West, and all are equally correct, depending on one’s point of view.

The most common one you read is that it ended on 4 September AD 476, when the German magister militum Odoacer overthrew Romulus Augustus, who was the Emperor ruling in Ravenna (the Western capital of the time, not Rome), and took control himself. He sent a letter back to Emperor Zeno in Constantinople, stating that the Empire needed only one Emperor, and sent back the western imperial regalia. Zeno accepted this (although he continued to recognize another man as Emperor; read on) and granted him patrician rank. Odoacer declared himself “King of Italy” and ruled for the next 17 years.

Another interpretation is based on the historical fact that Romulus Augustus was both a usurper and a puppet emperor set up by his father, the barbarian general Orestes, in 475, and was never recognized by Zeno as the legitimate Emperor. The actual Emperor, Julius Nepos, fled from Ravenna and set up court in Dalmatia, where he reigned, still recognized by Zeno, until 9 May 480, when he was assassinated by political enemies. Before this, Odoacer actually struck coins in Roman mints recognizing him as Emperor, accepting him as titular Emperor in the West as long as Nepos didn’t attempt to actually retake Italy. Odoacer occupied Dalmatia himself about a year later.

A third possibility lies in the fact that even after 9 May 480, there was a part of the old Western Empire that still gave allegiance directly to the Emperor. This was a substantial part of northern Gaul (France) under the control of a Roman general named Syagrius. Historians call it the “Kingdom of Soissons,” after the city that Syagrius governed from. He controlled this land from 464 to 486:

Syagrius’ problem was that he had an ally in a Frankish king, Childeric, who supported him in conflicts and had no desire to annex the area. But he died in 481 and was succeeded by his ambitious son Chlodovech, who is known to history as Clovis. Sometime in 486, we are not sure of the date, Chlodovech attacked Syagrius and defeated him in a battle near Soissons. He annexed the region to the growing Frankish Kingdom. And with that ended the final vestige of the Roman Empire in the West.

Stressful Travel To Mainland China

What is the most improbable thing people have ever seen?

I walked into a convenience store in Venice, CA and ran into a cute girl with an English accent. She says to me, “Excuse me, but were you in Vegas last weekend?”

I thought for a second and realized I had gone to a friend’s bachelor party the previous weekend. “Yes,” I said, “do I know you?”

She says, “I have a photo of us.”

She then pulls her digital camera out of her bag and proceeds to show me several pictures of her and me dancing quite inappropriately at the club in Hard Rock Hotel.

I ask her if she lives in Vegas or Los Angeles. She lives in England and is just visiting the states on holiday. Somehow, I managed to dance with this girl all night in Vegas and then run into her 300 miles away in Venice five days later.

10 Harshest Truths About Women That Men Learn Too Late

Why is Australia trying so hard to be anti-China in order to please USA at a time when USA is heading toward isolationism?

Just reading through the other answers, there is a LOT of anti-China sentiment and justified by the “Chinese have so many spies here blah blah blah Influence the Government blah blah blah etc etc” Well it’s the same here in New Zealand and so far there hasn’t been one shred of evidence to back up these claims of spying and espionage and influence. This includes the Huawei 5G backdoor thing. No evidence at all.

As an example here. A well known University Professor who wrote a book about the above subject has claimed to have had her house broken into a number of times (by Chinese spies), her car tampered with (by Chinese spies) to try to kill her. The media is outraged and other University Professors are signing protests to China letters to our Government, but it’s all fake and made up. She is either delusional or trying to sell more books. The police have investigated and come up with no evidence at all. But does that matter? Not one bit. Are the Police going to out her? Of course not, that’s not PC to shame a mad woman. The public is still rabidly anti China because the fake story that paints a villain is way more appealing than actual facts. And yes that’s my fault too, because what makes news is clicks and I click on Trump stories and help to make his bullshit get to the top of the front page.

So in answer to your question, in some ways we are trying to please USA – per the 5 eyes thing and US paranoid spy agencies sending the info/alarmism/ anti China rhetoric our way. In some ways we are just jumping on the same nationalist bandwagon that most developed western democracies seem to be jumping on. In other ways we see our house prices going up and like to blame the Chinese rather than our own shortsightedness in failing to build enough homes the last couple of decades. Finally, same as Australia, our mad political system gives a big voice to a small and xenophobic party.

Cats can take it all away

How does the US military currently compare against the Chinese military?

I think system to system comparisons are meaningless when comparing the PRC’s military to the US. F-22 vs J-20 type comparisons make no sense when those fighters have very specific roles to play in the very different air combat philosophies of the USAF and PLAAF. If I was to hazard a guess I would say the F-22 would be fulfilling it’s designed role as an air superiority fighter while the J-20 would be deployed to use it’s stealth to destroy US surveillance, EW and AWACs platforms in contested airspace, a much more niche role.

Both of these platforms would be considered great if they meet the mission they were designed for rather than who wins some hypothetical air to air engagement.

So this answer is going to avoid most of these platform comparisons and try to take a higher level look at how the military postures of both countries compare within the context of technology, doctrines, military industries and objectives.

Joint Operations

The US excels in these. Recall that back in WW2, the French had better tanks and aircraft than the Germans but still lost their short war with Germany because their officer corp just didn’t know how to put them all together to conduct effective military operations.

The US has a effective Joint Chiefs of Staff committee to ensure the armed elements of the US military play nice with each other and can execute integrated battle plans effectively.

The Chinese are new to this. They realized how far ahead the US was in this field when they witnesses the US military’s capabilities in 1991 in the first Gulf war as well as the frustration of the 1996 US carrier pass.

At the moment, one thing the Chinese military is planning for is that rather than try to catch up to the US in terms of integrated systems and operations which would take a loooong time to do (they also don’t have the rich combat history and experience of the US military), what they can do is engage in something called ‘System Destruction’.

That is, the Chinese military should focus on degrading and pulling apart the overall US military system.

So if the US military has a Recon Strike Complex, the Chinese focus on taking away their recon ability. This has been demonstrated by their endeavors to develop ASAT capabilities and soft kill capabilities with lasers and EW. Alongside developing small satellites that can be launched into space and maneuvered close to American satellites to destroy them.

Similarly, the US is built heavily around the idea of Airpower dominance over it’s foes and the Chinese Strategic Support Force (the ex-Rocket Force) is specifically designed to nullify this advantage by training and equipping to use ballistic missiles to take out air bases from which the bulk of USAF activity will be based.

However, the conclusion here is that the US is still pretty ahead in terms of Joint Operations and while the PRC military is building up the capability to disrupt them, in order to take advantage of these disruptions, they need to up the scale and pace of their own Joint Operations capability.

The Ballistic Missile threat

The PRC ballistic missile force’s primary goal is to make US bases unusable. The short range missiles are aimed at the US bases in Okinawa while the more medium range missiles are designed to disrupt operations from bases in Japan.

And the DF-26 is designed to make even operations from bases like Guam risky if not maybe as disrupted as the other bases.

The PRC ballistic missile threat is in part inspired by the US military’s failure to effectively hunt and destroy SCUDs in Iraq during the first Gulf War. Which leads the PRC to believe that if they have mobile, solid fueled missile systems, they would not be as prone to destruction from US military forces and pose a considerable threat for the duration of any war with the US. These kinds of missiles are hard to hunt, can quickly break from cover, set up and fire before the enemy can fire back at them.

With a mobile missile system like the SCUD, you have a 15 minute window to detect and destroy it once it breaks from cover. This is currently not within the capability of the US military.

The Drone Threat

The Chinese don’t have as much loitering munition drones as the US so they definitely do lag here. They have gotten the Israeli Harpy drone, which costs less than half a million bucks but has a longer range than the F-35. These drones can be sent out by the Chinese to search for threats, locate and scan airfields in prep work for artillery and missile bombardment. IF they can make it into a defended air space.

This is completely out of date. -MM

Space

The ability of space based platforms to provide you imaging (visual or infrared) across the planet + put SAR radars on small satellites means that your ability to locate and track objects from space for a military purpose is growing rapidly. This is the kind of ability the Chinese are building up in space.

Now you still cant track aircraft but for fixed targets or large naval targets like a carrier, in conjunction with autonomous terrestrial systems you have a much better capability to locate and target naval assets. So you could use space based assets to locate naval surface targets and use them to maneuver autonomous systems like the Israeli Harop drone munition into the area where a carrier might be. And then the Harop’s own sensors take over and actively hunt in the area. (Again, assuming it can make it through contested space).

In the near future, we might have 10–15,000 satellites doing this in space and you could of course blow the whole orbit up and deny this capability to both the US and China but short of that, what the two countries are positioning themselves for is not just having these assets in space but being able to replace them once an adversary has destroyed them.

The problem with the US side is that they have a good ability to replace military satellites but in space, both civil and military capabilities operate in conjunction. So if the Chinese switch from targeting military to civil satellites, the US doesn’t have rapid replacement in place for them. And these are satellites that operate critical infrastructure like bank transactions etc.

At the moment the Chinese have quantity while the US has quality when it comes to space based assets but the US has the added advantage of commercial space launch capability as well with technologies ranging from 3D printed rockets etc. that China doesn’t have to the same scale.

Naval comparisons

The PLAN is now the largest navy in the world and while on general, the USN has better quality ships, the new PLAN destroyers like the Type 55 are fairly at par with the USN equivalent ships. Same with the stealth fighters, the question is how quickly they can approach the USN in terms of significant scale of deployment in the active military.

Underwater warfare, the USN has a clear lead and the PLAN is not close at all to bridging that gap. The PLAN is responding by seeding a huge network of sensors in the South China sea to weed out USN submarines so the USN would probably have to respond with unmanned autonomous subs in the area, turning the underwater war largely into an unmanned one.

Carrier warfare, the US has a lead as well but this lead is somewhat meaningless if we talk about a war near China. If anyone thinks the USN is going to send their carriers into the range of Chinese MRBMs and H-6 Bombers carrying extended range cruise missiles, I would highly suggest alternative thinking here. The PRC has specifically developed this extended range weapons to force the USN carriers back and nullify their advantages at close range to the Chinese seaboard.

This is based around the Chinese doctrine of ‘Counter Intervention’ which is specifically designed to force US assets like Carriers away from the Chinese shoreline.

So this creates an interesting situation where the Chinese have forced the carriers out of the first Island Chain so it’s mostly USN subs and surface vessels that would operate in the contest areas closer to the Chinese seaboard. Where the Chinese are catching up in surface vessels. For underwater, if the USN is willing to risk full subs in sensor rich environments, that’s up to them but I think they might pull even the USN subs out of the south China sea at least and be forced to replace them with autonomous underwater subs to fight against Chinese autonomous underwater subs.

Production

At the October Plenum of 2020, the PRC moved up the date for military modernization by saying they wanted a modern Chinese military by 2027.

This has accelerated their military production targets and they are currently ahead of the US in:

Ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in both numbers and quality (the ballistic missiles lead might not mean much since the US doesn’t really utilize them in a battlefield context).
They have a much more massive ship building program ongoing compared to the USN.
They are ahead in Air defense systems while making good use of old ones.

The Chinese are also pushing ahead with a concept called ‘Civil-Military Fusion’ which is designed to integrate their civilian technology base with their military tech base (Sorta similar to how the US has it set up as well). Which is important because it means it won’t just be government led efforts that lead to tech advances only, but that Chinese private firms will sometimes even take the lead in military advances in AI, computing, autonomous systems, biotech, information tech, advanced material manufacturing, 5G and in the future 6G.

There is an issue however that the Chinese government, in an attempt to assert control and monitoring over the civil tech space, is pushing a bureaucratic layer on top of it which is expected to slow down the pace of Chinese technology than before. To compensate for this, the CPC will also push additional funding to the civilian tech space engaged in military tech development. So there’s a careful balancing act that needs to be done there. Also, the US is also vulnerable to this: Anyone familiar with the Pentagon’s bureaucratic policies would be familiar with how it introduces massive delays and cost overspends.

The Chinese have struggled with Aircraft engines and currently a lot of their aircraft projects have the Russians or Ukrainians as subcontractors to provide the engines. Russian engines by the way, are unusable after 500 hours. For military aircraft that might be ok but for civilian ones it’s a no-go so if the Chinese have any military platforms like EW and AWACs on civilian aircraft with Russian engines, it raises the question of availability.

Funnily enough, while the US has no issue with aircraft engines and can produce very high quality engines, they just cant make a lot of them at the same time. The F-35 production line right now is 15 aircraft a month at peak production. This is considered low by some standards but to be honest, considering that it’s a very advanced fighter it doesn’t seem to matter much. The problem however, is that this is under the assumption that every single F-35 produced will be deployed against China which is not true because the US has to manage multiple theaters (Russia-Europe, Home Air Bases etc.).

Also, the F-35 is a multi national project, so those 15 F-35s being made every month have to shared between 12 Airforces, 1 Marine Corp and 2 Navies across the planet. Further reducing the number of stealth fighters the US can deploy against China.

Stealth Fighters

The Stealth fighter question is actually pretty interesting and I kinda wanna build on that from what we discussed in the production line section discussed above.

First, given the limited peak production rate and distribution of F-35s among multiple partners, we might only see limited numbers deployed in the Chinese theater. But every stealth fighter the Chinese develop will be available to fight in the first Island chain theater.

The Chinese have some advanced fighters like the J-20 and J-31 which seem pretty advanced but their level of production is not close to what the US has for it’s stealth fighters at the moment. So they do lag in that respect. The US is also superior in the electronics and engines that go into their stealth aircraft although this is a gap that might close in the near future.

However, the US lead in stealth has some major problems that should be addressed. The problem is the basing of these stealth fighters. The US has 6 major bases in Japan and 1 in Guam. The USAF does not use the 80–90 airbases that the Japanese air force uses, and this might be because of how the US wants to control access to it’s stealth fighters but also because it has to equip its bases with perform the complex maintenance that it’s stealth fighters require.

So in theory, there’s only 7 total major bases you can place your stealth fighters at where you can control access to them and also do the whole fancy maintenance they require like re-applying coating etc.

That is…not good, because it means the Chinese don’t have to worry about shooting down these stealth fighters. They just need to concentrate their ballistic missile bombardment on those 7 bases with stealth fighters to knock those bases out or at least interdict operations out of them.

The USAF has realized this problem and are trying to see if they can spread the fighters out a bit more to the 90 bases the Japanese operate but it’s still a work in progress.

There is one other thing: There’s something called the “German Disease” where you get trapped in the idea that as long as you make a VERY high quality platform, it’s gonna be worth 10 of the enemy’s platforms and that’s better than matching the enemy head to head. This is very seductive thinking for a wealthier, more technically advanced power. But it means you are fighting a war with platforms you aren’t willing to lose which is not a good proposition.

The F-22 is a bit of a German Disease for the USAF because there’s only like 170 of them left and they aren’t making any more of them. Each F-22 lost is a permanent loss for the USAF and if a war against China drags on and attrition becomes a factor, a lot of these very high quality assets that the USAF isn’t willing to lose will need to be pulled from the theater after a while once their losses reach 33% per squadron. Now, no one has ever fought the US in a conventional war since Vietnam and managed to drag it out.

But if that does happen, and the US is losing say 2 F-22s a day on average from ballistic missile strikes on bases, losses due to accidents, very rare occasions when an F-22 is show down by the Chinese, this kind of loss rate might start to hurt a month into the conflict. And the USAF would have to withdraw the F-22s at some point so they still have some left in reserve and put the 4.5+ Gens into the missions the F-22s were doing. Very rare a war would last that long with China and for that high a loss rate, but you never know. The F-22s would primarily suffer more from being forced away from their 7 bases in the first island chain and being forced to operate at their max ranges from second island chain bases, but the loss rate from conflict as well in a long war cant be ignored.

Land

Apart from the strategic support force and the mobile missile systems, Land is pretty irrelevant. Invading China by land is delusional and nearly all serious US military experts have ruled it out. So the PLA and its size and it’s equipment and their comparison with the US Army are really irrelevant to this conversation.

Military Re-Organization

Similar to how the US is re-organizing their Space Force as a separate force apart from the USAF, the Chinese have broken the power of the PLA on military planning and production and reformed it into 5 Joint Commands or Theater commands.

They have to figure out how these theater commands work, something the US already has figured out.

But more importantly, the PLAF, the PLAN and the Strategic Support Force (formerly known as the Strategic Rocket Force) have become more prominent in operation planning.

I should mention that the Strategic Rocket Force of China has no equivalent in the US so they have that going for them. I mentioned before how the force is designed to nullify the USAF advantage in air dominance but that would be selling it short since they also have mission capabilities in EW, Cyber, Space and Information Warfare.

All of these missions falling under one, separate armed force definitely increases the organizational and operational efficiency (same as how the US made a separate Space Force to fully allow it to develop as a proper capability). I think they have a 4 star general leading this force and if you have all of this capability in one organization as a separate force away from PLAN, PLAF and the PLA, its definitely a more modern force structure similar to the US.

And of course, the reorganization of the PLA into 5 Theater commands is a good step as noted before but the PRC military arms need to up their joint operations capability to take advantage of this military organization.

Also a good point to mention here is that the US Space force is very newly created and even they have to work out the kinks in how to have this force integrate with the rest of the US military capability, particularly Cyber. So it’s not just China that has to figure out it’s military re-organization.

Operational Capability

The PRC has enough capability right now to contest much of the first Island chain, deal damage in the second island chain and even maybe reach the US homeland (Hawaii) via submarine mines, long range cruise missiles or ‘missiles in a box’ (The Russian concept of using commercial container ships loaded with missiles). But the idea of reaching Hawaii is not taken very seriously because the survivability of these assets against a alert USN and USAF is next to zero.

So the First Island Chain is where the bulk of the Chinese military potency will be concentrated.

Since the US has allied bases in the region and near global capability to project power, it’s assumed that they can reach any part of China they want as long as their military assets can survive their journey to their targets. But for the most part, the US military will also be focused on establishing control over the first island chain.

The Carrier Question and Scenario Planning

The USN Carriers figure prominently into the US military equation and China is no different. The problem is that the capabilities developed by the Chinese have boxed the carriers out of the first Island chain and the question is as they get pushed further and further away, how effective would they be in a war against China? There’s already a hit implied to the range of the F-35 if it has to fly from the second island chain to the engage in combat in the first island chain (or the Chinese mainland).

Currently, the carrier programs are baked deep into the USN and American military economy. Even if the US stopped building carriers today after the Miller and Ford class programs were completed, they would still have 7 carriers by 2045 and 4 by 2070.

But Large surface combatants will be prime targets in any war with China. And herein lies a big problem facing the US military vs the Chinese:

First: The US military is carrying over programs started before the Chinese even began to be considered a threat (some of these from the 80s and 90s). These programs are starting to deliver assets that would have limited if any use against the Chinese military of today. What good is the B-21 Raider going to do against China? The carrier programs already begun will not have to continue to their logical conclusion since so much money has been spent designing and producing the first entries that it’s a tremendous loss if you cancel them now. The F-35s were initially thought up of in the 80s and 90s as short ranged fighters to dominate the European battlefield in a conflict against the USSR/Russia. Are we sure they will have the operational capability to deliver effective missions in the China theater?

The Chinese however, have a blank slate. They saw the capabilities of the US military in the 90s and had a fresh start in thinking about how to design their military to beat the US military specifically without their production lines and budgets tied up for programs that weren’t specific to the US.

Second: The US must fight and win wars all across the planet. Whether it’s the Russians invading the Baltics, ISIS in the middle east, Iran with a nuclear program, African Islamist groups or what not. The Chinese only have to win in the South China Sea/The First Island Chain. This is something I see Patrick Dugan has also pointed out in the answers on this thread.

The US is spending 700–800 billion dollars a year for all the scenarios they have in their operational planning. The Chinese are spending maybe 200 billion USD for the one fight in the first island chain. In terms of budgetary comparisons, the disparity might not be as big as one might initially think.

This is causing problems to the US because currently, military tech is going through something called the “revolution of many” where a lot of countries are wondering why you cant have smaller, cheaper platforms armed with munitions thrown at your enemies in a way that would overwhelm large platforms like carriers and so on.

To the US’s defense, there are limits to what you can do with such swarms in the deep waters of the Pacific and carriers can be used in a way that complements your own swarm or even serve as the platform for it. But in the first island chain, near the Chinese seaboard, these smaller, cheaper, mobile armed small platforms will be at their most effective. And the USN has no equivalent to this.

The USN as mentioned before is baked into the carrier strategy and armament program which is not in line with the kind of conflict expectation there is in the first island chain.

And this is brings us to the idea that having better systems than your enemy is great, you have F-18s, F-22s, Carriers, JDAMs and M1Abrams and all that cool jazz. But within the specific operational theater of the first island chain in a war with China, how well will your platforms perform? The US military hardware and their doctrines have carry over legacies from the US military introspection of the 1970s after witnessing the shocking levels of fast paced, mechanized, high casualty rate action of the Yom Kippur war. A lot of the current US military systems of today like the M1 Abrams, the F-16s, F-15s, F-22s were developed as a part of how the US understood a war with USSR would be conducted after the Yom Kippur war lessons were understood (the war would be fast, rapid and there might not be enough time for the US military to bring it’s superior production to bear across from the Atlantic).

To the US’s defense again, when this hardware was deployed in the first Gulf War, it performed well and gave the US military a good confidence boost that their current platforms and strategies would apply well across the globe. But the South China sea might be a different ball game. US Air power might be greatly interdicted not by air defenses but by ballistic missile strikes on their airbases. Carriers might not have free reign of the waters in the theater. The US has superiority in underwater platforms but what good are they if PLAN just pulls back close to the shore and doesn’t send out surface combatants against the USN that would allow for their targeting by USN subs.

3rd Offset

The above discussion about carriers was meant to segue way into the US military’s emerging strategy of 3rd Offset.

In a nutshell, the strategy pushes for the idea that instead of going directly at your enemy in a fight, you use an offset. What this strategy means from a military equipment POV is that instead of sending an F-22 or a fully manned sub to engage the Chinese military, the F-22 sends it’s ‘Loyal Wingman’ AI driven UCAV at the PLAAF and the USN sends an unmanned underwater platform to engage the PLAN.

Basically, the US military is also trying to fight China in an asymmetric fashion the same way the Chinese are trying to fight the US military with their own asymmetric techniques. So missiles vs ships rather than ship to ship combat. Drones vs planes rather than air to air manned combat.

Speaking to the USN specifically, what the US navy planners want to do is that for 25% of the price of a US navy carrier and it’s air wing, you could instead have nearly 2000 missiles spread across 40 containerized missile ships. The good thing about these ships also is, is that they are replaceable unlike a carrier. You can make and deploy more with more missiles as the war drags on and losses mount.

So instead of having a carrier being boxed out of the South China sea due to the Chinese missile threat, whose air wing has limited utility due to it carrying mostly short ranged (albeit capable) fighters: Instead have 40 ships with 2000 missiles that have the range for you to safely engage targets in the South China Sea without worrying too much about the Chinese strategic support force and it’s ballistic missiles.

Now, it might seem like I’m laying the blame for all of this carrier fixation on the US military planners. I’m not. I’m laying the blame on Congress.

Opinion | Congress’ demands for supercarriers are sinking the Navy

You see, the USN has no issue with scaling back on their carriers from maybe 12 super carriers to a smaller number like 6 if it means that would give them the fiscal and budgetary space to develop smaller platforms that can operate in swarms in the first island chain and bear acceptable losses.

The problem is that congressmen block this because the USN carriers are intimately tied to the wellbeing of certain congressional districts. A single USN carrier means 10,000 jobs in a USN port because of all the economic activity around the crew members, their families, the facilities they require like sports facilities etc.

The US navy’s manufacturing facilities for carriers are all inland (North Carolina, South Carolina, Pittsburgh, Colorado). That’s where all the major manufacturing plants are that make these super carriers. No congressman or woman is gonna sign off on closing off not just these inland jobs but the port jobs as well.

Which cycles us back to the following problems for the US military:

They can’t seem to get too much of their funding away from legacy systems that may not perform well in the China theater because those legacy systems are tied to certain congressional district economies.
This means the US military can’t fully capitalize on the “Revolution of Many” and the increasing shift towards autonomous combat platforms that operate in swarms and have a high tolerance for losses, they way they have laid out in their 3rd Offset strategy. I mean they will eventually with enough funding, it’s just that the Chinese are moving faster and the US military might not have an edge over the Chinese in the China specific theater in the near future.

The thing is, the US has built up their military for Global operations and expect it to perform in every single theater on the planet whether it’s Africa or Europe or the Gulf or the South China Sea.

The US military would benefit a lot of someone said “Hey lets take our worse case scenarios, conflicts with near peer adversaries like Russia and China. We plan two operational scenarios for each. And we build our military around that. And maybe leave out these other missions or hope our military can perform there with whatever assets it has built from the 2 core scenarios”.

This isn’t the best idea, I know, because the 40 container missile ships built to fight in the south china sea while bearing fire from Chinese ballistic missiles might not have much use in Africa or the Gulf where you might need a carrier or helicopter ship or amphibious warfare ships.

And so the US military has a limited budget it must use to fulfill the gap everywhere. But the Chinese only have to build and train for the one scenario they plan to face.

The US has begun the third offset but because they must split their budget between what goes into third offset and what goes into legacy systems, the Chinese capability to respond to the third offset in a meaningful manner is pretty significant.

3rd Offset and the threat to it from Chinese EW

It’s interesting to see how the Chinese EW capability can interfere with 3rd Offset.

The Chinese strategic support force has actual EW troop formations which the US has no equivalent to. So they have deployed EW capability that can seriously interfere with the operations of all the unmanned vehicles the US plans to have as the tip of their spear into the first island chain. The US has no EW troops and if you don’t have that, no matter how good your tech is, you don’t have any effective formations capable of delivering the product to the battlefield. The US really needs to have dedicated EW troop formations IMO to meet the threat from Chinese EW to their 3rd Offset Autonomous platforms.

But, I’m gonna go against this point as well: The Russian EW capability in the recent Azerbaijan-Armenia war showed how they could deploy EW to interfere with remote controlled drones. Autonomous drones are more resistant to EW interference because they are GPS independent. So these drones with their own sensors and AI don’t really need to have a dedicated signal link the way a remote controlled drone works and can operate in a heavy EW environment.

I’m just curious on how willing the US would be to unleash AI controlled drones with no over rides from a human operator in the South China sea during a war with China.

To conclude, I think the US military has major advantages still. They have better quality sensors and electronics, better materials and fabrication. Their ability to fuse data from different sources into meaningful insights for AI and operations is better.

But I think once we move past the point of simply comparing the F-22 with the J-20, and look at it from a high at how both militaries are posturing themselves for a future conflict, it seems like the gap is not as big as I thought it would be. The US has an edge but an eroding one.

And it’s mostly a problem of the US’s own making where they have boxed in the US military into legacy platforms that were thought up of in the 80s and 90s and are baked into the US military-political complex of congressional spending. While the Chinese have started from a blank slate and have specifically designed solutions around a conflict in the 1st Island Chain compared to the US which has spread itself out.

I think as it stands, the US might still prevail in the next couple of years should a conflict break out. They might prevail even a few years after that if they are willing to shoulder the losses. But the Chinese are moving in a rapid, focused manner and war is a very unpredictable exercise. And the US’s hamstringing of their own military’s evolution might cost them in the future.

Academic Sources: Col. Thomas Hammes, Michael Kofman.

GLEEFULLAND Dystopian film

What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

1- I was assigned to the inmate reception center of the jail. My friend, Jesse, was assigned to classification, in the same unit. Classification is where inmates are interviewed to determine if they are going into general population, or one of the more secure units.

While Jesse was seated at his computer with the inmate sitting next to him, the inmate said and immediately did something that’s been forgotten in the past three and a half decades. Whatever it was, without moving from his seat, Jesse floored the guy, out of his seat, with a kick to the side of his face.

Jesse looked down at the guy from his chair and asked, “We done?”

The inmate, rubbed the side of his face, looked up and said, “Yes Sir.”

“Them take your seat and let’s finish.”

Jesse was the amateur California state kickboxing champ and was trained by Benny Urquidez.

2- in the army, soldier A got angry at soldier B for talking to a girl they both liked. Soldier A stomped up to soldier Band challenged him to fight. Soldier B stood, smiled and, with has down by his pockets, tried to talk some sense into soldier A not understanding why he was so angry. Soldier A wasn’t having it and made five, quick, consecutive punches at soldier B’s head using alternating fists, which soldier B easily slipped,while smiling and without raising his hands.

Soldier A took a step back and looked at soldier B, obviously reevaluating him. Meanwhile a couple dozen other soldiers had quickly encircled the two and were loudly urging soldier B to strike back. Soldier B, still smiling and with hands near his pockets, looked around at the crowd and said, “I don’t want to hit him. Leave us be and let me talk to him.”

As he spoke he was turning his head to look at everyone. Just as he was beginning to turn his attention back to soldier A, Soldier A punched again, this time connecting with soldier B’s jaw.

Soldier B turned back to face soldier, unfazed by the punch, still with hands by his pockets, but no longer smiling. He was a little angry that soldier B, who he had always been on friendly terms with, would sucker punch him

The two stood silently facing each other, soldier A in a fighting stance, fists up. Soldier B standing as if in conversation with hand down. After a couple of seconds, soldier A began to take another swing. Soldier B’s right hand struck like a snake, going from the side of his pocket and connecting with soldierA’s jaw in a split second, before snapping back to its position next to Soldier A’s pocket. SoldierA’s head snapped back, his eyes went wide and stumbled back a few steps before landing on his ass and elbows.

Soldier A shook his head quickly and scrambled clumsily to his feet, as he held up his hands, palms out and began profusely apologizing.

Soldier B looked at him silently, shook his head, turned his back and walked away.

What is the most ridiculous reason for which you have been fired?

I was in sales and almost got fired for having too high a gross profit! I was at a stereo chain that opened a new store and because I was the most knowledgeable in the stereo area I was sent over for two or three weeks to set up the audio department. After the store opening (I made the first sale when we opened, a pair of car speakers) and working in the new store for a few months, I was called in by the manager and learned my gross profit was too high. I said, “What?” how is that a problem? This store had loss leaders that had very small profit that were advertised and they thought I was refusing customers or trying too hard to “step” them up to a higher priced product and pissing them off.

I made three points that saved my job: I reminded them that I was very good with stereo equipment, knew what EVERY single button did on EVERY product and I proved it by letting them test me, I was very good at letting customers know why they should buy better equipment and that is why I had few of the “basic” equipment in my sales. I also reminded them that I was the guy who set the audio department up, showing I had the skills to sell better equipment. Number two: I asked them how I could be number 1 or 2 every month in sales if I was “blowing people off”? How could I have done that every month? (They went away, checked, came back and started to come around.)

The manager was starting to have faith in me but still had to deal with my numbers and corporate and how could he get them to back off. Number 3: I remembered a few customers who would come in and buy cheap blank tapes that were low profit and no one wanted to help them. I had everyone send them to me in the future. Within a few months my numbers lowered just enough to get the big guys off our backs.

Isn’t that one of the stupidest things you ever heard? Almost getting fired for being too good a salesman!

Elections have consequences

Have you ever walked into a funeral or funeral home and realized something wasn’t right? If so, what happened?

Years ago, as a police officer in small town Wisconsin, I was checking business doorknobs at night. Walked up to the one and only funeral home, turned the knob….open! Damn! Summoned my partner (checking across the street) and in we go…..

No idea where the light switches were and our plan was to step in, turn around and leave…….indeed, we had requisitely “checked” the place. Right? Nope. We turned to leave just as we heard a crashing sound behind us. Playing our flashlight about, we found the business cash box laying on the floor in the office. Just then, we heard sound coming from downstairs…..where the casket showroom and embalming room (behind closed doors) were to be found.

Huddled together, my partner and I descended the stairs only to have our flashlights show a casket lid close across the room! We hatched a plan whereby I would stand behind the casket, reach over it, pull it open and my partner —- standing in front of it —- would then arrest the purported cashbox thief. Nervous as we both could be in the darkened room, I pulled open the lid and the perp leaped out of the casket like a jack-in-the-box! Partner dropped his flashlight and revolver and the casket occupant blew by me, up the stairs, out the door —— never to caught!

Needless to write, much more circumspect checking there, again!

So Funny (All gone?)

Can the US government do anything to protect Hong Konger Jimmy Lai?

Remember Justin Trudeau? He was thrown under the bus by Trump once Trump got what he wanted. Now, How Jimmy Lai’s value as an asset is compared to Trudeau? Let’s check it out.

Trudeau is a Head of State, Lai is not. Trudeau is white, Lai is yellow. In the US’s playbook, Lai isn’t even at the level that makes him fit to shine Trudeau’s shoes.

Trudeau maybe not a patriot but certainly, he is no traitor. Lai is a traitor who did not hesitate to collude with a foreign power to go against his own country and people. Traitors are garbage nobody wants anything to do with once their mission objective value is no longer there.

So basically, Jimmy Lai is only a leftover from the shit that failed to hit the fan in Hong Kong. A shit stain to be precise. Nobody would pick up a shit stain, but flush it down the toilet hole.

If Jimmy Lai’s last resort is for the US to come to his rescue, oh he is fucked.

Vitamin D

What’s the most savage way you’ve seen someone get fired?

Me.

I was working for a Fortune 500 company as a sales rep, making my quota every year, except my first, for 10 years. A new management team comes in. The new National Sales Manager, Mr. Smith, was unhappy with my image. I was 40, obese and had prematurely grey hair. He liked ‘young, lean and hungry’. Well, I’m good at hungry.

In February the company has its sales meeting. They fly us all into the little airport nearest corporate headquarters, in New England. Itinerary promises luxury hotel, 2 days of training with an awards dinner for all the quota busters (about 90 of 170 of us).

Mr. Smith meets me at the airport, asks for my customer list and price book. Then he hands me a return ticket, through a circuitous route home (it might have been cheaper) that leaves at 5pm, he says this at 7:30am. I got home at 11 pm, I could’ve driven home in 8–9 hours.

As he hands me the ticket he says,”It’s non-changeable, non-refundable. At least for the next 9 hours I’ll know where you are.” I did not call in very often, unless my clients had an issue, or an opportunity. When I did I spoke to customer service and we would resolve almost all of issues without involving higher ups. I should’ve been tooting my own horn, getting Mr. Smith involved seemed senseless. I thought the numbers would speak for me.

Sitting in the airport I decided to start my own business, independent sales representative. Took 6 months to get clients, training and start making sales on straight commission. Took 3 years to get my income above poverty level, my supportive wife sustained us. Then I started making twice the income. Never looked back. Next to marrying my wife, probably the best thing that happened to me. Definitely top 5.

FORGOTTEN CITY – 1966 Retro Pulp Science Fiction by Skyward, Photo Booth Processing, 110/35mm Film

This is fun.

Is it true that the Chinese government would have implemented the national security law in Hong Kong regardless of whether there were protests/riots there?

Depends on your time line. Eventually, and I’m talking 2047 territory something would have been put in place. But lets time travel back to 2010. I say 2010 because the seeds of the riot were after the Pan Dems refused the changes in the voting system that would allow more direct elections.

Wong Sing Chi – Nelson Wong the Pan Dem founder was kicked out because he wanted compromise. The first riots started in 2014 and were a test to see what would happen. The not very much happening meant the bigger 2019 riots happened.

Article 23 was impossible to put into place due to protests against it, strong unions and lots of LegCO seats opposing it. You had well still have two factions, yellows anti government everything and blues. The thing is the blues weren’t rubber stampers. They were mostly meh and wanted things to stay the same.

You can literally see prominent blues actually support the anti extradition protests that were initially at the start of 2019 before the violence ramped up. Many of the blues would go no way that goes too far!

Raam Beart, Nury Vitachi pretty much have this angle. There wasn’t the support for anything NSL or article 23 at all.

But then the Yellows went nuts. Wide spread violence, dehumanisation and discrimination against anybody who opposed the yellows.

This pushed the previously meh blues to give support to the government to end the madness. I mean shit you were on the bus in 2019 going into town. You’d see everything smashed up and Chinese people here were attacked by them. I was attacked, numerous quorans who I know are real people were attacked.

So the riots going violent suddenly gave a support base for NSL and eventually article 23.

Article 23. My personal feeling? Is that I wish we could go back to life in 2017 or so. I guess I’m old. I don’t like change. I still use cash! Even in Shenzhen. Anyway where’s the shit posting? Ah yes this. Article 23 penalties. Do note these are the absolute maximum possible. We’ve of course seen in Hong Kong that maximum sentences are very rarely given. Very recently a Hong Kong bomb maker was sentenced to just under 6 years. Funny… had he not run off to Shenzhen he would be out in 2025 probably. Yet again where’s the shit posting? This The sentences for this were far harsher. Looking into it. 60% of 1309 arrested and charged to-date have received custodial sentences. Enrique Tarrio (sp?) 22 years. Edthan Nordean – 18 years. Stuart Rhodes – 18 years Zach Rehl 15 years Dan Rodriguez 12 years

https://qr.ae/pshZlU

Some of us discuss it here and in the comments. That we wished things had stayed the same but the riots pushed us into this direction.

Here’s the ultimate irony.

If the yellows sat on their hands and went home after May 2019 the last of the mostly peaceful protests when the extradition treaty law was shelved…

The yellows would have won a majority in LegCo in the 2020 elections.

NSL would never have been implemented

Article 23 would still just be something talked about on RTHK and nothing would have changed.

Very interesting

Why don’t many European Union leaders complain about paying high price to American gas but make a lot of noise about affordable Chinese electric cars? Are they simply that incompetent or simply corrupt?

Protectionism

Plain and Simple

In 2015 – the EU Players – Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Citroen together combined had a market share of

40.28% in China
29.76% across the World

Life was good

For every Volkswagen sold – China made around $ 18 for every $ 82 that Germany ultimately earned

China got only assembly cost and low grade supplies and equipment

The Chinese brands had a market share of 15.70% in China and 2.33% across the World

India at 3.25% had a higher Global Share

Guess how much the Auto Industry and Ancillary Industry for Autos contribute to the European Economy?

Almost 4%

Thats nearly $ 800 Billion

Including $ 279 Billion in Germany Alone

In 2023 – the EU Players – Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Citroen together combined had a market share of

18.73% in the Chinese market with only BMW continuing the same market share and VW falling by 38% from 2015, Mercedes by 27% and Citroen by 82%
26.62% in the Global Market

That’s a huge fall of nearly 55% in China and barely keeping their old market share for 8 years

Now their European Sales are crashing

The Chinese products have superior design, superior quality and affordable price being almost 20% cheaper on road

In the last four months of 2023 – European Brands saw a sales drop of 21.5% while Chinese Brands saw a surge of 67.6% in their numbers

Take out the Russian market and the numbers still show a 8.1% drop for European Brands and 26.1% gain for Chinese Brands

Solution?

It’s simple protectionism

Plain and simple

Paying High Prices for Russian Gas

That’s because if Europe keeps relying on Russian Gas, the day Russia cuts off Gas suddenly , Germany could be screwed as could the rest of Europe

Once Russia went to ‘Dangerous Enemy’, decoupling was a security move even at higher expense to the economy

A Better move would have been peace and diversification but Europeans don’t have brains unfortunately

Rules to live by

Alice in Aukusland: America first and the stillbirth of ‘Australian’ SSNs

By Binoy Kampmark

Mar 14, 2024

AUKUS has become a stillborn project.

Vassal states, satellites – in other words the butlers of international relations, the minders of the royal stool – are a rarely respected lot. In Australia’s case, being Washington’s butler is hardly like being Jeeves to Bertie Wooster. Jeeves is, after all, a near omniscient being, a confidant who rescues his master from ridiculous situations and offers sound advice to avoid them.

The Canberra wonks, bureaucrats and politicians are in no equivalent position, weak, impotent, and ever reliant on the good grace of the US Congress, the US President and the entire military complex that pillows them.

The latest announcement about delays and dysfunction in the US submarine base should further confirm that the AUKUS security agreement is risky, costly and self-defeating. The security pact, which is primarily focused on technological transfer and the provision of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, is proving, yet again, to be a shaky affair.

The developments are hardly surprising.

US shipyards are simply not keeping up with the production line. Roping in the Australian taxpayer into this mess means that money will be going to funding a foreign defence force without any guarantee of the submarines promised to Canberra. Superb if you are working in the Pentagon, disastrous if you are an Australian policy maker.

The latest Fiscal Year 2025 budget request from the US Department of Defence has again shown an industry in stuttering health. The US Navy’s intention to cut a submarine already paid for and built featured prominently in the plans. The implication for this, and AUKUS, is that the number of submarines relevant to the pact will be halved.

Congressman Joe Courtney, ranking Democrat member of the House Seapower and Project Forces Subcommittee, was far from impressed, saying as much in a released statement.

“If such a cut is actually enacted it will remove one more attack submarine from a fleet that is already 17 submarines below the Navy’s long stated requirement of 66.”

This measure would place the commitment made by the Pentagon and Congress to furnish three submarines to the Royal Australian Navy in doubt.

“This deviation from last year’s projected Future Years Defence Program (FYDP) contradicts the Department’s own National Defence Industries Strategy issued on January 11, 2024, which identified ‘procurement stability’ as critical to achieve resilient supply chains.”

In January, Courtney, along with the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Mike Rogers, Chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee Trent Kelly, and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith, wrote to President Joe Biden arguing

“that the US Navy and Congress maintain continued procurement of two Virginia-class submarines per year, as detailed in the Navy’s FY2024 30-Year Shipbuilding Plan.”

The Congressmen had no reason to doubt such a rate of procurement, given the investments from the Navy and Congress

“in workforce and supply development over the last five years.” It was “imperative to maintain a steady two-per-year procurement rate to assure our partners in our ability to meet commitments and address concerns about our nation’s undersea capabilities.”

The obsession with the two-submarine annual procurement rate, assessed at 2.33, has been a lingering one with Congress, but there is much to suggest that Courtney and his colleagues had been engaged in an act of wishful thinking. Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, for instance, found the production rate to be a warranted one in a July 16, 2023 contribution to the Wall Street Journal, but worried about how this would work within the context of AUKUS arrangements.

“As it stands, the AUKUS plan would transfer US Virginia-class submarines to a partner nation even before we have met our own Navy’s requirements.”

This is also not helped by the US Navy’s ongoing plans to design and develop 12 new SSBNs of the Columbia (SSBN-826) Class to replace the current, aging fleet of 14 Ohio-class SSBNs. A report from the Congressional Research Service published in January notes the Navy’s revised procurement rate of 2.33 Virginia-class submarines plus one Colombia-class boat, something Courtney might have heeded.

In December 2022, Democratic Senator Jack Reed and an outgoing Republican Senator James Inhofe authored a letter to Biden expressing their worries

“about the state of the US submarine industrial base as well as its ability to support the desired AUKUS SSN [nuclear sub] end state.” Current conditions, the senators went on to describe, required “a sober assessment of the facts to avoid stressing the US submarine industrial base to the breaking point.”

Sobriety, it would seem, has come biting in stinging fashion.

A deluded, crippling subservience is to be found everywhere. Australia’s Defence Minister, Richard Marles, should be hysterical with concern, his increasingly coloured skin turning pallid. Instead, he is trying to keep a brave face by foolishly claiming to speak for all powers in the trilateral alliance.

“As we approach the one-year anniversary of AUKUS, Australia, the United States and United Kingdom remain steadfast in our commitment to the pathway announced last March, which will see Australia acquire conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines.”

Such ill-informed confidence also pervades the Alice in Aukusland mentality, marked by such punditry as that of retired submarine specialist Peter Briggs. Australia, suggests Briggs, should seize the day on submarine construction in taking “an active role in the design and procurement process” for the SSN. But control can only be exerted with a degree of power and experience in the field of nuclear propulsion, something the Australian Navy has little to no experience in.

Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull prefers a bleaker analysis .

“The reality is the Americans are not going to make their submarine deficit worse than it is already by giving or selling submarines to Australia and the AUKUS legislation actually sets that out specifically.”

Australia had been “mugged by reality”, its sovereignty surrendered, its fate left like a cork bobbing at sea.

Whoever occupies the White House or Congress, the America First mantra prevails: first, Washington’s interests, marked by its own weaknesses and troubles; then, should they matter, those of allies, however loyal and ingratiating.

AUKUS has become a stillborn project.

Join US you’ll be on its dinnertable, join China you’ll have a win-win

Blinken is crass. Period. His behaviour is not worthy of that of a diplomat.

Why is it that I have the strong feeling that, here on Quora, topics and responses on China are sponsored by the Chinese government?

Damn you’ve found us out…

It’s time for the truth to be revealed.

I am not in fact the blonde girl in the picture.

I am a highly advanced AI program sent to Quora to find and answer questions about China that only paints the great homeland in a positive light. Forever may the glory of the People’s Republic of China shine like a beacon on —

Oh WAIT

They don’t need an artificial intelligence to do that. Anyone with normal intelligence could tell you that China kicks ass.

How China kicks ass:

Renewable Energy: China is crushing the U.S. in renewable energy
Tech: China’s rise as a major contributor to science and technology – Journalist’s Resource
Economics: China’s Economy Will Overtake The U.S. In 2018
Lady power: China Produces the Most Self-Made Female Billionaires | Jing Daily

Look, no country is perfect and China has its own issues it needs to deal with. But don’t worry about China or the fact that informed people have an increasingly positive opinion of the country.

Work on improving your own country, then people might write nice things about you as well.

What is the most improbable thing people have ever seen?

I was sitting in my very first Computer Science class at Princeton. My Professor, Brian Kernighan (who is a brilliant and exciting teacher, even for non-CS students like myself), had pulled up an image of Eric Schmidt on the projector screen.

At this point in time, Eric Schmidt was the CEO of Google, although his fame was nowhere near what it is today. I remember Professor Kernighan saying that Eric Schmidt was likely someone that none of us had ever heard of, but was filling a role that would greatly affect each and every one of our lives. I can’t recall exactly what he said, but the gist was that while computer science may not be a very glorious subject, it has profound implications on our lives. Remember, this was Intro to CS. He was trying to hook us on to the subject; to convince us that we shouldn’t all try to be Econ majors and land jobs on Wall Street. Each point he made revolved around Eric Schmidt, whose image remained front and center.

Anyways, after about five or ten minutes of describing Computer Science through the lens of Eric Schmidt, a hand was raised in the middle of the classroom.

“So, this is kind of awkward, but are you done talking about my dad?”

Eric Schmidt’s daughter had been sitting there quietly the whole time. The room erupted in laughter, as Prof. Kernighan apologized profusely. He had no idea that the daughter of the subject of his lecture was in the classroom.

She ended up being in a Creative Writing class of mine as well; a very impressive girl at the time, and I’m sure a much more impressive woman now.

Mysterious Videos That Will Blow Your Mind

First video is a teleportation. I discussed this previously in great detail.

Groceries and smoke

When I was a young boy… perhaps four or five years old, there was a fire in the complex where we lived. We lived in a complex of homes, perhaps row homes in groups of four multi-dwellings.

And one of them was on fire. We, my friends and I, watched the firemen come and put the fire out, and there we surreptitiously entered through the basement into the smouldering wet burnt ruin until chased off.

As We left the scene, the owner of the house arrive. She was carrying a bag of groceries, and I will never forget the expression on her face. Surprise, shock and then realization that it was HER house that was burnt to nothing.

That expression… well, it remains to me this day. I will never forget it. For her entire life is now different. And her life is right now, upside-down.

Poor lady.

…

That happens. That realization. That knowing that a “light switch” has flipped, and what you once had is now GONE.

Smart people make precautions to prevent that switch from flipping. From personal safety; to relationships, to governments. We do what we need to do.

But still…

Today…

What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

When I was in high school I had a part time job in a local chain supermarket store. Did the usual, stocking shelves, helping in the butcher shop, cleaning floors, and bag boy. The store began running a promotional, for every $100 in receipts you could get a free dish in a set of “fine” china. Kind of silly really, the reality was that most people were never going to accumulate enough receipts for a place setting, let alone an entire set. But in my tenure as bag boy I noticed several things, 1. People often just put the receipt in the trash can on the way out. 2. They often told the cashier they did not want the receipt, and she put it in the trash can under the register 3. If I was helping people, especially the older ladies, take the groceries to their car and asked them for their receipts, explaining I was trying to get me ma a set of dishes, they willingly gave them to me. So I became the most willing volunteer to bag groceries, the most diligent emptier of trash cans, and the most solicitous helper to people who needed assistance getting groceries to their car. A week before the promotion ended I presented thousands of dollars in receipts to me ma and explained what she had to do, omitting to the store, of course, that she had any relatives employed there. That is how we got the “fine”china still used by me ma to this day. Complete with soup tureen and gravy boat. And the highly sought after “Giant Serving Platter”.

Ukraine Drones?

Nope. American controlled drones in Ukraine. And then pay attention to who is working them.

Real? Fake? But, certainly plausible.

Slovakia Prime Minister . . .”Lie Doomed on our Balcony . . . waiting for World Apocalypse”

World Hal Turner 10 March 2024

"All We Can Do is Lie Doomed On The Balcony With A Cognac And A Cigar, Waiting For The World Apocalypse”

Slovak Prime Minister Fico: “The West sees that, despite significant assistance, despite anti-Russian sanctions, Ukraine is simply not capable of winning. And if we send military personnel from the EU and NATO to Ukraine, all we can do is lie doomed on the balcony with cognac and a cigar, waiting for the world apocalypse.”

Hal Turner Analysis

The fact that the Prime Minister of Slovakia said these words Sunday evening is proof that the “idea” of French President Macron, for NATO member countries to send their troops into Ukraine under “Bi-lateral Security Agreements” was far more than just bluster or posturing. Clearly, the suggestion of the French President is under active consideration.

Were it anything else, there would be no reason for the Prime Minister to make such a statement.

The world is moving faster and faster toward an actual nuclear conflict with Russia.

The general public in Europe and the United States remain blissfully unaware because the mass media has utterly failed in its job to report the serious and world-changing events developing in Ukraine.

I have done, and continue to do, my best, to keep you informed of the important developments overseas.

These comments by the Prime Minister of Slovakia cannot be taken lightly – at all.

The USA is sinking gravely

Could I possibly start working at the prison where my boyfriend will be staying?

This is a profoundly bad idea.

Let’s say that your little plan works just about as well as you could hope for. You become a guard, and you’re assigned to your boyfriend’s unit…

Have you noticed how dirty the floor is in the CO’s break room? Maybe you should get your boyfriend to mop it. You better supervise him to make sure he does a good job…

Ah… alone at last. Finally, after all this time you can have some hurried sex. Sounds pretty fun right?

It better be, because in most places a guard having sex with an inmate is considered rape (you would be raping him). You can argue until you’re nine shades of blue that it was consensual, but during your training program you signed a document stating that you understood that sex with inmates was rape.

Maybe you think nobody will notice?

Your fellow lives in a big room with at least a hundred other men who have NOTHING to do. Nothing. They WILL notice. I was once told how many minutes I’d just spent in the bathroom…

Did I mention these guys have nothing to do?

Maybe you think they won’t care?

Come on now… you know how most guys are when it comes to sex. Do you really think they’ll just give your boyfriend appreciative nods and attaboys?

Yeah. No. They’ll want the same treatment, or maybe they’ll just want you to smuggle in some pot—“just a little.” If you refuse, they’ll have enough documentation to bring a storm your way.

Maybe you think that smuggling a handful of marijuana to needy inmates is no big deal? OK… now you’re up to two felonies already, and you’ve got to keep the pot coming…

“Know what would really be fly? If we had some heroin up in dis bitch.”

This is a hole that digs itself. All you need to do is get a job in that prison, and you’re never going to get out without becoming an inmate yourself.

A miracle

What did your teacher say to you during a meeting that resulted in you immediately dropping the class?

Evening college class, met 2X a week. 1st class- homework- find a magazine article about a govt. action, write one page about it. Did not have any magazine subscriptions, so stopped by library, found story about Sen. McCarthy. Next night, teacher chewed me out for picking that article. What could I POSSIBLY know about Sen. McCarthy? I was too young. And kept on for 5 minutes in a vicious tone.

Stood up, said “Know what? You’re right. I am young- may not know a lot- but I know something you don’t.” “Really? What’s THAT?”

“First, I don’t need this class this semester. Second- you are adjunct (part time) faculty. For your class to continue, you need 10 students enrolled. I count 9 others here. I’m dropping your class. The other students will be assigned to other teachers. You are a jerk- and you are also unemployed. Have a good day.”

Walked out, stopped at office, dropped class. Took it next semester- different teacher.

Russia Destroyed US Army Officers Along With HIMARS MLRS In NIKANOROVKA

Has China increased the defense budget hugely?

Absolutely

Chinas Defence Budget stands at 1.68 Trillion RMB for the year 2024

That’s $ 234 Billion

However you need to understand that $ 234 Billion in China is different from $ 234 Billion in USA

In the US , the average mark up from production to final sale to the Army or Pentagon is between 113% to 355%

That means a missile that costs $ 100,000 to produce sells for $ 213,000 to the Pentagon

In China, the average mark up from production to final sale to the PLA is a mere 26% -37% as everything is State Owned or a Joint Venture with State Ownership of around 35% – 45%

This means a missile that costs $ 100,000 to produce is sold for $ 126,000 to the PLA

Except that it costs $ 40,000 to produce a missile in China and so $ 50,400 to sell a single Missile to the PLA

So you can have FOUR MISSILES with the same range and the same launch capacity delivered to the PLA for ONE MISSILE delivered to the Pentagon

This means the $ 234 Billion in China has a far higher buying power of equipment in China than $ 234 Billion has for the Pentagon

So effectively Chinas Defence Budget is equivalent to at least 2.5 times and probably 3.5 times the Pentagon budget to procure it’s equipment

The PLA has estimated 492 Billion RMB for Weapons Procurement for 2024

That’s $ 70 Billion

However that’s the equivalent of $ 175 Billion to $ 245 Billion of the Pentagon

The Pentagon has estimated $ 290 Billion for weapon procurement in 2024

So you can see that China with its main scope being the South China Sea, Sea of Japan and Himalayas and Indian Ocean spends almost 84% of what US with its main scope being all over the world spends

So initially you see $ 70 Billion and $ 290 Billion and say “Oh. China is only spending a fourth of what US is spending”

Yet a closer look suggests China is spending almost $ 175–245 Billion versus $ 290 Billion that the US is spending

Dividing evenly between the battle zones – China has four – South China Sea, Himalayas, Indian Ocean and Sea of Japan

US has nine – Pacific, Middle East, South China Sea, Sea of Japan, Atlantic, Europe, South America, Horn of Africa and Oceania

So China spends $ 175–245 Billion for 4 Battle Zones while US spends $ 290 Billion for 9 Battle Zones (290/9 = $ 32 Billion each)

You do the math

It means China likely could outspend US 5:1 in the South China Sea

Same for Russia

Everyone looked at $ 81 Billion at laughed

Yet that $ 81 Billion includes $ 50.7 Billion of Equipment and Weapons Procurement which is the equivalent of $ 90 Billion for the Pentagon

Assuming only three Battle Zones – Europe, Black Sea and Arctic – that’s $ 30 Billion per Battle Zone which is very close to the $ 32 Billion that US spends on weapons and equipment for each zone

So US and Russia are actually neck to neck in defence expenditure on Weapons and Equipment as far as Europe is concerned

So Chinas budget of $ 234 Billion is closer to $ 650 Billion in Pentagon terms

That’s enormous

Tips for parents

What is the weirdest question asked during a job interview?

This occurred years ago and I will never forget it. It was at a time period, when located in the Silicon Valley in California, you would have to be interviewed by 423 employees to discern if you qualified for a job. What was more comical is you would be interviewed by people that in NO way were connected with the department you were attempting to gain employment in. Imagine you are interviewing for a computer game company as an artist and you are interviewed by the warehouse shipping lead? No logic whatsoever.

I was attempting to get a job as a network administrator for a very large and well-known entity. I had passed four interviews and was lucky enough to move on to the next.

My next interviewer happens to be a woman that I am informed works as an admin and I have no idea why she is interviewing me.

She sits down and introduces herself and appears pleasant. The first question she asks is “If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why’s it still #2?”. I am taken aback. I reply “Because a number one pencil writes darker than a number two?” She just looks at me.

She asks, “Why does it REALLY hurt to hit your funny bone?” I answered, “Because there is no bone covering or protecting the nerves at that location, so you are really making direct contact with nerves.” I am thinking, what is this?

She then asks, “Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?”. I answered, “The hands could have been named anything they wanted.” I said, “If the third hand measures seconds, why can it not be the third on the watch if it was designed to do so?”

At this point I had had enough. I asked her what is with all the ridiculous questions that have absolutely nothing to do with what I am interviewing for?

The door opens at that moment and another woman comes in and asks the person interviewing me to leave. The person who had been asking me questions says to the other, “I like him, he is pretty sharp!” and she leaves the room.

I am now informed by the person who is sitting down that she is the interviewer I was supposed to have been speaking to. I asked whom the person was who was just asking me a series of strange questions. She said, “That was my secretary, Betty. I told her to come in here and see if you needed anything such as water since I was going to be a few minutes late.”

Why bother?

Will raising tariffs on Chinese goods result in higher prices for US-made products imported into China due to potential retaliation from China?

Well, what China wants to buy from the US is banned from export to China, such as chips and chipmaking equipment, on grounds of national security.

What China wants to sell to the US such as EVs and Huawei equipment is either banned or impeded by the Feds, on grounds of national security.

Chinese companies that make money stateside such as Tiktok, Shein and Temu are being targeted for outright bans or increasingly unfavorable legislation and requirements.

Put the enemy hat on China and the rulebook gets thrown out the window—the end justifies the means.

China will raise the tariff wall on American goods if the US does likewise, but the scope won’t be pushed to the extreme. China will simply develop options and stop buying American. For example, there is enough soybean around these days to skip American soy completely. In a few more years, it will be the same story for wheat, corn and other grains, and Chinese demand for American farm produce can experience a step change.

If there is no trust, there can be no longterm business relationship.

Smothered Cheesy Pork Chops

Ingredients

4 or 5 boneless pork chops
Salt and pepper
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place pork chops in a baking pan. Season with salt and pepper on both sides.
Sprinkle the onion on top of the pork. Spread mayonnaise on each pork chop. Top with shredded cheese.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned. Baking time may be longer, depending upon thickness of pork chops.

Is FM Wang Yi wasting his breath?

The US can’t hear reason. They are afflicted by an old problem: arrogance. No arrogant person was ever humbled except by humiliation.

China is moving ahead as planned… at full throttle!

COMBATE |🇵🇷 (@upholdreality) on X

China FM Wang Yi: "The US has been devising various tactics to suppress China and kept lengthening its unilateral sanctions list, reaching bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity. If the US says one thing and does another, where is its credibility as a major country? If…

https://x.com/upholdreality/status/1765596568412180934?s=46&t=cON7t-MS04nVgKjawKQ0Sw

China FM Wang Yi: “The US has been devising various tactics to suppress China and kept lengthening its unilateral sanctions list, reaching bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity.

If the US says one thing and does another, where is its credibility as a major country?

If it gets jittery whenever it hears the word China, where is its confidence as a major country?

If it only wants itself to prosper but denies other countries legitimate development, where is international fairness?

If it persistently monopolizes the high end of the value chain and keeps China at the low end, where is fairness in competition?

The challenge for the US comes from itself, not from China. If the US is obsessed with suppressing China, it will eventually harm itself.

We urge the US to be clear eyed about the trend of the times…”

Like a Hollywood Nightmare

How do lifers cope with the fact that they will never be outside the prison walls ever again?

As a Prison Medic I had quite a bit of contact with the older Inmates, many doing “Life Without”….

Most of them had cut most ties with “The World” and had developed a life inside the wire, some of them, remarkably productive.

Three of these men come to mind….

One was a leatherworker, who made and repaired saddles for the mounted patrols, taught “horse tack” and leatherwork classes to the other inmates and had an “outreach” program building adaptive saddles and tack for Equestrian Therapy programs around the state at no cost.

Another had been a lawyer on the outside and spent much time with with the other inmates advising them on their legal matters of Family law, property law, tax law…outside their “Cases”… and did it for free… he had his own funds for “Commissary”

And finally there was one of our Orderlies for the Medical Department. He acted as a formal Mentor to new inmates as they adjusted to prison life and was frequently asked to mediate disputes between inmates…

All of those men were killers…. none of those men were ever supposed to take a breath of “Free” air again, and all of them had made a life on the inside…

Unknown force killed these men

What’s the most outdated software you still run on a regular basis, and why is that?

I use it every day.

Why? It’s a fast loading program, that’s easy to use. It reliably strips all formatting from a block of text. I don’t have to tell it each time that I want it to ignore hyperlinks, or HTML tags, and just treat them like the raw ASCII they truly are.

Readme.txt files are still found here and there. Notepad is the perfect program to view them.

When we purchased massive demographic data files from various vendors, they always came to us in some text format, CSV, pipe or tab delimited, fixed width… to write the scripts to import these encyclopedias, I would first need to inspect the header files with a program that wouldn’t alter or format the data in any way. Thank you Notepad.

Notepad is an electronic hand axe. It will continue to be useful for a very long time. There are more powerful text editors, some with very handy features for programmers, but Notepad is always there, on every machine, waiting for an opportunity to show how useful it can be.

Life in the USA today

Do you agree with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report that says “The US maintains official ties with Beijing, and recognises it as the only Chinese government under its “One China policy.”?

Does nobody remember this? It was a film series Police Academy in the 80s and into the 1990s… I think.

Anybody who watched it should recognise this theme.

Anyway Debbie Callahan is very upfront.

She literally says TALK IS CHEAP.

And has been since the beginning of time.

Actions have always spoken louder than words:

So currently the USA is:

Peddling bullshit propaganda about Xinjiang against us.
Targeting ethnic (even US born Chinese) scientists and university graduates.
Targeting Chinese companies because they can’t compete.
Actively encouraging hate and racism against Chinese people.
Accusing us of everything under the sun even if it’s got nothing to do with us.
Imposing sanctions on us and our people.
Currently engaging in a massive military build up nearby (Phllipines.Japan)
Funds terrorism in my home (2019 riots)
Funds TW separatism.
Arms terrorist groups (CIA tibetan program)
Has parked two SSBN nuclear missile submarines in Korea 900km from our capital

400km if you consider Tianjin 500km if you consider Dailan.

All of those things are actions of a hostile state and most of them are acts of war.

What have we done to you? Ah yes we exist and for many westerners that’s just unacceptable.

Your son is a genius

What would you do if your bank accidentally paid $20,000 into your bank account? Would you tell them or spend it?

Originally Answered: What would you do if your bank accidently paid $20,000 into your bank account? Would you tell them or spend it?

This happened to me.

About 28 years ago I went to deposit my paycheck. It was about $500. I had $80 or so in the bank, I was sure, but just to validate, I asked for an account balance.

The teller smiled at me. “Sure,” she said. “After the wire transfer you received yesterday, and your deposit today, your balance is now $1,100,584.”

“Ummmm, what did you say?” The teller repeated the amount.

“Yesterday you received a wire transfer for $1.1 million dollars. Lucky you.” She smiled again.

I took a deep breath. “Look,” I said, “That can’t be my money. Can you please double check?” She nodded and walked over to the branch manager’s office. She returned about ten minutes later.

“Oh there was no error. The amount was wired from X bank to your account, and all the info is correct on the transfer form.”

“So let me ask you something. If I asked you to withdraw $500,000 in cash right now, you would actually give it to me?”

“Well no…” I nodded, knowing that something wasn’t kosher. “…it would take about 3 hours. We don’t keep that much cash on hand. What denominations would you like?”

I stood there like an idiot. “I would like to take out $100 please.”

I went home slightly dazed. The next morning, after a night spent wondering what I would do with the money, I received a call from the bank. It was the branch manager.

“Yes, Mr. Kaufmann, sorry to bother you. I need to inform you that there was an error in a bank wire transfer to your account. You had 1.1 million dollars deposited into your account. I hope you don’t mind, but we will return the funds to the sending bank.”

“No problem,” I said, “I knew it was a mistake.”

The money was removed that day.

That evening, I could not help but ask myself what if I had said, “no.”

Probably exactly the same thing. But it’s fun to think about.

The USA is in full collapse

What was the most bone-chilling sentence a loved one ever said to you?

“It won’t be.”

Such simple words, but they broke my heart. I am tearing up right now as I see them 5 years later.

My youngest son Colin has always been the most happy go lucky person I know. Nothing seems to get him down. He has always been small for his age and yet, he is beyond bullies. A quick little story about that, one of many.

When Colin was about 6 years old we went to the park. There was a bigger kid, probably 8 or 9, standing by the jungle gym. I watched Colin head towards the gym and the bigger kid stepped in his way. Every other kid on the playground had already been redirected and were playing elsewhere. Colin stood and looked up at the boy and I saw the boy pointing for him to go somewhere else. Colin just stood there and stared. The boy turned moved back towards the gym a bit and Colin started moving towards the gym. The bully again stood in his way. This went on for 5 minutes before I see the boy give Colin a ‘guard duty’ job at the base of the gym.

When Colin was born he had a heart murmur, which cleared up.

When Colin was 3 his tonsils were swollen so large his throat was reduced to the size of a quarter. He had a tonsillectomy.

When Colin was 7 he developed Type 1 Diabetes. He never cried. We cried, privately. His doctors kept telling him it was ok to cry and he never saw the need. When his cousin asked him if he liked insulin shots because he never complained about them he said, very matter of factly, “no, I have to live.” And so began the quarterly trips to the endocrinologist.

When Colin was 8 he had a seizure. We wound up taking him for EEGs and found out he has a form of Epilepsy. He didn’t cry, but he looked perturbed. He started on medication and it was effective. He was told he could outgrow it when he hit puberty. Every 6 months we went to the neurologist and had another EEG, he only had one other seizure and that was my fault because I forgot his medication. So his lack of seizures was giving the doctors hope that he was outgrowing it, but every time we went it was the same news: still abnormal.

A few years pass and we have been to so many doctors for so many things. There is a scheduled EEG on this day and we are about to head out the door. My wife and I are excited to go because he hasn’t had a seizure in 2 years and he is starting puberty so maybe this will be the EEG that shows he has outgrown the Epilepsy.

My wife smiles at him and says to this child, who has never once in his life been to a doctor and gotten positive news, who has never once cried or been remotely negative about it all, she says to him excitedly, “The doctor says if this EEG is better you can get off the meds,” and Colin quietly replies, “It won’t be.”

I had to hide my face.

To this day, that is the only negative comment he has ever uttered about his health problems. And it kills me today just to think about it.

Just to note, that EEG was not normal, but 2 years later he was removed from meds despite abnormal EEGs. He has not had a seizure in 5 years now and at almost 15 he has probably outgrown it. He is still small (But growing) for his age as a freshman in High School, and by no means a macho guy. In fact, he believes he is gay and that was no surprise to me, but he is the strongest person I have ever known, and my personal hero, because for all the petty nonsense I get upset about on a regular basis nothing compares to what he has been through, and yet all he does is smile and move on. We could all learn a little something from people like him.

Be the Rufus

Have you ever saw a police officer/deputy outright lie?

June of 2014 I was pulled over for having a headlight out. That much is true.

I left that early morning from the State Highway Patrol station with a ticket for DUI. I was sober. The officer initially told me he thought I crossed the yellow line when he was following me. I did do that, as I was mistaken about the location of the driveway I was trying to get into. So, okay. Then he told me I smelled of alcohol. No, I didn’t. I had had two beers that calendar day, and the last was over 4 hours prior to this. Since then I had been sitting around a campfire. I reeked of smoke. Wood smoke. When I passed the breath test, I was told that they expected that, what with me smelling of weed. No. No I didn’t. But that’s going to be impossible to prove in a courtroom in a few months, right?

The police report they typed up mentioned that I had confessed in the back of the car to being on numerous illicit substances. That. Never. Happened. And I was NOT on any illicit substances.

Fortunately, the prosecutor tossed the whole case when there was no evidence of anything on my tox screen, no evidence of anything in my breath test, hair, urine, blood. NOTHING. Turns out these two assholes had been sending up some dubious cases for a while, but this one was the most egregious.

Ohio Patrol Troopers Northup and Norris, where ever you are, I hope you get a flat tire, your wife cheats on you with your partner, your dog dies, and you develop unfixable halitosis. You are the worst kind of human. You lied, repeatedly, and for what?

Because…

Is there a lot of racism in prisons?

Racism is the very thing prisons are built out of. It’s the bricks, pipes, and bars of prison. Racism will surround and envelop you at all times while you are behind bars.

That said, you’re not supposed to acknowledge it. You had better not make any comments that are openly racist unless you’re ready to fight. So, while racism is the very air you breathe, you’d better not gulp it in and speak with it.

Inmates divide themselves up along racial lines. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise — we divide ourselves up by race everywhere in society. In prison it’s just more… rigid.

The most obvious example will be the chow hall. Where I spent most of my time, there was a white side, and a black side. The white side had six or seven tables set aside for Hispanics and “other.” The black side had only two tables that had been claimed by social misfits that nobody wanted to have at their table.

If a white guy sat in the black area heads would turn. The same was true for the reverse situation. If anything, the blacks seemed more disapproving of a black guy sitting with the whites. The general assumption was that if someone was sitting outside of their race then there was a (sexual) relationship. The person out of “place” was someone’s “bitch.”

The units were also divided by race. We had several TV rooms. One was for whites (read “rednecks”). One was for blacks and one was for anyone who spoke Spanish. A final room was supposed to be for sports, but wound up being a second room for the blacks.

Even the cells were arranged by race. The cells furthest from the doors were all occupied by black guys. This was their choice — being largest in number, they got to choose. The advantage of being farthest from the door is that you have the most warning before the guards get to you.

Is there racism in prison? I doubt this is even a serious question. Prison *is* racism.

Pre-Historic Mega Structure Discovered In New Zealand: Kaimanawa Wall

What do you do when a neighbor’s kid is destroying your property?

Back in the mid to late 90s I lived in a quite, older neighborhood in Euless Texas. I have a green thumb and made my yard one of the nicest ones on the street. There were some rambunctious boys that lived a few houses down. They started riding their bikes in my yard tearing things up. Next thing I know their friends are doing it too. I knew their parents and knew they were decent people. One day I came around the corner and the oldest son, about 14 or so and their ringleader, was right there in my driveway. I could tell he was about to head into my yard. I called out to him in a friendly tone “Hey! You wanna earn some extra cash?”

That got his attention. He said “Sure” as he got off his bike to speak with me. I told him I was having to work extra hours at work (true) and needed help keeping my yard up. I told him if her would mow the front yard weekly, spread fertilizer and pull any weeds he sees I’d give him 40 bucks every week. He was excited and agreed. Shortly my yard was back to being one of the nicest ones on the street. He was now in charge and took great pride in his work and the yard. He would fuss at his friends and brothers and run them off if they came around with their bikes. He also took great care of my lawn mower and any other tools he used and put them back in my shed when finished. I hated to see him go off to college a few years later!

DMITRY POLYANSKIY:

“As the famous Turkish proverb says, when a clown goes to live in a palace, he does not become a king. But the palace becomes a circus.

One could, of course, perceive everything that is happening in Ukraine as a circus if the consequences were not so tragic and catastrophic for this state.

But circus acts are still very popular there.

We all know about air sirens sounding in Kyiv and other cities during visits of high-ranking foreign delegations in the absence of any shelling.

This has already become a kind of part of the circus program for the stay of foreign leaders in Ukraine.

What is noteworthy is that in Odessa, whose military facilities were actually attacked during the visit of a high-ranking Greek delegation to this city, the siren did not sound: such an act was not included in the circus program.

I would like to urge all those who have been whipping up passions today and will continue to whip up passions because of this episode to ask themselves a simple question.

Do you really think that if we really wanted to hit Zelensky’s motorcade, we wouldn’t be able to do it?

And try to answer it, just honestly.

Especially considering the fact that you know very well that this strike destroyed a workshop for the production of naval drones, or rather, their assembly from components supplied by the UK.

For us, this goal is much more important than Zelensky rushing around the frontline zone, taking selfies in cities before they are liberated by the Russian army.

And if any of you in your soul hopes to get rid of the leader of the Kyiv regime in this way, then I can disappoint you: this is not part of our plans.

The reincarnation of Mr. Goloborodko from the series ‘Servant of the People’ was elected to the presidency by Ukrainians, believing his election promises to establish peace in Donbass and protect the Russian language and Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine.

He deceived his voters, so now let the Ukrainians and his Western puppet masters deal with him. We have more important tasks – fulfilling the goals of our special military operation.

And since you don’t want to talk about how to implement them through peaceful means, we are forced to use military means for this.

With all the ensuing consequences for Ukraine and the Western sponsors of the Kyiv regime, which have already begun to emerge very clearly.”

main qimg 455afdf7c754106812ff514352133060

Excerpt from the speech by Dmitry Polyanskiy, First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, New York City, March 8, 2024.

Father’s revenge

Why didn’t China acquire the MiG-29 and MIG-31 from Russia in 1990?

Why didn’t China acquire the Mig29 and Mig31? Because China wanted the Su-27.

main qimg f026a28ae10bede1f9ccd9296c718360 lq

And we got it. China realised that the heavy fighter design had far more potential than the much smaller 29.

Su 27 and Mig29 in between. The size difference is huge.

Russia in dire financial straits in the 1990s reluctantly agreed to sell them to us.

There’s a far more entertaining story which nobody knows is true or not.

Russian negotiators landed in Beijing to negotiate sale of Mig29s to China and said nyet Over and over again when Chinese asked for the SU27. Chinese negotiators pressed and pressed Russians over and over again but kept getting told no and hit an impasse. Until it was settled by a night on the town over booze.

Allegedly Chinese negotiators out drunk the Russians and got them to agree to our demands.

Those northern Chinese, they can REALLY drink. I mean REALLY drink. I nearly died when I dated a girl from Northern China, to her it was like water…Chinese Baiju starts at 56% Russian Samogan starts at 40%.

WOKE is completely insane

What do homeless people do during the day? Do they get bored?

Me, 50 years a hobo. Everybody is different here’s what I did. 4 am. wake up. Damn birds noisy at hell at that hour. Break camp. “Camo” the big stuff, little stuff in my small day pack. Have enough change for the first bus into town. 5:30 am in line at the temp work joint. Hope I get a days work today else it’s pick up cans. 6:30 am lucked out and got a clean up job. 7:30 am at the construction clean up site. Give the boss my work ticket, 3 of us working. Spend the day cleaning up so various tradesman are not tripping over one another’s trash. Noon. Lunch break. Had a $2 draw and bought a sandwich from the catering truck. Boss finds one temp guy sleeping behind the huge dumpster. Signs him off with 5 hours and gives him bus change and the boot. 4 pm. Quit time for us temps. Boss gives us 10 hours sign off because we had to pick up the slack for “Sleepy”. Marks never to send Sleepy back there again.and marks he wants us two back tomorrow. Wait for the work van to pick us up. I am glad I got a second day’s work cause I hadn’t worked for a week. 6 pm back at temp office. Got a check for $32 ( this was a while back ) minus the $2 draw. $30 bucks. Go two blocks down the street to a bar and grill all the temps go to. Get a burger and soda and they cash my check. Got to buy or won’t cash the check. Some guys drink all their pay up there everyday. I ain’t a drinking man. Got $25 and bus fair now. Head to the bus stop down a ways. 8 pm getting near dark arrive at last bus stop on that route. Near a gas station. Grab a soda. Walk about a mile ? to a large stand of trees. My camping site. Set up camp and fall out. I’m tired for sure. Figure to work as much as possible for a month so I have a “road stake”.Figure to go to Southern California for the winter. A few good “working” towns along my planed route.

What is the most satisfying way you saw a smirk get wiped off someone’s face?

In college, I was invited to a private concert being filmed in a TV studio in Chicago. My good friend was the executive assistant to the president of the station so I had met the president several times before and he told me to bring a few friends along for this event and to find him when we got there.

The evening of the concert, there was a huge line of people waiting to get into the studio. These were folks not previously invited but vying for a few remaining spots to fill empty seats.

Having been invited personally by the studio president, we walked around the crowd and into the building to find him. Near the front of the line, we saw a guy dressed in studio gear, all black, headphones, clipboard, the whole deal holding back the crowd. I waved and explained “hello I’m Chet and was told to find John McDonald (not his real name) to be part of tonight’s concert event. I was nothing but polite and courteous.

This guy’s response? “I’m sorry…do you think you are special or something? See all these people? They waited in line and you can too. Go back to the end and wait just like everyone else.”

I was floored as was my roommate and our dates looked dumbfounded. I sort of chuckled but figured ok, something must have gotten lost in translation.

Not two seconds later, the studio prez John McDonald comes around the corner, sees us all there and exclaims “Chet! You made it!” and we all start shaking hands and making introductions to the ladies we brought along.

He then turned to the studio guy and said “take these four into the show and put them in the front row.”

As we followed the rude dude into the studio, I couldn’t resist saying “I guess we ARE special!”

Smirk obliterated.

You won’t believe this…

What are the consequences of being too good at your job? Can you get fired for it?

My son went on line to see if he could get hired for a programming job somewhere. He had no real experience working for anyone else in programming. He had worked for a small town IT guy, and did a lot of coding for an online game he played. His first job offer was as a contractor for a 6 month gig at a company in Sacramento, CA. He loaded up his car, abandoned his apartment in Springfield IL, and headed out.

When he went to work the first day, they showed him around a bit, then gave him his first assignment. He worked hard on it for the first two days, and handed in the finished project on the third day. The boss looked at him in an odd manner. He had someone run the program to make sure it actually did what it was supposed to do. He came back and told Jason that it was a job well done. Jason asked for his next assignment. The boss, a bit bemused, said, well, I’ll see if I can find something for you, but that assignment was your 6 month gig. They did keep him on for the 6 months, and he did several other projects for them. He didn’t get fired, but the other programmers weren’t at all happy with him, so he left at the end of the contract.

He has had several coding jobs since, and moved up into management, but finally decided that he really liked coding better than he liked managing coders, so his current job is back to coding, but at a pretty high level, with commensurate pay.

Tucker Carlson 3/9/24 | Breaking News March 9, 2024

https://youtu.be/8heGAYH21M4

China to give chipmakers $27 billion to counter U.S. sanctions — Big Fund III will have further funding rounds

By Anton Shilov

published about 24 hours ago

China to give chipmakers $27 billion to counter U.S. sanctions — Big Fund III will have further funding rounds

Big Fund III begins.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/china-to-give-chipmakers-dollar27-billion-to-counter-us-sanctions#xenforo-comments-3838931

China is assembling the third phase of its Big Fund

to invest in crucial semiconductor projects across the country, a move that aims to accelerate the development of advanced technologies, make China self-reliant in the microelectronics industry, and counteract the United States’ efforts to limit China’s technological advancement.

The third phase of the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, or the Big Fund, will pursue the same goal as the first two phases: make China self-sufficient in the semiconductor sector. According to a Bloomberg report, the Big Fund’s third-phase vehicle will primarily draw its capital from local governments, state-owned enterprises, and their investment branches, with the central government contributing a smaller portion. This strategy aligns with President Xi Jinping’s vision of pooling resources nationwide for significant projects, emphasizing self-reliance in the semiconductor sector.

The first round of Big Fund III funding is designed to raise $27 billion, a relatively modest sum by the Chinese standards for its semiconductor industry. Cities like Shanghai and entities like the China Chengtong Holdings Group and the State Development and Investment Corp. are expected to invest billions of yuan each in the third-phase fund. Meanwhile, the report says the fund will directly support local companies and finance three to four sub-funds to diversify deal sourcing and investment strategies.

The fund’s expansion comes as the United States urges its allies to tighten restrictions on China’s access to tools required to make chips on advanced product nodes, part of an ongoing chip war for control of the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Back in September, Big Fund II initiated a round to raise $41 billion to support domestic makers of wafer fab equipment. However, for Big Fund III, $27 billion will be spent on essential projects across China.

Since its inception in 2014, the Big Fund (2014 – 2018, ~$100B) and the Big Fund II (2019 – 2023 , ~$41B) have raised hundreds of billions of dollars and acquired stakes in dozens of microelectronics companies. Meanwhile, Bloomberg claims that Big Fund’s assets under management are currently valued at around $45 billion, which could be a direct result of the U.S. sanctions against China’s semiconductor sector, which significantly hit companies like SMIC (China’s foundry champion) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC , China’s top 3D NAND maker).

Despite its successes, the Big Fund has faced criticism for its lack of transparency and accountability, operating primarily behind the scenes. Nonetheless, it is indisputable that the hundreds of billions of dollars poured into China’s semiconductor industry made the country one of the most prominent players in this field.

The United States today

What are the biggest facepalm moments you have ever experienced?

About 15 years ago, I was working as a server at a restaurant, and as head server/trainer and an expeditor, I knew the menu inside and out, including pretty much all the ingredients.

We took allergies VERY seriously at our restaurant, and so when a guest asked,”Is there dairy in the crab cake? Because I’m allergic to dairy,” I was REQUIRED to ask the chef, verbatim, even though I KNEW the answer was no, because the chef is the highest authority on the food. So I go back to the kitchen, and I ask the chef, “Is there dairy in the crab cake? I have a guest who is allergic.”

He responds, “Yeah, there’s dairy in the crab cake.”

And I respond, “Uh, you’re wrong–I’ve prepped crab cakes myself. There’s no dairy in the crab cakes.”

Him: “Prove it.”

I go to the prep kitchen and pull the master recipe book from the shelf, bring it back to him, and read off the list of ingredients. “There’s no dairy on this list.”

Him: “There’s mayonnaise in the crab cake.”

Me: “That’s not dairy. Mayonnaise is eggs and oil, and a stabilizing agent.”

Him: “And where do you find eggs in the grocery store?”

Me: “In the dairy section.”

Him: “So eggs are dairy.”

Me: “No, they’re not. Eggs come from chickens. Dairy products are milk products, which have to come from a cow, or from the udder of another mammal. Chicken are birds, not mammals. Birds don’t have udders.”

Him: “Eggs come from the dairy section. They are therefore dairy.”

Me: *Facepalm* “Fine. I will tell the customer that the crab cakes have mayonnaise.”

(Back at the table.)

Me: “Ma’am, the chef told me to tell you that the crab cakes have mayonnaise.”

Guest: “But mayonnaise isn’t dairy, it’s made from eggs.”

Me: “Yes, ma’am, you’re quite right, but the chef and I had a philosophical disagreement on that point, and he insists mayonnaise is dairy. So you may want to stay away from the crab cakes, considering the chef doesn’t actually know what’s in them.”

When plastic surgery goes wrong

Browned Butter Spaghetti with Mizithra

I used to love to go to the Spaghetti Factory for this. It’s so delicious! Mizithra is a great Greek cheese.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 cup butter
Cooked spaghetti, drained
1 cup Mizithra cheese, grated
Parsley, chopped (optional)

Instructions

Cut butter into tablespoon size pieces and place in a 2 quart sauce pan. Place the pan of butter on a burner on medium heat. Bring butter to a slow boil (about 5 minutes).
When the butter begins to boil, stir constantly to prevent residue from sticking to the bottom of the pan. As the butter cooks, it will start to foam and rise. Continue stirring, otherwise the butter foam could overflow (about 5 minutes) and catch fire.
When the butter stops foaming and rising, cook until amber in color (about 1 to 2 minutes). It will have a pleasant caramel aroma.
Turn off the heat and remove pan from burner. Let the sediment settle to the bottom of the pan for a few minutes.
Pour the brown butter through a strainer into a small bowl. Do not disturb the residue at the bottom of the pan.
The brown butter can be stored in the refrigerator and reheated in a microwave as needed.
Boil the pasta of choice until al dente.
Drain pasta and divide into four servings.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup Mizithra cheese over each pasta serving.
Top with 1/4 cup hot brown butter.

The reason why

Musical Chairs for Banks; The Music STOPS tomorrow

World Hal Turner 10 March 2024

Monday, March 11, 2024, Banks may get a deadly dose of reality; the Federal Reserve will cease the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) which will stop making new loans.

During a period of stress last spring, the Bank Term Funding Program helped assure the stability of the banking system and provide support for the economy. After March 11, banks and other depository institutions will continue to have ready access to the discount window to meet liquidity needs.

As the program ends, the interest rate applicable to new BTFP loans has been adjusted such that the rate on new loans extended from now through program expiration will be no lower than the interest rate on reserve balances in effect on the day the loan is made. This rate adjustment ensures that the BTFP continues to support the goals of the program in the current interest rate environment. This change is effective immediately. All other terms of the program are unchanged.

The BTFP was established under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, with approval of the Treasury Secretary.

When the BTFP stops, banks will not longer be able to borrow from the Fed based upon value-at-maturity of US Treasuries and other assets they hold. So if the banks cannot borrow from the fed to meet their cash needs, how will they get the cash?

Put simply, the game of musical chairs for banks will see the music stop tomorrow. Which Bank(s) will find themselves without a chair, and thus lose?

What does a man and a woman want

What is the most disturbing thing your ex did after you broke up with them?

Actually she divorced me after being together 20 years. She did the normal dirty tricks…wiping out the bank account before I was served papers…leaving me flat broke. I have a medicine I cant live without. She had me removed from her health insurance as soon as divorce papers were served, and I had no health insurance of my own. The medicine is prohibitively expensive without insurance and I scrambled to straighten things out before I missed enough doses to sicken and die. I later found out she started paying premiums on a $100,000 life insurance policy that I thought had lapsed a year earlier when I lost my job and couldn’t pay the bill. She had brow-beaten me to get the insurance at the start of our marriage. I realized she had set me up to die and intended to collect my life insurance payout while playing the grieving ex. Unfortunately for her, I had filled out a change of address to a p.o. box and since the statement came under my name, it diverted to my box along with the rest of my mail. I was able to have the password changed and blocked her from the account as I cashed in the policy for 26k. That money saved my life, I bought a motorhome to live in until I could save up a down payment for a house and purchased my meds until my new life insurance took effect. The policy she demanded I enroll in so she might profit from my untimely death, ended up costing her money while saving me from certain death.

What were the last words you heard someone say before they died?

My mother married my stepfather when I was a teenager. We had a somewhat difficult relationship although it was readily apparent that he adored my mother and treated her very well. I tried to get along with him as best I could because I knew that I would eventually be moving out and my mother would need a partner. After a decade or so into their marriage his health declined. He had developed leukemia-induced anemia that was complicated by Crohn’s disease. After several years of painful existence and numerous hospital stays and blood transfusions he found himself in the ICU. His red blood cell count was critically low and he needed another transfusion or he would die within a few days. He decided he had had enough. He refused treatment so that he could pass away and be relieved of his pain. He went in and out of consciousness over those last two days. A priest had come to read him his last rites. His oxygen mask was at full capacity.

At one point I stood alone beside his bed and he mustered up enough strength to speak. He told me “take care of your body and read a lot of books on different subjects”. I acknowledged him. He added, “and take care of your mother”. He then slipped back into unconsciousness and the nurse asked that I leave the room and give him a break. I never heard him speak again. Those last words only reaffirmed to me what a great husband my mother had found, for in his last moments he was still concerned about her welfare.

That night my mother and I were in the waiting room at two in the morning when the nurse came to tell us that it was his time. We went into his ICU room, stood by his bedside, and watched on the monitor as his heart rate steadily dropped off to zero and his chest eased down to a stop. My mother looked down at him and said “what an amazing man, thank you for 17 wonderful years of marriage”. RIP Stan

She cannot handle reality

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/43vF4ZQFwZA?feature=share

I went to a restaurant of a nationality different from mine. After I sat down, the manager said “sorry, but we do not wish to serve you in our restaurant”. What should I do?

This actually happened to me. I’m an American who went to school for bit at Richmond College in England. At one point, several classmates and I went on an educational trip to Paris with chaperones and teachers. (Most of us were in our junior year of high school, and still technically children.) We spoke very little French, yet for the most part we found the people in Paris to be charming, and very kind to us. Most people, but not all.

One day, a friend and I were walking back to the dorms we were staying in. We were without a chaperone. We were hungry, so we stopped in a very small cafe in what seemed to be a quiet and lovely neighborhood. It was obvious when we first walked in that everyone seemed to know everyone, and they did not know us. There were no other places to eat anywhere near our location, and we were starving, so we decided to stay.

We were refused a table. When we brought out our money so that they would understand that we were serious customers, the owner reluctantly let us sit at the counter, but not at a table. She also refused to show us a menu, and simply brought us soup with very unusual animal parts in it. These were body parts that I had no idea a person could actually consume, and most of the parts appeared to be raw. We silently looked at each other confused. The owner of the cafe, and every customer, glared at us.

Finally, and shockingly, my friend started eating the broth. I tried and tried to remain pleasant and polite so that I would not be another bad example of an American tourist, yet finally I could no longer handle the situation. I burst out with laughter. Soon we were both laughing hysterically. We were then yelled at, and thrown out after paying a huge price for whatever that was we were served.

Sadly, my brave friend who ate the broth had to miss two days of sightseeing and school due to an unfortunate case of gastroenteritis.

So, to answer your question directly, if you are not wanted in a restaurant, run!

Has a cop ever said something to you which was completely unexpected?

Twenty years ago I moved across the country. When I got to my new state, I dragged my heels at getting new license plates. I am embarrassed to say how far I exceeded the grace period. A cop I worked with at school reminded me gently that our particular state had pretty stiff penalties for expired tags and I should take care of it before I got pulled over. I wish I had heeded her warning.

I never got a notice in the mail, but sure enough, I did get pulled over. The cop was polite and told me why I had been stopped, then returned to his squad car to run my info.

He came back. “Are you aware you license has been suspended?

“WHAT??!!” I was not.

He was puzzled. “Do you owe child support or something?”

“No.” I was upset at this point, not with him but the situation. I have never been in trouble with the law.

He was obviously perplexed. “They don’t normally suspend a license for expired tags. Huh.” He wrote out a warning.

When it was time to leave, I said “Sir…with an expired license, how will I get home?”

He shrugged. “If I drive off first, how will I know if you’re driving?”

He was very kind. However, the legal system was not. I had to jump through a lot of expensive hoops to get things cleared up. All of it could have easily been avoided. Renew your tags, everyone.

What are the biggest facepalm moments you have ever experienced?

A pizza delivery driver in his mid 20s (me….20 years ago) knocks on the door of an apartment, a few minutes go by and the door opens. As it swings open a cloud of VERY aromatic smoke rolls out and the man of the house says in a Bob Bitchin’ (PhD, MA, BA and a BMF besides) voice,

“Yeah, what is it?”

“I have your pizzas.”

“How much are they?”

“$20.87”

He hands me $30 asks for a $5 back, takes his change, and shuts the door. Nonplussed, I knock again. A couple of minutes goes by and the same man answered the door.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“I still have your pizzas.”

“How much are they?”

Now here I paused, and considered, until finally…

“$20.87”

He reaches in his pocket, gets his wallet out, looks inside and says,

“Give me a minute.”

Another 5 or 6 minutes go by and I see him talking with the 4 other people sitting around the TV. A collection occurs. He finally returns to the door and hands me $20.87 in the form of a single $5, eight $1 s, and the other $7.87 in mixed change. He then apologizes saying,

“Sorry about all the change, and no tip, I swear I had $30 around here but I can’t find it.”

To this day, I cannot help but smack my forehead when I think about it.

Edit- Thanks to all. I hope it gave you a bit of joy.

“NO WAY” TikTok Videos Viewers Are Struggling To Explain

The inherited time machine that my mother hated

My mother’s husband after my (birth) parents got their divorce, was a man of great local wealth. A “big man” in the local community. He was quite the character.

He had 15 sons, and one girl. He was Catholic.

Don’t you know.

Anyways, after he passed on he give my brother a gift in his will.

No one knew what it was, and when we all took the truck to get it, we were all surprised.

It was a home liquor bar from the 1960’s during the Playboy age.

It has girly glasses, swizzle sticks, and was able to control lighting with velvet and mirrors inside the cabinet. We boys all thought it was cool as fuck.

My sisters thought that it was stupid; old antique furniture. something that should be given away at a thrift store.

My mother… well she just *sighed*.

Gave it to my brother.

It looked a little bit like this, only shorter with more drawers, and a built in ashtray.

Still, my mother wanted us to throw it away.

Ugh! She didn’t appreciate it’s value like we (my brother and I) did.

Often my brother and I would muse about being a “playboy” like 007, and seducing women in our bachelor pad.

He has it today.

It’s in his “game room” / study. Perhaps, he goes to it every now and then and mixed up a Tom Collins, or a Whiskey Sour.

Today…

Rights in the United States

How do servers feel when someone only orders the cheapest item on the menu?

The cheapest item on a menu is often the most profitable. That is no coincidence. At the top of the menu will be a prime rib roast for $60. At the bottom is the fettuccine Alfredo for $17.99. The prime rib is called the anchor item. Believe me, it is there to scare you. They sell very few of them and don’t make much profit because of the high cost of the raw materials. So now, they’ve coaxed you to look at the cheapest item, the Alfredo. One chef revealed that a pasta dish at the bottom of his menu cost only 98 cents in ingredients, but was $17.99 on the menu. It was the most profitable item on the list, and the most popular dish they sell, especially when compared to the $60 steak that only brought in a couple of bucks profit.

Then there’s the wine list. It was designed by a restaurant psychologist. They know that a couple on a date will order a bottle of wine. But the guy doesn’t want to look cheap, so he orders the second cheapest wine. But guess what else? The owner knows that too, and the second cheapest wine has the highest margin!

A menu is full of tricks. Many of them funny, like no dollar signs and no decimals. Or burying the price in the description rather than putting it on a column to the right, where prices are easier to compare.

There are many, many more. Try searching “restaurant menu tricks”. Here’s one of them:

10 menu design hacks restaurants use to make you order more – Learn

Do you sleep with your bedroom door open or closed? Why?

Until May 12, 2007, I didn’t worry whether my bedroom door was open or closed while I slept. Now, my bedroom door is closed and locked every night.

Tenth-grader Alec Kreider, entered the Haines’ family home while all were asleep and stabbed them. All their bedroom doors were open and their garage door was up.

When you look at his photo, Alec was just a kid.

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The only person to escape was the 19-year-old daughter. Alec didn’t know she’d returned from college that evening.

The Haines’ house was less than a mile from ours.

The police were at a loss to find the killer or even a motive for why this family had been killed. The police were vocal about what the area residents should do until the case was resolved.

It was during that month that we started locking the bedroom door. Finally, it became a habit that we continued even after Alec’s father drove his son to police headquarters.

Alec never disclosed why he killed a good friend of his and the parents. He pleaded guilty and there was no trial.

Edit:

Someone commented that the photo of Alec may have been when he was younger than the date of his arrest. I copied and pasted a photo so you could see how he looked on that day.

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Decline

What are good skills to learn before going to prison?

If you’re going to prison, you need to learn how to shut up. It’s normal that when we see injustice, we want to fix it. Did you see someone steal another man’s shoes while he slept? Just mind your own business. Learn to lock up your own shoes, or make them not worth stealing.

Confronting the thief is a bad idea. Maybe you’re pretty good in a scrap and think you could take the scumbag down.

Maybe you can. But what will you do when three of them show up at your bunk at 2:30 in the morning with their padlocks inside socks? Those heavy chunks of metal, swung at high speed inside the sock, hit hard. It’s an impromptu weapon that works just as well as something from a medieval battlefield. The only thing it lacks are the spikes, but the inmates will compensate for that with enthusiasm.

Next, you need to learn that your case is nobody’s business. Period. It’s tempting to want to talk about what you’ve been through.

Don’t.

Just don’t.

The reverse is even more true. Do not ask anyone else about their case. It’s none of your business, and the asking invites trouble.

Prison is a primitive culture. It’s all based on power and social status. In a way, it’s like we’ve never built a civilization at all, and are stuck in our shared simian ancestry without the civilizing influences of the feminine gender. Ask yourself, “What would Jane Goodall do?”

Observe. Understand. Don’t get involved.

Learn to lose yourself in an activity. If you’re not much of a reader, learn to become one.

Learn some useful skills. Learn to sew. The ability to repair your own things will save you money, and can make you useful to others.

Learn to make do.

Two years later, I still catch myself glancing in trash cans for useful things.

Learn introspection. Learn to understand who you are so that essence can be preserved. Your time in prison is temporary. One day, you will be headed either to the streets, or to the hereafter. Either way, you want to leave as a civilized human being the least scarred as possible.

My goodness!

Southern Afghanistan 2008.

Group of Taliban fighters ambushed a squad of Marines in my platoon on a night patrol. We were engaged in a firefight with them during the day and a squad was pushed out to search for them. Traditionally the Taliban would not engage us at night because we “own the night”.

This time however, when the Marines got close they lit multiple stacks of dried vegetation on fire washing out our NVGs with light. They also engaged the Marines with RPGs and automatic weapons from rather well hidden positions that were only a stone’s throw away. In fact, they happened to throw back grenades that were thrown in their direction. I was pushed up from the rear as aid and litter to retrieve a wounded Marine and the light show I saw that night was like watching star wars space battle.

The green and red tracers being exchanged over the sight and sound of explosions, smell of burning fuel and large flames was all so astonishing to experience. The Taliban impressed me that day. In my experience that was one of only the handful of times I experienced a night battle in my year and a half total of combat zone time. Their success was short lived however, you can imagine who eventually won that fight.

When you are on the way up…

The Mughal Empire was ruled by only one dynasty, but why doesn’t anyone call it the “Mughal dynasty”?

There is no word “empire” in ancient Chinese history

This word was introduced to China by Westerners, and then the Chinese began to use it.

Therefore, the Chinese customarily refer to all their ancient regimes as “dynasties” rather than “empires”

Now, there are some new changes in the definition of ancient Chinese regimes in academic circles.

Some scholars began to try to distinguish between “empires” and “dynasties” in ancient China

They called some powerful regimes that ruled the whole of China “empires,” while they called some small regimes that only controlled local areas “dynasties.”

For example, “Ming Empire”, “Tang Empire”, “Song Dynasty” and “Shang Dynasty”.

They believe that many large empires and more small dynasties were born in ancient China. Their reason is that with every regime established, the name of the country changes. There has never been a regime named “Middle Kingdom” or “Middle Empire” in Chinese history.

Some scholars also believe that according to Western definitions, China established its empire in 211 BC and lasted until 1912. During these 2000 years, China had only one empire. All regime changes are “dynasties” within this empire. The change of dynasties is actually the continuous collapse and reconstruction of this empire.

Their reason is: the establishment of each dynasty claimed to have inherited the “mandate of heaven” from the previous dynasty. They even passed down the seal made by the first emperor as a symbol of legitimate power.

I think there is no standard answer to this question, just a customary name

Important

When is China expected to surpass the USA economically? Will they also become a military superpower at the same time?

Wake up it has already!

China has a bigger economy based on the flawed GDP PPP measurement that favours the west measurement of values of smokes and bubbles. Such as Wall Street values and not real tangible human values. Yet even in this flawed and skewed to the west measurement China has already overtaken them since 2014. China have more men, more ships more planes more ammunitions and it has vital new technologies such as hypersonic missiles and superior drone and sonar technologies that render most of U.S. weapons useless for at least a decade now!

Interstellar | “Tidal Wave” Full Scene (Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey) | Paramount Movies

Doesn’t Putin realize he will be VAPORIZED 15 to 20 minutes after he launches his first missile?

How exactly?

Let’s say Putin nukes Kiev tomorrow

Do you think anyone would retaliate?

That’s because nobody would want the risk of Russia launching Nukes against them in a counter strike

The attitude of NATO would be

“Boy he is ready to launch nukes and annihilate everyone. If we launch a nuke against Putin, the world will be annihilated”

So the West won’t launch nukes and would do their best and prevent war

Even the Neocons would be stunned enough to sue for peace

It’s what Medvedev would have done

Launch a small low yield nuke capable of killing maybe 100,000 Ukranians in Kyiv and getting peace

Let’s say Putin nukes France

Half a Dozen Satans, destroying and vaporizing the entire nation

Would UK Or US risk launching nukes against Putin?

They would know for certain that if they did, Russia will launch a counter strike and millions and millions of their people will die including Mrs Biden or the Biden Grandkids or Mrs Sunak Or the Sunak Kids

I don’t think they will

They will have all their nukes ready for launch but will ensure that they somehow de escalate from a full on nuclear war

So i dont think any NATO nation will retaliate against Putin on behalf of another Nation because that would be certain death

Unless Putin hits US or US hits Putin, the risk of MAD is very little

Putin can destroy any other nation in the planet without fear of consequences of nuclear retaliation

Maybe China is too large and has a strong enough AD to manage to defend itself

So how to ensure there is no nuclear confrontation?

Each side has enough Pentagon or Kremlin Brass who know when to draw a line and prevent nuclear escalation

I love this

What are some psychological facts about girls?

People who understand sarcasm well are often good at reading peoples MIND.
A survey says that a person who likes to do the things which are “asked not to be done,” are sugar lovers. They like sweets more than anything in this world. 😉 If you know someone who is fond of sweets, get ready to face adventures.

68% of the people suffer from Phantom Vibration Syndrome, the feeling that one’s phone is vibrating when it’s not.
Depression can affect other parts of your body, potentially leading to other diseases, especially cardiovascular-related diseases.
Being alone for a long time or smoking 15 cigarettes a day, both are equally dangerous.
If someone is being a dick, tell them they have something in their teeth. That will make them feel self-conscious and weird, and should end their dickness. Works every time.
Unless you make peace with your past, you can never pave your future… so leave things that trouble you behind and focus on the future.
Having negative friends is linked to depression, lowered self-esteem, insomnia and anxiety. Positive friends promote good overall health.
While walking on a crowded street, keep looking to the path you want to go, most people will avoid getting in your way.
If you always thinking about someone and sometimes they randomly pop up in your head, they miss you and you are also on their mind 🙂
People who get angry very fast are under deep stress at that time and they need love and belonging immediately.
I heard this the other day. Apparently if you pick a word someone is using and smile each time they say that particular word, they will start to say the word more often.For example, someone is talking about dogs, and if you smile when they say *dog*, then they’ll say *dog* more often.
According to psychology, two effective ways to fight depression are exercising and spending time with pets.
Psychopaths say “um” more frequently in order to appear like a normal person.
If you announce your goals or tell someone else about them, you are less likely to accomplish them because of the lack of motivation and interest that now result from someone else being aware of your goals. Keep them to yourself!
People who talk to themselves are smart by nature.
If a girl is really into you then she will look at you secretly when the people around you both are laughing.
For developing a new habit, follow it for 21 days, it will eventually become a routine.
Most marriages are failing faster these days than at any other period in history, and most people actually believe that marriages don’t work anymore. According to studies, marrying your best friend eliminates the risk of divorce by over 70% and such marriages are more likely to last a lifetime.
Smoking tobacco and having an unhealthy diet causes cancer more than alcohol would.
One minute of anger weakens the immune system for 4–5 hours. One minute of laughter boosts the immune system for 24 hours.
Girls: An average man gets bored after 26 mins of shopping.
If you believe you are not good looking, you never will be good looking to others. (Seriously. It is like the Law of Attraction is in play a bit here.)
The closer you are in a relationship, the more you can read the other’s mind.
Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in there. The ones who accept you for who you’re.

Fuck Dude!

What was the stupidest thing someone has called the police on you for?

My ex-wife became convinced that I was hacking her home computer.

(Well, technically it was my computer, but it was an older one I’d left for her use after I’d moved out – a long, unhappy story.)

Among the many stupid parts of this claim, is that it was in the days of dial-up modems, where she could easily disconnect the computer from the internet. Hacking instantly prevented!

And, at that time, I don’t think’ spy-ware’ of that type even existed.

Also her son-in-law worked in IT, and could have easily installed standard security software for her. But I suspect he actually did that, and that she still thought she was being hacked.

The sad reality of the story is that she suffered from mental health issues, and constantly thought people were “out to get” her. Neighbours, (ex-)friends, co-workers, fellow church-members, etc.

Still, I was kind of surprised, 6 months after I’d moved out, when the police called to question me about “tampering” with her computer. They didn’t seem to give this much credibility, but I think they were obliged to follow-up, even know it was a waste of everyone’s time.

The irony is SHE had previously hacked MY email account, because she thought I had a secret girlfriend on the side. Nope, sorry – I was faithful to the bitter end.

(She also told people I was secretly gay – so which is it?)

What was your most embarrassing moment as a foreigner in another country?

6 months back, I was on a trip to China (related to work).

One fine day, I got late while coming back from work to my hotel. It was 9 PM.

An old lady called for me. She was sitting on the stones near footpath. When I approached her, she asked about where I was going. I told her that I was going to my hotel. She asked if she could come along.

I thought she might be worried because it was cloudy and dark. I agreed. We reached hotel and she followed me in. I thought she might be a guest at the hotel. But then she tried getting into my room as well on which I objected.

I had a feeling that something was wrong, as we had been communicating mostly in sign language as she spoke very little English. I called reception and asked them for help ASAP.

The reception guy came. I told him that I found this granny while coming to the hotel. But she’s following me every where. It would be nice if he could translate for me. He said something to her in Chinese and started giggling. He asked her to follow him.

I went downstairs for dinner in 20 minutes. The girls at the dining space started laughing when they saw me. I smiled back.

After my dinner, I went to the reception guy to ask why everyone was laughing at me. He told me that the granny was a call girl. And I was innocent enough not to understand that.

He told me that the girls were not laughing but feeling amused at my innocence. What a nice way to tell someone he messed up big.

Victoria Nuland STEPS DOWN!

Nation Hal Turner 05 March 2024

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs of U.S. Victoria Nuland has retired. according to a statement issued by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Victoria Nuland has let me know that she intends to step down in the coming weeks as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs – a role in which she has personified President Biden’s commitment to put diplomacy back at the center of our foreign policy and revitalize America’s global leadership at a crucial time for our nation and the world. Victoria’s tenure caps three and a half decades of remarkable public service under six Presidents and ten Secretaries of State,” was noted in the Statement. (HT REMARK: The Witch is out . . . . this seems extremely peculiar to me; especially the timing of it, given the Ukraine-Russia thing going on. Perhaps this is a sign the entire Ukraine fiasco is going to be brought to an abrupt end???)

Bravery

What’s the most incompetent instance of bullying you’ve ever seen?

Actually, it happened to me.

I was a tiny ten-year-old and was often mistaken for eight. My bully was about twelve and was big for his age. He beat me up almost every day on the way home from school. One day, I’d had enough.

He came after me. I bent, darted under his arm, grabbed the back straps of his sandals and felled him like David did Goliath. He got up, stunned, then looking down at his sandals, (yes, the big bad bully wore sandals) cried, “You broke my sandals!” and began to cry and ran, I assumed, home. But that’s not the best part.

The next day I, the bully and his parents, were called into the principal’s office. When his parents saw me, their jaws dropped. There sits their big, strapping son, and I, a tiny, tiny blonde little girl. Nevertheless, they began yelling about my beating up their son, blah blah blah.

Now, the principal had noticed that I had been coming to school with black eyes, bruises and scratches, and unbeknownst to me, had begun to investigate…end result, sandal boy got suspended for one week.

Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of victory! He never bullied me again – nor did anyone else!

Good Advice

Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

Pork

1 pound pork tenderloin

Glaze

1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoons mustard
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Instructions

Place pork on a greased rack in a baking pan lined with foil.
Combine glaze ingredients in a bowl, set aside 3 tablespoons glaze. Spoon remaining glaze over pork.
Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F for 28 minutes or until done, basting occasionally with reserved glaze.
Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

Fun Facts

Your tongue length is related to your sexual curiosity. Those who can lick their elbows are more willing to try new experiences.
If you have a crush on someone, your brain will find it impossible to lie to that person.
People who understand sarcasm well are often good at reading people’s minds.
The way you dress is linked with your mood. So dressing well most often helps in keeping you more stably happy.
Women with higher IQs have a harder time finding a mate.
The cells in your body react to everything your mind says. So negativity brings down your immune system and you feel sick.
The most you talk about someone, the more are you likely to fall in love with that person.
We believe what we WANT to believe.
Men are not funnier than women: they just make more jokes, not caring whether other people like their humor or not.
Listening to high-frequency music makes you feel calm, relaxed, and happy.

Dogs being dogs

Why did the rapid rise of China catch many in the west by surprise?

The West had a good nice plan for China

Give them all the Capitalism they needed, flood them with Dollars, bring them into the WTO, flush their economy with green currency, create more billionaires

Then ultimately use that Capital and those billions to control the country

They had a ready made plan

Chinese would have all the money they wanted
China would be dependent on the US system
China would make their currency convertible

Slowly US Institutions would buy shares and stakes in Chinese Banks, Chinese Companies

Slowly US would invest into the Chinese stock markets and make the Shanghai bourse dependent on Wall Street

The ultimate plan was to make China – a mirror of South Korea

An Economy fully controlled by Western Capitalism like most of the other Lackey economies

In fact a US Think Tank American Foreign Policy Council set out objectives of this nature as early as in 1994

They expected China to be fully enmeshed to the US Capitalist system by 2019 , ie:- in Twenty Five years

Xi Jingping stunned them

He regulated the tap of capitalism flowing into China

Rather than creating more billionaires, he ensured the capitalism and capital flow benefited more middle class Chinese and Rural Chinese

Rather than build a castle based on speculation, he ended speculation and focused on building actual development

He diverted all that green money into SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY and ENGINEERING

In short he did something the West never expected

He increased anti corruption policies

He focused heavily on the lower income Chinese

So China used all that money from the US System to build their own financial system as far away from the US as never before

They used the Capitalism to build global connections through the BRI

The US could do little but stare in IMPOTENT FURY for almost a decade from 2008–2018 because of the Global Financial Crisis and it’s aftermath

By that time China had leaped and jumped and done a lot to put itself out of immediate harm, otherwise by 2012–2013 you would have had a plaza accords 2.0 with China

Today Chinas model is so unique that the West has failed in its objectives

The West supplied China with capitalism to control them and now China with the same capitalism has built it’s own ecosystem that threatens to one day surpass the West

Another is Putin

They flooded him with capital and created oligarchs to control him

He grinned, complied and when he was strong enough

The oligarchs simply disappeared

Excellent purging

One morning Oligarch goes to a walk, collapses

His tame militia are all in jail Or sadly killed in a terrorist strike

The Oligarch was blue when he died. Some nice Novichok.

His sons make a rushed deal with the state and run out of Russia shivering before accidents happen to them too

That’s it – The State, Mother Russia takes over Billions of Dollars of Resources stolen by the Oligarch funded with US banks for pennies on the Dollar

Gutter scum are purged like rats

What a man!!!!

Today?

Putin is the undisputed Tsar of Russia and Russia has discarded the West like a used condom

Next in the line is mostly Saudi Arabia

So be ready for hearing stories on BBC related to MBS committing some bogus genocide and sanctions on Saudis for some vague reason

They will be weaker than the Russian Sanctions

They too follow the inverse square law

Fairness

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/D6qouIyh1lc?feature=share

Ukraine – Cookie Monster Retires

A big fat rat is leaving the ship. One might interpret this as the State Department’s admittance of defeat in the U.S. war against Russia in Ukraine: On the Retirement of Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland – Anthony Blinken / State Department, Mar 5 2024

Victoria Nuland has let me know that she intends to step down in the coming weeks as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs – a role in which she has personified President Biden’s commitment to put diplomacy back at the center of our foreign policy and revitalize America’s global leadership at a crucial time for our nation and the world. … [I]t’s Toria’s leadership on Ukraine that diplomats and students of foreign policy will study for years to come. Her efforts have been indispensable to confronting Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marshaling a global coalition to ensure his strategic failure, and helping Ukraine work toward the day when it will be able to stand strongly on its own feet – democratically, economically, and militarily. … President Biden and I have asked our Under Secretary for Management John Bass to serve as Acting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs until Toria’s replacement is confirmed.

Victoria Nuland, a member of the neo-conservative Kagan clan, is only 62 years old – too young to retire regularly. She will be remembered for handing out cookies to anti-government demonstrators in Ukraine and for installing the 2014 coup regime. That has been her main project in the State Department. But the 2014 Maidan putsch that turn the Ukraine into a battering ram against Russia, has ended in a complete failure. Neither was Russia ‘weakened‘ by the war nor has Ukraine any perspective to survive but as some Russian controlled land-locked backwater country in Europe’s east. Given that billions were spent on Ukraine with little controls and nothing to show for Nuland, and her family, have certainly made a bit on the side. One wonders if any of the ongoing and coming investigations into the black hole Ukraine will leave them unscarred. As even Guardian commentators are now waking up to the mess they helped create it is high time for European politicians to also finally accept this reality:

Western Europe has no conceivable interest in escalating the Ukraine war through a long-range missile exchange. While it should sustain its logistical support for Ukrainian forces, it has no strategic interest in Kyiv’s desire to drive Russia out of the majority Russian-speaking areas of Crimea or Donbas. It has every interest in assiduously seeking an early settlement and starting the rebuilding of Ukraine.As for the west’s “soft power” sanctions on Russia, they have failed miserably, disrupting the global trading economy in the process. Sanctions may be beloved of western diplomats and thinktanks. They may even hurt someone – not least Britain’s energy users – but they have not devastated the Russian economy or changed Putin’s mind. This year Russia’s growth rate is expected to exceed Britain’s. The crass ineptitude of a quarter of a century of western military interventions should have taught us some lessons. Apparently not.

Posted by b at 14:51 UTC |

Cat love

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/h7M2o-bLkkE?feature=share

Have you ever accidentally interrupted a crime in progress?

I came out of the shower at a truck stop once, to find that the cashier was being robbed at gunpoint.

It was about two in the morning and the truck stop was otherwise dead.

I very quietly sat my shower bag on the floor, ducked my way over to where the truck stop sold tools and found a tire-thumper. I then snuck up behind the robber and thumped him as hard as I could on his shoulder, right where his shoulder met his neck. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

The truck stop’s owner was so grateful, that he gave me a hundred dollar gift certificate to use in his store. He also gave me the tire-thumper, which is essentially a smaller version of a baseball bat, both as a thank-you for saving his store from being robbed, and likely his employee’s life, too.

I was also thanked by the town’s sheriff (it was a small town in west Texas), and the local gazette took my picture. I was also given an honorable mention by the trucking company I worked for at the time.

The robber was taken to hospital and then later, presumably, to jail. I’d walloped him a good one, later learning that I’d hit him so hard, that I’d broken his right collar bone, from hitting him from behind!

Interstellar | Docking Scene

Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients

12 large leaves cabbage
1 cup cooked white rice
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup minced onion
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil cabbage leaves 2 minutes, just until pliable; drain.
In large bowl, combine rice, egg, milk, onion, ground beef, salt and pepper.
Place about 1/4 cup of meat mixture in center of each cabbage leaf, and roll up, tucking in ends. Place rolls in slow cooker, seam side down.
In a small bowl, mix together tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over cabbage rolls.
Cover, and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours.

Great quote

Have you ever met someone for the first time and got the strongest feeling that the person was bad?

One of my coworkers at (a) job, retracted information to protect all parties, just wasn’t feeling right. He hired in just fine, passed all the drug tests etc. He seemed ok, but my problem gut feeling was there. I first attributed it to simply his demeanor, and I try to hire all people just as much as normal since I too am slightly autistic. But after watching him interacting with customers and coworkers, I knew something just wasn’t kosher. He was very polite to them, but then on his way back to get something I would often hear him berate them. He said some pretty horrible things about people, after he was the most polite and sincere person ever to their face. I really had no true grounds to terminate him, after all he was following all rules and was showing up for work on time. I had to keep his personal business to myself and him. Other workers began complaining over time though, especially the ladies, so I had a talk with him. What he said during that talk shook me to the core. He was middle eastern, so women to him were property, nothing more. He just wasn’t able to overcome his way of life and beliefs. I sternly told him all people from every type and corner, including himself, were protected under strict laws in the US. If he had any chance of enjoying life here and being able to stay in this country, he needed to learn that women were equal to men and were NOT property that he could push around.

He didn’t like that one bit. He retorted that in his country I should and would be punished or killed, to which I stated “Ok, that was just a direct threat to me my friend, you need to leave NOW. You are terminated effective immediately”. His response was I was not the head boss, and I had no authority to fire him. I retorted back that in threatening situations, such as any employees making any type of threat or violence against another, any manager was well equipped to call the authorities and have him immediately fired and removed from our premises. One call to my head boss was all it took. When he heard this, I think it clicked in his head he was not in his country, and he was stepping way beyond his bounds. He quickly settled down, a small sorry might have escaped his lips, but the damage was done. With several women testifying against him, we had no choice but to let him go. I made the phone call, and of course I was told that my decision was valid. I had it on speaker for him to listen to. I watched as a good bit of color wiped away from his face. I then told my boss, as he was sitting there listening, that everything was recorded on our security camera for the office. If any questions arose, she had the footage. She promptly set a do not erase for that camera footage.

So, I hang up the phone and look him square in the eyes. “Are you leaving quietly or am I needing to contact our local sheriff? “. No, I will go. ” Ok, no problems ever again from you at this location right? A tresspass will land you in jail and deportation out of our country. “ His expression said it all, like oh crap I just screwed up really bad. Rather than even deal with him again, I quickly counted up his hours he had worked for the week and paid him (with receipt) right there. Then I escorted him off our property. On my way back I heard him mumbling again under his breath. Probably trying to figure out how to have me killed. I was very glad to have him dealt with. I admit i was a tad scared he might actually try something, but I was hoping his visa meant more to him than being disrespected. We didn’t have any issues that I am aware of.

This Is Not A Drill | Captain Phillips

Why did the rapid rise of China catch many in the west by surprise?

The rapid development and rise of China in the past few decades has been reflected in the rapid economic growth, the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, the huge changes in infrastructure and the continuous improvement of social welfare. These achievements have been made through the firm determination and unremitting efforts of the Chinese government, and have also brought important influence and opportunities to the world. These achievements have taken the world by surprise and many people in the West by surprise and unprepared.

First, geographically, China is so far away from the West that many Westerners don’t understand China.China is located in the Eastern Hemisphere. Westerners have to travel a long way to reach China. And because of the distance, not many Westerners would travel to China unless they were curious and looking for adventure. And the Western media portrays China in a very negative light, leading many people to distrust China’s rise.

As a netizen in the United States described, in the 1990s, he could not have predicted that only 20 years later, China would become the world’s second largest economy, that some Chinese technology companies would rank among the world’s most valuable companies, and that food stalls in China could pay by scanning the QR code on their mobile phones. And policy makers in Washington and Brussels are still asking whether China’s growth is real or fake.

Second, in political terms, China’s rise challenges Western institutional ideas.

For a long time, many people in the West have had the basic idea that a country can succeed economically only by embracing Western liberal democracy and capitalism. Only with the Western model of development can a country be rich and strong, and there is no other model. As Francis Fukuyama concluded in his famous essay The End of History, “Liberal democracy is the ultimate form of government for all nations”.

Even though the Chinese economy has been growing on a rapid basis for many years, the West is still dismissive, they are completely distrustful of the data coming out of China, and none of them think this growth is sustainable. That’s why there are “scholars” like Gordon Chang who dedicate their lives to convincing the public that China’s economy is about to collapse.

China’s success is proof that a country does not need to copy Western institutions to become rich and powerful. Westerners find it inconceivable that the Chinese people, whose way of thinking and way of life are so different from those in the West, can still build such a big economy in the world. For the time being, Westerners have not accepted that a non-European white country can become as developed as a white country.

Since the Middle Ages, no nation has ever grown up in peace. Great powers like England, Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States have all grown up on the backs of others. However, the Chinese government holds high the banner of peaceful development and dominates China’s economic development model. Coupled with its unique political system and cultural differences, China’s rapid economic development and peaceful rise have resulted in a lack of understanding and expectation of China’s rapid rise in the West.

Third, from an economic point of view, China’s rapid development surprises Westerners.

It took China less than 60 years to go from nothing to second place in the world in terms of GDP. It took just 70 years for 1.4 billion Chinese to lift themselves out of poverty. Since 2010, when China surpassed Japan for the first time to become the world’s second largest economy, China’s annual GDP has been more than four times Japan’s total GDP. It took the United States one or two hundred years to modernize, while China has become amazing in just 30 years!

In 2022, the world’s steel production will reach 1,878.5 million tons, of which China will account for 1,013 million tons. China will have 5.35 million kilometers of highways in 2023, an increase of 1.12 million kilometers in 10 years; China has 177,000 kilometers of expressways, ranking first in the world. China’s high-speed railway has gone overseas. Indonesia’s Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway has been fully opened to traffic, with a speed of 350 km/h. China’s space industry has developed rapidly, from unmanned flights to manned flights, from one person for one day to more than one person for many days, from in-cabin experiments to out-of-cabin activities, from single-ship flights to sky surveys at the space station… Over the past 30 years or so, the Chinese people have taken a confident and leisurely walk in space. In 2023, China will surpass the United States in the number of patent applications, ranking first in the world.

Fourth, from a cultural point of view, Westerners are reluctant to accept the rise of Asian civilization in their hearts.

Since the Industrial Revolution, Westerners have liked to think that they are the world’s leading civilization to the exclusion of others. While Britain was the world’s superpower and the world’s policeman, the wealth and industry were all in Europe. Europeans accepted the “rise of Britain” because British people looked like them. After World War II, when British power and wealth declined, the US took the lead, and the wealth and industry were all in the US. Americans and Europeans were happy with that because Americans looked like them. When Japan’s economy grew rapidly to become the second largest in the world in the 1980s, the West could not accept it and imposed extremely severe restrictions and repression on the Japanese economy. Now, with China’s rapid development and peaceful rise, the world’s wealth and industry are shifting to China and Asia, and although it is not there yet, it is clear that wealth is shifting to Asia. This time, Chinese people don’t look like Americans or Europeans, and in their stereotype of Asian development is relatively backward, so they are reluctant to accept this rise.

All in all, in recent decades, the Chinese people have adhered to the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, persisted in reform and opening up, and worked hard to develop their own politics, economy and culture. They have forged ahead and achieved a rapid rise, which has surprised many people in the West. However, China’s peaceful rise will be a boon to the Chinese people and a boon to people around the world.

What’s the most “small town” thing you’ve witnessed?

Here in Hong Kong… people think it’s like this.

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Or this

But I live in the countryside.

It kind of looks like this

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We have a problem with wild animals. Wild pigs are absolutely everywhere and eat the trash. Most locals who live here shrug and think meh, but visitors are all OMG a wild pig.

We also have massive snakes.

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Oh and rats, huge fucken rats as big as cats. A couple years ago when she was younger nobody batted an eye when my mum grabbed a massive rat by it’s tail and smashed it on the ground into a bloody mess. A wild dog came along and ate it shortly after.

Ukraine SINKS Russian Navy Ship Sergey Kostov in Kerch Strait

World Hal Turner 05 March 2024

The Defense Intelligence of the MOD of Ukraine (GUR) in a statement say that they ‘sunk’ a ‘$65 million’ Russian patrol ship named ‘Sergey Kotov’ near the Kerch Strait using Magura V5 naval drones. The vessel was a 22160 Bykov-class corvette, seen in the FILE PHOTO below:

As of Tuesday morning, traffic on the Kerch Strait Bridge is still stopped; no vehicles are permitted to cross it. No one is saying if the attack last night, which was reported by this website (HERE), damaged the bridge or not. Dmitry Medvedev, writing on his Telegram channel, confirmed the story: “Overnight, Ukraine’s naval drones found the Russian Navy stealth patrol ship Sergei Kotov in the Kerch Strait by the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, damaged her stern and both sides and sank her.”

Real talk

Have you ever seen a kid and just thought “Well, they’re doomed”?

Yes. Trigger warning: offensive language.

I work as an anaesthesiologist. I put kids off to sleep all the time for surgery. Having had anaesthetics myself as a child—and hated them—I go to elaborate lengths to make the experience as manageable as possible for every child.

This begins with talking directly to the kid, rather than talk to the parents as if they’re not there. I try to gain a little of their confidence and trust. I talk on their level. I make jokes. I don’t lie or use euphemisms.

I usually give kids gas to breathe to go to sleep. For younger kids, I tell them a story as they go to sleep. For older kids, I show them a funny video on YouTube. Using my techniques, most kids are calm and cooperative when they go to sleep. Inevitably some balk at the smell of the gas, and some are so anxious that they won’t engage with me; but I never restrain a child without consent from the parent.

This particular wee lad was 7. He was accompanied by his grandmother. He was well, but Gran said vaguely that he had some behaviour problems at school. He didn’t really want to talk to me, but I did my best with my usual routine.

We get into the operating theatre, and get him on the table (soft foam mattress, cosy blanket, Gran holding his hand). I gently hold the mask and start the story. After a few breaths of the gas, his whole demeanour changed. He started saying “No, no, no” and pulled the mask off. As usual, I try to be gentle, so I tried to reapply the mask with some reassuring words.

“Fuck that!” he shouted. “This is mental!” He sat up and started to climb off the table. The nurse came over to help and he shouted “Fuck off, you nigger!”

He climbed off the table. His face was contorted in pure hatred and hostility. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen such hatred in a child’s face. He was lashing out with his fists.

I hate restraining children. (Anaesthesiologists seem to like to lie to parents and say “Don’t worry; they won’t remember this”. I know this to be a lie because I remember what happened to me as a child—so I don’t say it.)

The only alternative is to abandon the procedure. Gran (very reasonably) didn’t think this was the right move. So we restrained him. All the time he was fighting and screaming insults and profanities. (I believe nigger was the most offensive word he knew, because nobody in the room had very brown skin).

Kids are afraid; I get that. Sometimes they pick up on their parents’ fears (or memories!); I get that too. Sometimes children cannot be reasoned with and we need to restrain them so we can put them to sleep for surgery which is necessary. But usually what they react with is fear and avoidance.

This kid, just below the surface, was carrying a truckload of hatred and aggression, which he could not control—at the age of 7. Had this kid been terribly brutalised? Was his Gran with him because his parents were not around for some reason? I could never find out.

Of course I’m extremely unlikely to ever see that kid again. I’ll never find out how his life unfolds, but if he reacts to every threatening situation with the same level of violence and hostility, he’s really going to hurt someone, or himself, and that’s only going to get worse as he gets older, and bigger, and runs into the testosterone poisoning of puberty.

I hope I’m wrong.

Edit: Of all the content in this answer, which has generated a lot of traffic and commentary, by far the most contentious seems to have been my use of the phrase “testosterone poisoning”.

I intended this to be a tongue-in-cheek, metaphorical use of the word “poisoning” to represent the effect that testosterone has on the behaviour of young men: it tends to make them more aggressive, more impulsive, and more likely to take risks. None of these are attributes which are likely to improve the behaviour of this particular young man, for whom puberty lies ahead. Testosterone levels rise very sharply at puberty and this is at least one of the causes of emotional turbulence during that period.

I didn’t mean to imply that testosterone is literally a poison. I do recognise that male puberty is a normal part of male development. I am not being sexist in my answer or attacking the male sex. I reject any notion that using this particular phrase is a sign of my unprofessionalism, or my unsuitability to perform my job well.

Lordy

What is the biggest “I’m definitely fired” thing you’ve done at work, but nobody ever found out?

Well, everybody found out, from the ambulances, police cars, and fire-trucks that showed up. The plume of smoke could be seen for miles.

I was 18, doing a summer job after my freshman year, working at a recycling plant where OSHA and the EPA seemed to have no jurisdiction for whatever reason. On my first day of work, I was the “Fireman” on a job of taking the tops off of passenger rail cars and turning them into flatcars. Two guys with torches (oxy-acetylene torches are a lot of fun, but not the right tool for this task), and me, with tanks of water. See smoke? Douse it. See fire? Really douse it. Too simple of a plan. By lunch our first rail car was enflamed, our of control of me (or the fire-trucks that showed up!).

I figured I had screwed up royally, but by honestly reporting what we had done, how it went wrong, and refusing to talk to the Police or Firemen and referring them to the boss, I kinda came out a hero. I got a raise, and the most fun summer job I ever had.

Chopsaw, no training, check.

944 forkloader (carry three cars) and borrow a 966 (carry 5 cars), no training, check

Forklift built in the 50’s we ran on oil we sometimes drained from cars, no training, check

Shears. Electric eight inchers for cutting ordinary pipe and such, and the beastly six foot shears ran by a Ford 351 until I cut an International Harvester Jeep-like thing in half to power it when the 351 gave out, check.

My own oxy-acetylene rig when the metal would only listen to fire? check.

Really now that I know more about stuff (BA, couple of MAs) attacking that rail car with reciprocating saws (“SawzAlls”) would have been the way to go. It was just plain dumb to try it with torches. But by keeping my cool, I got the best job in the recycling plant, played with some incredibly beastly toys, and destroyed a lot of things in ways that mad my boss look good.

Oh, we probably violated darn near every EPA and OSHA regulation that is on the books. But that summer was fun.

Poland

Why is the reoffend rate so high for ex-inmates in the United States?

Here’s how the “justice” system works in the US:

Imagine a huge playground with millions of children having fun. Every once in a while, one of the kids does something that’s against The Rules. Maybe he tosses sand at someone, uses bad words, or walks up the slide. Maybe he’s just *accused* of breaking The Rules.

Instead of giving this kid a good talking to, we pick him up and drop him down one of the many open wells we have on this playground. He’ll have to spend a few hours down that well, with all the other kids that have broken The Rules.

What do you suppose our little rule breaker learns down in that well? Do you think he’s hard at work becoming a better person? Hell no. The other bigger and meaner kids are busy making him worse. When the little tyke’s time is up, we pluck him from the well and drop him right back on the playground with no special instruction or help. He’s lost all his toys and whatever place in line he may have had.

Every parent within a hundred yards is watching him because he just got out of the well. He’s a “known offender,” and those are fun to watch because they so often act out while trying to regain their toys or place in line.

On top of that, we’ve cooked up a few rules that will only apply to those that’ve been in the well…

How do you think that’ll go? Do you suppose he’ll be caught reoffending?

Of course he will. Is he more likely to offend than other kids? Maybe. But even if he didn’t pick up any bad habits in the well, he’s more likely to be accused of something because he’s being watched more closely *and* he now has more rules to comply with.

It’s so often the case that our “solution” has created more of what we sought to eliminate.

No sex realities

What is an example of a dirty trick that a thief tried but backfired when they saw your dog?

Not a dog, but a cat. There is a young woman in my neighborhood who uses a wheelchair. She lives alone except for her cat. It is clear that a disabled person lives in her home with a wheelchair lift in the back.

She woke up one night when she heard a rustling in her bedroom. A young guy was going through her drawer looking for jewelry. He had her laptop in his hand. She saw a pistol stuck in the back of his pants. She froze, trying not to move and alert him that she was awake. She was terrified. There was no way for her to get away from him. She feared for her life.

He sensed she was awake and took the pistol out of his waistband. He cocked it and headed to the bed with the pistol pointing at her. When he leaned over her bed, pistol aimed to kill, her cat leapt onto his head. She started kitty karate on his face, shredding what might have been good looks with her claws. He ran screaming out of the house with a furious feline on his head. The cops found eye guts in the driveway.

The cat saved her life. Hard to feel sorry for a one-eyed guy willing to rob and kill a helpless victim. Kitty got lots of treats and is living the good cat life.

I’m glad you are learning

Old Man in the Cafeteria

An old man just dropped his papers. The young black woman in the absurd fur hat had just told him, “No.” In his nervousness, he spilled all that he was carrying. She wouldn’t help him pick up his papers any more than she would grant his request. She stands, shoulders straight, face forward, and watches him, her eyes cast downward – impassive and uncaring.

What was his request? Something minor. For someone who has been here as long as he has – since the Reagan administration – it had to be something minor. He knows better than to ask for anything that will require much more than a nod of her head.

The old man stoops to pick up his papers. He’s shaking, but I don’t know if it’s from age or the confrontation of the moment. His legal papers, a jumble of typewritten pages, handwritten notes, and official envelopes, contain his proof – proof of how he has been wronged – proof of how the system has failed him. I know this because I have a pile of papers just like his with its official court seals and signatures of attorneys who can afford me no more of their time.

He carries his jumbled pile to a nearby table where he takes pains to straighten it and remove the filth from the cafeteria floor. He returns the papers to a folder crafted from a box which once held a dozen cans of grape soda – trash pressed into service to contain and protect his most cherished possession: his hope.

A judge destroyed his life one day. A judge took away his future and condemned him to age behind walls, to die slowly outside the view of his friends and relatives.

This is nothing new. Every prisoner here knows this. Every man here has been through the process. Plead guilty to a crime you may not have committed, or exercise your “Right to a trial,” lose to an opponent with unlimited resources, and be punished four or five times worse for having the audacity to say, “I didn’t do that!”

This is justice in America:

Prosecutors who wield more power than judges and use the threat of extreme sentences to force the innocent to confession;
Judges who follow guidelines set by a congress eager not to appear “soft on crime;”
Defense attorneys who are as cowed by the system as the defendants and can only help by showing you where to sign your confession;
Corporations who profit from our policy of mass incarceration by supplying goods to the prisons, or even the prisons themselves;
Guards who supply drugs, cigarettes, and favors to inmates with the resources to make it happen, or who use their authority to express their hatred or racism.

The old man will try again. He’ll approach someone else when another month of his dwindling reserve of life has passed and the sting of the disinterested woman is gone.

Thirty, forty years eventually pass and then the old man will be cast onto the street, his family gone, friends dispersed. He’ll have no money and may even owe a huge fine. Too frail and elderly to work, he’ll find a bridge to keep the rain from his blankets.

Containing China: US Using Taiwan as East Asian “Ukraine”

The old man

When I was a teenager and working in the mines and the supermarket, I was once approached by a very old man. It was a very odd visit.

I was sitting outside on the bench (outside the local laundrymat) which it was next to the supermarket where I worked. I had just finished eating my lunch. At that time, I was greatly enamored with a local “phillycheese sandwich”. So I was eating it, finished up and was ready to go back in and finish my shift.

Then, this older man slowly walked up to me.

He was old. He wore old-man clothes. Was short and hunched over, and came up to me and sat down besides me. I have never seen him before. He didn’t look like anyone that I knew, nor related to anyone. Just a strange old, old man.

He was quiet for the entire time.

But, as I started to get up to go, he lightly touched me on the arm. And then he said…

“Listen to me young man”.

So, I paused (out of respect) and stood there in front of him.

He continued.

“You are young. You have the whole world in front of you.”

I smiled and nodded.

“Be careful. Don’t get married early. Go to school. Work on yourself. Everything will come to you. This is a difficult time for you in this life.”

I said thank you, and started to leave.

He touched me again. Softly.

“I only wish that someone told me back then, what I am telling you now.”

I told him “thank you”.

I then walked back to the store, and about ten steps toward the door, I looked back.

He wasn’t there. He had disappeared.

I don’t know what happened.

For the longest time, I forgot about the event and the old man. Who was it? I don’t know. Was it time travel mm? Maybe… Who knows?

Today…

Did a co-worker ever try to hide their wealth or poverty from those at work? How did they do it and what happened after?

Loretta was working as an underwriter at a large insurance company in Los Angeles where I had a summer job.

She was an older lady from the South, wore her blonde hair in a beehive, and was always attired in polyester slacks, very colorful overblouses and matching costume jewelry, all from the Sears catalog.

She was polite with others but pretty much kept to herself. At company functions, she engaged in courteous conversation that gave no insight into whom she was.

Her desk was tidy with a few, forgettable personal items.

She was respected by the other underwriters and the bosses. We heard that she had refused promotions, being quite happy where she was.

I was sitting in front of her desk when the Personnel Manager strode in purposefully. As he drew nearer to Loretta’s desk, his confidence waned.

“Miss Loretta, may I speak to you and Bernard (the unit supervisor) for just a moment?” (Yes, he really called her ‘Miss Loretta’. . .no one else was addressed in such a way.)

“Why, of course.” (It sounds much better with a southern accent applied.)

Loretta’s desk was opposite Bernard’s office, so since they did not close the door, I heard everything.

“Miss Loretta, we’ve been through this before. You must cash your paychecks. The Finance Department can’t clear the books until you do.”

Loretta looked somewhat chastened, one hand fluttering to her throat.

“Why, I am so, so sorry! I didn’t mean to put anyone out. It just slipped my mind. I will take care of that today at lunch time!”

“You have the checks with you today?”

“Why, yes, I do. I believe they are in my desk.”

Mr. Personnel Manager gulped and then thanked her. Loretta went to the break room for coffee.

As I waited for her, I heard Bernard ask how many checks were outstanding.

Twenty-three monthly paychecks had not yet been cashed.

Think You Want To Get Married? 25 Wives Reveal Dark Secrets That They’ve Kept From Their Husbands

https://youtu.be/ERS-oF1KrKI

If you order a meal at a restaurant and don’t like the taste of it, is it bad etiquette to send it back and request something else instead?

Years ago I was trying a fancy Italian restaurant for the first time. My wife and I ordered. My wife’s meal arrived and she didn’t care for it. Moreover, it wasn’t as described in the menu. She flagged the waiter and he asked what he could help her with. She noticed that her dish didn’t have sun-dried tomatoes like the menu said and the waiter explained that the kitchen was out of them. She asked about another item that the menu said was in the dish but wasn’t and the waiter replied that they were out of that item as well.

She said she didn’t really like her dish and that she tried my dish and it was delicious and asked for what I was having instead. Our waiter heavily sighed gave us a very pained expression like we were being ridiculous and took her plate away. He returned with another plate of what I was having. What my wife originally ordered was more expensive than my dish and on the check she was still charged for the more expensive dish. At this point I wasn’t going to argue with the waiter so I just subtracted the amount we were overcharged from the waiter’s tip and left.

We never went back to that restaurant and told everyone who asked about our experience. Now if the restaurant apologized for the dish not being right, cheerfully changed my wife’s order and didn’t overcharge us we would have come back and had a much more positive experience to report to anyone who asked.

More recently when dining with my family my daughter ordered the special. She really didn’t like it. She tends to be a pretty picky eater so I tried it and I have to say I didn’t blame her because I didn’t like it either. The waiter came by and saw that my daughter hardly touched it and asked if it was OK. My daughter said yes. I told our waiter that my daughter didn’t like her dish but was too polite to say anything and that I tried it and didn’t think it was very good either. He apologized and said that the dish was a bit unusual and people usually either loved or hated it and that he would be happy to bring her something she would enjoy. After dinner our waiter said dessert was on him because of our inconvenience; we explained that we were all too full and our waiter offered to box it up for us to enjoy later. We sometimes do go back to that restaurant when we are in that area.

Many things in life can either be a problem or an opportunity. In the first case not liking a dish was a problem. In the second case it was an opportunity for the restaurant to give good service.

A good restaurant would rather exchange a meal than lose a customer.

Funny

The inventor Arthur Davidson, of the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Corporation, died and went to heaven. At the gates, St. Peter told Arthur, “Since you’ve been such a good man and your Motorcycles have changed the world, your reward is, you can hang out with anyone you want in Heaven.” Arthur thought about it for a minute and then said, “I want to hang out with God.” St. Peter took Arthur to the Throne Room, and introduced him to God. Arthur then asked God, “Hey, aren’t you the inventor of women? “God said, “Ah, yes. ” “Well, ” said Arthur, “professional to professional, you have some major design flaws in your invention.” God was somewhat taken back, and when He asked what the flaws might be, Arthur Davidson produced a list for Him to read.

1. There’s too much inconsistency in the front-end protrusions.

2. It chatters constantly at high speeds.

3. Most of the rear ends are too soft and wobble too much.

4. The intake is placed way to close to the exhaust and finally,

5. The maintenance costs are outrageous. “Hmmmm, you may have some good points there and it may be true that My invention is flawed… ” God said to Arthur. “But the last time that I checked, more men are riding My invention than yours.”

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

This happened to me at one of the companies i worked for. It was time for appraisal and promotion. I got a call from my boss; he wanted to discuss my promotion with me. I got to his office and he started to talk about how he wasn’t sure of my strength, etc.

I had surpassed my sales and product development target for the year and I was shocked to hear this. He wanted me to tell him what I was good at. Without a doubt, I did but I wasn’t comfortable with why he was asking that question.

I had never failed to meet my sales target or deliver on a project that was assigned to me. I got recommendations for promotion from HR, my colleagues, and other managers in the company.

I thought he wasn’t being honest with me. He wanted to critique my effort in order to not give me what I deserved as stated in the company’s career path. I felt bad for a couple of weeks and a colleague of mine said something that brought strength into me.

“If the boss doesn’t appreciate your effort, another company will” he said.

I connected with that statement, dusted my resumé off and started looking for a new job. I got recommended to a company by my friend, got an interview and secured the job.

It was time to break the news to my boss. On a Sunday evening, I submitted my resignation with a two weeks notice. Monday morning, I got to the office and got a call from my boss asking to see me immediately. He expressed how displeased he was about my resignation. He pleaded for six weeks notice instead of two weeks as stated in my employment letter. He said he would be in trouble if I left and that it would be difficult to get a quick replacement considering that I had so much responsibility in the office. He started saying things as they ought to have been said during the promotion interview. While I would have loved to wait for six weeks before leaving, I had committed to starting at the new office after two weeks. I made a promise that I would ensure whomever replaces me is well-equipped with all the information and documentation he or she needs and I was willing to provide assistance if needed.

He wanted to negotiate but I rejected the offer. If I have to explain my contribution to the development of the company only during promotions, then it’s obvious he wasn’t being honest with me.

It was time to move on.

An Egg McMuffin Was Once Just 99 Cents. Can You Guess How Much One Costs Today?

January 31, 2024by Michael

The days of the 99 cent Egg McMuffin are never coming back. Our central bank has been treating our currency like toilet paper, and our politicians in Washington have been borrowing and spending trillions of dollars that we do not have. As a result, we are in the midst of an inflation crisis that seemingly has no end.

Of course the mainstream media insists that inflation is “low”, but literally just about everything that we shell out money for on a regular basis costs a lot more these days. For example, just check out what it will cost you to get a single Egg McMuffin at one McDonald’s location in Connecticut…

A McDonald’s customer was left astounded after paying $7.29 for a single Egg McMuffin in a Connecticut drive through.

Bespoke Investment Group posted a picture of the customer’s receipt with the caption ‘$7.29 for one McDonald’s Egg McMuffin. What has the world come to?? These were 2 for $2 pretty recently.’

The bill records the purchase of two Egg McMuffins for $14.58 and one Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddle without two half-strips of bacon for $7.19.

$7.29 for just one Egg McMuffin?

Are you serious?

So that means that the price of an Egg MucMuffin in Connecticut is now more than 7 times higher than it was during the Reagan administration… https://www.youtube.com/embed/f-8rcPOs9r4?si=8taFsKsT0T34m2Y7Watching old commercials like that makes me sad, because our country has become a completely different place since that time.

Of course it isn’t just the Egg McMuffin that has become ridiculously expensive.

One customer in Idaho was stunned when he recently had to shell out $16.10 for his value meal…

Another customer in Idaho was also shocked to discover the prices of combo deal in December.

Topher Olive, was visiting one of the restaurant’s locations in Post Falls when he picked up a Smoky BLT Quarter Pounder with Cheese, a large fry, and a large Sprite setting him back $16.10.

He shared a video of his meal on, where he has more than 334,000 followers, admitting that he was shocked over the price.

I clearly remember when I could get a combo at McDonald’s for just five bucks.

Now only the wealthy can afford to eat at McDonald’s on a regular basis.

Needless to say, the definition of “wealthy” has changed too.

Once upon a time, if you had a million dollars you were set for life.

But now Kevin O’Leary says that you need at least five million dollars in the bank…

Kevin O’Leary, Shark Tank star and investor, sparked significant discussion with his assertion that individuals need $5 million in their bank accounts to ensure lifelong financial stability.

In an August 2023 YouTube video, O’Leary said, “You have to get to a place where you have $5 million in the bank,” emphasizing the importance of this amount to “survive the rest of your life, no matter what happens.” This statement, along with his detailed financial advice, has been a subject of both support and criticism among viewers and financial experts.

Only a tiny percentage of the population has that kind of money.

In fact, one recent survey found that 60 percent of the U.S. population has 500 dollars or less in their checking accounts.

And only 12 percent of the U.S. population has $2,001 dollars or more in their checking accounts.

Just 12 percent.

We are a nation that is literally living on the edge.

Amazingly, in this very tight economic environment there is a campaign to increase the salaries of members of Congress by 70 percent…

A campaign has started to raise the salaries of House and Senate members by 70% to $294,000 from the current $174,000 in return for better “performance.”

Federal analyst Steven Kopits, the president of Princeton Policy Advisors, argued that since most members are lawyers, salaries should at least be equal to what first-year associates in Manhattan receive, plus a 20% bump up.

“Most legislators are lawyers by trade, and we — or at least I — would hope that the public would prefer the best and the brightest to become members of Congress. First year law associates in New York are the best and brightest of their year, typically from Ivy League universities, and their salaries are tied to the market for premium legal services in the U.S. Therefore, if we believe we would like to recruit top-line legal professionals to serve in Congress, then first year associate salaries are a plausible comparable,” Kopits said in a memo.

Just like the rest of us, they are also being crushed by the terrible inflation that they played a major role in creating.

Considering how poorly they have performed, there is no way in the world that they should be getting a raise.

It is the rest of the country that needs help. The middle class is shrinking, food banks are facing unprecedented demand all over the nation, and homelessness is rising at the fastest pace ever recorded.

And our politicians are making things even worse by bringing in vast numbers of extremely desperate people from other countries.

In Denver, 40,000 new migrants have arrived during the past year, and they are absolutely overwhelming the city’s social services…

Nearly 40,000 migrants have arrived in Denver over the past year, making a city with a population of just over 710,000 the top destination per capita for newly arrived migrants crossing the U.S. southern border and traveling north in buses from Texas.

The influx is taking a toll on the city’s public safety net. Starting Feb. 5, Denver will limit the number of days migrants can stay in shelters and send those who exceed their stay out onto the streets.

One Venezuelan family, a mother, father and their three daughters, told NBC News they’ve been staying at a hotel paid for by the city, but they’ve just received notice that they’ll be evicted.

“Just yesterday they started throwing away the toys, the bicycles in the common area,” the mother said. “We don’t know where we will go next.”

This is happening all over the nation, and there is no end to this crisis in sight.

Meanwhile, we are being warned that the economy will “cool considerably” during the months ahead…

The U.S. economy is set to cool considerably in the coming months as once-rampant spending by American consumers finally comes to an end, according to Wells Fargo.

In a recent note to clients, Wells Fargo senior global market strategist Scott Wren warned that retail spending is likely to slow over the course of 2024 as the job market eases and layoffs start to rise.

“Americans with jobs and money in their pockets are going to spend,” Wren wrote. “However, as the economy slows as we move through the middle portion of this year and the labor market softens, we continue to believe the holiday spending that occurred last year was a bit of a last hurrah for the consumer.”

Of course there are lots of signs that the economy is already heading in the wrong direction quite rapidly.

Sales of iPhones are typically a very good indicator of where things are going, and right now projections for 2024 are quite dismal…

Apple stock, which on any given day is either the most or 2nd most valuable company in the world, rotating with MSFT, reversed earlier gains and slumped to session lows after widely-read TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (best known for gathering intelligence from his contacts in Apple’s Asian supply chain) reported that Apple has lowered its 2024 iPhone shipments of key upstream semiconductor components to about 200 million units, which correspondents to a decline of 15% year-on-year.

As a result, he notes that iPhone 15 series and new iPhone 16 series shipments will decline by 10–15% year-on-year in 1H 2024 and 2H 2024, respectively (compared to iPhone 14 series shipments in 1H 2023 and iPhone 15 series shipments in 2H 2023, respectively). Even worse, Apple’s weekly shipments in China have declined by 30–40% year-on-year in recent weeks, and this downward trend is expected to continue.

And layoff announcements continue to roll in from coast to coast.

This week, we learned that UPS will be laying off approximately 12,000 workers…

UPS plans to layoff nearly 12,000 employees following a massive year-over-year decline in revenue, company officials told USA TODAY Tuesday morning.

The workforce reduction is part of an effort to align resources in 2024 and will save the company nearly $1 billion, the Atlanta-based company’s CEO Carole Tomé said on a company earnings call.

A slow-motion train wreck is playing out day after day right in front of our eyes.

So many of the things that we have been warning about are literally happening right now.

But most of the population still appears to be in a deep state of sleep.

What will it take for them to finally wake up?

Have you ever had to go without period products because you couldn’t afford them?

Yep.

It was well-known at my middle school and high school that the school nurse didn’t have free pads for the students.

In middle school, we had to call our parents to pick us up. My mother worked out of town, and my father certainly wouldn’t have picked me up or bought me period supplies even if I had asked him. For him, that was always the mother’s job. That wasn’t something that fathers did. I shudder to think of what would’ve happened if I didn’t have enough pads with me during his visitation. He probably would have sent me home to my mother.

In high school, the school nurse had pads for purchase. The price was 50 cents per pad (about $2 apiece today), and while that doesn’t sound like much, the high school nurse wouldn’t just give you a pad if you didn’t have money and found yourself with a nasty visit from Aunt Flo. If you didn’t have money, the nurse wouldn’t budge. She would let you bleed through your clothes and make you call your parents to pick you up rather than give out a free pad. There were no vending machines for pads or tampons in the girl’s restroom at school. The only way she would give you one is if you had the money in your hand.

I understand that the nurse probably had to pay for them out of her own pocket, and she wanted to be reimbursed, but I never had any money. Ever. My mother was one of those parents who had zero problems with helping herself to her children’s savings. She also held the same job out of town, and didn’t have transportation back until the end of the workday, anyway. I usually carried plenty of backup pads and tampons all the time, but sometimes I ran out.

I also had extremely heavy, long-lasting periods even as a teenager. That meant that even wearing both a tampon and a pad, sometimes they were both soaked within 2 hours, sometimes less. I stained my clothes a few times. Did the school nurse care? Not a bit. She refused to give up any of her precious pads without money. She still got paid either way.

Which is why, when I found out that my kids’ school gave out free menstrual supplies, no matter what the economic status of their students, I almost cried.

Do you think China and Russia can truly challenge Western dominance in the Middle East?

China certainly can

China is the largest customer for the Oil Producing Countries in the Middle East

China is also the largest trader and exporter with the Middle East

From Cooking Ranges to Crockery to Clothing to Hikvision Cameras to Machinery to Stationery to Cutlery to Consumer Electronics to Bridges to Roads to Factory Construction to Industrial Air Conditioning

China thus has irreplaceable clout in the Middle East

Impossible to get alternative suppliers for all those products at that affordable cost and quality that China can deliver

Plus the latest exports include Commercial Drones, Trainer Aircraft, Advanced Drills & Gas Platform Drilling Equipment and Rigs

It’s ECONOMIC CLOUT in a Win Win relationship

Tomorrow if Saudi wants Nuclear Energy, China can fully and completely build Nuclear Energy Plants for Saudi and build completely Indigenous Reactors for the Saudis even the latest Thorium Salt Reactors

Meanwhile what clout does the West have?

In the last 75 years, the West has turned the middle East into a war zone begining in 1948

They provoke wars within Arab Nations using Israel as the pawn and then sell weapons to the Arab Nations to defend themselves
They threaten every Nation to use Dollars as transaction currency even if it’s a loss to them

The West has not helped a single Middle Eastern Nation beyond forcing them to kowtow to it’s Agenda like an Evil Demented Emperor

US was Saudis largest trading partner until the Mid 2000s

The nature of exports?

Weapons!!!!!!!

Weapons and Spares formed a whopping 37% of all exports to Saudi Arabia

Saudi was primitive for a long time and US didn’t care in the least

In 2003, Colin Powell literally forced the entire middle East to turn on Saddam Hussein even though he was a fellow Arab and everyone knew he was not guilty of 90% of the things, he was being accused of

Today?

Can Blinken Try?

They will ask him to go f*** himself if he goes too far

Egypt already said this many times recently

So did Qatar

So did Jordan

They didn’t turn on Assad even though the US demanded they do

And that was because of Uncle Vlad

That’s Russia

Russia doesn’t have Chinas clout

However they have Military power next only to the US and in terms of land fighting capability even better

They also have Food that the Middle East could use in an emergency, if US sanctions them

So Yes

The West no longer has the dominance in the middle East

They have to DELIVER to maintain even minimum influence

The normal threats and bullying won’t work

Sanctions will drive the Middle East into Chinas arms in nanoseconds

The US is now like ANY OTHER CUSTOMER

HIGH VALUE CUSTOMER yes but no longer the only Bull Elephant in the herd

Those days are gone

Trump even if he becomes President cannot change anything unless he offers a lot to the Saudis for their friendship and delivers Nuclear Technology and also other concessions including modification of the Bretton Woods system to accept multiple currencies

Joe Rogan is shocked to learn about Thomas Sowell’s Wisdom

https://youtu.be/OtBsyvpjjL8

The 10 Reasons Why Men Need a Men’s Coach to Breakthrough in their Life and Relationships

Last Updated On September 8, 2023

by Andrew Ferebee

Let me get this straight – you did everything right according to society’s rules and you’re telling me you’re not happy with the results?

You excelled in school, worked your butt off and built a successful career, live in a good neighborhood, drive a nice car and aren’t worried about monthly bills but despite the picture perfect life on the outside, there’s an empty feeling, a sense of unease like something deeper is missing.

Remember that inner fire that once drove you, the one that used to consume your soul like a wildfire to be all you can be? It’s diminished now, isn’t it? Doused and replaced by the cold, biting reality of a life lived for material possessions, putting others needs first and social constructs. A life of half awake work and mind-numbing monotony. Doesn’t exactly spark a flame of joy in your bones, does it?

Pause for a moment and let this sink in.

You might be doing well on the surface layer, but here’s the cold, hard truth: amidst that seemingly picture perfect facade, you’re unknowingly missing the very essence of life itself. I’m talking about those profound, soul-stirring connections that leave you breathless, the magnetic friendships that push the boundaries beyond the status quo, the intoxicating romance that sets your world ablaze, and that relentless thirst for adventure and purpose that has propelled men to move mountains for millennia.

Thoreau once wrote,

“The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.”

Look around you – this is as true today as it was then. Perhaps even more so!

We all enter into this world as a blank slate. An empty canvas to be filled with rich experiences, connections, passion filled romances and adventures to enrich our lives.

Men have always longed to…

Explore the world alongside his soulmate. He dreams of heart-pounding adventures, immersing himself in vibrant cultures, and cherishing those rare, life-altering moments. But alas, his reality is far from idyllic. Instead, he finds himself relentlessly toiling, desperately grasping for a taste of true “freedom.” Every day, he deceives himself, clutching onto the false notion that once he completes that next project or seals that elusive deal, he’ll finally have the time and worthiness to embrace romance, chase adventure, and authentically align with his deepest values
Ravish his beautiful lover nightly, yet he’s been fed the cliché advice to toil relentlessly before he can, striving to amplify his worth as a man. So he takes it to heart, dedicating his life to arduous work in the pursuit of being worthy of love. But what does he get in return? A love life that fails to provide pleasure, instead leaving him feeling abandoned and disrespected. His partner’s apathetic response to his romantic endeavors akin to a contractual obligation rather than an outpouring of raw passion, reducing their connection to the status of mere roommates. Isolated, he clings to his smartphone, its somber blue light a haunting symbol of the all-consuming void that torments his manhood.
Discover a purpose so mighty, so unyielding, that he’d lay down his very existence without hesitation to witness its breathtaking realization. But here’s the chilling truth: his days are shackled to a career, forced to coexist with similar zombie like colleagues, all for the sake of financing an unceasing cascade of hollow possessions that provide fleeting value, pass time and hold no genuine meaning.
Catapult out of bed each morning, brimming with an unwavering energy for the day. But alas, that is not the tale that unfolds. Instead, fatigue clings to his bones, sapping his vitality, as he traverses the exhausting grind of a never-ending pursuit of money, ensnared in the perpetual race to keep pace with the elusive peers around him. Determined to prove his worth, he yearns for validation, yearns for the recognition of his true capabilities, all in the hopes that it will rekindle the flickering flame of a passionless existence and breathe life into the barren landscapes of his love life
Deepen his connection with his masculinity, not only ‘finding’ himself, but actively sculpting himself into the confident, charming and alive man he’s always aspired to be or once was…But instead, he settles for society’s warped version of success, repressing his masculine fire, and sacrificing his most profound aspirations, dreams, and desires on the altar of social accolades, as he selflessly serves the needs of others.

Ah, what’s interesting is that he meticulously followed society’s script, constructing a life that was meant to be extraordinary, unforgettable, and full of success. Yet, here he sits, his eyes fixed on the glowing screen of a computer, ceaselessly treading away, trapped in the clutches of a whispering desperation that lingers within.

We live in a world where men are now more afraid than ever to be masculine, alive and act like strong grounded men. Men, like caged king lions, suppress their power and authenticity, concealing their truth behind a smokescreen of professional accomplishments and shiny toys.

And so it begins, a treacherous game, one that threatens to swallow them whole. With each move, their once vibrant social connections and intimate relationships plummet into a harrowing abyss. A descent into darkness unfolds, gripping their souls like a serpent’s squeeze. In a desperate scramble, the man succumbs to the alluring mirage of “more,” effectively ignoring the real problem while immersing himself in the superficial trappings of societal success.

Just consider that..

The suicide rate for men is 3.5x higher than that of women (iconic men who surpassed society’s version of “success”: like Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain, Avicci, Chester Bennington, Mac Miller, Junior Seau, Chris Cornell and Heath Ledger fell victim to this horrible act)
The divorce rate in the U.S hovers above 51% with family courts often siding with the mother
Men are 3x more likely to become alcohol and drug dependent (not to mention adult website usage is at all time highs) – masking their problems and hiding rather than getting support and solving them.

You can be forgiven for assuming that, at this point, men would reach out for help in droves. But because of society’s mandate that “Real men” are somehow capable of handling everything by themselves, men are less likely to reach out for help.

Instead, men numb themselves to reality with pleasure inducing addictions. Porn, social media, video games, Netflix originals, and even “work”, have become the sources of our respite. But their shallow promises only exacerbate the issue. These vices do little to further what matters most in our lives and nothing to solve the deeper problems men increasingly face.

So let’s clear something up right now…

Men’s coaching does not mean a man is weak or incapable of achieving results himself.

Coaching is strategic investment that allows men to grow faster by leveraging the guidance of a seasoned expert with the perspective, experience and know-how to breakthrough limiting beliefs that keep men lost for decades faster.

Someone to hold you accountable – to speak to you like no other man will and guide you in your life and relationships or lack thereof. To finally free you of the BS story that’s been holding you back from experiencing the life and relationship you truly want.

Let’s be honest here:

Warren Buffet wouldn’t be the greatest investor of our time without Benjamin Graham…
Marcus Aurelius wouldn’t be one of the greatest philosophers in history, the Emperor of Rome, and one of the most successful generals in military history without Epictetus…
Michael Jordan wouldn’t be the greatest basketball player and (arguably) the greatest athlete of our time without Phil Jackson and you could say the same for Kobe.

And to believe that you’re the exception to the rule is nothing more than nonsense!

If you want to live an exceptional life…a life filled with joy, adventure, romance, deep connection, control over the direction of your life and a sense of true masculine power…getting help by someone who is a results driven coach is the smartest thing you can do to get ahead of the masses.

Men must bravely enlist the help of other men who have “been there, done that”, and can share their wisdom, guidance and insight for living a remarkable life and cultivating real relationships beyond societies surface layer.

And today, I’m going to share the ten reasons why men’s coaching is the “secret edge” you’ve been searching for. The “missing link” that will help men reclaim their masculine power, end the “Nice Guy” behaviors, and become more attractive to and respected by the highest quality women and most successful men in their community.

There’s no time to waste. Let’s dive in.

1. You Lack a Powerful Results Driven Mentor Who Listens Carefully and Inspires Relentless Action

Therapy can be great. And for some men, necessary. But it’s not the end all solution it’s been made out to be.

Sure, they’ll listen intently (they’re paid to). But do not confuse a good listener with actual progress in reality. They don’t push you to challenge yourself, eschew the status quo of mediocrity, and step into your role as the king and creator of your own life. They know very little about reclaiming your masculine power and creating a life that makes you proud of the man you are becoming. Instead, they enable you to play small. Encourage it even for longer than necessary.

A men’s coach doesn’t.

When you enlist the help of other like-minded men who have been where you are today, they can spot your B.S. before you even open your mouth. They will hold you to a higher standard, demand that you play at a higher level, and challenge you in a way that others wouldn’t dare.

Granted there are well-meaning mental health professionals that exist, yet few and far between. And after working with 1000s of men their feedback on the results of therapy vs. coaching were all but ubiquitous and mostly time consuming and costly.

With therapy, they spent years (some of them decades) digging through their past to identify all of the ways in which their parents, teachers, friends, and high school crushes screwed them up for life.

They myopically focused on the trauma (real or perceived) of the past in hopes that somehow…by realizing that their anger issues stemmed from their broken relationship with their father…they would magically heal themselves and fix the problems with how they were showing up in the present..

Therapy doesn’t empower you to move forward, it only helps you resolve that which is already in your rear view mirror. It won’t help you show up to your relationships in a more grounded way that women naturally respond to, build a social lifestyle that excites you, or contend with the very real challenges you are facing in the present. It simply keeps you trapped by the challenges you’ve already overcome.

With coaching, it’s an entirely different story.

Yes, coaches will still address the implications of your past and how unresolved trauma might be manifesting itself as negative behaviors today.

But they don’t let you live there indefinitely and damn well don’t let you use it as an excuse!

With a men’s coach, the entire conversation is centered around growth, about learning from the challenges you’ve experienced in the past to become stronger and move forward today.

It isn’t based on theory. It’s based on action, results and experience. Experience from your coach’s own life or the lives of those they’ve worked with and gotten the end result you seek.

They’ll listen to you deeply, yes. But they’ll also have the courage and wisdom to speak to you directly like a man in a bold, masculine and direct way that is severely lacking today. Calling you out on the b.s. stories to which you’ve given away your power…giving you the facts of why your life isn’t working effectively in this new era for men…and being brutally honest in their feedback.

They’ll hit you upside the head with a no-holds barred reality check and hold you accountable to breaking the patterns and behaviors that are holing you back from the life, social status, and relationships you want.

With a therapist, you talk about the past. With a coach, you march courageously into the future.

They won’t let you hide from your challenges or outsource responsibility for your life to some traumatic episode of the past.

They will challenge you to level up today. To be real, raw, and honest with yourself and take concrete bold action toward solving the challenges holding you back from the life you want – on your very first session.

2. You’re Trapped by “Nice Guy” Behaviors Because You Lack Strong Masculine Role Models

Like me, your father probably wasn’t the best role model.

He wasn’t the Strong Grounded Man you aspire to be. He didn’t live a passionate, courageous and exciting life, he wasn’t a part of a strong community of men, he likely gave his power away to your mother and unintentionally taught you, through his example, that, to be a man, is to resign yourself to a life of serving and pleasing others…void of true purpose, power, and adventure.

Like most men, your father was either a quintessential “Nice Guy”–who trained you to adopt those same patterns and behaviors–or the opposite, a “Bad Boy”–who inadvertently trained you to be a nice guy because you wanted to rebel and be nothing like him.

This isn’t meant to denigrate your father – he likely did the best he could with what he was given from his father.

You may struggle with how to treat women (especially attractive women)
You may struggle standing up for yourself during conflict
You may avoid or put off conflicts to not “upset” anyone or cause any problems
You don’t know how to respectfully get your needs met and because of this hide a deep frustration inside– where sometimes it uncontrollably explodes in an anger fueled outburst
You are a nice guy who does things in order to get people to validate your worth

In our modern society, healthy and authentic masculinity has become vilified. Because of the real problems with toxic masculinity, we’ve instructed men to be submissive.

We’ve trained men to eschew their masculine edge…to rely only on the feminine elements of their nature instead of bringing together both energies to become complete, fully integrated, Grounded Men.

Today, it is more important than ever for men to regain their masculine energy because it is the missing link to get to the next level in life – especially romantic relationships.

Too many men allow their “Nice Guy” tendencies to undermine their life…putting the needs of others first…struggling to assert themselves to avoid tension…being unable to set and maintain healthy boundaries…and refusing to prioritize their own goals, ambitions and dreams.

And the end result is always a life filled with regret, a decrease in the man’s value and incognito resentment to those who take advantage of you with little to no appreciation.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have the “Over Achiever”. Men who use their professional ambitions to mask the pain they feel inside and achieve some modicum of validation through their external accomplishments and accolades to outwardly prove their self worth to society and of course, women.

While there’s nothing wrong with success, money, or achievement, these men are not pursuing these things from a place of wholeness…using them as tools and resources to magnify a fulfilled life…instead they pursue them from the lens of scarcity, ego and desperation. In hopes that the next milestone, promotion, or product launch will somehow give them the feeling that they are enough and others will suddenly validate them and place them on a higher arbitrary pedestal of life. That they finally belong, yet the problem is this can go on for the rest of the man’s life… meanwhile the clock is ticking.

But when you leverage a men’s coach, when you surround yourself with strong masculine men tempered by virtue and a sense of purpose and honor, you can begin the process of eradicating these dark tendencies once and for all.

You’ll learn how to develop your confidence in a healthy way free of ego, how to set boundaries, prioritize yourself (while still being valued and respected by others) and your desires, speak the truth even when it’s hard, and cultivate a strong sense of self worth.

And from this place, you can finally be at peace with yourself and the world around you. You will be able to show up to life and relationships as your true self like never before.

You will be enough.

3. You Give Away Your Masculine Power To Women then Lose All Respect, Value and Romance

Woody Allen said, “90% of success is showing up.” But men today are not showing up for the women in their lives.

Men have lost the strength of their masculine edge and women are starving for it.

Today, men are terrified by their own masculinity. They are petrified by their darkness and aggression and, instead of embracing and learning to harness it, they suppress it and embrace what is easier and more acceptable – nice guy, people pleasing and approval seeking behaviors. Both in their lives and in their interactions with women

The modern man often feels weak, spineless and powerless; castrated by a hyper feminist society and emasculated by the women they yearn connection and intimacy for.

If he’s single, he struggles to be present in his interactions, suppressing his desire for romantic intimacy and acting disingenuously out of fear of rejection with the hopes of being “liked” for being a nice guy who will wait his turn.

And if he’s married or in a committed relationship?

He gives away his power to his partner, marking the death of connection, deep intimacy and allowing her to lead the relationship and indeed his life. Instead of showing up as a leader, confidant, protector for her, he’s little more than a walking ATM. A cash dispenser whom she begrudgingly settles for in return for an infrequent lackluster romantic life.

And these behaviors put you at the mercy of women!

She owns you – and loses all respect for you, and therefore attraction and romantic desire cannot exist. You have no power in the relationship, and you both know it.

When this happens, women, even faithful and loving women, become susceptible to the allure of infidelity. Not because they are bad corrupt people. Because the man is not showing up the way he needs to and is incapable of doing the things he needs to do to keep a high quality woman engaged and excited in his life.

She treats you like a little boy because that’s exactly how you’re acting. A physically big man with little inner backbone (one of the biggest turn offs to women), unconsciously telling her that he is a weak man who cannot be trusted which makes her feel unsafe and unhappy.

And when she’s finally had enough of the weak needy behavior? She leaves him, alone and heart broken. You don’t need me to tell you how painful a serious breakup or divorce can be for a man (especially a successful man of worth). Beyond the stress and financial burden of possibly losing (half) or more of your net worth and everything you bled for, these events are often a setback from which a man will rarely fully recover.

They extinguish what little fire was left in his soul and snuff out the glimmer of hope that still twinkled in his eye.

The financial and emotional cost of exuding weak “Nice Guy” behaviors in a relationship is higher than most men realize until it’s too late. Much higher than doing the work required to become a strong grounded man capable of attracting and keeping his partner among many other life benefits.

And, what most men don’t realize is that women are just as confused, frustrated, and exhausted by this charade as you are. Women don’t want a doormat for a partner. They don’t want someone who spinelessly defers to and subjugates themselves at the altar of the feminine as to not upset her.

They want a man they can trust. A man with power, vision, and aliveness who gives her butterflies in her stomach and keeps her daydreaming when she will get to go out with and bed her king again.

And when you work with a men’s coach, you can become this man.

You’ll regain your masculine power, boost your confidence, and show up to the relationship as a whole, fulfilled, and complete man…a man who doesn’t need a woman to feel validated or worthy…but who chooses a woman with whom he can build his kingdom. A woman to love, support, and challenge and who loves, supports, and challenges him.

A men’s coach not only helps you reclaim your power… you multiply it and go from the masses of men who are approval seeking nice guys to “omg who is THAT guy?”

4. You Chase Money Endlessly without a Clear Definite Purpose Bigger than Oneself

Most men believe that their purpose in life is relegated to doing whatever will make the most money. That their self worth is contingent on their net worth and that the only appropriate answer to the question “What do you want?” is “More.”

Sure, you make money. Maybe even great money. But beyond the base level of success the income doesn’t excite or inspire you like it once did. It simply assuages your growing sense of a lack of purpose, allowing you to go through the motions, numbing yourself with vices without any idea as to what you’re doing or WHY you’re doing it.

You follow the crowd aimlessly moving through life unconsciously. Working long hours, giving up your personal life, saying “No” to the experiences and life you really want to make more money…and for what?

Extra bedrooms? More horses in the car? A mini vacation where you spend your time sequestered in your hotel room responding to emails and putting out fires?

Most men aren’t willing to take a step back, look inwardly, and ask themselves, “Beyond financial success…What do I really want out of my life and relationships?”

Because you haven’t done this work you grind even harder thinking “more” is the solution, desperately pouring your soul and finite time into work in hopes that one day…the money you earn will finally validate your worth as a man and make you feel “enough”.

And when it doesn’t?

You seek instant gratification in the forms of vices like alcohol, drugs, porn, binging social media/tv, and excessive consumerism to numb the pain of a purposeless life.

You spend money on lavish external things like cars, clothes, and unnecessary household gadgets in the hopes of finding just a niggle of temporary excitement – But the fleeting and superficial nature of these purchases leave you no more content, joyful, or alive than the month prior, keeping you in a perpetual cycle of consumption.

Indeed, there has been major shifts in society – men today have no Great War. No cause. No purpose. And feel utterly lost because of it.

Every man needs a fight. Not necessarily physical, but a greater mission to fight for.

“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.” – Gautama Buddha

Something that’s greater than yourself and for some men possibly noble enough that it’s worth sacrificing everything for.

By plugging yourself into a community of like minded men led by the guidance of a team of expert men’s coach who can open your eyes up to a new possibility, you’ll gain clarity on your path and purpose and unlock a new level of meaning and significance in your life that supersedes the purely materialistic of the unconscious masses.

5. You Need Someone Other Than Your Divorced or Single Friends with Whom You Can Get Effective Feedback on Your Intimate Relationships

Men’s coaches specialize in relationships in many ways. The masculine-feminine dynamic is likely why they became men’s coaches in the first place. Often many men’s coaches have backgrounds in dating, seduction and relationship coaching.

However, they’ve evolved into a healthier and more mature form of supporting men beyond the superficial “pick up” tactics.

Your men’s coach is to relationships what a Navy SEAL is to combat.

He will teach you the proven strategies and mental frameworks (that none of your family, friends, and peers have the slightest clue about) so that you can transform into the type of man that women respect, admire, and brag about to their friends and family.

If the intense satisfaction that comes from a deeper level of connection, intimacy and romance with women is what you want… you are not going to get it by listening to your friend whose own relationship history is a stage 4 natural disaster who’s got divorce attorneys on speed dial.

Most men are bitter, jaded, and angry with women. After a stream of failed relationships, they buy into the lie that there must be something fundamentally wrong with women (instead of admitting to themselves that the problem might lie in how they are showing up to women).

The simple truth of the matter is that you cannot take advice from someone who has not achieved the results you want to achieve.

The right men’s coach has already walked the walk. He knows how to achieve lasting success, intimacy, and passion inside of your relationship and will teach you how to lay the foundation of self-love, confidence, and masculine power required to make your relationship thrive.

He’ll help you either find the perfect woman with whom you will build your kingdom, OR enhance your existing relationship with the woman you’ve under-prioritized for years (maybe even decades) to new heights.

Nothing, and I do mean nothing, will have a greater impact on your happiness, success, and fulfillment than the woman with whom you choose to share your life. Happiness is not found in another ‘0’ in the bank account…but in a deep well of shared experiences with someone whom you love and feel deeply connected to – and who feels the same

And with the help of a results driven men’s coach, you’ll finally have access to the mindsets, strategies and tactics that you need to solve the most challenging relationship struggles in your life.

6. You Do Not Have Real Masculine Accountability in Your Life that Calls You Out on Your BS (and likely never have)

When a strong grounded man with absolute conviction asks you to do something – you do it.

When you tell someone whom you deeply respect that you are going to take a specific action, you will do everything in your power to keep your word because you do not want to let someone you respect down.

It’s in our masculine nature to be a man of our word. If you tell a strong grounded man you’ll do something and don’t – you’re breaking your word and bond with your coach.

It’s not about the money with the men’s coach; it’s about being a man of integrity.

If your word means nothing… then are you a man to be trusted? Can women even trust this man?

When a man is held accountable by someone he deeply respects, then he focuses harder and takes the right actions to get stellar results, even when it’s scary and seems damn near impossible.

You can’t hide. You can’t play small. You can’t live with the excuses that you’ve suppressed for years anymore.

More importantly, you can’t ignore the parts of your life that aren’t working and rely on superficial external successes to hide behind an unhappy and un-lived life. It’s very easy for a men’s coach to see behind the facade you’ve created to feel safe.

The disappointment you feel when you let down someone you greatly respect will propel you into action. It’s a big reality check for you at that moment when your men’s coach is not buying into your b.s. story that everyone else believes.

You’ll be thinking in the back of your head, “He can see through my BS. I can’t believe I’ve gotten away with this for this long and it’s time to change.”

“Good men are bound by conscience and liberated by accountability.” ~Wes Fessler

Any man can shy away from help because he’s afraid to look foolish yet it’s the truly courageous and brave man who stands up and asks for support.

You probably surround yourself with high achieving men already.

While they mean well and care about you and your success, just like crabs in a bucket pulling any escaping crabs back down they are terrified of watching you outgrow and outperform your existing social group

Having a men’s coach and being a part of a community, a brotherhood, of men who truly stand for your greatness doesn’t make you weak or incapable. It’s where you can get your “secret” edge against the masses who are unaware such a solution exists.

7. You Don’t Have the Freedom To Fearlessly Express Your Truth Fully, So You Remain Silent and Don’t get Your Needs Met (in work and relationships)

At the core of every man is the desire to be free, yet ironically men often confine themselves to a cage to appear like they are okay.

You’ve locked your emotions up and pretend to be a “strong man” when at times, you’re struggling inside and barely holding it together.

Other people don’t see this…

All they see is the success…the external accolades…the fake smile…the “picture-perfect life”.

They see what you allow them to see, but they don’t see the truth. They don’t see the struggle that you’re experiencing…the inescapable sense of inadequacy…the fear that you’re on the brink of divorce, breaking up or suffering from chronic loneliness or an existential crisis.

You bought into the B.S. story that “Big boys don’t cry”, and so you stoically ignore and suppress your emotions and desires, convincing yourself that the only solution is to be silent in the face of abject fear.

When a man does this he shuts down a piece of his heart and becomes less human and more of a robot programmed by society with few signs of life becoming a shell of what he could be.

Expressing your emotions in a healthy way is a natural thing humans do, no different than urinating. If you don’t urinate you’re in pain. When you urinate the pain is gone – it’s that simple.

It’s a release that is a necessary requirement for healthy living.

“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” – Jim Morrison

Emotionally handicapped men become distant, angry, frustrated and cynical (in extreme cases, even violent).

Friendships and relationships slowly feel more like chores. When someone asks how you’re doing you reply with perfunctory bland responses to avoid expressing how you really feel.

“I’m alright, good, great, fine”… then you quickly turn the conversation back to them or something superficial to avoid anything, but the truth.

When a man is disconnected from his heart, he becomes disconnected from the rest of the world and lives in a silent prison where it’s just him and his dark thoughts shielded by his external successes.

He’s trapped in a mind-made prison without ever realizing that he is both the inmate and the warden of the prison. He holds the key to his own liberation, but years of societal conditioning have blinded him to this possibility.

Like an elephant kept in place by a feeble rope, he fails to realize that he’s outgrown the confines in which he has placed himself and that, at any moment, he can unlock the door and find his freedom.

Through men’s coaching and a strong community, you’ll discover how to express your emotions in a healthy way that doesn’t make you weak, but courageous and respected. How to connect with the deepest parts of yourself and be authentic, raw, and honest with other men. You’ll learn how to experience the depths of true connection, friendship, and intimacy, and step into your role as the vibrant and expressive king of your life.

Your men’s coach unlocks your emotional cage so you can release the heavy feeling in your gut and finally experience what true personal freedom means.

8. You’re Going Through Life Without Strong Male Support And Quality Friendships that Last and Go Beyond the Surface Layer

I’m not talking about your business associates or clients with whom you occasionally share a drink or over-priced steak dinner…but men with whom you can speak your truth and who support you. Life can be so much more than working, going to the gym and watching television/social media/adult websites.

The greatest paradox of the human experience is that, even in a sea of surface layer connections and acquaintances we can still feel desperately and soul-wrenchingly alone.

Most men, especially successful men like yourself, go through their entire lives without true male friendships.

They have plenty of acquaintances…golf buddies… beer hangouts… gym partners…business colleagues to do more deals with…but they lack meaningful, unfiltered, masculine connection.

They fear judgment and invalidation and, as a result, smother their truth until its voice is so faint they themselves can barely hear it.

Show me a man who fears authentic connection and real friendships with other quality men, and I’ll show you a man who is broken…alone…isolated…and void of life.

Humans need to connect at a deep level to be emotionally free, alive and healthy.

Women do this more naturally than men (likely because there are fewer stigmas around opening up and sharing the truth) but it is also essential for men’s well being.

And it’s no wonder that according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention the suicide rate for men is 3.5x higher than women and rising! This statistic isn’t relegated to low life’s in society but even the most successful men, celebrities, musicians, actors and those who have “made it” at high levels in society.

Men are more alone than ever today. There are few people with whom they can speak honestly and candidly without fear of judgment and ridicule. No one to support them, to challenge them, to share in their struggle and success and act as a brother in arms during good times and bad.

This is a very real social problem that people aren’t talking about and most men aren’t even aware of themselves because it’s so commonplace and men are too busy chasing “more”.

Do you have men in your life that you can share the good, the bad and the ugly with who will listen and support you?

Can you be vulnerable and share what’s really going on with other men without being scrutinized?

Men who live in a world of truths are more connected to the world and those around them and find more joy, happiness, and inner fulfillment.

With a men’s coach, you’ll be forced to live in a world of truth. There’s no room for deceit or dishonesty in a coaching relationship. The very nature of the relationship demands no b.s. honesty.

And when you get real with yourself and the other men in your life, you will tap into a deeper level of the human experience.

Your interactions will deepen, other men will respect you more, women will be more connected and attracted to you. As the saying goes, “The truth will set you free.” And a men’s coach will help you find, speak, and live in your truth.

9. You are Settling and Playing Small in the Game of Life Because You are Doing Better than Your Peers Growing Up

Our society has convinced men that…so long as they are making good money and can keep pace with the Jones’…they are playing the game of life well.

But what most men forget is that the concept of “Playing Small” is not relegated to only the financial realm! That’s one piece of the pie of life…

You can be a leader of your industry…a multimillionaire…the best in the world at what you do professionally…and still be playing the game of life grossly below your potential.

But if you aren’t going for the life you really want…if you aren’t fostering love, connection, intimacy…if you aren’t injecting adventure, aliveness, and risk into your life…if you wake up doing the same damn thing day in day out.

If you don’t love the life you have while you pursue your grand vision then you’re missing out on a whole lot of life. If you’re not excited for the day, alive in your social interactions and fulfilled in your relationships then…

You are winning the career battle, but you’re losing the war for your life, freedom and happiness.

It doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank or how many positions you’ve held that are prefixed by the letter ‘C’ or ‘Senior” or ‘VP’. If you aren’t excited about your life and filled with passion, purpose, and an ineffable sense of inner power…you’re playing small.

If your life report looks like this then what’s your overall GPA on life?

Career: A+
Physical Health: C
Emotional Health: C
Social Life: F
Romantic relationships: F
Purpose/mission/contribution: F
Adventure/passions/hobbies: F
Masculinity/backbone: F
Self confidence/self image/self worth: F

Oh how exciting would it be to fall in love with this guy and spend the rest of your life with him?

Now can you see the problem here? Most men pour all the energy into career and wonder why they’re unhappy outside of work with the results in their life and relationships.

And a men’s coach will not only call out this b.s. behavior when he sees it…but he will enable you to do the hard deep work required to address the other critical areas of life that are being ignored.

When you’re a part of the right community all the doing the same and assisted by a team of expert coaches, playing small is no longer an option.

You may hate us at times because we push you outside of your comfort zone…you may despise our brutal honesty and no-holds barred tirades…you may tell us to “Screw off!” and consider reverting back to your old ways.

But you’ll come to realize that we’re the only ones in your life pushing you forward. You are playing small and it’s time to end that.

You have 2 options:

1. You can stay safe and retreat into your old habits of chasing career success, pursuing external validation, masking pain with vices and relying on your accomplishments to fuel your self worth.

2. You can embrace the call to adventure into the life and relationships you’ve always wanted!

Accept that your professional accomplishments, however impressive, do not define your worth as a man and that, to live without regret, to not waste the rest of your life, you need more out of yourself and your life than another promotion, zero in the account or deal closed.

You can decide to take a stand for your own life and vision and pour your heart and soul into becoming the Strong Grounded Man you know you can be. To living the life you want. To eschewing society’s values and living a life based on your own vision, your own aspirations, and your own rules.

You can make this decision today.

But to make it stick, you’ll need support and guidance.

And I can promise you…when you accept that you cannot do it alone…when you decide to go all in on your life and recruit a team of expert coaches, mentors, and likeminded brothers you can make it happen a lot faster than you think.

That is the moment you will look back on years from today and say “That is when everything changed!”

Would it be helpful to discuss your unique situation, goals and challenges on the phone with a men’s coach in the next few days? Click to learn about the best men’s coaching service available

10. If You Keep Doing What You’ve Always Done, You’ll Miss the Best Years of Life

Now, you have a decision to make.

You made it to the end of this article for one simple reason. This conversation has deeply resonated with you.

Maybe your relationship is on the brink of ending and the woman you once promised to love and cherish has become the very source of your unhappiness, discontentment and frustration.

Maybe you’re chronically single and tired of being friend-zoned by the quality women you desire and are beginning to give up on dating altogether and embrace a life of single-hood.

Maybe your life is working…on the outside. But you no longer feel the fire, passion, and power you once had. You’ve become sedated…unaware of how much more your life could be.

Maybe workaholism and the constant pursuit of “more” has left you empty, depleted, and alone. You’ve spent years, maybe even decades, pursuing “success” and now you find yourself wondering when you go to bed at night… “is this really it?”

The simple truth is, I don’t know what pain you’re experiencing. I don’t know what challenges and frustrations you’re facing today.

But what I do know is this…

The price of inaction…of settling for a life you don’t love…of ignoring the real challenges in your life…of continuing to operate under the same dysfunctional paradigm and strategy that brought you here in the first place…is an un-lived life, a life of regret.

If you don’t make a change and decide to take new actions today, nothing will change tomorrow. Years will go by and the problems you are facing now will be amplified.

Your happiness, relationships, family, and sanity will slowly start to dwindle until you find yourself years later, wishing you could turn back the clock and do it YOUR WAY all over again.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can do it your way starting today and take a stand.

Over the past ten years, I’ve been quietly helping men at the highest levels achieve the things that money can’t buy…the happiness, purpose, passion, fulfillment, and romance they’ve craved for all along.

You’ve read the entire article which tells me you are serious about making big changes in your life so, I want to invite you into my brotherhood as the ideal next step…

…An elite coaching system unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before that will spark a personal revolution in your life, relationships and fundamentally change the man you are today.

I invite you to answer the call to adventure, to unleash the “powerful, successful, attractive man” you’ve kept caged inside of you for far too long, to take a stand for your life and your future and say “Enough is enough, I’m ready to reclaim my power and make this a reality!”

You know as well as I do that if you continue doing what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always had.

And if this article has not resonated with you…if you’re still convinced that you can do it all alone…

Then I wish you all the best, but I can’t help you and honestly no one can. You are not ready for the transformational work we mastered.

But if you’re courageous enough to accept that there are challenges in your life for which you don’t have the solutions…that there’s more to your existence as a man than simply making more money and living like a robot…that you CAN become the strong Grounded Man with deeper connections, fulfillment and relationships that you’ve always wanted… then you’re going to love what I’ve created for you.

However, I must be blunt, I do not offer cheap solutions to serious life and relationship problems. And to be honest, when has the cheapest solution to a serious problem of this magnitude ever worked? It’s usually a waste of time and that’s not what we’re about.

You wouldn’t look for the cheapest and least experienced doctor if you or a loved one were to undergo a life threatening surgery. And this problem should be treated at the same level since there are serious consequences if these problems continue to be ignored.

Through heavy research and development, we have learned that to solve the problem for good, it requires a team of talented and experienced experts who love what they do, in-depth high level training, actionable systems and exercises to achieve lifelong results. The good news is we have the solution and we’ve perfected it over the last decade with over 1000 clients, you must stop resisting help when it’s right in front of you and prioritize what matters most.

Chicken Cacciatore

What is Chicken Cacciatore?

Chicken Cacciatore is a rustic Italian dish made of bone-in chicken portions that have been browned then braised, along with sauteed vegetables, in crushed tomatoes, wine and herbs. Cacciatore is pronounced kah-chuh-taw-ree.

What to Serve with It

It is the coziest dish and it’s perfect paired with pasta, rustic bread, polenta, or mashed potatoes. It’s basically a meal in one so you really don’t need a whole lot more with it.

This makes for the perfect homestyle dinner to sit down to after a hectic day or long week. Such delicious Italian comfort food that’s well worth the process!

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) broiler-fryer chicken
2 cups water
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon oregano
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

Bring chicken to boil in a pot of water. Simmer chicken for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool. Pour stock into a measuring cup to make 2 cups and refrigerate.
Skim any fat from top of reserved stock when cooled.
De-bone the chicken. Discard bones and skin. Cut chicken into chunks.
Place all ingredients in a pot and cover. Bring to a boil, turning heat down immediately. Simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered, or until sauce has thickened.
Serve on a bed of rice.

How to Make Chicken Cacciatore

Brown chicken thighs: Heat olive oil in an extra large saute pan over medium-high heat.
Dab thighs dry with paper towels, season both sides with salt. Sear thighs until browned about 5 minutes, turn and sear about 3 – 4 minutes longer. Transfer thighs to a plate, set aside.
Saute mushrooms: Carefully drain off all but about 2 Tbsp fat in pan. Return to medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and saute, only tossing every minute or two, until browned, about 4 minutes total.
Saute other vegetables: Add bell peppers and onions and saute 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.
Add wine, reduce: Remove from heat, pour in wine. Return to heat and let simmer over medium-low heat until reduced by about half, about 3 minutes.
Add liquids, and flavorings: Mix in crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, half the parsley, half the basil, the thyme, oregano and parmesan rind. Season with salt and pepper to taste (take it easy on the salt as sauce will reduce some and parmesan will season the sauce).
Simmer chicken with cacciatore sauce until cooked through: Nestle chicken thighs into the sauce, bring to a simmer and reduce to medium-low. Cover while leaving lid just lightly ajar for some steam to escape. Simmer 15 minutes.
Turn thighs. Cover fully and continue to simmer until all of the thighs have cooked through (175 degrees in center), about 15 minutes longer.
Finish with olives and herb garnish: If using olives sprinkle over. Finish with remaining half of the parsley and basil. Serve warm with cooked pasta if desired.

Have you ever literally face-palmed in court?

Oh yeah. It was when we were in court, seeking an Order of Protection to get my daughter’s ex-boyfriend to stop intimidating her (Garrett Murphy’s answer to As 2016 has come to an end, what is the saddest thing that happened in your life in this year?).

One of the key things in that story was a day when the ex rode my daughter’s bus home from school, saying, out loud, that he was going to try to get her to have a panic attack.

This charming, precious boy had obviously been telling his parents how nice he’d been to my daughter. One of the things he’d must have told them was that he’d been keeping his distance from her.

So, in court, after we’d laid out our complaints, including the bus ride, he had his chance to question us (his rebuttal), then he told his side of the story.

He explained that when he rode the bus that day, he sat in the front row of the bus, as far from my daughter as possible, because he was trying to be nice to her, and this made it impossible for him to be actively antagonizing her.

So, when my daughter did her rebuttal, she asked where he remembered her sitting, he responded “between the back seat and the middle”, which would put about 10-12 rows of seats between them.

“So, why would you come sit within three rows of me, knowing the effects it would have on me?” My daughter had forgotten his claim that he sat in the very first seat on the bus.

“Well, the front of the bus was full, so I sat down in the first available seat. I’m sorry it was so close to you.” Holy crap, HE forgot his claim as well.

I interrupted (the judge had said he’d allow it at the onset): “Wait, didn’t you say, just a few minutes ago, that you sat in the front seat?”

“Yeah.”

“But, she sat in the back half of the bus…and you just admitted to sitting three rows in front of her.”

The judge’s face was already in his hands. Same with his mom’s. As he began stammering and trying to explain, I couldn’t help myself. Head…hands….

It Begins…All 50 States Fight For Protection (WARNING)

https://youtu.be/S3LSAnUg180

What should I do when my boss always makes other co-workers try to reach me and do work right away when I don’t respond to him on my off-hours and days?

I had this problem with several bosses at different jobs.

I did not take calls from work if I was off duty. My boss would blow up my phone, message me on social media and when that did not work, he would get my coworkers to do the same.

I ignored them as well.

When my boss couldn’t get me on the phone and my coworkers were unsuccessful, the boss would show up at my house and bang on my door like he was the police.

I cursed out one boss, slammed the door in the face of another and got into a screaming match with the other. I could not believe how disrespectful they were being; they violated so many boundaries by showing up at my house.

It wasn’t long before I found another job and split.

You have to stress this and be clear with the boss about not contacting you when off duty. I once had a boss blow up my phone until I answered and when I answered, I said, “If you’re calling me like this at 4:45am, this state better be on fire and you’re telling me I need to evacuate.”

Boss said, “We had several call offs and no call shows for third shift and first shift. We need help and wanted to know if you could come in.”

“No, I am not coming in to work,” I said. “I work like crazy and I want to rest and enjoy life outside of work.”

Then comes the bullshit about how I need to be a team player and I need to step up and help the situation.

“Okay, why do I have to step up at all?” I asked. “Why don’t you say something to the people who call off or don’t show up for their shift instead of putting pressure on me to come in all the time?”

“Shannon, everyone knows you will come in,” said Boss. “No one can count on the others to show up.”

“And yet, they are still employed,” I said. “I’m not coming in. I’m exhausted and want to rest. I am always the one everyone calls on to come in and help; I work 80, 90, and sometimes 100 hours a week because of this and I’m sick and damn tired of it. Call someone else and stop calling me on my off time; I am allowed to have a life outside of work.”

I hung up.

Boss got all pissy because I wouldn’t come in and then all of a sudden I was the laziest employee. I lost all motivation for that job because the boss was mad that I wouldn’t come in to help.

Boss went on and on about how lazy I was. Forgot about the thousand times I did step up and focused on the one time I didn’t.

I eventually had to escalate the matter up the chain of command to get results. It shouldn’t even have had to come to that, but the boss was resentful and petty and passive aggressive and of course I had to go deal with that.

In the end, it took going to the administrator several times over the course of several weeks before I got satisfaction. But by then it was too late; I just found a new job and quit because it was fucking ridiculous for the boss to expect me to make the job the center of my life to the exclusion of all else. They even blew me up when I was at my daughter’s graduation and I made it clear I wanted to be left alone. Ended up going in afterward and then get there and find that I was the only one who showed up…and I was expected to work and do it all, on my own and with no help.

Nursing homes jobs will absolutely fuck your soul.

What is the most inappropriate thing you have done during a serious moment?

We were arguing… and this time, it was serious.

We had a complex relationship: We were dance partners, business partners, and dating each other.

Couple that with the new condo we just moved into and there was no escaping this firestorm.

Like most nights, our dance rehearsal time went long into the night, and considering our sport requires two humans to move in harmony together, there was plenty of discord in the process.

On this night, a bit of dance feedback hit with a pang of frustration and made impact like lemon juice in the eye.

It wasn’t intended to cause harm but it sure as hell did.

The feedback devolved quickly into a blaming cluster bomb which included dance, business, and relationship “feedback”.

We lobbed these verbal weapons back and forth at each other.

At that time we had two separate dance floors divided by a sliding glass door, so, in an effort to simmer things down, I moved into the other room to practice on my own and clear my head.

But this was one of those arguments with frustration residue, it seeped into the pores of our egos and made for a difficult recovery.

I needed to do something because the car ride to our home and everything afterward wouldn’t get any better unless something changed.

She looked over at me with daggers in her eyes.

I stopped practicing.

She said something I couldn’t make out (probably for the best).

So I treated the sliding glass door like it was completely soundproof.

Me: “what?!”

Her: (angry) “I said, this is a waste of time!”

Me: (playing deaf) “you want me to do what?”

Her: (angrier/enunciating) “I said, this is a waste of time!!”

Me: (stunned) “you want me to take my pants off?!”

Her: (puzzled/angry) “what are you talking about!”

Me: (undoing my belt) “really my pants?! Okay if that’s what you want.”

I drop my pants.

She stands there in shock and then, like a sneeze you’re trying your best to fight off, she involuntarily smiled, laughed, and we made up.

It was one of the best moves of my dance, business, and personal life.

(We were married 18 months later)

What Happened To Marriage?

https://youtu.be/eSYNwf7Pets

What’s the most lame excuse your boss has ever offered for not giving you an expected raise?

I have three stories about this one. But I’m going to share the lamest excuse I was given.

I’d been working for this employer for about two years and then later left. I was earning the same wage as when I started; this was a year before I asked for a raise and I was earning the same when I left after this event, about a year later.

I’d been the go-to person at this job. I mean, I was called upon to do so much; I was even called away from one client to go take care of another one (home health) and expected to drive back and forth between the clients’ homes, which was 30 minutes apart. So I was expected to drive back and forth to care for two clients rather than just get someone else to pick up one of the cases.

My boss didn’t see any point in hiring more help; in fact he always said, “Why should I hire more people when I have you here? It’s not a big deal; it’s just some extra driving. You can handle it,” and left it at that.

So after a year of this insanity, I finally went to the boss and asked for a raise.

“A raise? Just what have you done to earn one?” the boss asked.

Incredulous, I ticked off all the things I’d done to help out: I gave up my holidays and days off to pick up a new client, I juggled two clients for three months (one of them eventually passed away), commuting and working a total of 18 hours a day, I spent two weeks driving all over town to care for clients during the Hurricane Ike windstorm that passed through, knocking out power. I’d even packed up clients’ laundry and took it to my house to wash it since I still had power and even cooked meals to carry to the clients so they could have a hot meal. I brought my butane campstove cook top so I could heat water to wash them up.

Now you’d think that would have been enough to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. But apparently that wasn’t impressive to my boss.

“Shannon, that isn’t going beyond the call of duty. That’s just doing the job you’re paid to do,” he said.

“Really? So what would I have to do to earn a raise? Give you a kidney or lung? I’m busting my ass here and I deserve a raise for my efforts.” I said.

“Well, Shannon, I can’t afford to give you a raise. Don’t have the money,” said the boss.

“Really? I notice that you and your wife have brand-new cars, bought after you returned from your vacation in Hawaii,” I said testily.

“Shannon, that’s why I don’t have the money to give you a raise. Besides, you can always go get foodstamps or go to a food pantry. I can’t do that,” he said.

“Dude, bottom line here, I deserve a raise and you need to give it to me,” I said.

“Shannon, I have to keep my family in the lifestyle they’re accustomed to. Now being poor is a huge issue for me, but it’s not a problem for you. It’s okay for you to not have enough money coming in. I have to be able to pay for my children’s activities and the nanny, I have to make sure my wife gets her cosmetic surgery and that I have a decent vehicle to get around in. If it’s that much of an issue, just go get a second job,” said the boss.

I walked out of the office, questioning my work performance. Was I not doing enough? Was I really doing enough to earn a raise?

So I resolved to earn a raise. And I busted it out. I went over, above and beyond the call of duty for the next year.

So I go back to my boss and tell him I deserve a raise. This time he laughed at me.

“Shannon, what makes you think you deserve a raise just for doing your job? Why do you keep running in here looking for handouts?” said the boss.

I got to my feet slowly. Lean over the desk.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I said. “I earn every nickel of every paycheck I draw on this job; you do not hand me a goddamn thing. I don’t know what seems to be the problem here, but I’ve been busting my ass for you for two years now and I’m still earning the same as when I started here,” I said, furious at his remarks.

“Well, I had to pay for my children’s school, my wife’s shit and I had to remodel the kitchen and finish my basement so I can turn it into a game room for my children. Plus, we’re going on vacation soon and I have to pay for that, so I can’t give you a raise,” the boss said.

I rose and stormed out. The boss actually had the nerve to say, “Don’t ask for a raise again. You’re not getting one,” got up and slammed the office door.

I got in my car and went to the library. I got on the computer and looked for a new job. I filled out applications and actually got a call back within a few minutes. Scheduled an interview.

I attended the interview and was offered the job. I accepted; it was paying 50% more than my current job, offered real benefits and perks and were reasonable when it came to workloads.

I went back to my other job and just waited.

Then my boss announced he was going on vacation in two weeks or so. This was my chance.

I put in my notice. I even set it up to make my last day the day before his vacation. When he learned that I given notice, he was furious and tried to make me stay until he got back. I stood my ground and said No.

The boss offered me raises, bonuses, paid time off, anything to get me to stay. I asked him, “What have you done to deserve to have me stay on so you can go on a vacation? Every time I put in a request for PTO, it’s always denied. Every time I try to call off, you call me over and over, blowing up my phone, coming around to my house to get me to go to work. I’ve been killing myself on this job, generating enough money for you to take vacations and buy new cars and shit, but not enough for a raise. I’m not staying on for you. Don’t ask me about it again,” and left his office.

On my last day, I turned in everything that had been issued to me: keys, phone and such. The office manager mentioned that I had a ton of PTO I never used; well, that’s because the boss never approved any vacation for anyone except himself.

So due to all the overtime I worked over those two years, the office manager had to cut me a check for damn near eight months’ PTO since it rolled over each year. I took my check, thanked the office manager and left that office for the last time.

My boss lost out on his vacation, I learned later. He wasn’t able to get a refund on such short notice. His family went without him because he had to stay back and cover all the work I had been doing. No one would do the shit I was doing and they would quit when he tried to force them to do it. Pretty soon he had about a handful of workers.

I went on to a better job. I feel no sympathy for my old boss and I have no regrets.

Screw that job. Screw that boss. He deserved all that he got.

Why do many foreigners who come to China think what they saw is so much different from what they heard at home?

Nixon wrote in his memoirs about China and USSR

In USSR, a certain province had a higher yield than the rest of the USSR. The Provincial authorities had tried something new and DIFFERENT from what the Communist Party and Central Control said

Immediately the party leadership sacked the people who had tried something new, and demanded that the province go back to doing what the party wanted even if the yields would be lower

In China, a similar thing happened but instead of clamping down on the province, Deng Xiaoping sent people to find out HOW THE PROVINCE WAS DOING IT and soon made the same thing, the normal standards for other provinces, thereby improving the yield across China in 1971

It was then that Nixon realized China wasn’t the same as the Soviet Union. It was a different form of Communism, something that could maybe give the US a run for their money

This is every foreigners experience in China

China is different

I plan to make a trip later with some Quorans for 4–5 days to chronicle the trip and hopefully record a video on the same

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

I used to work for a major cosmetics company that had some very strict rules that didn’t always work out as intended.

Example: one day we got a memo saying that employees were required, not by law but by company policy, to take both their 15-minute breaks. Now, you’re probably thinking, why wouldn’t someone take a break?

Well, there were a number of reasons that people, mostly management, were not regularly taking breaks: most times because the store was short-staffed on weekdays. Business was unpredictable and leaving one person on the floor when a crowd of people walked in meant lost sales, theft, and dramatic Yelp reviews (“If I could give ZERO stars I would!”), not to mention it screwed up our conversion numbers, which meant getting reamed out by corporate (“Jaime, you were working on Monday: can you explain why only 15% of customers bought something in the morning?”). Also, per company policy, managers couldn’t leave the building anyway, unless another manager was on duty (for register overrides), and with only enough managerial overlap on a weekday for lunch, we couldn’t leave to smoke or grab a coffee anyhow. As a result, managers would often either punch out for a short break and help out if needed or just take the legally-required lunch break.

Unbeknownst to us, some employees at other locations were fed up with this and had spoken to some lawyers.

Some time later there was a new rule: employees must take all breaks and may not clock in a minute early or a minute late at any time. No more eight-minute breaks, which we had previously been told was long enough to fulfill the break requirement. This resulted in staff standing by the punch clock waiting for the minute to turn over, because if we were a minute late, it would lead to a write-up. As a manager, I began setting the alarm on my phone when I came in early to get work done so I could run over to the punch clock and clock in at the exact minute.

The timekeeping rule was super annoying but served two purposes with corporate: it showed that the company was providing breaks, and it also eliminated overtime pay.

Unfortunately it’s not easy being perfect. Pretty much everyone got written up. Managers would punch out for their “fake” break, be told that so-and-so from XYA was on the phone with a question or run out to help on the floor with an override and then realize that they forgot to clock back in. Regardless, we tried our best. Managers didn’t actually want to give employees write-ups, so we helped staff by monitoring the time. When it was time for someone to go home, we’d cut in and say something like, “I apologize, Megan needs to leave the floor. My name is Jaime and I’ll be taking over.”

One day I got a letter in the mail from my employer saying I had been randomly chosen to speak to lawyers who were representing some former employees in a class-action lawsuit. I was told to be truthful and that it would not affect my job.

Some time later a nice lawyer named Kelly called and wouldn’t you know, she had a lot of questions about the timekeeping at our company. She found it very odd that company-wide, timekeeping was virtually perfect.

“I worked at Clinique when I was in law school,” Kelly said. “I know that in customer service it is not always possible to clock out exactly on the dot, like if you’re working with a customer and your shift ends. We find it very suspicious that virtually everyone has perfect timekeeping.”

Additionally, Kelly wanted to know if managers were able to take “relaxing” breaks without performing any duties, such as retrieving something from the stock room or processing a return, and if we could leave the store on these breaks. She was also very interested to know why, when someone called in sick, no one else was brought in to cover that shift (answer: because the sick employee is getting paid time off, and there is no money to cover a replacement). The conversation was very illuminating.

My employer lost the lawsuit, and checks were sent to employees within the company. I got around $1,200!

8 classes that should be required for all students before they hit adulthood

If we want to prepare kids for adult life, we've got some glaring gaps to fill.

I remember sitting in advanced algebra and trigonometry class in high school wondering if I was really ever going to use any of what I was learning. Math at that level meant nothing to me in a practical sense. I planned to study English and education to become an English teacher, so I couldn’t imagine why I’d need to learn the ins and outs of trig.

As it turned out, some of what I learned came in handy in the functions class I was required to take to fulfill my math requirement in college. But again, I found myself sitting in class with zero idea of why I was learning this level of math and suspecting that I was never going to actually use that knowledge in my adult life.

Now I’m a middle-aged adult and I can say with absolute certainty that I was right. In 27 years, I have not used anything I learned in functions. Not once. Not even a little bit. I agonized my way through that class to eek out a B-minus and to promptly forget everything I’d learned because it was utterly useless to me.

To be clear, higher math isn’t useless—it’s amazing. It was just completely useless to me.

You know what would have been useful? Learning about financing a car or a mortgage or understanding how and why and where to invest money. In all that time I was doing trigonometric proofs and calculating polynomial functions, I could have been learning all the various real-life math-related decisions I’d have to make as an adult.

I see the same thing happening with my kids in high school and college. It totally makes sense for students who are interested in going into math and science fields to take math beyond basic algebra and geometry. But for those who aren’t—why? There are so many more valuable things for them to take the time to learn—things that every single person really needs a basic knowledge of, such as:

Basic Psychology/Mental Health Maintenance

Every one of us has a brain and mental health is an issue for a huge percentage of people. Even those of us who don’t struggle with mental illness benefit from learning about how our minds work, gaining strategies for managing our thoughts, emotions and behaviors, and understanding why people do the things they do.

How many people would have been saved by learning how to spot a narcissist before getting into a relationship with one? How many people could mitigate an anxiety spiral right when it starts because they learned to recognize the signs earlier? How many people would appreciate the support and understanding of everyone having a basic understanding of their mental health disorders?

Basic Sociology/Human Behavior

Similarly, every one of us lives in a society. Understanding social connections, relationships and group behavior might kind of come in handy. If we don’t understand the causes and consequences of human behavior, we’re going to be confused by society at best and allow or enable atrocities to occur at worst.

From learning how cults and conspiracy theories work to recognizing how our prejudices can blind us to reality, sociology has useful knowledge we all need to internalize.

Media Literacy

If we’re going to be bombarded with media 24/7, we’d better know how to process it. Understanding how journalism works, what makes a source credible, how information can be skewed and how to recognize misinformation and disinformation is vital. What is bias and how can it be mitigated? How can we recognize when an outlet values accuracy?

So many of the problems the U.S. is facing currently are due to people watching or listening to dubious news sources. Mandatory media literacy courses would (hopefully) go a long way toward changing that.

The Stock Market and Other Investments

I underestimated how much I’d need to know about the stock market when I was younger. None of that economic stuff interested me, but I wish I understood it better now.

But really, it’s investing in general that we need to understand more about when we’re younger, especially since starting young is the No. 1 best advice any financial advisor will give you.

How Banking, Credit and Credit Cards Work

Every single one of us uses a bank or credit union and credit is a huge part of adult life. And yet most people I know have had to piece together how credit and credit cards actually work through advice from friends and family and good old trial and error, sometimes with devastating consequences.

Taxes

Good gracious, right? Not just how to do taxes, but what taxes get used for.

Financial literacy is what I’m saying. We need mandatory financial literacy classes. (Florida has actually just become the first state to require personal finance education to graduate, so yay Florida.) I think I was required to take economics in high school, but it was much more high-level economic theory than personal finance. We need personal finance first, then the bigger picture.

First Aid/Safety/Self-Defense

Most of us probably got some first aid and/or CPR training in health class, but how comprehensive was it? Did it include infant CPR? Do we know how to recognize if someone is having a stroke? Signs of infection?

What about basic everyday safety, like why you shouldn’t leave a car running in a garage or common household fire dangers or how to spot asbestos?

Self-defense seems like a no-brainer. Basically, a “How to Stay Alive and Keep Others Alive” course that includes most everything you need to know to protect yourself and your loved ones on a daily basis.

Navigating our Healthcare and Health Insurance System

Ugh. I’ve been an adult for almost three decades and everything about our healthcare system confuses and frustrates me. Maybe if we required schools to teach young people how it works, it would shine a big spotlight on how ridiculously and unnecessarily complicated it is because no one could possibly explain it in a way that’s understandable. Maybe that would push lawmakers to actually do something about it, because honestly, it’s just a gigantic mess.

There are surely others, but those are the major subjects that come to mind as vital after being an adult for a long while and seeing what my own kids need to have a decent grasp on as they make their way into the world. And honestly, there are some classes that adults should be required to take well into adulthood. Parenting classes, for example. Or local government and voting.

All subjects and courses have value to some people, but if we want students to be prepared for adulthood, we should make sure they are given the vital knowledge and skills every person actually needs and will use.

Breakfasts

“Dear dad, aka “papa”.

When I first found out I was pregnant at 18, I wasn’t scared to tell anyone. Only you.

I wasn’t scared to tell friends, other family, or the internet. I was scared to tell you.

I still remember sitting on my bed with mom, when you walked in and asked why I was crying. I could barely get out the words “I’m pregnant dad..” before you hung your head in disappointment, and stormed off downstairs. Mom hugged me and told me that you would come around.

I gave you a few minutes, and I walked downstairs. You were sitting on the couch. You looked so mad. I couldn’t find the words to say anything to you, so I just sat down beside you, and laid my head down on your shoulder, as I felt tears drip down my face.

Out of all the people I had to tell, that I was pregnant, I was most scared to tell you. And you were definitely the most disappointed.

But, when I came home the next day, and I saw you clearing out the guest room, for your soon to be granddaughter, I knew everything would be okay.

Six months later, you took me to every doctors appointment, when my boyfriend was working.

Seven months later, you helped me pick out a bringing home baby outfit.

Eight months later, you were there through my labour, and reminding me I could do this.

When she was born, you wouldn’t let her go. She became your world, along with me.

Six years later, you, papa, are my daughters world. She wants to call you every chance she gets. She wants to see you every time we go anywhere.

I know that out of everyone, you were the most disappointed when I announced I was pregnant at 18, but my daughter and I, couldn’t imagine doing life without you. And I know that you couldn’t imagine doing life without my daughter.

You two needed each other, even if you didn’t know it back then.”

Have you ever seen an employee get fired on the spot because of you?

Many years ago I took my 2 children on vacation in Florida. It was their first vacation. My kids were 6 and 8. We stopped in a restaurant that was very much like the Ryan’s restaurants. It was Buffett or order an entree. I ordered an entree and I believe my kids got an entrees as well. Our waiter was super nice and while we were waiting on our meals my daughter the youngest asked if she could look at the dessert bar. She just wanted to see what the options were for after dinner.

we went up to the dessert bar and she eyed the choices. She said she wanted a cookie for later and I said okay which one?

my daughter said are those chocolate chip cookies or raisins. She pointed at them. The bakery employee came up and before I could ask which one was the chocolate chip cookie she slapped my daughter’s hand. She angrily informed me that she needed tongs to get the cookie.

I was in shock by what just happened. I told the lady we only had a question and we were not ready for dessert. She scowled at me. I gave her a death stare and we went back to the table. Our food came out but I didn’t eat any. The waiter came back and asked if everything was okay. I said to him no it wasn’t and I told him what the bakery employee did. He gasped and got his manager. I relayed the story to the manager and he was very apologetic about it and said he would handle rude employee. A few minutes later I saw rude employee going upfront she gathered her purse and walked out the door. The manager came back and refunded our meals and said we could choose anything else on the menu to take home. He said bakery lady no longer works for them.
we choose some entrees and went back to the bakery bar another lady was there and she was very pleasant. I asked her about the cookie and she pointed to the chocolate chip one. My daughter picked up the tongs to get her cookie as she already knew to do this. The bakery lady then put out signs identifying what the cookie s were. Apparently the other lady had forgot to do this.

our waiter took great care of us and the refund I about 20 dollars received from our meal I gave it to him as a tip.

Is there going to be a war between the US and Iran, or is what’s going on just propaganda and saber rattling?

Is USA going to war with Iran?

Nobody has the crystal ball. The ball is in USA as of 2024/1/31.

On the 1 hand, it seems both USA & Iran are avoiding a WW3. Yet at the same time, it seems both are waiting for the right moment to start a war.

Let us look at the big picture.

1, UN says the US occupation of Syria & Iraq is illegal. USA was not invited by Syria or Iraq. Nor was it approved by UN.

USA used laundry detergent to falsely accuse Iraq of possessing bio weapon & waged a war there. USA’s war & thus occupation of Iraq is illegal.

It means Iran’s attack at US (illegal) bases can be pardoned.

USA normally ignores UN. Probably this time too. Clearly Biden has concern. Perhaps Biden has no surety to win the war without US casualties. 2024 is a US election year.

2, Since Saudi-Iran reconciliation in 2023, Mideast nations minus Israel are united as 1 big family. They have 1 common enemy ie USA+Israel. They are also waiting for the right moment to kick USA out of Mideast. They want to reclaim their 100% sovereignty in Mideast.

That is, USA is not faced with Iran alone. But the entire Mideast. Does Biden have surety to win?

3, Iran has “warned” USA’s aircraft carriers. 1 US carrier left Mediterranean Sea a month or so ago. Why leave at this time?

4, No doubt. there were 150 attacks in 3 months. But no casualties until the latest one at Jordan/Syria/Iraq border.

Iran was attacked many times too. How many? dont know.

Mind you, Iran denied it was responsible for the Jordan attack. Iran said it was ISIS.

5, Remember the Iran-Pakistan crossfire? It turns out each country wanted to exterminate the same group of people who were recruited by USA+India & who were living in the Iran-Pakistan border. To these 2 countries, these people are rioters who stir up unrest in both countries. It is not a bad idea to get rid of rioters this way without being accused of ethnic suppression by the West.

Back to the attack at Syria-Jordan-Iraq border where there were 30+ US casualties. Could it be a repeat of the Iran-Pakistan action? All 3 countries are actually exterminating the same group of radicals who are recruited by USA in US base.

Will there be a USA-Iran war? Nobody knows.

What were the worst two minutes of your life?

Imagine getting a frantic phone call to find a needle in a haystack. Except that needle is your whole family…. and that haystack is an unknown location.

My wife didn’t sound like herself.

She was crying, panicked, and talking to other people before she said:

Wife: we were in an accident…

Me: (fearing the worst) where are you?

The next words still give me shivers.

Wife: …. You’ll find us…

Dial tone.

I have no idea where they might be. Adrenaline is pulsing through my body, and my only instinct is to drive as fast as possible toward our home.

I’m trying my best to stay focused on the location of my wife and kids, and not what might have happened to them.

I reach our exit from the freeway. Scanning.

Nothing.

I drive past our kids’ school. School. Today was their first day of school.

I make a right, I know her route home.

I’m confident I’ll find them now, but dread what I might see.

Then I see it. Fire engine.

Our Escalade is flipped on its side. I leave my car on the side of the road like it’s a bike I don’t care about.

I run. There’s glass everywhere. Where are they?

Then I can hear crying. It’s the scariest, yet greatest, sound I can hear. Like the cry of a newborn baby to let you know they are alive, I find my wife and 3 children in the cab of the fire truck – all crying, but all safe.

A welcome relief after the worst two minutes of my life.

I wrote about this on another question Chris Lynam’s answer to What is the creepiest phone call or voice message you’ve ever received?

A “bystander” told the cops that my wife ran a red light, but my son (who has an unbelievable memory) was adamant that she didn’t.
It turns out that the “bystander” was a passenger in one of the two racing vehicles that both ran the red light and upended our SUV. He hopped out of the car and had fabricated a totally different account of what actually happened.
My wife was petrified to drive after that, but, after a lot of assurances and negotiating, had her drive me short distances around town.

Chicken Mediterranean

Quickly serves one very hungry person or two restrained people. Multiply at will (the portions, that is). Prep the dried mushrooms, have all your ingredients measured and ready, put on the rice and you’ll be ready to dine in 30 minutes. Also perfect with couscous.

mediterranean chicken recipe 1 1024x1536 1 — mediterranean chicken recipe 1 1024×1536 1

Why you’ll love it

This pan-fried chicken recipe has all my favorite ingredients that remind me of faraway beaches and warm Mediterranean waters. We’ve got a sauce with oregano, Kalamata olives, capers, and of course plenty of feta cheese. It’s got all the best savory flavors!

You know I’m the queen of creamy sauces, but I also enjoy changing it up with healthier fare (Pasta Puttanesca, anyone!?) every so often. This simple Greek-inspired chicken has an elegant, light white wine sauce with fresh tomatoes, so it’s perfect for easy after-work meals and isn’t too heavy.

What you’ll need

Chicken – we’re cutting two chicken breasts in half lengthwise for faster, more even cooking
Seasoning – salt & pepper, oregano, and garlic powder are sprinkled onto the chicken cutlets for infusing flavor into them directly
Olive oil – for pan frying
Garlic – add even more if you’re a big fan
White wine – try sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio.
Tomatoes – a pop of freshness. Use either grape or cherry tomatoes.
Kalamata olives and capers – this duo adds a little tang and so much savory goodness
Spinach – an easy way to get your greens
Feta – this delicately salty, briny, and rich cheese is a staple in Greek-style recipes

Ingredients

2 or 3 dried porcini mushrooms (each the size of a quarter would be nice, or bits and pieces to equal that)
Boiling water to cover the mushrooms
A couple tablespoons chicken broth or bouillon
1 tablespoon capers, drained
Zest of half an orange
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 pound fresh chicken stir fry meat or 1 skinless chicken breast, pounded
Juice of half an orange
1/2 a small anchovy fillet, mashed, or 1 1/2 teaspoons anchovy paste
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Put the dried mushrooms in a Pyrex cup and just cover with boiling water. Set aside to soak while you prep the remaining ingredients.
In a small saucepan, simmer the broth, capers, and orange peel. Chop the rehydrated mushrooms and add to the saucepan. Save a couple of tablespoons of the mushroom water for a later task (make sure it’s not gritty). Let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes and then move on to the next task.
In a sauté pan, skillet or small wok, heat the butter and the oil until very hot. Add the chicken stir fry, brown quickly for just a few minutes and remove with tongs OR add the chicken breast and cook about 5 minutes per side until browned. Remove the chicken.
Let the hot fat and chicken juices reduce for a couple of minutes. Then, over high heat, return the chicken to the pan and add the sauce. Add the orange juice. Cook until chicken is cooked through and sauce has reduced even further, turning the chicken from time to time.
Remove chicken once more. Stir anchovy paste into a couple tablespoons of the reserved mushroom water and add to pan. Let the sauce bubble for a minute or two. Return the chicken to the pan, turn it a few times, and serve with plenty of the sauce on a good sticky rice or couscous.

Substitutions and variations

As always, tweak the recipe to your tastes. If you don’t like olives, for example, you can leave them out.
If you can’t/don’t want to use white wine, just swap it out for chicken broth.
Chicken thighs would work great in here, but you may need to cook them for a bit longer to ensure they’re tender.

What to serve with Mediterranean chicken

Rice, Mashed Potatoes, and pasta are all great options along with steamed vegetables. Try my Garlic Buttered Noodles.
I like to start the meal with pita bread, hummus, and my homemade Tzatziki Sauce.
For a salad pairing, you’ll love my Avocado Greek Salad or Mediterranean White Bean Salad.

Leftovers and storage

Store for 3-4 days in the fridge in a covered container.
Reheat slowly over a low heat. Keep in mind the spinach will wilt more.
If you really need to, you could probably freeze it, but it’s not ideal since the spinach will change texture and the chicken may dry out.

Notes

Good ol’ reliable steamed broccoli on the side would be nice…chocolate for dessert.

The U.S. and China are planning to hold high-level talks on the fentanyl crisis. Do you think this will result in any meaningful action on the part of China?

The problem is in USA. Not China.

USA is using the band-aid solution without diagnosing the root cause to the cancer the fentanyl crisis.

China has done its part:

Fentanyl is illegal in China.

China has set up enforcement personnel to inspect import/export of drug incl fentanyl. One of the enforcement unit is in a police/custom. But …. USA sanctioned that unit. It is USA who does not want China to do the inspection work. It is USA who wants illegal drugs to go to USA.

One ingredient in fentanyl is opiod which comes from opium. It is a powerful pain killer. It is legal in the world. But we must have drug control eg doctor’s prescription.

I heard opiod type of pain-killer was regularly prescribed by doctors in USA (before fentanyl has become a crisis in USA). I heard at first they did not believe people will get addicted until much later.

I also observed that the opiod crisis in north America started at the time when USA occupied Afghanistan. During that 20 years of occupation, Afghanistan produced 80% of opium in the world. The Taliban government has banned its growth since US troops left Afghanistan. Is it a coincidence or not?

An Afghan farmer said it was US soldiers who “forced” or bribed them to grow opium.

Back to China. Fentanyl is illegal in China. No fentanyl in USA comes from China. Opiod that makes LEGAL pain killers are allowed to export to the world incl USA. So if foreign countries which use China’s LEGAL opiod to make fentanyl, China cannot stop them. Unless the world bans legal drug incl pain killers.

There is nothing China can do to help USA.

Fentanyl is a US problem. US politicians talk to China, just to fool Americans that they have done their homework with China. It is a band-aid solution without doing a serious job ie prescription control & underground drug trafficking.

Remember, if there is no market in USA, there will be no underground drug trafficking. So, the problem is inside USA.

In 1840’s, UK militarily forced China to buy opium. A British Jewish businessman spread opium in China. At 1 point, 1/2 of the population was addicted to opium. How did China clean up the crisis? Communist China used iron-fist to stop/punish drug dealers & addicts. Some addicts used their WILL POWER to overcome their pain during drug withdrawal.

China is clean since. So can USA if only USA has the will power to rid itself from fentanyl. Dont shift its responsibility to China. Good luck to USA.

The Mass Exodus Of Young Men From Dating/Relationships Is Baffling Both Academics And The Media

https://youtu.be/Ugs8z6JbdOo

What is the biggest waste of electricity you’ve seen in a home you visited, were a guest in, or even in your own home?

I did “energy audits” – home inspections to look for possible energy improvements – for some years. Here are 4 experiences that stick in my mind:

1. Homeowner complains of high electricity bills. Hmm – heating, hot water and oven are all on natural gas. What could it be? Surely not that hot tub, sitting out there in a foot of snow, gently steaming away on its 220V resistance element?.

2. Homeowner complains of high electricity bills. But this is a homeowner who is up with the latest. Insulation is good, hot water is gas but the heating/cooling system is a forced air high efficiency heatpump (=reverse cycle air con unit) with a programmable thermostat. The set temperatures are very reasonable, a bit spartan if anything. But the bills just look too high, especially in winter. Call in the HVAC expert to check it out. Result; the unit has not been wired properly. Since the original installation the unit never switched to reverse cycle, so the electric resistance element turned on every time the thermostat called for heat.

3. Big house, on multiple levels. Huge octagonal living room, 16 foot ceiling, full height windows all round. Homeowner has no real complaints, just wonders if he could save some money. I look and don’t find anything much to improve. The place is pristine, looks almost unoccupied. The wife and young son hang out in a basement room that is fitted out almost like an RV; couch, heater, sink, microwave, hot plate, small fridge, TV, blackboard, toy chest, a computer workstation. It’s a comfortable, snug room. Downsizing would save a heap of energy…

4. Homeowner says electricity bills have skyrocketed over the last few months. Can’t explain it; nothing has really changed, no new appliances, no change in occupants and so on. I check the electric units, everything looks OK.. Sure we can save some money with more insulation, some more efficient appliances, but it doesn’t explain the sudden jump in costs. I take another look at the bills – could have saved a lot of time if I had looked properly the first time. She had signed up with an independent energy supplier. The first year’s price per Kwh was super attractive. But once that initial year was over the price jumped to 50% higher than the regular utility. I guess one does need to read the fine print.

What are some psychological facts that people don’t know?

When you hold the hand of a loved one, you feel pain less keenly and worry less.
The more you talk about someone, the more are you likely to fall in love with that person.
Women generally prefer men with deep husky voices because they seem more confident and not aggressive.
Staying quiet often means that you do not think that other person is ready to hear your thoughts.
The smarter the person is, the faster he thinks, and the sloppier his handwriting is.
Your favorite song is your favorite because you associate an emotional event with it.
Smarter people underestimate themselves, ignorant people think they are brilliant.
When someone cries tears of joy, the first teardrop will always come from the right eye. Tears of pain start from the left.
Listening to high-frequency music makes you feel calm, relaxed, and happy.
Doing things that scare you will make you happier.
The happier you are, the less sleep you require. Sadness urge to sleep more.
A 20 seconds hug releases chemicals in the body that help you trust the one you’re hugging.
Chocolate discharges the same chemical in your body as when you feel love. One of which is phenylethlyamine, which causes alertness, excitement, quickens the pulse rate and makes you happy!

Resilient Kids Come From Parents Who Do These 8 Things

Letting your kids fail and talking to them about it goes a long way.

by Lizzy Francis

When you’re a kid, everything is a tragedy. Your grilled cheese has the crust on? The horror. Can’t assemble that Lego set? Might as well stomp up and down. You can’t change this. What you can do, however, is arm your kid with the techniques that teach them how to bounce back from their daily struggles so that, later on in life, when the stakes are higher, they know what to do. Because resilience is a behavior learned through explicit lessons and examples, one that teaches kids how to, among other things, better handle stress, understand that rejection is not a comment on their entire existence, and view setbacks as things that don’t need to sideline them for good.

But how, exactly, should you teach this lesson? According to Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do, here are eight common practices of parents who raise resilient kids.

They Let the Kids Struggle

“All kids have the ability to develop skills that will help them be resilient,” says Morin. “As parents, it’s up to us to give them those skills, and to serve as a guide — to help them when they’re struggling with something and give them more opportunities to practice resiliency.”

The worst thing parents can do, says Morin, is rescue their kids too much. Such actions prevent kids from learning how to act on their own. In other words, the parents who teach their kids that hard work is a necessary part of life — and sometimes that hard work is really hard — are the ones who raise well-adjusted kids.

They Let Their Kids Experience Rejection

For myriad reasons, it’s essential for kids to learn how to handle being told ‘no.’ “If your kid doesn’t get picked for the baseball team, it can be tempting to call the coach, call the schools, try to get your kid on the team,” says Morin. “But failure can be one of the best opportunities to teach kids a life lesson. That lesson: Failure is not the end of the road, you’re strong enough to handle failing, and that when you fail, you have choices.”

They Don’t Condone a Victim Mentality

“When kids say they are having a problem, it’s tempting for them to blame other people,” says Morin. “They fail their science test, and they say that their teacher didn’t explain it well enough.” It can be tempting for parents to give into this behavior and side with their children. But even if their teacher is bad or didn’t explain something, that instinct is dangerous.

“Parents need to tell their kids that life isn’t fair, but that they aren’t strong enough to handle the unfairness,” says Morin. “And I think for a lot of parents, our tendency is to make things fair — to advocate for our kids, to side with them, just reinforces to them that they’re the victim. It leads to learned helplessness.” Fight this instinct at all costs.

They Do More Than Tell Their Kids to ‘Buck Up’ When Struggles Occur

Letting kids struggle is important, but telling them to just deal with it, or ignoring that it could be tough emotionally, is not the right way to go about it. “You want to make sure that you validate their emotions and you empathize with them,” says Morin. “Parents can find that balance of knowing when to step back enough to let their child face some of their own battles, but at the same time, empathize.”

Talking to your kids about their feelings as they learn by doing is incredibly important. It will give them skills to talk about their feelings later on in life, as well as help them learn how to deal with difficult times.

“Parents need to ask themselves whether or not they’re giving their kids the skills and tools they need to do things on their own,” Morin adds. “If they don’t have those skills yet, then parents step in. But parents, make sure that you’re teaching them those skills, too.”

They Help Their Kids Learn How to Label Their Feelings and Emotions

“When kids can label their emotions, they are less likely to act them out,” says Morin. “If your kid can say ‘I’m mad,’ he’s less likely to kick you in the shins to show you that he’s mad.”

In other words, kids who can’t talk about their feelings tend to take those feelings out on others, which can lead to adults who don’t know how to cope with anger or sadness. By helping kids feel comfortable talking about their emotions out loud, you are also giving them the skills to think about (and cope with) what’s making them upset. It’s Resiliency 101.

They Give Their Kids the Tools to Self-Soothe

“I know some parents who created a ‘calm down kit’ for their kid,” says Morin. “They have a kit with a coloring book, and some Play-Doh, and lotion that smells good, and they remind their kid to go get the kit when they’re upset.”

Although this specific technique isn’t for everyone, the concept should be as it helps kids learn how to take responsibility for their feelings and calm themselves down. Using such tools and routines will help them manage and continue healthy coping skills as they get older. It’s invaluable.

They Admit Their Mistakes, Then They Fix Them

Parenting mistakes, per Morin, are opportunities for us to turn it around and show kids how to respond to errors and show that we all make them. Even the most well-adjusted parents screw up every once in a while. They get mad at the teacher or yell at their spouse or forget to do something critical. The important thing is that parents need to own up to their own mistakes in front of their kids — and then actually fix the problem. This shows kids that no matter how grave a mistake they may have made, if they are honest about it and try to fix it, things will get better.

They Connect Their Kid’s Self-Worth to Their Level of Effort

“There is research that shows that when girls succeed, we say, ‘You did well because you studied hard.’ But when boys succeed, we’ll say something like, ‘You did well on that test because you’re smart,’” Morin says. For her, that’s a problem. Connecting a kid’s outcomes to their inherent talent can lead to long-term issues.

“When we focus too much on outcome, kids will cheat in high school because they think the most important thing in the world is getting an A, and it doesn’t matter how they get there. We want to teach kids that what matters is being honest, being kind, working hard. It’s really important to focus on their effort. The kid who grows up knowing that it’s all about their effort, rather than their outcome, is going to be more resilient when they fail or when they get rejected.”

How To Regain Your Masculinity In A Relationship

Last Updated On December 15, 2022 by Andrew Ferebee

We have all seen a man who is big and brave when single but seems to crumble into a pile of ashes when he’s in a relationship. It’s almost as if someone flipped a switch.

One minute, he’s still just as manly as ever. Next, he’s wearing an apron, babysitting, and watching the worst romantic comedies since The Notebook.

Losing yourself in a relationship is a universal issue. However, when you’re a man and you no longer feel in touch with your masculine edge, it’s devastating.

You lose what makes you, you. Masculinity is a source of pride in every man, which is why it’s so important to stay in touch with it.

Though it’s rarely discussed, losing your masculine edge in a relationship can and does happen—quite a bit, really.

Masculinity has a lot of definitions

There is no such thing as a man who is purely masculine.

Everyone has both masculine and feminine energy in them, and every person has masculine and feminine traits. This is not a bad thing! Quite the opposite, it means that you are a balanced person.

Being a man means that you have the emotional strength and that you can be the one to take charge when need be. But, it can also mean being the support your wife needs when she breaks down in tears. See what we mean?

You do not have to guzzle beer, be a lumberjack, and smoke cigars to be a man. When you feel like a man, you’re a man. The man who owns a cat and relaxes to bossa nova can be just as manly as the man going on safari.

Masculinity is something that is felt and experienced—and it takes many forms.

Just because you’re not skydiving with Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson doesn’t mean you’re not a man. With that said, there’s a major question that deserves to be asked.

Signs you’re losing your masculine edge in a relationship

Therein lies the crux of the question, and it’s one that is hard to nail down in words. However, there are a couple of telltale signs that you might be losing your masculine edge in your relationships:

You honestly feel emotionally battered and beaten down. A man who’s lost his masculinity looks worn down. He might not have the inner fight in him that he once had. Sometimes, it can even make him feel sick and weak.
It’s been a long time since you’ve felt strong and confident. Do you find yourself questioning your abilities, when you never felt that way before? This is never a good sign.
If you were honest, it’s been a while since you have prioritized yourself. Part of being a masculine man is being able to actively make yourself a priority. Masculinity is all about being assertive and living for you. Do you feel like you’re sacrificing everything for yourself, with nothing in return?
You’re afraid to express yourself. Once again, this is never a good sign.
Your girlfriend or wife has stopped respecting you. If you find yourself begging for attention, pleading for her to meet you halfway, or experiencing serious signs of contempt from her, it’s time to make a change. Women don’t respect men they don’t view as masculine.

8 ways to regain your masculinity in a relationship

If you’re noticing warning signs that you’re losing your masculinity in a relationship, it’s time to take charge and realign yourself with your manhood.

By implementing the 8 principles below, you will discover ways to reclaim control and regain masculinity in your relationship.

1. Re-establish your boundaries and enforce them

There are a few things that will erode a person’s sense of self like having no boundaries and letting people walk all over you.

In many cases, this is why relationships start to emasculate men and why women lose respect for you.

What does this look like? Simple.

First, figure out what you need in your relationship in order to feel better. This can include having time to yourself, having at least one night out a week, or even getting better responses on intimacy.
Have a firm talk to your girlfriend about things you need to see happen. This can be as simple as saying, “I care about you very much, but I am not feeling great in this relationship. Here’s what I need to feel better.”
Tell her what you will not tolerate. This can include things like browbeating you, guilt trips, lying, shouting, ignoring your needs, and threats.
Tell her what you are in need of. Set boundaries that are reasonable when it comes to things like space apart, time with friends, time with family, and sexual needs.
Do not tolerate disrespect, verbal violence, or guilt-tripping. If she behaves this way, then the reason you lost your masculinity is that you’re in an abusive relationship. You may need to dump her.
Expect better, and call her out if it’s not working. It’s okay to remind her that she needs to do better.

If you feel like you’re regularly disrespected or have your needs dismissed, it may be time to call things off. A relationship has to go both ways, and if she’s just not listening, she’s not the one for you.

2. Don’t feel bad about prioritizing yourself

One of the worst things that happen to men on a regular basis is the guilting when they put themselves first.

Self-love is important for men. You can’t set yourself on fire to keep others warm! Boundaries are part of a healthy relationship, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

3. Ask for help with communication if you need to

Actually establishing healthy boundaries requires tact at times, and many men are not socialized to work with that.

That’s why it often helps to have someone in your corner who can help you figure out how to communicate.

4. Do things that make you feel like a man

Everyone has that one (or two) things that helps them realign with their masculine side—and that’s precisely what you need to start doing.

Once again, it’s important to take time to figure out when you’ve felt your best and what you were doing at that point.

Masculinity takes a lot of different forms. It can be when you’re competing for a 5K, when you’re bodybuilding, when you’re pouring effort into a new business or when you’re making a new song.

Whatever it is, do it for at least half an hour a week. Ideally, you’ll carve out more time for that thing. This is part of prioritizing yourself.

5. Write a list of things that you’ve accomplished in your life

While you might be feeling low right now, it’s important to remember that no one can take away your masculinity unless you let them.

Truthfully, no one can ever take away what masculine things you’ve already done. Sometimes, it’s good to have a reminder of who you are and what you did to put things into perspective.

So, write down a list of all the manly feats you did—from that time you finished a raid in WoW to that one time you did that thing in sports. Keep that list nearby when you’re feeling low.

6. Reach out to your guyfriends and bond with them

There is something truly magical about the bond that men have with their male friends. This is something that every man really needs to experience from time to time.

Men get it. It’s a world where men often are told mixed messages and where men often feel like they are “damned if they do, damned if they don’t.”

Hanging out with your bros is one of those things that is just as much a diversion as it is a practice in male health.

Men need other men as friends, guides, and confidantes. If you haven’t done so recently, call your guy friends and ask how they are doing.

7. Learn to drop your fear of the masculine and feminine

If it feels like we live in a society where men are told to embrace their feminine side, then punish them, you’re right.

There is this constant stigma of being too girly as a guy, and it often feels like we police each other in suppressing sides that don’t stick to the narrative.

Part of being truly masculine is realizing that being a “manly man” means you’re comfortable with your feminine side, too.

Just because you have a girly side doesn’t mean you’re any less of a man. Make a point of reassuring yourself that you’re still you, regardless of what society says.

What other people say about you has no bearing on you. They’re saying that, and it’s on them.

8. Realign yourself with the goals that you have for yourself

The key thing to remember about masculinity is that it’s all about leadership and paving your own way in life.

When you’re in a relationship, it’s easy to start to put your actual goals to the side in favor of all the other little things people expect you to do. This is why you might be feeling emasculated.

Women find a grounded man who makes his own way in life attractive. This is doubly true if his goals are ones that are difficult to attain and have a very high standard of performance.

If you need to focus on your career path or your own personal goals, that’s totally fine. In fact, it’s healthy.

Masculinity wanes when you stop taking your own needs and future into account. Write a list of your goals and ask yourself which ones started to slip away from you.

Start putting together a game plan on how you’re going to pursue those goals once more. Then, follow the game plan.

Takeaways

Regaining your masculinity isn’t always easy or clear-cut.

Let’s face it, when you’re in the thick of it, it’s hard to make the right steps to get your masculinity back. Sometimes, it can feel like it’s just too complicated or difficult to work through—even when you know what you need to do.

Part of being able to get yourself back to where you need to be is having the right support network and even leaning on someone who’s been there.

When you have the right support, being able to realign with your masculine side becomes way easier and even intuitive.

Of course, the perks of getting that masculine mojo back go far beyond just feeling better. It makes you attractive to women, can help you get a better job, and also can change the trajectory of your life.

We help make that happen in our exclusive coaching program where you’ll learn, with our band of brothers, to become the best version of yourself, reclaim your masculine edge and improve your life and relationship.

You’re in a room with a king, a rich man, and a priest. Each orders you to kill the other two, and you’re the only one with a weapon. Whom will you listen to and why?

Originally Answered: You’re in a room with a king, a rich man, and a priest. Each orders you to kill the other two, and you’re the only one with a weapon. Who will you listen to and why?

I just love this question. I fucking love it. What’s so beautiful about this question is that it cannot be answered by analyzing what is given. Rather, the answer can only be found by analyzing what is hidden behind these black lines!

Let’s begin, shall we?

First of all, it’s safe to assume that the three designations described – the king, the priest, and the rich man are the three highest positions of power in the empire. Now, since I am the sword-wielder, I choose to be an ambitious one. And if I am ambitious, I would want one of these three positions for myself!

It’s evident that I’ll kill two of the three and spare one. So, instead of concentrating on what is to be lost by killing a particular person, let’s analyze what is to be gained by letting a particular person live.

Case 1) The king lives.

In this case, I kill both the rich man and the priest. What can the king do for me? The answer is clear – He can make me very very rich. But he cannot make me the priest. (The priest has to command the respect and devotion of the people, something a king cannot buy or order.)

Case 2) The priest lives.

Here, I kill the king and the rich man. Once again, I ask – What can the priest give me? He cannot make me rich. Most of the priests themselves choose to live a life of poverty (Remember High Sparrow?) But the priest can easily make me the king. He holds that much power over people, as is evident throughout our history (Again, remember High Sparrow?)

Case 3) The rich man lives.

I kill the king and the priest. Now, what can the rich man offer me? He can neither make me the king, nor make me the priest. Both of those positions require people’s will, acceptance and devotion; and that is something you cannot buy with money.

So, it is evident that the rich man is the most useless of all. He has nothing to offer to me. I kill him immediately.

Now, the king and the priest remain. The king can make you rich, and the priest can make you king. (Case 1 and 2)

So, it’s just a matter of the exact nature the sword-wielder’s ambition takes. Does he crave wealth or power? If he craves power, then he must kill the king. And if he craves riches, then he must kill the priest.

For me, personally, power is much more important than money. So, if you make me the sword-wielder, I’ll first kill the rich man. Then, when it’s just between the king and the priest, I’ll strike a deal with the priest that if I spare him, he has to make me the king with his support.

Then I’ll stab the king.

Boo ya!

Oops, I mean…

Homelessness In The U.S. Is Up 48 Percent Since 2015, And Americans Are Being Laid Off In Droves…

January 29, 2024by Michael

How can anyone out there possibly believe that the U.S. economy is doing well? As you will see below, the number of homeless Americans has risen to the highest level ever recorded, and large companies all over the country are laying off workers in droves. As I have discussed previously, the number of Americans that were laid off in 2023 jumped 98 percent compared to the year before, and now during the first month of 2024 it feels like we are being hit by a tsunami of layoffs. It literally seems like someone has turned a fire hose on, but the Biden administration continues to insist that unemployment is “low” and that the outlook for the U.S. economy is positive.

Honestly, I don’t understand how the Biden administration can say that the outlook for the U.S. economy is positive when the number of Americans that are homeless has been increasing at the fastest pace ever recorded. According to a brand new report that was just released by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the number of homeless Americas has increased 48 percent since 2015…

According to a Jan. 25 report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, roughly 653,000 people reported experiencing homelessness in January of 2023, up roughly 12% from the same time a year prior and 48% from 2015. That marks the largest single-year increase in the country’s unhoused population on record, Harvard researchers said.

Homelessness, long a problem in states such as California and Washington, has also increased in historically more affordable parts of the U.S.. Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas have seen the largest growths in their unsheltered populations due to rising local housing costs.

We can see evidence of this all around us.

Tent cities are popping up like mushrooms in our major cities and countless Americans are living in their vehicles and RVs.

One of the primary reasons why homelessness has been surging so dramatically is because rental costs have soared to unprecedented heights…

Rent in the U.S. has steadily climbed since 2001. In analyzing Census and real estate data, the Harvard researchers found that half of all U.S. households across income levels spent between 30% and 50% of their monthly pay on housing in 2022, defining them as “cost-burdened.” Some 12 million tenants were severely cost-burdened that year, meaning they spent more than half their monthly pay on rent and utilities, up 14% from pre-pandemic levels.

People earning between $45,000 and $74,999 per year took the biggest hit from rising rents — on average, 41% of their paycheck went toward rent and utilities, the Joint Center for Housing Studies said.

Tenants should generally allocate no more than 30% of their income toward rent, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

But Joe Biden insists that inflation is “low”.

You believe him, don’t you?

Sadly, more Americans will soon be hitting the streets because we are witnessing an insane wave of layoffs all over the nation.

Right now, it is being reported that Salesforce has decided to conduct another round of layoffs…

Salesforce is cutting about 700 employees, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The job cuts, which amount to about 1% of its global workforce, follow a series of workforce reductions last year.

In 2023, Marc Benioff’s company laid off about 10% of its total workforce as it grappled with a swarm of activist investors who wanted margins increased faster than planned.

And we have just learned that REI will be giving the axe to 357 workers…

REI is laying off 357 workers, mostly in the outdoor retailer’s headquarters and distribution centers. In a letter to employees, CEO Eric Artz noted that “outdoor specialty retail has experienced four quarters of decline – and that trend has been worsening.” While REI was able to outperform this for much of last year, he said, this trend caught up to the company in the fourth quarter, and difficult conditions are expected in 2024.

Difficult conditions are expected in 2024?

Oh really…

Who could have seen that one coming?

After their deal with Amazon fell through, iRobot announced that 31 percent of its staff would be hitting the bricks…

Amazon and iRobot, the maker of the popular Roomba vacuum, mutually called off their estimated $1.7 billion acquisition deal Monday, citing numerous regulatory hurdles.

Immediately after the deal was publicly squashed, iRobot announced it would lay off 31% of its staff and that founder Colin Angle would step down from his role as CEO, citing a focus on profitability, stability and growth. Glen Weinstein will serve as interim CEO.

Shares of iRobot (IRBT) were down around 9% in noon trading following the news. Amazon (AMZN), which was up about 0.5% in noon trading, will pay iRobot a previously agreed-upon $94 million cancellation fee.

Google, Microsoft, Levi’s, TikTok, Riot Games, eBay, Wayfair and Macy’s are some of the other big names that have also announced layoffs so far in 2024.

But no industry is being hit harder than the mainstream media…

Journalists across the country burst into flames of panic this week, as bad news for the news business crested and erupted everywhere all at once.

Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire publisher of the Los Angeles Times, laid off 20 percent of his newsroom. Over at Time magazine, its billionaire owners, Marc and Lynne Benioff, did the same for 15 percent of their unionized editorial employees. This latest conflagration had ignited at Sports Illustrated the previous week as catastrophic layoffs were dispensed via email to most staffers. Business Insider (whose parent company Axel Springer also owns POLITICO) jettisoned 8 percent of its staff while workers at Condé Nast, Forbes, the New York Daily News and elsewhere walked out to protest forthcoming cuts at their shops.

Perhaps if they had not made a habit of blatantly lying to us over and over again during the past several years they would not have lost all of their remaining credibility and they would not have had to lay off so many workers.

But even though so much is going wrong with the economy right now, many of the “experts” continue to tell us that happier times are just around the corner.

For example, Ed Yardeni insists that we will soon relive the Roaring Twenties…

Ed Yardeni, a veteran market strategist, thinks the US economy might be about to relive the “Roaring ’20s.”

The Yardeni Research president said during Friday’s episode of Bloomberg’s “Merryn Talks Money” podcast that he’s expecting a combination of loose post-pandemic monetary policy and rapid technological change to drive growth higher over the next decade.

Wouldn’t it be great if he was actually right?

Of course the truth is that he is just being delusional.

Things are bad now, and things are going to get really bad during the second half of 2024 and beyond.

If you still have a good job and a warm home to come back to at night, you should be very thankful.

Because more Americans are losing their jobs and losing their homes with each passing day, and the level of economic suffering that we are witnessing is already off the charts.

The Unthinkable Is Happening In The USA! (Texas Border Battle!)

https://youtu.be/Ik8Ya90P3ms

Disdain for a teacher

Once in China, I visited one of my students. he was a factory owner and we got along well. I was teaching him some English. And since my background is Engineering, we hit it off. So he came and picked my wife and I up and we spent the afternoon at his factory, had tea, and a good time.

He manufactured buttons. Particularly buttons for bluejeans.

Then came dinner, and it was nice… but… his wife really treated myself and my wife very poorly. In her mind I was “only” a teacher. Someone who you give a face-saving level of respect but who you consider to be beneath you… as they are unable to get “real work”.

She made many, perhaps ten “veiled” cut-downs, and almost-insults. Every word out of her mouth dripped with disdain. He made a big point of pointing out her nice bag, and their car, and the nice expensive restaurant. Very pretentious.

In her eyes… I was “only” a teacher.

My wife, who came from Wenzhou and who’s father was at one time a billionaire, was incensed, and vowed never to visit them again.

I mean it. NEVER. EVER.

I had a few classes with him and then cut it short, and I never saw him again. He was a good guy, and I liked him a lot. But the way his wife treated us was unforgivable.

…

People treat everyone as some one worthy. Take you time with them. Appreciate them exactly as they are.

Like in this first article…

Do you have a specific person in mind you dated who you ‘missed out’ on?

Oh, yes. I adored that man. Still do.

He didn’t have much money, but he was such a trier. He didn’t just have a good work ethic; he wanted to give something back to the world and make a difference.

I loved spending time with him doing things that cost very little or nothing—walking around the city eating street food, reading to each other, wandering into art galleries, admiring the architecture. But mostly, I liked just being with him, talking. I enjoyed being with him in silence as well. What touched me the most is how courteously he treated those with less than him. He always had change for the homeless and never treated anyone as though they meant less than he did. he had genuine class, the kind of class that you’re just born with.

I never told him any of this, and that’s how I missed out, because that’s the type of woman he was looking for.

Years later, he told me that I came across as sweet, but ultimately shallow and absurdly spoiled. A debutante with a smashing wardrobe. I really blew it when I suggested that we take a trip to Belize together—he politely declined but again, much later, told me that he found that particularly audacious. It had never occurred to me that he didn’t have the money to take a vacation abroad, because actually, I was really spoiled. It had never occurred to me that most people couldn’t afford to take international vacations.

I probably overlooked a lot of men with his qualities. They wouldn’t have been him, though. He was unique. Unforgettable.

I would do everything over differently, given the chance. But missing out on the best thing ever is the big price you pay for being young and dumb.

Who is the most feared person in New York?

This man was the most feared, and desired once upon a time

He was an airline steward who had lovers in cities all over the world. Whenever he had a layover he spent it in a bathhouse. Over 50% of the first HIV positive men either had sex with him, or someone he was intimate with. He was known as patient zero. He knew he was infected, and had the kaposi sarcoma lesions all over his taut tan body. He had unprotected sex anyway. I knew him from Christopher street in the early 80s. He left a trail of destruction across the decade

Why is it that when China finishes a new type of aircraft carrier, they immediately move on into another type of an aircraft carrier? Can the US do this? If so, why aren’t they doing it?

Because of this:

The most important plane on the Ford or Nimitz class carriers isn’t the F18 or F35.

It is this:

The E-2 Hawkeye.

There is no way to launch a 20–30-ton 10,000 HP turboprop off a carrier without catapults. And without the eye in the sky, there is no way to achieve operational parity with an American CBG.

The AEW system allows the admiral to detect threats at least 1,000 km away, and it is a prerequisite to establish air and sea superiority, if not dominance, within the sphere of sensor coverage.

And catobar was the original pursuit of the PLAN, except the program was staged, from a retrofitted foreign ski-jump cruiser, to an evolved indigenous ski-jump carrier, to a conventionally powered emals catobar flattop. The next two carriers will be a sister ship of the Fujian, conventionally powered, and China’s first nuclear powered flattop.

Welcome to parity.

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

When I was in High School, I worked for my dad fixing computers. It was a great job for me as a teenager because I was making good money on commission.

When I was a senior in High School, right before I turned 18, he merged his company with one that my brother and another guy( Dave) started. My dad included me as an employee.

My dad and brother were both cool with me working service calls but Dave was a prick. Some rules that he came up with for me?

I wanted to take some time off for a school trip. My dad said yes. During the trip I ignored pages and phone calls from Dave during that time. New rule, I had to ask Dave for permission to take time off. Went over really well when I ignored him and went on a family cruise a few months later and didn’t clear it with him.
My niece was a baby. Dave’s sister was the receptionist/ babysitter. There was a day where I had no school and she had some place to be. My brother asked me to stay and watch my niece and answer phone calls. I decided to repair a couple of computers in the shop while babysitting my niece. I gave the invoices to my brother, who signed off on them with no issue. New Rule, If I was answering phone’s/babysitting my niece, I could not perform billable work AT ALL. Went out the window again.
When I was employed by my dad only, we used to tag faulty parts by placing them in the box the new part came in and taping it closed with masking tape. We would the write BAD (PART NAME) (WHY PART WAS BAD) on the tape. I changed out a bad power supply and did followed the procedure. He grabbed the power supply and tried using it. New Rule, We had to use tags instead of tape because he was too dumb to realize that there was a piece of tape closing the box stating what was wrong with the part.
Last, and for me the dumbest. I had to submit my resignation to him only. My dad and brother understood why I was resigning. I was shipping out for boot camp and I wanted to take a few weeks to pack and just relax before leaving. Just to spite him I typed up a nice resignation letter to my dad and my brother. I handed them each a copy then I looked at Dave. I told him I had two letters for him. I flipped him the bird and said “FU” My dad told me it was the funniest resignation he ever saw.

Circles

What doesn’t impress you?

I don’t care whether you come into the office at 7AM.
I don’t care what your background is.
I don’t care how hard you work.

What I care about is results, and I will do everything in my power to help you accomplish them.

When I make a new hire, we negotiate. I say, “What can you get done in the span of a year?”

Then I argue against my best interests, whether it be code or sales. “That’s a lot, are you sure?”

But in my mind, I already know what numbers I need to justify your proposed salary package.

Once we agree, you tell me what you need to be successful, and I show up for you.

9 out of 10 cases, I’ll pay for training, tools, and resources.

Then you can go meditate in the caves of the Himalayas.
Treat yourself to squid ink paellas in Barcelona.
Circle volcano rims in Costa Rica.

Or just come into the office—

As long as you meet your goals.

I won’t be looking over your shoulder. But I will expect you to come see me if you need more support. And I will make myself available to you.

The days of running adult daycare centers are over.

Here’s my advice to anyone hiring:

Agree with crystal clarity on the deliverables—

Empower your employees—

And get out of their way.

What did you assume was exaggerated until you experienced it?

The addictive abilities of prescription painkillers.

My sister was addicted to prescription painkillers. (And meth and probably other things as well.) She was so addicted that she was arrested for writing fake prescriptions and couldn’t attend my wedding because it was out of state and she was under house arrest. I figured that she and people like her were just weak-willed or depressed and looking for an escape.

I had little sympathy for people who were addicted to things that were legal. If it was really that addictive, it wouldn’t be legal, right? It’s not like it’s cocaine. They’re just painkillers.

I was wrong.

When I was 27, I pulled a muscle in my back. It was so painful that I couldn’t walk straight. I’m not entirely sure how I even made it to the doctor’s office, but as soon as I hobbled in, they said: “Pulled muscle, huh?” I suppose I had the tell-tale walk of a man who tried to lift too much without bending his knees.

Anyway, the doctor prescribed me two prescription drugs. I believe one was a muscle relaxer, and one was a painkiller.

I recognized the names as soon as he said them. I knew these were some of the things my sister was addicted to.

And within 30 minutes of getting home and taking the first pills, I could see why she was addicted to them. I didn’t judge her and anyone else who was addicted to them as “weak-willed” anymore.

I remember lying on my bed, after being in intense pain for a day, suddenly feeling great! Not just the muscle pain, but every physical and emotional pain I had seemed to disappear. The stress of work and bills and being a husband and father just went away. The bed felt like a cloud, and I felt like I was floating. I was so happy.

When the first round of pills started to wear off after a few hours, I started to get depressed. Not just because the physical pain was coming back, but because some of my emotional worries and stress started to creep back in to my mind. I started to think about how much income I would lose from taking a few days off for my back pain. I started to think about the cost of the pills. I started to think about the domestic chores I’d been neglecting during my prescription painkiller trip.

But mostly I was thinking about if it was safe to take the next round of pills yet. The doctor said every six hours, and it had only been four hours. Could my liver handle it? Did I care if it could or not?

Then it hit me: I need to stop this before it gets worse. I didn’t want to end up like my sister. I liked my stressful life just fine. I didn’t need to escape from it.

So I quit taking the prescription pills, and decided to go with over-the-counter painkillers, stretching, and patience instead.

When I got back to work after a few days, a coworker offered to buy the leftover pills from me. But I didn’t want to be “that guy.” I didn’t want ANYTHING to do with those things anymore. So I flushed them down the toilet.

But I had newfound sympathy for people who can’t quit them. I understand the attraction they have.

My sister ended up overdosing on morphine a few years later. When we cleaned out her house after her death, she had over 300 empty prescription pill bottles in her room. The worst part was that those were just the empty ones. Some of her addicted “friends” had already come into her room and got the full bottles before we got there.

The USA is nuts

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MCXYTGu3Mp4?feature=share

Why do ALDI checkout staff always scan items at top speed with no regard for your ability to match their pace loading items into your bag or cart?

I’m a current employee of my local ALDI in America and have been there for two months. Knowing that, let me tell you this: ALDI would give big-brother a run for their money.

I work part-time on weekends and so as a result, I am almost always the primary or backup cashier because so much foot traffic is going on in the store and let me tell you; everything you do at the register is timed. They want “efficiency” and if you do not meet the standards, you will be held accountable for it.

For example, ALDI wants at the most only two seconds between transactions. When I say between transactions, I mean the time when you end one transaction and begin another. They’ll let you get away with three seconds at the store I work for but if you hit four seconds, you are failing the standards.

Every item has multiple bar codes on it so you can ring it up from almost any angle, but this also means stuff can get scanned by accident very easily. Yet they do not want any void items on the ticket. Ten voids is not acceptable in a normal day of work (eight hours, expected foot traffic on the weekend) they want to them to be around zero to three.

And lastly, the ringing speed. For a minimum standard the company demands that the cashier be able to ring 1,200 items per hour. If you can be faster, they’ll push you for it. For my part, being that I’m a part-timer, I’ve managed to ring only 1,000 items per hour. My boss tells me that I’m too slow and “will have to be held accountable for my efficiency” as per the rules of ALDI.

So if it seems like the employees are rushing, trust me, they are. But it’s literally not their fault. It’s ALDI that has the crazy expectations that they are required to meet for fear of losing their job. You wonder why they pay so well? Because the physical demands of the job are insane. If you’re not ringing things up at the 1.2k speed, you’re on the floor, pulling items, stocking shelves or crushing boxes into bales. Injury risk is high as well, hence the benefits offered. So please, speaking as a customer service worker for this business, try not to be upset at the employees for the standards the higher up sets. It’s not their fault that they have to act like that, it’s ALDI’S.

Responsibility but NO Authority

Have you ever been asked for help while off-duty as a police officer? What was the situation and what did they ask for?

Back in the early 90s, I was in a parking lot walking to a store. A woman was alone and walking about 15 yards ahead of me. Suddenly, a car pulls up next to her and a guy jumps out and grabs her by the hair to his car. She’s screaming for help as he’s yelling “Get in the car, bitch!”. She’s screaming for help as he’s spewing insults at her. She had her hands on the car pushing away as he’s trying to cram her through the driver’s door. I run up to the car yelling “police officer! STOP!” ALL of had was my wallet badge. I wasn’t carrying a gun at the time but I couldn’t let him try to abduct her. He hears me and turns around to see me holding my badge. He let’s go of her and jumps back in his car and takes off. Someone in one of the stores comes out saying they’ve called the police. I stay with the woman until the local police arrive.

The guy was the woman’s ex-boyfriend. I give the police my information and leave. I never heard anything about the situation again. That was also the day I started carrying off duty.

The purpose of life

What is the craziest arrest you have ever seen?

I was at Kohl’s with my sons and a stroller. I had my keys in the cup holder. This guy walked up and started talking to us. I thought he possibly worked there but then I realized he was just chatty. I then went to help my kids try clothes on, some of which they kept on, so I took the tags and we waited in line. Suddenly, the police stormed in and handcuffed me. My kids started crying and I was confused. I stated to them that I have the tags to all my items in my hands and I’d told the attendant lady I was doing it. I had assumed they thought I was trying to shoplift.

The police then said they didn’t care about that, they wanted to know who the man was. I was totally lost, not remembering the brief conversation with the strange man. They were very aggressively asking me questions and finally loss prevention came out with a picture and asked me “Who is this?”

I looked at the picture and told them I have no idea, he just was hitting on me or something, but I didn’t want to be outright rude, so I was polite and spoke with him a couple minutes before making it clear I wasn’t interested. The cop totally didn’t believe me and asked…

“Well then, if you don’t know him, why did he drive away in your car?”

I thought, “WHAT?!”

The cop looked a little puzzled, then said that after the man had spoken to me, I said goodbye and that he’d taken the keys from my stroller and when he went to leave, he’d shoplifted something. So when store clerks went to stop him, he assaulted loss prevention, an innocent bystander and a cop, before leading the police on a car chase where they lost him, but were currently searching for him.

After interviewing me and my kids, and then seeing that we didn’t actually arrive together, loss prevention and the police realized I wasn’t an accomplice, but actually another victim.

They gave us a ride home and then contacted me later to let me know they’d caught him but he wouldn’t tell them where my car was.

So I went to the jail and visited him hoping he’d tell me where my car was. He told me the street he’d left it on and where to find the keys- I had to go to a nearby restaurant, go to the women’s handicap stall, take the seat liners out, and I’d find the keys underneath them. This was a week later so I wasn’t sure they’d still be there, but sure enough, that’s where they were hidden. My car was just parked on a street, chillin’. The license plates had been changed with some rental car plates, but besides that, it was OK.

Kohl’s let me keep all of the items I was going to buy my kids for free, since I was humiliated and my kids were traumatized. The police were really nice after they saw that I wasn’t the guy’s friend.

Men learn

What has been your best career decision(s)?

“Sir. I’m not cut out for this. Thank you”
I stood up and walked out of the interview hall and never looked back.

“Dad I don’t want to work a job right now. I just realized that once I start working, I’ll be doing this for the next 30+ years of my life and never get the opportunity to take a break like this. I’d like to take a year off and camp and travel and bird my way across India. Once I leave for my MS, we both know I’m never coming back. This is my last chance to do this.”

Dad looked at me for a whole minute before saying “Go for it. I’ve got your back”.

Convincing mom was a whole other ball game but she eventually came around. I spent the next year of my life in National parks and sanctuaries; sometimes alone, other times with friends but most of the times leading groups of students as an instructor. After 15 years of hard slogging as a student, I finally had a break.

Taking a year off after undergrad gave me the opportunity to recuperate. It kept me away from a job which a lot of my friends described as a horrendous experience and helped me turbo-charge for what was ahead. It gave me a chance to spend time with the people I loved. It was not an easy decision. A lot of people doubted me. Most people called me crazy and arrogant. A non-trivial number of people assumed that I was lying and I had basically failed my BE and didn’t get a job. After all, which sane person passes on a job to watch birds? My dad, being the devilish prankster that he is, fueled these rumors even more to mom’s annoyance. He would go around telling people “What can I say. Nobody wants to hire him. If you have a job in your company can I send him to you?” This was the quickest way to get rid of all the concerned “well wishers”.

By the end of the year, I was mentally recharged and ready to take on whatever life had to throw at me. When I got to grad school, I was willing to push myself harder than I ever thought possible. When I started at Amazon a week after I graduated, I was completely pumped and ready to go rock this whole “job” thing because I had never actually had one before so I had a clean slate to start with.

Taking a year off gave me a chance to put things into perspective. It gave me a chance to believe in myself more than the established system. It re-affirmed my belief that you can walk the path less trodden and still make it to the other end. It will always be the best decision I will ever have made; because without it I would not have a career, merely a job.

Sometimes, the most important roads in life, are the ones you don’t take.

This is fun

What are some hacks that everyone should know?

About 90% of heart attack occur early in the morning and it can be reduced if one takes a glass or two of water before going to bed at night. We know water is important but never knew about the special times one has to drink it.
Put a sticker with a fake pin on your debit card. If someone tries to use it 3+ times, the atm will eat the card.
To remove chewing gum from clothes keep the cloth in the freezer for one hour.
Need to test a printer? A print the google homepage, it has all the colors and uses almost no ink.
To whiten white clothes soak white clothes in hot water with a slice of lemon for 10 minutes.
Confusing wikipedia article? Click “simple o english” on the left list of languages and it’ll whisk you to a simplified version.
Ants problem: ants hate cucumbers. Keep the skin of cucumbers near the place where they are or at ant hole.
If you drop an earring, ring or small screw, simply turn off the lights and look with a flashlight. They’ll light right away.
To get pure & clean ice boil water first before placing in the freezer.
You can clear a room full of cigarette smoke in about a minute simply by spinning a wet towel o around.
To give a shine to your hair vinegar add one teaspoon of vinegar to hair, then wash hair.
When you go to a zoo wear the same colors as the employees do. The animals will come right up to you.
To make the mirror shine clean with sprite.
You can predict your future adult height with almost 100% accuracy by doubling your height at age of two.
To get maximum juice out of lemons soak lemons in hot water for one hour, and then juice them.
Want to meet girls? Go outside when it’s raining with a huge umbrella and take your pick.
To avoid smell of cabbage while cooking keep a piece of bread on the cabbage in the vessel while cooking.
Want to know if someone has romantic feelings for you? Look at their eyes! People’s pupils expand by 45% when looking at a love interest.
To avoid tears while cutting onions use “chew gum”
Remove unpleasant odor in smelly shoes or gym bags by placing dry teac bags in them.
To boil potatoes quickly skin one potato from one side only before boiling.
To remove ink from clothes put toothpaste on the ink spots generously and let it dry completely, then wash.
To get rid of mice or rats sprinkle black pepper in places where you find mice & rats. They will run away.
Your personality has its own smell. People can guess characteristics of personality just by your smell, because the body emits hormones and pheromones that we can detect in sweat.

Gaps…

Why was that teacher fired during your schoolyear?

This was back in the 90s. This was in 7th grade. I had history directly after lunch, and the whole class would be waiting outside the locked classroom door by the time the teacher would show up. This guy was speed walking and sweating his ass off while apologizing. Then we get into class and take our seats. Every day he had an “educational video tape” and it was recorded on vhs from the history channel. He would put it on and then fall asleep at his desk. While sleeping one of us would go up to his desk and steal all the answers to his tests. Everybody in this class was passing with straight A’s, and we all heard he was being looked at for it, but that wasn’t the kicker. One day we were fucking around as usual and a kid decided to throw a book out the window. This teacher told him he better go outside and get the book and come right back in. We’re on the second floor and the exit is right below us, so we’re watching out the window for him to grab the book while the teacher is back at his desk not paying attention to a damn thing. The kid comes out the exit door, walks right past the book on the sidewalk, and just continues down the street until he is out of sight. Everybody is laughing but nobody wants to say why. All the tardiness with the straight A’s, even from the ones failing every other class, on top of a kid easily walking out of school and going who knows where, ended up with him being fired

The truth about life

As an older man, I tell you… this is the TRUTH.

What made you know you wanted to be a surgeon? Was it a certain moment, or a lifelong fascination?

A2A

I was NOT going to be a surgeon.

The 3rd year of medical school in the US is traditionally when students finally break out of the classroom and into the clinical arena of “rotations.” You spend a month or two on each of the mandatory specialties, learning the basics and just soaking up the experience. Everyone HAS to do internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, ob-gyn and general surgery, among others.

You do have some limited say over the order of your rotations, however, so I decided to do internal medicine (what I thought I was going into) first, and surgery (which I absolutely dreaded) dead last.

One of my first patients on the internal medicine service was Mr. A, a man in his 40s with advanced liver cirrhosis. He lived in a nursing home and was readmitted to the hospital like clockwork every 2–3 weeks for worsening confusion and somnolence, termed “hepatic encephalopathy.” The liver is a “super-organ,” regulating to some degree pretty much every other organ system in the body. When the liver fails, everybody fails. Fix one thing, something else goes to shit. In Mr. A’s case, the toxic byproducts of protein digestion weren’t cleared by his liver, causing his coma. The medication to help clear the toxins from his bowel gave him spectacular diarrhea, and his blood pressure plummeted, causing his kidneys to fail. Kidneys didn’t clear the toxins they were supposed to, platelets no longer worked, and combined with the absence of clotting factors made by the liver, engorged veins backing up into the stomach ruptured and bled. The blood pressure dropped further. What’s worse— all that blood digesting in the gut, well, that was just another source of protein to fuel the hepatic encephalopathy.

I grew to dread seeing him every morning. The best I could hope to obtain was the status quo, which hardly seemed an acceptable quality of life. Still, I could make him comfortable for the most part. On the other hand, there was very little I could do for his fiancee. She was there every morning, 6 am, when I rounded, for the latest update. There were no updates. There were never any updates. I could offer little more than a hand to hold.

It was frustrating. As I progressed through my subsequent rotations, and tried to consider each as a career option with an open mind, I found myself ruminating obsessively over Mr. A and his fiancee. They needed doctors to care for them. But could I be that doctor? How long before I couldn’t take it anymore? I considered the words of a good mentor: “Being miserable doesn’t make you a better doctor.”

And then my surgery rotation rolled around. General surgery is PUNISHING. I mean, like, holy crap, man. Rounds at 4 am. Line up, present, know your facts, yes ma’am, no sir, run to the OR, operate for 12 hours. In-house call every 2–3 nights, just powering through. Eat when you can, sleep when you can. And we were still expected to pass our final at the end of the rotation. Really??? When exactly was I supposed to study?

The night before, apparently. 10 pm, nothing like the last minute, pounding Starbucks, staining entire textbooks highlighter yellow, and my pager goes off. I wasn’t on call, but it was my attending. Do I want to come in and do a case? Honestly, no, no I don’t, I want to learn this stuff and take that test and be done. But I knew better than to say that. “Yes, sir, I would love to.”

I don’t know to this day why that attending called a green 3rd year med student who wasn’t even going into surgery, to “help” him with a case. Because here’s the thing: when I got to the hospital, he had no residents waiting, no other attendings, just him and I. Oh, and a helicopter.

Yeah, so I pretty much lost my shit. I jumped in, blades whirling, and felt my head explode. Luckily, he couldn’t hear it over the motor. “Where are we going, sir?”

He smiled, and gestured for me to put on my headphones. “We’re gonna go get a liver.”

And that’s what we did. A 19 year old shooting victim donated his perfect, soft pink liver. I cradled it, let it slide into the cooler. You know, those red coolers that say “HUMAN ORGAN,” you see people grabbing and hauling ass into helicopters in the movies? Yup, that was me. I felt like sort of a badass.

And then we took it back to my home hospital.

And we put it in Mr A.

True story. 9 months after caring for him on my internal medicine rotation, I saw him next, on my surgery rotation, draped, beneath the OR lights. I didn’t even realize it was him until we finished the operation, and I went with my attending to talk with his family. His fiancee was there.

I gave her the update.

4 days later I talked to Mr A for the first time ever. His new liver let him wake-up. He left the hospital and married his fiancee. They had been engaged for 6 years.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There is no such thing as a quick fix. He still required a lot of help from my internist colleagues to keep that liver working. But he got BETTER. Like, astronomically better. Literally overnight. Surgery was a big part of that. I was a big part of that surgery.

And that’s why I’m a surgeon.

(Also, because I passed that final with honors. That helped.)

Athenian Salad (Salata Athenas)

Ingredients

1 medium head lettuce
1 bunch romaine
10 radishes, sliced
1 medium cucumber, sliced
6 scallions (with tops), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil
1/3 cup wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
24 Greek or ripe green olives
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 (2 ounce) can rolled anchovies with capers, drained

Instructions

Tear lettuce and romaine into bite-size pieces. Place lettuce, romaine, radishes, cucumber and scallions in large plastic bag. Close bag tightly and refrigerate. Shake oil, vinegar, salt and oregano in tightly covered jar; refrigerate.
Just before serving, shake dressing. Add dressing and olives to vegetables in bag. Close bag tightly and shake until ingredients are well coated. Pour salad into large bowl; top with cheese and anchovies.

Yields 8 servings.

Side gigs

Braised Chicken in Aromatic Tomato
Sauce (Pastitsatha)

This dish is one that evolved from Corfu to stretch scant supplies of meat. Consisting of chicken, turkey, beef or veal braised in tomato sauce fragrant with spices, it is served over thick tubular pasta from Corfu called “perciatellli” (if you can’t find it, use spaghetti). Kefalotyri is a nutty tasting hard cheese similar to Parmesan. It is available at Greek markets.

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
1 (3 pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
3 cups chopped red onions
6 whole allspice
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 (28 ounce) can whole Italian-style tomatoes, drained, juices reserved, tomatoes chopped
1 cup water
2 tablespoon (or more) red wine vinegar
2 tablespoon tomato paste
Pinch of granulated sugar
12 ounces perciatelli pasta or spaghetti
Freshly grated kefalotyri cheese or Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Heat oil in heavy large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken in batches and cook until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch.
Place chicken on platter. Add onions to Dutch oven; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add spices; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and their juices and water. Return chicken to Dutch oven. Cover; simmer over medium-low heat until chicken is very tender, about 35 minutes.
Transfer chicken to platter. Tent with foil. Add 2 tablespoons vinegar, tomato paste and sugar to Dutch oven. Simmer until thickened to sauce consistency, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and more vinegar, if desired. Remove from heat. Cover to keep warm.
Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Transfer pasta to platter. Top with chicken, sauce and cheese.

DO NOT Pay On The FIRST DATE! (300 IQ STRATEGY)

China and Russia test ‘hack-proof’ quantum communication link for Brics countries

•Scientists in Russia and China establish quantum communication encrypted with the help of secure keys transmitted by Mozi satellite
•‘All countries that are interested in technological leadership know that without quantum technology they won’t succeed’: quantum researcher

Scientists in Russia and China have established quantum communication encrypted with the help of secure keys transmitted by China’s quantum satellite, showing that a Brics quantum communication network may be technically feasible.

The scientists were able to span 3,800km (2,360 miles) between a ground station close to Moscow and another near Urumqi in China’s western Xinjiang region to send two encoded images secured by quantum keys.

The first “full cycle” quantum communication test between the two countries was successfully conducted last year, said Alexey Fedorov, of Russia’s National University of Science and Technology (MISIS) and the Russian Quantum Centre (RQC), Russia’s leading institution in charge of creating a quantum computer, on December 14.

Bridging the vast distance is possible with the help of China’s quantum satellite Mozi, which has opened pathways to develop national and international quantum communication networks.

With the advent of advanced supercomputers and quantum computing, there were now more avenues for information systems to be attacked, the researchers at RQC, Moscow-based QSpace Technologies and MISIS University wrote in a paper published on the open-access online archive arxiv.org in October.

Quantum communication – a form of quantum physics-based information transfer that uses cryptography to encode data in single photons – offers a way to transfer information that hackers cannot eavesdrop on, according to the paper.

Encrypted data is transferred in the form of ones and zeros along with a quantum key that is used to decrypt the data.

Quantum keys, or strings of random bits, “are secret parameters that we use to encode useful information”, making it inaccessible to unauthorised individuals, Fedorov said.

Using quantum key distribution can allow for security that was “guaranteed by the law of physics”, the researchers wrote in their paper.

While there has been major progress in the development of quantum key distribution, ground-based transfer at reasonable speeds using optical fibre cables is limited to around 1,000km because of a loss of photons over long distances, according to the paper.

With this limitation, researchers in different countries and continents, or even on opposite sides of Russia, could not effectively transfer quantum keys, Fedorov said.

To overcome this hurdle, China launched Mozi, the world’s first quantum communication satellite in 2016, to begin long-distance quantum transmission.

Using the satellite, China has been able to develop a national quantum network of ground stations spanning thousands of kilometres.

In 2020, the Russian team began working with the Mozi team, who helped them set up systems to begin conducting experiments with the satellite, Fedorov said.

A ground station was set up at the Zvenigorod observatory just outside Moscow, equipped with telescopes and cameras to track the satellite. Various experiments were conducted between the Zvenigorod ground station and China’s Nanshan ground station near Urumqi, the paper said.

On March 1 last year, a full quantum communication experiment was conducted between the two stations.

A secret key was distributed between Zvenigorod and Mozi, which orbited between 600km and 1,100km above the ground station. Once the Chinese side received the shared key from the satellite, a secret key was established between two stations nearly 4,000km apart, the paper said.

Two coded messages were transferred between the teams that were decrypted with the help of two keys – a quote from Chinese philosopher Mozi and an equation from the late Soviet physicist Lev Landau – according to the team.

It was the first successful full-cycle quantum communication experiment between China and Russia. Fedorov said a secure quantum call had been established in 2017 between Austria and China using Mozi.

The paper released by the Russian team in October highlighted a major aspect of their research with Mozi and quantum key distribution.

To transfer quantum keys between long-distance ground stations, both stations must have detectors that pick up signals from a satellite. These devices “are not always working ideally”, Fedorov said.

Slight differences in the detectors could leave the system open to potential security attacks, he said.

The researchers said this detection efficiency mismatch was not taken into account in the decoy state quantum protocol – which is the most widely used quantum key distribution protocol. To further improve the security of the system, the team modified the security analysis protocol to take the mismatch into account.

“Our results pave the way to the considerations of realistic imperfection of the QKD [quantum key distribution] systems, which are important in the context of their practical security,” the paper said.

We live in an information age, where a lot of what we do “is tied to protected information”, making quantum keys a “useful tool” to protect strategic and sensitive information, Fedorov said.

While quantum communications networks could have many uses, Fedorov said that for now quantum systems would ideally be suited to scientific research, with more research needed before the technology could be commercialised.

He said the finance sector was interested in quantum technology, with banks storing “a massive amount of critical, important information”.

In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Future Technologies Forum in Moscow he planned to develop Russia into an economy where quantum technology had an important role in digital infrastructure.

Russia has also proposed a joint effort to advance future technologies with fellow Brics nations Brazil, India, China and South Africa that would include quantum-based efforts.

“Technically, it’s absolutely possible” to build a quantum communication network between the Brics nations, Fedorov said.

But while there was “scientific, technical and commercial potential for these kinds of systems”, a unifying project was needed to push development forward, he said.

There would also need to be shared standards between nations regarding the exchange of data and safety measures.

Fedorov said that to commercialise quantum networks, development was heading towards expanding infrastructure through launching mini quantum satellites and building ground stations, along with forging protocols to exchange information.

In June, Russia released its own quantum microsatellite prototype, and had begun experimenting with the aim of launching its own quantum satellite, according to Fedorov.

The team hoped to develop its own quantum technology to become a resource to help other nations conduct quantum experiments as China had helped the Russians, he said.

Beyond quantum communication, countries across the world are researching various technologies, including quantum computing, which the Russian team would soon use to solve minor tasks.

“All countries that are interested in technological leadership know that without quantum technology they won’t succeed,” Fedorov said.

Sandlerverse

“A man and a woman had been married for more than 60 years.

They had shared everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife’s bedside.

She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000. He asked her about the contents.

“When we were to be married,” she said, “my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.”

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.

“Honey,” he said “that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?”

“Oh, that?” she said. “That’s the money I made from selling the dolls.””

Caught

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MmHyYG0eZuk?feature=share

I purchased a house 2 years ago, but now I cannot afford my house due to an income drop. Should I sell?

Do not sell. You have already paid for two years. First contact your lender and ask for them to pause your loan for 3 months. Then for three months you will have no payment (time to save as much money as possible). Use that time to get your income level back up to where you need it to make the house payment. Look for a new job or another part time job. If you have a good car, do a delivery job like Uber or Door Dash. Eliminate any monthly paid services like movie channels, even internet. Just keep the electric, water, gas, and trash. NEVER eat any place that is NOT your house – unless it’s like free food at work. Fast food, Starbucks, restaurants, and eating outside the house is what breaks people. If you go to Costco you can get a whole chicken for $5 and you can get 12 croissants for $6. You can also get 50 little bags of chips for $13. You can get a case of 35 cans of Coke for $25 (one can a day for a month). A chicken sandwich on a croissant with a bag of chips and a Coke sounds like a good lunch. You spent $50 but you got 12 lunches and maybe more lunches and you still have lots of chips and cans of Coke for the rest of the month. Fast food restaurants will cost you about $15 for one lunch (sometimes more). So you decide 3 lunches at fast food or 12–15 lunches at home for the same price. Stay hungry, only eat when you must and drink a big glass of water before you eat. Potatoes are only $1 per pound and they are the most filling food you can eat. I remember in college, I always bought a big jar of peanut butter and jelly. A PB&J sandwich will really save you from throwing your money away on fast food and the PB&J goes great with the chips. Eating at home costs 1/10th the price of eating outside the home. If you cut down all your outgoing money and get more incoming money, you should have the ability to save your house. Renting might just be more than your house payment. Consider renting out one of the bedrooms. If you rent out the master bedroom you’ll get more money than one of the other bedrooms. Maybe a neighbor will want to rent a parking space at your house or rent your garage for storing their stuff. If your house has a lot of land, maybe someone will want to rent some space to park their RV until they need to travel. Look at the items you own, that item that you have not used for over a year – sell it on eBay. Have a garage sale to get rid of old clothing you no longer wear, old shoes, old dishes, old knifes and forks. Sell those collections and sell anything you can to keep your house. Your house is the most important investment most people make during their entire life. Don’t let this house slip out of your hands because when this happens most people never get another house. Use the least amount of heat and lighting as you can. More blankets. But no space or plug in heaters and NO CANDLES (they cause house fires and insurance doesn’t cover that). If you are not in the room turn off the LED lights, television, radio, etc. I didn’t own a television until I was in my 30’s. If you are spending all you free time trying to make money and spending almost nothing to live, you can save your house. You will be successful, you can do it. Stay hungry get out there and make some money however you can. You can do it! I believe in you! If you found my post interesting or helpful, please upvote, share, and follow. Thank you!

I lived in all these places

What is it like to grow up in a criminal family? How does it shape someone and their future?

I hated it. It’s an awful way for a child to grow up. I know that my brothers hated it too, but eventually my oldest brother went into “the business,” went to jail a couple times, got out, now he’s currently in jail again. My other brother and I both ran away from home once we were old enough and we don’t talk to the rest of our family much now.

First, some background: most “criminal families” aren’t like the mafia. It’s not a glamorous life. It is not like the Sopranos or the Godfather. It is not dark wood paneling and fine liquor. Every time I hear one of my sheltered school friends talk about organized crime or something it makes me want to puke. People go into crime because they are poor and they don’t know any better. They are not good people and they often don’t have a good sense of basic right and wrong. This means they are unlikely to be good parents. You know those pictures you see every so often on the internet with some woman turning a trick and her baby is in the background? That was how I grew up, but with drugs and guns and stabbing instruments lying around like toys. When my brothers and I were growing up, we constantly had strange people coming and going from our house at all hours, often engaging in loud altercations with both my mom and dad (I suppose I should give thanks that my parents were “together?”) inside the house or outside on the front lawn. Drugs and paraphernalia and firearms were pretty much everywhere. It’s fortunate that the trigger pull needed to set off a handgun is more than a small child can muster, at least until he or she is old enough to understand that guns kill people for real, and that yes, once when one of daddy’s friends was carried back to the house screaming and bleeding and couldn’t be taken to the hospital that that was because someone shot a gun at him! That’s how I learned about firearms safety – my mom just matter-of-factly said to my brothers and me, “That’s what happens when you point a gun at someone and pull the trigger” while stubbing out her cigarette watching my father and his gang try to staunch the bleeding and perform first aid. We did not play with the guns on the table after that. By the way, first aid is something you learn pretty early on, by the way, because there are a lot of ways to get injured in a “criminal family.” My parents were not (too) abusive, they loved us in a strange sort of way. But there were always weapons (of the sharp variety) or a lot of times broken bottles and other broken shit left lying around that my brothers and I got good at avoiding or when we were playing, we’d use them as fake weapons which, of course, since they were real and we were stupid, typically resulted in us getting to practice the first aid techniques my dad’s friend (“Doctor” Terry) had helpfully taught us. This was entirely normal to us – loud nightly commotion, a general tenseness around the house at all times, mostly sleeping during the day unless we bothered to get up to attend school, and a lot of injuries. I know now that regular childhood is full of little injuries, but we were always around blood and getting scratched up and scraped and gouged and bruised, just because the environment was dangerous. To this day I don’t know how we survived except that we picked up the instincts that people who live with weapons and sharp objects lying casually anywhere just happen to develop. No, we did not have shoes. At least not for the kids.

Once I was old enough to understand what was going on I learned that my family – not just my mom and dad but several “uncles” and their girlfriends were a minor part of a drug distribution network. Oddly enough we kids were not conscripted to be a part of it, not until my oldest brother decided on his own he wanted into the lifestyle. It seemed like my parents were doing it mostly because it was all they knew and after we were born they tried to protect us and provide for us in the only way they knew how. Strangely we never had any police trouble (at least at the house) because I think we were pretty far from the front lines and were considered a safe house of sorts where money was counted, weapons were traded and stored (for those who don’t know, guns are considered more secure currency because they can both be traded and used for intimidation), and “product” was moved back and forth. Maybe they were doing this to keep us safe(r), I don’t know. But I do know it was still a chaotic and very scary environment to grow up in as a child.

You probably want to know how I got out of it. Unfortunately that end of the story isn’t too interesting. We had television in the house, my brother and I would watch it, and sort of see (or at least get the idea) that not everyone lived like this. Television is full of happy middle-class families. And we wanted to get out of there. So one day (daytime! when everyone is sleeping!) we grabbed one of the bundles of cash lying around, stuck it in a bag with a change of clothes and took a bus out of town. 800 miles out of town. For awhile we were worried someone would come looking for us but it didn’t happen. Eventually I did call my mom and she was angry but it was clear she was worried and just happy we were alive. We didn’t talk much more than that, she just said, “Well take care of your brother.” My brother and I live in another city now and I have completed a GED and now I go to a state school. Hope that helps clear up some misconceptions.

Manners makith man

What are the biggest lessons you have learned in the corporate world?

Nobody is your friend, not even the guys you eat lunch with every day
Nobody is indispensable. Anybody can be laid off any day.
Never waste time listening to management podcasts, attending town-halls or post work self-funded drink parties as they dont have any impact on your salary, promotion or job security.
Try to attend as many technical trainings as you can which are paid for by your employer.
Never send emails late night or over the weekends thinking that people will get impressed. There are already people in your team who have seen it and done it all and only fools work overtime.
Become awesome at the work you do. Focus on learning the latest skills applicable to your field. That will save your life when you are laid off or want to change employer.
Dont waste time on feedbacks or year end assessments and dont take them seriously. No matter how hard you work or the value you add, you will always be made to feel below average.
Fight hard to get a raise by constantly raising your compensation issue with senior managers in private meetings. No company wants to pay more and one needs to snatch his share of goodies.
Never share your family or any other problem/weakness with anybody at work.
Make a genuine effort to help others who need some help from you specific to your knowledge or skill. The cycle of Karma will enable you to get the same help when you need the same.
Never use capital case or offensive words in any written communication that can be used as an evidence of your unprofessional behavior and be used against you.

Their feelings

What is the fastest you wiped that smirk off your manager’s face?

I am a remote employee and I keep a company inventory, recently I completed an inventory of my stock. I received word when the higher-ups were reconciling my count that I was missing 5 high dollar items and was questioned, did I “loose” them or did I not count them, it was a significant sum, and I could have lost my job or been held financially responsible for these items. without a reasonable explanation, the boss was pissed as hell at me.

The thing was that just a few months ago, I was requested by the asset manager to send these 5 items across the country to another remote employee and I had an email with the item numbers and serial numbers along with the FedEx tracking numbers to prove they were sent and delivered. The asset manager was responsible for transferring these items into that other inventory.

I found the email and it only took me a few minutes to find it. I was off the hook and the asset manager or more likely one of his staff was in hot water now!

Hoe Phases

What did you notice during an interview that made you not want the job?

I had been job searching for quite some time at this point. I had gotten a job to come in for an interview. For this job, I had interviewed 2 other times for it, so, I was going to be interviewing for a 3rd time. In my mind, I thought, “Maybe they really liked me each time (as I qualified for the job) but they just kept getting really good candidates with more experience then me and so they would just go for the other person” Alas, I went into the interview hopeful and feeling very prepared.

I had arrived promptly for the interview, but the interviewer was extremely late. The interview was for 9am, but they didn’t call me until about 9:40am. I thought, “Maybe they just got really busy?” But, when the interviewer came out to greet me, they offered no sort of apology for being almost an hour late.

Alas, I greeted the interviewer with a smile and a firm handshake. When it was time to interview, they asked me to introduce myself and tell them a little about myself. The interviewer just looked like she was trying not to laugh for some reason. I continued the interview, and for one question, I think it was like “Tell me why we should hire you” and then she literally laughed. She busted out laughing and then tried to compose herself. I have honestly no idea why she did that. There were other interviewers in the room as well, but only she was acting like that. Weirdly enough, I ended up being offered the job, but I declined. Between the interviewer being late, laughing at my answers, and being sarcastic, it just left an “unprofessional” taste in my mouth. I really wanted the job (hence why I interviewed 3 times for it). But if that person was going to be one of my supervisors/ higher ups, I didn’t want to be apart of that company.

Illogical thought

Japan is planning to spend over $2 billion to help its country’s firms move production out of China, and 71% of Americans say US companies should pull out of China. How much does China stand to lose as they lose favor in the manufacturing sector?

China will say thank you very much for vacating valuable (and often choice) factory premises. Local companies will jump at the chance to acquire the sites, because these are often prime land with the best infrastructure and utilities.

China rolled out the red carpet for MNCs and the local government often offered the best preferentially to foreigners.

The problem with the de-shoring narrative is the utter impracticality, because it is nigh impossible to find another country with the set of conditions the mainland offers. China is no longer cheap, and competition is incredible. Factories that remain and prosper are ENABLED by the set of advantages the mainland provides.

The companies that find it attractive to relocate are chasing lower wages, and mostly unaffected by poorer skill, infrastructure and the lack of symbiotic ecosystems.

Scam alert

Jesus H. Christ

What screams “I’m upper class”?

When someone doesn’t understand how everyday mainstream culture works.

I went to college in a town with extreme wealth, but was relatively poor myself so worked at the nearby Burger King for, you know — money.

Occasionally, a wealthy type person would come in and seem totally clueless as to how a Burger King worked. The menu board was overwhelming to them. They’d order their burger “medium rare” or “well-done,” not realizing the burgers simply ran through a machine and they all came out the same.

They usually had unbranded shirts and pants that looked as if they had never been worn before.

Everything was a curiosity to them. I remember one was staring at the straw dispenser, wondering how the straw comes out. I leaned over and pressed the button and out rolled a straw. He seemed giddy about how this invention worked.

Essentially, they are space aliens on Earth for the first time.

Setting up for a crash…

We all need to be objective.

What makes you sad about people living in India?

Yesterday, I saw a young 20 year old married girl in my clinic, who was brought in by her mother in law for surgery for ‘ hole in the heart’

She was suffering from atrial septal defect (ASD) wherin you are born with a hole between two chambers of the heart. The surgical correction when done early on ( before 20–25 years) is very simply and almost risk free. But unfortunately this girl had a large hole and became very very sick. She also developed certain complications making her ASD inoperable.

She was found to have ASD at around 10 years of age but her parents did not get her treated as the stigma of heart surgery will make her ineligible for marriage. So they hid her disease and married her off. Her in laws who discovered her problem about one year back ignored it and now that she is sick, brought her for treatment. They are more concerned that she will be unable to bear children.

The poor young girl is screwed both by her parents and her husband for no fault of hers. Her parents only wanted to get rid of her while her inlaws / husband only want her as child bearing machine.Sad.

Edit: The surgery here in Hyderabad is free for poor patients in the best of private hospitals also ( Govt Aarogyasree scheme). The sad part is due to this delay the heart is irreparably damaged and it is now inoperable .

Bros… Men’s friends

What was a Christmas bonus you got from your company that made you speechless?

I still remember my first year at Campbell Soup Company in 1985. I started on Jan 2 as Assistant Manager of Accounts Payable. I was a glorified clerk who should have been eligible for overtime, but Manager in my title made me exempt.

We were not required to turn in time cards unless we missed work which I didn’t do as I was the new kid. At my six months review I received all high marks except that my boss marked me down for never working overtime. I averaged 10 to 20 hours of overtime a week.

To clue my boss in, I started turning in my time cards every week. A couple of months later the payroll clerk called me to the side and asked me if I wanted my meal money. There were several envelopes for me in the safe.

“What meal money?” I asked. She explained that anyone exempt who worked two hours past quitting time received $2 meal money. I laughed and asked her how long it had been since they had raised the amount. She said it had been that way as long as she had been there, or over 25 years.

At the end of the year, I received my first Christmas bonus, a $5 check. I had worked the year before as a part-time bookkeeper for my parents’ little dress shop and received a $50 bonus check. They paid their sales clerks a $250 bonus.

I framed my $5 check as a reminder that policies should always be reviewed and scrapped or updated as the case may be. It cost more for the company to process those tiny payments than it was worth to the recipients. If you are going to do something do it right or don’t do it at all.

Men are leaving… checking out

Have you ever met someone for the first time and got the strongest feeling that the person was bad?

When I was in college I moved into an old house that had been converted into apartments. Perfect location for me and within the first couple days I had met all the neighbors around me. All seemed normal, until the next door neighbors kid stopped by with the kid who lived across the street from us. The kid may have been 13 or 14 at the time, but he made the hair on my neck stand up. He looked like Malachi, from Children of the Corn, and that was his nick name. He never said anything to me or did anything crazy around me but I always had that spooked feeling around him. I moved a couple years later. One evening I was checking out the news and the headline that day was a body was found in a crawl space. When they showed the house and then the picture came up on the screen I was shocked to see it was the kid across the street from me. He admitted to another killing out of state a few days later. As time went on he confessed to a few more that he had killed. Before any future investigation was done, he took the easy way out via suicide in jail. He was a confirmed serial killer.

Argentina JUST Flipped to the US Dollar | -54% CRASH [President Milei FIRST Move!]

What is oddest crime you’ve ever heard or seen?

Back in 2011, the State of California reported that over 8.3 billion recyclable cans had been recycled that year.

This meant that California’s recycling rate was just under 100 percent; implying that nearly every single can in the state had been recycled.

Now, in an ideal world, such high recycling would be a good thing, and reflect incredible levels of environmental responsibility in California.

But unfortunately, this statistic was too good to be true.

Recycling Fraud…Surprisingly, It’s A Crime

As it turned out, California’s astonishing recycling rates were not the result of widespread environmental awareness. The real reason for this statistic was much more sinister…fraud.

Apart from Oregon, California is the only state with a container return program on the west coast. Due to financial incentive and a lack of regulation, several ‘recycling fraud rings’ popped up, defrauding the program by redeeming millions of ineligible cans.

In 2012, government officials reported that the State of California lost over $40 million every year to fraud. To combat these losses, the Justice Department created “recycling fraud units” to stop “recycling fraud rings”.

This initiative proved to be quite effective in stopping fraud. In late 2018, two Arizona men were arrested for over $16 million worth of recycling fraud. Under the guise of a trucking company, a man named Miguel Bustillos smuggled millions of cans into California for the purpose of defrauding the state government.

[1] If convicted of ‘felony recycling fraud’, Bustillos and his associated could face up to three years behind bars.

“So what are you in for?”

“Recycling fraud…”

I can’t imagine that would net you much respect in a prison setting. This whole thing just seems so surreal to me.

Footnotes

[1] 2 AZ men arrested in $16 million recycling fraud

Fucking awesome

What are three things you should cut out of your life if you are depressed?

When most people get depressed, they tend to start adding things to their life thinking that something will “make them happy”.

This isn’t how it works.

Here are 3 things you should cut out of your life when you’re depressed — based on personal experience.

Alcohol. Nowadays, I enjoy a beer or a glass of wine on the weekend. Maybe 2 if I’m feeling frisky. It’s become a sort of hobby — I like trying a new beer or wine to celebrate getting through a tough week of work or training. However, when I was severely depressed, I cut the stuff out completely. Alcohol tended to amplify whatever I was already feeling, meaning when I was sad, it made me really fucking sad.
Most romantic partners. I’ve dealt with depression on many occasions in my life. I’ve been in relationships during my depression at times, and I’ve been single during my depression at times as well. I’ve only had one partner ever who has been truly supportive during my periods of intense depression and anxiety — the one I’m with now. If a partner isn’t helpful for your mental health, it’s not that they’re bad, but the relationship will struggle.
Crappy diet/exercise habits. For a lot of people, there’s a dietary component to depression. For myself, I know that fried foods, too much food, and too much inactivity can set me off and send me spiraling. Unfortunately, there’s a bit of trial and error in this, but it’s relatively easy to learn to eat better. If something makes you feel bad, stop eating it.

Bad pasts

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rkGdhaJAIL8?feature=share

Tomorrow I start school and the teachers are going to ask the good old traditional question, “Tell me your name and a fun fact about you.” What should I say?

Be careful what you say. My first day of teaching at one district was almost my last.

We were told to have the students put their name, etc on a 3 by 5 card with something about themself. One boy said he was in a gang.

Later that week we had a big meeting about Gangs. Out of thousands and thousands of students 250 were identified as Gang members. Based on my location, the kiddie candy gang.

I had taught in another district where real gang activity existed. Before that I practiced law for 30 years. I had represented one gang in court as a lawyer. I quit criminal law when I got a gang member off and two days later he murdered an 8 year old. I knew Gangs well. I said to the teacher next to me, “ Two hundred and fifty. I got one of them. At my last district there were less than 250 non gang members”. The teacher asked how I knew. I said he wrote it on his card.

The next day the admin appeared and wanted the card. I refused ( although I knew I had no legal ground) and they told me I was fired and searched my room and found it. They then told me I was not really fired.

The boy was expelled. A week later, during school hours, he drove his car into a brick wall and died. 15 years later I still mourn. I never had the chance to find out if his life could be turned around.

Anything you say or write to a teacher is subject to the admin. You have No Privacy. Say your name. Tell them you like sunshine and lollipops.

Some might say this is bad advice. I think kids are lulled into thinking they have a private relationship with a teacher. You don’t.

Really unfortunate for Argentina

What is the most outrageous thing you’ve witnessed in a plane?

Late 70s on an early Sunday afternoon flight from LAX to Toronto on a wide body. I was sitting in the middle row which had 5 across, and a hippie couple sat in front of me with only one other passenger in their row. As soon as the fasten seatbelt light went off they started to get it off, laying across the 4 seats with just a blanket over them. The flight attendant came by and looked at them and did nothing. Shortly after she came back with the pilot and another flight attendant they conferenced then left without doing anything. So I just sat there and watched them go at it for three hours, they would take a short break then go at it again in different positions. I felt sorry for the poor guy in the end seat as their legs would sometimes end up in his lap. I really think they did it for the shock value. To top it all off some guy in a robe was sitting cross legged in the middle of the aisle burning incense. The flight attendants stopped that real fast. I used to fly 200k miles a year and this by far was the most entertaining one I was ever on.

Have you ever taken the law into your own hands?

I once had my apartment broken into while I was gone. The thief harmed my dog, and they stole about $12,000 dollars worth of a certain green substance that people enjoy setting on fire for recreational purposes. I had a pretty good idea who did it, and later I was able to confirm my suspicions.

Keep in mind that I am not some big bad criminal type, but I was counting on the money from the items stolen to pay my rent, utilities, college tuition, and books. So, I made one of the worst decisions of my life, and I went over to this person’s apartment which was in the same complex as mine.

I knocked on the door. He answered.

I walked past him without saying a word, and I turned around and shut the door. I then produced a handgun that had been covered by my shirt. I looked at him, and I very calmly but sternly told him that I knew he was the one who broke into my apartment and that he had about 30 seconds to produce every last bit of what he stole.

He complied, and I placed the items into a gym bag I brought with me.

I told him that he was dead to me, and that I didn’t ever want to see him again. That I was aware that his lease was up at the end of the following month, and that I strongly suggested he not renew it. I then told him that this was for my dog, and I punched him in the nose.

I re-holstered my weapon, and I walked back to my apartment. I was incredibly calm the entire time I was there, but now I was a bit worried that he might be dumb enough to call the cops despite the fact that he had committed multiple serious felonies himself.

I decided to bring the bag and the weapon over to a friend’s apartment that was just next door, and I left it there for the rest of the day. I went back home, and just went about my day. I cooked dinner for myself and my girlfriend, and fortunately the police never showed up.

I never saw the guy again, and he apparently moved out the following month. It wasn’t the brightest thing I’ve ever done, but without the money from the items he stole I wouldn’t have been able to pay my bills or my tuition.

Now, I’m an attorney with an MBA in Finance. I wouldn’t recommend anyone else do what I did. I could have gone to prison for 10 years or more. At the time I was desperate though, and I couldn’t exactly call the cops to have them retrieve my stolen property in this case.

Desperation will make people do desperate things. Fortunately for me things worked out well. They could have easily gone badly.

Tax break

What is the oddest conversation you’ve had with a telephone scammer?

I once convinced one scammer that I was the curator of a major museum in Fort Worth and if he wanted for me to give him money so he could start a similar museum that he would have to send me a birthday present. He asked me what I wanted and told him two billfolds would do. Several weeks later the wallets, very nice ones. arrived from London. The Nigerian scanner was calling long distance. Naturally he did not know that I knew that he was trying to scam our museum. I finally told him to take a hike or I was going to call in federal law enforcement. Textless to say he was madder than hell that I scammed him. After 20 years I still use both of those expensive walkers As far as J know Jam the only potential victim that has ever scanned the scammer

Why older men want to be with younger women

What is an ethical thing that you have done that cost you little or nothing?

A few years ago I was coming out of my local bank when I saw a couple standing near their car looking a bit distressed. I approached them and asked what was wrong. The guy said his battery had died and he couldn’t get the car started. He asked if I would help to push start it.

So I got behind the car with his girlfriend and we started pushing. He popped the clutch and the engine turned over a few times but didn’t start. I told the guy this wasn’t going to work, he needed jumpercables. I only lived 5 min from the bank so I told him I would drive home to get the cables and be right back. The look on his face was a “sure buddy, never going to see you again” expression. I didn’t mind. Got into my car, drove home, got the cables from the garage and drove back.

Whem they saw me arrive they had a surprised look on their faces. I pulled my car up to his and popped the bonnet. Less then a minute later his car was running again. They were both thanking me profusely and wanted to offer me money for the help.

I told him to keep the money and “next time you see somebody needing help, spend a few minutes and help them”.

I hope they did and asked the same of the person they helped.

Didn’t you get the memo?

Why are there no stupid people in Chinese politics?

Very simple, because the stupid people in power were forcibly removed and filtered from the system continuously. Don’t get me wrong, China has statistically some of the most comedic and stupid people in the world because of its large population, they are just kept down and not allowed to harm the country.

Back then during the warlord era (軍閥時代), there was this absolute menace who shared my surname and was called Zhang Zong Chang (張宗昌) who governed the province of Shandong (山東省). He was a massive hedonist who gambled excessively and married 21 women from different countries.

During his rule, he brutally repressed workers rights (see 青島慘案), conscripted an unsustainable large military, wrote some of the most vulgar pseudo-tang poetry (despite being almost illiterate) and basically caused enormous suffering.

He was so intellectually stunted that he not only didnt know how many wives he had, but he also didnt know his own military power or finances (三不知將軍).

Zhang Zongchang once said to his subordinates: “Communism means sharing wives. Sharing wives is of course good, but communism is wrong. Things that can be taken are yours, and things that cannot be taken are not yours! Sharing wives is different. It’s okay to sleep with someone else if you can’t sleep with a woman.”

張宗昌曾對手下人說：「共產主義共產共妻，共妻當然是好的，共產就不對，東西能拿來的才是你的，不能拿來的就不是你的！共妻不一樣，你睡不到的女人和別人睡就沒錯。」

This is why the elite hate communism, and to some extent all result oriented systems. It removes their ability to loot and plunder to maintain their privileges because the playing field has been leveled.

On September 3, 1932, Zhang zongchang was assassinated on a train station using a pistol. No one picked up his body and left it to rot for three whole days. After hearing the news, all the people of Shandong province celebrated and welcomed troops from the Republic of China with open arms.

___

Modern China’s success is because “Communist” China is a meritocracy. This means that those who are given authority are those with skill and experience (or in other words, merit) and not their wealth, smooth talking skills, paramilitary criminal force or dick size. Doctors are qualified only because they pass 6 years of medical school with good grades before they can cure humans, because it involves life and death. Why shouldnt a similar filtering mechanism be installed for political leaders, who control the life and death of many?

This is reflected not only among politburo or chairman poliics, but daily life of people like me. The national pre university exam – 高考 – is based on pure grades, not race or extracurriculars or reference letters.

You gotta do what you gotta do

What’s a red flag that you ignored in a significant other, only to realize it was a big deal later?

My husband was the perfect boyfriend. Once we were married, things drastically changed. I realized it about 5 minutes we were pronounced ““husband and wife.” We got in the limo to be taken to the reception site, and 100% of his attention was on the driver. I couldn’t believe it, but let it go. I knew, however that I had just made a huge mistake. About 2 months into the marriage, when there was no more dating, dancing or flowers, I brought it up to him, and his answer was ““That part of our relationship is over.” What? Really? He then went on to tell me that he “married me,” so he “didn’t have to court” me anymore. Wow! I tried to talk to him, and explained that I fell in love with him because of the way he treated me and that I really wanted “that man back.” He looked at me and told me that that man never existed. He was right. For many years, I sought therapy, thinking there was something wrong with me because this marriage wasn’t working. My history and life made me believe that it must be my fault. I changed who I was way too many times, to the point that I don’t know who I am. The dude’s a freaking narcissist. My idea of what made a narcissist was way off point. Yeah, I’m still married to him, but I protect my heart from him. He’s caused a lot of pain, so we live as roommates, and it works.

Please don’t ask why I stayed, only people that have endured abuse would understand, and I’ve written enough already.

I just wish I wasn’t so weak and vulnerable when I met him. He knew I was the perfect mark. So if you can, and have friends and family to support you, run if you see this kind of behavior. Me? My mother and father were abusive and I had just got out of a 15 year extremely abusive relationship 5 months before I met him. So yeah, I was truly alone.

Go do something

Is currywurst considered a traditional German dish or an Americanized version of it?

Interesting story. The Currywurst was invented by Hertha Heuwer who operated a bratwurst and fast food stand in Berlin-Charlottenburg in September 1949. Hertha’s husband worked with American officers and noticed that they put huge amounts of ketchup on their steaks and told his wife.

Once, on a rainy day, when she had no custumors, Hertha cut a bratwurst in slices and played around with sauces and spices, however without much success. But the butcher Frank Friedrich who delivered bratwursts without casings to Hertha helped her to improve the sauce which finally was made up from tomato paste, bell pepper, paprika powder, spices and especially curry powder. Hence, the wurst was named Currywurst.

In the post-war era, this “exotic” version of traditional bratwurst was a huge success. Hertha’s recipe was immediately imitated by other operators of bratwurst stands and quickly Currywurst was sold all over Germany.

There are variations how to make the sauce. The simplest version is to take just commercial ketchup and curry powder. More elaborate versions use onions, fresh tomatoes and fruit to make the sauce.

The typical Berlin-style Currywurst uses a bratwurst without casing. After the war, casings were in short supply, and Frank Friedrich’s partner had developed a procedure to make sausages without casings. In other parts of Germany, however, ordinary bratwursts with casings are used for Currywurst.

The recipe is simple: Just take a bratwurst, sear or grill it, cut it into pieces and put the sauce on it. Sprinkle with curry powder. Recently, some wurst stand operators have started to add ultra-hot chili sauces. One operator in my hometown boasts that he makes “the world’s hottest Currywurst” because, for his number ten, he uses pure capsaicin. But this is a different story.

So, Currywurst is a kind of fusion. The sausage is traditional German. The curry powder came from England, with roots in Indian masala. The tomato-based sauce was inspired by American ketchup.

Doesn’t it help?

To what extent does the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) control the lives of its citizens? Is the level of control as severe as it is portrayed on paper, or is it less severe?

Well, this few information should put that matter to rest.

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Birth control

Gibanica

Ingredients

Dough

8 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 pint sour cream
2 cups milk (about), scalded
2 ounces yeast
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 pound sweet butter

Filling

1 1/2 pounds ground nuts
1 tablespoon honey
3 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy milk or cream
1/3 cup sweet butter

Instructions

Dough: Dissolve yeast in about 2 teaspoons sugar and 1/2 cup warm water; let stand until it bubbles.
Sift flour in large bowl and add salt and 1/2 cup sugar.
In another bowl beat 3 egg yolks, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and sour cream; add yeast; add scalded milk and sweet butter which was added to the milk and cooled. Add this to the flour bowl and knead to a soft silky dough, not sticky. Let rise in a greased bowl until double in bulk. Make sure the dough is soft as it has to stretch.
On floured cloth roll dough to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in thickness; stretch gently so it won’t break. Stretch oblong about 30 x 20 inches (use rolling pin if necessary) and fill with following filling.
Filling: Scald milk with butter.
In bowl add ground nuts, honey, vanilla extract, sugar and pinch of salt, then add scalded milk with butter. Mix, then add stiffly beaten egg whites. If thick, add a little more milk. Spread on dough like you would for nut roll and roll like a jellyroll (make as sweet as desired).
Grease roasting pan 4 to 6 inches in depth and fill pan; start at one edge of pan; make a “U” shape. Do not cut if roll is longer; turn again. Brush with milk. Prick with knife on top for air bubbles. Let stand 1 hour.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and brush with butter. Let cool, then flop it on a cloth and place it on a rack to cool.

Source: Anne Price – Our Favorite Recipes – St. Anthony Croatian Catholic Church

What are some things that people who live in places with brutally low temperatures know, that the rest of us don’t?

Air heat pumps barely function below minus 20 C, propane gels at minus 40, that most electric cars can not be charged below minus 40. Below minus 40, you can throw water in the air, and it won’t be liquid when it hits the ground. Depending on the metal, but metals get brittle at low temperatures, and below minus 40 they can snap at a much lower pressure than normal. If you are running heavy equipment, don’t even bother to try and use it below minus 30, because something will break., and starting a cold engine is very hard, and the oil is so thick, it will take time to flow through the transmission and engine. Most likely hydraulic lines will burst, but you can snap a thick piece of steel.

Flesh freezes in minutes. A friend was working outside in minus 50, and he had to remove a mitten to adjust a crescent wrench, and he didn’t put the mitten back on while he tightened the bolt. The bolt or nut snapped, and his hand hit the aluminum tower, it split wide open, in the fleshy part between the thumb and index finger. It didn’t bleed. He had to go the hospital. He could have lost his hand if he kept working in that cold.

You always wear mitts, not gloves, gloves don’t provide enough protection.

Wolverine guard hairs dont frost up, so are used on parka fringes.

Hard liquor, vodka, rum, rye, gin freezes at about minus 34.

Delusional

What is the most condescending advice you received from someone who assumed you were poorer or less educated than them?

I’m constantly considered to be an uncouth, unwashed plebeian. Particularly at restaurants. I guess I give off that ‘air’. Wait-staff constantly try to help me with my “mistakes”.

Examples:

I order seared ahi tuna. Waiter: “Sir, I just wanted to make sure you understand that the fish is mostly raw”.

Different restaurant, I order a calamari appetizer. Waitress: “You understand those aren’t onion rings sir, right?”

Even my wife calls me “peasant” sometimes (but I admit — I married above my station — she’s awesome and a hell of a sense of humor).

It’s become the family joke. My kids make bets to see how unsophisticated some new place is going to assume I am.

It must be the way I talk. I work in IT and while I have some very high-level responsibilities (a few applications I’ve written and maintain for my corporates overlords and maintain a few server farms in two states) I’m located smack-dab in the middle of Los Angeles — and I’m the only IT guy within 100 miles. We have way too many locations in LA for *just* me. Hope that changes soon. Anyway, sometimes I need to crawl under desks and field some “try turning it off and back on” type stuff that our help desk failed to filter properly.

My boss is constantly getting feed back about me from our non-IT remote staff on how I’m a “breath of fresh air” and that I don’t make them feel like they are dumb. I use simple language to describe what I’m doing, not techno-jargon. I’m not a fan of silence, so while I’m fixing something remotely, I explain what I’m doing or I explain why I’m asking them to do something. Again, in plain English. No alphabet acronyms.

Maybe when it’s time to retire, I’ll transfer to the helpdesk…

What is it called when a boss tries to make someone’s job hard so they will quit?

It is often termed “constructive dismissal” or “creating a hostile work environment.” Legally, such behavior can be categorized as workplace harassment or bullying, involving deliberate actions with the intention of making an employee’s job challenging in the hope that they will voluntarily resign. I strongly recommend discussing the issue with your manager to understand the reasons behind their actions. Alternatively, you can reach out to the HR department, if available in your company, to address and resolve the situation. You may also suggest implementing productivity tools such as Connecteam or Trello to streamline work tasks and proactively prevent similar issues in the future.

Money on solar panels

What is the most humiliating thing that happened to you at a McDonald’s?

More horrifying than humiliating. I lost track of my 3 year old grand daughter. She was playing on the playscape. I wrongfully answered a call on my phone.

After the call, my girl was gone. I climbed. through the playscape. I checked the bathrooms. I was nuts. I started screaming. The manager came and locked the doors except the emergency exit and he had a worker standing there. I was running around screaming her name. I told them to call the police.

Everyone was looking at me like I was the worst person alive. I was. Suddenly I heard a little voice say “ Nama” I looked around and did not see her. But I heard “Nama” again and caught some movement at a table.

At the table were the two most grotesque “women” I have ever seen. I don’t think they were female nor were they trans or cross dressers. They were in horrid disguise. They had a little girl with black hair, my grand was a red head. I got closer and could tell the child had black eyebrow pencil on and dark make up smeared on.

I got closer to the table. The child said “Nama, I pay make up” The two grotesque things said nothing but were looking at the door.

I reached over and pulled the black wig off the child… and grabbed my grand daughter and ran. I ran out the emergency door setting off an alarm. I threw her in the car, seat belt be damned and took off

As I turned out of the McDs I saw a car sitting there with the engine running with only one man in it. I screeched back and saw the license plate was mudded over. So I drove. I drove for 30 minutes making sure no one was following.

Then I cried for another 30.

McDs was very cooperative but the way their cameras were set, that was the only table not seen. Evidently the two grotesque things ran out the emergency door after me.

They were clearly in disguise.

They were never identified.

Of course I was humiliated. I neglected my duty as my grand’s care giver. But humiliation was deserved and I was horrified.

I still have nightmares.

Watch the kids The call will wait!!!

Ok folks. I don’t want one more virtue mongerer to chastise me that I should have waited for the police.

Exactly who do you think was going to hold them there until the police arrived?

You think they were going to sit and have a coke until the police got there to arrest them? Do you think the McDonalds manager was going to jump in and hold them down and end up potentially liable, after they beat the crap out of the manager getting out?

Maybe I should have made a citizen’s arrest and ordered them to wait while I cuffed them with straws or ketchup packets?

What makes you think they would not have just decked me and took her back and out the door.

I was almost 70 and on chemo. I wasn’t a 30 year old cop. Such virtue mongering by people who think kidnappers just hang around to be arrested and who have clearly never been in such a situation. But they sure think they would save the day. Pathetic.

Artichoke-Parmesan Phyllo Bites

Ingredients

3 (6 ounce) jars marinated artichoke hearts, undrained
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
10 sheets frozen phyllo pastry, thawed

Instructions

Drain artichoke hearts, reserving marinade; set marinade aside.
Position knife blade in food processor bowl; add artichoke hearts, 1/2 cup cheese and garlic. Pulse 4 times or until artichoke hearts are finely chopped. Set aside.
Place 1 phyllo sheet on wax paper (keep remaining phyllo covered). Lightly brush phyllo sheet with oil portion of reserved marinade; sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of remaining cheese. Top with another phyllo sheet; brush lightly with oil portion of reserved marinade. Cut phyllo sheet in half lengthwise. Cut each half crosswise into thirds, making 6 sections, each measuring approximately 6 x 5 inches. Place a heaping teaspoon of artichoke mixture in center of each phyllo section. Gather corners of phyllo over filling, and gently twist to close. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Repeat procedure with remaining phyllo sheets, marinade, cheese and artichoke mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 14 minutes or until golden.
Serve immediately.

Makes 30.

You don’t seem to understand

How much time does the USA need to take over China?

US failed to take over Afghanistan, failed to take over Iraq, failed to take over Vietnam. Each time the US tried with small weak countries it found that the people kept fighting them and so basically the US never controlled the population. Really expect that if the US could not take over those small countries it could succeed in a country that is almost as large as the United States in area and four times the population. It cost $7 trillion for the wars in the Middle East. Extrapolation says that it will cost 10 times as much to attempt the same with China. However, the US has a huge roadblock to overcome to invade Russia and that is that its ships cannot close on the Chinese coast without being sunk it could not land or supply units on the coast of China

US military leaders have admitted that China controls the seas within something like a 1000 kilometers of China, and every simulation of of conflict between China and the US in the region ends up with the US losing badly. Let us assume that the US can land on the coast of China, it will need a lot more men than it currently has in the military, like a factor of 40. China has 1.4 billion people while Afghanistan and Iraq had something like 40 million, and China is massive compared to those countries. Keep having your wet dreams because that is all they are.

Relaxing To Purring Cats And Cozy Fireplace for Peaceful Night 🔥 Deep Sleep, Relax, Study

This is a new one.

The demise of the cookie jar

Today’s post is a really long one, but boy oh boy are there some most excellent videos here. Everything from WTF? to cats purring to a crackling fireplace (I’m gonna listen to that one a second time), to a tale about a death and a slide to a non-death and everything in between. Check out the laundromat millionaire, and the Chinese nuclear physicist that lost everything in the USA…

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Please guys take care of yourself. Make the best of your life and do not get sidetracked by the massive lies on the internet. There is a percentage of the West that are truly crazy, and the leadership is the same only add “bat shit” in front of that title….

My mother once had a cookie jar when I was in 4th through 6th grade. But eventually she stopped filling it, and then threw it away.

Turns out that us kids kept on raiding it, no matter what she said, and it would ruin our dinners.

First it turned out that she would fill it up once a month. then, only on certain occasions.

Then, every now and again. Only telling us, when we were good, that it held cookies.

Then it just remained empty for a long time. Maybe six months.

Then…

One day, it was cleaned and put away inside one of the cupboards. And there it sat for all eternity. It was never, ever taken out after that.

…

All in all, that’s a lesson of life.

The demise of the cookie jar.

…

Chinese PhD PHYSICS RESEARCHER Homeless in New York USA

Surprisingly great video.

As a single woman, what goes through your mind when you find out your ex is getting married?

My “soulmate” got married on September 23rd, 2018 to the love of his life.

She was his childhood best friend. I knew her only very briefly. I never thought too much about it considering she was several years younger than him and the nature of their relationship growing up, but it happened.

He told me she was the safer choice. His family was already comfortable with her presence, she came to every serious family function. She didn’t have any crazy ambition to go to school or pursue a career. She wanted to be a stay at a home mom, while I wasn’t sure if I even wanted children. I was little more spontaneous, while she was calculated. I questioned his alcoholism, while she let him drink without a word.

When I looked through their online wedding album, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt. For nearly 7 years (I’ll spare you the details of our relationship) I was sure this man would be my husband. Seeing the type of person his wife is though puts every detail of our relationship into perspective. The truth is, we wouldn’t have been able to make a life for ourselves in the long run.

I’m not her; and I don’t want to be.

There was a time in my life where I swore his wedding day would be the day I died. Boy was I wrong. Now when I think about him getting married, I think of the barren fields in Texas that they chose to move to. I think of the colour beige, and unflavoured grits, and scooping horseshit. I think of the children I never wanted and all the other excruciatingly boring things that they get to do together.

It’s a blessing in disguise.

Magic Music for Cats – UNBELIEVABLE Results (Tested 2022)

If youse guys have cats, then please play this video for them.

Last year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said China still had 600 million people whose monthly income was barely 1,000 yuan ($154). Why does Communist China think they would rule the world?

Incomplete

Let me finish

Yes those people have a monthly income of 1000 Yuan but most of them have their own homes, they don’t pay rent or mortgage
Most of those people get their food at State Subsidized Rates which is 30% below market price. This means Monthly Provisions for a family of three whose net income is 3000 RMB is only around 600 RMB. For this they can eat 1800–1850 Calories a day comfortably
Most of these people have given their leased land for Windmills or Solar Power and they get 275 Units a month free. So most of them don’t pay for electricity
If they lent their leased land for the gas pipelines, they get 100 RMB subsidy off gas. Thus most of them get their cooking gas free of cost or barely for 20–30 RMB a month
They get Education for their Kids fully free upto Grade IX and a subsidy of upto 80% for higher grades on already low tuition of 1800–2400 RMB a year. So a family with 2 Kids pays a paltry 30 RMB -50 RMB a month on Tuition
They get State Insurance for their Health plus NLF Insurance if they are farmers or factory workers with premiums paid by employers. Each of them gets upto 30,000 to 100,000 RMB in healthcare expenses. They don’t have to pay Doctor Consultancy Fees or more than 18% of their Hospital Bills which are again advanced as Loans at a paltry 2% a year interest

So 1000 RMB goes a long way for these people

They eat well, live in their own house, pay virtually nothing for their utilities and have a safe healthcare net plus tuition is near free all the time

So rather than income, it’s their access to a basic standard of living that should be counted here

A Most Unusual Order

What was the “I’m done” moment in your last relationship?

My ex and I had an agreement. I went to work, made good money, I did a LOT around the house and she would pay the bills, make sure the kids were taken care of as far as the doctor, school, etc, and the house was kept up.

I kept up my end of the bargain. I made good money, but we always seemed to be broke. The house was not clean, I ended up doing a lot of the grocery shopping, cooking, all the house maintenance. The kids helped out a lot!

One day I decided to take a look at the bank account and all the bills, see where we were losing the most money so I could figure out the issue there.

I found about $2000 in ATM withdrawals in a 1 month period, Jan 19, 2016 to Feb 19, 2016. They were $50, $20, $30, $80… on and on for the month.

I went back and found a similar pattern the previous months, years, and so on. I counted up tens of thousands of dollars just gone.

That was the end for me. Within a week I told her I wanted a divorce. She had been complaining for years how everyone she knows is going on vacations, how they all take trips all the time, and we never are able to. Telling me I need to make more money, do overtime, take more training so I can get a better job, and the entire time she had been spending the money on drugs. Years and years worth of onesie-twosie bumps and hits.

She denied vacations for my kids. She ruined large parts of their childhood by not being a good mother, by not showing a good example for them, by not being there very much.

Now she is in prison, possession and distribution of meth.

Well, the kids are FINALLY asleep…

Before leaving after being fired, what’s the most that one can sabotage the office without getting caught?

The research company I worked for was downsizing. My previous boss had already been let go and my new boss kept sending his employees to learn everything in my department. Well one fave employee thought she was better at my job and kept trying to change our protocols. She never actually did any work, just made our lives miserable.

Then the day came where new boss walked in and started handing out moving boxes. He didn’t even say a word, just passed out the boxes. We all packed up and left. Now my lab was a resource lab that did a ton of work for the other labs. Suddenly me and all my staff were let go and the new boss handed it over to his people.

Guess what? They had never done these procedures, used the high tech equipment or even understood the complicated algorithms to process the data. First week I get 9 phone calls asking for help. That was met with a big NOPE. Then I get a call that the favorite employee had mishandled one of the very expensive robot units and it was out of order. They wanted ME to come in and reprogram it and get them back up and running. Oh heck no! I never went back and never helped.

Lesson of my story is don’t play favorites and make sure you have the staff to accomplish the job.

What is the best relationship advice for today?

Western Society has changed, and the system of “marriage” is no longer useful or viable.

…

Well, think about it…

MEN

60% of Gen Z males over 30 are still virgins. HERE

Shockingly, 60% of males in the 30-34 age group are still virgins.

WOMEN

12% of Gen Z females are virgins. HERE

The CDC also reports that virgins make up 12.3 percent of females

…

This is very disturbing.

Historically, the numbers were 90+% for both males and females. Thus the maintenance of a stable long-duration relationship of equivalency in sexual experience no longer occurs. The reason is that pair-bonding doesn’t occur after 3 or more sexual partners prior to a marriage.

This lack of “pair-bonding” creates a untenable situation for long-duration relationships.

As the traditional characteristic of virginal marriages; which is marriage longevity, is no longer possible.

BEFORE 90% / 90% virginal = pair-bonding occurs = 3% divorce rate
TODAY 60% / 13% virginal = oneway-partner pair-bonding = 52% divorce rate

Scientists have attributed this phenomenon to numerous sociological and psychological attributes. Some of the contributing trends are the “Woke movement”, the “feminist movement”, “LGBQ+ movement”, “social media”, as well, of the dearth of attention to the values of traditional marriage and relationships. With in turn, has resulted in “push back” movements such as the “red pill movement”, and the “the passport bros movement”.

Never the less, what matters is the outcome of this disparity in sexual experience…

OUTCOMES

Overall divorce rate is 52%. HERE

This is immensely disturbing. Flip of a coin. Would you board a plane with a 50% chance of crashing?

FEATURES OF THE FAILURE

With the following characteristics prevalent…

Woman initiate the divorces 80% of the time. HERE

Obviously, modern women find that marriages are not suitable for them, their dreams and desires.

When a divorce is granted by a Western court, the male (more often than not) is penalized disproportionately (in comparison to the female). In fact 97% of American men must pay spousal support, while only 3% of women need to. HERE. This is the case, even though the gender pay gap is functionally at parity. HERE

Obviously, statistically, the divorce is not fairly distributed. Independent on the reason for the divorce, the courts overwhelmingly punish and penalize the male.

Thus, without looking into the hows and whys for this situation, the outcomes are crystal clear. [1] Traditional marriage is not longer functional in the West. [2] When a female enters in a marriage, it is statistically probable that she will be unhappy and will want to terminate it. [3] Regardless of the reasons and issues involved, the male in that divorce will suffer disproportionately compared to the female.

…

Taking all of the above into consideration, I suggest that a “non-traditional” marriage contract be used.

Both parties write out and agree to legally binding “prenuptial agreements”. One for the male and one for the female that they both sign with a attorney.
Then, Instead of a registered wedding / marriage with a (county) District of the Peace or a State Clerk, A legal “statement of marriage” be written up by your attorney. This document clearly defines the ownership, financial, and responsibilities of both parties in the event that the divorce fails. This prevents a third part (the government) from getting involved, and protects the unique union of the two parties.
Finally, a third document is required. A “separation agreement” document must be drafted. This establishes how the divorce proceedings (outside of the normal legal channels) will be handled, or how reconciliation efforts (if any) can be implemented.

…

This solution is not for everyone. However it recognizes the reality that the current marriage union available in the West in presently dysfunctional and broken. Thus, it proves a means of union, and disunion based upon the needs of BOTH the male and the female. It also explicitly forges a legal contract independent of the broken system that so entraps the divorced family.

FACT: Nothing is more critical to a person’s (male or female) happiness than the person that they are married to.

This solution recognizes this reality, and provides a realistic and workable solution in common use by the wealthier families in the West. It replaces the (presently contemporaneous) “work-arounds” such as “open relationships”, “Social Media based activity”, “hook up culture, and the problem of “high body counts”.

I want both the women, as well as the men, to both share in a fine long-duration marriage where both are happy.

Argentina and why they chose to not align with BRICS+

What was the most difficult conversation you ever had?

My brother was missing, as an adult, for nearly 30 years. No, he wasn’t just staying out of touch by choice. No, he wasn’t in Witness Protection. Less than two weeks after I last saw him, he’d been murdered in what police called one of the most brutal murders they had ever seen. But we had no way of knowing this. We didn’t know where he was, since he was hitchhiking across the country. No cell phones, no Internet in 1989. From our point of view, he just vanished.

In 2018, I was perusing a database of unidentified remains. I saw a sketch that could only have been my brother’s face. All the identifying information matched. He had been murdered in a neighboring state. I contacted the people I needed to contact. I got DNA. It took about 6 agonizing months of gathering data and having it analyzed to get results. They were positive. The murder victim was my brother. The murder is unsolved.

That was the easy part, as horrible as it was (I broke out in hives that wouldn’t go away and went into treatment-resistant depression). Now I had to tell my mother what I’d discovered.

I had to make the phone call to tell my mother that her favorite child, who had been missing 30 years, had been murdered in 1989. She wanted details of the murder, so I provided them. I would not have, had she not insisted on knowing everything.

I had people tell me “Just don’t tell her. Just don’t tell her.” But on balance, I thought that was unfair. Not knowing was just as torturous as knowing, and this way, she could lay him to rest before she died. Further, she was not a child to be protected from upsetting information.

I know she grieved greatly. My stepfather told me she cried for 3 days straight (hardly surprising), and there was an element of accusation in his voice. But telling her wasn’t his decision to make. It was mine. You can’t protect people from death. It touches us all.

If there are any who would judge my decision, I simply say to you that I highly doubt you will ever be in the same situation, so you have no right to judge. I was faced with an impossible choice. When a loved one is murdered, everyone loses no matter what you do, and my family’s story had the extra stress of him having been missing for so long. He is now laid to rest in a beautiful, remote cemetery, and he is remembered for the loving, kind, and generous soul that he was.

Right vs Wrong

What is that one picture that describes the lowest point in your life?

This is a picture of me with my cat Dexter, who saved my life.

The last few years I was feeling a bit off most days and my doctors couldn’t find a reason for my chronic fatigue and inability to train hard (I’m a former pro fighter who still trains like one).

After years of getting little more then shrugs from medical staff one day I started feeling chest pain. It felt like a torn muscle so I chalked it up as a training injury and ignored it.

Suddenly Dexter, who had been around me for 20 years, ran over to me and started pawing at my chest and crying. He had never acted this way. I decided it was a red flag and called 911. As I opened the door for paramedics I had a “widow maker” heart attack and collapsed (very low survival rate, hence the name). The cardiologist who operated on me said if I had waited 3 more minutes to call I wouldn’t have survived.

I’ve had many pets over the years and loved them all. But I had a unique bond to that cat.

This picture is so sad to me because not only was I still recovering from heart surgery in this pic and feeling awful, but Dexter was 21 and his health was rapidly declining, it was one of the last times I held him and somewhere deep down, I knew it. He suffered a stroke and passed away a few days after this pic was taken. I still miss him every day.

Within a few months of losing Dexter both of my businesses closed due to the long term effects of the COVID lockdowns. My body/health has not 100% recovered from the heart attack, my heart has never 100% healed from losing Dexter, and my finances/ professional life has never really recovered from losing two businesses I spent years building from the ground up.

If anyone would like to watch a video I made about Dexter I’m also pasting a link in the comments, feel free to watch.

Are BRICS countries sanction proof?

India is the most sanction prone

India heavily depends on US for its Software services and Indians migrate to US in droves every year

Civil Servants, Army Officials, Politicians all have Kids and Grandkids in the US

The US has a market for close to $ 400–600 Million for Indian Films every year

The Indian Army relies on US, Israel and it’s allies for more than 50% of the Critical Technologies needed for it’s Defence

India thus is very likely to break in seconds if there is a serious threat of sanctions

Saudi Arabia is next

Saudi depends heavily on Western Equipment and Western Security even now

The Saudis are today at relative peace but as on date they still need the US Dollar & the Security Umbrella

China is next

The West represents almost around 17 Trillion RMB worth of Trade translating to around 2.3 Trillion RMB of Government Revenue and Economic Accrued wealth every year

China is however the first country that can survive the sanctions albeit not at Russia’s level

Brazil & South Africa are next

Both these Nations have sufficient economic independence and Brazils largest customer is China

Yet both these nations have political factions that are heavily Pro US

UAE is next

UAE once again is safer than Saudi Arabia and has been left alone by the West for many decades unlike Saudi Arabia

UAE is far more resilient and less dependent on the West than Saudi

It’s why many Russians have invested their money in UAE

Ethiopia is too small to be sanctioned effectively

It has sufficient food and energy security from Russia and that’s all it needs

Iran and Russia are the ‘Go F*** yourself’ Nations of BRICS

They can actually ask the West to go f*** off anytime they want

They are entirely immune from Western Sanctions

So the order is

Iran + Russia > Ethiopia = UAE > Brazil = South Africa > China > Saudi Arabia > India

Left Alone Abandoned By Her Family After 18 Years, This Cat Ended Up in a Shelter

How likely is China to use a conventional ICBM against the United States?

Unlikely.

China wishes to be friends with the United States, however, were the USA to cross a Chinese “Red Line” then China would declare war.

In a declared war, by China, against the United States, the results would be horrific.

The value of the USD would go to ZERO. the paper would not be worth more than the dollar.
The Global South would no longer trade with the USA creating a fiasco of inconceivable proportions.
Any American military adventurism in and around China would end. It would not be reported, but the loss of entire fleets would not be be easily hidden.

And now for the “kicker”…

China would launch missiles that the United States has no defense for, against strategic and leadership targets. Uh oh!
This would result in catastrophic damage. It would be irreparable. Well, Duh!
And the United States (and proxy) response would be thwarted with absolute erasure of all the contributors.

…

Ai!

It’s an ugly thought. Not for the faint of heart.

But the Global South are not like the West. They are lead by talented, skilled and merit driven leadership. Not by the group of cluster-fuckery clowns that you see during vociferation on CNN and BBC daily. They will not allow “president” Biden to do anything that horrible.

So rest easily.

If things goes tit’s up, at least you have ample warning to “get outta Dodge”.

Boeing’s 737 MAX Is Still A Mess

I haven’t written about the engineering and business mess of Boeing for a while.

After the 2019 737 Max failures that downed two airplanes and killed all inside, the company promised to change its culture. But it has since seen several production stops for quality and flight security issues on several of its manufacturing lines. There are still undelivered 737 MAX and 787 planes mothballed on various airports around Seattle.

And now comes this:

Pete Muntean @petemuntean – 4:20 UTC · Jan 6, 2024

NEW IMAGE from on board Alaska Airlines 1282 after ***part of the fuselage*** blew out mid-flight. Successful emergency return to Portland after 20 minutes in the air. 10-week-old (!) Boeing 737 Max 9. NTSB investigating.

bigger

There is video from inside the plane as it was landing. Oxygen masks had been deployed when the plane depressurized. The women filming says that there was thankfully no one seated next to where the hull was breached. If there had been that person would likely have died.

R A W S A L E R T S @rawsalerts – 3:35 UTC · Jan 6, 2024

🚨#BREAKING: Alaska Airlines Forced to Make an Emergency Landing After Large Aircraft Window Blows Out Mid-Air

A forced emergency landing was made of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 at Portland International Airport on Friday night. The flight, traveling from Portland to Ontario, California, faced severe depressurization, causing the ejection of a large window section and an unoccupied seat. This incident resulted in a child’s shirt being ripped off. The Boeing 737-900/-9MAX aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 16,300 ft before safely returning to Portland International Airport. As of now, it remains unclear if anyone on board the flight was injured, as this story is still developing.

~~It was not just the emergency exit door that was ripped out. (Such window emergency doors only open towards the inside of the plane.) The whole section around the emergency exit door departed.~~

I have since learned that this was indeed the place of a special emergency exit that, when installed, opens to the outside. This is ‘plugged’ on lower density planes that do not need it.

That points to a serious manufacturing issue at the hull builder that had not been caught by quality control.

All passengers and the crew survived and the plane landed safely. Alaska Air has grounded its 65 strong fleet of 737 MAX 9. Other airlines should follow.

The Seattle Times has the details:

The neat rectangular hole that appeared in the fuselage was located at the position where Boeing fits a plug to seal a door opening that is not used as a door by most airlines and by no U.S. carriers.

An emergency exit door is installed in that location only for jets going to low-cost carriers like Ryanair who cram in additional seats that require an extra emergency exit. Otherwise, the hole is sealed with a plug and from the inside it is covered by a sidewall so that to a passenger it looks like a normal window, not a door opening.

This plug, halfway between the over-wing exit and the door at the rear of the plane, is present only on the largest versions of the 737.

It’s fitted on the previous generation 737-900ER and the same design is on the 737 MAX 8-200, the high density version for low-cost carriers, as well as the MAX 9 and MAX 10.

It is not present on the MAX 7 or MAX 8.

“Well, the plug got pulled …”

Just last week we also got this:

Boeing instructed customer airlines to inspect their 737 Max jets for loose bolts, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Thursday.

The request comes after the manufacturer discovered two aircraft with missing bolts in the rudder control system, raising concerns about faults across all aircraft.

“The issue identified on the particular airplane has been remedied,” Boeing told CNN in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are recommending operators inspect their 737 Max airplanes and inform us of any findings.”

Yesterday the Seattle Times also reported:

Boeing wants FAA to exempt MAX 7 from safety rules to get it in the air

Little noticed, the Federal Aviation Administration in December published a Boeing request for an exemption from key safety standards on the 737 MAX 7 — the still-uncertified smallest member of Boeing’s newest jet family.

Since August, earlier models of the MAX currently flying passengers in the U.S. have had to limit use of the jet’s engine anti-ice system after Boeing discovered a defect in the system with potentially catastrophic consequences.

The flaw could cause the inlet at the front end of the pod surrounding the engine — known as a nacelle — to break and fall off.

In an August Airworthiness Directive, the FAA stated that debris from such a breakup could penetrate the fuselage, putting passengers seated at windows behind the wings in danger, and could damage the wing or tail of the plane, “which could result in loss of control of the airplane.”
…

One hopes that the FAA and Congress will finally get serious with Boeing. They must stop giving it all those lazy exceptions for issues that better (but more expensive) engineering can easily solve.

Posted by b on January 6, 2024 at 11:40 UTC | Permalink

Know your history

What was the most bald-faced lie you have ever heard a witness say under oath? How did you react?

Our “Parts Runner”, a maybe 5’4″ girl with long dark hair, (apparently) passed a stopped school bus on the right shoulder of a rural road at a high rate of speed (stupid!). We weren’t aware of this when the State police came by and questioned us. And instead of telling us what had happened and when, they focused on the shop owner, (6′ blond) who had earlier lost his driver’s license for a DUI. Does Mike drive? No. How does he get to work? He lives with me and rides with me. Doesn’t he own a red valiant license #… Well, I think the company owns it. He owns the company, doesn’t he? Ah, yeah, I guess. But he doesn’t drive that car, huh? No, it’s used for running parts. So he doesn’t drive it? No, our parts runner does (and I point to her) so, they arrested Mike for driving without a license and reckless driving and passing a stopped school bus and driving on the shoulder, and speeding. Mike fired the parts runner.

In court, the bus driver positively identified Mike as the driver. All of us – the receptionist, 4 mechanics and I were in court ready to testify that Mike was not driving at the time and place of the incident. But we never had to testify, because the bus driver got her dates confused and claimed the incident occurred on the day prior to the complaint. The judge had to dismiss the case.

There was absolutely no way that the driver actually saw who was driving. There is no way to mistake the parts runner for Mike. The state police HAD TO tell her to ID Mike as the driver. So not only did she lie, but the state troopers who did such a poor job of investigating what was a horrendous bit of driving and could have caused multiple fatalities of school children fucked up royally and got her to lie.

Eric Gales – “Don’t Fear The Reaper/All Along The Watchtower” (Live at the 2017 Dallas Guitar Show)

What is the worst thing a woman can do to a man?

In my long career as a paramedic, I believe I saw first hand the worst thing a woman can do to a man. We were once called to the local state prison to transport a man to the hospital who was having chest pain. Other than that, he was pretty stable so it was a quiet 30-minute transport to the closest emergency room. We didn’t usually talk to the prisoners during transport, but somehow we started chatting and I asked the guy what he was “in” for. He tells me he was sentenced to prison for about 20 years for molesting both of his daughters. I was repulsed. I just wanted this scumbag out of my ambulance immediately I was so disgusted.

But then he immediately starts telling me how it was all a setup by his ex-wife and how he’s really innocent and nobody will believe him. He’s on his second attorney to try to get a new trial and he’s hoping somebody will finally grant him a new opportunity to clear his name. The prison guard riding in the back of the ambulance with us (he was sitting behind the patient) looks at me and rolls his eyes and smirks and says to me, “They all say that. Don’t listen to his bullshit. He’s been telling that to everyone who will listen.” The prisoner looks at me for some sort of sympathy but I just sternly look down at my patient report and tell him to lie back and rest and stop talking. He started sobbing and cried, “Even the paramedic that’s supposed to be saving my life hates me!” I certainly felt no sympathy for the guy at the time. I had passed judgment on him, as had the prison guard, and decided this guy was a disgusting pedophile and I’d just as soon not have to deal with him at all. Just touching him to check his blood pressure made my skin crawl.

It was approximately two years later when I happened upon a newspaper article in our local paper about a guy who’d been in the local prison for several years for child molestation. He’d eventually been granted a new trial and at some point during that second trial, both of his daughters admitted that they’d been made to create this false story against their dad at the behest of his ex-wife, who wanted to punish him for the divorce. His sentence was ultimately vacated and he was released from prison. Not sure whatever happened to the ex-wife, but I know the prosecutor said they’d be exploring charges against her.

I didn’t recognize the name of the prisoner in the article, but I immediately recognized his face when I saw a photo of him in court, weeping when the judge ordered him released. He was the same prisoner I’d transported two years before and had treated like crap. The guilt I felt at that moment was overwhelming. I wanted to find a way to contact him to apologize (if he’d even remember me). I wonder to this day whether he was ever able to repair his relationship with his kids, or whether he was ever able to repair his life. The guy spent some seven years in prison based on a bullshit charge that his ex-wife put their young kids up to. It’s a horrific thought and it still haunts me to this day.

Richard Wolff: Real wages in China quadrupled while real wages in the US stagnated

What are the consequences of being too good at your job? Can you get fired for it?

I had three friends fired for being too proactive, and read about another one who was fired for being too efficient.

In the first, the guy was hauling acid, and he went to the plant to get filled up. It was a gravity fed system, the guy came out and hooked him up, and went off to do something else in the half hour it would take to fill his tanker.

My friend saw that acid was dripping on the ground, at the connection. It was dripping faster and faster, so he looked around for the guy to shut it off. This was before cell phones. Safety rules said he couldn’t leave his truck while being filled so he decided to shut the valve and stop the acid going through the hose. He had watched the guy shut the valve many times a day as he got his loads. He resealed the connection when there was no pressure on it and opened it again. Which he did. The guy came back, and said that his truck should be full in a minute. My friend told him it would be another five minutes, because he had shut it off. The guy exploded, saying my friend didn’t understand the system and might have caused a disaster. Which is true, but it was gravity feed, he knew he was breaking environmental rules, and felt he had to try something.

My friend was not allowed on the property again, since his job was hauling acid from that plant, he lost his job.

The next one ,was a lady who got a unionized job with the city. Her first day on the job, she noticed that the cupboard door in the coffee room was hanging loose, so she reported it. A couple of days later she brought a screwdriver and tightened up the hinge. The next day the guy came to repair it and the union wrote her up, for doing someone elses job. A month later the light burnt out over her desk. She reports it, goes a week without a light, and then replaces it herself, and gets written up again. She is now on probation with the union for doing other people’s jobs. She is told third strike and your out, and you must be a member of the union to work for the city.

So when she sees that one of the only two the ladies toilets on her floor is plugged, and the other is in use, she doesn’t report it, she walks to the closet grabs a plunger , clears it, and uses the toilet. The person in the stall next to her, reports her, she is kicked out of the union, and loses her job.

This is one I read about in the newspaper years ago. It relies on the testimony of a guy who was fired, so its possible he’s making excuses. A guy gets a unionized job in the Alberta oil sands. He Is ordered to scrub out tanks, at the end of the day, he says all done. His supervisor, who is also unionized, says thats listed as a weeks worth of work, so you might as well go back and sit in the tanks, at least thats his testimony. His supervisor said it was impossible to clean the tanks in a day, so he sent him back to do it right.

He gets transferred to the night shift, where he says he tries to work continuously. His supervisor tells him that they always accomplish less than the day shift, and he has already done more, partway through the night. So he has to wait and twiddle his fingers, because they can’t make the day shift look bad.

He gets kicked out of the union and loses his job. The union says he was violating all sorts of safety regulations. I don’t know who is lying.

Finally I had a friend hired by a company to copy tapes. They have a separate contract to copy another companies tapes, after he has met his quota of proprietary tapes. He gets a bonus for the separate contract, but not for exceeding his quota of proprietary tapes.

So he gets in early, loads a dozen tapes on a dozen machines, starts the copy job. Then goes for breakfast and comes back at his usual starting time when the tape copying is done. Loads another set, and makes sure that tapes are being copied when he goes for coffee breaks, and lunch. By two o’clock he has met quota and starts on the bonus tapes. He makes sure that he has just started a set of bonus tapes when he leaves for the day.

The next morning he comes in, unloads the bonus tapes and starts on his quota tapes.

When he started with the company he was told that there were enough tapes for three years and almost no one ever had time for bonus tapes.

With his bonus, he makes double his base salary.

After a year and a half he is let go. He has used up the entire 3 year tape copy budget, and they can’t pay him anymore.

Smart

Have you ever been told to “get off someone’s lawn” by an older person? If so, how did you react?

Yes, when I was a little kid. About 11 years old, I would say. I was visiting my uncle,and his girlfriend. The neighbor had a bunny rabbit that was tethered with a long leash, hopping around their yard. The neighbor saw me through the window, on her lawn, petting the bunny rabbit. She said please get off the lawn. I got off her lawm immediately.

My uncle said, sorry she’s a little kid, she just wanted to pet the bunny. The neighbor said, there is a children’s zoo, within driving distance. My Uncle and his girlfriend let the comment go.

The next day, I was in my uncles yard playing Frisbee with my uncles dog. My uncle’s dog was trained not to go beyond my uncles yard. All of a sudden, the dog belonging to the neighbor with the bunny rabbit, comes running into my uncle’s yard, to play frisbee. That neighbor walks into my uncles yard (she didn’t know he was watching from the window)

My uncle came out, and says, please get off the lawn. The neighbor said her dog just wanted to play frisbee, and loves kids. My uncle didn’t miss a beat, and said, there is a dog park with children, within driving distance.

His neighbor looked so. embarrassed, and collected her dog, and headed back towards her house. My uncle said, now do you see how silly that sounds. Sure your dog can play with my dog, and my neice. She told me I can come and see her rabbit whenever, I liked. We all became friends, after that for many years.

Laundrymat Inspirations

Damn! Fuck getting a Engineering Degree.

Work stories

Every day when I leave, my boss says, “Leaving already?” Today I replied, “I did my 8 hours” and he says “Well, you are salaried”. I do my work, don’t use my computer for anything other than work, and also work from home. What’s his deal?

Originally Answered: Every day when I leave, my boss says, “leaving already?” to which I replied to today as I did my 8 hours and he says “well you are salary”. I do my work, don’t use my computer for anything other than work, and also work from home. What’s his deal?

My daughter is a master at improving restaurants . Examples, increasing sales 5x in 3 years, increasing profit by 35% in two months. She just has a nack. She arrives at 5 Am and makes sure the day is prepared for. She leaves between 4 and 5 as she trains great closers. In relation to the restaurant business, she has great employee retention.

She was hired by a fitness place to revamp it. She was working 5 to 5. In just two months she had made major strides. Customers were noticing, staff was noticing. The GM waltzed in everyday about 10 AM. When she left at 5 he always told her she lacked dedication to her job by leaving at 5. He said it one time too many. Since then she has “ fixed” two chains as training manager. That place remains a liability to the gym. The GM was fired shortly thereafter.

Bosses should respect their employees and If they don’t should replace them. In this case, if the employee was not doing their job in 8 hours, they should have had expectations set and be replaced if not met. The constant digs help no one.

What screams “I’m pretending to be upper class”?

If you are always wearing high end clothing etc, but you are always broke still and don’t have money to go out to dinner etc.

They will also raise hell when they are at the dentist and there is a $100 copay while wearing expensive jewelry and driving a decent car.

They’ll have a $500 purse but don’t want to pay $20 for their kid’s field trip because it is too much money.

There’s a ton of people that live like this by the way. The whole act of “looking rich” is quite popular with people who can’t afford it.

The Kitten was Tied Up with a Huge Chain! The Pitiful Sight of Him Brought Tears to My Eyes!

How did you learn you had a mental illness?

I was 14 years old, it was during the second semester of my freshman year. My Spanish teacher called me to her desk after class. Once all the other students left the classroom, she grabbed my hands and said something along the lines of, “I know it’s hard. You’re going to make it through this.” She had tears in her eyes. At this point, I realized something was wrong, and people were noticing.

The first semester of freshman year, I was an honor roll student, I passed every test with a high score. I wore fashionable clothes and made a few new friends. Then second semester came. I stopped caring about my appearance, I would go to school in sweatpants and pajama shirts. My hair was unkempt, I stopped wearing makeup. My grades went from A’s and B’s to C’s and F’s. I stopped doing homework and didn’t study for tests, I lost all motivation to do school work. My GPA went from a 3.5 to a 2.01 and I didn’t care. I lost every single friend I had made and did not make a single effort to regain the friendships.

My life at home started suffering too, I became overly suspicious of my family members. I began accusing them of stealing things from me, I accused my parents of hiding cameras around the house to spy on me. I began hating my family, and isolated myself in my room at all times. I started playing video games to distract myself from the family I had hated, I immersed myself in a fantasy world and began confusing the video game with reality. I thought I knew people from the video game in real life and I would try to look for them. I thought my classmates at school were secretly apart of the video game. I thought people from the video game were watching me from my laptop camera. I began losing sleep and would impulsively pace around my room for hours without stopping, during the weekends I would pace in circles around my house from midnight until I saw the sun rise.

I began to form a crush on a boy from my improv class, instead of talking to him I thought I had the ability to put thoughts into his head. I would listen to music I knew he liked and would “insert my thoughts” into his mind, thinking he would associate myself with his favorite genre of music. I was trying to manipulate his thoughts with my “super powers” to make him like me.

I started hearing things that weren’t there. I would hear footsteps outside my door and window at night. I’d hear distant banging, as if someone were knocking on a door. I would hear faint screaming in the middle of the night, as though someone was on my street screaming near my window. I heard whispering coming from the walls. I would see shadows at night in my closet.

It took a few months of everything I had said happening for my teacher to notice, which was when I went to my mother about scheduling me a therapy appointment. However, the therapist did me no good. I didn’t know that what was happening to me wasn’t normal, it was as though my mental illness clouded my thoughts, everything that happened to me I accepted as reality, so I did not mention it to my therapist. My first therapist said I was experiencing a mild depression episode.

It took me a few months to realize something was wrong, but two years to pinpoint which mental illness I actually had. At age 16, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I am now 17, and very happy. I still have auditory and visual hallucinations, and still struggle a little with my “I can put thoughts into other people’s heads” delusion, but I regained all my motivation, am an honors student again, and no longer wear sweatpants and pajama shirts to school. I also don’t hate my family anymore, but it’s amazing how something like schizophrenia can change your thought process so much that you start to despise those who you truly love.

Architectural Wonder: China’s Spectacular New Train Station

What jobs won’t disappear in the next 20 years because of AI?

I think prostitution is pretty safe. No one wants to become intimate with a toaster.

A lot of white collar and manual jobs will either be transformed or become entirely obsolete. LLMs have developed immensely in the last two years. It’s hard to predict the level of utility that will be possible in the next five years. Other than “a lot”.

In terms of manual jobs these will also be impacted, although robotics and automation is moving a little more slowly than paper-shuffling roles. It’s going to be a long time before a robot has the fine dexterity and precision to iron a shirt. But at the current rate of progress it might just happen in the next 20 years.

The safest jobs will be those where an essential part of the role is being a friendly mammal in the same room. We will still want nursery school staff, nurses and care workers, reception and hospitality staff. Whatever technology level we have, human beings will pay a premium for interaction with other human beings.

The creation of handmade objects and artefacts (like paintings) might be imitated by robotic means, but collectors will pay more for authentically human-made goods.

Street Muray

When did you realize your parent was a total badass?

When Im was a teenager I got a summer job working for a small construction outfit. Their jobs were close to my house so I would ride my bicycle their, or the boss would pick me up long the way. A week or so into a job two new guys cme to work – the boss said they were ….. friends of his. One of the guys wore tinted presription glasses so you couldn’t really see his eyes. He really gave me the creeps.

A few days later the two new guys offered to give me a ride home after work. They were curious when I told them I lived in a group of houses beside a low security prison – my Dad worked there and the houses were owned by the prison and employees rented them. They asked me my Dad’s name and they both smiled and said they knew my Dad. I thought that was weird and it did not click in my brain why these two guys knew my Dad – who worked in a prison.

We pulled into the driveway and they saw my Dad in the backyard attending the BBQ. They were all smiles and cheers – “Hey Scotty! How’s it going?!”

My typically mild manner 5′ 7″ Dad turned red, and started yelling and swearing at the guys. The guys backed up as my Dad approached with the big BBQ fork in one hand. He told them to get back in the car and get the hell off his property. They were so surprised they scooted back the car and ‘got the hell out of there’.

I had never seen my Dad that angry, and he rarely ever said anything worse than “damn” or “shit”. He seriously cussed those guys out.

Then he turned to me with the most grotesque look on his face and said to me, “Listen to me. LISTEN! Stay the hell away from those two bastards! No matter what they say, don’t ever get in their car again to go ANYWHERE! Not for lunch, not for a beer after work, not for a ride home. Those guys are serious BAD news. So you hear me?!!”

That scared the crap out of as I realized those two guys used to be in prison.

The next summer my Dad came home with an out of town newspaper (we lived near two small towns with local papers, and the city 30 miles away had some national/international articles in the paper) and opened it up in front of me, folded it and handed it to me. He pointed to an article and said, “Read that.”

The story was about two guys who had picked up another guy who was hitchiking. They drove him to a deserted area and killed him. The one guy said he did it just to see what it was like to kill someone. Then I saw the picture of the guy who said that – tinted glasses so you couldn’t see his eyes.

I shivered physically and looked up at my Dad. He said, “That’s why I told you to never get in their car again. That poor bastard that was shot in the face could have been you.”

What do women want?

CORRUPTION, CHAOS, CONFLICT – FOURTH TURNING ERUPTS IN 2024

“Americans today are increasingly polarized, as if they constitute two separate nations.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine – The American Crisis

Thomas Paine wrote these words 247 years ago, in the most historic year in our history – 1776. That was during the first American Fourth Turning. It’s not a coincidence we are now in the midst of our fourth Crisis period in U.S. history, as they arrive like clockwork every 80 years or so, the length of a long human life. Paine’s American Crisis began in 1773, ignited by the Boston Tea Party and the British reaction to this revolutionary act of defiance. Our current Millennial Crisis was triggered by the Federal Reserve/Wall Street/Government created financial disaster in 2008 and subsequent outrageously desperate, totalitarian, un-Constitutional, extreme acts designed to keep the ruling class in power, while impoverishing and enslaving the masses in a surveillance state techno-gulag.

The polarization and fractures have become too deep to repair. The country, and the western world in general, are hurtling towards a darkening abyss of civil conflict, financial collapse, global war, societal chaos, and loss of life on a scale grander than WW2, the Civil War, and the American Revolution combined. Our technological advancements have outstripped our ability to intelligently, thoughtfully, and humanly, use this power for the benefit of future generations. The destructive deficiencies of human nature, such as: greed, desire for power, hatred, arrogance, resentment, and an unlimited supply of self-delusion, continue to plague our world, as only the most power-hungry psychopaths rise to the highest levels of government, business, religion, and finance.

The immense technological power in the hands of egocentric, megalomaniacal, sadistic, billionaires and their highly paid toadies, lackeys, and apparatchiks, inserted throughout the media, government, academia, banking, and corporations, has pushed the world to the brink of Armageddon. We are entering the sixteenth year of this Fourth Turning. Based on history, we can expect a climax of this Crisis in the 2030-to-2032-timeframe. The path to that climax is guaranteed to be violent and unforgiving.

Neil Howe, in his new book – The Fourth Turning Is Here – tries to decipher the likely path of the remainder of this Fourth Turning. Having read the original Fourth Turning, his joint project with William Strauss (who died in 2007), in 2004, I was curious to read Howe’s update on their generational theory of history. I met Howe for lunch in 2012 during the Occupy Wall Street protests and he correctly assessed that movement as a meaningless left-wing attempt to push their communist like agenda.

The first book, written in 1997, showed no favor towards the right or left. It was a no-nonsense assessment of economic facts and historical precedents. There were no political agendas, which I now attribute to Strauss’ influence, because Howe certainly lets his political views creep into his writings. This isn’t surprising, as his consulting business is dependent upon Wall Street banks and mega-corporations. He owes his living to the establishment; therefore he won’t shit where he eats.

Howe’s current left leaning political views seep into his current tome. He quotes Zelensky as some sort of patriotic leader, while portraying Putin as a thug, without giving any context regarding the 2014 CIA initiated overthrow of a democratically elected Ukraine president. He bought the covid scamdemic hook, line, and sinker, with no skepticism about the coordinated lockdowns and false narratives about masks, social distancing, and vaccines that never worked, but continue to kill. He believes the climate change bullshit narrative.

His tone regarding Trump is clearly negative and he believes the 2020 election was perfectly legitimate. He expounds about the January 6 “armed” insurrection, without one word about the FBI, Pelosi, and the Washington establishment planning, coordinating, and exacerbating the fake “insurrection”. His brain-dead accusations of violence by Trump supporters, while completely ignoring the murder and mayhem created by the BLM and ANTIFA terrorists, clearly reveals his allegiances.

Be that as it may, there is no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. His acumen regarding possible scenarios and outcomes are well thought out. Howe makes some very interesting predictions regarding the remainder of this Fourth Turning, providing some very dark possibilities, along with some more unlikely optimistic outcomes. His research reveals Americans think the American dream is no longer attainable, civil discord will destroy our democratic institutions, and our global standing is in decline. All three fears are legitimate and coming to fruition as we speak. Howe captures the current situation in this passage:

“In the middle of a Crisis era, the social mood has reached an unstable balance of hope, fear, and dizzying uncertainty. Americans are like a compressed spring at the point of maximum potential energy. Internally secure yet externally threatened, they are ready for propulsive public action.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here

Events beyond their control are leading them towards their rendezvous with destiny and the speed has begun to accelerate, with 2024 slated to be a historic date in history, on par with 1776, 1861, and 1941. The exact events which will make 2024 historic are obscured by a dense fog of uncertainty, but we can make some educated guesses based upon our current economic circumstances, Biden’s open border purposeful invasion, upcoming elections wrought with fraud, ongoing treasonous governmental and judicial operations, and deepening global conflicts already underway.

Of the three possible paths laid out by Howe, the most likely appears to be the animosity between factions eventually leads to armed conflict within the country. Political dominance by one party is highly unlikely, with the country rallying around the flag against an external enemy. It is more likely our many external foes will take advantage of our internal conflict to further weaken our global hegemony. All paths lead to war at this point.

I sense the delusional masses, still entranced by their electronic gadgets, unending access to debt, NFL fantasy leagues, and oblivious to the lessons of history, are frantically trying to fend off reality by shopping, eating out, partying at bars, and pretending all is well. Critically assessing their true situation is too painful for these snowflakes and gender bending enthusiasts. Their virtue signaling wokeness is about to meet the brutal reality of a violent Fourth Turning climax.

“And however much these paths may seem to differ from one another, they all move toward the same destination. They all push the nation toward a violent struggle requiring maximum mobilization. They all culminate in the Ekpyrosis, which will bring the era into a decisive consolidation, climax, and resolution.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here

The drivers of this Fourth Turning, as documented in 1997, continue to be debt, civic decay, and global disorder. They have propelled this Crisis since the outset in 2008 and are accelerating towards an explosive collision in 2024. The national debt at the outset of this Fourth Turning was $10 trillion. It had taken 219 years to accumulate $10 trillion of debt, with the majority amassed during this century. It has taken just fifteen years to pile an additional $24 trillion of debt on the backs of Americans and future generations, if there are future generations.

This doesn’t even take into account the $200 trillion of unfunded welfare and pension obligations tallied up by your government leaders. At the same time, the Federal Reserve increased their balance sheet from $900 billion to $9 trillion. With the rapid rise of interest rates in the last year, if banks were required to mark their assets to market, as they did prior to 2009, the entire banking industry, including the Too Big To Fail Wall Street behemoths, would be insolvent, along with the Federal Reserve. Does this seem sustainable to you?

Luckily for our teetering empire of debt, delusions, and deceptions, they can change the rules whenever it suits their purposes to extend and pretend until it all “suddenly” collapses, like a vaxxed soccer player on the pitch. Of course, the U.S. is not alone in being burdened with unpayable debt and an unsustainable financial system. China and the EU countries are also insolvent and issuing debt to service their existing debt.

The only major global power without a large debt problem is Russia, with a debt to GDP ratio below 30%, while the U.S.- 120%, EU – 90%, Japan – 220%, and China – 80% have accumulated perilous levels of debt and still growing. These debt levels and the domestic implications of unsustainable economies will lead shamelessly corrupt politicians and even dictators like Xi to provoke foreign conflict in order to distract their populations from their dire economic circumstances. A wag the dog type false flag is just around the corner.

An man-made banker created economic disaster ignited this powder keg of debt in 2008, and the “solutions” rolled out by the ruling elites since have been designed to extend, pretend, and bend the minds of the masses, while fostering the perpetual pillaging campaign by the billionaire oligarchs who really run this world. The plebs have been destroyed by the relentless inflation purposefully created by Powell and his fellow central banker puppets of the Deep State, while the lords of finance have reaped billions in ill-gotten riches.

The “Haves”, who control the financial markets, media, and politicians, are ecstatic with the current paradigm, as the stock market hits new highs every day, while average Americans go deeper into debt to keep up with the Joneses, pay the rent, and put some food on the table. The U.S. is nothing more than a sophisticated technological looting operation at this point, as we await the Great Taking to be initiated by the oligarchs as their final solution.

The Great Taking is David Rogers Webb’s warning to those not on the inside about the coming seizure of all your assets (stocks, bonds, savings) by your own government in the name of some new contrived national emergency. You will sacrifice your life savings for the good of the country (aka Deep State). At this point it’s just a matter of which comes first, The Taking, Global war, or Civil chaos caused by the ongoing election fraud. They are all coming and will merge into a category 5 hurricane of hell for the nation and the world.

The Deep State continues its complete control over who gets “elected”/selected in this country, as they use the captured judicial system as a cudgel to crush the rule of law and our Constitutional rights. The Soros selected District Attorneys, Mayors, Governors, Judges, Secretaries of States, and various other low-level captured bureaucrats, are doing what they were selected to do – destroy the country’s social fabric and create a chaotic disintegration of our community norms.

A populace propagandized into a woke communist ideology and prodded into a buy now, pay later mentality, is unwilling or unable to accept that LATER has arrived. They will pay, one way or another. Multiple bubbles in stocks, bonds and real estate are all poised to pop, with the slightest provocation from a global and/or domestic blunder. We have now positioned our naval forces in the highly dangerous waters in the Middle East. Militarily supporting Israel and Ukraine has done wonders for our GDP, but it seems we are running out of ammo to defend our own country, as the invasion of our southern border accelerates. We are currently provoking armed conflict in Yemen, Syria, Gaza, Iraq, Ukraine, and Russia.

All it will take is one lucky missile or unexpected hyper-sonic missile and our vaunted navy will see a vessel or two go to the bottom of the Red Sea. Then all hell will break loose. The rhetoric, threats and accusations of atrocities are ramping up, along with armed conflict across the Middle East. With the raging religious hatreds and centuries old struggles for land and power coming to a head, it will just take one of these psychopaths to ignite a global conflict. Meanwhile, China is biding its time for when they make their ultimate move on Taiwan. That would really roll a grenade into the party.

Financial markets have ignored the worsening global conflict thus far, but what happens when Americans start dying in large numbers? If the markets are at all time highs based upon expectations of a strong thriving economy in 2024, why is the Fed signaling multiple interest rate cuts in 2024, regional banks are desperately clinging to the Fed’s emergency bailout fund, commercial real estate is collapsing, housing has peaked, gold is hitting all-time highs, credit card debt is at all-time highs, layoffs are increasing, and the number of working age citizens is in free fall due to vaxx deaths and disabilities?

But buy stocks because the Wall Street shysters and their media mouthpieces tell you it’s the best time to buy. The only question at this point is what additional grain of sand will cause the sand pile to collapse. Will it be a foreign war, or will it be a civil war within our borders or something no one has even considered? I know most people dismiss the possibility of civil war, believing there aren’t enough people willing to risk their lives for a just cause. Neil Howe seems to think it is probable.

“Roughly half of all Americans think a civil war is likely. And a growing number of social scientists agree that the United States now fits the checklist profile of a country at risk. Trust in the national government is in steep decline. Check. Respect for democratic institutions is weakening. Check. A heavily armed population has polarized into two evenly divided partisan factions. Check. Each faction embodies a distinctive ethnic, cultural, and urban-versus-rural identity. Each wants its country to become something the other detests. And each fears the prospect of the other taking power. Check, check, and check.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here

Virtually no one believes civil war is possible, just as no one expected a civil war in 1860, as the presidential election approached. Truthfully, the civil war has already begun, but only those on the left, in conjunction with the FBI, CIA, Big Media, and other governmental agencies, are aggressively fighting. They are vigorously at war against the American people by rigging elections, arresting opposition leaders, and discarding the U.S. Constitution.

The good guys have thus far been too civil. But the simmering anger of heavily armed rural, red state Americans is close to boiling over. All the signs are there, awaiting a triggering event for this undeclared war to engulf the nation. At this point a number of possible triggering events are possible.

If David Webb is correct and those in power initiate the Great Taking, the level of violence in reaction would be unprecedented in U.S. history. Maybe that is their plan. Biden and his handlers could use this event to declare a national emergency, suspending the presidential election because they were going to lose, and instituting martial law. Their attempt to lockdown the country and use the military against civilians would surely result in massive bloodshed, as local animosities would result in assassinations, wholesale slaughter of those considered disloyal to whichever side controls the high ground in that community. Previously petty disputes would suddenly become lethal disputes.

Even if the presidential election is held in November, I don’t believe either side will accept the outcome. We know the Democrats and their Deep State co-conspirators will cheat, rig and once again try to steal the election. If they fail, they will unleash their BLM, ANTIFA terrorist arm into the streets to create chaos as an excuse to not hand over power to Trump.

With multiple states now attempting to unlawfully keep Trump off the ballot in their states, the animosity between the right and left grows ever deeper. The imprisonment of Trump or more radical attempts to steal the 2024 election will be met with violence from the here-to-for persevering right. Mixing this toxic domestic atmosphere with a deepening global chasm is a recipe for global disaster.

As we have seen throughout history, the egos of psychopaths at the helm of nations often lead them to act irrationally and/or emotionally when it comes to committing their people to war. While the U.S. has further weakened its global hegemony with its disastrous forays into Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine; Russia and China have gotten stronger and more mutually committed to creating their own new world order. The USD as the dominant global currency is reaching its endpoint, marking the end of empire. Now Israel will further deplete U.S. resources and global stature with their war to wipe out Palestine. Once the dominoes begin to fall in a game of global warfare, all bets are off regarding possible outcomes. Neil Howe’s worst-case scenario is certainly not out of the question.

“At worst, should at least one desperate country resort to WMDs, the outcome of a great-power war could prove to be even more devastating than that of a civil war. The toll could be almost unimaginable – with multiple cities destroyed, many millions killed, and many tens of millions displaced – all perhaps triggered by some ill-fated combination of the wrong leader making the wrong choice at the wrong time.” – Neil Howe – The Fourth Turning Is Here

All scenarios for 2024 seem depressing and dark, but the odds still favor just continuing to muddle through as we have done through the first fifteen years of this Fourth Turning. I gave up trying to make specific predictions within a specific time frame years ago. It’s a fool’s errand as there are too many variables in the world to correctly predict which ones will drive the course of events within a one year time frame.

What I do know is that pessimism about the future continues to deepen, paranoia strengthens, trust declines, anger grows, and the arrogance of those running the show has reached epic levels. We’ve been subjected to three years of propaganda about how the Great Reset will fundamentally transform our world, where we will own nothing and be happy. It seems this fits perfectly with David Webb’s Great Taking theory of how we will ultimately own nothing.

There does seem to be a common thread running through everything happening in the last three years and appears to be on deck for 2024 and beyond. It all revolves around this broad Great Reset concept pushed by Schwab, Gates, Soros, and the rest of the Davos elite. The entire Covid plandemic was engineered to introduce authoritarian measures and instruct the masses to obey their masters.

The vaccine is now clearly revealed to be a depopulation weapon, killing off some suddenly; others through myocarditis, turbo cancers, and strokes; babies through miscarriages; and future generations through reduced fertility. And most still believe our overlords rolled these jabs out to save them. Trump is still crowing about his big, beautiful vaccines. He’s either a fool or a charlatan.

The climate change scam is hastening, as the war on farmers, meat, and fossil fuels is waged relentlessly by unelected bureaucrats and captured media mouthpieces. The EV scam is collapsing rapidly, as people with common sense see through it all. The Great Replacement of white people with third world savages is unabetted, with the Biden Administration ushering them across the southern border, giving them phones and money, flying them to cities across the country, and paying for them to stay at upscale hotels.

This is not incompetence, but treason. They have already used their predictive programming/brainwashing to prepare the masses for civil war and a massive cyber-attack. Your government will protect you, as long as you sacrifice your remaining liberties and rights. All that is left is the initiation of the Great Taking. The “emergency” will occur on a weekend and by Monday morning your assets will be gone.

This is their master plan, but we will have a say on whether it is ever successfully implemented. I wonder if these Davos psychopaths absconded with The Great Reset moniker from Strauss & Howe, as they used it to describe Fourth Turnings back in 1997.

“A Fourth Turning is a great reset.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning

A Fourth Turning great reset may be a surprise to Schwab and his totalitarian acolytes inserted in governments across the world. They are in control. They are running this shitshow. They are the establishment. They are reaping the benefits. They are suppressing dissent and the truth. They are the existing social order that traditionally gets swept away during a Fourth Turning. 2024 may mark the beginning of the end for the Davos crowd and their iron grip on our spiraling society of chaos.

The future course of history could be radically altered by actions taken by supposedly influential characters in this movie, but also by courageous deeds performed by average Americans who will sacrifice themselves to ensure future generations have a chance to live in a nation devoid of a psychopathic elitist ruling class.

It seems like a long shot at this point, but giving up is not an option for those of us who still love this country. The four possible outcomes for this Crisis, laid out by Strauss & Howe in 1997, are as valid today as ever, and disturbingly close at hand. We will all have to do our part if we are to have any chance of producing a positive outcome to this Crisis. Happy New Year.

This Fourth Turning could mark the end of man. It could be an omnicidal Armageddon, destroying everything, leaving nothing. If mankind ever extinguishes itself, this will probably happen when its dominant civilization triggers a Fourth Turning that ends horribly. For this Fourth Turning to put an end to all this would require an extremely unlikely blend of social disaster, human malevolence, technological perfection and bad luck.
The Fourth Turning could mark the end of modernity. The Western saecular rhythm – which began in the mid-fifteenth century with the Renaissance – could come to an abrupt terminus. The seventh modern saeculum would be the last. This too could come from total war, terrible but not final. There could be a complete collapse of science, culture, politics, and society. Such a dire result would probably happen only when a dominant nation (like today’s America) lets a Fourth Turning ekpyrosis engulf the planet. But this outcome is well within the reach of foreseeable technology and malevolence.
The Fourth Turning could spare modernity but mark the end of our nation. It could close the book on the political constitution, popular culture, and moral standing that the word America has come to signify. The nation has endured for three saecula; Rome lasted twelve, the Soviet Union only one. Fourth Turnings are critical thresholds for national survival. Each of the last three American Crises produced moments of extreme danger: In the Revolution, the very birth of the republic hung by a thread in more than one battle. In the Civil War, the union barely survived a four-year slaughter that in its own time was regarded as the most lethal war in history. In World War II, the nation destroyed an enemy of democracy that for a time was winning; had the enemy won, America might have itself been destroyed. In all likelihood, the next Crisis will present the nation with a threat and a consequence on a similar scale.
Or the Fourth Turning could simply mark the end of the Millennial Saeculum. Mankind, modernity, and America would all persevere. Afterward, there would be a new mood, a new High, and a new saeculum. America would be reborn. But, reborn, it would not be the same.

ARGENTINA IN TEARS! China STOP Deal Worth $6.5 Billion With Argentina

As a nurse, have you ever seen another nurse do something unethical?

Yes. They took a narcotic drug, meant for the patient, and injected themselves. Gave the patient an injection of saline. I didn’t understand why the patient was suddenly unable to tolerate a treatment he had previously handled with dignity. I suspected something when I noticed this nurse would always go to the locker room after “medicating” this patient. The next time he was due for a shot to relieve his pain, I hid in the locker room. I witnessed that nurse injecting herself. Fury was what I felt, for making a patient suffer so terribly. I was unable to feel any pity for her at that moment. I reported her, and she was fired, after her ongoing behavior was verified. The other nurses on the unit didn’t speak to me because I’d betrayed the “sisterhood” I pointed out that a patient was being harmed by an impaired nurse. FIRST imperative is to adhere to the oath we all took, to “do no harm”. You have to do what’s right!

Obviously the addicted nurse was counseled and offered assistance in overcoming her addiction. THAT is the right thing to do, too.

Another incident occurred when I realized one of the best, most brilliant nurses I’d ever worked with, was stealing a narcotic, regularly. He never harmed a patient, but I could see he was addicted. I chose to try to help him, and spoke to him, telling him I knew people and could get him into drug rehab the next day. I urged him to seek help. I warned him the supervisor was looking for whoever was stealing the narcotics. He assured me it wasn’t him and he didn’t need help, he was fine. He was caught, the next night, stealing. End of career. Those of us, who worked with him, were in tears.

Sometimes you help. Sometimes you report. The patient comes first. But one hopes that help is offered, because once removed as a nurse, that nurse becomes a “ patient”.

The Treasury is Running Out of Creditors

As a police officer, have you ever pulled somebody over on their way to a hospital?

I did. I caught up with a driver I clocked at a very high rate of speed. When I walked up to the window I saw a grandmother in the back seat holding a young boy in her lap and he was spewing a bright pink frothy liquid every few seconds. The driver asked where was the hospital. Regulations forbade emergency escorts, and I violated that reg. I led them to the nearest hospital a few minutes away. On arrival I was told to take him to another ER, that hospital didn’t have the ER that day. I forcefully informed the Dr that the boy wouldn’t survive that long. He reluctantly had the boy brought in and began treating him. Several Drs attended that youngster that afternoon and all abandoned him but one young Dr named Alex Krier. He would not give up, and he saved that boys life. I learned that he fell off the bed of a pickup truck in a pasture and hit his head. I never learned what the diagnosis was. I would occasionally hear from his father from Tallahassee Fl. The youngster eventually made a full recover but his injury slowed his development significantly. I firmly believe God placed me in that position that day, and that He put Dr Krier in that ER that day. If they had taken him to the ER of the day, several miles away, I believe he would not have survived.

Economic Update: American’s Self Image VS Reality

How can China permit US corporations to conduct business within its borders given the 25% tariffs imposed by the United States on Chinese goods?

Well, blanket tariffs are illegal under WTO rules.

ILLEGAL.

Donald the Orange had to resort to neutering the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO to pursue blanket tariffs on China.

The WTO remains neutered under Joe the Elderly.

Meanwhile, the US made a genocide determination on China, and rescinded recognition of Hong Kong as an independent trade body under the WTO framework.

That’s belligerence and exceptionalism.

A typical example of the rules-based international order the US is trying so hard to maintain.

What is China to do unless it wants to play the same game?

Unfortunately for the hegemon, it must be willing to take pain and sustain damage to land punches on the No. 2 economy today.

As America is finding out, or being forced to admit, belligerence is unsustainable and comes with its cost, and paying it into the future is an uphill ask that accumulates systemic risk.

Good luck.

Migrant Children in the USA

What’s the etiquette for feeding a babysitter? They’re looking after your kids, so shouldn’t you feed them?

When I babysat, decades ago in the late eighties and early-to-mid nineties, it had become a trope: the babysitter who ignores the kids and spends the whole time talking on the family’s phone, watching the family’s TV, and eating the family’s food. Because of this, a few families whose kids I watched sincerely believed that it was what I would do, too.

It couldn’t have been further from the truth. I began babysitting in the Babysitters Club era, and sitters my age consulted those books like manuals. We brought activities for the kids. We were primed for the emergencies we’d read about. We wanted to impress parents. Many, many nights, I would go directly to a job after a long day of school and eat nothing at all until I got home at 11pm or midnight, because parents didn’t offer anything and I wouldn’t have dared take something that wasn’t offered.

There were parents who would honest-to-goodness measure tiny amounts of popcorn kernels into paper bags for each of their children, and leave them on the countertop for me to microwave for them as a snack. Other parents would warn me away from fridges and pantries, telling me that the kids could have this cup of applesauce and that bag of pretzels and nothing more. I honestly do not remember a single parent telling me to go ahead and eat with the kids. I was the hired help and could eat on my own time. And I was paranoid that they would come home to find food “missing”, and blame me for taking morsels from their kids’ metaphorical mouths.

How did I deal with this? A few ways. I’d try to eat a big lunch at school. I drank water from the kitchen tap. For some reason I have a vague memory of stealthily eating a single raw piece of whole grain penne pasta, although I’m not sure why I would have had to do that. Later, when I had wised up a bit, I began bringing food art projects for the kids to do, and that was a snack for all of us.

Having food available for a babysitter isn’t really likely to bankrupt a parent or compromise the kids’ care. It can have guidelines (“if you get hungry, feel free to have one of the snacks I left on the kitchen table” or, “go ahead and have some pizza with the kids”). A babysitter, especially a young one, will be relieved and appreciate that you care.

Are We Living Through The End Of An Empire?

Very, very great. Pretty good stuff this.

What’s your opinion on clingy and upfront girls?

I used to hate them.

Seriously, I always thought “what the hell is wrong with this girl?”

“Why is she so into me? I haven’t done anything.”

Yet there it was…

“I haven’t done anything,” & in my mind love or affection was something that was highly conditional, earned, and can be taken away. Not something I was inherently worthy of.

Some women are clingy, codependent, and looking for a man to “complete them” in a way that is not realistic.

However, some women are just secure enough in themselves to be forward about it.

Expressing your feelings is healthy. It is an extension of good parenting. The result of being taught that when people love you & care for you they say so and act accordingly.

An emotionally secure woman is going to show you she cares or desires you because that is how her loved ones taught her to be.

Sometimes however for many people, like myself, were taught expressing your feelings is NOT okay. That people who care about you will not say that, & affection is both scarce and highly conditional.

For those people, loving, affectionate, expressive people are… strange & unfamiliar.

So the reality is that a woman who is upfront about her emotions is not by default “clingy”. Trust me, I had an ex-girlfriend who never wanted to be away from me… ever.

Now that is clingy.

However, a woman saying she likes you and wants to spend some time with you is what emotionally healthy and secure women do.

So if a woman expressing interest alone turns you off, that says more about your inability to accept healthy affection than her being overly dependent on you.

Fall asleep to the Purring of a Cat & Fireplace 🔥 Relax in Cozy Winter Hut, Fireplace sound

OMG!

The cat is curled up next to the fireplace, its tiny body nestled close to the warmth emanating from the crackling logs. Its eyes are closed, and its chest rises and falls with each peaceful breath. The soft glow of the fire dances across the cat's fur, casting flickering shadows on the surrounding floor. Its paws are tucked neatly under its chin, as if in a state of utter contentment. The rhythmic purring fills the air, a gentle lullaby that blends harmoniously with the crackling of the fire. The cat's whiskers twitch ever so slightly, indicating a deep and restful sleep. The coziness of the scene is heightened by the sight of a few scattered ash particles caught in the air, evidence of the cat's proximity to the hearth. It is a picture of serene tranquility, a blissful respite from the world, as the cat dreams away in the comforting embrace of the radiant warmth.

Hungarian Chocolate Cake (Rigo Jansci)

Ingredients

Chocolate Sponge

8 ounces semisweet chocolate
6 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon espresso powder, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup Dutch processed baking cocoa

Cocoa Whipped Cream Filling

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 cups heavy cream
Raspberry and apricot preserves

Ganache Frosting

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons pailettes de feuilletine (optional)
1 tablespoon cocoa nibs (optional)

Instructions

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 10 1/2 x 15 1/2-inch jellyroll pan with parchment and spray with nonstick vegetable spray.
In a dry bowl, melt chocolate over barely simmering water. Whisk the eggs and sugar until they hold a ribbon shape for 2 seconds. Whisk in the coffee mixture. Sift, then fold in the cocoa. Fold in the melted chocolate. Spread in the prepared pan and bake for 9 minutes until set. Let cool.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Sift the cocoa and confectioners’ sugar into the cream and whip to the consistency of shaving cream. Divide the sheet cake in half. Lightly spread one layer with apricot preserves. Spread on the whipped cream. Lightly spread the other half with raspberry preserves and flip on top of the whipped cream. Refrigerate.
Make the Ganache: Put the chocolate in a small bowl. Over medium heat, bring the cream to a scald. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Working from the center out, gently stir with a whisk to melt and blend. Continue stirring until smooth. Stir in the feuilletine and nibs. Pour over the cake. Allow cake to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chocolate is set.

Woman dies in crash and WAKES UP in another TIMELINE where she discovers THIS…

This is very interesting. Please check it out.

What’s the craziest thing you found in the middle of nowhere?

While camping in a fairly remote area of west Wales, Pendine being the nearest village, I decided to take a walk to one of the beaches nearby. This isn’t the sort of beach with any parking nearby, or even a road leading to it, the only way to access was either by a very rough part of the Wales coastal path, or a slightly better path from inland, it was difficult to access to say the least.

The remoteness and tranquility of the beach didn’t offer any clues to the violent events that had taken place there in the past.

When approaching from the coastal path I could see a structure set back quite some way from the beach, just visible in the photo below.

On closer inspection of the structure set back from the beach head, it appeared to be some sort of sea wall or a section of harbour wall, but was way too far back for the sea to ever reach it. It also appeared to have suffered some quite extensive damage, as can be seen below:

Knowing there was an army training ground located a few miles away I assumed it may have something to do with the military, though not sure what the purpose could be. Once back in civilisation with a phone I searched for information about the beach and found the following article:

Site of US Army landing exercise, Morfa Bychan

It transpires that the wall was built to replicate the sea defences at Omaha beach to practice for the D-day landings. There was previously another wall there, but this was destroyed by tanks placing large explosive charges and subsequent erosion by the sea. The holes blown out of the concrete were from experiments with various explosive charges. It was really unexpected that this place was once used for this purpose.

The Biggest Story in America | The Scheduled Collapse of U.S Cities

What bad experience had you saying “I will never buy from that company or use their service ever again”?

At my former employer we had a saying “Hell hath no fury like a loyal customer scorned”. I now know that I am one of those customers.

I was a customer of ATT Cellular for over 20 years, paying well over $350 a month for 5 lines for my family. That’s $350 after all the “discounts”. The incentive to stay with ATT was mostly inertia and a “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it approach”. In spite of the bluster, they really didn’t give any incentives on new phones other than interest free financing, and I knew I could probably find a better price elsewhere, but…

Then a few months ago my credit card number got stolen (not the card, just the number) and the bank caught it right away and changed the account number. This happened to be the card that ATT used for my auto-bill. I didn’t realize it until they sent me a text saying my monthly payment was one day overdue. So immediately I went online, paid the one-day overdue bill, and changed the credit card number. The bill was over $50 higher due to removal of the e-bill discount and a late payment fee.

The next bill also had a removal of the e-bill discount and the added charge of $7 for late payment. I thought that was unfair, but I let it go.

But a month later the next bill arrived and still had no e-bill discount and added another $7 late fee! I called up to inquire and was told too bad, it takes at least a month and a half to register the new credit card in their system. All I wanted was the recent $7 late fee credited. First I appealed to their sense of fair play, and got nowhere. I then asked politely if I could ask a manager for a waiver.

The manager said no way. I pointed out I was a customer at $350 a month for 20 years, but I would leave over $7. He calmly told me the equivalent of “don’t let the door hit you in the ass” (I’m paraphrasing). No raised voices, just a calm discussion that ended in goodbye.

So I started the research, and found a carrier that uses the same cellular network plus others, and is costing me $210 a month less! $210 a month less for the same exact service! This was the best $7 wake-up call I ever had!

All stores are closed

CNN reports “China’s economy in 2024 would be even worse.” Do you agree? Why?

Hmm

CNN is an American Channel right?

So why are they so interested in the economy of a foreign country?

After all CGTN doesn’t talk about the US Economy do they?

They talk only about THEIR ECONOMY

Can you guess the percentage of Anti China news articles on US Mainstream Media

20%

Higher than Donald Trump (16%) or Hunter Biden (8%)

Guess how many news articles on the US economy or Debt?

3% !!!

It was the tenth most popular news topic in 2023 behind :-

Chinese Economy
Donald Trump Legal Cases
Hunter Biden
Roe vs Wade
January 6th Investigations
Ukraine Conflict
Afghan Conflict
Chinese Spy Balloon
Russian Coup by Prighozin
US Inflation
US Debt

Why would a major channel focus on a foreign country’s economy rather than it’s own?

Thus the simple answer is CNN doesn’t know shit

CNN is busy spreading propaganda

When in your life did you laugh so much that you were tired after it?

Many years ago when my daughter was in High School we were going to Target. We got there and parked. Now mind you, my daughter is incredibly good looking and I am round and a mom. If you were looking at the two of us standing together you would hardly even notice me. I am totally good with that. My husband hates it. lol Well back to the story…

We park the car, get out and start walking through the parking lot toward the store. A very nice, lifted, truck drives past us, the driver cat calls and honks the horn. My daughter looks me dead in the face and asks me if I know the guy driving the truck. I literally spit out my coffee and started laughing. She got all serious and demanded if I knew that guy! I could not stop laughing. She was so serious!

I told her the honk and cat call was for her, not me. I was laughing so hard because she was so miffed. Arms crossed over her chest., marching throught the parking lot. She didn’t know who it was so there was, “absolutely no way,” that was for her. It was so funny! She was so serious!

Needless to say, I was already wiped out, sides aching from laughing, by the time we got in the store. We did not spend much time in there.

What is the reason for Xi’s sudden admission of problems in China? Does he have challengers who want to take power? For the first time in eleven years, China’s president comes with discouraging news about the Chinese economy. Is he scared?

Have you studied Xis speeches?

He says this every year

He is Ultra Cautious and always adds a pinch of salt and always keeps making speeches for more improvement

That’s how Chinese leaders are

Always looking at the Long Term

Plus they always give a gloomy outlook and then when China does do much better, they look like they have achieved something amazing

Take this year 2023

Xi gave a same speech in 2022

Challenges, Global Slowdown, Real Estate Slowdown

Chinese people expected the worst and they found things MUCH MUCH BETTER

They credit this to the CPC and this buys Xi Jingping brownie points

Xi has never ever boasted of Chinas economic prowess

Never

From the first day he has always been cautious and always warned of challenges since 2014 at least

Xi’s speeches regarding MILITARY have changed from wolf warrior style to cautious diplomacy from 2014–2023 but as far as economy is concerned, he has always spoken of challenges

My point is – every Economy today has challenges

No leader mentions this

Especially Democratic leaders

They will always brag and boast and eventually get burnt

China is always cautious and it’s citizens always prepared for the worst, so they always feel better when things go better than the predicted outlook

I noticed it even when they submit their expected profits

They always predict less profits and longer time to break even and when they make more profits and break even quicker, they credit their style and efficiency

Indians predict more profits and shorter time to break even and end up embarrassing themselves often

The fact is 2023 is the best year for China economically since 2018

Their GDP growth of 5.1% has been achieved even when Real Estate dragged it down by 1.1% this year
Their GDP growth of 5.1% has been achieved even when Industrial Production dragged it down by 0.4% this year
Their GDP growth was 5.1% despite Asset Monetization dragging down growth by 0.2% this year
Had the three stayed static or stagnant – Chinas GDP growth would have been 6.8% this year
The Real Interest rate is 2.61% this year which is way higher than other countries. In India it’s 1.30% , half of Chinas. This is higher than the 0.85% Real Interest rate in 2022
Despite a near 18% reduction in Exports to US and EU, China finished with a $ 860 Billion Trade Surplus
China holds a mere 25% US Assets in reserves of $ 3.23 Trillion against 79% in 2010

Six of the largest service sectors – Retail, Financial, Travel, Hotels, Restaurants & Supermarkets all broke into the black this year from red last year

Industrial Profits slumped by 14% but High Tech Industrial Profits rose 39%

The day a Chinese Leader smiles and says how great China is doing

That’s when you really know something is going on

This is just China 101

What bad experience had you saying “I will never buy from that company or use their service ever again”?

I was shopping at Boston store and foolishly looked at the sparkly jewelry display. I saw a gorgeous blue stone set in an Art Deco designed pendant. I fell in lust with it.

I was again foolish and tried it on. The counter lady told me it made me look radiant, the stone was unique, the design a rare offer, plus it was on sale, with a coupon. It was very expensive. I began justifying the purchase, which was a bit spendy for my budget. I rationalized I could eat cheap soup, ask for car rides to save having to buy gas, turn down the heat for a few months, to lower the bill. I bought the necklace.

I got home and had buyers remorse every time I had to eat the cheap noodles, beg a ride to work, put on another sweater and pair of socks. It wasn’t enough remorse to make me return it.

The bill for the purchase came, I had barely enough to pay it in full because if I didn’t pay it all I would be charged interest for a purchase I could hardly afford. I didn’t delay in returning the bill. I breathed a sigh of relief. The necklace was mine.

My satisfaction was short lived. The next month I got another bill from Boston Store. It contained a $35 late fee. I called the store to complain, how I was charged a late fee when the date the payment was posted was on the due date. The person who answered said the computer calculated it, the fee was due. The computer was wrong! I wrote a letter stating my observations. It was ignored.

I decided to pay the $35 because damaging my credit wasn’t worth it. I vowed to never, ever shop there again. Without surprise the entire empire that included Boston Store declared bankruptcy, folded and no longer exists. While I know my refusal to remain a customer didn’t single handedly undermine their business it makes me happy to wear the necklace.

Android

What is the most annoying thing about smart people?

My uncle Jeff (mom’s brother) was a renowned Neurosurgeon and Director of Stereotactic Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University. As you could imagine, he was a fairly brilliant guy (perfect SAT, Princeton undergrad, taught himself fluency in German, all of those things crazy-smart people do.)

We are a fairly small family, so I got to know him on a pretty personal level, more as an uncle than a doctor. But I still knew him as both, and can tell you there was a significant dichotomy between the two Jeffs.

His patients raved about his passion and care for their well being and treatment, they said he was an unwavering professional. He had the utmost respect among peers and students. Jeff, or Dr. Williams, aimed to become the best neurosurgeon in the world.

Jeff as a person, and I say this as someone who still loves him dearly, was a wonderful but flawed and complex individual. On his good days he could be the funniest and most intelligent guy you’ve ever spoken to. The kind of guy who could say one sentence that changes the way you see the world. On his bad days he could be profoundly arrogant; he was very aware of his mental capacities and not afraid to let you know.

He could also be very demanding and temperamental. As a 7 year old, he would review my math homework with me and let me tell you, you’ve never met a more demanding math tutor. My theory was that because he was so demanding of himself, he projected that same standard upon people he cared about.

But we still had fun too.

Over the years, we saw him frequently and had a great relationship, but we noticed he started looking pretty bad. He was gaining weight and he had lost a lot of color in his face. We know he was working 80+ hours and living off the hospital cafeteria food. It wasn’t something you could mention to him, or he would stop talking to you for a year. Finally, his dad (my grandpa) tried to bring it up with him, but Jeff would have none of it. He wouldn’t listen or didn’t take it seriously. And he got angry to the point that we could never bring it up again.

About a month after my 19th birthday, I was packing to head back to college. I heard my mom crying in her bedroom across the hall, I could tell something was wrong, very wrong. I came in, she was on the phone, sobbing. It was that type of cry that meant something really bad had happened. She hangs up the phone and tells me. “Your Uncle Jeff had a heart attack this morning, Jeff is dead.”.

That morning he had been running on a treadmill in the Johns Hopkins gym next to a fellow doctor, he had a type of “widow maker” heart attack and died. Not even a surgeon jogging next to him could save him. He was 50 years old.

To this day, I miss and love Jeff. I idolized him and his death crushed the family. But I am also angry; he made some pretty bad health choices that cost him his life, choices a neurosurgeon knows well not to make. Choices he somehow rationalized didn’t apply to him. And so to answer the question, the thing that annoys me about really smart people, is that they can be guilty of hubris at times.

Love ya, Jeff.

When have you cheaply or inexpensively fixed an item someone thought unrepairable?

Back in 1992 or so, I was in a computer repair shop where I often sourced secondhand parts, like the 3.5″ floppy drives from IBM PS/2 systems. They had a defect that frequently caused them to slip out of alignment, and when they did, IBM would simply pay repair shops to swap out the floppy drives with new ones and toss the old ones. You could actually find tons of them in dumpsters at repair shops.

I collected them because they were super-easy to fix, you just turned a screw to align them again. They used the same card edge connector with the same pinout as a 5.25″ floppy drive, so you could just swap them on computers with 5.25″ floppies, which I did on my TRS-80.

Anyway, I was in there one day when the tech was like “hey, you want this?” and pointed to an Apple Lisa with an Apple Profile hard drive. “I was like “sure, what’s wrong with it?” He said “I don’t know. Video doesn’t work at all. Total blank screen. I haven’t looked at it because when I gave the owner a price quote, he just told me to keep it.”

So I bought it for $100, got it home, popped off the top (super easy, it was designed to be disassembled without tools, and all the electronics slid out in card cages like military radios use), and…

…the little socket had come off the back of the CRT.

I slipped it back on and it worked perfectly. Used it for years, until it finally failed. In fact, I even did small-press publishing on it.

This is it, the very one.

After I retired it.

Super great

If you are a surgeon, have you ever wept when you were unable to save a child’s life?

Unimportant details have been changed to protect patient confidentiality.

When I was in training a 14 year old girl swimming in the ocean was run over by a speedboat. One leg and half her pelvis were gone. The thing is, most patients that are going to die come in unresponsive whereas most patients that live come in talking. But a young girl like her has a lot of physiologic reserve and the large vessels of her pelvis had spasmed shut to temporarily stop the bleeding. So despite her extraordinarily severe injury, she was actually talking to us. And she was pleading with us to save her life. I can still remember her crying, saying “I don’t want to die, Daddy.” Her father (who had been driving the speedboat) was beside her holding her hand.

I took one look at her injury and knew it was fatal. There were several surgeons there and we tried some Hail Mary maneuvers in the trauma bay, but the spasming arteries opened up within a few minutes of arrival and she died.

If you’re in the trauma field you get used to death, and I am. But I will never forget the sound of her crying to live. I can only imagine what her father went through.

What are some of the best stories, real or fictional, about taking revenge?

It was a get-rich-quick scheme. Leap in front of slow-moving cars, feign injury, and threaten a suit. Make millions overnight. Or that was his plan, anyways.

So he ended up in the ER once, twice a week. He was never actually hit, but he put on such an exhibition, we were obligated to work him up. He was in and out of the CT scanner so often he acquired the sort of soft glow you could have a romantic dinner over. And he almost always ended up spending at least one night inpatient. Traumatized drivers showed up crying, asking about his wellbeing. He was exhausting our patience and our resources.

“We have actually sick patients who can’t get a bed upstairs because he’s taking up space,” I groaned, catching sight of his name on the ER board once again.

“But what can we do?” my co-resident shrugged. “One of these times he will truly be hurt. How do we save someone from themselves?”

I sighed. “He’s not trying to hurt himself. He’s just trying to make money. Unfortunately, he’s not crazy. Just an asshole.”

My chief, Hayashi, leaned back in his chair and snickered, tenting his fingertips together diabolically. “What if he WAS crazy?” he proposed, with one eyebrow raised.

“What do you mean?”

“Well…” he tipped his chair forward, “it’s a six floor hospital, right? Put on your white coat and climb out the window of the room next door to his. Inch your way across the ledge, and climb in HIS window. Walk up to the bed, climb up on it, stand up. Unzip and pee all over him. Then climb back out the window again..”

“WHAT?!!?” I screeched. “That’s insane!”

“Yup!” grinned Hayashi. “That’s exactly what they’re gonna say when he tells everyone some doctor climbed in the window and peed on him. Then he’s gonna go away. Problem solved. You’re welcome.”

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it…

Why does every story I ever see about China invading Taiwan always talk about “carrier killer” missiles?

“Carrier killer” DF-21d missiles are no longer China’s only weapon against American carriers!

1. Armed drones

As we all know, Chinese drones are very powerful. Recently, American carriers ran into trouble in the Red Sea, and Iranian observers even mocked the US military on Twitter for using a $2.1 million SM-2 missile to intercept a $2,000 Yemeni drone.

American carriers can’t even defend themselves against Yemen’s humble drones, let alone the countless drones of China, the land of drones.

It amuses me that America’s “invincible” aircraft carriers are being fumbled by the Houthis in Yemen.

What you need to know is that the Yemeni Houthis are not government forces, just a guerrilla force on motorbikes. Lol! 🤣

2. EM gun

What Chinese ships are hiding even deeper are the electromagnetic guns not used by American ships.

China’s medium-voltage DC integrated power system for ships is at least 20 years ahead of the U.S., which can fully guarantee the electricity for EM guns.

EM cannon shells fly incredibly fast and are silent, with no gunpowder explosions.

A single shot from an EM gun can sink an aircraft carrier instantly and completely silently, and cannot be recognised, tracked, or intercepted.

But the American EM gun can not be actualised because its ship power system and its backwardness, can not supply the huge amount of electricity consumed instantly by the EM gun.

Run out of time

How U.S. Customs shattered Chinese female PhD students’ American Dream

Below is the full translation of 《中国留美博士生突遭遣返：经历噩梦般的50个小时》Chinese PhD Students in the U.S. Suddenly Deported: Enduring a Nightmare-like 50 Hours, a news report by 中国科学报 China Science Daily posted in its WeChat blog on Friday, January 5.

Meng Fei, a Ph.D. student originally set to return to her university in the U.S., was denied entry at an American airport and rapidly repatriated. The 50 hours she spent there is utterly an unforgettable nightmare for her.

After Meng landed in Washington, D.C. on December 19, 2023, she was immediately detained by U.S. Customs at the airport for secondary inspection. She then spent eight hours in the so-called “little dark room” and another 12 hours in solitary confinement. During her layover in Los Angeles, she was detained for five more hours before being sent back to Beijing. These dark moments are etched clearly in her memory.

Sitting back in the sofa corner at home, Meng is in a daze – “How did I end up back here?” When she left for the U.S., she had just successfully renewed her F1 student visa for the coming year on November 27, 2023, not expecting to be rapidly repatriated. What is worse is that she is banned from entering the U.S. for five years. If her appeal fails, Meng will not be able to attend her doctoral defense in 2024. The appeal takes at least six months, which is too long for her biological research to wait.

Meng Fei was shocked to find, on the train back to her hometown, six other students who had similar experiences at Dulles International Airport (IAD). All of them are females. Furthermore, she learned of two other female students who were informed at the Chinese airport during check-in that their visas were revoked and could not board their flights.

Despite thorough analysis, they couldn’t dig out the reason for their repatriation. The only certainty was that their dream of studying in the U.S. was shattered.

“The Little Dark Room”

Four hours after arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport, Meng Fei was informed that there was a problem with her visa and that she had to return to China. She became the only person repatriated from the airport that day.

Meng Fei stayed in the little dark room for eight hours. After learning she was denied entry, she was immediately told to pay $3,700 for her repatriation flight to China by herself, with no other options. By comparison, her flight to the U.S. cost only $1,000.

The officials who interrogated Meng were two women: Epstein, with short hair and no uniform, and Pratt, with blonde hair, not tall, also with no uniform. Other detainees encountered Pratt as well.

This group of victims were interrogated about whether they received scholarships during their undergraduate studies, whether they were funded by the China Scholarship Council (CSC), or whether they engaged in any confidential research. Meng had received undergraduate scholarships from their alma mater but was not involved in CSC-funded projects or any confidential research.

When signing her statement, Meng was told it was just to confirm the interrogation’s accuracy, but she wasn’t allowed to see the content before signing. Only after signing did she learn that she would not only be repatriated rapidly but also banned for five years. She was outraged because the customs officers kept urging her to accept the decision to return to China during the interrogation, saying she could re-enter easily by reapplying for a visa. The five-year ban was not mentioned during the whole process.

With two armed officers watching, she had no choice but to comply, focusing only on how to leave that dreadful place and contact the outside world.

The nightmare didn’t end there. After an 8-hour wait in the little dark room, Meng confronted a humiliating search, followed by 12 hours in solitary confinement.

“I was told that I would be kept in a room, I don’t remember the exact room name. Maybe at that time, my ears refused to hear it, my brain to remember it,” she recalls. She was not allowed to bring her luggage, coat, shoes, sweater, or even cough medicine. The room had a cot, a sofa, children’s books and toys, a toilet without a door, and multiple surveillance cameras, but no clock. Thankfully, there was a TV showing the time.

It was a little cold in that single room, but Meng only got three sheets to sleep with. She managed to sleep for only an hour, waking up frequently, and spent two hours watching the movie X to kill time. For the rest of the time, she just aimlessly pressed the remote control, unable to focus on anything, just waiting to board the flight home.

It was only when preparing to board the flight that she was informed that she would get her phone back only upon landing in Beijing. For the previous 48 hours, it was impossible for her to inform her family she was safe.

The search and 5-hour detention in Los Angeles airport seemed trivial in comparison. On the flight to Los Angeles, her main concern was how to make contact with her family and inform them of her situation. Fortunately, her iPad, which was brought with her, enabled her to inform her family of her flight number.

Upon landing in Beijing, a official of the Chinese immigration administration helped Meng charge her phone, record what she had experienced in the past few days and had her sign and fingerprint the record. She could finally message her family.

Fellow suffers

On the train home, Meng Fei got into contact with another girl through social media who had also been repatriated from DIA and denied entry in December 2023. The girl was also pursuing a PhD in the U.S.

Such students experiences have a WeChat group. Their experiences were strikingly similar. Wei Na, a student at Johns Hopkins University, and her roommate were detained in the little dark room on November 24, 2023. Wei was asked sensitive questions during the formal record, such as military service, connections to the Ministry of Education, and funding from the state. Despite she gave negative responses, the inspector told her, “Your F1 and B1/B2 visas are no longer valid, and you are not allowed to enter the U.S. We will send you back to China on the earliest flight. You need a new visa to re-enter.”

Repeated inquiries with inspectors only revealed that her visa was canceled by the U.S. Embassy in China two days before her entry. However, after returning home, she was told by the embassy that it was not the embassy but U.S. Customs’ decision. That made her doubt the authenticity of the U.S. customs officers’ statements, suspecting they were just inducing her to accept repatriation.

Two more sufferers joined their group. One of them was repatriated from the same airport and the other one was told the visa was revoked before boarding in China. In total, there were 11 of them.

This situation motivated Meng Fei to investigate the commonalities among the victims to find out the cause of their rapid repatriation. She created an Excel document, and so far, ten victims have filled in their details, with one more whose visa was revoked at check-in providing incomplete information.

The findings showed that all ten were graduates from prestigious universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, among others. Their domestic degrees spanned fields like biological sciences, preventive medicine, statistics, materials physical chemistry, communication engineering, German, and business administration. They were currently studying at U.S. institutions such as Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Virginia. Among them, two were first-year master’s students, three first-year Ph.D. students, two fifth-year Ph.D. students, one sixth-year Ph.D. student, one postdoctoral fellow, and one female on a work visa.

Of the eight repatriated students, four had won university scholarships during their undergraduate studies, and one received a CSC scholarship; none were involved in confidential research. One was even questioned about having a Russian tourist visa. However, none of them was told the clear reason for their repatriation by the U.S. Customs.

They couldn’t understand why receiving a scholarship for academic excellence during undergraduate studies would become an obstacle to acquiring further education in the U.S.

Meng Fei noted that the inspectors focused heavily on her phone, while her computer and luggage were not scrutinized carefully. However, in subsequent inquiries, they did not mention any issues or sensitive information on her phone, nor did they ask questions about their phones.

Given that all known repatriated individuals were female, they speculated that U.S. Customs’ actions involved not only racial but also gender discrimination. Since these recent incidents all occurred within the past month and were handled by the same customs officer, they suspected that these U.S. Customs inspectors were rushing to meet year-end repatriation quotas.

A well-known context is that on June 3, 2020, former U.S. President Trump signed Executive Order 10043, prohibiting certain students and scholars from obtaining F/J visas in the name of national security. However, the universities and majors of these victims were not within the scope of this order, and most of them did not have obvious characteristics related to Executive Order 10043. Some indications suggest that the ban has been expanded in recent years – potentially going further.

What further distressed these students was the discovery of intentional or unintentional alterations in their records.

One student’s record inexplicably included a segment about engagement in a Chinese high-end talent program and visits to military-industrial units. Another student’s undergraduate research was on South Africa, one of the BRICS countries, but this was not mentioned in the record. Instead, there was an emphasis on Russia and China being part of the BRICS.

Where should they head?

Will this sudden turn of events make Meng Fei’s almost completed doctoral degree come to naught?

While detained at U.S. Customs, Meng Fei pondered numerous possibilities for her future. If only she had foreseen what would happen then, she would have waited to return to China after receiving her diploma. If she had been more prepared, she could have applied to withdraw her U.S. entry request, possibly avoiding the five-year entry ban. However, seven of the eight repatriated girls were completely unaware of this and received the five-year ban without any advance notice. The U.S. Customs only informed the first repatriated student of the option to withdraw her entry application, not the other seven.

Is it possible to revoke this five-year entry ban? Meng sought help from her advisor, the international students’ office at her school, the graduate student union, and the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. However, so far, no effective headway has been made.

A professor of Chinese heritage at Yale University, deeply concerned about Meng Fei’s situation, sought assistance from many people for her. This professor himself was a victim of the Trump administration’s “China Initiative” and had ever been temporarily suspended from his job for several months. Meng is very grateful to him, as he, having “been through the rain,” also wants to “hold an umbrella” for others.

According to her original plan, Meng should now be focusing on supplementary experiments in the lab. She needs to complete some experiments, then finish and submit papers, followed by her doctoral defense.

The unforeseen event necessitates her communicating with her advisor to see if she can complete the experiments with the help of her lab colleagues and then proceed with an online defense. This is a result she can accept.

Then what next? Perhaps she will look for a postdoctoral opportunity in Europe. Her advisor is European and may be able to offer some advice and help.

The other two Yale Ph.D. students, whose visas were revoked before boarding in China, have gradually lost hope of returning to the U.S. during their long wait. A fifth-year Ph.D. student has been in China for nearly half a year. Even though she has reapplied for a visa, there is no update on her visa status and the only thing to do is wait anxiously. Another first-year doctoral student reapplied for a visa but was denied, leaving her no choice but to withdraw from her program.

Meng is seeking help from lawyers, but the prospects are unclear. After all, even the lawyers can’t discern from the documents the reasons for her repatriation by U.S. customs, making it difficult to prepare specific materials. The waiting time is unknown.

The group of victims hopes to lift the five-year ban, but no response has been made by the U.S. Customs even after their U.S. universities tried to contact them.

(Note: Meng Fei and Wei Na are pseudonyms used in the article.)

Cream Cheese Kolacky

Ingredients

1 (10 ounce) bag dried apricots
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, at room temperature
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups flour
Confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

Place apricots in medium saucepan; cover with water. Soak overnight.
Heat the apricots and water to a boil in medium saucepan over high heat; reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring often with fork to mash and adding water if needed, until smooth and thick, about 10 minutes. (If necessary, you can chop finely with a knife or process about 1 minute in a food processor or chopper.)
Add the granulated sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Cool completely.
Blend together the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl; gradually blend in flour, using hands once the dough has begun to form, until it can be shaped into a ball (this may be more or less than 2 cups). Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Divide dough into thirds. Roll out each third on a floured board into a 12 x 8-inch rectangle, 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick. Cut into 2-inch squares with a pizza cutter. Place 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of the apricot filling in the middle of each square. Fold each corner into middle; pinch together. (Moisten fingers with cold water if dough does not stick.)
Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets; bake until golden, about 17 minutes per batch.
Cool on wire rack; sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

Makes about 6 dozen

Cut the clown act

What was the most condescending comment someone made after seeing your new or newly renovated home?

We have built a vacation home in a nearby province. Husband took on the contracting while maintaining his full-time police job – so proud of him!

I did not announce this; I dislike the comparison games people play and do not want to be perceived as bragging.

A good friend asked to see pictures at a reunion luncheon. As I flipped through pix on my phone, an acquaintance from long ago came up behind us.

She peered over our shoulders and exclaimed, “When you married that low-ranked cop, I knew you’d end up this way! How far you’ve fallen! How can you live like THAT!!”

The look on her face was not one of concern, but a sneer.

She was looking at a picture of the shed where building materials had been kept (that has since been removed).

*sigh*

*Note Some have asked about my response. I smiled, told her that it was the raw materials shed and went back to my conversation.

Why didn’t I snap back, go for her throat, etc?

Because that (and to embarrass me) is what she expected, what she wanted. She is in her element when someone defends herself or gets angry.

But she has never been able to handle a calm, non-defensive response.

What is the hardest thing in life to overcome?

My friend called me up the other day, he’s in another country and in the midst of a full-on psychotic breakdown… “I’m in hell, Jean-Marie…” he said, “everything around me is fire and I’m in hell.” He hears roosters and dogs barking, cars honking, and they are demonic creatures to his ears. His perception is wrong. Everything is wrong.

My friend suffers from schizophrenia. He is mentally unwell, and deeply so. His parents do not care for him at all. And he has nobody. No one in the world who cares, besides me and two other online friends who live in England. I want to reach out, help him, but… I cannot. It kills me, being unable to help my friend. Being unable to embrace him, unable to tell him it will be okay. Because I can’t. And it won’t. He refuses medication, refuses help, and even if he did want to accept it, none will be coming. It’s a helpless feeling watching someone’s life fall apart at the seams. Helpless, hopeless, and depressing.

The hardest thing to overcome in life, is the realization that you can’t help, sometimes. That there are things above and beyond your comprehension that you cannot aid someone with. Issues you cannot fix. People you cannot cure. Problems you cannot solve. And that all you can do is be a bystander, glued to the sight of their demise as you remain frozen.

What are the most convincing things that would make me think twice before falling for an overly attractive woman that I’ve just met?

Originally Answered: What are the most convincing things that would make me think twice before falling to an overly attractive woman that I’ve just met?

See this cutie?

This is Dalia Dippolito. Upon first glance, most guys would find her very attractive, myself included.

Back in 2010, she convinced this guy, Michael Dippolito, to marry her by being the perfect, super-hot mistress/girlfriend. He even divorced his wife to be with her, he was so desperate to land this hottie.

According to Michael, they were very happy. He believed that while they had a few problems, they were a solid couple with a long future ahead of them.

Right up until she tried to hire an undercover police officer to kill him.

Apparently she wanted his money and condo… everything but him. Fortunately, the guy she asked to kill him went to the police and an undercover investigation began.

She was caught on police undercover film laughing and saying that she absolutely wanted go through with killing him to a supposed hitman. “I’m 5,000% sure,” she was captured saying.

Det. Alex Moreno of the Boynton Beach police department noted how “We were shocked… how easily she talked about getting her husband killed.”

To make sure she was serious and meant to follow through on it, the Boynton Beach, FL police even staged a fake crime scene where her husband had supposedly been shot and killed.

She showed up on scene and upon being told, cried and screamed in horror. The observers onsite noted that she didn’t shed actual tears so much as just made a lot of wailing noises.

The police then arrested her and told her her husband was actually still alive and that the scene had been a sting operation.

Once in jail, she tried to win Michael over again. To his credit, he would have none of it.

When that didn’t work, she would go onto deny everything, try to slander her husband’s reputation, claim they had planned it all for a reality show, and multiple other lies to try to convince people that the video evidence they saw- with their own eyes and on film- was somehow not true.

After an appeal and a mistrial (if you can believe that), she was eventually sentenced to 16 years for attempted murder. Upon sentencing, the judge told her she was the “personification of evil.”

If the guy she originally tried to hire for the hit hadn’t gone to the police, Michael Dippolito would be dead and Dalia might potentially be living in his home, spending his money… and looking for her next victim.

There are other women like Dalia looking for their next victim.

Maybe you?

Sociopaths come in all shapes and sizes. Some even look like really attractive women.

Take your time and get to know whomever you go out with, no matter how strong the physical attraction might be.

Just ask Michael Dippolito.

What was your “I am surrounded by idiots” moment?

I was travelling through outback Australia, coming down from Darwin in the Northern Territory through to Wagga Wagga along the Stuart Highway, turning at the Barkly Highway at Waramungu to go towards Queensland. There is a whole lot of nothing out there, with nothing in between, so you rely on the petrol stations along the way which are also pretty far between. So after a few days I arrived at Threeways Roadhouse one afternoon to fill up with petrol and go on my way, wanting to cross the border before sundown and stay in Camooweal.

It’s a big roadhouse supplying the road trains that go through with diesel and petrol for the rest of us. There were a lot of people there when I pulled up, but thought nothing of it. When I went to get some unleaded petrol to fill up, there were signs on the pumps – Not In Service.

I asked at the counter and the two young girls there said there was no unleaded petrol, the truck hadn’t come through yet and wasn’t likely to get there until tomorrow midday.

“What, nothing at all?”

“We’ve just got diesel.”

Ah, so that’s why there were so many people waiting around! Not sure if I could make it to Camooweal on what I had left, I made the best of a bad thing and booked a cabin out the back to stay in for the night. Let me tell you – apart from the roadhouse there is nothing in Waramungu, and nothing for a hundred kilometres or more. Everyone else was doing the same.

Had dinner there, slept, and in the morning had breakfast and read the paper, watched the tv in the restaurant. It was getting on to mid morning and there was still a crowd waiting for the petrol truck. I thought I’d ask at the counter again to be sure the truck was coming.

“Fuel truck coming soon?”

“We think so. Midday or after.”

Just then, outside the window, I saw a small car like mine leave the bowsers and drive off towards Queensland. Looked like he had fuelled up!

“Did he just get petrol? I thought you said there was no unleaded petrol?”

“There’s no unleaded petrol. He bought Premium unleaded petrol. It’s more expensive.”

So, I stayed a night at a roadhouse in the middle of nowhere because they didn’t know that Premium unleaded petrol was the same as Unleaded petrol except it was about five cents a litre more to buy – much cheaper than staying there and eating two meals. I didn’t care I just wanted to get to my destination.

Maybe they thought they were helping me out…

I told the people I had been chatting to in the restaurant and suddenly the rush was on for the Premium pump – and within ten minutes I was out of there.

The costs…

Will pro-China views ever become popular outside Quora? Will other worldwide websites ever get Chinese views like Quora?

Ultimately I believe you can’t hide the truth

No matter how hard you try

Like Jeffrey Epstein files that was released. Ultimately the truth is out.

Like Iraq WMDs

Like the Gulf of Tonkin

It’s why groups like China World Leader & other groups gain traction on Quora

They FILL THE GAPS

The Anti China brigade, their narrative has too many loopholes

Why, if China is committing genocide, is the Uyghur Population rising?
Why, if China is going to collapse in 24 days, is Joe Biden making a huge effort to meet Xi Jingping
Why, if the Chinese people are so unhappy with the CPC, are they freely allowed to travel in and out of China whenever they want
Why, if the Chinese Army equipment is old and useless, do many top US Generals regard China as a larger threat than the USSR?
Why, if China is such an authoritarian state, are there protests regularly by the people also covered by the same Western media?

These are questions that any rational and sane person would always ask

This is where spaces like China World Leader, Wumao Uncensored and Youtubers like Cyrus Janssen help FILL UP THE GAPS

They logically deliver their explanation on the above questions and the explanations definitely help get a better understanding of how China works

Sadly the world contains maybe 10% realists

90% of them, especially those who live in democracies are badly brainwashed into losing their ability to reason and think

Their teeny tiny brains refuse to function or use logic to rectify mistakes

Such a person if told about the Uyghur Population growing, would rather make up some fantastic explanation than admit the information he got was wrong

He could even say Uyghurs have 10 Kids each and 8 Kids are killed so there is population growth

Show such a person life in China and he will say the video is doctored

Ultimately these people ALREADY MAKE UP THEIR MINDS and fit information however false to justify their own thinking

The inferior minds sadly dominate the world today

Quora has fewer such inferior minds

Twitter has many

YT has many

So on Quora, Pro China groups thrive and survive and even help convince other realists that China may not be so bad

You notice Quora doesn’t have a North Korea group

Ultimately if China World Leader was a propaganda group spreading useless lies about China, it wouldn’t have the traction it has today

The reason that Mainstream Media and Anti China groups and their narratives are riddled with holes is why Pro China Groups are very believable and popular

Take this Video of Hu Jintao being escorted out

Every inferior mind jumped at the fact that Xi Jingping threw him out of the Party Congress

The Anti China brigade parroted the same thing

Yet not one person logically thought :-

WHY WOULD THE CPC RECORD THE EVENT AND THEN RELEASE IT TO THE PUBLIC WITHOUT CENSORING THE SAME?

I mean this video was available with every single channel in the world

The CPC controls every facet of information especially a video recorded inside the Party Congress

So WHY IF XI WANTED TO THROW HU JINTAO OUT DID HE CONSENT TO RECORDING THE EVENT LIVE AND NOT CENSORING THE ENTIRE TAPE

Thus logic dictated that the incident was SUDDEN and that supports the explanation that Hu Jintao had an onset of dementia and believed he was Party Chairman and wanted to read the list of new members that the Chairman usually does.

So he was gently escorted out

This is one such example

Trust me, Chinese don’t spread propaganda that easily , especially post 1980

In China there is a saying ‘You can’t wrap fire with paper’

So Chinese don’t buy lies that easily as Americans or Indians do

They question everything and they openly scoff at certain things

It’s why Pro Chinese Videos are designed to be for the realists and superior minds

Like the mainland Chinese

Who look for logic and ask questions

Sadly the Chinese don’t know that the global audience in democracies is made up of inferior and stupid minds

Thus these Pro Chinese Videos and content outside quora often finds a brick wall

How long would it take for China to pay youtubers to release videos about How Biden bathes with his daughter or fondles his granddaughter or of how US Politicians are pedophiles

Minutes

Yet that’s dirty and China won’t play dirty

Maybe that’s a weakness today but long term that’s a strength

Computer Predicts the End of the World | But here’s what they DON’T tell you

What is life’s biggest “trap” people fall into?

Here is where I am currently. It’s 14:41, Monday, Tokyo. And the view is from my work desk.

Quite literally a cage? (trap?)

Working in big Japanese company in one of the biggest cities in the world.

Do I want to be here?

No.

Is this where I want to be?

No. I want to be somewhere here. Bali

Can I be there?

I can’t without sacrificing the people who are dependent on me financially/emotionally. However, I can be there temporarily(holiday/vacation) without sacrificing anyone/anything.

How can I be there?

By working today in that cage, so that I can make some ¥¥¥ and be there next month for 4 days.

This is the biggest trap of my life at least. Self Imprisonment . To work somewhere only to be somewhere else temporarily.

Be it for family, travel etc.

Update : Some people seem to have concentrated more on the Bali trip and they think that i should move to Bali. If the solution was so simple i wouldn’t have called it a trap , would I ? It was never about Bali anyway, it could be anywhere else. Bali was used because it happened to be place of my trip which i had to wait for 6 months (My point) that’s all.

What are examples of people who we should not feel sorry for and why?

A begins dating B.

A insists and tells you it is a real relationship, however, things are complicated because B is still married (to C).

A insists there are a bunch of reasons that marriage between B and C isn’t real or working.

B truly loves A. Their love is real. A knows it.

A and B start moving fast, dating, the relationship gets heavy, even though it sounds like B still hasn’t fully cut ties with… C.

In fact, both A and C are each separately convinced that they are 100% with B.

But in truth – it’s only about 80%/20% as B has issues with commitment.

B finally works up the courage and cuts ties with C, so that B can fully be with A as A has been insisting all along.

Things are now better than ever between A and B, they post on social media together, they celebrate their love and how lucky they are to have each other.

And then you don’t see pictures for a while.

Everything goes radio silent.

And then you find out what happened.

B met D.

And everything went terribly wrong for A.

A can’t believe B would do this, that B could be so evil.

I do not feel sorry for A.

It’s one of the truest sayings you’ll ever hear, “If they’ll cheat with you – they’ll cheat on you.”

Great advice

What screams “I’m upper class” in England?

I taught for a while in one of Britain’s top private schools, so I feel I’m qualified to offer a definitive answer:

Tweed.

Seriously, ten years as a teacher and I never saw so much as a tweed dishcloth, but when I started working in private education suddenly the bloody stuff was everywhere. The teachers wore tweed (and the teachers were near-universally ‘old boys’ or ‘old girls’ whose parents could comfortably afford twice what most people earn in a year to get shut of their kids for most of it), the staff wore tweed, and the parents were dressed in tweed on a semi-permanent basis. I swear some of them slept in tweed pyjamas.

When they weren’t wearing tweed, they were cosplaying farmers, for some reason. This was irrespective of whether they lived somewhere in the cotswolds or the middle of London. Their farmer outfits were sometimes a bit worn, but always unnaturally clean.

So if I’m in the middle of the city and see someone wearing tweed or farming gear that’s never been within half a mile of a cow, that’s when know I’m dealing with the fourteenth Lord Bonkingly-Spinkle or some such.

EDIT: Several people have pointed out that tweed is for the country, not the town. Since I’m about as aristocratic as Derek Trotter and have never owned an item of tweed in my life, I wouldn’t know, but it is worth noting the school I worked at was out in the country.

That said, during COVID all our meetings with parents were remote, and they were still wearing tweed and farm gear regardless of where they lived.

How do the people who purposely didn’t wear a mask and caught the COVID-19 feel afterwards?

Not me but my very dear friend. If the virus was that bad how was a little piece of cloth going to protect him? Etc, etc, etc. Yes, he was a die hard Fox News listener. No, he certainly was not getting the vaccine. Interestingly, he was completely understanding of anyone who did wear a mask or got the vaccine. He was a nice person with a big heart he just…I don’t know.

He caught a cold. A bad cold. He collapsed in the hallway of his house on his way to the bathroom. His wife rushed him to the hospital.

He never came back home.

The last thing he said to me was “Did you get the shot? Because this is bad”. Thing is, he was a very stoic, prideful man. For him to say this is “bad” meant it was horrible. He apparently asked the doctor for the vaccine and of course they explained it was too late. I know he already knew that.

How did he feel about not masking? Word is he felt like a fool and cried and cried because he felt stupid and he let his family down.

Three weeks diagnosis to death. Fifty three years old. Left a wife and three kids. I miss him every damn day.

My Girlfriend Dumped Me, Rode The Carousel, Now Wants Me Back Because They Don’t Want A Relationship

Have you ever had a neighbor who believed they had free reign of your property?

I have neighbors that moved in 8 years ago. Almost immediately, they started trying to claim property by mowing into my yard and building fences. I’m not talking 1–2 feet, it was over 50′ over the line.

That summer, they started picking from my garden and taking the fruit from my trees. Again, I’m not talking about a few tomatoes or ears of corn. They would strip everything clean.

They also would dig plants out of my yard and move them to their property. They even felt they had the right to go “metal detecting” and leave little potholes all though my property.

I asked them to stop, but they ignored me. I decided to buy a “consumer grade” surveillance system, but they were undeterred.

I put up “no trespassing” signs, making sure they were legally posted and the entire boundary was clearly marked. Nothing changed, so I located the survey pins and physically painted the property line. No help.

I threatened legal action, but they still ignored me. That’s when I forked out thousands and installed a new hardwired, military grade surveillance system with 8K resolution, 32x optical zoom, AI facial recognition, license plate recognition, auto tracking and a 16TB video recorder.

They were still undeterred and kept metal detecting and digging holes all over my yard.

Undeterred, that is, until the police showed up and the court granted me a restraining order. Problem solved.

Have you ever made a mistake that ended up saving your life?

One morning I woke up, looked at my to-do-list and realized I needed to make a couple of adjustments. After dropping my children off at school at 8:30, I had planned to go downtown to the Social Security Administration for a replacement Social Security card. I realized I had another appointment for 10:00am and that trying to squeeze Social Security in would be cutting it too close – because I had forgotten to get my birth certificate out of my safe deposit box at the bank the day before and would have had to run by there first. So, I crossed through the SS office on my list and wrote “tomorrow” next to it.

I took the kids to school as planned at 8:30 and was kicking myself for forgetting to get my birth certificate the day before so I could just head on downtown to Social Security. So, instead, I went back home, took a shower, and was standing in the bedroom when a large “boom” shook my house and I felt sure a jumbo jet had to have crashed nearby. It was all I could think of that could cause that loud of an explosion and cause the house to literally shake. I frantically rushed outside, looked around, but saw nothing.

That morning was April 19th, 1995. I lived in Oklahoma City. The Social Security office I was going to after dropping the kids at school was located on the ground floor of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown OKC. At 9:02am a truck bomb exploded in front of the Murrah building with such force it was felt up to 55 miles away. I was eight miles away when I felt that staggering blast. 168 people died in the bombing that horrible day. It wiped out the Social Security office, and, sadly, the children’s day care for federal employees. Had I not made the mistake of forgetting to go by my safe deposit box the day before, I would have followed my to-do-list and would have, undoubtedly, been inside the SSA at 9:02am.

The mistake of forgetting the bank the afternoon before — saved my life. What a horrible day April 19, 1995, was. I lost people I knew in that bombing and it will stay with me until the day I die. Due to only a mistake on my part, it just wasn’t that day.

Something Terrible Is Happening To Boomers

What was your “I am surrounded by idiots” moment?

I like to use stairs rather than lifts (elevators) in hotels, because they are a good form of exercise.

Many years ago I booked into a hotel in Brisbane (in Queensland, Australia) and decided to go for a run. I found the fire escape stairs and thought these would surely take me to the street (otherwise what was the point of having a fire escape?).

I came out of the fire escape into a car park on the first floor (i.e. one floor above ground level), and as the door closed behind me, I was reading a sign that said ‘This car park will be closed until 6.00 am.’

I checked to see if the door to the fire escape I had just exited was unlocked, but of course it was locked … with me in a car park that wouldn’t be opened for another eleven hours!

Fortunately, there was a part of the car park that was open to the outside, but of course it was one floor above the garden I could see by looking over the edge of the open area.

I decided to try to escape this unintended prison by doing a ‘reverse chin-up’ (aka pull-up). So I placed my hands on the top of the wall and gradually lowered myself into the ‘down’ position of a chin-up. I then allowed myself to drop to the garden, which was about a metre below my feet while I was in the down position.

The garden had been recently dug over, and the soil was soft, so I didn’t break any bones.

I then went to Reception to tell the young lady what had happened, and to ask why the fire escape didn’t allow me to get onto the street.

Instead of sympathising, and saying something would be done about it, she asked me if felt that I had to use the stairs rather than the lift.

I pointed out that this wasn’t relevant—I should have been safe taking the fire escape, for heaven’s sake!

The conversation continued along similar lines for some time before I gave up and realised I was talking to someone who was either a moron, or who didn’t care that, through no fault of his own, one of the hotel’s guests had been placed in a position where he might have had to spend the night locked in a car park!

Are white U.S. soldiers who have served alongside black U.S. soldiers less racist and discriminant than the general U.S. public in the 50s and 60s?

I went into the Marine Corps in 1966 during the Vietnam War. But at the same time our country was also going through the Civil Rights Movement. About 50% of us were racists and the other 50% weren’t a whole lot better. People stayed in their racially divided communities. And many made racist statements about the Vietnamese and many white boys joked about blacks/mexicans taking their place in the draft. Mainly because we did not mix much and few cared about people different than themselves going to the draft.

In boot camp I soon learned we had boys from all over the USA. Those of us who only knew people in our little towns suddenly were surrounded by boys from New York, the deep South, surfing boys from the west and a mix of white/blacks/browns. Boot camp is a powerful experience. Very physically and mentally tiring and often under the stress we would start shoving or wrestling with each other. Sometimes this took on racial overtones. But we all survived boot camp and moved on.

The most important part of the person on person experience was my tour in Vietnam. I was a grunt, an infantryman. As hard as it is to believe I never spent a day in a base camp or in those plywood cities. All my time was in the field. Now if you know war you will learn you spend hours working and bored to death. So while you are spending time filling sandbags or sitting around the campfire with marshmallows you talk with your fellow Marines…a lot. We talk about our families, our girlfriends, our cars, etc. You soon learn we are all almost alike. Very little difference. And we were able to talk racial politics, and unlike civilians who love to hate each other, our talks were usually civilized. You don’t usually fight people who you hope will save you tomorrow. And there is nothing that matches the feeling of seeing one person raised in a racist environment put his life on the line to save a grunt of a different color. You will never see that happen, but I did. Many times.

One fact I learned was the difference between northern blacks and southern blacks. In the south we would often work together but would go back to our segregated communities at night. In the north they had their ghettos and were required to stay there for work, church, home, etc. Blacks moved north during WWII for work and to get away from the southern Jim Crow laws. But they ran into more racism. And stuffed into ghettos with other blacks and were pretty much warned not to leave their areas. My squad leader was a black from Philadelphia and he claimed he never saw a white person until he was about eight. All the businesses, teachers, cops, firemen, etc were black and few whites drove through their ghetto. In the south blacks and white mingled, up north that rarely happened.

When you spend nearly a year with the same people. And you hear their sacrifices and dreams and loves you soon learn we are much more alike than different. And though we had many racists, both white and black, they changed and were quite willing to sacrifice themselves for a Marine of a different color. It was an incredible feeling. Then you returned home, where civilians love to fight over minor problems and are encouraged to hate each other for political gain. Give me the Corps and combat any day….and to be surrounded by heroes of all colors. How can you not be proud of the courage and sacrifice I saw everyday?

Semper Fi……..

As a police officer, who was the most indignant person you’ve pulled over?

I hate to admit it, but when a very attractive woman gets stopped, she is far less likely to get a ticket than an average looking person does. I always used to argue with the guys who let attractive women off. My point being, if you met her in a bar, she wouldn’t even give you the time of day.

As a sort of karma thing, I decided to exercise very little discretion whenever I stopped an attractive woman for violating a traffic law.

One day, I stopped a woman for speeding, and as I approached her window I noticed that she was even beyond attractive. On a scale of 1–10, she was a 12.

I asked her for her license, registration, and insurance card, which she handed to me.

But the entire time I stood there looking over her credentials, she never even looked at me or acknowledged my existence. As I continued to review her credentials, I noticed that she was holding her hand out the window, palm up. It took me a second to figure out what she was doing, then I finally realized she was waiting for me to hand her credentials back to her so she could leave, as I assume had always been the case whenever she was stopped previously.

When I said, “I’ll be with you in a minute” and began to walk back to my patrol car with her credentials in my hand, the only word I can think of to describe her reaction was apoplectic.

I swear, I’m really not a jerk, but I can’t think of any other summons I ever issued that gave me more pleasure.

Huge Deal Breaker

What is the worst example of plagiarism you’ve seen as a teacher?

A prestigious scientific journal contacted me and asked if I was willing to referee a paper which claimed to solve a long-standing open problem in mathematical physics. They also said there was something fishy about the paper.

And indeed there was. I had seen an earlier version of the paper some time before which contained far less spectacular results, so something certainly had changed. The essence could be found in one large and detailed remark near the end of the article which was added “after the author suddenly had seen how to solve the entire problem.”

It was exactly — word for word — the reasoning I had explained on a blackboard during a lecture about four months earlier at an international conference where the author also had been present and even had posed many questions after my lecture, because he did not understand the subtleties.

Unfortunately for him, there were other researchers in the audience — nearly a hundred of them — and many of them had seen me explaining my solution to him. Many of them knew. And what was even worse: I had written up and submitted my proof long before the author had secretly made the revision to his paper, totally plagiarizing me.

So he was caught.

And consequently he became very mad at me, because he had been caught big time in the very act of scientific cheating, and he simply could not cope with that. And so he still blamed me in the end instead of looking in the mirror —

In a nutshell, the very nature of cheaters, I guess.

What is the most British thing about you?

I drink tea. Tea is tea. End of.
Unless it’s fair play it’s worthless. Fair play is everything. End of.
Queueing is also everything. See 2.
I am very polite (most of the time). See 2.
I reserve the phrase ‘you fucker’ and ‘you twat’ for my best friends and they do the same. That amount of respect is earned.
Almost everything I say should not be taken literally. It will mostly be p*ss taking banter.
Did I mention fair play. The first person to call a snooker foul is oneself everytime. I’m related to Joe & Fred Davis and grew up in the next village. Billiards. British.
The first thing I will notice about you will be the social indicators that determine your class. If you are British you will do the same. It is absolutely impossible to fool you.
If you knock me I will apologise.
I thank the bus driver. Without fail. See 4.
I know my national team is not going to win the Football World Cup.
I know my team will lose on penalties to the Germans. See 11. This is England only.
I’ve been in more pubs than I care to remember. That’s because whether I care or not I am not capable of remembering half of them. When I go out, I go out out. Friday night and Saturday night in Britain (and Ireland) is like nowhere else on earth. Nowhere. British high streets at 5pm are civilised and genteel. A few hours later they are rivers of intoxication, pavement pizzas, kebab spillage, burger vans,fighting and police vans. When you’re young nowhere else on Gods earth is this much fun or this drunk. My foreign friends. You may read this long rambling list and pick out some that you say ‘we do this too’ Well not this one. This is ours. This is our defining characteristic. Not Wimbledon or Lords or the Proms. Getting this many people pissed at the same time twice a week ( ok yes..Thursdays as well) Getting this many people pissed out of their heads three times a week, week in week out is quintessentially British.
If the food you serve me tastes horrible I will tell you it was lovely.
I moan a lot. We are experts at it. It’s part of our health routine.
I know what mizzle is and I like it.
Chips, curry sauce, tray, wooden fork.
Tea bag, boiling water THEN milk.
I will watch the weather forecast three times a day. Each will be completely different. On any day I will have layered clothes suitable for everything from summer to winter.
With a quarter of an inch of snow I won’t be able to get to work.
I have a square of green in front of my house (this is sadly dying out)
I will never ever use the square of green in 21. for recreational purposes. If anyone does, they will put a sofa on it and paint the house number in emulsion on the house and bin. You may think your nations hardest criminals are hard but these people are like Jim Carrey crossed with Terminator. Their Grandads were this hard and this mental, the Germans reconnaissance didn’t pick up on our secret weapon. They didn’t understand the significance of those front garden sofas in their recon photos. Btw before you write in I know it’s a settee, I was being snobby for a minute.
I expect my policemen and policewomen to talk to me like they are a good friend. And they almost always will. My mam still calls them the bobbies. British.
My beer must have a head.
The italian waiter with the huge pepper grinder hovering over my wife is held with both contempt and awe.
The first thing I will do when you come to my house is ask you if you want a cup of tea.
If you invite me to your house and don’t offer me a cup of tea I will never forget but I will never mention it to you.
I stand up and offer my seat for older people and pregnant women. Always (except on the Tube where it can be seen as an insult) It doesn’t matter what your race is I will stand for you.
Not offering an older person a seat (if it’s not possible) leaves me feeling very uncomfortable. See 27. See 4.
I love multiculturalism and eat so many different kinds of foods and meet so many different nationalities of people most days.
If you boast and brag I will not be impressed. In fact I will think you are a complete knob for doing it.
In 1665 in the village of Eyam in Derbyshire the bubonic plague struck, having been brought from London by accident. Villagers made the selfless choice to quarantine themselves and thus give up any chance of help. My relatives (on my Dad’s side) the Hancocks were villagers in Eyam and they were part of the agreed self imposed isolation. They did not leave to spread the plague across Derbyshire and the North of England. That could have led to millions of deaths. They stayed put and awaited their fate. My relative Elizabeth Hancock survived but buried six children and her husband in only 8 days. The village suffered hundreds of deaths but many survived including the village grave digger. Nobody ran away, nobody. That’s a little bit of British history I’m connected to and I’m proud of it… The village of the damned
I will support the underdog (except if Forest are playing)…in anything whatsoever irrespective of the nationality, gender, age etc.I have a come back for everything, except the dreaded tut. A well timed tut can crucify me. I’m British. It’s our achilles heel. If you’re not British you won’t be able to deliver the precise tut required. The precisely delivered tut is devastating.If you are waiting at a zebra crossing I will stop. Every time. Without fail. However if you wave thank you I will tense up like a camels bum in a sandstorm. The slightest of nods as you avoid eye contact and a little polite speed up of your walking at the end is perfect. A subtle raised arm is acceptable but only from the elbow..never deliver the acknowledgement with a full arm raise unless you are the lollipop man/woman/transition person. Not acknowledging is sinful. If you’re the only person crossing and you don’t acknowledge me I will deem you the devils spore but drive politely on and bore my wife about you when I get home.I’m in a mixed race marriage. It never enters my head. Same for my friends also in mixed race marriages. I eat better food now.My class can’t change no matter how much I earn or social climb. Only one mistake out of a million indicators will be a complete and irrefutable give away.If i want to invent something I don’t crowd fund or try to contact Elon Musk, I just pop into the shed.Chips are chips and crisps are crisps.I know l
oads about British history but only know three historical dates. For some reason they all end in sixty six.
It’s 73 years after WWII yet I still keep loads of tins in the cupboard (as trained by my parents)……..cos you never know.
I’m heterosexual but I love a bit of spotted dick.
I eat food using a knife and fork. At certain points I use the back of my fork and push food onto it with the knife, which I do not hold like a pen.
Fannies are fannies and bums are bums.
Ooh matron!
I will quietly tut about the corruption in big business but if I see you driving in clear skies in broad daylight with your fog lights on…dear God help me.
The only fox news I listen to is on Countryfile.
The first time I saw a bidet I thought it was a wash basin for children. I still don’t know how you mount this contraption. Never will. British. Btw while we’re on the subject what’s that little diddy shower you see abroad.
I don’t squat. Our British achilles won’t allow it to happen after the age of 2. There are only three exceptions to this. The British achilles involuntarily stretch enough for a squat when we lose as a player in a Cup Final, when giving birth, and when stopping a red ball with big gloves on. Other than those, no squatting. You know what I’m saying. On we go….
I know you can’t beat a bit of Bully. RIP Jim.
My whole family and friends have had amazing medical treatment free at the point of delivery. And that’s amazing.
If I tell you that what you’ve said is interesting, it isn’t.
I think you will understand me if I speak slower and louder.
If you want me to feel really awkward praise me. I’ll automatically then downplay whatever I’ve done or got.
First shoes…Clarks and that thing.
Shoes again…I married into a Chinese family 17yrs ago. You cannot walk on their floor with your shoes on. Bloody hell the looks I got! I now feel really naughty walking into other Brits houses when they insist there’s no need to take my shoes off to walk on their carpets. The flip side..seventeen years later I feel so awkward asking people to take their shoes off to come into our house. It never gets less awkward for all concerned. 17 years. Shoes. Floors.
I use Celsius for cold days and Fahrenheit for for hot ones (for the drama)
I consider baseball a childrens’ game called rounders.
I don’t know how to look cool in the evening in hot countries.
Kes and Naked are my favourite films.
I know how to light fork handles.
Don’t tell ’em yer name Pike!
Don’t mention the war.
I don’t belieeeeve it.
You plonker.
It’s good night from me, and it’s good night from him.
Bring me sunshine.
Spoon jar, jar spoon. Haaaaaa Haaaaa.
By jove! RIP. Nobody was ever more British.
Nice to see, you to see you nice. See 68.
He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty…
Woolworths. I know!
Consonant, vowel, consonent vowel.
I grew up in a pit village and watched Thatcher rip the heart out of British Industry with no care for a Plan B. She ushered in ‘greed is good’ and smashed communities to bits. I used to fitness train running up that Pit Tip as a kid. That’s british. Fuck you Thatcher. I grew up with Punk as well. It’s an attitude not a fashion. British.
I make a cracking Yorkshire Pudding.
On the hottest day of the year I see old women in winter coats.
Top of the shop, blind 90.
Forget international measurements created by Foreigners and well meaning scientists I know the unit of height for really tall things is Nelsons Column and the unit of length for really long things is the London bus. The unit of weight for really heavy things is the blue whale. Big areas are football pitches, medium areas are measured in number of tennis courts. Tiny things are measured by how many will fit onto a pin head. Horses are measured in hands, massive volumes are measured in how many old wembley stadiums would fit in it. Really heavy things are measured in elephants. If we have to use scientific measures it’s pounds up to 1 stone then it’s stones and pounds. If you tell me you weight 216lbs I will have no idea if you’re fat or thin until I’ve done the maths.
You must never ever ever use my driveway (next to my square of never used green) to do your three point turn. If you do then this may be the only time you see me resemble a grieving middle eastern woman.
I got a world class education in the 1980’s that cost my parents virtually nothing.
I don’t snog in public. I’m British not European for christ sake. Decorum please.
When I started work I was asked to get a tin of tartan paint, a long stand, a spirit level bubble and a draughtsman’s license. Standard British.
If you win the race and tell me so I will hate you but if you tell me that you came last and had to walk half of it I will love you.
I’ve bought two houses in my life. Both times on day one I walked in and ripped some feature/part straight out of the house and chucked it away. Apparently that’s what we all do when we buy a house. Day one.
My dog has 6 nick-names.
Get down Shep.
I can tell where in Britain you’re from by what you call a bread cob.
I know that you’re not posh if you say scone the posh way.
I know if you finish work at 4:30 or 5:30 depending whether your white vehicle is a van or a car.
I know you are middle class because you never roll your shirt sleeves above your elbows. I know you’re working class because you never roll them below.
I know you are either upper middle class or lower working class because none of your furniture matches and you couldn’t care less.
My Great Uncle was a small unassuming thin man. Very cheerful and always made me feel special (I was a small thin kid) He always used to tell me that they don’t make fat thoroughbreds. That made me feel good as a little football/rugby player. Imagine a cross between Prince Philip and Stanley Matthews, that was my Great Uncle Bill. I never heard him swear or raise is voice and he always dressed inmaculately. Now my uncle never ever mentioned the war. I’d always thought he’d just worked in a shop and a factory. At his funeral I found out he’d made 19 drops behind enemy lines in Burma to fight the enemy in the jungles. Not 1 or 2. That would be brave. No 19, he was a Para, it’s what he did and he never mentioned it. The last couple of days before he died he had visions of his para mates who died fighting with him in WWII and he had chats with them at the end of his bed. He had been a very funny bloke and used his humour to make me feel special. He was the special one not me. My Uncle Bill was as British as you can get and so were his mates and millions of lads like them.
I say please and thank you about a hundred times a day. I expect you to as well otherwise I will deem you rude. Sorry, I can’t help it; I’m British. Thank you for reading this.

If anyone got to the end of this then we now have to say goodbye. This now gets really awkward, I do swear and I apologise for this….

Ok you’re a man, maybe European…I’m not f*cking kissing you. End of. A polite handshake used to suffice but now we have to run the gauntlet of maybe hug awkwardly whilst avoiding touching tips.

Ok you’re a woman…do I shake your hand, give you a hug, give you one kiss, two kisses, three kisses? I’ll tell you what I’ll make sure I’m in my shed inventing a Wallace & Gromit invention when you’re leaving and I’ll just wave from the spiderweb covered window thus avoiding further social dis-ease.

You’ve gone…I can go back to check the weather forecast before I cut the front lawn, which is the only time that people passing are allowed to talk to me.

How it All Ends…

What is known about the recent Russian strike on Kiev that reportedly destroyed Patriot systems?

After the attack on Bilhorod, Russias Defence Ministry decided to strike away at Ukraines Air Defenses and force them to deplete their own stock of Missiles

Ukraine was launching S-200 missiles, Neptune Missiles, Tochka Us, Himars, Scalp and Storm Shadow missiles on Russian Territory at Bilhorod and Crimea and Donetsk

Russia never hit Civilians in their SMO and only focused on Strategic Targets yet Ukraine helpless militarily kept shelling Civilian territories

However when they used Cluster Munitions on Civilians at Bilhorod killing Women and Children who had come to celebrate New Year

Russia decided to destroy everything Ukraine had of significance

Himars Launchers – Destroyed
Production facilities for Drones – Destroyed
Production facilities for Vests and Shoes – Destroyed (Crucial in Winter)
Warehouse with Grains – Destroyed
7 Ammunition Depots – Destroyed
6 Fuel Depots – Destroyed
6 Air field runways – Destroyed

It was destruction on a scale previously never seen in the SMO

For the first time a Hotel with 66 Nato mercenaries were killed including high ranking officers

Ukraine Air defenses were OVERWHELMED

Russia launched 276 Missiles and 340 Geran Drones, and Ukraine had to fire everything they had to prevent damage

They ended up firing over 170 Missiles which was 40% of their total stock and had to see terrible damage wreaked by the Geran Drones and the remaining 156 missiles that got through (120 were intercepted)

The Russians found that the Air Defence primarily consisted of S-300s and S-200s but identified the location of Patriot Systems from the Missile trajectories

Homing in on the Location, they fired Kinzhals and destroyed 3 Patriot Systems completely today

The systems were shattered

The Launchers are gone, the control system is gone

This strategy to saturate air defence and identify the location of strategic air defence systems like Iris T or Patriot and then hit them with hypersonics has been BRILLIANT

It’s exactly what Hezbollah is doing with Israeli Iron Dome systems

Saturate Israel with cheap missiles and force Israel to use their expensive $ 500K – $ 2 Million Missiles or face an explosion that would kill 1–5 people and cause chaos

Russia, China, Iran have a huge advantage because they can produce and manufacture thousands of cheap drones and saturate the airspace

Meanwhile Russian Army effortlessly marches on and grinds on, going on a forward offensive

Ukraines Army has long since stopped giving any challenge

Ukraines only option is to strike long range missiles onto Russian Territory and hope Russian Civilians are so frightened that they force Putin to a ceasefire

Instead the Russians are furious

Russians have comprehensively voted to hang Zelenskys wife and kids with him for what he did to those kids in Donetsk and Bilhorod

Russians are angrier than ever and not at Putin

They want more blood now and Putin is the only civilized man between Russian Rage & Ukraine

Medvedev would wipe out every house in Kiev by mid morning if he was in charge.

The USA has gone Bat-Shit-Crazy

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZfF9meVEhM8?feature=share

What is the saddest thing you’ve ever seen in a vacant home?

Two mirrors. My husband and I divorced after 22 years. He thought there was something better. Maybe there was.

He had lost his job 12 years earlier and never quite recovered. I had been a stay at home Mom with a small income teaching paralegals part time. It was a killer trying to replace his income as he was a quite powerful CFO of a large company and any marriage was lost in my working and still raising kids while he fell in a bottle.

He wanted the house. Frankly, I didn’t care. I moved a lot as a kid. I did not develop attachments to places or things, only people. His first offer was that he get everything but my IRA including my solely owned business. I was hurt and indignant. Then I decided that it was a good plan. I knew he would fail and I never wanted to hear that Dad would have been okay if I hadn’t taken…..In return he was to put the girls through college and pay for their weddings. ( They had about 100k in college funds)

Well, in two years he lost the business. He put the girls through college but I had to chip in half on the weddings. After a few years he had to sell the house.

I had moved a few hours away but I was in town when the house was being shown as a “ fixer upper”. It was so sad and dreary. It was lifeless. I could not believe it was the house where I raised my girls.

In the master bath was a long marble vanity with sinks on each end. The mirrors were framed and hung. My mirror was pristine. The paint was perfect, the mirror unflawed and it looked brand new. I had used that mirror every day for 22 years. Then I saw his and felt shock through my body. The paint was peeling and worn. The mirror had bad spots. The corners were chipped. It hung a little lopsided. I had cleaned and polished both mirrors for 22 years. When I left they were the same. How could 6 years have changed one so much.

I left very sad. He did not live long. He just sort of withered away. He moved to where my girls and I lived to be close to the grand kids but rarely saw them. When I think of him, there is no anger. Just sadness. I’ve had a full life of work and family since the divorce. My grandkids all live with in 5 miles.

Life is strange. We were just sort of like two mirrors.

ZALIX, psychic mutant sci-fi film directed by Philip K. Dick in 1978, unedited footage 1

This movie is a real trip. Only 12 minutes long. WTF!

https://youtu.be/3pJGuCuQBmM

CNY Year of the Wood Dragon 2024

Well, as I type this up, it is CNY. This (today) is the first day of the new year, and I am in Wenzhou. It’s a standard fare of massive meals, lots and lots of drinking, and long bouts of lazing about.

The weather is cold out, but nothing like what I grew up with. Lots and lots of fireworks. Non-stop explosions and bangs. Day in, and day out, at all hours of the day and night. Very typical.

This is the first time that we are in Wenzhou since the COVID hit China. That was four years ago. My… a lot has happened.

I’ve been busy knocking these posts out, and now have a nice big backlog, but I will be altering my schedule and product mixes in the future.

I want to wish everyone a very nice and prosperous Year of the Dragon 2024.

Golden Chinese Dragon on Red Background ,Traditional New Year Sy

Today…

As a car mechanic, what has been the most poorly maintained car you have worked on?

This reminds me of the early 90’s when I had just started Nick’s Racing in Denver CO

As anybody who starts his own business knows, money was tight and everything would just need to hold out a bit longer.
Every Saturday afternoon I went to the local mall/shopping-centre to buy whatever I needed for the week.
Whilst there I often saw this 70’s Camaro in the lot and it amused me how the inside looked like a pig sty. But I did love the shape & one day… Dream on Nick you are living from week to week.

Fortunately lady luck and my craftmanship smiled on me, work came in so that I had to hire 2 more engine builders and I started to have disposable income and no time to spend it. The American dream, right ?
One day I see this Camaro in the same lot with the bonnet (hood) open and a for sale sign on it.
I bought this car for a ridiculously low amount and spent a whole day cleaning out all the junk this lady owner had accumulated in it.
The first thing that hit me where the cigarette burn marks in the upholstery and the holes in the roof lining 😉

I had to redo the interior, the body had to be panel-beated and resprayed.
The engine was going to be replaced with a 383 stroker anyways
I just decided to redo the Electrics, as fixing this rats nest was not worth it.
I fitted a Classic Air Air Con
This car was trash- defined.

Luckily my 2 workers were foreigners also- Mexicans. We got on well and their friends and family did a lot of work on this car for good value.
Considering this was basically a rebuild, using performance part where possible, and not a hot-rod build, it still took close to a year of getting it on the road again. This car must have gotten 0 maintenance from the day she got it to the day it expired in a parking lot.

And then I left back for Namibia and sold it to one of my guys who then gave it to his daughter once she needed wheels.

A lot of them…

What is the most heartwarming behind-the-scenes fact about a movie?

A young Kurt Russell worked together with Charles Bronson. During shooting, Russell found out it was Charles Bronson’s birthday. So he got his older co-star a gift. Bronson looked at it, took it… then walked out of the room, without saying a word. Russell was terrified, worried he had insulted the man.

A little while later, Russell was called to the dressing room of Bronson. Bronson was silent, looked down and said to the child actor: “No one has ever given me a birthday gift before…” Charles Bronson was the son of dirt poor immigrants. He had fourteen siblings, and worked in the mines as a child. Never finished schooling, never had a kind word, he was worked like a mule since the day he learned to walk.

Charles Bronson hadn’t known a lot of kindness in his life. It caught him off guard to receive some from his young co-star. He later gave Russell a skateboard on his own birthday to play with between takes. The two men remained lifelong friends.

Modern Women Having MELTDOWN Over The FUTURE #2

Have you ever felt sorry for a teacher?

Yes. Several. Mainly because I know what’s going on in their lives, and the students don’t. If the students knew what I knew, they’d cut those teachers a little slack.

One teacher in particular, with whom I worked seven years ago, stands out for me among all of the teacher sob stories I know.

To make a long story short, when she was in her 40s and had been teaching preschool for half of her life, her husband left her for a much younger woman. Around the same time, the school’s preschool program changed from full-time to just two days per week and, in order to stay full-time and keep her benefits, she was forced to become the school’s art teacher for all students in grades PreK-8 (ages 3–14).

She was good with the younger students, but had no idea how to control the middle schoolers. She hated teaching the older kids, but she had no choice. She was still more than a decade away from retirement and needed the health insurance, but she also couldn’t afford to go back to school or change careers or anything like that. She was trapped teaching students that she wasn’t trained to teach.

And they were merciless to her.

The art class existed primarily to give the “regular” teachers a planning period, but I, along with my coworkers, ended up sitting with our classes to the art room most days, because we could control the kids, and she couldn’t. The students treated her class like recess, and treated her with a level of disrespect you usually only see in the movies, right before the “savior” teacher swoops in and sets things right.

The students didn’t see how the teacher cried after school every day, alone in her classroom, before she composed herself enough to walk down the block to her apartment, where she probably cried some more, alone, throughout the evening and night.

I left that school after teaching there just one year. The school closed two years after I left. I hope she was able to find a full time position working with younger children. Middle schoolers can be just as cruel to their teachers as they are to each other.

Hitting the jackpot

All in or fold.

The doctor, after an examination, sighed and said, ‘I’ve got some bad news.’ 👨‍⚕️

The doctor, after an examination, sighed and said, ‘I’ve got some bad news. You have cancer, and you’d best put your affairs in order.’

The woman was shocked, but managed to compose herself and walk into the waiting room where her daughter had been waiting.

‘Well, daughter, we women celebrate when things are good, and we celebrate when things don’t go so well. In this case, things aren’t well. I have cancer. So, let’s head to the club and have a martini.’

After 3 or 4 martinis, the two were feeling a little less somber. There were some laughs and more martinis. They were eventually approached by some of the woman’s old friends, who were curious as to what the two were celebrating.

The woman told her friends they were drinking to her impending end, ‘I’ve been diagnosed with AIDS.’ The friends were aghast, gave the woman their condolences and beat a hasty retreat.

After the friends left, the woman’s daughter leaned over and whispered, ‘Momma, I thought you said you were dying of cancer, and you just told your friends you were dying of AIDS! Why did you do that??’

‘Because I don’t want any of those bitches sleeping with your father after I’m gone.’.

Top 8 rules

Ricotta Lasagna Swirls

Ingredients

Lasagna

8 lasagna noodles
2 pounds fresh spinach
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 pound ricotta cheese
Salt
Pepper

Sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano

Instructions

Lasagna: Cook and drain lasagna noodles.
Steam 2 pounds fresh spinach for 7 minutes, then chop. Mix spinach with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 pound ricotta cheese, salt and pepper.
Coat each noodle with 2 to 3 tablespoons of mixture along the entire length of the noodle. Roll up. Stand on end in a baking dish.
Sauce: Sauté garlic and onion.
Add tomato sauce, basil and oregano.
Pour sauce over noodles and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Young Men Are Lonelier Than Ever (And It’s Getting Worse)

What one thing makes someone a very mature person?

Joe is having a bad day.

On this very day, Joe decides to eat out. He enters a restaurant, sits down, and has his order taken.

Just as the waitress arrives with his precariously balanced meal, someone knocks her aside. This causes an avalanche of food and drinks to tumble onto Joe in a non-majestic, yet sloppy manner.

Joe breathes in heavily and….

…asks if the waitress is alright, wipes himself to the best he can, and helps clean up a little without mumbling. Joe then comforts said waitress who is on the verge of crying, whilst assuring the seething and anxious manager that everything is all right.

If shit happens to you and it’s not your fault, then more shit happens yet you are still cool, you are mature in my eyes.

Mature people don’t cause more shit, or simply throw their shit away, even when shit is thrown at them.

It’s not that they don’t give a shit, but they deal with their shit appropriately.

Be like Joe and deal with your shit correctly.

China’s New AI Microchip Just Destroyed US Sanctions Forever!

Very interesting.

What are the best examples of people who have “gamed the system”?

Meet Patrick Combs-

Years ago, Patrick received a junk mail “fake cheque”- supposedly, if he were to send money to the company, he would then soon get more huge cheques like the one he’d just received.

The fake cheque was made out for $95,093.35. It even had an attached authorised signature.

Now, most people would see this as the junk & total scam that it obviously was. Most people would rip it up and just toss it in their bin. Most people would ignore it.

Most- but not Patrick.

Patrick was extremely broke at the time – he had only $200 in his bank account.

He had a good sense of humour and thought, “What would happen if I tried to lodge this into my bank account?” Fully expecting to get a laugh out of it from both himself and the bank teller, that’s exactly what Patrick did.

He went to lodge the cheque into his bank account.

As Patrick said, “I didn’t think I was sticking money into the machine.”

He so fully was expecting the cheque to bounce that he didn’t even endorse the back of it.

Time passes and Patrick forgets about it.

Ten days later though, he checks his bank account and to his amazement, $95,093.35 now sits in his bank account!

It turns out that the cheque actually matched 9 of the criteria that the bank required for a cheque to be valid – the words “non negotiable” that the junk company placed on the front did not negate the cheque whatsoever. It turned out that they had been successful in making the cheque look real – too real.

Additionally- the bank managed to miss their own legal deadline to notify Patrick that his cheque had bounced as a non-cash item.

“The excitement of that much money was off the scale,” he said. “It was an addiction. For two months I obsessed on whether I should take the money or give the money back. I put my bank on speed dial and dialed it every ten minutes. I worried constantly that it would go away.“

Patrick, being the good person that he is, did return the money 6-months later.

And, there you have it, Patrick Combs is the man who received a junk mail fake cheque in the post – and managed to cash it to the tune of $95,000+! That, I think, is very much gaming the system.

Do you think Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview was great?

It garnered 164 Million views on X

Yet the content was something I have known and understood and have been talking about for more than two years on Quora

Anyone who follows Scott Ritter, Brian Berletic, The Duran, IEarlGrey and those guys would find most of what Putin said to be nothing surprising, given that this was what most of them have been discussing for both these years 2022 and 2023

However for the Average Americans, this gave them the other point of view

You have had almost 66 Interviews of Zelensky over the last 24 months and you have seen almost 4000 articles covering Zelensky and Ukraine yet Putins POV and Russias POV has never been covered in the West

This Interview filled the gap

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

Putins explanation makes a lot of sense

He says the Invasion was the LAST RESORT

He says Russia carved out Ukraine under Lenin and later on post WWII, more territories from Germany & Poland & Hungary & Romania were added to Ukraine after USSR got them under Post WWII restructuring

He says Russians and Ukranians were the same people and every Ukranian had 3–4 relatives in Russia and vice versa

He says Ukranian Language is just one of five languages spoken in Ukraine along with Russian, Polish, Romanian and Hungarian in different parts of Ukraine

He says Russia and Ukraine had a friendship and a relationship post 1994 and most of Ukraine’s Trade was with Russia

He says how Ukraine in 2008 began to start idolizing NAZIs and established Neo Nazism and began persecuting Russian Speakers of Eastern Ukraine

He says how Ukraine in 2014 deposed Yanukovich after the West Deceived HIM openly. He talks of how Yanukovich was assured by Merkel and others including Obama of a peaceful conclusion to Maidan if he didn’t use the Military and the Police and how once Yanukovich agreed, they openly deceived him and allowed Maidan to depose him

He then talks of how Zelensky spoke of ending the Russian Language from 2019 onwards and how Zelensky spoke of military conquest of Donbass

He talks of how Russia repeatedly talked to Western Leaders for a peaceful re implementation of the Minsk II Accords that Zelensky broke openly and which the guarantors ignored

He talked of Airplanes over Donbass and forced action against Russian Speakers for 8 years from 2014–2022, all chronicled and presented to the UN and yet IGNORED by the West

It was in the end the ONLY WAY for Russia to secure it’s borders and help the Russian Speakers in Ukraine and Denazify Ukraine

Is Russia ready for Talks?

Yes. Putin confirms this.

He says it’s Zelensky who is not ready. Who in fact even decreed that any discussion on peace is in fact illegal.

Is Russia ready to sell Gas to Germany?

Yes. Putin says he still has pipelines that can supply Gas to Germans.

So he says why are Germans throttling their own industries by paying 4.25 times more for Piped LNG???

He literally openly says Scholz is either Insane or a Traitor to his own people

Putin talks of China & Russia

Putin says China is far more significant to the West because of their Population and their strong economy which even at 5% growth is DOUBLE AS FAST AS THE US

He exposes the China Bogey by citing how BRICS & SCO are both Consensus based organizations against NATO which is entirely US dominated

He gives an example of the Iraq War where France and Germany were openly muscled by George Junior Bush

He cites how Sanctions failed

He highlighted how Russia simply DEDOLLARIZED as did many other nations

He cited that 61 Nations have reduced USD holdings by 10% or more since 22/2/22

He cited that 70% of Russian Trade is settled in Yuan or Ruble now and only 19% in Euros and USD (4.8% in Emirati Dirham and 1.7% in South African Rand & HKD and the rest in other currencies)

He cites how the US lost its own place in the world thanks to the Sanctions and how everyone now wants their own financial secure system and an independence from the Dollar and a preference for their own local currency

He clarified why he retreated from Kiev

He was clear when he said, in Istanbul the Ukranians wanted Russians away from Kiev as a matter of faith and Putin complied

Yet again HE WAS DECEIVED

So the conclusions are clear now

First Putin doesn’t care what the West thinks anymore. He will do what is best for Russians in his opinion. He won’t trust the West again.

Second Putin will not end this SMO unless he gets what he wants. A Guarantee that Ukraine won’t join NATO and security for the Russian Speaking population in Ukraine.

Third, Putin will not initiate WWIII unless NATO attacks Russia. He made this clear. He will attack any NATO member if they attack Russia first.

Fourth, Putin says his Hypersonic Missile System is the most advanced in the world and the fact that he talks less about it means he is accurate

His final message to the Americans is WHY THEY ARE POKING THEIR NOSE IN UKRAINE WHEN THEY HAVE SO MANY TROUBLES OF THEIR OWN

It’s something that resonates with Donald Trump and his MAGA crowd

It would have been enlightening to many people

Not to me

This is essentially everything I have been saying for two years now.

If you live in the US, was there an event in your life that made you decide to get a concealed carry license? If so, what was it?

When the kids were grown and gone, my wife and I considered getting a firearm for home protection. Two events finally pushed us to do it. The first event was my walking into a large drug buy in a gas station late at night in Miami. Lots of drugs, thugs, and guns. While they stood there looking at me. I said “Hey, I’m just here to get a receipt for the gas. The guy behind the counter (who was in on it), gave it to me and they let me walk out the door past a very confused lookout. Having a concealed weapon probably wouldn’t have done me any good that night. But it did reminded me that the world is a dangerous place.

The second event was back-to-back hurricanes, causing weeks of power outages with no cell or landline capability. The neighborhood was blocked in for a long time by fallen trees and debris. Even though we live only a mile or so from a precinct, there was no way to contact them or for them to quickly get into our neighborhood.

I asked my neighbor if I should be worried about looting. He responded, “everyone in this neighborhood is armed”, and everybody knows it. You are, aren’t you? A few weeks after the storm, I purchased my first gun.

I friend in law enforcement asked if I had a carry permit for it, reminding me that I lived within a 1000 feet of a school, restricting how I can transport the gun when off my property. Those restrictions (other than being on school property itself) are waived in my state if you have a carry permit.

I signed up for an approved NRA course that counted towards the permit, applied, and received one. Since then, I’ve purchased a few other guns, joined a gun club, and have had dozens of different firearm courses with a state LEO firearms trainer.

Like other “constitutional carry” states, Florida no longer requires a permit for concealed carry. But I keep mine current so I can carry reciprocally in other states.

While repairing a car, have you ever found something you weren’t supposed to see in it?

Yes. This was back in the late ’90s. I had a customer come in with a Corolla. He only had one remote for the security system, but had just purchased another one and needed to have it programmed to the car. I told him that was a very quick and easy job, and I could literally do it while he stood there. I opened the driver’s door, turn the key to the on position and moved the driver seat all the way forward. The computer for the security system was under the driver’s seat on this car. You had to access the computer and push and hold a small button on the side of the computer to put it in programming mode, but it was much easier to access from the back seat. So I then got out and opened the rear driver side door, leaned in, and moved the floor mat to get better access to the computer under the seat. When I moved the floor mat, there was a syringe, a spoon, a lighter, and a bag of white powder that I will assume had to be heroin. I put the computer in program mode, hit the buttons on the remote, and heard the confirmation chirp from the front of the car to signal the new remote was programmed. I put the floor mat back, climbed out, and with a death stare, handed the customer his new remote and told him you’re all done, have a nice day. The guy’s face was white as a ghost, and I never saw him in the dealership again.

Breaking Bad by Wes Anderson Trailer

Do you have a story about a boss who was so out of touch that they made a cringeworthy decision?

Having spent years working in a retail store, I saw so many decisions made by highly-paid executives in an office in another state that I knew instantly wouldn’t work out. And they didn’t.

I could write a book about the reasons for this, but mainly – either they don’t know because they don’t do the actual work, or they don’t believe the underlings who have tried to explain it to them.

I’ll give you an example:

So, I worked at a retail store that was part of a national chain separated into so many districts. I think our district had 10 or 12 stores. One quarter, I have no idea how, but somehow, one of the other stores in our district massively overspent their budget by like ten or fifteen grand. (I really wish I knew how, I bet it was a helluva story.) Probably someone got fired over that, but that didn’t solve the problem that they had a shortfall. (And no, firing the person responsible didn’t fix it either, because they then had to spend money to hire a new person to fill the role.)

So, somewhere up in the corporate office, a person whose name I don’t know had an idea to fix this problem. Since I don’t know who this person is, we’ll call them Bean Counter. I assume their job had something to do with accounting or finance.

So Bean Counter says, “Well, we can make up the shortfall by having every store in the district cut their budget by so much % for the remainder of the quarter.”

Bean Counter’s Boss ran the numbers and decided this was a grand idea. They may have even given Bean Counter a raise or promotion for such brilliant work. On paper, Bean Counter’s plan appeared to play out beautifully.

But this was around the beginning of December, just as the holiday rush was kicking into high gear.

Also, there are not a lot of ways to reduce spending on a store level, where budgets are already pretty tight. Management had very limited discretionary funding, and rarely went out and bought stuff for the store. Basically, the only way to really reduce spending by the amount Bean Counter wanted was to cut payroll hours….drastically.

So it’s the holidays and we’re working with a skeleton crew on every shift. One person at the register, one on the floor, and a manager who wasn’t *supposed* to get tied up with tasking.

And we’re busy, every day, because it’s the holidays, and we sell, among other things, a lot of tech items that are popular gifts. Sometimes we have 20 or 30 people in the store at once, and we can’t help them all. There is no “work harder” solution that allows one person on the floor to help 30 people at once. Even with the manager also helping customers on the floor, and “floating” between customers, they could realistically help maybe 10 people at a time.

Oh, and we weren’t supposed to get a line of more than 2 people at the register without opening a second till. HAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, that couldn’t happen with only two other people in the store and both of them working the floor.

So we had people walking out, unhelped, constantly. We did our best, assuring people we’d be with them in a moment, apologizing for the delay, etc. Even so, some people just couldn’t wait and they left and, presumably, went to a competitor.

But Bean Counter and Bean Counter’s Boss weren’t in the store watching this every day. They were back in their nice little offices, smiling at their Excel sheets because they turned a line green.

You see, an Excel sheet can’t show you how much revenue you lost because you didn’t have enough employees to help your customers.

And even without knowing any of the numbers on the Excel sheet, I can tell you that we lost money. I’m going to give you a VERY conservative estimate here. I’ll assume some of the people who left wouldn’t have bought anything anyway. Let’s say only half the people who came in would have bought something. And let’s say that only twenty people walked out in an hour. (Most hours it was probably much more than that, but I’m giving you a conservative estimate.)

And let’s say that the average sale at that point was $20. That’s a really low number for this time of year (usually it was $40–60), but no one had time to upsell and pitch the customer add-ons, so we’ll say $20. That’s $200 an hour lost.

Employees like me and the floor person were making about $7.50 to $8 an hour. Let’s say everyone was getting $8 an hour. Having two more employees would have cost an additional $16 an hour but would have prevented at LEAST $200 in sales losses. (And again, the actual number is almost certainly much higher.)

The store was open from 8 AM to 9 PM, so 13 hours. By cutting two employees all day, the store saved $208 a day. They lost AT LEAST $2,600 a day in sales.

BUT Bean Counter’s plan looked good on paper, before, after, and during the last quarter. They got the district out of the red! We were no longer over budget! Problem solved!

Why is Tesla failing so badly in the stock market?

Tesla primarily makes cars. And when regarded solely as an auto-maker – it is over valued.
Tesla pioneered electric vehicles and established a head start in that market. Newer entrants into that market (including Chinese manufacturers) are catching-up and offering products with similar utility and competitive prices. Tesla’s first-mover advantage is not being sustained. The company is taking too long to produce new models and is not iterating its current line-up fast enough. Where is the Roadster? Where is the new better battery tech? Why is the Cybertruck failing to match expectation?
The company presented itself to the stock market as more than a mere car maker. Rather it is a tech company which happens to make cars. It argued that it should be valued as such, and that initially convinced the market. However the various technical innovations it promised have yet to materialise. Self-driving has improved, but it is many, many years late. The robo-taxi idea seems to have evaporated – there are still safety issues and regulatory hurdles. It’s AI vision stack is a really impressive bit of technology – but it is not a product.
The company has a CEO problem. The CEO has a history of over promising and under delivering. Rather than finishing products and releasing them in a polished state, the CEO presents semi-baked ideas to the market in the conceptual stage, and then take years and years to materialise. The market is getting wise to this bait and switch strategy.
The CEO is distracted with other companies and is at best a part-time manager. The CEO has not been good at attracting and retaining the best staff. When the head of the AI project left, this should have been a warning sign. The CEO has not created a workplace culture that values attention to detail and quality. Instead the culture is gung-ho and reckless, which frequently ends up causing more damage than good.
The CEO seems to be having either a drugs and or mental health problem and has recently decided to become more politically active in support of various right and far-right political groups. In some companies this would not matter, but Tesla’s main market is selling vehicles to individuals and families who are aware of environmental issues and support the transition to greener energy. The far-right regard electric vehicles as a government imposed initiative to spoil their god-given right to drive a pick-up, full of firearms, while running over vaccine-users. – This makes Tesla vehicles less attractive to people who would have previously bought them. No one wants to own a vehicle which has become a repugnant political statement.
The CEO clearly regards Tesla has his personal piggy-bank and demands absurd amounts of compensation for his part-time and mercurial contribution. This naturally upsets shareholders.

AI Tool Deciphers Herculaneum Scroll, and It’s All About Pleasure!

A team of student researchers have combined 3D-mapping and AI to decipher a Greek scroll that was encased in ash during the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The philosophical musing reveals Greek thought on the complexities of “pleasure”.

In the ancient Greek world “pleasure” wasn’t just an occasional indulgence; it was an Olympic event of the senses. From lively symposiums colored with courtesans and entertainers, to dramatic theatrical productions and festivals, the pursuit of delight was as integral to Greek life as debating philosophy.

Now, offering new insights into pleasure across the ancient Aegean, where it wasn’t a guilty pleasure but a cultural cornerstone, a Greek philosopher’s thoughts regarding pleasure have been decoded by AI. And adding to the intrigue, the source material was an ancient papyrus scroll that was entombed in ash during the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Text from the Herculaneum scroll, which has been unseen for 2,000 years. (Vesuvius Challenge/Nature)

Fusing 3D-Mapping and AI

The team of student researchers, comprising Youssef Nader, Luke Farritor and Julian Schilliger, who used AI to decode the damaged papyrus scroll, have scooped the $700,000 grand prize in the Vesuvius Challenge grand prize Vesuvius Challenge. They received the illustrious award for being the first team to “recover 4 passages of 140 characters from a Herculaneum scroll”.

Essentially, the young team combined 3D-mapping applications and AI to successfully penetrate a lump of blackened volcanic rock that has encased a scroll for almost 2,000-years, since Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Known as the Herculaneum papyri, the new combination of technologies identified tiny patches of ink within the fused ash, revealing hitherto unseen musings of a Greek philosopher contemplating ‘pleasure.’

A Gigantic Boon for Philosophy

Not only did the winning team of the Vesuvius Challenge decipher more than “85 percent of the characters illustrated within four passages comprising 140 characters each,” but they included a further 11 columns of text, bringing their total to around 2000 interpreted characters.

The text discloses the personal thoughts of Philodemus, the philosopher-in-residence at the library which once housed the Herculaneum papyri. As such, Professor Michael McOsker from the University College London told New Scientist that the findings represent “a gigantic boon” to the understanding of philosophy in the ancient Greek world.

The Villa of Papyri at the archaeological site of Herculaneum (Erik Anderson / CC BY-SA 3.0)

When Pleasure Challenges Virtue

The ancient Greek text muses on how the scarcity and abundance of material items impacts the pleasure received from them. According to Philodemus, a philosopher of the Epicurean school, the enjoyment derived from food and other goods is closely tied to their availability. In line with Epicurean philosophy, which emphasizes pleasure as life’s primary objective, the scarcity or abundance of these commodities plays a crucial role in shaping our well-being.

Additionally, it was noted that in his two-millennium-old text, there seems to be a subtle attack at the Stoic school of philosophy, suggesting they have “nothing to contribute regarding pleasure.” While Epicureanism centers on the pursuit of pleasure and tranquility, considering them the ultimate goals in life, in contrast, Stoicism emphasizes virtue as the highest good, advocating for inner strength and moral excellence to navigate life’s challenges.

What this all means for modern researchers, is that they have fresh data pertaining to Greek ideas about the prioritization of pleasure and tranquility (Epicureanism), against virtue and inner resilience (Stoicism), being the key foundation for a fulfilling life.

It Cost What? This Has To Stop!

Having bagged the Vesuvius Challenge the team of students now plan “to scale up the 3D scanning and digital analysis techniques,” while at the same time keeping an eye on the costs of analysis. It might have read like the $700,000 prize was a big win, but not when we put that amount into perspective.

It cost the team $100 for every square centimeter of analyzed rock, which tallies to between $1 million and $5 million per scroll. This sounds within the realms of research budget, right? But when you then consider there are another “800 scrolls” lined up to be deciphered, that calculates to between 800 million and 4 billion USD.

Therefore, a lot of ancient philosophy will go undeciphered, and as such it will remain a mystery for future researchers to tackle when lower cost research methodologies are developed.

Top image: Left; One of the Herculaneum scrolls that are being deciphered. Right; Text from the Herculaneum scroll Source: Vesuvius Challenge

By Ashley Cowie

What was the best way you left a terrible job?

I had already submitted my resignation. On the last day, the bitch who had committed all the prior unfair labor practices was, of course, at it again. She had me covering for other people, and didn’t let me take any breaks all day. An hour before the end of my shift, when a co worker had come to relieve me from covering for her, she told me the same supervisor wanted me down in her office so she could talk to me.”Oh really? Well, first I am going to take my morning 15 minute break, then I am taking my half hour lunch, then I am taking my afternoon 15, which I am legally required to do. That will bring me up to quitting time, so she can WANT all she wants”, and left. Heard later than she couldn’t believe I had done it, and went screaming my name through all 6 floors of the building looking for me LOL

CHINA WARNING! We Will Show Our Swords Against AMERICA

Has someone ever been fired because of you?

Yes, and they had it coming.

This was back in the mid 90’s, I was working at a pizza place. A good friend of mine had signed a contract with a major league baseball team, and he was back in town after his first season in the minors. He stopped in to see me at work, when he left one of the waitresses asked who he was. I told her, she seemed interested and asked if I could introduce her to him. I said sure, me and this girl had become good friends since she started working at this place.

I introduce them, they start seeing each other and things seem good. At some point, she learned about the signing bonus that he had received when he signed his contract. It wasn’t a ton, but it was a decent amount. I heard her tell a co-worker that she had stopped taking her birth control, she wanted to get pregnant so, “I can get some of that money”. I told my friend that she said this, and he broke up with her that evening.

She knew I told him, and she did not like that. I go into work the next day, she’s already working and she wants to have a talk. We’re talking, she asked if I told him, I said, “Yep, that was me”. There’s some shouting, and at some point, she grabs me by the throat and his her fist drawn back. The assistant manager grabbed her, and dragged her away. She was sent home for the day. The manager comes in, and he wants to fire both of us. A few coworkers and the assistant manager defended me, as I hadn’t started this fight. She was fired that evening.

Side note: a few weeks later, she tried to run me over with her car. As you can clearly see, she was a very stable individual.

What is the weirdest thing you have seen at Target?

I had the best laugh of my life in a Target.

A sales associate was pushing a very large cardboard box, filled with some kind of clothes, along one of the main aisles in the store. It didn’t look very heavy, but it was clearly much too large for any one person to carry.

She had picked up a lot of speed, and she was kinda racing forward, bent over the box like she was going for the gold in Olympic box-pushing, when she reached a spot where the floor changed to carpet. The two types of flooring were separated by one of those very narrow metal bands, flat enough to where it wasn’t generally noticeable.

The box hit the metal band and came to a full – and very abrupt – stop, but the woman did not. She could have done the maneuver a thousand times and never repeated her trick, but she somehow flipped over herself and landed in the box she’d been pushing.

I didn’t laugh at first. I actually managed to control myself, but then I saw the look on her face. She looked like a startled cartoon, anime style, and I just couldn’t contain my laughter after that. I knew that it was so, so wrong, but she looked like she was okay physically.

I still think of her sometimes, and whenever that happens, I can’t help but laugh like an insane hyena.

Rigatoni with Steak Sauce

Ingredients

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 (12 ounce) rib eye steaks
Salt and pepper
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 cup dry red wine
1 (26 ounce) jar marinara sauce
1 cup beef broth
16 ounces dried rigatoni pasta
3 ounces Parmesan, shaved

Instructions

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large frying pan over high heat. Sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper. Cook the steaks until they are brown but still rare in the center, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a plate and set aside to cool completely.
Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the same pan. Sauté the onions and carrots until the onions are translucent, about 8 minutes, with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Add the garlic and oregano, and sauté for 1 minute. Add the wine and simmer for 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce and broth. Cover and simmer over medium low heat to allow the flavors to blend, about 10 minutes.
Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, trim off any fat from the steaks, then cut the steaks into bite size pieces and set aside. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the rigatoni and boil until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Drain the rigatoni.
Toss the rigatoni and reserved steak pieces and any accumulated juices from the steaks with the sauce to coat.
Transfer the pasta to bowls.
Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese shavings and serve.

What’s the best revenge to someone who robbed you?

Had a fella break into my house when on holiday in Brazil and a neighbour called the police and he was arrested in my house. She saw him break a small window to get in. Was big on the new consoles and computer games at the time, had all the latest. He’d taken suitcases from upstairs and filled them.

He told the policeman cockily he was going to come back and finish the job, he was a local heroin addict known to them.

When I came back from holiday I had to get a crime number, the policeman without giving a name gave me a massive clue who did it…off the record of course

.Not saying the two are related but I told a certain local person and the burglar was found tied to a lamppost naked a few days later in public view. I know a few locals had a vendetta against him so could have been anyone. A few months later the exact same happened to a teen who had been stealing cars locally and joyriding in them. I know the teen had to be cut free in public which must have seriously embarrassed him. An obnoxious fat kid who would gloat to folk who he had stole a car from.

Thought was a great way to deal with people who were getting away with petty crime and back out to do it again. Made the local papers as well which really would have rubbed it in.

What ignorant thing did a retail employee say that made you walk out of the store without buying a single item?

Ah! My little sister!

This was when she was 17. She decided she wanted to make the big plunge and purchase a stereo system with the money she’d saved from various jobs. But she was nervous about being taken by nefarious sales people, so she asked her big brother (the guy with a house account at Groove-N-Tube… yeah I bought a lot of that stuff back then) to go with her to recommend what to purchase.

We arrive at what at the time was a big name electronics and appliance store (out of business now, no surprise). The sales person gloms onto us right away and his eyes are sparkling. He thinks he’s landed a couple (probably dating but maybe a young marriage), and he goes into his spiel. We walk through the store discussing the various things they have to offer. I ask some questions. My sister asks some questions. Salesperson totally ignores sis. Probably figures I’m the one wearing the pants in this decision. At one point, he totally turns his back on her while he discusses the attributes of a system. I could tell she was fuming but was too polite to say anything.

Finally, it’s time to make a decision. With his back still to my sister, he asks me: “So what can I pack up for you?”

I look him dead in the eye and say: “What are you asking me for? She’s the one buying it.”

He went white. Looked at my sister. She beamed at him and said: “I think I’ll buy something from a store that values all its customers.” And out she sailed.

I love my little sis.

Different wiring

What screams “I’m asking to be pickpocketed”?

By the time I went to college in West Texas, my pickpocketing days were well and truly behind me. I had seen the error of my ways, repented of my mischief, and was endeavoring to live an honest life again.

Little did I know that my new Lone Star country was home to one of the most absurd and illogical bits of fashion stupidity in history.

No, I’m not talking about chaps. Don’t even get me started on those.

I’m not entirely sure what it’s called, but I have heard it referred to as a “cowboy wallet.” The primary difference between it and a non-stupid wallet is that it is extra super-duper long.

This means that when you put it in the back pocket of your Wranglers, it sticks out the top like a pull-tab.

Are you effing serious, Texas? Why not just hang a sign saying FREE MONEY?

There may be a reader or two out there thinking, “no, I’d definitely notice if someone pulled my wallet. I’d feel it slide out!”

Trust me, you wouldn’t. It’s not any failure on your part, either. Pickpocketing is a bit like cheating at cards. When done properly, it has nothing to do with luck.

I had several friends in college who used these cowboy goodie-bags and I made sure to let them know the economic dangers of their rustic fashion. I had one friend named Logan with whom it became a running joke that I would pull his wallet pretty much every time I saw him. I’d obviously return it to him immediately, but even when he knew full well that I was going to do it, he was still powerless to stop me because it really is that easy.

So Quora, if you are the owner/carrier of a cowboy wallet and you happen to find yourself in a big city or, for that matter, pretty much anywhere besides your family’s ranch, I suggest that you consider either putting it in your inside jacket pocket or getting a different wallet. You would actually be better off taping your money to one of those flag-football belts than putting that thing in your back pocket, as you’d be more likely to notice when it got pulled.

The New York pickpocket rings (to the best of my knowledge) have all either become defunct or transitioned to more profitable ventures, and the city is now very safe. Nonetheless, wear one of those things around here and someone’s likely to flint you on principle.

What is the most interesting fact that you know and I don’t, but I should?

McDonald’s most popular burger and the second most popular item on their menu (second only to their unique fries).

But have you ever stopped to wonder how it got its name?

You see, McDonald’s was originally founded by brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald.

They went by the nicknames Mac and Dick (for when Mac and Cheese just isn’t enough).

The “Big Mac” hit McDonald’s fast food restaurants in August 1968. However, before this, the executives at McDonald’s were struggling to come up with a name for this new super-sandwich.

The McDonald’s corporation tested out a couple of other names, including “The Aristocrat.”

Eventually, a secretary named Esther Glickstein (who was quite fond of co-founder Maurice), suggested the name “Big Mac”.

She admitted that the higher-ups initially laughed the name off when she first suggested it, but she got the last laugh when the name stuck!

But just imagine…

for one second…

if…

she had been more fond of Richard…

You could be enjoying a Big Dick, instead of a Big Mac.

My Girlfriend Asked For An Open Relationship, I Walked Out And Now I Laugh At Her Tears

What is the weirdest reason you got fired from a job?

I was general manager of a pregnancy resource center. It was a 501(c)(3) corporation, and we were completely dependent on donations. It was going broke when I took over. We got back to solvency within a year, without having to back off at all from the services we provided. In fact, we had grown quite a bit. There were 5 full time employees, and about 35 volunteers.

One day, right out of the blue, I was called to go to the office down the street of the chairman of our board of directors. When I got there, he and another board member summarily fired me. Before I left that office, the board chairman had written a glowing letter of recommendation for me.

Curious, I asked him why I was being let go. He said that the board had voted me out because I ran the place too much like a business and not enough like a charity. He had voted against firing me, but was outvoted. The reason they were going broke before hiring me was that no one in the place had any ability to manage money. So, making it more businesslike internally, without that being noticed by our clientele, just seemed wrong to them.

As a waiter, what is the cheapest thing a customer has done?

I’m not a waiter, but I will tell my experience. After work, a bunch of coworkers and I would go to the pub across the street. People came and left, as they got off work. We always ran a single tab. Someone would come, have one five dollar drink, and throw ten dollars into the middle of the table. The next person might have 3 $5 drinks, and throw in a twenty before leaving. Nobody wanted to risk stiffing their coworkers or the waitress.

The biggest problem was that at the end of the night, we often had a 35–40 percent tip.

Then a friend we used to work with, joined us for drinks, at first everything was fine, but after a few friday nights at the pub, he started to say. I don’t have any cash on me, just hand me the cash, and I will go put it all on my credit card.

Three weeks later, the waitress who had waited on us for years, sat down early in the evening, before our friend joined us and asked us if her service had slipped, because suddenly we had gone from 35–40 percent tips to exactly 10 percent the last few times. This was a few years ago in Canada, and 10–15 percent was the standard tip. It turns out our friend had been picking up our $300 for a $220 bill, and paying $242, with tip, and going home with $58 more than he came with, after drinking all night for free.

We said no, her service was still fabulous and suggested that she keep us on a group tab, and put him on a separate bill.

Our friend came and at the end of the evening went to grab the cash, and we said, no you have a separate bill.

He got all flustered, and we told him we didn’t want to see him for 6 months, until he learned his lesson.

What is your reaction to the visit by Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami team to Hong Kong?

Lionel Messi will go down in history as the man who united both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese football fans, both pro- and anti-establishment Hong Kong voters, and both its political elites and grassroots citizens, to have such seething hatred towards the same person.

I don’t think even bona fide war criminals like Tojo Hideki would be able to accomplish such a feat in the Sinosphere these days. There were people who paid thousands of HK dollars for a ticket, and traveled to Hong Kong all the way from Xinjiang and abroad, just for a glimpse of the legendary “king of football”. Instead, all they got was snubbed.

There’s no other way to put it. Messi messed up, big time.

Right now nobody really knows what’s going on, why he refused to fulfil his contract (of playing at least 45 minutes on the field), and why he behaved in such a cold and arrogant manner towards his fans in Hong Kong, to the extent that he didn’t even once smile or wave at them.

But judging from the fact that he did play ball in Riyadh, and that he said in an interview he will play again in Kobe, Japan later on, my gut feeling tells me this probably has to do with politics. And before some of you start going “but muh oppression/human rights”, remember that he didn’t protest being in Saudi Arabia.

It’s just too much of a coincidence. You see, right now Hong Kong is trying to pass a law known as “Article 23”. For those of you not from here, I’ll give you the rundown version: Hong Kong, which is part of the People’s Republic of China, has a constitutional duty to enact a law covering secession and subversion (pretty much every country and region in the world has this type of law, by the way).

This was supposed to have been done ages ago, but the anti-establishment, anti-China, right wing types pushed back against any discussion of it every single time. After the violent far right riots in 2019, the local government began to take national security more seriously, which is why western media, unsurprisingly, is trying to depict Article 23 as dystopic and totalitarian.

My instinct is that even if this whole ordeal in Hong Kong was not political at first (he could have just been a dick – not the most outlandish thing about footballers, honestly), Messi will make it political and milk all he can from it. He’s going to turn this thing into another Daryl Morey, NBA-China controversy, hijacking an entire sport for his own political virtue-signalling, and as a pledge of allegiance to both the United States and his home country of Argentina (which is currently being run by a far right neoliberal demagogue, who is trying to abolish the national currency in favour of the US dollar, outlaw abortions, and legalise the organ trade).

If nothing else, this would at least help him win over a few crowds in certain parts of the world where Sinophobia is politically correct. He might even run for political office on this far right platform after retiring from football. Who knows.

Again, I have to stress that this is all just speculation on my part. Nobody but Messi and those closest to him would know what’s really going on. I hope I’m proven wrong, and that the same shitshow that happened in Hong Kong would repeat itself in Japan, thus proving he wasn’t being disrespectful specifically towards the Chinese, and that he’s just a snobbish cunt to everyone. However, knowing how politicised football has become in recent years, I’m not counting on it.

I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to the real MVP on the field, Hong Kong singer G.E.M. (Gloria Tang), for doing her best to cheer up an angry and disappointed crowd, and trying to give them something worth their money. She’s the queen 🫅.

What is your reaction to the visit by Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami team to Hong Kong?

There’s no other way to put it. Messi messed up, big time.

Have you ever made a mistake that ended up saving your life?

Honestly, no way to be sure. On a Saturday night i was at a tavern having a few. I was supposed to leave and meet my Niece at another tavern. I wasted just enough time at the first place that my Niece and her friends decided to go to a different tavern. I was just about a mile down the road from the other tavern.

A whole load of police vehicles and emergency personnel trucks go flying by the first bar heading towards the other bar. A Shooting occurred at JB’s tavern; killing a bartender Named Jeff; who put himself between the gunman and his patrons.

The gunman did this because he was kicked out for harassing women. He went home shaved his head, dressed in camouflage, grabbed a rifle, and then finished his journey to insanity

He killed another man Rich; who I knew from my working in taverns. Jeff, I knew from school; he was a couple of years behind me. We weren’t best friends; but we both enjoyed playing poker. The killer also wounded like a dozen innocent people.

Luther Casteel was his name. I had to Google it because I was unsure of the spelling. He actually wounded 14 people and brought 4 weapons with him and a couple hundred rounds of ammunition.

I really cannot answer if my screwing around saved my life; but I believe that it saved my niece’s life.

What is the cutest mistake you’ve ever seen someone make?

Okay, this would have been cute if the guy wasn’t a huge piece of human garbage*. My crew and I were out to eat on Christmas Eve in Hawaii. One of the few places that was open was our hotel’s sushi restaurant. After eating a heroic amount of sushi, lard ass leaned back and explained, “that was so good. I’m famished!”

Read on for the rest of the story.

The flight attendant and I looked at each other and exchanged a glance. So, I casually said “How can you still be hungry after all that sushi?” He said “I’m not hungry, I’m famished.” I just said “famished is a synonym for starving.” He had to look it up. The n made some BS excuse.

Read on for my rant against this dumbass.

He was fucking stupid. His wife was pregnant with twins at the time. He was glad because he said twins would be easier than a single kid. Later, after they were born he would only talk about one of the. “Clair Bears” was what he called his daughter Clair. He rarely referred to her twin. We dubbed that one trash bag because it was obvious how he felt about his kids. He was just awful.

hong kong 香港 3/3 (if wong kar wai and wes anderson had a really bad short film as a baby)

As a landlord, did you ever have a terrible tenant that didn’t appear to exhibit any red flags in the beginning, but later on you realized you made a huge mistake to accept them?

My stepfather was an apartment building manager in Hollywood, California when I was a teen.

The modern building was large and well-kept. The one large ‘suite’ was a challenge to rent out because of the price and because it was just too luxurious for the neighborhood.

But the owner of the building found a tenant who exceeded her dreams: a young Arabian prince (a student?) who paid a hefty security fee and rental for a year upfront.

I rarely saw him and his entourage because they clubbed and partied until dawn.

When I did catch a glimpse, it was like watching a movie: a group of handsome, laughing young men dressed in flowing Arab robes, moving through the California sunshine.

When they left before the lease was up, the owner was told that the prince did not require rent and security deposit refunds.

The owner was delighted…until the suite was inspected.

The formerly white shag carpet had not been cleaned since the prince moved in, and much of it had a strange, dark tinge. The walls and ceilings were no longer pristine white either.

As the owner and my stepfather entered the massive livingroom, they discovered why the colors were so dingy.

The tenant had been using braziers ON THE CARPET to cook food, leaving greasy stains all over. Above, the ceiling was almost black from smoke. Mattresses had been dragged in from the bedrooms.

The kitchen was literally filled with spoiled food and dirty dishes and pans; the stove was caked all over with burned food. The refrigerator was a mold-filled, broken disaster.

The bathrooms were disgusting, and the owner backed quickly away and shut the doors because of the stench.

The 3 bedrooms had been used for pets (forbidden by the lease) – dogs and birds. Excrement and rotted food were everywhere.

Most cabinet and inside doors were damaged or missing. Old papers, clothes and other items as well as trash littered the apartment.

Reparing and refurbishing the suite took almost 6 months and cost way more than the substantial deposit and unused rent. A bill was forwarded to the prince’s lawyer and was paid promptly.

Note: In the interest of keeping this short, I have not written in detail about the destruction.

After being fed for two consecutive weeks, this beautiful stray cat became a part of the family.

I love this video.

Why did my dad think it was a good idea to get a lower-paying job and lower our standard of living just because he was stressed and tired? Isn’t it the parents’ job to make sacrifices for their children to be happy?

I’ll tell you what happened to my dad, and you might understand. My dad owned part of the family business, he was the working partner in the business.

He worked 12–16 days, 7 days a week to make ends meet.

When I was 8 or 9 he had what was called at the time a nervous breakdown, he was in the hospital for months, and the business didn’t close.

He was out for two months, and my mom went in, evidently she had worked herself into a git, worrying about my dad, and the effect that only seeing him for an hour or two a day was having on the marriage.

My mother got a job. That wasn’t rare in the early 1960s , but it wasn’t common. My dad cut his hours to 10–12 hours a day 6 days a week. Still way too much, but now we took a yearly, week long camping vacation.

When I was 19 my dad had a heart attack, and they put the company up for sale.

When my dad got out of the hospital he was under strict orders not to work more than 40 hours a week. I dropped out of university to help run the family business, while they were selling it.

It took 4 years to sell the business.

My dads heart was never the same. He went to work for the new owners, working 36 hours a week, weekends off, for the first time in his life.

He retired at 65, and died before he was 66 .

That is why you don’t work at a job that stresses you out.

Ex-CIA: Biden is NOW a National Security risk for the world

Changes and changes

Life changes.

I have said this many times before. But I want to underline some things today.

When I was a senior in High School, I proudly wore a choker collar, puffy sleeved polyester printed shirts with a wide collar, and elephant bell-bottom jeans. Oh, and I also wore earth shoes, and rock-star boots. I was so fashionable!

I also drove a orange “goat” GTO.

And that was my life then.

Today, I am really different, as is my life.

Life changes. You will change.

ADVICE…

Embrace your moments. Savor your experiences. Remember that they will wane over time. So please treasure them.

Today…

For anyone who was bullied in school, what was the worst act of bullying you had to endure?

When I was a teenager I was bullied by a local group of kids, all of them a few years older than me. Two of them were particularly vile. I am changing the names. One was Patrick and the other was Gavin. Patrick was a horrible weasel who basically incited the others to beat the crap out of me, and rarely got his own hands dirty. Gavin was a sociopath who rarely showed any emotion whatsoever. One particular time me and friends were playing near a train track (as kids did in the 90s), and I heard Patrick’s voice saying “Hey Gavin there he is he wants to fight you.” Sure enough along walks Gavin and grabs me and says “I hear you want to fight me….” I assured him this wasn’t the case, but he proceeded to knock the shit out of me. And I don’t just mean a few punches in the ribs. He pummelled my face multiple times. I am pretty sure I had concussion. Anyway, halfway through the beating I hear the unmistakeable sound of a train coming. Gavin hears it too. “Come on, we’re both going to die.” and he begins dragging me onto the tracks. And he was correct, in that we both would have been killed. He clearly didn’t care. The only thing that saved me was that I was able to grab hold of a length of builder’s wire that was half buried in the ground, and must have been attached to a lump of buried concrete because miraculously it held firm. Gavin was straining with every ounce of his strength to drag me and him into the path of the train. I vividly remember the train zooming past and I looked at Gavin, his teeth bared in anger as he tried to dislodge me. I remember giggling because Gavin was closer to the train than me. If my t shirt had torn, or if the wire had come loose, then Gavin would surely have fallen under the train first. Gavin eventually tired of beating me after the train was gone and I stumbled home, sore, ashamed and shaken. My face was so badly battered that when I told my father that I had fallen off some scaffolding while playing at a building site, he believed me. Both my eyes were so badly bloodshot that my eyeball went red. I had black eyes and bruises all across my face and neck and ribs. The bullying wasn’t a once off, but that was one of the worst instances of it for me.

Polish Cinnamon Cake

Ingredients

12 tablespoons butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3 teaspoons cinnamon
A grating of fresh nutmeg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Beat the butter until it is soft and fluffy. Add 3/4 cup of the sugar and the egg and continue beating. Add 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, the nutmeg and flour, and beat until well mixed.
Spread about 1/3 of the batter on an ungreased baking sheet, forming a rectangle about 10 x 12 inches and bake in a preheated 400 degrees F oven for 8 minutes, until lightly browned.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Repeat two more times with the remaining batter.
Whip the cream until stiff, and fold in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, the remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and the vanilla extract. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream on one of the cakes, top with another cake, and repeat.
Spread remaining whipped cream on the top and serve immediately.

Serves 8 to 12

Cheating caught

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hQk09jxrwfM?feature=share

What’s the fastest you’ve wiped a smirk off of someone’s face?

We lived in Base Housing, kids all over the place, filling the sandbox, fighting, arguing, being nice, being nasty. My four-year-old was a little redhead like his mommy and, like his mommy, often in trouble. Or, if not in trouble, causing it.

One day, another mommy, who was often irate because someone had wronged her little golden-curled darling who had the demeanor of an angel and the personality of a wasp, came to me with her howling little guy. His tears looked genuine. So did her anger.

“Your child needs to be controlled,” she said, “he bit Tony. Look!” She dragged Tony’s plump little arm out to show me four perfect tooth marks.

I said, “Are you sure it was Brian?”

She snarled, “Of course I’m sure. I saw him do it. He sank his teeth right into Tony’s arm.”

I said, “Bri, did you bite Tony?” He shook his head.

Mama Bear, filled with righteous fury, shrieked that he was a liar and my husband would be hearing from the CO if we didn’t teach our child civilized manners.

I just said, “Brian, smile at the lady.” Because he was an obliging child who genuinely liked people, he willing smiled at the lady—with his three front teeth, two on the bottom, one on the top, gleaming in the sunshine. His left top incisor had been knocked out when he was acting the fool in the bathtub about six months before. She didn’t even apologize to him, just stomped off, dragging poor, injured little Tony behind her like a pull toy.

Simply Cannot

What is a dirty little (or big) secret about an industry that you have worked in, that people outside the industry really ought to know?

We know all your passwords.

Shocked?

Well, you shouldn’t be. At least not yet. Let me tell you the whole truth first. Because once I do that, you aren’t going to be just shocked. You would be horrified, outraged, possibly traumatized for life.

I’ve been working in the tech world for quite a while now, and the wealth of “insider secrets” that I’ve accumulated along the way would be sufficient to fill a book in itself. But nothing comes close to this one single revelation, that I can positively say, has destroyed my faith in humanity. Once you finish this answer, you are not going to be the same person anymore, that much I can promise.

Let me ask you a very simple question –

How do you think the login process works?

Let’s say you want to open your Facebook.

You go to the login page.

You enter your username.

You then enter your password, which appears in all asterisks to prevent any unwanted ‘shoulder-surfing’. That’s crude. But effective too. And necessary. You see, the First Law of Passwords (okay, I just made up that phrase) states that there should be only one entity in the entire universe that should have access to your password – your brain. If a second copy of your password exists somewhere – say, on a piece of paper where you casually wrote it down thinking it’ll help you remember later, or in the password box where you just entered it, or engraved on a rock on planet Jupiter; somebody might be able to access it (theoretically speaking) and your security would be completely compromised. So, only one copy. Ever. Remember that.

Now, you press the Submit button.

But Abhimanyu, wait a minute! After I just pressed the Submit button, I got logged in. This means that some system on the other side must have verified that what I entered was indeed my password. But then, this system must have access to my correct password too! Otherwise, what will it compare my input with? Facebook must keep a second copy of my password somewhere!!!

The host website needs a copy of the password!

You are right. That’s a problem indeed. You might think that this is kind of okay since this second copy would exist with Facebook, which is the website that hosts your account in the first place. They would keep it safe, wouldn’t they?

But think about it.

Facebook, as an organization, is made up of humans just like you and me. What if some employee at Facebook has access to this code and could see your password? What if this was your bank account instead. What if Facebook was hacked and the hacker could see this code that has your password in it. Imagine the havoc this person might cause.

So a second copy is never okay, even if it exists on the parent website itself!

But then how would the website log you in? If it does not know your correct password, what will it compare your input to? How will it verify that you’re you?

That’s precisely the problem our engineering godfathers faced when they set out to design the entire system of passwords. And these guys were smart! They come up with an ingenious idea that would beautifully solve the problem.

The idea of Hash Functions.

The concept is extremely simple. A hash function is just a mathematical function. You input any word into it and it generates an output that looks like complete garbage.

But the devil, as they say, lies in the details –

The same word would always give rise to the same garbage.
Two different words would (almost) always lead to two completely different garbages.
There’s no way to look at the garbage and tell what the original word was. And just to be clear, this is not for the lack of trying. No. This is a fundamental mathematically restriction on the nature of hash functions. They are not invertible. They work one-way only. There’s no way to reverse engineer the garbage and get a peek at the word that produced it. Not even when you know the exact hash function.

Fun fact – This garbage is called the ‘hash’ of the input word.

Here’s how Hashes are used in login systems –

When you first create your account, you choose a password. This password is never stored by the website as it is. Rather, the website first hashes your password and then stores this hash in its database.

Now, when you try to log in the next time, the input you enter in your password box is first hashed, and then sent to the website. If your entered password is the correct one, this incoming hash would be the same as the hash the website had earlier stored in its database. That’s because the same word always gives the same hash (Rule 1 above). On the other hand, if you entered something different, the incoming hash would be different from the one that the website has got stored in its database next to your name (Rule 2 above).

The website compares the two, and if they match, bingo! You are logged in.

Now even if someone hacked into Facebook and copied the entire database, all they would see are these garbage hashes stored next to the usernames. They wouldn’t be able to deduce the original password from these hashes (Rule 3 above).

What if they tried to copy your hash from the database, open Facebook login page in their browser, and then enter the copied hash in the password field as it is (along with your username in the username field)?

Since Facebook’s login flow always hashes the incoming input, it would hash this hash too, and that would produce something completely different. On matching that with what is stored in the database, a big fat fuck-you would be returned.

So even when the hacker has got the entire user table, he still can’t do any damage!

Beautiful concept, isn’t it?

Except that it’s a complete pain in the ass for companies to implement and manage.

For starters, you have to integrate the hashing mechanism in your login flow which leads to considerable overhead. Actually, with modern libraries and frameworks, this part is no longer that big of a deal. The real pain lies in providing technical support to the customers.

Let’s say you are Flipkart.

A customer calls in to complain that he is unable to add a certain item to his cart.

The customer’s issue is escalated to the development team, where you, the poor developer, just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and lo and behold! The issue gets assigned to you.

All you know is that there’s a certain customer with this particular customer id and he’s unable to add an item to his cart.

That’s it.

That’s all you know.

Remember, the user can see the issue happening on his device in real time, but you can’t. You don’t have access to his account.

So, you send a request to the server team to access the error logs from the server, all the while praying to God that you find something useful in those logs – something that will nudge you in the right direction. But you have to be extremely lucky to find something helpful. More often than not, the issue would turn out to be a ghost issue that occurred because the user was doing something stupid, and you would spend an entire night on a wild goose-chase.

If you do manage to learn something helpful from the logs, you would then have to create a test account and try to replicate the issue there, which is just the beginning of the long and tedious process we call bug-hunting.

Either way, it’s going to be a long night.

But what if, let’s say, you did have access to user’s password? (Imagine a red devil sitting on your shoulder whispering this entire paragraph in your ear). You could simply log into his account and check if it’s a ghost issue. You’d be done in like five minutes. Even if it turns out to be a legitimate issue, you can trigger it again from the user’s account itself, and get a much quicker lead on the location of the bug!

The convenience is just too much to ignore!

You begin to get lusty.

Your mouth begins to drool.

And you give in.

Most of the companies in the IT industry that are customer-facing, store your passwords in their database in clear text. Without hashing!

Most of the clients that I’ve worked with as a penetration-tester, most of the companies I’ve done projects for, most of the websites I’ve hacked – all were storing passwords in stark naked clear-text. Plain as the day. Sitting right there for any employee or hacker to see.

I have seen database tables – with rows upon rows of clear text passwords – hundreds of thousands of them – all visible to the naked eye – ripe, juicy, ready to be exploited – their owners completely unaware, utterly naive, sleeping peacefully in their beds without a care in the world.

Now in all fairness, I must admit here that I’m sure none of the top-tier websites are doing this stupidity. Google isn’t doing it. Facebook isn’t doing it. Flipkart isn’t doing it. Your bank, definitely not.

But tier-two and three websites? They are. Startups? You bet your ass they are.

But that’s not all –

Most people, in an act of supreme foolishness, set the same password for all their accounts.

Which means that every employee at http://somerandomwebsitewhereyouoncemadeanaccountandthenforgotaboutit.com

knows your Gmail password.

Because let’s face it, they’re the same. Aren’t they?

All I have to do is hack this le random website, which is going to be a piece of cake. Sites like these are not big on security. As soon as I get into their database, I’ll have access to thousands of email id and password pairs, most of which will work verbatim on Gmail.

If you’re extremely unlucky, they’ll work on Paytm too.

And if with some cruel and twisted idea of fun in mind, your fate decided to truly fuck you over, they would work on your Bank’s website too !

So scary

Has anyone ever bought a car with the wrong engine in it?

Not me but my father in law. In 1957 he got out of the Army and first thing he did was buy a new Plymouth Fury. Not being a car guy he just picked the first one on the lot and drove it home. He had moved back in with his parents and his dad still had a curfue for him. One night he was going to be late so he opened it up to get home faster. He soon saw flashing lights in his rear view mirror but soon lost them and made it home in time. A few minutes after he got home a police car pulled up in the yard. Small town and the cop had recognized his car. Instead of getting arrested the cop told him to be at the start of Nine Mile Road at 9:00 the next night. This road had a long straight part through a swamp with no side roads. So he shows up and county police have set up a drag race. They had stopped traffic at both ends of the straight and the cop with the fastest cruiser lined up beside him. They had new Plymouth Furys with the police engine option. They take off and are neck and neck until the police car tops out and my father in law’s car keeps pulling away. He was fully stopped and out of his car at the other end before the cop car got there.

The cop comes up and ask him what modifications he has made to the car. He tells them he hasn’t even opened the hood since he bought it. They then open the hood and instead of the standard 301 Plymouth engine it had a 392 Chrysler Hemi.

Red Flag

When did you realize your parent was a total badass?

One day my Mom asked me where to go to replace a broken window on her car. When I asked what happened to the window, she said someone threw a brick through it. She was driving through an area with a lot of gangs and saw 2 guys chasing 1 guy. She didn’t like the odds, so pulled her car onto the sidewalk between the guy being chased and the guys doing the chasing. That gave the guy being chased enough of a lead that he got away. The guys who were chasing him weren’t happy about being stopped. They threw anything they could grab at Mom’s car, and a brick went through a window as she drove off. And that’s how Mom got a broken window on her car.

My Dad was also a badass, but in different ways. He was a veteran, but never told us about his military service until he was dying of cancer. He couldn’t see or hear anymore, but he could talk. He told us “funny stories” that were just plain crazy.

Assassination

What are some things that kids have said that caught you off guard? Funny, sad, confusing, inspirational, creepy?

Elleigh was a mouthy Little darling from ages 4-10. She just said anything that came to her mind, and sometimes, those things were hilarious. Elleigh once said:

“What’s up boys, take me out to dinner.”

I’m “unstopaddle.”

“You’re old!”

“Daddy looks like Mr. Clean.”

“Me: What’s your dad’s name? (Elleigh: Tyrell)”

*Doing her hair* “Oh, but I’ll look like a jerry.”

“Why was I in your tummy and Leo was in your gyna?” (She was delivered by a c-section, Leo was natural).

“Thong Thong Thong up your heiny.”

“I just had to itch my butt.”

“Ok boss!”

Me: Alright, let’s call… (Elleigh: Punk!)”

“Mommy, you don’t run, you gallop.”

“You did not do sports today because I was with you all day. Ooo, it’s just a joke.”

“I’m constipation” (we were doing affirmations).

“Stop annoying me. Excuse me, you’re not supposed to be talking to me, you’re a stranger.”

Me: You’re going to school. (Elleigh: Yeah, why?) Me: Because that’s what you do every morning. (Elleigh: Are you going to the gym every morning?”

“This dang deer.”

“This is not her real hair, her just put extensions in it. long extensions.”

Me: What’s your favorite kind of food? (Elleigh: Fruit). Me: What kind of fruit? (Elleigh: Fruit loops).

When she was really little, she would call a computer a “cubidiger.”

She would say “feel good” as “fuck you” (really threw people off sometimes).

I don’t know why I have so many footages of her saying these kinds of things.

Absolutely correct

If you were an employee, and your boss suddenly fired you without an explanation, how would you respond?

I had been there three years. Since I disliked the job and had strange vibes for the last 3 months, when I was told I shrugged and said “If that’s the way you feel.” They wanted me to sign a release. I was 61–1/2, Social Security at reduced benefits wouldn’t start until I was 63. I said I wanted my attorney to look at it before I signed, picked up the paper and walked to my office where I packed up my stuff. I kept nothing personal there except safety shoes for walking on the manufacturing floor (I got laughed at a lot because nobody wore safety shoes even though they’re required at most manufacturing facilities), my prescription safety glasses , a sweater, my favorite (and personally purchased) mechanical pencils and left.

My attorney said to sign the release after he crossed out two clauses noting the employment statues they were violating, and faxed it to them. I got a nice settlement and was able to collect unemployment for the 18 months until my 63rd birthday. This was in 2008/2009 when we had up to 100 weeks of unemployment due to recession.

Before anybody calls me a piker for collecting all that UI, I was offered two positions during that time. Each would have required a 100 mile round trip commute daily and only paid about 75% of what I had been making. The Unemployment Service said I was not under an obligation to accept either.

Have you ever met a dangerous person and not known it at the time?

I used to own a small tavern. We had a guy who started hanging out there quite regularly. Nice guy, played darts with the other regulars, bought rounds in order , but didn’t talk much about himself or his past. But it’s a bar, so no one cares. We’ll call him Danny.

He was in early one night around 7pm. My staff is all away on lunch, partner wouldn’t be back til 10pm. I’m all alone. Usually not a big deal. This night, a couple of college jocks got way out of hand and started tearing the place up – breaking cue sticks and tossing around empty kegs. It’s just Danny, me and the college boys. I’m trying to de-escalate and get them to leave. Then, one of the big guys starts pushing me and throwing punches. I’m screwed. That is, until Danny steps in and beats the shit out of two guys much bigger than himself. I was completely shocked! We toss the guys out and he tells me not to call the police. He leaves shortly afterwards.

Next time I see Danny, I want to pick up his tab and chat. He asks me not to tell anyone or talk about it. I figure he’s ex-military and a private guy. He becomes pretty scarce. We’re looking for him, but he doesn’t come around anymore.

About a year later, we see his pic in the paper. He’s on trial for a pair of mob related murders. Turns out he might be responsible for more than a couple of these. I’m very glad he liked me.

Which sentences have made you think the most in your life?

There was a time while I was in college that I could only afford to spend about $3 per day on food. Needless to say it wasn’t an easy time.

One day, I spent part of my daily ration on a granola bar. As I walked out of the grocery store, a homeless woman asked me if I had any spare change. I told her I didn’t have any money to spare so instead split my granola bar with her and sat down to have a chat. She continued to ask people for change as we talked. After observing the responses, I asked her: “Would you rather people ignore your question, or say ‘no’ as meanly and rudely as they possibly could?”

She responded without hesitation: “I’d rather have the mean ‘no.’ At least they’re treating me like I’m a person, more than a piece of trash lying on the street.”

I’ll never forget that. I wouldn’t have been able to rationalize it myself, but it makes perfect sense. Her name was Anne.

As a pilot, what is some good advice you’ve been given?

When I was a much younger airline copilot, I flew with this Syrian captain. He was a Muslim and had flown F-4s for the U.S. Navy. He was a nice guy but kind of kept to himself mostly. I would always ask about the religion and how it was living in Syria and he gradually warmed up to me.

One day I was complaining about a relationship with a woman and he turned to me and said:

“Randy, I am going to give you two words that will ensure that you will have a long and prosperous marriage. It will end your problems in this relationship and any in the future. It is very old Islamic advice that has stood for centuries, long before the great advances in mathematics. It is among the oldest of all Middle Eastern knowledge”

“If you follow these two words. You will increase your happiness by a factor of 1000. Your wife will adore you and you will live in peace and harmony until you finally die and she mourns your death forever.”

“These two words? Obey and Relax”

“Randy, simply follow these two words in all of your interactions. Obey her demands and then simply relax. The West has not yet discovered this fundamental truth. If you just obey and relax, you will always be happy.”

Edit 1:

This guy was funny.

One day we were talking about his home life and he said: “Randy, Allah came to me before I was born and he told me I was a very bad man. He said I must be punished so he gave me a choice. I could live for ten-thousand years in hell or I could marry this woman. Like a fool, I marry woman!

I guess he didn’t follow his own advice. I heard he finally divorced. Even with this outcome, I still try to follow his advice and it works pretty well.

Did you ever have a restaurant meal “on the house”? What was the reason?

My wife and I moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas three years ago. For anyone wondering, our new town is Grass Valley, pop. 13,000.

Coming from the dining heaven that is the San Francisco area, we set out to find some special occasion restaurants nearby. We were not disappointed.

Our favorite go-to fancy place is called Lola’s, in neighboring Nevada City. It’s comparatively pricy—$250 is the typical check, including tip, for the two of us. It’s located in the Gold Rush-era National Hotel.

We went recently for an anniversary. It was a Wednesday evening and the restaurant was not particularly busy, although there was some kind of event beginning to happen in the attached lounge.

We waited for an unusually long time, but we had no place to be, and we enjoy each other’s company. The server finally came to our table, apologizing, and took our drink order. After about ten minutes, she came by and told us our drinks would be out any minute.

We got our appetizers and waited a long time again for the entrees. The server apologized again and said our drinks would be on the house. We had not complained or looked dissatisfied, but it was a nice gesture on the restaurant’s part. We ordered a second round of cocktails.

The activity in the lounge explained the delays: they had a combination burlesque show and lottery going on. Everyone was having a boisterous good time. Evidently, they swamped the bar and the kitchen.

When our entrees arrived after another unusually long wait, the server apologized again and told us our entire meal and drinks were being comped because of the slow service. We were flabbergasted but happy to have a $200 meal comped. This was all the restaurant’s initiative; we did not complain or even look dissatisfied.

We ordered desserts, one of the many things this restaurant does extremely well. The total bill came to $26.00 for the desserts. The total bill would have been $250.

We tipped 20% of the whole amount. Our server was attentive and even embarrassed at the long delay. We would have been perfectly happy even if we’d paid the whole bill.

That’s the first time I’ve ever had an entire satisfactory meal comped. But it was a good illustration of this restaurant’s commitment to excellence in food quality and service.

What psychological trick changed your life?

Here are 12 tricks I learned from the book ‘12 rules for life an antidote to chaos’, written by psychologist Jodan B Peterson. These life rules really help me a lot:

1: Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back

If you present yourself as defeated, then people will react to you as if you are losing. If you start to straighten up, then people will look at and treat you differently.

So, attend carefully to your posture. Quit drooping and hunching around. Speak your mind. Put your desires forward, as if you had a right to them — at least the same right as others. Walk tall and gaze forthrightly ahead. Dare to be dangerous. Encourage the serotonin to flow plentifully through the neural pathways desperate for its calming influence.

2: Treat Yourself Like Someone You Are Responsible for Helping

We deserve some respect. You deserve some respect. You are important to other people, as much as to yourself. You have some vital role to play in the unfolding destiny of the world. You are, therefore, morally obliged to take care of yourself. You should take care of, help and be good to yourself the same way you would take care of, help and be good to someone you loved and valued.

3: Make Friends with People Who Want the Best For You

This is similar to the idea that you become the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

Don’t think that it is easier to surround yourself with good healthy people than with bad unhealthy people. It’s not. A good, healthy person is an ideal. It requires strength and daring to stand up near such a person. Have some humility. Have some courage. Use your judgment, and protect yourself from too-uncritical compassion and pity.

4: Compare Yourself to Who You Were Yesterday, Not Who Someone Else is Today

We only see what we aim at. The rest of the world (and that’s most of it) is hidden. If we start aiming at something different — something like I want my life to be better” — our minds will start presenting us with new information, derived from the previously hidden world, to aid us in that pursuit.

Then we can put that information to use and move, and act, and observe, and improve. And, after doing so, after improving, we might pursue something different, or higher — something like, I want whatever might be better than just my life being better.” And then we enter a more elevated and more complete reality.

“What could I do, that I would do, to make Life a little better?”

The content is too long, so I put the rest rules here

JEFFREY SACHS HONEST INTERVIEW ABOUT NATO ARROGANCE ON RUSSIA, SUPERPOWER WAR IN UKRAINE, CHINA RISE

What was the shortest interview you’ve had that led to a job offer?

I was selling cars and my friends mother said I should have a job that pays a salary and commission and not just straight commission. She suggested a software company and the one she worked at had a position available. I had no background in software or computers at all but I sent in a CV and called the Sales Manager and left a message. Then I would keep calling all day seeing if he would pick up the phone. Around 12 additional times.

On the 3rd he picked up and said NOBODY has ever called him so much in his entire life. I asked if he looked at my CV and he said yes, but there was no experience in computers and software. He even asked some basic questions which I failed miserably.

He finally said that I was obviously persistent and if I read some books about computing I could probably get a job in this industry. I asked which books and he suggested two. I told him I would read both, memorize them and call him back in 2 weeks where he could quiz me about anything. He was incredulous and said ya sure.

Well I bought those books that day and in 2 weeks had them memorized, with yellow highlighter throughout both of them. I could tell you what chapter something was in and the next point the author made. That’s how well I learned them.

2 weeks to the day I called and he picked up on the first 2 rings. I was very nervous and told him I had those books down cold and he could quiz me about anything.

He said to come in on Monday at 9 am. I said how long would the quiz take and he said, “There isn’t a quiz. You start your new job on Monday at 9 am”

I am happy to say I stayed in the computer software industry for 20 years.

Crazy

What should you never say to a British person?

I was on a plane once, flying across the US. The guy next to me (in the middle seat) just kept talking nonstop. Eventually the person in the window seat said something back to him. This set the guy off, he told him everything he knew about Australia, what a great country it was, how much he liked Australians. Then he asked what part of Australia the guy was from. He replied that he was from Wales.

Middle seat guy said he loved New South Wales. The Sydney opera house was his favorite piece of architecture in the world.

Window seat guy, replies, No, I am Welsh, from the British Isles.

Middle seat guy, just wouldn’t let it go. He wanted to know why someone from the UK spoke with an Australian accent. Eventually window seat guy lost his patience, and pointedly pulled out a book and started to read.

So, I would say you don’t ask someone from Wales, why they speak with an Australian accent.

Daddy Advice to a daughter

What’s the best mistake you’ve ever made?

I was recently divorced and working for a company that had just opened a branch in Germany. My boss told me four interns were coming from Germany. “You’re a supervisor,” he said. “This is a very big deal, so make sure they are comfortable and happy here.”

But there was a problem. We had three shifts, and I was on the second shift—by which time my boss was long gone for the day, so he couldn’t introduce me in person. When I got to work I found only a list of four first names and the desks they were sitting at. And then when I got to that part of the office, there were only three guys.

I went over and talked to them for a bit, tried to make them feel welcome, made sure they had everything they needed. I was hoping one of them would mention the fourth fellow, but nobody did. I figured he’d be sitting somewhere else, so I excused myself and went to look around.

Then I heard a guy speaking German. Bingo, I thought. I sneaked a look at the name on his desk: Arnold, same first name as the missing fourth fellow, and a German last name. This was him! He turned out to be much nicer than the other three and we had quite a good talk. His English was excellent.

In the following weeks I saw Arnold often and talked to him for a little while each time. The other three were polite, but distant. So when a fax came in written in German, I knew which one to take it to for translation.

When I handed him the fax, he looked at it for a long time. “I’m sorry,” he said. “My German isn’t really good enough to read this.”

And so it turned out that this Arnold wasn’t the fourth German at all—that particular Arnold, the intern my boss was so concerned about, had been out getting a sandwich the afternoon I came to meet them. Then he’d gone home to Germany a week or two later for some unrelated reason.

The Arnold I’d made friends with was an American with a German father—who had taught him just enough to get by in conversation. They’d spent plenty of time in Germany—so when I’d asked him questions about what it was like there, he knew all the answers. And living with his dad had given Arnold just a trace of German accent in his English.

That was 20 years ago. Arnold and I are still having good talks daily—in spite of being married.

And Then…

In the military, are you only allowed to keep on you what is issued to you by the government or can you buy extra protection if you want to? (knives, extra guns, extra supplies, etc), also, is your weapons and gear all new when you get them?

In the Army I served, simply asking that question would disqualify you from service.

They don’t want gun nuts. They want you to have the weapon issued, nothing else; unauthorised weapons on military grounds is a lengthy prison sentence, if you survive. The guards are armed, you know, and authorised to fire when they identify a threat. An unauthorised firearm is a threat.

They want you to fire your weapon when ordered to do so, and only when ordered to do so. Unless given that order, you don’t even have access to your weapon.

A pen knife, possibly. Extra supplies – food, yes. Nothing else. Protective gear – buster, you dress in the uniform issued, nothing else is allowed to be visible (so you’re allowed your own underwear). Ammunition – see above re. “identify a threat”.

The military take weapons seriously. It’s dangerous stuff, and they don’t want them fired except under strictly controlled circumstances.

And during my year in the Army, I did, in fact, not even once see an armed officer. Unless you count the Captain’s ceremonial sabre, which he dismissed, along with his entire parade uniform, as a “bloody spectacle”.

Legit

Why do some rich people act like they’re poor?

I have a friend that makes $200,000,000 annually. He lives in a $3,000,000 house that he probably paid $1,200,000 for. He drives a five year old Toyota. (He owns and runs a fund…was voted the best in the world at his profession not too long ago)

I have a friend that lives in a $4,000,000 condo downtown. He flies in his $17,000,000 jet and drives a $2,000 old pickup truck to his $60,000,000 ranch. (He sold his business to a bank/insurance company for huge money and has grown his wealth rapidly since the sale)

I know of another extremely wealthy family that when we took our kids to get treats after an event, their kids would ask for toppings on their ice cream. The mom kindly told her children, “no, we don’t spurge like that”. I thought, “what?” You own the entire mall that we are eating ice cream in. (He owns malls and resorts globally)

I don’t know of any that live like they are poor, they just live well within their means. They have different financial priorities than many people.

Organism 46B

Check this one out…

How can I find out who’s stealing my lunch from the office fridge?

I hope you like really hot, spicy food. Pack up some tasty leftover meat, veggies and rice or potatoes in a take- out tub – then add a full quarter cup of Tabasco, Psycho Bitch or Dave’s Killer hot sauce to it. People usually have a pretty good idea of who is stealing their lunches so, when the suspect heads for the lunchroom, follow them, hang around nearby and wait for the fun to begin. (Hot sauce is food, so you can’t be accused of trying to poison your co-worker.)

Use the system

What happened that made you walk out of the courtroom and think, “That did not just happen”?

I was being tried on a driving charge (i.e.. “recklessly causing an accident”).

Where I live, people being tried for “minor” offences will be assigned a common courtroom (i.e., Courtroom 335 12PM July 5, 1923).

I was in my courtroom waiting for my trial to begin when I was approached by an officer and asked to leave the courtroom.

In the hallway, I was told to go to another courtroom (no explanation).

The other courtroom was practically empty. A judge sat on the bench, one suit was standing behind the crown’s desk and one suit was standing behind the defense’s desk. Court reporters were present.

I was urged to stand at the defense’s desk and, at that point, I accepted the suit standing at the defense’s desk as my legal representative.

When I got to the desk, there was a short conversation between the judge and the suits. It took about a minute (maybe less).

And then I was told that I was “Free to go”.

And everybody just left the courtroom.

PS: The “accident” was, I think, a fraud. By the time I got to trial, nobody cared (and not even the police showed up to swear evidence … nobody in that courtroom was involved, in any way, with the case).

Non-verbal

I was fired 3 days ago out of nowhere after 5 years. Now, the CEO emails me that my job has been “re-instated”, but when I come back, I will get a warning for “low performance”. What can I do?

I was “constructively dismissed” by a new owner. I was offering my opinion as a good manager should and was told “shut up, sit down and do what I say; or leave”. To everyone else’s dismay, I left; I was off the property less than an hour later.

About two weeks later, I received a call from the controller desparately asking me for the admin passwords for the company’s mainframe (I was the one and only “unofficial” IT administrator for about three years) as it had crashed. I told him I couldn’t help him as my current employment contract prohibits me from directly assisting them (within 1/2 hour of driving off the lot and calling my wife to tell her I had left, I had already received calls from three competitors offering me a job. I had accepted an offer with their biggest rival); but that he could try contacting my current employer to “purchase” my services (there was no such condition, but I reported the contact to my current employer who was ecstatically happy to play along). They did, and was charged $5,000 for my single visit of less than an hour; to type in the master password and let them change it (1/2 of that fee was paid to me as a bonus).

I later found out that my former employer also had to pay over $20,000 in OT to recover the system, as there was no current tape backup. At the time, I was also the only one that was responsible for managing the daily tape backups; specifically inserting a new tape cartridge every morning. There were two daytime receptionists that I had trained to cover for me on my days off and when I went on vacation, but the full-time one was let go only a few days prior to me leaving, and the part-time one had quit in protest of being asked to work 7 days a week until a new full-time one was hired and trained. They had to manually re-enter two weeks of parts invoices and service work orders, while at the same time work off manual invoices and work orders until the system was caught up.

That owner didn’t last long; three years after I left, the franchise agreement was yanked by the manufacturer and the dealership closed permanently.

Karma.

Approach anxiety

What are your tricks to start a conversation with a stranger?

Are you sure you’re ready for my answer?

Because talking to a stranger is actually easier than you think it is.

Commit to the five seconds rule – my personal ace in the hole. I approached 100 women in 40 days with this trick. All it involves is that you make a decision on the first five seconds of seeing the stranger whether you are approaching or not. At first, I kept saying no, not yet, next time and then one day I just said fuck it! I’m doing this and I did. Don’t ask me how it turned out.
Use the universal opener and stop thinking – yes our mind is the great storyteller and a perfectionist one at that. If you give yourself too much time to think, you will end up not approaching the stranger so do what I did. Use the universal opener. It’s something called Hello. I think you’ve heard about it.
Avoid the alpha male trap – I know some people will tell you dress up, look cool, beef up and hold a wine glass standing by the corner, that advice is the worse shit in the world. It’s what I call the alpha male trap, feeling so confident in yourself that you don’t wanna talk with anyone and you expect them to feel your vibe and gravitate towards you. Avoid practicing this, calm down! Relax and smile when you are out there.
Open up! – still on the same point. Avoid closing up your body language by holding something in front of you such as your phone or glass bottle. Make sure in social settings, your body is open and you appear calm and relaxed. Please don’t ever approach anyone with the wrong body language. Research shows we process body language faster than sounds(as little as 0.2sec).
Smile like a lotto winner – one crazy genius called Ralph Waldo Emerson made the great statement that “the whole world loves a lover”, damn but he was right. The key to people’s heart is positivity if you are not aware. You just have to know that most people are not comfortable with meeting new people. So you have to put their minds to rest that you’re harmless and you want nothing but a good nice conversation. Smiling and exuding positivity does this perfectly.
Ask for the name and use it – I read this in Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends & Influence People, and it has never failed me. When you meet a stranger, make sure you get the name and use it repeatedly in the first conversation.
Watch comedy shows – apart from the added benefit of this improving your overall life happiness exponentially, this will add a funny tint to your conversations. People love humor you know.
Observe the rules – the thing about social situations is that there are no universal rules anywhere. How you should behave depends on where you are – you have to behave differently in a church compared to a networking party. The Super trick is to take some time to observe how people are acting around you, are if they are being upbeat or cool headed. Don’t bring noise into a cool environment or calm into a sizzling energetic room. Observe the rules and play by them. Then you win!
Go radical truth on them – out of those 100 women I approached, the ones who became my closest friends were those I went total truth on. Here’s what I mean; I approach them and said hello, then told them I’m a shy guy on a mission to approach 100 girls to build his confidence and that she is my number 41. This perks them up and they usually laugh, then they look at my face, see that I am serious and then we have a wonderful conversation and I always get their numbers. Crazy, right?
Guess – a lot of strangers are really not cool with you offloading a truckload of questions on them. They close up quickly and excuse themselves and that’s why I use guessing at times. I read about it in a blog post that I can’t really remember. It goes like this – during the conversation, instead of asking “where are you from”, observe them and say something like “you look like a new yorker”. Or instead of “what do you do”, say “something tells me you’re a fun person” or “something tells me you stay indoors a lot”. You get the Gist already.
Prepare to be human – I still approach women and get rejected, I still try to make friends on the bus, parties, church, etc, and get rubbed on. You just have to be ready for being a human, not everyone is going to like you or want to talk to you. Accept this and when the time comes that someone rejects you, remember that it’s normal and go find someone else to talk to.

This is my show

What is the most dangerous thing you’ve found in your backyard?

Several years ago, I was on the ladder working on the roof of my shed. Off in the distance there were some people shooting. This is common here as I live in the South (of America). Most people around are fairly safe with their practice shooting. While on the ladder, I heard what sounded like a hummingbird fly by. I looked around for him/her and couldn’t find it. I heard another and another. It dawned on me that these were not hummingbirds, but bullets. I got off the ladder, and yelled as loud as I could that they were shooting towards my house. A few more shots and I went inside and called the sheriff department to go by and tell them they were shooting at my house. I waited a couple hours and heard the shots again. I got in the truck, drove around to the property behind mine and pulled up. The guy and some friends were out shooting targets. I introduced myself and we talked a bit about guns. Then I pointed out that behind their fence was my house about 500 yrs through the woods. I had been up on a ladder and several of their rounds had come near me. They were horrified. I told them to point toward the sand plant since it was closed on the weekend or build a berm to shoot into. they apologized and changed where they were shooting.

What is a stand you took during your wedding planning that you will never apologize for?

I’m Jewish and was marrying a Roman Catholic woman. My parents were vehemently against it, but they also demanded that it be a civil ceremony. My bride wanted the church wedding.

I told her if she wanted the church wedding, that’s what we’ll do. I was not really practicing Jewish traditions, I wasn’t going to synagogue, I routinely worked on Saturdays if my job called for it, and didn’t keep kosher. In fact, since leaving my parents’ home at age 20, I had eaten a cheeseburger for the first time in my life, and had a milk shake along with it!

My parents tried to pressure me to pressure her to at least make it a civil ceremony. I had never even discussed it with her. I told them I would ask, but if she said she wanted the church wedding, then that was the way it would be. They told me they were severing all communication with me. I told them that was okay. They were north of 60 and 70, and living across the ocean, so I replied that I would have to get used to not having them around eventually and I might as well start.

I never backed down, and never regretted it. It set the tone for our future dealings. They knew I was immune to any bullying or any pressure they could bring to bear. If they wanted me to do something, they were going to have to be reasonable and try to convince me with valid argument and not arbitrary stubbornness.

Very interesting …

Would you feel uncomfortable at your in-laws’ home on Christmas when everyone has gifts to open except for you?

I have actually been through this.

I married into a family that is very pretenious.

My husband is more approachable than they are, more down to earth.

We married in our 40’s after failed marriages, so we had a civil wedding with my step kids as our witnesses. They were excited to have me in their family, and I was happy to be their stepmom.

He rarely spoke of the rest of his family and I didn’t meet them until after we were married.

I moved to his hometown which was an hour away and where the family lives.

I was a wreck when Christmas rolled around. The few encounters I had with these people were not welcoming. In fact, they completely ignored me.

I went shopping with my husband to buy gifts for everyone, and the spirit of Christmas eased my fears.

When we arrived I felt the chill. I spoke directly to several people and they didn’t acknowledge me in any way.

So, with my Christmas spirit extinguished, I reluctantly sat by the Christmas tree to open gifts.

After the presents were all passed out, I sat and tried to not act surprised by not having anything to open.

In reality, I was totally embarrassed and fighting back the tears.

My family always bought a few extra gifts in case someone unexpectedly joined us.

I wasn’t expecting much, but I never dreamed they would be so rude.

I never would have gone had I known.

In 1944

What are some good habits to follow?

In no particular order:

Floss before going to bed. To ensure that you don’t have junk stewing in your teeth for 8 hours.
Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
Perform kegels every day. Read more on why this is awesome.
“Eat the frog”. Write down 1 task that you must absolutely perform in order for the day to be a success, and do it first when you get to work.
Send 1 call/text/email to an old friend or colleague that you haven’t spoken with in a while. Over one year, that adds up to 365 reignited relationships (or 61 relationships reignited six times apiece).
End the day with fewer emails in your inbox than you started with. Repeat until you get to inbox zero.
Give away / donate one item in your household every single day. Repeat until you have an uncluttered, restful home.
Answer one question on Quora per day. Work on your writing ability while contributing to the organization of the world’s knowledge.
Walk to and from work, if possible. Exercise! Sunshine!
Eat at least one fruit or vegetable each day. Sure, you should probably eat a half-dozen servings of each. But things can get really screwed up when you are eating zero fruits and veggies. Start small and be consistent.
Express gratitude. My days go so much smoother when I remind myself: “dude, you could just as easily have been born in a Sudanese refugee camp. You’re one lucky mo-fo.”
Spend at least 20 minutes reading something that is completely unrelated to your career (or “personal development”). Creative thinking requires varied inputs. If you have monofocus (e.g. only read about startups all day), you’re severely limiting the amount of interesting ideas you can come up with.
Get uncomfortable at least 1x per day (ideally 3x or 5x). By “get uncomfortable” I mean “summon the courage to do something that makes you anxious”. Speak up during the work conference call. Say hi to the pretty girl or fella standing next to you in line. Run 4 miles instead of 3. Et cetera. Remember: “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair

Polenta with Cheese (Mamaliga — Rumania)

Ingredients

1 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup water
3 1/4 cups boiling water
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup shredded Swiss or Kashkaval cheese

Instructions

Mix cornmeal and 3/4 cup water in 2-quart saucepan. Stir in 3 1/4 cups water and the salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils; reduce heat. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.
Remove from heat; stir until smooth. Spread 1/3 of the mixture in greased 1 1/2-quart casserole. Dot with 1/3 of the butter; sprinkle with 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese. Repeat twice. Sprinkle with Swiss cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F until hot and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes.

Fried Cornmeal Mush

Omit butter and the grated Parmesan and Swiss cheeses. After cooking 10 minutes, spread in greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 12 hours. Invert pan to unmold; cut into 1/2-inch slices.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter in skillet until melted. Coat slices with flour; cook uncovered in butter over low heat until brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Serve with molasses, jam, maple syrup or sour cream if desired.

The aluminum foil attired world line traveler

One of my Patreon videos. Enjoy.

You can’t fix stupid

People can be odd sometimes. I wish to relate a story that took place a few decades ago. At this point in time I was sponsoring some Americans to visit some factories in China, and this group of four guys were all pretty nice. But one of them was a gnarly cuss who insisted on not eating ANY Chinese food while he was in China.

Instead, he wanted no part of the Business KTV lifestyle, food, friendships and was generally a royal pain in the ass. He insisted that no one smoke at the table… (WTF? this is China), and that we go to a grocery store to get cereal and milk so that he can have a “safe” breakfast in his room.

OK. Different strokes for different folks. I get it.

Anyways, Instead of eating at the many, many delicious restaurants for dinners, he convinced everyone to eat a McDonald’s, Pizza-hut, KFC and Burger king instead. And I begrudgingly allowed it. That was, until the last day.

There we took him to a steak restaurant, and we all ordered steaks.

It was a nice Western style place, and they were known for their decent steaks and fine dining atmosphere. Everyone loved the decor and the food looked great. We all sat down and placed our orders.

Imagine my surprise when he received a fine filet Mignon, and then promptly drowned it in ketchup. It went from this…

To this…

tomato ketchup 1024x576 1 — tomato ketchup 1024×576 1

You couldn’t even find the meat under all the ketchup. I couldn’t believe it. Thinking about it now, and again… I still am incredulous. Jeeze! Louise!

…

Ah.

You can’t fix stupid.

Todays…

What is an experience you had at a gas station you’ll never forget?

In 1971 the 18 year old me worked 10 hours a night 7 nights a week overnight pumping 29 cent a gallon gas at an Exon station on Highway 14 near Los Angeles. An endless parade rolled through every night.

The cult bus from up the canyon gassed up heading for LA to recruit and gassed again coming back with newbies. The cult escapees on foot stopped for food or directions.

My usual directions to lost drivers was “you can’t get there from hear” with a smart-ass grin. One time the person just said Ok and left quickly. I guess they went somewhere you could get there from!

I had an endless supply of free food from the catering trucks fueling up. Newspapers, donuts, bread and more.

Guest appearances by two dozen of the Galluping Goose Motorcycle Club (Google them) swarming the stations islands was interesting. A sheriff car chase through the station code 3 was entertaining. You never knew what was next.

The problem was I tried to go to the local junior college full time and slept a bit in the morning and a bit at night. Zombies had nothing on me. Mom wpuld tell me the time, day and where I needed to go when I woke up.

One night, around 3am I was leaning against the front of the station waiting for the next car and noticed three dollars sticking out of my shirt pocket. A customer had filled up and paid while I slept standing up!

I took it as a clue that I should retire and joined the Air Force.

But I came away with so many great stories 🙂

Memnon of Rhodes (died 333 BC)

Memnon was a Greek soldier from the island of Rhodes in the southeastern Aegean Sea. He was born around 380 BC and entered Persian service at a young age. His first patron was Artabazus, the satrap of Phrygia, who married Memnon to his daughter Barsine, a beautiful and well-educated woman. The Greek soldier proved his worth during Artabazus’ revolt against King Artaxerxes III of Persia; at some point, he even rescued his captured father-in-law.

When Artabazus fled to Macedon, Memnon followed him. He stayed there for about five years and gained valuable inside knowledge. He met the then king, Philip II, and his son, the future Alexander the Great — he had supposedly lengthy discussions with the latter. He studied the Macedonian tactics and realized how keen on invading Persia Philip was. He also understood how precarious the Macedonian hold on southern Greece was — Greek unity wasn’t deep yet.

All this theoretical knowledge was soon combined with practical experience. Memnon fought with considerable success against general Parmenion, whom Philip II sent on an expedition shortly before his own death. Thus, Memnon was the perfect man to lead the Persian defense when Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont in 334 BC. Indeed, he sat at the war council of Darius III along with Persian satraps and other high-ranking officials.

Memnon proposed a dual approach. First, the Persians were to follow a scorched-earth policy: burn the crops before Alexander’s army and constantly retreat instead of opt for an open, pitched battle. Second, using money and diplomacy, they should cause as much unrest as possible in Greece, behind Alexander’s back. It was a careful and well-thought strategy, because the Greek armor, training and battle tactics were superior to those of the Persians.

Darius and his satraps didn’t agree with Memnon. They were unwilling to destroy Persian land, believed it would be below them to not fight openly against the invader and possibly hesitated to follow the advice of a Greek. Thus, they assembled an army behind the river Granicus and waited for a battle that eventually took place in May 334 BC. Memnon was one of the leaders of the left flank, opposite Alexander. Reality proved him correct: Alexander won.

After the battle, Darius changed his mind. He made Memnon supreme commander of the West and gave him the authority to carry out his initial plan. Although several Anatolian cities surrendered to Alexander, others like Miletus and Halicarnassus resisted, and that could wear out the invading army. Memnon didn’t care how many individual victories Alexander would win; he played the long game and was content with the Greek losses.

Soon, Memnon started his counterattack. Since Alexander’s fleet was not very strong, he attacked the islands of Chios and Lesbos; the first he captured completely, while the latter partly. He also accepted representatives of the Cyclades — with them, he could control the Aegean route. Persian money worked miracles, as it had in the Peloponnesian War. Athens, led by the anti-Macedonian Demosthenes, Sparta and other cities were almost ready to rebel.

In this crucial hour, Alexander’s good fortune prevailed. Memnon got sick and died in 333 BC while besieging Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. The Persian generals, seeing that Alexander was moving slowly, thought he hesitated to face them openly. Thus, they abandoned Memnon’s strategy and pushed for a second direct confrontation. A few months after Memnon’s death, Alexander defeated Darius himself at the battle of Issus. The East was open to him.

It’s always hard to pose What if … ? questions, but Memnon’s plan had many chances of success. His shrewdness, experience and what steps of his plan he managed to carry out before he died show that clearly. If he had forced Alexander to keep advancing slowly and with constant losses, exploited the favorable dynamics at sea and stirred up a major revolt in Greece, the invading army might not have been able to get beyond Asia Minor.

It’s not necessary to get into details about this, but Alexander’s campaign was indeed world-changing. Although he died too early, his conquest set the bases for all sorts of historical developments. Greek became the common language of the new oecumene, the Greek civilization came in closer contact with those of the East — a new era began. Even Rome would later build on Alexander’s legacy. Who knows if any of that would be the case had Memnon lived to execute his plan to the end?

Fun fact: Memnon’s wife, Barsine, was later captured by the Greeks. Alexander made her his concubine, and she bore him a son named Heracles. He was the only child we know Alexander lived long enough to see: his legitimate son by Roxana, Alexander IV, was born a few months after his death. Both Heracles and Alexander were murdered at a young age, victims of the bitter antagonism among Alexander’s generals over his kingdom.

When did you realize your parent was a total badass?

I was 11, and for some reason, I wasn’t at school and with my father when he got word that my older sister had run-away, again.

Dad went to a couple of houses, with me staying in the car. Then, we went to a biker bar. Dad said, “Stay here!” Then, walked into the bar.

Being the brat that I am, I waited briefly, and decided I needed to use the restroom. I walked through the door and spotted my sister on the right at the far end next to the bar. My father was just in front of the door, and to his left were two pool tables, with those low-hanging stained-glass lights over each table.

There were FOUR extremely large biker dudes – right out of central casting. All were much taller than my father, who stood at 5′7″. All four had cue sticks in their hands, and all four began moving.

My father shifted quickly to stand between the two pool tables. The bikers spread-out and one circled back, going behind the rear pool table. Dad grabbed the table light and shoved it violently to sideways, hitting the biker solidly in the face.

Then the guy on the far side of the tables stepped forward, swinging the pool cue like a baseball bat. Dad blocked the cue, gave two punches to the face, grabbed the cue, swiveled it around and punched him with the base of the cue several times to the neck and face.

At this point, the third guy came from behind, and struck Dad viciously in the right kidney, causing a grunt. Nevertheless Dad swiveled around with the cue, hitting the biker on the side of the neck. Then Dad did a little jump and kicked the knee out from under the biker. The crack was audible.

Guy #4, clearly not being bright, tried to do the same trick with the other table light, and missed as Dad ducked beneath, grabbed the biker by his vest and pulled him onto the table, then elbowed him to the throat.

Guy #2, having recovered enough on the far side of the tables, pulled-out a knife and came with a stabbing motion. Dad caught the thrust arm, twisted it with both of his arms, and broke or dislocated the man’s shoulder / arm – again with an audible sound – and a screech from the biker.

#1 guy, face bloodied from the splintered light, put his hands up in a placating gesture and backed away.

#2 guy was on the floor, holding his right arm

#3 guy was on the floor, groaning, and holding his leg, which was bent in an odd manner.

#4 guy was gasping for breath, on hands-and-knees on the floor.

At this point, the bartender started rummaging around under the bar for something, and Dad said, “She’s 14 years old.”

The bartender stood up, backed away from my sister, next to the wall and put his hands up.

Then we went home.

Please note, that while Dad was quite powerful, and lifted weights, with biceps that split shirts – he also had a bad right leg, and was only 5′7″.

Is it possible that the Apollo 11 ascent stage is still orbiting the moon?

Interesting question and it might be.

You see, the ascent stage was the part of the Eagle lunar module that blasted off from the moon’s surface on July 21, 1969, carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin back to the command module Columbia.

After they docked, they jettisoned the ascent stage into space, leaving it in a retrograde orbit about 125 kilometers above the lunar equator.

NASA assumed that this orbit was unstable and that the ascent stage would eventually crash into the moon.

But a new analysis by James Meador, an independent researcher at Caltech, suggests otherwise.

He used a NASA tool called the General Mission Analysis Tool to simulate the trajectory of the ascent stage using data from GRAIL, a mission that mapped the moon’s gravitational field in 2012.

He found that all of his simulations showed the ascent stage maintaining a steady orbit for over 50 years, despite the influence of the sun, other planets and solar radiation.

Of course, there are other factors that could have affected the fate of the ascent stage, such as fuel leakage or explosion, but Meador thinks that there is some possibility that it is still up there and might even be detectable from Earth.

How cool is that?

But don’t get too excited yet.

This is just one study and it has not been peer-reviewed or confirmed by other sources.

Meador himself admits that his analysis has limitations and uncertainties.

He also says that finding the ascent stage would require a lot of effort and resources from NASA or other agencies.

So, for now, we can only speculate and hope that one day we will know for sure what happened to the ascent stage of Apollo 11.

Maybe it is still orbiting the moon as a silent witness to one of humanity’s greatest achievements.

Or maybe it has already crashed and become part of the lunar landscape.

Either way, it is a fascinating piece of history that deserves our attention and respect.

More Info:

– Long-term Orbit Stability of the Apollo 11 Eagle Lunar Module Ascent Stage

What is a stand you took during your wedding planning that you will never apologize for?

I was 32 when I got married and had been on my own, building a career and supporting myself for 10 years. I refused to be “given away” because no one “owned” me. So, I told the officiant to eliminate the line where they ask who’s giving me in marriage. My dad simply escorted me down the aisle, sat down beside my mom and I joined my husband.

I’d attended and been in enough weddings by this time to have very definite ideas about what I did and didn’t like. So, I also made the following changes to the reception. When I was planning our wedding, all kinds of people told me I “had to do all this stuff because it was ‘tradition.” I said, “NOPE!”

No long wait between the ceremony and the reception – The photographer took a few pictures of me and my husband at the church and we arrived at the reception along with the last of the guests. We took the family and wedding party photos after we ate.
No sit-down dinner – I’d been to too many receptions that were ruined by guests banging on their glasses to make the couple kiss. We decided we weren’t trained monkeys that perform on demand and had a cocktail-style reception.
No obnoxious, screaming DJ – We had a guy playing background music on the piano and guests were able to converse without shouting.
No smashing cake in the face – I don’t know who ever decided this was cute, funny or amusing. It’s tacky and an insult to your new spouse, and I didn’t spend hours on my hair and makeup to have it messed up with smeared cake and frosting. As a side note, any DJ who sang “The Bride Cuts the Cake” to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell” would have had the cake smashed in HIS face—by me!
No dollar dance (or anything else that solicits money or gifts) – I subscribe to the old-school view that you don’t ask guests for gifts or money. If someone gives a gift, you should thank them regardless of whether you like it or now, and follow up with a nice note.
No bouquet toss – Some women don’t want to get married. Others recently lost a spouse or are getting over a breakup. They don’t want to be singled out or embarrassed by “well-meaning” guests or insensitive DJs who want to push them into catching the bouquet.
NO GARTER TOSS – I saved the best for last. I ABSOLUTELY REFUSED to do this. The “tame” version always made me uncomfortable, but the way many couples do it nowadays is raunchy, nauseating and disgusting, especially when the groom removes the garter with his teeth! I definitely DO NOT want my new husband or anyone else sticking their head up my dress in front of a hundred people! Maybe I’m just an old fogey or fuddyduddy, but some things should be kept private!

It’s YOUR day. Do what you want and don’t let anyone force you into doing anything that you don’t like or that makes you uncomfortable!

China’s ‘Golden Veil’ To Launch Cruise Missiles For Sneak Attacks

As a doctor or nurse, what is the greatest display of selflessness you have ever witnessed?

During the toxic, soul destroying ICU rotation of residency, we admitted a young lady intubated for a “community acquired pneumonia”. It ended up being acute myeloid leukaemia, and she had to start chemo in ICU.

She turned out to be an incredible, inspiring, resilient and kind soul. She developed every possible complication of chemo, including being septic while having profound pancytopenia (all cell lines down).

During a particularly busy call with multiple sick admissions, she started bleeding (sepsis plus inability to clot), and I remember noticing frank blood in her catheter. At some point after midnight, she weakly summoned me to the bedside. There were tears on her face and I remember they seemed blood stained, which seriously alarmed me.

I thought she was calling me to tell me how sick she felt. But, teary eyed and all, she said, “I’ve been watching you…you’re having such a hard evening. Are you okay?”

Here was this woman battling for her life, and she had enough compassion left over to care for me. I thanked her, told her to please not worry because she/they were the only priorities.

Then I went into the bathroom, bawled my eyes out, put my game face back on and got back to work. People like that make everything worthwhile.

I’m glad to say she survived and was discharged from hospital several months later, but my colleague who managed her after she was discharged from ICU said it all took its toll and she was a shadow of her former self.

I still think of her. I hope life gave her her flowers, because she deserved everything.

Have you ever had a neighbor who believed they had free reign of your property?

Many years ago we moved into a house where the garden had two gates, a small one at the back and the front double gate which gave access for the car. I was amazed to see people idly strolling through our garden one day with their dog. I went out and challenged them and they said they’d been doing it for years. The previous owner let them use his garden as a short cut to the shop instead of having to walk round past the church.

I said it had to stop now. We had a young child and I didn’t want to risk total strangers coming into the garden. Besides which we had two dogs at the time and although they were not dangerous I didn’t want to risk them getting involved with trespassers. As a child I discovered that people tell lies and they can report that your dog attacked them even if it didn’t.

We put a lock on the gate, and a notice saying Private Property. Keep out. We had no end of abuse from people. The one who really stunned me was the one who said they picked the apples and other fruit every year, it was their right, and now we were stopping them from doing it. The woman even said the fruit wasn’t ours because the trees weren’t planted by us, they’d been there for years.

We only lived there a few years. We didn’t like the weird neighbours so we moved.

Men are Avoiding Marriage and Modern Women Don’t Get It Ft.

Have you ever had a neighbor who believed they had free reign of your property?

Back in 1993 my first wife and I purchased a house on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Our house was a new construction, we were the first owners, and it was also the last piece of property in the subdivision to be developed. Our right-side neighbors, an elderly couple, had been one of the first residents, moving in back in 1975.

For all the years they had lived there they used our property for extra gardening space, and as a dumping ground for their yard waste. Our one-acre lot was partially wooded, and I found huge piles of branches, leaves, and household trash scattered throughout the woods. Apparent leftovers from these neighbors. No problem, it was pre-existing conditions, so my wife and I just worked to clean up and do our own landscaping.

The problem was, our neighbors didn’t seem to understand they couldn’t use our yard as their private dump anymore. We woke up one morning several months after moving in, and discovered a huge mound of leaves, branches, and other yard waste right in the middle of lawn area in our backyard. Trying to be polite and “get-along,” I talked to the guy and explained they couldn’t use our yard as a dumping ground. he agreed to remove it. His method of “removal” was to just torch the pile and burn it. No fire permit, no warning to us, and he left a big burn scar in the lawn.

We let this go, which turned out to be a big mistake. For the next several years, we would periodically discover piles of yard waste in our yard. The lady next door would simply clean up her yard, and haul everything over into our yard. She would always haul this waste over during the night, or times when my wife and I were both gone. No amount of complaints would change her behavior, and her husband would openly avoid us.

After nearly five years of this, my wife and I had enough. After finding yet another pile of yard waste, I called the police and filed a trespassing complaint against my neighbor. In Mississippi, this was a misdemeanor and so I had to go to night court to testify in support of my charge.

The night of our court hearing, the judge had my wife wait outside the courtroom while I testified first. The night court prosecutor and judge were pretty hostile to me during their questioning. Extremely hostile. They included comments about how “neighbors were supposed to get along,” and other similar crap. I managed to hold my own during their questioning, then they called in my wife.

The judge asked my wife to explain our reasons for the trespassing charges, and she just lit into the judge with “They have been doing this for five years!” How long should we have to put up with this?” The judge looked shocked, looked at me, said “five years?” and I nodded my head in confirmation.

My wife finally ran down, the judge gave some judge-homily crap about neighbors getting along and ruled against us – no trespassing. One week later we found yet another pile of trash in our yard, and I called the police, again. When they showed up, I explained we had already taken the neighbors to court once, the judge decided this wasn’t trespassing, and now our neighbors did it again. I suggested that possibly if their house accidently burned down, this crap would stop.

The police, not happy with the entire situation, and not happy with my comments, finally took action. They issued our neighbors a “no trespass” order and advised them that if they set foot on our property again, it would be in violation of a police order and they would be charged with a misdemeanor.

We finally had peace. Then a year later the husband lost the house due to gambling debts and they moved away.

Scott Ritter: “US Naval SUPERIORITY IS A MYTH! Our Navy has been exposed in the Red Sea as weak!”

https://youtu.be/hym8EJEibjg

What is the best advice HR gave to you?

Best HR advice I got was two things.

1) Document everything. A journal format is best. Date, time, who, where (desk, hallway, restroom), what, and your impressions. I’m a nerd: I use Excel.

2) Once a year, ask HR to let you see your file. You’d be surprised what random people put in it. I once saw a note from a coworker that said “she used the F word.”

An example of how the advice worked to my advantage. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease after six months of “what the F is wrong?” A couple days later I mentioned it to my immediate supervisor. I asked about partial disability and should I contact HR? She said no no no do not call HR yet. (I thought that odd).

The next day I heard through gossip that layoffs were coming. So I went and copied my HR file a couple days after. Wow, I found that my boss emailed her boss about my diagnosis. Boss’s boss wrote, “Well, she’ll be one of the first to go” and “I won’t let someone faking a disability continue working here.“ It was in there because it had info about work performance for a review due in 4 months. I have no idea why those sentences weren’t redacted.

One week later, I get called to HR. During the “exit interview” she gave me a big envelope. I asked, no, I told her to increase my compensation package by a factor of ten. She said nothing. I said, “I’m getting laid off because I have Lupus, which as you know, is against the Disabilities Act … { long pause }… and I have proof.“ She mumbled, I’ll get back with you before the end of the day.

Packing up my stuff, HR came and gave me the envelope, asked me to sign an NDA. I noticed the final check was not increased. “My lawyerl will contact HR soon. I’m not signing this NDA. Goodbye.”

End of story. I got a settlement with the compensation multiplied by 10. It took almost two years and if not for my journal and the copy of my HR file, it would have been pointless to sue.

Bullied cat is now unrecognizable

Why do some people always act over-modest when in fact they’re extremely talented and brilliant?

Okay, this is something I legit struggle with. When you’re talented, one of the lovely little gifts that gives you is the ability to see the flaws in the things you create.

Like, I’ll have people gush about one of my books and I cringe inside because when I look at it, all I see are the bits I’d fix if I could rewrite it. I read books from people who are better writers than I am, and then I read something I’ve written and I’m painfully aware it’s not as good.

The same was true when I was really into B&W photography. I was dedicated enough to have a darkroom in my house, but that didn’t give me confidence in my own ability, it gave me an acute and sometimes pointed awareness of the gulf separating me from people who are actually talented.

Like, I look at the best thing I’ve ever done, and compare it to the most mediocre thing Robert Mapplethorpe ever produced, and there’s a gap that’s actually more like a chasm.

I have a lot of writers, artists, photographers, and other creatives in my social circle, and pretty much all of them are plagued by this. The ability to create comes with the ability to evaluate your creations, and when you do that, you realize the gulf that separates you from genuine masters.

Online Dating App Creator Regrets What Online Dating has Become

Who is the most unlikely movie star?

I’ll go with my favorite:

Gene Hackman.

He was tall (6′2″) and “manly”, yes. But he was never handsome, even as a young man. More than that, he was expected to be a failure.

He dropped out of high school at 16 and lied about his age to join the Marines, but he didn’t care for military life, having an admitted “problem with authority”. At 21, he moved to New York City, where he bounced from job to job; then, in 1956, when he was 26, he decided to pursue an acting career, something he said he’d dreamed of since watching James Cagney films as a kid in Illinois.

As a teenaged Marine:

Hackman moved to California and joined the Pasadena Playhouse, where he befriended another aspiring young actor, Dustin Hoffman. The two were noted outsiders, and their peers didn’t think much of them — jointly voting them “least likely to succeed”. Hackman also got the lowest score in the Playhouse’s history.

But he was determined to prove them all wrong.

He moved back to New York and took a job as a doorman at a Howard Johnson’s to support himself while taking bit parts here and there. Here he ran into one of his former Playhouse instructors, who told him, “see, Hackman? I told you you wouldn’t amount to anything.”

It was in 1967, at age 37, that he had his breakthrough role as Buck Barrow in “Bonnie and Clyde”, which earned him his first Academy Award nomination. He would be nominated again 3 years later for his against-type performance in “I Never Sang for My Father”, then became a bona fide leading man — and Oscar winner — with his unforgettable turn as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in 1971′s “The French Connection”.

As Popeye Doyle:

He received BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for his performance in “The Conversation” (1974), another Oscar nomination for “Mississippi Burning” in 1988, and won his 2nd Oscar for his brilliant turn as Little Bill Daggett in “Unforgiven” in 1992, while “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001) garnered him the Best Actor Golden Globe.

Two-time Oscar winner:

He retired from acting at age 74 in 2004 to write historical fiction, with 2 Oscars (5 nominations), 4 Golden Globes (8 nominations), and 2 BAFTAs (5 nominations) for his career, in addition to countless other awards.

Not bad for a funny-looking guy whom everyone expected to fail.

Beef Piroshki

Ingredients

1 pound ground round
2 medium onions, chopped
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 tablespoon fresh)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
5 (7 1/2 ounce) cans buttermilk biscuits
1 egg, well beaten

Instructions

In a large skillet, cook ground round, onions, and garlic over medium-high heat, stirring often to break up lumps of meat, until beef has lost its pink color, about 5 minutes. Drain off excess fat. Off heat, stir in hard-boiled egg, sour cream, dill, salt and pepper; let filling cool completely.
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
One can at a time, separate biscuits. On a lightly floured surface roll out each biscuit to a 3 1/2 -inch circle. Place about 1 tablespoon filling in the center of each circle. Fold in half to enclose filling. Press edges with a fork to seal closed. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Brush tops with beaten egg.
Bake piroshki for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Keep unbaked piroshki batches covered with clean kitchen towels.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Baked piroshki can be frozen and kept for up to one month. Thaw and bake as instructed.

What’s the most badass thing anyone ever did in school?

The most badass thing I ever did in grade school was during a Dodgeball game. I was in the 5th grade, 10 years old. Being the competitive little fuck I was, this game made me ever more hyped up than a monkey at a banana buffet.

The teacher chose who went on which side. I ended up going against the class bully and a couple of my friends. The class bully’s name will be Derek. Derek was a mean motherfucker who was fatter than a whale.

But you couldn’t tell it to his face or he’ll make sure to break yours. Derek never really picked on me that much since I usually kept to myself and away from him and his friends. But he did pick on my friend; Mike.

Mike was a full-on geek. Me and him both liked comics and Star Wars, but I kept that geeky side of myself hidden while Mike foolishly waved it around. He was also a very easy target.

I was really fit and tall compared to everyone else in my grade so not many people would try to physically start a fight with me. Simple insults were as far as they’d dare to go.

Mike, however, was really short and frail. You could kick him like a soccer ball if you had the lack of heart to go for it. He was also a super nice kid, so it really hit me in the feels when I saw him getting picked on.

In this Dodgeball game, Mike was on Derek’s side of the field and 2 of Derek’s friends were on mine. The balls we had for that game weren’t your typical soft and airy ones. No, they were all green and red plastic ones.

The plastic shells for these balls were hard and lordbabycheezit’s only knows why they allowed it for a game where the sole purpose of winning was to throw them at other people. Ironically, these were the same balls we used when playing bowling at the school fair.

During the first round, my side won. We also were about to win the second round when Derek burst in anger and started yelling at Mike.

The teacher didn’t do shit, he was busy having his lunch in the gym office. Some people told Derek to keep it down and take a chill pill but that only even made the asshole angrier.

Like it was just Mike’s fault his team was losing. I was surprised that no one had even hit Derek yet seeing that he was so huge, missing him would’ve been an even harder than not.

I guess everyone was afraid of hurting him and getting him angry. Having enough of his shit, I called out his name. He turned his head to face me, looking as if I’d just finished cussing the life out of his mom, “What?”

“Leave Mike alone.”

“Or what?”

I didn’t respond cause my mental response was a nice long essay’s worth of insults and death threats. Yeah that wouldn’t go too well seeing that Derek was also notorious for snitching even more than he was for bitching.

He took the ball that was in his hand and threw it right at me, full force and all. I was about 6 feet away from him and shouldn’t’ve been hard to hit. But just as the ball came this close to hitting me in the face, I tipped my head over to the side so that it’d miss.

My gawd people, it was so close that the air from that thing was brushing against my skin. I’m still impressed with what I did to this very day. Then, while I was getting Oo’s and Ah’s from everyone around me, I turned around and grabbed the ball from the floor.

Derek stood there, dumbstruck. Which makes sense, I was still freaking out then. Not giving him time to recollect and snap out of it, I took the same ball and football-chucked it right in his big ugly face.

Y’all know what came after that cat-in-a-blender scream when it hit him? That’s right; blood. And a whole lot of it. His nose was bleeding so much that his entire shirt was almost completely covered in it.

And he kept crying until the teacher came, furious as to what he saw. “What happened?”

“Leonardo hit me in the face mister! He tried to kill me!”

Ugh, could this soft ass bitch be any more of a drama queen?

“Is that true Leonardo?”

“No sir, if I was trying to kill him then he’d be long gone by now.”

And that was the last time anyone heard of the great DiCrapio. Any questions?

Just kidding. He sent me to the office straight after that, not bothering to listen to my side of the story. Which to be fair, wasn’t a very justifiable side to hear from. I was suspended for a good week and had another week of recess detention after that.

Needless to say, they never picked on Mike again after that. So worth it.

Just fyi, I wouldn’t recommend anyone try this at home cause even though they did leave Mike alone after that, I became enemy number one for Derek. That wasn’t the most fun title to hold.

Oh and he broke my thumb during recess the next month. Yeah, definitely don’t do this. Fuck you Derek, I hope your thumb gets crushed by a million plastic Dodgeballs one day.

Military personnel, what’s the dumbest thing you’ve heard someone in uniform say?

It was a two star general.

I was in the military for two years, just long enough to get the GI Bill. Just a one-striper, nothing much. As luck would have it, I scored very highly on an aptitude test I was given, and I was selected to work in a nuclear facility, as a computer operator. It took nine months (of a two year gig) for me to get a very high security clearance, necessary to handle nuclear weapon related material.

I was involved only at the lowest levels of this, my job included janitorial work, for example, gathering and bringing trash from officers to the furnace (to be burned; all paper and packing trash was burned, none left the building).

Anyway, one day I am filling in, in the computer room, for the tape librarian who is on leave. All data was stored on reel-to-reel magnetic tapes, and the tape librarian, directed by the console operator, brought the tapes in from the “library” (many racks of stored tapes) to mount them on the tape drives. And of course to take down tapes, label them and store them in the library. It’s a fairly continuous process walking back and forth, but not very strenuous for fit soldiers.

On this particular day, the general in charge of our operation had retired, and his two-star replacement was taking a tour of the facilities. He knew absolutely nothing about computers. He was guided by a full bird colonel, that knew a little bit about computers, but was not a very technical type.

When they got to the tape drives, the Colonel tried to explain to the General how they worked, like a voice recorder. The General thought this could be a security risk, because somebody could stand next to a tape drive, and listen in on the data being played, and be privy to nuclear secrets they should not be listening to. That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard.

Everybody in the computer room had all the clearances necessary to do anything or see anything going on in the computer room. You not only cannot hear the binary data, you couldn’t possibly make sense of it if you did, it goes by far too fast and sounds like static if you feed it into a speaker.

The Colonel assured him it was impossible to eavesdrop on the data.

Nevertheless, the following day we had an armed MP guarding the tape drives, and we had to show an ID in order to mount tapes, or take down tapes. Which slowed down operations. And a week later, the MP was gone, and things went back to normal.

Why are many countries investing in China’s growth despite their poor human rights record and their own struggling economies?

How about the whole world!

Human rights and struggling economy is a narratives. Set to demonised China. It don’t work except for Brian dead westerners. That is some 1% of the entire world!

Four out of every five stuff made on the world U.S. made in China! 175 out of the world’s 195 nation on earth has China as their biggest trading partner! And 171 nation support and participated in BRI

Sure racist like this person who ask this question like to ignore facts and listen to narratives like these but even in the west there are very few of them! Do you know, in spite of Donald Trump’s trade war, the U.S. trade 3 times more in 2022 than in 2017 when the trade war began?

So it must make your anger and hate boils but heck some people choose not to think!

What bad experience had you saying “I will never buy from that company or use their service ever again”?

Lowe’s. Went to the store and ordered a GE gas wall kitchen oven with 5 year extended warranty. Not in stock, they had to order it and I had to wait. Because of a unique kitchen cut out and old house, I had few options. I call the store a few times over several weeks to try to get a status update. “Should be coming in soon”. Three months later they call to say GE no longer makes the model. Come in and pick another or get a refund.

I go in, get my refund and decide to do some more research. A few days later I go back to Lowe’s and order a Frigidaire gas wall oven and 5 year warranty. Not in stock, have to pay and wait for it to come in. I do so. About three months later they call to say that model is no longer made. Come in and pick another or come and get a refund.

I go in to get the refund. When they refund me, I notice I did not get refunded the $300 for the 5 year extended warranty. The cashier tells me they don’t give refunds on the warranties in the store. I have to call a special Lowe’s Telephone number to get that refunded separately.

I go home and then spent the next two weeks in automated telephone carousels trying to get to somebody who can orchestrate the refund. Probably spent 40 hours in total on the phone at different times before finally getting somebody. They had no record of the sale so I have to email them all my purchase and refund receipts. I do so. More run around. After a few weeks I get a check in the mail for the refund.

It then occurs to me…did I get a refund on the GE oven extended warranty I ordered first? I go back and look at the receipts and see they did not give me the $300 warranty refund on that one, and I didn’t notice.

Back to the store who tells me I must call the telephone number. Back on the phone trying to get to the right person. Did I mention this telephone number they have me calling has no weekend hours and limited weekday hours? When I do reach someone they have no record of the sale or return so I need to send them all copies of my receipts, which I do. Weeks later, no word. And no response from more hours on the phone. Mostly on hold.

I write a letter and send it through the mail to Lowe’s corporate office. I gave them documentation and photocopies of every single receipt and my timeline of purchases, calls, emails…every interaction, everything. I explain what’s been happening.

A few days later I get a letter from them saying they’d be happy to assist. All I have to do is call this telephone number (the one I’d been calling).

At that point my stomach could no longer bear it and I had to decide if $300 was worth the stress and time. I let it go.

I wouldn’t purchase a nail from Lowe’s ever again.

At that point I searched the internet and found the first GE oven I wanted at Plessers Appliances. I call them. They had five in stock. So the model wasn’t discontinued. I ordered it from a salesperson on the same call on which I confirmed it was in stock. I paid by debit card and it was installed 3 days later.

A true story. No embellishments.

Why didn’t I just go to Plessers to begin with? I didn’t know they existed. Their closest store to me was about 50 miles away in a town I never visit. But more importantly, initially I had no reason to doubt the information Lowe’s gave me about both models being discontinued. I know wall gas ovens are becoming more and more rare, so it seemed possible. And I didn’t want to deal with a gas to electric oven conversion, but that probably would have been the next step. But not with Lowes.

What is the most expensive lesson a company got after firing an employee?

Learned this through shard contacts. When we rented a house a few years back, the landlord was engaged to a very wealthy ex-Pharma sales executive. Roughly 15 or so years ago, this person was working for a major Pharma company selling its patented drugs to doctors. He was making a lot of money. Until one day he stumbled upon evidence that the company was covering up the massive toll of side effects of its drugs. After repeatedly attempting to correct the situation, he was stonewalled. In a good conscience, he couldn’t remain silent as the drugs were affecting people in terrible ways.

Under the Whistleblower Act, he provided the details to Federal agencies, who immediately launched an investigation. His identity was not protected as part of this process, and he very quickly was fired from his high paying job. Worse, he was blackballed across the entire industry. No one would talk to him. No companies would ever hire him. His Pharma, Medical and Sales careers were over. No one would hire him – not for anything. If I recall he was in his mid 30’s. He ended up bankrupt, divorced, lost his home, lost his family. He was utterly destroyed.

After many years of litigation at the highest levels, the company was found liable across a number of areas. The fines imposed on the company were MASSIVE – hundreds of millions of dollars.

As a whistleblower, he was entitled to, and paid a percentage of the fines imposed. I forget the exact number, but he made something like $100 million dollars as a result of ratting on the company’s deadly products. But the cost was….EVERYTHING.

When I learned of this story, the man was in living in the same town/city that we were in, and had a beautiful multi-million dollar waterfront home.

I always wondered if he felt like he would do the same thing again if he knew how things worked out. His life was ruined, literally ruined.

The company, of course, is still in business today. But a fine approaching the better part of a billion dollars has to hurt. A Lot.

China’s LATEST Stealth Aircraft Can Kill US B-21 ‘Raider’ in 1 Second

Have you ever had a neighbor who believed they had free reign of your property?

We had the neighbor from hell. The first day they moved in, he parked his Uhaul on our front yard yo unload. This was a hundred year old house with ceramic water lines. My husband explained that he had to move the truck, and he did.

Then, we had a tree cut down in our fenced back yard. The wood was cut into lengths to burn in a fireplace. I worked that day, and when I came home that night, over half the wood was gone. Every night for months they burned their fire pit. I know he took it.

Next, ghe to,d me he was putting up a privacy fence. As I said, we had a chain link fence already. I explained to him that he needed to put it as close to our fence as possible. The weeds between the fences on our side would be every difficult to remove. Again, I came home from work, and he had put up the fence inside out with the support beams on our side. This left a 8” gap between the fences. Weeds were horribly difficult to reach.

We had a two car parking spot in the back of our houses. No lie, he had a motorcycle trailer, two cars and a trailer parked there. Of course he spilled over his lot. Every time they took the trailer out they moved my garbage can. They never put it back where it belonged. One night I was having a few beers when I heard him come home with the trailer. I grabbed the trash can and held it. He wasn’t going to move it that night. My drinking got the better of me and I went off on how they thought our yard was his to use, and how all the neighbors had had enough of them.

They put their house up for sale that week. Good riddance.

If you can give me only one tip to improve my life, what would it be?

I can’t think of one person who runs and doesn’t have their shit together.

I think it’s because running teaches you how to persist. The entire act of running is to not listen to your body’s urges to stop and to persist instead.
You will also learn how to focus on a singular goal, to keep your legs moving until you reach your destination. The skill of focus is one of the most underrated and misunderstood. Many people think your ability to focus is inborn, but I know from personal experience it’s a skill that we train through out the day.
Running will also make you have more stamina in bed which could lead to you landing the wife or husband you want.
Running also tends to weed out bad habits like smoking because it’s so difficult to run and to keep smoking.
Also when you travel, you will get a intimate view of the city because you will know what it’s like to see the city on foot.
You will also be able to learn things because podcasts and books are some of the best things to listen to while you are on a long run.
Also runners tend to eat healthier which helps them lose weight and have good skin. I know I don’t like eating fried food if I’m going to be running later because I will feel sluggish.
When you run you also feel very confident because you will feel like you are becoming a stronger person.
Finally, you should run, because one day, you won’t be able to.

Have you ever had a neighbor who believed they had free reign of your property?

Yes after buying new property in a rural area. The neighbor behind us kept letting the family ride off road four-wheelers on our property as we did not have a fence between us and we did not live there yet. As I was building our new house and shop we saw the kids riding across our property again, I drove to top of hill where they were and asked them not to keep coming across the property line that was surveyed and marked. They apologized and said they thought it was their grandparents property. I thanked them and told them my insurance would not allow other people to drive on my property, if they got hurt I could get sued.

No problem I thought all was well. I keep getting other neighbors calling and saying people are still driving all over our property when we aren’t there. So the next week we see an adult with a small child again riding on our property. Again I drive up the hill and park in the middle of the trail so when he comes back he has to stop. When he does, I again ask to stop trespassing as I have also told his kids before. He said they are just puttering along slow and not hurting anything. And he drives off. Now I’m mad. So my employees start a new (nice) fence the next day. A week later all employees are working on new house (I’m in construction) and one employee says “hey there’s that rude guy on the four-wheeler at the top on the hill”. We all stopped working and run over to look, he is stopped (standing on top of his seat) on the trail by a large barbedwire fence looking all the way down both sides on the mountain at a new long fence. We laughed for about 10 minutes. He had that look like how did this get here. Sad thing is we would have let the kids ride on our property if they had just asked nice. But we didn’t even know their names. We had miles of trails all over the place.

How did you get revenge on a co-worker who stole credit for your work?

I never seek revenge.

In the 1980s, I had a co-worker who presented my craft work as her own. At that point, I just sat back and watched, I knew things were going to be entertaining.

My manager was so very pleased with the job my co-worker claimed as her own. When my manager asked my co-worker to show her how she had done the job; my co-worker was at a complete loss on what to do. My manager tried to assist my co-worker by asking “how did you start, what was your first idea?”

My co-worker had no idea about how I had created the project as I had completed it at home. After about an hour of trying to figure out how to dismantle my work; my co-worker had to admit that she hadn’t created the project at all. She also admitted that she had taken it from off my desk.

My manager was not amused by my co-worker. When she came to my desk; I was just smiling a little smile. My manager asked me why I hadn’t defended my project and claimed my work. Then she answered her own question; that my work spoke for itself.

Have you ever had a neighbor who believed they had free reign of your property?

Not I, but my brother.

When my brother was ready to buy a home, he instead went the custom-built route: our parents divided their five-acre lot so he could build next door.

Both homes were perched on top of an almost-mountain hill, looking over the valley. Pretty amazing view.

For whatever reason I’m unaware of, my brother ended up with a two-acre L-shaped lot; basically, he ended up with his front and back yards and a narrow strip at the rear of our parents’ backyard next door. I think it may have been so my brother could own and maintain the wire suicide fence that prevented any accidental tumbling into the valley below, so our parents wouldn’t have to. Yeah, the hill slope was that steep; it was basically a grassy cliff.

Then my mother’s husband passed away, leaving her to rattle around her huge home by herself. Empty nesting, the property became too much for her to care for and she put it on the market.

My brother, having foreseen this, had included a mother’s suite when he built his home. Practically an independent apartment on the first floor next to the garage, with its own kitchen and bath and a private entrance and my brother’s living space on the second floor upstairs. Absolutely no issues with Mom moving in next door to live with my brother while she was trying to sell.

The people she eventually agreed to sell to were not fun even during the real estate transaction process. They moaned and whined and nickel and dimed but they got her house and moved in. Long story short, this couple proved to be assholes before they even signed the contract, and that certainly didn’t change when the house was theirs. They promptly began tearing out everything to renovate.

Including the yard. Twenty years’ worth of plantings; Mom’s beloved gardens and flower beds, shrubs and fruit trees, ruthlessly removed to accommodate an unending sea of grass. Mom said nothing of course but she was sick.

My brother suggested that she replant a new garden. Together, they spent the time and money to plant roses and fruit trees along the suicide fence on that strip of land that was too narrow to accommodate anything else.

My brother returned from work one afternoon to discover that the new neighbors had crossed the property line to dig up and chainsaw everything my brother and my mother had planted. When questioned, the neighbor explained he wanted nothing but grass in the backyard. He wanted an unobstructed view of the valley below.

Furious, my brother explained that that strip of land was not part of the neighbor’s backyard and that he didn’t consider two dwarf fruit trees to be obscuring the view, but even if they did, the neighbor did not have the right to trespass or to tear them out of property he didn’t own. The plants had cost in both time and money. Neighbor refused to pay for the damages.

It was not worth it to bother with the time and expense of small claims court. But Mom had already been complaining that every time she stepped into the yard or the driveway, the nosy neighbors were watching her, and that they were able to view the interior of my brother’s home through windows visible from their side of the property line. Mom was feeling paranoid and upset.

My brother erected an 8-foot-high wooden fence that completely surrounded his L-shaped lot and its driveway. Including both along the suicide fence at the rear of the property and the property line that separated that narrow strip from the neighbor’s backyard. When the driveway gate is closed, the only thing visible from outside the fence is the roof of the house and a couple of treetops.

My brother further installed a length of decorative metal fence with a fairy gate to separate that narrow strip from his own backyard. Mom ended up with a “hidden” garden that over the years was equipped with concrete benches, bird houses and a bath, a fountain, lawn toys. They planted fruit trees, grapes, roses, flowers, a vegetable patch, butterfly bushes. You couldn’t see the valley from Mom’s fairy garden for the wooden fence, but no nosy destructive neighbors could see her, either. She puttered away hours in there; she loved it.

Instead of two fruit trees and some rose bushes, now the new neighbors had not one but two runs of eight-foot-high wooden fence between their house and the view. The view from their property is completely gone. Short of climbing a ladder to sit on the roof, there is nothing they can do about it.

And whenever my mom wants, the valley and their neighbors’ yard are visible from my brother’s living room and back deck, upstairs from her mother’s suite. Sometimes they barbecue up there.

Oh, and they got a half-dozen egg-laying pet chickens. The rooster is pretty loud at 5am. That’s how my brother knows it’s time to get up and get ready for work.

We don’t know what the rooster wakes the nosy neighbors up for.

The fantasy of the Philippines has been completely shattered, the situation in the South China Sea has been clarified, and the mysterious “sonic weapon” has appeared!

Just this morning, I woke up and saw the news. After the Philippines illegally invaded my country’s Scarborough Shoal. Philippine control began to “collapse” with my country’s law enforcement ships on Ren’ai Reef, which was met with professional restraint by my country.

First of all, as for the recent provocations by the Philippines, it is obvious that the United States is behind it. Without the support of the United States, the Philippines would not dare to come and make noise. China is dismantling the “island chains” deployed by the United States in the Asia-Pacific region one by one, and breaking through the “containment” of the United States at a rapid speed.

That article was a paper written by an expert from the University of Defense Technology, which roughly revealed that our country has accelerated its development in close-air combat in recent years, and has also established a near-air command equipped with a variety of hypersonic weapons units.

Everyone knows that our country is ahead of the United States in the research and development of hypersonic missiles. We not only have a mature and complete offensive weapon system, but also a strong and powerful defense system.

The emergence of the Near Air Command today obviously tells the United States that it is no longer possible for the United States to “cover the sky with one hand” in the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, he also warned the United States not to have any illusions on the Taiwan issue or the situation in the South China Sea.

Looking back, the United States naturally does not want us to develop more and more stable long-range missiles and hypersonic missiles, so it will let the Philippines come over from time to time to stir up trouble.

After all, what the United States wants is to involve us in the war, then contain our development, and turn the South China Sea into the next “Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.” But what makes the United States even more unexpected today is that we will not dispatch hypersonic missiles to deal with the tiny Philippines.

Instead, a brand new “attack weapon” was released, which was the mysterious sonic weapon!

Since the Philippines continues to invade our country’s islands and reefs and frequently come to cause trouble, our country’s new coast guard ships are equipped with a series of self-defense weapons to strengthen the defense capabilities of maritime law enforcement.

Of course, in the face of repeated troubles from the Philippines, we still maintain the rationality we should have to avoid falling into the trap of the United States, so we usually use some high-pressure water cannons to achieve the effect of driving away the Philippines.

But this time, in the face of the collision with the Philippines, our country has released a brand-new weapon, which is the long-range directional acoustic wave repellent device. This “acoustic weapon” can be said to be specially designed to deal with the Philippines!

Because this remote directional sound wave driving device can release a sound of 160 decibels, which is 60 higher than the human body’s tolerance range (100 decibels).

This weapon can be used for “sonic bombing” from a distance of 3 kilometers.

You know, this time the Philippines dispatched 40 small fishing boats, multiple coast guard ships, and official ships to form the so-called “Christmas Fleet” in an attempt to invade my country’s islands and reefs in an attempt to create large-scale chaos.

In that case, we will directly release the “sonic weapons” to give them a “Christmas atmosphere boost”!

Maybe many people don’t have much idea about this 60 decibels.

The human body is originally very sensitive to external sounds. The sound of two people communicating normally is about 20 decibels. But if a large car passes by and honks its horn, the decibels will reach 50, and the ears will instantly “buzz”. Once it exceeds 100 decibels, it will cause great damage to the ears, and may even lead to temporary “deafness”.

Moreover, this kind of directional sound wave repellent weapon can focus 150 decibels of noise, and then adjust the angle to directionally project it onto the enemy’s ship. As a result, all the Philippine ships can do is to leave quickly with their tail between their legs…

In fact, the Philippines still does not understand the situation in the South China Sea today. We have already firmly grasped the overall situation.

If nothing else, in the past two years, our navy has laid a “drag net” on Mischief Reef, Ren’ai Reef and other islands and reefs, and assembled the largest naval formation in recent years.

There are 052D guided missile destroyer, 052C guided missile destroyer, 053HC guided missile frigate, 056A guided missile frigate, 072 tank landing ship, 022 high-speed missile boat…

All in all, the current situation in the South China Sea is very clear: ASEAN countries have clearly seen the true face of the United States and know that the Philippines is a pawn of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region.

Author note : China is a country when you do something anti China you will lose the disputed territory to China, it happened to India, it happened to Japan now the Diao Yu Island is in China control. A lot of countries has demarcated border with China Russia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Nepal, Kazakhstan.

Has anyone at your workplace ever been fired for something they said or did?

Yes. Leanne. A rather entitled millennial who thought the sun shone from somewhere it didn’t. She told her manager to F-off.

She was put into a tech assistant role, supporting George, a category manager who had been working for the company close to 50 years. He actually retired when he hit 50 years service – he was 72 at the time. After retirement, he stuck around part time for a few years as a consultant too – he was that knowledgeable, and important to the business.

Anyway, what George didn’t know wasn’t worth knowing. He could tell you the names of staff going back to the early 70s. He could also tell you when something was made obsolete, and what replaced it. He was a walking archive of catalogue information going back to before I was born. If you couldn’t find an answer, George was the one who would know it. He was extremely well respected. He had 2 assistants working under him, doing daily tasks like tenders and quotes, warranty checks, stock orders, and general technical assistance for distributors and customers.

Jovic was a fellow in his mid 30s when I met him. He was George’s protégé, and he had already learnt a lot from George – having worked under him for nearly a decade. His only career plan was to step into George’s role when he retired. He did (and still does) a cracking job.

Leanne was employed a year or so before I came along. She was lazy, and slow to reply to requests for help. Customers complained to both Jovic and George about her. Jovic was growing tired of having to carry Leanne’s shortcomings, and begged George to do something.

George worked out she would be better doing analytic tasks like price increases, manufacturing updates, large pricing tenders, and stock monitoring – so she wouldn’t have to talk to customers anywhere near as much. She was taking a week to do a tender than George could do in a few hours. Admittedly, George could look at a partial part number, or a description, and instantly know the correct number. This took Leanne a lot of time to search. But she was also partial to online shopping, and would spend hours browsing fashion sites. She would also call her friends and spend hours going through fashion websites, deciding what to buy. This was the main reason she was so slack.

George had gone to HR several times about her lack of competence in the role, her time wasting, excessive personal calls etc etc. She was given numerous verbal warnings, and a couple of written ones. She was on thin ice. One afternoon George was frustrated that a deadline was coming up, and she hadn’t started a tender that she’d had for over 2 weeks. He walked up behind her desk to see she was browsing a fashion site, and yapping away on a personal call. He interrupted her and asked her to focus on the tender. Her response “fxxx off George.”

George had never been short with anyone before. So his next outburst was a huge shock to us all. He bellowed (loud enough for whoever was on the other end of her phone to clearly hear it) “That’s it, we’re going up to HR right now. You had your last chance, and you blew it.”

Her response, which was heard right across 60+ people in an open plan office – people who had suddenly become silent after hearing George’s ouburst, was “you can’t sack me you crusty old cxxx. I quit first.”

Because of that retaliation, and the language used, HR refused to give her a reference as she was marched from the building.

George was the most patient guy, but Leanne pushed him way too far. We were all glad to see the back of her.

Jovic has since become “George 2.0” – although his knowledge isn’t as impressive as George, he still has some 25 years to get there.

Chicken with Dill Sauce
(Kurczeta z Sosem Koperkowyn — Poland)

Ingredients

1 (3 to 3 1/2 pound) broiler-fryer chicken, cut up
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup Half-and-Half
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon minced dill weed
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

Heat chicken, water, salt and white pepper to boiling in skillet; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until thickest pieces of chicken are done, 45 to 50 minutes.
Remove chicken; keep warm.
Shake Half-and-Half and flour in tightly covered jar. Stir Half-and-Half mixture, dill weed and lemon juice into pan juices. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; boil and stir 1 minute.
Pour some of the sauce over chicken; serve with remaining sauce and with spaetzle or cooked cauliflower, if desired.

What is the best way to handle rejection?

My partner interviewed for her dream job as a tenured professor at an elite university. It offered generous compensation, and the opportunity to expand her research and educate students on niche subjects she is passionate about. She prepared for a week, doing mock interviews and research. When the day came, she called me after and exclaimed “It went great! I’m sure I will get a follow up interview. I haven’t felt this good about an interview in so long.”

The next day, I was walking downstairs at our home and saw her sitting at the dining room table. She looked glum, so I asked, “How’s it going?”

Without looking up, she said, “I’ve been better. I just got a rejection email for that job.” She was completely devastated. For years, she’d been so successful in getting every job she applied for, saying that, “Interviews are my super power.” Consequently, she was being quite hard on herself.

I reminded her that this job process wasn’t like finding jobs in high school and college. She was competing with other academics: highly intelligent, motivated, organized professionals with so much to offer — just like her. But it still stung because she’d put so much of herself into this process.

I related so strongly to her feelings. Coming from corporate, I’ve done around 100 interviews. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a hiring manager say, “You are such a great match for this role!” Or something equitably enthusiastic, with me leaving their office skipping like a kid out of a candy shop — only to get a rejection, followed by waves of frustration.

While I’ve found that rejection does get easier with repetition, it never becomes a pleasant, or even neutral experience. Be it writing, dating, or jobs, there’s always a burn.

Dr. Ethan Kross, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, found that even the most sophisticated among us are often distinctly sensitive to failure. His study found the part of the brain activated during rejection is also associated with physical pain. When someone says “it hurts” after a rejection, they aren’t far from the truth.

Rejection is different from failure in that there’s often an interpersonal dynamic to it — which makes it particularly unpleasant and personal.

I have long battled my harsh inner critic, which is quite common, especially with people who had a strict childhood or where they felt they weren’t good enough (the prior certainly describes me). Replaying these rejections comes naturally and with ease. Which is why I’ve invested in help from a therapist. He gave me a great and counterintuitive exercise, called the “rejection collection”. It helps destigmatize that rejection and promotes empathy — and friendships.

How the rejection collection works

Rejection often has a secretive nature, where we hide these shortcomings from others to insulate our ego and feelings of acceptance. Ideally, per the American Psychological Association, we should do the exact opposite and seek more meaningful connections with people in the aftermath of rejection, which is what this exercise does.

You create a simple spreadsheet using excel, google docs, anything. Create it with at least one other person and list out notable rejections from your life. I’ll throw myself into the fire right now:

I was rejected from my dream publisher, Penguin Random House, after going through several rounds of feedback with a senior editor. I was close to signing a contract, only for them to reject me in the 11th hour, saying my book idea, “Is not strong or unique enough.”
I was given a reference to interview at my dad’s company, SAP, and flew to Philadelphia for an interview, only to be rejected. I applied for a second position, and flew to Philadelphia again, only to be rejected a second time. I felt like a complete failure and an embarrassment to my dad.
In 8th grade, 23 people tried out for the JV soccer team at a school where soccer was everything. Only me and one other person got cut from the team. I felt like the least athletic, least cool guy in the world.
I was once having a great and long conversation with a beautiful Jamaican woman. We were hitting it off. On a whim, and before I could talk myself out of it, I said, “We should grab dinner sometime.” Her smile immediately vanished, as if she’d just seen a ghost. Then, she said, “Sorry, I don’t date white men.” Which is fine. She’s entitled to her preferences. I cringed more thinking about how I misread her energy.
There was a personality test for our finance department at my last corporate job. During HR’s presentation, each of us were represented as a dot on a giant graph, with our initials by the dot. I didn’t see my name. At the end, I raised my and asked the researcher, “I noticed my name isn’t listed?” She said, “Yeah, we couldn’t properly score your personality. It was too far outside our bounds.” The room erupted in laughter.

When you create your list, adding context and the story helps humanize the experience for the other people on the list. The other option is to have a zoom call where each person reads through their rejections and shares those stories.

It’s OK if they feel entirely random and with different contexts. It’s also completely advisable to find ways to laugh and have fun with it. Self-deprecation can remove the heaviness from the experience, and pivot the tone of your inner monologue to be more accepting.

Per psychology professor, Dr. Mark Leary, the communal component of a rejection collection is the key component to remember. Rejection tends to threaten your sense of belonging to the group, but by celebrating and putting those rejections boldly forward in a group setting — it promotes that sense of belonging and understanding between people.

When I went through this list with two friends, I marveled at some of the stories I heard and we laughed together, thinking through and discussing the events, often debunking people’s insecurities. I felt a sense of togetherness, and enhanced friendship with my buddies afterwards. I was glad they shared these moments of supreme rejection that they’d hidden from me for decades. I didn’t feel alone.

Each of us exists on a spectrum of rejection sensitivity, with some people having very harsh and self-immolating interpretations of these events. But this rejection can cause you to seek out friends and build your connection to them as a compensatory response. This isn’t to say one should get chewed up by rejections intentionally to make friends. But more to remind you of how universal this experience is. A rejection collection helps you purge these harsh narratives and reframe them into something kinder.

When I was an early teenage boy, I had a long-standing crush on another girl who was signaling pretty clearly that she liked me too. I was talking to my friend Brian, saying, “I want to ask her out but I’m so afraid.”

He shrugged and said, “What’s the worst thing she can do, say no?” It was such a healthy extrapolation to rethinking these rejections. Sometimes, we need to lighten the load we place on these outcomes.

I remind myself that rejection stems from something proactive: you taking the initiative to pursue things you want in life. It takes courage to try, to put yourself in the line of judgement. So pat yourself on the back for that, regardless of the outcome.

And if you get rejected, consider sharing it with a someone, or scheduling a call with friends, and list them out in all their glory. You’ll all be better off for it. Remember to stay kind — to others, and yourself.

What’s the quickest way you saw a co-worker get fired?

When I was with the DoC, we had a shipping container in our parking lot to store outdated, or damaged, computer equipment. Once the container was full, bids would be placed on it and the winning bidder would come out and carry the equipment off.

The container was 8 feet by 40 feet so unloading the equipment from it could take some time, and because security balked at having to stand around while the equipment was removed, someone from IT would have to babysit the people hauling the equipment off. This job fell to the person in the office with the least seniority.

It just so happened that we had a newbie start the day equipment was being picked up so the team leader took him outside, handed him the clipboard of inventory being picked up and forms the buyer had to sign, and told him to stay out there until the container was empty. He was told to lock the container up and come back inside once it was done.

It usually took about an hour to empty a container and the newbie was sent outside around 9 AM, so when the team lead began asking us if we’d seen the new guy around 11:30, we knew something was wrong. The team leader went outside and found the trailer wide open, and empty, so he locked it. There was no sign of the newbie. About that time one of the techs saw him strolling across the parking lot, from the direction of a fast food joint nextdoor. When he entered the office the team lead asked him where he’d been and he said it was hot outside (it was summer) and watching the people empty the trailer was boring so he’d decided to sit in the fast food place and watch them from there. He was asked when the people had left and he said they drove off around 10:20. The team lead asked if the buyer had signed the equipment transfer forms and the newbie stated he’d “forgotten” to have them sign (and it’s kind of hard to have someone sign a form when you’re 150 feet away, sitting in a restaurant).

The team lead told our boss what had happened immediately and the new employee became a former employee after only 3½ hours on the job. He didn’t even make it to lunch time — the official lunch time, that is.

MAGA Girl Drops TRUTH BOMBS About Western Women

What is normal in your country but weird in the rest of the world?

Although Australia is considered your “typical white country” by many, we still have quirks that make the whole world tilt their head and think “What the F*ck?” For example:

We have a tradition called a “shoey”– which is were you drink beer out of a dirty shoe.

Bars are required to have stables, water and food for horses.
We call friends “cunts” and people we dislike “mates”.
Life sentences cannot be over 25 years.
Repairing a fence because a kangaroo tried jumping over it and failed.
School is from February to December, so we have Christmas and New Year’s eve during our annual break.
Petting zoos having kangaroos, wallabies and emus which you can feed and play with for something like 5 bucks an hour.
Deadly spiders everywhere. The week before writing this answer, I actually removed a huntsman from my backyard so my dog couldn’t eat it. I ended up throwing the fucker over the fence and into my neighbors house (by accident of course).
Having Christmas at the beach. Since Australian summer is during December- people go to the beaches in swarms on Christmas Day to open presents and have barbecues.
Every Australian town has a pub with at least one, massive foster beer ad stuck on the rood (even though no one drinks foster any more).

Almost everyone is outdoors. Hiking, walking, fishing, sailing, boating, surfing, swimming and a hell of a lot more. Everyone is into some kind of sport or activity. The natural resources like beaches and suburbs are used wisely and not just wasted.
Swearing when complimenting something. In Australia, when someone says “Sick cunt”, it means “you did good.”
Calling rain boots/wellies “Gum boots”.
Smelling smoke from a far way bushfire when going outside.
Having no idea what “political correctness is” and saying anything on our minds.
We say ‘Yeah, nah’ instead of No, and ‘Nah, yeah’ instead of “Yes”.
Children aren’t allowed to purchase cigarettes, but there is no law specifically stating that they cannot smoke them.
Not being able to go outside during lunch break at school because you forgot your hat.
Having extremely wide roads and pavements, even in the city and suburbs.
Making fun of anything regardless if its offensive or not.
It is illegal to dress up as Robin and Batman.
Selling $2 hot dogs when everyone is voting for the new prime minster in the elections.

Getting fined if you don’t vote in the elections.
Putting butter and sprinkles on bread to create fairy bread– our traditional dish.
Putting butter and Vegemite (a thick black Australian sauce) on bread to create another traditional dish: Vegemite and toast.
Eating a lot of fresh fish and ripe avocados. Avocado milkshakes are really common in Australia, and so is really good sushi.
Every pub has 2–4 Poker Machines minimum.
Eating burgers that have beetroot.
Getting attacked by magpies (a Australian bird), because you walked into their territory by accident.

Atlantis, Thoth, the Emerald Tablet & the Secret to Immortality

CB Memories

Back in the 1970’s there was this fad. It was the CB Radio fad, and everyone seemed to end up with a Citizens’ Band radio in the car. Ah. We all had slang that we would use, and there were many a useless discussion over the air that we all endured.

I had one. My brother had one. My parents had one. My friends all had one.

It was so “hip” at the time, don’t you know.

Now, we have cell phones, social media and all the rest. But every now and then, I get an itching to reach for the CB to find out what is going on regarding an accident that I just passed on the road.

Fads come and go.

And everything that we consider normal today, will eventually be viewed as a strange fad by others. Enjoy them while you have them.

Today…

Have you ever regretted saving a patient?

Yes. The paramedics brought her in from a nursing home and they had been doing CPR for a while. The patient had been in and out of perfusing rhythms the entire time. She looked very old and frail and chronically ill. I asked the medics if she had a DNR order and they just rolled their eyes. The lead medic told me that they asked the same thing but the nursing home staff couldn’t locate the paperwork and because they couldn’t be sure they initiated resuscitation.

We didn’t have anything on record either but I wasn’t really committed to CPR and shocking and all the drugs necessary to keep this poor woman alive when her quality of life was likely so bad. I decided to give one round of drugs and then stop if there was no response. We did just that and much to my surprise she responded. Her heart started out slowly and gained momentum. Within a couple minutes she had a stable blood pressure. After a while she even began to attempt breathing on her own.

It wasn’t long before the family arrived and told us that the patient’s wishes were to NOT be resuscitated. They told us that she would never want to be kept alive this way and demanded that we stop the ventilator and medicines. So, I did. Despite stopping all support she continued to live. Ultimately, we admitted her to the hospital and she continued on in a sort of half-life state. This went on for days. Days!

I went to see her and the family a few times when they were there in the hospital and just felt terrible for them all. They were unhappy with me but they also understood why we did what we did. Ultimately, they sort of took it out on the nursing home staff and not the medics or me.

In the end, she died with her family all around her. Several members were able to travel in to say goodbye before she passed because of the hospital course. I suppose it all worked out the way it was supposed to. I still regretted it though.

It’s fun until it isn’t

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BFwQhDrX0hE?feature=share

English Beef Steak Pie

Ingredients

1 pound boneless round steak, trimmed
6 to 8 russet potatoes, pealed and cubed
1 large onion, sliced and separated
1/2 cup flour
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup water
1 pie crust (to cover top of pie)

Instructions

In a deep glass baking dish (either round or square, Corning or glass), layer meat, potato and onion, sprinkling flour over each layer.
Salt and pepper each layer.
Pour water slowly over layers and top with rolled out crust.
Roll edges of crust under around the edge and flute to seal edges to pan. Vent with knife several times.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about one hour until water bubbles and gravy have formed. Pierce with a cake tester through vents for doneness of potatoes.
Serve with a green salad.

Compromise

As a trial attorney, what is the most ridiculous outburst you have seen first-hand in court?

Maybe it wasn’t rediculous as you mean but it was the biggest and it was Mine. I was representing a 15 year old pregnant girl. CPS wanted her sent to a reformatory. I wanted her sent to a girls school. The CPS worker testified that the girl should go to jail because when she was 5 yes five she seduced her father ( an executive with a big company). The girl had been raped by her father for years.

The girl said to me “ you told me that wasn’t my fault.” In the courtroom before God Judge and country I grabbed that CPS worker and tried to pound her into the floor.

It wasn’t looking good for me but the judge made an immediate order. He ordered the CPS worker to personally pay for the girl to go to the private girls school. (about 3times her annual salary) . I waited all day to be arrested. Finally a call came that I was wanted back in court.

It was announced that no charges would be brought against me and the order against the CPS worker was dropped and the order to pay made against the agency. The CP S worker was also to resign.

I’m not a violent person but only so much can be let go I guess at time I lost sight of my life and career and could only see my client.

I have gotten some nice comments. I need to add that before I went for this person the judge asked her if she had done everything she could for the girl. Her response was “I have been wonderful”. I am not proud of getting violent. It is very rare in my life. I was happy with the outcome but I risked getting my license and going to jail. I need to make a clarification here. I was in law school then. i was representing her as her probation officer. It was in the early 70s. A child’s right to an attorney was based on the parents ability to afford one. I was the closest thing to a lawyer she had.

PS. if you read about incest cases, or any sexual abuse cases of very young children, the children are usually taught by their abusers how to “please” them. they are basically taught to mimic seductive behavior. They are not seductive. They are merely mimicking what they have been taught to do, but not everybody sees it that way. many overtly seductive Teenagers have been molested in this manner as a child, but they are just labeled as seductresses. I guess it is easier for some people to blame a child than it is for them to take the time to learn about the effects of abuse on children. I was often called in by other probation officers when they had an uncomfortable feeling about a case because I could see these types of behaviors even minor ones. i’ll never know how many cases I didn’t catch, but I was never wrong when I called it.

Killer Thinks He Got Away With Murder – Doesn’t Know 5 YO Survived | The Morrissey Family Case

What types of problems do Asian Americans face in Asia?

Not quite fitting in, this applies to ALL overseas types, near ones (Malaysia, Singapore) and far ones. USA, Europe.

An example is this

vs this

Superficially we look similar but we’re quite different.

You stand me next to some China born Chinese and you’ll feel there’s something off.

The foreign diet in our formative years changes us. I was a LOT fatter (though thing for westerners) and had a rounder chunkier face.

The life experiences also make us stand differently. I’ve written previously that in the UK if you’re weak (doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, Indian or Chinese) people will pick on you. So there’s an outward portray of aggression already… probably why cops stop me so much.

That’s just the visual things.

Then we’ve got psychology, culture and language.

All of which means you fit in even less. You can as again fit in on a superficial level but go any deeper and you’re spotted.

Being different leads to disimilar treatment sometimes, sometimes this is good, sometimes this is bad.

Mentally Ill USA

New York 1966

She Thinks An AVERAGE “D” Size Is SMALL?

The USA is so messed up.

What is the perfect thing to say when someone is being rude to you?

My wife and I brought her car in for service at the dealership and we’re looking around while waiting. A young salesman asked if he could show us around. I said we are just there for service.

After talking a while about their new cars, he went to get “the closer” a big fellow who obviously had been there for a while. He began to say things like what would I need to do to get you into this vehicle and make me an offer. I told him we weren’t in the market for a car; I research such matters before making such a purchase; and, for me to buy a car today, he would probably have to nearly give it to me. I told him if I made him an offer, I was sure he would find it insulting.

I did let him pull my credit. This would have made it very clear that I was highly successful in financial services sales. Which is what makes his subsequent rudeness particularly inconceivable.

He continues to insist that I make an offer. I finally offer him probably half of what the car is worth (because I would have bought it on the spot at that price). He is insulted.

He then leans over me (with my wife still sitting next to me) and says:

“At some point in your life, you’re going to have to become man enough to be able to make a decision.”

I instantly replied:

“It’s not my manhood in question here; I’m not the one who can’t close this deal.”

I only saw the stunned look on his face for a moment before he turned to walk away.

Harsh truth

Do police officers care about you?

June 2nd, Midnight; a 15 yo boy Zohaib posted a suicide note over social media; stating he’s going to end his life today.

I browsed through a lot of tweets posted from other users on the topic, and learned that the boy lives in my city on XYZ road. That’s it.

The problem is that, on the said ‘miles long’ road there are dozens of towns and neighborhoods interconnected, I mean, that is very incomplete piece of information to effectively and timely counter such an issue of extraordinary sensitive nature.

I responded to him immediately, and also requested public to send me any information or clue they might have about this boy.

And that interaction of mine resulted in one of the most burdensome barrage of tweets and DMs I’ve ever received as social media handler of city police, the number was literally in thousands. That kid’s name was trending nationwide on twitter during this fiasco. But sadly, nothing useful came out of this interaction tsunami, all I had was first name of the boy and that he lives somewhere in my city.

I calmly reviewed the situation for a minute; I mean our field officers are ‘head to toe’ engaged with crime fighting day in & day out, responding to the calls, handling cases one over the other, and now comparatively… I have this first of its kind situation where a boy wants to commit suicide about whom we know nothing… could even be a prank for goodness sake.

Nope. I told myself.

We should find and rescue him, no matter what it takes…we gotta!

I got Police Chief in the loop, by his orders Police command & Control was now at my disposal. Which I believe is the most sophisticated and comprehensive system of surveillance, communication and patrolling all across the country. We were about to to execute a time sensitive search and rescue task. Our officers responded to the given locations and secured the entry exit points; while being on the look out.

And that minute, I learned over social media that the boy has fled home, he’s on the loose!

Holy cow!

We didn’t panic with the thought of him doing something foolish while on the run, though it was a legitimate concern. We kept striving, I dispatched teams here and there upon receiving bits of information from concerned twitter users, and then the magic happened…. we got his address. Somebody finally recognized him I guess even though there was no display picture or anything else but the that helped us greatly. Now that is something, I can work with.

He wasn’t home but now we knew who he is. So technical resources along with human intelligence played the good part, he was tracked and in minutes… secured!

And all of this happened under an hour.

He was anxious and nervous… but otherwise fine and safe. His parents thanked the Police, the situation came back to normal.

Next day while I was at work, various news teams arrived at my office and I was genuinely surprised to learn that this episode has made to the news, even to BBC. I was directed to speak a few words on camera, which I did even though I hate to.

Those of you who know me for a long time, I really do not appreciate the idea of being on the limelight for many reasons. I have politely excused out of numerous feature stories and interviews all these years.

I’m not a celebrity, never was. Super hero, Yes. But not a show off… for that is not what cops are meant to be. That is why you see the big-ass mask on me even though I was requested twice that it is perfectly alright to slide it down a little during the talk. Nope!

Do police officers care about you? YES. Dogmatically!

I’ll do whatever it takes to protect and serve you, I will put my life on the line to save yours! And here “I” stands for Police officers you see daily around you no matter wherever you are.

Start your journey

Not wealth, but really in the things that matter to you.

Figgy Pudding

Figgy Pudding is a type of Christmas pudding which was originally made with figs. It may be baked, steamed in the oven, boiled or fried. Figgy Pudding dates back to 16th century England.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

300ml (1/2 pint) milk (10 fluid ounces)
225g (8 ounces) flour (2 cups)
175g (6 ounces) dried figs
150ml (1/4 pint) Brandy (5 fluid ounces)
110g (4 ounces) suet
110g (4 ounces) prunes
85g (3 ounces) raisins or sultanas
50g (2 ounces) dried apricots
50g (2 ounces) dates
25g (1 ounce) dried apples
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

On the day before making the pudding, place the dried apricots, prunes and apples to soak in water and place the raisins or sultanas to soak in the brandy.
Remove the stones from of the dates and prunes.
Butter a large pudding basin or double boiler bowl.
Sift flour into a bowl.
Stir in suet and mix to a fairly soft dough with cold water.
Turn out on to a floured surface. Lightly knead until smooth.
Roll out two-thirds of pastry into a round and use to line a well-greased 2-pint pudding basin (or double boiler bowl).
Melt the honey and stir in the ginger and cinnamon. Add to the soaked fruits and brandy mixture. Mix well and place into the pastry lined bowl. Moisten edges of pastry with water. Cover with lid, rolled from remainder of the pastry. Press edges well together to seal. Cover securely with greased greaseproof paper or aluminum foil.
Steam steadily for 2 hours. Ensure that the water does not evaporate, topping it up from time to time with boiling water.
Turn out onto a plate and serve.

Something good about this man

What is your biggest mistake or regret?

Starting a “STARTUP” with best friends.

Three years back, in 2013, one evening, I was having casual discussions with my friend, lets call him “Mr.S”. We were discussing on different topics like current trends, jobs, future life, family and friends, money. At that time, I was working in a software company with little experience of 1.5 years and some cash in my account. S was studying hard to clear his remaining subject which forced him to take a year gap. And same was the case with “Mr.P” too, he is the third character in my story.

Let me tell you, we all are intelligent students. But because of some mistakes and their habit of taking things lightly cost them a year gap. In fact, Mr.P was smarter than me in every department. Mr.S was not good at academics but he was too good at marketing and some other “special” skills.

We three were together from last 7.5 years. We sat on one bench. We studied together. We stayed together. We tripped together. We partied together. We lived together. We participated and won lots of competitions together. And most important – we dreamed together. Everyone from our batch including teachers used to tell us — you 3 idiots are awesome.

Everything in life was going in a right direction. But let me remind you one of the laws of Mr.Murphy, “In nature, nothing is ever right. Therefore, if everything is going right, something is wrong.” [src: http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-laws.html]. And exactly, same thing happened with us.

Lately, I was thinking a lot about starting a business. Starting a start-up. Starting an IT Company. Starting an IT Training institute. Starting something related to IT. I discussed these thoughts with Mr.S. And guess what, he completely agreed with my ideas and within a few minutes we were business partners! I started giving more time to the thoughts on business. Within some days, we decided to include Mr.P in our team, as he was our best friend and also a sound person with technical knowledge. We shared all these thoughts with Mr.P and he also agreed to join us on the long adventure. But assured us that he’ll join the company after a few months.

So basically everything needed to start a startup was ready. We had a team. Me as a sole investor, lead technical person and of course, the CEO. Along with that I also had a role of Software Engineer in the company where I was working concurrently. It was a big task for me to handle both the tasks – a job and a start up.

My job was the main source of finance for my family and for the startup also. Mr.S was assigned the role of getting assignments and marketing department, while Mr. P was going to look after the training and in-house development. We also had few projects to start with. We also hired 2 people to work with us.

After few months, I made an investment of ₹2 lac (~$3000) and bought 4 advanced PCs, also rented out a small place to start our work in. And, within a span of 4 months, our small startup was on its way onto a long journey. We held a small inaugural function and celebrated. Yeah, that was quite an achievement for us. We started our working together.

But there was a small problem, Mr.P was yet to join the company. He earlier promised us to join the company, yet after 3 months, he was not interested in joining the company. After thinking a lot, I decided to talk to him about his decision and why he was not joining office. His answers gave me the biggest shock of my life. He refused to join the company. His reasons were like, “I am not seeing future in your company. Another friend of us started another startup and he is taking me in his team. I need money right now.” Guys, let me tell you, I also offered him mighty amount of salary. But still, he refused my invitation politely and sent a long message reasoning why he won’t join the company. Most of the reasons were BS. And story of Mr.P was finished. Completely.

Lesson#1 learned [in a hard way]: Do not trust the promises of everyone. Everybody is not loyal to his/her own words.

I was shell shocked, shattered, and quiet depressed after hearing his decision and answer. I was scattered from inside. I decided to keep the work running with Mr.S along with the two hired people. Things were getting more and more difficult.

Fast forward 4-5 months.

Mr.S was looking after the marketing and product sales things, he was the main guy our customers were dealing with. Whereas I was busy in development and resource management.

One day, while managing balance sheets, I figured out there was a record missing for a sum of ₹20000 (~$300). Out of curiosity, when I asked Mr.S about the missing ₹20000, his answers were not logical. They were irrelevant. They were lies. I got to know that he was playing some tricks and using the company’s money for his own personal use. His most funny reply was, “Dude, chalta hai… busy log hain hum, chhoti chhoti details par dhyan nahi rakhte“. [Dude, We are too busy people, we should not focus on such small details]. For him ₹20K was a small amount, but it wasn’t for me.

We had a bitter argument on this and it resulted into disagreement. And we decided to separate. Decided to drive on our separate ways. But he put one condition. He will retain the “business name“. As he was looking after the marketing and other things, he decided to go after the name and customers. And in such way, my first startup was dead.

Lesson#2 learned [in a harder way]: Be careful who you bring to the top with you, not everyone is loyal.

Image Source : Google

P.S. I allowed him to use the business name, because of two reasons:

I was ready to work with anyone, but not with a treacherous friend.
I trust myself, I was alone at the start and will fight the battle alone, will re-build everything from scratch. One can delay me, but can never stop me from achieving my dreams.

Edit 1: From last 2 years, we 3 have never met, talked or discussed about each other.

Being nice

New York 1966

What scandals should NOT have been forgotten?

In June, 1954, US Senator Lester C. Hunt (D-WY) shot himself to death with a rifle at his desk in his US Senate office in Washington, DC. Senator Hunt had been despondent over threats he had received – from Sen. Joe McCarthy and two Republican colleagues, Senator Herman Welker (R-ID) and Senator Styles Bridges (R-NH) – that lurid reports of the arrest of Hunt’s son the previous year would be made public, both in Washington and in his home state of Wyoming, embarrassing Hunt and putting his upcoming reelection bid in peril. The younger Hunt had been arrested and charged with soliciting sex from a male police officer, who was working a sting operation in a Washington park. The charges were later dismissed, but McCarthy and his cronies discovered the fact, and pressured the police department into refiling the charges. Hunt was under great pressure from McCarthy, demanding that he resign, which would have effectively given the Republicans control of the Senate. At the time, Democrats controlled the US Senate by just one vote, and a Hunt resignation would have put the Senate into a tie, enabling the Republicans to gain control, since then-Vice President Richard Nixon would serve as tiebreaker. After Hunt’s death, the Republican governor of Wyoming appointed a Republican to fill Hunt’s unexpired term, who in turn declined to run for the seat in that fall’s election, a race that was won by a Democrat. Unfortunately, the Republicans flipped other Senate seats in 1954, and took control on their own. This scandal was downplayed for many years, but it also occurred in the shadow of the Army-McCarthy hearings, which were going on at the time of Hunt’s death. Even today, there is little awareness of the scandal in Wyoming, and few Americans know that it took place at all. Interestingly, though, Hunt is known as the driving force behind Wyoming’s famous “bucking bronco” license plate emblem, having commissioned the artist to create the design during his years as Governor of Wyoming.

The USA is totally fucked up

Why didn’t you leave a tip at a restaurant?

I went to a famous pancake restaurant that was promoting its new burgers. I saw an ad offering them for $5.99 with unlimited fries and a free drink. I pointed to the jalapeno kick burger and asked the waitress to verify that this burger was, in fact, part of the $5.99 special. When she said, “yes,” I then ordered this burger. I had a $10 gift card, and my intention was to tip the waitress the remaining amount after taxes, which would have made it a 50% tip.

However, when I got the bill, I saw was charged $9.29 for the burger. When I called the waitress over to tell her about the mistake, she said that the burger I chose was not included in the special and that I needed to pay regular price. Naturally, I told her that I deliberately asked her if this burger was included before I ordered it and that she confirmed me it was. Her response was that she didn’t understand what burger I wanted.

I explained the situation to the manager, saying I would not have ordered it if the waitress did not tell me it was part of the special, that they cannot charge me for the server’s mistake. The manager called the server over and she had the nerve to deny that I even asked her about the burger being a part of the promotion. Unbelievably, the manager said she must take the server’s word for it.

In front of the waitress, I presented my $10 gift card, telling the manager, I was going to give the waitress what would have remained from my $5.99 burger, which would have been a nice tip. However, since she won’t own up to her mistake, she will now receive what is left from my $9.29 burger (which after taxes was about a nickel).

New York 1966

Woke challenge

What’s the most ridiculous adult tantrum you’ve witnessed that you couldn’t believe?

Waiting in line at an auto parts store and the guy in front of me sets down an alternator and asked the clerk for a water pump. The clerk naturally is confused and asks about the alternator. The guy tells him it’s a water pump and that’s why he asked for a water pump.

The clerk tries nicely to correct him, even shows the guy a picture of an alternator vs. a water pump for his specific car. To no avail the guy “knows more” than this poor clerk. Who I might add is 100% correct that the alternator is NOT a water pump. The power connections kind of gives it away specially when there are no hose attachments for it to pump coolant a.k.a. water.

Anyway, the guy just goes nuts. Throws the alternator at the poor clerk luckily missing his intended target. Makes huge threats about calling corporate; of course he has tons of friends on social media so he threatens to close the store down. On and on this guy goes about how much smarter he is than anyone behind the counter, how they always give him the wrong part. I swear it lasted 20 minutes. Anyway, the manager was in the back counting out the money or stocking something, not really sure, but she was in the back. She comes out, picks up the alternator, sets it on the counter, and asks the guy why he is throwing such a temper tantrum over an alternator.

Oh here we go again! How dare a woman correct him. She doesn’t know shit about cars. What’s a woman doing working at an auto parts store. The vile shit just kept going. Well, during ALL of this mess someone in the oil section decided to call the cops. At some point the cops sneak in and are right behind me and this entire mess. I’m gently pushed aside and they yell, “Sir!” real loudly. He turns and goes ghostly white. The cops start asking about the situation. One has taken the rest of us aside, found the caller, and we are telling them what we witnessed. The other officer is talking with mister alternator/water pump.

Next thing you know he is under arrest and as they are escorting him out we hear one officer tell the other officer that arguing about alternators was the dumbest thing they have witnessed all month. To which the guy yells, “It’s a fucking water pump!”

What did someone say in court that made you burst out laughing?

When my son was in elementary school he was beaten up by two older students to the point he required hospital care. Since the two boys were going into high school next year and it was the last day of school both the principal and superintendent said there was nothing they could do. I called the police and had them charged. One officer went to the hospital and saw my son and two more took the boys away in handcuffs at the school. When the case went to court I told my son to be honest and don’t guess. The boys had been in trouble before so the parents hired a good criminal lawyer.

My son was on the stand for over an hour being grilled by the lawyer and the judge was getting fed up. The lawyer asked my son how he knew who was kicking him. Basically he said “ I was being kicked by a Doc Martin shoe which was on a foot which was on a leg which was on a body and his head was on it” I could see the judge shaking in silent laughter and the stenographer laughing in her Dictaphone. The courtroom was silent with muffled laughter. The lawyer also stood away from my son and holding his ear said he had bad hearing and to speak up. My son was very nervous and scared showing it by speaking very quietly. Finally my son turned to the judge and said could he ask a question. The judge said sure. My son said “in which ear is he hard of hearing because he is going back and forth between both ears”. Same muffled laughter. The judge glared at my son and said “if his hearing is that bad he will be ending his questioning” with a wink to my son he told me later.

Apparently this went on with all the other witnesses and the case was dismissed from all the conflicting statements. This lawyer must have cost the parents a bundle. The police officer in charge of the case visited us about a month later to see how my son was doing. He also said that he was impressed with my son in court and gave him his card. All our children make us proud.

Moral of the story

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RtIIpfpMKhc?feature=share

New York 1966

Why didn’t you leave a tip at a restaurant?

Because it is an utterly stupid idea.

During my college, I took a course called entrepreneurial marketing.

The professor gave one interesting perspective regarding billing and customer experience:

When booking a flight ticket, if the price is $220 instead of $210, the customer wouldn’t feel anything. The $10 on the top of $210 he is paying seems insignificant.

But if you charge him $210 at the beginning and later ask him to pay $5 if wants a water bottle onboard, he might find the experience disappointing. One, he thinks $5 is too expensive for a water bottle. Two, he has to check if he has the cash. Three, he has to worry about conversion charges if it is the card. Overall, there are so many things that make the experience complicated.

So just add $10 more on the flight ticket and give him two water bottles if you are keen on giving a comfortable experience.

Same thing with star hotels. Just charge $20 more on the $150 per night and give complimentary water, canned drinks, and coffee rather than billing for every item inside the mini-fridge.

The same logic applies to tipping.

When you go to a restaurant for a pleasant dining experience, you are made to do all sorts of calculations for taxes and add them to the amount in the menu. On top of this, you have to do calculations for tips and then add to the final amount to see if the item is really worth that price or not.

It ruins the whole experience.

Secondly, this tipping is completely optional. It is in the customer’s hands whether to pay it or not. And if he wants to, whether it is 5% or 15% is also his choice. There is no guarantee that the one who did the best service will get the maximum tip.

Thirdly, does anyone who what is best service universally? For me, not bothering me by enquiring every five minutes ‘Do you need anything else?’ or standing beside my table is a better service. For someone, being approachable by waiting near his table is better service. It varies from person to person and it is near impossible for the waiter to figure this out.

Fourthly, the tip for bringing $50 for 100ml single malt is more than $5 1L water bottle, when the former requires less energy. Is there any logic here?

And lastly, the owner thinks that waiters get high tips and pay them low salaries. The customer thinks that the waiters are anyway paid and hence don’t give them tips. So the waiters are at a complete loss here.

The best way to solve this is to treat waiters like any other worker- chef, security guard, delivery guy or equipment operator. Pay them market salary rather than putting their livelihood at the mercy of the customers. Why do you need to tip waiters, when you don’t tip nurses, delivery guys, security guard, police, or janitors when they are also doing service?

English Muffins

Ingredients

1 cake or package yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 cups milk, scalded
1/4 cup melted shortening
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups flour

Instructions

After kneading, place in greased bowl and let rise until double.
Roll out to 3/4-inch thick. Cut with 3-inch cutter. Cover circles and let rise until very light.
Bake on greased electric skillet or at 375 degrees F in the oven.

Good advice

What are some unwritten social rules everyone should know?

Don’t comb your hair on the table at the restaurant. I don’t want your hair-strands in my food. I prefer that you use the restroom even if you want to touch up your lipstick.
If you know that you have smelly feet and that you have not washed your socks in several weeks, don’t take off your shoes in crowded places. Not even in the aircraft. You should have thought about this before you boarded the plane.
Let people who are sitting in the front of the aircraft deplane first! If you have a connecting flight, you can politely ask them to let you deplane first.
Let people exit the elevator/train/bus before rushing in.
Follow the queue. Yes, even in the washroom. Just don’t stand in front of the bathroom stall when 572 people are waiting in the queue.
Buy earphones, or headphones. Whatever you prefer. Because I don’t want to listen to rock music during my morning commute.
Give your seat to the pregnant lady. Or the lady carrying a small child. Or the old lady/gentleman. If you are a young lady in perfect health condition, this applies to you as well. Not just the boys.
Wear washed clothes, because the smell of the sweat sticks. Use deodorant. Specially applies when you are traveling by public transport.
Also, don’t keep your clothes next to the kitchen area, as the smell from spices sticks.
Don’t leave the texts as “seen” or with the “blue ticks”. Either respond, or never respond. Don’t respond to a text which was sent 4 days ago. Just be honest and tell them “that you are busy” or that “you don’t feel like talking to them”.
Show up with a gift. Don’t come empty-handed, after all the host took the time to invite you and do the preparation, didn’t they?
Don’t dump your negativity onto others. Not many people are accepting of it.

It’s all I have.

How did one small decision change your life?

I had stopped dating someone who had just been divorced and wasn’t ready to settle (and wasn’t right for me). I had been invited to a party but didn’t want to go. I’m not going, I decided. Finally, two hours after the party had started, I went, alone. The loft owner’s friend opened the door — and we started talking. He was sweet, funny, had just graduated from college, was 7 years younger than me, was planning to move cross country in 2 days. We hung out at the party and then he asked if he could walk me home. We’d walked 2 blocks, making all sorts of witty comments about street signs,etc., and I thought, “This guy is so different than the ones I usually like…he’s not all dark and dramatic (which usually hooked me)…he’s like being with a best friend.” And then I asked myself, “Why shouldn’t I be in a relationship with a guy who treats me as well as my best female friend does??” I remember my small decision precisely: deciding that I’d be open to this…even had a mental metaphor of it being like a Japanese paper lamp I’d hold gently…not try to force anything…but just be open to connecting with someone who made life fun, who was kind, who wanted to know about me and share himself.

He’s been an extraordinary husband and father and after more than 30 years, is still the most fun person to hang out with. We’ve traveled all over the world, gotten grad degrees after the kids were born, created books and apps and games, gone through family stresses and losses, relationship issues, gone through everyday boring ol’ life.

It was a small decision I made, but a profound one: to love myself. To allow myself to be loved by someone who treated me (and others) well. To let myself be with someone whose company I flat-out enjoyed. It wasn’t sudden roses and symphonies…it was playful and sweet. But I see the depth and beauty now. I so wish everyone this.

Dad’s do your job

As a trial attorney, what is the most ridiculous outburst you have seen first-hand in court?

The girl said to me “ you told me that wasn’t my fault.” In the courtroom before God Judge and country I grabbed that CPS worker and tried to pound her into the floor.

It was announced that no charges would be brought against me and the order against the CPS worker was dropped and the order to pay made against the agency. The CP S worker was also to resign.

I’m not a violent person but only so much can be let go I guess at time I lost sight of my life and career and could only see my client.

Sadly

Why do people go into the military without doing any research about what they’re getting themselves into?

Few people walk into a recruiting station and tell them they want to leave that afternoon. You do have to chat with a recruiter for a while. Granted, they’ll tell you the Army line. Rarely will they lie but they will leave stuff out.

For a lot of people, the Army sounds way better than the situation they’re in. In my first meeting with the recruiter, he told me the Army would train me in life skills (HAHA, at least, not from my MOS), they’d cloth you and give you everything you needed, I’d get a bed, desk, and wall locker, they’d feed me as much as I wanted to eat, I got to choose me MOS (This is where you need to do your research), they’d let me blow stuff up and play with some of the biggest toys the Army has, they’d give me $15K for college, and they’d pay me on top of it.

To a seventeen-year-old kid who’d worked a dirt farm in N. Colorado his entire life, that sounded pretty good. The Army helped get me my Eagle Scout and gave me some perks for that. The recruiter worked with the school to make sure I’d graduate. I was failing a class, and I told my recruiter I wouldn’t graduate. He went to the school and talked to the admin and they made sure I’d pass.

Researching your MOS and the Army is a good idea, but nothing prepares you for stepping off the bus. I have a Ranger buddy whose son just went through basic. He had his son meet with all the vets he could find and we gave our experiences. That wasn’t enough to keep him from calling home and wanting to come home.

No matter how prepared you are, once you get boots on the ground and jump down the rabbit hole, you’re in for a ride. I think people with less prep do better as they have no idea what to expect and they just roll with it instead of standing around thinking this is nothing like what everyone said.

I can relate to this

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2lG5LXgzzzw?feature=share

Brian Berletic: China Has a SHOCKING Secret and the US is Going to War Over It

Lemons and grapefruit

Lemons and grapefruit.

Ugh.

That was when my first wife and I were traveling the country and hovering around the poverty level, often dipping below it.

Often enough, we would be between work and thus pretty much starving. Going weeks between eating. Those were hard days. Those were difficult weeks. Those were really hard times.

But every now and then we would come near an orange grove, or see a house that had a lemon tree in it’s yard. Thus, by asking permission, we were able to get FOOOOOD!

And so we were kept alive.

Eating lemons all day for a month, or grapefruit all the time for a month or longer.

Man, oh man.

It felt like our teeth were getting loose, and going to fall out. And aside from that, we were still weak. Ugh. It’s something that I just don’t recommend for others to do.

Please, heed my advice.

A diet of citrus should be a last resort. Nothing less.

A painful past. I paid my dues. Have you?

Today…

How does the leadership and governance of China’s Communist Party compare to that of the US Democratic Party?

How about a million times better? How about CPC is about the most well organized and most successful organization on earth! Think about results. Surely results matter. And results are every thing right?

In 1949 CPC started governing China. At that time it’s life expectancy is 39 years old. Today in 2023 it is 78 years old. Chinese out live the U.S. citizens on average by 2 full years!

CPC reduce its hardcore poor by 1 billion people by 2022! The U.S. not only not reduced it’s poor to day 1 million Americans living live in tents homeless throughout the U.S. China has ZERO HOMELESS!

China has built high speed rail that cross China for trains travelling 3 times the speed of U.S. trains! US has less than 100 km of high speed railway lines compared to 45 thousand km throughout China!

China provides universal healthcare and charge what you can afford for 100% of its citizens and free college education for those who qualify while in the U.S. kids get into unplayable debts before starting life paying astronomical tuition fees and a third of American’s cannot afford to buy health care insurance.

China’s healthcare and pharmaceutical companies charge its citizens 0.95 trillion dollars for its 1.4 billion citizens. And the U.S. charged its citizens 5.9 trillion for its 330 million citizens! So on average Americans are forced to pay an average of 17.9 thousand dollars per annum while China charge its citizens 678 dollars a person a year. So the U.S. charge its citizens 27 times more to live 2 years less!

Chinese can walk freely at 3.00 am on any street anywhere in China and a week of U.S. random mass shooting is equivalent to China’s decade! China has 11% of US prisoners population per million people! In the U.S. there are many no go areas and people get necked to death all due to their skin colour!

CPC knew that STEM engineers and specialist number is the key technological prowess and being a technological leader. A year of Chinese STEM graduates equate to the entire U.S. STEM specialist and to day China has 100:1 advantage over the U.S.! Hence according to ASPI China today leads in 37 out of the 44 fields of key strategic technologies and the U.S. leads in only 7/44!

So you still want to compare? So U.S. is the David and China is the Goliath. China through merit gets the very best to lead. US gets the most popular! No comparison who gets the result.

What is the weirdest object you’ve ever found?

My 98 year old grandmother just passed this past Christmas. As I was cleaning out her apartment and sorting the junk from the priceless junk (amazing how much a 98 y/o woman can stuff into a 400 s.f. apartment), I came across a folded stack of notebook paper- it actually looked more like the paper torn out of a “Big Chief” tablet. On the outside was written, “Mrs. Ronzel Bailey, Orma WV” in my grandfather’s handwriting.

So, what’s so weird about that, you ask?

The paper was old and yellowed. As I opened it, I read the date- 1942. My grandparents had been married in 1938. My grandfather was a Lt. Commander in the Navy and on a ship in the Mediterranean in 1942. As I read the letter, the writing was in a very strange, detached voice. It told her how lost she must feel and how she must take care of herself primarily and then take care of my father (born in 1939). It then went on to tell her that she should buy a house on the outskirts of a small town and watch out for those who would take advantage of her.

I then got to a part where he instructed her to use her own judgement as to whether or not she taught my father about him. At this point I was thinking he was divorcing her! I got mad (even though I knew they were never divorced- they were married until he died in 1993- 55 years!). But, mad I was!

As I read further, it finally dawned on me that this letter was his final instructions to her in the event he was killed in action during WWII. It was difficult to hold back the tears as I read that she should not waste resources in trying to bring his body home.

This letter that I had just finished reading was what he wanted to tell her – make sure that she could move on and give her hope and comfort.

How she ended up with this letter, I will never know since he wasn’t killed in WWII and came home for another 50 years of marriage.

One piece of “priceless junk” saved!

What are some psycological facts?

People change for two reasons either they learned a lot or they have been hurt too many times.
If your mind wanders often, there is a 85% chance that you’re subconsciously unhappy with your life.
The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies, it comes from those whom you trust the most.
When we are constantly wishing for something, we overlook everything we already have.
The way we dress determines the way we react. Especially our shoes.
Tripping in your dream and waking up with a twitch happens when your brains thinks you’re dying.
Our mind can sense someone staring at us even when we’re sleeping.
Being nice to someone you dislike doesn’t mean you’re being fake but it means you’re mature enough to tolerate that individual.
The true mark of maturity is when somebody hurts you and you try to understand their situation instead of trying to hurt them back.
The first to apologize is always the bravest. The first to forgive isthe strongest. The first to forget is the happiest.
Atleast once in life, you will meet a person you will never get over no matter how long it has been.
Life becomes more meaningful when you realize the simple fact that you will never get the same moment twice.

What was the most unexpected knock you got on your door?

Two police officers with sober faces stared at me and I knew the news couldn’t be good.

They described a car that had just been in an accident, and the license plate. My wife’s mini-van had collided, burst into flames and everyone inside it died.

I’m doing a mental inventory about now. My wife, three children, and two nieces.

My legs turned wobbly. You can’t imagine what was going through my head. Because of the fire, they couldn’t find any useful identification but explained they could identify everyone both by DNA and by dental records. They wanted a DNA sample from me.

I guess they could verify my kids were mine, and that the adult was their mother. A nice, neat little bow.

Can you imagine? They’ve just told you that your whole family is dead, and —- I told them I would come down and give them a sample.

Getting ready to leave, my cell phone is buzzing. It’s my wife. What? Hard tingles are on my spine, like she’s calling from the grave.

“Our van was stolen from the parking lot….”

Were the sweetest words I could’ve ever heard. Yeah it was my wife’s car, but they won’t need any DNA sample from me today.

EDIT – to address some of the mysteries in the comments

I learned later that three people were in the van when it collided. A man, woman, and younger person, which they presumed was a child of the drivers. The police said everyone died, but they had a different human inventory than my own. I also learned they were part of a ring of car thieves, and the accident was not their fault. Another car ran a light and hit them broadside. No fatalities and only minor injuries in the other car.

My wife had organized a birthday outing for our oldest. All the necessary shops, restaurant, and theater were inside the mall. It would be several hours before it was time to leave again. The thieves had plenty of time to get away if they hadn’t been hit.

Chinese Sweet and Sour Meatloaf

Ingredients

Sauce

2/3 cup ketchup
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons FINELY minced ginger
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon mustard

Meat Loaf

1 pound ground beef
3/4 pound ground pork (approximation)
1/3 cup finely chopped green onion(white and green parts)
3/4 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
2 tablespoons rice wine or any dry white wine
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Mix all sauce ingredients thoroughly. Set aside to allow flavors to marry.
Next, combine all meat loaf ingredients except cornstarch. Take 1 cup of sauce AND mix it into meat. Follow this step with evenly sprinkling cornstarch over meat and thoroughly mixing it in.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place meat in loaf pan and pack it down. Bake covered with foil for about 30 minutes. During last 10 minutes of initial 30-minute baking cycle, remove meat loaf from oven, drain fat and slice into several serving-size slices. Pour about 1/2 cup of sauce over meat, making sure some of sauce runs down into cracks. Bake uncovered for about 15 more minutes.
Meanwhile, if you want, you can heat and thicken leftover sauce with about 1 teaspoon cornstarch and an equal amount of water. As sauce starts to thicken, you can add about 2 teaspoons hot oil to sauce.

This recipe makes a lot of sauce, so leftover heated sauce can be spooned over individual meatloaf servings if desired.

If you want a browner meatloaf, bake covered for about 20 minutes and uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes. Then drain fat, slice meatloaf and pour sauce over it.

Is Germany a good country?

As a person who has lived in GERMANY for 10 years, I can tell you what Germany offers and you can decide good and bad depending on your priorities. Germany offers the following:

Its a Democracy.
We have only 1 planet, so Environment is a priority.
1. There is no conflict among political parties over scientifically proven facts like climate change and global warming. Everybody accepts these proven facts.
2. Around 30% of all Energy is produced from renewable sources like wind & solar and is still on the rise . Eight of the seventeen operating nuclear reactors in Germany were permanently shut down following Fukushima in 2011. In 2011, Angela Merkel’s government announced that it would close all of its nuclear power plants by 2022.
3. Plastic bottles are to be returned once used and all trash has to be separated in categories before putting in dumpsters for respective categories of trash.
Germany has the highest Current account surplus in the world i.e. its earnings from exports exceed its expenses from imports.
People don’t carry guns around. Probability of that happening is 1 in 3 million.
People are learning slowly about foreign cultures, but are very friendly when you get to know them better. Contrary to International belief, I never came across a racist person during my long stay.
Citizens vote for higher taxes, this enables country to give top healthcare to its citizens and also maintain good infrastructure. So, healthcare system is very efficient, you can visit doctor without worrying about huge bills as you already pay the insurance cost as percentage of your salary.
Refugees are given refuge, if in genuine distress and are willing to integrate.
Education is free ranging from School to University level. So, average German person is very well educated. Therefore, Students are debt free at the end of their university studies with degree in hand.
Full-Time working hours are 35–40 Hours per week.
All Full-Time employees get 20–30 paid Holidays a year. Sick leave days might not have a limit if you have a prescription.
Inflation is kept under check, so pay raises are low but stuff you wanna buy is still affordable.
Maternity leave (12 months) and 2 months paternity leave are officially granted. There are 14 months of paid parental leave if the father takes at least 2 of them (12 if not). However the 14 months can be divided as seen fit e.g. 7 + 7 months for each parent.
There is no speed limit on Freeways as the roads are good and drivers are trained with long theory lessons and practical training until driving skill reaches adequate level. Hence there is no road rage.
Super rich are taxed higher than low and middle income people.
Unemployed citizens get unemployment allowance (including heating allowance and house rent) till they get a job.
Govt offers Retirement allowance for retired people and veterans.
Teaching good values to children is important, so people with Children never J-walk. That also goes for people who are standing next to people with children before traffic lights.
Food Factor:
1. Beer is the Best in the world without question and its low priced.
2. Though Italian and French wines are popular, German Gengenbacher wine from Blackforest is my all time favorite.
3. Bakeries are the best as well.
4. Everyday food in canteen/mensa is normally Italian and French stuff plus some salads. You always have to do a little bit of research before you find a place that serves authentic German cuisine.
German Football team is best from my personal perspective as they are A REAL TEAM and not a cult formed around a star player.

Limitations in Germany:

Though the new generation speaks English, language of communication in most work places is majorly German.
1. This is not a limitation for local professional working locally. However, it might limit the ability of a German professional to market his/her skills at global level. Skills of German professionals can help the entire world but lesser knowledge of English limit the possibilities of International cooperation.
2. High Skilled professionals who are looking to migrate to Germany must consider learning German or migrate to some other country which has more familiar language as the basis. As except for the startups or jobs in software & IT industries, German is first language at workplace. This might slow down their career growth if they fail to learn the language.
3. For closer integration in German society you get better and faster response if you speak German. Unless people know the language life can be comparatively difficult. Since, I knew the language it was fairly easier for me to get everything organized & get cooperation as compared to other people with same nationality and economic standing.
4. As Germany is slowly opening to attract foreign High-Skilled professionals as it is required due to economic reasons, the language situation is slowly changing but it requires time. Government offices in the city of Düsseldorf have adopted English as an additional language for official purposes and the new generation is adopting English as the second language in schools but the overall transformation will require more time.
Rules are governed by institutions & organizations and therefore are very rigid. Rules might ignore genuine trouble of some people from time to time and may seem illogical.
Local Trains and public transport as well as the ticketing system are managed differently by each city in a different way, there is no standard best practice.

What happened to the radiation that was supposed to last thousands of years in Hiroshima (1945)?

Like a lot of misinformation about radioactivity and radiation, that too was simply wrong.

The actual radiation from the Hiroshima blast was not nearly what some people thought it would be because they were looking at the results of the Trinity explosion in New Mexico. But the trinity explosion was on a tower a hundred feet high and not 2,000 feet in the air. As a result, the Trinity blast generated a lot of residual radioactivity from the dirt that was within the fireball. Even that didn’t last as long as some thought it might.

The Hiroshima bomb, Little Boy, exploded 2,000 feet in the air and the fireball didn’t touch the ground. As a result, although there was a lot of radiation, the only radioactive materials generated came from the components of the bomb itself. Due to the intense heat, much of the radioactive material was carried into the stratosphere and carried away by the wind. The material that descended onto Hiroshima, although highly radioactive, was short lived. You have to understand that if a radioactive material has a short half life, it will be highly radioactive, but only for a short period of time before it has decayed.

The result was that the intense burst of radiation from the bomb was one source of lethal ionizing radiation, but the “black rain” that fell carried some of the short lived, but rapidly decaying material down upon the people.

Today, the background radiation at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki is normal. There is no danger from radiation in either city.

Being an engaged parent

Did the Crusades help stop the spread of Islam in Europe?

No.

Muslims controlled parts of Spain, Portugal and Italy in the 11th century, before the Crusades. They had been in these countries for 300 years and 200 years respectively.

However, by the time the First Crusade was called in 1095:

Sicily had already fallen to the Normans, ending Muslim power in Italy
Muslim Al-Andalus (Spain, Portugal) had already collapsed and splintered into competing states. It was already losing ground to the Christian kingdoms of Castille and Aragon. Toledo fell in 1085 to the Christians.

The premise of this question is false because Islam wasn’t spreading in Europe at the time. On the contrary, it was in serious decline.

But what about the Turks?

The only area where Islam was spreading was in Asia, not Europe. The expansion of the Seljuk Turks from Central Asia into the territory of the Christian Eastern Roman Empire prompted emperor Alexios I Komnenos to ask Pope Urban II for help. This was what triggered the First Crusade.

The Seljuk Turks never reached Europe. Even without the Crusades, it’s highly unlikely that they could have. Horse nomads are not known for their skill at crossing the sea, nor are they famous for taking heavily fortified cities like Constantinople.

Okay, but what about the Ottoman Empire?

The Ottoman Empire conquered large parts of Europe in the 14th to 17th centuries, after the Crusades

So this question couldn’t be more wrong.

Islam was declining, not expanding, in Europe before the Crusades

After the Crusades, Islam expanded into Europe

Conclusion

The Crusades may have encouraged the spread of Islam in Europe, rather than stopping it.

This is because the Fourth Crusade of 1204 famously destroyed the Christian Eastern Roman Empire, doing far more harm to the cause of Christianity in the Near East than any previous event. And it was the weakness of Byzantium that in turn allowed the Ottomans to expand into Europe.

Without the Crusades, the Ottomans would never have existed. Let alone crossed into Europe.

Tldr: the Crusades caused the expansion of Islam into Europe, rather than ‘stopping’ it…

Italian artist Fabbio Fabbi (1861 – 1946) painted many delightful Orientalist scenes, such as this one. One has to be aware that these may not be strictly accurate, (and the concept of the harem is actually dark if one considers the details), but they are pretty to look at…

Is it legal to set deadly traps inside your house to defend against burglars?

WARNING: GRAPHIC STORY INVOLVING SERIOUS INJURIES. IF THAT BOTHERS YOU DO NOT PROCEED READING THIS ACCOUNT!

I know of two times when boobytraps were used with sickening efficiency. In Canada the law is explicit: any type of booby trap is illegal plain and simple.

An individual I knew had been broken into three times through the same basement window and all attempts to reenforce it was met by the burglars taking the challenge and doing increasingly more damage. By the third time there wasn’t anything of value so they did damage and perpetrated some absolutely foul actions involving feces, etc. As I said in Canada booby traps are illegal plain and simple but an item that was designed for something else that caused damage to a uninvited guest was that person’s problem.

This man took a 3′x3′ piece of particle board and drilled about 100 drywall screws into it, after that at the the bottom of the board he assigned values 10, 20 etc. creating a Pachinko game, then “absent-mindedly” left it under the window. About a week later he arrived home to a frightening scene of blood EVERYWHERE. He called the police who attended and investigated.They surmised that the uninvited guest had broken the window and climbed in, dropping to the floor and landing on the Pachinko game. He must have yelled for help and a second uninvited genius came to his aid and in doing so put himself in the same predicament.They freed themselves then left via the front door.

The officers attended the nearest hospital where they found a couple of meth heads with injuries similar to what the B&E guys would have. When questioned, they said it was a construction injury and the officers didn’t push it. They didn’t stay in the hospital as they were tweaking pretty hard. The homeowner faced no legal repercussions but was told that a second Pachinko accident may not be viewed as an accident a second time.The tweakers moved on.

Problem solved. I have a nastier story that if so desired I can relay but I want to see how this story goes over.

The talking cure

Who was the one kid at school who you never believed could make it as far as they did?

There was a dumb immature football player in high school who liked a lot of girls. I was one that he liked. He ended up getting a college scholarship to play football. I never thought he would make it past his junior year. There was another football player that I knew who he was but, didn’t know him that also got a football scholarship. I never thought he would make it past his junior year either. A few years later I was in the break room at my miserable job. The NFL draft was on. I wasn’t really paying attention. Then I saw both of them announced as first round draft picks. Each had a $7,000,000 contract. I was in shock! Several years later I became friends with the one who liked me on Facebook. He quickly started messaging me asking if I was single and wanted my phone number. He started calling me several times a day. He was basically inviting himself to come visit me. We lived 2 hours away from each other. When I let him know that I wasn’t interested he got mad. He told me that I should have gotten with him in high school. He then said that he bets if I would have known how he was going to turn out that I would have gotten with him. I said YEAH!I think he was trying to go back in time and hook up with all the different girls he liked and couldn’t get in high school. He told me he acted the way he did in high school because he wasn’t getting any. I told him the reason he wasn’t getting any is because of the way he acted.

Do you think the Communist Party of China is the world’s best party?

There is no such thing as the world’s best? Each country ought to have what they each see as the best for their nation and their people under different circumstances unique for them, over a development level that is different from country to country.

You can say every nation thinks they have the world’s best for themselves. They ought to be. Otherwise why would they choose it? Surely they all want to do the best for themselves right?

These words or symbols or slurs such as Communism or Democracy or Socialism are tags for various purpose. Some times to simplify some times to discriminate one against another or worst to slur and demonised. These labels meant nothing more, as each nation is shade of grey and not black or white.

The U.S. for example calls itself Liberal democracy. But in reality it is neither democratic nor liberal at all. Is 0.8% of the rich or and powerful decides that the 60 odd % of their people who bother to vote have only two choice Biden a senile or Trump a perpetual liar to choose from, surely that is not democracy!

The U.S. with a mere 4% of world’s population has 25% of the world’s prisoner’s population, surely it cannot liberal nor free? But U.S. can called itself whatever it wants!

China calls itself socialism with Chinese characteristics but the U.S. insists on the label. “Communism” for worst connotations to cast fear and hate on them! If you repeat it like this questioner do, it simply help your media cast hates on China.

To me if the west can call the U.S. a Liberal Democracy why can’t they tern China as Socialism with Chinese characteristics? It is no different from Western media calling Palestinians as “terrorist” and Isreal as freedom “fighter” These slurs and suggesting good is clearly a set. narrative!

Reality

Do lawyers ever have clients who don’t pay them on time or at all? If so, what do they think about them?

Back in my previous incarnation, I worked in collections for the law firm I worked for – drafting legal documents, preparing for hearings, and then taking enforcement steps once we obtained judgment. Yes, we sometimes collected money, but it was usually frustrating and fruitless.

Once, a client offered to pay $2,000 on a $5,000 bill. The lawyer (now a judge) asked my advice. I told her my usual recovery on a judgement was zero. We took the $2,000 and called it a day.

The real problem is that lawyers often start doing work without regard for the client’s ability to pay, they don’t bill regularly and they keep working on files even though there are unpaid bills. I was never involved in one of my firm’s biggest cases – a lengthy patent suit where the client was billed monthly and paid pretty much when it received the bill.

At first, most of the work was centered around clients whose assets we had grossly overestimated. This was very true in family law litigation. However, we often had cases where we simply did too much work for very little return for the client. I remember meeting one client who had met with “other Steve” (who did the collections calls) who complained that the entire amount of the judgement went to pay taxes she owned on the settlement. I told other Steve to write off the bill.

There was the odd client who had the wherewithal to pay, but just didn’t. In a lot of cases they were asset rich and cash poor. They often lived excessive lifestyles even though their income had dropped severely (not our fault by the way). We had a client who owed us about $70,000 and was getting about $100,000 a year from a rich person’s estate. However, that money couldn’t be “attached” by a judgement so we went unpaid.

Have you ever tried to fire someone and it backfired?

Backfire happened when my uncle was fired.

My uncle retired from the Dept. of Agriculture after a long career. He was headhunted by a couple of guys with land who wanted to set up a seed testing company. (If you want to claim something about seeds that you sell, someone independent has to test that.) He set up the program, and had contacts in the industry so that the two guys ended up with all their land in use. A year later the guys looked at their books and realized he was the highest paid person, and that all that he was doing, was signing off that the teenagers taking the readings, etc. and were doing the job right. They could do that.

They called my uncle in and offered him a severance package. He smiled, took the offer, and went home. Next month, they were frantic when they called him. After they had sent out the documentation with their signatures, every company that they were doing business with had called them and sent certified letters. They hadn’t understood that someone qualified as an expert witness needed to be signing those documents. The list of people qualified in that field is short. They had no choice but to hire him back, at an increased salary.

What is the nicest thing you have done that no one knows about?

I was a 16 year old American girl. Our family was living in Brazil due to my father’s employment. My family had gone to the beach for the day and had hauled along a 19 year old acquaintance from church. While at the beach, a woman had swum out too far and she was drowning. The 19 year old and myself swam out to help her. The tide was turning, the waves were really rough, and she was trying to climb up on us in order to not drown. She was so desperate. The situation with the waves, the changing tide, and her extreme emotional state was so dire that the 19 year old looked at me and said, “It is better for her to die than for all three of us to die while trying to save her”. He swam back to shore.

I realized that I would rather die trying to save her than live the rest of my life knowing that I abandoned someone in need. I could not leave her. I just could not do it.

I had taken a Junior Life Saving Course as a 10 or 11 year old. I remembered just enough to know not to let her grab me. I got my elbow around her neck and made her float on her back. I worked on calming her down. I tried to work with the waves instead of against them. It took a while, but we both got back to shore. She was vomiting up water, but she was alive. We both were. My family packed up and we drove home. There were no accolades.

I am 55 years old now, and that event at the age of 16 was a turning point in my life. The experience let me know that I could put my life on the line and do hard things.

Over the years, I have volunteered and donated and done some nice things, but that was the nicest thing I ever did.

Can Taiwan with the QUAD backing it, defeat China

No.

Not even close.

…

Consider this mix…

USA, Taiwan, QUAD, The Philippines, all of NATO vs China. Who would win?

China would win.

…

How? Why? What is the reasoning?

Well…

Let me engage you in some creative illustrations. Because anyone even contemplating such a ludicrous question is completely ignorant of China; China’s history, and China’s massive military capabilities.

A tale of mountains

Imagine, China as a huge; just massive mountain. And on that mountain are thousands, maybe even millions of ant hills. Every meter or yard or so, you see another ant hill. And amongst all those ant hills a dangerous and lethal fire ants. Their bite is painful, and nasty.

The fire ants are organized, communicate by scent, and are completely willing to die on the spot to preserve their colony.

The individual bite of a single ant is painful, but will not really kill any large animal. But if ten ants bite an animal, then you can expect some serious harm to come to that animal. Including death.

…

Now imagine a pack of dogs. Each dog has his own hill to live upon. One dog, the biggest of them all; an old and mangy mutt lives on a mountain, roughly the same size as the Chinese mountain. The other dogs, of various types and sizes and breeds live on an array of different hills and much smaller mountains. One is a husky, another is a German Shepard. One is a poodle, while another one is a lean greyhound.

This pack of dogs like to travel around in a great big pack. They are pretty good at it, running about, digging holes,, barking at everyone.

…

One day, the biggest dog tells the poodle and the beagle to go to the Chinese mountain and start digging and raising a fuss…

And they go up there and run about. Barking. Trampling all over the anthills. They dig into the ground and ants go a flying about. They are so happy that other dogs of the pack join in, and before you know it, all the dogs are running about all over the mountain and tossing the tiny ants everywhere.

Then…

(And anyone who has encountered fire ants knows)

… all at once, simultaneously swarms of fire ants bite in unison every single dog. They flood in from all over. They come from everywhere. And the dogs start running away, but the ants are still clinging to their fur and riding the yelling dogs back to their home mountains.

Some of the smaller dogs die in place. They never leave the China mountain.

The medium sized dogs make it home, where they lay in absolute agony and howl in pain and agony. The large dog collapses and winces and twitches as the fire ants relentlessly bite him over and over.

…

The ants that rode the dogs to their home now are establishing ant colonies there, and they grow and expand even as the dogs dies and their carcasses rot to bleached bones.

The ants in the China mountain rebuild and in no time at all, have bigger and more elaborate ant colonies. And the reign of the dog pack ends.

Replaced with a world run by a peaceful, but lethal fire ant horde.

…

This is the reality of a war with China. Are you ready to watch it happen?

What’s the most appalling behavior you’ve seen by a young child’s parent?

The woman living next door sent sweet bread for me yesterday.

She’s maybe 20 years old, mother of a toddler. It’s been a year they moved in as tenants and aren’t exactly the “hey, how are ya neighbor” type of folks and firmly practice minding their own business.

Last night, as I was back from work and having dinner. My wife brought a plate of sweet bread and said that Faiza (name changed) brought some sweet bread today and sat for a chat; it was delicious and kids loved it. We ate it while she was still here And after noticing the empty plate, she went back and brought some more, saying…

I’m glad you liked it. Here… I have brought some more for brother Neman. He should have some of it too.

And I thought… wow!

I tasted it and yeah it was nice. Sweet and crispy.

Later, I went to the other room and fired up my laptop.

I sat there and thought of her. Faiza.

A short brick wall separates our yards. I hear them all the time. She yells a lot at her husband and vice versa. She says “F” words to him which is quite uncommon. She sobs and nags. A poverty-stricken and miserable woman, indeed.

Worst of all… she curses her own son sometimes. I hear her saying “Drop dead” or “Why don’t you just die” to her own son. Downright awful.

Strangely… I didn’t hate her.

I would have hated anyone else in this situation. But not her. In fact, I felt for her. I remember seeing her as a toddler years back, running in the streets barefoot and playing with clay pots. She grew in this neighborhood.

It is complicated to explain to you, Quorans that in our lower-middle class culture… we just cannot go and tell people to behave on their personal matters. It can be considered rude and might actually trigger an irreversible chain of events that lead to “why did I do it in the first place” .

Believe it or not… I spoke to her one day. I initiated that neighborly talk and told her that I remember her as a toddler, playing in front of my house.

She smiled.

That’s what I was hoping for. A smile.

“I hear you cursing your son, Faiza. Trust me… he’ll remember it when he grows older. You love your child, I know. Do you want him to hate and abandon you as soon he can? It’s not his fault for whatever troubles you’re in”.

And that was it.

A few days later, I was home alone, opened my door upon hearing a knock and found her holding a piece of paper. It was the first time… she actually came to our door. She requested me to have her husband’s character certificate stamped by the local police as he’s applying for a security guard’s job.

I got it done.

It’s been weeks. Yelling between them is there but not so much, I would say. And certainly no more cursing towards her own son. I think… the kid has started going to play group. I saw him in his cute uniform.

And now this… a plate full of sweet bread.

Life’s good, people.

Who’s the funniest patient you’ve ever had as a doctor or nurse?

I was on a general medicine ward earlier this year where I met a patient who we will call Mrs X.

She had agreed to be a teaching patient. This was because she has peripheral vascular disease (the arteries in her legs weren’t working so well) so she had some good signs and symptoms.

While taking the history and exam I got to know this beautiful character very well. She was bright, energetic, witty and very funny!

She made jokes at her own expense, wasn’t afraid to rip into me (I did a little bit back to her too), and despite her rather poor medical state she had a great outlook on life.

Several months go by and I cycle through different specialities.

It was my first day on the geriatric ward and I got assigned my long case. This is a patient I’ll follow for the entirety of my placement. Writing about their medical history and progress.

Guess who I get assigned? It’s Mrs X!

She had undergone a double above knee amputation due to her peripheral vascular disease.

As soon as she saw me she smiled and said;

Mrs X: “Well I’ll be dammed! Who let this packet of trouble in here, how are you Carter?”.

I smiled, her cheeky wit was all to familiar and lovely to see.

Me: “I know right! Can’t get rid of me that easily. Hopefully you will be able to keep up with my banter still Mrs X”.

Mrs X: “Oh I will. No going easy just because I’ve no longer got a leg to stand on”.

From her cheeky grin erupted a heavy belly laugh. Only she could joke about a double amputation.

Me: “I would never, and I’m not giving you one of mine to stand on either!”.

We then proceeded to give each other a hug and catch up on the last few months.

Sometimes humour really is the best form of medicine.

What is it like to see the one you love with someone else?

The first time I saw my ex’s new partner, she stepped out of my old marital home with her child and stared at me blankly on the doorstep when I was picking up my son. It was odd, to say the least, to be standing outside my own house (effectively)and being introduced to his new flame. I hugged and kissed her hello and said ‘’Nice to meet you.’ Then walked away feeling surreal and asking myself ‘’What the hell is happening here?’

I was married for 18 years. We had a fairytale relationship. There were only three certainties in life: taxes, death and the fact that we would be together for the rest of our lives. But, things ended.

A reasonable adult will accept that the relationship ended for good reasons and that things just weren’t working anymore. But when your ex finds a new partner, that’s a whole different story. When he introduces his new partner to mutual friends as ‘’the love of his life,’ you find yourself having the petty, angry feelings a teenager would have. Then you chastise yourself for becoming THAT person.

And the day your 8 year old tells you that his suit for the wedding is too tight and you look at him bemused because you have no idea what he’s on about, and he looks back at you like a deer in headlights because he assumed you knew, you feel like you have been punched in the stomach. And weeks later, when you receive a text from an aquaintance asking ‘You okay?’ and it turns out she’s referring to the wedding photo just posted on social media, you feel you never existed. That’s when you realise those 18 years of love, support, fidelity, encouragement and accomplishment meant absolutely nothing to your ex. Or his family.

So you spend the next couple of years in a haze of various emotions (hatred, resentment, anger, jealousy, insecurity, despair) until one day you realise you’ve not thought about it much lately. And although the hurt will never disappear entirely, eventually it makes more sense to just accept it.

Why people divorce

Pretty good explanation.

In the USA…

Ohio, USA auctioned off 393,000 pieces of protective clothing for only $2451, and eventually threw away 7.2 million pieces of protective clothing as well as expired masks, gloves, and other materials. These soon to expire supplies cost approximately $29 million in federal funds.

Vermont sold 105,000 boot covers for $82.50 and thousands of safety goggles for 29 cents.

A survey by the Associated Press found that at least 15 states from Alaska to Vermont have abandoned some of their personal protective equipment due to expiration, surplus, and lack of willing buyers.

More than 18 million masks, 22 million protective suits, 500,000 gloves, and more have all been thrown into the trash can. This does not include states that have not provided accurate numbers to the Associated Press or responded through case studies or other measurement methods. Rhode Island states that it has crushed and recycled 829 tons of personal protective equipment. Maryland processed over $93 million in supplies.

The entire article is too long and there is a lot of material waste. I have only cited a small part of it. And that’s just what the US has calculated by itself.

In the past three years, countless people around the world have lost their parents, children, and partners. These life-saving supplies are just rotting here. Tell me, who is the one who does not respect human rights?

At the same time as these things happen, Washington was doing this. No party has done better.

The economic structure of this world is a joke, your society is a joke, and I watch it with tears in my eyes.

It needs to be changed. It can be changed. It must be changed.

Zones v3 – The most useful relationship map in history

What was the worst date you’ve ever been on?

“It’s really more of an in-person kind of explanation,” he demured, then suggested a dinner date.

I hesitated. Normally I don’t meet my online dates until significantly more text and phone contact. Partly for safety reasons, partly because I don’t want to waste my time on guys I know will not work out. But mostly because I have been on A LOT of bad dates.

He said he was living in his friend’s spare room because he’d hit a few “speed bumps,” in life. I totally got that. I’m the queen of speed bumps myself. I let myself dare to hope maybe— just maybe— I had found a kindred spirit. I agreed to the date. And just like that, there I was, listening to him tell his story from across the candlelit table.

”About a year ago, I went out with some friends after work,” he began, and I smiled and nodded to let him know he had my attention. “I met a girl at a bar and we really hit it off. We ended up going home together. Next day, there’s a cop on my doorstep. And yada, yada, yada… long story short, she didn’t LOOK sixteen.”

I stiffened. Did she look 30? Because you’re 44, dude.

“So,” he continued, “I have a felony on my record. I was put on probation, and my job fired me. And then, just to kick me when I’m down” —and this is my favorite part— “my wife left me.”

?!??!!

“Bummer,” I said, because what else is there to say?

“So I was out of work, and my mom and I couldn’t live off her social security check alone, so she started driving for Uber…

… That’s how she caught COVID and died.”

And this is why I’m still single.

Is it normal that my parents still let my 23-year-old sister live with them even though she does absolutely nothing in life? She has autism but other people with autism manage to get a job too so that shouldn’t be an excuse.

So you have an adult sister with autism, and you resent her living with your parents and, from your perspective, “doing nothing”.

You obviously don’t live with your parents and sister.

Autism is a spectrum disorder, meaning that there is a very wide range of capability and deficits. If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person. What one person with autism does has no bearing on what another person with autism can or will do.

Do you know anything about what your sister is capable of? Perhaps she had difficulty with language, making any interaction with the public impossible. Perhaps she has extreme sensory issues, making leaving her home environment an exercise in pain and anxiety. Autistic people can be intellectually disabled, or intellectually gifted. And both extremes tend to struggle with the social rules of conversation and interaction.

I would suggest that you find out more about your sister, without judgement. Ask questions with an open mind. Attend doctor’s appointments with your parents. Get to know your sister, on a personal level, without expectation of what she “should” be doing.

It’s perfectly normal, and even typical, for adults with autism to live with parents. They may lack the necessary mental skills to manage schedules, financial decisions, even cooking a meal or basic hygiene. While being able to discuss the intricacies of rainforest habitats.

However, your parents will not be able to care for her forever. And she is your sister. Eventually she may need you to help. So lose the attitude and get informed. That way you can be a loving, caring sibling, rather than a jealous, resentful one.

What is SpaceX doing differently that makes the company so successful?

That’s three spaceX raptor engines, on a regular ass flatbed trailer, being towed around by a ford.

ULA and all of the other legacy launch providers would have built some bespoke vehicle at the cost of millions of dollars to do this job.

I can think of few other images that capture in one shot the difference in philosophy at play here. SpaceX acts like it’s stuff is commodity, yet tough hardware, and that it can be treated as such.

It’s a rocket engine. If it can’t survive being towed around by a ford, it’s probably not going to survive flying to mars, landing, and taking off again with minimal human interaction.

The entire south Texas facility looks like a construction site that might be dedicated to the oil and gas sector (which is no surprise, given as that’s the sector that largely built it), not some hyper-clean room high tech facility that looks like it’s primarily built to host congressional delegations. The equipment used is overwhelmingly the sort of stuff that one sees at any industrial facility where you have to worry about cost, rather than the taxpayer subsidized specials that legacy companies seem to be addicted too.

Loyalty is really important to men

Have your neighbors ever called the cops on you for something ridiculous?

When I was still dating Ebba, she warned me for her father on several occasions. That he was a difficult man, that he was incapable of listening to other people, and that he constantly complained about my trees being too high. And that he would never stop.

Her words turned out to be augural signs for what was to come.

Have your neighbors ever called the cops on you for something ridiculous ?

Yes, all the time.

It started with nagging. Nagging about my hedge which was too high, nagging about my backyard birches whose leaves fell into his garden (and those tiny, tiny twigs), then about an old elder tree that (slightly) leaned over on his side of the fence, then about a Christmas tree that would grow too big in the future, then about all the shadow which is cast on his property.

Nagging, nagging, nagging.

So he contacted the community officer to complain, and that kind man patiently tried to explain that on the countryside, trees and hedges are a normal thing, and so are leaves and the like. He did not listen.

Some time later, we came back from abroad near the end of Eastern holidays, and our beautiful Christmas tree — the one that “would grow too big in the future” — had been cut. The bully admitted without any shame that he had done it.

The community officer tried to explain to my neighbor that this was not done, but again the bully did not listen.

And so it began, and proceeded.

Then envelopes came. With pictures of all the leaves and twigs that fell into their garden, and of all the fictional damage that they had done.
Then he sued us in a Justice of Peace court because of our trees, and the judge himself came by to check on his complaints. And he did not agree, on all accounts. He explained the bully that leaves and twigs are a part of country life, and that he would have to live with that. (He did not listen.)
The bully then nearly physically attacked me, and threw his entire repertoire of vile words in my face (and some of it also in my ear). He was heavily reprimanded by the judge. (He did not listen.)
Since then, he called the community officer again, and was again reprimanded and asked to stop. (He did not listen.)

Ebba was right indeed — her father will never stop.

So we planted a seedling of a giant sequoia in our frontyard.

It is a direct descendant of a 500-year-old Californian giant, and it grows ferociously. Last year, it doubled in volume and added more than two feet to its height, and it will keep on doing that until it towers above all the neighborhood trees in no time.

The gauntlet has been thrown.

And a shadow will be cast.

What is the strangest reaction of someone who has just been fired?

I left the office laughing.

On my second day in my new job, I was summoned to a meeting with the director. He told me that the person I had been hired to replace, as the top finance person in the company, had accepted an offer to stay, and that I would therefore not be made permanent.

Aside from some curiosity about this development, which he declined to gratify, my reaction was being absolutely fine. Just another curveball in the strangest year of my life.

As I got up to leave, my chair knocked over the fan behind me.

“Just because you’re being let go, doesn’t mean you can start trashing the place!” he said, and we both laughed.

Added:

Ten days later, I had lunch with the man who had replaced me at my previous job, as we had become friends during the handover. He asked me to come back and work with him. I accepted. A few weeks after that I fell in love with him. Last month we celebrated a year together. Funny what life throws at you.

What is the most ridiculous reason for which you have been fired?

I was fired, but I probably deserved it.

When I was 18, I had a job as a receptionist in a small doctor’s office in a rural area. There were three doctors who were based in another community. Their hours at this clinic were sporadic. This was when our healthcare system was in transition and many of the rural people didn’t understand the complicated new changes.

I noticed that the head doctor, who owned the business, was doing some dodgy things. He was billing the government for treatment, and then charged the rural people cash for the same visit. For example, a girl who had saved up money came in to have her ears pierced, was charged cash. The doctor then billed the province for an “ear infection.”

This same doctor opened an x-ray clinic in his own community, and apparently almost everyone who came through the door “needed” x-rays.

There’s more. In those days, the family doctor went all the way with his pregnant patients, from a positive pregnancy test, to delivery. Except this doctor was a no show, every time. Sometimes he went golfing after getting these calls! Sometimes he walked his dogs instead of attending the birth, birth after birth. Most times he got the message and simply ignored it.

This was awful! These poor rural people were being cheated, and the pregnant moms, too.

So, I took photocopies of government billing and the receipts for cash. I had lots.

I began telling these pregnant clients the truth, and they started going elsewhere for treatment.

I was at a loss as to what to do next, so I took all my photocopies to the mayor of the closest large community. He thought they were interesting. I was so pleased. However, the mayor didn’t tell me what would happen next…

I went to work the next day and the day after that. THEN, I got a call from the wife of the doctor, firing me. She didn’t say why, it was a short call. I’d never been fired before, and I had such hurt feelings that I actually cried. I felt so terribly unwanted.

Then I got a call from an employee at the other clinic. She said there were two mean guys from the government there who showed up with some kind of paper that said they could search through all the files. Later I learned that the doctor lost all his hospital privileges in the provinces. A couple of years later, he closed his business and left the country.

Still satisfying. All these years later.

Why do I keep seeing people on Quora saying the ancient Chinese were very strong and advanced, yet they got wrecked by the British (not targeting China, just curious)?

Rationally speaking, China or the Qing Dynasty was ruined by its own problems, and the British were only the fuse that ignited them.

In fact, with the wealth and potential that China has, it is difficult for any other country to really challenge it as long as it is on a normal track, having long occupied a quarter of the world’s population and wealth, reaching half at its peak. Such a country could only be destroyed from within. Several vulnerable periods in China have been marked by various unresolvable structural contradictions:

First of all the Song dynasty was conquered by the Mongols, since the Song dynasty was a local power, it had no control over the north and was caught in a long war with Jin and Liao, even so, the Song was the last large country to be conquered by the Mongols, after the Mongols had conquered most of Eurasia, they concentrated their forces of half of the continent to attack the Song dynasty, even so, the war lasted almost 50 years, it was not easy for the Mongols and As Mongol Khan died in Sichuan, it forced Mongolia to stop its conquest of Europe and led to the division of the Mongol Empire.
Then came the Manchu invasion. The problem of the Ming Dynasty was the successive famines during the Little Ice Age and the failed fiscal policies that led to a high concentration of wealth to the bureaucratic class, with officials getting rich and the country not collecting taxes. The corrupt bureaucrats had no regard for the survival of the country before their personal interests, and the Ming Dynasty collapsed after a massive peasant uprising broke out, at which point the warlords in the north also colluded with the Manchus for their own benefit and gave China away.

The structural contradiction of the late Qing dynasty was that it was a minority regime, which meant that the rulers saw the state as their property and the people as their slaves, and they were more afraid of having their rights taken away by the people as opposed to being afraid of foreign invaders; after all, foreigners wanted only property (territory) and the people wanted their lives. Therefore, the Manchu rulers did not dare to mobilize the power of the people and let them master advanced productivity and technology. As a result, Japan in the same period could modernize rapidly on a much worse basis, while the Manchu aristocracy could only make do.

There are many uncanny but thought-provoking phenomena in the Opium Wars that illustrate these issues.

The British did not initially sell opium to China; since they had already succeeded in the Industrial Revolution, they believed their greatest advantage was industrial consumer goods, which could be industrially mass produced at low cost, and through which they believed they could succeed in China.

And then they failed.

Haha, yes, because China was in a small peasant economy, with little economic circulation and no modernization, the peasants did not need these consumer goods at all, nor could they afford them. For food, they grew their own, for clothing, the price of Chinese cloth was even lower, and the most demand was for spices, a few agricultural tools, and only the high officials and the rich consumed those “magical gadgets”.

Well, the British adjusted their strategy and they started selling Indian spices to the Chinese, but that’s when a new problem arose, and that was the balance of trade. Due to the extensive trade, Chinese porcelain, silk and tea flooded into Europe, fostering European consumption habits, especially tea, which was literally gold growing out of the ground. Europeans have always suffered from the local water quality problems, due to industrial pollution, and no modern tap water system, Europeans have long endured the bitterness of drinking water, tea is simply a savior. At that time, people did not know that the soil had the problem of acidity and alkalinity, and they thought that only China could produce good tea. Therefore tea became the core of the world’s trade at that time, for the profiteering of tea, the British shipped almost all the world’s silver to China, which led to the silver crisis in Europe, that is, severe deflation.

To balance trade, British merchants packaged opium to sell to China as medicine, which opened the door to a new world, yes, the door to nightmares.

Opium was a perfect trade good, a product that could be manufactured in large quantities and that consumers could not get rid of after forming a habit, but none of this is the core of the problem, the most crucial point is that opium was banned in China. You must think I’ve said something wrong, but no, the logic goes like these:

Since opium was banned, Chinese farmers could not grow it, so this meant that China’s greatest advantage, the cost advantage, was gone, something that had not been the case with previous agricultural products.
Because opium was banned, it could not be imported through normal channels, was not taxable, and because the trade between China and abroad was monopolized by a few individuals who were thus sufficiently profitable, there was sufficient incentive for Chinese and foreign trading merchants to collude and buy officials to smuggle large quantities of opium. When the supervising officials essentially became accomplices of the smugglers, and there was no channel to respond to the ruling class about the actual situation, the opium trade became a mutually agreeable existence.
Since there was no supervision, everyone became complicit, forming a wide class of interests, so much so that it was even more impossible to contain, and the profitable officials made money to share the profits with their superiors, so that the senior officials were also deeply involved, so much so that the emperor was aware of the situation at a later stage but still could not stop it, because even the emperor himself could not resist the temptation brought by profits.

When the opium trade grew exponentially, problems arose, the people took a lot of opium, a large number of refugees emerged who were bankrupted by opium, the army took a lot of opium opium and lost its fighting strength, and the most crucial problem was the same as the situation in Europe before, the outflow of silver. At this point, the emperor finally realized the problem, yes, the emperor never worried about the miserable situation his people were in, he only cared about himself and his property, that is, silver.

At this point, the “smart” officials came up with a solution, the same as the current North American policy on marijuana, if you can not prohibit, simply liberalize.

Well, the nightmare really came. Due to the huge profits of opium, farmers stopped growing grain and they grew opium, domestic opium quickly took over the market, opium prices plummeted, more people started smoking opium, the market became bigger, so much so that smugglers could still make a lot of money even if they paid taxes legally and provided the officials with kickbacks as much as they should, and instead of balancing the trade, the open door policy made opium even more unstoppable.

When the Qing government once again made up its mind to ban opium, it was too late. The harsh policy not only failed to solve the problem, but also angered British businessmen, who spent a lot of money to convince the British Parliament to vote to declare war on the Qing Empire, a vote in favor of which was narrowly won by only nine votes. This meant that even at the time, when Britain was at its strongest, they did not have enough confidence to defeat China halfway across the world, tens of thousands of kilometers away. The parliamentary lords took the money and sent a small expeditionary force to try, at least they knew that the Qing did not have enough naval forces to retaliate against them.

At this point, the ignorance and lack of understanding of the other side on both sides of the battlefield is mind-boggling to people today.

The Qing emperor had always arrogantly believed that he was the ruler of the world and that the British were just some barbarians. He regarded the British attack as a historical harassment of China by barbarians from the north, as if the British army would immediately surrender and kneel down and beg for mercy as soon as he gave the order for the Chinese army to attack, which was not the funniest thing, the funniest thing was that the initial reaction of the British army seemed to confirm his judgment.

Surprisingly, the British fleet did not dare to attack and only cruised in the outer sea. The Qing generals holding on to the shore batteries even became bored, thinking that the British were bluffing and how they dared to fight against the armies of Heaven.

Do you know what the British think? The British think they are “blockading the port”. I have to say, I really laughed, “blockade of ports”? They didn’t even know that the Chinese had no concept of trade or sea power at that time, and all trade was packaged by officials as “tribute” from the surrounding barbarians to the central state, which had everything and didn’t need to trade at all, but only to show appreciation and give gifts to the “tribute”.

In fact, it was when the British fleet prepared to blockade the Yangtze northward and began to move deeper inland that the real battle took place, a process that shocked both sides.

British naval guns were surprisingly farther-ranged and more powerful than the Chinese shore guns
The Qing shore guns were surprisingly all fixed guns, unable to adjust their angles or aim, and could only probabilistically kill.
The Qing army’s jingalls were surprisingly unable to inflict fatal wounds on the British.

The British tactic of suppressing fire with naval guns and attacking with small units around the flank and rear was surprisingly easy to make the Qing defenses collapse. And this simple tactic seemed to work forever; the Qing army seemed to have absolutely no reconnaissance capability.
The Chinese population around the battlefield simply watched both sides perform, and even applauded the British victory, as they were apparently more oppressed by the Qing officials.

In the end, this turned into an almost one-sided massacre.

At the same time, the message to the palace is a lot of good news. The officials could not explain such an incredible defeat, and they could only cajole the emperor that although the Qing army had been winning, the harassment of the British brought a huge financial burden. How about giving the “barbarians” a sum of money to meet their trade requests and induce the British to retreat? They even falsely claimed that the defeated British army knelt outside the city gates and prayed for the mercy of heaven, which was moving.

Coincidentally, this was the time when, due to a massive outbreak of plague among the British army, more people died of disease than died in battle, and the British army was unable to fight, so a consensus was reached. The officials and the emperor saved face and the British got the benefit. The first unequal treaty in modern Chinese history, the Treaty of Nanking, was signed in such a confused manner, which started the prelude to China’s “hundred years of humiliation”. And this war even too small to be worth mentioning in the history of the British.

What, if anything, can be learned from this history? I would end this article with a quote from the Chinese author Liu Cixin in The Three-Body Problem.

Weakness and ignorance are never an obstacle to survival, but arrogance is.

This statement is not only addressed to the Chinese, but also to the many Westerners who currently know nothing about China but are happy to teach the Chinese how to behave. Hopefully, as mature civilizations, we should all refrain from repeating the mistakes of the past.

What is the most ludicrous thing someone got fired for at your job?

I had an employee in her late 30s that kept missing work. She called in with lots of excuses. Vandalized car, stolen keys. I put her on a performance plan (first step to termination). So, she reported to HR that she was an alcoholic. I, according to HR, could no longer terminate her. So, I (the company) continued to pay her while she spent 3 days in jail. I paid for her to be off work for a month, while she attended out-patient rehab. During her time off for rehab, she got pregnant. I paid for her to have a baby and 8 weeks off work. She continued to miss work…probation appointment, broken car-start-breathalyzer. Her work was terrible, she antagonized the other employees and spent a good part of her workday outside smoking cigarettes. She eventually quit. I never was allowed to fire her.

However, I had another employee that I did fire…for smoking marijuana during her time off work. She was selected for random drug testing. She failed for marijuana. Even though she was not using at work, and she was a good employee, I was required to fire her. She was in her 60s. She apologized to me as I was terminating her. I went back to my office and cried after she left. I felt so terrible for what I had done to her.

So, smoking tobacco leaves and drinking alcohol to the point of complete failure to perform….ok! Smoking marijuana leaves during your time off, while doing a good job at work…b-bye.

Completely upside down.

You suddenly wake up 50 years in the past with nothing but your clothes, smartphone and memories of modern life in the year 2019. How do you use what you have to best advance humanity?

I get to New York City, by hitchhiking if need be.
I go to the New York library and find the name of a good patent attorney.
I visit his office and show him the phone.
His jaw drops to the floor. He knows he’s looking at nothing that can be built in 1969.
Then I tell him there’s nothing in that phone I know how to patent, but I know a lot about the broad evolution of technology over the next 50 years across semiconductors, computers, programming, biology, material science, etc.
He takes another look at what is obviously the most powerful supercomputer on the planet…
Then I say: “I need a place to stay and a little spending money while we figure out how to build a company that’s going to own the most important intellectual property portfolio the world has ever seen. We’ll need scientists, engineers, investors, and lawyers working together. You in?”

You want a patent attorney, they see the possibilities.

Have you ever accidentally found out that you were about to be fired?

Oh yes! Back in the day (early 2000’s) when I lived in Los Angeles I worked in the accounting department for a catering company. After a few months I was doing ok but I was aware that my immediate supervisor (we will call him Javier) was not very fond of me. (Well, actually he had been WAY too fond of me at first but once I turned him down it was downhill for me in that office. But that’s a separate story and I don’t mean to digress.)

One day the phone at my desk rings and I answer it. The young lady on the other line tells me she is answering the add she read in the paper (yup, newspaper ads! I am that old!) about the job opening and she is interested to set up an interview. Yes you read correctly: Those idiots had placed an ad in the newspapers for MY job and had given the phone number at MY desk as the contact by mistake. I was very pleasant to the young lady on the phone as well as the other dozen or so that called until Javier made it in later that day. I went into his office with a big smile and handed him his messages and said something along the lines of ‘oh and these messages are from people answering the want ad. You know, the ones that want to interview for my job.’ He looked at me in complete shock and embarrassment since I had just called him a complete idiot and he was left speechless which is essentially what had happened. I mean, what could he say? That was on a Friday and the owner of the company (who was completely unaware) was in Hawaii and would not return to the office until Monday. The owner came back on Monday livid that this had happened, was embarrassed and apologised for causing me any discomfort. Javier didn’t apologise as much as he said that California was an ‘at-will’ state which meant that one could be fired for no reason at all, blah, blah and that he really wasn’t a bad guy (only an idiot!). I didn’t have another job lined up so I let it go.

Fast forward about about 2 months later. Again a Friday and in the morning my phone rings. The young lady on the other end wanted to confirm her interview appointment for 3 PM that day. Again, for MY job! I responded ‘sure, no problem! See you then!’ After lunch my co-worker (who I though was my friend but turns out he wanted to safeguard his own position so he sided with Javier) says something like ‘hey Christian, there isn’t much left to do today. Why don’t you go home?’. I responded with a ‘naw, I have so much to do with blah blah…’ Half hour later Javier comes to me with the same question. I said ‘oh no, I want to get ahead with blah blah…’ 3 PM comes around, bell rings and in comes in the young lady. I sat her ass down in my seat, got her some coffee and told her I would let Javier know. I go to his office and announce ‘Mary is here for her interview for my job. I got her some coffee. I’m going home like you suggested. Have a great weekend!’ They once again found themselves speechless at their own idiocy. She turned them down.

A few weeks later I landed my dream job during the catering company’s busiest time period. My new job told me they needed me to start immediately. I told them that even though Javier had treated me like homemade dog piss, I was still going to give them a 2-week notice because that was the correct thing to do. The following day I walked into Javier’s office and gave my notice. He begged me to please stay for at least a couple of more months until the busy period subsided and they did not have someone to do my job. I said I could not and that the 2 weeks was all that I could give them. I left with my head held high and worked at the other company for 10 years until I moved to Europe. Moral of the story: When someone treats you like dog crap do not sink to their level and don’t forget your self respect by teaching them a lesson on what human decency is all about because sooner or later karma will still find those Mother Fuckers.

As an American, would you sacrifice the ability to choose your own doctor and receive expedient service in exchange for cheaper, universal healthcare?

When I signed up with my US health insurer, Humana, the first thing they did was assign me to a different doctor than the one I had been seeing for fifteen years. I called them and told them to put me back with my regular doctor. In April of 2023, I recived a new insurance card with a different doctor’s name and a letter informing me of a change in my primary care physician. Again, I called them and told them to put me back with my previous doctor. In June of 2023, I recived a new insurance card with a different doctor’s name and a letter informing me of a change in my primary care physician. Once again, I called them and told them to put me back with my previous doctor. In September of 2023, I recived a new insurance card with a different doctor’s name and a letter informing me of a change in my primary care physician. I no longer have Humana as my insurer.

So don’t tell me that as an American I have the ability to choose my own doctor when my insurance company keeps trying to deny me that choice.

American health insurance is shit.

EDIT: I should point out that my original primary doctor was and is in Humana’s “network” to begin with. Their insistence on assigning me to another doctor was either some kind of bureaucratic nonsense or they were just fucking with me. Either way, there was no reason for them to keep reassigning me when I clearly stated my preference time and again.

What is the most bulletproof advice your dad ever gave you?

One day dad and I went into a deep conversation about various aspects of life. Topics like meaning of life, life after death, role of luck in success etc.

Conversation went deep and we kept discussing and I was all ears to grasp whatever wisdom he had to offer.

Then I asked him “Dad if you have to give one solid advice to me that I should always follow, what should be it. Just one?”

He thought for a while and then asked me, “What is your utmost priority in life”?

I gave a grin smile and said, “My Career”…..I was 28 then.

To which he replied, “Suppose you earn $ 10,000 + in a month some years from now, for that obviously you have to trade time for money and you ignore everything to earn money. By the time you turn 40/45 you have all the money in the world and are financially secure. You have a house of your own, a car and all luxuries. But since you have traded time with money, you didn’t focus on your health and now you are obese and have a weight of 90 Kgs and is catching with some diseases such as diabetes, obesity, joints pain etc.

Why did you earn so much money? To buy luxuries and to enjoy them. Now even if you have all the luxuries in the world, you can’t enjoy them as you ignored your health, and now your body is ignoring you. Even if you want to enjoy the travel, food etc that money has to offer but you can’t utilize luxuries to the fullest.

One line he said that I will never forget – “You can work hard and with your skillset you can earn money anytime but once health is lost, it becomes quite difficult to regain back your health.”

So my son, never ignore your health for anything. Health is wealth. If you have health, you can enjoy life till your last breath.

Even if he is 65 now, he never misses taking care of his health for 2 hours a day at least and plays table tennis better than people in their 30s at his place. I have not seen missing him his workout for more than 3/4 days at a stretch for the last 35 odd years. Even after retirement he was of the view that I must not pass time rather being a good cook, he started his own youtube channel – “RAVI SISODIYA”

and is doing well. Enjoys his passion and interaction with subscribers.

I was not regular at that time and then decided to keep my health a number one priority.

Whatever your profession be, never ignore your health for more days in a row. Respect your body and mind and you will get the same in return.

Why are Russia and China conducting military exercises off the Alaska Coast?

First, it makes the absurdity of the “island chain containment” plain and obvious.

It is no longer this map keeping the Pentagon awake at night:

but these:

That is a whole lot more real estate, with few american base assets in sight.

The combined Chinese and Russian fleet this year is sizable, at 11. More tellingly, the US sent 4 Arleigh Burke destroyers and a P-8 in response, rather than rely on the Coast Guard like last year.

The diversion of 4 destroyers from regular operations opens up a 16% operational hole for a navy that is already stretched thin trying to match the operational tempo of the PLAN in the Western Pacific.

This is an important development on the chessboard, because the psychology has shifted.

The US can no longer plan around concentrating assets along the Western Pacific, because the Pacific and Arctic are huge playgrounds.

What will make it even more interesting is the presence of Chinese naval aviation when the emals carriers enter service. America will have to send a CBG or two in response, but there is the type 055’s formidable VLS battery to contend with, and so on. Fascinating calculus, if you are a wargaming nuthead.

That will upend the already stretched resources of the USN.

In other words, nightmare-inducing calculus for Americans, who will not be able to accept the Chinese conducting Sigint flights off its own coast, like it has been doing for decades on the other side of the ocean.

The Pacific is not America’s backyard. Neither is Pearl Harbor the keystone.

Time to tear up old maps and make new ones, at least where deployment of forces and chinks in the armor are concerned.

The Pacific is where Chinese power projection will develop, not Oceania, the Indian Ocean and elsewhere.

Note: Currently, more than 70 percent of the USN’s deployed assets are allocated to the 7th fleet and Indopacom, and they are concentrated in the waters around the island chains. In other words, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Fleets share ~30 deployable ships.

What are your thoughts on Chinese state-controlled media? Do you believe it is more reliable than Western mainstream newspapers like The Guardian or The New York Times?

Chinese official media is actually very boring.

But they have a great advantage, almost not lying.

I mean that they also have political prejudice, and they will also have strong ideological comments, and there will also be a degradation of competitors. But they always state exact facts. If some things are included in the unhappy scope, or things are not really determined, their choices are not reported, but they will not choose to lie.

Let me give an example:

Some people found several corpses in a car, looking like Asians, but without any identity proof, the police had been involved in the investigation.

Report by BBC CNN NYT:

1. Insiders revealed that several drug dealers from China died of attacking each other because they were unevenly split.

2. Several Asians were found to die in the car, and they may be a smuggler from Vietnam.

3. Our reporter was at the scene, and some residents told us that several Koreans died here. They come from a mysterious underground church, perhaps in a certain ceremony.

Are you familiar with it?

CNTV report:

Police found several men dying in the car, and their identities have not been found. Please pay attention to the safety of the surrounding residents. If you have a clue, please notify the police.

Is it boring?

we know. The mainstream Western media often lie, and they will report some things to catch the wind, even the news and hearing news. When one thing is proved to be false, they only need to apologize or revoke the article. After all: freedom of speech.

However, China’s official media are different. Chinese public opinion has strict bottom line requirements for official media: not lying.

In the Internet era, it is almost impossible to completely deceive everyone. In China’s official media, when a news report or video finally proves that the fabricated lies, the person in charge of the official media will immediately fall into a scandal. Waiting for them is generally withdrawal and reputation sweeping the floor. Apology does not have any effect.

However, there are also many unofficial media in China, and their content is much confusing. In addition to being limited in political content, they often lie in a row to catch the wind and catch the wind to attract attention.

Because they are conservative and boring, they only tell you that they are very limited before without exact facts. Therefore, Chinese official media often difficult to attract people’s attention, and their click rate and dissemination on the Internet are also very low.

Volkswagen media is more popular because it has more curiosity and entertainment.

But in China, when people want to know the truth of major events, they often believe in the official media and complain why the official media is so slow that there is no more detailed news.

When did you realize your parent was a total badass?

I grew up on a farm. There was a small forest, which we called “the woods,” on one end of the farm. Every year, my father would post “No Hunting” signs around the woods. But every year hunters would still come there, as the woods were filled with rabbit, pheasant, deer, and other game. When he saw them, my father would go out to the woods and explain to the hunter that these were his woods, he did not allow hunting, and they would have to leave.

One time, when I was four, my father was with my brother, who was six, when they saw a hunter at the edge of the woods, looking into the woods for something to shoot. My father took my brother’s hand, walked over to the hunter, and said “These are my woods. I don’t allow hunting. You’ll have to leave.” The hunter turned around, pointed his shotgun at my six year old brother’s chest, and said “I’ll hunt wherever I damn well please.” My father slowly backed away with my brother and went back to the house.

A few minutes later, he came out again. But instead of crossing the field that led from the house to the woods, he went to the side, where a chicken coop extended to the edge of the woods. He walked quietly behind the chicken coop, until he came to the edge of the woods, about twenty feet from the hunter, who was still intently looking into the woods for something to shoot. My father said to the hunter “Drop the gun and leave immediately.” Except this time, when the hunter turned around, instead of my father holding the hand of a six year old boy, he was holding a .38 revolver…which was pointed at the hunter’s head. As soon as he started to turn around, my father said simply “Drop it or die.”

My father died four years ago. It had been almost sixty years since this happened. When I went to clean out his house, the hunter’s shotgun was still in his closet.

What is your best parking spot revenge?

In the 90s I was the parts secretary at a Ford dealership. We had a few parking spaces for office staff close to our entrance. We often hauled in office supplies, food and boxes of promotional materials for sales, and we often left after dark.

A young, cocky new salesman was hired and started parking (his Ford pickup) in our spots. I politely explained to him why it was it was important to keep those spaces open for us. He shrugged and continued to park there.

I confronted him again with a firmer tone. “You gotta stop parking there man!” With two little words he sealed his fate. “Or, what?” Sweetie. Snookums. I got a truckload of what.

In those days a Ford dealership could get any information they wanted on a Ford. With his VIN number I made a duplicate key. When he parked in our spots I moved his truck to the back corner of the lot where new deliveries would bury it and he’d have to move several cars to get his. I didn’t stop there though.

Anytime I saw his truck anywhere I’d move it. Shopping Center? Moved. Street parking for a restaurant? Moved. That kid was looking for his car several times a week!

Eventually he came in to our office grovelling and pleading with me to stop. He promised to never park in our spots again.

EDIT: Wow! Now I see why there are always edits on these! Some of you are apoplectic that I “got away” with a heinous crime. It’s occurred to me that you are extremely fortunate to have never been the victim of domestic violence, stalking, rape, burglary or actual car theft. If you had you’d know that police aren’t much help in any of the above situations and perpetrators are rarely arrested.

Could I have, with righteous indignation, insisted he be formally reprimanded? Yeah. But who wants to be that bitch? Not me. He learned a lesson in a fun way. He took it in stride. He likely doesn’t remember my name (I don’t remember his) but he likely remembers me and this story as fondly as I do. And maybe, just maybe, he has a little more respect for how clever women can be instead of seeing us as spiteful hags. Lighten up!

Went to Motor Vehicles Today to Have LIENHOLDER Removed from Car Titles – Wait til you hear THIS . . . .

Nation Hal Turner 20 December 2023

Today I went to New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) on Summit Avenue in Jersey City, NJ to have the LIENHOLDER info removed from two vehicle Titles since I’ve paid the car loans off. You’re not gonna BELIEVE what happened . . .

Firstly, after the COVID scam, New Jersey Motor Vehicle has NOT done away with the requirement to make an appointment to go to one of their offices to have paperwork done. So I had to schedule today’s appointment last weekend, and I did.

I get there, walk in, and there’s two security guards who ask “Do you have an appointment? I reply “yes” and they ask to see the appointment confirmation from online! I brought it with me just in case, and gave it to them. They tell me, go in and see the Receptionist on the left. I go in.

I get to the Receptionist who asks me, “What are you here to do today?” I reply “Have the LIENHOLDERS removed from the Title on two vehicles I’ve paid off.” He hands me two application forms to go fill out.

I go fill them out, return the Receptionist’s pen that he graciously lent to me and he then says, now go onto the “ID CHECK” line to the left. ID Check??????? I go ahead and do that. Two people ahead of me.

When it’s my turn, I go up too the guy in the little booth– I think he was Hindu or whatever the folks are, who have the Dot on their forehead — and hand him the filled-out applications to have the Titles re-issued and he says “You know, this is going to cost you $60 each to have the LIENHOLDER Removed.” I replied “Yes, I know.” He then says, “I can get this done for free.”

Uhhhhhhh, I was not expecting this . . . . my Spidey Sense started tingling. So I ask him “How?”

GET THIS: He replies “I can have my Boss delete the LIENHOLDER in our computer system, then you walk out with the same Title, instead of a new one.”

I think to myself: “Then I won’t have any way to PROVE the LIEN has been released” So I respond to him “No thanks, I want the re-issued Titles without the LIENHOLDER on them.” He says, “Well, I’m just trying to save you money.”

He takes a staple remover and separates the Titles from the Lender Loan-Satisfaction, notarized letters, hands everything back to me with a card containing a number on it: “K117” and tells me, take a seat over there and you’ll hear your number called, telling you which counter to go to.

I go sit down.

About five minutes later, the computer voice over the PA Speaker calls “K117, Counter Ten”

So I get up and walk over to counter 10 and the nice Spanish lady behind the counter takes my paperwork.

To my utter shock, SHE then says to me, “It will cost you $60 each to have these LIENHOLDERS Cleared from the Title, . . . . but I can get it done for you for free.”

I’m now kind of stunned because this is now two separate Employees of the Motor Vehicle Commission saying the same thing. So I play along and ask her “How?”

She says, I will have the Supervisor come over, delete the LIENHOLDER from our Computer, but you leave here with the exact same Title.“

I thought to myself “Holy shit, they’re all “in-on-it” for the “Great Taking.”” I went on to think to myself “These people are working for the Bankers, so the Bankers can grab everybody’s stuff; just as I learned from the video “The Great Taking”

So I told the woman, “But then I would have no proof that the Bank no longer has a LIEN.” She responded, right, but you’ll save $120 on the Two Titles!

So I responded “No, I want the LIENHOLDER removed and I want the new, re-issued Titles without the Bank name on them”

She reiterated “But that will cost you $60 each, a total of $120” and I responded “I don’t care. I want the re-issued Titles.”

She put on a smug face as if to say “Oh this guy must have money, he doesn’t care about the $120.”

She processes the deletion of the LIENHOLDER info and then asks “Will you be paying by Credit Card, Check, or Legal Tender?”

“LEGAL TENDER????????????” Nobody says that outside of you know . . . . us . . . . .

I reply, “Legal Tender; Federal Reserve Notes.”

I hand the cash to her and she finishes the transaction, which prints the receipt.

But it’s all the same computer . . . . so If I agreed to “let them do it for free” they could NOT have removed the LIENHOLDER because the system requires the money be paid before it will complete the action ! ! ! ! ! If I had not paid, the computer could not have deleted the LIENHOLDER info! ! !

You know what I think? I personally think the whole offer to “get it done free” was a SCAM . . . . designed to deliberately mislead people into THINKING the LIEN had been removed, when, in fact, it has NOT been removed. And it COULD NOT HAVE BEEN REMOVED unless and until payment was tendered because the computer won’t process the removal unless payment has been made.

That leaves those poor suckers who THOUGHT they were getting it done “free” — open to the Banks coming and taking everything from THEM because all the official paperwork still shows the LIENS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

How many thousands of people have believed this scam over the years?

I’m telling you, folks, I am totally shocked by this happening at two separate employees in a State Motor Vehicle Commission facility.

I now think the “States” are “in-on-it” too and all of them are working in lockstep with the Bankers to achieve their goal: You will own nothing . . . . and be happy.”

Not me! I have the Re-issued Titles without the LIENHOLDER info on them. These vehicles are, in fact, MINE, and I can prove it with the Titles.

I was born at night . . . . but not last night. They aren’t getting-over on me!

Humor: What are some of the greatest examples of presence of mind?

A businessman went to a shoe store to purchase a new pair of shoes. He was a prominent person in that town. After selecting a pair of shoes with size 8 he asked the salesperson to pack it. The salesperson had just started his career and joined the shoe store a few days back.

The businessman soon discovered that he had left his wallet at home. He told the salesperson that he would take the shoes with him and make the payment the next day. The salesperson being new to business excused himself in order to discuss this matter with the store manager. The manager knew that the customer is an eminent businessman; however, was reluctant to deliver the shoes without payment. At the same time, he was not ready to lose a sale too. He advised the salesperson to handle the situation in the best manner possible and left the place.

The salesperson stood there frozen for a few minutes unable to decide. He then returned to the customer, started packing the shoes and handed the package to the customer.

The next day the customer arrived at the store with the shoes he had purchased, made the payment for his purchase and told the salesperson that “After opening the package I found one shoe with size 8 and the other with size 7. Maybe you packed them by mistake. Can I have the shoes with size 8 please?” The salesperson apologized for the inconvenience caused and replaced the wrong size shoe with the correct one. The customer collected his shoes and left the store with satisfaction.

The manager happened to overhear their conversation and realized that the salesperson had used his presence of mind and handled the situation very well. They didn’t lose their business as well as the customer.

Moral

It is by the presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested. If an individual has a calm state of mind, his attitude and views will be calm and tranquil even in the presence of great agitation.

Stephen Hawking said, “The thing about smart people is that they seem like crazy people to dumb people.” Do smart people out there agree?

I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture given by the late Prof. Hawking on the campus of the University of Berkeley; I say “given”; Hawking rolled onto the stage, and the lecture he so painstakingly prepared was delivered by the machine he used to speak with. I never heard him repeat this quote, so I will have to take it on faith that this is something he actually said.

I’ll be PC here, and substitute “average” for dumb; average people are not necessarily “dumb”, but the difference between them and very intelligent people is that they are far less intellectually curious, and tend not to question their own beliefs, or look beneath the surface of phenomena they encounter every day. For the average, smart people are not necessarily “crazy”, but they do come across as weird. If I were to tell an average person that they like doughnuts because simple carbohydrates and fat were rare and valuable nutrients on the African savannah 70,000 years ago, they would look at me like I was mad. They would say something like “I enjoy doughnuts because they taste good”; it wouldn’t occur to them to ask the fundamental question of why they taste good to us.

A graph showing the “bell curve” distribution of IQ.

As shown in the graph above, 68.2% of people are in the average range of IQ between 85–115 (using IQ as a proxy for general intelligence. The number of people with an IQ higher than 115 becomes increasingly rare with the increasing level of IQ, so those with 140+ are very rare indeed, so it should not surprising that those who are in this high range will often come across as “odd” to the average majority. There is a qualitative difference in the cognition of the highly gifted, compared to the cognitive style of the average; the more intelligent one is, the less “obvious” things seem to be.

In evolutionary terms, our “purpose” as humans is to survive and reproduce, functions for which the average level of intelligence is sufficient; humans evolved to be as intelligent as they needed to be in order to successfully carry out these biological functions, so it is not surprising that most of us are not smarter than we are. As social animals, we tend not to be too fond of “weirdos” who question the existing social order, and the way things have always been done, hence the existence of terms like “nerd” and “geek” for those whose manner of thought and speech is contrary to the norm. At the same time, it had to have been the prehistoric nerds and geeks who came up with technologies like the bow and arrow, and poison darts, which were beneficial for the survival of humans as a whole, by allowing us to hunt otherwise inaccessible game animals. One can just imagine the jeers of the normies when the first geek smeared some tree sap on a dart, and walked off with his blowpipe, saying “I’m going hunting by myself.”

As someone who has been accused of being smart, I’ve had to learn to self-censor in order to “fit in”, and not be ostracized as a “weirdo” by the general population. “Be yourself” is incredibly stupid advice if one happens to be an intellectual outlier, since “yourself” is likely to be regarded as strange, and even threatening by the majority. Hawking was right, and I reserve my unfiltered self for a select few IRL, plus, of course, anyone who chooses to read my apophenic ravings on Quora.

What is your biggest mistake in life? Did you overcome it?

He was my first love. We dated for 3 years and got married because I was pregnant. Worst mistake of my life.

By the time I had the baby, I could almost feel it. The loneliness. The emptiness. He became a totally different person. He complained that I was fat and unattractive. I was depressed and lonely. He knew that I enjoyed to have sex, so he withheld it from me to hurt me.

I had a startup business and was struggling to balance work and family. To make matters worse, I got pregnant somehow with the second child. He didn’t want to have the child so he asked me to have an abortion. I refused. He totally disconnected at this point. My business also went into the abyss as I was struggling to provide for myself, my daughter and unborn son. I hid and cried in the bathroom every night.

A couple of months after my son was born, a woman called and told me she’s sharing him with me and they have kids together. I confronted him and he didn’t deny it. A part of me literally died that day. Everyone around me seemed to know and I didn’t. What hurt me the most is that I stupidly still loved this man. He told me he didn’t want me anymore. He asked me to leave and leave his kids behind. I left with my kids and moved in with my sister. I had no job and 2 kids to look after.

To cut the long story short, we went through a really bad divorce, but it was freedom for me. I emigrated to another country, got a better life and job, got into great shape, and basically got my shit together. Am very thankful that I got this far. I never smoked, drank or did anything harmful to myself when I was at my lowest. My mistake gave me a chance to realize that you can pick yourself up after hitting rock bottom. KARMA IS REAL. I found out last year that the woman my ex chose over me left him for another man. Oh how did I forget? She also told my ex that the kids are not his. Thank you

What is the most ridiculous request your employer ever asked of you? Did you get out of it or end up giving in?

Having just informed me that 167 hours of work she had made me do would not be paid, my boss told me to prepare exams not just for my class, but for all the students. Unsurprisingly, I said no.

This boss had stopped me from teaching one of my usual classes on a Monday afternoon (without consulting me) and arranged for me to teach the same number of hours on some Saturday mornings and weekday evenings instead. She pretended that she was doing this to make my life easier, since Mondays were a heavy teaching day. She then insisted that I use the time I had off on Monday afternoons to do some of her administration for her, without telling me that this work would all be unpaid. She gradually added more and more of her work to my workload.

For the entire term I thought I was being paid to do the administration work. She only told me I wasn’t at the end of the semester, by which time I had chalked up 167 hours of her administration work plus 10 hours of extra teaching) that she wouldn’t pay me for.

Then, immediately after telling me all this work was unpaid, she told me to prepare some exams, something the other teachers didn’t have to do. I said no, obviously. She stormed off to Human Resources to complain about me. When she came back she told me how upset she was that they didn’t support her. She was actually crying a little, I’m not sure whether because of rage or if she was really hurt. I was called up to HR and asked how many hours I had done unpaid. My boss had a track record of not paying me, so I had noted every task and all the hours done in my diary. I was paid for everything I did and my boss was told that all our work had to be paid for.

I just wish I had learned to say no sooner – and I really appreciated the honesty of our HR manager.

Slayyyyy

Why did England change its capital to London?

It’s a fun story! To me at least. I’m cool that way.

Technically “London” didn’t become the capital until after the 16th Century. What we now call “the City of London”, the ancient square mile that Rome founded, was an entity of its own. And in many ways still is. It was a centre of power and money, even before the Norman Conquest.

Up through the Middle Ages there was no fixed “capital” per se. The kings didn’t stay put, they moved around, so the capital was essentially where they were, not necessarily where the government was. The government being those ministers of the king who administered (get it?) the day to day workings.

During the reign of the Wessex kings, Winchester was the closest thing to an English capital.

So, back to London. The kings had no real power over London. Edward the Confessor, who was technically of the Wessex blood line but spent his formative years across the Channel and didn’t really have a sentimental attachment to Winchester, built an abbey in Westminster, which was west of London. He also built a palace for the seat of government. With these he hoped to draw power and wealth from that citadel to the east protected by a massive wall.

Edward died in January 1066. In October, Duke William of Normandy arrived to take what he felt was his by right. After the Battle of Hastings he headed toward London, that centre of power. Not to London, mind you. Toward it. He circled round, burning his way around it. But he knew he couldn’t breach the wall. He made a deal with the London peeps that in exchange for recognising him as their king, they would retain their special privileges. This arrangement has been in place ever since.

Now, thanks to Edward the Confessor, there was a ready-made power base just to the west of London. William was duly crowned king in Westminster Abbey. Over time, the Treasury was moved from Winchester, which became that historic city with one train station (London now has over 600 train and underground stations). Meanwhile, houses were built between the cities of Westminster and London and a Greater London was formed, eventually swallowing up towns and villages in a 600 square mile area.

Note, though, that the City of London has no national government facilities in it, save the Bank of England, which is separate. Government (Parliament, Whitehall, Downing Street, etc…), the Palace, the national entities are in Westminster, but as that is in what became the megapolis of “London”, London is the capital.

What was a Christmas bonus you got from your company that made you speechless?

Wouldnt call it a bonus.

But we was excited last year, we had put in a lot of work to reach the goal that would make a bonus possible.

We where all called to a end of year quarterly meeting where the ceo would go over the figures and give us a chance to ask questions and share ideas.

Instead the owner of the main company was standing there and the ceo a bit to the side. First case of worry, but it could be a good thing right?

It starts and the owner takes the word. And it just goes downhill from there.

The board and investors are not happy, they are firing the ceo and the owner steps out of the board to take direct control of the company, they will reorganize the whole flow and all that modern jazz for making your work day a living hell the next half year.

Adding there wont be a bonus and we will stop having a bonus at all in the future.

A year later and everyone have turned sour many have left and those that remains are becoming more and more unmotivated.

We are close at needing a new firing round too. and nothing have really become better since the change, only more cumbersome and annoying with no gain. 2 years and no raise makes for grumpy workers, when then removing the carrot all together the last drive disappears..

Even overtime must be agreed upon before you get pay for it.

So the bonus was a year in hell that seems to continue unless I am lucky and can find another job that pay the same or better.

Worst part is, the owner got a social and public image as a good and sensible businessman that are very round handed with spending. But when it comes to the company he is a scrounge mcduck, as he dont wanna spend a single dime, even though it cost to make changes, and he want those changes.

So nobody believe us when we tell how he is at work, as everyone got another opinion of him from the local news…

How is Chick-fil-A still thriving when some people accuse them of having a “horrible track record” on social issues?

True story: I had never eaten at a Chick-fil-A before last weekend (Saturday, March 9, 2019). In the past, if I’d wanted a chicken sandwich, which I don’t often do, I’ve gone to McDonald’s. But this time I was in a different shopping center, one without a McDonald’s but with a Chick-fil-A next door.

Side note: I’d had their sandwiches before, but at wrestling tournaments. The sandwiches would be brought in in these temperature-controlled bags, and then sold by members of the Booster’s Club. I wasn’t really impressed. The sandwiches cost more than McDonald’s and they were soggy.

But here I was in a shopping center with a Chick-fil-A next door. Oh, well, I figured. I could see the place was crowded, too. Lots of cars, and a long double-line of cars going through the carry-out.

I went inside and the place smelled good. Not like McDonald’s. The menu items were all clearly posted. At McDonald’s, there are these electronic screens that’ll show a handful of items for maybe 10 seconds, then rotate to another set of items. I liked the clear posting.

After looking over the posted menu, I decided to get a spicy chicken sandwich. Not the whole meal, just the sandwich. There wasn’t a line; people were being served as they stepped up to order. At McDonald’s, I could have waited 5 minutes behind just one or two people. (Maybe they’d ordered fries or coffee, and were waiting on the next batch of fries or the next pot of coffee to finish brewing.) I ordered the sandwich and the person behind the counter asked what sauce I’d like with that. I asked what sauces they had.

At McDonald’s, that would have been greeted with a rapid-fire blur of sauces. Or the person would point to that electronic board where the sauces had to cycle through to be displayed. By now, the McDonald’s employee would have forgotten whether I’d ordered the sandwich or the meal. The McDonald’s employee also would have forgotten whether I was eating in or carrying out.

At Chick-fil-A, they had all the sauces out on display. The counter person pointed to them and suggested that since I seemed to like spicy foods, I might enjoy the Buffalo sauce. Sounded good to me.

She handed me a tall plastic colored cone with sauce packets inside. She told me to find a seat anywhere and they’d bring the sandwich over. Wow! At McDonald’s, I’d have to stand near the ear-splitting ice-grinding machine, waiting for my number to be called. She didn’t have to ask again whether I was eating in or carrying out.

I found a seat and, quite promptly, someone came over with the sandwich, wrapped, and asked: “Don? Spicy chicken?” Yup, that was me. The chicken was crispy, steaming, and hot. Tasty. A bit of a surprise, since my only prior experience had been at the wrestling tournaments where they were soggy. If it had been McDonald’s, the sandwich would have been soggy, too. Are they ever crisp there?

A family was seated at the next table. At some point, the dad asked one of the Chick-fil-A employees for a refill on a beverage. The employee said sure, and in about 30 seconds was back with a refill. Nothing like that at McDonald’s.

When I was finished, I started picking up the debris (the sandwich wrapping, the packet of hot sauce, the napkin. Before I’d even gotten it all together, a Chick-fil-A employee came over and said, “Oh, are you leaving? If so, I can take all that.” And he did. Wow! At McDonald’s, I would have gathered all that stuff, taken it over to a trash can, tried to slide it all into the trash can (those paper liners always stick to the tray!), and put the tray on the tray holder.

And that is why Chick-fil-A is thriving.

What made you forbid someone from ever entering your home again?

I have written on this before. When I was married to my ex, his daughter lived with us . Her and her husband came over to visit with their children. We also had a friend of ours over . She was very disrespectful to her dad and our friend told her that. About two months later she asked to take my youngest for a few days and I said no. She then said that our family friend had touched my son , while she was in the room. I gathered my kids and asked them and all three said nothing ever happened. She called back and was upset and said she knew I wouldn’t do anything and would be turning me into social services and she did!!! A case worker came out and took my kids and asked a lot of questions. Then we talked and this man was amazing!!! I explained that my kids were never left alone with anyone and always knew they could tell me anything and his daughter was upset with me , for telling her no. He told me she wanted to get even with me for being with her dad and this was vengeance towards me. I encouraged her Dad to continue a relationship with her but she would no longer be able to come in our home. This was so scary for me , and I could have lost my children. My relationship with her was over , and our friend was also worried. I’m so very grateful I got a wonderful case worker. He understood .

What was the one thing that made you finally drop your affection for someone?

Going anonymous because my ex is on Quora.

I was in a relationship with my boyfriend (Let’s call him A) for 2 years. It was the perfect relationship everyone dreams about. But that changed soon.

One day, I was at my friend’s house (Let’s call her B) to take some notes because exams were coming up. I didn’t tell him about it. After half an hour, B receives a call so she goes outside to answer it as she didn’t want to bother me. But after a minute, she comes back in, puts the phone’s speaker on and the convo went something like this.

B- Sorry, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?

The voice on the other end said: “I love you”.

I recognised the voice. It was him. I looked at B as if everything was over. But she continued talking to him.

B- But what about your girlfriend? This would break her.

A- We don’t need to tell her anything. It’ll be our secret.

I felt like my heart would give out. I wanted to scream or do anything just to relieve me from the pain I was experiencing. To think that the two years we spent together was a lie was too much to handle. I called him after I calmed down a bit. He said he did that because B’s boyfriend wanted to test her loyalty. I didn’t buy that and we broke up that day.

High Value Men requirements

What is your best parking spot revenge?

A friend and I were driving uhaul box trucks when we decided to stop at a gas station to get snacks and drinks. When pulling in, I saw a car parked parallel across 3 parking spaces. Without even taking about it, I parked directly in front of the offending car while my friend parked directly behind it. We got out, smiled at each other over our telepathic decision to mess with the offender, and went inside.

The car’s owner was apparently going out as we were going in, saw how we were parked, and followed us back in and started yelling at us, demanding we move.

Me: No

Bad Parker: I will call the cops is you don’t!

Friend: Ok.

BP: Don’t try me! Move your damned trucks!

Me: Naw, go ahead and call the cops.

Friend: Yeah, we’ll wait. We’re going to eat in, anyway. (The gas station has an Arby’s attached. We weren’t originally, btw, but you know how it goes.)

Me: It’ll be fun watching you have your embolism when they ticket you for parking like that.

We went and got our food, to our time eating and left. During that time, BP apparently tried getting to station manager to make us move and kept yelling and screaming until we were finally done. As we were leaving, BP yelled at us some incoherent crap that I don’t really remember. My friend returned a parting comment about BP’s horrible parking, and we left.

All in all, we were at the gas station about a 45 minutes longer than we’d initially planned. We don’t know what, if any, trouble BP got into it if he ever did it again. We stopped at the same station on the return trip, in the off chances that BP was a local and would return, but he didn’t while we were there.

What has an employee said that immediately caused you to fire them?

We had an employee who didn’t just say something that got him fired, he immediately followed it up with an action that also would have gotten him fired on its own.

I work for a vets office. We had a new tech that seemed afraid to do anything. He claimed most animals were aggressive and just wouldn’t touch them. Well we don’t allow techs to do injections until they are comfortable doing simply things like taking temperatures and checking heart rates which he still couldn’t do.

One day, we get a cat in for a tech appointment. Notes said “allergy shot.” For most cats, this mean a depo injection but you always ask the doctor what you should give. He did not. Instead he took the appointment himself, big no no at this stage and strike one. He brought the cat back and told another tech the cat needed a cytopoint injection. Strike two, he doesn’t get to make medication/ injection calls. The other tech asked if he was sure as that sounded wrong and he said “yes, that’s what the doctor told me.”

Ya see, cytopoint can be deadly to cats and is for dogs only. So the tech asked again, “are you sure that’s what the doctor said?” He got annoyed, told her that what the doc said and he got the cytopoint himself and injected it himself. Strike three. You’re out.

He was fired. The cat did almost die and we ended up having to give them free care for about six months for all their pets to make up for it. The cat survived but now has health issues.

This was an unforgivable, fireable offensive.

What was the nail in the coffin for an employee or a co-worker?

One of my colleagues was almost impossible to layoff. She was pregnant during a round of layoffs, and took maternity leave a week earlier than expected, and was gone for a full year, she came back expecting the layoffs would be over, but after a couple of months, they announced that there were new layoffs the next week. She called in sick Monday through Thursday, and on Thursday, they called her and said unless her doctor faxed in a note on Friday, she had to come in. By then everybody had been laid off, except her. She checked in and made sure everyone saw her, and then disappeared.

Her boss looked high and low for her, and eventually found a locked stall in the washroom. She looked under, and saw her shoes. She had to fire her through the bathroom door.

My colleagues only response was, I knew I should have lifted my feet.

She became a legend in the company. The nail in the coffin was not lifting her feet.

Which became a phrase everyone used when they got caught doing something wrong.

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve lost and found?

Went to Vegas . Won around $17000 . The wife and I split it between ourselves before the cdn border. Declared it and got home. Reminded her to put her cash in the safe. Few days later, I went in to grab all of it to deposit in our US acct and just found my part in it. Asked her about it. She couldn’t find it. Looked sll over. Than she thought she might had left it in the taxi on the way home. FUCK!! $9000 USD gone. So, a couple years later. We’re getting rid of her old car and im just going thru it, and lo and behold, it’s in between the seats in the car. She had put it there for safekeeping cause she went grocery shopping and didn’t wanna take all that in her purse. Why she didn’t remember that 2 yrs prior, I’ll never know. 😔 But I’ve learned to live with my wife’s poor memory. She was born without a thyroid and takes meds for that but it causes a horrible memory sometimes..

What is something you cannot forgive your parents for no matter how you try?

I’ve written about this before, but I think it bears repeating.

I learned how to cook very early on. My mother was working one Thanksgiving when I was 12. I volunteered to cook the dinner. She’d be home around 5 or so. Dinnertime had not been specified. Turkey went in the oven that morning. Since it was a day off school and I was a kid, I grabbed my bike and went riding all around town. I remember a fun, free-wheeling day until I got home.

I got back around 4:30 and realized I had to hurry. My brothers and father laid around and watched me as I hurried to prepare the meal. There wasn’t much to do if they had pitched in: boil potatoes, heat up rolls, boil the frozen corn, etc. But they didn’t. My mom walked in while I was peeling potatoes. She stopped dead in her tracks. “Dinner’s not ready?” I said “It will be ready in a few minutes.” I wasn’t lying. It would have been 20 minutes max. She threw up her hands like I told her I was a pregnant 12-year-old crackhead. She started screaming at me. Dad came running in to see what the fuss was. He took off his belt and whipped me violently right there in the kitchen, potato peeler still in my hand, for not having everything ready “on time” (again, we didn’t know exactly when she would be home, and no dinnertime had been set). My brothers just watched. I was sent to my room in the basement for the night. I don’t know who finished cooking, probably my mother in her martyrdom.

Here’s how it could (should) have gone down:

Scenario One: I come home at 4:30. Dad: “You’re cutting it close. Boys, go help your sister.”

Scenario Two: Mom comes home at 5:00. I’m peeling potatoes. “Dinner’s not ready?” “It will be ready in a few minutes.” “Okay, good, I’m starving. I’m going to take a shower/change/lie down for a few minutes. Call me when it’s ready.”

Scenario Three: Mom come home at 5:00. She starts yelling. Dad comes in. “Calm down, it’ll only be a few minutes. Here, let me take your stuff. Come in and lie down for a few minutes.” (to my brothers) “Get in here and help your sister.”

It took me many years to realize this day was an example of so, so many things. Dysfunction, piss-poor communication, child abuse, sexism, Old-World parenting (as in 1800s bullshit), knee-jerk reactions, and so much more. My family was fucked up, to say the least.

And I don’t care if that was the way they were raised. I am not a believer in the cycle-of-abuse crap. They were adults, they had brains to think with, they could make rational adult decisions. They knew better.

Edit: I think I need to address that there was a dried-up old bitch of a troll who left a comment that it was my fault, I was deservedly punished, I should have stayed home all day and had dinner ready, my poor poor mother, I was martyring myself, shame on me. Yes, that comment really happened (I deleted it and told her to fuck off). I wasn’t only abused at home, and this wasn’t the first or last time. I was bullied mercilessly at school. To have a day away from bullies at school was a real treat, so yes, I was going to take my bike and go have some fun while the turkey cooked. I was a kid. I wasn’t 20. And yes, I screwed up and mismanaged my time. Again—I was a kid. And my parents wildly overreacted—with violence against a child— instead of keeping calm and reacting reasonably. If someone told me they were cooking me dinner, but when I came home it was going to be 20 minutes late, I’d say “Okay, cool” and either jump in the shower or flop down and watch TV. I wouldn’t start screaming and whipping them with a belt. So again, troll: Fuck off. If you have kids, I sincerely feel sorry for them and I hope CPS is keeping an eye on you, old twat. You’re the reason child protection agencies exist.

Why is Urumqi, Xinjiang cleaner, safer, civilized, and developed than New Delhi?

Almost every Chinese City beats Indian Cities hollow in terms of Cleanliness, Safety and Development

There are Primarily three reasons for this :-

A. One Party Meritocracy & Funds

In China, fund allocation for Cities and their overall Urban development is based on the Urban Development Index (UDI) plus between 15% upto 46% of the revenue generated by a City is used by the Local Government of that Province and the Administration of that City to develop the place

There is no political rivalries or party based discrimination between Fund Allocation and Revenue sharing

It’s all about How much the City develops and how well maintained the City is

In India, funding is a nightmare because the State themselves have no claim over the money they generate as revenue. Everything is handed over to the Centre which then decides how much each State should get and then the State decides how much each City should get

China has 20 times the provincial autonomy than an Indian State

B. Continuous Development to prevent overcrowding

India keeps on dumping on the same city again and again for year after year. Thus every such city attracts migrants like flies and that leads to overcrowding of the worst order

China keeps developing and expanding new Cities regularly

Chengdu, Chongqing etc were small towns a decade or so ago that are now bustling cities, brimming with Prosperity

Urumqi was once a town , now it’s classified as a Tier 3 City

Thus if you notice Shanghai and Beijing both lost 4% and 5.6% of the population due to migration between 2013–2023 whereas Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad netted between 7.6% and 12% SURPLUS population by migration between 2008–2023

C. Chinas Housing Policy

Everyone living with a proper Job in a City in China MUST have housing

This is a law from the time of Chairman Mao and when it’s a Chairman Mao law, it’s enforcement is very strict

Public Housing is thus available for every single resident of the city including the poorest of them

Only Shanghai and Beijing has slums today , which existed before the 1998 law and thus can’t be torn down

If you have a legitimate job in CQ City, you get a Public Apartment of 39–52 Square Meters with indoor plumbing, heating, air conditioning and gas and electricity and drinking water for a mere 78 RMB / month

Of course many Chinese become prosperous enough to rent much nicer places and sub lease their public homes for which they pay rent of 78 RMB/ month for 400–500 RMB / month

During Covid 19, many such people were discovered and fined very heavily (30, 000 RMB plus 60 months rent or 100 Days in Prison)

A Fourth reason is the fact that Migration into Cities is heavily controlled

You just can’t come to a City that easily without housing or a job unless you are a tourist there

In India it’s the opposite

You can flood into cities and sleep on the roads and everywhere else and even defecate

It’s like a Zoo

So it’s the Chinese System

They may have their flaws but by God they have excellent City maintenance and keep themselves very clean

Their Air Quality improvement in a mere decade is something every nation takes notes on

Primarily another reason is the Chinese are proud of their country and love their country

Not the bogus love that Indians show which translates into defending India for all it’s weaknesses, glorifying mediocrities as superheroes, forcing people to stand up for the National Anthem etcetera

The genuine love that ensures they actively take pride in their development and their cities

China’s population is crashing. What changes would they have to make to attract expats to emigrate to China?

Declining population is not just a Chinese problem; but rather it is a worldwide problem. Most developed or developing countries have seen significant decreases in birth rates that coincide with an ever aging demographic.

Importing people from other countries is certainly an option. Especially considering how men vastly outnumber women in China. But I think it will require more than bringing in more people. China needs to tackle this problem on two fronts.

Firstly, building society with the mindset that the elderly need to be taken care of, whether that be through family or through a skilled nursing facility. China should look into building these all over the country. They don’t have to be as bleak as some in the U.S., but there needs to be a safety net for a vulnerable aging population in the event their children can’t or won’t care for their needs.

The second front is low birth rate. China’s work culture isn’t conducive to motherhood right now. 996 doesn’t make women want to get pregnant. Women also need paid maternity leave for at least a year.

The government can subsidize kindergartens and ensure that the education they’re receiving is at an appropriate standard. Families can be provided with subsidies for each child for a certain number of years.

China has a planned economy so if they begin implementing such plans in upcoming five year plenary sessions then perhaps they can be one of the first countries to find a solution to this worldwide problem.

Why did people on TV in the ’50s get all dressed to clean house, like wearing pearls? Is this how they really dressed then?

My mom was an RN, and wore a white uniform with starched cap every night when she went to work. When she got home in the morning she’d go straight to bed, and then get up around 3 p.m., dressed in capri pants (also called “pedal pushers”) or shorts in the summer, along with a blouse, often sleeveless, and canvas sneakers. Never any jewelry around the house or on quick trips to the store; that, and dresses and low-heeled pumps, were reserved for special occasions. For a really special occasion, like a trip to NYC to see a Broadway show, she added a hat to her outfit, and she and I wore short white cotton gloves. For school, I and all the other little girls wore shirtwaist dresses with petticoats, and the boys wore long pants and button-up shirts, with clip-on ties for school picture day. Up until a certain age, I wore my brother’s hand-me-down shorts and tee shirts for after-school play clothes.

None of us had as many clothes as we do today; our small closets were plenty big enough for our wardrobes (some of which were sewn or knitted by our mothers). But the quality of what we wore was higher, and we tended to wear everything until it wore out or we outgrew them.

Looking crisp and put together was important for our parents, since most of them had grown up during the Great Depression, when having raggedy clothing was a sign of poverty. Since synthetic blends didn’t become readily available until the very end of the 1950s, everything had to be ironed and/or starched. It was a chore my mother absolutely hated, so she was an early devotee of polyester blends when they came out.

Had she lived to this decade, she would have been baffled by people paying high prices for strategically ripped jeans, as well as the upper-class preference for “natural” fabrics like cotton and linen, which must be ironed!

Do Chinese state and general public consider marijuana a soft drug? What if a Westerner gets caught with a kilogram of this soft drug in China?

It’s very very complicated

The laws are highly varying

There is a law that says if any person is caught with possession of Marijuana (Cannabis) while entering China (Airports or Borders) then he faces Life Imprisonment if he carries more than 50 GRAMS

Yet ONCE IN CHINA if a person gets caught with the same cannabis or Marijuana, as long as the Marijuana on his possession is within 300 grams, he gets 15 Days Imprisonment, 45 Days Mandatory State Rehabilitation plus a fine

So technically if you smuggle 100 grams into China, you face life in jail yet if you succeed and get past the customs and manage to cross 300–400 feet and then get caught, you face 15 Days Jail and a fine

Plus no law about what happens when you possess less than 50 grams of cannabis

So as on date if someone smuggles less than 50 grams of cannabis into China and is caught – He is merely deported and the smuggled cannabis is destroyed

Next thing is Cultivation of Marijuana is not illegal in China

So if you are caught with 1 Kilogram of Cannabis and you can prove it is grown in China and explain that you are in possession of 1 Kilogram of Cannabis / Marijuana for medical purposes – YOU CAN ACTUALLY GET OFF WITHOUT ANY PUNISHMENT

The authorities have to prove you possess the Marijuana for intent to distribute as a Narcotic substance to charge you

For a Westerner who possesses 1 Kilogram Marijuana though, he cannot prove its grown in China or that he is in possession for Industrial or Medical purposes

So with Westerners the law assumes he is distributing as a narcotic substance and if so HE FACES THE DEATH PENALTY

Summary

To the best of my study of drug laws:-

< 50 grams smuggled – Deportation & Destruction of the Drug

>= 50 grams smuggled –Life Imprisonment

<= 300 grams possession inside China – 15 Days Imprisonment , 45 Days Rehabilitation (Optional), Fine

>300 grams possession inside China proven as grown in China by Mainland Citizen – No Punishment likely beyond censure and monitoring without proof of distribution or intent

>300 grams possession inside China by a foreigner – Death Penalty unless he can prove the same drug originated from local cultivation for industrial or medical purposes

Plus China has another law

Any Person in whose PREMISES consumption of Marijuana takes place regardless of quantity or fore knowledge will face 3 Years Mandatory Jail plus 50,000 RMB fine

This is called SHELTER LAW

Thus if you are a landlord and a tenant smokes Marijuana in your apartment that you have leased out – YOU WON’T BE CHARGED BY THE SHELTER LAW

However if your friend smokes Marijuana in your flat that you lease or own – You face 3 years Jail

What were the things your parents did right in raising you?

At the age of 11 my mother forced me to accompany my sister (17) whenever she went outside.

I was obviously reluctant at first but finally agreed. I used to sit behind the activa while she rode to the grocery store, shopping mall etc.

It was all good until the following incident took place.

It was around 7 pm and we were coming back from the supermarket.

Two boys with covered faces stopped their bike in front of us, passed an inappropriate comment and disappeared before we could think of anything.

I was perplexed. I was shocked. I felt helpless. I felt weak. I knew the meaning of that comment.

I didn’t eat properly that night. I was sleepless for a few days. Mom noticed a change in my behaviour.

Mom: Is something bothering you? You don’t seem fine.

Me: I was waiting to share it with someone. The stress was enormous and I told her exactly what I felt.

Mom: Did you talk to your sister after the incident?

Me: No maa!! If I felt helpless and weak, I can’t even imagine what she would have felt.

Mom: This is why I told you to accompany her. See, you are going to be a teenager soon and perhaps you’ll think that it’s cool to follow a girl or pass some comments. Even some of your friends might force you. They’ll tell you that it’s ok.

But now you know that it is not. I’m sure you wouldn’t want any girl to feel like the way your sister did.

And she was right. The people close to me know that I’ve severed friendships, raised my voice but I never compromised on this fact.

I would never ever want any girl to feel the way my sister did.

Has Chick-fil-A ever explained why specifically it does not serve beef?

If you’ve ever been to a Chick Fil A, you’ve probably noticed their menu is pretty chicken-centric. That isn’t accidental, and it isn’t just a branding gimmick; there’s actually a history behind it.

Their commitment to chicken goes all the way back to the founder, S. Truett Cathy. He opened his first diner in the 1940s and spent years perfecting the pressure fryer to cook his chicken sandwich faster than anyone could cook a hamburger. This was the birth of what ultimately became Chick Fil A’s signature menu item: the original chicken sandwich.

At the root of it, Chick Fil A doesn’t serve beef because they don’t have to. Their identity is so closely tied to chicken that serving beef would be like McDonald’s suddenly deciding to specialize in vegan food. It would throw people for a loop.

Chick Fil A’s boneless breast of chicken sandwich made its debut in 1964 with great success, paving the way for the first Chick Fil A restaurant that opened in 1967. Cathy even made a play on words with “Chick” to emphasize chicken and play down beef. This is a differentiation strategy. Just like you wouldn’t go to Burger King for a taco or to Taco Bell for a fish and chips plate, you wouldn’t go to Chick Fil A for a beef burger.

There’s also the branding component, right? You’ve seen the billboards with the cows painting “Eat Mor Chikin,” pushing the chicken agenda while steering people away from their own kind. It’s a brilliant marketing strategy that reinforces the no-beef policy.

While there’s no formal manifesto on why they don’t serve beef, the logic is clear: specialization. In a world where you can get a burger at every highway exit, being the go-to chicken spot sets you apart.

Staying in their lane has allowed Chick Fil A to perfect their products, focus on their poultry niche, and maintain the consistency and quality that has customers loyally returning to their restaurants. For many businesses, it’s a scary thing to put all your eggs (or chickens) in one basket, but for Chick Fil A, doing just that has been the secret sauce to their success.

So, in Portland, OR, where I’m based, if I’m craving chicken, it’s pretty neat knowing I can swing by Chick Fil A and get that same sandwich that put them on the map all those years ago, while also being assured that there won’t be a burger in sight. They’ve stayed true to the original plan for over half a century, and it’s working wonders for them.

China is getting tough

It took a long time, but it is finally happening. China’s gloves are coming off, and it is getting tough on Taiwan and the west.

For Taiwan, the Commerce Ministry has decided that Taiwan’s government has unfairly blocked the sale of many PRC products in Taiwan. For a long time, the PRC had allowed Taiwan imports to the PRC in the hope that Taiwan would eventually open up to PRC products on a reciprocal basis, but that has not happened, even when Taiwan has had food shortages. The Commerce Ministry will shortly announce which Taiwan products will be blocked from being sold in the PRC, which is the single largest market for many local Taiwan products.
For the west, China is now blocking the sale of rare-earth processing technologies to the west. This is a field essential for semiconductor manufacturing and defense technologies, and will hit Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the US especially hard as they try to develop their own independent supply chains free from Chinese components and raw materials.

For 2024, I am expecting an avalanche of new patents from Huawei for new technologies which leapfrog current western technologies. Western governments and companies will be faced with a difficult choice: Will they pay licensing fees to Huawei and other Chinese companies for these technologies, or will they insist on developing their own technologies and components using their own capabilities?

This is a very tough choice because investing in their own non-Chinese research and development will take at least five years, and will likely take more than ten years. Then, when that issue is resolved, where will they do the manufacturing? China has the best and most modern infrastructure and supply chains, so there will be a huge cost penalty for doing it on their own. When it comes to lower costs, the Chinese are masters of the game.

An even more important question: Where is the largest market for these products? Most likely, it will be China. So these products won’t be sold in China to Chinese? So where will it be sold?

What is the most difficult decision you have made as a doctor?

One hundred and six units.

An adult’s blood volume nine times over.

The entire hospital’s blood bank supply. We had to send to nearby centers for more. We had to put our own trauma center on ambulance diversion until more arrived.

After forty units, the chance of survival drops precipitously. The chance over a hundred— who knows? Past diminishingly small. Unreported, possibly. The physiologic derangement is simply too great. Banked blood is not like our own. It is cool, watery, weak and deficient. And this toxic cocktail had washed out every native red cell in her body, splashed out itself, and been poured back in again.

Every raw surface had begun to ooze.

We had already coded her twice.

With the blood welling up in spite of my every effort, I threw packs of thick cotton gauze in her chest, trying to stem the torrent. Trying to buy a moment to think. She had the same injury that killed Princess Diana. My partner looked across the table at me, a slight shake to her head. The probe at the head of the bed beeping out a constant register of oxygen saturation suddenly dipped in tone. I glanced, alarmed, over the drape and saw, unmistakably, her eyes opened, her teeth gripping the tube, her lips forming words to the anesthesiologist who hurried to medicate her. A tear sliding down her cheek towards her ear.

She’s neuro intact.

“She’s neuro intact,” I said, this time aloud, as my eyes reconnected with my partner’s. “She’s neuro intact,” I repeated, as a kind of mantra.

My partner nodded. “Okay, let’s keep going then,” and pulled the packs out.

She was forty-five.

Previously healthy.

And all there.

When I reviewed the case later before a panel of my peers, I argued this made her somehow salvageable. They scoffed. I reconsidered. So why, then, had I “wasted” so many resources on one woman with such devastating injuries, who ultimately died, as I knew she would?

Because I couldn’t look her in the eye and tell her no more.

Beef with Celery (China)

Ingredients

1 (1 pound) round steak
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 egg white
4 to 6 stalks celery
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon finely chopped, pared fresh ginger root
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons oyster sauce

Instructions

Cut meat across the grain into thin strips 1 1/2 inches long.
Combine 1/2 tablespoon of the soy sauce, vinegar and egg white in medium bowl; beat lightly with fork until foamy. Mix in meat. Cover and let stand 2 hours.
Cut celery into 1/2-inch diagonal slices.
Combine celery, 1 cup of the water and the salt in saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until boiling. Boil 3 minutes.
Drain celery.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in wok over high heat.
Drain meat and add to wok. Stir fry until meat is brown, about 5 minutes. Remove meat from wok. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to wok. Add celery, onions, ginger and garlic. Stir fry 1 minute. Return meat to wok; mix well.
Combine remaining 1/2 cup water, 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, the sherry, cornstarch and oyster sauce. Pour over meat-vegetable mixture. Cook and stir until liquid boils and thickens.

Makes 4 servings.

What did someone say to you that instantly made you realize their life was in danger?

When driving a Private Hire Taxi to help pay my way through University one night I had to swerve to miss a guy staggering into the road. I thought he was a drunk but pulled up just to check he was OK. He staggered up to the passenger side window and slumped against it. He murmured for help, at that same moment I saw blood smeared all down the window. I saw another figure approaching the car, I was horrified to see he appeared to be carrying a huge knife. I opened the rear door and pulled the injured guy in. There was a lot of blood and I wasn’t sure he would make it. I drove off as the pursuer closed up. I radioed base and told them I had a seriously injured stabbing victim in the car. They called the hospital and the police. I sped to the emergency dept. on the way being picked out by a police car as I (very carefully) jumped a red light. They knew the situation and gave me an escort to the hospital. They were ready and waiting for him when we arrived.

The guy survived. The car was a total mess, but putting everything in perspective, a small price to pay.

He survived with 2 or 3 life-threatening wounds, making a full recovery, the police and the medics told me I’d saved his life.

I was later thanked by both him and, believe it or not the perpetrator, who received a jail sentence far shorter than he would have got for murder. Apparently they were friends and a disagreement over rent had got out of all proportion leading to the incident. Had I not had the feeling this was not just another drunk staggering around in the dark, a lot of lives would have changed that night.

As a manager how far have you had to go to fire someone?

As a newly hired IT Director in a City, I discovered one programmer who had been there for a number of years had no real assignments. He came in each morning, read the paper, then put his feet up and took a nap.

I promptly gave him an assignment and watched as he did nothing. I met with him numerous times and he finally mentioned that I couldn’t do anything because he had been there so long, he couldn’t be fired – certainly not by a new manager like me!

Challenge!

I documented my meetings and his comment and went to HR. They told me he was likely correct as he was a union steward, as well. I escalated to a HR Supervisor who suggested I build a file then apply progressive discipline.

And so it began. I gave him an assignment in writing. I had him agree, in writing, that he understood the project and how long it should take to complete. I set weekly goals for him to accomplish and when he didn’t, I applied progressive discipline. The first time, I issued a written reprimands warning that he could be terminated if this continued. Next, a written disciplinary memo. After that, I sent him home for a day with no pay. He immediately appealed.

At the appeal hearing, he brought a union lawyer, who claimed the project was too difficult and he needed additional training. That was BS, IMO, for a Senior Programmer with 8 years experience. However, the mediator suggested providing the training.

He began two weeks of training the following Monday. I found out he skipped several days and the instructor told me he knew the material going in and we were wasting taxpayer money to send him.

He continued to miss assignments, and I wrote several more written reprimands before suspending him with a 3 day unpaid suspension. He filed another appeal.

In this hearing, the union Attorney suggested that he occasionally fell asleep because he had kids who occasionally kept him up late at home. The mediator supported the suspension. When he returned, we sent him to the City Doctor for a “fit to work” physical exam. The Doctor determined he had sleep apnea and said he should spend a month at home using a CPAP machine for a month before returning for another physical (with full pay, of course). While he was gone, I gave his assignment to another programmer who knocked it out in 3 days.

When he finally came back to , I gave him another assignment with specific written instructions. Within a week, he violated the instructions and made an unauthorized and undocumented change to the system that opened the City up to several million dollars of legal liability.

I issued a written suspension for two weeks without pay and began the termination paperwork. At the end of the two weeks, he came in and gave me his written resignation.

Game over in 10 months.

During this period, he constantly complained to other staff, hurting morale. I even got a phone call from his wife telling me how cruel I was because he liked his job and asking why I hated her husband.

Why did the Chinese army retreat from India during the 1962 Sino-Indian War?

1. There is no border between China and India.

Because there was no India before 1947, it was just a colonial area composed of hundreds of small kingdoms forcibly annexed by the British. Maybe you would say that there were many countries in South Asia with large territories before Britain, but no former Indian country had a territory as large as India now. In particular, even though North India was often unified into one Greater India, South India and Northeast India were almost never ruled by North India. Therefore, there is no definite border line between China and India.

2 China was once very friendly and hoped to peacefully demarcate the Sino-Indian border.

India became independent in 1947. New China was founded in 1949. China and India are both third world countries. China wants to maintain good relations with India, so it wants to delimit the Sino-Indian border through peaceful negotiations with India. China says that we do not accept the boundary lines privately drawn by the colonists and that we can resolve them through negotiation. Our border areas are all no-man’s land, and the disputed areas on our borders total 120,000 square kilometers. According to the current actual control areas of both parties, China can recognize that 90,000 square kilometers of southern Tibet (now called Arunachal) belongs to India. India recognized that 30,000 kilometers of Aksai Chin belongs to China, and we signed a boundary agreement on this basis. From then on, both sides have an undisputed boundary line, and there will be no disputes or wars. From then on, friendly relations between China and India became the first Brotherly countries in the three worlds.

However, India firmly rejected any plan from China. It took the map drawn by the British and told China that this is the new India. You must fully accept that southern Tibet and Aksai Chin are mine. Because the Indians continued the arrogance of the colonizers. It has not learned to get along well with its neighbors, so this is the most important reason why India has poor relations with all its neighbors.

3. The reasons and purposes of the 1962 Sino-Indian War.

The reason is that India’s forward policy has invaded Chinese territory and challenged China’s bottom line.

The purpose is to make India understand that it must stop when China says to stop.

In 1962, India hoped to invade China step by step through the Forward Policy. The so-called forward policy is to advance the Indian barracks one kilometer towards Chinese territory every day, and then claim that this is India’s territorial scope. China has repeatedly warned India not to challenge China. But India ignored China’s anger and continued to invade China, even crossing the northern part of the McMahon Line claimed by India and entering undisputed Chinese territory. Therefore, China must use a language that Indians can understand to let India understand that the bottom line of the Chinese cannot be breached. This term is military power.

Indian prisoners in 1962

4 Why did China withdraw from the battle after winning the battle?

A Because China’s war goals were achieved, this is the most important reason.

From the beginning, China just wanted to teach the Indians a lesson, to let them recognize the reality, not to be too greedy, and not to ignore China’s warnings. When China says that LAC is the bottom line, don’t challenge China’s bottom line and don’t cross the LAC. When you really cross the LAC, China has enough strength to beat you back. So after China taught the Indians a lesson, China felt that was enough, so it returned to the state before the war and returned to the original line of actual control.

Maximizing revenue B

Simply put, it means achieving the highest benefit with the lowest cost.

If the Indians crossed one kilometer of LAC and China counterattacked 20 kilometers and stayed to occupy the land, it would definitely cause India to expand the war regardless of the cost, and the war would not stop lightly.

It would be unwise to plunge two countries with hundreds of millions of people into endless war.

It would be unwise to plunge two countries with hundreds of millions of people into an ongoing war over mostly uninhabited mountainous and desert areas.

War costs huge amounts of money. OThe value of a cannonball fired in one hour is enough to feed the residents of a small town for a year. In 1962, both China and India were quite poor countries, especially China. 1962 was the hungriest year in the history of New China. It would be very unfavorable for China to fall into a long-term war at this time.

China has pushed its battle line to the Indian plains. If China insists on fighting here, it will be at a huge disadvantage, because to transport an artillery shell from a Chinese factory here, it requires the use of donkeys to climb dozens of mountains over 3,000 meters. , spanning thousands of kilometers, requires a huge amount of transportation energy. Even if a 10-dollar artillery shell costs $1,000 here, Indian artillery shells can be transported directly by truck, and a 10-dollar artillery shell is worth at most $100. In other words, the cost in China is at least 10 times more expensive than in India. This is an asymmetric war. If China continues to fight here, the original victory will turn into a defeat, or a tragic victory. As a master of war, the Chinese will not make such mistakes. Therefore, China decisively returned to the LAC before the war.

In the 1962 war, from the perspective of territorial acquisition, China did not gain more territory than before the war. But the benefits are still huge.

The biggest benefit is that in the decades after 1962, Indians no longer dared to cross the LAC lightly and no longer dared to advance policies. In other words, Indians have heartily accepted that LAC is the default boundary line between China and India. This won decades of peace along China’s southwestern border.

The border conflict in 1967 was only a few days of minor fighting over the dispute between China and India over the LAC demarcation line at Nathu La Pass. At that time (32 Chinese soldiers died and 101 Indian soldiers died)

Indian prisoners in 1967

Maybe 1962 has passed too long, maybe Indians feel that India in 2020 is no longer the India in 1962, so the Indians crossed the LAC again in 2020, so China was forced to take action again to teach the Indians a lesson. I hope Indians understand that although India is not the India of 1962, China is not the China of 1962. China was in its poorest period in 1962, when China’s GDP was even lower than India’s. China GDP in 2020 is five times larger than India. Don’t provoke China, China is more powerful than you think.

Indian Captives of 2020

Nikki Haley says she will stop China from killing Americans with fentanyl. Is the PRC doing this? If so, how?

She’s lying. She has no idea what to do. What she’s trying to selli is the idea that she does.

Here’s the problem. Americans want fentanyl. Enough Americans want fentanyl as to make it worth the enormous risk of smuggling either it, or the raw materials to make it, into the United States. Capitalism 101. And there is no way to stop that. None. Every attempt we’ve ever made to stop drug use by prohibition has been not only an utter failure, but has caused us more trouble than the actual problem we were trying to fix.

There’s a deeper problem. Fentanyl is a symptom, not a cause. And that cause is the utter hopelessness and the lack of resources for the poor in the US. We’ve literally criminalized poverty. We have the weakest social safety net in the industrial world, and we’ve decided that a tax structure that makes it possible for a handful of men to amass fortunes that can buy them freedom from the law, is a good thing even if it leaves 20% of the country living below the poverty line in an information and resource vacuum that leaves most trapped.

Preying on the poor is hugely profitable, and the capitalists have risen to the task. We choose to look away and complain.

What work secret did you accidentally find out that changed everything?

I once worked for a dental lab as part of a “back-to-work” rehab program after a work injury. I was working late one Friday and took a delivery into the mail room for shipment the next day. The mail room was adjacent to the owner’s office and I overheard him and his wife (his accountant) and the office manager planning on replacing some 60% of the staff with high-school kids in work-study programs. The boss, Rick, heard me taping up the box and came in, asking what I was doing and if I heard them, to which I said no. He told me I wasn’t supposed to work late and leave the package for the next day.

On Monday I was called into a meeting with Rick, his wife and my rehab consultant about missing many hours of work. He slid three altered times cards across the table as proof, not realizing I had copies of all my time cards as required by the work comp insurer. I pulled them from my bag and told him he was lying and falsified the cards because I overheard him planning on firing staff. He fired me anyway so as I left, I walked into the large work area and announced loudly, “Rick is going to replace most of you with high-school kids and he just fired me because I overheard him planning it.”

Two weeks later he let nine people go, replacing them with high-school kids. By the end of the month another six employees left for the competition and without experienced employees, he went out of business by the end of the year. I actually ran into him at the grocery store the following year and asked him how his business was going. He said, “Go f*ck yourself!” Best. Vindication. Ever. 🙂

What was the greediest thing you’ve seen a family member do?

This goes back fifty years, but I will never forget it.

My mother’s aunt and uncle (Annie and Homer) were married for over fifty years. They never had any biological children, but did adopt a daughter (Mary Catherine) and raised her as their own.

MC grew up, got married, and moved out of state with her husband. (The parents lived in Memphis, and the daughter lived in southeastern Missouri, about a five-hour drive apart.)

Being much younger, I only met the daughter a couple of times while I was growing up. She didn’t visit Memphis often.

Aunt Annie fell and broke her hip in an accident in her early-80’s. She survived the fall, but lapsed into dementia and died about two years later. Mary Catherine didn’t attend the funeral. (When I asked why, none of the adults in my family would talk about it.)

Uncle Homer lived another few years. His mind was sharp, but his physical health started failing. During the last year of his life, he was bedridden at home and required regular nursing visits during the day.

One afternoon, Uncle Homer called our house all frantic, asking my mother to come to his house. She and I drove over, a trip that took about fifteen minutes.

When we arrived, he was yelling and crying. His nurse had also arrived, but wasn’t able to calm him down.

When he saw my mom, Uncle Homer told us the story: Mary Catherine and her husband had shown up, and cleaned out the house of everything they wanted.

He had yelled and screamed, and had fallen out of bed trying to stop them, but they both just laughed at his efforts and took everything of value. He had gotten his gun out from the beside table, but his nurse had removed the bullets from it long beforehand.

The daughter and husband left before Uncle Homer called us, so we never saw them.

My grandfather had the daughter’s number in Missouri and called her that evening. She was not at all repentant and argued that the stuff she took was her just reward for putting up with her parents for decades. Apparently, she was upset because they had “lived too long.” She also let him know that she expected to get Uncle Homer’s house when he was gone.

Uncle Homer didn’t call the police on his daughter, but he was clearly heartbroken after this incident. His life spark and sense of humor were gone. He lasted about three more months, and passed away at age 92.

After he died, Mary Catherine didn’t attend the funeral, but did come back to deal with her inheritance. It turned out that Uncle Homer had altered his will and gave his house to his nurse, a widow who had been living in a rented place nearby.

The value of the house was a lot greater than the stuff that the daughter had stolen.

What was the cruelest rumor you’ve heard about another kid when you were in school?

There was that girl that had been lonely all her life. People, especially in school, disliked her because she was “strange”, “a nerd”, “too quiet” and just “different”.

One day she decided to talk to her teachers during the breaks instead of trying to fit in where she didn’t. She always acted older than her age and her teachers liked her, so they usually didn’t send her away, but had a friendly chat with her ever so often instead.

By tenth grade, she had almost developed some kind of friendship to a few of her teachers. When she got the “strictest teacher of the school” as her major course teacher in grade eleven, it took her mere weeks to find out that he actually wasn’t so strict at all.

They talked for at least half an hour after the lessons. About science, about our society, the people in school and whatever came to mind. Those two thought quite alike, despite an age difference of 34 years, and the girl now almost a woman could for the first time in years really live her passion for learning. Her teacher was highly intelligent and very knowledgeable, having not only written a dissertation in the past and worked in research for years but also being interested in a broad spectrum of topics.

Well, doesn’t sound so bad, now does it? So what happened?

Well, because teenagers are teenagers, it took about half a year for people to start whispering about the girl and her teacher. It started off lightly, she was still strange and why would she even talk to him?

But a few months after that, some people thought it to be funny to make up a non-existent romantic relationship between teacher and student. Despite that girl having been very close to other teachers before, but now that it was a male teacher, it suddenly was completely different. Because people of opposite gender can’t just see each other as friends, right? They just have to be in love to even think about talking to each other.

A less than funny “joke” became something way bigger. After two weeks, all of the 1600 students knew about this. And most didn’t know that it was a joke. People were laughing and pointing at her, throwing insults at the girl for something that never happened.

Finally, after about three months of dealing with it alone, she had the heart to tell her teacher. They decided to never talk to each other outside of class again, to prevent the teacher from getting problems with the school. While it was just a rumour, that didn’t mean that it wouldn’t lead to problems.

Both of them lost a friend on the day they made this decision. And the student lost a person she saw as a second father – her father barely ever was at home and her teacher had been one of three people (the other ones being her best friend and a female teacher she knew since fifth grade) she ever fully trusted. It might not have been cruel at the first glance, but it hurt her in more ways than the others students could’ve ever imagined.

That girl was me.

Some good ways to get revenge on someone?

Meet Kyle Tomlinson.

As a 12 year old, he came to the auditions of Britain’s Got Talent.

You should go and get a singing teacher.

He was told by David Walliams

and that hurt the 12 year old kid. So much so that when he came for auditions 2 years later, he mentioned this on the stage again. David obviously did not remember the incident.

Kyle had taken it to his heart that ‘he was not good enough’ and had worked hard on his singing for the past 2 years.

Kyle sang that day with his heart out and the entire auditorium rose up to appreciate his talent. Everyone was moved and David Walliams somewhere realized how big a mistake he had done for hurting Kyle.

David pressed the golden buzzer, which meant Kyle went to the live shows directly. (Every judge has only one golden buzzer to use in one season.)

David came up to the stage and hugged Kyle.

Kyle transformed his embarrassment and made himself more than able in a period of 2 years.

He forced the man who had underestimated him to accept his mistake.

For me, that is the best form of revenge.

Turn your haters into your fans.

Film-Noir | Impact (1949) | Brian Donlevy, Helen Walker, Ella Raines | Movie, subtitles

Fight the Good Fight

Blue Thunder.

I was living in West Elizabeth, PA. It was a very distressed mobile park complex. The entire community was worn down, poverty stricken, and crime ridden.

At that time, we had our first cat: Samatha Pantha.

Something cool started to happen, a beautiful blue grey Maine Coon, the same age as my kitty started hanging out with my cat.

It was beautiful. And we named it “Blue Thunder”.

…

For the next few months the two cats played and romped about.

One day, some local boys were tying to sic a dog on Blue Thunder, and I saw them under my mobile home trying to attack my cat. I was furious and chased them away.

Three days went by…

No Blue Thunder.

Then one morning, the kitty was on my porch. Someone had shot it with a BB gun…

We took it in the house and tended to it. And all was well.

It was still around us. Our “outside” cat, and not our “inside” cat.

…

Eventually, I got a job in another state. And we had to move.

I wanted to Take Blue Thunder with us, but my wife reasoned “no”. She reasoned was that he would be just fine… alone… outside.

I should have NEVER listened to her.

…

Guys… stick to your guns. If you are dealing with a living, breathing being. Err on the safe, and the protected side of things.

…

I found out later that when the mobile home was being transported, a cat (that obviously must have been Blue Thunder) tumbled out from underneath the mobile home. I don’t know what happened to it, but falling out from a moving vehicle tends to be fatal to little creatures.

I have great regrets about this issue.

I am haunted by my passive actions that led to the demise of others.

…

About six months later, I came across another little kitty. Phelie. The cat that I wrote about in other posts, the one whose mother cat died on the road. And this cat had nearly the same personality that Blue Thunder had.

Maybe he found his way back to me.

Don’t you know.

People, I have many regrets in life. But one of the biggest is going against my CORE BELIEFS because my partner or family member did not realize the value of other creatures. Do not be like me.

Fight the GOOD FIGHT.

Never give up. Stick to your guns. Hold your ground. Be someone that your grandparents would be proud of.

Today…

What was the most unexpected knock you got on your door?

Two police officers with sober faces stared at me and I knew the news couldn’t be good.

They described a car that had just been in an accident, and the license plate. My wife’s mini-van had collided, burst into flames and everyone inside it died.

I’m doing a mental inventory about now. My wife, three children, and two nieces.

I guess they could verify my kids were mine, and that the adult was their mother. A nice, neat little bow.

Can you imagine? They’ve just told you that your whole family is dead, and —- I told them I would come down and give them a sample.

Getting ready to leave, my cell phone is buzzing. It’s my wife. What? Hard tingles are on my spine, like she’s calling from the grave.

“Our van was stolen from the parking lot….”

Were the sweetest words I could’ve ever heard. Yeah it was my wife’s car, but they won’t need any DNA sample from me today.

EDIT – to address some of the mysteries in the comments

What is the most interesting fact that you know and I don’t, but I should?

I have an interesting piece of information which was completely new to me and maybe it is new to many of you too..

Recently, a friend of mine was involved in an accident. He rammed his car behind a truck and the car was completely totaled!

Thankfully, he was wearing his seat belt which initiated the action of airbags and saved his life.

Now comes the part which amazed me. When I saw the pictures of the crash, the speedometer of the car caught my attention.

The speedometer needle was stuck at 90 km/hr. Upon asking some of my acquaintances in the automobile industry, I discovered that this is also a feature, due to which upon impact if the airbags are deployed, then the speedometer needle will be stuck at the speed at which the vehicle is being driven to ease the investigation and further formalities about the accident.

This amazed me as this was quite a useful feature which rarely people know and it will make it much easier to get into depth of the cause of the accident in cars which do not have a dashcam installed, which usually is the case in India.

Hope you were amazed too!

Valiant Thor: A UFO, the Pentagon and a 3-year Mission to Save the World

The words of the guilty

I’m sooooop sorry.
It was a mistake.
My friends made me do it.
I was drunk.
It was only that one time.
It was your fault I did it.
It’ll never happen again.
I love you soooooo much.

304 Handbook, Chapters 2-5.

Have you ever had a house guest that took advantage of your hospitality? How did you get rid of them?

I have a house for rent in Brownfield, Maine. It’s a tiny vacation house I call the “Schwende Hut” named after a hot dog stand on top of the ski hill Mt Tecumseh in New Hampshire. I found out later that “Schwende Hut” means “Food House” but I think it’s hilarious.

I have been renting the house for almost 20 years to people who like to stay be the weekend, the week, the month or the season. It’s been pretty good.

A few years ago I got call from a woman who wanted to rent for a week. It was the end of the season and I still had that week available so naturally I signed her right up. She moved in on time and all was good. She was rather elderly and I was concerned that she would have a good time.

After a week my cleaner reported to me that she hadn’t left. I went over to see what was going on. Normally guests have to check out by noon so the cleaner can do his work before the next guest arrived. She came to the door but didn’t open it. I asked her what she was doing.

“I live here now,” she said to me, “I’m not leaving.”

I was confused.

“This is a guest house,” I said, “Other guests are going to come.”

“And I’m not paying,” she said obstinately. I was speechless. This had never happened before. I said, “I’ll call the Sheriff.”

“Go ahead,” she said, “Winter is coming. I’m old. They’ll never evict an elderly woman. Good luck.”

What could I do? I had to go consult with my local lawyer.

That night a huge storm came up with violent winds and lots of rain. I couldn’t worry about the old bitch in my house. I had to worry about property damage. Two days later the storm ended. I came through all right with just a few branches down and lots of pine needles everywhere. But there was no power. In Maine the power goes out at least once a week. Trees just fall and take out the lines. After a big storm crews and trucks have to go out and put the lines back up. We get used to seeing the flashing light on our digital clocks in Maine. It tells us that the power was out and we have to throw away most of the food in our fridge.

It took almost a week for the power company to restore power. In the meantime I was worried about the woman who wouldn’t leave my house. What was I going to do with her? The legal moves for getting her out were long, laborious and expensive. Even squatters have rights, it seems. People told me to tell the Sheriff she was dealing drugs and that would get her out fast. Meth is a huge problem in Maine with so much poverty. I couldn’t bring myself to do that. But within a few days of the power being out, she packed up her car and left. With no power, there was no fridge, no stove, no AC, no showers, no toilet, no light. She up and left, The house was a pigsty but at least it was empty.

I installed a power kill in a hidden location under the house. If this happens again I know what I will do now.

How did planes travel in the dark in the past?

Giant. Concrete. Arrows.

No, really.

In the early 1920s, when the postal service first launched its airmail service, planes could only fly during the day.

It would take three and a half days for a package to make it from New York City to San Francisco, with both airmail and train-travel due to the limitation on flight.

Thus, to solve this problem, Congress funded a transcontinental lighted airway from New York to California.

The airway went through nine different states and consisted of 50-foot steel towers that were rotating spotlights every 10 to 30 miles.

However, since cloudy days sometimes obstructed the view of pilots, giant concrete arrows were constructed on the ground in order to point the plane in the right direction. They were painted yellow to make them easier to see.

The project was called the Transcontinental Airway system and it worked surprisingly well up until the 1940s when the system was dismantled due to advances in aviation technology.

Many of the concrete arrows are still around today, remnants of a time where planes could travel across the country, purely by sight.

From the stars,

Dawn.

What happened in a courtroom that gave the judge a belly laugh you will never forget?

During my time in High School, I received a ticket from a police officer who was working a side job as a delivery driver. He accused me of “dumping my clutch” and “doing a burn out of the parking lot.” However, I am currently fighting against these allegations.

When I appeared before the judge, the prosecutor and the police officer were present. The police officer reiterated his observations, and I countered by explaining that I did not perform any clutch dumping or burnout in my 280zx because there was an 8″ gutter separating the street and the sidewalk.

I further argued that performing a burnout in the parking lot would have caused damage to my low-riding Z vehicle. Moreover, when I hit the gutter, my battery came loose, and the positive post made contact with the steel clutch line, resulting in a hole and a loss of fluid, making it impossible to switch gears. The engine sounded loud because the car was in neutral, and I was expecting to shift into second gear.

The police officer should be aware of this situation since he had to call a tow truck to take my car to the garage for repairs. I even provided the receipts as evidence.

The judge then asked me if I worked at the restaurant, to which I replied affirmatively. I mentioned that as a delivery driver, I would be unable to carry out my job without a vehicle. However, the judge questioned how I managed to hit the gutter so hard that it caused my battery to bounce.

I humorously explained that the police officer had walked in front of my car while he was distracted by the attractive rear of my best friend, who happened to be a female. This caused everyone in the courtroom to burst into laughter, including the judge. The police officer became flustered and attempted to speak, but the prosecutor intervened and suggested that the case should be dismissed.

I agreed entirely with the prosecutor’s suggestion but requested that the repair bill be taken care of since it was the fault of the police officer’s negligence while representing the police department that caused the damage.

The judge agreed to dismiss the case, and I was awarded the reimbursement of around $37, which was equivalent to approximately 10 hours of minimum wage back in those days.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that my best friend was a female with an attractive figure who enjoyed flaunting it whenever possible. However, everyone else in the courtroom assumed that my best friend was a male.

What is a slap-in-the-face job offer?

I was happy at my job, but one day a head hunter called me up, and asked me if I would be interested in interviewing for a job that was a step up, at a rival company.

I hummed and hawed, and thought why not see what I am worth, at the worst I could ask my boss for a raise.

I went to the interview, they were impressed and offered me a job, they wanted to know my current salary, I told them that the salary was only a small part of my pay, as I had a performance bonus that was substantially more than my salary. So I wanted to know what their bonus system was. It was woefully low, compared to my current job, I would get a bonus that was maybe 20 percent of my salary, compared to the 200 percent of the salary I was getting.

To make up for it, they offered me a 20 percent higher salary.

I wont give real numbers, but here is how it would work out.

I was currently getting $1000 in salary, and $2000 in bonus per month, for a total of $3000.

They thought salary was the key, and offered me $1200 in salary and $240 a month in bonus for a total of $1440

Less than half of what I was making, doing a job with less responsibility.

I told them that I wasn’t interested, and they offered to increase it to 30 percent increase in salary. Which would have been just over half of what I was making.

They just kept coming back to salary, and never seemed to grasp how substantial my bonus was.

That was a slap in the face offer.

I of course turned them down.

They went bankrupt 18 months later.

Man Dumps Wife When He Finds Out He Was Her Last Choice

What is the most Russian thing ever?

I was working on a power station in Moscow and, for the weekend, went to a small town (Kaluga), two hundred kilometres south-west from the city with a work colleague. Alex.

He had bought some brake shoes for his Russian-made car and was fitting them with his father in their garage that every Russian family has. They are always in a long row of garages some distance from the apartments.

The brake shoes wouldn’t fit due to poor quality manufacturing so he got out an angle grinder and ground the groove in the brake shoe until it fitted.

He said that this was normal in Russia.

He also said that when you bought a new Russian-made car you went to the showroom with a colleague and inspected the car. You would then tell the salesman what was wrong with the car (door does not close, brake pedal is missing rubber, etc.). He would fix it and, when you took it away, you accepted responsibility for all that was wrong.

So if you are planning an expedition to the Arctic don’t get an American or European mechanic to fix stuff en route, get a Russian because they have spent their entire life bodging stuff up with a Swiss army knife and some 14 gauge wire.

There is nothing that a Russian cannot fix.

What’s the most common mistake we make in the office?

Most corporate offices have a “bend don’t break” rule on internet usage.

High achieving professionals don’t want to be micromanaged or watched with suspicion.

Think about it. If you work 40+ hours and are good at your job, it shouldn’t be an issue if you want to check the news or your bank account.

But some people treat their office like an entertainment center, streaming Twitch and YouTube all day.

As a result, HR and IT team up like a Kremlin intelligence agency, looking for any signs of slackers.

The golden snitch sees all. I was walking by one time and this coworker was literally watching a Twitch stream with that lady, Pokimane, as she played video games. This was in the middle of a busy office with people working.

Thirst trapping it on the clock baby. He had quite the audacity.

You can extend this to every stupid hiring practice and office rule. All it takes is one moron and life becomes more annoying for all that follow.

Don’t be the moron behind the stupid rule. If you can help it.

Karma Comes For Disloyal Wife After Husband Admits To Affair With Way Hotter Woman…And She FREAKS!

When have you fired someone on the spot?

Yes.

As a triage nurse in an Emergency Room, there are duties that become mundane but are necessary. One rule we had was that if a pregnant woman approached the check in desk complaining of pregnancy symptoms, the nurse asked how far along they were.

Twenty weeks is the magic number. If they are 20 weeks pregnant the baby has a realistic chance of surviving if delivered. This meant the nurse had to get up and push the patient by wheelchair to Labor and Delivery. It was a big hospital and L&D was on the exact opposite side of the hospital.

If they checked in at the front entrance, security would push them to L&D and the staff there would determine how far along they are and just as the triage nurse in the ER take them by wheelchair to the proper care area.

A pretty good system that had worked for years without incident. Both areas had to push an equal number of patients across the hospital.

And then one day I get a call from the L&D Director.

“We had a patient come in today who says she was told rudely by the ER staff that she was in the wrong place and needed to drive around to the front entrance,” she said.

I neglected to mention that this was a huge hospital that took up 2 city blocks. Crossing the hospital required a 10 min walk through a maze of locked doors and corridors. Driving around required 2 red lights and avoiding a one way street.

“I’ll have to speak to the staff,” I told her, “They know what they’re supposed to do.”

“This girl was 32 weeks and complained of her water breaking,” she continued.

It seemed she was catastrophizing the situation. The staff broke protocol. I will remind them and reiterate the protocol.

“I’ll make sure they understand,” I said.

“Keith, the baby was dead,” she said.

Turns out she was minimizing the episode. The seriousness of the call was not lost on me.

“I am going now to take care of it,” I said, “I am sorry.”

“These people are livid,” she added.

I called the charge nurse and asked who was at triage. Of the two names given, I immediately surmised who the culprit was. Judy was an outspoken nurse who enjoyed sharing her opinion that most of the patients in the ER did not even have an emergency. I went to get her.

“Can you come with me?” I asked.

“Why?” she asked, “Am I in trouble?”

She followed me out into the hallway, and as we walked to my office I asked her, “Did you send a 32 week pregnant patient around to the front?”

“Is that what this is about?” she started, “We are busy and I don’t have time to be pushing people all over the hospital.”

“The baby was dead,” I said, “This is not trivial.”

“That baby was dead before she got here,” she argued, “That has nothing to do with me not pushing her to L&D.”

Stating things that were most likely true did not change facts. She probably was already fired, honestly, but without hesitation I said, “Collect all your stuff and go home.”

“Am I being put on administrative leave because of this crap?”

“Come by my office before you leave,” I said.

While she collected her things, I called Human Resources and made sure I had grounds to terminate. The HR representative agreed to come witness the termination.

“I don’t care what you do,” Judy started as she entered the room. “That baby was already dead.”

“Judy, because of your refusal to follow proper protocol and continued insistence that you have done nothing wrong, you are being terminated. Effective immediately.” Her mouth fell open, and she began to cry. “This is Allison from HR. She can answer any further questions you may have.”

That’s the moment, I think, she finally realized the seriousness of her actions.

Solar storms: more dangerous than you think. Can we survive another Carrington Event?

The Boiling Hot End to a Cook Accused of Poison in Henry VIII’s England

On April 5, 1531, hardened London spectators of public punishment gathered at Smithfield, joined by others who were too curious to stay away. An execution had been announced of a type that none had witnessed in their lifetimes, nor ever heard of. The condemned man, Richard Roose, was to be boiled alive.

Roose was not the sort of criminal that usually met his end at Smithfield, located just beyond the London Wall. He was convicted of high treason, yet he had not sought to harm King Henry VIII nor his queen, Catherine of Aragon, nor any royal councilor. He had not tried to overthrow the kingdom’s government. Roose, a cook, was accused of murder by poison.

His two victims were an obscure gentleman in the household of Bishop John Fisher, Bennet Curwen, and a destitute widow who accepted the bishop’s charity, Alyce Tryppytt. The target of the poisoning was assumed to be Fisher himself, the Bishop of Rochester. Ironically, Fisher did not eat the soup—sometimes described as porridge—that Roose prepared and so was unharmed.

Roose admitted to the poisoning but claimed it was a joke gone wrong, an accident. There is no testimony for us to examine, because Roose had no trial, by command of the king.

In the words of the Greyfriars Chronicle of London, a contemporary document: “This year was a cook boiled in a cauldron in Smithfield for he would have poisoned the bishop of Rochester Fisher with divers of his servants and he was locked in a chain and pulled up and down with a gibbet at divers times until he was dead.”

Roose’s crime, the legal method of his condemnation, and finally the form of punishment create a bizarre chain of events that, in a more modern age, might well have raised questions of motive in several parties, including that of Henry VIII. Although there is no question of who did the killing, this is still a tantalizing Tudor murder mystery, and reveals some of the peculiarities of the early modern age, when laws existed and homicide was considered a heinous crime, but there was no trained police force nor forensic science.

Why did Henry VIII demand this punishment of a lowly cook? Why was Roose executed as a traitor when his crime was murder of commoners? The answer lies in the King’s complex feelings for Bishop Fisher.

John Fisher was made bishop of Rochester by the King’s father, Henry VII, in 1504. Fisher performed the funeral services for Margaret Beaufort, the king’s mother, and Henry VII himself when they died, within months of each other, in 1509. In the first 20 years of the reign of Henry VIII, Fisher was considered “the greatest Catholic theologian in Europe, without any rival,” writes Eamon Duffy.

But by the time of the crime in question, King Henry was no longer proud of Bishop Fisher, 62 years of age. It would be safe to say he considered him an enemy. And it would have made the King’s life much easier if Fisher had lost his—if he had consumed the soup.

In 1527, when Henry VIII, desperate for a male heir, began his public quest for an annulment from 42-year-old Catherine of Aragon to marry the delectable young Anne Boleyn, Fisher became one of his most serious obstacles. The question of the royal marriage was a theological one, and if Europe’s most respected theologian had agreed in the rightness of King Henry’s cause, it would have done a lot to bring about the annulment. But Fisher took the side of Catherine of Aragon. The marriage was legal and could not be dissolved.

In 1529, Bishop Fisher announced at the trial of the royal marriage that it would impossible to die more gloriously than in the cause of marriage, as John the Baptist did. In that same year, when a proposal came to Parliament to dissolve the smaller abbeys—the beginning of Henry VIII’s destruction of the Catholic monasteries—Fisher “openly resisted it with all the force he could.”

Enter one Richard Roose. One of Fisher’s earliest biographers, Richard Hall, wrote in 1655 the most complete account of the poisoning. He is the only source to say that Roose was not the chief cook in Fisher’s household, which is significant: “After this the Bishop escaped a very great danger. For one Richard Rose came into the Bishop’s kitchen, being acquainted with the cook, at his house in Lambeth-marsh, and having provided a quantity of deadly poison, while the cook went into the buttery to fetch him some drink, he took his opportunity to throw that poison into a mess of gruel, which was prepared for the Bishop’s dinner. And after he had waited there a while, he went on his way.

“But so it happened that when the Bishop was called into his dinner, he had no appetite for any meat but wished his servants to fall to and be of good cheer, and that he would not eat till toward night. And they that did eat of the poisoned dish were miserably infected. And whereof one gentleman, named Mr. Bennet Curwen and an old widow, died suddenly, and the rest never recovered their health till their dying day.”

An inquiry began at once. Although a salaried police force did not yet exist in England, criminal investigation was taken seriously. Justices of the peace, appointed by the monarch, received and investigated complaints; coroners viewed dead bodies and ordered arrests. Now if a suspect was bound over for trial, freedom was unlikely. Defendants charged with felonies or treason did not exist. In fact, murder trials rarely lasted more than 15 minutes.

Roose was soon apprehended, and admitted to adding what he believed were laxatives to the soup as a “jest.” No one believed him. The always skeptical Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote a slightly different version of events to his master, Charles V, the nephew of Catherine of Aragon:

“They say that the cook, having been immediately arrested… confessed at once that he had actually put into the broth some powders, which he had been given to understand would only make his fellow servants very sick without endangering their lives or doing them any harm. I have not yet been able to understand who it was who gave the cook such advice, nor for what purpose.”

We share Chapuys’ frustration. Who gave the cook these powders and told him that they would sicken and not kill anyone? If that information was obtained, it was not shared with the public. No transparency.

Sir Thomas More, the lord chancellor, informed Henry VIII that there were rumors that Anne Boleyn and her father and brother, Thomas and George Boleyn, were involved in the poisoning attempt. The king reacted angrily, saying Anne Boleyn was unfairly blamed for everything, including bad weather.

The murder motive and the question of a larger plot were soon obscured by Henry VIII’s drastic actions. He decided that Roose should be condemned by attainder without a trial—a measure usually used for criminals who were at large. Roose was sitting in prison! Nonetheless, Parliament passed “An Acte for Poysoning,” making willful murder by means of poison high treason even if the victim was not head of the government of the land. And boiling to death became a form of legal capital punishment. This crime was especially heinous, the king’s representatives said, and thus called for such measures.

Several biographers have noted King Henry’s extreme fear of poison. Although the monarch’s paranoia became infamous in later years, there was some basis for concern. Everyone had heard the stories of murder by cantarella in Rome during the time of the Borgias. Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, died—perhaps of poison slipped into his food at a banquet—during the reign of Henry VII. Cantarella was believed to have been arsenic trioxide.

If poison was ever suspected as the cause of death at this time in England, there was no way to scrutinize its damage within the corpse to confirm. And should the poison itself be obtained, the field of analytical chemistry was four centuries away.

Not surprisingly, rumors ran wild. Poisoning was rumored (never proven) to be the cause of the deaths of Queen Anne, Richard III’s wife; the eventual death of Catherine of Aragon; and the agonizing death of Henry’s son, Edward VI. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, written in the reign of Henry’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, employed poison. Shakespeare wove it into five other plays too.

But there was more to this than royal terror of a poisoned dish. As historian K.J. Kesselring wrote in The English Historical Review, “This may explain the severe, exemplary punishment of boiling, but not the need to label the offense treason.”

In April the crowds of Smithfield witnessed Roose’s death. According to an eyewitness: “He roared mighty loud, and divers women who were big with child did feel sick at the sight of what they saw, and were carried away half dead; and other men and women did not seem frightened by the boiling alive, but would prefer to see the headsman at his work.”

The story of the king and the stubborn bishop doesn’t end there.

When, after the king married Anne Boleyn, Bishop Fisher refused to swear an oath of supremacy to the king, he was arrested. The pope made Fisher a cardinal to protect him, but it only enraged the king more. Once the monarch had ordered a savage punishment of the man who tried to kill Fisher, and now Henry VIII wanted Fisher gone.

After a difficult imprisonment, Fisher was beheaded on June 22, 1535 on Tower Hill. The crowd gasped when they saw him on the scaffold for he was “nothing…but skin and bones…the flesh clean wasted away, and a very image of death.” In his speech to the crowd, Fisher is said to have shown a calm dignity.

According to Fisher’s biographer: “And here I cannot omit to declare to you the miraculous sight of his head, which after 14 days grew fresher and fresher, for that in his lifetime he never looked so well…. the face looked as if it beholdeth the people passing by and would have spoken to them. Which many took as a miracle.”

In 1886, the Catholic Church made John Fisher a saint.

Accepting Defeat In Ukraine

In early November the Economist published an interview and several pieces by the commander in chief of the Ukrainian army, General Zaluzny. As I summarized:

Zaluzny’s central thesis is that the war is currently at a stalemate. It has become positional, with no large maneuvers being possible. He compares it to the war in Europe in 1917. There, he says, a change only happened through the introduction of new technologies (i.e. tanks).
…
I for one think that Zaluzny is mistaken. The war is not at a stalemate. Russia has clearly the advantage as it is free to maneuver along the whole frontline and to attack wherever it likes. It does not do so in full force because the current situation allows it to conveniently fulfill the order its commander in chief had given to it – to destroy the military capabilities of Ukraine.

Finally a western mainstream writer has caught up with those facts. Lee Hockstader, the Washington Post‘s columnist for European affairs, opines:

In Ukraine, the risk isn’t stalemate. It’s defeat.

Hockstader laments the lack of support from the U.S. and Europe for the new demands the Ukraine is making. He states:

Without those infusions of cash, arms and munitions, even the disappointing status quo over the past year, in which Ukraine has not managed to recapture much territory, is unlikely to endure.

Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told a Washington forum last week that the “big risk” is that Kyiv’s troops could “lose this war.”

That message should jolt policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic. The danger, as Ukraine’s top general warned publicly last month, isn’t simply stalemate. It is that Ukrainian forces, running low on equipment, might be compelled to fall back, shorten their defensive lines and abandon territory.
…
It’s essential to think about what Ukraine’s defeat means, because it would be as much a strategic disaster for the United States and its NATO allies as a tableau of terror for Ukraine. Dual cataclysms, equally stark, played out on different timetables.

Well, yes. The West has shot its wad and it proved to be sterile.

There will be no terror for Ukraine, just the loss of the ethnic Russian people, industries and land the communist – Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev – had for whatever reasons attached to it. The rest of it will be a smaller, more poor and purely agricultural rump state without access to the sea. This was obvious from the very beginning to anyone with a clear view of the balance of the forces involved in the war.

As I wrote on February 24 2022, the very day Russian forces entered Ukraine:

Looking at this map I believe that the most advantageous end state for Russia would be the creation of a new independent country, call it Novorussiya, on the land east of the Dnieper and south along the coast that holds a majority ethnic Russian population and that, in 1922, had been attached to the Ukraine by Lenin. That state would be politically, culturally and militarily aligned with Russia.

bigger

This would eliminate Ukrainian access to the Black Sea and create a land bridge towards the Moldavian breakaway Transnistria which is under Russian protection.

Excursus:

The yellow part of that map marked ‘Ukraine in 1654’ was actually the land of the Eastern Orthodox Zaporozhian Cossacks. Under threat from the Catholic Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth, which at the time held the green parts under serfdom, they negotiated the Pereiaslav Agreement (1654) with Russia and pledged allegiance to the Tsar. They area thus became an autonomous part of Russia.

End Excursus

The rest of the Ukraine would be a land confined, mostly agricultural state, disarmed and too poor to be build up to a new threat to Russia anytime soon. Politically it would be dominated by fascists from Galicia which would then become a major problem for the European Union.

Thanks to Stalin’s additions to the Ukraine three countries, Poland, Hungary and Romania, have claims to certain areas in the Ukraine’s western regions. If they want to snatch those up again it is now probably the best time to do so. Despite being part of NATO, which likely would not support such moves, those three will have domestic policy difficulties to withstand the urge.

Since then we learned that Novorussiya will not be an independent state but a genuine part of Russia. So be it. Meanwhile analysts like Hockstader still delve in fantasies:

A complete Ukrainian military collapse is unlikely, at least in coming months. Kyiv’s armed forces remain well-led and motivated, and they are husbanding equipment to prepare for shortfalls. But it is equally unlikely to expect a negotiated cease-fire with Russia that would maintain existing battle lines. To believe in that seemingly anodyne outcome is to misjudge Putin — again.

This is not misjudging Putin, but misjudging the capabilities left to Ukraine.

It has run out of men and material. There are daily videos of this or that Ukrainian army unit condemning its leaders and announcing to leave its positions. The potential of a collapse of Ukrainian army is real.

On November 2 I also wrote about the 47th Ukrainian brigade:

During the last days tanks from the 47th brigade (Leo 2) and 10th mountain brigade (T-64BM/BV) have been seen, and were destroyed, near Avdiivka. Both brigades had only recently been mauled during their hopeless attacks at the southern front. It does not make sense to throw what is left of them into another battle without reconstituting them. The whole experience and knowledge these brigades had gained will be lost with them.

Yesterday, the Ukraine friendly Military Watch Magazine confirmed my opinion:

Ukraine’s Elite 47th Mechanised Brigade Surrounded and Low on Ammunition: Critical Front Faces Collapse

The Ukrainian Army’s elite 47th Mechanised Brigade stationed in the town of Avdiivka in the disputed Donetsk region has been surrounded and forced to contend with growing ammunition shortages, according to multiple reports from Ukrainian and Western sources. British reports indicate that the brigade was meant to attack a Russian column before it linked up with assault infantry on the northern flank of Avdievka, but failed to do so due to a lack of ammunition. The brigade’s efforts to stop the advance of Russian forces in Avdievka were described by The Times as “desperate,” fuelling perceptions of an “inevitable collapse” of Ukrainian positions, and diminished hope of preventing a Russian victory by the beginning of the New Year holidays.
…
A serviceman from the 47th Brigade, cited only as Sergeant Danylo, observing when interviewed over the past week “a shitty situation” as the shell shortage forced soldiers to make impossible life-and-death decisions.“We had 10 times more ammunition over summer, and better quality… American rounds come in batches of almost identical weights, which makes it easier to correct fire, with very few duds. Now we have shells from all over the world with different qualities, and we only get 15 for three days. Last week we got a batch full of duds.” Thus instead of firing on Russians as soon as they came within range, Ukrainian personnel increasingly had to wait to be sure the Russians were heading for their positions and to only engage large groups. Munitions produced by European states have very frequently been faulted for their quality, and at times been considered near useless, with Italian equipment being particularly notorious for its poor quality, in contrast to superior equipment either inherited from the Soviet era or produced in by the United States.

Now tell me again that these are “well-led and motivated” forces which are “husbanding equipment to prepare for shortfalls”. Neither rings true to me.

Hockstader continues:

For the Kremlin dictator, a “compromise” would involve Ukraine’s subjugation and dissolution as an independent state. That would include regime change, with Zelensky in exile (or dead), as well as an end to Kyiv’s aspirations to join the E.U. or NATO.
…
If he is right, the timetable of that ending would be accelerated if Congress and the E.U. fail to approve fresh support. That would leave Ukraine’s government unable to maintain basic services, and its military increasingly short of artillery ammunition, air defense capability and other equipment. Ukraine’s already badly battered front-line forces would become more brittle. Russian territorial gains would be accompanied by murders, rapes, kidnapping of children and other Russian war crimes on a chilling scale.

That grim scenario would be a staggering blow to Western prestige and credibility, revealing that pledges to back Ukraine for “as long as it takes” were empty.

Yes, those pledges, by Biden and others, were indeed empty. That is why he has recently changed his talk:

Amid a Republican standoff and polarizing politics that puts new aid to Ukraine at risk, President Joe Biden emphasized his administration’s willingness to support Ukraine, but the language was different. He said the US will be there for Kyiv “as long as we can.”

It’s a change in tune from previous messaging that the US would be a staunch and fierce ally to Ukraine, aiding it for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia’s invasion.

The West can no longer support the proxy war it had started.

History will now follow its destined path.

Posted by b on December 14, 2023 at 10:59 UTC | Permalink

VIDEO: Ukraine Deputy Detonates THREE Grenades in Council Meeting

World Hal Turner 15 December 2023

VIDEO: Ukraine Deputy Detonates THREE Grenades in Council Meeting

Reports and video are coming in from what is described as a local Council Meeting in Ukraine, where a Deputy pulled pins on THREE Grenades and tossed them throughout the meeting, causing three explosions, the final one likely killing the Deputy who threw them.

Video of the incident appears below and — WARNING — it shows pretty much everything.

The Deputy walks into the meeting room and closes the door behind him. He stands at the closed door. An argument is ongoing at the meeting and the Deputy tries to intervene, to no avail. With that, he pulls a grenade from his suit pocket, pulls the pin and tosses it. He then takes out another and repeats the process. He then pulls out a third grenade and apparently holds onto it after pulling the pin; perhaps to intentionally kill himself.

At this point, the name of the Deputy is not clear, and the type and location of the meeting is also not known.

What __is__ known is that numerous people in the tiny meeting room were either killed or injured seriously.

RUMORS abound over this incident, and several of the RUMORS claim the meeting was for people who want Ukraine to surrender and make peace with Russia.

WARNING: Graphic Video of three grenades exploding in a small council meeting room. Viewer discretion is advised:

DAMN! -MM

MM version of the video in MP4 format. Worth a watch. HERE.

43 Year Old Admits “The Movement” Is BS And Being A Carousel Rider Is NOT Empowering!

Very true…

What has your child told you that caused you to call the police?

My son, who is mixed race, told me that another boy at school was calling him names and throwing lighted matches at him – some of which could have burned his clothing with dire results. I called the police. They sent a very large and imposing officer who told us “I’ll take care of this”, invited my eight year old son into the back of the police car and drove him to school – opening the door for him and escorting him to the principal’s office to deal with the culprit. My son was thrilled that he was the talk of the school for arriving in a police car and the bully was suitably scared out of his wits enough to never try such a thing again.

Global Supplier of Crucial Electrical Products Announces 20 Week DELAY in most-important parts!

Nation Hal Turner 14 December 2023

SCHNEIDER LOGO large

SCHNEIDER Electric is the second largest manufacturer of electrical components in the world. The things they make are absolutely crucial to our daily lives: Crucial electrical infrastructure, industrial automation, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC’s), etc. Without __any__warning, SCHNEIDER announced to its partners in the US . . .

. . . a TWENTY-WEEK DELAY for “Engineered-to-Order (ETO)” products for Quarter 1 next year! That’s almost a half a year delay ! ! ! ! !

Folks, ETO projects are major private and public infrastructure, power grids, etc. The grids are not readily able to deal with this kind of manufacturing delay.

Even more ominous, this ETO equipment, is the same gear the FBI recently issued warnings over, for expected CYBER-ATTACKS!

So FBI is warning about Cyber-Attacks targeting ETO gear like PLC’s and now, the second largest manufacturer of these exact components, is announcing twenty week delays for Q1 orders!

One industry insider told me “The reason this is so weird is this company is very good at planning. They supply billions of $ in critical components. They aren’t perfect but they usually have a plan when they announce something like this. Not this time. The plans behind the announcement letter (shown below) are very shallow. They got the note out WAY before anyone on their teams knew what is going on. MANY questions with no answers. That is very weird.” Here is the SCHNEIDER Letter to Partners in the USA:

His remark got me thinking: WHY?

Could it __really be__ that they simply cannot get parts via the supply chain, OR . . . is this wait and hold critical infrastructure so you can step in and replace damaged infrastructure after attacks happen? Is another possibility Critical redesign? Did they find holes in security and need to redesign . . . . and will stop projects to push an updated design out?

And if they are THAT confident that attacks are going to happen, then one wonders how it is they know? Did FBI tell them?

Over the past several weeks, media outlets have carried 24 assorted local stories about 24 sites that have been hacked. The ones discussed publicly are Hawaii water systems, Texas power grid, and west coast water systems near ports. All areas that will be critical to weaken for an invasion or conflict. Near borders.

War Preparation?

Preparations for a world War are clearly taking place in very many countries around the world.

For the first time, US citizens are likely to see the direct consequences of war on our own soil.

If people spent more time following world events and wars without being clouded by their own “normalcy bias,” they could piece together what is likely to happen.

In Ukraine, Russia crippled their power grid and attacked their ability to make the tools of war. Most all war materials have to come from outside.

Now imagine Russia striking US infrastructure and OUR ability to make tools of war . . . when our stockpiles have already been depleted by Ukraine.

Oh, and let’s not forget that Israel is toast without US arms support.

But, what is most concerning to me is that the US has made no real efforts to truly ramp up production of war materials. Lots of talk, very little tangible action.

It’s like the US is planning on just going straight to nuclear. But Russian Air defense systems are proven best in the world and their likelihood of survival is much higher than the US.

Contacts I have from my years in the Intelligence Community are telling me the US is too corrupted to survive what is coming.

But real companies with very smart people with analysists with real MBA’s see what is coming and are preparing.

The Intel guys I’ve talked to tell me bluntly: “USA has never been weaker than it is right now.”

I don’t know how it’s going to play out exactly but this is the most dangerous time we have been in up to this point in human history.

One would be very wise to put the pieces together and be willing to make the very hard decision on what is required to survive it.

Because another source (unverified) told me there are currently ~35,000 terrorists in country awaiting a go signal.

Imagine an Oct. 7th style attack all over the US, if all 35,000 operatives struck at once . . . as the much smaller cells did in the ‘Day of Wrath” that hit Israel.

Oh, and don’t forget that several months ago, we all found out there is also 60,000 lbs. of ammonium nitrate fertilizer that was taken off a train in Southern California, that has never been accounted for. Ammonium Nitrate is what Timothy McVeigh used to construct the truck bomb that detonated outside the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. That bomb was reported to be only 4500 pounds. So the amount of Ammonium Nitrate already missing, could make more than TEN such bombs.

We seem to be sitting ducks.

What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

This isn’t a tall tale… I once saw 3 guys in a pub start a fight with a bloke I worked with who’d been a pikey bare-knuckle boxer. My mate’s dad had forced him into fighting for money when he was a kid, but in his 20s he’d met a lass and decided he wanted a normal life so he walked away from his gypsy family, got a job and a house, and settled down. He was a really nice guy, a proper grafter, and good to talk to — he had a real philosophy about him and always gave great advice if you had any problems. He didn’t talk much about his old life, just every now and then he’d maybe open up a bit about how he’d hated it and couldn’t forgive his dad who’d beaten him if he didn’t fight and beaten him if he’d lost. None of what he said was bullshit, he was a sincere, honest guy who you could see had been in a lot of fights and just wanted some peace and quiet. He was also a really good husband and father, he was absolutely determined not to repeat the mistakes.

We were on a job in London, went out after work one night, and three locals did the old “you spilled my drink” routine on him. He tried apologising but one of them shoved him. I was sat at a table facing it and before I could even react, all three guys were dropping and he was stepping away. If you’ve ever seen a tarantula move faster than you blink, it was like that. Afterwards he said one of the things you learn as a bare-knuckle fighter is where and what angle to hit people.

Trades are valuable

Braised Beef, Shanxi Style

Ingredients

1 pound (400g) lean boneless beef
1/2 g fennel seed
10 teaspoons (50ml) soy sauce
3 1/2 ounces (100ml) chicken or duck broth
4 tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour), dissolved in 4 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons rice wine
3 ounces (100g) scallions, chopped
1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped
3 1/2 fluid ounces (100ml) sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon MSG (optional)

Instructions

Wash the beef and cut into thin slices. Mix with the soy sauce and scallions.
Stir the cornstarch-water mixture and add.
Heat the sesame oil in a work add the fennel seeds. Heat to very hot or until the oil starts to smoke, and add the beef. Stir-fry until barely cooked.
Add the stock, rice wine and MSG (optional). Cover the wok, and boil rapidly for 1 minute.
Add the ginger, stir and remove.

Red Meat

Solution found…

No right answer

What aspects of Chinese culture could the world learn from?

Retired life!

When Chinese people get old, they hang out in the park. They form musical bands, dancing troupes, and gaming rings. They practice taichi for exercise and some even swing swords around. Many practice calligraphy on the pavement with a brush and a jug of water.

Charming, right? I really like the sense of community between old people in China. Getting old doesn’t mean you can’t share hobbies with friends.

Now, of course this only refers to the old people lucky enough to have money saved up to provide for themselves or kids that help support them, but that’s a topic for another time. For now I’d like to keep this answer wholesome. 🙂 Happy Saturday everyone~

I figure if I transition…

As a police officer, have you ever encountered someone who turned out to be far more dangerous than you expected?

While serving as a detective, in Shetland, I received a notification that paramedics were attending a stabbing incident, in Scalloway harbour. The victim was fading fast, we were told. My colleague and I made our way there, some 5 miles from our offices, in Lerwick. We arrived quickly and paramedics rolled up at almost the same instant we did.

While they attended to the victim, who had been on board a yacht, moored in the harbour, one of them confirmed that it was likely to be life-threatening, and a witness stated that an older man and a youth had left the area, hurriedly, just before the victim had been found. We were given a very brief description and I recognised it as fitting two males, who I had seen walking away from the harbour area, as we had arrived. I passed a description of the men, and we checked the streets of the small village, without success. We returned to the seafront, where I wanted to check inside a local hostelry, just as the two walked out, having removed their jackets and hat (in the case of the younger man). I spoke to them both and they identified themselves as New Zealand nationals, a “respectable businessman” and his son, who were visiting Shetland on business. The son – still a teenager – looked like he wanted to throw up, but his Dad appeared entirely calm and unruffled, as if he had not a single care in the world.

I detained both men, on suspicion of aggravated assault, and – to much protest from them both – arranged to have them conveyed back to the station, separately, for later questioning and investigation. Having done so, we returned to the harbour, where the paramedics had realised the victim was suffering a single penetrating stab wound to the chest, which had caused a tension pneumothorax. They had aspirated him, with a needle and were conveying him to the local hospital, for urgent and critical procedures. We were advised he was not stable, at that time, having lost a lot of blood.

The victim was identified to us as a German national, and yachtsman, resident in Shetland, while the suspect was identified as being the older Kiwi.

We returned to the station, where the custody sergeant informed me that the older suspect had just volunteered under caution, during his detention process, that the German had been drunk and had attacked him with a filleting knife. There had been a struggle and Dad alleged that his son had grabbed the knife off the man, accidentally stabbing the victim with it. He would say no more (having blamed his own son, the brave soul that he was).

The son had made no comments, but had appeared stunned, the sergeant said.

I interviewed both, separately, as I was the senior – and more experienced – detective present, albeit only a Detective Constable, myself. This was, by now, an attempt murder enquiry, plus I was the better interviewer. Dad spent 45 minutes saying, “no comment” to every single question put to him, relating to the incident. He still appeared as unruffled and calm as if he was out for a Sunday stroll, showed no stress, no discomfort, and still claimed to be a respectable New Zealand businessman. Other than that, “no comment”.

The son said he was in Shetland with his Dad, who wanted to see about buying up an old inter-island ferry boat, which was being sold off. He told us that Dad had sailed around the world, many times, and knew that if a boat could handle the seas around Shetland, in a harsh winter, it could pretty much handle the seas anywhere else in the world, at their worst. He said Dad’s was a tourist-derived business, but declined further comment, when asked for more details – about anything else.

We were a small department – a detective sergeant and then two detective constables (a third was on annual leave), with five uniformed officers then on shift, all with their own duties. But as this was an attempted murder, we could direct them, in assisting us with our enquiries. Their interviews turned up some more details – the yacht was owned by Dad, but the German had arrived in Shetland, having sailed the yacht there, months earlier. Dad had arrived in mainland Scotland, and then onto Shetland, only days earlier, with his son in tow. He had spent time in the company of some locals, who had said he had shown “a nasty temper” and they “wouldn’t want to mess with him”.

So I went back into interview, with Dad. He was irked by this, now slightly testy and refusing to answer any question with anything other than “no comment”. I told him he was perfectly entitled to do so, however it wouldn’t stop me asking my questions. He grew louder and louder in his, by now, yelled, “no comment!” to every question and I could see I was getting to him. So I took another break, as we had now gone through another 45 minute tape.

I brought his son back in, put Dad in to his cell, and let them see one another – just a glimpse of son being led out, as Dad was placed in the cell. Dad started screaming at his son, “No comment, boy! You make no fucking comment!”

I told the son, honestly, that his father had already made a voluntary statement under caution, blaming him (the son) for the stabbing. I told this terrified 17 year old that the German was in surgery and still might not make it out, alive. In which case, with the absence of any further information, it was Dad’s word, weighed against his own son’s silence, that son was responsible. If he did not make any comment, at this time, his father’s account would be accepted, son would be arrested – either for attempted or actual murder (if the victim expired as a result of his injury) – and face the consequences. He would be unlikely to receive bail for such an offence and so would be held in custody, in prison, until such time as a trial would commence.

That was it. Son puked in the wastepaper basket and started crying. He immediately denied having stabbed anyone. He made plenty comments, thereafter. In fact, he said Dad and the German knew one another for years. The yacht was owned by Dad, although used by the German. The two men had argued, while they were all drinking onboard the yacht, about money owed the father, which Dad said the German was ripping off from him. This has escalated, the two had fought and Dad had grabbed up a knife, from the galley kitchen area . The German fell, son realised his father had stabbed the man, and then he and his Dad hurriedly left the yacht, his father disposing of the knife overboard, into the relatively shallow harbour waters.

Having received this information, I tasked a police unit to return to the harbour and see if the knife could be seen, and put into motion a request for a diving team, via my supervisor – a Detective Inspector 300 miles away, in Inverness. The uniformed cops thought they could see the knife, but would need the divers, to be sure.

I advised our local Procurator Fiscal Depute, of the case, and enquiries up to that point. He told me that, even if Dad copped to the stabbing, unless there was something else there, that could be evidenced, this “businessman” would be bailed, come Monday morning (this was now tea-time, Friday night). If I could arrest him, I had a weekend, no longer, to hold him in custody.

I told him that what bothered me was this guy was unfazed by having almost killed a man. He never even asked how the man – an alleged old friend – was doing, or showed any concern or regret. There was…. nothing. “He is too cool”, I told the Fiscal. “This guy makes the skin between my shoulder blades itch. He is dangerous.”

“Prove it”, I was told.

The hospital came on, to say the German had pulled through, but the stab wound was deep, and either well placed or accidentally almost-lucky, as it had just missed his heart, nicking his vena cava, instead.

Now, when I said this guy bothered me, I mean he really, really bothered me.

So I went back into interview with him, and took him for one of my “walks around the houses”, as an old colleague used to call them. Seeming unassociated chat and questions, almost like a free flow of investigative consciousness – of which I took a careful note, of course. Early on, he was testy. Then he became narked, yelling his “No comment! No comment!” again, to anything and everything I said. When I started talking about his business – I had Googled his given address, he got antsy and even more angry. He ended up yelling at my colleague, “Can you not make him shut! The fuck! UP!!” I was all sweetness and light, still talking about New Zealand, tourism and his business, as if I hadn’t heard. He put his head in his hands and at that point, I asked him why he had stabbed his friend, who was alive and now recovering. His head shot up and he went very still and didn’t answer – which I pointed out, for the tape, describing his demeanour for purposes of the recording. I asked why they had been arguing, and if Dad owned the yacht. He didn’t answer and I pointed this out, again, with his demeanour. I asked why he had wanted his son to take the blame. Same response. I asked why he had thrown the knife overboard and the skin around his weatherbeaten eyes went very white. I told him we had divers coming for the knife, that he was staying all weekend and that we would be talking again. He tried, unsuccessfully, to upend the table, at that point, lunging to his feet, face now stark white, other than two red spots on his cheeks. He whispered, surprisingly calmly, “I could kill you.” I repeated that statement, for the benefit of the tape. I think he recognised that as a mistake.

I spent three hours of my own time, after knocking-off time, that night, open source-searching this guy, on my work computer. He had an unusual name, and I used it in connection with “New Zealand” “kiwi” “yachtsman” “sailor” “round the world” and similar phrases.

Finally, I got a hit, and it was a good one. It was a front page story in a south east-Asian newspaper, about a corrupt justice minister who had been arrested and tried, having been taped, several years previously, whilst in a three-way call between the suspected head of the world’s largest Triad gang (no, really!), and a New Zealand drug dealer. The NZ dealer had also served time in an American federal penitentiary, it seemed, having once sailed a yacht packed with drugs into a harbour, there, and straight into the arms of US Customs. The reports said he was now (at time of publishing) linked to this Triad gang and the world’s largest “Shabu” factory, believed to somewhere in or around the Philippines. “Shabu” is how they refer to Crystal Meth, down there.

Real “I am the one who knocks!” material (no, really!)

I spoke to the PF Depute, at his home (before finally heading off to my own home), to be told that he would try and use this to hold Dad, in custody, as a flight risk, and was fairly certain he could get at least two weeks on a “lie-down”, out of it. He went on that I should get Dad’s prints off to our Interpol liaison, ASAP, with a request to have them prioritised. I had already done so, but was advised it would take at least three weeks for any hit to come back. Meantime, he was still a “respectable NZ businessman”, newspaper article aside.

I went home, head whirring but knackered. Three and a bit scant hours later, I was awoken by an urgent call from Force HQ, on my mobile, telling me that I had to be at my office desk within 30 minutes, as a call would be coming in for me. I asked if a message could be taken and the Detective Sergeant at the other end – our Force Intelligence Officer – laughed and said absolutely not. He had been woken up in the night, for this, and so I could face the same fate! He wouldn’t say any more, so I dressed and made my rather bleary way into the station, and my office.

Sure enough, almost bang on the hour, my phone rang. “Call for you”, said our unnaturally cheery Force Intel Officer, and with that, I found myself suddenly talking to a rough-voiced, blunt-spoken (i.e. he swore a lot) Australian gentleman, who identified himself as a Detective Superintendent in an international task force. He asked if I had (insert name of Dad, here) in custody. I confirmed that I had. He asked what for and I told him I planned on reporting Dad for attempted murder. He paused to yell, off-handset, “SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” then asked if it was “a good one”. I told him I believed it would be. I explained about the stabbing, about the son, the German, the yacht, the alleged “rip-off”, and that got him excited. He asked me to wait one, and I heard him yell out that he had a cop in “Shetland?”, (I confirmed this and next heard him cry, “Will some bastard find me Shetland on a fucking map!”) on the phone and this “inspector” had (insert Dad’s full name here) in custody, on an attempted murder – a stabbing, no less. There were a few more yells and swears, in the background, and he told me the prints had been flagged, and he had been notified of a hit, in Scotland, of all places. He explained they had been tracking Crystal Meth, arms and even people, all being smuggled out of SE Asia, into Australasia. His main target was a big-time Bad Man (with capitals), in Australia, but Dad was the means by which the drugs and other items were believed to be shipped there. He explained this guy, Dad, travelled around, using his sailing prowess – he was a genuine former competitive yachtsman – to buy up suitable boats. These were used to ship their cargos to their destinations. He told me that Dad had been implicated in several murders, directly, by witnesses – former colleagues in his ventures – always with a knife. He liked to get “up close and personal”, while dealing with these “rats”, having been in the military, once upon a time and even lied to underlings about being ex-Special Forces, to boost his legend. Upward rising knife thrust to the heart (missing the ribs), with a long thin blade, was his alleged preferred killing stroke. Unfortunately, any and all witnesses had subsequently disappeared. The task force believed Dad had either killed them, or else had them killed. “Watch your witness”, he warned me. He promised I would have an Intel file, via our Force Intel Officer, within 24 hours, for our Fiscal and the Crown Office. Their difficulty had been in identifying his travel. They had his NZ passport flagged, but there was no record of him having left the country, in years, other than the odd short trip once or twice. I asked about his Panamanian passport and, again, he went quiet. “His WHAT?!” I explained that I had noticed, at the custody bar, while his belongings were being processed, that he had two passports – one from NZ, one from Panama. I knew that, at that time, it was possible to effectively buy a Panamanian passport, if you had business registered there, sufficient capital and enough connections. This gave Dad dual nationality and, from his reaction, it seemed that the task force didn’t know about it. “Do you have it?” he asked, excitedly. “Yes, but it’s sealed in his belongings and can’t be opened unless he is present, without lawful authority”. He swore profusely until I told him I had photocopied both passports and their contents, in case they’d come in useful. He was fairly chuffed, by this, and when I read off some of the travel dates and destinations, he was even more so.

I arranged to send him all I had, in return for everything they had. He ended the call by telling me that I might even get a promotion to Chief Inspector out of this. I told him that might not be that likely, as I was a Detective Constable. He wouldn’t believe me, so I told him my details would be on the email, when he got it all. He ended by saying that Dad was number 6 on their 10 Most Wanted list, at that time, in Australasia, while his Aussie counterpart was #2. I told him I’d take 6 of 10, by their standards!

Anyway, I re-interviewed Dad, who was fairly crestfallen that NZ had been in touch, already. He hurriedly amended his story, alleging self-defence, but it was too late. He appeared in court, both passports were seized and he was placed in prison on that 14 day “lie-down”, while I carried out further enquiries.

And then…

He had the German “helped” out of the hospital and off the island, by two large men, posing as cops, to hospital staff, while Dad was on his “lie-down”, awaiting his first diet at court. We checked plane and ferry terminals (benefits of an island) and then passed info and photos, from ferry CCTV, to mainland police, who identified a hire vehicle, just too late to stop them leaving. The licence plate went into the National ANPR system and it was tracked headed for Newcastle and the international ferry to Holland, there. The German was retrieved, safe and well, and went on record, claiming that the two men had plastic sheeting and shovels in the hire car (they did) and had planned on killing him and burying his body over there, before returning, one man lighter.

We couldn’t pin that on Dad, as the two men wouldn’t cough to it, and the German wouldn’t press it, simply relieved to be “home”. He gave evidence against Dad, and then buggered off, sharpish. Never saw him again.

Dad got 3 and a half years for assault to severe injury, and I got a call from Force Intel, months later, that his calls were being intercepted (lawfully) and in one of those, he had asked an unknown male how much trouble it would cause, and how much it would cost, to “off a cop”. He had been advised against it.

That was the one and only time I worried about one of those clowns who swear they will find you and kill you….

So I repaid the favour, by continuing to keep in touch with my Australasian friends. They arranged for him to be met at the prison gates, on the day of his release, by plainclothes Officers, cuffed and conveyed to London. He was furious, as he expected to be free and clear to carry on about his business. They handed him off to New Zealand cops, who flew him home and locked him up. Turns out his wife/partner was an illegal immigrant and he was abusive towards her, and their son (who she now knew had been implicated in the stabbing, by his own Dad). The authorities offered her citizenship and she offered them all the info on his kiwi businesses and criminal dealings. I don’t know if they ever got the Aussie Bad Man, but Dad died, several years later, having served yet more time back home, and having been confirmed as HIV+, contracted whilst in prison.

One of the two best arrests I ever made.

As my sergeant noted, at my appraisal, that year, “not many cops your rank get a head on the wall like that one”. Of course, I still had to fight for a high assessment grading and then defend it to an outraged senior officer. I never got so much as a memo from my own force, related to that one. Several above me got promotions, though, funnily enough.

The last thing I’ll say (yes, there’s more) is that the first seizure of Crystal Meth in Scotland was recorded as being in Aberdeen, a few months after Dad’s arrest.

That’s not quite correct.

The first such seizure was albeit minimal, but was in Shetland, around the time Dad was here. But the powers that be sat on the info, rather than (they thought) make the place look bad (no, really!).

The info, from my task force chums, was that Dad had been seeking to establish a pipeline, for the drug, into the U.K., and rather than coming up through Europe, into the very heavily policed Dover, this switched-on and experienced sailor had planned on having boats packed with it, sail, first into Shetland, then down to one or more of the numerous remote inlets or bays, on mainland Scotland (of which there are thousands), from whence it could be distributed nationally – the latter part being what the OCGs were doing with Cocaine, at one time. Customs would need to check every single fishing boat, small ferry or able bodied sea-faring vessel, in order to defeat those tactics – and there was no Customs presence in Shetland, as there was no longer international travel to and from the port here.

That case gives me a warm glow. Drug smuggler. People trafficker. Murderer. Simply awful father! Man of the world, career criminal, tripped up, in sleepy wee Shetland, and now pushing up daisies (better him than me!!), while I get to write long-winded stories about his nefarious ways.

Evil bastard.

Eat your heart out, Ann Cleeves.

Here endeth the (long) lesson.

Value talk

What are the most outrageously wrong answers written by students on their test papers that you took down to the teacher’s lounge for everyone to enjoy?

My favorites are the “I didn’t study so I asked someone to whisper the answer and I copied it hilariously wrong” answers.

A few samples:

What are elements with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons called?

Correct answer: isotopes

What a kid wrote: ice tubes

The amount of product you expect to make in a chemical reaction is called the ________

Correct answer: theoretical yield

What a kid wrote: the radical yield

The device we use to light a Bunsen burner is called ________

Correct answer: striker

What a kid wrote: tricycle

The digits that indicate the accuracy of an answer are called_______

Correct answer: Significant figures

What a kid wrote: stick fingers

What is the formula of sodium nitrate?

Correct answer: NaNO3

What a kid wrote: Any 3

I get mad when the kids leave questions blank that we discussed for weeks and weeks. But when the answers are like this, I contemplate a new career. After I stop laughing.

A symbol of a declining society

Canadian Journalist Who Pushed Vaccine Mandates and “Concentration Camps” for Un-vax’d, DIES at Age 33

World Hal Turner 14 December 2023

Journalist dead at 33 vax advocate large

A Journalist who advocated that those who were unvaccinated against COVID-19 be put in concentration camps, has died suddenly at the young age of 33.

Ian Vandaelle died after being hospitalized and “declared neurologically dead,” his family revealed.

Vandaelle was a business journalist who worked as a reporter and editor at the Financial Post.

He was also previously a producer at BNN Bloomberg for over a decade.

Vandaelle advocated for vaccine passports and mandates and called for the firing of anyone who refused the injections.

He also suggested that unvaccinated people should be arrested and taken away to concentration camps.

Hal Turner Editorial Opinion

Like so many other left-wing-ish / Liberal-ish people, this person seemed so smug and self-righteous in his (wrong-headed) belief in the new COVID-19 vaccine, that he seems to have ignored all the warnings put out by others, like me, who warned against taking the new, untested, unproven, mRNA “death dart.”

Yet as with so many others his age, He seemed to think, when it came to the COVID Vax, HE knew better. He seemed to think HE was so much smarter than the rest of us. HE seemed to look down his nose at those of us who raised very real concerns about this new technology. To HIM, the rest of us were just sniveling idiots; too stupid to embrace this new, life-saving, technology.

Looks to me like maybe he wasn’t so smart after all. It is my personal opinion that the vaccine he thought so much of, killed him.

I think his ego blinded him to the reality . . . . and now . . . . he’s dead.

It’s hard to feel sorry for someone so young, dying this way. After all, if he had HIS way, all of us might be facing a similar fate – or be locked away in a Concentration Camp — just so HE and his ilk, could feel better. No thanks.

This may turn out to be the new general epitaph for Liberals: “He thought he knew better than everyone else; now, he’s dead from what he thought.”

Found the kitten

What is an “Only in Japan” moment?

Japan is both overwhelmingly modern and traditional at the same time. This does not just apply to the amalgamation of skyscrapers and ancient Shinto shrines in cities like Kyoto, but also on a more sociological level. The matter of sexuality in Japan may not be one of the first things that come to mind but Japan is a country mostly free of religious morals.

Traditionally a sexually open society

Sexuality in Japan developed separately from that of mainland Asia, as Japan did not adopt the Confucian view of marriage, in which chastity is highly valued. Monogamy in marriage is less important in Japan, and married men often seek pleasure from courtesans. Prostitution in Japan has a long history, and became especially popular during the Japanese economic miracle, as evening entertainments were tax-deductible!

The Art of Shunga

Historically, pornography in Japan may have begun at the start of the Edo period (1603–1868) as erotic artwork referred to as shunga that was typically done on woodblock prints. Shunga literally means “spring pictures”. “At its best shunga celebrates the pleasures of lovemaking, in beautiful pictures that present mutual attraction and sexual desire as natural and unaffected” Tim Clark, curator of “Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese art”

Mass produced during the Edo period shunga offered sexuality a shameless visual platform. Shunga depicted sexual pleasure that included both heterosexuality and homosexuality, each not only acknowledged but also encouraged. Surprisingly prior the Edo Period there was no Japanese word for female sexuality, and Shunga changed this with the depiction of female pleasure including lesbianism.

Shunga was an essential part of Japanese society

Shunga had functions beyond its aesthetic appeal. Its primary use would have involved viewing and sharing the paintings or books with close friend or sexual partners. Like the Indian Kama Sutra the Shunga images were also used to provide sexual education for young couples. While shunga was chiefly commissioned by men, it has been found among the dowry goods presented to a Japanese bride, suggesting that it was also highly valued by women.

Most shunga was created by woodblock artists from the popular school ukiyo-e, ‘pictures of the floating world,’ a genre of painting that mainly illustrated life’s pleasures that was mass-produced as prints. Surprisingly traditional painters also produced a large quantity of shunga including members of the Kano School, known for their innovative secular paintings.

Samurai were seen as the keepers of morality in Japan. Shunga was both commissioned and accepted by the samurai as a pleasurable cultural pursuit, and thus the whole of Japanese society enjoyed shunga.

There was also an element of humour to shunga, which sometimes referred as warai-e or “laughing picture”. Shunga works are artefacts of an era in Japan where attitudes about sex were freer. Sex was seen as an everyday natural activity without shame and often was the centre of amusement.

Sex and Erotic Art in early Japan

By the Edo period in the early 17th to mid 19th centuries, there had been a long history of erotic art and secular sexual expression in Japan, which meant that shunga was nothing new. Prehistoric societies had developed phallic worship in connection with their reliance on agriculture and Japan’s creation myths are based on human-like sexual procreation. Throughout the centuries, the phallus and phallus shaped objects (for example, mushrooms) had been prominent figures in carvings, could be found in shrines, festivals, and along roadways, and were traditionally and superstitiously related to good luck, health and longevity.

What allowed for such an openness of sexual imagery and expression was the lack of any strict religious code that controlled sexual behaviour. Unlike in the West, which was dominated by a strict Judeo-Christian ideology, there was no moral shame and stigma surrounding sex or the production of erotic images in Japan — only a stringent class system based on Confucianism that dictated deference to status and appreciation of personal space.

Sex in Japan did not take on any ‘mythical’ or religious significance as it did in India and China. Furthermore, humour and wit had developed over the centuries as a common part of sexuality and was incorporated in the broader culture via allusions, euphemisms, sexually related stories and poetry. These and other cultural and religious factors allowed sex to be seen as a more naturalistic, enjoyable experience between partners, which in turn has produced a wide array of acceptable sexual behaviours in modern Japan including same-sex partners, and sexually related products such as sex toys, manuals, and even a chain of sex stores.

By the time of the Edo Period, the normalcy and humour found in sex, highly developed forms of sexual expressions, and the lack of moral or religious control all translated into an early modern culture that allowed shunga to flourish as a genre of popular art and sex to be open, fun and easily available.

From sexual openness to repression

Japan’s sexual freedom was a revelation to Europe, particularly its artists. Painters such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas and Picasso found fertile ground in Shunga imagery. As Japan sought modernisation and to be in line with ‘modern’ western social norms, the Meiji Government banned shunga in the early 20th century, becoming taboo within Japan. As Japan sought sexual repression Europe sought sexual liberation!

When Shunga was flourishing in Japan, in Christian Europe at the time shunga would have been deeded pornographic. Shunga is an impressive, unique tradition of pre-modern erotic art. It serves as testament to a once uninhibited, open-minded society that offered artists opportunities to express originality and unbridled emotion.

Celebrating Shunga Today

The history, humour and accomplishments of shunga are explored at the British Museum in Shunga: sex and pleasure in Japanese art. The exhibition looks at Japanese art like no other. Explicit and beautifully detailed the works on display are between the years 1600 and 1900, and such works continue today to influence manga, anime and Japanese tattoo art. The exhibition sheds new light on this sexuality explicit art form from Japanese social and cultural history. Parental guidance advised for visitors under 16.

The 48 Japanese sexual positions

If you have ever wondered how they do it elsewhere in the world, a recent Durex Ad may have caught your eye. It introduced some acrobatic positions within decidedly Canadian names: the ‘maple cinnamon twist’ and ‘the Niagara fall’ (the Canadian side, we are assuming).

There is not a lot of research on the top sex positions in different countries. Sex surveys tend to focus on other aspects of our time between the sheets (such as sexual satisfaction and frequency). That said, the Durex Sexual Wellbeing survey which questioned 26,000 people across 26 different countries does have some interesting insights into how different nations have sex. Overall worldwide less than 50% of people are sexually satisfied and as one gets older and has sex less often, dissatisfaction increases, particularly with males. The world has obviously become more sexually repressed.

The following images are illustrations of Japan’s 48 sexual positions — the “48 Ways” (shijuuhatte). These sex positions are inspired by sumo wrestling moves going back centuries. During the Edo period, the word 48 arms-hands started to be imbued with sexual meaning — “all the basic sexual techniques”.

Below, Japanese Durex condom commercial teaches you 48 ways to have sex with a wrestler. It’s kinda a humorous play to watch, so enjoy it!

Choosing sexual partners in Japan

Most men are attracted to younger and good-looking women, since it is believed that the women will be fertile and prodigy will also be attractive. It’s human instinct, and only moral education can try to repress this instinct. East Asian religions (Confucianism, Taoism, Shinoism, Buddihism) do not teach strong moral principles or prohibitions regarding sex. In fact sexual restrictions and the associate shame or guilt with sex is typically a Judeo-Christian or Islamic characteristic.

In modern Japan the Western desire by males for big breasts and shapely hips may also be based upon a subconscious belief of greater female fertility but the overriding influence has been Western film culture. For women in Japan, and the world over, power has always been a significant element when choosing a male partner. Power and sexual desire often go hand in hand since a powerful male can easily support and protect a family.

The more targets the US spies on, the fewer friends it has — Chinese FM

The US government has kept expanding its scope of surveillance, meddling in other countries’ domestic affairs and interfering in international affairs, which runs counter to international law and the fundamental principles of international relations, Chinese Foreign Ministry commented on the Section 702 of US’ Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which allows the US intelligence agency to conduct unauthorized surveillance of non-US individuals abroad. The spokesperson added that “The more targets the US spies on, the fewer friends it has. The US needs a better sense of boundary and less obsession for control.”

During a press briefing on Thursday, media mentioned that US National Security Council member Joshua Geltzer said that Section 702 of the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), an important legal basis for US intelligence authorities to eavesdrop on non-US citizens overseas and step up international surveillance without authorization, will expire on December 31. It was estimated that nearly 60 percent of President Biden’s daily intelligence brief came from these “big ears.”

The warrantless government surveillance authority slated to expire in days is closer to lasting for at least a few more months after the US Senate on Wednesday local time passed an annual defense policy bill that included a temporary extension.

In response to that, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), adopted after Watergate, was originally aimed at preventing government authorities from abusing power and carrying out arbitrary eavesdropping.

However, Section 702, added in 2008, permit the National Security Agency to carry out eavesdropping and surveillance without obtaining an individualized court order, Mao said.

After that, the US government has been expanding the scope of eavesdropping and surveillance to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs and meddle in the normal course of international affairs. This practice runs counter to international law and basic norms governing international relations, Mao said.

“The more targets the US spies on, the fewer friends it has. The US needs a better sense of boundary and less obsession for control,” Mao added.

27 Years Ago This Animated Television Series “Duckman” SHOWED Men Are Going Their Own Way

Are people scared to join the military? How do they deal with this?

A couple of months ago, we had an IT guy in our office who had just received his summons to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

It was a Friday and he had to appear at the military commissariat four days later, on Tuesday. Needless to say, the summons papers pretty much ruined his weekend.

War is a dangerous affair: a wall in Kyiv that commemorates the country’s fallen heroes from 2014 till today. (Picture by the author of this post)

I have rarely seen a man who was more scared than this poor guy. He was literally sweating. He really wasn’t the fighter type: mid 30s but looking older, non-athtletic body type and a small beer belly.

There was nothing we could do for him. He should have seen it coming. There’s compulsory service in Ukraine and people like him are getting drafted every day.

In our office, most (male) workers have already bought proper body armor and helmets for themselves, some of them even got guns and regularly train on the shooting range. In addition, they help me and my friends to support the military with equipment. When these guys get their summons, they’ll be prepared.

So yes, some people are scared when they have to join the military.

Advice you NEED to hear in your 20s (not what you’d expect)

Very unique and interesting point of view.

What was women’s hygiene like in 1700s Europe? What did they do about the growth down there back then? Didn’t lice harass them?

As far as Europe is concerned (as opposed to, let’s say Africa or the Middle East, for instance), body hair was left to grow until well into the 20th century.

Men typically shaved or trimmed their beards according to the fashion at the time, hair was cut , curled, bleached or dyed, equally accordingly but body hair was left to do its own thing.

This is valid for all strata of society.

Otherwise, in the absence of running water, both sexes usually washed in a bidet, which was filled with warm water and/or perfume/cologne/eau de toilette. Basically, just like you would with a wet wipe, you moisten a cloth or sponge with perfume and clean your entire body with it.

Women using a bidet, by Willem-Joseph Laquy 1771.

So, basically, in spite of many claims to the opposite, there’s no reason to believe that people in the 1700’s would have been much dirtier than nowadays, although the mix of armpit smell and perfume would probably have been noticeable.

Lice is always a problem. However, just like nowadays, a variety of treatments were available, usually in the form of perfumes, what we now call essential oils, etc. They kill the eggs and you can get rid of the bugs themselves with a fine tooth comb.

And here it is…

Women PANIC As They Realize Men Don’t Want To Marry Older Women

Man, the USA is so terribly fucked up. Take me “home”. Please!

Russia Warns If NATO Bases Used For Ukrainian Jets, Those Bases Could Be Targeted

World Hal Turner 15 December 2023

With the Russia-Ukraine war now approaching the two year mark (in February), Americans might need reminding that the conflict remains a highly dangerous situation which could at any moment escalate into a WW3 scenario.

Zelensky’s visit to Washington this week was lackluster, and he left without securing what Kiev is hoping for – that Congress would quickly pass Biden’s $106 billion war funding request, which also includes defense funds for Israel. Of course, at this point Zelensky has complained publicly that the crisis in Gaza has taken the world’s focus off the need to defend Ukraine from Russia’s onslaught.

Though headlines in the West barely took notice, Russia early Wednesday launched a significant ballistic missile attack on the Ukrainian capital, which authorities said injured at least 53 people, including six children, with severe damage to a number of buildings.

But with Zelensky in Washington, making the rounds to the Oval office and the halls of Congress, the Kremlin issued a fresh warning saying that if Ukraine’s military is granted access to NATO airbases for sorties using western-made planes, in would respond while deeming Ukraine’s external allies as direct participants in the war.

The fresh warning was announced by Konstantin Gavrilov, head of the Russian delegation to the military security and arms control talks in Vienna:

“We already hear comments that, amid the significant destruction of Ukraine’s airstrip infrastructure, the F-16s handed over to Ukraine may carry out their missions from airbases in Poland, Romania and Slovakia,” he said during the OSCE Forum meeting on cooperation in security.

According to the diplomat, Moscow will view this as these countries’ participation in the conflict and will force Russia to resort to “response measures.”

Even though certain eastern European allies pledged F-16s long ago, it could still be a lengthy amount of time before Ukrainian pilots are fully trained, enough to be deployed in combat on the US-made warplane.

Western officials have in recent months admitted that Russia has the upper hand, and that Ukraine’s summer offensive failed, but everyone is now putting in place their ‘long war’ strategies. The Kremlin’s new warning and threat also seems part of this longer term planning from Moscow’s perspective.

What’s the most inaccurate thing your child has ever been taught in school?

(My answer contains information that some people might find offensive. Please be advised. I am just sharing an experience I had. Thank you!)

I don’t remember exactly which grade my daughter was in when this happened, but it was when she was in elementary school.

It was a sunny weekend afternoon, I asked her, “Do you want to go to the park?” – which was her favorite thing to do, she had never refused it. But to my surprise, she said no. “Why?” – I asked.

“I don’t want to turn to black!”, she answered. “What!?”, I asked, dropping my jaw. “It’s sunny. The sun will shine on me and make my skin dark”, she pointed to the sun. “Who told you that?!”, I was stunned. She then grabbed the map, and explained to me, “This is Africa. It’s near the equator. They have a lot of sun over there, they are outside a lot, that’s why their skin turns dark. Our intern teacher told us that.”

You have no idea how angry I got when I heard this.

The next Monday morning, I took my daughter to school. After dropping her off, I asked for a meeting between that intern teacher and the principal. I explained the situation and demanded an explanation. The intern teacher was scared, he said he was just “joking”. He wanted to tell the kids that they need to wear a hat and use sunscreen when they are outside in the sun, or else they will get tanned; that’s why he “joked” like that.

I could tell the “face-palm” from the principal’s look. She apologized to me and promised me she would give my daughter’s class a special lesson to “fix” this issue (And she did. My daughter later that day went home and told me they had a lesson about protecting our skin). But the damage was already done. It took a long time with a lot of reading and explaining for me to erase the thought that “dark skin” was equal to “a bad thing” from my daughter’s mind.

I don’t know what happened to that intern teacher, but I hope he learned his lesson.

Carousel Rider Has MELTDOWN After BF Dumps Her Upon Learning She Had “Relations” With Over 300 Men

What is the nastiest thing you’ve done for revenge?

Back in the 1990s, my former father-in-law (my then-wife’s father), who I’ll call Joe, was the one instigating our divorce. He was one of those macho cop types, kind of a good ol’ boy.

I found one of those subscription cards in a copy of Out magazine on the rack. Out magazine was for gay people who decided to come out of the closet. I put Joe’s full name and his nextdoor neighbor’s address on the subscription card and mailed it in. (I used a typewriter in a store so my handwriting couldn’t be traced back to me).

Imagine his shock and horror when his neighbor showed up at his door and said, “Hi Joe, your Out magazine came to my house by mistake.” 😂

Nowadays, I regret such a juvenile tactic, but I was a bit crazy at the time because it was a messy divorce.

Has anyone tried to do something crazy in an Uber?

In December 2023, 27-year-old Neusha Afkami had to go the airport in Austin, Texas. She got an Uber, and told the driver he to “make it fast”, as she had a plane to catch and she needed to be on it desperately. Much to her frustration, the driver wasn’t going very fast.

Neusha felt she could go faster… so after berating the man, she took the driver’s phone… and threw it out the car window. He immediately stopped the vehicle to retrieve his phone and when he did, Mrs. Afkami jumped in the driver’s seat and drove off, leaving her Uber driver standing helplessly by the side of the road. Not only did she take the car, she also took the man’s wallet, which he left behind as he got out. While at the airport, she went on a 130 dollar shopping spree with the man’s credit card as she waited for boarding.

Of course, knowing his own car’s information like the back of his hand, the Uber driver immediately called the police. Before Neusha Afkami could even board her plane, she was located and arrested by Texas police, putting an end to her little bout of playing-GTA-in-real-life.

Knowing These Life Lessons After 40 is Like Cheating. Literally.

As a police officer, what is the saddest thing you have seen a parent do?

The Innocent Victim

It was during a drug search warrant of a heroin dealer’s house. We executed the warrant and located the target of the investigation, a 40-year-old male at home. He also had a live-in girlfriend who, like her man, was an intravenous user of heroin.

His girlfriend had a two-year-old toddler whom we found crawling around the living room floor. The child was naked and dirty and crying. He was a good-looking child, but what would his future hold in that environment? We located drugs and drug paraphernalia all over the house. Most disturbing were the numerous uncapped needles lying on the floor and coffee table right near the toddler. Additionally, there were remnants of powdered heroin and cocaine on the coffee table, which could easily be reached by the child.

My sergeant flipped out on the woman — and asked if she was crazy, exposing her child to used uncapped needles and powered narcotics on the table. The woman just sort of smiled and almost in slow motion said it was her kid and it was none of his business. She was clearly in a drug-induced stupor.

My sergeant replied that he was not only seizing the illegal drugs but was also seizing the child. With that, he scooped up the child in his arms and walked out of the house. He instructed our evidence officer to photograph the living room to document the horrible and dangerous conditions.

My sergeant stood outside and called the division of family services. They didn’t want to respond until the following morning. He emphatically informed them that the child had been removed from this unsafe environment and either they would come and take the child or our next stop was the local newspaper.

They responded to the scene, witnessed the horrible conditions where the child was housed and took the child from the doped-up mother. Three days later they returned the child to the mother at the same house.

Moving that child back into a drug house full of used needles and drugs was the saddest thing ever I witnessed a parent do to their child. When I hear people speak of legalizing all drugs, I think back to that helpless innocent victim.

Mister Ed – Nick Knacks Episode #053

Korean Taco with Florida Citrus Kimchi

Ingredients

Marinade

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Florida orange juice
1/4 cup chopped green onion
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 pounds beef short ribs, boneless, thinly sliced

Florida Citrus Kimchi

1 cup Kimchi (Korean spicy pickled cabbage)
1/4 cup Florida orange segments
2 teaspoons lime juice
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Assembly

6 flour tortillas
2 cups shredded red cabbage

Instructions

Marinade: Combine all ingredients in a bowl; mix thoroughly to ombine.
Place short ribs in a nonmetallic dish. Pour marinade over short ribs; cover and refrigerate. Marinate at least three hours or preferably overnight.
Florida Citrus Kimchi: Combine all ingredients in bowl; toss to combine. Reserve.
Drain marinade from short ribs; discard marinade. Grill short rib slices over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove cooked slices from grill; place on cutting board. Slice short rib slices crossways into small, bite size pieces of meat.
Assembly: Heat tortillas over medium heat on the grill or in a sauté pan. Place a small amount of shredded cabbage in the center of each tortilla; top with 1/4 cup short rib meat and 2 tablespoons Florida Citrus Kimchi.
Serve immediately.

Yield: 6 servings

What happened in a courtroom that gave the judge a belly laugh you will never forget?

I was the arresting officer on a DUI case. I received a subpoena to appear in court. The man was so drunk he peed al over himself and other stuff in the intoxilyzer room. I thought it was for his guilty plea, but was wrong. He hired an attorney the day before trial and plead not guilty and had not viewed the tape. When the tape was played and everyone watched him pee and slip to the floor and splash his hands in his mess, the judge actually had an out loud laugh along with the rest of the court room.

As it turn out he was a regular drunk and was so out of it he had no idea he had done that. Needless to say, he changed his plea to guilty, the jury was dismissed and the judge imposed a very sever punishment on him. It was his 5th DUI in 5 years.

CHILLING NDE! What I Saw in Hell Will Change You Forever! (Near Death Experience Angie Fenimore)

Have you been arrested or investigated?

I got home one night from work, and listened to a message from the State Police from a barracks three hours north of me. Curious, I called back to speak with the officer. He was off for the night so we spoke the next day. The questioning was interesting. He wanted to know if I had been in Bangor Maine the previous day, and if anyone else had access to my car. Puzzled, I asked why. It turns out that there was a bank robbery and they thought that I might be involved. WTF???

The officer was sure that I or somebody else had driven my car from the southern border of Maine to Bangor and back in under six hours without going through a toll booth. For those unfamiliar with the state of Maine that just isn’t possible. I explained that I had been at work all day, and my car was on camera and hadn’t moved. The officer was unconvinced until I send him pictures of my car, my registration, and license plates. The plate number they had matched a set of plates that I used to own, and they were on same make of car, but as it turns out a different year. Very clever.

I in turn called the local police and reported those plates as stolen. I met the detective at my house and his first words to me were “Kurt, so you’re robbing banks now.” He laughed. The detective lives three housed down from me and my wife had his kids in school.

A few months prior I came home at lunch to find a strange car at the end of my shared driveway, and my garage door open. I thought perhaps my wife or I had left the garage door open when we left for work. I grabbed a crowbar as a weapon and searched the house. I know not the smartest thing to do, but I don’t own a firearm. Nothing was missing, and nobody was in the house so I didn’t think much of it at the time. I went outside to get the license plate number strangely parked car , and to call the police. My neighbor came down the driveway and apologized for parking in my driveway and left. That’s where I thought the story ended.

A few weeks before this incident, I had just purchased my car off of lease and switched plates. In Maine we don’t need to turn our plate in and my old plates had been on the wall in my garage. I didn’t notice that they were missing. The neighbor that had parked at the end of my driveway? That neighbor had a previous conviction for Bank Robbery. The local detective and I put two and two together and we had a good suspicion about what had happened to the plates. He gave the information to the State Police and I never heard from that officer again.

High Powered (1945) ACTION ADVENTURE

Full movie. Free and fun. Film Noir.

In this two-fisted adventure tale, a high-rigger holds himself responsible after his brother is killed in an on-the-job accident. He gets a chance for redemption, when it looks as though the same accident is about to occur again!

One of my regrets

Oh, I have a lot of regrets. Though, I try to minimize the mountain of built-up and pent-up regrets and memories. Often enough, though distraction and labor. In one way or the other.

Some of the regrets are silly.

Here’s a silly regret.

When I lived in Boston, I used to go into the thrift stores, and antique stores and browse around. Over time, I would often find this kind of heavy (smash on the table) white coffee cup. And it would be cheap. 25 cents more often than not. These things were great, and were really popular in the United States say up until the late 1960’s.

Many had logos, and designs. Often symbols. All nicely done. Like for Naval Ships. Or for government agencies. Or for awards and events. Like a bridge opening in 1954.

So I had amassed quite a collection of them. I loved them. I had, maybe, about 35 of these things.

Later on, when I was living in Arkansas, and going though a nasty divorce with the witch that was poisoning me and who eventually got me sent to prison, I left the state with just a few items of clothing and my books.

When the time came to pack up the mugs, however, on a whim, I decided to leave them behind.

I guess that I was too upset, and too lethargic over everything to take them with me.

I shouldn’t have done that.

And now I have regrets.

…

Do not allow emotion…

…tiredness…

…frustration…

…stress…

…to allow you to make hasty and ill-advised decisions.

…

You will egret them in the future.

(A word to the wise.)

Today…

BULLETIN: Russian Forces Hit NATO Operations Center Inside Ukraine!

World Hal Turner 16 December 2023

BULLETIN: 2:49 PM EDT 16 December 2023 — Starokonstantinov, Ukraine — Russian Aerospace Forces have struck a NATO Operations center with a Kinzhal Hypersonic Missile.

Russian Forces report and confirm the destruction of a NATO operation center in Starokonstantinov, Ukraine, by a Kinzhal hypersonic missile strike!!

Initial reports say Ukrainian suffered 28 casualties and NATO lost at least 12 officers!!

The Ukrainian forces have given no statement and have disabled communication in the region to prevent information from getting out!! They’re too late.

The US and NATO are now directly involved in Ukrainian combat operations against Russia in Ukraine!!

Standpoint Theory

What is it like to ride a camel?

Riding a camel is quite an experience. It’s not like hopping onto a horse or sitting on a bike.

First off, before you even get to the exciting part, you’re going to face the camel’s getting-up process. Camels are tall creatures and they rise in stages—back legs first—which can leave you feeling like you’re about to be catapulted over their head. Holding on during that initial lurch is key.

Once you’re in motion, the rhythm is unlike any other. Camels have a swaying gait, and it can take a moment to find your balance with the camel’s oscillating movement (they often walk in a ‘pace’, moving both legs on one side of their body simultaneously). Think of it like a boat slowly rocking side to side—you need to relax and go with the flow.

The height can be disconcerting too—you’re way up there. A camel’s back is a lofty perch compared to the average horse. This means you get quite a vantage point; it’s like sitting on a slow-moving balcony. For me, here in Portland, OR, the tallest I usually get is standing up on Mount Tabor, which is nothing compared to being atop a camel, I’d bet.

But it’s not an amusement park ride. Expect some discomfort, especially if you’re not used to riding animals. The saddle, often just a blanket or a simple framework, isn’t the epitome of comfort, and it’s going to test your core strength and your backside.

Now, let’s talk about the personality of your ride. Camels can be temperamental. They’re known for being a bit…

Well, let’s say they have their own minds. They might decide to stop and refuse to move. Or they might express their displeasure in a more vocal way. Yep, they can spit if they’re really pushed. But mostly, they’re majestic creatures—stoic and adapted perfectly to their environment.

Here’s a pro tip: wear long trousers and maybe even some padding. You’ll thank me later when you’ve avoided chafing and can still walk normally the next day.

Lastly, enjoy the quirks. It’s an ancient mode of transportation, a connection to a different way of life. Riding a camel can be an opportunity to take in the landscape at a slower pace, from the deserts of the Middle East to the wilds of Australia, or even special tours elsewhere.

All told, it’s about embracing a unique adventure, one sway at a time.

The USA needs this man

What tiny detail have most people noticed but never bothered to stop and think about?

Have you ever pulled a “push” door?

Have you noticed that most public doors open outwards?

Picture this:

You’re at the cinema with your family or friends, enjoying a spectacular movie by some of your favourite actors.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a fire breaks out and the fire alarm rings.

At first people are confused, but very quickly they catch on. In chaotic unison, everyone suddenly starts to panic.

And like a herd of buffalo that have just spotted a lion, everyone darts towards the door. You’re in the lead.

You reach the door first and quickly try to push it open. But it doesn’t budge. It’s a “pull” door.

Realizing your mistake, you quickly try to pull it open. But it’s too late. Everyone’s already at the door trying desperately to push through.

You can’t pull the door back, because everyone is pushing you against it and cramming at the entrance.

At the same time, people are yelling at you.

“OPEN THE DOOR!!!”

“JUST PUSH IT YOU F*CKING IDIOT!”

“PLEASE, I HAVE A BABY!”

But you can’t.

You can’t even move. Your body is being crushed against the door by the panicking crowd. Combine that with the smoke and you can’t breathe.

You’re suffocating.

This was someone’s reality in the Iroquois Theatre Fire of 1903.

The deadliest theatre fire and deadliest single-building fire in United States history. Resulting in over 602 deaths.

Luckily, by chance a passing railroad agent saw the crowd pressing against the door and unfastened the hinges from the outside using tools that he normally carried with him, allowing the actors and stagehands to escape.

Because of this incident, most public doors now open outwards or are bidirectional.

And this is why a fire exit in particular will most likely open outwards.

Have you ever seen a mass exodus after a respected employee quit or got fired?

Not so much a mass exodus but a full team exodus – five of us. I was team leader but my elder mum (we lived together) was extremely ill, and it was clear to me that very soon the diagnosis would be one of terminal cancer, so I asked my Manager for a change in working hours so I could go home every lunch time to make sure she ate and was okay. I lived a 25 minute drive away so my intention was I would be absent 12 – 2 and make up the missing hour (1 of the hours being my lunch hour) by doing work at home that evening. Now bear in mind that for the entire 7 years I had worked for that company, and been team leader for 4 years, I had often gone in of a weekend UNPAID for at least a couple of hours to ensure that all was up to date, or took work home to do during the evening UNPAID. My team had a reputation for being fast, efficient, and friendly. We exceeded our targets every single year and received handsome bonuses.

My boss said NO. His only reason being that if he did it for me he would have to do it for others. The fact that this was exceptional circumstances and, as far as I could see, it would not be longer than a year or so (in fact, my mum died in the March of the following year, I had made my request in the July). I had already been headhunted by another local firm much nearer to my home (10 mins walk maximum) so I went back to them and they offered me a job. My boss was gobsmacked but still would not offer a change to my working hours, so I took the other job offer.

Well as soon as they knew I was leaving, my entire team started looking elsewhere and within a matter of months the entire team was gone! In fact, one member of the team actually came with me to my new employer :-D.

Repair

What is the one in a million coincidence you have ever had?

We sold a used car to a man who claimed that it was for his 16 year old daughter’s birthday that was the next day. He didn’t have all of the money, but said he would bring us the rest after he got his next paycheck. My heart went out to him, so I gave him the car with just a partial deposit. No surprises…he took the car and never came back. This was in Los Angeles.

Flash forward a few months, we were in downtown Las Vegas when who do I see but the thief who still owed us the money. My husband insisted it wasn’t him. I knew it was. I marched right up to him and demanded our money. The man was clearly caught off guard and then said that he didn’t have it on him. I said, “That’s okay, we’ll walk with you to the nearest ATM.” And that’s how we got the money that was owed to us.

Funny side note… the FBI called me a few months after that to see if I recognized anyone in a line up. There he was again! Turned out that he was part of an organized auto theft / chop shop ring. So much for my gut instincts!

Why does the military allow fresh, young, inexperienced college graduates to immediately enter OCS and gain the rank of a 2nd lieutenant, which places them above the rank of a master sergeant who probably has more than double the experience?

This is one of those “Yes but / However comma” answers.

Civilians with no military experience get hung up on this idea a lot, because they don’t understand two concepts that are pretty fundamental to how the US military (and most Western-style militaries, for that matter) operate: rank is not the same thing as authority, and officers and NCOs have fundamentally different jobs and responsibilities.

Caveat that I’m coming at this question from the perspective of the Navy. An officer or NCO from another service might things somewhat differently, but I’m trying to give as ecumenical an answer as possible.

A junior officer in the O-1 pay grade* is first and foremost an apprentice officer. Everyone understands this – the JO, his NCOs, his superior officers, etc. If a new 2nd Lt or Ensign doesn’t understand this, then his instructors at his commissioning source failed to do some pretty basic education. The new butterbar is there to learn how to be a leader; the philosophy of the US military is the best way to learn is by doing. So he or she is placed in a position of leadership and, at least by the pay grade table, outranks even the saltiest E-9.

*It’s different with officers commissioned from the ranks – the Navy calls them “mustangs” – and that’s a whole different discussion outside the scope of the OP’s question

This is where the however comma bit comes in. By matter of long service and experience, the NCOs in a unit have greater informal authority. The O-1 is there to learn from them. It’s supposed to be a good working partnership that combines mentorship, OJT, and maintaining unit discipline and morale. The officer should demonstrate willingness to listen and learn and respect for the NCOs’ experience and authority over the more junior enlisted; the NCO should demonstrate patience and good mentorship while respecting the officer’s rank and extending them the courtesy due that rank. An officer who confuses his pay grade with authority undermines the NCO in front of the junior E’s. An NCO who demeans or disregards the officer undermines the officer and fails in his duty to form the young officer into the kind of leader he’d want to work for.

Of course, people are people, in uniform and not, and it doesn’t always work the way it’s supposed to. Sometimes a new officer doesn’t know what to do with their by-rank authority but tries to hide it (which is silly, nobody expects a brand new officer to know how to do everything) by blindly issuing orders without listening to his NCOs, or trying to be chummy with the junior E’s (who are probably closer to his age), or masking their insecurity about their inexperience with arrogance, etc. Not all NCOs are created equal. Some don’t have the patience to mentor an officer, or the desire. Those are the “go away and let me do my job…sir” NCOs. And some NCOs are just plain incompetent, or might have been great technical specialists but with no talent for leadership. The military promotion system is, to say the least, by no means perfect.

When it works as designed though, it works well for everyone involved.

It’s the BRO code

What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve heard a parent say when fighting for custody in court?

This wasn’t when we were fighting for custody, but when I was trying to have our custody case transferred to a different courts jurisdiction.

The judge asked me why I wanted the change. I told him that the kids and I had moved to the jurisdiction of the other court and I planned on asking for a change to our custody case. I had no car and with the way the public transportation ran, I had to come up with the kids the night before court and stay the night at a friends house to be able to make it to court on time and then the kids would all miss a full day of school. The judge then asked their dad why he didn’t want the change to happen. He told the judge that it would inconvenience him (even though he had a car). I had never seen a judge yell at anyone before that day. He was screaming at my ex “How does your inconvenience trump your kids missing school, spending the night away from home, spending hours on a bus?!”

I got the change of jurisdiction.

Have you ever started playing mind games with the interviewer during a job interview?

If it’s a “mind game” to shut down a “mind game,” yes. I got quite blunt:

Interviewer: “You’ve proven to me you are an excellent designer; but you haven’t proven your writing skills. Here is a writing assignment. Work on it tonight and bring it to me tomorrow at 2 and I will give you your portfolio back then.” THANK YOU, NO.
Interviewer: “Do you have any idea who would buy our product? I’m thinking salesmen. But I’m not sure. Do you have any ideas? Maybe we could write some down.” THANK YOU, NO.
Interviewer: “It’s only a one-day assignment, but we have a zero-tolerance policy, you we will need a urine test from you before we will consider hiring you.” THANK YOU, NO.
Interviewer: “I need to test you. Here’s a written exam (!). You have :30 to finish it.” (I realize the “exam” is an article the hiring company needs for a trade-industry magazine.) THANK YOU, NO.
The worst mind game played on me was by a nice, professional man who I liked instantly. I arranged to meet him after the staff went home, because I was still working a full-time job. This position was for a temporary marketing person that would cover a specific 3-month project. There was the possibility it could become permanent. We had a lovely chat, and he seemed ready to hire me. He said “let me show you around.” After we toured the work area (and he showed me “my” desk), he said “Can you come back on Tuesday? I just want to introduce you to a few co-workers.” (I’m thinking he’s hired me; I lied to my current boss so I had all Tuesday morning.) On Tuesday morning, I arrived all relaxed and confident. I asked to see Mr. Manager (who was oh so nice, did I mention?). The receptionist said “Mr. Manager isn’t in today.” Me: “I’m sorry, he was interviewing me for the marketing position. I must have confused the day.” “No; said the receptionist. Follow me.” She led me into a huge conference room with six large banquet tables arranged so it was one big table. People started filing in… 7, 11, 12… I lost count. They were “the executive board” and they started peppering me with questions. I did my best to answer, but my anger at Mr. Nice Manager was boiling over. So he deliberately lied to me to presumably see how I acted “under pressure” and didn’t have the decency to even be there. Sorry, I won’t work for someone who would do that to a person. This was years ago, but I still see the company’s vans and I cringe; what did they do to the guys that drive the vans, hold them out a window by the ankles? I fell flat on my face in that interview. Maybe that’s my fault, but that is the definition of a mind game, and I didn’t want any part of someone who would do that to a prospective employee.

In short, most of my mind game interviewers are trying to get work done for free or betray a weird corporate culture (OK, you have a zero drug policy for a one-day temp job and you can’t find anyone pre-screened and in-house?). A few interviewers have left me waiting for :45 to over an hour; if they were “tricking me” or just disrespectful of me and my time, I didn’t really care because I left.

TL/DR: Pay attention to how you’re treated in an interview because whatever game they’re playing is going to get exponentially worse if they hire you. An interview goes both ways. Plus, if they’re obviously playing you, you have every right to “play” back.

Rufus in action

What thing are people starting to make not fun?

I still enjoy going to theaters with my girlfriend—sometimes. It gives us an excuse to get out of the house and focus on a movie with no distractions.

It’s gotten remarkably expensive. The last time we went, tickets were nearly $25 each.

But the biggest problem is the people. There is constant talking and playing on phones.

We had teenage girls sitting in the front row during a showing of Dune. Their screens were flashing in the front row. They were sprinting in and out of the theater like hyper children.

My girlfriend left halfway through the movie to use the bathroom.

She bumped into the teenagers and called them out for ruining the movie for everyone and they didn’t come back.

She got back from her bathroom break and said, “Don’t worry about those girls. I took care of it.”

For a brief second, I was worried she’d killed them.

Sadly, in the past three out of four movie dates we’ve been on, there has been some sort of incident. It’s making movie theaters damn near impossible to enjoy.

I’m hoping it’s just bad luck on our part. It wasn’t always like this.

Is it possible to have a giant nuclear powered aircraft that stays in the air all the time?

Yes, indeed. Behold the HTRE-3 nuclear aircraft engine.

Yes, this is real. Yes, the military was crazy enough to think this was a good idea.

In principle, it’s straightforward. A jet engine is just a heat engine. You suck cold air in the front, you heat it up, you spew the hot air out the back. What we normally think of as a “jet engine” heats the air up by burning jet fuel. But the heat can come from anywhere. A nuclear reactor? No sweat. They get plenty hot.

Thing is, it’s easy to make a lightweight nuclear reactor that gets as hot as you want it to. The heavy part of a reactor isn’t the core, it’s the radiation shielding around the core.

So. What do you notice is missing in this picture?

Core’s looking a bit exposed, innit?

The US military built and flew these engines [edit: an experimental reactor similar to the one designed to drive these engines, not the engines themselves: see comments!] in a test aircraft.

They produce a lot of radiation, and you can’t easily shield them if you want them light enough to fly a plane. Which creates quite a problem for handling and servicing these things.

They considered a modular design where you could just undock the crew bits from the nasty radioactive bits…

…and then just reprocess it or, I don’t know, throw it away or something.

Then some engineer somewhere said “you guys do realize this idea is both crazy and stupid, right?” and the idea went away.

America today

What’s the most pretentious thing you’ve ever seen on a résumé?

Originally Answered: What’s the most pretentious thing you’ve ever seen on a resume?

I received a resume from someone who had recently graduated from high school. They had one job on the resume and their job title was Director in Charge of Company Morale at a prestigious local law firm.

The resume lacked all the things I was looking for, but the job title listed intrigued me. I set the interview and was waiting to hear a litany of lies.

On the day of the interview this cleancut sharp dressed young man showed up. After brief small talk I asked about the prior job and what it entailed.

Turns out his Director in Charge of Company Morale Position entailed him going out each morning and getting coffee for all the partners. He said without their morning coffee, morale was very low.

Best belly laugh in an interview ever. I hired him. And he worked out well because he found a way to place a positive attitude on everything he did, however menial the task.

Edit: I am honored that so many people like my answer. Thank you all.

Update: I’ve had several people suggest editing the gender from “they” to “he”. At the time I read the resume and set the appointment, I had no idea if the applicant was male or female. Gender was not a decision point in our hiring process. This is why I have left the answer unedited. Thank you all again for the overwhelming response.

Filipino Egg Pie

Ingredients

6 large eggs yolks
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup warm evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
1 (9 inch) pie crust

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, beat 6 large egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, warm evaporated milk, nutmeg, vanilla extract and salt until mixed well.
Whip egg whites in a separate bowl until they form stiff peaks.
Add the whipped egg white to the milk mixture slowly until well incorporated. Pour into pie shell and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the center is set.
Let pie cool completely before serving.

Attribution

Recipe and photo used with permission from: American Egg Board
Recipe created in partnership with @thetastebud

What is the weirdest thing you’ve walked in on?

I had a very rocky second marriage, but I loved him so kept going back for more of the same bad treatment. (I have learned better behavior now!) Our marriage consisted of lots of comings and goings, and we split up with each other quite frequently because we were really incompatible. Being around each other all the time was a trial.

He was a big time gambler and many other things besides, and I couldn’t cope with all of his bad habits. I dare say I had some bad habits, but I didn’t have any addictions, thankfully.

One time, the last time, I left home and went to stay with a friend, my husband and I talked very frequently on the phone and missed each other’s company. It was a very strange affair.

Anyway, I decided to move back in for good and went back to the house one day with all my luggage. I got to our home and went in, and what do you know, I heard a familiar sound coming from our bedroom that was on the third floor. When I climbed the stairs, I realized what was happening. Despite the fact that my husband knew I was coming home, he was up in our bedroom making love to another woman.

Needless to say, that was grounds for divorce. He caught Covid in prison and died two years ago.

Traditional vs. Progressive

What did your pastor say or do that made you quit his church?

My pastor and his wife tried to convince me to stay with my abusive husband and just live separately until our children were both adults and then start living like a married couple again. Why would we have to live separately you ask? Well, that would be because a few days before this conversation I had Child Protective Services (or CPS for short), the San Berdarnio County Sherifs Office, Fort Irwin (I and my ex-husband were both in the Army at the time) Military Police, and Fort Irwin Criminal Investigation Department (or CID) at my door at 10 at night trying to take my kids away from me because he FINALLY got caught beating my son. (Before this point I could not prove it as there were never bruises or marks) But this time he threw a phone at my sons face because he did not get up at 5 in the morning when his 4 year old sister had to get up to go to daycare (My son was 12 at the time) and it “wasn’t fair that she had to get up that early and he didn’t so I make them both get up”. My son did not have to be to school until 830. My daughter had to go to daycare before we both started work in the morning but got to go back to sleep at daycare so can’t figure out where fairness comes in to play.

Anyway, the pastor and his wife call and say that divorce is against the Bible and we should stay married and live apart until the kids are adults and can move out and then we continue, at that point to live together. I told them flatly no because he was also abusive to me and oh, by the way that woman he has been bringing to church as a “friend?”, yeah he has been having an affair with her for over 2 years. So, tell me again about what the Bible says? I also may have threw in there about how the Bible says there are a few reasons why divorce is accepted and a couple of those just happen to be abuse and adultery. I may have also mentioned that they have no room to talk when their own daughter was getting divorced from her husband because he came out and told her he was gay and that is NOT an acceptable reason (for that religion) to get a divorce.

What is the most misunderstood profession?

Being a CEO.

I often ghostwrite for executives. My job is to help tell their story, either in book or article form. The more I learn, the more I feel bad for them.

Not one of the CEOs I’ve written for looks back fondly on the actual day-to-day CEO experience.

They loved being CEO. But they hated the job. Their phone was ringing at all hours. Every problem rolled up to them.

They had to decide the fate of many people’s careers and lives. There was immense pressure on them from stakeholders and owners. The hours they put in were beyond intense.

Most are now very wealthy — but they were undoubtedly aged by the job. It changed them.

When I was in finance, I worked alongside a senior VP and sat in on many of the executive meetings, taking notes for my boss. This was not a room full of happy people.

When you start making $200K, $300K, and up, you can expect to pay a steep price and often get a target on your back.

It is constant worry and emails and people problems.

The idea of the CEO who kicks back, smokes cigars, and yells “mush” couldn’t be further from the actual job.

If China has so much money to invest in other countries, why don’t they develop the poor parts of China?

If China has so much money to invest in other countries, why don’t they develop the poor parts of China?

Which poor part of China do you refer to? Can you give just one specific example that China has failed or ignored to develop?

If you are not convinced, let us just look at the situations from the poorest part of China. Here are the last four provinces with the least GDP per capita (nominal) in China: List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP per capita – Wikipedia

Gansu province ($4735, 26 million people)
Yunnan province ($5612, 48 million people)
Guizhou province ($6233, 36 million people)
Guangxi province ($6270, 49 million people)

Just for reference: India ($2036), Vietnam ($2551), Mongolia ($4026), Albania ($5289), South Africa ($6377). Note that all the listed are poorer than Tibet ($6550, 3m people) and Xinjiang ($7476, 24m) in term of GDP per capita.

We will look at these provinces and see what China has done specifically to develop these poor provinces.

This will be an extremely long post. Please read at your discretion. But if you read on, I’m sure you will learn a lot of new things about China:

1. Gansu province

Gansu is poor for a reason. On one side, you have the massive freezing Tibetan Plateau. On the other side, you have the deadly Gobi Desert.

God doesn’t want you to live here. But you insisted.

Image credit: 地球知识局

What kind of environment are we talking about? Have a look at the following picture. This is what a typical village in Gansu looks like.

Red stones, golden sands and deep valleys. Gansu is the Nevada State of China. There are a lot of sites just like the death valley and red canyon in the USA.

The Taolai River Gorge at Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu

Imagine you are living here. You grow your food in the valleys but you have virtually no rainfall at all. Even if you managed to grow a few tons of wheat magically, where you do sell? To the nearest city? That’s fine. Please drive 5 hours out of this god damn dry mountains.

Even if you manage to find a customer to buy your wheat. He will buy your wheat for $150 per ton. But your transport and fuel cost to move the wheat out of these mountains has exceeded $100 per ton. Considering other costs, okay … , so do you grow wheat just for losing money?

A mountain road in Jingtai County, Gansu

So you have no choice but to leave the village and become a Foxconn worker in Zhengzhou and spent your days making iPhones. That’s what most Gansu people would choose to do. As most people are leaving the rugged land to the cities, your village becomes deserted just like this:

An abandoned village in Dingxi County, Gansu

What has the Chinese government done to address this problem?

For the 13th Five Year Plan (2016–2020), the central government has poured a huge amount of money in building expressways and railways across these God damn hills. And what’s more, they are not building “Level 5” bridges just enough for people to move. Instead, they are building “Level 50” shiny and massive bridges.

What are the differences between a “Level 5” bridge and “Level 50” bridge?

Here is an example of a “Level 5” bridge in France. Short in length and height. You have to rush down, cross the bridge and climb up the mountains.

Here is an example of a “Level 50” bridge in Gansu. All you need to do is to pass through at the speed of 120km/h.

Tian Ning Gou Bridge in Gansu, Tianyong expressway

These “level 50” bridges are indeed very expensive to build. But, on the other hand, they are very cost effective if you consider the amount of fuel saved for trucks, trains, and cars! You don’t have to go down and up again and again.

Even if there is already a “level 5” road along the valleys, the government is still not satisfied. They want to build another high-speed “level 50” expressway along with it. In order to run at 120km/h across the mountains and valleys, the expressway has to be filled with tunnels and bridges so that it is more stretched. This makes trucks and cars to drive faster with less distance. So the fuel cost and transport costs can be reduced significantly.

Provincial expressways S2 in construction in Gansu (35°21’14.3″N 102°49’02.0″E)

In 2019, the total “Level 50” expressway length in Gansu has exceeded 4242km [1] (speed limit 120km/h), which is even longer than Mexico. And it is almost three times longer than India’s total length. Not only expressways but Gansu also has 4 lines of high-speed railways running at 250km/h to 350km/h (宝兰，成兰，兰新，兰渝).

In the next 14th Five Year Plan (2021–2025), the government will promise to connect every prefecture city of Gansu with high-speed railways and expressways.

Lanzhou-Xinjiang high-speed railways

Why are “Level 50” bridges, roads and railways are so useful?

Imagine you are the farmer mentioned above, thanks to the village road built around you, you can transport your crops to your nearest city faster and also at a lower cost. The distributor in your nearest city can also find customers in a province that is even further away. People who are at 2000km away can buy your wheat at a higher price, thanks to the giant expressway network. Overall, you can finally make profits in growing wheat in Gansu!

Still think what I said is made-up or propaganda?

Well, here is another real-life example. Imagine you live in a distant village in Gansu and you want to buy a mobile phone from Taobao (Chinese Amazon), what does it cost to ship a package of 1kg from Shenzhen to Dunhuang in Gansu in 2019? Note that the total distance is around 3500km.

You can use this Chinese website for shipping cost calculation: 快递价格和网点查询 – 快递小帮手

According to the website, the total cost for shipping over the 3500km is 15RMB ($2.2) and it promises to arrive in 3 days.

For comparison, the total cost for shipping one 1kg package from Boston to Reno in Nevada (a similar 4000km) in the USA is $26.13 according to the UPS shipping price calculator under the UPS 3-day service.

Therefore in the USA, it requires 10x more money to do the same thing! And note that they are both counted in the GDP calculation in both countries. Is it fair? Of course not. This applies to other services too.

That means Gansu is not that “poor” as we originally thought.

Instead, Gansu is also blessed with the richness in “green” natural resources. On one side, you have the freezing Tibetan plateau. On the other side, you have the hot Gobi desert. Boom! The temperature difference causes constant wind blowing. God doesn’t want you to live here but he really gives you another gift: the wind power.

Therefore, Gansu is the leader in its renewable energy sector. It has the world’s largest on-shore wind farm:

Gansu Jiuquan Windfarm 40°40’31.2″N 95°24’44.5″E

There are so many on-shore solar farms in Gansu as well. I am not sure if it is the world’s largest. But you can spot them everywhere on Google Earth.

If you can’t grow crops on the land, then just grow solar panels.

Gansu Wuwei Solarfarm 38°06’05.1″N 102°18’00.2″E

God also said, “Let Gansu be light”. Thanks to the Chinese, do you see the holy light?

Gansu Dunhuang Tower Solarfarm 40°03’49.3″N 94°25’29.9″E

However, despite China’s “great leap forward” in solar farm construction, they are faced with severe problems in Gansu. They are generating too much electricity and it is much more than the Gansu people can consume. The private sector is also investing heavily in Gansu, making the government unable to control the overall supply of the solar power in Gansu.

As a result, it is estimated 40% of the wind and solar electricity is wasted in Gansu [2]. We could not store the energy because currently, we don’t have giant batteries. Storing a huge amount of energy remains a problem to be solved by future technology.

The remaining choice is to transmit this huge amount of electricity through the ultra-high voltage power grid to the power-hungry Eastern China. However, building a 3000km power grid is not an easy task and people along the grid would complain about the danger and radiation above their houses. I will write about this on-going Chinese mega project and its achievements and problems in another answer.

In summary, these conclude the development in the poorest province of China —Gansu. The GDP growth for Gansu province in 2018 is 10.54% [3]. And it is still far from enough compared to other provinces because we still have a lot of distant villages in Gansu that are yet covered by decent roads and bridges. We will wait and see how China continues to eliminate poverty here.

2. Yunnan & Guizhou province

The next three poorest provinces: Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi are next to each other in the Southwest of China. There are around 140 million people living here.

Image Credit: 地球知识局

Yunnan & Guizhou are poor for the same reason. So let’s look at them together and later we discuss Guangxi specifically.

If you have already been there, you might have already enjoyed those amazing tourist attractions in these areas. But they do not represent the majority of the people nor the whole poverty situation.

What is the real situation?

As the Indian subcontinent continues to squeeze, terrains around here are becoming more and more similar to “wrinkles”, as mountains are squeezed higher and the rivers continue to carve valleys deeper.

Yes, it is like the wrinkles of the skin.

Imagine you are living in the middle of the “wrinkle”. You would be surrounded by tall mountains and deep valleys.

It is nearly impossible to move around without flying. Building roads is also nearly impossible. You would be isolated for your whole life. To get a taste of what it is like, you can just go to Google Earth and experience it. (26°12’28.4″N 99°07’57.1″E)

Even if you can climb across the mountains to the other side, you have to climb up and down another three similar mountains in order to reach a nearby city.

As a farmer, can you get rich if you live here? That’s nearly impossible. If you are ill, you have to call a helicopter to fly to the nearest hospital. But you have to be rich to afford a mobile phone. No signals? Oh, why not just wait and die?

Are you desperate? Most likely.

But the Chinese said: “Hold my beer, I got this”.

Beipanjiang bridge, Liupanshui, Guizhou (World’s highest bridge)

Pu-Li-Te Bridge, Xuanwei, Yunnan (World’s third highest bridge)

Jin-An Bridge, Lijiang, Yunnan (World’s fourth highest bridge, to be completed in 2020)

Ya-Chi-He Bridge, Qingzhen, Guizhou (World’s fifth highest bridge)

Liu-Guang-He Bridge, Liutong, Guizhou (World’s sixth highest bridge)

Ping-tang Bridge, Liutong, Guizhou (World’s largest viaduct bridge, to be completed later in 2019)

A similar and smaller viaduct bridge can be found in Hunan as well. Here is the video for the beer:

The Chinese said: “Hold up. There are ten more to come in the next five years”.

A high-speed railway arch bridge in Guizhou. Bullet trains pass through this bridge at the speed of 250km/h.

For comparison, a similar railway bridge is also being built in India. It is the Chenab Railway Bridge in J&K. Chenab Bridge – Wikipedia

However, this bridge started in 2003 and it was originally intended to be completed in December 2009. But ten years passed the Indian people have still not finished it.

If the Indian engineers wanted to delay for another 2 years, the bridge would no longer be the world’s tallest railway arch bridge. The new King will be crown to the Sichuan-Tibet railway bridge.

That’s enough for bridges. For the rest of the bridges please refer to List of highest bridges – Wikipedia

. Basically nearly the world’s top 100 highest bridges are all from Yunan and Guizhou (I’m not talking about China. Just the two provinces).

And we are not comparing the length of the bridge, because expressways in Yunnan and Guizhou are pretty much always in bridges or tunnels. So it is pointless to compare their length.

The takeaway for this section is that please don’t take for granted if you see the expressway network like this in Yunnan and Guizhou.

Think about their terrain and imagine how difficult it is to build expressways here.

Now back to Yunnan and Guizhou. What kind of other developments that are worth mentioning?

4G Network Coverage

Even in the most distant village with no good roads, you can always find 4G base stations installed. In terms of 4G, no other countries in the world can be compared with China. Not a single developed country like the USA, UK nor Japan can be comparable in such a scale.

According to the Ministry of Industry and IT in China [7], there are 1.204 billion users connected to 4G stations in China. There are 3.72 million 4G base stations installed in China, exceeding 20% more than the rest of the world combined. Guizhou has achieved 100% 4G coverage in all its 10k villages and Yunnan reaches 65% in its progress.

In 2019, the package price for unlimited 4G internet is 98rmb ($14.5) for one person and 134 rmb ($20) for a family of three. Compared to the USA, you have to spend $40 in T-Mobile just to have a 10GB of internet. Compared to India, although India has much cheaper Internet than China, their 4G coverage is relatively low compared to China.

Why does the 4G access useful? Well, this is another answer I will write. But just to draw your curiosity, do you notice that there are more and more Youtubers from Yunnan and Guizhou broadcasting their daily farming life?

Making Toufu online?

Picking tea leaves online?

Hydroelectricity

Of course, 4G signals are inseparable from the electricity. Yunnan and Guizhou are also blessed with the hydropower. Most of the worlds’ largest dams and power stations listed here are from Yunnan and Guizhou. List of largest hydroelectric power stations – Wikipedia

. They contribute to 30% of the hydroelectricity generated in China.

Yunnan hydropower generation: 280.4 terawatt hours [4]
Guizhou hydropower generation: 65.8 terawatt hours [5]
Three Gorges Dam (only) generation: 88.2 terawatt hours [6]

Just follow along the four major rivers in Yunnan from Google Earth. You can find many stages of Dam on the same river. For example, the Jinsha River (Yangtze) has nine stages of dams.

A dam along the Jin Sha River 26°48’23.9″N 100°26’46.4″E

Compared to the power transmission and storage problem in Gansu, hydroelectricity generated in Yunan and Guizhou are directly transmitted to power up the Guangdong province and Hong Kong, because China has already built the ultra-high voltage power transmission line.

That means a fraction of your made-in-China products are actually manufactured using the hydro-power from Yunnan.

Data centres

Thanks to the abundance of electricity and water resources for cooling, the Chinese government has chosen Guizhou as its most important base for data centres.

Deep in the caves of Guizhou, lies the Tencent T-Block data centre (腾讯七星数据中心). This is the place where the data of all Chinese Wechat/Tencent Video (Chinese Netflix) users are stored.

In 2018, Apple has also decided to place its iCloud (China) data centre in Guizhou. This is where all Chinese apple users information are stored in China.

Now pretty much every important IT company has set their data centres in Guizhou, such as Alibaba, Huawei, China Mobile, etc.

Why do most companies choose Guizhou, such a poor place, to be the destination for data centres? Why not other places?

Because Xi Jinping wants it. He recommends IT companies to place their data centres in Guizhou to enjoy cuts in taxes and electricity bills. As Guizhou have more data centres, it finally has something to focus for its own to develop.

Why does Xi Jinping think Guizhou is so special?

Because Xi found that the leader of Guizhou, Chen Min’er, was exceptionally capable. It was Chen who led Guizhou to attract so many investments and called for IT companies to setup big data centre installations in Guizhou. Thanks to Chen’s excellent governing skill in Guizhou, he is now promoted to the Mayor of Chongqing.

I think he will be the next president of China after Xi Jinping (if he continues to demonstrate his governance skills).

On the other hand, China can finally build its Great Data Bank of China in Guizhou so that the Chinese government can regulate API usage based on Chinese laws and validation using Chinese government licensed blockchain E-authentication.

Yes, this is really the authoritarian style of development in the Internet area. New forms of democracy are created: the government can instantly sample on what do the citizen feel from their mobile phones (like instant vote).

3. Guangxi province

Guangxi and Northen Vietnam are actually very similar in terms of geographic positions and terrains. They both have plenty of flooded plains, hilly mountains and coastal areas. Their cultures are actually very similar. Both are the descendants of the Nanyue Kingdom.

In theory, their GDP per capita should be similar but Vietnam suffers many wars compared to Guangxi. Now Guangxi GDP per capita is $6270 and Vietnam is $2557.

Compared to Northern Vietnam, the main problem for Guangxi is that all of its tributary rivers are flowing east instead of heading the south to the sea. These tributary rivers are then forming into one giant Pearl River at Wuzhou and then reaches the South China Sea in Canton.

Even for today in China, there are still a lot of heavyweight goods shipped through the rivers because of its cheap costs. This becomes really a problem for Guangxi. Since all its rivers flow directly to the east, all river-based shipment from Guangxi has to go through Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

From the above picture, the biggest embarrassment for its Capital Nanning is that ships have to travel 1000km to the east to reach the sea, even though Nanning is only 100km away from the coast in the south. Just imagine the extra cost added for the Guangxi people for international shipment!

A similar terrain can be found in Brazil. A huge mountain can be seen blocking the coast. This is really a curse from God. That’s why the Brazilian economy is not so good and could not develop manufacturing.

Guangxi is slightly better but shipping costs in Guangxi are more expensive compared to other coastal provinces in China. Due to the high costs, investments and talents would not come and it suffers the severe brain drain from the nearby Canton. This is the ultimate reason why Guangxi is poor.

On the contrary, if you look at Northern Vietnam, they are blessed with a wide natural river — the Red River. 5000-ton ships can easily reach Hanoi from Hai Phong. Low-cost transportation gives Vietnam the destiny to be the next center of low-end manufacturing. With the current US-China trade war, Vietnam would receive more foreign investments and its economy would be sky-rocketing.

Hopefully, if the Vietnamese government could follow the same approach as the Chinese government and massively expand its infrastructure and energy sectors, Hanoi-Hai Phong (the red river delta) would become the next mega metropolis around this region and they may experience over 10% growth over the next three decades.

Therefore Guangxi people have to be aware that Vietnam people are catching up quickly. What they need to do is to try everything best to improve its infrastructure and attract shipment from Chongqing and Kunming.

For the above map, you can see that it is actually closer for Kunming to go through Vietnam to reach the sea. If the Vietnam government is really clever, they should reduce the shipping costs (by improving road quality) and attract goods from Kunming and Tibet and use Hanoi port. This would make Hanoi to become the next logistic center for international shipping.

That’s why it is vital for the Guangxi government to counterbalance Vietnam and promote its connections to Yunan and Chongqing.

However, in the past two decades, the Guangxi CCP government have gone in the wrong direction. They’ve built three giant international ports along the coast. But not many people and ships wanted to use them. The combined port shipment volume is only 200million tons, which ranked at 18th among all ports in China.

Originally for Kunming and Chongqing, it is always cheaper and easier to go through Guangzhou instead of coming here. And what’s worse. You made all your three ports (Fang-cheng-gang, Qinzhou, Beihai) compete with each other, instead of focusing on building a combined giant port.

Image: A massive expansion in Fangchenggang port. Now it is pretty much a “ghost port”. 21°33’59.4″N 108°22’37.0″E

And what’s worse. The top CCP leader in Guangxi focused on building expressway and railway connections to Guangdong and ignored the roads to Kunming and Chongqing. As a result, more Guangxi people are drawn by the gravity from Guangdong and they are not coming back. This causes a severe brain drain in Guangxi.

People are leaving and ships are not coming. That’s why the Guangxi CCP leader did not get promoted. However, Guangxi is not a province, but it is an autonomous region in China. So it has its own laws and regulations. One of its regulation is that the Guangxi leader must be a Zhuang entity Zhuang people – Wikipedia

. This race-based selection obviously breaks the meritocracy system of CCP. And I think this is probably the reason why Guangxi is not developed so well. That’s why I suggest to remove the “autonomous” status and make Guangxi a province.

Lucky the current CCP leader in Guangxi has realized the problem and focus on promoting connections between Yunnan and Guizhou. And also they proposed to

Build Canals!

For the 13th Five Year Plan in Guangxi, the CCP is planning to “evaluate” the possibility of the Ping-Lu Canal (平陆运河) that connects the Pingtang river to the Qinjiang river in the south.

The canal is 20km long and it is very expensive to build. For reference, it is half the length of the Kra Canal in Thailand. It requires a lot of in-depth studies before the CCP finally decides to spend billions of RMB to build the canal. Whether it is worthwhile, it remains to be seen.

If it were built, it would be truly a significant boost to the Guangxi economy. With connected water, ships can then carry extra-heavy machinery and goods across most of the river network in Guangxi. It would finally solve the Guangxi problem!

For the road and railway network, Guangxi still has a lot of rooms to improve in terms of density and accessibility. I’m not listing their detailed projects because they are similar to Yunan and Guizhou.

Conclusion

After this extremely long post, I hope you can know something about the on-going developments in the four poorest provinces of China. The take away is that China invests much more domestically than abroad. These are all in the news but people just don’t pay attention to them.

And also note that most of the above projects are led by Chinese state enterprises. They lose money for doing this. But they bring huge social benefits to the general people. This is called “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and it is working. That’s why the West such as the USA and Europe could not achieve nor even consider doing it.

Finally, let’s finish up with a view of the expressway in Guangxi province. Thank you for taking the time to read this extremely long posts.

Please enjoy the real China 🙂

College-Age Carousel Rider Tries Lecturing Men That A “High Body Count Should NEVER Matter”

What is the best example of human kindness you have witnessed recently?

I was at a mall today, paying bills, having lunch and planning on a visit to the gym (pat on the back: I did all three!).

As I walked to the bank, I noticed an older man sitting by a water feature, dipping his fingers in the pool. This was unusual as people here in Thailand rarely do this in a mall.

When I passed him again 10 minutes later, he was standing in the middle of the walkway, searching to his left, then to his right, over and over, looking distressed.

I was about to approach him when a group of (uniformed and backpacked) high school students got to him first. They spoke to him respectfully and quickly realized that he didn’t know where he was or who should be with him.

One young man sprinted off to Information while the others tried to distract the old man to calm him.

A few moments later, a female security guard approached the group, having been notified by Information. She told the kids they could leave, but they refused, feeling they should stay and keep ‘grandfather’ happy.

An announcement was made, and within a few minutes, a very worried, middle-aged couple rushed over to the old man, and although they fussed at him for disappearing, they were clearly relieved.

The high school students were thanked, and then they respectfully took their leave.

The old man watched them go, turned to the couple and asked, “Where are the grandkids going?”

The couple smiled at him and gently said, “It’s ok, Father. They are going to school.”

The old man replied, “They are such good kids. You raised them well.”

Why do some civilians choose to stay in war zones?

Yesterday, I met a journalist friend who had just arrived from Avdiivka and we were talking about this issue.

Although this city in the Donetsk region is at the risk of encirclement by the Russian army and there’s no electricity and no internet, there are still some civilians living there.

My friend visited some of them in a bomb shelter and while he was doing his interviews, a woman in the shelter died.

Not from old age (she was fifty) or a sickness but because she had drunk hand sanitizer. Some people there are so poor that they cannot afford to buy alcohol so they drink disinfectants.

Avdiivka, Ukraine. (Picture: Forbes)

There are obviously two kinds of hand sanitizers, the clear one and the colored one, and one of them is extremely poisonous. The woman drank the wrong one, started sh*tting blood and died a few hours later.

Of course, not every civilian who stays behind in a war zone is a complete alcoholic but a lot of them are old, sick, or suffer from mental disorders.

Many of the civilians in Donetsk are also of Russian origin and wouldn’t feel much at home if they were to evacuate to Western or Central Ukraine.

Their lives were already screwed up long before the war and now, they simply don’t care anymore.

What’s the cleverest cheating you’ve ever seen as a teacher or student?

We take our exams in the classroom, where there is a projector that looks like this. It’s hanging from the ceiling and underneath it, there was a shiny piece of plastic that the school had never bothered to remove.

One of my friends, who sat directly below the projector, looked up to see the bottom of the projector in the middle of a Chinese exam. He was that friend who struggled a lot with Chinese, and guess what he saw at that moment?

The answers of the guy who sat next to him, reflecting off that shiny plastic.

The projector itself was black, so he could see the white exam paper easily. He copied down the answers, which was easier to do because that exam was multiple choice.

A few days later, we got our papers back and he was copying the answers off the wrong page, but in the next exam he used the same trick and made sure that he was on the same page as the person next to him (who was smart).

We don’t use that classroom now because we moved to a different building, but this “cheating hack” was passed down to the next generation and I’ve heard that they now fight for the seat underneath the projector. The teachers never found out.

Why do the men that admire Tyler Durden also admire Patrick Bateman when the two are about as opposite from the other as anything could ever be?

Love this question.

The Yuppies of American Psycho (and similar characters in the Ellisverse) are the Masters of American Consumerist Culture. They are the, in a sense, heroes of the Consumerist Myth. Rich, powerful, beautiful, and crushingly successful at everything they put their mind to.

So successful at consumption are they that they have moved beyond merely consuming things; they consume people and souls.

Fight Club could easily be put in the same universe. But instead of looking at the Masters of said Universe, Fight Club looks at its losers. The men who weren’t born to wealth and didn’t make it up the ladder.

The movie, through Tyler Durden, constantly points out the failures of these men to reach the levels of the Patrick Batemans of the world. Here is one particularly blunt, powerful scene:

Of course, Durden is also a consumer — in that he is actually consuming Jack and plans on erasing him entirely. He also “consumes” Marla, and eventually holds most of the Fight Club men in an iron grip. He even begins to morph into a “Master of the Universe” like-figure.

Notice the comments on the male model. In the Ellisverse, models are of the Elite.

Notice here that not only does Durden look like a male fashion model, he states that it’s exactly what Jack wishes he could look like and how he could live. And he’s not wrong, obviously. “All the ways you wish you could be? That’s me.”

As I see it, while Durden and Bateman would absolutely be opposed to each other’s “political” goals, such as they are, a Durden victory would be a “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” kind of thing at core.

Basically: Patrick Bateman and Tyler Durden really aren’t that different. If Durden were born in Bateman’s world he would be another Bateman; if Bateman were born in Durden’s world he would be another Durden (might sound implausible but remember, Bateman is crushingly charismatic, intelligent, and quite driven when he wants to be).

While Bateman is more openly aristocratic, Durden fairly quickly sets himself up as the undisputed King of Fight Club and clearly sets himself apart from the other men. I can’t find the video but there is a scene in the movie where the men dig ditches while Durden yells at them through a megaphone. He’s not in the ditch with them.

Durden presents himself as a hero of the common man… but he isn’t a common man himself. And the fact that he isn’t, makes him far more appealing. Because who wants to be the common man?

So.

They are the Elites of their Universes. All the women want them and the men want to be them. So of course many male viewers would admire them both and ignore their drawbacks. The political stuff is immaterial — at core they represent the same desires that many men have.

What’s the most ridiculous thing someone has claimed to be allergic to?

This is a prison story.

An inmate at a certain prison in the western US claimed that he was allergic to sodium. Now, this is ridiculous because, as my freshman chemistry teacher once pointed out, sodium is in everything.

Inmates with special diets (medical, dental, allergies, etc.) would go at the end of the line after everyone else had gotten their meal trays. Sodium guy would go last of all and put on a performance that was annoying and stupid but oddly comforting because of its predictability.

Prison staff mostly want things to go smoothly. Nobody was yanking this guy’s chain or trying to piss him off. At each meal they genuinely tried to come up with something he could eat. And at each meal, when his tray slid out the window, he would look at it and say (or scream), “I can’t eat this! It’s got sodium in it!” And he would slide it back into the window. This happened every time. Eventually he would eat something.

Once I saw him drinking a half-pint of milk. Showing him the ingredient list, I pointed out that it had sodium in it.

“That’s OK,” he said. “The sugar counteracts the sodium.”

Right. Whatever.

Who was the most ignorant American you have ever met?

A previous boss.

I was required to issue a monthly report of sales by geographic region, listing each project.

One was a project in China sold to New Sun (China) Energy. I dutifully indicated the sale was in Asia.

My boss protested. “No!” said he. “You need to report that in Europe.”

I blinked and said, “But it’s in China.”

“Yes,” said he. “China’s in Europe.”

“Um…no.. China’s in Asia.”

He slammed his hand on his desk and said, “China’s a state of Germany, now report it in Europe.”

Me: “Ok” while silently muttering dumbass.

We had another dispute over Egypt. Apparently Egypt is also in Europe.

I had a grand time explaining to our lead sales person (a Chinese lady citizen of China) and our production manager (a German citizen) that Germany had expanded its population by a billion with this master stroke of geopolitical theater. They both rolled their eyes.

Yeah, boss was that dumb.

What made fighter jet dogfights obsolete after World War II? Was it because of radar or missiles or something else entirely?

They weren’t obsolete after WW2. They still occurred over Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands, and Israel.

In Korea – There were no good air-to-air missiles yet, so jet aircraft had to close in to within gunnery range to shoot each other down. There were some pretty epic dogfights in Mig Alley, over the Yalu River.

In Vietnam – Missiles were now available, and the “clever fellows up on high” declared the dogfight was dead because jets could now fly at Mach 2, too fast for dogfights. That meant the F-4 Phantom was fielded with 8 missiles…and no gun. Well, turns out the dogfight wasn’t actually dead yet, and while the missiles of the time were “adequate” for downing bombers flying straight and level, they were pretty lousy against maneuvering fighters. And the ROE (Rules Of Engagement) for Phantoms required a visual ID, eliminating the BVR capability of their Sparrow missiles. So, dogfights were in fact…not obsolete.

In the Falklands 1982 – Dogfights still weren’t dead, and there were some pretty intense battles between British Sea Harriers and Argentinian Mirages/Daggers. But, we could see the beginning of the obsolescence of dogfighting because of the AIM-9L Sidewinder.

While still an Infrared Homing (Heatseeker) missile, the “Lima” Sidewinder no longer required getting on a opponent’s 6 o’clock so the heatseeker would home on a hot tailpipe. The Lima Sidewinder was all-aspect, meaning it could get a lock from any angle…even head-on, completely changing the nature of dogfighting.

Even, now with missiles such as the AIM-9X, Meteor, R-77–1, and the AMRAAM, which do not require being within dogfighting range (WVR—Within Visual Range) to score kills, I am reticent to claim the dogfight is dead. I’ll say it no longer will be the bread and butter of aerial combat, but won’t go so far to say the dogfight is obsolete.

It still may happen. Let’s see what happens when Ukraine finally gets their F-16s, and make a decision then. I expect most kills will still occur at BVR, but we may still see genuine dogfights once more. And when both sides are operating stealth aircraft, who knows what we’ll see?

What is the most disrespectful thing someone did to you while you were on an airplane?

Disrespectful?? Weird absolutely. About 8 months ago flying from Portland Or to Amsterdam Ne.

Woman behind my seat has a infant 6–10 months old. Infant cries and cries and cries. I put in ear plugs. I doze off. About an hour later she taps me on the shoulder and hands me said infant. “I need to talk to my husband in first class, you watch her”. She hands me the baby and is gone about 3 hours. Eventually the cabin staff goes and finds her. She is angry because she is hauled back to her seat. I hand her her child and she is upset.

To this day I wonder why she would hand off a perfectly good infant to a total stranger and wander off.

Candy Cane Fudge

Yield: 24 pieces

Ingredients

2 cups white chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup crushed candy canes

Instructions

Line an 8 inch square dish with parchment paper, making a sling to lift the fuge out when ready to cut.
In a medium glass bowl, combine the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk.
Microwave on 50% heat in 30 second intervals until fully melted and combined. Be sure to stir well in between each interval.
Transfer melted mixture into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle on crushed candy canes and slightly press into the top.
Refrigerate for at least 4 to 6 hours to set or freeze for 2 to 4 hours (allow to thaw for 30 minutes before cutting).

Attribution

Photo credit: ohsarahrose on Visualhunt

Deadline U S A 1952 (720p) Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, Kim Hunter

Steroids and past decisions

When I was a Senior in High School I was “big” into weight-lifting. I was “pumped” and I was quite an “amazing specimen.”

In fact, during the class physical check-up for us boys, the female doctor and the female nurse asked me to go to the back room (in my underwear) and pose for them. They just smiled and looked on.

I, being young and a dumb shit, didn’t know what was going on.

Anyways, some friends offered some steroids to me to help me get and build up mass. I thought about it, but you know, I was concerned about this. So I made a doctor’s appointment, though my mother, and went to the doctor.

When the doctor asked me what was wrong I had a trouble answering. I did a lot of hemming and humming.

Finally I asked about steroids, and the doctor (a woman) told me that it was a serious, SERIOUS issue and that I should not do it.

She saw me off, and then her son (who was in my class) brought me an envelope filled with papers about the dangers of steroids. She also continued to check in on me. She did this over the next five months. And she checked up on me though my mother.

Well, I really didn’t need a follow up.

I just didn’t do any steroids.

It was one of the BEST things that I ever did. And honestly, I am so happy that I lived in a small town and community. Access for these kinds of medicines was difficult and I did not pursue them. Thank JESUS!

Our decisions ALWAYS possess late-game impact.

You are the sum total of your previous behaviors. And that is why it takes a while for the affirmation campaigns to work. You have to untangle decades of previous verbalizations.

Smile. All of you are doing great right now. I believe in you all.

Today…

What is the best food to eat in France ever?

The best food in France, ever?

The best food in France ever is the Jambon Beurre.

But that’s just a ham sandwich, and you’re correct, it’s a ham sandwich, but not just a ham sandwich. The jambon beurre is a gastronomic lesson. It exemplifies how to make great food: take the best possible ingredients and prepare them with great technique, and no unnecessary fluff. The jambon beurre is simply a freshly baked baguette, delicious jambon de Paris and creamy 85% fat butter. Sometimes you’ll see sweet and sour cornichons or a few slices of cheese, but nothing else. No lettuce, tomatoes, onions, jalapeños or overpowering Subway styles sauces or dressings. This sandwich is just an assembly of three fine ingredients and it is divine.

Quality ingredients and good technique are the keys to great food. French cuisine taught us that lesson and the jambon beurre shows us it is true.

Wendelstein Church on Wendelstein Mountain, Bavarian Alps.

What was your “I am surrounded by idiots” moment?

I was in the office photocopier room with a fellow engineer.

I noticed there was a stack of paper in the recycling bin.

And the big stack of discarded pages, looked a lot like the smaller stack of pages that were spewing out of the machine.

I had time to notice this, because I had to wait while he loaded more paper into the copier’s empty paper trays.

I asked, “Do you have a lot of people coming to an engineering meeting? Usually there are only a few people at those meetings.”

“Oh”, he said. “I’m following the new directive to save paper by making only double-sided copies for meetings.”

I asked, “What’s wrong with all these copies in the recycling bin?”

”I forgot and I made those copies single-sided.”

I was shocked for a moment, then asked, “Why not actually save paper, by using the single-sided copies you already printed?”

“Because if I walked into the meeting with a bunch of single-sided pages, everyone would say I’m wasting paper.”

“But now you are wasting even more paper by re-printing everything again.”

“Yes, but I won’t get in trouble, because nobody knows.”

I thought about ’turning him in’ for deliberately wasting paper.

But having worked in the corporate world, I knew he was right.

The rules are intended to save paper, but the way those rules are enforced, can lead to more waste, not less.

It might seem like the engineer was the idiot.

But he was right.

We both knew that our management would punish us if we admitted even a small oversight.

The real idiots were those managers.

Siebers Tower, Rothenberg.

Body Count

United Arab Emirates officially stops using U.S. Dollar for oil trades

World Hal Turner

The global financial landscape is witnessing a seismic shift as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) boldly moves away from the US dollar in its oil trade dealings.

This strategic pivot aligns with the broader ambitions of the BRICS economic alliance, of which the UAE is a recent addition.

The changeover, involving the transition to local currencies for oil transactions, marks a significant departure from the long-established dollar dominance in the global oil market.

The BRICS bloc, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, recently expanded its membership to include the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and Argentina.

This expansion signifies a growing inclination towards de-dollarization among these nations, a move that challenges the traditional hegemony of the US dollar in international trade.

The UAE’s decision to prioritize local currency over the US dollar in new oil deals is a clear reflection of this sentiment. This move isn’t just a mere policy shift; it’s a strategic maneuver in the complex chess game of global economics.

By aligning with the BRICS nations, the UAE is not only diversifying its economic partnerships but also reinforcing its position as a global oil powerhouse.

This change could potentially reshuffle the cards in the international oil trade, impacting the dollar’s stronghold and introducing a new era of currency dynamics in oil transactions.

ONGOING CATASTROPHE FOR USA

The shift away from the U.S. dollar is not some distant, arcane, thing which doesn’t affect YOU. It is affecting YOU already and it is going to get worse. Much worse. In fact, it’s going to be a catastrophe.

You see, since the 1970’s, ALL sales of oil, worldwide, have been transacted in “Dollars.” Everyone who sells it, sells in dollars. Everyone who buys it, buys in dollars.

In order to do that, every country on earth needs to hold “dollars” in its central bank.

Now that countries are starting to sell oil in currencies OTHER THAN Dollars, the central banks around the world won’t need to hold all those dollars. They will start to send those dollars BACK to the United States and say convert these back to OUR currency.

As dollars come back to the U.S. and other countries currencies are exchanged, THEIR currency will rise in value compared to ours. Our currency will FALL in value compared to others.

Now, we don’t manufacture much of anything here in America anymore; we import a lot of what we need/want.

So as we need to import, the value of OUR money is going to be worth less, and less compared to foreign countries, meaning what we need will cost VERY VERY MUCH MORE.

Inflation will hit the US in almost every sector because the things we need to import cost more and more dollars that are worth less and less.

So if you think things have gotten expensive this year, hold on to your hat; it’s going to get a LOT worse.

Moreover, at some point, countries may decide that the U.S., being so far in debt, makes our currency worthless. They may decide to STOP selling anything to us in US Dollars.

Despite being universally accepted nowadays, the fear of our currency becoming worthless is real because there is literally nothing backing our currency. Government keeps going farther and farther into debt until at some point, people around the world will simply NOT take our money anymore.

When THAT happens, the shortages and “supply chain disruption” seen during COVID-19, will look like kid games.

GOVERNMENT TO BLAME

The sole entity responsible for all this trouble is the US federal government; specifically, YOUR member of the US House of Representatives and YOUR US Senators.

It has been these people who have literally spent the country into oblivion. THEY voted for each and every dollar spent which had to be borrowed.

So as they come back from Washington to back-slap, glad-hand, and kiss babies, know that it is THESE PEOPLE who are personally responsible for wrecking this nation, and ruining everything you and your family has worked all your lives for.

More importantly, it is THESE PEOPLE who have mis-used their positions to impose “economic sanctions” on country after country around the world; telling those countries, “If you don’t do what we want, then you cannot use OUR money in YOUR trade.”

All those countries are tired of US meddling in THEIR internal affairs.

So they’re moving away from using US dollars, so that the US cannot sanction them anymore.

The result will be hyper-inflation for us, and wrecking of our country. All because THEY will not stop meddling in other people’s business.

1939 Delahaye Type 165

1939 Delahaye Type 165 is viewed by many as the most beautiful French car of the 1930s, only 5 of them were ever made with this one having been fatefully chosen by the French government to represent France at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Have you ever judged someone and realized you were wrong?

I was once the daytime caregiver for a little boy with a massive brain injury. The damage was so extensive that a large part of his right brain had been surgically removed. He was paralyzed on his left side. He also probably suffered from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, but the doctors were unsure. He hoarded food, because he had gone hungry many times in his earlier life. Altogether a really lousy start.

I was pushing little X in his stroller. He was about three years old at this point. We were walking toward the high school, and there was a group of girls on the sidewalk. Black clothes, black hair, smoking, swearing girls.

X was a bit unusual looking, due to his injuries. I was thinking that these girls were going to laugh at him, or tease him, or something. I was getting tense and defensive.

As X and I get close, he hollers out, “HI”, which was his only word at the time. I was not expecting the response he got from those girls.

They were totally sweet. They were all saying hi back and asking his name and saying how cute he was. One asked me about his injuries, and I gave her the short version. She started to cry, and then I did, too. It was hard for me to talk about his history. We ended up hugging each other.

I have always remembered that group of girls, and how completely wrong I was about them.

They remind me often not to judge people by their appearance.

Copeland’s of New Orleans the Guitreau

Ingredients

4 ounces butter
4 ounces chopped onions
5 single mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
8 ounces fish fillet (red or black drum recommended)
4 ounces crawfish tails
4 ounces 90-100 size shrimp

Instructions

Cook fish on grill approximately three minutes on each side.
While fish is cooking, sauté shrimp and crawfish tails for about one minute. At this point, everything else may be added. Cook until vegetables are translucent. If mixture is too thick, add a splash of dry white wine. If too thin, turn the heat up and cook down until the right consistency.

South Korea, Japan BETRAY and ABANDON U.S, Rush to CHINA!

Breakup of antiwar coalition on Taiwan Island brings war clouds closer to East Asia

Taiwan is not Ukraine. The Taiwanese army is compulsory conscription for one year, extended by Tsai Ing-wen from the previous four months, making her extremely unpopular. No one in Taiwan has the delusion that Westerners have that the Taiwanese army can withstand the PLA for more than a day.

Most of them will tell you the PLA takeover will last only a few hours.

The reason is none of these young men want to die fighting the PLA, not even the deepest Green. Many street interviews of youngsters in the deep Green country of south Taiwan have shown as much: don’t know history, don’t understand why Taiwan is the Republic of China and its airline is China Airlines, don’t like China, don’t want war with China, won’t fight the PLA to defend Taiwan.

In truth, most of them will simply surrender, because those who do not will be tried for treason or, as a minimum, carry a black mark for themselves and their family so that none of them or their offspring will enjoy the privilege of say working in government jobs or state corporations.

Don’t forget that Taiwan is an island. The shortest distance from China to Taiwan is about 220 km. Hawaii is 8500 km away and the American west coast is 11,000 km. People on the island can’t run off to Poland. No one is going to save them when the PLA lands. Taiwanese people understand this but try explaining it to people like Mearsheimer.

Another thing about America arming Taiwan. It’s a scam. Taiwan is going to get antiquated equipment at exorbitant prices. Taiwanese people also know about this because it is not new. It happened before. The US is worried there may be many Yifu Lin types in Taiwan, taking the latest US war technologies to join China. The last time they armed the Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War, the PLA got their hands on a large amount of the latest American weapons.

America is really good at lying. The country is built on lies. Ask any native American how many times the white man has lied to them and they will tell you as numerous as the stars in the sky. It’s too late for the natives, but we can learn something. Don’t trust any words or narratives that come from the direction of the hegemon.

-PM

Quiet

What will always be cool?

You met a girl. You smiled. She liked. You gave her compliments. She liked you more. You used every textbook trick to impress and voila! She indeed was impressed.

Time flew. Your mask fell off.

Now, she hates you.

Persuasion techniques are, at times, indeed useful. But if you want relationships that last, always be real. These techniques may capture someone’s head, but being who you are will capture their hearts.

That genuineness and sincerity, my friend, will always be cool! 🙂

What scary gut feeling did you have that turned out to be true?

A friend and I had plans to hang out. For whatever reason, she couldn’t make it and canceled. I didn’t want to hang around the house and went out anyway. As I approached the car, I got an uneasy feeling. I opted to take the other car; I still got an uneasy feeling, but it wasn’t as intense. I got in the car and left the house. Thirty minutes later the car was totalled; I didn’t even see it coming. When I came to, the car was upside down. I was still in the car, but laying on the roof. Had I take the initial car, I probably would have been dead or severely injured at best. I literally got up and walked away from the car on my own (I did pass out a couple times while the ambulance was en route). I broke my ankle and sternum and needed a couple stitches.

Chimney Sweep, outside 97th General Hospital, Frankfurt.

Five Pleasures for every pain

What’s something your husband did to you that you will never forget?

When my husband had been a consultant for about a year, and had been traveling 80% of the time for a job that he absolutely loved.

He came home one weekend and said, “Yesterday I was sitting at a table with five other consultants, and one of them told the group that I was on my first wife.

They all laughed and said, ‘That won’t last long!’ Two of them are on their third wife! That’s when I knew for sure that I have to change jobs.”

And that’s when I knew for sure that he would always put me first.

That we would always put each other first.

We’ve been married more than 40 years, and we’re still putting each other first. (He has since had several jobs that he enjoyed as much as that one, I’m glad to say. I wouldn’t want him to be unhappy at work because of me! I’ve always supported him in whatever his work choices have been, and he has been supportive of my career too.)

Ikigai

Have you ever met someone for the first time and got the strongest feeling that the person was bad?

I didn’t technically “meet” the guy. But when I was about 10yo & my mom asked me to run to the donut shop before going to school (it was less than a block from our apartment), I was so stoked, I ran the entire way!

As I went to pull the door open at the donut shop, this big grisly bear of a man sorta stumbled towards me from me pulling the door open so fast.

I looked him right in the eyes & got The biggest shot of freezing cold fear through me, turned right around & ran straight back home.

When my mom asked why I didn’t get any donuts, it took me a minute to answer. I asked if she remembered the creepy old big guy from the show we were watching last night & my mom replied “you mean Americas Most Wanted?”!

I said yes, she said “yeah, and?” I told her I’d ran straight into the featured criminal that was a father who raped & molested his daughters & their friends for years & was on the run with his wife (she said she didn’t believe her daughters or their friends, eww)!

My mom asked if I was sure & I was absolutely sure it was him. My mom called the tip line immediately & they said I wasn’t the first to report seeing him at that donut shop. That couple got so spooked by my reaction that they apparently immediately went back on the run. I believe they gave chase for a bit but somehow evaded police, but were later found dead from self inflicted injuries. I was told my report was the final “straw” for cops to believe it was a legit sighting.

No joke that when I say I felt straight evil from him, the burning ice cold feeling his eyes gave me, I will unfortunately never forget it.

Always, ALWAYS trust your “gut”! That intuition is inside us all for a very good reason.

Chinese journalist Liu Xin: DON’T MESS WITH CHINA!

What is the best etiquette for guests who offer to pay for things after staying at someone’s home?

Some years back, a close friend of mine, let’s call her Jane, underwent a significant surgery. She lived alone, and the recovery period was expected to be long and challenging. Jane’s sister, who lived in a different city, offered to take her in during the recovery. The sister had a spacious home and a supportive family, making it an ideal environment for Jane’s recuperation.

Jane, always mindful of not imposing, devised thoughtful ways to contribute to the household. Since she couldn’t engage in physical activities initially, she used her skills as a seasoned graphic designer to help her niece with a school project, creating an impressive presentation. This gesture was immensely appreciated and brought her closer to her niece.

As she regained strength, Jane took up the responsibility of managing the family’s online affairs. She organized digital photo albums, set up an efficient bill payment system, and even taught her sister and brother-in-law how to use various apps to streamline their daily tasks. These small yet significant contributions made her feel useful and less like a burden.

Additionally, Jane used her savings to occasionally treat the family to meals from their favorite restaurants, understanding that her presence had increased the household expenses. She also made it a point to maintain her space meticulously, ensuring that her temporary stay caused minimal disruption in their routine.

When Jane finally returned to her home, her relationship with her sister’s family had deepened. They had not only supported her through a challenging time but had also received her gratitude and contributions in a way that enriched their lives. This experience, my friend often reflects, taught her the importance of giving back, even in times of personal difficulty.

What was the best relationship advice you ever got?

The best relationship advice I ever got was from my grandma years ago, while we were sitting on our back porch swing. There was a thunderstorm going on, and we were enjoying the rain and swinging and talking and nothing was off limits.

At one point, Grandma said, “When we stop expecting someone to be perfect, we can begin to appreciate them for who they really are. No one can ever be perfect. That’s just the way things are.

Crying is okay, too. Sometimes, love is just too big for words …”

What are some useful facts that went unnoticed?

The way you treat yourself is the standard you set for others.
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend . A successful woman is one who can find such a man .
Sometimes following your heart means losing your mind.
The most beautiful woman is someone who’s happy and is always smiling.
The sexiest thing about a woman is not in the clothes she wears , the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair but Confidence in a humble way, not in an arrogant way. Sense of humour is definitely important.
The biggest asset in the world is your mindset.
Good looking people are trusted quicker by the subconscious mind. No clue why ? But there’re many good looking manipulators. Trust by character not appearance.
Someone you’ve only known for ten days could have better intentions for you than someone you’ve known for ten years. Time means nothing; character does.
Don’t let the world define your identity for you . They don’t know you and likely they don’t care about you.

What was the moment you realized your significant other didn’t care about you at all anymore?

After twenty years of marriage I got crippled up by arthritis and my wife came to me and asked for a divorce so she could go out and live her life.

I pointed to the door.

Signed the divorce papers for her so she saved some costs. I got no child support even though both our kids stayed with me. Actually they gave her half the house I had built and the entire time I was building it she didn’t want me too because I was “wasting” money on it.

A few months after the divorce was final she actually told me I was going to have to marry her back. Right.

I said no.

Today I’ve been married to a wonderful woman who’s supportive and I enjoy every day.

I did recover from being crippled with a lot of rehab and I made sure to tell my wife to be that I could never guarantee that being crippled wouldn’t recur.

Then a couple years after we married she had to have open heart surgery to repair a bad heart valve and I was there taking care of her with no complaints while she recovered. She’s always doing things to make my life easier. It’s what marriage is all about. Teamwork.

What was your strangest experience visiting a friend or relative in the hospital?

I wasn’t the visitor. I just happened to be a physician, working at the hospital, that day.

I was walking down the hall talking with one of our most senior nurses. As we walked by a patient room, I happened to glance over.

“Did I just see that?”, I remarked, stopping and placing a restraining hand on Pat’s arm.

“What?” asked Pat.

“Back up.”

We took a couple of steps back and looked into the room.

“What the actual f**k!”

A visitor had climbed onto the bed with the patient. He was choking her and hissing,

“You ruined my life, B**ch!”.

“Whoa!”

I yelled for Security, at the top of my lungs.

Pat charged around me with the wrath that only an overweight, middle aged woman, who is sick of everybody’s sh*t, can.

“Off!” She yelled, smacking the man, on the head, with her clipboard.

“OFF, OFF, OFF!” ( whack, whack, whack)

The man let go of the patient and turned toward us.

Uh-oh.

Pat was undeterred. She smacked him a couple of more times. (whack, whack)

With a voice, honed with the authority of 30 years of nursing, she chased him down the hall.

“OUT, OUT, OUT!” (whack, whack, whack)

Just then Security showed up and rescued the perpetrator from the furious nurse.

I stayed to ensure that the patient was not seriously injured.

Pat returned, ruffled but none the worse for wear.

“Remind me not to EVER piss you off.”

We went back to our original conversation.

Just another day in the glamorous life of a physician.

Peace.

Have you ever broken the law for good reason and did you ever get caught?

Yes, I did.

Many years ago, I was approached by a woman I knew through our homeowners’ association, and she asked to talk to me. She said that she was getting ready to leave her husband, who was a brutal and abusive alcoholic. She had a tiny puppy — a little fluffy mix that was mostly Yorkie and Pomeranian — that he was kicking and mistreating, and she wanted to get it to safety as soon as possible before he either damaged her or killed her.

She knew I was a dog lover, so she proposed that she leave her back gate unlocked, and after she was sure her husband had passed out, she would put the puppy on the back porch behind the unlocked gate. I could take the puppy, and disappear into the night.

I lived a distance from the woman’s home, so there was no danger the puppy would ever be seen by her husband. So, I agreed. We decided to do it that night.

The arranged dognapping went off without a hitch, and Rita made her home with us for many years. The woman also escaped her husband, as planned.

Traveling around Bavaria, in a 1951 Chevrolet.

What do Hospice workers know about the last hours of life that most doctors don’t?

I buried my wife a week ago today. Alzheimer’s disease is a terrible way to die. She was diagnosed in 2013. She died October 10, 2023. I delayed her services until one of her siblings returned from a cruise. Since she chose cremation long ago, there was no urgency to bury her in my family’s grave plots.

She was an RNC – BSN in Labor and Delivery. Dedicated her life managing a 40 bed LDRP unit with NICU.

The Hospice nurse thought she was stable earlier in the day, but she later observed a change that I probably would not have recognized. The Hospice nurse told me I should come. She had been non verbal for about a year. Had to be fed, and was in a special Hospice provided wheel chair when out of her bed.

I knew as a lifelong nurse she did not want to live like that, but a DNR covers no cardiac crash cart intervention and no tube feeding. It is way above my pay grade to opine that her quality of life was near zero. A Hospice nurse knows when there is more brain activity than many of us might think.

She had been in a nursing home exactly three years. When she first arrived, she never stopped nursing, looking after those residents who were no longer ambulatory. In fact, she thought she was in charge of the nursing home because she was a Director of Women’s Health before she retired. At the peak of her career, she had 150 employees and a seven figure annual budget. A few years later, she could not balance her check book.

The Hospice nurse told me the last thing to go with an Alzheimer’s victim is their hearing, so even though she looked comatose, the nurse convinced me she could hear me.

I believe her. No finger squeezing, no eye movement, nothing but labored breathing. I told her I loved her, and that I would have been nothing without her.

Thinking she was stable for maybe another day, I went home to get something to eat. Hospice called and said she was gone before I got back to the nursing home. We would have been married 51 years December 30. Planned our wedding around an OU Sugar Bowl game in 1972.

I hated myself for leaving the nursing home for what seemed like only a short time, but maybe she knew I had been there, and she was tired of the pain. Maybe she held on just long enough to see me or hear me one last time.

I’ll forever regret not spending more time with her. I honestly did not think she knew I was there during visits the last year, but now I know she knew I was there near the end, so she probably knew I was there during those times when I thought there was little brain function remaining.

I regret not spending more time with her excellent Hospice caregivers, to better understand that though my wife seemed near comatose for over a year, she would know I was there if I had spent more time with her.

Always pay attention to the Hospice nurses. Milk them for more knowledge about how it will probably end.

I am forever indebted to the Hospice nurses who cared for my wife. Hospice was there when I could not be there. No one should die alone.

What are your thoughts on the recent incident where a Chinese navy destroyer used active sonar to harass a disabled Australian frigate conducting underwater repairs in international waters?

Not long ago, Western media were promoting “the Chinese Air Force intercepted a Canadian aircraft.” But they don’t tell you that this interception took place in the northern part of the Taiwan Strait, only dozens of kilometers away from the coast of China.

Now, the Western media is once again propagating that “the Chinese Navy is unprofessional towards Australian warships.” Okay, let’s look at the truth of the matter again.

The “exclusive economic zones” of China and Japan overlap on a large scale, and the overlapping area is closer to China’s territorial waters.

First, Australia claimed that “the warship is located within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.” It seems to tell us that they are near Japanese territorial waters. But is this true?

Let’s take a look at how big Japan’s “exclusive economic zone” is. As we all know, Japan’s “exclusive economic zone” was set unilaterally by Japan. It has a large number of overlapping areas with mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, and North Korea, and is not recognized at all in East Asia.

Therefore, the fact that the Australian warship is “located within Japan’s exclusive economic zone” does not mean that it is “close to Japan”. On the contrary, it is likely to be close to China’s territorial waters, has entered China’s exclusive economic zone or even approached China’s territorial waters. This is also the reason for this type of incident. normal. The Chinese almost never go far from their shores on such missions.

Secondly, the news that the Chinese Navy’s use of “sonar” caused “slight injuries” to divers is not credible at all. According to news reports, the warship that intercepted the Australian Navy was the Chinese Navy No. 139 Ningbo Ship. This is a modern-class destroyer with a full load displacement of 8,500 tons and an old Soviet warship. According to public information, the sonar equipped on this destroyer is the MGK-335 hull-acoustic hull sonar. This is an active high-power sonar designed for deep-sea nuclear submarines, with a peak operating power of hundreds of kilowatts.

The shock waves it emits can hit the submarine’s hull several kilometers away and detect the echoes. There is no point in turning on sonar for surface ship monitoring.

Because this type of sonar is powerful enough to cause injury to large marine life such as dolphins and whales, it is generally not turned on. When the warships of both sides are approaching, if the Chinese Navy really turns on this sonar, then the diver will not suffer just a “slight injury”, it will shatter people’s internal organs.

Therefore, the real situation may be that the diver suffered minor injuries due to other reasons in the process of rushing to shore. After all, the Australian Toowoomba is just a 3,600-ton frigate. When facing an 8,500-ton Chinese warship, a hasty retreat is a normal reaction.

There are a few more noteworthy keywords

2. Sanctions tasks of the United Nations

This statement is the same as that of the Canadian military aircraft, which also claimed to be carrying out “UN sanctions supervision against North Korea.” But they flew to the northern part of the Taiwan Strait.

China has publicly stated many times that the United Nations has never authorized such a mission. As one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, China’s statement is credible, and other countries have not raised any objections.

Therefore, the Australian warship’s so-called “implementation of United Nations sanctions and supervision of North Korea” is just a farce written and directed by several countries led by the United States.

3. The fishing net entangled the propeller

It shows that the Australian warship has entered the fishing area instead of the normal route. This will cause disruption to both Chinese and Japanese fishermen. Whether it is Japan’s exclusive economic zone or China’s exclusive economic zone, it is undeniable that it is more than 1,000 kilometers away from Australia. That is China’s doorstep, not Australia’s.

The incident took place so far away from Australia. What was the Australian Navy thinking when it sent a small warship to the coast of a nuclear-armed superpower to show off? If the opponent was the United States or Russia, they would have been sunk long ago.

4. Unprofessional

The Chinese Navy’s approach to foreign warships approaching China’s territorial waters has always been to “identify, warn and drive away”. This is their “professionalism”. There was no warning of weapons and no active collision, indicating that the Chinese navy was restrained. It makes no sense for the Australians to use the excuse “sonar harms divers” to divert attention.

What is the biggest snub you received from a family member?

There have been several over my long life but the one that still hurts the most was when my family decided to do a family photo.

For context:

my parents (mom and dad), 4 others siblings with their spouse and child(ren)

18 people total including myself and husband.

I’ve always been a coordinator of events and the like so I offered to find and buy all the children’s outfits so they match/color coordinate.

All the adults wore coordinating colors. We planned on having an outdoor spring photo shoot and I purchased all items to stage the pictures (included a setee, velvet arm chairs, Persian rug….you get the idea not just outside but staged. We hired a professional photographer with each of us paying $200

to cover the bill.

A week before the photos were supposed to be done, my older sister comes over and says my parents want our children but not myself and husband in the pictures. I say nothing, think about it an day and then call my dad. I ask him did he and my mother say we were not to be in pics? He never gives me a direct answer. Says they really just pics of the grandkids, I ask him then why is everyone else included besides my husband and myself? -he gives Half answers until I say I have to go-I sent all of them an email laying out how hurt we were and Don’t understand what we could have down to be excluded like this. Not one response.

Picture day:

My older sister had the audacity to call me and ask if my kids were ready and she was on the way to pick them up. I told her Nope and hung up.

That is the last one I ever spoke to or heard from any of them. Family should never hurt like that

What are the most common regrets that people have once they grow old?

My generation, the boomers, was encouraged to take risks and accomplish great things. We were told that we could do anything and should. We had people like JFK pushing us to go to the moon.

I grew up in a violent, terrifying and poor household where I felt great responsibility for the younger children. I felt no love from my parents. I was just scared all the time. I subsequently had little energy left for doing well in school. I had only one friend. I was always afraid of authority and had no self-confidence. I was not equipped for adulthood and most of it was a struggle to do well at whatever job I held.

When I retired, due to my great fear of poverty, i had plenty of money saved and my own home. I also realized something important. I didn’t have to have regrets even though I had not taken risks or accomplished great things.

I had survived. I had accomplished something important. I was safe. I had made it through all the troubles and fear. I had gritted my teeth and pushed through all the pain and loneliness and self-loathing that comes with being treated badly.

I am old but I have many years to go and I’ll spend them being proud of myself for making it through to safety. This might not seem like much of a goal to most people but it was what I dreamed of for myself and unwittingly worked hard for. I have no regrets.

Cat revenge story

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

Not me, my wife.

She ran a very successful Dentist as Practice Manager…she has been a Dental Nurse since the early 90s and worked her way up.

Probably about 80% of the role was managing the staff…whereas 80% should have been running the regulatory side of the business….unfortunately, that meant that the regulatory side had to be done after hours.

She would put in 12 hour days, come home, have dinner, then start again and not stop until near midnight, nightly!

Now the business owner and principle knew HE could not manage the staff, but he then started demanding that she was ‘front of house’ due to her professionalism…even though others were just as capable…so of course, that meant other things started to suffer…initially her health, but she persevered…she ‘loved her job’!

But then, the inevitable happened…he ‘decided’, without any consultation, that her role was now ‘salaried’ and he would no longer pay overtime.

Now, there’s a rock and a hard place…the regulatory side could not be undertaken during the day, would not be compensated, and was a legal requirement for the Practice to operate; so she took the only option available; she resigned (her health was deteriorating anyway…and that was due to the stress of the job!)

6 months later, she is in a far better place physically. The business she left is on its knees. All the staff had left, and it is now – just about – scraping by as a single dentist practice (there had been 10 dentists and 26 support staff!).

I reckon that it has 3–4 months left before it goes completely under….all because he started interfering in the staff roles and didn’t want to pay a little overtime.

What should be done to make the Indian police more efficient and less corrupt?

Lets do what China or Singapore is doing and ensuring that their police remain tough but relatively free from any corruption and actually follow the law

Pay

India pay their policemen a pittance. I am talking about the rank and file cops. If you look at Comparative Median Income- a Middle ranking Indian policeman (Non IPS) gets only 1.06 times the Median income compared to 1.41 times for a Chinese Cop and 1.83 times for a Singaporean Cop and 1.82 times for a US Cop from NYPD or CPD. A 41% Pay raise for Middle Ranking Cops and allowance raise and upto 77% Pay raise for the Rank and file would work wonders.

Housing and Allowances

China, Hong Kong have police departments which purchase their own lands and commercially build apartments and sell them at zero interest to Cops and retired cops. 2,3,4 BHK Apartments with all the luxuries like a Swimming Pool, Gymnasium etc provided.

Hamara Bharat – How a Police Quarters looks like in Bharat with Inspectors living in this dilapidated building. The Toilets are particularly a bonanza. Departments have to beg and beg for the most basic of maintenance and painting.

Death Insurance

In India a Cop shot and killed while on Duty will get a flat sum of Rs. 18 Lakhs to Rs. 85 Lakhs depending on City and State with Mumbai and Delhi paying the highest.

85 Lakhs sounds good right?

Sorry. First the money is taxable, Second the average time to get this money is 17 – 24 months if you are lucky and third – an Insurance company pays this sum and it will dodge and demand a lot of documentation like death report etc etc etc.

A woman called Gurbachan Kaur who was supposed to get Rs. 78 Lakhs for her husbands death (He was Senior Inspector of Police) is yet to get any money after 1 1/2 years and after taxes and deductions – she is expected to net Rs. 58 Lakhs. Its around 5.25 times his median annual income. Even this sum is in doubt as the Insurance company is now saying the man died of a heart attack which means natural death (Far low payout).

Lets take China or HK – the sum for death of a Similar rank is around 8.25 times the Median Income and NO TAX. And you get the money within 60 days. Its a law. If you dont get the money in China within 60 days – the Department will be questioned and the LEPPA laws will be applied and No insurance company – money belongs to the Department directly

And many others – Good Healthcare plans, Good Education Plans, Education Trusts for Kids of Cops, Free Education etc.

The Cops are taken care of decently and so they do their job well.

Then there is the question of Punishment. Cops who break the law are brutally punished. In China except the Political Police – all other cops can be punished brutally for Bribery or for Public Abuse or false cases etc. The LEPPA which applies only to cops and can put a cop for 15–25 years for a custodial death within 3 months through special courts.

Its the Double Edged Sword – Good Incentives but Brutal Punishments

Its what India should do

PS This only applies to officers. Chinese Constables are very less paid (Same as Indian PCS) but they get commissions (Hyeung Ya or Golden Fragrance) of 55% – 150% of their monthly salaries. Legal commissions on which they have to pay tax.

Our Poor Havildars have no such incentives and can get a CBI Case for a mere Rs. 500/- bribe.

Weißer Turm (The White Tower), Galgengasse, Rothenburg.

Simple

Why are the Chinese not interested in Western democracy?

Western Democracy is:

School shootings.
An expensive education system that does not give people the most basic knowledge.
The world’s largest prison system.
An expensive healthcare system that is against disease prevention. And which gives decreasing life expectancy.
A colossal big expensive army which is not able to overcome the Taliban. And the army’s expenses are poorly documented.
The judiciary is large and expensive.
The financial sector is filled with at least 90% air, which will give rise to a new financial bubble, which will empty people’s pensions.
The two identical parties present only the interests of the rich. And yet they are extremely hostile to each other.
Real wages for the middle class have not increased since the 1970s.
Many of the politicians stand with one foot in the grave, so it will never be them themselves who will pay back the country’s debt. Their goal is to survive only four more years.

I could make several points. But why do you think it is difficult to sell this system, Western Democracy to the Chinese?!

Wasn’t it a better idea to sell Chinese socialism to the Americans?! Who wants a government that will multiply your hourly wage?!

What do we know for certain about China’s military, or what sources are most reliable?

The bloody history has told every Chinese: China’s peace today is not because the invaders abandoned evil and turned to good, but because of the powerful PLA.

Men need emotional closeness

How do you make productivity less of a miserable experience?

Mike Tyson is the father of my favorite sports quote. Reporters were questioning him about his new opponent. They were building up the rivalry, talking about how dangerous this fighter was, how he planned to keep Tyson at a distance with his jab, how he planned to wear him down.

Getting annoyed with the questions, Mike looked up from tying his shoes and said, “Everyone has a plan — until they get hit.” It’s so perfectly translatable to life. Everyone is on a diet, until they get hungry. Everyone wants good grades, until it’s time to study. Aspirations and reality are often star-crossed lovers: desperate to be together but doomed to be apart.

We don’t like what most goals entail. There’s a way to make things easier. It starts with understanding the process of productivity.

Slow down your mind to produce more

In a 2013 experiment, scientists showed flashing images to young mice for six hours a day for ten days straight. The changing images emulated cell phones and TVs. Those mice later displayed significant difficulties getting through mazes and finishing cognitive tasks versus non-stimulated mice. Science has long known overstimulation leads to deficits in cognition and attention span.

More plainly, when you are bored with a task, you are often overstimulated. It’s worse than most people realize. Our minds are lost in thought for roughly 47% of our day.

Concentrative meditation, a focus on one specific thing, is proven to boost your focus over time, even if you only do it for five minutes a day. Letting too many voices in your head drowns out those that need to be heard. It’s counterintuitive to think that slowing down your mind increases its potency. The brain is like a lightbulb: too much energy makes it shine less.

If you are feeling ambitious, a Harvard study found that 27-minutes of meditation per day led to increased gray-matter density in the hippocampus, resulting in improved learning, empathy, and memory.

Start easier by creating mental opposition

My girlfriend works in academia and occasionally writes huge, thickly worded papers. On the scale of writing projects, it’s one of the most nightmarish. She was working herself up over a paper last month. She talked about it all week, dreading it, venting about it. She was eventually in full-blown tears, despite not having written a single word.

I’m a fairly patient guy but I do have limits. I finally said, “I need you to do a favor for both of us and get this done. Do it for me, please.” Her dread was bleeding into our relationship. Seeing my point, and to her credit, she powered through it and was a new person afterward.

Procrastination is the hellspawn of anticipation. We expend so much energy thinking about doing something, building up the tension, contemplating the boredom and pain involved. Our energy is sapped before we even begin.

Defeat it by inverting your thoughts

The next time you are putting something off, pay attention to your thoughts. Notice when you have a ‘dread’ thought, “This is going to be so hard.” Notice how you feel heavier. I can literally feel my body getting more immobile when I catch those thoughts.

The trick is to invert that process. I write for a living. When my keyboard is roaring at me like a 101-toothed monster, I’ll itemize reasons I should write. For example:

If I write now, I’ll have free time later.

It will be fun to discover which words show up on the page.
The show I’m watching is useless and boring.
I’ll make more money if I spend more time writing.
It’s going to ruin my mood if I keep procrastinating.

Make it a game to verbally list as many reasons as possible. This will magnetize your motivations. Actions are an extension of our thoughts. Starting is often the hardest part of productivity.

How to stay in the pocket after you start

When I was a swimmer, I didn’t have aquatic headphones to get me through a workout. Swimming is an exhausting exercise in sensory deprivation. You can only see the bottom of the pool and hear the water in your ears. Workouts were miserable and every stroke invites you to slack off.

The key was to stay focused at the moment. I did this in two ways. First, I focused on my technique, giving 100% of my focus to my coach’s instructions. When that technique crumbled, I fell back into reminding myself of my goals. I singularly focused on them, much like you would with concentrative meditation.

Remind yourself that you want to get promoted and get a raise. Reflect on sub-goals. Reflect on what happens if you quit now and flake out. Thoughts can be weaponized against laziness. Productivity is a battle in your mind. If you let weakening thoughts run about unchallenged, you are doomed. Focus on perfection and your attention to detail.

The takeaway and tying it all together

Remember, productivity has three key elements:

Convince yourself to start.
Stay focused despite distractions.
Continue working when you don’t feel like it.

Convince yourself to start by being cognizant of detractor thoughts. Dismiss them quickly and list out reasons to start.

To avoid distractions, practice slowing down your mind with meditation. Additionally, make a mental note of every time you lose focus. When I start getting sloppy, I’ll keep a piece of paper and make a line every time I catch my mind drifting.

Lastly, to get through arduous, monotonous tasks, focus on being present in the moment. Focus on the details. Think about your goals. But never dread the painful aspects of your tasks. Motivation is war. Know how to rally your troops.

Roman Empire and Chill

Dinardo’s Italian Restaurant Creole Carbonara

Ingredients

1/2 cup chicken thigh meat
2 1/2 tablespoons Creole seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 ounces andouille sausage, chopped
8 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Dash of Tabasco
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 pound fettuccine, cooked

Instructions

Coat the chicken with one teaspoon of the Creole seasoning.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and sauté chicken for approximately one minute.
Add andouille and continue cooking one additional minute.
Season shrimp with remaining Creole seasoning, add to chicken/andouille mixture and cook until shrimp are pink and curled.
Add green onions, garlic and whipping cream. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to medium.
Add Worcestershire, Tabasco, salt and half of the Parmesan cheese.
Coat fettuccine with sauce and top with remaining cheese.

West Germany.

Appreciation

* REAL ** Trouble: No One Buying US Treasuries

World Hal Turner

Nobody wants U.S. Treasury bonds. Bond Sales are in the worst stretch since the Civil War. The federal government has run up so much debt that few if any around the world, want to lend them money anymore. This cannot end well.

Once a symbol of America’s economic might and accepted as a global coin of the realm, US Treasuries have fallen badly out of favor, with serious consequences for taxpayers, investors, and financial markets.

Elementary economic forces — too much supply and not enough demand — have collided to create the worst stretch for U.S. government bonds since the Civil War. The government keeps borrowing to cover its budget deficits, while once-reliable buyers of that debt, both at home and abroad, have pulled back.

The result: Investors are demanding the steepest yields since 2007. Auctions of fresh bonds that were once routine are now going terribly. And bond portfolios are getting absolutely hammered. The longest-dated Treasury bonds are in a bear market worse than the dot-com bust and almost as bad as 2008.

Already 2.5% of the U.S.’s economic output is going to service its existing debts, a number that some analysts expect to hit 4% by 2030. Already running huge deficits, the only way for Treasury to pay the interest — along with ambitious spending programs like the CHIPS Act and student-loan forgiveness — is to keep borrowing.

They are now TRAPPED in a vicious spiral that can ONLY lead to financial death for the country. There is no other possible outcome because the government will not stop spending.

Skiing in Bavaria.

Smart kitty

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

Didn’t happen to me, but a friend of mine.

He worked in a private local company. At the end of 2017 the owner of the company changed which means the head of the board of directors changed (let’s call the new guy Jim). Obviously, Jim wanted to make some changes himself, mostly to establish dominance and show he’s the new sheriff in town. Rumors say he promised to double company’s profit in a single year (remember this). There’s a thin line between ambitious and cocky.

The first move he made didn’t have anything to do with the increasing work efficiency or meeting heads of departments or actually know the work that is done in that company. Jim had installed one of those time clock machines where employees check in when they get to work and check out when they’re done. Something like this:

[source: google time clock, image from Icon Proximity card keyfob Reusable RFID Key Fob for Icon]

only they didn’t have tokens, but cards. Installation and writing guidelines took about a week after which he announced to heads of departments that every employee must check in and check out themself even when they’re going out just for a break. Also, heads of departments should’ve forward these news to employees. The thing officially started second or third week in January of 2018.

At first, employees didn’t take it so seriously and some of them didn’t check in/out every day or didn’t (sometimes even forgot to) note down their breaks. At the end of the week, Jim would go through every employee’s record to see does any of them have less than 40 hours. (Notice he wasn’t interested in those who had more than 40 hours.) Friend told me that most of employees were in the range 38–45 working hours and a very few around 37 but none under 37. Jim called for a meeting with heads of departments every Friday to inform them about the records and to warn those who work less. Also, there was no compensation for those who work more (stay late or work on weekends).

Employees protested about that kind of behavior and wanted time clock out. That only made Jim to push that thing even more and convinced the board of directors and the owner that the time clock is necessary. So it passed.

The thing is that the work climate has changed. Everyone was more concentrated on if they checked in and if they worked enough than the actual work and the pressure started to build up. The thing went on for two whole months until the most of the employees (friend said 80% but maybe he exaggerated a bit) decided to come to work, check in, work their 8 hours at a moderate pace, check out and head home. No overtime, no working weekends, if the clock hit 16:00 people would leave midwork or in the middle of the meeting not giving a shred of an F. Their excuse was that they did their 8 hours and if they want them to stay, they want a written notice (which is a proof of working overtime and must be paid).

This way every single employee had 40 working hours a week and not a minute more or less. But you know what? Jim wasn’t satisfied. Why? Because work suffered. He made the employees numbers and working slaves that have only one purpose – to work. This killed all the passion people had towards the job they were doing. It demoralized people. They had a feeling that someone is standing above their head every second of the day. And the time clock might not be a bad thing to check employees every once in a while, but to terrorize them like Jim did made them do anything just in spite of that work regime.

After 3 and a half months, the moment of truth came. The first quartal report came. It was a bit better than the last year so Jim stayed at his position. Employees continued with their strike. The second quartal report came and the profit was ~8% less than the same period of previous year (maybe 9% I don’t remember). Jim ascribed it to a bad economy in the country and stayed at his position. Employees were informed about the drop in profit which made them to continue their strike. The third quartal report came. The company’s profit was down by amazing 34% compared to the same period of the previous year. Jim was fired on the spot (even though his mandate supposed to last 5 years) and time clock was left just to control employees every now and then.

Conclusion: Treat your employees as humans which they are and maybe consult someone about your radical actions.

A serious MIXED message

What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

Many decades ago my Dad was a high school teacher in the inner city of Boston.

One of the students in his class was a nationally ranked Judo practitioner who competed at the national level. This young man might miss weeks of school to attend an event around the world. IIRC he may have been part of the US Judo team at the time.

This young man was very quiet and kept to himself generally head down looking at a book at his desk. However he would sometimes be taunted by other students and generally would ignore the idiots.

One day Dad is writing something on the blackboard and behind him he hears one of the jerks taunting. He hears things like “You gonna show me some of that kung fu shit” and then he hears “Let’s see you block this punch”.

Dad hears a small amount of noise and turns around. This is a matter of seconds. The Asian Judo practitioner is sitting in his chair, head down reading a book. And the jerk kid is unconscious on the floor peeing his pants.

The jerk on the floor starts coming around. Dad tells his friends to get him back in his seat. And everyone starts laughing at the jerk because of the giant pee stain on his crotch.

That seemingly ended the attempted bullying. Everyone realized that this kid could kick everyone’s ass if needed.

I love a happy ending!

On Mount Wendelstein.

Wife Cheats On Work Trip And Now Is Losing Her Mind That Her Marriage Is IMPLODING

Her: I ripped the soul out of my husband through betrayal.

Also her: I made him coffee and did some chores. We should be all good, right?

Open relationships and big hands

Some content notes…

“Open marriage” appears to be an (American) acceptable way to turn a marriage into a fuck-fest. Sheech! I’m way too old for this bullshit.

I mention further down that there are races in China, where “open relationships” are the norm. But in the West, it turns out that an “Open Relationship” is but a code phrase to allow the female in a relationship to have multiple sexual partners, while the male sits at home watching the kids, the pets, and earns money.

Nine times out of ten, he never has an “outside relationship” even though officially he can.

…

The videos about “open relationships” are interesting and disturbing at the same time.

Sigh.

I find them very disturbing. After all, a “marriage” (prior to it being twisted into something different) meant a single monogamous family with shared emotions, shared sex, and shared responsibilities.

A core family unit.

Now, in the USA it is a freeway toward complete social discord and a breakdown at all levels of society.

Anyways…

As I get older my body changes.

I get shorter. No shit. My height gets smaller and smaller over time. Though, I will admit that my feet seem to get larger as a consequence of that.

Shorter in height, but bigger feet.

Not only that, but my hands seem to get slightly bigger, and my fingers are getting longer.

Big hands. Long fingers. Big feet.

Lordy!

…

Ugh. Why don’t women find big hands and long fingers attractive?

And a bald head… and a bot belly?

Not all of us can look like Adonis, don’t you know?

…

Balding, and fighting against a pot belly. Oh, the pain of aging!

But at least I have big hands and long fingers. LOL!

…

I don’t think that these body changes are attractive, but it is the price you pay to live to an old age. Perhaps, when I break 90, I’ll be a squat short man with big, big hand and feet and a bald head. Yucky!

Looking a little like Yoda.

I’d get a nice haircut, and some nice outfits if it mattered. But in my case, those are low on the priority scale right now. Smile.

Just smile. Accept yourself as it is, and as you change.

Today…

TuJia Crying

Why can’t Americans get access to the Chinese electric car market?

Americans foolishly screamed and shout that they are the leader of the free world without ever questioning if it is even remotely true or not! Please don’t be angry or upset if I help you guys since I understand you can pretend to be free or even dare says you are ordained by god to spread democracy and freedom but you Americans are one of the least free country on earth.

Let me help you good American. So first I like to explain how unfree you guys are.

35% of you cannot get health care when you fall sick! The most basic of freedom is the freedom to see a doctor and get cure when you fall sick. At least 100 million Americans don’t have this basic of basics of freedom.

Next 1 million Americans are homeless and don’t have another basic of basics of freedom. The freedom to have a roof over their head.! They have to live in makeshift tents on the streets.

20% of Americans don’t have 500 dollars to their name and don’t know where their next meal is coming from! Surely everyone must have the freedom to have a hot meal to stay alive!

USA with about 4% of world population has 25% of the worlds prisoners population! Think about this my American friends, prisoners are certainly. Not free. Many of them coloured people thrown into jail for the slightest reason. How on earth can you keep a straight face to say U.S. is the leader of the free world. No one know!

In many cities in the U.S. one cannot go to certain parts of the inner city like the Queens in New York. As crimes are rampant. So normal innocent and good Americans like you have to avoid that part of America! Surely freedom means you can go to anywhere or any part of America.

Kids and parents suffers the mental turmoils daily for just going to school. Many got shot to death in schools, public places, cinemas and even in Capitol Hill! Is that freedom? Even your kids are not free to go to school without a random mass shooter lurking with military grade weapons to murder them! Is this freedom?

If you are not fortunate to have a white skin you could be necked to death in the bright daylight of even driving a good car may be be shot to death just for suspected of stealing the car! Everyday you live in fear of a white policeman! Is that freedom to live? Freedom to avoid death at the racist inclination of the white racist? Surely not.

Freedom means you can choose who you really want to be your leader. Only 30% choose Biden. Or 35% choose Trump! Why are they your president? Your system allowed 0.8% of the richest and most influential people to choose your candidates! Surely this U.S. not freedom. This is far from democracy. How on earth can you call yourself the “beacon of democracy” who in a sane mind can claim that?

Oh today you country stop the Americans from having access to best 5G technology, Smartphone, best EV’s, drones and others for some geopolitical nonsense! Is this freedom? Freedom to be deprived? Let me help you understand. You can buy a 10 thousand EV. And need to be charged once a week but you are not allowed to! You can but your Tesla like for half the price but you are not allowed.

But to me EVs and Drones are just the top of the iceberg of your draconian policies that takes away the freedom of Americans like you. Think about Jullien Assange, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden! Freedom?

Chinese minority races

I love this short video.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/p_zTDynSeJ8?feature=share

Look what China is doing

According to a scientific research paper by the mainland military, the People’s Liberation Army has established the world’s first “Close Air Combat Command Force” (Near Air Command) equipped with professional hypersonic weapons and directly taking orders from the highest level of the People’s Liberation Army. It is responsible for executing “precise and ruthless operations” during wartime. ” attack mission. In addition, solar-powered drones and spy balloons are also possible intelligence-gathering devices.

https://money.udn.com/money/story/5603/7591830

Why does the Mafia have a rule against killing cops?

Note: this answer only applies to the American Mafia as the Italian Mafias have repeatedly killed public officials of all persuasions and badges.

Because killing cops, judges or any form of law and order official invites heat and exposure.

A ‘secret society’

Despite the movies, the books, the podcasts, youtube channels and press stories, at its core, La Cosa Nostra (LCN) is supposed to be a secret society. A money-making secret society.

It is meant to operate in the shadows, a ‘brotherhood’ using codes of silence and modes of discretion to conduct legal and illegal activities that bring it great wealth.

It seeks to evade law and order and allow its members to not only profit from illicit means, but, more importantly, enjoy the fruits of their dishonest labour.

A whole load of pain

Law enforcement communities are also brotherhoods (and now sisterhoods too). Kill one of their own, and they want revenge. They go ‘all in’ to catch and make an example of the ‘cop killer’.

Killing law and order officials has even proven to be ‘game changer’ for some organized crime groups. For example:

In 1985, the Guadalajara drug cartel kidnapped, tortured and murdered US DEA agent Kiki Camarena. The DEA was enraged and flooded Mexico and the border regions; playing a major role in breaking said cartel apart (clearly others appeared to replace it)
In 1992, the Sicilian Mafia killed Judges Falcone and Borsellino in two separate car bombs. These attacks created a ‘sea change’ in the political and societal will to go after the Mafia, with the late ’90s being an era of significant prosecutorial success against the Sicilians

In short, killing a cop or any other law enforcement official places a target on your head – and indeed that of your organisation. The resulting attention inhibits your ability to earn, to operate, and even places your freedom or life at risk … far better to just not do it and keep on living your illicit life.

Forbidden Archaeology, Human Origins, and UFOs… Michael Cremo

https://youtu.be/bNiFEuMtGpY

Ever sit next to someone on an airplane who was freaking out? What did they do?

Just once, but that was enough for the rest of my life.

It was 1993 or 94. Things started off just fine. He smiled at me from the window seat as I took my place on the flight from Philadelphia to Frankfurt, Germany.

Our ages must have been close. We shot the shit about sports and music and all those other harmless topics popular with early-30-something unmarried males.

He was impressed that Lufthansa (long ago) served him Johnny Walker red in his whiskey cola. He sure did like those whiskey colas…

Everything was amiable until just after the after-dinner drinks trolley finished serving.

He commented that he hated queers and he was pretty sure the male server was one.

I stared him in the eyes and said calmly and slowly, “nearly half of my best friends are gay … I think you need to rethink your attitude, the world is changing.”

Never have I seen someone transform so quickly from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. “You’re an effin’ homo lover! … I ain’t sittin’ next to no effin’ homo! Eff! Disgusting I even talked to you…”

Standing up he yelled at the stewardess, “This guy is queer. I don’t sit next to queers.”

The looks on the faces of the other passengers ranged from amused, to angry, to sympathetic. Most just pretended not to notice.

I got up and went to the back of the plane and waited for the crew to sort things out. They reseated me about 15 minutes later in a business class seat.

I have no idea what happened to him, but I think we can be sure he didn’t get any more whiskey colas…

Business class served Johnny Walker black.

The Male Loneliness Epidemic – Is It Women’s Fault?

This is a MUST watch.

Western society is DOOMED.

The Eviction Notice Is Being Written, and Will Come in Four Languages

Pepe Escobar

November 24, 2023

Orthodox Christianity, moderate Islam and several strands of Taoism/Confucianism may become the three main civilizations of a cleansed Mankind.

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

The Eviction Notice is being written. And it will come in four languages. Russian. Farsi. Mandarin. And last but not least, English.

A much-cherished pleasure of professional writing is to always be enriched by informed readers. This “eviction” insight – worth a thousand geopolitical treatises – was offered by one of my sharpest readers commenting on a column.

Concisely, what we have here expresses a deeply felt consensus across the spectrum not only in West Asia but also in most latitudes across the Global South/Global Majority.

The Unthinkable, in the form of a genocide conducted live, in real time on every smartphone in the third decade of the millennium – which I called the Raging Twenties in a previous book – has acted like a particle accelerator, concentrating hearts and minds.

Those that chose to set West Asia on fire are already confronting nasty blowback. And that goes way beyond diplomacy exercised by Global South leaders.

For the first time in ages, via President Xi Jinping, China has been more than explicit geopolitically (a true Sovereign cannot hedge when it comes to genocide). China’s unmistaken position on Palestine goes way beyond the geoeconomics routine of promoting BRI’s trade and transportation corridors.

All that while President Putin defined sending humanitarian aid to Gaza as a “sacred duty”, which in Russian code includes, crucially, the military spectrum.

For all the maneuvering and occasional posturing, for all practical purposes everyone knows the current UN arrangement is rotten beyond repair, totally impotent when it comes to imposing meaningful peace negotiations, sanctions or investigations of serial war crimes.

The new UN in the making is BRICS 11 – actually BRICS 10, considering new Trojan Horse Argentina in practice may be relegated to a marginal role, assuming it joins on January 1^st, 2024.

BRICS 10, led by Russia-China, both regulated by a strong moral compass, keep their ear on the ground and listen to the Arab street and the lands of Islam. Especially their people, much more than their elites. This will be an essential element in 2024 during the Russian presidency of BRICS.

Even with no check out, you will have to leave

The current order of business in the New Great Game is to organize the expulsion of the Hegemon from West Asia – as much a technical challenge as a civilizational challenge.

As it stands, the Washington-Tel Aviv continuum are already prisoners of their own device. This ain’t no Hotel California; you may not check out any time you like, but you will be forced to leave.

That may happen in a relatively gentle manner – think Kabul as a Saigon remix – or if push comes to shove may involve a naval Apocalypse Now, complete with expensive iron bathtubs turned into sub-ocean coral reefs and the demise of CENTCOM and its AFRICOM projection.

The crucial vector all along is how Iran – and Russia – have played, year after year, with infinite patience, the master strategy devised by Gen. Soleimani, whose assassination actually started the Raging Twenties.

A de-weaponized Hegemon cannot defeat the “new axis of evil”, Russia-Iran-China, not only in West Asia but also anywhere in Eurasia, Asia-Pacific, and pan-Africa. Direct participation/normalization of the genocide only worked to accelerate the progressive, inevitable exclusion of the Hegemon from most of the Global South.

All that while Russia meticulously crafts the integration of the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Baltic Sea (Finnish hysteria notwithstanding), the Arctic and the Northwestern Pacific Sea and China turbo-charges the integration of the South China Sea.

Xi and Putin are gifted players of chess and go – and profit from stellar advisers of the caliber of Patrushev and Wang Yi. China playing geopolitical go is an exercise in non-confrontation: all you need to do is to block your opponent’s ability to move.

Chess and go, in a diplomatic tandem, represent a game where you don’t interrupt your opponent when it is repeatedly shooting itself on the knees. As an extra bonus, you get your opponent antagonizing over 90% of the world’s population.

All that will lead to the Hegemon’s economy eventually collapsing. And then it can be beaten by default.

Western “values” buried under the rubble

As Russia, especially via Lavrov’s efforts, offers the Global South/Global Majority a civilizational project, focused on mutually respectful multipolarity, China via Xi Jinping offers the notion of “community with a shared future” and a set of initiatives, discussed in lengthy detail at the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) Forum in Beijing in October, where Russia, not by accident, was the guest of honor.

A group of Chinese scholars concisely frame the approach as China “creating/facilitating global nodes for relating/communicating and platforms for concrete collaboration/practical exchanges. The participants remains Sovereign, contribute to the common endeavor (or simply specific projects) and receive benefits making them willing to keep on.”

It’s as if Beijing was acting as a sort of shining star and guiding light.

In sharp contrast, what remains of Western civilization – certainly with not much to do with Montaigne,

Pico della Mirandola or Schopenhauer – increasingly plunges into a self-constructed Heart of Darkness (without Conrad’s literary greatness), confronting the true, irredeemably horrifying face of conformist, subservient individualism.

Welcome to the New Medievalism, precipitated by the “kill apps” of Western racism, as argued in a brilliant book, Chinese Cosmopolitanism, by scholar Shuchen Xiang, professor of Philosophy at Xidan University.

The “kill apps” of Western racism, writes Prof. Xiang, are fear of change; the ontology of bivalent dualism; the invention of the ‘barbarian’ as the racial Other; the metaphysics of colonialism; and the insatiable nature of this racist psychology. All these “apps” are now exploding, in real time, in West Asia. The key consequence is that the Western “values” construct has already perished, buried under the Gaza rubble.

Now to a ray of light: a case can be made – and we’ll be back to it – that orthodox Christianity, moderate Islam and several strands of Taoism/Confucianism may embrace the future as the three main civilizations of a cleansed Mankind.

Dilemma

Can soldiers actually see where the enemy is located while in combat? How do they make sure the enemy is dead?

Yes, they do. Forget the so-called “combat footage” you see on TV or YouTube.

It’s important to spot your enemies before they see you. This will give you a big advantage over them because you can better fight them or you can use this info to plan your next moves:

You already have a good hunch where your enemy is located before any fighting starts. Where and when you move will depend on the (often assumed) location of your enemy.

While you are moving, you are always on the lookout. It is usually the side that spots the enemy first that will have the upper hand in a firefight.

It’s one of the most important qualities in an infantry squad leader to have “a good eye”, meaning to anticipate the enemy’s whereabouts and to spot the exact location of enemy forces, especially under fire. You want to know from where you get shot at!

Sometimes, you will see the enemy, but they are still out of range of your weapons. You may want to relate their location to combat support troops that will then execute an artillery attack or an airstrike.

If you have no artillery or air support, as is often the case for guerrillas or special forces, you can approach the enemy until they come into range of your weapons or you set up an ambush.

In combat, you have to see your enemies to be able to kill them. Shooting around without anything in your sights is a waste of ammunition.

On the lookout: A Kosovo Liberation Army soldier observing enemy territory

There are exceptions:

Suppressive or covering fire where you shoot to hinder the enemy from exposing themselves to your fire keeps them out of sight. Still, even when shooting covering fire, you usually have a very good idea where your enemy is located.

In a combat situation, targets often disappear quickly after the first shots are fired. Your enemy will take cover. It’s not a mistake to send a few bursts of automatic fire to the place where you saw your enemy drop down, but after that, it’s time for indirect fire options, like hand grenades or Multiple Grenade Launchers (MGL). You won’t see your enemy, but as you use fragmentation weapons, there is a good chance to cause some damage as long as your grenades hit close enough.

It’s not always necessary (and possible) to see the enemy, but:

The sooner and the more precise you are able to pinpoint the enemy’s location, the better.

One word about “firefights” we see on TV: Most of the shootings on those clips is simply a waste of ammunition.

On the other hand, you won’t have a GoPro or any other camera switched on for twenty-four hours a day. When you spot the enemy (or they spot you), you’ll first shoot them (or jump for cover) before you start thinking about filming. As visible targets disappear quickly in the first moments of a firefight, the chances of getting an enemy live on camera are very slim.

Television crews rarely film on locations where the real action happens, but are often sent to less active parts of the frontline. The mere presence of a TV camera often prompts soldiers to start shooting. This is why our news shows are full of soldiers firing away at an empty landscape.

Women?

What is an insane coincidence that you’ve experienced?

I was headed in for a job interview several years back. As I’m walking in, two other men are approaching the door from different angles. One of them speeds up to cut off the other and get in the door first, and the other walks in, shaking his head in disbelief. As I walk in behind them, the first guy runs to the elevator and presses the button, not holding the elevator for the other guy and me. Again, the second guy just shakes his head and we wait for the next elevator. I say “Can you believe some people?” And we both chuckle a little bit.

As it turns out, we are headed to the same floor, so we get off the elevator together. As we walk into an office, there is guy #1 Mr Impatient, standing at the desk tapping his foot as the receptionist is finishing up a phone call. The receptionist asks him “can I help you?” And he says “I’m here to see Mr Smith for an interview at 3:30.” (it’s currently 2:50).

I think to myself “Great, this guy is interviewing for the same position I am and he will act like the sweetest guy during the interview.” I lean over and tell the receptionist “I am Mr Smith’s 3 o’clock interview.” Mr Impatient GLARES at me.

The other guy I walked in with (the one Mr Impatient cut off) then says “Hey gentlemen, I’m Mr Smith.” And turns to Mr Impatient and says “you don’t need to wait around. I’ve already determined you are not a good fit for our company. “

I got the job.

Donkey

What is the lamest “benefit” you’ve been offered by an employer?

I don’t know if you’d count this as a “benefit,” but my first job was at Wendy’s, when I was 16 in 1994. When they hired me, the manager said “minimum wage is $4.25, but we like to start people at $4.26 to give you a little extra and show we care.” He was dead serious, no irony. That has occupied part of my brain for 30 years now.

Street Fashion China

What does the election of a clinically insane ultracapitalist in Argentina mean for the world?

I knew something strange was going on when a candidate with X-men hair was elected president.

Buenos Aires has always had one of the world’s highest number of psychoanalysts. Now the psychological issues have made their way out of the bedroom into national politics.

Cheesecake Factory Louisiana Chicken Pasta

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

Cajun Sauce

1 tablespoon butter
1 small yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
3/4 small red onion, chopped
3 whole garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 1/4 pints whipping cream
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
4 tablespoons fresh basil, thinly sliced
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Chicken

6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons vegetable oil

Pasta

1 package bow-tie pasta
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper

Instructions

Cajun Sauce

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add yellow and red bell peppers, mushrooms and onion to same skillet and saute until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes.
Add minced garlic and crushed red pepper to skillet and sauté 2 or 3 minutes.
Add whipping cream and chicken stock. Simmer until sauce reheats and thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.
Add basil and 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese to sauce, stirring to incorporate. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, simmer. Sauce will reduce and thicken.

Chicken

Wash and drain chicken breasts. Pound until very thin, as thin or thinner then 1/4-inch thick (the thinner the chicken breasts the better).
Mix breadcrumbs, flour, and Parmesan cheese together. Place milk in dish for dipping.
Dip chicken into breadcrumb mixture and then into milk and then back into breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in skillet and fry at medium high temperature until golden, crisp, and cooked through. Add more oil as needed. Remove and drain chicken. Keep warm.

Pasta

Meanwhile, cook bow-tie pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain and return to pot. Add sauce and toss to coat.
Place pasta with sauce on plate, and top with chicken breast.
Serve, passing additional Parmesan separately.

This wife…

What was the scariest thing you witnessed or experienced while in prison?

Hello Allen, thank you for the question. Honestly, there were quite a few times I had the hell scared out of me. I’ve written at length about a few of them. I will provide a rerun of one of them now.

I was a in an FCI, a medium high prison with walls about 20’ high and rolls of razor wire 3 rolls deep at the base of the walls. There had been a lot of tension on the yard for weeks.

One morning as I was preparing for a Saturday, I noticed a group of 5–6 guys walk up to a bunk in a cell down a way. There seemed to be a bit of chatter and movement, sort of the thing a group might do if your team won a game. Talking, a bit of laughter, movement.

I walked by and went to breakfast, saw a couple guys I knew and we took a walk and discussed some important topic like that night’s dinner. A couple hours later I went back to my cell.

There were a couple CO’s and another guy in the cell where the group had been. They were standing over the bunk of the inmate.

there was something sticking out of his chest and the blood trails were in several areas.

It turned out this guy owed something to someone and wasn’t paying so the crew was sent to make an example.

The story was the weapon was a pencil, there were 9 wounds and the vic was rushed to medical and when he healed a bit was sent to a different prison.

The near murder right there was horrifying enough but the way the guys carried out the hit was nearly professional. It just seemed like a bunch of guys hanging out. All the while covering the scuffle, takedown and gigging.

In a flash you understand that if you cross an uncrossable line, even by mistake, it easily could be over before you realized what was happening.

It was a long time before I was comfortable in my cell, alone during open times or movements. Walking in a hall and coming across 4–5 guys of another race, you couldn’t show fear, but more than once I walked by waiting for a shank!

There is always a stress when you are inside. It is exponential when a high level yard is on edge.

See Tinh Dance Trend in China

What is the most dangerous thing you’ve found in your backyard?

A huge timber rattler

And it was my front yard.

On a summer’s day, as my wife Dorothy and I sat down to dinner, we thought we heard the sound of water being hosed onto a car. The front entrance was secured only by a screen door and we could readily hear neighborhood sounds.

Then Cocoa, our Seal Point Siamese, asked to be let in. When I opened the door, she fell over. And that noise was louder. I looked out; no car, no one hosing anything. And the noise was right below me, just off the porch. I looked down. A huge, very pissed off rattlesnake!

I called to Ralph, who had just stepped out of his kitchen, next door. “Rattlesnake!” I yelled. “Bring a rake!”

He did. And as Ralph pinned the snake with the rake, I tossed a large stone onto it, killing the serpent.

My wife took Cocoa to the vet, and while she was gone I decided to skin the snake, eviscerate it, and pan fry it. Rattlesnake meat was tasty, I heard, and the beast was as easily gutted as a bass.

But what do I do with the head? The fangs, the venom sacs?

Toilet.

I was unprepared for the surviving impulses of the snakes nervous system. Beheaded (and betailed, for the rattles) and completely stripped of the hide, I had in hand what appeared to be a section of a thick light grey garden hose, split down the middle. And when I ran this corpse under cold water, the spinal cord delivered one last discharge, causing the thing to writhe in my hands. It was alive! I threw the twisting monster into the freezer and slammed the door.

Dorothy and Cocoa came into the kitchen; the cat was recovering but Dorothy said I looked like I had just seen a ghost.

I explained. After a few minutes, I took the frozen snake from the freezer and let it thaw as I prepared a frying pan with melted butter and some salt and pepper. I cut the snake into sections as one might cut a sausage, and added the sections to the gently crackling pan.

In 5 minutes, the flesh had turned white and flaky. I removed all, divided onto 2 plates, and Dorothy and I sat down to eat.

And we tried. We chewed and chewed and chewed and chewed. But the meat had turned into some kind of weird plastic strands that refused to be swallowed.

I took all and tossed into a pressure cooker with some white wine, set all to max pressure and gave it a full 30 minutes. After decanting the vessel, there appeared the most perfect, delicate flakes, like carefully separated crab meat.

And we chewed and chewed and chewed and chewed. Next stop; snake to trash, hot dogs to grill.

Arousing the Animal in a man

Have you ever tried to eat at a restaurant, which happened to be a mafia front, but you didn’t know it was a mafia front, and everyone inside just stared at you when you walked in, because nobody actually eats there?

I had this experience once. There was a Shawarma/Pizza place on the same block as a place I had newly moved into. So I (single mom) went in with my young kids to order a pizza.

They didn’t have a menu, the ’employees’ were a bunch of guys in expensive tracksuits, jewelry, and all looked like buff gym rats, with the perfectly lined up and gel thick hair – they looked initially very confused that I was actually ordering food there, and there was a bunch of arguing in (I think) Arabic. They insisted that I order a pizza there, it would just be a bit of a wait. One guy left, and came back with a bag of groceries. It took over an hour. I offered a few times to go elsewhere “You’re busy, so sorry..” but they insisted I wait. I chatted with the guy who was at the front counter a bit- he was pleasant enough, but it seemed like he was deciding whether or not my entering of the restaurant was going to be a problem for them. While my kids and I waited on the pizza, a few times some tracksuit guys came in, went to the back, then left with stuffed brown paper bags. His whole demeanor changed when I mentioned that my kids and I had left an abusive situation, and that’s why we’d moved into the area. He wanted to see a picture of my ex, and insisted I show the other tracksuit guys too.

The pizza was ok I guess, a little undercooked. I don’t think the pizza oven had ever been used before- I could see the pizza oven from the front counter, and they had a huddle around it to figure out how it turned on.

The guy at the front didn’t know how to work the register, so he told me it was on the house.

Before I left, the front counter guy told me I was part of the neighborhood now, and to let him know if anyone bothered me or my kids, and he’d “take care of it”.

Anytime I walked past that store after that I was greeted warmly by the tracksuit guys, and they always asked if anyone was “giving me trouble”. Never tried to order food there ever again though!

Definitely was NOT a legit restaurant.

What’s something your husband did to you that you will never forget?

He surprised me. We were in our early 30’s and newly married. My husband said “ oh my , the freezer defrosted you better go look to see what can be saved”. I went to the kitchen and opened the freezer. Inside was a little box that said “ ice”. He had bought me a pair of diamond earrings. They weren’t the biggest and most expensive but they were beautiful. we are still married and I have worn them for the last 41 years.

Sympathy vs. Empathy

People who were late to work, what insane reaction have you received from your boss or manager?

I worked late one day so I talked to my boss and we agreed that I would come in late the following day. I had a funny feeling about this, as if she might try something. Thus, even though she agreed I should come in at 8:30 the next morning, I arrived on time and sat in the parking lot. She called me at 8:15 and asked me where I was. I reminded her that we agreed I could come in at 8:30, “but,” I said, “I’m parked right outside the office. Do you want me to come in earlier than we discussed yesterday?” She said no. That was in May.

In June, I got called in to her office and she wrote me up for being late that day a month prior as well as walking in 2 minutes late one morning. The write up skipped the initial verbal warning and first write up and stated it was a final warning.I was on notice that I could be fired for anything at any time.

One day in September she called me into her office and fired me for excessive tardiness. I filed for unemployment and won. The Judge laughed at her and told her “This lady was late by 2 minutes and you found that soooo agregious that you fired her for it, yet you waited 3 months to do it? You’re gonna pay on this one.” I ended up with 4k in back payments.

What do men want and need?

This is by far the BEST condensed answer ever.

Reciprocates effort
Is loyal
Is nice, polite, calm and cheerful
Shows respect.

And the absolute MOST IMPORTANT characteristic…

Must be THE only man in her life.

What is the most absurd thing you’ve been charged for on a bill?

Several months ago I went to a hospital fearing that I was having a heart attack. I wasn’t, as it turned out, but I was admitted for what was really wrong: pneumonia.

I was in the hospital three days before being discharged, and during that time I questioned every single medication they brought for me. An antibiotic IV about to be hooked up? I’d ask the nurse to confirm what specific one it was. A couple of pills they want me to take? “Which pill is which specific medication?”

I did this partly to be sure they weren’t giving me a wrong medication, and also to be aware of every medication they actually administered and could thus bill me for. Good thing, too.

When I was discharged they gave me a stack of paperwork. Some it was warnings about what I should or shouldn’t do going forward; some outlined the tests they had conducted and the results of them; and one page was supposed to be a pair of new medications one of the doctors had told me he was prescribing for me to fill after discharge. That page was missing, so I had to wait a few more hours while they got hold of that doctor and got him to enter the order.

Turns out one of the drugs he prescribed was atorvastatin for the high cholesterol that came up on one of the tests. The thing is, I am allergic to all statins, a fact that was all over the medical records they got from my primary care doctor, and which I had told them on at least three occasions as well when they asked me to confirm any and all allergies. Obviously I didn’t fill that prescription.

Then I got the bill, charging me $1145 for atorvastatin administered during my inpatient stay.

Now I of course knew full well they had never given me that drug, not only because I had been checking all the meds they did give me, but because I never had the severe reaction to it that would have resulted if they had. So I called their billing department, explained the matter, and requested they amend the bill. They refused.

I called my doctor, and she suggested I write the request out and send it to them via certified mail. That would have been a pain in my ass, as my big truck would not fit in the parking lot of the kinds of places one can do that, and I was over 1000 miles from home.

So I instead called hospital administration and told them I wanted to report a dangerous medication error by that doctor. That got their attention.

I again related the whole matter, which they verified from the notes right there in my records as I went along through the narrative. They clearly saw the multiple notes about the allergy, they clearly saw that no such medication was administered during my stay, and they clearly saw that the doctor had only prescribed it hours after I had been discharged.

They apologized profusely and promised that they would attend to the matter using the legally prescribed procedures, which they did not explain. I pleasantly accepted their apology, then asked if that process would include striking this billing item for administering that drug they had just admitted I never received.

They refused again.

I said that was fine, then asked how I should go about reporting them for malpractice for administering a drug my chart clearly said I was allergic to? Response: but we didn’t administer that drug!

My reply, as long as they insisted on billing me for it, I could only assume that meant they really had administered it. So it could only be one of two things: malpractice for giving me the drug, or fraud for charging me for it after not giving me the drug. I said I would leave it for them to sort out while I called my insurance company and briefed them on the matter… which I then did.

Two weeks later a new billing statement arrived with not only that charge removed, but charges for two tests they had charged me for but apparently not actually done. I called the insurance company again, and they informed me that those tests had been ordered but never actually done, and they themselves had been the ones to uncover that after my earlier call to them. They had requested an audit of my treatment, which had then exposed the other errors.

The most absurd thing to my mind was their insistence on billing me for a drug after they knew that doing so was documented evidence of malpractice.

Bonding with your kitty

If someone were setting you up for a practical joke, and you were already one step ahead of them, would you go along with it just for the laughs?

30 years ago a mate and I were heading off to the range to hit some golf balls.

It was his idea and he wanted to drive. I was saved by one thing and that was he didn’t have his wallet, so he went upstairs to get it and while he did that I thought I would take a quick look in the glove compartment in case it was in there.

It wasn’t but I found an exploding golf ball, still in it’s box, so I quickly swapped it with a real golf ball leaving the box exactly where I found it.

On the range we are smacking golf balls to oblivion trying to hit it further than the other can. After about 5 minutes my mate says, “Would you mind if we swap sides?”

Funny thing is, that was exactly what I was going to say in order to make him hit the exploding ball. Exploding golf balls don’t look or feel real so teeing it up for the victim is the only way for it to work.

So I said, “Sure. Just let me hit this one.” which I did and then while he watched it I quickly teed up the exploding one, which was loose in my pocket.

We then swapped sides where he then challenged me to a longest hit competition with our next shots. Of course I agreed and smacked mine as hard as I could and looked straight at him not where the ball went.

He was expecting my ball to explode but it didn’t and he looked quite confused about it. Then he had his turn. The whole thing just turned to dust in an instant. One huge dust cloud!

He spun around and looked guiltily at the range office like he had done something wrong and would get in trouble. If he was confused with my shot he was now flabbergasted with his own. His facial expression was priceless.

I’m laughing my head off as I can tell he can’t work out how any of this has happened. He told me later that in that moment he could not understand how it went wrong. He couldn’t figure out how the golf ball he took out the box and teed up for me got to the other tee.

I think there is nothing more satisfying in life than getting someone with their own practical joke.

My Wife Asked For An Open Marriage So I Hooked Up That Night And Dumped Her The Next Day

What 10 things have you stopped doing in your life?

Stopped caring or giving a Fck about people who doesn’t care for me.

Their benifit, opinions and even existence. Caring is mutual, if you can’t. Sorry. I won’t take a minute to forget you. My family and people who love me is everything for me.

Stopped taking stress and overthinking.

Because which I can control, I can control. What I can’t. I can’t. Me taking unnecessary stress not gonna give me control on things I can’t.

Stopped crying.

Most importantly, doesn’t gonna change the situation. If something happened, it happened. Crying will not change reality. Move on. Think calmly and search for a solution.

Stopped giving Explanation.

If you are asking proper explanation and proofs every time ( once or twice is okay ), he doesn’t believes you and he won’t, no matter how many times you prove yourself. Just don’t waste your time.

Stopped seeking for outer beauty.

When it comes to relationship, I am so deeply wounded by people who looked attractive only from outside, my preference changed. I now seeks for behavior and personality more than skin colour aur figure. But yeah, they matter too but isn’t a vital deal-breaker. But, if I get it, I won’t mind.

Stopped seeking for people’s company.

I don’t know, the day I took drop, my outside life is cut short, and all I have is my books, and my computer screen, and a small cozy bedroom-cum-studyroom. Now, it’s more than half a year, and now I prefer not to interact with outside world and stay in my cave.I can stay like that, alone whole day, even I want to live like this in hostel in single room.

Stopped being in people’s life, where no body want me too.

“When to leave” is most important thing. Not everyone who care for you really care for you, maybe one is just intrested in you, but when they lose interest, they won’t. It’s better to leave these people’s life, before they kick you out. If you feel things aren’t same like it was before, but you aren’t the reason, don’t stay there to heal, it will just reduce your self respect. Just leave it. Hurting yourself is better than hurting your self esteem.

Stopped reducing my respect for someone’s ego satisfaction.

You first feel that it’s just small stuff, it doesn’t matter. Let’s do this or that, to cheer up. Naah, my self respect isn’t worthed to become someone’s entertainment. You will ignore once or twice, but then it will become a habit, and will end when you completely become someone’s hand puppet.

I stopped keeping expectations.

Expectations are the reason of being hurt. Just remove expectations, you will be satisfied and happy. If you keep absolutely no expectations from people, even their most basic gesture will make you happy, because it was more than what you expected and you will feel blessed.

Just bring me your best

What’s the most unusual job you’ve ever had?

The fish census.

I’m not making this up.

As a youngster of 17, I worked for what was then (1965) known as the Maryland Department of Game and Inland Fish. (Today, the Department Natural Resources — DNR). My job was taking the census of the fish in Deep Creek Lake, located in Garrett County, the westernmost in Maryland, below Pittsburgh PA.

No, I did not knock on the surface of the water and then interview fish who answered the knock.

But what I DID do was interview anglers, fishing from docks or boats, asking them to pull up their stringers and show me their catch. And I asked what fish they had returned to the water and if those fish were dead or alive when returned. All of this went onto a data sheet. The data sheet itself was organized sectionally as to areas on the Lake, designated by name (such as Harvey’s Peninsula) and by a mark on a map.

Thus on any given day I would follow what appeared to be a a random walk from place to place, chatting up the fishermen, taking notes. I was the ideal employee because I lived on the lake during the summer and I knew every little inlet, peninsula, and tributary.

Now here are the parts that made the job especially interesting, occasionally hilarious, and sometimes mildly dangerous.

Illegal Anglers: The ones without a fishing license. My john-boat had state of Maryland Decals just aft of the bow, port and starboard, so as to identify me as “official.” And some of those who saw me approach assumed I was with “enforcement,” which I was NOT. Thus I heard all kinds of stories, ranging from the license being accidentally dropped overboard, to “I was just practicing fishing, I’ll buy the license tomorrow.” Some people actually untethered their stringer, to let the catch swim away. And one guy threw all his tackle overboard. Then there were those who had fish that measured less than legal for keeping; so full of apologies were they. I did my best to assure that I was with the State Biologist, NOT the enforcement division.

But one good thing…I learned where all the best fishing was and yes, I sure DID drop my line or trawl those areas.

Babe Watch: The Deep Creek Lake State Park has a sandy beach area.

When my lunch break had me near the park, I would beach the boat and sit on the grass munching my sandwich. And if I was lucky, I would make the acquaintance of some lovely lasses who might be receptive to a return visit from me when I was “off the clock.”

The Big Kill: In addition to the data I collected, the State biologist would stretch a net across an isolated inlet, and poison the water from the net to the shoreline. Hundreds; no THOUSANDS of fish floated to the surface, belly up. And some were trophy size walleye, pike and large mouth. I was in heaven. I was going to scarf up a basket or two, and have the ultimate fish-fry.

But no, said the biologist. Those fish would kill you.

Damn.

(You might wonder why all the fish outside the net weren’t killed. Some were. But the target inlet was NOT fed by a creek, so the water was fairly still —no current. Plus, the poison was short-acting.)

The Thermocline: There comes a point at which the water at the top half of the lake exchanges place with the water in the bottom half. Or, at least the temperature gradient does a flip-flop. I’m not sure why that mattered, but it was my job to transport the guy with the sample container to an area over the deepest place in the lake, where he would toss a brass container overboard, then jerk a cable to open the cylinder and let the bottom water flood the vessel. When he pulled on the cable again, that trapped the water inside, and he pulled the sample up to the boat.

There, we had various Erlenmeyer flasks arrayed in a wooden rack, into which flasks he drained enough bottom water to reach an index line on the flask. Then, he dropped in some power and watched the color. When he smiled, I knew it was time to take him and his chemistry set back to the dock.

Personal Use? You bet! The State’s boat had only an 18 HP outboard motor, so I wasn’t pulling any skiers. But yeah, when off duty I could use it as my personal ride, or to go fishing.

And to pick up a babe from the State Park.

Caught in the act

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

This happened to a good friend of mine.

He was a teacher and in his school the principal made the rule that all teachers must have their lesson plans for each week on the principal’s desk by 8am Monday morning, and he’d read them, sign them and have them back to the teachers by the time school started at 9am. This was. of course, a hassle for teachers and my friend worked out that there was no way that the principal could read every lesson plan in that time, let alone understand them. So he decided to run a horticulture unit with his class of about 9 year old children, the project being to plant trees up the middle of the school assembly hall. Now obviously this was a ridiculous project and was never going to happen, but the plans came back each week duly signed by the principal.

The teacher taught and had the children research what sort of trees would be suitable, measuring temperatures, light, heights and widths of trees, and researching the best species, all of which was clearly documented in the lesson plans and came back duly signed and approved by the principal. Finally the day came when the locations for the trees were to be marked on the hall floor in preparation for cutting the holes, importing the soil and planting the trees. The teacher carefully chose a day when he knew the school inspectors would be arriving. Sure enough, the inspectors had a meeting with the principal after morning assembly and part way through this meeting, as specified in the signed lesson plan, the teacher politely knocked on the principal’s door and asked where did he want them?

“Where do I want what?” the principal asked.

“The trees in the assembly hall,” replied the teacher.

“Trees? In the assembly hall? What do you mean?”

“Well,” replied the teacher, waving the sheaf of lesson plans, all carefully signed by the principal, “As you know, I have been running a unit on horticulture in preparation for planting trees up the middle of the assembly hall, and today’s the day we mark out where to put them. So we need you to show us where you want them, as I specified in the lesson plans which you read and signed.” He waved the sheaf of plans once again.

Needless to say, no trees were ever planted up the middle of the hall, and the principal never again wanted lesson plans submitted for approval.

Rufus is part of the community

There are things/moments in your life that feel like a warm hug. What makes you feel like a warm hug?

A few months ago, I noticed that my daughter smiled to herself a lot. I decided to “confront” her: “You have a crush. Haven’t you?”. She blushed and exclaimed: “How do you know that?!?!”. I played my cool poker face 😎 “Been there, done that. Tell me!”. Then she told me about the boy.

A couple days later, she asked me: “I noticed that during lunchtime, he finishes his lunch real fast then goes to the library to play chess. Should I go talk to him? I play chess too!”

I told her: “Why the rush? I think, you might want to practice playing chess a little bit better first, then ask him to play a match with you. You might win, or at the very least, not lose badly. And I tell you a secret: you can learn a lot about a person when they lose a game!”

For about 2 weeks, she played chess with me every evening.

One day, she came home and told me: “I un-crushed him. We played 2 games today. He won the first, I won the 2nd. But when he lost, he curse and stomped out. Not cool!”

That was the moment I felt like a warm hug. The feeling of being able to share with my daughter her stories, her feelings always warms me up.

My Fiancée Asked For An Open Relationship 3 MONTHS Before Our Wedding So I Kicked Her A** Out!

What questions do I ask in an interview to get a sense of company culture?

When I was being recruited by Nike in 1997 I was a little concerned about cultural issues, especially institutional sexism — I had heard that the place was something of a boys’ club.

I couldn’t travel for a few weeks so I was having a series of conversations with the general counsel in advance. We were arranging the logistics for my interview day. I’d basically see a different interviewer each hour from 9 am till 6 pm, including lunch with him and my predecessor in the job.

As we were discussing the plans I asked him if he could please include a woman who had been with the company for a long time.

I held my breath briefly for his reaction. Some male executives would have been offended. But he exclaimed, “What a good idea! I should have thought of it!” and immediately agreed to make it happen.

He was good for his word — my first interview that day was with Nike’s corporate treasurer, who was at least a 20 year veteran of the Swoosh.

I think it’s reasonable to state openly that you are eager to get a sense of the company culture, and ask the interviewer how they would describe it.

The Chinese YiChe race

China is home to many races, while Han is dominant, the other races are very interesting. This is a very interesting race. They have “open marriages”, wear miniskirts, and have a graduated system of Bride Prices.

Which incident did you consider to be an absurd hoax but later found out to be crazily true?

Many, many years ago I received a letter in the post. It was a recorded delivery and I had to sign for it to confirm delivery. I was intrigued and opened it immediately. It was a summons to appear in our local small claims court. I was being sued for £6,000. There were no details about the charges or any explanation of what the case was about other than the name and address of the complainant. I was mystified as I didn’t recognise the name. Lets call him Mr Smith.

In the three weeks before the stated date I convinced myself that one of my sons was playing an involved joke on me. I quizzed them all mercilessly but nobody would admit to knowing anything about it. As the date drew closer I determined to go to court just to find out which of my boys was the perpetrator of this rather involved joke.

Court day arrived and I went into the court building and presented my summons to an attendant, still expecting to be told it was a forgery. I was wrong. I was politely directed to a small waiting room and told my case would be called in 10 minutes. I was stunned.

When I was escorted into the courtroom the Sheriff (a lay judge in Scotland) asked me if I had a legal representative. I explained how I thought that the summons was a joke and I had no lawyer. He said that I could ask for a deferment to get legal advice if I choose but he didn’t think that was necessary. I sat down still stunned and confused but by now rather scared.

The Sheriff now asked the other side to outline their case. I listened in stunned amazement as the story unfolded.

Apparently some 6 months previously I had sold Mr Smith a tenpin bowling ball and drilled the ball to suit his hand. I had explained to him the need to keep the ball clean of lane oil on a regular basis. Mr Smith had taken me at my word and had left his bowling ball soaking in a bathtub of hot soapy water overnight. Feeling that the finger and thumb holes were wet when he fished the ball out of the bath in the morning he had decided to dry out the ball. Fifteen or twenty minutes in the microwave should dry it out nicely.

Some time later the ball had exploded. The force of the explosion was enough to destroy the microwave and send the door of the microwave flying upward with enough energy to punch through the ceiling and the floor of the room above his kitchen. Unfortunately the room above his kitchen was his neighbours bathroom. The microwave door not only punched through the floor but punched through the actual bath. Really unfortunately the poor woman was taking a bath at the time.

She was suing Mr Smith for the damage to her bathroom from the flying microwave door as well as the water damage to her carpets from the bath full of water. She wasn’t suing for the shock of a microwave door suddenly puncturing her bath although it must have been a terrific shock.

Mr Smith was suing me for the same amount on the basis that I had sold him a bowling ball without specifically telling him not to put it in the microwave.

By this stage several people in the gallery were laughing and the sheriff was definitely smiling. I was still worried but feeling considerably less scared. We all sat politely until Mr Smith’s lawyer had finished. The Sheriff then drew himself very straight and without a trace of a smile said that he was here to apply the law of the land and not to educate idiots. Case dismissed.

Two checks

What’s the most “chaotic good” thing that you have seen?

It’s early morning, the sun is just barely visible in the edges of the sky.

The date is August 5th, 2001 and Richard Ankrom and several friends are preparing to commit a crime that is several years in the making.

Twenty years prior, Ankrom was driving north on the 110 freeway. He got ready to merge onto Interstate 5 North, another freeway but missed the exit.

A few years later, he officially moved to LA and found himself driving on the same stretch of road as before.

He glanced up at the sign and realized the I-5 exit wasn’t marked at all.

That was why he had missed the turn ages ago.

And on that day, he swore to himself he would never let another person suffer the same fate.

He began studying freeway signs, their exact color, size and make up. He balanced on the edges of bridges to get precise measurements.

He copied the existing signs to a T, even consulting the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices to make sure he got the width and height perfect. He even sprayed the sign to make it look more worn down.

From there, he disguised himself, cutting his hair and buying a hard hat and vest.

And on August 5th, 2001 he positioned his ladder and climbed thirty feet to reach the sign.

He and his friends rushed away, afraid of getting caught in the act.

Nine months later, one of his friends confessed, leaking the crime to a local newspaper.

However, instead of being taken down, it passed inspection and remained there for another 8 years and even then, they put up a new sign in its place.

Richard Ankrom had achieved his goal.

Chaotic good?

What is the most accidentally slick thing you said to a girl?

I was 12 years old, and back then thought you teased girls you liked. I was infatuated with a girl in my neighborhood and would tease her on the school bus.

One day I meant to say “I’ve seen better, but I haven’t seen worse!”

It came out as “I’ve seen worse, but I haven’t seen better!”

I said this in front of all the kids on the bus. I stammered a minute, not believing what came out of my mouth! I never would have had the confidence to say something like that! She immediately smiled and hugged me. Suddenly I had my first girlfriend. I just went with it.

Advice for men

What is your idea of the present-day world?

An unusual opinion. -MM

The world is a black hole that can only swallow up those who cannot withstand pressure,
A man is only jealous when he loves a woman , otherwise he doesn’t care ,
Cost of living and groceries going up is a mental health issue ,
Money should be your number one priority because everything else is amplified by being rich ,
Don’t believe in “ Disappearing for 6 months “ to transform yourself. You’ll almost always grow faster with people around you,
Learning to communicate what you really mean and what you really need is a hallmark trait of becoming an adult ,
Strangers appreciate you but “ friends “ hold hidden resentment and secretly hope you slow down,
Entrepreneurship is not easy . It’ll test you at every moment . But if you persist and stay patient , it’ll change your fortune forever ,
Decency still wins ,
Just Chill.!!

What is the nastiest thing you’ve done for revenge?

I had suspected my wife was cheating, so put a tracker in her car. When she claimed she was going to a friend’s house to watch his dog, I watched on the tracker monitor as she in fact drove in the exact opposite direction to a hotel to meet one of what I would later find out were several lovers. So, I grabbed her spare keys, took a Lyft to the hotel she was actually at, got in her car and drove it to the friend’s house she was supposed to be at, then took a Lyft home. When she called the next day, claiming her car was stolen, I asked her to use the friend’s Ring camera to see the culprit. Cornered, she confessed, and found her own way home, then shortly thereafter, her own home.

What do you bring to the table?

What are the most widespread myths about the Roman military and tactics during the Republic and Empire?

1: The Testudo

You’ve all seen this formation right? It’s rather famous.

Well, would you be surprised to find out it was not that commonly used? We have some records of it from Dio and a few other historians but it was not that common.

Typically this formation would be used during a siege where the infantry needed to close in on some high walls under missile fire. Otherwise, it was never really used that often.

The problem is that this formation makes units less maneuverable and less flexible and it makes hand-to-hand combat almost impossible. So in every battle, the Romans would just be in normal lines ready to fight.

2: The Romans had poor cavalry

Now the Romans truly did not produce great cavalry from their own ranks. However, the Romans most certainly used talent wherever they found it.

When they conquered a people that were great on horseback they would employ them as Auxiliaries to assist the legions.

This means the Romans had

Numidian Cavalry (ranked among the best on earth at the time)
Macedonian Cavalry
Gallic Cavalry

These were without a doubt the best horsemen on planet earth and they all fought for the Romans.

In fact, during the late Imperial period, the Roman military became very calvary-centric and did end up boasting some of the best trained and equipped cavalry on earth.

One thing to remember is that cavalry at this time was not all that great. Stirrups were not yet invented and this meant that cavalry were basically expensive scouts minus a few exceptions. Infantry won wars in the ancient world far more often than cavalry.

3: The Romans were brutal conquerers

Now the Romans could be brutal and there were many times where they were brutal. However, in terms of being conquered, you could do worse than Rome.

If you snuggled up the Romans as an ally and played the role of submissive ally Rome would defend you to the death and be extremely hands-off. You’d keep your rulers and laws and merely pay a small tax to Rome. You also got the benefit of protection from the legions which meant total safety for centuries.

Rome viewed every relationship (diplomatic or otherwise) as having the dominant patron and the submissive client. The role of the patron was to support, elevate, and protect while the role of the client was to submit, admire, and support. If a tribe submitted itself as the client, Rome was often a great patron.

The Romans were also extremely tolerant of others. There was some racism and xenophobia as there is in all peoples but Rome accepted all religions and cultures as valuable. The Romans often adopted cultural elements or even gods from conquered peoples.

Now if you betrayed the Romans or worse yet attack them, they could be extremely brutal. Any slight paid to Rome would be returned ten-fold.

Being conquered by Rome was not the worse fate in the world, but being an enemy to Rome was certainly a death sentence.

Copeland’s of New Orleans
Stuffed Strawberry French Toast

Ingredients

1 cup milk
3 cups heavy cream, divided
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 French baguette, sliced diagonally
1 cup strawberries, freshly cut
Powdered sugar for dusting
1/2 pound cream cheese

Instructions

Combine milk, eggs, vanilla extract, sugar and 2 cups heavy cream; mix well, then set aside.
Whip remaining 1 cup heavy cream until peaks form. Beat in cream cheese until smooth.
Heat skillet over medium-high heat; add butter.
Dip bread slices into batter, making sure to leave them long enough to absorb some of the batter without making them soggy. Place bread in skillet; brown on both sides.
Remove bread from skillet and place on a plate.
Scoop cream cheese mixture on top of each piece.
Top with another piece of toast to form a sandwich.
Top with fresh strawberries, dust with powdered sugar, and serve immediately.

At this point in life, what excites you the most?

For context: I’m 37. Married since 2017. One kid. Flat broke. Heavily indebted. Diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disorder in 2016. Recently embarked upon a spiritually rewarding career as a helicopter pilot.

(Neither this nor what follows is an indictment of capitalism or Western society, as I hope you know. I’m flat broke because I have a toddler and am starting over from scratch career-wise, and I’m indebted because I borrowed heavily in order to attend flight school. It was my choices that got me here, nothing else.)

At this point in life, what excites me the most is:

1. Affording steak.

My wife and I usually have anywhere from $20 to $150 between paydays. My wife just got a job at a daycare center, so that’ll take some of the pressure off. But our debt is such that every spare penny should be spent paying it down. Frivolities like steak, good booze, fancy dinners out, and even trips to the zoo and aquarium with our daughter have gone out the window. My folks had to float us $1100 for snow tires earlier this month, and I’m having a hard time dealing with the shame of it. What excites me the most right now is making enough money to pay down debt and still have enough disposable income left over to treat myself and my family.

2. Supporting my girls on a single income.

In a year’s time, if I play my cards right, I could be the assistant chief flight instructor at my flight school. Or I’ll move on to a job in the helicopter tour or utility industries. Either way, I’ll be getting a fat raise. This has amazing ramifications for my little family. It could mean that my wife and I will be able to pay off a significant chunk of our debts, and we’ll have more disposable income. Far from merely being able to afford steak, I might be able to buy it regularly—and grill it on a grill I could then afford to purchase, while drinking beer I could afford to homebrew. It might also mean that my wife and I could afford to have a second child, accrue some savings and an emergency fund, and even scrape together a down payment for a goddamn house. (I’ve never bought or owned a home in my life, and I’m tired of renting.) But whatever the consequences of my pay raise, I’ll just be happy and proud to be providing for my family at long last. And not dependent on my folks.

3. Enjoying a proper autumn.

November up here in the Northland has been unseasonably warm, the locals tell me. Normally there’s a few inches of snow on the ground by now, and the temperature is below freezing every day. It was 50 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday. The leaves have already fallen, but the abundant sunlight and mild temperatures are making me feel like we’re getting an actual autumn instead of leaping straight from summer to winter. And I’ve been taking full advantage of it. I hiked to the top of Ely’s Peak in my shirtsleeves last Wednesday, and today I took my daughter to Hawk Ridge and Hartley Park.

4. Getting checked out in a turbine helicopter.

Speaking of shame, I have over 500 hours in rotorcraft and all of them are in Robinsons. Not that there’s anything wrong with Robinsons, but you can think of them as the tricycles of the helicopter world. Some people ride them for fun, and very few for work, but they mostly use them for training. Getting checked out in a different helicopter, especially a turbine-powered one, would be like learning to ride a motorcycle by comparison. I’d feel like a real helicopter pilot then. My school just happens to have an old Bell 206B that it uses to provide turbine transition training to students. I missed my chance to get checked out in it this fall—too low on the seniority list—but I’ll almost certainly get into it next summer. I’m stoked.

5. My daughter’s 2nd birthday.

I can scarcely believe that my girl is almost 18 months old, let alone that she’ll be two in June. Being able to say “she’s two” instead of “she’s XX months” excites me for some odd reason.

6. Reading, as usual.

Having a kid and becoming a flight instructor put a major crimp in my reading schedule. I’m currently 13 books behind, according to the tracker I use on Goodreads. Granted, I picked some doozies to read this year. It’s been a long, hard slog, reading Lewis and Clark’s journals and The Brothers Karamazov simultaneously. But I’m almost done, and I have a couple of new books waiting in the wings—a much-anticipated travelogue by Anton Chekhov (Sakhalin Island), and a horror novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (The Relic), which I’d intended to read in October. That, and the rest of the books on my reading list (sketched out until the year 2031), have me excited. As they always do.

7. Making soup every weekend.

Classic dad move, right? I enjoy soups and stews immensely. And winter, of course, is soup season. To take full advantage of it, I made out a list of soups that I want to make this season and have been checking them off one by one, starting the weekend of my birthday in late September. I’ve done beef stew, French onion soup, pumpkin soup, fish-head soup, and chicken stew with dumplings. Tonight it’s beer cheese soup. I am super pumped.

8. Date night with the wife.

Due to various factors—lack of funds, a dearth of trustworthy babysitters, scheduling issues, the realities of having children, and general stress levels—my wife and I haven’t been dating each other like we should. In fact, we’ve gone on exactly three dates this year: in January, June, and October respectively. We’re trying to fix that. I’m securing a sitter for the night of Friday the 24th. My wife and I have plans to slip across the river into Wisconsin for burgers and brews at a much-beloved taphouse. I am beyond excited about this. It’ll be nice to sit across a table from my spouse, sip local brews, and discuss something other than poop and money.

What’s a hilarious story that has happened to you?

Once upon a time I put in average speed cameras on a section of the A31 in UK. They were dropping the speed limit from 60 mph to 50 mph on this stretch. For those that don’t know these monitor your speed over a set distance and if you are 10% + 3 miles per hour over the speed limit you will get a fine, (or occasionally offered a Driver Awareness Course, based on the speed and if you have done one in the last 3 months).

Anyway, cameras go in, we do the testing phase and final commissioning.

2 weeks after they are commissioned, I went to a meeting to close the final account for putting these in, drove passed them on the way home at 62 mph, (as I had always done), and forgot they were now live and got a £60 fine and 3 points on my licence. All from safety cameras that I put in.

How might the Gettysburg Address have gone if it had been written and delivered by Donald Trump?

Four thousand and seven years ago, my father, who was a great man, one of the greatest men in history, he was born in Germany; he went into the real estate business. You have to be really, really smart to get into the real estate business. I inherited his smarts, and I got into the real estate business too. I have the best real estate. Everyone loves my real estate. But now we are engaged in a great civil war. The greatest civil war. Why are we engaged in it? Because my predecessor, President Bookananin, was a bad deal maker. If I had been President then, we wouldn’t have had a war because I would have made a deal, the best deal. I am the best deal maker ever. It’s true. If I had been President, I’d have made such a good deal that the North would be happy, the South would have been happy, the slaves would have been very happy; they would have been the happiest slaves you have ever seen. Just smiling and singing and picking cotton. Such happy slaves. But now we are here to bury the dead. But what we say here cannot honor them. Because they don’t deserve to be honored! I like soldiers who are so good that they don’t get shot. What good is a dead soldier? Dead soldiers can’t soldier any more because they are dead. All soldiers who die are just losers. If I had been a soldier, I would have survived, I guarantee it. Now let’s go play some golf!

What was the bravest thing you ever did in a job interview?

I arrived for an interview and was asked to wait a few minutes as the interviewer was held up. A few minutes later he came out, apologised said he’d been called to an urgent problem. He explained that some of the stuff I’d be working on would highly commercially sensitive and while he finished up could I read through the pre-interview contract and sign it.

I read through it and though I’m no lawyer it read like they could sue for everything I owned from my house down to my underwear if I so much as said I’d been within a mile of the building. The I interviewer came back a few minutes later and asked if I was happy and had signed the paperwork.

I replied that I hadn’t signed coz it looked a bit iffy on the conditions and he replied

‘congratulations, you’re the first person out of 8 people who passed the first stage test’.

Apparently everyone else had skimmed through and signed and not bothered really looking at what they were signing off on.

I got the job.

Finally someone gets this

Why do mines explode when you take your feet off, but not at the moment you step on them?

For the same reason it takes three minutes to trace a phone call, firewalls have a progress bar on them, and all handguns regardless of caliber and design always make the same sound (unless they’re silenced, in which case they go “thwip thwip”):

Because Hollywood isn’t real.

In the real world, a phone call can be traced the instant the phone rings; you don’t even need to pick it up. In the real world, firewalls either block some bit of traffic or they don’t. In the real world, different firearms all make different sounds, and they’re heckin’ loud, even if “silenced.” Like loud enough you won’t be exchanging witty quips with anyone during a shootout.

And in the real world, antipersonnel mines detonate instantly, except some old bouncing mines that detonate about a second after they’re activated.

What scary gut feeling did you have that turned out to be true?

I woke up one morning after having a bizarre nightmare. I dreamt that called my boss and told him my youngest son was going to die. My son was only 10 days old at the time. A perfectly healthy beautiful little baby boy. When I woke up I felt nauseous from the dream and experienced the worst anxiety I have ever had. I knew intuitively that something was wrong with my son. He didn’t show any rare signs or specific symptoms, the only thing that was odd was that he slept a bit heavier than usual that night. I couldn’t ignore my anxiety and checked his temperature and was shocked when it showed 35,1 degrees Celsius. I immediately took him to the ER and soon found out that an entero virus (a normal winter season virus that gives you a cold) had affected his heart and the room was soon filled with doctors and me and my husband were asked to leave. 12 hours later the doctors informed us that the virus had caused our healthy baby a serious heart failure (dilated cardiomyopathy and myocarditis ) and that he probably wouldn’t make it. They called a priest and the rest is black for me. Our baby was put into coma in a respirator and was going to be put on an ECMO machine. We were transferred to the ICU for infants. After 2 months at the ICU he suddenly improved. The doctors told us that almost no children survive this virus on the heart – because there are no obvious clear signs so the parents don’t understand that something is wrong. They also said that what he survived is in theory impossible to survive (considering how ill he was). They asked me what caused us to seek help and I told them about my dream. I will never forget the doctors answer “there are somethings between heaven and earth that medicine can’t explain – your boy is a living miracle”.

He turns 5 next year and has almost recovered 100% from the heart failure expect for 1/8 of his heart that is permanently damaged.

China’s trying to become the world’s biggest producer of EVs. By the time human-caused global warming becomes so bad that cons are forced to acknowledge it, will China’s economy catch our economy off-guard, and force our car industry out of business?

They are not trying. They are. You are out of business due to you guys looking down and under estimating China. And all the shit about intellectual property theft and copying while in truth China overtook the U.S. and the world in EV technology. Global warming is caused by the U.S. and the west China resolved it.

Yes you guys are caught off guard but it is your fault. Today there are still many especially white Caucasian westerners who thinks the Chinese as no technology, no can only do T-Shirts and Cheap plastic toys. To me it is racism and served you guys right. China will out compete you in every sector including jet planes, rockets, quantum computers and AI.

Even this question is a racist and underestimating China nonsense. Even the great Tesla used Chinese engines and batteries. China makes 9/10 EVs on earth. And they are catching up! What a foolish statement.

What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

When i was about 9 years old we lived acoss the street from a little store that had a paper machine out front. My mother would send me over with a quarter each morning and 3 on sundays to get a newspaper. One day an old timer was walking up and said, watch this. He put 4 pennies in the machine and much to my surprise, it opened right up just as if he had put a quarter in it and sure enough on Sunday, 12 pennies did the same thing. Not sure if the machines worked by weight or what, but this went on for a few years until we eventually just got it delivered. This was a time when 20 cent would buy 4 fireballs or lots of other smaller candies. I truly believe karma caught up with me as i had more than my fair share of cavities growing up.

What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

My sister died 5 weeks ago. We’ve just got back from her funeral in the UK. She’d been in poor health for several years so it was no great shock, but sad as she was only 69. This (slightly edited tale) was read out by the celebrant plus several of her other exploits over the years. She was a force of nature. Don’t rest in peace Lynn, create all the mayhem you did when you were here.

My sister is extremely feisty. She was in hospital giving birth to her first child, who was a large baby and my sister is tiny, she weighed about 35kg. Anyway she needed an episiotomy for her son to be born. Anyway after the birth the midwife said the cut was so long it would need stitching. The doctor came in, agreed and gave her a local anesthetic into the area. Then he disappeared for 3 hours, by which time the pain relief had totally worn off and he began to stitch. When she cried out in pain he told her not to be such a baby and to quit whining.

He had a tray of instruments by the bed so she picked up a scalpel and rammed it into the back of his hand. While he was screaming she told him not to be such a baby and quit whining. They administered more local to finish her procedure, and found another doctor.

The dark side

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve done for payment?

I was a seat filler for the Mafia.

When I was in high school in New York, rumor was that my friend’s tough looking father was in the Mafia. One day, he hired a bunch of his son’s friends to attend an auction in the Bronx. He gave us an address and told us to be there at 8am.

The auction, selling off the assets of a bankrupt business, was going to begin an hour later. By the time the real bidders arrived, they were denied entrance by a bribed fire marshal because the room was already filled to its legal capacity by dozens of hired bodies like myself.

Clueless, we sat there and watched as my friend’s father and his buddies won every lot without competition.

United States (Florida) crazy-town

What’s the funniest joke you know? Please I need to laugh. No seriously I am on the verge of crying my soul out of my eyes.

A man and his wife are awakened at 3 o’clock in the morning by a loud pounding on the door.

The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, is asking for a push.

“Not a chance” says the husband, “it is 3 o’clock in the morning!”

He slams the door and returns to bed.

“Who was that?” asked his wife.

“Just some drunk guy asking for a push,” he answers.

“Did you help him?” she asks.

“No, I did not, it is 3 o’clock in the morning and it is pouring rain out there!”

“Well, you have a short memory,” says his wife. “Don’t you remember about three months ago when our car broke down and those two guys helped us? I think you should help him, and you should be ashamed of yourself !”

The man does as he is told, gets dressed, and goes out into the pounding rain.

He calls out into the dark, “Hello, are you still there?”

“Yes” comes back the answer.

“Do you still need a push?” calls out the husband.

“Yes, please!” comes the reply from the dark.

“Where are you?” asks the husband.

“Over here on the swing!” replies the drunk.

Pearl has an opinion

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tYh5xA5_wAs?feature=share

What gift did you give that made you speechless by the reaction you got from it?

My daughter had married a guy I really liked. One fall we were discussing hunting and he mentioned an unusual shotgun he learned to hunt with. He really liked it, but had never seen another like it. It was a bolt action 20-gauge shotgun.

As he described the finger grooves in the plastic trigger guard, I realized he was describing a Mossberg Model 185K. I collected Mossberg firearms and had a decent specimen sitting unused in the back of my safe.

Over the next couple of months I refurbished the gun, rubbed the stock down with tung oil and restored as much of its 1950 beauty as I could. Having found a box for it, I took it by on Christmas day.

When he unwrapped it, his mouth fell open. Literally.

“Oh migod. THAT’S THE ONE! That is EXACTLY the gun I grew up with! How did you find this???”

My 6′7″ son-in-law picked me up and hugged me – with tears in his eyes.

Think my daughter found a good one.

Americans are so hard to understand…

How can BRICS include both India and China, when India and China are so antagonistic with one another?

Yes, China and India have border disputes, and border conflicts broke out in the 1960s and 1970s. There have also been conflicts in the Galwan region in the past few years.

But the relationship between China and India is not as bad as Western media renders it, nor is it as terrible as some Indian media render it.

If we look at a world map, especially one with altitude. It can be seen that China and India are separated by the Himalayas. Although the two countries are neighboring countries, they are naturally separated.

Therefore, in the past thousands of years, the two countries developed independently without interfering with each other, and even little trade was carried out. The current China and India were only established after World War II. The contradiction between them originated from the division of territories by the British colonists, rather than the natural contradiction between the two nations. In the words of the Chinese, China and India “have no historical debt.” After all, the Chinese view history in terms of 100 years as the smallest unit.

If you ask a Chinese: Who do you think China’s enemy is?

The vast majority of Chinese people will answer: Japan. Maybe someone mentioned the United States, and maybe South Korea.

, some may even say Russia. But I have hardly ever heard the Chinese label India as their enemy. Even if I emphasize that “China and India had a war,” they will still think: “India is not an enemy” and regard the Sino-Indian conflict as “a quarrel between neighbors.”

In the eyes of Chinese people, couples also quarrel, let alone two neighboring countries. As long as the scope of cooperation is far greater than the scope of differences, then both parties are partners.

Of course, the results of this survey in India may be completely different, mainly due to the influence of Western and Indian media. After all, the media is very good at seizing on a certain local hot spot and then telling the audience that this is all.

The point I’m trying to make, though, is this. The two sides are not really hostile. The similarities between China and India outweigh the differences. They are all developing countries with huge populations and face problems such as poverty alleviation, public education and environmental pollution. Both countries are developing rapidly and are gradually coming into conflict with developed countries. The two sides have consistent interests on many issues, especially international trade, carbon emissions, human rights and other issues, and they jointly resist the squeeze of developed countries. On the issues of the Russia-Ukraine war and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, China and India basically have the same attitude.

China and India do not have much competition in business. China is developing high-end manufacturing and competing with developed countries. India is developing mid- to low-end manufacturing industries and can take over the production capacity transferred from China. India is a major agricultural exporter, while China is a major agricultural importer. There is a lot of room for cooperation between the two parties.

When the Sino-Indian border conflict occurred, there were already serious deaths of soldiers. No shots were fired. This shows that the agreement between the two sides outweighs the differences. The border dispute is not the mainstay of Sino-Indian relations. This point has a clear consensus among the elites of both sides. So the soldiers were severely restricted. The foundation of the relationship between the two countries will not change because of the advocacy of the Western media. There will be no war as the West expects.

After all, neither Chinese leaders nor Indian leaders are fools.

Can-trapped-workers-be-rescued-by-the-Chinese

Absolutely

The Chinese build so much that they are used to such collapses and have extremely specialized rescue teams

Like in the Turkey earthquake recently

Their ability to use small drones to slip through the small holes, use positioning of living objects under vast structures and their ability to vertically drill and horizontally drill makes them the world’s best experts in rescue operations

This team rescued 319 people given up for dead in Turkey

They were HEROES

The victims were given up for dead

Plus the Chinese Tunnel building through Mountains makes Indian tunnels look like School Project work

This Tunnel in India is a straight cut

Chinese Guoliang Tunnel is at a 36 degree upward incline through mountain surface. They are masters at tunneling

The Chinese teams drilled 368 meters deep vertically against an EXPLODED SHAFT in a gold mine with fissure methane gas and still rescued 11 workers from certain death in 11 days

That was an explosion plus collapse plus methane pockets not just a collapse like in UK

Compared to that, this rescue is horizontal and can be done in their sleep

So why aren’t we calling the Chinese?

Simple

Ego and nothing else

Calling the Chinese would be a blow to our ego and would cause our politicians to lose face

I was patient for a few days but now it appears the NDRF team are morons and the Aussie in charge is a bigger moron

The Auger has been damaged four times now

The men have been stuck for 15 days with no hope as yet

Time to pick up the phone and call Beijing for help and rescue these men and send them home

Enough of this worthless ego

Enough of the learning curve

It’s clear the team members are dunderheads because the augers have been broken four times in four days

Today it was so likely that the men would be out and yet again the Auger broke

Dunderheads all of them !!!!!

Fucked Up Walmart Story

What is the greatest gift that your children gave to you?

Last night my kids flooded the whole living room with slimy water.

“BEEEEEEEEN!” my wife hollered. “COME SEE THIS!”

I knew this was trouble because my wife is one of those people who never raise their voice.

When I stepped onto the scene, I saw my three kids plus a friend of my oldest son’s all belly-sliding from wall to wall with nothing on but underwear.

The sight was so perplexing, surreal, and unexpected, that I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off.

It was like the first time I ever got stoned as a teenager and every time a friend threw an M&M on me I giggled uncontrollably.

Every kid scooting across the gooey floor, his arms flailing, letting out screams of glee, had me laughing until my belly hurt.

They were like cute gremlins swimming through space.

Never mind that I was terrified of slipping because I just had my ACL operated on. Or that my youngest one started bawling after two of the others crashed into him at the same time. Or that my wife and I had to use all the towels in the house to soak up the gunky liquid later.

I hadn’t had such a good laugh in ages.

I’ve been punched in the balls. I’ve cleaned neon-yellow runny poo from across the floors of multiple rooms—why would you crawl across the whole house while pooing?! I’ve made elaborate date plans with my wife just for two of us to realize we fell asleep while reading to the kids.

And somewhere along the way, instead of getting angry every time, I discovered the humor in all of it.

Something of the maddening nature of having kids taught me to stop taking myself so seriously. Showed me that sometimes, life is so damn absurd that all you can do is laugh. That every single plan and intention can come boomeranging back to you and whack you in the face.

And before you feel the pain—or clean the slimy floor or the runny poo or make a new plan—you can take a moment, laugh it off, and then get to it.

I’m in Ghana and was invited to a Thanksgiving party, what the H3LL?

What is the most absurd thing you’ve been charged for on a bill?

My neurologist asked me to wear an oximeter/heart rate monitor overnight. I told him it would be useless, as I was not sleeping much, but he had me do it. I got a call a few days later asking me how I coped on such little sleep. We never mentioned it again.

Then I got a bill for $14. For what?

I was being billed for the “use of the monitor.” Not by my neurologist’s office, by some 3rd party.

I called my neurologist’s office, they said that they don’t own the equipment, they rent it from the service that sends them the test results, which was not this company. They were like, fine, don’t pay, we don’t know who this company is. I called insurance – they said they had never heard of FBN Rental.

I called FlyByNight Rentals and told them to bill my insurance. They said they had. I said I had proof they never had. I told them I would not pay as they had no grounds to bill me.

I kept getting bills, which I ignored.

Finally I got a phone call from them. “You owe us $14.” “No. I don’t. Bill my insurance.” “We did.” No you didn’t. You’re a scam.” Rinse, repeat.

I had looked them up in the meantime. They apparently buy marketing lists of people who used pulse oximetry equipment and insert a minor charge. Something small and inconsequential that people will just pay to clear. But – and here is the key point – they don’t actually have any relationship to the test.

I kept getting calls threatening me with collections. Finally I picked one up. A lady confirmed that I was seconds away from going to collections. I had had it. I had already called and written to them to tell them to fuck off, multiple times.

I said, 1) that they were a scam, 2) I’d already reported them to my doctor, the insurance, the BBB and 3) if I ever heard from them again, they would hear from my lawyer with a bill for the time *I* had had to spend figuring out they were a scam and dealing with their bullshit.

I never heard from them again.

What a brilliantly awful idea. Make a teeny, inconsequential charge, something so small no one would care and collect on some or most of those charges. Multiply $14 by tens of thousands and presto, you have medical fraud that no one will ever notice.

A woman responds to “an open marriage”

A man suggests that instead of a open marriage, he gets a second wife.

Sidewalk Kiss

I am out of the hospital, and I am feeling much better. I can’t wait to get back to business with the start of the new year. The world seemed to be passing me by. Just excited and ready, but my engine is purring. All is good.

…

STORY 1

When I was 16 years old, I went horseback riding with a girl-friend (not a girlfriend) and we were riding in the woods. Well, there were some low hanging vines, and sure as shit, one caught my neck and rubbed it raw. I mean, it was brutal. All my skin was removed.

To everyone at work… it looked like a big “hicky”; a huge sucker bite.

That wasn’t the case, of course, but the razzlin’ and all was really excessive, don’t you know. It took me months to get out from the hasslin’, but you know it was the early 1970’s and that kind of stuff was common in the work-place.

I was still “sweet 16” and never been kissed. That ended shortly afterwards when two of my “girl-friends” fought to become my girlfriend. Which resulted in a sidewalk kiss, that I will never forget.

STORY 2

We were leaving a “sweet 16” birthday party of a classmate. She, a girl named Robin, invited me to it, and I as clueless as ever didn’t know what to do. When we left, and we were on the sidewalk… walking home she stopped turned to me and and “Kiss me”. And so we did.

That was my first kiss.

Robin went off to college, got married, and last I heard was doing well. I’m happy for her.

People, as cherished as those memories are, there is no way that I want to relive similar events in another life. I am tired, and have no desire for another reincarnation. I’ll tell you what.

…

Today…

What has been achieved from the Chinese leader’s visit to San Francisco?

Politically, nothing much.

The star of the whole show, in my opinion, is the turnout of Big Business.

No, not what President Xi said, but the audience composition. Namedrop a household corporate name and the CEO was probably in attendence, Tim Cook and Elon Musk included.

The movers and shakers of Wall Street paid handsomely for the privilege of WELCOMING President Xi. In fact, the visiting Head of State may have gathered THE star-studded corporate audience in recent years, bigger than any Democrat or Republican convention. Even King Charles and the Pope will struggle to demonstrate the star appeal lighting up San Francisco this November WEEKEND.

It was a dinner worth trillions upon trillions in market cap. One need only imagine the private jets lining up to pay hangar premiums for parking rights.

America NEEDS China, economically.

That is why Janet, the top-ranking finance official in America, welcomed President Xi on the tarmac personally.

Note that both Janet and Gavin visited Beijing PERSONALLY to arrange the visit.

Both the tarmac welcome and dinner highlighted the conspicuous absence of the State Department. No more James Cook Hotel browbeating and public attempts at humiliating the Chinese contingent.

What’s the key here?

American corporations are suffering in the downturn and the captains of industry want guarantees from Joe that the situation with China will not deteriorate further. The chips they have on the table? 20–30 billion in election funding for 2024.

We can expect a freeze on escalation of the new cold war, but not a ceasefire. The militaries will resume direct communications, which is nothing more than “we’re continuing with the harassment, but we’ll inform you first, with your acknowledgement”. However, we can expect cabinet officials to either be gagged top-down or bottom-up, or instructed to be cordial and tone down on provocation. In other words, Gina et al. morphing back to friendly beaver mode rather than “feet to the fire” wolf warrior incarnation.

That’s the tone for 2024. I don’t believe Joe will repeat the “genocide determination” stunt next year, having committed to extravagant molly-coddling in San Francisco, amidst the sea of bipartisan support for playing the China card the corporate-sanctioned way.

Lobbying works, both ways.

This is why President Xi appeared relaxed throughout, almost as if he was on holiday, totally unlike the tense atmosphere in Anchorage, Alaska, back in 2021. People have short memories.

President Xi was being feted and courted, and he was only here after two years of intense US diplomatic efforts to re-establish ties torn down by the State Department, no less.

Crazy world, isn’t it?

Note: The welcome dinner also reassured the Chinese, and gave them the confidence to negotiate deals with the Fed. Corporate America’s turnout is the real deal, in a fiery red vs. blue battle to the death.

We start with a woke something…

Not sure if it’s a woman, or a man, or what…

What is the biggest life lesson you have ever learned?

I’ll probably never be as successful as my dad and I’m perfectly OK with that.

If anything I’m proud of him. At one point he was overseeing a $50 billion annual budget as Undersecretary of Defense. The dude earned his Wikipedia page.

My father is also an excellent case study. He is certainly very smart. But it wasn’t like he was always the smartest guy in the room. In fact, he was keenly aware when he wasn’t. Yet many of my dad’s peers, who were smarter on paper, fell way short of his success.

Why? It’s mainly because of his people skills and his diligence. He is an excellent listener. He knows how to dial in and pick up on what is important. He is also conscientious and very ethical. He treats people equally regardless of their position.

I’d say if anything, my dad’s superpower is the ability to size people up quickly and judge their character.

He has a special distaste for self-serving people, which is probably because of his career with SEAL teams, where teamwork is a religion.

This is where many highly intelligent people fail. They lack the soft skills, the ability to relate with many types of people.

Cliche as it sounds, many gifted people also have an underlying arrogance they mask. Business textbooks are filled with case studies of executives’ careers being destroyed by pride. My girlfriend is a college professor and complains constantly about the incessant egos at academic conferences.

And to be fair, I can’t totally blame them. When a person is told from birth that they are brilliant, and their test scores affirm that praise, and they live in a world that prizes intelligence — it is probably hard to stay 100% humble.

No matter how talented you are, remember you are dealing with human beings in your career. Success isn’t a MENSA test. Soft skills matter—bigtime.

Be nice to the secretary.

China is building a large harbor in Peru south America as part of its Belt and Road Project, why can’t the United States develop its own Belt and Road project between South America, Central America, Mexico, United States and Canada?

The U.S. should but it won’t and it can’t. The U.S. thinks like a racist, xenophobic superior white Caucasian nation that their neighbours should be kept as savage, poor, undeveloped nations that it can invade anytime it feels like doing. So they won’t help these nations. It is beyond them. People like Donald Trump can term them robbers and rapist so that he feels very good as the Aryan Superior. So the U.S. abused them instead of helping them.

Of course now that the Chinese decide to help them the U.S. will term it “Debt Trap” China will help to make these former Spanish and Portuguese stolen nations rich and successful.

Anyway they can’t help them. The spent all its money and resources in forever wars, war mongering, war financing, war orchestrating, chaos and coup tormenting. And barely have enough to help US homeless and poor. The U.S. own infrastructure were also 20 century relics and dilapidated beyond repair in the U.S. so they cannot help. Even if the wanted to they will set a thousand conditions including signing over their sovereignty to Uncle Sam.

She Can’t Answer This Simple Question About Marriage

Are there cats out there who do have a problem with you sleeping, for no other reason than you sleeping? One of my cats wakes me up from my naps at 12:30pm tops, just for her to want nothing in particular. Is that normal?

My cat goes on a rampage when he wants to wake me up, knocking every conceivable item off of every flat surface until I finally give up on sleep.

He did it to me the other night. I’d fallen asleep on the couch and woke up to the familiar sound of the TV remote control hitting the floor, then the Roku remote.

I could just make out the little guy’s form on the coffee table through blurry eyes without my glasses. My smartphone was the next thing to hit the hardwood (I have a military grade case precisely for this reason), then he violently smacked a bottle of pills so hard they ricocheted off an end table and went spinning across the room.

Next he hopped onto the end table, upending a bag of restaurant tortillas and swiping my keys off. A water bottle went flying. I heard my vapor pen skidding in the opposite direction.

The little f—er is relentless.

(“Does it look like I’m judging you, human? Because I am.”)

If that doesn’t work — and sometimes it doesn’t, because I know giving in just emboldens him — and he runs out of things to smack and wreck, he’ll pad over to his litter box and start punching the cover flap with his paw because he knows it squeaks and it pisses me off.

He’s a super vocal cat too, so all this is accompanied by high-pitched trills like “RRRRRRRUUUUPPPP!” and “BRRRRRUUUU!”

And you know what the most ridiculous part is?

He’s not asking for food because he always gets a bowl of dry food before bed. He wants to hang out and snuggle and be buddies. I can’t be mad at him.

So yes, it’s pretty common for cats to wake their people up for no other reason than they want us awake, acknowledging them, or giving them scritches and affection.

It’s not always tied to more concrete requests like food, although sometimes it is.

You’ll also notice that cats have no regard for your sleep, but they’ll give you the feline death stare if you rudely interrupt their naps. Such is the pecking order in feline-ruled households.

It is possible to train them out of waking you, especially if they’re young. If your cat is a kitten then she’ll adjust to your schedule. If she’s an adult, well, good luck with that. You can break the habit, but you’re going to make sure you never give in or you’re just hitting the reset button by proving to her that if she makes enough noise, you’re going to get up eventually.

In that case, grab a package of earplugs off Amazon for a few bucks. Your brain will thank you for wearing them.

(“I am a sweet little kitty cat and none of these vile lies are true.”)

Its all about control

Did you ever see karma hit someone who deserved it so befittingly that it was eerie?

We were at an airport in Mexico, going through customs and immigration. Once your bag is xrayed you pick it up, and walk to this green button and push it. If the light above flashes green, which it almost always does, you proceed on. If the light flashes red, and the buzzer, buzzes, you get pulled into a side room and they go through your luggage thoroughly.

There was a huge line up. We had waited an hour to get to the X-ray machine. We were up next. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone from a culture that doesn’t believe in queuing, walking alongside the line, right up to the front, I actually stepped in front of him, so he couldn’t get past me, and his wife took the luggage and threw it on the X-ray conveyor belt. At this point I admitted defeat, and let them go.

They get through the x-ray, and push the button, in my place. It flashed red, and they were led off to a little side room, It would have been me, if they hadn’t barged into the line.

I waved to them as they were being led into the little room.

Wonderbread women

Who is the lowest status person for whom you have the highest respect?

He is the manager of my neighborhood gym, a very rinky-dink gym.

He makes ~$35K per year. It isn’t terrible money. You can certainly live on that, but it isn’t great money in the US. His salary isn’t specifically why I have so much respect for him. It’s the context:

He was a big-time lawyer here in Tampa. He had a fancy degree and a job making huge money. He did it for 15 years. He had the respect of his peers, the fear of his opposition.

He was fully capable of continuing his relentless march as a litigator.

But he realized, “Nah – this isn’t the right life.”

He walked away – chose a low-stress job, managing this local gym.

When the end of the day rolls around, he goes home and work doesn’t chase him. He is free to indulge the rest of his life.

I see him 3-4 times a week while I sign into my gym. He is always in good spirits. Relaxed. Not troubled by some unseen threat that looms on his calendar.

We grow up. The people around us tell us they just want us to “be happy,” but at the same time, they are pushing this maximization mindset: maximize grades, maximize salary, maximize reputation, go, go, go.

You see plenty of people that maximize. You see plenty of people who don’t.

But how often do you see people who maximize and then walk away? Who goes from introducing himself as “Senior Counsel at XYZ” to answering calls, “Hello, ABC Fitness! How can I help you?”

It’s surprisingly rare. It’s hard to kiss the ring of ambition for so long and then drop it.

He’s a bit of a novelty in my life. On my bad days, I envision what it would be like to be him — that one guy who stepped through the paradox of happiness and ambition.

And although I suspect I don’t have the guts to do what he did, walk away, I have a surprising amount of respect for a guy who is capable of so much, yet aspires to so little.

He did it his way. And he’s happy. Does anything else really matter?

How you know…

What was the dish that made you reverse your opinion on a food you had until then disliked?

A girl I quite fancied took me to meet her parents for dinner – which turned out to be lasagne. The only prior experience I’d had with lasagne had been at school, many years before – about a millimeter thick, cooked in trays half a mile wide, with about 50p’s worth of ingredients and left to dry out under a heat lamp for a year. 🙁

But I had to be polite.

“I’m not very hungry,” I said. “just give me a little.”

Turns out that lasagne cooked by an Italian mother was rather different to the filth churned out at St. Mary’s. So I asked for seconds

“I thought you said you weren’t hungry?”

“That’s alright, I thought I didn’t like lasagne”

That’s lovely

Is it true that, in some American schools, students do essays on why the USA is the best country in the world?

Back when I was in high school in Florida, yes.

In the 1980s, state law in Florida required that all public high school students take a one-semester class called Americanism vs Communism, or AVC.

The State-approved AVC textbook can be summed up this way:

“Rah rah rah! We’re #1! America, fuck yeah! We won WWII and saved Europe and Russia! America is the best at everything! Woohoo! Look at how amazing we are! America, go us!”

Like, seriously, it was embarrassingly bad. We’re talking Soviet-Union-textbook bad. If George Orwell included a page from the AVC textbook in Nineteen Eighty-Four, critics would be all “nah, bro, too unrealistic.” You wouldn’t think it’s possible to fit so much cringe into one book.

I cannot fathom the degree of insecurity that went into passing the law that required teaching this class in schools.

Fortunately, I lucked out. My high school teacher, a WWII vet and survivor of the Bataan Death March, hated and loathed the class requirement and textbook with every fiber of his being, and made that very clear on the first day of class.

He refused to teach from the book at all. He told us point-blank “The state requirement for this class is complete propaganda bullshit. As far as I’m concerned, this is a class in Russian history, and that’s how I intend to teach it.”

He made his own teaching materials for the class and it rocked.

Short Men Energy

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c_KJmSuiswQ?feature=share

What would happen if China stopped investing in US treasuries? Would Americans face a financial crisis?

China has already stopped investing in U.S. Treasuries.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine War, China has been selling its Treasury holdings. As of October 2023, it continues to hold about $820 billion of U.S. Treasuries. This is a reduction of about 18% in one year.

Russia previously sold all its U.S. Treasury holdings, after the United States began to sanction it in connection withe Ukraine War. In about 2017, Russia encouraged the world to do the same.

At the same time, the Federal Reserve is selling the U.S. Treasury Bonds that it purchased during covid.

The combined actions of Russia, China and the Federal Reserve are driving down the value of U.S. Treasury Bonds. In the past six months, the value of 30 year bonds has fallen by about 50%. This raises interest rates in the United States, because the U.S. government must pay more to borrow.

The higher interest rates have greatly limited America’s options, financially. Housing prices are poised to fall, due to higher interest rates. Even worse, interest payments on the U.S. national debt have doubled. Interest payments will soon exceed what the United States spends on national defense. Thus, as you can see, the tactics of Russia and China have limited America’s ability to fight wars. We are seeing just the beginning of the cycle.

Your question is — will the United States face a financial crisis?

The answer is yes. If the United States (a) continues printing dollars, and (b) continues supporting a violent response to conflicts in the world, two things will happen:

The planet will refuse to work with the United States during America’s foreseeable crisis; and
The U.S. dollar will collapse, due to continued printing and the planet’s rejection of the dollar.

The collapse of the dollar will be devastating in the United States, because American society is dependent upon cheap gasoline and cheap imports, which will no longer exist in the United States.

The United States imports 28% of its crude oil. This leaves the United States vulnerable to a falling dollar. Contrary to popular belief, the United States is not “energy independent,” and remains vulnerable. The United States imports 5 million barrels of crude oil per day more than it exports. That is a lot of oil that won’t be coming into the United States when the dollar falls. In addition, President Biden foolishly sold decades of oil stored up by the WWII generation in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. America is not ready for the foreseeable crisis coming to its shores.

Expect riots and shortages in the United States. If Biden continues to pursue violent solutions to global conflict, those wars will return to the United States when the dollar comes down. The American people will be fighting over limited resources. There won’t be any jobs in America, when the shopping malls close.

Be equal or not

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2O1jxwQ00iw?feature=share

My friend has been terminated from the company that she’s been working for. On her last day of her work, she deleted all of her work in her computer. Does she have the right to do that, since all the work was done by her?

Normally the work product belongs to the company, not the worker. In the early days of solid state circuitry, my BIL developed much of it. Although his name is on the patents, the company owned them.

I was an independent contractor managing HOAs. ( Also a lawyer). I started by managing my own while my kids were preschoolers. It ran very smoothly so no one ever wanted to be on the Board until crazy ass lady and her group of idiots came on. True nut cases. One insisted on judging the Holiday decorating contest, then picked her own house as winner. One shot my dog. Board meetings were like “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.

The Board was 3/3, three humans, three horses asses. When one human was on vacation, the three asses called a special meeting and “ terminated “ me. Now they knew I would just sue them on my 2 year contract so they made paying me for another 18 months conditional on me delivering all the Assn documents and computer data on fees, violations etc on discs within five days. This belonged to them.

I was happy to get out of the nut house. The Assn owned the file cabinets. I just put them on a dolly and walked them to a Board member’s house and left them. I downloaded all the data in computer language and gave them the disks.

Problem was, I used a program I bought that was made by a company that had gone bankrupt. It was a great program. Totally unavailable for purchase anywhere. But I had no duty to give them my program. The computer disks were useless. The finances were also kept on a very old edition of an accounting program. I had no duty to provide them with my copy. The financial disks very useless to them without paying a few thousand for the program. It was a very specialized program used by CPAs

They spent a fortune going through old files and bank statements and quarterly financials to recreate payment records etc. And, I had fulfilled my duties. I got the next 18 months of my contract paid. They also received a cease and desist letter from me. The Assn ‘s original documents had a problem and no lender would loan on a house without a document called a Subordination agreement. Only a lawyer can write one. I always wrote them. No cost. It was my own HOA. But the first time they copied one on a new sale, I hit them with a cease and desist letter and reported them to the Bar for the unlicensed practice of law. So then they had to pay a lawyer for the next 150 or so documents. Lawyers are not free.

So, what the employer owns and what the employee owns is a mixed bag.

My guys…

What’s the fastest you’ve wiped a smirk off of someone’s face?

I was in an elevator on a cruise ship. Some wiseacre saw my polka-dot suspenders.

He smirked, “Nice suspenders. You from Wisconsin?”

I replied, “No. Ever since my cancer surgery, I can’t wear a belt.”

His smirk instantly evaporated. The elevator doors opened on my floor, and I got out.

Soft tissue sarcoma caused by Agent Orange in Vietnam, They took out 1–3/4 pounds of me from my groin to my beltline. It left a notch where a belt would sit, so I can’t wear a belt comfortably.

Order over chaos

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/utsOIvH_FOs?feature=share

What is the coolest thing you have ever done in your life?

Two years back, I was on a road trip on my bike to Meghalaya. While returning, as I was tired I was riding slowly. I was still some 70 miles away from home, and it was already dark. On the highway, I saw a car parked and some people arguing. I rode past them, however before passing them I caught the sight of two women crying and eagerly looking through the front window.

I took a turn and came back to the spot. I saw four boys, around my age, were arguing and pushing a man of around 50 years old. Turns out, the family was returning from some function and lived in another town which was about 90 miles from mine. They were stopped by these four boys on bikes and asked them for some money. They started misbehaving when the old guy refused to pay. He asked his wife and daughter to stay in the car and got down to reason with them.

I heard the story from the old guy, while the boys asked me mind my own business and get the f**k off. I simply turned and started walking towards my bike. The man begged at me to stay and help him, and looked at the women in the back seat and felt their eyes pleading me to stay. But, I kept walking!

Here comes the twist! Now, during my rides I always keep a hockey stick on my bike. Bad luck for the guys who never knew this. They laughed at me, calling me names. One even said, “Yeah, keep walking you p***say.”

I took the hockey stick and came back running. The boys didn’t get time to react and I started beating them. The blows landed everywhere and I think two or more of them bled as well. I didn’t show them any mercy. Someone threw some punches and kicks at me too, but I had a more formidable weapon than them. Seeing me in action, the man also jumped in; his wife and daughter also got down and helped in whatever way they could. All beaten up and even not being able to stand properly, two boys somehow managed to run off on their bikes while the other two ran after them.

I told the man to start the car and keep driving, while I rode in front of him in case the boys decided to get help and chase us. When we entered the man’s town, we went to the police station and lodged a report. The daughter was smart enough to note down the bikes’ number plates. As it was very late, the man requested me to spend the night at their place. Once reaching home, the family thanked me for helping them. He wouldn’t even allow me to leave early next day, saying that he can’t send me off without a proper meal. Family, friends and relatives came to thank me for my heroism. I stayed for lunch and returned home.

To this day the gentleman calls me occasionally. He even invited me to his daughter’s wedding.

Now, let me tell you something. I’m not the brave person they take me to be. I was equally scared that night. I was terrified. It took me a lot of courage to do what I did. After this whole thing was over, I was so proud of it!

Companies Are Ditching Hiring Fresh Female Graduates

Does welfare perpetuate generational poverty?

My grandparents were too poor to afford a private jet or a private helicopter, they had to rely on government programs like public roads to get by.

They couldn’t afford to hire private tutors for my parents, and so had to send them to public schools to learn to read and write.

As one might expect, this cycle of dependency continued: My parents also didn’t have a private jet or helicopter, and they also had to rely on government programs like public roads to get by.
They also sent their kids to learn to read and write in public schools.

And here I am: made lazy by all this generational welfare, I’m not pulling on my bootstraps nearly hard enough to afford my own private airport.
Like my parents before me, and my grandparents before them, I depend entirely on government programs like public roads (or worse, public transit!!) to get to work.

There is no means testing in place for using public roads, which leads to rampant abuse.
I’ve seen people use them to go for a stroll, even though they could have afforded a treadmill.
Not only that, but these type of government handouts kill any incentive for most people to get a private helicopter, they’d rather stay dependent upon the government provided public roads.

It’s truly a modern tragedy, with no end in sight.

You rascal

What happened in your office that became the stuff of legend?

The Door.

Years and years ago, when I quit smoking, I found my temper would often flare up during the first few weeks of abstinence.

I worked at a remote branch office with a staff of six. One morning when I came to work early, something went “wrong” and I was so angry that I impulsively gut-punched my office door.

The door was hollow core wood; I punched right through it.

I admitted my foolish outrage to my office mates when they entered an hour later.

And little was said about it; I believe they were sympathetic with my situation, and supportive of my effort to quit smoking.

There matters laid at rest; nothing more said.

Until the office Christmas party, when staff from all branches and the headquarters office (over 100 souls) gathered at some central location for a cocktail party and most sumptuous feast. Everything paid for by the company as a treat to us. This was followed by after-dinner drinks, and the “awards ceremony.”

The awards ceremony was a production of the employees and was in the nature of a good-humored “roast,” drawing upon such amusing things as had happened involving any of them over the past year. Some of the recognition was by actual funny trophies which were passed from one recipient to another; others were unlikely objects constructed of broom sticks, hub-caps, old radios, or heaven knows what.

Because I and my cohorts were from the remotest branch, none of us received, or ever expected to receive, recognition at this ceremony. We had our OWN Christmas party, for that.

Thus it was quite a surprise, to me, when I saw that my associate, Greg, was called upon by the master of ceremonies to announce the grand prize winner. He briefly described in very general terms the struggle of one individual to overcome a serious addiction. I was as curious as everyone else to know who, and to know the story. The room became very quiet, as the subject appeared to deviate from the laughable to the serious. The recipient was as yet unnamed.

Then a cloaked object was carried onto the dais, looking for all the world like a draped coffin.

With the words, “And the winner is, John Scott Geare,” the black drape was pulled away to reveal my actual office door, with a precise halo painted around its wound. Somehow, the damned thing had been spirited from our office, and carried the 60 miles to the party, unbeknownst to me.

And it became the stuff of legend.

You owe me half

Chick was only going out for a free meal. And he says…

Cajun Style Tip Roast

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

1 (4 pound) tip roast
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup finely chopped green bell peppers
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions

Heat oven to 300 degrees F.
Combine vegetables, spices and oil.
With a sharp knife make 8 to 12 deep V-shape slit pockets, stopping an inch from the bottom of roast. Fill the pockets with the vegetable mixture, reserving some to rub on top of roast.
Bake uncovered for 2 1/2 hours or until thermometer reads 140 degrees F for medium rare beef.
Serve with pan juices.

Nutrition

Per serving: Calories 391; fiber 1g; carbohydrates 2g, Protein 61g, Cholesterol 160mg; Sodium 509mg; Fat 14g (32% of calories from fat)

Inaccurate Self assessment

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c0CzEzo7VwI?feature=share

What is the strangest reaction of someone who has just been fired?

A number of years ago I worked for a large US company. My role was in sales (industrial product). In my third year, I was selected for management. As such, I was trained in recruiting and helped district managers hire talent.

I visited one district and held a recruiting fair and ultimately recommended 10 applicants to the manager. The manager had his own candidate and asked me to interview him. In my opinion, his choice was terrible. He did not have any of the qualities successful people in our business had. I told him this.

Jump ahead six months. I become the manager for that district. My predecessor had hired the guy I did not recommend and did not even call any of the 10 I recommended.

Within three months i had hired five new sales reps. Four did very well and stayed for years. One failed within six months. The one that I did not recommend? I had to let him go due to poor performance and poor attitude. When I told him I had to let him go, he held onto my desk and told me he really did not want to be fired and would not leave the office. He would continue to come to work. It took several hours to convince him that he was not a good match for our industry. I continued to pay him for one month as he searched for another job.

Please don’t tell me I am mean and unfeeling. In my 30+ years of managing, I have supported many people in many different ways. The bottom line, if someone is not doing well in a job, it is usually because they are not trying or they are just in the wrong job. The latter is almost always the case. If you have a good, hard working person, try to find a different position in your company for him/her. That’s the mark of a good manager.

A biological male…

Why do some scientists on the Internet seem so arrogant toward people with differing opinions?

I first noticed this phenomenon with a guy named Dr.Layne Norton. Layne has a PhD in biochemistry. This man has forgotten more about the human body than I’ve ever learned, and I’ll have my Masters degree next month.

He’s an elite level powerlifter.

And a pro bodybuilder,

He also runs a youtube channel where he shares some advice on bodybuilding and powerlifting. I began to notice that the comment section was particularly toxic.

People were insulting this man’s intelligence, his personality, and his family.

I didn’t understand why. He seemed like a nice enough guy. Until I stumbled upon the answer.

One commenter said, “I’m sure you know what you’re talking about, you just seem arrogant though.” The comment had 100s of likes.

Scientists tend to speak in very absolute terms. Why? Because they’ve studied the shit out of whatever it is they’re discussing. And because they speak so unequivocally, people get turned off.

For example, I wrote an answer in which I said working out in the afternoon is best for muscle building and performance. The hormones and body temperature are in a better position to support a workout in the afternoon.

How do I know? I wrote a 20 page paper on this topic for school (supported by 30 peer reviewed studies).

Some guy told me that I was a liar. Why? According to him, testosterone is obviously highest in the morning… because men get morning wood…..

Like many have said, scientists have spent years studying a topic, and they’ve forgotten more about said topic than most will ever even hear. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve EARNED the right to be a little arrogant when it comes to their subject.

Since 1979…

What is the best comeback you used on someone?

I was adopted at birth. From the time I was able to understand anything, my parents called me their Chosen Child and gave me a poem with that name. I was raised to feel special. When I was in 3rd grade, one of the spoiled little rich girls tried to make fun of me, saying mean things, like, my mother hated me and got rid of me so that I had to be taken in by strangers out of pity – really wicked thing for an 8-year-old to say. When she finally took a breath, I responded by saying that I KNEW my parents wanted me, they CHOSE me. Then I said “I bet you were an ax-i-dent!” and walked away. When I got home from school, my mother said she had gotten a call from that girl’s mother, wanted to know what happened, and asked me how in the world I knew what an “accident” was, laughing all the time! I was only 8, had no clue, but I had heard her talking on the phone when she mentioned a girl getting pregnant by accident. Obviously, she didn’t know I heard her or that I understood the gist of the conversation. She was laughing when she told daddy – and that was when I began hearing her say to her friends that “little pitchers have big ears” as she changed the conversation. I don’t know what a little pitcher is, and that may not be what she said, but that’s all that I heard before they started a new conversation!

Your future children…

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Oo8ihDBf4qc?feature=share

What does a babysitter do if parents don’t respond to calls and they don’t show up until the next day?

If they said they would be home at a certain time and didn’t call to ASK if it was ok that they stayed out later, I would call the police. I give them 1/2 hour past designated time to call and if they didn’t answer 2 calls and 2 texts all done within 1/2 hour time frame, the police would be informed of how worried I am about their safety because it’s now an hour late with them not calling or answering multiple calls and texts. Let them deal with the cops questioning them about not contacting you or answering you. The cops will let them know you only concerned about their well being and they will also rip them a new one for informing you and also for leaving their child alone with a babysitter who is now upset that something had happened to them. Trust me, they will never do it again to any babysitter. I say any babysitter because after that, I would NEVER babysit for them again, even at 4x’s the amount of money.

I actually like you

One of my favorite shorts.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1kypV3rvNHg?feature=share What is an example of “It was nice while it lasted”?

Chaurice

This Creole pork sausage is an old local favorite dating back to the 19th Century, but Chaurice isn’t as easy to find as it once was. It would seem to have come to Louisiana with the Spanish, and was adapted to local custom and ingredients; the term is similar to the Spanish chorizo. It’s great with white or red beans, and good for breakfast too, with eggs.

Ingredients

4 pounds lean fresh pork, butt or shoulder
2 pounds fresh pork fat
2 cups onion, finely minced
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
8 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground red pepper
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves, crushed
5 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
3 bay leaves, finely crushed
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3 yards small sausage casing (optional)

Instructions

Cut the pork at fatback into small pieces. Mix together and run once through the coarse disc of a meat grinder into a large bowl.
Add the seasonings and mix thoroughly until the stuffing is very smooth and well blended.
Make into patties, and use within three days or freeze.

Notes

You can also put chaurice into casings; make each sausage about six inches in length.

Winter Stew

Well, my doctor has stated that I need to stay in the hospital for a week or longer. And then afterwards, I really have to be very moderate and calm in my activities. Apparently, I can trigger my blood pressure to launch towards the stars, and I need to tame that beast. So, this is MM going calm and serene.

Drinking is going to stifle for a spell. Same with smoking, and many of my favorite vices. Sigh.

Gotta be good, and lend myself to some serious chill.

…

I really get upset about the crazy relationship scene that the West has collapsed into. And this mix of rampant sexuality, free-lovin’ (not that I’m complain’) and isolationism with a woke political class is just another sign of a seriously collapsing Western society.

Men need love.

Women need understanding and compassion.

And let’s not forget about our kitties. Right?

Let’s all strive to be a tad better to ourselves, and to those around us. It’s so easy to get caught up, and ignore our very own needs and situation.

…

We need to chat about food. And stews are great Winter fare. (Unless you live down under) then I would recommend prawns. Stews are great, and I’ll guess that many readers haven’t had a home-made stew in some time. I suggest that you make up one and enjoy it.

With butter and bread.

Life is too short otherwise.

Today…

Cajun Meatball Stew

Ingredients

Meatballs

1 pound ground round or chuck
1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs (3 slices)
2 tablespoons each minced parsley and cold water
1/2 clove garlic, crushed
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon each cayenne and pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 green onions, trimmed and minced (save tops for gravy)
2 teaspoons salt

Gravy

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
5 cups cold water
4 envelopes or 4 teaspoons instant beef broth
1/4 teaspoon salt pinch of pepper
1/3 cup minced parsley
4 green onion tops, sliced thin
Meatball drippings plus vegetable oil to total 1/4 cup

Instructions

Meatballs

Combine beef, bread crumbs, green onions, parsley, garlic, egg, salt, cayenne, pepper and cold water in a medium size bowl. Mix lightly and shape into 24 balls. Place on tray and chill for 30 minutes.
Heat oil in large, heavy skillet and brown meatballs quickly on all sides (don’t overcook or the meatballs may toughen).
Drain on paper towels; save drippings.

Gravy

Place combined meatball drippings and vegetable oil in a large, heavy saucepan or skillet. Blend in flour, and heat and stir over moderately low heat until flour begins to brown, at least 10 to 15 minutes. Good Cajun cooks take about 45 minutes to make a roux. The roux should be a rich topaz brown.
Add water and instant beef broth gradually, whisking until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Add meatballs to gravy. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 45 minutes.
Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.
Stir in parsley and green onion tops. Heat for 15 minutes longer.
Serve in soup bowls or on plates with the meatballs and gravy ladled over fluffy rice or egg noodles.

What is the most useless career advice ever given?

I’ve seen this question hundreds of times over the years on Quora and the knee-jerk answer is always some version of “Follow your passion is terrible advice.”

There was a time when I thought exactly that and wrote a similar answer. Sure, following your passion can lead you to become a starving artist or a passionate amateur beach volleyball player who lurches from one financial crisis to another.

At the other end of the spectrum, you have accountants under neon lights, droning through their days like robots, their life becoming a series of monthly, quarterly and annual closes.

Having been on both sides, I didn’t see a lot of difference in the happiness between those two groups.

My biggest advice is to “see the grey” and not take anyone’s career advice as a one-size-fits-all tip. Be like a CEO and take in differing perspectives of your VPs, and attach weights to each piece of advice given your own circumstances.

Don’t ever, ever, treat anyone’s advice as gospel. And that includes anything I say or write.

Hustle culture has spawned this nauseating obsession with meme-quotes from billionaires that supposedly solve all of our problems.

Spoiler alert: I don’t give a shit what Elon Musk said. He’s smart and capable. But he came up through a very narrow silo in the world. His circumstances are extreme and hardly applicable to most of our own. Hell, I’m half-convinced he’s a narcissistic sociopath.

You can do what you love. Or you can learn to love what you do. Life changes. New passions evolve and the economics of those passions make new paths possible while destroying old ones.

You may wake up one day and realize you hate the thing you thought you’d spend your life doing.

The only constant in success is hard work and focus.

The more I’ve accepted that life is a fluid situation, with everything in constant change, and given assumptions always being tested, the better I’ve done.

Work hard, stay flexible, and expect waves of upheaval. Because I promise those waves are coming. We all get our turns.

One day

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1wTPwaehusw?feature=share

What is the simplest military tactic in history?

People really overlook the classics.

The first military tactic, and for thousands of years the most successful by far, was “stand together in a line and point our sharp sticks in the same direction.” Here’s the Sumerians doing it about 4500 years ago:

Proto-warfare involved individual fighters going essentially one-on-one with other individual fighters: think a modern gang fight or bar brawl. But you can’t really do that if the guy you are trying to fight has two guys immediately adjacent to him also holding spears: they’re going to stick you. If the guys in the line have shields and/or armor, you can’t even hang back and chuck shit at them, which was the other proto-warfare classic.

Now, this sounds really easy, but it turns out it actually isn’t. Warfare involves a bunch of people you hate trying to kill you. The natural response to that is to either (1) sensibly run away, or (2) run over and get the bastards first. Standing in a strict formation with even spacing is fairly unnatural in those circumstances: you need to practice it a lot, especially if you want to have any hope of moving.

(1) in particular is hard: even if you know that in theory your phalanx will survive a cavalry charge, it’s a harder sell when you have a couple thousand pounds of muscle and steel coming at you at a gallop. Gaps in your line means you are fucked: it’s hard to convey how absolutely shafted (pun intended) disordered infantry are in the face of cavalry, but it might be helpful to recall that the reason Napoleonic and Civil War soldiers stood in closely packed formation while getting mowed down by musket and cannon fire was because that was the safer alternative. And, to make things even more fun, the first guy to run away is probably going to be fine: he’s got all of his buddies holding them off. The last guy is going to get shishkebabed by a Gothic/Frankish/Norman/English lance, so how much do you trust your buddies?

(2) also isn’t actually easy to overcome, either. If you are a professional soldier, you might like the fighting. That’s how you get honor and, more importantly, loot. If it looks like you’re winning, you might really want to be the first person on the scene. You might make a lot of money. This is actually how the English lost at Hastings. The English housecarls, who were pros, successfully stood in a line with the pointy sticks the right way against a half dozen Norman charges, but broke when the Normans faked a retreat. They were then slaughtered.

But yeah, “get my guys in a line with sticks the right way” was sufficient for Alexander, the Romans, and Napoleon to get into the world conquest game. Simple, but that shit really works if you can actually do it. But you do need to actually do it.

Why do landlords not want to, or outright refuse to rent to people with Section 8, or HUD certificates, while fully knowing that such a practice is both illegal and subject to a big fine? Why do they think that they will not be be liable and caught?

Well, first, you are just flat wrong.

We bought a building that previously had section 8 tenants. None paid on time, the very first month that we owned it. The housing authority didn’t pay either. After 8 phone calls spanning 3 weeks, during which time we had already given 3-day notices to pay, and filed for eviction, the housing authority finally called us back, asking what the heck we were doing evicting THEIR tenant.

We informed them that under state law, we were following the required procedure for eviction for non-payment. They told us that under the terms of the 17-page Section 8 Contract, we could not evict the tenant for any reason whatsoever, including non-payment. We asked why they didn’t pay us on time, and they replied because we had not signed the Section 8 Contract yet, after the purchase. Ah-Hah!

We then informed them that we would be proceeding with the eviction, and would not be signing the Section 8 Contract. They told us that the previous owner had already signed it, and it is not revocable! They then threatened us with legal action if we continued with the eviction.

We told them that we had already consulted our attorney, who told us it is illegal to enforce or coerce anyone into signing or upholding an agreement that they did not willingly enter into. Thus, upon the sale of the property, as clearly stated within the Section 8 Contract itself, and apparently unbeknownst to the Housing Authority, the new owner has a choice to enter into Section 8 or not. And, oh by the way, selling the property is the only way to get OUT of Section 8, and the only way to evict Section 8.

The Housing Authority huffed and puffed, and went away. The tenants were evicted.

End of Story. Yes, it is legal. We’ll never do Section 8 again, ever, for any reason whatsoever.

What a fucking shitshow…

How would you describe the relationship between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken?

An articulate well known diplomat with high integrity and trust Wang Yi is meeting a 6 year old mindset, with Neocons drumming his voice with China hate and U.S. hubris thinking China is still in its 100 years of humiliation and the U.S. is still the one eye king after everyone loses both eyes after 2nd World war in 1945.

I hope for Blinken’s sake he will stop talking like the U.S. is the angel and China is the devil. He may think so but 180 out of 195 nations think it is the other way around. Best don’t even go there! Pretend to act civil and learn humility. That will go a long way Blinkyboy!

Confucian ethics says it is better to overestimate your opponent and underestimate yourself than the other way a around. The U.S. needs a lot of this balancing. China don’t listen to hot air after all. China sees more than hear. Anyone can say anything.

The U.S. better not talk about its own self made propaganda, lies, misinformation and fabrications. China is way too smart to let you lecture. Moreover the U.S. has done too much evil to even dare preach. Better focus on how to work with China on each others progress. Projects of common interest and goals to enrich the world, China and the U.S.

Without China the U.S. will die of pneumonia, with China it may suffer common influenza once in a while. Sure China will fly with the U.S. and still travelled at breakneck high speed rail without the U.S. but the faster China goes the more the U.S. will benefit too. If it knows humility.

Men want and need respect

What is the rudest thing that a new neighbor has done to you immediately after you had moved in?

We bought a house in a small California town, primarily because of our dogs. It had two and a half fenced acres, and was in a semi-rural area. Our dogs were getting old, and we wanted them to have a peaceful place so that they wouldn’t be stressed while we were at work. Well, it seemed like we bought a house in the “snob hill area.” During the first week we were there, a man stopped by our gate and informed me that our car was too old, and that we needed to get a new one. I told him that we were new to the area, and asked him to recommend a dealership. He did so, and I told him that I would meet him there the next morning, and to remember to bring his checkbook. For some strange reason, he hasn’t spoken to me again.

In the military, are you only allowed to keep on you what is issued to you by the government or can you buy extra protection if you want to? (knives, extra guns, extra supplies, etc), also, is your weapons and gear all new when you get them?

In the military, are you only allowed to keep on you what is issued to you by the government or can you buy extra protection if you want to? (knives, extra guns, extra supplies, etc), also, is your weapons and gear all new when you get them?

From a Navy perspective…

In the military, are you only allowed to keep on you what is issued to you by the government or can you buy extra protection if you want to? (knives, extra guns, extra supplies, etc)

Being on ships, there are some things you can and can’t have. No one, except a few watches, carries a gun on a regular basis. Generally, they’re issued out prior to watch, during security drills, or during actual events that threaten the security of the ship. Having a personal firearm onboard would have been useless, as it would always need to be locked up in the armory. There’d be no reason to have a personal firearm. The only people who MIGHT be allowed to have one would be the Commanding Officer, or a flag officer.

As for knives, I used to have one or two I carried everywhere while on ship. I was an engineer, and knives are essential, but not issued. I usually had a large Buck folding knife (I liked how they kept an edge), along with a small Swiss knife on my keychain. At one point I did have a double edged boot knife that I would keep hidden, specifically because they weren’t authorized. And only certain fixed blade knives were allowed (based on size).

Other types of gear we could go outside of regular issue were certain uniform items. When I was in, we had what were officially called “chukkas”, but which we all called “boondockers”.

These weren’t too bad, if they fit right, and they got more comfortable as they wore in, but they were about as mass produced as you could get, and the quality was inconsistent. They had steel toes that would cut through the inner lining and tear your toes apart, and a little saltwater would destroy the shine and eat the leather.

So, many of us would spend a small fortune on civilian shoes, much like these…

The Navy was fine with them, as long as they had steel toes and were black (for enlisted). They were supposed to be leather, too, but a lot of us would go for the ones that were synthetic, specifically because they were water proof.

There were other items that were not “issue”, but were sold as extras in the uniform shop. Back in the 80’s, there was a light black jacket we called the “Johnny Cash” (not to be confused with the black working uniform with the same nickname). If you ever went to certain overseas ports (generally Hong Kong), you could get your dress blues lined with an Asian motif embroidery on silk. This was out of sight for inspection, so the command never had a problem with them.

As for “extra equipment”, we sailors really didn’t need much more than what was already given us. We were allowed to bring on personal items, as long as they could be stowed properly. Electrical items always needed to be safety checked, and might need a request chit (permission slip) to bring it on board, but I usually had a computer for cruises, and game consoles were popular.

…also, is your weapons and gear all new when you get them?

This all depends.

Your primary issue for almost everything is in Boot Camp. That’s all your uniforms, toiletries, and other kits, such as sewing. These are always new, and upon issue, you have to identify your items with you name. In my time, we had a “stencil party”, which consisted of the entire company sitting down on the deck and using a machine cut stencil and special pens, we stenciled our names on everything.

I can literally smell the stencil ink as I write this. Not unpleasant, but strong.

From that point on, you’re responsible for replacing any items that aren’t up to standard. You get an annual allowance for this, and you can choose where to buy your gear.

I have broken service, and my uniforms weren’t in the best shape when I got back in. I was given an allowance that was meant to buy a new seabag (what we call our full set of uniforms), but I decided to save a little money and go “used”. There are always “boot drops”, the recruits who didn’t make the cut, and they have to return their uniforms. These were in good shape, but stenciled. We could buy our uniforms used, then cross out the old stencils and add our own. Saved about half what I would have paid for new.

Ships also have a lost and found, and those items are sometimes auctioned off for the welfare and rec fund. You could get some decent items from that.

As for weapons, well, you don’t keep your service weapon when you leave. Those are turned around and reissued. You might get new, you might get used.

Giving and getting nothing…

Qatar government claims to have intercepted electronic communication between Israel and the accused naval officers who were working on a secret submarine project. If this is true, can the officers be saved?

Look

The Conviction is finished

The Evidence has been submitted and the case is closed

The Judgement has been delivered.

DEATH.

…

The MEA tried many times to help out but Qatar refused to comply

So there is no point discussing the evidence

We can go to the ICJ but given that Qatar is a gas lifeline to Europe, I am certain ICJ will pass

They openly bankroll the Hamas and yet not even a pinky finger has been pointed at them to this day

We need to get our boys out

That’s crucial

Now I am almost certain, the death sentence would not be carried out.

It never does

Except Eli Cohen and a handful of others, most spies are never killed or executed

Eventually there will be trade offs and exchanges

My guess is if India backs a Two State Solution in UN and votes against Israel for a cease fire and UN involvement in the Gaza conflict, that alone could secure a commutation to life imprisonment

Typically there could be a round robin exchange

Meaning a third country could mediate the release of hostages in exchange for India doing something for this third country

Like US or Russia or China

Ideally if we had a few Qataris in our Jail, we could do a swap

We don’t

Qatari tourists to India are non existent

We can’t pull out business contracts because we have only 6% and the Chinese would grin and happily take over

We can’t pull out of Oil and Gas contracts because we have no major long term deals and these are fungible goods

AI Tinder Buster…

What are your thoughts on China’s economic growth? Do you think they will eventually overtake America? If so, how long do you think it would take for them to become more powerful than us militarily?

Of course they will, that is a a done deal, in fact they have already. Overtaking the U.S. is a piece of cake. A bunch of war monger selling stuffs no one one wants to buy at astronomical prices because they pay their greedy CEO 100 times that of China with workers that demand 10 times higher salaries working half the hours and insist 5 times more benefits!

Never mind this, the Yanks believed they can spend till thy kingdom come and spend like there is no tomorrow! China will pretend that they fear the U.S. but to the Chinese they not need to lift a finger, Uncle Sam will bankrupt it selves.! Hubris will bury them. Superiority complex will destroy themselves!

Let me help you hubris and racist Yanks understand the real world. As long as you still think the world belongs to you, the easier it is for us! China today in reality is at least twice bigger than you and that is being highly overestimating Uncle Sam and underestimating ourselves!

At the very worst., China is growing 5 times faster than you. The U.S. is totally fxxked! But we will pretend that the Chinese is 50 years behind the US! You loved that don’t you?

Build a better society

Who is your inner demon?

I saw earbuds on Amazon for a ridiculously cheap price.

It was a 2 pack for $2.99.

I thought, “Hmmm, how many could I order?” It had the option to order up to 10.”

I ordered 6 pairs.

I know this exact type of headphones. This same seller has sold me a pair before. Although I didn’t remember them being this cheap.

Fast forward a week.

I go to check on my order time.

It is going to be another 4 weeks before these are delivered to me.

I thought, “How in the hell is it going to be 4 weeks?’

My inner demon whispers, “Master!!!! You must give the seller time to steal the headphones!!!”

“Shutup!”

My inner demon speaks evil truths that I’m trying to ignore.

What are the best ways to make your life easier?

Embrace a lifestyle that costs only a fraction of your earnings.

Living below your means is like having a superhero cape you never have to show off. It’s the ultimate life hack for me, it makes one feel invincible, calm, and in control.

It’s likened to standing in a rock-solid tower while chaos swirls around you, that’s a feeling words won’t be able to capture.

In many places, especially in my home country, living modestly is more than just a money-saving trick; it’s a shield against life’s darker corners.

It keeps you off the radar for all sorts of unpleasant situations, from kidnappings for ransom to targeted robberies.

It also makes you less of a walking ATM for friends, family, and even strangers who see you as their personal bailout fund.

Choosing simplicity when you could go grand is a power move. It’s like having an invisible army guarding your peace. You’re not just scraping by; you’re flourishing but on your terms.

This lifestyle is the ultimate stress-buster. You’re cruising in a relatively comfort zone where you’ve got the choice but not the pressure to splurge. When you do spend, it feels like tossing a pebble into a pond, not like drilling a hole in a dam.

Living this way gives you access to a type of joy most people can’t even put into words, let alone experience in their lifetime.

Imagine being able to book a dream vacation or buy a dream home on a whim, leaving everyone around you stunned. That thrill is something money can buy only with a huge dose of discipline.

When you can comfortably afford your belongings, life takes on a different hue. You’re the boss, and everything you own is just a tool to make your life better, not a golden calf to be worshipped.

You only hurt one person, you, when you chose to live above your means. It is a recipe for sleepless nights and constant stress.

Being smart about how you live pays dividends in happiness and freedom, the very assets that are truly priceless.

Not wife material

How do I tell if somebody is intelligent?

There was a tall, lanky fellow who always wore long sleeves and sat down the table from me in engineering class. He didn’t talk much, had a strange sneeze and mostly kept to himself.

I had a sneaking suspicion he was smart, really smart. I shouldn’t have cared either way but between my bloodthirsty competitive side and penchant for people watching, my radar was always on.

And it wasn’t like I had any evidence, grades, test scores or even a remote conversation to draw my conclusion from.

All I had was a subtlety I’d noticed: His body language.

It was a cool confidence juxtaposed with a complete lack of stress on his face.

This absence of stress is not to be confused with slackery. He was laser focused on our material but rarely took notes. That pencil just sat by his hand begging for playing time, but no. Class didn’t seem to faze him. It was as if he was just in cruise control, coasting along while we all paddled to keep up.

He would go on to graduate first in his class.

But I had confirmation before that.

One day towards the end of the term, our teacher put a very high level problem on the board and asked who knew the answer. I immediately looked at him – he knew the answer. I could tell. His head sat still while his eyes were darting around waiting for someone to answer.

He was smart. He had it in his pocket. But he wasn’t looking for attention.

The teacher reiterated, “Anyone?”.

Finally, he slowly raised his hand and read off the answer like a trained assassin: calm, cold and collected.

You don’t need test scores to realize someone is smart.

Just watch them, it’s usually there. And it’s usually the quiet ones. Still waters run deeper.

China is TAKING OVER! Tiangong Space Station HUGE Update

How likely is it for the Chinese government to start buying bonds again, according to Jim Cramer?

Zero! Unless the US cancels all sanctions and restrictions it has placed on China. China is using the proceeds of its bond selling to buy gold. The expectation is that China will begin using gold backed currencies whether the Yuan or a BRICS currency. China sees the US headed for bankruptcy or at best, a financial and economic restructuring. So far, the US continues to print dollars and spending like there is no tomorrow, especially its spending on foreign wars. Yesterday, it was Ukraine, today it is Israel, tomorrow???

What are the reasons General Secretary Xi Jinping has for refusing to meet with President Biden?

What is there to discuss?

Schumer’s recap of his meeting with Xi has the tone that is as condescending of a lecture by an adult to a child. Here are all the points.

Point #1: At the foundation of our relationship must be a level playing field for American businesses and workers as well as responsible competition. We need reciprocity. That means allowing American companies to compete as freely in China as Chinese companies are able to compete in America. I made clear to President Xi that we do not believe there is a level playing field or reciprocity now.

Schumer is complaining about a level playing field? Reciprocity?

This is from a Congress and administration that has more than 1,200 Chinese tech companies on the Entity List and cried economic coercion when China placed restriction on one U.S. companiy. And he’s “making it clear to President Xi” that the U.S. wants a level playing field?

Point #2: “I raised the huge structural inequities and serious imbalances the U.S. faces in its economic and trade relationship with China. For decades, the Chinese government has erected significant barriers aimed at restricting the ability of American companies to compete in an open and fair manner in China. I made clear that the United States cannot sit idly by and that we must address the Chinese government’s forced technology transfers, theft of intellectual property, required joint ventures, and intimidation of U.S. businesses operating in China, among other troubling actions, that undermine economic reciprocity.

“Specifically, I also raised the need to remove restrictions and open up the Chinese market to U.S. companies, including from the semiconductor, financial services, and aerospace industries, and putting an end to policies that intimidate U.S. businesses operating in China.

What restrictions? What structural inequities?

Shouldn’t U.S. companies be making their own decisions on these? And as they say, the proof is in the pudding.

U.S. companies are making money in China. This is why they’re in China. It is precisely because of the structural benefits that China offers that U.S. companies are accepting the Chinese terms for doing business in China. U.S. companies can at any time decouple to India but are not because of the superior structural benefit China offers. And it is also why there is a “structural inequities” between the U.S. and China because, like India, we do have the infrastructure and manufacturing resources to compete with China’s. And this is not China’s fault. If the U.S. and India want to compete, then its incumbent on themselves to build the requisite “structure”.

Evidence of China’s open market? There’s Tesla in China’s automotive market and Apple in the mobile market, both market leaders in the world’s largest market. Nvidia was also the market leader in the world’s largest semiconductor market but its the U.S. banning them, not China.

Point #3: “Equally important to the need for reciprocity is the need for China to take more aggressive action to stop fentanyl from coming into America. Right now, the scourge of fentanyl is costing tens of thousands of lives and destroying American families. I called on President Xi to work with the United States to stem the flow of precursor chemicals that are fueling America’s fentanyl crisis.

And how exactly is China suppose to do this when precursor chemicals are not even banned substances in the U.S.? Fentanyl is a legal drug precribed by U.S. physicians for their patients.

Enforcement of illicit drugs is the sole responsibility of the U.S.. Blaming China is just a sorry excuse for failing at controlling an epidemic of our own making. It’s our greedy Pharmas in collusion with the FDA and physicians that promoted opioid use and solving this can only done by us alone.

Point #4: “I raised with President Xi the unfolding atrocities carried out against Israel and the need for the world community to stand together against terrorism and with the Israeli people, and pointedly requested from President Xi that the Chinese Foreign Minister strengthen their statement; they did.

Schumer is lecturing China on its foreign policy. He stressed the “unfolding atrocities” against Israel but omitted the greater “unfoldering atrocities” that the Israelis are committing against the Palestinians that he wants China to ignore.

Point #5: While we must ensure that our trade policies are fair, the United States will also prioritize our economic and national security, including protecting advanced technologies. Our delegation made clear that America is not seeking a confrontation with China, but we will remain steadfast in our commitment to promoting stability in the region, freedom, and democratic principles, and vigorously defend our values around the world.

This is just BS political talk. He’s saying that U.S. policies should be fair but justified when it’s not when we prioritize economic and national security, including protecting advanced technologies. So the U.S. subsidizing companies to the tune of $52 billion on building chip fab in the U.S. is ok but accusing China of doing the same subsidizing its tech companies as unfair and illegal trade practice. And its ok to sanction China from advanced chips and machines that make them – even forcing the Dutch, South Korean and Japanese companies to join – is justified for the sake of U.S. national security.

Now, how different would a Biden meeting with Xi be from Schumer’s? The Democrats has an election in 2024 and this will be nothing more than an electionering tactic at China bashing to win votes.

Radical Culture Change

Russia’s Top General: “Ready for Post-Conflict Negotiations”

World Hal Turner

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said today “Moscow is ready for negotiations on post-conflict resolution of the crisis in Ukraine and on further coexistence with the West.”

Russia knows Ukraine has lost. Russia knows the West can no longer provide weaponry or money to keep that conflict going. Russia knows it’s defense production is SEVEN TIMES GREATER than all the West combined. Yet, they are extending an olive branch.

Hal Turner Remarks —

We in the West should seize the moment and take this opportunity to move forward in peace.

Sadly, I fear the West simply CANNOT seek peace. I think the West – especially the United States — is literally Bankrupt. I believe the West **needs** a nuclear war or at least a partial nuclear war, so they can blame their financial collapse on the war. I perceive the West **needs** debt forgiveness and the only way they can get it is through mass destruction.

It seems to me the West needs to be able to go to their creditors and say “Our cities are destroyed, our people are dead, our economy is smashed. We have no hope at all of ever paying you back. We need debt forgiveness.”

If I am right, the Creditors, seeing this is the actual reality, will have little choice.

I suspect at that point, the very people in the West who perpetrated the massive financial destruction, get to walk away, free and clear, **remain in power ** (that’s the key) and start the whole shitshow all over again. Then, in maybe another 75 years, they have to do it all again. Round and round the wheel spins. Same old, same old.

If the West turns down this move for peace that Russia is offering, then ALL OF US know the whole Russia-Ukraine thing, and the whole Israel-Hamas thing, was specifically designed to intentionally CAUSE nuclear war for debt forgiveness.

Nothing else about these situations, makes any sense to me.

What lessons will most people only learn the hard way?

When to quit.

This is especially true of athletes in their mid and late 30s.

Men’s testosterone begins to decline around 30. We don’t recover as fast and lose a bit of our power over time. It’s a subtle change that catches up to them.

And many champions don’t know when to walk away in their prime.

Ronaldo is now sitting the bench on Manchester United:

True soccer fans knew this day was coming—as in fans who aren’t Ronaldo fanboys. He wasn’t playing at a high enough level to start on Manchester United. He was leaving the midfield too open while he camped out waiting to score goals.

He’s 37 and feeling his age. And that’s fine. Father Time catches up to everyone.

The sad truth is that this happens to the best of athletes. And it’s never more evident than in combat sports. Fighters that seem invincible, will go from being 31–1 to suddenly losing 8 of 10 fights in a row.

Muhammed Ali stuck around wayyyy too long and at least accelerated his mental decline.

Anderson Silva used to look untouchable. And then, age 38, he began a long losing streak.

Losing 6 of his last 8 fights.

The only person smart enough to walk away seems to be Khabib Nurgademedov. He was 29–0, and the allure of 30–0 whispered his name—but he stayed disciplined and knew to step away.

Meanwhile, his nemesis Conor McGregor has been racking up losses.

It’s a good metaphor for life.

Some phases of our life have an expiration date. Relationships. Jobs. Parties. And if you stick around too long, it just makes things worse.

The most dangerous creation of society is the man who has nothing to lose.

Absolutely!

What is your story of becoming discreetly wealthy?

My goal was $1M net worth by age 40.

We attained the goal at age 31.

Today, at age 34 our combined net worth is $1.6M, not including equity in our home and equity in a small business my wife runs.

I can tell you our story, but it will probably bore you to sleep.

I had it in my head at the age of 25 that I wanted to be a millionaire in 15 years. So I sat down in front of a computer and opened up excel. I made a simple spreadsheet that assumed market returns of 7%. I then calculated how much we needed to save each year to obtain millionaire status by 40. We then proceeded to save the amount of money generated by the spreadsheet and invest in index funds, basing our lifestyle around the remaining income.

That is it.

Why did it happen sooner?

My wife hated her job. She was treated with very little respect by some members in the office, I suspect because she was young and good at her job. So she left. I told her to take some time for herself and figure out what she wanted to do. Little by little she began doing some book-keeping and tax work for former clients (she is an accountant). As word got around, more people called. She began networking and eventually built up a small accounting business with her and two employees. It’s humble, but we are able to save 100% of her earnings which helped us reach our goal sooner.

If you met me on the street you’d think I was a generic 30-something with all the same stresses of a corporate job, house and kids that most middle-class 30-somethings deal with. You’d probably assume I was barely getting by when you saw my dirty 14-year-old car, especially after you learned that I like to commute by bike most of the time anyway.

And that’s it. Having means is often more about your life style than your earnings. Unfortunately I’m not a savvy business man who made millions in his 20’s while driving a Ferrari and flying first class. I used a spreadsheet, saved that amount of money and built my lifestyle around that savings rate.

Then my wife and I woke up rich.

I told you it was a boring story.

Cajun Pork Chili

Ingredients

2 pounds ground pork
2 large onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet red bell pepper, chopped
1 sweet green bell pepper, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
1 (28 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano*
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash of hot pepper sauce
Salt and pepper

Instructions

In a heavy saucepan, cook the pork over medium heat, stirring to break up the meat, for about 5 minutes or until browned. Pour off the fat.
Add onions, and cook until tender.
Add garlic, red and green peppers and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until vegetables are softened.
Add tomatoes, breaking them up with the back of a spoon.
Stir in kidney beans, hot pepper flakes, oregano, cayenne pepper, hot pepper sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Notes

* If you prefer a more traditional chili flavor, use cumin instead of oregano, and add chili powder to taste.

Father’s day

Skunks in Milford

You know, I really liked Massachusetts. I used to live in Milford, Massachusetts. It was really great.

Beautiful, pleasant. A really nice place, and I often miss what it was like.

You know… there is one thing about Milford…

Skunks.

Lots and lots of skunks. LOL.

That and foxes. Who would thunk it?

…

Oh, they would really leave you alone. But, you know, you don’t want to get them upset.

Ha!

They would just meander about. Clueless, without a care in the world. Funny.

Skunks in Milford.

Meandering about. Not a care in the world.

Cute.

Puts a smile on my face.

Today…

Is it really worth it to live to over 80 years?

When he was 87 and slipping into dementia, I asked my father exactly this on one of his “good days.” He smiled and said that it had been worth it, even when he became the last of his siblings alive and started to lose his ability to remember names, first, and other things later.

He became a very gentle person to be around (he had been an angry and argumentative Democrat for most of his life) and enjoyed his children, grandchildren, and even their pets. We got along better than we ever had. I remember taking him to the Fourth of July parade and whispering the names of people who came up to greet him. Once he knew their names, he could have a great conversation. Then I brought him back to a school reunion and that was wonderful. He needed no introductions as everyone wore a name tag.

Having watched my father in those years, I hope that I may live long enough to navigate old age just the way he did despite his obvious infirmities.

What situation made you wish you never reported it?

I’ve worked with the company I’m presently employed with for not quite 12 years. Up until a year ago, we were a small personable, easy going, family owned company of about 250 drivers. If you were around for any length of time, everyone in the office and shop knew you, and vice versa. That was up until about a year ago when the owner of the company retired and threw us under the bus by selling us out to a larger company and everything changed.

It’s common practice for just about any trucking company to require any damage to their equipment be reported and documented. With my company, if the damage was minimal, the report would still go in the driver’s jacket, but no further. It would stay in-house instead of being reported to a national data base.

I’ve always been the type to man-up in situations such as this. I was raised that way, and it was the right thing to do. Even leaving small damage unreported could result in the next driver having to have it repaired and possibly being late for a delivery.

So, after pulling out of a customer’s driveway and cutting it too tighly, I felt something go bump in the night. Upon further inspection, it appears I clipped one of those large landscaping rocks placed to prevent idiot drivers like me from cutting corners too tightly, and running over their curbs. When I stopped for the day and was doing my mandatory post-trip inspection, I came upon this,

Thinking it was no biggie, and my company would normally think likewise, and wanting to do the right thing, I called it it. What happened next was nothing short of a shit storm. The new people acted like I ran over a carload of nuns. Initial phone call to my parent company, followed by a call to the new company’s safety department, followed by a call-back the next day from same, followed by submitting pictures and a full accident report, followed by a call-back from the new company to review of same, followed by a never-heard-of-before-review from Greg in our safety department.

When I related the story to the former head of our . safety department, her reaction was, “It was just a fuckin’ rim!”, as she shook her head.

Trust me, if it ever happens again, I won’t think twice about going palms up with a “Dunno nuthin’ ‘bout it. When I dropped it off, it was fine “, should anyone inquire.

Something to accept

What has been the most life changing health issue you’ve experienced? Did it change your life for the better or worse?

I was driving down the freeway and all of a sudden I couldn’t see the cars ahead of me. It was if someone had pulled a shade down in front of my line of vision. I could see all around the shade, but not right in front. Although it was only for a few moments, the terror I felt was devasting.

I was a 21-year old college student, a senior at academically prestigious school, getting good grades, working part time, and enjoying a fun social life.

So, what was the matter? Where did the intense headaches come from? Why did I frequently wake up in the middle of the night, jumping out of bed and running to the bathroom, to vomit repeatedly? Why did I feel that I was about to fall down whenever the sidewalk was a little uneven?

Then there were those crazy nightmares I was having.…. I dreamed one night that I was driving on the freeway. The car next to me pulled up right beside me. The driver pulled a gun out. He shot me in the head. My head exploded. Everything became dark. I woke up in a terrified sweat. What on earth was wrong with my head that I would have such a dream?

In spite of everything, I was doing okay and maintaining my studies. But finally it became too much for me to handle. Especially the shade covering my eyes on the freeway.

I saw several doctors. They said I was fine.

I went to a psychologist. I figured that since the doctors said I was fine, it must be all in my mind. The psychologist listened to my symptoms. He said that I didn’t need to see a psychologist. Instead, I needed to see a neurologist and he urged me to see one right away.

I took his advice and went to a neurologist. The neurologist admitted me to a hospital. Still no answers. Many tests were done, but it was during the days before C-T scans or MRI’s were used, so it was hard to figure this out. Finally a diagnosis was made: brain tumor.

Surgery was scheduled. They operated for 10 hours, and were able to remove half of the tumor. The surgeon told me the tumor was the size of a large orange and that if I hadn’t been diagnosed when I was, I would have had 6 months left to live. It was just taking over my whole brain and growing so fast.

I was in intensive care for 2 weeks. I can’t remember too much about that time. It seemed like a dream, for just a few hours.

Then, more surgery. And then some more.

I lost the ability to walk. I couldn’t see very well. I lost hearing. I was fed intravenously. Because I had stroke-like symptoms, one side of my body became weak and uncoordinated. I no longer could hold a pen and write.

I had physical therapy and occupational therapy to regain some of the skills that I had lost.

I finally left the hospital and went home to live with my parents. The tumor was not all gone, but I needed a break. I needed time to get stronger before the next onslaught of surgery.

While I was home, I had physical and occupational therapy at a nearby hospital. I still couldn’t walk or write, but I was beginning to feel better. In physical therapy I worked on learning to walk with a walker and then eventually on my own. In occupational therapy I worked on strengthening my very weak hand. I did many activities with my hands, including making some beautiful crafts. Occupational therapy was so much fun! I loved therapy.

I went back to the hospital and had the last surgery. Finally the tumor was gone. After some more time had passed I felt that maybe it was time to return to school.

Living on my own again was not easy. I still couldn’t walk or write well. But I persevered. Sometimes I fell down. I used a tape recorder during lectures since I couldn’t write fast enough to take notes, and my professors gave me extra time to write exams. With the support of my family and professors, I did well and succeeded.

As graduation approached, a brilliant idea occurred to me. I remembered the great time I had in occupational therapy, and how I had been helped so much. Maybe I too could become an occupational therapist. I thought of how wonderful it would be to spend my life helping others just like I had been helped. I decided that yes, I would try, and so I applied to a master’s degree program in occupational therapy.

There were many more applicants than spots available, but much to my delight I was accepted into the program!

The program was so difficult and very competitive. But I worked hard and after two years became an occupational therapist.

That was 40 years ago, and I am still going strong. I have worked with literally thousands of patients during my career, from little 1-pound premature babies all the way up to 103 year-old patients in nursing homes, and everything in-between. I have loved every minute of it.

Occupational therapy is a flexible career with an abundance of interesting and meaningful jobs available. During my career, I traveled the world, met and married my husband, gave birth to and raised two beautiful children, and enjoyed my life!

I turned what could have been a terrible, frightening experience into something really wonderful.

Swapping phones

How does a rescuer deal with a person who has been cut in half by a truck and obviously will not survive, but is still alive?

Not a truck. A railroad train.

The kid had attempted to jump on a boxcar from a bridge.

He dropped instead between the cars and rolled onto a rail.

A wheel cut him in half at the belly, but at the same time sealed the wound.

He was fully conscious, and asked a rescue worker if he would be “OK.”

The first responder said, “Sure, son, you’ll be fine.”

Then his two halves unsealed, and his guts poured forth. He died.

Where?

In Cumberland, Maryland. Here:

Right behind my house, years ago.

What’s something you can’t believe you had to explain to another adult?

My sister-in-law once called me to borrow my fax machine. This was in the days before most people had computers and internet. She had a very important document that had to be faxed to a company showing proof of payment.

I took my fax machine to her house that night, hooked it up, walked her through the simple instructions and left.

She called me at work the next day in a panic. She said she had tried to send her document several times and it would not go. This was important, and she needed it sent right away. I was getting off early that day so I agreed to go by her house and help her with it.

When I arrived I checked the machine and connections and everything seemed fine. I told her to send it again so I could see what was going on. She did everything correctly and at the tone hit Send. The fax machine pulled the paper through and indicated a successful receipt at the other end. My sister-in-law grabbed the paper as it came back out of the machine and said, “See. It doesn’t go, it just spits it back out.” My jaw hit the floor. It turns out she thought the actual paper was being sent over the phone lines.

After I explained the concept to her, I let her know that this story would be told at every family get together for the rest of my life. It is now firmly a part of the family lore and enjoyed by each successive generation.

My sister-in-law fortunately took it in stride. She declared it her worst blonde moment and laughs as hard as anyone when the story is retold.

P.S. My sister-in-law did call the company still to confirm receipt. They told her they had four copies and that was absolutely sufficient.

Have you ever accidentally found out that you were about to be fired?

Close? I accidentally found out I was going to be demoted which lead to me quitting.

In my 20s I worked at one of those places that made huge cookies, I was specifically hired by the manager to be the assistant manager, she’d worked with me as a key holder at another place so she knew I would be good at it. A few months after I was hired the owner sold the business.

One day I was hanging out with the Manager L when she got a call from one of the kids at cookie shop. “Hey L, the owner is in here with some chick he says is the new Manager, what’s going on?”

Too bad L had no answers for her, we had no damned idea what was happening. She and I jumped in the car and headed to the cookie shop to talk, in person, to the owner.

Sure enough, he was demoting L into Assistant and me into just a regular employee. Neither of us had done anything wrong, the new owner just planned to make this new lady a manager. He told us a bunch of BS saying she had experience bla bla… but we found out later she was actually just his girlfriend. We told him how messed up that was, and that both of us would quit if he planned to do this. He was unrepentant, even gaving us the whole “I’m sorry you feel you need an apology” line.

She and I looked at each other, got up and walked away.

Apparently he truly didn’t understand what had just happened because when he saw the kid who called us changing the schedule he was confused. When he was told by her we had just quit, he was completely stunned and didn’t understand why we would have done that. Dude, we literally told you to your face that’s what we’d do if you demoted us for no reason other than to put someone else in as manager, WTF did you think would happen?

Turns out the girlfriend was horrible as a manager, and the owner ended up folding in a few months. Funny how that happens when you take actions that force the people with a clue out, and put someone clueless in just because you are dating them. The two of us were the ones who knew how to run the store, knew how to run the fundraising side, which is where most of the money was made. He screwed himself by being an idiot.

Cajun Butt

Yield: about 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

1 (6 pound) boneless pork butt
15 to 20 garlic slivers
3 tablespoons red pepper flakes (or less)
4 tablespoons yellow mustard
3 tablespoons Tony Chachere’s Original Seasoning
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Cut 15 to 20 slits 1 inch deep on external surface of pork butt. Press one garlic sliver into each slit with thumb, to bottom of slit. On top of each garlic sliver, insert 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes in the slit. Pinch slit closed.
In a bowl, mix mustard, Cajun seasoning, brown sugar and black pepper. Mix well and apply to pork butt. Lightly dust with a coating of red pepper flakes.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Smoke-cook using apple and hickory chips on a covered barbecue pit off the heat for 1 hour per pound or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F.

What is the strangest way you have seen someone repair a broken object?

I drove around a 1988 Toyota Corolla when I was 16 years old.

It looked like this, only a lot more beat up and ugly:

The car had a habit of making strange noises, but there was one noise in particular that I just couldn’t deal with anymore.

I drove it over to my dad’s house to see if he could tell what the problem was.

Dad: “Oh that’s just your heat shield.”

Me: “My what?”

Dad: “It’s basically just there to keep stuff from catching on fire when you park somewhere.”

Me: “That sounds kind of important. Is it something that can be fixed?”

Dad: “Hmmm… Probably.”

My dad grabbed a stick from the yard, shoved it somewhere on the heat shield, and the noise magically stopped.

I thought that stick would eventually catch on fire, but it never did and the noise never came back.

There are some benefits to having a redneck dad.

What is one of the most effective improvised weapons made by soldiers in the field?

Perhaps one of the most effective improvised weapons was the Rhino tank. An ordinary tank – usually a Sherman but with improvised steel teeth welded to the front.

In 1944 just after D-Day the Americans, Canadians and British troops were getting held up in the ‘bocage’ countryside of Normandy. Bocage consisted of high hedgerows built on thick banks of earth. This environment proved ideal for German ambushes, providing plenty of defensive cover. It also meant that the Germans could pick off tanks because they would be funnelled down the lanes, or forced through the narrow gaps in the bocage hedgerows. The Germans knew exactly where the tanks would come through and could lay anti tank mines, or train their guns on that exact spot. If the tanks tried to avoid the gaps and instead drive over the top of bocage embankment, it was so steep that it would expose the thin underside armour. Allied tanks were getting wiped out. Until this man, Sergeant Curtis G. Culin had an idea.

When one of his fellow soldiers joked and said they needed a big set of teeth to bite their way through, Culin didn’t laugh but took the idea seriously. He welded some of the steel that the Germans had used as tank traps to the front of his tank, like this.

The teeth allowed the Sherman to burst straight through the hedgerow, surprise and then destroy any Germans waiting in ambush on the other side.

When General Omar Bradley saw what Culin had done and saw how his tank was able to smash its way though the bocage hedgerows, the General ordered that as many tanks as possible be fitted with this improvised weapon. The Normandy beaches had been filled with landing spikes which were conveniently just the right shape and type of steel to make the ‘teeth’.

This simple but effective innovation enabled the Americans to swiftly move on and cut off the Cotentin Peninsula and then move south and meet up with the British and Canadians cutting off the Germans in the Falaise Pocket.

What problems did you encounter when buying a house in an “as-is” condition?

I bought the house we are in now exactly 10 years ago in “as is” condition. In fact this was the entire listing:

“Seller and agents make no representations and warranties. Sold as is.”

The house is in a fairly upscale suburb, and was about 15 years old at the time. There was plenty of cosmetic damage — water damage on the hardwood floors, a filthy kitchen, holes in some drywall, a half-full leaky pool clogged with algae. Plus the interior and exterior were just sad looking, with ugly brown paint and outdated stained oak stairs.

But the funny thing was that no matter how carefully I looked, I could not see any actual serious problems. In fact, it was a bank repossession, and I eventually figured out that since it looked so bad they just assumed there were real problems, and they listed it the way they did to avoid any liability. Over 100 people looked at the house, and we were the only ones who put in an offer, and we got it way (way!) under the asking price, which is rare in Toronto.

I was planning on doing a full renovation anyhow, so I didn’t care about the drywall and flooring. The entire kitchen went in the dumpster. And for $600 we repaired the pool, and it worked perfectly.

I’ve been here for 10 years now and we have not had a single serious problem with the house.

I am sitting outside Quoraing this morning and I took this picture 60 seconds ago:

From the Agreement of Purchase and Sale:

What are the most mind-blowing tricks used during any war?

When you can’t destroy a target by dropping bombs vertically, you can drop them horizontally. That’s what the 617 Royal Air Force Squadron did in May 1943.

The squadron carried out Operation Chastise, designed to destroy German dams and hydroelectric power stations. Reconnaissance and simulated bombing runs revealed that bombs dropped vertically on top of dams were not effective. So instead, the RAF used an experimental bouncing bomb, designed by Sir Barnes Wallis, that was dropped at low altitude onto the surface of the reservoir and skipped along the water horizontally until it hit the face of the dam.

The strategy proved effective. “The Möhne and Edersee Dams were breached…Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more were damaged. Factories and mines were also either damaged or destroyed.”

Lancaster bomber dropping bouncing bomb during the Operation Chastise raids on Germany’s Ruhr Valley.

The operation was later the subject of the movie Dambusters, released in 1955.

West will choke on Putin’s terms for Ukraine

Discussion on the Ukraine surrender terms.

Who was the most delusional person you’ve ever met? Why were they so delusional?

I remember seeing a girl, her parents were millionaires due to a massive inheritance.

She would try and talk about her “Working class background” how the struggle was real.

One day she was telling me how her parents only bought her a brand new mini when she passed her test and how that went to show how much her family had struggled. One of her school friends got a brand new Range Rover.

I listened to that thinking “My Mum couldn’t have afforded a driving lesson let alone a car”

Have you ever felt disgusted by the actions of a family member?

My sister’s daughter and her husband were about to lose their house in Texas because neither of them had jobs, they had one very young daughter and were expecting another baby. My 80 year old mother couldn’t stand to watch this happen. So, she took out an equity loan on her house and lent them $100,000. They were supposed to make the equity payments for my mom, and at first they did and were supposed to pay the whole loan back when they sold their house.

A few months later, they sold their house but told my mother they needed her money as a down payment on their new house in california. So, they kept the money, and continued making the monthly payments until they had a big fight and split up. Suddenly, no one wanted to make the payments on my mother’s equity loan so my mother had to. If she couldn’t keep up on them, she would have lost her house.

She is now 85 years old, completely disabled, living on a tiny pension, and trying to pay off this loan. Since my niece split with her husband, they did not make payments on their house either. So, it went into foreclosure, and Mom cannot even put a lien on it to get her money back.

Needless to say, I am truly disgusted by my niece’s behavior as well as her husband’s. I have now sent my mother money; my sister has sent her money, and another one of my nieces has sent money. The only people in the family who do not seem to feel terrible about this are the two people who should.

How did one small decision change your life?

When i decided not to break up with my boyfriend at that moment.

I had just joined post graduation course and found this guy who was extremely caring about me. Within a month, he proposed me. I was confused however i said yes.

We use to talk, study and laugh together. However even after six months, i was not sure about our relationship.

AND Here comes the blow. He was back to his hometown. He was ill since a week. Meanwhile, i had a introspection round with my roommates. I found i was still unsure about our relationship. So i decided, on the next call, i will tell him that this is not the right time to fall in love etc., we should be friends only.

He called me around 8 PM. I was full prepared to say him a No. As soon as i picked the phone, he was crying on the other side. He was suffering from a fatal disease, Meningitis. I could not gather courage to leave him at this crucial moment. I just said, “I am with you today and always. No matter what happens.”

He was not in position to join college. His parents was insisting him to leave the college and repeat next time. He refused and joined the college next month. He had not recovered fully. In fact, he lost his hearing power around 40%. When he came back, he told me – how my words motivated him to join the college again. I took care of him. I used to call him reminding his medicines, diets etc. Meanwhile, i actually fell for him and then never told about that breakup thought.

Today, i am happily married with him.

P.S. I do not want my husband to know about my breakup thought even today. He is on quora. So i am writing anonymously.

What did you notice during an interview that made you not want the job?

I visited a radio station for an interview, at the station manager’s request. At the time I was somewhat “known” as a pleasing radio “personality” and therefore many stations wanted to talk to me.

Part of the interview process includes a station tour where the owner or manager shows off their office, production facilities, etc.

But at this particular station, I noticed all the shelved albums (well over a thousand) were locked in place by a steel bar which prevented their removal from the shelf, unless the bar was unlocked.

But who the Hell would steal the records? During business hours, when the station was open, advertisers or promoters might come in, but they were always accompanied by station staff, so visitors couldn’t steal an album (or even a 45). So, when the doors were locked after 5 PM, who did that leave as a potential thief?

Answer: the DJ who was on air, and the news guy or gal. Sometimes, the sales manager might come in.

So, the owner of the station was paranoid about theft from his or her own people! I had worked at a number of stations, and had never seen a lockdown of the music library. It had to mean that employees and top management were not happy with each other, and I was NOT going to work in that kind of environment.

Thus, I stopped in my tracks and said, “Thanks for the tour, but I don’t think this will work for me.” And I was out the door before anyone could say, “Huh?”

What’s the pettiest thing you’ve done to get back at a nuisance neighbor?

Years ago, I lived in an apartment in a two-family building. Upstairs and downstairs.

The landlord had rented the downstairs to a woman and her three teenage kids. They were obnoxious, had fights constantly, played music so loud it literally shook the walls, and despite multiple complaints by other neighbors to the landlord and the police (because yes it was that bad), nothing was done.

While technically, landlords are supposed to do snow clearing after a snow fall, getting some landlords to do so in a timely manner is more effort than digging out the snow yourself. This was one such landlord.

That winter we had a bad snow storm, a few feet of snow.

The downstairs neighbor knocked on my door to ask when I, the older woman with no kids, would be shoveling out the apartments and driveway, all of it, by myself.

I told her I wouldn’t, but we could split the cost to have someone come over and do it since the landlord was extra full of excuses as to why it would take days to get to the property and do so.

She laughed and said she wasn’t paying. She then told me I was welcome to hire her 3 kids to dig out the entire property. Her kids were a big part of the problem as to why the cops were coming over constantly, and so no. I’d previously had problems with her children opening my mail and putting it back in my mail box or opening deliveries of mine. There was no way I’d pay them.

Oh hell no, first you expect someone older than you to do the work for free, then expect that I will pay your kids, who are apparently perfectly able to do so, to dig YOU out? Fuck that.

A friend’s husband was offering to dig people out for a reasonable rate. I contacted him and hired him. When he got there, I explained the neighbor issue and what I wanted and was willing to pay for. He was only to clear out MY half of the driveway/garage/sidewalk. Her sides were still untouched, because no one(Me) would pay her kids to do it.

He went the extra mile, splitting the snow between the yard, and her side, of everything. AKA her side ended up with more snow that needed to be cleared.

This level of petty

Picture from Google.

She complained to the landlord that:

1. I refused to shovel her side of the property for her and her family (I was not obligated to do ANY property maintenance at all)

2. I had refused to hire her kids to do it

3. I had hired someone and refused to pay him to clear her side.

Now this was a kinda shitty landlord, but still… I was amused that the landlord contacted me about it and agreed to reduce my rent the amount I paid to have MY side cleared, as well as tell me about the downstairs neighbor’s complaints about me.

Until I moved out, whenever there was snowfall, you would see a similar clearing pattern on the property. SO much so the other neighbors joked about it, and refused to hire her kids to clear their properties as well.

EDIT: Apparently there are a large number of people who feel the need to comment about how she could just use my side of the stairs as if I lack a functioning brain. Seriously, the level of condescending ‘splaining in the comments is a sad statement on so many here. Thanks all you Captain Obvious’.

Of course she could, as could the postal worker who had to use them to deliver mail(Something not one of those commenting about her using the stairs seemed to consider).

Her being able to use them or not wasn’t the point. So many of you making the same comment as if the more of you who say it, the more I will regret it, or as if I didn’t realize that years ago when I did it is mind-boggling.

For those clueless ones that feel the need to comment the obvious, you all missed the obvious point that it wasn’t about her use of the stairs, but the refusal to clear her side on her command.

What’s something your husband did to you that you will never forget?

My partner (not my husband). My mother had been really sick from cancer for 18 months, we were told that she was unlikely to make it past the weekend. With that being said I was completely distraught… my partner of 9 years said pack your stuff and leave first thing in the morning (400km drive). He woke me up at 430 am, had already packed the car and fueled it up for me. Had a travel mug of coffee ready and said call me when you get there. I left 5am Friday morning.

mum passed 8am Saturday morning (the next day). I called my partner and told him, he said I’ll move heaven and hell to get there as soon as I can. I said, don’t worry, there is nothing you can do, just be here in time for mums funeral (the upcoming Friday).

in the mean time, it was my birthday 4 days after mum had passed. My family tried to make it as special as it could be. But, it was quite a somber occasion. At 8pm, there were headlights at the top of the drive way (rural property). I know the sound of his car. I’m like it’s *partners name.

he had worked 12 hour shift (construction) then drove 400km to be with me in my darkest time to help me feel better on my birthday. In the days after mums passing I had not been able to sleep, or cry or anything but just barely function. I slept solidly that night.

I know most would say that or like to think their spouse would do the same. But, that level of love and support got me through my darkest days. Love this man so very much.

The USA is so filthy rich to fund $100+B to Ukraine and $14B to Israel to support their wars but they can’t agree in Congress to avert a government shutdown this Friday, lifeline extended since 30 Sep. Where is the America First mindset?

Unfortunately, this is the point. The U.S. is not filty rich but filty poor.

All those money for Ukraine and Israel we got by using the printing press. We’re now $33 trillion in debt.

We can’t pay for basic utilities to keep our house in order but we believe we’re still able to live the high life of showing off to the rest of the world how powerful we are.

Strange things caught on camera

How did Genghis Khan treat his soldiers?

Genghis Khan, the legendary Mongol conqueror, had a unique approach when it came to treating his soldiers. Known for his strategic brilliance and military prowess, Khan understood the importance of a strong and loyal army in his quest to build the largest empire in history. So how did he treat his soldiers?

First and foremost, Genghis Khan believed in meritocracy. He valued skill, loyalty, and bravery above all else. Regardless of their background or social status, anyone who demonstrated these qualities had the opportunity to rise through the ranks of his army. This approach fostered a sense of unity and purpose among his soldiers, as they knew that their achievements would be rewarded.

Khan was also an astute observer of human nature. He recognized that soldiers needed to be motivated and inspired to fight with unwavering dedication. To achieve this, he led by example. Genghis Khan was renowned for his courage on the battlefield, often placing himself at the forefront of his troops during crucial engagements. This not only boosted morale but also instilled a sense of camaraderie and trust among his soldiers.

In addition to leading from the front, Khan took great care of his troops’ physical well-being. He ensured that his soldiers were adequately fed, equipped, and cared for. The Mongol army was known for its skilled horsemen, and Khan prioritized the breeding and training of horses to provide his soldiers with superior mounts. This gave them a significant advantage in maneuverability and speed during battles.

Furthermore, Genghis Khan implemented a system of rewards and recognition for valorous acts. Soldiers who displayed exceptional bravery or achieved notable successes on the battlefield were given honors, titles, and even land. This not only motivated his soldiers to excel but also created a sense of pride and camaraderie within the ranks.

However, Khan was also a strict disciplinarian. He demanded discipline and obedience from his soldiers, as he believed that a well-disciplined army was crucial for maintaining order and achieving victory. Disobedience or betrayal was met with severe consequences, ensuring that his troops remained loyal and committed to the cause.

Woman EXPOSES The INEVITABLE Problem With Dating Modern Women | TRAINED/GROOMED To Be Masculine

What is the most ridiculous way you have seen someone make a lot of money?

I was in talks to design a business plan for one of those “Become a Millionaire” guys – aka a “Life Coach”.

As we moved along in talks I immediately got the heeby jeebies from the guy.

He was in his late 50’s and only seemed to brag about things he did in high school and his early 20’s. When I would ask about subsequent years, just to understand his career narrative, he would get thin on details and then squirm and change the subject.

So then I watched a few of his media interviews where his go-to story was about this incredible and vivid vision that came upon him when he was a child. A vision that he would someday become rich.

To his credit, it indeed came true. He was a wealthy man.

But it became true because he inherited his dad’s company when his dad passed away unexpectedly. He then immediately sold the company and spent the next 30 years doing a whole lot of nothing.

So now he is one of those people going around telling everyone he knows “that ONE special secret to getting rich”. He released his first book on becoming wealthy, which a bunch of unfortunate suckers bought.

And, no, I won’t tell you the title because he will sue the hell out of me.

But I’ll give you the cliff notes version, “Get rich by having a rich dad.”

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that are like him.

Preying on people’s hopes and dreams in search of a dollar.

Can the United States build a new carrier group every five years for the next fifty years?

The American industrial system does not have such production capacity.

American shipyards do not have such production capacity: There is only a dry dock suitable for manufacturing aircraft carriers, and aircraft carriers waiting for repair are still queuing;
The steel mills in the United States do not have such production capacity: The last scandal involving the use of low-quality steel made in Kobe, Japan, by US nuclear submarines has not yet passed. This batch of nuclear submarines with quality issues cannot dive at all, and diving into deep water will explode due to increased pressure. American warships are even unable to withstand the impact of fishing vessels, which fully proves the quality issues of the steel used in their shipbuilding.
There are not enough skilled workers in the United States

20 And Back – The Super Soldiers Defending the Kuiper Belt

Another fun video.

Is it a crime to say in China, “Xi Jinping is destroying China. He must be kicked out! He is a dictator!”? In the West, saying such things about one’s president is perfectly normal.

Joe Biden is taking the World to the brink of World War III

What can the American people do about it?

SQUAT

…

Until 19/1/2025 at least, there is nothing any American citizen can do about it except watch the World plunge into war under the watch of a senile idiot who needs Diapers

So what is the use of saying

Biden is destroying USA and he must be kicked out

It’s just empty gas isn’t it. It’s just 10 words at the end of the day. Biden laughs and keeps doing whatever he likes for four years, unchecked

…

Same with every Democracy in the Planet

At the end of the day – WHAT IS THE END RESULT OF ABUSING OR CRITICISING THE LEADER?

Nothing

Either the Media suppresses it or people shrug and brazenly keep doing what they are doing

…

Take India

We have had Protests on every decision that has ruined the country

Demonetization, CAA, NCR etc

They matter Squat

Once in, Modi is in power for minimum 5 years and he can’t be shaken by the common man

…

France?

Same story

All those Protests and Screams and Shrieks about Pension reforms and Macron did exactly what he wanted

He is in charge till 2027

…

Same with South Korea , exports plunge to historic lows and people scream and protest but does it matter? Nopes

Taiwan?

Japan?

Germany?

So many protests begging to end the war and Germany openly and brazenly calls for Escalation

So what is the use of this damn free speech? You can say the words but they are worthless in every possible way

Now China

Yes

Maybe in China, saying these 10 words could be counter productive

However the people’s voice in China is heard much better than in any democracy

Lockdowns were ended post protests
Rural Banking Reforms were initiated after Protests
Crackdowns on Real Estate Financing was initiated after Protests
1.03 Crore Jobs have been added due to vigorous Weibo Netizen criticism
Tagging Schoolkids Or regulating online gaming has been deferred due to Weibo online protests

Plus the Biggest Biggest Thing…

Recently on the XI Jingping app, they asked if Chinas History for 6–9 Classes be modified and whether Chapters on the Boxer Rebellion and the Opium Wars had to be reduced

The Question was asked of Students who had already passed out their 9th Grade and above

79% Students said NO.

DON’T CHANGE HISTORY

They didn’t.

…

In India, US, and all those wonderful democracies – they don’t ask the kids do they????

So on one hand you have Western Democracies and their lapdogs where you can say what ever you want but can do zilch

Or China where your criticism must be tempered but as citizens you can achieve much greater control on Governance

The Chinese say WE LIKE OUR MODEL BETTER

I kinda agree with them

So you keep your Senile Alzheimer’s Ridden President and your ‘Freedom and Democracy’ and let the Chinese have their own version

Perceptions on making money

What would you consider a legitimate Italian cuisine that the US actually gets right?

I think you might want to edit the question to ask which item from Italian cuisine does the US actually get right.

Italian American cuisine is a cuisine in its own right. Millions of Italians immigrated to America and they adapted their traditional dishes to use American ingredients. Some of the ingredients they used at home were unavailable or too expensive in America, so changes were made. Successive generations didn’t know there was a difference between what they were eating and what was being cooked in the old country. They just accepted the food their families prepared as being Italian cuisine, which at heart, it is.

There’s a lot of water between America’s East Coast, the epicenter of Italian American cuisine, and the old boot herself. It’s that distance that led the creation of Italian American classics. If I had to point at one item the made the leap unmolested though, I’d name Sfogliatelle.

Sfogliatelle are a flaky pastry that originated in Campania. They’re made by rolling out dough, brushing it with lard or oil, rolling it up, cutting it into portions, shaping the pastry, filling it and baking. Sfogliatelle can be baked unfilled or filled with sweetened ricotta, almond paste or candied citrus zest. They’re simple to make and don’t call for any exotic ingredients. It’s the thin flakey layers that make sfogliatelle unique.

Ricotta filled:

If you’ve never tried these pastries, seek them out. They’re amazing and their recipe has not been molested by time or distance.

The 80/20 rule

Why is a partner at a Chinese semiconductor investment fund calling the U.S. ban on certain chip exports to China “great news”?

It’s simple

Today YMTC makes products that are maybe 75% as good as NVDIA

Other Chinese Entities make products that are around 60% of the quality of products of entities like Samsung & SK Hynix

Spending $ 100 on NVDIA chips means $ 88 goes to US or Taiwan or other such companies

Spending $ 100 on YMTC chips means $ 61 comes to Mainland China

That’s 5 times more money than otherwise

And these Companies, they won’t use this extra revenue and put in a Swiss Bank account somewhere

They will use this money to invest into more researchers, more hours and match the same quality of the superior western brands

Today there is a vast stockpile in China to handle maybe 30 months of inventory

That gives a transition gap of approximately 2 1/2 years or until 2027 January

This is a big boost to the Chinese local entities because you can’t rely on Government largesse for ever

What robbed you of your childhood, and how?

Life robbed me of my childhood. My parents had to quit school after grade 9 to help support their families. They vowed that my brother and I would not be barred from finishing school and going to University.

But we were poor, so they had no way to pay for it. So they propped me early. I knew by grade six that if I wanted to go to university, I would have to pay for it myself.

So in grade 8, I started mowing lawns and shoveling snow.

In grade 9 I got a part time job and worked 20 hours a week, in grade 10 ,30 hours, and grades 11 and 12 it was 40 hours. I graduated first in my class. I lived in a 10×14 ft room, with a roommate and the bathroom, was down the hall. I worked in the dorm cafeteria. When summer came I got a camp job, where I worked 360–380 hours a month, and they also paid room and board.

This was the way I graduated from university debt free.

So, as soon as I turned 13, I stopped having a childhood, and had an adulthood instead. So much for life being easy for baby boomers.

I’d do it all over again in a heart beat. Its what it took to break the cycle of poverty.

What is your most embarrassing restaurant experience?

I was bar tending during a lunch shift at a horseshoe shaped bar in the middle of a restaurant.

The bartender who closed the bar the previous night did not shut off the hose inside the bar.

Unbeknown to me, the nozzle had fallen off the hook and was resting right under the service bar, where I was making drinks.

About 30 minutes into the lunch rush I had a full bar and a miles worth of service bar drinks to make.

All I remember is hearing yelling and commotion coming from my right, yet continue slave away as I had a million and one things to do.

Finally, hearing a “WHAT THE F*#K IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” towards my direction I turned to see the hose dousing half the restaurant in water.

I had been stepping on the nozzle for at least 30-45 seconds.

The entire left side of the restaurant, it’s customers, the food, everything was drenched in water.

Everyone who had food, had it ruined, men in business suits… soaked.

Water was literally dripping off the ceiling.

Looking back it was kind of awesome to see around 100 people all giving you the rageface all at the same time.

What is something that people were better at 100 years ago?

Because I am 71, I knew people who were in their prime of life a hundred years ago (1918) and there were definitely things that they did easily and routinely that are rarely done today:

Baking bread and caramel rolls. My grandmother learned it from her mother but did not pass it on to her daughters, probably because sliced store bread had essentially taken over.
Writing cursive and writing letters. I have saved some of my grandfather’s letters. For a person with an eighth grade education, he wrote simply but beautifully.
Sewing and mending. My grandmother was not wealthy, but she was capable of producing wonderful pajamas for all of her grandchildren on her trusty Singer. My generation has lost the ability to create heirlooms.
Gardening and canning the things they grew. In an era when you were not going to see fresh fruit or vegetables in stores after growing season, people developed great preservation skills. Things like pickles, berries, tomatoes were canned as were peaches and plums when in season. I do not remember kale or zucchini, however, and that was also a blessing.
Memory work. I grew up with great uncles and aunts (all born about 1900) who had memorized massive amounts of poetry and famous speeches as well as scripture. Rote learning was fairly normal in their education, so they did group memorization. We loved to hear their recitations.

I miss those folks. They just slipped away one at a time between the seventies and today.

What was the bravest thing you ever did in a job interview?

This wasn’t me, this was my wife. She is a lawyer and was interviewing for a job managing the sale of properties. She was interviewing at a firm that specialised in really expensive and tricky sales and when she turned up to the interview she was told by the recruiter that the partners had told the last two people who were interviewed to leave midway through so they were quite abrupt!

She went to the interview, which went quite well, and they asked her to prepare an answer to a legal sale question. When she looked at it, she knew she had no hope: it was madly complicated and about a type of property sale that is known to be horrendous to do. She thought about trying to brazen it off and decided to be honest and say she had no idea.

It turned out the partners knew from looking at her CV she would have no idea about how to do it; it was something so complex the partner himself had had to do it himself. What they were trying to do was see how she reacted to something she didn’t know. The last two people interviewed had tried to make something up and so failed the test.

They offered her the job on the spot!

Have you, while repairing a computer, ever found anything that made your jaw drop?

I was nowhere qualified as a computer tech but one time a friend of mine brought over a a desktop machine and keyboard and asked me to see if I could get it running as it wouldn’t boot up. Every time you’d plug in the power cord to the wall socket a strange odor would start permiating from the cover. I figured something was wrong with the power supply, which if push came to shove I could’ve probably went to an electronics supply store and bought another one and installed it. I was adept at soldering and replacing some common components at the time, which is why my friend thought that I could fix it.

Anyhoo, I removed the screws holding the cover to the unit, lifted the cover off and got the most absolute shock of my life!! Hundreds of live cockroaches start running out all over everywhere not to mention many more that were obviously dead inside that cover!

I came unglued along with a major panic attack! I’d never, ever had to deal with roaches after I became an adult. I despised them because while growing up my family and I always had a major problem with roaches and they were always into everything and would drop from the ceiling when you went into a room after turning on lights, etc etc etc.

I spent 2 hours stomping on and smashing roaches trying to prevent them from getting into places in my apartment where I couldn’t reach and in the long run wasn’t successful. Ended up moving out to get away from them making sure in the process that I didn’t inadvertently take any with me.

I was not happy with my friend. It caused a major, almost homicidal argument with him and it would be several years before we spoke again. The creepiness and ick factor of watching those roaches pile out of that machine that day still haunts me to this day.

Huawei refused to disclose its foundry information, sending the Biden team into madness.

Mama! Huawei is not giving me his data!

What is the saddest truth about smart people?

Let’s talk about smart children. Particularly smart children in the United States. Particularly those in grades K-8 at a public school.

A lot of you reading this are, yourself, a product of the American public school system. Think back to your K-8 years. Do you remember people whose only job was to deal with the students with behavior problems? Were there “special education” teachers who had special classrooms with aides and all kinds of equipment for just a handful of students? Do you remember being bored a lot in school, because your teacher didn’t have the time to challenge you, because they were so busy re-teaching things to the students who didn’t get it the first time? Do you remember a handful of students who seemed to set the pace for the whole class, and that pace was much, much too slow for you? Do you remember a handful of students whose attitudes and behavior set the tone for the whole class? And was that a negative tone that left your teacher spending most of their time dealing with that small handful of students?

That was my experience, at least. In grades 4–8, I was one of about 20 students in a special gifted program in my school. But that gifted “program” was just two teachers who were given a spare classroom in five schools in the district, and they went to a different school every day of the week, and pulled out the gifted students from their classes for an hour, to play logic games with them.

One hour per week. That’s what we got.

Meanwhile, the students on the other end of the spectrum had resources thrown at them, including permanent classrooms with full-time teachers for students whose only “special need” was that they didn’t give a damn about learning.

I remember one incident in particular, when I realized just how much time my teachers wasted trying to get one particular student under control. His name was Anthony. One day, in seventh grade, we were learning about feudal Japan by playing a game where we were all on teams, given items to trade, and could use money we made to hire soldiers, and then there was a huge map of Japan on the wall, separated into regions, with the number of regions under each team’s control represented by different colored push pins.

My team started in Osaka. To this day, I know exactly where Osaka is because of this game back in 1992. I remember that we were the blue team, our main thing to trade was fish, and we began with five pushpin armies.

Also Judith was in my group, which made it even that much more enjoyable for me. She was forced to interact with me for a few minutes each day because of this.

It was a computer-less strategy game. I loved it. The game was supposed to last for a few weeks.

It lasted two days. On the third day, Anthony vandalized the giant game board, and some of his friends laughed. And that was it. The teacher was tired of putting in so much effort for something that students like Anthony just kept ruining. We did the rest of the unit, and every unit afterwards for the rest of the year, through textbook reading and worksheets.

But, as I thought about it, I realized that Anthony had been that way since he was first in my class in second grade. He was always out of control. He always set the pace and the tone for the class. In middle school, he got kicked out of class a lot, which just wasted a lot of time because he rarely went willingly and they had to call and wait for security. But he was always back in the class the next day. He just needed to “chill out.”

That was actually the name of the kick-out room for students like him: the “chill out room.”

I just Googled him and found a story that he was sentenced to six years in prison in 2004 for “domestic battery, drug possession, and forgery.”

Yep. All of that extra time, effort, and money the public school spent on him… how’d that work out?

That would be fine, if the public schools spent the same amount of time, effort, and money on the upper end of the spectrum.

My point is this: What’s the saddest truth about smart people? Public schools just aren’t equipped to deal with your special needs, because they’re too busy dealing with the special needs of students on the other end of the spectrum. The very people who have the most potential to give the most back to society are the same ones who school prioritizes the least.

Imagine a school system where every dollar spent on students on the lower end of the special needs spectrum had to be matched by a dollar for students on the higher end of the spectrum.

Imagine if, just like schools have resources in place for when the teachers need to kick out the Anthonys of the world, those same schools had resources for teachers to send out the students who were too smart for that day’s lesson.

“Timmy, you can read this and learn it on your own in five minutes, but I’m going to be teaching it to the rest of the class for the next hour. You can go to the gifted resource room and work with the teacher there on more advanced stuff.”

Imagine if, just as schools pay extra attention to students with special needs due to federal laws and fears of getting sued, schools did the same for students on the high end of the spectrum. Imagine if parents could threaten a lawsuit because the school wasn’t meeting the needs of their child… the legally-mandated requirement that the school challenge them on their academic level and not let their classmates hold them back.

Imagine how high your hot air balloon could be now, if not for the classroom sandbags that weighed you down when you were in school.

Instead of “No Child Left Behind,” it should be “No Child Forced To Wait.”

Gavin Newsom goes to China, one-ups Biden and meets Xi Jinping

“As a Californian, I can tell you that not only is Newsom not acceptable to the rest of America, California is not acceptable to the rest of America”.

How likely is China going to sell $810 billion worth of U.S. securities? What will happen in the global credit markets if China starts to dump U.S. dollars?

It is likely that China will sell virtually all of its remaining U.S. Treasuries.

It is useful to look at Russia’s experience in this regard. Russia sold virtually all of its Treasuries in 2018, fairly quickly. At that time, Russia encouraged the world to dump U.S. Treasury bonds. Thus, it is possible for a country to officially not hold Treasuries.

After 2018, Russia continued to hold some foreign currency reserves in U S. dollars. When the Ukraine War started in 2022, the United States and its allies froze hundreds of billions of dollars held by Russia.

As a result, the world has been forced to look elsewhere to store its savings. Both China and Russia are storing much of their wealth in physical gold. Other countries are doing the same. The planet is also increasingly doing business in currencies other than the dollar.

As a result of these trends, China will increasingly no longer need U.S. Treasuries to do business. In October 2023, China bought its first oil for Chinese Yuan. If this continues, China will get its oil for free, by printing Yuan. America will be forced to trade hard goods for oil in the future.

America’s leaders were very short-sighted to weaponize the dollar. A global reserve currency requires trust. The United States had a money-making machine, and voluntarily gave it up.

FLASH TRAFFIC ADDED – TURKISH NAVY DEPLOYING 100 SHIPS AGAINST ISRAEL –~FIFTY (50) U.S. Military Transport Planes in 24 Hours to Middle East

World Hal Turner

FLASH TRAFFIC ADDED – SEE 12:27 PM EDT UPDATE BELOW —— From Friday-into-Saturday, the United States sent no fewer than fifty (50) military transport planes loaded with troops to the Middle East. In addition, the list below shows “unprecedented” naval deployments. Today, Iran said they WILL NOT abide U.S. warnings to stay out of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

We begin with Naval Deployments into the Middle East showing 11 Countries in Support of Israel:

All of the above, along with Submarines and other support ships show an utterly massive naval deployment. I am told this present deployment is larger than the ones done prior to the US war(s) against Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 1991 and again later.

In addition to all the above vessels, another Aircraft Carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth II, transited the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday morning around 11:00 AM, enroute to the eastern Mediterranean:

In addition to THAT additional aircraft carrier, the Navy of Italy is also now deploying vessels:

AIR

In the 24 hours period from Friday into Saturday, the United States flew 49+ military transport aircraft from the US to the Middle East, carrying TROOPS!

https://halturnerradioshow.com/images/2023/10/28/US-Military-transport-Flights-Fri-into-Sat.jpg

On top of those troop transport flights, a Significant number of C-17A Globemaster lll and C-5M Super Galaxy Transport Aircraft from the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command have been arriving in the Middle East.

The flight info above DOES NOT even cover the regular commercial airline flights the US has chartered to exclusively move troops!

Yesterday, Saturday 28 October 2023, Germany put 1,000 soldiers on alert for deployment to the Middle East in case of emergency The German Army keeps 1,000 troops on alert for possible deployment to the Middle East in case of emergency, given the prevailing tension in the region as a result of the war between Hamas and Israel.

This flight from Fort Sill, OK has my attention at the moment. Fort Sill is home to a THAAD battery and this flight appears to be headed overseas. There are no helpful ACARS for this flight, but this is possibly a THAAD battery flight enroute to Saudi Arabia:

https://halturnerradioshow.com/images/2023/10/28/THAAD-flight-to-Saudi-Arabia.jpg

At about 1:47 AM eastern US Time Sunday, which was about 11:00 AM in Tehran, Iran, the President of Iran said Tehran will not follow US warnings against interfering in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to the Press service of the President of Iran: “Israel has crossed red lines, forcing everyone to take action.”

The President made it a point to also say “the presence of U.S warships in the region will make no difference to Tehran’s decision.”

Hal Turner Analysis

Based solely upon the movement of ships, troops, and planes, it is obvious to me the United States is going to war. A big war.

Trouble is the federal government under the Biden Regime has intentionally left the US southern border with Mexico, virtually open. Literally millions of illegal aliens have been entering the country via Mexico since Biden took office.

It is my opinion that many – but not all – of these illegal aliens are a “5th Column” sent here by adversaries to be “sleeper cells.” I believe that when war erupts in the Middle East, that WE HERE IN THE USA will also be attacked by these sleeper cells.

YOU must be ready with emergency food, water, medicine, a generator to make electric in case the grid is taken down. Have CASH MONEY in your possession incase cyber attacks take out the financial networks, making credit, debit, and SNAP/EBT useless. After all, almost no one takes checks anymore. So folks with cash will eat. Those without cash will go hungry.

The utterly massive movement of troops and weapons indicates to me that hostilities are imminent. Which could — and I emphasize “could” (not necessarily “will”) — trigger sleeper cell attacks here in America.

If you wait until trouble starts, then YOU and every other person who failed to plan, will all be rushing to stores at the same time trying to get food and supplies. In short order, store shelves will be empty and those of you who took no action, will find yourself standing in an empty store.

Don’t be like “the masses who are asses” that wait until the last minute to get supplies. Do it right now. Today.

And gas-up your cars, trucks, and spare gas cans for your generator.

Lastly, have COMMUNICATIONS GEAR – a CB or a HAM (Shortwave) radio — so if things go wild weasel, and communications like phone, fax, email, cellular/Internet all go down, at least YOU will be able to communicate locally (CB) and hear international news on shortwave (HAM).

Of course, some of you will say that this story and its advice is sort of like “Chicken Little, the sky is falling.” To those who would scoff I merely point out that, this morning, a U.S. E-6 Nuclear Command Post is now flying over the US East Coast:

The E-6B Mercury is a communications relay and strategic airborne command post aircraft. It provides survivable, reliable, and endurable airborne Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) for the president, secretary of defense and U.S. Strategic Command.

So it isn’t just ME telling you to take steps to prepare, it’s the US Military, too. Take the hint!

(PERSONAL: Sorry my coverage today begins at this late hour of 11:00 AM EDT. I slept-in this morning. Didn’t wake up until 9:25 AM. I was literally exhausted.)

********** FLASH ***********

UPDATE 12:27 PM EDT —

The Turkish Navy is, right now, transiting ONE-HUNDRED Naval Warships through the Bosporus Strait from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

It is BELIEVED Turkey plans to engage Israel over its ongoing military action in Gaza. War may break out between Turkey and Israel within Hours! ! ! !

What was a big mistake in WW2?

This is the Lorenz cipher.

Unlike its better known relative, the Enigma machine which was infamously deciphered by code-breakers at Bletchley Park throughout the war, the Lorenz cipher posed a much greater challenge. Utilising 12 wheels to scramble up the message being sent as opposed to the 3 or 4 rotors found in the Enigma machine, the Lorenz cipher was incredibly secure. As a result, unlike the Enigma that was used by the German standard armed forces, the Lorenz cipher was used only by high command with messages coming from Hitler himself. As a result, to crack the Lorenz cipher (or Tunny as it was code named by the British) would have the potential to change the course of the war.

Not much headway had been made in breaking the Lorenz cipher through the war until a German operator made a catastrophic mistake on 30 August 1941. When a German receiving operator did not receive a message correctly, he asked the transmitter to resend the information and despite clear protocol against it, the two operators resent the message without changing their key settings (the settings that determine how the text is scrambled up). However since the message in question was 4000 characters long, the lazy German operator abbreviated several words, thus changing the length of the message. Since their key settings were both the same, the two messages had the same scrambling pattern of characters. Thus by comparing the locations where the message text changed, details of the way the rotors worked could be determined.

These two messages were intercepted by the British who soon realised the importance of what they had discovered. This task of cracking Tunny was given to W T (Bill) Tutte who began to find repetitions in the cipher which allowed him to reverse engineer the Lorenz machine’s logical structure in what would be later described as “one of the greatest intellectual feats of World War II”. In order to support the painstaking decryption of German messages, the British Colossus was built in 1943 by Tommy Flowers, the first ever modern computer.

The Colossus Machine

The impact of the decryption of Tunny was enormous. It gave the British intimate details of Hitler’s most secret communications which was most notably vital in D Day where the Allies were able to deceive the Germans that they were going to attack at Calais as opposed to Normandy and at the Battle of Kursk in 1943, Germany’s last ditch attempt to reverse their fortunes on the Eastern Front and one of the largest battles in history. Involving 3 million men, without foreknowledge of German planning provided by the British, the Soviets would have been badly prepared defensively and could have lost this crucial battle and as a result, the war would’ve been prolonged. In fact, historians estimate that the breaking of the Lorenz cipher shortened the war by two years and thus saved millions of lives all due to the careless mistake of two lazy German operators.

However this pivotal event is not well known due to the Official Secrets Act keeping the nature of the code breakers working to break the Lorenz cipher secret until 1974 and some former staff even today still refuse to break their vow of secrecy, preferring to take their knowledge to the grave.

W T (Bill) Tutte, the man responsible for cracking the Lorenz Cipher

Cajun Pot Roast

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) beef sirloin or chuck roast
2 large garlic cloves, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
3 cayenne chiles, or jalapeno chiles, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 (4 ounce) can whole or sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Creole seasoning to taste

Instructions

Cut 1/2 to 3/4 inch slits into beef. Stuff one piece of garlic and one piece of chile into each slit. Season the roast with salt and pepper.
Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Add beef and brown well on all sides.
Add onion, bell pepper and minced garlic land sauté until tender.
Add water to pan to cover the beef.
Stir in the mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce and season with Creole seasoning.
Simmer, covered, for 3 to 4 hours or until tender, adding more water if needed to keep liquid level halfway up the beef.

Notes

You may stir 1 tablespoon flour mixed with 1 cup cold water into liquid near end of cooking for a thicker gravy.

Who did you experience that is so cheap they are disgusting?

I broke off a 10 year off and on relationship over a single piece of gum.

He and I weren’t on great terms for a long while. It was mostly out of his cheapness. He wouldn’t take me out to eat-we ate at his place. That wouldn’t have been bad except that he bought cheap items and used foods that had expired. I told him I wasn’t eating his cooking anymore, thank you. We watched TV but only shows he liked-he didn’t want to waste his time on my shows. I could watch them at my place.

Things were coming to a head and I knew the next fight we had would be the last. It was November when he called me and asked me to come over and fix his computer. I wasn’t in the best of moods-I finally had a free afternoon with the kids out with their father and I had things to do. Ok, I decided I would go over and see if I could do something to help. I got there and he already told me I had just an hour to get things right. Perfect start-no thanks for coming over, great to see you, etc.

He offered me a piece of gum. I haven’t chewed gum in years because it sticks to my dental work, and he knew it. Why was he offering me gum-was my breath stinky? After I thought about it for a moment, I took a piece. I didn’t even get it open when he started to yell at me-why is everything in your life a big decision? Don’t waste my gum-either take it or don’t! I paid money for that!

I immediately put the gum back on the table. He flips out again-you touched it not you don’t want it! What’s the matter with you? With me? I don’t chew gum, not in years! You knew that! I thought you were hinting my breath stunk so I took a piece of gum. Now you don’t want me to take the gum! Why don’t you make up YOUR mind?

He immediately moved my tech bag away from his computer and began to work on his computer. Don’t you want me to do that? No. You asked me to cone down here to help you, now you don’t want me to help you? Silence. Are we really going to have a fight about a piece of gum after I wasted my time and gas to come here? Silence.

I sat on the couch for a few minutes. I could have just stormed out the door. I wanted to compose myself and make it clear what would happen. I told him that I have spent 10 years doing for him, taking care of him when he was sick, lent him things like my cell phone and my car, then paid the repairs when he broke them and he never paid me back. I have put up with all this, and if we didn’t resolve what was really going on, I was leaving and not coming back. All I got was silence. Are we really going to break up over a damned piece of gum? Silence.

I picked up my things and I left. I never went back. I blocked his number from my cell phone. I had a feeling I knew what happened because he did it to me before. He used to get moody around Thanksgiving time and lots of times we broke up so he could avoid my birthday in December and Christmas/Chanukah/Valentines Day. He used to call around March to renew our friendship but his birthday was in April and he really wanted a present. I just had enough of his childishness, his cheapness and his abusive control. It was just one fight too many and I was done.

He did email me the following April-after I sent nothing for his birthday. I emailed him back that I told him that after our last fight, I was done and I wanted nothing more to do with him. He replied that he forgot what we fought about, and I told him that it was over a piece of gum. Then I blocked his email.

He called from another phone the following September, demanding I stop being stupid and get back together. What a lovely invitation, no woman can resist that, I answered. Then he threatened me. I told him to come over and try to f*** me up. I had an old lead pipe my father had and it had his name on it. I told him I’ll invite my neighbors to watch me smear him all over the street. My temper broke and I told him about the horrible things he did to me over the years. He finally said “I guess you’re mad at me, huh?” I hung up and blocked his new number too.

He attempted to contact me a few times through his friends but I told them I would go to the police and file harassment charges. He finally moved out of New York City-he attempted to contact me from his mother’s home in Tennessee. I blocked that too. He’s been blocked in every social media site so I don’t have to deal with him.

He had 10 years to grow up and apologize. The words aren’t in his vocabulary. I know the piece of gum wasn’t the reason our relationship ended-it was years of my giving and him taking and never appreciating what he got. But that stupid piece of gum was the catalyst. To this day, when I see a pack of Wrigley’s gum, I still smirk with amused disgust.

What did you say at a job interview that automatically landed you the job?

“I don’t know”

I interviewed for a support engineering role, the interviewer asked me how a fluorescent light fitting worked. I explained what I knew about the ballast, starter and gas tube etc. He delved deeper and I drew a rudimentary circuit diagram. When he asked exactly how the starter worked I was stumped, so I said “I don’t know”.

He told me that he must’ve had 2 dozen other applicants attempt to convince him how it all worked, but being able to admit I didn’t know something landed me the job. I learnt how knowing one’s limitations is so important.

Resistance hits back against US bases in Syria, multiple casualties reported

Despite increased attacks on US occupation bases, Joe Biden has reportedly turned down more ‘aggressive bombing options’ in Syria out of fear that a wider conflict may erupt

NOV 13, 2023

(Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Several missile and drone strikes targeted US occupation bases in Syria on 13 November in response to the latest round of US airstrikes on alleged Iranian targets in the country.

Fifteen missiles targeted the US base in the Conoco gas field, sources told Al-Mayadeen, adding that US helicopters began making flights ten minutes after the strike.

“The Conoco base was targeted with advanced Grad missiles, which led to the death of four US soldiers,” Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent reported.

Field sources told Al-Mayadeen that the attacks were carried out by the “Popular Resistance” in Syria.

In a second response to US airstrikes, three drones struck the Al-Shaddadi military base in Hasakah, northeastern Syria.

The US Green Village base at the Al-Omar oilfield northeastern Syria, was also hit with a drone. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq is a coalition of Iraqi resistance factions formed last month in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

The coalition was formed to confront US forces in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and in rejection of US support for Israel in the war, and has been targeting US bases on a regular basis.

Hours before Monday’s attacks, US warplanes carried out several airstrikes in eastern Syria.

Washington claimed the attacks targeted facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

According to Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent, the US airstrikes “targeted a house in the town of Al-Mayadeen, which led to the death of a citizen and the injury of another.”

US jets have struck Syria several times over the past month in retaliation to the unprecedented surge in resistance attacks against US military bases in Iraq and Syria. Washington has labeled the attacks as “self-defense.”

According to the New York Times (NYT), US President Joe Biden “has rejected more aggressive bombing options proposed by the Pentagon out of fear of provoking a wider conflict with Iran.”

The newspaper also cites Republicans in Congress as saying that Washington’s strikes on Syria “only invite more frequent and more dangerous attacks against US troops in the region.”

There have been at least 48 resistance attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria since 17 October, the Pentagon said on Saturday.

“At least 56 U.S. service members had been injured. Roughly half of those suffered traumatic brain injuries, and two had to be flown to Landstuhl military hospital in Germany for treatment,” the NYT adds.

Who is the rudest celebrity you have met, and who would be the nicest?

There doesn’t seem to be many who are rude. My story is about a beautiful and kind woman.

Many years ago I was in O’Hara airport getting ready to fly home from Navy boot camp. As I waited, I saw what looked like a Hollywood photo shoot going on. I walked over with my nearly bald head and baggy Navy uniform and talked to an absolutely beautiful woman, dressed like an Elf. She was friendly and asked where I was from and what my home was like. We talked for about 10 minutes. As I needed to catch my plane, I thanked her for taking the time to speak with me. I asked her what her name was. It was Ann-Margaret. Surprise! I’ve had a soft spot for her since our meeting.

What shortcuts in life are never worth taking?

Suicide.

There have been a lot of memes lately, discussing this subject:

It’s viewed as a sort of work-around to all of life’s problems:

These’s memes are funny and all (sometimes), but they also have some truth.

A good portion of depressed people definitely view suicide as a way out and they genuinely think it’s the only way.

But it’s not.

Sunday, Nov 18 is my late-uncle’s birthday.

No one ever talks about him in my family. And of the few times he’s brought up, is always in relation to his suicide or mental illness.

He lived a pretty amazing life, but the memory of his suicide looms over the conversations around him.

It’s not like we never talk about him, or that suicide is strictly the only thing that we remember about him. There’s just no solace to the memory of his passing, suicide is something that is preventable, it didn’t have to be this way.

And, unfortunately, it’s the same with my idol, Chester Bennington.

In every Linkin Park YouTube music video, all the comments are the same. They’re ALL about his depression or his death.

No one talks about his life, how he made it big after a period of being homeless. How Linkin Park immediately knew who their lead singer was after his audition; how Chester would always do screaming vocal warmups, which could be heard several changing rooms away, before each of his live performances.

No one talks about that anymore.

If I’d killed myself on year ago, all I’d be remembered as was “that quiet kid who killed himself.”

You have a lot to be remembered for.

Stan Lee, who passed away on Nov 12, 2018, is positively cherished by fans.

So much material was circulated recently about his life and work.

There was a meme about how he drew the Peter Parker meets MJ comic strip based on the time he first saw his future wife. There were memes of his cameos in Marvel movies, memes of Infinity war, Spider-man memes….

It was awesome.

And nobody was particularly sad, rather they celebrated everything he did in his 95 year life on Earth.

You have a lot to live for.

And a lot to be remembered by.

And even if things don’t get better quickly.

Don’t tarnish that with suicide.

It’s not worth it.

You are worth it.

You are worth a good life and the world deserves your proud legacy.

What’s your impression about your experience in China? How about the Chinese?

During my very first visit to China, there were a couple of things that took me by surprise:

Massive malls absolutely everywhere
I’ve heard that Chinese food is so much better in China than what you get in other countries, but that’s is a massive understatement. There is so much diversity in food options, all of it is amazingly delicious and very reasonably priced. I could not get enough of it, and I can’t wait for my next visit so I can stuff my face with all that deliciousness again!
I didn’t expect to have that much trouble finding restaurants or shops that accept foreign bank cards. Some locations only allow Alipay. Also, apps like Didi are not available to foreigners as you need a Chinese number to sign up, and hailing a taxi is not always easy.
I saw very few tags or graffiti on buildings in big Chinese cities. Those are a major issue in pretty much every European city, as even historical buildings get smeared in tags, so this was a welcome surprise.
Excellent public transportation – so cheap and easy to use!
All the people I’ve met were absolutely lovely and extremely helpful. Also, there are so many older people in the parks, exercising or dancing, which is refreshing to see.
There is never any paper in bathrooms, so you have to carry a roll with you
The only thing that slightly threw me off during my very first visit was that people in China often take pictures of foreigners without asking. I’m very visibly a foreigner, so I always get quite a bit of attention when I’m travelling in Asia. I’m used to that, and I never decline a picture with some curious locals, as I find it a sweet experience. However, in China, while many approached and asked for a photo, there were many more who just tried to ‘’sneakily’’ take it, which made me feel a little bit uncomfortable at times.
As a tiny woman travelling alone I felt quite safe, even at night in less populated areas.

Children who have had to clean out your parents’ house after they passed, did you find anything that completely changed how you viewed them?

My wife and kids lived upstairs in my parent’s house. My Dad passed before my Mom. When she passed, as the only child, I had to sort out her bills, insurance, etc. My Mom was a school teacher for many years and received SS and a pension. At her time of retiring, she did not make as much as teachers do today. A few days after her funeral, I was sitting at her desk going through her checkbook to see what was paid and so forth. When I looked at the deposits, I started to see bill after bill after bill being paid, leaving her with very little left over. I am still saddened to this day, many years later, that I never knew the depth of how bad things really were. We could have contributed more to the household, but she hid most of this from us, trying to spare us any hardship. This is the single biggest regret I have in her passing, knowing I could have eased her burden, as she was the most loving mother one could ask for. She worked her whole life to teach children and raise me, who deserved so much more in her retirement. I am shedding tears as I write this, and hope that others can take more of an active role in their parents lives (when allowed) while they are still with us.

When did you think, “this can only be a fake”?

While employed as a pizza delivery rider, after the lifting of the COVID lock-down, our company decided to pull a fast one.

A memo from the head office was circulated among all restaurant staff at all branches. It basically said that the company was so concerned about our welfare in these trying times that they were willing to keep a percentage of our weekly salary for us as a form of savings. The memo also mentioned that if we agreed to this ‘Pizza Savings’ (my term, not theirs) that we will be getting 0% interest.

My delivery co-worker and I had a field day with that memo. We read it several times in disbelief and laughed. The owners could not be serious.

It was obvious they wanted to get a loan/invest in something. It was as if they told themselves instead of taking a 16% interest loan from the bank why not simply take it from their uneducated restaurant workers, all they needed was our signatures.

I went around some of the co-workers joking about it. Most of us laughed it off but two of them couldn’t understand what was so funny.

‘But we’re getting 0% interest!’ an older woman working the grill said.

She seemed to have the idea that this was a good thing. Apparently she had had so many loans in the past that to her the word interest = bad.

I explained to her it was a savings and not a loan. That with savings you want the highest interest you could get and the exact opposite when it comes to a loan.

‘But isn’t it good to have a savings?’ one of the teenaged girls working the pizza table said.

I explained to her it is a good thing but it makes no sense to save your money with someone giving you 0%. I tried explaining how banks work, about buying shares etc and getting the best rates for your money. Both women looked at me in silence.

In the end they both decided to ‘try it out.’

I didn’t know what shocked me more. The fact that the restaurant attempted that stunt or the fact that it actually worked on two employees.

Before leaving after being fired, what’s the most that one can sabotage the office without getting caught?

Controller got fired for all the right reasons. On his way out, and before his access was deleted, he programmed a very, very offensive message on the Windows start menu for the entire company-something along the lines of “fxxx you, (name of the CFO)”. Now I’ll admit the guy had it coming, but will also say that the CFO was the biggest a-hole I’ve ever met. Anyway, it took the IT guys weeks before they were able to fix it (always wondered why it took sooooo loooong).

What is the worst medical misdiagnosis you have ever had or personally known someone to have had?

As a 45 year old, I started feeling very tired. I fell asleep in the bathroom at work one day. Went home and thought I was coming down with a cold. Never actually got cold symptoms, but could barely move my body. It felt like all of my extremities were filled with lead. Then I started getting dizzy. Then I started to vomit. I went to an urgent care center and told them all of the above symptoms and how now I’m vomiting and peeing every 5 minutes. I even told them I was vomiting black stuff which they informed me was blood. I was told I just had a stomach virus like people get on cruise ships. I said I have never been on a cruise ship in my life. I was sent home with antinausea meds. I had lost about 15 lbs in 3 days. That night and next day still vomiting and now breathing in short gasps. Now my body is shivering uncontrollably and I can barely move and still vomiting blood. My kids found me on the kitchen floor and took me to the ER. I was rushed back and found out I was in diabetic ketoacidosis. My body was shutting down. I was about a day away from death. My blood sugar was 854. I was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic.

While hospitalized, I received a survey from the urgent care center asking how my experience was. I’ll told them that I almost died thanks to them, but other than that it was great.

What’s a hilarious story that has happened to you?

Years back when Subway still gave you tickets to collect for free subs, my kids’ mother and I were going to have dinner and movie night with my brother and his wife. Subway was the night’s choice. Well, it is Friday evening and the video store is packed. So we’re standing in line waiting to check out our movies, and she is going through these Subway tickets. She asks me,

“I don’t supposed you’ll eat a 6 inch?”

To which I responded, in a building with over 150 people in it, without even missing a beat,

“No, if I don’t get 12 inches, I’m just not satisfied.”

Children were laughing at me. Had it not been so hilarious, I would be mortified of that story getting out.

Very Unlikely

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/R3eXHD3c4EI?feature=share

A painful passing

When I got out of Prison, I suddenly came down with two maladies. The first was Ball’s Palsy (where my face was paralyzed, and I couldn’t close my eyes), and the second hit me about two weeks later. I had terrible kidney stones. And man oh man was it painful.

Because I had no money, and was transitioning from prison, I went to the hospital emergency room and they gave me a number to call to get some medicine for the pain.

And when I called that number, the receptionist answered the phone and accused me of wanting drugs and said that I could come in, but they weren’t going to give me anything for the pain.

I endured that pain for a week before I passed the stone, and it was a mighty bad situation. The pain was HORRIBLE.

Never the less, the thing that I remember was not the pain; the stone; or the egress from prison. I remember that holier than thou bitch at the reception desk that was giving me a hard time.

For all you Karens out there, I have a message for you all.

FUCK

YOU.

…

Good, now that I got that off my chest, let’s do todays post…

What are a few bitter truths of life?

Robert Sandifer’s life began in two overlapping hells.

The first hell smoldered outside of his home, the streets of the South Side of Chicago, infamously dangerous, and marred by a blistering gun violence that persists to this day.

These streets are so dangerous that Google actively censors the imagery that populates on Google Streetview.

Robert Sandifer’s second hell raged in his own home.

He was born to a prostitute mother who had dozens of arrests, and who was addicted to cocaine before, during, and indefinitely after his birth.

Sandifer’s father was wholly absent, serving a long prison sentence for felonies related to brutal gun violence.

He received severe physical beatings that started long before he could speak, that left him with terrible bruises and bloody lesions.

At age 3, Child Protective Services opened an investigation after finding cigarette burns on his body, caused by his mother’s boyfriends.

CPS tried to save him. They moved him to his grandmother’s house, but that home was a 3rd hell, already overflowing with as many as 20 kids at a time, many of them from similar circumstances.

Sandifer quickly became a product of his environment, adopting a violent lifestyle, beating children mercilessly on the playground, stealing their money, and their food. He began burglarizing homes, breaking into cars.

He dropped out of school at age 8 and roamed unsupervised in the gun-born, blood-soaked streets of The South Side.

Sandifer was assimilated into a notorious gang, The Black Disciples, who embraced and celebrated his violence.

At age 10, he was arrested after being caught driving a hijacked car, not the first he’d stolen – nor the last.

After Sandifer’s arrest, his family requested that he be kept in juvenile detention for his own safety and for that of the public – but they were denied – Sandifer was too young for juvenile detention.

And thus – he was released to his Grandmother’s custody.

And into the arms of The Black Disciples.

On a fateful 28th day of August, his gang ordered him to take out a hit on a rival gang member.

Sandifer arrived at his target’s house, he positioned himself behind a parked car on the opposite side of the street.

And opened fire.

His bullets plunged into the crowd, hitting several bystanders, and ultimately killing the wrong person – a 14-year-old girl Shavon Dean.

3 days later, Robert Sandifer was taken under a bridge, told to get on his knees, and shot, execution-style in the back of the head by members of his own gang to silence him.

At the time of his death, he had committed 23 felonies and 5 misdemeanors.

At his funeral – the only picture his family owned of him was his mugshot.

He was 11-years-old.

The bitter truth of life: some kids never stand a chance. People really do not understand just how bad it gets.

Have you ever sabotaged food because someone was stealing it?

Yes I have. I was a single mom struggling to keep my head above water so I would take leftovers for my lunch. This one co-worker would help himself to my lunch, then tell me how delicious it was. I tried explaining my situation to him, but he still continued to eat my lunches. I even bought an insulated lunch box so I didn’t have to put my lunch in the employee refrigerator. He would steal my lunch while I was away from my desk. And still brag about it. Now this coworker was from a different department than I was and made almost twice as much as I did. One day I had enough. That night as I was preparing my lunch for the next day, I included a healthy dose of mineral oil. Mineral oil is edible, it has no taste or smell, but it is a very good laxative. It took the guy about a week to figure it out. He went to HR and tried to get me fired or at least pay his lost wages ( he had to leave work 2–3 hours early all week.) HR talked to me and when I told them my story and how long it had going on, they made him reimburse me for all my lunches he ate. They verified my story first, of course. Later an email went out to all employees that theft of any food would be grounds for termination.

Is a California poppy extract-related product legal to sell in China?

Illegal, in China, selling drugs is illegal, exceeding 1 kg will be sentenced to death.If you know Chinese, you should know that.

In June 2021, 215.37 kg of drugs were hidden in 67,000 tons of soybeans exported by the America to Qingdao port, China, and were intercepted by Qingdao Customs. Relevant personnel have been punished.

I hope you can understand Chinese hatred of drugs. Qingdao is an eastern port city, and it is obligatory to prevent drugs.

In 2017, Mianyang city Sichuan Province, southwest of China, a thief broke into a house to steal.When he find drugs on the ground,he gave up the plan and report to the police, confessed his crimes and discoveries, and helped the police officers catch a large drug-making-trafficking gang.

Yes, even thieves also despise drug dealers,they also join Antidrug.

Lone Star Bacon and Cheddar Fries

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 pound (3/8 inch) regular cut fries with skin on
2 ounce shredded Cheddar cheese
2 strips cooked diced bacon
3 ounces sour cream
Finely chopped green onions, for garnish
Jalapeno peppers, for garnish

Instructions

Deep-fry regular cut fries (350 to 360 degrees F) for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.
In fry serving basket, arrange hot fries.
Top with cheese and bacon.
Garnish with sour cream and green onions.
If desired, garnish with jalapenos.
Serve immediately.

What are some small things that matter a lot?

It was a hot summer afternoon in the month of May.

I was riding on my bike to home. A man who may be in his early 50s asked me for a lift. He was sweating profusely and needed to reach home. As his house was on the way I was going in, I gave him a lift.

He explained to me that, his sugar levels are dropping and need to reach home fast. I dropped him off at his home and he thanked me whole heartedly. I got back home and forgot about it.

After a month, a small hotel was opened nearby. I went there to try it out. I was checking out the menu and someone tapped on my shoulder from behind. He was the same man whom I gave lift earlier.

He asked me if I had recognized him. I said no. He explained that I gave him lift a month ago. Then, I recollected him. He asked me, what would I like to eat. I was surprised.

He giggled and said that, he is the owner of that hotel and as a token of gratitude I can have anything for free. I politely refused it but he was stubborn in his offer. So, I gave in.He asked the chef to make the best of the dish I ordered and was given for free.

That day, I realized, the good you do however small, goes far.

Any small help you do to people will for ever be engraved in their minds forever and it comes back to you in the ways you can never imagine.

So, don’t stop doing good and spreading smiles!

Why don’t more people move to Wyoming?

This map of Wyoming offers one of the reasons:

The areas shaded in green are owned by the federal government. Although Wyoming is large, the federal government owns about 47% of the land. So, some of the most beautiful parts of Wyoming are not places to which people are moving because there is very little private land for them to buy and live on.

But the problem is even deeper than that. These federal lands contain timber, pasture, and minerals which are leased or sold to those industries, but those leases and timber sales are prone to fluctuate with political fads for or against use of federal timber, minerals, and grazing. Even aside from that, the bureaucracies in authority over these lands do not take responsibility for maintaining the jobs in these industries. Since they have often not worked in the private sector, they either do not understand or do not care how delays and unpredictability in their decisions kill private-sector jobs.

Another reason for the low population in Wyoming is the 75,000-person tipping point in urban population. There is a pattern in the United States: cities tend to grow faster once they have reached a population between about 50,000 and 100,000. At this population, there is enough demand for specialized services in medicine, law, finance, engineering, management, entertainment, air transport, and other professions to support higher-paying jobs in these industries. There is also enough population to entice specialized types of businesses to locate there. Some of these are businesses that hum along below the surface of your local economy, but are important in helping other businesses thrive: machining, transportation, calibration, training and testing. Some of these businesses are retailers and national food chains that make a place more inviting to new residents. No Wyoming city has broken through this tipping point, although Cheyenne may be doing so now.

A third factor: By geographical accident, Wyoming’s neighboring states tended to have urban clusters near their borders with Wyoming which hindered any Wyoming city from reaching this population tipping point. Specialized, high-paying jobs and businesses are less likely in an area within 150 or so miles of existing firms. Denver and Salt Lake City are large cities with trade areas which include much of Wyoming. But the smaller cities of Rapid City, SD, Billings, MT, and Idaho Falls, ID also have large parts of their trade areas within Wyoming. Have a look at the map of United States trade areas and influential cities. All of Wyoming is depicted as being within an out-of-state city’s trade area. The map has flaws. Certainly Casper, Wyoming should qualify as having a trade area if Butte, Bozeman, and Helena, Montana and Alliance and Valentine Nebraska do, but the map nevertheless makes a valid point about Wyoming’s lack of urban areas with trade areas.

In the long run, Wyoming will be one of the nation’s faster-growing states and will develop larger urban areas. It contains major freight rail lines and major interstate highways. It has cheap electricity, low taxes, and lots of money in the bank from all the mineral wealth. It has major electricity transit lines and energy pipelines. Culturally, it has a good work ethic and an openness to newcomers. It has enough water resources to accommodate lots of population growth.

Which incident did you consider to be an absurd hoax but later found out to be crazily true?

The Sheriff now asked the other side to outline their case. I listened in stunned amazement as the story unfolded.

Mr Smith was suing me for the same amount on the basis that I had sold him a bowling ball without specifically telling him not to put it in the microwave.

WARNING something BIG is happening in Ukraine, Putin stays quiet

Something big is about to happen in Ukraine. Is Putin about to launch a pre-winter offensive now that Ukraine has exhausted all of its resources? Logistical signs are showing newly built railway tracks and large troop movements on the Russian side. Also multiple reports over the past 48 hours show an increased number of young Ukrainian men racing to get the hell out of Ukraine.

How has living in China changed you?

it’s aged me!

I was in my mid-20’s when I came, and after 30+ years here I’m already 57. If I stay here a few more years I’ll be 60. No one cares!

I don’t know which changes are due to maturing and which are due to living in China, but I can say how I’m generally different than Americans who haven’t lived in China.

I’m less emotionally invested in news reports, especially about politics. If you’ve lived in a place or have a job that’s occasionally the focus of the international media (as China manufacturing has been) then the discrepancy between what’s reported and what you know is obvious. It makes you skeptical at first, then cynical. Apathy soon follows.
I don’t take it for granted that multi-party democracy is superior to one-party rule. I tend to look at the results not the process.
I accept rapid, sweeping, head-spinning change as the norm. instantly accepted and accommodated.
- Yesterday we used paper currency to purchase things. Today we use cash cards. Tomorrow we’ll buy everything with our phones…. oh wait… we’re using the phones now, today, not tomorrow. OK, ok. I got it. Yesterday we used cash cards, today we use phones, tomorrow well use something else.
  
  I don’t remember when I stopped carrying cash and then stopped using my cash card. But that’s where I am now. That’s where everyone is—even beggars on the street accept mobile payments.
- Got a meeting in the next city… ? Better schedule 1/2 a day to get there. Then, all of the sudden, you realize you’re always arriving early to meetings. Everything started moving faster like this. Now that half a day gets you from Shanghai to Beijing by train. And if you start in the morning in Shenzhen, you can have an authentic Hunan lunch in Hunan, and be back in Shenzhen for an authentic Cantonese dinner.
I’m more appreciative of people in general, Chinese or expat. I don’t love everyone, but I value my relationships and feel grateful for the respect and assistance I’ve been given. I often feel like the big bang has distributed the universe’s molecules with my wellbeing in mind.

Koreans React To ‘Mr. Rogers’ For The First Time

Why are many Indian Ph.D. graduates from top institutes now choosing China for their postdocs? How is the life of an Indian post-doc in China? Do the Indian postdocs settle in China?

Money!!!

Chinese programs in Universities today get more funding than even USA, as US focuses on Private Funding

In 2022, US Universities spend $ 208 Billion in University Research against $ 346 Billion by China

You write a good paper for your PHD in Biotechnology, you could get offered an Research Associate position for 25000 RMB a month that’s around ₹ 34 LPA plus housing against a mere ₹7.6 LPA in India

That’s equivalent to $ 83,666 a year in US that’s higher than the US median of $ 64,712 for a Research Associate in PPP terms

China pays highest in PPP terms for most research today barring Norway and Switzerland and Taiwan

Life of an Indian Post Doc in China

My son is one

He is doing research for a Private Company on a 5 year grant (2023–2028)

Here are his observations:-

Knowing Rudimentary Mandarin is very important. The Lab assistants, the research students do their best in mandarin. The english is pretty accented. Luckily most Universities offer you Mandarin elementary classes for free if you are doing research there.
Softwares and Settings are programmed to Mandarin. You have to set it to English. Then print in English and Mandarin.
Money is pretty good. Housing is pretty good.
You will have two security reviews by the Government.
If you do research funded by the Government Or research classfied as National Research , you get a ID that gives you some powers. You get clout with cops. Now technically these IDs are only for National projects but like India, my sons director has managed to wrangle these IDs for these guys as well.
Very easy to get a Chinese girlfriend if you are unmarried. Unlike Singapore where girls are steady since secondary school. My son has 3 Assistant Researchers from Vietnam, Indonesia and Kerala. All have Girlfriends in less than a year.
Research is very well funded. You want to buy a $ 300,000 machine, you get approval in a matter of 2–3 days

It’s damn good

Settling down in China ?

Not encouraged

Finish your grant, extend your grant, live for 15–20 years in China and then go home or to Singapore

Meanwhile train as many Chinese as possible

Most people who settle down in China are married to Chinese Mainlanders and have kids and full families

They become Chinese themselves, speak like mainlanders, act like mainlanders

They are eligible for Citizenship of China

Are Indian Postdocs selecting China?

Yes

China beat Japan to the fourth position in 2023

It’s US, Germany, UK and China at fourth position beating Japan which was at fourth place until 2023, France is sixth, Middle East & Africa is seventh (no idea how), Singapore is Eighth and Canada is ninth

However in absolute numbers only 8.63% Postdocs go to China with almost 39.44% going to US and 71% going to US, UK and Germany

However this is a huge increase because in 2006 only 0.51% Postdocs sought careers in China meaning a Eighteen fold increase in a mere 17 years

Men DESTROYED Modern Women’s Beauty Standard

Rating women’s attractiveness is dramatically affected by make-up. I’ve seen them transform from as much as 2’s to 9-10’s. Truly amazing results.

https://youtu.be/pf3qHed8TtA

How has living in China changed you?

A few years back I had to change my careers. At that time I took a big change and moved halfway across the world to China.

I lived there for 3 1/2 years. I was there for 3 years in NE China in a small rural area. Then about 4 years later I move back but to the big city of Shanghai(but only for about 1/2 a year).

That’s the background story now to your question.

My first 3 years in China was very humbling. I was in a rural area still governed by old rules and ideas. I met a friend who lived in South China in a big city and she told me that I experience things that she never experienced while there. Each person’s experiences are so different. In the rural areas you live like the Chinese, but in a big city, you live like a foreigner in China.

When I say humbling it’s because I learned to live on very little. I spent $200 a month for food, shopping and traveling. When I went back to China in a big city you definitely can’t live on that. I learned to appreciate what I had and how to make do with what I had.

I discovered that my own culture lack respect for elders. That we are far behind when it comes to public transport. (China is far ahead of us). I gained a love for food, Chinese eat all the time (but are skinny). They eat tons of vegetables and meat as well…but it’s fresh produce…which my own country lacks…we eat way too much processed food. Of course, I learned how to use a squatty potty.

Now, when I went back to China 4 years later…so much has changed. They are so advanced when it comes to technology. While China was a humbling place for me for my first 3 years. It was not so the second time around…why? The simple answer is that times have changed. Don’t get me wrong I loved Shanghai and appreciated it, but I learned that sometimes you can’t go back…memories are better left in your mind.

China will always be a part of me. It has changed me so much more than I can ever put into words. But for me, “humble” is what learned from all my experiences in China.

No Handyman Jobs! People are BROKE!

I guess I was spoiled with the abundance of jobs these past few years. Well, I guess that has come to an end…

https://youtu.be/eJTOxnL_nBw

If a drone is flying on my property and I have already notified that I do not want it to be flying on it, can I destroy it without legal repercussion?

Ok, so here’s my experience.

A few years ago, a kid in our neighborhood got a drone for Christmas. He started flying it around people’s houses. The first time. I was sitting on my deck and it flew to the edge of the deck. I waved and it flew away. The next day, the same thing. After a few days, the kid got bolder. He started to fly it right over the deck. There was also one time that I was doing dishes in the kitchen it was hovering right outside the kitchen window, watching me.

This went on for about a month. I would see it right outside my windows or around my yard. I knew it was just a kid but it was getting kind of creepy. I wasn’t sure if I could be heard on it but I tried telling the drone that the fun was over and please don’t come back. Guess what? It came back the next day again. I didn’t know who the drone belonged to so I called the PD and they really didn’t know what to tell me. At this point, drones were just becoming popular and there wasn’t really any protocol. I asked around the neighborhood and no one seemed to know where it was coming from. I tried to follow it but it was faster than me and was piloted over houses and through other yards that I couldn’t go through.

Another month passes and now this kid is just taunting me. I tried throwing things at it, putting up a sign asking them not to fly it near my house anymore, my then-husband actually had it in his hand at one point but those things are pretty strong and he wasn’t able to keep a hold of it. We would flip it off when we saw it or curse at it, anything we could think of. I even fired a few warning shots with a BB gun. Nothing worked.

Finally, we were just done. The last day I ever saw it, I was again sitting on my deck and I hear the familiar drone sound. I tried to ignore it, hoping it would go away. I could hear it getting closer to me but I just kept my head down, pretending to read my book. The living room window was open so without looking up I yelled “It’s back again!!”. My then-husband walked out onto the deck and the drone moved towards him. He pulled out his pistol and pointed at the drone. No shots fired, it wasn’t even loaded and the drone high-tailed it out of there. Within 15 minutes, a very angry father and 2 police cruisers were in my driveway. The father wanted us arrested for threatening his kid. We explained what had been going on and the cops had several reports over the last few months from me as well (including pictures of the drone in various places around my house, date and time-stamped). Basically, nothing happened. The gun was registered to a licensed gun owner, no property was damaged, and the documentation from the police department showed that this kid was a nuisance. The cops went and had a talk with the kid. I found out later that other neighbors had the same issue with the drone so the cops had not only our complaints but many others. I don’t know what happened to the kid but I do know I never saw that drone again.

***EDIT***

A lot of people are commenting about the police not doing their job and yes it does seem that way. However, we have to remember that this was the first year that drones became really popular and it was the IT thing to have. People were having a lot of fun with their drones but there weren’t any clear laws that the police could follow. Also, you couldn’t trace them so you had a basic idea of the surrounding area where the drone was coming from but unless you actually saw where it went “home” to, there was nothing you could do so I believe that the police did the best they knew how at the time.

I don’t even blame the parents that much because the kid was like 13 or 14 years old. When I figured out who the drone belonged to, I knew exactly who this kid was, and quite honestly, he was an entitled little sh**. His parents were actually pretty nice people who tried their best but had very little control over their kids. The father showed up with the police because the kid made the father believe that a gun was pulled on him while cutting through our yard. That was not the case and when given all the facts, the father was still upset but it didn’t have a whole lot to say anymore.

And before you come for me, yes, most times kids are a product of their environment but sometimes the parents are doing everything right and the kid will still be a jerk. My kids are 21 and 17 and I have been involved in many of their activities over the years and have seen it all.

The Real China Shocked This British Man

Whenever I hear the China collapse theory, I always ask the person if s/he wants to take a bet, just provide a time frame when you think China will collapse and I bet you two whiskey that it won’t. I had been winning so many whiskey in the last 15 years, but none of those losers pay up.

Do the majority of people in China wish to remain communists, or if they had a choice, would they want democracy?

Seriously, do you really think the people in China really care whether China is a Communist or a Democracy if all there is to it is just some meaningless labeling.

Is like categorizing races by color, when you call it white I saw pink, when you call it yellow I saw light beige, when you call it black I say are you color blind, do you know what black looks like?

Chinese people in general are very much pragmatic, results orientated and doesn’t give much crap to whose camp they are in as long as they prosper and live a better live then the past. Also, Chinese history and philosophy never taught them life is simply black and white we know it has at least if not fifty shades of grey in between.

Furthermore, if one look at the Tai Chi symbols we see the black and white are not shown as antagonistic to each other, whilst they may be opposite to each other in direction but they intertwined in a circle with the opposite instead of a straight line in between a square. It also house a fraction of the opposite too, all for the purpose of equilibrium and in layman term it is call Win-Win or Harmony.

Life cannot always be a equal sum game, it has many elements and each play an important role, if one element does not survive well or is missing rest assure others will also get affected adversely by it. In science term, it is what we call a Eco System.

Balance reduce conflict, hegemony are always short lived and unintelligent, longer it stretches it more violent is the snaps when it breaks.

So is it really true that there are no democracy in a Communist system and when a country is not run by Communist does that mean they have no tyrant, no dictator, no ruthless regime, no poverty, no corruption and their people live a much better happy life?

Whats’s the big fucking deal about democracy if the leader doesn’t really practices it. “For the People, To the People, By the People” my arse when I see what’s going on in their land of Oligarchs Plutocracy.

What are some things you genuinely like about living in China that back home still needs to catch up to?

That is a great question indeed.

Safety – yesterday, today and tomorrow.
At first, right after moving to China I was truly amazed that there are so many chairs for valets randomly placed on the sidewalks. In Russia these chairs will end up at someone’s country house.
Small businesses
In Russia shops, restaurants, coffee-shops etc. belong to the large chains, you cannot find a small bar with homemade food for example. And places like that are my favorite in Beijing.
Infrastructure – in Russia you hardly can:
– get anywhere by subway and pay under 10 kuai for it,
– get anything delivered to your house,
– pay for the stuff via wechat,
– get foot massage in the middle of the night,
– pay for electricity and water using your own terminal, etc. etc.
Variety of entertainment choices
The only places that are really good for eventful life would be Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, other cities cannot be ever compared to Beijing: lots of events, activities and parties. Russia does need to get on this level.
Taobao
This is the most genius thing ever – I am a big Taobao fan and would love if a platform like that will be developed in Russia someday.

China moves into position to support Syria

So happy to see China & Syria are working together! Stronger united against the Empire!

School Bus Driver Rant

As a school bus driver, I would like to explain something.

My job is to transport your child from point A to point B safely, on time and ready to learn.

That is all.

What do I mean when I say safely? Let me explain. Safely means I pre-trip my bus daily to ensure it is running properly and that it hasn’t been tampered with. Safely means my eyes are constantly scanning all 7 mirrors, blind spots, and the road in front of me.

I’m NOT a babysitter.

I’m NOT a mediator.

I’m a BUS DRIVER.

I would absolutely love to be able to watch and hear each and every little thing that goes on in the 40 feet of school bus behind me, but while I’m watching Johnny jump across the seat, I just missed a car pull out in front of me. And oops, while I’m yelling at Susie to keep her hands to herself, the light changed and now I’m slamming the brakes to stop in time at the intersection. And what’s that? Now Joey has a nose bleed? And now someone dumped all of Katie’s stuff out of her bookbag, and “bus driver, Bobby is flicking me”, and “bus driver, Lily said she doesn’t like me anymore”, and what’s that? While I’m looking in the mirror behind me reprimanding your perfect children, a car just ran my reds and Sally almost got run over!

It’s Never Ending to us…

And that doesn’t even include the way the children speak to us. I’m pretty certain they don’t speak to other school faculty like that. And certainly don’t speak to their parents the way they speak to us.

So please, parents, tell me … where do you want me to look? Behind me? In front of me?

Would you prefer I pull over each and everytime someone yells “bus driver”? Because then YOU will complain that the bus is never on time, and trust me if I did pull over everytime, we wouldn’t even make it out of the school parking lot before I’d have to stop. Incase you didn’t know, your children are not perfect…no one is.

Would you rather I continue down the road watching what’s going on BEHIND me more than what’s going on with other vehicles on the road around me? Because I can assure you, if I’m not scanning every angle around the bus, there WILL be an accident, and then I will again be to blame, because I should’ve been paying attention to the road.

Now, on top of that, we see your children for less than 30 minutes a day, in most cases. Please teach your child to respect the bus driver, and to behave themselves when riding the bus…because we want to return them to you, SAFELY.

~ Unknown

Russian & American In China Are SHOCKED What They Experienced

What is the craziest request you have gotten when you were buying something (car, boat, bike, furniture, etc.) from someone who was so deeply attached to the item it felt like they were losing a part of their family?

Not crazy at all, just unusual and — under the circumstances — quite touching.

A 1969 Ford F250 was advertised for sale located in a town about 400 miles away. I called and spoke with the elderly original owner. He was not an enthusiastic seller and seemed to be throwing up obstacles to buying it. For one thing, he asked the questions, not me. The conversation went like this:

Me: Hello, I’m calling about the F250 for sale. Is it still available?

Him: Yes. What do you want with it?

Me: Uhhh, well, sir, I was thinking about buying it.

Him: Why?

Me (looks at phone with a WITW? expression): Because I need a truck.

Him: What do you need a truck for?

Me: To haul tools and material.

Him: That’s good. How old are you?

Me: (Young in spirit but wise beyond my years. More or less.)

Him: That’s good. How’s your driving record? Any accidents or tickets recently?

Me: No wrecks, no tickets.

Him: Will you put different wheels and paint and interior and engine in it?

Me: Gosh, no. I want it all original. Like it is now.

Him: Okay, you can come look at it. My address is…

I went all that way, looked, endured another vetting from him and was finally judged worthy of his treasured pickup that he could no longer drive because it had manual steering and he could no longer turn the steering wheel. As I drove away in the truck he’d named Whitey back in 1969, I glimpsed him in the rear view mirror crying unashamedly.

But wait, there’s more.

I drove directly to the other side of town and viewed a second 1969 Ford F250 for sale by its elderly original owner who also subjected me to a lengthy qualifying interrogation. Satisfied, he sold me the truck he’d named Rita in 1969 and helped me disconnect the driveshaft then attach a tow bar so I could pull her home with Whitey. After I had remote lights rigged up on his Rita, I got into Whitey and pulled away. In the rear view mirror I glimpsed Rita’s original owner crying unashamedly.

Nearly 10 years later Whitey and Rita are still exactly as they were the day I brought them to their new home. It was a good day, as have been all all the rest with them. As their original owners requested I have kept them exactly as they were: working trucks, now 50 years young, in original condition and carefully maintained. I even built them a canopy to protect them from the sun and inclement weather.

When you speak this way, your reality evolves…

Fair video. Fits in with my affirmation campaigns.

If the one child policy was such a disastrous idea, then why didn’t the Chinese experts object to it?

Was it a disastrous idea though? Who said?

Sure it wasn’t a comfortable idea for the people. I haven’t had children yet. But I do want to have two. One is scary in many way. What if something happens to him or her? What if he/she wants to join the military… and not come back?

But if I insist on having a second child, I would end up paying a fine. Then I would be liable to pay for the child education. The first child will get free ride from K-12 and university.

In fact, I can have as many children as I would like. I just have to afford raising them all with minimal government support.

Why the one child policy?

Look at China in the 60s – 80s

It was a simple life. Classism may have been at the lowest in Chinese history. To be a well respected person, you can be a teacher, a village chief, a policeman, a small government official, a factory manager, etc…

This simple peaceful life was made possible by the One child policy.

Do you know that unemployment was low? Job selection wasn’t great, but as long as you were willing to work, someone could find you a job.

Despite the scare of Western invasion and atomic bombs, it was a relatively safe society. Petty crimes were plentiful, from pickpocketing, theft, to scam artists. But it was unlikely your house would be broken in at gun point.

All these wouldn’t be possible if the population was left to balloon unchecked. Far more crime, homeless, desperate people out for blood, and money.

If I went back in time to 1970s…

Knowing the future is a hell of an advantage. I would start trading goods, then collaborated with the government’s economic expansion programs.

Humble start, this was how many Chinese entrepreneurs in the 70s and 80s had their start.

Moving up, buying a truck. One man transportation company in the 90s.

Eventually able to have enough money to open a factory. TV production company in the 80s.

Not really a photo of China, but of 1980 computer stores in the US. My computer store would look like this.

I would get into computers as early as 1975. This was around the time Bill Gates and Steve Jobs founded their companies.

I would even go to India in 1974 to meet the penniless backpacker Steve Jobs and offered him his first initial investment before he even knew he was to found Apple. He would be indebted to me for life.

Two prospects regarding to One Child policy:

One Child Policy: Boosted economy. I could be rich, easily affording 4–5 children if I wanted to.
Booming population: China would still be a shithole like any of the third world country China’s BRI is helping now. Raising one child and keeping my family fed would be very hard.

I actually knew people in China who had more than one children after 1980. They were not jailed or anything. Their neighbors and friends were supportive of their decisions.

Putin at Valdai, civilizational world order is here to stay

“I thought Putin was exceptionally clear, rational, even handed, well spoken, honest, and painfully accurate about everything he said. He has my vote for US president.”

Have you ever judged someone and realized you were wrong?

Oh my, yes!

Steve seemed such a surley man. Unsuprisingly older than me by a couple decades since this was my first professional job as a newly minted college graduate, he seemed to growl at me whenever I saw him.

With the confidence only available with youth, I judged him.

I judged him mean, old, and a bit scary.

Imagine my horror when after about a year on this entry level job when I was reassigned to work for Steve. Of course, the reality was that I knew nothing about him.

What happened over the course of the next year was one of those special times of life that changes who you are forever. I learned that while I knew nothing about him, he knew quite a bit about me. Turns out that this wasn’t some corporately bland reassignment, but, rather, he asked to take me on as a project.

As I got to know Steve, it turned out that the gravelly voice, which I can still hear in my imagination as I write, was just his voice. And the surley demeanor I had judged so harshly was a product of a direct and unassuming style this loquatious post-adolescent did not yet grok.

One teaching moment in particular is one I’ll never forget. I carry this lesson with me every day.

You see, I’d made a mistake. Not a huge one, but a clear screw-up. I had a plan for spin control. I was confident in the plan. The lies were off-white lies at best.

But Steve believed in me enough to ask questions gently. And after he had twisted me into a logical knot, he said, and I’ll never forget his words, “Tony, you can do better than this.” He proceeded to teach me the value of not spinning and just dealing with my own limitations as a human. He showed me the real value of honesty: building trust.

And, Steve was right. I came clean and it was all ok. And, a few months later when I made a yet bigger mistake, that was ok too.

I got to know Steve better over the next couple of years. I learned that we shared some basic interests and religious faith, but he was not the type to over-share or brag. Sadly, when I had this incredible access to him, I never fully understood Steve.

But, I understood far better when he died.

Just a couple years after this priceless mentoring, Steve was stricken with brain cancer. He was far younger than I am right now, so even in death he taught me to value every day.

But this wasn’t the last lesson he had to teach. Not hardly.

I was invited by his widow to his funeral. I had known of his faith, but not quite the extent to which he walked the walk. I’ve omitted a great deal of detail, but Steve had not had an easy life. In my mind, he was doing all he could to just survive and raise his own family. I assumed his faith was like my own: sincere, yet mostly a coping mechanism.

In the shadow of his recent death, some mutual acquaintances filled in some details. There was far more to the man than even I suspected. My admiration was already deep. My tears were quite real.

Steve had been an elder at a prominent church for many years. The details of his service to others would make this long answer far too long. The debts others expressed dwarfed my own sense of gratitude.

But, the funeral blew me away.

You see, it was a large church. Very large. That day, it was filled to the rafters. I have never been to anything like it since. The love expressed for Steve that day over powers me even as I write this.

And there, in that pew, I knew i wanted to be like Steve.

Not for glory or acclaim—not at all. Just to have left this place a better place than I had found it. And, as I traverse my new career in coaching, I am still chasing his example.

Thank you, Steve, for teaching me how to be real. I’ll never forget you. I’ll never achieve what you did, but I am so much happier for trying.

And, I even learned from misjudging you.

How did Huawei replace over 13,000 components in its range of products with local substitutes in response to US trade sanctions?

In a short sentence, the completeness of the supply chain.

In brief exposition, this is the bitter fruit of embargo.

No, I’m not referring to Donald the Orange’s tariffs and dismantling of Huawei.

I’m talking about the 30-year EMBARGO that the US enforced on China after the breakout of the Korean War, along with the withdrawal of Soviet tech support as relations cooled heading into the 60s.

In fact, the Cultural Revolution’s deurbanization was a direct policy response to having the economic rug pulled under by foreign forces.

China learned a very important lesson: Any weakness in a supply chain can and will be exploited.

The Chinese prioritized the control of key enabling heavy industries, beginning with steel manufacture, before using policy tools to encourage the organic growth of eco-systems downstream.

The Chinese were not happy with assembling a shoe from components. Rather they focused on being able to make every component, down to the dye and synthetic materials suitable for footwear.

This process was repeated up the tech ladder, and by the 2010s, the Chinese had the most complete supply chain in the world, encompassing all categories of the UN industrial sector classification. China remains the only country to maintain this milestone.

China’s strength is hardware, and the world’s greatest concentration of hardware engineering talent—whether it is chips, IC, antennas, speakers, motors—are found on the mainland, and overwhelmingly Chinese.

These are world class talent who’ve delivered on big projects, and thoroughly up-to-date with their field of expertise. I daresay set them loose on any problem and they will find solutions, because the intensity and breath which they attack problems is unrivaled. The Chinese have the scale to apply multiprong strategies in parallel*, while the competition iterate sequentially. This is the famed China speed, and China has made up plenty of ground in recent decades expertly harnessing economies of scale.

America uses its heft to force compliance, through the threat of market access withdrawal. But the Chinese market is already bigger than the US, especially hardware components, just because China is the world’s factory. Huawei is able to find enough domestic partners who don’t mind losing the US market, because there are enough customers within China. Besides, this is a matter of survival for entire industries, and it is imperative to break the tech embargo.

Huawei’s telecoms gear isn’t like cellphones, because they are tethered to the mains. Power efficiency isn’t a make or break consideration, and there is no need for the latest and greatest off the cutting edge node, chip-wise.

This makes domestic substitution a breeze compared to say, the Kirin SOC, because hacks are always available, especially under the umbrella of Huawei’s immense patent portfolio.

In the final analysis, I’d say it boils down to the quality and quantity of talent, and it shows in the remarkable speed of the turnaround.

欺负华为没人？

门儿都没有。

Heinz Guderian noted in his diary that he had observed snow for the first time in the campaign in the Soviet Union.

The original plan for Operation Barbarossa was extremely sketchy for such a massive operation. One of the odder aspects of planning was that the endpoints for the invasion were never set forth, and became vaguer and more nebulous the further along planning got.

The first battle plans, prepared for the OKW by General Erich Marcks in mid-1940, actually did set forth a terminal line of the invasion. Marcks proposed the “A-A line” as the operational objective. This was to run from the northern city of Arkhangelsk on the Arctic Sea through Gorky and Rostov to the port city of Astrakhan at the mouth of the Volga on the Caspian Sea. This assumed that the European portion of Russia and its satellites was the only part of the country of any interest and importance. There, the German Army could stop and set up a defensive line beyond which whatever was left of the Soviet Union could be allowed to wither away, as it would pose no threat.

After the Marcks Plan (as it came to be called), though, the idea of any kind of ultimate objective for the Wehrmacht disappeared. The debate instead degenerated into one of whether or not it was even important to get to Moscow, let alone reach any points further east. The prevailing theory – primarily Hitler’s – was that the entire Soviet Union would capitulate after a few decisive border battles destroyed the Red Army, failing that Hitler issued a directive to pursue the Soviets.

As of 6th October 1941, there has been no “pursuit” in the Soviet Union or at least none that has lasted very long. Every step has been contested, every river has been defended, every city has been fought over and sometimes even been boobytrapped after the Red Army has left. The defense has been uncoordinated and lacking in effectiveness on many occasions, but the Red Army has been fighting all the way. Now, the best campaigning months of 1941 are already gone and it is only going to get worse before it gets better again. Given all that, the astounding underestimation of the effectiveness of Red Army opposition during the planning stage of Operation Barbarossa has not really hampered German operations yet, it just has required adjustments to compensate for a slower rate of advance than anticipated. The tanks still run, the trucks still carry supplies, the horses are still fed from grain in the fields.

However, everything is about to change forever, and the men on the front line see why after dark as the snow begins to fall around them. The lack of effective antifreeze for trucks or tanks, the lack of chains for wheeled vehicles, the absence of winter clothing which was considered superfluous in June – all of a sudden these omissions loom large.

Late Night Flight

While drinking, a Pilot bet he could land outside the bar, 2 hours later he touched down in central New York in a stolen aircraft. Years later he repeated the stunt because someone wouldn’t believe him.

In September 1956 after drinking heavily at a bar in New York City, Thomas Fitzpatrick made an intoxicated barroom bet that he could travel from New Jersey to New York City in 15 minutes.

At 3 a.m. he stole a single-engine plane from the Teterboro and flew without any lights or radio before landing on St. Nicholas Avenue near 191st Street in front of the bar where the bet was made.

The New York Times called it a “fine landing” and a “feat of aeronautics”. For his illegal flight, he was fined $100 after the plane’s owner refused to press charges.

In October 1958 just before 1 a.m., Fitzpatrick again stole another plane from the same airfield and landed on Amsterdam and 187th after another bar patron disbelieved his first feat.

For his second stolen flight, judge John A. Mullen sentenced him to six months in prison. When asked why did had undertaken the 2nd flight Fitzpatrick told the police “he had pulled off the second flight after a bar patron refused to believe he had done the first one”

Fitzpatrick was a Marine during the Korean War and received a Purple Heart. He has three sons and was married to his wife, Helen, for 51 years working as a steamfitter. He died in 2009 at the age of 79.

Fitzpatrick has a mixed drink named after him for his feat called the “Late Night Flight”

Oh SH*T, The Collapse Has REALLY Begun

The threat of a US recession is escalating fast as corporate bankruptcies and debt defaults pile up. As the Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates, small businesses are starting to collapse and close down. There’s going to be a tipping point where job losses will accelerate and consumer spending will crash.

What is the best case of, “You just tried to scam the wrong person,” that you’ve witnessed?

I got the “You owe money to the IRS and are going to jail” phone call. I knew it was a scam because not only does the IRS not call you, but I could hear multiple voices in the background…classic boiler room. Duh! So I decided to play along. I let the guy go into his spiel and about halfway through I started crying. When I say crying, I mean REALLY wailing, gasping for breath, totally panicked! The guy has to stop talking in order to calm me down as I’m really losing it. As soon as he calms me down, off he goes again, telling me if I don’t pay, I’ll go to jail. Well, I just lose it again…crying, wailing, the whole nine yards.

Again, he tries to calm me down. Finally, with hitching sobs, I calm down enough to ask him how much I owe the IRS. When he tells me it’s $24,000, well, you know, I just lost it again. Crying. Wailing. Sobbing. What am I going to do?? OMG, I’m going to lose my house! I won’t be able to feed my kids! I’ll have to give away my dogs! Oh, noooooo! Noooooo! He calms me down (again) with the suggestion that he might be able to reduce what I owe to just $12,000. Which, of course, just sets me off again. Where, oh where am I going to get that kind of money?? I’m going to lose everything! Death! Doom! Destruction!

Finally, for the last time, he manages to calm me down enough to where I can ask him one final question…before I gave him my credit card number, would it be okay if I ask my husband first? After all, he IS a tax attorney. Dead silence for the space of about five seconds, then he let loose a torrent of profanity such as I’ve never heard before (and I’ve heard a lot) while I’m laughing my ass off. He then warns me that, “I’ll be sorry” to which I reply, “Not as sorry as you, you thieving, scum-sucking piece of humanity!” He hung up on me then, and surprisingly enough, I’ve never gotten another IRS phone call again.

It was the highlight of my week!

What are the biggest culture shocks people face when coming to Germany?

I’ve been in Berlin for about two months now.

Here’s my longish list:

I started learning German before coming here. People said I was wasting my time, that everybody here speaks English. That’s not true. Many Germans don’t speak English. Also, a number of people (usually officials or clerks) were upset that I don’t speak their language yet, as if my not having learned the language yet in the span of two months is some grave offense.
Maybe it’s only this year but the summer isn’t really summer. There are hot and cold days. Sunny and overcast days. Clear and rainy days. A day can start sunny and end in rain. You can walk out in your shorts and have to wear pants and a light jacket by the end of the day. Also, the days are unbelievably long. The sun rises before 5 AM and sets at around 10 PM.
WWII and the Holocaust. I am of Jewish descent. Many of my ancestors were taken to Auschwitz and other camps to be exterminated. I remember the first time I saw a stolperstein or “stumbling stone” in Berlin (these are brass plates inscribed with the names of Jews and information about the dates of their deportation and extermination, inlaid in the pavement outside their last place of residence) I froze. My heart sank, and a deep sadness welled from within me.
Ethnic Diversity here is wonderful. There seem to be people from all over the world, all co-existing. Yes, there have been some glitches, but seeing this melting pot of diversity brings hope to the heart. Plus, you can have authentic food from almost anywhere—from Mexican to Vietnamese to Turkish to Lebanese to Korean, etc., etc.
Many, many people are tattooed, so much so that un-tattooed individuals seem rarer than tattooed ones. And so much so that I sometimes wonder if even the businessmen and women, under those fine tailored suits, are hiding some large and colorful dragon or tiger adorning their skins.
I assumed Berlin would be cleaner. Before I came I had a vision of Germany as a glinting-clean place. And although it’s not filthy, there’s some waste strewn about in parks and on the streets—empty beer bottles and food leftovers and dirty plastic packaging, etc.
And speaking of beer bottles, people drink alcohol. A lot of it. I see many people walking around with some kind of drink in their hands, or people sitting outside bars or even in parks with an unbelievable amount of empty bottles by their side. Or in supermarkets, walking out with cartfuls of booze.
Maybe I notice it more because I’ve never lived in a place with so many churches, but there are so many of them here. Imposing ones with rising spires and crimson bricks and huge bells resonating blocks and blocks away. Having grown up in Israel, I find it hard to imagine how the visions of a carpenter in the Middle-East, over centuries and millennia, transmogrified into these massive, gothic places of worship in a completely different culture and milieu.
The other day we went to a pleasant park and there were a bunch of kids playing in the nude, splashing each other with water and running around in the sand giggling. My son took off his clothes and joined them, and I thought, how wonderful that no one is embarrassed seeing naked kids playing around, that they are granted this easy, unconscious freedom that in many other parts of the would would have been considered inappropriate.
Sex seems to be less of a big deal here. I’ve seen a number of adverts in the street depicting some form of sex in illustrations. In the US, there would have been a lecherous quality to it, some kind of cleavage or exposed thighs, something to suggest and tease and taunt. But here there is something unassuming about its depiction—a couple or even a threesome lying in bed covered in blankets, a cartoon of a man with his loins covered by a popping champagne bottle and a smiling woman by his side. Unassertive—as if this, too, is a natural part of life and there’s no need to make a fuss about it.
Organic food is available in most supermarkets and is not necessarily exorbitantly priced. In fact, almost every little place that serves food will have some kind of organic lemonade or soft drink.
Although I am not vegetarian, when I came here I imagined würste (sausages) everywhere, and a dearth of other, non-pork based offering. But, in fact, it is very easy to get vegetarian food here. From vegetarian gemüse kebap (Turkish food—vegetables in bread) to vegetarian asian dishes, to tofu, grain- or legume-based meat substitutes in supermarkets, it is not only possible to be vegetarian here, but even easy.
The streets and the curb are wide and spacious, oftentimes cobbled and shaded by evenly-distanced stately trees. Having grown up in Israel and lived in India, this was novel for me—this European expansiveness.
Some people can be incredibly proper and strict here. I’ve been scolded for standing out in the street when the bus came, and then for standing in the wrong place inside the bus as I was paying. In some places and settings people are expected to behave in a certain ways, and are frowned upon if they are not.
The bicycle is a serious mode of transportation with its own lanes and a substantial number of riders.
Drivers are not as courteous as in other places—in less trafficked streets with no stoplight, and unlike the US, cars will mostly not stop when they see a pedestrian, and one has to wait for an opportunity to cross.
Things are well made. The walls of the apartment I’m staying in are almost as thick as my outstretched arm. The woodwork is precise and sturdy. Some of the buildings around look like they’ve been in existence for centuries, and that they will last for many centuries more. There is an assuring sturdiness in the material existence here—like things are dependable and robust. Also, it is not difficult to find objects that are Made in Germany or Europe—be it knives or rucksacks or wallets, etc.—that look like they will last for a lifetime. I like that.
Almost all shops are closed on Sundays.
Parcels are left with neighbors. If you’re not in and you have a package, it will be left with one of your neighbors, who will then, perhaps later in the day, come knocking on your door and claim the package with a slip.
People have been incredibly helpful. When I arrived, a neighbor helped carry our luggage from the street. Another neighbor helps me whenever I need something in German translated. I’ve had people in the street, after asking for directions, pull out their phones, search for the place, and give me clear instructions. Of course, as with everywhere else, there are also unfriendly people, but the friendly and helpful ones have left a greater impression on me.

Boeing is Panicking! Brunei and China Order 30 Aircraft | Boeing Completely Loses The Chinese Market

In May 2017, China successfully conducted the historic first test flight of the C919 aircraft, which marked the complete break of Boeing and Airbus’ half-century monopoly on large commercial aircraft. Soon after, China’s C919 aircraft attracted cooperation intentions from many countries.

Up to now, China’s orders for C919 aircraft have exceeded an astonishing 1,061 aircraft, but I think this is just the beginning of the emergence of China’s C919 aircraft. At this year’s 20th China-ASEAN Expo, China’s C919 aircraft once again became the focus of attention.

Among them, Brunei spent US$2 billion to purchase 30 large passenger aircraft from China, including the much-anticipated C919 aircraft. As more and more countries purchase China’s C919 aircraft, Boeing in the United States begins to panic and even begs to regain the Chinese market.

https://youtu.be/7kIH65mOefQ

What’s the most useless map ever made?

One day at the end of the School year, my teacher was throwing out some old junk. One of which was this old globe that was so inaccurate, I’m surprised it wasn’t thrown away as soon it came off the assembly line.

Some Countries don’t exist at the same time.

As far as I know, Tibet did not exist at the same time with a unified Independent India, Southeast Asia with a unified Vietnam, and what’s that little country north of Mongolia?

Oh that’s right, It’s Tannu Tuva! You know the country that was annexed into the USSR during the middle of WW2. Because the Partition of India took place after the World War ended (1947). The inconsistency with time are the least of this Globe’s problems.

Making major countries the same shade of blue as the OCEAN!

As you saw above, China is the same color of the Ocean, but that’s not the only one.

The color they chose for Turkey just makes it look like the Black Sea is part of the Mediterranean if you’re not looking close enough.

Same goes with the Great Lakes area.

Since the State of Michigan is sandwiched between massive lakes, it should be a different color to make it stand out more. Well the designer didn’t think so, because instead of the Great Lakes, it’s just ONE Great Lake.

Plus New York makes lake Ontario and Erie look like an extension of the Atlantic. So does Quebec.

But this doesn’t go with what makes the map the most useless.

They got the freaking hemispheres on wrong!!!!

I’m pretty sure Australia is not directly south of Ethiopia!

South America is just floating in the middle of the Ocean.

Though Southern Africa actually fits well with the Northern Hemisphere part of South America.

This Globe has to be the most Useless reference of the World ever!

Have you ever let your dog loose on someone who was on your property and refused to leave? Is it legal to do so?

I got Montana at a church fundraising garage sale for $1.15. She was a Rottweiler/GSD mix and the owners were selling the puppies for $3. After three hours of wheedling my mother, and scrounging as much change as I could from the car, I paid for her quite proudly. She’d been the runt of the litter, and all her litter mates had long been snatched up. I brought her home, and made a bed for her in the bottom drawer of my dresser. Took her to the vet the next day to get her all of her shots. Did basic obedience training with her and all the requisite fun things a teenage girl could do with a dog.

Flash forward three years and I’m off at school across the state, and she’s at home with my mother, grandmother and younger brother. Due to her general quirkiness, she never barked or growled unless she felt that her family was in danger. She was quite content to roam the backyard, playing chase along the fence lines with the dogs that neighbored on either side. About three am my mom hears the neighbor’s golden retriever barking up a storm, then hears the fence rattle. Thinking it was a raccoon or opossum, she laid back down. Then Montana is growling right under her window. That’s when she hears a lot of cussing, more growling and then a whimper and the fence on the other side rattle. Now there’s even more cussing and growling as the other set of neighbor’s black malamute is in on whatever is happening now. Mom grabs a flashlight and the cordless phone, calls 911 and rushes out to find out what’s happening. That’s when she sees a man vaulting the far side of the fence in the neighbors yard, only to be confronted by a massive Great Dane. Montana comes slinking to her, whimpering with cuts running down both her flanks. Grabbing her leash, she takes my dog out to greet the police, explaining what happened. Apparently they caught up with the guy a few blocks away, having been bitten by about four different dogs. Mom took my brave girl to the vet immediately. The cuts were superficial and shallow, needing nothing more than some cleaning. She had a chemical burn on her backside because he’d sprayed her with either mace or pepper spray. Montana was handsomely rewarded with a steak for doing her job protecting the family, and no one ever set foot in our backyard without permission again.

Do the majority of people in China wish to remain communists, or if they had a choice, would they want democracy?

Not the slightest chance of that

There is anger against the CPC by some people, especially in the big cities however none of these people want democracy or voting

They simply want more capitalist reforms by the CPC

The Majority are very satisfied and happy with the CPC

Especially the younger generation

They regard US democracy as a JOKE

They are so proud of their country and it’s growth and the CPC that they only want reforms, reforms and more reforms

Here are the main suggestions

The Average Age of a Party Member is 49 and they want it to reduce to 40
The Average Age of a Politburo member is 56. They want it to reduce it to 50.
70 Investments were banned by the CPC between 2017–2023. They want these investments regulated.
They want flexible and productive work hours to enhance maximum output instead of the rigid slogging workstyle of the older generation

They have contempt for the USA

Especially the 17–30 year olds born post 1993

Chinas future

They are brilliant, they have the midset to be the BEST in the world

The Older generation in their forties and fifties, born between 1973–1983 are more of the WHY IS THE US SO UNFAIR rather than any contempt for the US

They have a lot of relatives in US and the West who migrated from 1965–1990

They have contempt for the Russians and Russian Technology

They are also a bit colonial and sub consciously believe they are not in the same league as the West deep down

They MAY have no problem if China becomes a democracy but they wouldn’t want it as a choice

The even older generation in their 60s and 70s, born between 1945–1965 are steeped in Patriotic Ideology. They remember the old days and the way the CPC took China to the top

It’s for their sake that China still has the name Communist when it’s anything but communist

They would abhor any democracy

Xi has created a very nationalistic patriotic generation of Youngsters brimming with confidence

The CPC needs to make some changes though in the next 10 years to ensure the Youngsters connect to the party and that wave of nationalism is retained at it’s same fervour

But Democracy? Especially Western Style?

Good God No!!!!!

Could China force all countries to use their yuan instead of American dollars for trading internationally if they took over from America economically and militarily?

No to both questions,

Economically,

Countries opt for local currencies in bilateral trade due to several reasons that align with their own interests:

The high interest in the US dollar has driven up the cost of purchasing US dollars.
Foreign exchange transaction fees associated with using US banks are expensive (3%), and the SWIFT system not only takes several days to settle transactions but is also subject to US monitoring for unilateral sanctions, even when the transactions involve purely business matters.
A surplus of expensive US dollars is circulating in the global economy, with many countries selling them back to the Federal Reserve Bank where billions are used to fund the record national debt and crowding out private investment by keeping the interest high.
There is a concern that the US dollar could face a collapse if the Federal Reserve Bank ceases its policy of increasing interest rates, as this could exacerbate inflationary pressures and erode the currency’s value.

Military,

In contrast to historical colonial powers and the dominant influence of the United States, China lacks the ambition of global control through culture/racial superiority, military endeavors, and covert activities. Instead, China offers an alternative vision to the world by fostering connections among people through infrastructure development and trade.

The Real Reasons I Left United States (and won’t go back)

I really enjoyed this video.

Real Talk about why I don’t like living in the United States anymore and why I can’t see myself ever returning. I had invested a lot of time and money to research and travel the world to find where I best fit in, which culture I feel more comfortable in. After almost 6 years of continues life abroad, I really can’t see myself ever going back.

What are some strange things that only happen in China?

The sheer logistics of trying to feed a nation of 1.4 billion people are insane. Take this building right here — it’s a pig farm. A 26-story pig farm named Ezhou farm. It’s one of the biggest ‘only in China’ moments for me.

Basically, China has been having some pretty major geopolitical tensions with many of its neighbors lately, and there have been a lot of issues with the ongoing trade war with America. So China wants to be less dependent on imports of vital things such as food.

[1] As a result, it has started building absolutely MASSIVE pig farms on an industrial scale unseen anywhere in human history. It’s pretty crazy. Also, I gotta say, pretty impressive.

So yeah, 26-story pig farms are a strange phenomenon I’ve not seen anywhere else. Anyone who’s ever enjoyed Chinese cuisine knows it cannot survive without pork. So if ever war breaks out and trade routes are blocked, China is ensuring it’ll never run out of pork chops.

Who are the most professional and skilled foreign soldiers you have served with?

Let’s start with the worst:

Unfortunately, some stereotypes might be true. When I served in the German army we trained for a week with Italy’s famous “Folgore” parachute unit. Although they were considered elite in Italy, they really sucked.

When we went with them to the shooting range my job was to count the targets they were hitting, which weren’t many. With one guy it took me a while to figure out that he was missing his target by at least 5 meters- at a 150 meters shooting distance.

These guys failed at everything they did, except for one thing: The last night of their stay we went to a bar with them and after a few German beers they started singing Italian songs. Very well and beautiful and not like our “barbaric” German singing.

I also trained a lot with French units. Most of them were really decent fellows, but their officers were completely useless. They were unable to motivate their soldiers and always seemed to be screaming at them. As a result the French troops we trained with didn’t perform as well as they could have.

Although I trained with British troops on several occasions, they didn’t leave an impression with me. Neither good nor bad. Later on my German army unit got their a** kicked by a British Special Air Service unit during an exercise in Denmark. I didn’t participate in this exercise and therefore these SAS guys are not in my ranking.

In Bosnia I fought for the Croats. They were all decent soldiers and what is very important, they were eager to learn. The Croatian army during the war lacked material and sometimes professionalism, but they more than compensated these flaws with outstanding bravery and high motivation. Especially their leadership was exemplary.

Later I fought in Kosovo with the Kosovo Liberation Army. I trained the unit that I fought with, so of course, they did ok. What I often saw in battle was that with the right guidance one could really make a difference. Sometimes we had soldiers from other units under our command and although we first thought that they were completely useless, watching our guys fight it out, these soldiers started to give their best.

I trained twice with US Army units and both times it was a pleasure. First time with a battalion of the 82nd Airborne in Italy and later I had the privilege to attend the German commando course with a US Army Special Forces unit. While the Airborne soldiers, although very good soldiers, were not really a match to our German “Fallschirmjäger” platoon, the US Army Special Forces (SF) were amazing.

They somehow weren’t that good at achieving many tasks during our training inside the barracks and were also not the fastest team on the obstacle course, but as soon as they were in the forest they showed admirable infantry skills, very good adaptation to the terrain, speed and stealth.

These SF would make the first place on my ranking if it wasn’t for a couple of Dutch LRRP’s (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) soldiers who also attended the same German commando course. They were good at everything and in the end had the highest score from all attendees.

They were also very modest, quiet and polite, almost shy, and these are qualities one doesn’t find very often with elite soldiers. Therefore I rank them first.

If a drone is flying on my property and I have already notified that I do not want it to be flying on it, can I destroy it without legal repercussion?

I will answer with my experience in this. There was a drone that would come over my house three times a day and roughly the same time each day. I put out a sign said please stop recording my house and yard for a couple of days but it kept coming. Thay is when I noticed a police car parked in the lot behind my house while the drone was there. So each time I’d check and see on my camera if the cop car was there and every time the drone came around sure enough. So new sign unless you have a warrent stop filming my house and yard. At this time I checked with courts for any investigation warrents for me and my property and none. So I then went out and threw rocks towards the drone each time it would take off. But still coming back. So I set the trap. I sat out front and waited for this thing to come flying over my back yard with a rather large rock. I nailed it the first try. It broke and landed in the back yard. It took three days for the cops to get a court order to come and retrieve it. Seems in the attempt to get me into trouble they had to show the footage of the drone and the warning to stop recording was enough to exonerated me for damage to the drone. They have not been back since.

Man Didn’t Want This Cat. Now They’re Inseparable Swimming Buddies

At first this man didn’t want a cat, but his swimming buddy Frosty changed everything. It took time for them to develop the bond, but when they did, a cat dad was born. Soon, Stefan discovered Frosty’s affinity for swimming, He was super curious about water and started jumping to the shower, and then the bath and finally the swimming pool.

https://youtu.be/-wSl9unZ7wE

What’s something commonly eaten in America that British people find strange or disgusting? I’m looking for foods that are viewed as normal in America that British people can’t understand.

So what the bloody hell is this?!

Biscuits and gravy is a popular breakfast dish in the United States, especially in the South.

No.

No.

NO!

I don’t care that you have your own version of English – that is an abomination.

That quite clearly consists of a scone:

With some kind of weird elephant ejaculate on top.

So not only is the name utterly wrong to British ears (if you ask someone here if they wanted “biscuits and gravy” here you will either a) end up in a mental institute, or b) be hounded out of town like a demon), but:

The actual thing doesn’t look much better.

I mean seriously guys – that stuff looks pretty damn unappetising, and that’s a “glamour shot” taken from some recipe website!

So America – let’s recap:

You’ve taken a food item traditionally eaten in the UK with cream and jam – and decided it would be better with some weirdass sausage-jizz-sauce.
You gave it a name which makes it sound bloody awful to British people

In case you haven’t gathered – this is not a popular food item in the U.K.

And we would rather it stayed that way – it looks ghastly.

EDIT:

From some of the very angry comments, it seems like some of you Americans just can’t seem to take a light-hearted ribbing, or a smidge of sarcasm. The whole point of the question is that us Brits don’t understand why you like it.

And for crying out loud:

yes, I know you call biscuits “cookies”. That’s part of the bloody joke.
Yes I have tried it. Calling me ignorant isn’t going to help.
Yes some British stuff is weird too. But we’re not talking about us – the question is about America.

Some people are treating this answer like I did a big squishy turd on your beloved flag.

It must be that sarcasm is hidden away in the ‘u’ in humour….

Which countries have the most brutal and horrific history?

This answer isn’t really about saying what one single country has done the worst, but I do want to share below on the cruelty of humankind that many people don’t know about.

Graphic content below but I want to make this known because so many people around the world have heard of Hitler, Nazis, concentration camps but they have not heard of the Asian holocaust that took place around the same period. In western schools, history classes do not teach people about this part of the world.

This is regarding what the Japanese did during their occupation of China and Korea and the war crimes they committed to the surrounding Asian countries, including some Pacific Islands they invaded: Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, East Timor, New Guinea, Indonesia, Guam, Nauru, Wake Island, Attu and Kiska Islands, and Kiribati.

They even had some prisoners of war from the west such as America, any forces against them at the time etc.

Hundreds of thousands of women from my country in Korea were forcefully abducted (called comfort women) during the Japanese occupation in WWII. They endured torture beyond imagination if they did not sexually submit to these vile men and were forced to have sex with 60–100 men every single day. Their innards rotted because of the STD’s and they were destroyed, unable to have children even after they were rescued. They have still not been compensated for the war crimes that they endured and majority have died.

Pregnant mothers were cut open and rape victims were sodomized with bamboo sticks and bayonets until they died in agony.

On top of this they literally tore the unborn from women’s wombs and speared them alive with bayonets in front of them. They’d crush the infant’s skull against concrete floors. They would actually do this for fun.

They tied sons and daughters up and tore them apart, spearing them and forced their own parents to watch.

They raped and pillaged women of all ages, even toddlers to old women in the most vile, disgusting way imaginable. They would often disembowel them while in the process, leaving them to die in agony.

They conducted unspeakable evil torture and experiments on LIVE prisoners from these countries even children and infants in UNIT 731. Torture methods such as vivisecting pregnant women without any anesthesia, centrifuging and killing people in pressurized chambers, and slowly burning and freezing people alive. They artificially created what is similar to the ‘bubonic plague’ to see the effects on the prisoners. They were forced into X-rays until they perished and hung people by their thumbs or tongues etc. These torture tactics were deliberately planned to see death happen SLOWLY, not fast as the scientists wanted to observe the resilience of the human body.

Unbelievably Inhumane Japanese Torture Methods Used During World War II

(image deleted – too unsettling)

Bodies of slayed, raped, mutilated women in China.

(image deleted – too unsettling)

Carcasses of babies and children piled up

Despite this, Japan still presently denies what has happened and even believes that it is a rumour. The young people as shown in this video are absolutely clueless on the whole tragedy, or are so far removed in cognitive dissonance and lack of care it is astounding. There is even a middle aged woman in the video who even says “Well I’m not sure if it’s a rumour or not…” which is an absolute lunacy and an embarrassment of the failure of the country in not properly educating their citizens of what truly happened. One young girl even says “Well, I wonder when they will ever get over it…” How are people supposed to get over it when there are still thousands of victims still alive who didn’t receive any form of compensation for what they have been through??!

Their government still warps their history books and deliberately tries to hide the evidence of what truly happened. There are active groups within Japan who refuse to accept what happened and truly believe that it is just a ‘rumour’ to make Japan look bad.

Below is a real life account by a South Korean comfort woman on the horrors she went through. It is heartbreaking to watch but quite educational. She sadly passed away early January of this year, fighting until her last breath but still never receiving any compensation or apology from the Japanese. They don’t even recognize that she went through this or who she is.

(Video no longer available on YT)

What Japan did wasn’t just an invasion or occupation, it was a literal carnage, hell on earth genocide. They didn’t have to go this far as majority of the Koreans and the people they invaded were helpless farmers, uneducated servants, and innocent people who were not trained in war at all. They did this because they did not see these people as human, and their goal wasn’t simply to occupy, but to desecrate the spirit from within. They knew when you destroy someone’s spirit from inside out, the enemy will bend the knee and yield to the point where they do not have the soul to fight back. On top of this, it was just pure, raw sadistic savagery because all of these helpless people surrendered and begged for mercy yet they were still tortured for absolutely no reason.

(Video no longer available on YT)

Presently Japan is one of the most wealthiest and prosperous Asian countries in the world yet they cannot even fully take responsibility for their own committed atrocities. It shows the savage barbarism that still resides in some of these people and makes one question just how this is even acceptable. Instead they choose to warp their own history books, flat out deny it existed and have refused to offer sincere, acceptable compensation/apology for the people who are still alive. They are waiting until every last victim is dead so they no longer have to worry about it. They are not truly ashamed of this past, they just see it as an eyesore they want to bury. Keep in mind Japan has very strong political parties that strives to ensure this shameful past does not reach the masses to retain their false honour. Still to this day, they praise their war criminals in shrines.

From the invasion of China in 1937 to the end of World War II, the Japanese military regime murdered near 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most probably almost 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war. This is more than the estimated Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe controversially claimed that “there was no evidence to prove” that the women had been coerced into sex.

“The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is engaged in an all-out effort to portray the historical record as a tissue of liesdesigned to discredit the nation,” wrote Mindy Kotler, director of Asia Policy Point, in 2014.

“Mr. Abe’s administration DENIES that imperial Japan ran a system of human trafficking and coerced prostitution, implying that comfort women were simply camp-following prostitutes,” Kotler continued. “The official narrative in Japan is fast becoming detached from reality, as it seeks to cast the Japanese people — rather than the comfort women of the Asia-Pacific theater — as the victims of this story.”

Japan’s Textbooks Reflect Revised History

Japanese Broadcast Official: We Didn’t Commit War Crimes, the U.S. Just Made That Up

Why is it so hard for Japan to say sorry?

China criticises Japan after Shinzo Abe honours war criminals as martyrs

Letter threatening to hunt Koreans sent to South Korean embassy in Japan: media

The Harrowing Story Of Filipina Women Enslaved In Japan’s Wartime Rape Camps

Edit: Since I’m getting quite a lot of people who clearly don’t seem to understand and may not have read or researched in depth in this matter. They are saying that ‘Japan does not need to offer apology or compensation for what people of their past did etc’

It’s more complicated than that.

Please read the links again. Even if they can’t take full responsibility for their past, they SHOULD take responsibility for the future by not warping textbooks and giving power to political parties who enforces the dangerous fallacy of denying any of this ever happened or triviliazing everything that has happened. They should make sure to teach the correct history not just for educational purposes but to ensure their citizens fully know and accept their own history and in hopes that it never happens again. This is also to help not silence the voices of the people who did suffer in the past and to not spit into their graves and ruin their legacy by spreading false lies.

Also the comfort women and people who were forcefully taken into labour camps as prisoners, many are still alive who didn’t actually get any compensation or even sheer RECOGNITION. They suffered their entire lives without anyone hearing what they have to say with nothing from Japan. This isn’t just about wanting Japan to go up to a stadium and saying ‘I am sorry’ and stepping down. Words are meaningless and worthless when not backed up by actions.

They are hypocrites by warping textbooks and also praising their own war criminals. Imagine what the world would say if Germany praises Nazis and gave strong political power that has the power to make Germans never even hearing of the Nazis or even contemplate if it was just a rumour or not. Think about how insane that would be.

So why do they need to apologise? Because unlike Germany what they are doing is absolutely deplorable and morally bankrupt by continuing to CONTRIBUTE to the legacy of the abomination Japan was in the past. You don’t see Germany do the same about the Nazis and for good reason. It means Japan hasn’t learned and is not truly remorseful. By Japan I am talking of the FACES of Japan which are the politicians who represent that country. The rest of the Japanese experience their trickle down effect so while it’s not saying it’s their fault, they end up indirectly contributing to supporting these vile politicians. So yes the people who represent JAPAN who hold the power of influence does need to sincerely apologise and stop contributing to what they are presently doing.

As I am getting tired of having to repeat the same information again and again, any comments that say things along the lines of ‘Japan does not need to apologise’ or those questioning or defending the existence of any of these crimes, their war criminals will be either ignored, deleted or blocked. It is extremely disrespectful to the victims and deplorable. The links are already here clear as day for reading and one can also do the research themselves. Also for anyone who brings up another atrocity and pitting them against each other, STOP. This post isn’t about pitting one atrocity against another, it is disgusting to even keep doing that and seriously lacks any insight into the original point of my post.

Otherwise thank you for reading and have a nice day.

TLDR: Japan did some truly horrific shit that many people including the present day Japanese citizens are unaware of. What they did is abysmal carnage from the Antichrist itself.

Also, piece of shit apologies that require uttering words and throwing money at victims isn’t a true apology when they are still in 2019 warping textbooks and none of their youths know anything about their crimes.

Why do you think Germany forces every citizen to learn about their nazi history and Japan doesn’t ? It is to deliberately ignore and not acknowledge their past due to their pride and selfishness. I’d equate this to even pathological narcissism and psychopathy due to how far they have gone in managing stomping this knowledge out of their own present day citizens.

Edit 2: As I am still getting very disrespectful, deranged comments on here pitting atrocities against each other, saying that I am spreading lies and others spewing ignorant hatred against Koreans, here’s my final message.

Instead of blaming others, look at what Japanese Nationals do. Stop diverting the attention away by blaming the mistakes of other countries yet not acknowledging the corruption of the Japanese government

Japan’s leaders are still stubbornly refusing to admit their war crimes

What Japanese history lessons leave out

Japanese people often fail to understand why neighbouring countries harbour a grudge over events that happened in the 1930s and 40s. The reason, in many cases, is that they barely learned any 20th Century history. I myself only got a full picture when I left Japan and went to school in Australia

The Germans in contrast have personally done everything possible to make people aware of their Nazi past. Japan doesn’t scratch the surface of what it means to have true honour while Germans go to great lengths to do humanitarian work and to allow their citizens to understand the FULL facts. This is what true compensation and remorse actually is, not the dogshit excuse of what Japan does by also denying people, correct history. End of.

We must remember Nazi crimes, says Merkel

Westoids get rid of this sick mentality

Disappointed that china isn’t collapsing and Chinese people are not starving with 50 cent hoes selling their body to you?

A channel which is ironically named “Economics Explained” is possibly the worst when it comes to it. Western propganda is not just limited to mainstream media, but to nutwits like these.

Imagine if a Chinese made a video “sorry to disappoint America/India isn’t collapsing ..yet”. What wud their reactions be.

In all honesty, the best channel for economics is Xiao Lin, light years better than these sick bas***ds.

Meanwhile Indian videos on China’s economy are even more hating than that of westoids.

Like seriously westoids, get a forking life other than hating a new country every decade. Last decade was Russia, last to last was Iraq. You guys got no job other than invading countries and telling “we love the people hate the government” then getting sad why that country hasn’t collapsed yet?

Original San Antonio Chili

Ingredients

2 pounds beef shoulder, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 pound pork shoulder, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup suet
1/4 cup pork fat
3 medium-size onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 quart water
4 ancho chiles
1 serrano chile
6 dried red chiles
1 tablespoon comino seeds, freshly ground
2 tablespoons Mexican oregano
Salt to taste

Instructions

Place lightly floured beef and pork cubes in with suet and pork fat in heavy chili pot and cook quickly, stirring often.
Add onions and garlic and cook until they are tender and limp.
Add water to mixture and simmer slowly while preparing chiles.
Remove stems and seeds from chiles and chop very finely.
Grind chiles in molcajete and add oregano with salt to mixture. Simmer for another 2 hours.
Remove suet casing and skim off some fat.

Notes

Never cook frijoles with chiles and meat. Serve as a separate dish.

What is the toughest difficulty you have ever faced in life?

The pain was beyond anything imaginable.

Chiang Mai Thailand 2013. I had a rare form of Tuberculosis cysts lodged in my spinal cord and on my right kidney. The doctors didn’t know how I contracted this deadly bacteria. I was too ashamed to tell them it was from drug abuse and the unhygienic practices that came with it.

It felt like a hot knife piercing my back continuously for months as I lay immobilized on the bed of my apartment. I could not hold down food and went from 220 lbs to 163 lbs. There was no sleep, only my body eventually shutting down from the pain.

My mother was an LPN and flew in to take care of me because I could not afford a hospital. My poor mother, I screamed at her to take my life. I switched from fentanyl to methadone to morphine, but none of them worked – they only made the pain worse because my feeble body could not process the drugs. It was gasoline on the fire raging inside me.

Once a week or so, my mother would help me to sit up, place a back brace on me, and help me move six feet to the bathroom so I could attempt a bowel movement and a brief shower. Every inch of every movement was excruciating pain; I had no more tears; it was hollow bellowing, and even cursing was painful. And then back to bed. That simple exercise would be an hour of horrific suffering.

After three months of strong antibiotics, I could finally eat and hold it down. With a back brace and cane, I could stand and walk briefly. The photo above was from this time, taken with my beautiful mother. You can see the back brace under my shirt and the cane I used to walk.

This life I have today is beyond anything imaginable

I never thought it possible. I thought I was doomed to the bondage of self, and the slavery of active addiction.

Now, I live a lifestyle of sober recovery – drug and alcohol-free at 56. I train daily in the gym, go for power walks and jogs in nature, and have a purposeful, meaningful life.

I Just Got an Email That Left me SPEECHLESS. WE’RE AT DEFCON 2

This is really good, from a prepper. DEFCON 2. Holy Shit!

What are things about corporate life no one tells you about?

Your appraisal is dependent on last 2 months efforts and not 12 months
You ask for a raise, and your boss thinks you’re looking for a job change
You complain about administrative issues and your manager thinks you’re trying to be a rebel
Don’t share secrets with your colleagues, they might be sharing your secrets with colleagues or managers
Your office friend is not your real friend and they won’t swear by your death bed
If you die tomorrow, there is a replacement within a week
Your efficiency is decided by number of hours you clock in vs number of productive efforts you place in
A junior person can outsmart a senior person but he will still be called junior
Your mistakes will always be discussed during appraisals
Your best performance will be discussed when you want to quit
If you finish your work on time and leave early, this is getting noted in the system as you don’t have enough work. [Your efficiency is not counted 90% of the time.]
Hiring is done based on communication skills and not on management, writing, negotiation, programming, analysis, attitude and mindset
Your CTC, Variable, Bonus and Take home salary are different components (understand the difference)
Utilize your earned and casual leaves when you get time
Find your interests and do some certification courses from LinkedIn, Coursera, edX etc
Documentation is king
Lazy ones are the smartest but are difficult to manage
Love your job and be committed to the work. Period.
Your salary will increase by 1.5x, 2x or 3x only when you switch companies
At age 20–30 skill set is primary and salary is secondary.
If you find a mentor in your current company, listen to him/her and always consult when you get stuck
Be open to change and learn how to become smarter
Try to be 1% better than yesterday
Kill the boredom, go for a walk when you don’t have anything to do at office or talk to your colleagues and find out how they do what they do
Be happy and learn the financial management, this will help you stay afloat after 10–15 years

Chen Si.

He works at a logistics agency in Nanjing, China. He also spends his free time saving other people’s lives.

Let me tell you his story.

In 2003, a very close relative of Chen’s committed suicide after watching his sons argue over who would take care of him. The incident was deeply traumatizing. Having to lose someone he held so dear to his heart just because his sons didn’t seem to show enough respect and compassion for him. Chen also read in the local newspaper that the Nanjing-Yangtze River Bridge was a major suicide hotspot — in fact, by 2006, about 2,000 people were estimated to have killed themselves by jumping off the bridge since the year it was constructed (1968). He then became greatly determined to devote the rest of his life saving those of others trapped in hopelessness by foiling suicide attempts.

In response, Chen began to patrol the Nanjing-Yangtze bridge either on his motorbike or on foot, continuously on the lookout for people willing to jump from it.

He has been there almost every day, even on holidays and weekends, regardless of the weather.

He has kept a lookout for signs of depression, for example, in the way some of them walk, which Chen describes as “passive with no spirit or direction”.

Chen also keeps a diary documenting the people he has encountered and the reasons why they wanted to kill themselves.

Some had been greatly shamed for not being successful enough in school.
Some had broken up with their boyfriend or girlfriend.
Some had wasted away their money on needless things.
There was also, for example, a migrant worker who was drowning in debt because he couldn’t pay off the $15,000 bill for his daughter’s leukemia treatments.

Chen also gives out suicide prevention pamphlets to potential jumpers, detailing emergency contacts.

And not only does he simply pull people off the bridge. In fact, he has spent 10,000 yuan ($1,457 in dollars) renting a two-room house not far from the site, which he calls “a station for the soul to rest in”.

He sits with people and lets them share all their suffering in their stories, which in a way ignites friendship, trust, and newfound confidence. Chen also occasionally brings victims back to the bridge as volunteers, helping others see a way forward in life.

Throughout his time engaging in this, Chen has stopped over 300 people from ending their lives. That is an example of being a hero without having to fight. An example of generosity and compassion at work without the necessity for bloodshed. Sometimes the best heroes simply dedicate themselves to lending a hand to people who feel like they’ve got nothing left for them. Chen Si isn’t called the “Angel of Nanjing” for nothing.

“Not all heroes wear capes”, they say. That is most definitely true.

Footnotes

[1] Chen Si – Wikipedia

What are some of the oldest contracts still in place that include some regular payments, like a lease that requires the user or tenant to pay something?

Every October since 1211 the City of London has paid rent to the Crown for two pieces of land even though nobody knows their exact locations.

The Ceremony of Quit Rents is the oldest legal ceremony in England apart for the Coronation of the Monarch. It takes place between St Michael’s Day (October 11th) and St Martin’s Day (November 11th) every year in the Royal Courts of Justice in London where the City pays the King’s Remembrancer.

The King’s Remembrancer is the oldest judicial position in England and was created in 1164 by Henry II to keep track of what was owed to the crown.

For the first piece of land, called The Moors, the City pays two knives, one blunt and one sharp.

The Remembrancer’s duty is to test the knives. The billhook is tested on a hazel tally and should make a mark representing the payment. The sharp axe then splits the tally in two, one for each party as a receipt. The Remembrancer then calls “Good service”.

This is called a split tally where in order to record debts a stick was marked with a number of notches and then split lengthwise. This way the two halves both record the same notches and each party to the transaction received one half of the marked stick as proof.

The second quit rent is for the use of the forge in Tweezer’s Alley, somewhere near The Strand. It is believed that the first tenant, Walter Le Brun, was a blacksmith who had set up his business near the tilting ground of the Knights Templar sometime around 1235.

The rent for this land is sixty-one nails and six horse-shoes. The horseshoes used are believed to date back to 1361 and are probably the oldest horseshoes still in existence. After the payment is received, the shoes and nails are then loaned back to the City of London for the next year.

When presented with the horseshoes and nails, the Remembrancer calls “Good number”.

There are also other quit or peppercorn rents. In Medieval times when a piece of property was deeded over as a reward for service a nominal rent was often charged as a reminder that the tenant didn’t own the property outright. A single peppercorn (or a single rose i.e. rose rents) was among the most popular forms of this style of rent but there were various other interesting forms of payment, such as a frog, a roast pork dinner, the donation of a petticoat to a poor woman, or even a raw calves head and a pair of gloves.

What do you dislike most about the U.S.?

Hi.
I am an Australian who is married to an American and, due to the nature of my work, lived ALL OVER the US over a decade.

Half my family are American and many of my closest friends.
In short, I’m very fond of the United States and support my nation’s close affiliation with them.

So please forgive me if I’m blunt.
This is NOT an American bash, it’s an honest expression of the one thing that [SOME] Americans do that never fails to trigger me.

“We saved your asses in World War Two”.

Americans often tell us bluntly, over and over how they “saved our arses” in both World Wars.

I assure you, EVERY SINGLE Brit, Aussie, Kiwi or Canadian reading along can hear those words spoken in an American accent as they read them.

That’s how often we hear it.
Almost weekly.
Certainly once a month.

Wars that we ourselves stepped up and fought in the protection of others.
Wars that wouldn’t even have affected us directly.
Wars we fought for YEARS before the United States.

Australia, Canada, India and New Zealand particularly could have turned their backs on Western Europe.

Britain herself could have closed her borders and looked the other way.
Hitler had no designs on the UK – He admired them.
All they had to do was stand back and allow the holocaust to happen.

But of course they couldn’t because fighting Nazi Germany was the right thing to do.

We didn’t make Britain wait 3.2 and 2.3 years to enter either great war.
We were there from day one.

We didn’t charge Britain for our goods or help.
We didn’t keep a tally and make them pay it back for seventy years.
We didn’t insist they realign their trade preferences to favour our markets setting their still very young colonies prematurely adrift or cost them their empire, wealth, dignity or preeminence as a world power.

We didn’t use Britain’s plight as a springboard for our own wealth and dominance or spend the following century diluting their culture with Pan Americanism and shallow consumerism.

CANZUK didn’t ask for anything.
We just went because we’re family and that’s what family does and despite what some of you are going to assert in the comments, yes, America, though you are the black sheep you are also family.

Speaking for Australia, from a population of six million (2/3 of which were women, children, the elderly and infirm), a full one million Australian men served in the military during the Second World war.

Let that sink in.

We had, from our far-flung nation gathered together the fourth-largest air force in the world and the fifth largest navy and lost so many men in every theater of both World Wars that we had a noticeable lack of them right into the 1980s.
Indeed, by the time American boots had touched the ground in North Africa and Europe, CANZUK had already sacrificed literally millions of men.

It’s SO, rude.
I’m not even sure you understand just how disrespectful it is and how much damage it does [at street level] to our relationships with the US.
Honestly – it’s there in the pit of all our stomachs whenever we even engage with an American.

I will leave you with this quote from the memoirs of one of your own.
American journalist Ernie Pyle who was killed in action by the Japanese in April 1945.

His account of D-day and the liberation of Paris.

“One cannot help but be moved by the colossus of our invasion. It was a bold and mighty thing. One of the epics of all history. I hope that we can rejoice in victory but humbly. The dead men would not want us to gloat.”

Peace.

Do people realise that China is an authoritarian country?

Probably. So?

I don’t live in China. But I do live in another country that is often said to be authoritarian (Singapore). And what else can we say about Singapore?

It’s ranked in the world’s top five richest countries (by GDP per capita). It’s ranked among the world’s top five least corrupt countries. Its public transport system is often ranked as the world’s best. It’s also ranked as the world’s no. 6 most peaceful country. It has one of the world’s highest average life expectancies. It’s ranked No. 1 for infrastructure. Singapore is ranked the 2nd safest city in the world. Singapore students are the world’s best in science, math and literacy. Its economy is ranked the 4th most competitive in the world. Singapore has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world. Homelessness is very rare here. Singapore’s rate of death by drug overdose is 81 times lower than in the US. There hasn’t been one gun homicide in the past 17 years.

Etc etc etc. I could go on and on. Basically Singapore is a very successful country across a wide range of different indicators and criteria. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it – what exactly is so bad about authoritarianism.

Yeah, yeah, you can’t smoke pot; you’ll be caned if you are a rapist, and you have no right to utter hate speech to bully anybody. Sounds quite good to me.

Which is the best thing to import?

Cigarettes 😀

You do the maths. I used to be able to buy them at HKIA for $90HKD a carton. The airport staff said you have to pay duty if you take more than 2 cartons. I said yes and filled my suitcase.

I’d take them to the UK and sell them for £35–40 a carton. I’d sell them to somebody who looked like he’d stab you in the face. First time I met him he wanted to rob me, but realised I could supply him regularly. Anyway he’d sell them for £50–60 a carton (it’s about £50 for 100 a carton is 200).

The trick was to land late at night, if you did this the customs agents were usually not too attentive and wanted to go home.

Same thing with France, I’d go for a razz now and again and come back with a car filled with cigarettes.

It was easy money and made me my seed money to get my business off the ground.

What are some sad truths about life?

Chris Langan was born with a freakishly potent brain, having arguably the highest IQ of any living person.

Langan began speaking at six months old and went on to skip several grades. He had an adult vocabulary by age 10. He breezed through college-level tests as an adolescent. He took his SAT several years early and got a perfect score in half the allotted time and took a nap.

Today, he is a rancher. He never finished college. Most of his adult years were spent as a bouncer at a bar, and in manual labor jobs.

It all stemmed from his rough childhood. He grew up in a poor family. His mother married multiple times before he turned 12. One stepfather committed suicide. Another was psychopathic and abusive.

His stark upbringing created behavioral problems and a persisting contempt for authority. Combine this with inadequate mentorship, resources, and an absent professional network and he never weaponized his extremely rare gift.

The sad truth is that there are many like Langan, who are like the gifted child working on a 3rd world farm, born into poverty and dealt a common, cruel blow to the chance of success.

TikTok on the cost of living | RANT ON INFLATION | EVERYONE IS BROKE AND TIRED

“Hi guys, just to clarify I do not own any of these videos I just thought it would be interesting to see how people are dealing with the cost of living, sending prayers and well wishes to you ”

Gaza nightmare

Some disturbing stuff going down right now. The idiots in Washington DC are Hell-bent on war, and all of us are feeling like we are trapped in some kind of cage lashed to the back of a speeding car driven by a madman.

The West has gone completely koo-koo.

No shit.

In case you all haven’t noticed, I am not “reporting” or commenting on the insanity of the Middle East. It’s all a cluster fuck that I want no part of.

Today…

What is the smartest thing you have seen a lawyer do in court?

How about the Judge?

A long time ago, I owned one of the first Honda Accords. I had bought it new in 1977, and around 1984, the engine had a very bad oil burning problem. I was pulled over by a Metro Toronto Police constable, who gave me the choice of a ticket for “excessive smoking” or a visit to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment testing centre.

I chose the test, filled the engine with 50 w oil and while there was no smoke, the rest of the needles went fully to the right. Busted.

I was given a chance for a repeat, but knowing I would fail that one also, I put the car on the driveway, pulled the plates and used a borrowed vehicle. About a month after the missed test, a summons came in the mail to appear at the Provincial court one morning in the not too distant future.

I showed up early, and approached the clerk to find out where I should be and when. They never tell you that on the summons, just to appear. While talking the the clerk, a man walked up and was dealing with another of the clerks. I asked the clerk I was talking to “what the fine would be” if convicted. She didn’t know, and man beside me became interested in the matter. I had no idea who he was, but we kind of looked at the summons and neither of us could see anything about a fine. There was a little conversation; I assumed he was a lawyer, and we had a friendly chat. Court was starting shortly, and the fellow left, so I also went inside, told the bailiff I was there – important to do so, otherwise they might not call you for hours – and sat down.

At the stroke of 10:00 am, someone says “all rise” and in walks the Judge, the fellow I was talking to at the desk. Before the proceedings began, the Judge asked me if I had received an answer from the clerk. I told him that I had not, and then the proceedings began.

The Crown (prosecutor) presents the charge, an environmental offence, which he obviously felt was on par with burning down a forest or killing baby seals. Looking very smug, he sat down.

I am called forth, and I told the Judge that yes, the car had failed, but it was off the road and here are the license plates in my hand proving that it was no longer driving or polluting.

The Judge then asked the Crown what the minimum fine was for such an offence. The Crown responded that “the Ministry has a range up to $5000 for such an offence and the usual fine is this case would be $100.”

The Judge asked again about the minimum fine and the Crown repeated his same line. The Judge then asked “so there is no minimum fine?”

The Crown sheepishly answered “No sir” and the Judge turned to me and asked “the car is off the road?” and I responded affirmatively, at which point he said the charges were dropped as the intent of the law was to keep polluting vehicles off the road and obviously this had happened. Case dismissed!

I can’t say for sure, but there was a bit of smile from my new friend on the bench as I walked out of the court.

The smartest lawyer in the room was the Judge.

What are the best socializing tips that are not said but everyone should practice?

I couldn’t unsee it.

We’d just celebrated a diversity milestone as part of our quarterly meeting. It was one of those corporate cheerleading events where I stood in the back resisting the painful urge to roll my eyes.

“We are far more than a team of coworkers,” the CEO said, gesturing wide with his arms to the crowd, “We are a family.”

He was such a phony. The summit concluded and I went to the lunchroom. Right as I walked in, I stopped in the doorway and noticed something obvious that I hadn’t noticed before this diversity meeting.

All the white people were at their tables. All the black employees sat at another set of tables. Three Asian ladies sat at another. It was like we were living in the 1950s. And it wasn’t confined to this office. I still see this trend so often when I walk through malls, or along the sidewalk.

A similar phenomenon was observed on the set of Planet Of The Apes in 1968. The director noticed that during lunch, the people dressed as gorillas sat with other gorillas, chimps with chimps, and humans with humans. He described feeling a chill in the air and wondered if we were already in a dystopian sci-fi future. It even happened on the set of Babylon 5. People self-segregated according to their alien skin color.

This trend has long predated echo chambers, and it’s detrimental to your growth.

The closed network problem

The trend is called homophily, where we magnetize towards clusters of people similar to us. Race isn’t the only sorting mechanism. People sort by social class, age, political ideology, and even the type of music they listen to. And the unfortunate result is that we often live in a “closed network”. We sort ourselves into increasingly tight homogeneous groups.

A closed network forms in these four steps and I suspect you’ll be able to think of a few examples as you read this (I certainly did):

Putting all moral platitudes aside, social diversity has great predictive qualities for your career and life.

Count on one hand your closest friends. I’d bet that for many of you — they are pretty similar to you across a few demographic touchpoints. It’s no fault to you. This happens naturally, but you can disrupt this habit.

By mixing up your friend group, you are exposed to ideas different than your own and stretch your thinking. Your professional network also becomes much more potent, which is especially important: Within 10 years of graduation, a majority of people won’t work in the area they majored in.

Beware of gatekeeping your network

My ex’s family was deeply conservative — which is fine on its own. People are entitled to their beliefs. But this was often a barrier to who could spend time with them.

They were constantly sizing people up and figuring out their political opinions to determine if they were friend-material. Many people do this without realizing it. These parents were just explicit about it and they had a very small town syndrome (cliquey behavior, when you forget there is an entire world outside of your own).

This introduces the other pesky problem. It’s not all that easy to make friends — especially as we get older. So what next? There are a few solutions.

A route out of Cloneville

I moved 15 times before I turned 18. I lived in California, DC, Florida, Virginia Beach, North Carolina — and every new batch of people was so different than the next. I went to an all white, deeply conservative private school in 9th grade, a liberal high school in Coronado. I was one of the only white kids at an inner city middle school in DC. It wasn’t always easy.

Every summer, I waited for the talk. My mom or dad would come to my bedroom and tell me we were moving and how I was going to love this new school and place. Early on, I realized implicitly, “OK. I need to learn to make new friends.”

I was a new 5th grader at Linkhorn Elementary. We had a substitute teacher who happened to be gorgeous. She was passing out quiz papers. Before she passed out each quiz, she did that thing where she licked her finger to grip the paper.

After she handed me my quiz, I looked across the table at a classmate Joe and say, “Hey Joe! Pssst.”

He turned to me and I pretended to lick my finger and put it down to my thigh and made a hissing sound, like bacon hitting the frying pan. It was a corny joke — but it made Joe laugh and we were instantly friends. And from there, I learned that humor was one quick path to win anyone over.

Often, it’s less about how funny a joke is — and more about the energy it establishes. It signals, “I want to play.” Think about how a dog plants his chest down to the ground while keeping his hind legs standing to get another dog to play with him. This is the human equivalent.

It says, “I like you. Let’s have fun.”

“What if I’m not that funny?”

An even better solution that is painfully overlooked is to smile. Researchers have proven that smiles motivate people to interact with you. They are seen as a “prosocial invitation”. Stand upright and give them a quick, natural smile right when you spot them. It signals you are excited to see them.

After getting to know so many types of people, I’ve realized most people just want to be accepted as a complicated human being. And if you are just nice to them, and seem happy to see them and talk to them — you’ve nearly won the battle already.

When you go to your lunchroom, consider sitting with a new group of people. Don’t be afraid to talk to someone who looks different than you.

There’s a concept called contact hypothesis whereby tension between groups is reduced when they are brought together and interact. It promotes trust and reduces stereotyping. It reminds two different people that they’re both human beings. But the only way to make different types of friends is to actually spend time with people who are different from you.

One of my close friends couldn’t be more different from me. His political views and background are a full 180. But we are both fully candid about our opinions and thoughts, and know we can do so without fear of judgement or being disliked. Sure, he says crazy stuff sometimes but that’s fine. He’s still my friend. He’s taught me a few things about the world and changed a few of my opinions, and I’d like to think the reverse is true.

My hope, is that in a world that is so divided, more people from different walks of life can share the same path. They’d expand their own perspectives. They’d have more love and understanding, and more career opportunities.

And it would save us from being fenced in with our own. Closed networks beget closed minds.

Quite an intriguing visual.

Brazil was inches away from recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital not very long ago, mind you.
Surprising split in South America nonetheless, you’d imagine they’d have a uniform stance like they had for Ukraine.
A sea of yellow in Asia with only the usual suspects in blue but hey there’s someone new this time!
India’s position sits perfectly with our new found friends and within our domestic political landscape but ought to disappoint the fellow global southerners. But tbf, it is not to be construed as a paradigm shift in our policy, our Ministry of External Affairs clarified our two state stance on Palestine only yesterday, rather bad memories getting rekindled.
Nepal lost about a dozen citizens to Hamas’ attack. Poor folks go under the radar and didn’t even get sufficient coverage.
Irans sphere of influence, man, from Caspian Sea to Red Sea. Bush what have you done?
This is a map from TRT— Türkiye’s state run broadcaster. Interesting that they construe Erdogan’s position as call for de-escalation.
Sudan’s case is the perfect microcosm of the viability of normalisation deals that Israel is pursuing. You try so hard and get so far, and then a coup happens.
Morocco, UAE understandable, but Saudi and Pakistan? Who would have thought? Not me. Only 2% of Saudis are in favour of normalisation, I wonder if that matters at all. And 2% would be too high a number for Pakistanis.
Those who follow Bangladesh’s politics ought to find Bangladesh’s silence intriguing, if not outright discombobulating, especially with Hasina up for election soon and US breathing down her neck (yeah, not making this up, US is the biggest threat to Hasina’s re-election).
I don’t get Mexico’s neutrality, they don’t even recognise Palestine.
I don’t get New Zealand’s contrarian take either. What gives? I imagined if anyone from the West was going to have a contrarian take it would be Norway. The right is on the rise in Norway, left rules New Zealand, perhaps that explains?
Ghana coming all out to condemn Hamas? With a similar religious demography split like India, I wonder if there’s domestic political considerations involved.
Foreign policy really is domestic politics with its hat on.
Given that Indonesia’s support will be construed differently then Iran’s support, Venezuela joins the “axis of evil”. But in all fairness they joined the club previously after Ukraine invasion.
DPRK has been silent?
What explains the silence of that many African countries? None of our business paradigm?

Putin tells it like it is…

Fudge Cobbler

Yield: about 9 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
Vanilla ice cream (garnish)

Instructions

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch square baking dish.
Melt the chocolate and the butter in a saucepan over very low heat. Stir often. Remove from the heat.
Stir in the sugar, flour, vanilla extract and eggs.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
Bake for 20 to 22 minutes.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

Everyone in the office was paid on an hourly basis and it was each person’s responsibility to keep track of how many hours they worked each day on a paper time sheet. At the end of each week each employee turned in their time sheet to their supervisor who would sign them and then give the to HR so everyone can get paid for the hours they worked. In practice, everyone showed up each day, did their work, wrote down”8 hours” on their time sheet and went home. Everyone was happy.

Then along came a new guy in management who stated that nobody was actually keeping track of their hours and just writing down what HR wanted to see. This meant that the company was losing money and productivity from people not working a full day but being paid for it. So he instituted a new digital time sheet system where each person had to log their times in and out on their computers and the system would track how many hours each of us worked.

What the company discovered was that everyone tended to come into work 10–15 minutes early, hardly ever took a full hour for lunch and often stayed 10–15 minutes late to get their work done. Thanks to the new time sheet system every employee was now getting paid for all that overtime they had been working but not tracking. This affected the company because it was added payroll expense that wasn’t budgeted. So management put out a new rule that nobody would be allowed to work any overtime without written permission from their supervisor and HR. So everyone was very diligent to log in and out exactly in time.

Except now productivity had fallen because nobody was working those extra minutes each day, which multiplied over all staff added up to an extra 60 hours per week of work. The company ended up needing to hire two more people to make up that productivity.

After Huawei released Kirin 9000S, Biden revised the bill: banning China from owning high-end chips.

So China cannot make their own, if they do, they will violate American law.

Malaysia’s switch to a dual 5G network will allow for more effective participation by China’s Huawei – PM Anwar

Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday the country’s switch to a dual 5G network will allow for more effective participation by China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

Malaysia in May had said it would allow a second 5G network to operate from next year, following concerns over a monopoly held by a single state-run network.

The European Union and the U.S. had warned Malaysia of risks to national security and foreign investment amid efforts by Huawei to bid for a role in its telecoms infrastructure.

Anwar on Wednesday acknowledged concerns from some countries over the “security and capacity” of technology stemming from China, but said the decision to allow a second 5G network was made so that Malaysia could benefit from different technologies.

“We in Malaysia… and I believe rightly, decided that while we get the best from the West, we also should benefit the best from the East,” he told an event hosted by Huawei in Kuala Lumpur.

“After extensive discussion… we made the decision to allow for a dual network, and thus the decision for more effective participation by Huawei.”

Malaysia had in 2021 unveiled a plan for a state-owned agency, Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), to own the full 5G spectrum, with various carriers using the infrastructure to provide mobile services, but the plan had come under industry criticism over pricing and competition.

State-run DNB partnered with Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson to roll out Malaysia’s 5G network. It is unclear how Malaysia’s plan for a second network would affect DNB’s agreement with Ericsson or other mobile operators.

WHAT THESE FILIPINAS CAN OFFER TO THEIR PASSPORT BROS!

Three chicks talking.

How do expats view other expats in China?

I really don’t like most western expats in China.

They are generally ignorant about China and Chinese, and conversations about China are very shallow and full of misconceptions. It is not worth my time to correct those misperceptions, and there is no reward for doing it.

Chinese are much fun and interesting, and even if they have silly ideas, they are often entertaining. Most importantly, they know the local restaurants and dishes, and can introduce me to some dish I have never had before. Unlike for most westerners, dining out is a social event, not just filling the tummy.

What was a gift that made you speechless?

I was age 14 in the early 1960s and living with a family who had one child around my age. On my 14th birthday, my mother said I needed to pay room and board. I decided to pay for a room in other homes where there was no violence. My rapidly increasing scoliosis was becoming a problem. I had three jobs to pay room and board — (1) feeding and washing people in a nursing home and doing laundry), (2) babysitting at the country club 1.5 miles away, and (3) stocking shelves in a dry goods store. I made $29.00 a week. My room and board was $28.00 a week. I went to high school about three days a week.

I was happy with this family. The father was Welsh and sang Welsh songs every Friday night as he walked home from the Legion. The mother was one of the cafeteria ladies at the high school. They were good to me.

Then one day, the father came home with an envelope and pulled out a Beatles ticket and handed it to his daughter.

And then he handed another ticket to me.

TO ME!

It cost $15.00. I told him it would take me years to pay him back. If I didn’t buy shampoo, pads, or deodorant, it would take me 15 months to repay him. The father disregarded this idea with a flick of his hand and a Welsh phrase I didn’t understand.

The father drove us the 80 miles to the venue, let us off and circled the building during the performance and was right there when it was finished. Not only that, but the man put up with us singing Beatles songs all the way home. We were not good singers.

Even now, decades later (and I am a retired person), whenever I do something nice for someone, I think, ‘this is for you, John Cooper, this one is for you.’

I carry such lightweight debts with me.

Pepe Escobar: China Has DEFEATED the Neocon Agenda as US War Fails Before It Starts

I don’t expect Xi or Putin to meet with Biden. He doesn’t make the decisions.

This is really, really, REALLY good.

Do you think Huawei can produce smartphones with advanced chips in large volume despite the US claims that Huawei may violate trade restrictions?

LOL, this is China.

If they know how to do something, they automatically know how to do it at scale.

This is a country that builds entire new cities at one go. They produce 600,000 engineers per year. They make four out of every five solar panels in the world. They can build a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 days, and as we saw during the covid-19 pandemic, a brand new hospital in 10 days. They are the world’s biggest factory.

If they know how to make one Huawei Mate 60, they already know how to make 100 million Huawei Mate 60s.

China does not know how to think SMALL. It is unnatural and weird for them to think on a small scale. China has cities with populations larger than countries such as Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, even Australia. Thinking big is China’s default mentality.

New round of US sanctions started against Huawei! U.S. tech war enters stage 2.0!

In this episode, we dive into the latest updates on the potential second round of sanctions by the United States on Huawei. Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, unveiled its new smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro, sparking intrigue amidst ongoing U.S.-China tech tensions.

These cutting-edge smartphones, powered by 7-nanometer chips from China’s SMIC, bring 5G connectivity to the forefront.

The implications of this move are significant, causing a reevaluation of the technology blockade against Huawei and even calls for a complete halt to technology exports. We also explore China’s efforts to boost its self-sufficiency in chip production and navigate U.S. export restrictions.

https://youtu.be/CI-ZOcv2CaI

What sort of sexism do most women face in the workplace?

I generally like my employer.

But the worst part of my job is that I occasionally have to be the “male voice”.

One of my female colleagues will refer a call to me to tell a caller about some iron clad policy we have that we can never, ever overlook.

I am on the same pay level as all of them. I am not the manager. I often work in a different department. I am, however, the only one of this fairly large group of people that is male.

I tell them the iron clad policy. They shut up. End of story.

Part of the problem is that the engineering profession is still about 80% male, and so is the applicant base. They are not used to being told “no” by someone who isn’t male. It’s not like it’s just immigrants either.

Here’s the irony. The second highest ranking staff member, and the person two steps above me, is a woman. She’s had to put up with it too.

But I will tell you about my ex-colleague, boss and PEO president. She left her position as my boss to take on a five year position at the university she was hired by to get female enrollment in the engineering program up to 40%. It took her one year and she shot past the 40% goal to boot. Then she went to another university and did the same thing.

China’s LATEST Hypersonic Drone Can Destroy US F35 Stealth Fighter in Seconds

China’s hypersonic program has emerged as one of the biggest and heavily advanced sectors of the nation. In this remarkable sector, the PLA boasts having a drone in its arsenal which is capable of reaching hypersonic speeds and destroying world renowned stealth fighters that have dominated the aerial warfare sector for years. Today’s episode is covering China’s hypersonic drone and how it can be used to destroy US Stealth fighters.

Why is Quora full of Westerners who praise China?

Many of the westerners have been to China, like it, and see a lot of criticism of China in the western media which is based on planted information and is basically untrue, in order to drive western public opinion against China.

These westerners try to compensate for this distorted view by praising China. Their intention is to restore balance in how China is viewed.

Unfortunately, the western view of China has become so distorted that it is impossible to have a balanced view of China: either it is completely bad, or it is good.

A balanced view of China would say that there are many good things about China, and there are some bad things as well.

China is just like the US: it is just another country and society, each facing its own set of challenges.

What is the most satisfying thing you have done to someone who blocked your driveway?

I live in Northern Maine. My property borders a state park/forest. The state forest has a parking lot you need to pay to park in the lot although the park/forest is free to enter. Alot of people will park along the main road and walk into the park. my property is on a side road that is beside the park the park entrance is 2 mile up the main road from my road.

Some park/forest visitors have taken to pulling down my road and parking on my property and hiking across my property to enter the park. they block driveways and the road with poor parking abilities. Some pull into driveways.

My property is a farm I have many driveways used by tractors and equipment to enter the feilds for feeding livestock and tending crops. All driveways are gated (keep livestock in feilds and out of crops)

One group of annoying tourists pulled up in 3 vehicles (2 rvs and a 12–15 passenger van) All had New York plates. they pulled in blocking the access to the feilds and began hiking across my feilds. I caught up to them and informed them that they would be towed if they did not move the vehicles. The leader of the group told me to f-off while giving a one finger salute. I watched as they walked away across the feild. once they entered the park/forest I went to my equipment barn got my large green and yellow tractor hooked up a slurry spreader tank and drove over to the slurry bin and filled the tank. ( Slurry is cow manure that is mixed with water to make it able to spray) I adjusted the spray bar and drove over near the area and sprayed liquified manure (did not spay any on the vehicles) just near the road along the fence a nice heavy thick layer then sprayed more along the area they entered the forest. Since it was 85 degrees outside the smell would bake in the sun to keep it fresh I placed a water tank and sprayer/ sprinkler nearby and set the timers to run for 5 minutes every hour. After 4 hours I called and had the vehicles towed.

They returned and found me spraying slurry in my feilds as they walked across the feilds the slurry is sticking to the shoes (most wearing sandles or flip flops – Nothing like the feeling of liquid poop between the toes) They find the vehicles gone and ask me where they are. I tell them where the inpound lot is and inform them that as they exit onto the main road they should stop and read the large SIGN that says private road. I called the police who informed them that they could walk to impound as it was 20–30 minute walk down the road.

I would imagine that they found out that the oder of sun baked slurry permeates into things. (they left the widows open on the vehicles) and with what was on the shoes it must have been an interesting ride back to New York.

Josep Borell, EU foreign policy chief, accuses China of treating Europe as a US puppet. How can this perception on the part of the Chinese be changed?

The problem with the EU is Josep the Chief Diplomat’s words do not represent the cohesive attitude, or indeed, policy decisions of the EU towards China. EU member states hold even more divergent and polarizing attitudes.

The fact of the matter is, the G7 does not have a China seat, but the EU gets its own seat, on top of individual EU members. The currencies of these nations power the global financial market, while the yuan issued by the world’s No. 2 economy is an afterthought in BIS reports.

Senior figures in the EU have repeatedly made rude and damaging attacks on China and Chinese interests, including the core issue of Greater China sovereignty. Entities and individuals have been sanctioned, just like their American counterparts, whose actions they mirrored.

Nord Stream is a key European infrastructure that cost billions to build. After it was bombed, the lack of condemnation for an act of war is curious, to say the least. Government findings were blocked from release, while there remains a shocking lack of blowback and demand for accountability in the press.

The EU-CHINA CAI, which is tilted in Europe’s favor, is also dead in the water, after 10 years of painstaking negotiation securing an agreement in principle. EU leaders are complaining about lack of market access in China, when it is self-inflicted.

There is also the issue of the EC, with Ursula completely at odds with Josep’s conciliatory, if shaky, diplomacy. She was given the cold shoulder on a recent visit to Beijing as Emmanuel’s invited partner. The message was clear. She wasn’t the guest invited by the Chinese state.

Who represents the EU? Who has the authoritative voice that can be trusted? How has the EU demonstrated long-term policy independence from the US?

Wang Yi, and before him, Yang Jiechi, have had regular hours-long closed door conversations with Jake, the National Security Advisor. Jake is 46, and not even elected, but he has access to top Chinese leadership that the EU can only dream of, because he is the personal envoy of Joe.

Do we really have to spell out who calls the shots in NATO, which is tied at the umbilical with the EU power structure?

As the Cantonese say, 画公仔唔使画出肠。

Israel Conflict Just Became Scarier And Weird!

Yes. Too odd. For certain.

How does culture influence human behavior?

During a 10-hour flight, she was heading from Seoul, Korea, to San Francisco, USA. This mother distributed more than 200 passengers on the plane a plastic bag for each one. The bag contains candy, chewing gum and earplugs as a kind of advance apology for using them in the event that her 4-month-old baby screamed during the flight.

The bag also contained a message containing (hello, I am Jan Woo. I am 4 months old and today I’m traveling America with my mom and grandmother for my aunt’s outfit. I’m a little nervous and scared. This is my first flight in my life. It’s normal for me to cry or cause some disturbance. I’ll try to stay calm, but I can’t promise you. Please use it if my voice gets too loud.. Enjoy your trip. Thank you)

A culture of respecting the freedom of others…

Is China still a communist country? Can we say that the rivalry between the US and China is the ideology conflict?

Not at all.

Communism and Marxism is hardly an issue to the U.S. with Vietnam that the U.S. is courting shamelessly and Saudi Arabia a Islamic Monarchy hardly liberal democracy but does it bother Uncle Sam for the last half a century?

For me it is as simple as China cannot be made submissive and subservient to the U.S. that is all to it. And worst China is simply a lot lot more efficient and effective than the U.S. can ever be! In fact China has a better human rights record than the U.S. anyway! That perturb the US to no end.

But what is worst for the U.S. Is 150–175 nations out of the world’s 195 nation prefers Chinese and China way and none in the global south wants anything to do with Uncle Sam. They find them obnoxious and despicable. To me this is not due to China at all but due to the shit U.S. did to the world since 1945.

I know Americans who are mostly highly naive and hugely made ignorant to think the U.S. media or government is well liked by the world. But in truth it couldn’t be further than the truth!

Abusing nations has consequences, bullying nations turned them off, arbitrary sanctions puts nations off, they will hedge, they will stop letting you fxxk them! It does not matter what your media lies and your propaganda says. The world is no fool!

Just figure this. US the biggest murdering nation telling China in Alaska about human rights! Is totally laughable and utterly ridiculous! Chinese officials told Blinken save the advise for your dogs and slave vassal nations!

The “American Dream” is actual Slavery (It’s all a Lie)

Harsh truth about the United States. Soak it in.

What’s the dumbest thing your boss has gotten mad at you for?

I was an admin assistant at a department at my local university. I was just about to clock off and make my way home in a wild windstorm that eventually knocked down 20,000 trees across the city when for some reason I decided to check one of the grad student offices and discovered that the skylight had blown off, exposing multiple desks and computers, some of them running data, to the elements. I called the relevant campus department and was told that restoring electricity and clearing roads and whatnot took priority, and they likely wouldn’t get to replacing the skylight (which I’d located, but lacked the strength and roof access to lug it up myself) until the next day at the earliest. So I cracked open the earthquake kit and rigged, using tarps and duct tape, a patch, then moved, ever so carefully so as not to accidentally disconnect the computers, all six desks away from the skylight shaft, in case my patch failed.

This all took about four hours past my usual knock-off time. Everyone was really glad I’d taken the time and initiative to do it, but my supervisor refused even to consider giving me time off in lieu for those four hours because she hadn’t pre-approved them, never mind that, in those pre-cell days, I’d had no way of reaching her. So I appealed to the department head, who overrode her. She was livid, and thereafter made my life so miserable that I leapt at the first decent opportunity to leave.

If universal healthcare is actually cheaper than our current system and covers everybody. Why not just do it?

I’m a retired US citizen who moved to Uruguay in 2015 after spending my entire working career in “Corporate America”.

It’s entertaining to read discussions about the possibility of implementing Universal Healthcare in the United States.

It will NEVER happen. It’s 1000% impossible. The reason? Health insurance companies.

The concept of Universal Healthcare does not involve insurance companies. There is no need for a bloated middleman.

There are 563,366 Health & Medical Insurance Employees in the US, costing approximately $50 billion annually.

These companies would have to be closed, freeing up all this cash for actual medical care, instead of bloat.

The main problems with the US Healthcare system are listed below. None of these problems exist with Universal Healthcare.

Greedy Health insurance companies run by highly-paid executives.
High-paid pharmaceutical & insurance company lobbyists.
Greedy congressmen who take millions of dollars in bribes annually.
Expensive TV commercials pushing expensive drugs.
Doctors who earn outrageous salaries to pay for outrageously expensive college educations with insane education loans.
Outrageous malpractice lawsuit settlements, requiring doctors to carry outrageous liability insurance.
People with no medical knowledge make decisions about whether a patient can have a medical procedure, overruling the attending physician.

Now, with the outsourcing of call centers, people with no medical knowledge in Jamaica, India, and Pakistan make those decisions.

Here are some typical costs in Uruguay:

Office visit: US $8.00
ER visit: US $ 10.00
House call: US $12.00.
Electrolyte blood analysis: US $7.11.
Cerebral CT Scan: US $23.29

If you call an ambulance, it arrives with a full-fledged MD, not an EMT.

Before I turned 70 years of age, I paid around US $55 per month for health coverage.

Now I pay around US $70 per month. For that, I get totally free hospital stays and all costs are free, including hospital stay, surgery, medications, doctor care, and nursing care. When you check out, regardless of what was done or how long you were hospitalized, you pay nothing.

The monthly cost for my cancer medication is around US $2.50. The same medication in the US is around $500.00.

Here are the main reasons everything is so cheap:

No claims to file

No EOB

No Deductible

No Out-of-Pocket

No Coinsurance

No Allowed amount

No Benefit period

No Preauthorization

Sincerely, A Tax Payer

“It sucks being poor…”

Can China manufacture semiconductor chips and create a rival to Intel, Apple, TSMC, and NVIDIA?

It’s been proven China can with Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro.

Chinese companies can rival the giant U.S. tech companies like Intel, Apple and Nvidia but what takes time is building up the ecosystem to make this possible. Thousands of companies make up the support system that manufactures and supports the tools and machines for the manufacturing processes of semiconductors.

The most critical of these companies are in the design (specifically EDA tools) and packaging (chiplets) processes, as well as the lithography machines for the making of the chip itself. There are now Chinese companies with the leading edge (or close to) technologies to rival industry leaders.

Just as critical is the consolidating of resources and capabilities to have the companies to ensure adequate supply of legacy chips. These are actually the more important players because they make up 90% of demand.

U.S. sanctions have forced China to come up with its own self-siufficient semiconductor indiustry.

If the average Chinese person supports 1 party rule and the average American supports democracy, how can we determine who is correct?

Chinese don’t necessarily support single party rule; they support a strong central government to maintain order.

Whether it is single party or not is secondary.

In today’s China, it is led by a single party, but it is much more than any western political party because it has 100M members who meet monthly to discuss local, provincial and central government issues, and how to solve them.

Do the Republican and Democratic parties ask their members to meet monthly to discuss how to solve social issues? I think not.

My point is not that one system is better than another, but they are very different, and talking about the ruling party in China being the same as the political parties in the US is silly and ridiculous, because China developed according to its historical conditions, and the US developed according to its historical conditions.

As Everyone’s Lοοking At Ιsrael, Something Τruly Unbelievable Has Begun Ιn America

Very interesting.

He’s saying that (it’s official) World War III is on-line.

https://youtu.be/DA3aRJrAyOo

Why is it NOT a good idea for an American White woman to marry a Middle Eastern Muslim man?

I did it. I regretted it.

People are imbued with cultural and religious ideas they don’t even recognize and simply take for granted.

I, an American, was imbued with the idea “I am my husband’s equal. In marriage we will have the same freedoms and similar expectations of each other. I would never shout at him for wearing shorts, so of course he will not do that to me. I don’t consider cooking his job, so I am sure he won’t consider it my job. I would always discuss a big purchase with him – and naturally he will give me the same respect.”

That sense of equality and “Don’t treat your spouse in a way you don’t want to be treated yourself” was my cultural norm.

I found that my husband had absolutely no cultural or religious norm of equality. He absolutely was willing to treat me in ways he would hate to be treated himself. He did not think a woman deserved what a man deserves.

He found it absolutely normal to expect control over me, and be resentful thst I didn’t make his life as comfortable as he believed a man’s life should be. He was constantly looking at the very unequal marriages of his (Muslim Arab) friends and resenting me for not being a submissive woman who cooked and cleaned and expected nothing but money from him.

My husband and I are in the same profession. I worked longer hours than him. I was also the one who was sometimes pregnant or recovering from childbirth.

But he could not appreciate me. He had a cultural and religious idea in his head : a man should come home from work and be catered to. Clean house, good food, obedient wife who wears certain clothes and lets her husband forbid her from certain activities or friends that do not please him. The man should be comfortable, should be served, should have things his way. (It is similar to the relationship between a dog owner and his dog. They love each other – but the owner does not think the dog should share in decisions or come and go as it pleases. A dog is expected to be happy being owned and trained and played with.)

My husband started off claiming he would love me forever.

It did not last.

But his cultural ideas of what a man is owed and how a wife must serve — those ideas will last in him forever.

What is wrong with American politicians’ fascination with Huawei?

Let’s answer this question using 5 Low IQ positions that the US politicians are taking –

Low IQ action 1 – Raimondo threatens Huawei before her China trip. She is simply arrogant and lacks intelligence. Who in the right mind threatens someone’s kid before visiting their home?

Low IQ action 2 – It is simply embarrassing to see a country using full state resources to bring down a private company. You brought an army to a fist fight and didn’t knock your much smaller opponent out!

Low IQ action 3 – The Western chips companies are making large profits selling products to China. And you stopped the sales and force your biggest customer to make their own?

Low IQ action 4 – You give billions of dollars of subsidies to your own chip companies to build factories. But you stop the demand from your top customer. So where are US companies gonna sell their excess chips to?

Low IQ action 5 – You take away Huawei’s access to Google and they went to develop their own operating system to threaten Google’s and Microsoft’s future dominance. You like shooting your own foot?

Irish Girl Watches MISTER ROGERS For The First Time

Oh nostalgia tv, except I don’t know who Mister Rogers is. I’ve always heard the name Mister Rogers as a reference in American tv and films but this Irish Girl had no idea who that was. Join me on a very emotional journey as I watch Fred Rogers first through last tv appearance, see him sing “I like you just as you are” and “ it’s a wonderful day in the neighbourhood” Mister Rogers Neighbourhood. Couldn’t we all do with some nice insight from a Fred Rogers right now.

What was your experience like when you realized that life outside of the United States was better than inside it?

I was in the US Army stationed in Germany for 3 and half years… Just turned 18. During this time I never took leave and went back. Travelled all over Europe! In Germany, I drunk my first beer, had my first kiss, and my first Girlfriend, was amazed by the people, the culture, the infrastructure, the cuisine, almost everything. I even took German courses and was proficient at least with speaking German. Anyway the day came, when i was being discharged ( I never really liked the army, andjoined for the Gi Bill) Back in the rural midwest, working at Walmart while going to community collage, I realized how much I missed Germany, the lifestyle, the urban vibe and so many things ( missed having a GF too, in the US I wasnt rich enough or cool enough to date anyone, in Germany this was never a thing at all, about money and all that. I decided if I was going to have a dull dead end life with no future, why not go back to Germany? At least have an adventure of some kind, i could always come back to the US.. 7 months after I ETSed ( left the army) I got a passport, got a cheap one way ticket and reconnected with some German civilians I knew.. I ended up staying in germany, has been 30 plus years now. I remember when the plane landed and I was disembarking, and set foot on the ground, I felt like,, this is it..the place you are meant to be.

Will the US dollar lose its global power in the next 5 years?

Yes it absolutely will.

I takes longer than that but slowly and surely it will.there is not even a speck of doubt. Tell me which nation wants to save in U.S. dollar reserve if can be confiscated away from you at the whims or fancies of the U.S? Do you want to keep your savings in a bank using a currency that the US can take it all away anytime it wants?

No one do, no want does, no one will ever want to. The fact that the US and the west can even phantom that by stealing gold from Venezuela and US dollar reserves from Russia is an acceptable behaviour tell how little the west thinks of the rest of the world.

Every nation on earth, even the US allies are figuring how to hedge against the US dollar. Direct Currency swap arrangement is very popular and it must have have grown several fold in the last year alone! Some agree on a basket of currencies, Others revert back to barter.

JEFFREY SACHS ON A HISTORIC DEBT

Israel Attacks Damascus Airport as IRAN Foreign Minister Plane Coming-in; Plane Forced to Divert

World Hal Turner 12 October 2023

The Israeli Air Force fired missiles at Damascus Airport and Aleppo Airport this morning, just before a plane carrying the Iran Foreign Minister was approaching Damascus for an official state visit. The Iran Minister’s plane was forced to divert from the area to avoid conflict.

Attacking Syria was an illegal act of aggression by Israel. Conducting that attack while a Diplomat was approaching for a state visit is arguably an Act of War.

Damascus Airport is now damaged and closed. Aleppo Airport is also reported to be damaged and closed.

The Iran Foreign Minister plane appears to be returning to Iran.

Syrian Defense Ministry: “At approximately 1:50 pm this afternoon, the Israeli enemy simultaneously carried out an air aggression with bursts of missiles, targeting the international airports of Aleppo and Damascus, which led to damage to the airports’ landing strips and them being out of service.

This aggression is a desperate attempt by the criminal Israeli enemy to divert attention from the crimes it is committing in Gaza, and the great losses it is suffering at the hands of the Palestinian resistance.”

( HT Remark: Nothing like escalating the already bad situation with Gaza into an international incident with a foreign Diplomat. Unschooled, these Israelis. Totally devoid of class.)

How does the cost of Whoosh, Indonesia’s first high-speed railway, compare to other high-speed railway projects around the world?

According to our Singapore media reports, the cost of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail is approximately US$7.3 billion. We tentatively believe that this number is real.

So this figure exceeds the budget given by China when bidding for the project eight years ago by US$1.2 billion. The project completion time was delayed by 4 years than originally planned.

This doesn’t seem like a good number.

But compared to current plans in other countries around the world to build high-speed rail, these are two very good figures.

1. Cost per kilometer

Even calculated based on all costs after overruns (including land costs), the cost per kilometer of Indonesia’s high-speed rail is only US$58 million. The high-speed rail in the United Kingdom is US$300 million per kilometer, and the high-speed rail in California is US$200 million per kilometer.

India’s high-speed rail was originally planned to cost US$35 million per kilometer. However, it has not actually been completed yet. Only ten kilometers have been built. The cost has been doubled and the final cost cannot be estimated. Due to serious delays in construction, some experts predict that there is a high probability that the cost per kilometer will exceed US$80 million when completed.

2. Time spent

The Indian high-speed railway started construction one year earlier than the Indonesian high-speed railway and is scheduled to open in 2023. According to media reports some time ago, only 10 kilometers have been built so far.
The completion date has been changed to 2028, but many experts believe that the actual completion time may be after 2032.

The first phase of the British high-speed railway is planned to build 160 kilometers. Construction will start in 2020 and is scheduled to be completed in 2029. It has now been changed to 2033. The real completion date cannot be determined.

Therefore, although the Indonesian high-speed railway experienced a 16% cost overrun and a 4-year construction delay.
But this is mainly due to the virus problem over the past 3 years.

Judging from similar large-scale projects around the world, Indonesians have reached the top level in terms of project time and budget control.

I believe that for many years to come, no country will be able to surpass Indonesia’s level.

This is due to the efficient work of the Indonesian government, the unity and support of the Indonesian people, and the technology and efficiency of the Chinese. Their achievements deserve congratulations.

Star Trek – Fire On the Forcefield

America Can’t Stop China’s Rise — Foreign Policy

There’s little doubt that the American government has decided to slow China’s economic rise, most notably in the fields of technological development. To be sure, the Biden administration denies that these are its goals. Janet Yellen said on April 20, “China’s economic growth need not be incompatible with U.S. economic leadership. The United States remains the most dynamic and prosperous economy in the world. We have no reason to fear healthy economic competition with any country.” And Jake Sullivan said on April 27, “Our export controls will remain narrowly focused on technology that could tilt the military balance. We are simply ensuring that U.S. and allied technology is not used against us.”

Yet, in its deeds, the Biden administration has shown that its vision extends beyond those modest goals. It has not reversed the trade tariffs Donald Trump imposed in 2018 on China, even though presidential candidate Joe Biden criticized them in July 2019, saying: “President Trump may think he’s being tough on China. All that he’s delivered as a consequence of that is American farmers, manufacturers and consumers losing and paying more.” Instead, the Biden administration has tried to increase the pressure on China by banning the export of chips, semiconductor equipment, and selected software. It has also persuaded its allies, like the Netherlands and Japan, to follow suit. More recently, on Aug. 9, the Biden administration issued an executive order prohibiting American investments in China involving “sensitive technologies and products in the semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence sectors” which “pose a particularly acute national security threat because of their potential to significantly advance the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities” of China.

All these actions confirm that the American government is trying to stop China’s growth. Yet, the big question is whether America can succeed in this campaign—and the answer is probably not. Fortunately, it is not too late for the United States to reorient its China policy toward an approach that would better serve Americans—and the rest of the world.

America’s decision to slow China’s technological development is akin to the folly revealed by the old cliché: closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. Modern China has shown many times that China’s technological development can’t be halted.

Since the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, several efforts have been made to limit China’s access to or stop its development in various critical technologies, including nuclear weapons, space, satellite communication, GPS, semiconductors, supercomputers, and artificial intelligence. The United States has also tried to curb China’s market dominance in 5G, commercial drones, and electric vehicles (EVs). Throughout history, unilateral or extraterritorial enforcement efforts to curtail China’s technological rise have failed and, in the current context, are creating irreparable damage to long-standing U.S. geopolitical partnerships. In 1993 the Clinton administration tried to restrict China’s access to satellite technology. Today, China has some 540 satellites in space and is launching a competitor to Starlink.

The same principle played out with GPS. When America restricted China’s access to its geospatial data system in 1999, China simply built its own parallel BeiDou Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) system in one of the first waves of major technological decoupling. In some measures, BeiDou is today better than GPS. It is the largest GNSS in the world, with 45 satellites to GPS’s 31, and is thus able to provide more signals in most global capitals. It is supported by 120 ground stations, resulting in greater accuracy, and has more advanced signal features, such as two-way messaging. Other nations have also previously tried and failed to block China’s technical rise. In the 1950s and 1960s, when the USSR withheld nuclear weapons technology from China, China launched its own “Manhattan Project” in the early 1960s and succeeded in testing its first nuclear weapon by 1964. Russian nuclear leverage over China ended that day.

Many of the measures taken by the Biden administration against China were also executed without factoring in China’s capacity to retaliate. While China does not physically construct many truly irreplaceable components of the American technology stack, they are keenly aware of the importance of their raw materials inputs (rare earths) and demand (revenue generation) in fueling the American innovation ecosystem and are now using them as leverage. In the current tit-for-tat dynamic, China will start squeezing these two critical ends of the value chain in response to American technology and capital export restrictions. China’s July ban of the gallium and germanium exports was merely an opening shot across the bow to remind America (and its aligned allies) of China’s dominance in the rare earths and critical metals space. The country has a near monopoly in the processing of magnesium, bismuth, tungsten, graphite, silicon, vanadium, fluorspar, tellurium, indium, antimony, barite, zinc, and tin. China also dominates in midstream processing for materials essential to most of America’s current and future technology aspirations such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper, which are critical for the rapidly developing EV industry globally.

While America and other neutral countries have mineral reserves of many of these materials, it would be naïve to believe that one can simply flip a switch on mining and production. It will take at least three to five years just to build the requisite extraction and processing infrastructure. This is to say nothing for recruiting and training skilled labor, or receiving requisite operational and environmental permits for such activities. Both could prove impossible. The processing of rare earths is a highly toxic and environmentally destructive endeavor. It’s unlikely such approvals will be granted. If Arizona is struggling to find qualified workers for its TSMC fabrication facility, and to address domestic union opposition to importing foreign skilled labor, it’s unlikely that America can develop similar capabilities for material processing. Along the way, China gets to play kingmaker in how it doles out access to its processed materials, likely restricting supply to American technology and defense giants. The failure to factor in China’s retaliatory capacities indicates that the United States doesn’t have a well-thought-out and comprehensive approach to dealing with China.

American measures to deprive China access to the most advanced chips could even damage America’s large chip-making companies more than it hurts China. China is the largest consumer of semiconductors in the world. Over the past ten years, China has been importing massive amounts of chips from American companies. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, China-based firms imported $70.5 billion worth of semiconductors from American firms in 2019, representing approximately 37 percent of these companies’ global sales. Some American companies, like Qorvo, Texas Instruments, and Broadcom, derive about half of their revenues from China. 60 percent of Qualcomm’s revenues, a quarter of Intel’s revenues, and a fifth of Nvidia’s sales are from the Chinese market. It’s no wonder that the CEOs of these three companies recently went to Washington to warn that U.S. industry leadership could be harmed by the export controls. American firms will also be hurt by retaliatory actions from China, such as China’s May ban on chips from US-based Micron Technology. China accounts for over 25 percent of Micron’s sales.

The massive revenue surpluses generated by these sales to China were ploughed into R&D efforts which, in turn, kept American chip companies ahead of the game. The Chamber of Commerce estimates that if the United States were to ban semiconductor sales to China completely, U.S. companies would lose $83 billion in annual revenues and would have to cut 124,000 jobs. They would also have to cut their annual R&D budgets by at least $12 billion, and their capital spending by $13 billion. This would make it even more difficult for them to remain competitive on the global scale in the long run. American semiconductor firms are painfully aware that U.S. actions against China in the chips arena will harm their interests more than Chinese interests. The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association released a statement on July 17, saying that Washington’s repeated steps “to impose overly broad, ambiguous, and at times unilateral restrictions risk diminishing the U.S. semiconductor industry’s competitiveness, disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty, and prompting continued escalatory retaliation by China,” and called on the Biden administration not to implement further restrictions without more extensive engagement with semiconductor industry representatives and experts.

The Chips Act cannot subsidize the American semiconductor industry indefinitely, and there is no other global demand base to replace China. Other chip producing nations will inevitably break ranks and sell to China (as they have historically) and the American actions will be for naught. And, in banning the export of chips and other core inputs to China, America handed China its war plan years ahead of the battle. China is being goaded into building self-sufficiency far earlier than they would have otherwise. Prior to the ZTE and Huawei components bans, China was content to continue purchasing American chips and focusing on the front-end hardware. Peter Wennink, the CEO of ASML, stated that China is already leading in key applications and demand for semiconductors. Wennink wrote, “The roll-out of the telecommunication infrastructure, battery technology, that’s the sweet spot of mid-critical and mature semiconductors, and that’s where China without any exception is leading.”

Germany Just Warned Europe On “China’s Counterstrike Move” | Silent EV War Explodes

Simple, like the UK with Brexit, Germany should leave the EU. This will solve the problem, as Germany will then be able to distance itself from investigations implemented by the EU parliament.

What is the most dangerous thing you have done and why?

I used to be a Tower Climber.

Installing antennas and transmission lines on cellular towers.. Day in and day out we would climb 150, 200, 300feet and stay up there literally all day – often 10–12 hours.

Those heights were the norm, but I also did 400ft a couple of times, and then 500ft once.

And I did it because I needed a job and this paid really well. Plus I was a brand new divorcee and just starting over, so at the time working this tough, dangerous job with other guys was a very good thing for me. I made close friends, we partied and had fun, we laughed a lot, and it was just what the doctor ordered.

The end of Evergrande.

Bloomberg News has reported that billionaire founder and chairman Hui Ka Yan was taken away by police earlier this month and put under so-called residential surveillance , a type of police action that falls short of formal detention or arrest.

The surveillance doesn’t necessarily mean that Hui will be charged with a crime, and the exact circumstances of his situation remain unclear. But it’s not looking good: Evergrande has halted trading and confirmed in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing that authorities have told the company that Hui has been subjected to “mandatory measures,” due to “suspicion of illegal crimes.

The latest twist in an ongoing saga for the world’s most indebted developer has left creditors confused and concerned about what’s to become of their investments. The fate of the developer’s restructuring plans are now at risk, and the chances of a full-on liquidation have increased.

There’s a long list of victims: the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who bought into some 706 residential projects that are still being built; people who bought into Evergrande’s wealth management products, worth 40 billion yuan ($5.5 billion) a few years ago; global investors who collectively own at least $30 billion of offshore debt; suppliers and banks who are among those owed some 2.39 trillion yuan in liabilities. The company is facing more than 2,000 lawsuits, too.

I remember a time when Evergrande was still able to overcome its detractors. When a shortsellertargeted it for alleged financial mismanagement back in 2012, a Hong Kong tribunal provided vindication by saying the report was misleading and false.

But so much has changed since then: Evergrande has become a harbinger of the nation’s real estate meltdown. Its fate seemed to be sealed back in 2020, when a liquidity scare fueled by its massive debt load triggered aggressive regulatory tightening. Compounded by pandemic-related woes, the company defaulted the following year.

What happens after Evergrande? As we know, this property crisis is far from over. China’s property developers face a liquidity shortfall worth some 19 trillion yuan, or 15% of GDP, that could morph into a solvency crunch by year-end, Bloomberg analysts estimate.

Property downturns are always painful. In China, that’s especially the case because of the outsized role that the sector plays in the economy: As much as 70% of household wealthis tied to the industry.

The government has responded by relaxing property buying rules, since it doesn’t want the current distress among developers to trigger financial contagion — nor does it want to see social unrest.

Dragging out the Evergrande saga, though, has wreaked havoc among homebuyers, construction workers, suppliers and investors. And as the government has shown no intention of bailing out developers, the only certainty we’re left with is the idea that this pain is far from finished.

Asian point of view

Have you ever tried to fire someone and it backfired?

This happened to my ex.

My ex was the CFO of one of the largest private construction companies in the world. His main role was to make sure the company stayed profitable. Simple really.

The owners’ son, who recently graduated from college and was having trouble finding gainful employment, (seems nobody would hire him to get stoned) was parachuted into my ex’s job. My ex was quickly let go.

He didn’t mind too much. Even though a little disappointed, he still was paid out fairly and started his own firm with the severance money.

A tender came up for a new skyscraper in London. My ex’s former company put in its bid and came in ahead of everyone else by millions. Turned out months into construction that the new CFO had forgotten to add the cost of electrical wiring into the cost of construction. A mistake that sent his family bankrupt.

Luckily there was one new firm with the creditor’s backing, experience and ability to jump in immediately. My ex hired a lot of the now redundant employees and bought a large chunk of his old company’s heavy equipment at a huge discount in a mortgagee sale.

The lesson here is to never kill the golden goose!

Elderly shelter cat had weeks to live. So this woman adopted him.

This woman is a saint! What she does for these cats is beyond compassion!

Capitalist and socialist modernisation

The Sixteenth Forum of the World Association for Political Economy (WAPE) took place from 25 to 27 September 2023 in Fuzhou, China, co-organised by Fujian Normal University. The theme of the forum was Chinese modernisaton and the prospects of world modernisation. Although unable to attend in person, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez was invited to submit a video presentation.

Carlos’s presentation, entitled Capitalist and socialist modernisation, takes up a number of questions: What is modernisation? Is modernisation desirable? How has modernisation been achieved in the West? What is China’s modernisation plan? What are the unique characteristics of Chinese modernisation? How does socialist modernisation differ from capitalist modernisation? What effect does China’s modernisation on the global journey towards development and socialism?

The video and the text of Carlos’s presentation are available below.

What is modernisation, and is it necessary?

Modernisation is a somewhat nebulous concept. It means different things to different societies at different times. By definition, its parameters are constantly changing.

In the broadest sense, it means adapting to the latest, most advanced ideas and techniques for meeting humanity’s material and cultural needs.

In sociology, there is more or less an equals sign between modernisation and industrialisation, and is generally held to begin with Britain’s Industrial Revolution. We can think of it essentially as the transition from ‘developing country’ status to ‘developed country’ status; from a predominantly rural society to a predominantly urban society; from a technologically backward society to a technologically advanced society.

Is this desirable? Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, but most people consider modernisation to be desirable, because it enables higher living standards for the masses of the people.

With modernised industry, production techniques, communication methods, transport systems, energy systems and healthcare strategies, there exists the possibility of providing a healthy, meaningful and dignified life to all, such that each individual has reliable access to a healthy diet, to decent housing, to clothing, to education, to healthcare, to a vibrant cultural, social and intellectual life, and to fulfilling work. In short, modernisation makes it possible to attend to people’s basic human rights.

The fruits of modernisation have thus far been divided extremely unequally: the process of industrialisation in North America, Europe and Japan has created previously unimaginable wealth for a few, but this has been accompanied by desperate poverty and alienation for significant numbers. However, modernisation creates a material basis for common prosperity, far beyond what a pre-modern economy can offer.

Specifically in the case of China, the government has set a goal of “basically realising socialist modernisation by 2035”, and has defined some parameters for this:

Reaching a per-capita GDP on a par with that of the mid-level developed countries such as Spain or the Czech Republic
Joining the ranks of the world’s most innovative countries in the realm of science and technology
Becoming a global leader in education, public health, culture and sport
Substantially growing the middle-income group as a proportion of the population
Guaranteeing equitable access to basic public services
Ensuring modern standards of living in rural areas
Steadily lowering greenhouse gas emissions and protecting biodiversity, so as to restore a healthy balance between humans and the natural environment

If achieved, these aims will constitute a significant – indeed world-historic – improvement in the living standards of the Chinese people, and will blaze a trail for other developing countries.

How did the West modernise?

But is China doing anything new? After all, it won’t be the first country to achieve modernisation.

In mainstream modernisation theory in the West, the dominant narrative is that the countries of Western Europe, North America and Japan achieved their advances via a combination of good governance, liberal democracy, free-market economics, scientific genius, geographical serendipity and a dash of entrepreneurial spirit.

Historical investigation reveals a considerably different story.

The most important precursors of the West’s modernisation are colonialism, slavery and genocide. The conquest of the Americas, the settlement of Australia, the transatlantic slave trade, the colonisation of India, the rape of Africa, the Opium Wars, the theft of Hong Kong, and more. The profits of colonialism and the slave trade were essential for propelling the West’s industrialisation, as was so eloquently uncovered in Eric Williams’ classic 1944 work, Capitalism and Slavery.

As Karl Marx famously wrote in Volume 1 of Capital: “The discovery of gold and silver in America, the enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalled the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production.”

Such is the ugly truth of European modernisation. And the story is not so different in the United States. Many of the so-called founding fathers of that country were slave-owners, and they established a slave-owners’ society. They went to war against the indigenous peoples and against Mexico in order to expand their territory.

In the 20th century, having established their domination over the Americas, they constructed a neocolonial global system that is still in place to a significant degree, imposing American hegemony on the world.

A network of 800 foreign military bases. NATO. An enormous nuclear arsenal. Genocidal wars waged on Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya. Systems of economic coercion and unilateral sanctions.

Proxy wars, coups, regime change projects, destabilisation.

This is the global system of violence that has facilitated and accompanied North American modernisation.

Japan’s rapid rise was facilitated first by its brutal expansionist project in East Asia, particularly Korea and China, and then through adaptation to and integration with the US-led imperialist system, the much-vaunted ‘rules-based international order’.

South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan Province constitute the small handful of non-imperialist territories that have been able to achieve modernisation, but these are special cases. Their shared proximity to China and the DPRK is no coincidence; they have been inducted into the imperialist club by the US, to play a dual role as regional policemen and living advertisements for capitalism on the frontline of its confrontation with socialism. Both roles rely on at least a certain degree of prosperity for a section of the population.

There is no shortage of countries of the Global South which have attempted to apply the “liberal democracy plus free market capitalism” formula, but none have been successful in modernising. Indeed the West’s prescriptions for (and interference in) developing countries have largely led to chaos and disaster.

The contrast between the West’s success in modernising and the Global South’s failure has fed into a largely unspoken but widespread and pernicious racism: an assumption that white people are somehow inherently more advanced than everyone else.

This supremacism is allowed to fester, because in addition to dividing working class and oppressed communities, it provides convenient cover for the reality that capitalist modernisation is built on the foundations of colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism.

As Kwame Nkrumah commented, “in the era of neocolonialism, under-development is still attributed not to exploitation but to inferiority, and racial undertones remain closely interwoven with the class struggle.”

How is China modernising?

China’s journey towards modernisation starts in 1949 with the founding of the People’s Republic, the early construction of socialist industry, land reform and the extirpation of feudalism and the landowning class, and the provision of at least basic levels of education and healthcare services to the whole population.

In 1963, Premier Zhou Enlai, supported by Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun, first raised the question of the Four Modernisations: of agriculture, industry, national defence, and science and technology. Despite a complex political environment this goal was revived in the early 1970s, and, with the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, China accelerated its pursuit of those goals, and ushered in an era of rapid development of the productive forces and improvement in the people’s living standards.

China’s journey of modernisation has evolved again in recent years with the pursuit of the second centenary goal: of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by 2049.

China is on a fast track to becoming an advanced, developed country, and this process stands in stark contrast to the West’s modernisation process:

First, China’s modernisation is built on the efforts of the Chinese people rather than on war, colonialism and slavery.

Second, its fruits are to be shared by everybody, not dominated by the wealthy. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said in his work report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s modernisation is “the modernisation of common prosperity for all.”

Even today, not everyone in the West is able to enjoy the fruits of modernisation. Consider for example the US, where tens of millions lack access to healthcare; where over half a million people are homeless; where life expectancy for African Americans is six years less than for their white counterparts; where – according to the US Department of Education – over half of adults read below a sixth-grade level.

Third, China’s modernisation is becoming a green modernisation, fuelled by clean energy, careful not to destroy the planet that sustains us. Again quoting Xi Jinping’s work report, “it is the modernisation of harmony between humanity and nature.”

Capitalist modernisation has had a disastrous impact on the environment. With 4 percent of the global population, the US alone is responsible for 25 percent of historic greenhouse gas emissions. The simple fact is that humanity literally cannot afford for China’s modernisation to follow this pattern.

Socialist modernisation will become the ‘new normal’

The West’s modernisation path is not open to the countries of the Global South, and it wouldn’t be desirable even if it were. Today, the road of capitalist modernisation is closed, so how is China able to modernise?

China does not have an empire, formal or informal, but it does have a particular advantage of being a socialist state, a “people’s democratic dictatorship based on the alliance of workers and peasants”, to use Mao Zedong’s expression. Such a state can use its power to direct economic activity towards the goals of the social classes it represents.

Thus the specificities of China’s modernisation – the commitment to common prosperity, to ending poverty and underdevelopment, to preventing climate collapse and to peaceful development – are a function of China’s political system, its revolutionary history, and the leadership of the CPC.

At a meeting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2016, Xi Jinping made this point very succinctly: “Our greatest strength lies in our socialist system, which enables us to pool resources in a major mission. This is the key to our success.”

Or as Deng Xiaoping famously commented in 1984: “the superiority of the socialist system is demonstrated, in the final analysis, by faster and greater development of the productive forces than under the capitalist system.”

In a world still largely dominated by capitalism – and an intellectual world still dominated by bourgeois ideology – it’s easy to forget this system’s fundamental and irreconcilable contradictions, which Marx identified with such clarity and profundity 150 years ago; contradictions which lead inexorably to inefficiency, stagnation and crisis. A political economy directed at the production of exchange values rather than use values can never result in common prosperity.

In China, the capitalist class is not the ruling class and is therefore not able to direct the country’s resources according to its own prerogatives. At the top level, resources are allocated by the state, in accordance with long-term planning carried out by, and in the interests of, the people.

This is what is enabling a new type of modernisation, which is blazing a trail for socialist and developing countries the world over.

The fruits of this process are being shared with the world, via mechanisms such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative, which are creating a path for the countries of the Global South to break out of underdevelopment, even where they lack China’s resources and political advantages.

As such, China’s evolving modernisation has great historic significance, and offers valuable lessons for the world. It is an embodiment of historical materialism in the current era: capitalism has long since exhausted its ability to fundamentally drive human progress, and therefore the future lies with socialism.

What were the most ‘badass’ moments of history?

Galvarino was a legendary warrior of the Mapuche people who rebelled against the Spanish Conquers who had invaded their land.

The Mapuche people were natives of the Araucana region of Chile who fought against the Spanish conquest of South America. The Arauco War was the bloodiest and longest-running battle in the history of the New World.

In what became known as the Battle of Lagunillias, Galvarino led his people in a fight against the Spanish invaders who were trying to force them into servitude.

During the battle, Galvarino and his men were captured by the Spanish. As punishment for defying the Spanish, Galvarino had both his hands amputated at the wrists and sent him home as a message to the other Mapuche tribes.

He returned home defeated and severely wounded. He showed the war council his wounds and begged them to let him lead an army against their oppressors. For his bravery, he was named commander of a squadron of men in a fight against Governor Mendoza.

With long Sharp knives fastened to his mutilated stumps, he led his army into battle against Governor Mendoza and his men. The Brutal battle lasted for an hour, with Galvarino striking and killing Mendoza’s number two in command with his modified stumps.

Although Galvarino and his men fought a brave battle, they were soon overwhelmed and captured. All the remaining captured warriors including Galvarino, were executed on the orders of Governor Mendoza.

Has Huawei successfully challenged the dominance of American tech giants and truly democratized the tech industry?

Huawei has established the third truly COMMERCIAL Asian Tech Ecosystem from China and the eighth in Asia after Toyota, Nikon, Canon ,Samsung , BYD, Trina and Xinyi

The Huawei Ecosystem now has

The Chip
The OS
The 5G Modem
The GPU
The Networks

Yet Huawei Ecosystem is fragile because SMIC the manufacturer of the 7 nm Node depends on Advanced DUV equipment from ASML

Now SMIC has stockpiled massive orders from ASML and that will keep SMIC going till maybe 2026

However that’s still dependence, a lot of dependence on the West

So i would say HUAWEI has made a start

Meanwhile people forget the REAL WINNERS of the three companies that have established it’s own dominant ecosystem on which the West is entirely dependent on :-

BYD

BYD has:-

The Chip – The Mature 28nm Chip that only China can today manufacture cost effectively and in huge volumes
The Software
The Satellite Navigation System
The Battery
The Dynamic Unit

It’s completely and entirely Independent from Western Technology

Trina and Xinyi who have :-

The Intelligent Chip
The Micrograde Wafer Panel (That to this day no nation can produce except France but at 87% higher cost)
The Carbide micro layering etching equipment (Chinas equivalent of the EUV Lithography Machine)
The Silicon extraction process into Mono, Poly Crystalline Silicon with infusions

Yes Huawei deserves all the admiration for its clawback and fighting

Yet BYD, Trina and Xinyi actually get Proprietary License Fees from the West which is unique for a Nation that to thia day didn’t kowtow to the West unlike Japan, Israel and South Korea

Huawei to win, needs SMIC to become another BYD or Xinyi or Trina

If SMIC can achieve that, then China truly begins the challenge to the established Semiconductor industry

Lego just hit a climate BRICK wall

Lego says that it cannot make bricks from recycled material. They tried and they simply cannot do it without increasing carbon emissions. That’s a refreshing admission. Most companies take on “green initiatives” anyway, even if they prove to make the problem worse. In a similar vein, the CEO of Lufthansa admitted that“going green” would require the airline to use up HALF of Germany’s electricity. So not green at all then. Meanwhile, Ford says that it will pause construction of a $3.5 billion plant to build EV batteries in Michigan. They aren’t saying why. It just goes to show: It ain’t easy being green.

Is the Belt and Road Initiative losing steam?

You’ve probably heard of China’s ambitious plan to connect the world with its Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI for short. It’s a massive project that involves building roads, railways, ports, pipelines, and other infrastructure across Asia, Africa, Europe, and beyond. China says it’s a win-win situation for everyone, a way to boost trade, development, and cooperation among more than 140 countries that have signed up for it.

But not everyone is buying it. Some critics in the West say that the BRI is a trap, a scheme, or a tool for China to expand its power and influence at the expense of other countries. They say that the BRI is saddling poor countries with unsustainable debt, damaging the environment and human rights, and undermining the international order. They also say that the BRI is losing steam due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the backlash from some host countries, and the changing global dynamics.

So what’s the real story? Well, if you listen to what China has to say on its official websites, you’ll get a very different picture. According to them, the BRI is not losing steam at all. In fact, it’s gaining momentum and achieving positive results in various aspects.

First of all, they say that the BRI has shown strong resilience and vitality amid the COVID-19 pandemic. China has actively cooperated with other BRI partners to fight against the virus, provide medical supplies and vaccines, share prevention and treatment experiences, and support economic recovery. The BRI has also contributed to the global efforts to build a community of health for all.

Secondly, they say that the BRI has promoted high-quality development and green cooperation. China has adhered to the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and has followed the international rules and standards in implementing BRI projects. China has also attached great importance to environmental protection, social responsibility, and debt sustainability, and has encouraged green investment and financing under the BRI framework.

Thirdly, they say that the BRI has enhanced mutual trust and friendship among different countries and peoples. The BRI has fostered dialogue and exchange among different civilizations, cultures, and religions, and has supported education, culture, tourism, sports, media, and other fields of people-to-people cooperation. The BRI has also created opportunities for poverty alleviation, job creation, livelihood improvement, and social development for millions of people in the participating countries.

So there you have it. The BRI is not losing steam but rather advancing steadily and fruitfully. The BRI is not a solo show by China but a chorus by all participants. The BRI is not a challenge or threat to anyone but a benefit and opportunity for everyone. The BRI is not a zero-sum game but a win-win cooperation for common development. That’s what China wants you to believe. And if you don’t believe it, well, too bad for you. Because China is not going to stop or change its course anytime soon. It’s going to keep pushing forward with its vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Why Australia’s Housing Crisis Is a Warning for the World

My goodness!

What is something that needs to be said that nobody wants to hear?

Trump supporters have a point.

They weren’t misled by Russian trolls. They weren’t ignorant. They weren’t racist or sexist or xenophobic or homophobic. They were mad… they felt left behind and ignored by the media and the federal government… and they had a point.

They were left behind, and ignored.

For many of them, the America their parents and grandparents grew up in was a lot better. And no, that’s not because other groups were oppressed. It was because the economy was better for working-class people back then.

If your grandparents raised a large family on a single income, while the media and politicians cared about what your grandparents cared about, and now, 50 years later, you and your wife can’t get by on your dual incomes, and the media and politicians spend more time talking about transgender bathroom usage than the fact that families like yours are falling further behind each year… then yes, you have a point, and Make America Great Again makes sense.

Blueberry Grunt

Ingredients

4 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk

Instructions

In a skillet, combine blueberries, sugar and water; bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
In a bowl, combine the next 6 ingredients; stir in milk just until moistened (dough will be stiff).
Drop by tablespoonsful over blueberries.
Cover and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until dumplings are puffed and test done.
Serve warm.

Should secondary sanctions be imposed on China and Russia for their complicity with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Myanmar?

All terrorism in the world is linked to the United States! It is no longer a secret that the United States Government supports terrorism in South-East Asia!

US-backed Terrorism Targets Vietnam & Myanmar in Wider War on China

Two terrorist attacks this month (June 2023) in Southeast Asia have been carried out by groups backed by the United States government and its allies for decades;
This includes a singer murdered in Myanmar and a series of armed attacks carried out on police stations in Vietnam killing 9 including several civilians;
British state media, the BBC, and US government-funded media platform Radio Free Asia have attempted to spin and even justify this terrorism as part of a much wider pattern promoting and defending terrorism as a means to counter China’s rise and punish nations working closely with China;
The opposition in Myanmar has openly been backed by the US and UK for decades – fighting to reinstall Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy back into power;
In Vietnam, the ethnic Montagnards had fought alongside US invaders in the Vietnam War, and since then have worked closely with the US through the National Endowment for Democracy toward separatism;
Much of this context is omitted from Western state-media accounts of the terrorism;
Both Myanmar and Vietnam’s current governments have close relations with China. Vietnam, while depicted in the Western media as “anti-China,” has worked with China to build infrastructure within its borders and access Chinese rail projects to bring their products all the way to Europe;

Why Companies That Go Woke Go Broke

I saw the title and I instantly clicked to watch, really wanted to see a documentary about all these companies that went woke, then broke!

What is the most amazing thing you overheard because people didn’t think you understood their language?

Well one fairly amazing thing happened in Penang. I (white Australian) was speaking to my friend (Asian Australian) in English.

An American tourist interrupted us and asked “excuse me, do you speak English?” We were both quite shocked and I said “a little.” I don’t know if she really couldn’t understand Australian English and didn’t realise what language I was speaking.

She said “Can you direct me to XYZ hotel?”

Now ordinarily two Aussies, neither of whom have ever been to Malaysia and speak no Malay wouldn’t be the best choice. But I pointed to the building we were standing in front of and said “walk about 10 yards that way.”

She was WAY out of her depth and her next international holiday should probably be to Hawaii.

However, I did the opposite in Austria. I speak no German, but if I look at a menu and plan out my sentence I can pretend to. So I asked in perfect German “Could I please have 2 hot chocolates; one with whipped cream and one with rum thanks.” She answered with something as simple as “that will be 8 euros” and I looked at her blankly and said in English “I’m sorry, I don’t speak German.” She laughed and did the transaction in English. She said I fooled her.

Pretty much the same thing in Poland, back in the days before Schengen membership. Apparently I needed a visa. So they berated me in Polish for a while, and I said I didn’t speak Polish. They went to the lingua franca of Eastern Europe and said “something something Russky.” I replied with what I’m told is an excellent accent “nye poni mayu po Russkiy.”

Here’s a guy in Lithuania, driving an Estonian-registered car, saying in perfect Russian in response to a question IN Russian “I don’t understand Russian.” I’m sure they weren’t thrilled and may not have believed me but I looked blankly at the rest of their diatribe. So eventually they wrote down my name, pointed me to Vilnius and said “visa.”’

Why is Urumqi, Xinjiang cleaner, safer, civilized, and developed than New Delhi?

Almost every Chinese City beats Indian Cities hollow in terms of Cleanliness, Safety and Development

There are Primarily three reasons for this :-

A. One Party Meritocracy & Funds

There is no political rivalries or party based discrimination between Fund Allocation and Revenue sharing

It’s all about How much the City develops and how well maintained the City is

China has 20 times the provincial autonomy than an Indian State

B. Continuous Development to prevent overcrowding

India keeps on dumping on the same city again and again for year after year. Thus every such city attracts migrants like flies and that leads to overcrowding of the worst order

China keeps developing and expanding new Cities regularly

Chengdu, Chongqing etc were small towns a decade or so ago that are now bustling cities, brimming with Prosperity

Urumqi was once a town , now it’s classified as a Tier 3 City

C. Chinas Housing Policy

Everyone living with a proper Job in a City in China MUST have housing

This is a law from the time of Chairman Mao and when it’s a Chairman Mao law, it’s enforcement is very strict

Public Housing is thus available for every single resident of the city including the poorest of them

Only Shanghai and Beijing has slums today , which existed before the 1998 law and thus can’t be torn down

Of course many Chinese become prosperous enough to rent much nicer places and sub lease their public homes for which they pay rent of 78 RMB/ month for 400–500 RMB / month

During Covid 19, many such people were discovered and fined very heavily (30, 000 RMB plus 60 months rent or 100 Days in Prison)

A Fourth reason is the fact that Migration into Cities is heavily controlled

You just can’t come to a City that easily without housing or a job unless you are a tourist there

In India it’s the opposite

You can flood into cities and sleep on the roads and everywhere else and even defecate

It’s like a Zoo

So it’s the Chinese System

They may have their flaws but by God they have excellent City maintenance and keep themselves very clean

Their Air Quality improvement in a mere decade is something every nation takes notes on

Primarily another reason is the Chinese are proud of their country and love their country

The genuine love that ensures they actively take pride in their development and their cities

When stray cats see this man, they compete with each other to get a place on his lap.

This is fun.

MM hospital run

Well, I am in the hospital. In-patient.

I had a “blood pressure” event that scared the living shit out of myself and caused me to rush to the emergency room.

The night before, we had drank three bottles of Merlot wine. Now, Merlot is a very hard wine, not so much in alcohol, but it is a heavy wine, and the next morning, I felt “very off”. That feeling of being “off” persisted well into the afternoon.

By 3:30 in the afternoon, I made up some of my herbal tea. Which consisted of “yin Yang Hua herbs (“Horny goat weed”) and GuoGe grapes. You just keep on adding hot water to the mix. And I drank about six bottles of the tea. Perhaps six or seven bottles. Maybe three liters total. It made me feel better.

It always does.

Anyways, I started to chew on some of the leaves and swallowed some of the GuoGe berries. And about a half of an hour later, I started to feel really “off”

My body felt really “wrong”.

So I went and checked my blood pressure. It is normally at 121.

I read 142. High.

High.

So I calmed down. Waited 15 minutes.

Measured it again.

158. Uh oh!

Gulp.

It was rising rapidly. Too rapidly. Too fast.

So I waited twenty minutes, and checked again.

175.

Sheeeeet!

I told ms. mm, “we need to go to the hospital now”. She started to protest, “but I have xxxxx”. I said “I don’t care.” And grabbed my keys. And the mrs and kid followed behind.

Luckily the hospital was down the street and we parked in front of the emergency room, as it was around 5 o’clock Sunday night.

I got in. They measured my vitals.

Blood Pressure = 214
Body temperature = 39.5 C

Both too high. I was admitted, and checked in. The staff took care of me.

…

Anyways, things are under control now, but I have to stay in the hospital for a while as they watch me.

My temperature is back to normal, and my BP is going down. The doctors tell me that I worry too much, high BP will not kill me. And they put me in the old people wing of the hospital due to my age.

LOL.

They nurses look at me… and then to my wife…, and four-year old and go “really?”

I don’t look like the rest of the folk in this area. And frankly, they are scaring me. Old 90 year old men on death-beds, and 80-year olds with health issues.

But I’ll get out once things stabilize.

My heart checks out fine. CT scan of my skull is fine too, though the doctor wanted to know what those seven black beads were. LOL! He chuckled at my answer, and I joked about it too.

Anyways…

Don’t fuck around with your health!

Anyways, the doctor says that my worrying about my situation only made things worse. All I was doing was drinking red wine, and taking Chinese herbal teas and that there was nothing that I should worry about.

Nothing. Normal behaviors.

Blurred vision, however. Dizziness, however… yeah… go straight to the hospital, but aside from that. Dontworryaboutit.

I’ll give you all updates as time moves on, but I have a lot of things on my plate that this particular moment in time, and I have to jiggle my medical emergency with all sorts of other personal, professional concerns. So I’m at max right now.

…

Today…

Attractiveness as rated by different sexes

How and where was Huawei able to manufacture the 7nm chip that powers the Mate 60 series? It is the subject of intense speculation within the US government. Why does the US focus on it? Will it reignite the ongoing US-China tech cold war?

Huawei did a miracle, defy traditional convention and believe, it had done the impossible. It was beyond US and DOC imagination, it is still a mystery to them, they have yet to figure out how Huawei did it.

The US banned Huawei access to EDA design tool, practically cut Huawei or Hisilcon from designing the chip although Hisilcon was able to design chip of 3nm using US EDA design tool before the ban.

Therefore Huawei and Hisilcon need to come out with their own EDA tool which they did successfully in unprecedented record time.

With its own EDA tool Hisilcon can proceed to design 7nm chip that SMIC can fabricate.

The other breakthrough was the fabrication of 7nm chips with DUV machines which according to industry is not possible, DUV standard limit is to produce chip up to 14 or 10 nm. 7nm chip require EUV machine, China or SMIC was banned from getting EUV machine.

BUT SMIC with corporation from Huawei did successfully produce 7nm chips by using available DUV machines which they call them N+2 chip. It was reported Huawei seconded more than 300 engineers or scientists to jointly resolve the bottleneck of using existing DUV machines to produce the require N+2 chips, an unbelievable breakthrough.

Another mystery is how can SMIC mass produce N+2 chips, initially, market was under impression, Huawei Mate 60 pro will be limited in supply, but Huawei surprised the markets by introducing 3 more models and look like the 7nm chip had achieved mass production able to meet sale volumn requirement.

The US and allies are panic now, Qualcom sale of chips to China contribute more than 60% of their sales, may risk losing the markets, ASML is panic too, China and Huawei are likely to breakthrough on EUV machine soon. US EDA suppliers risk losing Chinese markets permanently, the biggest risk is China may soon flood the markets with competitive chips killing US and allies chip industries.

The US and allies need to worry beyond just Mate 60 pro.

周杰倫 Jay Chou【Mine Mine】Official MV

What do you make of the comment by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat that “the most important bilateral relations in the world is that between the US and China”?

Of course.

The U.S. will lose considerable ground and opportunity if it continue behaving like it is doing now.

What you need is a leader like Newsom the California governor. He sets aside biases and US media narratives to visit China and sees for himself what opportunities the U.S. is missing by having senile leaders like Trump and Biden.

The U.S. can only stay strong if it takes its head out of the sand. China is not just a big market it is humongous and growing rapidly. China alone is worth more than your next 5 biggest market. These nonsense of decoupling or de risking is having the opposite effect. You are not cutting China out. The U.S. is being decoupled from the world instead.

I suspect that Americans will throw out all China and Chinese haters out of your government soon. That is the first right step for the U.S.

GLICHERY – SEA OF PROBLEMS (PHONK)

Creole Flank Steak with Sautéed Vegetables and Cheese Grits

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Flank Steak

1 beef flank steak (about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup red wine
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Okra and Carrots Sauté

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
16 ounces okra, cut into 1 inch pieces

Creole Grits

1 1/2 cups water
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup quick-cooking grits
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup jalapeño jack cheese, shredded

Instructions

Flank Steak

Combine red wine, lime juice, garlic, Creole seasoning, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper in a food-safe plastic bag. Add steak, close bag securely. Marinate in refrigerator for 6 hours to overnight.
Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Place steak on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 11 to 16 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, 16 to 21 minutes) for medium rare (145 degrees F) to medium (160 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally. Allow to rest.

Okra and Carrots Sauté

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onions, carrots, cumin, coriander and chili powder. Sauté for 3 to 5 minutes or until the onions are transparent. Add the tomatoes and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the okra and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or until the okra is cooked through.

Creole Grits

In a Dutch oven combine water, milk, Creole seasoning and salt. Bring to a boil.
Slowly add grits to hot liquid stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and cover, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Remove from heat, stir in butter in cheese until melted.
Slice grilled steak against the grain. Serve with vegetables and grits.

Nutrition

Per serving: 569.53 Calories; 256.68 Calories from fat; 28.6g Total Fat (13.2g Saturated Fat; 0.1g Trans Fat; 1.1g Polyunsaturated Fat; 8.6g Monounsaturated Fat;) 97.9mg Cholesterol; 1192mg Sodium; 45g Total Carbohydrate; 5.3g Dietary Fiber; 38.5g Protein; 4.3mg Iron; 964mg Potassium; 9.9mg Niacin; 0.7mg Vitamin B6; 3.6mcg Vitamin B12; 6.6mg Zinc; 35.5mcg Selenium; 129.3mg Choline

This recipe is an excellent source of Protein, Iron, Potassium, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Zinc, Selenium, Choline; and a good source of Dietary Fiber.

Why do many people live beyond their means/income?

Because the goalposts have been moved.

50 years ago, it was perfectly reasonable to have a huge house, 3 kids, a car, and go on holidays at least once per year. On a single income.

Today, working 2 jobs, living in a small room, having no kids, taking the bus, never going on holidays, but sometimes getting a latte or an avocado toast… is considered to be an extravagant lifestyle, filled with needless luxuries.

Give it another couple of decades, and random stuff like getting 8 hours of sleep will be declared to be some kind of reckless indulgence, irresponsible behavior that youngsters should avoid if they ever want to be able to afford housing.

Husband Shocks Mrs By Laying Down The Law About The Marriage, Lack Of Bedroom Fun, Etc (She Obeys)

In today’s video, I go over an email sent from a subscriber who shares his story of how his once great marriage went down the tubes after unfortunate life events caused him to stop being the masculine leader he once was.

Finally after gaining back some of his manhood, he confronts his wife about her years of bad treatment of him and makes it clear that there are going to be some immediate changes or it’s over!

This is a great story about how men need to always remain in their masculine (even when things are difficult) as well as be the leader or things will quickly go to hell in a handbasket in their relationships.

What was the best April Fool’s prank played on you/you played on someone else?

Sixteen years ago, I got a job assignment 100 miles away for one year. My newly married daughter and son in law (Andy) moved into my house and I got an apartment in the new city. I came home most weekends. Before I left, I asked Andy if he wanted to keep cable for the year and pay for it. He said no and I cancelled it. Interestingly my bill with Comcast reflected the cancellation but the house still had service.

A few months go by and now it is April 1. I call Andy and leave a voicemail. I say that the Michigan State Police contacted me. They are investigating a three state cable theft ring. They claim my home is stealing cable, there is an illegal, third party bridge device affixed to home and the device has Andy’s fingerprints on it. I am in the clear because I have not been living there. This is all fiction.

Next, Andy is out and goes to my ex wife’s house where he and my daughter had been living previous to my house. A younger daughter answers the door and tells Andy that a police officer came to the house asking for him. She gives him a name and phone number the imaginary cop left. Andy is confused and then listens to my voicemail. Now he is freaked out. He calls the number and it rings to the desk of the woman who works next to me. She sees the incoming number and answers “Kent County Jail”. Andy identifies himself and tells her a bit of the story. She says she will transfer the call to the detective.

The call rings to my desk and I answer Hi Andy. April Fools.

I never left his side

What are some reasons the Cold War started?

Everyone keeps saying “1945” but the genesis of the distrust between the Soviet Union and the United States goes back way before that, and it’s impossible to understand why the two sides got engaged in proxy wars and a disastrously expensive arms buildup without going back to the Russian October Revolution in 1917.

It’s 1917 and the Russian Empire is on the ropes due to some spectacularly bad military and civilian leadership that saw Tsar Nicholas actually trying to lead troops in the field. His government completely collapsed that spring.

However, the provisional government, led by a faction called the Mensheviks (“Minority”) made one critical error. They were dependent on Great Britain, France and the United States to prop up their finances on the condition that Russia continue their war effort. The Mensheviks were no better at trying to fight the Germans, Austrians and Turks as the Imperial forces were and Germany decided to try to destabilize the new government by allowing passage to a Communist who went by the pseudonym of “Lenin” who was living in Geneva at the time who knew an opportunity when he saw it.

Lenin managed to get the support of worker’s unions, known by the Russian name “Soviet”, and the armed forces and took power in Moscow. He then consolidated power and ordered his foreign minister to end the war with the enemy powers as soon as possible no matter what it cost them. Russia conceded massive amounts of land and Lenin planned for what he knew was coming next – a civil war with the various factions that remained in Russian territory and breakaway states.

Naturally, the Western Powers were appalled, not only by the fact they now had to fight the Germans and Austrians alone (the war dragged on for another year) but that Lenin was making good on his promises to destroy the aristocracy and redistribute land and factories to the new “Soviets”.

The Russian Civil War, which lasted from 1917 to 1923 was an absolute mess with dozens of factions getting involved in addition to the primary fight between the Bolshevik “Red Army” and the “White Movement”, a loose coalition of anti-communist forces. Into this mess jumped in Great Britain, France and the United States, who sent personnel and support to the White faction.

So, after half-a-million people were killed and another 2.5 million people were wounded, the Reds were clearly on top and ready to rebuild the country. Unfortunately, the currency was worthless and the economy (once the world’s 4th largest) was in the toilet. What made it worse was that the economy was still largely agricultural at this point, and the Soviet Union still had to feed itself.

And absolutely no-one was willing to help them. Despite the Soviet Union being the de facto government of most of the old Empire (the Baltic States and some other areas remained independent) it would be another ten years before the western governments would recognize the new government, at which point the Soviet Union still struggled to recover its economy while it made great strides in industrialization. Sure, the west would buy Catherine the Great’s diamonds, but money was scarce.

In 1924 the secretary of the party, who had by manipulating meeting attendance and taking control of the bureaucracy rose to the head of the government, was clearly in charge with his rivals fleeing the country (to no avail, he had them hunted down). Joe Steel, or in Russian, “Josef Stalin”, had been a Georgian seminary student (he was very bright) and former bank robber (to finance communist party operations) but despite his accomplishments still spoke Russian like a Georgian and had a massive inferiority complex, a suspicious streak a mile wide, and was absolutely ruthless. When he died thirty years later, his servants were too afraid to check to see if he was actually dead.

But the western powers, this time including the newly restored Nazi Germany, were still hell bent on anti-Bolshevik rhetoric. The Nazis were hardly alone in this – the U.S., France and Great Britain were also hostile to communists during this period.

And it’s in 1939 when Stalin makes one of the greatest blunders in world history – he trusts Hitler. As his foreign minister later said, Stalin trusted no-one, except the world’s greatest liar. At first, it seemed to be a good idea as Russia seized the eastern half of Poland. However, just two years later, the Germans were on the move and invaded the Soviet Union. The irony is that Great Britain had excellent intelligence and was able to pin down the date of the invasion. They weren’t stupid and passed the information onto Russia. However, Stalin thought it was a ruse to get them to attack Germany. The Tsar’s attack on Germany in 1914 was what led to the war with Germany and he didn’t think it was a good idea to repeat history.

Nevertheless, their common enemy pushed Great Britain and the Soviet Union together as the British provided what they could to the Russians. When America entered the war later that year they got in on the game too and the three sides realized they had to work together to destroy Nazi Germany.

But throughout this period the three sides still had a lot of distrust of each other, and there were even cases where the United States and Great Britain were at odds.

Percentages agreement – Wikipedia

Russian and Great Britain’s plan to carve up Europe after the war. The U.S. wasn’t in on it.

But distrust over each other’s post war motives continued. By the time Truman told Stalin about the atomic bomb, Stalin knew about the project and even before that, had known about the potential (Russian scientists had independently hit on the idea). Moreover, during the period from 1941–1944 and D-Day, the Russians were carrying the bulk of the fight against the Germans and suffering terribly for it while the British and Americans were safely making plans in England. Stalin persistently pressed the matter about when the western powers would open a second front, and by the time they did so in June 1944 it was clear the Germans weren’t going to win the war anyway. American involvement didn’t win the war, but it certainly shortened it.

Things didn’t get better after Germany’s defeat. Russia turned its attention to Japan and Japan, in another great historical miscalculation, figured they could avoid an occupation by using the Russians as intermediaries with the Americans. Instead, the Russians moved their forces east and invaded Manchuria the same day the first atomic bomb fell.

The importance of this delay cannot be overstated as it allowed Russia to occupy Manchuria and the northern half of the Korean peninsula, both of which were under Japanese occupation. Meanwhile the Americans grabbed the southern part of Korea and Japanese occupied Taiwan. Russia’s occupation allowed safe haven for the Chinese and Korean communist parties.

Still, the Russians, Americans, British and French still worked together to get things done, but by 1949 it was clear that the relationship was severely strained. One of the big issues was the flight of European capital to the United States after the war. This was clearly against the laws of the countries where the capital flight had taken place, but instead of repatriating the capital to their original countries, the American government decided to provide replacement capital (commonly called The Marshall Plan). Stalin outright refused to participate in the plan and again blamed capitalists for the now near total lack of usable money in his sphere of influence.

The western powers managed to keep the Russians from extending their influence into Austria or Greece, but it was clear Stalin had a great plan to prevent western friendly governments from getting influence in the regions he occupied. The first was his refusal to clear Warsaw of German troops as the Polish government-in-exile in London planned to return. This gave him the opportunity to set up a new Polish provisional government. East Germany’s new leaders were found by using the easiest denazification tactic after the war – finding German communists who had been forced into exile or concentration camps.

After the Soviet attempt to blockade the western powers zone in Berlin in 1948, everyone quickly got used to the new world order with NATO in the east with the remaining democracies and the Warsaw Pact consisting of communist puppet governments in Russian occupied territory. A couple of places like Yugoslavia and Albania were both communist and mostly independent of Russia, but it was a delicate balancing act.

At the same time, it was clear the Republic of China was in serious problems and the Kuomintang fled to American controlled Taiwan as the Chinese Communist Party managed to do what the Republic of China never did – consolidate the country’s military forces into a single unit and take control over all the countryside. The Soviet Union immediately recognized the new communist government of China, but the western powers instead continued to back the Kuomintang despite the fact they no longer controlled any of the mainland.

So in the end all of this really goes back to that time in 1918 when the western powers refused to accept communism despite its immediate popularity in the new Soviet Union, and gave birth to a paranoid sociopath who could neither trust nor be trusted. The two sides continued to be suspicious of each other for the next forty-five years as both spread misinformation about the other in order to justify their tactics.

Do not be fooled

What is the strangest thing you’ve seen someone return to a store?

Someone attempted to return a steel entry door to the store I worked at. I refused the return.

“You have to take this door back! I know the returns policy here!”

“No, I do not. We only accept returns of unused items.”

“And how do you know it isn’t unused?”

“Okay…
It’s painted green on one side.
It’s painted white on the other.
The tape from where someone hung a picture on it is still there.
The jamb on one side is nine years older than the jamb on the other, and it’s busted out where the lock bores are.
The jamb side of the hinges is a different color than the lock side.
It’s warped.
The brickmould around the outside is three different colors. (There are three pieces of brickmould on a door.)
There’s a big dent in the area of the lockset where someone kicked it in.
Which says to me that someone came in, bought a new door to replace this one, removed the parts from the new door that he needed, reassembled the rest of the parts into a facsimile of a door, then sent you down here with it to try to return it. And, as I said, I’m not going to accept the return.”

Naturally, he demanded to speak to a manager…who took one look at the door, asked the guy “you’re kidding, right?” and walked away.

On edit: Here’s one that was actually justified. In North Carolina, you can buy bales of pine needles. The product is called Pine Straw, and people use it in landscaping. A woman brought back a bale of it – something that NEVER happened.

“Reason for return?”
“There’s a live rattlesnake in it.”

We called Animal Control. They sent a truck over to pick up the bale. Before hauling the snake off, they told her that next time she gets a free rattlesnake with her pine straw, she needs to call Animal Control and not try to haul it back to the store. They returned two hours later; they hauled the snake twenty miles out in the woods and turned it loose.

Second edit: A customer I knew pretty well and got along with (he was a contractor) brought in a wooden gable vent. A very, very used wooden gable vent…the house it was in was probably 50 years old. So I got called to Returns. “No. Definitely used, and we don’t sell these anyway. The cobwebs on this thing probably weigh more than it does.”

“But I bought it here fifteen years ago!”

“Sir, I can guarantee you didn’t buy this here fifteen years ago.”

“How can you guarantee that?”

“The store is only eleven years old.”

He was just fucking around; he wanted to see if I’d throw it away for him because it wouldn’t fit in the dumpster he rented. That, I would do.

Two options

I just got fired. Now my former boss (the one who let me go) is asking me where some important documents are. How should I respond?

I went through this myself and I was the biggest idiot in the world for thinking that maybe, just maybe, if I’m nice and give the info my “dear friend” would change his mind. HAH!! The fucker had his errand boy bother me for days about all the shit that they never fixed or gave me the correct info to fix it properly and they they denied the fact that I worked 7 days a week and only paid me for one week instead of the 2 it should of been. His piss poor excuse was that his girlfriend the office manager said I wasn’t owed it. I wonder how she would of felt if I told her about the offer of an apartment and $3k a month to be his girlfriend and how much he hated being with her and was disgusted at the thought of having sex with her. DO NOT DO IT! If you are offered payment to do it and you need the money, tell them the money has to be in your account before you tell them anything, otherwise let them look for it themselves. Basically, fuck them, they fired you and now are proving they need you. It’s bullshit!

What is the worst case of a spoiled person you have ever seen?

In 9th grade, during PE class we were just sort of milling around waiting for class to start. The guys were all standing around discussing chores.

Our PE teacher was a southern blue collar kind of guy. He worked as a fixer upper worker on the weekends too, repairing homes, bathrooms, kitchens etc. This is a guy who probably earned every penny he ever spent.

And here he was stuck in a room with a bunch of spoiled rich kids.

He jokingly said something to the effect of, “Man, you guys are all spoiled. I bet your parents pay you to do chores.”

And all the guys start nodding yes. “Oh yeah, my mom gives me $20 to mow the lawn.”

Another says, “I get $5 to clean my room.”

The teacher had poorly concealed disgust on his face.

For the record, I didn’t get paid for chores. Again, I’m from a military family. Being paid for chores is preposterous.

I cleaned my room or else.

Why did China’s Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng say that the US wants to establish China as an ‘imaginary enemy’ to divert attention from domestic problems and suppress China?

Of course.

It is cheap political propaganda that gain popularity but in reality costly to the U.S. government and the Americans livelihood.

To me and indeed the world. The U.S. is a broken nation that has tremendous internal issues to the point of being unsustainable and imploding politically and socially. There is far too many unworkable issues facing the U.S. such as racialism, poverty, homelessness, disparity of income, high inflation, bankrupt cities, random street shooting and unworkable. Health care policies.

Most U.S. politicians simply ignore those unsolvable issues and distract the attention of frustrated citizens by ignoring those problems through creating imaginary adversaries like China, Iran or Russia. Their media are used to demonise these nations instead of facing its own domestic issues.

What is the last thing you want your pilot to say?

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem with our wings,” announced the pilot.

True story. This happened to me last week.

The plane was making its final approach to Houston Intercontinental Airport. Suddenly there were three consecutive “ding-dong” sounds in the main cabin.

I saw both air hostesses run from the back of the plane to the front and grab the phone. They talked for a few seconds to the pilot, then the pilot came on with an announcement.

“We have broken off our approach. We have a problem with our wings. The leading edge slats won’t come down. We have declared an emergency and we will be landing shortly,” he said.

“Fire trucks will be waiting for us on the runway. It’s probably going to be a hard landing because we can’t slow the plane down as we normally would. We’ll see you on the ground.”

That was it.

Immediately the air hostesses started preparing everyone for the emergency. Uncertainty filled the cabin. Everyone of us felt vulnerable and scared.

I reflected on how fragile we are. There we were, trapped inside a metal tube flying at a high speed, … nothing to be done, simply pray and trust that everything would be okay.

The wind shook the plane from one side to the other. I could sense how the pilot was trying to find the optimal speed to land, not too fast, yet enough to fight the winds.

I could finally see the runway through my window. We all braced for the impact and as soon as we touched the ground, the pilot hit hard on the brakes.

The captain did an amazing job. We cheered and clapped for his fantastic landing.

Fire trucks followed us to the gate.

It was not fun. That leading edge slat on the front of the wing is responsible for the addition of a few more grey hairs to my head.

My first — and hopefully my last — emergency landing!

Making a sandwich is a problem

Is it a crime to say in China, “Xi Jinping is destroying China. He must be kicked out! He is a dictator!”? In the West, saying such things about one’s president is perfectly normal.

Nobody cares about you.

You need to prove your idea carefully and defend your opinion facing a tsunami of debates, otherwise, no one believes in you, or they just took you as a psycho. Persuading Chinese people is a hard task, America tried every means to turn Chinese people to think so in past 30 years, but worked badly. And thanks to Western anti-China propaganda, Chinese people are well trained in confronting such speeches.
China has a lot of CCP-haters, Western-lickers, retro-nationalist (hate their own nationality and hoped to be colonized by the West again), they spoke much more hilarious speeches than you.
Again, if someone making speech only providing his own opinion but lacking details, usually means the speaker is less educated or lack independent rational thinking.

Why I choose to raise my child in CHINA and not the WEST

I found a practically new Porsche 911 that was declared a total loss by an insurance company because water came up to the floor. A third party says it’s in perfect condition and wants to sell it. Should I buy it?

Oh. Oh dear god.

Any car that’s been written off for water damage is a car you want to stay as far away from as possible. Insurance companies know what they’re doing, and there’s a reason they declare water-damaged cars total losses even when the car looks and acts fine.

Look, Porches are expensive, temperamental, finicky beasts at the best of times, with perfect care and proper maintenance. A water-damaged car that insurance has declared a total loss? Jesus.

No. The third party is lying to you. It is not in perfect condition. Dear God no. If you buy it, you are not purchasing a car. You are purchasing a world of hurt. You are purchasing pain everlasting. You are purchasing a demon of the night, a thing that will present you with repair bills you never knew could be so high and so frequent at such totally unexpected times. Every seal, every moving part, every bit of metal on that car is suspect, and it will fail in interesting ways you wouldn’t think possible.

“Perfect condition” my left testicle. Right now, as I type this, corrosion is at work in every tiny nook and cranny of that car, eating away at its heart. As the seller hopes you’re too technically naive to realize. Don’t think of it as a car, think of it as an opportunity to saddle yourself with an expensive albatross that will be a source of the most magnificent pain for years to come.

Snowgraff – 10 Mentions Parallèles feat. José (Clip Officiel)

Israel Minister Amihai Eliyahu: Dropping a Nuke on Gaza is “An Option.”

World Hal Turner

Israel’s Minister Amihai Eliyahu says that dropping a nuclear weapon on the Gaza Strip is “an option.” Given the volume of explosives already dropped on Gaza, it exceeds the explosive power of Hiroshima.

Asked in a radio interview about a hypothetical nuclear option, Eliyahu replied: “That’s one way.” His remark made headlines in Arab media and scandalised mainstream Israeli broadcasters.

Neither Eliyahu or his party leader are in the streamlined ministerial forum (War Cabinet) running the Gaza war. Neither would they have inside knowledge of Israel’s nuclear capabilities – which it does not publicly acknowledge – or the power to activate them.

“Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality. Israel and the IDF (military) are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory,” Netanyahu’s office said.

Eliyahu also voiced his objection to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza, adding that “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza” and that Palestinians “can go to Ireland or deserts.”

Hal Turner Editorial Opinion

I am almost apoplectic at this remark by Minister Eliyahu.

It is unclear to me which is worse: His remark, or the reality that his country has dropped more conventional explosives on Gaza than the explosive power of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb; and Israel still isn’t winning.

Can any of us imagine a military that is so ineffective, they would have to resort to using a nuclear bomb against an “enemy” that has NO ARMY?

How pathetic must the Israel Defense Force actually be that someone would even consider using a nuclear weapon?

One wonders if Minister Eliyahu has even considered what the rest of the world might do if Israel actually did something like that? Would the rest of the world allow even ONE Zionist – including Christian Zionists – to continue living anywhere on this planet if they did something like that?

How could the world ever trust any such person to remain breathing if they chose to use a nuclear bomb against an enemy that has NO ARMY?

I think this remark by Minister Eliyahu shows a gigantic, deep-seated, severe, mental sickness. Win at all costs, no matter what.

The remark strikes me as what we get when we bring up entire generations of people with “Participation Trophies” so they “all win.”

In real life, in sports, in business, in relationships, someone wins and someone loses. It is the reality of human existence.

But those who were brought up with Participation Trophies, have never had to learn to lose. They never learn to deal with it.

And it now appears to me, this is the result: A man who is so bent over possibly losing, he is willing to use nuclear bombs against an enemy that has no army, in order to satiate his need to “win.”

This remark indicates to me, that this particular Minister (and maybe a whole slew more) is a danger to himself and to other people.

How many more such people with such maniacal ideas are elsewhere in Governments around the world?

Maybe it’s time to find out – before such a maniacal idea spreads.

It’s a different race completely

Have you ever gotten roadside help from somebody unexpected?

Quite the opposite. One of the right side 110psi tires on my 24 foot living-quarters horse trailer blew out spectacularly on the interstate in Wyoming. It caused quite a bit of damage to the trailer. My horses were fine, though. I was alone, but prepared for that eventuality. On the side of the freeway, I set about getting it changed. I noticed a car pull over in front of me as if to help. A young man got out of the back seat, took one look at me standing there holding my four-way lug wrench, immediately turned around and got back in the car and left! What was he expecting? I was 57 years old at the time with silver hair, but not ugly or scary. I can’t imagine why someone pulling over to help would change their mind upon seeing me. Maybe I looked capable? I did get the tire changed, but getting the extremely heavy spare on was very difficult. I was very dirty (I ended up sitting on my butt on the roadside straddling the wheel, and lifting the spare up with the help of my knees) and bug-bit when I was done, and I’m still mystified as to what changed the young man’s mind.

Why Men Age Like FINE WINE in the Dating Market | Why Women Like to Date Older Men

The reasons why men age like fine wine and most women prefer to date men that are older, is because women look for a “standard”. In addition to qualities, that most men, simply do not have in their early twenties. Which makes it very ironic that women complain about this fact, since it’s women themselves, who are choosing these standards and men. Most skills that women love in a long term partner are skills and traits that only come with age and experience.

What was the most scariest experience you’ve had at work?

Hello, I trust that you will truly understand the whole means the this event had upon me. I was working in neibourhood office with about a dozen others, a mother came in carrying her child, who alleged had stopped breathing. Everyone stood back aghast…. Not knowing what do, several people just ran out. I had to push through the melee of useless people who were happy just to stare.. Moribid fasination! I managed to take the child from the mother and began breathing and heart compression treatment. I was very briefly trained in first aid, but only to a small degree. While I was with the child, someone called for an ambulance, which eventually arrived. They took the child from who by now was partly recovered. I heard theat very soon the child had recovered completely. All this action caused a great deal of mental worry to me and disrupted me a huge amount. Am I now over the trauma? I very much doubt it. My the lord never sho you the back of his hand.

What are some paradoxes in life?

The more you seek approval from others, the less you will get it.
You can only be brave when you are afraid.
If you aren’t happy now, you won’t be happy after you achieve your goals.
We aren’t wired to be happy and fulfilled, but to be miserable and safe.
Without failures, there can be no consistent success.
Wisdom is realizing that you know so little.
The more available you are to people, the less they will respect you.
Nobody will love you if you don’t love yourself.
A king and a slave have the same duties i.e. to serve others.
If you find yourself in toxic relationships over and over again, then it’s your fault — you teach people how to treat you.
Whatever you think is stopping you from living the life you want is not stopping you, but only you.

Triangle method

What is your craziest TSA experience?

I was on my way to Iraq. I was on a plane chartered by the Marine Corps for this, there were about 400 Marines on the flight, in uniform, with our weapons stowed under our seats. I was stationed in California, and we left from March Air Force Base out there. The first stop was in Baltimore, at the international airport there, and this is where my story occurs.

In Baltimore, we were let out of the terminal to go make phone calls and smoke cigarettes and whatever else. I called my girlfriend from a payphone, I smoked some cigarettes, and eventually it came time to get back on the plane. Now, I had put my rifle cleaning kit into my cargo pocket, without the slightest idea that this would cause any problem whatsoever. Inside my cleaning kit was this”carbon pick”.

I’d estimate that the steel rod at the end is about half an inch long by maybe a millimeter in diameter. As I emptied my pockets to go through the checkpoint, this carbon pick came to the attention of the TSA mouthbreather working there. He had decided that this steel rod, significantly smaller than a toothpick, was a deadly weapon (or something) and that I would not be permitted to take it into the terminal and on my flight. Now, mind you, I was in uniform. Flying with a military ID. With approximately 400 other guys dressed exactly like me. I told him that I clearly was flying on official military duty, and that I wasn’t wearing desert camouflage for fashion sense, and that it wasn’t a coincidence that there were all these other guys wearing the exact same outfit who were with me. He didn’t seem to comprehend this. I told him that, speaking of weapons, I had an M16A4, a select fire rifle, under the seat on my flight, a bayonet with a 7″ blade in my carry on, and everyone else on my flight was similarly equipped – except for those with grenade launchers and machine guns. He looked at me stupidly. Eventually I said something to the effect of: “you know those guys, those terrorists, that you’re trying to keep from getting on airplanes? Well me and all those other guys dressed like me are going over to Iraq to kill them. And to do that properly, I need my fucking rifle cleaning gear”. He grudgingly handed my carbon pick back and let me through. He took my cigarette lighter – I’m still convinced, 12 years later, that he did so simply to score some small, petty victory. I didn’t care, I’d left my crucial Zippo on the plane anticipating TSA stupidity.

This is your tax dollars at work, America. Outfuckinstanding.

Anima Libera 0.8X (国会鼓DJ抖音版 2023) Remix Tiktok

Why don’t China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea have emotional intelligence and no global media? Why they don’t use datas against the USA? Everyone thinks the USA is right always.

You think that everyone thinks the U.S. is right. That is a highly flawed notion. You media gives you the impression and your politicians fooled you into thinking that way.

The truth is to tally the opposite. Very few people on earth have trust and faith in the U.S. Global media reached out to mainly to the western world. This group sound a lot but they are a small minority. In population it adds up to 13% of the world. In nation count it is at most 12–15 out of the world’s 195 nations.

I live in South East Asia. Almost everyone I meet are disgusted with American lies and western media. No one believes it. It is biased it is opinionated, it spews falsehoods and fabrications. For me I feel pitiful for the western Ignorant and highly naive lot. Please tell yourself 90% of everything written in CNN, Fox, BBC are inaccurate and lies.

I cannot speak for other nations but Chinese media focus less on opinion but you are given facts and proofs. Chinese media trust that armed with facts one can make up their own mind.

Creole Hot Dogs and Rice

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

3/4 onion, diced
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
2 slices bacon, diced
3 hot dogs, sliced
2 cups cooked rice
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes (seasoned or not)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro or basil, chopped

Instructions

Cook bacon until crisp and remove from pan to paper towels to drain.
Sauté onion in bacon drippings for 4 to 5 minutes or until onion is softened.
Stir in seasoning and sliced hot dogs and cook for 2 minutes.
Add rice, bacon and tomatoes and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until heated through.
Remove from heat. Stir in chopped cilantro or basil.

Would you be willing to adapt if European style socialism was implemented across the board in the U.S. or would you have to leave the country?

If the U.S. treated its citizens like Europe does, I might actually come home.

Leaving Media, PA for Frankfurt, Germany in 1990, I have to admit, it was hard to adjust.

When I went to the supermarket there were only ten or twelve types of soda. The bread was heavy with brown stuff and seeds. Some stores didn’t even bother to take the goods out of the carton boxes. The cashiers didn’t treat me like a king and the stores closed at 6.30 p.m. during the week and at 2.30 on Saturdays. The service was so lazy they refused to work on Sundays and everything was closed.

What a nightmare!

I went from the land of 24/7 plenty to a socialist desert.

Get this, on Sundays people walked everywhere. Gas was so expensive, that few could afford to cruise about the countryside just for fun. People took public transportation because they couldn’t afford a car or the place to park it.

Then there were the taxes. When you are young, single and making tons of money they rob you. In some countries such people are taxed at more than 40%.

Healthy I had to pay the highest premium for mandatory health insurance, and some chain-smoking unemployed father of five paid much less.

There is no better way to say it, I was furious.

I was used to a different sort of social justice.

Then something really terrible happened.

Summer came and I had to take vacation. I learned that I had five weeks with full pay. Crazy isn’t it?

How can any economy function when everybody spends so much time on vacation?

It gets even worse. Everybody gets a minimum of 20 paid vacation days! EVERYBODY! Yes, even the dishwasher, the hotel page, the taxi driver and the cleaner get paid vacation. And for a small deduction from their salary, they get unlimited health care too. And if they have smart kids, they get to go to the best schools for free.

It was then I started to understand why eating out was more expensive too.

Feeling sorry for myself I asked “Why did I go to college and study so hard if even the cleaner has the same rights to vacation, health care and education as me?”

Slowly, the answer dawned in my thick skull.

Everybody else does have the same rights as me.

Everybody has the right to health, enough to eat and a warm place to sleep…even those who don’t work. It occurred to me that that may be why the incarceration rate is so much lower in Europe.

Everybody who works hard, no matter how much they earn, has the right to paid vacation.

I woke up and smelled the roses.

I liked vacation. And I was much more productive and happy when I returned to work

I saw the clean streets, the modern buses and metros, the airports crowded with regular people returning from sunny beaches.

I learned to look forward to Sunday grill parties when nobody had to work.

I became tired of traffic jams and trying to find a parking spot for my car and read a book while on the train or the bus.

I fell from a fence and had to go to the hospital. They treated me like a king and there was no bill.

I met a girl who became my wife. We moved to France and raised four children. That was almost 20 years ago.

I still pay the highest rate for health care, but it’s not much more than I paid 30 years ago as a single. The deduction for our four children makes our income tax rate very low. If they want, all the children can go to university without breaking the family finances.

To conclude, everything I paid into the system as a young man is being returned to me in spades.

When the children are grown and my taxes rise, I will pay them without anger (I won’t lie and say happily).

Europe is taking care of me, my family, my friends, my co-workers and my neighbours.

It is not a utopia. It can do many things better.

But America can do better too. A good start would be to recognize that caring for fellow humanity is not a dirty word that ends like Venezuela.

I love America dearly, but Europe treats its normal people (that would be me) better and I will stay here until that changes.

That’s Right

Reaping the whirlwind

Israel war. Ukraine war. Niger war. Maybe soon… Taiwan war.

Which nation is center to all these wars?

Geo-Politics is a real bitch. It’s the middle of the HOT PHASE of the massive Global Turning that we all are experiencing.

But we have PAST the THREAT THRESHOLD. So do not get too caught up.

…

Today.

How did your marriage end?

He came home from work, ate dinner, and said , ““I want you to do something and I don’t want you to fight me on this. I want a divorce.” I was completely blindsided. Then he packed a bag and left for his mother’s house. I made him leave his key. He didn’t understand that, ““how will I get in the house?” I replied that he had no reason to enter the house when I wasn’t home. He didn’t live there anymore. He was shocked.

I started thinking about his infidelity and the micro-aggressions that had recently increased; for Christmas he had given me a bottle of men’s cologne! That’s it. Of course, he kept it for himself. It was evident that he had given my gift absolutely no thought.

So instead of begging him to stay, I emptied out the joint accounts and made an appointment with a family attorney for the next day.

Of course he wanted to drag things out. He came to get his things the same week, and I watched TV while he packed and loaded the car. He actually asked me to help. I said “This is something you want to do, not me.”

Before he left, I told him that I know he is still committing adultery and that my attorney said he should be careful about that. Lots of denying and sputtering but the thing that bothered him most was my getting a lawyer. He actually said “You got a lawyer? You know I will always take care of you. Don’t you trust me?”

By the way, he told me the reason he needed space was “the children are grown now, so I don’t have to pretend anymore. I never wanted a family that I had to hang out with.”

So that was the end. A year later, a judge granted me about a third of his assets and income as alimony until I remarry or die. We were married 32 years, and I was 65 years old. I’m sitting pretty comfortably and very peacefully in a different city. Except for incidental paperwork handled by my attorney, I have no contact. I don’t have to pretend anymore, either.

‘’Edit: I want to say that finally getting a chance to tell my story has been cathartic for me. Thank you all for your support and encouragement. I am much less angry and more resolved to live well after this. Thank you all.”

INTERVIEW: Reaping the whirlwind

Karma is a BITCH. Well said Scott.

Steak over Noodles

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) round steak, cut into strips
1 can tomatoes and green chiles
1 can sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon oregano
Parmesan cheese
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 can tomatoes
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 package egg noodles, cooked

Instructions

Cut steak into small strips.
Heat oil in a large skillet. Add steak and brown quickly.
Combine tomatoes and green chiles with onion soup mix. Pour over steak.
Add remaining ingredients, except noodles and cheese. Simmer until steak is tender, approximately 1 to 2 hours.
Cook noodles according to package directions, then drain well.
Serve steak mixture over cooked noodles. Top with parmesan cheese.

What is the biggest scam an auto mechanic ever tried on you?

Last week I needed to drive to Sheffield for my brother’s funeral. On the morning in question I thought I had better top up the oil so l lifted the bonnet, undid the oil filler cap and placed it on top of the engine. It rolled off and fell down into the body of the engine just below the fan belt and where all the pipes and tubes and things I don’t understand are. I tried reaching it, I tried a magnetic rod, I tried a long reach grabber thingy but couldn’t get it.

I stuffed some paper towels in the oil filler orifice and set off for my local garage. Explained the situation on arrival and they immediately allotted a young lad to retrieve it for me. He got it up on the ramps, undid a few things, removed a panel or two and then there was my oil filler cap.

Then they did the unthinkable – they said there was no charge and they were happy to do it for me.

Needless to say I couldn’t stand for that type of impertinence and gave them £20 and told them to have a drink on me.

What is something that the 1% do that 99% won’t do?

The 99% work following a linear formula:

Skill×Time=Paycheck

There’s NO leverage in that equation.

To answer your question, what is something that the 1% do that the 99% won’t do?

The 1% work with a non-linear formula, with business leverage:

We all have the same 24 hours in a day.

The 99% focus their efforts on increasing their skills on making more money.

The 1% are focused on finding creative ways of making the most of their limited time and energy using leverage. How?

Using other people’s time (employees)
Using other people’s talents (expert advisors)
Using other people’s money (Banks)
Using technological advances (Automation)
Scaling their knowledge (Systems)

Why did China invest 400 billion in Iran?

China and Iran are still discussing a $400 billion strategic agreement over 25 years.

This agreement has many benefits for both countries.

Since Donald Trump unilaterally denounced the Vienna nuclear agreement that Iran had been respecting, Iran has once again found itself under a very strict embargo.

Iran has realized that the European Union is not in a position to resist the pressure of American sanctions.

Therefore, Iran is looking for partners who can help it resist US economic sanctions. China is the only partner capable of offering this.

China will invest 400 billion dollars in Iran over the next 25 years if this agreement is signed in early 2021.

This agreement provides for the sale of Iranian oil and gas to China at a preferential rate. China could also set up military bases in Iran and have privileged access to all investments in the country.

Iran would join China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

For China, securing its oil and gas supply is essential. For Iran, having a partner as powerful as China will enable it to better resist the United States.

An Iran-Russia-China axis is being formed to better resist the United States.

CHINESE VS AMERICAN BOOKSTORES

So typical China.

This is a MUCH WATCH.

https://youtu.be/1bn-FQBsvT8

How do the surgeons preserve a patient’s dignity during surgery?

Two years ago, a surgeon told me my left testicle was malignant and had to be removed. He worked out of a teaching hospital, so he asked if the students could come in. They get very few malignancies like this— a rare form of cancer. I agreed. Every visit, I’d have 5 drop dead gorgeous women in masks and white coats come in and feel my nutsack while the surgeon had his hand in there giving the tour.

One day, while the crew was working my nutsack over, I noticed a woman had come into the room, and was standing back from the crowd huddled around my nether-regions. She seemed hesitant.

“It’s okay.” :I said. “Join the party.”

“No thanks,” she said. “I’m just here to have you sign some forms.”

Look, one thing you’re going to have to get over with this sort of thing is dignity. There’s just no room for it.

When the day came, I drew a big arrow up my left leg with marker and wrote THIS ONE! When I got in the operating theatre, there were over a dozen people. Some were surgical team , while others were student observers. Before they passed me the gas, I sat up on the table and asked for everyone’s attention.

“Just so there’s no confusion here,” I said. “I want everyone here to repeat for me; ‘It’s the left nut!’”

“It’s the left nut!”

I didn’t want any mistakes.

My advice to anyone reading this is as follows. Throw away all notions that what you have under your clothes is private and unique. Whoever is going to see you started working on this with cadavers. The whole point of the exercise is to keep you from ending up as one of those cadavers. Once you embrace it, have fun with it. You might as well. You’re getting cut on anyway— one way or the other.

Just so y’all know, the orchiectomy went well. I was back at work in less than a week. The cancer returned 9 months later. I had to undergo chemo; that darn near killed me, but I pulled through and made it out to my deer stand that November. I’m now cancer-free and there is very little chance of it returning.

The National Debt And The Everyday American

Why does the United States have so many more prisoners than other countries?

Up until the late 1960s, U.S. prisoner populations weren’t much that greater than other similar countries.

However, both the Nixon administration and the Reagan administration decided to use the justice system to fight both the counter-culture movement and, of course, minorities. Many states already had draconian laws in place for marijuana possession (Michigan made it a felony punishable by life imprisonment) but the federal government upped their own penalties for marijuana, treating it as the equivalent of a narcotic (which it wasn’t).

This initiative was, of course, given the name “The War on Drugs” as “The war against hippies and uppity n*ggers” didn’t play out so well in the press. African-Americans and Hispanics were using their newly found “civil rights” to vote for Democrats in droves, pretty much driving Republican mayors and councilmen out of America’s biggest cities, where blacks and Hispanics were quickly becoming the majority.

Naturally, none of the new drug laws were administered equally. Possession by rich white people in the suburbs was pretty much ignored or got a slap on the wrist, while police and the courts came down hard on blacks and the poor living in the big cities.

The effect on these communities were immediate – other crimes related to drugs started to rise in concert as drug dealers stopped being the friendly guy down the street and started to be organized criminal gangs with the wherewithal to bribe cops and the power to eliminate competition. Having most of your young male population serving time in jail devastated black and Hispanic communities, fueled prison and street gangs as prisons became more overcrowded, overwhelmed the courts with drug cases. Cities collapsed as those who could moved out and the people left became more desperate.

With this side effect being crystal clear by 1980 when Reagan was elected, he decided to double down. The new menace was “crack”, cheaper than cocaine, but shorter acting. It was preferred by the poor as a gram of cocaine could set you back $100, but a dose of crack with much less cocaine might only be $10. Nevertheless, even though a gram of crack contained less than .1 gram of cocaine, the penalty for using it was identical. That meant white cokeheads got the same sentences as black crack users for using a more potent drug. That particular issue wasn’t fixed until the Trump administration. (It’s the one thing Trump did right, although he did it for all the wrong reasons and got angry when black people didn’t start voting for him).

Meanwhile the underground drug economy was growing by leaps and bounds. Raw product was available in Mexico for peanuts, but once across the border markups of 1000% weren’t uncommon, and then it was marked up again for retail sale. So much money was flowing to Columbian drug lords that they had more money to spare than the government, and a good chunk of the cash coming out of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was solely for the purpose of feeding the drug supply chain. I think I estimated at one point that about 10% of the BEP’s output was going solely to Pablo Escobar.

But you know who else was taking advantage of all this free cash and the cars, planes and yachts that came along with it? United States law enforcement agencies. You see, in most civilized counties, if you levy fines or seize ill gotten assets, all that money “excheats” to general revenue, so it becomes part of general government funding to be distributed as politicians see fit. That wasn’t what happened in the United States. In the United States, the agency that seizes the assets, such as the Drug Enforcement.

Agency or the Customs Service, gets to keep them, and they’re added directly to their budget, just like a small community that runs a speed trap on a major highway.

As such, the efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement started to become to seize as much stuff as possible. A single marijuana cigarette on a yacht allowed the Customs Service to seize and sell the entire thing. The practice was so reviled that even the most conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices railed about its legality, and eventually the Supreme Court forced reform of the system.

So, with many federal, state and local agencies being dependent on drug money for their operations, they got more aggressive and, the more aggressive they got, the bigger they got and the more money they needed.

Naturally, all of this, together with people stealing money for drugs, drug dealers fighting over drug territories, and all the other secondary effects of a prohibition movement (remember alcohol prohibition, remember Al Capone, take that and multiply it by a hundred) the prisons got stuffed full. No problem because it provided a lot of free labour, most of the prisoners were poor, black, or Hispanic, and prison budgets didn’t allow for such luxuries as “enough well trained guards” or “rehabilitation programs”. When many states hit a wall because of the cost of new prisons, they privatized them, paying prison owners a per diem for every prisoner, which the private prisons demanded a new supply of.

Since many drug offences are felonies, it often means that when people are released they’re prohibited from entering lots of fields such as “barber” in New York State (a felony conviction keeps you from being licensed).

Luckily, things are changing on a bipartisan level. Conservatives are noting the cost of running all these prisons as other crimes had longer sentences attached. Drunk driving is a bigger problem than drug use, but it was clogging Texas prisons until they came up with a more effective diversion program to keep people out of jail. The increasing cost of an aging prison population serving time for things that happened when they were 20, and they’re now 70, are stretching prison budgets to the limit. Moreover, the “defund the police” movement notes that many of these initiatives that put people in jail for minor offences turn local populations against the police, making it harder to investigate more serious crimes.

THE GREATEST SPEECH EVER by AN AFRICAN LEADER explaining THE NEW AFRICA-EVERYONE MUST HEAR Historic

That was epic to say the least.

What are your 10 laws of manhood?

Here are 10 laws of manhood that my father taught me:

1.Don’t pay for sex.

You don’t need it that bad, you’re not an animal, you should spend your evening trying out new pick up lines and having a good time with people.

2. Never chase after a woman

Never base your life around one single person that is not a sure thing, instead, you should be chasing your dreams and goals while trying to make a success of yourself.

3. Know when it’s time to fight back

There comes a point in life, where you can no longer expect others to solve a problem for you. If you can’t stand up for yourself, why should you expect others to? A man should know when it’s time to hit back. There’s never a reason to fight — until there is.

4. Your marriage should not always be a choice between your mother and wife

Your mom is definitely the first woman in your life. But your wife is someone to be cherished and respected, too. A clear line should be drawn between the kind of relationship that you share with both of them. In case of a tussle take a neutral, just and impartial stand.

5. Don’t brag about things you’ve done, instead let the things you’ve done speak for itself. Actions will always speak louder than words so keep that in mind.

6. It’s good to talk about the emotions you’re feeling with loved ones as they’ll be there for you. Being a man does not mean that you have to hide your emotions and be a rock.

7. Stay clean, if you have a long beard then take care of it and keep it neat, brush your teeth and shower

8. Failure doesn’t threaten your manhood

A lot of men fear failure in life, career, and relationships. They feel they aren’t “real men” if they fail. But failure is an essential part of life! It’s a reality of life. Accept it!

9. Be able to cook a good meal.

It’s important. You don’t have to be a chef, but know how to make at least one good meal. It doesn’t need to be fancy, a good sloppy joe is perfectly fine, but be able to cook up something and make sure it’s good.

10. Take action because it is right, not because it is popular.

The things that matter are not merely what is popular at the moment. A true man, a gentleman, takes action because it is the right thing to do, and they do the right thing whether or not it feels cool or fun.

Man Dies & is Shocked to be Shown the Future (NDE)

Jeff Tolley shares his Near Death Experience (NDE) after being so distraught after his brother’s death that he took his own life. While on the other side Jeff met up with his brother and three beings that showed him he had more to live for and the state of his energies bodies. He was also shown his future and the future of Earth. Jeff came back from his near-death experience with a renewed sense for life and a new outlook on life and his purpose.

As an American, do you get offended when you repeatedly try to convince those from Europe, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand that America is the greatest country in the world, and they end laughing in your face?

As an Australian who travels to the us a lot , I prefer Australia and New Zealand. I’ve got a business that is growing in the US but I really don’t want to move there so instead endure the 12 hour return flights .

There are some really awesome Americans. But there’s a lot of dicks, and this huge focus on materialism that I just don’t buy. If you drive a $600k super car and look like the Kardashians you are idolised there more than you would be in any other country I know. The American god is the god of material wealth . I find that quite noxious, even though I can afford a $600k car.

what I respect about America is that you can , as a middle class battler, still buy a nice house for USD400k in most cities . America protects its middle class , and that’s cool. Affordable housing is a big tick. I come from humble beginnings and know what it’s like to struggle to get your first house , and I think America does well here .

As a place to live though – naa. Australia and New Zealand far better . And from what I’ve seen Western Europe far better also. Go to downtown LA or San Francisco. It’s vile. Miles and miles of people living on the streets, shooting drugs , littering. It’s some sort of future dystopia ! Who the F would want to live near that depravity. It’s down right depressing and disgusting. It’s what happens when you drive the cost of living beyond what the poor can afford to exist and you offer no support for the cost increases – the bottom 15% of society simply fall out and end up living like animals on the street. Is this the sort of country where you would want your kids to grow up in? Not me , not ever.

America is dangerous, riddled with crime and depravity. They have got it wrong and are paying for it. And it’s gunna get worse.

Don’t take this as all Americans are pricks – they aren’t. But there’s something structurally wrong with that country – not my cuppa!

“The Mandela Effect” These examples will make you question EVERYTHING in your reality

This is fun. And it is a MUST WATCH. Especially for you MM followers.

When Susan Kuhnhausen walked into her house, she immediately knew someone was in her home.

It wasn’t just a sixth sense. Things had been moved. Curtains were now open, moving as if they’d recently been touched. Things on her table had been moved. She lived alone and she knew where everything belonged.

She walked through the house uneasily looking down hallways. In the kitchen. Moving quietly.

She walked past her bathroom. She turned into her bedroom.

Standing there was a bearded man, holding a hammer. He charged her and swung his hammer, hitting her on the side of the head. She fell down. He got on top of her and kept hitting her.

They then began wrestling.

Susan was a larger woman, who was particularly strong and worked as a nurse in the ER, trained on how to subdue wild patients.

After being hit several times, she managed to get her assassin pinned to the ground in a sleeper hold.

She began choking him. When she released him, his throat had been crushed — he later died (after Susan called an ambulance for him).

The assassin had been sent by her husband.

Their marriage had fallen apart and he wanted her dead. He’d paid the assassin $50,000 to kill her.

She was later treated for injuries and made a full recovery. Her husband was then sent to jail for the remainder of his life (he died in prison).

Her would-be assassin’s last words, during their fight, were “you are strong.”

Girl power.

I Had 0 EXPECTATIONS.. But I LOVED IT | Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond (REACTION!)

What is the oddest conversation you’ve had with a telephone scammer?

Me: “Hello.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “Hello. This is Bob Bobson from Microsoft Support. We are seeing a lot of virus activity from your device.”

Me: “Oh no. My device? Are you sure?”

NOT-Microsoft support: “Oh yes, we have many reports.”

Me: “Oh jeez. How can I fix it?”

NOT-Microsoft support: “It’s OK, sir. We can help you right now. Are you in front of your device, sir?”

Me: “Yes. I was just about to use it. I’m glad you called.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “Yes sir, we are going to help you. Can you please push the Start button?”

Me: “I haven’t put in a time yet.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “That’s OK sir, just press the button.”

Me: “OK. What now?”

NOT-Microsoft support: “Now you want to click on Control Panel.”

Me: “I don’t see that.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “Do you see a bunch of information above the Start button?”

Me: “Yes.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “That is your Control Panel.”

Me: “Wow, I didn’t realize it had a name.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “Yes sir, now press on Internet Options.”

Me: “Yeah, I definitely don’t see any Internet options. I don’t think I purchased that feature. This is just a cheap one.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “They all have the Internet, sir. Press the Start button again.”

Me: “OK, it’s the same as before.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “That’s OK, sir. We are going to restart your device. Can you please turn it off?”

Me: “Ummm…I don’t know how. I’ve never turned it off. Since I bought it, it just kind of stays on all the time.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “There must be an off button on your device. How do you stop it when it’s running?”

Me: “In those cases, I usually press the big button beneath Stop/Cancel.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “OK, sir. Please press that button.”

Me: “Ok.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “Is your device off?”

Me: “No. The door popped open.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “Door? Is there a disc inside the door?”

Me: “No, there’s a burrito.”

NOT-Microsoft support: “Why is there a burrito in your computer?”

Me: “Computer? This is a microwave.”

The Sopranos – Carmine Jr Speaks To Lupertazzi Management

Are girls more attracted to confidence or the look of a guy? I’ve seen some couples where the girl is very attractive and the guy is just average, and I’m asking myself, how? Is it because of his confidence? Maybe he’s funny or rich?

My two older sisters, twins, had a long and busy career in fashion modelling. I always thought they would marry the Hollywood hunk type of guy because those were the types they would sometimes go out with.

However, when they did got married, the guys were just your average Joe types; certainly not the Hollywood attractive male type. My parents and I were quite surprised. However both were confident in themselves.

They married good men who always treated them nicely. They didn’t put the girls on pedestals, treat them like starlets or have them as trophy wives. They didn’t ask them to leave modelling. They just treated them as regular women, were loyal, and had a great sense of humour. Of course they loved and cared for them deeply.

Lori and Tracy were the business girls who after modelling, took over dad’s car dealerships when he retired and made them very successful.

Mom was a fashion model who was on her way to Hollywood with a friend when she met dad. Dad was at the time working at a car dealership, which he later bought, but at the time he was a sales manager. “He made me laugh and didn’t fawn all over me like I was a movie star. He treated me as a regular girl and I just fell in love with him,” she said. She was six years younger than dad.

So attractive women don’t always go for the rich, good looking businessman. The smart ones go for the ones that make them happy.

Missile Excerpts from the TV Movie “The Day After”

While not completely accurate in technical approach, the failure of the deterrence mission was shown in the made for ABC TV movie “The Day After” that premiered on 20 Nov 1983. The movie used scenes from the film “First Strike” to show the USAF detection and response to an ICBM attack against the U.S. Presented from the archives of the Association of Air Force Missileers (AAFM).

“I spent 4 years in SAC as a Minuteman II launch crew commander back in the 70s. This depiction of the launch actions is very accurate. Of course, they left out some of the classified details in processing the message, but, all in all, this was very accurate. Several times EVERY DAY we got coded Emergency Action Messages (EAM) that could have been real execution messages for nuclear war. As others have mentioned, we did NOT know whether these were tests/training messages until we had competed decoding and authentication procedures. That was the real test of your nerves. You never knew. I am sometimes asked if the launch crews would obey the execution messages. The answer is an unqualified YES. If the message turned out to be a valid and authentic message, keys would be turned. We believed that the EAMs would not be transmitted unless the U.S. was under attack and the sooner we got our missiles off the ground the sooner we could stop any further incoming attacks. While I count that as a valuable experience in my life, I do not miss the stress.”

Why is America losing the tech war with China?

The truth!

The U.S. can win if they compete on who is better in plundering, looting, stealing, abusing nations, regime change, orchestrating demonstrations and coups and unilateral sanctions. That kind of competition the US will win hands down.

Tech war! Are you kidding me. For ever 100 Chinese engineers the U.S. barely produce one! Chinese will eat them for lunch any day. Over the past decade China has registered twice the U.S. registrations of patent in the U.S. patent registration office.

And according to the Neo con funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute ASPI, out of 44 of the most strategic technologies China leads in 37 of them! The U.S. only manage to lead by a whisker in 7 out of the 44 these days.

Try colour revolutions competition I guarantee the U.S. will! Hahahaha.

Dad Came Back 1,5 Month Later. Cat’s Reaction.

Has a teacher ever accused your child of doing something that you know he could not have done?

Quite clearly. But not my kid.

I was tutoring a young man in HS. He (and several classes of other students) had to take his teacher’s Math Final over the Internet with a non-relative adult as Proctor. He took the Final at the tutoring center with me as Proctor.

About an hour in, he discovered that an entire sentence was missing from a Question rendering it impossible to solve. He asked my help. I refused. He asked my advice. I first looked at the Question and said nothing but knew he was correct — unsolvable because of missing information. “What do YOU think you OUGHT to do?” “EMAIL THE TEACHER, AND THEN DO THE REST OF THE EXAM?” “Then do that.” He did. I watched.

About 20 minutes later the teacher put out an email announcement to all students to skip that question, saying it had a misprint and was missing required information.

Fine. EXCEPT she flunked him saying he was absent from the exam. The problem escalated but the tutoring center did nothing because that teacher had threatened to have our contract with the County terminated (possibly causing massive tutor layoffs and lots of kids screwed….)

At that point I went in to the center’s boss, announced my resignation, and contacted the Principal and the young man’s father’s lawyer. The bitch teacher tried to get support from the Teacher’s Union and got caught in more lies.

The lawyers worked out a compromise. The kid passed and graduated, but the D in a straight A record was kind of a screw job and the bitch teacher accused me of lieing.

Oh well, let it go….

Five years later, my wife and I received a brief note with tickets to a university graduation. The kid not only got in, he was Straight A for four plus years.

US And Western Media’s Dirty Propaganda About China’s Lithography Exposed!

Bro the US cant even compete. Its laughable.

https://youtu.be/lDGMe7cK_RU

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

I had a bank customer who was a older gentleman that had recently lost his wife. He came across as a mean person only because he didn’t engage in conversation nor smiled much. Somehow he trusted me and we became good friends. He was the second person I called when my own father died and he explained to me why my father chose to just give up. My friend was 90 at the time and in better health than my dad. Anyhow he made me understand why he was “tired” and just wanted to feel alive again. I teased him telling him he more less became my surrogate father from then on. The day I quit the bank, he cried thinking I was going to forget him. He had two daughter’s who didn’t live in the same state so I continued to check on him taking him home cooked food, to appointments and just to visit. The day came when he moved into a retirement home so helped him get his house ready to sell. I never asked for anything because I never expected anything. He was a friend and I’ve always enjoyed dealing with elderly people. Once he hit 92, he decided to move near his daughter in another state. That’s when it was my turn to cry. Felt like I was losing my father all over again. Kept in touch with him until the day his daughter called and told me he had a massive heart attack. I was devastated. Months went by until out of the blue I got a call saying he left me alittle something in his will. I didn’t want anything and didn’t have a friendship for that purpose. His little something was a check for 20,000. I was blown away but his daughters thanked me as well for being there for him. It never was a duty but it was more of a way to let him know, he wasn’t alone. I work home health now and always keep him in my mind.

People Who Disappeared Because They Knew Too Much

The people you are about to see in this top made discoveries that would have changed humanity. However, unexpectedly, they disappeared from the face of the Earth or ceased to exist. Many theorize that they disappeared because they knew too much.

What is the Chinese people’s understanding of democracy? Why don’t they have it yet? If they are aware of it, what are their reasons for not wanting it?

One big reason the Chinese people don’t want democracy is the USA.

The USA keeps holding itself out as the world’s prime example of democracy. Chinese people take a look and they are horrified.

The US imprisons more citizens than any other country in the world. The police step on black men’s necks to kill them. U.S cops carry weapons designed for war! Then there are the widespread demonstrations that degenerate into rioting, looting and arson. Half the U.S population believes that the last election was “stolen” from them. Then there is an attack on Capitol Hill. Furthermore Americans say that gun ownership is a fundamental liberty. But every week they have mass shootings. People get killed all the time in schools, supermarkets, pubs, parking lots, country music concerts, churches, Independence Day parades etc. The infrastructure is crumbling, the country is mired in an endless drug crisis and they don’t seem to have a healthcare system. The country claims to have freedom of expression but it bans TikTok, which the rest of the world has. Meanwhile fake news is so prevalent in the US that Americans’ trust in U.S media, as proven by survey results, has plunged to a record low. The country claims to have freedom of religion, but clearly Christian nationalism is sweeping across the USA and women can’t even get birth control or abortion. Also, did you know that the U.S violent crime rate is 3 times higher than that in China, and that the U.S homicide rate is 4 times higher? Meanwhile every day, the Dems and Republics are attacking each other for the sake of attacking and they do not appear at all to be interested in working together in any way for the good of the country.

This terrifies the Chinese people.

Then the USA says “Oh, we are the champions of democracy.”

Well, of course the Chinese people don’t want democracy. “Errr, thanks but no thanks!” they say.

The Middle Class Can No Longer Afford Rent In America

All Americans require a nice, secure, and inexpensive place to live in order to prosper. For years, low-income families have battled to find cheap rental properties, but today the middle class is also facing significant difficulties in this area.

Due to the sharp increase in rent prices seen in major American cities since the outbreak, millions of middle-class Americans are unable to pay their rent.

These middle-class households are being excluded from normal middle-class communities without major income increases or government support, which starts a domino effect that results in systemic poverty and enduring inequality. In other words, middle-class Americans are being squeezed to death by housing costs.

Compared to just two years ago, the average home now costs approximately $80,000 more, and the average rent in the US is over $1,000 more than it will be in 2020.

The survey discovered that while middle-class renters’ salaries have decreased 9% over the past ten years, rents are rising on average by 3.5% yearly.

The American middle class has been spending far more on housing than they can afford in the majority of urban areas across the nation, researchers found.

According to the survey, 46.3% of middle-class renters and 21.2% of middle-class homeowners in the US, respectively, are moderately or severely burdened by housing costs, which are defined as spending more than 30% or 50% of one’s salary on housing.

What would you do if you were told, “pack up your things and leave immediately” from your place of employment?

This happened to me when I was a programmer in London, back when coding was done in ANS Cobol.
I was sitting in my office at around 9:30 a.m., feet up on the desk and probably snoring. The big boss man came in very quietly, pushed my feet off the desk, and told me I was fired and to leave the company immediately.

Well, I know how to wind people up, so I just shrugged and started to leave. He stopped me, asking if I had anything to say, and the conversation went something like this:

Boss: “Why did I find you sleeping on company time?”

Me: “Where were you at 3 a.m. this morning?”

Boss: “In bed with my wife, of course. Why?”

Me: “Well at 3.a.m. I had already been here for two hours fixing a bug that had interrupted the operation of the mainframe computer at around midnight. It was a bit of a bugger to find, and the system wasn’t up and running again until 7:30 this morning. This means that I get triple pay for the hours I worked, all expenses, a full meal (even though no place was open), and today off work. I’m leaving now, and will be contacting my union to discuss how best to get as much as I can in damages”.

His only choice was to give me a raise, which he did. Tosser.

What is the most surprising thing you have accidentally overheard about yourself?

My parents divorced when I was 4. My mother remarried a man one year later in 1965.

He was a very controlling man about most things—but that’s a different story. In the summer between my 4th and 5th grade, he became “Born Again” at a Billy Graham revival. At his insistence, my mother soon followed, as did my sister. I was the only one in our family of 4 who didn’t want to give up their entire life and become a singularly focused religious fanatic.

My stepfather had never really liked me before that. After that he hated me, and could barely contain his loathsome attitude toward me.

Speeding ahead a few years, when I was entering the 12th grade, my mother took me aside one day and told me that they had no money to help me with college—that I was going to have to figure out my future on my own. (She was quite literal about that. They never even once discussed with me what my options might be.) I said it was ok. I’d figure it out. I did, and after high school, I got a job at a factory.

My sister, who is 4 years older than me, did attend a religious college, and while it crossed my mind as to how she was able to pay for college, I never asked. We weren’t very close.

Fast forward to 1994. I am now successful in my career. I have a large house with a swimming pool and hot tub in the backyard. My family—mother, stepfather, sister and her family—are invited to my house for an afternoon barbecue.

My mother and sister are sitting in my hot tub. I am around the corner of the house tending the barbecue. They don’t realize that I’m there. They are talking loudly, and I can clearly hear them. My sister starts talking about college education for her kids and she asks my mom how she and my stepfather saved up the money for her college education.

My mom immediately started to panic, and began shushing my sister to be quiet. She frantically said, “I don’t want Kent to hear this! We told him we had no money for college.”

I always knew that I was the black sheep in the family, but it was in that moment that I truly realized how much I was excluded. From that point on, my eyes and mind were opened to the lies and deception within my family. It forever altered our relationship.

Update- stepfather died. Felt nothing. My wife thinks that I suffer from PTSD because of him. Maybe with time I can now forget and maybe even forgive. I wonder if he got that gold-plated throne next to God that he obsessed on his entire life. I doubt it.

Update- mother died. I felt almost nothing. I do mourn that she was more interested in keeping her abusive husband happy than having an interest in her son. Such is life.

Why CHINA Will Win The Space Race

China has rapidly advanced its space capabilities, achieving milestones such as landing a rover on the far side of the moon and establishing its own space station, the Tiangong. The Chinese space program’s impressive progress has raised concerns in the United States about the potential erosion of its dominance. Today’s episode is explaining how and why China will win the race to space.

What is self-love?

I once was in a very tough situation financially. I worked three jobs at the time to keep up with life.

One day, at the end of the month, my rent was due, my fridge was empty, my paycheck was late, and I got a phone call from my daughter’s teacher reminding me to pay the school fee – my daughter was the only one who hadn’t submitted the payment. I was exhausted and didn’t know what to do, so I called my best friend and just cried. He came to my office, forced me to call in sick that afternoon, then took me to an ice cream shop and bought me an ice cream.

Then he sat me down and told me, ‘Life is tough, so you need to be tougher. In order to do that, you need to be nice to yourself, and don’t beat yourself up. You need a break too. Look, if everything you carry is heavy, you can put it down for a second, take a break, and then pick it up and keep moving. Sometimes, just surviving to the next day can be called a success.’

After that day, I went to the supermarket and bought a package of candy. It’s Korean milk mint candy; it’s really good and I had one every day in the morning to remind me that, no matter how hard life could get, there would be always something sweet, as long as I’m kind to myself. That one candy in the morning was what helped me going strong through life. I don’t remember how many candies I’ve eaten.

I don’t think ‘self-love’ needs to be something big or serious, it can be as small as a candy.

Oh, and I still have that kind of candy around the house:

Does the U.S. regret the chip act that has backfired on most of the successful U. S. chip companies, to the point where they are losing profits, market share, and risk going bankrupt now?

They ought to, they should be…

But of course they won’t publicly. These setback has very severe consequences that cost the US trillions of dollar loss and hundreds of thousand or a million jobs!

The billion of dollars investment in the Chip plant in Arkansas, US is barely in its teething set up stage with painful bickering between the Taiwanese and the U.S. contractors. 3 full years into the most ridiculous day light robbery of Taiwan technology and know how coerce by the U.S. with promises of billions of U.S. taxpayers money as subsidy to produce in a place without the skill and expertise needed and to be made by workers 3 times that if Taiwanese and 10 times benefits to produce half the result.

But the losses that is huge is nothing compared to the loss of respect that the U.S. believes in free market mechanism. And free trade. Forcing a Taiwanese company to shut its operation in their land and uproot to US heartland against their wish is anything but freedom! But what is worst is that it will be the biggest white elephant before even a chip is ever made. And if course destroying the entire livelihood of the very people they said they want to defend.

China has all but proven that every technology the U.S. tried to protect and stop China from having at a humongous cost to the U.S. is now proven to be easily produced in China. Made better, cheaper and faster by China a mere 3 years after this obnoxious and ridiculous attempt to stop China. All in all hundreds of US, and U.S. cronies technology companies simultaneously going obsolete all due to this ridiculous decision. Think about the billions and billions of losses of each company. And think about the workers losing their livelihood.

China whose own market alone is 30% while also producing most products for 60% of this planet’s need now will totally stop using anything from these firms. Just on business losses and profit loss is in the billions. Which fool could have thought it is a good idea losing this customer. But now you lost the entire world’s business.

In Wall Street trillions got wiped off the stock value of these firms. And 90% of these firms will go bankrupt. Mostly insured by the U.S. What an unbelievably daft decision by some neocon politicians and administrators yet 20 odd days after China shock the world not a word by those responsible! Not a whisper not a groan not an apology.

But this is the real irony of the U.S. they screamed so loud of freedom of expression who is talking now. Here in QUORA there are many brain dead Yankees who cheered this on. Where are you now! Don’t be a coward come out and continue your hateful agenda. You let the U.S. and your American friends down. You gave them false hope. Now they lost everything because of your selfish hate. I like to hear what you have to say.

Texas Grilled Cocoa Chile Steak

Bored with burgers and hot dogs? Offer seasoned steak slices in flour tortillas at your next backyard cookout.

Prep: 5 min | Refrigerate: 2 hr | Cook: 16 min | Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds flank steak
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons McCormick® Gourmet Collection Cocoa Chile Blend
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon McCormick® Gourmet Collection Oregano Leaves, Mexican
1 teaspoon salt
6 flour tortillas (8-inch)

Instructions

Brush steak with oil.
Mix brown sugar, cocoa chile blend, lime juice, oregano and salt until well blended. Rub paste over steak.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight for best flavor.
Broil or grill over medium-high heat for 6 to 8 minutes per side or until desired doneness.
Cut steak across the grain into thin slices.
Serve steak slices in warm flour tortillas.
Top with salsa, shredded Cheddar cheese and sour cream, if desired.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Epic action and mind-blowing effects rock the planet in this thrilling reinvention of the sci-fi classic, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Keanu Reeves portrays Klaatu, an otherworldly being whose arrival on Earth triggers an unstoppable series of events that threaten all of mankind. In a desperate attempt to save humanity, governments and scientists race to unravel the mystery behind the visitor’s appearance. When a woman (Jennifer Connelly) and her young stepson find themselves embroiled in the alien’s plan, they become the world’s only hope to stave off apocalyptic annihilation.

Why aren’t men nowadays persuasive?

I met Senator Strom “Spermin’” Thurmond not long before he died. He gave me and my young friends this priceless advice:

“Boys I’m going to share with you the most important thing I have learned in my life; Two women in ten that you ask to sleep with you, will. You just have to ask the other eight first!”

For years I was grumpy about the issue this question addresses. I’ve made my peace with the post #MeToo dating regime. You should too.

I’m no longer persuasive. No means no.

If I for some reason wanted to ask a woman out face to face instead of on a dating site like a normal person, it would go like this:

“Would you be interested in being courted? No? OK. You know where to find me if you change your mind.”

That’s one less woman I need to ask to reach my goal of ten. The end.

The old way – sidling up to a woman.after enmeshing yourself in her life, finding a good way to ask, then being persistent (but not too persistent) if she didn’t shut you down hard sucked for men and it sucked for women.

Why would you want to go through that again?

In the early 2000’s back to time immemorial that push-me-pull-you cat and mouse bullshit was simply how courtship worked. I had no complaints because that was all I ever knew.

You might do this dance for weeks, months, or in same cases years with ten women for every two who would eventually consent to date you. In some cases you as a man were making their lives hell and their work/school/social environment hostile in the meantime. In other cases you were feeding their “A Man Is Courting Me” ego at the expense of your dignity.

That’s all gone now. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Women who liked the game lost. Game players. Flirters. Time wasters.

Women who preferred straight forward yes/no propositions won. Normal women.

Now we don’t have to distress eight women to suss out which two of them really “just want to be pursued”. Now we don’t have to be a creep just because we “can’t read the signals”. No more wasted bouquets of flowers. No more months long pre-courtship. No more of the woman’s friends coming up to you and telling you that you’re making her uncomfortable.

You ask. She answers. The end.

If she tries to play a game, she will lose every time because in this new post #MeToo environment you can’t be persistent. Neither can any other guy. You suffer no competitive disadvantage by accepting the first “no” you get because all other guys must do the same.

It’s liberating really. They only people who lose are the super aggressive men who don’t mind making 100’s of women uncomfortable to get laid once, and the women who want a Disney Princess experience of being chased.

Senator Thurmond would be a happy man… “ask(ing) the other eight first” has never required less effort or risk! We no longer must or may be “persuasive”. We live in Strom’s world now.

What do you think about the Hong Kong protester Tong Ying-kit being sentenced on July 30, 2021 to nine years in prison as the first prosecution under Hong Kong’s national security law?

If he had done this in America, flag or no flag, there is a high probability he won’t be granted a trial, because he would have been shot dead, one of a thousand killed by American police in a normal year.

He didn’t just chant a slogan and walk the streets as a protester. He drove his vehicle at speed deliberately into a group of police officers who were armed and trained in the use of deadly force. It would have been a justified shooting, because tong ying kit turned his bike into a deadly weapon. The officers used their bodies to stop him. Several were forcefully thrown by the impact. Tong remains wheelchair bound, with a cast on his arm, injuries sustained in the crash.

The sentence is a little harsh but there is no doubt Hong Kong society must make an example of him to warn others what he did is unacceptable.

His notoriety did him in.

He is the perfect index case for the nsl, and an illuminating case law example.

MINDBLOWING NDE: Secrets From the Other Side! You are NOT Who You Think You Are.

Rude boy on a dirt bike

When I was working as an engineer during the 1990’s I spent most of my time living in mobile homes. These flimsy boxes were perfect for my lifestyle of hustle and layoff, and move to another city.

But, gosh, the mobile home complexes that we found ourselves in, were inhabited with some very ill-mannered people.

One time, when I lived in “West Elizabeth, PA” we had a mobile home at the edge of the mobile home community, and there at 9am every weekend, this little 13 year old boy would go around and around and around my home on his dirt bike. Only around my home. No other homes. Just mine.

Those things were noisy, and I couldn’t figure out why he chose my home to endlessly circle.

One day, I met his mother.

She said, “Oh, I thought no one lived there. Do you have a problem with him riding around your home?”

Well yeah.

DUH!

We had a few words and he stopped. But not until I was really upset and angry over the non-stop noise and the endless feeling of living in the God-damn middle of a freeway.

So many people are inconsiderate.

Partly because they are rude, and partly because they are stupid. Though drugs might play a role…

You cannot fix either. All you can do is move…

…on.

Todays…

Why is India NOT a global manufacturing hub like China? What is stopping India?

Couple of years back, I was having a conversation with an Indian origin entrepreneur in Silicon Valley who is making quite lot of innovative products. It is an early stage company. So, my conversation was about the possibility of starting his firm’s manufacturing units in India. He said something insightful

“I change my product designs quite often. And I would need rapid prototyping abilities to execute my business effectively as it is an evolving field. I make a circuit design, upload the specs to a firm in Shenzen, pay the money. Within four days the prototype is at my place in Palo Alto. All processes can be done online. Imagine doing this in India. Unless you are a Samsung or LG which has a massive team to handle all these customs, import export stuff with tons of paperwork, you will end up spending ages to do this in India. Shenzen is a one-stop ecosystem for anything electronic in the world. The supply chains and distribution mechanisms are super efficient. I don’t think India will ever reach there”

After this conversation, I’ve had multiple conversations with small and large players. Small players lament about the customs, import – export processes in India. Large firms crib about the absence of supply chain base of input for manufacturing. Our metrics of measuring ease of business is horribly skewed towards the efficiencies of business for a large player like Apple or Samsung or say a Honda. We don’t focus on making things easy for small firms like the one which I mentioned . Unless we crack that part, we’ll never be able to build a true ecosystem like Shenzen thats attractive for the large corporations

Steak in a Bag

Ingredients

1 cup egg bread crumbs
1 (2 to 3 pound) top sirloin steak, cut 2 1/2 inches thick
4 tablespoons butter, softened
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
2 1/2 teaspoons seasoned pepper
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Instructions

Prepare egg bread crumbs; set aside. Remove excess fat from steak.
In a small bowl, mix butter, oil, garlic, seasoned salt and seasoned pepper until blended. Spread on all sides of steak.
Mix bread crumbs and cheese. Press into butter mixture on steak, coating steak well.
Place steak in brown grocery bag. Fold end over and secure with paper clips. At this point steak may be refrigerated several hours.
Before cooking, bring steak to room temperature.
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Place bag on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. For medium rare steak, increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F and bake 15 minutes longer, a total of 45 minutes. For medium-well steak, reduce heat from 425 degrees F to 375 degrees F and bake 5 minutes longer before removing from oven, a total of 50 minutes.
Remove steak from bag. Let stand for 5 minutes before carving into thin slices.

NIGER COUP: JUBILATION IN NIGER AS 400 FRENCH SOLDIERS LEFT NIGER IN PEACE THIS WEEK. NOT BY WAR.

What’s the rudest customer service experience you have ever had?

I worked in Veterinary medicine for more than 36 years and we always dealt with some real doozies!

We had a lady come in with a chow for regular vaccines and after she signed in, she sat on the bench waiting to be seen. One of my techs walked over to her with a clipboard and pen in her hands to get some information. While she stood there speaking with the woman, her dog came over (he had been straining at the leash trying to get out the door) and with no warning (not even a growl) grabbed hold of her hand with his teeth and began to try and rip her arm off! He shook his head, bit harder and dragged her to the floor!

Instead of trying to get the dog off of her, the woman began screaming at us for abusing her dog as we tried to break the dog free of my tech’s hand and 3 of us were bit trying to get her loose!!

Instead of an apology for owning an aggressive dog and not restraining it when she came in, the woman screamed at us that ‘”You people had no right to attack my dog like that and it’s your own fault for walking up to my dog!”.

My tech ended up with 4 broken bones in her hand and a massive infection that put her in the hospital for 4 days, and in the end, the woman actually had the nerve to file a lawsuit claiming animal abuse against our hospital. She wanted more than $25,000 in emotional distress!

We shut the hospital down on the day of the trial (there was NO WAY we were going to settle) and every staff member who had been involved was there to testify.

In the end, the woman was forced to pay all court costs and lawyer fees, the cost of the medical treatment for every person who was injured, the cost of shutting down the hospital to come to court and was given a fine by Animal Control for having an aggressive dog. She was also told that should the dog ever bite someone again, not only would the dog be put down, but she could be arrested and jailed for having a known aggressive animal in her home and not properly containing it.

I Live Better In Thailand Than I Did In The U.S. – Here’s How Much It Costs | Relocated

To those who say he’s spending too much — not all digital nomads are poor. This guy’s a high earner, and by spending a few thousand he’s living a lifestyle that would typically be accessible to only multi-millionaires in the US or Europe.

‘Won’t sit idly…’: China claps back after Germany insinuates ban on Huawei, ZTE 5G parts

A day after reports claimed that Germany was considering a ban on parts made by Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE in its 5G networks, Beijing has responded. The Chinese embassy in Berlin said the country will not stand by idly if the German government goes ahead with the proposal.

“If the German government really decides to move in this direction without proving that Chinese products pose a security threat to Germany, we will not stand by idly,” the embassy was quoted as saying.

“Should Germany unjustifiably exclude Chinese companies, this would not only be a violation of the principle of fair competition but would also harm Chinese companies and Germany itself,” it added.

What has Germany proposed?

Germany’s interior ministry has chalked up a proposal under which the said Chinese companies will be eliminated from the country’s “core network” as part of a “de-risking” strategy. The ministry is expected to submit its proposal to the cabinet next week.

Apart from issuing a full ban on the new parts made by Chinese companies, the German government will also extend the ban on those parts that have already been installed. It wants to start by phasing out parts made by Huawei and ZTE in Germany’s “access and transport network”.

What’s a point in time when you realized nothing would ever be the same again?

My doctor noticed that I had lost weight. “Are you on a diet?” No. “Having any eating issues? “ Sometimes meat doesn’t go down. “We’d better look.” This was April-may, 2014. Gastroenterologist did an Endoscopy. No warning, “You have Esophagael Cancer, you have an Oncology appointment tomorrow.” Chemo and radiation started almost immediately. They told me not to look on the internet at the statistics, so I did. 95% don’t make it 5 years. The stories were pretty grim. I sold my milling machine, lathe, TIG welder and a couple of old Honda mini bikes, if I was going tits up, I didn’t need some scammers trying to rip off my wife when I was dead and gone. Chemo and radiation were pretty straight forward and I didn’t really have any issues, I continued to work while I was getting treated. CT Scans, PET Scans, Xrays, things improved inside. August 18, 2014, 6am, I went into surgery for a gastroesophagectomy, removal of most of my esophagus and part of my stomach. Up to this point, I had lost 70 lbs in about 5 months. The surgery was really rough, and I couldn’t eat for 3 days after I woke up, then it was cottage cheese and tomato soup for about 2 weeks. I was in the hospital for 15 days, 7 in ICU. I’ve had eating issues since then (coming on 4 years), and it was 3 years before I could eat a steak. I’m back up to about 190 lbs (from 158 at the low), it takes me about 3 hours to eat a meal, but my boss and the people at work, work with me, I’m usually eating all the time. But I can only eat about 1/4 or 1/3 of the amount of food I used to eat, and very little meat, food hangs up. I’m also susceptible to aspirating (inhaling) food into my lungs, which makes me really susceptible to bacterial pnuemonia, which I’ve had at least 1 each year since surgery. All CTScans and PETScans have been negative, my doc says, “Next time if (when) the scan is clear, we’ll call it done.”

But I ain’t dead.

Life has changed considerably. I very seldom eat in restaurants any more. Sometimes I have to eat standing up, something inside seems to get pinched off when I sit down and eat. I don’t sleep as well as I used to. My doctor seems to feel I’m one of the 5% that makes it (she said the actual number is about 15% now, the first numbers I read were old stats). As far as attitude goes, I don’t worry about things any more. I just roll with it and try to enjoy myself. I’ve gotten another lathe and welder, looking for a milling machine, hopefully I’ll be making parts for a good long time.

Chinese Tech Firm’s Groundbreaking Achievement 5nm Chips Made Without Lithography Machines

New manufacturing technology.

https://youtu.be/kEIelm-dbvw

What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

I recently was released from an Alabama prison. I spent two years in prison.
I was sent there when I was 17, I am 19 now. The Alabama prisons are a horrible place. I was a sheltered child growing up. When I was 17 my father forced me to steal from some people because we didn’t have any money. I did not want to do it, my father forced me to. I begged and pleaded with him.
I used to love to play video games. I haven’t now played games in years, since I was probably 15. That part inside of me sort of died.
I was and am still tall and kind of thin.

The first place I went, was one of the worst places, the juvenile wedge in the Mobile metro jail. A wedge holds eight cells, and is supposed to only hold 2 juveniles per cell/per two bunks. But there were sometimes up to 4 people per cell, forcing kids to sleep on the mats on floor and right near the toilet. The 16 and 17 year olds in Alabama jails are horrible and the most violent of all inmates. I can look back and understand the readers thoughts, they probably are curious to know how age 15-17 year olds could be so violent. But, Alabama, if you have actually visited, is a very rough place, especially the projects. I was in this jail with the teens who were the ones that committed the worst crimes, 1st degree robberies, murders, arson, theft, rape and molestation.

I was the only white boy. They always attempted to steal from me and rob me, and literally terrorize me, throwing piss on me, or spitting in my drinking cup.
They let the inmates fill up the other inmates drinking cups.
The first week there, I bought a $20 phone card, and when I came back to my cell the black kids were waiting for me in there, predators. They had put a towel over the cell’s only light, to darken the cell, so the guards couldn’t see what was about to happen. And they surrounded me once I had walked back into the cell. I told them I would not give them the phone card, I actually intimidated them.
I was grabbed from behind, and put into a choke hold, then I blacked out. I woke up from underneath the steel metal desk with blood dripping down the side of my face. The phone card was gone.

After that, I spent an entire year in a cell by myself, because I had to be separated from them. Throughout that amount of time, I saw over one hundred fights, and was sleep deprived quite a lot. The juveniles would scream and yell and cuss each other out ALL the time. They were animals. They would talk about the most hateful, vile things, and how ‘gangster’ they were, drug dealing, robbing and killing. It was utterly saddening. Especially at night, they would beat on the metal over and over and over, and rap, all of them together. (In no way am I racist. Nor prejudice towards a certain taste of music, I like rap myself sometimes.)

During the time I was in jail, I heard news about my father. Months later, a Correctional Officer actually was the one to give me news that my father had been arrested himself. He had stolen from more people, the same exact way he had made me do it. And was in jail. he would finally pay for what he had done to me. But, there are no laws protecting kids from what their parents force them to do, sadly, Quite a horrible thing for the legal system to do to kids.

The juvenile wedge was located right next to the suicide wedge.
The loudest wedge in the entire 2000+ jail. That is where they put the drunks, the crazy psychopaths who had just murdered their whole family, and even more nutjobs. One man gouged his father’s eyes out with a spoon.(I can reference that, as well.) They would beat constantly and scream and moan all night long.
I remember specifically the one’s who would never stop beating on the clear plexiglass walls of the suicide cells. They were in there naked, (all of them). At one time I saw my own father in there, after he had gotten jumped in another wedge and his nose broken and both eyes completely blackened. They put him in their for “protection”. I remember hearing the guards running in there and beating the hell out of those people, and hearing the inmates scream. I was right next to those cells. I lost lots of sleep over the constant noise,
BANG BANG BANG. BANGING over and over and over, for hours, all night. It was just like a lunatic asylum.

I did read a lot of the christian bible, when I actually believed in that kind of stuff. And other books as well, It was my only solace then. And learning, I yearned to read and learn.
I was constantly a target with the black people, because I was a white boy.

I was deeply miserable, and so I got the doctors to finally give me sleep medicine after many months, “Remerons”, which made me feel like I was slow when I took them, but sleepy. They took a very long time to wear off.
I started to slide them in the inside of my mouth when the nurse would give them to me, and I would spit them out when I got back to my cell, And hide them in a hole in my inch thick mat. I had no pillow, just a wool blanket.
Before I went to prison and was waiting in limbo in jail, I thought there was a chance that I might be sent to prison. So over a long amount of time, I started to collect those sleeping pills just in case. So I could protect myself, if I was given a long amount of time in prison or whatever.

Things got more miserable, I stopped a young black kid from committing suicide in my cell at one point. I turned 18 in jail.
After that, I mixed in with the adults. I finally received my time, It was two more years… and I would be going to prison.
I couldn’t do it anymore. I was utterly miserable and sad, And I lost the will to want to be alive. I wanted peace, just once in my life. If you call death peace.
One night I took all the remerons I had collected, I first waited for my cellmates to begin playing cards, and then I took around 100 of them, and heated up some hot water, and crushed up some of the pills and swallowed them all down.

It was the worst, bitter disgusting taste. I still have a hard time swallowing pills if I ever have to chew them. I wrote a note telling my mother I loved her and wished I could hug her. No one knows the truth or what really happened. No one cares to know.
I hadn’t seen her in 8 years. I got up on my top bunk and rolled over on my side on my mat. And laid there. I prayed to God, asking to be with him, I commend to you my spirit “Lord”. I was completely terrified of going to hell, but I still did it, I was in so much misery.
30 minutes later my body was almost paralyzed. And my body was pulsing and throbbing. I began to feel very sick. I tried as hard as I could to hold my stomach in. But I had to get up and go to the toilet to vomit, and my whole body was almost paralyzed, I could not jump off my rack. I couldn’t move.
And then I blacked out, into nothingness. Silence. Blackness.
There was no bright light.

Over the course of that period, while I was in jail, I had many inmates/criminals try to hurt me.

Later, I woke up in a hospital handcuffed to a stretcher, I was on life support.
My cellmates had gotten scared and told the guards, once they had seen me black out. I obviously did not want my cellmates to know what I had done. But I was forced to throw up, and black out.

After my ill recovery, I was thrown into the suicide wedge, right where I remembered all those people.

I soon was shackled and shipped to prison, where there was no A/C at all, there is none in the Alabama prisons. Prison is even worse. You are forced to work all day.
And the temperatures inside the dorms get to 100+ degrees. Everyday, all day long, during the hot long Alabama summers.
Misery. I remember pools of sweat collecting on my mat, while I tried to lay down. I would have to strip to my underwear to stay cooler.
The black men would look at me, and some would masturbate at me, while I would sleep, or do it right in front of me. They call it “gunning you down”.
It was a fact that the African american men were specifically like this.
A lot of the time when I would try to take a quick shower, they would all watch me, to see when I would go in. And then go in the shower with me and watch me, and ‘gun me down’, while I bathed myself quickly.
Quite a dehumanizing thing to have done to you.
I wish I could’ve knocked one of the those motherf*ckers heads off.
But I knew I had parole coming up, And I might make it, If I never get into any fights, or disciplinaries. Which was even worse. Because, I needed to stand up for myself. It was so crowded in prison, there was no privacy. Nowhere.
Showers were completely wide open, toilets were in rows of 30 lined up.
No stalls, Those did not exist.

I tried dearly to avoid the showers, and the sick people. I saw a lot of sick stuff in there. The white gay boys were the ones that almost always were on the “receiving” end of the action.
Homemade hypodermic needles, and one of the main drugs, called Suboxones, they were these thin sublingual films from a pharmacy that were smuggled in, they are a narcotic analgesic and they dissolve fast. The drug addicts broke up and disolved the film in a spoon and either snorted or injected it. I did none of that. I had never done drugs before.

I was in prison for a long time.
After two years of being in there, and finally making parole, I was released and transferred to another state. I was granted immediate release from parole at least three months before, but it took them a very long time to “find” the paperwork. They would not have done it or found it, if a trustee inmate had not given me a special phone number for the parole boards office, that was not “public”, and I got my family to call up there over 50 times over a course of months.

I realized my weaknesses while in prison, my puniness as well.
A lot of me died slowly inside, I do not think about girls as much. I was a young kid, I had only ever had one girlfriend in 8th grade. I had to drop out of school after that.

When I was in prison I longed to just touch a girl’s hand, just to have someone love me as friend. I yearned for a companion, I was so lonely.
Words could never express.
My heart felt like it was literally dying.
I also missed listening to music so much, I loved music a lot.
I don’t feel things anymore as much, I tried to feel love and compassion, but my heart has died slowly. I still do love people, I have tried to keep that alive,
I really try my best. And I love to give people gifts with the money I have now.

Things don’t mean as much at all to me anymore.
I am somewhat of a stronger guy now, I fear nothing.
I also lift weights and exercise everyday, that is one thing I will always do.
I am still trying to find what I am going to do with my life and career.
And find meaning in life. I do enjoy computers a lot, evidently.
If I had to go through those two years again, I don’t believe I could do it all over again.

-Luke

How will Huawei’s 7 nm breakthrough undermine confidence in Western sanctions?

Huawei breakthrough is more than the 7nm as widely perceived in the media since the annocement of Huawei mate 60 series.

Huawei had invented and patented a 3D Finfet transistor that enable it to be fabricated using a tweaked or modified DUV machine with mass production. The 7nm Kirin 9000s chip with 3D Finfet transistors consume less power and can achieved equivalent performance of 3nm chip. It can easily be refined and improved with 5 nm or 3nm designs which l believe will be used in Kirin 9100 chips and achieve better performance.

Hisilicon had utilized the Chips and design Kirin 9000, Kirin 9000s Soc using it’s Taishan architectures and system.

The Kirin 9000 series are 8–12 Taishan core CPU working together with GPU and Huawei Balong Modern. They are comparable to Qualcom snapdragon 8-2 chip set and Apple M16 and M17 chip set.

Beside the Kirin Soc the Huawei mate 60 series also used in house indigenous technologies like Ximage, Nearlink and Satellite connectivity technology.

Ximage is Huawei photo taking and processing technology, one of the best in the world.

Huawei breakthrough is far from just handphone technology, Huawei will be the top platforms for AllAI and All Cloud and All IoT. It will be the smart system inventors that empower human leveraging on technology to improve life and productivity.

What is the best thing you came across on the internet today?

This is Miss Nigeria Nyekachi Douglas in the Miss World beauty pageant. You must be thinking that she is so happy because she won. No, she didn’t win the Miss World title but rather her friend Miss Jamaica Toni-Ann Singh won Miss World title.

She is being praised for her heartwarming reaction despite losing Miss World After miss Jamaica, Toni-Ann Singh was named miss world, Douglas jumped up and down and did a happy dance as she congratulated and hugged her friend .

Be happy for other people, regardless of what it is for. It will cost you nothing.

I am blown away with her reaction. And she won my heart.

We should learn from her and be happy in the happiness of others.

How do you prevent a clingy relative constantly coming to your house and wasting time and annoying the children and you?

I’ve dealt with this. For YEARS. My salvation came one day when I was particularly under the gun to get a few real priority tasks around the house and yard done. I was about to leave town and this particular afternoon was my last chance to get things straight before leaving. When said relative showed up, unannounced as per the usual, I said “Great! You’re here” and immediately handed them a lawn bag, went out the door, then hollered back at them to hurry up!

I worked them into the ground…..and kept pressure on with family gossip about THEM as well as promised I’d never turn down their help again….. how I couldn’t wait to get back to town and have them help with winterizing, cleaning gutters, etc.

They never popped in again. That was 17 years ago.

Las Vegas teen expected ‘slap on the wrist’ for hitting, killing cyclist: ‘I’ll be out in 30 days

The teenager who police say intentionally struck and killed a retired police chief in Las Vegas said he would get a “slap on the wrist” after he was taken into custody, the 8 New Now Investigators have learned.

China to build up Huge IC chip factory using a particle accelerator!

Article link HERE

Scientists said this unprecedented technology can overstep US sanctions and make China a new leader in semiconductor chip industry
Plans are now in progress to construct a huge particle accelerator to help researchers put into practice the cutting-edge technology
China is exploring new avenues to bypass restrictions on lithography machines, which are used in the production of microchips. Using particle accelerators to create a novel laser source, researchers are laying the foundation for the future of semiconductor fabrication.

China sets out to develop EUV lithographic ‘cannon’

China is exploring the use of a new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source in making its own lithography facility

China to use EUV in making it’s own IC fab facilities

China is exploring the use of a new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source in making its own lithography facility but technology experts said such an ambitious goal may take many years to achieve.

Over the past few days articles and videos have gone viral on the Internet in China claiming that Tsinghua University has made breakthroughs in steady-state microbunching (SSMB) technology, which can create an EUV light source with a power several times higher than that of ASML’s EUV lithography.

They say the future launch of a SSMB accelerator, nicknamed “lithographic cannon ,” will help China bypass the export controls of the United States and the Netherlands.

These came after Huawei Technologies on August 29 commenced the sale of its flagship smartphone Mate60 Pro, which used a 7 nanometer chip produced with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) N+2 processing technology and ASML deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography.

“We understand that it’s difficult to have more breakthroughs in chip-processing if we follow the current technological path,” a Chongqing-based writer says in an article published by the Huxiao Business Review on September 16. “It will be more feasible to walk on a new path.”

He says Tsinghua’s suggestion to use the SSMB technology in lithography can help China break the technological blockage of ASML.

He adds that what Tsinghua proposes is not a lithography machine but a huge factory that involves a lot of land and workers – resources that China does not lack.

China beats US in top global scientific ‘hot papers’ — those that receive instant recognition — ranking

China has surpassed the US

with the number of papers published and cited in the world’s most influential journals, a new report has found.

China also ranked first on the international papers citation chart in six major disciplines

– agricultural sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, materials science and mathematics. The top spot in mathematics was a new achievement compared with the previous year.

According to the Statistical Data of Chinese S&T Papers released on Wednesday by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC), Chinese researchers

published 1,929 “hot papers” – papers that receive significant numbers of citations soon after publication, usually in a rapidly evolving field such as molecular biology and materials science – accounting for 46 percent of the global total by July.

What was the weirdest wedding you have ever attended?

My live-in nanny Jennifer moved from Oregon to Yuma, Arizona to attend college and take advantage being near her fiancé, Ryan, stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS). Jennifer was energetic and very Mormon, interviewed quite well and had impeccable references. If you are thinking this is all going to turn out bad; you would be 100% wrong. Jennifer was a dream nanny, excellent student, exceptional teacher, my confidant, unapologetically pretty, my foster children loved her and her voice… she could sing like an angel. Jennifer and I are still in touch on social media.

Jennifer moved in with me the fall of 1995 to begin as a nanny. She was so looking forward to caring for Brittney, attending a new semester at Arizona Western College (AWC) and finally spending some time with her fiancé. There was a two-day registration window for her to sign up in January 1996 for the spring semester classes.

On the first day at registration, when she was signing up for a choir class, the teacher informed Jennifer about a music scholarship that would cover all her expenses. Jennifer would have to audition for the scholarship. As I said, Jennifer had the voice of an angel and she easily passed the vocal audition for the scholarship. The kicker; the music scholarship was reserved for Arizona residents (2 years or more) or family members of military personnel only; so, she didn’t qualify. Worse yet, the deadline for qualifying for the scholarship and class registration was the very next day.

Jennifer has never been the type of person to sulk or quit; she was undaunted. She certainly couldn’t qualify for the Arizona resident part; she’d only lived in Arizona for six months. She told her counselor, “If I need to be a military family member, then I will be a military family member by tomorrow.” Jennifer called her fiancé Ryan, told him about the scholarship and announced that they were getting married NOW so she could qualify for the scholarship.

When I came home that day, Jennifer explained about the scholarship and she would need a few hours off to get married. I was absolutely impressed by her resourcefulness. Not once did she address this as a problem; and, she actually reveled in the opportunity the challenge represented.

Ryan, who was still working on converting to Mormonism, was fully on-board with the wedding plan. He and Jennifer could have that big religious wedding for their families later. They just wouldn’t tell them they had gotten married already. Since Ryan was in the Marines, he needed approval from his commanding officer first. Ryan managed to get it done right away and meet Jennifer at Yuma County Clerk’s Office to get their marriage license.

Thank goodness Arizona does not require blood tests; Jennifer is needle-phobic and jokes that a blood test might have been a deal-breaker. Jennifer couldn’t have picked a more perfect town for a quickie marriage. Yuma has quite the reputation for many movie stars flying in from California for a quick marriage; including, Loretta Young, Claudette Colbert, Alice Fay, Mary Astor, Jean Harlow, John Barrymore, Errol Flynn and even cowboy Tom Mix… and more.

The only wedding officiant they could find on such short notice was a judge at City Hall. His docket was full but Jennifer and Ryan somehow convinced that judge to perform the marriage ceremony at 9am the next morning; scholarship and college registration deadline day. I was impressed how quickly Jennifer got it all arranged in a single day. When Jennifer wants to get something done; there is no stopping her.

With no advanced planning for her wedding, Jennifer certainly hadn’t planned for a wedding dress. Ryan could get away with wearing his Marine Corps dress uniform. Jennifer began to go through her everyday-go-to-school outfits and she modeled in front of me, “Do you think this looks wedding-enough?” No matter how resourceful Jennifer had already been; she really had nothing that looked anything like a wedding dress. In my mind; a woman needs a wedding dress on her wedding day. So, I told her I’d buy her a dress as a wedding present. Although it was already late in the day, we immediately went shopping. We stopped near one wedding shop and she motioned for me to keep driving. She insisted, “This is a small event, no need for expensive.” Jennifer got so lucky; she ended up finding the cutest little white lacy wedding dress on a JC Penny’s discount rack for under $40.00. We couldn’t believe it; it was like it was waiting for her and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

On the morning of the 2nd day of college registration, at 9am, she and Ryan stood before the judge at Yuma City Hall and got married. One of Ryan’s friends and I were the witnesses. We took Polaroid insta-print pictures of the ceremony and also a posed-picture with the judge. They had no real wedding rings, but did exchange a couple of Cracker-Jack rings at the ceremony. Ah, such a tribute to young love at its finest.

Now most bright-eyed wedding couples would have a big celebration and then head out for an exciting honeymoon. Well, that’s what’s very different about Ryan and Jennifer. Ryan immediately reported back to duty at the MCAS. Jennifer, still wearing her wedding dress, with a copy of a marriage license in one hand, marriage certificate in the other and backup pictures of the marriage ceremony, drove with all her determination out to AWC to capture her scholarship.

Jennifer’s first stop at the college was the music teacher where she got her scholarship stamped qualified and approved; Victory! Then she stood in line at the registration office, still wearing her wedding dress, and finished registering for her college classes; Victory!

Whenever I hear the expression, “failure is not an option,” it always reminds me of Jennifer. You gotta love Jennifer.

Oh SH*T, NATO just crossed the line and Putin knows it

What is the smallest thing a person ever did for you that impacted your life?

The year is 1974 and I am the junk dealer’s daughter. My brother has become a teenager; my parents spend half their time watching my father slowly die and striving to save him; the rest struggling to survive.

Our TV is off limits, the days are long — especially for an introverted kid, but I am not alone, for the bookmobile comes every other Thursday at 3 pm.

Three years before my mom had walked me down the street and signed me up for the reading program. Read ten books and get a sticker. Get the stickers and you get a prize.

I had rapidly progressed from the small child’s, to the preteen books and last year the bookmobile lady had sent home a permission slip to allow me to read the adult books. This year she scours the county for good books for me.

Smiling, she hands me a stack of ten books, “there are some new westerns and a couple of scifi as well, if you want them.”

My book a day limit met I struggle home with my treasures. Another two weeks of adventures and stories. I don’t feel as alone and my belly doesn’t rumble as much when I’m reading.

Carefully I open the first page . . . the bookmobile lady has saved me once again.

The year is 1994 and now I have a family to support. Going back to college was a good decision. My hard work and bright mind has been recognized and I have risen from student worker to classified staff.

Painfully shy I stay to myself but then another worker stops by and tells me as a union member I should be attending union meetings.

“I just want to fit in,” I think. “I’ll slip into the back and hopefully no one will take much notice of me.”

“Hey Nancy? Is that you Nancy?”

The bookmobile lady is there, older now but just as nice.

“Sit by me and my friends. Hey everyone this is Nancy. When she was little she used to come down with a wagon full of books to exchange when I ran the bookmobile. She read a book a day. Isn’t that cool?”

And just like that I am no longer alone.

The bookmobile lady has saved me again.

What are some commonly accepted double standards?

One of my guy friends was sucker-punched in the face by a girl outside a club.

We both had left the club with a couple friends, and somehow the girl’s bf was talking shit to us because of some misunderstanding. She couldn’t handle getting shit talked back to her by my guy friend, which he was pretty good at.

Even though he wasn’t directly talking to her, she violently hits him. She was bigger than him, but still hit like a bitch. After she hit him she was still in his face, pulling him around with his t-shirt, yelling her voice out, assaulting with all sorts of shit and going completely ballistic on him.

He grabbed her arms to stop her from punching him, and violently swung her away, causing her to crash on the ground head-first.

That was our opening to escape, and him and I started walking away with our friends. But the security guard briskly chases after him, even though the guard wasn’t outside in time to see what had actually happened. Put his hand on his shoulder and told him to get down on the ground as he shrugged off and said don’t touch me. He later called the cops on him.

They arrested him for assaulting the security. A guy recording everything got arrested for obstruction of justice or something. They put him in an individual cell so they couldn’t talk. Never got his info. He went through an extremely long court battle. The woman who started it was never even mentioned, and he had to do some time in jail for aggravated assault.

It’s absolute bullshit that men are instantly vilified and crucified for assaulting a woman under the right circumstances. I’m sure you can see how differently this story would’ve played out had the roles been reversed.

Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home REACTION TEARS

People are tired. They are fed up. They want CHANGE.

In what ways will a 33 trillion national debt affect the United States and ultimately the whole world?

This is a serious figure; it’s a serious number. It bodes a very bleak fate for Americans, and for any nation that holds on to American stocks, treasuries, and assets.

I suppose I can confuse the reader with bafflegab. Speak thoughtfully and with authority using obscure and technical terms, and repeat the American government narrative that all is well.

But it is NOT well.

The United States has yet again had it’s credit rating downgraded to AA+.

And it sounds “great”, but the naming convention is a distraction. The term “AA+” actually means “Significant credit risk, and looming possibility of default”.

If you all were smart, you would be “bailing” out from the United States as fast as you can get your passport stamped.

…

Go to someplace better.

Like Bangladesh, or Laos, or Bolivia.

Somewhere that will accept you and enable you to live peacefully and calmly, with a roof over your head, has decent medical care, and healthy and cheap food. Oh, and one where criminals and the police won’t shoot at you.

I’d normally advise careful consideration be taken, but given the total collapse of American society, basically ANYWHERE on the face of the planet is an improvement over the United States today.

…

There are few options remaining for the United States movement to stop the rapidly approaching “train wreck”…

Raise taxes on Americans to around 80% of income.
Lift all tariffs, so that there would be some slowing of the rate of inflation.
Re-compensate Russia and re-approach with them to get the fuel / gas prices down.

Not much can be done…

Start charging Americans for the right to breathe air.
Sell off (wholesale) United States assets, property, gold, and land.
A massive war of distraction; perhaps a global thermonuclear war with both Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea simultaneously.

Like I said, all the viable options “on the table” will have catastrophic results.

…

All of this is far too gloomy.

It’s time that I set myself to the other side of the table, and have a shot of whiskey with you. Look into your eyes, and hold your hands. It’s time for straight talk.

American society HAS collapsed.
Like a headless chicken, it is still running around the barnyard, but it is accomplishing nothing.
The “government” is non-functional.
The American citizens are riding in the car, drunk on media lies, and the driver is driving the vehicle right over the cliff.

Freefall will be surreal.

And when you all hit the bottom, it will be really ugly.

…

Jump out of the car before it is too late.

Every minute counts.

How I view the US after 12 years living abroad

If the United States freezes China’s assets, how do you think China will react?

What do you think China would do?

They’ll be more than happy to accommodate.

And it would be the most stupid thing for our politicians to do because there’s a world of difference between what we have in China than what the Chinese have here.

How U.S. companies do business: It’s hard to accurately quantify how much business assets they have in China. However, considering that between 1982 and 2021, US direct investments abroad grew from $580 billion to more than $6.4 trillion dollars, it would not be too farfetched to assume that they have at least $2 trillion invested in China. China is their supply chain as well as their major market.

How Chinese compaies do business: They stay home to manufacture and profit on their trade with the world. China does have investments in the U.S. but they’re simply “investments” and not core to their operating businesses; they don’t have major companies operating out of the U.S. whose core business is in the U.S. It wiould be hard put to assume that China’s investment is more than $1 trillion in the U.S.

So who would hurt more if these two countries start freezing each other’s assets?

How about China starting off by just freezing Tesla’s and GM’s Chinese assets? Tesla’s mega factories are worth billions but the loss of sales revenue would be exponentially larger.

And how much would Chinese companies lose if the U.S. froze their investments in farmland in the Mid West?

Russia has Officially Deployed the RS-28 Sarmat ICBM

Russia has introduced a formidable weapon that has raised concerns among its rivals. Moscow has officially deployed the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM known as “Satan II,” for active military use.

This announcement was confirmed by Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, as reported by the Russian state news agency Tass.

According to experts, the RS-28 Sarmat missile has the capability to travel over both the North and South Poles and deliver a warhead weighing up to 10 tonnes to any location on Earth.

This development has amplified concerns about Russia’s nuclear capabilities, particularly in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Steak San Marco

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

1 (2 pound) chuck steak, cut into serving pieces
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
Pepper, to taste
2 tablespoon wine vinegar
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 (16 ounce) can peeled tomatoes
Garlic salt, to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Instructions

Arrange meat in a large skillet, cover with onion soup mix and tomatoes.
Sprinkle with oregano, garlic salt, pepper, oil and vinegar.
Simmer covered for 1 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.
Serve with rice or mashed potatoes.

What is the strangest thing that drives women crazy?

Being too agreeable.

I’ve learned this over 17 years with my wife. I’ve learned to pretend to have opinions about decisions we need to make, even when I’ll be perfectly happy with any of the options, because it annoys her when I don’t care one way or the other.

From little things, like what we should have for dinner, to big things, like what we should name our children, the truth is I was perfectly happy with all of our choices. It wasn’t that I didn’t care, but rather that I saw the positive aspects in all of the possible decisions, and she did seem to care a lot, so I just let her make the decision.

I guess that drives women crazy: being with someone that’s just going to agree with their decisions 99% of the time, because that someone doesn’t really have an opinion.

So I’ve learned to fake it a lot. My wife knows I’m faking it, but she recognizes it as an improvement from the way I used to be.

Her: What should we have for dinner tonight?

Old Matt: Whatever you want. It’s all good to me.

New Matt: Let’s go with Mexican food tonight. Enchiladas? Yes. That’s what I want.

In reality, Old Matt and New Matt both had the same opinion, but New Matt has learned to just pick something and pretend he has a preference for it, to make his wife happy.

Vocal Coach reacts Dio – Last In The Line / Holy Diver Live 1986

A tiny man with the voice and charisma of a giant. Dio was truly one of a kind.

Why do the Chinese not care about the lack of freedom?

In my experience, the “freedoms” that they lack are access to Western (social) media (correction to remove freedoms that they actually have). What they get that westerners don’t, in exchange, is a very safe and modern country.

Safe: In ten years here, I have yet to witness violent crimes. My mother isn’t scared to walk alone at night, and there are no shady people lurking in public places.

Modern: the infrastructure is top notch, 5G is ubiquitous, cheap and really fast (I pay about 50 dollars a year for 40 Gb a month of data on my mobile and crazy download speeds). Cash is a thing of the past, everything related to money is digitized. With the sale app you can unlock a dockless bike (less than 2 rmb per ride), ride a bus, pay utility bills, book tickets, order food… even doing taxes is an easy app.

Many Americans like to quote Benjamin Franklin “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”.

But actually, that’s the foundation of society.

Besides, if I compare with France, my home country, Chinese people are more free on their daily life. In France, there are norms and rules about everything, usually in the best interests of corporations. You can’t play music in public places, you need to pay royalties, you can’t change a lightbulb in your office because you need a certification for low level electric work and work in high places… things like street food or street vendors couldn’t exist. In France, you are free* (so long as you abide the 300000 rules). Rules prevent many things “for your own good” but really for big companies. I come from the countryside and many people had to stop butchering ducks at home like they had for generations because they need an official slaughterhouse, which is expensive to build at home. It’s not really that butchering at home is unsanitary, it’s that big slaughterhouse need their money.

In China, you enjoy actual freedom: you are free to sell street food, free to eat it even if it’s not always sanitary, and to go to the toilet because of that, etc. The government usually doesn’t care about people’s lives unless it’s very political. One perfect example is the one child policy. When I was a teacher in college, in a time when the policy was still effective, many students actually had siblings, especially in Guangdong. The government was very strict about that with officials, who were supposed to show a good example, but a lot more lenient with regular people, especially in the country.

So in short, Chinese people in general have a very free daily life, and enjoy a very safe, modern and cheap country. If they have to sacrifice Western media for that, it’s a fair price (besides, there are VPN to get around that limit and that’s another rule the government is lenient about). I enjoy Chinese freedom more than I enjoyed the French one!

Huawei cannot make advanced chip smartphones on a large scale: US

The US is saying that Huawei cannot make smartphones with advanced chip technology in large-scale production. This comment comes amid rising worries about Huawei’s return and harming iPhone sales in China.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Tuesday that the U.S. has found no evidence to prove that Huawei can manufacture seven-nanometer chips at scale. Her response draws the attention many of people in the global smartphone industry as everyone is surprised by the return of Huawei’s mysterious chip.

Last month, Huawei unveiled its latest Huawei Mate 60 series in China. The company has not organized any launch event or mega show to introduce this smartphone. Instead, it was sold directly via online and offline sales channels. Aside from its alluring design and camera features, the phone also packs a new Kirin chipset – the Kirin 9000s.

An evaluation from TechInsight shows that the chip is processed with advanced 7nm technology made by China’s SMIC. In some benchmark tests, the chip posts even higher marks than the 5nm Kirin 9000, which is very surprising.

Why all the Ruckus?

In 2019, the US Commerce Department sanctioned Huawei from buying US-made technologies. Therefore, the company can’t purchase or produce new chipsets for smartphones and any of its tech products.

In the early days of sanctions, Huawei stockpiled the chip from various sources. However, the situation became worse as the chip stock declined.

Thereafter, it had to rely on Qualcomm to provide 4G Snapdragon chips for its smartphones. For the past two years, Huawei has been launching phones based on Qualcomm chipsets.

Within the fourth year of sanctions, on August 29, 2023, the Huawei Mate 60 Pro came into play. However, the company does not even mention this chip in promos. But it carries a new Kirin chip, which became a topic of wide discussion.

The return of Kirin also reached the White House and it was previously confirmed that the US is searching for more ‘information’ about the return of the Kirin chip. It seems the US has finally come to the conclusion that Huawei can’t produce advanced chip smartphones and that might be it for the investigations, probably.

Fat TikTok Influencer just said the UNTHINKABLE, wants you to pay for it

Is China’s Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) a debt trap?

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s ambitious plan to connect Asia, Europe and Africa through a network of infrastructure projects, has been met with skepticism and criticism by some Western countries. They accuse China of using the BRI as a tool to trap developing countries into debt and expand its influence and interests. However, this accusation is based on a false premise and a misunderstanding of the BRI’s nature and purpose. In this essay, I will argue that the BRI is not a debt trap, but a platform for win-win cooperation that benefits both China and its partners.

First of all, the BRI is not motivated by China’s selfish agenda or geopolitical ambition, but by its vision to promote the development of participating countries through enhancing connectivity. The BRI is a public good that China offers to the world, and a platform for international cooperation that is open, transparent and inclusive. The BRI follows the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and respects the sovereignty, independence and diversity of each country.

Secondly, the BRI is not a debt trap, but a debt relief for many developing countries that face financing gaps and infrastructure deficits. The BRI could reduce the costs of trade and increase global real income by 2030. The BRI also helps create jobs, improve living standards and foster social development in participating countries. Moreover, China has always been a responsible lender and borrower, and has taken concrete measures to prevent and resolve debt risks. For example, China has signed debt service suspension agreements with 23 African countries under the G20 framework, and has provided debt relief or cancellation to 16 African countries. China has also established mechanisms for debt sustainability analysis, project evaluation and risk management with relevant international organizations and multilateral development banks.

Thirdly, the BRI is not a zero-sum game, but a positive-sum game that creates opportunities for cooperation and mutual benefit for all parties involved. The BRI is not exclusive or competitive, but complementary and synergistic with other regional and global initiatives. The BRI welcomes the participation of third parties, including developed countries and international organizations, to jointly contribute to global development and governance. The BRI also promotes dialogue and exchange among different civilizations and cultures, and fosters mutual understanding and trust among peoples.

In conclusion, the accusation that China’s BRI is a debt trap is based on a false premise and a misunderstanding. The BRI is not a debt trap, but a platform for win-win cooperation that benefits both China and its partners. The BRI is not motivated by China’s selfish agenda or geopolitical ambition, but by its vision to promote the development of participating countries through enhancing connectivity.

The BRI is not a zero-sum game, but a positive-sum game that creates opportunities for cooperation and mutual benefit for all parties involved. Therefore, instead of viewing the BRI with suspicion or hostility, it is more constructive and rational to view it with openness and confidence, and to join hands with China to build a community of shared future for mankind.

The Rise and Fall of America’s Middle Class

America is bleeding out. Slowly, steadily. And it’s a self-inflicted wound. When NAFTA was signed, it set in motion decades of decline that have crippled American industry, gutted American towns, and robbed American citizens of their birthright – the simple dignity of providing for themselves and their families. But there’s a road back. Starting with denim blue jeans.

Swamp Pizza

The “swamp pizza”.

Long before I even heard of a “Chicago pizza”, I would make these pizzas that my brother and I referred to as “swamp pizza”. What I would do is take a “off the shelf” pizza kit and raise the dough extra long. And instead of flattening it out in the standard pizza shape, I would use it to line a deep Pyrex dish.

I would then fill it with the sauce and cover it up with cheese. Sometimes I would add meat and mushrooms, and always I would cover with lots and lots of cheese.

It’s been decades since I made these little Swamp Pizzas. But every now and then, I get a hankering for a swamp pizza on a lazy afternoon, and a black and white vintage science fiction or film noir movie. I will tell you that it is perfect for spending a snowy Winter day alone.

Today…

Doggie story

“My dog gave her life to save my son.

Cindy, my dog, was six years old and she was the most home-loving and obedient dog. I loved her and she knew it. When my son was born, she was immediately very protective over him. She’d sit beside his pram for hours, popping her front legs up onto the pram every now and then to make sure he was ok.

My son was almost three years old. We lived near a busy road and we were super vigilant at always child-proofing the front door – without exception. My son, as young children can be, was into everything. We’d often find him in the kitchen at 4 am with a concoction of cereal, milk, dry dog food, eggs, etc all mixed up on the kitchen floor. He was that kind of child – into everything. He also watched everything we would do and try to mimic us in his own unique way, often with highly amusing consequences.

One morning, again around 4 am, he somehow managed to ‘escape’ through his bedroom window. To rewind a little, Cindy knew not to go outside (apart from the garden) without us. We could have left the front door open all day (when my son was visiting with grandparents) and she’d never venture out. She also knew that our son wasn’t allowed to go through the front door without us, evidenced by her pushing at him if he fiddled with the front door handle. She didn’t know that it was double locked. This day, she followed my son through the window.

At 5 am, the police woke us knocking on the door. Their words were – “your son was nearly killed but your dog copped it”. They then reiterated what the lorry driver had said…

He told them that he was driving along in the dark and in the distance, he could see something ‘light colored’ moving on the road. As he got closer, he could see a dog at the side of the road barking and barking at the ‘light colored’ something. At the last moment, he realized that this was a child and was about to swerve. He said he could see the dog, still barking and glancing between the truck and the child. While the driver was braking, the dog ran out into the road, jumped at the child’s back and threw him out of the path of the lorry and at the same time, the lorry hit the dog and killed her.

According to the police, the driver said that he’d never believe what he saw unless it was with his own eyes. He said that the dog definitely knew the danger which is why she was barking so anxiously. He said “that dog just saved that kid’s life and it knew what it was doing.”

That was 39 years ago and I still miss Cindy every day. She was a rough collie (a lassie dog) and I can understand why this breed was chosen for the movies.”

School Bus story

“I drive a school bus and have a 6 grader who I would like to talk about.

Last week he was talking about an elderly neighbor not leaving her house for weeks. I tried to explain how hard it could be for her to do things. On Tuesday I pulled up and he wasn’t at the stop waiting. I looked over and saw him shoveling her porch. I was early so I waited for him. The other kids asked why I waited. I said anyone helping someone deserves a few extra minutes. All the kids started asking him questions about his neighbor. The next day 7 children got on the bus with blankets, food and cards for the elderly woman. I delivered them after worked. Now everyday she stands on the porch and the whole bus waves good morning. I am so proud of him for stepping up and doing the right thing. He taught all the children something important. I smile with pride in my heart because of the extraordinary children I have on my bus.” .

A Secret Global Coup Has Happened!

Let’s say there are 10 people. 1 is a sociopath and 2 are brutish thugs. The sociopath will use the two thugs to keep the rest in line using violence. The other 7 people will be forced to work long and hard so that these 3 can live lives of pleasure and privilege. This is the story of human civilization ever since the agricultural revolution. Countries are people farms; most humans have become farm animals and are treated as such.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Leonard

Matthew Leonard, born on November 26, 1929, in Eutaw, Alabama, embodied the spirit of service from an early age. Raised in a segregated society, Leonard attended Ullman High School in Birmingham, Alabama. He was not only a student but also a Boy Scout, instilling in him the values of honor and duty.

As a teenager, Leonard took on a job at a local drugstore, earning a modest $15 per week. This hard-earned income was dedicated to helping his mother meet the family’s financial needs. Even in his youth, Leonard demonstrated a deep sense of responsibility and commitment to those he cared for.

In 1947, at the age of 18, Matthew Leonard enlisted in the U.S. Army, beginning a remarkable journey that would span nearly two decades. He dedicated himself to a life of service, embracing the challenges and responsibilities that came with it.

Leonard served as a drill sergeant and trained young recruits at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. But as the war in Vietnam broke out, Leonard’s wife said he struggled to watch those young recruits, who weren’t much older than his sons, go to war and die. So, even though he was close to retirement, he volunteered to deploy in the hope of making a difference.

On February 28, 1967, in the heart of Vietnam, Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Leonard, serving as the platoon sergeant for Company B of the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, demonstrated unparalleled bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.

Sgt. Leonard’s valorous journey unfolded near Suoi Da, Vietnam, where his platoon suddenly found themselves under a hail of enemy fire. The enemy, armed with small arms, automatic weapons, and hand grenades, vastly outnumbered Leonard’s platoon. Amid the chaos, the platoon’s commander and several key leaders were among the first to be wounded, thrusting Leonard into a position of leadership.

With remarkable composure, Leonard rallied his platoon to repel the initial enemy assault. He swiftly organized a defensive perimeter, redistributed ammunition, and bolstered the morale of his fellow soldiers. Even in the midst of battle, he exemplified unwavering leadership.

As the enemy’s assault intensified, Leonard’s selflessness and bravery shone brighter. When a wounded soldier found himself outside the safety of the defensive perimeter, Leonard risked his life to rescue him. It was during this act of heroism that Leonard himself was struck by a sniper’s bullet, shattering his hand.

Undeterred by his injuries, Leonard refused medical attention and continued to fight. He moved tirelessly from position to position, directing counterfire against the enemy, who had positioned a machine gun that threatened the entire perimeter.

Just as the situation seemed dire, Leonard’s own platoon’s machine gun malfunctioned, adding to the peril. Without hesitation, Leonard crawled to the malfunctioning weapon, determined to get it back into operation. During this critical moment, the enemy machine gun began strafing nearby soldiers, hitting Leonard’s gunner and others.

Summoning every ounce of his strength, Leonard rose to his feet and charged toward the enemy gun. Despite suffering multiple gunshot wounds, he managed to eliminate the enemy machine gun’s crew, silencing the threat.

Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Leonard’s indomitable spirit and unwavering commitment to his comrades and mission endured until the very end. Despite being gravely wounded, he propped himself against a tree and continued to return fire until he could no longer carry on.

His incredible sacrifice and valor were acknowledged with the Medal of Honor, a testament to the extraordinary dedication and courage he displayed in the face of adversity.

Poor Cat Left To Decompose While She Is Alive | Rescue Before And After

Horrific! But a great rescue.

What is the smartest thing you have seen a lawyer do in court?

Back when I was a young teen (more moons ago than I can count) I worked as a law clerk during the summers at my father’s office in downtown Chicago. Mostly it was busy work, matching mail with files, pulling files for court and some light typing.

On occasion I would go with him to court when he argued cases before the industrial commission (work related accidents).

One of these cases involved an individual who claimed his shoulder injury was so bad he was permanently and totally disabled from working ever again. He was a Russian immigrant and so his lawyer had to use an interpreter to question him during the hearing.

What they didn’t know was that my father had been a Russian Interrogator for the Air Force during the Korean War, and spoke fluent Russian. He had been teaching me conversational Russian while I was growing up, so I was able to follow along for the most part.

When his lawyer asked the question : “Mr. Petrovitch, how high can you lift your right arm” their interpreter actually said “Raise your right hand a small amount and act as if you are in severe pain” to which the man raised his hand a little, groaned and grimaced, squinting his eyes.

On cross-examination, after a laundry list of standard questions (through the interpreter, of course) my dad said in fluent Russian “HANDS UP OR I’LL SHOOT!” The man immediately raised both arms and stretched them towards the ceiling, showing no limitations or pain behavior at all.

Of course the other lawyer started shouting his objections, the interpreter yelled at the petitioner (plaintiff) that he was stupid and the judge covered his face with his hands to try and stop laughing out loud.

The award: Zero.

My son’s school searched my child’s backpack and found his phone. Now they are holding it to the end of the year. Is this legal?

Go to the school and demand the phone back immediately. Having a phone is not illegal. If they balk at giving it back and spew some nonsense about not allowing phones at school tell them your child doesn’t have his phone in class but you as his parent require that he carry it with him to be able to track him and reach him as needed. There are many tracking apps now. Calmly, Demand they hand over the phone immediately. If they do not, call the police right there from the school office to report a theft. Get the names and positions of everyone witnessing this. Tell the school that if you don’t get the phone by the next day you will be buying a new phone and your attorney will be in contact with the school regarding the school paying for the new phone plus the old phone plus the attorney’s bill. Ask when the next school board meeting is and suggest you will be attending to discuss the dismissal of all involved, on charges of petty larceny.

You Won’t Βelieve What Τhey Have In Stοre For Us Next..

Let me see if I got this correct. The tax payer now pays for Gov stores and also pays to fill those stores with food and other items again using tax payer money. Then the tax payer goes to buy the food in the Gov store and gets tax on top of that. Crazy times we are living in!

What is the most humane gesture you have ever encountered?

Prison food is not great. It is not served on fine china or plated to be visually pleasing to the eye.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are seldom served.

For five years I went twice a week to spend time with inmates as we worked together on a book project for at risk kids.

We were all volunteers for our community, as we sat on opposite sides of the table.

One evening when I entered the men’s dormitory, where we met, an inmate handed me a small cardboard box.

He said, “We do not have anything to give you to thank you for coming here and treating us with respect. We want you to know we appreciate your giving value to our lives by using our stories to help others.”

I felt humbled and astonished when I saw the contents of the box. It was a red apple, some popcorn, and another small edible item. On the side was a handwritten note with many signatures.

Anyone who has spent time in prison knows fresh fruit is like gold. A thank you in any form is not to be taken lightly.

Inmates sharing their food with an outsider is not common. Sharing food that is fresh and seldom served is momentous.

Their gifts were not only humane. They were risky. Giving gifts was not in the rule book. I looked over at the nearby guards who also chose to be humane that day and let me know they understood the importance of what was happening.

They looked at the hardened faces of the men in my class, whose softened eyes were asking permission. The guards nodded while I fought to keep back the tears.

In all my years of teaching and rendering service to others, I have never felt such gratitude for the priviege as I did that day.

Years later, seeing a red apple stirs my spirit and reminds me, humane and selfless acts still abound.

In unexpected places, gratitude can still civilize us when we least expect it, for both the giver and the recipient.

P.S. The book is available to be borrowed for free through Amazon Kdp select. It is titled,
“Redirecting Kids for Success” Prison Prevention…for at risk kids grades 9-12.

Breaking! China just dealt a DEVASTATING blow to U.S. Dollar Dominance

Breaking news on this Monday out of China where we have new data on the dumping of U.S. treasuries and what this means for the U.S. dollar dominance. Saudi Arabia also dumping U.S. treasuries at an increased rate over the past few weeks. What is going on?

Riddle me this. China has been doing quite well under Deng-Jiang-Wu-early Xi when China was friendly to foreign countries and being part of the global community. Why did Xi change all of that? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?

Xi changed nothing. You’ve been listening to Western propaganda garbage.

Nearly the entire Global South is behind China. More than 40 countries have expressed a wish to join China-led BRICS and SCO. More than 150 countries have signed up to the BRI and wish to receive Chinese assistance.

China has treated America, Britain and EU with utmost respect. The reverse, unfortunately, has not been true. China is sick and tired of their arrogance and Cold War mentality.

Why did the West change their attitude towards China? Riddle me this.

Nikki Haley says she will stop China from killing Americans with fentanyl. Is the PRC doing this? If so, how?

She’s lying. She has no idea what to do. What she’s trying to selli is the idea that she does.

Preying on the poor is hugely profitable, and the capitalists have risen to the task. We choose to look away and complain.

HarmonyOS 4.0 reaches over 60 million Huawei devices in less than 2 months

Hauwei unveiled HarmonyOS 4.0, the latest version of its operating system, on August 4. The new iteration brought several changes to the user interface, as well as new features and improvements. Huawei has been quickly rolling out the new software to eligible devices. Earlier this month, we reported that 10 million Huawei smartphones and tablets were already running HarmonyOS 4.0. And today, the company confirmed that the OS has now made its way to over 60 million devices.

Huawei announced 60 million installations of HarmonyOS 4 on Huawei smartphones and tablet devices at its Autumn 2023 Flagship Product Launch event today. The company said it added an average of 1.2 million new users each day. This is just after less than 2 months of the formal announcement of the software.

HarmonyOS 4.0 comes with several notable changes, including a variety of rich theme templates and stylized layout designs. You can select the colors of your app icons and set emoji wallpapers and home screens by choosing your favorite emoji.

It also lets you better manage your notifications by clustering them together and sorting them by importance. The notifications for the same app are now stacked into dynamic cards so you can see more information about each notification without having to open it. HarmonyOS 4.0 also lets you identify text and images by double-clicking and then long-pressing to select them.

Huawei had a busy day today. It launched half a dozen new products in China, including a Huawei Mate 60 RS Ultimate Design smartphone with satellite calling and a ceramic body. In addition, the company unveiled the FreeBuds Pro 3 as well as the Watch GT 4.

U.S Sanctions Failed As China’s Shenzhen Imports Integrated Circuits From All Around the World!

“We see the “US of Amurdikkka is fastly declining in to a third world company/country/corporation.” Fall Babylon fall, youve destroyed so many. Now enjoy the ride down, you’ll never rise again.”

https://youtu.be/IVx7KNRiJEI

What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

I’ve been wondering whether or not to answer this… The “wrong person” is my daughter (stepdaughter really,but I’m Daddy now and forever so that settles that) and the people doing the “picking a fight”were her ex boyfriend and his father.. I didn’t personally witness this because I was in Iraq at the time,but believe me I sure heard about it.

Daughter is tall and not a delicate flower even though she has all the requisite standard equipment to attract stares and suchlike, including a startling resemblance to Gal Gadot ,and I always emphasized to all my kids the importance of self confidence ,so she carries herself with a certain pride. She has Blackfeet blood along with Irish and Norwegian and who knows what else, girl has a temper too,what can I say..

Anyways,ex boyfriend and father spot her walking down the sidewalk one weekend night and follow her,asking her to get in and go for a cruise.. She says no,but they apparently don’t want to take no for an answer and pull ahead and stop, ex BF Gets out of the car and grabs her elbow and pulls her towards the car,she pulls away and he grabs her again, by this time she is almost in the door. I had taught my kids to avoid punching someone and use their elbows if the person was close enough, which ex BF certainly was unfortunately for his dumb ass, because Daughter proceeds to elbow him repeatedly in the face with backswing strikes on her way away from the car, dislocating ex BF‘S jaw and shattering his eye socket and breaking his nose, and naturally stopped any hostilities on his part, but ex BF’s dad was pushed by this time and ran around the car and accosted Daughter, catching a 50 yard field goal kick in his balls for his troubles..I taught my kids well.

no charges were filed..

What would you recommend to China’s leaders on foreign affairs/relations?

Well, as an American woman, I would recommend that China’s leaders maintain a strong and unyielding stance against the outright bully tactics of my country’s government. To be fair, the US isn’t the only country upping their anti-China sentiments but it is the country I am from so that is what I primarily speak of.

I would say to China, you have more than paid your dues and earned your right as a superpower in world affairs. Hold your heads proudly because you have every right to. There is no need to hide your strength anymore. It is time to let it be on display.

You are one of, if not the oldest country with 5000 years of continuous history. You don’t need to bow to anyone. You don’t need to apologize for being great. You don’t need to sell your technology to the US. You don’t need to accept blame for a virus that was not your fault. You don’t have to back off of your initiatives because other countries don’t approve. You don’t have to take acts of aggression from our spy planes flying in your airspace. You don’t have to tolerate the blatant disrespect to your consulate that was closed in our country. Your people don’t have to accept racism when they come to the US to attend college, work in research, or just visit as tourists.

Please don’t let anyone else push you around anymore. Never again. Let that be your motto from here on out.

Germany Freaks Out – China, PLEASE Buy Our Cars!

“As a European, I am so ashamed of our political class and what they have turned the Eurozone into. If the european project is just a facade for American hegemony, then let it die and this is extremely hard for me to say, because I see the eurozone and union as a great idea but ONLY if we have autonomy both strategically, economic and militarily. These two years have shown we have none of it and this is why I write this. It is mindbuggling/unbelievable stupid what is happening right now.”

How can you handle humiliation in your job by your boss?

Let me tell a story about a Clerk who worked with me who made me believe that The Godfather (Book) theory that The Simplest and most humble man can avenge himself against the most powerful of men with patience

We worked in a Branch where i was temporarily in charge of recovery. The branch was a Scale IV Branch but for some reason a Scale V AGM had been deputed to the branch for a temporary basis due to some shortage or something.

This Asst General Manager who had a chip on his block. You had a good natured thirty something old clerk who worked in the department and who was a pretty good guy. He owned a family business as well and would very often give us discounts. I went on many recovery missions with him and he was always a cheerful and happy go lucky type.

Our Old Branch Manager was a good man but once he retired – until his replacement came- this AGM was posted and he was a PRIG. He was angry at working in a Scale IV post and showed it on people.

Now our Clerk always went from 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM to pick up his daughter, take her to the family business premise, drop her there, have tea and return. The lunch ended at 2:30 so he would always be around 45 minutes late which he would make up by working from 5:30 to 6:15 in the evening. He would help a lot of us.

This arrangement was unofficially agreed upon by the Old Branch Manager. The New Prig did not agree . He believed it was against Bank rules and decided to take the clerk on. Now the clerk requested the AGM to give him the time off but the AGM refused. He decided to run the department efficiently (Instead he made it highly inefficient). He refused to repair a water filter (Back then Aquaguards were rare) and calculated the cost of Pens and White Paper.

One day – the wife of the clerk came. The clerk was away for recovery and the peon took her straight to the AGM. She told the AGM that she had to go to her mother and requested that her husband pick up the child as usual. Back then there were no cellphones or SMS and the lady had come to the office for the first time. The AGM was preoccupied with something and forgot (I believe this. Others say he deliberately did what he did but i believe he was preoccupied)

Bottom line – the message was not conveyed. It was 2:50 PM or so when the Peon told the clerk that his wife had visited. The Clerk was puzzled and walked into the AGMs office but the AGM was not there. The Clerk shrugged and continued on with his work believing that his daughter had picked up the child. It was 4 PM when the brother of the Clerk called the Office and asked where the child was? The Clerk was stunned and believed the child would be with his wife but Myself and few others decided to ask the AGM (Bank Hierarchy especially PSU hierarchy is a big thing. Approaching an AGM when you are a Scale II officer is a scary prospect) but the Clerk was out of the doors.

The Good thing was that the Child was a clever girl and simply sat outside with the Watchman of the School and was relieved when the father picked her up. The Father brought her to the branch and he was hugely relieved.

What happened next was straight out of the Malayalam Movie Drivers License

The AGM who saw a child and commotion – shouted at the top of his voice. He abused the Clerk in the loudest words calling him inefficient and moron. The Clerk also raised his voice and talked about his wifes message and the AGM said “I am not your messenger or Postman”. By the time the others separated them – the Clerk had literally been abused in front of his girl who was watching the whole thing (She was in Class IV i think)

The Clerk silently took his daughter home burning with humiliation. The local association leader told him to stage a Dharna but the clerk refused. He told me “God will take care” and i thought it was the usual sentimental nonsense. He remained on his desk, never asked for any leave from the HC, did his work and we all presumed the issue was finished.

Then An Opportunity came

Back then there was no Core Banking. A Customer came with a Fixed Deposit Receipt for Rs. 6 Lakh and wanted Cash. The Officer in question looked at the register and saw that the FD number was not mentioned (No Computers also. Back then we had Ledgers where FD numbers would be mentioned and recorded). The Customer was known to the AGM though and the AGM told the Officer to go ahead and encash the FD.

However it was after Lunch and the normal officer was gone for the day. I am a law and recovery officer and have no role to play so there were no officers. The AGM promptly asked the Clerk to encash the FD and pay the cash (Highly irregular) and the Clerk said “Sir the FD number is not on the ledger”. The AGM arrogantly told him that the customer could not be made to wait and so the Clerk paid him.

Once the Customer was paid and left, the Officer returned the next day or so and searched in every register but could not find a trace of the FD record. He told the AGM and the AGM called the customer but the customer was gone (It was a honest explanation. The Customer did not cheat etc. He just was away somewhere else). The AGM was now sweating beads. The Clerk shrugged. “I am just a clerk. I follow instructions. You instructed me to encash the FD” – he said and pointed at a few of us as witnesses.

The Officer was told by the AGM to give a few days but the same evening the clerk told him “Sir…if you report this today then you are clear but if you take a few days then they may think you are also involved”. The Officer decided to not take chances and reported it.

What happened next was unbelievable. The Big Boss arrived personally and blasted the AGM. Then some people came to go through the ledgers and found Rs. 6 Lakh shortage (A Huge sum back then) and told the AGM he had to make the amount good or they would report to the cops. The AGM was shivering but nothing could be done. The cops arrived and took him to the station. Now the Clerk was a local and the cops were locals. The AGM was an outsider – so they sweated him, threatened him, took him to his house in a jeep in front of his wife and children, talked to his neighbors etc. I was asked to be there at the station as a lawyer and the cops took iron rods and torture devices in front of me. When i said “What the hell is this ??” – the SI laughed and said “Sir! We are not mad. This is just for getting him to talk”

The poor man stayed the entire day at the Station. The next day the Customer returned. He had presented an FD receipt for another branch of our bank so the number was not in our ledger. He gave the FD receipt of our branch and the ledger confirmed the number and everything was okay.

But the AGM was finished. He was humiliated in every way possible. He took leave for 4–5 days and asked for a Transfer

It was then that the clerk told me “Sir. On that day itself i saw that this FD receipt was from a different branch. Had he been a better man – i would have told him then and there. I would have told the customer itself. None of this would have happened”

I told him he had been too cruel but he said “There is nothing worse than being yelled at in front of your child for no fault of your own”.

The AGM who was destined to become CMD – resigned from the bank unable to bear the humiliation of the incident (Though it lasted exactly for 14 – 15 hours after which it was all over). He joined Madura Courts and his career was never the same. He later began to sell Reuters Screens on a commission basis.

The Moral of the Story is – Humiliation by your boss unjustly will always come back to bite the boss. This Clerk who was such a good man that when i was transfered – he travelled in a lorry with my furniture to ensure that the local packers dont take me for a ride. Yet he never forgot his humiliation and destroyed the life of the AGM.

If you are a Boss – Never humiliate your underlings. Call them separately and tick them off but never in front of others. Easiest way to make enemies.

True for all fields.

Pizzeria Uno Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

This is a clone recipe of the best Chicago-style pizza you will ever eat!

Servings: 8

Pan Dough
1 cup warm tap water (110-115 degrees F)
1/4 ounce active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup course ground cornmeal
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Pizza Topping
1 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced thin
1 pound Italian sausage, removed from the casing and crumbled
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
5 fresh basil leaves, chopped fine
4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl and dissolve the yeast with a fork.

Add 1 cup of flour, all of the cornmeal, salt, and vegetable oil, and mix well with a spoon.

Continue stirring in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Flour your hands and the work surface and knead the ball of dough until it is no longer sticky.

Let the dough rise in an oiled bowl, sealed with plastic wrap, for 45-60 minutes in a warm place, until it has doubled in size.

Punch it down and knead it briefly.

Press it into an oiled 15-inch deep dish pizza pan until it comes 2 inches up the sides and is even on the bottom of the pan.

Let the dough rise 15-20 minutes before filling.

Heat the oven to 500 degrees F.

While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.

Cook the sausage until it is no longer pink and drain the excess fat.

When the dough has finished its second rising, lay the cheese over the dough shell.

Distribute the sausage and garlic over the cheese.

Top with the tomatoes.

Sprinkle on the seasonings and Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes at 500 degrees F, then lower the temperature to 400 degreesF and finish baking for 25-35 minutes longer.

Lift up a section of the crust from time to time with a spatula to check its color. The crust will be golden brown when done.

Serve immediately.

Cat Sisters Meet After 9 Months Apart – Do They Recognize Each Other?

When do you think the Ukraine war will end?

It depends on so many factors

The Ukraine War was one of the worst miscalculations of the West and the Stupidest

The aim was to

Weaken Russia and destroy it Economically
Weaken Russia Globally and make it a Pariah
Give China a strong message and frighten China into following the Biden Doctrine

What’s happened is:-

A resurgent Russia that has something to fight for at last and has grown stronger every day
A Russo Sino Alliance that is fast becoming a nice power bloc with many nations with resources and heavy sanctions now drifting to them
Loss of Confidence in the West by 80% of the world and belief in a Multipolar world
Waning Western impact of Sanctions
Ensure China knows it’s War and prepare for it instead of catching them off guard

Today, Ukraine has been brutalized badly

It has lost 33.7% of pre SMO population as Refugees or now Russian Citizens in the Donors region and Kherson and Zaprozhye

It has lost its entire production capacity and it’s own weapon reserves have been brutally depleted and it relies on western arms and money which is dwindling every day

The West has spent $ 130 Billion so far on Ukraine and most of this money has been salted away due to severe corruption

Ukraine is sending more and more men to die

Russia meanwhile is happy with it’s grind and move strategy, minimizing casualties and enjoying the growth of their own industries in the MI complex

Scenario 1:-

The West want to FREEZE the conflict

Russia said No
Maybe Russia would be incentivized to do so like say offer to remove sanctions on Russia or maybe persuade China to convince Russia

Bleak chance of this happening

Scenario 2:-

Ukraine is destroyed

Russia decides to move from SMO to war and start hitting and destroying Ukraine like US did to Iraq or Afghanistan
Zelensky would flee and most leaders would flee then and Ukraine would capitulate
Timeline: 2025 March or April
Biden will not be President. He may not even be nominated as the Democratic candidate, so he will vindictively carry this till 19/1/25

Scenario 3:-

Trump is elected

Trump only has one term left and knows once he is elected, he has no more fears and no need to worry about voters again
He may make a deal and force Zelensky to surrender and make a deal with Russia and China
Unlike 2016, he won’t have the fear now because he can’t stand for any more elections

Scenario 4:-

The famous BAKYAN scenario

Poland moves into West Ukraine on invitation from Ukraine and forms a protectorate for West Ukraine
Central & remaining Ukraine is given security guarantees akin to Article V by Poland (Proxy by USA) and formally remains as the NEW UKRAINE
Donbass, Zaprozhye, Kherson are abandoned by Ukraine and Poland but not recognized by the West or UN as part of Russia and only as break away republics
However in reality, those territories will never return to Ukraine again along with Crimea for a long time
Russia will declare a cease fire to avoid clashing with Poland, a Nato power
Zelensky will be mostly arrested due to corruption and replaced by someone else

Timeline :- 30/6/2024 , a clean 4–5 months before the US Elections

The Destruction of Los Angeles | 2012 (John Cusack, Morgan Lily, Liam James)

Fun. Fun. Fun.

Have you ever tried to fire someone and it backfired?

I have not, but an interesting backfire happened with a close friend’s father, George.

Meet George, he is a PhD Astrophysicist and works in a very specialized field for the United States Department of Defense through a Defense Contractor. He has developed a number of unique solutions over his career that solved some very big problems for some very expensive black projects.

After over 30 years on the job he had moved to the top of his career path, he led a sizable group of physicists and engineers, but was not in management. Following a reorganization, George and his band of merry eggheads found themselves under a manager that had very little experience managing. When budget cuts came down, the green manager started reviewing the personnel files and, unsurprisingly, George was the highest paid person in the department. George was given the option to take an early retirement or be laid off. He was getting close to full retirement age and taking early retirement took a large chunk out of the pension he was counting on. He even offered to give up salary or work part time to address the budget needs. The manager would hear nothing of it.

Once George’s retirement was announced, a number the physicists and engineers approached the manager to warn him that there were solutions that only George fully understood and if there became a need to update or change some of the solutions, they may not be able to do it. George gracefully retired from the company and headed off to teach at the local university. About a year later, he heard from a number of his former team that there had been layoffs and terminations from the team by the same manager. A contract had come in to the company to modify one of George’s unique solutions and the remaining team was unable to make it work. The manager was under the gun to deliver and when it wasn’t working, he was accusing the team of being lazy and incompetent.

Not too long after, the Manager contacted George and asked him if he would come back on a short-term basis, George declined because he was happy teaching at the university. The manager continued to pester George until he finally agreed to come into the office to talk about what it would take to bring him back. George told the manager that he would come with his terms and that the meeting had to include the HR Director and the department Director.

George’s terms:

The company take back his early retirement and bridge his service so he could reach full retirement. (The manager groaned, but grudgingly agreed.)
Any of the team that was fired or forced to resign would be offered the option to come back. (The manager was furious, but George demanded that he had to have his team to be successful, so the manager agreed)
He become the manager of the department. (The manager threw up his hands and said it would never happen, there was only one manager of the department.)

The department director agreed to George’s last term.

We have A guardian Angel his name is Harry Kim.

Kathryn Janeway was a mother figure to almost ALL the crew … the clear exceptions being her first and second officers … but she ESPECIALLY was so to Harry Kim.

If you had the opportunity to bring back a deceased family member for 24 hours, how would you spend your day?

Oh my god, no. God, no… no no… I’d rather they stay dead.

Jesus, the mere thought of it gives me anxiety and stress.

My father died very suddenly last year. It was like my aunt talked to him on Friday, and he died of a heart attack on Sunday in his house.

For a few months, I kept thinking if I had any regrets. If I knew he would die, what would I say to him, or what would I want to do with him?

I came up with nothing.

It’s not like I don’t have anything to say. In fact, I have a LOT to say, so much so that I had therapy for years so that I could process and perhaps recover from all that childhood trauma from his abuse and neglect.

Would I say that to him? No. Because he wouldn’t listen. Not only he wouldn’t listen, he would turn it around and make it my fault. He would make me feel that I somehow wronged him, that I should feel guilty and ashamed and beg him for forgiveness and ask him how I can make it better. He’s an emotional manipulator, and he will never change. Not even in death.

He had, in his own domineering kind of way, made some attempt to mend our relationship after his 3rd wife died. But I couldn’t help but think he was doing that not because he genuinely wanted to fix our father-daughter relationship but because he did the mental calculation and realized with his wife dead, I was the only person who would take care of him if he couldn’t care for himself. It’s all about him. Never about me.

After he died, I wondered if he’d come back and haunt me or if he would come visit me in my dreams. Not that I believe in such things, but my aunt said her father (my grandpa) had visited her several times. And I thought, “Oh, you want to come and haunt me? Go ahead. I have something I want to scream at you. So come and haunt me and see how it ends for you, Dad.”

I’ve never even dreamed of him once since he died.

Having him back to life for 24 hours is not going to change anything between us.

The same goes for my mom, who ran off with some artist when I was 18 months old. The same goes for my grandma, who had raised and abused me…

You all better stay the fuck dead because you ain’t gonna like what I have to say to you.

Quit Your Job In 2023, This is my way out

No more 9 to 5 job for me. Do you also struggle with not having time for more valuable things in life than your work, do you spend too much time working for others? Are you feeling frustrated and stressed about not having time to live your life to the fullest, this is my story of how I realized my dream of living a simpler and less stressful life by quitting my job and stopped working for others.

Why doesn’t Huawei use Qualcomm chips anymore?

Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of the global smartphone industry, Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, once relied heavily on Qualcomm chips to power its devices. However, recent years have witnessed a significant shift in Huawei’s chipset strategy as it began to develop its own chipsets and reduce its dependence on Qualcomm. This change in course raised questions and curiosity in the tech world. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the reasons behind Huawei’s decision to distance itself from Qualcomm chips, explore the challenges and opportunities that this shift presents, and assess the implications for both Huawei and the larger smartphone ecosystem.

1: The Historical Nexus

1.1. Qualcomm’s Dominance

A brief overview of Qualcomm’s leading position in the semiconductor industry.
Huawei’s early partnership with Qualcomm and the Snapdragon chipset series.

1.2. Huawei’s Ascendancy

Huawei’s rise to global prominence as a smartphone manufacturer.
The integral role of Qualcomm chips in Huawei’s international success.

2: Huawei’s Push for In-House Chip Development

2.1. The Emergence of HiSilicon

The birth of Huawei’s semiconductor subsidiary, HiSilicon.
The strategic importance of in-house chip development.

2.2. The Rise of the Kirin Chipsets

Introduction to Huawei’s Kirin chipset series.
Technological advancements and innovations in Kirin chips.

2.3. The Competitive Edge

How HiSilicon’s chip development aligns with Huawei’s long-term goals.
The advantages of vertical integration and control over chip design.
3: U.S. Sanctions and Supply Chain Stumbles

3.1. The Unfolding U.S. Sanctions Saga

An examination of the U.S. sanctions imposed on Huawei.
How these sanctions impacted Huawei’s access to critical technologies, including Qualcomm chips.

3.2. Vulnerabilities in the Supply Chain

The precariousness of relying on foreign suppliers for critical components.
The central role of chipsets as a strategic resource in the smartphone industry.

4: HarmonyOS and Huawei’s Ambitious Vision

4.1. Huawei’s Vision for HarmonyOS

Introduction to HarmonyOS, Huawei’s proprietary operating system.
The strategic significance of developing an Android alternative.

4.2. A Unified Ecosystem

How HarmonyOS aims to provide a seamless user experience across devices.
The role of chipset compatibility in achieving the HarmonyOS vision.

5: Implications and Challenges

5.1. Disrupting the Smartphone Market

How Huawei’s departure from Qualcomm chips impacts the competitive landscape.
Implications for consumers, industry players, and market dynamics.

5.2. Pursuing Technological Self-Reliance

The broader implications of Huawei’s commitment to technological self-reliance.
Lessons for other tech giants facing similar geopolitical challenges.

5.3. The Road Ahead

The technological and market challenges Huawei faces in developing its own chipsets.
The importance of innovation, research, and development in overcoming these hurdles.

6: Consumer Perceptions and the Future Outlook

6.1. Consumer Reactions and Preferences

How Huawei’s decision to utilize its chipsets is perceived by consumers.
Factors influencing consumer preferences in the realm of smartphones.

6.2. Shaping the Future of Huawei Smartphones

Prospects for Huawei’s smartphone business in the absence of Qualcomm chips.
The role of design, innovation, software, and competitive pricing in defining Huawei’s future offerings.

Conclusion

The divergence of Huawei from Qualcomm chips signifies a monumental shift in strategy with far-reaching implications. While the impact of U.S. sanctions and supply chain disruptions are undeniable catalysts for this transition, Huawei’s investments in in-house chipset development and the vision of HarmonyOS underscore its unwavering commitment to technological self-sufficiency and innovation. As we conclude this article, we gain a comprehensive understanding of the complex factors influencing Huawei’s strategic decision and what the future holds for one of the world’s foremost smartphone manufacturers.

INDIAN NEWS is Cheap Western Propaganda

The Indian news channels like WION and ANI (Asean News International) have become cheap propaganda outlets for the Western Colonial Masters that have always ruled over the Indian population. This video shows beyond any doubt that India News is part of the Anti China propaganda network set up by American Politicians and Main Stream Media. It is no secret as they admit to it in this video that they have joined this movement of hate against China.

When is lying the right thing to do?

A young German soldier during WWII was ordered to check the house for Jews. After minutes of searching, he declares the house clear.

His commanding officer is unconvinced. “Schauen Sie in den Dachboden,” he orders. Check the attic.

“Die Luke ist offen! Die würden sich nicht dort verstecken!” The young soldier says. The attic door is wide open! Surely they wouldn’t hide there!

His commander shakes his head. “Schauen Sie trotzdem nach.” Go check anyway.

The soldier climbs the ladder. As he peers into the darkness, he sees at least a dozen Jews hiding in the attic. All women and children.

Their terrified faces look back at him. Nobody dares to move. The young soldier turns and shouts to his commander.

“Alles klar!” All clear.

The soldier closes the trapdoor, leaving the Jews in the dark. He will never see them again.

Decades later, one of the young children in the attic will recall the anonymous soldier’s kindness. Every single person in the attic survives the war. Many attribute their lives to the young man.

Dishonesty is right when it saves innocent lives.

How do pilots of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird handle the load of speed when the plane is flying at 3,540 km/h? How does a person feel when flying in an airplane at such a speed?

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was a remarkable aircraft that could fly at speeds over Mach 3.2 and at altitudes up to 85,000 feet. It was the fastest manned aircraft ever flown and still holds many speed, altitude, and distance records for a manned aircraft.

Flying in such an extreme environment required special training and equipment for the pilots. The pilots of the SR-71 wore full-pressure suits that resembled those worn by astronauts. The suits protected them from low pressure, low temperature, and lack of oxygen at high altitudes. They also provided protection in case of an emergency ejection.

The pilots also had to cope with the high g-forces and acceleration that resulted from flying at such high speeds. The SR-71 could accelerate from Mach 1 to Mach 3 in less than 15 minutes, which put a lot of stress on the human body. The pilots had to undergo rigorous physical training and medical examinations to ensure they were fit for the mission. They also had to use special techniques to breathe and move their limbs during high-g maneuvers.

The pilots also experienced a unique sensation of speed when flying the SR-71. They could see the curvature of the Earth and the stars in broad daylight. They could also see the shock waves forming around the aircraft as it broke the sound barrier. The SR-71 flew so fast that it could outrun any missile or enemy aircraft that tried to intercept it. The pilots had to rely on their instruments and their instincts to navigate and control the aircraft.

Hang on, this is VERY strange!

This is the equivalent of China recognizing Puerto Rico as a sovereign nation….

What is the best comeback you used on someone?

My ex husband and I got married at Gretna Green with just 2 friends for witnesses. On the day after the wedding on the car journey home, we were passing a field of higland cows (ginger and hairy like me apparently) and said in an insulting tone, “oh look Sarah, there’s your relations”. I immediately fired back with “yes, but only through marriage”…. friends were in stitches, he never even cracked a smile. He had no sense of humour and had been trying to belittle me in front of people as he did the entire 9 years I was with him…

Another time when I was about 25 or so, at a neighbours bbq, I approached a small group of people listening to one guy in his late 50′s or so telling sexist joke after sexist joke. At the end of each joke all the men laughed loudly and the women kind of awkwardly. I had always found this guy a bit of a chauvinist and quite ‘sleazy’ so stepped in with my own joke… Mrs Smith went to hospital to give birth. After the baby was born the doctor said to her “I’m really sorry Mrs Smith but your baby is a hermaphrodite”. “A what?” asked Mrs Smith. “A hermaphrodite, it has features of both sexes” said the doctor. Mrs Smith gasps and says “Oh my god….it has a penis AND a brain!”. The women in the group all belly laughed but the sleaze not so much

Why has the Belt and Road Initiative been criticized as “debt trap diplomacy?”

A well-told lie is worth a thousand facts. The debt-trap narrative is a lie, a powerful one.

There are three main fallacies in the West’s hype about China’s “debt trap theory”: First, in terms of debt causes, countries in debt distress today often fall into debt traps before the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Second, in terms of debt ownership, most of these countries’ debt is owed to Western or pro-Western institutions, not China. Studies show that 80 per cent of Sri Lanka’s external debt, 70 per cent of Pakistan’s and 77 per cent of Zambia’s external debt is owned by Western private and public institutions.

Third, in terms of the nature of debt, Western loans tend to be short-term with high interest rates, leading to unsustainable debt cycles, while Chinese lending to developing countries is long-term, low-interest credit that helps improve infrastructure.

The characteristics of China’s BRI financing is that it breaks through the traditional model, with no political conditions attached, and the forms of financing are pragmatic and diverse; The Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank both emphasize debt sustainability, with commercial needs flexibly integrated with national strategies.

The irresponsible monetary policy of the United States is the real reason for the concentrated outbreak of debt problems in developing countries. The United States first implemented an ultra-loose monetary policy, allowing low-interest dollars to pour into Africa and emerging market countries, and then aggressively raised interest rates to attract dollars back to the United States, resulting in insufficient liquidity in developing countries.

Since China is not the largest creditor of developing countries, why does the West hype the “China debt trap theory”? The answer is that China’s “Belt and Road” initiative helps developing countries improve their economic capability. Once these countries achieve independent economic development, they do not have to rely on borrowing money from Western developed countries to maintain production and life, which is equivalent to cutting off a financial route for Western countries.

How I See the USA After 14 Years of Living Abroad & Expat Life

After 14 years of living abroad and enjoying expat life, I wanted to talk a bit about how I see the US now… This week, we’ll be taking a look at the USA through an Expat lens… Is the U.S. truly the “leader of the free world”, or is that just a perception we’ve grown accustomed to? One of many topics that are worth thinking about is the education system. Does it really prepare us for life, or is it more about scoring high on tests?

What about healthcare access? Is it as straightforward as it seems, or are there nuances we’re missing when comparing American Healthcare with European Healthcare? Another important factor to consider is safety and quality of life, is the U.S. the gold standard, or are there elements of community and culture that we’re overlooking in comparison with overseas?

We’ll also touch on the topic of zoning. Is it just a mundane urban planning concept, or does it have deeper implications for our lifestyle and mobility? Finally, we’ll take a look at the geographical isolation of North America. Is it just a geographical fact, or could it be shaping our understanding of the world in ways we don’t realize? There’s a lot to unpack, and these are the conversations that need to be had.

In this expat podcast episode of Not Your Average Globetrotter, hosted by me, Rafael Di Furia, I’ll share how I view the US and American culture and lifestyle in comparison with the culture and lifestyle in Europe and elsewhere having been abroad for more than 14 years, questioning everything from its global leadership role and education system to healthcare access, safety standards, connections in local communities, cultural rituals, and the implications of its geographical isolation.

What is the classiest way to respond when meeting a celebrity?

My husband and I entered an elevator in a hotel in Vegas, headed to the lobby and extraordinarily tall black man was already in there. I smiled and tried not to stare because he was simply that enormous.

Husband, a sports fanatic, asked the giant of he’d ever played basketball and the giant responded that yeah, he’d played some ball in his day and DH told the giant that if he hadn’t, he would have missed an opportunity. The giant chuckled and sort of shook his head.

When we arrived in the lobby, we all kind of nodded and smiled and went out separate ways. I asked DH what his little exchange was all about.

The giant was Shaquille O’Neill, the Shaq Attack. My husband told Shaq that he would have missed an opportunity if he hadn’t played basketball.

What did you say at a job interview that automatically landed you the job?

I told a story about a kid threatening to kill himself. Let me explain.

I didn’t think I was going to get the job. Not in a “I don’t believe in myself” kind of way, I mean in a “I have direct evidence” kind of way. A meeting I’d had fell through, so I showed up for my interview super early. This meant I was sitting there in the lobby when the head of the special education department opened the door, profusely shook another woman’s hand, and said:

“You are exactly what we’re looking for. We’ll send out an offer to you as soon as we’re done with today’s interviews.” Then she looked up and saw me waiting. “Oh, you’re here early, come on it.”

So I walked in knowing I was wasting my time, but I was already there and decided to have fun with it. I told jokes. I made fun of the number of people they had in the room to interview me (7!). I was as casual as possible and answered every question off the cuff instead of trying to think of an answer they wanted to hear. Then they asked me one of those awful, super generic questions you always get when you work with kids, something along the lines of “What was your moment when you realized you knew you were supposed to be a teacher?”

I have no patience for those questions, and find them to be really performative and all about showing how generically kind and sensitive you are. For a job I thought I was going to get I might have played along and told an exaggerated story about teaching a kid to read or something. I didn’t do that.

Instead I told them about one of my students in the Emotional Disorder class I was teaching at a middle school. The little guy had a severe anxiety disorder, and we were trying to support him while also ignoring attention seeking behaviors. So when he started yelling I escorted him to the quiet break area. When he started shouting he needed to go to the hospital I assured him I would check in on him to make sure he was ok. And when he started screaming that he was going to kill himself I pointed out there was nothing in the area he could use to do it, and if he decided to bang his head against the wall it would probably just really hurt. Two minutes later he poked his head out and calmly asked if he could do his math work, and I realized that some of the interventions I was using were actually working. It was a pretty cool feeling. Everyone in the room was silent, and more than a few looked really freaked out. No worries, I already knew they gave the job to someone else, and went on my way.

They offered me the job that evening. Apparently they had an elementary school moderate/severe class with a lot of difficult behaviors, and my story had convinced them immediately that I could handle it. Oh, and that other woman I saw getting offered a job? She was a speech therapist, and not a teacher at all. Looks like we both crushed our interviews.

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

Raise all prices by 15 percent.

We had 4,000 employees and had been the world leader in our field for about 10 years at this time.

We were not the price setter, though. But we did very well and had a reasonable operating margin, enough to satisfy our corporate owners and shareholders.

Then we got a new president, an American B-school graduate. He came from Stanford, as I recall.

After some time he declared to us in the sales department (about 90 people), operating worldwide.

Raise all prices 15 percent
Go back on all orders in house and negotiate a 15 percent higher price.

I tried.

We all tried.

We suffered, badly.

No new orders for nine (9) months.
The customers with orders in place said a flat “are you out of your fr…..g mind?”

Our build cycle, order to delivery, was about 18 months.

Nine months later the factories started to look empty and were laying off staff, weekly — NO NEW ORDERS.

“Biggest boss” at our owning company got wind of this and came to town.

Our president was fired the same day and we all in sales got new instructions.

“Forget all orders about price increases — go sell as competitively as you can.”

It took about two years for the company to regain its world-leading position.

By that time, I and just about half of our previous sales organization were gone, replaced by eager young souls.

The “American Dream” Is A Big Lie

I talk about how the “American Dream” is a big lie. Too many people around the world are victims to debt, consumerism, and care too much about what other people think. I give my all knowing wisdom via Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

We are all going to die!

The neocons are marching the world towards war. Lordy!

We are all going to die!!!!!

All these videos MUST be watched to get the FULL IMPACT of what is going on right now. It’s so insane. So crazy. So very disgusting. You have to laugh.

Neocons cannot be stopped, they will get war

This is so worrisome. This is a MUST WATCH.

How does your language reflect your culture?

I have worked in the video games industry for over a decade. During this time, I introduced several Western games to the Chinese market. This experience taught me a great deal about the cultural and behavioral differences (and similarities) between Western and Chinese users.

One thing I found fascinating is how Western users and Chinese users absorb information.

The Chinese language is information-dense. Reading Chinese, you absorb a lot more information compared to reading English of similar length. There’s a reason why when Western (English) literary works are translated into Chinese, they usually “shrink” in length. Chinese Bible, for example, is thinner than English Bible.

Chinese users are very used to absorbing large amounts of information all at once. Chinese websites usually have a very busy (by Western standards) layout packed with headlines and texts. At the same time, English users are more comfortable with a minimalistic layout.

In game design, this reflects on UI and HUB design. Chinese users are very used to busy UI and packed HUB design, while Western players are more used to the “less is more” kind of design, sometimes no HUB at all.

A lot of times, when Western designers were presented with this problem, they often considered Chinese users “backward,” or “still live in the 90s,” or “just not sophisticated enough to appreciate a minimalist design.” While it was my job to explain the cultural differences, the designers didn’t always listen. They believed they could “educate” Chinese users with their “superior” design. They thought once these “backward” people saw my awesome modern design, they’d love it!

LOL.

That is not to say there isn’t minimalist design in China. It’s just what’s considered “too busy and overwhelming” style in the West is accepted or even preferred in China because of how our language functions differently than English.

Good Advice

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-EbqIpiOPNk?feature=share

Which country has the most objective news coverage about China: USA, UK, Australia, Canada or Japan?

USA knows the only thing it can do is to talk shit on China. It cannot out compete, out innovate and out succeed with China. It certainly cannot bomb or nuke China as it will will received the same from China. The only thing it can do is to talk shit.

UK,Canada and Australia. Are the U.S. fellow colonialist and fellow native slaughterers. They did so much shit in the past few hundred years and are scared of reprisal and reparations. They had no choice to get a mafia hoodlum to protect them. Talking shit on China is a given.

Japan shared the loot and plunder of Chinese and Asian people in the 2nd world war and refused to accept responsibility for her aggression and prefer to pay protection money to the U.S. they had to talk shit on China.

if you are smart and intelligent enough. None of these nations ever whisper a grain of truth on China. The truth hurts them too much.

Why everything is so cheap in China…

MINISO: how China’s 10-Yuan shop became a global sensation

MINISO’s global expansion strategies; Q3 online sales in China, and consumer reactionsAmber ZhangOct 26∙Preview READ IN APP *This post is our premium content.

MINISO (NYSE: MNSO), a Chinese low-cost retailer and variety store chain, is gaining global attention. As of June 30, 2023, MINISO operates 5,791 stores worldwide. Its annual revenue for the period ending June 30, 2023, increased by 13.8% to 11.47 billion yuan. Revenue from China reached 7.651 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 2.8%, while revenue from overseas markets reached 3.822 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 44.6%.

MINISO’s rapid overseas revenue growth has made it one of the most successful Chinese companies to go global.

(For the year ended June 30, revenue from overseas markets accounted for over 33% of MINISO’s total revenue.)MINISO is on track to reach the peak price it had since its IPO in October 2020.“一切面向海外，一切面向商品” (“Everything is oriented towards overseas, everything is oriented towards products.”) —— Guofu

Ye, CEO and founder of the MINISO [source]Expanding into global markets has always been a key part of MINISO’s strategy.

As of 2023, MINISO had already established stores in 107 countries and regions, including North Korea, with over 2,100 stores overseas. Notably, in May 2023, MINISO achieved a significant milestone by opening a store in Times Square, New York, becoming the first Chinese brand to have a presence in that iconic location.

As of year-to-date 2023, MINISO (NYSE: MNSO) has gained over 150%, despite the pessimistic sentiments towards Chinese equities.In today’s post, we will share some winning strategies of MINISO to help you understand how the company managed to succeed domestically and internationally, and whether these strategies will be sustainable.

We will also provide an update on MINISO’s domestic online sales and consumer reactions ahead of MINISO’s upcoming earnings report in November.*

Understanding the psychology of overseas consumersMINISO adopts unique sales methods in various countries to connect with the psychology of local consumers. To scale this strategy, MINISO has chosen the “agency model” by partnering with local leaders.For instance, in Vietnam, MINISO initially thought that inexpensive small umbrellas would be popular, but they ended up having an excessive amount of umbrellas in stock.

This was due to MINISO underestimating the actual preferences of local consumers. Vietnam, being a “motorbike country,” is the fourth-largest motorcycle market globally, with over 45 million motorcycles in circulation. As a result, people in Vietnam use raincoats while riding motorcycles.MINISO later collaborated with Le Bao Minh Group and specially developed arm sleeves and masks for the Vietnamese market, which immediately became popular locally.Le Bao Minh is the exclusive distributor of Canon in Vietnam and has over 200 sub-agents in 64 provinces.

With such a leading enterprise leading the way, MINISO avoided many pitfalls and reduced a significant amount of trial and error costs. [Source]The low-cost advantage has given MINISO a boost amid a slow economic recoveryAs we have previously observed, Chinese consumers are increasingly prioritizing practical purchases.

The combination of Miniso’s low-cost advantage and its creative and personalized products has given them a boost both in China and globally in 2023.Similar trends are observed among other low-cost retailers. For example, Pinduoduo is estimated to reach its target of $10 billion USD GMV for 2023, and SHEIN recorded a revenue of up to $23 billion USD in 2022. In China, there is also a growing trend among e-commerce players to adopt the low-cost strategy to remain competitive in 2023.To create a feeling of consumers “getting a bargain,”

MINISO focuses on the “golden price point of 10 yuan” in its stores.Ye Guofu, the CEO of MINISO, explained: “To make customers buy when they want to buy and use when they want to use, that’s the best thing. We must achieve this situation, so 10 yuan is the golden price point, allowing customers to have no pressure.” [source]

However, despite the growing importance of value for money to consumers, the demand for personalized and stylish products from MINISO’s main customer base of young consumers remains strong.

As a result, MINISO has made significant investments in “大牌平替” or “substituting big brands with generics” products, which are self-made products that imitate the popular themes and styles of well-known brands:

For example, from the same supplier, a water cup is priced at 379 yuan in MUJI, while MINISO is priced at 49 yuan; the same goes for socks, with MUJI priced at 158 yuan and MINISO priced at 29 yuan.

The management of MINISO stated, “The perfumes in our store are made by perfumers from Dior and Chanel, using their fragrance ingredients. The luxury brand perfumes are priced at $200 per bottle, but I only sell them for $20 per bottle.” [source]

Have you ever had a job where you did nothing for years and nobody found out?

Not me (sadly) but a guy I met when I worked at a steel mill.

It was a very big company, 17.000 employees at the time, the size of a small town with their own small hospital, fire department and armed securities with patrol cars, shops and even a gas station. So quite a big area.

I was working at the contiunous casting facility. Basically where molten irom from the blast furnace is poured into a casting unit and becomes a rectangular block of steel.

The whole company was incredibly split up in different departments each with their own hierachy and leadership. One casting unit consisted of a Foreman (which belonged to department X), 1 quality control inspector (department F), 1 guy in the control room checking all the parameters, looking at several graphs and so on (department Z) and finally 3 workers doing actual work (department A). Just to get the hang of it, 6 people working on the same unit belonged to 4 different departments. And the whole company was like that!

Like every few years some higher ups decided to reinvent the wheel and restructure the electrical maintenance department. There used to be 6 departments and after some calculations they decided to cut it down to 5 departments and integrate the workers from the sixth department into the remaining five.

It went surprisingly smooth aside from the old foreman. There was only one foreman position per department and they were already filled. Because he was 30 years with the company, starting as an apprentice and rose through the ranks after a few years they told him “We need to hold a meeting about your position but dont worry we find something for you”.

Time went on but he heard nothing at all about the meetings outcome despite several inquiries. So he simply came in his office everyday and waited for news. He had nothing to do because the sixth department didnt exist anymore so nobody could call him to fix a problem, he simply didnt exist.

But it gets even crazier. A new office building for the departments was built and he stayed in the very old 2 story building because how could he move into the new one if he didnt exist at all?

So he strolled around all day through the different units, chatting with people and drinking coffee, had an awful lot of house plants in his office, even one of those Japanese Bonsai trees he used to cut regularily (it looked like a rain forest, not gonna lie) and found himself another hobby, modelmaking. If he wasnt walking around he sat in his office and assembled those 1:24 models of planes, helicopters, cars…

It took the company 4 years to somehow recognize he is still here! But nobody could figure out how he had gone missing. HR had him listed as Foreman of department 6 and higher ups of the casting facility somehow assumed he left the company and went into early retirement or something because department six did no longer exist.

In the end, he had two years to retirement and they decided to let him carry on for the next two years. It was apparently cheaper to pay him for literally nothing than dealing with all the legal issues. Our worker protection laws are really strong and firing somebody so close to retirement means the company has to pay a massive fee to the government.

Which island has the most unusual plant life?

Ah. An insight into what life on other planets might look like. -MM

The obvious choice would be Socotra, that little Yemeni isle off the Horn of Africa, home to the iconic dragon’s blood tree. However, I think there’s another island which has even more interesting flora – New Caledonia. Sitting in the South Pacific, well over a thousand kilometres from the nearest major landmass, New Caledonia has been biologically isolated since the Cretaceous period.

Because of this, it has unprecedented, record-breaking levels of endemism: around three quarters of its plants are found nowhere else on Earth! Despite only being around the size of the nation of Israel, it’s home to four and a half thousand plant species.

Back in dinosaur times, New Caledonia broke off from a vast southern super-continent known as Gondwana. Because it remains remote, it still harbours the primeval flora of Gondwana, which has long since gone extinct in most mainland regions. First of all, it is the world’s only true stronghold of the araucarians.

The most famous species today is the monkey puzzle tree, which is native to Chile, but New Caledonia’s most recognizable variety is the coral reef pine, Araucaria columnaris. It has a thin, pillar-like shape, and grows directly on shallow limestone coastlines, especially on the Isle of Pines (a popular tourist attraction).

The araucarians are an ancient family of conifer trees, dating back to the beginnings of the Jurassic Period. During the reign of the dinosaurs, they dominated forests all over the world, and were the first trees in Earth’s history to grow extremely tall, as many stood over 60 metres in height. In fact, they are likely the reason sauropods like Brachiosaurus were so damn tall.

Despite their former success, araucarians have been out-competed by more advanced lineages of tree, but they persist in various parts of the Southern Hemisphere. The only place where they still predominate, however, is New Caledonia, which is home to 18 species.

They thrive in all kinds of habitats on the island, from its tropical rainforests and iconic limestone islets to its hilly “maquis” scrub and dry woodlands.

The closest relatives of the araucarians are the podocarps, which were also abundant in Gondwana long ago, and also maintain a strong presence in New Caledonia despite extinction in many other regions. The island has an especially interesting (endemic) genus called Parasitaxus.

As its name suggests, it’s a parasite – in fact, it’s the only parasitic gymnosperm plant in the world. Believe it or not, it has no roots, and does not perform photosynthesis (hence its rather alien purplish-black colouration). Instead, it grows exclusively out of the roots of a different endemic podocarp species, sucking nutrients from its host.

Another example of New Caledonia’s very unique flora is Amborella. This genus contains a single species, and it is in fact so unique that it has a whole taxonomic family and order to itself! It’s the most primitive flowering plant on Earth, having diverged from the rest a staggering 130 million years ago. It’s a pretty good proxy for what flowers would have looked like while T. rex was roaming the Earth.

Lastly, I’ll introduce you to Sphaeropteris intermedia, sometimes alternatively called Cyathea intermedia. With a woody trunk that can stand over 30 metres tall, one would think it was a palm tree, but it is in fact a fern – the largest fern on the planet. It further contributes to the exceptionally prehistoric feel to New Caledonia’s vegetation.

So, those are the most charismatic and fascinating members of New Caledonia’s flora. There are many, many, many more endemic species Mesozoic relics and the like, but I’ve just selected the ones which are of particular interest to the non-botanist.

Now, you all know me by now, so I doubt any of you are surprised that I can’t bring myself to finish this answer without going off-topic and talking about the animals. First things first, the wonderful birdies. The most fascinating of all the island’s avians is undoubtedly the kagu.

This species is highly unique, genetically – it is the sole species in the distinct family Rhynchochetidae, and shares the whole order Eurypygiforms with a single other species, the equally weird sunbittern of South America. The kagu is practically flightless, and probes the forest floor for invertebrate prey.

To prevent soil from getting up its nose as it digs around the ground, it has structures covering its nostrils called nasal corns, something not seen in any other bird. For mysterious reasons, it has around a third of the number of red blood cells most birds have, but thrice the amount of hemoglobin per cell.

Another highly notable New Caledonian avian is the New Caledonian crow, one of the world’s most intelligent birds.

In the wild, they fashion sophisticated tools out of ferns, feathers, thorns, grass and twigs, carefully trimming and folding them down to size. These are used to extract insects from trees, and remarkably, different styles of crow tools can be observed in different parts of New Caledonia. This could mean that these crows are the only non-mammals in the world which have distinct, evolving cultures.

The island is also home to a diverse array of tropical pigeons. Pigeons seem boring to us, but closer to the equator, species are much less drab. Some in New Caledonia are huge, measuring over half a metre in length, whereas others have vibrant colours, such as the cloven-feathered dove.

There’s also the crow honeyeater, a strange-looking bird, which – at over 40 cm in length – is the largest species of honeyeater in the world. Sadly, it’s now critically endangered.

Moving onto the reptiles, we have some very cool geckoes. This includes the rather polite-looking crested gecko, who’s got killer eyelashes:

And of course Leach’s giant gecko. Measuring up to 36 centimetres from nose to tail, this lumbering beast is the world’s largest gecko.

On the topic of larger-than-life lizards, here’s the dramatically-named terror skink. It’s even bigger than the aforementioned reptile, at around half a metre in length. It was presumed extinct until being rediscovered in 1933, although to this day it is extremely rare.

Then there’s a plethora of endemic invertebrate fauna, of course. The largest insect on the island is the giant coconut grasshopper, a freakishly big creepy crawly which is longer than your hand.

What are even more interesting, however, are New Caledonia’s marine invertebrates. For example, its waters are the only home of one of the only four living species of nautilus, Nautilus macromphalus.

And it has the New Caledonian Barrier Reef, which is the world’s longest continuous barrier reef, stretching across over 1,500 km of shallow sea. That’s about two thirds the length of Australia’s much more famous one, which is actually a smattering of smaller, disconnected reefs! This reef is highly biodiverse, and is home to rare dugongs.

My final words in this very long answer about a very small island will be on New Caledonia’s extinct animals, from the time of the last Ice Age, prior to human arrival. Back then, it was home to even more amazing wildlife, such as Mekosuchus inexpectatus.

Up until its extinction 4,000 years ago, it was the very last land-dwelling crocodylian in Earth’s history, the end of a story lasting hundreds of millions of years. It would have been an apex predator on the island, despite being only 2 metres long.

A possible prey item of Mekosuchus was Sylviornis, the largest galliform ever to live. The galliforms are an order of birds which include chickens and their relatives. Specifically, Sylviornis was a member of the megapodes, odd Australasian birds who incubate their eggs in huge mounds of earth.

It weighed in at about 30 kg, and its skeletal anatomy was markedly similar to that of the non-avian dinosaurs.

Other extinct creatures endemic to New Caledonia in the Pleistocene include a variety of other megapodes, flightless rails, huge hawks and several monitor lizards.

So, what was meant to be a quick answer about some cool plants ended up being an exhaustive ecological and paleontological survey of New Caledonia. If you stuck around for the full article, thank you very much, and if you didn’t, just try to sleep well in the knowledge that you’ll never know what a terror skink is.

America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better – US American Reaction

This is a very good video. Please take the time to watch it.

Irresistible Exotic allure! Russian tourists flock to China’s border city of Heihe for breakfast, shopping

It may seem surprising, but a growing number of Russians are making the trip to have breakfast in Heihe, a border city in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, before heading back home.

Heihe sits across the Heilongjiang River from the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk. The river is known in Russia as the Amur River. Since the resumption of visa-free group tourist trips between China and Russia in Heihe on Sept. 21, 2023, there’s been a noticeable uptick in Russian visitors. A simple boat ride allows for easy movement between the two nations.

Many Russians are attracted to Heihe’s breakfast offerings and shopping experiences. They indulge in local breakfast staples such as soybean milk, tea eggs, and Baozi — steamed stuffed buns. Some have even crafted a unique dining blend, pairing Baozi with beer.

Many vendors at morning markets have added bilingual Chinese-Russian signs, and some have picked up basic Russian to better serve their visitors.

Given its strategic location, Heihe has long been a nexus for China-Russia trade. It stands as China’s primary supplier of everyday Russian products, which are then distributed nationwide.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has made trade between China and other BRI partner countries increasingly convenient.

Beyond Heihe, many other border areas in China exude an exotic allure. Cities and regions such as Dongxing in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Manzhouli in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Horgos and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Mengla county in Yunnan Province have thrived due to the expanding cooperation under the BRI. These places now serve as critical ports connecting China to Southeast Asia, Europe, and Central Asia, and beyond via railways and economic corridors.

Over the past decade, these border regions have directly witnessed, participated in, and benefited from extensive cooperation under the framework of the BRI.

Meanwhile in the United States…

Texas Chicken-Fried Steak with Cream Gravy

Yield: 6 large servings (2 pieces each)

Ingredients

Steak

3 pounds 1/2 inch thick round steak
2 cups all-purpose white flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
Vegetable oil (corn, peanut, safflower oil) for frying*

Cream Gravy

1/4 cup pan drippings
1/4 cup all-purpose white flour
3 cups warm milk
Salt
Black pepper

Instructions

Steak

Trim the fat off the meat, remove the bone and cut the meat into 6 equal size pieces. Use a meat mallet to pound the steaks on both sides, until they are 1/4 inch thick. Then cut each pounded piece of steak in half (making 12 pieces total).
Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a large shallow bowl. Beat the eggs and milk together well in another large shallow bowl.
Dredge the steaks in the seasoned flour, coating them well on both sides. Then use the meat mallet to pound the flour into the steaks. Dip the steaks in the egg-milk mixture, then dredge them again in the remaining flour. Set the steaks aside in a single layer on a large piece of wax paper.
Heat the oven to 200 degrees F.
Pour the vegetable oil to a depth of 1/2 inch into 2 or 3 large heavy-bottom skillets (iron skillets are best). You will have to cook the steaks in 2 or 3 batches, depending on the number of skillets you have. Set the skillets over medium heat. The oil will be hot enough for frying when it pops when you sprinkle a few drops of water on it.
Carefully put the steaks in a single layer in the hot oil and cook over medium heat until the bottom side of each steak is golden brown (about 7 to 8 minutes).
Turn the steaks over, cover the skillets, reduce the heat to low and cook until the bottom sides are golden brown and the steaks are tender (about 8 to 10 minutes).
Transfer the steaks to a heatproof platter, cover loosely with aluminum foil and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the remaining steaks and prepare the cream gravy.

Cream Gravy

Pour the remaining oil out of one large skillet into a heatproof bowl or measuring cup, but leave in the skillet any particles of batter that stick to the bottom of the pan.
Return 1/4 cup of the oil to the skillet and stir in 1/4 cup of flour. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan, but don’t let the mixture brown.
Slowly add the warm milk to the pan, stirring with a fork or wire whisk to prevent lumps from forming. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the gravy is smooth and thick.
Add salt and black pepper to taste.
Serve the chicken-fried steaks with the cream gravy poured over them.

Notes

* Beef suet, lard or solid vegetable shortening are traditionally used for cooking chicken-fried steak

What did the military give you or instill in you that you wouldn’t have had if you didn’t join?

A free house.

In Belgium you could join up “for life” (until retirement, you can’t do that anymore) and get a shitload of perks.

You got a free apartment, free water, electricity, telephone, gas, and cable TV.

You could eat for free and you got your uniforms for free. You also got free cigarettes’, free beer, and free condoms.

Whatever else you needed you could get at substantial discounts.

When you traveled from Germany to Belgium (every weekend … yes, we went home for the weekends during the Cold War), it was on military trains where the customs officials had no jurisdiction. So our kitbags were loaded with cigarettes which we sold on the black market in Belgium.

We always used public transport as it was free as well.

You could get a free university education as well if you passed the screening tests. The better your education, the easier promotion came, the more money you made.

Basically, you could put your whole monthly pay in the bank and then some.

In the days of the Cold War, most joined for the perks. You had a good job and job security.

What did all that amount to? A free house.

HUGE BOMBSHELL! China & Russia Sign $160 Billion Strategic Project

Best ever friendship China- Russia helps to build up global prosperity.

https://youtu.be/JnQtWGw95b4

Have you ever witnessed a customer become aggressive because they believed they were given an incorrect amount of change?

I experienced many times when I worked as a cashier. 99.9% of the time the customer was mistaken. There was a woman who came into our store every 2 weeks and usually made a stink about some aspect of poor service , etc. We suspected her of stealing also. She was not happy unless she made a clerk or cashier cry.

Once she tried to pull the wrong change scam on me and it backfired on her. While I had a fully loaded till, I only had rung one sale that day and that customer had paid with a $20 bill that was ripped. I put the bill under the removable cash drawer so that I could tape it back together later. .

The store got busy so I opened my register. The scammer purchased a few small, inexpensive items and paid with a $50. When my drawer opened, I noticed the damaged $20 was sticking out so I lifted the drawer and stuffed it back in and also put the $50 under the drawer. I make the correct change. The customer starts screaming that I made the wrong change and that I’m stealing from her. She calls me a thief repeatedly. I locked the register down as the manager comes running over.

Customer is throwing and all out hissy fit, crying and screaming about how I should be fired for stealing from her. She also started throwing her purchases at me, hitting me in the face. I know the manager is going to pull a reading on the register and count the money in and under the drawer. I stepped away and discreetly called the police. I knew we finally had her.

Surprise, surprise. My drawer balanced. Evidently she saw the damaged $20 and assumed it was a $100 and thought she would try to take advantage of us. The police show up. I explain that she has slandered and assaulted me (I have a raised red welt on my face), I want her arrested and I will sign a complaint . My manager tells them that we have video. She also explains what happened with the customer trying to scam us financially. As the police walk her out, some items fell out of pants, so stealing was added to the charges

Long story short, it goes to court. She got community service for assaulting me and a substantial fine for the stealing. But the best was the store manager printed out the customer’s image from the store video and made a poster stating that she was banned from the store. She taped it to the entrance door. Lol Plus she made smaller versions and taped one to each register telling the cashiers to call a manager if she is spotted in the store.

Looking Poor is More Important Than Ever

What things are just not worth the effort?

The vice president of Korean Air, Heather Cho, in 2014, was so angry about being served Macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a porcelain bowl that she forced the plane to return to the gate at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport so the flight attendant could be removed.

She also demanded that the flight attendants get on their knees to apologize to her.

Heather Cho, the daughter of the CEO of Korean Air at the time, Cho Yank-ho served five months of a one-year prison sentence after South Korean court found her guilty for violating aviation law.

The flight attendant filed a civil suit against Cho and Korean Air, asking for a total of 400 million South Korean won ($354,000).

“The Seoul western district court ordered that Korean Air pay him 20 million won for attempting to coerce him to drop the case.”

“He was also entitled to another 30 million won ($27,000) as compensation for Cho’s assaults and insults.”

In all, $18,000 was all he was able to get.

It took one and a half years for the flight attendant and cabin crew chief to get their jobs back.

Her father could have just said “yes, my daughter is batshit. Here, have your jobs,” but that did not happen.

This was a perfect example of the abuse of power that seems to be all too common in South Korea and amongst a good number of Asians even here in Africa.

There is always a better use of your high influence than using it to make people feel like a puppet.

It’s just not worth it.

Sources:

The Duran: Zelensky is FINISHED as Russia Forces NATO to Seek Frozen Conflict

Are Huawei and China Mobile developing a completely separate hardware and network stack for mobile to support 6G?

You have to.

6G is 100 times faster than 5G. Nothing we have supports this. It is 100Gb/s. I think there are fiber lines that support this. But that is in PC, not mobile.

It is a challenge to do this in the power factor that mobile phones have. You don’t have access to 300W of power.

So everything has to be done from the fundamentals and re-engineered to work in a mobile form factor.

Wired, whether copper or fiber is completely different than wireless. This is brand new territory for human technology.

Overrated?? America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better

Will a US sanction on BYD be more or less effective than on Huawei?

Oh please

BYD is an EV company and China sits well above the US in this field

They control

The Rare Earths and lowest extraction and process costs
The Patents are theirs
The Raw Material supply is theirs
The Technology is entirely owned by China
The Software and Electronics are theirs
You take them out of GPS, they will laugh and use Beidou in 10 seconds or Galileo

At best US can prevent their sale in US but BYD expects that anyway

The only area where US hold some away is AUTONOMOUS DRIVING

Here US holds the edge while China hasn’t yet gone full flow into autonomous driving because it’s superfluous and expensive today

The ADS for Tesla costs around $ 13000 to make in the factory and design

China will get it to $ 4600 by 2025–2026

Then my guess is Oppo and Baidu will take over the Autonomous driving revolution in China

China is immune against their development of High Speed Rail, EVs, Solar Panel, Rare Earth Extraction, Steel and Alunimum and Nuclear development and Aerospace

US can’t do squat except prevent these models from being sold in US but frankly Automobiles always depend heavily on their domestic market with the sole exception of Germany

What did a neighbor do to you that you will never forget?

When my son tragically died she bought groceries, put them on the doorstep, knocked on the door and left so I didn’t have to engage in conversation if I didn’t feel like it (she stayed just inside her front door in case I did want to talk).

She cooked meals I could put in the freezer for me and my daughter that I could eat (I have several food intolerances she knows about and which mean I can’t actually find ready-meals in stores).

She put our bins out every week until I could do it myself (it was one of my son’s jobs each week).

She was always there when I needed a hug. Even now, four years on, she is there to talk to, to reminisce with about my boy’s antics, to share a tear with about the loss of him. She is never afraid to bring him up in conversation and talks to her young sons about him, holding him up as an example of the type of young men they should strive to be.

I have had a lot of bad neighbours, but she is a blessing that outweighs the others a million times over

Florida Businessman Dies from Virus : Meets Three Guardian Angels (Near-Death Experience)

Bill Tortorella shares the story of his Near-Death Experience, occurring after contracting a virus at a jewelry trade show in Tucson, Arizona. During his encounter on the Other Side, he describes being transformed into a beautiful beam of light, being guided by three guardian angels, reuniting with his deceased brother, and having it revealed to him where we come from and why we are here. Bill shares what it was like to feel that he was back in his True Home on the Other Side and how the love and forgiveness he experienced helped him to live his life differently after his Near-Death Experience.

Why did China sell missiles to the terrorist group Hamas?

The missiles used by Hamas were aided by the United States to Ukraine!

Yes, it’s an American missile.

The United States provides “aid” to Ukraine, and the corrupt Zelenskyy government officials resells it cheaply to Hamas.

This money is enough for Zelenskyy family to live a luxurious exile abroad in the future.

What happened to some of Hong Kong protesters who got prosecuted for breaking Hong Kong’s national security law?

What happened to some of Hong Kong protesters who got prosecuted for breaking Hong Kong’s national security law?

The legal system in Hong Kong works slooowly… it took them 3 years to prosecute me for not wearing a seat belt on a bus. A woman who rioted in Mong Kok in 2016 went to trial in 2020.

So what’s happened?

Open court trials happened. Open court trials YOU can attend by sitting in the galleries.

Some were convicted some were not.

The trials and convictions began in 2021. Convictions and acquittals are going on as you read this on 26th October 2023. Last week 4 rioters from PolyU were sentenced to around 4 years. That means we’re likely to find out in 2024 as some of those sentenced in 2021 and 2022 of 2–3 years will be released from prison.

My guess is that they will be absolutely unemployable Yer see Hong Kong doesn’t have the rehabilitation of offenders act like the UK. In the UK if you’ve served a prison term you no longer have to declare it but it will show up on a CRB check.

As such they will likely be exploited for the rest of their lives.

You go jogging in the morning and you see old people sweeping streets. It’s hard work as I see them leaving trails of sweat. They may get jobs in those areas and the bosses? They can exploit the shit out them as they wish. What are they going to do? Quit and work somewhere else?

Those last chance employers have ALL the power.

Even the leaders of the rioters and politicians. When was the last time you heard from them? The Nathan Laws who ‘escaped’ to the UK. When was the last time he was in the limelight? When was the last time he said or did anything?

Or they may become homeless. Way back in 2021 there was a rioter who was sentenced for 8 months and was released. He was homeless and had a piece of cardboard begging for money. You can’t go any lower than that and once you get down to that level all that’s left to help you are charities.

What was combat like for American soldiers in Vietnam?

You sweat. Especially in an M48A3 Patton tank. You’re cramped, well the guys in the turret were but the driver didn’t have it too bad though he had 30 rounds of 90 mm stacked around him along with control panel in front and to the left plus fire extinguishers.

The driver had three telescope views to the outside world. One to the front, one to the left and one to the right. In the jungle, he could barely see anything out of them but green. And he could only see about eight or so feet ahead. He had help from his TC who had a better view and told him which direction to go through the com. You can’t hear conversations in a tank unless you are wearing your CVC helmet with the com speakers in it. Tanks are very noisy. Don’t let the movies fool you. You cannot talk and hear each other normally in a tank. Not in a 48 anyway. Not unless you are wearing your ‘Bone Dome.’

Tank crews in Vietnam, especially in III Corps sweated because inside the tank the temperature could reach 130 F or 54.4 C. Without gloves, you could burn your hands on the surface steel of a tank. Crewmen wore either T shirts, no T shirts.or just flak vests, if they wanted to. And their trousers of course.

So before moving up into the tree line, or jungle, you sit there sweating and waiting and sweating and waiting and sweating and waiting. That’s the worst part of eminent combat. Waiting…..and thinking. Too much time to think. Too much time. That was the problem. You were praying to get moving. Thinking too much was not good.

So you sat and waited and listened to the chatter on the com. A big ice block could be felt in your stomach and you got thirsty as hell and gulped evil tasting warm water.

Your eyes detect everything, right down to the flies that land on your vision block and you think, ‘You won’t want to be there in a little while. Fly away little guy.’ At times you wish you could fly away with him but here you stay, seated in a 52 ton steel hot box, a hot box that is nothing but a killing machine manned by 18 and 19 year olds just out of high school. They look tough in their combat gear but take off the combat uniform and give them t shirt and jeans, and you’ve got innocent looking kids. They are the ones fighting your wars.

Then, all changes. You’re ordered to move up.

“Time to find the bad guys,” you hear your gunner say on the com.

“Or time for them to find us,” the loader chimes in.

“Cut the chatter chipmunks,” the TC says sternly. It’s not like advanced training anymore, a crew being in combat together often is much less ‘Army’ and more personal.

Moving into the jungle is not pleasant especially in a buttoned up tank. It’s nerve wracking everytime. For a new guy it’s nerve wracking because he doesn’t know what to expect. For a combat vet it’s nerve wracking because he knows.

The pack or engine of the tank is loud. All you can hear is that and the voices on the coms. Combat can happen in seconds. You have to remember you are not alone. That’s hard to do in the lead tank because it seems like you are. However there are ground troops, M113s or ACAVs and other tanks with you. You are all going through this shit together.

You do not know when it’s going to happen then suddenly, you are in it. Green tracers are steaming toward you, sometimes you see sparks then a smoke trail snaking your way and mortar explosions falling around you. If there is a lot of this happening and does not stop, you know it’s an NVA regiment and not the VC. A VC fire fight only lasts 15 minutes or so. Hit and run. With the NVA, it’s hit and hit. You know your in for a fight. Now you hear the TC’s voice on the com telling you where to drive, telling the loader what type of round to slam into the breech, usually it’s canister or Beehive if they are available which they usually are not.

In close combat the gunner is not needed, shots are eyeballed by the TC who can fire the big 90 from his cupola. Canister rounds spray shot like a huge shotgun. The gunner is on the back deck of the tank armed with either an M79 or an M3 grease gun or if lucky to get one, a Car 15. He’s watching for jumpers who usually try to climb onto a tank and disable it with packs of ChiCom grenades. Surprisingly, it is fairly safe on the rear deck of a 48 because as I mentioned, a tank is never alone.

The nervousness has left you and you concentrate on doing the job you’ve been trained to do. A good tank crew operates like a well oiled machine. Their sole purpose is to kill the enemy and get their fellow crewman back to base alive, in a month or so.

Being in combat is an experience few people have had. There is no other experience like it. It is loud, time is sometimes sped up or slowed down, there’s no time to be scared as you are too busy to be scared and some of the sights you see are locked in the deep recesses of your mind only to come out later in life to haunt you.

It is after combat that the full effect of what you have just been through hits you. Some get the shakes, some talk fast and crazily, some are too tired to move and a few joke about it to hide their true feelings. There is no exhaustion ever felt as the exhaustion you feel after a lengthy combat action. Some men are dead and some are dead tired.

Seeing your own dead you usually have two thoughts in quick succession. You feel for the guy and what his family will soon learn and nearly at the same time, you are glad it wasn’t you laying under that poncho.

I found out what “the China threat” really is–and it’s hilarious

References to “the China threat” are widely used to justify the diversion of public money to weapons makers. But what is it? Look closely and we find “the China threat” is a series of vague allegations that China is planning to impose its system on the world—evidence-free claims that no scholar believes. Yet at the same, a very different “China threat” DOES exist, and it’s not what people think!

Do you agree that despite the animosities between China and the West, it is nevertheless in China’s interests to try and calm the Russians down and get them to adopt another approach to the Ukraine situation?

A peace proposal was reached early in the conflict last year. But it was vetoed or blocked, only not by the Russians.

There was no Chinese involvement.

In the meantime, China hasn’t shipped weapons to either side, or provided monetary aid, unlike, ahem, Nato members. Ukrainians soldiers are being paid in US dollars, while a select group of young Ukrainians are driving brand new Teslas and German cars on the streets of Kiev, partying into the night while conflict ravages their country.

China has instituted export control of commercial drones, after these were found weaponized in large numbers by Ukrainians. WHO paid for them?

China’s consistent position has been, let’s sit down and talk this through, and overtures have been made. Unfortunately, this isn’t a bilateral quarrel between Russia and Ukraine, but with the entire NATO.

Joe the elder(ly) will have to take the pedal off the gas and walk back from escalating this conflict.

There is little China (and the rest of the world ex-first) can do, just like Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen…

The only difference this time is white people feeling the economic pain of war.

And I mean the whitest of white, not the “not white enough” cannon fodder being slaughtered and displaced in the tens of millions.

You want it that way, you can have it.

Leave Asia out of it. We have had enough suffering the horror of war, particularly the Muslims of the Middle East.

“Europe” does not accept Russia as part of “Europe”, despite Russia being sovereign over the largest piece of EUROPE.

This quarrel needs a shift in mindset, and I am not referring to the russians.

“Europe’s” problems need not be the world’s problem.

Note: Hundreds of thousands Ukrainians are dead, and more than 20m Ukrainians have turned refugee. Is Ukraine in a better position today than 2014–2015, when the Minsk agreements were signed (and reneged) TWICE? Ukraine gave the finger to Russia for 8 long years, ignoring two brokered agreements.

Zelensky and co. belong in jail.

China and Malaysia’s Rare Earth Metal Deal, Put U.S in Panic

Today’s video is a deep dive into the significant geopolitical decisions made by China and Malaysia regarding the export of rare earth minerals, which play a crucial role in driving today’s tech-savvy society.

How has living as a Buddhist monk (temporarily or permanently) changed you?

I have been a Theravada nun for 8 years now.

Here are the main changes that may take within you.

Lack of sensitivity towards your own self and your own needs. – Monks and nuns are constantly under immense public scrutiny in culturally Buddhist countries. At first you feel extremely sensitive and it’s a huge pressure. But with time you get used to it. Also the lack of freedom and comforts compared to laity may make one quite selfless and tough.
Sensitivity towards others – People keep looking forward to you in their bad times and you have to act as their guardian angel. But in their good times they may somewhat forget you. You learn this nature and learn to deal with it.
Whatever you do, you do not expect anything in return – You are a public figure. Being a public figure (specially if a monk or nun) is the same as being anything public. Everyone uses you but there is no one in particular to look after you. And again this will make you very tough, independent and very strong.
Even the worst introvert can become the most outgoing person – This was the case with me. If you want to do something for the society you get so much support from the laity. It is very easy to do social service.
Develop leadership qualities – People always want you to lead them in everything so if you do not have nor develop leadership qualities you are more or less doomed. So you learn it.
Patriotism – A lot of monks/nuns in traditionally Buddhist countries gets criticized specially by the Western Buddhists for this. But as a monk or nun you have very little things to call yourself apart from your country, ethnicity and religion. So the patriotism comes naturally and it is quite inevitable.
You become very patient.
It was originally intended to be a very calm and quite solitary life style but you can also make it the busiest life if you want it to be. You have the choice. However you have very little bonds and you feel so free whatever you do.
Inner calmness.
More understanding of life and worldly nature.
The immense discipline.
Sense of family towards other monks and nuns.
Respect for the elders
As a nun I MUST specially mention the discipline of the Buddhist monks and the way they treat the nuns specially in my country Srilanka. I had been a lay person till I was 28 years old. And there hasn’t been a single day that I did not face some sort of a sexual harassment from lay men in public places. But once in the order you don’t even feel that you are a woman. Suddenly gender has completely disappeared and you all just become human beings – monks and nuns. It’s so beautiful.

These qualities may increase if you stick to the practice as well. But just being in the robe without doing a minute of meditation can make you a different person in itself.

I see it among the monks who have been in the order since their childhoods the most. Eventhough they may not meditate as a habit there is a significant patience and an inner discipline among them. The later you enter the order the lesser the change may be. Ofcourse when you keep up the practice a lot of changes start appearing but it also can go down when you stop it. And the farther you keep away from the laity and the more you stick to the company of fellow monks and nuns the more changes will take place within you.

Worship whom…

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/35o5NQuNFFs?feature=share

Why is America the only country that tips? In other words, why are Europeans so cheap?

My own experience here. Back in the 1980s when I worked in a BR (British Rail) information kiosk, I had an American couple come up and ask for a train itinerary to get up to Fort William in Scotland. They were keen to stop off at various places en route so it took a good half an hour to work out times and optimum ticket prices.

Once they had collected all their notes, the gentleman pulled out his wallet and proffered me a tenner (£10 note) whilst thanking me for my diligence.

Naturally, I turned his “tip” down and said that what I’d done for them was simply my job and that we weren’t permitted to accept such things.

Blimey, that was it! The gent was visibly taken aback then his partner launched into a very loud verbal lashing of me saying that I was extremely rude for embarrassing him in front of everyone else, adding that they were “only trying to help your poor wages”.

Somebody in the queue piped up with “we don’t need your money, pal”, at which point the couple stormed off and kicked the door on their way out.

It could be argued that I went “above and beyond” but all BR clerical staff were salaried back then and we’d be mortified to have people announce that they thought that we were poor!

Generally people in Europe are paid a living wage so we don’t need to extract a tip out of everyone at every transaction to make ends meet. We leave that to our American cousins!

This is a HUGE PROBLEM for all of us!

This is a must watch for anyone who cares about our country and We The People !

Do you believe that America’s involvement in various global affairs has played a role in China’s ascent to superpower status?

This is a very good question.

Yes in a huge way it is. Though China and the Chinese people Confucian character and ethics itself is a phenomenal force.

If the U.S. had not foolishly fought wars that achieved absolutely nothing and cost tens of trillions of dollars that literally bankrupt America that pave the way for China to speedily caught up the U.S. and overtook it in most aspect of superpower status.

Just imagine this. Korean War is to stop North Korean to being communist. Today 80 years latter it is still a communist nation. The same goes to Vietnam. After 10 trillion lost 3 million dead and most U.S. gold reserves evaporated yet today half a century is still a proud socialist nation. Iraq is fought to introduce democracy to them. After 5 trillion dollars down the toilet Iraq is as i lambic nation as it was. But worst it now ally with Iran now. Another 3 trillion dollars thrown into the money pit is Afghanistan to get rid of the Taliban after 20 years the U.S. surrender the nation back to the Taliban.

The U.S. achieved nothing but hate and a broke and bankrupt nation! But worst. During the 60 years of continuous self created conflicts while the U.S. real standard of living standard of living stagnated back to the 1960 level today in 2023. During these same duration China grew 50 times in 60 years! By 2021 The Chinese life expectancy overtook the U.S. having doubled from 39 to now close to 79 years old!

You would think the US learn lessons from this nonsense but no. But today in 2023 the U.S. is fomenting coups in Africa, doing regime change in Russia, fighting another 10 trillion dollar un-winnable war in Ukraine, seething a stage to begin another war with China doing another Tokin lie in Taiwan and South China seas. It seems the U.S. won’t stop till it is finally collapsed in a total civil war! But that is the U.S. where popularity of leaders triumph over rationality.

China is laughing all the way to the bank metaphorically and factually. While the U.S. economy is is dire straight. Ukraine requires a billion a day Chinese provocation cost another billion a day and CIA and NED activity will totally burn up their cash but heck, your million homes less living on tents can wait, your 35% of Americans without medical insurance can die without help!

Israel Has just CUT OFF Water Supplies to Gaza – Just Like Ukraine did to Crimea

World Hal Turner

NEW AL JAZEERA REPORT SAYS ISRAEL JUST COMPLETELY CUT OFF THE WATER SUPLY TO GAZA! Just like Ukraine did to Crimea.

It was a Crime Against Humanity when Ukraine did it. It is a Crime Against Humanity now that Israel is doing it.

To deny human beings water means death in as little as three days.

During those days, people will have to take a crap into a five gallon bucket and haul it out to dump it somewhere.

With THAT type of sanitation, disease outbreaks will come fast; killing many who have some water stored and are otherwise surviving.

The shear hatred between the two sides over there would be mind-boggling were it not so long in coming.

Most of us have known for years this type of day would come. Few of us thought it would be in our lifetime.

Meet Frane Selak, the world’s (un)luckiest man.

In January 1965, Frane was aboard a train travelling through a cold, rainy canyon.

At one point of the journey the train was somehow flipped off of its tracks, and tumbled into a river.

A bystander rushed to the train’s aid, and pulled Frane out of the river. Unfortunately, 17 people drowned, trapped inside the train as it sank to the river’s bottom.

A narrow brush with death.

The next year, Frane was aboard the only plane ride he would ever take.

During the flight, the plane malfunctioned, and Frane was blown out of the aircraft.

He tumbled through the air— and landed safely in a haystack.

The plane crashed in a field, killing all 19 of its passengers.

Yet another close call.

It seemed that Frane had experienced his fair share of near-death experiences, but life still had quite a lot in store for Mr. Selak.

1966- A bus Frane was aboard crashed into a river, killing four. Frane was able to swim to safety with only minor injuries.
1970- While he was driving, Frane’s car suddenly caught on fire. He managed to escape just before the fuel tank exploded.
1973- In yet another driving incident, the engine of Frane’s car was doused in scalding oil from a malfunctioning fuel pump, causing flames to shoot through the air vents. Other than singed hair, Frane was unharmed.
1995- While on a trip in Zagreb, Croatia, Frane was struck by a bus. Luckily enough, he only sustained minor injuries.
1996- As Frane was driving, he was forced to swerve into a guardrail to avoid an oncoming truck. The rail collapsed under the car’s weight, sending it plummeting into a gorge. However, Frane wasn’t wearing a seat belt, so he was flung out of his car—right onto a tree. He held on, and safely watched as his car tumbled down into the gorge.

While he’s lucky to have survived more than seven brushes with death, Frane Selak seemed plagued by misfortune.

That is, until 2003 rolled around.

Two days after his 73rd birthday, Frane purchased a lottery ticket—- and won. It wasn’t a small amount, either: Roughly $1.1 million USD.

Perhaps even better than his lottery win?

He’s gone over twenty years without being placed in a life-threatening situation.

Frane Selak truly has beaten all odds.

My Son Didn’t Want to be Born; Pre Birth Memory and Near Death Experience

“I really appreciated the whole “I want to go home” statement. I never wanted to kill myself but I have that feeling of wanting to go home all the time. My husband never understands this because I will be at our house but I feel lonely/a longing to ‘go home’”

The US’ small yard & high fence protect its outdated & obsoleted technologies which are one to two generations behind of the Chinese technologies such as hypersonic missiles, smart phones, chips, green energy, stealthy fighter, radars etc. Why?

Simple.

Small things amuses small mind. To most Yanks the world stood still since 1945. That is their failure to recognised that the world has move on.

Americans stood still while China advanced beyond recognition in a space of a mere 74 years since 1949. ASPI the acronym for Australian Strategic Policy Institute coincidentally an off shoot of the U.S. Neocon group concluded that today China lead the U.S. in all 37 out of 44 most key and strategic technologies and material sciences going into the future.

Hubris, over estimation of themselves, racial bias and frown upon Chinese people, wrongful dismissal of Chinese progress and achievements. Coupled with being so full of it attitude caused the U.S. to lose all its lead in technology. While China work their guts out the U.S. simply deteriorated by by feeling entitled and foolishly ignorant and naive about their collapse going into the 21st century.

Another way to put it they slumbered into deep sleep mode till it is way way way too late. And any counter action on China hurts and harm the U.S. way more that it affects China. It hasten China’s lead. And speed up US implosion. And being full of it they did in the space Center ban GPS threat, trade war and Chip act all of which cost the US an arm and a leg. And padded China’s lead further.

How can I find out who’s stealing my lunch from the office fridge?

I added a drug in my food which induced diarrhea and waited to catch the culprit.

I was fed up with the lunch thief. Every other day someone would eat my lunch and this was a common phenomenon happening in our class. Any day a student bring something delicious it was bound to disappear. Some students stop bringing lunch others used to carry their lunch box wherever they go. Complaints were made to the school principal but, couldn’t catch the thief. I suspected few students which included some senior students also but, didn’t dare to say anything. Then I decided to do something extreme.

I brought a local delicacy for lunch one day and invited every possible classmate to have a bite during lunch hour. The morning hours were chemistry practicals and we had to leave our bags in our classroom. I knew if the thief got news about my food, he will strike during this time only. We all went to the practicals. Nearly one hour later we heard a commotion and saw principal and few teachers rushing upstairs, immediately followed by nurses. My teacher also went outside to see what was happening and then we saw one of my seniors crying loudly and taken on the stretcher by the nurses. He was the one who tried to eat my food but, didn’t know that I had mixed a drug extracted from a plant which induces diarrhea. He ate my entire lunch went back to his class and within 15 minutes started to have uncontrollable loose motions. That class was opened only after disinfecting which took 2 days.

He was admitted to hospital for a week. Later on, he confessed that he ate food from my lunch box before falling ill. My parents were called to the school and I was asked what happened to your food and I confessed to mixing in the drug for which I got nice beating from my father.

But, that incident made me famous in my schools and students started to bring lunch without fear. I felt like a savior of the world.

Edits 1- Lot of people have commented regarding the legality of this situation. I was in 8th grade when this happened. I didn’t mix the entire potion of drugs in my food, it was few drops. The diarrhea was contained within few hours but, the culprit felt weakness and took a week to recover. To everyone knowledge, I won’t use that drug again but, if someone tries to mess again with my food…….hahahahahahahahahaha (beware)

US decrypts the secrets of Kirin 2035, Huawei did not respond. The discovery scares the U.S.

The United States decrypts the secrets of Kirin 2035, Huawei did not respond.

The discovery scares the U.S.

https://youtu.be/zp8fL5uX3DU

Have you ever checked into a hotel room and found something unexpected?

Yes. One of the major regrets of my life. Let me explain……

As a young single sales engineer for Digital Equipment in the early 80s I attended a european sales meeting held in a posh hotel in Majorca. We were told that junior ranks (like me) were to share rooms, so after picking up my key I went to my room and saw a suitcase on the other bed. No probs, I thought, until I took a slightly closer look and noticed it was opened and full of female underwear. Hmmm, there must be some mistake, thought I. So I trudged down to reception, they assured me the room allocations were made by the company organisers not themselves, but they sent me to another room, which did in fact have a male engineer in it.

I subsequently discovered that the female in the original room was an absolutely stunning blonde Swedish girl, also single, and the organisers (a couple of girls from the Geneva Head Office) had mischievously allocated us together hoping that love would blossom.

What a wasted opportunity, I should have stayed in the first room and seen how events played out.

Have you ever seen someone who badly needed it “get dealt with”?

My middle school was relatively clean cut. It was a private school.

Most of the kids came from good homes. They weren’t the fighting types.

There was this kid Brandon, who used to bully everyone. (There always seems to be at least one doesn’t there?)

He was one of those early teenagers who had a big early growth spurt. He was bigger than everyone.

He was angry for no reason all the time. A perpetual scowl on his face.

He’d constantly be in the face of kids much smaller than him, egging them to fight him. He’d say, “You are a pussy.”, “Do something you pussy.”, “I dare you. Push me you pussy.”

I occasionally was the target, I’ll admit.

He’d throw a 12 year old boy into a locker right as the kid was talking to his crush. It was brutal. He had no qualms embarrassing people.

Nobody in our school was much of a fighter. And most of us were smaller so we didn’t really want to test our luck.

That summer, apparently there had been a meeting with school officials where it was communicated that his tenure at this private school should probably end.

Code: expulsion.

He didn’t learn from his expulsion from our school. His ways continued.

But he would learn soon.

He went to a new public High School with the same assholish attitude, that “looking for a fight” approach.

Unfortunately, the new pool he was swimming in had bigger fish: kids from a rougher side of the train track.

One particular kid “opted in” on his invitation to fight and Brandon got himself a badly needed public ass-kicking.

My conclusion, that actually gives me some solace:

Every bully will change his ways eventually.

Or he’ll have his ways changed for him.

There’s always a bigger, badder dude out there, gladly willing to be the “vehicle of his enlightenment”.

Now that China is beating the US in every aspect such as technology, life expectancy, quality of life, infrastructures, resources such as steel and rare earth, smarter people, no homelessness, does this mean that its the new superpower and the best?

No it does not want to be a super power. It wants a fair and just world! The U.S. can still pretends to be the superpower and spends its way into oblivion. Go right ahead. Prepare for another hundred US wars!

China just wants to make money and give its people peace and prosperity. If the U.S. prefer to see 5 million homeless in the U.S. but fund Hong Kong poor and hoodlums to pretend to protest. That is their right of the US to deprived its own people and interfere in every corner of the globe.

China wants the world to be a better place. It wants to help build a better and fairer world. The U.S. can necked it’s citizens to death in bright daylight or shoot 16 years old due to his skin colour. That is their right. The U.S. can fund another 10 Ukraines wars and cause 10 million deaths that is the U.S. right.

China knows what it needs, better roads, better high speed railway, better infrastructure better access to IT and facilities for its people to progress. China won’t do shit like the U.S. China won’t bankrupt itself over muscles flexing like the U.S. It wants to give its people better food and more food and better homes and nicer cloths. Better health care and free education.

You ask this question because you see from a western lens. China needing to over lords the world now that they are rich and successful. That is the western way. Not China not the Chinese people. They want to sell to the world. They want to make stuffs for the world. They want to trade with the world. Sure they are super duper ready if you ever threat them.

Have you ever found out a horrible family secret from your parents?

Yeah, from my dad but AFTER he’d died, when I was given a load of his stuff.

I knew my mum had left him, but we were told she left me and my brother with dad because she couldn’t take us with her as we were on our dads passport and he was in the army.

Well it turns out my dad kept the “Dear John” letter she wrote him when she left us all.

She made it clear that my dad was to stay in contact with her parents, but to not contact her about us.

The courts naturally awarded her custody in the divorce, but she never came for us.

We ended up living with our paternal Auntie, long story, and she hated our dad and did her best to ensure he couldn’t take us back from her.

She made us wards of court and sought a custody of sorts, which she won.

In the paperwork for that was a note saying our mum had a new life, spouse and a daughter with him and didn’t want to be involved with her two sons.

Reminder — she left us, she didn’t come get us after the divorce and didn’t prevent our Auntie from keeping us.

My dad never ever told me any of that, not even a hint and I had years of on and off again contact with mum before eventually going to live with her when I was 17.

He’d kept a load of her photos, original birth certificate, all the court documents from divorce and ward of court stuff, everything we’d need if we’d wanted to find her when we were older but to also show she’d left us and he’d tried his best to keep us.

He was civil to her the few times they saw each other, like when he came to visit me when I was living at hers and when I got married, but he never mentioned the past.

Even when my brother estranged himself from dad after years of our Auntie drip feeding him lies about dad, Dad never said anything about Mum and what our Auntie did to him in regards to taking his boys off him.

Dad left the Army, left his girlfriend in Germany with whom he’d settled down with after Mum left and they were going to raise us as a family when he came to get us back from his sister…he left everything behind to come and live round the corner from us and start all over again with nothing.

He had to die before I could find it out the truth, I never got to speak to him, to hear his side because he just left it in the past and was the best dad he could be in the circumstances.

I miss him and honestly the wrong parent died early in my view.

What is the oddest conversation you’ve had with a telephone scammer?

It was a Sunday morning, and I was bored, so when the phone rang, I jumped to answer it.

I forget the detail, but the first sentence spoken by the caller gave the game away.

I put on my best British upper crust accent, and demanded to know where he got the number from.

He umm’d and arr’d. I demanded again, whilst I turned around and barked an order to trace the call to the non-existent millitary staff behind me.

Tapping on my computer keyboard, for sound affects, I informed the caller that he had called a millitary number restricted for use by 10 Downing Street (and no-one else), and I continued to question him, whilst having secondary conversations with the non-existent personal behind me.

I kept the call going for 30 minutes, and I’m pretty sure that I heard the precise moment the poor guy shat himself.

In the end, I let him off with a warning and an instruction to ensure that this number was not called again.

I didn’t receive an unsolicited call of any description for more than two years after that.

Initially, I felt cruel, figuring this was just some kid in a scam call centre. That feeling wore off when I realised what a tale this guy had to tell his mates later on.

How do you politely decline when an older family member tries to give you things they no longer want?

You politely say, “Are you sure you want to part with it?” Then depending on the item, you can say that you will keep and cherish it as a family heirloom, or, you can be honest and say, “While this is lovely, it doesn’t fit with my decor. I will be glad to take it and find the perfect home for it where it can be loved and enjoyed.”

The biggest fear many older people have is that after they die, people will come into their home and not respect the things that were special in their lives. My mother’s fear was that her “special items” would simply be thrown away.

While your older relative is alive, ask them to walk you through their home and tell you the history of the various items throughout their house. You may gain a new respect for those items, as well as get clues to another family member who may actually want that item or have a connection to it. You may also find out if the items have significant monetary value or just sentimental value.

Your relative may think some items have high value, such as old or expensive sets of china or some collectible figurines, but the reality is that people no longer are interested in china sets or other items and they are worth very little. Older people can be devastated at the loss of value, so if that is the case, you don’t need to tell the older person, just reassure the person that you will take those items and care for them, then you can later dispose of them appropriately. If you don’t have room to store items, it may work to say, “I know you love this figurine (or whatever.) Why don’t you keep and enjoy it, just put my name on it for the future.”

The key is to respect the feelings of your older relatives and help them care for their special items in a respectful and caring manner. After they are gone, you can do what you need to do.

What are some signs that someone may be manipulating you, even if they don’t seem like it?

Years ago, my then-girlfriend gave me a pair of Bluetooth headphones as a birthday present. I appreciated it and tried so hard to make them work. But they kept irritating my ears and always fell out. Eventually, I went back to my regular wired headphones — not realizing this would trigger a huge point of contention.

Every time we went to the gym, she’d cross her arms and lament, “It’s a shame you won’t use those $150 headphones I got you.” She brought it up for months and months and it started to feel like I’d loaned money to the devil.

Humans are strongly reciprocal in nature. Any healthy relationship is built on giving and receiving in a fair manner. When there’s a gulf in this reciprocity, it creates a power imbalance. This is why gifts are a common tool for manipulation by people who score high in machiavellianism (having a desire to control someone).

Bestowing presents is also a common tactic by abusers. Each of Michael Jackson’s accusers made similar claims of him showering them with amazing gifts. They felt a sense of loyalty to him, particularly when it was time to defend him in court.

With my aforementioned ex, we eventually reached a resolution that once a gift is given, it is released. There are no claw-backs. There is no weaponizing them during arguments or using them to create resentments. That relationship taught me to keep an eye out for scorekeeping. Anytime someone tries to lord over me that they did this one nice thing for me — just to get their way on an entirely different subject, I tend to get prickly.

Even favors can be used against you if you aren’t careful. The most advanced manipulators use them, and you can too, in a good way.

Ben Franklin had a political enemy who was making speeches against him. Franklin remembered an old quote, “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.” Then he asked that political enemy to loan him a rare book. Ben eventually returned it to him with a nice thank you note inside the cover. Suddenly, their political rivalry vanished and Franklin had a new friend.

Asking for a favor is a conveyance of trust and need. A person feels chosen. You’re suggesting they have something you don’t: knowledge, ability, and resources. It also appeals to their insecurities. If you don’t know the requester or are angry at them, it creates a cognitive dissonance: why am I helping someone I don’t know or whom I’m mad at?

Your brain watches you behaving in conflict and creates a subconscious conclusion: you must like the person. After all, we ask favors of people we trust and care for, right? Beware of pro bono favor requests from people who have something to gain from you.

China Just REVEALED Update Plans For NEW Moon Base

China, who has seen a dormant phase recently regarding its lunar exploration program has recently released updates regarding the continuation of its lunar exploration program. As this important endeavor continues, China is on track to land its Taikonaut on the lunar surface and achieve one of the biggest milestones in its sector.

BOOM! Turkey Enters Israel-Palestine Fight — Warns U.S. to STAY OUT

World Hal Turner

The President of Turkiye, Recypt Erdogan, has publicly come out in support of Palestinians in the ongoing HAMAS-Israel conflict and has PUBLICLY WARNED the United States to STAY OUT of the conflict.

Erdogan says that his country is “with our innocent Palestinian brothers” and explicitly warned — everyone — that Turkey is “willing to defend Palestine at any price.”

It looks to me as if he just threw down a Gauntlet. To the US. To Israel. To pretty much everyone; perhaps even including NATO!

Erdogan knows that Poland, just yesterday, said they were sending military transport aircraft into Israel to evacuate Polish nationals and that if those aircraft are attacked, Poland would invoke NATO Article 5, resulting in the 31 country NATO alliance making strikes against Palestinians!

With today’s announcement, Erdogan just dumped cold water all over Poland . . . AND NATO. Neither will be able to do anything if Turkey says no. NATO requires unanimity before the bloc can engage in military action.

This HAMAS-Israel thing is spinning out of control so fast, it’s hard for me to even keep track of it.

Frankly, in my opinion, this has “Disaster” written all over it.

Why doesn’t America feel shameful when talking about human rights when they have only been in peace for 17 years in its entire 247 years of history?

They are deluding themselves. Most Americans still think they are exceptional. They are so deluded that they think it is alright for their government to use chemicals like ‘Agent Orange’ in the battle field. They think it is alright for them to torture captured prisoners with ‘Water Boarding’ and all other forms of ‘Tortures’. One picture has kept me awake at nights for a long time is the one showing a naked young girl running away and crying because she and other kids were being chased by American soldiers after they saw the unarmed civilian grown ups being tortured and killed by the American soldiers. And of course who can forget those picture showing prisoners being torture in Abu Ghraib prison, on the outskirts of Baghdad. There are too many pictures for the American Authority to deny their existence. And a former US President got the nerve to say that ‘Water boarding’ was not torture.

Another picture that come to mind is when Secretary of State, Colin Powell, a former 4 Star General, holding up a tube containing washing powder and claimed that as proof of Iraq’s ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’. He mis-spoke. He should have said. ‘Weapon of Mass Deception’.

Thank his ex

Where would a war between China and the United States be fought?

Simple cheek for cheek an eye for an eye!

China will not start a war. To China it knows wars don’t resolve anything. It focus on being able to do tit for tat.

So if the U.S. talk shit and do daft muscle flexing and chest thumping like a gorilla, China will do nothing. China’s view is

It will intelligently let the US have a long rope to hang itself if that is what the U.S. wants. But if the U.S. hit China in China it will reciprocate by hitting US in U.S. if you kill a hundred in China it will kill a hundred in U.S. mainland. If you kill a thousand China will kill a thousand. If you use a nuke on China, China will use a nuke on U.S.

So if you want to stay safe stay in your shore in Florida or California. If you are loitering in South China Seas. The U.S. had 2 choices. One blow trillions for nothing. Or two, murder equal number of people in China and the U.S. or worst turn earth into a nuclear dust.

Right now the U.S. choose blowing billions like a faded and aging hoodlum flexing its muscles no one bother to pay attention to. All it needs is it swing accidentally and hit China to start a mutual self destruction. I think it is suicidal.

As a doctor, what is the most dangerous lie a patient has told you?

It wasn’t a patient, but the sister of his wife who demanded that my girlfriend tell a big lie to her patient. According to my girlfriend, it happens all the time in Muslim families.

Only a couple of days ago, my girlfriend found out that the patient was dying from bladder cancer metastasis. He did not have much time left — quality time, that is. She explained that to the family members who had come to the consultation room.

Not only his wife and children were there, but also his wife’s sister and an even older aunt, and some other family members — there was a bunch of them. The man himself was in his room. Asleep.

The sister and his wife asked — well, actually insisted — that my girlfriend would not tell the patient how bad his condition really was, and she certainly was not allowed to mention that his end would be very painful and bad.

My girlfriend kindly explained that she cannot tell this kind of lie to a patient — that he had every right to know about his condition, and that there were also the options of palliative care or euthanasia, which he had every right to think about before the pain would get even worse.

The problem is: in Muslim families, euthanasia is a no-go, and they rather have beloved uncle-husband-father patient succumb to the worse imaginable pain, than to help him go finally asleep without pain. Their way of coping with it is simply to not tell the patient.

But my girlfriend refused (she always does).

And she also told them that she had already spoken with him, and that he had dearly thanked her for telling the truth. He had suspected for a while that this was going the wrong way, but he needed confirmation — which he now had. And he planned to think about the options, now that the pain was getting worse.

His wife’s sister was furious, and exclaimed that the proposed therapies were not an option.

Yeah. But, you know, she was not the one in pain though.

What are some lies car mechanics tell?

I purchased a brand-new Honda Civic, which I drove very little and kept garaged. At 21k miles, I was told by the Honda dealer that the car needed brake work in order to pass inspection. I was highly skeptical, since I’m not hard on the brakes, and my previous vehicle did not require ANY brake work until around 80k miles. However, I was recovering from surgery and not able to do much myself, so I agreed to the work. I questioned this, and got a long BS story from the Service Manager about how I didn’t drive the car often enough, and as a result, the brakes were wearing. Something didn’t seem right, and I should have known better.

At 25k miles, the vehicle had other service work done, and the Honda mechanic reported that the brakes were fine. However, as I was leaving the dealership, I overheard the Service Manager having the exact same conversation with another customer about her brakes. The same BS reasons (not driving enough) were given, verbatim.

Roll forward to 31k miles, and the Honda dealer tells me they need “immediate attention”. By now, I was recovered and strongly smelled a rat. So I declined the work, and put the car up in my own garage. I was pissed when inspection showed nothing wrong with the brakes whatsoever. In fact, they looked almost new.

Since that time, I have driven the car for 2 years and over 16k miles, passing state inspection (which includes brakes) both times, without any brake work!

Took my business elsewhere, and didn’t look back. That was the 5th car bought by the family at that dealership, it will be the last.

Has anyone ever taken a DNA test and found something completely shocking?

I have a good one. I had long had a suspicion that my father was not my biological father. We looked nothing alike, not that it bothered me, but he was a 5′4″ Egyptian man and I’m a 5′9″ very white woman. At some point, my sister’s MIL gave her an Ancestry DNA kit for her birthday. Sure enough, it came back with 0% anything related to Egyptian. Both our parents have been deceased for several decades so we couldn’t ask them. At that point, I figured I should just go ahead and take the DNA test myself. Sure enough, same with me. I told my sister than I had heard a rumor from my mother’s best friend that our parents had fertility problems. I had quietly assumed that we had been a product of a sperm donation for years. My sister and I appear to be half sisters. She’s three years younger than I am so it makes sense. Sperm donors usually don’t donate for years and they may have tried to get a donor with at least some darker features. She was somewhat more shocked.

Fast forward six weeks after my results came in and I get an alert from Ancestry, I have a match. I open up the email and the first line is something like – “John Smith (not real name) is your father”. I was ready to acknowledge that I was not biologically my father’s but, for some reason, it startled me that I would find my actual biological father. I didn’t contact him. I was in my forties at the time and I imagine when he donated sperm that many years ago anonymously, it never occurred to him I’d show up.

That being said, a couple weeks later, he contacted me. After a few back and forth messages, it turns out he was a sperm donor, a retired OB/Gyn (not my mother’s for the record) and was indeed my biological father. On top of that, I have three other half sisters, the youngest of which is three months older than I am. He likes to brag/joke that he had two women knocked up at once. Of course, there may be more of us out there.

I’ve met the family multiple times. They’re a very nice group of people and my biological father calls me his fourth daughter. I look a lot like my sisters. At 5′9″, I’m actually the shortest sister. My bio dad at his tallest was around 6′5″, I think.

As crazy as all of this sounds, it didn’t really cause any identity crisis. I was in my 40’s. I knew who I was at that point and who my “real” father was, the one who had raised me. On top of that, I had fertility issues myself (just age related) and had used donor egg and sperm for my daughter. I discovered all of this after my child was born. It would never occur to me that my daughter wasn’t my “real” daughter. I gave birth to that girl and raised her and I’ve been honest with her about all of it, in an age appropriate way, of course. My mother died when I was eight so my Egyptian father was a single parent raising two girls. I still feel half Egyptian. As far as I’m concerned, I just have more nice people in my life.

Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond (Remix by Patryk Pryce)

Another fantastic remix. I really love this version.

Bluegrass rock.

Shit, I must of listened to this version about a hundred times! Damn!

Did China lose money on its bullet train project?

Absolutely

China averages around 65 Billion RMB a year on Losses on the HSR and an aggregate loss of 5.77 Trillion RMB totally

Sounds huge doesnt it?

It would be if you were an American

For a Chinese system, this is a pittance

Let me explain

First

HSR is regarded as a PUBLIC SERVICE in China

Public Services are always subsidized by the Governments from Beijing to the Local Governments

So these losses are reimbursed by the Taxpayers

The estimate is the average Chinese taxpayer pays 3.77% of his tax money to maintain his country’s railway network

Meanwhile an Average Indian contributes nearly 3.11% of his annual income for a railways that’s maybe a fifth of the level of Chinese quality

This is why I keep saying India isn’t ready for a HSR

Our people are too poor today as a whole to pay for the HSR unlike China whose population is way more middle class and have larger pockets plus the fact that HSR has an entire massive hub ensuring the lowest cost of operations

A HSR of 1/10th the size of Chinas in India would cost the Indian Taxpayer 8.41% of their annual income (Around 2100 Kms length)

It’s why despite the operating losses of 65 Billion RMB a year , only 10 Billion RMB or 15.4% is reimbursed from borrowings or debt

In India, a whopping 57% is reimbursed from borrowings

In Pakistan, 77% is reimbursed from borrowings

In short the people happily pay for the losses because (a) they are capable enough to pay for the losses with a near 50% middle class (b) the amount is not that high, around 3.77% of their total tax money

Second

Intangible benefits

The HSR enables development of areas and places deemed uninhabitable a decade ago

In Shenzhen a worker pays 870 RMB for 32 m² Apartment while 240 Kms away in Guaoxi he pays 400 RMB for 60 m²

Earlier Guaoxi took 6 hours by Road

Today Guaoxi takes a mere 65 minutes by HSR, the 230 kph line, not even the 418 kph fastest line

Thus he saves almost 500 RMB a month which translates to 6000 RMB disposable income a year

The fare for the train is paid out of profits by the employer

This extra 6000 RMB can be spent on other things and thus enhance the economy

The Value of intangible benefits is estimated to be close to 7 Trillion RMB or so

Third

Asset Monetization

The Benefit of Socialism

China owns the land on which the HSR is built, valued today at close to 21 Trillion RMB and that’s not even market price but a 60% discounted government local land price

Thus the total losses are barely 33% of the Assets owned in land alone

Thus the HSR is in vibrant and excellent economic shape

What is the dumbest thing you have ever done

The dumbest thing I’ve ever done …

Well, in my defense . . . oh, never mind. It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. I have no defense.

Remember this excellent product, ladies?

It made our hair wonderfully moisturized and conditioned, silky, shiny, and lustrous. It comes in small tubes, and you put it in a glass or cup of hot water to heat it up, apply it to your wet hair and work it through, leave on for just one minute (!) and then shampoo it out.

Alberto VO5 products (made by a company named Alberto-Culver) are very good and inexpensive hair care products. They go back a long way; even my Grandma used them. In her bathroom was always VO5 shampoo …

and this …

And never mind “conditioner” .. we used this, Tame Creme Rinse …

I remember, when I was a young girl, wondering why “cream” was spelled c-r-e-m-e, and why a guy named Toni was making stuff for girls (?) And why the heck was Tony’s name spelled with an ‘i’ instead of a ‘y’?

Okay, sorry. I got sidetracked by nostalgia. (Love and miss you, Grandma and Mom.)

So, the dumbest thing I’ve ever done? I gave myself a “hot oil treatment” but not with VO5. Not that time. That time I did it with this:

I melted some (probably more than a tube full, but, ya know, I was putting Vaseline in my hair. What’s one more dumb thing?) in a small saucepan on the stove, applied the “hot oil” to my hair, and well – did I let it sit on my wet hair for one minute? Hell no … I let it sit for ten minutes.

Yeah, I hadn’t thought it through.

It completely congealed. Back to its original state. Petroleum Jelly. My hair looked like I went swimming in an Exxon oil spill.

I shampooed .. and shampooed .. and shampooed. It wouldn’t wash out. In desperation, I even called an Ask-a-Nurse hotline for advice, which was a fairly new service at the time, around ‘78 or ‘79. (I was only 21 or 22 at the time. Is that a good defense? . . . No? Yeah, you’re right.)

The nurse I spoke with told me to try laundry detergent or an astringent, which sounded reasonable. I bought two bottles of Bonnie Bell astringent. It rolled off my hair like a car windshield that’s been treated with Rain-ex.

NEXT…

Yes, I washed my hair with powdered laundry detergent. Was there no end to the dumb shit I’d try? Apparently not. That didn’t work, either. Perhaps the nurse meant liquid laundry detergent. Well, dammit. Then she should’ve specified.

Finally I spotted something that gave me hope, in the kitchen of all places. Like a shining beacon of relief from an ordeal of my own dumb doing, one I’d been dealing with for three days running. It was a fairly new product, too. One that had “grease cleaning power”, or whatever their slogan was back then. And .. hallelujah! It worked!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason nothing but this adorns my kitchen window ledge.

Have I done dumber things than giving myself a hot oil treatment with Vaseline? Oh, I’ve done a couple of dumb things since, sure, but nothing quite as dumb. My brother-in-law thought it was the funniest freakin’ thing he’d ever heard. He told everybody. I’d meet friends of his and they’d say “Oh, are you the one who put Vaseline in her hair”? I never lived it down.

“Yep … *sigh* .. yep, that was me”.

Shocking: Nightlife in Kampala, Uganda

This is ASTOUNDING.

What’s something scary you’ve done?

I started a men’s group.

And… it was terrifying.

The idea came from a conversation with my therapist.

“You need to find meaning outside of work,” she said. “What are you passionate about?”

And get this—
Even in the *safe space of therapy* I felt awkward telling her: “I want to normalize vulnerability between men. I want to support other dads. I want to feel their support.”

“That’s a beautiful idea,” she said. “Go for it.”

So I:
– Posted on a local Facebook Group
– Got hundreds of likes and comments
– (ironically, 80% from wives tagging their husbands)

I felt imposter syndrome every step of the way.

“Who the hell are you to start a men’s group?”
“What do you even have to offer?”
“No one’s going to come.”
“You suck.”

But I did it anyway.

(While responding to that voice with a healthy dose of: 🖕)

And now, 7 of us meet in my basement every two weeks.

It’s:
– 10% parenting advice
– 90% “I need to get this off my chest”
– And 100% “Why don’t men do this more often?!”

There are two things I’m trying to say here:

The first is that I have three boys at home, ages 16, 12, & 8.

I don’t want them to grow up like me:
– Terrified to share their feelings
– Show weakness
– Be vulnerable.

Incapable of connecting with other men on an emotional level.

Because life’s short. We’re social creatures. And finding our shared humanity is one of the greatest joys of life.

The second thing is that:
– The inner critic is a liar
– Your comfort zone is a liar
– Imposter syndrome is a liar

Each of us has unique gifts to give to the world.

But it takes stepping out of that comfort zone.
Taking risks.
Falling.

Getting back up.
Doing hard things.
Being the change you want to see.

What are the best ways to become the best at whatever you do?

Follow this simple process:

Write Down Your Goals Twice Every Day. You cannot get the things you don’t remember you wanted in the first place.
Do Something For The Goals Every Single Day. Success and excellence only come from what we do behind the scenes every day.
Work Harder Than Everyone Else. To be the best you must work like the best. Period.
Get Over Yourself. Get over the fact that you can do this all while staying comfortable and do the things you do not like to do and that scare you.
Believe You Are The Best Before You Are. If you do not believe it, why should anyone else?
Focus All Your Energy On Improving. You are not the best yet, so you must grow into the best by improving everything you can as much as you can.
Invest In Yourself. Spend the time, energy and money required for you to become the best.
Do Not Give Up. This will take longer than you think it will and will be harder than anyone told you, but if you give up, you will never be able to reach it.

How does the ousting of China’s defence minister and foreign minister reflect on President Xi Jinping’s leadership?

It has no effect because defense and foreign policy are not made in the Defense and Foreign ministries. These ministries are only involved with policy implementation.

Foreign policy is formulated by the Director of Foreign Policy 外事办主任。 This office is now headed by Wang Yi, who took over as Foreign Minister after Qin Gang was put under investigation in June. This means that Wang Yi is responsible for foreign policy, and is also responsible for foreign policy implementation as the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Defense policy is devised by the Central Military Commission 中央军委, of which Xi Jinping is chairman. The Defense Ministry is responsible for defense policy implementation.

China is not ruled by Xi Jinping individually, but by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, of which Xi is the face and the spokesperson. Because it is not rule by individual ego, as is often done in the west, it has no significant effect on Xi himself.

Can Israel survive a long drawn out war of attrition?

Hezbollah is waiting for Israel to start the ground invasion of Gaza then they will open the northern front. With Iran, Russia and China potentially backing this war, what will be the situation if this escalation happens?

Israel does not have the stomach to take heavy casualties nor the capability to fight a prolonged war of attrition on three fronts i.e. Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon. Israel has a Jewish population of 7.1 million, around 50% of which are of fighting age (18–55) male and female.

[1] Size of its army is 634,500 including reserves, that is around 18% of population which is in the 18–55 years bracket. With these statistics, how much casualties can Israel take? Without US soldiers to die for it, Israel will run out of soldiers long before it runs out of ammunition.

Hence the only way Israel can survive this war is if US comes in with full force to fight alongside IDF and die for Israel. Short of that Israel is in deep trouble, as it is surrounded by the ocean of Muslim world with unlimited supply of manpower ready to fight Israel given half a chance.

It remains to be seen whether American public is ready for another “never ending” war, and whether American taxpayers are willing to fund it.

They aren’t stopping for shit

How do you politely decline paying for a group dinner?

Our somewhat spoiled and entitled 34 y/o son invited a couple friend of his to join us at an expensive beachfront restaurant. We had graciously picked up the tab for him and his friends on previous occasions, so we expected it to be more of the same. No big deal except that couple brought another couple we’d never met, and they all proceeded to order filet mignon. They also ordered two more to-go for their large dogs waiting at home! I whispered to my husband to keep his wallet in his pants and to order us two hamburgers. Oh how sweet it was when the check came and I loudly told the server that my husband and I would be on a separate check. You could hear the gasps and watch them all struggling and asking each other if anyone had cash or creditcards. I didn’t need to order dessert as that was the most delicious moment. Got tired of being mooched.

India is paying $17 billion for a 500km bullet train while China is building a 3,000km bullet train for $5.5 billion in Thailand. Arvind Kejriwal has re-tweeted this thrice. Is this true?

That’s not how China works

China never builds 3000 Km at a stretch

Chinese Projects are always divided into Phases

Typically a 3000 Km has 10 Phases of 300 Km each, which are finally linked into a single mesh network

The Chinese learnt this from Singapore & Japan both of whom work this strategy

This way, if the project is cancelled, the Phase completed can stand alone and have it’s own financial viability model

So if China quoted $ 5.5 Billion, it’s always for a Single Phase

The Whole cost will never be revealed and depends heavily on other factors

Since a Phase is around 300 Kms or definitely not more than 400 Kms, China is likely quoting $ 5.5 Billion for maximum 400 Kms

Still that’s astronomically different from Indias $ 17 Billion for 500 Kms

India is at least 250% higher

India was rather short sighted with the Bullet Train

Initially Chinas bid to India was for almost $ 4.3 Billion for 250 Kms but included Tech Transfer over 15 years

However five areas of disagreement emerged

China quoted 2.6% interest on composite terms
China demanded a 33% contingency payment knowing Indias history of delays
China insisted on having first refusal to build additional routes along the bullet train at later dates , basically saying if and when you expand, we get first choice
Chinas last condition was that their engineers felt very strongly that Mumbai to Ahmedabad was not a good pilot route due to many estimated problems that they predicted. Instead they wanted the Pilot Project between two other points rumored to be between Karnataka to Tamilnadu due to ease of terrain and other reasons.

At this time Japan who was terribly eager to get the contract offered to regard the entire 500 Km as a single phase at 0.1% interest but at double the cost

They agreed to Ahmedabad to Mumbai route

They agreed to no contingency payment

The agreed to no first refusal at a later date if India chose to expand

However they said no Tech transfer

In the end the Chinese were absolutely bang on

Proving that Political decisions never work

They perfectly predicted Delays in the whole project

They perfectly predicted that this 500 Km had a much lesser chance of becoming 5000 Km than with Indonesia Or Thailand

And Japan is stuck with the Project having had a opportunity loss of around $ 1.488 Billion to this day

Biden’s build up to war w/ Jeffrey Sachs

Outstanding discussion.

I’m almost 18 and I inherited 3.5 million dollars can I live off this for the rest of life by investing it?

An old friend of mine received 1 million dollar through a private investment savings account when he retired as a university professor. He was sixty-five at the time and had plenty of other savings, so you would think that he would do all right. Wrong.

His Chinese wife — who was a tad younger — had different ideas.

She first used part of his money to start a female clothing store in a local mall, without knowing the next thing about clothes, selling, or money management (she had a PhD in Physics and had no clue about what selling was about).

The shop went bankrupt in no time.

Some time later, he noticed that his private savings accounts were shrinking rapidly. She had gotten into investing (again, with no knowledge about it whatsoever, besides her prior dramatic clothing shop experience), and she was essentially flushing his money through the drain.

He could stop her (barely) before it was all gone.

In the end, nasal and sinus cancer hit him (very) hard when he turned eighty, and almost nothing was left to pay the very expensive surgeries and therapies — he also had a young daughter to take care of, and she came first. (His wife ignored their daughter altogether.)

He died not much later in “relative peace” (as they say), but kept worrying about one thing and one thing only till the very last seconds, as his daughter would be all alone now.

And his money was gone.

What bothers you?

Would you bargain at an Apple store? How about Starbucks?

“Let me have two 15″ MacBooks for $1,000. Last offer!”

“Gimme two Frappucinos for $2. Otherwise I’m going across the street!”

No?

I live in a small village in Costa Rica.

A guy selling free-range eggs from his own backyard chickens came over the other day.

Everybody tried haggling him down.

“That’s too much!”
“If I drive over to the next town I’ll get them for half of what you’re asking!”
“How did you decide on your price?!”

Tim Cook took home $102M in 2017.

This man was raising chickens so he could send his daughters to school.

Now, I’m not here to bash executives and big companies. I own an Apple laptop and I like going to nice cafés.

But here’s my question:

Why are we comfortable paying those who already have so much what they ask, but always try to get the best deal out of those who have so little?

Texas Chuck Wagon Chili

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) beef chuck roast, cut into small stew-size chunks (including fat)
6 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons ground oregano
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon cayenne (less if you don’t like it really hot)
1 1/2 to 2 quarts water
1/3 cup Masa Harina or cornmeal

Instructions

Using some of the fat, render fat for browning rest of meat. Brown meat in a cast-iron Dutch oven.
Add chili powder, oregano, garlic, cumin and cayenne. Stir to coat meat.
Add water and stir. Bring liquid to boil and simmer, covered, for 1 to 11/2 hours.
Make a thick paste of Masa Harina or cornmeal and add to chili. Stir to prevent lumping.
Remove lid and simmer 30 to 45 minutes longer (more if you like) to thicken and reduce stew to desired consistency.

Notes

You may need to cut down on the seasonings to suit more tender, non-Texas palates.

NATO Web Site Op-Ed Calls for Nuclear War Preparation!

World Hal Turner

NATO has published an Op-Ed article by a retired American defense official, which calls on the bloc to fight and win a limited nuclear war against Russia. Should the US and China clash over Taiwan, the author claims that a full-scale war in Europe would likely follow.

The Op-Ed article was written by Gregory Weaver, who served as the principal nuclear and missile defense advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In it, Weaver argued that, counter to Moscow’s long-standing nuclear doctrine, Russia may use tactical nuclear weapons either to stave off a battlefield defeat or bring about a swift victory to a conventional conflict, such as that in Ukraine.

In such a scenario, Russian military leadership would assume that the West would not respond in kind, for fear that the situation would “escalate uncontrollably to a large-scale US-Russia homeland exchange.”

Instead of fearing nuclear war, Weaver argues that the West should embrace it. NATO should equip its fighter jets and submarines with tactical nuclear weapons to deter a tactical Russian strike, and “convince Russian leadership that NATO is fully prepared to counter limited nuclear first use with militarily effective nuclear responses of our own.”

Russian nuclear doctrine allows for the use of atomic weapons in the event of a first nuclear strike on its territory or infrastructure, or if the existence of the Russian state is threatened by either nuclear or conventional weapons. This position has not changed since 2010, and makes no exception for the use of tactical nuclear weapons (which are far less powerful than the strategic nuclear weapons that NATO and Russia would fire at each other in the event of an all-out exchange).

Despite these clear guidelines on nuclear use, Weaver claimed that Russia could launch an attack on NATO states in Europe if the US were preoccupied with fighting China over Taiwan, a scenario that he treats as possible without further explanation.

To counter this, he recommends that NATO move “more deep precision strike capabilities” to Europe, form “several modern armored divisions” in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe, and press European members to “provide more conventional capability,” while the US sends them tactical nuclear weapons.

Weaver did not mention the consequences that nuclear war would wreak on the European countries where such a conflict would be fought.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Western leaders have become so obsessed with inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia that they have lost their “sense of self-preservation.”

The writer of the NATO Op-Ed Piece is Gregory Weaver.

Filipina SHOCKED by “DELUSIONAL WOMEN” | Rubeauti reacts

Ugh!

What is the likelihood Xi Jinping will never meet with President Biden during Biden’s term?

I watched a recent speech by Biden in Asia. It was a press conference in Vietnam. Biden was so bad that while he was still talking, his own US press secretary cut him off halfway by muting his microphone, declaring abruptly that the conference was over; and turning on jazz music in the room so that Biden’s voice could not be heard anymore. This was damage control. The US press secretary did it, to stop Biden from continuing to ramble on spouting nonsense in front of a roomful of journalists and media crews.

The poor man is senile. He is still President, of course. But surely he is no longer making the real decisions for the USA. He is just the front, the puppet on stage – the people in charge are the ones behind the curtains pulling on the strings.

It’s pointless for Xi to meet Biden. Xi probably knows it already. Any meeting with Biden would just be for ceremonial purposes and publicity reasons. Nothing will actually come out of such a meeting, because Biden doesn’t make decisions anymore.

Xi is a busy man and I wouldn’t be too surprised if he decides never to meet Biden again. There’s not much point in such a meeting.

Is 65 TOO OLD for a YOUNG FILIPINA? | Street Interviews

LOL! That’s my age!

This is too funny!

How superior is NATO to China in terms of weaponry?

Chinese Weaponry is more than capable of taking on NATO weapons

Oh don’t get me wrong. Maybe technologically, NATO weaponry is more advanced

Yet NATO weaponry has been exposed in Ukraine as woefully being inadequate for a battle with a formidable ally

They have been designed since the 1990s with the aim of maximizing profit and fighting small nations like Iraq and Afghanistan rather than design them to COLD WAR STANDARDS

NATO weapons are designed for rapid strikes and rapid breakthroughs

Their offensive capabilities, mobility, speed are their key design parameters

Yet their defense is weak, their loading rate is compromised and they are not meant for heavy use

The Leopard and Challengers are the best example

They move faster than Russian Tanks yet their load rate is slow and their external body is vulnerable due to lower weight and allows them to be crunched by a simplest cheapest $ 20,000 drone or an 155 mm Artillery Shell or an Air to Surface missile

Chinese and Russian Weaponry are still designed per COLD WAR STANDARDS

To fight NATO

To fight US in an eventual war

They are designed for slow, territorial attrition, rock solid defense and grinding the enemy

Plus their numbers are superior due to better industrial productivity

Logic says Chinese Weapons should take on NATO weapons

Did Apple get lazy about introducing new features to the iPhone when Huawei was sanctioned by the U.S. Commerce Department?

Lazy is not the word to describe Apple.

When there is no rival, all you need to do is to change a little to fool consumers to buy your new product.

Sometimes you purposely do not want to change too much either. Otherwise you may not have new things next year.

Huawei is different. Huawei must find a way to go around US sanctions. It is this urge to survive a harsh condition that people become more innovative & get breakthrough.

It’s STARTING! Biden Just SHOCKED The World With This Move Towards GLOBAL WAR

As Biden seeks vast new sums for wars in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, will his rambling and incoherent speech propel America hurtling towards a global war?

This video is great.

He absolutely captures the sheer insanity of this moment! I mean it’s so insane that you all have to laugh.

Jesus H Christ!

Why don’t people make better decisions?

Biases.

I’ll give you an example.

Psychologist, Paul Piff, ran a famous social experiment using Monopoly. They had two strangers play a game against each other — but first, they flipped a coin.

The “heads” player got double starting money, double bonuses, and rolled two dice instead of one. The tails player played the game normally.

By design, the Heads player would eventually begin winning. Then, scientists watched.

The heads player began talking louder, raising their hands to celebrate. They slammed their pieces down louder on the board as they moved them. Eventually, they were outright rude and hostile to the other player.

When interviewed about winning, they talked about their amazing strategies and tactics. They rarely mentioned the 2x bonuses they began with. They also never acknowledged those advantages were the result of a coin toss.

They were displaying the Self-Serving Bias, where people tend to seek out and over-weight information that is favorable to them (and their ego).

In sports and video games, it’s why teammates often point fingers at each other over a loss. In business, it’s why unethical managers blame employees for their own incompetence.

It’s as Upton Sinclair once wrote, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

I try to fact-check the beliefs I have against this powerful bias — because it sneaks into every minor decision we make.

Do you think Russia, China, North Korea, and other countries will make a joint army against NATO, the USA, and Israel sooner or later?

No need for ‘or later‘, perhaps in the ‘now‘.

This is a schematic diagram of the recent situation in the Middle East, where the armed forces of China, Russia, and the United States are located near Israel, Palestine, Iran, and Syria.

The top three countries in the world’s military power rankings are all gathered in this small region.

The reason why the US military dare not directly intervene in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is because they are unwilling and because they dare not.

No one will act recklessly.

No one wants to break the current balance.

They Just Did It! America Unleashes Economic Chaos – Shutdown Crisis Escalates

Congress has just ousted Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. This one move just ramped up the shutdown crisis to the next level. We are in for a rollercoaster ride which could lead to a government shutdown where the economy could get dangerously impaired. Here’s what you must know!

A big waste of time

In the 1990’s I used to collect “news” articles.

This was in the early days of the internet, and I would find the articles, and then print them out. I ended up with piles of stacks of unsorted articles, (also known as the Rush Limbaugh style “stack of stuff”) and huge expenses for printer ink and boxes of white paper.

Towards the end of the 1990’s I just gave up, and simply saved the articles on hard drive. i used something called a “ZIP drive” back then to store the articles. It was a “hoarding” habit. A sign of… coping… perhaps. To a stressful life. And then, oh Lordy was my life stressful.

I did this with everything. I was like a big vacuum and magnet that recorded everything that passed my screen. Articles, images, porn, stories, cat pictures and memes. Ugh!

And I would collect these things on disk and then put the discs in boxes, and just store them. I had so many boxes of “my precious archives”.

Funny thing though, I never really took the time to go back through them. Not really. They just were vacuumed up, stored, and boxed. Only to be forgotten and ignored over the dust of time.

…

Today, we can put the stuff “in the cloud”.

But you know what?

If you never get around to reading the articles, looking at the pictures, viewing the movies, then why bother with the effort?

You are wasting your time.

STOP.

Just STOP.

Go outside and get drunk… play with your kitties, doggies, or go fishing. How about watching a ball game? Or better yet, playing ball. Spend time with your loved ones.

Give your mind a break.

Today…

What do you do when someone has road rage and tries to follow you home to fight you?

I live 3 blocks north of my local police station and 3 blocks south of a tiny strip mall. The strip mall has 1 entrance and 1exit so basically it is a 1 way drive and many use it to make a u-turn

I had picked up a moron about a mile from my home because I was only doing 30 in a 25 residential neighborhood – tailgating, honking, etc. There was no shoulder on this road. I was not about to speed up since it was the time that school got out and there were kids walking home.

Even though the moron had a few opportunities to pass me or turn off the road, he stayed on my bumper. I drove into the strip mall and he followed me so I knew I had a serious problem on my hands. While driving, I discreetly called the cops, explained what was happening and headed to the station. Moron kept following me. He was not thrilled when the cops were waiting for him.

While they held him and ticketed him, I drove home and parked my car in my garage. The next day, I dropped off a basket of cookies for the cops and found out that the moron had a couple of outstanding warrants for assault. I’m so glad that I never stopped my car and just kept driving.

Blackstrap Steaks with Caramelized Onions

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Caramelized Onions

1 1/2 cups sweet onions
3/4 cup red bell pepper
2 tablespoons fresh basil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Steak

4 chuck eye steaks (Delmonico)
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt
Fresh basil

Instructions

Caramelized Onions

Spray a medium nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Heat over medium to medium-high heat until hot. Add onion; cook 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently.
If necessary, re-spray skillet with cooking spray. Add bell pepper; continue cooking for 3 to 5 minutes or until onions are browned and bell pepper is crisp-tender, stirring frequently.
Stir in sliced basil, pine nuts, vinegar and black pepper. Season with salt, as desired; keep warm.

Steak

Combine molasses, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar in small bowl.
Heat second large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Season steaks with black pepper. Place steaks in pan; cook 9 to 11 minutes (ranch steaks, 8 to 11 minutes) for medium rare (145 degrees F) to medium (160 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally and brushing with molasses mixture during last 3 to 4 minutes of cooking.
Season steaks with salt, as desired; serve with caramelized onions. Garnish with basil sprigs, if desired.

Why are SO MANY Americans Retiring in Europe Right Now?

Huawei M60 Pro shocked the world. Why is it?

Try imagining this.

For the U.S. to decide this Chip Act it must have been debated at length by hordes of parties and institutions including dozens of companies in the U.S. and throughout US allies.

Why?

Well simple. The repercussions are simply gigantic and colossal if indeed this act fail. It will cause trillions upon trillions of dollars lost over time. At least a hundred U.S. and its cronies chip firms may simply go out of business all together.

Worst is that this is the last thing the US can do to stop and contained China if this fails, that will be the end of US hegemony in technology. So for the U.S. to take this measure is like putting everything at stake into this one act. Billions has to be spend to build a plants in the U.S. that hinge on China’s failure to counter act. Billions need to be spend to protect and subsidise these hundreds of firms in case it fail.

Countries whose livelihoods depend on this precise technology and business to survive and thrive have to be bribed and coerce to cut out China.

These bribes probably run in the trillions of dollars figures.

…

And all these hinge on one and only one assumption.

That is China will not be able to design, make and manufacture this high end chips for at least a generation! If this assumption fail to materialised then the U.S. will be thoroughly fxxked for a generation and it will forever not able to compete with China.

In other words, there is absolutely no room at all for failure.

Failure means China will now totally controlled every aspect of Chip making technologies from materials, to designing, to developing , to mass producing in the billions. And it will do it at a fraction of the costs of doing it in the U.S. which simply means the total implosion of all the U.S. chip firms!

So after a mere 3 years China did precisely what the U.S. fears most.

Their worst fears has come true.

The Chinese simply do not need a single technology from the U.S. and its cronies to launch this 5NM chip capable of 5G and satellite communications which also means there is zero possibility for the U.S. to hack it. 150 million orders have been placed and 40 million orders has been fulfilled in a mere 20 days from its launch.

This Huawei Mate 60 series including the Mate 5X is such a blow to the U.S.

For a start the U.S. already lost 3 billion in profit had they not banned themselves from selling to China and up to a few trillion dollars have been wiped off the stock values of these chip firms from 27th August till now. The melt down will carry on and on and on till the U.S. economy collapse all together. We in the rest of the world call this Karma.

That is why it is such a big deal.

Why is the US doing worse than China?

The US is lagging behind China because the US is a plutocracy, a system where the rich and powerful have a stranglehold on the political and economic spheres. This is not a matter of opinion, but a reality that can be verified by various sources and indicators. In this essay, I will show how the US is a plutocracy, how it affects its performance compared to China, and what are the consequences for the future of both countries.

First, let us understand what a plutocracy is. According to Wikipedia, a plutocracy is “a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income”. Plutocracy is not based on any established political philosophy, but rather emerges from the accumulation of money and power in the hands of a few. Plutocracy is often linked to corruption, inequality, social unrest, and environmental degradation.

How can we tell that the US is a plutocracy? There are several indicators that reveal the extent of the influence of money and power in the US political system. One of them is the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC in 2010, which allowed corporations and other entities to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns and advocacy. This decision effectively gave the rich and powerful a disproportionate voice in the electoral process, undermining the principle of one person, one vote. Another indicator is the lobbying industry, which spends billions of dollars every year to influence legislation and policy in favor of their clients’ interests. Lobbyists often have access to lawmakers and regulators that ordinary citizens do not have, and they can shape the agenda and outcomes of public decisions. A third indicator is the revolving door phenomenon, which refers to the movement of personnel between positions of public office and private sector jobs. This creates conflicts of interest and reduces accountability, as public officials may favor their former or future employers over the public interest.

How does plutocracy affect the US performance compared to China? One way to measure performance is to look at the economic growth rate, which reflects the increase in the value of goods and services produced by a country over a period of time. According to World Bank data, China’s GDP growth rate was 2.3% in 2020, while the US GDP growth rate was -3.5% . This means that China’s economy expanded despite the COVID-19 pandemic, while the US economy contracted significantly. One reason for this difference is that China has a more effective and responsive government that can mobilize resources and implement policies to deal with crises and challenges. China also has a more balanced and diversified economy that relies less on consumption and more on investment, innovation, and trade. The US, on the other hand, has a dysfunctional and gridlocked government that is captured by special interests and unable to address the needs and demands of its people. The US also has an unbalanced and fragile economy that depends heavily on consumption and debt, and suffers from low productivity, inequality, and environmental degradation.

What are the implications for the future of both countries? If the current trends continue, China will surpass the US as the world’s largest economy by 2028 . China will also gain more influence and leadership in global affairs, especially in areas such as trade, technology, climate change, and security. The US will face more challenges and difficulties in maintaining its economic competitiveness, social cohesion, democratic legitimacy, and international reputation. The US will also have to deal with more internal conflicts and external threats, as its plutocratic system erodes its trust and stability.

Gallium’s Dark Side

The substrate’s subplot

Godfree Roberts

In 1959, the American inventors of the integrated circuit chose silicon as their substrate and gave birth to a new industry. Now other materials, with virtues suited to new applications, are beginning to replace it. Graphene, for example, is a potentially exciting substrate, but it lies years further out on the R&D schedule.

As with silicon, whoever mass produces the new substrate will probably dominate the trillion-dollar industry it spawns.

Gallium oxide is much closer to mass production, and China refines 80% of global gallium and exported 94 metric tons of it last year, up 25% YoY. But only a few companies – one European and the others in Japan and China – can make it at the required purity.

Thanks to their low energy consumption, gallium oxide semiconductors are ideal for communications, aerospace, radar, and maglev. Among ultra-wide band gap materials like diamond, boron nitride and silicon carbide, only gallium oxide forms single crystals at atmospheric pressure after solidification from a melt

While drastically reducing fabrication costs, this requires large amounts of iridium to make crucibles for the melt. But iridium is three times more expensive than gold, and a 4 inch crucible requires 11 lb. (5 kg.) of the stuff. Also, for China, this raises IP concerns since Japan and the US pioneered the method.

Battle of the substrate stars

August 2022 —US government imposes export controls on two substrates of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors – gallium oxide (Ga2O3), and diamonds – as well as EDA software “designed for the development of integrated circuits with Gate-All-Around Field-Effect Transistor (GAAFET).

July 2023 —China: ‘Gallium and germanium require an export license’.

August 2023 — China: ‘Gallium nitride (GaN) and germanium dioxide (GeO2) exporters must apply for licenses, identify importers and end-users’.

September 2023 — “Chinese researchers cut iridium use 80%, make four-inch gallium dioxide wafers, slash production costs, smooth the path to mass fabrication”. Interesting Engineering.

Why is China releasing a blizzard of new technologies?

It’s committed to development through technology,
It outspends the USA by 400% on R&D,
It has 300,000 researchers with an IQ of 160+ vs. 30,000 in the rest of the world.

China is doing for ICs what it did for railways and renewable energy.

It’s doing the same for EVs and will do for medical care: make them affordable by the 90%. And make a fortune doing so.

What kind of real-life people fascinate you?

I saw a woman wrap a line once, it was fascinating.

We all know those lines, boarding planes, at the store, the Post Office. People arrive too fast, the line grows out of control and takes over the space.

Takes over everything.

It’s an operation crisis, new people arrive faster than they are processed and the system overloads.

Everyone grumbles but no one fixes it.

It’s conformity. Everyone doing the same thing: standing behind the person in front of us.

I used to go to a Dunkin Donuts in Boston. It was just off the North Station T stop so, between 8:20 and 8:30 am, the line grew exponentially. Each commuter stood behind the last and inadvertently created something that consumed the small space and made everyone uncomfortable.

Quickly, the straight line went right out the door, and in winter people near froze, no longer waiting for coffee, but for warmth. To get inside.

It always felt selfish stepping inside, away from that person behind you. Like you were separated, different. But we all did it.

Fact was, it was too early and we were too tired to take responsibility for anyone else.

One day, in February, a day coated with the most vile wintery-mix, a woman with winter boots, two bags, gray face, looked just like me, just like all of us – she just woke up.

Quietly, almost to herself, “This is stupid, those people are freezing.”

And then she did something about it.

She gently pulled arms and pushed backs and said ‘excuse me’ and ‘I’m trying to get those people inside’ and one by one she got strangers to ribbon themselves in such a way that everyone fit, everyone was inside and everyone was still behind the person in front of them.

What an amazing person.

Who steps up and takes responsibility for strangers like that? Especially when it matters so little. And so early in the morning?

What a lady. Fascinating. I’ve wrapped a few lines since then, I always think of her.

“A Revolution Against The Elites!” – WEF’s Klaus Schwab Openly Worries

This is actually REAL. Pay attention!

Huawei M60 Pro shocked the world. Why is it?

Huawei Mate 60 Pro may not have shocked the world as much as the news reporting on the Chinese government instructed all its personnel to refrain from bringing any foreign brand phone into government building and subsequently ………

Apple immediately lost US $200B of its market capitalization.

So what is $200B?

Well, that’s 50% of the total Apple revenue generated in 2022. Any ideas how many senators and congressman/women hold much shares in Apple ? 🤭

Isn’t that a sweet revenge for bullying Huawei and for holding hostage of their princess CFO Meng Wenzhou.

What was your first clue you were no longer as young as you thought you were?

I was at a swanky resort hotel in Niagra-on-the-Lake and some obnoxious young women in their early twenties were hanging off a baggage cart for an Instagram shot. I was annoyed because they had been acting all day like they were in their own private reality show, and I suppose since they had two videographers, maybe they were.

I brushed right through them to get through the door they were blocking with the luggage cart, only to hear one yell “Later, Grandpa” as I closed the door. Doing the math, yep I could be their grandpa if had children at age 20. I have no biological children so those kind of “mile markers” are generally not present in my life.

I have to stop myself if I’m at a coffeeshop and there is an attractive young woman. Otherwise paying too much attention makes me a creep. In my mind, and probably many other people, we think of ourselves as mid-20s for a few too many decades.

Modern Women Regretting Feminism Loneliness is Affecting them Badly

American society is CHANGING.

https://youtu.be/t5wdQvefSpQ

Is China a threat in the EV sector?

The US is not a democratic, it is a die hard interventionist, meaning it interferes with the world Sovereign States’ affairs . Every single year of its existence is spent on warring with others, if not in physical wars then it would be on non physical ones.

But why the the Sovereign State of US alone spent so much time , money and energy on wars while other Sovereign States don’t? The reason is simple, so long as the US government views you as a threat, an enemy to its preeminent *dominance, it will target you , the US government even admitted this themselves , the key words here is “ America’s **adversaries” :—

So based upon the US clampdown on all things China like , the Chinese students study of STEM subjects, the banning of China from the Space technology, space station, the purchase of companies in the US, and recently in year 2023 , the Huawei , and the EVs , we know that the US never stop targeting China for demise even though the US Biden administration said it is derisking the Chinese government. The Derisking of China here is actually to destroy the competitive threat the Chinese is posing to the US economy! So, the US has been all out to stop the *money making opportunities of the Chinese to stop the Chinese from rising economically.

The archives Fantabulastic physical war list of the US:

The signs are written on the walls , the undeniable truth is the money making Chinese companies are the ones being targeted by the US for it’s ‘derisking’ strategy against China!

What do we do when we’ve done all we can do?

-SMACK A KID-

There was a rule at home when I was in middle school called no questions after 7:00 pm. If I broke that rule I got a lip numbing face smack. Not by the creator of the rule, my mom, but by her boyfriend. Mom actually made the rule to try and curb Dale’s anger. He was only allowed to slap me if I broke a rule. No crying. No talking while the tv was on. No staying up past eight. No complaining. The point is, I got the shit slapped out of me a lot. I watched men abuse my mother and my brother for years. Some would say it’s all I ever knew.

Jessica and I got together three years ago. We live together with her two teenage (16 and 13) sons. I don’t have any children. Their curiosity and love of life can be challenging for me. I don’t know how to be a parent. Here’s an example. The eldest, Corey, likes fire. I caught him flicking a lighter after I took the last one away. If that were me, I’d be bruised for ten days. Being constantly pounded on as a kid made me promise myself I’d never do that.

So, the question I asked myself was, how should I discipline him? How can I get the point across without being that monster that I hated so much? Well, I’m making a light up skateboard and since you enjoy lighting things up, you’re gonna help with soldering the lights for one hour every time I catch you with a lighter.

It’s eight at night, so, we set up our phones to aid with lighting and I taught Corey how to use solder. Once I was confident he could use the iron safely, I strung lights beside him while he soldered for an hour. It ended up being really fun for both of us.

Another point of contention is bedtime. Boy oh boy, getting two teenagers in bed by ten is like trying to hit the Powerball without playing. I’ve told them for two years now to go to bed at ten. So what do I do when I wake up at 3:00 am to use the bathroom and find them sleeping on the couch?

I cover them up, kiss their foreheads and say goodnight.

I’m followed on Quora by five ex-girlfriends, my mother, my current girlfriend, her two children and my ex-wife of 18 years. I don’t know how to be a parent and I can be a shitty boyfriend at times. What I do, when I’ve done all I can do, is anything other that what Dale did to us.

I have never raised my voice or hand to a woman or a child, ever. There is no version of me that finds that acceptable. Eighteen years of marriage, never once did I raise my voice to her. The point is, I’m not sure what to do sometimes. But I know I’d rather Corey remember having to learn how to solder as a punishment over being smacked. Yelling at the people I love is never the answer. My job is to do everything I can to protect my family. Not yell at my girl or smack a kid.

Leon

A Death Row Inmate’s Thoughts, Days Before His Execution

Not many people have seen a real death warrant in person, let alone been issued one with their name on it.

I remember the warden instructing security to escort us in restraints from our cells, one at a time, to a small office where we were surrounded by prison officials. The warden read aloud the information off the warrants, which included our names, our crimes, and the jury’s verdict.

There was silence. My mind remained unaffected, having undergone this very thing before only to later receive a stay of execution. There was a measure of calm, knowing I wasn’t alone, that there were seven others—though, given the love I have for the other guys, I would rather have done it alone.

I was handed the death warrant, a longer-than-usual sheet of paper with the golden seal of the State of Arkansas fixed on it. At the bottom, there was the signature of Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Death, one step closer. Tick, tick.

When you’re issued a date, you want to be the first to break the news to your family. But often the press gets to them first. For the prisoner, as the fatal day approaches, the hardest part is knowing you’ve condemned your loved ones to a bitter fate. Once you depart, they have to carry on.

It is vital that I reach a place of self-forgiveness, so that I can write to my 21-year-old daughter and break the news to her. I could soon be joining her mother in the afterlife, leaving her parentless. Just writing that letter is enough to make me consider beating the executioner to the punch, but I’ve been stabilized and sustained by the inner peace and forgiveness I’ve received through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Oh boy, do the letters come pouring in after an execution date has been set! During mail call, I receive more mail than ever before about the well-being of my soul. Do you know God? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as lord of your life? If you don’t repent before you die you will go to hell. They send typed letters, handwritten letters, cards, books, etc.

Most of these materials are destined for the trash. Where were they all those years, when I was sitting on death row, when I might have embraced what they had to offer? I see them as opportunists, who want to brag to their friends about how they tried to win my soul.

At this point, an individual has already made his peace with God, or hasn’t.

Some of the prisoners opted out of petitioning for clemency, knowing the board usually issues a denial. They figured they’d save themselves the disappointment.

I, on the other hand, saw opportunity. I wanted to appear before the board so I could show them I was no longer the person I once was. God has transformed me, and even the worst of us can be reformed and renewed. Revealing these truths meant more to me then being granted clemency. I’m still going to eventually die someday, but to stand up for God in front of man, that’s my victory.

To the families of my victims, to whom I have brought pain, great loss, and suffering, as shallow as “I am sorry for robbing you of your loved one” can sound, I would rather say it, and mean it, than not say it at all.

I was asked by mental health personnel, “Have you been thinking about harming yourself?” I was offended — the train of thought behind the question is to get ahead of anyone thinking of ending their life before the state can do so. They don’t want us to beat them to the punch.After a death row prisoner has received a date, others who have befriended him make their pitch: Let me have those tennis shoes. Leave me that watch. Let me get your radio. The poor guy may feel like he’s being picked apart. Other things he doesn’t want to give to prisoners, like family pictures or old letters, he can send home in a box, shortly before he too is sent home in a box.An officer showed up at my cell door today and asked, “Kenneth, how are you?” Then he asked, “What is your shirt and pant size? What size shoe do you wear? How tall are you? How much do you weigh?”

Talk about the lamb being sized up before the slaughter. I thought: Have they forgotten I am human, or do they just not care? Then I thought: Wasn’t it my disregard for human life that got me in this situation to begin with?

I know that midazolam, one of the drugs used in the cocktail to put prisoners to death, doesn’t always anesthetize the prisoner completely. Since I am one of the last to be executed, there are some people who think that if one of the first executions is botched, it could prolong the lives of the others, including me. But I don’t want to live only because someone else suffers that agony. Others suffering in order that I live for however much longer — that’s no hope at all, not if I have truly learned my lesson to value other people’s lives.

– Kenneth Williams, The Marshall Project

Kenneth Williams was sentenced to death for murdering Cecil Boren during a 1999 escape attempt from the Cummins Unit in Grady, Ark. Williams had just begun a life sentence for the murder of university student Dominique Hurd. He also confessed to a third murder, and was responsible for the death of a fourth victim in a traffic accident during his escape. This essay was derived from Williams’ written correspondence with Deborah Robinson, who is writing a book about the eight men scheduled for execution in Arkansas.

The Sopranos – Tony’s revenge (S06E19)

How a man handles problems.

Children who have had to clean out your parents’ house after they passed, did you find anything that completely changed how you viewed them?

My Mom passed in 1999. My sister and I were cleaning out her home. In her closet were a bag of wigs. My sister said, Toss these, I replied, No let’s give them to a cancer charity. As I was taking them out one by one, to check the condition. Money flew out of the wigs.

A total of 22 thousand dollars. Looking back I should have kept it all. After I went thru her paperwork. All of my older siblings owed my mother thousands of dollars over 10–15 years. She kept emaculent records dates, reasons, payments all in a book.

Not one of my 5 siblings ever paid her back! My oldest brother and wife owed my mother $30,000 with one payment years before of $100. Others were just as bad.

I never owed my mother any money!

Dax – Oliver Anthony “Rich Men North Of Richmond” Remix [Official Video]

Another rebellion rap!

Wall Street analysts tore down a Chinese Tesla rival and say it’s exactly why Elon Musk should be worried about China

Wall Street analysts tore down a Chinese Tesla competitor and found a great Model 3 alternative — for a fraction of the cost.

The Seal, a mid-sized electric sedan made by Chinese EV giant BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is a close rival to the Tesla Model 3. Analysts at UBS recently investigated to see just how comparable to Elon Musk’s popular model it might be.

Ultimately, tearing down the Seal — “a good example of Chinese EV models’ technological edges and cost optimization” — reinforced the bank’s belief that Chinese auto companies are here to stay and dominate the global electric car market, it said in a note to clients.

The Seal rivals the Model 3 in many ways, according to UBS, and it does so at a “20% lower selling price.”

Analysts noted features such as its larger interior space, 5G connectivity, and rotational central cockpit screen, as well as how it “opts for slower acceleration, lower top speed, slower charging speed” as some of its advantages over Musk’s popular car.

They also noted BYD’s battery technology (coined cell-to-body), allows for more in-vehicle legroom, a unique car shape, improved performance, and — given the tech introduces a more efficient way of integrating the battery — lower manufacturing costs.

“The floor carpet of the passenger cabin is directly above the battery cell stack, and the top cover of the battery pack serves as the floor of the car body, eliminating one more layer of aluminum or steel,” UBS analysts noted. “Such a thin battery pack occupies less floor space than others, allowing the car’s profile to be low, which reduces aerodynamic resistance and creates a more spacious interior for drivers and passengers.”

UBS also said that, when comparing power performance, cost efficiency, and energy density, the BYD Seal’s electric system “is in-line with the competition despite being at the relatively lower end of the range, especially compared to the leading solution provided by Tesla’s Model 3.”

Interestingly, unlike Tesla, BYD seems to be steering clear from autonomous driving technology, and instead, is opting for a standard, Level 2, advanced driver assistance system. The company is also outsourcing this tech instead of developing it in-house.

At a high level, UBS analysts said the BYD Seal is “cost competitive, thanks to its vertical integration, suitable specs, and volume scale.”

And experts suggest it’s not unlikely they’ll find success in the US in the near future, too.

“Chinese carmakers currently have systematic EV cost advantages versus US and European incumbents while offering wider product line-ups than Tesla and covering more segments (especially mass market),” they added.

Can you tell me about a time that you sued someone in civil court and won?

I sued my general contractor who was also my neighbor.

We hired him because of the great price and he gave us and because he could “squeeze us in right away.” We trusted him because he lived across the street.

Who would screw over his neighbor?

Well. He took our 10k down payment, ripped off our siding and roof, demolished the garage where the new addition was going, and then hit us with sob stories about his grandma dying (seriously) and the expensive adoption of a baby from overseas and the other people in the nieghborhood who weren’t paying on time, etc.

He asked for more money upfront to buy the roofing materials.

And we gave it to him.

He was our neighbor, right?

He was working on another 5 or more homes in the area, surely he was a trustworthy guy.

The roof was finished. Then the asks for more money.

Considerably more that was outside the payment plan we agreed to.

More excuses. And interestingly, more new stuff was showing up at HIS home!

Like a new SUV for his wife.

New siding and windows on HIS home across the street!

Eventually he comes over to say all these other people have stiffed him, and he’s going bankrupt. I have no siding.

It’s Fall. It’s cold.

I have a gaping hole in the side of my house where the addition should be.

So I go out and meet some of these other homeowners whose houses he was working on. And they all have the same story I do.

Excuses.

Lots of money paid upfront.

Broken houses with winter coming.

I go to lawyer after lawyer.

Each one says you lost a lot, save your money. Fix your home. You won’t win. You’ll have to stop his bankruptcy to recover anything.

Not gonna happen.

I dont accept this.

It’s like the perfect crime!

I finally find a lawyer who will take my money and fight the bankruptcy. We need to prove theft by deception.

We get statements from a half dozen angry homeowners.

We get the story in the local papers.

I get Fox News’s consumer reporter to run the story of the neighborhood builder who screwed his neighbors.

They even sent a helicopter to shoot all the half built houses from the air- and his mansion sitting across the street from my tarp covered ranch.

I talk to the prosecutors office too.

They tell me you won’t win in court.

I say wait.

We block the bankruptcy.

We prove theft by deception.

I pitch and get more media coverage.

I go back to the prosecutors. I join up with another hurt family and they finally take our case, and we win.

The judge orders the contractor to pay me damages AND to pay back all the other families who were hurt in a settlement over time.

He also can’t work as a GC anymore.

Plus, our county enacted new law the forced GCs to operate with a license.

By now though I’m dead broke, and my house is still a mess.

We had to pay for so many things 2x.

Once to our criminal GC and again to the suppliers and subcontractors to actually complete the work.

We start getting payments from the settlement, but they come in a little every month.

God blessed my family though, because we won 10k out of the blue in a contest Betty Crocker was running on their fruit roll up boxes!

It paid our legal bills.

Moral of the story, sometimes we need to fight back.

God opened doors for me throughout the whole ordeal.

He needed someone who would be His hands and voice and soldier here on Earth to stop this criminal from hurting so many people.

We found out this guy had run the same scheme in other towns too and had moved around a lot.

Now he’s stopped. Justice is slow. But Justice is done.

President of Turkey Says “may have to part ways with EU”

World Hal Turner

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on 16 September that Ankara could “part ways” with the EU if necessary, following the release of a European Parliament report rejecting the possibility of Turkiye joining the EU soon.

The report instead suggested the EU explore “a parallel and realistic framework,” such as a customs union, to determine its ties with Ankara.

“The EU is trying to break away from Turkiye,” Erdogan told reporters. “We will make our evaluations against these developments and if necessary, we can part ways with the EU.”

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said the European Parliament report contained unfounded allegations and prejudices and took “a shallow and non-visionary” approach to the country’s ties with the EU.

Visa liberalization, which would give Turkish citizens visa-free travel to the bloc for long periods, is a significant reason Turkiye wishes to join the EU. Many Turkish citizens work in EU states, most notably Germany, and EU membership for Turkiye would free them of the difficult bureaucratic process needed to obtain visas.

The European Parliament report follows renewed Turkish efforts to join the EU. Earlier this summer, President Erdogan sought to link Turkiye’s EU accession to approving Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

However, EU officials balked at linking the two issues, citing human rights abuses and the deterioration of the rule of law in Turkiye under Erdogan.

“We have recently seen a renewed interest from the Turkish government in reviving the EU accession process,” said the lead lawmaker on the file, Spanish Socialist Nacho Sánchez Amor, upon adopting the report on Wednesday.

“This will not happen because of geopolitical bargaining, but only when the Turkish authorities show real interest in stopping the continuing backsliding in fundamental freedoms and rule of law in the country,” Sánchez Amor said.

EU officials accuse Erdogan of stifling the media and imprisoning dissidents, including during a crackdown after a failed coup in 2016, which Erdogan blamed on the Gulen Movement. Turkiye’s occupation of parts of EU-member Cyprus has also led EU officials to criticize Erdogan.

In 2018, the European Council said in a statement that negotiations for Turkiye to join the EU “have come to a standstill.”

Hal Turner Analysis

Erdogan of Turkey keeps trying to burn the candle at both ends between Europe and Russia. He pits one against the other regularly and BOTH sides are growing weary of his antics.

Biden Afraid As U.S Finds Itself In A WEAK Cold War Which Can Turn Into World War III!

How can you have a WAR when there is only one combatant? The world is moving past this, hopefully the US will see their future as a major player amongst all nations and join in as an equal for everyone’s benefit. Everyone should benefit and no-one needs to win.

https://youtu.be/OKHqSNZhkoM

Nuclear war can be avoided if the U.S. gets wise…

September 18, 2023 – 23:39

From afar one gets the impression that Iran’s fortunes are improving. The exchange of prisoners between the U.S. and Iran and the return of $6 billion stolen dollars to Iran is a positive. Iran also has joined BRICS, the Global South is more or less rejecting Western hegemony, Africa is pushing off French colonialism, and U.S. and Western dominance is unraveling some like never before since World War 2.

Europe is sinking into a self-inflicted economic morass and the U.S. is not far behind with its unsustainable debts built up this century especially. The U.S. has all but lost the proxy war on Russia in Ukraine, the Russian economy so far is doing okay, Putin remains popular and Russians in general are united in their own sovereignty with resolve. Apartheid Israel is a divided mess what with the incompetent Netanyahu government staffed with evil clowns, racists, and belligerents.

However, it must be said by this American observer from afar, that Iran could prosper even more than it may in future if it can dispense with any perceived oppression of its own population by its own citizens. Doing so is no threat to Iran’s Islamic orientation.

But at this juncture here’s a few prognostications with commentary.

The worst President this century, senile Joe Biden now facing an impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House, is being pushed by important voices in the U.S. not to run for a second term. The Washington Post confirms this. He is likely to be forced to cancel his candidacy later this autumn or winter.

The bloody, ill-conceived and provoked U.S./NATO proxy war on Russia is likely to end early in 2024 with negotiations. But Russia will never abandon Crimea or the regions it occupies among Russian-speaking and leaning former Ukrainians in the eastern parts of Ukraine. They are Russians now. And a neutral Ukraine is imperative to Russia. The war is unsustainable but if NATO/U.S. enters the conflict directly that could spark a nuclear apocalypse. Russia will NOT permit a threat to its existence.

With respect to China, the U.S. cannot abide competition anywhere. (Huawei, one of China’s leading hi-tech companies, is under attack again given fear of Huawei’s latest 5G consumer mobile phones which have been supplied with a Chinese-made advanced chip after being cut off from buying them elsewhere. The U.S. House of Representatives has proposed sanctions against Huawei and SMIC, not only severing all commercial relations with them but also filing criminal lawsuits against their executives for managing to compete! This is beyond petty.

The U.S. has stationed an alleged 375,000 thousand personnel at 66 military bases in the Indo-Pacific region, and focused the US defense budget for 2024 on China. It is pushing war with China on its gullible Pacific allies, too. This is waste on a gargantuan scale by a U.S. that is virtually bankrupt even without war. The Pentagon, playing war games from time to time, has concluded the U.S. cannot “win” a war with China, not to mention any war with Russia that cannot be won. As long as the U.S. maintains economic wars on competitors and even Europe, it will backfire on the U.S. economy. Expect more erosion of the dollar as a reserve currency.

The “American Century” is dying. Multipolarity is rising. No one can weep about this.

Expect increasing military, social, economic, and political decay in the U.S. and vassal Europe. Ukraine is the last of militant U.S. imperialism on steroids, which is why it’s so dangerous to humanity. Too many psychopaths in Washington remain, fewer in the general populating by the week. One must ask simply: what’s wrong with a more peaceful world, one where competition is acceptable to spur innovation and the U.S. isn’t the hegemonic beast throwing its weight around waging wars of choice, and none of them to date have “won” a thing but dollar profits for the Military Industrial Complex in the U.S. and for politicians. Average Americans also are in desperate need of attention and are suffering relatively. Corrupted Zelensky is coming to the U.S. and will appear at the UN in New York. Would that he were shunned and ridiculed there. He’s coming to beg for another $24 billion atop nearly $200 billion already wasted and he’s likely to get another lame infusion to prolong the bloody proxy war on Russia.

West Africa is likely to avoid a general conflagration and Nigeria probably won’t be able to lead a war on Niger.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has threatened to leave the Democratic Party in his bid for the Presidency in 2024. Biden won’t even give him as a candidate normal Secret Service protection and he faced a distinct threat of assassination last week. He or Vivek Ramaswany could win the 2024 election in a truly free and fair election, which the U.S. will never see again if the so-called Deep State has its way again. The U.S. has not really been a “democracy” of merit for many years.

The “American Century” is dying. Multipolarity is rising. No one can weep about this.

Beef Pepper Steak

Ingredients

1 pound beef top round or top sirloin steak, boneless, cut 3/4 inch thick or flank steak
1/2 cup prepared Italian dressing
Salt and pepper
2 large bell peppers, any color, cut into 1/8 inch strips
1 onion, cut into 1/8 inch wedges

Instructions

Cut beef steak lengthwise in half, then crosswise into 1/8-inch thick strips.
Place beef and 1/3 cup Italian dressing in food-safe plastic bag; turn beef to coat. Reserve remaining dressing for vegetables. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Remove beef from marinade; discard marinade. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot.
Add 1/2 of beef; stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes or until outside surface of beef is no longer pink. (Do not overcook.)
Remove from skillet.
Repeat with remaining beef.
Season beef with salt and pepper; keep warm.
Wipe skillet with paper towel.
Heat remaining Italian dressing in same skillet until hot.
Add peppers and onion. Stir-fry for 5 to 6 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.
Return beef and juices to skillet. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes or until heated through.

Total: 30 to 35 min | Marinade: 30 min to 2 hr | Yield: 4 servings

China’s Luxury Car Is A Threat To Rolls-Royce, Mercedes, BMW, and Bentley

WOW.

What extreme test would you give to your daughter’s boyfriend to see if he is worthy of dating her?

My father was very conservative and extremely protective of me.

When I was little – seven or eight – he often joked I’d have to wait until I was at least forty before I could date anyone.

When I did start dating, the rule was the boy had to pick me up and come inside to meet my father.

Oh oh.

The first time I had someone over, I was nervous. What would my father do? How would he act?

I hoped he wouldn’t scare him off forever.

The boy came in and sat on the living room couch. My father shook his hand cordially, sat down and asked him a couple of questions, mostly logistical. Where are you going? How will you get there? What time are you bringing my daughter back?

That was it.

“That’s it?” I whispered to my dad. “No tests, no threats?”

“Dushka,” said my dad. “You have a very good head on your shoulders. I trust you. If you like him and want to spend time with him, my assumption is the kid is worth spending time with.”

Then he said “One day you will make the wrong choice and get hurt. Getting hurt is how you learn. I am here to keep you safe – not to take away your life experience. So please, be thoughtful and careful about who you choose because beyond that I can’t protect you without causing more damage than good.”

And so I’m careful.

China cooks covert chips, recruits global geeks to dodge US restrictions

China is looking to hire engineers from other nations to bolster local chip production in the face of crippling US sanctions, with Huawei – one of the country’s largest tech giants – said to be creating a network of covert semiconductor plants across the country.

As Washington tries to curtail China’s access to advanced technology, Beijing continues to seek ways to advance its semiconductor ambitions, including discreetly reviving a past initiative to recruit top foreign-trained scientists to import much-needed expertise.

The new initiative, called Qiming, is overseen by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Qiming was set up to run in parallel with other recruitment initiatives from local and provincial authorities plus a government-backed hiring drive by Chinese chip companies themselves, which favor applicants trained at elite foreign institutions.

In related news, Huawei is building out a covert network of semiconductor facilities across China to tackle the limitations of US sanctions that have chocked off its supply of chips.

According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the trade body for US chipmakers, Huawei has taken possession at least two existing factories and is building a minimum of three others. SIA claims it is doing this under the names of other companies to conceal its involvement.

Doing so may allow Huawei to circumvent restrictions and indirectly purchase chipmaking equipment and other supplies that would otherwise be off-limits to the company. As a reminder, earlier this year, Washington was pushing for an all-out block on any and all US technology export licenses to Huawei.

No wonder that BRICS is spearheaded by China to bring USD’s demise sooner than later. There has to be a tit for every tat and who knows this better than China which started with Gallium and Germanium products, Micron and now Apple card being played.

Just imagine this, with the news of few Apple phones being discouraged to be used in the offices and Apple lost 200 billion dollars (this is akin to GDP of Hungary) of its share value overnight. What happens if there is a official ban a la Micron on Apple? They will lose trillion dollars = 33% of its share value in a single day because China is responsible for 25% of Apple’s revenue.

Its easy to do business with China, yet its tough to do business with China if you arm twist China.

What is the comprehensive US plan to contain China economically and replace it on the supply chain by Indian manufacturers?

The US is all talking. They don’t have the resources to push for their “comprehensive” plan in blocking China’s development.
Rome is not built in one day. The Belt and Road Initiative started 10 years ago and to date, 147 countries—accounting for two-thirds of the world’s population and 40 percent of global GDP—have signed on to projects or indicated an interest in doing so.
No one, including the US, really wants to cut off their ties with China as they all benefit from the big Chinese market and investment.
The US’ goal of containing China’s rise is evil and despicable.Who do they think they are? The US is working against the trend of history and against the wish of 1.4 billion Chinese pursuing a better life. Their effort in containing China’s growth will prove to be useless and 100% be crushed down to nothing. China’s rise is inevitable, no one can stop.

Why did Qualcomm choose to officially join Huawei’s Harmony OS (September 2023)?

Qualcomm generates two-thirds of its revenue and profit from China. Instead of manufacturing the chips it designs, the company derives income from licensing fees related to its intellectual property. Following the embargo, Qualcomm has been permitted to supply 14nm and higher Android chips to China to sustain its operations. since most cell phone vendors in China, are converting to Harmony, enabling the chip for Harmony OS enhances Qualcomm’s prospects in China, as it involves minimal expenses to adapt the microcode it possesses

Trouble Ahead! Western Lithography Machines Shutdown En Masse.

The United States has restricted the export of high-end chips to China, but China has made significant progress in mid-to-low-end chips. This has reduced China’s dependence on US chip imports, leading to a decline in integrated circuit imports and Western photolithography machine shutdowns. China’s semiconductor industry has developed rapidly, although there are still technological gaps and market share issues compared to American chip companies. China has provided an opportunity for American chip giants like Qualcomm, Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD to expand their business and generate significant revenue, with over 30% and up to 60% of their revenue coming from the Chinese market. They even develop tailored versions of their chips to comply with export control regulations and continue doing business in China.

https://youtu.be/VELRx5n4Efk

Bitten by rattlesnake

When I was taking care of my mother in Pennsylvania (she had cancer, and was living alone) I was responsible for the house care taking. This was a “manor”; a massive old house on 11 acres of land.

I did a lot of work on the property; renovating buildings, fixing things, and what-not.

One day, I went about the property and painted fresh white paint on all the water taps that littered the yard.

As I was painting, I heard something that sounded like a shaking rattle and then suddenly there was a blur in front of my eyes, and then nothing.

…

Sigh.

…

I hopped back on the tractor and rode to the manor, parked it in the “carriage house” workshop and started to notice that my arm seemed to be sore. I felt a little dizzy and so turned in early.

The next way I woke up with “cotton mouth”, and my arm was all yellow and swollen up and puffy. It was one big lump of piss-colored balloon / eggplant / muscle. I looked in the mirror and I looked like shit.

When looking at my arm, I saw two tiny puncture holes. That to this day I still have.

And that is my story of what it is like getting bit by a rattlesnake.

…

Todays…

What happened to all of the soldiers who were sent to fight in Vietnam, but didn’t make it there?

One of my favorite Vietnam veteran stories the likes of which never get told. I had a buddy in college post army who was a “Vietnam Vet”. Why the quotation marks? He gets to Nam and settles in at repl. During the first formation an NCO asks if anybody there has experience as a bartender. Having grown up in his father’s bar in Rochester, NY he raises his hand. After checking him out to their satisfaction he packs his shit and is flown to Guam to run the officer’s club bar for the length of his tour. His total time in Nam was about 36 hours!!!

After watching the American playbook in Ukraine, it is so obvious to China what the US will do in the Asia-Pacific. How has China’s thinking changed with regards to Taiwan?

U.S., Japanese and South Korean fleets scurried away during military exercises last month. Do they want to repeat?

Why don’t they stay? It turns out that they were afraid that the PLA would take over their nest!

If it were an actual battle, Apra Naval Base and Andersen Air Force Base would have been reduced to ruins long ago. The United States Indo-Pacific Command is in danger.

Taiwan is Chinese territory, Taiwan is in China.

The Yankee fleet only dared to circle around, but did not dare to enter the area near Taiwan.

Transport ships, transport planes, the PLA lets them in, they can come in. If they are not allowed in, they can only fire with their mouths on the other side of the network.

Nice Picture

Herbed Steak

Herbed Steak is excellent served with hot buttered noodles with dill.

Ingredients

1 pound round steak
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon herb seasoning

Instructions

Cut steak into serving-size pieces.
Combine flour and seasoned salt.
Pound into steak. Brown meat on both sides in hot oil in heavy skillet.
Add remaining ingredients. Cover; simmer 45 minutes, or bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour.

The Sopranos – Tribute music video

Lonely Road – Everlast

“Today while at the gas station I overheard a lady in her late 20’s telling 2 other men to leave her alone

so I decided to walk over to them and I asked her ” how was the meeting today darlin? ” she looked at me and said ” it was good, I’ll tell you more about it when we get home in a few “. I replied with ” wonderful I’ll pick up your favorite for dinner”.

The two guys left in a hurry and she told me ” you have no idea how much that meant to me …. thank you.” I said “you’re very welcome ma’am …. you can never be too careful. “

I made sure the guys left before I walked back to my car and as I was walking back all I could do was think ” I hope a man does that for my future daughter one day”.”

~ Cody Bret

Confession of the Day

$300k in debt (no mortgage). $297,677.49 to be exact.

$215k law school debt, $40k graduate school debt, $25k credit cards, $11k car loan, and a personal loan.

After 5 years of deep denial- I think I’ve finally accepted how badly we fucked up. I feel like I’ve gone through the stages of grief multiple times this year.

We paid for very expensive degrees that didn’t need to be. We racked up a shit ton of credit card debt by spending money like entitled a**holes and not using a budget. I wish I could go back in time, slap 23 year old me (and my husband) and ask, repeatedly- what the hell are you doing??

We would go out to bars and dinners every weekend with friends. insert Discover card. We would regularly order takeout. insert Amex card. We went on yearly vacations. insert Jet Blue card. We financed furniture???? Not to mention we walked right into the “prestige” private school bullshit.

We ate that shit up. And for what? To impress people? To prove that we’re worth something? All the above? It’s so normalized to be in debt as a millennial.

Everyone had credit cards, everyone was going out, everyone had student loans. We were super normal! You’re only young once- amiright?!

I found Dave last year, when I was hitting rock bottom. My debit card was getting declined at the gas station and the grocery store regularly.

After listening to The Ramsey Show for a couple weeks, I realized how screwed we were. I remember the first time he talked about the borrower being a slave to the lender.

That’s exactly how I felt. I couldn’t breathe. I had a mental breakdown. I haven’t really been able to relax since. My husband and I spent all last year fighting about money and almost got divorced.

We’re on BS2 right now. We should bring in around $170k this year before side gigs. We have paid off $12k since June. We started FPU last week. We’re throwing everything at the debt. I’m working my ass off. Husband is working 65+ hrs a week and donating plasma.

We dropped more than half of our “friends.” It’s a humbling experience to say the least. My mother in law makes us dinners a couple days a week to help out.

Family and friends ask why we’re not having kids or buying a house yet. The whole situation is embarrassing, but we deserve it.

I don’t blame anyone but myself. I’m not expecting anyone to “forgive” or payoff our dumpster fire. We were extremely stupid and entitled, but we need to get out of this ourselves. I just need prayers that we can make it out of this. We will. Hopefully better than who we were before.

Just trying to “embrace the suck” and keep up the motivation.

Europe-US tech war breaks out! 17 European countries boycott the US!

https://youtu.be/78bH7wbM-kc

What was the most brutal military tactic in history?

I’m serious when I say this is actually one of the cruelest things you can do in a battle because it exploits human’s basic survival instinct.

Leave your enemy a way to escape.

Human beings aren’t so different from the many types of creatures that roam the planet, One of the universal traits shared by so many species is this. Fight or flight or freeze.

In a situation that presents danger, living creatures will perform one of these actions. Fight, meaning we leap into action and confrontation. Flight, meaning we try to remove ourselves from the danger. Freeze, where we are facing an unfamiliar situation and do nothing.

As the last several thousand years of recorded history has shown, humans have yet to grow beyond these basic instincts. It’s a part of who we are.

The brilliance comes in exploiting this mindset in a military situation. Consider a classic military tactic. Encirclement.

The idea of encirclement is simple. Use your forces to surround an enemy and isolate them. Cut off their means of supplying themselves with material and reinforcement. Strangle them as you make sure that you don’t run low on supplies. It’s classic thinking for military warfare, especially in regards to sieges.

But I want you to think of that in terms of what I just told you. “Fight, flight or freeze”.

If you take away an enemy’s ability to retreat, you are actually giving them a subtle advantage.

This might be hard to understand for people who don’t expect to face life or death situations. Facing a scenario where you have a high chance of dying without chance of survival is less stressful than a situation where you might survive. Why is this? Because it’s less complicated.

if you make your enemy think they can’t escape, you remove the “flight” option. And you have increased the chances of them choosing “Fight”.

I’ll use a real world example to explain this better. Pirates.

Now back in the days when piracy was men in giant wooden ships sailing through the Caribbean, there were several unspoken rules of piracy. One of the most important of which was FLAGS. A lot of successful pirates had their own heraldry, much like Noble Houses of Europe.

Pirates would hide their flags from plain sight. They would only unfurl their banners when stalking targeted ships. They would suddenly spring the flag from cover, displaying to their prey their intent to rob and plunder.

Now if you were some poor merchant ship who was suddenly ambushed on the high seas, your greatest fear was seeing THIS flag.

If you saw a RED Pirate flag unfurled that meant you were in serious trouble. Pirates who used red flags intended no mercy for their prey and were going to kill and do unspeakable things to whomever they captured, even if they surrendered and begged for their lives. Red flag pirates were torturous, murdering bastards who would probably laugh as they set you on fire or tossed you into the sea with weights tied to your ankles.

What you wanted to see was a white pirate flag.

Pirate flags that had white (or lacked red generally) were from pirate crews who were more reasonable. Generally if you surrendered to these pirates (either immediately or after a short battle), the worse they would do is steal your valuables, most of your food and maybe abduct some of your crew. After that they’d let you go peacefully. They would usually kill you only if you fought to try to stop them. If you happened to be belligerent and refused to give them your supplies, they would probably torture you or threaten to torture you.

Defeating your opponent isn’t just skill at arms. There’s a mental component to combat and sometimes you can defeat an opponent before you even cross swords.

If you are a pirate with a red flag, here is what your opponent is going to be thinking.

“Okay that pirate ship is coming for me. If I surrender or do nothing, they are definitely going to kill me. If I fight back, they MIGHT kill me. But if I fight back, maybe I’ll kill them before they kill me. I might even be able to win and go home. I think I’m going to fight back.”

If you are a pirate with a non-red flag, here is what your opponent will be thinking.

“Okay that pirate ship is coming for me. If I surrender or do nothing they are probably going to let me go free if I let them steal everything. If I fight back I might be able to win. If I fight back though, I could lose, be captured and then tortured to death in front of friends. Combat is unpredictable, I could be killed fighting before the battle is over. If I die I won’t be able to go home, get a drink, make love to a woman and live a peaceful life. I think I’ll take my chances with surrendering.”

Contrary to what you may think, it is a poor sign of a warrior to seek battle over capitulation. Fighting is unpredictable. On the high seas, pirates defined success by captured treasures, not the number of people they killed. Sailors knew this. This is why when pirate offered fair terms their enemies surrendered almost immediately.

If you back a man into a corner, he will fight to survive. If you back a man into a corner and give him a way to escape unharmed, there’s a good chance that man will take the escape route.

This is why professional armies don’t massacre their prisoners. It’s why armies take prisoners in the first place. If you have an enemy surrounded, that enemy faces a choice. Fight and likely die or surrender and likely live. It’s much harder to have a man fight knowing he can surrender than fight until he stops breathing.

Facing death when it’s the only option is easy. Facing death when you want to survive is hard.

Now here comes the brutal part.

As your enemy runs through that corridor of escape you strike HARD. Your enemy thinks they are safe. That they still have a clear path to run away. Then you attack them at their most unsuspecting. Take advantage of their weakness.

This is a tactic that is used in battles of annihilation. Where the objective is to annihilate enemy spirit, not just manpower. There are countless examples of this used in history. But there is one example that chills my very soul when I think back on it.

Napoleon’s Folly

It was the year 1812. Napoleon had just realized he couldn’t conquer Russia. Napoleon’s campaign to dominate the largest European kingdom had ground to a halt. He could win on the battlefield, but an extended conflict would ultimately accomplish nothing. The Russians refused to surrender, even when their own capital had been seized and the Tsar had fled. Facing an impossible situation, Napoleon ordered a withdrawal.

Now the Russians could have counterattacked, encircled Napoleon and tried to capture him with their superior numbers and knowledge of the land. What they did was worse. They let the French walk back the way they came.

The French army marched back through lands they had already conquered. These areas had been picked clean of food. In their places was less than nothing. Napoleon’s grand army, the largest on Earth at that time, was cut off from supplies. This was literally as the Russian winter was beginning.

But they could still escape. The Russians were only behind them. So they started walking back.

Yellow line represents French invasion into Russia. Black line indicates retreat. The thickness of the line represents amount of men.

All the while, the Russians bled them with raids. Mounted horsemen, Irregular militias. Pin prick attacks from a thousand directions. But never a concentrated military attack. The Russians kept bleeding the French. Bit by bit by bit.

The French couldn’t turn around and retaliate. The invasion had failed and now all they wanted to do was go home. They thought they would be safe if they just kept walking west. And they kept getting more and more hungry. The weather became worse and worse.

This is when the Grand Army began to break down. Deserters abandoned the army in droves. Their equipment was insufficient for fighting in winter and broke down in unrelenting cold. And the Russians kept circling their flanks. Never surrounding them. Never stopping them from retreating.

So the French kept walking west. There was still a chance they probably thought. If they endured a few more days, a few more hundred miles, they could make it. They kept weakening themselves. Structure and order were undone as desperation infected the French ranks. They lost whatever advantage they may have had fighting the Russians directly and weakness began to suffocate them. Hunger, disease and deprivation on a massive scale.

The retreat from Russia lasted from October to December of 1812. By the time the Grand Army had entered friendly territory, they had been reduced to barely 20,000 emaciated survivors.

And that’s how you destroy an army of 700,000 men. You give them hope of escape.

The Nurse

“Today I woke up feeling like I had a hangover. I’m starting my 4 day break from the ICU, after working 6 of the last 8 days. I drug myself down the stairs and starting cleaning house as I normally do on my days off. I glanced at myself in the mirror at the bottom of my stair case. Horror. My face blatantly shows the pure exhaustion that I feel, and my hair looks a complete mess. “Thank god I’m off work today and my patients won’t have to see this worn out version of myself” is my first thought.

People who aren’t nurses always tell me, “You only work three days a week? Wow! That must be great. I wish I had your schedule!”..Only three days a week? ONLY!? I wake up at 4:30AM, shake off my fatigue, drive an hour to work, and then begin my scheduled 12 hour shift. 12 often turns into 13 hours or even more depending on the patient load and if I were able to keep up with my charting. When I’m done and finally clock out, I drive home arriving around 8PM, where I strip out of my scrubs and collapse onto the couch where I snuggle my cats and tell my husband about my day until I pass out from exhaustion. I slip upstairs to bed, to the disbelief of my husband that I could possibly be so tired, and I set my alarm and prepare for my next shift.

ONLY 36 hours a week. But does anyone who’s not a nurse know what those 36 hours consist of? Juggling all my nursing tasks for each individual patient while also trying to communicate with the doctors, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, PT, OT, social work, our aides, the patients themselves, and their families?! Yes, that’s right, I communicate with all of these people on a daily basis. I am personal coordinator for my patients. I am their voice, their advocate. I must be aware of my patients needs at all times. Room 101 is going up stairs to cath lab at 0900. 102 wants their pain medicine at 0915. 103 needs to be turned at 0930. Got it. My mental check list is a never ending dynamic that I must prioritize and rearrange constantly.

My job is scary. Always thinking, always analyzing, ALWAYS aware of my actions. I could cause a patient to lose their life if I am not critically thinking about everything that I do and every medication that I give. Is this dosage appropriate, does this patient need this medication? It is all my responsibility to keep the patient safe.

Even when I am doing everything that I can it isn’t always enough. I’ve had family members displeased that I took a little longer to answer a call light. I’m sorry that I couldn’t get you a coke right away, I was busy titrating a lifesaving medication in the room right next to yours. I have been asked by a family member if I were qualified to even be a nurse, surely I was too young for that. I have been told that I am too weak to help lift a patient when in reality I can lift more weight that I weigh. Nursing is hard. I take all these comments and offer a kind response to remain professional even though it can make me feel really small at times. Not feeling appreciated is hard when all I am trying to do is help.

I have been there when a patient said their lasts words before being intubated and never being able to come off of the vent. I have been there as a patient has taken their last breaths on the earth. I have been there when a patient has decided that their body can no longer fight, and they would like to receive comfort care. I have provided comfort care as family members are silent, with tears streaming down their faces, as I turn the lifeless body of their once resilient family member. I have been there when a doctor has told a healthy, active patient in front of their spouse that they have stage 4 cancer, and will not survive. I have stood and held my tears to remain strong for family members who have had their hearts shattered by the news that their loved ones will not be coming home again. I have sobbed on my way home from work because my heart is shattered too. I am so sorry that you have to go through these things. I am so sorry that your loved one has cancer. I am so sorry that myself and the doctors couldn’t get your loved one to wake back up after being sedated on the ventilator. Nursing is hard. I am human. I care about my patients. How could I not? My heart breaks along with my patients and their family members. Then I go home and try to pretend that I have not been broken during my shift. I don’t want to burden my husband with my sadness, and I need to pull it together so I can go back to work in the morning and do it again.

So how do I do it? How do all nurses do it? How do we manage ONLY 36 hours a week? Because nursing is beautiful. I have been there as a scared patient on a ventilator has woken up so I held her hand and told her that everything would be okay. She could not speak as she had a lifesaving breathing tube down her throat. Somehow she managed to grasp a pen with her weak hands and wrote “I love you guys.” My heart exploded with joy. I have provided comfort to someone when they were far from comfortable. I have been there when a patient has come off of a ventilator after being on it for a week, and watched as they cried and said they were so happy to be alive. I helped bring that person relief. I have bought lip gloss for an elderly patient whose son forgot to bring in her lipstick. The smile on her done up face was priceless as she put on the lip gloss to complete her look. I have made a patient genuinely happy even though she is sick and in the critical care unit. I have been there providing comfort care to a dying loved one and family members have hugged me and thanked me for being the angel that their family member needs. Nursing is beautiful. Life is beautiful. I watch lives change, I watched lives end, and I watch lives get a second chance because of the care and medicine that I have provided.

Nursing is hard. Nursing is stressful. Nursing is exhausting. It drains me both physically and mentally. I come home tired, sweaty, and defeated. Not all days are good days. Nursing is not all sunshine and rainbows. But nursing is my life. I dedicate my life to saving the lives of others. Those break through moments when a patient miraculously recovers, when a patient holds your hand and tells you how thankful that they are for you, and the moments when myself and a patient can share in a good laugh. The feeling of pride I feel when my patient came in on a ventilator but walks out at discharge, makes it all worth it. All the wonderful, precious moments are why I love nursing. The great moments are what get myself and my coworkers through the long, difficult 12 hour shifts. Thank god for fantastic coworkers. My coworkers are like my family. I know that they understand the mental turmoil that I go through after a hard day. Only nurses understand truly what nurses go through.

So the next time that you want to tell a nurse that it must be great to work ONLY 36 hours a week, please be mindful of what those 36 hours are like. Give a nurse a hug today, and be thankful that we continue to do what we do, and don’t judge us when we drink a little extra wine. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

Sincerely,

the exhausted,

but still smiling ICU nurse.”

“Men Deserve To Be Lonely!” Responding To Backlash Over ‘The Male Loneliness Epidemic’

“Shoe, I don’t think you’ll ever know how much these videos mean, but thank you. It’s absolutely heart-warming to realise that not everyone in this world is crazy and I don’t have to feel so isolated, that not everything has to be a war, that I could go outside and not be scared to socialise based on things of which I have no control. Thank you.”

Confession of the Day

We got married almost 3 years ago. She started having an affair with her coworker 1 year ago. I got to know that because I saw his car outside my house one day. I had my suspicions. I hired a PI and gathered evidence that she was having an affair with him. I was angry.

Then I got a call from the coworker’s wife that she came to know about the affair. She only had texts they used to send but I have all the receipts of their hangouts. Together we decided to confront them. We used to meet up a lot. She told me she had suspected his affair since her pregnancy. They have 3 children together. One day we had an idea that we should sleep with each other as revenge.

We did and not going to lie it felt good. We have been meeting and having sex for a while. She is an amazing woman. I would say she is better at some things in bed than my wife. Mostly, I am very angry towards my wife. Because in some of her texts with her affair partner she and AP made fun of AP’s wife. Saying things like she has gained weight, her vagina was destroyed and other disgusting stuff. I cannot believe that she would say something like this while being a woman. She even made fun of my fertility issues saying that I am not a man because the chances of me having kids is very low.

I do not feel bad about my affair. I like the sex life I had with AP’s wife way more than my wife. She hardly ever gives me oral but expects me to give her one. At least AP’s wife was more enthusiastic about it and it was the best oral I ever had. AP’s wife wants to tell his husband.

I guess we are both tired about carrying out the revenge affair. We both got carried away. We were both so driven by the revenge that we got addicted to it.

I will confront my wife soon. I already have the divorce papers ready. Since we do not have a joint account or marital assets it will be easy for us.

AP’s wife might have some problems because they have kids but she has the power to take him to cleaners. I know I sound like an awful person. But I am already checked out of my marriage.

What are some common misconceptions about happiness?

Last weekend, my boyfriend asked me to make some creme brulee, so I did. After dinner, I served the dessert.

My boyfriend then pulled out from his pocket a small spoon with an owl on it and handed it to me. I love owls very much (I have a lot of owl things around the house). He told me this is the designated spoon for creme brulee – just for me.

I was happy. And he, after finishing the creme brulee, also was happy.

I find that a lot of people, myself a few years ago included, tend to think and look for big things to be happy in life, like a big house, a fancy car, a steady career,… But then, I learned that, it doesn’t take much for you to be happy.

Life is a difficult journey, lots of things we have to deal with every day. But if you try to collect small and small pieces of happiness along the way, you will be much happier.

Couple finds cats in new home. Guess how they responded.

What did you do when you saw someone stealing while on the job?

I laughed and laughed. He was a maintenance guy at Nabisco back when Nabisco had a Houston facility and he decides to steal a big bench grinder. It maybe weighed a hundred pounds and would have cost around eighty or ninety dollars. Anyway, he couldn’t get it past the guard house so he decided to back his truck up to the building and drop the bench grinder into the bed of the truck from the top of the second floor roof, that would be about a thirty foot fall. Now just doing this in my head and playing fast and loose with the numbers I’m figuring that the bench grinder is going to exert somewhere around ten thousand pounds of impact force when it meets the bed of that truck, and I stood back and smiled.

The grinder hit just in front of the third member and went through the bed of that truck like a cannon shot. It was fabulous!

Man Dies Car Accident; Learned The Truth About The Matrix (NDE)

What screams “I’m educated, but not very bright”?

While living in Atlanta, I met a guy who told me he wanted to move to New Zealand. I was a little surprised. At the time, it wasn’t a country you heard Americans talk about often, at least not in Georgia.

He was a culinary arts graduate though, and in my country (Jamaica) they tend to be pretty cultured people. Partially because of the classes but also because it attracts a lot of upper-middle class students (not sure why!). So I figured this guy likely just knew something I didn’t.

“Why do you want to move to New Zealand?” I asked.

“Because they speak English!” he answered. “I don’t want to have to learn another language.”

I puzzled over this in silence for a moment and then I asked. “Ok, but that’s an interesting choice just for English. I mean, why not Britain?”

“Well, I don’t know what language the British speak,” he responded.

I thought he was joking so I burst out laughing, but I soon realized he wasn’t joining in. “Wait….are you serious??”

“Yes, it’s not like I’ve ever googled that or anything.”

“England is part of Britain…” I hinted, still wondering if maybe he was just toying with me.

Nope. He started to get angry. “I don’t know what language they speak either.”

I was flabbergasted. “DUDE…what language do you think THE ENGLISH speak??”

“I just told you I don’t know,” he started to say, until it dawned on him. He stared at me in awkward silence for a moment and then he got up and left, lol.

He never spoke to me again. 😂

I don’t remember his name or even how we met, but every so often, I think about him and wonder if he’s gotten any smarter with time.

Can you tell me about a time that you sued someone in civil court and won?

While living in a housing community, one morning I returned to where I left my car the previous night, it was gone. Wondering why someone would steal such a crappy car, I called the local police. I wanted a police officer to come out and take a report. Instead, the officer asked me over the phone where the car was removed(address), and license plate number. While we were talking on the phone, other community tenants were wandering the parking lot looking for their car too. The officer informs me that my car was at a local low yard and had been impounded with twelve other cars. It seems the community had issued new parking permits yet failed to notify ALL the tenants.

With a ride from a friend, off I go to the impound lot. When I arrive, I’m welcome by many young retired gang bangers covered with jail and prison colored tattoos. They hold my car hostage, demanding over two hundred dollars I didn’t have to lose. After I pay the ransom, I lean over the counter getting as close to the cashiers face as I can. I tell him I will be suing their company, and it will cost them far more than I’m paying. He responded, laughing, “I hear that threat a dozen times a day”. I respond, “get a good look at my face so you’ll remember me later as the one person who actually did sue you!”

Due to rampant predatory towing, in 2004, California signed into law a detailed code and section listing nearly 12 specific criteria that a towing company must preform prior to impounding a car. No towing companies ever satisfy these requirement. That same law listing the requirement also lists the penalties for towing company and possibly security staff non-compliance. I’m my case, it was four times the extortionist tow charge that they charged.

Off to court I go, filed and waited several months for scheduled court date. When our court date arrives, the company didn’t bother to appear. I was awarded everything I asked for, plus interest.

Off again I go to the tow yard with copy of court order demanding payment, they told me to “pound sand!” The next day the towing company attempted to appeal the order not knowing that you cannot appeal an order issued on a case in which you failed to appear.

Now the fun starts. Off to the Sheriffs Department with my court order to request a till tap levy. Due to the sheer volume of deadbeats in Orange County, this task takes another nine months to arrive. After nearly a year since my car was stolen and held for ransom, the Sheriffs department forcibly collected over a thousand dollars in restitution, penalty, and interest, from a very angry business owner. When it was all over and I’d received my money, I went back to the towing yard and thanked them for stealing my car.

How do I deal with a neighbor who insists on telling his kids to play in my yard? They’re always climbing my tree and messing up my yard while his yard is immaculate. What should I do or say?

I am Answering the question. I am not the one who asked it. I said how I handled it. To the one who asked it.

I am single. No girlfriend or wife to keep me company. I bought a house in a really nice neighborhood. After settling in one weekend I decided to go for a swim in my pool. Lo and behold, there were kids already in there. I thought, am I in the wrong house? I pinched myself. Nope I am in my home. So I sat outside to watch the kids to make sure they stay safe while swimming. After a couple hours they got out and left, saying hi as they left. Just as they were leaving. I told the kids that I really do not want anyone in my pool except me or my family, because of liability issues. Plus I am afraid the kids will urinate in the pool. (I did not tell them that.) So I told them my pool is off limits. They looked at me as if to say “Whatever “. Then they left.

It was OK for a couple days. Then one Saturday I heard the sound of someone in my pool. So outside I sit and watch the neighborhood kids. Like I said before I am single. With no companion. I had always wanted a dog. I thought not only would I have a life companion, I would also have a way to guard my home. So one day I brought my friend home. I installed a dog door and got him a huge comfy dog bed. Now since my dog has access to the back yard I posted warning signs by the gate to state “Guard dog on premises. Do not enter.” Did not think too much about it. Now since I got a friend I wanted to be active with him. We go on walks, go to the park to let him stretch his legs and run, as well as mine.

One morning I heard the doorbell and the dog barking to let me know someone is at the door. So I got up and went to the door. There were kids with towels standing at my door. I asked what they wanted. They told me they are afraid of my dog, and could I put him up so they could swim. I told them “I am sorry, but you are going to have to find another place to play.” I also told them every once in a while it would be OK, but only if they asked first and one of their parents was there to supervise them.” I never heard from them again. I am not saying you should do this, but that is how I solved my issue. Also I am glad I got a dog. He is my best friend and goes with me pretty much everywhere. Where you see me, you see Kronos.

9 SHOCKING Retirement Statistics…We’re In Trouble

What scares you most in life?

It started so innocently. I asked my son to get me something out of the refrigerator. I forgot the word “refrigerator”. I pointed to it and said get me something out of “that.”

I opened the mail once and I received a ticket for running a red light. A camera saw it and I could view what it saw. It was early in the morning and I never tried to stop when the light was red. I could have killed someone. No cars were coming. I don’t remember even being there. Twice I have pulled out of a parking lot and for some reason, I touched the gas pedal hard instead of the brake. I have taken two driving tests by the VA. I passed. I have to focus on every aspect of driving. My driving days are numbered.

My doctor has given me two tests for dementia. Part of a test involves her giving me five words like “apple” to remember. Minutes later, when I am asked to repeat the words, I remember maybe two. I’ve seen a specialist for a four hour session. Drawing a clock, etc. are part of the test.

I have minor to mild dementia. It’s hard to scare me but dementia sure does.

I write and forget grammar rules I’ve known for years.

Any disease is a label, it doesn’t define me. I get to choose what defines me. I was diagnosed with dementia three years ago and I’m fighting it like hell.

Never take for granted looking in a mirror and knowing who you are. Someday I fear I will have no clue who the hell the person is that’s looking back at me.

I plan to fight dementia as hard as I can. I hope it will be years before I slip into total darkness.

The Rise and Fall of the American Mall

What bad experience had you saying “I will never buy from that company or use their service ever again”?

U-Haul

(What I believe should happen to the company)

My wife was moving from Virginia to Ohio, had a U-Haul reservation, and showed up on Saturday morning to pick up her truck. There was no truck, they had rented it out to somebody else, who showed up earlier that Saturday without a reservation. When asked about why they had done that, they blamed us for not being there earlier, on an 8–12 pick up window, when we showed up at 9:00.

Within an hour, we had a Ryder truck. However, later that afternoon, when we were nearly done packing up her stuff, U-Haul called to say they had her truck ready. We said “no” in very definitive terms. Sure enough, two weeks later, when my wife got her credit card statement, U-Haul had charged her for the rental in spite of not having the truck. The customer service representative at U-Haul was inflexible on the charge, stating that they had a truck for her, and it was her fault that she didn’t pick it up.

Never again, they suck. If you rent with them, it will happen to you.

China proposes a new domestic EUV lithography machine plan: “super large lithography factory”!

Wow, China is very innovative by proposing to build EUV lithography as an infrastructure project to get the advantage of large scale production.

This is a great idea as chips will always be needed in the future and it’s applications will be in every product.

By consolidating all the chips manufacturers together one can reduce the price of chips significantly.

No other country will be able to compete as it will be integrated in the infrastructure project. China will be self sufficient all the way through the 21st century.

If your car is stolen, and then you just so happen to stumble across it parked in the street, are you legally allowed to steal it back then and there without calling the police or anything in the USA?

My friend had something like this happen, the rented garage where he worked on his race car was broken into and burgled. They didn’t take the car but took a set of wire wheels with Dunlop Race Tires (a special order option for wet conditions) on them, along with all his tools, etc. He filed a police report.

Well, a week later my friend is downtown and sees an MG B parked at the curb, with his tires and wheels on it. He knew they were his because he had marked them with chalk showing which locations on the car they were on.

He went to a payphone on the same block called the police, and went back to stand by the car.

A cop showed up within a few minutes. He explained to the police officer, and. They waited a while, but the owner didn’t come back.

The police took all the information off the car and called a tow truck.

They eventually tracked down the owner of the car, who was related to the people who rented him the garage. They searched his garage and found all my friend’s tools and other things that were stolen.

The guy was arrested, tried and sent to jail.

What’s the coolest death in history?

I’d vote it would be Ben L. Salomon who was an army Dentist during WWII. In June 1944 he volunteered to replace a wounded surgeon due to there not being much need for a dentist during combat when all hell broke lose.

The Japanese General Saito, after taking massive casualties and being pushed back so far, ordered his remaining 3000-5000 to advance to attack the American forces and die with honor. Outside the medical tent Captain Salomon saw a Japanese soldier bayonet some of the wounded soldiers. He grabbed a nearby rifle and killed the Japanese soldier and went back to tending the wounded inside the medical tent. At that point the defensive line collapsed, unbeknown to Salomon, and two more Japanese soldiers ran into the tent. Salomon clubbed both of them with the rifle, then shot one and bayoneted the other. Four more Japanese solder started crawling under tent. He shot one, bayoneted another one, knifed the third, and head-butted the fourth, allowing one of the wounded soldiers to shoot him. Realizing the dire situation, he ordered the medics to evacuate the wounded. Meanwhile he stayed to provide cover for the soldiers evacuating.

When the military retook the area 15 hours later they found Captain Salomon’s body slumped over a machine gun with 76 wounds from being shot and bayoneted (autopsy revealed 24 of them were inflicted before death), and the bodies of 98 Japanese soldiers piled in front of his position. Based on the blood trail of the wounded Captain, Salomon relocated the machine gun 4 times to maintain a clear field of fire due to the build up of piles of bodies.

Ben L. Salomon is pretty much the embodiment of “Going Out in a Blaze of Glory”

The Feline Couple Came to the Family’s Doorstep Every Day

Nice story.

My wife is a parasite and I feel stuck

My wife (37f) and I (38m) and I have been married for 11 years, together for a few years before that, and have known each-other for over 20 years. We met online when she was 16 and still in high school, and I was 17 and just starting college. For the sake of this rant we’ll call her Connie.

Connie and I lived several states away and, at first, there was some attraction on her part – but I just wanted to stay friends. Over several years we grew closer and decided to have a long distance relationship. I was always awkward with girls in high school and it continued into adulthood. With Connie things just felt natural. After a couple years, when we were talking about meeting in person, she destroyed me. She let me know that she had been having multiple other online relationships and one of these men came to meet her and she wanted to be with him.

Looking back, the smart thing to do would have been to end the story there. Nearly a year later she reached out to me, saying she was sorry and that she missed our friendship. I decided to give friendship another chance and, for a while, it worked. She had a couple other relationships. We’d talk and text regularly. But, over time, the old feelings came back. I admitted them to her and she said she felt the same.

We decided to give things another shot. Eventually she came to visit me and then we would alternate visits. We talked about her coming to live with me, and she did. She worked for a national chain store, so the plan was for her to simply transfer locations. She didn’t do that. Instead she quit. After a couple attempts at finding work, she asked if she could stay at home and take care of the house. Cook, clean, etc. I agreed, since we didn’t really have many expenses. She also refused to get her own bank account, instead using mine and calling everything ‘our’ money. Looking back, the red flags are so blatantly obvious – but I was young and in love.

She never cleaned and rarely cooked.

Instead we ordered out most of the time, wasting any money I had saved. We got several pets, at her insistence. She begged me for over a year to get her pregnant because she wanted a baby. I said I wanted to get married first, which is what ended up happening. When my daughter was an infant we bought a house in order to have more space. She also wanted to be nearer to one of her world of warcraft friends, who we’ll call Aaron.

It was because of Aaron I learned of her fixating behavior.

She will find a male friend online, become ‘besties’ with them, and then eventually find someone else. After Aaron it was Roy. Roy lived further away, but was in a bad relationship with his own wife (ironic) and suicidal. Connie begged me to let him come stay with us until he could get on his feet, admitting she’d already invited him. Defeated, I agreed since I didn’t want to make someone homeless.

He lived with us for a year before he was able to get a job. He is still living with us nearly 9 years later. And to be quite honest it’s because of him I haven’t gone completely insane yet. Connie still barely does any housework. Roy is the one who does the dishes, laundry, and yardwork. All of it.

He does not pay rent, but Connie has access to his bank account and regularly spends his money to the point of overdraft. In the interim years I’ve mostly separated my money from her. There is a bank account she does not have access to, with some savings and from which I pay our bills. If I didn’t do this, she would spend me to overdraft as well. Some of my paycheck goes into a shared account for her, which she regularly overdrafts. After Roy lived here for a while she found another man to be friends with and the cycle continued.

We have two children now, and she barely spends any time with them. Preferring instead to smoke weed (it’s legal here) and play video games for the entirety of the day. Sometimes she cooks, sometimes she’ll even straighten up a bit. However she has filled my house to the brim with clutter. Every room has boxes and boxes of useless shit. Some of it untouched.

I knew she had mental health issues when we were dating, but they have gotten worse and, with the use of tik-tok, she has weaponized them against me. Every time I criticize her for ordering stuff we don’t need (such as groceries that we already have, or junk we will never use) she defends herself by saying she has ADHD and it’s a symptom. She probably does have it, but she’s undiagnosed. She won’t go to a psychiatrist for it. Her medical doctor prescribed her antidepressants, which have helped, but not with everything. The thing is, I have plenty of friends with ADHD. They view it as a part of them which needs to be addressed and worked around/through. She sees it as an excuse to do whatever she wants without consequences.

Recently we went on vacation and she asked if her her latest friend, who is recently divorced and looking for jobs in our area, could stay at our house while we were away (though Roy would be there). I agreed, since it felt bad to make him spend several thousand dollars a week on a hotel room. He’s still here, and it’s been weeks. He’s done some Zoom interviews and occasionally does door dash to make extra cash, but he’s still here. We’ll call him Joe.

Connie and I have hit a breaking point and are talking about divorce. After a long conversation she’s admitted she sees nothing wrong with her behavior, and finds it aggravating that I try to ‘fix’ her. I realized then that there is nothing for me in this relationship anymore. She’s also admitted to having feelings for Joe, and he is in love with her.

The problem now is money. We have 60k left on our house and just bought a new car. She wants to keep the house and the car when we split. I’m fine with this because I would rather live somewhere that isn’t full of her garbage and I don’t drive. But she can’t pay for them, and no bank in their right mind would give her a loan to buy me out. Even if they did, she couldn’t pay it on her own (either Roy or Joe or both would be paying for it).

I want to be done with this relationship so badly, but I feel like I’m trapped here. My kids love their school and I don’t want to make them move. I’m more than happy to get my name off of the house and the car, get some money from the equity, and start over. It would be great to take my kids each weekend and actually DO things with them. But I don’t see a path to get there. I feel trapped in my own house, which is becoming increasingly full of my wife’s pets (both human and otherwise) and all of her garbage.

Even though I want out, I still love Connie (in a way) and don’t want to hurt or destroy her – even though it’s probably better than what she deserves. She first broached the topic of divorce, but now she gets sad regularly thinking about it – and is confused at why I am so often upset with her. All of the stress of having her, and Roy, and Joe, and two young children is eating away at me. And I feel ashamed of the divorce. Ashamed that I couldn’t fix her. Ashamed that I couldn’t put my foot down and say no. Ashamed that there are multiple people living in MY house that I don’t want here. I haven’t told my extended family or friends yet, though I am going out with a friend tomorrow and plan to tell him. And we haven’t told the kids either. It’s all eating me up inside, but just typing this out has helped. I hope it wasn’t too bad of a read. And I hope I can get through this situation sooner rather than later.

(Reddit)

I asked DIGITAL NOMADS how they MAKE MONEY in Bali

Nice Picture

The How And Why Of Heroin Addiction

Let me explain it to you, I’ve been an opiate addict for a long time and tried many drugs.

Drugs that are ‘uppers’ have the most ‘obvious’ euphoria.

For example if you take adderall/coke/meth/speed/MDMA you will get this shining bright euphoria, self confidence, energy, and other drug-specific feelings (for meth like you are king or for MDMA like you love everyone).

However, you owe these drugs back what they delivered to you.

After a meth binge, or lots of MDMA use, or staying up all night on coke you will feel like shit.

To an extent this aspect is similar to an alcoholic hangover.

On the other hand, for many people who experiment with heroin they are underwhelmed (not including IV usage, but most experimenters rarely ever IV first time).

They just feel good, chill, happy, but they feel like this spooky drug ‘heroin’ hasn’t delivered. They are just mellow.

Oh obviously it has all been a lie they will think.

Heroin isn’t spooky, it’s chill.

It’s not addictive like everyone else thinks. It doesn’t make you do stupid shit or stay up all day and hallucinate like amphetamines or coke. It doesn’t empty your serotonin like MDMA or give you a hangover like alcohol.

People tend to just think oh, what a nice drug.

So the next day they wake up and everything is normal. No headache or shitty feeling–just a slight afterglow of that nice feeling. Oh it was cheap as well! It only cost $10 for a whole night of being high! I thought people said heroin was expensive?

And then next weekend comes… There are all these drugs I could do but I liked heroin. It didn’t ‘fuck me up,’ I could still think clearly. No hangover. No feeling like shit later. I still was awake. It just made me happy and content with life. Oh and it’s only $10! Well, I should get some more for the whole weekend.

This is great!

I will use Heroin on the weekends now!

Now let’s say this person works and has responsibilities. He knows he can’t go into work drunk, or on MDMA, or high. So he doesn’t. It’s actually simple.

But heroin… Well the user might actually find they do better work on heroin.

Instead of being sad or grumpy or depressed with his job… he is just… happy. Mellow. Content. Everything is fine and the world is beautiful.

It’s raining, it’s dark, I woke up at 5:30AM, I’m commuting in traffic. I would have had a headache, I would have been miserable, I would have wondered how my life took me to this point.

This point I’m at right now. But no, no, everything is fine. Life is beautiful. The rain drops are just falling and in each one I see the reflection of every persons life around me. Humanity is beautiful. In this still frame shot of traffic on this crowded bus I just found love and peace. Heroin is a wonder drug. Heroin is better than everything else. Heroin makes me who I wish I was. Heroin makes life worth living. Heroin is better than everything else. Heroin builds up a tolerance fast. Heroin starts to cost more money. I need heroin to feel normal. I don’t love anymore. Now I’m sick. I can’t afford the heroin that I need. How did $10 used to get me high? Now I need $100. That guy that let me try a few lines the first time doesn’t actually deal. Oh I need to find a real dealer? This guy is a felon and carries a gun–he can sell me the drug that lets me find love in the world. No this isn’t working, I need to quit.

To answer your question, heroin feels nice.

That’s all, it just feels very nice. Y

ou can make the rest up for yourself. Attach your own half-truths to this drug that will show you the world and for a moment you will feel as clever as Faust.

Redfin Reports San Francisco Is About To Collapse

“I’m happy that we sold our house there a few years ago. I didn’t want to risk that for an AirBnB rental.”

Boxloads of New COVID-19″ Death Darts Arrive at US Military Bases Marked “2023-2024”

World Hal Turner

Box loads of Pfizer’s latest COVID-19 Death Dart, marked with its brand name COMINARTY” are arriving at US Military Bases. The boxes are labelled “2023-2024.” They’re planning another COVID outbreak to steal the Presidential Election (again) next year.

This has got to be one very smart virus; it seems to KNOW that it can only come out when a Presidential Election is coming, so they can demand mail-in paper ballots, and steal the election again; just like they did in 2020.

Except we’re not falling for this again. DO NOT COMPLY.

No more of their death dart, phony, “vaccines. No more masks. No more social distancing, and for damn sure, no more “lockdowns.”

That whole thing was total bullshit for a virus that is no worse than a nasty Flu.

They scammed us in 2020, don’t fall for it again.

This Is What Happens When Men Stop Simping…

Big, big, big changes in the West.

What is the saddest thing you have heard a child say?

“Don’t cry, ma. I know, and I am ready…”

These were words spoken by a 5-year old girl under my care when I worked in a Paediatric Oncology ward a few years ago.

She was a Beta Thalassemia Major patient. A real cutie, i can still remember her curly hair, friendly smiles and she was always very talkative on her good days. She had undergone two bone marrow transplants in the past, but came back with recurrent complications from the procedures.

We tried our best, but she was dying. And she knew it. We were on the verge of crying when we did our morning review that day, and heard her; comforting her parents. She then passed away peacefully in her sleep, after weeks of fighting.

(May you rest in peace, baby girl).

The “American Dream” is actual Slavery (It’s all a Lie)

Outstanding message! It’s such a materialistic world and we’ve been brainwashed to think the more possessions the better. It’s not true. Sad that it takes us all our lives to realize the lie.

The news is full of headlines about ‘China’s economic collapse’ — ignore them

Once again, the Western media Establishment, and sadly some on the left, are talking up an impending economic disaster in China, when the truth is quite the opposite, argues JOHN ROSS

IN THE last four years, covering the period of the Covid pandemic, China’s economy has grown two-and-a-half times as fast as the US, 15 times as fast as France, 23 times as fast as Japan, 45 times as fast as Germany, and 480 times as fast as Britain.

To add in smaller G7 countries, China has grown four times as fast as Canada, and 11 times as fast as Italy.

China’s outperformance of advanced capitalist countries is even greater in per capita terms — a still better measure of productivity changes and potential for increasing living standards.

China’s per capita GDP grew three times as fast as the US, five times as fast as Italy, 44 times as fast as Japan or France, and 260 times as fast as Britain — while per capita GDP fell in Germany and Canada.

China’s outperformance of developing capitalist countries shows the same pattern — China’s per capita 4.4 per cent GDP annual average growth compares to 2.6 per cent in India, 1.3 per cent in Brazil, or 0.9 per cent in South Africa.

What is important about such economic growth, of course, is not abstract statistics but its meaning for the real lives of ordinary people.

The International Labour Organisation data on real, inflation-adjusted, wages shows that up to the latest available data — for most countries to 2022, and for India to 2021 — China’s annual real wage growth was 4.7 per cent.

For Britain it was 0.1 per cent, for the US it was 0.3 per cent, in France it was minus 0.4 per cent, in Germany minus 0.7 per cent and in India minus 1.3 per cent.

Given this enormous economic outperformance by China of capitalist countries, any rational discussion that should be taking place in Western mainstream media about the international economic situation would be, “why is China’s economy hugely outperforming the US and the rest of the capitalist West?” and, “what lessons are to be learned from China’s socialist economy that is so outperforming the West?”

For the left, the issue that needs to be assessed and publicised is, “Why are real wages rising 18 times as fast in China as in the US, 44 times as fast as in Britain, while in France, Germany or India real wages are falling?”

Indeed, the present author would argue that much greater stress should be placed on the latter point. The international left has begun to absorb that China has lifted more than 850 million people out of World Bank-defined poverty in 40 years — by far the greatest poverty reduction achievement in human history.

But it has not yet internalised how rapidly not only the poorest but average living standards are rising in China — far faster than in any Western country.

But, of course, this real economic situation can’t be discussed in the mainstream media, because its conclusions would be too damaging for the capitalist West.

Instead, a type of mad discussion is unfolding, with US claims about China’s economy becoming increasingly bizarre — one might say deranged — as they get further and further out of touch with reality.

President Joe Biden, for example, recently made a speech claiming China’s economic growth rate is “around 2 per cent,” when it was 5.5 per cent in the first half of this year and, as already noted, China’s economy is growing two-and-a-half times as fast as the US.

Biden bizarrely claimed that in China “the number of people who are of retirement age is larger than the number of people of working age” — entirely false, and inaccurate by a figure of many hundreds of millions of people.

Discussion in the US financial media equally refuses to face real facts. Because I am an economist, every morning, after the overall news, I switch on Bloomberg TV to catch up on the latest economic data. Discussion there is like Alice Through the Looking Glass — the book the principle of which is that everything is reversed compared to the real world.

Apparently, according to Bloomberg’s analysis, China’s annual average of 4.5 per cent a year growth in the last four years is an economy in severe crisis, whereas the US’s 1.8 per cent is allegedly strong growth — not to speak of Britain’s 0.1 per cent. Similar rhetoric, out of all contact with factual reality, pervades the Financial Times, The Economist, or the Wall Street Journal.

The left is well used to such US political lying — the completely fake claim that North Vietnamese ships attacked US naval vessels on August 4 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin, used to launch the Vietnam war, or the equally untrue claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction to justify the US invasion, were classic examples.

Today, the US systematically lies about the state of China and its own economy because it is crucial for US capitalism to prevent its own citizens, and close allies, from understanding the real economic trends.

It is further proof, if one were needed, of the truth that if the real world and a theory do not coincide only one of two things can be done. One is to abandon the theory, the other is to abandon the real world.

In this case, the theory is that the US, because it is capitalist, should outperform socialist China. The real world is actual economic performance — in which China continues to outperform the US and other capitalist countries by an enormous margin.

Unable to abandon its theory the US is therefore forced to abandon the real world — hence the demented denial of comparative economic performance noted at the beginning of this article.

While the left should expect lies from capitalism what is rather shameful is that some sections of the left repeat such nonsense — apparently believing that if they put in a few left phrases into an analysis taken from the Western press this constitutes “socialist” commentary.

For example, an article in the New Left Review’s Sidecar called China a “zombie economy.” Some “zombie” when China’s economy is growing anywhere between two-and-a-half times and 480 times as fast as any major capitalist economy.

The real data shows the reality is simple. China has far outgrown any Western capitalist economy for more than 40 years. It continues to do so.

The result in China is by far the world’s most rapid rise in living standards — not only for the poorest but for the whole average population. It is known as the practical advantage of socialism. It is fact. We know why the US has to make up big lies about it. There is no justification for sections of the left echoing them.

How has a mother-in-law offended you?

I’ve been married for 6 years together for 8. Every single year we celebrate both of my husband’s parents birthdays. And every single year they don’t even acknowledge mine or my daughters. We both reach have one daughter from a previous and no children together. My husband spends hundreds on each of their birthdays year after year with custom ordered cake from the fanciest bakery in the area and we don’t get so much as a card. His parents don’t dislike me they just wish he would’ve stayed in a relationship with his ex who he never married but shares one child with. They still hold hope they will get back together after all these years so they pretend we don’t exist. It makes me want to stop showing up on their birthdays but I don’t know how to do that without hurting my husband who has had several private conversations asking them to please atleast acknowledge my daughter on her birthday but to no avail.

Italian Beef Stir Fry

Few ingredients – fast and flavorful!

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 pound beef top tip steaks, cut 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1 cup cherry tomato halves
1/4 cup fat-free bottled Italian salad dressing
2 cups hot cooked spaghetti
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Cut beef steaks crosswise into 1-inch wide strips. Cut each strip crosswise in half.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir while cooking 1 minute.
Add half of the beef strips. Stir-fry 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until no longer pink.
Remove with slotted spoon and keep warm.
Repeat with remaining beef strips.
Add zucchini to same skillet. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender-crisp.
Return beef to skillet with tomato halves and dressing. Heat through.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve beef mixture over hot pasta.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Attribution

From the kitchen of Martin James – Copenhagen, Denmark

Confession of the Day

My fiancé has a micropenis

Wow, it’s almost a relief just to write that down. IRL I have not told a single person- not anyone in my family not my bestie. I really have no one to vent to.

Obviously it’s not a deal breaker for me- I want to spend the rest of my life with him. He is an amazing man, treats me so well, highly intelligent. He is tall, very good looking and fit. He is basically the whole package and I’m so proud to be with him.

Now- his dick. He is 3 inches hard and very thin. Basically the size of my thumb. The one area in this world he is insecure about. It was definitely a shock for me at first. We do have sex often. Pretty much every day without fail. He has magical hands & tongue and he is a very enthusiastic lover-making sure I cum every time. He has a tremendous imagination. We do use toys, such as dildos, sleeves and straps ons from time to time. It’s good and all, but it’s just not the same.

Now here is the real get off my chest stuff. He would ask me if I ever miss a bigger dick. I don’t have it in my heart to tell him ABSOLUTELY YES. I was always a very sexual being and I was very orgasmic from PIV. I absolutely miss cumming from PIV. I absolutely crave that full filling that I don’t get now.

I wake up horny and just crave it.

It’s not a deal breaker because of the amazing man he is and my love for him. He is very much the greatest man I have ever met. I would never cheat- I’ve never cheated on anyone and I won’t start now. But I admit, my mind is dirty and can wonder. I would imagine fucking a big dick while I masturbate- and I would cry with guilt after I cum.

I feel so bad that the world is so unfair. I would read on Reddit about men being so sad and insecure over their average cocks. 5-6 inches and your insecure? Like STFU!!! Whoever, I’m part of the problem myself. I was the girl that previously bragged to her girlfriends about how well endowed my ex boyfriend was. It’s funny how the world works.

The world sucks. We suck.

What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done for a complete stranger and vice versa?

He was the tallest person I had ever seen, and he saved my brother.

It was the early 80’s, and that meant unsupervised play, staying out until you heard your Mom’s voice, or the street lamps coming on.

Our neighborhood, and everything in it, was our playground.

Including our car.

While I was busy building a ramp for my bike, my brother had climbed into our family car, and was doing his best Knight Rider impression.

That’s when I saw him.

A giant. I was stunned as he bolted through our yard. So stunned that I failed to notice our family car backing quickly out of our driveway, building up speed, and heading straight for our neighbors house.

I watched as The giant stepped in front of the car. It was like seeing Superman in real life.

The momentum of the car was slowed, but it didn’t stop, and he struggled to bring it to a stop.

The car, with my brother inside, was still rolling towards our neighbors house.

Then little by little, inch by inch, he stopped the car.

I watched in stunned silence.

He was our quiet neighbor. A single guy in a family neighborhood that kept to himself. His name was John, he was a giant, and the closest incarnation of Superman I’d ever seen.

Oprah DELETES Accounts, LOCKS Comment Section in Maui Fire BACKLASH

Oprah could’ve given $50 or $100 million and not even felt it…. Or she could’ve had cabins put onto her land, far away from her home and shown true charity towards the residents. Instead she showed her true colours and at the first hint of criticism she threw a tantrum, went on the attack and then stopped people from being able to give feedback.

Stressed out PP

When I lived in Shenzhen (ripe out of the ‘States) we had a little dog. We called him ShaoPi, or “PP” for short. He was a good little Bishion breed. He was a mini version, and so didn’t live as long as a normal breed would of.

Anyways, we also had his son; “Super”. Which was a mixed breed. Bishion and Bomei. And he was absolutely one heck of a handsome dog.

One thing, though. He hated my guts.

…

I mean it. He HATED me; with a searing level of disgust and malice. Including biting me, and forcing me to get rabies vaccinations. Ugh!

I was an “outsider” and he “owned” my wife and her ex-boyfriend. And to exert his displeasure on me, he would make messes all over the place, bark non-stop and generally did everything he could to try to chase me away.

Well, that was causing our PP to get super stressed out. And he was a good dog, always trying to straighten out this wayward son. But it was to no avail. Eventually, both dogs were super stressed out, and start a non-stop peeing contest in the house. I mean, they were urinating over everything.

Everything.

And so we would take PP out with us and we did out chores and made our rounds, and it helped some. But, you know, he was so stressed out that he still continued to pee everywhere and over everything.

We knew that there was a problem. But we didn’t know what to do.

…

Then one day, while riding on an elevator there was a really cute 20-something girl all “decked out” wearing nice clothes and makeup going out (probably) on a date. We were also going out. PP was at our feet, and we were making arrangements for an evening dinner.

She was checking out her phone while adjusting her makeup, and sure as shit…

…PP urinated all over her high heels, and her nylons and her dress.

…

She screamed out so loudly that PP jumped back as if electrified….

…

That week we found a home for “Super”, and that was another trial, I’ll tell you what. But the moral of this little story is when people, or loved ones are stressed out…

…do something about it, before things get out of hand!

Todays…

Shi Jiangiao

This is Shi Jiangiao, a Chinese assassin who lived during the Warlord Era (1916-1928) in China.

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Shi came from a family of humble beginnings as her grandfather was a simple farmer and tofu seller. However, that all changed when her father and uncle became decorated soldiers, rising through the ranks in the Chinese military. This helped raise the social status of her family.

In 1925, when Shi was only 19 years old, her father was leading a brigade of soldiers to capture Guzhen, Shandong, when he became surrounded by a warlord by the name of Sun Chuanfang. Sun decapitated her father and had his head mounted on a pike and put on display at a local train station.

Two years later, Sun was disposed of by the Kuomintang (aka Chinese Nationalist Party) who wanted to reunify China, which had become fragmented after the 1911 Revolution, which overthrew China’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing. Sun peacefully retired from his life as a warlord and founded a Buddhist society.

Meanwhile, Shi spent her 20s tracking down Sun who had disappeared without a trace. In 1935, ten years after her father’s death, Shi managed to track Sun down in Tianjin, a major port city close to Beijing. (If you recall, Tianjin was the city that had that major explosion in 2015.)

Shi entered the Buddhist temple and found Sun kneeling in front of the altar. She approached him from behind and shot him several times with a pistol. She did not attempt to flee the scene of the crime but began distributing pamphlets explaining her actions.

Her case drew significant coverage and reached the Nanjing Supreme Court. In the eyes of the law, she was guilty. However, Confucian morality stipulates that one must avenge their parents. Ultimately, the Nationalist government decided to pardon her on the grounds that the assassination was justified because it was an act of filial piety. It also helped her case that the man she had assassinated was guilty of trafficking opium, suppressing strikes by factory workers in Shanghai, and collaborating with the Japanese.

What did someone say to you that instantly made you realize their life was in danger?

While I was working as a Hospice Nurse one of my patients had a great grand daughter that visited often. One day she came in and could hardly walk.

She wouldn’t look at me.

…

I made an excuse to get close to her.

Her eye was almost closed shut and her face was black and blue.

…

I ask her who beat her but she was too scared to talk.

I didn’t wait.

I immediately called 911 just as her boyfriend came in and was going to pull her out of the room.

…

Security came and the boy tried to hit them.

It took 3 police and a taser to get him in their police car.

The poor girl had [1] broken ribs, [2] a ruptured spleen, [3] collapsed left lung and [4] she had a miscarriage the next day.

We made good friends regardless of the age difference and her family is so nice.

I thank God that I didn’t look away and could help her.

I had to be a witness at his trial and he got 40 years for attempted murder and spousal abuse.

Exposing Philippines!

Take a little vacation and look at how the “Global South” looks like. This is the Philippines.

Green Chile Steaks

Ingredients

1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/2 teaspoon Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
1/4 teaspoon Lawry’s Garlic Powder with Parsley
1 fresh green chile, seeded and minced*
3 tablespoons chopped scallion

Instructions

In medium bowl, thoroughly combine all ingredients.
Form into 2 oval steak patties or 4 hamburger patties.
Cook in skillet, broiler or on grill until done.

What accidentally rude things do Americans do while traveling even without realizing it?

Saying “Give me this/that” instead of asking for it.

I was once in a bar in Turkey, watching football (as in kicking a ball with the foot) with some other foreigners, German & Danish IIRC, drinking beer, & nibbling cacik & bread.

A group of American men walked in (I think from the nearby air base). They knew the barman’s name. They asked if the back room was free, & on being told yes, headed for it & commanded the barman to bring them beers – all done by shouting across the bar in English. He smiled to their faces & scowled at their backs. Then he noticed two of us looking at him & looked embarrassed.

A little while later we needed more beer, & it was my turn, so I went to the bar & asked (in Turkish – as we’d all done) for more beer e.g. “beş bira, lütfen”. He still seemed embarrassed, & said something like (IIRC) “You’re OK. You say lütfen” (Turkish for please). In his terms, the Americans were extremely rude. They probably had no idea. We, on the other hand, were at least trying to be polite. We knew how to ask for a beer (or a few), & how to say please & thank you, & understood that was customary.

I expect the Americans would have been very surprised to know that they were constantly being rude to locals.

They’re FINALLY Been Arrested in MAUI,The Rock & Oprah

Thank you for speaking on our Maui brothers and sisters. Thank you James Okeefe also. This is unacceptable as well as unbelievable!!

https://youtu.be/cXv1Cb93OGA

Confession of the Day

I started self directed investing in 2012 with $20k. My first big success was betting on American Airlines after they filed bankruptcy before the merger with US Airlines. It was a 5x return in less than two years. I took that money and bought a house to Airbnb and ended up with about $250k.

I reinvested into the market and made my way all the way up to about $600k during the Covid spurt. Then I began to fuck with options. The first few wins were big for me, $5k, $10k, $20k, etc. then I really started betting big and hit returns over $100k in a single day. I couldn’t stop. The dopamine rush was too good.

The ups were euphoric and the downs sent my mind and body into a total whirlwind of intense emotion. It was the sickest drug. I couldn’t get enough. Nothing else matter other than becoming as rich as possible. And then I finally crossed the $1m threshold…. For only one day.

The next day I the market looked like shit but I was so hard up for my next fix I played anyway. Down $100k – eh it’ll come back, I can’t lose. Down $200k – if Itake the hit now that means I’m a loser, no way. Down $250k – ok I was wrong, time to switch sides and redeem myself. Down $330k – fuck fuck fuck!!! Don’t worry, I’II get it back next week…. And I did. $980k. Nice, almost back to $1m.

And then down. And down. And down.

All of it. Gone. 9 years of building $20k into $1m. Because the high was never high enough and the low was never enough to stop me. I went through deep depression, lots of suicidal thoughts, and darkness I didn’t think I’d come out of. A year of therapy, books, podcasts, support, and I’m doing better. Relapsed once and lost another $90k in a single day, just because I couldn’t lose.

We’re a dopamine nation now. This forum says it all. Gambling at your fingertips and the ever looming reminder that some people actually win and get super rich. At least for a little while. But the highs are never high enough and it never ends. Check yourselves before it’s too late. Day trading can be a real gambling addiction and you really can lose it all no matter how good you are.

I hope this helps save even just one person.

Is there Any Hope for this Once Great City?

Who do you fear the most in your country?

As ridiculous as it sounds, roving bands of young fellas off the estates, typically aged between 10 and 16.

I know some Americans will probably read this and think I’m a right pussy for being scared of a load of kids, but you don’t know man! You weren’t there!

See, the thing is with these kids, be they scallies, chavs, neds, roadmen, townies or whatever you call them in your region, is that typically they appear in large groups, they have little to lose and so don’t care about doing the stupidest shit possible, and they are not afraid to hound you and make your life a misery if you challenge them.

Sure, one on one, I wouldn’t be particularly scared about a 14 year old scal (although they increasingly carry knives and machetes and shit), but the point is that you rarely do encounter them one on one.

And let’s say, there’s a load of them camped outside your nan’s house chucking stones at her windows and you think, “Fuck that, I’ll go chase them off,” what is likely to happen is that they’ll start posturing around you and throwing stones at your head or they might fuck off, but then they’ll find out where you live (if you live nearby) and they’ll start wrecking your house and you might even find your house firebombed. It might sound extreme, but it does happen.

The police are ineffective as they have no respect for the police and, anyway, they’re minors so cannot properly be held accountable unless they do something really bad. And anyway, being tough on crime only goes so far. A more holistic long-term approach to the issue is required, but sadly no government has the vision or appetite to really commit to such policies.

So, essentially, you are powerless to do anything meaningful against them because you will only exacerbate the situation. These kids have the capability to make your life hell. They can make going to the local shops a genuinely nerve-wracking experience, particularly for the elderly and those with disabilities. They can really ruin the atmosphere of otherwise solid working class communities.

And that’s the thing too, it is the working class communities where they live and hang out that suffer the real brunt of their aimless destructive behaviour. You can be somewhat insulated against them if you live away from them or even just on a road they don’t frequent, but if you are forced by circumstance to live where they congregate, then your life can be pretty miserable if you get on their bad side.

And yeah, I’m scared of them. I’m less scared of some actual high up gang leader than I am these kids because at least with the real gang members they’re not interested in you unless you give them a reason to be, whereas, like I said, these kids have nothing to lose and might target you simply because they can and they think it’s funny.

It’s the one thing I really don’t miss about living in more working class areas, which can otherwise be much more friendly and interesting places to live

US efforts to strangle China & reassert hegemony – Jeffrey Sachs, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen

“Emerging nations fight wars at their borders, declining nations fight wars far away.” ~Chris Hedges

What is the rudest thing anyone has ever done to you in your own house?

My mother-in-law was visiting us in Canada from her home in South Africa. There she had two house servants and a garden “boy” who did all the work. She sat smoking her cigarettes and “supervised”. Staying in my home where I had two children under age 6, a lot of my mornings were spent in child care, household chores, meal planning and all of the hundred other jobs of the Canadian housewife. One morning my mother-in-law sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee I had made and smoking her cigarette (which I had objected to from day one) and told me that I needed to change my routine to do my household chores after everyone had gone to bed so that her day was not “spoiled” by me having to do chores on “her” time.

What legitimate reasons does the US have for prioritizing military goals over economic ones in countering China’s influence in the developing world?

Let’s see

Is there the slighest chance that China will invade USA or any NATO country?

Absolutely not.

The US is impregnable with Canada and Mexico as buffers and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as it’s maritime buffers

There is a nuclear deterrent as well

So why else is US prioritizing it’s Military Goals

The Answer is IT HAS TO KEEP FEEDING IT’S MILITARY INDUSTRIES

Critical issues

The US has to keep paying money to keep it’s Defence Industries rich and profitable so that their shares are profitable and so that the Corrupt Senators, Congressmen and Lobbyists get rich

It’s a vicious cycle

Guess how many Senators have more than 30% of their investments in Defense Stocks?

61 – SIXTY ONE

35 Republicans and 26 Democrats

Guess how many Senators have more than 30% of their investments in Tech stocks?

67 – SIXTY SEVEN

38 Democrats and 28 Republicans and 1 Independent leaning to Democrat

Congressmen?

209 – 108 Democrats and 101 Republicans

Of these 51 have more than $ 5 Million worth of stocks

Lloyd Austin has earned $ 4.3 Million after leaving the Pentagon just by sitting on the boards of various Defense Contractors

He doesn’t have 50 grams of brains in that massive skull of his

So the Military Industry in US is like a shark that has to keep swimming

They always need an enemy to keep selling weapons to

They HATE PEACE because any peace means less potential to sell weapons

First it was the Cold War – Weapons sale

Next it was fighting Communism – Weapons Sale

Next it was fighting Saddam & Milosevic – Weapons Sale

Next it was fighting Terror – Weapons Sale

Now it’s fighting Russia and China – Weapons Sales

Tomorrow they may decide India is the enemy and wage a war on India and sell weapons or decide it’s Japan Or even Aliens

Their Military Goals have led to the worst disasters on earth

Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos
Afghanistan
Iraq
Libya
Syria
Ukraine
Taiwan (Next)

They have single handedly led to their deaths more men than Taliban, Al Qaeda, ISIS and Saddam Hussein and Gadaffi COMBINED

They have destroyed countries with their bombs and Agent Orange

Today their Target is China and Russia

They don’t have the balls for a direct fight because a MAD means the evil politicians will also die and they don’t want that

So these proxy wars will be their way of milking and flattening the military defense industries

Basically they are part of a corrupt hellhole with many idiots even today proudly saying how the US Dollar is backed by the US Army

They will be destroyed one day as history is proof of

One day they will collapse when their own people begin to rebel and fight this evil system

Until then these a**holes will keep harrassing everyone and lying to the whole world

I refer only to around 300,000 Evil Americans in US and another 2 Million more brainwashed evil corrupt minions

The other 336.7 Million Americans are very decent and nice people

Eliminate these 2.3 Million a**holes and the US will be back to the Pre Eisenhower era. A Nice Country with genuine morals

OH. MY. GOSH.🤯😟 MUST SEE: Can Americans answer ANYTHING correctly!?

I fully support the movement to require a civics test before voting or even just knowing the difference between a STATE and a COUNTRY would be a start.

Dog-fight between France & Germany. But drag China along. What is the dog-fight about?

Chinese electric cars surprised the world in the 2023 car exhibition.

France started the dog fight. It called for EU investigation if China has subsidized its electric car industry. EU chief took France’s case.

EU Commerce Chamber in China right away told EU that there is no electric car subsidy by Chinese government. What makes China successful in electric car is because China has lots of scientists who work hard to improve their car tech so as to compete in the world, said the Chamber.

German business-people also opposed the EU investigation. Saying it will force China’s to react & counter EU’s unreasonable action. It will harm German economy.

It is a dog fight between France & Germany.

France’s car sales in China accounts for less than 1%. Germany, more than 17%. No need to explain further, right?

France can afford to lose its <1% to weaken Germany’s >17%.

If Germany wants to, Germany can counter target France’s luxury products eg cosmetics & fashion that sell well in China.

Despite objection from German business people, German politicians agreed to EU investigation. … really, politicians do not care about the welfare of the country & its people. They only care about votes ie personal interest.

Has German government subsidized electric car industry? Many times. From internet.

What is more irony is that: when USA subsidized its electric cars under the disguise of Inflation Reduction Act, EU protested & warned USA that EU will also subsidize its electric car industry. Today Germany is subsiding its electric cars industry based on … false accusation as testified by EU Commerce Chamber.

Is it true that Chinese people seemed not to get offended and are too weak to fight back when abused racially because interracial fighting is something very shameful in their cultures?

Chinese do not like direct confrontation. Confrontation is seen as a sign of stupidity. Two thousand years ago, the founder of the Han dynasty summed it up: 吾寧鬥智不鬥力: I prefer to fight with my wits, not by power. From a very weak start, he thrashed 項羽 Hsiang/Xiang Yü, his main rival, whose army was much more powerful.

Fighting is for children and inferior people. Look at it this way: a four year old can strike out in anger, but is incapable of coming up with a better plan.

Chinese always prefer to use strategy rather than brute force. 難忍能忍大丈夫: a powerful cultural standard is that a real hero is someone who can say, “My head is bloody but unbowed.”

This is strength, not weakness, and does not mean that Chinese will not fight back. Look what happened to the mighty Japanese warlords when they attacked China. The Chinese in general avoided direct confrontation, drew the Japanese in, and overcame them. China has stood off some of the most powerful armies in the world. Even though the Mongols eventually conquered China, it took them decades and weakened them so much they were unable to conquer Viet Nam (of course there are other factors, such as VN fighting prowess, but this is an essential factor.) In China, the Mongols were close to their home but suffered great losses at Chinese hands. Compare that to the European powers, where the “flower of chivalry” was butchered in short order on their home territory by Mongols far, far from their home base.

I do not know how much the person asking the question knows about China, but I would guess that most people have heard of China’s long tradition of martial arts. Chinese will fight, but consider it uncivilized, immature, beneath an adult’s dignity.

We left America for Police putting guns to our heads. Part 1-2

This channel is to bring the awareness to the world of the beautiful continent of Africa. My intentions are to show the development, people, property and investment opportunities. All the adventures and opportunities that is for people to take advantage of. Also showing how America is not necessarily the perfect place for people to live.

ASMR: What it is, what it stands for and how it works

What is ASMR? How does ASMR work?

What does ASMR stand for?

Are you “ASMR sensitive”? Do you get ASMR tingles?

Is this the first time you’ve heard of ASMR which stands for “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response”?

It might not mean what you think it means.

Millions of people experience ASMR “tingles” when exposed to certain stimuli.

Triggers like hair brushing, whispering, finger tapping, clicking, chewing and caring role-playing send shivers down some people’s spine.

These same ASMR triggers are actually “misophonic” triggers for others; meaning these sounds cause negative responses.

For example: nails on a chalkboard will drive some people nuts but others aren’t affected.

The Why Files answers these questions and raises a few more. The science behind behind ASMR is still new but research is underway.

Though ASMR is a relatively new phenomenon, the online ASMR community is vibrant and growing rapidly.

Are you ASMR sensitive?

What are your triggers?

Who is the most evil person you have ever met?

I once had a therapist for four years. He spent every session of that 4 years grooming me. Yes grooming me as if I were a child and he were the predator – except I was an adult and never knew what was happening until it was too late. If I questioned anything about the ethics of something he did or said – he always twisted up an answer that made enough sense in my mind that I would disregard. It was a disgusting abuse of power. He was extremely subtle about his approach and he nearly destroyed me as a human before it was all finished. Looking back years later I can see how correlated he was in what he did and I am sure he had many victims besides myself. At one point he even talked of “getting rid of my husband”. (I never told me husband this part of everything)

In the end he chose the wrong victim. I had to rise above the fear and confusion. I did. I had to be careful to make sure to keep all of my complaints and even my lawyer was a secret till the moment that he was piled with so much legal shit and my states’ board and Human Resources was all brought out at once. I did this intentionally so there was no way he could get out of the situation or harm me without someone knowing who did it to me. And so what he was doing was made known without ANY space for “reasonable doubt”.

I’ve taken a lot of time to heal and am still now in the process of forgiving him, forgiving myself, and moving forward to be as healthy as I can be. Sometimes I wish he’s a trash guy now… except the get paid too much. But he’s the most evil person I have ever met.

It’s unfortunate that what he did to me isn’t a criminal offense in my state as it is in many states. I plan to make this change through whatever legal route I need to take and make a difference so nobody else ever has to go through what I did. That man should be in prison. He’s a rapist and a cunning one at that. A sick sick human.

Syrian conflict.

When the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011 , Western-backed rebels launched a full-scale attack on the Syrian government, and an extremely bloody color revolution began.

We Chinese often say that we experienced 14 years of hard resistance against Japan during World War II. Warning the war in Syria is not over yet! The United States also steals oil, food, and cultural relics in Syria…

No one expected that at the opening of the Asian Games in Hangzhou , China would make a move that would completely change the world.

On September 21, the Syrian president and his wife arrived in Hangzhou, China, and then arrived in the capital Beijing on September 24, visiting two places in a row.

Below is a picture of the Syrian president and his wife arriving in Hangzhou and Beijing. My heart moved at this moment.

Perhaps the whole world did not expect that Syria, which has long been completely blocked in the West, has received the most respectful reception in China. We do not belittle Syria just because it is a small country in war.

Put yourself in my shoes, if you were a Syrian , how would you feel when you saw this scene? What is the characteristic of a great country? This is the It! China has deservedly become a true morale beacon of human civilization. The picture below is really shocking.

During their visit to Hangzhou, the Syrian president and his wife visited Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou . During the visit, a female tourist could not help but touch Asma, the Syrian lady, because she was so beautiful. The female tourist said to Asma, “You are so beautiful.” Unexpectedly, Asma replied: “You have a beautiful country.” From the look of the video, the female tourist seems to be an older person, but even so, I don’t think it’s good to touch her face, since she is the president’s wife after all. However, this reply from the wife of the Syrian President suddenly sublimated the matter. Yes, we have a beautiful country, and for the Syrian people, this is their biggest dream. Syria was once a beautiful country. There is an old saying that goes like this: “If there is a paradise on earth, Damascus must be in it. If paradise is in the sky, Damascus will be as famous as it.” Asma, the wife of the Syrian President, is known as the Desert Rose . She is a very beautiful and gentle person, but behind this beauty, there is an extraordinary experience, which can even be said to be legendary.

Asma was born in London, England, to Syrian parents. Her family conditions are very good. In 1996, Asma graduated from King’s College London with a BA in Computer Science and French Literature . After graduation, she started working at Deutsche Bank Group as an economic analyst in the hedge fund management department. In 1998, Asma joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. in investment banking. She was also preparing to pursue an MBA at Harvard University, but moved to Syria after meeting her husband, Bashar , while on vacation with her family. I can be said to be an absolute intellectual and business elite. Her husband Assad is the second son and is not the successor that the family focuses on training. The family focuses on training his eldest brother. As a result, his eldest brother died unexpectedly in a car accident in 1994.

Assad himself is relatively flat. His early dream was to be a doctor and he had little interest in politics. He himself has been studying medicine in the UK. After meeting Asma, we hit it off and became even less interested in politics. However, the eldest brother, who had been trained by the family and was supposed to take on the succession, unexpectedly passed away. Assad could only return to his country to take charge of the overall situation. At this moment, the gears of fate began to turn. The Assads would never have imagined that they would be pushed to a turning point in human history by chance.

The general background of the outbreak of the Syrian civil war is that the United States instigated the ” Arab Spring ” throughout the Middle East . Don’t read the name and think that is a good thing like it’s name “spring”. In fact, it is a large-scale national subversion. According to Egyptian statistics afterwards, the Arab Spring caused more than 1 million deaths in the Middle East and damage to infrastructure worth 1 trillion. It started with the collapse of the political situation in Tunisia , followed by the complete collapse of the situation in Egypt, Libya , Yemen, and Bahrain…

That is, in 2011, Gaddafi’s regime came to an end. He himself was caught in the north of the country. He was tortured, then executed on the same day, and finally his body was exposed in a market… After trouble occurred in the above countries, it was Syria’s turn. This was the background of the early outbreak of the Syrian civil war. At that time, no country believed that Syria could survive. The United States in 2011 was not the sick cat it is now. It was the peak moment of the US imperialist regime. Hanging Saddam , destroying Gaddafi while laughing… Moreover, at that time, the United States had almost no opponents in the world.

Let’s talk about China and Russia back then . At that time, Russia was still dreaming of integrating into the West. It had already joined the G7 and became a small G8. At that time, China did not have a falling out with the United States and was still busy doing business and making money. Except for Iran, an absolutely anti-American country, almost no one in the world supports Syria. However, China and Russia still helped Syria during the UN vote. Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the United Nations Security Council has held seven votes on the Syrian issue. Due to opposition from China and Russia, all seven votes have been vetoed.

That was only the beginning… After all, if you look other than Syria, no country in the Middle East can withstand this combination of punches from the United States. At that time, Russia was not realized being duped and China was not strong enough. In the first four years, the only way for Syria to survive was to hold on by itself. After all, if the Syrian regime collapses at the first sign, it will be useless for outsiders to help. But no one expected that the Assads would refuse to surrender! I swear that I will never surrender to USA. Assad said that this is not a matter of the Syrian civil war, or that once our regime fails, the entire country will be carved up by foreign countries, and the Syrian people will have no future. From a current perspective, Assad’s judgment back then was very accurate. Just think about today’s Libya and today’s Iraq . Since the civil war, the economy has not recovered yet, and the country is still in a state of fragmentation. It was very smart to be able to make this prediction in 2011. We can recall that in 2011, support of the US was rampant on the Internet in china. The point is USA really fooled many people into believing that the United States was good. The United States in 2011 was still at the peak of its empire, and its influenced was indeed much stronger than it is now. At least in those days, American women were still women, and men were still men… When the Syrian civil war was at its most dangerous, the rebels fought directly near the capital. Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, has been occupied by Syrian rebels for six years. It is only a stone’s throw away from the capital. At this time, it is a great test for the Assad’s resilience.

After all, the fate of Saddam and Gaddafi lies ahead if Syria government lost. If they do not flee for their lives, once the rebels enter the city, their entire family will definitely be killed. But Assad insists on one thing. No matter how crazy the “expendable” supported by the Americans are around me, I will not surrender. I will live and die with my motherland! I believe that many people at that time advised Assad to save the country and choose to surrender. But Assad has an attitude, I will not surrender! I don’t care how strong the opponent’s is, but this is our own motherland, if we the Syrian people don’t resist, won’t we just perished? However hopeless we must fight! This scene suddenly reminded me of our people during the Anti-Japanese War. “Yes, no matter whether we can win against the Japanese or not, this battle must be fought. If we don’t defend our own motherland, who will we defend?” “And if we don’t fight, how do we know we won’t win? Those who say surrender is a way to save the country, better die as quickly as possible!” As a result, with the help of Russia and Iran, it was actually recovered!

Although these external help are important, I think the most important thing is the persistence of the local people. Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian situation was in September 2015. The war in Syria broke out in 2011. If Assad himself could not hold on in the first four years, it would be useless even if reinforcements came. What is touching is that in the Battle of Aleppo , the Syrian army, after repeated bloody battles, was about to completely regain the lost territory… However, Western countries have appealed for an armistice at the United Nations, and they are talking about providing humanitarian relief. What it actually means is that you stop fighting and give me some time. I will re-arm the rebels so that I can kill you after.

It was immediately vetoed by China and Russia. Don’t stop, keep firing, shoot with all your might! Just beat up the drowned dog. Our veto vote greatly helped Syria and won them a lot of space at the level of international public opinion. On the New Year of that year, China became the guardian symbol of the Syrian people. In the New Year of 2016, Aleppo, Syria, was liberated. The five-star red flag was raised on the Syrian land, and countless Syrian people grateful to our country’s flag.

“Thank you, China, thousands of miles away. “

If you look at the first half of Assad’s life, you will feel like a young college student, a refined intellectual who did not have a strong desire for power and just wanted to spend a comfortable life with his beautiful wife. It was the wave of history that pushed him to the critical point of life and death in Syria, but he actually withstood the test of history, which no one expected. The United States not only funded the Syrian rebels, but also created the Devil Isis organization. What the Isis organization has done can be said to be insane. If I were to tell what they did, I’m afraid this article wouldn’t even pass the censorship. In short, it’s extremely anti-human and more Nazi than the Nazis… During the process of regaining the territory, the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor encountered a siege by the “Isis Organization” for more than three years! No one knows what kind of will the Syrian people relied on to survive and win again…

In the end, this city, under the leadership of the legendary Syrian general Issam Zarushidine, and the 104th Brigade, finally changed the tide of war after four-year defense, which can be called the Syrian version of battle of Leningrad, and the situation in Syria began to fundamentally change. reverse! To be honest, I feel that the Syrian Civil War is very similar to our country’s Anti-Japanese War, both of which are won by persistence . During the Anti-Japanese War, there were some bastards who were promoted as liberal masters by domestic intellectuals. His so-called literary character was just like a piece of shit…

Hu Shi (bastard liberal master) once said: “We should have the determination of a strong man to cut off his own limb, make the highest sacrifice of abandoning the three eastern provinces, seek the preservation of remaining territories and administrative integrity, and seek a peace relations between China and Japan…”

During the Anti-Japanese War, our country was too poor and weak. To be honest, the key to reversal in World War II lay in Stalingrad and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Stalingrad laid the foundation for a complete Soviet counterattack, and the German army was defeated decisively . The attack on Pearl Harbor meant that the United States could no longer stay aloof and had to personally attack Japan. So for our country, it really means victory in the “anti-Japanese war”, and we “carried” it by force ! The whole process was extremely arduous. But this definitely does not mean that our resistance is meaningless. Before the war started, the Japanese army said that China would be conquered in three months. If there was really no resistance and we would be wiped out in three months, then the situation in World War II would be impossible to reverse! Because once the Japanese army obtains China’s vast territory and resources, it will not be so easy for the United States to attack Japan, and the US military may not even go to war personally. The same is true for Syria and Assad. They have endured it for 12 years, during which they have defeated countless opponents… Now think about it, among those Western politicians who originally called for Assad to step down, how many of them are still on stage?

At the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games, one of the most touching details was that when the Syrian athletes first entered the venue, they were very nervous and reserved , because after all, Syria has been blackmailed by all Western countries on the international stage. Now, what the world sees every day is the fake news about Syria. They don’t know whether they will be welcomed after entering the venue. After all, they are just a small country in war…

But what none of them expected was that the Chinese audience gave out a roar of welcome for twice make a wave a tsunami.

Then the Syrian athletes became more and more relaxed and began to wave the national flag vigorously. The Syrian president and his wife stood on the stage with peace of mind and smiles, watching the scene below.

This scene seems to say: “We the Syrian people are still exist in this world!” This visit by the Syrian President to China is not simple. Syria has been sanctioned by all Western countries. Many airspaces are inaccessible and many places are very dangerous for them.

Being able to bring the President of Syria to China is in itself a manifestation of the strength of a great power. We need to have sufficient aviation endurance and at the same time have enough friendly land neighbors so that you can have the transportation capacity and airspace to welcome distinguished guests.

Currently Syria’s cultural relics have been placed in China for more than three years. This is also a high degree of trust in our country. After all, the US military is still stealing things in Syria. The whole of Syria has not ended the war. Syria can only put the cultural relics in a place that he thinks is safest. country, that is China. At the same time, this time the Syrian President visited Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, which sent a positive signal, because after all, Syria is a “Middle East religious” country. As a “Middle East religious” country, they often do not go to places of other religions, but this time the Syrian president personally visited Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. This also expresses to the world that Syria is an extremely tolerant country and is not as extreme as Western society has smeared it to be. As a Chinese, I sincerely hope that the war in Syria will end soon. The visit of the Syrian President to China made me deeply moved. Back then, our athlete Liu Changchun , as the only Chinese athlete, represented China in the Los Angeles Olympics . It was precisely because we were caught in the “Rain” that year that we always want to hold an “Umbrella” for others… .. The difference is that our country faced an extremely brutal world back then. Now Syria is living in a rising new global order.

Liu Cixin once wrote a sentence in his novel The Three-Body Problem: “I hope that one day, the bright sunshine can shine into the dark forest.”

Today China is that beam of light to fight unipolar world order!

In today’s China, we are the deserved to be called as beacon of multipolar world order!

May China’s multipolar world ray shine upon the victim of bullies on the entire earth and human civilization.

I came across a video in which their president praised China and said this during an interview:”China is great but humble”. At that moment, I suddenly felt very touched. This was the most accurate, heartfelt, and profound compliment.

1.8K views

What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever said in a foreign language by accident?

“I am very allergic to penis.”

When I was learning English, I had terrible pronunciation. Combined with the fact that I had just lost my front tooth (I was 7 at the time), it was very difficult for me to pronounce “t”, “th”, and “s” sounds.

The story starts with my mom taking me out for lunch. I wanted Kung Pao chicken, which is a delicious, succulent dish made up of spicy stir-fried chicken, peanuts and vegetables. The problem was, I was allergic to peanuts.

Excited to show off my English speaking abilities to my mother, I proudly waved over the server and asked, “Does this dish have pee-nits in it?”

Confused, the server repeated, “Penis?”

Delighted that he understood what I was saying, I nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! Penis. I am very… allergic. To penis.”

“We typically remove the penis from the chicken before we cook it, so that’s not an issue. Unless you were referring to you being a lesbian. In that case, let me assure you that our restaurant is very LGBT friendly.”

“So no penis?”

“Uh, sure. No penis.”

At this point, my mother interjected the conversation. Wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, she said, “She means peanuts. Alex is allergic to peanuts.”

The chicken was eventually ordered, and luckily contained neither peanuts nor penis.

In what significant way has American culture shifted?

The Balkanization of pop culture, entertainment, and news outlets.

There is no single screen that families gather ’round in the evenings to watch together. Everyone in the family now has their own screen, with which they can watch whatever they wish to watch, without worrying about if anyone else in their house also wants to watch it.

There is no single television series that dominates the ratings on a regular basis. Currently, the single most-watched non-sports television series is “Yellowstone,” which gets around ten million viewers per episode. So… barely 3% of the adult population in America watches the single-most-watched television series these days.

There is no more “must see TV.” This includes most sports finals, too. Ratings for things like the NBA finals peaked in 1998 and now aren’t even half of what they were back then. Only the Super Bowl has seen an increase in ratings since the 1990s. If not for that one four-hour event every year, there wouldn’t be a single time when more then 40% of American adults were all tuned into the same thing.

Any form of entertainment that finds a substantial audience across demographic lines is rare these days. With the exception of the NFL, seeing a large, diverse group of American adults enjoying the same event or even enjoying the same music is rarer now than it was in the past.

There is no single news outlet that most Americans consider trustworthy and rely on for their news. There is no modern-day Walter Cronkite. Sure, many Americans trust their particular news sources. The problem is that there are so many news sources, and they all cater to their particular audience’s interests, that there isn’t a single news narrative upon which most American adults can agree. The current events you know about as an American adult, and the facts of those current events, are largely determined by which media outlet you get your news from.

In any crowd of American adults, the chances of finding even two of them who partake in the same entertainment options is low. The “pop” in “pop culture” used to stand for “popular.” Now it’s just “popular, relative to the thousands of other options people have to entertain themselves these days.”

We’re not really living in a pop culture melting pot anymore. It’s more of a miles-long pop culture charcuterie board, where everyone takes exactly what they want, with no need to worry about what others are taking. There’s no peer pressure to “fit in” with what the popular crowd is doing. There is no real “popular” crowd anymore. Just relative popularity, in a culture of unlimited choices.

Passport Bros Love TWO Countries

This video showcases how passport bros and other of men can live an amazing life outside of The West and away from modern women. Feminism has gone too far in America which is driving men to seek more traditional lives in countries like Thailand and the Philippines.

We compare the crazy woke women to the masculine movement.

We encourage the manosphere, redpill and MGTOW community to self improve, work hard and live your best happy life. We also enjoy a bit of modern woman fail, cringe and hitting the wall along the way.

Is it possible to have a bias without being aware of it?

Corporates in US now have Blind Hiring

No Voice, No Name, No Direct Interviews – the Candidate is vetted first and then the name is deleted and replaced with a Number like 287. Then the Interview is completely in generic voice which means man or woman the voice of candidate is generically modified by software so you wont now if its a man or woman.

The Numbers are then selected or chosen and only then is it known who the Candidate is

The reason is to avoid Civil Rights Lawsuits on Workplace Discrimination and Equal Opportunities.

Likewise in Promotions too – An outside agency is hired to evaluate the employees and they do so using Blind Techniques and output monitoring programs.

This is because EVERYONE HAS BIAS

If you sit on an interview panel and see a Beautiful Girl and an Average Looking Girl – you will either develop bias to the beautiful girl or a grudge against the beautiful girl in favor of the average looking girl.

If you had a bad interaction with a Nepali person , then you may bear negative bias against a Nepali who comes for an interview even though he may be from Manipur or Mizoram.

My wife is one of the most liberal persons in the world and always talks about secularism etc. Yet when one of the houses in our Colony was to be sold to Muslims, She was among the neighbors who persuaded the owners not to sell. She could not explain it. She had a subconscious bias.

Another example is me. Having seen so much bungling done by Mr Modi – even if he does something good now – I develop bias and start looking for the negative aspects only. This is why before answering – i always consult with the Bank community and only if others feel similarly do i know i am on the right track.

During the Cauvery Riots – Tamilians develop Kannada Bias and vice versa. So in an interview if a Tamil employee appears and the Authority is a Kannadiga – then you could have a subconscious bias.

Its Human. Only Machines and Robots can be unbiased. We can develop subconscious bias all the time.

Tractor-Trailer Carrying NUCLEAR WARHEADS on-the-move-North Dakota

Nation Hal Turner

A Tractor trailer carrying nuclear warheads was caught on video Saturday afternoon in North Dakota. The truck was being escorted by local police, Military Police, armed Military troops, and protected overhead by helicopter gunships.

Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota is the most well-known nuclear missile base in that area of the country. All the missiles in that base are already armed. So why the additional warheads?

Under Barack Obama, the US nuclear arsenal was made much smaller. Missiles that had previously carried TEN (10) Multiple Independent Re-Entry Vehicles (MIRVs) were reduced to only one warhead. Perhaps the US is re-installing multiple warheads on our existing missiles?

Why would they be doing that unless they are expecting an actual nuclear war?

Hal Turner Personal Remarks

And expect one they should, given the meddling the US is doing in Ukraine, and the harshest economic sanctions ever imposed, against Russia, are all adding up to the US being hit by Russia.

Of course, the American people remain blissfully unaware that their government has us all on the threshold of actual nuclear war. They’re unaware because the “mass-media” has utterly failed to do its job of reporting actual news. The mass-media seem more interested in the severely mentally-ill who think men can be women and vice-versa.

Do you have a favourite joke from a homeless person who asked for money?

I was sitting on a bench outside my business smoking a cigarette. I had been there since 8 AM and it was already 9 PM, and I was just waiting for a few people to leave.

A homeless man, riding a bicycle with an attached cart in the back, stopped near me. I expected him to ask for a cigarette, but instead he said, “I’ve got a lighter in each of my hands. One works and one doesn’t. If you pick the lighter that doesn’t work, I win a cigarette. If you pick the lighter that works, you win the lighter.” I thought that both lighters were probably non functional but I decided to play along.

I picked his left hand and he handed me the lighter. I tried it a couple times, but it didn’t work. I handed him a cigarette and he lit it with the lighter in his right hand.

We sat and smoked, and I asked him how he pulled off that trick. He told me that he was an amateur magician and he used some kind of slight of hand to do his trick. I was working at a recovery house, and we had a party coming up on Saturday. I asked him if he wanted a job doing magic tricks as a wandering performer in the room. A little negotiation and he was hired for a two hour gig for 200 dollars.

Saturday came, and he had shaved, cleaned up, and dressed casually but well for the performance. He did card tricks, coin tricks, and other kinds of sleight of hand for the 2 hours and then some.

One of the people who was attending the party owned a coffee shop, and he ended hiring the guy to perform in the coffee shop on weekends and some week nights.

His funny way of tricking people for cigarettes turned into a gig and then a job. He performed a trick on me that changed his life.

(Sopranos) Christopher Moltisanti || Soldier On [for Reece]

Sopranos was the only show that came so close to capturing what life is really like, and what it’s all about. Never seen a show cover complex themes and problems like this in such a captivating, real way (and even funny often).

Why are most engineers not rich?

I’m an engineer and I’m rich.

Most engineers, like most Americans, spend everything they make. Then they run up credit card debt. Then they borrow $100k each to send their brood of children to liberal arts colleges for degrees that don’t make them employable. If they’re lucky, when they retire, they can sell the family home and live modestly on that and social security.

Why am I rich? I saved at least 10% of every paycheck since I was 24, and invested in no-load stock mutual funds, mostly as IRAs. My family lived modestly, but well. I didn’t buy bitcoin, didn’t day-trade, didn’t hit a lucky startup. Later in life, I gave my savings to a reputable stock manager, but I’m only doing a little better than if I’d stuck with mutual funds. I bought a house and paid down the mortgage when I had unspent income, three times. Have I been lucky in investments? Hell no. It took me a few years to learn to steer clear of retail stock brokers’ siren songs, for instance.

My investment strategy goes like this:

Spend less than you earn.
Invest unspent income in no-load stock-index mutual funds and ride the long-term upward bias of the stock market.

It’s really that simple.

A real coup

I think Huawei executed a ruthless, cold-blooded coup on Apple. It successfully kept Apple in the dark, getting complacent with its delusional domination of the Chinese market, so much that it thought it could maintain its grip by introducing the next model with not much more than a new metal case and USB connector. Then a week before Apple’s new release, with no time left to make any last-minute changes (no matter how much FoxConn can turn on a dime), Huawei dropped the bombshell. Classic!

What if you had a gay son?

Actually, I might have a gay son now.

There he is, sleeping in his green room, in his little bed.

Here are things I know about him:

He is the most talkative toddler on this earth. He literally does not shut up. Ever.
He loves to play with his sister’s dolls. He feeds them, carries them around, and puts them gently to sleep.
He is also obsessed with handy-man tools. He walks around with his drill, chain-saw and hammer, and repairs things that are then irreversibly un-repairable ever again. After this, he is utterly proud of himself.
He is compassionate. When his sister cries, he will drop his toys and run to hug her. Yesterday he used his shirt to wipe her tears, while telling her: Don’t cry, don’t cry…
He loves to dance, and when ever he can get himself an audience, off he goes..
He snores like a grandpa, and giggles in his sleep.
He wakes up in a great mood, proclaiming: “I woke up!” and every day he fills our home with love, music, laughter and dance.

These are some of the things I know about him, but let me tell you one thing that I don’t know:

I do not know if my little son is gay. And I don’t give a damn.

Is this the beginning of the end of China’s economic dominance?

It is the beginning I would say

China had an enormous trade surplus for nearly one and a half decades plus enormous savings by its people

Here

Chinas problem is that the three years of lockdown meant the expenses were much lesser and thus people have huge savings and thus very low inflation

This is why China is issuing more and more debt instruments, to push that savings and prevent a glut of money

It’s why China is so keen on pushing up Consumption

It’s why when everyone is raising rates, China is slashing them

Because China has a lot of money in the banks and wants to discourage saving and encourage spending

This is the US, the total opposite

Expenses are higher than wages, Savings are at an all time low compared to the SUPERB TRUMP ERA pattern (Call him all the names but that man ran a good economy until Covid)

Thus people don’t have money in the US

Savings have been depleted and so now US Fed encourages savings by raising the rates

Same with other nations including Bharat

As you can see, Economy is doing beautifully under Modi until 2017 when Demo happens and Wages crash and expenses rise

Again by 2018, there is a recovery but by 2019 the savings are depleted by rising expenses

Two years of lockdowns mean savings crash but expenses rise due to the opening up policies and finally today you are NECK TO NECK

Better than the US

So today China has too much money

US and India and EU and UK have too little to no money

The best solution would be China lending to UK, EU and US by buying more Debt

They said it was a WIN WIN

China has too much money and if they don’t spend it, it will lead to a glut and a deflation

US have no money and keep printing and piling inflation

However China said NOTHING DOING

They don’t trust the West anymore and believe the West may renege on their debt

After what they did to Russia

If only China and India were closer, China would have lent to India and invested heavily

Best to get 6% from India than 2.5% in China with great difficulty

My guess is China will spend huge money on Technology investments and hope it yields a big change

Meanwhile China has a huge economic dominance today.

They can cut a cheque of $ 300 Billion without printing money

The entire EU and UK and US combined can’t do the same

Post 1950

US was also flush with money while UK and Europe were broke

Thus US lent the money and invested in Europe and UK and grew their money enormously

They then invested this into Military Industry and sadly it mutated beyond recognition

China has a BRI luckily

FIRST DAY in Beijing, China – America warns NOT to visit CHINA but I Did

This is John Eisenman.

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He lost his daughter to sexual trafficking.

She was sold for $1,000 in Seattle Washington.

He did what a father should do and researched, investigated and found out about her abduction.

He RESCUED her HIMSELF.

…

He found out the person who sold her into trafficking was her 19 year old boyfriend.

He met up with him, abducted him, bludgeoned and stabbed him to death in Nov, 2020.

The authorities found him [dead AF boyfriend] in Oct 2021 in the trunk of the car he abandoned.

John Eisenman sits in prison knowing his daughter is safe and growing up after he has already lived 60 years of his life.

I bet you, he rests easy.

Live your life to the fullest. Do your absolute best to make sure your children have the opportunity to do the same no matter what the sacrifice.

What is the rudest thing you have ever done that you are glad you went through with?

My brother called me to let me know our dad was in the ER and it didn’t look good for his survival. I drove like a bat out of hell the 120 miles to get there. In the ER waiting room sat my brother & his wife, who knew nothing and had not been given any info or updates on our dad in over 2.5 hours.

I went up to the admitting desk to ask for an update and was told to sit down…that the clerk at the desk was busy and couldn’t deal with me. Unacceptable response so I just marched into the actual ER room to find my dad. Brother and SIL followed.

Found my dad and he is basically gray with no one attending him. The attending comes up to me and starts screaming at me. I asked him what was wrong with my dad, (who has a heart problem and has a pacemaker). The Dr responds in a horrible accent and terrible English that my dad has vertigo. It took several tries to figure out what he was saying and even the nurses were having a problem understanding him.

I lost it and didn’t care if I got arrested or not. I loudly proceed to tell the Dr that my dad is gray, not green, indicating heart problem & that my dad had his last heart surgery at this hospital 1 year prior. That I want a heart monitor on my dad ASAP.

The smug Dr asked me where I my medical degree. I smiled and again, loudly said that I didn’t have one but that I had a law degree. That I hoped he enjoyed his sojourn in the US because by the time I’m done suing him, deportation will look like a good option.

He quickly put on a heart monitor on my dad and it showed my dad was having a heart attack as they attached it. Luckily, they were able to treat him and he lived many years after that.

3 things:

This was at a top nationally ranked hospital
I filed a complaint with the BoD and the Dr was let go due to his repeated negligence.
I was bluffing — I don’t have a law degree!

Why don’t doctors put dying patients under a medically induced coma to suppress the pain? Why can’t the patient and/or family members opt to do that so that the person will not have to be conscious while they die?

The day my mother-in-law died they called and told us that she was not going to live through the day that her whole system was shutting down and she didn’t have more than a few hours.

My wife and I went to the hospital she was conscious and complained because they had the bed in a head lower position. She complained that it was uncomfortable and asked to have it moved to a sitting position, the nurse said that they couldn’t do that because it would shorten her life.

We insisted and they moved it so she was more comfortable.

While we sat there they kept coming in and drawing blood, etc. Finally, when they rolled in a portable x-ray machine, my wife stood up and threw them out.

Eventually, she got to the point where she wasn’t conscious any more and in the evening she finally passed.

I still believe that they were trying to bill everything they could get on her bill before she died, why take ex-rays of someone they already told us was dying?

Fortunately, when my wife died of cancer she died at home in hospice and not in a hospital. She died peacefully in her sleep, with no hassles.

Why Do We Have to PAY Others Just to LIVE?!?! IT’S INSANITY!

We are out here on this Earth and surrounded with everything we need to live amazing lives. So why have we created, and continue to tolerate, a system that makes us work our whole lives earning money so we can pay for the privilege of living?

What are your opinions about the sanction against Huawei?

The explanation given to me by a Dumbo on Quora was that Huawei which used US Technology and US Patents, did not follow US rules and did business with countries sanctioned by the US

This despite the WTO ruling on 8/7/1998 clearly citing that

Trade restrictions on Technology and it’s free and fair use shall be determined by the commercial aspects and by the political ones

This was wrt Iraq

So the sanction on Huawei was illegal

Plain and simple

So the US essentially claim that because they control the technology, they can use it to demand obedience from the entire world

That because they control the dollar they can demand obedience from the entire world

They are immune from WTO appeals and rulings

So if the US is against you, you have no where to present your case

If the US is against you, you either comply or die

That’s the RULES BASED ORDER

Tell me i am wrong

Tell me of one example where the US sanctioned a nation and reversed it when the Nation without any change in its Government Or Leader Or Policies, appealed to a higher authority

It has NEVER happened ever

Under the same Rules based order, Saudi Arabia cannot decide to refuse to sell Oil to a paying customer but the EU can decide to cap the price of oil and force the whole world to comply

I wouldn’t have had a problem if Huawei had been taken to court and fined billions of dollars for patent violation

That’s Commerce and Trade and Business

However merely because you sell stuff to Iran, just because you use US technology, you can be sanctioned and cut off from Chips on a mere order from a US President is terrifying

Xi, Putin, Assad may all be many things but today they are the ONLY PEOPLE preventing us all from becoming slaves of the United States of America

Its why I support them wholeheartedly

As long as they are strong, there will always be two camps, and the US better be on its best behaviour or it will lose friends to the other side

I believe Huawei was the beginning

When Meng Wanzhou was arrested for baseless charges that were never established for 3 years on the whims of a 70 year old syphilitic promiscuous orange man with half his brains eaten out by some STD or another

It was the moment when one realized that the United States was growing not only too big for their britches but capable of becoming something that would put Nazi Germany to shame

Plus these evil men would justify it saying “We are the good guys”

Huawei paid a heavy price for trusting the US

Yet they also ensured that every other Chinese company was now on its guard when dealing with the US

Plus other companies too

Today ISRO is tolerated because it’s so much below NASA

The day it starts climbing higher, you will see sudden references to Kashmir and Genocide and sanctions will begin

Unless India learns from Huawei like China did, Russia did and Iran did

Hawaiian Steak

Ingredients

Individual steaks, 1/2 inch thick or less
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pineapple slices
1 large can mushrooms

Instructions

Punch both sides of each steak well with a fork, then marinate for 24 to 36 hours in a marinade made by combining soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and sugar.
Simmer steaks on a low fire for 10 minutes in the marinade.
Remove them and place steaks in a 350 degree F oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on thickness of meat. Three minutes before removing steaks, place a pineapple slice on each.
To make gravy, slowly sauté a large can of mushrooms in butter. While doing so, boil down the sauce used for the marinade to make a gravy.
Combine mushrooms and reduced marinade sauce.
Serve individual steaks with the pineapple on top, over which has been poured a generous amount of gravy.

Have you ever come into contact with a deranged lunatic who made you fear for your life?

Yes, I nearly died.

This is a bizarre survival tale that includes jaguars, politics, cactus, assassination threats, near-death, and yes… a deranged lunatic. Oddly enough, even though I’m a dedicated liberal, this mad-man was a far-far-left liberal himself.

It was the mid-2000’s, and I was actively engaged in all sorts of wildlife research for a variety of government agencies and civilian groups. One of my projects was with a great organization called the Sky Island Alliance, in Tucson, AZ. (Read about them here, if you’d like: What are “Sky Islands”, and do they exist? ) This particular project involved looking for signs and tracks of jaguars that were reportedly crossing over the border from Mexico and setting up shop in the mountains of southern Arizona, in order to have data to set up protected areas for this extinct-in-America Big Cat.

One day, I received a call from a graduate student from a University in Colorado, who was looking for a research assistant for his project. The project consisted of living out in the wilderness and setting up camera-traps throughout the mountains, trying to get photos of the elusive cats, and learn more about their habits. Since I had a very good reputation among the environmental research community, I was recommended for the job by a professor at a local university. So I interviewed with the guy over lunch, we seemed to bond, and I got the job. I spent the next couple weeks putting in a lot of extra time at the Tucson Zoo, observing their two beautiful black jaguar sisters, Nikita & Simone, up close and personal. I would help with the feeding, collect scat and urine samples and do a lot of watching, reading and interacting. [1]

Eventually, it was time to head out toward the Mexican border and set up in the cabin. No electricity or running water. Right in the middle of the smuggling route from Mexico. Surrounded by the wildest remote mountains around. I was looking forward to a great adventure and a chance to get some good science accomplished. Emil and I got started with our automatic cameras. The challenge was to make continuous hikes into the mountains, replacing batteries and exchanging film in the many dispersed camera traps. It was some treacherous hiking. We were getting along fine. On the second day, we got a surprise… Emil’s dad decided to come from Colorado and join in.

He was a surly old guy from the Rocky Mountains. He probably wasn’t as old as he looked, because he was extremely “weathered”, leathery and wiry, with deep creases in his face; a constant suspicious squint. Grey stubble grew from almost right under his eyes, down to his chin. Not an ounce of fat on his stringy hard muscles. When you said something to him, he’d jerk his face left or right like a chicken, to look at you sideways, always seeming to be about to say an accusatory “Wha’ju say!?”, and perhaps bite your head off. He happened to look incredibly similar to this actor, Roberts Blossom. [2]

He wasn’t very trusting and he took an immediate dislike to me for some reason. I think he wanted to be the assistant, and have me leave. There was some weird father/son dynamic going on between them, and I got the impression Emil had grown up with beatings being a normal part of life.

Emil’s and my relationship suddenly subdued and the atmosphere changed.

These were the days of the George W. Bush administration. Emil’s dad turned out to be an extreme far-left liberal. The most far-left I’d ever come into contact with. I was also a liberal… but a moderate. I wasn’t a fan of Bush, but I was pushing through it, waiting for the next election. On that second night, we sat down to dinner. Tin plates of beans and bacon, with some tin cups of coffee. Emil’s dad sat across from me at the small wooden table. I tried to talk to him, and it immediately turned to politics. I nodded my head at all he was saying about the damned republicans and “that asshole Bush”. He spat out a long list of complaints. It wasn’t long before he said something about killing him if he had the chance. Oddly… I was of the mind that we shouldn’t be thinking of killing our president, whoever it may be. I said something to that effect.

Dad growled, “You mean you wouldn’t kill him?” He looked straight into my eyes, like a maniac.

I half-laughed out a response of, “Look, I don’t like him, but I’m not going to say we should assassinate the President”.

He glowered through me. His hands were in fists on the table, one of them holding a fork. I felt a pressure tank across from me, building up steam. His lips were pursed, breathing hard through his nose, staring at me. Suddenly he exploded up in a jerk, flipped his plate of beans toward me and about leaped on top of me, ranting about what the president was doing to destroy the country! He bent over and got in my face. I stood up quick and said, “Back the fuck off!”

Emil finally got involved and said something. I was fuming. I looked at them both, then left the cabin to go chill out outside in the night air. This suddenly took a weird turn.

Eventually we all went to bed, as we had to get up very early. In the morning, we had breakfast in silence, then all headed out in the pickup, toward the beginning of the trail. The whole way, he was insulting me in every way possible; from my knife being too big; “Only green-horns and pussies think they need a big knife,” to my hair, “Why don’t you get a haircut and look like a real man.” Beyond all belief, I kept my cool and waited for Emil to reign in his crazy old man. Emil wouldn’t look at me, and stayed silent. The old man hadn’t been with us on our last outing, and we had used a comfortable pace to make our rounds. But this time dad took the lead. It turned out that not only was he half jack-ass… he was also half mountain goat. He set off at a crazy unnecessary pace, clearly meaning to break me, or leave me behind. I was in average shape, but I had a trick knee from an old parachuting accident I’d had while I was an Army Paratrooper. So I needed to watch my step. As we sprinted up and down the mountains, eventually the worst happened and my knee blew out as I was racing down a steep slope of forest. I yelled out. They kept going. Eventually I stumbled down to the rocky dry river bed at the bottom, where they were waiting.

I explained I had a bad knee from the Army. “How many jumps you got?” he scowled. I told him 26.

He says, “My buddy has over a thousand and he never had no bad knees.” At this point, I was vulnerable, and I really needed to restrain myself for my own safety. He pointed up a steep rocky slope and said he was heading out. I told them I couldn’t make it. He derided me some more and told me to wait while they continued. I had no choice. I agreed. They left me with most of the heavy batteries and set off. “3 or 4 hours,” they said. I waited, surrounded by dry boulders.

There was no shade in that valley. I had to get out of the sun. The nearest shade was 150′ straight up a cliff, where I saw a tree. I made the choice to climb after about 2 hours. I got up and started hobbling toward the cliff of rocks, dirt and some dry grass. Now came my biggest misfortune. All the extra batteries they piled into my backpack made it extremely heavy. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that my pack was on top of my camel-back, which held all my water. It was fine when my pack was light, but all the batteries were pressing down on my water bladder, and at some point during my climb, the pressure popped the end off the drinking tube. I didn’t notice as all my water squirted out and left me empty, until 30 minutes later, I reached the top. I pulled out the tube for a well-deserved drink, and… nothing. “Damn it!”

The tree wasn’t as full as I wished and only gave a smattering of shade. Better than nothing. It was about 118 degrees F. After a total of 5 hours had passed since they left, I was getting desperate. As I sat on that cliff side, I saw a barrel cactus not far away. I stumbled over. Ya hear that they have water in them. So, I gave it a shot. Luckily, I had my big knife with me and was able cut off the top. No puddle of water. Just an off-white mash of cactus innards. It was moist. It would have to do. I don’t recommend this method. It had a bitter tannin taste to it, as I scooped out a chunk and sucked on it. Horrible! Again… better than nothing, but not much better. 7 hours passed and I was dehydrated and starting to get hazy vision and a crazy headache. I considered starting a signal fire. But I worried about it getting out of control and consuming me. 8 hours.

Finally, I saw them down in the valley of rocks. I yelled out. Again and again. At last they answered. “Come on down!” I heard. Clearly I had to go down. But I was only thinking of water. I scrambled down the cliff again, knowing that in just a few minutes, I could drink. At last… “Water” I croaked.

“You don’t have any water?” he says. I wasn’t up for a discussion to explain, I just needed a fast drink. I shook my head.

Again, I asked for water. “We don’t have any water.”

What the hell? I see them both with canteens. Emil started to give me his canteen. The old bastard again yelled out, “I said we don’t have no water” and he shot a look at his son. Emil backed down silently. I couldn’t believe this! I reached out and tried to grab a canteen and the bastard got up and started walking away, saying, “There’s water at the truck.” I was dumbfounded. I started following them, listening to the water sloshing in their canteens just feet away. I was going a bit mad from the sound.. and from the entire situation. But I barely had the strength to be mad. I did my best at keeping up but fell further and further behind. I tried calling out. They stopped one time for me to catch up and as soon as I did, again they took off. At last, I could go no further. Five minutes later they came back, with the old bastard bitching at Emil. Emil gave me water. One drink, and then that evil bastard yelled out, “That’s enough! We need it!” Emil put away the water. They started to take off again.. my knee was throbbing and I could hardly walk. I set short range goals of just making it to the next boulder. One after another. My vision made everything wavy. And finally Emil grew a pair and defied his old man, and put an arm around me and helped me the rest of the way… another mile. He mumbled an, “I’m sorry” quietly.

The truck was ahead of us. 100 yards more. I willed myself to keep going. Then… we were there. A 5 gallon jug of water that had been heating in the sun was brought down. It was hot enough to brew tea, but I drank. And drank. Near-boiling water. It was good.

It was a quiet ride back. I packed up my gear and got in my car and drove off, back to civilization. All I keep thinking about was that water sloshing ahead of me, out of reach, and hearing him insist “We don’t got no water” while I was looking right at it. All this, because I didn’t agree that President Bush should be assassinated.

It’s quite clear that he would have left me to die out there and concocted some story of me wandering off and getting lost, if it wasn’t for the intervention of his minimally-less corrupt son.

Months later, Emil got indicted for illegally trapping our jaguar in a noose, causing stress in the poor cat, which eventually led to the death of the only jaguar in the United States at the time. Here’s the picture he took of the tortured, snared cat. [3]

It was a whole big deal with scandal and blame spread all over. It became a Federal case. After being indicted, he lied to investigators and blamed his assistant for putting lure around the trap without his direction. This wasn’t true and eventually came out. This assistant was the person who took my place! In the end, he was banned from practicing any more research, anywhere. You may be interested in reading about the debacle here: emil mccain prosecuted over jaguar

Conspicuously absent from the indictment, was one old, evil, bastard goat, that I damn well know had a hand in the unethical activities that led to the jaguar’s death, due to over-bearing parental pressure. And he certainly had a hand in convincing his son to lie about the circumstances afterwards. I have no doubt. It was, after all, the government against his son. The government that he wanted to take out with a bullet. I know that lunatic bastard helped kill our jaguar, and let his son take all of the fall. Not that his son didn’t deserve it as well. I’ve no proof. But I know it. He damn near killed me.

Damn near. But not quite.

What is the most famous crime case that’s unsolved in the United States?

John Holmes was a legend during the golden age of porn. He played the famous Johnny Wadd, a fictional detective in a series of porn films. At the time, he was most famous for having a 13-inch penis, although this was never proven. He also claimed to have sex with over 14,000 women. This is also disputed, but he did star in over 500 movies.

As his porn career was taking off in the early 70s, so was his drug use. At his height, he was earning 3,000 dollars a day from his films, which was mostly spent on freebasing cocaine. His habit greatly affected his ability to maintain an erection, and by the end of the 70s, he was selling drugs and prostituting himself for drugs to both men and women.

By the early 80s, Holmes was heavily involved in criminality. He was a close associate of drug dealer and nightclub owner Eddie Nash and was also close to the notorious “Wonderland Gang,” a group of heroin-addicted cocaine dealers, that ruled the drugs trade in Los Angela’s.

Holmes had confided with some members of the Wonderland Gang about a stash of drugs and money being kept at Eddie Nash’s house. Holmes had fallen out of favour with the Wonderland Gang after taking more than his fair share of drugs. So he helped them by setting up the home invasion and robbery of Eddie Nash.

Eddie Nash suspected Holmes was involved in the robbery. He admitted to his part in the robbery after Nash threatened to kill his family. In the early hours of July 1st 1981, a gang of Nash’s enforcers along with Holmes entered the Rowhouse located on Wonderland Avenue, where five members of the Wonderland gang were sleeping. All but one of the gang members were beaten to death, and the fifth barley surviving the brutal attack.

A handprint belonging to Holmes was found above the headboard of one of the slain gang members, putting Holmes at the scene during the attack. Eddie Nash was the prime suspect for the crime along with Holmes who took more of an active role. Holmes was charged with personally committing all four murders but was acquitted due to lack of evidence after a three-week trial. The trail was a landmark case, where it was the first trial in history to introduced video as evidence. The Wonderland murders remain unsolved to this day.

By 1986, Holmes was diagnosed as HIV positive, and it was around this time he landed a lucrative deal to star in two adult films with “Paradise Visuals.” He went on to have unprotected sex with his co-stars while not revealing his diagnosis.

He died from Aids related complications on March 13th 1988, at the age of 43.

i gave up on the american dream | regularism

“I feel you girl! I’m 34 renting a room in a house, I hardly own anything anymore. I let go of the illusion of how life is “supposed to be”. We are free this way, living simply! It’s all a state of mind starting with gratitude for what you have.”

How to hide your infidelity

This little post is going to make me the most hated man on the internet. Or, perhaps not.

Sigh.

But that is not it’s intention. Instead, my intention is to break down what happens when a woman decides to have a relationship outside of her marriage to her husband.

It’s about a woman who decides to cheat on her husband.

…

When a couple falls in love and starts a family, it is like a match being lit. The flame might brighten or dim, but it will still be ignited.

Events will cause the light to fade, or brighten.

But nothing is quite as devastating as an affair.

It will snuff off the light, and render it unable to ever be re-lit.

…

It’s life.

And, Well… Life is what we all experience.

And, that includes the non-physical with the physical.

Sigh.

…

Infidelity.

…

It is something that is going on with one of the MM followers right now.

And, you know, this is my “advice” to that contributor.

…

Life can be very painful, but we have to be very careful on how we deal with these events that we end up enduring. To do it right, it will take time.

I’m not a novice in these matters.

Lordy! It happened to me. Too.

…

Now, truth be told, this is a unique subset of the infidelity sub-culture. I will do one on men cheating on their spouses at a later date. So in all fairness, expect both sides to the same coin.

I have experienced both.

Sigh.

This is not intended as a DIY, “how to” guide, nor is it intended to be salacious. It is intended to break down, in really simple terms, what is going on and how to avoid having one HELL of a train-wreck in the process. Because (ask anyone who has been there) catching a partner cheating is DEVASTATING to everyone.

There’s absolutely no up-side to it.

It’s a toboggan to Hell.

Why and background

There is an MM influencer that is going though this right now.

Words really fail on how to comfort this person. I have no easy answers, but I can relate my own personal experiences, and these were TERRIBLE.

Thus, to prep for this response, I have, of late, been torturing myself listening to you-tube renditions of reddit discussions on infidelity cases. Ugh! Talk about a dark world! Very addictive, but leaves one drained.

Sheech!

Really horrible stuff.

But, you know, as a man who went through of a couple of divorces, I can (unfortunately) relate.

Now some of the videos and readings sound like fiction. Others are probably elaborated truths.

You have to take what you find on the internet with caution.

Nevertheless…

I want to offer something positive to this world. So, thus in this post, I am trying to address the singular issue of a woman who cheats outside her marriage, and what the ramifications are, and what her options actually are.

I will cover the absolute importance in truth in resolving this matter. And how to avoid the great calamity that is looming up ahead of you.

In the future, I will make a post of a man cheating on his wife.

Let’s start with some solid truths.

Some important notes

This is written by a man discussing men’s impressions and attitudes.

The internet is full of twenty-something single women, and 40+ cat ladies who have very different opinions. You can view those if you disagree what is presented here. This is my opinion based on my experiences.

And one more thing, this post is intended to HELP someone. Nothing more.

The best thing you can do is… don’t even think about it.

Truth One

Your infidelity will be found out. It will be uncovered. One way or the other, and once it is uncovered, you can expect from three years of LIVING HELL to as much as twenty years of horror.

Do not be blind to this fact. It might happen in hours, or over decades, but it will eventually be discovered.

I advise anyone who dares contemplate such an action to proceed very, very carefully. Your actions should not be taken lightly. Regardless of your feelings, you are MARRIED, and thus the weight of your actions affects both you and your HUSBAND. As well as any children that you may have.

Truth Two

When you get married, the man gives up part of his life for RESPECT from the wife. And in exchange for that respect, he provides SECURITY and STABILITY to the wife.

RESPECT for SECURITY

That is why a man gets married.

This is an absolute fact. He does marry to have sex, make money, have kids, or anything like that. He marries to have a partner who RESPECTS him.

The partner who truly respects him will get everything he has. In traditional marriages, he gives all; 100% of his salary, all of his earnings, his time, his devotion, and everything else to the wife.

From the wife’s’ point of view, this is SECURITY. A house. A home. A steady and growing lifestyle. Children, and all the good that comes from the family unit.

SIGNS OF LACK OF RESPECT

Saying derogatory comments about the husband.
No or little amount of sex.
No intimacy.
Hurtful comments.

Truth Three

Wife Instituted change.

When there is a loss in RESPECT by the wife, the husband will change.

He will start to get depressed, and sad.
He will start to get angry and short tempered.
He will see as cascading of troubles to his life.

In every case, to some matter of degree, the SECURITY (of the wife) will diminish.

Perhaps he will lose his job. Maybe he will take on addictive behaviors. Maybe get sick and ill. Maybe he will go “nuclear” with a divorce.

SECURITY is intimately tied to a man’s RESPECT.

If respect is reduced, so too will be the security.

In every event, the SECURITY (of the wife) will reduce. In worst case scenarios, it could be a precipitous fall.

Truth Four

If you have it “good”, human nature will assume that it will stay that way.

So many times, a wife is fine and content with her family life. But it is missing something. So she takes and makes efforts to “improve” it. Thinking “what he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him”, and additionally (and most importantly) my lifestyle is immune to change.

People, not just women, are great at making rationalizations.

He’s not as intuitive as myself. He’ll never know.
He would NEVER do this to our kids.
I deserve this, after all <enter excuse here>.
He cannot do anything. I’ve gotten away with it before, so…

A woman who cheats on her husband risks a great deal.

A sub-par life with a weakened spouse.
A divorce.
A very enraged and violent husband, and a life chained to a living Hell.
Torture and death.

All of the above mentioned outcomes are historically accurate. Do not think that anyone is immune.

Truth Five

RESPECT can be quantified.

Here are some elements that men consider to be strongly tied to RESPECT.

Sex on demand.
NEVER saying anything bad about the husband outside the home.
No infidelity.
Husband comes before friends, family, work and all else. Husband is #1.

There is a woke movement that says the opposite of this. Don’t believe it. Most women of the “woke movement” are retiring in single lives with pet animals.

Truth Six

SECURITY can be quantified.

Here are some elements that men consider to be strongly tied to SECURITY.

Shelter; home, house.
Transportation; car.
Food.
Being an active parent.
Shared future.

A man who is Respected will do his best to maintain the highest quality of SECURITY for his family.

Truth Seven

Precautions.

If you do decide to have a relationship out of marriage (even if it is trivial a “one night stand”) the following precautions will help postpone discovery.

No text messaging. Do not even think about it. Often texting is a #1 sure-fire tell-tail that indicates infidelity. ZERO text messaging, and do not think about “work arounds” like getting the message and then deleting it. The Server, often by law, keeps full records of all texts.
No phone calls. What can be said about texting goes double for all phone and video conferences and calls.
No sex pictures, and videos. Absolutely. No exceptions. Once recorded, and you are told that they will be deleted, or are secure, and all the rest; do not believe them. In a hostile divorce proceeding, nothing goes against you more than the entire judicial chamber watching you take in three husky men plowing into every one of your orifices while you moan in pleasure.
Do not change routine work hours. This is a common gambit. You state that you have to work extra hours, and then use the time for dating and sexual activities. This is often one of the first lies that are uncovered. Do not even think about it.
Pictures. Never, ever, ever stand beside your “boyfriend” (or girlfriend) in group photos, or in any photos. Don’t do it. No excuses.
Home Visits. Nothing enrages a spouse more than to find out that the interloper has invaded their home and defiled it. This is a big no-no. It can mean all the difference from a simple divorce, to a torture session. Do not even dare contemplate it.
Presents. If you feel the need to purchase a present for your “special friend” never hide it in your house. Never use a credit card to purchase. Never use a QR to purchase. Pay in cash. Hide it outside of the home.

Truth Eight

Maintenance

You must (as a woman) perform three times (3x) to your husband for every act of infidelity. It is not one on one. It might seem like a lot. However, you NEED to over compensate to dispel any doubts.

Even if caught, your husband will think that he is too much of a “lover” than any outsider.

So here’s the guidelines…

Fuck a lover = fuck your husband three times the day after.
Oral or anal sex. Do it three times with your husband.
Give a gift to your lover, provide something of value x3 times in value to your husband.

You do not want to get caught. Right?

And if you are caught, at least your husband would be “scratching his head” as to why you would want someone else. As it would not make sense to him. He would think “Shit! We are fucking like animals all week, where in Hell would she ever have time for an outsider?”

Truth Nine

Cautious behavior.

You can never get your aggrieved spouse to see your point of view. But you can perform “damage control” to minimize the impact of the horror that will be unleashed once discovered.

Avoid local and well-used restaurants. If you are out in public with your lover, go to places “off the beaten path”.
Never compare your lover to your spouse. Ever!
Never “confide” your secrets to anyone (outside of your husband).
Be careful about your new lover. If they are getting emotionally involved then a stop-watch is started for the collapse of your life.

Truth Ten

It is a slow descent into Hell.

It is unusual for a husband to discover cheating immediately. It will take time, but he will notice a few things. No matter how smart and careful you are, and how dull and dim-witted he is, he will eventually know.

It’s not an EQ thing, but rather being married, you two are emotionally and spiritually joined. And he will FEEL something different.

Initially, the man is apt to “brush it off” as his imagination.

But all it takes is one tangible minor issue that will trigger the detective in himself.

And the elevator to Hell will begin.

The stages generally are (variations in duration, and investigation, with actions) will vary from person to person.

Feeling off.
Strange changes in life and behavior.
Detective mode.
Discovery with SHOCK!
Planning to resolve, or end the situation.
Implementation.

Truth Eleven

Fighting a man.

To have an extramarital affair out of wedlock with your husband is to violate your marriage, and attack him personally.

Your actions with your lover is a personal violation of your husband. Period.

You are now in a battle with him.

It might not look like it, and it might seem that everything is just fine and stable, but battles and wars are often fought in secret long before the eruption of violence.

The tools of battle available to the man…

Deletion, erasure, and corruption of all SECURITY.

This means that your savings will disappear, any joint accounts will be emptied, your workplace will fire you, and your possessions will disappear. He might alienate your children from you, and will try to erase your friendships and turn your parents and siblings against you.

Violence

Your husband would get very violent against you. And he could really hurt your lover. He could do this himself, or hire goons / friends, or associates to perform the actions.

Abandonment

This is the softest but most infuriating technique. He just disappears. And the wife is left with a mind spinning trying to figure out what is going on. This is an intentional MIND-FUCK. And it will change body chemistry for the worst.

Head Games

The husband would start dating outside the marriage. He would start playing games and doing things that would trigger the detective in every woman to go into over-drive. A woman's mind can be set into a whirling nightmare, and a husband though careful manipulation wan whip that mind-fuck into a hurricane and tornado.

Truth Twelve

Detaching from your lover

The smart wife (or man) would realize that the road that they are on will result in a fiery crash with significant collateral damage. Sooner or later an off-ramp must be put in place, and the illicit romance or series of escapades must end.

There are many ways to do this. But the most important one is to go “cold turkey” and abruptly call it off immediately with ZERO follow up communication.

Depending on where you are in your marriage, it can be timely and productive, or far too late.

NOTE: Your lover will NOT go “quietly into the night”.

Truth Thirteen

Sorting out the truth for full closure

If the husband finds out, and WANTS to resolve this and keep his marriage intact… then the good news is that your affair will be forgiven.

However, invariably, he will ask for the FULL truthful story as to what actually happened.

Human nature, mean and women, will minimize the truth. This is for all kinds of reasons, but the real truth will never be admitted to.

“a single fling while drunk”

When in reality the wife was having monthly swinger sessions with multiple men at group orgies.

“Sex was fine, but he wasn’t as good as you”

When she is caught on tape saying terrible things about her husband and comparing him to her studly lover.

“It was only once”

When the husband knows of multiple occasions though friends, associates and the internet.

No matter how you parse it, the odds are VERY HIGH that the husband knows much more than what he is letting on.

If what you say does not match his proof, he will call you a liar, and your opportunity is shit-canned.

When he asks for the TRUTH, he means a truth that will match and fit with his evidence in hand. And believe me, when he comes to you and offers to forgive in exchange for truth… this is D-Day. You must be completely forthcoming.

Truth Fourteen

Truth is difficult to obtain

It is in our nature to keep things private and secretive. Even if you want to be open and honest, you will invariably avoid saying the raw truth. And this problem, being serious, can absolutely torpedo any resolution to the infidelity issue.

There are techniques that are guaranteed to get the truth.

Sodium pentathol (truth serum)

You can have family doctor administer the serum while a social worker or psychologist asks questions in a relaxed environment.

Hypnosis

A trained hypnotist can ask questions to the person, and invariably in that relaxed state, the person will more likely than not, tell the truth.

Truth Detection Equipment

Truth Detection Equipment often works on changes in amplitude or frequency of voice, electrochemical reactions in the body or the combination of both.

LSD, MDMA

These illegal drugs offer an unconventional means of dealing with the issue. You will need to both take the drugs together, and you both will talk and emote about this issue.

It NEEDS to be said, that unless professional means are obtained to extract the truth, the husband will continue to doubt his wife for the rest of his life.

You cannot fake this.

It has to be solid and tangible; something that the husband will believe.

I recommend a trained hypnotist, or a doctor administered shot.

Refusal to do this WILL result in unintended consequences to the opportunity presented to you at this time.

Truth Fifteen

The crawl back from the edge of the pit is possible.

But, the solutions are Black and White with absolutely no ambiguity.

Non-contested divorce.
Contested divorce.
Full STOP with the infidelity, and zero communication with the lover.
Staged decoupling, husband, lover, or both.
Open marriage.
Start an alternative lifestyle.

You pick one. Both of you agree to it. And you stick to that decision.

Truth Sixteen

Closure and Future

When a wife cheats on her family, a change in the relationship occurs. How the couple works it out is wildly interconnected, but it really just boils down to two solid events.

Closure. The full truth is shared. Guarantees are made to prevent reoccurrence.
Future. What changes will be made in the relationship and the expectations with them.

Final Comments

This post is about a wife cheating on her husband.

I experienced that myself.

We resolved it by the two-choice method. After my wife returned from a weekend in a distant city with her boyfriend, I sat down with her and made the situation very clear.

[1] Say with me, or [2] go with the lover.

Pick one, and we will move on from there.

But having both a lover and a husband can not continue.

Long story short. My wife chose me, and left him.

And he was pissed!

…

I did not ask for details. I already knew enough. And, you know, I really didn’t need a blow-by-blow of events.

She had sex numerous times. Ok. Meh. This is a no-brainer. Of-course.
She spent a lot of time with him, too much.
He was active in trying to peel her away from me. (A big headache!)
He was /is an investment banker. (He had a LOT of money to spend on her.)
I was just then getting back on my feet. (I was just scraping by.)
He was younger, studlier than myself. Alpha male.
His parents already made arrangements for a mansion, cars, and a lavish lifestyle under the observation of his mother once they “got married” after our marriage was annulled.

Sigh. MM life. Not for the feint of heart. Eh?

My concern (my “big deal”) was “shared relationship” and one where large portions of time was not spent with me, instead she was emotionally attached with her lover. Guys. I don’t like sharing emotions. It’s difficult for me.

Us guys are like that.

When your wife spends “too much time” with another guy, we start to get insecure. Whether it is just talking, writing, texting, or sex… it doesn’t matter. We want your undivided attention. Otherwise, we get insecure.

Insecurity is the result of a lack of RESPECT.

So, I had to end it.

And I respect any man or woman that makes the same decision. Including certain MM influencers living in Europe. Don’t you know.

…

The wife initiated this chain of events.

But it is husband’s responsibility to end them. And, you know, so I did.

I did what I preach. The decision on how to proceed must be clear and unambiguous. The choices were clear and stark. Two men. One a husband, the other a lover. The wife had to choose, and the loser could NEVER, ever communicate with the wife ever again.

Once presented, it was up to the wife to make the decision.

And my wife chose me.

Most wife’s will not want to throw away the relationship that they have with their spouse, but the guardrails and rules must be firm and adhered to. Or else it is just a continuation of torture.

…

In the future, I will make another post about men cheating on their wives. I also have experience in this. And it’s called life experience. Ugh!

Please don’t judge.

It is natural to do so, but we all experience the highs and lows of life, and some are not pretty to look at. And, as I have repeatedly said, I am not an angel. Just a man, full of mistakes and faults.

Relationships change. People change. Life changes us.

No one is an angel. Accept that fact, and be understanding to your spouse who has made mistakes. It’s not a forgiveness; it is rather an acceptance.

Men. Do not be an absolutist.

Be understanding, show kindness and compassion. Most especially to your wife. Everyone deserves to have one major fuck-up. Let her absolve her sins, and move on forward.

Be like water. Adapt to the changes.

…

It is common to be devastated and turn into a solid cube of ice. Fight that force.

Offer the wife a choice, and a firm and clear option with “guardrails”. Allow her a “face saving” out, and a chance to repair the marriage, and then build something new and better from the ruins.

Some good Videos

The following videos will help explain what is discussed herein. They were difficult for me to watch. If you want to watch just a few videos, then just watch the first three.

VIDEO #1

Husband Finds Spicy Video Of Wife With Coworker, Sends It To Her ENTIRE Family And Then Leaves Town!

This video illustrates well what is at stake.

VIDEO #2

Husband Took My Dad’s Business & Left Me W/ No Inheritance Cuz Of My Small Misstep.

This is a pretty good story. Probably the best on the Internet. And well illustrates all the points made up and above.

VIDEO #3

She participated in group sex for years!

This is also a pretty good video.

VIDEO #4

My Cheating Wife Is Going To Be Homeless Because Of A Prenuptial Agreement

This is also interesting.

Piles of pork

When I was out of my “retirement” from Arkansas, I was permitted to live in my home State in my home town, provided I had a sponsor.

This could be an ex-wife, a friend, a family member, or a civic institution.

Well, my ex-wife wanted to take me in, but she was diagnosed as “mentally ill”, and did not quality.

I only had two friends remaining back in the home town where I grew up. One was dead, and the other was in Jail.

My father agreed to take me in, but his (new) wife … my step-mother kicked me out.

So, I need a place to stay, and I was placed in a rehab complex for addicts, people with mental illnesses, and other issues. Initially, I stayed at a monastery, but eventually, I moved to a community that wasn’t so isolated, and I managed a group home there.

There was some six of us men living in an old Victoria style home, and working at low wage jobs to get back on our feet. We shared the budget and the responsibilities together, and it really wasn’t a bad deal.

I want to relate a story from that time.

…

We all agreed to pitch in $100 to $300 a month for food, and in so doing we would have a monthly run to the supermarket for supplies.

We sat down, and wrote what to buy, which consisted of vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, breads… you know the basics with an emphasis on “make it yourself” rather than “frozen; pop in the microwave food”. Staples. Rice. Corn. Tomatoes. Flour. Butter. Cooking oil. Things like that.

We gave the list and the money to one of our housemates. This fellow was a “strange cat”, but you know, all of us were a bit odd, don’t you know.

And off he went.

When he returned, he arrived without the groceries he was supposed to buy. Instead, had something like $800 worth of pork chops, and three cases of diet Pepsi. Nothing else. And he laughed about it.

He argued that the money was his; his responsibility, and that he could do anything he wanted with it. And he wanted pork chops.

Well, I like pork chops as much as the next guy, but not at the expense of salads, orange juice, eggs, toast, butter, and spaghetti. Not at the dearth of cereals, milk, asparagus, peppers, spaghetti noodles, and rolls. Not at the expense of coffee, and sugar. Not at the expense of peanut butter, and salad dressing.

He had quite the smug look on his face, and laughed. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, behind our backs, he related to everyone how crestfallen I was, and the others in the house was.

…

Bummed us all out, and I was pretty damn pissed. What the Hell was I going to eat?

After talking with the head of the organization we held a in-house meeting.

Long story short; yeah, we kicked him out.

I was nice about it, and I helped move him out.

…

However, I learned a serious lesson. Never underestimate what a crazy, or mentally deficient person is capable of of. He was obviously selfish, narcissistic, and had no sense of belonging.

So we removed him.

This type of action, I believe, must be replicated at the highest levels of “leadership” in the collective Western nations. Don’t you know.

Today…

Blue Cheese Stuffed Steaks

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 beef tenderloin steaks
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
4 teaspoons crumbled blue cheese
4 teaspoons plain low fat yogurt
2 teaspoons minced onion
Dash of white pepper
1 large clove garlic, halved
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
2 teaspoons chopped parsley

Instructions

Combine cream cheese, blue cheese, yogurt, onion and pepper; reserve.
Rub each side of beef steaks with garlic.
Place steaks on rack in broiler pan so surface of meat is 2 to 3 inches from heat. Broil for 5 to 6 minutes.
Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Turn and broil for 3 to 4 minutes.
Season with remaining salt.
Top each steak with an equal amount of reserved cheese mixture.
Broil for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
Garnish with parsley.

What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

I was just 18, and working part-time at a local gas station, a Merit gas, with the little fishbowl in the middle of the pumps. I was in nursing school, so worked a couple nights a week.

Now, let me preface this by saying I was not by any means raised to be shy and retiring. My dad was streetwise, and made sure we were too. I knew how to defend myself and was not worried about working nights.

One night about 2am this drunk comes in, puts two crumpled up ones in the drawer, and says “put 20 on pump 3”. I yelled that he had only given me $2 but he was too far gone. I made a note of the make and model of his car, and was going to call the police about him as he was absolutely sloshed.

He comes back to the drawer and says “It only took 2$. Gimme my change”.

I explained that I did not get 20 from him.

He went back to his car and came back with a tire iron, and started to try to smash the windows. I pushed the alarm, then left the booth with a chain wrench in my hand.

Very useful as a weapon if you know how to use it, and I did. At least, I figured I did.

I went to him as he smashed the windows, and yelled some obscenities…. he turned on me with the tire iron. Just as I caught his hand with the chain wrench, and pulled the tire iron out, 4 motorcycles pulled in.

They were fully patched 1%-ers, members of a well-known motorcycle club not known overall for their sense of patience with morons.

One of the guys walked up to the drunk and said “what’s your beef?” and the drunk said “she kept my change!” I said “He gave me $2, he thought it was 2 tens, it was 2 ones”. Just then the drunk grabbed his tire iron and swung at me, but was so drunk he hit MC-Man 1. MC-Man proceeded to punch the man even more senseless than he was.

While MC Man 2 peed in his car, MC Man 3 went into the guy’s wallet and took out his driver’s license.

Just then, Drunk man gets up, and tries to hit MC Man 1. Next I know, the drunk is naked and upside down in a trash bin; he was wearing only his shoes, which had their laces tied together. MC-Men are busting a seam laughing.

Just then the Police showed up, and seemed disappointed when I explained it was not the bikers who were the problem, but the upside down naked man who had attacked me, smashed the windows, etc. The MC Men helpfully gave their version of events, with four-part harmony focused on how they had been as abused and brutalised, being as defenseless as they were, as I was.

The Police dragged off upside down naked man, and MC Man 3 said “I found his wallet, this fell out” and handed the cop his driver’s license.

Just as he was being escorted to the cruiser, he spat on one of the bikes, and was accidentally tripped by the bike’s owner, and landed right on his face. He was filth-fouling his way all the way to the cruiser. The cop told the guy he would turn him over to the bikers if he didn’t shut the f_ up. That seemed to sink in, and he went calmly from there… until the cops said a tow truck was taking the car.

Upside down drunk yelled “You C—t” at me through the open cruiser window (there were bars) but as one of his teeth came flying out when he did, it was actually kind of funny.

After the cop left, I told the bikers they could fill up on me, whatever they needed, oil, gas, cigs, anything. MC Man 1 said “No, trust me, we can pay for our own stuff, and after all the fun you don’t owe us anything….” and they proceeded to use the guy’s own tire iron to smash the glass in his car.

It wound up in court, the guy was sent to jail for a year and ordered to pay for damages.

All 4 MC Men were called as witnesses. They showed up clean shaven, in nice suits, looking like they had walked out of a Wall Street firm, and spoke about how afraid they were of “that violent man”.

You could just see they enjoyed it.

He complained in court that someone kept breaking his car’s windscreen… the Judge actually said “you better think better who you pick fights with, but I suspect after you’ve paid your debt to society, you might find your windscreen lasts a bit longer. Right gentlemen?” The MC Men just laughed…

While standing in line at a grocery store, what was the most arrogant display you have ever seen?

I, like a few others, was patiently waiting in line on an early Friday nite in a little village on top of a mountain. The pompous guy behind me, dressed in the full attire as dictated by his religion, evidently thought that by hitting me in with his cart, I would be so indebted to him that I would give him my spot.

The first time he hit me, I turned around and asked him not to do that again. He waited a minute and then hit me again with his cart. When I confronted him again, he said “women in my religion know their place and it is behind all men”. I laughed and loudly said “and in my country, women know that they don’t have to stand behind any asshole”.

Needless to say, he hit me again. This time I said “ you’re right. You belong in front of me. Just back up your cart so I can back out my cart so you can get in frin of me”. So after he backed up his cart, I grabbed his cart and shoved it down an aisle….he had to chase after it and was pissed.

The other customers all laughed including an off duty cop. When the asshole threatened to hurt me, the off duty cop arrested him and escorted him out.

I understood that his religion required him to be home by sundown. Had he asked me nicely, I would have let him in front of me. But when my first contact with him is him deliberately hitting me, he can wait your turn. If observing the tenets of his religion was that important to him, he should have gone shopping earlier.

The assault charge was dropped and he was banned from the grocery store, which happened to be the only one in a 15 mile radius, off the mountaintop

If the US has such a bad healthcare system, why are 4 of the 5 best hospitals in the world located in the US?

I remember when I was a young man, still largely broke but I wanted to get into PCs because while I understood computers very well and had years of experience on them, it was experience on Commodores, Ataris, Apples, and even z80 based systems. But at that point, the writing was on the wall, and it was clear the IBM PC standard with DOS/Win was winning decisively and the PC XTs I had access to, couldn’t run…

So anyway, PCs were not cheap, so I went with building my own. When I was done with the initial build, it was, like our health care system, a frankenstein’s monster. It had a slowish motherboard 286–12mhz, the best sound card at the time(original soundblaster), and an 8bit VGA card which was very middle of the road at the time. It had a 40MB hard drive which was quite decent at the time. It was good enough that I could run Dos/Win, at least enough to gain familiarity with it and sell my knowledge to employers. Which was the point.

However, it was not a good system. It was nobody’s first, second, or third choice of system. but it had a couple of good parts. There was no better sound card at the time, the hard drive wasn’t the top drive available, but was considered among the better ones available.

It was, like our health care system, a collection of best I could do at the time compromises to achieve an objective, but unlike our healthcare system, it did achieve its objective. It enabled me to get into higher paying jobs(hell, that whole trajectory launched my pretty decent career), which I promptly used to upgrade the lesser parts to the point that it ended up a pretty damned good system.

A few world class hospitals in a nation of 360 million people does not make the system good, anymore than my good sound card and good hard drive made my computer system good. They were positives of it, to be sure, but it was not a very good system as a whole.

A system is a collection of parts that work together, by definition, and the quality of it is determined by the overall quality of all the parts and most importantly – How well they work together to achieve the objective of the overall system. Our health care system is not very good, overall, despite that it has some quality parts here and there.

They’re making him a HOOD LEGEND

After former US President Donald Trump turned himself in to Fulton County Jail in Georgia, the Trump Mugshot went viral on social media. But now it appears the Republican POTUS is actually gaining massive support in the most unexpected ways. Which could lead to an epic backfire for the Democrats and the liberal news media.

What is the rudest thing a guest has done in your house while paying you a visit? Are you still friends?

A dinner guest picked away at the back of one of my mahogany dining room chairs and lifted a piece of the scrollwork decorations carved in the back of the chair next to her that her husband was sitting in.

When she finally succeeded in picking it off, she placed it on the table and acted like she didn’t realize what she had done, and done deliberately. She started saying “oh they don’t make furniture like they used to”, she was so sorry, blah, blah. Yeah, right, my solid mahogany Pennsylvania House dining room set was cheaply made.

It killed me to say “oh that’s ok, I’ll take care of it” like a good hostess as I attempted to retrieve the piece she had gouged out so I could glue it back in later, but she kept flipping it around in her fingers like it was a toy. I finally told her to give me the piece of wood so I could use it to attempt a repair. She acted offended at my request and to my tone of voice.

Never invited her back, but she went to the same church I did. Her name was Sondra and she would get really agitated with anyone who pronounced her name as Sandra. So of course everytime I saw her from then on I called her Sandra instead of Sondra. Many, many times. Petty I know, but I didn’t care. Still don’t.

When did you find out your spouse loves you even more than you thought?

Mike taught me real selfless love time and time again.

When my parents learned about him they took my phone and almost all means of communication, treated me like garbage and threatened me with many things. They came to me and said “you’re an idiot if you think he’ll still be with you after things got serious. He was just toying with you”. I just had to rely on my faith in him. And one month later he was in Kuwait to see me and my family.
When I was hospitalized for my mental breakdown he called everyone in my family and constantly asked about me.
He paid thousands and thousands of dollars to come visit me every couple of months and for all the attorneys trying to bring us back together.
When we were looking up all sort of solutions to reunite. He seriously said “what if I bring you to NewYork then drive from Ontario to there everyday to spend the night with you?”. I was flabbergasted and told him “you would do that?”, he said “of course I would. That way I’ll get to see you everyday”. And I was astonished but told him I would hate that sort of situation.
When he said he’s looking for other jobs since I can’t seem to enter Canada. I know very well that he’s never had a job better than this, great pay, great people, great company and a nice environment. Yet he is willing to give it all up for me.
Every time I had an episode and started fighting violently over something very stupid, driving him up the wall, he stayed on the phone with me for hours until I calmed down and we reached a conclusion.
When my parents refused to meet him and travelled to Egypt on purpose to avoid him when he comes to Kuwait. But he booked another ticket to Egypt and said wherever they go I’ll meet them.
When he decided to start waking up at 5 a.m everyday and chat with me in the morning because that’s what works best with our time difference.
When he told me “you know Salma, other than my daughters I never called anyone but you “my sweetheart”. And he said “aside from being a father, nothing ever compares to being with you”.

I can only hope I give this man as much happiness and warmth as he gives me.

America’s NEW Tax Plan is Frightening

As General Patton said it, “We defeated the wrong enemy”.

Children who have had to clean out your parents’ house after they passed, did you find anything that completely changed how you viewed them?

I can’t say that what I found after my father’s death completely changed how I viewed him, but it did have a profound impact.

My father vehemently opposed my decision to transfer out of an engineering program and instead pursue writing as a career. For 25 years, until his death, he had nothing positive to say about it, despite my receiving grants, fellowships, and publishing books. His rejection of me as a writer took our relationship, which wasn’t warm before that, to absolute zero.

After he died, I found an old cassette tape recorder he had repaired. In it was a tape labeled “Al in a Pensive Mood.” He made the tape in 1978, shortly after he’d had heart surgery. In it, he reflected on many aspects of his life, but the part that most affected me was this: “I sort of miss the fact that David is in New York, but I hope that he will succeed, that he will become a famous writer, that his books will be accepted, because this is what David seems to want to do.”

He died in 1994. How different our relationship might have been if he’d shared those sentiments while he was still alive.

What is the story of your life from birth to now?

I was born in a family of drama queens and philandering womanizers. Everyone in my immediate and extended family divorced at least once. Everyone in my family is either upper class overeducated elitist hypocrites (on my father’s side) or greedy under-educated peasant opportunists (from my mother’s side). Everyone of them has a story to tell, everyone wanted something more out of their lives or nobody was happy. I mean,seriously, as a child, I don’t think I knew one single happy couple who actually loved each other or a happy person who was satisfied with their life.

My parents were absent ones who were too focused on their rather successful careers and their dramas. They divorced,then both remarried and both had affairs. My dad didn’t divorce because my stepmom pretended that nothing happened. My mom divorced two other times and finally settled down with some young movie director and that’s the last I heard of her back in early 2000s.

I grew up with my grandma, who had her own juicy skeletons (yes, plural) in the closet. She suffered from major depression, but she wasn’t diagnosed until much later. So there was me, isolated with my depressed grandma, watching the fabulous lives of my father and mother unfold each on their own and which I was never part of any of it. And like most absent and successful parents, they eased their guilt by giving me the best life money can buy.

As a child, I never felt the absence of anything. I had the best clothes, the best books and the best toys. I was the first in my class to own a pager, a Walkman, a PC, a cellphone or a car… I was signed up in all of the after school interests classes. I played two instruments poorly.

My family sure had high hopes for me. And I sure disappointed them in every possible way. My dad used to lament how I didn’t get my mother’s looks or his brain. All I got was stubbornness, which wasn’t a good character trait for a girl.

The irony was, being part of such a chaotic and passionate family of love and hate,romance and sex, I ended up being an introverted asexual person who wasn’t really interested in relationships or sex.

Like all good daytime TV, my family lost much of its financial means. We weren’t poor. But we were no longer filthy rich. My parents actually had to budget and buy stuff when there was a sale! Oh,the horror!

We moved to the US in 2000. I went to college and against my father’s wishes, decided to study art. I’ll have to give it to my dad, being an Asian father, he wasn’t happy that I studied such a useless subject, but he was supportive (as in he didn’t cut me off). He told everyone I studied graphic design, as if that somehow made it better than “art”.

I was never a good student to begin with. I didn’t go to the Ivy Leagues. My art degree didn’t get me anywhere, neither did art history, theater or 3D animation. I was often the best in my class, but best in a regional university is mediocre when put on a global scale. Despite being a mediocre student, I did enjoy learning new things. I still do. Learning about random things I didn’t know before often brings me great joy.

Learning things and creating things are my greatest joys in life. All that art school didn’t really make me a competitive artist. I was, as I said, mediocre at best. As an artist I was (and still am) willful, which is a bad characteristic for the commercial artists… disastrous for mediocre commercial artists. I only draw portraits. I only draw stuff I like. I do poorly with commissions. I can’t keep simple commitments.

Suffice to say, I was doomed to make a living with art. But that wasn’t my only worry at the time.

As you can imagine, growing up in such a dysfunctional family I had a lot of baggage. I went into counseling for a period of time during graduation school, that really helped me a lot. I started to grow (a bit late, I know) into my own self instead of trying (and failing) to be the person my father wanted me to be, or, more precisely, who I thought my father wanted me to be. In reality, I don’t think my dad had any expectations from me since high school.

Out of some weird turn of events, I was involved in the BDSM community for a few years. Had my one and only “serious” relationship and decided it just wasn’t worth my time.

By 2008, I was a mess. I was well into my late 20s. Other people my age would get married, have children and steady jobs and probably already bought their first house… while I was ridiculously overeducated and absurdly unemployable. I lived with my parents, I was laid off from my previous dead end job, I had one failed, completely dysfunctional relationship which I pretended that never happened, I sent out 20 email job applications every day and I didn’t know what to do with my life.

In early 2010, I finally landed my first gaming industry job. Of all the degrees and skills I earned in my nearly 10 years of college education, I landed this job because I was bilingual.

It turned out I was actually a pretty good project manager. My stepmom didn’t believe it. She had always seen me as this messy absent-minded loser who couldn’t organize anything. But I was good at organizing things, budgets and schedules. I never learned project management, but somehow it all came naturally to me. It just made sense. I mean, after all, project management really is just common sense. So… out of all of the exciting things you can do in video game industry, I ended up doing the most boring thing, basically middle management nobody likes and who doesn’t really contribute anything solid to the development.

Still, I love my job. I love what I do.

I’ve worked for big publishers,start-ups,on console titles and PC titles,web games and Facebook games (yes,I did).

Somewhere along the way, I published a book about Renaissance Italy, which… rated poorly on Douban because I pissed off a lot of people with my “white-lefty” sentiments. I’m not saying my book is any good. But judging from the comments left on my book page, obviously most of them never read it. They just came to give my book a 1 star (out of 5) because they don’t like how I talked about feminism…. and give out spoilers about Murder on the Orient Express.

Now I live in San Diego with my cat Jonesy.

I’m translating a book (which I should be working on right now instead of procrastinating on Quora). I continue to write my renaissance story (I don’t think my publisher would publish any more of that story, but I must finish it). I’m planning another story (in English).

My life so far has been pretty uneventful, especially compared to my parents and all my relatives. But perhaps I could write interesting and exciting stories, even if I myself would most likely live out my life in peace and solitude.

A book, my cat and San Diego city lights. This is my life now.

Do you feel depressed? | The sopranos – edit

As a teacher, what is the most shocking thing you’ve heard a student say?

Back in the 80’s in my hometown, if a teenage girl got pregnant in our high school, she was immediately pulled out of school and they provided her with a home tutor. My mom was one of the tutors.

Mostly it was pretty basic, my mom would ignore the girl’s “condition” and the girls did their work. I should add that our town was insanely small, so my mom had known most of these kids since they were in preschool, so I imagine that it was super awkward.

During one of these tutoring sessions, one particular girl was prattling on about how she and the baby’s father were going to get married, he’s going to be a doctor, and they’ll be rich in no time. My mom is not one for flights of fancy, she is a firm believer in cold, hard reality, so she couldn’t keep quiet.

She very calmly explained how much money a baby can cost, then added in the prices of rent, utilities, food, a car & insurance, daycare, college tuition, and books. This girl did not believe her at all. My mom also let her know the failure rate of a teen marriage, as well as the adult rate. This girl obviously had never learned basic household management because she didn’t even know how to turn on the stove.

My mom never pushed the subject again, and the girl continued her lessons, until she delivered the baby. My mom never followed up with the girls, unless the school needed her to. Shortly after that, we moved to a different part of the state and mom took a job with a bank.

About 10 years ago, we were at a mall when this woman came over to my mom to say hello. My mom was confused and asked the woman who she was. It was the girl! She wanted to thank my mom for being honest with her about the harsh realities of life and had taken what she said to heart. The girl broke up with the boyfriend who got her pregnant, gave the baby up for adoption, finished high school, went to college, the medical school and now she’s an OB/GYN. She told my mom that no one had ever told her how the world works and how you have to pay for everything; she was kind of embarrassed when she said that she just always assumed that there would be food in the fridge because it had never been empty.

Now she was close to 40 and she had gotten married, was pregnant and was finally going to able to give her child the life that she couldn’t for her first (she did receive photos of the baby that she placed). My mom just looked baffled because she insisted that she hadn’t done anything special.

Walking through Cities of Europe in 700 AD: What would you have seen?

This is really interesting.

What did the job interviewer say that made you NOT accept the job offer?

A recruiter got in touch with me through Linkedin regarding an opportunity to work for a luxury car brand. I gave her my number and asked her to call after 4 pm because I didn’t want to take the call at work.

She rang that evening, we went through my work history and I emailed her my CV. In the morning she rang back to say that the hiring manager liked my cv and wanted to schedule a phone interview.

The following day, I received a call from a gentleman who introduced himself as my interviewer. I went through my work history once again.

I answered his questions, gave examples to support my answers and explained the gap in my CV. I also asked questions about the role and the company.

“You have the skills and experience required, I like your attitude, you are very straightforward and assertive but I’m hesitant. If we hire you, once you get bored of the job you’ll probably leave just like you are doing with your current employer.”

It rubbed the wrong way and I thought it was very presumptuous of him to assume that I was leaving because I was bored. I was looking for new opportunities because I wanted to get out of a toxic workplace, I agreed to interview for the position because I already worked in the field. I had the skills and experience, they were also offering better pay and benefits.

He spoke to me for a few minutes and assumed to know the reasons I was leaving my then current employer, I guess in his entire career he never left a job for better opportunities.

“Thank you for considering me for the role but I’m no longer interested,” I said to him and ended the call.

Hiring managers are so full themselves they don’t even realise that sometimes people just leave bad bosses and toxic work environments. I can’t see myself working for someone who is so quick to jump to conclusions.

Breaded Steak Cutlets

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds round steak
Salt
Pepper
Eggs
Water
Cracker crumbs
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

Instructions

Cut 1 1/2 pounds round steak into serving pieces, removing all fat. Cube with a tenderizing hammer and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dip each piece into 1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water. Dip into cracker crumbs and coat well. Fry in hot grease until brown on both sides. Drain.
Pour off grease and add 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce to pan and de-glaze pan.
Serve tomato sauce with cutlets.

Fed Predicts: Americans Will Run Out of Money By October 2023

https://youtu.be/MQSgLJfsepA

Confession of the Day

I have been married for 15 years. I have known my wife since I was 8. We have 3 daughters together. 17, 14, and 11.

I’m tired of feeling like I’m an outsider in my relationships with all of them. I’m just an ATM and taxi service to my kids. My wife hasn’t kissed me in 6 months. She has not said that she loves me in 1.5 years. No matter how much I communicate, try to plan anything or do anything it is always shot down, forgotten, or dismissed. I don’t get angry in don’t yell. I don’t get physical.

I like to splurge during birthdays and mothers Day. I throw parties and give gifts and try to show how much I love them. I get a lukewarm, thanks, and if I’m lucky, a side hug that lasts .0001 seconds.

This week was the breaking point. Father’s Day. I wake up to an empty house. Odd. No note, nothing was written on the calendar, and nothing said beforehand. I send a text, and I get back. “I took the girls out for a spa day, don’t wait up.” Then nothing, literally nothing. Dinner time comes around, and they get home. How their say was (it was fine). I ask what they would like for dinner. “Nothing we already ate at [one of my favorite restaurants].” Cool, whatever. There is no mention of it being fathers Day. No, I love you, how are you. Nothing.

Fast forward to Wednesday. Which was my birthday. Nothing. Literally again, nothing. I suggested plans. They get shot down. I suggested food. Nope, shot down. Ask about watching a movie they are all too busy (they just sat on their phones doing nothing).

Now to Thursday night. I’m in bed. My wife is next to me. She rolls over and says in a crappy tone. “Oh, your birthday was the other day. I guess you expect to have sex.” That broke something in me(best of my memory of how it went down)

I said “no I don’t expect sex. At this point, I don’t expect anything anymore.”

Her “what is that supposed to mean?”

So I started asking her questions

When was the last time we shared a kiss? (Like a week? Nope, it was in December, and it was during her parents’ holiday party)

When was the last time we had sex? (The beginning of the year? Nope, wrong it has been over a year. She was adamant that we did it in February. I was dealing with my moms health and her passing. So I said something like, “You may have had sex but it wasn’t with me.”)

When was the last time you said you love me? (“I say it all the time.” Not to me, check your messages/you don’t say it to me face to face. “Well, you should just know I do.”)

When was the last time we went on a date? (LONG pause)

Her: You’re being unfair.

Emotions turned on fully. I was crying and raising my voice at this point.

It asks her how? She can’t answer. I asked her how wanting any sign of love from anyone in the house is unfair. If expecting anything for my birthday or Father’s Day was unfair. (She got an oh shit look) Yeah, you forgot that as well. I’m not an ATM, I’m not a taxi service, I’m not a punching bag.

She asked why this was coming up “out of the blue.” It didn’t. I have tried to talk to my family and again get dismissed or ignored. I brought up examples. I got an “I didn’t know you were serious.” “I didn’t know it was such a big deal.”

I left saying something to the point of “If you want to pretend that I’m invisible and don’t exist fine, you don’t have to pretend anymore.”

I left the house at almost midnight. On Thursday/ Friday morning. Haven’t been home since. I’m not sure what to do now. I’m finally sober enough to think, but I don’t know what to do(first time drinking in over 15 years BTW, and i’m not going to drink anymore)

I love my family. But I can’t keep this up. I don’t know what more I can do. I think they would be happier without me. They already act like I don’t exist. I can’t be the one who is blamed for everything. If I truly am the problem then me not being there should fix it. I can’t do it anymore.

I have tried to be a good provider, a good partner, and a good dad. Never missed an event of our kids. Never prioritize work. I kept good hours so I could see them more. Took on more responsibility to better our life and future. But, it is never appreciated. It is never enough. I am never enough.

I only have one message from my wife “I’m sorry for making you feel that way. We all love you, and we are here for you when you want to come home and talk.” That is it. No other messages. No calls. Nothing from the kids. I feel like if they really wanted me there, they would try reaching out more. All of the kids have their own phone. I don’t know what she told them. I’m sure they heard me raise my voice. Me raising my voice would have definitely got their attention since i never do. I’m sure they heard me leave. I just don’t know.

Twin Peaks Deserves the Hype

The case of the light-fingered PC thief

As my life crumbled apart, back in 2005-6, I tried all sorts of measures to stop my “retirement” from MAJ.

But, at that time, I didn’t know the entire picture. I didn’t know what was going on. I thought that I was just “having some problems”.

Nope my entire life was crumbling away before my eyes.

Still I tried to do something about it.

I made arrangements in China, and tried to make various arrangements in the Philippines as well. I was tricked, abused, and basically thwarted at every turn. So many swindles. So many scams. So many selfish pricks. So many liars, tricksters, and generally selfish narcissists.

In hindsight, my Fate Forecasting was Black-on-Black, overlaid with black. It was triple negatives; or to use the parlance of Fate Forecasting and Bazi, it was very inauspicious, on top of very inauspicious.

It was one bad thing after the other, and my life fell apart in complete stages of collapse.

(Which, by the way, you are now starting to watch the entire United States government go through.)

Anyways, I was stuck in the Hong Kong airport,and spent about ten days there after being swindled in a number of places… by numerous people… and left alone to ROT.

While I was waiting there, my resources started to dry up and I was living off airport coffee, and hope. I slept on the hard metal chairs. Used the bathroom, and took sponge baths in the sinks.

And sure as shit, I eventually had to go to the bathroom and pee up a storm, so I put my backpack (with my laptop computer) in it, on my back and stood at a urinal peeing away…

…and some jackass gets really close behind me, but I must have been pissing three liters out, …

…he stood there right behind me, so close. Sheech.

Anyways, soon he left. I still kept a peeing.

I’m not kidding. I must have needed to pee out three liters. It just kept draining.

…

Then I exited the bathroom, and settled down, and low and behold, my laptop was stolen!

That asshole plucked it skillfully and silently from my backpack while I peed. Sheech!

Yeah. It really sucked, and I was flabbergasted. Shocked, and upset. I didn’t know if I were to laugh or cry.

It was profoundly a disaster, on top of a fiasco, surrounded by trouble at every turn.

…

I relate this little story to make a few points of interest.

When things are going to shit; they will go to shit no matter what you do.
The only thing that you can do is to reduce the damage, hedge against it, and be extra cautious.
It was a new computer, but has all my passwords, codes and critical communication methodology. I placed way too much on electronic means of record keeping, and communication.
After this event, I made it back home, computer-less, of course, and then was seized and set into the “system” to endure my “retirement”.

So to keep things simple.

Let’s distill the lessons here.

Friends are valuable. Never dare try to do things alone; and on your own. Work as part of a team with your most trusted friends.
Fates must be endured. These are gravitational / planetary alignments that you cannot modify. The only thing you can do is “nothing” on very inauspicious times.
Hope is critical. No matter how bad and hopeless things are, it is always temporary. Eventually it WILL change. Just hang on.
It will end. Sure it will, and an equal period of greatness will occur. You simply must endure the bad first. Consider the “bad events” to be your entry ticket to the life you desire.

Todays…

Nice Picture

Do you think Huawei can produce smartphones with advanced chips in large volume despite the US claims that Huawei may violate trade restrictions?

LOL, this is China.

If they know how to do something, they automatically know how to do it at scale.

If they know how to make one Huawei Mate 60, they already know how to make 100 million Huawei Mate 60s.

Barbecued London Broil

Ingredients

1 (1 1/2 or 2 pound) flank steak
1 tablespoon sherry or any dry red wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

Score meat on all sides.
Mix together remaining ingredients. Put on meat and let stand 1 1/2 to 2 hours, then place meat in broiler pan about 4 inches from heat. Broil for about 10 minutes or a little longer on each side. Ten minutes is for medium rare.
To serve, cut diagonally across the grain into very thin slices.

What were the worst two minutes of your life?

Watching my wife die.

My wife’s had cancer for the last seven years. It was well-controlled. She was on maintenance chemo to prevent it from coming back.

All was going fine—she always felt sick a few days after chemo—but she was generally doing well. She had good quality of life and wasn’t really limited in any way except she had doctor’s appointments and scans nearly every week.

After a routine PET scan… Well, to make a long story short, they found cancer in her brain. It wasn’t “brain cancer”, it was the same cancer (inflammatory breast cancer) that had made its way to her brain. It was already fairly extensive by the time they found it, but they were confident they could take care of the lesions through radiation.

The day after her penultimate treatment, she complained that it hurt to breathe. I took her to the hospital and after giving her some pain meds, they admitted her. She was still having pain breathing, so the doctor thought they’d give her something to help her sleep so she could get some rest. And maybe in the meantime, they could figure out why she was experiencing painful breathing; it hurt to breath in and out.

While they were checking her out to prep her for some sleep, she flatlined. About a dozen people sprang into action. Some were specialists, some were support, but all were fighting to bring her back. I stood in the corner out of the way watching in horror as the hoard of medical professionals tried to bring my wife back.

About a million thoughts flooded my mind. Was I really watching my wife die? Was she really gone for good? I just hoped they could get her back.

The doctor pulled me out into the hallway. She asked what I wanted them to do.

I said, “I’m not a doctor, but I want you to do whatever’s reasonable!” She said okay, and they tried shocking her back. Every time, they got no pulse in response. They tried at least three or four times when it was clear she was gone. I gave the signal they could stop.

That was two weeks ago. I’m still trying to process it. It wasn’t like she was on a slow or steep decline. Everything pointed to her recovering.

But she’s gone. My kids are doing a good job helping keep my spirits up, but they’re devastated too. They’re all adults now, but they very nearly worshipped her, as did I.

Girls Standing In The Middle of Tokyo to Sell Themselves.. Japan Has A Serious Developing Problem.

Thank you for posting this. Japan is a complex society, with many ancient traditions, some of which are clashing with modernity even today after 150 years of intense exposure to (and copying of) the West. As with many things, prostitution there has uniquely Japanese characteristics and doesn’t necessarily involve physical intimacy, though such certainly exists. Anyway, these sad stories of girls from the countryside being exploited in the big city are all too common not just in Asia but in the West as well.

https://youtu.be/yo3IUSfTiMY

Our 18-year-old daughter enlisted in the Marines without discussing with me or my husband. What should we do now?

Every few weeks, bake 100 chocolate chip cookies, wrap them in wax paper, put them in a large Tupperware container, and mail them to her in Boot Camp.

Whatever you do, NEVER send packaged cookies from the supermarket! If you do this, her Drill Sergeants will hold them up for everyone to see at Mail Call and mock her mercilessly, saying, “This means yer parents do not love you!” Seen that happen in Army Basic Training a few times.

Homemade cookies the sergeants hand out to everyone and she will be the most popular and well liked Boot for the next half hour.

Why were the Japanese so merciless to Chinese people during World War II?

It happened, but not only to China.

Japan has historically been a very xenophobic and racist culture. Once you’ve convinced yourself your enemy are subhumans not even worthy to live, and you’re a dick, you go nuts.

The interesting contrast between the German and Japanese atrocities is that the German stuff was much more hidden. People have the impression that the holocaust was openly known to everyone, but the Germans took great pains to tell the population that they were shipping undesirables off to newly conquered territory to the east, to live seperately from Germans.

Whereas the the Japanese, their atrocities were rarely hidden. Entire military units would make a contest out of beheading prisoners. They’d round up women and children into a tall building and set it on fire and watch them jump from the roof in desperation. Their newspapers would cover these incidents and it would be celebrated back home.

Not to downplay the evil of the Germans at all, but the Japanese never get their due – I consider them to be as evil or more than the Germans, but you almost never hear about it, whereas you’ve heard about the holocaust at least 100,000 times in your life.

In addition to that, the official policy in Japan is dangerously close to the equivelant of holocaust denialism, whereas at least the Germans are thoroughly ashamed and sorry for what they did.

The American Dream is a Scam

Long comment. -MM

I think this subject matter is 100% correct and I agree with you on it and I also think that its a major part of the reason why America steadily has been becoming more toxic of a place over time.

I think its the perfect storm of capitalisms worst traits being compiled on and exacerbated by the people that are winning at capitalism.

What I’m saying is, in the course of the last 80 years at least our capitalist society has become more and more structurally corrupt.

Because the only people with any real power over how these systems are built and the people that they screw over vise versa, the people that it benefits.

Are the people who have the power and the success to influence it.

This is done with lobbying and both political parties USE lobbyists to this day which is essentially legal corruption for the political system to thrive on.

How it works is this, If im the owner of Apple or something like that and I value things like gun control or mandator vaccines and a community based culture , Im gonna give the politician that most closely values what I value and ima give him multi millions of dollars to run his campaign for election.

THEN I ask this person for political favors and to represent ME a little more than anyone else BECAUSE im handing them a multi million dollar check to run for whatever.

America has done this for a very long time and its one of the reasons way our election cycles are meaningless.

The elite class literally have more valuable voters than you do lol. Its NOT an even playing field. I think red or blue doesnt matter because the problem is both parites are dog shit.

Both parties got some good they wanna do and the bad shit they do is there too.

With republicans its the positive of them understanding personal freedom and things like guns remaining protected rights. but negatively speaking the republican party Is just as tone deaf and stupid about stuff like corporate greed and how bad that is, as the democrats are tone deaf to the importance of gun rights and being able to have the scary shit they wanna be able to dictate HOWEVER democrats do understand corporate greed and greedy elite cocksuckers who are siphoning the people of this country of their time and labor value. It sickens me that republicans will support selfish people like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk who are prime examples of people who do ALL THE SHIT that’s killing society over time.

This idea that they “earned” this when the money the get is being farmed off the backs of 20k employees.

We live in a country where we got the worlds largest GDP and the most ready to fight population of people ready to defend our country if someone wants to try us. and we got people like Jeff Bezos living in massive excessiveness while FAMILIES of people cant afford insulin or food or housing without government assistance programs and hand outs.

I mean its really no wonder why drugs are such an issue in the modern world, and people are doing shit all the time like walking into a place and killing your fucking children because theyre fucking sick.

This country BREEDS sickness. The hormone changing foods we eat. The garbage media we consume way to much of.

The sheltered life we have in dependency to the system being the norm and self sufficiency being a less sought after thing. People need to understand what freedom is. Sometimes it sucks.

But its way more liberating than this shallow illusionary world we created for ourselves. It dont even make sense to go out here and farm money like we do with our jobs, killing our bodies and our backs to MAINTAIN a life style when that money your working for is being PRINTED off a press by the trillions in our government. Its MAKE BELIEVE.

There is no backing to the value of our currency other than what we say its worth. Its just a catalyst to make way for modern slavery.

The type of slavery where the average slave doesn’t even see the shackles attached to them or they see it as a necessary inconvenience rather than what it is. Its a scam. Its a rigged game built to siphon the actual value of your life way from you. Money is nothing.

The value comes from skill and time.

The reason they created curency like money is because with this extra step in between, you can figure out ways to siphon it down without people knowing. I These companies use every dirty trick in the book to maximize profits.

Oh our employees want better pay, well just make everything we sell twice as expensive as to not take any cut to our current lifestyle.

This is why I was pushing back against minimum wage being increased to 15 an hour. Because this DOES NOTHING. People could do more with their money back when they made 1.35 an hour at minimum wage. The wage isn’t the problem its the scope of how much these companies WANT out of what they put in to a product or service. Its the fact that per hour of your time, you make less than half of what the same money could afford back when the world had a better capitalist balance going on before every motherfucker was exploiting every facet of every thing for maximum profits.

The average American doesn’t understand this concept of how they are stealing from you, while making it look like their giving you more when they aren’t.

The ONLY way to fix the issues is if these rich greedy cocksuckers decide one day that they are tired of being super duper rich and excessive, which has no chance of happening.

The people who hold the heys to the cookie jar are gonna dip into the most for themselves when nobody is looking.

That’s just human nature.

I do think that if people don’t mentally evolve enough to realize this entire system wand cultre we have is bogus and we dont need it at all to have everything we got, and keep working just like we have.

The only difference is, instead of working for selfish reason and necessity, people would work for others and out of wanting to serve the human race. Like if EVERYTHING was free..

I think people would still work. The only difference would be people wouldn’t settle for a job because they NEED money to eat, they’ll do shit they find more meaningful to them to do. It would actually probably IMPROVE the quality of work being done IF we just made it to where we operated as a community.

You like building houses ok, go build some hosues for people.

You know tech?

Okay go build tech or set it up for people. You know farming and food? Okay teach people how to be self sufficient and help them get set up. Society CAN function perfectly WITHOUT this idea of being in competition with each other and having more than the next guy.

That’s all that capitalism really is, its the idea of fuck the community I live in so I can get ahead of all of them and earn my status in society. And I don’t think capitalism is even the problem.

I think its just people. People are the ones who infest something and start corrupting it to be beneficial to themselves.

It doesn’t matter what system we call ourselves because people will always find a way to reach the top rungs of society in any society and they will begin to manipulate how society is from then on built, and they will most likely create it in a way where its unfairly exploiting one class of people sop another class can have more than they honestly need or deserve.

Communism wouldn’t fix it because that system is just as exploitable and manipulatable as capitalism and any other system controlled by human beings. I hope this all makes some sort of sense. people really need to fully wake up and we do need to throw this system overboard as a whole and we need to start restructuring society in a way where its beneficial to the human race equally.

Nice Picture

What is a true personal story that people have a hard time believing?

I was representing the USA in an international table tennis (ping pong) tournament in Osaka, Japan. The night before, I wandered over to the tournament site to check it out. When there, I noticed a guy wearing a Chinese team jacket. They were and still are the best in the world. Being somewhat cocky, I went over and asked him if he would like to hit some. He did and we eventually played a best-of-three match. I was playing well and managed to eke out a win.

Back with my teammates I modestly mentioned that I had beaten a Chinese player. To my astonishment some skepticism was expressed. Being fed up, the next day I suggested to the most skeptical teammate that we stroll over to where the Chinese team was camped out. I didn’t see the player from last night, so I started talking to one of the other Chinese players. Finally I casually mentioned that I had won a match with one of his teammates. “Which one?” he asked.

“Well I… Oh there he is, walking over now.”

“Ah yes”, he said, “That’s Mr. Chen. He’s our cook.”

Have you ever lost any respect for someone instantly?

I had worked at the car dealership for a year when they decided to shift me from sales to service. It wasn’t what I wanted, but at least I still had a job.

The Saturday before my job changed, the service manager grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into his office. He then filled me in on his philosophy…

“I can’t stand having women working for me”, he said. “They have menstrual periods. They’re nothing but bitches for 3 weeks out of the month. They can’t make rational decisions. You can’t trust them.”

I just sat there, silently. He’d apparently decided that I would be replacing a woman who I had great respect for. She’d helped dozens of my customers, and they loved her. Nobody ever had a bad word to say about her.

I was floored at his attitude. He could think what he wanted, but by opening his mouth, he became a liability to the company. I have no idea why he felt the need to ”share” that with me.

Months later, I had to testify against him in an unlawful termination lawsuit brought about by that female employee. I don’t know what it cost the company, but I hope it was worth it to them.

My mother raised me by herself until I was about 5 years old, and I have nothing but respect for hard working women in the workplace.

With his unsolicited diatribe against women, he instantly lost my respect.

How to Leave the USA in Five Steps

I think this guy is a puke. However, his information is pretty good. Hold your nose and watch. -MM

Why does the West feel so intimidated by Russia when Russia has shown by its poor performance on the battlefield and its looking for outside help that it is not a proper threat?

Poor Performance?

Aw give it up for heavens sake

The Western MSM have been forced to acknowledge that Russia has had a massive win against Ukraine and NATO by ensuring the 115 day long counter offensive with :-

14 Fresh Brigades – 56,000 NATO Trained troops
4 Fresh Divisions – 120,000 Ukrainian Reservists trained over 6 months in Ukraine from June to December 2022
116 NATO Tanks
440 Armored Vehicles
540 Soviet Era Tanks (T 62, T 72)
1.7 Million Artillery Shells 155 mm

Has been ground to dust

Literally

Only ONE BRIGADE the 71 UK Yeger is still left untouched

The Ukrainians have 258 out of 656 Tanks left

They have 190 out of 440 Armored Vehicles left

They have barely 200,000 Artillery shells left

They have lost in the last 115 days, around 44000 Men and another 27000 men have been seriously wounded and disabled for minimum one year from fighting

And what have they gained?

Exactly 152 Square Kilometers that too, territory still under Russian Offensive

That’s why the West are worried

That Russia of their imagination is a different Russia from this Vigorous fighting force

Apple Reacts to Huawei Challenge in China

Unconfirmed reports that Apple is reacting by:

Apple corporate has decided that the newest Apple products would be supplied to China before the US market;
Price war to keep China users from switching (back) to Huawei mobile phones.

Obviously Apple sees a major Huawei challenge with the Mate 60 Pro and upcoming products, and sees that this market is key to Apple’s future, even if it has to sacrifice profits.

What is something Westerners don’t know about Africans?

In many African countries, money changers effortlessly swap bundles of cash by the roadside, operating under the implicit but rock-solid assumption that they won’t be robbed. And we walk out of banks with wads of cash, sometimes on a tiny nylon or envelope. Such security measures are largely unnecessary.

Lawyers and signed agreements may be the norm elsewhere, but in many parts of Africa, your word is more valuable than gold. Break it, and you’ve essentially declared social bankruptcy. A broken promise doesn’t just tarnish your immediate reputation; it haunts you for life, impacting your relationships and prospects. I, for one, have family members I wouldn’t lend a penny to, much less enter a business deal with. All because they failed to uphold their word when it mattered.

In most Western cities, shoplifting is a perennial problem, and law enforcement often turns a blind eye. Not here. Young people aren’t emboldened by societal indifference. On the contrary, the idea of swiping even a candy bar sends shivers down their spines. In our world, retribution is swift and comes from the community itself. Misbehavior is universally scorned.

Kids don’t engage in senseless acts like random street attacks, burning of shops, or joyriding in someone else’s car. It’s not just the fear of punishment that deters them. Rather, it’s a collective societal understanding that these actions are fundamentally wrong. Our young people may admire your shiny sports car, but they’d rather beg you for money than dream of damaging or stealing it.

Respect is in our DNA. Children back-talking their parents happens rarely and is frowned upon. We quickly give up our seats to older people and pregnant women without being asked. Titles like Sir, Ma’am, Daddy, and Aunty aren’t just terms of address; they’re badges of honor for the wisdom that comes with age. We greet older people by bowing or semi-kneeling. Communities act as a self-regulating mechanism, making certain transgressions practically unthinkable.

Violent acts like public shootings of innocent people remain alien to us, not because we’re oblivious to the global mental health crisis, but because the fabric of our communities simply doesn’t allow such chaos to unfold.

While discussions around the treatment of women in Africa often lean toward the negative, there’s another side to the coin. Any man who dared to raise a hand against a woman in the presence of people would swiftly face communal justice even before the police arrived. Spectators don’t stand back to dial emergency numbers, we make the fight ours.

The Magic isn’t necessarily in governmental laws or policing. It’s in the unwritten code of conduct, the communal upbringing that checks our moral compasses and teaches us to respect one another.

U.S Hold Top Secret Talks With China in Malta! U.S Beg China

September 22, 2023

American plans are turning to shit, quickly. Actions must be taken. Can China bend a little to help out the Biden Administration?

“It would be wonderful should the United States regain some measure of sanity again! Then we in the rest of the world may be able to breathe again without the thought of forever war and death intruding in our dreams only to become nightmares.”

What is the most eerie declassified CIA document you have seen or heard about?

A US Marine group had killed Sixty Afghans

So a group of angry Afghans pretended to be PRO US and requested a few marines to help them and abducted them

They proceeded to skin the marines alive literally and chop them into pieces and cook them

They then wanted to feed this to the other marines

However there was a road block and the truck was abandoned and the men saw the huge container that was full of some flesh

They soon DNA tested and found it was human remains , cooked meat of their comrades

The remaining Marines were so frightened that they were relieved immediately to stateside and took treatment for mental shock

This was related to a Congressional Committee in the late Obama era when the issue was declassified to justify keeping Guantanamo

The Taliban and the Islamic fundamentalists are the only mortals who can defeat the USA and bring them to their knees

Russia has missiles, China has missiles

No use

The Fundamentalists have a nice 14 year old boy who befriends a majors son, becomes a close friend and them calmly plunges a dagger into the kids heart and smiles as he waits for deliverance

Invincible!!

Sad but true

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED to the USA! (REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK)

“I’m an American ex-pat who has been living overseas for 35 years. I try to fly to the States at least every other year (with the exception of the Corona-lockdown years), and I always get the reverse culture shock. I think what shocks me most is the huge increase in homelessness and drug addiction, as well as the political polarization. Back in the 80s, you could discuss politics with others, even if you didn’t agree, and in the end you stayed friends.”

22 things. Yuppur.

What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

When I was about fourteen years old I was walking home, at about 8 PM, through a local park in The Bronx when three boys from the gang that came from an adjacent neighborhood appeared. It was about dusk. I knew I was in trouble. As things were getting tense for me, Ronnie appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Ronnie and I attended the same public school from grades K to 6. In 2nd grade the teacher had me sit next to Ronnie. The seats were arranged in three rows of two. Each pair were adjacent. Ronnie was a slow learner. I taught him to read that year. We became friends…only in that class as we didn’t live “near” each other and didn’t have much in common. In those days, near was within 2 city blocks. For seventh grade I was sent to another school and I hadn’t seen Ronnie for two years.

Ronnie was short but he had bulked up a bit and had taken up boxing. I had lost track of him. As he stood next to me facing the three boys, it became clear as what was going to happen as Ronnie took a step closer to the other boys and slightly in front of me. They all took a step back. And then walked away.

Ronnie and I said the mandatory “Good to see yous”, walked a couple of hundred feet together and said. “see ya.”*

*A couple of years later I heard that Ronnie had become a Golden Gloves boxer and had done OK.

Bacon-Wrapped Filet Steaks
Topped with Roasted Garlic Butter

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

12 large garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
Kosher salt
3 1/2 teaspoons chopped chives
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
4 (6 to 7 ounce) filet steaks, about 1 inch thick
4 very thin slices of lean bacon
6 inch wooden skewers or toothpicks, soaked in water for 10 minutes and patted dry

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place peeled garlic and olive oil in 1-cup, ovenproof ramekin, soufflé dish or custard cup. Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and place in oven. Roast on center rack until garlic is golden and very tender and soft when pierced with knife, about 30 minutes (start checking cloves after 20 minutes and then every 5 minutes until done).
With slotted spoon, remove garlic from bowl and reserve oil. Place garlic, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the reserved oil, butter and 1/8 teaspoon salt in food processor or blender and process, pulsing machine on and off for 30 seconds or less until garlic is coarsely chopped and blended with butter and oil. Transfer garlic butter to small bowl and stir in 2 teaspoons of the chives. (Garlic butter can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature 30 minutes before ready to use.)
When ready to cook steaks, oil a grill rack and prepare grill.
In small bowl, stir together 1 teaspoon kosher salt, coarsely ground black pepper and thyme. Rub both sides of each filet with some of this seasoning. Then wrap each steak around its sides with 1 slice of bacon. Skewer bacon in place with wooden skewer or with 2 to 3 wooden picks.
Grill steaks until lightly charred on the outside and until bacon is cooked, about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare.
When done, remove steaks from fire and place on warm serving plate. Remove toothpicks.
Top each steak with 1 generous pat of roasted garlic butter and sprinkle with some of remaining chives. Butter will start to melt and season the steaks.
Serve immediately.

The United States is fucked

Ant farm prison planet

Back in the 1960’s, oh about 1966 or so, we used to read comic books. All of us kids did that. We would read Archie comix, and Richie Rich comix, and war comixs. SO many different kinds of comic books.

And at the back of these comix were advertisements that catered to us young kids. Boys and girls.

6a012875a9fd84970c0154348093f0970c 600wi

One of the advertisements was an “ant farm”. This consisted of two plates of clear plastic with sand between, and a ant colony trapped in the middle. You could go and watch the ants create their little rooms and passages in this tiny little world that they were trapped in.

Now, my friend “Dino” who lived across the street from me got one of those toys. And sure as shit, he would allow the farm to grow big, with all sorts of rooms, and what not.

And when the little tiny ant kingdom seemed to be well and functioning, he would pick it up and shake it vigorously. Thus destroying all the work those poor little ants put into it.

And they would start from scratch all over again.

Ugh!

We as boys, thought it was fun to do, and then we would lay the plastic ant farm on the table and then go outside to play and adventure throughout the day. Totally forgetting about what we had done to those ants.

…

I wonder…

If our “prison planet” existence is something like this. Where some other beings torture us, as a kind of intergalactic pastime. That they enjoy periodically. Then move on-wards to better experiences.

…

Sigh.

Today…

Have you ever caught your neighbor snooping around your property? If so, what did you do?

I sure did. I bought a house when I had gone thru a divorce in a nice neighborhood with a lot of retired people. Retired people are the best, free security system ever. One man would see me working in the yard and would always come help me. He might bring a tool to make the job easier or just help with heavy work. He asked me what all I was trying to get done in the yard, so I told him a list of things off the top of my head. He took it upon himself to come over while I was at work and finish some of the projects on my list. His yard was immaculate so I guess he was very nice and a little bored. I’d come home to rocks moved around, plants dug up, etc. Nothing not on my list. Occasionally I’d find a new hanging plant. He and his wife kind of adopted me. So I take care of them at Christmas and birthdays. It’s been awesome.

What changed in the US-China relationship that is pushing the two countries closer to war?

No one seems to know. Readers who follow developments in China closely, know that relations between the two superpowers have grown increasingly strained in the last few years. But while the US has taken a more hostile approach to China, no one seems to know why. Was there something in particular that China did that angered Washington leading to the imposition of economic sanctions, technology blockades and military provocations in the Taiwan Strait?

No, there’s no indication that China did anything. What changed was Washington’s approach to China. And—as you’ll see—Washington’s approach changed very quickly and very dramatically. China went from friend to foe almost overnight.

Here’s why.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US maintained a policy of engagement with China that accelerated its development and transformed the country into the main engine of global growth. In December, 2001, China was granted “most-favored-nation”(MFN) status which was followed shortly after by its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). These developments allowed China to access western markets which turned China into a manufacturing center for US multinationals like Nike, Apple and Dell. China’s opening also triggered a surge of foreign investment which pumped up growth while strengthening its financial assets and bond market. In short, US policy laid the groundwork for the “Chinese miracle” which set the stage for a great power conflict with the US.

No other country in the world is more responsible for China’s meteoric rise than the United States. Now, however, the foreign policy establishment has decided that it doesn’t like its own creation. It doesn’t like the fact that China took advantage of the opportunities it was given to transform itself into a peer competitor of the United States. It doesn’t like the fact that China’s economy is growing more than twice as fast as America’s and is set to surpass the US within the decade. It doesn’t like the fact that China is building a 21st century, state-of-the-art infrastructure grid that will economically integrate a large part of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia into the world’s biggest free trade zone. It doesn’t like the fact that China’s expansive economic/political strategy will inevitably replace the “rules-based international order” with a Chinese-led system in which the renminbi is the world’s reserve currency and China’s financial markets are the largest and most liquid in the world. America’s foreign policy establishment is not happy about any of these developments especially since it is largely responsible for all of them.

Don’t get me wrong; the Chinese are intelligent, resourceful, creative, and industrious people. And the Chinese Communist Party has played a critical role in lifting 800 million people out of poverty while steering the nation’s economy towards unprecedented growth and prosperity.

But if China was not given access to western markets and entered into the WTO, there would be no Chinese miracle and no Chinese superpower today. Those opportunities were the result of widely-supported policies that were endorsed almost-universally by US foreign policy elites. So, if Washington now regrets having supported those policies, it can only blame itself. Here’s some more background from foreign policy expert John Mearsheimer:

During the Cold War and under the policy of President Nixon, the U.S. decided to engage China and form a quasi-alliance with China against the Soviet Union. That made eminently good sense. And Nixon was correct to help the Chinese economy grow, for the more powerful China became, the more effective it was as a deterrent partner against the Soviet Union. However, once the Cold War ended in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the U.S. no longer needed China to help contain the Soviet Union.

What we foolishly did was pursue a policy of engagement, which was explicitly designed to help China grow more powerful economically. Of course, as China grew economically, it translated that economic might into military might, and the U.S., as a consequence of this foolish policy of engagement, helped to create a peer competitor.

My bottom line is that the Nixon-Kissinger policy, from the early 1970s up until the late 1980s, made eminently good sense. But, after that, engagement was a colossal strategic blunder….

The U.S. was not only expecting China to grow more powerful—it was purposely helping China to grow more powerful. It was doing this based on the assumption that China would become a democracy over time and therefore would become a responsible stakeholder in an American-led international order.

Of course, that didn’t happen. China did not become a democracy. And China, in effect, has set out to establish hegemony in Asia and challenge the U.S. around the planet. We now have a new Cold War.” U.S. engagement with China a ‘strategic blunder’: Mearsheimer, Nikkei

While I agree with most of what Mearsheimer says, I strongly disagree with the notion that US leaders were genuinely concerned about China becoming a democracy. Nor does democracy explain why US policy changed from mutually-beneficial engagement to open hostility. What Mearsheimer fails to acknowledge is that the western economies are controlled by an oligarchy of elites who have been unable to make any significant inroads into the Chinese government’s power-structure. This is not because the Chinese government is ostensibly “communist”, but because Chinese leaders are strongly nationalistic and determined to maintain China’s own sovereign independence against the onslaught of western elites. In other words, the emerging confrontation with China is a power-struggle between the WEF globalist cabal and Chinese nationalists.

In any event, China is not responsible for the strained relations that exist today. The hostility and provocations are all coming from the United States which is trying to undo the damage it did by implementing policies that ran counter to its own national interests. In short, the Biden administration is trying to reverse 30 years of failed policy by doing an about-face and then blaming it on China. It’s a classic “bait and switch” operation. Here’s more from Mearsheimer:

As time has shown, the engagement strategy was a failure. The Chinese economy has made an unprecedented leap forward, but the country has not transformed itself into a liberal democracy or “a responsible glass holder (a player interested in maintaining the current international order).” On the contrary, Chinese leaders see liberal values as a threat to their country’s stability. And they, as the leaders of the rising powers usually do, have a tough foreign policy. We must admit that economic involvement was a colossal strategic mistake. Kurt Campbell and Eli Ratner – two former Obama administration officials who admitted that engagement had failed and those in the Biden administration today – write: “Washington is now facing the most dynamic and formidable contender in modern history.” (U.S. engagement with China a ‘strategic blunder’: Mearsheimer, Nikkei)

The question that immediately arises is: If engagement was such “a colossal strategic mistake” then why did it take 30 years to figure it out? With a population that is 4 times the size of the US and GDP growing at roughly 9% for 2 decades, it should have been fairly obvious that China was going to be bigger and more powerful than the US in the not-too-distant future. And yet everyone in the political establishment pretended not to see what was right beneath their noses.

That’s shocking. And what’s even more shocking is the remedy our leaders have settled on to maintain their current advantage in the global order. They intend to do everything in their power to sabotage China’s economic development. This aligns perfectly with Mearsheimer’s observation that “the only opportunity that can change the dynamics is a dramatic crisis undermining China’s unrelenting growth.” And that explains what’s going on today, the Biden administration is making a concerted effort to target the vulnerable sectors of the Chinese economy and inflict as much damage as possible via sanctions, blockades and supplyline disruption. We expect that this economic war on China will gradually intensify in the next few years along with new provocations in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea. If Mearsheimer’s analysis is correct, then we are still in the early rounds of a hybrid war that will undoubtedly drag on for years to come.

So, when did it occur to our foreign policy geniuses that fueling China’s growth might actually hurt US prospects for the future?

We don’t know the specific date, but it looks like sometime around 2017 the elite consensus that supported engagement began to fall apart as more and more people became aware of the policy’s shortcomings. Check out this comment by the Financial Times associate editor Martin Wolf who explains how quickly western elites turned against China:

I think what is happening is that western policymakers and above all, American policymakers have decided that the rise of China is a major strategic threat. And this has several dimensions. One of these is that the left of center has come to the view that “Well, they are never going to become a democracy as we thought they would, and that is problematic. We don’t like that.” But the bigger element—which is the view of the strategic community and quite a large part of the corporate community—is that “These people (China) are a serious threat. They have immense resources, the defense build up is quite substantial, and they getting are ahead technologically in some very important areas, and we are far too dependent upon them….. They see the interdependence on China as frightening, and this paranoia has now become a dominant element in American thinking…. And it has shifted very quickly and very much across the board in America although we are now seeing it in Europe as well. A paper was recently released by the German Industrial Confederation which basically said, “You know the Chinese technology policy; it’s a threat to Germany.” This is a big change and it’s happened quite recently.” China: Friend or Foe?, You Tube, 12: 35 minute

So, according to Wolf, overall views on China among foreign policy elites changed very quickly and very dramatically. (Wolf’s account is similar to many other elites who tell the same story.) Engagement was increasingly seen as damaging to western interests, and the search for a different approach began. What Wolf fails to tell us is what it was that convinced foreign policy mandarins that China had become “major strategic threat”? Was it due to the CCP’s increasingly activist oversight of foreign corporations or the Communist Party’s refusal to implement reforms of their massive State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) or did it have something to do with China’s impressive strides in advanced technology that put the future of AI and supercomputing up-for-grabs?

What was it?

While we can’t answer that question with 100% certainty, we can make an educated guess.

In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping launched his signature infrastructure program called the Belt and Road Initiative, which is a vast, multi-continent development strategy that is the most expensive and expansive infrastructure program of all time. The BRI has already garnered commitments from more than 150 nations representing 75% of the global population. The stated goal of the project is “to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future.” In fact, the project does all of that and much more. The BRI will improve ports, skyscrapers, railroads, roads, bridges, airports, dams, coal-fired power stations, and railroad tunnels. It will create a vast spiderweb of cutting-edge high-speed rail that will lower the cost of shipping while boosting the profits of manufacturers and wholesalers. The BRI projects a vision of a fully-integrated 21st century world in which Beijing lies at the very epicenter of global commerce. This is why the US and its allies—who are the staunch defenders of an archaic, extractive model of neoliberal capitalism—are prepared to do whatever-it-takes to derail China’s development and prevent this futuristic plan from going forward. Here’s how Sir Malcolm Rifkind, politician and former cabinet minister, summed up the significance of the BRI in a recent discussion of China on You Tube:

“I think if we’re going to look years ahead, I think the most important thing is the potential relevance of the Belt and Road Initiative to the relationship of Europe and China. For a thousand years, Europe and China have had to have contact with each other through the sea lanes. That huge central Asian landmass was, like the Atlantic Ocean- a barrier. What is happening now; and if we look 5, 10, 15 years ahead—already freight trains are going from China to western Europe in increasing numbers in both directions. So, what that means is, Europe and China could be looking directly at each other in a way that Europe and North America were able to do because of air travel and because the Atlantic became a bridge. That would be a historic change regardless of the politics China and Europe looking directly at each other and trading with each other in that way. That would have massive implications.” China: Friend or Foe? You Tube, 1:21:10 min

Rifkind is right. The opening of transit corridors and freight lines between China and Europe are “the most important thing” because they draw the continents closer together into a giant free trade zone which will inevitably increase their mutual power and prosperity while leaving the US on the outside looking in. This is why the Biden administration is so determined to make sure the BRI does not become a reality. Keep in mind, the primary foreign policy objective of the United States is “to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.” The vast expansion of China’s Belt and Road across the Eurasian landmass and linking European capitals to Beijing and Shanghai, definitely fit that description and qualify China as Washington’s mortal enemy.

China’s leaders still believe that they can reach an accommodation with Washington that will help to avoid a direct confrontation. But Washington’s red lines have already been crossed and there’s bound to be trouble ahead.

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This article was originally published on The Unz Review.

Italy Foreign Minister Visited China to Get Free From the US’s Rule Over Europe!

https://youtu.be/yJi1j_JkmS0

Huawei M60 Pro shocked the world. Why is it?

Try imagining this.

For the U.S. to decide this Chip Act it must have been debated at length by hordes of parties and institutions including dozens of companies in the U.S. and throughout US allies.

Why?

Countries whose livelihoods depend on this precise technology and business to survive and thrive have to be bribed and coerce to cut out China. These bribes probably run in the trillions of dollars figures.

And all these hinge on one and only one assumption. That is China will not be able to design, make and manufacture this high end chips for at least a generation! If this assumption fail to materialised then the U.S. will be thoroughly fxxked for a generation and it will forever not able to compete with China.

In other words, there is absolutely no room at all for failure. Failure means China will now totally controlled every aspect of Chip making technologies from materials, to designing, to developing , to mass producing in the billions. And it will do it at a fraction of the costs of doing it in the U.S. which simply means the total implosion of all the U.S. chip firms!

So after a mere 3 years China did precisely what the U.S. fears most. Their worst fears has come true. The Chinese simply do not need a single technology from the U.S. and its cronies to launched this 5NM chip capable of 5G and satellite communications which also means there is zero possibility for the U.S. to hack it. 150 million orders have been placed and 40 million orders has been fulfilled in a mere 20 days from its launch.

This Huawei Mate 60 series including the Mate 5X is such a blow to the U.S. For a start the U.S. already lost 3 billion in profit had they not banned themselves from selling to China and up to a few trillion dollars have been wiped off the stock values of these chip firms from 27th August till now. The melt down will carry on and on and on till the U.S. economy collapse all together. We in the rest of the world call this Karma.

That is why it is such a big deal.

Given Biden’s evident senility, who is the real decision maker in US foreign policy? Anthony Blinken?

Right now?

There are three power blocs in US

Block 1 consists of :-

The Gun Lobby AKA NRA
The Energy Lobby
The Don’t ask Don’t Tell Lobby
The Anti Abortion Lobby
The Baptist and Deeply Religious Bible Group Lobby
The Selective Immigration Lobby

This Block mainly support Republicans and like a White Majority to be in charge of the country and preferably like straight men who stick to the gender they were born with

Fox News, Newsmax, Rush Limbaugh (Late), Lou Dobbs are sponsored by this Lobby

Block 2 consists of :-

Big Tech (Google, Meta, Amazon)
The Gun control lobby
The Freedom of Choice Lobby
The Anti DOMA Lobby
The Freely Agnostic, Atheist or Freethinker Lobby
The Pro Migrant Lobby

This block mainly supports Liberal Democrats, like minorities to be ostensibly in charge and have a fascination with Gay people and Transgenders and LGBTQ agenda

All MSM, Whoopi Goldberg, Seth Myers, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon are all sponsored by this lobby

Block 3 also called the TRUMP Block consists of :-

Donald J Trump
Friends of Donald J Trump
Russian Naturalized Citizens in US
East European Naturalized US Citizens
Indian Migrants outside California
The Trade Lobby
US Steel Lobby
Any Group that likes protectionism
Law Enforcement Lobby of 31 States
Blue Collar White Males with High School Diplomas

This Block liases with Republicans and has an uneasy alliance with the Republicans as it hates the democrats more

Tucker Carlson, Jimmy Dore, NTG are

Ultimately no matter who comes to power, there are two groups who have the last word in how the US must react :-

Wall Street
The Military Industrial Complex Or Defense Manufacturers / Contractors

Nobody can cross these two groups in US

These Two Groups give instructions through their tame organizations like

National Endowment of Democracy
WEF
The NEOCON think tanks

Trump, Biden, Obama – they need an OK from these two powerful groups and their tame organizations, or they will be unable to do anything

This Senile Old Man probably needs to be told when it’s time to change his diapers

He is a total puppet controlled by the Neocons

Pennsylvania Dutch Brown Butter Noodles

This is a delicious side dish to a pot roast, fried chicken, baked ham, or pork chop dinner. In true Pennsylvania Dutch style, serve with a side of fresh cottage cheese topped with apple butter!

Ingredients

Wide egg noodles
Butter
Salt
Pepper

Instructions

Cook wide egg noodles according to package directions, in the amount needed. As the noodles are cooking, melt butter (1 tablespoon per person/serving) in a small skillet and allow the butter to brown lightly (do not burn!). Drain noodles well, place in serving bowl and toss with the hot browned butter. If desired, add a small amount of salt and pepper.

As a police officer, has a suspect ever asked you, “Do you know who I am?” indignantly, and how did you react?

Yes it did happen a few times.

One time my partner and I stopped a vehicle that cut off another vehicle and made a right turn into oncoming traffic. I approached the driver and was immediately told that I had no right to stop him and that I better be careful and to choose my words carefully.

So I slowly said “ Sir, I stopped you for illegal lane change, illegal right turn and impeding the flow of traffic, did you understand the words that I just spoke to you?

He proceeded to tell me that he was a Los Angeles City Councilman and that if I “ gave him any shit, he would have my job.”

I explained that I needed to see his operators license, proof of insurance and registration.

Mr. Councilman stated that he already told me who he was and that he didn’t have to show me anything. I explained to him that I was going to be exceptionally nice to him and politely ask him one more time, but if he was not going to comply with the lawfull instructions from a sworn police officer he would be arrested, period.

He actually said that I didn’t have the balls to “ try “ to arrest him for a vehicle code violation.

I then reverted to my interactions with my 4 year old son.

I said I’m going to count to 3, and if he was not going to comply he absolutely would be going to jail and also that I would be impounding his vehicle. He again refused and he went to jail and didn’t pass go, his vehicle was impounded and all was good in the world.

My favorite scene from “The Sixth Sense”

“I think why this scene is so powerful is because everyone can relate to having lost someone in their life and have that desire to know that they made some kind of positive impact on the lost ones life.”

https://youtu.be/FLyYYHqVTsE

Who is a celebrity you have met accidentally? How was your experience meeting them?

I was in Scotland on holiday with my husband in May 2023. We were on the Isle of Skye and had stopped in at a remote cafe for breakfast. Behind us in the queue was a lady whose face was so familiar I was sure I knew her really well.

I was wracking my brains trying to remember if I’d worked with her, or if she was a friend of a friend. She was so familiar! I whispered to my husband that I was sure I knew her and he agreed that he’d recognised her too.

I finally decided to just ask her if we’d met before, and where. She looked at me and gently said: “No, we’ve never met. But I’m an actress so we’ve probably spent some time together but just not in person.”

It was Frances McDormand. A real REAL actress- not just a movie star. And then she introduced us to her husband, Joel Coen.

She was so utterly charming, I was fangirling so hard.

I can’t think of a lovelier way to tell someone they’ve made a mistake.

What is the worst thing to say on a date?

I am Egyptian. Arranged marriages are common here. And don’t get me wrong I actually really like them when done right. They are very close to the concept of blind dating.

However, sometimes you’ll get terrible suitors with no social intelligence. And yes guys there are Arab men who are way more decent than these not-so-bright ones. Take some examples:-

A friend of mine sat with a suitor for the first time and the chat was actually pretty decent. But before he left he looked at her and said “but if you want to get married to me, don’t you think you should lose some weight?”. He was immediately out of the picture from that second. Not only are you trying to change someone on the first time you met them, but you also have no social intelligence to know what should and should not be said.
Another friend of mine sat with a very rigid man. He told her “listen, starting off, I noticed several things about you that I cannot accept in a wife: 1- I noticed that your clothes need to be looser. 2- I heard you travelled with your friends several times before, I believe travelling is a waste of time unless necessary and I don’t like you travelling without me. 3- you mentioned something about having separate accounts? A man and his wife should be one. So one account is a must. 4- I know you’ve been working for years but I prefer that my wife doesn’t work. She politely went through the date and never got back to him. Who does he think he is again?
When my cousin proposed to his current wife, he told her that he actually saw her before but definitely didn’t want to propose because she looked a little darker than he likes a woman to be, but thankfully that time it was just the lighting and she’s not as dark as he thought so here he is ! And yet she still married him. For me, he would’ve been a goner. What will you do if I get tanned in a vacation? If I get a burn on my face one day? Divorce me? Meh.

Lesson of the day : never try to change someone or comment on their appearance (unless positively) on the first date !

China refuses to allow DJI drones to deliver $6 billion in penalties to the US!

Over recent years, the United States has ramped up sanctions against various sectors of China’s industry, including the booming drone sector.

DJI, the leading Chinese drone manufacturer, now faces staggering fines totaling $840 million, along with demands for access to its core source code.

This controversy has not only sparked resentment in China but also raised questions about the U.S.’s approach to China’s technological advancements.

These sanctions are more than just punitive measures; they reflect the United States’ concerns and competitiveness in China’s thriving drone manufacturing industry.

As drones play an increasingly crucial role in modern warfare, tensions have escalated.

However, DJI’s dominance in the global drone market is rooted in its own innovation, not the misappropriation of U.S. technology.

https://youtu.be/_LlbqXGKX9A

What does Warren Buffett mean by making a “classic value bet” on HP?

Unlike us mere mortals, Warren Buffett actually reads company financial statements. Even more than that, he understands them. Surprisingly, he’s not big on what lawyers call “due diligence”, where you have a team of accountants and lawyers look at the company to see if they’re hiding anything because, over his years of experience, Buffett has learned that companies always hide their weaknesses in plain sight.

The “Buffet Way” is to go over a company’s public information and then put a question mark next to anything that looks weird. Other people do that too, but then they start asking questions of the company’s management. Buffett doesn’t do that – if there are too many question marks he just stops looking at the company. Plenty of companies to invest in. He’s usually right too.

So, what does he mean by “value”? Well, throughout Buffett’s career, his favourite companies tend not to be “growth companies” or “the next hot technology”. Frankly, unless Buffett fully understands the company’s products and business model, those are both massive question marks and he would rather not risk Berkshire-Hathaway’s money on them. Instead, Buffett has always preferred companies with lots of revenue that are consistently profitable. I remember reading one of his annual reports where he explained why he bought a company that made chocolates – it had consistent revenue and profits, and had a good management team and workforce. Sold.

Now, HP has been in business forever and has often been at the forefront of technology, but lately it has settled down to produce everyday products for consumers instead of specialty products for engineers. It sells a lot of stuff (at wholesale, it’s not a retailer), has a good team of management and engineers, and can be found at both the high and low ends of the market. It has good revenues and profits.

Naturally, most investors ignore HP because its stock price is pretty steady. That’s not a problem for Buffett. He thinks that many stocks of profitable solid companies are undervalued. He bases a stock’s price on its fundamentals, how much it sells, what it’s profit is, and how much it spends on ongoing research and development. In other words, he’s not buying HP’s stock because he thinks it’s going to go way up. He’s buying it because based on its current price, he thinks the share price will keep up with inflation and still have money left over for shareholders.

And he may be right. I bought two HP laptops this year. My printer is HP. My three old computers are HP.

What is the most unusual punishment a criminal has ever received?

You didn’t necessarily need to be a criminal to receive this punishment. This punishment was meant for vagrants and undesirable people. The punishment was called the tramp chair.

The Tramp chair was invented by Sanford Baker in 1885, and it was designed for towns that were too small for the Jails or for towns that couldn’t afford to build one.

The undesirables as they were known would be locked in the cage as an encouragement to move along. The people being punished were sometimes stripped naked before being locked in the chair, leaving the person to deal with the thick and sometimes rusty bars heating and cooling depending on the temperature outside.

They were even paraded around town to be subjected to harassment and cruel taunts from the public. They would then be wheeled to the edge of town to be released and foisted to the next town.

The Last of Us | Episode 1 | Fungus Pandemic Takeover Explained Perfectly

The gradual shift from amusement to horror on the TV host’s face is just so damn perfect, that scene in particular sends chills up my spine.

If the CCP attacks Guam as part of an invasion of Taiwan ought to the US destroy the Three Gorges Dam?

Jonathan Stern，I noticed that you don’t understand the military strength of the United States.

Iran’s strength is weak, but the United States dare not blockade the Strait of Hormuz.

Only by understanding oneself and the enemy can we win war.

For decades, the United States has attacked many weak countries. This makes you think that the United States can attack any country on Earth without retaliation. The United States can attack China’s Three Gorges Dam, and China can also retaliate and attack New York, rather than attacking the US warships.

Think about it, can China attack New York City after the United States attacks China’s Three Gorges Dam?

I hope my answer can make you smarter.

What are some potential internal factors that could cause China to fail?

Well. Just follow the United States model…

Large numbers of Chinese people could start getting themselves addicted to heroin and fentanyl and dying from overdose.
The China cops could start stepping on citizens necks in the streets or choking them to death or shooting them 12 times in the back for minor offences.
Families could quarrel and argue and split up over differences in political beliefs.
Hate groups could be allowed to spring up and flourish and spread their hate, on the basis that they are exercising their freedom of speexh.
China could let its school standards in math and science deteriorate badly.
China could stop providing universal healthcare to its citizens and make essential medical services very expensive for its people.
China could allow free and easy access to guns for all, and improve its chances of having numerous mass shootings occur each month.
It could choose senile octagenarians or outright criminals to be its leader.
China could deny birth control and abortions to its women and girls.
Instead of building more homes, schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure, it could buy more and more deadly missiles and bombs and mines and use them in wars on foreign soil, faraway from itself.

Well, that would be a very strong start.

Your soul belongs to God Bedazzled

Great scene.

“This scene is so powerful, just by looking at him and the friendliness of his voice, where he states that despite your mistakes everything is going to be just fine. This is by far the greatest interpretation of God I’ve ever seen, makes me happy to have witnessed it :)”

What’s the sleaziest trick a landlord tried to pull on you?

The landlord was this old witch in Ardwick Manchester.

She had a perfect set of furniture which she would move in and take photos of and develop them (this was still the age of paper photographs).

She would then move the furniture out and put some cheapo chipboard furniture into the house.

I took photos of these with time and date stamps.

She was an awful landlord and would always let herself in and root through our stuff. Absolutely nothing was repaired ever and I am almost certain she would steal money locked in our rooms. It was a shared house so when one of us had a day off and slept late she’d walk in on one of us sleeping and make excuses.

When the contract ended we decided to leave.

She of course kept the deposit because of significant damage to the furniture.

I showed my photographs she showed hers. This was back before deposit protection schemes so it went to the small claims court to get the house deposit back. She played the I’m an innocent old woman and these young men are scum.

She won, we lost. She kept the deposit.

The Ukrainian guy who lived with us didn’t like that at all. He went to Do it All bought a big lump hammer and caused massive structural damage to the house and went home to Kiev a couple days later.

CNN reported that the United States government is seeking more information about the Huawei Mate 60 Pro and to determine if parties bypassed American restrictions on semiconductor exports. What’s next?

Well, this is a prime example of the fog of war descending on America.

By forcing Huawei to cut ties with former partners, Huawei went dark, at least to the US government and foreign corporations vulnerable to US sanctions.

This is a problem America created, for America to solve.

The key pieces are all domestic mainland players who are sanction-resistant, or already under sanction. The US can certainly up the pressure and throw the kitchen sink at them, but they will not willingly divulge information based on a “query” by Americans.

You want it that way, you can have it.

Before 2018/19, the electronics industry was centered around East Asia, and people knew what the competition was working on, more or less, because the supply chain (and talent) was shared. Next-gen Apple and Google features were leaked months in advance, and many were right on the money.

But Donald the Orange changed all that.

Mainland players went dark, as multiple rounds of sanction tore up the eco-system for good.

It’s a brave new world, and there is a lot more uncertainty in the air ex-China, because the biggest unanswered questions are, what’s my Chinese competitors working on, and how is my largest market going to evolve? Remember, the Chinese government has mostly parried, and the Chinese will overwhelmingly buy Chinese once competitive domestic options come to market.

The electronics business is one with incredibly high bars for sunk cost, and mistakes can be very expensive, if not fatal.

The Chinese though, retain excellent business intelligence, because the major players are all represented in the industrial chain.

Good luck to the blind fighting the sighted, even if the spears are a little longer, and the swords sharper… for now.

When we study Russian military history, we realize that the Russian army always starts its wars badly and improves over time. Why does it happen?

This is not correct that it always happens, but instead of pointing out instances of this being wrong, because Russia eventually lost, or because Russia actually rolled their enemies right away, I will tell you why Russia has an affinity for this kind of warfare.

The answer is geography. Russia is an immense country, and even if most people live in the western regions it confers massive advantages. For example, Russia can hide things, even with modern intelligence gathering, Russia is so big, that yes you can take satellite images of all of Russia, but by the time that you analyze them things could have changed. For this reason many of Russia’s ICBMs are near invulnerable, as they are moved around Siberia on trucks, making it nearly impossible to have an accurate picture of where they actually are.

Historically, Russia has time on its side. Why? Because it has ample space to recover from defeats. Most enemies only ever fight a portion of Russia, with the rest of Russia supporting the economic efforts. If you advance 600km into Russia you will certainly hurt it, but you will have quite a bit more to go. If you advance 600km into Germany, you’re now in France.

As such, history is very forgiving to the country in Europe with the most natural resources, largest population, and most amount of room for failure. Russia can at least partially recover from nearly any initial failure militarily. This gives them time to adapt to what ever caused their initial defeat, and reverse the outcome of the war, provided they have the will to do so over the particular issue.
Other countries have the ability to do this, but rarely the time. For a small country, a defeat is usually decisive and they get no second chances.

The Sopranos || Fix You

The Sopranos is still the best written show to this date. Game of Thrones does some things better, The Wire does some things better, Breaking Bad does some things better, Mad Men does some things better, but The Sopranos takes the cake in terms of character interactions and making real lifelike characters. The Sopranos has more profound characters/character relationships than any show I’ve seen, and in my opinion characters are the most important part of a TV show, so it’s the GOAT no doubt. Plus the fact that it’s the foundation for HBO, TV dramas, and the “anti-hero.” The Sopranos is #1 all-time in my opinion.

TSMC prizes Japan’s chips skills after US stumbles

Taiwan’s TSMC, which is making an unprecedented push into chip manufacturing overseas, is taking an increasingly optimistic view of Japan as a production base, two industry sources said, as problems persist at its new factory in Arizona.

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is frustrated in Arizona, the sources said, where it has struggled to recruit workers for the gruelling chipmaking trade and faced pushback from unions on efforts to bring in workers from Taiwan.

The company has growing confidence in Japan, where an $8.6 billion fab under construction in a chipmaking hub on the island of Kyushu is on track to start producing mature-technology chips in 2024, the sources said.

While keen to ensure a smooth ramp up at the first fab, the chipmaker is considering adding capacity and a second fab in Japan, the sources said, which could include the production of more advanced chips.

Several chip industry sources spoke to Reuters about TSMC’s view of Japan and its global expansion on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Successful expansion by TSMC in Japan could give a boost to efforts by the country to regain its lost status as a chip manufacturing powerhouse and support its automotive and electronics industries amid growing regional competition.

TSMC said in a statement its overseas expansion depends on factors including the needs of customers, the level of government support and cost considerations.

In Arizona, TSMC plans to produce advanced chips but a shortage of skilled workers has forced the company to push back production at its first fab by a year to 2025.

“Any project… will have some learning curve. In the past five months the improvement has been tremendous,” TSMC Chairman Mark Liu said of the Arizona project last week.

Fabs in the U.S., Japan and Germany, where it is also expanding, are “inherently incomparable” due to differences in location, setup and scope, TSMC said.

NATURAL FIT

The U.S., Japan and Germany have offered TSMC billions of dollars in subsidies for it to localise production in efforts to diversify the supply of chips, which are essential to the defence, automotive and electronics industries.

The $40 billion investment in Arizona allows TSMC to add capacity outside Taiwan, where it faces constraints on land, power, water and labour.

But the company views Japan as a more natural fit in terms of work culture, and its government is easy to deal with and generous with subsidies, the sources said.

“The relationship between TSMC and the Japanese government is mutually beneficial,” said Lucy Chen, an analyst at Isaiah Research.

Japan’s advantages for the chipmaker include its network of chip equipment and materials suppliers, similarities in work culture and proximity to Taiwan, she added.

TSMC sees workers in Japan, which is known for long hours and strong commitment to employers, as more willing to work a punishing schedule with overtime as chipmaking machines run around the clock in sterile clean rooms, the sources said.

“A lot of machines cannot be shut down because it costs TSMC to recalibrate on rebooting,” said a chip industry executive.

It is only a two-hour flight to Kyushu, where TSMC is partnering with companies including Sony, a leading maker of image sensors.

Taiwanese workers arriving to help set up the fab are welcome, and the chipmaker will pay higher wages to secure local employees as it competes with rivals such as foundry venture Rapidus, the sources said.

“It seems to us that TSMC is really positive about investment in Japan,” said a senior official at the powerful Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which has offered subsidies worth up to 476 billion yen ($3.23 billion) for the first fab.

“We will really welcome the second fab project in general but we have to see the detail first,” the official said.

While many equipment and materials makers already have global operations, to meet its exacting standards TSMC has also brought suppliers to Japan from Taiwan, the sources said.

RISING CAPITAL SPENDING

TSMC’s enthusiasm for Japan is being tempered by concerns about higher costs across the business and worries about the macro environment, the sources said.

Capital expenditure ballooned to $36 billion last year from $10 billion in 2018, with the company forecasting a slightly smaller outflow this year.

TSMC thought costs to build a fab would be 20% higher in the U.S. than in Taiwan but they are actually about 50% higher, an investor briefed by company management said.

The chipmaker plans to build an $11 billion fab in Germany with local firms but is also concerned the work culture there, with long vacations and strong unions, will hit output, the sources said.

Investors worry about the effect of higher costs but “the impact on TSMC today has not been that big because its leading technology gives it pricing power,” said Brady Wang, an analyst at research firm Counterpoint.

($1 = 147 Yen)

What is the most embarrassing incident while you were on a vacation to a different country?

In a very nice cafe in Malaysia, I was sitting with my husband about to order after we decided on what we want.

I do what I always do in Kuwait and Egypt, raising a hand and loudly saying “excuse me!”, my voice breaking the strange quietness of this cafe.

I’m not even exaggerating when I say that almost everyone in the cafe turned their head to look at me.

I whisper to my husband “um. Seems like this is not how they do it here.”

A waiter comes to us rushing to take the order. He then very politely explains to us that we should use the pieces of paper on the table (which I mistook for tissues till that moment) to write down the numbers next to each order in the menu, then ever so easily press on a button on the table.

There is literally no need at all to even talk to the waiter. He just comes, picks up the paper while smiling at us.

Well, I guess that explains why 30 people or so were staring holes at me when my “excuse me” echoed around haha.

I felt like such a peasant.

The Power Of The Neocon Narrative Is Evil

With respect gentlemen, Europeans are too busy chewing grass. Like most of humanity. The politicians are busy bowing down to the money changers and are firmly in their grip. Peace, love and blessings to those that seek it.

Do you trust a cop as your neighbor?

Short answer, NO.

Let me explain….

I use to live in a subdivision with my mother when I was under the age of 18 and we had a female police officer that lived at the end of the cul de sac. Whenever she had a party her guests would park in front of others driveways and on others property (I came out of my house to find several cars parked on my mothers front lawn). I had to be somewhere, so I went down and asked her if the people who parked on my moms property and in front of my driveway could move. I was told NO and the door was shut in my face. So, I went home and called a friend of mine that owned a wrecker service and explained the situation to him. He said that he had 3 wreckers in the area and that he would be happy to help. Well, 20 minutes later I had all 3 wreckers pull up and start hooking up cars. One of the ladies at the police officers party must of noticed because the next thing I know I have 4 ladies screaming at the tow truck drivers to put their cars down, each had to pay a “Drop Fee” of $200.00. This was the last time that any of her guests parked in front of my driveway. Whenever I had a party, weather people were parked in front of her house or not, I was guaranteed to have the police called.

Many Worlds Theory: You’re in a Parallel Universe | Can You Visit Your Other Lives?

The ability of this man to explain the complexities of quantum physics in an almost digestable way to the masses is a superpower. Leaves me awe struck at the time, attention, care, & talent that goes into this channel. Bravo.

Did Huawei’s launch of the Kiriin 9000s chip for the Mate 60 Pro show that <5nm processes are not necessary for modern mobile phones, and how will this affect TSMC’s business?

TSMC is on course for reduced margins, just because it is forced to build plants beyond Greater China, which are more costly to build and run, not to mention having to hire local and deal with culture and language barriers complicating operations, especially the crucial ramp-up.

These are risk management strategies, and not economically driven.

That is baked in, regardless of Huawei.

This is a rather curious time to ask the question, because we have arrived at the plateau of mobile computing. A cheap phone today has similar performance as the cutting edge 5 years ago, and that is enough computing power for the average user, even the occasional gamer. The same happened with laptops some years back, when the node dividend began delivering machines with all-day battery life.

Huawei’s Kirin 9000s is a 7nm chip with 5nm performance, and there are compromises to raw computing power, die area, and of course, power draw, compared to the cutting edge from the competition.

Huawei’s customers know the Mate 60 pro isn’t as good as the iPhone 15 Pro performance wise, but this hasn’t stopped them from joining the queue for the phone. My dad told me enthusiastically “even Jackie Chan can’t get a set!”. Wonder where he heard that from.

Obviously, different dynamics are at work here.

What made the difference was the return of Kirin and more importantly, the 5g modem. At the mobile computing plateau, the “speed” of a phone is more likely bottlenecked by the network rather than the CPU/GPU, unlike mobile gaming and other specialized tasks.

The Kirin 9000s has decent performance (especially the highlight: 5g network speeds), enough to join the flagship club in 2023. More importantly, it offers a package that cannot be found anywhere else, including Hongmeng, AI driven gestures and automated payments, and a really snazzy camera.

These features directly impact lifestyle usability, and breed customer loyalty, because it is technology that just work. A lot of engineering was committed to refine and polish them, and these are major selling points.

So Huawei has a “good enough” flagship for 2023, in terms of specs. But is there a future for a node-bound Kirin? I believe Huawei will struggle to meet demand for the next year or two, but beyond that, we will have to see how far along the indigenization of the chipmaking supply chain is.

What interests me more isn’t the chip, but the independent direction Huawei will forge with AI, Hongmeng and its integration with the IOT. Even Qualcomm is sending overtures to develop Hongmeng devices, just because it doesn’t want to be left out of a 700m user base market.

For example, what will a Hongmeng-enabled 5.5G IOT ecosystem look like in maturity? What other AI-enabled features are in the works? I’ve heard some impressive forecasts but I’m bound to secrecy.

Exciting times in virgin territory.

It isn’t the chip, but the overall ecosystem.

What is something that you can do in your country that a person in America cannot do?

American expat living in Denmark. I’ve been here for 12 years, and I can honestly say that I have far more freedoms than I ever did in the US.

Things I can do here that I couldn’t do in the US-

Get injured, sick, or have a baby without having to pay to see a single doctor or hospital bill. This includes having an MRI, x-rays, ultrasounds, EKG, various blood tests, several days in hospital while in labour, and quite a number of procedures during labour.
While mental health care isn’t free, there are ways to get mental health care which is free. I’ve finally been able to get a diagnosis of ADHD and bipolar disorder, after living my entire life struggling.
Because I am on medication I’ll need for the rest of my life, I’m able to afford it without going bankrupt.
I’m going to school to get my degree, free of charge. In fact I even get paid to go to school!
Other things less personal- we can walk around with open containers of alcohol. We can drink while sitting in a park, on the beach, or pretty much anywhere else within reason.
I could, if I so wished, walk down to the beach and sun myself completely naked. I could also sunbathe topless most anywhere.
I don’t have to worry about including enough tax when mentally tallying up the cost of groceries or a meal out and. Tax is included in all prices.
I also don’t have to spend even more money tipping since the wait staff, bartender, busboys, etc. are all paid properly.
I can bike safely, even in the middle of the city, without worrying about getting hit by a car. We have such excellent bike paths which are much like a sidewalk with a curb dividing it from the street. My 7 year old can bike as well without worry.

I could go on, but these are just the basic ones that I thought of first.

The Sopranos || Wonderful Life

That one clip of Carmela and Furio dancing, while the line, “It’s a wonderful life” plays in the background is so perfect. What an absolutely brilliant video. This brought tears to my eyes. Nothing will ever match up to this show. Masterpiece.

What is the most badass display of professional expertise you have ever witnessed?

7 inches rain pour in a single night.
Roads flooded.
Cars were left on roadside by their owners as they couldn’t start them.

And 6am in the morning there was a knock at my door. The milk delivery boy was standing in front of me. Sleeves of his trousers folded, and with a smile on his face. I asked him “how did you manage to reach here?”. He replied “sir, I walked through the water with my friends, it is essential to make milk available to everyone in such conditions. Those who have kids can’t manage without it”.

It was a small incident but really worth giving a thought.

Education makes us capable but professionalism is self-taught.

The CRAZIEST MYTHS I’ve heard about CHINA! | UTTERLY SHOCKED***

Exactly, a young man who speaks the truth and not brain washed by US media.

“Why are so many Americans so damn brainwashed?”

https://youtu.be/h8QtTxE3XKI

Given Huawei’s chip break thru with the Mate 60 pro, would it make any difference to the future outlook of American chip manufacturers if the US was to abandon the high tech sanctions against China?

Strictly speaking, it isn’t a “breakthrough” yet, because this is the Chinese being very creative with a set of heavily crippled tools and components, producing a world-class flagship mobile device against immense odds.

The Chinese came together and dug a tunnel using shovels because the excavators were taken off the market.

Nevertheless, they persevered… and saw light.

But, and here’s the but, they have one tunnel, and still don’t own any excavators.

Before we go on, we should take a cursory glance at the chipmaking industry.

To reduce the clutter, we can divide the history of chipmaking into two epochs, pre-2007, and post.

In the first period, Intel was dominant, and it almost drove AMD out of business, taking Global Foundries along with it. AMD was a “fabless” foundry model developed to challenge Intel’s vertically integrated model, betting that superior design married with partners who could better control (and share) manufacturing cost while keeping pace with Moore’s law would deliver competitive products. AMD ultimately failed because it couldn’t wrestle sufficient market share in the x86 market, which was already past its exponential growth phase.

In other words, the scraps that fabs fed on ex-Intel were not enough to drive progress.

What changed in 2007?

That’s right. The arrival of the smartphone, in Steve’s hand.

It ushered in a new eco-system, ARM, that was completely separate (but even more profitable) than Intel- and Microsoft-controlled x86.

Another watershed happened in 2007, but it was quietly announced to little fanfare, unlike the iPhone. Nvidia announced CUDA, ushering in the era of GPGPU.

ARM and the GPU revolutionized the business of fabs. The chief beneficiary was TSMC, and to a lesser extent, Samsung.

Set free from the chains of x86 and Windows, the singular pursuit of mobile computing in the early days of the iphone 3GS and 4 was this: how to squeeze ever more power (flops) from engines shrinking in size (die area) but increasing in fuel economy (flops/Watt)?

To be perfectly honest, the early smartphones were pretty much unusable from a modern standpoint. That’s because the fabs lagged far behind Intel, despite the same tools and ecosystem available to the competition. [The original iPhone was powered by a 90nm Samsung chip]. Apple’s orders and the potential of the smartphone becoming the one piece of tech everyone MUST own finally gave fabs the nitro-fuel needed to beat Intel at its own game.

The secret?

As with most economic problems, lots of cash to buy the best tools and talent.

As late as 2014/15, TSMC was still tapping out chips at 28nm for the flagship Snapdragon 800 series. The contemporaneous A8 was preferentially made on the 20nm node, TSMC’s cutting edge offering 8–9 years ago. Intel tapped out Broadwell at 14nm, the clear industry leader.

It was around this time that truly functional smartphone computing arrived, delivered by process node improvement. Apple’s A8 tapped out at 2 billion transistors, and TSMC completed its leapfrog past Intel in 2017 with the A11, a 10nm chip with >4 billion transistor on die area slightly smaller than the A8. Intel’s Kabylake was still stuck on the same 14nm node, albeit with finfet improvements.

Why did I attempt a grandfather’s monologue of seemingly disjointed developments?

TSMC completed a doubling of transistor density in less than 3 years to leapfrog past Intel, and subsequently broke new ground conquering sub-10nm physics with novel methods and tools, including the all-too-familiar EUV.

Most of the talent that achieved the breakthrough were Chinese, and a good number of them (several thousands) are currently working for mainland competition. Key managers were offered “out of this world” renumeration that were unheard of in the industry to sign up. These are cutting edge talent that know the business of chipmaking inside out, baptized by the fire of success that successfully dethroned Intel.

There are experienced captains steering the Chinese ship through the hurricane of US sanctions.

My friend, who still works at TSMC, thought the battle was lost the moment Donald the Orange declared war on Huawei. In fact, it was American belligerence that finally persuaded several of her colleagues to jump ship, and not the numbers on the contract. These were people who worked tireless to push yields to records during ramp-up, and methodically improved workflow for novel methods and equipment, without the benefit of recipes and practical limits. I like to think of them as chefs experimenting with a new menu earning three michelin stars, despite having to learn new ways of cooking with never-seen-before ingredients.

You can’t lose, with master chefs like that.

As she likes to say, 欺负中国没人，门儿都没有。

America picked the wrong fight, and boarded the wrong train.

路选错了是没有尽头的。

Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken and Flat Dumplings

Ingredients

1 large (5 pound) washed chicken
1 large onion, quartered
3 stalks celery, cut into large chunks
1 teaspoon whole peppercorn
2 1/2 teaspoons salt

Instructions

Place chicken in a 6- to 8-quart stockpot. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil. Simmer until chicken is done, about 2 hours.
When cool, remove bones and fat from chicken. Cut into pieces, and return to pot.
Noodles: In a bowl, mix together 2 cups flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center, and gradually work 4 eggs into the flour until stiff dough is formed, adding water a little at a time if necessary. Knead until smooth. Divide dough in half. Roll each half as thin as possible then cut into thin 1-2 inch squares.
Bring the broth back to rolling boil. Drop noodle squares one at a time, making sure each are drenched in broth. Reduce heat, cover and continue to cook until noodles are done, about 8 minutes. DON’T PEEK!
Serve in large bowl and ladle onto plates at the table. Serve with chopped onion.

What would you do?

I’m asking.

Bling Bling Kitty

I once had an old cat named Annie.

…

When I lived in Boston, there was this Pet Smart (store) that I would visit from time to time to get kitty supplies for my little buddies. It was on the road to my work, and not a big deal. It was a big warehouse like building, much like “Sam’s club” that hosed all sorts of pet supplies.

Off to the side they had a little adoption center for cats. You could look at the cats while you were waiting in line at the checkout.

I noticed one cat never left. It stayed there. Month after month. Season after season.

This was an older cat.

And no one wanted it. No one.

…

And so when I came to ask about it, the gal at the store said that she was really old, and that her owner passed away. The kids of the old man didn’t want the cat, and so the deceased children (adults really) gave it to them to find a home. They didn’t want the cat.

And so the kitty sat there, in the cage, month after month, after month alone.

That was bullshit.

…

So I adopted the kitty and named her Annie.

Poor thing. Sad all the time. Lonely. Depressed.

She became really attached to me.

She was a “rag-doll” breed and super clingy. My other cats didn’t want to have anything to do with her, and as soon as I made it home, she would come to me a meowing and crying. And so I would share my affection between her and all my other cats.

…

Now…

I had this little “thing” that I did with my cats. They all wore collars with two tags. An ID tag and a rabies tag. And when ever I opened up the door, I would get my keys and jingle them. I started to notice that my cats would do the exact thing with their collars.

If they wanted out, they would go to the door, and “jingle their keys” and I would let them out.

But, you see, Annie didn’t have any “keys”.

So we needed to get a cat collar, and some ID and rabies tags, and after a while we did. We ended up with a small box of say ten different collars. And then one day, when it was just me and Annie, I laid them all out in front of her to look at.

Now, she has always been very sad. Missing her owner, and then living with me in a house with other cats.

But something happened… a “light” went off when she saw the other collars.

She got up, and some “light”; some “energy” transformed her body.

And then, right there, in S-L-O-W motion…

I did it intentionally.

I selected the biggest, gaudiest, most “bling bling” fake jewel encrusted, fake diamond and pearl encrusted collar that I could find and placed it there off the side.

And then with it all next to her, she got up and walked over to all the collars.

She looked at big gaudy bling bling. She wanted ME to select.

She started to purr.

So I picked the big bling-bling collar.

And then…

Then she sat up, arched her back and allowed me to put it on her.

…

I wish that I could describe the moment; the transformation. The significance of that moment.

I swear… I mean it… she CHANGED.

So no more moping around. She was one of us.

She was accepted. She was great, and important and special, and she would walk with her head up high and her tail up high. She was so very proud of her collar, and it was truly a sight to behold.

She became a proud ROYAL KITTY PRINCESS.

What a moment.

…

I have never forgotten that.

…

Eventually, I had to move on, and my wife and I separated.

Annie went to live with her, while I had to continue on my life cat-less. Sigh. It’s called “life” and that is what happened then.

My ex-wife moved away to Pennsylvania while I stayed in Boston. And a few months passed.

My ex-wife, later on, however thought that Annie shouldn’t wear the collar, and took it off her.

Oh, yes. She. Did.

But you know the moping and sadness reappeared.

And my ex-wife couldn’t figure out what was going on. She just “chalked it up” on old age and a diet imbalance.

…

One day, I visited my ex-wife and checked on the kitties. And you know, I saw Annie. Sad and depressed as ever. No collar!

I went up to her. Man that was one depressed cat.

So… as soon as I saw that, I asked where the collar was.

My ex-wife went and rummaged around a bit, and found it. And I, well I put it back on her.

Guess what?

And BOOM! It was proud and happy city all over again.

If a cat could skip, then that is what Annie started to do. She was proud and happy all over again.

…

My ex-wife didn’t understand.

She mistakenly thought “freedom!” meant no collar.

But, Annie felt differently.

The Collar meant “belonging”.

It meant a role in the society; a “place at the table”. It meant status, and Annie had the most bling-bling of all the kitties. She was SPECIAL and she felt special.

…

Annie passed on, at a very ripe old age. She was a good little kitty.

She was buried with her precious collar.

I miss her.

…

Todays…

Russian Foreign Minister: “U.S. is waging war on Russia”

World Hal Turner 19 September 2023

Washington’s massive campaign to support Ukraine with arms amounts to a war against Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that the US has long groomed Kiev for this very purpose.

In a comment to Russian reporter Pavel Zarubin released on Sunday, Lavrov suggested that rumors about Washington possibly giving the green light to the delivery of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which have a range of up to 300km, were aimed at “shaping public opinion.”

According to the minister, these deliberations would not change the fact that “for many years Ukraine has been groomed to fight with its hands and bodies in order to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.” Lavrov accused the US of controlling the hostilities between Kiev and Moscow.”

In recent weeks, several Western media outlets have reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden is edging closer to approving deliveries of the ATACMS, which Kiev has been requesting for several months. The US has been reluctant to approve sending these missile systems, arguing that potential Ukrainian strikes deep into Russia could trigger a major escalation in the conflict.

Ukraine has already received long-range missiles from the UK and France, which, according to local officials, have been used to attack civilian targets and infrastructure in Russia’s Crimean Peninsula and Donbass.

While the US has yet to grant Kiev’s request for ATACMS, it has committed more than $43 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the conflict began, including air defense systems, armored personnel carriers, and M1 Abrams tanks.

Moscow has repeatedly warned the West against supplying Ukraine with arms, saying that doing so will only prolong the conflict but will not change its ultimate outcome.

HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION

I was reluctant to report these remarks by the Russian Foreign Minister for a simple reason: If the Russian Foreign Minister is now publicly accusing the U.S. of “controlling the hostilities between Kiev and Moscow” and also publicly saying the U.S. efforts for Ukraine amount to “the U.S. waging war upon Russia” then the only logical conclusion that __I__ can come to over such remarks is that at some point, Russia is going to strike the U.S.

Now, the mental weaklings of our society respond that such a thing is “impossible.” In their little minds, the United States is so powerful that Russia “wouldn’t dare.” In __my__ view, those people are wrong.

The reason they are wrong is because Russia sees the ongoing Ukraine conflict (with full material support from the west) as “an existential threat.”

They’re correct in such an assessment. Want proof?

Back in April, I reported to you that Europe had revealed a map showing its plans to break Russia up into 43 separate countries (Story HERE).

Here is Gunther Fehlinger, Head of the Austrian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) connected to the United Nations, showing the West’s map of a world without Russia:

The revelation of this map is literal PROOF that it is the actual intention of the West to do-away with Russia. By even manufacturing such a map, the West has shown its intent. Russia now faces an ACTUAL existential threat. Their very existence is at stake.

Think about the time and effort that was necessary to research the populations and ethnicities in each of these areas, where they are, and how to draw actual lines along the geography of the demographics, to create this vision of new, autonomous, countries. The research and planning alone had to take . . . YEARS.

So the mental weaklings who say “Russia wouldn’t dare” have their heads up their ass. Russia may decide it has no choice.

Thus, the remarks by Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov over this weekend, are “building a case” for a massive Russian strike at the U.S. Lavrov’s public remarks are “building a record” for posterity.

Step-by-step the U.S. has escalated the Russia-Ukraine fight. Step-by-step the U.S. and its NATO vassals continue to escalate.

Well, while the West is doing its thing, Russia is systematically building an open, public, historical record of what is actually taking place.

When a man like Sergei Lavrov utters the words he spoke over the weekend, it is as serious as a heart attack.

I will preface my further remarks by admitting I very much admire Foreign Minister Lavrov. In my view, he is the single most competent, most skilled, Foreign Minister on the entire planet. He says what he means, and more importantly, he means what he says.

You never once hear the Russian Foreign Ministry “walking-back” anything Lavrov says. You never once hear the Russian government having to “clarify” what Lavrov said.

That Lavrov has now said the US is “controlling the conflict between Moscow and Kiev” lays actual involvement and responsibility for war on the US lap.

Closer and closer we seem to be coming to the moment when Russia strikes.

None of us will ever be able to say We weren’t warned.

People say that World War One was more morally ambiguous than World War Two. What were the bad things the Allies did in the First World War?

Because it is. If you think about it, World War 2 was a bit odd—it’s one of the very few wars in history where you can legitimately point out who the bad guys were. The evils the Axis committed (Germany got all the spotlight, but Japan was even worse in many ways) was so over-the-top that it seemed like something out of a children’s cartoon.

The Allies were no saints but there’s a very big difference between the Japanese internment camps in America vs literal Holocaust death camps and rape brothels the Nazis and the Japanese ran. To say otherwise is intellectually dishonest. Except for the Soviets, Allied war crimes in World War 2 were not organized or structured (and even with the Soviets, probably a large proportion were also unorganized).

World War 1 is closer to your “average historical wars”. Who is guilty? It’s an extremely complicated topic that is not lost even back in the day. The simplest explanation was “it’s a very convoluted web of alliances and interests that forced everyone to fight for something that would otherwise be a local conflict”.

Why else would an assassination of an Austrian archduke made Japanese soldiers invade the German colony in China?

Nobody was particularly better or worse in World War 1.

Stay Away From Africa If You Don’t Like Us, Africa Leaders Warn Muslim Leaders With Bad Intentions

Voice TV Nigeria is an online community of reporters and social advocates dedicated to bringing you news reports from a Nigerian-African perspective.

Why is China not labelled a pariah state?

Well, it takes a lot for a country to be so bad that it is labelled a pariah state.

For example, look at the USA in the past 40 years. In that time, it dropped bombs, fired missiles, destroyed cities and killed men, women and children in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Grenada, Uganda, Bosnia etc. And the USA still is not labelled a pariah state!

In that same period of 40 years, China fought no wars at all. Sure, it had a few skirmishes here and there. For example, its navy vessels sprayed sea water at other countries’ fishermen in the disputed areas of the South China Sea. Another time, a few Chinese and Indian soldiers fought at a disputed border area. Not a single bullet was fired – however, a few soldiers fell into an icy river and later died from hypothermia.

But these were not wars. Nothing like how, for example, the USA made up a lie about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, and then proceeded to kill 250,000 Iraqi men, women and children.

And yet, like I said, the USA is not labelled a pariah state. So clearly China wouldn’t be.

Today, China is even busily rebuilding schools, homes and hospitals in Iraq! (After all the destruction caused by the USA).

Southern Fried Chocolate Pies

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup cold water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold margarine
Vegetable oil*

* Use peanut or safflower oil or solid vegetable shortening for frying.

Instructions

Crust: sift flour and salt together; cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knifes, until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
Add ice water a little at a time while tossing with a fork, until dough holds together. Do not get too moist.
Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into circles about five inches in diameter.
Mix cocoa powder with the sugar. Place 2 to 3 tablespoons of this mixture onto one half of the circle and place 3 very thin slices of cold margarine on top. Fold opposite side over mixture and seal with a fork dipped in flour.
Pour oil to a depth of about 1/2 inch in a cast iron skillet. Heat over medium-high heat until very hot.
Place pies in a single layer in oil and fry, turning to brown each side.
Serve hot, warm, or cold.

WE RETIRED IN AMERICA AND MOVED TO GHANA WITHOUT VISITING!

African Americans are returning to countries like Ghana more than 400 years after their ancestors left Africa as slaves. Many say they want either to reconnect to history, or resettle on the continent. Helen and Timothy are retirees who had lived all their lives in the USA. Timothy was in the military while he worked and Helen was in the field of Social Sciences. They recently made the big decision to move to Ghana. In this video, they share the amazing experiences they have had since moving here.

What do you do if someone is trespassing on your property?

I have given all my neighbors permission to walk my land. I have posted signs saying private property please treat with respect. I have put up signs saying no motorized vehicles. On a website , the Google pin says you can cross to the river, on my property. Its a pin someone added, because they didn’t like the official pin. So a lot of people thought it was public access, because the website quite rightly says its public access where they have the official pin, but its not the first pin they see. I have had the erroneous pin removed three times, but someone keeps adding it back.

I grew up in the country, all the neighbors were friends, and they all allowed me access to their property. So I try to treat people the same way.

I finally had to block it off, because mudder truckers, atvers, and motor homes, and partiers were driving through. But I still allowed foot traffic.

One day I hear a thunk, thunk sound. So I wander over, and a group of 12–13 year olds were sitting with a raft in my driveway, throwing rocks at my private property, please treat with respect sign. Their parents had dropped them off, and then driven down stream to leave a vehicle there.

I raised my voice, I got all of their names. I threatened to wait for their father, and finally I told them that I would put up a gate, blocking access, with a sign saying access closed, because of the actions of these people, and then list their names. They apologized profusely, and never caused any more trouble.

One day while sitting on my deck on Sunday afternoon, two people walked across my yard, not 50 feet from me. I went and put on my shoes, to have a talk with them, by the time I caught up, they were naked having sex on the lawn furniture around my firepit. I took a picture and I asked them what they were doing, but it was already obvious. They said they were just going to go for a swim in the glacier fed river. They apologized, and put their clothes back on. I asked them why they walked right by my house, rather than use the trail I left open for people to walk to the river. They claimed that they were so excited to get to the river, that they never even noticed my house.

Another time I see somebody run into my outhouse, beside my firepit. So I wander over, and they had violent diarrhea, coating the toilet seat and their pants. I didn’t say anything rude, I just brought over the power washer, and made them spray it out. I also offered them an old pair of sweat pants, and a garbage bag for their pants, which they accepted.

After I blocked the driveway, because of motorized vehicles use, people started using the other driveway that went by my house. So I chained up the only river access past my house, so they would have to drive right back, beside my house on the way back.

Then they started randomly driving through bush and cutting trees to get to the river. I hauled in about 50 1 ton rocks, and placed them in easy spots. After a couple of years the brush had grown up beside the boulders.

One day I’m out splitting firewood, and I hear a big bang. Then this terrible squealing sound. So I wander towards the noise, and there is a truck just getting back on the road, steam shooting out of the grill, and oil dripping. The left front tire was at a 20 degree angle to the right tire. Something under the hood was squealing, and once he started driving down the road, he left a black mark for miles, and the tire screeched as well. I didn’t get the license plate, and I never saw the truck again. But it looked like he made it about 12 km, before the tire blew, judging by the black marks.

That’s what I do to trespassers. It depends on the circumstances

Remy: Try That in a Large Town (Jason Aldean parody)

It’s a sign of the times. America.

Funny.

What did someone do in TSA/airport security that made you say “You gotta be kidding me”?

I’d just spent a solid month working in Boulder, staying in a Residence Inn with a full kitchen… and I cook. I was heading home and decided to bring the small box of kosher salt I had purchased and used almost every night for a month. I got to the airport at my normal time… about 90 minutes before boarding. I checked one bag, and had a computer and a smaller bag that happened to have the salt box. I got to TSA, and the line was horrendous. No problem, I never get hassled, right?

The box of salt lit up the xray system. I got pulled out of line, the bag was to be searched, and just for good measure they were going to search and swab the computer bag. Oh. Damn.

I was asked if I had anything sharp or dangerous in the suitcase, and answered “No.” The bozo checking the luggage pulls out the box of salt and waves a couple of Denver cops over, convinced he’s found a terrorist. Holds the box of Morton Kosher Salt up to attract the attention of his supervisor. And then he pulls everything else out of the suitcase AND the computer backpack. I’m fed up. I’m watching time click down. He intends to make sure I miss my flight. I challenge him and he says it’s a white crystalline substance. I offer to taste it in front on him, and/or for him to taste it. I mean, it’s SALT. He tells me, first, that he’s an organic chemist, and then that salt is a normal constituent of organic explosives. I’m getting ready to go ballistic when one of the cops whispers, “Just calm down and let the idiot finish this thing”… THe TSA supervisor comes over, and calmly suggests I “surrender” the box of salt and the cop whispers “Do it”. I’m getting the sense the cops are really on my side. One’s quietly on his radio and neither are looking more than amused at the TSA agent being a salted idiot. Supervisor tells the agent to reassemble my stuff and get me out of there, and the agent wants to argue that, having had at least one piece of contraband there’s likely more. I think he wanted to find an assault rifle in my pocket or something. A little more persuasion by the supervisor, and my stuff is back in the xray system and is clean. I get my gear and start for the escalators that take you down to the train. Each cop grabs a bag from me, directs me to the escalator, and say, “Run, they’re holding a train.” Damn! There’s a train with lights flashing, and another cop keeping a door open and space clear in the car. We get to my departure terminal, and they still have my bags. Go up to the concourse and we’re a LONG way from a plane that’s supposed to be gone already. “RUN!”. I start heading for the gate and see 2 airline employees running toward me. They go past me and grab bags from the cops. One of the cops manages to get me his business card and says, “We saw everything he did. We have his name and badge number. If you want to file a complaint, we’ll back you up.” I stammered a thank you, and ran the rest of the way to the gate. They’d literally held a plane full of people so I could get home. My laptop was in my seat on the plane by the time I got down the aisle, and yes, my carryon bag was gate checked, and it, too, made the plane and the trip home.

All over a box of kosher salt and someone who might have had delusions of intelligence.

G60: the Story of China’s Other Starlink Competitor

By now, you have probably heard of China’s megaconstellation project to complete with Starlink: “Guowang”. But did you know that a second megaconstellation plan is emerging in the region of Shanghai? Called “G60 Starlink”, this constellation calls for 1,296 and then 12,000 satellites to be sent to low Earth orbit. There’s also a fascinating geopolitical twist involving Germany and the United States, highlighting the global struggle for licenses. Let’s dive deep into this story. Enjoy!

What’s the pettiest thing you’ve done to get back at a nuisance neighbor?

When we bought our house it became obvious rather quickly that we had a problem neighbor. Her property abutted ours at the back fence and she would throw her weeds over onto our property. I asked her politely to stop to no avail. She had also plumbed her washing machine from the garage through PVC piping that ran under our fence and over our property. Once again there was no reasoning with her as she told me she had lived in her house for over 20 years and we would just have to put up with it. Yes, I know I could have called the city to get it stopped but didn’t want to start an outright war in our new neighborhood. I got myself a long 2×2 and three lovely large Idaho potatoes and rammed them way up that drainage pipe. We all know what happens to potatoes in a dark, damp environment and I didn’t have to wait too long to know if my rather mean solution worked. The neighbor next door to her that was friendly towards me stopped to chat one day. He said “Poor Carol, her washing machine backed up and flooded her garage and when she called a plumber he told her it had been plumbed illegally and he had to replumb up to code; it cost her a lot.” “Oh what a shame,” said I and really had no guilt, or no more problems with her either.

What is the most expensive lesson a company got after firing an employee?

Ages ago, I worked for a magazine publisher, and was friends with a terrific editor in another department. She shepherded several “custom” magazines for important clients.

At some point, her husband landed a job in another state. Thinking she might like to live with him, so came up with a plan by which she’d continue with the magazines, working with staff via phone and overnight mail (this was the 1980s, so no email, videoconferencing, etc.) and monthly trips to HQ for face time.

Well, the idea of what today we know as remote working made no sense to the big thinkers in the front office, so they thanked her for her service and wished her well in the years ahead.

And found out that the clients weren’t in love with the company—they were in love with “their” editor! And when they learned they were losing her, they canceled their contracts.

Several million dollars. Gone. Just like that.

Worse: one of our regional competitors (who’d already hired away some of our people), swooped in, hired the editor, and landed at least one of the disgruntled clients she’d previously dealt with.

For the next several years she worked remotely for our competitor, exactly in the manner she’d outlined to her now former employer. Oops.

Footnote: The company we’d worked for, over 100 years old at that time, evaporated a few years later, under the peerless leadership described above. And our competitor? Still going, and bigger than ever.

Niger’s Bold Move: Halting Uranium Export to France and Expelling US Ambassador

“Africa must unite as one continent and kick out all foreign military forces in their counters and remove all puppet governments…..enough is enough how long still have the African child to suffer under the hands of this wicked people….If they want war war it shall be…..But know one thing African child God is with you and God will fight this final battle for your total and completely liberation from your oppressors….”

What was a gift that made you speechless?

My husband passed away suddenly 6 years ago. We were living in a fairly remote place, and I wanted to return to the area we came from, in the northeast. It was a huge move, because not only did I have an entire household, but all his tools and musical equipment, and 3 dogs. I was really unsure how I was going to accomplish this.

I had a friend I had never met in real life – we had become friends on a forum for people who had Doberman Pinschers, but it was much more than that – there were ongoing, fascinating threads on philosophy, politics, medicine, religion/spirituality, cooking, crafts, photography – you name it.

Anyway, we clicked, and had become quite close. I helped him tweak a CV for a new consulting business he was building, and he called me every single day for 4 months after my husband died, to make sure I was OK. Even my family didn’t do that.

When I found a place in NY, I began to make plans to move. He told me that when it was time to go, he was going to come help me move. I was floored. I couldn’t believe someone would be so generous of their valuable time. Sure enough, he flew out west, and spent 2 weeks helping pack and load things into a POD, then rent a UHaul, load that up with immediate things, and then we took off on a 10-day, 2500-mile trek across the country.

When we arrived here, he unloaded the truck & trailer, set things up for me, cooked for me, and all kinds of really supportive things. When the POD was delivered, he and a couple of guys unloaded it, and he put things wherever I needed them. He stayed for many weeks, not willing to leave until he felt I was secure and stable, and the house functioned for me.

To me, that was the most generous, kind, selfless and thoughtful gift I’ve ever gotten. We remain the best of friends, even though we are 1,000 miles apart. We do whatever we can to help each other and support each other, and I am lucky to have such a fantastic friend. True friends are more valuable than anything.

What does Huawei’s new phone series mean for Apple in China?

Just as Apple benefitted by cannibalizing Huawei’s drastic reduction in volume shipped since 2018/19, Huawei will cannibalize Apple’s increased market share today.

China has reached peak iPhone. Apple will not set new sale records in Greater China anymore.

The iPhone depends on foreign suppliers for many components. America’s trade and tech war with China has forged a divergence in the supply chain, because doing business with certain entities can trigger landmines that cripple and maim. Industry players either have a reduced customer base or can only shop from a limited number of suppliers. This has worsened as America continue to abuse sanction privilege.

This strategy works only if one side is at relative disadvantage, such as a tech/quality gap. But what happens when there are different core strengths distributed between the sides? Apple won’t have open access to the best components, on account of risk or actual restrictions. Apple’s iphone is heavily dependent on Chinese engineering, and these partners have helped deliver new model generations like clockwork for more than 15 years. The very basis for the Apple hardware eco-system may need to be relooked.

As Huawei and partners continue to make independent inroads to the premium space, partners that used to rely heavily on Apple’s business will be enticed to offer their best components to domestic competition. This is prudent risk management, brought to the forefront by the draconian nature of the Huawei sanctions.

There may come a point in time where the best that Apple can find ex-China is a step down from what the Chinese competition can deliver. The smartphone standards of tomorrow will be increasingly written by the Chinese.

Case in point: batteries and chargers today. 6G, and imaging tomorrow.

Honor is headquartered in Shenzhen.

Note: There are really only three legs left in the smartphone business: Apple, Samsung, and the Chinese.

Oliver Anthony – “90 Some Chevy” REACTION

I like this song. Love her reaction.

Two Chinese phrases

In the Chinese-language reporting on the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, two Chinese phrases keep showing up:

去美化 which means “de-Americanization” of the supply chain, and in a broader sense, removing anything American;
自主品牌 which means “self-owned (Chinese) brands” as opposed to foreign brands like Apple

Huawei tapped into the pent-up Chinese anger at how China has been treated by the west, but which did not have a chance to show. The launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro and its record orders are a way for ordinary Chinese to show that they have had enough of the tough talk coming from the US, and even though the Chinese economy, and especially real estate are slow, they now have a way to show that the old way of doing things no longer work for them.

This is why they have rallied around de-Americanization of the supply chain and Chinese brands.

Chinese brands will now have to face questioning from Chinese customers.

“Do you have foreign components in your products? If you do, why do you need foreign components when Chinese components which are just as good are available?”

This means that the leading US chip brands: Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia are going to be hit really hard. TSMC will be hit hard for siding with the US and supporting US decoupling from China.

Chinese nationalism is a very powerful force in Chinese history, and the US has released it. Only the Chinese Communist Party can control it and keep it from going completely wild.

While the US and many Americans hate the Party, it is the devil which the US knows.

The other devils are much, much worse than the Party.

MY HUSBAND COULDN’T STOP CRYING!!! OLIVER ANTHONY – I’VE GOT TO GET SOBER (REACTION)

“One thing I’ve been noticing is that Oliver Anthony is making grown men cry, more than a lot of other sad songs people react to. And the reason why, I believe, is because here is this man. This God fearing, manly man, honest and true, expressing himself as a man. There is nothing weak about it. He touches men’s nerves from one man to another man, without any elements of weakness or inferiority or even femininity. He’s allowing men to feel understood and allowing then to express themselves.”

What is the most heartbreaking thing you have seen in the United States?

We didn’t know what to do.

We were in a mediocre restaurant in Arizona having flown there from Canada. Our waitress was in her early 80s and had rheumatoid arthritis in her gnarled, misshaped hands and feet, and there she was working as a waitress. She was suffering with every step and with every movement of her hands. Another waitress was the same. Their hands and feet were swollen. We didn’t know where to look.

In Canada we don’t see this. If an elderly woman with difficulties works in a restaurant it’s because she owns it and won’t go home.

So seeing a waitress this age with rheumatoid arthritis working this way was shocking to us and very upsetting. We ordered tea and toast so she would not have heavy plates to lift. We left her a $50.00 tip and got out of there.

Watching these women struggle this way was heartbreaking. I hope I never see this again.

What is the most offensive thing someone has ever asked you?

A friend of my wifes mother responded to my wife’s pleasant email, about taking her getting extra vacation this year, so she would be stopping by when visiting her mother. The mothers friend just replied WTF.

My wife was stunned, and wondered what she meant by it.

I said the best thing is to just ask her

So my wife asked what she intended by saying WTF.

The reply was “Fantastic”

My wife phoned her, to clarify.

It turns out her grand daughter always says WTF in her texts.

So she asked her what it meant, and the grand daughter, rolling her eyes had told her “Well That’s Fantastic”

So she had been using it to appear modern, whenever she heard good news.

My wife phoned her mother’s friends daughter, ( a school friend) and told her, what her 13 year old daughter had told her grandmother, and had her straighten it all out.

She couldn’t bear to let this nice old lady continue to use WTF in completely inappropriate circumstances.

African American moved to Ghana to build a 4 bedroom home and live her dream life |Exploring Asebu

In this video, we meet the very lovely Karen King and check out her 4 bedroom home in Asebu’s Pan African Village. We had such a great time talking to her, walking through her home and learning about her journey in Ghana so far.

What do Americans in the US love most about Americans?

My favorite part about Americans and American culture in general is what I call “the American Mulligan”. Here, in the US, failure is expected. Starting a business and having it collapse? Just a part of growth and improvement. Got fired from your senior manager role for performance? That’s okay, these kinds of things happen. Changed careers at 35? Great! We love that because it makes you more well-rounded.

In the US, we love a comeback to such a degree that in my business (tech recruiting), we almost look for candidates who’ve tried and failed to run a business. They are wiser and generally manage better than people who’ve had smooth sailing their entire professional career. When I talk with my professional friends from other countries, they generally cite this as one of the best parts about being in the US.

Should Apple distance itself from China?

If Apple were to distance itself from China, it must find another place that has skilled people in suffiucient numbers, the same level of automation as China, and the availability of alternative raw materials that China can provide.

The only country that is big enough to meet the needs is India. So Apple moved some production to India a few years go. But it turned out to be a disaster because there are not enough skilled people in India and they still need to rely on China’s supply chain. As a result of the lack of sufficient skilled workers, the defect rate came to about 50% – pushing costs ridiculously high.

Apple has now abandoned most of the production in India, suffering huge losses, and wants to come back to China.

THE NEW KING OF SOUL!!! OLIVER ANTHONY – 90 SOME CHEVY (REACTION)

We all going to church and didn’t even know it…this guy is showing us all that we do have a common bond…it’s called life…and trying to live it. Keep on preaching Oliver. Take us all to church

I caught my neighbor using my electrical outlets outside, and I told him I was going to call the cops and tell them what he was doing. He laughed and said I can’t prove it. What should I do?

As a master electrician, I solved my issue very easily. My (now ex) neighbor was using the outside outlet on my detached garage to build his addition. I turned the breaker off – he turned it on. I asked him to stop and he did not.

I simply rewired the neutral on the 120 volt outlet to convert it to 240 volts, watched (and grinned) as he burned up his table saw, his battery charger and a table router all within one day. He had no idea as to why.

If he has simply asked, as he should have, before using my power, I would probably have allowed it – as least for a reasonable amount of time.

EDIT 1: I have had some suggestions that I could get into trouble with my “fix”. I did disclose to the neighbor what I did a few days later and he called the sheriff’s office. The deputy that came out listened to both sides and then asked ME if I wanted to charge the neighbor with theft. I just let it drop and he moved out a short time later.

EDIT 2: I have had some people say that I should have put “warnings” on my answer about the possibility of fire and personal injury. C’mon people! This is a REPLY to a post – NOT a TUTORIAL!!!

Have you ever had a pet that was almost unnaturally intelligent?

My father bought a horse when I was about 13, mainly because he was very placid in the sales ring. He was an exceedingly nice and smart horse, a very good riding horse who loved people. He would respond to spoken instructions such as, “go and get the bucket and I will give you some oats.” I did not teach him that, I just said it one day and he brought me the empty bucket. Ten years later I was home for a visit and a car stopped by our pasture. A man of about age 30 got out and walked out to the horse who whinneyed and ran up to him, acting like a big dog to his favorite master. The man told us that he raised that horse from birth, but his father sold him when the boy was sent to Vietnam. He started giving him subtle signals and the horse would dance, kneel down, stand up on his back legs, and even gave that fella a kiss on the cheek. He asked how much to buy him back. My Dad said, “Son, he’s yours. Thanks for your service. Your horse is mighty glad you came back for him.”

MY SISTER COULDN’T CONTROL IT!!💔OLIVER ANTHONY – I’VE GOT TO GET SOBER

“I grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee within the USA. Working very hard as a child in a family business. Worked my way through college and into a technical role. So, ladies, my life is very different from yours, but even so, I see both of you as my sisters in my heart because the unifying message within OAM has built a bridge from my soul to yours.”

FLASH: U.S. Moving Combat Jets to Romania – “in addition to others committed to NATO”

World Hal Turner

The United States is moving Combat Aircraft to Romania — but not for NATO. What does THAT translate to, in your mind? US v. Russia directly? Word of this came from US Ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Kavalec.

“The United States plans to station combat aircraft in Romania in addition to those performing NATO air policing duties” said the Ambassador.

Notice she said “Combat” aircraft. Not refueling tankers or cargo planes . . . . no . . . . she explicitly said combat aircraft.

Did all of us somehow miss a vote in Congress about some minor little detail like direct US war against Russia?

How do you handle that one relative who insists every time on ordering the most expensive item at the restaurant when you are paying?

Not quite the same.

Every Mother’s Day the family would go out for dinner and of course we all chipped in the same amount & it covered Mom’s meal and the tip (10 people + Mom).

We’re 7 adults and 3 ‘kids’ so no big issue, right? But…this one time was too much for me.

Grand daughter came with her boyfriend, daughter & son, 2 of them are drinking age and I can’t remember how much alcohol they ordered but it was at least 3 mimosas and 3 glasses of wine.

Only 2 of their meals were from the Mother’s Day specials.

Rest of us ordered from the specials menu & I think 3 glasses of wine & 2 beers. This place was VERY reasonably priced.

I was single mother of 2, 1 of which was working & not able to attend and the other had health issues, not a big eater.

I ordered a special & my son ordered 2 appetizers & 2 glasses of milk (he asked before ordering the 2nd milk because money is tight for us).

I drank water with dinner & for dessert I had tea & son & I shared the dessert that came with my meal.

Bill comes & I hand over $40 hoping it will cover our share (if you took off the bar tab it should have been no more than $35!).

I asked if they needed more from us.

The grand daughter & crew on the other hand, chipped in $60 – wait? What? For 4 people + chip-in +tax & tip? The person handling the bill said something & I think they chipped in another $30 (really should have been at least another $40!

A year later Mother’s Day coming up again.

Family wants to make plans again to go out.

I told them no, I can’t afford it.

My sister pushed & pushed for why – I finally told them I can’t afford everyone’s bar tab!

We went, everyone paid their OWN bar tab & guess what?

Only cost me $35! Grand daughter & crew ordered more reasonably priced food & had a MUCH smaller bar tab!

Southern Pineapple Pound Cake

Ingredients

8 eggs
2 cups Crisco
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
3 cups flour
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Cream sugar and shortening.
Add eggs one at a time.
Add flour and salt gradually.
Stir in vanilla extract and pineapple.
Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 350 degrees F for about 1 1/2 hours. Or bake in two greased and floured loaf pans for about 1 hour.

SINGING FROM HIS SOUL!!! OLIVER ANTHONY – AIN’T GOT A DOLLAR (REACTION)

A broken vessel was chosen to remind us GENTLY AND ONCE AGAIN, that we are one. This is generational. Who else could walk onto some side stage at a festival and immediately draw the entire crowd from every genre and have them all know that he’s their voice?…..huggi g…laughing…..crying. Again, this is NOT of this earth. We gotta all be praying for our bizarre, broken vessel RIGHT NOW. Evil despises this man.

Huawei raises production order for Mate 60 Pro by 10M due to high demand

The original order was 6M units.

Some project 35M units sold by year-end.

This will put strong pressure on the Apple iPhone 15 line which launches on Sept. 12. Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro line is expected to take sales from the high-end for Apple.

Xiaomi, OPPO are going to have a very hard time surviving in this very challenging environment.

Huawei is now Team China, and Apple is Team USA.

What is the reason for China’s sudden massive increase in their gold reserves?

Last year China held $1.3 trillion dollars worth of US bonds. … with other asset kept in US bank.. making a total of 3.5 trillions dollars in foreign reserves…ALL kept in the USA.

Last year, Biden confiscated US$300 billions of Russia’s foreign reserves …kept in the US banks. This was a warning to China…the same thing can or will happen to China.

The US is now bankrupt…unable to repay its debts. Biden plans play DIRTY… His plan was to start a war with China and using the war as the excuse …to confiscate all the US$3.5 trillions dollars China has in reserves (10 times more than what Biden has stolen from Russia).

China is not stupid.

Last year, China sold US$580 billions dollars in US bond and bought gold bars. (US bond is the easiest to liquidate). The first six months of 2023, China sold other asset in the US … China bought 108 tons of gold.

China will progressively sell off its holding of US bond and other US debts …to buy more gold …until all the 3.5 trillions dollars in US reserves are completely liquidated.

Holding gold bars is much safer than holding US bonds.

Arriving with only the clothes on your back

When I left my retirement in Arkansas and flew to China, the airlines lost my baggage. So when I arrived in China, all that I had was a backpack, some of my most important papers, my laptop computer, and what I was wearing.

At that time, and to this day, I wear very comfortable clothes on planes during air travel. And given TSA back in the State’s, my clothes were simple;

Black hospital scrubs, and black slippers with black socks.

So, here I am arrived in China, with literally only the clothes on my back.

And for the first month or so, I had to live and wear in them until I got settled in, reestablished, and start earning money again.

In hindsight, it’s kind of funny.

Everyone, including my wife, wanted me to toss those things and never wanted to see me in them ever again. As a result, she went on a spending spree and outfitted me right and proper.

…

I don’t know what the fuck I was doing when I planned this cluster-fuck of a life, but I’ve got to tell you all, it’s almost a parody. Seriously.

Did I have a sense of humor, or was my “crew” trying to make a point when they planned my pre-birth world-line template?

I wonder…

…how many meme’s have I personally experienced in this life? Hum….

Enterprise Under Attack from the Suliban Part II

Stra Trek Enterprise Season 2 Episode 16 Future Tense

Carolina Hot Dog Chili

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds ground beef
1 large onion (about 1 cup chopped)
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon cider or white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (optional)

Instructions

Place the beef, onion and 2 cups of water in a Dutch oven or soup pot over high heat. Bring to the water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and stir to begin breaking up the meat.
Add the tomato paste, ketchup, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper, if using. Stir well until the tomato paste and ketchup are dissolved and the meat is mostly broken up.
Continue to cook at a simmer, stirring about every 5 minutes, about 15 minutes. As the chili thickens, you may need to reduce the heat to medium-low or low so it doesn’t stick. Refrigerate, covered, up to 2 days, or freeze in small freezer bags for up to 6 months.
Thaw or reheat in a microwave, stirring often.

If you want a finer texture, you can cool the chili at least 20 minutes and process in a blender or food processor for 30 to 45 seconds.

Are India’s GDP numbers intentionally misleading, suggesting that the country is faking its economic data?

I don’t really see GDP numbers too closely

They may fudged be but by very small margins

Say tomorrow we are at $ 4.981 trillion, then it’s possible we may fudge to somehow make it appear that we have reached $ 5 Trillion

There is no conceivable way that any GDP number is off beyond say 2% at the most

The Point is Economic Development can be seen with your own eyes and not on paper

Take UP

I visited UP and traveled to quite a few places

I saw nothing to indicate bountiful prosperity

There was nothing to indicate the hum of a busy growing economy

Sure they had nice roads and a lot of nice commercial and techno parks but frankly it looked like more like

If you build it they will come

That’s what happens when you don’t develop your own populace with good secondary and tertiary education and instead rely on only investments under gun point or unrealistic concessions by the state

Now Take Bangalore or Hyderabad or Chennai

They are buzzing with activity and you can see that the economies are doing well

The Problem in India is that a few cities and few hubs are carrying the weight of the entire nation

There are 3 Key points in a booming economy

Unemployment is pretty low
Savings are pretty high (>= 36%)
Inflation is typically 50% of RORR

India has neither of the three

Unemployment is way above the target 5%
Gross Savings are 30.20%
RORR is 7% and Inflation is 5.05% which is way above the 3.50% target

That alone tells me there are pending issues that need looking into

As a teacher, what’s the most personal thing a child has told you about their parent(s) that they definitely were not supposed to mention?

I taught a shop class in an inner city high school…One day as the students were changing into work clothes I noticed some relatively new wounds on Jerome’s back…I politely and discreetly took him into my office and asked him what happened…He told me his step father had tied him to a metal bed spring and beat him with a coathanger…I knew where he lived so when school was out for the day I went to his apt and his stepdad was there…I proceeded to beat the living shit out of that evil man…And told him if he wasn’t gone before Jeromes bus got there I’d finish the job…AND call the cops…I drug his worthless carcass down to his pos car and he drove off…never to be seen again. Jerome stayed in my class for the full 3 years and graduated high school…Neither of us ever mentioned it…30 years later Jerome still calls me to visit ever so often…

The US Bankrupting Itself on Wars -w/ Ron Paul, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen

Oh HELL yeah! The dignified and stately Dr. Ron Paul is one of the very best Americans living. Thanks very much for this, you guys.

A laughable 89% of the Chinese people actually trust their authoritarian government! Where are the renaining 11% who do not?

Laughable because you are ignorant and naive like a 5 years old kid. If you know the truth you will be the one of the 89% too.

While the U.S. real standard of living deteriorated back to the 1960’s Chinese real standard of living grew 30 times in 40 years! While 35% in the U.S. has no health insurance, every single Chinese gets free health care. While the U.S. kids get into debts for just getting into college Chinese are provided totally free college tuition.

Chinese average life expectancy overtook the U.S. in the last 2 years straight. While your infrastructure is crumbling China has the latest state of the art ports, airports, highways, high speed railways. While your trains travel at snail speed China’s high speed trains travel at 400 KM per hour.

Do you still laugh now? To be honest everyone in the world is laughing at you. You want to know about the 11% so that you can orchestrate a coup? Organised a protest and a demonstration? Do a colour revolution? And you think the Chinese are fools to give you the information? Just because you have a IQ of a snail doesn’t mean others are the same like you!

Tex-Mex Biscuits

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup enriched hominy grits or quick grits
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese (with or without jalapeno peppers), shredded
1/2 cup dairy sour cream
1/4 cup milk

Instructions

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
Combine dry ingredients; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Stir in cheese.
Combine sour cream and milk; add to dry ingredients, mixing just until moistened. Shape dough to form a ball; knead gently on lightly floured surface 10 to 12 times. Roll dough to 3/4 inch thickness. Cut with floured 2-inch biscuit cutter. Place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield: 12 biscuits

Have you ever applauded an act of vigilante justice?

This is Kalinka Bamberski, who used to be a 14-year-old from France.

During the summer of 1982, she briefly stayed in Lindau, Germany, with her mother and her stepfather, Dr. Dieter Krombach.

On July 9th of that summer, Krombach killed Kalinka. The next day, Krombach told the authorities that he simply found Kalinka dead in the morning.

Autopsies could not determine the exact cause of her death, and Krombach got away with the murder. This led Kalinka’s biological father, Andre, to grow suspicious and to investigate further.

Despite the authorities’ failure to discern the exact cause of Kalinka’s death, there were multiple red flags in the original autopsy: Kalinka’s corpse had multiple injection marks, fresh blood stains and a “whitish substance” around the genitals, and indigested food near the throat suggesting that she died soon after a meal.

Andre, rightfully suspecting that his daugher was raped, called for an additional investigation. This time, the authorities discovered clear evidence that, right before her death, Kalinka was injected with a drug named “Kobalt-Ferrlecit,” a substance capable of causing immediate discomfort and nausea in a victim. Andre pressed a case against Krombach, but the German courts judged that there was insufficient evidence for an indictment. Despite multiple red flags, Krombach was not indicted.

In 1995, however, the French courts officially sentenced Krombach in absentia to 15 years in prison for manslaughter.

Furthermore, later in 1997, Krombach admitted in a German trial that he had drugged and raped another girl using Kobalt-Ferrlecit, the same substance found in Kalinka’s corpse. Numerous other girls came forth, saying that Krombach had also raped them using the same drug. For this, the German courts took away his medical license, but did not sentence him to prison.

Unfortunately, in 2001, Krombach’s French manslaughter conviction of 1995 was annulled by the European Court of Human Rights, the reason being that Krombach was not capable of defending his case in that French trial. Not only was the 1995 French verdict annulled, but all attempts to extradite him for retrial were rejected.

But for Andre, the case was not over. Andre was deeply frustrated at the international legal system’s failure to bring justice; he decided he was going to take justice into his own hands.

In 2009, Andre and three other men secretly kidnapped Krombach from Germany, beat him up, and left him tied up near a French police station, allowing the French authorities to detain him and honor their 1995 decision.

Despite Germany’s requests to bring him back, French officials and courts ignored these complaints and officially re-tried Krombach.

With other victims testifying that Krombach had injected them with the same drug to rape them, on October 22, 2011, Krombach was finally sentenced to 15 years in prison for manslaughter.

Kalinka’s father, Andre, was convicted and given a suspended sentence for abducting Krombach.

But in my opinion? Andre Bamberski was a heroic father who spent 30 years of his life to bring justice for his daughter’s death. Yes, he broke the law — but refusing to convict Krombach earlier and ignoring the mountatin of evidence against him was a clear failure in the international justice system.

For Andre’s determination and commitment, I applaud him.

Prof. Richard Wolff on American Labor: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Pretty good and very interesting.

If China is indeed collapsing, why is every leader visiting China? Why is the US commerce secretary visiting China?

Reality vs Propaganda

The USA imports almost $ 560 Billion of Goods from China

Guess the retail value of these goods?

$ 1.567 Trillion or almost $ 1.6 Trillion

This means a US importer who pays $ 27.50 for a Jeans from China sells it for $ 69.99 retail

A Laptop imported for $ 700 from China sells retail for $ 1199

A Burnished Ebony Table Factory made. Imported with 6 Chairs for $ 121 from China sells retails for $ 249

Hence $ 564 Billion of Imports from China makes around $ 1.6 Trillion to the US Importers

1.6 Trillion Dollars Or around 6.5% of US GDP

Now let’s do the opposite

The US exports $ 165 Billion to China

Guess their retail value?

Around $ 255–260 Billion only

Why?

Because China exports low cost products manufactured with CONTINUOUS VALUE ENHANCEMENT from Market pricing and Brand pricing and Technology pricing

A $ 37 Purse of Calf Leather retails for $ 360 with a Gucci brand name

A $ 3.10 T Shirt retails for $ 43.99 with a Tommy Hilfiger Brand name

However US exports products with almost ZERO VALUE ENHANCEMENT POTENTIAL

Soybeans, Wheat, Corn, Semiconductors, Advanced Machinery etc

There is very little value enhancement due to market pricing or Brand pricing or Technology Pricing

Even a Boeing makes at the most a couple of million dollars commission to a Chinese Importer while earning nearly 100 Million Dollars to the US Economy

You see right?

No Nation on earth can export $ 564 Billion worth of goods to the USA

It’s estimated that at thrice the manufacturing potential today – India, Vietnam and Mexico combined can export $ 338 Billion worth of Goods by 2030

This that’s around $ 226 Billion of Exports but also around $ 700 Billion of final retail goods

That’s the amount that US players and entities will be deprived off if US entirely decouples from China EVEN IN 2030 with India, Vietnam and Mexico tripling their Industrial Output

Even then US Economy and it’s players will be deprived of $ 700 Billion Dollars which by 2030 could be around $ 1 Trillion with inflation

That’s a lot of jobs, lots of payments GONE

Meanwhile China?

China may lose around $ 564 Billion of Exports in decoupling

At 0.4% inflation

That’s $ 580 Billion vs $ 1 Trillion

So even in the worst case scenario of US entirely decoupling from China and India, Mexico and Vietnam tripling their Industrial output today – China would lose $ 580 Billion while US would lose a whopping $ 1 Trillion

At normal Industrial output for these three nations, US would lose $ 2.4 Trillion or nearly 4.5 times as much as China stands to lose as an economy

Same for EU

Same for ASEAN

Same for India

Its why Raimondo visits China

It’s why 27 Chinese entities were removed from a Blacklist recently

The Media has been spinning fiction and propaganda so far and China hasn’t cared

Now if China decides to take their revenge by drastically cutting off key exports of say $ 100 Billion, then US cannot source more than $ 30 Billion from other countries

China loses $ 100 Billion but US loses around $ 210 Billion of value to it’s economy

That’s 44% of the projected $ 470 Billion that the US Economy hopes to enhance itself this year at 1.8% growth

So Raimondo says

Please keep trading with us as usual. Ignore what we say in our media. Our contention with you is for the $ 10–15 Billion portion of our Trade, let’s keep the balance $ 685–690 Billion of Trade as normal

That’s why China doesn’t need to visit everybody and reassure anyone much

Everyone loses far far more by decoupling with China

So ultimately it creates a slow down globally where China albeit having very low growth still beats the rest of the world

Solving The Most Mysterious Children in History

THREE STORIES: The Most Mysterious Children in History In 12th century England, two children were found lost in a forest.

They spoke only gibberish, wore strange clothing and had bright green skin.

When the children finally learned to speak English, they described where they were from.

And that’s why, after almost 1,000 years, people still talk about The Green Children of Woolpit.

In 1828, a teenage boy was shuffling through a public square in Nuremburg. He seemed confused and disoriented.

He had trouble walking and speaking. When police finally approached him, he was holding an envelope containing two letters.

And those letters sparked the mystery of Kaspar Hauser.

In April 1922, in Brittany, France, 2-year-old Pauline Picard went missing. A massive search turned up nothing.

The family was losing hope. A month later, Pauline was found wandering around a village over 200 miles away.

Though her parents were overjoyed to have her back, they soon realized something wasn’t quite right with their daughter. These are three unsolved cases of the most mysterious children in history.

POMPEO said ‘Covert operations, ousting democratically elected governments, inciting revolts and supporting transnational companies are run of the mill operations for the CIA.’ WHO GAVE THEM THOSE RIGHTS?

We did, all us minions. America was once set up having a government described as ‘a government of the people, for the people, by the people’, but the people couldn’t be bothered and went home, leaving ‘those who shouldn’t be’ in charge. Industry filled the vacuum created by our conspicuous absence, which over time gave way to the American Industrial Military Complex which runs the country today.

Now industry owns the puppet show called ‘Democracy’, which in no way should be confused with actual democracy, and yet we continually pretend they are one and the same, and that our vote counts, even though voting either left or right basically changes nothing of significance. Results may vary but the rich are always always always the primary beneficiary, either way they lean.

We demand and receive empty platitudes, and are duly amused by military antics across the globe, ignoring the fact that such behavior merely mirrors us here at home, and that the same shit is pulled on our own, until folks like Snowden and Assange et al dare to shatter our deliberately cultivated ignorance. No matter, we have ways to deal with such moral assholes, as throwing them under the bus in various ways has become a time honored national pastime.

So, when you want to look at who’s at fault, go look in the mirror. When you wish to look deeper, check out your family albums. We are the bloody problem, and as we are paying the price, with record numbers driven from their homes in this rich nation, and yet, still we refuse to accept responsibility for our democracy, knowingly leaving it in the manipulative hands of industry, which is exactly how to kill actual democracy, regardless of the puppet show which operates by the same name.

Whether you love Trump or hate him, he reflects us, and had he actually run the country as we pretend to believe, he would have surely killed it, as would Biden. We need to wake the fuck up to the reality we have created, and make the necessary changes within ourselves which can then be reflected through our leadership, before it’s too late, if it’s not already.

But who among us want to actually be the change we want to see?

Who?

What scary gut feeling did you have that turned out to be true?

Many years ago, when I was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I had a work commute on a typical Monday through Friday schedule.

One evening on my way home from work, I turned off a main street into the side streets that would lead me the rest of the way home. It was a very familiar drive and I knew each block well – which ones had a stop sign for me, which ones had stop signs for the cross traffic, and which ones had four-way stops. I was cruising the last few blocks toward home and had no more stop signs, so I was probably going about 35 mph when suddenly it was as if someone inside my head said, “Slow down!” It was so forceful and unexpected, I did just that. “Slower!” was the next command, and then again, “Slower!”

I was just about to chalk it all up to being a little kookie after a long day, when suddenly someone driving a vehicle on the cross street blew through their stop sign at an alarming rate of speed. I am 100% certain if I had not slowed down, I would have been T-boned by someone doing a good 60–70 mph. The close call freaked me out. I’m not a religious person, but it sure felt like I had a guardian angel that day.

Dead For 7 Minutes; Man Is Shown Past Lives During Incredible NDE

Have you ever had a bad gut feeling about someone and it was right?

Yes. My dad’s best friend growing up has a son my age. We were really close as kids but they moved away and I didn’t talk to him for years. When we were teens, my dad’s friend came to visit. Something about his son literally made my skin crawl. I was left alone at home with him and my three young siblings while the parents went out for the night and I was nearly frantic trying to ensure he did not have a moment alone with my siblings. When our parents returned I told them something was wrong with the son, and to please not leave me alone with him again. My dad was upset and demanded to know why I would say that, did the son do something? He honestly hadn’t actually done or said anything that I could pin this feeling on. So I told them, I think my animal brain just knows a predator when I see one. My dad thought I was being dramatic but my mom believed me and made sure we weren’t alone with the son for the rest of their visit. About a year later it turned out the son got caught in the act of raping his niece. He told the police he was glad he was caught because he couldn’t stop himself. My dad has never doubted my intuition since.

Tony Confronts Tony Blundetto – The Sopranos HD

When Tony B looks up after Tony S said someone got a look at the guy. That’s the reaction of someone who did it. Split second panic and then cool as a breeze. Steve Buscemi nailed it.

What work secret did you accidentally find out that changed everything?

I worked for a major retail company, in a team running the mainframe.

One task was keeping the (huge, size of a car trailer) printers running.

Some printouts were for the board, and these we were told to check for misprints and missing pages.

We’d just been told that we couldn’t have any pay rises since there wasn’t any money in the budget. Inflation was running high, so not getting a pay rise really meant a pay cut.

The company annual account report was printed and I was checking it before putting it in internal mail.

I noticed that the IT department budget was underspent by half a million!

No money for pay rises!

Showed printout to my manager. He ran off with it to the copier. Multiple copies of the page showing the surplus in the IT department were placed around the department.

We got pay rises.

Ralph Cifaretto Refuses Tony’s Drink – The Sopranos HD

Why is Huawei able to get a large number of chips to release new mobile phone products like Mate 60?

SMIC has been making 7nm custom GPUs for the past 2–3 years, mostly for crypto customers who couldn’t get in the TSMC queue.

This filled real market demand that other players didn’t, or couldn’t.

SMIC used this opportunity to refine its process, on the quiet.

Huawei, in the meantime, found willing partners to share talent and resources, in a concerted effort to save the high-tech industry on the mainland from American destruction through the threat of sanction.

How did Huawei et. al. find the tools necessary for chip design, especially the GPU? What black magic did Huawei use to improve the transistor geometry? How did they penetrate the Qualcomm 5g patent wall? I don’t know. Neither does my friend in TSMC. It’s a separate ecosystem now, and quite independent.

The fog of war has descended, but the outcome point to solidarity across the ranks, with competitors working together like they are part of a conglomerate.

The Chinese are capable of cooperation on unheard of scale, because of long history.

The Mate 60 Pro is merely a first step, lacking polish and maturity. What’s coming though, will be a deluge.

Alien Artifacts on Mars: What NASA doesn’t want you to know

This is fun. But don’t take too seriously.

Is it true that Huawei phones are monitored by the Chinese government?

Of course. The Chinese government really wants to know how many times you call your girlfriend every week, and which are your favourite games, and which pop stars you follow on Instagram, and most of all they are interested in the photos of your meals that you regularly post on Facebook.

These are vital secrets so critical for the national security of the USA, so the evil communist spies from China will be watching intently. Remember that well, and be careful! The everyday events of your online life have the devastating potential to alter the direction of global geopolitics and the history of the world, basically.

How Huawei Mate60 5G Overcome US Sanctions? | Time to invest in Chinese tech stocks

100 sanctions. Imprisonment of it’s CEO. Mandatory shutdown of partner factories in the West.

Huawei survived!

This is really good.

Are you worried that China’s new $40 billion state fund for semiconductor manufacturing will disrupt the global supply chain for advanced chips?

Why worry US. Remember most Yanks still think Chinese live in caves and eat bats! To these hubris Yanks China can only make T-shirts and toys. And U.S. can deprived them technologies and send them back to the Stone Age.

Well, what happened? While the U.S. is still in the midst of ordering and coercing Taiwan to build its chip plant to manufacture 7nm chips that it thinks China is unable to do. To the horrors of U.S. officials. It took a mere 3 years for China to. Make it and now inside the Huawei Mate 60!

Where are the neocons who convince Biden to spend a trillion in losses, in subsidies, in coercions, in tax breaks, in new shining plants, in luring specialist to the U.S. only to see that China get it done in no time and made products that are not only comparable but better, faster and cheaper!

Huawei may have developed its own 5G chip to bypass US sanctions

Huawei, under tight US sanctions since 2019, started selling its latest Mate 60 Pro smartphone this week, raising speculation about its 5G capabilities. Some online reviews claim the device comes with the Kirin 9000s chip to support 5G and satellite calls.

The US and some European governments have labelled the Chinese giant a threat to national security, despite the company’s denial. Huawei had restricted access to US components and software, including from foreign chipmakers.

Early this year, Japan and the Netherlands joined the US effort to curb the export of advanced semiconductors. However, Huawei has been rumoured to be actively trying to overcome these sanctions to return to the 5G smartphone market, even resuming production on advanced chips with China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).

Why does it matter?

Huawei’s development of its 5G chip may have implications for the tech industry, the global economy, and national security.

The smartphone launch coincides with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to Beijing, reiterating the Biden administration’s stance on export controls to China.

If the new Mate 60 Pro is confirmed to have a 5G chip, that would mark a significant achievement for the Chinese tech champion.

China’s ability to produce its own advanced chips would also announce a considerable advancement in technological capabilities and would mean a serious blow to current US measures aimed at slowing its progress.

It could inspire the country’s largest tech firms to get around US sanctions, fueling the ‘whole nation‘ endeavor to produce Chinese innovation to beat the US.

Breaking Bad – Shooting Tuco Scene (S2E2)

Why do people support Bernie Sanders?

I’ll tell you.

In the United States, I was a conservative Republican working at a wage earning job. Then, while driving for my employer, on a delivery, on the clock, at a red light I was stopped. A person who was not paying attention smashed into my stationary vehicle and totaled it, and sent me to the hospital.

The hospital bill was thousands upon thousands of dollars. My employer didn’t cover any of it. My automobile insurance replaced my new vehicle with an old one that barely ran. I ran up many thousands of dollars of medical debt that I couldn’t afford.

Note: I spent one hour at the hospital, getting one scan. I received zero actual treatment, before or after that scan. It still cost me more than I made in a year. And no, the insurance didn’t cover it. Insurance that would have covered it, would have taken up half of my wages in a given month.

Cut to a few years later. I am now happily married, living in Norway. Still an American citizen. My wife is Norwegian and the pay is much, much better here, because they have things called unions. I literally earn three times as much as I did in Florida, working the same type of job. Scratch that, I was in management in the USA. Here, it’s an entry level job, no promotion. I still make far more money than I did in the states.

But the point is, whenever I need to see a doctor now, I just go. Whenever I need an operation, I can afford it. Whenever I am sick, I take time off. Because over here, in Norway, they have single payer universal healthcare.

I’ve never seen a doctor more often than I have since moving to Norway. I’ve gotten medical conditions diagnosed that I never would have found the money for before. I’ve gotten sick leave from work when I have been ill. Seeing a doctor tends to cost less than I make in a day, and if I go over a certain amount in a year, I can pay nothing.

Instead of getting bills from a doctor for thousands of dollars, I end up paying around 30 bucks out of pocket each time.

The doctor earns plenty. They make slightly less money here, but are still among the highest paid people in society. The citizens are healthier, they live longer. They take their health more seriously. Norway spends more per patient than almost any other country in the world, and they cover every citizen, every resident, completely.

Norway still spends only about half as much as US citizens are forced to spend on their healthcare.

The reason is because healthcare is considered a right here, like getting a public school education. People don’t go without simply because they’re poor.

And as a result, lifespans and healthcare outcomes and healthcare expenses are all a better outcome or a cheaper deal here in Norway.

Bernie Sanders is one of the few politicians in my native United States who understands that progressive ideas like universal healthcare would greatly enhance the lives of my fellow citizens.

I care about my fellow citizens, and I’d like for my son to be able to live in the USA someday, as he is born to a US citizen and he can certainly go far there.

The problem is, if he decides to come to the USA; there won’t be a union fighting for him against corporate greed. There will be greatly reduced wages. And if he gets hurt, sick, or otherwise needs medical care, he will likely need to have far more money than he earns in order to get that care.

That’s ridiculous.

Of course, he could just get a college education (something that is free in Norway) and then he could afford the outrageous healthcare prices in the USA.

But if he wanted to get such an education in the USA, he could find himself a hundred thousand dollars in debt just for college alone, in a shitty economic downturn, without even the benefit of having a place to live. Throw on a mortgage payment on top of that, and he would be downright stupid to deliberately choose the USA over Norway.

The difference is that Norway governs for its citizens and certain things are prioritized here, like education and healthcare.

Whereas in the USA most of the money you spend in taxes goes towards prepping for world war 3 and giving subsidies to already profitable corporations, and then giving them loopholes where they don’t have to pay any corporate taxes at all. And then billionaires pay for senators to give them even more tax breaks personally, and then they use that money that should be funding your government services to bankroll candidates for the Republican ticket that will never, ever do anything to help a working class person.

I support Bernie Sanders because he’s spent decades representing working class people, without ever selling out. It’s a shame people keep rejecting him in favor of billionaires who bail themselves out on the taxpayer’s dime like Donald Trump.

Norway isn’t alone. Basically any other modern, western nation has a universal healthcare system of some kind, and doesn’t shit on the poor like the USA does under Republican rule. Needless to say, I don’t think much of my former political party. They haven’t done anything for any working person in at least 4 decades. I was a fool to support them at all when I was younger. I believed their lies, basically.

China’s Punishes Japan, Cancels $154 4 Billion Order!

https://youtu.be/Xwrfk3eD3bc

Is the Huawei Mate 60 Pro chip equal to the latest iPhone chip or even better?

The Mate 60 is superior to the performance of the Iphone 13 and is on par with the performance of Iphone 14

Yet the Mate 60 is expected to be half a generation below the Iphone 15

The Price of the Mate 60 however is at least 3000 Yuan lesser than the Iphone 15 and given the mild differences in performance between the two, the market for the mate 60 is likely to zoom and surge and definitely affect the market for the Iphone 15

I believe Iphone will lose around 15% of it’s present market share in China to Huawei due to the Mate 60 and the Mate 60 Pro Plus to be released in 2024 April

Saudi & Russia Have CHANGED The Game!

How come some of these parents did not discipline their children at an early age and then as they get older and get more and more into trouble they end up having to either go to jail or prison because they weren’t raised up by parenting skills 101?

I’ve often told this story:

As a child, I was an incorrigible thief. Absolutely nothing could stop me.

I stole books. We had no local library, no school library, and no money to buy books. And I WANTED TO READ! (That may have been why I developed the habit of re-reading books.) I also stole art supplies, but that wasn’t quite the same problem, because you didn’t need a new set of pastels every week. When I was caught, I was punished — usually beat, because that was punishment in Little Italy in the 1960s.

My brother also stole. He tended towards candy and comic books. He also got beat when he got caught.

When I turned 16 I got a job, and I never had to steal a book again. Within three months I had enough books (and money) to build my first bookshelf. My current bookshelf, which is about half the size of its maximum ever, is 13′ long and 7′ high. I built that one, too.

I don’t steal art supplies, either. I order them online.

My brother decided stealing was fun, and meant he didn’t have to work. He made a living illegally hooking up electric lines after the power was shut off; later, he added cable TV installations. And he didn’t need a full-time job, ever.

Same parents, same beatings, same reason — poverty. When I had a choice, I stopped stealing. When he had a choice, he became a better thief. Good parenting helps, but nothing will tell you why a child turned out the way they did.

Clear interference shown in docs leaked to Mintpress

This is pretty good. Heads up!

Why is the Huawei Mate 60 phone called “the world’s first phone that the CIA can’t monitor”?

Theoretically, any cell phone that makes calls through a terrestrial carrier could be monitored by the CIA. It doesn’t matter whether the phone is made in the United States, South Korea or China.

After all, their signals and data must eventually be aggregated into the operator’s computer room and lines.

However, Mate60 is so unique that it is the first mobile phone in the world that can send short messages and make calls directly through artificial satellites. Previous similar products required the help of ground operators for transit.

Some people may say: CIA will also monitor satellites! Of course.

But what if these satellites are not operated by Americans?

Yes, if two people hold Mate60 at the same time, they can rely on a series of artificial satellites in space for global communication that do not rely on the United States. Perfectly avoiding every link that the CIA may touch.

The Future of the WORLD is here in CHINA!

A new trend: Leading young Chinese physicists, engineers refuse to study, work in the US

While many Chinese scientists and engineers have returned to China after working years in the US, there is a newer trend which just came to my attention: Young Chinese star physicists and engineers are refusing to go to US universities and companies for study and then work, and are choosing to do their post-graduate study and work in China.

Why?

They have seen how research and product patents are owned by US universities and companies, and are used against Chinese companies and interests if a tech war breaks out.

They do not want their inventions used against Chinese companies and interests, so they choose to stay in China.

Huang Qianqian 黄芊芊 is a leading student and researcher on electricity consumption in chips, who went to Beijing University for undergraduate work, and is now doing graduate work there. In spite of being offered full scholarships to US universities, she decided to stay in China to do her work. She already has several patents under her name.

The US wanted decoupling; it is getting decoupling.

Douglas Macgregor: They Moved Past The Border!

https://youtu.be/L8QFXPEfn4c

ISRAEL TO DEPORT ALL BLACKS BACK TO AFRICA!

World Hal Turner

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for plans to immediately deport Blacks out of Israel and back to Africa.

Plans should be drawn up to remove all African migrants from Israel after groups of Eritreans were involved in a violent clash in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says.

He also wants the migrants involved in the demonstration to be deported immediately.

His remarks came a day after rival groups of Eritreans clashed in bloody protests that left dozens of people injured.

The groups, supporters and opponents of Eritrea’s government, faced off with construction lumber, pieces of metal and rocks, smashing shop windows and police cars.

Israeli police in riot gear shot tear gas, stun grenades and live rounds while officers on horseback tried to control the protesters.

The violence broke out near the Eritrean embassy when protesters were stopped from reaching the building ahead of a cultural event set to take place there.

The issue of migrants has long divided Israel and the latest violence has brought it back to the fore.

“We want harsh measures against the rioters, including the immediate deportation of those who took part,” Mr Netanyahu said.

He requested that ministers present him with plans “for the removal of all the other illegal infiltrators,” and noted in his remarks that the Supreme Court struck down some measures meant to coerce the migrants to leave.

Under international law, Israel cannot forcibly send people back to a country where their life or liberty may be at risk.

About 25,000 African migrants live in Israel, mainly from Sudan and Eritrea, who say they fled conflict or repression.

Israel recognizes very few as asylum seekers, seeing them overwhelmingly as economic migrants, and says it has no legal obligation to keep them.

Stray Cat Follows Every Stranger and Asking to Take her Home Until This Happened

Heartwarming.

Media Say … Gloom And Doom In China

The New York Times, and other western media, are running a ‘doom and gloom in Xi’s economy’ campaign.

The latest entry is this piece:

China’s Economic Pain Is a Test of Xi’s Fixation With Control

The core claim is this:

Consumers are gloomy. Private investment is sluggish. A big property firm is near collapse. Local governments face crippling debt. Youth unemployment has continued to rise. The economic setbacks are eroding Mr. Xi’s image of imperious command, and emerging as perhaps the most sustained and thorny challenge to his agenda in over a decade in power.

But lets look at the sources the author quotes to make up ‘evidence’ for his claims:

Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society’s Center for China Analysis, said in an interview
Some experts say …
not all observers believe that China’s economy is in a sharp downward spiral. But …
Chinese internet users circulated an essay by a retired Hong Kong businessman, Lew Mon-hung …
Liu Shijin, a retired senior Chinese government economist, said …
said Alicia García Herrero, the chief economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis
said Bert Hofman, director of the East Asian Institute at National University of Singapore
said Ms. García Herrero, the economist
Some Chinese economists and former officials have warned
Lou Jiwei, a former minister of finance said in a recent video interview with Caixin

The author of the gloom and doom piece is:

Chris Buckley, the Times’s chief correspondent in China, where he has lived for most of the past 30 years

If Chris Buckley lives in China why doesn’t he quote even one person who is really involved in China’s economy or policy making?

Isn’t there any active Chinese politician or Chinese CEO or Chinese economist or Chinese worker he could quote?

Why is he quoting an Asia Society fellow?

Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution with major centers and public buildings in New York, Hong Kong, and Houston, and additional locations in Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, New Delhi, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and Zurich.

Why is he mentioning the disgraced Lew Mon-hung?

In 2016, he was found guilty and imprisoned after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice by asking Leung, in letters and emails, to stop the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) from investigating him.

Why is he quoting the Vice-something professor of this or that Liu Shijin?

Former Vice-President (Vice-Minister), Development Research Center. Currently, Vice-Chairman, China Development Research Foundation.

Why Bert Hofman, the Dutch ‘expert’ of the EU financed Mercator lobby?

Why ask a Spanish ‘economist’ from a French investment bank?

Natixis is a French corporate and investment bank created in November 2006 from the merger of the asset management and investment banking operations of Natexis Banques Populaires (Banque Populaire group) and IXIS (Groupe Caisse d’Epargne).

Natixis provides financial data for the ‘Markets’ section on the news channel, Euronews. On October 26, 2010, Natixis Investment Managers (NIM) has acquired a majority stake in asset management start-up ‘Ossiam’.

Why use some other outlets interview with the retired Lou Jiwei without giving this (2019) context?:

Lou Jiwei, who has long been seen as a liberalizing force in China, an advocate of market reform and international openness. He served as finance minister, ran the country’s massive sovereign wealth fund, and has palled around with western economists since the 1980s. But recently he made a prediction that contained a startling phrase: At a forum in Beijing, according to reporting in the South China Morning Post, he said: “The next step in the frictions between China and the United States is a financial war (jinrong zhan). The U.S. has been hijacked by nationalism and populism, so will do everything in its power to use bullying measures [and] long-arm jurisdiction.”

In this financial war, he continued, the U.S. will exploit its dominance of the international financial system to hurt China—and China will fight back.

Now back to what matters:

Godfree Roberts @GodfreeTrh – 11:17 UTC · Sep 3, 2023

REALITY: Only four economies have ever grown by $1.5 trillion in a year, and 2023 will see the fifth. All five boom years are Chinese, of course. Its economy is booming and so are wages: 4.7% nominal rise last year, 4.2% after inflation. Bwahahah.

FT: China’s economic slowdown reverberates across Asia https://ft.com/content/…

bigger

But it’s all gloom and doom in China. The NYT says so.

Posted by b on September 6, 2023 at 8:23 UTC | Permalink

Tex-Mex Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

4 baking potatoes
1 pound lean ground beef
1 (12 ounce) jar mild or hot salsa
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
1 tablespoon chopped stuffed green olives
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
Sliced tomatoes

Instructions

Scrub potatoes; pierce skin with fork. Bake at 400 degrees F until tender, about 1 hour.
Fifteen minutes before potatoes are done, sauté meat in hot skillet until all pink disappears.
Add salsa and chili powder to meat. Cover. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
Add green pepper and olives to meat mixture. Heat through.
Cut baked potatoes open. Spoon hot meat mixture into potatoes. Top at once with cheese so that it melts slightly.
Serve with lettuce sprinkled on top and with sliced tomatoes alongside.

Apple In Tears: China Ban Iphone In Response to U.S Sanction

In today’s video, we dive deep into the recent ban imposed by China on the use of iPhones for its government officials and its potential impact on the U.S economy. From Apple’s position in the global market to the ripple effects on allied industries, join us as we uncover the implications of this significant move.

What was the stupidest thing someone has called the police on you for?

Some years ago I was living in rural Texas. My housemates decided to raise chickens. They thought it would be “fun.” As someone who had to raise chickens in the past, I did not agree with them, but compromised because chickens were probably the least expensive and bothersome livestock they could mess with. Eventually, they got bored of the chickens, so I processed the chickens for future consumption in the front yard where the light was good. My neighbors called the local police and claimed I was conducting Satanic Rituals. Once again, this was rural Texas (no HOAs, large tracts of land with the Piney Woods for our backyards). All of these neighbors claimed to be descended from farmers and country people. They should have damn well recognized what cleaning a bunch of chickens looked like versus “Satanic Rituals.”

Has a cop ever said something to you which was completely unexpected?

Yes.

About 15 years ago I was driving through a part of Miami, Florida in my work van, which contained lots of specialized tools. My company was based out of South Georgia, and we usually didn’t work this far South, but there I was, driving through unknown territory.

I was on a very long street with stop signs every block, and I dutifully stopped at each one before proceeding. Of a sudden, as I stopped at one of the stop signs, a police car pulled up on the left side of me, lights flashing. An officer jumped out of the passenger seat and stood at my window, asking me where I was headed. I told him that I was heading to the interstate so I could make my way back North to Georgia.

The officer asked what I had in the van, and I told him a bunch of tools. Wearing a pained expression, the officer told me that he and his partner had observed me stopping at every stop sign and then he said that it was several miles to the Interstate and that I was in a very rough part of town. In fact, the officer believed that my life would be in danger if I were to stop at every stop sign, as someone may jump on / in the van, shoot me, or whatever, and take the van.

The officer ordered me not to stop at any of the stop signs between where we were and the interstate. He said I could slow down and make sure it was safe to proceed, but under no circumstances was I to stop and that if anyone tried to stop me or signal me to stop, that I should ‘floor it’ and get the hell out of there.

The officer assured me that they were radioing my vehicle description / license plate # to other officers in the area to let them know what I would be doing.

I thanked the officer and proceeded toward the Interstate, running every stop sign on the way.

PASSPORT SIS Thought She Could Talk Down To Men In Africa Like In USA

“The arrogance of US women is astounding. I live in a poor country, but that does not mean that their education is bad. Very smart people here.”

What is the extent of the U.S. dependence on China? Why is this allowed to happen? What can be done about it?

Yes you are 100% correct. The U.S. is totally dependent on the Chinese in 3 main ways.

Without the Chinese products the U.S. will suffer a 50% inflation at the very least.

Without China producing stuffs productively and efficiently for them they cannot sell a thing in the world.

Without access to the humongous Chinese market most U.S. companies will go bankrupt and out of business within a year.

Just take Apple and Tesla as an example. Without the Chinese market it will suffer a good 30% less sales. Without China making their products they will be totally uncompetitive and lose the entire world market.

What can be done about this? You can do something to avoid dependence on China but you won’t. And you can’t. You wanted the cake and eat it too. You see US wants to be the world’s baddest nation and fight wars upon wars upon wars. It needs to outspent the top 20 nations put together! If you do that much shit you need to watch your back, your side and your front, your top and your bottom too!

There lies your problem. You need to spent all your money on wars you have no more money to produce anything. You thought that your CEO can earn 100 times China’s CEO, your workers must be paid 5 times more than Chinese workers and get 10 times the Chinese benefits and the customer will pay for your excesses! But the customer won’t! Not even American customers!

It is that simple. The U.S. cannot have the cake and eat it too! The U.S. needs to choose being competitive or being hegemonic! It cannot have both. American need to decide!

You want to compete with China, do the following. Close your 800 foreign military base, turn your dozen aircraft carriers into holiday cruise! Divert your trillion dollar military budget to building U.S. infrastructure, stop spending money talking shit and doing shit spend it on building relationship with your customers. Disband NATO, CIA and NED! Ban Industrial Actions and Trade Unions!

Can you do this? I doubt so. So the U.S. will rather be dependent on China!

The Sopranos || Feelin’ Good

I am really starting to like these Sopranos themed fan videos.

Blinkin is delusional

Yesterday, Global Times critiqued the speech Blinken delivered at John Hopkins and said he decaled a New Cold War, “Blinken sounds a rallying cry for a ‘new cold war’ that US cannot win”:

The growing US’ geopolitical competition with Russia and China marks the end of the post-Cold War world order, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, speaking at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies on Wednesday. “What we are experiencing now is more than a test of the post-Cold War order. It’s the end of it,” he noted. “Decades of relative geopolitical stability have given way to an intensifying competition with authoritarian powers, revisionist powers.” This statement appears to be a rallying cry for a “new cold war.”

Since the post-Cold War order is coming to an end, what kind of new world order does the US want? Various signs indicate that the US wants major power competition and camp confrontation in order to maintain its global hegemony, even at the expense of the interests of other countries, including allies, and partner nations. However, the reality is that major power competition goes against the trend of the times and cannot solve the US’ own problems and the challenges facing the world. It will only further divide the world, leading the world to slide toward a more dangerous cliff edge.

Regarding Blinken’s remarks, there are two main points to consider. Firstly, Blinken was creating a sense of crisis in the world. The underlying message to US allies and other countries is that there are challengers, particularly China and Russia, who want to change the existing order. Secondly, Blinken’s remarks also reflect a sense of anxiety in the US. The US is attempting to slow down China’s rise through strategic competition, while hoping to sustain its hegemony without jeopardizing its own interests. However, it seems that the US has no clear solution to this dilemma.

China is one of the beneficiaries of the existing system and does not seek to challenge or subvert this order. However, the US has viewed any legitimate demand made by China, even those that reflect the reasonable demands of the majority of developing countries, as a challenge and ill-intentioned sabotage….

As for China, the US is attempting to stifle its development by imposing unlimited technological restrictions, but it is unable to completely decouple from China economically. For the US and its main allies, China is either their largest single trading partner or one of the largest. Today, the US is a reckless strategic aggressor, attempting to unite its relatively weaker strength with its allies to wage a new cold war. It should be noted that the power of US allies has declined significantly, and the unity of the “West” is crippled due to the US transitioning from a “blood donor” to a “vampire”.

There’s no way the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals can contain China or the rest of the Global South. The degree of geoeconomic dependency noted in the final paragraph above is far too much for that Bloc to overcome. The attempts made so far beginning with Trump have illustrated the damage the Empire can inflict on itself in its ill-considered policy toward China and the world. The Outlaw US Empire’s illusion of “primacy” has faded into the mists of time and is irretrievable so matter what it tries.

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 15 2023 14:31 utc | 4

An Elderly Cat was Scratching At People’s Door, Begging for Help

My goodness!

The mighty continues sparring

Right now, the East and the West are sparring.

Sigh.

Dancing around each other in the ring. Throw a punch or two, and the West believes that “it has rigged the game”. I disagree, but what do I know?

I am tried of all this “shadow boxing”, but there are only two directions; two vectors left.

Full scale military HOT war
A subsiding of hostilities

I think that the East (China, Russia, the Global South) are just biding their time in the eventuality that the West will run out of “steam” and slow down on the provocations.

It’s safe and reasonable. And they have systems designed…intentionally designed to force all the steam out of the “mighty beast”.

But I am sure that they are all ready to unleash bloody Hell if need be.

…

Nothing that I can do about it.

So, I’m just gonna drink my coffee and enjoy the day.

Ukrainians Caught Trying to Sabotage Russian Nuke Plant; Putin says “Trained by British” – for whom “There will be consequences”

World Hal Turner 12 September 2023

Putin British trained Ukies Nuke Plant Sabotage large

“Vladimir Putin today warned Britain of ‘serious consequences’ and said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ‘doesn’t understand’ the risks after the UK’s special forces tried to disrupt Russian nuclear power plants.

President Putin said that Britain’s elite forces were training Ukrainian troops on how to damage atomic power plants in Russia.

The Russian President declared dire consequences for the UK while admitting his words would be interpreted as ‘nuclear blackmail.’

Putin claimed during a speech at an economic forum in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, that Russia’s FSB security service had interrogated a Ukrainian team caught operating inside Russia.

‘It turned out to be a sabotage group of Ukrainian special services,’ he said.

‘Interrogation showed they had been tasked to damage one of our nuclear stations by exploding a power line… to damage the work of the power plant. And this is not the first attempt.’

He alleged: ‘During interrogation, they admitted they were trained under supervision of British instructors. Do [the British] understand what they are playing with, or not?

‘Are they provoking our response at Ukrainian nuclear sites, nuclear stations, or what?

‘Does the British leadership, or the Prime Minister [of the United Kingdom. Rishi Sunak] know what their special services are engaged with in Ukraine?

‘Or do they have no clue at all? I assume this is possible, too. I assume it is possible British special services act on the orders of the Americans. Either way, we know the final beneficiary.”

When in war, do you think about the people you’re killing?

There was a moment after a short firefight when we shared a few thoughts about a dead enemy soldier.

We were on the top of a small hill in the mountains near our Kosovo Liberation Army base and a group of enemy infantry was coming up towards our positions. They didn’t see us, but we could hear them talking to each other. One guy, probably their leader, told his troops: “Stop whining, guys!”

When they were close enough we opened fire. We heard one of them screaming in pain. After we had ceased fire we went down the hill to look at the aftermath. We found the body of a dead soldier and what struck me first was how well this guy was equipped: a US-style Kevlar helmet, combat fatigues, boots; all his gear was of the best quality. One of my comrades searched his pockets and found his documents.

My comrade read out loud what was written in the dead soldier’s papers. This guy had been a sergeant and a professional soldier. He had fought in Bosnia as well and was the member of a Special Forces unit.

Then my comrade told me in a tone of regret: “Look at him! This guy did all the training, fought everywhere and then he gets himself killed by some peasants like us. What a waste!”

That was quite an objective and modest statement and I was honestly surprised. We had very good soldiers who were well trained and highly motivated, but they were no match to the soldier we had just killed. He was better trained and equipped and far more experienced than we were. Still, he was dead and we were alive.

We took the dead soldier’s gun and left the place.

This was the only time that we’ve ever talked about a dead enemy. Usually, we were just interested in the number we had killed: one there, three over there and so on. They were numbers for us, nothing else. We fought for the right cause and they didn’t. No regrets.

Tex-Mex Meatballs

Crushed tortilla chips is the ingredient that sets these Tex-Mex Meatballs apart from the rest!

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup tortilla chips, crushed (about 2 ounces)
6 tablespoons water or beef broth
4 ounces canned green chiles
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons chipotle powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
15 ounces red enchilada sauce
2 cups Mexican style shredded cheese (or any easy melt style)

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine the crushed tortilla chips (they should be the size of large breadcrumbs) with the water or beef broth. Stir to make a thick paste. This helps keep the meatballs moist but also adds a great corn flavor.
In a large bowl, combine ground beef, green chiles, salt, garlic powder, cumin, chipotle powder, onion powder and the tortilla chip mix. Using hands, mix lightly but thoroughly (do not pack).
Form the ground beef mixture into balls, using about 1/3 cup of the mixture per ball. Do not overwork or form the meatballs too tightly.
Place the meatballs in a large skillet, leaving space between them, then bake for 15 minutes.
Pour the enchilada sauce over/around the meatballs, and return to the oven for an additional 7 minutes.
Sprinkle the cheese all over the meatballs, and return to the oven until cheese is melted, about 3-5 minutes.
Serve immediately. Caution, skillet will be extremely hot.

Yield: 8 servings

In Canada

In Canada, they combine orphanages with retirement homes. And it has given new meaning to the lives of older people, who can share their time with children who so desperately need a father or mother figure.

For a few hours, children and elderly people play, discuss and share together.

As for the little ones, they grow up and learn in an atmosphere of respect and admiration, not only between themselves, but also in front of the elders.

And older people have the opportunity to pass on some of their wisdom to children. They no longer feel so alone and isolated and now look forward to getting up in the morning to play and talk with the little ones.

It seems to me that this initiative should be applied everywhere in the world, we would help the elderly to feel less alone and the children to grow better.

Chinese in the entire world are excited to hear that Huawei China introduced its new 5g phone with 7nm semiconductor chip in it. How long will it take for China to catch up with South Korea and Taiwan trying for 2nm chip as of September 2023?

The Chinese can’t make domestic chips below 5nm process using their present methods of innovative stacking

The Chinese used the “Necessity is the mother of invention” saying to fullest use and have managed to mass produce 7nm cost effective Chips using DUV and innovative stacking

They will crack 5nm Chips in a year and by 2027 – the Chinese will make 25% of all the 7nm and 5nm Chips on earth

They would have saved their Semiconductor Industry and would be able to make Robots and develop advanced technology

I don’t think the Chinese want more than that

Fact 1:- 3nm Chips are very different. It may look like 5 to 3 is just one step below but in reality 7nm process and 3nm process are two generations (6 years) apart. So if the 3nm is 2024,then 7nm is 2018 and 5nm is 2021.

Without Western Equipment and without the advanced know how that TSMC and Samsung offer – the 3nm Chip is almost 3 generations or even 3.5 generations ahead in commercial manufacture

This means to China, the 3nm Chip is around 10.5 years apart, meaning 2035 at least

It’s not worth it and China knows that

Fact 2:- The West cannot develop 3nm Chips commercially and not sell to China

China and Hong Kong together consume around 43% of the World’s Chips produced

China and HK account for 30% of the sales of Advanced Technology and Hardware needed for Advanced Applications

It makes no sense to invest billions into 3 and 2 nm Chips and NOT SELL in a market that today has a 30% demand and could well have 45% demand in the next 15 years

That’s like increasing oil production by 30% and refusing to sell to China or India

That’s like spending crores of rupees on refining Gold jewelry and refusing to sell them to Telugu or Gujarati weddings

It’s UNVIABLE

So the West HAS to sell the 3&2 nm Chips to China if they have to sustain a market.

At present the rest of the World only has a 7% market for these advanced applications of which Saudi and UAE have a 3.4% market share and they certainly can’t create the applications even if they get the equipment for the next 15 years

India has a 0.7% market today for advanced applications ($ 767 Million)

That’s 3% of Chinas market and 2.3% of China and HK market combined

Fact 3:- The 3nm Chips, 2 nm Chips and 1 nm Chips may be redundant advanced technologies

Artificial Sun, Hypersonics, Nanogrid Laser Arrays – these were all areas where good studies were made by the US in the 1980s -1990s , well before China and Russia

Yet they faltered because there was not sufficient necessity for such advanced stuff back then

The assumption that people will use advanced smartphones for the next 30 years would be silly

Today Defence equipment works perfectly with 450 nm Chips and Drones with 150nm -65 nm Chips

Today the most advanced Robotic applications are done without 7/5 nm Chips

The Memory, GPUs and other hardware are more crucial than Chips now

Again these products need China which is a 30% market to them

Otherwise they cannot be viable commercially

They HAVE to sell to China and if the US tries too hard, they will find alternate ways

Like NVDIA which custom made advanced chips and sold $ 5 Billion of these to China just breaking the threshold

If they say China can’t be sold a car that drives at 100 Kph, simply modify your engine a bit and sell them a car that drives at 99 Kph and stay within sanctions guidelines

Fact 4:- If China develops it’s own 7/5 nm Chips using the innovative stacking process and DUV, that alone is a major blow to Global Players

Today TSMC sells most 14,7 and 5 nm. chips to China

China accounts for 36.5% of TSMC and it’s revenue

Yet now its estimated by the SIA that

By 2027, SMIC and other Chinese entities will sell most of the 14,7 and 5 nm Chips to China

TSMC and Samsung will lose a lot of sales to China in the next five years and simply be unable to sell anywhere else

By 2027, China will account for 14.6% of the same sales to TSMC and there won’t be market for TSMC to compensate for the loss

Same for Qualcomm, Intel and other players selling Modems and other 5G technology

This means China is a part of a War where it suffers the LEAST

China won’t make 3nm and 2nm Chips. They will buy these Chips if offered by others but won’t waste billions on trying to commercially make these chips with their own equipment

They DON’T NEED these Chips even for their most advanced applications

TSMC and others HAVE TO SELL TO CHINA if they commercially produce 3/2 nm Chips

China likewise knows it will be SOLD equipment and hardware that keep defying sanctions all the time to survive

And in a few years time – China will take away a huge chunk of TSMCs market in the mainland and TSMC cannot replace the Chinese market, even half of it in the next decade

To answer your question

China is never likely to catch up with commercial 3 / 2 nm Chips
China will come out of the Chip war with the least damage and most positive effect for the mainland.
Taiwan, Korea and US will find their players badly mauled by economics
China will deliver a strong blow to TSMC and Samsung by 2027 from which they can’t recover

Unless Biden removes ALL EXPORT CONTROLS today and goes to free market mode

Then Chinese players will start being swamped with aggressive growth.

The Sopranos – Johnny Sack And Paulie

Paulie complains about Tony ruling against him in a sitdown to Johnny Sack, This is the first of many conversations between the two. These conversations lead to major problems down the road.

What are the best closing arguments to ever be used by lawyers?

Fedor Nikiforovich Plevako was one of the most famous Russian defence lawyers of the 19th century. Many of his speeches were recorded and became legendary. I will quote two of them.

Once, he was defending an old Orthodox priest accused of adultery and theft. The jury was very unfavourable. The public prosecutor described the depravity of the vicious priest. Finally, Plevako rose from his seat to say:

– Gentlemen of the jury! The affair is clear. The prosecutor is absolutely right in everything. The accused really perpetrated those crimes and confessed them. Nothing to discuss. But there is something I wish to draw your attention to. You behold a man, who listened to our confessions for thirty years. For thirty years, he absolved us from our sins. Now he is waiting for your decision. Would you absolve his sin?

The priest was acquitted.

In another case, Plevako defended an old townswoman who stole a tin kettle worth 30 kopecks. The prosecutor, knowing that she was going to be defended by Plevako, decided to knock the bottom out of his arguments and took pains to describe the hardness of her life and show that she was worthy of compassion. However, he explained, private property is sacred and if you acquit her, you would have to acquit criminals who are much more dangerous, and this may lead to the destruction of Russia. The jury nodded in agreement. Plevako started to speak:

– Russia has suffered a lot in over 1,000 years of its history. It was invaded by numerous foes. Moscow was taken by Napoleon’s army. Russia overcame all these challenges and not only survived but became stronger. Unfortunately, an old lady stole a tin kettle worth 30 kopecks. This is a heavy blow. Now Russia will perish, that’s for sure.

The old woman was acquitted.

Ukrainian Soldiers REVOLT Against Military Leadership

If only we could send all the Ukraine flag twitter users as conscripts, then we’d have reasonable discourse on the internet. LOL.

https://youtu.be/UBSPV58xkJc

Was the War of 1812 a war of independence for Canada?

Not at all. the two colonies involved in the war, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, both remained colonies after the war. Even if the Americans had succeeded in their objectives, they may have just handed both colonies back to the United Kingdom. The war was started by the Americans, although they felt some of their grievances against the United Kingdom were legitimate. The end of the war essentially put things back exactly as they were before the war, and everyone in Upper Canada and Lower Canada were just fine with that.

However, the war did create a Canadian identity, both tying together people of both Protestant and Catholic backgrounds through the six British Colonies in eastern Canada, and by establishing an identity separate from the United Kingdom for Protestant Canadians.

Prior to the war, you pretty much had five distinct groups of people living in Canada, each of whom identified differently.

Catholics (mostly French speaking) who identified as “Canadien” and not as British. They didn’t see Protestants as “Canadian” but as “British”.
Loyalists, who had been born in the United States prior to the American revolutionary war. They always saw themselves as “British”, but largely spoke and acted like Americans.
British immigrants, who also saw themselves as “British”, but were more diverse than the Loyalists, who tended to be English and Anglican, while the immigrants were English, Irish and Scottish, and were often Methodists, Baptists or Presbyterian. The largely Anglican Loyalists weren’t very welcoming. The immigrants also spoke and acted like the British.
American immigrants, who still saw themselves as “American” and came to Canada looking for opportunity well after the revolutionary war. They didn’t get along well with the Loyalists, and also had a rather diverse set of religious backgrounds.
First Nations, a mix of those who had been in Canada for some time, and some that had fled from the United States because they had supported the British. Most of them didn’t get along well with each other. They got along well with British authorities, but not with the other four groups.

Shortly into the war, and by no later than 1813, all five groups had pretty much put aside their differences and started identifying clearly as “Canadian”. There were two basic reasons for this. The first was that the Americans treated everyone they encountered brutally. They would routinely loot and burn settlements, including York (now Toronto), where they burned the new legislative building (which is why the Ontario legislature isn’t on Parliament Street, but the burned down structure was). Anyone who dealt with the American forces largely found the militia (not so much the professional soldiers) to be undisciplined and arrogant.

The other was the indifference of the United Kingdom to their plight. Yes, the UK was busy with Napoleon, and the professional British forces in Canada were competent, but a lot of the fighting was done by the First Nations with help from the local militia. The militia often complained they had to answer to British leaders who were often indifferent to their suffering. For people in Upper Canada, that often meant that their local forces answered to the British governor in Quebec City.

So, yes, the British did most of the fighting, with some help from Canadians, but the real stars were the First Nations, who terrified the Americans but worked well with the British. When the Mohawks heard the Americans had invaded York, and the British had abandoned the city, they put together a force of 400 warriors (to face an American force at least three times that size) and only turned back when they found the Americans had abandoned the city too. In late 1813, after the American unsuccessfully tried to attack British forces near St. Catharines (where they were ambushed), the natives surrounded the Americans at Fort George and kept them from venturing outside the fort. The Americans withdrew for the winter.

Over in Lower Canada, the Americans found the locals not to be hospitable. Two attempts to invade Montreal were turned back by a mixed force which was largely French-Canadian. That sent morale throughout the country through the roof.

As for the American immigrants, they soon realized they wanted nothing to do with their own country as the American forces looted and burned farms and houses without discrimination. That drove them further towards the British and their fellow residents of Upper Canada.

Meanwhile, over in Nova Scotia,. Halifax became rich as Canadian privateers preyed on American shipping. Once privateer, the Liverpool Packet, took fifty prizes during the war despite being captured once – the Americans sold the ship at auction back to its former owner. Everyone in Canada got involved in the effort.

The events eventually pushed all the colonies towards self-government by the 1840s (governors became figureheads without real power) and a new country by the 1860s (when the Americans went to war with themselves).

Glenn Beck reacts to Oliver Anthony’s POWERFUL testimony on The Joe Rogan Experience

As a police officer, what is the kindest thing a suspect ever said to you?

Over the years, there have been several people (suspects, offenders, witnesses, victims, etc.) who have said kind things to me. One that comes to mind is probably the most recent. As a captain, I’m not often out on patrol and I make very few traffic stops. A few weeks ago however, I saw a vehicle traveling the wrong direction in a traffic circle. Given the danger presented, I stopped the motorist and saw that the vehicle was driven by a tiny African American lady of about 65 (I am a not so tiny 55-year-old Caucasian man), and that she was confused and upset by the unfamiliar traffic control device into which she had driven. I helped get her turned around and pulled to the side of the road where we were both safe. Pursuant to Department policy, I asked her for her license, registration and proof of insurance. She paused a moment and then started looking through her purse, center console and glove compartment for the requested documentation. Based on my experience, this suggested to me that she did not have one or more of the documents I had asked her to produce. I asked her if she had a driver’s license and she admitted that her license was suspended. I couldn’t help but notice the tears welling up in her eyes. I had already noticed that her license plate was expired, as was her motor vehicle inspection sticker. I then asked if her automobile was insured, and she told me it was not.

In my jurisdiction, unless there are exigent circumstances, a vehicle found to be uninsured is to be towed and impounded. In addition, a motorist found to be driving under suspension may, at the discretion of the officer, be arrested, and should not be permitted to drive away from the traffic stop absent exigent circumstances which mitigate against preventing the motorist from driving any further. The lady had tears streaming down her cheeks, knowing she had a problem. She was wearing a business outfit, so I asked her where she was going, thinking that I might be able to drop her off if time was a problem. She explained that the previous week, she was hired by a local hospital and that day was to be her first at her new job. She explained that she had lost her home and job in August of 2016 when our area suffered through the worst flood to affect the area in modern history. Approximately 80% of the homes and businesses in our area flooded during the event. Many had never flooded before, were not in flood zones and consequently, many families and businesses were left with nothing, following the inundation. This lady was one of those.

She understood that she was in trouble, and she understood that despite her good intentions, she was breaking the law. But there was no anger or bitterness. In her face, I saw only resolve and determination. She never once suggested that she deserved a break. She didn’t hint at leniency. She expressed no self-pity and did not seek to shift the blame. While I may not have shown it, I was very impressed with the way she was handling the experience.

I told the lady, whom I’ll call Ms. Smith, to have a seat in her car, turn on her air conditioner (it was about 95), and that I would be back with her as quickly as possible. I then returned to my unit and checked her registration and driver’s license. I determined that her license was suspended due to her inability to honor a payment plan with the DMV that she had reached in order to resolve the fines assessed to her when her insurance lapsed. She was uninsured; her history showed that over the last several years, her insurance lapsed several times, She always managed to have her insurance reinstated but the administrative fees had built up over time. Her registration had expired two months earlier. However, with a suspended driver’s license, she could not renew her registration or obtain an updated motor vehicle inspection sticker. Clearly, she was in a vicious spiral and putting her in jail or doing anything to cost her the new job would not be helpful.

I carefully considered my options, recognizing that my obligation to protect and serve includes keeping people without the mandatory liability insurance off of the road. Her failure to have the required insurance presented a problem for me. Under our law, were she to have an at-fault accident and it was discovered that I had stopped her and failed to take the appropriate action, I could be held responsible. If I towed her car, she would likely lose her new job which was going to pay her enough to get the required insurance, take care of her suspended driver’s license and generally make her life better for the first time in two years. As I sat there considering what to do, I suddenly remembered something. I got out of my unit, walked up to car and looked in the back seat. There, behind the front passenger seat was a rear-facing baby seat, buckled snuggly into place. “I meant to ask you about the baby seat,” I told her. “Oh,” she replied. “That’s for my grand baby,” she told me. “I take her to day care each morning so that my daughter can make it to nursing school on time. This is our only car.” “Do they live with you all the time.” I asked. “Yes, sir! They’re my best friends,” she said with a smile.

I thanked her and returned to my unit. I smiled too and thought to myself, “Exigent circumstances! Can’t tow that car if there are exigent circumstances.” I prepared the lady a citation for driving under suspension. I hated to do it, but the only discretion we have in such cases is jail or a misdemeanor summons. I did, however, exercise my discretion and prepared a warning for the expired driver’s license and expired vehicle inspection sticker. I then made a quick phone call before walking back to her car, ticket book in hand. As the little lady waited to hear her fate, I began. “OK, Ms. Smith, here is where we are,” I told her. “I have to issue you a citation for driving under suspension. I have no choice. However, you’re not being arrested, only fined.” She asked me how much the fine would be and I told her that I did not know, but that I had called the Clerk of Court, asked that they let her pay over a period of six months, and that they had agreed. I then handed her the citation and asked her to sign where indicated. She signed and then remembered the other charges. “Is there another ticket,” she asked? “No Ma’am,” I told her. “Apparently, I am out of tickets and don’t have time to go and get some more.” She seemed confused and asked, “I know you have to tow my car, Captain. I was just wondering if there is any way that you can let me get to work first. I can park it around back where nobody will see it and you can tow it from there, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“Well, Ms Smith, it looks like your car isn’t going to be towed today. As it turns out, there are exigent circumstances that allow me to let you keep your car. But you have to get insurance within 30 days.” She didn’t understand, so I explained that since there is an infant in their house, since they had only one car, and since that car was the child’s sole means of transportation to day care, such a situation created exigent circumstances which allowed me to decline to tow the car, provided that I had a reasonable belief that the required insurance would be obtained within 30 days. She assured me that they would get the insurance they needed.

I wished her good luck and told her to be safe and I turned around to walk back to my unit as the tears started rolling down her cheeks again. Before I could walk away, however, Ms. Smith called out to me, “Captain Sharp!” I turned back to her. “I don’t know if you’re allowed or not, but would it be OK if I gave you a hug?” I told her I would love a hug, and it was the best hug of the day.

I’m sorry that it took so long to answer your question, but, “Would it be OK if I gave you a hug?” was one of the kindest things that a suspect ever said to me. Thank you for your question!

Nearly ALL of America FEELS This | Oliver Anthony “Rich Men North of Richmond” | Just Jen Reacts

Americans are crying out! And not one Senator is addressing this!

Covert Intel: Another “Gulf of Tonkin” Incident Planned? Black Sea. Next Week.

World Hal Turner

This content is for Subscribers Only — In order to get the United States involved in the Vietnam War, the “Gulf of Tonkin Incident” was staged by the United States, to claim one of its ships was attacked by the North Vietnamese (Viet Cong) and thus, the US had to enter the war.

Years later, it was revealed the entire incident was staged by the US to provide an EXCUSE to enter the war.

Next week, in the Black Sea . . . .

I don’t like to eat, but I’m not insecure in any way about my weight. I only eat when I feel hungry, and eating often feels like a chore. Is this unhealthy? Should my mom or doctor worry?

First and foremost you should worry. Feeling eating is a chore is not healthy at all. Meals are one of the core moments of socialization, our whole human identity is tied to eating collectively and many paleoanthropologists believe that the practice of sharing meals is what pushed us to develop the linguistic skills. This is how important are meals. Your refusal to eat may be a symptom of something extremely serious and you should see a psychologist about it.

What if the idea of ‘The Purge’ became real?

‘The Purge’ would cause a massive shift of capital to the rich, causing society to essentially collapse.

What would be incredibly rare is private citizens going out hunting and killing each other for sport. People would naturally band together in groups of those they trust and heavily arm themselves. Neighbourhoods would become fortresses. Rich people would hire extremely well paid private security for the night. If you had a murderous grudge against someone, Purge night would be the dumbest night of the year to actually try and carry out that grudge. It is the only night where it should be literally impossible to find your victim unarmed, unaware and alone.

It would also be unlikely to be an opportunity to rob banks or stock up on luxury goods or cars via looting – people who run banks or supercar showrooms know a thing or two about security, for purge night those places would be patrolled by heavily armed private security with orders to drop anyone who comes within a 100m radius of the place.

What would take place is massive amounts of corporate, financial and environmental crime, mostly by rich people.

Say you have a factory which produces gigantic amounts of toxic waste. Treating and properly disposing of that waste is damn expensive, so how about instead of doing that, you just store it all up in a giant vat through the whole year and dump it all into the sea on purge day! Millions in overheads saved, and your company isn’t on the hook for the cleanup. You could probably even get away with claiming that your company has produced zero toxic emissions that year and claim environmental subsidies as a result.

Say you are a hedge fund manager responsible for managing a multi billion dollar portfolio of assets mostly made up of people’s pensions. There are strict rules about how you manage pension funds, however on purge day, you simply transfer all of the money into your own account and become a billionaire overnight.

Say you are a major property developer who has big plans to demolish a poor neighbourhood to make way for luxury condos. There’s no way you can get away with doing something like this in normal times, but on purge day? Shit you could hire goons to put the whole place to the torch.

The premise of ‘The Purge’ is that it is supposed to act as an outlet to enable people to express their frustrations with life for one day, allowing them to live the rest of the year normally. What would actually happen if this law was passed is that normal people would spend the night huddled together in fear whilst rich people systematically rape and pillage the rest of society with zero repercussions.

The World WON’T Believe How SAFE China is! (Americans Shocked)

“I live in Los Angeles. It’s true that I will not go out walking around after dark by myself. It’s definitely not safe. I don’t understand why the government cannot do anything effectively about homeless people, zero-dollar shopping, and all sorts of hate crimes. I hope Chinese people continue to enjoy the freedom of walking around in the cities day and night without worrying about safety.”

What are some examples of criminals who have been caught due to their own stupidity?

My friend is a police officer and what he told me was surprising: the thing that gets most criminals caught is often simple stuff—usually with their car.

Speeding. Expired license. Broken brake light. Turning without using your signal.

Stupid stuff.

Officers need probable cause to pull you over. So at night, when many criminals are out, they just look for these little things.

Once you are pulled over, the officer runs your name in their database and asks you questions. He notices you acting weird while you churn out lies while darting your eyes around nervously. He notices the slight smell of crack coming from your car because you couldn’t leave it at home. But just to be sure, he has a drug dog come and sniff the car.

It all starts with something as simple as that license plate tag you were too lazy to update, which has a new color cycled in each year, to immediately call you out.

I see it happen over and over again on bodycam videos on YouTube.

Most criminals aren’t these genius conniving psychopaths you see on TV. They are generally quite stupid.

Another American “Volunteer” Killed in Ukraine

World Hal Turner

In March of 2022, former US Army Soldier Jericho Skye, made the decision to leave his young child and family behind, and go fight for the Ukrainian government.

An avid mass-media consumer, he was convinced that Russia’s “unprovoked” war was merely the start of a bloodthirsty campaign for global conquest.

The photogenic Californian was killed in battle yesterday, along with NINETEEN other “volunteers.”

He thought it would be like shooting Ducks . . .

…turned out, HE was the Duck.

How did the Chinese military background of the Huawei founder, Ren Zhengfei, give Huawei the strength and resilience to survive the most powerful sanctions which the US has imposed on any tech company in history?

I am not sure about you but I don’t think any military background would have helped Huawei’s founder in any way to survive and fight the most powerful nation in the world, because he does not lead an army, but a private company.

I would think it is his engineering background that’s behind his success,which translates to a single-minded purpose to transform factual information and physics into something that benefit Huawei’s customers more cost effectively and efficiently. This is the true cornerstone of Huawei’s success.

Even when his daughter was detained/kidnapped by Canadian authorities to blackmail him into submission,he did not immediately confront the unfairness of the detention, as what all hot-blooded military folks would do, but instead make him want to motivate his company to continue producing high quality products for the consumers. He took three years to reorg and rally his staff to launch the Mate 60 Pro and Mate X foldable smartphones recently, despite U.S. sanctions.

He probably foresee what’s coming, as he had wanted to sell Huawei to Motorola back in 2003, knowing Huawei will one day challenge America’s high tech Infocomms hegemony … but Motorola was not keen at that time and the deal was called off. After that he held an after-event-review and asked his employees if they wanted to sell the company again and the majority gave a no-vote.

Thus he decided so be it, and warned his employees they will one day battle the most powerful nation on Earth.

He’d never looked back since. The rest is history.

A woman found three kittens running right up to her, and knew they needed her help.

Today’s smile video.

What is the most offensive thing someone has ever asked you?

My sister asked me right before my father’s funeral as she was processing his final arrangements if I wanted to be buried next to him when I pass away myself. I felt that question was a self-serving, insulting slap in the face to me. My father and I had a very toxic relationship. We didn’t speak to each other the last 2 years of his life, although I was gultt-tripped by the family to attend his deathbed and funeral. Going all the way back to my early childhood, my sister, mother, stepmother, grandmother, and everyone else in the family have made it clear my dad matters more than me. Once he was gone, I couldn’t even enjoy the quiet relief from his emotional abuse of me in peace without having yet another female made on me, although I told my sister to go to Hell.

Oliver Anthony Plays His Biggest Show Ever

He’s the real deal. This is great. Check it out.

Why does the ASML CEO seem worried about the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, despite previously stating “Even if we provided them with the drawings, they wouldn’t be able to make it.” regarding China’s technological capabilities?

With Huawei Mate 60 Pro, the writing on the wall is clear: China’s chip ecosystem can make the chips to power the 5G technologies to meet current market needs. . . .and producing its own high end lithography machines can be achieved in as short as 5 years.

ASML should be shitting in their pants right now.

If Huawei can make do with 7nm node and work with chiplet technology in packaging to boost power and utility for the next few years, this means that U.S. chips will not be needed by China. And when the U.S. chip companies are decimated in their prime market and bankrupt, where else can ASML sell their machines to?

Weak or even the collapse of the EUV machine market will mean choking off the large capital funding needed for their even more expensive NA EUV machines. All these can collapse on its own immense weight within these 5 year period. ASML does not have the luxury of time.

‘To hell with spinelessness!’ | Neil Oliver

Neil Oliver shares his thoughts on the climate agenda.

Why didn’t European countries help Africa in the way China did?

Africa is an imaginary place to most people. A lot of commentary about Africa is a fictional genre that reveals more about the writer than the subject of their analysis.

If Europe was written about like Africa, it’d be a place that Arabs and Turks colonised, then an Austrian and Corsican did evil stuff before Uncle Sam saved them from themselves. They’d best watch out for dreadful Chinese and Russian propaganda! Europeans are a bit childlike, you see.

With that out of the way, countries can’t help each other. They can trade, but that is mutually beneficial. By sheer proximity European countries have paid more for African products than China has.

Even now, my country sells more to Spain than we do to China. It’s their dollars that funds our imports of Chinese widgets. Last I checked, Britain was also our largest source of foreign investment.

Much is made about infrastructure, but it’s one of those topics where people have more opinions than facts. The infrastructure explosion across many African countries is downstream of their increased prosperity and the expansion of global financial and industrial capacity.

China Civil Engineering is one of many foreign and domestic contractors vying for construction contracts from the Nigerian government. But it is ultimately Nigerian taxpayers financing the construction. I bet it’s no different in other African countries.

Infrastructure is also an investment. For example, a consortium of American internet firms have built out the underwater internet infrastructure linking Africa to the world. They’ll recoup their investment from increased usage and selling access to their property.

Similarly, a Chinese firm granted a port concession will recoup their investment through port management fees.

There is richer, more informative story waiting to be told once people drop their caricatures and deal with reality.

Dell’s Revenue Collapses After Losing Chinese Market Share De risking Became Destruction

Dell has lost China as its market share plunged posing an existential challenge as Lenovo, a Chinese company, has about 3x higher market share in China and growing. Dell is moving out of China as it cannot survive against the competition against China’s local companies due to the usa’s de-risking policy. Without components from China however makes Dell uncompetitive against China’s local companies. Going out from China Dell loses the huge China’s market forever. The de-risking policy shoot Dell in its foot as it struggles for survival.

https://youtu.be/fOBDyICFVP0

What is the funniest thing that happened to you while shopping?

Back in the 80s, I lived alone in a cheesy one-bedroom apartment in a building full of apartments rented to gay guys. I developed significant friendships with these men; one of them eventually became my “maid” of honor at my wedding, and we are all still in contact to this day. I was alone in the city and these men became my family. We were always hanging out in one apartment or another and I rarely ate dinner alone.

Back in the 80s, our 24-hour Walmart was still a fun place to hang out. If we were bored, we’d all pile in my car and go to Walmart; half a dozen gay men and me.

One December weekend afternoon we were just hanging at Walmart. Some of us were picking up Christmas gifts but mostly we were just enjoying the Christmas displays and each other’s company, cutting up amongst ourselves. We landed in the Christmas toy aisle.

Oh, lo, and behold, hey guys come check out the fire truck!

It was metal, and heavy, and fully as long as my arm. Bright red, it was built to resemble a real fire truck, not a cartoon truck. And it was covered with buttons labeled “Try me!”

By God, it was the coolest thing. One button sounded the siren. Another button and we heard water gushing out of the hose. Another button and we could hear the fireman admonishing the driver to go faster. Sound effects for everything: a 911 call reporting a fire, tires screeching around the corner, firemen calling out to rescue the cat. Probably two dozen buttons worth of sound effects. By God, it was the coolest thing.

The seven of us crowded around this fire truck; for five minutes we repeatedly punched buttons, crowing with delight.

Finally, the old lady standing behind us asked to be excused and pushed between us to grab three of the fire trucks. “If it keeps seven adults that amused, it might work for my grandsons.”

…

What is something your neighbor did that you couldn’t believe?

I was tearing down my old house, and building a new house. I got some outrageous estimates for tearing it down. I live 80 km from the nearest waste transfer station that would take this kind of material, so the hauling was expensive.. It was surrounded by trees, that I wanted to keep, so I couldn’t burn it down. I was talking to a neighbor about how much it cost to tear it down, but that looked like my only option. He talked to my other neighbors, and then on my birthday, the whole neighborhood showed up and helped tear down the house. One guy worked construction, and brought out a 40 foot dumpster container for the waste. We kept a fire like a large bonfire going, small enough to not be a threat, but big enough to burn a lot of tinder dry 80 year old wood . We filled the dumpster with the crushed shingled roof, windows, hot water heater, insulation, and kept burning as much wood as the fire would take. One neighbor brought over a Bobcat to pack everything into the dumpster. Others had sawzalls, cutting the walls into manageable chunks. My wife was BBQing up a storm. One neighbor who was disabled brought over 10 pizzas for the crew. Others hooked their winches to the walls and brought it down.

Some people hauled stuff away, my refrigerator became someone’s beer fridge, etc.

One neighbor stored all my furniture in his garage.

One neighbor let me plug an extension cord into her house, so we didn’t overload the little generator I had.

Another neighbors leant me in his bigger generator.

It took one day, a lot of burgers and pizzas, and my neighbors had saved me a small fortune.

Would your neighbors do this for you? I couldn’t believe my neighbors would do it for me.

BRICS: Bank of China opens branch in Saudi Arabia, New World Order

This is significant. Very significant.

https://youtu.be/bMIU65zrXsc

What are the reasons why some people believe that buying goods made in China is bad? Should we boycott Chinese products?

If you are dumb to asked this question you should take my advise. First open up every product to ensure 100% nothing is made in China. Check the materials. And every single parts need to be sent to a laboratory to check.

Any part of any items with even a small oration or materials made in China as throw it away. Yes you should absolutely not buy anything made in China. China don’t need you. You can throw everything you have and China still has 7 billion customer.

You and your six racist friends can keep buying and keep throwing everything away for all we care. You can burnt down your home because chances is the materials. Are China made, the wall paper U.S. Chinese made, your paint is made in China. Stop asking redundant questions no one gives a shit of your hate.

We don’t gives a shit if you think Chinese products is bad, inferior, trash or dangerous 175 out of 195 nations has China as their biggest trading partner and 7 billion out of 8 billion use a Chinese product 23 out of 24 hours a day. You are as insignificant to China as a one of the germ on planet earth. Get it through your thick skull.

why am I speaking out for China part.1

Once you get past his accent, it’s a very nice perspective.

As someone with expertise in hi-tech, why does Huawei, the Chinese telecom company, pose threat to national security of the USA and its allies?

Huawei is taking up the leadership in various tech fields, from autonomous vehicles to semiconductors. Huawei is moving so fast, the US has little chance to catch up, let alone compete. Huawei has gone beyond its original mandate of telecom gear and is now a strong voice in the EV sector, cloud computing, semiconductor design, production and all the attendant software and hardware items needed for the complete supply chain to produce semiconductors.

Huawei’ unannounced sales of its Mate 60 Pro with its Kirin 9000s chip during US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to China stole the show. Not only is the chip self designed and produced in China, but it features no US parts. In fact, the messaging in the semiconductor sector is continuous and fast moving. Not only did SMIC produce 7nm chips, but TSMC is now taking orders from the mainland for 7nm chips.

Further, Samsung is set to rebuild its China semiconductor factories, Micron is expanding its Xian plant, Intel and Qualcomm have created ‘ innovation centers’ in China, and TSMC is expanding its Nanjing fab. Rumor has it that TSMC may acquire or build a couple more fabs in China. A rebellion is taking place to flaunt Biden’s bullying and destroying any effort to quiet the rise of the semiconductor sector in China.

Mission accomplished

Love this!

Tex-Mex Ravioli Casserole

This dish is good as is, but for an extra pop, serve with a dollop of sour cream and a few jalapeno slices.

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) jar mild salsa
1 (10.75 ounce) can tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (28 ounce) bag frozen cheese ravioli, unthawed
2 (19 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Instructions

Combine salsa, puree and cumin.
Pour 1/2 cup of sauce mixture on bottom of a lightly greased 2-quart baking dish.
Top evenly with frozen cheese ravioli. Layer with black beans, chopped cilantro, green onions, and remaining sauce mixture; top evenly with cheeses.
Bake, covered with aluminum foil, at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until bubbly.
Remove foil, and bake 5 more minutes. Let stand 5 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings

What will China do to grow its economy under the current climate and how will the CPC find ways to tap on that huge Chinese saving resources to its best of advantage?

Right now the Chinese government and companies are striving to make tech breakthroughs in all areas: the most recent example is the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro 5G mobile phone, which was made completely without using any US technologies.

As a result, share prices in tech companies have gone up.

The current trend is to let the air go out of the real estate balloon, while building up the tech sector.

China is also welcoming investment money from Saudi Arabia and UAE, while the US is forcing US tech companies to cut back on their sales and investment to the Chinese market.

Niger France Uranium Operations Shutdown As US Ambassador Is Given 48hr Ultimatum To Leave

Why would you send an ambassador to or insist on being in a country you don’t recognise the regime? The US and France definitely have something under their sleeves.

Newly unsealed court papers have publicly confirmed that the US government seized almost one million barrels of Iranian crude oil from the Greek-managed tanker M/T Suez Rajan.

The State Department said on Friday that the US government had seized the vessel and its cargo of 980,000 barrels of crude oil, alleging it was transporting Iranian oil to China in violation of Washington’s sanctions against Tehran.

It further claimed that the US government obtained a warrant earlier this year for its seizure.

On April 19, around the time of the seizure, the vessel’s owner, Suez Rajan Ltd, pleaded guilty to sanctions violations and was fined $2.5 million.

Subsequently, the Greek vessel’s operator, Empire Navigation, agreed to cooperate with US authorities and ordered the ship, located in Southeast Asia at the time, to take its load of oil to the United States.

The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy warned on July 20 that any oil company unloading hundreds of thousands of barrels of seized Iranian oil sitting in a Greek tanker off the coast of Texas would be held accountable.

Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri’s remarks came on the anniversary of Iran’s confiscation of a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in 2019 after Britain seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar.

A few days after the seizure of the M/T Suez Rajan, Iran’s Navy seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Sea of Oman, which was carrying Kuwaiti oil for the second-largest energy company in the US.

The oil tanker, named Advantage Sweet, had been involved in a maritime accident with an Iranian fishing craft, which resulted in the injury and missing of a number of its crew.

After the collision, the oil tanker attempted to flee the scene in serious breach of international laws and regulations, which require the provision of medical treatment and supply of proper and sufficient medicine to seamen in case of sickness or injury.

After sitting off the Texas coast for months, the Suez Rajan began the hours-long ship-to-ship transfer of its oil to another tanker, the MR Euphrates, on August 21.

The newly released court documents confirm the US government then seized the oil.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference on August 21, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Nasser Kan’ani emphasized that the Islamic Republic won’t remain silent on any violation of the Iranian nation’s rights, will show an appropriate reaction, and will “cut off the hands of violators.”

He reminded the parties that have plans to confiscate Iran’s oil to review the history of Iran’s actions in similar cases.

“Measures that involve attacking oil tankers carrying Iranian oil are a brazen example of piracy,” Kan’ani stated.

The United States and its allies have been seizing Iranian oil cargoes since the previous US administration of Donald Trump withdrew unilaterally from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018.

What is an insane coincidence that you’ve experienced?

In the early 1970s I was at a cocktail party. There was lots of standing about in small groups making small talk about nothing consequential. I was introduced to one particular person who was from Canada.

When in other countries myself, I have often been asked by strangers, when they discovered I was Scottish, if I knew their aunt, or uncle, or cousin or some other random relatives. No one seemed to realise that Scotland has a population of 5 millions and it was impossible for me to know everyone who lived in the same country as myself.

With the above in mind while chatting with this Canadian visitor, I made a joke saying “I won’t ask you if you know my friend Billy who lives in Canada”. We both laughed at that and talked about other things. A couple of hours later we had both circulated through various other groups and came across each other again. We had both run out of meaningless Smalltalk and simply smilled at each other.

Our Canadian guest then broke the ice by saying “Aren’t you the one who has a friend living in Canada? “

I responded yes, in Toronto.

He asked where in Toronto.

I replied, Missauguia.

He asked, where in Missauguia.

I replied, 26 High Cliff Drive.

He looked surprised and said, “Do you mean Billy Skinner. I live next door at number 24.”

Do police lie to cover up crimes?

On the night of August 23rd 1987, 16-year-old Don Henry and 17-year-old Kevin Ives decided to go hunting in Alexander Arkansas. It was believed, at 4 am the two boys were in a horrific accident when they were hit by a train.

It was determined to be a horrific and tragic accident by the state medical examiner, who said the boys were sleeping on the tracks due to marijuana intoxication from smoking 20 Joints. Those were his words, and the authorities closed the case.

Anyone that knows anything about weed would see that as a major red flag. The parents didn’t accept this finding and had a second autopsy done which showed the boys only smoked one joint and they were already dead when they were placed on the tracks. Don Henry’s shirt showed evidence of a stab wound and Kevin Ives had his head smashed in with his own rifle.

The theory is the boys stumbled upon a drug smuggling operation that was run by crooked cops and town officials. Several witnesses that came forward with information died under mysterious circumstances with each of the victim’s bodies examined by the same guy who first examined the two boys.

The prosecutor for the case Dan Herman, was arrested for drug dealing and was implicated as one of the murderers. Keith McCaskill was another man implicated but died when he was stabbed to death by an unknown attacker.

Phil And Tony Sitdown With Carmine Lupertazzi Jr – The Sopranos HD

Phil Leotardo And Tony Soprano Sitdown With Carmine Lupertazzi Jr.

Is it safe to say that China is pretty much public enemy#1?

Of course. China is the cause of all of the USA’s problems.

See how the white cops keep killing black people in the USA – this surely is China’s doing.

Observe the mass shootings that plague the whole of the USA – at schools, malls, supermarkets, churches, pubs, cinemas, workplaces – this too must be China’s doing.

Did you know that the USA’s literacy rate has plunged t0 78%? (Developed countries usually have a literacy rate between 95 to 100%). China must have caused this.

Look at the ever-increasing number of homeless people living in tents in the streets of the USA. We know that this is China’s fault.

US engineers say that many of the bridges and roads and other public infrastructure in the USA are “crumbling”. Why didn’t China take steps to stop this?

In the USA, even the water pipes are leaking lead into the supply of drinking water at public schools, poisoning the children. China must be blamed!

Look at how Americans hate each other! Even families stop talking to each other, because some are Democrats and some are Republicans. Once again, China is guilty.

The average life expectancy in the USA keeps dropping! Americans keep dying at a younger age. Becauae they are more and more obese these days and; their healthcare system is too expensive. Surely China had something to do with this.

Women in the USA even have problems getting birth control and abortions! The infant mortality rate AND the maternal mortality rate in the USA have fallen to the levels typically found in developing countries. Let’s blame China for this too.

But not to worry. The USA still has more gender pronouns than China. So the USA will prevail.

A friend of mine who served in the US Marines claims to have over 15 confirmed kills. Is there a way to verify this?

I served as an infantryman in the army…. I don’t usually share this kind of thing, but I do have one “confirmed kill” to my name that I’m sure of. I think this an important topic, so I’m going to explain a little about my service.

My unit had many enemy KIA’s, and I’m sure my bullets were in many of them, but I’m happy not to know for sure. My one “confirmed” was from less than 3 feet away, and I wish like hell I could pretend there was a way to spread that out over my fire team.

I’m proud of my service. I’m proud of the men I served with. I’m proud of a lot of things I did when I served…. I’m not “proud” I had to shoot someone. I’m not proud of any of the potential “kills” I may or may not have had. …I’m happy the men I served with came home. I’m happy that my wife doesn’t understand my nightmares or my anger, or my need for hyper-vigilence (i.e. paranoia). But one thing that will live with me forever is searching through the possessions of a young man I KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt I killed…

I still am angry at the situation. I still shake and feel nauseous. At the time I got a reputation for being cold because I DID search his body when we got the all clear. The reality was that I didn’t want someone else to have to do it. I took “Intel search” duty for the rest of the deployment. Most of my battle buddies looked relieved they didn’t have to. Some were angry at themselves for feeling that way. None of them were going to go home and brag to a friend about it. Let me repeat that…

NONE OF THEM WERE GOING TO GO HOME AND BRAG ABOUT IT!

We didn’t talk about killing others amongst ourselves. We actively avoided such topics.

Some of us started waking up in the middle of the night. I definitely did. I went for walks. I went to another room. I made something to eat. By the end of the deployment, we’d have midnight card games. We weren’t sleeping anyways, and it was something else to think about. We told inappropriate jokes, we complained about the heat, we talked about women and home. We never talked about what woke us up.

Your friend could be a psychopath that truly didn’t feel anything when someone else died. He could be claiming every kill his unit got, and never losing any sleep over any of them because they were never personal. He could be a sadist, and truly enjoyed killing the people he did.

Or he could be lying.

I have to be honest, I hope it’s the last one. For his sake, I honestly hope it’s that.

It has been years, and I still don’t want to talk about some of the things I had to do so I could come home. Writing it here is the closest I’ve ever come. Even if no one reads this, I do feel a lot better for having written this down.

BREAKING: USA To Withdraw its Troops from Niger.

600 American soldiers to evacuate Niger.

Is BRICS too dependent economically on China to make a balanced decision on any matter?

BRICS is an economic organization where all nations are treated as equals.

How does that make BRICS dependent on China?

China and India have border disputes, and Chinese companies have repeatedly been sanctioned and fined by the Indian government, but they still manage to work together for BRICS.

If BRICS were too dependent on China in any way, India would be the first to complain, but that has not happened.

What does that tell you?

In view of the latest China technology achievements by Huawei and SMIC, what additional attacks can the US do against PRC? What may be the next stage of war?

The US has changed completely in the last 30 years

Their Motto in the 1990s was

I want to Win

Their Motto today is

I don’t want to Lose

2022

This reflects the Chinese Semiconductor Market today

China still imports more 28 nm, 14 nm, 7 nm and 5 nm Chips than it makes domestically

Yet it makes most of the 45–450 nm Chips on Earth

2015

This is the same market in 2015

See the Difference?

China was importing a lot of 45 nm Chips , a good amount of 90–260 nm. chips and almost 96% of it’s 28 nm Chips

In a mere 7 years, China developed advantage in 45 nm Chips, a near monopoly in 90–260 nm Chips and 40% of it’s 28 nm Chips, up from 8% in 2015

Directly proportional to the Anti China Rhetoric from the West

The Moral of the story is

You don’t provoke such people by cutting them off

You keep giving them best chips which are far better than their home made chips so that THEIR CHIP INDUSTRY NEVER GROWS BEYOND THE 28 NM CHIP

If TSMC keeps giving their best Chips to China, China would never have their own Chip Industry

Sure Huawei may be developing it’s own Chips but others won’t cooperate because they would get better chips easily available

Instead by throttling access, you allowed China to innovate and slowly they managed to crack cost efficient stacking to make the 7 nm Chip domestically

Plus the 5G Modem

If you keep doing this, they innovate faster and harder

It’s inevitable

So the US should end export controls on Huawei and flood China with 5 nm Chips and ensure that it makes no economic sense to invest billions into semiconductor chips

All restrictions must be removed and free market competition must ve established

If that happens, US has a 50–60% Chance for continuing their tech dominance for a few more decades

If they keep doubling down and imposing more stupid restrictions, China will take over in a decade or 15 years tops

It’s Inevitable

Daddy Issues

When I was living with my father (for a spell) we would go to “garage sales” on Sundays. These events were listed in the newspaper, and was a great excuse to go out, take a drive around town and look at other people’s junk.

It was often fun to haggle over an old nick-nack or curiosity.

Some interesting things were often found, at dirt cheap prices. Many unique things and items. Nothing really valuable, though. But it was darn fun to do.

Today’s story involves one such adventure on a lazy Sunday.

We once went to an estate sale. Nice big old house. Lots of rooms with all sorts of stuff. The old man died, and his son was selling off everything.

Lots of clutter. Mountains of puzzles in their original boxes. Piles of old pots and pans. The usual run of odd ball things. Some new televisions and some very old radios and cameras.

I well remember the fancy antique dining table with boxes of office supplies. There were boxes of ink pens. Never used. All dried up and useless. Some electronic calculators from the early 1970s or so. A slide rule. A few magnifying glasses, and lots and lots of rusty paperclips and tacks.

Clutter and junk was everywhere. Apparently this older man lived alone for the bulk of his final days. No wife. Maybe she died or he had a divorce. I didn’t ask.

In the kitchen was a wall calendar dating to six years earlier. There was a dead plant in a small flowerpot on the window. And the sink faucet has rust stains near the drain.

There was an ungodly amount of glassware in a antique glass display case. Some were real crystal. Some looked like wedding presents of glass from the 1950’s, while others were short drinking glasses with Flintstone’s characters on them.

There were a number of ash trays at various locations in the house, and one large glass ashtray that stood alone on it’s own pedestal. The rooms had the aura of a grand-parent’s residence.

One of the bedrooms was nearly impassable with boxes and boxes of books. But most of the titles did not interest me at all.

The stairs had full boxes at every step, and junk of all sorts and sizes everywhere. I saw a half-completed model of a wooden boat, a guitar missing a string, a bunch of rusty old steel tools, and lots of baby jars filled with metal screws, washers and pennies.

An old Honda motorcycle sat in the clutter filled garage / basement. It must have dated from the late 1960s. Long forgotten. An old red-plaid shit draped over the tank and seat. It’s wheels were all flat, and the rubber useless.

The laundry room consisted of piles of dirty clothes and a few boxes of detergent and cleaning supplies with the box marked “$1”.

When I went to the bedroom of the old man, where he actually died, I saw his bed, and a nice cozy chair by the window. You can tell from the chair that his beloved cat slept on it. It was worn down into the shape of a cat and covered with cat fur. It must have been doing so for many years.

In the corner of the best room was a plastic litter box with some fossilized feces, and a cat mat with a dry water bowl, and a long stale half-eaten bowl of kitty krunchies.

So we asked about the cat, and the son told us that the cat was fine. He was old, though. 16 year old kitty. (Is it even possible?) And was put up for adoption at the local shelter.

Really?

REALLY!

Sad story. Chances of adoption were very small. Sigh.

If you are getting old, make SOLID arrangements for your loved ones, and do not trust promises from family. “I’ll take care of him…don’t worry.”

I have experienced the let-downs as an estate executor. Make the requests in writing AND set in place a guardian (paid) that will guarantee that the wishes are performed as you request. Put in place clear “guardrails” so that others will not cause discord and trouble.

Do not underestimate the greed, and sloth of relatives.

It will surprise you.

A message from Dad

Have you ever quit a job and walked out without giving any notice? What caused you to leave so urgently?

Yes I did. My husband was transferred many times before he retired. I was an accountant, so I would usually go to a temp agency and work a couple of jobs until one came along I liked.

I went for a short interview for temp to perm in the Milwaukee area. The manager interviewed me in the conference room and asked me if I would object to straightening up the conference room on Friday afternoons. I thought it was a bit odd since they had lower level positions, but it wasn’t far from my house so I said sure.

Friday comes along and people start leaving around 3:00 p.m. The girl who was training me comes by and says she is going to show me what I needed to clean on Friday’s. I was a bit puzzled, thinking I didn’t need to be shown how to pick up a conference room. She then takes me to a janitor closet, pulls out a vacuum, mops, bathroom cleaners, etc. She tells me I’m to clean all the bathrooms, empty the trash, vacuum all the offices, including mine and the conference room. I told her I thought there was a mistake and she said, no all the new woman employees did this job until a new one came along. Then she left. I tried to call the man who hired me, but he didn’t answer. I actually started to vacuum a couple of offices, but I was getting madder and madder.

I looked in the bathrooms and said to myself “oh hell no” . Apparently they were only cleaned on Fridays. Mind you I have on a suit, nylons and high heels. I tried calling the manager again and when there was no answer, I picked up my things and walked out. I went straight to the temporary agency. She was on the phone with him, because one of the employees called her and said I left all the cleaning material out and walked out the door. This was an agency for professional people. I told her my story. Had we had cell phones then I would have taken lots of pictures. She called him back with me sitting there and asked him if they had indeed asked me to spend the last two hours of the day cleaning bathrooms, etc. He said all the other WOMAN had done it, it was like an initiation thing. She asked him if men had to do this. He said no. She said so you expect my highly qualified client to do janitorial work in a suit? He said, well I don’t want that woman to come back, she just walked off leaving the office uncleaned and the supplies out, send me someone new. The agency lady told him, I didn’t plan on coming back and to please lose her number, she was not sending qualified accountants out there to clean his office.

This was in the early 90’s. In retrospect, I should have gone after them for discrimination, but just let it go. That was the one time I walked off a job!

Have you ever accidentally found out that you were about to be fired?

I was Marketing Director for a major, easily recognized company that manufactured female oriented products. Our President was in over his head, as evidenced by our declining market share and revenue. I was hired to help turn things around given my successful track record at other companies. However, the President couldn’t handle any outside suggestion or strategy unless it was his so I was constantly reprimanded for doing my job.

One day, my timid, suck-up boss sends me an email about a report she needs me to do ASAP. I scoll thru the entire email and at the end, I see it originated with a request from the President. Basically he wanted my boss to assign the report to me and once she had it to fire me. The email also contained some very derogatory & crude & inappropriate comments about my appearance.

I forwarded the entire email to my personal email account, HR and members of the Board. In exchange for me not pursuing legal action or sharing the incident with my press contacts (would have killed any credibility in the female marketplace), I received my bonus, 6 months severance including paying my health insurance, & a strong positive reference letter. I had a new position in 6 weeks.

The President was let go after about 2 months and it took him over 1 year to find a new position at a less prestigious company and lessor salary.

I read somewhere that French people are required to take paid vacations. Isn’t this taking away individuals’ right to work if they choose?

Paid vacations are compulsory because French trade unions are not stupid. They know that if they leave in up to the individual to choose whether to take vacations or not, the employers will use that to subtlely, or not so subtlely, force workers to work and not take vacations.

Paid vacations being compulsory is a line in the sand and a right that has been won. Talk of the “right” to be a workoholic sounds like insanity. The only people wanting such a “right” would be exploitative employers who would use the workoholic as leverage against everyone else.

Rights do not exist in a vacuum, they are created and exercised in real-world social context. İn the real world, which is not the world of liberal individualist fantasy, the defence of rights must almost always be a collective effort.

TEARS Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home| REACTION

Reaction video. If you tire of the American angst, then don’t watch it. But I will continue to put up visions of what it was like in France before the powdered wig wealthy got beheaded.

In business, has your boss ever tried to fire you, only to be fired by their boss instead?

Once upon a time, my department was merged into another. My old manager was a great boss. The new one was a horrible boss. I knew he was sexually harassing the women in the company, but had no direct proof until I was working for him. I gathered evidence over a few months, then one day I emailed all of it to his boss, claiming my rights under their confidential reporting policy and stating my fear of retribution. His boss thanked me and told me that he’d get back with me. Nothing happened…yet.

About 3 weeks later, it was time for my quarterly review. We were IT pros who normally worked out of the office at client sites. My client reviews were like “walks on water, talks with God”. My first review with the new manager was the first I ever had in my life where I “did not meet expectations”. I knew he was lying and I had proof, but I didn’t do anything yet.

The next quarter, the client was still totally satisfied with me. I guess saving them roughly $10 million in the first 9 months of my contract was considered a good thing. But, my manager’s review was “Needs improvement to meet expectations” – one grade level down from “Did not meet expectations”. Another lie, and more proof.

The next quarter, I was put on a 90 day “Improvement plan” with termination at the end if I did not fully meet expectations, and I had still more proof because I had copies of every single client review that they had ever turned in. By that time I had another job lined up, so I printed off everything I had, not only on his sexual misconduct, but his falsified performance reports, and his boss’s failure to do anything about the sexual harassment report. I not only had proof of my boss’s gross misconduct and lies, but also his boss had violated the “confidential reporting policy” by telling my boss about my report of his wrongdoing.

I took all of it to HR, along with my resignation letter, effective immediately. The next day I started at my new job. Two weeks later, after much investigation and interviews of the women who had been harassed, my boss and his boss were terminated with cause. Neither got severance and neither was eligible for unemployment insurance.

Karma is a bitch.

Edit: I should have said how I document the sexual harassment. I kept a journal with me. People were used to seeing me pull it out at random times and write in it for a minute or two when I had an idea on how to automate something or improve a process.

Every time I overheard or saw harassment going on, out came my journal. Date, time, place, woman’s name, what she was doing at the time he approached her, what he did, and the conversation on both sides as accurately as I could. Later one of the women told me that it was the detail in the copied journal pages that sunk him because all of the women verified each instance was accurate, and my record was less than 25% of what had gone on.

So, ladies, if you are in this situation, start recording the events. Do it on paper. There’s a reason attorneys use paper. It’s harder to fake evidence when it’s written with different pens and the handwriting is subtly different at different times.

A story of discovery

In 1836, the directors of the Bank of England received an anonymous letter, in which the author claimed to have direct access to the gold in the bank.

The directors assumed this to be a joke and simply ignored it.

However, sometime later, they received another letter, in which the enigmatic author offered to meet them at an hour of their choosing inside the main gold vault.

According to the bank’s website, the directors were intrigued but considered it impossible for someone to break into the vault without their knowledge.

Nevertheless, they agreed to the meeting and gathered together one evening, inside the vault as agreed.

To their great surprise, at the appointed time, a noise was heard beneath the floorboards, and a man popped up underneath their feet.

He was a sewer worker who had been working on repairs close to the Bank of England site at Threadneedle Street.

During his routine inspection, he had discovered an old drain that led directly underneath the gold vault inside the bank itself.

After a quick stock take, they realized that the sewer worker had not taken anything from the vault, despite having multiple opportunities to do so.

As a reward for his honesty, the directors gifted him £800, a sum that equates to £80,000 in today’s money.

African Coup: Soldiers Seize Power in OPEC Member Gabon

Just now.

Changes are happening hard and fast.

I cut down my neighbor’s tree while they were on holidays because leaves and branches fall onto my property. When he returned from holidays, he called the police and threatened to sue me. Does he have a case? Will the police do anything?

I have another story that will stop you dead on your tracks.

Here it is.

Deep in the beautiful wooded distant enclave of a famous city in America, there are estates of rich people that boast priceless trees. One day, one of these rich barons of this serene nature paradise, got bored and toyed with the idea it would be nice to have a distant view of the beautiful city skyline. Problem was his neighbor’s priceless mature trees were in the way of where he wanted this view to be.

As the desire grew in his heart, he decided to act on it. He hired a wood cutting service and pointed them in the direction of the trees he wanted taken out.

On the 3rd day, (as is usually the case) his actions came to light because he had cleared quite a sizable chunk of the woods and the neighbor noticed the gap. The neighbor raced over there in his off-road truck and what he discovered nearly gave him a heart attack. About 15 of his precious priceless trees littered the ground.

Long story short, the city and the courts served the tree murderer with all kinds of injunctions and the city went to town fining him for every tree he had taken out. He had to pay daily fines as long as the trees were not replaced, fully rehabilitated and the old ones not removed.

Meanwhile, the victim baron’s lawyers were preparing for a civil suit and things were not looking so good for the “tk” who by now was in dire straights and visions of the city skyline were being replaced by a windowless basement in a friend’s farmhouse way back in the Midwest.

The last time I heard it looked like it was going to be a long 3 years with the city doing the tree replacement because they had to locate the right kind of trees, clear the ground, dig up stumps and finally plant the trees, truss them up and after two or three years decide whether the process was a success for all trees concerned. If not the fines would continue daily, eish!!!

Tree killer, I mean “tk”, had to mortgage his property and get into debt to meet the costs of his impulsive ill informed act of messing with someone else’s trees. Trees have more value than you can imagine. And I say that as a supporter of the Arbor Foundation. We love trees and we will come after you if you remove them without permit.

Stay away from trees, they will fall on your wallet.

Whitney Webb Part 1: How Government Steals From Us, Bombshell Epstein Book & Bitcoin For Sovereignty

Yeah. They are powerful.

What’s something you’ll never be accustomed to in the military?

In the US Navy at sea, you will never get accustomed to the General Quarters (GQ) alarm going off when you least expect it in the middle of the night, calling the entire crew to man their battle stations. You go from exhausted and dead asleep in your bunk after working a typical 14 hour day while underway, to immediately energized and moving at full speed. The loud, insistent clanging could wake a graveyard. You have to jump out of your rack, throw on a uniform (you can fasten buttons and laces later), and run through passageways and up/down ladders with minimal night time red lighting to get to your designated station. If the ship happens to be rolling and pitching in heavy seas, the difficulty level is magnified, as are the chances of getting bumps, cuts, bruises, or even (rarely) more serious injuries.

Once at your station, you must complete dressing, don any required protective gear, and get your equipment ready to respond to any possible attack (e.g., guns, torpedoes, missiles, radars, sonar, comm gear, electronic jammers, damage control equipment, engine rooms, auxiliary spaces, aft steering, magazine hoists, signal bridge, lookout posts, medical stations, galley, etc.). The ship is then buttoned up (hatches, scuttles, watertight doors, and ventilation are secured shut to prevent the spread of fires or flooding from areas that may suffer battle damage), and all stations report to the bridge when they are manned and ready. The whole evolution is timed, as seconds can count when responding to an incoming threat. If the CO is not pleased with how quickly his/her ship was made ready for action, you can expect more frequent GQ drills, which can happen at any hour of the day or night, and are almost always performed with no prior warning.

Who has been the luckiest person you know?

This man was an alcoholic, he was homeless, he lived on the streets, he had lost everything, he had been homeless for more than 7 years.

Laszlo Andraschek, made a decision that many would say was foolish, spending the last of the money he had to eat on a gas station lottery ticket.

He chose 6 numbers, the cashier reminded him that there were 7, so he randomly chose the last number.

Surprisingly, he ended up winning 2.5 million dollars, something that changed his life forever. The surprising thing about this is that Laszlo donated a good sum of money to a shelter that he and his wife were surviving for a long time.

They also invested part of their newly acquired fortune in two foundations that look after addicted people.

I think he was lucky not only to win the lottery, but also to be mature enough to be able to be generous after suffering for so long.

Oliver Anthony Does It AGAIN! His New Song ‘I Want To Go Home’ Is Climbing The Charts – Here’s Why

This is a Republican vs. Democrat video on this song. Sigh.

However, what she does bring up is the “hit piece” Oliver Anthony, and seriously… someone was PAID to write the piece. No one in their right mind would say (seriously) what the UK Independent wrote…

Reaction video. If you tire of the American angst, then don’t watch it. But I will continue to put up visions of what it was like in France before the powdered wig wealthy got beheaded.

Do people who buy expensive cars like Ferraris usually know how to drive them properly or maintain them well?

No, they don’t. Most don’t realize there are three milestones with exotic car ownership that require maintenance; on condition, based on miles driven, and calendar based maintenance. They always forget about the last and think if they didn’t drive their car all that much, what could it possibly need?

This is how exotic brands deny warranty claims, especially when you want to extend the warranty and a service interval is missed. If you own an exotic, carefully check the maintenance requirements and follow it to the letter. On a Lamborghini, the engine comes out for a lot of things. Ask me how I know.

As for how to drive them properly, the answer is no. The overwhelming majority of accidents with exotics are new owners and borrowed cars. I can only guess but they make up about 90% of all exotic accidents. The “Let’s see what this baby can do!” mentality is what does it, especially when they don’t know the subtleties of the car. A Lamborghini gives you little warning when it decides it wants to kill you. It’s your job to keep it from happening. Think of it like a domesticated wild animal that you have to constantly watch.

Tucker Carlson: HOT WAR With Russia Is Coming, Gabon COUP OUSTS French Puppet President

This is pretty good. Long. But good.

I mean REALLY GOOD.

“It’s difficult for me and my family to see this happening, I am married to a Russian I have two Russian born step kids now grown up, with friends in Russia as well. The people in Russia are good people and most Americans just don’t understand they are ignorant of that country and it’s culture and history.”

https://youtu.be/uYG6RwvJ2LA

During the Vietnam war why did you join the US Navy instead of the Army

During my junior year at UC Irvine, I was a participant in the first drawing. My number turned out to be “16”.

I said to a buddy, “Well, I’ve got one more year on my student deferment. Hopefully I’ll get a better number in next year’s lottery.”

The buddy gazed at me in pity and said: “You’re an idiot. 16 is the number you’ve got FOREVER.”

He was right, of course. And I started searching for alternatives to the Army.

…

For me, the choice was simple.

I figured out in 1968 that the Vietnam conflict was headed in a slow slog to nowhere. (It wasn’t particularly difficult to figure. The optimistic military press releases coming out of Saigon never matched the body counts or nightly battle footage shown on television. So I stopped believing the announcements about the light gleaming at the end of the ever-lengthening tunnel.)

I was a university student, hunkered down behind my student deferment like a jillion other privileged young males, but that deferment would soon be ending. And I knew I wasn’t a conscientious objector, and wasn’t going to lie about it. But I was also disinclined to wait to get drafted and spend twelve months in the Mekong Delta.

So one bright June day in 1970, I drove to a nearby Naval Reserve Center where a grizzled, gray-haired CPO with about twenty hash-marks on his sleeve signed me up for a six-year hitch (four years in the active reserves and two years on active duty.)

I spent my active duty doing paperwork on big gray ships and in a large, yellow building in San Diego. The reserve duty was done on a World War II destroyer based in Long Beach, California. I was never in or near Vietnam (orders to the Gulf of Tonkin got cancelled), so my original mission of steering clear of Southeast Asia was accomplished.

U.S Beg China As Chinese Economy Can Make or Break Global Economy!

https://youtu.be/qjE4rLw0DIE

Where does the US Navy keep mothballed ships?

The Navy has several reserve fleets, also known as ghost fleets, where mothballed ships are kept. Some of the largest and most well-known reserve fleets are:

The Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in California, near San Francisco. This fleet holds dozens of ships, mostly from the Cold War era, such as cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and auxiliary vessels. Some of these ships are slated for disposal, while others are on donation hold for possible use as museum ships or artificial reefs.
The James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia, near Newport News. This fleet holds over 100 ships, mostly from World War II and the Korean War, such as battleships, aircraft carriers, landing ships, and cargo ships. Some of these ships are also on donation hold or awaiting disposal.
The Beaumont Reserve Fleet in Texas, near Port Arthur. This fleet holds over 50 ships, mostly amphibious assault and support vessels, such as landing craft, tank landing ships, dock landing ships, and transport dock ships. Some of these ships are still in active service or ready reserve status.

Other smaller reserve fleets are located in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Bremerton, Washington; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Mobile, Alabama. The Navy also has a separate reserve fleet for nuclear-powered ships and related support vessels, which are stored at designated locations such as Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington and Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia.

Gabon Coup Latest: Billions In Raw Cash Found In Ali Bongo Son Apartment!

Quick recap. Niger has said no to a pro-West puppet government and had a coup. The puppet government was thrown out and the USA and France had a fit! So they organized a block of neighboring African states all run by their puppets to invade Niger.

It didn’t happen.

Instead Wagner troops from Russia, and other pro-African nations fortified and protected Niger from invasion.

So then Gabon started to be reinforced by French and American troops to better support an invasion. And then the Gabon military staged a coup and ousted their puppet “leader”.

After taking over. This is what they found.

What are some shocking death bed confessions you’ve heard?

I know of my great-uncle’s deathbed confession only second-hand, through my grandmother. There is some background here, so bear with me as I lay all the pieces into place.

My grandmother and her brother were born in pre-revolutionary Odessa and grew up in a poor and crime-ridden Jewish neighborhood immortalized later in the works of Isaac Babel. Like most boys coming of age in that time and place, my great-uncle began running with a gang around the age of ten. Although he had not been involved in anything major prior to the outbreak of World War II, like most of his friends, was growing up very tough, both physically and psychologically, as you would expect of children reared in a ghetto controlled by gangsters.

The Revolution had removed the legal restrictions that had been imposed on Jews under the old regime, and my great-uncle and his peers were able to leave the ghetto and their rough-and-tumble past behind them, received good educations and got respectable jobs. In the late 1940’s, he and my grandmother, along with a bunch of other young people they had known back in Odessa, moved to a the Moscow area, where they settled down into unremarkable middle-class Soviet lives.

The incident that was the subject of my great-uncle’s deathbed confession took place in the early 1970’s, when he was in his early sixties. He and a number of acquaintances he knew from his youth in Odessa were then living in a suburb of Moscow, which could be reached by an elektrichka, a rickety suburban commuter train.

Like a lot of Russian cities, Moscow and its surrounding areas were arranged in roughly concentric circles, with suburban districts separated by “green belts” — heavily wooded areas interspersed with bogs. These green belts were not parks; there were no hiking or biking trails, no camping areas. These were strips of true, impenetrable wilderness, a setup unimaginable in the capitalist West, where the pressures of the real estate market at the very least put nature on a leash, if not obliterate it altogether. If you were to ride a Moscow commuter train of an evening in that era, you’d see the lights and bustle of the city flash briefly by the window, and then the train would plunge into darkness, flying through a forbidding primordial forest. Then suddenly another town would appear, with a brightly lit platform, where the train would pause briefly — then it would start moving again and plunge into uninhabited wilderness once more. And so forth and so on, until it reached its terminus.

One evening, my great-uncle and two of his friends attended some sort of event in center Moscow and ended up taking a late commuter train back home — probably the last train of the evening, which departed the Leningrad Station close to midnight. This was never an advisable thing to do: late-night elektrichkas were empty and eerie, and bad things were known to happen to hapless tipsy passengers who rode one that late into the evening.

This was one of those times.

The three friends stepped into a virtually empty car and settled in — three pudgy, soft-spoken middle-aged men in bulky felt coats, flat caps and glasses. An engineer, a doctor and an accountant. One of them spoke with a heavy lisp. If you saw them then, these guys looked like your stereotypical, timid, limp-wristed, well-nourished middle-aged college dads, and you never would have guessed they had grown up as skull-cracking hooligans in one of the toughest urban areas in pre-War Soviet Union.

There was one other passenger in the car — a mean-looking drunk who began glowering at them and flicking a pen knife in his hand as soon as the train left the station. A couple of suburban stops in, he began to harangue my great-uncle and his two friends.

“Jews!” he hissed, “Fucking Jews! I know you’re Jews! Hitler didn’t finish the job! Stalin didn’t finish the job! You’re like cockroaches, impossible to kill! Your hooked noses! Greedy Jews! Filthy Jews! I’ll kill you and your Jew broads too! I’ll rape your children! Burn all the Jews!”

And so forth and so on.

As the train departed another station and entered one of the “green belts”, the three pudgy middle aged men exchanged knowing looks. Then the one with the lisp said loudly:

“Guyth? I am going into the vethtibule to thmoke a thigarette, okay?”

He then rose and walked over to the vestibule. The drunk with the pen knife followed him. As he opened the door to the vestibule, the other two men also rose and followed in. Once the three friends cornered the drunk in the tiny vestibule, they set upon him, disarmed him and kicked him to death, stomping on his head to disfigure him as much as possible. Then they opened the window and forced his body out of the train. It rolled down the embankment and disappeared in the nightly wilderness. The man’s ID was disposed of separately. One of the three friends, though not my great-uncle, kept the pen knife as a souvenir.

And then there was nothing. No cop ever came to question any of them. And because this was the Soviet Union, there was nothing on the news. None of the three ever mentioned the incident.

This my great-uncle told his sister as he lay dying in a hospital about fifteen years later. Having confessed, he looked away from her and began to mumble to himself. Those green belts are perfect places to dump bodies, you know (he said). Very convenient. Folks are doing it, it’s an open secret. No one ever goes there. You don’t even need to dig a hole, the animals will get to the corpse long before the “garbages” ever do. You can even roll a body into a bog. There are lots of bogs. Maybe that jackass we murdered also rolled into a bog, we gave him a good momentum. And once they sink into bogs, those bodies will stay there for thousands of years. Perhaps some day, future archeologists will dig them up. Lots of material for those turgid doctoral dissertations, hehehe! Were these bog men priests? War captives? Slaves? Chieftains? Why were they put in those bogs? Was it part of some religious ritual? Did ancient Muscovites practice a religion that called for human sacrifices? No professor, no, no. The ancients were just as cynical and practical are you modern people are.

Those men in those bogs aren’t ritual sacrifices, they’re just some assholes who had it coming. No man is there that did not deserve it. And the bogs are good places to dump the trash you never want to see again.

OLIVER ANTHONY- RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND REACTION

You all getting tired of these reactions?

This is HISTORIC.

Big changes coming together, and there WILL be Government / Oligarchic backlash. Wait for it.

Reaction video. If you tire of the American angst, then don’t watch it. But I will continue to put up visions of what it was like in France before the powdered wig wealthy got beheaded.

Has a celebrity ever served as a defense witness in a criminal case?

An incredible story happened in the USA in the 2000s.

A man has been arrested in Los Angeles for murder. However, he swore that he was innocent (well known) and that he could not have committed this crime because he was attending a baseball game at the time.

Unfortunately, he had no proof of what he was saying. On the other hand, eyewitnesses claimed to have seen him at the scene of the crime. The case seemed heard and the suspect promised to life in prison.

However, from the depths of his cell, while awaiting trial, the defendant recalled that he had seen a camera crew filming something in the stadium on the day of the baseball game. He then asked his lawyer to try to find this team and try to see if there were any images in which we could see him.

It was a desperate attempt.

The lawyer did some research and quickly discovered that the crew from the series “Curb your enthusiasm” had actually filmed in the stadium that day. A request was made to the producer and star of the series, the comic Larry David (co-creator of Seinfeld) to be able to access the rushes filmed that day.

Larry David immediately agreed and made available to the lawyer the hours of video they had shot in the stadium.

And after a long and careful examination of these tapes… he found a plan on which the accused could be seen and recognized indisputably!

The latter was released on the spot, thus escaping life imprisonment…

AMERICA TERRIFIED of CHINA!

While the United States and it’s allies circle China with military bases to contain China, Russia is building military bases in Nicaragua and Niger is stopping an American LNG pipeline to Europe. North Korea is testing ICBM’s and Japan, South Korea and America are in talks to strengthen their security ties in the region. Could it be that the United States knows it is out manned, out gunned and losing it’s grasp on it’s world domination goals. Watch the video for the whole story.

Do you know why the grandparents in your family had such a hard life?

My grandparents lived in a dugout in Oklahoma. That is where you dig a hole in the ground, and it becomes your home.

They attended church and taught Sunday School each week.

During their 61-year marriage, they produced a huge extended family.

My grandfather’s ancestors came from Buckinghamshire, England. My grandmother’s kin came from Cornwall. As America expanded westward, their families expanded westward.

My ancestors (on both sides) lived on the frontier. They were constantly trying to grow more food. The goal was not to get rich — the goal was to survive another winter.

In constant dollars, Americans are 3,000% richer today than in 1800.

In the 1930s, my grandparents paid for magazine subscriptions (Popular Mechanics, Scientific American, Saturday Evening Post) by giving the traveling salesman a chicken. He carried a burlap sack.

My grandmother sewed dresses from feed sacks and flour sacks. Potato sack dresses were less popular. That’s because the word “Potato” was printed on them.

The dress below would have been too cheeky for my straightlaced grandparents.

There was no stigma attached to sack dresses. No one had any money.

Farm income in Oklahoma declined -35% during the 1920s. There were two reasons:

End of World War I reduced agricultural demand
Argentina and Australia became major crop exporters

The Great Depression of the 1930s was just a continuation of those same hard conditions. When the stock market crashed in 1929, Okie farmers barely noticed.

For Christmas presents, my aunts and uncles received one piece of fruit and one piece of hard candy.

My mother rode a horse named Shorty. That horse took her to and from school beginning age 6.

When the creek was up, Shorty would plunge ahead whether she was ready or not. Shorty knew the route and wanted to reach his destination.

One day after school, she got on Shorty and they started for home. A boy who attended the same school threw a rock and hit the horse on his haunches.

Shorty took off like a rocket. As a first-grader, she barely hung on — clinging to his mane. The teacher saw the whole episode through the window.

Mr. Rock Thrower could still recall his spanking at the 50-year reunion.

There were only two “dating services” back then: church and the pie auction.

Girls looking for a husband would bake their best pie. On a designated Saturday night, everyone in the county would converge at the auction. It was a big social event for all ages.

Young men would bid on pies. Bidding was fast and furious for every pie. In effect, bidders were buying a first date. Sometimes a last date.

Shy men and women were especially fond of the auction. Each year, marriages and new families could be traced back to pie.

The U.S. government offered money to my grandparents to stop growing row crops. My grandfather rejected the idea outright. He told his neighbors:

“No one should accept free money from the government, and that includes a poor man like me.

Politicians can call it whatever they like. But it is Socialism. Socialism is wrong.”

My mother worked as a cook to pay her way through the University of Oklahoma. She studied mathematics. Mom received no money from home. My grandparents simply had no money to send.

When she graduated, she was hired by the OSS. They did intelligence work. She said their nickname was Oh So Social.

She worked in temporary buildings on the Washington mall. As soon as the war was over, she returned to Oklahoma.

It was exciting working with spies. But she wanted to be a wife and mother.

Audie Murphy wrote In his autobiography:

“We were poor cotton sharecroppers. My family always lived hand to mouth. When I joined the Army, I was amazed they let me eat as much as I wanted.”

All my uncles served in the military. So did I.

In the 1960s, my Uncle Ken completed his tour. When he left the Service, he was invited to New York City to interview. The job was flying helicopters between Manhattan and the Hamptons.

My grandfather told him: You do what you want, son. I truly want you to be happy.

But Yankees live differently than we do.

If you go to New York City, there is a good chance you will be back in 6 months.

My uncle lasted one night.

There are more people in one high-rise building than all of Cimarron County, Oklahoma. You can look from horizon to horizon and not see another human being.

That feeling of vastness — unlimited space — never leaves you.

On the other hand, city folks like the “energy” of a metropolis. To each his own.

My grandfather said:

Each person is uniquely created by God. Each person has a unique purpose.

Some coastal Americans would not visit the Great Plains if you paid them in gold.

Woody Allen directed The Front. In that movie, a character from New York says:

He moved to Kansas. Or maybe it was Oklahoma. Doesn’t matter.

Any normal person would go nuts in a place like that.

In the 1960s, I helped my grandfather milk at 5 AM and 5 PM. Cats lined up early.

One time, all my cousins and I were swimming in the creek.

My grandfather suddenly raced into the water. He pinned a water moccasin with a branch, then killed it with his bare hands. We were shocked. He was always such a gentle man.

Around my grandparents’ farm house and hay barn, there were chickens everywhere. This gave my grandmother “egg money” for incidentals.

On Saturday afternoons, we hauled water from town back to the farm. It cost 50 cents for 1,000 gallons.

On Saturday nights, my cousins and I would attend stock car races, a baseball game, or the rodeo. There was no television unless the wind was blowing due west from Oklahoma City.

In some Oklahoma counties, people drove an hour each way to reach a movie theater.

Funerals in Oklahoma can be very practical. The funeral director will find strapping young men and say:

You, you, and you … please give us a hand with the casket.

In winter, my grandfather and I would break ice in numerous locations. Cattle and hogs need water each day. With livestock, there are no days off.

Our reward was a huge farm breakfast including homemade biscuits and gravy.

After breakfast, we listened to a radio program called Tradio. People would call in to buy or sell various items. These ranged from knick-knacks to wheat combines. My grandfather never bought or sold anything. But he could recognize the voices of his neighbors on the radio.

I helped Grandpa change a tractor tire when I was 15 and he was 73. It was 102 degrees that day.

I spilled icy lemonade all over my work shirt. He kidded me and could not stop laughing.

My grandfather told us: Do not stick your nose in other people’s business.

That was wise advice. But in the early 1970s, western Oklahoma had party line telephones. There were 8 households on each line.

When someone made a call, 7 other people could potentially listen in. That was great fun for teenaged girls — but less fun for other people.

One time, I called my cousin: “I need to buy a load of 32% feed.”

He said: “Pick me up. I’ll give you a hand.”

An unknown voice chimed in: “Atwoods is having a clearance sale on 28% feed.” <click>

When my oldest uncle returned from the military, he used the GI Bill to attend Oklahoma State University. Then, he went to medical school at OU.

After graduation, he headed back to western Oklahoma. He was the only country doctor for miles around.

He used his “doctor money” to build a huge cattle operation. He often treated patients while wearing ranch clothes and dusty cowboy boots. No patient ever objected. After all, he was the only physician in town.

On the other hand, pharmaceutical salesmen stared in disbelief when they first met him. My uncle would say a few words of medical mumbo jumbo. That seemed to relax them.

My uncle built a dirt landing strip on his ranch with his tractor. He used his airplane to find lost cattle.

One day, we were watching him land his plane. He was so low he clipped the barbed wire fence. There was no damage to the plane except scraped paint. My cousin and I were sent to fix the fence.

I said: “Good thing he lands on his own property. If he landed his plane at the airport, the FAA might suspend his license.”

My cousin replied: “What license? He traded some cattle for that plane and just took off.”

In some parts of the USA, energy companies are vilified. That does not happen in Oklahoma and Texas.

Oklahomans follow the oil patch like Bostonians follow the Red Sox.

In 1977, a natural gas driller proposed drilling four wells on my grandparents’ property. Oklahoma (unlike Texas) has pooling of mineral rights. We already knew drilling was getting close.

Those four wells were planned for 11,500 feet. At that time, these were the deepest wells in the Anadarko Basin.

One of their daughters (my aunt) worked for Mosbacher Oil in Houston. She advised them to ask for a bigger override in exchange for no signing bonus.

Negotiations with the driller were always friendly. Discussions took place at the breakfast table over coffee.

My family understood that dry holes would mean zero money and torn up pastures. On the other hand, a gusher would mean lots of money.

As it turned out, all four wells became big producers.

My grandparents became wealthy within 6 months. But they never spent a dime on themselves.

Grandma said: I always wanted to travel, but never had the money. Now I have the money, but I am too tired to go.

My parents and grandparents lived through the Dust Bowl. Their mindset was:

Never whine. Never complain.

Put a smile on your face and get to work.

My grandparents married in 1920 and always felt blessed.

They thanked God each day.

This hits HOME | Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home – REACTION

Reaction video. If you tire of the American angst, then don’t watch it. But I will continue to put up visions of what it was like in France before the powdered wig wealthy got beheaded.

China makes breakthrough in controllable nuclear fusion technology for new-generation ‘artificial sun’

China made a breakthrough in controllable nuclear fusion technology on Saturday.

Huanliu-3 (HL-3), the country’s new-generation “artificial sun,” realized high-confinement mode operation with a plasma current of one million amperes for the first time, according to the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

The breakthrough puts the operational level of China’s magnetic confinement nuclear fusion device at the forefront of the world, marking an important milestone in the country’s development of nuclear fusion energy.

The Huanliu-3 (HL-3), independently developed by China, is a large-scale research facility for controllable nuclear fusion.

The high-confinement mode, or H-mode, is an advanced mode of operation in magnetic confinement fusion devices, which can improve the economical efficiency of a fusion reactor.

Thus, the H-mode has been chosen as the standard operation mode for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which is under construction.

The ITER is a nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject funded and run by seven member parties: China, the European Union, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

A computer-generated image of China’s self-developed Huanliu-3 (HL-3) nuclear fusion reactor, the country’s new-generation “artificial sun.” /CMG

The conditions for realizing nuclear fusion reactions are extremely harsh. In a vacuum environment, the plasma temperature must reach more than 100 million degrees Celsius. As long as the conditions are not met, the reactions will not occur. Therefore, the nuclear fusion reactor is safe and controllable.

As a cutting-edge technology, controllable nuclear fusion is considered one of the most important methods to ultimately address energy-related issues.

It serves as a significant part in China’s “three-step” technological roadmap of “thermal neutron reactor, fast reactor, controllable nuclear fusion reactor” for nuclear energy development.

According to China’s long-term development goals set for the nuclear energy industry, the application of nuclear fusion energy is hoped to be realized by the middle of this century.

This Is So Bad – San Francisco’s Largest Mall Will Be Replaced By a Stadium

What idiots are running SF today?

Big Serge On The Summer Campaign In Ukraine

Big Serge has a long read about the state of the war in Ukraine which I recommend to read. It is a nice recap of the whole war and the ballyhooed counter-offensive:

Escaping Attrition: Ukraine Rolls the Dice
The Zaporizhia Summer Blockbuster

After concluding that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has evidently failed, he dares a look into the future:

So, whence goes the war from here? Well, the obvious question to ask is whether we believe Ukraine will ever have a more potent assault package than the one they started the summer with. The answer clearly seems to be no. It was like pulling teeth to scrape together these understrength brigades – the idea that, following on a defeat in the Battle of Zaporizhia, NATO will somehow put together a more powerful package seems like a stretch. More to the point, we have American officials saying fairly explicitly that this was the best mechanized package Ukraine was going to get.

It does not seem controversial to say that this was Ukraine’s best shot at some sort of genuine operational victory, which at this point seems to be slowly trickling away into modest but materially costly tactical advances. The ultimate implication of this is that Ukraine is unable to escape a war of industrial attrition, which is precisely the sort of war that it cannot win, due to all the asymmetries that we mentioned earlier.

In particular, however, Ukraine cannot win a positional-attritional war because of its own maximalist definition of “winning.” Since Kiev has insisted that it will not give up until it returns its 1991 borders, an inability to dislodge Russian forces poses a particularly nasty problem – Kiev will either need to admit defeat and acknowledge Russian control over the annexed areas, or it will continue to fight obstinately until it is a failed state with nothing left in the tank.

Trapped in a bat fight, with attempts to unlock the front with maneuver coming to naught, what Ukraine needs most is a much bigger bat. The alternative is a totalizing strategic disaster.

Pushed by the U.S. the Ukrainian leadership seems to have decided to go for the alternative.

Also a good read is:

The Case for Negotiating with Russia – The New Yorker

Not that Biden will go for it, but it is important that such pieces are now coming up.

Posted by b at 11:56 UTC | Comments (216)

Episode 66 — Singin’ the truth about America (Oliver Anthony)

In his phenomenal and poignant song about the working man in America and the slide of a once great country into semi-tyranny by the rich rats “North of Richmond,” Oliver Anthony hits a patriotic nerve among tens of millions of Americans, who are just f**king FED UP with the Swamp’s politicians and their Leftist voters, and the outright theft of our paychecks and freedoms!

Reaction video. If you tire of the American angst, then don’t watch it. But I will continue to put up visions of what it was like in France before the powdered wig wealthy got beheaded.

Very expensive fails

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Did Huawei deliberately launch the Mate 60 Pro phone with 5G Kirin 9000s chipset while US Commerce Secretary Raimondo was visiting China in August 2023 as a deliberate slap in the face to the US?

That’s at best, speculative.

Huawei had scheduled a launch event in September, 12th, if my memory serves me correctly. People were expecting the Mate 60 Pro in two weeks, with the usual media blitz typical of a flagship launch. Curiously, Apple’s iPhone 15 launch is scheduled for the 13th, Beijing Time.

This prelaunch sale landed in vmall, Huawei’s webstore as an announcement celebrating the sale of the Mate series exceeding 100 million.

No graphics, no specs, just short descriptions of the colors available, the satellite calling feature, the improved durability of the case and glass, the upgrade to the camera’s action, portrait and macro shot capability, the return of Ai-powered hands free gestures and mobile payment, as well as the Pangu large language AI model.

With that, several million sets of the 12/512 GB model sold out within the hour. At 7k per pop, that’s revenue in multiples of 7 billion RMB, in just 1 hour.

Reviews are aplenty, with customers receiving their purchases on the day or the next. There are drop tests, screen tests, satellite calling demos, smart mobile payment demos, gesture demos, pangu demos, camera tests, charging tests, teardowns… all within the first 24–48 hours.

All for a phone that hasn’t been officially launched, and caught everyone, even the influencers who review tech for a living, by surprise.

I won’t engage in conspiracy and say this was Huawei’s attempt at black humor, but beyond the impressive phone, the logistic efficiency demonstrated in getting the goods to consumers is shocking, and Huawei’s guerilla marketing success is testament to the groundswell of support and goodwill in the domestic market. Huawei (华为), after all, means “Created by the Chinese”, a symbol of pride for the Chinese nation.

Discounting Huawei’s motivation for jumping the gun, the Mate 60 Pro’s prelaunch injected tremendous chatter into the news cycle surrounding Gina’s visit. Its success is the perfect response to the Commerce department’s attempt at targeting a corporation for take down.

As for Gina, she is one confused girl. She says in Beijing she is ready to collaborate with China on AI, but turns around and insists matters of national security are non-negotiable.

“I love you, but I’m not in love with you.”

We are better off ignoring the rhetoric and focusing on her department’s policies.

Gina no longer has a bird’s eye view of Huawei’s activities, because it has been forced to create a sandboxed and independent supply chain free from American sanction through the abuse of IP privileges. Whoever inherits the hot seat will have to deal with the fog of war invited by America, for America.

GloFo had no choice but to abandon its $70 billion factory in China because of the US decision!

In this video, we dissect the dramatic withdrawal of a major U.S. chip powerhouse from the Chinese market, the stunning shutdown of a colossal $70 billion factory, and its subsequent acquisition by a Chinese tech giant.

🇺🇸 The U.S. chip bill, a game-changing move signed into law by President Biden, has ignited what experts now call the “chip war.” This showdown is reshaping the Sino-U.S. technological landscape, marking the second round of high-stakes rivalry between these global titans.

💥 The ripple effects of the Biden administration’s restrictions on American corporate investments in China have sent shockwaves through the industry. American chip companies are grappling with the potential loss of substantial financial support from the Chinese market. China, holding a commanding 65% share of nearly $600 billion in global semiconductor purchases, wields tremendous influence over the industry’s future.

https://youtu.be/y3G_ROk4fJ8

What would Xi Jinping do if he took over Taiwan, and millions of mainland Chinese suddenly wanted to move there?

After the liberation of Taiwan, there will be no more millions of mainland Chinese going to Taiwan.

Taiwan’s per capita income is not as good as that of Hong Kong, Macau, or even Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hongkong

There are few business opportunities and few employment opportunities. As Taiwan’s industries are dominated by OEMs with low wages, young Taiwanese are reluctant to take up these jobs. Most of these jobs are done by foreign labourers from Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia who come to Taiwan.

Young Taiwanese are travelling out of Taiwan in search of job opportunities, mostly to Japan, Australia and mainland China.

And, they’re both China’s islands, but Taiwan’s scenery isn’t even as good as Hainan’s, let alone the other islands in Southeast Asia. There are not even decent tropical beaches. The west coast of Taiwan is mudflats, and the east coast is gravel. Therefore, few tourists go to Taiwan for vacation.

Hainan Province, China

The scenery of Alishan and Sun Moon Lake is just average. In terms of scenic beauty, it is not as beautiful as Huangshan, Lijiang, Jiuzhaigou, Zhangjiajie and other world natural heritage sites.

Zhangjiajie, Hunan, the setting for the film “Avatar”.

This is Sun Moon Lake, Alishan. To be honest, the scenery is pretty average! Many of the reservoirs in mainland China are no less scenic than Sun Moon Lake in Alishan.

In mainland China, there are plateau lakes, alpine lakes, forest lakes, basin lakes, frigid ice lakes, steppe lakes, underground lakes in caves, desert oasis lakes, Gobi lakes, park lakes, reservoir lakes, Tianshan lakes, Kunlun lakes, Qinling lakes, Shangri-La lakes, southwestern lakes, southern lakes, northwestern lakes, and so on. Tibetan Plateau lakes are densely packed how to describe? Even the seven deserts have starry lakes …… mainly because Taiwan is too small.

The infrastructure is outdated, and there are metal houses next to the 101 building.

Many mainland Chinese who have travelled to Taiwan Province feel that they have been deceived by the advertisements of travel agents. When you hear people bragging about how beautiful Taiwan is, you will be deeply disappointed when you are actually on the ground.

Of course, it is not that Taiwan is not beautiful, but Taiwan is too small, too common, not as vast as the mainland, for mainland Chinese who have seen too many beautiful scenery, Taiwan lacks the scenery that “shocked” them.

Because Taiwan is not attractive as a place to live, few mainland Chinese will voluntarily move to Taiwan.

In December 1949, the KMT fled to Taiwan with millions of mainland soldiers, Officials and wealthy businessmen. Except for the KMT officials and wealthy businessmen who are greedy for life and fear of death, most of the soldiers came to Taiwan from their hometowns out of necessity. They are coerced, not self-selected.

But the CPC is not the KMT. the CPC is the victor of the Chinese civil war and does not need to lead the Chinese people to flee to Taiwan.

Chiang Kai-shek brought millions of soldiers to flee to Taiwan, photo credit: New Taiwan Peace Foundation

However, the PLA will undoubtedly station troops in Taiwan Province. Taiwan Province falls under the jurisdiction of the PLA’s Eastern Theatre, and potentially 100,000 PLA soldiers will be stationed in Taiwan.

PLA soldiers come from all over China and rotate regularly, just like the PLA garrison in Hong Kong.

The PLA Hong Kong Garrison has 6,000-12,000 PLA soldiers. Taiwan is larger in area and has a larger population than Hong Kong. Moreover, Taiwan is very strategically located. the PLA will definitely have more troops stationed in Taiwan than in Hong Kong.

Filipina Give Hot Comments About Western Women Demands in a Relationship.

Tired of the reaction videos? Then this is for you.

I once had a cat named Scooby

I once had a cat named Scooby.

I loved him dearly, and he was a good cat. I will tell you that we had him for perhaps four years when he started having problems, and so we took him to the vet.

It turned out that he had Feline AIDS, and Feline FIV, and was very contagious. Our vet recommended that we put him down so as not to contaminate the rest of the cats in the neighborhood. So we resigned ourselves to keeping him in our home and isolated.

But over time, he started to behave aggressively and strangely. Like peeing over everything.

And he kept on breaking out of the house…

Eventually, we got him, and took him to the vet and “put him down”.

I was there, and from the moment the needle was inserted he knew what was going on; and he hated me for it. I could feel his spirit attacking me, clawing at me. Biting me, and hissing at me.

This went on for hours before it finally dissipated.

I hated it.

I hated everything from having to put him down, to the fact that he was sick, to the hate being directed towards me. It was a grim time.

Two days later, I had to fly out for a job interview.

While I was sitting on the flight, Scooby came to me (in spirit form, of course) and curled up in my lap. He forgave me. And was giving me love. He lay there in my lap for the three hour flight, and then disappeared.

I do miss that lanky old cat.

He was a good little guy.

…

Nothing lasts forever. I look forward to seeing him again “on the other side”.

…

Todays run…

China’s 6nm automotive-grade chip passes certification!

https://youtu.be/dLB7xvbhtfY

What is the coolest line a pilot has said to the passengers?

Flying back from Mallorca on Jet2, the pilot said on the intercom:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that we’re ready early and we’ve made it with plenty of time for our departure slot. The bad news is that unfortunately it seems the Spanish air traffic controllers have decided to walk out in solidarity with striking French controllers so we currently have a 2 hour wait. However, to ease the boredom, I’ll step out of the cockpit and you can all come up, sit in the pilot’s chair and be shown around by the first officer who’ll answer any questions you have”

The second I saw him come out of the cockpit I sprang out of my seat to get to the front of the inevitable queue and had a good chat with the FO while sitting in the seat. My impressions were that the cockpit of a 737–800 is a lot smaller than you’d think and that the seats are pretty difficult to move.

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After 90 mins the pilot is on the intercom again:

“Folks, unfortunately we’ve been told we have another 2 hours, 45 minutes wait (huge groans from the cabin)
Only joking, we’ve got to get going quickly so back to your seats and buckle up soon as you can! (cheers from cabin)”

The pilot landed pretty hard in Birmingham and 10 seconds after reducing reverse thrust was back on the intercom:

“I’ve just been informed that my landing was a bit on the hard side. I don’t know what the fuss is about, it seemed fine to me. But apologies to anyone with loose fillings”

My goodness!

What is the most outrageous “fee” you’ve ever been charged?

Decades ago, I received a past-due notice for a loan payment to a bank I’d never done business with. Puzzled, I called the bank. After explaining my confusion three times, I finally was talking with someone who had sense enough to look into it instead of fobbing me off to someone else.

“Did you make a purchase from Such-and-such Music Store?” Indeed, I’d purchased a piano for my wife a month or so earlier. (Might’ve been nice if the salesman had mentioned they’d turn the loan over to a third party, but whatever.)

I then asked the bank worker how the *very first* communication I’d received from the bank could be a past-due notice.

“You should have received a payment coupon book,” she said. (As indicated, this was ages ago.)

“I’ve received nothing from you till this,” I replied.

And then, to my everlasting amazement, she said, “I know. The printing company we use had an equipment breakdown and the coupon books haven’t gone out for a while.”

That “I know” blew me away. The bank *knew* their customers weren’t being told when their payments would be due, and how much they would be—and, in cases such as mine, didn’t even know their loan had been sold to that bank—and instead of notifying people, they just sent out overdue notices.

With a late fee attached, of course.

So I told the nice lady that I’d be happy to make the payment, but I would not stand for a late charge.

Now it was her turn to be puzzled. “Why not?”

“Because I wasn’t late—*you* were!”

In the end, she had to have a VP call me later, and after I went over it all again, he agreed it was kinda dumb for them to send late notices to people who didn’t even know they had a loan with that bank, he waived the late fee.

That only took half of my day.

U.S And Europe in Trouble As China Rush Into Legacy Chips!

What is the most, “What were they thinking?” marketing mistakes you’ve seen?

In 2007, Jennifer Strange entered a competition to win a “Wii. console.” The competition was run by local radio station in Rancho Cordova, in California, and was called “Hold Your Wee for a Wii.”

The challenge was a group of participants had to drink as much water as you can, and who ever could hold their wee the longest would win the Wii console.

Jennifer strange drank more than one and half gallons of water in just three hours, but still only managed to come second in the competition. One of Jennifer’s co-workers who was driving her home after the competition, said she started to complain about a sever headache, which became so bad she started crying.

A few hours after the competition Jennifer Strange was found dead in her room, with the cause of death ruled as “Acute Water Intoxication.”

Her parents sued the radio station and they were found liable for her death, and the parents were awarded 16 million dollars in compensation.

China Scientists Tease the US as They Found a Weak Spot in US “Undetectable Submarines”!

https://youtu.be/9FYE_-FiHPw

South Korea To Run “NUCLEAR ATTACK” Evacuation Drill August 23

World Hal Turner 18 August 2023

The entire country of South Korea will stage a NUCLEAR ATTACK EVACUATION DRILL on August 23. Fifty-one Million (51,000,000) citizens are REQUIRED to participate to practice evacuating to shelters or underground safe spaces during the 20-minute exercise.

The drill, scheduled for 2:00 PM on Wednesday, August 23, will see many drivers required to pull over to the side of roads and the exits to subway stations closed with commuters required to remain inside, a statement from the South Korean Interior Ministry said.

“We expect to strengthen the response capacity of the nation through a practical drill reflecting the aspects of provocations of North Korea,” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said in a news release this week.

The release said the 20-minute drill is part of a larger exercise to test the South Korean government’s response to potential threats including “advanced nuclear missile threats, cyber attacks, drone terrors, etc.”

The prime minister also called on South Koreans to take the drills seriously, something that hasn’t always been the case.

The Interior Ministry said 17,000 shelters would be open nationwide, and locations are searchable in popular Korean online apps.

The South Korean prime minister said the civil defense drill would be held in conjunction with large-scale US-South Korea military exercises that have drawn sharp criticism from Pyongyang in the past.

It will also come less than a week after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol travels to the United States for a trilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, where “the continued threat posed by” North Korea will be on the agenda, according to a White House statement.

Hal Turner Opinion

HMMMMM. Having a nuclear evacuation “drill” of 51 Million people into 17,000 shelters at THE SAME TIME as a large-scale US-South Korea military “exercise???????????”

Gee, it occurs to me that maybe that military “exercise” isn’t an “exercise” at all. What if they first-strike North Korea?

With 51 Million South Koreans already inside Shelters, and US-South Korean Troops already on-station and fully armed – seems to me it would be a perfect opportunity for the US to first-strike North Korea.

What better conditions would exist than the ones described above?

Easy Sloppy Joe Pot Pie

All the great taste of classic sloppy joes in an easy one-skillet pot pie. No one will miss the buns!

Prep: 5 min | Bake: 40 min | Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 (15 1/2 ounce) can original sloppy joe sauce
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cook beef and onion in ovenproof 10-inch skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain.
Stir in sloppy joe sauce.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Stir remaining ingredients until blended. Pour over beef mixture.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Notes

Special Touch: Before baking, sprinkle with a tablespoon of sesame seed.

Woman Dies And Is Shown The Year 2042 And Beyond | Near Death Experience | NDE

U.S. Sanctions Syrian ‘Moderate Rebels’ It Had Previously Armed

In 2013 the CIA was handing out TOW anti-tank missiles to ‘moderate rebel’ groups who were fighting the government in Syria. These groups were allegedly ‘vetted’ before they receive money and weapons. Unfortunately ‘vetting’ was something the CIA had never been good at.

One of the groups that received such support was the Hamza Division:

Hamza Division (Forqat al-Hamza – فرقة الحمزة): An FSA-banner group composed of six substituent brigades that operate mostly in the environs of Inkhil, Daraa. The Hamza Division has received TOW ATGMs and it works under the supervision of the Daraa Military Council. They receives foreign support from Western and Arab state backers and are a member of the Southern Front coalition. The Southern Front has stated their commitment to a civil state, and have released a comprehensive political program in support of democratic reform. The Division came together with the Syria Revolutionaries Front and the 1st Artillery Regiment to create the 1st Army, which later disbanded. The Hamza Division continues using the 1st Army imagery alongside its own while the other former substituents do not. Social Media: YouTube;YouTube (older channel)

Hamza was later also supported by the Pentagon. Without such support the group would never have become a viable entity. Things got a bit complicated when militias armed by the Pentagon started to fight those armed by the CIA.

Later Hamza was sponsored by the Turkish state. This again made things a bit complicated:

Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai – 17:39 · Oct 16, 2019

Do you remember when the #US spent $500 million to train/arm Al-Hamza Division?

Well the US-trained “Moderate rebels” are fighting – under a NATO flagged country (#Turkey) – the US-trained Kurdish YPG in the area occupied by the #US.

I’ll make it even easier: A few minutes ago, #US Prsdt @realDonaldTrump said the “PKK is far more dangerous than #ISIS (The Islamic State)”.

The US trained & armed Syrian Kurds proxies, the YPG, are the Syrian branch of the PKK that Trump considers far more dangerous than ISIS.

Ten years after being ‘vetted’ the Hamza division is again receiving U.S. attention. This time from the Department of the Treasuries:

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating two Syria-based armed militias and three members of the groups’ leadership structures in connection with serious human rights abuses against those residing in the Afrin region of northern Syria. An auto sales company owned by the leader of one of the armed groups is also being designated.
…
The Hamza Division, another armed opposition group operating in northern Syria, has been involved in abductions, theft of property, and torture. The division also operates detention facilities in which it houses those it has abducted for extended periods of time. During their imprisonment, victims are held for ransom, often suffering sexual abuse at the hands of Hamza Division fighters.

The Suleiman Shah Brigade and the Hamza Division are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13894 for being responsible for or complicit in, or for having directly or indirectly engaged in, the commission of serious human rights abuses against the Syrian people.
…
Sayf Boulad Abu Bakr is the leader of the Hamza Division and its public face, appearing in numerous propaganda videos produced by the Hamza Division. While Abu Bakr has been commander, the Hamza Division has been accused of brutal repression of the local population, including kidnapping Kurdish women and severely abusing prisoners, at times leading to their death.

Sayf Boulad Abu Bakr is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13894 for acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the Hamza Division.

The AP report about the new sanctions does not mention any Pentagon or CIA support the groups had previously received.

One wonders how long it will take until the U.S. will sanction the fascists militia it has and is now arming and sponsoring in Ukraine.

Posted by b on August 18, 2023 at 15:36 UTC | Permalink

Well Ladies, Men Have Gotten The Message…Enjoy Your Cats!

Confessions of a 57-Year-Old Virgin

August 16, 2023

I’m a 57 year old man, about three years away from whatever the grandmaster of all the wizards are. I’ve never hugged a woman before (beside female relatives), never dated anyone before, no one at all. And then obviously that means that I never had my first kiss and I’m still a virgin.

Now, if I were to sit here and tell some random stranger on the street about my current life predicament, I would be laughed at until the end of time.

That brings me to my first point of advice. Ignore all of that crap. It’s worthless to feel like shit, for what? Because life didn’t come as anticipated. It can be harsh, but it’s not entirely over.

Which brings me to my second point of advice. Get out any way that you possibly can, I cannot stress this enough!

Up until the age of around 52, I never went out. I was a complete loner. One day, I decided enough was enough and I finally got off my ass and made something worth living for.

I began engraining myself into work dynamics and friendships. (By the way, get a job if you dont have one). I made it my personal goal to make friends any way that I could.

Eventually I had my first solid group of friends in roughly 45 years, yes you heard that number right.

The results? I currently do fantasy league with them once a week, as well as a cards night. Every couple of weeks we meet up at a bar, and I’m telling you it all came about from not giving up and striving to make something of my life.

Also, I keep up with hobbies such as working on used cars in my past time, so that’s another thing to keep in mind. I’m going to guess most people aren’t as old as me, maybe a majority are in their late teens to early 30s.

If you are in this range, even mid 30s, you still have a shot to not only make good friends like I did being the bum that I was, but also to get a date. Especially if you are a teen, that won’t be a problem in the slightest.

I’m saying this because doing what I’m doing at 57 is far more valuable during the younger years.

I know now that if I would’ve started this train of thought, I probably could’ve picked a date or two at least by now. That ship has sailed for me. Don’t worry though, I got over my self pity at 45 and my libido has dropped, so good friends, my dog, and beer, is what I make of life now.

Finally, good luck out there guys and ladies and don’t put yourself down. Strive to bring self-worth and meaning to your life!

BRICS Bank Just Dropped A Huge Bombshell | Stuns Everyone With This Move

Wow wow wow Amazing Incredible BRAVO CONGRATULATIONS.

Woman Finally dates Traditional Man

Cool Finds

What Is Self Discipline And How To Build More Of It

August 15, 2023

Self-discipline means that you do the things that you know are right or beneficial, even if they’re difficult. But what does that really mean? What does that actually look like?

People often associate self-discipline with diet and exercise, but it goes beyond that. Yes, staying active and eating clean in our current culture takes discipline, but being a self-disciplined person goes way beyond that.

When you build self-discipline, you’ll find it reaching into all areas of your life: your career, your relationships, your goals, your attitude, your self-talk, your mindset. Self-discipline becomes a part of who you are and impacts every single decision that you make each day. Disciplined people start to prioritize their future selves out of habit.

Discipline means having the ability to hold back those damaging words that you want to say during a disagreement. It’s being honest with yourself, looking at your weaknesses and assessing them so that you can improve. It’s sticking to commitments that you’ve made, both to other people and to yourself.

Self-discipline is a skill!

I cannot tell you the number of times that people have said things like, “I wish I could do what you do,” or “I wish I was as disciplined as you are,” to me, and it frustrates me every single time.

I know that it’s easy to tell ourselves that we aren’t capable of the things that other people accomplish. When we decide that we just aren’t capable of working out five times per week or starting a business or building a happy and stable relationship, we give ourselves an out.

By deciding that disciplined people are somehow different from you, you have what seems like a valid excuse for why you haven’t done all of those things that disciplined people do. You’ve convinced yourself that you just aren’t capable of it so it’s okay that you haven’t done it.

But that’s not true.

You are capable.

You are stronger than you realize.

And I know this because I know that self-discipline is a skill. I haven’t always been a disciplined person. I, too, have spent 14 hours a day sleeping, eaten whatever I felt like eating, procrastinated on my homework until the absolute last second, and gone months without getting any real physical activity.

Then, I decided to build self-discipline. And just like building any other skill, it took practice. I made mistakes, I faced setbacks, I struggled, and sometimes I fell off the wagon—in fact, I still do all of these things. Discipline is a skill that I am still building because—just like any other skill—there is always more to learn. You can always continue to improve.

You can become a disciplined person.

If you’re reading this blog, I’m sure there are a lot of things that you want to do, but you haven’t done them yet, and you likely aren’t working toward them consistently, or even at all.

You might want to start a business, go to school, improve your grades, get in better shape, learn to play an instrument, work on your mental health, write a book, etc. You have things in mind that you would like to do.

These things haven’t happened for one reason: lack of self-discipline.

Self-discipline is the skill that lets you build every other skill.

When you build self-discipline, you become the kind of person who does all of those things that you’ve always wanted to do.

A little later in this article, I’ll give you some advice on how to start building self-discipline, but for now, sit with everything I’ve just said. Start to consider that you are much more similar to me than you might realize. You are 100% capable of the things that you want to do and the only thing standing in your way is a lack of discipline. You can build that discipline.

How does self-discipline improve my life?

You already know that eating healthy, starting your homework early, going to bed on time, exercising regularly, managing your time, and meditating will improve your life. But as most people already know, doing all of these things, and doing them regularly, is difficult.

If you try to rely on motivation to do these things, you’re never going to do them because most of the time, most people don’t feel like doing these things.

You’d rather do what’s easy and enjoyable. You’d rather sleep in, eat fatty, sugary foods, and have a lazy, fun, easy life.

But that lazy, fun, easy life is only fun at first. Soon, you’ll start to face consequences. You’ll be tired all the time. You’ll see others reaching their goals and realize you haven’t accomplished anything in months. Your mental and physical health nose-dive.

What started out as fun and easy soon becomes miserable.

Those things that disciplined people do—exercising, planning, goal setting, thinking ahead—those things benefit your future self. And one day, you’re going to be your future self. The actions that you take now directly impact the life that you will get to live one day.

So how does self-discipline improve your life? Well, if you have the discipline now to save money, eat clean, exercise, work toward a career that you love, build healthy relationships, and create systems and routines that benefit you and your mental and physical health, one day, all of those things will pay off.

One day, you will be happy and healthy. You’ll be in a positive place living a life that you enjoy waking up to.

And I know this because I’ve done it. I’ve been putting in the work for long enough that I’m living and enjoying a life that I built intentionally. And I’m continuing to put in work that will improve my life so that it only goes up from here.

Self-discipline directly translates to living a life that you love. Self-discipline brings stable, long-term happiness.

Why is self-discipline important?

This is something that I’ve touched on before and is probably fairly apparent already from the previous section of this post. Self-discipline is important because motivation is fleeting and unreliable.

To get where you want to go, you need to complete a set of tasks, and either you want to do those tasks or you don’t. I doubt anybody would argue that those statements are untrue.

If you want to do those tasks, that’s motivation. In those moments, it’s easy to find the time and energy to do what needs to be done.

If you don’t want to do those tasks, and you’re trying to rely on motivation to get them done, the chance that those tasks will ever be completed is low. You likely know from experience that it’s hard to drum up motivation when you need it.

Discipline, on the other hand, is reliable. When you have self-discipline, it doesn’t matter if you want to put in the work. Disciplined people do what needs to be done regardless of how they’re feeling.

Many of us fall into the habit of doing what’s easy rather than doing what needs to be done. When you have discipline, you can do what needs to be done. When you can do what needs to be done, you reach your goals. If your goals are important to you, then self-discipline should be as well.

How to build self-discipline

Self-discipline is an odd beast to tackle. It’s simple, yet it’s not. And because it isn’t something that you can build outside of the context of your everyday life, becoming more disciplined inherently involves changing your life.

Begin by figuring out a direction. Start considering what actions that you currently do that you’d like to quit and what things that you don’t currently do that you’d like to do habitually.

Realize that building discipline is necessary to change your life and that the act of building discipline is what changes your life. The two things are inseparable. If you aren’t ready to change your life and don’t have a direction you want to go, you aren’t in a place to start becoming more disciplined.

Recommended Reading: The 5-4-3-2-1 Method for Setting and Getting to Your Goals

Self-discipline doesn’t look the same for everyone, and it doesn’t look the same day-to-day. What gets you moving one day might not work the next. Learn and grow with it so that you build an arsenal of strategies to use when you need them, and don’t beat yourself up if you have a bad day or five. It’s normal to struggle sometimes.

At its core, self-discipline means taking action.

Your aim throughout this process is to practice quickly making the decision that you know is right and then acting on that decision.

Rather than debating whether or not to go to the gym, then eventually deciding two hours later that it’s the right choice, then sitting on the couch for another 45 minutes before putting on your sneakers, discipline means deciding to go to the gym the moment it crosses your mind and then heading out the door.

That is your eventual goal. That is what you’re working toward. Some days, you’ll have no problem doing that. Other days, it will be a battle. The more you practice deciding quickly and taking prompt action, the better you’ll get at it. This is how you build discipline.

Let’s be clear: if you aren’t acting, you are not building discipline. Reading this blog post is a decent first step, but if your actions don’t change because of it, you have made exactly zero progress in the self-discipline department.

Practice taking action.

Practice doing small actions even when you don’t want to do them. This is probably the best way that I know of to build discipline. You don’t want to hang your coat up when you come home? Too bad. Do it. Don’t think about it, just do it.

You don’t want to do the dishes? Too bad. Do it.
You don’t want to write that paper? Too bad. Get started.

I know that it sounds harsh, but when you start with small steps and work up to bigger tasks, it becomes easier to act despite your feelings. Practice ignoring your desire to avoid action.

Now, I’ll soften that blow a bit. Yes, “just do it” is the ideal. Acting quickly based on what you know is right is the aim, but that isn’t always possible. Sometimes it’s a bit of an internal battle, and that’s okay. There are some strategies that you can use to act when you don’t feel like it. After all, the goal is action. Getting there with a little help is better than not getting there at all.

START SMALL

I wish I could scream this from the rooftops. I wish I could scream it and scream it and scream it until my lungs give out.

The bigger the task is that you don’t want to do, the more you won’t want to do it. The smaller you can make it, the easier it will be to do.

Your goal is action. A smaller action than you intended is always better than no action at all. There is no shame in scaling back a bit so that you have an easier time getting moving. Doing one pushup is better than doing zero of the ten you intended to do. Washing three dishes is better than not cleaning the entire kitchen, even if that was your original goal.

On a broader scale, don’t attempt to overhaul your entire life overnight. I have a whole blog post about this. Focus your efforts on one area at a time. You’ll be much less likely to burn out, you’ll see faster results, and you’ll be much more successful in the long run.

Find Your Why

I’ve talked about this about 10,000 times before so just in case you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll just link you to the post about it.

I do want to note, though, that it’s okay if your Why stems from wanting to leave a negative situation rather than wanting to reach a positive one. I often frame Whys in terms of positive things—the goals that you’ll reach, for example—without acknowledging that my first Why was that I wanted to improve a bad situation.

I was trying to build a better life after a rough break up, largely out of spite and a little sadness. Though I now focus my Whys on the good things that I will reach because of my actions, it is valid to build discipline that is motivated by a desire to leave a bad situation. In fact, wanting to leave a bad place in life is a pretty common reason for people to want to build self-discipline.

Practice calling yourself out on your excuses

Most of the “reasons” that we give for why we didn’t do something are invalid. On the surface, they may seem fine and they’re enough to placate our brains and prevent us from feeling guilty, but they don’t stand up to further inspection.

Start taking time to assess your excuses. Remind yourself that you really want to see results. You really want to start making progress. Does your excuse truly prevent you from doing what you need to do? Is there any way that you could create a backup plan?

Next time you find yourself making an excuse, write it down. Then write three reasons why you want to do the thing you’re trying to avoid and three things that you could do instead, even if you don’t accomplish your primary goal.

For example, if you decide you can’t go for a run because it’s raining, list three reasons why you want to exercise, and then create a list of three things that you could do instead of going for a run, like doing yoga or going for a run on a treadmill. You’ll train yourself to reconsider your excuses and realize that just because you can’t accomplish your original goal doesn’t mean you can’t many any progress at all.

Monitor your feelings

As I’ve said before, self-discipline means doing what needs to be done, even if you don’t feel like it. Most of the time, “I don’t feel like it,” and “I don’t want to,” are not valid reasons not to do something that needs to be done. Learn to shut them down.

But that isn’t to say that you should totally ignore your feelings. They’re there for a reason. Notice them—meditation can help—and respond appropriately. Often, we may not feel like doing something that’s good for us even though that thing will actually make us feel better. Self-discipline often means getting uncomfortable and knowing that the discomfort is worth it.

Self-discipline is a tricky beast. It gives you what you need to be consistent, which gets you to where you want to be. It takes practice and patience, but it will improve your life in the long run.

Discipline means being willing to choose long-term gains over immediate success. When you think long-term, the whole process starts to become easier and make more sense. Practice becoming friends with your future self, and before long, you’ll start seeing the results of your self-discipline paying off.

– Life By Grit

Europe Panic: China Cancel $100 Billion Car Order from Germany!

In today’s video, we explore the complex relationship between the European Union and China, focusing on Germany’s recently canceled $100 billion car order. How did we get here, and what does this mean for Europe’s future? Join us as we dive into the policies, decisions, and global economic trends that have shaped this unprecedented situation.

Interesting

Raining spiders, frogs, fish and … meat. Yes, meat.

What is Occam’s Razor?

August 15, 2023

Occam’s razor is often misstated as “the simplest answer is the correct one,” but it should more accurately be “the simplest answer is the best starting point to investigate.”

The idea is that the more different variables or assumptions have to add up to get to a solution, the more difficult it is to investigate, and the less likely it is to occur in general. “Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.” is the classical way to state it.

So the classic example is: you hear hoofbeats outside, is it a horse or a zebra? Well unless you live in the African savannah, it’s very unlikely to be a zebra. We’d need more assumptions to get there – a zebra was imported to a local zoo, it escaped captivity, and now it’s running amok. Whereas a horse requires just one assumption – a horse is nearby. That doesn’t mean that it cannot be a zebra, it just means that you should start at “it’s probably a horse” and investigate from there.

I had a fun moment the other day, when I went to my kitchen and saw a jar of pickles left out on the counter. I knew it wasn’t me, which left two possibilities that my brain somehow jumped to:

A burglar broke in, stole several other items, and also ate a pickle. He left the jar out to taunt me.
My wife had a pickle and then forgot to put away the jar.

I could have totally checked my locks, made sure my valuables were still in the right place, etc. Instead I just yelled “Hey, did you leave this pickle jar out?” and got the simpler answer right away. Starting with the simpler solution (fewer assumptions than my burglar story) got me to the right answer efficiently.

Man Dies, Sees Future & Says Don’t Freak Out (Powerful NDE)

Gary Wimmer had an NDE (Near-Death Experience) and discovered what happens after death. He saw seven beings/angels, and after leaving his body was shown future events. Gary’s NDE (Near-Death Experience) showed him that there is life after death, and it was a life-altering experience that changed him forever.

Now this is something that I would buy

Gobble It Up Pot Pie

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

Filling

2 (15 ounce) cans mixed vegetables, drained
1 pound (2 cup) cooked turkey, shredded
1 (12 ounce) jar turkey gravy

Topping

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
1 (6 ounce) package instant turkey stuffing mix
1 2/3 cups water
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Filling: In large mixing bowl, combine vegetables, turkey and gravy; mix well.
Pour into a greased 2-quart casserole.
Topping: In skillet, melt butter.
Add onion and celery and cook until tender.
Add seasoning packet from stuffing mix and water. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat; stir in stuffing. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.
Stir in dried cranberries.
Spread stuffing evenly over vegetable mixture.
Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until heated through.

Girl With Huge TaTa’s Gets HUMBLED For The First Time In Her Life!

“A small peep is natural, BUT a wide pussy is man-made” I laughed so hard at this statement it took me 12 minutes to gather myself enough to write it down

How to (actually) talk to kids

It’s not dissimilar from talking to other adults, but even the most well-meaning grown-ups can forget that.

By Charley Locke Aug 13, 2023, 7:00am EDT

Somehow, despite our best efforts, it still happens to even the most self-assured adult. You’re at a birthday party or a family dinner or a picnic in the park, and suddenly, you find yourself face to face with a kid. You introduce yourselves, there’s a slight pause, and then, even though you know better, you hear the boring question coming out of your mouth: “So how’s school?”

Why are adults so bad at talking to kids, considering each and every one of us used to be one? “We forget what it’s like to be a child,” says Tina Payne Bryson, a psychotherapist and co-author of The Whole-Brain Child. “It’s hard sometimes to relate to kids because the rhythm of our days is so different.” Our brains and habits have changed, and as adults, it can be tough to remember what it’s like to be a 10-year-old.

But that’s the key: Talking to and connecting with 10-year-olds now doesn’t require remembering what you were like at 10. Instead, it’s all about approaching them as people: individuals who have their own interests, insights, and personalities. If you’re curious, warm, and earnest, you can make a new friend — and leave your awkward adult persona behind.

Find a point of connection

Much like in an initial conversation with an adult stranger, it can be hard to know where to begin. But once you offer up an open-ended topic, a kid will often run with it. Icebreakers with a kid can be situational. If you’re at a barbecue, ask them what their favorite condiment is. Or they can be general: Did you see a funny animal video recently? “You just want to get the kid talking,” says Ben R., an 11-year-old who lives in Highland Ranch, Colorado. “You want to get to know them.” Ben recommends starting with a question about something that you enjoy. If you like video games, ask what games they like to play; if you’re a big reader, ask about their favorite recent book.

The framing is important. “Adults reach for whatever they can, and ask a yes or no question,” says Robyn Silverman, host of the podcast How to Talk to Kids About Anything. If a kid is wearing a baseball cap, asking whether they like baseball is not a good question — just like if you were wearing a baseball cap, that question wouldn’t encourage you to keep talking. Don’t despair: You can just tweak the format of a question to improve it. “Instead of ‘How’s school?’, you could ask, ‘If you were principal for the day, what’s one thing you’d absolutely change?’” suggests Silverman. “A more interesting question will elicit a response more than ‘fine.’”

That first conversational volley is all about finding a point of connection. It could be a shared interest, such as the card game Codenames, or a low-stakes disagreement, like whether dipping french fries in a milkshake is delicious or gross. “The great thing about asking questions is to find out what you have in common,” says Ben. “You’ll feel more relaxed then and can focus on connecting through that.”

Ask good follow-up questions

The next step in a good conversation with a kid? Pay attention. This is where many adults slip up. Instead of actually listening to what a kid has to say and asking a relevant follow-up question, they jump in with a long story about themselves — or, worse, offer up a weird non sequitur. Recently, Ben was waiting in line for a waterslide when the adult behind him asked what grade he was in. After he answered, the stranger, who had not previously met the fifth-grader, replied by saying that he grew up so fast. “I thought to myself, is this how adults are? They just ask simple questions, half-pay attention to the conversation, and get distracted by something else?” Ben says. “I felt like he could have just realized that I could talk the same way everybody else could, but he made it really awkward for the rest of the conversation.”

Asking a good follow-up question is all about active listening, which requires humility. A kid is a person with their own interests and expertise, and you can learn from them, just like you learn from a conversation with another adult. “Kids are egocentric in nature, and they love to talk about what they love,” says Morgan Eldridge, a clinical psychologist who recommends framing a child as the expert on what they care about. “If you don’t know anything about Pokémon cards, ask them to tell you about it.”

More key aspects of active listening are body language and tone. If you’re talking to a younger kid, physically get down on their level so that you’re not looming over them. For kids and adults alike, face them, put away your phone, make eye contact, and smile. No need to speak in a different voice, though. “There are multiple occasions where adults have talked to me with a childish tone,” says Ben. “We’re more sophisticated than they think.”

When you’re fostering a comfortable conversational environment for a kid, you should also think about safety. There’s an inherent power imbalance between an adult and a kid, especially when you don’t know each other well, and as the adult, you’re responsible for making sure that your relationship and conversation stay appropriate. “Kids need to feel safe, seen, soothed, and secure,” says Bryson. “When you smile and have relaxed posture, it sends signals of safety and connection.”

Let their enthusiasm lead

Once the conversation is moving, step back. “When talking to kids, adults make the mistake that they need to talk a lot,” says Silverman. “But people [not just children!] actually love it when you listen.” Instead, ask questions and let the kid direct the flow; they’ll naturally lead the conversation toward what interests them most.

In many cases, this means going in a speculative, silly direction, which can be tricky for grown-ups. “Adults are more logical and solution-driven,” says Bryson. “We’ve forgotten what it’s like to play.” To rediscover your playful side, you can always ask an open-ended question, or even a goofy one: If you were going to open a restaurant that only serves three dishes, what would they be? What celebrity has the coolest style of all time? Would you rather have to fight 50 mosquito-sized alligators or one alligator-sized mosquito?

No matter what, don’t dismiss their enthusiasm. If a kid loves basketball but you don’t care about sports, ask them to tell you about their favorite player of all time. If they just learned a ton about bugs in a science unit, don’t try to show off how much you know — encourage them to share instead. “There’s a power imbalance, and it seems to give adults permission to belittle,” says Silverman.

If you do make a faux pas, like talking over them or getting distracted, own up to it, apologize, and redirect. You can always say, “I just spaced out, I’m sorry. What were you saying about summer camp?” Just pick the conversation back up afterward.

Be yourself (even if that means being shy)

Kids have different temperaments and personalities, just like adults do. They don’t expect everyone to be outgoing and loud. In fact, not every kid will want you to be. “Just like different friends appeal to different people, different kinds of adults will appeal to different kids,” says Bryson. “The boisterous adult doesn’t appeal to some kids, and the quiet adult doesn’t appeal to others.” Just come as you are, since kids can tell whether you’re being authentic or not. “It’s really about showing up as yourself in the moment,” Bryson says.

If you are on the quieter side, don’t worry. Kids know what it’s like to feel anxious in a conversation, too. “Sometimes you just get nervous, and that’s okay,” says Fiona A., an 8-year-old who lives in Salinas, California. “Or sometimes you need a little bit of alone time. Just be you.”

Ben suggests a trick that he uses when he feels awkward or unsure about what to talk about: When you get stuck and start to feel self-conscious, ask a question. “Even if you don’t pay attention, it diverts the conversation away from yourself,” he says. “You learn more about them, and also you don’t have to talk as much.”

Sometimes, you’ll notice that a kid seems anxious to be talking to an adult. In that case, make sure you’re projecting a warm, friendly, safe environment. Being vulnerable can help them feel more comfortable, too. “A lot of adults are authority figures, and sharing something embarrassing can make us more accessible,” says Bryson. When she’s talking to a quiet kid, she often shares a story about when the class rat bit her in first grade at the school Christmas party; her listeners are always on the edge of their seats, ready to share their own best animal story afterward. You can be vulnerable about feeling awkward, too: If you share that you often feel shy at parties, then it normalizes the kid feeling shy.

And if they’d rather be quiet, it’s also fine to share a companionable silence. “If we ask a question or two and they don’t expand, it just means they don’t want to be asked a question right now,” says Bryson. If they’re not uncomfortable with quiet, then you shouldn’t be, either.

Refer back to your shared interests

Once you’ve had a friendly conversation with a kid and found some common ground, you can start to develop an ongoing relationship with them. Just like with a new adult friend, it’s important to remember details about them and refer back to them in future conversations. Did they tell you about joining the soccer team? Ask how the season is going. Did you bond over your love of superhero movies? Ask them what they thought of the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. If you know in advance that you’re going to see a kid who you’ve already spent time with, you could send them something that you can then talk about in person. Bryson recently hosted a friend and their 13-year-old son; in anticipation of his visit, she sent him some funny dog videos on Instagram. That offers an easy way to break the ice and connect in person again.

No matter the age gap, making conversation and becoming friends always happens much the same way: capitalizing on shared interests, asking good questions, and paying attention. And once you’re friends, conversation is easy. “After I get to know an adult, it’s easy to talk to her,” says Fiona. “It’s more complex to build friendship with an adult, but once you do, it’s like they’re a kid just like you.”

He Did It Again!

At a recent speaking engagement, President Biden attempted to tout his success at getting a bipartisan infrastructure bill through Congress. At least that’s what one would assume, even though what actually came out of the President’s mouth sounded more like “bipah infraloction.” This is, of course, just the latest verbal stumble from Biden, and you know there are plenty more to come. Jimmy and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss not only this difficult phrase for Biden, but also his similar inability recently to say a series of Asian names.

The Hardest Pill To Swallow About Self-Improvement

August 16, 2023

One tendency I’ve noticed about a lot of us who are into self-development is that we are incredibly hungry for information.

Some of us may have had neglectful parents or an upbringing that was very scarce, we may have not gotten the encouragement for self-betterment, we have no one around us who are striving for the best — so we want to consume and process all the information, methods, tips, and tricks we can.

I think that’s great because being deeply desirous to change yourself is better than being apathetic and lethargic.

Unfortunately, this over-consumption of information can become gluttony. Gluttony then leads to lethargy, which then leads to sloth and not doing anything with this information.

More books! More articles! More podcasts! More lectures! More, more, more! I need to know the secrets of the universe before I end up starting my business, before I apply for that job, before I take that trip, before I ask out that girl.

We need to be perfect and then, then we’ll act. One day. One day.

But one day never comes. Neither does perfection.

The real truth about self-development, the real pain is the application. It’s in the messy interactions between imperfect human beings.

You’ve read what’s in that book about dating. Now, go out on a Friday night and apply it.

You’ve read how to start a business. Now, start your own.

A lot of people are dreaming with their heads up in the clouds, thinking they’re moving the needle when they’re just reading a book or an article online.

How many people are out there actively trying, failing, getting knocked down on their ass, and trying again? Very few.

Most people read about a diet in a book, try it for 2 months, then relapse into their old eating habits.

Many people say “I’m gonna meditate for 20 minutes a day” but they “can’t find the time…because Netflix”.

Then people wonder why 2021 is 2020 is 2019 is 2018. Repeating a fucking Groundhog Day existence for 30 years.

Then you’ll be 68 years old and realize that you just twiddled your thumbs in your ivory tower while your life passed you by.

Because the real pain of self-development is exertion, it’s doing it when you don’t want to do it, it’s progressively getting better and actively cutting out areas where you don’t need to be doing things.

What methods work? They all work. There are some that are more “optimal” than others, but they will all work – if applied. If you read a self-help book starting from ground zero (like you know nothing about this stuff), you will be a better person on page 258 than you were at page 1. I guarantee it. So it’s not about “choosing the right methods”. It’s about application.

There are people who think self-development and self-help is a joke. These people have never even walked into a book store and yet they’re laughing all the way to the bank or living the life that we want to live!

I can pretty much guarantee that if you took one book like Deep Work or Psycho-Cybernetics and applied everything in there to the T, your life would dramatically alter.

You wouldn’t need to be browsing Inc. magazine for the newest hacks. You wouldn’t need to go on Entrepreneur and say you’re “hustling”.

We need to stay focused, guys. We need to build a core set of practices and not stray from the narrow road of improvement.

We need to throw ourselves into the task with everything we have and not look around for another hack or tactic to help us when we have an arsenal of 1,000 inside our head.

You won’t know all the answers. You can’t know all the answers before you take action. You need to act before you are ready.

You will NEVER be ready.

You can’t solve the puzzle without taking action to assemble the pieces.

Get going and the pieces will start to fall in place. Then the puzzle starts to solve itself.

Voynich Manuscript Decoded | The Mysterious Book Finally Solved?

For 600 years the Voynich Manuscript has stumped scholars, cryptographers, physicists, and computer scientists. Now, a researcher in Germany has claimed to have finally decoded the most mysterious book in the world.

Bad, just bad.

New and improved BRICS to emerge in South Africa. Morocco wants to join

Biggest global events…

What’s the best revenge you’ve gotten after being fired or let go from a job?

I was terminated without notice only to be offered my job back for significant less than I was making. I declined and filed an unpaid wage claim costing them over $12,000 in damages due to me.

Worked for a Co. that terminated me at end of day on a Monday without notice or reasoning other than, “It just wasn’t working out;” but was promised to be paid the rest of the week as a courtesy severance for the inconvenience. Wanted to stay professional, so I complied and thanked them for opportunity. I was allowed some time to pack up my things and head out.

I handled all payroll and AR/AP but wasn’t presented final check upon termination and even offered to do it before I left but was told it would be mailed to me. Fast forward 6 days and I receive a text message from former employer urging me to return their call as soon as possible.

I called the next day and was offered my job back for $10,000 less per year than I originally was hired for and was told a few duties would be taken off my work load. It was insulting and I asked to think about it but asked about my final check prior to ending call and they asked me to go pick it up from office. I was out of town for a few days so made arrangements to pick up the following week (now 14 days after term).

I arrive and was presented with a check. I open it and say that it’s incorrect. They apologize and agree to have an amended one in mail next day. I offered to wait but they had an “interview coming shortly.”

I waited 7 more days before filing a wage claim for the final check. I end up receiving a final check for the one day of that week a few days after but didn’t include my vacation time / PTO, the severance, or penalty for late payment.

After 8 months, we were granted a hearing where they were ordered to pay me for 30 full days salary as penalty, all vacation and PTO, adjusted benefits, and severance as promised.

Employer called me an extortionist, and Labor Board representative interrupted their tirade to say “No, that’s the law. You should be happy he didn’t sue you for retaliation, well, he still can. So maybe you should lay off the insults and direct that energy to educating yourself and finding counsel.”

It was vindicating.

Hey! Look at what “president” Biden is doing…

Nearly ALL of America FEELS This | Oliver Anthony “Rich Men North of Richmond” | Just Jen Reacts

This song is resonating with people.

This is MEGA-viral.

The United States is about ready to EXPLODE!

Lost in space and lost on earth. WTF?

One of the things that I miss about Massachusetts is that you were not permitted to pump your own gasoline. Initially, I thought it was crazy and stupid as I had grown accustomed to using the self-serve pumps to get gas. It was my little way of saving money.

But over time, I learned that the saving was not as big as I thought it was, and the convenience was just too wonderful.

Then when I moved to China, again… it is the LAW. You cannot pump your own gas. That is the job of the gas station attendants.

Most of America has become like Pavlov’s Dog. Americans have grown accustomed to wearing the chains and shackles that confine them. They are proud of their prison bars, and can’t even conceive of living without them.

Todays…

As an over-the-road trucker, what are some unusual things you have witnessed?

I’ll skip over the stereotypical shit of being flashed and witnessing various sexual acts which did indeed occur. This had a far deeper meaning and one I still hold close to my heart.

It was a picture perfect day as I drove the two lane backroads through old-growth pine forests on my way to Crossett, Arkansas. Crossett is one of those, you can’t get there from here, kind of places. The only thing in Crossett was the paper mill I was picking up at, and the only people who lived in Crossett, worked there. There was only one way in, and one way out, and that was on that beautiful two lane backroad.

Tunes up, windows down, I saw a large animal bound across the road a few hundred feet ahead of me. What the…?

It wasn’t a deer. It had a long tail. A large dog? Nuh-uh. I never saw a dog run like that. This thing flowed across the road.

I slowed down to a stop where I thought I saw it had entered the woods. It had stopped to get a gander at me too. What I saw was remarkable and unmistakable. It was a large cat, as in cougar large. Once the cat was satisfied with what it saw, it went about its way.

When I got to the mill in Crossett, I asked the guy loading my truck if they had any large cats running around in the woods around there. His reaction was immediate. He stopped his forklift and immediately called to his coworkers,”Hey, this feller saw the cat!”. It was like I was an instant celebrity. Everybody wanted to know all the particulars, the who, what, and where’s of what I had seen. Apparently, that cat was something of legend. Years later I came to understand why.

What I had seen was an Eastern Cougar.

main qimg 230dd0d56e1adbe286d5075159fa5990 lq

The Eastern Cougar was declared extinct in 2016. What I had seen was one of the last of its kind.

Introducing a new type of anti-China propaganda.

This is the “prelude to war” propaganda.

We first saw this in Ukraine. Where a large investment in manpower created fake “atrocities” by (supposed) Russians as a prelude to an invasion.

Normally, I would expect this type of nonsense around the 2026 time-frame. But it’s WAY early.

Notice the similarity between the two “different” sources…

Seriously, the USA would be madder than a hive of hornets if a US Aircraft carrier was sunk.

BIDEN REGIME TO OUTLAW GAS GENERATORS

World Hal Turner 19 July 2023

Just months after a Biden-appointed regulator teased a ban on gas stoves, the administration is working to enact a rule that would prohibit the manufacturing of nearly all portable gas GENERATORS for electricity on the U.S. market.

A proposed Consumer Product Safety Commission rule limits the amount of carbon monoxide a product can emit, with the commission admitting that 95 percent of portable gas generators on the market cannot comply with its new standard.

As a result, industry leaders say, the rule will prompt widespread generator shortages, as manufacturers only have six months to design generators that meet the proposed regulation. That process normally takes years, Portable Generator Manufacturers’ Association executive director Susan Orenga says.

The rule proposal comes just months after Biden-backed commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. teased a similar regulatory ban on gas stoves, which he called a “hidden hazard.”

It also comes as many Americans face an increased risk of power outages as the country increasingly relies on green energy to produce its electricity. A whopping two-thirds of North America faces an “elevated risk” of power blackouts this summer, a leading grid watchdog found in May, a vulnerability that stems from America’s increase in green power generation and decrease in fossil fuel power plants.

California, for example, saw power outages in the summer of 2022 as electricity demand surged.

Portable gas generators can help those who experience a power outage keep the lights on, and nearly five million households use them. Should the Biden administration finalize its rule, however, the generators could become difficult to obtain. The commission’s rule prohibits manufacturers from stockpiling non-compliant generators prior to the rule’s enactment.

But this prohibition on stockpiling gas generators does not apply to private citizens.

The US banned the chips & the chip manufacturing equipments to China in the name of national security. China counter attacked by banning Ge, Ga & their compounds in the national security too. Which one will hurt more & which one get benefits?

The United States’ abuse of the excuse of “national security” to interfere with normal trade in the chip industry will cause harm to both sides.

China is the world’s largest semiconductor market, and the sales of American chip companies in China cannot be replaced by Washington’s executive orders or some subsidies. Severely restricting exports to China in a near-crazy manner will create difficulties for the development of related industries in China, but at the same time, it will also harm American semiconductor companies. This practice of disrupting the stability of the global supply chain and industrial chain is truly detrimental to oneself.

On the other hand, China is the largest producer and exporter of gallium and germanium metal products globally. The Chinese side adopts refined management for the use of these materials, which has a positive significance in maintaining the stability of the global supply chain. As long as the relevant enterprises use them reasonably and manage them properly, there is no need to worry about usage restrictions, and it will not affect the development of related industries.

China has no intention to compete with the United States. However, in the face of the unreasonable suppression from the United States, it is necessary for China to take corresponding countermeasures. For the United States, more than half of the gallium and germanium it uses are imported from China. This fact reminds the US again that China plays an indispensable role in the global supply chain system. The economies of China and the United States are deeply integrated and closely connected. Any attempt to contain and suppress China will harm the global supply chain, destined to fail and backfire on itself.

The US’s suppression further strengthens China’s determination and pace in independently mastering cutting-edge technology. The gradual absence of American-made products will create development opportunities for domestic Chinese companies. With increasing investment in research and development and a vast domestic market, it is believed that China can make significant breakthroughs in the semiconductor field. However, whether the US can build its own dominant industrial supply chain in gallium and germanium products, and even replace China’s position in this field, remains a big question mark, especially considering the continued weakness of the US manufacturing industry.

Why is the airport privatization plan not good for India?

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Changi Airport – Singapore

One of the Worlds Best and most Efficient Airports.

It is owned 43% by Private Operators, 44% by the Singapore Ports Authority and 13% by the Singapore Air Force

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JFK Airport New York – Owned entirely by the Taxpayers of New York City

The same as 89% of all Airports in the United States of America (Except Private Airfields).

Why is this so? Why is it that these Capitalist Countries dont allow 100% Privatization of Airports?

The Answer is

Unreasonable Pricing

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This is the Kempegowda International Airport. 74% of this is owned by Private Investors.

Whenever Private Parties invest money – their first priority is to recover their investments and this they want to do in the fastest possible time.

The result is Absurd Prices for everything. Parking is 400–500% costlier than any other parking in the city, Food is 250–300% costlier despite the quality being same or in many cases much lower (Based on reviews)

Vijay Mallya attested that the Docking Fees for Domestic Aircraft is 250% higher than what London or New York charges in equivalent currency ratio.

Rents are Atrociously high and it is nearly impossible to make a profit. ATM Vestibules used to be imposed with a massive rent until Govt Interfered by mandating at least 3 PSU ATMS at low cost. Foreign Banks have to pay more than 200% the price.

In the City of New York – a Sandwich at a concession stand in the Airport costs around 45% higher. In Bangalore it is at least 200% higher.

This means the Airport becomes an inefficient business model. Ticket prices have to increase to account for higher docking and parking fees and hangar fees etc.

Strategic Advantages

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An Airport is a target for Hijackers or Terrorists (Bandaranaike for example).

Control over an Airport would be better if Govt retained at least 51% control. Private Players may play down security issues even though CISF handles security. The Private Players staff are not permanent employees and may be tempted to compromise security for a fat sum of money which government employees with permanent jobs are less likely to do so.

Besides Govt employees will have records and a thorough vetting compared to over 100–150 private airport staff.

Though 911 happened in US – it was because the Staff were privately hired contract employees who did the examination. Today they are all DHS people and are alert at the slightest sign of trouble.

Investment Opportunity

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An Airport should be a source of Pride to a City and a State. The only way this is done is if – The Airport belongs to everyone. In US they float – MUNICIPAL BONDS which means – the City borrows money from its people by floating issues of Bonds and getting the money to build the airport.

This results in the people of the city owning and feeling pride in their airport.

In India – this should be done. The people of India should feel a pride towards their airports and it is also the most transparent way to finance an airport in its entirety.

It brings capital and also a link between the people and their airports. It also gives a longer period of repayment of the bonds which eventually mean fairer prices.

Land Value Manipulations

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In countries like Singapore or USA or even China – the Land on which Airports are built or will be built is leased for 99 or 999 years (Singapore/China) or purchased at fixed prices.

In India – there is a horrible Price Manipulation. This means the Politicians in order to make a quick killing on the real estate will hold up deals and ensure that the Private Player pays at least 500% higher prices for the Land (sometimes as high as 10000%) than the Land is worth and there is no leasing of land.

Simple example – the Bangalore Airport. The Airport is in a place called Devanahalli where Agricultural land in 2005 was Rs. 32000/- per Kunta (40 Kuntas is 1 Acre) but the sale price was a whopping Rs. 1.10 Crore per Acre or Rs. 2.750 Lakhs per Kunta after conversion of the land. This means that the Land value was artificially inflated to a whopping 9 times (900%) simply by some conversion related play.

During such time – most of the land was acquired by Benamis in the name of powerful politicians whose names are known to kannada people and they made huge massive profits.

The result – Higher cost and Higher Prices

Had it been govt of India – they would have purchased the land at market price of Rs. 32000/- per Kunta or even the Govt Price of Rs. 8000/- per Kunta and built the Airport at 32% of the cost.

This is another apt example of why Privatization in India is never a good idea. The Rapacious Powers to be – will suck out all the positives and the Private Players who have paid 100 times the actual price will suck out everything from the Common man to recover these costs.

The U.S Military just got a HUGE wake up call and it’s bad

Forget Super Soldier Serum! It’s the reverse of that as the military’s new policy for transgender active service members.

They can now get cross-sex hormones and sex changes on taxpayer dollars and avoid deployment and active duty while transitioning.

They can also get out of fitness and grooming standards which is necessary given the number of counter-indications that have been associated with these hormones and surgeries used for gender dysphoria including: headaches, memory loss, weight gain, osteoporosis, teeth that shed enamel or cracked, degenerative spinal disks, painful joints, radical mood swings, seizures, migraines and suicidal thoughts, fibromyalgia, fertility problems and cognitive issues. Good thing we’re a peaceful country with an army like that!

Oh wait…?

What are the BRICS? Are there any plans to add another member to the group? Why or why not?

What are the BRICS?

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Since the establishment of the BRICS cooperation mechanism, the foundation of cooperation has been increasingly solidified, and the fields have been gradually expanded. It has been led by leaders’ meetings and supported by ministerial meetings such as the High Representatives’ Meeting on Security Affairs and the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. A multi-level framework for pragmatic cooperation in dozens of fields such as agriculture, culture, education, health, think tanks, and sister cities.

The influence of BRICS cooperation has surpassed the scope of the five countries and has become a constructive force for promoting world economic growth, improving global governance, and promoting the democratization of international relations.

The land area of the BRICS countries accounts for 26.46% of the world’s total area, and the population accounts for 41.93% of the world’s total population. It is estimated that in 2021, the total economic volume of the five countries accounted for 25.24% of the world, and the total trade volume accounted for 17.9% of the world. In 2022, the voting power of the five countries in the World Bank was 14.06%, and the total share in the International Monetary Fund was 14.15%.

The New Development Bank has made great innovations in the distribution of equity by equally sharing equity and voting rights among the five founding members, and it has also provided a new choice for the governance model of multilateral development financial institutions.

The BRICS countries build comprehensive, close, pragmatic and inclusive high-quality partnerships, and form partnerships rather than alliances. In response to the endless traditional and non-traditional security threats, the BRICS countries support each other on issues related to each other’s core interests and engage in dialogue rather than confrontation.

After the outbreak of the international financial crisis in 2008, the BRICS countries huddled together and made great contributions to global economic growth. The BRICS countries have built a solid foundation for practical cooperation and continue to promote cooperation in the fields of currency and finance, trade and investment, and energy resources.

The BRICS countries will build a new industrial revolution partnership and strengthen cooperation in the fields of future networks, industrial Internet and digital manufacturing, digital transformation of manufacturing, and standardization.

Are there any plans to add another member to the group?

Over the past seventeen years since 2006, the successful practice of BRICS cooperation has injected confidence into those developing countries that want to speed up development while maintaining independence and has also won high recognition and trust from these countries. A large number of emerging market countries and developing countries have expressed their strong will to further strengthen cooperation with the BRICS countries.

Since 2022, the BRICS countries have officially launched a new round of expansion process, hoping to allow more like-minded people to join the big family of BRICS cooperation as soon as possible. The reason why the BRICS cooperation is increasingly attractive is that it proposes and implements a new concept of cooperation and creates and promotes the construction of a new pattern of group rise of emerging powers.

The BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting being held in 2022 invited and to be held 2023 will invite foreign ministers from the other countries to attend the meeting as guests, building a new cooperation platform for emerging market countries and developing countries.

As more emerging market countries and developing countries become more deeply involved in BRICS cooperation, BRICS countries will also demonstrate greater charm with more fruitful cooperation results and become a stronger force for promoting constructive changes in the global governance system.

The world’s biggest problem? Powerful psychopaths.

This little video is VERY GOOD at explaining why the West is led by psychopaths.

Professor Brian Klass unpacks the truth behind history’s evil leaders, explaining how they so easily acquire power, and how we can change the pattern.

What is the best case of, “You just tried to scam the wrong person,” that you’ve witnessed?

My daughter is 5′ and about 97 pounds if she ate a big meal. Because of her small size and her having a sweet and friendly attitude she was targeted by bullies a lot; so we put her in martial arts to build confidence, greater self esteem and to protect herself. She eventually got her second degree black belt but only close friends and family were aware of this fact.

Flash forward to high school and there were a group of football players who felt they has carte blanche to inappropriately touch female classmates. Even when brought up to the school they were never punished so it empowered them to continue and escalate.

One day a “star” player who was likely to be getting a scholarship started to bother her in the cafeteria. She warned him to back off. As she walked away he grabbed her from behind putting both hands on her chest. She stomped down on his foot, grabbed his thumb while twisting out and palm struck him in his solar plexus. He gasped for air, went to his knees and it was over. She walked away; I thought she should have kneed him in the face, but she’s nicer than me.

We get the call from school of her assaulting another student. We go and there’s the principal, vice principal and a deputy sheriff. The threat is now expulsion because there’s a zero violence policy and a threat to be arrested for assault and battery.

After our daughter explained her side, along with witnesses, the deputy advised she was in her right to protect herself but said he’d refer to the DA for the boy that grabbed her to see if there should be charges and then left. The school attempted to continue with expulsion, because football players are gold to them I guess, until we had an attorney threaten to sue.

The football player experienced public humiliation, a sprained thumb and was charged for sexual battery by the DA. He lost his scholarship.

I’m still proud of her.

Brian Berletic: China will DEFEAT the US’ Dangerous Meddling in Taiwan and Asia

Cacciatore French Bread Pizza

Ingredients

6 (7-inch) French rolls or 1 long loaf French bread
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast meat, cut into thin strips
1 cup (1 small) sliced onion
1 cup (1 small) sliced bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup CONTADINA Pizza Sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/2 cup (2.8 ounce can) sliced ripe olives
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Slice bread in half lengthwise. Place cut-side up on baking sheet.
Bake in preheated 425 degree F oven for 3 to 4 minutes or until lightly toasted.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add chicken, onion, bell pepper and salt; cook, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Spread pizza sauce over cut surface of bread; top with chicken mixture.
Sprinkle with basil, olives and cheese.
Bake at 425 degrees F for 5 to 8 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

Servings: 8

Tucker ENDS GOP Presidential Candidate With ONE WORD

Tucker Carlson moderated this past Friday’s Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, and his conversation with former Arkansas Governor and current GOP Presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson came to a screeching halt when Hutchinson could not handle basic questions about COVID policy and vaccines.

GERMANY Betrays U.S Says Can’t Decouple From China At Any Cost!

https://youtu.be/NhSgC2ZYdb8

One of the ways the CIA orchestrates anti government protests in foreign countries is through NGOs as evidenced in the case of Hong Kong. What would be the best tactics to counter such protests before they turn big?

There is no easy defence to what the CIA had orchestrated into Hong Kong. NOT only does it have the full force of the most powerful nation on earth behind it but it has amassed tremendous resources from its involvement in the contraband businesses. In fact, the CIA had perfected the strategy of destabilizing countries and it was used on MANY occasions, including:

Maidan revolution in Ukraine
Balsonaro protests in Brazil
Freedom protests in Canada

There are steps that should be taken by the authorities, including:

Minimizing the size of the American diplomatic mission in the country
Disallow foreign funding of think tanks in the country
Strict foreign subversion laws, the enforcement of those laws with strict monitoring of the country’s media and journalist. What is NOT commonly known is that the CIA has recruited white persons extensively from Anglo countries and slot them into think tanks, international organizations and businesses to await orders to carry out their evil deeds

If a protests breaks out in the country:

Internet and social media should be shut down
A state of emergency declared
Zero tolerance on any violence or rioting which is to be countered with the use of overwhelming force if necessary

The CIA is a scourge on ALL humanity, including Americans. In addition to causing havoc and chaos against “unfriendly” governments, it also has a history of overthrowing allied government including an Australian Government and is believe to be behind the Freedom Movement which almost shut Canada down recently.

It does what it does – sow chaos, mayhem and death – for no good reason other than that it can.

Intel and Nvidia continue to push AI chips in China despite US restrictions

Semiconductor giant Intel Corp has brought its latest processor for artificial intelligence (AI) deep-learning applications to mainland China, where massive demand for US-restricted advanced chips has created a major under-the-counter trade for smuggled graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia Corp.

At a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, Intel executives presented the company’s Gaudi2 processor, a device that is not subject to US export restrictions, as its answer to Nvidia’s premium A100 GPU, which is widely used for training AI systems.

The latest initiative by Intel – which generated 27 per cent of its total 2022 revenue in China, according to its latest annual report – underscores the continued importance of the vast mainland market to US semiconductor technology providers, despite Washington’s export controls.

It follows efforts by Nvidia earlier this year to push modified versions of its flagship A100 and H100 GPUs in China to comply with US restrictions and keep the supply lines open for its customers on the mainland, where new AI development projects have flourished to create services similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

In August last year, the US Department of Commerce imposed a ban on Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) from selling some advanced chips to China. Nvidia was instructed to stop selling its A100 and H100 GPUs, while AMD was prevented from exporting its MI250 chips to the mainland.

That left China’s AI sector scrambling to buy limited supplies of advanced chips from Nvidia, which has a near monopoly on GPUs used to train AI systems.

The strong demand has even created a fast-growing market for smuggled GPUs, such as the A100 and H100 devices from Nvidia.

The A100 Tensor Core GPU, according to the Nvidia website, powers the world’s leading data centres used for AI, data analytics and high-performance computing applications.

For Intel, the demand in China strengthens its commitment to provide clients “with a wide range of hardware selections”, company executive vice-president Sandra Rivera, who also serves as general manager of the firm’s data centre and AI group, said at the press conference in Beijing.

She said the Gaudi2 was designed to lower the barrier to entry and enhance its mainland clients’ ability “to deploy AI through cloud and smart-edge technologies, helping build up China’s AI future”.

Intel announced that it is working with inspur group – the world’s second-largest AI server manufacturer, based in eastern Shandong province – to build new Gaudi2-powered machines for the mainland market.

Habana Labs, Intel’s data centre team focused on AI deep learning processor technologies, initially launched Gaudi2 last May in the US, where it said the processor’s training throughput performance was twice that achieved by Nvidia’s 80-gigabyte A100 GPU for the ResNet-50 computer vision model and the BERT natural language processing model.

Intel’s latest offering comes at a time when more difficulties potentially loom for China’s AI ambitions.

The US government is said to be considering restricting Chinese companies’ access to American cloud computing services, which would stop Amazon Web Service and Microsoft Corp from using the power of advanced AI chips to benefit their mainland clients, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month.

The US was said to be also considering an escalated move to include Nvidia’s remodelled A800 GPU in its export ban, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal last month.

What did the job interviewer say that made you NOT accept the job offer?

He was honest (which I appreciated very much).

Once, I went in for a Head Chef position at a still in-construction new gastropub opening in my town. I was prepped, dressed and ready to win over the interviewer. Thus obtaining my first kitchen to run and menu to design. I was very confident and excited.

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I was told the new place was owned by a restaurant group. That’s not unusual. So I wasn’t surprised when there were three people, and not one, in the room to interview me. The man in the middle was the group’s Executive Chef.

The interview went very well. Everything looked great, and they told me I was easily their leading candidate. Then one of them asked if I had any questions. I asked the exec chef if I would be putting together the menu with his supervision and direction.

The three men looked at each other with confusion for a second. Then the exec asked me:

“Did anyone explain what this establishment will be?”

I told him the information given me. He gave a frustrated grunt, quickly glared at the other two men, and said:

“This isn’t part of a group. This is a corporate franchise. There are about a half-dozen places in the Midwest, and this would be the first on the East Coast. You wouldn’t have any input on the menu. That’s all done at the headquarters in Dallas. Even the food is shipped from there as well.”

I replied: “So what you’re actually looking for is a fast food manager, not a chef.”

One of the other men took some offense to that sort of characterization. But I could tell the exec knew where I was coming from. I just gathered my things and politely said:

“Gentlemen, I don’t think I’d be the right person for this job. I’ve never even set foot in an Applebee’s or Red Lobster. But thank you very much, and good luck.”

I made sure to thank the exec twice as I shook his hand before walking away. As I opened the door out, I could hear him raising his voice at his colleagues.

Beijing tells NATO to stay out of E. Asia

Efforts urged for growth, stability in post-pandemic era at Jakarta gathering

Beijing on Friday criticized attempts to undermine the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ central role in the East Asian regional cooperation architecture, and dismissed NATO’s ambition to meddle in the region.

Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the stern warning in Jakarta when attending the annual East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

The meeting in the Indonesian capital gathered representatives of 10 ASEAN countries along with eight other countries — Australia, China, Japan, India, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.

Wang called on countries to “earnestly support the central role of ASEAN and build a solid foundation for peace”.

Noting that ASEAN’s central role is the natural result of evolution in history and the greatest common ground of all parties, Wang rejected attempts to undermine and replace ASEAN’s role, and said “it is even more unreasonable for NATO to set foot in East Asia”.

The region’s peace “should not be based on the pursuit of absolute security by a small number of countries”, and China is willing to explore cooperation with all parties regarding the Global Security Initiative it proposed, Wang said.

He reiterated China’s willingness to take the lead in signing the Protocol to the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone.

Observers said the region has been overshadowed by the reinforced military presence of the US and its allies in the South China Sea, policies seeking economic “decoupling” and NATO’s expanded outreach in the region.

Xu Liping, a veteran researcher on Southeast Asia studies at the National Institute of International Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, “We have seen deepening geopolitical competition among major countries, the lingering Ukraine crisis and the sluggish recovery of the world economy, as well as little relief in inflation, the energy crisis and food crises.”

Currently, “ASEAN countries expect to work with all parties to seek regional peace and development and effectively promote cooperation in East Asia as a whole”, he said.

In Wang’s speech, the senior diplomat asked nations to show their support for genuine multilateralism, strengthen benign interaction and put Asia-Pacific cooperation back on the right track.

He also called on all countries to join hands to make the region a center for economic growth, advance common development, champion the right path featuring economic globalization, and secure the multilateral trade system.

He added that China is ready to work with all parties to continue the advancement of cooperation in poverty relief and energy.

Liu Qing, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said the meeting “mainly serves as a communication platform and plays a role in enhancing political mutual trust”, and “ASEAN is an important engine of regional cooperation and development in Asia”.

On the meeting’s sidelines, Wang held bilateral talks with senior diplomats from countries including Japan, India and the ROK on Friday.

When meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Wang urged Tokyo to “shape an objective and rational perception of China, draw lessons from history with practical actions, and adhere to the path of peaceful development”.

Recently, Tokyo has positioned China as its biggest “strategic challenge”, exaggerating China’s so-called “threat” on multiple occasions and in various documents. Wang said that this is “seriously inconsistent with the reality of China-Japan relations” and runs counter to the important consensus of the two sides that they “are cooperative partners, and do not pose a threat to one another”.

He called on the Japanese side to “improve the feelings between the people of the two countries and promote China-Japan relations to return to the track of sound, stable development”. Beijing is open to maintaining contacts at all levels, as well as economic and trade exchanges and people-to-people exchanges, he added.

Hayashi said Tokyo looks forward to building constructive and stable Japan-China relations and creating conditions for high-level exchanges.

On Friday, Wang also attended the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

What is the dirtiest fine print you’ve seen in a contract?

When I sold my last house. The woman who bought it was in her 40s and divorced. I don’t think she ever owned a house. We went to closing and all was going fine. Signing documents left and right. Her attorney was explaining everything as he handed the papers for her to sign. They get to the mortgage agreement and he said what the payment will be and the buyer’s face turned white. Apparently, she didn’t realize that the mortgage payment she was quoted didn’t include the real estate taxes. This area has very high taxes. I was so scared she was going to back out and I’d lose the $40,000 down payment I made on the house I was buying. She also didn’t seem to understand the terms of the mortgage. It was an interest only loan for the first ten years, after which her payment would double. I felt sorry for her but I wasn’t in a position where I could afford to lose 40 grand.

She ended up getting foreclosed after 11 years. I sold that house in 2004. This is a good example of why the housing crisis happened a few years later. She couldn’t really afford the house but they gave her the mortgage anyway.

What are some mind-blowing inventions that most people don’t know about?

Mine Kafon is amazing in its simplicity, a wind deminer invented by Massoud Hossani, a Afghan boy, in 2012.

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It’s a bamboo and recycled plastic structure, which has a size-to-weight ratio that can be moved by the wind, but is heavy enough to detonate a mine if run over it.

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Each structure of this type is capable of withstanding at least 3 explosions before being rendered useless.

The idea was to release large numbers of them into the Afghan desert and let them do their work independently.

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Afghanistan is a very windy region and one of the amusements of local children is precisely the self-construction of wind toys, which are then made to compete with each other. This simple hobby is at the origin of the idea that moved the project.

In 2013 Mine Kafon headlined a Kickstarter fundraising campaign which received wide media coverage and raised over £100,000 in funding.

Thanks to fundraising, the Mine Kafon foundation was opened in Holland, from which several subsequent projects emerged, which perfected the model and opened up new lines of research, which eventually led to the idea of a demining drone.

The original design was so elegant that it was exhibited in 2013 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and in many other museums in the following years.

Apparently, Embroidery Tattoos Are A Thing And It Looks Cooler Than It Sounds

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Two art forms, both involving the use of needles, but seemingly worlds apart. But no more. Embroidery, a classical art that you are more likely to associate with your grandma, has combined with the tattoo scene to create beautiful, folky designs that are both unique and traditional at the same time.

The results speak for themselves. The rich, textured designs look like the ink has been sewn into the skin, and take on an almost 3D appearance as they ‘pop’ out at you. Many designs are a contemporary take on a timeless technique, with a series of tiny x’s combining to form a bigger picture.

What do you think? Would you consider getting a tattoo like this?

h/t: boredpanda

Is the CCP losing support from its younger Chinese generation?

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No, the Communist Party of China in not losing but gaining more popular support from its younger Chinese generations because more and more Chinese youngsters join the Party to serve the modernization of China better as one of the best world class scientists and engineers and leaders in building China Dream and a global community of shared future for mankind in peace and common prosperity.

Joining the Party is a kind of belief, honor and responsibility to the Chinese. Both their grandfather and father may be good Party members such that they have listened the history of the Party since they were a child. What they listen to most is the part where the Communist Party of China leads the Chinese people to carry out the new democratic revolution with Chinese Characteristics.

Many Party members among their teachers and classmates let them feel the power of role models around them. They are very proud to be Chinese in modern China. Recognizing that the value of a person is not only reflected in the growth of personal knowledge and strategies for doing things. Only by creating the greatest value and giving back to the country and society can the value of life be fully reflected truly in being a useful person to society.

The good Party members hope to use their spirit and actions to inspire and drive a group of graduate students and more young colleagues to devote themselves to research and dedicate themselves to science.

Taking over the spiritual torch condensed by their predecessors with passion and even blood, the younger Chinese generations must shoulder the dreams of a generation and strive forward to make their own contribution to the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!

That is why China continues to make China better day by day.

The United States isn’t the only place going bat-shit crazy

Enjo-kosai

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Known as rent a schoolgirl, is a type of sugar daddy platonic relationship for hire. Originating in the late 1990s, young underaged Japanese school girls in need of quick cash began to sell themselves to much older clients. Even though a majority of these encounters rarely involves sexual intercourse, there have been instances where sex was involved, including by force. It is part of Japan’s disturbing appetite for young innocent girls which has been a fetish for years. More importantly, Japanese school girls took advantage of the ever-increasing problem of loneliness with the male population.

Rent a Boyfriend

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It is not just Japanese men employing the services of fake girlfriends. Lonely Japanese women, many of whom have failed in their love lives or had none at all, will turn to the rent a boyfriend agency. There they will select their fantasy boyfriend who will happily accompany them to dinner and flirt with them. Of course none of this is for free. It might cost a woman thousands of dollars for one evening out with these artificial boy toys.

Rent a Family (this is not a joke)

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By far the most bizarre and disturbing practices in Japan is to rent a fake family. This practice actually started in the early 1990s. A rental family service (レンタル家族) or professional stand-in service provides clients with actor(s) who portray friends, family members, or coworkers for social events such as weddings, or to provide platonic companionship. The price range goes anywhere from over $500 a month to 1K to 2K a month. Demand for this service has increased due to the plummeting birth rate and lack of family or friend connections in Japanese society today.

Solo Weddings

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As I mentioned before, fewer and fewer Japanese men and women are getting married. They are either too busy, or don’t want to commit to any relationship at all. Once again there were those who decided to capitalize on this trend. Solo weddings where the answer. The clientele consists largely of Japanese women who decided they would have a wedding without the groom. These women pay for the ceremony, attendees, a wedding cake, ring and wedding dress. She could even get a marriage license stating she is married to herself. This trend took off around the early 2010s. It is also extremely expensive.

This is INTELLIGENT.

LISTEN CAREFULLY TO THIS, rather than the brainless western media BS spinning too hard to follow the NATO narrative until they look stupid.

Why do many buildings in Hong Kong have holes, right in the middle of them?

You’ll never guess the reason for these giant holes.

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Many buildings in Hong Kong have holes, right in the middle of them.

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With a population of over 7 million people, you’d think that space would be at a premium, but these giant holes exist in so many buildings.

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Why?

Dragons. And Feng Shui. 🐉

Seriously.

The holes are designed to let dragons fly through them unobstructed from the hills to the sea. Blocking the path results in bad Feng Shui which impacts the energy of the entire city.

The holes are known as ‘dragon gates’ and according to feng shui, these holes allow dragons to fly from the mountains to the ocean each day, allowing positive energy to flow through the building as a result.

How many government agencies are really efficient?

Every Single one of them

Shocked???

You will be surprised.

Our Government Babus are not all incompetent or lazy. They just have a Colonial hierarchy and an organizational infrastructure that saps any fun and zeal out of life.

Take our CPWD Engineers

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You think theyre doofuses?

Of course not

The CPWD Engineers have many times corrected a Design of a Private Body and improved it

Give them a supervision task and they have the full ability to crack it

Take our CBI

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You think CBI Officers are dolts? Babus?

They can work like FBI with 5% resources and have unerring instincts

Then why dont they?

Reason One – They Cannot

Reason Two – They dont have to

Why?

Cesspit Democracy

How?

An enterprising CPWD Engineer develops a superb design within budget and presents it

First, his boss will get a call “Boss, please ensure Mathur gets the Steel contract”

But Mathurs work is inferior.

No. Mathur has to get the contract

Next call “Please see the Cement Contracy goes to Lalwani”

Again Lalwani quotes 30% higher

Next call “Boss, Shah Engineering says this design wont work”

Why?

Because Shah Engineering gave us 10 Cr for the elections and now they want more profit

So the talented young Engineer gets called and says “Change the design to give Mathur the steelwork, Shah Engg 45% and Lalwani the Cement”

This means a project costing 100 Cr will actually only cost 22–25 Cr which means inferior design , inferior materials

And when Trouble comes – Sarkari Babus!!!! Damn them. Privatization Zindabad.

The Young engineer will lose interest and soon go home at 5 pm, take complimentary vacations to Dubai or London courtesy Shah Engineering or Mathur or Lalwani

Take a Talented SBI officer who uses risk models and evaluates that a Loan is risky and a better company deserves the loan

Say a Talented DGM puts up the note

First call “Boss. We have to encourage SMEs. Please sanction loan to ABC”

DGM says “Sir!!! He is a risk”

“Boss your transfer is up. Heard son is in X standard. Want to go to Dhanbad or Dispur???”

DGM says “Okay sir i will put up the note”

Then “Boss dont sanction loan to the other guy”

DGM says “Sir. Hes a good risk”

“Boss, Home Ministers sons wifes brother is Director in his rival company so dont sanction or else its Dhanbad or Dispur for you”

Then when Loan becomes NPA

Public Sector Bankers!!!!Corrupt!!! NPAs are rising. Lets Privatize

Loan officer loses interest and goes home at 6 PM

Who are the Callers??

The POLITICIANS AND THEIR STOOGES

And of every single party

BJP – Check, INC – Check, AAP – Check, DMK – Check , Check to every single party in India with zero difference

Every Agency faces interference and meddling.

CBI forced to file false cases loses reputation every minute

CBI forced to hide cases loses reputation every minute

Banks (Please issue loans), RBI (Please dont audit Anil Ambani too strongly), IT (Pressurize Pranoy Roy and Joseph Vijay), CBI (Arrest Chidambaram at any cost), CPWD (Give contract to XYZ)

Politicians spoil the broth and the agencies staff lose interest in work or make a profit by becoming corrupt

Why?

Politicians have to win elections

Elections need funding

Funding means repayments

Elections mean Appeasement

Result – Devastation and Horror

So just one word CESSPIT DEMOCRACY

The ruin of everything

Ghanaian Politician Sam George Issues Stern Warning to US on Potential Anti LGBT Sanctions

Outspoken Ghanaian politician Sam George, known for his strong opinions and fearless demeanor, has delivered a stern warning to Western powers who might be contemplating sanctions against Ghana due to an impending anti-LGBTQ bill.

In a bold move, he drew a compelling parallel to the recent actions of the United States, pointing out their targeting of the Speaker of Parliament in Uganda following the passing of their own anti-LGBTQ law.

He declared that if America dares to follow suit, Ghana will retaliate by shutting down American businesses within its borders.

Sam George further exposed the glaring hypocrisy of America, highlighting their failure to impose sanctions on the Secretary of Defense despite contradictory events during Pride Month.

Astonishingly, the U.S. Secretary of Defense obstructed and prohibited a transgender parade on a U.S. Air Force Base, claiming a lack of endorsement from their own defense headquarters, the Pentagon. Governor DeSantis of Florida passed legislation targeting openly transgender individuals.

So why hasn’t the American government taken decisive action against its own citizens?

Funny Doormats That Will Make You Look Twice

Most people only see doormats as something to wipe their feet on, but if you really think about it, doormats hold a higher purpose – they’re the first thing that people see before entering your home, so it would be unreasonable not to use them for the lulz.

h/t: sadanduseless

US chip companies are weakening under China’s backlash

The US sanctions on Chinese tech companies have garnered significant attention, with Micron being one of the targeted entities. These restrictions have put Micron in a challenging position, resulting in a notable decline in product purchases.

As a response, US authorities are calling for offsetting the sanctions in hopes of lifting the ban in the Chinese market.

Meanwhile, Micron is actively working to safeguard its interests by collaborating with Chinese customers and has made headlines with its acquisition of Chinese chip factories, making a substantial investment of over $4 billion to expand production capacity.

However, there are reports of potential further actions by the US to restrict shipments of special edition products from US chipmakers, causing a decline in share prices of Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Micron.

Rumors in the industry suggest that these measures aim to tighten restrictions on Micron while allowing longer waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix, thereby potentially undermining the effectiveness of US sanctions.

The outcome of the US attempt to resolve the Micron issue through additional restrictions remains uncertain.

https://youtu.be/ffZORY19tnc

Ukraine Sitrep – Reality Defeats The War Narrative

At the beginning of the war in Ukraine I pointed out that the false narrative of ‘Ukraine is winning’ which the ‘western’ propaganda steadily promoted would not win the real war on the ground.

As the war continued I made the point again and again.

Propaganda Does Not Change The War – The Ukraine Is Still Losing – Updated – March 25, 2022
Ukraine – War Propaganda And News Items – October 11, 2022
No – Such Propaganda Delusions Will Not Win The War – June 07, 2023

In this week’s SCF column Alastair Crooke makes the same point in much more detail.

A Bonfire of the Vanities

Hubris consists in believing that a contrived narrative can, in and of itself, bring victory. It is a fantasy that has swept through the West – most emphatically since the 17th century. Recently, the Daily Telegraph published a ridiculous nine minute video purporting to show that ‘narratives win wars’, and that set-backs in the battlespace are incidentals: What matters is to have a thread of unitary narrative articulated, both vertically and horizontally, throughout the spectrum – from the special forces’ soldier in the field through to the pinnacle of the political apex.

The gist of it is that ‘we’ (the West) have compelling a narrative, whilst Russia’s is ‘clunky’ – ‘Us winning therefore, is inevitable’.

It is easy to scoff, but nonetheless we can recognise in it a certain substance (even if that substance is an invention). Narrative is now how western élites imagine the world.
…
The weakness to this new ‘liberal’ authoritarianism is that its key narrative myths can get busted. One just has; slowly, people begin to speak reality.

Ukraine: How do you win an unwinnable war? Well, the élite answer has been through narrative. By insisting against reality that Ukraine is winning, and Russia is ‘cracking’. But such hubris eventually is busted by facts on the ground. Even the western ruling classes can see their demand for a successful Ukrainian offensive has flopped. At the end, military facts are more powerful than political waffle: One side is destroyed, its many dead become the tragic ‘agency’ to upending dogma.

Even as reality seeps out the narrative of a ‘successful’ western battle tactics in form of combined arms warfare gets reinforced.

Ukraine aims to sap Russia’s defenses, as U.S. urges a decisive breakthrough – Washington Post

Western officials and analysts say Ukraine’s military has so far embraced an attrition-based approach aimed largely at creating vulnerabilities in Russian lines by firing artillery and missiles at command, transport and logistics sites at the rear of the Russian position, instead of conducting what Western military officials call “combined arms” operations that involve coordinated maneuvers by large groups of tanks, armored vehicles, infantry, artillery and, sometimes, air power.

Ukraine’s military leaders argue that, lacking aviation might, they must avoid unnecessary losses against an adversary with a far larger pool of recruits and weaponry. To preserve manpower, Ukraine has fielded just four of a dozen trained brigades in the current campaign.

A new element in the narrative is that Ukraine is loosing because it does not use the glorious combined arms operations ‘western’ military told them to use.

Franz-Stefan Gady, from the British International Institute for Strategic Studies, has just been in Ukraine where he talked with Ukrainian soldiers and commanders at the frontline. In a Twitter thread he summarizes what he has seen but is strongly promoting the same narrative:

By and large this is an infantryman’s fight (squad, platoon & company level) supported by artillery along most of the frontline. This has several implications:
1st: Progress is measured by yards/meters and not km/miles given reduced mobility.
2nd: Mechanized formations are rarely deployed due to lack of enablers for maneuver. This includes insufficient quantities of de-mining equipment, air defenses, ATGMs etc.

2.) Ukrainian forces have still not mastered combined arms operations at scale. Operations are more sequential than synchronized. This creates various problems for the offense & IMO is the main cause for slow progress.
…
4.) Minefields are a problem as most observers know. They confine maneuver space & slow advances. But much more impactful than the minefields per se on Ukraine’s ability to break through Russian defenses is 🇺🇦s inability to conduct complex combined arms operations at scale.
Lack of a comprehensive combined arms approach at scale makes Ukrainian forces more vulnerable to Russian ATGMs, artillery etc. while advancing. So it’s not just about equipment. There’s simply no systematic pulling apart of the Russian defensive system that I could observe.

The narrative element is the same as in the Washington Post. That the Ukrainians are not using our vaunted combined arms operations is the reason for their failure.

The well synchronized New York Times piece is making the same point:

But that artillery-centric approach raises questions about whether Ukraine has lost confidence in the combined arms tactics — synchronized attacks by infantry, armor and artillery forces — that nine new brigades learned from American and other Western advisers in recent months. Western officials heralded the approach as more efficient than the costly strategy of wearing Russian forces down by attrition and depleting their ammunition stocks.

Senior U.S. officials in recent weeks had privately expressed frustration that some Ukrainian commanders, exasperated at the slow pace of the initial assault and fearing increased casualties among their ranks, had reverted to old habits — decades of Soviet-style training in artillery barrages — rather than sticking with the Western tactics and pressing harder to breach the Russian defenses.

However, the narrative is wrong.

The Ukrainian do not fear increased casualties. They did try combined arms warfare in the beginning of the counteroffensive in early June. After a few days of trying again and again they noted that the attacks failed with ever greater losses and were not sustainable. A third of the tanks and other material the ‘west’ had sent to Ukraine was destroyed in the attempts to use ‘fire and maneuver’ to break through Russian mine fields and defense lines.

Ukraine then returned to the current ‘mosquito tactics’ where small groups of infantry soldiers try to make small progress bit by bit. The likely loss of more tanks was thus replaced with the likely loss of more lives.

The narrative element that a combined arms attack would have more success is simply false.

As Crooke explains:

The hubris, at one level, lay in NATO’s pitting of its alleged ‘superior’ military doctrine and weapons versus that of a deprecated, Soviet-style, hide-bound, Russian military rigidity – and ‘incompetence’.

But military facts on the ground have exposed the western doctrine as hubris – with Ukrainian forces decimated, and its NATO weaponry lying in smoking ruins. It was NATO that insisted on re-enacting the Battle of 73 Easting (from the Iraqi desert, but now translated into Ukraine).

In Iraq, the ‘armoured fist’ punched easily into Iraqi tank formations: It was indeed a thrusting ‘fist’ that knocked the Iraqi opposition ‘for six’. But, as the U.S. commander at that tank battle (Colonel Macgregor), frankly admits, its outcome against a de-motivated opposition largely was fortuitous.

Nonetheless ‘73 Easting’ is a NATO myth, turned into the general doctrine for the Ukrainian forces – a doctrine structured around Iraq’s unique circumstance.

In the first year of the second world war the German Wehrmacht used combined arms warfare to wage its blitzkrieg against inferior adversaries. The tactic failed two years later when it tried to break through solid Soviet defense lines.

In the battle of 73 Easting the U.S. army could repeat blitzkrieg tactics because he had air superiority, well trained troops and better weapons. But the circumstance in Ukraine can not be compared to a mobile war in the desert. —

The Black Sea grain deal has, as we expected, ended. The Ukraine reacted to this anticipated loss with a another successful attack on the Kerch bridge. Road traffic will be hindered or blocked for two or three months but the more important rail lines along the route are still intact.

As the grain deal was expected to fail, the Ukrainians may well have thought of breaking the blockade of its harbors by asking for more ships to come. But the Russia military has now used a large drone and missile attack to make sure that the facilities in Odessa and other Ukrainian Black Sea harbors can no longer be used to load or unload ships. It thus does not make sense for any ships to go there. —

Over the last week the ground war in east Ukraine has further intensified. In the north of the eastern contact line the Russian army has launched its own attacks. In the center and south the Ukrainians still try to break through Russian defenses. But they are losing about 700 soldiers per day with little to show for the losses.

The Russian’s are again concentrating on the defeat of the Ukrainian artillery. Over the last five days they claimed to have destroyed 27 brigade level ammunition depots. Each of these should usually hold around 30 tons of shells and missiles. Thus such attacks add up. During those five days the Russians also claimed to have destroyed some 66 Ukrainian artillery pieces. It is race of what will be completely lost first, the ammunition the Ukrainian’s can use or the guns that are needed to fire it.

But some Ukrainians still insist on continuing the senseless fight.

War Monitor @WarMonitors – 10:38 UTC · Jul 18, 2023

⚡️“Returning Bakhmut is a matter of honour. We have lost many of our brothers there, we simply must recapture it”— Syrsky during a BBC interview

The way too emotional interview quote is not in the writeup of the BBC interview but I still have not seen a video of it.

That Ukraine has already lost many soldiers in Bakhmut should certainly not be a reason to continue fighting for it. It has by now only symbolic value. Even it would again change hands it would not change the trajectory of the bigger war.

Ukraine is loosing that war. The Jig Is Up and NATO knows it. Ukraine will never be allowed to become a member.

A new narrative element is creeping in with talks about a ceasefire in Ukraine. It would give the Ukraine time to refit its military.

But Russia has absolutely no reason to agree to a pause in the fight. During the war its military has become larger and better and a total defeat of the Ukrainian army is only a question of time.

The U.S. and NATO will soon have lost their big proxy war against Russia.

In light of this reality the much larger, centuries old narrative of the superior West is also breaking down.

This will have global consequences for decades to come.

Posted by b on July 18, 2023 at 16:58 UTC | Permalink

America SLAMS Africa on LGBTQ, then THIS Happens

https://youtu.be/ri8H5IUlJs0

What is the dirtiest fine print you’ve seen in a contract?

My daughter lives in the small town that hosts the world’s largest motorcycle rally every August. As you can imagine, the small town explodes in population for a couple of weeks, going from about 8,000 people to 700,000.
Many people in the area rent out their homes to rally goers as a way to make a little extra money. When my daughter and her husband were searching for apartments, they encountered a couple of them that, on the surface, looked pretty good. That is, until you looked closely at the rental agreements. Some of them require the tenants to vacate the property for the week of the rally. This is a well known dirty clause. She found one that went a step further. Not only would they have been required to vacate during rally week, but it also required the renter to pay for any damages caused by Rally Renters. How on earth is it fair to expect your tenant to absorb the cost of damages that they are powerless to prevent? That’s insane.

Luckily she found a place with no rally clauses. Always read rental agreements before you sign!

Lost in Space STS-117 B9 Robot Presentation Video

LOL. LOL. LOL.

Russia BLOCKADES Ukraine Ports

World Hal Turner 19 July 2023

Russia has announced that effective 00:00 Hrs Moscow Time on July 20, all Ships attempting to travel to/from ANY Port in Ukraine, will be considered “carriers of military equipment” and “participants in the conflict.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) explicitly states “SOME AREAS OF THE BLACK SEA HAVE BEEN TEMPORARILY DECLARED AS DANGEROUS FOR NAVIGATION **COUNTRIES, UNDER WHICH FLAGS VESSELS ARE TRAVELLING TO UKRAINIAN PORTS ON THE BLACK SEA, WILL BE CONSIDERED AS PARTIES TO CONFLICT ON UKRAINIAN SIDE**

Russia imposed a naval blockade of Ukraine immediately after the end of the ‘grain deal which was stopped in retaliation for the Ukraine attack upon the Kerch Strait Bridge, that killed two Russian civilians, and seriously wounded a child traveling in a car with her parents when the bridge was blown up. Both parents died.

12 cargo ships are now stuck in the ports of Odessa and Nikolaev. Not a single dry cargo ship has entered Ukrainian waters since the Russians announced this action.

Insurance Carriers have already warned all shipping companies they will NOT insure vessels attempting to enter the Ukraine conflict zone effective immediately.

Ukraine is now land-locked, and will remain so in perpetuity — assuming it even persists at all as a sovereign entity.

Intel Circuits are absolutely swamped with chatter saying the map below is what will be left of Ukraine — if anything at all:

(Hal Turner Remark: I am convinced this map illustrates the most likely outcome of the war. “Ukraine” will be reduced to a land-locked rump state; Novorossiya will be re-established; Crimea is already reunited with Russia, and will remain so in perpetuity.)

It is noteworthy to report the U.K., with U.S. backing, declared a 200-mile exclusion zone around the Falkland Islands during the South Atlantic War.

The U.S. Declared military exclusion zones during the Gulf Wars many times.

There is plenty of recent precedent for the Russians to declare the same.

Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby made clear the US will not send warships to escort commercial vessels from Ukraine.

Following the recent decision to cancel the grain deal between Russia and Ukraine, U.S. has officially announced its decision not to use warships to escort commercial ships leaving Ukrainian ports. “We have only one way left – land. This involves the transportation of goods by rail or by road, which is undoubtedly more difficult and less efficient” Kirby said.

Statement on the blockade from the Russian MOD in English.

Note that is an almost word-for-word copy of the UK Declaration from the Falklands War in 1982.

“ In connection with the cessation of the functioning of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the ;losing of the maritime humanitarian corridor, from 00.00 Moscow time on 20 July 2023, all vessels sailing in the waters of the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports will be regarded as potential carriers of military cargo.

– Accordingly, the countries of such vessels will be considered to be involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kiev regime.

– In addition, a number of sea areas in the north-western and south-eastern parts of the international waters of the Black Sea have been declared temporarily dangerous for navigation. Corresponding information warnings on the withdrawal of safety guarantees to mariners have been issued in accordance with the established procedure.”

Green Acres Reunion 1989

https://youtu.be/UG1VPMMStEQ

Bacon Chicken Rolls

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups Italian bread crumbs
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 (16 ounce) jar creamy Alfredo sauce

Instructions

Flatten chicken breast pieces and dredge in butter, then into bread crumbs.
Place on platter.
Mix cooked, crumbled bacon, green onions and bell pepper together, and spoon into center of each chicken breast.
Fold chicken over and secure with a wooden pick.
Place chicken rolls into slow cooker. Pour 1/2 jar of sauce over all .
Cook on LOW for 8 hours. During the final 30 minutes of cooking, pour on remaining sauce.
Serve with rotini pasta.

African American women bad mouths get them arrested and assaulted in Dubai and Africa

What was the worst performance in Olympic history?

On paper — Eric Moussambani’s performance would seem startlingly bad. But in the course of one minute and fifty-two seconds, he won over an entire crowd.

Eric hailed from the small and developing country of Equatorial Guinea. As part of a push to democratize and have a more inclusive Olympics, their nation was invited to participate.

Eric overheard a radio advertisement that his nation’s swimming federation was looking for swimmers. A total of two swimmers showed up for the audition, including him.

And so he was in.

He learned to swim 8 months prior to the Olympics, practicing in his hotel’s 20-meter swimming pool. When he arrived at the Sydney Games, he didn’t even have goggles or an appropriate swimsuit and would have been disqualified — if not for a South African coach giving him those items.

During his initial heat, the only other two people false started, and he went on to be the only swimmer:

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As a long-time swimmer and coach myself, it was immediately apparent Eric hadn’t done much swimming or had any coaching. He nearly belly-flopped when diving in, and immediately sprinted the opening, not breathing, or conserving his energy.

By the 25% mark, Eric was fading. And on the return lap, you wondered if he’d even finish. Yet — the crowd was telling. Initially, they seemed to be confused by what they were seeing, with a few onlookers laughing.

But midway through, they noticed he was struggling, with his legs dragging below him. He was only inching forward and breathing hard. Then, they realized intuitively that this was something special they were watching.

The crowd got to their feet, cheering him on, with several in tears. They knew this was a unique moment in history, with a person from a developing country, where swim lessons and swim teams were a foreign concept.

It was clear Eric was giving his all. He’d never even swam a full 100 meters in his life. When he got to the wall, he heard so much cheering that he wondered if he had won a medal.

He set the record for the slowest 100M time in Olympic history but that isn’t what he is remembered for.

Today, he can still say he competed as an Olympian which isn’t something many of us can do.

15 Things That Can’t Be Seen Anywhere But In Japan

What should I not do when visiting Chicago?

Don’t  order a full deep-dish pizza for yourself, especially if you have to  fly home and can’t take pizza on the plane. You’ll end up wasting a lot  of perfectly good pizza.
 An  old friend of mine worked in a downtown hotel, and she said she saw  that happen all of the time. Businessmen would order a whole Chicago  deep dish pizza for themselves, get full after one or two slices (each  slice is like a whole meal), and, when it came time for them to leave,  they’d just leave more than half of the pizza in the room.
 I’m  a big guy, but even I can’t eat two whole pieces of a well-made Chicago  deep dish. You get 8 pieces in most pizzas. For one full-grown man,  that’s two days’ worth of meals, if he ate it for every single meal.
There’s only so much meat and cheese your stomach can handle in one sitting. This is why most places sell it by the slice.

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There Are Almost No Businesses Left In San Francisco

How do you improve your relationship any tips?

Once upon a time, I was a single mother dating a guy I really liked. Things got serious and he moved in.

I had a laundry problem. With three kids, the laundry was never-ending. Washing, drying, sorting, putting away… there was almost never a time when it was “done”… there were always piles transitioning from dirty to clean to folded to put away. Someone’s laundry was always in the way and often, the kids wouldn’t put their folded stuff away and it would just merge back into the dirty laundry. I yelled, I cajoled… often I put it away myself because I got so tired of following up on everyone else. It was low-level exhausting every single day.

He wanted to go out more often, I just didn’t have time to spare.

This man went out and bought 5 nylon laundry bags, in different colors. He gave one to each person in the family. Everyone put their own laundry in their own bag. Then he piled all the bags into his car and took them away.

A few days later, he brought back cubes of folded laundry in plastic bags. He placed each person’s neatly folded and sorted laundry on their bed and it took them about 5 minutes to put everything where it belonged.

It was the purest form of magic I have ever witnessed.

He found a wash-and-fold laundry near his work. He gathered and took the laundry every Wednesday and returned it every Friday- fresh clothes for the weekend.

I have never been more turned on in my life.

He didn’t want to do the laundry any more than I did, but it had to get done. He solved the problem and took a huge load off my back… in turn I had much more time for him and for us. The house was nicer, the kids were better organized and a huge chunk of the everyday frustration of my life just went *poof*. I was a nicer person as a result. And more fun.

This man never did do any real work around the house, but he didn’t make me do it either… he took us out for dinner or brought home dinner so there were not many dishes to handle. He often went to the store for basics like paper towels and shampoo as well as groceries. He didn’t ask me if he should go or what he should get- he’d say, “I’m going for X, do you need anything?”

If you want more time for your relationship, solve the problems that wear your partner out and take up their time.

Unknown World (1951) | Sci-Fi Movie | Bruce Kellogg, Otto Waldis, Jim Bannon

A full movie treat. Watch if you have the time.

To watch a great classic film such as this, with the eyes of a child as we all were back in the 1950's & 60's. Brings back many good memories. Back then sometimes you would have your friends over at your house or you would be at theirs. When mom or dad asked who wants Jiffy Pop? We all would say I do! It isn't fair to be overly critical of this film. It is after all for entertainment.

Scientists use a gigantic drilling machine for an expedition to the center of the earth.

Gonzalo Lira out of prison and escaping

Today, I woke up to discover that Paul Rubens died. He was the fellow that played Pee Wee Herman. He was 70 years old.

He died of cancer.

"Last night we said farewell to Paul Reubens, an iconic American actor, comedian, writer and producer whose beloved character Pee-wee Herman delighted generations of children and adults with his positivity, whimsy and belief in the importance of kindness," according to a statement posted to his Facebook.

"Paul bravely and privately fought cancer for years with his trademark tenacity and wit. A gifted and prolific talent, he will forever live in the comedy pantheon and in our hearts as a treasured friend and man of remarkable character and generosity of spirit."

“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” he wrote. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”

Whatever you might think of him, he was an iconic reminder of my early days in MAJ training in Ridgecrest, California. It was there, shortly after I was “recovered” and started my training that I watched my first Pee Wee Herman skit. There in the hot high desert.

You know, 70 years old is youngish, and he must have been diagnosed with cancer when he hit 64. Sigh. Scares me.

We all gotta go when it is our time.

But as I get older, those that I grew up with; friends, loved ones, pets and celebrities fall to the wayside, and are replaced by others. Others, not as worthy, and others that don’t seem to have the depth that the iconoclasts had.

Philadelphia Pepper Pot

Ingredients

1/2 pound honeycomb tripe
6 cups chicken stock*
4 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 small bay leaf
1 teaspoon peppercorns, finely ground
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup diced raw potato
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Cook tripe, rinse and cut into 1/4-inch cubes. Place in large kettle and add chicken stock.
Fry bacon until crisp and sauté the onion, celery and green pepper in the bacon drippings. Add to tripe and chicken stock. To this mixture add the bay leaf, peppercorns, parsley and salt. Cover, and when mixture comes to the boiling point, add diced raw potato. Cover and simmer gently for about 1 hour.
Blend melted butter or margarine with flour and stir into hot soup mixture. Season with additional salt if necessary.
Just before serving, stir in the heavy cream.
Serve piping hot.

Serves 6 as a main dish.

* Or use 12 chicken bouillon cubes and 6 cups water, or 6 teaspoons chicken concentrate with 6 cups water.

From Gonzalo Lira – Out of Prison – Escaping .

World Hal Turner 31 July 2023

Gonzalo Lira is alive and he said this today:

Right now, I’m about to try to get out of Ukraine, and seek political asylum in Hungary.

Either I’ll cross the border and make it to safety, or I’ll be disappeared by the Kiev regime.

This is what’s happened to me over the past three months.

On May 1, I was arrested for my YouTube videos. The photos of my arrest are pretty funny—morning bed-head made me look like a character out of Dr. Seuss.

My crime was making videos critical of the West and their proxy regime in Kiev—and how they are destroying Ukraine.

Attached to these tweets is the full indictment against me, both the original Ukrainian and English translation.

As you can see, even the prosecutor admits I committed no crime against property or any person. And I certainly provided no aid or intelligence to the Russians.

My indictment explicitly states that all I did was discuss publicly known facts about the war—the epitome of free speech in a democracy.

But Zelensky’s Ukraine is no democracy—it is a thieving, corrupt, murderous gangster regime PRETENDING to be a polite “western” democracy.

Once arrested, I was given documentation assuring me that I was “guaranteed the right” to contact my lawyers and loved ones, as well as post bail.

In fact, I was blocked from calling anyone—even my lawyers. And I was not permitted to post bail—though I had the cash to do so.

In other words, the formalities were carried out scrupulously—while judicial and ethical grotesqueries ruled.

That’s Zelensky’s Ukraine. That’s what his thuggish regime cares about: The >perception< of democracy and the rule of law, so as to mask the sordid, corrupt reality.

That’s why they relentlessly persecute anyone who tells the truth about this war. I’m not the only so-called “propagandist” the Kiev regime has thrown in prison.

It’s also why they shoot any AFU soldier who dares retreat. That’s why the AFU losses are so horrific—but hidden.

As you can see by the indictment, the video I made that really chapped their ass was “Ukraine: A Primer”, which gives the historical background to the conflict—where I state outright that this invasion wasn’t out of the blue. That indeed, it was provoked by the Kiev regime.

Once inside Sizo Prison, I was tortured in two of the four cells I was in—by the other prisoners. Guards NEVER beat prisoners—they outsource torture to the other prisoners.

One prisoner actually apologized to me, telling me he had no choice. He wasn’t lying. I understood.

I got a cracked rib in my first cell, but it wasn’t too bad. The worst stretch was in my fourth cell.

From 1pm on June 21 until 7pm the next day—30 hours—I was beaten and sleep deprived, my arms twisted the wrong way around at the shoulders, and generally beaten pretty bad.

I’ve taken a beating in my time. So sure, it hurt like hell, but it was manageable—but then at one point, two thugs held my head and used a toothpick to scratch the whites of my left eye, while asking me if I could still read if I had just one.

Near the end of this session, one of the thugs struck me in the chest so hard and so repetitively that the beating left a yellow-and-green splotch dead-center on my sternum.

He was >berated< by the cell boss, because he’d left a mark on me—which was a no-no.

Then as luck would have it, two days later—when the bruising was in full bloom—a senior guard came to give me a wellness check!

This was likely because of the Chilean embassy efforts.

The US embassy called me three times, but gave me nothing but “support”—empty bromides.

The guard told me to remove my shirt so he could look me over. The bruising was really spectacular—but he just nodded and pretended he didn’t see a thing.

>Perceptions< He’d checked me, right?

Why was I beaten to the point of torture? Well—it wasn’t over my YouTube videos!

I was imprisoned because of my videos—no doubt. The videos are why the SBU arrested me and put me in Sizo Prison without bail.

I was imprisoned because of my videos—no doubt. The videos are why the SBU arrested me and put me in Sizo Prison without bail.

But as they investigated me—and examined my computers and accounts, all of which they confiscated and opened—the SBU realized that I’m not poor.

So once they had me imprisoned for my videos, the SBU took the opportunity to extort money from me—using the guards as accomplices, who in turn used the prisoners as the muscle.

How I discovered this is too complicated for a Twitter thread. But I’m writing a book about it.

All told, they extorted USD$70,000 out of me, and split it among themselves. They also took another $9k when they arrested me (my emergency cash). And another 11 grand, which was the bail money.

With the computers, iPhone, etc., I’m out an even 100k on this adventure.

I’m never seeing any of that back, not even the bail money—because I’ve decided to leave Ukraine before my trial.

My trial is on Wednesday August 2—and I’ve already been told: I WILL be found guilty.

My sentence will be five to eight years in a prison labor camp.

Yeah.

But here’s the thing: The conditions of my bail are that I have to wear an electronic monitor, surrender my passports, and not leave the city of Kharkov, much less the country.

HOWEVER—after posting bail, I >didn’t< get an ankle monitor—and they >returned< my passports.

Later at the SBU offices, they >returned other documents< they’d confiscated—my driver’s license and my motorcycle registration.

In Sizo, I told an inmate how last year I’d been detained, released, but told not to leave Ukraine. He laughed. “They were telling you to leave!”

This time, it looks like the same is happening: They’re telling me not to leave—but leaving the door open.

Or so I hope.

Or maybe I’m being set up by them so they can justify putting me away in a labor camp—so no one will ever know about their sordid extortion scheme.

I simply don’t know. So I decided to die trying.

I rode my motorcycle across Ukraine—1,400 kms in two days.

I’m going to Hungary to ask for political asylum.

When I fail to show up in court in Kharkov, an arrest warrant will be issued, likely an international warrant.

No doubt other EU countries will comply like sheep, returning me to serve five to eight years in a prison labor camp—

—regardless of the fact that Kiev arrested and imprisoned me for >YouTube videos!<

For free speech!

What happened to “European democratic values?

lol

And the US State Department would return me too. I’m not a black lesbian druggie, or a transgender grifter. Besides, Victoria Nuland hates my guts, or so I’m told.

I’m hoping the Hungarians will read my indictment and say, “This is bullshit—we’re not sending him back.”

I’m posting this thread just as I’m getting to the border checkpoint. I’m also posting videos on the two channels I have access to, The Roundtable and Gonzalo Lira—Again.

If you don’t hear from me in the next 12 hours—whelp! I’m on my way to a labor camp!

Wish me luck.

During your time in the military, did you ever see something that made you say, “you can’t be serious…”?

During your time in the military, did you ever see something that made you say, “you can’t be serious…”?

Too many times to count. Some days passed without me asking that question, but not many.

I was an officer but I lived on base in officer’s apartments. One Sunday I went to town intending to stay the entire day, but I had to come back for some reason.

Upon my return, I could not find the officer on duty, nor his XO.

In the “Piazza D’armi” (the big square in the middle) there was a bridge tank, sans the bridge on it, doing donuts and fish-tailing all over the place.

Mind you, this was a big German tank, not a M113 or something that size. This thing is a land ship. Looks something like this:

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Anyhow, the guys doing maintenance on it were taking it for a joyride taking advantage of the absence of the officer on duty for reasons too complicated to explain here.

I sat there dumbfounded at the sight. I had seen people use the washing ramp to launch 4×4 into the air, I had seen M113 roll over. But I had never seen a tank being driven like Tokyo Drift (30 years before the trend).

I didn’t know what to do. The place was deserted and I wasn’t about to go anywhere near this thing.

Then they lost control.

The tank took out the entire corner of our infirmary, which was empty at the time, fortunately, and they had barely noticed. This was a 1800-something building made of stone, concrete and masonry, not a quonset hut or anything like that. The way they used to built things, yet the tank took out a huge bite out of it.

Following that they disappeared behind another building leaving a scene out of Mosul after the ISIS retreat (also 30 years in the future).

I still couldn’t find the officer in charge, but at that point I was running some mind calculus about whose ass was going to be in a sling for that little mishap, so I decided that whatever I had come back for wasn’t worth it and I left.

The next day there was a shit-storm of epic proportions with officers, non-coms and soldiers in the brig or otherwise disciplined.

I still don’t know exactly what happened (or which of the 75 different version to believe) but since I had signed out in the morning and officially returned late that night, I was never questioned.

关于芯片战争的二三事 A few things about the Chip War

By Boss Dai

Today, we are presenting an interesting article on China-US tech rivalry, because in our eyes it reflects how many of the Chinese elite look at the US technology ban on China. These are the main ideas of the article:

One important consequence of the US embargo is that it helps create a huge market demand for China’s semiconductor industry, so the market mechanism replaces government subsidies as the main driving force.
Building a domestic semiconductor industry is hard, and will take very long time, but China is no stranger to this type of development. It’s only a matter of when and how fast.
However, the revolution in artificial intelligence adds a new variable to the game, something China must seize on as quickly as possible (you may read here on how Chinese government is responding with the final version of AIGC regulation).

The original article is written by Boss Dai 戴老板, a famous technology and business influencer in China. Our translation is not reviewed by the author.

…

Recently, Janet Yellen visited China with reportedly many “tasks” to accomplish. Foreign media summarized one of her tasks as “convincing Chinese officials that the series of measures taken by the US to prevent China from accessing sensitive technologies such as semiconductors in the name of national security is not intended to harm the Chinese economy.”

It is already 2023, and the US has launched more than ten rounds of bans on China’s chip industry. The number of mainland enterprises and individuals on the entity list has exceeded 2,000. It is heartwarming that they can still come up with such a noble reason.

It is estimated that even the Americans cannot stand it anymore. This statement was soon refuted by another article on the New York Times.

Four days after Yellen left China, Alex Palmer, a well-known China reporter for foreign media, published an article in the NYT that explained the essence of the US chip blockade in the title: “This is an Act of War.”

Alex Palmer graduated from Harvard and was among the first Yenching Scholar at Peking University. He has been reporting on China for a long time, covering topics such as Xu Xiang, fentanyl, and TikTok. He is a familiar figure who has been “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people”. However, in the matter of chip technology, he managed to extract the truth from the Americans.

In the article, one interviewee bluntly stated, “Not only will we not allow China to make any technological progress, but we will also actively reverse their current technological level.” The chip ban is essentially aimed at eradicating China’s entire advanced technology ecosystem.

The Americans used the word “eradicate,” which carries the meanings of “exterminate” and “uproot,” often associated with diseases like smallpox or Mexican drug cartels. Now, this word is being used to describe China’s high-tech industry. The author predicts in the article that if these measures succeed, it could impact the progress of an entire generation in China.

Anyone who wants to understand the severity of this war only needs to repeatedly ponder the word “eradicate.”

An upgraded war

The rules of competition and the rules of war are two completely different things. Business competition is a contest under legal framework, but war is different. The opponent will almost never consider any rules or restrictions and will do whatever it takes to achieve their strategic objectives. Especially in the chip industry, the United States can even keep changing the rules – as soon as you adapt to one set, it will immediately switch to a new one to deal with you.

For example, in 2018, the US Department of Commerce sanctioned Fujian Jinhua by using the “Entity List,” directly leading to the latter’s shutdown (which has since resumed operations); after this kind of small success, [The US Government] also included Huawei in the Entity List in 2019, restricting US companies from providing products and services to it, such as EDA software and Google’s GMS.

After discovering that these methods were not enough to completely “eradicate” Huawei, the US changed the rules: starting in May 2020, all companies using US technology could not supply Huawei, such as TSMC’s foundry. This directly led to the stagnation of HiSilicon and the significant decline of Huawei’s smartphones, bringing more than 100 billion yuan in losses to the Chinese industrial chain every year.

Afterward, the Biden administration escalated its targets from “companies” to “industries,” and a large number of Chinese companies, universities, and research institutions were subsequently included in the ban list. On October 7, 2022, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce issued new export control regulations, effectively imposing a “ceiling” on Chinese semiconductors. Logic chips below 16nm or 14nm, NAND storage with 128 layers or more, and integrated circuits (DRAM) below 18nm are restricted from export. Additionally, computing chips with a performance exceeding 4800 TOPS and interconnection bandwidth exceeding 600GB/s are also restricted from supply, whether through manufacturing or direct sales.

Using the words of a Washington think tank: Trump targeted companies, while Biden is targeting industries.

When reading the novel “The Three-Body Problem,” ordinary readers can easily understand the plot of the Trisolarans to lock down Earth’s technology [Baiguan note: This novel is a widely-read and widely-cited Chinese sci-fi series, in which the aliens, called the Trisolorans, used a super technology to keep a lid on basic science research on Earth]. However, in real life, many non-industry individuals tend to have a certain perception when observing the chip ban: as long as you comply with U.S. rules, you won’t be targeted; if you are targeted, it means you did something wrong.

Having such a perception is normal because many people’s thinking is still within the framework of “competition.” However, in a “war”, this perception may be just an illusion. In recent years, many semiconductor executives have expressed that when a company ventures into advanced fields in R&D (even just in preliminary research), they will encounter an invisible barrier.

The development of high-end chips is based on a global technology supply chain. For example, to make a 5nm SoC chip, one needs to license from ARM, software from Cadence or Synopsys, patents from Qualcomm, and coordinate production capacity with TSMC. By doing these actions, one will come under the purview of the BIS’s regulations.

A case in point is a chip company under a certain smartphone manufacturer, which set up a R&D subsidiary in Taiwan to attract local talent for consumer-grade chips. However, it soon encountered an “investigation” by relevant Taiwanese authorities. Helpless, this subsidiary was separated from its parent company and became an independent supplier, but still had to proceed with caution.

In the end, after a raid and seizure of servers by Taiwanese “inspecting authorities” (where no violations were found), this Taiwanese subsidiary was forced to shut down. A few months later, its parent company voluntarily dissolved as well – senior management realized that under constantly changing restrictions, any high-end chip project carried the risk of being “reset with a single button”.

[redacted]

This ability to “reset with a single button” essentially turns the previously practiced “global division of labor based on free trade” into a weapon for attacking enemies. To whitewash this behavior, American scholars have even coined a term: weaponized interdependence.

Once these facts are clear, many previously disputed matters no longer need to be discussed. For example, it is pointless to mock Huawei for violating the Iran sanctions because they have already stated clearly that “Iran is just an excuse.” Likewise, criticizing China’s industrial policies seems ridiculous, as the US promptly allocated $53 billion to subsidize chip manufacturing and promote re-shoring.

As Carl von Clausewitz once said, “War is the continuation of politics.” The same can be said for the Chip War.

How the blockade can backfire

Some may ask: Is there really no way to respond to the US’s “all-out war”?

If you’re looking for a miraculous move that can defeat the enemy in one stroke, there really isn’t one. Computer technology itself, including the integrated circuit industry, was born in the US. By using war tactics to exert dominance over the industrial chain, China can only take longer to conquer the upstream and downstream bit by bit. This is a long process.

However, if one is to think this “war behavior” doesn’t have any side effects and can be used continuously, it is not true. The biggest side effect of this all-industry blockade by the United States is that it has given China the opportunity to rely on market mechanisms – rather than pure planning power – to solve the problem of “卡脖子 technology stranglehold”.

This sentence may seem difficult to understand at first. We can first understand what “pure planning power” means. For example, in the semiconductor industry, there is a project that specifically supports major technological breakthroughs called the “Manufacturing Technology and Complete Set of Processes for Ultra-Large-Scale Integrated Circuits,” commonly known as the “02 Special Project”, which is funded purely by government finances.

Many companies have received funding from the 02 Special Project. When I was researching semiconductor companies, I saw many prototypes left over from this project. After seeing them, I had mixed feelings. Although the 02 Special Project provided valuable funding for companies during the economic downturn, the efficiency of using these funds was not high. Even if the funds were given to the companies in the form of subsidies, it was difficult to produce technologies and products that could enter the market. People who have done scientific research probably understand this.

Before the chip war, China had many struggling equipment, material, and small chip companies that were difficult to compete with foreign counterparts. Companies like SMIC, JCET, and even Huawei did not pay much attention to them because they could buy more mature and cost-effective foreign products. However, the US blockade of the Chinese chip industry has brought a rare opportunity for these companies.

Under the blockade, domestic companies that were previously ignored by wafer fabs or test and packaging factories were pushed to the forefront. A large number of equipment and materials were sent to production lines for validation. Domestic small factories suddenly saw hope, and no one dared to waste this precious opportunity. Therefore, they burnt the midnight oil to improve their products.

Although this is a forced market mechanism, an internal circulation market mechanism, its efficiency is much higher than pure planning: one party is determined to replace imports, while the other is desperately holding onto a lifeline. Under the inspirations of wealth creation effects of the Shanghai STAR Board, almost every vertical segment of the semiconductor upstream has many companies involved.

I asked my colleagues to compile the profit trends of Chinese semiconductor listed companies over the past decade (only selecting companies with ten years of continuous performance). There is an obvious growth trend: ten years ago, the total profits of these domestic companies was only more than 3 billion, and by 2022, their total profits exceeded 33.4 billion, nearly ten times that of ten years ago.

Alex Palmer commented in his article: When Chinese companies can access Western chip suppliers, domestic manufacturers do not have much business. But now, if Chinese companies do not unite, the outcome will be collective destruction. “Previously, they could choose between national resilience and business development, but now this choice no longer exists.”

Of course, some people may question: “These domestic alternatives are all in the mid-to-low-end field. We still cannot break through in the high-end chip market.” This questioning is not unfounded from a factual perspective. However, chips are not like the internet, where a few programmers can come up with something in a few months. It is an industry that requires years of investment and development, and it cannot be rushed.

In the past decade, the domestic semiconductor industry has made significant progress. However, public opinion often has a tendency to focus on lithography, to the extent that the belief “if China cannot produce EUV lithography machines, its semiconductor industry is not capable” has become very popular. This viewpoint is neither objective nor correct, and it obscures the efforts and hard work of many people, but it is widely embraced.

Of course, the success of an industry ultimately depends on whether it possesses the necessary conditions for success, such as funding, talent, and market. This is not greatly influenced by public opinion. Moreover, many extremely pessimistic remarks have appeared not only recently, but also many years ago in fields such as high-speed rail, wind power, solar power, and new energy vehicles.

Greater challenges

It may be fate, or it may be a coincidence, but at a time when the Chip War is in full swing, the fourth industrial revolution driven by AI has begun.

At the end of 2022, the roar of OpenAI brought a new world to carbon-based humans, and also made the Chip War part of a wider confrontation. In fact, the United States has already restricted Chinese technology companies from accessing the latest AI chips, and plans to prohibit American capital from investing in Chinese artificial intelligence companies, according to reports.

As we all know, the early stage of the industrial revolution (initiation stage) is a period of emerging new technologies, dazzling new models, and emerging new giants. If we cannot keep up with the changes in core technologies at this time, the gap later on may become increasingly wider. A small mistake can lead to a big loss, and it will take more time and money to catch up later on.

During the initiation stage of the first industrial revolution (steam engine), China adopted a closed-door policy; during the initiation of the second industrial revolution (electricity), China was in a turbulent period at the end of the Qing Dynasty; and during the initiation of the third industrial revolution (computers), although new China was catching up synchronously, the progress was greatly affected by political movements.

Therefore, every footnote in history tells us: we cannot fall behind this time.

Fortunately, China still has some foundation in the field of AI. Since 2012, internet giants and startups have been continuously pouring into the AI field. Although it was the Americans who discovered the new continent, looking around the world, China seems to be the only country closely following behind, and there is no need to underestimate ourselves.

However, there are also many unfavorable factors. Firstly, the methodology used by the US in the Chip War will definitely be extended to the field of artificial intelligence. However, unlike the global division of labor and the ultra-long industrial chain in semiconductors, most of the fields in artificial intelligence are innovative at the software level, and the chain is relatively short, with a lower (but not zero) probability of being strangleheld than semiconductors.

Secondly, venture capital funds are in short supply. Due to the influence of geopolitics and [the slump in] Chinese ADRs, it is an open secret that US dollar funds cannot be raised. The RMB market is greatly affected by local finances. Therefore, the current AI entrepreneurship wave in China is far smaller than the mobile Internet wave ten years ago, and it is also far smaller than the currently thriving scene in Silicon Valley.

In terms of basic innovation, there is still a relatively large gap in China. The Bell Labs, which invented the transistor, and OpenAI, which launched GPT, are essentially “raised” by large companies (the former is AT&T, and the latter is Microsoft). China currently lacks such roles (government-funded Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence and Shanghai AI Lab are potential candidates).

If we cannot keep up with innovation, there will be an awkward situation of “if you dare to open source, I dare to innovate”. [Baiguan note: this is a piece of satire on the phenomenon that a lot of innovation in China is based on open-source technology in other parts of the world.]

In the years leading up to the outbreak of a new technological revolution, countries that actively embrace it are likely to create a “generational gap” with their rivals. For example, the British invented tanks in 1915, but Germany was the first to form an armored army centered around tanks, with combat power far surpassing that of other surrounding countries. After that, they swept almost the entire European continent with lightning warfare.

Cooperation between the US military and technology departments has always been smooth – the Minuteman Intercontinental Missile was once the earliest major customer of integrated circuits, digesting 20% of shipments. And US defense suppliers such as Palantir and Ghost Robotics have already launched military products that incorporate the latest AI technology earlier this year.

Mao Zedong once said: “The Anti-Japanese War cannot be rushed, but the Liberation War cannot be delayed.” The same saying may apply to the current situation: “The Chip War cannot be rushed, but the War of AI cannot be delayed.”

In 1900, global steel production was 28 million tons, and oil production was 20 million tons. By 2022, these two numbers have become 1.88 billion tons and 204 million tons respectively – steel and oil are undoubtedly the basic raw materials for constructing human industrial civilization for more than a century. In the 21st century, however, silicon is the new steel and oil.

Before Pearl Harbor, the focus of the US embargo was on steel and oil, which were the foundations for military victory due to their strong metallurgical and refining capabilities. After the failure of the Moscow campaign, Germany fought desperately to advance towards the Caucasus, just to seize the Baku oil field – each era has its own strategic resources, and losing them is tantamount to failure.

We are at an unprecedented intersection of the industrial revolution and the great power game. Respect the law, maintain awe, and be full of confidence, and dawn will surely come.

Our Take

We agree with Boss Dai that, when looking at China’s semiconductor industry, the right assumption to make is not that the US ban will slow down its development. Rather, the ban might actually help create conditions for growth that wouldn’t become possible if Chinese end-users still had access to more competitive foreign chips and equipment.

In the end, when it comes to high-end chip-making, there is no theoretical barrier barring China. It is not as if there are some fundamental law of physics and chemistry that Chinese engineers do not know. The main obstacle is accumulation of technical know-how, which in turn requires sustained support of large amount of patient capital, something that is not possible till now.

Who was the craziest leader in history?

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Albania’s first and only king managed to survive dozens of assassination attempts and hundreds of blood feuds. In traditional Albanian culture Blood Feud is the social obligation to kill an offender or a member of their family in order to salvage one’s honour.

King Zog 1st, of Albania, reined from 1928 to 1939, and had his first brush with death in 1923, when he was Prime Minister of the Albanian government. After refusing to step down after an election he was shot twice in the chest in the Albanian Parliament building.

Zog was an authoritarian and made enemies in almost all political groups in Albania, communist, Democrats, landholders, and fascist, alike.

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In 1932, one of King Zog’s bodyguards was shot in the back of the head three times after been mistaken for the King. Zog apparently drew his pistol and fired back.

Zog became so terrified of being poisoned that he made his mother monitor the royal kitchens. Allegedly Zog was the target of over 600 blood feuds. Despite this Zog managed to survive all the assassination attempts on his life, although is was his strained relationship with fascist Italy that eventually spelled the end of his rein.

While Zog utilized Mussolini’s Italy for occasional support, Italian influence grew to great in the aftermath of the great depression. Zog’s attempt to curb Italian control and seek other European allies, led the Italians to invade in 1939.

Taking his family and a great deal of gold with him Zog fled Albania never to return. He died in 1961, due his habit of smoking 200 cigarettes a day.

If Americans are overweight, why do they not walk and ride a bike instead of driving a car?

Because it’s too dangerous.

The vast majority of roads and streets in the United States are built to move cars as quickly as possible without regard for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. They’re wide, fast, have no obstacles anywhere near the road, are built for cars to get in and out of massive parking lots without having to slow down and often don’t have sidewalks, let alone protected bike lanes.

Since commercial uses are often concentrated on wide fast roads, you should try to make them easy for pedestrians to cross, but they aren’t. Signaled cross walks are often hundreds of yards apart and pedestrians often have to dodge turning vehicles.

It hardly matters how easy you make crossing the street though because the chances of anything being within walking or cycling distance of your house are next to nothing. It isn’t uncommon for the closest store, restaurant or park to be several kilometers away over residential streets that don’t go in straight lines.

You wake up in the morning with $100K dollars in debt, what’s the first thing you do?

You wake up in the morning with $100K dollars in debt, whats the first thing you do?

I’d be thrilled that most of my debt got paid off overnight somehow. I might even take a day off of work to celebrate.

If we’re including mortgages, I’d bet that a lot of Americans my age are more than $100k in debt.

Even if we’re not including mortgages, but just student loans, car loans, credit cards, and back taxes, I’ll bet a lot of Americans my age would be thrilled to owe just $100k.

I’ve owed considerably more than that for most of my adult life. You get used to it. Once you accept that debt is like taxes… just a fact of life for most people… you learn not to let it bother you so much, and just do what you were going to do anyway.

I could probably take summer jobs over the next ten years and pay off my mortgage a year or two earlier, but I feel like I’d just find myself sitting in my paid-off house wishing that I’d spent more time with my children when they were younger. I know my father felt that way late in his life. He worked all of the overtime he could when my sister and I were children. During my visits to him when I was in my 20s and he was retired, we both lamented the fact that he “missed much of my childhood,” and warned me against doing the same with my kids.

The Unspeakable Things Genghis Khan Did To His Enemies

Bolivia becomes third South American nation to use Chinese yuan for trade settlement amid global de-dollarization wave

Amid an accelerating wave of de-dollarization across the world, Bolivia has become the third South American nation to use Chinese yuan for trade settlement, and the Bolivian government is pushing for the opening of Chinese banks in the country as soon as possible, according to media reports.

Bolivian Economy Minister Marcelo Montenegro told a press conference that the country is already using the yuan and “it’s a reality and a good start,” the Times Magazine reported on Friday.

“Banana, zinc, and wood manufacturing exporters are conducting transactions in yuan, as well as importers of vehicles and capital goods,” Montenegro said.

Bolivia conducted financial operations amounting to 278 million Chinese yuan ($38.7 million) from May to July, which accounts for 10 percent of Bolivia’s foreign trade during the period, according to Montenegro.

Prior to Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil had already initiated the use of yuan in their trading settlements. Argentina in April announced plans to use Chinese currency yuan to pay for goods imported from China; while Brazil in February signed a memorandum of cooperation with China to establish yuan clearing arrangements in Brazil.

Argentina’s central bank’s enabling of Chinese yuan accounts in the Argentine banking system is a great advancement in reducing exchange rate costs, promoting financial efficiency and currency diversification, Argentine Ambassador to China Sabino Vaca Narvaja told the Global Times in an exclusive written interview

in June.

“More and more countries have turned to Chinese yuan for trade settlement, and this phenomenon will become increasingly common,” Xi Junyang, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Saturday.

China has been the world’s largest trading country which will generate huge demand for yuan settlement. The nation has been expanding the opening-up of its financial activities and the exchange rates of the Chinese yuan have been relatively stable compared to other major currencies, Xi said.

In the meantime, a growing number of countries have realized the significance of seeking a more diversified international monetary system as the US continues to weaponize its currency, especially after the Ukraine crisis, Xi noted.

Chinese experts said under the US Fed’s aggressive interest rate hiking cycle, many developing countries have been facing mounting pressure from capital outflows, currency depreciation and the rising costs of servicing debt.

Bolivia has experienced dollar shortages since February which has severely affected the country’s economy, according to media reports.

During a meeting with the Chinese ambassador to Bolivia Huang Yazhong on July 20, the Governor of Bolivian central bank, Edwin Rojas Ulo, said that the financial sector is an integral part of China-Bolivia’s collaboration in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, per a statement published by the Chinese Embassy in Bolivia.

Bolivia’s central bank will continue to maintain strong cooperation with Chinese financial institutions to foster healthy development in trade and investment between the two countries, the governor said.

China is Bolivia’s second-largest trading partner and its primary source of imports. Bilateral cooperation between China and Bolivia encompasses various sectors, including infrastructure, aerospace, information technology, and oil and gas development, reports said.

In the first half of the year, bilateral trade between China and Bolivia totaled 8.42 billion yuan, soaring 77.4 percent year-on-year, according to data from China’s General Administration of Customs.

The yuan has become the world’s fifth largest payment currency, the third largest trade finance currency and fifth largest international reserve currency.

Global Times

The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary

What is your opinion on India’s stand on the Russia-Ukraine conflict?

Textbook Perfect!!!!

Thats exactly the Stand to take

Right now – India is sitting on the Fence and leaning towards the Russian Side. Just like Nehru did and INC did for the last 70 years of Indian existence as an Independent country.

As i said earlier- Russia is our biggest defence supplier. We have S-400s coming, we paid for Nuclear Submarines , We have major Ak-203 SA Rifles on the way. We have major Engine Components from Russia due, We have a lot of Tank Components from Russia, We have 42 Chopper Due from Russia – $ 26 Billion worth of Orders of which we have paid around $ 2.6 Billion plus placed guarantees for a further $ 3.8 Billion plus a further $ 40 Billion of Potential Orders.

We have had 70 years of Friendship with Russia where they have never once stabbed us in the back. Never Once.

On the other hand you have the United States who have done nothing for us except Talk and threaten and hold some stage shows like Howdy Modi or Namaste Trump.

Best example was 2021 – when They refused to let us have 1 gram of Vaccine Raw Materials even though we were QUAD Allies. Not a single gram!! As we begged and begged.

Indias Stand is so far – Perfect

I only hope it continues because the pressure on Jaishankar is enormous.

Every Quad Member apart from India have condemned Russia openly – Aus, Japan and USA

4 out of 6 Countries with Which India is likely to sign FTAs (66%) have condemned Russia. Only India and UAE havent condemned Russia yet.

Lets Hope Jaishankar can hold strong.

I am sure Sushma Swaraj would have but she is gone.

Meatball and Ravioli Soup (T&T)

This soup is very hearty and oh, so delicious!. It is a quick and very easy soup to make. I hope that everyone will give this delicious soup a try.

Ingredients

Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 (28 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 (32 ounce) container Swanson chicken broth
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon each dried thyme and oregano
12 ounces cheese-filled ravioli (I like to use the mini ravioli)
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Meatballs

1 egg slightly beaten
1/4 cup fresh soft bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 teaspoons onion salt
1 garlic clove minced
1 pound ground beef
Freshly chopped parsley to taste

Instructions

In a food processor place bread and pulse until you get a medium or almost fine crumb mix. To this add parmesan cheese, onion salt, egg, parsley garlic and ground beef, process until all ingredients are combined. Shape into 1/2- to 1-inch balls.
In a nonstick 4- to 6-quart soup pot, brown meatballs in heated olive oil until cooked through. Mix in onion and garlic and cook about 5 minutes, being careful not to break up meatballs).
Add tomatoes and liquid, tomato paste, broth, water, sugar, basil, thyme and oregano. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add ravioli and cook, covered at a gentle boil according to package direction (approximately 10 to 15 minutes), until they are just tender and no longer have a starchy taste. Salt to taste. Stir in parsley and sprinkle with cheese.

(T&T)

This soup is very hearty and oh, so delicious!. It is a quick and very easy soup to make. I hope that everyone will give this delicious soup a try.

Ingredients

Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 (28 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 (32 ounce) container Swanson chicken broth
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon each dried thyme and oregano
12 ounces cheese-filled ravioli (I like to use the mini ravioli)
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Meatballs

1 egg slightly beaten
1/4 cup fresh soft bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 teaspoons onion salt
1 garlic clove minced
1 pound ground beef
Freshly chopped parsley to taste

Instructions

In a food processor place bread and pulse until you get a medium or almost fine crumb mix. To this add parmesan cheese, onion salt, egg, parsley garlic and ground beef, process until all ingredients are combined. Shape into 1/2- to 1-inch balls.
In a nonstick 4- to 6-quart soup pot, brown meatballs in heated olive oil until cooked through. Mix in onion and garlic and cook about 5 minutes, being careful not to break up meatballs).
Add tomatoes and liquid, tomato paste, broth, water, sugar, basil, thyme and oregano. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add ravioli and cook, covered at a gentle boil according to package direction (approximately 10 to 15 minutes), until they are just tender and no longer have a starchy taste. Salt to taste. Stir in parsley and sprinkle with cheese.

What was the Earth like at the time of the Giant Insects ? | Documentary History of the Earth

If you had walked on the surface of the Earth in the Carboniferous period, it could have happened. When people talk about gigantism, they tend to think of the famous dinosaurs that roamed the Earth during the Jurassic, 150 million years ago. However, dragonflies, millipedes, spiders and even scorpions once reached exceptional sizes. This amazing evolution is due to the constraints imposed by the living environment. But how did insects so small reach such large dimensions? And why did they become extinct?

What is happening to China’s manufacturing market share as labor costs continue to rise?

Let’s see

As of today in 2023 — China’s manufacturing market share globally ROSE by 3.66%

The reason is simple

European Industrial Manufacturing FELL by 15.2% due to the Ukraine War especially Germany where Manufacturing fell by 27% this year

Korea’s Industrial Output also fell by 2.82% this year

Japan’s Manufacturing Output fell by 6.37% this year

India’s Manufacturing Output rose by 8.16% in 2022 but has fallen by 3.39% upto June 30, 2023

Thus China’s Share in Manufacturing or Manufacturing Output has RISEN by 3.66%

In 2023 — Russia is the only Nation whose Industrial Output ROSE by 6.22%

Remember while China’s SHARE rose , it’s Industrial Output reduced by 3.10% in 2023 so far

What’s the saddest thing a new mother said to her doctor?

“I made a bracelet for you!”

She handed me a friendship bracelet she’d made with a little plastic loom. I thanked her and put it on my wrist.

I walked out of her room and saw her nurse, tears in her eyes, wearing one as well.

She should’ve been exchanging friendship bracelets with her friends at school and planning for a sleepover that weekend.

Instead, she was in a hospital bed starting an induction of labor.

She was 14 years old.

Ed Wood Jr | Plan 9 from Outer Space 1957 | Colorized

Todays special treat is the cult classic…

The big game of chess is about to see some grand moves on the game board.

There is a lot of things going on. One of the big things is the apparent “disclosure” by the government that Aliens exist that that the United States government has been reverse engineering the vehicles for decade. Uh huh.

What is interesting is that the mainstream “news’ is ignoring this news.

Then you have this massive movement of NATO and the United States ready to take on Russia. That is NOT going to have a good result.

But…

I believe that China and Russia has already planned for this and are playing “this game of Chess” about 56 moves ahead of the USA.

Manifestations hitting hard! Good stuff.

Have you ever refused an inheritance? Why?

Yes. My grandmother died, and my aunt (her daughter) and uncle had lived with her for years and took care of her. My aunt died before my grandmother, so when my grandmother died, it left only my uncle living in the house. He approached me awkwardly and asked if I would sign over the deed so he could have the house. He needed me and my sister to do this, and we both did with no reservations. He had taken care of the house, my grandmother and my aunt for years, so it was the right thing to do.

Africans Vs African Americans

Interesting.

Speaker of the House Sends Lawmakers HOME – Three Days Before NATO Exercise . . .that may start Russia War

Nation Hal Turner 08 June 2023

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took the extraordinary and very unusual step of canceling votes for the rest of this week and sent lawmakers home today. Just three days before the largest-ever NATO “exercise” simulating war with Russia . . .

The “public reason” given by Speaker McCarthy is that this was due to a “revolt” by 11 members of the House Freedom Caucus, who banded together to grind proceedings to a halt in protest of the speaker caving to Democrats during last week’s compromise to raise the debt ceiling.

The looming and not-so-public fact is that NATO’s “exercise” simulating war with Russia starts in 3+ days – and that “exercise” — may turn out to be real.

Bear in mind, this action by the Speaker takes place just about one week after members of the Senate were all given Satellite telephones “in case a disruption to US communications occurs.” It also takes place just a few short days after the Memorial Day weekend holiday, during which, select high-level FedGov officials secretly spent the weekend at Government Bunkers with their families. a “practice run” for the real thing, maybe?

Or was it not “practice” at all? How many of those officials are STILL in those Bunkers? Is Congress now joining them?

I don’t believe the public reason given for this sending of lawmakers “home.”

Governing is always messy. It is always disordered. There are always disagreements and there is always upheaval. Yet, the Speaker chose to “send lawmakers home????” No, I don’t buy it. I don’t buy it one bit.

Who knows, maybe they’re planning some type off False Flag attack upon Washington, DC to be blamed on Russia?

Wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

Stay tuned . . .

Liquor Store Owner Shoots Armed Robber With Shotgun

https://youtu.be/WanvSbJHbWI

A delicious layered Tex-Mex casserole using three different cheeses.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (15.5 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes, with juice, coarsely chopped
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder, or to taste
1 (15 ounce) carton Wisconsin ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded Wisconsin Monterey Jack cheese
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
3 large eggs, beaten
1 (8 ounce) bag tortilla chips
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Sharp Wisconsin cheddar cheese

Instructions

Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat. Sauté green bell pepper and garlic until tender.
Add kidney beans. Set aside.
In saucepan, combine tomatoes, tomato sauce and chili powder. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Add to kidney bean mixture. Combine ricotta and Monterey Jack cheeses, chiles, onions and eggs.
Spread 1/4 of cheese mixture evenly in greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish.
Arrange 1/4 of chips over cheese.
Spread 1/4 of tomato mixture over chips. Repeat layer 3 more times.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes.
Remove foil and top with cheddar cheese and bake 10 to 15 minutes more.
Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

(Real Zombieland) Visiting America’s Ruined City | 我走入美國加州最恐怖市中心華人為什麼還不離開?

Real.

What’s something a flight attendant did to you that you will never forget?

Flying into Jackson, MS, on USAir, my airplane stopped and people began to get out of their seats. I realized, though, that the hatch had not opened, and bumpety-bumpety-bump sounds were coming from it.

The captain came up on the PA. “Folks, there are marks on the ground where different aircraft types are supposed to park, in order to have their hatch lined up with the jetway. I’ve just been told that there is an error in ours. We’re going to have to be pulled back by a tug. Before that, everyone has to be sitting and strapped in.”

Grumble grumble. People sit down. Feeling of slight movement.

Bumpety-bumpety-bump. Bump bump. Hatch still isn’t open.

At that point, a flight attendant came up on the PA. In the most syrupy and seductive of Southern Belle voices, she oozed into the microphone, “Is it in?”

Unfortunately, the captain was talking to the tower, who heard this. I was later told that operations came to a halt for several minutes, until Air Traffic Control stopped laughing.

Let’s talk about some news (Live)

Interesting.

COVERT INTEL – U.S. POSITIONING MISSILE LAUNCHERS ALONG CALIFORNIA COAST

Nation Hal Turner 08 June 2023

From HERE. Paywall.

WARNING ⚠️ It’s MUCH Worse than People know! | shtf prepping news

Yah.

This Barbershop Will Give Kids A Discount If They Read

Reading is very important when it comes to a child’s development, and this barbershop in Ypsilanti, Michigan encourages kids to pick up a book. Every child who picks up a book and reads out loud will get $2 off their haircut. Barber Ryan Griffin says he was inspired when he discovered another barber shop in Harlem was doing something similar, and so far the idea is a big hit.

More info: Facebook

17 Things You Do Way Too Rarely For Your Cat

A must watch for cat owners.

The Biggest War Battle on European Soil Since WW2 is HAPPENING right now – almost not a peep from the Main-Stream Media!

World Hal Turner 08 June 2023

The largest war-fighting battle on European soil since WW2 is RAGING right now – today, June 8, 2023 – and not even a peep from the West’s so-called “main stream media!”

According to battlefield sources, Ukraine’s first attack on Zaporozhye is almost repulsed.

A lot of Ukrainian soldiers are laying down DEAD in the minefields. They were simply driven forward by their commanders without properly preparing the passages. They say the picture is terrible, the enemy has a lot of DEAD or seriously wounded just lying on the battlefield.

It is likely Ukraine will regroup and drive a few more waves to the slaughter.

The Russians say “Our boys are ready and charged.”

One Russian source said, “we are not sleeping, we are waiting!”

SO FAR . . .

From June 4th to June 8th, Ukraine has lost close to 400 armored vehicles, 115 tanks and close to 5,000 personnel on the Zaporozhye, Artemovsk (i.e. Balhmut), and Southwest Donetsk Tactical Regions. The intensity of the enemy attacks have decreased, however, a whole army in the reserve is waiting to attack. This will not be the end of their attacks. So far, no settlements have been lost (some changed hands but are back under the control of the Russian Armed Forces).

Importantly, in no instance, has even the first line of Russian defense been breached, and remember, on the Zaporozhye and Southwest Donetsk fronts, there are 5 lines of defense. Ukraine is targeting areas west of the Ugledarisky Tactical Region (nearby to the Velkya Novoselivka Tactical Region); as these regions are the least defended, however, geographically hard to conquer. This is primarily around the villages of Novodonetskoye and the Vremika Ledge.

To compensate for failures, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) attempted a counteroffensive on the Artemovsk(i.e. Bakhmut)/ Berkhovka area; they were subsequently wiped out. Enemy militants now resort to shelling of residential areas of the Belgorod, Russia, Region.

It is likely that Ukraine will attempt to cross the Left Bank of the Kherson River under the backdrop of the New Kakhovka Hydroelectric Dam being blown up; they have strengthened groupings with fresh reserves from Lvov and Zhytomr, Russian forces are pre-emptively striking accumulations of Ukraine manpower.

The battles are raging. Hundreds are dying. But since the mass-media is simply not reporting what’s taking place, people of the West have no idea at all how bad things are, or that the US and NATO will likely find out they have LOST . . . this week. Unless, of course, they create a false flag designed to get directly involved in the war, and bring on World War 3.

The general public, being clueless, will be blind-sided at the outbreak of such a war. They will be afraid, and looking to government for safety and answers. The same government that LIED to them for 2 1/2 years over Trump/Russia Collusion. The same government that LIED to them about COVID-19. The same government that LIED to them about the COVID-19 vaccines, which are still killing many of the people who took them.

The next two weeks could very well see the outbreak of nuclear world war, and a change to all our lives that will never return to “normal.”

People Made this Kitten Aggressive And Spicy But He Loves To Cuddle Now!

What a cute and wonderful video. It will put some joy in your heart.

https://youtu.be/DfDIXKhhs0w

Is the US really winning against China in the Chip War? Will the USA be able to thwart China in her attempt to be the number one economy?

Let’s see what the tech giant Bill Gates say about this.

On March 2, the Financial Times published an interview with Bill Gates. The Microsoft founder strongly believes in the potential of US-China cooperation and does not think a military escalation is likely.

main qimg 794436c11768f1563dac1c0f1c9f744e

Bill Gates claimed that the US would not be able to achieve the desired result and limit Beijing’s ambitions through procurement restrictions – which include a recent attempt to get the chip industry back under US control.

Gates does not see much sense in restricting chip sales to China, as the Asian nation will be able to catch up with the US rather quickly at this scale, and expressed his desire for Washington and Beijing to cooperate closer with each other.

Bill Gates:

Well, I don’t think the US will ever be successful at preventing China from having great chips. You know, we are going to force them to spend time and a bunch of money to make their own chips, but given 5 to 10 years and they take money out of their poverty program. The idea that we could ever sell them chips, we’re just eviscerating that.

You know, we’re saying make your own jet engines, your own software, your own chips. And I think that’s a shame and I don’t get the logic. Given that they’re at scale to catch up fairly quickly and I don’t see how that’s some gigantic benefit.

So you know, I wish the US and China could get along better. We seem to be on a deteriorating trend which when we have things like health, innovation, climate innovation that are win-win things between all countries, but the most important relationship in the world is the US-China relationship. I’m disappointed and worried about how that relationship has evolved over the last couple of years.

Regarding a possible military conflict between China and the US within the next decade, Gates argues that restricting Chinese chip sales and manufacturing would only warn Beijing about the intention for military escalation and thus further damage bilateral relations and provide China with advance warning of a future threat. The billionaire personally does not believe in a military conflict between the two countries.

Why Southeast Asia Chose China (You Won’t Believe What USA Did)

What else is new…

Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Water RECEDING after Dam Blown Up

World Hal Turner 08 June 2023

The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) sits at the edge of the giant reservoir kept full by the Novo Khakovka Dam. When that Dam was blown up three days ago, water levels in the Reservoir began to plummet. This is causing water in the cooling pond that feeds water to the ZNPP to plummet as well.

Without sufficient cooling water, the nuclear reactors at the ZNPP will not be cooled, resulting in a nuclear disaster.

This is like a ticking time bomb. No one knows how long water levels will remain high enough to provide cooling water to the reactors. Disaster could be just DAYS away.

China canceled orders worth billions of dollars from Germany

Yup.

https://youtu.be/6x-0QvIpIwE

What can the U.S. do right now to make sure that China never becomes the world’s leader?

Well…actually the US can do nothing to stop China’s development. What can the US do now is to find the right way to get along with China.

Just wanna share Noam Chomsky’s view: When asked whether he believes that China will become a world leader, Chomsky said, “It already is.”

According to prominent US academic and philosopher Noam Chomsky, China has already become a world leader and its entering the Middle East arms market shows the erosion of the system in the region that has been run by the United States for 80 years.

main qimg 37ff22746e1922cddeab84ceadaf65d7

Chomsky explained that the programs based on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) extend throughout Eurasia and considerably beyond.

“In the past few months, Saudi Arabia joined the SCO, followed by the second regional heavyweight, the United Arab Emirates, which had already become a hub of China's Maritime Silk Road, reaching from Kolkata in Eastern India to the Red Sea and on to Europe."

Renowned US investor Jim Rogers also told Sputnik earlier in May that China will become the next great country and most important nation of this century.

This isn’t right, Somethings Changed.

Indeed.

An Adorable Line of Miniature ‘Bread Cat’ Shaped Resin Toys That Look Good Enough to Eat

Korean designer Rato Kim has created a really adorable line of catloaf toys that range from the very realistic to the surreal. The toys are crafted from resin and can be easily mixed and matched with other equally adorable toys of Kim’s design.

h/t: laughingsquid

Mennonite Meat Balls (Fleischbolle)

Ingredients

3/4 pound ground pork
3/4 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped finely
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup rice, soaked in water
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup ketchup or tomato sauce

Instructions

Mix all but the ketchup and form into balls; brown balls in a pan, put into an oven dish and cover with blended ketchup and 1 quart of boiling water. Let simmer in oven for 3 to 4 hours, making sure the balls haven’t gone dry.

ALIEN BODIES! Video evidence of U.S. held UFO handed over to journalists | Redacted w Clayton Morris

Hum.

Tex-Mex Capirotada

Ingredients

Pudding

12 slices stale bread, preferably French or whole wheat
8 to 10 ounces grated Monterey jack or cubed cream cheese
3/4 cup pitted prunes, plumped in hot water and diced
3/4 cup seedless white raisins or dates, diced
2 large bananas, sliced, or coarsely chopped apples
1 cup sliced almonds

Syrup

2 cups water
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Egg Mixture and Topping

2 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs, separated
4 tablespoons flour

Meringue

Reserved egg whites
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Presentation

Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream

Instructions

Toast the bread and allow to cool.
Using a well-buttered baking dish, 12 x 9 x 2 inches, make a layer of bread, using about half the bread. Top with half the cheese and fruits and all the bananas or apples.
Add another bread layer, then the remaining cheese, fruits, and the nuts. Set aside.
In a medium-size saucepan, boil the water, sugar, and cinnamon together for 5 minutes.
Pour syrup over the pudding mixture.
Remove 1 cup and beat with egg yolks and flour, then add this egg mixture to the remaining syrup and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until thick. Pour custard over the bread and fruits.
Cover and let stand several hours at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight.
When ready to bake the pudding, beat the egg whites until very stiff, beating in the sugar at the last. Spread atop the pudding and then bake at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes, or until the meringue is well browned and the pudding is set.
Serve small portions with a dollop of ice cream or whipped cream.

Yield: 12 to 14 servings

Storage, Freezing, and Advance Preparation

The basic dessert, excluding the topping, may be prepared 24 hours in advance or overnight. Because of the sweet syrups, the bananas will not turn brown any faster than they would during ordinary baking. The topping should be added just prior to baking. The pudding may be served either hot or cold; it will reheat easily without changing consistency, either in a microwave oven or in a hot 400 degrees F oven, covered with foil.

Psychologist EXPLAINS Why Not EVERYBODY IS ATTRACTIVE

Hey you!

Four Days Until NATO “Exercise” Begins . . . and Maybe Direct War with Russia

World Hal Turner 08 June 2023

SCENARIO: “Airspace over Eastern Europe is contested. Article 5 of NATO Treaty was activated. Within hours, hundreds of fighter jets from the US/NATO transfer to Germany to fly against Russia. Nuclear-capable F-35 stealth aircraft are prepped for deployment – the first hours of a major war have dawned.”

This scenario is the basis for the upcoming NATO “Air Defender 23″ exercise …”

which takes place from the 12th to the 24th of June.

The air war is simulated against an imaginary enemy who himself has a potent air force. The real meaning of this exercise is clear to anyone with a brain: Russia.

The maneuvering may still be cautious in their public communication, but Michael A. Loh, general of the US Air National Guard, expressed his motivation some time ago. In 2021, with a view to „ Air Defender “, he wished that his people „ think more about our impending dangers – China and Russia “.

The maneuver is carried out according to the principle „ Train as you fight “. Areas of application, tactics, logistics – everything should be as realistic as possible. It is therefore no coincidence that Germany becomes the central hub of the exercise. In an emergency, too, countless NATO jets would start and swarm out of German airfields. The flight routes that the fighter planes will test are just as realistic. They lead to the eastern borders of the NATO area, to the Russian and Ukrainian borders.

At first glance, what looks like a brazen but usual provocation is a tangible danger to world peace in times of war. An accident with Russian military aircraft, misguided navigation or a pilot error may be sufficient to make a training flight appear like an attack. It becomes particularly threatening if Ukraine uses the NATO exercise’s slipstream to carry out attacks, while Russian air surveillance is forced to pursue NATO activities. Russian territory is currently being bombarded almost every day, and the Ukrainian president is threatened with major attacks. The escalation potential of a Ukrainian military strike while NATO jets are patrolling nearby is obvious in this situation.

The federal government is not only willing to accept these enormous risks, it even suspends the usual security measures. Russian observers who could ensure that the exercise is not used to prepare for an attack are not invited. There shouldn’t even be a formal announcement. “We will not write them a letter. They will understand the news when our planes swarm out “, the highest German air force general Ingo Gerhartz replied at the beginning of April to the question of how Russia is informed.

This move away from an insurance policy is accompanied by a fight against diplomacy. Last week the Federal Republic of the Russian Federation banned the operation of four consulates. They must be closed by the end of the year.

So, shortly before the NATO exercise, the relationships are further burdened and important communication channels are sabotaged. The federal government appears to be doing everything it can to drive an escalation and increase the risk that the exercise could become a bitter reality.

NATO and its ilk have to decide very quickly. Obviously, the Ukraine offensive has stalled. It is indeed a question if Ukraine army is even capable of holding their positions or not. And the Russian army is making small but constant advances. It is probable that Ukraine army and state is on the verge of collapse. Because of that, it is time to make a decision. Either NATO enters officially into conflict or Ukraine is lost.

Of course, best moment to attack Russian army would be when all NATO equipment and personal are in Europe and are practicing that type of scenario. We only need a fabricated reason for war. Something like 9/11 at the WTC.

History shows the US federal government is perfectly willing to engage in treachery to cause the US to be involved in a major war.

In World War 2, the Roosevelt Administration KNEW the Japanese were coming to attack Pearl Harbor. They knew days in advance. While they told the US Military “you may be attacked” there was no ironclad statement that an attack WAS already on its way. The Japanese attack on December 7, 1941 caused the date to live in infamy. The American military was used as canon fodder to get hit and killed, bringing the US into the war.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident was an actual fabrication by the US to get us into the Vietnam War.

Former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, sat at a UN Security Council meeting, held up a glass jar containing ANTHRAX, and told Security Council members that Saddam Hussein of Iraq had “tons” of this bio-weapon and could destroy half the world. In to Iraq we went. We destroyed much of Iraq, searched high and low, but guess what? No weapons of mass destruction! It was all lies.

In 2014, the US, EU fomented, incited, and facilitated the forcible overthrow of Ukraine’s President, Vikto Yanukovich, then funded a puppet government favorable tot he West. The US/EU want to place American missiles on Ukraine soil, with a five minute or so flight time to Moscow. Russia said “no.” The West said “Too fucking bad.”

In December 2021, Russia tried to negotiate ironclad, legally enforceable security guarantees. The West laughed and basically threw Russia’s Diplomatic proposals in the trash can.

The Russians tried again, only this time warning that if Russia could not obtain ironclad, legally enforceable, security guarantees, via DIPLOMATIC means, they would attain them via military, or military-technical means. The West again quashed the Russian proposals.

On February 24, 2022, after giving Ukraine a five hour ultimatum that went unanswered, the Russian Army went into Ukraine. The West was mortified. It was never within the realm of possibility to them, that Russia would actually DO what Russia said they would do!

Here we are, over a year later, the war rages, hundreds of thousands are dead, and now NATO is (coincidentally) preparing its largest air defense exercise in history . . . right next to the Russia-Ukraine major conflict . . . where any misstep can open up the hellscape of World War 3.

Given the US track record of lying to get us into actual wars, is it any stretch of the imagination to believe that NATO and the US will do so again, four or so days from now?

Let me ask you: If, one day soon, you’re up in the morning doing what you usually do, and suddenly, the Emergency Broadcast System tones start coming out of your cellphone, or your nearby radio, or on your TV, and the announcement tells you “The United States is under nuclear attack from Russia, take shelter immediately.” what’s the first thing you would do?

For most people, they have no friggin idea . . . . at all. Do you call your spouse? Do you make a mad dash to get the kids from school? (You and everybody else . . . and find an instant “Mad Max” scenario on the roads.)

Do you have __any__ emergency food, water, medicine for after the bombs hit and the country is collapsing?

Do you actually think you’ll be able to go to the supermarket and buy food? Upon a nuke blast, do you think your credit/debit cards will actually work so you can buy food? Nope!

Better start thinking about these things, because the way things are going, four days from now could see your whole world change.

Waiting to Be Put to Sleep, She Sat Crying Silently in Her Cage At the Shelter

Reactions and adventures

Once, when I was living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, my cat (a cute but smallish Maine Coon) named Phelie jumped on my bed at 4am. She took out her claw, and carefully… so very carefully… opened my eyelid. She wanted to see if I was alive.

I guess that (then, at that time) I must have slept deep.

Cats and dogs; our little buddies. Our pals. Well, they care for us. They worry about us. And if we have the opportunity, we should take care of them too.

…

Today, this article is going to be heavily laden with “reaction videos”. People listen to a song that they never heard before, and you listen to their reactions. You would be surprised how many of the younger folk (20s and so on) have never heard of the music that we all grew up with. And it’s a treat.

I suggest that you watch all of them, but if you are busy, then just watch the very first one, which is a compilation of reactions to an Opera, and the last one which is a reaction by an African woman to “Zombie”.

Enjoy today. And if you have the time, I strongly recommend watching all those videos. Most especially those with a “@” at the front.

First Reaction To Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody THE BEST BY FAR!

How would you stop people from walking across your lawn?

There was an older woman on my block growing up who disliked that a bunch of older boys kept walking on her lawn and garden. One day I watched as she called the biggest boy over. He was menacing and we all walked in fear of him. She said, “Son, I have a problem I am hoping you can help me with. I have all these kids who walk on my lawn and garden and I am trying to grow things. Do you think you could make sure no one tramples them since you are clearly such a leader in the neighborhood?”

From that day on not one person touched her grass or garden. That boy defended her turf like it was his own and with every fiber of his being.

All it took was a frail 80 year old woman with some wise rhetoric.

“Rebels beheaded, instigators arrested”? And this is not Prigozhin

From HERE

An audio recording appeared in one of the telegram channels of the Wagner group. Someone describes the situation with Prigozhin’s rebellion, prefaced his speech with the following words: “I ask you to put this on your information resources.” This person introduced himself as an officer of the Marine Corps of the Northern Fleet “from the Kherson direction.” He says that a unique KGB-style special operation was carried out – “lightning fast and deadly for the enemy.” And explains what it is.

The entry with the “officer’s” story, of course, may be stuffing and intrigues of enemies. And the fact that it was posted on the resources of PMC “Wagner” is not a guarantee of authenticity. First there was a recording, then its textual transcript. This “military” says that allegedly a group of rebels from the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff and the National Guard were going to remove Putin, but they did not succeed:

They are beheaded and destroyed. All the instigators, organizers, performers were handed over to the authorities that should deal with this. And they are already doing it hard.

He explains the role Wagner played in this:

Vladimir Vladimirovich turned to his loyal soldiers and his most trusted person, Prigozhin Evgeny Viktorovich. Special thanks to him for saving the country and people from the coup. He is a true patriot and deserves a second Hero star.

Next, the listeners are explained why the PMC units occupied Rostov-on-Don in the first place:

Because the headquarters of the Southern Military District is located there. The instigators-generals were sitting there. Some managed to escape to Moscow. In a panic, they gave orders to attack the Wagner columns with aircraft. But it did not bring results.

The narrator drew attention to the fact that the buildings of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were not occupied by the “Wagnerites”, but only cordoned off – because there was no need for this.

The generals who fled to Moscow could not believe that an uprising had been raised against them. They were really scared, because they don’t have combat-ready troops, everyone is involved at the front. They ran to the president: what to do?

Who is with the president?

Then there was Putin’s appeal to the people, in which he spoke about some rebels, but did not name “Wagner” and did not mention the name of Prigozhin. It was about the rebels, “who will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.” And the narrator emphasized in this regard that it was “precisely about the group of generals of the Ministry of Defense.”

Vladimir Vladimirovich is waiting after the appeal. The Federation Council speaks out for the fact that they are devoted to the Supreme Commander. Mayors, governors – too. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko calls Prigozhin: “Zhenya, hang up.” Wagner divisions are leaving for their permanent locations.

Here a hint is made that we did not hear such assurances from some leaders of the army, and by this they betrayed themselves:

That says a lot… That’s what “Wagner” did. The most unique operation. The rebels are completely beheaded. The grouping has been destroyed. According to some information, the leaders have been arrested. I don’t know for sure, but we’ll know tomorrow.

Quick “palace coup”

The narrator also answers the question: “What would we expect if this operation did not take place?”

“Wagner” was going to be disbanded the other day, depriving the president of such a power lever, because everyone is at the front. There would be regular regroupings like Kharkov, Kyiv. Only already in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Something would have happened in Crimea. Then the people would get excited. Here the generals would make a quick palace coup, taking their place (Putin. – Approx. ed.).

Also, according to the author of the entry, as a result of the coup, Russia would pay indemnities to everyone and “would go to hell”, and the new rulers would rule “this decaying and dying” country.

And, of course, our president, as always, was on top. Grandmaster!

Will the Tula governor go for a promotion?

Wagner also reports in its TG channels that the Prosecutor General’s Office allegedly found procedural inconsistencies in the FSB’s decision to initiate a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin, and it was closed (later, a message appeared in Telegram channels, without any reference to specific sources, that Yevgeny Prigozhin remains under investigation in connection with the rebellion):

Prigozhin, Lukashenka and Dyumin will meet in Moscow. You will learn about the results, detentions with resignations from the media.

Also, according to the “Wagner” channel, soon the governor of the Tula region, Alexei Dyumin, will begin work at the headquarters of the Southern Federal District of the Moscow Region, where he will be presented in a new position. And he will bring to the final the goals and objectives of the special operation:

Surovikin will be the chief of staff, some of the PMC fighters will enter a separate structural unit of the Russian Defense Ministry. Only Alekseev and Yevkurov will retain their positions. Prigozhin will be engaged in a new large project on the territory of Belarus.

The public also “promises” that a part of defense enterprises and strategic projects will be withdrawn from the structure of Rostec . Some of the design work and enterprises will be taken away from Roskosmos to strengthen the satellite and aerospace group of forces. And they will appoint a new minister of industry.

As for all PMCs, the Ministry of Defense signs a contract with them, and they cease to be structures of state corporations. And the Wagner structure will receive a unique legal status, which “will allow it to be a subject in a dialogue not only with the authorities in Russia, but also with the governments of other states.”

These are the plans voiced by the anonymous speakers of the Wagner Group. How true they are, time will tell. If this is the case, then we will see the results very soon.

The word “throw” immediately comes to mind.

The political observer of Tsargrad Andrey Perla expressed the following opinion about the conspiracy theory voiced in this material:

I think that such texts do not improve the situation, first of all, for Wagner himself. Because these texts are an attempt to prove that although you retreated in front of everyone, in fact you achieved everything and won everything. There is a public in the world that can believe this, but this public is always in the minority. And can never influence the decision makers.

The second point that Andrei Perla drew attention to is that these words were not spoken on behalf of the PMC, but were expressed by an anonymous person who calls himself a marine, but does not disclose not only his name and rank, but even his call sign. This, of course, does not inspire confidence in him , but adds doubts about the authenticity of the text. And the word “throw-in” immediately comes to mind.

In any case, very soon we will understand how great the consequences of the “mutiny”. I think they are quite large. But the content of these texts has nothing or almost nothing in common with everything that happened.

– considers the observer of Tsargrad.

@ Black Reactors First Time Listening To Luciano Pavarotti Singing Nessun Dorma Pt 2

I was once driving my car from Indiana to visit my family in Pennsylvania. On the way, we had our three (x3) cats riding with us, when we hit this massive traffic jam near the “Liberty Tubes” outside of Pittsburgh.

It was hot. Miserable, and traffic was slow. All four lanes were at a standstill.

We were listening to public radio, and they put on an Opera. And as we sat there, I watched the hair stand on end on all my cats simultaneously. They all arched their backs and their ears perked up, and they stood frozen for the climax of the music.

Then one by one, they got down and came up to me and kissed me on the face.

Music. Universal.

‘Give War a Chance’ – A ‘War That Even Pacifists Can Get Behind’

Alastair Crooke

June 5, 2023

The West is now waking up to the reality of the emerging, polycentric and fluid global order, Alastair Crooke writes.

More than a year into Russia’s Special Operation, the initial burst of European excitement at western push-back on Russia has dissipated. The mood instead has turned to “existential dread, a nagging suspicion that [western] civilisation may destroy itself”, Professor Helen Thompson writes.

For an instant, a euphoria had coalesced around the putative projection of the EU as a world power; as a key actor, about to compete on a world scale. Initially, events seemed to play to Europe’s conviction of its market powers: Europe was going to bring down a major power – Russia – by financial coup d’état alone. The EU felt ‘six feet tall’.

It seemed at the time a galvanising moment: “The war re-forged a long-dormant Manichaean framing of existential conflict between Russia and the West, assuming ontological, apocalyptic dimensions. In the spiritual fires of the war, the myth of the ‘West’ was rebaptised”, Arta Moeini suggests.

After the initial disappointment at the lack of a ‘quick kill’, the hope persisted – that if only the sanctions were given more time, and made more all-embracing, then Russia surely would ultimately collapse. That hope has turned to dust. And the reality of what Europe has done to itself has begun to dawn – hence Professor Thomson’s dire warning:

“Those who assume that the political world can be reconstructed by the efforts of human Will, have never before had to bet so heavily on technology over [fossil] energy – as the driver of our material advancement”.

For the Euro-Atlanticists however, what Ukraine seemed to offer – finally – was validation for their yearning to centralise power in the EU, sufficiently, to merit a place at the ‘top table’ with the U.S., as partners in playing the Great Game.

Ukraine, for better or worse, underlined Europe’s profound military dependence on Washington – and on NATO.

More particularly, the Ukraine conflict seemed to open the prospect for consolidating the strange metamorphosis of NATO from military alliance to an enlightened, Progressive, peace alliance! As Timothy Garton Ash effused in the Guardian in 2002, “NATO has become a European peace movement” where one could watch “John Lennon meet George Bush”.

The Ukraine war is portrayed, in this vein, as the “war that even former pacifists can get behind. All its proponents seemed to be singing is “Give War a Chance””.

Lily Lynch, a Belgrade-based writer, argues that,

“…especially in the past 12 months, telegenic female leaders such as the Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, and Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, have increasingly served as the spokespersons of enlightened militarism in Europe … ”

“No political party in Europe better exemplifies the shift from militant pacifism to ardent pro-war Atlanticism than the German Greens. Most of the original Greens had been radicals during the student protests of 1968 … But as the founding members entered middle age, fissures began to appear in the party – that would one day tear it apart”.

“Kosovo then changed everything: The 78-day NATO bombing of what remained of Yugoslavia in 1999, ostensibly to halt war crimes committed by Serbian security forces in Kosovo, would forever transform the German Greens. NATO for the Greens became an active military compact concerned with spreading and defending values such as human rights, democracy, peace, and freedom – well beyond the borders of its member states”.

A few years later, in 2002, an EU functionary (Robert Cooper) could envisage Europe as a new ‘liberal imperialism’. The ‘new’ was that Europe eschewed hard military power, in favour of weaponising both a controlled ‘narrative’ and controlled participation in its market. He advocated for ‘a new age of empire’, in which Western powers no longer would have to follow international law in their dealings with ‘old fashioned’ states; they could use military force independently of the United Nations; and could impose protectorates to replace regimes which ‘misgovern’.

The German Greens’ Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, has continued with this metamorphosis, scolding countries with traditions of military neutrality, and imploring them to join NATO. She has invoked Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s line: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”. And the European Left has been utterly captivated. Major parties have abandoned military neutrality and opposition to war – and now champion NATO. It is a stunning reversal.

All this may have been music to the ears of the Euro-élites anxious for the EU to rise to Great Power status, but this soft-power European Leviathan was wholly underpinned by the unstated (but essential) assumption that NATO ‘had Europe’s back’. This naturally implied that the EU had to tie itself ever closer to NATO – and therefore to the U.S. which controls NATO.

But the flip-side to this Atlanticist aspiration – as President Emmanuel Macron noted – is its inexorable logic that Europeans simply end by becoming American vassals. Macron was trying rather, to rally Europe towards the coming ‘age of empires’,hoping to position Europe as a ‘third pole’ in a concert of empires.

The Atlanticists were duly enraged by Macron’s remarks (which nonetheless drew support of other EU states). It could even seem (to furious Atlanticists) that Macron actually was channelling General de Gaulle who had called NATO a “false pretence” designed to “disguise America’s chokehold over Europe”.

There are however, two related schisms that flowed out from this ‘re-imagined’ NATO: Firstly, it exposed the reality of internal European rivalries and divergent interests, precisely because the NATO lead in the Ukraine conflict sets the interests of the Central East European hawks wanting ‘more America, and more war on Russia’ up and against that of the original EU western axis which wants wanting strategic autonomy (i.e. less ‘America’, and a quick end to the conflict).

Secondly, it would be predominantly the western economies that would have to bankroll the costs and divert their manufacturing capacity towards military logistic chains. The economic price, non-military de-industrialisation and high inflation, potentially, could be enough to break Europe – economically.

The prospect of a pan-European cohesive identity might be both ontologically appealing – and be seen to be an ‘appropriate accessory’ to an aspiring ‘world actor’ – yet such identity becomes caricature when mosaic Europe is transformed into an abstract de-territorialised identity that reduces people to their most abstract.

Paradoxically, the Ukraine war – far from consolidating the EU ‘identity’, as first imagined – has fractured it under the stresses of the concerted effort to weaken and collapse Russia.

Secondly, as Arta Moeini, the director of the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy, has observed:

“The American push for NATO expansion since 1991 has enlarged the alliance by adding a host of faultline states from Central and Eastern Europe. The strategy, which began with the Clinton administration but was fully championed by the George W. Bush administration, was to create a decidedly pro-American pillar on the continent, centred on Warsaw – which would force an eastward shift in the alliance’s centre of gravity away from the traditional Franco-German axis”.

“By using NATO enlargement to weaken the old power centres in Europe that might have occasionally stood up to [Washington] such as in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Washington ensured a more compliant Europe in the short-term. The upshot, however, was the formation of a 31-member behemoth with deep asymmetries of power and low compatibility of interests” – that is much weaker and more vulnerable – than it believes itself to be”.

Here is the key: “the EU is much weaker than it believes it to be”. The outset of the conflict was defined by a cast of mind entranced by the notion of Europe as a ‘mover and shaker’ in world affairs, and mesmerised by Europe’s post-war prosperity.

EU leaders convinced themselves that this prosperity had bequeathed it the clout and the economic depth to contemplate war – and to weather its reversals – with panglossian sanguinity. It has produced rather, the converse: It has put its project in jeopardy.

In John Raply and Peter Heather’s The Imperial Life Cycle, the authors explain the cycle:

“Empires grow rich and powerful and attain supremacy through the economic exploitation of their colonial periphery. But in the process, they inadvertently spur the economic development of that same periphery, until it can roll back and ultimately displace its overlord”.

Europe’s prosperity in this post-war era, thus was not so much one of its own making, but drew benefit from the tail-end of accumulations hewn from an earlier cycle – now reversed.

“The fastest-growing economies in the world are now all in the old periphery; the worst-performing economies are disproportionately in the West. These are the economic trends that have created our present landscape of superpower conflict — most saliently between America and China”.

America may think of itself as exempt from the European colonial mould, yet fundamentally, its model is

“an updated cultural-political glue that we might call “neoliberalism, NATO and denim”, which follows in the timeless imperial mould: The great wave of decolonisation that followed WW2 was meant to end that. But the Bretton Woods system, which created a trading regime that favoured industrial over primary producers and enshrined the dollar as the global reserve currency – ensured that the net flow of financial resources continued to move from developing countries to developed ones. Even when the economies of the newly-independent states grew, those of the G7 economies and their partners grew more”.

A once-mighty empire is now challenged and feels embattled. Taken aback by the refusal of so many developing countries to join with isolating Russia, the West is now waking up to the reality of the emerging, polycentric and fluid global order. These trends are set to continue. The danger is that economically weakened and in crisis, western countries attempt to re-appropriate western triumphalism, yet lack the economic strength and depth, so to do:

“In the Roman Empire, peripheral states developed the political and military capacity to end Roman domination by force… The Roman Empire might have survived – had it not weakened itself with wars of choice – on its ascendant Persian rival”.

The final ‘transgressive’ thought goes to Tom Luongo: “Allowing the West to keep thinking they can win – is the ultimate form of grinding out a superior opponent”.

Interesting!

What are your thoughts on the U.S. and China’s failure to restore military-to-military contacts?

There are a number of critical steps that occur before two nations engage in open warfare.

All of these steps have already been taken by China in response to American aggression and provocations.

China has taken the necessary steps. It’s all public knowledge, though you would have to perform some pretty deep sleuthing to find anything about any of it in the Western “news”.

Publishing a Casus Belli.
Dumping the other nation’s currency.
Stockpiling of precious commodities.
Military mobilization.
Severing military lines of communication.
Severing diplomatic lines of communication (touch and go presently)

It’s pretty “cut and dry”. Obvious to everyone.

China already has provided the “due diligence” and set up the “rules of engagement”. World War 3 will be on the Chinese timetable, following Chinese defined rules of engagement, and China will dictate the terms of Western surrender.

The United States is being run by ignorant idiots that have no clue as to what they are fucking with.

China’s time line is running HOT. And the “stop watch” is ticking.

Brace for impact.

FREAKING SHOOK!| FIRST TIME HEARING Faith No More – Epic REACTION

Why is the US blaming China for its fentanyl crisis? What’s the cause of America’s drug abuse?

In the rest of the world, fentanyl is a controlled and regulated substance and is used as medication. In the US, fentanyl has been turned into a recreational drug inspite of the obvious dangers.

There is no effective government in the US. It is that simple.

It is obviously stupid to blame China or any other country. Other countries do not run the US government.

Only US citizens can run and manage the US government.

CAMEO CANDY VIDEO REACTION

Can China survive on terms enunciated and dictated by the US and her allies?

Well, if you distill the terms presented by the United States and it’s proxy “allies” you have this…

All Chinese must die.
Chinese culture must be erased.
All history books must be rewritten to avoid any mention of China.
China to be broken up into parts.
China to be looted until nothing is left except junk and stone.
The surviving Chinese are to be used as slaves, servants, and sex toys.

Can China survive under these conditions?

Personally, I actually think that China can.

But it will not want to, and it will flatten the United States into a radioactive wasteland of ruin if the United States continues it’s moronic march towards “suicide by cop”.

SO CATCHY!… | FIRST TIME HEARING Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen REACTION

All aboard the gravy train: an independent audit of US funding for Ukraine

HEATHER KAISER, ANYA PARAMPIL AND MAX BLUMENTHAL

·JUNE 27, 2023

President Joe Biden travels to Kyiv, Ukraine Monday, February 20, 2023. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

In the absence of official scrutiny of Washington’s spending spree on Ukraine, The Grayzone conducted an independent audit of US funding for the country. We discovered a series of wasteful, highly unusual expenditures the Biden administration has yet to explain.

During a recent discussion with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, touted her organization’s push to guarantee transparency for US taxpayer funds sent to Ukraine.

“We are involved in funding efforts at ensuring judicial integrity, which is intrinsically important to building Ukraine’s democracy and its integration plans to get into Europe,” Power declared, adding USAID’s work in Ukraine was “also really important in terms of assuring the taxpayer, the American taxpayer, that they’re resources are well spent.”

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While innocuous on the surface, Power’s comments revealed a great deception the US government is currently waging against the American public. In the roughly 16 months since Russia’s February 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict, the US government has approved several multi-billion dollar spending packages to sustain the Kiev military’s fight against Moscow.

Though many Americans likely believe that US dollars allocated for Ukraine are spent directly on supplies for the war effort, the lead author of this report, Heather Kaiser, conducted a thorough review of Washington’s budget for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal year and discovered that is far from the case.

US taxpayers may be shocked to learn that as their families grappled with fears of Social Security’s looming insolvency, the Social Security Administration in Washington sent $4.48 million to the Kiev government in 2022 and 2023 alone. In another example of bizarre spending, USAID paid off $4.5 billion worth of Ukraine’s sovereign debt through payments made to the World Bank — all while Congress went to loggerheads over America’s ballooning national debt. (Western financial interests including BlackRock Inc. are among the largest holders of Ukrainian government bonds.)

Though it is nearly impossible to calculate the total sum of US tax dollars sent to Kiev, Kaiser was able to perform an independent audit of Washington’s proxy war in Ukraine through a careful search of open source data available on the US government’s official spending tracker.

Kaiser reviewed all the funding allocations in which Ukraine was listed as the “Place of Performance” for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. Additionally, she discovered supplementary funds were sent to Kiev by listing Ukraine as the “justification” for spending, rather than the location where the money was physically sent.

Calculating the total dollar amount that the US has given to Ukraine is incredibly challenging for multitude of reasons: there is a lag in reporting expenditures; covert money given by the CIA (Title 50 Covert Action) won’t be publicly disclosed; and direct military assistance in the form of military equipment is not calculated in the same manner as raw cash. The Pentagon recently admitted to an accounting error revised up to 6.2 billion dollars. Despite this, Kaiser submitted a request to the Department of Treasury asking them to disclose the total dollar amount of US taxpayer support for Ukraine. Treasury has not responded at the time of publication.

Though Kaiser was able to search through pages of reported spending, the US government has yet to conduct an official audit of its funding for Ukraine. What’s more, there is currently no limit to how much Washington can send to Kiev.

In the absence of dedicated official scrutiny of Washington’s spending in Ukraine, The Grayzone has produced an independent audit of US tax dollar allocation in the country.

Among the many troubling contracts we discovered was a $4.25 million payment from the Pentagon to a military diving contractor that a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee has described as a “fraudulent company.” The US government asserts the payment covered the company’s delivery of explosives equipment to Ukraine.

So how exactly was that money put to use? And why has Congress so far refused to implement any program to track these shady weapons deals?

Unfortunately, the “justification” for contracts like these often consists of just a brief paragraph — or worse, a single sentence. Little little information is available that documents precisely how the funds were spent down to the dollar and item.

Beneficiaries of USAID’s Ukraine aid: Polish NATO lobbyists, a private equity firm, rural Kenyans, a TV station in Toronto

USAID awarded $21.8 billion

to Ukraine throughout fiscal years 2022 and 2023, roughly 41 percent of the 53.4 billion it spent during that period. Mysteriously, a portion of USAID funding earmarked for Kiev was sent to Kenya and Ethiopia via other agencies, with the award description stating projects in Africa were “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine supplemental funds.”

USAID sent $4.5 billion to Ukraine via the World Bank to pay off Kiev’s debt and fund various social programs, including government pensions. USAID made a total of $21 billion worth of direct payments to the World Bank in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 (9.1 Billion and 11.9 Billion respectively), more money than all of the funding Washington sent to the bank between fiscal years 2008 and 2021 combined. The $4.5 billion allocated for Ukraine funded programs directed by the bank’s International Development Association and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

USAID supplied a $1 billion grant to the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to subsidize projects “Ukraine cannot fund at this time.”

USAID has supplied $20 million to “Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees” since February 2020. Recipients include a Polish think tank called the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, a Toronto-based Ukrainian TV channel, a collection of Ukrainian “anti-corruption” organizations, and other groups listed in the screenshot below. These awards were issued on top of $26 million worth of funds USAID sent these groups between 2016 and the February 2022 war escalation.

USAID allocated $500,000 for the Casimir Pulaski Foundation in 2023 to fund a program dedicated to “advanc[ing] U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting economic growth, agriculture and trade; global health; and democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance” in Ukraine. The funds were earmarked “to strengthen the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) initiative in implementing international advocacy campaigns to keep high levels of international solidarity with Ukraine.”

USAID’s support arrived on top of a $74,788

subaward the State Department granted to the Casimir Pulaski Foundation in June 2022 to “build capacity and policy formulating capabilities of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) and assisting Ukrainian civil society based in Poland.”

According to their own so-called “Peace Manifesto,” the ICUV’s top priority is to admit Ukraine into NATO, a move that former US diplomats from George Kennan to Jack Matlock to Henry Kissinger and even current CIA director William Burns have described as a major provocation against Russia.

USAID sent $3 million to the World Health Organization

(WHO) in 2022 “to improve health outcomes in drought affected areas in Ethiopia.” The description stated, “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine Supplemental Funds.”

USAID sent 30.9 million to Chemonics International, Inc. for the “Ukraine confidence building initiative (UCBI) 4. A private, for-profit aid contractor, Chemonics’ founder said he launched the company to “have my own CIA.” The Grayzone has documented Chemonics’ role in delivering US government funding and supplies to the Syrian White Helmets, which served as the propaganda wing of the Al Qaeda-tied armed opposition. Chemonics previously reaped a massive windfall

from the US occupation of Afghanistan, raking in as much as $600 million from USAID.

USAID sent $20.7 million to PACT, INC. for “USAID Ukraine’s public health system recovery and resilience activity and will strengthen the Government of Ukraine (GOU) capacity to address COVID-19 and other public health threats, sustain health services during a crisis, and protect the health of all Ukrainians including vulnerable and marginalized populations. According to its 2022 impact statement [PDF

], “In Ukraine, Pact’s work empowers citizens to push for transparent and democratic governance, advances gender equality and human rights for women and girls, and accelerates efforts to achieve HIV epidemic control.” The contractor’s work contributed to “172 people increas[ing] their net income,” according to Pact.

USAID sent $25 million to Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV

, a “leading private equity firm in emerging Europe, via the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), “to back high-growth tech and export-oriented [Small and Medium Sized Enterprises] succeeding globally, based on platforms in Ukraine and Moldova.”

USAID sent 7.6 million to UNICEF IDA

for emergency nutrition response in ASALs (Arid and Semi-Arid Lands) in Kenya. The description stated, “partially funded with response funds and Ukraine Supplemental Funds”

USAID sent $1.2 million to University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.

located in Atlanta, GA to “support humanitarian information management through geographic information systems, data analytics and visualizations”. Ukraine was listed as the place of performance.

The Pentagon sponsors diving contractor with “history of fraud” to send mysterious explosives to Ukraine

The Department of Homeland Security sent 5.48 million to Gravois Aluminum Boats LLC

on June 8, 2021 for the following purpose: “PROCUREMENT OF TWO 38-FOOT FULL CABIN RESPONSE BOATS, FOUR 38-FOOT CENTER CONSOLE RESPONSE BOATS, TRAILERS, SPARE PARTS, AND TRAINING AS REQUIRED UNDER FMS LOA DB-P-LCL FOR THE COUNTRY OF UKRAINE.”

The Department of Defense has transferred 4.75 Million to Atlantic Diving Supply, Inc. as of February 3, 2023 for “PRO SAPPER AND EOD EQUIPMENT [CONTRACTING SQUADRON] UKRAINE” and “Marine lifesaving and Diving Equipment.”

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and sapper equipment is exclusively used to blow things up or clean up explosives. And Atlantic Diving Supply

is a military contractor originally founded to provide tactical gear to Navy SEAL divers.

When a company like this is tasked with a highly specific delivery of explosives gear to any foreign nation, including Ukraine, it should prompt questions about the mission, particularly when US intelligence is blaming Ukraine’s military for attacking the Nord Stream pipelines without the knowledge of President Volodymyr Zelensky. (The payment date does not necessarily correlate with the date of delivery from the vendor; in other words, the equipment could have been delivered at a prior date.)

Luke Hillier, the founder of Atlantic Diving Supply, paid a $20 million settlement in 2019 to resolve charges that he defrauded the Pentagon by falsely claiming his company was a small business. Atlantic Diving is consistently listed as one of the top 25 largest military contractors in the country.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1362433588793380871&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fchinaworldleader.quora.com%2F%3F__ni__%3D0%26__tiids__%3D116011215%252C116010521%252C116010501%252C116010292%252C116010014%252C116007326%252C116007097%252C116006641%252C116005874%252C116005798%252C116004988%252C116002755%252C116002739%252C116000677%252C116000421%252C115999767%252C115998252%252C115994358%252C115993793%252C115993338%252C115992454%252C115991652%252C115991143%252C115991033%252C115988169%252C115985403%252C115984456%252C115984461%252C115982693%252C115982038%252C115980841%252C115979472%252C115978751%26__filter__%3Dall%26__nsrc__%3Dnotif_page%26__sncid__%3D41161125960%23anchor&sessionId=6a56fa8f326c7cdea064dc1c4393ff29b07cd102&siteScreenName=Quora&theme=light&widgetsVersion=aaf4084522e3a%3A1674595607486&width=550px

In 2021, Hillier raked in a massive $33 billion contract under the same program, prompting fresh accusations of fraud. This pattern of malfeasance prompted a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to bluntly denounce Atlantic Diving as a “fraudulent company.”

Hillier currently owns a $13 million mega-yacht in the Cayman Islands, $24 million worth of beachfront property in Hawaii, and two Bahamas-based companies with murky operations, according to the Project on Government Oversight

Atlantic Diving Supply founder Luke Hillier living his best life

The Department of Defense has paid 4.9 Million to BAE Systems GCS International as of September 12, 2022 for “UKRAINE LCS LW 155 SPARES” and “guns over 155mm through 200mm”. In Navy terminology, LCS means “Littoral Combat Ship,” while LW refers to the lightweight gun. And “155 SPARES” refers to the gun mounted on the ship’s main battery off the bow.

So what is the exact purpose of the LCS LW 155mm gun spares, why were they given to Ukraine, and where are they now? Is there a tracking mechanism in place to know where they are and how they’re being used?

Washington funnels cash to a private equity firm, Georgian finance corporation, a ‘private entrepreneur’ via Ukraine aid

US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) sent $25 million to Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV , a “leading private equity firm in emerging Europe, “to back high-growth tech and export-oriented [Small and Medium Sized Enterprises] succeeding globally, based on platforms in Ukraine and Moldova.”

US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) sent $1.5 million to the Gazelle Fund LP, another private equity firm, to relocate Ukrainian businesses to Georgia. Georgia does not border Ukraine, nor is it a primary location for Ukrainian refugee resettlement.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent $882,291 to a single individual described as an “private entrepreneur” in exchange for “overseas technical assistance program support services.” The private entrepreneur listed, Igor Lavreniuk, serves as the Program Coordinator for USAID’s Competitive Markets Program according to his LinkedIn.

The National Science Foundation sent 1.3 million to University of Illinois for faculty and curricular development in remote sensing. The place of performance is listed as Ukraine.

The Department of State has paid 8.3 million to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to help “refugees from Ukraine meet their essential needs during initial displacement.” According to SpendingUS.gov, Catholic Relief Services is listed as having received a total of 657 million from the State Department in 2021, 5.7 billion since 2008 and 670 million during the last 12 months

Sponsoring “democracy” at Americans’ expense

Along with the blowback from their government’s gratuitous sanctions policy against Russia and other official enemies, Americans are feeling the impact of this overseas spending spree at grocery stores, gas stations, and everywhere in between. Meanwhile, rising generations are not only struggling with historic inflation, but concerns that Medicare and Social Security will be insolvent in the near future.

Washington and Europe have insisted that the flood of aid to Ukraine is essential to defending democracy against the existential threat of an authoritarian Russia. This framing is designed to shut down all debate by casting anyone who questions the ballooning price tag as fundamentally anti-American — if you are against funding the West’s proxy war with a nuclear power, you oppose the very ideals that define our nation.

Yet our inspection of US government spending in Ukraine demonstrates that Washington has prioritized its supposed fight for “democracy” abroad over the well-being of the American people.

As the war drags on, lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham have marketed military aid to Ukraine in increasingly grim terms. As the senator boasted

during a recent trip to Kiev, “The Russians are dying…it’s the best money we’ve ever spent.” Meanwhile, Congress has rejected any mechanism that would guarantee transparency on the billions sent to Kiev, and shunned a war powers debate over the US military’s presence on the Ukrainian battlefield.

President Joseph Biden, for his part, has pledged that official Washington will support Kiev “as long as it takes.” As the potential for blowback grows from Western pressure to push Ukraine into NATO, and a nuclear-armed Moscow is backed into an existential fight for its survival, while economic powers including China gradually decouple from the Western financial system, Americans can only wonder how much will this war cost them when it is finally over.

FIRST TIME HEARING Brad Paisley – He Didn’t Have To Be TEARS

Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Butter

Ingredients

3 quarts sweet cider
8 pounds ripe, well-flavored apples
2 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Cook cider over high heat, uncovered, about 30 minutes or until it is reduced to half.
Wash, quarter and core unpeeled apples. Add to cider, and cook over low heat until very tender. Stir frequently. Work apple mixture through a sieve, returning the puree to the kettle. Stir in sugar, all the spices, and salt. Cook over very low heat, stirring almost continuously, until mixture thickens.
Pour into sterilized pint jars and seal securely.

Makes 4 jars.

First Time Hearing Jay Chou (feat. Fei Yu-ching) “Far Away” Reaction

How To Plant Propaganda: “Putin has been weakened. Russia is crumbling.”

On Sunday the U.S.Secretary of State went on four morning shows to play the same distinct melody over and over again:

Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Margaret Brennan of CBS Face the Nation

SECRETARY BLINKEN: And it was a direct challenge to Putin’s authority. So this raises profound questions. It shows real cracks. We can’t speculate or know exactly where that’s going to go. We do know that Putin has a lot more to answer for in the weeks and months ahead.
…
SECRETARY BLINKEN: These create more cracks in the Russian façade, and those cracks were already profound. Economically, militarily, its standing in the world – all of those things have been dramatically diminished by Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. He’s managed to bring Europe together. He’s managed to bring NATO together. He’s managed to get Europe to move off of Russian energy. He’s managed to alienate Ukrainians and unite Ukraine at the same time. So across the board this has been a strategic failure. Now you introduce into that profound internal divisions, and there are lots of questions he’s going to have to answer in the weeks ahead.

Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Chuck Todd of NBC Meet The Press

SECRETARY BLINKEN: … So I think we’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade. It is too soon to tell exactly where they go and when they get there. But certainly we have all sorts of new questions that Putin is going to have to address in the weeks and months ahead.
…
This is just the latest chapter in a book of failure that Putin has written for himself and for Russia. Economically, militarily, its standing in the world – all of things have plummeted. We have a united NATO that’s stronger than ever before, a Europe that is weaning itself off of Russian energy, Ukraine that Putin has managed to alienate and unite at the same time. Now, with trouble brewing from within, this, as I said, just adds more questions that he has to find answers for.

Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Dana Bash of CNN State of the Union

SECRETARY BLINKEN: But we can say this. First of all, what we’ve seen is extraordinary, and I think you see cracks emerge that weren’t there before …
…
We’ve seen this aggression against Ukraine become a strategic failure across the board. Russia is weaker economically, militarily. Its standing around the world has plummeted. It’s managed to get Europeans off of Russian energy. It’s managed to unite and strengthen NATO with new members and a stronger Alliance. It’s managed to alienate from Russia and unite together Ukraine in ways that it’s never been before. This is just an added chapter to a very, very bad book that Putin has written for Russia.

Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Jonathan Karl of ABC This Week

SECRETARY BLINKEN: But I think we can say this much: First, we’ve seen some very serious cracks emerge.
…
But we’ve seen, I think, lots of different cracks that have emerged in the conduct of this aggression, because everything Putin has tried to accomplish, the opposite has happened. Russia is weaker economically. It’s weaker militarily. Its standing in the world has plummeted. It’s managed to strengthen and unite NATO. It’s managed to alienate and unite Ukrainians. It’s managed to get Europe off of dependence on Russian energy.

In piece after piece, issue after issue, what Putin has tried to prevent, he’s managed to precipitate. And Russia’s standing is vastly diminished as a result. Now, add to that internal dissention. Again, we can’t speculate on where this goes. We have to remain and we are focused on Ukraine, but it certainly raises new questions that he’s going to have to address.

The very same (false) talking points, repeated over and over again, are a sure sign of lies and an organized propaganda campaign.

For the record. Progozhin was all alone in his mutiny attempt. Not one element of the Russian government or civil society joint him in his ride. So where are the cracks? There are none. Also Russia’s military is now larger and better equipped then before the war. Russia’s economy is fine and growing. Its standing in the world has increased.

But Blinken’s propaganda works well because the U.S. media are trained to pick up any sheet of music an administration hands out and to sing its tune over and over again.

I could quote dozens of participants in that game to make that point. But the Washington Posts has made it easier for me when it asked eight of its columnists to comment on the issues. All but one, a neocon who wants to see more action, repeat Blinken’s message: “Putin has been weakened. Russia is crumbling.”

Opinion What happened in Russia — and what happens next? Our columnists weigh in.

David Von Drehle: Even failed coups have consequences

Putin evidently had no more confidence than Prigozhin as to the outcome of the clash. Rather than test the loyalty and strength of government forces to crush the uprising, the Russian leader grabbed the first exit he was offered — a sign of weakness that might invite another attempt. … The bad news: A weakened Russia has weakened leaders and is spinning out of control. Putin has taken his country into a disaster, and there is no one in sight to save it.

Max Boot: Prigozhin has made Putin’s weakness clear to everyone

Putin, has now had his own legitimacy undermined by the revolt of Prigozhin and his Wagner Group mercenaries. Whether the damage is fatal remains to be determined. … Even if Prigozhin is gone, the discontent he has revealed will remain an Achilles’ heel for Putin.

David Ignatius: After dodging the bullet, Putin will need to show he’s in control

Putin’s vulnerabilities were vividly on display last weekend, but so were his uncanny survival skills. He got inside Prigozhin’s conspiratorial plot and stopped it. … Putin will need to show that he’s in command now, after this near-death experience. That’s the bad news for Ukraine and Russia both.

Eugene Robinson: Putin is likely to survive this crisis

The revolt by the mercenary butcher Prigozhin did reveal Putin’s regime to be more brittle than it had appeared from afar.

Charles Lane: Prigozhin is the only Russian to publicly speak the truth

Vaclav Havel insisted that truth still exercised a mysterious, but latent, power.

It can unexpectedly “issue forth … in something visible: a real political act or event, a social movement, a sudden explosion of civil unrest, a sharp conflict inside an apparently monolithic power structure, or simply an irrepressible transformation in the social and intellectual climate,” Havel wrote. “And since all genuine problems and matters of critical importance are hidden beneath a thick crust of lies, it is never quite clear when the proverbial last straw will fall, or what that straw will be.”

Spy, oligarch, warlord — Prigozhin was an unlikely candidate to confirm Havel’s prophecy. But in a way, he did.

Jason Willick: Chances for escalation in Ukraine have gone up

Some observers might be overstating Putin’s weakness — he did suppress the mutiny quickly, after all — but the spectacle has clearly dented his image of control.

Josh Rogin: Prigozhin’s failed gambit is an opportunity for the West

Now that the Kremlin can no longer pretend Wagner is a separate entity, Russian government and defense officials must also be held accountable for Wagner’s worldwide crimes, which include credible allegations of mass murder, torture, rape and other atrocities.

Megan McArdle: Turmoil in Russia shows the fragility of illiberalism

Nominally, Putin controls a massive army, a substantial police force and a population that returned him to office in 2018 with a resounding 77 percent of the vote. But when push came to shove, those same folks were indifferent between him and a murderous warlord — or, at least, didn’t care enough about the distinction to risk getting shot. Putin survived, but the risk to his regime has risen now that it is clear how little actual support he has.

The overall tone: Putin did not fight the loon Prigozhin but found a peaceful solution. This shows that he is weak.

This bears a question. If eight columnists at one paper come to the very same (but false) conclusion, just issued in different words, why hire and pay all eight of them? Clearly, one would suffice.

Oh, that would show a lack diversity? The religious believe in individualism where all humans must differ – but for the opinions they are allowed to espouse?

Posted by b on June 27, 2023 at 15:43 UTC | Permalink

Rap Fans React to The Cult- She Sells Sanctuary REACTION

Having participated in the 2019 Hong Kong riots, can I still go to mainland China?

Use of your HK residency card might cause some problems for you. You will not have the same kind of treatment that you have grown accustomed to.

Oh, of course, the Chinese will smile and be so very polite. But, a “black mark” is a interruption of normal process, and will require an override by upper management.

Of course you can apply for a visa.

[1] If you are denied that visa, accept that reality. That reality is one of a perpetual “outsider” that will not be given the chance for redemption. If so, then you fucked up BIG TIME. Nothing worse than “missing the bus” for the global future.

[2] If you are granted that visa, you must accept the reality that you will be monitored absolutely. The duration of the monitoring will be at least ten years, and if you apply for work, there will be limitations on your applications. Certainly the housekeeping, and janitorial professions will probably be open to you, but forget about any skilled positions.

You made a very BIG and BAD MISTAKE.

But there’s always hope for redemption. If you can prove that you are reformed, you have a chance.

Finally…

If you do enter China, and you decide to break a law, or participate in NED sponsored color revolution activities, your fate will sealed (and very horrible). Ask the two-timers from HK that participated in the Shanghai protest last year. They will never leave China.

Don’t be like them.

FIRST REACTION! Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music SHOCKED! THEY WHITE?

How can I raise a bilingual baby that speaks both Chinese and English?

Answered by MM. -MM

I have a young daughter in Kindergarten.

I speak English to her.
My wife speaks Chinese to her.

She speaks fluent Baby-Chinese, and completely understands my English. However, the only time that she uses English is when she is MAD. When she is angry, that is when she spouts off in English. And lordy, it’s a sight to behold.

At home, she watches a mix of Chinese and English age-appropriate shows. And she attends Kindergarten, Dance, and boxing classes all in Chinese.

Yes. She is absolutely bilingual.

Jay Chou – Fearless Official Music Video|Reaction

What is your opinion on China’s more militarized coast guard?

Starting last night and into today, Beidu is reporting that China has laid out defined rules on violation of Chinese air space and sea lanes. No longer will China issue a verbal warning to planes to leave, or for ships to exit.

They now are authorized to fire weapons with the intent to kill and destroy the intruder(s).

My opinion is that…

This follows the North Korean model of engagement. Which is why the United States avoids flying into to North Korea, but happily pushes into China’s.
This is a direct result of [1] the Canadian / USA naval transit in the Taiwan strait, and [2] the Spy Plane violations of air space. Now, if those events were to reoccur, there would be two sunk Naval vessels, and one destroyed spy plane.
Never the less, the rules are going to be violated by the United States. The American “leadership” are just itching for a war. Like I have repeatedly stated, “stupid beyond comprehension”.
People are going to die. No way to avoid this result.

WOW!| FIRST TIME HEARING Tears For Fears – Sowing The Seed Of Love REACTION

How serious is Western propaganda against China compare to China‘s propaganda?

Western media and political propaganda works very much to China’s advantage.

Chinese strategy ever since the time of Sun Tzu is based on deception, and namely on making the enemy underestimate China.

This means that the more the west thinks that they are ahead of China, the more they underestimate China, and the more China hides its true strength, the better it is for China.

This means that if the Americans think that they will defeat China in the end because of American exceptionalism, and because the US is the city on the hill shining the bright light of freedom and democracy, the better it is for China.

This means that in the end, if China strikes, it will strike to kill.

There will not be any of that Russian pussyfooting around in Ukraine in the early stages of the war which Russia did, and which ended in failure.

@ A MASTERPIECE!!! Emotional Reaction to CRANBERRIES – ZOMBIE | Difficult to Get Over This

What are the unexpected and interesting travelling experiences you have had?

Back in 2007 I had gone to Russia. Being an African American woman in braids, I pretty much stand out over there. I even had a police officer ask to see my passport because, well, there’s not a lot of black people there, and those that are there are usually European and African descent.

So we were visiting a type of flea market in Moscow to shop for souvenirs. I only know three or four Russian words, so I did my best to bargain (but it helped to have Russian students in our group translating for us).

This vendor suddenly stared grabbing my hand joyfully and kissing my hand and arm! He was saying something like “krasivaya” or something like that.

He was pointing to my arm and I realized he was enamored with the color of my skin.

One the students (or another vendor helping him, I’m not sure), knew English and translated for me, “He says, “You’re beautiful.”

It dawned on me he had never seen a black woman before.

That actually amused me —- I mean, who knew that, considering all the crap black people have put up with because of our skin color, having dark skin would elicit such a positive response?

@ THIS IS FIRE!!! THE CULT – FIRE WOMAN (REACTION)

Should we congratulate EM Jaishankar for his honesty? He recently said that India is inferior to China in every way.

Yep

Absolutely

main qimg df9a4fac3eb29a74fdfea38a27dc9093

His message was simple

China is too strong for India

It’s a simple message but 90% of Indians won’t agree

They simply won’t admit what Jaishankar admits

India can’t pick fights with China

Stupid to say India is exactly like China

That’s coping and it’s embarrassing

Stupider to say China manipulates it’s GDP and in reality it’s much smaller

That’s worse coping and it’s even more embarrassing

Jaishankar simply gave a dose of reality

That China is impossible to take on today by India in any sphere

Education, Technology, Diplomacy, War, Economy, Industry — They dominate in every one of these over us.

Nothing embarrassing here

China once was exactly like this compared to the US

They saw the US as advanced and ahead and decided to build themselves and develop themselves to reach that goal

We should do the same

Jaishankar did

Others?

Nope

The Average lunkhead still thinks somehow India is a superpower and that India can do this and that and Modiji is a god in disguise

Just read Quora answers and see how many people even acknowledge China is ahead of India without a “But…”

The Realist says

China is way ahead of India

India must slog and slog and stop lying, see their weaknesses and identify them and rectify them

How many Realists do you see?

Every one adds their own “BUT” that includes Tiananmen Square and a bunch of lies about the CPC gleaned from Western media

Jaishankar is a realist and that’s good

THIS WAS SO GOOD!.| FIRST TIME HEARING Tears for Fears – Everybody Wants To Rule The World REACTION

Have you ever purchased a home from an owner who left their belongings behind?

My parents built a cottage on Loon Lake in Ontario in 1965, Mum and I spent many happy summers there while Dad came up on weekends. Mum died in 1983 at age 60. Dad couldn’t stand going there anymore because “there was too much of Mum in it” so he sold it (with my knowledge and blessing) in 1986 fully furnished to include dishes, linens, two boats – everything. Apparently this is quite normal in that marketplace and situation.

Fast-forward to 2004; I took my wife and four sons to a rental cottage a couple lakes away. We took a boat trip to show the boys where I grew up. Fortunately the owner was there so we moved the boat over toward the boathouse (both boats were still there) where I turned off our boat and said, “My parents built this cottage when I was 10 years old.” His immediate response was, “Oh, you’re a Kuhs!” I was amazed. Not only were he and his wife the purchasers but they had owned the cottage – still named Cry of the Loon – for 17 years and he came up with our fairly odd name so quickly. They gave us the “grand tour”, Mum’s cottage was over 90% unchanged from the last day I saw it over 20 years before. Not a dry eye in the house!

We have lived on the upper Chesapeake Bay for 35 years so there’s no animosity.

Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive FIRST TIME HEARING THIS!

What does the U.S. have that China doesn’t to become a superpower? What can China do to surpass the U.S. as a superpower? How long will this take?

China isn’t in a race to be better than the US or to surpass the US.

The Chinese are in a race to become the best version of themselves after being poor and politically divided for so long.

The problem is that when Chinese say this to Americans; US politicians and western politicians tend to think that the Chinese are lying to them, when in fact, the Chinese are not.

This means that the fate and destiny of the US is in the hands of the Americans themselves, not in the hands of the Chinese.

Americans have done great things in the past, and if they work hard and apply themselves, they can do great things again, such as landing men on the moon, and defeating diseases like polio.

To do this, Americans would have to give up some bad habits, and apply themselves the same way the Chinese have in the past forty years.

If the US competed with China this way, the world would become a better place because all of humanity would benefit.

Reaction To “Simple Minds Someone Somewhere In Summertime Live 1983” THE WOLF HUNTERZ Jon and Dolly

How do you interpret Secretary Blinken’s statement on re-establishing dialogue with China?

I don’t. I don’t interpret it at all because it is not sincere, either way. No sooner than Blinken met with Xi Jinping, Biden called Xi a dictator and Blinken quoted more foolishness trying to justify arms sales to Taiwan. The U.S. is not capable or interested in following China’s conditions. There is no sincerity. It is always speaking with a forked tongue out of both side of the mouth with my country. Don’t be surprised. His visit was all an elaborate show on the world stage.

On a positive note, China chewed him a new backside, so I’d say it was a win for China.

WERE SHOOK! | FIRST TIME HEARING Patsy Cline – Crazy REACTION

UPDATED 10:39 AM EDT — Russian Presidential Fleet Plane Enroute to Washington DC – Evacuating Diplomats?

World Hal Turner 27 June 2023

An aircraft from the Russian Presidential fleet is presently on its way from Moscow to Washington, DC. It is now feared this plane is coming to evacuate Russian Diplomats prior to . . . well . . . what __could be__ the start of a war.

As of 6:16 AM Eastern US Time, the aircraft has left air space which is tracked by radar, and is now over the Atlantic Ocean being tracked by Satellite:

No word yet from anyone why this plane is coming to the USA.

The Russian Federation maintains Consular Offices in three locations in the U.S., Washington, DC is its main Embassy. In New York City and in Houston, are Consulate offices.

Main Russian Embassy: 2650 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20007

Consulate New York City: 9 E 91st St, New York, NY 10128

Consulate Houston, TX: 1333 West Loop S Ste 1300, Houston, TX 77027

Folks in an around those cities may wish to take a drive by, and see if there are any obvious signs that staff are evacuating, or if there is dense smoke coming out of a chimney indicating the burning of documents.

BELARUS TO COMBAT ALERT

Belarusian President Lukashenko said that he has given orders to bring the army to full combat readiness against the backdrop of the events in Russia.

“If Russia collapses, we will remain under the rubble, we will all die” he said.

‘The threat of a new global conflict has never been as close as it is today.’“Once again, they are trying to blow up our country, our entire region, to disorient people. Shake up the situation by any means and, under this noise, impose your own rules, establish your own order.

An order in which there will no longer be either our countries or people.”

UPDATE 10:39 AM EDT —

The Russian Foreign Ministry has commented on this plane:

“A Russian plane is on its way to the United States to evacuate diplomats ordered to leave the country by US authorities, Zakharova said in her Telegram channel.According to the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, it is not a question of expulsion, but of restrictions on operations created by Washington.”

@ I DISCOVERED THE BEST SONG EVER! | Ram Jam – Black Betty (REACTION!!!)

All Sources inside Russia Have Gone “Dark” – Largest Submarine Sails with Poseidon Nuclear Torpedo

World Hal Turner 26 June 2023

A very troubling situation has developed inside Russia this morning, Monday, June 26, 2023. All my intel sources have either gone dark or told me they have to go dark immediately. Apparently ANYONE who expressed support for the Prigozhin Rebellion is being rounded-up and/or turned off violently.

More interestingly, Russia’s largest submarine, the “Belgorad” (K-329), set sail from its Arctic port in Severodvinsk, along with a support ship “Akademik Aleksandrov.”

This Support ship is associated with testing the “Poseidon” Intercontinental Nuclear-Powered Nuclear-Armed Autonomous Torpedo.

The sailing of the two vessels, together, plus other signs observed, may indicate that a Poseidon test launch is imminent.

The question becomes, is it a test or will it be live?

The Poseidon torpedo is autonomous. It can be pre-programmed to travel almost anywhere in the world, silently, take up position off a coastline at a depth of 1-2 miles, and wait, undetected and undetectable.

At the pre-programmed time, it can detonate its scalable 100 MEGATON nuclear torpedo, creating a radioactive tsunami that takes out the entire coastline of an adversary. In some areas, the tsunami would come ashore as a 1500 foot tall wave of radioactive water, knocking down entire cities, and leaving them covered in a radioactive flood that would make the area uninhabitable for decades.

The submarine carries SIX such Poseidon torpedos.

It could place one off each coast of the UK, travel across the Atlantic, place one or more off the US East Coast, the travel down to the Gulf of Mexico, place another, and leave the US West Coast to typical Russian submarines.

None of us would have any idea at all that anything was wrong and then, suddenly, BOOM, all of them go off at once. The US and UK would be completely crippled immediately, wiping out NATO.

Bad Company – Rock Steady REACTION

What steps can the US take to protect its research and intellectual property from being stolen by China through civilian research partnerships?

Don’t worry. The US Government and its loyal allies are already doing an absolutely fabulous job of this.

Chinese universities ranked above Oxbridge, Caltech in quality research

Xie Xiaoliang is latest Chinese scientist to give up US citizenship

China overtakes United States on contribution to research in Nature Index

British chair professor joins China’s hypersonic programme

Award-winning Chinese mathematician returns to Peking University from US

Chinese researchers in US ‘eyeing medical teaching jobs at University of Hong Kong’

China leads US in global competition for key emerging technology: study

China trounces U.S. in AI research output and quality

meanwhile back home…

Half of Americans think young people don’t pursue STEM because it is too hard

The Best Reactions to Black Sabbath “War Pigs” Compilation

A world where China is Number One

Kerry Brown’s new book notes folly of projecting Western values and a Manichean worldview onto China’s very different civilization and tradition

by Scott Foster June 28, 2023

The three key things about China we need to keep in mind are that

it is strong, not weak;
it has become a sea power; and
its values are both different from those of the West and not necessarily what Europe and America think they are.

“When we are discussing anything to do with the People’s Republic of China in the contemporary context, therefore, these three factors are good places to start,” writes Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese Studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London, in the first chapter of his new book, “China Incorporated: The Politics of a World Where China is Number One.”

The title reminds us of Japan Inc, the words used to describe Japan’s combination of industrial policy and mercantilism since the 1980s; and “Japan as Number One: Lessons for America”, the popular book by Ezra Vogel published in 1999. Brown’s book even has a chapter entitled “The Enigma of Chinese Power,” which echoes Karel Van Wolferen’s “The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation,” published in 1990.

But the book does not explain Chinese industrial and trade policies; it does not tell us what the West can learn from China’s rapid modernization; and it is certainly not about what the writer imagines is the hollow political center of a great economic power.

Rather, Brown examines the more important issue of how Western misunderstanding of Chinese thinking about the role of government and international relations has magnified the problem of dealing with a different civilization that has grown big and strong enough to reject our criticism and push back.

The misunderstanding has historical, cultural and political roots but fundamentally it can be attributed to the universalist, Manichean (good vs evil) worldview of what Brown refers to as the Enlightenment West – and the projection of that attitude onto a civilization that doesn’t share the same history.

“The distinctiveness of the intellectual and cultural history of inhabitants of the space now occupied by the People’s Republic of China is undeniable,” Brown writes. “In terms of language, modes of governance, economic behavior, and fundamental view about how the world operates and how society should be shaped, the Chinese tradition is a long, complex and sometimes (but not always) contrasting one to that which has created the Europe and North America of today.”

He continues, “The Western European proclivity has been to maintain the conviction, at least until recent decades, that there is a final, truthful, unifying vision of the world.”

On the other hand,

In the Chinese world where a notion of harmony in the abstract was privileged, the focus was on accepting different kinds of views and convictions for different spaces and occasions….

A syncretic worldview is the result – one that in the twenty-first century continues to puzzle and fascinate because of the ability of modern Chinese to place capitalism next to socialism while seeming under Xi Jinping to be proud of Confucianism as well as having as many as 200 million Buddhists in various sects and about half that number of Christians.

That description runs head on into democratically elected politicians’ abhorrence of one-party dictatorship and American alarm over perceived or potential subversion by Confucius Institutes, Huawei or any other Chinese organization under the sway of the Communist Party.

Brown does not dwell on the nature of the Communist Party, but points out that Confucius Institutes have often been their own worst enemies and that Huawei, due to its leading position in the telecommunications industry and the legal environment in which it operates, will never be free of suspicion.

After all, China’s National Intelligence Law stipulates that “all organizations and citizens shall support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence efforts in accordance with the law, and shall protect national intelligence work secrets they are aware of.”

Combined with the rapid growth of its military power, including the ever-longer reach of its navy, the globe-spanning infrastructure investments of the Belt and Road Initiative, allegations of hacking and the hot-button issues of the South China Sea, Taiwan and Xinjiang, this makes China for “a large number of American and European politicians … not just a problem, but the problem.”

The problem with this problem is its ambiguity. The Chinese military has never used more than a fraction of its power. No clear evidence of surveillance via Chinese telecom equipment has been publicly provided. The motives and capabilities are there, but there is no smoking gun.

As for the Belt and Road, which critics regard as a combination of debt-trap diplomacy and strategic threat, Brown asks, “How much longer do we have to wait till we see Beijing’s hand fully exposed? What if, in the end, it really was all mainly commercial?”

For centuries, the West has been working to remake the world in its own image. Its Enlightenment mind finds it logical to conclude that the Chinese are trying to do the same, regardless of China’s doctrine of non-interference in the affairs of other countries (rejected as duplicitous on the one hand and as unprincipled support for dictators on the other) and its cultural exclusiveness.

Western military and national security officials default to the worst-case scenario, while many politicians favor a simple narrative of evil communists oppressing the good Chinese people. But, as Brown writes, “one thing stands out – the complexity of the issues China poses, just being itself, and doing the kinds of things it does as an actor of its size and reach.

“Complexity alone is a vast problem, and one the Enlightenment West in particular, with its love of orderly frameworks and all-embracing tidy theories, clearly abhors. China upsets the epistemology of the West – it violates notions of universalism being universal.”

If economic prosperity either is contingent on the existence of multi-party government and Western style rule of law or inevitably brings these in its wake, this leads to:

China explanation number one – We are right; China is undertaking a huge con, and
China explanation number two – China has to democratize.

Otherwise, China will collapse. But it hasn’t collapsed since Gordon Chang’s book “The Coming Collapse of China” was published in 2001 and Brown now doesn’t expect it to collapse anytime soon. Rather, within a decade, “the world’s largest economy could well be an Asian country under a Communist government.”

If and when that happens, the West is likely to be a sore loser, angry and frustrated. In fact, it already is doing everything it can to slow China down and prevent that outcome.

At the same time, China

is certainly more frustrated and irritated than ever before at the outside world. This has reached such a level of intensity that there has been a formal policy response: “Dual Circulation” – a strategy in many Chinese people’s eyes to simply get whingeing, moaning, sore losing Westerners with their toxic social media, their crazy political systems, their moralizing and ignorance and arrogance, off China’s back.

Dual Circulation is an economic policy that puts priority on domestic consumption (internal circulation) while remaining open to foreign trade and investment (external circulation). Dependence on exports is to be reduced while technological independence is achieved through innovation. It is an answer to Western sanctions and protectionism, a sort of reverse decoupling or de-risking that is less ideological and more pragmatic.

Brown hopes that pragmatism will also take hold in the West. He states that, “Whether we embrace or have distaste toward China as it is politically today, we have no choice but to recognize that it is there and that it is as it is. We will not all wake up tomorrow, like protagonists in some fantasy film, and find China is no longer there, or that it has magically transformed to become somewhere we actually like and feel close to. We can console ourselves with the associated thought that exactly the same in reverse applies to China.”

There is a lot more to this book, which is informed by the author’s 30 years’ experience of life in China, where he has worked in education, in business and as a diplomat. He is the author of more than 20 books on China.

WHO DEY!!.. Guns N Roses Welcome – To The Jungle | FIRST TIME HEARING REACTION

China is ready to turn the tables on the US

32 Billion Chip Orders Canceled, Chinese Enterprise Installs First Domestic Lithography Machine!

The Chinese chip market is undergoing a transformation, and under US chip restriction rules, China has embarked on a self-sufficient development path. Not only has it set a goal of achieving a 70% self-sufficiency rate in chips and producing more chips domestically, but Shanghai Microelectronics is also increasing its research and development of lithography machines, and Chinese enterprises have moved in the first domestically-produced lithography machine.

China is the world’s largest chip market and spends a considerable amount on imports in the field of integrated circuits each year, especially for high-end chips imported to meet the needs of a range of consumer electronics products such as smartphones, computers, and tablets.

Chinese chip manufacturer SMIC is vigorously expanding its 12-inch wafer capacity for mature chips and significantly increasing its 28 nanometers chip shipments since China has its own domestically produced chips, its dependence on imported chips is not as great.

In the first quarter of this year China’s Imports of integrated circuits totaled 108 billion pieces a year on year, a decrease of 22.9 percent equivalent to a reduction of 32 billion chip imports from last year, a total of 32 billion chip orders were canceled, making it harder for overseas chip Giants to make big profits, more signs indicate that China’s chip industry’s self-sufficiency ability is constantly improving in the first quarter of this year.

In the 1st quarter of this year Chinese Enterprises moved in the first domestically produced lithography machine the advanced packaging lithography machine from Shanghai microelectronics was moved in by Chinese Enterprise conscience for a production line project.

Shanghai microelectronics is the only company in China that has mastered the production of complete lithography machines in the front-end lithography machine field.

Shanghai microelectronics has excellent capabilities and can produce 2.5 D to 3D Advanced packaging lithography machines perhaps many people do not know that there is a difference between front end and back end lithography machines.

The front end and back end lithography machines are two different steps in the semiconductor chip manufacturing process. Front-end lithography machines are mainly used to make lithographic masks in the chip manufacturing process that is to project the design chip patterns onto the Silicon wafer to form a pattern. While the back-end lithography machines are used to etch the patterns on the Silicon wafer to form the chip circuit component.

Front-end lithography machines usually require higher resolution and precision while back-end lithography machines require higher processing speed and stronger etching ability.

Relatively speaking the manufacturing difficulty of front-end lithography machines is greater, in that they require High Precision Optical systems, Precision mechanical systems and high stability control systems and require knowledge in multiple disciplines such as physics, Optics and Mechanics.

ASML can achieve high-end processes of five nanometers and below in the front-end lithography machine field and the most advanced EUV lithography machines are in short supply. The mass-produced process of domestic lithography machines in the front-end field is 90 nanometers and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the future.

The domestically produced lithography machine moved in by Chinese Enterprises belongs to the back end and is mainly used to meet the demand for chip Packaging.

Nevertheless advanced packaging is still of great significance for domestic chips this is because advanced packaging technology can improve chip performance power consumption and reliability while also reducing chip size and cost.

The use of advanced packaging technology can enhance the market competitiveness of chips attract more customers and partners and promote the development of China’s domestic chip industry therefore doing well in advanced packaging is of great significance for the development of domestic chips.

The frequent restrictions on Chinese Chips by the United States will only accelerate China’s self-sufficiency. China canceled 32 billion chip Imports and Chinese Enterprises moved in the first domestically produced lithography machine which is the best proof some foreign media have stated that Bill Gates is right.

Bill Gates has long said that the United States can never stop China from having powerful chips and restrictions will only make China self-sufficient while the United States will also lose many high-paying jobs.

The fact is indeed as Bill Gates said China’s chip industry shows signs of self-sufficiency while the U.S technology industry laid off 130 000 people from January to may this year with more than 410 000 layoffs nationwide, if the United States does not stop its restrictive measures it will only affect the profits of U.S companies and the number of layoffs will continue to swell.

Last week:

Go China go!

Baby Metal- Catch Me If You Can || Goth Reacts

This chip genius returned to China from the U.S. and created the “Starlight China Core Project!”

In today’s Information age the importance of chips is beyond doubt but as the crystallization of the world’s top technology the technical difficulty of Chip research and development is also very high.

China started late in the field of chips and many core Technologies and underlying Technologies are in the hands of the United States.

If China wants to independently develop chips it must start from the basics in addition to the difficulty of research and development the supply chain of the chip industry is also a problem just because chip manufacturing requires multiple steps such as photolithography etching cleaning and precipitation more than 10 kinds of semiconductor equipment are needed as well as chip design chip packaging and testing and other links.

The US just wants to slow down the development of Chinese Chips by excluding China from the world supply chain it’s just that this move by the United States is undoubtedly an invalid behavior and it will only lead to Market chaos in the semiconductor industry.

In any case if you want to develop Chinese Chips you need to rely on Independent research and development only by mastering the core technology can you avoid being stuck.

Many Enterprises and talents in China have devoted themselves to the field of chips and have made many important progress for the development of chips in China among them Deng Han and his Starlight China chip project are an important part of the history of China’s chip development.

It can even be said that China’s first self-developed chip came from Deng jonghan.

The young genius Deng jonghan left the US and returned to China. Deng Han who was born in 1968 not only founded vimicro group but also is an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and the commander-in-chief of the Starlight China chip project.

He has contributed a lot to the development of China’s chips and developed China’s first chip with independent property rights.

Since he was a teenager Deng Han has been full of curiosity an exploratory Spirit towards the world after he was admitted to the Department of Earth and space science at the University of Science and Technology of China Deng Han’s Talent was gradually discovered when he was in college Deng Han also pointed out the professor’s thinking deviation in solving problems and because of this he was favored by the professor and joined the project team after Deng junghan entered the University of Barkley he successively obtained a master’s degree in physics a doctorate in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in economics and management after graduation Deng Han founded an integrated circuit company in the Silicon Valley of the United States

Entrepreneurship was a great success and the market value of the company he founded once reached 115 million U.S dollars however at the invitation of chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology Deng Han resolutely gave up his company in the United States and returned to China to engage in chip research and development.

After returning to China Deng Han founded vimicro and started the Starlight China chip project officially entering the field of Chip research and development the Prelude to the rise of China’s chips has begun during the chip research and development process Deng Han’s conditions were very difficult and he could only conduct research and development in the warehouse and once faced the risk of capital chain rupture but in the face of many difficulties Deng jonghan did not give up lightly but faced up to the difficulties and solved one problem after another.

On March 11 2001 under the unremitting efforts of Deng Han and his R D team vimicro launched China’s first chip with independent property rights Ching Guang number one Starlight number one is a multimedia chip and it is also a large-scale integrated circuit chip.

After that vimicro launched the Starlight series chips into the market and successfully listed them in the United States which made the reputation of Chinese Chips and opened the Prelude to the rise of Chinese Chips himself became an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and a foreign academician of the American Academy of engineering it is not difficult to see from this information that Deng Han has provided a major boost to the rise of China’s chips.

With the development of time many top Chinese technology companies have entered the chip track one after another according to statistics from 2019 to the present the total of 40 000 companies in China have entered the chip related field it can be said that China’s chips are developing flourish and gradually rise with the support of national policies and the large investment of some top companies Chinese Chips have gradually made major breakthroughs in many fields such as huawei’s self-developed Korean chips and EDA industrial software which are also at the advanced level in the world.

Shanghai microelectronics has gradually come to the Forefront of the world and semiconductor Fields such as etching machines and lithography machines and can reach the top five in the world in terms of market share now China’s chip industry can be said to be flourishing and the entire chip industry chain has a Chinese layout but China should always keep in mind that it was Deng Han and his Starlight China chip project that opened the Prelude to the rise of China’s chips.

SQUEEZE – Tempted (By The Fruit Of Another) REACTION

What is the best thing that has ever happened to you for being nice?

I was going to a conference in Las Vegas to attend a huge convention. Hotel rooms were scarce, but I had made my reservations far in advance.

I got to the hotel after midnight after a long flight, and had just unpacked and was about to get ready for bed when the door opened. A weary-eyed man glared at me and showed me his room assignment. Same as mine. We had been double-booked by accident.

The man got on the room phone and started screaming at the assistant manager, demanding that he be given the room. The intruder then gave the phone to me, and the manager asked if I minded being moved. I did, of course, but given the white-hot rage of my accidental roommate, I said gently, “I understand. These things happen. I’ll take another room.”

I repacked my clothes and soon the manager arrived, full of apologies, and took my bag. The man who had “won” the room smiled triumphantly.

And then the manager took me to one of the hotel’s biggest suites, which had four bedrooms, a kitchen stocked with liquor and fruit, and a killer view of Vegas. It was worthy of Sinatra or Elvis, and it was all mine for the week-long stay, at the same price as the standard room I booked, the manager said.

I was dazzled. When I asked the manager why I was being given such a glorious upgrade, he explained that it was the only room left in the hotel. He had to make a quick decision as to who would get it, “and lady,” he said, “you were the nice one.”

The 70’s were a VIBE! 💃🏽🕺🏽| KC and the Sunshine Band – I’m Your Boogie Man [REACTION!]

What have you found on the Internet today that made you smile?

I’ve always had this almost irrational dislike for influencers. They’re just about the most self-obsessed, vain, terrible and entitled crowd of creatures alive on this earth. So whenever one of them gets his or her comeuppance, I’m quite pleased.

Apparently there’s some law where if someone steals just a small amount, you get a warning of a ‘slap on the wrist’ style of punishment. And that’s all they do to you. Whereas if someone steals a larger amount of value, a store can actually press charges and get the thief in serious trouble. Hence the store waited, patiently, as they wrote down all the things the little kleptomaniac was taking. Compiled a nice, neat, comprehensive list of all items stolen over the years…

…and called the cops. Who sent her to jail. These are the same entitled influencers who demand to eat at a discount in restaurants “because they will give a shout out on their channel” and act offended when the bill comes in and they have to pay the full amount. Nothing puts a smile on my face quicker than seeing such a person get arrested.

Rainbow “Gates of Babylon” REACTION & ANALYSIS by Vocal Coach / Opera Singer

Have you ever lost any respect for someone instantly?

Are you ready to hear a story about a friend I had for 32 years and would have done anything for, whom I met when I was 5 years old?

When I was about 5 I was walking around the corner of my street, it was only 3 houses down, to my friend mark’s house which was right after the culdesac immediately after the corner. As the further of the two end houses came into view, in the yard I saw a boy my age getting beat up by a slightly older boy, so I immediately ran to defend the boy. Next thing I knew, I was on my back on the asphalt with the older boy on top of me strangling me and bashing the back of my head against the asphalt. I remember the mother of the boy I tried to save yelling and the kid beating the crap out of me ran off.

next I’m scream crying as I run to my house and my mom sees the blood on the back of my head and we head over to the house of who beat me up and my mom verbally bitch slapped that woman and her kid. Never had any issues with him again.

anyway, the boy I tried to save became my best friend. As time went on, I started to notice that his mother was awful to him, constantly telling him “why can’t you be more like Joey?” and every time I went over there, his mom always made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with Peter Pan peanut butter and a glass of milk, always. I still love that peanut butter.

A short time later, my friend started calling me asking “Joey, can you please come over to my house and ask my mom for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” my friend did this because his mom would punish him by not feeding him when he got in trouble and my friend knew that his mom would always feed me, and so I would give my friend the sandwich and milk so he could eat.

This is just the beginning of the absolute madness that was this kid’s life.

His mom hated him and he knew it and she constantly told him that she wished he was like me, I was super polite and calm because I had to be or I got my butt whooped at my house. For our entire childhood I was always trying to suggest to my friend how he might want to try behaving because I thought that if he started acting like me, his mom wouldn’t hate him so much… my friend never listened and, in fact, he always did the opposite of what I suggested and he would cause chaos and get in trouble that I would always be there to help him out of.

I was always there for him, failed relationships, finding out that his mom was his adopted mom, when his real mom died from cancer, when he was homeless after becoming a methhead, the birth of his daughter, when the mother of his daughter left them… I was there for every single trauma he suffered, I was there for him…

I had been married 12 years and my son had been showing symptoms of autism and my then wife couldn’t handle that her son had autism so she left our boys and I and for the first time, I desperately needed a friend.

My friend ignored my phone calls for almost two months before he finally answered his phone and agreed to meet me so I could talk to him.

when I get to my friend’s girlfriend’s apartment, he was out of work and living with his girlfriend, I was devastated still and after I walked into the apartment and asked my friend what he has been doing that was so important he couldn’t answer my phone calls…

my friend said “I’m glad your life is falling apart, because now we are even.” He then walked outside on the porch to smoke and closed the glass door behind him.

I was shocked. I looked at his girlfriend who was right there when he said it and I asked “did he just say I’m glad your life is falling apart because now we are even?”

his girlfriend, who was also shocked said “yeah” after staring at me, or through me for a few seconds.

at this moment my friend was on his phone outside and that’s when I realized, that for my entire life, the friend who I was always trying to get back on his feet, the guy who I believed had an awesome potential, the guy I tried to train to become a martial arts instructor at my school but he quit before he became a black belt and he’d been trying to get me to quit, this entire time he had been hoping that my life had gone wrong because he was so envious of what I had… turns out, what my friend was doing on his phone was messaging my soon to be ex wife and trying to hook up with her…

for the entire 32 years I knew him, I never once wished harm or misfortune, in fact, this is the moment I realized that I’ve never once wished ill on anyone, despite the explosive drunken abuse I suffered from my family… I always wished that they would get better and stop destroying their lives and everyone’s lives around them. It was this moment that I have ever felt true hatred towards someone, this was the first time that I felt like if I ever see him again, I will beat his face in until he is mush.

I still wish him the best, I would never wish harm upon someone, but to this day, I know that if I see him, I won’t be able to stop myself…

I hope that answers your question… it was rough writing this, it brought up some seriously painful feelings. I’m getting tears…

Singer Reacts to BABYMETAL – Gimme chocolate!! (OFFICIAL) (ギミチョコ) FIRST TIME

Netanyahu set to visit China next month, likely to annoy Biden

Biden has made clear he won’t invite Israel’s premier in the near future.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit China next month, signaling growing impatience with Washington, as Beijing increasingly throws its weight around in the region.

While there, the premier is slated to meet with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders. Advanced contacts have been held in recent days between the two leaders’ offices to arrange the visit.

No dates for the trip were given and no plans for a visit have been announced by Jerusalem or Beijing. The Prime Minister’s Office said it had “no comment at present” when contacted. The Chinese embassy in Tel Aviv did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

Netanyahu is seeking some kind of assurance from Chinese, sort of an unwritten agreement on the similar lines as Russia with which Israel has strategic understanding involving Iran.

Israel does not want China or North Korea sell Nukes to Iran. It is Israel’s only and a prime concern because Israel is known as one bomb country.

But I think Iran should have nukes, this way there would be peace in the middle east. As it is, Israel has several (nukes) warheads of its own. Deterrence is the name of the game.

AC/DC – Highway to Hell – (REACTION!)🤟🏽🔥WE CAN’T BELIEVE IT WAS THEM THE WHOLE TIME‼️

What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

Back in 1990, I was a Sales manager at a car dealership and was one of the winners of a sales contest for Sales Managers of all the dealers of that make in the Boston District. The bar was pretty low to win this contest and there was no big payoff for winning because I guess they just wanted to show some recognition and get the Sales Managers together to socialize, build communication, and cooperation between the dealerships which were located all over New England.

So we got to spend one night in a nice hotel in Boston, had a nice meal, and everyone received some recognition during the after dinner ceremonies.

But then came the after dinner fun. They gave us about two hours for a “Vegas Night”. Tables were set up just like in a casino: Blackjack tables, Roulette tables, and one Craps table.

The rules were they gave each of us $200 in chips that we could use to make bets. Whatever amount of chips that we had left at the end would be cashed in for real money.

Now, In the few years previous to that night, I had been to Las Vegas and Atlantic City a few times and found that Craps was my favorite game. I had played it enough and studied it enough that I was very familiar with the odds for every bet on the table and knew how to play the game.

So as soon as I got my $200, I headed for the craps table. Surprisingly, I was the only one who went to the Craps table.

And then, even more surprisingly, the person who was in charge of the tables came over and said to me and the dealers, “Just to make things simpler, we’ll pay out 2 to 1 on all the numbers bets.”

I don’t know why he said that. Maybe the dealers were inexperienced and he was trying to make it easier for them so they wouldn’t have to try to figure out the different odds for the different numbers, or maybe he figured that there was only one player at the table so not much damage could be done.

But as soon as he said that, I knew what he meant . . . and bells went off in my head . . . I knew immediately what I was going to do!

A Numbers bet is where you put a bet on one of the numbers: 4–5–6–8–9–10. You are betting that when the dice are rolled, they are going to add up to the number you bet on before they total 7. If the dice total 7, you lose. Different numbers normally pay different odds.

For instance, the 6 and the 8 have the best odds of coming up, but they normally pay the lowest odds because of that. Normally if you make a $6 bet on the 6 or 8, and you win, you would win $7.

What happened here was they changed the payout on that very same bet to $12. . . . Which drastically changed the odds in my favor. All I had to was make a pass line bet, roll the dice, then keep betting on the 6 and 8. The odds were in my favor!

What I didn’t do was say anything out loud. I didn’t want anyone rethinking that decision to change the odds.

So I started winning right away. But it didn’t look like much at first because I started with just $200. But as the money started coming in, I slowly raised my bets and the money started coming in faster.

After awhile, I was still the only player on the table when one of the other Sales Managers walked up and stood next to me at the table. I had previously talked to this guy a few times on the phone at work but didn’t really know him other than that. And then he decided to be chatty. He was started asking questions like, “Do you know how to play this game? I don’t know anything about it. Can you teach me how to play?”

Well, the last thing I needed right then was someone disturbing my concentration on the game. I knew that I only had a limited amount of time to take advantage of this unexpected loophole.

So I turned to him and said, “Listen, put your chips right up here and do exactly what I tell you to do. Don’t ask any questions. Just do it. I’ll explain it all to you later.”

He was kind of taken aback at that and I could see the confusion on his face while he was contemplating what I had just said . . . but then he said, “Okay”.

So I continued doing what I had been doing and started telling him where to place his bets, how much (how many chips) to bet, and what to say to the dealer when he placed a bet. He caught on pretty quick and followed my instructions very well, so I wasn’t slowed down too much, and he started getting more excited when he saw the money starting to roll in.

When the time was up, almost all of the players who played the other games were broke. They had lost their seed money. Very few players had any money left at all.

We were the big winners!

I won just over $3000 and my new best friend won just over $1500. Needless to say, he was ecstatic!

The funniest part was when other Sales Managers that he knew came over and asked him how he did it. His answer was, “I don’t know! All I did was do what he told me to do!”

It was a fun night!

I am so mad I haven’t heard this tribute until now: AC/DC – Back In Black (Official Video)

Where did the term “money laundering” come from?

From laundromats.

A 1920s laundromat

Back in 1920s, gangsters needed some way of showing their money came from legitimate sources. The solution was to invest into laundromats and show them as highly profitable enterprises. The bookeeping standards of the day made it quite easy to show 127 customers used their facilities in a single night, even though they only had 1 paying customer at the time. I will hazard a guess and say the term “money laundering” probably started as a joke.

The term stuck and now the process of showing illicit profits as coming from legitimate business is called “laundering money”.

I legitly cried😭| FIRST TIME HEARING LUCIANO PAVAROTTI – NESSUN DORMA REACTION

Watching these reactions, and reading the text really underlines THE MESSAGE.

What things should I never do?

Never (ever) touch someone’s laptop screen with your fingertip.
Never do this with someone’s book.

Please use bookmarks. Please.

Never take too much interest in someone else’s life, mind your own business.
Never believe on these types of Instagram quotes, “People having extraordinary creativity tend to have less sleep at night.” You’ll have less capacity to learn, you need deep sleep for deep insights.
Inspiration isn’t imitation. Don’t be a sheep, just because someone else is doing it, doesn’t mean it works for you.
“Never deduce that attraction is love.”
Never do something stupid just to fulfill your desire, know difference between desire and dream.
Don’t speak bitter words when you are angry, regret is unbearable.
Don’t rush. Never. If you’re late for office or college, it will make difference of a few seconds at most. Your life is far more valuable.

WHAT A SHOW!! Mötley Crüe – Home Sweet Home REACTION

What are some unknown psychological tricks?

Here are a few psychological tricks that you may find interesting:

1. The Power of Mirroring: Mirroring someone’s body language, gestures, and tone of voice can create a sense of rapport and connection. It can make the other person feel more comfortable and receptive towards you.

2. The Contrast Principle: When presenting options, strategically place a less desirable option before the one you want the person to choose. By comparison, the preferred choice will appear more attractive.

3. The Zeigarnik Effect: This effect states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. If you want someone to remember something, provide incomplete information or leave a task unfinished.

4. The Foot-in-the-Door Technique: Start with a small request and once the person agrees, follow up with a larger request. People tend to be more likely to comply with the second request if they have already agreed to the first one.

5. The Anchoring Effect: When making a negotiation or presenting a price, start with a higher number to anchor the person’s perception. Subsequently, any lower numbers will appear more reasonable and favorable.

6. The Halo Effect: People tend to associate positive qualities with someone who possesses one admirable trait. For example, if a person is physically attractive, others may assume they are also intelligent or kind.

7. The Primacy and Recency Effect: People tend to remember the first and last items in a list more accurately than those in the middle. When giving a presentation or conveying important information, place key points at the beginning and end for better retention.

8. The Ben Franklin Effect: Ask someone for a small favor or advice. This can create a sense of investment and liking, as people tend to rationalize their actions by thinking they must like the person they helped.

9. The Scarcity Principle: Highlighting limited availability or scarcity of a product or opportunity can increase its perceived value and desirability. People tend to place higher importance on items that are rare or in short supply.

10. The Power of Framing: The way information is presented or framed can significantly influence perception and decision-making. Presenting the same information in a positive or negative light can elicit different responses.

Use these psychological tricks responsibly and ethically, focusing on building positive relationships and improving communication.

@ Dio “Don’t Talk To Strangers” REACTION & ANALYSIS by Vocal Coach / Opera Singer

“I can’t get enough Ronnie James Dio. I hereby further profess that he is my vocal crush, and we’re digging into your next highest requested song “Don’t Talk To Strangers.” This is by far one of my favorite songs of all time. Its message, the vocal runs and how flawlessly Dio brings out that emotion is insanely captivating. He is a god.”

Can the US become a manufacturing power again, or is that just an unrealistic dream?

At the height of the United States being a “Manufacturing Giant”, there were clusters of industrial centers scattered throughout America. This is a fact that most Americans know, but few others understand. The United States was NEVER a homogenized Manufacturing Colossus. Instead, it was a nation that contained “manufacturing areas”.

A “Manufacturing Area” had the following characteristics…

Easy access to raw materials (Rail, roads, and canal, or ports)
Uninterrupted supply of electricity.
Access to water (to cool the machinery)

As these “Manufacturing Areas” evolved, they developed…

A series of suppliers (small industries) that served the major factories.
Housing for the workers.
A network of outlying communities.

Over time, These “Manufacturing Areas” would come and go as technology advanced. For instance, one of the first “Manufacturing Areas” was the Blackstone Valley in Massachusetts. They were big on Buggy Whips, and Corset Hoops. The canals in the Blackstone Valley delivered the products to the ports up and down the New England coastline for distribution to the population centers.

For our purposes, we will omit Blackstone Valley, and instead concentrate in the most recent clusters of “Manufacturing Areas” in the United States. These clusters are all that remains of the industrial might that the United States once was. These clusters were active from the 1930’s through to the 1970’s, with some migratory egress lasting into the 1990’s to places such as “Silicon Valley” and “Industrial Parks” located in the Southeast states.

At that time, the United States had (perhaps) five major “Manufacturing Areas”, and around twenty or so smaller “Manufacturing Areas”. They are all gone now.

The video tours of these areas are very telling…

Video tour of Pine Bluff AR (Clothing Hub) found HERE

.Video tour of the supporting towns surrounding Pine Bluff found HERE.Video tour of Jackson, MS (Household and commercial goods) found HERE.Video tour of Gary, IN (Automobile, heavy Industry) found HERE.Video tour of Chester PA (General goods, minor industry) found HERE.Video tour of California in 2023 (Western migration of Industry) found HEREVideo tour of Shreveport, LA (Oil, and light manufacturing) found HEREVideo tour of Pennsylvania (Steel and hard Industry) found HEREVideo tour of Kenningston PA (steel and manufacturing) found HEREVideo tour of Pasadena CA (High Tech Hub) found HEREVideo Tour of Steubenville OH (steel, automotive, and household) found HERE

I can provide many other videos. You take a camera and film yourself driving through these “Manufacturing Areas”. There are many of them, and they all look the same. Zombie empty cities. Ruined buildings, decayed infrastructure, crime, drugs, and many, many abandoned shopping carts.

The very few remaining “Manufacturing Areas” in the United States are very well dispersed. They are in these stand alone mini-clusters called “Industrial Parks”. Most American Industrial Parks house from five to up to twenty companies, and typically consist of an office building and a warehouse. Of those that provide any kinds of manufacturing, they tend to be primarily final assembly stations with people who unpack 40′GP shipping containers, re-box foreign-made items, and slap a “Made in the USA” sticker on them.

For the United States to regain ANY kind of major manufacturing role, it must focus on the basics.

Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Infrastructure.
laws and regulations that make it easy to create a supplier base to support manufacturing.
An educational system that encourages talented, and hard-working personnel.
A society that praises merit, fidelity, and an attention to detail.

I argue that of what remains in the United States today, the United States has a long, long way to go towards regaining it’s long lost industrial base. Do not be fooled by charts and figures that say otherwise. Anyone can lie and create bogus nonsensical charts and figures. Go outside yourself and look around.

American industry is dead.

What remains are either “soft industries” such as “Customer Service stations”, “Computer software coding centers”, or a handful of military and high-tech specialists. These types of industry are not providing “much needed” products and services to the United States domestic requirements.

Compared to China…

There is no comparison. China (which is large enough to house five complete United States inside of it) has over 2000 “Manufacturing Areas” supported by an amazing network of perhaps 10,000 smaller communities that provide first and second tier supply. All with everything needed to make, design, ship quality products globally.

So to answer the question; “Can American industry be revived to a point of serious competition against China?”

The answer is YES. But it will require a complete turnover of the American leadership class, a discarding of the American method of governance, a revamp of the American educational system, and a complete rebuilding of America’s infrastructure from the ground up. If the United States were to come to a full and complete screeching halt right now, and focus on this objective, you can see major changes in the “proper direction” with the next twenty years.

Otherwise, forget-about-it.

Ram Jam “Black Betty” Best of Reactions Compilation

Pennsylvania Dutch Brownies

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup light molasses
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 1/8 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan; set aside.
In a 4-quart saucepan, melt butter with chocolate over low heat. Remove saucepan from heat. With wire whisk or fork, stir in molasses, then eggs.
With spoon, stir in flour, ginger, cloves, baking soda, salt, 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon just until blended. Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted 2 inches from edge comes out clean.
Meanwhile, in cup, combine remaining 2 teaspoons sugar and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon; set aside.
Remove pan from oven; immediately sprinkle brownies with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Cool brownies in pan on wire rack at least 2 hours. When cool, cut brownies lengthwise into 3 strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 5 pieces. Cut each piece diagonally in half.

Source: Good Housekeeping Christmas Joys – Hearst Books

@ A Masterpiece! Cranberries – Zombie

So many Africans have been “moved”by this song and video. I guess all the wars in Africa really strike home.

U.S./NATO HQ in Kramatorsk Reportedly “Hit” by Russian Missile(s) – Conflicting Claims and Blame

World Hal Turner 28 June 2023

Late yesterday, June 27, 2023, reports began FLOODING out of Kramatorsk, Ukraine, that a Hotel/Restaurant had been brutally hit by “Russian” Missiles, and NUMEROUS American-English Speakers — and troops with American Flag patches — could be heard and seen in the aftermath.

Photos and video proved there was, in fact, a missile strike. Those photos and video also PROVED American troop-type people were hit, some injured, some killed.

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Within an hour, Ukraine publicly claimed that innocent children and “American tourists” were the victims.

“Tourists?” In military uniforms?

In an area 30 or so miles from the active front lines that is being shelled almost daily now, after the loss of Bakhmut??

Then, some damning pictures came out showing the remnants of a missile trail in the sky over the hotel, and worse, missile debris on the ground PROVING the missile was a British Storm Shadow missile. Russians don’t use those . . . .

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This morning, the story has changed quite a bit – TWICE !

First there was a claim that the Ukraine Air Force “accidentally” targeted the hotel. Well, that might certainly be possible and would explain the Storm Shadow missile debris. It would also explain the extensive damage – it could, in fact, have been a Russian missile and then a Ukrainian missile by mistake.

But wait, the story changed yet again.

Word is out this morning that officials are “looking for the people who betrayed the secret meeting taking place, to the Russians.”

Secret meeting?

With Americans and other NATO troops, under arms and in military uniforms?

Inside the war zone of Ukraine?

Pass the peas Marge…

China had banned Google, Amazon, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Discord, WhatsApp, Whisper, and pretty much every single major US website. Then made a Chinese knockoff that gives the CCP complete access. Why should anyone defend TikTok?

China has banned nothing in China and in the world.

Amazon, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Discord, WhatsApp, Whisper, and pretty much every single major US website refuse to follow the Chinese laws to operate their operations in China, thus they have not been approved by the Chinese laws for these businesses to operate in China.

It is the US who has blocked all the free international media and internet such as the free Russian international media and internet.

As a result, all Americans have been living in their totally isolated, completely censored and lying media. Americans know nothing about the free world, but the US style of democratic nonsense and disinformation.

@ LUCIANO PAVAROTTI sings NESSUN DORMA (Reaction)

Rage as a tool

Rage is an emotion, and as such it can be useful or dangerous. It’s up to us to figure out how to use it adequately. Many people would use other techniques to funnel their rage so that it wasn’t destructive.

Some would run, lift weights, or apply themselves in sports.

Others would internalize it, drink, brawl, or jut be an asshole.

Still others funnel that rage into music.

Those of us who are from the United States, or from the Domain, or have survived a broken marriage, a bad boss, or a corrupt government have all experienced real cold rage. I know I have. And I do my best to control it, least my “incredible hulk” comes out.

This post is going to be a tad different.

And it isn’t for everyone. What this post contains is some pretty harsh rock-n-roll music that has often served me (personally) in releasing and dealing with rage.

As such, it’s a bid dangerous and a tad toxic if you are not ready for it.

If you are not ready, then just skip this article and wait for a calmer and gentler post tomorrow. But if you are ready, or willing, or adventuresome, then have some fun…

BUT DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU

Here we go…

Austin Meade – Happier Alone

A Day To Remember: Miracle [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Zero 9:36 – Adrenaline (Official Video)

Bring Me The Horizon feat. BABYMETAL – Kingslayer

Wolfgang Van Halen – Mammoth WVH: Distance (Official Music Video)

Seether – Bruised And Bloodied (Official Music Video)

AC/DC – Shot In The Dark (Official Video)

Beartooth – Below / Devastation (Live at St. Augustine Amphitheater)

AC/DC – Realize (Official Video)

Papa Roach – The Ending (Remastered)

Greta Van Fleet Candlelight Sessions – Broken Bells (Live)

Greta Van Fleet – Heat Above (Live)

Five Finger Death Punch – Living The Dream (Official Music Video)

Daughtry – Heavy Is The Crown (Official Music Video)

Pop Evil – Breathe Again (Official Music Video)

I Prevail – Every Time You Leave (Official Music Video) ft. Delaney Jane

Rise Against – Nowhere Generation

Architects – “Animals”

The Pretty Reckless – And So It Went (Official Music Video)

The HU – Wolf Totem feat. Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach (Official Music Video)

Bring Me The Horizon – Teardrops (Official Video)

Papa Roach x Jeris Johnson – Last Resort Reloaded (Official Music Video)

Chevelle – Self destructor (Official Music Video)

Five Finger Death Punch – A Little Bit Off (Official Music Video)

Foo Fighters – Waiting On A War (Official Video)

World War III continues, evidence of micro-nukes, bio-weapons, full spectrum warfare are clear. Interesting things in Korea, Germany, and the Middle East

Stay tuned. All of the subjects mentioned in the title has already been covered within the messy slush-file of MM articles. All intentionally buried within a safe coverage of delicious food, cats, music, and stories of the human condition. Impossible for computer algorithms and troll agents to root out and locate. It’s the MM way, don’t you know. What subjects?

Nordstream pipeline detonations
The Pentagon using the Musk satellites to ram the Chinese space station, and then China taking down all of them with an electromagnetic cannon
The UK launching a micro-nuke in Ukraine and caught red-handed by Russia
Bio-Weapons NATO general captured at a weaponized development facility (Ukraine) performing “gain of function” studies. Also known as “weaponizing the virus”.
China stopping the bio-weapon attempts to induce famine
China capturing and killing off all of the CIA and NED assets
North Korea missile attacks
Disabling an American nuclear sub that was “this close” to being captured outright.
Sinking another one that had to be recovered (F-35 splash into the South China Sea anyone?)
The Trump mega-flotilla that turned around and sailed back home
Covid-19, the tick-virus and the humanized swine-flu virus bio-weapons and the Taiwan “surprise” virus.

And that’s all right off the top of my head. But I’m not trying to keep score. In this “game” of world war III, it’s impossible to keep score and absolutely meaningless. You have to keep in mind the objectives of all parties (as best as we can ascertain) and then observe the elements play out. And as they play out, we migrate to areas that will not be affected by the fallout (both figuratively and literally). Remember, the reason why everyone is so confused as to what is going on is simply because no one can see the full picture. There’s a plan. There’s always a plan. Keep in mind why things appear to be a world run by crazy people…

They might actually be crazy.
The Western “news” is a propaganda arm of the US government.
Actual “news” and events are not being reported on.
Trivial events are blown all out of proportion.
Real secrets are kept secret.
Counter intelligence operations are at full-speed.

So just sit tight. The latest information from the Domain Commander is…

No change to the previous predictions; small to medium bads lie ahead.
Events are playing out within predictable patterns well known and understood by Domain (Historians).
Some humans will experience discomfort, but any areas of conflict and turmoil will be isolated and geographically segmented.

Take care. Be prudent.

Important note

WordPress has “updated” it’s software, and messed up everything MM side. Do not be frustrated, but much of the grammar corrections, formatting, and pictures were deleted or screwed up in this post, and I am too exhausted to repair what amounts to 10,000 words of text.

Self-format if you must.

Apollo 13 | “Houston, We Have a Problem”

Singapore and China sign 19 agreements to boost cooperation

Singapore and China sign 19 agreements to boost cooperation at annual apex meeting

The agreements were signed at the 18th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation meeting, co-chaired by DPM Heng Swee Keat and Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng

China is where the world future lies :

Article HERE

Pelosi Attacker’s Home Had Gay Pride & BLM Flags

Slow Motion Economic Train Wreck; Nearly 40% of small businesses in the US failed to pay rent in October

World Hal Turner 01 November 2022

Small businesses in various states are struggling to pay their rent, a new report shows, with rent delinquency at nearly 40 percent this month. 

The findings, published Tuesday by Boston-based business tracker Alignable, are raising more than eyebrows, as they illustrate the stark effect inflation is having on everyday Americans. 

The survey of 4,789 randomly selected small business owners saw more than half of respondents say their rent is at least 10 percent higher than six months ago. 

If you go back seven months, the majority said their rents had increased by at least 20 percent. 

Moreover, the study found that roughly 37 percent of small businesses - almost half of all Americans working in the private sector - were left unable to pay rent in October. 

Compounding concerns is the fact that several states, including New York and California, are well over the already-high national average. 

Offering an explanation for the phenomenon, study author Chuck Casto wrote that small business owners are steadfast, but that their incomes are 'basically being eaten away by inflationary pressures' as grim figures continue to rock financial markets. 

Alignable discerned that one-third of businesses are at risk of closing if revenue does not 'ramp up' significantly in the coming months, as consumers shy away from spending amid fears of an impending recession. As to the reasons for the short funds, poll-takers blamed higher rents, the impact of more than a year of high inflation, steeper-than-usual gas prices, increases in supply chain costs, rising labor expenses and shortages, and reduced consumer spending. 

Worse, about 49 percent of restaurants were unable to pay their rent this month, up from 36, in September, while an identical 49 percent of car dealership and repair shop owners defaulted on their October rent.

Chips Act Won’t Work

It doesn’t make sense for the US to invest billions of dollars to support the manufacturing of semiconductors if they have to be shipped to Asia to be completed.

Bloomberg opinion piece HERE

Interesting story from MoA

Down Time Recently the provider of this Website, Typepad, moved their systems to a new datacenter. It then announced an additional maintenance period to update the system’s architecture. That ended up in a mighty screw-up. For the last days Moon of Alabama was a casualty of it. After a while the Typepad engineers recognized the problems and decided, correctly, to roll everything back to the old version. It took a while, but finally most stuff is working again. There are two maxims in Information Technology. I. Never change a running system. Unfortunately there are circumstances, like growth pain etc, where one HAS to change things. That usually ends up in trouble. Another IT maxim is: II. Never change multiple things at a time. This is where the recent Typepad screw-up happened. Multiple components of the system were changed at the same time and did not interact properly with each other. Been there, done that. Back around 1995, I was working for a large international access provider who’s systems always had growth pains. Everything was well prepared for a down time and a major update of the architecture. A short maintenance period was announced and we proceeded with it. Every element had been tested before. But unbeknown to the software engineers the network providers, those with the physical access lines, had decided to use our announced down time for a change in their systems too. The two changes collided with each other and it took more than 24 hours to even find out what had happened. The roll back, not well planned, created more of a mess. We were down for 72+ hours. We had several million customers at that time. They weren’t happy. Typepad is now back and with it all the blogs that are running on it. I am pretty sure that there are still some bugs that will have to be cleaned up over the next days. But the service has, in general, been good over the many years Moon of Alabama existed and ran on it. It is relatively cheap and relieves me of setting up and administrating my own servers. That’s why I will stick to it. For now.

Posted by b at 6:13 UTC

ST4: The Voyage Home (HMS Bounty Gets the whale)

European Union Gets Nasty Dose of Reality over Natural Gas

World Hal Turner 01 November 2022

The European Union (EU) got hit with a double dose of nasty reality today. When the European Union “Sanctioned” Russian natural gas, they stopped buying it and had to look elsewhere, which sent the price skyrocketing for everyone.

Then The EU decided it would impose a Price Cap on . . . RUSSIAN . . . natural gas, telling all other countries they must not pay over the price cap! Imagine the nerve of the EU trying to tell the entire world what price they MUST pay for someone ELSE’s natural gas?!?!?!

Today, Qatar told Europe it will stop sending natural gas to Europe of they try to impose a price cap on RUSSIAN fuels!

Europe is already in a massive mess over natural gas; it’s not only costing them triple or quadruple what it used to, there are actual shortages.

If Europe alienates Qatar by imposing a price cap on RUSSIAN gas, and thereby gets cut off from Qatar gas – people in Europe might freeze to death this winter for lack of natural gas. Power plants in Europe would have no fuel to generate electric. Europe would be plunged into the dark ages.

Speaking of shortages, GAZPROM announced today that, by their measurements, Ukraine has presently stored 14.6 Billion cubic meters (m³⁾ of natural gas.

But the country needs 19 Billion m³ to get through the winter. Ukraine doesn’t have that much . . . and cannot get it, either.

So it seems at first glance, people in Ukraine, will actually end up freezing to death this winter. So much for Ukraine “winning” it’s war with Russia.

Maybe, if Ukraine surrenders now, they can settle things fast enough so that their people don’t freeze to death?

Or is noble surrender too much to ask from the Zelensky tyrants in Kiev?

This Is Serious! We’re Gonna Crash BIG TIME” – Robert Kiyosaki’s Last WARNING

Interesting, though he’s got a problem with communism. I suppose it’s legacy fear. But check it out.

https://youtu.be/E4ZDEaqYQDs

Russians Hack U.S. “DELTA Command & Control System” – Complete Ukraine Battle Plans Exposed

World Hal Turner 01 November 2022

. The United States “DELTA” Command and Control System is the computer network that the US uses for battle operations. It is constantly updated by military planners and intelligence sources with troop deployment info, weapons stock info, and complete attack plans. Russia has HACKED it; Ukraine’s battle plans totally compromised. Equally important, the DELTA system is also constantly updated with information about the OPPOSING forces, in this case, Russia. Here is what a Russian computer Hacker got access to, with videos proving he got access, and how it is likely to be dispositive of the entire Ukraine war, in Russia’s favor.

Herman And The Bank Robbers

Enjoy. https://youtu.be/f_DDvG-yv4c

Iran Raises “Red Banner of Retaliation” Over Mosque; Saudis on High Alert

World Hal Turner 01 November 2022

Iran has raised the Red Banner of Retaliation over the dome of Jamkaran Mosque in Qom city, which amounts to a declaration of war. What caused the raising of the Red Banner is yet to be said. The last time the Red Banner was raised was when Qassem Suleimani was assassinated in 2020. After that banner was raised, Iran fired missiles which hit a US Base in the region, injuring many US military personnel. Whatever the present issue may be, Saudi Arabia notified its US Military contacts they expect what they call an “imminent” attack against Saudi Arabia by Iran. They are not certain if the attack will be by missiles, or by Iranian Drones. US and Saudi air defenses are now on high alert.

Men in Black: A Series of Tests

Fun. https://youtu.be/qHR8IdyTO1M

New Fudan Report: US-China Chip War

From HERE Securitisation of the US’s Semiconductor Industry Policy”. Its authors are Shen Yi (沈逸) and Mo Fei (莫非). The former is a controversial professor of international politics and the director of the Centre for International Cyberspace Governance at Fudan University. With a following of almost two million on Weibo as well as regular videos and opinion pieces discussing international relations, he has become a well-known public intellectual in China. Shen has previously written about his experience of being interrogated by the FBI and having his US visa revoked back in 2018. The second author, Mo Fei, is a PhD candidate at Fudan University’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs and a research assistant at the aforementioned Centre for International Cyberspace Governance. This report appears to have been written, or at least completed, in September, in other words, prior to the US’s most recent high-tech export controls. The authors, however, were aware that “the Biden administration plans to further strengthen export controls on China in the areas of artificial intelligence and chip manufacturing, and that it was considering establishing a system within the US government that would give it the power to directly block US entities from investing in China and require information disclosure.” The following summary and excerpts should therefore be read keeping this background in mind. On a side note, I may occasionally post special editions such as this one in addition to Sinification’s weekly format if and when I feel that a particular study is noteworthy, topical and too long to share as a thread on Twitter.

Key arguments from this report:

The US is making a strategic mistake in channelling most of its energy into outdoing China in the tech sector. Semiconductors only constitute a small part of the US-China rivalry.
The US’s chip manufacturing capacity lags far behind that of East Asia. The CHIPS Act is unlikely to provide enough funding and incentives to change this.
US allies will not be willing to sacrifice their own interests for the sake of America’s.
China has the financial firepower, unrivalled capacity for government-industry coordination and absolute determination to accelerate the development of its chip industry, come what may.

On the drivers and dynamics of the US-China chip war:

“China's fundamental national strategy is to strengthen its national power, improve the standard of living of its citizens and enhance its international status through peaceful economic development. The US’s strategy towards China is to 'lock up' China's rise, curtail its international influence and increase its dependence on the US in the international system. Therefore, the essence of the strategic competition between the US and China is a struggle between economic development and domestic governance rather than a traditional hegemonic or military-security struggle.”

“The US, however, has rather simplistically focused on the nature of the strategic competition between the US and China as being a 'technological battle', and then even more simplistically determined that a series of [tech-related] policies will be able to successfully block the strategic challenge posed by China in a relatively short period of time and at a relatively low cost.”

“The US has [now] put anti-China national security concerns ahead of such economic interests as ‘cost’, ‘efficiency’ and ‘market’.”

“Advanced semiconductors have become an outlet for the US to release its security-related anxieties about China and have been turned into a symbol … demonstrating the US’s superior strength and its gradually winning in the context of US-China rivalry. At the same time, in the absence of one single effective ‘tool’ to contain China's technological rise and as one of the very few holds the US [still] has in the economic sphere that can effectively handicap China, any action that can widen the gap between China and the US in advanced semiconductor technology will have the psychological effect of ‘easing the anxiety’ and ‘increasing the smugness’ of US policymakers. Each [US] crackdown on China's advanced semiconductor technology will release the US’s security-related anxiety about China in stages. [But] when new security-related anxieties reach a certain level, it will once again drive the US to take further restrictive measures against [the development of] China’s advanced semiconductor technology.”

“At the [current] stage of the strategic stalemate between the US and China, the US can only add to the semiconductor technology embargo compulsively and frequently to demonstrate that it still has considerable coercive power and strategic advantages over China.”

“But the fact is that advanced semiconductors only constitute a small part of the strategic competition between the US and China.”

On the difficulty for the US to rebuild a chip manufacturing base at home, gain the backing of its allies and shut out China:

“Global economic integration, the formation and consolidation of global supply chains, and China’s deep roots in the global economic system make it almost impossible for the US to replicate its Cold War strategy against the Soviet Union in its strategic competition with China.”

“History repeats itself but never in exactly the same way. The United States today does not have the same strategic capabilities as it did thirty years ago, and China is now already highly integrated into both the new international division of labour and the world’s science and innovation cycle. Even in the area of semiconductors, where the US is in a position of power and China is at a disadvantage, the US is no longer in a position to [simply] remove China from the supply chain of advanced semiconductors. The inherent vulnerability of the Biden administration's chip strategy leaves room for China's semiconductor industry to break out of the US’s siege. More specifically:”

“The Biden administration's semiconductor strategy runs counter to the global semiconductor industry’s development pattern and lacks an adequate domestic semiconductor manufacturing base to support it.”

“US semiconductor manufacturing capabilities lag far behind those of East Asian countries. [This is explained by] the wave of de-industrialisation that began in the late 20th century in the US, coupled with the fact that most American IC companies have opted for a 'Fabless' operating model, focusing on design and outsourcing manufacturing.”

“The US’s heavy reliance on East Asian semiconductor production capacity exacerbates the risk of disruption to the US chip supply chain, while also increasing the US's vulnerability in the context of its strategic competition with China.”

“Now, for national security and geostrategic reasons, the US is planning to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to its shores … However, such a systemic change will be very difficult to achieve with just a single ‘chip bill’.”

“The US’s current approach has seen it use mainly federal funding to invest domestically in high-tech R&D … to train new talent and to attract foreign firms to set up factories in the US. However, … if the US wants to restructure the [current] layout of the global semiconductor industry, US$50+ billion from the federal government will clearly not be enough to solve this issue.”

“In September 2022, the Center for a New American Security released [a report] … which stated that the US CHIPS Act is designed to close the cost gap between producing chips in the US versus in East Asia, but that current financial support and related incentives were still far from sufficient to close the cost gap across the industry.”

“The actual effectiveness of the CHIPS Act may differ quite significantly from the optimistic estimates (in favour of the US) that are now being made in a large number of studies; one cannot exclude a scenario in which the buzz is followed by business as usual.

“Frankly speaking, although we still need to wait for [these measures] to be put into practice … it is arguably the ‘pull’ by the end customer that will prove more important than the ‘push’ by the US government’s industrial policies. If the end-consumer market proves unwilling to pay a premium [for these high-tech products] … the Biden government's semiconductor strategy … will not be able to [fully] restructure the [current] layout of the global semiconductor industry.”

“The US’s influence within its chip alliances is not sufficient to convince its allies to follow the Biden administration's semiconductor strategy on the premise of ‘America First’ and ‘each country has to pay its own way [i.e. with no help from the US]’.”

“[In reality,] the core of the US’s semiconductor strategy, is, on the one hand, to siphon off resources from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands and other relevant semiconductor companies to make up for the technological shortcomings in its own semiconductor manufacturing sector. On the other, to convince its allies and partners, using its position of power in the high-tech world, to stop semiconductor technology deals and manufacturing cooperation with China.”

“The Biden administration is [effectively] strengthening itself at the expense of others … thus increasing the vulnerability of the Biden administration's semiconductor strategy. In other words, US allies and partners have their own semiconductor strategies and are not willing to sacrifice their own interests in order to serve the US’s semiconductor strategy.”

“[For example,] South Korea cannot [simply] decouple from China, just for the sake of cooperating with Washington in building up the US’s [new] supply chain, without taking into account the fact that China is South Korea’s largest semiconductor market … South Korea is ambivalent about the ‘CHIP 4’ alliance currently being assembled by the US.”

“Taiwan, on the other hand, still has illusions about [the effectiveness of] its ‘Silicon Shield’ and does not want the US semiconductor industry to develop in the direction of self-sufficiency for national security reasons.”

“There are deep-rooted conflicting currents in the underlying logic of Taiwan's semiconductor strategy with the US. Politically, Taiwan is investing in US factories to curry favour with the US on geopolitical issues. Economically [however], Taiwan's semiconductor industry … does not view the US ‘chip strategy’ favourably.”

“In addition to [the Netherland’s] ASML, the Biden administration has also tried to pressure Nikon, a Japanese DUV equipment manufacturer, to stop exporting such equipment to China, but the Japanese have also refused. This shows that, when it comes to the technological embargo imposed on China, although the ‘public-private’ alliance formed by the US will cooperate with the US’s strategy, there is a limit to such cooperation. This can be explained by two factors: the pull of the Chinese market and a concern for US technological hegemony [among its allies].”

On the US’s tech crackdown on China and the the medium-to-long term prospects for both the US and China:

“The specific technical details involved in the semiconductor industry are complex enough to ensure that [only] a small group of elite politicians in Washington can monopolise the content and future direction of these discussions, thereby making it easier to gain indulgence and support for their contrarian actions both at home and abroad.”

“Take the latest US chip sanctions against China on 1 September as an example … The ban presents a remarkable internal paradox. It was initially intended to create additional barriers to the development of China's high-tech industry. However, it may well end up having the opposite effect. Ironically, in the medium to long term, US pressure is set to ‘force’ China's high-tech industry to develop a more solid industrial base as well as [its own] core technologies. Objectively speaking and from the US’s perspective, this will lead to [the emergence of] a more challenging, comprehensive, and thus more-difficult-to-contain, powerful adversary.”

“In the short term, US tech-related policies targeting China will indeed create a window of opportunity. That is to say, a window during which China will be seeking to fix the adverse consequences caused by the US’s technology crackdown. For the US, this window will mean that the US is given more time to develop itself in a number of key and emerging technologies, including advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence, so as to gain the upper hand over China … But such a turn of events is far from being a given. In other words, in addition to restricting technology exports to China, the US government will also need to implement effective domestic policies to support and guide its efforts in these areas. However, if we look at the US’s performance on related issues since the 1980s, the picture is not particularly promising. Of course, the recently passed CHIPS Act provides some room for imagination. However, … in terms of the type of governance capacity required to steer and organise such large-scale strategic industries, the US government is not currently in a position to provide a convincing answer to observers.”

“In the short term, the most immediate and tangible effects of the Biden administration's tech-crackdown on China will be: (i) to create real obstacles for the development of related industries in China; (ii) to generate a public opinion wave of pro-US and anti-China rhetoric; and (iii) to use ‘hurting the US’s strategic rival’ as political leverage during the upcoming US mid-term elections and the presidential elections two years later.”

“In terms of [economic] weight, the US economy is still the largest in the world, but its lead over the second-placed has narrowed to the point where it is within sight and able to be overtaken. The US still has an overall advantage in terms of cutting-edge technology, but this advantage does not ensure that its use will simply lead to the continued development of its strengths and consolidation of its superiority. It will [probably] not be possible for the US to maintain its overwhelming technological dominance over the rest of the world. In other words, there is a lack of certainty surrounding the US’s ability to make further technological breakthroughs. Its traditional strengths are shrinking or even [already] lost, and its toolbox lacks an obvious ‘magic bullet’ like the US’s containment strategy during the Cold War, which could simply ‘solve the problem once and for all’ vis-à-vis the US’s main strategic rival. In fact, the anxiety that is spreading in Washington's policy-making circles is constantly forcing the US government to look for, and subsequently try out, any type of tool that can produce short-term results. Thus, for policy makers at least, it is a way of justifying domestically that ‘something has already been done’ and avoiding simply looking on [helplessly] at the gradual erosion of the US’s hegemonic powers.”

“The specific condition [to the US’s success] is that the target of such a weapon [export controls] must have a sufficiently weak political will to abandon its intention to develop the industry in question immediately after the US’s strike … [However,] China has both the will and an unmatched capacity for industrial policymaking to drive and guide the development of its own alternative technologies [替代性能力]. Chinese companies and industries have long since begun the production of related products but are [currently] in the uncomfortable position of being constrained by the superior and more mature products of US companies. The subtlety of US bans is that it is the US government, rather than the Chinese government, that has helped these companies to achieve the effective exclusion of their competitors from the [Chinese] market [i.e. this will, according to the authors, allow Chinese companies, in the medium-to-long term, to grow even faster and invest even more in R&D].”

“In terms of China's [overall] development, the development of its technologies, the development of its industries as well as a number of other dimensions, this [i.e. pressures from the US/West] does not really constitute a [catastrophic] threat akin to ‘the sky is falling’. Objectively speaking, the discomfort caused by the bans will be the best possible impetus to stimulate and push forward the upgrading of alternative industries and technological capabilities [in China]. China's [past] experience shows that once this short-term discomfort has been overcome and alternative capabilities and industries have been developed, what will follow is a complete rewriting of the rules of the game by China by virtue of the country’s superior production capacity. The potential outcomes of such a scenario are truly exciting.”

“For [Chinese] policy analysts [政策观察者], it is important to maintain a greater degree of composure, resilience and patience when dealing with US policy decisions, and to analyse more systematically the [potential] discrepancies between policy intentions, policy content and, ultimately, policy effectiveness. For the Chinese government, the more pressing issue is to build [more] effective and refined countermeasures against US [policies], while maintaining the trend of opening up to the outside world and encouraging globalisation, so that the Chinese market and the benefits gained by US companies in China can be used more fully as leverage and, when necessary, a strategic weapon in China's competition with the US. This is a crucial and necessary part of expanding and improving [our] capabilities in the context of China’s rise.”

Zhu hao (祝好), Thomas

he Hangover (2009) – Stun Gun Demonstration Scene

Comeback kid Lula in the eye of a volcano

18439 Views October 31, 2022

by Pepe Escobar, first posted at the Asia Times, and reposted with the author’s permission

Lula wins but his room for maneuver will be limited by powerful forces aligned against his Global South agenda

Luis Ignacio “Lula” da Silva may be the ultimate 21^st century political comeback kid. At 77, fit and sharp, leading an alliance of 10 political parties, he has just been elected as Brazilian president for what will be a de facto third term after his first two from 2003 to 2010. Lula even staged a comeback-inside-a-comeback, during the extremely fast and tight electronic vote counting, reaching 50.9% against 49.1% to the incumbent, extreme right President Jair Bolsonaro, representing a difference of only two million votes in a country of 215 million people. Lula’s back in office on January 1, 2023. Lula’s first speech was somewhat anti-Lula; noted for his Garcia Marquez-style improvisations and folksy stream of consciousness, he read from a measured, carefully-prepared script.

Lula emphasized the defense of democracy; the fight against hunger; the drive for sustainable development with social inclusion; a “relentless fight against racism, prejudice and discrimination.” He invited international cooperation to preserve the Amazon rainforest and will fight for fair global trade, instead of trade “that condemns our country to be an eternal exporter of raw materials.” Lula, always an exceptional negotiator, managed to win against the formidable state machine apparatus unleashed by Bolsonaro, which saw the distribution of billions of dollars in vote-buying; an avalanche of fake news; outright intimidation and attempts of voter suppression against the poor by rabid Bolsonarists; and countless episodes of political violence. Lula inherits a devastated nation that, much like the US, is completely polarized. From 2003 to 2010 – he rose to power, incidentally, only two months before America’s “shock and awe” against Iraq – it was quite a different story. Lula managed to bring to the table economic prosperity, massive poverty alleviation and an array of social policies. In eight years, he created at least 15 million jobs.

Vicious political persecution ended up canceling him out of the 2018 presidential elections, paving the way for Bolsonaro – a project entertained by the hard-right Brazilian military since 2014. Collusion between Brazil’s Public Ministry and dodgy “justice” stalwarts to persecute and condemn Lula on spurious charges forced him to spend 580 days in jail as a political prisoner as notorious as Julian Assange. Lula ended up being declared not guilty in no less than 26 motions against him by a lawfare machine at the heart of the – deeply corrupt – Car Wash operation. Lula’s Sisyphean task starts now. At least 33 million Brazilians are mired in hunger. Another 115 million are fighting “food insecurity.” No less than 79% of families are hostages to high levels of personal debt. In contrast to the new “pink tide” rolling across Latin America – of which he is now the superstar – internally there’s no pink tide.

On the contrary, he will face a deeply hostile Congress and Senate and even Bolsonarist governors, including in the most powerful state of the federation, Sao Paulo, which concentrates more industrial firepower than many latitudes in the Global North.

Round up the usual suspects

The absolutely key vector is that the international financial system and the “Washington Consensus”, already controlling Bolsonaro’s agenda, have captured Lula’s administration even before it begins. Lula’s vice-president is center-right Geraldo Alckmin, who can be catapulted to power the minute that deeply hostile Congress decides to fabricate some Lula impeachment scheme. It’s not an accident that the neo-liberal The Economist magazine has already “warned” Lula to shift to the center: that is, his government must be run, in practice, by the usual financial suspects. Much will depend on who Lula appoints as his finance minister. The top candidate is Henrique Meirelles, former CEO of FleetBoston, Brazil’s second largest external creditor after CitiGroup. Meirelles has expressed unrestricted support for Lula, for whom he previously worked as central bank chief.

Meirelles is likely to prescribe the exact same economic policies as Bolsonaro’s top economic enforcer, investment banker Paulo Guedes. That happens to be exactly what Meirelles himself created during the rapacious Temer administration, which came to power after the institutional coup against President Dilma Rousseff in 2016. And now we get to the real juice. None other than US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland visited Brazil “unofficially” last April. She refused to meet Bolsonaro and praised the Brazilian electoral system (“You have one of the best in the hemisphere, in terms of reliability, in terms of transparency.” ) Afterward, Lula promised the EU a sort of “governance” of the Amazon and had to publicly condemn the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine. All that after he had already praised Biden, in 2021, as “a breath for democracy in the world.” The “reward” for the accumulated performance was a Time magazine cover. All of the above may suggest an incoming, shady pseudo-Left government by the Workers Party – neoliberalism with a human face – infiltrated by all sorts of right-wing vectors, essentially serving the interests of Wall Street and the Democrat-controlled State Department. Key planks: acquisition of key economic assets by the usual globalist suspects, and thus no room for Brazil to exercise real sovereignty. Lula, of course, is too smart to be reduced to the role of mere hostage but his room for maneuver – internally – is extremely slim. Toxic Bolsonarism, now in the opposition, will continue to institutionally prosper dressed up as – fake – “anti-system”, especially in the Senate. Bolsonaro is a self-described “myth” created and packaged by the military, coming out in the open about a month after Dilma’s election victory that propelled her to a second term in late 2014. Bolsonaro himself and countless fanatic supporters flirted with Nazism; unabashedly praised known torturers during the Brazilian military dictatorship; and milked serious fascist leanings lurking in Brazilian society. Bolsonarism is even more insidious because this is a military-concocted movement subservient to hardcore neoliberal globalist elites and comprised of evangelicals and agribusiness tycoons while posing as “anti-globalist.” No wonder the virus contaminated literally half of a dazed and confused nation.

Old China hand

Externally, Lula will play a whole different ball game. Lula is one of the founders of the BRICS in 2006, which evolved out of the Russia-China dialogue. He’s immensely respected by the leaders of the Russia-China strategic partnership, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. He has promised to serve only one term, or up to the end of 2026. But that’s exactly the key stretch in the eye of the volcano, straddling the decade Putin described in his Valdai speech as the most dangerous and important since World War II. The drive towards a multipolar world, institutionally represented by a congregation of bodies from BRICS+ to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to the Eurasia Economic Union, will profit immensely to have Lula on board as arguably the natural leader of the Global South – with a track record to match. Of course, his immediate foreign policy focus will be South America: he already announced that will be the destination of his first presidential visit, most probably Argentina, which is bound to join BRICS+. Then he will visit Washington. He has to. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Informed opinion across the Global South is very much aware that it’s under Obama-Biden that the whole, complex operation to topple Dilma and expel Lula from politics was orchestrated. Brazil will be a lame duck at the upcoming G20 in Bali in mid-November but in 2023 Lula will be back in business side-by-side with Putin and Xi. And that also applies to the next BRICS summit in South Africa, which will consolidate BRICS+, as an array of nations are itching to join, from Argentina and Saudi Arabia to Iran and Turkey. And then there’s the Brazil-China nexus. Brasilia has been Beijing’s key trade partner in Latin America since 2009, absorbing roughly half of China’s investment in the region (and the most of any Latin American investment destination in 2021) and firmly placed as the fifth largest exporter of crude for the Chinese market, second for iron and first for soybeans. The precedents tell the story. Right from the start, in 2003, Lula bet on a strategic partnership with China. He considered his first trip to Beijing in 2004 as his top foreign policy priority. The goodwill in Beijing is unshakeable: Lula is considered an old friend by China – and that political capital will open virtually every red door. In practice, that will mean Lula investing his considerable global clout in strengthening BRICS+ (he already stated BRICS will be at the center of his foreign policy) and the inner workings of South-South geopolitical and geo-economic cooperation. That may even include Lula formally signing up Brazil as a partner of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in a way that won’t antagonize the US. Lula, after all, is a master of this craft. Finding a path in the eye of the volcano, internally and externally, will be the definitive political challenge for the comeback kid. Lula has been written off countless times, so underestimating him is a bad bet. Even before starting his third term, he has already performed a major feat: to emancipate a majority of Brazilians from mental slavery. All eyes will be on what the Brazilian military – and its foreign handlers – really want. They have embarked on a very long-term project, control most levers in the power structure, and simply won’t give up. And so the odds may be stacked against an aging neo-Ulysses from northeast Brazil reaching his Ithaca ideal of a fair and sovereign land.

YOU HAVE 6 DAYS LEFT!! ARE YOU READY? | Patrick Humphrey

Really? In six days, eh? It is pretty weird that a Walmart Distribution Center in South Carolina, US. Is usually really busy this time of year. They have not hired anyone in months now. With it being seasonal time also, that is so strange to me!! Also the ones that are working there, are getting NO hours. This has been going on for months, since February. No departments are working full shifts. Check out the video and then monitor the prices at your local grocery store. Let’s watch the clown-show together. https://youtu.be/SXCtROaU-AE

Brandon’s “Usable Nukes” Are the Fast-Track to Jopocalypse

Mike Whitney • October 31, 2022

“The Biden administration’s Nuclear Posture Review is, at heart, a terrifying document. It not only keeps the world on a path of increasing nuclear risk, in many ways it increases that risk.

Citing rising threats from Russia and China, it argues that the only viable U.S. response is to rebuild the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal, maintain an array of dangerous Cold War-era nuclear policies, and threaten the first use of nuclear weapons in a variety of scenarios.” Stephen Young, Union of Concerned Scientists

Maybe you’re one of the millions of people who think the US would never use its nuclear weapons unless the threat of a nuclear attack was imminent.

Well, you’d be wrong, because according to the recently-released Nuclear Posture Review, the bar for using nukes has been significantly lowered. The new standard reads like this: (nukes can be used) “in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners.” “

Defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies”??

That’s a pretty broad net, isn’t it? That could include anything from a serious threat to national security to an ordinary economic competitor. And that loosy-goosy definition appears to be just what the authors were looking for. The hardliners wanted to fundamentally change US nuclear doctrine so the conditions under which nukes could be used was greatly expanded.

The obvious objective of this dramatic policy-shift is to eliminate any obstacle to the free and unfettered use of nuclear weapons. Which is precisely what the neocons have always wanted; a green light to Armageddon.

Now they got what they wanted. Here are a few of the changes in policy that suggest that a full-blown nuclear war is no longer a remote possibility, but an increasingly likely prospect.

1– First-Strike Use: Biden refuses to rule out first-strike use of US nuclear weapons …in reversal of his campaign promise. This is from The Daily Mail:

“… on the campaign trail, Biden had vowed to switch to a ‘sole purpose’ doctrine, which maintains that the US would only use nuclear weapons to respond to another nation’s nuclear attack….

President Joe Biden is abandoning a campaign vow to alter longstanding US nuclear doctrine, and will instead embrace existing policy that reserves America’s right to use nukes in a first-strike scenario, according to multiple reports.” (Daily Mail)

2– Nuclear Escalation: The Biden team has accelerated the deployment of modernized U.S. B61 tactical nuclear weapons to NATO bases in Europe. (The B61-12 carries a lower yield nuclear warhead than earlier versions but is more accurate and can penetrate below ground.) This is from Reuters:

Russia said on Saturday that the accelerated deployment of modernised U.S. B61 tactical nuclear weapons at NATO bases in Europe would lower the “nuclear threshold” and that Russia would take the move into account in its military planning.

Amid the Ukraine crisis, Politico reported on Oct. 26 that the United States told a closed NATO meeting this month that it would accelerate the deployment of a modernised version of the B61, the B61-12, with the new weapons arriving at European bases in December, several months earlier than planned.

“We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state RIA news agency. (Reuters)

3– ‘Tactical’ means ‘Usable’: Biden’s new regime of low-yield nukes (which can still blow up a city the size of New York.) are called “tactical” weapons because they are designed for use on the battlefield, which is to say, Biden no longer limits the use of nukes for national defense but also supports their use in conventional wars. (like Ukraine?) This is from Aljazeera:

“Tactical nuclear warheads were created to give military commanders more flexibility on the battlefield. In the mid-1950s, as more powerful thermonuclear bombs were being built and tested, military planners thought smaller weapons with a shorter range would be more useful in ‘tactical’ situations,” according to Al Jazeera’s defence analyst Alex Gatopoulos. (Aljazeera)

4– Fasttrack to Nuclear War: Biden’s New Euro-Nukes have lowered the threshold for nuclear war. This is from MSN: Russia said on Saturday that the accelerated deployment of modernized US B61 tactical nuclear weapons at NATO bases in Europe would lower the “nuclear threshold” and that Russia would take the move into account in its military planning…

“The United States is modernizing them, increasing their accuracy and reducing the power of the nuclear charge, that is, they turn these weapons into ‘battlefield weapons’, thereby reducing the nuclear threshold,” Grushko said….

… Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said on Saturday on Telegram that the new B61 bombs had a “strategic significance” as Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons were in storage, yet these U.S. bombs would be just a short flight from Russia’s borders.

“We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state RIA news agency. (MSM) 5– Increasing the Reasons for using Nukes: The Nuclear Posture Review abandons Biden’s promise to ensure that US nuclear weapons would be used for the “sole purpose” of deterring or responding to a nuclear attack. Instead, the NPR states that the US will consider the use of nuclear weapons “in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners.”

Sole purpose could significantly reduce the risk of unintended escalation and increase the credibility of more flexible and realistic nonnuclear response options in a range of importance contingencies.” (Federation of American Scientists)

6– More Escalation: The US now reserves the right to use its nukes against non-nuclear weapon countries. This is from an article at Bloomberg News: The Pentagon’s new National Defense Strategy rejected limits on using nuclear weapons long championed by arms control advocates and in the past by President Joe Biden.

Citing burgeoning threats from China and Russia, the Defense Department said in the document released Thursday that “by the 2030s the United States will, for the first time in its history face two major nuclear powers as strategic competitors and potential adversaries.” In response, the US will “maintain a very high bar for nuclear employment” without ruling out using the weapons in retaliation to a non-nuclear strategic threat to the homeland, US forces abroad or allies.” (“Pentagon’s Strategy Won’t Rule Out Nuclear Use Against Non-Nuclear Threats”, Bloomberg) Here’s more from an article at the World Socialist Web Site:

In the Defense Department briefing, this point is elaborated. The NPR, a department official stated, “establishes a strategy that relies on nuclear weapons to deter all forms of strategic attack. This includes nuclear employment of any scale, and it includes high-consequence attacks of a strategic nature that use non-nuclear means.”

The publication of the document was rapidly condemned by arms control experts. “The Biden administration’s unclassified Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is, at heart, a terrifying document,” wrote the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

“It not only keeps the world on a path of increasing nuclear risk, in many ways it increases that risk,” the UCS argued, by claiming that “the only viable U.S. response is to rebuild the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal, maintain an array of dangerous Cold War-era nuclear policies, and threaten the first use of nuclear weapons in a variety of scenarios.”…

This marks a significant development from Trump’s 2018 National Defense Strategy, which largely referred to the use of military force to secure economic interests in the negative—asserting that it was China that was doing so. While this was the clear implication of the 2018 document, the definition of “national interests” advanced by the Pentagon’s 2022 document to include “economic prosperity” constitutes an even more open step toward advocating the doctrine that war is an acceptable means to secure economic aims.

A section of the 2022 National Defense Strategy:

These documents, which were not seriously discussed in the US media, make clear the fundamental falsehood that the massive US military buildup this year is a response to “Russian aggression.” In reality, in the thinking of the White House and Pentagon war planners, the massive increases in military spending and plans for war with China are created by “dramatic changes in geopolitics, technology, economics, and our environment.”

These documents make clear that the United States sees the economic rise of China as an existential threat, to be responded to with the threat of military force. The United States sees the subjugation of Russia as a critical stepping stone toward the conflict with China.” (“Pentagon national strategy document targets China”, Andre Damon, World Socialist Web Site) he White House, the Pentagon and the entire US foreign policy establishment now march in lockstep behind the most fanatically-lethal defense policy in the nation’s 246-year history. The National Defense Strategy, the Nuclear Posture Review and the National Security Strategy all embrace the same reckless warmongering policy that will inevitably lead to mass annihilation and civilizational collapse. The doves and critical thinkers have all been removed from the foreign policy apparatus while the madmen and warhawks drag the world inexorably towards catastrophe. God help us.

War Without End

Honey Garlic Pork Chops

What is wrong with the United States of America?

Philip Giraldi • November 1, 2022

Prussian Major General Carl von Clausewitz famously drew on his own experience in the Napoleonic Wars to examine war as a political phenomenon. In his 1832 book “On War” he provided a frequently quoted pithy summary of war versus peace, writing in terms of politico-military strategy that “War is a mere continuation of politics by other means.” In other words, war-making is a tool provided to statesmen to achieve a nation’s political objectives when all else fails. One can reject the ultimate amorality of Clausewitz’s thinking about war while also recognizing that some nations have historically speaking exploited war-making as a tool for physical expansion and the appropriation of foreigners’ resources. As far back as the Roman Republic, the country’s elected leaders doubled as heads of its consular armies, which were expected to go out each spring to expand the imperium. More recently, Britain notably engaged in almost constant colonial wars over the course of centuries to establish what was to become history’s largest empire. America’s dominant neocons characteristically believe they have inherited the mantle of empire and of the war powers that go hand-in-hand with that attribute, but they have avoided other aspects of the transition in turning the United States into a nation made and empowered by war. First of all, what comes out the other end after one has initiated hostilities with another country is unpredictable. Starting with Korea and continuing with Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq as well as other minor operations in Latin America, Africa and Asia, American war-making has brought nothing but grief on those on the receiving end with little positive to show for the death, destruction and accumulated debt. Also forgotten in the rush to use force is the raison d’etre to have a federal national government at all, which is to bring tangible benefit to the American people. There has been none of that since 9/11 and even before, while Washington’s hard-line stance on what has become a proxy war against Russia over Ukraine promises more pain – perhaps disastrously so – and no real gain. If one has any doubt that going to war has become the principal function of both Democrats and Republicans in Washington, it is only necessary to consider several stories that have appeared in the past several weeks. The first comes from the Republican side, and it includes a possibly positive development. House Minority leader Republican Kevin McCarthy warned two weeks ago that the GOP will not necessarily continue to write a “blank check” for Ukraine if they obtain the House majority in next month’s election, reflecting his party’s growing skepticism about unlimited financial support for the corrupt regime in place in Kiev. McCarthy explained “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won’t do it. … It’s not a free blank check.” America’s uncritical support for Ukraine, which has been a contrivance by the White House and media since the fighting started, has led to a growing number of Republicans, particularly some of those aligned with Donald Trump’s “America First” approach, to challenge the need for massive federal spending abroad at a time of record-high inflation at home. Since Russia launched its invasion in February, Congress has approved tens of billions in emergency security and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, while the Biden administration has shipped billions more worth of weapons and equipment from military inventories, all done with only limited or even no oversight of where the money and weapons are winding up. But, unfortunately, the GOP is far from unified on its approach to Ukraine-Russia. Congressman Liz Cheney demonstrated that her apple did not fall far from her father’s tree, taking some time off from trying to hang Donald Trump to denounce what she refers to as the “Putin wing of the Republican Party.” She put it this way: “You know, the Republican Party is the party of Reagan, the party that essentially won the Cold War. And you look now at what I think is really a growing Putin wing of the Republican Party.” Cheney criticized Fox News for “running propaganda” on the issue and in particular called out Fox host Tucker Carlson as “the biggest propagandist for Putin on that network… You really have to ask yourself, whose side is Fox on in this battle? And how could it be that you have a wing of the Republican Party that thinks that America would be standing with Putin as he conducts that brutal invasion of Ukraine?” Cheney notably did not address the issue of how the war developed in the first place because the US and UK preferred saber rattling to diplomacy with Moscow. Or why the United States feels compelled to tip-toe to the brink of a possible nuclear war over a foreign policy issue that is of no real national interest to the American people. And where did she make her comments? At the McCain Institute in Arizona. Yes, that’s a legacy of Senator John McCain another Republican who never saw a war he couldn’t enthusiastically support. Both President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have confirmed that the US is in with Ukraine until “victory” is obtained, whatever that is supposed to mean, while other Administration officials have indicated that the actual purpose of the fighting is to weaken Russia and remove President Putin. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre glibly spouted the party line when asked about McCarthy’s comments. She thanked congressional leaders for bipartisan work to “support Ukraine to defend itself from Russia’s war crimes and atrocities,” adding that “We will continue to work with Congress and continue to monitor those conversations on these efforts and support Ukraine as long as it takes. We are going to keep that promise that we’re making to the brave Ukrainians who are fighting every day, to fight for their freedom and their democracy.” Perhaps more bizarre than Cheney’s comments is the tale of a letter that was prepared by thirty Democratic Party progressives urging US support for negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine. The letter was prepared in June but not released until last week before being quickly retracted under pressure on the following day. Pramila Jayapal, who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said it was retracted because it “was being conflated with [the] comments” made by McCarthy over his warning about budget cutting for Ukraine. Jayapal referred to the letter as a “distraction,” but what she really meant was that her group had no desire to make common cause with the Republicans over any issue, including war and peace in an escalating conflict that is manifestly pointless. A clueless Jayapal also took pains to contradict the message put out by her own group, emphasizing that there has been no opposition to the administration’s Ukraine policy from Democrats in Congress. She said Democrats “have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people.” She doubled down on the White House message, affirming that the war in Ukraine will only end with diplomacy after “a Ukrainian victory.” So basically, anyone talking sense about Ukraine in Washington is being shut down by forces within the political parties themselves working together with a compliant national media that is mis-representing everything that is taking place on the ground. It is a formula for tragedy as the Biden administration has shown no sign of seeking diplomacy with Russia to end the conflict despite the president’s recent surprising warning that the world is now facing the highest risk of nuclear “Armageddon,” which he, of course, blames on Putin. Given all of that, in my humble opinion a government that is unable or unwilling to take reasonable steps to protect its own citizens while also avoiding a possible nuclear catastrophe that could end up engulfing the entire world is fundamentally evil and has lost all legitimacy. It should recognize that fact before submitting its resignation.

The Twilight Zone – A Most Unusual Camera (clip)

Why does CCP tell their citizens they “will not be enslaved by foreigners” when no foreign nation is interested in doing that?

To the Chinese, it brings back very bad memories to see Western powers sending fleets to China’s coasts, forming alliances against China, working closely with a brutally Sinophobic Japan, speaking of the breakup of China into Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, etc., tolerating racist attacks on Chinese immigrants, trying to embargo China and cut off its access to markets and resources, speaking of the desire to overthrow China’s government (e.g. far-right scumbag Arkansas senator Tom Cotton and scumbag British diplomat Roger Garside, author of China Coup), vilifying and barbarizing China’s culture, political system, history, and even regional cuisines, and proclaiming the superiority of Western belief systems.

Anyone who doesn’t understand why should really just exit any discussion of China because they don’t know anything about China’s history over the past 200 years. All of this is extremely familiar to the Chinese. In fact, it makes up most of China’s historical experience with the West. Major Western (British) diplomats visited China for the first time in 1793. Most of the 200 years after that were quite a miserable time for all Chinese.

This is why the CPC has always refused to restore or reconstruct the Old Summer Palace (Yuanming Yuan) in Beijing, which was once world-famous, breathtakingly beautiful and something like China’s Pyramids or Hanging Gardens. It was looted and destroyed by the French and British in 1860, and today 47 Western museums exhibit and profit from its treasures. This is all that’s left of the Old Summer Palace, and it’s a depressing sight in the capital city of the world’s second-richest nation; but the dilapidated ruins are a reminder to new generations.

Can you imagine that these charred pillars and scattered stones mark the spot where the emperors of China once lived and governed for 125 years? Not in ancient times, but from 1735 to 1860.

I think the average patriotic Chinese is thinking, You did all of this before, and we were weak and you won. You really want to do this again? Well this time, we’re just as big as you are.

The story of the Old Summer Palace increases the kinship I feel with China as an Egyptian, because my country’s stolen treasures also fill Western museums from Boston to Berlin.

The West has always seen non-Western peoples more of less as barbarians, but I don’t think barbarians are people who practise polygamy, eat dog meat, worship idols, have no written language, or are ruled by an emperor instead of a parliament. Barbarians are people who have to brutalize and plunder every corner of the earth they ever go, simply because they can.

What kind of people make you ashamed to be a human being?

These absolute sacks of shit.

This is the Westboro Baptist Church. A Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas. Every day, WBC pickets approximately six locations. They claim to have picketed in all 50 states. What kind of events do they picket? Any events that don’t align with their homophobic, transphobic, anti-Catholic, anti-Orthodox, anti-atheist, Islamophobic, antisemitic, antiziganist, and anti-American views. Organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League have accused them of brainwashing, and the church is often heavily criticized for resembling a cult (which it completely is). Some notable events that they picketed are:

Hundreds, possibly even thousands, of military funerals.
The funeral of Michael Jackson.
The funeral of Ronnie James Dio.
The funeral of Christina Green, a 9 year old victim of the 2011 Tucson Shooting. Luckily, they were unsuccessful because the Arizona legislature passed an emergency bill banning protesters within 300 ft of the memorial.
On October 5, 2011, Margie Phelps (daughter of the church’s founder) tweeted from her iPhone that the church would be picketing Steve Jobs’ funeral. Read that again. She used an iPhone to tell the world that they were going to protest STEVE JOBS’ funeral.
They tried to picket Leonard Nimoy’s funeral, but they couldn’t find it.
They picketed the funerals of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.
They picketed the funerals of the Orlando nightclub shooting.
They protested the National Holocaust Museum, stating that the Jews are the real Nazis.
They also picketed the 9/11 memorials, with signs that said “Thank God for 9/11,” yet they also demanded that “teh gayz” be punished for causing 9/11.

These slippery little shits use every loophole in the book (or rather, the constitution) to ensure that they can continue their heinous activities.

These parasitic barrels of monkey nuts make me ashamed to not only be American, but a human being. I find some comfort in the parody of the church that was featured in Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Oh NO! This is BIGGER than the Snowden leaks, much bigger

This is pretty important. Really. Please watch this video. https://youtu.be/6lSLks0XaAY

They Won’t Be Able To Deny The Cold, Hard Reality Of What Is Happening To The U.S. Economy Much Longer

by Michael They are trying really hard to convince all of us that everything is just fine. But close to one-fifth of the U.S. population is skipping meals because food prices are too high. And nearly 40 percent of our small businesses couldn’t pay rent in October. Our leaders are trying to put a positive spin on things, but the truth is that we are witnessing a tremendous amount of economic suffering all over the United States right now. The core consumer price index just surged to “the highest level since 1982”, and this is putting an enormous amount of financial stress on American families and businesses. This week, I was stunned to learn that a survey that was just released found that 37 percent of all small businesses in the United States could not pay rent last month…

The survey of 4,789 randomly selected small business owners saw more than half of respondents say their rent is at least 10 percent higher than six months ago.

If you go back seven months, the majority said their rents had increased by at least 20 percent.

Moreover, the study found that roughly 37 percent of small businesses – almost half of all Americans working in the private sector – were left unable to pay rent in October.

Prior to getting this news, if someone had asked me to guess the percentage of small businesses that are currently unable to pay rent, I would have responded with a figure that was far lower. So often, things turn out to be even worse than I thought they were. If those small businesses continue to be unable to pay rent, they will eventually be forced to shut down. So what will our communities look like if millions of small businesses suddenly close up shop on a permanent basis? Meanwhile, a different survey has discovered that 18 percent of Americans are now skipping meals because food prices have become so crazy…

Over the last 12 months, nearly two in five American households (40%) received food or goods from a food bank (22% for Millennials), and the same amount (17%) stopped buying healthier foods (organic or high-priced healthy foods).

Nearly one in five Americans (18%) say they skipped meals or didn’t buy groceries due to high inflation (including 28% of Gen Z and 23% of millennials).

Skipping meals can be a positive thing, because fasting is actually really good for your health. But most of these Americans are not skipping meals for the health benefits. In addition, the same survey found that many Americans are not taking medications or seeing their doctors because prices have gone up so much…

Many have cancelled or postponed plans in the past 12 months to see a specialist (14%), take a prescribed medication (10%) or get an annual physical (11%) due to high inflation.

If things are this bad already, what will those numbers look like next year at this time when economic conditions are significantly worse? The American people are going to become increasingly frustrated as our standard of living continues to plunge. All of us have to eat, and so many of the products that so many of us buy on a regular basis have gone up dramatically in price…

A year ago, a bag of potato chips at the grocery store cost an average of $5.05. These days, that bag costs $6.05. A dozen eggs that could have been picked up for $1.83 now average $2.90. A two-liter bottle of soda that cost $1.78 will now set you back $2.17.

Sadly, this is just the beginning. Even though the Federal Reserve has declared war on inflation, food prices are going to continue to rise for a variety of reasons. And as the cost of living keeps becoming more oppressive, more American families are going to struggle to make it from month to month. Even now, nearly two-thirds of the entire country is currently living paycheck to paycheck…

As rising prices continue to outpace wage gains, families are finding less cushion in their monthly budget.

As of September, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent LendingClub report — near the 64% historic high hit in March. A year ago, the number of adults who felt strained was closer to 57%.

“Consumers are not able to keep up with the pace that inflation is increasing,” said Anuj Nayar, LendingClub’s financial health officer.

The worse things get, the more we will see people clamoring for the federal government to help them. In fact, one recent survey actually discovered that 63 percent of all U.S. voters are in favor of “inflation stimulus payments”…

A recent poll found that almost two-thirds of Americans are proponents of the federal government sending out inflation stimulus payments.

About 63% of eligible U.S. voters expressed some degree of support for federal inflation relief checks being distributed, the Newsweek poll conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies showed. Of those who agreed the federal government should do so, 42% indicated they “strongly agree” while 21% said “agree,” according to the poll.

Sadly, most voters don’t seem to understand that sending out more stimulus checks would create even more inflation. There is always a cost when the government gives out “free money”. If our politicians would have exercised discipline over the past several years, we would not be in the mess that we are in today. But now years of very bad decisions are catching up with us in a major way, and economic conditions are rapidly deteriorating. At this point, the vast majority of the U.S. population can see this. According to one recent Gallup survey, a whopping two-thirds of all Americans believe that economic conditions in this nation are getting worse. So many people are talking about the possibility of a recession in 2023. If all we have is a recession next year, we would be extremely fortunate. Because right now the economy is starting to crack and crumble all around us, and the outlook for the months ahead is exceedingly bleak indeed. .

What are some unwritten social rules everyone should know?

1. 1+1 = 3 if you don’t use the condom.

2. Alcohol increase size of the “SEND” button by 89%.

3. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

4. Sometimes we create our own heartbreaks through expectations.

5. Life is too short to be with the wrong person.

6. Just because you love them, it doesn’t mean they’re right for you.

7. Feelings that come back are feelings that never left.

8. Everything’s not as easy as getting fat.

9. Even a bad day is just 24 hours.

10. It’s not your job to fix people.

Put the meat on the onion to get delicious dinner in 10 minutes # 540

The Crespi Ancient Artifact Collection of Cuenca Ecuador

This is a nice mystery that has turned the archeological world on it’s side. It’s a great read and I really hope that you all enjoy what is presented here. Translated from an old scan. Correct, and edited to fit this venue. I doubt that you will be able to find a complete recounting of this story elsewhere in the Western Internet today.

…

Father Carlo Crespi, who comes from Milan, has lived in the small town of Cuenca, Ecuador, for more than 50 years. He was a priest of the Church of Maria Auxiliadora.

Crespi was accepted by the local indians as a real friend.

They (the local indians) used to bring him presents from their hiding places.

Over a period of time the father had so many precious objects stored in his house and the church that one day he received permission from the Vatican to open a museum to display them.

This museum (in the Salesian School at Cuenca) grew and grew Until in 1960 it was one of the biggest museums in Ecuador, and Crespi was recognized as an archaeological authority.

But he has always been a rather embarrassing servant of his church, for he
asserts vehemently that he can prove that there was a direct connection between the Old World (Babylon) and the New World (pre-Inca civilizations); and that goes right against prevailing opinion.

Complicating matters, on 20th July 1962 there was an act of arson and the father’s museum was burnt down.

What Father Crespi managed to salvage from the damaged museum was housed in two long narrow rooms, which were in a terrible muddle.

Brass, copper, sheet-metal, zinc, tin and stone and wooden objects and in the midst of them all pure gold, sheet-gold, silver and sheet -silver.

Eric Van Danken in His book Gold of The Gods says of this Treasure “Let the Vatican grail guardian Father Crespi of Cuenca be the key witness to the pre-
Christian origin of the metal treasures. He said “‘Every’ thing that the Indians brought me from the tunnels dates to before Christ. “Most of the symbols and pre-historic representations are older than the Flood.’”

“Father Crespi has partially stacked his metal plaques by motifs, for example those with pictures of pyramids.

I took a close look at more than 40 objects.

All the pyramid engravings have four things in common: a sun, but more frequently several suns, is depicted above the pyramid; snakes are always flying
next to or over the pyramid; animals of various kinds are always present….

“Professor Miloslav Stingi is the leading South American scholar in the Iron Curtain countries; he graduated in the ancient civilizations of America. today he is a member of the Academy of Sciences at Prague and author of archaeological and ethnological books. In versunkenen Mayasta~dten (1971), for example, is highly acclaimed. Professor Stingl, who was a guest in my house, saw the photographs I had taken at Cuenca. ‘If these pictures are genuine, and everything indicates that they are, because no one makes forgeries in gold, at any rate not on such a large scale, this is the biggest archaeological sensation since the discovery of Troy. Years ago I myself supported the view that the Incas had no writing in the alphabetical sense of the word. And now I am faced with Inca writing. To be able to give a precise scientific verdict I should have to subject each plaque to a detailed and lengthy examination, and compare each one with material already available. For the moment I can only say that I am dumbfounded. The sun was often part of the scenery in known Inca engravings, but man was never equated with the sun, as I see time and again in these photographs. There are  representations of men with sun's rays round their heads and there are men depicted with star points coming from them. The symbol of holy power has  always been the head. But in these pictures the head is simultaneously sun or star. That points to new direct connections.’”


J Golden Barton in 1998 tells of a visit see Father Crespi with Dr. Paul Chessman from BYU and others in the late 1970’s. He writes (ref. 2):  

“High in the Andes mountains of Ecuador lies beautiful Cuenca, a peaceful city with red Spanish tile roofs and worn cobble stone streets. Townspeople go about their daily business happily trading with each other and the native Indians who populate the hills and valleys surrounding the village. 

The Indians speak the tongue of their Quechua" ancestors, who watched the sun rise over the Amazon hundreds of years before. With weathered and rosy cheeks they radiate a simplicity of harmony with the rugged mountains where they have worked time out of mind. 

The men of the tribe wear a single long braid of hair down their back underneath a Panamanian hat. Men, women and children are dressed in the same black and brown earth-tone cloth, edged with bright colored trim. Each shuffle along the paths long known by their forefathers, carrying them back and forth from village to village. Not many tourists travel this way and the service is unrushed but thorough.


“A few blocks from the center of the village stands a Catholic "College of Salesino." 

Young men and women from prosperous families attend this secondary school, its classrooms facing a clay and terrazzo tiled courtyard. 

Entering through a side door, we found ourselves in a small open-air enclosure facing stately, hand-carved wooden gates. 

A friendly young man bid us enter through old wooden doors and ushered us into a private chamber. 

A few moments later, a bearded, monkish-looking man with twinkling eyes and a benign smile arrived and embraced Dr. Cheeseman. Although an octogenarian, he appeared in lively good health, despite his quaking robes which betrayed a shaky hand. 

We had heard that he was senile, but his personal behavior only radiated complete mental  iompetence. 

So this was Father Carlos Crespi, Ecuador's unlikely focus of a unique archaeological controversy that continues to baffle everyone
who has heard about it.


“He led us into an inner court of the school yard, where old Spanish wooden doors faced inward, and the oft-scrubbed floors gleamed with sunlight bouncing off the polished terrazzo. 

We were unprepared for what was to come. 

Father Crespi took a large key from a ring that hung from a braided belt around his robe, then moved to an obscure wooden door and turned the lock. Together with a single helper, he disappeared into the dark room. 

Both soon reappeared with a large piece of metal that had been molded and hammered into a long sheet. 

It looked like it might be made of gold. The sheet was inscribed with a curious artwork beyond identification.


“Next, they dragged something from the darkness too large to be carried, and only with strenuous exertions were they able to lean it against the stucco wall. 

It stands twenty-two inches high and about seven inches wide its weight must have been prodigious. I reached my hand to touch the object and noticed it featured a dark covering, as if it had been painted. 

At first, I supposed it must have been made of lead, because it was soft and almost pliable. 

Then the nails of my fingers bit into the body of the figure through the paint and the gleam from the tell-tale scratch left no doubt that it was made of pure gold.

Our cameras began to click, and in the excitement Father Crespi talked excitedly, hardly stopping to breathe. He was our enthusiastic instructor, showing us each new piece as though it had just been brought to the light of day for the first time.


“What other wonders did his black vault contain, we wondered? The old man's nimble fingers joined the ends of two barren electric wires and the chamber was instantly revealed in the radiance of an incandescent globe. 

The gleam of gold, silver, and bronze everywhere added to the brightness of its interior. 

Shelves of dusty, worn ceramics, starry-eyed idols posturing in hideous stances or strange proportions. 

Stacked from floor to ceiling were hundreds of large cardboard pieces on which were wired metal bracelets, earrings, nose rings, and necklaces, some untarnished by time. Hide-scrapers, tools, implements of war, spears, axes, clubs, of wood, metal and stone were stacked everywhere. 

Father Crespi's mysterious room seemed overburdened with the treasures of an unknown antiquity. It literally over-flowed with bizarre artifacts, many wrought in precious metals. 

Most intriguing were the innumerable plates of bronze, brass and gold. 

Many bore strange inscriptions and hieroglyphic symbols. Others were replete with the engravings of incongruous animals--elephants, snakes, jaguars, wild beasts of every kind. 

The images of horse-drawn chariots were clearly etched into metal, calling to mind Juan Moricz's description of "a Roman chariot" in his underground chamber.

“We photographed a plate inscribed with representations of what appeared to be Egypt's step-pyramid.

Still more plates contained artwork with what looked like Assyrian or Babylonian symbols.

We grew dizzy with the gleaming opulence and historical anomaly all around us.

Newell Parkin, a banker from Bountiful, Utah, Dr. Paul Cheeseman, Wayne Hamby, an undergraduate student from Brigham Young University, D. Craig Anderson, a Utah State University Research Associate, who acted as our interpreter, and I spent the afternoon amid these otherworldly splendors.

In all my travels throughout the world, my visit to the Crespi Collection was to be their crowning experience.

“We asked Father Crespi how he came by such marvelous things. He said he headed the local parish for over fifty years after studying at Italy's University In Milan, where the subject of archaeology had caught his interest.

Following graduation, he became a priest and was assigned to Ecuador's beautiful city of Cuenca to work among the Indians.

In time, he came to love them. Moreover, in South America he had opportunity to further his archaeological interests.

To his great surprise and delight, the religious celebrations over which he presided brought a host of Indians bearing gifts to the kindly man who
performed baptisms and marriages and was their friend in trouble.

Aware of Father Crespi's enthusiasm for archaeology, the grateful Indians brought him ancient objects long hidden in the jungle.

Soon, his collection steadily increased until, after fifty years, it filled many rooms.

“A museum was constructed to house these remarkable gifts, but a few years before our visit it was seriously damaged by an arsonist's fire.

Father Crespi managed to salvage three full rooms of the relics, one
of relatively obscure and unimportant tributes, another filled with items of curious antiquity, but the last was a treasury of gold artifacts.

Residing high among the Andes mountains in an obscure village, the old
man had no interest in fame or fortune.

Few travelers knew of his collection and even fewer scientists.

He was a private person with a big heart and a deep interest in the past.
‘Where and how do the Indians find these incredible things.,’ we wondered.

‘Oh, they just get them from the caves and subterranean chambers in the jungles,’ he answered in an offhand manner.

'There are over 200 kilo-meters of tunnels starting here in Cuenca.

They run from the mountains down to the eastern lowlands near the Amazon."

Wayne Hamby, an assistant to Cheeseman, spent a few more days with Father Crespi to catalogue and photograph the entire collection.

His results went into the files of Dr. Cheeseman, who died after his retirement from the faculty of Brigham Young University.


“Two years following our visit to the kindly priest, I returned to Cuenca with Ben Holbrook, our two young sons, and a pair of Ecuadoran LDS missionaries acting as interpreters. 

We were greeted by a young priest, who informed us that Carlos Crespi had passed away in January 1980, and his collection was no longer available for public view. 

In spite of my efforts to convince him that we had traveled a long distance to view the relics, he stubbornly refused to allow us to see the treasures. 

He insisted that the room with the artifacts could not be shown on orders from the Vatican. 

To my knowledge, no one from the outside world has seen the treasure since the death of the old Padre. “. 

Mr. Barton heard rumors that much of the treasure had been shipped to Rome to the Vatican.

Richard Wingate a Florida based explorer and writer visited Father Crespi four times during the mid to late 1970’s and photographed the extensive artifact collection. He says this concerning his visits:

“IN A DUSTY, cramped shed on the side porch of the Church of Maria Auxiliadora in Cuenca, Ecuador, lies the most valuable archaeological treasure on earth. 

More than one million dollars worth of dazzling gold is cached here, and much silver, yet the hard money value of this forgotten hoard is not its
principal worth. 

There are ancient artifacts identified as Assyrian, Egyptian, Chinese, and African so perfect in workmanship and beauty that any museum director would regard them as first-class acquisitions.

Since this treasure is the strangest collection of ancient archaeological objects in existence, its value lies in the historical questions it poses, and demands answers to.

Yet it is unknown to historians and deliberately neglected in the journals of orthodox archaeology….

‘Ah,’ the priest said, ‘enough flattery, then, let’s take a look.’ Without ceremony, he forced a key into an ancient, rusty padlock and opened the rickety door to his museum.

He touched two bare wires together and a watery yellow light went on.

Father Crespi was smiling like a man with a very remarkable secret.

I was skeptical of the reports I had heard about this place, but now that cautious attitude gave’ way to unabashed astonishment.

Stacked against the far wall were golden mummy cases in the quasi-Egyptian
style with a black, baked-enamel finish.

A dozen complete sets of gleaming, golden ceremonial armor, beaten-gold Chaldean-style helmets, and golden inscribed plaques were piled haphazardly on the floor.

These dazzling memoirs of lost times were scattered among an array of beautifully carved Pacific Oceanic and African-styled wooden statues, shields of a rich, red copper, pottery, canes, sheets, and rolls of silver-colored metal, and strange, unidentifiable gears, pipes, and wheels which might have been parts to long-lost technological systems.

Rolls of intricately figured sheet metal stood haphazardly piled around the shed.

The priest explained that it had been torn off the interior walls of long abandoned, vine-choked buildings in the inaccessible eastern jungle.

The Indian artifact hunters bring this wallpaper in three different metals: gold, a
metallurgically unique, untarnished silver, and an unknown alloy with the appearance of shiny aluminum.

Every square inch of the peculiar sheet metal is decorated with intricate designs, some of them depicting long-forgotten ceremonial occasions and some of them humorous and cartoon like.

The rolls come in heights that vary, for the most part, from eight to twelve feet, and they are often fifteen to thirty feet long.

These lengths are composed of many individual four-foot sheets which have been artfully riveted together.

He showed me a dozen bronze plaques. Seemingly, they were among his favorite acquisitions.

The illustrations borne by the plaques made me catch my breath.

Images of Egyptian princesses and Assyrian gods stared at me with a severity undiminished by the passage of centuries.

One of the plaques bore the image of a Caucasian man writing linear script with a quill pen.

Linear script?

A quill pen?

Needless to say, the Andes Indians did not have a written language when the Spanish arrived, let alone a tool for writing.

There were reportedly fifty-six solid gold plaques originally, but after a disastrous arson in 1962, which local political fanatics claimed credit for, Father
Crespi had molds made by a local casket maker and the best dozen of his precious plaques were duplicated in coffin-handle bronze.

The original gold plaques lie safe today in a bank vault.

“Father Crespi granted me permission to take photographs. Since most museums jealously guard their treasures from photographers, the priest’s open generosity won me over.

Lack of space inside the shed forced me to set up my tripod and camera in the sunlit outer courtyard.

The priest himself brought his treasures out for me to record on film.

Hours passed, and the usual, afternoon equatorial winter rain began.

The Father was growing tired. We quit for the day.

I had exposed over ten rolls of film, taken more than three hundred pictures, and covered only a tiny percentage of the seventy thousand artifacts which filled the museum’s three rooms to their ceilings.

“As it turned out, I made not one but three additional visits to Father Crespi in Cuenca, exposed over three thousand frames, and I still have captured only 2 percent of the collection on film.

Between my second and third trips, the Padre’s treasure hunters apparently hit upon a fresh cache in the jungle caves.

So many new pieces arrived during this period that I was forced to climb over heaps of newly unearthed objects in order to get to certain items that I particularly wanted to photograph.

I found myself in the classic one- step-forward, two-steps-back situation, for new articles were arriving more rapidly than I could take pictures of the old!

“One of the reasons for my continued efforts was my apprehension for Carlo Crespi’s advanced age.

He was born on April 29, 1891, and when he dies, the integrity of the collection is by no means assured.

It might be saved and protected by benevolent church authorities, but an auction to private dealers seems just as likely.

If the priceless museum is somehow disbursed before modern techniques of dating and evaluation can be applied to its artifacts, a great chance for the reevaluation of the history of the Western hemisphere will have been missed.

“In spite of the plethora of startling material in his museum, Father Crespi regrets that he missed acquiring most of the ‘treasure unearthed in the jungle, including most of the best articles, because he simply couldn’t match prices with other bidders.

Maintaining the jungle museum has proven a difficult adventure for the Father in other ways as well.

The collection weathered an arson fire in 1962 which melted many objects, burned others, and substantially diminished its value.

Another fire occurred in 1974.

There have also been instances of outright theft.

A few archaeologists who have heard of the collection are prone to an understandable condescension, because the shedful of artifacts poses a violent offense to the procedural r~es of their fraternity.

The articles in the trove have been discovered in sloppy, unsupervised, surreptitious digs by wholly untrained J ivaro Indian diggers.

Crespi is not even an accredited museum curator.

Although not an uneducated man~he holds a master’s degree in anthropology from a Milan, Italy, university.

The priest has no formal archaeological training, and the time he gives to his immense collection is stolen from a heavy schedule of parish duties, as I saw on my visits.

Crespi, furthermore, occasionally expresses a salty indifference to the judgment of the accepted experts.

The classification system of his museum is best described as chaotic.

It does not make highly publicized acquisitions at blue ribbon auctions, for the Father wouldn’t have the money, even if he had the need.

Nor does it have advanced dating machinery, assistant curators, guards, guides, set hours, or any of the other appurtenances of the respectable, contemporary museum.

And yet the affection in which the Padre is held by his Shuara (Jivaro) collectors, has made it possible for him to accumulate the most significant single assemblage of South American artifacts anywhere.

“Carlo Crespi was raised in the prosperous northern Italian -city of Milan, where, after a youth spent with a comfortably wealthy family, he decided to join the Salesian Fathers. More than fifty-five years ago this missionary order sent Father Crespi to South America.

Ever since that voyage, Father Crespi has lived a life of voluntary poverty, sleeping on the floors of native huts with only a single blanket, and carelessly
eating poor but lovingly offered food.

He has cared for the people, listened to their stories of fabulous deep-jungle temples, explored the treasure-filled Tayos caves, and stubbornly provided a museum for the strange artifacts of the country…

When Father Crespi and his Indian diggers tell of the places where they find their
artifacts, they described giant pyramids, immense, deserted cities, fantastic sacred tunnels, and caves.

The cities, they say, still shine with a mysterious, cool bluish light when the sun goes down.

The tunnels are reportedly large enough to drive a locomotive through.

They have cut-stone entrances and walls which, by native account, are as smooth as glass.

And it is these tunnels, at least according to the Indian explorers, that hold the bulk of the material being offered to the Maria Auxiliadora museum and to other collectors.

It is a fantastic tale, but when one sees the evidence, the thousands of gold treasured trinkets, the story of a vast tunnel system become nearly plausible.

“Although legend tells of this tunnel network honeycombing all of Ecuador and Peru, the only part of it that has, to my knowledge, been documented, is located in the very dangerous Jivaro country, between the Santiago and Morona rivers, near Tayos.

Unfortunately, this area is decidedly out of bounds for the foreign adventurer.

The local Indians have killed at least four inquisitive outsiders in the last two years.

Yet the tunnels of the Shuara tribes (Jivaro) have been photographed.

A naturalized Ecuadorian named Juan Moricz took several rolls of high-quality pictures, verified in this way the accounts the natives have been giving
Crespi, and subsequently lay legal claim to the entire tunnel network.

His grandiose claim was denied by the courts, but his photographs cannot be.

...less than the bullion value of the precious metal.” (p. 139)

The “heavy mineral crust enamel coating” of many artifacts indicates that they were “buried under searing volcanic heat.” (p. 139)

Concerning sophisticated artifacts, like the Phoenician calendars, the golden Middle Eastern helmets, the golden armor, and the golden plaques: these “would bring hundreds of thousands of dollars and perhaps millions on the private market; to suggest that a sophisticated forger unloaded them on the priest for a low price is to deny the greed that motivates forgery!” (p. 140)

Concerning a cast steel shield: “Steel casting is beyond the metallurgical capacity of present day Tayos Indians.” (p. 143)

(B) Fakes

Regarding fakes (which Crespi knowingly purchases in his casual, humanitarian style, at the same time chiding the seller): “The modern solder and hacksaw marks give them away.” (p. 136)

Far from creating fakes in order to reap high profits, some of the Indian diggers in Ecuador have cut up and reshaped genuinely ancient and priceless materials in order to get any kind of price at all for it. We have mentioned earlier the ebony column...carved with the Ecuadorian
national seal and decorated with gold cut from a sheet of mysterious ancient wallpaper.” (p. 139)

Picture (p. 36)—“Obviously genuine copper ‘radiators’ were redecorated by Indian discoverers.”

Picture (p. 39)—“Heavy brass ‘bass viol’ a real-fake soldered together from original thick wall sheeting.” The brass sheet metal is genuine and very old, but the instrument was crafted by modern forgers. One can see where existing designs on the brass sheets were cut through in the
manufacture of the article.

Picture (p. 142)—“Genuine silver wrapped gold trimmed elephant. Yet decorated with modern brass thumb tacks.”

Picture (p. 146)—“Bottom of tin can. Clumsily fire blackened to simulate real volcanic mineral patina on genuine objects. The carbon on this olive oil can be rubbed off on a sheet of paper. The black patina on most of Crespi’s material is enameled to the metal.”

In summary:

“The genuine green porphyry patina on many of the articles,...the enormous
quantities of cheaply bought gold articles, the metallurgical uniqueness of some of the artifacts (such as the platinum nose cone and the radiators), the Mid-eastern artistic motifs, and the abundance of art ides for which little or no market exists (such as the air pipes and the
‘wallpaper’) pose difficult questions for those who carelessly write the collection off as a hoax.”
(p. 140)

References

1. Eric Van Daniken Gold of The Gods (1973)
2. J. Golden Barton The Lost Gold of Ancient Ecuador, Ancient American Vol. 4 Number 25, 1998
3. Richard Wingate Lost Outpost of Atlantis 1980 Everest House Publishing Company
4. Wayne Hamby Voices From The Dust 1977 Osmond Publishing Company

Summary

I hope that you enjoyed this little glimpse in the statist-overturning world of the good Father.

Gumbo, Girls, Ghosts, and a Heck of a thing to just have sitting around

Gosh. It’s a really crazy world right now, eh? I’ve really been shaken by some of the writings by the United States neocons. They are advocating limited nuclear strikes to “put China in line, and in its place”. Jesus. H. Christ. They have absolutely no idea of what they advocating. It’s horrific.

I’m convinced, now more than ever, that these people have NEVER actually ever been in a situation where they had to deal with blood-thirsty, dead-ass serious, lethal, killers with their back to the wall…

…they are fixing to discover what it is like.

‘Ghost of Kyiv’ hero fighter pilot was myth, Ukraine admits

Of course.

But, it’s nice to know that some one in the many thousands of writers for the big mainsteam media has dusted off their journalistic diplomas and doing some actual “reporting”, for a change.

From HERE.

Mike Pompeo advocates crossing China’s RED LINES

He’s a grandstanding idiot who is going to get many, many Americans killed.

This is an immediate trigger for war. This is a Chinese RED LINE, and will result in immediate war.

He must believe that he has a seat reserved inside some kind of a nuclear bunker. Eh?

Russia is under attack by Western military operating inside of Russia

World Hal Turner 01 May 2022

Vladimir Putin has officially declared a state of emergency in the Belgorod region for 60 days. Reason: The Russian Federation is “under attack” from either foreign military, mercenaries of that foreign military, or terrorists.” Key point: Russia is “under attack.”

Machine auto-translated from image, so font size and scaling is “off.”

It isn’t hard to see where this is leading. If Russia is “under attack” they have a right to defend themselves, right? A formal declaration of war, perhaps?

On the Edge of a Nuclear Abyss

Edward Curtin • March 10, 2022

Two days after Russia attacked Ukraine and the day before Vladimir Putin put Russia on nuclear alert, I wrote a little article whose first sentence was: “Not wanting to sound hyperbolic, but I am starting to conclude that the nuclear madmen running the U.S./NATO New Cold War they started decades ago are itching to start a nuclear war with Russia.”

It was an intuition based on my knowledge of U.S./Russia history, including the U.S engineered coup in Ukraine in 2014, and a reading of current events. I refer to it as intuition, yet it is based on a lifetime’s study and teaching of political sociology and writing against war. I am not a Russian scholar, simply a writer with a sociological, historical, and artistic imagination, although my first graduate academic study in the late 1960s was a thesis on nuclear weapons and why they might be someday used again.

It no longer sounds hyperbolic to me that madmen in the declining U.S. Empire might resort, like rats in a sinking ship, to first strike use of nuclear weapons, which is official U.S. policy. My stomach is churning at the thought, despite what most experts say: that the chances of a nuclear war are slight. And despite what others say about the Ukraine war: that it is an intentional diversion from the Covid propaganda and the Great Reset (although I agree it achieves that goal).

My gut tells me no; it is very real, sui generis, and very, very dangerous now.

The eminent scholar Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research agrees that we are very close to the unthinkable. In a recent historical analysis of U.S.-Russia relations and nuclear weapons, he writes the following before quoting Vladimir Putin’s recent statement on the matter. “Vladimir Putin’s statement on February 21st, 2022 was a response to U.S. threats to use nuclear weapons on a preemptive basis against Russia, despite Joe Biden’s “reassurance” that the U.S. would not be resorting to ‘A first strike’ nuclear attack against an enemy of America”:

Let me [Putin] explain that U.S. strategic planning documents contain the possibility of a so-called preemptive strike against enemy missile systems. And who is the main enemy for the U.S. and NATO? We know that too. It’s Russia. In NATO documents, our country is officially and directly declared the main threat to North Atlantic security. And Ukraine will serve as a forward springboard for the strike.” (Putin Speech, February 21, 2022, emphasis added)

Putin is absolutely correct. It is why he put Russia’s nuclear forces on full alert. Only those ignorant of history, which sadly includes most U.S. Americans, don’t know this.

I believe that today we are in the greatest danger of a nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, something I vividly remember as a teenager. The same feelings return. Dread. Anxiety. Breathlessness. I do not think these feelings are misplaced nor they are simply an emotional response. I try to continue writing on other projects that I have started but feel stymied. The possibility of nuclear war, whether intentional or accidental, obsesses me.

In order to grasp this stomach-churning possibility within the context of Ukraine, we need to put aside all talk of morality, rights, international law, and think in terms of great power politics, as John Mearsheimer has so clearly articulated. As he says, when a great power feels its existence is threatened, might makes right. You simply can’t understand world politics without thinking at this level. Doing so does not mean justifying the use of might; it is a means of clarifying the causes of wars, which start long before the first shots are fired.

In the present crisis over Ukraine, Russia clearly feels existentially threatened by U.S./NATO military moves in Ukraine and in eastern Europe where they have positioned missiles that can be very quickly converted to nuclear and are within a few minutes range of Russia. (And of course there are U.S./NATO nuclear missiles throughout western and southern Europe.) Vladimir Putin has been talking about this for many years and is factually correct. He has reiterated that this is unacceptable to Russia and must stop. He has pushed for negotiations to end this situation.

The United States, despite its own Monroe Doctrine that prohibits another great power from putting weapons or military forces close to its borders, has blocked its ears and kept upping the ante, provoking Russian fears. This fact is not in dispute but is shrugged off by U.S./NATO as of little consequence. Such an attitude is pure provocation as anyone with a smidgeon of historical awareness knows.

The world was very lucky sixty years ago this October when JFK and Nikita Khrushchev negotiated the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis before the world was incinerated. Kennedy, of course, was intensely pressured by the military and CIA to bomb Cuba, but he resisted. He also rejected the insane military desire to nuke the Soviet Union, calling such people crazy; at a National Security Council meeting on September 12, 1963, when the Joint Chiefs of Staff presented a report about a nuclear first strike against the Soviet Union which they wanted for that fall, he said, “Preemption is not possible for us.”

Such leadership, together with the nuclear test ban treaty he negotiated with the USSR that month, inter alia (such treaties have now been abrogated by the U.S. government), assured his assassination organized by the CIA. These days, the U.S. is led by deluded men who espouse a nuclear first strike policy, which tells one all one needs to know about the danger the world is in. The U.S. has been very sick with Russia hatred for a long time.

After the terror of the Cuban Missile Crisis, many more people took the threat of nuclear war seriously. Today very few do. It has receded into the ”unimaginable.” In 1962, however, as James W. Douglass writes in JFK and the Unspeakable:

Kennedy saw that, at least outside Washington, D.C., people were living with a deeper awareness of the ultimate choice they faced. Nuclear weapons were real. So, too, was the prospect of peace. Shocked by the Cuban Missile Crisis into recognizing a real choice, people preferred peace to annihilation.

Today the reality of nuclear annihilation has receded into unconsciousness. This despite the recent statements by U.S. generals and the U.S. Ukrainian puppet Zelensky about nuclear weapons and their use that have extremely inflamed Russia’s fears, which clearly is intentional. The game is to have some officials say it and then deny it while having a policy that contradicts your denial. Keep pushing the envelope is U.S. policy. Obama-Biden reigned over the U.S. 2014 coup in Ukraine, Trump increased weapon sales to Ukraine in 2017, and Biden has picked up the baton from his partner (not his enemy) in this most deadly game. It is a bi-partisan Cold War 2, getting very hot. And it is the reason why Russia, its back to the wall, attacked Ukraine. It is obvious that this is exactly what the U.S. wanted or it would have acted very differently in the leadup to this tragedy. All the current ringing of hands is pure hypocrisy, the nihilism of a nuclear power never for one moment threatened but whose designs were calculated to threaten Russia at its borders.

The media propaganda against Russia and Putin is the most extreme and extensive propaganda in my lifetime. Patrick Lawrence has astutely examined this in a recent essay, where he writes the same is true for him:

Many people of many different ages have remarked in recent days that they cannot recall in their lifetimes a more pervasive, suffocating barrage of propaganda than what has engulfed us since the months that preceded Russia’s intervention. In my case it has come to supersede the worst of what I remember from the Cold War decades.

Engulfed is an appropriate word. Lawrence rightly points to this propaganda as cognitive warfare directed at the U.S. population (and the rest of the world) and notes its connection to the January 2021 final draft of a “diabolic” NATO study called “Cognitive Warfare.” He quotes it thus: “The brain will be the battlefield of the 21^st century,” . . . “Humans are the contested domain. Cognitive warfare’s objective is to make everyone a weapon.”

This cognitive warfare, however, has a longer history in cutting edge science. For each successive decade beginning with the 1990s and a declaration from President (and ex-Director of the CIA) George H. W. Bush that the 1990s would be the Decade of Brain Research, presidents have announced additional decades long projects involving the brain, with 2000-2010 being the Decade of Behavior Project, followed by mapping of the brain, artificial intelligence, etc. all organized and funded through the Office of Science and Technology Project (OSTP) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This medical, military, and scientific research has been part of a long range plan to extend MK-Ultra’s mind control to the population at large under the cover of medical science, and it has been simultaneously connected to the development and funding of the pharmaceutical industries research and development of new brain-altering drugs. RFK, Jr. has documented the CIA’s extensive connection to germ and mind research and promotion in his book, The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. It is why his book is banned from the mainstream media, who do the prime work of cognitive warfare for the government. To put it clearly: these media are the CIA. And the issue of U.S. bio-weapons research and development is central to these many matters, including in Ukraine.

In other words, the cognitive warfare we are now being subjected to has many tentacles connected to much more than today’s fanatical anti-Russian propaganda over Ukraine. All the U.S. wars of aggression have been promoted under its aegis, as have the lies about the attacks of September 11, 2001, the economic warfare by the elites, the COVID crisis, etc. It’s one piece.

Take, for example, a book written in 2010 by David Ray Griffin, a renown theologian who has written more than a dozen books about 9/11. The book is Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointee’s Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory. It is a critique of law professor Cass Sunstein, appointed by Obama to be the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Sunstein had written an article with a plan for the government to prevent the spread of anti-government “conspiracy theories” in which he promoted the use of anonymous government agents to use secret “cognitive infiltration” of these groups in order to break them up; to use media plants to disparage their arguments. He was particularly referring to those who questioned the official 9/11 narrative but his point obviously extended much further. He was working in the tradition of the great propagandists. Griffin took a scalpel to this call for cognitive warfare and was of course a victim of it as well. Sunstein has since worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) on COVID psychological responses and other COVID committees. It’s all one piece.

Sunstein’s wife is Samantha Power, Obama’s Ambassador to the United Nations and war hawk extraordinaire. She gleefully promoted the U.S. destruction of Libya under the appellation of the “responsibility to protect,” a “humane” cover for imperialism. Now she is Biden’s Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an arm of the CIA throughout the world. It’s all one piece.

The merry-go-round goes round and round.

I have gone off on this slight tangent to emphasize how vast and interconnected are the players and groups on Team Cognitive Warfare. They have been leading the league for quite some time and are hoping their game plan against Team Russia will keep them there. So far they are winning, as Patrick Lawrence says:

Look at what has become of us. Most Americans seem to approve of these things, or at least are unstirred to object. We have lost all sense of decency, of ordinary morality, of proportion. Can anyone listen to the din of the past couple of weeks without wondering if we have made of ourselves a nation of grotesques?

It is common to observe that in war the enemy is always dehumanized. We are now face to face with another reality: Those who dehumanize others dehumanize themselves more profoundly.

Perhaps people are too ignorant to see through the propaganda. To have some group to hate is always “uplifting.” But we are all responsible for the consequences of our actions, even when those actions are just buying the propaganda and hating those one is told to hate. It is very hard to accept that the leaders of your own country commit and contemplate unspeakable evil deeds and that they wish to control your mind. To contemplate that they might once again use nuclear weapons is unspeakable but necessary if we are to prevent it.

I hope my fears are unfounded. I agree with Gilbert Doctorow that the Ukraine-Russia war separates the sheep from the goats, that there is no middle ground. This is not to celebrate war and the death of innocent people, but it does demand placing the blame squarely where it belongs and not trying to have it both ways. People like him, John Mearsheimer, the late badly missed Stephen Cohen, Ray McGovern, Scott Ritter, Pepe Escobar, Patrick Lawrence, Jack Matlock, Ted Postol, et al. are all cutting through the propaganda and delivering truth in opposition to all the lies. They go gentile with fears of nuclear war, however, as if it is somewhat possible but highly unlikely, as if their deepest thoughts are unspeakable, for to utter them would be an act of despondency.

The consensus of the experts tends to be that the U.S. wishes to draw the Russians into a long protracted guerrilla war along the lines of its secret use of mujahideen in Afghanistan in 1979 and after. There is evidence that this is already happening. But I think the U.S. strategists know that the Russians are too smart for that; that they have learned their lesson; and that they will withdraw once they feel they have accomplished their goals. Therefore, from the U.S./NATO perspective, time is reasonably short and they must act quickly, perhaps by doing a false flag operation that will justify a drastic response, or upping the tempo in some other way that would seem to justify the use of nuclear weapons, perhaps tactical at first.

I appreciate the input of the Russia experts I mentioned above. Their expertise dwarfs mine, but I disagree. Perhaps I am an excitable sort; perhaps I am one of those Patrick Lawrence refers to, quoting Carl Jung, as too emotional and therefore incapable of clear thinking. (I will leave the issue of this long held but erroneous western philosophical belief in the division of emotions and thoughts for another day.) Perhaps I can’t see the obvious that a nuclear war will profit no one and therefore it cannot happen. Yet Ted Postol, MIT professor of technology and international security, while perhaps agreeing that an intentional nuclear war is very unlikely, has been warning of an accidental one for many years. He is surely right on that score and well worth listening to.

But either way, I am sorry to say, perhaps because my perspective is that of a generalist, not an expert, and my thinking is informed by art as much as social science and history, my antennae pick up a very disturbing message. A voice tells me that the danger is very, very real today. It says:

 Beware, we are on the edge of a nuclear abyss.

The AXIS Act, a Step toward World War III

By Adam Dick

Global Research, April 29, 2022

The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity 25 April 2022

The Axis powers, including Germany and Japan, were the foes of the United States and other Allied powers in World War II. Decades later, President George W. Bush chose to term some other nations — Iraq, Iran, and North Korea — as a new “axis of evil.” That was followed by a US invasion and overthrow in Iraq. Decades later, US troops remain in Iraq, and US sanctions and hostility directed at the other two nations continue.

This week, the United States House of Representatives is set to bring the Axis designation back to the big time — seeking to lump China in with Russia as the new Axis powers the US should be devoted to opposing. The movement toward a new world war — the first one with nuclear powers on both sides — grows stronger.

The House is scheduled to consider the AXIS Act (HR 7314) this week. “AXIS” in the title is the kind of ridiculous acronym that has become common in US legislation. It stands for “Assessing Xi’s Interference and Subversion.” “Xi” is Xi Jinping, the leader of China’s government.

The AXIS Act is being considered under suspension of the rules. Legislation deemed noncontroversial by House leadership can be considered under suspension of the rules in which there is usually a relatively brief House floor debate. Suspension legislation is also often passed by voice vote on a nearly empty house floor. Pressing forward toward World War III is not controversial? For many oblivious House members that probably is the case.

The AXIS Act starts off with a series of findings attempting to paint China as an aider of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The accusations included are underwhelming: China and Russia made a strategic partnership announcement a few weeks before the invasion; China abstained from voting on resolutions condemning the invasion in the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly; China has not publicly condemned the invasion.

That’s it. The resolution implicitly admits its backers cannot really tie China to supporting the invasion of Ukraine. Still the resolution proceeds, in what it states is the “sense of Congress,” to bluster that …

“the People’s Republic of China’s disinformation efforts relating to the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine make it culpable in whitewashing Russia’s war crimes, which include the indiscriminate killing of countless Ukrainian men, women, and children.”

It is the second and final listed “sense of Congress” that is the heart of the resolution and that holds the threat of increased animosity toward China and the potential eruption of World War III. It states that it is the sense of Congress that,

“if China is found to be materially supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine, there should be swift and stringent consequences for China.”

Swift and stringent consequences have already been imposed against Russia. They amount to nearly everything short of US troops fighting against the Russian military, though, with US history as a guide, it should be suspected that US troops are engaged covertly in some military actions against Russians. The US has established expansive sanctions on Russia, extensively blocked investment in and commerce with Russia, and excluded Russia from financial systems including SWIFT that facilitate participation in international trade. The US has also been funding, supplying, and training Ukraine military forces that are fighting against Russians.

In an apparent effort to justify the US treating China similarly, the AXIS Act requires the real experts at depicting other nations as enemies — the Department of State — to…

“submit to the appropriate congressional committees” within 30 days and then every 90 days thereafter “a report on whether and how the People’s Republic of China, including the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party, any Chinese state-owned enterprise, and any other Chinese entity, has provided support to the Russian Federation with respect to its unprovoked invasion of and full-scale war against Ukraine.”

These reports will provide House members keen on ramping up hostilities against China with the steady stream of pro-war propaganda they desire. And have no doubt that the executive branch will be happy to provide such. The Biden administration’s interests are in the same direction as the House members raging at China. President Joe Biden has already been out using the Ukraine War as a reason for threatening China. Indeed, the AXIS Act notes one example of this:

“In his call with Xi Jinping on March 18, 25 2022, President Joe Biden communicated that there would be ‘implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians’.”

The AXIS Act is a significant step in the effort by Congress members and the Biden administration, using the Ukraine War as an excuse, to direct against China hostilities already directed against Russia, and maybe more.

Most of the backers of this effort probably expect that such actions will not lead to World War III. Hopefully, they are correct in that assessment.

Even if they are correct that the most dire consequences will be avoided, the toll of expanding hostilities against China will still be harsh for people across the world.

For what gain? None is clear.

What is clear is that there is much potential danger ahead and that US politicians are propelling Americans and the world toward it.

Chinese brainstorming…

Think about the implications of this, big picture. The stock market and economy are shaky. China may have to dump everything they own in the US, along with Treasuries. All triggered by the sanctions on Russia from Ukraine.

Chinese state regulators held an emergency conference with major domestic and foreign banks to discuss means to protect the People’s Republic’s assets should the US impose sanctions similar to those it slapped on Russia in February, the Financial Times reports, citing people said to be familiar with the situation.

The meeting, said to have taken place on 22 April, reportedly involved officials from the People’s Bank of China, the country’s powerful central bank, as well as the Finance Ministry. Representatives from every major national bank took part, as did major foreign lenders operating in the Asian nation, such as HSBC, according to the paper’s sources.

An unnamed "senior finance ministry official" was said to have kicked off the meeting by saying Beijing had been "put on alert" of the West’s ability to seize foreign assets by observing what the US and its allies did to Russia.

In March, officials from the Russian Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance reported that the United States and its allies had seized "about $300 billion" of the country’s estimated $642 billion reserve cushion, with the US alone accounting for roughly $100 billion of that. In recent weeks, officials and lawmakers in Washington and Brussels have threatened to confiscate these assets, or transfer them to Ukraine.

Found HERE.

Yes. If China disengages from US, the US is without a prayer. 

We need them far more than they need us. 

For decades they sent us manufactured goods, we gave them pieces of paper called Treasury Bills. That is over.

Then they started taking businesses and land. If they can’t operate a business or make use of the land there is no reason for them to play with us.

In theory US could do what it used to do and make stuff. 

Before such an adjustment is made the largest part of the population would be dead. 

Only reason for China or Russia to engage with US at all is to preserve stability. 

When US policy amounts to throwing all the cards in the air and kicking over the table they can’t much help us with stability.

-oldhippie

So the Chinese have received a wake up call- they watched as the US/UK walked away with Afghani bank assets, with Venezuelan Gold (Guido seems happy), with Libyan, and Serbian Gold, with Iranian Assets, and of late with Russian bank assets to the tune of $300 Billion.

So what can be a rational game plan for the Chinese who have ? $1.5 Trillion in Assets/T bills tied up in the US. 

How does one back out of this predicament, and reclaim their value, before the US preys on them???

-AParadiseLost

Caught RED-HANDED!

China recently introduced a new law and policy that discloses the IP address of all Internet users.

Now, as a result of this, many people claiming to be inside of Shanghai and upset about the Coronavirus restrictions have been unmasked.

This policy resulted in the discovery of “Shanghai residents” who have been vocally complaining about their dissatisfaction with China, actually being outside of China, and constructing narratives that paints China in a horrible light.

There are many, many “Chinese accounts” originating out of Taiwan, a handful out of Australia and Japan, and a large group from both the UK, and Canada. All of which pretend to be Chinese residents inside of Shanghai.

This has forced Chinese social media, as well as foreign social media (operating inside of China) to suspend many of these fake accounts. As a result, many of these individuals are suddenly stopping their Internet activities using China social media.

So anyone on wechat etc, will now notice that there are suddenly less rubbish materials and postings critical of China.

One such “caught” faux-Shanghai “resident”…

An Dong, an IT support staffer for the EU delegation, often expressed candid political takes and spoke in favor of democratic principles on WeChat. His account has previously been suspended “likely as a result of his political views,” per the Wall Street Journal.

Ten countries open accounts to pay for gas from Russia, Hungary says – The Frontier Post

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti): In addition to Hungary, nine European countries have opened Russian bank accounts to pay for natural gas under the scheme proposed by Moscow, Gergely Gouyash, head of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s office, told Rádió Kossuth.

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“Hungary has opened a euro account, to which the price of gas in euros is credited, and then the bank converts it into rubles… In addition to us, nine other countries do this, but they do not say that they do the same, simply because in Europe now “being good for Europe” means that the leadership of the country does not speak honestly with its people and in international life,” he said.

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The politician once again reminded that the European Union has not adopted any sanctions that make it impossible to pay for Russian gas in rubles, this is regulated by a civil law agreement between states and companies.

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Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjarto also emphasized that some European companies importing natural gas from Russia agreed to the payment scheme proposed by Russia, but they do not talk about it honestly and spread false information about the position of Hungary with the help of Western media.
In turn, Orban noted that the country is ready to pay for Russian gas in rubles, and Szijjártó pointed out that the cessation of supplies to Bulgaria will not affect transit to Hungary.

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On March 23, Russian President Putin announced the transfer of payment for natural gas supplies to the EU countries and other states that have introduced restrictive measures against Russia into rubles in order to abandon the use of dollars and euros in calculations. Then the president si-gned a corresponding dec-ree and said that if unfriendly countries did not pay in rubles from April 1, then Russia would consider this a default on gas contracts.

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According to the new scheme, Gazprombank will open special currency and ruble accounts for foreign buyers to pay for gas. The buyer will be able to transfer funds to the first acc-ount in the currency specified in the contract for the supply of “blue fuel”, the b-ank will sell it on the Mos-cow Exchange, after which it will credit rubles to the account of the buyer of gas and from this account settlements will be made with gas supplier – Gazprom”.ARTICLE

German energy firm Uniper ready to meet Russian pay demand – BBC News

You don’t say?

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From HERE

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with the Xinhua News Agency (China), April 30, 2022

From HERE

Question: What do you think is at the root of the Ukrainian crisis? What can the international community do to solve this problem?

Sergey Lavrov: When we talk about the Ukrainian crisis, first of all we need to look at the destructive policy of the Western states conducted over many years and led by the United States, which set a course to knock together a unipolar world order after the end of the Cold War. NATO’s reckless expansion to the East was a key component of those actions, despite the political obligations to the Soviet leadership on the non-expansion of the Alliance. As you know, those promises were just empty words. All these years, NATO infrastructure has been moving closer and closer to the Russian borders.

The West was never concerned about the fact that their actions grossly violated their international obligations not to strengthen their own security at the expense of the security of others. In particular, Washington and Brussels arrogantly rejected the initiatives put forward by Russia in December 2021 to ensure our country’s security guarantees in the west: to stop the expansion of NATO, not to deploy armaments that pose a threat to Russia in Ukraine and to return the Alliance’s military infrastructure to the 1997 configuration, when the NATO-Russia Founding Act was signed.

It is well-known that the United States and NATO member states have always viewed Ukraine as a tool to contain Russia. Over the years, they have actively fuelled anti-Russia sentiments there, forcing Kiev to make an artificial and false choice: to be either with the West or with Moscow.

It was the collective West that first provoked and then supported the anti-constitutional coup d’etat in Kiev in February 2014. Nationalists came to power in Ukraine and immediately unleashed a bloody massacre in Donbass, and set the course on the destruction of everything Russian in the rest of the country. Let me remind you that it was precisely because of this threat that the people of Crimea voted in a referendum for the reunification with Russia in 2014.

Over these past years, the United States and its allies have done nothing to stop the intra-Ukrainian conflict. Instead of encouraging Kiev to settle it politically based on the Minsk Complex of Measures, they sent weapons, trained and armed the Ukrainian army and nationalist battalions, and generally carried out the military-political development of Ukraine’s territory. They encouraged the aggressive anti-Russia course pursued by the Kiev authorities. In fact, they pushed the Ukrainian nationalists to undermine the negotiating process and resolve the Donbass issue by force.

We were deeply concerned about the undeclared biological programmes implemented in Ukraine with Pentagon’s support in close proximity to the Russian borders. And, of course, we could not disregard the Kiev leadership’s undisguised intentions to acquire a military nuclear potential, which would create an unacceptable threat to Russia’s national security.

In these conditions, we had no other choice but to recognise the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and launch the special military operation. Its aim is to protect people from genocide by the neo-Nazis, as well as to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine. I would like to stress that Russia is acting to fulfil its obligations under bilateral agreements on cooperation and mutual assistance with the DPR and LPR, at the official request of Donetsk and Lugansk under Article 51 of the UN Charter on the right to self-defence.

The special military operation launched on February 24 is progressing strictly in accordance with the plan. All its goals will be achieved in spite of our opponents’ counteractions. At the moment we are witnessing a classic case of double standards and hypocrisy of the Western establishment. By publicly supporting the Kiev regime, NATO member states are doing everything in their power to prevent the completion of the operation by reaching political agreements. Various weapons are flowing endlessly into Ukraine through Poland and other NATO countries. All of this is being done under the pretext of “fighting the invasion”, but in fact the United States and the European Union intend to fight Russia “to the last Ukrainian.” They do not care at all about the fate of Ukraine as an independent subject of international relations.

The West is ready to jeopardise the energy and food security of entire regions of the globe to satisfy its own geopolitical ambitions.What ither explanation is there for the unrestrained flywheel of anti-Russian sanctions launched by the West with the start of the operation and which they aren’t thinking of stopping?

If the United States and NATO are truly interested in settling the Ukrainian crisis, then, first, they must come to their senses and stop supplying weapons and ammunition to Kiev. The Ukrainian people do not need Stingers and Javelins; what they need is a solution to urgent humanitarian issues.Russia has been doing this since 2014. During this time, tens of thousands of tonnes of humanitarian cargo have been delivered to Donbass, and about 15,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid have already arrived in the part of Ukraine liberated from the Kiev regime, the DPR and the LPR, since the launch of the special military operation.

Second, it is essential that the Kiev regime stops cynical provocations, including in the information space. Ukrainian armed formations are barbarically shelling cities using civilians as living shields. We saw examples of this in Donetsk and Kramatorsk. Captured Russian servicemen are being abused with animal cruelty, and these atrocities are being posted online. At the same time, they use their Western patrons and global media controlled by the West to accuse the Russian army of war crimes. As they say, laying the blame at somebody else’s door.

It is high time for the West to stop unconditionally whitewashing and covering up for Kiev. Otherwise, … Washington, Brussels and other Western capitals should consider their responsibility for complicity in the bloody crimes perpetrated by the Ukrainian nationalists.

Question: What measures has Russia taken to protect the lives and property of civilians? What efforts has it made to establish humanitarian corridors?

Sergey Lavrov: As I mentioned earlier, the special military operation is proceeding according to plan. Under this plan, the Russian military personnel are doing everything in their power to avoid victims among civilians. Blows are carried out with high-precision weapons, first of all at military infrastructure facilities and places where armoured vehicles are concentrated. Unlike the Ukrainian army and nationalist armed groups that use people as living shields, the Russian army provides the locals with all kinds of assistance and support.

Humanitarian corridors open daily from Kharkov and Mariupol to evacuate people from dangerous districts, but the Kiev regime demands that the “national battalions” in control of those areas do not release the civilians. Nevertheless, many are able to leave with the assistance of Russian, DPR and LPR servicemen. During the special military operation, the hotline of the Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters of the Russian Federation for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine has received requests for assistance in evacuating 2.8 million people to Russia, including 16,000 foreign citizens and employees of UN and OSCE international missions. In total, 1.02 million people have been evacuated from Ukraine, the DPR and LPR, of which over 120,000 are citizens of third countries, including over 300 Chinese nationals. There are over 9,500 temporary accommodation facilities operating in Russian regions. They have space for rest and hot meals, and everything that may be necessary. Newly arrived refugees are provided with qualified medical and psychological assistance.

Russia is taking measures to ensure civilian navigation in the Black and Azov seas. A humanitarian corridor opens daily, a safe lane for ships. However, Ukraine continues to block foreign ships, creating a threat of shelling in its internal waters and territorial sea. Moreover, Ukrainian naval units have mined the shore, the ports and territorial waters. These explosive devices disconnect from their anchor lines and drift into the open sea, so they pose a serious danger to both the fleets and the port infrastructure of the Black Sea countries.

Question: Since the special military operation was launched in Ukraine, Western counties have adopted a large number of unprecedented sanctions against Moscow. How do you think these sanctions will affect Russia? What are the main countermeasures taken by Russia? Some say that a new Cold War has begun. How would you comment on that?

Sergey Lavrov: It is true that the special military operation was used by the collective West as a pretext to unleash numerous restrictions against Russia, as well as its legal entities and individuals. The United States, Great Britain, Canada and EU countries do not conceal that their goal is to strangle our economy by undermining its competitiveness and blocking Russia’s progressive development. At the same time, the Western ruling circles are not embarrassed by the fact that anti-Russian sanctions are already beginning to harm ordinary people in their own countries. I mean the declining economic trends in the United States and many European countries, including growing inflation and unemployment.

It is clear that there can be no excuse for this anti-Russian line and it has no future. As President Vladimir Putin said, Russia has withstood this unprecedented pressure. Now the situation is stabilising, though, of course, not all risks are behind us.

In any case, they will not succeed in weakening us. I am confident that we will restructure the economy and protect ourselves from our opponents’ possible illegitimate and hostile actions in the future. We will continue to give a fitting and adequate response to the imposed restrictions, guided by the goal of maintaining the stability of the Russian economy and its financial system, as well as the interests of domestic businesses and the entire nation. We will focus our efforts on de-dollarisation, de-offshorisation, import substitution, and promotion of technological independence.We will continue to adapt to external challenges and step up development programmes for promising and competitive industries.

During the period of turbulence, our retaliatory special economic measures needed to ensure the normal functioning of the Russian economy will be continued and expanded. As a responsible player on the international market, Russia intends to continue scrupulously fulfilling its obligations under international contracts on export deliveries of agricultural products, fertilisers, energy carriers and other critical products. We are deeply concerned about a possible food crisis provoked by the anti-Russian sanctions, and we are well aware how important the deliveries of essential goods, such as food, are for the socioeconomic development of Asian, African, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries.

I will be brief as regards the second part of your question. Today we are not talking about a new “cold war,” but, as I said earlier, about the persistent desire to impose a US-centric model of the world order coming from Washington and its satellites, who imagine themselves to be “arbiters of humankind’s fate.” It has reached the point where the … Western minority is trying to replace the UN-centric architecture and international law formed after World War II with their own “rule-based order.” These rules are written by Washington and its allies and then imposed on the international community as binding.

We must realise that the United States has been carrying out this destructive policy for several decades now. It is enough to recall NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, attacks on Iraq and Libya, attempts to destroy Syria, as well as the colour revolutions that Western capitals staged in a number of countries, including Ukraine. All of this came at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and resulted in chaos in various regions of the planet.

The West tries to crudely suppress those who carry out an independent course in their domestic and foreign policy. Not just Russia. We can see how bloc thinking is being imposed in the Asian-Pacific Region. We can recall the Indo-Pacific strategy promoted by the United States, which has a pronounced anti-China tendency. The US seeks to dictate the standards according to which Latin America should live, in the spirit of the outdated Monroe Doctrine. This explains many years of the illegal trade embargo on Cuba, sanctions against Venezuela, as well as attempts to undermine stability in Nicaragua and other countries. The pressure on Belarus continues in the same context. This list can go on.

It is clear that the collective West’s efforts to oppose the natural course of history and solve its problems at the expense of others are doomed. Today the world has several decision-making centres; it is multipolar. We can see how quickly Asian, African, and Latin American countries are developing. Everyone is getting a real freedom of choice, including where it comes to choosing their development models and participation in integration projects. Our special military operation in Ukraine also contributes to the process of freeing the world from the West’s neocolonial oppression heavily mixed with racism and a complex of exceptionalism.

The faster the West accepts the new geopolitical situation, the better it will be for the West itself and for the entire international community.

As President Xi Jinping said at the Boao Forum for Asia, “We need to uphold the principle of indivisible security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the pursuit of one’s own security at the cost of others’ security.”

Question: Russian-Ukrainian talks have attracted close attention of the international community. What are the main obstacles to the talks today? How do you regard the prospects of a peace treaty between the two parties? What kind of bilateral relations does Russia intend to have with Ukraine in the future?

Sergey Lavrov: At present the Russian and Ukrainian delegations are holding discussions on the possible draft almost daily, via videoconference. This document should contain such elements of the post-conflict situation as permanent neutrality, the non-nuclear, non-bloc and demilitarised status of Ukraine, as well as guarantees of its security. The agenda of the talks also includes denazification, recognition of the new geopolitical reality, the lifting of sanctions and the status of the Russian language, among other things. Settling the situation in Ukraine will make a significant contribution to the de-escalation of the military and political tensions in Europe and the world in general. The establishment of an institution of guarantor states is envisaged as a possible option. First of all, they will be the permanent members of the UN Security Council, including Russia and China. We share information on the progress in the talks with Chinese diplomats. We are grateful to Beijing and other BRICS partners for their balanced position on the Ukrainian issue.

We are in favour of continuing the talks, although the process is difficult.

You are right to ask about the obstacles. For example, they include the militant rhetoric and incendiary actions of Kiev’s Western patrons. They are actually encouraging Kiev to “fight to the last Ukrainian,” pumping the country with weapons and sending mercenaries there. Let me note that the Ukrainian security services staged a crude bloody provocation in Bucha with the help of the West, to complicate the negotiation process among other things.

I am confident that agreements can only be reached when Kiev starts to be guided by the interests of the Ukrainian people, and not the advisors from far away.

Speaking about Russian-Ukrainian relations, Russia is interested in a peaceful, free, neutral, prosperous and friendly Ukraine. Despite the current administration’s anti-Russian course, we remember the many centuries of all-embracing cultural, spiritual, economic and family ties between Russians and Ukrainians. We will definitely restore these ties.

Simple Cajun Seasoning

Here is a simple way to make Cajun seasoning using normal kitchen spices.

Ingredients

Original recipe yields 20 servings

2 ½ tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon ground black pepper

Directions

Step 1

Combine the salt, oregano, paprika, cayenne pepper, and black pepper in a plastic bag and shake to mix.

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Poland and NATO: Sneaking Troops Around; Forbids Public Photos/Videos!

World Hal Turner 01 May 2022

The Polish Government has announced that Large-Scale Military Exercises will be taking place across the Country beginning today involving the Polish Military and multiple NATO Member States. Heavy Military Equipment is expected to be seen on Highways and roads around the Country.

This, the world already knew about. What’s very different this time is as follows:

The Polish State Security Service has requested that people refrain from Photographing or Posting about Military Movements including Aircraft landings and take-offs, people who do continue to publicly document Allied Military Movements are subject to prosecution.

The Polish State Security Ministry has threatened Fines and Jail Time for posting pictures and announcing Force Movements over Social Media since the Russian Invasion of Ukraine began, though so far no Polish Citizens have been prosecuted.

There has been covert intelligence coming out of Poland which CLAIMS (not yet confirmed) that Poland and perhaps other nations are planning to put armed troops into western Ukraine as “peace keepers.” HOWEVER, along with such rumors are other CLAIMS (also not verified) that Poland intends a land grab f western Ukraine; to reincorporate what was once actual Polish territory before World War 2, back into Poland. These claims are Furiously DENIED by the Poland government.

Yet, given the announcement by Polish security services, that the public must not take photos, video or make troop movement postings on social media, one has to wonder why all the secrecy? If Poland is not going to send troops into Ukraine, why the secrecy?

It is widely believed by many seasoned observers that if Poland tries to insert troops into Ukraine, they would be immediately engaged by Russian armed forces, regardless of Poland’s stated purposes.

American Georgetown professor advocates doubling the United States defense spending so as to have a war with both China and Russia simultaneously

Current spending; United States budget is…

So it’s not enough. More military spending must occur! Double the spending. Is this even possible?

Ok. I knew that the United States was run by idiots, but this is over the top.

As we all know, chips are the soul of information-based weapons and equipment. A country’s chip level directly determines the advanced level of weapons and equipment. If the ranking is based on revenue, in 2020, the United States will account for 6 of the world’s top ten semiconductor manufacturers. , South Korea accounted for 2, Japan accounted for 1, Xiaowan accounted for 1.

If the ranking is based on R&D expenditure, personnel size, etc., the ranking is different, but without exception, no Russian company can make the list.

From the current point of view, Russia’s chip research capabilities are not strong. Compared with the United States and Europe, its chip level is at least 10 years different.

Due to this, you can’t see any popular mobile phones, cars and household appliances in Russia. Many civilian products in Russia are subject to chip technology, and there are almost no sales in the world, and of course there is no sense of existence.

Although Russia’s chip technology is not strong, its weapons and equipment are extremely advanced. This is also an important reason why Russia’s arms trade has been ranked second in the world for many years.

According to Western media reports, in 2019, the GPS system of the United States covering the Middle East was suppressed by the interference of mysterious electromagnetic waves, and it was completely paralyzed in a period of time, which interrupted civil and military communications in Israel and other countries. reached thousands of square kilometers.

The U.S. military immediately analyzed it and believed that the electronic interference was carried out by Russia, because Russia has a Khomeimim air base in Syria, which contains the Russian electronic warfare system. The U.S. military judged the distance and believed that the interference signal was the Khomemim airbase. Sent from Memim Air Force Base.

The Russian army was able to use the electronic warfare system to effectively interfere with the GPS of the US military, causing many of the US military’s precision-guided weapons to fail under the interference of the Russian army. This also shows that the Russian military’s electronic warfare equipment is still extremely advanced.

Russian weapons and equipment have always given people the impression of being stupid and clumsy, and it is difficult to create very small and delicate electronic warfare equipment.

Chip technology is listed as a key technology by the United States. The United States and other Western countries not only block chip technology from Russia, but also impose embargoes on high-performance chips. Russia’s chip technology is backward, and Russia, which does not have high-performance chips, why is its weaponry so advanced?

To figure this out, we have to figure out why Russia’s chip technology lags behind?

Russia’s chip technology and foundation were inherited from the Soviet Union, which implemented a planned economic system, and the Soviet Union divided labor among countries and regions, such as East Germany producing precision instruments, Vietnam planting rice, Ukraine farming and raising cattle, and Kazakhstan picking cotton. Belarus-made trucks, etc.

At that time, microelectronics was an absolute high-tech, and all the republics wanted to develop. In order to balance the interests of the various republics, the Soviet Union split and distributed the production of microelectronics to the republics. This led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The electronics industry is very fragmented in various republics and cannot form a complete industrial chain.

Because the Soviet Union implemented a planned economic system, all microelectronics units and enterprises belong to the state, and of course they all eat financially, so it doesn’t matter if they make money or not. The key microelectronics products must be able to ensure national defense and security, because there is no market competition. , so the efficiency is not high.

At the beginning of the Cold War, integrated circuit technology was just emerging, and integrated circuits had two development routes, namely the transistor route and the electron tube route.

As far as electronic tubes and transistors are concerned, transistors are small in size, low in power consumption and long in service life, and have obvious advantages over electronic tubes. It can be said that transistors are a more advanced form of electronic tubes.

But also because transistors are small and advanced, there are many failures, and the anti-interference and anti-radiation capabilities are weak. Under the conditions of nuclear war, the anti-radiation capabilities of electron tubes are much stronger than that of transistors. At that time, in terms of volume, transistors were smaller than electron tubes, but The technology back then was not much smaller.

Although the technology of electron tubes and transistors has developed, the development of transistor technology is faster, especially the miniaturization of transistors, and later it has developed to the nanometer level, which is probably not expected by the Russians.

The disintegration of the Soviet Union has left Russia with a mess. The development of light and heavy industries is uneven, and the semiconductor industry is lagging behind, especially in chip technology. Russia wants to catch up, but it has more than enough energy.

Compared with other industries, the semiconductor industry requires continuous technological iteration. It is not only a technology-intensive industry, but also a capital-intensive industry. It not only requires a large amount of investment, but also requires a certain market scale, and requires a long period of accumulation.

When Russia was first established, shock therapy was implemented. As a result, the economy was seriously regressed, and private enterprises were even more backward. In addition to the troubles in Chechnya, Russia was forced to launch two Chechnya wars in 1994 and 1999. Although Chechnya was eventually conquered by Russia, it also cost a fortune. Russia’s treasury is empty.

After 2000, Russia’s economy began to recover, but in 2008, it fought a war in Georgia. In 2011, the economy just turned a few years ago. In 2014, the Crimea crisis occurred again. emptied the treasury.

Coupled with the constant sanctions by the United States, a large number of scientific and technological talents have been lost, and without capital injection, most of the budding private enterprises have died prematurely.

For example, there is a Yoga Devices mobile phone company in Russia, which produces the YotaPhone series of smartphones, and its YotaPhone 3 mobile phone also won the 2018 German iF Design Award.

But the company went bankrupt in 2019. Because the Russian domestic market is limited, mobile phones from China, the United States and South Korea are very competitive, and there is not much capital injection, the Russian mobile phone company eventually went bankrupt.

The premature death of this Russian mobile phone company is just a microcosm of the development of the Russian electronics industry.

Because Russia does not have many civilian electronic products, there is not much demand for chips. Today’s Russian civilian consumer electronics market only accounts for less than 2% of the global share.

The American Semiconductor Industry Association released a research report in which Americans estimated that Russia’s semiconductor purchases accounted for less than one thousandth of the global total.

Most of today’s consumer goods require chips, such as mobile phones, automobiles, home appliances, computers, etc. It is precisely because Russia’s chip technology is backward and the United States has imposed a strict blockade on high-performance chips, which has led to the development of civilian products that require chips in Russia. If it fails, Russia’s economy can only be supported by energy and military industries.

This creates a vicious circle, and it is expected that Russia’s economy will become increasingly difficult due to chip technology.

Russia’s chip technology is backward, but why is the military industry developed? This is related to Russia’s anti-sky system engineering capabilities.

What is systems engineering capability? To use an analogy, with the same stack of wood, ordinary people can build houses, but experts can build warships, planes, and cannons. This is the ability of systems engineering.

Anyone who has watched Romance of the Three Kingdoms knows that Zhuge Liang can use ordinary wood to create a wooden cow and a horse. This wooden cow and horse can be used to transport military rations and is a means of transportation that surpasses the level of technology at the same time. Zhuge Liang’s ability to create a wooden cow and a horse depends on the system engineering ability.

We can compare the phased array radars of the United States and Russia. The signal processing part of the American Patriot phased array radar uses advanced digital chips, so the flight speed of the detection target can be quickly calculated.

Russia does not have high-end chips at all, so it replaced the chip with an “other-excited crystal oscillator”. This “other-excited crystal oscillator” is an outdated analog circuit design. Integrated circuits are smaller.

Therefore, Russia’s air defense missile phased array radar is larger than that of the United States, and it looks a bit stupid and bulky, but from the perspective of core indicators, it is at the same level as the United States, and its anti-jamming performance is stronger than that of the United States.

Americans have specially studied the Russian S300 radar, and they are full of praise for the performance of this radar. They believe that this radar is “high-performance, low-cost, and low-power consumption”, and they evaluate the Russians’ ability to innovate independently.

That is to say, Americans use the most advanced components and advanced assembly technology to create advanced equipment, while Russian components are not advanced, but relying on the system engineering capabilities against the sky, they can also create advanced equipment.

Russian equipment can be said to be cheap and not beautiful, but it is very easy to use.

Some people say that if you give the Russians a pile of scrap metal, the Americans can only sell it as scrap iron, but the Russians can become a big killer that sweeps away thousands of troops.

On September 6, 1976, Belenko, a pilot of the Soviet Air Defense Air Force, flew a MiG-25 fighter through Japan’s tight air defense network and stopped at Hakodate Airport in Japan, which surprised Japan and the United States. In front of 25 fighters, Japan’s air defense system is useless.

After the Americans got the news, they immediately sent technicians to Japan to study the MiG-25 fighter plane. The plane was disassembled and transported to the Baili Air Force Base in central Japan.

As a result, the American technicians were very surprised that the material of this fighter was very common, mainly made of stainless steel, only a little titanium alloy was used for the key parts, and the welding was done by hand, and the workmanship was relatively rough.

The radar of the aircraft has a huge power of 600 kilowatts, but the main components are outdated vacuum tube components, not advanced solid-state electronic components, so the radar volume is large, but it is more suitable for extreme high temperature, and also reduces the avionics equipment compartment. cooling requirements.

Americans looked at these backward technology and rough parts, but they couldn’t figure out how the Soviets turned it into a fighter with excellent performance. The Americans adjusted the performance parameters of the next-generation heavy fighter based on the performance of the MiG-25, and finally gave birth to the F-15 fighter.

There are two main reasons why the Russians have such incredible systems engineering capabilities:

One is that Russia’s high-end manufacturing industry is underdeveloped, and it cannot make the most advanced weapons with the most advanced chips like the Americans. Instead, it can only use less advanced chips to make weapons and equipment that can compete with the West.

This dilemma of “smart women can’t cook without rice” made the Russians have to improve their systems engineering capabilities to solve the problems, and the Russians’ systems engineering capabilities were also forced out.

Today’s Russia can make low-end chips, mainly to meet the needs of the military, because the military’s demand is small and cannot be produced on a large scale, and of course it cannot be industrialized.

Practice has proved that it is feasible to solve a specific problem with super system engineering capabilities, but after all, this is not a long-term solution. For any industry, the return on investment must be considered. Can not increase R & D investment, is not conducive to long-term development.

China’s early chip development also encountered this problem. To solve this problem, marketization can only be implemented under the guidance of the state.

Second, Russia’s super-strong systems engineering capabilities benefit from Russia’s solid level of basic theoretical research, because only by mastering basic theoretical knowledge can we support the ideas and assumptions of systems engineering.

For example, the Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci, the teacher always asked him to repeat the painting of eggs. In fact, the teacher asked him to do basic skills, and Da Vinci felt very tired at first.

The teacher told Da Vinci that eggs in the world are not absolutely the same. Even if it is the same egg, standing at different angles, the projected light is different, and the drawing is also different. Therefore, painting eggs is a basic skill. Once you have mastered it, you can draw anything.

Da Vinci, who was very intelligent, listened to the teacher’s words, and began to paint eggs carefully and patiently. Eventually, he laid a good foundation for painting and became a world-renowned painter.

The author is an engineering graduate. The author has a feeling that if you want to find a paper with a certain degree of mathematical foundation, then you can find references in the paper, and then find the references in the paper. Within five steps of iteration, it must be Russian. Literature.

Don’t look at American higher education, but when it comes to basic education, especially basic mathematics education, Russia is stronger, and basic education in the United States cannot even (?) keep up with China.

If the basic theory is regarded as the starting point and the product is regarded as the end point, only by thoroughly understanding the basic theory can we design the best route from the starting point to the end point of the product.

Russia has its own unique features in this regard, which are worthy of our study and reference, and also worthy of our deep reflection.

Chinese girl with a “to die for” tummy

Look at that waist! Wow. video 3MB

America Wants War with China – Why This American is Saying No!

Pretty damn good.

Cheeseburger Buns

My mom stuffs soft homemade yeast rolls with ground beef, tomato sauce and cheese to make these tasty sandwiches. They’re great leftovers, too. My son takes them in his lunch the next day. —Nancy Holland, Morgan Hill, California

Ingredients

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
3/4 cup warm whole milk (110° to 115°)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
3-1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
8 slices process American cheese, quartered

Directions

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, shortening, egg, salt and 2 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 4-6 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.
In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in tomato sauce. Remove from the heat; set aside.
Punch dough down; divide into 16 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, gently roll out and stretch each piece into a 5-in. circle. Top each circle with two pieces of cheese and about 3 tablespoons beef mixture. Bring dough over filling to center; pinch edges to seal.
Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 20 minutes. Bake at 400° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers.

American neocon leadership advocate nuclear war with China to “put them in their place”

That will trigger a MASSIVE bludgeoning of the United States by both Russia and China simultaneously.

An e-mail from You-Tube explaining things…

RUSSIAN TV

Tonight (Sunday) Russian television broadcast a simulation of Russia launching a SARMAT missile, with its fifteen nuclear warheads, against Britain! The TV commentator says the UK – their little island – will be wiped out. Here, look:

video 7MB

BUT WAIT . . . THERE’S MORE!

Not only did the Russian Television network show this to the entire country, but they went even farther . . . finally admitting what has long been rumored about Russia having developed a 100 MEGA-ton nuclear drone torpedo. Look at what the Russian people were told on their TV’s tonight: Plunge Britain into the sea by Tsunami from a nuclear torpedo drone!

video 9MB

In the U.S., perhaps one of the most useful idiots in Congress, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a complete political moron the best part of whom likely dripped down his father’s leg, has introduced a Joint Resolution in Congress authorizing the Use of military force (AUMF) inside Ukraine “if Russia uses chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.”

In my opinion, that Joint Resolution would _really_ be a US declaration of war on Russia. Let’s not fool ourselves with the diplomatic language.
By the time that law is passed, the USA will likely already be at war with Russia, everything else is diplomatic trifles.

A Giant Statue From Old Trash Movies Is Now Rests In Someone’s Backyard

According to a Tumblr user trulyunpleasant:

“This statue is a couple miles from where I live, just sitting in someones backyard. It was in two crappy Atlantis sword-and-sandal movies back in the 50′s/60′s. Then it sat on top of a bar (or club) for a few years, and then someone bought it for their house.”

It’s a Hell of a thing to have lying around.

Video: Col. Richard Black: U.S. Leading World to Nuclear War

Mike Billington of the Schiller Institute interviewed (former) Senator and Col. (ret) Richard Black, who served 31 years in the US Marines and Army.

Sen. Black talked about his military service in Syria, how and why Russia got involved in the war militarily, and how such involvement contrasts with the US’ and NATO’s justification for military intervention in the said war.

Sen. Black also addresses the recent Russian military invasion of Ukraine and the failure to dissolve NATO.

40.12: Colonel Black focusses on the risk of World War III.

“The decision of Peace or War is made in Washington DC,

As long as we [US government] want the war to continue, we will fight using the Ukrainians as proxies, and we will fight it to last Urainian death”

Good New Orleans Creole Gumbo

This is a fine Creole gumbo recipe.

"I learned to cook from my mother and grandmother who were born and raised in New Orleans and really knew how to cook. Most of the time, you could not get them to write down their recipes because they used a 'pinch' of this and 'just enough of that' and 'two fingers of water,' and so on. This recipe is a combination of both of their recipes which I have added to over the years. Serve over hot cooked rice. The gumbo can be frozen or refrigerated and many people like it better the next day. Bon appetit!"

New Orleans-style gumbo is a true taste of Southern tradition. This boldly flavored stew is bursting with fresh, filling ingredients like bell pepper, sausage, stewed tomatoes, and crabmeat. Hot sauce ad Cajun seasonings add a kick that makes this Lousiana dish a favorite amongst our community of home cooks. Learn how to make the best homestyle gumbo right here.

What Is Gumbo?

Gumbo is one of the most famous dishes to result from Louisiana’s shared Creole-Cajun heritage. Gumbo falls somewhere between a thick stew and a hearty soup and can contain ingredients such as chicken, sausage, ham, seafood, okra, tomatoes, and greens.

As varied as the recipes can be, there are a few ingredients that all gumbos have in common: homemade stock; the “holy trinity” of celery, onions, and green peppers; and roux.

How to Make Gumbo

Boldly delicious New Orleans-style gumbo is surprisingly easy to make at home. You’ll find the full recipe below with step-by-step instructions, but here’s what you can expect when you make this top-rated recipe:

Great gumbo starts with roux, a flavorful thickening agent made from equal parts fat and flour. Once the roux is a deep golden color, add diced veggies and sausage to the mix. Then, incorporate beef bouillon, hot sauce, tomatoes, and seasonings to intensify the flavor.

Let the gumbo simmer for 45 minutes before adding file powder, okra, and seafood. The result will be a lusciously hearty stew packed with Creole spice.

What Is Gumbo File?

Gumbo file, or file powder, is made from dried sassafras leaves. This ingredient was first used by Choctaw Indians and was later adopted by Acadians (Cajuns) when they arrived in the American South.

Gumbo file has a deep, earthy flavor similar to thyme and should be added to gumbo in the last minutes of cooking — it helps to thicken and enrich the stew for an authentic taste of New Orleans.

Serving suggestions

You serve it with rice.

OIP.iHUimyQd9866dA27NI2OHQHaFK — New Orleans Creole Gumbo.

How to Store Leftover Gumbo

Leftover gumbo can be stored safely in the refrigerator for three to four days. Let the dish come to room temperature before placing it in an airtight container to enjoy later. Gently reheat on the stovetop for best results.

Community Tips and Praise

“This is one of the best gumbos I’ve ever had and my family is from the South so that is saying a lot — just don’t tell my mother or grandmother,” shares reviewer mellie18_99. “I added shrimp, sausage, chicken, and crab meat.”

“This recipe is the real deal,” raves home cook Pat. “Don’t forget the file gumbo at the very end, it makes a big difference. You will know when the roux is done when it has the color of a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar.”

Directions

Roux:

Step 1

Whisk together flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat until smooth. Cook roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.

Gumbo:

Step 1

Place celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until all vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir vegetables into the roux, and mix in sausage. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.
Step 2

Combine water and beef bouillon cubes in a large Dutch oven or soup pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir until bouillon cubes dissolve, then whisk roux mixture into the boiling water.
Step 3

Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.
Step 4

Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons bacon drippings in a skillet over medium heat. Add okra and vinegar and cook for 15 minutes; remove okra with a slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo.
Step 5

Mix in crabmeat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder just before serving.

German gas contract with Russia

Even if German stop buying from Russia, German has the contracted obligation to pay $140b through to 2030 independent of Force Majure.

Pretty Chinese Girl

In a scooter park. video 3MB

Destroying China requires the defeat of Russia first

Read the neocon writings. Moscow’s war in Ukraine isn’t a distraction. It’s part of a plan. It’s part and parcel of a plan to destroy China.

Article at “Foreign Policy”

Apparently, the United States neocons have targeted Russia in the belief that she is an easy target to defeat. Then, once “suppressed”, the full weight of combined efforts can then move on to China…

That is my thought also.

Russia without China is endangered and vice versa.

I heard a saying on The Duran Channel on YouTube which has the knowledgeable and wise Alexander Mercouris as main speaker.

"Russia and China do not stand so much shoulder to shoulder but back to back."

p.s. My piece on CounterPunch and Asia Times today has drawn a lot of commentary. Many said that they felt alone and isolated in their opinion on the US proxy war on Russia in Ukraine. They felt better on reading the piece, because they did not feel alone. I think these people are a little bit more likely to speak their opinions and spread them. I feel good about the essay for that reason.

-John V. Walsh

Russian TV Is Talking Very Frankly About Nuclear War (While America Stands with Ukranus)

The Americans will push until there is a disaster. 

-Leander

Andrew Anglin • April 30, 2022

There are two popular clips going around on social media this week of Russians talking about the inevitability of nuclear war. They are both from Russia 1, which is state television.

Remember that RT is also Russian state media, and not really very well-edited, in terms of promoting a consistent agenda, so given the “shrug” mentality of Russians when it comes to narrative control, I don’t think it’s fair to assume that every talking point is overseen directly by the Kremlin. It seems to be more of a “just follow along with what we’re saying” situation. I am not certain of the situation, as my Russian is not good enough to just sit and watch Russian political talk shows, but I imagine there is quite a bit of leeway in terms of the editorial control of the producers and the commentariat. Certainly, they are much less restrained than analogous Western state propaganda – the BBC or CDC (or for that matter NPR, or for that matter CNN).

However, the fact that “we’re probably going to have a nuclear war lol” is now a major talking point probably means that the Russian government told them to start talking about this. Both clips do it in a sort of “lol ok” manner, which was probably also an idea from the state.

In the first clip, a Russian Duma member starts talking about the time it takes for nukes to hit different targets, and jokes about how there is nothing that Berlin, Paris, or London could do to stop a strike from Kaliningrad. As that bitch Julia Davis notes, the host does kind of push back and say that everyone would die in such a war, but the Senator goes into physical comedy and the host chuckles sensibly.

Video 24.2MB

Again, it is just this kind of “hahahaha – LOL” attitude.

I don’t really know why Westerners are spamming these clips – “look – Russia doesn’t even care about nuclear war and they think it’s funny” does not seem like a good argument in support of pressing for war with Russia.

It’s like if you were trying to get someone to fight someone else and you were like “just go start shit talking that guy – he’s got a gun and he’s not at all afraid of dying or going to prison.”

That’s probably the purpose of these segments – to have them disseminated in the West and show that Russians are really blasé about nuclear war. Julia Davis and many others can’t help but do the thing.

Domestically, telling people “nuclear war is lolz” is just hilarious and intelligent. Having a population that responds to “we’re all going to die in a massive war” with “ikr, roflmao” is extremely advantageous. While the US is talking about “our values of who we are in a democracy rules based order of stolen yachts,” Russia is saying “well, we’re all going to die some day anyway.”

For the record, there is zero evidence or reason to believe that a nuclear war would “kill everyone on earth.” Primarily, this is because of the gibberish surrounding the idea of “nuclear fallout,” and even more goofy stuff like “nuclear winter.”

I like the Fallout video games series, but this isn’t real life. As the Russians say – and this is true – there is not even any evidence that if Russia started firing nukes, the West would even respond. They would more likely just start crying and looking for a safe space for their snowflakes.

American B61 Mini-nukes Deployed in Western Europe

From HERE.

The latest B61-12 “mini nuke” is slated to be deployed in Western Europe, aimed at Russia and the Middle East (replacing the existing of B61 nuclear bombs).

B-61-12 is portrayed as a “more usable” “low yield” “humanitarian bomb” “‘harmless to civilians”. That’s the ideology. The reality is “Mutual Assured Destruction” (MAD).

The B61-12 has a maximum yield of 50 kilotons which is more than three times that of a Hiroshima bomb (15 kilotons) which resulted in excess of 100,000 deaths in matter of minutes.

If a preemptive attack using a so-called mini nuke were to succeed, targeted against Russia or Iran, this could potentially lead humanity into a WW III scenario. Of course these details are not highlighted in mainstream media reports.

F-15E Eagle Strike Eagle Fighter for the Delivery of the B-61-12

Low Yield Nukes: Humanitarian Warfare Goes Live

And when the characteristics of this “harmless” low yield nuclear bomb are inserted into the military manuals, “humanitarian warfare” goes live: “It’s low yield and safe for civilians, let’s use it” [paraphrase].

The US arsenal of B61 nuclear bombs directed against the Russian Federation are currently under the national command of 5 non-nuclear states (Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey). The command structure pertaining to the B61-12 is yet to be confirmed. The situation with regard to Turkey’s Incirlik base is unclear.

The Prodigal.

Yeah. This is the name of the movie that the statue comes from.

This movie’s title is The Prodigal.

The Prodigal is a 1955 Biblical epic film made by MGM starring Edmund Purdom and Lana Turner. It was based on the New Testament parable about a selfish son who leaves his family to pursue a life of pleasure. The film also features James Mitchell, Louis Calhern, Joseph Wiseman, Cecil Kellaway and Walter Hampden. The dancer Taina Elg made her film debut.

The story is loosely based on Jesus Christ’s parable of the prodigal son, from the Biblical New Testament Gospels, although considerable liberties are taken with the source material, chief among them being the addition of a female lead in the form of the high priestess of Astarte, Samarra.

It’s About Time

Edward Curtin • April 28, 2022

Isn’t it always?

With the start of World War III by the United States “declaring” war against Russia by its actions in Ukraine, we have entered a time when the end of time has become very possible. I am speaking of nuclear annihilation.

I look down at my great-uncle’s gold Elgin pocket watch from the 19^th century. His name was John Patrick Whalen, an Irish immigrant to the U.S. who fled England’s colonialist created famine in Ireland. It tells me it is 5:15 PM on April 21, 2022, a date, coincidentally, with a history. No doubt John looked at his watch on this date in 1898 when the United States, after the USS Maine exploded from within in Havana harbor (a possible false flag attack), declared war on Spain in order to confiscate Spanish territories – Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. One colonial power replaced another and then proceeded over the long decades to wage war and slaughter these island peoples. Imperialism never dies. It is timeless.

One hundred-and twenty-four years go by in a flash and it’s still the same old story. In 1898 the yellow press screamed Spanish devils and today it screams Russian devils. Then and now the press called for war. If the human race is still here in another 124 years, time and the corporate media will no doubt have told the same story – war and propaganda’s lies to an insouciant and ignorant population too hypnotized by propaganda to oppose them. This despite the apocalyptic sense that permeates our lives because of demonic technology and its use to transform humans into machines who can’t think clearly enough to perceive reality and realize the threat posed by that quintessential technological invention – nuclear weapons.

This is not uplifting, but it’s true. The nuclear weapons are primed and ready to fly. The U.S. insists on its first-strike right to launch them. It openly declares it is seeking the overthrow of the Russian government. Russia says it will use nuclear weapons only if its existence is threatened, which has become increasingly so because of U.S. provocations over a long time period and its current expanding arming of Ukraine’s government and its neo-Nazi forces.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin and its Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov have just warned the U.S. that such involvement has made nuclear war a “serious” and “real” risk, in Lavrov’s words “we must not underestimate it,” which is a mild form of diplomatic speech. Putin said that Russia has made all the preparations to respond if it senses a strategic threat to Russia and that response will be “instant, it will be quick.” The U.S. response is to shrug these statements off, just as it has done so for many years with Putin’s complaints about NATO forces moving up to its border. Incredibly, Biden has said, “For God’s sake, this man (Putin) cannot remain in power.”

Despite endless media/intelligence anti-Russian propaganda – “a vast tapestry of lies,” to use Harold Pinter’s phrase – many fine writers have provided the historical details to confirm the truth that the U.S. has purposely provoked the Russian war in Ukraine by its actions there and throughout Eastern Europe, which the mainstream media avoid completely. This U.S. aggressive history against Russia is part of a much larger history of imperial hubris extending back to the 19^th century. I will therefore here follow Thoreau’s advice – “If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?” – since how many times do people need to hear lies such as “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction” in order to justify wars of aggression around the world. The historical facts are very clear, but facts and history don’t seem to matter to many people. Pinter again, in his Nobel Address, bluntly told the truth about the U.S.’s history of systematic and remorseless war crimes: “Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest.” Which is still the case.

So time is my focus, for the last days have arrived unless there occurs a radical awakening to the obvious truth that the U.S. government is pushing the world to the brink of disaster in full awareness of the consequences. Its actions are insane, yet insanity has become the norm. Insane leaders and a catatonic, hypnotized public lead to disaster.

I write these words with an old fountain pen, a high school graduation gift, to somehow comfort and remind myself that when we were this close once before in October 1962, Kennedy and Khrushchev miraculously found a solution to the Cuban Missile Crisis; and to find hope now, and that when my time is up and I join John Patrick in the other world, things will have changed for my children and grand-children. It is admittedly the hope of a desperado.

The last few years of the Covid-19 propaganda have served to further distort people’s sense of time, a distortion years in the making through the introduction of digital technology with its accompanying numerical time clicks and its severing of our natural sense of time that is tied to the rising and falling of the tides and the turning of the days and seasons, a feeling that is being lost. Such felt sense of time’s texture could be slow or faster, but it had limits. We now live in a world without limits, which, as the ancient Greeks knew, demands payback.

For years before Covid-19, the sense of speed time was dominant, supported by the politically-introduced state of a constant emergency after September 11, 2001 with the urgency to hurry and keep up or one would fall behind. Keep up with what was never explained. Hurry why? Fast and faster was the rule with constant busyness that served the very useful social function of leaving no time for thinking, which was the point, but it made many feel as though they were engaged. And constantly alert for “terrorists” to come knocking. Thus the long wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, etc., all of which continue via various subterfuges.

Then, presto, all this frenzied time sense came to a stop with the 2020 lockdowns, when time got very slow, but not slow in the natural sense but an enforced slowness. People were locked up. Not only was it stupefying but stultifying and an existential drag. This went on for two years with the prisoners allowed short respites only to be rounded back up and locked down again. Jabbed and jolted was the plan. When will it ever end? was the common cry, as despair and depression spread and scrambled minds led to suicides and mindless screen entertainment. This was planned education for a trans-human future in which the cell phone will be central to totalitarian control if people do not rebel.

Those behind the Covid-19 and war propaganda are fanatical technocrats who seek total control of the world’s population through digital technology. Now they have temporarily let the people out of one type of cell and dramatically sped up time with frantic war propaganda against Russia. The great English writer John Berger said it perfectly:

Every ruling minority needs to numb, and, if possible, to kill the time-sense of those whom it exploits. This is the authoritarian secret of all methods of imprisonment.

Everyone is now doing time while scrolling messages on the walls of their cell phones. A twisted, convoluted, distorted, mechanical time in which it seems that there is no history and the future is an endless road of more of the same.

Some say we have all the time in the world. I say no, that we have entered a new time, perhaps the end-time, when the world’s end is a very real possibility. Hypnotized people can agree to anything, even mass-suicide, unless they snap out of it. This can only happen with a return to slowness in the old sense, when people once felt time in their hearts’ rhythms attuned to the rising and falling of nature’s reality. Time to think and contemplate the fate of the earth when nuclear war is contemplated. Yes, “We must not underestimate it.”

It’s about time.

Isn’t it always?

Chinese Style Meat Buns

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If you’ve ever been to a Chinese bakery, you have seen this type of meat buns among many other delicious goodies. These buns are also called pork buns, or Char Siu Bao which basically is a barbecued pork filled bun. They can be either steamed or baked, as in this write-up.

I love both versions, and here in Southern China the steamed buns are the most common. Up North and to the West, the baked buns are very common.

These buns are pretty easy to make. You should love them and they will turn out amazing, and they were gone in no time.

The dough is quite a simple dough with simple ingredients.

In a small bowl, mix the warm water, sugar and yeast and let it sit until it starts foaming, for about 15 minutes. In a large bowl add the flour and to it add the egg, oil, salt and the yeast mixture.

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Mix it all together using your hands, if you find the dough too sticky just add more flour. Knead the dough on a floured surface for a few more minutes, until it becomes elastic. Â Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let it rise until doubled in size, in a warm spot.

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While the dough is resting we can make the filling. I used one pork loin that was about 1 1/2 lb in weight. To make the marinade, is simple as well. Cut up the pork loin in small pieces and set aside. In a medium sized bowl, add the garlic and ginger paste, vegetable oil, honey, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, wine, pepper, salt, five spice powder, and sesame oil. Whisk everything all together and add the pork to it. Let the pork marinate for about 1 hour, or until the dough is almost ready.

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Heat a skillet, over medium heat and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to it. When the oil is hot add the pork mixture including the marinade to it and cook until the pork is cooked thoroughly, for about 5 minutes. Before removing it from heat, add the green onions to it and mix well.

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After all this is said and done the dough should have doubled in size nicely.

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Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.

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Using a rolling pin, roll out each ball into a disc, so that it’s about 4 or 5 inches in diameter. Place heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture in the middle of it.

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Seal the bun by gathering up the edges of the disc.

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Place the sealed side down bun, on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining balls and meat mixture.

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Brush the buns with egg wash and bake in a preheated oven at 350 F degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the buns are nice and golden brown.

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They look so good and are so delicious, you will love them.

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These Chinese Style Meat Buns also known as Char Siu Bao are delicious pork filled buns, made incredibly easy and so delicious!

Ingredients

Egg wash

▢ 1 egg beaten

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix the warm water, sugar and yeast and let it sit until it starts foaming, for about 15 minutes. In a large bowl add the flour and to it add the egg, oil, salt and the yeast mixture.
Mix it all together using your hands, if you find the dough too sticky just add more flour. Knead the dough on a floured surface for a few more minutes, until it becomes elastic. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let it rise until doubled in size, in a warm spot.
Cut up the pork loin in small pieces and set aside. In a medium sized bowl, add the garlic and ginger paste, vegetable oil, honey, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, wine, pepper, salt, five spice powder, and sesame oil. Whisk everything all together and add the pork to it. Let the pork marinate for about 1 hour, or until the dough is almost ready.
eat a skillet, over medium heat and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to it. When the oil is hot add the pork mixture including the marinade to it and cook until the pork is cooked thoroughly, for about 5 minutes. Before removing it from heat, add the green onions to it and mix well.
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
Using a rolling pin, roll out each ball into a disc, so that it’s about 4 or 5 inches in diameter. Place heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture in the middle of it.
Seal the bun by gathering up the edges of the disc.
Place the sealed side down bun, on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining balls and meat mixture.
Brush the buns with egg wash and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the buns are nice and golden brown.

These were FANTASTIC and I only used ground beef, onion, red pepper flakes, salt and extra monterey jack and mozzarella cheese. The roll is very light and not heavy on the bread like other recipes I've seen. These could be stuffed with pretty much anything. Next time I'm trying chicken and mushroom. I baked an extra 5 minutes to get the right golden color. HIGHLY recommended! YUM. 

- Kristi

Clash of Christianities: Why Europe cannot understand Russia

By Pepe Escobar, posted with the Author’s permission and cross-posted with The Cradle

Under an ubiquitous, toxic atmosphere of cognitive dissonance drenched in Russophobia, it’s absolutely impossible to have a meaningful discussion on finer points of Russian history and culture across the NATO space – a phenomenon I’m experiencing back in Paris right now, fresh from a long stint in Istanbul.

At best, in a semblance of civilized dialogue, Russia is pigeonholed in the reductionist view of a threatening, irrational, ever-expanding empire – a way more wicked version of Ancient Rome, Achaemenid Persia, Ottoman Turkey or Mughal India.

The fall of the USSR a little over three decades ago did hurl Russia back three centuries – to its borders in the 17th century. Russia, historically, had been interpreted as a secular empire – immense, multiple and multinational. This is all informed by history, very much alive even today in the Russian collective unconscious.

When Operation Z started I was in Istanbul – the Second Rome. I spent a considerable time of my late night walks around Hagia Sophia reflecting on the historical correlations of the Second Rome with the Third Rome – which happens to be Moscow, since the concept was first enounced at the start of the 16th century.

Later, back in Paris, banishment to soliloquy territory seemed inevitable until an academic pointed me to some substance, although heavily distorted by political correctness, available in the French magazine Historia.

There’s at least an attempt to discuss the Third Rome. The significance of the concept was initially religious before becoming political – encapsulating the Russian drive to become the leader of the Orthodox world in contrast with Catholicism. This has to be understood also in the context of pan-Slavic theories springing up under the first Romanov and then reaching their apogee in the 19th century.

Eurasianism – and its several declinations – treats the complex Russian identity as double-faced, between east and west. Western liberal democracies simply can’t understand that these ideas – infusing varied brands of Russian nationalism – do not imply hostility to “enlightened” Europe, but an affirmation of Difference (they could learn a bit from reading more Gilles Deleuze for that matter). Eurasianism also weighs on closer relations with Central Asia and necessary alliances, in various degrees, with China and Turkey.

A perplexed liberal west remains hostage to a vortex of Russian images which it can’t properly decode – from the two-headed eagle, which is the symbol of the Russian state since Peter the Great, to the Kremlin cathedrals, the St. Petersburg citadel, the Red Army entering Berlin in 1945, the May 9 parades (the next one will be particularly meaningful), and historical figures from Ivan the Terrible to Peter the Great. At best – and we’re talking academic level ‘experts’ – they identify all of the above as “flamboyant and confused” imagery.

The Christian/Orthodox divide

The apparently monolithic liberal west itself also cannot be understood if we forget how, historically, Europe is also a two-headed beast: one head may be tracked from Charlemagne all the way to the awful Brussels Eurocrat machine; and the other one comes from Athens and Rome, and via Byzantium/Constantinople (the Second Rome) reaches all the way to Moscow (the Third Rome).

Latin Europe, for the Orthodox, is seen as a hybrid usurper, preaching a distorted Christianity which only refers to St. Augustine, practicing absurd rites and neglecting the very important Holy Ghost. The Europe of Christian Popes invented what is considered a historical hydra – Byzantium – where Byzantines were actually Greeks living under the Roman Empire.

Western Europeans for their part see the Orthodox and the Christians from the East (see how they were abandoned by the west in Syria under ISIS and Al Qaeda) as satraps and a bunch of smugglers – while the Orthodox regard the Crusaders, the Teutonic chevaliers and the Jesuits – correctly, we must say – as barbarian usurpers bent on world conquest.

In the Orthodox canon, a major trauma is the fourth Crusade in 1204 which utterly destroyed Constantinople. The Frankish chevaliers happened to eviscerate the most dazzling metropolis in the world, which congregated at the time all the riches from Asia.

That was the definition of cultural genocide. The Frankish also happened to be aligned with some notorious serial plunderers: the Venetians. No wonder, from that historical juncture onwards, a slogan was born: “Better the Sultan’s turban than the Pope’s tiara.”

So since the 8th century, Carolingian and Byzantine Europe were de facto at war across an Iron Curtain from the Baltics to the Mediterranean (compare it with the emerging New Iron Curtain of Cold War 2.0). After the barbarian invasions, they neither spoke the same language nor practiced the same writing, rites or theology.

This fracture, significantly, also trespassed Kiev. The west was Catholic – 15% of Greek catholics and 3% of Latins – and in the center and the east, 70% Orthodox, who became hegemonic in the 20th century after the elimination of Jewish minorities by mainly the Waffen-SS of the Galicia division, the precursors of Ukraine’s Azov batallion.

Constantinople, even in decline, managed to pull off a sophisticated geo-strategic game to seduce the Slavs, betting on Muscovy against the Catholic Polish-Lithuanian combo. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 allowed Muscovy to denounce the treason of Greeks and Byzantine Armenians who rallied around the Roman Pope, who badly wanted a reunified Christianity.

Afterward, Russia ends up constituting itself as the only Orthodox nation that did not fall under Ottoman domination. Moscow regards itself – as Byzantium – as a unique symphony between spiritual and temporal powers.

Third Rome becomes a political concept only in the 19th century – after Peter the Great and Catherine the Great had vastly expanded Russian power. The key concepts of Russia, Empire and Orthodoxy are fused. That always implies Russia needs a ‘near abroad’ – and that bears similarities with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s vision (which, significantly, is not imperial, but cultural).

As the vast Russian space has been in constant flow for centuries, that also implies the central role of the concept of encirclement. Every Russian is very much aware of territorial vulnerability (remember, for starters, Napoleon and Hitler). Once the western borderland is trespassed, it’s an easy ride all the way to Moscow. Thus, this very unstable line must be protected; the current correlation is the real threat of Ukraine made to host NATO bases.

Onward to Odessa

With the fall of the USSR, Russia found itself in a geopolitical situation last encountered in the 17th century. The slow and painful reconstruction was spearheaded from two fronts: the KGB – later FSB – and the Orthodox church. The highest-level interaction between the Orthodox clergy and the Kremlin was conducted by Patriarch Kirill – who later became Putin’s minister of religious affairs.

Ukraine for its part had become a de facto Moscow protectorate way back in 1654 under the Treaty of Pereyaslav: much more than a strategic alliance, it was a natural fusion, in progress for ages by two Orthodox Slav nations.

Ukraine then falls under the Russian orbit. Russian domination expands until 1764, when the last Ukrainian hetman (commander-in-chief) is officially deposed by Catherine the Great: that’s when Ukraine becomes a province of the Russian empire.

As Putin made it quite clear this week: “Russia cannot allow the creation of anti-Russian territories around the country.” Operation Z will inevitably encompass Odessa, founded in 1794 by Catherine the Great.

The Russians at the time had just expelled the Ottomans from the northwest of the Black Sea, which had been successively run by Goths, Bulgars, Hungarians and then Turkish peoples – all the way to the Tatars. Odessa at the start was peopled, believe it or not, by Romanians who were encouraged to settle there after the 16th century by the Ottoman sultans.

Catherine chose a Greek name for the city – which at the start was not Slav at all. And very much like St. Petersburg, founded a century earlier by Peter the Great, Odessa never stopped flirting with the west.

Tsar Alexander I, in the early 19th century, decides to turn Odessa into a great trading port – developed by a Frenchman, the Duke of Richelieu. It was from the port of Odessa that Ukrainian wheat started to reach Europe. By the turn of the 20th century, Odessa is truly multinational – after having attracted, among others, the genius of Pushkin.

Odessa is not Ukrainian: it’s an intrinsic part of the Russian soul. And soon the trials and tribulations of history will make it so again: as an independent republic; as part of a Novorossiya confederation; or attached to the Russian Federation. The people of Odessa will decide.

Louisiana Crawfish Étouffée

In Louisiana, there’s nothing better than this classic during crawfish season. This recipe is easy and can be substituted with shrimp when crawfish are out of season. Even better when served with hot garlic French bread! Start cooking the rice first since this is a quick and easy dish.

Ingredients

Original recipe yields 6 servings

Directions

Step 1

Combine the rice and 6 cups water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until rice is tender and water has been absorbed.
Step 2

While the rice is cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and saute until transparent. Stir in the garlic, and cook for a minute. Stir in the flour until well blended. Gradually stir in the tomato sauce and remaining 1 cup water, then add the crawfish tails and bring to a simmer. Add the green onions and season with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes over low heat, until the crawfish is cooked but not tough. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Pretty Chinese Girl

She’s advertising clothes on a a treadmill. video 3MB

America is Preparing for Something Bigger than Russia Ukraine…

Yes. It is VERY disturbing. Especially, as I know how China will react.

Do you want more?

I have more articles like this one in my Art Index here…

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You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.

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Law 44 of the 48 Laws of Power; Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect

This is law 44 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of the Mirror Effect.

Mirror Effects can disturb or entrance others, giving you power to manipulate or seduce them.

There are four main Mirror effects:

The Neutralizing Effect: do what your enemies do, following their actions as best you can, and they are blinded. A reverse version is the Shadow – shadow your opponents every move without them seeing you.
The Narcissus Effect: look into the desires, values, tastes, spirit of others, and reflect it back to them.
The Moral Effect: teach others by giving them a taste of their own medicine. They must realize you are doing to them the same thing they did to you.
The Hallucinatory Effect: create a perfect copy of an object, a place, a person, that people take for the real thing, because it has the physical appearance of the real thing.

Key Points…

Understand: Everyone is wrapped up in their own narcissistic shell. When you try to impose your own ego on them, a wall goes up, resistance is increased. By mirroring them, however, you seduce them into a kind of narcissistic rapture: They are gazing at a double of their own soul. This double is actually manufactured in its entirety by you. Once you have used the mirror to seduce them, you have great power over them.
One way to create a mirror for someone is to teach them a lesson through an analogy, avoiding the reactionary increase in resistance you’d encounter if brought up directly.
Note: avoid mirrored situations you don’t understand, as those involved will quickly see through it, and the mirrored situation will not live up to the original.

LAW 44

DISARM AND INFURIATE WITH THE MIRROR EFFECT

JUDGMENT

MIRROR EFFECTS: Preliminary Typology

Mirrors have the power to disturb us. Gazing at our reflection in the mirror, we most often see what we want to see—the image of ourselves with which we are most comfortable. We tend not to look too closely, ignoring the wrinkles and blemishes. But if we do look hard at the reflected image, we sometimes feel that we are seeing ourselves as others see us, as a person among other people, an object rather than a subject. That feeling makes us shudder—we see ourselves, but from the outside, minus the thoughts, spirit, and soul that fill our consciousness. We are a thing.

In using Mirror Effects we symbolically re-create this disturbing power by mirroring the actions of other people, mimicking their movements to unsettle and infuriate them. Made to feel mocked, cloned, objectlike, an image without a soul, they get angry. Or do the same thing slightly differently and they might feel disarmed—you have perfectly reflected their wishes and desires. This is the narcissistic power of mirrors. In either case, the Mirror Effect unsettles your targets, whether angering or entrancing them, and in that instant you have the power to manipulate or seduce them. The Effect contains great power because it operates on the most primitive emotions.

There are four main Mirror Effects in the realm of power:

The Neutralizing Effect. In ancient Greek mythology, the Gorgon Medusa had serpents for hair, protruding tongue, massive teeth, and a face so ugly that anyone who gazed at her was turned into stone, out of fright. But the hero Perseus managed to slay Medusa by polishing his bronze shield into a mirror, then using the reflection in the mirror to guide him as he crept up and cut off her head without looking at her directly. If the shield in this instance was a mirror, the mirror also was a kind of shield: Medusa could not see Perseus, she saw only her own reflected actions, and behind this screen the hero stole up and destroyed her.

This is the essence of the Neutralizing Effect: Do what your enemies do, following their actions as best you can, and they cannot see what you are up to—they are blinded by your mirror. Their strategy for dealing with you depends on your reacting to them in a way characteristic of you; neutralize it by playing a game of mimicry with them. The tactic has a mocking, even infuriating effect. Most of us remember the childhood experience of someone teasing us by repeating our words exactly—after a while,

usually not long, we wanted to punch them in the face. Working more subtly as an adult, you can still unsettle your opponents this way; shielding your own strategy with the mirror, you lay invisible traps, or push your opponents into the trap they planned for you.

This powerful technique has been used in military strategy since the days of Sun-tzu; in our own time it often appears in political campaigning. It is also useful for disguising those situations in which you have no particular strategy yourself. This is the Warrior’s Mirror.

THE MERCHANT AND HIS DESIRE

A certain merchant once had a great desire to make a long journey. Now in regard that he was not very wealthy, “It is requisite, ”said he to himself, “that before my departure I should leave some part of my estate in the city, to the end that if I meet with ill luck in my travels, I may have wherewithal to keep me at my return.”To this purpose he delivered a great number of bars of iron, which were a principal part of his wealth, in trust to one of his friends, desiring him to keep them during his absence; and then, taking his leave, away he went. Some time after, having had but ill luck in his travels, he returned home; and the first thing he did was to go to his friend, and demand his iron: but his friend, who owed several sums of money, having sold the iron to pay his own debts, made him this answer: “Truly, friend,”said he, “I put your iron into a room that was close locked, imagining it would have been there as secure as my own gold; but an accident has happened which no one could have suspected, for there was a rat in the room which ate it all up.” The merchant, pretending ignorance, replied, “It is a terrible misfortune to me indeed; but I know of old that rats love iron extremely; I have suffered by them many times before in the same manner, and therefore can the better bear my present affliction.” This answer extremely pleased the friend, who was glad to hear the merchant so well inclined to believe that a rat had eaten his iron; and to remove all suspicions, desired him to dine with him the next day. The merchant promised he would, but in the meantime he met in the middle of the city one of his friend’s children; the child he carried home, and locked up in a room. The next day he went to his friend, who seemed to be in great affliction, which he asked him the cause of, as if he had been perfectly ignorant of what had happened. ”O, my dear friend,” answered the other, ”I beg you to excuse me, if you do not see me so cheerful as otherwise I would be; I have lost one of my children; I have had him cried by sound of trumpet, but I know not what is become of him.” “O!” replied the merchant, ”I am grieved to hear this; for yesterday in the evening, as I parted from hence, I saw an owl in the air with a child in his claws; but whether it were yours I cannot tell.” “Why, you most foolish and absurd creature!” replied the friend, ”are you not ashamed to tell such an egregious lie? An owl, that weighs at most not above two or three pounds, can he carry a boy that weighs above fifty?” ”Why,” replied the merchant, ”do you make such a wonder at that? As if in a country where one rat can eat a hundred tons’ weight of iron, it were such a wonder for an owl to carry a child that weighs not over fifty pounds in all!” The friend, upon this, found that the merchant was no such fool as he took him to be, begged his pardon for the cheat which he designed to have put apon him, restored him the value of his iron, and so had his son again.

FABLES, PILPAY. INDIA. FOURTH CENTURY

A reverse version of the Neutralizing Effect is the Shadow: You shadow your opponents’ every move without their seeing you. Use the Shadow to gather information that will neutralize their strategy later on, when you will be able to thwart their every move. The Shadow is effective because to follow the movements of others is to gain valuable insights into their habits and routines. The Shadow is the preeminent device for detectives and spies.

The Narcissus Effect. Gazing at an image in the waters of a pond, the Greek youth Narcissus fell in love with it. And when he found out that the image was his own reflection, and that he therefore could not consummate his love, he despaired and drowned himself. All of us have a similar problem: We are profoundly in love with ourselves, but since this love excludes a love object outside ourselves, it remains continuously unsatisfied and unfulfilled. The Narcissus Effect plays on this universal narcissism: You look deep into the souls of other people; fathom their inmost desires, their values, their tastes, their spirit; and you reflect it back to them, making yourself into a kind of mirror image. Your ability to reflect their psyche gives you great power over them; they may even feel a tinge of love.

This is simply the ability to mimic another person not physically, but psychologically, and it is immensely powerful because it plays upon the unsatisfied self-love of a child. Normally, people bombard us with their experiences, their tastes. They hardly ever make the effort to see things through our eyes. This is annoying, but it also creates great opportunity: If you can show you understand another person by reflecting their inmost feelings, they will be entranced and disarmed, all the more so because it happens so rarely. No one can resist this feeling of being harmoniously reflected in the outside world, even though you might well be manufacturing it for their benefit, and for deceptive purposes of your own.

The Narcissus Effect works wonders in both social life and business; it gives us both the Seducer’s and the Courtier’s Mirror.

The Moral Effect The power of verbal argument is extremely limited, and often accomplishes the opposite of what is intended. As Gracián remarks, “The truth is generally seen, rarely heard.” The Moral Effect is a perfect way to demonstrate your ideas through action. Quite simply, you teach others a lesson by giving them a taste of their own medicine.

In the Moral Effect, you mirror what other people have done to you, and do so in a way that makes them realize you are doing to them exactly what they did to you. You make them feel that their behavior has been unpleasant, as opposed to hearing you complain and whine about it, which only gets their defenses up. And as they feel the result of their actions mirrored back at them, they realize in the profoundest sense how they hurt or punish others with their unsocial behavior. You objectify the qualities you want them to feel ashamed of and create a mirror in which they can gaze at their follies and learn a lesson about themselves. This technique is often used by educators, psychologists, and anyone who has to deal with unpleasant and unconscious behavior. This is the Teacher’s Mirror. Whether or not there is actually anything wrong with the way people have treated you, however, it can often be to your advantage to reflect it back to them in a way that makes them feel guilty about it.

The Hallucinatory Effect. Mirrors are tremendously deceptive, for they create a sense that you are looking at the real world. Actually, though, you are only staring at a piece of glass, which, as everyone knows, cannot show the world exactly as it is: Everything in a mirror is reversed. When Alice goes through the looking glass in Lewis Carroll’s book, she enters a world that is back-to-front, and more than just visually.

The Hallucinatory Effect comes from creating a perfect copy of an object, a place, a person. This copy acts as a kind of dummy—people take it for the real thing, because it has the physical appearance of the real thing. This is the preeminent technique of con artists, who strategically mimic the real world to deceive you. It also has applications in any arena that requires camouflage. This is the Deceiver’s Mirror.

OBSERVANCES OF MIRROR EFFECTS

Observance I

In February of 1815, the emperor Napoleon escaped from the island of Elba, where he had been imprisoned by the allied forces of Europe, and returned to Paris in a march that stirred the French nation, rallying troops and citizens of all classes to his side and chasing his successor, King Louis XVIII, off the throne. By March, however, having reestablished himself in power, he had to face the fact that France’s situation had gravely changed. The country was devastated, he had no allies among the other European nations, and his most loyal and important ministers had deserted him or left the country. Only one man remained from the old regime—Joseph Fouche, his former minister of police.

Napoleon had relied on Fouché to do his dirty work throughout his previous reign,

but he had never been able to figure his minister out. He kept a corps of agents to spy on all of his ministers, so that he would always have an edge on them, but no one had gotten anything on Fouché. If suspected of some misdeed, the minister would not get angry or take the accusation personally—he would submit, nod, smile, and change colors chameleonlike, adapting to the requirements of the moment. At first this had seemed somewhat pleasant and charming, but after a while it frustrated Napoleon, who felt outdone by this slippery man. At one time or another he had fired all of his most important ministers, including Talleyrand, but he never touched Fouché. And so, in 1815, back in power and in need of help, he felt he had no choice but to reappoint Fouché as his minister of police.

When you have come to grips and are striving together with the enemy, and you realize that you cannot advance, you “soak in” and become one with the enemy. You can win by applying a suitable technique while you are mutually entangled. ... You can win often decisively with the advantage of knowing how to “soak” into the enemy, whereas, were you to draw apart, you would lose the chance to win.

A BOOK OF FIVE RINGS, MIYAMOTO MUSASHI, JAPAN, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Several weeks into his new reign, Napoleon’s spies told him they believed Fouché was in secret contact with ministers of foreign countries, including Metternich of Austria. Afraid that his most valuable minister was betraying him to his enemies, Napoleon had to find out the truth before it was too late. He could not confront Fouché directly—in person the man was as slippery as an eel. He needed hard proof.

This seemed to come in April, when the emperor’s private police captured a Viennese gentleman who had come to Paris to pass information on to Fouché. Ordering the man brought before him, Napoleon threatened to shoot him then and there unless he confessed; the man broke down and admitted he had given Fouché a letter from Metternich, written in invisible ink, arranging for a secret meeting of special agents in Basel. Napoleon accordingly ordered one of his own agents to infiltrate this meeting. If Fouché was indeed planning to betray him, he would finally be caught red-handed and would hang.

Napoleon waited impatiently for the agent’s return, but to his bewilderment the agent showed up days later reporting that he had heard nothing that would implicate Fouché in a conspiracy. In fact it seemed that the other agents present suspected Fouché of double- crossing them, as if he were working for Napoleon all along. Napoleon did not believe this for an instant—Fouché had somehow outwitted him again.

The following morning Fouché visited Napoleon, and remarked, “By the way, sire, I never told you that I had a letter from Metternich a few days ago; my mind was so full of things of greater moment. Besides, his emissary omitted to give me the powder needed to make the writing legible…. Here at length is the letter.” Sure that Fouché was toying with him, Napoleon exploded, “You are a traitor, Fouché! I ought to have you hanged.” He continued to harangue Fouché, but could not fire him without proof. Fouché only expressed amazement at the emperor’s words, but inwardly he smiled, for all along he had been playing a mirroring game. Interpretation.

Fouché had known for years that Napoleon kept on top of those around him by spying on them day and night. The minister had survived this game by having his own spies spy on Napoleon’s spies, thus neutralizing any action Napoleon might take against him. In the case of the meeting in Basel, he even turned the tables: Knowing about Napoleon’s double agent, he set it up so that it would appear as if Fouché were a loyal double agent too.

Fouché gained power and flourished in a period of great tumult by mirroring those around him. During the French Revolution he was a radical Jacobin; after the Terror he became a moderate republican; and under Napoleon he became a committed imperialist whom Napoleon ennobled and made the duke of Otranto. If Napoleon took up the weapon of digging up dirt on people, Fouché made sure he had the dirt on Napoleon, as well as on everyone else. This also allowed him to predict the emperor’s plans and desires, so that he could echo his boss’s sentiments before he had even uttered them.

Shielding his actions with a mirror strategy, Fouché could also plot offensive moves without being caught in the act.

THE FOX AND THE STORK

One day Mr. Fox decided to fork out And invite old Mrs. Stork out. The dinner wasn’t elaborate—Being habitually mean, He didn’t go in for haute cuisine-In fact it consisted of a shallow plate Of thin gruel. Within a minute Our joker had lapped his plate clean; Meanwhile his guest, fishing away with her beak, Got not a morsel in it. To pay him back for this cruel Practical joke, the stork invited The fox to dinner the following week. “I should be delighted,” He replied; “When it comes to friends I never stand upon pride.” Punctually on the day he ran To his hostess’s house and at once began Praising everything: “What taste! What chic! And the food—done just to a turn!” Then sat down with a hearty appetite (Foxes are always ready to eat) And savored the delicious smell of meat. It was minced meat and served—to serve him right!—In a long-necked, narrow-mouthed urn. The stork, easily stooping, Enjoyed her fill With her long bill; His snout, though, being the wrong shape and size, He had to return to his den Empty-bellied, tail dragging, ears drooping, As red in the face as a fox who’s been caught by a hen.

SELECTED FABLES, JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, 1621-1695

This is the power of mirroring those around you. First, you give people the feeling that you share their thoughts and goals. Second, if they suspect you have ulterior motives, the mirror shields you from them, preventing them from figuring out your strategy. Eventually this will infuriate and unsettle them. By playing the double, you steal their thunder, suck away their initiative, make them feel helpless. You also gain the ability to choose when and how to unsettle them—another avenue to power. And the mirror saves you mental energy: simply echoing the moves of others gives you the space you need to develop a strategy of your own.

Observance II

Early on in his career, the ambitious statesman and general Alcibiades of Athens (450- 404 B.C.) fashioned a formidable weapon that became the source of his power. In every encounter with others, he would sense their moods and tastes, then carefully tailor his words and actions to mirror their inmost desires. He would seduce them with the idea that their values were superior to everyone else’s, and that his goal was to model himself on them or help them realize their dreams. Few could resist his charm.

The first man to fall under his spell was the philosopher Socrates. Alcibiades represented the opposite of the Socratic ideal of simplicity and uprightness: He lived lavishly and was completely unprincipled. Whenever he met Socrates, however, he mirrored the older man’s sobriety, eating simply, accompanying Socrates on long walks, and talking only of philosophy and virtue. Socrates was not completely fooled—he was not unaware of Alcibiades’ other life. But that only made him vulnerable to a logic that flattered him: Only in my presence, he felt, does this man submit to a virtuous influence; only I have such power over him. This feeling intoxicated Socrates, who became Alcibiades’ fervent admirer and supporter, one day even risking his own life to rescue the young man in battle.

The Athenians considered Alcibiades their greatest orator, for he had an uncanny ability to tune in to his audience’s aspirations, and mirror their desires. He made his greatest speeches in support of the invasion of Sicily, which he thought would bring great wealth to Athens and limitless glory to himself. The speeches gave expression to young Athenians’ thirst to conquer lands for themselves, rather than living off the victories of their ancestors. But he also tailored his words to reflect older men’s nostalgia for the glory years when Athens led the Greeks against Persia, and then went on to create an empire. All Athens now dreamed of conquering Sicily; Alcibiades’ plan was approved, and he was made the expedition’s commander.

THE PURLOINED LETTER

When I wish to find out how wise, or how stupid, or how good, or how wicked is any one, or what are his thoughts at the moment, I fashion the expression of my face, as accurately as possible, in accordance with the expression of his, and then wait to see what thoughts or sentiments arise in my mind or heart, as if to match or correspond with the expression.

EDGAR ALLAN POE, 1809-1849

While Alcibiades was leading the invasion of Sicily, however, certain Athenians fabricated charges against him of profaning sacred statues. He knew his enemies would have him executed if he returned home, so at the last minute he deserted the Athenian fleet and defected to Athens’s bitter enemy, Sparta. The Spartans welcomed this great man to their side, but they knew his reputation and were wary of him. Alcibiades loved luxury; the Spartans were a warrior people who worshipped austerity, and they were afraid he would corrupt their youth. But much to their relief, the Alcibiades who arrived in Sparta was not at all what they expected: He wore his hair untrimmed (as they did), took cold baths, ate coarse bread and black broth, and wore simple clothes. To the Spartans this signified that he had come to see their way of life as superior to the Athenian; greater than they were, he had chosen to be a Spartan rather than being born one, and should thus be honored above all others. They fell under his spell and gave him great powers. Unfortunately Alcibiades rarely knew how to rein in his charm—he managed to seduce the king of Sparta’s wife and make her pregnant. When this became public he once more had to flee for his life.

This time Alcibiades defected to Persia, where he suddenly went from Spartan simplicity to embracing the lavish Persian lifestyle down to the last detail. It was of course immensely flattering to the Persians to see a Greek of Alcibiades’ stature prefer their culture over his own, and they showered him with honors, land, and power. Once seduced by the mirror, they failed to notice that behind this shield Alcibiades was playing a double game, secretly helping the Athenians in their war with Sparta and thus reingratiat ing himself with the city to which he desperately wanted to return, and which welcomed him back with open arms in 408 B.C.

Interpretation

Early in his political career, Alcibiades made a discovery that changed his whole approach to power: He had a colorful and forceful personality, but when he argued his ideas strongly with other people he would win over a few while at the same time alienating many more. The secret to gaining ascendancy over large numbers, he came to believe, was not to impose his colors but to absorb the colors of those around him, like a chameleon. Once people fell for the trick, the deceptions he went on to practice would be invisible to them.

Understand: Everyone is wrapped up in their own narcissistic shell. When you try to impose your own ego on them, a wall goes up, resistance is increased. By mirroring them, however, you seduce them into a kind of narcissistic rapture: They are gazing at a double of their own soul. This double is actually manufactured in its entirety by you. Once you have used the mirror to seduce them, you have great power over them.

It is worth noting, however, the dangers in the promiscuous use of the mirror. In Alcibiades’ presence people felt larger, as if their egos had been doubled. But once he left, they felt empty and diminished, and when they saw him mirroring completely different people as totally as he had mirrored them, they felt not just diminished but betrayed. Alcibiades’ overuse of the Mirror Effect made whole peoples feel used, so that he constantly had to flee from one place to another. Indeed Alcibiades so angered the Spartans that they finally had him murdered. He had gone too far. The Seducer’s Mirror must be used with caution and discrimination.

LORENZO DE’ MEDICI SEDUCES THE POPE

Lorenzo [de’ Medici] lost no opportunity of increasing the respect which Pope Innocent now felt for him and of gaining his friendship, if possible his affection. He took the trouble to discover the Pope’s tastes and indulged them accordingly. He sent him... casks of his favourite wine.... He sent him courteous, flattering letters in which he assured him, when the Pope was ill, that he felt his sufferings as though they were his own, in which he encouraged him with such fortifying statements as “a Pope is what he wills to be,” and in which, as though incidentally, he included his views on the proper course of papal policies. Innocent was gratified by Lorenzo’s attentions and convinced by his arguments.... So completely, indeed, did he come to share his opinions that, as the disgruntled Ferrarese ambassador put it, “the Pope sleeps with the eyes of the Magnificent Lorenzo.”

THE HOUSE OF MEDICI: ITS RISE AND FALL, CHRISTOPHER HIBBERT, 1980

Observance III

In 1652 the recently widowed Baroness Mancini moved her family from Rome to Paris, where she could count on the influence and protection of her brother Cardinal Mazarin, the French prime minister. Of the baroness’s five daughters, four dazzled the court with their beauty and high spirits. These infamously charming nieces of Cardinal Mazarin became known as the Mazarinettes, and soon found themselves invited to all the most important court functions.

One daughter, Marie Mancini, did not share this good fortune, for she lacked the beauty and grace of her sisters—who, along with her mother and even Cardinal Mazarin, eventually came to dislike her, for they felt she spoiled the family image. They tried to persuade her to enter a convent, where she would be less of an embarrassment, but she refused. Instead she applied herself to her studies, learning Latin and Greek, perfecting her French, and practicing her musical skills. On the rare occasions when the family would let her attend court affairs, she trained herself to be an artful listener, sizing people up for their weaknesses and hidden desires. And when she finally met the future King Louis XIV, in 1657 (Louis was seventeen years old, Marie eighteen), she decided that to spite her family and uncle, she would find a way to make this young man fall in love with her.

This was a seemingly impossible task for such a plain-looking girl, but Marie studied the future king closely. She noticed that her sisters’ frivolity did not please him, and she sensed that he loathed the scheming and petty politicking that went on all around him. She saw that he had a romantic nature—he read adventure novels, insisted on marching at the head of his armies, and had high ideals and a passion for glory. The court did not feed these fantasies of his; it was a banal, superficial world that bored him.

The key to Louis’s heart, Marie saw, would be to construct a mirror reflecting his fantasies and his youthful yearnings for glory and romance. To begin with she immersed herself in the romantic novels, poems, and plays that she knew the young king read voraciously. When Louis began to engage her in conversation, to his delight she would talk of the things that stirred his soul—not this fashion or that piece of gossip, but rather courtly love, the deeds of great knights, the nobility of past kings and heroes. She fed his thirst for glory by creating an image of an august, superior king whom he could aspire to become. She stirred his imagination.

As the future Sun King spent more and more time in Marie’s presence, it eventually became clear that he had fallen in love with the least likely young woman of the court. To the horror of her sisters and mother, he showered Marie Mancini with attention. He brought her along on his military campaigns, and made a show of stationing her where she could watch as he marched into battle. He even promised Marie that he would marry her and make her queen.

Wittgenstein had an extraordinary gift for divining the thoughts of the person with whom he was engaged in discussion. While the other struggled to put his thought into words, Wittgenstein would perceive what it was and state it for him. This power of his, which sometimes seemed uncanny, was made possible, I am sure, by his own prolonged and continuous researches.

LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN: A MEMOIR. NORMAN MALCOLM, 1958

The doctor should be opaque to his patients, and like a mirror, should show them nothing but what is shown to him.

SIGMUND FREUD, 1856-1939

Mazarin, however, would never allow the king to marry his niece, a woman who could bring France no diplomatic or royal alliances. Louis had to marry a princess of Spain or Austria. In 1658 Louis succumbed to the pressure and agreed to break off the first romantic involvement of his life. He did so with much regret, and at the end of his life he acknowledged that he never loved anyone as much as Marie Mancini.

Interpretation

Marie Mancini played the seducer’s game to perfection. First, she took a step back, to study her prey. Seduction often fails to get past the first step because it is too aggressive; the first move must always be a retreat. By studying the king from a distance Marie saw what distinguished him from others—his high ideals, romantic nature, and snobbish disdain for petty politics. Marie’s next step was to make a mirror for these hidden yearnings on Louis’s part, letting him glimpse what he himself could be—a godlike king!

This mirror had several functions: Satisfying Louis’s ego by giving him a double to look at, it also focused on him so exclusively as to give him the feeling that Marie existed for him alone. Surrounded by a pack of scheming courtiers who only had their own self-interest at heart, he could not fail to be touched by this devotional focus. Finally Marie’s mirror set up an ideal for him to live up to: the noble knight of the medieval court. To a soul both romantic and ambitious, nothing could be more intoxicating than to have someone hold up an idealized reflection of him. In effect it was Marie Mancini who created the image of the Sun King—indeed Louis later admitted the enormous part she had played in fashioning his radiant self-image.

This is the power of the Seducer’s Mirror: By doubling the tastes and ideals of the target, it shows your attention to his or her psychology, an attention more charming than any aggressive pursuit. Find out what sets the other person apart, then hold up the mirror that will reflect it and bring it out of them. Feed their fantasies of power and greatness by reflecting their ideals, and they will succumb.

Observance IV

In 1538, with the death of his mother, Helena, the eight-year-old future czar Ivan IV (or Ivan the Terrible) of Russia became an orphan. For the next five years he watched as the princely class, the boyars, terrorized the country. Now and then, to mock the young Ivan, they would make him wear a crown and scepter and place him on the throne. When the little boy’s feet dangled over the edge of the chair, they would laugh and lift him off it, handing him from man to man in the air, making him feel his helplessness compared to them.

When Ivan was thirteen, he boldly murdered the boyar leader and ascended to the throne. For the next few decades he struggled to subdue the boyars’ power, but they continued to defy him. By 1575 his efforts to transform Russia and defeat its enemies had exhausted him. Meanwhile, his subjects were complaining bitterly about his endless wars, his secret police, the unvanquished and oppressive boyars. His own ministers began to question his moves. Finally he had had enough. In 1564 he had temporarily abandoned the throne, forcing his subjects to call him back to power. Now he took the strategy a step further, and abdicated.

To take his place Ivan elevated a general of his, Simeon Bekbulatovich, to the throne. But although Simeon had recently converted to Christianity, he was by birth a Tartar, and his enthronement was an insult to Ivan’s subjects, since Russians looked down on the Tartars as inferiors and infidels. Yet Ivan ordered that all Russians, including the boyars, pledge obedience to their new ruler. And while Simeon moved into the Kremlin, Ivan lived in a humble house on Moscow’s outskirts, from which he would sometimes visit the palace, bow before the throne, sit among the other boyars, and humbly petition Simeon for favors.

Over time it became clear that Simeon was a kind of king’s double. He dressed like Ivan, and acted like Ivan, but he had no real power, since no one would really obey him. The boyars at the court who were old enough to remember taunting Ivan when he was a boy, by placing him on the throne, saw the connection: They had made Ivan feel like a weak pretender, so now he mirrored them by placing a weak pretender of his own on the throne.

For two long years Ivan held the mirror of Simeon up to the Russian people. The mirror said: Your whining and disobedience have made me a czar with no real power, so I will reflect back to you a czar with no real power. You have treated me disrespectfully, so I will do the same to you, making Russia the laughingstock of the world. In 1577, in the name of the Russian people, the chastised boyars once again begged Ivan to return to the throne, which he did. He lived as czar until his death, in 1584, and the conspiracies, complaining, and second-guessing disappeared along with Simeon.

Interpretation

In 1564, after threatening to abdicate, Ivan had been granted absolute powers. But these powers had slowly been chipped away as every sector of society—the boyars, the church, the government—vied for more control. Foreign wars had exhausted the country, internal bickering had increased, and Ivan’s attempts to respond had been met with scorn. Russia had turned into a kind of boisterous classroom in which the pupils laughed openly at the teacher. If he raised his voice or complained, he only met more resistance. He had to teach them a lesson, give them a taste of their own medicine. Simeon Bekbulatovich was the mirror he used to do so.

After two years in which the throne had been an object of ridicule and disgust, the Russian people learned their lesson. They wanted their czar back, conceding to him all the dignity and respect that the position should always have commanded. For the rest of his reign, Russia and Ivan got along fine.

Understand: People are locked in their own experiences. When you whine about some insensitivity on their part, they may seem to understand, but inwardly they are untouched and even more resistant. The goal of power is always to lower people’s resistance to you. For this you need tricks, and one trick is to teach them a lesson.

Instead of haranguing people verbally, then, create a kind of mirror of their behavior.

In doing so you leave them two choices: They can ignore you, or they can start to think about themselves. And even if they ignore you, you will have planted a seed in their unconscious that will eventually take root. When you mirror their behavior, incidentally, do not be afraid to add a touch of caricature and exaggeration, as Ivan did by enthroning a Tartar—it is the little spice in the soup that will open their eyes and make them see the ridiculousness in their own actions.

Observance V

Dr. Milton H. Erickson, a pioneer in strategic psychotherapy, would often educate his patients powerfully but indirectly by creating a kind of mirror effect. Constructing an analogy to make patients see the truth on their own, he would bypass their resistance to change. When Dr. Erickson treated married couples complaining of sexual problems, for instance, he often found that psychotherapy’s tradition of direct confrontation and problem-airing only heightened the spouses’ resistance and sharpened their differences. Instead, he would draw a husband and wife out on other topics, often banal ones, trying to find an analogy for the sexual conflict.

In one couple’s first session, the pair were discussing their eating habits, especially at dinner. The wife preferred the leisurely approach—a drink before the meal, some appetizers, and then a small main course, all at a slow, civilized pace. This frustrated the husband—he wanted to get dinner over quickly and to dig right into the main course, the bigger the better. As the conversation continued, the couple began to catch glimpses of an analogy to their problems in bed. The moment they made this connection, however, Dr. Erickson would change the subject, carefully avoiding a discussion of the real problem.

The couple thought Erickson was just getting to know them and would deal with the problem directly the next time he saw them. But at the end of this first session, Dr. Erickson directed them to arrange a dinner a few nights away that would combine each person’s desire: The wife would get the slow meal, including time spent bonding, and the husband would get the big dishes he wanted to eat. Without realizing they were acting under the doctor’s gentle guidance, the couple would walk into a mirror of their problem, and in the mirror they would solve their problems themselves, ending the evening just as the doctor had hoped—by mirroring the improved dinner dynamics in bed.

In dealing with more severe problems, such as the schizophrenic’s mirror fantasy world of his or her own construction, Dr. Erickson would always try to enter the mirror and work within it. He once treated a hospital inmate who believed he was Jesus Christ —draping sheets around his body, talking in vague parables, and bombarding staff and patients with endless Christian proselytizing. No therapy or drugs seemed to work, until one day Dr. Erickson went up to the young man and said, “I understand you have had experience as a carpenter.” Being Christ, the patient had to say that he had had such experience, and Erickson immediately put him to work building bookcases and other useful items, allowing him to wear his Jesus garb. Over the next weeks, as the patient worked on these projects, his mind became less occupied with Jesus fantasies and more focused on his labor. As the carpentry work took precedence, a psychic shift took effect: The religious fantasies remained, but faded comfortably into the background, allowing the man to function in society.

Interpretation

Communication depends on metaphors and symbols, which are the basis of language itself. A metaphor is a kind of mirror to the concrete and real, which it often expresses more clearly and deeply than a literal description does. When you are dealing with the intractable willpower of other people, direct communication often only heightens their resistance.

This happens most clearly when you complain about people’s behavior, particularly in sensitive areas such as their lovemaking. You will effect a far more lasting change if, like Dr. Erickson, you construct an analogy, a symbolic mirror of the situation, and guide the other through it. As Christ himself understood, talking in parables is often the best way to teach a lesson, for it allows people to realize the truth on their own.

When dealing with people who are lost in the reflections of fantasy worlds (including a host of people who do not live in mental hospitals), never try to push them into reality by shattering their mirrors. Instead, enter their world and operate inside it, under their rules, gently guiding them out of the hall of mirrors they have entered.

Observance VI

The great sixteenth-century Japanese tea master Takeno Sho-o once passed by a house and noticed a young man watering flowers near his front gate. Two things caught Sho- o’s attention—first, the graceful way the man performed his task; and, second, the stunningly beautiful rose of Sharon blossoms that bloomed in the garden. He stopped and introduced himself to the man, whose name was Sen no Rikyu. Sho-o wanted to stay, but he had a prior engagement and had to hurry off. Before he left, however, Rikyu invited him to take tea with him the following morning. Sho-o happily accepted.

When Sho-o opened the garden gate the next day, he was horrified to see that not a single flower remained. More than anything else, he had come to see the rose of Sharon blossoms that he had not had the time to appreciate the day before; now, disappointed, he started to leave, but at the gate he stopped himself, and decided to enter Sen no Rikyu’s tea room. Immediately inside, he stopped in his tracks and gazed in astonishment: Before him a vase hung from the ceiling, and in the vase stood a single rose of Sharon blossom, the most beautiful in the garden. Somehow Sen no Rikyu had read his guest’s thoughts, and, with this one eloquent gesture, had demonstrated that this day guest and host would be in perfect harmony.

Sen no Rikyu went on to become the most famous tea master of all, and his trademark was this uncanny ability to harmonize himself with his guests’ thoughts and to think one step ahead, enchanting them by adapting to their taste.

One day Rikyu was invited to tea by Yamashina Hechigwan, an admirer of the tea ceremony but also a man with a vivid sense of humor. When Rikyu arrived at Hechigwan’s home, he found the garden gate shut, so he opened it to look for the host. On the other side of the gate he saw that someone had first dug a ditch, then carefully covered it over with canvas and earth. Realizing that Hechigwan had planned a practical joke, he obligingly walked right into the ditch, muddying his clothes in the process.

Apparently horrified, Hechigwan came running out, and hurried Rikyu to a bath that for some inexplicable reason stood already prepared. After bathing, Rikyu joined Hechigwan in the tea ceremony, which both enjoyed immensely, sharing a laugh about the accident. Later Sen no Rikyu explained to a friend that he had heard about Hechigwan’s practical joke beforehand, “But since it should always be one’s aim to conform to the wishes of one’s host, I fell into the hole knowingly and thus assured the success of the meeting. Tea is by no means mere obsequiousness, but there is no tea where the host and guest are not in harmony with one another.” Hechigwan’s vision of the dignified Sen no Rikyu at the bottom of a ditch had pleased him endlessly, but Rikyu had gained a pleasure of his own in complying with his host’s wish and watching him amuse himself in this way.

Interpretation

Sen no Rikyu was no magician or seer—he watched those around him acutely, plumbing the subtle gestures that revealed a hidden desire, then producing that desire’s image. Although Sho-o never spoke of being enchanted by the rose of Sharon blossoms, Rikyu read it in his eyes. If mirroring a person’s desires meant falling into a ditch, so be it. Rikyu’s power resided in his skillful use of the Courtier’s Mirror, which gave him the appearance of an unusual ability to see into other people.

Learn to manipulate the Courtier’s Mirror, for it will bring you great power. Study people’s eyes, follow their gestures—surer barometers of pain and pleasure than any spoken word. Notice and remember the details—the clothing, the choice of friends, the daily habits, the tossed-out remarks—that reveal hidden and rarely indulged desires. Soak it all in, find out what lies under the surface, then make yourself the mirror of their unspoken selves. That is the key to this power: The other person has not asked for your consideration, has not mentioned his pleasure in the rose of Sharon, and when you reflect it back to him his pleasure is heightened because it is unasked for. Remember: The wordless communication, the indirect compliment, contains the most power. No one can resist the enchantment of the Courtier’s Mirror.

Observance VII

Yellow Kid Weil, con artist extraordinaire, used the Deceiver’s Mirror in his most brilliant cons. Most audacious of all was his re-creation of a bank in Muncie, Indiana. When Weil read one day that the Merchants Bank in Muncie had moved, he saw an opportunity he could not pass up.

Weil rented out the original Merchants building, which still contained bank furniture, complete with teller windows. He bought money bags, stenciled a bank’s invented name on them, filled them with steel washers, and arrayed them impressively behind the teller windows, along with bundles of boodle—real bills hiding newspaper cut to size. For his bank’s staff and customers Weil hired gamblers, bookies, girls from local bawdy houses, and other assorted confederates. He even had a local thug pose as a bank dick.

Claiming to be the broker for a certificate investment the bank was offering, Weil would fish the waters and hook the proper wealthy sucker. He would bring this man to the bank and ask to see the president. An “officer” of the bank would tell them that they had to wait, which only heightened the realism of the con—one always has to wait to see the bank president. And as they waited the bank would bustle with banklike activity, as call girls and bookies in disguise floated in and out, making deposits and withdrawals and tipping their hats to the phony bank dick. Lulled by this perfect copy of reality, the sucker would deposit $50,000 into the fake bank without a worry in the world.

Over the years Weil did the same thing with a deserted yacht club, an abandoned brokerage office, a relocated real estate office, and a completely realistic gambling club.

Interpretation

The mirroring of reality offers immense deceptive powers. The right uniform, the perfect accent, the proper props—the deception cannot be deciphered because it is enmeshed in a simulation of reality. People have an intense desire and need to believe,

and their first instinct is to trust a well-constructed facade, to mistake it for reality. After all, we cannot go around doubting the reality of everything we see—that would be too exhausting. We habitually accept appearances, and this is a credulity you can use.

In this particular game it is the first moment that counts the most. If your suckers’ suspicions are not raised by their first glance at the mirror’s reflection, they will stay suppressed. Once they enter your hall of mirrors, they will be unable to distinguish the real from the fake, and it will become easier and easier to deceive them. Remember: Study the world’s surfaces and learn to mirror them in your habits, your manner, your clothes. Like a carnivorous plant, to unsuspecting insects you will look like all the other plants in the field.

Authority: The task of a military operation is to accord deceptively with the intentions of the enemy … get to what they want first, subtly anticipate them. Maintain discipline and adapt to the enemy…. Thus, at first you are like a maiden, so the enemy opens his door; then you are like a rabbit on the loose, so the enemy cannot keep you out. (Sun-tzu, fourth century B.C.)

Image: The Shield of Perseus. It is pol ished into a reflecting mirror. Medusa cannot see you, only her own hideousness reflected back at her.

Behind such a mirror you can de ceive, mock, and infuriate. With one blow you sever Medusa’s unsuspecting head.

A WARNING: BEWARE OF MIRRORED SITUATIONS

Mirrors contain great power but also dangerous reefs, including the mirrored situation

—a situation that seems to reflect or closely resemble a previous one, mostly in style and surface appearance. You can often back into such a situation without fully understanding it, while those around you understand it quite well, and compare it and you to whatever happened before. Most often you suffer by the comparison, seeming either weaker than the previous occupant of your position or else tainted by any unpleasant associations that person has left behind.

In 1864 the composer Richard Wagner moved to Munich at the behest of Ludwig II, known variously as the Swan King or the Mad King of Bavaria. Ludwig was Wagner’s biggest fan and most generous patron. The strength of his support turned Wagner’s head

—once established in Munich under the king’s protection, he would be able to say and do whatever he wanted.

Wagner moved into a lavish house, which the king eventually bought for him. This house was but a stone’s throw from the former home of Lola Montez, the notorious courtesan who had plunged Ludwig II’s grandfather into a crisis that had forced him to abdicate. Warned that he could be infected by this association, Wagner only scoffed—“I am no Lola Montez,” he said. Soon enough, however, the citizens of Munich began to resent the favors and money showered on Wagner, and dubbed him “the second Lola,” or “Lolotte.” He unconsciously began to tread in Lola’s footsteps—spending money extravagantly, meddling in matters beyond music, even dabbling in politics and advising the king on cabinet appointments. Meanwhile Ludwig’s affection for Wagner seemed intense and undignified for a king—just like his grandfather’s love for Lola Montez.

Eventually Ludwig’s ministers wrote him a letter: “Your Majesty now stands at a fateful parting of the ways: you have to choose between the love and respect of your faithful people and the ‘friendship’ of Richard Wagner.” In December of 1865, Ludwig politely asked his friend to leave and never return. Wagner had inadvertently placed himself in Lola Montez’s reflection. Once there, everything he did reminded the stolid Bavarians of that dread woman, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Avoid such association-effects like the plague. In a mirrored situation you have little or no control over the reflections and recollections that will be connected to you, and any situation beyond your control is dangerous. Even if the person or event has positive associations, you will suffer from not being able to live up to them, since the past generally appears greater than the present. If you ever notice people associating you with some past event or person, do everything you can to separate yourself from that memory and to shatter the reflection.

Finally, on a personal note…

The video is Hollywood. But, you know, I’m the real deal.

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About the 18APR22 false flag attack in New York City that will be used to trigger a kinetic HOT war between the USA and Russia.

I made the mistake just this moment of looking at the Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au) to see what it was saying. There's not enough soap in the world to wash out my eyes. 

Stay away from the MSM if you don't want an anger management issue.

-Patroklos

Lots of things going on right now. We continue with a sitrep on the various points of confusion, and various other matters. And we highlight this article with a claim from the Bit Chute venue.

This claim argues that a false flag attack in New York City will occur on the 18th of April 2022. And it will be used to trigger a hot kinetic war between the USA and Russia.

That’s what? A week away.

Ah. Such spicy subjects we have today!

We begin with some articles that are easy on the eyes.

Russian Defense Ministry on the attempted breakthrough by the Apache dry cargo ship to Mariupol.

At 22:38 Moscow time, 30 km southeast of Mariupol, the dry cargo ship abruptly changed its course and tried to break through to the Mariupol seaport blocked from the sea by the Black Sea Fleet.

The Ukrainian dry cargo ship did not respond to the demands of the Russian border ships to contact them through the international channel and continued moving in the direction of the port of MARIUPOL.

Warning artillery fire from two border guard ships towards the ship didn’t change the course of the ship and slowed her down.

While moving to the port of MARIUPOL, the vessel was engaged in radio communication, transmitting the message “I am Maniak, coming to you. At the same time, signal fires were observed on shore.

To block the movement of the intruder ship, the ship of the Black Sea Fleet and the Border Patrol ships opened artillery fire at the Apache dry cargo ship from 22:53 to 23:30.

As a result of the direct hit, a fire broke out on the stern of the ship.

After that, the Ukrainian cargo ship went adrift and the crew communicated with the border guard ships with a request to cease fire and confirmed their readiness to comply with all the demands of the Russian sailors.

The fire did not cause any casualties among the crew of the ship. The fire was extinguished by the ship’s crew on their own.

After the inspection, the Ukrainian dry cargo ship and its crew are escorted to the port of Yeysk.

Creamed Onions and Peas

This is a wonderful recipe which calls for fresh pearl onions and fresh or frozen peas. Quick and tasty.

Dust off those old skills

It’s looking like this, eh?

The Coming Resource Wars

The second Cold War is already a struggle among systems as well, pitting countries that focus on manufacturing (China) and resources (Russia) in the physical world against an alliance led by the United States, which for the last generation has sacrificed much of its own manufacturing and mining to specialize in global leadership in finance, services, and entertainment.

The West sacrificed manufacturing because of the destructive effect of unions. The future belongs to those who are self-sufficient.

Article

Politics is driving me bananas!

It really is. It’s sort of like this…

Several dozen active NATO officers were surrounded in Mariupol.

During the ongoing assault on Mariupol, several dozen active officers of NATO and European countries, who are not officially present on the territory of Ukraine, fell into a dense encirclement. As it turned out, among the surrounded officers are soldiers from France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, the USA and Sweden (not a NATO member – ed.).

Article

If I were rich…

One day, when I become rich…

redneck fishing catered diner lottery winner

Escobar: Sit Back & Watch Europe Commit Suicide

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Cradle,

If the US goal is to crush Russia’s economy with sanctions and isolation, why is Europe in an economic free fall instead?

The stunning spectacle of the EU committing slow motion hara-kiri is something for the ages… Like a cheap Kurosawa remake the movie is actually about the Empire of Lies-detonated demolition of the EU, complete with subsequent rerouting of some key Russian commodities exports to the US at the expense of the Europeans.

It helps to have a 5th columnist actress strategically placed, in this case astonishingly incompetent European Commission head Ursula von der Lugen, with a brand new vociferous announcement of an extra sanctions package: Russian ships banned from EU ports; road transportation companies from Russia and Belarus prohibited from entering the EU; no more coal imports (over 4.4 billion euros a year).

That translates in practice into the Empire of Lies shaking down its wealthiest – Western – clients/puppets. Russia of course is too powerful militarily. The Empire badly needs some of its key exports – especially minerals. Mission Accomplished in this case amounts to nudging the EU into imposing more and more sanctions and willfully collapsing their national economies, allowing the US to scoop everything up.

Cue to the coming catastrophic economic consequences felt by Europeans in their daily life (but not by the wealthiest 5%): inflation devouring salaries and savings; next winter energy bills packing a mean punch; products disappearing from supermarkets; holiday bookings almost frozen; Le Petit Roi Macron in France – maybe up to a nasty electoral surprise – announcing “food stamps like in WWII are possible”.

We have Germany facing the returning ghost of Weimar hyperinflation; BlackRock President Rob Kapito saying, in Texas, “for the first time, this generation is going to go into a store and not be able to get what they want”; farmers in Africa not able to afford fertilizer at all this year, reducing agricultural production by an amount capable of feeding 100 million people.

Zoltan Poszar, former NY Fed and US Treasury guru, current Credit Suisse grand vizir, has been on a streak, stressing how commodity reserves – and here Russia is unrivaled – will be an essential feature of what he calls Bretton Woods III (yet, in fact, what’s being designed by Russia, China, Iran and the Eurasia Economic Union is a post-Bretton Woods).

Poszar remarks that wars, historically, are won by those who have more food and energy supplies, in the past to power horses and soldiers, today to feed soldiers and fuel tanks and fighter jets.

China, incidentally, has amassed large stocks of virtually everything.

Poszar notes how our current Bretton Woods II system has a deflationary impulse (globalization, open trade, just-in-time supply chains) while Bretton Woods III will provide an inflationary impulse (de-globalization, autarky, hoarding of raw materials) of supply chains and extra military spending to be able to protect what will remain of seaborne trade.

The implications are of course overwhelming. What’s implicit, ominously, is that this state of affairs may even lead to WWIII.

It’s all about Marketing

Don’t you know.

Rublegas or American LNG?

The Valdai Club has conducted an essential expert discussion on what we at The Cradle have defined as Rublegas – the real geoeconomic game-changer at the heart of the post-petrodollar era. Alexander Losev, a member of the Russian Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, offered the contours of the Big Picture. But it was up to Alexey Gromov, Chief Energy Director of the Institute of Energy and Finance, to come up with crucial nitty gritty details.

Russia so far was selling gas to Europe to the amount of 155 billion cubic meters a year. The EU rhetorically promises to get rid of it by 2027, and reduce supply by the end of 2022 by 100 billion cubic meters. Gromov asked “how”, and remarked, “any expert has no answer. Most of Russia’s natural gas is shipped over pipelines. This cannot simply be replaced by LNG.”

The risible European answer has been “start saving”, as in “prepare to be worse off. Reduce the temperature in households”. Gromov noted how, in Russia, “22 to 25 degrees in winter is the norm. Europe is promoting 16 degrees as ‘healthy’, and wearing sweaters at night.”

The EU won’t be able to get the gas it needs from Norway or Algeria (which is privileging domestic consumption). Azerbaijan would be able to provide at best 10 billion cubic meters a year, but “that will take 2 or 3 years” to happen.

Gromov stressed how “there’s no surplus in the market today for US and Qatar LNG.” And how prices for Asian customers are always higher. The bottom line is that “by end of 2022, Europe won’t be able to significantly reduce” what is buys from Russia: “they might cut by 50 billion cubic meters, maximum.” And prices in the spot market will be higher – at least $1,300 per cubic meter.

An important development is that “Russia changed the logistical supply chains to Asia already”. That applies for gas and oil as well:

“You can impose sanctions if there’s a surplus in the market. Now there’s a shortage of at least 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. We’ll be sending our supplies to Asia – with a discount.” As it stands, Asia is already paying a premium, from 3 to 5 dollars more per barrel of oil.

On oil shipments, Gromov also commented on the key issue of insurance:

“Insurance premiums are higher. Before Ukraine, it was all based on the FOB system. Now buyers are saying ‘we don’t want to take the risk of taking your cargo to our ports’. So they are applying the CIF system, where the seller has to insure and transport the cargo. That of course impacts revenues.”

An absolutely key issue for Russia is how to make the transition to China as its key gas customer. It’s all about Power of Siberia 2 – which will reach full capacity only in 2024. And first the interconnector through Mongolia must be built – “we need 3 years to build this pipeline” – so everything will be in place only around 2025.

On the Yamal pipeline, “most of the gas goes to Asia. If the Europeans don’t buy anymore we can redirect.” And then there’s the Arctic LNG 2 – which is larger than Yamal: “the first phase should be finished soon, it’s 80% ready.” An extra problem may be posed by the Russian “Unfriendlies” in Asia: Japan and South Korea. LNG infrastructure produced in Russia still depends on foreign technologies.

That’s what leads Gromov to note that, “the model of mobilization- based economy is not so good.” But that’s what Russia needs to deal with at least in the short to medium term.

The positives are that the new paradigm will allow “more cooperation within the BRICS”; the expansion of the International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC); and more interaction and integration with “Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Iran”.

Only in terms of Iran and Russia, swaps in the Caspian are already in the works, as Iran produces more than it needs, and is set to increase cooperation with Russia in the framework of the strenghtened strategic partnership.

Boobie Check – Nazi Style

Those were the days.

vintage ww II snap nazi women boob check — Some nazi women boob check

Hypersonic geoeconomics

It was up to Chinese energy expert Fu Chengyu to offer a concise explanation of why the EU drive of replacing Russian gas with American LNG is, well, a pipe dream. Essentially the US offer is “too limited and too costly”.

Fu Chengyu showed how a lengthy, tricky process depends on four contracts: between the gas developer and the LNG company; between the LNG company and the buyer company; between the LNG buyer and the cargo company (which builds vessels); and between the buyer and the end user.

“Each contract”, he pointed out, “takes a long time to finish. Without all these signed contracts no party will invest – be it investment on infrastructure or gas field development.” So actual delivery of American LNG to Europe assumes all these interconnected resources are available – and moving like clockwork.

Fu Chengyu’s verdict is stark: this EU obsession on ditching Russian gas will provoke “an impact on global economic growth, and recession. They are pushing their own people – and the world. In the energy sector, we will all be harmed.”

It was quite enlightening to juxtapose the coming geoeconomic turbulence – the EU obsession in bypassing Russian gas and the onset of Rublegas – with the real reasons behind Operation Z in Ukraine, completely obscured by Western media psyops.

So I submitted a few questions to a US Deep State old pro, now retired, and quite familiar with the inner workings of the old OSS, the CIA precursor, all the way to the neocon dementia.

His answers were quite sobering. He started by pointing out, “the whole Ukraine issue is over hypersonic missiles that can reach Moscow in less than four minutes. The US wants them there, in Poland, Romania, Baltic States, Sweden, Finland.This is in direct violation of the agreements in 1991 that NATO will not expand in Eastern Europe. The US does not have hypersonic missiles now but should – in a year or two. This is an existential threat to Russia. So they had to go into the Ukraine to stop this. Next will be Poland and Romania where launchers have been built in Romania and are being built in Poland.”

From a completely different geopolitical perspective, what’s really telling is that his analysis happens to dovetail with Zoltan Poszar’s geoeconomics:

“The US and NATO are totally belligerent. 

This presents a real danger to Russia. 

The idea that nuclear war is unthinkable is a myth. 

If you look at the firebombing of Tokyo against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, more people died in Tokyo than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

These cities were rebuilt. 

The radiation goes away and life can restart. 

The difference between firebombing and nuclear bombing is only efficiency. 

NATO provocations are so extreme Russia had to place their nuclear missiles on standby alert. 

This is a gravely serious matter. But the US ignored it.”

Perfect for the beach

May I suggest…

GERMANY ANNOUNCES REINFORCING “BUNKER” FACILITIES NATIONWIDE

World Hal Turner 09 April 2022

The German authorities have begun to work on strengthening the bunker infrastructure in the country, Minister of Internal Affairs Nancy Feather, said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag.

“Currently, there are 599 public bomb shelters in Germany. We will check if we can upgrade more of these systems.

In any case, the dismantling has stopped,”” the interior minister said.

Hal Turner Remarks

Those of you who somehow think that World War 3 is **not** coming, would do well to open your eyes. Countries all over Europe are taking similar steps with bomb shelters, and bunkers.

Just the other day, the European Union publicly announced they are allocating hundreds of millions of EUROS for war preps, specifically, NUCLEAR war preps. (Story HERE)

The situation right now is very, VERY, bad. If a wider war breaks out in Europe, and it appears quite clearly that it will as we already see Chinese troops being deployed Saturday morning into Serbia (Story HERE), then people in the USA should EXPECT that our nation will be attacked. We will very likely face missile strikes upon OUR military bases, upon OUR ports and port cities, and upon OUR infrastructure.

Water, electric, communications, are all vulnerable to attack, and losing them would cripple society for weeks or months.

I earnestly hope YOU are prepared with emergency food, water, medicines, communications gear (CB and HAM radio), First-Aid kits, flashlights, a way to cook without electric or municipal gas supplies, a way to keep warm in the remaining months of cold weather, and so forth. Have a generator to supply electric. Have fuel for that generator. Keep your cars gassed-up at all times and have reserve fuel for each vehicle.

HAVE A BUGOUT PLAN. If you live near a military base, a port or port city, have a plan on where you will go if hostilities erupt. Know in advance how to get there. Have actual MAPS . . . . NOT GPS which will likely be attacked and unavailable. Have MAPS you can actually read; this way if the route you planned to take for bugout is blocked, you can figure out, on the fly, how to get where you planned to go.

Make plans with distant family or friends where you will go if your area is being bombed.

Don’t wait until the last minute like so many others; because if you FAIL TO PLAN, then by default, you are PLANNING TO FAIL.

Be the Rufus

share your wholesome moments 49 — Be the Rufus.

CHINA DEPLOYING TROOPS INTO EUROPE

World Hal Turner 09 April 2022

I'm not quite sure that this report is accurate. But I have included it here never the less. 

Serbia is very friendly with China, and the relationship between the two nations are storng. 

It is entirely possible that the USA / NATO are trying to "strong-arm" Serbia into some kind of action. This action by China zeros out the possibility of that request (by the USA / NATO0 from manifesting. 

-MM

It began late Friday night (US east coast time) when a series of four(4) China People’s Liberation Army Y-20 Troop transport aircraft, were observed flying toward southeastern Europe. Those planes began landing in Serbia.

Shortly thereafter, the original four planes were joined by at least two additional Y-20 transport planes.

The identification numbers of the planes are as follows:

4287
427F
428A
4281
4282
4285

According to public sources, each plane is capable of carrying either three-hundred (300) troops or 110 paratroopers, each.

Flight radar shows the first four:

These four planes landed in the Capital.

The final two were also seen doing “zig-zag” maneuvers at 3500 feet northwest of the Capital; exactly the type of maneuvers and altitude one might expect to see from planes deploying paratroopers.

For the first time in a long time, the world is now seeing China Communist Party (CCP) force projection.

It is not known yet, why the troops have been sent, or what their purpose is.

Initial SPECULATION is that they are being sent to secure the vast Lithium deposits in Serbia, but that is just a wild guess.

Whatever is going on, the possibility of World War 3 just expanded greatly.

UPDATE 7:55 AM EDT —

Intel Circuits are blaring with UNCONFIRMED and UNCORROBORATED reports Chinese military aircraft under the guise of a joint military exercise with Serbia may be transporting Russian troops into an area (Serbia) where said troops with equipment can move into Romania and into Poland on a “Thunder Run” to raise hell and create chaos from the west. Again, this is UNCONFIRMED AND UNCORROBORATED.

ANALYSIS

This isn’t good at all.

During the Balkan war in the 90's China stated that it considered invading and taking over Serbia as a jumping point into all of Europe.

The only reason it didn't happen was that Russian troops swooped in to stop it from happening because Serbia got word that it was going to happen, so they requested Russian troops to fly in and take control of all of their airports for a certain amount of time.

If the same scenario is playing out now, then its really bad. If China is swooping into Serbia to take control and create a military jump point into Europe, it means they expect NATO to attack Russia and that China is moving in to provide backup support to Russia.

NATO bombed the shit out of Belgrade Serbia in 1999….The great people of Serbia hate NATO with a passion…

We are closer to WW3 than some realize.

There are now over 100,000 US Troops in Europe, this is unprecedented in recent times.

US/NATO Special operations have been directly assisting Ukraine forces on the ground in Ukraine helping them kill Russians. I have heard stories of US Special Forces, and British SAS killing Russians dressed as Ukrainian forces. Obviously you have to treat all this kind of stuff with suspicion, this could be propaganda. At this point would any of us really be surprised ? In the White House we have a senile dementia patient living in a Truman Show/Wag the Dog Movie.

The MSM will have us all believe it is Russia. The reality is regardless of whether you personally agree with Russia actions in Ukraine or not, US/NATO badly want a hot war with Russia.

Hence this on going information war showing Civilians allegedly killed by Russians in Ukraine. They are providing the narrative to justifiably attack Russia. If you can not see this, then you are blind.

To this backdrop we have the West/US/EU/UK overtly supplying the latest lethal weaponry to kill Russians. We Americans are already defacto declared war on Russia.

No idea what is going on with those Chinese Troops. The fact their flight path is erratic suggests they think US/NATO is capable of anything.

UPDATE 8:10 AM EDT —

Minutes ago, at 7:48 AM, the Russian Ambassador to the US warned that “The West’s actions may lead to a military confrontation between Moscow and Washington.”

Anatoli Antonov, Russian Ambassador to the USA:

UPDATE 1:21 PM EDT —

Intel just received saying trains along the Trans-Siberian Railroad are loaded with “hundreds of Chinese Main Battle Tanks and other vehicles” headed northwest toward Russia/Europe Borders. Trains are said to be traveling full speed, with stops only for scheduled refueling and no other delays. The map below show the Trans-Siberian Railroad:

Look at things as they are, not as you want them to be…

share your wholesome moments 48 — Advice.

The Total War to Cancel Russia

22980 Views April 09, 2022 From HERE

By Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and widely cross-posted

Vast swathes of NATOstan have been corralled into behaving like a Russophobic lynch mob. No dissent is tolerated.

By now it’s abundantly clear that the neo-Orwellian “Two Minute Hate” Russophobic campaign launched by the Empire of Lies after the start of Operation Z is actually “24/7 Hate”.

Vast swathes of NATOstan have been corralled into behaving like a Russophobic lynch mob. No dissent is tolerated. The full psyops has de facto upgraded the Empire of Lies to the status of Empire of Hate in a Total War – hybrid and otherwise – to cancel Russia.

Hate, after all, packs way more punch than mere lies, which are now veering into abject ridiculousness, as in U.S. “intelligence” resorting to – what else – lies to fight the info war against Russia.

If the propaganda overdrive has been lethally effective amidst the zombified Western masses – call it a “win” in the P.R. war – in the front where it really matters, inside Russia, it’s a major fail.

Public opinion support for both Operation Z and President Putin is unprecedented. After videos of torture of Russian POWs that caused widespread revulsion, Russian civil society is even bracing for a “Long War” lasting months, not weeks, as long as the targets of the Russian High Command – actually a military secret – are met.

The stated aims are “demilitarization” and “denazification” of a future neutral Ukraine – but geopolitically reach way beyond: the aim is to turn the post-1945 European collective security arrangement upside down, forcing NATO to understand and come to terms with the concept of “indivisible security”. This is an extremely complex process that will reach the next decade.

The NATOstan sphere simply cannot admit in public a series of facts that a military analyst of the caliber of Andrei Martyanov has been explaining for years. And that adds to their collective pain.

Russia can take on NATO and smash it to bits in 48 hours. It may employ advanced strategic deterrence systems unmatched across the West. Its southern axis – from the Caucasus and West Asia to Central Asia – is fully stabilized. And if the going gets really tough, Mr. Zircon can deliver his hypersonic nuclear business card with the other side not even knowing what hit it.

Be the Rufus

share your wholesome moments 44 — Be the Rufus.

“Europe has chosen its fate”

It may be enlightening to see how these complex processes are interpreted by Russians – whose points of view are now completely blocked across NATOstan.

Let’s take two examples. The first is Lieutenant General L.P. Reshetnikov, in an analytical note examining facts of the ground war.

Some key takeaways:

– “Over Romania and Poland there are airborne early warning aircraft of NATO with experienced crews, there are U.S. intelligence satellites in the sky all the time. I remind you that just in terms of budgets for our Roscosmos we allocated $2.5 billion a year, the civil budget of NASA is $25 billion, the civil budget of SpaceX alone is equal to Roscosmos – and that is not counting the tens of billions of dollars annually for the entire U.S. feverishly unfolding the control system of the entire planet.”

– The war is unfolding according to “NATO’s eyes and brains. The Ukronazis are nothing but free controlled zombies. And the Ukrainian army is a remotely controlled zombie organism.”

– “The tactics and strategy of this war will be the subject of textbooks for military academies around the world. Once again: the Russian army is smashing a Nazi zombie organism, fully integrated with the eyes and brain of NATO.”

Now let’s switch to Oleg Makarenko, who focuses on the Big Picture.

– “The West considers itself ‘the whole world’ only because it has not yet received a sufficiently sensitive punch on the nose. It just so happened that Russia is now giving him this click: with the rear support of Asia, Africa and Latin America. And the West can do absolutely nothing with us, since it also lags behind us in terms of the number of nuclear warheads.”

– “Europe has chosen its fate. And chose fate for Russia. What you are seeing now is the death of Europe. Even if it does not come to nuclear strikes on industrial centers, Europe is doomed. In a situation where European industry is left without cheap Russian energy sources and raw materials – and China will begin to receive these same energy carriers and raw materials at a discount, there can be no talk of any real competition with China from Europe. As a result, literally everything will collapse there – after industry, agriculture will collapse, welfare and social security will collapse, hunger, banditry and chaos will begin.”

It’s fair to consider Reshetnikov and Makarenko as faithfully representing the overall Russian sentiment, which interprets the crude Bucha false flag as a cover to obscure the Ukrainian army torture of Russian POWs.

And, deeper still, Bucha allowed the disappearance of Pentagon bioweapon labs from the Western mediasphere, complete with its ramifications: evidence of a concerted American drive to ultimately deploy real weapons of mass destruction against Russia.

The multi-level Bucha hoax had to include the Brit presidency of the UN Security Council actually blocking a serious discussion, a day before the Russian Ministry of Defense struggled to present to the UN – predictably minus the U.S. and the UK – all the bioweapon facts they have unearthed in Ukraine. The Chinese were horrified by the findings.

The Russian Investigative Committee at least persists in its work, with 100 researchers unearthing evidence of war crimes across Donbass to be presented at a tribunal in the near future, most probably set up in Donetsk.

And that brings us back to the facts on the ground. There’s a lot of analytical discussion on the possible endgame of Operation Z. A fair assessment would include the liberation of all of Novorossiya and total control of the Black Sea coastline that currently is part of Ukraine.

“Ukraine” in fact was never a state; it was always an annex to another state or empire such as Poland, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and crucially Russia.

The landmark Russian state was Kievan Rus. “Ukraine”, in old Russian, means “border region”. In the past, it referred to the westernmost regions of the Russian Empire. When the Empire started expanding south, the new regions annexed mostly from Turkish rule were called Novorossiya (“New Russia”) and the northeastern regions, Malorossiya (“Little Russia”).

It was up to the USSR in the early 1920s to jumble it all together and name it “Ukraine” – adding Galicia in the west, which was historically non-Russian.

Yet the key development is when the USSR broke up in 1991. As the Empire of Lies de facto controlled post-Soviet Russia, they could never have possibly allowed the real Russian regions of the USSR – that is, Novorossiya and Malorossiya – to be again incorporated to the Russian Federation.

Russia is now re-incorporating them – in an “I Did It, My Way” manner.

Sigh. Americans.

Everyone is believing this bullshit.

Shanghai is NOT starving! Sheech! People. I know. My family lives in Shanghai. Food is delivered by a very well established network organized by the local governments at all levels. It is policed. People are motivated and it is a very patriotic thing to participate in.

If you want to see what is going on, please down load the Douxing application (the parent to Tiktoc) and see for yourself. Video after video is of people helping each other throughout China. Not jsut Shanghai.

China is dealing with the Big MAJOR bioweapons attack that happened just a few days when Biden ORDERED Xi Peng to sanction Russia. He told Xi Peng, that there would be awful consequences; serious and immediate if China did not do as he said.

What were the immediate consequences?

Serious coronavirus outbreaks in all of the major Chinese cities up and down the coast with HK, Shenzhen, and Shanghai the worst. Today, in tiny, tiny Zhuhai, we go through everyother day swabs. It’s not a big deal.

It’s not a big deal.

Rufus performs random acts of kindness

share your wholesome moments 40 — Be the Rufus.

Vamos a bailar in European Puerto Rico

By now it’s also quite clear to any serious geopolitical analysis that Operation Z opened a Pandora’s box. And the supreme historical victim of all the toxicity finally let loose is bound to be Europe.

The indispensable Michael Hudson, in a new essay on the U.S. dollar devouring the euro, argues half in jest that Europe might as well surrender its currency, and go on like “a somewhat larger version of Puerto Rico.”

After all, Europe “has pretty much ceased to be a politically independent state, it is beginning to look more like Panama and Liberia – ‘flag of convenience’ offshore banking centers that are not real ‘states’ because they don’t issue their own currency, but use the U.S. dollar.”

In synch with quite a few Russian, Chinese and Iranian analysts, Hudson advances that the war in Ukraine – actually in its “full-blown version as the New Cold War” – is likely to last “at least a decade, perhaps two as the U.S. extends the fight between neoliberalism and socialism [meaning the Chinese system] to encompass a worldwide conflict.”

What may be seriously in dispute is whether the U.S., after “the economic conquest of Europe”, will be able to “lock in African, South American and Asian countries”. The Eurasia integration process, rolling in earnest for 10 years now, conducted by the Russia-China strategic partnership and expanding to most of the Global South, will go no holds barred to prevent it.

There’s no question, as Hudson states, that “the world economy is being enflamed” – with the U.S. weaponizing trade. Yet on the Right Side of History we have the Rublegas, the petroyuan, the new monetary/financial system being designed in a partnership between the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and China.

And that’s something no puny Cancel Culture War can erase.

Young Rufus

share your wholesome moments 36 — Young Rufus.

Phil now has something to say…

The next article piece comes from Busted Knuckles. It accurately reflects how the American population feel about things right now. No. It’s not about the Ukraine. It’s not about Russia. It’s not about China. It’s about everything.

It’s about Americans being sick and tired about what the Hell is going on, and the pure insanity of it all. They want a govenrment that cares about THEM. They want a government that focuses on THEM. They want a functioning and working government that allows people; THEM, to affort food, clothing, gas, housing. They want a functional government that doesn’t fuck around with jobs, incomes, or social diversity. They want a government that is concerned about THEIR NEEDS.

And they are not getting that.

And they are angry…

Things Are Getting Ugly, Keep This In Mind

Posted on April 8, 2022 by bustednuckles

We are Americans.

We don’t take shit from anybody.

The New World Order assholes are going to learn this the hard way just like the Nazis and the Japanese did.

BFYTW.

Americans are some of the most honest, hard working, innovative and compassionate people on this planet.

History has proven this time and time again.

We are also the most vicious sonsabitches this Earth has ever seen when pissed off collectively.

Also proven time and time again.

These rat clever bastards who have been yanking our chains for the last few years are just that, rat clever.

They aren’t actually all that smart.

If they were, they would have thought twice about enraging a hundred million heavily armed people who have no problems burning entire countries to the fucking ground.

They think they have this all figured out.

They haven’t bothered to take note that we literally haven’t even BEGUN to fight back.

When that switch gets flipped there will be no place on or under this Earth that they will be safe.

It will be Seek And Destroy, Terminate With Extreme Prejudice, until there aren’t enough of them left to try this shit again for a thousand years.

They have been begging for it and By God’s Grace, they are going to get it.

Remember what it is to be an American and pass that down.

The Media has already jumped the shark, they are going to be very high on the list of those who must pay for their transgressions.

The Medical system is also full of those who must pay.

The crooked politicians however are going to be Enemy Number One.

It is coming. As sure as the Sun rises in the East, the pendulum is going to swing back.

It has already swung as Far Left as it is going to and has started it’s return trip.

The signs are everywhere.

Keep you head held high and keep your damn wits about you.

They have been goading us because they think they have some clever plan to neutralize us.

I am here to tell you that unless they plan to kill us En Mass that they have very seriously underestimated just who they are fucking with.

It isn’t any coincidence that they have been testing their tyrannical ways on other countries to see what they can get away with.

The Canadians surprised everyone when they stood up and said ENOUGH EH?

These cretins behind this are acutely aware of the fact that we have enough firepower to take on Russia, without the military stepping off a base, by ourselves.

They have been walking a tightrope because of that fact and that is why they are so desperately trying to infringe on our Second Amendment at every opportunity.

Passing stupid laws that make criminals out of law abiding citizens and turning their heads when their favored Thugs mow innocent people down.

I have some news for these idiots.

Pass all the laws you want. Outlaw guns completely. Put it all on paper and send your goons to come get them.

I double dog dare you.

They might even get a few.

However, the minute that news of these raids gets out, your days are numbered from then on.

We aren’t going to take that shit for one fucking second and you damn well know that clear to the bottom of your rubbery spine.

Flap your gums and make your threats.

You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.

That, I guarantee you.

Because we are Americans.

Cream of Celery Soup

Rufus Husband

Tears For Fears – Shout (Official Music Video)

The 1980s was very big on telling you what to do…

This was a big hit back in the day. Maybe you all might remember this tune.

Meat flowers

Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax (Official Video)

I’ll say it tow times; the 1980s was very big on telling you what to do…

Very big in the 1980s. This is what was playing on the radio with wall-to-wall coverage right before I was “found” by MAJestic and sent off to NAS China Lake NWC for my probe calibration and “training”.

Rufus cat

And now for something really different…

This little gem was placed on my desk. Much of the intel rings true except the idea of a singular shared world-line. But if you don’t know better, it would be easy to confuse a shared template with a collection of world-lines.

The big “alarm bell” is the DONATE FOR MORE that is up there. As DM has so succently put it…

"...Looking glass shit is almost definitely a scam, as you thought. Asked them if i need any money to join, and you need to send bitcoin which they will "apparently" turn into more money for you. Pretty ingenius idea really. Gotta give them credit for their ingenuity..."

Anyways, this person claims a 18APR22 false flag attack in New York CIty that will be used to trigger a kinetic HOT war between the USA and Russia.

I don’t know what to think, though many of the specifics that he mentions are quite true. I am placing this here, becuase the date of “infamy” is only a week away. So yeah. Either this is all correct, or it’s all bullshit. We shall see. Won’t we?

Full Video. Available on their web page on Bit Chute.

Written transcript;

We are the Guardians of the Looking Glass. We are a group of former intelligence officers and military officials, who have come together to release classified information about future events to come.

Our knowledge comes from our work on the looking glass artifact, first discovered in Iraq, along with other discoveries in the 1990s.

During this time, the artifact was activated by the US military and connected to computers. We were able to see dozens of future timelines, and the convergence, or singularities, that led to two possible outcomes by the year 2030.

In one outcome, humanity awakens, and the current order is dismantled. An event then occurs, and instead of this event being negative, it is a positive one.

In the other outcome, the current structure remains in place, a nuclear war takes place, along with many horrible events. Then the event occurs, and instead of being a positive event, it is a negative one.

You may wonder how one event can either be positive or negative. You will learn, and it will make perfect sense to you, once it is explained.

This event is a cosmic event, something that happens in our solar system. Without the intervention by the current power structure, this event would be incredibly positive.

But due to the vaccines and a secondary plan being developed, the event will instead be turned into a nightmare.

We will explain more in a secondary video, which is being released soon, titled, "2030 and The Event," if you want to learn more about it.

Now, let's move on to the current timelines we are facing, and how we must act to change these outcomes.

Based on what we learned from the looking glass artifact, we concluded that we must release these videos at this time, so that the horrifying events that are about to unfold can be changed.

Each week, we will release a new video. Each week, you will learn of new, specific timeline changes so that you can work to change the future outcome.

We have been waiting many, many years to finally release this information.

Our video releases are specifically timed based on what the looking glass artifact revealed about how to change future events.

What we were able to see was that our videos must be released now.

Not in the past, not in the future, but on these specific dates, starting in March, 2022.

We were also able to see that the events can only be changed by the actions of those watching these videos. If these videos are spread and shared by thousands of people, the events can be changed.

If the videos are not spread and shared, then the events cannot be changed, and the most negative timeline is then solidified and set in stone.

The looking glass artifact showed this to us, that it is dependent on the actions of others to change the outcomes.

Your work and help to spread this message then becomes vital.

It will be up to you what happens.

For our first video, we will start with one future date. Future videos we will post will deal with new dates and new events.

What follows is the most recent, most important event we must act to change. The date of the first event is April 18, 2022.

On this date, a false flag attack will occur in New York City.

A bomb will be set off, killing 2000 Americans instantly and injuring thousands.

The bomb will be housed in a large van, and set off on or near Times Square, during a busy time.

This bomb has been planted by interests aligned with the West, and their agenda.

The media wants to blame Russia, so does President Biden.

They will present some evidence false, that points to Russia being the culprit, and much of the world will be convinced.

The condemnations will be swift, and then there will be military action.

Biden will order an all out attack of every Russian outpost and asset outside of her borders.

This will include all assets in Ukraine, and any Russian military naval vessel not at port. Russia's response is restrained.

Russia attacks some US assets in Europe, but avoids many casualties.

Russia manages to only kill a few US military service people, while the United States has just killed thousands of Russian military service people.

This leads to conflicting narratives.

Some say Russia looks weak and defeated.

While others rush to Russia's side, including India and China.

By this time, many begin to doubt Russia was behind the truck bombing attack. Many also see the US's response as too hasty, and too severe.

Seeing that the first false flag was a general failure, and the narrative is turning against them, the West prepares a second false flag.

This plan involves the release of anthrax all over Washington DC.

The plan will use strain 836 of anthrax, the most potent and deadly ever created.

It is a strain created by Russia in the past, and later destroyed by Russia.

However, unknown to the Russians, the strain was smuggled out of Russia by Western assets many years ago and developed in US bio laboratories.

Once it is confirmed that it is strain 836, all blame will land at Russia's feet.

It is a well-known creation of Russia.

Many will believe Russia must be behind it.

The attack will kill over 100,000 people within a few days, and spread to outlying areas.

The attack is so severe that it begins to spread to many large Eastern cities, and within a week millions are dead, and millions more a severely ill.

The military-grade anthrax is so potent, its spread cannot be contained.

Much of the Eastern US is closed off, based on wind patterns, mostly impacting New England.

The Biden Administration is moved out of DC before the attack, as they had knowledge of it.

They are moved to Denver.

Here, the United States blames Russia for the attack, and a nuclear war starts off.

The US launches an all-out nuclear attack at Russia, at every Russian city and asset.

But only 30% of the nukes reach Russia or impact. Russia's air defenses are more robust than previously suspected.

Russia's response is not forgiving this time, but rather ruthless and brutal.

She responds within minutes by targeting all US military installations and nuclear sites, but also launches nukes at 20 large American cities, and 18 make impact.

25 million Americans are vaporized instantly, as Russia decides to use its more powerful nukes.

Another 50 million suffer injuries, and another 70 million are at risk of mild radiation poisoning.

Due to false science and misunderstandings about nuclear weapons, the fallout is not nearly as severe as many believed it would be.

Both the US and Russia were aware of this for many years, but decided not to correct this false information, leading many to believe a nuclear war would lead to a nuclear winter.

This turns out not to be the case, as the radiation is mild and dissipates quickly.

However, the devastation caused by the blasts themselves is significantly more severe than the nukes used on Japan.

The weapons are now so powerful that a radius up to 20 miles by 20 miles can be vaporized.

America's defenses are not strong enough to stop all of the nukes.

The US reads her most advanced flying machine, the TR-3B, but it is not able to track the missiles due to a technology Russia developed.

The technology is a cloaking and holographic type, never before seen, and not something the US was ready for.

The TR-3Bs can track the nukes, and even fly along side them, but targeting systems fail at every attempt to destroy them.

The pilots of the TR-3Bs become so desperate they attempt to fly into the nukes with the aircraft, but even these attempts fail.

Between the nuclear exchanges, Russia survives, and the United States is completely annihilated.

Canada does not receive a nuclear strike, but instead receives countless conventional strikes, disabling her small military and devastating her infrastructure.

All commerce ceases in both the US and Canada, and a total break down of society occurs.

The world is shocked.

Many criticize Russia for the brutality of the attack, but many also note that the United States attacked first. Many also doubt Russia was behind the truck bombing or the anthrax attack at this point, as the United States evidence and claims appeared rushed and dubious upon closer examination.

Whatever the moral qualms the world feels, the world comes to recognize Russia as the victor in the battle.

From this point, Russia is able to recover, and launch more attacks on the US.

Russia stops using nuclear weapons, and instead fires thousands of conventional weapons, delivered by her hypersonic missiles, to key military infrastructure targets, to ensure the US response is eliminated.

Russia threatens Europe, and destroys some of her targets.

Europe capitulates quickly, and surrenders, to avoid further damage.

At this point, seventeen days after the first nuclear weapon is fired, the war is over, and Russia and China are now the defacto world powers.

Russia and China agree to help the United States and a cease-fire is agreed upon.

A clean up and rescue effort takes place.

One week into the cease fire, the last remaining American military officials plot to fire some of her last available cruise missiles and munitions at ships crossing the sea from China and Europe.

The attack takes place, and most of the missiles are shot out of the sky by a ready and alert Russian and Chinese military, but two reach their targets, destroying two large ships, and further preventing a rescue effort and souring sympathies toward the US.

The US and Canada fall into total chaos.

Millions cross into Mexico, creating a humanitarian crisis. Many of the cartels that control the northern part of Mexico start defending their land, and countless gun battles take place.

Americans find Mexico cannot help or house them at all, and total bedlam and chaos consumes the Northern Hemisphere.

The Mexican and Central American armies gather to create a defensive wall, between Culiacan, to Chihuahua, to Monterrey, to stop the oncoming hordes.

Many South American countries rally to join, realizing millions of desperate Americans may reach South America eventually.

The world's remaining powers continue to attempt humanitarian aid, but later conclude a military effort must take place, as the entire region has become lawless.

Chinese and Russian troops then land on American soil, and a brutal campaign of order and enforcement begins.

Both countries split the US up into regions they agree to jointly or fully control.

Many Americans, armed to the teeth with guns, stage small resistances and skirmishes.

This goes on for many years, leading up to 2030.

During this time, a new plot is underway, a plot hashed by the elites in Europe, one the Russians and Chinese share no involvement in.

The plot is to release a new pathogen to justify a new vaccine.

The vaccine is designed to interact with the existing vaccines, and graphene oxide, now coursing through the bodies of billions of people.

It is also designed to be introduced to the second and third world, through a new campaign, that will dose the rest of the planet that did not get vaccinated.

The graphene oxide is not designed to kill, but rather death is a side effect, in some.

Its true purpose is to interact with the solar event, the event to occur in 2030.

The graphene oxide will cause this event to be a horrifying one, rather than a positive one.

If one is vaccinated at all, they will experience not only a physical but also a multidimensional annihilation when the event takes place, to a point their souls, or extra-dimensional essences, will be severely damaged, and vibrational frequencies reattuned so that they align with the most negative, dark energies existing within the realm of Earth.

The positive outcome is one also revealed by the looking glass, one seen by each member of Guardians of the Looking Glass.

We were shown that as humanity steps in to stop all of these horrific events, one by one, through the help of our work, that a future emerges leading up to 2030 whereby humanity ascends to a higher consciousness, one more loving, one more aware, one more understanding.

Each individual begins to see the world as it is, rather than how it is filtered through the media, Hollywood and government.

An unveiling takes place.

The vaccines are rejected.

A cure is found for those poisoned by the graphene oxide, who regret their decision.

Each horrific event is stopped.

Then, the event takes place, and the human body, free from the vaccine toxins, is transformed through a cosmic energy burst, one that invigorates every human with new life, vitality and youthfulness, as well as higher-dimensional abilities and powers.

Each person reverts in age to about the appearance of being in their mid to late 20s.

All disease is eliminated.

The human body can live off of energy, light and water, and has no need for food, but food can still be consumed.

A new renewal and connection with the Earth occurs.

Small community governments take hold, and large international power structures and monopolies die off.

Humans can now live up to 1000 years.

New inventions come about that clean up the Earth, such as bacteria that eat plastic.

From 2030, the entire world is transformed. Old, corrupt governments are dismantled, the European elites lose all of their power, to the point some end up in the streets as beggars.

There is no campaign of revenge at all.

Humanity simply stops feeding the negative forces energy, and without that energy, they wither and fade away.

They have no power, without the power fed to them by billions of people, and once billions decide to remove that power, they are left with nothing.

This is how they are defeated, and this is how they end up, simply as beggars, or left alone with nothing.

Many of them go mad at this point, as their wealth and power is stripped away.

This is a glimpse of the positive outcome, one we will share more of in upcoming videos.

Now, to stop these events, we must first stop the attack on April 18th.

If this event is not stopped, then the timeline cannot be reversed from the negative outcome.

If it can be stopped, additional videos will describe other events that must then be prevented, over the course of the years 2022 to 2029.

The attack on April 18th is only the beginning of a series of horrific events that are to come, that one by one, must be prevented.

Over 70 events have been identified that must be changed, or the outcome will be that of the negative one in 2030.

In addition to this, around fifty or so special individuals were also identified, as being necessary in helping change the outcome.

These people will play a key role to stop the April 18th attack and all other future events that must be altered and changed.

Some of them we already have contacted, to let them know how important they are, and others will be led to us, to contact us.

Each will be given special instructions from us, actions they must take, to bring about the positive timeline and outcome.

The looking glass showed us we would come under severe attack, from the European elites and their countless minions, and we must be prepared to defend those attacks.

These attacks will range from our videos being removed, our credibility being questioned, and attempts to reveal our real identities that would lead to our murder.

We need everyone who wants to stop the negative outcome to help defend us, as these attacks take place, otherwise we will not succeed.

We are asking those of you who wish to join us to identify yourselves as Guardians.

You must then share each video, and millions must see them, or these events will not be changed, and the positive outcome of the event in 2030 will not happen.

It bears repeating, that even if the April 18th attack is stopped, there are as many as 70 additional events in the coming days, months and years that must also be stopped, each and every one of them.

We cannot succeed without your attention, dedication and help.

Also from the link…

Here is the text of our video, use the password “762981” to view it: https://controlc.com/d208403b
guardiansofthelookingglass1@gmail.com
https://www.bitchute.com/channel/MXia4OtRgZ6G/
https://www.brighteon.com/channels/guardiansofthelookingglass
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY4y79MQNFPz1Wc1HPIOYDg/
https://rumble.com/c/c-1457273

What are MM opinions?

It’s a wait and see situation. If the event arrives and something happens, then my opinion of this effort will be enhanced substantially. If nothing happens, then I will consider it an absolute and complete hoax. There’s no grey area in this matter.

Full Web-page with three videos so far…

Web Page

Be the Rufus

share your wholesome moments 20 — Be the Rufus.

Traits

share your wholesome moments 16 — Traits.

China knows about the bioweapons attacks

From Jeff…

I think Baba Beijing knows it is being Western bio-attacked, likely with Han-specific variants, and as I explained, has to keep tongue-tied.

My understanding is that there were five variants in 2019: two in the US, one for China, one for Italy and one for Iran.

As far as bringing the perps to justice, I suggest constantly reminding everyone about the ICC Covid complaint,

China knows

Human trait mirroring

share your wholesome moments 14 — Trait mirroring.

Gorden Duff being profound

"Seemingly, the goal is a unipolar world based on gangsterism. No one can afford to allow this."

This is an outstanding article. I strongly recommend everyone read it.

The utter insanity of the Western Media at the outset of the Ukraine War, name-calling, using video game footage to prove atrocities, ploys that grew up during the War on Terror, have created a real shift that cannot be easily corrected.

Today, tens of millions of Americans and similar numbers from NATO countries including Turkey and Canada, know there is absolutely no limit in how utterly childish and unbelievable the kind of lies their governments spread have become.

Then the truth, a terrifying truth begins to take hold.

Without Trump’s relatively successful and certainly needed debunking of US media, this door may well not be open.

American scholars can no longer state where the lying began, how far it goes and to what extent long-accepted “facts” written into the history books may well be not just “biased” but utterly fabricated.

Thus, unknowingly, the corrupt NATO-controlled media of 2022 has begun to resemble science fiction. Even armies of fake “fact-checkers” aided by warmongering Google and social media allies haven’t been able to put yesterday’s fake reality back together.

Historians have long questioned what may have been behind World War One. Reanalysis begins to support hypotheses involving secret cabals, an analysis that not only carried through to today but traces back into the Middle Ages as well.

These cabals are mentioned behind closed doors with regularity but those referencing them in the media face smears and worse.

The nightmare is this; scholars can no longer trust their own work. Accepted “facts” are no longer reliable. No document should be trusted as, with today, no photograph or video should be trusted either.

周杰倫 Jay Chou【霍元甲 Fearless】-Official Music Video

The classic Jay Chou song.

Terribly cute

Sitrep: Operation Z

Just some exerpts…

We finally have high level confirmation from Russian officials that NATO instructors and foreign fighters are in fact trapped in Mariupol.

Firstly Russian State Duma member Adam Delimkhanov in an interview with RT has openly stated he estimates around 100 such foreigners there, and that they are in communication with them and the rumors are true that they are trying to negotiate a release and escape corridor. It seems to imply all those Macron rumors were accurate.

Video: https://www.bitchute.com/video/72MTe5On9t9Y/
Igor Konashenkov on the other hand, also confirms that significant numbers of foreign fighters are known to be there because Russia can hear them crying in over 6 different languages in intercepted radio calls.

https://sputniknews.com/20220408/radio-communications-indicate-significant-numbers-of-foreign-mercs-stuck-in-mariupol-russian-mod-1094598098.html

Not to mention there’s now a report that they tried to break through the blockade with a ship to rescue them (ran out of helicopters I guess?) https://sputniknews.com/20220409/ukrainian-cargo-ship-tried-to-break-through-to-russian-black-sea-fleet-blocking-mariupol-port-mod-1094624584.html
So this is no longer the realm of speculation and fantasy.

Some key takeaways. The most important being that the U.S. army admits to the following:

Russian air-defense is not only superior, but shockingly the army admits that by the time of a confrontation between Russia/U.S., “technology to overcome Russian ADA will unlikely to be available”. So they are counting on the fact that even in the distant future, they will not be able to innovate anything that can pierce Russian ADA.
Russian EW (electronic warfare) is superior and will likely disrupt American C2 (command & control).
Several other Russian systems are superior to anything U.S. has, in particular here they are referring to what I already mentioned earlier: Russia’s artillery systems are superior in every way to that of the U.S. This goes for both self-propelled units like the 2S19 Msta which is far superior to the M109, to the tube rocket and MLRS systems like BM-27 Uragon, etc. Also in my opinion Russian light IFVs are superior (though this is a more controversial view, while the others are widely accepted) due to the fact that BMP-2s and BTR-82s have much stronger 30mm cannons than American Bradley / Strykers which have 12.7’s and 25mm’s, and with higher RPMs as well. But that’s for another time.
Russian artillery outranges and outguns U.S. equivalent (see above)
In any upcoming conflict, U.S. army is to presume as a given that its C2 will be disrupted AND its fires (artillery) batteries will be neutralized (i.e. blown up by superior Russian counter-battery fire etc)

Now, of course they prescribe all sorts of antidotes on how they may still tactically overcome Russian units. But who can for a moment imagine that Ukrainian forces stand a chance in full frontal, non-asymmetric confrontation given these admissions by the U.S. Army itself about its own forces?

Also to add, this report was from 2017 and many of the weaknesses it attributes to Russian units have long been corrected or improved upon. And it’s quite ominously prophetic that they foresaw a confrontation between the super powers happening by 2025. Seems we’re ahead of schedule.

Full Sitrep

古筝｜霍元甲 Fearless】】在法国街头弹《霍元甲》再配上满街的中国红灯笼！帅气！Chinese Musical Instruments—Guzheng Cover| 碰碰彭碰彭

Electric traditional Chinese instruments on a Jay Chou cover done in Europe. Pretty impressive, I’ll tell you what.

Be the Rufus

Little things make big impressions.

share your wholesome moments 8 — Rufus sister.

Fresh Tomato Soup

I grew up with tomato soup from a can. However, I will tell youse guys that there is absolutely NOTHING like a fine home-made tomato soup. This simple, quick and easy recipe for homemade fresh tomato soup is perfect to make when tomatoes are ripe in gardens and farmers’ markets for a delicious summertime treat.

One spoonful of tomato soup has the power to automatically transport you back to your childhood. The tasty soup is the ultimate comfort food, especially when it’s homemade.

This tomato soup recipe uses fresh tomatoes and will remind you of times long forgotten. It is super kid friendly in taste, and if canned tomato soup is the only kind you have ever had, you are in for a treat.

Open up your pantry and check out the label on your tomato soup. Most likely you’ll find a load of sugar or high fructose corn syrup, along with other additives. And you just can get homemade bone broth in those cans! You only need a handful of simple ingredients to make the most delcious soup!

Sure the can of tomato soup works in a time crunch, but nothing beats the delicious flavors of a soup you made from scratch with fresh ingredients. So say goodbye to canned soup forever and hello to your new favorite tomato soup recipe.

How to Make Tomato Soup

Sometimes we’re so hung up on the ease of using canned soup, that we forget making homemade soup is actually easy too. You’ll find the full recipe below, but here’s a brief idea of what you can expect from this tomato soup recipe:

Boil the Tomatoes, Onion, Cloves, and Chicken Broth

In a large stockpot, boil the tomatoes, onion, garlic cloves, and chicken broth until the flavors blend together, about 20 minutes. Run the mixture through a food mill into a large bowl. This will separate any big chunks, plus the tomato skins.

If you don’t have a food mill, a food processor or immersion blender will work too.

Make a Roux

In the original stockpot, mix melted butter and flour to create a roux.

Add the Tomato Mixture

Gradually add the tomato mixture to the stockpot, whisking continuously so no lumps form. Season with salt and sugar to taste.

What to Serve With Tomato Soup

Of course, tomato soup’s best friend is a Grilled Cheese Sandwich. But if you want to mix it up, you can try a BLT, a chicken sandwich, or a ham anc cheese grilled sandwich.

How to Store Tomato Soup

Store (completely cooled) tomato soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days.

How to Freeze Tomato Soup

This recipe makes six servings, so if you need to freeze leftovers, that’s okay! Simply ladle individual portions of (completely cooled) tomato soup into zip-top bags and squeeze out the excess air. Label and date them, then freeze for up to three months.

Community Tips and Praise

"Loved the recipe. I did add fresh garlic at the beginning and fresh basil at the end. served with open faced baguettes topped with cheese. This recipe is easily multiplied and canned if you have a bunch of tomatoes ready for processing," says girlslovetoeat.

"I had several roma tomatoes that were getting soft in the fridge, so this was the perfect recipe to use them up. It was sooo tasty, and I liked that the recipe does not have heavy cream. I added basil and black pepper to the tomato mixture instead of cloves," according to hokiebetty.

"Delicious soup! The fresh tomato taste is wonderful. I love that there are only a few ingredients, preserves the garden fresh taste of the tomatoes," raves Kolackygirl.

Be the Rufus

Be the Rufus.

Crash Positions

This is a pretty good write up. Oh, it's all extreme SHTF porn. But he is talking about soemthing that Americans needs to face. He's obviously hasn't been out of the United States. If he had, his opinions that the rest of the world is going to have an equally difficult time as the USA is way off-base. To underline / highlight areas that I strongly believe that he is "talking out of his ass in ignorance", I am highlighting that part with a cross out font. -MM

Submitted by Brewer55

Via Capitalist Eric

Well, folks, we’re here.

Over the past decade I’ve written a few essays on the coming economic collapse of the USA. I noted in 2013 that the on-book national debt was an estimated $16 Trillion. The actual debt using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), which includes all off-book obligations (promises of future payments such as Social Security, government retirement accounts, Medicare A & B, et.al.) was $238 Trillion. Today the on-book debt is $30.3 Trillion, not quite double what it was when I last wrote about this. We can reasonably assume the total debt according to GAAP is similarly doubled, all in at $450 Trillion.

The rest of the world loaned us such vast sums, merely because the dollar was the worlds’ reserve currency. And that worked, when the USA produced things of inherent value. Oil and gas, manufactured goods, electronics, software, infrastructure products, even textiles. These days we manufacture dollar bills (or digital currency), and shoot anyone who rejects them. But these strong-arm tactics have worked up until now because we basically slapped around weak countries to keep them in line. Anyone who attempted to “de-dollarise” has had economic sanctions put against them, or invaded, or “revolutions” fomented to facilitate the execution of such leaders who would dare to challenge the dollar hegemony. THIS is the real reason for US troops in Iraq, the desire to go to war with Iran, the NATO attacks of Libya, the attempts to start a war in Syria, the destabilization efforts in Turkey. In every single example listed, the leaders of those countries had announced their intentions to bypass the dollar. Even now, when Saudi Arabia announced they were negotiating with China to sell oil in Chinese Yuan, a missile was mysteriously launched from Yemen somewhere that wiped out a huge refinery in Saudi Arabia within a few days; quite the coincidence.

Speaking of Saudi Arabia, the country is now run by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, since the King is apparently an invalid. A source told me last year that Prince Salman had openly demanded of his generals, to buy Chinese or Russian military gear; he was told this wouldn’t be possible, due to losing support from the USA. I don’t understand the dynamics of the situation of the time, but the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle has demonstrated that the USA is a paper tiger, and undependable as an ally.

No surprise, considering our “woke” military generals, decrepit and fraudulently “elected leaders” like pedo-Joe and his sidekick “ho,” whose only apparent core skill is the ability to suck-start a J-58 jet engine. Oh, and don’t forget Nancy “box-wine” Pelosi and stolen-valor Senator “Dick” Blumenthal. Yeah, good luck in the next election. But I digress…

The point is, the Bretton-Woods-2 agreement was already on death’s door, and the intentional actions of the Deep State (who use Biden as a puppet) are destroying the credibility of the United States, have pulled the last vestiges of support for the dollar as the worlds’ reserve currency status by forcing Russia and China together… and now here we are.

BACKGROUND

I’ll be honest, I fucking HATE it when someone brags about their resume, “I’m a mechanical engineer, and I know this (*stupid*) idea will work…” But I need to give you a quick thumbnail of my background, so you understand the basis for my conclusions. It’s not because I’m bragging, because nobody really gives two shits about such things in my line of work, anyway… If you boiled it down, I’m an over-educated gearhead with a knack for crunching numbers and trying to make sense of the whole economic system as a personal hobby.

In short, I was a nuke reactor operator on fast-attack boats in the Navy, and stayed in the engineering field while I went back to school, boot-strapped my way through a Bach. Science in Managerial Economics (a “super” finance degree), an MBA and then a Doctorate of Science in Information Systems… basically data analysis.

Next… I typically hyperlink my data points so you can go look for yourself, but not this time. A lot of bloggers who make money off the “hits” to their sites often repackage the same old shit 20 times, never saying anything new. I’m not one of those bloggers; I have a job (so far) that pays well enough I don’t have to whore myself out with doom-porn.

My motives for writing this stuff are, first of all, to keep myself sane. Having studied this shit for so long, in an academic manner and predicting what’s coming, is one thing; now I’m watching it happen in real-time, and it’s freaking the shit out of me. Next reason is simply the hope that, by providing real, actionable intelligence, you can better position yourself and your loved ones to survive what’s coming. While I’m a published author in another field, I don’t make a dime off of this work, and at this point in time, I really don’t give a shit about money.

(P)REVIEW

Since I’ve laid out a lot of what matters already, I’ll ask you to PLEASE review these three posts which I’ve written over the years, and then we’ll go on…

HERE WE GO

To begin with, the shitty, corrupt system that’s been in place since 1913, which is the ultimate Ponzi scheme- is finished.

In 2015 I listed several scenarios which could torpedo the dollar:

–China announces the yuan will be a gold-backed currency

–China announces they will no longer accept dollars for international commerce

–Saudi Arabia (now heavily backed by China) announces they will no longer accept dollars for oil

–China and Russia announce they’re dumping all US debt instruments

I was wrong; our leaders created a situation where bullets 2-4 have happened, or will soon. And ironically enough, Russia just backed the ruble with gold, so bullet one is somewhat covered.

In short order, our phony leaders have basically forced China, Russia, India and even Pakistan to join up, and permanently yank the carpet from under the fiat-money banking system that the globalists base their power on.

No bullshit, that’s just the truth. You can debate about the whys, but that doesn’t have any practical value for me, so we’ll move on to what that means, what’s coming, when, and give my recommendations of what you can do to best prepare, in the very short time we have left. And yes, I’m following my own advice on all of the things listed, as my funds and circumstances allow…

DOLLAR CRASH

When the USA and its vassal states kicked Russia out of the SWIFT system, those same European countries, at the direction of the USA, also confiscated $300 BILLION worth of reserves that Russia had, violating the fiduciary trust of those same countries, AND made it so that those countries could no longer pay Russia in euros or dollars. Putin basically said, ‘you cut off our access to your currencies, you STOLE our money, and yet insist we accept your euros or dollars, through a system we can’t even access…? NO. You need natural gas, you need oil? Fine, you pay for it with either OUR rubles, or gold. We don’t run a fucking charity around here, ok?”

The net result is that Russia has been pushed straight into China’s arms, with the MIR financial system Russia has built over the last decade (they could see where this was going, and got ready). China is now using the MIR system, along with India and Pakistan. It won’t take long until poodle countries of Europe are forced to dump their euros and dollars, to buy gold or rubles, to keep their countries from literally running out of gas…

Combined with Operation Sandman, where 130+ countries are all lined up to repudiate the dollar simultaneously, it means that the rest of the world is going for a little payback for all the shit the US government has pulled since… oh, 1913? Yeah, they’re all lining up to give us a swift kick in the teeth.

What this means is that our paper currency will quickly become as desirable as Marks in Weimar Germany. And if you think that’s an exaggeration, you might want to check out the amount of money printed by the US government in the last couple of years… that grey spikey thing on the right? Yeah, that’s hard cash printed out… remember those pallets of $100 bills which were carried on C-130 planes to Iran? Yeah.

http://www.shadowstats.com/imgs/sgs-m3.gif?hl=ad&t=1647994033

And forgive me for quoting myself, but I still stand by me earlier predictions:

“When that happens- and it will- the price of imported goods will go through the roof almost overnight, as every country will attempt to get rid of their dollars while they still can, and use some other currency for international trade.

The dollar will be dumped as the worlds’ reserve currency, in a cascade as other countries holding dollars run for the exits. When this happens, the price of products that are imported will go up by 4-5 times, almost overnight (my best guess). This is the logical result of the Cloward-Piven strategy writ large.

The price of oil- when no longer priced in dollars- will have ripple effects that will cause suffering on a scale never before seen in America. Consider the trucking industry, in a very real way, feeds the country. The food you eat, the clothes you wear, the furniture in your house… even the building materials for the house itself, were all delivered by truck. As the price of fuel skyrockets, trucking companies will attempt to pass on the costs to their customers (stores like Wal-Mart, for example), who will in turn pass it on to the consumer. Will the consumers pay so much more?

Consider that while those desperate people who live on the dole might still get their checks (or “deposits” on their EBT cards), it will no longer be able to buy anything, because the prices of everything have gone up 500% overnight. What will happen in the inner cities, when people realize they can’t put food on the table, much less put gas in their cars? Gerald Celente summarized it best: “when people lose everything, and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it.” And they will.”

Notice, I said above, that the non-productive welfare citizens might get their payments, but there’s historical precedence which indicates this might not be the case. A very close friend told me about her experiences in Russia, during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“One night, we went to bed, and everything was fine.  You had, say, 2000 rubles in the bank- enough to buy a car.  We woke up in the morning, all the banks were frozen, no transactions allowed.  This stays for about two months, while they devalued the currency.  When they finally opened and allowed us to get our money out, 2000 rubles was enough to buy a T-shirt.”

I believe that is EXACTLY what will happen to us. It’s not question of if, only when. And I don’t think it’s going to be long, at all… In the Soviet Union, they didn’t announce it (of course, the high-up politicians knew)’ it was a sneak attack. Even the crooks- who we now call “oligarchs”- didn’t know.

In effect, the initial devaluation made the cost for everything go up by 100x. Try to imagine buying a loaf of bread for $500; how long before you run out of money to feed your family?

Later, the government switched to a new ruble to replace the old one, again devalued. Every family was allowed to convert, say, $10,000 worth of currency. Any excess of the limit they set, which couldn’t be converted, automatically became worthless after a certain date. I remember seeing photos of pallets of cash dumped in the woods, rubles that couldn’t be converted… My Russian friend predicts that the USA will do the same here, to prevent the trillions of cash dollars used to bribe people all over the world from returning to the USA and exacerbating the hyperinflationary collapse we’re already in.

It’s also important to keep in mind, there are laws now on the books where the banks can- and will- confiscate your money, during a financial crisis, to keep themselves afloat. Legally, when you put your money into a checking or savings account, it’s not your money anymore; you’re an “unsecured creditor.” And if they want to, they’ll take your money, and the FDIC will not cover the loss, because your money wasn’t stolen, as it wasn’t your money anyway. See how that works?

And do you see why Biden signed an executive order to facilitate digital currencies? If your money is digital, it can be confiscated or they can at least stop you from transacting any more (cryptos).

It’s actually quite simple; anything you don’t have in your physical possession, you don’t own. If it isn’t physical cash in your hand (or under your mattress, or whatever) you don’t own it, and it can be stolen from you in the blink of an eye (think of everyone who donated to the Canadian truckers).

How to maintain your wealth, or whatever purchasing power you have saved up? Buy gold or silver, as much as you can, as FAST as you can. If that’s not available to you, store up extra food for trade/barter, later, as everyone needs to eat. Buy chickens, build a coop out of an old shed or any scrap building materials you can get your hands on (but make sure you can protect them from thieves of the four (or two)-legged variety. Buy a few 100# bags of chicken feed from your local farm supply or co-op. Eggs will be worth a LOT. Anything physical is better than the paper notes which will soon be worth nothing.

FOOD

Due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict which NATO incited (and exacerbates to this day), Russia was kicked out of the SWIFT financial transaction system by all of America’s poodle countries. As a result, there will be no potash shipped out to most of the world- a necessary ingredient for high crop yields around the world. Food shortages, famines and starving to death are now a foregone conclusion, as the prices of food go up beyond what literally hundreds of millions will be able to pay.

Russia has been stockpiling food, and last week Putin announced to his people on Russian TV that the country had five years of food stockpiled, so they need nothing from the USA- or frankly, anyone else. China has stockpiled 18 months of wheat to feed their people, but their agents are busily moving around America buying any stored wheat they can get their hands on- by the trainload, at whatever price they have to pay- and sending it on cargo ships back to China.

The results here will be food prices going steadily up in the USA for the foreseeable future. I’m seeing 15-20% increases in the grocery stores, on a month-to-month basis, right now, and those increases will get much steeper. With no potash and already exorbitant prices for natural gas- both absolutely required to produce fertilizer for high crop yields- we’re going into a period of not just “food shortages,” like Brandon said, we’re going to be facing our own version of the Holodomor famine of 1933. Think of this starving woman with her son…

Or this family starving in their own yard:

Food prices will eventually go exponential, and finally won’t be available at any price, since fuel won’t be available for trucks, there simply won’t be any food available and even if there was, nobody wants to make a delivery to a place where there as likely to get shot as paid with the worthless money. The blue cities- hives of humanity more parasitical than productive- will face escalations of violence, famine, starvation and eventually cannibalism, as a result.

Keep in mind, this is going global. The only countries that’ll make it through reasonably “ok” will be Russia and- maybe- China. But I’m not holding my breath about the latter. The 2^nd and 3^rd-world countries will be the leading edge of the misery, as their populations live closest to poverty, and any significant price swings of food automatically mean they starve to death. But it will still hit here, HARD, and if you aren’t ready, there’s a good chance you’ll be relying on Brandon to save you… and then you’ll become a statistic.

My advice is to get as much food as you can get your hands on immediately. Understand, it really doesn’t matter how much food you have in your pantry, it ain’t enough. Make sure to get things that you and your kin will really eat, not stuff that will technically keep you alive, but your kids will refuse to consume because it doesn’t taste perfect. If you can get a YEAR of food stored away, you’ll be ahead of 95% of the crowd, who doesn’t have more than a weeks’ worth of food in their whole house. If you’re on city water, find a way to store it (plenty of videos on this sort of thing out there). If you have an electric well, find a way to power it if the utilities go off, or get a hand-pump if possible.

VIOLENCE

After the food completely runs out, the city parasites will start foraging out into the countryside, basically as far as the remaining gas in their cars will carry them. And with deteriorating mental capacity brought about by hunger, they’ll have lost their inhibitions about killing you for a can of Dinty Moore beef stew.

Police will too busy with attempting to “maintain order” of millions of hungry people, to worry about minor annoyances like rapists and murderers; they’ll roam freely among the weak and the desperate, predators amongst prey.

Which leads into our next subject…

WEAPONS

If you have no weapons at this point, it’s almost too late for you. Find weapons in common calibers. This means .38 Special for revolver, 9mm for semi-auto pistol, 5.56mm AR-15 rifle, .30-30 lever gun or a .30-06 bolt gun if you can find it. Stick with common calibers, get as much ammunition as you can. Even a good hunting rifle is better than nothing. Be familiar with it, know how to use it, understand gun safety protocols so you don’t accidentally shoot a loved one.

Another aspect that people don’t think about, is edged weapons. Amazon has some amazing deals on Wakizashi-type swords (like miniature samurai swords) made of 9260 spring steel, which can be wielded one-handed by an adult or two-handed by kids, if needed. They can be made razor sharp, don’t require ammo, and are quiet. Finally, they don’t require background checks. Check out K-bar knives, as well. A good knife is useful not only as a weapon, but a tool. Get one, get used to carrying it all the time.

COMMUNITY

I’ll keep this short and sweet: The old cliché remains true; no man is an island. You’re NOT going to stand watch over your home 24×7 forever, you’ll need help and a community to work with, for mutual defense. The Civil Defense Manual by Jack Lawson will help you get started on this aspect, and you need to move with a purpose, right now. (And no, I don’t make any money mentioning the manual.) Move quickly, because if you don’t, there’s a very real possibility that you won’t survive this.

CONCLUSION

An old Japanese proverb applies: “preparation does not guarantee success, but the lack of preparation guarantees failure.”

I will tell you straight up, the global famine is coming, there’s no way to stop it. It WILL happen, I am 100% certain of this. Do you remember when COVID hit, everyone finally realized they needed to hit the local CostCo or Walmart or whatever, and stock up on food and toilet paper? People punching each other out for a bottle of hand-sanitizer or a 4-roll package of butt-wipe? Or even better, the buyer behavior of people trying to get ‘deals’ on Black Friday, right after Thanksgiving? Riots, shootings, the whole shebang of crazy behavior…? Multiply that by 100, for everyone wanting to get FOOD. I figure the crowds will start to figure it out by mid-May… earlier if we’re unlucky, later if we are lucky… but the mob-mentality of people trying to buy food before the shit hits the fan, will cause the shit to hit the fan… Food riots, all of it.

I also will state with absolute certainty, that the dollar collapse in imminent. It may be within days, weeks or within a few months. I seriously doubt we’ll make it to the November elections before it really kicks off. IF the dollar collapse happens more or less at the same time people are scrambling to stock up on food, it will get to a level of ugliness that people haven’t seen since at least WW2. And not just Americans, but everyone in the Western world- having lived a life of relative prosperity- are in for a brutal awakening to reality.

Do whatever you can to prepare, while you still have time. Food, water, storing your purchasing power, and weapons to defend your loved ones. Remember, your mental fortitude will be the biggest determinant on whether you make it or not. MENTALLY prepare yourself.

This useless activity is destroying our best people and explains why the first world is collapsing inward:

Rich, college-educated people—especially men—work more than they did many decades ago. They are reared from their teenage years to make their passion their career and, if they don’t have a calling, told not to yield until they find one.

What is workism? It is the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose; and the belief that any policy to promote human welfare must always encourage more work.

In 1980, the highest-earning men actually worked fewer hours per week than middle-class and low-income men, according to a survey by the Minneapolis Fed. But that’s changed. By 2005, the richest 10 percent of married men had the longest average workweek.

No wonder they have few children. Then again, what else did you expect from worker revolutions? We are all workers now, and work is our only religion or culture. Much of this is driven by high taxes and fear of instability.

Article

The tale of a cat and a dollhouse

share your wholesome moments 4 — Cat and dollhouse.

VIDEO: “First Strike” Demonstrates How the United States LOSES if the Ukraine War erupts into NATO v. Russia

World Hal Turner 08 April 2022

Many people in the United States are of the view that the situation between Russia and Ukraine “will never go nuclear” because, they think, “Russia would be destroyed.” Turns out, that’s not true. At all. In fact, in a nuclear simulation, because it takes so long for U.S. missiles to launch (4m 30s from the launch order) with Russia’s new hypersonic missiles, our missiles wouldn’t even get out of their silos. Put simply, we lose.

The ten minute video below was made in 1979, BEFORE the advent of Russia’s new hypersonic missiles.

It demonstrates how the US, with its safety systems designed to prevent any one man from launching a nuclear weapon, actually CAUSE our demise in a conflict with Russia. Our missiles are far too slow to come out of their silos after a launch order.

Meanwhile, submarine-launched Russian missiles, can come from either the Pacific Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, and cover so much ground, so fast, that our weapons get destroyed in the ground and on the ground.

And all that was BEFORE the creation of Russia’s hypersonic missiles.

SPOILER: We lose in less than 34 minutes.

So if you are of the delusion that the US is the most powerful nation on earth, and that Russia wouldn’t dare “go nuclear” over Ukraine or a wider war in Europe, you had better get your head out of your ass.

Ten minute version:

Full 38 minute version:

A great meme that all can relate to…

share your wholesome moments 3 — Welcome!

Be the Rufus!

share your wholesome moments 6 — Rufus actions.

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New Beginnings 3

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We are in World War 3 the fight for economic dominance. It is a five (5x) front war.

The Ukraine invasion has set forth a domino effect; a chain of events that is reshaping the globe. And it is all to plan. It’s a plan made by China, Russia, India and Iran.

The (so called) petro-dollar; the USD is starting to fall apart, and with it, the economies of those that have been propped up by this fiat “currency”.

Whether or not Russia is “losing” or “winning” in the Ukraine is of no concern.

What is of concern, and what is actually happening is that a new world order has arisen from the ashes of the old. It’s an East and a West. And the West is collapsing in real time, while the East is rising.

Here, in this article we will cover a section of topics that cover these events in chunks. Not comprehensive, but enough to give you all an idea of what is actually going on.

Key Points

As you read this article, you need to keep in mind a few key points…

The world is undergoing a geopolitical realignment.
This alignment is dividing into two separate entities (East and West).

The two sides have a very different view of how the world should be.

The West is trying to maintain a uni-polar single world government ruled by the United States.
The East is trying to maintain a multi-polar world of equals of various unique social structures.

Key to this manifestation is the control of the currency of exchange.

The West is trying to maintain the USD, or an electronic version of it.
The East is trying to use commodity-based currency by labor, materials and products.

Issues about Ukraine or Taiwan are simply the desperate plans of the West in a plan to maintain a uni-polar world.

Do not get sidetracked from what is REALLY going on.

Bretton Woods III

Posted on April 4, 2022

The technical definition of money is “something generally accepted as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment.”

For most people this has always meant the legal tender of their homeland.

Until fairly recently, this was a coin with the face of the king on it.

Thus, the better the reputation of the king, the more valuable his coin, because traders were more likely to accept it. A good king made sure his coins had a consistent amount of gold or silver in it.

The reason for that is precious metals like gold and silver were always the world’s reserve currency.

Everyone in the world would accept gold and silver for payment, even in places that restricted the use of the metals. You could always take the metal to the king’s mint and exchange it for his coins.

Granted, he took a fee for himself and you were charged the cost of minting the coins, but that was predictable.

In the end, all currency was measured in gold and silver.

…

But, we no longer use gold coin for money.

Every country in the world uses what the economist call fiat currency.

This is a government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver.

Instead, it is backed by the “full faith and credit” of the issuing government.

That dollar = faith in the government issuing the paper.

Money is now an expression of the government power behind it.

The US dollar is the reserve currency of the world largely due to the fact the American government was the most trusted.

…

Hard money enthusiasts assume this means the United States can print as much money as it needs, but this is not exactly true.

The international monetary system that evolved after the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970’s is a framework that controls the exchange rate of the major currencies.

Every major currency is based on the dollar, just as oil and gas are priced in dollars.

The petrodollar was created in the 1970’s when the Bretton Woods system collapsed.

The dollar was replaced by the Petro-dollar.

What the current system does, in effect, is link currencies to the supply of crude oil through the dollar.

How much oil you can buy with your home currency is dependent upon how many dollars you can buy with it.

It is not a direct link, as oil production rises and falls and the supply of dollars rises and falls, relative to other major currencies like the Euro or Chinese Yuan.

In effect, America controls the world by controlling the price of commodities like crude oil and natural gas.

American dollar = global use of oil and gas commodities.

…

In the old days, minting coins was a profit center for the king.

A strong king would restrict the use of other coins in his domain.

His people had to take their foreign coins, gold and silver to his mint for conversion to his coin.

In addition to the cost of production, he tacked on a profit for himself. This is called seigniorage and it works the same for fiat money as it does hard money.

This profit from controlling the global currency is one way the United States has grown so rich.

The USA uses this petro-dollar as a mechanism to make debt.

One of the consequences of this system is the world has an insatiable appetite for US government debt.

Because it is denominated in dollars and considered the safest of financial bets, it makes the ideal collateral.

This has allowed the United States and other Western countries to run massive trade and spending deficits.

The world wants the debt and the world wants to sell the West their products.

US debt was 30% of GDP in 1980 and now it is 127% of GDP.

…

This is the subtext of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Russia and China, especially China, are tired of this arrangement.

They correctly see it as to the advantage of Washington at their expense.

This is (partially) why China is backing Russia’s play to demand rubles for its energy and agricultural products.

This would pave the way for China demanding yuan for its products and the right to pay for energy in yuan.

India is also quietly supporting what the Russians are doing for the same reasons.

…

This is (partially) why Washington is in no mood to strike a deal over Ukraine.

It is not the only reason, but it is a big part of the plan to protect the dollar.

It is believed that if Washington can break the Putin government through financial war, China and India will drop their plans to buck the dollar in the global economy.

A century after the Great War, the new global war is being mainly fought in finance.

The West, led by America, is now at war with the world over control of the global currency system.

…

It is probably a war that the West cannot win.

…

The reason is the same reason the king would put his face on his coins.

Money is the physical expression of power.

The strong king could enforce his monetary policy in his domain and his money had a predictable amount of gold and silver.

In effect, his money was the representation of his people and the cultural that defined them.

The legal tender of a country is the measure of that country’s wealth and power relative to the world.

…

The West no longer makes or invents anything useful.

The power of the West is the legacy power to control the financial system.

It is a system arranged by Mercurian people in order to control the Apollonians.

The former are the people who operate as middlemen and service providers, while the latter are the people who grow the food, make the goods and keep the gears properly lubricated.

The former operates in the West, while the latter exist in the East.

…

Reality is the thing that does not go away when you stop believing in it.

And reality says that growing and making things counts for more than thinking about things.

The reason Washington has not crushed the Russian economy is the world needs the stuff Russia pulled out of the earth.

In this economic war of attrition, Russian can feed itself and keep its homes warm, while Europe will have to hope America can provide the food and energy at a reasonable fee.

…

The most likely outcome of this global conflict is something people have suspected for quite some time.

The global currency will become a basket of commodities like natural gas and crude oil.

Maybe agricultural products will be in the mix.

The reason for this is the world runs on energy and food.

Bretton Woods III, as some are calling it, will be a new set of currency arrangements whereby money is based on its purchasing power for the agreed upon basket of products.

…

What this means in the short run is that the West is about to get poorer as governments are forced to cut spending and debase the currency to get out from under domestic debt obligations like pension payments.

It also means the end of globalism as has been defined by Washington for three decades.

Trade will continue, but between countries rather than independent global enterprises.

Thirty years after the Cold War the world is about to start healing and return to something close to normal.

The Emotions “Don’t Ask my Neighbor”

Yeah. By mixing up topics such as food, hobbies, movies and pretty girls in my articles I have completely ZEROED out all the trolls, ‘bots and DDos attacks. Man, I’m telling you. It friggin’ works!

About this song…

Throughout my Senior year in High School I fell in love with soul and funk. I added it alongside my love of hard rock, and it greatly shaped my absorption of the culture of the 1970s at that time.

One of my favorites (in regards to soul) at that time was this group that has passed into obscurity known as “The Emotions”. It’s a trio of three attractive ladies with real heart.

Here’s one of their classic songs.

What is a “Blue Blood”?

This term has come to define the ruling oligarchy that operate the United States from behind the veil. But from whence did this term originate?

The blue bloods... arises from eating from a silver spoon and drinking from a silver cup. Silver accumulates in the system and turns the skin blue. Literally. No doubt the blue blood class have moved to gold these days for their eating utensils though the Americans seem to like their grow light suntans.

Blue Blood

Ukrainians to use American weapons, and American tactics.

It’s a core principle behind the RAND operational study.

"Since the US-engineered 2013-14 coup in Ukraine, American forces have taught Ukrainians, including neo-Nazi units, how to fight in urban and other civilian areas. Weaponizing Ukraine is part of Washington’s quest for what the Pentagon calls “full spectrum dominance.”

Article

China’s ‘Laser Assault Rifle’ Can Silently Sear Flesh From a Half Mile Away

“The whole person will be set on fire.”

Jul 9, 2018

Elon Musk’s flamethrowers are mere playthings compared to this lethal new laser rifle.

Chinese scientists at the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics have developed a fully functioning prototype of the “ZKZM-500 laser assault rifle.”

The 15mm caliber weapon is being compared to an AK-47 because of its similar 6.6-lb weight, but it’s firepower capabilities sound like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.

According to researchers who wish to remain anonymous, the ZKZM-500 fires an energy beam undetectable to the human eye that can pass through glass and cause the “instant carbonization” of human flesh from half a mile away.

“The pain will be beyond endurance,” one researcher said. “[It can] burn through clothes in a split second. If the fabric is flammable, the whole person will be set on fire”.

“Nobody will know where the attack came from,” another anonymous researcher added. “It will look like an accident.”

Each will cost $15,000 to manufacture at large-scale production and can fire 1,000 “shots” on a single charge from a lithium ion battery.

The Southern China Morning Post has further details:

In the event of a hostage situation it could be used to fire through windows at targets and temporarily disable the kidnappers while other units move in to rescue their captives.

It could also be used in covert military operations. The beam is powerful enough to burn through a gas tank and ignite the fuel storage facility in a military airport.

The lasers cannot kill a target with a single shot, but if fired at a person for long enough the weapons would start to burn a hole in their body, cutting through them like a surgical knife.

Anti-terrorism squads in the Chinese Armed Police will likely be the first to test these laser guns in the field.

Frank Black – Headache

This is from sometime in the 1990s. I love it because the video is done in retro 1940s theme and the subject matter was meaningful to me back then. In those days, I worked in cubicle farms as engineering drones.

Do you remember this one?

Americans should budget an extra $5,200 this year to cover rising prices, Bloomberg economists estimate

“Americans haven’t had to worry too much about factoring inflation into their budget for the past four decades. That’s changing in 2022.

The red-hot inflation expected to last throughout the year will leave the average US household spending $5,200 more compared to the year prior, Bloomberg economists Andrew Husby and Anna Wong said in a Tuesday article. That boils down to an extra $433 per month on the same goods and services as last year.”

Uh oh!

The S.O.S. Band | Just Be Good To Me (1983) | Extended HQ version

Another of the songs that was big right after I joined MAJestic and was set loose on the world on my own. Actually, this song was very big in the dance club scene at that time. Not so much on the music charts then, but in the clubs, well yeah.

And this singer. Well, wow! So hot! Look at her smile. Her moves. Her hair. She’s so, so chocolate fudge on waffle topped with whipped creame. And brandy. In a glass with ice. Big cubes, not little ones.

She’s such a treat.

Events Like These Only Happen Once Every Century (Sergey Glazyev)

Source: Business Online Magazine – Events Like These Only Happen Once Every Century  March 27, 2022.  Translated by Leo. Bolds and italics used for emphasise.

“Events like these only happen once every century”: Sergei Glazyev on the breaking of an epoch and the change of ways.

Is it possible to stabilize the ruble in three days? And why are the Ukrainian ‘zombies’ not giving up?

“After failing to weaken the People’s Republic of China head-on through a trade war, the Americans shifted the main blow to Russia, which they see as a weak link in world geopolitics and economics. 

The Anglo-Saxons are striving to realize their age-old Russophobic ideas of destroying our country, and at the same time weakening China, because the strategic alliance of the Russian Federation and China is too tough for the United States. 

They have neither the economic nor military power to destroy us together, and not separately,” 

- Sergey Glazyev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, former adviser to the President of the Russian Federation.

About what opportunities are now opening up for the Russian economy, whether the Central Bank panders to the enemy and whether a new world currency will replace the dollar, Glazyev spoke in an interview with BUSINESS Online.

The new world economic order is socialist in ideology

“The new world economic order is socialist in ideology”

– Sergey Yuryevich, commenting on today’s tragic events.

Q: Sergey wrote in your Telegram channel that we should have read your book about the “last world war”, written about 6 years ago. How did you manage to predict everything so accurately?

A: The fact is that there are long-term patterns of economic development, the analysis and understanding of which makes it possible to predict the events that are taking place at the present time.

We are now experiencing a simultaneous change in the technological and world economic structures, while the technological basis of the economy is changing, there is a transition to fundamentally new technologies, and the management system is also changing.

Events like this happen about once a century.

However, technological structures change about once every 50 years, and their change is usually accompanied by a technological revolution, depression and an arms race.

And world economic structures change once every 100 years, and their change is accompanied by world wars and social revolutions.

This is due to the fact that the ruling elite of the countries of the core of the old world economic order impedes changes, does not take into account the emergence of more effective management systems, tries to block the development of new world leaders using them, and tries to maintain its hegemony and its monopoly position by any means, including military and revolutionary ones.

Say, 100 years ago, the British Empire was trying to maintain its hegemony in the world.

When it was already losing economically to the combined resources of the Russian Empire and Germany, the First World War, provoked by British intelligence, was unleashed, during which all three European empires self-liquidated.

I am talking about the collapse of tsarist Russia, the German and Austro-Hungarian empires, but here we can even put a fourth – the Ottoman Port.

As for Britain, for some time it retained global dominance and even became the largest empire on the planet. But due to the inexorable laws of socio-economic development, the colonial world economic structure, based in fact on slave labor, could no longer ensure economic growth.

The two fundamentally new political models that emerged – the Soviet and the American ones – demonstrated a much greater efficiency of production.

This is since they were already organized on other principles: not on private family capitalism.

They were organized on the strength of large transnational corporations with centralized structures for regulating the economy and with limitless monetary emission of credit through fiat money (paper or electronic means – ed. note).

They enabled the mass production of products much more efficiently than the administrative systems of the colonial empires of the XIX century.

The emergence of social states in the USSR and the USA with centralized control systems made it possible for a sharp jump in their economic development.

In Europe, the corporate governance system was formed, unfortunately, according to the Nazi model in Germany, and also not without the help of British intelligence.

Hitler, relying on the support of the British intelligence services and American capital, quite quickly deployed a centralized corporate management system in Germany, which allowed the Third Reich to very quickly capture the whole of Europe.

With God’s help, we defeated this German (more precisely, European – taking into account today’s realities) fascism.

After that, two models remained in the world.

Which I attribute to the imperial world economic structure: Soviet and Western (with the center in the USA).

Soviet model
Western model

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, (which could not withstand global competition due to the fact that the directive system of government was not flexible enough to meet the needs of technological progress), the United States seized global dominance for a while.

Better-Than-Ever Meatloaf

OIP C.Q9bcg2u1ysJNU QRKOti4AHaE8 — American meatloaf.

Meatloaf is an American favorite, right up there with Mom’s freshly baked apple pie. And while we know that everyone has a favorite way they like to make their meatloaf, we think our Better-than-Ever Meatloaf is sure worth a try.

What You’ll Need

2 pounds ground beef
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
2 eggs
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup ketchup, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

What to Do

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a large baking pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except 1/3 cup ketchup; mix well.
Place mixture into prepared baking pan and shape into a loaf. Spread remaining 1/3 cup ketchup over top.
Bake 1 hour or until done.

Notes

If you want to cook this in the microwave, simply combine the ingredients as above, then place the mixture in a 2-quart oblong microwaveable baking dish and shape into a loaf. Microwave, uncovered, on High (full power), turning the dish occasionally, for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from the baking dish and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes before serving.
Want to try a lighter version of this meatloaf recipe? You can use very lean ground turkey or chicken instead of ground beef!

The end of the unipolar moment

Q: But now this period of “American unipolar loneliness” is already ending, and, probably, not only thanks to Russia, but primarily to China and the Asian regions as such. Is it not?

A: Indeed, the hierarchical vertical structures characteristic of the imperial world economy turned out to be too rigid to ensure continuous innovation processes.

They lost their comparative effectiveness in ensuring the growth of the world economy.

On its periphery, a new world economic order has been formed.

It was one, which is based on flexible management models.

As well as a network organization of production, where the state works as an integrator, uniting the interests of various social groups around achieving one goal – raising the public welfare.

The most impressive example of such an integral world economic structure today is China, which for more than 30 years has outpaced the growth rate of the American economy by three times.

At the moment, China is already surpassing the United States in terms of [1] output, [2] exports of high-tech goods, and [3] growth rates.

Another example of a model of a new world economic order, which we called integral (due to the fact that the state in it unites all social groups of different interests), is India.

It has a different political system, but it also has the primacy of public interests over private ones, and the state seeks to maximize growth rates in order to fight poverty.

In this sense, the new world economic order is socialist in ideology.

At the same time, it uses market mechanisms of competition, which makes it possible to provide the highest concentration of resources for making a technological revolution with goals to ensure economic leaps based on a new advanced technological order.

If we look at growth rates after 1995, we see that the Chinese economy has grown 10 times, while the US economy has grown by only 15 percent.

Thus, it is already obvious to everyone that at present the pace of world economic development is shifting to Asia: China, India and the countries of Southeast Asia already produce more products than the US and the EU.

If we add to them Japan or Korea, in which the management system is similar in its principles to the integration of society around the goal of increasing public welfare.

Then we can say that today this new world economic structure already dominates the world, and the center of reproduction of the world economy has moved to Southeast Asia.

Of course, the American ruling elite cannot agree with this.

Q: To come to terms with it, I would say…

A: Yes. They, like the British Empire once, seek to maintain their hegemony in the world.

The events taking place today are a manifestation of how the US financial and powerful oligarchic elite are trying to maintain world domination.

It can be said that for the past 15 years it has been waging a world hybrid war, seeking to chaoticize countries beyond its control and restrain the development of the People’s Republic of China.

But due to the already archaic system of governance, they cannot do this.

The financial crisis of 2008 was such a transitional moment when the life cycle of the outgoing technological order actually ended.

And the process of massive redistribution of capital into a new technological order began.

The core of which is a complex of nanobioengineering and information communication technologies.

All countries began to pump up their economies with money.

The simplest thing a modern government can do is to give all businesses access to cheap long-term money so they can adopt new technologies.

But, in America and Europe such funds went mainly into financial bubbles and covered the budget deficit.

While, in China this colossal money emission was completely directed to the growth of production and the development of new technologies.

There were no Chinese financial bubbles.

And the ultra-high monetization of the Chinese economy did not result in inflation either.

Instead, the growth of the money supply was accompanied by [1] an increase in the production of goods, [2] the introduction of new advanced technologies and [3] an increase in public welfare.

Today, economic competition has already led to the fact that the United States has lost its leadership.

If you remember, Donald Trump tried to contain the development of China through a trade war, but nothing came out of it.

Man-Eating Sex Queen of Great Neck, New York, Dorothea Matthews

This English Tudor house, located at 201 Clent Road, Great Neck, New York, may not look like much of a love nest. But in 1948, its chief female resident, Mrs. Dorothea Matthews turned this house into something approaching the Playboy Mansion, East. It wasn’t until Mrs. Matthews’ divorce proceedings from her husband Mark Matthews in 1948 that we began to see that wanton sexual escapades did not begin in the groovy Sixties. According to court documents, Mrs. Matthews racked up a large number of sexual partners.

As a slim, shapely 28 year-old woman with plenty of time on her hands, Dorothea had many sexual options beyond her husband Mark, and she took advantage of so many of them. Mrs. Matthews was a very forthright individual; or, to put it in the words of the New York Daily News , she was “socially minded.” Mrs. Matthews managed to bed down a good number of men and women in Great Neck, Upstate New York, trains in transit to Florida, Manhattan, and probably lots of other places.

Yet her taste in sexual partners was not indiscriminate. A doctor, art historian, student, actor, secretary, and her husband, who was a Ping-Pong champion and owned a messenger service, filled her sexual roster, and those are only the ones we know about. And of course, a murderer would be one of her conquests.

All in all, I would say that she lived a FULL life.

“The Americans have opened a biological front of war by launching the coronavirus in China”

Q: Why? Did Trump, accustomed to taking risks and going all-in, lack the determination?

A: And even Trump (of all people) couldn’t get (the United States) out (of it’s situation), because China has a more efficient management system that allows you to concentrate the available production resources to the fullest.

At the same time, effective money management keeps money emission in the contour of expanded reproduction of the real sector of the economy, focusing on financing investments in development.

China has the highest savings rate of any country, with about 45 percent of GDP invested, compared with 20 percent in the United States or Russia. This, in fact, ensures the ultra-high growth rates of the Chinese economy.

In short, the US was doomed to lose this trade war because China could produce more efficiently and finance development cheaper.

The entire banking system in China is state-owned, it works as a single development institution, directing cash flows to expand production and master new technologies.

In the United States, the emission of money goes to finance the budget deficit and is redistributed into financial bubbles.

As a result, the efficiency of the US financial and economic system is 20 percent – there only every fifth dollar reaches the real sector, and in China almost 90 percent (that is, almost all the yuan that is created by the Central Bank of the PRC) feeds the contours of the expansion of production and ensures ultra-high economic growth.

Trump’s attempts to limit China’s development through trade war methods have failed.

At the same time, they boomeranged at the United States itself.

Then the Americans opened a biological war front by launching the coronavirus in China, hoping that the Chinese leadership would not cope with this epidemic and chaos would arise in China.

However, the epidemic has demonstrated the low efficiency of healthcare and has created chaos in the United States itself.

The Chinese system of government has shown much greater efficiency here as well.

In the Celestial Empire, the mortality rate is significantly lower, and the pandemic was dealt with much faster there.

Already in 2020, they even reached economic growth of 2 percent, while in the United States there was a decline of 10 percent of GDP (analysts noted the largest drop since the Second World War – ed. note).

Now the Chinese have restored the growth rate of about 7 percent per year, and there is no doubt that the PRC will continue to develop confidently, expanding the production of a new technological order.

In parallel with the trade war against China, American intelligence services were preparing a war against Russia.

This was because the Anglo-Saxon geopolitical tradition considers our country the main obstacle to establishing world domination of the US and British power and financial elite.

It must be said that the war against the Russian Federation unfolded immediately after the annexation of Crimea and after the American special services organized a coup d’état in Ukraine.

It can be said that they tricked Russia into agreeing to the American occupation of Ukraine, considering it as a temporary phenomenon.

However, the Americans took root on ‘Ukrainian Independence’, created not only [1] strongholds, growing Nazis under their wing, but also [2] trained the Nazi armed forces.

This gave the Nazis the opportunity to receive a military education, trained them in their academies, ‘sewed together’ all the Armed Forces of Ukraine with them.

And for 8 years they have been preparing the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the fight against the only enemy – Russia.

While the mass media, which in Ukraine are also completely controlled by the Americans, formed the image of the enemy in the public mind.

In addition, the United States used the monetary and financial front of the hybrid war against the Russian Federation.

Already in 2014, they introduced the first financial sanctions and knocked out a significant part of Western loans from the Russian economy.

Now we are witnessing the next phase, when they have actually disconnected Russia from the world monetary and financial system, which they dominate.

However, I predicted all this 10 years ago.

I did so based on the theory of changing world economic structures and the specific logic of the US ruling elite.

A logic which was focused on world domination.

Anglo-Saxon geopolitics is traditionally oriented against the Russian Empire and its successors, the USSR and the Russian Federation.

This is because, since the days of the British Empire, Russia has been seen as the main opponent of the Anglo-Saxons.

All the so-called geopolitical science that was being written in London came down, in fact, to a set of recommendations on how to destroy Russia as the dominant force in Eurasia. I mean all sorts of speculative constructions like “countries of the sea against countries of the land” and so on.

Q: How did Russia get in the way of the ‘sea countries’ that much? After all, geographically with the UK, we have never bordered.

A: In this regard, a formula was invented: whoever controls Eurasia controls the whole world.

Actually, applied developments have already gone further.

Zbigniew Brzezinski’s theorem is known that in order to defeat Russia as a superpower, Ukraine must be torn off from it.

All this political dogma, which, it would seem, has long gone down in history, is nevertheless reproduced today in the thinking of the American political elite.

I must say that there are still courses in geopolitics of the past 19th century at Harvard and Yale University, sharpening the brains of future American politicians against Russia.

So they, in fact, jumped on this old and time-tested Russophobic stream, which has always been characteristic of Anglo-Saxon geopolitics.

And, considering Russia as the main opponent of their dominance in the world, in accordance with the proposal of Brzezinski.

Thus, they used Ukraine as an outpost, more precisely, as a tool to undermine Russia, weaken it and, in the long run, destroy it as a sovereign state.

So, what is happening today was easily predicted based on a combination of long-term patterns of economic development.

This, actually doomed the world to a hybrid war, and the traditional Russophobia of the Anglo-Saxon political elite.

After the weakening of the PRC did not work out through a trade war, the Americans transferred the main blow of their military and political power to Russia.

It was a logical step as they consider to be a weak link in world geopolitics and economics.

In addition, the Anglo-Saxons seek to establish dominance over Russia in order to realize their age-old Russophobic ideas of destroying our country, and at the same time weakening China, because the strategic alliance of the Russian Federation and China is too tough for the United States.

They have neither the economic nor the military power to destroy us together, neither separately, which is why the United States initially sought to quarrel us with China.

That didn’t work for them.

But they, using our, I would say, placidity, and seized control over Ukraine.

And thus today they are using our fraternal republic as a weapon of war to destroy Russia, and then to seize control of our resources in order.

I repeat, to strengthen their position and weaken China’s position.

In general, this is all obvious, like two plus two equals four.

Q: “The Americans will not be able to win, just as the British did not succeed in their time”

A: Probably, this is obvious, but not for everyone. Among the Russian elite there are many opponents of an alliance with China. At least, before the special operation in Ukraine, it seemed to these people that American and Western culture is more understandable and closer to us than hieroglyphic Chinese wisdom, and that we will always find a common language with our “Western partners”.

You know, back in 2015 I wrote the book “The Last World War. The USA is Starting and Losing”, which you mentioned at the beginning of the conversation everything was thought out and justified there.

The United States embarked on a worldwide hybrid war.

It started with the Orange Revolutions to disrupt regions of the world it did not control.

It did this in order to strengthen its position and weaken the position of geopolitical rivals.

After the famous Munich speech of President Putin (February 2007 – ed. Note), they realized that they had lost control over Yeltsin’s Russia, and this seriously worried them.

In 2008, the financial crisis broke out and it became clear that the transition to a new technological order was beginning.

And with this, the old world economic order and the previous management system no longer ensured sustainable economic development.

China was now leading the way.

Well, then afterwards the logic of deploying of a world war happens, only not in the forms that existed 100 years ago, but on three conditional fronts…

monetary-financial (where the United States still dominates the world),
trade-economic (where they have already lost superiority to China) and
information-cognitive (where the Americans also have technologies that are superior to ours).

They use all three of these fronts in an attempt to keep the initiative and maintain the hegemony of their corporations.

Well and finally, the fourth front is the biological one, which opened with the advent of the coronavirus from the US-Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.

Today we see that a whole network of biological laboratories existed in Ukraine.

So the United States has long been preparing to open the biological front of the world war.

The fifth, and most obvious, front is, in fact, the front of combat fighting – as the last tool for forcing the states that they control into unquestioning obedience.

Today, the situation on this front is also escalating.

That is, active operations are underway on all five fronts of the world hybrid war, and the result can be predicted.

The Americans will not be able to win, just as the British did not succeed in their time.

Although Britain formally won World War II, they lost politically and economically.

The British lost their entire empire, losing more than 90 percent of the territory and 95 percent of the population.

Two years after World War II, where they were the winners, their empire collapsed like a house of cards, because the other two winners – the USSR and the USA – did not need this empire and viewed it as an anachronism.

Now today, the world will not need American transnational corporations.

They will not need the American dollar.

They will not need the American monetary and financial technologies and financial pyramids.

All this will be a thing of the past in the near future.

Southeast Asia will become the obvious leader in world economic development, and a new world economic order will be formed before our very eyes.

Q: To paraphrase [Erich] Remarque, we can say that changes have finally come on the western front. But what signs do you see of this powerful global system soon becoming a thing of the past?

A: After the Americans seized first [1] the Venezuelan foreign exchange reserves and handed them over to the opposition, then [2] the Afghan foreign exchange reserves, before that [3] the Iranian ones, and now [4] the Russian ones, it became completely clear that the dollar ceased to be the world currency.

Following the Americans, the Europeans also committed this stupidity – the euro and the pound ceased to be world currencies.

Therefore, the old monetary and financial system is living its last days.

After American dollars that no one needs are sent back to America from Asian countries, the collapse of the world monetary and financial system based on dollars and euros is inevitable.

Leading countries are switching to national currencies, and the euro and the dollar are ceasing to be foreign exchange reserves.

Q: How do you see the world after the disappearance of the dollar monopoly?

A: We are currently working on a project for an international treaty on the introduction of a new world settlement currency.

It will be pegged to the national currencies of the participating countries and to exchange commodities that determine real values.

We won’t need American and European banks.

A new payment system based on modern digital technologies with blockchain is developing in the world, where banks lose their importance.

Classical capitalism based on private banks is fading away.

International law is being restored.

All key international relations, including the issuance of world currency circulation, begin to form on the basis of agreements.

At the same time, the significance of national sovereignty is being restored, because sovereign countries are coming to an agreement.

The basis of global economic cooperation is joint investment in order to improve the well-being of peoples.

Trade liberalization ceases to be some kind of priority, national priorities are respected, each state builds such a system for protecting the internal market and its economic space that it considers necessary.

That is, the era of liberal globalization is over.

Before our eyes, a new world economic structure is being formed – an integral one, in which some states and private banks lose their private monopoly on the issue of money, on the use of military force, and so on.

Pretty Chinese girl

I just cannot let a post go without a pretty Chinese girl, don’t you know. video 4MB

Sergei Lavrov: Russian FM hails China as part of emerging ‘just world order’ – The Economic Times

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovon Wednesday said Moscow and Beijing are leading the way towards a fairer world order, as he makes his first visit to the key ally since Russialaunched its invasion of Ukraine last month.

Article

“The third scenario is catastrophic. Destruction of mankind”

Q: Why did you call your book “The Last World War”? What feeds your hope that this global war is really the last one?

A: I called this world war the last one, because we see that there are several scenarios of movement out of today’s crisis.

The first scenario, which I have already talked about, is calm and prosperous.

It consists in overcoming the US monopoly.

In order to do this in the financial sector, you need to abandon the dollar.

In order to overcome the monopoly in the information and cognitive sphere, it is necessary to isolate our information space from the American one and switch to our own information technologies.

Creating their own contours of the reproduction of the economy, but without the US dollar and the euro and relying on their information technologies for managing money, the countries of the new world economic order ensure high rates of economic development.

They do this while the Western world is collapsing.

There they have a situation of collapse of financial pyramids, disorganization and a growing economic crisis, aggravated by growing inflation due to the uncontrolled issue of money over the past 12 years.

The second scenario of a possible development of events is similar to the one that Hitler wanted to realize during the period of the change of previous world economic structures.

This is an attempt to create a world government with a superhuman ideology.

If Hitler conceived the German nation as superhumans, then the current ideologists of world domination impose on humanity the transition to a post-humanoid state.

In contrast to the post-humanism of the West, the core countries of the new world economic order are characterized by a socialist ideology.

This means respect for private interests, protection of private property and the use of market mechanisms.

In China, India, Japan, and Korea, socialist ideology dominates.

Or rather, a mixture of socialist ideology, national interests, and market competition.

It is this mixture that forms a fundamentally new power-political elite, focused on economic development and the growth of the well-being of nations.

It is very different for Western politicians, intellectuals and businessmen.

What we see today in the West is an attempt to form a certain image of a new world order with a world government at the head.

And, where people are driven into an electronic concentration camp.

You can see by the example of restrictions during the pandemic how it happened: all people are given tags, access to public goods is regulated through QR codes, everyone is forced to walk in formation.

By the way, in the scenario of the Rockefeller Foundation back in 2009, the pandemic and, in fact, everything that happened in connection with it, was amazingly sorted into pieces – they actually predicted the future.

This scenario was called Lock Step, that is, “Walk in formation”, and the Western world followed it.

Sacrificing their own democratic values, they try to force people to obey commands.

International organizations, including the World Health Organization, are used as a kind of stronghold for assembling a world government that would be subordinate to private capital.

But, I must say, Donald Trump greatly interfered with these plans.

This is because he stopped the signing of agreements on Transatlantic and Trans-Pacific partnerships.

In those partnerships, where all countries participating in the agreements sacrificed national sovereignty in all disputes with big business.

And you need to understand that today any transnational corporation can act as a foreign investor, including in the United States.

According to these agreements, if there is foreign capital in the business, then in a dispute with the national government, some kind of international arbitration court is formed, it is not clear how and by whom it was drawn up.

And these unelected judges, appointed, in fact, by big international business, these disputes are resolved.

In fact, it was about the fact that the state was losing all sovereignty in regulating relations with big business.

However, Trump stopped the agreement – the United States never signed it.

Thus, the process of forming a world government was stopped.

This is the second alternative, and it is now in crisis due to the collapse of the idea of globalization and the gradual abandonment of ‘pandemic’ restrictions.

It must be understood that the option of a world government is incompatible with sovereign Russia, with our independence and role in the world.

Within the framework of the globalist scenario, the Russian Federation is viewed as a territory that is intended for exploitation by Western transnational corporations.

The “indigenous population” must serve their interests.

Under such a scenario, Russia disappears as an independent entity, just like China, by the way.

The Western world government may incorporate some of our oligarchs into its version of the future, but only in second and third-rate roles.

Another pretty Chinese Girl

They are everywhere in China, don’t you know. video 2MB

The third scenario is catastrophic. The destruction of humanity…

Q: That same apocalypse which everybody talks about?

A: Well, not everyone… But everyone, of course, is afraid.

By the way, about the American biological laboratories that are engaged in the synthesis of dangerous viruses, it was mentioned in my other book, which was published a little later: “Plague of the XXI century: how to avoid disaster and overcome the crisis?”

I remember back in 1996, when I had to work in the UN Security Council, I proposed to develop the concept of national biological security.

Because even then, almost 30 years ago, genetics was a sufficiently developed science to synthesize viruses directed against people of a certain race or a certain gender, a certain age.

This has been possible for a long time.

It is possible to make a virus that will only work against whites, or vice versa, only against blacks, only against men, or only against women.

Now the Americans are going further – you see that, data which agrees with our Ministry of Defense, they announced the day before, that American biological laboratories were developing viruses targeted against the Slavs.

Apparently, it is possible today – to make a virus against some ethnic group that has its own genetic code.

What is happening in Ukraine today is an echo of the agony of the US power elite, which cannot come to terms with the fact that they will no longer be a world leader.

This becomes clear to everyone – at least to those who are not connected with the Americans by their own interests and are not subject to their cognitive influence.

I’ll give you an example.

When the US imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014, I asked my Chinese colleagues: “Do you think the Americans can impose sanctions with regards to China?”

They were certain that they can’t.

They said that it was impossible, because the US depends on China just as strongly as China depends on the US.

That is, America will be more expensive for itself.

Two years had passed, and Trump launched a trade war against China.

And Beijing now understood that America is an enemy that will drown the Chinese economic miracle by any and all means.

Prior to this, my reasonings with my Chinese colleagues were not very convincing, just as, however, my book you mentioned did not greatly influence our political and economic elite.

My arguments were dismissed.

Although we have been saying for many, many years that the dollar should be refused.

Foreign exchange reserves should have been removed from dollar instruments, from the euros-to-gold.
It is necessary to switch to ones own monetary and financial systems.
Nations should have developed our own settlements in national currencies with partners.

We have been offering all this since the 2000s, when it was already clear what the world economic development was leading to. And now, finally, everyone has seen the light.

Another Pretty Chinese girl

Here we have yet another view inside of China. video 10MB

“The Americans zombified Ukrainians and turned 150-200 thousand people into a fighting machine that works without thinking”

Q: Judging by the heart-rending howl that comes from the camp of the liberals, as well as the events in Ukraine, not everyone has seen the light yet.

A: Yes, we are faced with the fact that in 8 years the Americans have managed to fool the Ukrainian people so much that the people who resist the Russian army, the so-called Armed Forces of Ukraine, look simply zombified.

They are manipulated like puppets.

It is not Zelensky who commands the Ukrainian Army, not even the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the General Staff – but the Pentagon.

It commands very effectively from the point of view in the fight of “to the last Ukrainian soldier”, because these zombie guys do not give up.

But they are in an absolutely hopeless situation.

All experts have already acknowledged that Russia won the military special operation, that the Ukraine has no chance of resistance, that the entire military infrastructure has been destroyed…

The Armed Forces of Ukraine is only left with surrendering in order to minimize human losses.

However, Ukrainian officers (and especially, of course, nationalists) act like zombies controlled from the outside – they follow instructions from the Pentagon that come to their personal computers and special tablets.

Moreover, the Americans command their marionettes from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, breaking them into the appropriate units.

Each unit is assigned a number, and every number is given artificial ‘military intelligence’ with tasks every day.

They really turned 150-200 thousand people into a fighting machine that works without thinking, only stupidly follows all their orders.

For 8 years, they have achieved that they forced a significant part of the youth of Ukraine not only to stand up against Russia, but through brainwashing made them their weak-willed tools.

Not just cannon fodder, but controlled cannon fodder.

Being in an absolutely hopeless situation, surrounded, deprived of any supply at all, they still continue the senseless war, dooming themselves to death, and dragging the surrounding civilians with them to the grave.

This is a clear example of how modern American technology works.

We must understand that in front of us, we have a very powerful force.

You know, before [the war], we have heard from Russian experts and politicians that the Ukrainians themselves will suffocate economically and then crawl to us, and in general where will Ukraine go without us?

After all, it will not be able to ensure the reproduction of the economy without our resources and cooperation with us.

Indeed, Ukraine has entered a state of economic catastrophe, as we expected, as we explained to our Ukrainian colleagues.

The Ukrainian republic has become the poorest state in Europe along with Moldova.

Due to the fact that Ukraine has terminated ties with Russia, its losses amount to more than 100 billion dollars.

Nevertheless, this did not prevent American and British political strategists and instructors from forming a 200,000-strong army of thugs and murderers who completely inadequately imagine reality and are an obedient instrument of American interests.

Q: Aren’t there equally obedient American marionettes in Russia? Is it only Ukrainians who were zombified?

A: Yes, and here it should be noted that practically the same thing is happening with the Central Bank, but only on other issues.

Q: Before we move on to the Central Bank, let me clarify. You said that you are working on introducing a new currency. And in what format and with what team?

A: We have been doing this for a long time as a group of scholars. 10 years ago, at the Astana Economic Forum.

We presented the report “Toward sustainable growth through a fair world economic order” with a project for the transition to a new world financial and monetary system.

There, we proposed to reform the IMF system based on the so-called special drawing rights, and on the basis of a modified IMF system – to create a worldwide accounting currency.

By the way, this idea aroused great interest then: our project was recognized as the best international economic project.

But in a practical sense, none of the states, represented by the official monetary authorities, was interested in this project.

Although it was followed by Nursultan Nazarbayev’s publications, which proposed a new currency. If I remember correctly, he offered Altyn.

Q: Altyn? That is interesting.

A: Yes, the publication of his article on this topic even took place in Izvestia.

But the matter did not come to negotiations and political decisions, and to this day it is rather a proposal of experts.

But I am sure that the current situation is forcing us to create new payment-settlement instruments very quickly.

This is because the dollar will practically be impossible to use.

And the ruble, due to the incompetent policy of the Central Bank, which, in fact, acts in the interests of international speculators, cannot find sustainability.

Objectively, the ruble could become a reserve currency along with the yuan and the rupee.

It would be possible to move to a multi-currency system based on national currencies.

But we still need some equivalent for pricing…

Now we are working on the concept of the exchange space of the Eurasian Economic Union, where one of the tasks is the formation of new pricing criteria.

That is, if we want metal prices to be formed not in London, but here in Russia, just like oil prices.

Then this implies the emergence of some other currency.

This is especially true if we want to act not only within the Eurasian Economic Union, and in Eurasia in a broad sense.

Were Eurasia would be at the center of a new world economic order, to which I include China, India, Indochina, Japan, Korea and Iran.

These are large countries, all of which have their own fundamental national interests.

After the current stories with the confiscation of [Russia’s] dollar reserves, I think no country will want to use another country’s currency as a reserve.

So a new tool is needed.

And from my point of view, such a tool, for a start, can become some kind of synthetic settlement currency, which would be built as such an aggregated index.

Q: Can I have some examples? What it is?

A: Well, let’s say, ECU ₠ (European Currency Unit) – there was such an experience in the European Union.

It was built like a basket of currencies.

All countries that participate in the creation of a new accounting currency should be entitled to the presence of their national currency in this basket.

And the common currency is formed as an index, as a weighted average component of these national currencies.

Well, to this we must add, from my point of view, commodities: not only gold, but also oil, and metal, and grain, and water.

Its a sort of commodity harness, which, according to our estimates, should include about 20 goods.

They, in fact, form world price proportions and therefore must participate in the basket for the formation of a new accounting currency.

And an international treaty is needed, which will determine the rules for the circulation of this currency and create an organization like the International Monetary Fund.

By the way, 15 years ago we proposed reforming the IMF, but now it is already obvious that a new monetary financial system will have to be built without the West.

Perhaps someday Europe will join it and the US will also be forced to admit it.

But so far it is clear that we will have to build without them.

For example, on the basis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

However, these are just expert developments, which we will submit to the authorities in the coming month.

Q: And at the level of the government or at the level of the president?

A: We will first send it to the departments that are responsible for these issues. We will hold discussions, develop some kind of common understanding, and then go to the political level.

Russia abandons the ISS space station

Without Russian rocket engines, there is no American/EU space station. No space X. So it really doesn’t matter. My guess is an earlier than planned retirement of the space station for “fiscal reasons” (wink. Wink.)

Article.

Another Fine and attractive Chinese woman

One of the many reasons why I love living inside of China. Beauty abounds. So sexy cooking food. video 4MB

“The Central Bank continues the policy of pandering to the enemy”

Q: In your Telegram channel, you write that all that remains is to nationalize the Bank of Russia. Why hasn’t it been done yet? For example, there is a point of view that Elvira Nabiullina remains at her post as a screen, but will no longer manages anything serious. Can you refute or confirm this?

A: You know, I don’t want to engage in conspiracy theories.

Q: This is a conspiracy theory?

A: Yes, we can talk about the American Deep State in conspiracy terms.

In this case, conspiracy theories are a very appropriate direction of thought, because in America, behind the screen of presidents and congressmen, there are some deep forces – special services.

And in our Fatherland, everything is simple.

We have a president, a head of state who has built a vertical form of power.

It is absolutely clear in our country how the parliament and the judiciary are formed.

Here, no conspiracy theory, in general, can be applied.

The same goes for the Central Bank.

Let me remind you that, according to the law on the Central Bank, all its property is federal property.

Therefore, the Central Bank is a state structure, there is not the slightest doubt about it.

Q: And they always said that the Central Bank was separated, as if on the sidelines.

A: The Board of Directors of the Central Bank is appointed by the State Duma on the proposal of the President.

I served for many years as its representative on the national banking board, which oversees the activities of the Central Bank.

I can say that there is no doubt that the Central Bank is the state body for regulating monetary circulation, and it is also the main financial regulator in the country.

But there are nuances.

The Constitution stipulates that the Central Bank conducts its policy independently, that is, it is independent of the government.

But this does not mean that it is independent of the state.

This is a state-owned agency.

Here the judicial system in our country is also officially independent of the government.

Therefore, being an independent body, the Central Bank is nevertheless formed as a state regulatory body and must perform the tasks that are necessary for the development of our economy.

To do this, it is necessary to involve the Central Bank in strategic planning.

The classics of monetary circulation stipulates that the main goal of the monetary authorities, that is, the Central Bank, should be to create conditions for maximizing investment.

That is what the banking system should be doing – maximizing investment.

Because the more investments, the more production, the higher the technical level, the lower the costs and the lower the inflation, the more stable the economy.

It is possible to achieve macroeconomic stabilization in the modern economy only on the basis of accelerated scientific and technological progress.

Attempts to target inflation (such a buzzword), which the Central Bank has been practically imitating for the past 10 years, by manipulating the key interest rate against the backdrop of a freely floating ruble, is short-sighted, primitive and counterproductive.

Usually these measures are recommended by the IMF for underdeveloped countries that themselves do not know how to think.

What is inflation targeting in practice?

This is an extremely primitive and internally contradictory set of measures, the application of which drives the economy into a stagflation trap.

The Central Bank threw the ruble into free float, which is absurd from the point of view of inflation targeting in an open economy, where the exchange rate directly affects prices.

And we see how the devaluation of the ruble periodically accelerates prices.

In addition, they reduced monetary policy to only one absolutely primitive tool – the manipulation of the key interest rate.

But the key rate is the percentage at which the Central Bank lends money to the economy and withdraws money from the economy.

Its attempts to suppress inflation by raising the interest rate cannot succeed in today’s economy, because the higher the interest rate, the less credit, the less investment, the lower the technical level and competitiveness.

The decrease in the latter entails the devaluation of the ruble in 3-4 years, after they raise the interest rate, supposedly to fight inflation.

Having let the ruble exchange rate float freely, they, in fact, gave it at the mercy of currency speculators.

The Americans really like these politics, so they praise the leadership of our Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance in every possible way.

After all, what is important to them?

So that everything is tied to the dollar, so that the ruble is a ‘junk’ currency that is unstable.

And this is a paradox, because the amount of foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation has recently been 3 times more than the ruble money supply!

This means that the Central Bank could have stabilized the exchange rate at any level. But it didn’t do that.

And who are the speculators to whom the Central Bank actually threw the ruble to be torn to pieces?

The main speculators are American hedge funds, which actually shape the ruble exchange rate by manipulating the market.

But the Central Bank does not notice this, or rather, pretends to not notice.

In order to keep them in the foreign exchange market by raising the interest rate, the Central Bank kills credit and makes our economy dependent on foreign sources of credit, and the foreign exchange financial system dependent on the interests of speculators.

This is in whose interests the Central Bank works, hiding behind cool buzzwords like ‘inflation targeting’, which has shamefully failed in these past years in terms of real price dynamics.

So in our country the weakest point of the entire national security system in general is the Central Bank.

Its leadership is hit by the enemy’s cognitive-weapon, in other words, zombified by it. In fact, our monetary authorities are doing what the enemy needs.

By the way, I proved mathematically and chronologically that the first wave of sanctions was imposed against Russia only after the Central Bank prepared the ground for this.

Namely, it let the ruble exchange rate float freely and announced that it would raise the interest rate, if inflation would start in the country.

As soon as the Central Bank moved to this strange policy, the Americans immediately imposed sanctions.

Their speculators ensured the collapse of the ruble exchange rate, this caused an inflationary wave, and the Central Bank, on the instructions of the IMF, raised the interest rate, which completely paralyzed our economy.

The total damage from this policy today has already reached 50 trillion rubles of non-produced products and about 20 trillion rubles of unfinished investments.

Now you have to add to this the 300 billion dollars invested in foreign assets, which are now frozen – that’s the damage.

Therefore, when we talk about the nationalization of the Central Bank, we are not talking about formally nationalizing it (it has already been nationalized), but about bringing it into a policy of conformity with national interests.

Right now, its policy is contrary to national interests.

And there is no conspiracy here.

We see in whose interests such a policy is pursued.

The Central Bank raised interest rates to 20 percent, giving the bankers a dominant position in the economy.

Possessing the most expensive and scarce resource, money, they determine which enterprise will survive, and which enterprise will die, go bankrupt, and so on.

Rising interest rates are holding the entire Russian economy hostage to a handful of bankers.

This is the first.

Secondly, the leadership of the Central Bank allowed another collapse of the ruble exchange rate and closed the currency exchange.

As a result, today banks have become the main currency speculators: they buy currency for about 90 rubles per dollar, and sell it for 125. The difference settles down for them as excess profit.

Q: But why, in your opinion, does the Central Bank of the Russian Federation pursue a policy in the interests of the enemy?

A: As I said, it does this on the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund.

But its interests are also shared by our large banks, which objectively like this policy, as well as our monetary and financial structures, which are also involved in manipulating the ruble exchange rate.

Therefore, an influential lobby is formed around this policy, which supports this policy based on its own private interests.

These interests run counter to the interests of the country, they are directly opposite to them.

And, if you look at what the Central Bank is doing today, I have no doubts that it continues the policy of actually pandering to the enemy.

It undermines macroeconomic stability by allowing international speculators to manipulate the ruble exchange rate and does not control the foreign exchange position of banks that have become currency speculators.

Although the Central Bank could easily withdraw banks from the foreign exchange market by fixing their foreign exchange position, forbidding banks to buy foreign currency.

And secondly – by raising the interest rate, the Central Bank actually killed investments in the development of the Russian economy.

Which are very much needed right now.

Primarily for import substitution and for the restoration of economic sovereignty.

While our leadership says that we should not be afraid of sanctions, because they create conditions for economic growth, for import substitutions…

Look, about a third of EU imports have left our market. These are huge opportunities for import substitution.

If we assume that our enterprises begin to develop these markets, then we will develop at a rate of 15 percent per year.

But this requires loans.

Import substitution cannot arise without loans.

We need loans to set up production facilities, to master new technologies, to load idle production capacities.

We have long developed such a strategy of advanced development at the Academy of Sciences, and we are promoting it.

But, unfortunately, the insane, from our point of view, policy of the Central Bank has quite specific influential structures which it likes and supports. That is why the policy is so stable.

Veteran diplomat warns against Australia being a US proxy in war against China

Watch “CITIZENS INSIGHT – Veteran Australian diplomat speaks out against war danger – John Lander” on YouTube

Watch

I really love these Chinese girls.

Here’s another fine Chinese girl. I think that pretty girls are everywhere, but you know, there are a lot of them inside of China. video 2MB

“It is possible to stabilize the ruble in three days”

Q: Sergey Yuryevich, if this is not conspiracy theory, then why does the Central Bank continue to pursue such a policy? Only based on the interests of lobbyists?

A: To whom is the war, and to whom is the mother dear.

Commercial banks earn a 40% profit on currency speculation.

You bought 90 rubles per dollar – sold it for 125. 35 rubles – nothing is easier!

As a result, we have inflation, imports are becoming more expensive, everyone sees this insane rate.

Prices for all goods are rising, but the banks are making super profits.

Again, a very influential lobby has formed around this policy, and admitting the failure of such a strategy for many people means, in fact, admitting their incompetence and even sabotage.

And speculators with large banks are quite influential structures in our country that influence decision-making.

Q: Well and what, does this information not reach the first person (Putin), is it blocked?

A: When I was an adviser, I communicated this information.

Q: Were you listened to?

A: Yes, there were discussions, discussed at the Economic Council, then it was closed so as not to irritate the officials.

Now I don’t want to comment on it.

We see today that if we do not change the monetary policy, then it will simply be impossible for us to survive in this hybrid war.

We now need to counter economic sanctions with a serious increase in domestic production.

There are production facilities for this, people, raw materials, brains – too, but there is no money.

Right now, the simplest thing that the state can give people is money.

Q: What is your feeling? Is there an understanding at the top?

A: I think that you need to directly address this question to them.

Q: But many people call you almost the Number 1 person in the current situation – a public figure who can save Russia.

A: Thank you for this review. I try my best.

Q: I just want to understand: if before there was no prophet in our Fatherland, now has he appeared? Is this a temporary situation with the Central Bank?

A: It is so protracted, I would say, for 30 years.

If we had carried out a competent monetary policy in accordance with the requirements of the new world economic order, the integral system, we would have developed like China – by 10 percent a year.

There were such possibilities.

And we basically been stomping in the same spot for these past 30 years.

So the point is not even whether they listen or not, you just need to look objectively and see how China and India are developing and how we are developing.

What prevented us from developing in exactly the same way?

Moreover, the control system of the new world economic order, which I describe in my books, is universal.

She worked successfully in Japan before the Americans broke the Japanese economic growth.

And even in Ethiopia, where they also began to form this management model (and achieved growth by several times).

That is, this universal management model of the modern economy, focused on the growth of social welfare through investment in a new technological order, needs to be implemented.

At the same time, of course, the targeted use of money implies a high responsibility.

Throwing money from a helicopter – is not our thing.

Q: It’s not our path.

A: We are talking about targeted credit emission based on modern digital tools with a strict control system focused on investments in new technologies.

We know how to do this, how to minimize the human factor through the introduction of digital technologies, including the digital ruble.

But this is disadvantageous for those who still adhere to the old strategies.

They made a cash cow out of Russia, they sucked out 100 billion dollars from it abroad to offshore companies. But now the Americans have closed offshorization for us. There is a real opportunity, we must use it.

Q: What would you advise people? Now the main query on the Internet search engines is where to invest money in an era of turbulence. What should people do?

A: First of all, do not make sudden movements, I would say that.

In any case, what certainly is not necessary – to run after dollars or euros.

Because we do not know what will happen next with these currencies.

If our system is disconnected from the Western system, then our banks cannot effectively invest dollars and euros anywhere except in currency speculation.

But I hope that our authorities will still curb the foreign exchange market.

In this context, what the banks did, raising the interest rate on foreign currency deposits sharply, turned out to be a clear overkill, which spurred panic.

I think the ruble will stabilize if, of course, speculators are removed from the foreign exchange market and foreign currency is sold only for importers and people who transfer money abroad within reasonable limits to relatives or are going on a business trip in accordance with the regulations.

The rest is to block the channels of currency leakage.

Then our foreign exchange inflow will normalize again.

You know, we have a very positive trade balance.

Mandatory sale of 80% of foreign exchange earnings has been introduced.

If this revenue is sold on the stock exchange, then the amount of currency will be more than what importers need.

We will have a surplus of currency.

This means that the ruble will strengthen, that is, it will return to the old indicators – 80 or even 70 rubles per dollar.

But until the Central Bank removes speculators from the market and allows commercial banks to become such, the ruble exchange rate will not stabilize.

So, unfortunately, the monetary authorities have not yet come to their senses and have not begun to implement the correct policy of macroeconomic stabilization, I can’t give any advice other than investing in gold if possible (especially since the government removed VAT from gold).

There are no other real assets and no safe haven.

Q: So, buy gold?

A: Buy the essentials.

Or invest in real estate, in something reliable.

As for investments in dollars and euros… They have ceased to be a currency for us.

This is no longer a currency, but some obligations of other countries that may or may not be fulfilled.

So we need to look for other possibilities.

But I would like to emphasize once again that with the right policies, we can very quickly stabilize the ruble and even restore its purchasing power.

Q: And in what perspective, after all?

A: It can be done even tomorrow, you understand? The Primakov government and [Viktor] Gerashchenko did it in one week.

Q: Is the government capable of doing this?

A: Of course it can.

To do this, in general, two decisions need to be made: to fix the currency position of commercial banks and introduce the norms for the sale of foreign currency for non-trading operations, to keep the freely convertible foreign exchange market only for trading operations.

That’s all.

This can be written in 15 minutes and announced within a day, introduced within three days – and the ruble will stabilize.

Now the USA is trying to “Strong Arm” Pakastan

After a recently failed NGO backed coup.

Statecraft | Pakistan PM Imran Khan Insists on Foreign Conspiracy With Alleged Threat Letter
.
US seek to overthrown Pakistan PM:

Article

And yet another fine Chinese girl

Fine looking lass. video 2MB

Olivia Newton John – Magic (live on the midnight special)

After I left the Navy, but before I was sent a searching, I was in this “in-between” funk. I was between two worlds and perhaps a bit lost. It was a phase that I had to grow though. And I did, don’t you know.

I believe that everyone goes through this period of “void”. Where they feel out of sorts, and without aim, direction, purpose or meaning. For me, it was a new experience, and very uncomfortable.

I was, though events, able to regroup and seek out my next phase in life. We all do. But when you are in this funk, it’s a road and path that is difficult to define and impossible to get help with.

I will tell you that this is the song that was topping the radio tops at that time, and the song that I exercised to the most. I well remember doing arm curls and sit-ups to this song. To you readers it is just an old song. But to me… well, it represents that strange period of time that I went though; a time of great uncertainity and confusion about who I was, and what my purpose in life was.

Give the song a spin…

Blinken says Russia has already seen a ‘strategic defeat’

by Mychael Schnell – 04/03/22 9:51 AM ET

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said Russia has already experienced a “strategic defeat” in its invasion of Ukraine.

“If you step back and look at this, this has already been a dramatic strategic setback for Russia, and I would say a strategic defeat,” Blinken told co-anchor Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about additional sanctions the U.S. may impose on Russia.

Blinken said Russia has already failed in the three main goals it had at the start of its invasion of Ukraine.

“They had three aims going into this. One was to subjugate Ukraine to Russia’s will, to take away its sovereignty and independence. The second was to assert Russian power. The third was to divide the west and NATO. On all three fronts, its already lost,” Blinken said.

More...

Actually, those three things were not the Russian objectives. The objectives were all clearly stated by Putin himself. 

So either [1] Biden is lying, [2] he is being advised by idiots, or [3] he's confused Ukraine with another nation. -MM

Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding

R C.a38f256b308181bc76077009b397d5a8 — All that I can say is yum!

Who doesn’t love making bread pudding in the slow cooker, and this Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding is no exception! Butterscotch chips and pecans add an extra-special touch that’s sure to please. It’s fast. It’s easy. It’s tasty. Just why aren’t you making it?

What You’ll Need

3 large eggs
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 (1-pound) cinnamon-raisin bread loaf, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup butterscotch chips (see Note)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Sweetened whipped cream (optional)

What to Do

Whisk together first 3 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in milk and next 3 ingredients. Add bread cubes, stirring until moistened. Stir in butterscotch chips and pecans. Pour into a lightly greased 4-quart round slow cooker.
Cover and cook on LOW setting 2 hours or until center is set. Carefully remove slow cooker insert from heat element. Let stand, covered, 30 minutes. Serve pudding warm with whipped cream, if desired.

Notes

For more cinnamon flavor, you can substitute an equal amount of cinnamon chips for the butterscotch chips. Cinnamon chips tend to be a seasonal item — available only during the holiday months — so, if you love ’em, stock up.

20 Facts About The Emerging Global Food Shortage That Should Chill You To The Core

April 3, 2022 by Michael

A very alarming global food shortage has already begun, and it is only going to get worse in the months ahead. I realize that this is not good news, but I would encourage you to share the information in this article with everyone that you can. People deserve to understand what is happening, and they deserve an opportunity to get prepared. The pace at which things are changing around the globe right now is absolutely breathtaking, but most people assume that life will just continue to carry on as it normally does. Unfortunately, the truth is that a very real planetary emergency is developing right in front of our eyes. The following are 20 facts about the emerging global food shortage that should chill you to the core…

#1 One of France’s most important government officials is telling us that we should brace ourselves for an “extremely serious” global food crisis…

France’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the EU must get to grips with the prospect that the war in Ukraine could prompt an “extremely serious” global food crisis.

#2 Joe Biden recently admitted that food shortages are “going to be real”, and his administration is now openly using the word “famine” to describe what is coming…

The Biden administration is worried Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will cause famine in parts of the world, White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Cecilia Rouse told CNBC on Friday.

#3 It is being reported that food prices at German supermarkets will soon go up between 20 and 50 percent…

Just days after Germany reported the highest inflation in generation (with February headline CPI soaring at a 7.6% annual pace and blowing away all expectations), giving locals a distinctly unpleasant deja vu feeling even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine broke what few supply chains remained and sent prices even higher into the stratosphere…

… on Monday, Germany will take one step toward a return of the dreaded Weimar hyperinflation, when according to the German Retail Association (HDE), consumers should prepare for another wave of price hikes for everyday goods and groceries with Reuters reporting that prices at German retail chains will explode between 20 and 50%

#4 Rationing has already begun in Spain…

In Spain, the country started experiencing sporadic shortages of different products like eggs, milk and other dairy products almost immediately following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. In early March, major supermarkets like Mercadona and Makro began rationing sunflower oil.

#5 Rationing has also already started in Greece…

In Greece, at least four national supermarket chains have started rationing food products like flour and sunflower oil due to critically low supplies caused by the crippled supply chains coming out of Russia and Ukraine.

#6 The head of BlackRock is warning that this will be the very first time this generation “is going to go into a store and not be able to get what they want”…

On Tuesday, BlackRock Inc. President Rob Kapito told an audience in Austin, Texas, hosted by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, that an entire younger generation is quickly finding out what it means to suffer from shortages, according to Bloomberg.

“For the first time, this generation is going to go into a store and not be able to get what they want,” Kapito said. “And we have a very entitled generation that has never had to sacrifice.”

#7 Since this time last year, some fertilizer prices have gone up by as much as 300 percent.

#8 Many farmers in Africa will not be able to afford fertilizer at all this year, and it is being projected that this will reduce agricultural production by an amount capable of feeding “100 million people”…

With prices tripling over the past 18 months, many farmers are considering whether to forgo purchases of fertilizers this year. That leaves a market long touted for its growth potential set to shrink by almost a third, according to Sebastian Nduva, program manager at researcher group AfricaFertilizer.Org.

That could potentially curb cereals output by 30 million tons, enough to feed 100 million people, he said.

#9 Russia is normally one of the biggest global exporters of fertilizer…

Russia is a key global player in natural gas, a major input to fertilizer production. Higher gas prices, and supply cuts, will further drive fertilizer prices higher. Russia is one of the biggest exporters of the three major groups of fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Physical supply cuts could further inflate fertilizer prices.

#10 In a typical year, Russia and Ukraine collectively account for approximately 30 percent of all global wheat exports.

#11 Half of Africa’s wheat imports usually come from either Russia or Ukraine.

#12 Other nations rely on wheat exports from Russia and Ukraine even more than Africa does…

Armenia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Eritrea have imported virtually all of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine and must find new sources. But they are competing against much larger buyers, including Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh and Iran, which have obtained more than 60 percent of their wheat from the two warring countries.

#13 One Russian official is warning that his nation may soon only export food to “friendly nations”…

A Russian government official has threatened that Russia will limit its vital food exports to only nations it considers “friendly”.

Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian security official who previously served as the nation’s president, has threatened that Russia may soon cut off the West from food exports.

#14 On Friday, it was announced that another 5 million egg-laying chickens in Iowa would have to be put down because of the bird flu.

#15 The death toll from the bird flu in Iowa alone will be pushed beyond 13 million as a result of this latest incident.

#16 Overall, this is what the total national death toll from the bird flu currently looks like: “22 million egg-laying chickens, 1.8 million broiler chickens, 1.9 million pullet and other commercial chickens, and 1.9 million turkeys”.

#17 China’s agricultural minister has announced that the winter wheat harvest in China could be “the worst in history”.

#18 We are being warned that the winter wheat harvest in the United States will be “disastrous” due to severe drought.

#19 During a recent interview, one prominent U.S. farmer stated that most Americans won’t like it when “your grocery bill is up $1,000.00 a month”.

#20 The head of the UN World Food program says that what the planet is now facing is unlike anything that we have seen since World War II…

“Ukraine has only compounded a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe,” said David M. Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, the United Nations agency that feeds 125 million people a day. “There is no precedent even close to this since World War II.”

We have been warned over and over again that this day was coming, and now it is here.

Like I said at the beginning of this article, I hope that you will share this information with as many people as possible, because this crisis really is going to affect every man, woman and child on the entire planet.

In my entire lifetime, I have never seen anything like this, and conditions are getting worse with each passing day.

Stomu Yamashta – Go (Full Album)

I came across this album in the discount bin at the local music store in Butler Pennsylvania when I was a Junior / Senior in High School. I think that I bought it for a dollar. Which was a good deal, as at that time a single album of maybe fifteen songs cost $20.

Crazh huh?

Aside from just loving the high quality artwork of the artists eating at a table with bread and wine, the music itself was haunting and melodic. It really stood apart from the funk, soul, rock, and country and western music that i was getting into at that period in my life.

I suggest you all give it a spin…

Stomu Yamashta’s supergroup Go, and their self titled album. This album shows such great musicianship and I wanted to share it with everyone. This album is legendary, and I believe it should be listened to in it’s entirety.

Here’s some more info:

1. “Solitude” – 0:00 – (2:57)
2. “Nature” – 2:57 – (2:32)
3. “Air Over” – 5:29 – (2:32)
4. “Crossing the Line” – 8:09 – (4:46)
5. “Man of Leo” – 12:58 – (2:02)
6. “Stellar” – 15:08 – (2:53)
7. “Space Theme” – 17:42 – (3:12)
8. “Space Requiem” – 21:16 – (3:20)
9. “Space Song” – 23:34 – (2:00)
10. “Carnival” – 26:51 – (2:46)
11. “Ghost Machine” – 29:42 – (2:06)
12. “Surfspin” – 31:53 – (2:25)
13. “Time is Here” – 34:20 – (2:46)
14. “Winner/Loser”- 37:14 – (4:10)

Good News for the East

Good news for the world: the United States led Western DNA countries are beginning to feel the pain after bullying, threatening, and looting Russians foreign reserve, bank account, investment, and private assets.

There are mass protests across Europe against inflation. Germany is just an example of how sanctioning of Putin the great affect food prices:

Still dare to bully a big country like Russia?

AXM Paper Models of Chinese spacestations

Paper models are cheap and fun. You pay perhaps a few dollars, and you down load a PDF file. Then you print out the PDF. Once printed, you cut out the patterns and glue or tape together.

62BD6C5C BFF1 442D B7E9 6C649311549A scaled 1

There are all sorts of these operations on the internt. Some a just fun with silly little items, while others are quite serious and very detailed. How about a 440 automotive engine, perhaps?

This operation; AXM Paper Models, specializes in modern and contemporaneous spacecraft. They are serious with scale and detailed drawing and patterns. In this installment, I am just going to provide a gate way to their inexpensive models of Chinese space station components. It’s all pretty nice.

Tianhe Core Module

FA109B42 30BD 466C A164 58D7FFA17CA8 1024x952 1 — FA109B42 30BD 466C A164 58D7FFA17CA8 1024×952 1

Tianzhou 2

9DCC8865 9E65 4C7D B87D 221C21FAD299 1024x784 1 — 9DCC8865 9E65 4C7D B87D 221C21FAD299 1024×784 1

Shenzhou 12

6938F639 EA67 4DF4 A4FA F6F4E8F92E7D 1024x698 1 — 6938F639 EA67 4DF4 A4FA F6F4E8F92E7D 1024×698 1

Tianzhou 3

4F333866 9856 4AE6 A4A4 B6F8A980F323 1024x711 1 — 4F333866 9856 4AE6 A4A4 B6F8A980F323 1024×711 1

Shenzhou 13

A10BD418 FC7F 4BFE AE3F 589BCE06F520 1024x599 1 — A10BD418 FC7F 4BFE AE3F 589BCE06F520 1024×599 1

Conclusion

All in all, no matter what the “news” says, you need to keep in mind a few key points…

The world is undergoing a geopolitical realignment.
This alignment is dividing into two separate entities (East and West).

The two sides have a very different view of how the world should be. That should be quite clear by now, and everyone seems to agree on these points. Including the leadership of the two sides.

The West is trying to maintain a uni-polar single world government ruled by the United States. It wants the work to choose sides. You are either freinds or you are enemies. There is no in-between.
The East is trying to maintain a multi-polar world of equals of various unique social structures. They want to strengthen the UN charter, and empower it, and cut out and gut the legacy corruption that was built internally to it.

Some people, as the articles above state, consider a five point plan. WHile others jsut consider the plan to be some kind of “hybrid war”. I argue that a war is a war, irregardless as to what you call it.

But everything, right now, boils down to the purchase of energy and how that purchase comes about. Key to this manifestation is the control of the currency of exchange.

The West is trying to maintain the USD, or an electronic version of it.
The East is trying to use commodity-based currency by labor, materials and products.

Issues about Ukraine or Taiwan are simply the desperate plans of the West in a plan to maintain a uni-polar world. Sure they are important, but nto as important as the “news” would lead you to believe.

Do not get sidetracked from what is REALLY going on.

Keep clear headed. Keep focused. Keep frosty. I believe in you.

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 3

Articles & Links

Master Index

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
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While the end of the world approaches, it’s time for all of us to be the best Rufus possible

I remember when I was a little child. Would you believe that I would climb out of my crib and stand on the edge, and then stand there for a moment or two before I fell and landed on my head?

Yeah. Good times.

I was normal. Not an exception.

In this post we will continue with the onslaught of major global changes that are all in full swing RIGHT here and RIGHT now. Whoa! Things are moving hot heavy.

China to restrict visas for US officials

The tit-for-tat move comes after Washington placed similar restrictions on the Chinese, citing “human rights abuses”

China has decided to restrict visas for a number of US officials in response to similar measures introduced by Washington earlier this month over alleged human rights abuses.

"The Chinese side decided to impose retaliatory visa restrictions on certain US officials who spread lies on the issue of human rights, imposed sanctions against China and harmed China's interests," stated Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Thursday. Wang said the move was made "to protect the sovereignty, security and development interests of the PRC.

The spokesperson claims that the US used, what he called, the false pretext of human rights issues to [1] interfere in the internal affairs of China, [2] discredit Beijing, and [3] put pressure on Chinese officials. Wang stated that such actions are a serious violation of the basic principles of international law and international relations.

China’s foreign ministry has so far not confirmed which exact officials will fall under these new restrictions, but the spokesperson said that those who invented the “lies” surrounding the issue of human rights and harmed China’s national interests already know who they are themselves.

The announcement comes after The US State Department imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials who Washington claims are responsible for the intimidation and harassment of human rights activists and dissidents in China and around the world.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited the alleged “genocide” of Uighur muslims and repression of dissidents in Hong Kong and Tibet, saying the US …

“rejects efforts by [People’s Republic of China] officials to harass, intimidate, surveil and abduct members of ethnic and religious minority groups, including those who seek safety abroad, and US citizens, who speak out on behalf of these vulnerable populations."

The US urged China to…

 “end its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, repressive policies in Tibet, crackdown on fundamental freedoms in Kong Kong,” and other abuses elsewhere.

Tit 4 Tat

A Rufus takes responsibility

Do you take ownership, and responsibility for your community? Or, are you going to stand by and do nothing? The future belongs to the unselfish, the members of a community that participate. video 3MB

Singapore appears to embrace the West

Remark by a Singapore friend :

Lee Hsien Loong is that piece of shit who betrayed his father and his siblings by colluding with the enemy — racist UMNO — which gleefully kicked Singapore (the little red dot on the map) out of the Malaysian Federation and caused LKY so much tears and grief!

When LKY was Singapore’s PM, he made it clear to Washington that US troops will never be allowed to make use of Singapore as a military base or a staging post in the event of a war between America and China.

Yet, the spineless HS Loong is now running head over heels to lick Yankee Joe Biden’s boots before the world press! How low and despicable can anybody get?

Singapore

Poland wants to cut-up Ukraine and sever ties with Russia

Medvedev for more than the past week has leveled consistent criticism that Washington is a “puppeteer” behind modern Poland.

Earlier in the month The Washington Examiner related Medvedev’s words as posted in an essay to social media channels as follows:

The essay, posted on Medvedev's Telegram channel, claimed that Poland and Russia have a long and "common history" that destines them to work together but that the Poles had been led astray by the U.S., "their puppeteers from across the ocean with clear signs of senile insanity."

This had been followed by Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreev just days ago saying it’s a possibility that Moscow might be forced to shutter its embassy in Warsaw in response to Polish authorities moving to expel 45 Russian diplomats who stand accused of spying, or are at least under suspicion, with the Ukraine war ongoing.

In particular Medvedev’s newest comments take aim at Poland’s reneging on crucial gas contracts…

“In 2020, Warsaw imported up to 10 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, but now it intends to abandon previous contracts. The volume of gas supplies from Russia to Poland this year has already decreased by 13% compared to last year,” Medvedev explained. “Reverse supplies of the same Russian gas have been proposed as a replacement from Germany, as well as imports of LNG from Qatar, Norway and the United States. Economic benefits have fallen victim to bad political decisions.”

Wants a war!

Trump: The U.S. Is Now “Like A Third World Country” As The Supply Chain Crisis Gets Even WORSE

March 30, 2022 by Michael

A message by an American for Americans…

They keep promising us that things will start getting better. When will that actually happen? Once winter was over, the supply chain crisis was supposed to be on the way out. Instead, as you will see below, even CNN is being forced to admit that it is getting even worse. The war in Ukraine and a new wave of COVID lockdowns in China are being blamed, but those are only two pieces of the puzzle. The truth is that we are now in the third year of this epic supply chain crisis, and there is no end in sight.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump told an interviewer that he is greatly disturbed by what he is currently witnessing…

‘You go to a store, you don’t have bread. We’re like a third world country. They don’t have things. You go to buy something at Tiffany, you go to buy something at a hardware store — high, low — they don’t have product.’

Of course Trump is 100 percent correct.

Throughout our entire economy, there are shortages, delays and backlogs.

Trump himself has been personally affected by this. In fact, in the interview he appeared to refer to a wait of “nine months” for something that he had ordered…

‘They say — even me, when I order things, like for furnishings, for a building or something — they say it’s going to take nine months to get it,’ Trump said. ‘Used to be like, same day service.’

Prior to 2020, most Americans never would have imagined that this sort of supply chain crisis could be possible.

But here we are.

And according to CNN, experts are openly admitting that our supply chain problems are now “getting worse”…

Problems with global supply chains were supposed to be getting better by now. Instead, experts say they are getting worse.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which cut off exports from Ukraine and put Russian businesses under sanction, has set off a series of new supply-chain bottlenecks. So has a surge in Covid cases in China, which has led to temporary lockdowns in parts of the country.

So when will things finally start getting better?

When the war in Ukraine ends?

I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.

When the COVID pandemic is over?

If you are waiting for that to happen, you are going to be waiting for an awfully long time.

And what is going to happen if another major “black swan event” comes along?

We are so vulnerable right now, and we should have never allowed ourselves to become so deeply dependent on other nations.

For example, once upon a time the U.S. had a dominant position in global computer chip manufacturing. But now the vast majority of our chips come from overseas, and the war in Ukraine is threatening to take the chip shortage to an entirely new level…

Ukraine and Russia don’t produce computer chips used by global automakers. But Ukraine is the world’s leading source of neon, a gas needed for the lasers used in the chip-making process. While some chipmakers have stockpiled neon ahead of the fighting, there are concerns about the long-term availability of the gas.

“People expected the semiconductor shortage to continue. But nobody predicted Ukraine,” said Bernard Swiecki, director of research at the Center for Automotive Research, a Michigan think tank.

The chip shortage is already affecting almost every industry in America to at least a certain degree, and now we are being told that it could get a lot worse in the months ahead.

That is really bad news.

As shortages intensify, that is going to make our raging inflation crisis even more severe as well. There is way too much money chasing way too few goods and services, and that will remain the case for the foreseeable future.

What this means is the standard of living for most Americans is going to continue to go down. According to two prominent economists, “the average American should budget an extra $5,200 this year for higher prices”…

Meanwhile, economists with Bloomberg are warning that the average American should budget an extra $5,200 this year for higher prices – or an extra $433 every month.

Economists Andrew Husby and Anna Wong write that households can expect to pay thousands more in 2022 for the same basket of goods and services they used last year.

Needless to say, this is just the beginning.

This inflationary spiral is going to continue to escalate until we have a full-blown nightmare on our hands.

And with each passing month, money will just get tighter and tighter for hard working American families. In fact, one survey has found that 20 percent of all U.S. workers are now completely running out of money between paychecks…

Now, workers are running out of money faster, Salary Finance found.

Roughly 20% of employees regularly run out of money between paychecks, up from 15% last year, according to the survey of more than 3,000 working adults in February.

Making ends meet is going to become increasingly painful, and the shortages and the price hikes are just going to intensify in the months ahead.

Some of the things that we will soon see will be absolutely unprecedented. For example, one of Steve Quayle’s readers says that the price of eggs is about to double at her local store…

I know I sent an email out to you both in regard to the warnings I was given by several different store managers. Well I have another one. Yesterday the store manager at Price Less Foods told me that the price of eggs will be doubling and there will be a massive shortage of eggs. I am lucky to live in an area where I can purchase fresh eggs from several different people who have chickens, not everyone can.

The reason why the price of eggs is going to rise so dramatically is because of the new bird flu pandemic that has already killed more than 14 million chickens and turkeys.

We are being hit by so many things at once, and the American people are becoming quite restless.

Just this week, a new survey found that just 33 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the economy.

In April 2021, 52 percent of Americans approved of his handling of the economy.

So much has changed over the past year, and a lot of people out there think that things can’t possibly get any worse than they are right now.

But they will, because the truth is that we are only in the very early chapters of this nightmare.

Vicki says…

The shooting war has been won by Russia.

The economic war is reaching the same ending, at a bit slower pace.

Not that any of this is apparent in the US news reporting.

China in Africa

Business, factories, labor and economy are far better than selling F-35 fighter jets and bombs to African dictators. Don’t you think? video 81MB

Sanctionistas go shopping for rubles

2022-03-26

As the situation stands today:

1. Russia has announced that since the US and the EU have defaulted on their US dollar and euro obligations, respectively, by freezing Russian reserves, Russia will now only sell natural gas for rubles.

2. There is no other source of sufficient quantities of natural gas available; thus, the EU has no choice but to continue importing natural gas from Russia.

3. The EU has to keep the gas flowing or it will be unable to make it through next winter without shutting down all industrial production or letting the housing stock go unheated.

How will the EU get the required quantities of rubles? Good question!

The following comprehensive analysis (credit: “adventurist”) answers it pretty well.

Oil for rubles

Grandmother Rufus

So cute, but true. Show some appreciation for all sides and help others as only you know how. Let others laugh and make fun. You are unique. Be the best that you can be and always be the Rufus. video 8MB

The Western World Has Had Its Run

Gold ruble, Ukraine military collapse

Paul Craig Roberts • March 29, 2022

Lots of startling changes yesterday. Russia announced, apparently, a gold-backed or gold-related ruble. I haven’t had time to think about all the implications. Information is hard to come by, because the US blocks Russian news in order to control the Ukraine narrative and war propaganda. The Bretton Woods system collapsed when the West seized Russian central bank reserves, and it seems that the gold ruble adds to the end of the US dollar as world reserve currency under Bretton Woods. The implications could be vast, and the Washington idiots might very well wish they had left the Russians alone. I told them over and over that Russia had had enough of them, but the arrogant idiots didn’t listen. The sanctions, it seems, have brought about regime change in the West, reducing its power and influence.

Another big development is that apparently Ukraine has agreed to be a neutral country, no NATO, no foreign bases, no nuclear weapons, and accepts eastern Ukraine gong its own way. We will see if US puppet Zelensky is permitted to sign what Ukraine has agreed. Meanwhile, Russia has stopped its assault on Kiev, and is focused on clearing the remaining Nazi militias out of the Donbass region. I think the low-intelligence governments in Poland and Romania will get the message, and the US missile bases in those countries will be closed before too long.

These are major developments with many large implications. The World Economic Forum’s “reset” has likely been replaced by a Russian-Chinese reset.

The US ran on arrogance for so long that it has hollowed itself out. The Western world’s fate is unclear. It seems no one in intellectual, business, or political leadership positions believes in freedom and civil liberty. The US certainly is busy at work cancelling itself:

Here.

Present generations of Americans will not recognize their country. Rivers, mountains, streets, schools, public spaces, even towns are losing their names and acquiring new politically correct names. Normally, this is what outside conquerors do to a country, but we are doing it to ourselves. A country that destroys its own monuments and history is lost.

My conclusion is that the days of the West are over. The West is drowning in accumulated mistakes and degeneracy. The moral fiber in the leadership ranks is gone

MM describes a local BBQ / Seafood place

Good place for some cheap food. You can eat your fill for under $15 USD. I go though the show and tell here. Enjoy video 110MB

Ukraine: US Biowarfare Labs Developed Disease Delivering Drones (DDD?)

It’s not just used in China, apparently.

Documents and other evidence from US funded laboratories in Ukraine suggest that Kiev was planning to use drones to deploy pathogens against the Donbass as well as Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

Moscow has also identified specific US officials involved in the development of bioweapons in Ukraine.

Vector Drone – Very interesting BioLab Thread ty @GPlayer5150 https://t.co/OrYXszje52

— Kuts1 (@Kuts110) March 8, 2022

Of particular interest to Russian investigators are “documents testifying to the plans of the Kiev regime to use unmanned aerial vehicles capable of carrying and spraying deadly substances,” military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said during a briefing.

#disinformation #agitprop#SouthOssetia KGB accuses #Georgia of spreading diseases via UAV's and drones, linked with US and #Lugar Biolab Tbilisi. https://t.co/JajVHeRpLX
— Jelger Groeneveld (@jelger_) June 7, 2020

Facts in the possession of the Russian military “prove that the Kiev regime was seriously considering the possibility of using biological weapons against the population of the Donbass and the Russian Federation,” Konashenkov added.

Russia has also identified “specific officials who took part in the creation of components of biological weapons,” the general added. He did not name any of them, however, saying only they were “the heads of divisions and employees of the US Department of Defense, as well as its main contractors.”

Een US biolab met een vreemde verzameling, Rusisch DNA.
Drones om muggen die besmet zijn los te laten.https://t.co/iEcQu7TrhG
— Petr@ (@Nomediocre_P) March 1, 2022

These campaigns were “directly related to the son of the current US president, Hunter Biden,” Konashenkov added, citing investigations in the Western media. Last week, the Daily Mail published emails showing Biden’s ties to the Pentagon contractor Metabiota, which specialized in researching pandemic causing pathogens that could be used as bioweapons.

Among other things, 🧵reports Ukraine documents on drones transporting biolab substances:

"Regarding biological weapons laboratories, the documents that reveal the plans of the Ukrainian regime  to use drones to transport and disperse substances are particularly interesting."

— Pipers Creek (@piperscreekway) March 30, 2022

Hunter Biden’s involvement in the US funding of Ukrainian biolabs was brought up by Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, in a briefing last Thursday.

The results of the further analysis of documents and other evidence obtained from Ukrainian biolabs will be shared in more detail “in the near future at a special briefing,” Konashenkov promised.

More...

Nice Chinese Girl

video. She’s on her porch. 4MB

Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu Detected In Five More US States

An outbreak of the deadly strain of bird flu is quickly spreading across the U.S. The risk to humans is low, but bird flu could wreak havoc in the nation’s poultry industry ahead of Easter.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on Wednesday that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in five new states.

A non-commercial, mixed-species backyard flock (non-poultry) in Berkshire County, Massachusetts;
A non-commercial, mixed-species backyard flock (non-poultry) in Johnson County, Wyoming;
A commercial poultry flock in Johnston County, North Carolina;
A non-commercial, backyard chicken flock (non-poultry) in Franklin County, Ohio;
And a backyard chicken flock (poultry) in Kidder County, North Dakota.

According to Bloomberg, USDA data shows the bird flu has been found in 23 states in flocks totaling about 17 million birds up and down Mid-Atlantic and Northeast and across the Midwest.

More...

Poll: 83% of Russians support Putin.

Russia’s independent sociological research organization Levada Center’s poll conducted between March 24-30 showed that Russian public’s support for the actions of their president rose by more than 10% compared to the figures in January or February. It was 69% in January and 71% in February.

Poll details

Discarded hopes and dreams.

Poor guy.

She said no.

Don’t worry dude.

It happened to me also. But I did elict a ton load of sympathy from all the attractive chicks in the jewlery store when I returned the ring. Don’t you know.

Regime-ology

Posted on March 31, 2022

Regime-ology is a new field of study so the practitioners are still working out the tools and methods for interpreting regime activity. Unlike Kremlinology, on which regime-ology is modeled, the focus is not on a hierarchical structure. The Soviet empire was run by a vertical organization that operated like a corporation. The American empire is a horizontal organization modeled on the Mafia. It is a collection of elite gangster organizations jostling for power within the elite.

With Kremlinology, events could be interpreted as either a signal from the party elite or representing internal party changes. If someone disappeared from the public eye, it meant he had fallen out of favor with the party leaders. If party media reported something hanky about a party member, it was assumed to have been done with the permission of the party leaders to prepare the public for a change. The target was being shaped as a scoundrel so he could be denounced.

Regime-ology is a bit more complicated. If someone disappears for a while, it could mean nothing more than he is having a blood transfusion at one of Google’s secret rejuvenation centers. On the other hand, disparaging information about an oligarch in regime media could simply mean that one mob family is unhappy with another mob family and this is how they are communicating it. Using the media promotes the interests of the gangster class and delivers the message.

That is probably how to interpret the sudden interest by regime media in the famous Hunter Biden laptop from two years ago. For those not interested, this was the laptop that President Biden’s drug-addled son abandoned at a Delaware computer shop, which contained a trove of embarrassing information about the family. In addition to thousands of naked selfies and pics of Hunter smoking crack and meth with prostitutes, it had details of the Biden family criminal dealings.

Regime media dutifully covered this up by declaring it Russian propaganda and going as far as to imply it was a Trump campaign dirty trick. The New York Post, which was the first to report the laptop story, came under withering assault from the Silicon Valley crime families until they dropped the story. Facebook started banning people from their site for mentioning the story. Like the people air brushed from official photos in the Soviet Union, this story was erased from public view.

This is nothing new. The power of regime media is in what they can make the public ignore and this was a typical example. They do this by framing the issue as good guys versus bad guys, which is catnip for the American moralizer. Then they declare the thing to be ignored as the black hat and let the moralizers do the rest. Anyone mentioning the laptop on-line or even in private conversation was declared a crazy QAnon conspiracy theorist by others in their circle.

For no reason at all, the laptop story is back. First the intel community told the New York Times to admit they lied two years ago about it being fake. They did not mention that it was the intel community that lied, of course. Then the Washington Post was told to write about the Biden family’s criminal dealings that were on the laptop. The Post is the official organ of the intelligence community. You will recall that the Post was instrumental in the Russian collusion hoax in 2016.

Even more interesting, the scandal ridden outlet CNN has been given the green light to unleash their nutters on the story. This is a story posted by Dean Obeidallah, a former circus clown and far-left conspiracy theorist. In addition to being a conspiracy hub, CNN is also a popular landing spot for disgraced members of the intel community. Andrew McCabe and Josh Campbell landed there after being forced out of their jobs. The FBI uses CNN to control the Antifa/BLM community.

Taken together, this new interest in the Hunter Biden laptop story suggests the intel community is unhappy with the Biden crime family. It could be a warning shot about the recent rantings by Biden in Poland. This has created huge problems for the foreign policy gangsters running the war with Russia. They have been forced to spend their time telling European leaders that Biden should be ignored. This is not a good look for the Global American Empire in the middle of a crisis.

One way to look at this is that they are preparing the way for Biden to be removed from office this year. The plan was for him to pretend to be in charge through the midterm then hand things off to strong diverse female. Team Biden has been making plans for him to run again in 2024, while he is clearly in rapid decline. The Hunter Biden story could be the leverage to force Team Biden to stick to the deal. He takes the blame for the midterms, retires for health reasons and the laptop disappears.

On the other hand, this could be the start of a plot to hang the Ukraine debacle on Biden and his crooked son. The regime media is being told to sell the Ukraine war as a smashing success, but that can only go on for another month. Reality in the ground says the Russians are slowly grinding up the Ukrainian army. In a month, there will be little of it left in the east. Whether it is by force or by negotiations, the Russians will get the terms they laid out last month.

Then there are the economic sanctions. This is proving to be a disaster for the Global American Empire. The Germans just cut a deal with the Russians to buy gas in rubles, even through both sides are pretending otherwise. The Germans will buy the gas in Euros from Gazprom, which will then convert them immediately into rubles at the agreed upon exchange rate. This is de facto acceptance by Germany that they will buy gas from Russia in rubles. The rest of Europe will now follow.

What we could be seeing here is Afghanistan 2.0. The military industrial complex, the intel community and the foreign policy establishment opposed the withdraw from Afghanistan, but team Biden insisted on it. They let Afghanistan collapse and then let Team Biden take the blame for it. Notice that no one actually responsible in the military, intelligence of foreign policy realm was fired. We could be seeing the same thing afoot with the looming Ukraine disaster.

Again, regime-ology is a new field. We do not know what we do not know, so we are left to our imaginations. Maybe Hunter Biden is so mobbed up that even the thoroughly corrupt FBI has to acknowledge it. Maybe this is a feint to distract from something much worse that is in the wind. All we can know is that Hunter Biden will never be charged and we will never know the truth about the Biden family corruption. In a gangster state like America, those things are handled internally.

Rufus delivery boy

He does it for country and family. Wow! video 4MB

Nice Chinese Girl

video. This girl reminds me of my sister-in-law. She’s short, thin and busty. Yeah. This is what China is like. 4MB

US Dollar Hegemony Ended Abruptly Last Wednesday

Interview with Margaret Flowers, Clearing the Fog

Michael Hudson • March 29, 2022

Margaret Flowers: You’re listening to Clearing the FOG, speaking truth to expose the forces of greed, with Margaret Flowers. And now I turn to my guest, Michael Hudson. Michael is the president of the Institute for the Study of Long-term, Economic Trends, ISLET. He’s a Wall Street financial analyst and a distinguished research professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, in Kansas City. He’s also the author of numerous books and recently updated his book, “Super Imperialism: The economic strategy of American Empire.” Thank you for taking time to speak with me today, Michael.

Michael Hudson: Well, thanks for having me on Margaret.

MF: You’ve talked a lot and written a lot about dollar hegemony and what’s happening now with de-dollarization. Can you start out by explaining to my listeners what dollar hegemony is and how it has benefited the wealthy class in the United States?

MH: Dollar hegemony seems to be the position that has just ended as of this week very abruptly. Dollar hegemony was when America’s war in Vietnam and the military spending of the 1960s and 70s drove the United States off gold. The entire US balance of payments deficit was military spending, and it began to run down the gold supply. So, in 1971, President Nixon took the dollar off gold. Well, everybody thought America has been controlling the world economy since World War I by having most of the gold and by being the creditor to the world. And they thought what is going to happen now that the United States is running a deficit, instead of being a creditor.

Well, what happened was that, as I’ve described in Super Imperialism, when the United States went off gold, foreign central banks didn’t have anything to buy with their dollars that were flowing into their countries – again, mainly from the US military deficit but also from the investment takeovers. And they found that these dollars came in, the only thing they could do would be to recycle them to the United States. And what do central banks hold? They don’t buy property, usually, back then they didn’t. They buy Treasury bonds. And so, the United States would be spending dollars abroad and foreign central banks didn’t really have anything to do but send it right back to buy treasury bonds to finance not only the balance of payments deficit, but also the budget deficit that was largely military in character. So, dollar hegemony was the system where foreign central banks keep their monetary and international savings reserves in dollars and the dollars are used to finance the military bases around the world, almost eight hundred military bases surrounding them. So, basically central banks have to keep their savings by weaponizing them, by militarizing them, by lending them to the United States, to keep spending abroad.

This gave America a free ride. Imagine if you went to the grocery store and you just paid by giving them an IOU. And then the next week you want to buy more groceries and you give them another IOU. And they say, wait a minute, you have an IOU before and you say, well just use the IOU to pay the milk company that delivers, or the farmers that deliver. You can use this as your money and just you’ll as a customer, keep writing IOU’s and you never have to pay anything because your IOU is other people’s money. Well, that’s what dollar hegemony was, and it was a free ride. And it all ended last Wednesday when the United States grabbed Russia’s reserves having grabbed Afghanistan’s foreign reserves and Venezuela’s foreign reserves and those of other countries.

And all of a sudden, this means that other countries can no longer safely hold their reserves by sending their money back, depositing them in US banks or buying US Treasury Securities, or having other US investments because they could simply be grabbed as happened to Russia. So, all of a sudden this last week, you’re seeing the world economy fracture into two parts, a dollarized part and other countries that do not follow the neoliberal policies that the United States insists that its allies follow. We’re seeing the birth of a new dual World economy.

MF: Wow, there’s a lot to unpack there. So, are we seeing then other countries starting to disinvest in US dollars? You’ve written about how the treasury bonds that these central banks buy up have been basically funding our domestic economy. Are they starting to shed those bonds or what’s happening?

MH: No, they haven’t been funding our domestic economy because the Federal Reserve can create its own money to fund the domestic economy. We don’t need to borrow from foreign countries to fund our economy. We can print it ourselves. What the dollar hegemony does is fund the balance of payments deficit. It funds our spending in other economies, our spending abroad. It doesn’t help our economy, but it does help us get a free ride from other countries. The more dollars we spend in making a military base, all these military expenditures get turned over to the local Central Bank that turns and sends them back to the Federal Reserve or deposits them in US bank accounts. So, it’s the international free ride we get, not a domestic free ride.

MF: Okay. So are we seeing countries now, since this past week, starting to move their assets back to repatriate them because I know for Afghanistan, a big problem is that most of the government’s money was outside of the country and that has been used as a weapon against Afghanistan by seizing those assets and not allowing the Central Bank of Afghanistan to have them. Are we starting to see other countries repatriating their money and gold?

MH: Well, figures are only available at the end of each month, reported at the end of each month and then there’s a two-month delay, so we don’t have any idea what’s happening. But I’ve been talking to people all over the world in the last few days and the consensus is that everybody is now deciding the only place, certainly if you’re China or Russia or Kazakhstan or you’re in the Eurasian orbit, South Asia, East Asia, you realize, wait a minute, if all we have to do is something like Allende did in Chile or all we have to do is refuse to sell off our industry to American investors and they can treat us like they’ve treated Venezuela. So you can imagine that everybody’s watching this and there’s an expectation that as a result of the war in Ukraine, that’s really America’s NATO war, that this is going to create a balance-of-payments crisis throughout the whole Global South as their energy prices go up, oil prices soar, food prices are going to soar and this is going to make it impossible for them to pay their foreign debts unless they go without food and energy. Obviously, this is a political crisis. That is, the only result can be to split the world in two.

MF: You’ve been writing about this happening. You’ve written that the de-dollarization has been happening relatively quickly in recent years. So, are we now we’re now just seeing the end result of that? I mean, people said it could happen quickly. Is that exactly what we’re seeing right now?

MH: Yes, and nobody expected that it would happen this quickly. Nobody expected that it would be the United States itself that ends de-dollarization. People thought that, well, most of the sales of my book describing this super imperialism were bought by the Defense Department and they looked at it as a how -to-do-it book. And I was brought down to the White House and the Defense Department to explain to them how imperialism works.

I had expected that maybe China, Russia, and other countries would say, “We don’t want to give America free rides.” And yet it was the United States itself that broke all of this, by grabbing Russia’s reserves right after it grabbed Afghanistan’s and Venezuela’s reserves.

Nothing like this has happened in modern history, even in the 19th century wars. In the Crimean War in the mid-19th century, Russia, England and Germany, everybody kept paying the debts to the countries they were fighting against because the idea is that debts were sacrosanct. And now, all of a sudden, not only are debts are not sacrosanct, but countries can just grab foreign savings. I guess the problem began after the Shah of Iran fell and the United States grabbed Iran’s money and refused to let it pay its bond holders and started the whole war against Iran for trying to take control of its own oil resources. So, all of a sudden, the United States grabbing this has ended what everybody thought was an immutable morality.

MF: So that was in 1979 that the Shah fell in Iran and, and over the last number of decades, the United States has been increasingly using economic warfare against countries through what people call sanctions, but they’re actually, illegal unilateral coercive measures, has that been kind of driving and setting the stage for what is happening today?

MH: Yes, the International Monetary Fund has operated, basically, as an arm of the Defense Department. It’s been bailing out dictatorships, bailing out Ukraine, lending money to countries whose client oligarchies America wants to support, and not lending any money to countries that America doesn’t want to support, like Venezuela. So, its job is basically to promote neoliberal policies, and to insist that other countries balance their payments by undergoing a class war against labor.

The conditionality that the IMF insists upon for foreign borrowing is that countries devalue their currency and lower their wage rates and pass anti-labor legislation. Well, when you lower the currency’s exchange rate, what do you really lower? Food prices are set in dollars internationally, raw materials prices are, and prices for machinery and many goods. The only economic variable devalued is domestic labor (and domestic rents). The IMF has been using this kind of junk-economic free-trade policy as a means of keeping the wage rates in the Global South down. You could say it’s a financialization of an ultimately military conflict to promote neoliberal ideology.

MF: And you mentioned the lowering wages and things like that. And this is actually done because it’s favorable to US investors and US business, right? I mean, the World Bank actually has an index, the cost of doing business index, that helps inform large corporations about laws that countries pass that make them more favorable to businesses to come in.

MH: It’s even worse than that. The central aim of the World Bank is to prevent other countries from growing their own food. That is the prime directive. It will only make loans for countries to earn foreign currency and it has insisted ever since about 1950 that countries that borrow from it must shift their agriculture to plantation export crops to grow tropical crops that cannot be grown in the United States for environmental and weather reasons. And the countries must not grow their own food and must not undertake Land Reform or small family-based farming. So, it insisted on foreign-owned agribusiness in large plantation agriculture. And what that means is that countries that have borrowed for agricultural loans have not been loans to produce their own food. It’s been to compete with each other producing tropical export crops while being increasingly dependent on the United States for their food supplies, and for their grain. And that’s part of the corner they painted them into that is going to be creating such a world famine this summer.

MF: I definitely want to get into that as well as the energy situation and the climate crisis, but before we do that, I just want you to comment quickly on how this has also been driving countries to seek alternatives. The United States removed Russia from the SWIFT system, which is the international mechanism for doing trading and finance. It threatened China if they didn’t denounce what was happening with Russia and Ukraine to kick them out of the SWIFT system. So, this hubris of the United States is also kind of driving countries away to seek other alternatives, right?

MH: That’s the whole point. Well, fortunately they’ve been threatening to kick Russia out of SWIFT for the last two years. And so, Russia and China have been putting in place an alternative system. So, they almost pretty smoothly are shifting over to using their own currency with each other instead of using the dollar. And that’s part of what has ended the dollar standard and ended dollar hegemony.

If the way you have dollar hegemony is to have other countries deposit your money in your banks and handle their oil trade with each other by financing it in dollars, but all of a sudden you grab all their dollars and you don’t let them use US banks to pay for their oil and their trade with each other, then they’re going to shift to a different system. And that’s exactly what has ended the dollar hegemony, as you just pointed out.

MF: So, let’s get a little bit into where things are headed with this new situation, a rapidly changing situation. It may be hard to say what’s happening, but you talked about a food crisis this summer. Can you talk a little bit about more about that and does the conflict in Ukraine feed into that?

MH: Well, as President Putin and Lavrov have said, the fighting in Ukraine isn’t really over Ukraine at all. It’s a fight over what shape the world will take and whether the world will be unipolar or, as it now appears, multipolar. The US, for the last year before it began to escalate attacks on the Russian-speaking Ukraine, was trying to block Europe from, and especially Germany, from buying Russia gas and oil.

There are three pillars of American foreign policy that base American power. The first pillar is the oil industry. That’s the most powerful industry next to banking in the United States. And United States throughout the 20th century, along with Britain and France, have controlled the world oil trade.

That has benefited the United States in two ways. Number one, we are a major oil exporter because we have a big oil and gas industry. But, number two, our US companies control the foreign oil trade. So that if some country, say Chile or Venezuela, does something that the United States doesn’t like, like growing their own food or pursuing a socialist policy, the United States can simply cut off their oil and sanction them. Without oil, they don’t have energy to drive the cars or power their factories or drive their GDP.

So, the American war in Ukraine is really a war against Germany. Russia is not the enemy. Germany and Europe are the enemy and the United States made it very clear. This is a war to lock in our allies so they cannot trade with Russia. They cannot buy Russian oil. They must be dependent on American oil for which they will have to pay three or four times as much. They will have to be dependent on American liquefied natural gas for fertilizer. If they don’t buy American gas for fertilizer, and we don’t let them buy from Russia, then they cannot put fertilizer on the land and the crop yield will fall by about 50% without fertilizer.

So, the, the war in Ukraine was to make Russia look so bad by defending itself against the attacks by the Ukrainian right wing in the Russian-speaking areas that the US has said, look at how bad Russia is. You’ve got to forego buying oil and gas or grain or titanium or palladium or anything else from Russia.

And so, the effect of this war has been to lock the NATO countries into dependency on the United States because the great fear of the United States in the last few years is that as America is de-industrializing, these countries are looking to the part of the world that’s growing, China, Central Asia, Russia, South Asia. And the United States feared losing control of its satellites mainly in NATO, but also in South America. So, it sanctioned and blocked their ability to buy non-US energy. They’re blocking their ability to buy non-US food, blocking their ability to invest in or use their surplus to get prosperous by investing in China, Russia, or Eurasia.

So, this is basically a war of America to lock in its allies. Well, the result is that oil prices, now that you can’t get Russian oil, are going to go way, way up, and that is going to create a crisis for many of the Global South countries that are oil deficit countries. The fertilizer companies in Germany have already been closing down because they say, without Russian gas, we make our fertilizer out of gas, and if we can’t get Russian gas, we can’t produce the fertilizer that. So, world fertilizer prices are going way up.

Russia is the largest grain exporter. And now that grain exports are being blocked by the sanctions, the question is, what are North Africa and the Near East going to do that have been depending very largely on Russian grain exports? Their food prices are going to go way up.

You can imagine just from seeing what’s happening in the United States when gas prices go up here, food prices go up here, not only does it put a squeeze on individual family budgets, but throughout the world, it puts the squeeze on the balance of payments of other countries. And so, they’re desperate. How are they going to pay the higher prices unless they borrow even more money from US banks? And of course, that’s another arm of US policy. The US banks hope to make a killing in making loans at rising interest rates to third world countries.

And of course, arms exports. NATO in the last few days has agreed to make American arms exports to increase their purchase of arms. So, the stock market has been soaring in the last few days. They say this, the world famine, the world crisis is a bonanza for Wall Street. The oil company stocks are going way up, the military, industrial stocks, Boeing Raytheon way up, the bank stocks. This is America’s great power grab, and it realizes, when it can create a crisis and tell the Global South or poor countries your money or your life. This is how most of the great property grabs and conquests have been made throughout history.

MF: And just this week at the NATO meetings, President Biden basically said food prices are going to go up in the United States and Europe as a result of what’s happening. And that’s just the price we have to pay.

MH: Well, what he should have said, this is the price they have to pay us. That’s how the stock market took it. When he said this is the price we have to pay, this is the price consumers have to pay to the American oil companies, to the American Agricultural food distribution companies. It’s the price other countries have to pay to the United States.

This is to say to the rest of the world, you know, we’ve got you completely, I don’t know how to put it, what phrase to use, but you don’t have any choice, your money or your life. We’ve got you trapped. And he’s crowing over the fact that this resulting inflation is exactly what was intended by the war in Ukraine that has led to the isolation of Russia and other countries following a non-US policy.

MF: But more and more countries in Latin America, in Africa, are turning to countries like China for partnerships, for investment. Do you see a point coming where there is just this real shunning of the United States and turning to these alternatives?

MH: That is exactly what’s going to happen. What’s going to happen is, China’s investment is very different from US investment. US and European investment will give financial investments to countries at interest that the whole country is liable for to repay. China’s investment is taking place by means of the Belt and Road Initiative and direct capital investment in developing ports, infrastructure and railways. And instead of having a general financial claim against these countries, China has an equity claim, a property claim backed by the physical means of production that it puts in place.

Well, this summer, when countries say they cannot afford to pay their foreign debts, the United States has as a backup plan, okay, let’s write down everybody’s debts, government debts, to each other so that governments can pay the private bond holders and the banks. And they’re going to try to, essentially the US will forgive its debts so that Latin America can pay Chase Manhattan Bank and Citibank and the bondholders. And China is going to say, wait a minute, we don’t have any financial claim against these countries. We didn’t lend them dollars. We didn’t lend them our foreign currency at all. We built assets there and the assets are still in place. There’s no problem there.

So, the question is, whose debts are going to be written down to whom? And all of this is going to lead to, as you can imagine, destabilization. The United States is probably going to try to push regime change on countries that try to trade with China as it’s already threatened China with. And the more sanctions the United States imposes on Latin America, Africa and the Near East and South Asia, they will be creating a crisis, but the crisis will lead the rest of the world to treat the United States in the same way that Russia and China are treating the United States as just the enemy threatening the entire world with their neoliberal power grab. So, the United States in a way is isolating itself from the rest of the world by declaring war on it.

MF: And I think that’s not going to be good for us here at home in the United States. You’ve talked about the way that the current economy has been structured. You’ve also raised a lot of concern about the climate crisis. And of course, we have the recent IPCC report basically saying that we’re way behind in taking action to even adapt to the climate crisis or the warming that we’re going to be experiencing. So now in this new situation, how do you see that impacting the climate crisis?

MH: Here’s what Biden said, in effect: “We’re way behind in the pace of global warming.” American policy is based on increasing and accelerating global warming. That has been a central point of US policy ever since I joined the Hudson Institute in the 1970s. The United States is opposing any attempt at trying to prevent global warming because you can imagine what would happen if other countries go to solar energy and renewable energy. That will reduce their dependency on the US oil industry. If you look at American policy, it is being run basically by the oil industry to establish dependence of other countries on oil. Then obviously the last thing the United States is ever going to do is prevent global warming. So, if we’re behind in global warming, it’s that the sea level is not rising fast enough. The world is not getting hot fast enough not to lock in foreign reliance on America’s oil.

And I think you’ve seen what in the last few weeks, what President Biden has said, the fuel of the future is coal and oil. Right now, he’s in Poland. I think he’s suggesting that Polish coal, which is one of its major products, should be used in Europe instead of Russian gas. So, American foreign policy is based on the accelerated use of coal and oil, not renewable energy.

Now, that’s why I think the environmental movement should become an anti-war movement and the movement against this neoliberal dollar hegemony. You’re not going to avoid global warming unless you stop the dominance of American foreign policy by the oil industry.

MF: I think we’ve been seeing that shift over the last few years where the climate movement is starting to understand we can’t address this crisis without addressing the US military. So just in the last minutes that I have with you, what do you have to say to the listeners about where this is going for us materially as people living in the United States, a country that has been showing itself to be a failing state? The Covid-19 pandemic, I think, has really exposed that in so many ways, the financial insecurity that people are facing, housing, education, health care, all of the failures of the government to meet the basic needs of the people. How do you think that’s going to change with this new situation?

MH: Well, the United States has been getting a free ride internationally. So, much of the prosperity here has been the result of our not having to pay for our own military spending, not having to pay for many of the foreign investments that we’ve got that supply the US with low priced foreign raw materials. All that is being ended by President Biden’s policy, which, of course, the Republicans support just as much as the Democrats.

So, there’s really a political movement that is ending up impoverishing, I’d say, 99% of Americans. While the Federal Reserve saves the stock and bond market for the 1%, there’s going to be a huge squeeze that’s going to force, I think, most American families into debt leading to probably a close down of a lot of businesses just as you had the Covid crisis closing down a lot of businesses. You’re going to have the rising fuel prices, the rising food prices utterly force families into default and an inability to be self-supporting without either running into debt or selling their homes and becoming renters.

MF: And that’s a whole other problem with the buying up of the housing in the United States by these investment corporations so that they can then control those rent prices. It sounds like difficult days are ahead.

MH: Yes. Well, and nobody can really ,it’s really Uncharted Territory because nobody thought there was an alternative. The economic view was as Margaret Thatcher said, “There is no alternative.” Well, now, America’s forced the world to find its own alternative.

MF: Well, thank you for sharing that wisdom with me. I encourage people to continue to follow you and read your books and follow your writing. Where’s the best place to find you?

MH: I have a website: Michael-Hudson.com. And I’m on Patreon. I post my articles on the website and on Patreon.

MF: Well, thank you so much for taking time to speak with me today, and for the important work that you’re doing.

MH: Well, I’m awfully glad we had to talk about this, Margaret.

Crushed ideas and hopes

It happens to the best made plans of mice and men.

2022 04 01 10 e12 — It is not going to happen.

The ISS Space Station

A highly anticipated change of command ceremony between the United States and Russia has taken place on the International Space Station.

Despite mounting tensions between the two countries, NASA has repeatedly reaffirmed that it continues to work closely with Russian space agency Roscosmos.

Eyes have been on the ISS since war broke out in Ukraine but tensions on the earth did not reach into space.

Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov in his handover address affirmed those on the space station were “one crew”.

“I think ISS is like (a) symbol of the friendship and cooperations and like symbol of future of exploration of space,” he said.

More...

The Media Is The Number One Cause Of War Since 1898

In 1895, a 32-year old entrepreneur in New York City bought a failing newspaper and hatched a bold plan to turn it around.

The newspaper industry was cutthroat, especially in New York. There were at least 16 other daily newspapers in circulation, and there was fierce competition for readers’ attention.

But the young entrepreneur had an idea: thrill readers with tales of death, destruction, and brutality in the Cuban War for Independence against Spain.

Cuba was a Spanish colony at the time, but revolutionary forces had been fighting for independence for several years. Few people in the US really cared about Cuba. But the new publisher vowed to make them care.

His name was William Randolph Hearst. And his paper, the New York Morning Journal, constantly thrust Cuba in his readers’ faces.

Their stories were full-blown sensationalism. By early 1898, Hearst’s Journal was printing outright fabrications of atrocities committed by Spanish troops in Cuba, in an effort to whip up public support for the United States to join the war.

The government played along. While ‘war crimes’ did not yet exist, US President William McKinley escalated tensions by accusing Spain of atrocities, saying in a speech that “the civilized code of warfare has been disregarded.”

Then, on February 15, 1898, a US naval vessel known as the Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor off the coast of Cuba. 268 sailors died.

Several investigations were conducted, and to this day there is still nothing conclusive explaining how the explosion took place. It’s entirely possible that the explosion was caused by the Maine’s on-board fuel.

But Hearst (along with many other papers) jumped to publish stories claiming the Maine was sunk by a Spanish torpedo, and they continued agitating for the US to join the war.

Thanks to the effective media propaganda, most Americans were in favor of war. The newspapers had cast Spain as the evil aggressor, and its commanding general, Valeriano Weyler, was routinely called a “butcher”.

The newspapers told Americans that the fight against Spain was a necessary one… that it was a matter of moral righteousness— a crusade of good against evil.

They finally got their wish in April 1898 when the Spanish-American War broke out.

There are a lot of similarities with the media today.

The level of trust in the media is already laughably low. There was the obvious Hunter Biden laptop coverup, which most mainstream media refused to even mention during the US Presidential election in 2020.

Then there were the outright lies in the Russia collusion hoax, for which the New York Times was even awarded the ‘esteemed’ Pulitzer Prize.

(Coincidentally, the Pulitzer is named after Joseph Pulitzer, a newspaper publisher who also fabricated lies in the late 1800s and agitated for war against Spain.)

Then there’s the case of Biden appointee Tracy Stone-Manning, who was nominated last year to head up the federal government’s Bureau of Land Management.

Stone-Manning is a former eco-terrorist who participated in violent campaigns against forestry workers in her youth.

This isn’t some wild conspiracy theory; Stone-Manning has admitted to wrongdoing, including sending violent threats to the US federal Forestry Service. She ultimately avoided prosecution and saved herself by ratting out her associates.

But a recent Freedom of Information Act request revealed that NBC News colluded with the Biden Administration to go easy on Tracy Stone-Manning during her confirmation hearing, and whitewash over her terrorist history.

This is pretty incredible…

Think about the media circus a few years ago when US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexually assaulting someone when he was a teenager.

There was no promise from NBC News (and other mainstream propagandists) to go easy on the allegations against Justice Kavanaugh that went back 30+ years.

Instead, they smeared his name and deemed him guilty.

It’s also noteworthy that, during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, several protestors stormed the Capital and physically accosted United States Senators in order to prevent the Constitutional voting process from occurring.

Yet NBC News declined to label those protestors ‘domestic terrorists’, or to claim that democracy was ‘under attack’ because they had criminally trespassed into the Capitol.

This is the same media which acted as the government mouthpiece during COVID, justifying the public health dictatorship that took over the world.

This is the same media which watched cities burn in 2020 and said the protests were “mostly peaceful”.

And, yes, this is the same media that has routinely pushed America into war. It wasn’t just Spain in 1898.

The United States joined the Vietnam War based on a Gulf of Tonkin skirmish with the North Vietnamese which never actually occurred. But the Johnson administration and intelligence sources said it happened, so the media reported it as fact.

Then there were those supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, which the media dutifully reported without question and helped push the US into war back in 2003.

Today many in the media are calling for an escalation against Russia. They want a no-fly zone. They cheer the President’s dementia-ridden foreign policy and praise him for impromptu comments that only escalate tensions.

Most of all, they force feed the war in Ukraine, 24/7, as if that’s supposed to be our #1 priority.

Forget about the economy, rising prices, and supply chain dysfunction… and forget about conflict anywhere else in the world. We’re only allowed to care about Ukraine and Putin.

Historically speaking, it is not far-fetched to think the media could help push the world into a major war… and one with potential nuclear ramifications.

It’s not inevitable, but we are closer today than any other time since at least 1962— and certainly closer than even a week ago.

That’s why it is more important than ever to be prepared for whatever the world has in store for us.

And that means crafting a rock solid Plan B to make sure you can respond from a position of strength, whatever crisis comes next.

Simon Black

Nice Chinese Girl

video. She’s a personal favorite. I love that dress, by the way. Who would figure that mustard would be a good color? 4MB

US accuses China of ‘choking’ Taiwan

Washington’s top diplomat in Taipei attacks Beijing for “destabilizing” the region and threatening “all democracies”

The head of the de facto US embassy in Taiwan has accused China of “provocative” military moves near the island. Sandra Oudkirk claimed that Beijing has undermined regional peace while vowing to “strengthen” security ties with Taipei.

Oudkirk – who directs the American Institute in Taiwan, the unofficial US embassy – castigated Beijing during a speech at the local American Chamber of Commerce, on Wednesday, singling out its policies toward Taipei.

“The [People’s Republic of China’s] increasingly aggressive behavior is nowhere more evident than in relation to Taiwan, where the PRC has continued to exert military, diplomatic, and economic pressure,” she said, adding that “provocative military activities” near Taiwan are “destabilizing, risk miscalculation, and undermine regional peace and stability.”

Continued efforts by Beijing to choke Taiwan’s international space, pressure its friends, and interfere in Taiwan’s democratic system represent a threat to all democracies.

With Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in attendance at the event, Oudkirk went on to voice “deep concerns” over “China’s alignment with Russia” following Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, appearing to draw parallels between the conflict in Eastern Europe and tensions between Taiwan and the mainland.

“China is already on the wrong side of history when it comes to Ukraine and the aggression being committed by Russia,” she said, echoing previous comments from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Though US officials have pressured Beijing to sever its ties with Russia and join a punitive sanctions campaign, China has so far refused to budge, maintaining a neutral stance toward the conflict while urging for diplomacy and an end to the fighting.

Oudkirk said Washington would continue to “strengthen Taiwan’s role as a regional security partner” – part of the Joe Biden administration’s increased outreach to the island. Late last year, the president declared that the US is “committed” to defending Taiwan from any potential Chinese attack, in what appeared to be a break with a long-standing policy of ‘strategic ambiguity.’ White House officials soon walked back his comments, however.

The United States has also approved a number of arms sales to Taiwan in recent months, and continues to sail warships through the contested Taiwan Strait on a near-monthly basis despite repeated warnings from Beijing to stay out of its “internal affairs.” China considers Taiwan to be its sovereign territory, though the island has long been self-governed and refers to itself as the Republic of China.

Founded as a non-profit corporation, the American Institute in Taiwan now serves as the informal US embassy and has received most of its funding from the State Department since the United States ended diplomatic recognition of Taipei with the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. Currently, only a handful of nations recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country, among them Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti and the Vatican City.

How America is viewed by the rest of the world

pay attention. This is what the next 100 years will be like… video 6MB

TRAPPED!!! AMERICAN AND UK MILITARY “ADVISORS”, PLUS FRANCE INTEL OPERATIVES WITH AZOV NAZIS IN MARIUPOL – NOW TRAPPED BY RUSSIAN FORCES

World Hal Turner 31 March 2022 Hits: 10958

At present, whatever remains of Ukrainian Army AZOV Regiment (the Actual NAZI Regiment) is holed-up inside the vast Azovstal Industrial Area in Mariupol, Ukraine. The group totaling 20 — of US and UK military advisors as well as several Ukrainian SBU (secret police) advisors—is holed up, together with Azov fighters.

Despite being offered several prior chances to evacuate Mariupol, they chose to stay. Now, they are too late to evacuate as Russian forces pummel that area to De-Nazify it.

Overnight, Ukraine sent two military helicopters to Mariupol to try to rescue the trapped US, UK, and Ukrainian Secret Police persons. Both those helicopters landed without incident, but when they took off, both were SHOT DOWN.

One of those helicopters had 17 aboard, 15 of whom died when the chopper was hit and crashed into the earth. The two survivors have been taken prisoner by Russian forces.

The second helicopter was hit several kilometers off the coast of Mariupol, and fell into the Sea of Azov. Rescue craft were sent, but no word yet on finding anything or anyone in the water.

One of the Mi-8 helicopters was shot down by . . . . . . . An American STINGER anti-aircraft, man-launched missile, supplied to Ukraine by the United States and later captured from the Ukrainian forces by Russian forces.

MORE!

From the helicopter that crashed into the earth, COVERT INTEL SOURCES now tell me, the bodies of two French Intelligence operatives, allegedly with DGSE credentials, were also said to have been recovered.

If true, this would explain French President Macron’s desperate attempts to have a French-led evacuation out of Mariupol last week! Macron’s requests to Putin were declined. If French Intelligence Agents were embedded with AZOV NAZI troops, then this is a massive PR problem for both France and for NATO.

HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION

At some point, the presence of foreign military “Advisors” and foreign Intelligence “operatives” is going to transform this from a Ukraine-Russia conflict, to a NATO-Russia conflict. Once that threshold is officially crossed (and it is solely up to Russia to decide) then war is upon us all.

A bunch of US and British military men being present right on the front line would confirm not only how intricately involved with Azov the NATO countries are, but the fact that Ukraine is a US puppet state being used to wage a proxy war on Russia.

Grandma’s Favorite Cabbage Rolls

R C.902e2234a56edd9b345d16af9826c6be — Cabbage Rolls

No one knows good old-fashioned home cooking like Grandma, which is why this recipe for cabbage rolls is one of the best there is, period. Made with ground beef, onion, white rice and seasonings, Grandma’s Favorite Cabbage Rolls are sure to make your mouth water.

Top ’em off with a homemade sauce of tomato, brown sugar, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce and you’ll have yourself a winning dinner the whole family will love.

Even the pickiest of eaters will gobble up these delicious old fashioned cabbage rolls! Plus, this recipe is a favorite of Grandma’s because it only costs a few dollars to make. It’s one of our favorite budget-friendly recipes, and we think it will be one of yours, too.

INGREDIENTS

1 large head of cabbage

2 cups white rice, cooked

1 ¹⁄₂ lbs raw ground sirloin or 1 1/2 lbs ground round

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 raw eggs

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

oregano

kosher salt

Sauce to pour over rolls

4 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce tomatoes, diced

2 tablespoons brown sugar

tomato juice (optional)

Core head of cabbage by cutting around the core and removing as much as possible. Boil large pot of water (fill pot only 1/4 or 1/2 full — when boiling put cabbage into water and cover with top. Leave cabbage in water and every so often as leaves loosen up remove leaves and place in collander in sink to cool — when all leaves are removed turn off water and throw away — (if you have any little pieces of cabbage left at end of core, you can save them to place on top of leaves if you would like.
In a large bowl mix cooked rice, ground meat, onion, garlic, raw eggs 1/2 can tomato sauce and oregano and a little pinch of kosher salt. Mix well with your hands –.
Spray 9 X 13 inch pans with Pam. Take cabbage leaves and fill with 1/4 to 1/2 cup meat mixture (depending on how big hour leaves are). Place with seam side down in pans — Turn oven on 350 degrees. Make up sauce (depending on how many rolls you get from your cabbage and how much sauce you want,you can use between 4 to 6 cans of diced or stewed tomatoes for your sauce), if you like cabbage rolls to have more sauce, you can add a little tomato juice to your sauce. Pour sauce over top of rolls. Sprinkle with kosher salt over top of rolls.
Bake uncovered to 2 1/2 hours or until browned on top, you may need to add a tomato juice to them once in a while so they do not dry out –.
Freezes well.

Vaccine Schedule for the United States

Interesting.

Covid Vaccine schedule for children kids — Covid Vaccine schedule for American children

Fine Chinese Girl

Here’s yet another fine Chinese woman. They are all over China, don’t you know. Of course, if you believe the Western narrative, China has no girls or women. They have been all killed as the result of the one-baby policy. LOL. Only an idiot would believe that bullshit. What bullshit are you believing out of the American / UK “news” today? Eh? Video 2MB

China warns of ‘worst consequences’ over Taiwan

Beijing says nothing will stand in the way of “national reunification” with Taipei

China has warned that no foreign powers or militaries will succeed in interfering with Taiwan, cautioning that any country attempting to offer military support to Taipei will face “consequences.”

“The Taiwan question is a purely internal affair of China,” Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Tan Kefei told reporters on Friday.

“No one and no force can stop” Beijing from a “complete national reunification” with Taiwan, Tan said, adding that anyone who tries to do so, “will suffer the worst consequences in the end.”

Tan said the Chinese military stood ready to thwart any outside interference on the matter. His statement came days after Australia’s defense minister, Peter Dutton, argued that it would be “inconceivable” for Canberra not to join with the US should Washington decide to defend Taiwan.

Dutton later softened his language, saying on Sunday that the Australian response would be based on “our country’s best interests.”

Last month, Australia accused a Chinese warship of pointing a laser at one of its surveillance planes. Beijing said the allegation was “false.”

While the government in Beijing insists Taiwan is part of China’s territory, the US has typically taken a non-committal position, unofficially supporting Taiwanese independence and supplying weapons to Taipei, while at the same time acknowledging China’s claim to the island.

Fair Warning

The Bodyguard of Lies

Here’s the official U.S. narrative as echoed by the mainstream media: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked, Putin’s three-day blitzkrieg of Kyiv has failed, Russian forces are bogged down and valiant Ukrainian troops are putting up a powerful defense and regaining lost ground with the help of weapons from NATO.

In this version, President Zelenskyy is the new Churchill rallying patriots against an evil dictator. All of that is either entirely or mostly false.

Here’s the real story: Russia’s invasion is the end result of 14 years of provocation by the West, including repeated declarations that Ukraine will join NATO and a U.S.-backed coup d’état in 2014 that displaced a pro-Russian president.

Russia never planned a blitzkrieg on Kyiv. That’s a Western invention intended to make Putin look like a failure. In fact, Russia is slowly and methodically taking territory in the south and east of Ukraine in order to control the seacoasts, eliminate pro-fascist elements in Mariupol and establish pro-Russian autonomous zones in Donbas.

Full Article

Rufus kitty cat

This cat knows what family and community are. Do you? video 1MB

Ukraine Military Update

here is a breakdown of what is going on according to Scott Ritter:

1/ Big Arrow War—a primer. For all those scratching their heads in confusion, or dusting off their dress uniforms for the Ukrainian victory parade in Kiev, over the news about Russia’s “strategic shift”, you might want to re-familiarize yourself with basic military concepts.

2/ Maneuver warfare is a good place to start. Understand Russia started its “special military operation” with a severe manpower deficit—200,000 attackers to some 600,000 defenders (or more). Classic attritional conflict was never an option. Russian victory required maneuver.

3/ Maneuver war is more psychological than physical and focuses more on the operational than on the tactical level. Maneuver is relational movement—how you deploy and move your forces in relation to your opponent. Russian maneuver in the first phase of its operation support this.

4/ The Russians needed to shape the battlefield to their advantage. In order to do this, they needed to control how Ukraine employed it’s numerically superior forces, while distributing their own smaller combat power to best accomplish this objective.

5/ Land Bridge. Strategically, to facilitate the ability to maneuver between the southern, central, and northern fronts, Russia needed to secure a land bridge between Crimea and Russia. The seizure of the coastal city of Mariupol was critical to this effort. Russia has accomplished this task.

6/ Control. While this complex operation unfolded, Russia needed to keep Ukraine from maneuvering its numerically superior forces in a manner that disrupted the Mariupol operation. This entailed the use of several strategic supporting operations—feints, fixing operations, and deep attack.

7/ Feint warfare. The concept of a feint is simple—a military force either is seen as preparing to attack a given location, or actually conducts an attack, for the purpose of deceiving an opponent into committing resources in response to the perceived or actual actions.

8/ Example of use. The use of the feint played a major role in Desert Storm, where Marine Amphibious forces threatened the Kuwaiti coast, forcing Iraq to defend against an attack that never came, and where the 1st Cavalry Division actually attacked Wadi Al Batin to pin down the Republican Guard.

9/ Ukraine use of a feint. The Russians made extensive use of the feint in Ukraine, with Amphibious forces off Odessa freezing Ukrainian forces there, and a major feint attack toward Kiev compelling Ukraine to reinforce their forces there. Ukraine was never able to reinforce their forces in the east.

10/ Fixing operations were also critical. Ukraine had assembled some 60,000-100,000 troops in the east, opposite Donbas. Russia carried out a broad fixing attack designed to keep these forces fully engaged and unable to maneuver in respect to other Russian operations.

11/ History. During Desert Storm, two Marine Divisions were ordered to carry out similar fixing attacks against Iraqi forces deployed along the Kuwaiti-Saudi border, tying down significant numbers of men and material that could not be used to counter the main US attack out west.

12/ Pinned Down. The Russian fixing attack pinned the main Ukrainian concentration of forces in the east, and drove them away from Mariupol, which was invested and reduced. Supporting operations out of Crimea against Kherson expanded the Russian land bridge. This phase is now complete.

13/ Strategic Deep Attacks. Russia also engaged in a campaign of strategic deep attack designed to disrupt and destroy Ukrainian logistics, command & control, and air power and long-range fire support. Ukraine is running out of fuel and ammo, cannot coordinate maneuver, and has no meaningful Air Force.

14/ Redeployments. Russia is redeploying some of its premier units from where they had been engaged in feint operations in northern Kiev to where they can support the next phase of the operation, namely the liberation of the Donbas and the destruction of the main Ukrainian force in the east.

15/ This is classic maneuver warfare. Russia will now hold Ukraine in the north and south while its main forces, reinforced by the northern units, Marines, and forces freed up by the capture of Mariupol, seek to envelope and destroy 60,000 Ukrainian forces in the east.

16/ This is Big Arrow War at its finest, something Americans used to know but forgot in the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan and Iraq. It also explains how 200,000 Russians have been able to defeat 600,000 Ukrainians. Thus ends the primer on maneuver warfare, Russian style.

Rufus Kind action

When the time comes, what are you going to do? Be a spectator, or take action. Your actions determine your sentience. Service-to-yourself, or service-for-others. And please don’t be a NPC service-to-another. Your actions, in this life, are a reflection of who you are. It’s binary. White or black. There is no gray area. video 3MB

Chinese community in action

This would never happen in the United States. In the USA, most people whould be inside their cars watching on as spectators. Maybe taking videos. With some slamming on their horns making noises. video 3MB

Rufus Immediate action

You don’t know when there will be a calling, but it will happen. Are your ready for it? Or will you pretend that nothing is going on? Will you sit by passively and allow others to become service-to-others sentience, while you are firmly and affixed as a service-to-self selfish, alone, greedy and “independent” asshole? video 9MB

How a Rufus Community Operates

Everyone in the community works together as one organism. If they “feel” something is wrong, they talk to others, they investigate, and they get help. In this case, we have gas station attendents, bus drivers, and construction workers working with the polcie to prevent a child abduction. video 14MB

Rufus reminder

When the world is treating others unkindly, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to reset things. Do not wait for others to take action. Do not wait for the police, fire or medical care to come. Do not wait for others, or watch while doing nothing. You were not born to be a spectator. You were born to be a participant. So act the part. God damn it! video 13MB

Scene From By Dawns Early Light – HBO – Nuclear War – World War 3 Movie

An end of the world movie that involves nuclear launches. This is a 30-minute segment, and it is chilling how much it matches what is going on RIGHT NOW.

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 3

Articles & Links

Master Index

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
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Ukraine trigger to global-political change along with HO trains, Chinese girls, and Euroweenie Trolls

There’s quite a bit going on in the world today. And if you listen to the “news”, well, it’s all very frightening. It just seems like the entire world is going to shit. Well, it seems that way, but don’t be so sure that that is the case. Actually, the people in control are actually very smart, and they live in Asia.

But the USA, well, it’s going to Hell in a handbasket.

Here we are just going to throw out some representative articles about the global Geo-political situation mixed up with other tidbits of a MM interest. I hope that you enjoy this adventure.

Rufus gets wet

You have to stop being a spectator and start participating in life. Stop watching and start doing. Here is what happens when you make that change. you become a Rufus, and your entire life changes. video 2MB

American Consumers Ditch Brand Names For Generic Food As Inflation, Shortages Hit Supermarkets

U.S. consumers’ loyalty to brand names at supermarkets is quickly evolving as they try new grocery products amid snarled supply chains and high inflation.

Top food companies like Kraft Heinz Co. and Kellogg Co. are at dire risk of losing market share as supermarket operators grapple with shortages and fill empty store shelves with lower-cost brands, industry insiders told WSJ.

American households are money-conscious more than ever as inflation hits four-decade highs and takes a bite out of their monthly spending budgets. Some consumers have broken ranks of years and years of brand loyalty only to buy whatever is on the shelf, often generic brands.

“We see people make more choices on items because they are available,” said Tony Sarsam, chief executive officer of grocery chain SpartanNash Co.

Sarsam said SpartanNash had reduced shelf space for food products from major brands because of shortages, allowing it to expand room for local brands, which had more dependable supply.

Private-label consulting company Daymon Worldwide Inc. conducted a survey between May 2020 and August 2021 and found 70% of U.S. consumers bought new or tried different brands in a post-pandemic world. This means brand loyalty could be collapsing as consumers buy what is available and the cheapest.

Even though consumers generally buy familiar brands, industry analysts show high inflation and belt-tightening by households have forced many to find a better deal to make their dollars go further, even if that means buying generic brands.

84.51 LLC, a data analysis business of supermarket giant Kroger Co., also confirms consumers are switching to low-cost brands.

Kroger’s 84.51 said that 90% of consumers are willing to try another brand if their primary brand is unavailable.

WSJ spoke with one consumer in Fort Lauderdale who has been, like many other Americans, trying out new brands because the ones they wanted were out of stock or because prices were too high.

The days of supermarkets carrying only top-shelf brands could be over as shortages and inflation open new opportunities for food companies that can deliver low-cost products.

The shift in shopping behavior is a significant warning for major brands as supermarkets are desperately trying to fill shelf space amid shortages. People are more inclined to try new brands, and many seek low-cost ones.

“There hasn’t been a lot of customer resistance,” said Jonathan Weis, chief executive of Weis Markets Inc., referring to consumers trying generic brands. “They’d rather get orange juice than no orange juice,” he added.

Your comments please.

Old-Fashioned Tangy Cabbage

Here’s something fun and super easy to make.

When was the last time that you had a side of cabbage with your meal? Probably in ages. I’ll tell you what, you are not going to get this in a restrurant as you will have to make it yourself. There is not a single fast-food establishment that will serve this great dish. But don’t worry. It’s delicious and easy to make.

Old Fashioned Tangy Cabbage ArticleImage CategoryPage ID 1157697 — Old Fashioned Tangy Cabbage

Old-Fashioned Tangy Cabbage is the perfect go-along for almost any main dish. It’s a simply delicious combination of cabbage and apples, simmered in cider and a few other great seasonings, too!

Your comments please.

What You’ll Need

1 green cabbage, shredded (about 12 cups)
2 red apples, cored, seeds removed, and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

What to Do

In a soup pot, combine all ingredients.
Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium, and cook 25 to 30 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and cabbage is tender.

People have hardships

Oh, yes they do, and a Rufus is aware of them. This is becuase a Rufus has experienced them himor herself. We know. We understand, and we are there to help. Be the helping-hand Rufus. Show empathy and understanding. video

Your comments please.

The United States should have heeded Lee Hsien Loong’s advice.

By Global Times Published: Apr 01, 2022 12:21 AM

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is on an eight-day visit to the US. Lee mentioned many times the solidarity and cooperation of the international community.

He reminded Washington that if the US cuts off China, “the price is very high.”

He also emphasized that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework should be built “on a win-win basis,” and “as a way to engage the region and not just on strategic or security and potentially hostile basis.”

This is not the first time that Lee raised kind reminder to Washington.

He has expressed similar views many times before, including describing the two superpowers, China and the US, as “conjoined twins,” and warning that clash between the two powers would be a disaster for the world.

In addition, Lee has many times expressed the attitude that Singapore cannot take sides.

Singapore is one of the US’ closest partners in Southeast Asia, though not a formal treaty ally. Former US president Barack Obama once said Singapore is an anchor for the US presence in the region. At the same time, Singapore has significant influence in ASEAN. Therefore, Lee’s remarks are sincere to Washington and representative and symbolic in ASEAN.

“When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” This phrase is being brought up more and more frequently today, which reflects a sense of realistic anxiety. ASEAN countries are reluctant to be forced to take sides between China and the US, and they are more worried about becoming a wrestling ring in the game of major powers.

Singapore can be regarded as one of the countries that have achieved a relatively good balance between China and the US.

But with the promotion of the US’ strategic containment against China, it has become more and more difficult to maintain this balance. It is noticeable that when Lee made objective remarks on China-US ties this time, he was labeled a “Beijing whisperer.”

But in any case, even if the US covers its ears, wears a blindfold and exerts brute force, it still cannot change the reality that the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy is unpopular in the region.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi recently said publicly that the US needs a stronger economic agenda for the Asia-Pacific region, as opposed to its current focus on security issues. “What the people want is prosperity, not only security… our people will ask what is the meaning of developing the concept if [‘the Indo-Pacific strategy’] doesn’t bring economic benefits for the people,” she noted. ASEAN countries are generally aware that the US only wants to create a “bridgehead” against China in the region.

For a while in the past, some countries believed that if they made enough concessions, the US could provide enough support to them. However, it has been proven time and again that US promises are like window paper.

Washington’s “America First” agenda, which only cares about itself and not others, has made some countries suffer and made others more alert. Singapore had actively embraced the US-sponsored Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but it ended in vain, with the US withdrawing from the agreement. Today, the US is trying to promote another NATO in the Asia-Pacific and expand NATO to the region, embedding more risks of conflict in the region.

As a country embedded in globalization, Singapore cannot afford a geopolitical confrontation between major powers and attaches particular importance to the security and stability of its surrounding environment. Thus, it is extraordinarily sensitive to geopolitical risks and has a forward-looking judgment on the situation. In the past two years, Singaporean politicians have warned on various occasions that the Asia-Pacific region is moving in a very dangerous direction and have repeatedly expressed their call for the US to accept China’s rise, and that they “don’t wish to be forced into making invidious choices,” while stressing that this is also in the fundamental interests of the US. Such voices of reason, however, are often ignored by Washington.

An unavoidable reality is that though the US wants to weave a tight net to besiege China, the net cannot withstand scrutiny. Be it the Five Eyes alliance, Quad or AUKUS, none of the members are ASEAN countries. Public opinion has noticed that at the press conference after US President Joe Biden met with Lee Hsien Loong, Biden mentioned the Indo-Pacific six times, but Lee hardly used this term which is an American concept that carries strong bloc politics, and chose “Asia Pacific,” a clear indication of a gap with the US’ stance.

A just cause has many helpers while an unjust one finds few followers. No force can run counter to the trends and hearts and minds. Even though Washington can continue to fool the public opinion, it cannot fill up the hollowing out of the Indo-Pacific strategy. If Washington cannot even listen to the advice of Singapore, a close ally, reality will teach it a profound lesson.

Barry White

He has been such an inspiration in my life. Seriously. Most especially his later stuff. And unfortunately he died young. Be that kind of inspiration.

Learning about China by looking at the Chinese girls here

This is a great and a fun way to get a snapshot of another nation. You take a look at the society, and in this case, you look at the women and girls there. Of course, if all you do is watch American “mainstream media” you might think that Chinese girls are flat-chested, thin waifs that tremble becuse they are overwhelmed by the great mass of horny menfolk (due to the one child policy). Of course, it’s a massive lie, but heck. If you want to be stupid, stay that way. I just don’t give a fuck. Here’s what Chinese girls really look like. Video.

Girl one – Nice cityscape. 4MB

Girl two – Girl in a tight black top. 4MB

Girl three – A nice lass in yellow. 4MB

Girl four – Pale in browns and tans. Still, nice. 4MB

Girl Five – Nice friendly and approachable girl in her livingroom. 5MB

Do these girls look like they are downtrodden, helpless, thin, look like little girls desirous of American democracy?

Model Trains

About twenty five years ago I subscribed to a HO scale catalog. This was sort of my dream book. There, I would leaf through the pages in this 30mm thick (one inch think… telephone sized book) catalog with all sorts of glossy images of toy trains and homes, and buildings.

2022 04 02 17 07 — Farm supply building.

Its not that I actively had a HO layout or was involved in this hobby. Instead, it was a fantasy that I employed to relax with.

I would go to the bathroom, and take a nice dump while I would leaf though the pages. There, I would imagine the model layouts that I could construct, were I to have thousands of dollars in disposible income. Alas, it never happened, but it was a nice escape.

Though, for me, instead of visualizing trains, and train lines, I actually visualized building towns, bridges, farms, and tiny, tiny communities. All peopled with tiny, tiny people.

You can visit their web page here, and get lost in the latest in cool minitures and tiny, tiny people.

Of course, there are locomotives and train cars galore.

Did you ever have a train set growing up? How old were you and what kind was it?

Chinese patriotism

The big lie parroted and regurgitated thoughout the Western media is that the Chinese are downtrodden, unhappy and yearning for democracy. All that needs to happen is a “regime change” and then the United States can come on into China and fix things the “American Way”. It’s a big bunch of sloppy, juicy bullshit. The Chinese approval ratings for the Communist Party are around 98%.

Here’s some glimpses of just how overwhelmingly patriotic the Chinese are about their Communist Government. video 74MB

The United States is supposed to be the beacon for the world. Why isn’t this level of patriotism experienced inside the ‘States?

Inside Info: Israeli Pay Sheet for Internet TROLLS

Israel pays people to be Internet TROLLS, and to intentionally “steer” Internet conversations and information in a pro-Israel direction. The pay sheet below shows what these TROLLS are being paid to do:

So while YOU are out on the net, perusing public opinion about issues and news, these folks seem to be out there intentionally steering content to achieve THEIR goals.

They don’t have to tell the truth. They don’t have to actually believe what they’re posting. They get paid to post.

Remember that as you peruse the Internet. There are people and groups and entities deliberately manipulating what you read to manipulate YOUR opinion and views.

As I have clearly stated, the algorithms that decide which websites to harrass are totally flummoxed by the MM systems of multiple subjects covering a wide variety of topics.

Australia’s big new move on China: Major announcement expected

A major announcement is expected to be made in response to a controversial decision involving China and a crucial Australian site. It appears the Australia is going to place a massive American logistics base near Darwin port, or break their contract with the Chinese. Why would they do such a thing?

Courtney Gould

The door has been left open to building a new port facility in Darwin port amid concerns over a Chinese company leasing the existing port.

A Defence review found there was no national security grounds to recommend the Morrison government to overturn the port’s 99-year agreement with China’s Landbridge Group.

Buried in a media release from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was the inclusion of $1.5bn for “new port infrastructure” in Darwin.

Asked if it was for a new Darwin port, to be announced as an election commitment, Defence Minister Peter Dutton did not rule it out.

“There's a massive commitment from the government into the Northern Territory and that does look at port development and ways in which we might be able to look at support through contracts in defence for example,” Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra.

More War!

Italian Style Sourdough Melt

It seems “new” and fancy. When really, it’s a flavor experiment that is really a fun thing to make up on a nice lazy weekend.

Sourdough bread adds a special artisan touch to this easy Italian Style Sourdough Melt. Inspired by a famous San Francisco sourdough bread, this sandwich is easily made at home.

What You’ll Need

2 tablespoons pesto
4 slices sourdough bread
1/4 pound sliced deli ham
1/4 pound sliced deli salami
1 tomato, sliced
4 slices provolone cheese

What to Do

Spread pesto evenly over one side of each bread slice. Equally divide the ham, salami, tomato, and provolone cheese on two slices of the bread.
Heat sandwiches open-faced in a toaster oven, or on a baking sheet in a 350 degree F. oven for 5 to 7 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Top with remaining 2 slices of bread, and serve.

MM discusses public services

It’s a nice walk around near my house. I just chat some about public services, streets, easy transportation access. Maintenance. Public toilets. Trash pickup. Etc.

Video 105MB

Do you like my walk abouts? If so, then tell me your thoughts.

The Euro-weenies to order China to sanction Russia

The European Union and China will hold a virtual summit today. Before the summit started Brussels has strewn rumors that it would pressure China to not support Russia. That’s not going to happen. As of 4FED22, Russia and China are one single nation; a United Asia.

China is of course rejecting any pressure and retaliates by pointing out Europe’s weak strategic autonomy:

Hours before the China-EU leaders' meetings on Friday, Chinese analysts warned that China-EU relations cannot be kidnapped by the Ukraine crisis, and Europe should no longer be abducted by the US in foreign policy, as it will greatly undermine the EU's own interests, making it difficult to ensure economic recovery and people's livelihood, and runs counter to Europe's aim of pursuing strategic independence. 
...
As the Russia-Ukraine conflict stretches to over a month, Europe has sustained great pressure resulting from sanctions against Russia and its over-reliance on US-led NATO security structure.

"The EU is now kidnapped by the US on security, but that does not conform to the strategic independence EU has pursued," [Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies] said.

To avoid being caught in hot water again, the EU must take control of its own destiny. And developing ties with China provides the EU an opportunity to develop in a more balanced and comprehensive way in the long term, he said.

Its reliance on the U.S./NATO is Europe’s core strategic weakness. The U.S. has used it to infiltrate Europe’s decision making structures.

How could EU possibly consider that they have any persuasive power to dictate to China? The truth is easy to see. China shall satisfy its national interests. Nothing more, and nothing less. Meanwhile, the EU will satisfy its master’s interests; The Unittied States.

These bucco’s are all a bunch of hallucinating fruit-cases.

I am not at all exaggerating. This is the absolute definition of insanity. When you have repeatable experiences that has time and time again, proven a repeatable result, and yet, a person (or organization) insists on a different result. Sheech! Didn’t China reject Europe’s requests of abandoning Russia multiple times in the past?

Schools in Finland

Think about this.

Good idea or bad one?

In Ukraine

From: https://twitter.com/realGonzaloLira/status/1509807142634766338

>The recent failed attempt by 3 Ukrainian helicopters to evacuate troops from Mariupol was a desperate mission with very low chances of success. This raises the question why would Ukraine risk what little is left of its airforce for something so suicidal?

>Macron started spamming Putin with calls, demanding permission to carry out a "humanitarian evacuation" in Mariupol with the help of French, Greek forces.

>The head of the French military intelligence is getting fired for "failures" to "proper assess" the situation in Ukraine.

So we have:

>.ua suicide mission to evacuate someone
>Macron shitting bricks and begging Putin
>Head of French military intelligence getting sacked

From: https://twitter.com/gbazov/status/1509555914449293317

Further sources indicate the presence of two #France intelligence #DGSE operatives (both said to be dead) on board the crashed helicopter. This would explain #Macron's desperate please to #Putin as of late to organize a French-led evacuation from #Mariupol

#MARIUPOL—With respect to the 2nd chopper shot down, it fell several kilometres off the coast of Mariupol, in the #Azov sea. The location is currently being investigated.

#MARIUPOL—Sources indicate that, at #Azovstal, a group totaling 20—of #US (#American) & #UK (#British) military advisors of #Azov defenders, as well as several UK #SBU (#Ukraine|ian secrete police) advisors—is holed up, together with Azov fighters. They were too late to evacuate.

And a video of Ukrainian woman speaking the truth: https://twitter.com/backtolife_2022/status/1509569989321318400

It’s a woman thing

You get this great item of clothing on the internet, and you can’t wait until it arrives. You check the size and and put it on, and this is what happens…

8739c45cafbebece7938e2d811 — Not quite ideal.

Women can add their thoughts.

Secrets

Everyone has a story to tell. Some are good, and some are not so good. But that’s life. It’s what makes us human. Here’s a story from a man that holds a secret inside that he can never let out.

A while back, I was cheating on my wife with a coworker. It went on for months, and I never really cared for the woman I was cheating with. She was super hot, though. 

After a while my coworker started getting really crazy and threatening to tell my wife (whom I had a child with and a baby on the way) about everything. Obviously, I kept trying to cut things off because I realized I was making a mistake. 

She lost it one night and was freaking out and texting me telling me she was going to come to my house, and a drunk driver hit her. She died instantly. 

No one knows I was having an affair, and my family went to her funeral.

Some secrets are left buried. There’s no need to tell anyone about this, and there’s no justifiable reason to do so.

Oh Hell no!

Yikes!

Your comments.

Why Chinese audiences don’t love Hollywood blockbusters any more?

A new change By Chen XiPublished: Mar 30, 2022 07:24 PM

March is coming to an end, but the three highly anticipated foreign language films The Batman, Moonfall and Uncharted have failed to inject new life into the current stagnant Chinese mainland box office.

As of Wednesday, the total box office of the three films has not been able to surpass the 300 million yuan ($47 million) mark, with The Batman, Moonfall and Uncharted grossing 117 million yuan, 74.68 million yuan and 90.31 million yuan respectively, according to China’s ticketing platform Maoyan.

The current surge in COVID-19 cases nationally has probably been a large barrier preventing them from maximizing their box office as Maoyan shows that as of Tuesday only 46.8 percent of mainland theaters are open.

Pessimistic outlook

China’s Qingming Festival holiday is set to kick off in the beginning of April. In recent years, more small and medium-budget domestic films have chosen to debut during this time because, unlike the Spring Festival, they do not have to worry about competing against big blockbusters.

For example, Sister took home 860 million yuan when it was released during the Qingming Festival period in 2021, driving the overall box office of this period to a record high.

However, due to the current COVID-19 outbreak in China, four domestic films that were set to debut during the Qingming Festival have delayed their release dates. This has allowed two foreign language films Escape Room: Tournament of Champions and Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania to take the lead in the schedule, although they may find the Chinese film market a tough nut to crack, according to a report from Maoyan on Wednesday.

The report noted that more domestic films are likely to be released in April only after the outbreak is brought under control.

Looking at the overall schedule, only one to two foreign language movies are set to be released each week throughout April in the mainland film market, including the highly anticipated The Secrets of Dumbledore, US action thriller film Ambulance and Indian blockbuster Drishyam.

Inevitable trend

Chinese film observers, however, say that the COVID-19 pandemic has only been a “catalyst” and that it is inevitable for Chinese audiences to eventually lose interest in Hollywood movies.

According to industry insiders, there are many reasons behind this trend.

First of all, Hollywood has been producing fewer original stories in recent years as the industrialization of Hollywood has caused it to focus more on movie franchises, comic book adaptations and visual effects blockbusters, Shi Wenxue, a film critic based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

“Whether it is The Batman or Spider-Man, Hollywood only captivates audiences through nostalgia without any creative expression about the current international situation and the impact of the pandemic on human beings,” he added.

Shi is not the only one to think this way.

The hashtag “Why does the Chinese audience dislike watching Hollywood movies?” began trending on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo recently. Some netizens said they feel the main reason is that Hollywood has indeed become too commercialized, producing routine “fast-food”-like movies without any innovation by assembly line, and that the current Hollywood output is incomparable with past classics such as The Godfather, Forrest Gump and Avatar.

Shi Chuan, vice chairman of the Shanghai Film Association, told the Global Times on Wednesday that films from other countries, especially those made in Japan, South Korea and India, also pose a threat to Hollywood movies in China.

“Movies like Japanese film Shoplifters and Indian blockbuster Dangal achieved huge success in the Chinese film market, as the stories from neighboring countries resonate more with Chinese audiences. This shows that only good stories can hit people’s hearts,” he said.

He added that in the past, when the China’s economy was lagging behind the rest of the world, people only had access to simple means of entertainment, and so were naturally attracted to the technology and culture of economically developed regions. However, now that Chinese audiences are more open-minded and confident, their taste in movies has improved.

The huge successes of Wolf Warrior 2, The Wandering Earth and The Battle at Lake Changjin prove that the Chinese film market has been rapidly developing.

“We create our own heroes and most of them are adapted from real historical stories, which makes them more convincing.”

In 2020, China surpassed North America to become the world’s largest film market in terms of box office.

Shi pointed out that a deeply rooted reason for the decline may also stem from Chinese audiences questioning the US-centric ideology on display in Hollywood films, which tend to be about the American Dream or portray the ideological embodiment of US hegemony.

“Chinese no longer believe in US heroes in their stories. In the current international context, we don’t seem to need this kind of salvation, let alone fully identify with what they value,” he said.

Diversity by law

Meanwhile in the United States…

NFL Orders Teams To Hire Minority Or Female Offensive Assistant Coaches For 2022 Season

The policy was adopted by NFL owners during their annual meeting on March 28 and requires all 32 NFL teams to hire an offensive assistant coach who is “a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority,” regardless of whether or not the team already has a coach who satisfies those requirements among their staff.

In the Clinton 1990s, the wisdom circulated that White America was getting replaced and therefore, business needed to cater to the New Americans.

Various comically condescending attempts followed, after which point they finally hit on a solution of sorts: continue affirmative action but through private industry.

To be part of the goodthinker club in the coastal cosmopolitan metroplexes where the executives, publicists, journalists, and investors live, therefore, it seemed like a logical rationalization from precedent to start with more of these programs, even though it is steadily driving away their core audience.

It is one hell of a piss-boor business model.

The curse of the white cat.

daily picdump 23 5 — The curse of the white cat.

White cat owners please chime in.

Why it is important to not use cheap measuring tapes

This is shocking!

It gives “China” a bad name. Though, actually the white tape looks to be from Vietnam.

Confessions Of A Father With A Psychopathic Son

From HERE.

My son was very troubled. VERY troubled. If you have seen the movie “We Need To Talk About Kevin”, it will really help to understand what I’m talking about, because I swear to God when I watched that film I thought I was watching a documentary of my life, I felt like the writer must have had cameras hidden in my damn house, that’s how accurate it was. The only difference is that in the movie, the boy appears normal to his father and only reveals his true nature to his mother, with my son he didn’t have that mask. His insane behavior was the same with everyone.

From the day he was born, my son just came out wrong. He was planned, my wife and I tried to get pregnant and were ecstatic when he was born. He was wanted and loved. We showered affection on him and really tried to give him a happy childhood. But from the day we brought him home from the hospital, he was miserable. He cried for 13 months straight. I’m not exaggerating, 13 months without a break, he cried until he had no voice left and kept crying, you could see his little face scrunched up and no sound coming out, totally hoarse. There were times he would literally be crying in his sleep, I’ve never seen or heard of any other kid able to do that. We brought him to doctors, specialists, tried changing his diet, held him, rocked him, toys, swaddling, music, mobiles, everything we could think of. Nothing worked. 13 months of grating, grinding, no sleep hell.

Once he got over the crying stage, we thought we were out of the woods. But it quickly became clear that for some unknown reason, he was just angry at being alive. I never saw that kid have a genuine, joyous smile once in the time I knew him. I saw him grin a vicious, horrible grin many times, taking a perverse pleasure from causing pain or suffering or breaking a rule, but a smile from real pleasure at something nice? No, never. Not once. He had no interest in anything positive; he was fueled by hate, and everything he did was bent toward that.

As soon as he could walk, his mission in life was to destroy things. He would break or try to break anything that came in his range, smash it, chew it, throw it in the toilet, whatever he could. After a while he figured out how to get his diaper off and took great pleasure in shitting and pissing anywhere he could. After a while he figured out he could hide it, and started pissing and shitting in places we wouldn’t find right away, grinding it into carpets making it even more of a problem to clean and making the house stink. When he got older, (ages 9-15) he would piss and shit in our bed, until we got a lock on our door and he wasn’t able to get in anymore; then he’d just take a dump in the hallway in front of our room. That biological warfare started around a 2 and a half years old and he never grew out of it.

I’ll try to speed it up as I could literally go on for days about this stuff, but as he grew older, he became more and more unmanageable. He would bite, kick, scream, scratch and spit at anyone trying to do anything with him. He was kicked out of school twice before he was 9, then let him back in and then kicked him out for good, he had to change schools. The next one put him in a special class that kept him away from the other students. We had to install a door and lock on the kitchen because he would steal knives and use them to gouge the walls/furniture or chase people with them. When he was 10, he stabbed me pretty good in the hip and ass, I still have the scars. As he grew older, he grew darker. He moved into setting things on fire, and torturing local animals. There was a stray dog that hung out around the park near our house, my son blinded it in one eye with a BBQ fork. He would dip cat’s tails in gasoline and light them on fire. He became a violent, stinking, vicious beast that lived in our house. We couldn’t do anything with him.

YES, we had the kid in fucking therapy. He saw a psychiatrist twice a week, and had god knows how many different medications prescribed to him over the years. Nothing worked. Therapy didn’t work. Meds didn’t work. Nothing fucking worked. He was like a poison cloud of hate and fury lashing out at anything in his reach.

When my son was 16, my wife got pregnant again. I can’t tell you how different our reaction was. Instead of joy, we felt horror. This pregnancy had not been planned, and we really were at a loss over what to do. My son had been such an unending nightmare for 16 years, we couldn’t take the idea of starting again from the beginning. We talked a lot about terminating, but a) access to abortion was not as easy in those days as it is now, and b) my wife was very against it. We talked about many options. In the end, we decided that my wife would have the baby, and if it turned out evil we would put it up for adoption. We knew we just couldn’t do it again with another child like our son.

We had a daughter. She was normal. Suddenly we saw what our lives should have been like the whole time, how things would have been had our son not been himself. She laughed at things. She breast fed without biting (she didn’t have teeth yet anyway, but you could tell she was just trying to eat, not tear her mom’s breast off). After 4 months she was sleeping through the night. She was happy. She was NORMAL. I can’t describe the relief and happiness that we both felt, I don’t have the words for it.

This where I believe I may have started really pulling back from my son. Up until that time, whatever mistakes I made, I had always tried to do the best for my son, I am convinced of that. I tried to help him and love him and care for him, I really tried. But when my daughter was born, my wife and I both instinctively just turned toward her. She became our focus, not from malice, but just because she was so much EASIER. She was so happy and sweet, every moment we were with her was like magic. I understand this was wrong, but we honestly couldn’t help it. I don’t have a better explanation than that.

My son hadn’t given a shit about my wife being pregnant, I honestly don’t know if he really understood it, but when we brought our daughter home he started acting out even more. I didn’t think it was possible, but he took it up another notch. At this time he was 17, and we were having blow-out screaming matches daily. Usually after we fought, he would storm out of the house and disappear for hours at a time, or come back the next morning. It was a relief. I started to actually look forward to our fights because it would get him away from us for a while.

After the birth of our daughter, my relationship with my son was almost entirely gone, our only real interactions were screaming at each other. My wife was even worse with him, she just had nothing left. By that time, if our son even came in to the same room as her, she would just stop whatever she was doing and start screaming “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY! GET THE FUCK OUT!” until he left. He started spending more and more time out of the house, which was a blessing for us. I have no idea what he got up to out in the world, but we were just happy it wasn’t being inflicted on us.

As a consequence of our son’s behavior, we had invested heavily in locks around our house. All of the cheap, thin interior doors in our home had been replaced with think, dense wood doors that couldn’t be kicked through, equipped with keyed locks that my wife and I carried keys to. I know it sounds extreme, but locks and heavy doors were the best way we had found to create safe spaces from him. I was not locking my son in rooms like a prisoner, he had free reign of the house and could come and go as he pleased. My wife and I would lock OURSELVES in rooms to protect ourselves from him, if anything WE were the prisoners in our own home.

On the day in question, I had fought with my son in the morning and he had left the house in a rage. My wife and I were enjoying some peace and quiet in the kitchen while our daughter napped in our bedroom. And then my daughter began crying. Any parent who has young children can tell you, you get used to your child’s cries and you can tell after a while what they need, they cry differently if they are hungry, or need changing, or are just restless and want to be held. Babies can communicate pretty well before they can speak. This cry was none of those things. This cry was terror. The second we heard it my wife and I were both up out of our chairs and running to the room. The door was locked of course, and it took a few seconds to get the right key and get it open.

My son was in the room. We lived in a bungalow, and the bastard had climbed in the window to get to her. He was standing over her crib with a steak knife in his hand. I have no idea where he got it, it wasn’t one of ours; we controlled our knives very carefully and always kept them in locked drawers. I think he may have stolen it from one of our neighbor’s houses. He had broken her skin twice already, once in the belly area and once on her arm. I could see blood running down. When I entered the room he was dragging the back of the knife down her face, not cutting, almost tickling her with it, teasing her while she screamed. He looked up at us and smiled.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was already moving, running to put myself between them. I didn’t think about it, I just moved instinctively. Even with that, my wife got there faster, it was like a movie on fast forward, she got to our son and bashed his hand away, knocking the knife across the room and then shoved him with her whole body weight, so hard that he flew away from the crib and bounced off the wall. I picked up my daughter and held her while my wife screened us. I could see her shaking, almost convulsing. I can remember the smell of the room, the sound of my daughter screaming and wailing. The look on my son’s face as he stood there. Just nothing. Blank, dead, there was nothing in his eyes, no emotion. He looked like an alien to me. I watched my wife take a step toward him. I could have reached out and stopped her, but I didn’t. She stepped forward again, very close to him. I could have stopped her again. But I didn’t. She waited, looking at him for maybe 3 to 5 seconds without moving. And then she punched him in the face.

Now until this point, you may have been picturing my wife as a typical woman, small frame, dainty, delicate. This is not the case. My wife does have a small frame, but dainty and delicate she is not, never has been since I’ve known her. Since her early teens, my wife has been a boxer. MMA didn’t exist back then, but karate and boxing were big in those days, and my wife was a VERY talented amateur. She was about 130 pounds, she carried a lot of muscle and she knew how to punch. I had 70 pounds on her back then, and I have no doubt that in a real fight between me and her she could have and would have pounded me flat. Neither of us had ever laid a hand on our son in anger before, but something broke in her that day, and all the years of anger and pain and sorrow and frustration just came pouring out. When she hit him his head snapped back and blood started pouring out of his nose. He hardly reacted, he just looked at her with this shocked expression like he didn’t know how to process what had just happened. She waited another second. And then she hit him again.

I could have reached out and stopped her. I could have dragged her out of the room, taken her away, calmed her. I didn’t. I just stood there and watched while she systematically started to pound him to a pulp. Every time he brought his hands to cover one part she would blast him somewhere else, body, head, body, head, over and over. He started screaming, crying out, yelling for her to stop. It’s the most genuine reaction I’d ever seen him have to anything in his whole life. But she wasn’t stopping. I watched her ramping up, hitting harder, faster, working him like a heavy bag. He tried to swing at her and she slipped him easily. She was on auto pilot, sinking down into her training. I stood there watching for a minute. Then I turned my back on them and took my daughter out of the room.

I brought my daughter to the kitchen and gave her a bath in the sink. I found that he had cut her a third time on the sole of her foot. All the cuts were superficial. I cleaned her up and held her until she calmed. I put Polysporin and Band-Aids on her cuts. In our bedroom, I could hear my son screaming, calling my wife horrible names, telling her he would cut her head off and fuck her corpse. After a while, I didn’t hear him saying anything anymore, didn’t even hear him crying out. I assumed that he must have been knocked out. But I could still hear her beating him.

That went on for a long time. Long enough for my daughter to drift off to sleep in my arms. I just sat at the kitchen table waiting for her to finish. Finally she came out and sat down across from me. Her hands were swollen and red. Her face and arms were splattered with blood. Her chest was heaving. We just stared at each other without saying anything. After a while I asked her “Is he dead?” She looked back at me and answered “I fucking hope so”. I nodded. That was all there was to say about that. I understood how she felt perfectly. I felt the same. I didn’t know what to do, so we just sat there waiting silently. Eventually my wife started crying and went to go take a shower. I just stayed where I was holding our daughter.

After a long while, I heard moaning and sobbing coming from our room. It turned out that my son wasn’t dead. I went in to see how bad it was, and it was… pretty bad. I’ve never seen a more merciless beating laid onto anyone, before or since. He was lying on the floor, rolling around with blood leaking out of his face, lying in a pool of vomit. His nose was squashed flat out across his face, both of his eyes were completely swollen shut and starting to blacken already. I could see that a couple of his fingers were bent out at weird angles and he had pissed his pants. I think he must have been missing teeth, but I couldn’t see any on the floor and I couldn’t see inside his mouth, his lips were all puffed up and swollen. From talking to my wife about it later, I know now that she had systematically beaten every part of his body, focusing heavily on his legs. She told me she kicked him in the groin repeatedly until her legs got tired, and had kept beating his body long after he had passed out.

When my wife came out of the shower, I still didn’t know what to do about our son. I didn’t know whether to call the police or an ambulance, take him to the hospital myself, I honestly didn’t have any idea what to do. After a while I realized that I simply didn’t care what happened to him anymore, and we decided to just let him live or die on his own. There was an in-law suite in the basement that we had never really used, and my wife, my daughter and I just moved down there. We simply ceded the top floor of the house to my son and locked everything down, separated our lives entirely. There was plenty of food in the upstairs cabinets, enough for a couple weeks or more, he had a washroom and bedrooms to use. We had a washroom in the basement, a small kitchenette, and a separate entrance so we just stopped going upstairs. We just decided we were done with him. I figured we’d let his food run out and see what happened.

Over the next week we could hear him moving around upstairs sometimes. I think he just spent most of time lying in bed recovering. I went to work, watching on high alert in case he attacked me in the driveway, but he never did. My wife stayed home with our daughter. She was never out of our sight. One night we heard him going ballistic, smashing things and banging. We didn’t respond. He never tried to get downstairs or get near us though. I think he was afraid that if he got near us again, my wife might finish the job on him. After three weeks down in the basement, we hadn’t heard anything from up above for a few days, and I ventured upstairs to the main floor of the house.

The place was demolished, and there was no sign of my son. He was gone. It took months to repair the damage he had done and get the main floor back to normal again. There was food and shit smeared all over the walls and broken glass on the floor, big holes in the dry wall, he had ripped the place apart. He tore up the linoleum in a corner of the kitchen and emptied an entire foam fire extinguisher into the living room. I feel thankful that he didn’t burn the house down with us in it, I’m honestly not sure why he didn’t, the kid wasn’t shy about lighting things on fire. After that, I lived in fear every day that he would come back, that he would ambush us out of the blue and try to kill us. We moved house about 3 years later and I finally stopped being afraid that he would show up again, as now he had no idea where we were. I finally felt safe from him.

All this happened a long time ago. My son was born in the spring of 1971, my daughter was born in ’88. I’m an old man now, I’ll be 70 this year and my wife passed from cancer in 2016. My daughter is 31 now, I moved in with her and her husband after my wife passed. I’ve got two granddaughters and they are the joy of my life. I see a therapist a couple times a month to talk about all this. I don’t know where my son is. The last time I saw him was when he was lying on the floor of our bedroom, bleeding and smashed. I haven’t heard from him since he left, more than 30 years now. I don’t want to.

I carry a lot of guilt from that time, and a lot of conflicted emotions. I didn’t beat him myself, but I allowed him to be beaten, and I thought he deserved it. I was happy it happened. I didn’t try to kill him, but I would have been happy if he died. I will say that I do hope he was able to overcome his demons and go live a normal life somewhere. If he wasn’t able to do that, if he stayed the way he was, then I truly do hope someone out there killed him. When I knew him he was a rabid dog, and whichever way it went I just hope he isn’t still out there hurting anyone else.

…

This entire write up has shooken me. As someone who was married to a mentally ill person, I could very much relate to the situation that I found myself in when her personality went Dr Jekkle and Mr Hyde. Comments?

MM commentary

I’m sure that he moved into politics, and is probably in a great position of power inside Washington DC today.

A great deal on a “fixer Upper”.

daily picdump 32 5 — A great deal on a “fixer Upper”.

It looks like a lot of work, don’t you know.

‘Tattooed Lady”, Rory Gallagher performs live at Rockpalast (1977)

When asked how it felt to be the greatest guitar player in the world, Jimi Hendrex responded “Ask Rory Gallagher”. Please enjoy this section of one of the guitar greats from my youth.

This ornament has a hole for a light to poke through so it mimics the lit lighter from Die Hard.

Die Hard is a classic Christmas movie. Don’t you think?

577f07516e8e4b04300b1cf16e — Die Hard Christmas.

Remember to be the Rufus

It defines your sentience. When the going gets tough, the survivors are those that are members in a community. The idea that the lone-wolf can win and survive is just a Hollysood fantasy. History celarly tells us otherwise. Be that Rufus. video.

Woman gives birth on a stairway. video of Rufus help. 4MB

Be the Rufus

The alarm bells are ringing. Are you going to step up to the plate and participate in life, or are you going to still stand by and be a spectator? Be a Rufus. video 2MB

“Russia is Succeeding Wildly in its Objectives!” Scott Ritter on the War in Ukraine

Outstanding interview! Read this and get a fresh perspective. -MM

Transcript – Interview with Scott Ritter, March 23, 2022

Global Research: The last time you were on the show, about a month before Russia authorized a military incursion into Ukraine you mentioned that if it did happen it would not be trying to occupy the country. It would be in your words “lancing the boil.” An attempt to demilitarize and destroy Ukraine as a modern nation-state. It seems based on mainstream media coverage that it is in fact trying to occupy the country. Millions of Ukrainians are literally leaving the country as we speak, and this is not an operation that would end in days. It’s now approaching a month. Several Russian soldiers have been killed. They seem to be bogged down outside of cities. Certainly NATO is not yet going to engage them it’s true. Russia isn’t succeeding, no doubt due in part, it seems, to the resistance of the Ukrainian soldiers.

So let me ask you if you’ve changed your mind about what you said two months ago. I mean, did you err in your assessment of the Russian logistics in the situation?

Scott Ritter: NO! I’m a hundred percent correct! I mean, the fact of the matter is Russia isn’t occupying Ukraine!

Ukraine is a nation of forty one million people. Now, they say ten million of those are displaced, some internally some have fled. That still leaves thirty million people occupying expansive areas of terrain, including cities such as Kiev where you have over three million people. Russia came in with two hundred thousand troops. Military math just simply says no, you’re not occupying Ukraine with two hundred thousand troops!

So, let’s just stop that kind of nonsense right off the bat! This is politicized rhetoric, what people say, that Russia is trying to occu – because what you’ve done now is create a straw man that says therefore Russia has failed in its objectives!

Russia is succeeding wildly in its objectives! I don’t have to speculate. Russia has stated what its objectives are! There are two military objectives that will lead to one political objective.

The first military objective is de-Nazification. That is, the absolute destruction, liquidation, annihilation of the neo-Nazi and ultra-right wing nationalist military formations and the political parties that sustain them, along with any legislation that empowers them.

For instance, legislation passed in January of 2021 which made Stepan Bandera, a right wing Nazi supporting, Jew killing Ukrainian nationalist, elevated him to the status of national hero! And then went around – they passed additional legislation which named streets after him, named boulevards, named places, raised monuments and then also brought back into the mainstream people of his ilk. Nazis, people who had enlisted and served in Waffen SS units during World War II. People who had served in Einsatzgruppen that killed Jews during World War II. These people are now rehabilitated, and their names are put up in places of honour!

The Russians want to eliminate this. They want legislation passed in Ukraine which de-legitimizes Nazis instead of praising Nazis.

The Russians are doing very well on this front! They’re in the process of finishing off the last Nazi defenders of the city of Mariupol. This is where the Azov battalion, now a regiment, was headquartered. These are right-wing neo-Nazi extremists, many of whom have swastikas and other Nazi symbols tattooed on their bodies. This is where they tormented the Russian speaking population for the past eight years! They are now in the process of being killed, or captured by the Russians.

That is what de-Nazification looks like. Similar de-Nazification processes are taking place elsewhere in Ukraine anywhere where the Russian forces find a neo-Nazi national unit of Ukrainian army. So anybody who thinks that the Nazis are doing well against the Russians, think again!

The second is de-militarization! This means that Russia is going to dismantle the NATO army that had been built in Ukraine. A lot of people don’t realize that there were 260,000 active duty Ukrainian military personnel, most of whom have been trained by NATO in the past eight years to NATO standards. That means that Ukrainian military units were inter-operable with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. You could take a battalion, a NATO trained Ukrainian troops, and place them under NATO command and they would perform well.

This isn’t theory. This is reality. Ukrainian troops participated in numerous NATO-led operations around the world and in Europe. So, Russia has said that this – the existence of a NATO proxy-force is unacceptable, and that its goal is to de-militarize Ukraine.

Now, this could be done peacefully with Ukrainian soldiers staying in their barracks, while the Russians dismantled and removed from Ukraine all NATO provided equipment and oversaw the reorganization of Ukrainian military in a manner which made it no longer a de-facto proxy of NATO. Or if they wanted to resist, Russia would destroy them.

Now Russia came in a little soft handed early on. They didn’t bomb the barracks. They went out of their way to avoid unnecessary deaths among the Ukrainian troops. But the Ukrainians decided to fight!

Lets be clear here. This is a big army: 260,000 active duty, 310,000 reservists and security forces. Normally in the military if you want to launch an offensive operation, you want a three-to-one advantage. That is, for every single defender, you want three of your own troops. Russia went into Ukraine with a three to one disadvantage! Meaning for every single Russian, there were three Ukrainians. And yet, Russia is winning on the battlefield. They are advancing at a rate faster than the German army advanced during the Blitzkrieg of World War II! They are engaging the Ukrainian forces on large scale combat operations the likes of which have not been seen in Europe since World War II. And they are prevailing.

They are in the process of entrapping 60-100 thousand Ukrainian troops in Eastern Ukraine, one of the largest bedlam development cauldron type operations seen since World War II. They are doing the same around Kiev. And they are doing the same in the area of Odessa.

A lot of people will look at video-tapes that have been put out on YouTube and elsewhere showing destroyed Russian columns, dead Russian troops. This is war on a scale that people can’t imagine! It’s well beyond anything the United States and its allies undertook in Iraq and Afghanistan. When you have war on this level, there will be tactical setbacks.

Ukrainians who are extremely hard fighting, well-trained, well equipped groups are capable of limited combat success. And they are enjoying limited combat success on the battlefield. There is multiple occasions where they had defeated the Russians. Where they have inflicted serious casualties on the Russians. But from an operational and strategic stand-point, the Russians are winning and winning decisively. Ukrainians cannot sustain their defence. They lacked a logistical depth. They’re running out of gas. They’re running out of ammunition. They’re running out of food and water. Their troops are worn out, worn down, and are rapidly disintegrating as we speak. As we speak!

The Ukrainian defences in Eastern Ukraine are collapsing. They’re starting a panicked retreat westward. They’re going to be cut off by the Russians, and probably killed by the Russians if they don’t surrender to the Russians. So no, the Russians are doing quite well. People are…

GR: Did you say the Russians, I mean, put on your military and analyst glasses for a moment. Is Russia going to prevail? And how far away is the victory? IS it weeks away, or…

SR: Russia will prevail. And I believe that Russia is closer to victory than they were starting this conflict. Meaning that Ukrainian military is collapsing as we speak, and the ability for Ukraine to sustain large scale resistance is diminishing if not being eliminated.

This war’s over! It’s all over but the shouting! That’s all just a statement of fact.

GR: If you’re right about this, then what do you make of the role of Zelensky in this situation? Because he’s been speaking to governments around the world, and he’s a national hero and everything. But dies he think that he can still win this? The forces will, you know, “close the sky” and all the other things? Or is there something more going on in terms of seeing the writing on the wall as it were?

SR: Well, Zelensky knows what the outcome of this will be.

Think about it for a second. Every time he says, “if you just close the skies, if you just give us a no-fly-zone, we can win!” But what’s he really saying? That the Russians are winning the war! Okay? I mean there’s no other way of interpreting that!

GR: Yeah…

SR: He’s not saying, “hey, don’t worry about not closing the skies because we’re doing pretty well on the battlefield. We’re going to win this thing!” He’s saying that if you don’t close the skies, we have lost this war!

GR: Ahhh! Okay…

SR: And that’s exactly what’s happening. Because NATO is not going to close down the skies, and Ukraine is losing the war. He knows this. His generals know this. His troops know this. This is why at every single chance, everybody involved in the Ukrainian resistance is demanding a no-fly-zone because without this, they’re doomed, and they know it!

GR: What about the sanctions aspect of it. I mean, are they going to wear down the Russian public over time? Or will the boomerang effect of the sanctions wear down the US, Canada, and the EU first? How do you see that the sanctions aspect playing out?

SR: Well, let’s look at this strategically for a second. Joe Biden looked Vladimir Putin in the eye last June and threatened him with massive sanctions should he act on Ukraine. Sanctions like you’ve never seen before! Alright, now Putin as soon as he got done changing his pants and everything because I’m sure that just scared him to death. He had months to sit down with his inner circle and say, “how do we prepare for this?” Nothing the U.S. and its allies are doing has taken the Russians by surprise. NOTHING! They anticipated EVERYTHING! And they have a plan in response.

As for instance today, when the sanctions came out, remember Russia had 650 billion dollars in sovereign fund in reserves – foreign reserves, gold reserves – and half of that was dispersed in banks around the world. And people went, “why would you do that?” Because the West is going to freeze them, which the West did. And the answer is because Russia was setting the West up for a trap, which was sprung today.

Today, Vladimir Putin gave a speech in which he said the following: “Because you froze our assets illegally, you have defaulted on every obligation you have in regard to Russia. Therefore, Russia will not only never again accept foreign currency, you know, for payment for Russian services or goods, we are going to demand from this moment on that all nations that are on the non-friendly list that is everybody who sanctioned them must now pay in Russian Rubles for natural gas.

Okay Europe cannot survive! One of the big things that came out of this economic sanctions was that the United States had been promising Europe, “Don’t worry about Russia gas! We have a plan B! We will be able to bring together resources and make sure that you have the gas you need!”

Well, there is no plan B. There aren’t the resources available. There’s not enough gas. And Europe will shut down immediately.

Now, Russia hasn’t shut off the pipelines. Because Russia was laying a trap. Russia now has confirmed that Europe is addicted. Germany has admitted right now that if Russia turns off the gas pipelines, Germany won’t have any gas for next winter. It’s over! All she wrote! Their economy will collapse! The French economy will collapse! Every economy in Europe will collapse! And there will be a rebounding effect in Canada and the United States.

So now, Europe is in the difficult position of if they want to keep the gas going, that they must keep going in order to survive, they’ve got to pay in Russian Rubles. Take a look at what’s happened to the Russian Ruble just today! IT’s rebounding! Everbody said the Ruble is collapsing. No! It’s the dollar that’s collapsing right now! Because the Russians have laid a trap. They set the trap. And this is just the first of many! The Russians have many other traps out there that they have set, and they can initiate at a time of their choosing. So, the notion that the sanctions…

Look, the sanctions are hurting Russians right now. There’s no doubt about that. But the sanctions also liberated Putin for the first time since he took power to be able to divorce Russia from the Western economy. And in doing so, eliminate in totality any leverage the West had over Russian domestic political affairs. The West used to be able to threaten sanctions. And the Russians are saying, “gosh, maybe we don’t want to do that so we’ll…” The West no longer has – the West has sanctioned everything. It’s over!

Putin has said, “thank you very much! Thank you! You’ve done me a big favour! The first thing you’ve done by freezing all the assets is that you have disembowelled the oligarchs!” You know that corrupt class of Russian businessmen that came to life during Boris Yeltsin’s ten years as a president. That Putin inherited!

Putin was able to neuter them politically by telling them that if they get involved in domestic politics he will destroy them, and he did. Several of them have been forced to flee to London and elsewhere because Putin will put them in jail for life.

The others that remained were able to retain their riches and continue to get rich, but they were not allowed to be involved in politics. But their existence has always been a thorn in Putin’s side. He doesn’t like them. He doesn’t want them. And he hates the fact that he needed them.

But now that the West has gone in and seized all their assets, they’re bankrupt and broke! And guess what! Putin doesn’t want them now! He’s told them to get the heck out of Russia! HE has no use for them! Go live where you wanted to live over there! You’re no longer welcome here!

The other thing that’s happened is about 20 percent of the Russian population that was relatively apolitical, who tended to vote for the status quo, meaning vote for Putin would have turned on Putin had Putin initiated a divorce with the West. These are the Russian middle class whose economic well-being had become so intertwined with the West that there could be no thought of breaking with the West. If any move by Russia, by Putin, by anybody, to do so would have caused a backlash that any democracy, and Russia is a democracy, would have cost the incumbent the vote. Putin would have been voted out.

But now that the West has sanctioned Russia, it is not Putin that has made the divorce, it’s the West!

Putin is now applying shock therapy to these people, seeking to rapidly reinstate their middle class status, by pivoting eastward to China, to India, to elsewhere, to recapitalize the Russian economy. And now that he has made gas based upon the Ruble standard, those Rubles that these Russians had in the bank that last week were worth nothing, they’re worth twice as much today! And this time next week, they’ll double in value again! And the middle class is going to forget the West ever existed.

GR: Amazing analysis! Scott Ritter, it’s been a pleasure hearing your unique take on this situation. We thank you so much for your time!

SR: Thanks for having me!

Do you think that Scott is right?

The United States spending tax dollars

So true.

Don’t Rely on fate

It is up to YOU, no one else, to adjust to change, and make and forge a great wonderful life to live in. That means control of your thoughts, and control over your actions. Don’t rely on others. Don’t rely on fate. Don’t pretend that somehow space aliens are going to come down and prevent a nuclear war. (They sure as fuck didn’t stop any of the bioweapons attacks, and pretending that Bioweapon World War III isn’t in process; it’s a “pandemic”, is just a childhood fantasy.) Stop living childish dreams. Now is your time. NOW IS YOUR TIME. Make a difference today.

video 23MB

A fine example of good, solid Rufus behaviors.

You have to do kind, just and maningful things. Sure, it’s nice to watch heroes in action, but just smiling, buying a cup of coffee for a co-worker, inviditng a co-worker to your home for cards, or volunteering at an animal shelter are all fine Rufus actions. Make a difference. Now is that time. video 6MB

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 3

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The specific Chinese counter-sanctions (that will occur) as a result of American sanctions against China

Yeah. So America is debating sanctioning China.

Good luck Fuckers!

Only people with SHIT FOR BRAINS would ever think of sanctioning China. What are you? A moron, an idiot, a deranged sadist? An ignorant doo-doo head (Bill Crosby reference) a psychopath with delusions of grandeur? What?

Just fucking stupid. That’s what.

You must be in some kind of absolute echo-chamber talking over and over again just how God-damn great you are to believe such horse manure.

You’re not great.

You are not exceptional.

You are a piece of shit that is farmed for your labor. That’s it and the ONLY reason that you don’t revolt is because you are too fat and happy with the crumbs that the government gives you to sustain your pitiful existence.

Still here?

Paint me “surprised”.

I tried posting this article a couple of times, and found it automatically blocked, shadowbanned, and de-listed from Google. I then rewrote it to includes food, and other items. Ai yah. But, you know, personal MM experience has shown this methodology to be very effective in getting around the Google censorship engines, and the NSA troll armies.

What do you know, eh?

Who would figure?

It works. If you are so childish that you cannot handle multible subjects in a singular article, you can leave. Go. No skin off my back. I don’t give a fuck.

Before we get to the “meat” of the article; Chinese reverse sanctions on American sanctions, we will talk about something fun. That will throw off the American censor engines.

We start with food.

For those of you who are new to MM, please let it be understood that MM content is banned in the West. If you can find it, you are truly lucky. And our workaround here is to mix politically-charged subjects with other common everyday subjects that tend to confuse the censorship engines.

Oh, man. Do they hate it.

It just messes with the algorithms. It cannot handle it.

Maybe you might not like it, but it does work. It works spectacularly.

Actually.

We are going to really freak out the gung-ho American “ready to die” for freedom™ cadre with a Russian dish of quite delicious food. Buckle up. This post is gonna be FUN.

Russian posikunchiki

Can you pronounce it? I can’t.

Look at this. Come on. Doesn’t it look delicious? You eat it with whipped creme cheese. And wash it down with vodka. Good tasty vodka. Or beer. Icy, frosty, cold beer. Good stuff too. Nothing less than 5% (which you cannot get in the USA. Banned “for the children, don’t you know”)…

Most Americans cannot drink alcohol. If they are in a corporate environment, and their diversity officer, or HR, finds out that they smoked or drank at home, they could easily lose their job.

Fact.

Jack.

It’s called “American freedom” don’t you know. Woo Woo!

Freedom™.

Yum.

Smunch. Crunch. Eat ’em all up. Happiness and tummy satisfaction.

These small juicy meat pies are the first thing tourists are advised to try in the Perm Region around the Urals. But you can make them wherever you are.

The region of the Ural is well-known for its harsh, cold winters and continental climate. Traditionally, meat, thick solid soups, and nourishing pies were cooked there. One of the most outstanding dishes is posikunchiki.

Posikunchiki are an old dish of the Ural cuisine, mainly of the Perm and the north-west of the Sverdlovsk regions. The name was given to small fried pies, whose size is approximately equal to a luscious fat dumpling. They are made from unleavened dough and fried in a large amount of oil.

The key thing that distinguishes posikunchiki from other pastries is an incredibly juicy filling. In many ways, this notable trait and the cooking method makes them similar to chebureki.

Posikunchiki comes from the Russian verb “sicat’” (“to splash”) – because the pie splashes juice while you take a bite of it. They are also called posekunchiki – from the Russian verb “sech’” (“to dice/slice/shred”), because the filling for them is finely chopped, but not mixed in a meat grinder. But whatever the etymology, the popularity of these little cute pies has long transcended the boundaries of their historical homeland, and spread to other Russian regions.

The stuffing consists of lamb, beef or pork.

In general, there are a lot of different variations. At the same time, in every Ural city or village, you will surely be told that their posikunchiki represent the most authentic and correct variant, and all the other recipes are fake or just new.

Maybe.

I’ll just have to go visit a bunch of them and try for myself.

No one can remember exactly when this dish appeared. But many people remember that their grandmothers often cooked these mini-pies. And who, really who, can doubt a darn kindly old grandmother? Eh?

The locals remember the peculiar taste of fresh meat (often of wild animals, such as elks) grinded in a mincer from childhood, but many residents of Russia can’t even imagine what it is.

Today, I suggest we cook this dish with minced meat from a local shop. It will take us about four hours.

If you are an American, you use “hamburger”. If you are British or Australian, you use “mince”.

Ingredients (for eight portions):

2022 03 19 18 04 — Ingredients (for eight portions).

Yeah.

For the dough:

Flour – 600-700 g
Milk – 250 ml
Egg – 1 piece
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Sugar – 1 tbsp

For the filling:

Minced meat (pork and beef)- 600 g
Onion – 1 piece
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Black pepper – 1/2 teaspoon
Water – 200 ml
Vegetable oil for frying

Preparation:

1. To begin, we’ll prepare the dough, as it needs to rest 30 minutes before we start working with it. Combine the egg with sugar and salt. Mix well.

2. Gradually add warm milk to that mass and mix again.

2022 03 19 18 1dd4 — Add milk gradually.

3. Portionwise, add flour to the mass and knead the dough carefully and meticulously with your hands until it turns into an elastic ball. Knead it at least for 10 minutes, then put in a bag for 20-30 minutes, and into the refrigerator.

4. While the dough is resting, we’ll prepare the filling. Chop the onion into small cubes, then add to the minced meat.

5. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Mix well. Add some water. Minced meat should resemble thick sour cream in consistency, but it shouldn’t be liquid. Note that the minced meat must be juicy so that there is broth in the posikunchiki. During the preparation, the minced meat gradually thickens, so if necessary, add water and salt to the minced meat to taste.

2022 03 19 18 12 — Season the meat with salt and pepper.

6. Roll the dough and cut it into 28-30 pieces. Roll each into a small bun, and then roll out into a diameter of 10 cm. Put 1 tablespoon of the filling on one half of the rolled-out bun, cover with the other half.

2022 03 19 18 11 — Mostly meat inside a thin shell.

7. Pinch well with a fork on one side so that the broth does not leak while frying.

Fry in a skillet.

8. Fry each posikunchik on each side for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.

9. Posikunchiki are ready to be served at the festive table.

10. Enjoy!

Oh, and lets not forget the alcohol.

Beer. Wine. Vodka.

It’s all GOOD!

OIP C.h6a9uuW0xj24Iqp MSNOggHaEK — A time for smunch! is a time to eat!

Now let’s talk about Chinese anti-sanction systems designed to counter American sanctions

I watched a FOX “news” segment this morning. There, an “expert” was advocating that America (United States) put sanctions on China for being friends with Russia. And in reading the comments, the vast majority agreed with him.

“We ought to make China pay for this relationship with Russia...”

All the time, I am thinking…

…”fools”, you all deserve what will happen. China is really, really READY for this. They have been for over a year now. They say, “let it happen”, and I agree with them.

Go for it, you idiotic morons.

Although it contains only 16 articles, the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law establishes, for the first time, a wide-ranging legal infrastructure and legislative base aimed at retaliating against sanctions imposed by foreign governments. 

Specifically the United States.

However, even before the enactment of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law as legal basis, the Ministry of Commerce (hereinafter “MOFCOM”) inter alia issued two measures as tools against possible effects by foreign laws and sanctions.

These are;

[1] The MOFCOM Decree No. 4 [2020] on Provisions on the List of Unreliable Entities and 

[2] The MOFCOM Decree No. 1 [2021] on Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extraterritorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures (hereinafter “Blocking Statute”). 

Thus, the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law confirms the legislative authority for existing measures and creates room for expanded measures in the future.

Background: I watched a short clip from FOX “news”.

As above.

In that clip, “experts”, “political pundits” and “knowledgeable advisers” are strongly urging that President Biden enact sanctions against China for being friendly to Russia. While many Americans agree with this point of view, the consequences are never addressed. Here, we will address the consequences of such a move.

Let it be well understood that China has long prepared for this moment.

Two to three years ago, they passed the anti-sanction retaliation law. It is directly custom tailored to addressing the day when the United States starts sanctioning China (for one reason or the other).

Specifically, it is designed to inflict the most [1] economic damage, [2] social damage, [3] personal damage, and [4] Geopolitical damage possible upon the United States and it’s (poor excuse) for “leadership”.

The most damage.

- - Economic.
  - Personal.
  - Social.
  - Geopolitical.

Upon the United States, and the individuals involved in the sanction effort against China.

What most people do not realize is how absolutely economically tethered to China, that the United States is.

They think, erroneously, that American can trade, instead, with Germany, Korea, Japan, or any other nation. Forgetting, of course, that those nations simply take Chinese products and slap their name-brands on them.

But if they sanction China, all that trade will end.

Not just trade with the USA, but all the trade with it’s alternative sources of supply.

No more manufactured products.

None.

Bye bye.

…

No more electonics.

None. Bye bye.

…

No more medicine.

None. Bye bye.

…

The Chinese anti-sanction law is specifically designed to counter AMERICAN sanctions. It is designed to automatically go, and be engaged immediate upon the implementation of sanctions, and noone, not even Xi Peng, can stop the tidal wave of repercussions.

You can read the details here, but really, I’m just going to lay out the visceral facts.

Yeah. It's dry with translations of wordly Chinese leagalese, and all that. But just skim over the presentation. 

Learn something for a change.

On a Personal Level… on individuals

You all had best hope to NEVER leave the United States. Once you cross the protected shores, the  Chinese will fucking hunt you down. 

They will, with client nation help, extract you from your aircraft, and haul you into China for justice and punishment. 

Sentencing is a foregone conclusion and the judicial process is mostly a formality. 

Punishment will consist of [1] dealing with organ harvesting, and [2] hard labor in deep, dark salt mines. 

They are not evil. You will be able to have at least a six-hour rest a night, and be able to eat basic(but healthy) meals of rice, and chicken-feet if you work hard enough. 

Sentencing involves death or life in this environment. 

This includes you and everyone in your family as well. Including little children. They go to kiddie labor camps.

On June 10, 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China enacted the Anti-foreign Sanctions Law (“AFSL”), which came into effect as of the date of enactment.

OIP C.bAX5vsS4s6t07O XU3pUygAAAA — For the last fifteen years, they have been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. These guys are from Indonesia.

As China’s latest legislative countermeasure against economic sanctions of the U.S., E.U., U.K, and other jurisdictions, AFSL will have significant impact on Chinese subsidiaries and branches of foreign enterprises.

OIP C.5b909 T4rMhb1qGxXOtDkwEyDM — For the last fifteen years, they have been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. These people are from Mexico.

As well as foreign persons (entities and individuals) doing business in China or with Chinese individuals and companies.

OIP C.LXy7bgZGl3 rt fXMPCQAHaE7 — For the last fifteen years, they have been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. This man is from Scotland.

I. Overview of the AFSL

A. Who will be listed in the Countermeasures List?

R C.899e3e4d30fe0890687f47515361109d — For the last fifteen years, they have been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. This man is from Bolivia. He must have spilt some taco sauce on his shirt. Careless fellow.

The relevant departments of the State Council may decide to include in the Countermeasures List (the “List”) the individuals and organizations that have directly or indirectly participated in the formulation, decision on or implementation of discriminatory restrictive measures of foreign governments.

OIP C.UwKqOx5lveKxGw4abzFL2QHaE — For the last fifteen years, they have been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. This man is from England. Billionaire oligarch.

In addition, the relating parties of persons in the List may also face countermeasures, including:

The spouse and lineal relatives of the individuals included in the List
Senior executives or actual controllers of the organizations included in the List;
Organizations that have individuals included in the List acting as senior executives; and
Organizations actually controlled by individuals or organizations that are included in the List or have participated in the establishment and operation thereof.

R C.3d2e6572cb01ea05c2168be04f93797a — For the last fifteen years, they have been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. This chick is from France. She doesn’t look too happy. But she should be. She’s alive, isn’t she?

B. What are the countermeasures?

R C.79e882db1fc6dbeec756a009e247236f — For the last fifteen years, they have been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. These people are from Australia.

The relevant departments of the State Council of China may, depending on the actual situation, take one or more of the following measures against persons included in the List.

R C.72593e2ff1784145d7fb938c861bf930 — For the last fifteen years, they have been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. These people are from the Phillippines.

Here’s a selection of just some of the measures;

Denial of visa issuance, denial of entry, deregistration of visa or deportation;
Seizure, distraining or freezing of movable property, immovable property and other types of property within the territory of China;
Prohibiting or restricting the organizations or individuals within the territory of China from conducting relevant transactions, cooperation or other activities with them; and
Other necessary measures not listed.

R C.6cd4d22df3ec81346bdcf777e2ff764d — For the last fifteen years, China has been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. This guy is from America.

China does not play. They will track you down, and they will work with the regional authorties to secure you and haul ou to China for organ harvesting, rehabilitation, and hard labor punishment.

R C.7ff3711fc322e7666ee02850cccfea54 — For the last fifteen years, they have been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. These people are from Brazil.

C. What are the legal consequences for violating the AFSL?

The organizations and individuals within the territory of China shall carry out the countermeasures taken by the relevant departments of the State Council.

OIP C.CVDxbXujnzSihn1 QsJRYAHaEj — Organ harvesting is a mature procedure in Chinese prisons. It’s fast, quick, and routine.

Any organization or individual failing to do so will be punished by the relevant departments of the State Council in accordance with the law, and such organization or individual will be restricted or prohibited from engaging in the relevant activities.

If a Chinese entity fails to enforce these laws, they will be punished harshly.

OIP C.1d oiXGXmGp hoTXdVFKegHaEo — For the last fifteen years, they have been tracking down criminals all over the world. No one is immune. Unknown where these guys were from.

Where any organization or individual implements or assists in implementing the discriminatory restrictive measures taken by any foreign state against Chinese citizens or organizations and infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of any citizen or organization of China, the Chinese citizen or organization may bring a lawsuit, seeking cessation of the infringement and compensation for the losses.

Any Chinese citizen can, under any pretense, ask for compensation against any person or their family targeted by this law.

Where any organization or individual fails to implement or cooperate in implementing the countermeasures, it/he will be subject to legal liability in accordance with the law.

OIP C.JfuVU6zFYPqFl i fNsXRwHaFj — Captured in Cambodia, these criminals are going back to China for organ harvesting and hard labor. They are just happy to be alive.

Oh, and in case you think that you can avoid the long-arm of China if you patiently hide long enough. Think again.

II. The Impact of the AFSL on Foreign Companies

A. Foreign companies participating in sanctions against China might endure countermeasures imposed by the Chinese government.

1610017366798438 — Boss of a multi-billion dollar company, arrested, and sentenced to hard labor and then death. He accepts his fate as a man. This is the Chinese way.

Foreign companies directly or indirectly involved in the formulation, decision on, or implementation of discriminatory sanctions against Chinese persons may be added to the List. The main effects on foreign companies on the List will be as follows:

Firstly, senior executives or actual controllers of foreign companies on the List may not be allowed to enter China for business trips to perform their duties.

Secondly, assets of foreign companies on the List and foreign companies with individuals on the List acting as their senior executives or actual controllers will likely be blocked.

Thirdly, foreign companies on the List and foreign companies with individuals on the List acting as their senior executives or actual controllers might be prohibited from dealing with individuals and entities in China.

OIP C.X5R4sbYkXvzorD9sL7F9pAHaE — Boss of a multi-billion dollar company, arrested, and sentenced to hard labor and then death. Secured from his office, he is not permitted to have a tie or a suit jacket.

B. Foreign companies might be caught in a compliance dilemma between AFSL and foreign sanctions.

After the implementation of the AFSL, foreign companies are subject to both the obligation to comply with discriminatory sanctions imposed by other countries, and the requirement not to enforce foreign discriminatory sanctions and to enforce China’s countermeasures under the AFSL.

Boss of a multi-billion dollar company, arrested, and sentenced to hard labor and then death.

Complying with the discriminatory sanctions against China may violate the AFSL, while complying with the AFSL may violate the discriminatory sanction regulations of other countries as well.

OIP C.GkmO9qNP Yg0DNYLlnAyyQHaE7 — Boss of a multi-billion dollar company, arrested, and sentenced to hard labor and then death.

This will probably put foreign companies in a compliance dilemma and substantially increase their compliance difficulties and costs.

EU Blocking Statute

The aim of the EU Blocking Statute is to counteract the unlawful effects of extraterritorial sanctions of third countries on ‘EU persons’, which term is generally understood to include EU nationals, EU-incorporated companies (including EU subsidiaries of U.S. companies but not branches of U.S. companies as these have no distinct legal personality) and non-EU nationals residing or doing business in the EU.

It's not just the United States that is targeted, bt the European Union is targeted specifically as well.

The list of extraterritorial legislation to which the EU Blocking Statute applies is given in the Annex and currently consists of U.S. measures concerning Cuba and Iran.

R C.73aada2090f4db329568378c56364e04 — No one is immune. This man was living in Laos.

Article 2 of the EU Blocking Statute requires EU persons to notify the European Commission of any effect on their economic and/or financial interests caused by a measure that is listed as blocked in the Annex. Article 4 of the EU Blocking Statute prevents any judgment or administrative decision outside the EU which gives effect, directly or indirectly, to a blocked measure from being recognised or enforced in the EU in any manner.

jimmy lai arrest11 — Money won’t protect you. Nor will your “connections” to the US government. Here’s Jimmy Lai after being sentenced to hard labor. The USA just stood by and watched him be sentenced to organ harvesting and hard labor. So much for his connection to the US Senate. LOL!

Article 5 of the EU Blocking Statute prohibits EU persons (either directly or through a subsidiary or other intermediary) from complying with any requirement or prohibition based on or resulting, directly or indirectly, from a blocked measure.

If the United States places sanctions on China, and a European nation obeys the sanctions, the entire body of the law would then also apply to the aforesaid nation.

However, pursuant to articles 7 and 8 of the EU Blocking Statute, EU persons may apply for authorisation from the European Commission to comply with such requirement or prohibition if non-compliance would seriously damage their interests or the wider interests of the EU.

You can apply.

You can.

But whether or not mercy will be granted will depend on your association with the United States government.

R C.d2d81fd61bb9f683cbbf859eab2fe346 — Here’s an arrest in the EU. The EU are cowards and would do absolutely nothing and they have a long history of allowing the Chinese to come and seize anyone they fucking want out of the EU.

If an EU person has suffered any damages caused by the application of a blocked measure or by actions based thereon or resulting therefrom, article 6 of the EU Blocking Statute allows such EU person to recover the damages, including legal costs.

Provided that there are no sanctions on China.

Get it?

OIP C.uD3 g9Xm1HrmlpiNOJ4FggHaFj — CEOs and other businessmen will be hunted down by the Chinese, and incarcerated in a humane, but uncomfortable period, as per the law.

A basic understanding of the EU Blocking Statute sheds some light on the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, since both laws are aimed at counteracting the impact of the extraterritorial jurisdiction of foreign sanctions on persons within their territory.

OIP C.mj8DLA rT3jKfhCo2CJgOQHaE5 — CEOs and other businessmen will be hunted down by the Chinese, and incarcerated in a humane, but uncomfortable period, as per the law.

Scope of application

Unlike the EU Blocking Statute, the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law does not currently provide a list of extraterritorial legislation which is subject to the application of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law.

R C.f05f779554fdaf907dc3d8dccc9a5bcb — CEOs and other businessmen will be hunted down by the Chinese, and incarcerated in a humane, but uncomfortable period, as per the law.

However, the second paragraph of article 3 states that if any foreign country acts in violation of international law and basic norms of international relations and, on the basis of their domestic laws or any other pretext, contains or suppresses the PRC, takes discriminatory or restrictive measures against PRC citizens or interferes with the PRC’s internal affairs, the PRC has the right to take corresponding countermeasures.

Things can escalate quickly and broadly. Once initiated, a caustious EU should be "walking on egg shells".

As regards the application of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, article 11 requires organisations and individuals within the territory of the PRC to comply with the countermeasures imposed by the relevant departments of the State Council.

Any Chinese entity that fails to abide by the counter sanctions will be punished in the harshest manner possible.

The departments can restrict or prohibit any organisation or individual found to be in violation of the countermeasures from engaging in the activities concerned. It is important to note that there is no definition of ‘organisations and individuals within the territory of the PRC’ in the text of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, so whether branches of foreign companies in the PRC which have no distinct legal personality are also subject to the law is arguably unclear pending further provisions or clarifications from the relevant departments of the State Council.

R C.19ca5edb0c2acf3263e682aa32c495fa — China’s rules are tough but fair. After fourty years in the salt mines, industry greats like Bill Gates and Elon Musk can start again a new.

Further, there is no express provision regarding an authorisation or licence regime under the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law that may entitle such organisations or individuals to seek an exemption allowing for compliance with the extraterritorial legislation.

Although the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law does not appear to have extraterritorial effect on non-PRC persons, it is also relevant to non-PRC persons. Under article 4, the relevant departments of the State Council may decide to put any persons or organisations that directly or indirectly participate in drafting, approving or implementing any of the discriminatory or restrictive measures set out in article 3 in a countermeasure list (反制清单).

OIP C.Ut32fjsv0zBkbLEytuEY3wHaEK — China’s rules are tough but fair. After fourty years in the salt mines, industry greats like Bill Gates and Elon Musk can start again a new.

In addition, article 5 subjects the following persons to the countermeasures imposed by the PRC government:

the spouse and immediate family members of individuals targeted in the countermeasure list;
the senior managers or actual controllers of organisations targeted in the countermeasure list;
organisations in which individuals targeted in the countermeasure list serve in senior management positions; and
organisations actually controlled by individuals targeted in the countermeasure list or in whose establishment and operations any such individuals participate.

As such, it is important to keep an eye on the countermeasure list to ensure that there are no dealings with individuals and organisations targeted by the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law which may constitute breaches of the law. A suitable screening process should be put in place to minimise the risk of non-compliance.

Scope of countermeasures

As mentioned above, the State Council has the power to create the countermeasure list and determine the applicable countermeasures. In accordance with article 7, decisions made by the relevant departments of the State Council are final. As mentioned, there is no authorisation or licence regime in place so prima facie one must comply with the decisions in order to avoid breaching the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law. Article 10 mentions that a procedure will be established to coordinate the work of counteracting foreign sanctions and oversee the overall coordination, with the relevant departments of the State Council being required to raise the level of coordination, cooperation and information sharing.

OIP C.O9rr5ih6PEvbNuPm91r 7AHaFr — China’s rules are tough but fair. After fourty years in the salt mines, industry greats like Bill Gates and Elon Musk can start again a new.

In accordance with article 6, the State Council may decide to take one or more of the following measures against individuals or organisations that are sanctioned pursuant to articles 4 and 5:

refusal to issue visas, denial of entry, cancellation of visas or deportation;
sealing up, seizing or freezing of movable and immovable property, or other types of property, within the territory of the PRC;
prohibiting or restricting organisations or individuals within the territory of the PRC from conducting transactions, cooperating, or engaging in any other activities with the targeted individuals or organisations; and
any other measures considered necessary.

As such, anyone who has a presence or assets in the PRC should pay due attention to the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law as non-compliance may result in serious consequences for their activities or assets in the PRC.

R C.30ec74f85507f9e2e1df6e3e33e128bc — China for as harsh as it seems, does have a degree of humanity. Inmates are permitted one phone call a year to family, loved ones or lawyer. They can say anything they want up to ten minutes. Longer than that, they will suffer punishment.

Civil recovery

Article 12 prohibits organisations and individuals from implementing or assisting in implementing discriminatory or restrictive measures imposed by foreign countries against the PRC individuals or organisations.

PRC individuals or organisations may file a lawsuit against such organisations or individuals with the Supreme People’s Court in accordance with PRC law, requiring them to cease the infringement and compensate for any losses incurred.

R C.bd17affa125f119fb6cea966eaddfb32 — The duration of prison terms in China is much less than in America. This woman only has to serve three years. Most people under sanction rules will probably serve less than thirty years at hard labor.

This is similar to the EU Blocking Statute in the sense that only PRC persons are entitled to take legal action to recover losses.

Nonetheless, it is not specifically stated whom the PRC persons may take action against, and so it is perhaps best to assume that any foreign persons or companies that implement or assist in implementing discriminatory or restrictive measures imposed by foreign countries against PRC individuals or organisations may be subject to a PRC lawsuit.

R C.111dfc253909a09a7b386d9b9b6c2589 — Chinese prisons feed the inmates with generous portions of rice, vegetables, fish and chicken feet.

2. Navigating conflicts of law and their implications for PRC and foreign companies

It is unsurprising that the implementation of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law will create additional compliance obligations for companies engaging in cross-border transactions, in particular banks in the PRC, which inevitably engage in U.S. dollar transactions but are at the same time subject to PRC laws and regulations.

On the one hand, they may have to comply with the U.S. sanctions regime to avoid being denied access to the U.S. market or U.S. dollar transactions. On the other, they may be obliged to comply with the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law if they have a substantive presence or assets in the PRC.

PRC companies – discrimination against other PRC companies?

The Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law does not resolve the dilemma that many PRC companies may have to face. Access to the U.S. dollar system remains a fundamental feature of the business of many PRC companies and simply disregarding the long-arm jurisdiction of U.S. secondary sanctions may lead to adverse consequences for their business operations.

This inevitably leads to a situation where many PRC companies may try to avoid doing business with other PRC entities or persons that are currently subject to U.S. sanctions.

R C.6e6e4f3aad15f1d286d3b18dc09b48aa — Chinese prison.

It is also standard practice to include sanction-related provisions in a contract to give a party a way to terminate the contract should the counterparty become a person or organisation sanctioned by the U.S. government.

The dilemma can best be illustrated by an example, albeit in a different context. The International Criminal Justice Assistance Law, enacted by the PRC government in October 2018, requires companies or individuals in the PRC to seek government approval before providing evidence or information to foreign prosecutors in support of criminal proceedings in overseas jurisdictions.

R C.df8a210746aee7588c2b9748c0b3c2c8 — Compliance with the capture of one or two wanted fugitives is of no consequence when billions of dollars in trade are at stake.

As a result, companies must choose whether to disregard the PRC law (if no government approval is given) and cooperate with foreign prosecutors or to abide by the PRC law and risk the consequences of being held in contempt of the foreign court or even being found guilty of obstruction of justice by the foreign court.

R C.1e54663afa2619a86800f056512d293f — Chinese prisons are not joyful places, but neither are they the rat-filled slums tha tthe Western media makes them out to be. I’m sure that many American officials would be comfortable in these clean, but austere, surroundings.

While it is often a commercial decision as to with whom to do business, the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law creates some room for PRC persons who have suffered from discriminatory or restrictive measures under foreign sanctions laws to take retaliatory measures.

The legal implications of this cannot be ignored and it is vital for PRC companies to carefully consider sanctions-related provisions in contracts to avoid a situation where they risk being caught by either of the sanction regimes and suffering huge losses as a result.

OIP C.zY2WqefxdFd4O8tupU0 0AHaE8 — Chinese prisons are not joyful places, but neither are they the rat-filled slums tha tthe Western media makes them out to be. I’m sure that many American officials would be comfortable in these clean, but austere surroundings.

For example, if there is a U.S. sanctions clause in a contract giving a party the option to terminate the contract if the PRC counterparty becomes a sanctions target of the United States, would it constitute a breach of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law if the party exercises the option to terminate the contract thereby causing losses to the PRC counterparty?

The situation is perhaps less clear when U.S. sanctions have already been imposed on the PRC counterparty and the party chooses not to deal with the PRC counterparty for other, commercial reasons. Of course, how the law will be enforced in practice is a question that only time will answer.

china prison 6 — Chinese prisons are not joyful places, but neither are they the rat-filled slums tha tthe Western media makes them out to be. I’m sure that many American officials would be comfortable in these clean, but austere surroundings.

With that in mind, while the practical implications of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law remain to be seen, we see no benefit in PRC companies, and indeed foreign companies having a presence or assets in the PRC, failing to give due weight to this PRC ‘blocking statute’; otherwise, there may be serious consequences for their business operations and assets in the PRC.

OIP C.uh3zvlGHrvcG60g5hxMffQHaE7 — Chinese prisons are very calm and orderly.

Some may have thought up ways to get around the dilemma – for example, by using non-U.S. dollars in transactions so as to minimise the risk of being caught by the U.S. secondary sanctions regime – but in practice, aside from the practical concern that many parties doing international business still prefer to use U.S. dollars in transactions, it is also difficult to completely eliminate such risk in large, cross-border transactions involving many parties.

Foreign companies

Life is supposed to be easier for foreign companies that do not have a substantive presence or assets in the PRC or deal with the PRC counterparty, but the opposite is often the case.

As explained above, given that the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law has not clearly defined ‘organisations and individuals within the territory of the PRC’, the more precautionary approach is to assume that the law also extends to the PRC subsidiaries of foreign companies as well as the branches (which have no distinct legal personality) of foreign companies in the PRC.

gettyimages 52299691 1024x1024 1 — Reeducation to fit into society is a staple of Chinese prisons.

It is therefore inevitable that foreign companies will have to face the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law squarely and consider its impact on their business operations.

If you are a United States, EU, or foreign corportation, you could be directly targetted by the anti-sanction law. 

This includes seizure of all of your facilities (McDonalds, Pizza Hut), seizure of your logos and product pacment (iphone, Microsoft, Ford), and arrest of your corporate leaders (President, Vice PResidents, COO, and all middle mangers).

OIP C.OfklzR GWvr7sy6N CEtlQHaFA — Unlike the USA, judical proceedings are not debated. If you break a law, you pay the penalty. If the penalty is death, then you die.

Strictly speaking, where a foreign company does not have a presence or assets in the PRC, even if a PRC person can file a lawsuit against the company (which is unclear based on the current text of the law), there are still practical obstacles to serving court documents and enforcing judgments obtained against the foreign company pursuant to the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law.

The company doesn't even have to be present in China. Safe-way™ can be targetted. Pep Boys™ can be targetted.

R C.0629b37ed97a08db54220ece93401d83 — Inmates in China are processed just like in America.

It is also highly uncertain whether foreign courts (especially U.S. courts) will give effect to and assist in the enforcement of PRC judgments.

Meaning that enforcement will be up to the Chinese military.

Relevance to Hong Kong

In addition, an interesting question remains as to whether the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law will also be enacted under the laws of Hong Kong, for example, by way of incorporation of the law into Annex III of the Basic Law or the passing of local laws to achieve the same effect. We consider that the consequences can be potentially more far-reaching as Hong Kong is well established as an international commercial hub where many foreign companies have branches or assets.

OIP C.eTnBOyl0y7dMUe9FzBAQpAHaEq — Chinese prisons are not joyful places, but neither are they the rat-filled slums tha tthe Western media makes them out to be. I’m sure that many American officials would be comfortable in these clean, but austere surroundings.

At the same time, U.S. dollar transactions play a dominant role in Hong Kong’s economic activities and it is almost impossible for companies in Hong Kong to disregard the extensive impact of U.S. sanctions.

The dilemma could become even thornier if the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law is extended to apply in Hong Kong as well.

R C.61b732592c0cdee9fbdca0a9c9954613 — China gets a bad rap for organ harvesting. But the real truth is that the felon is sedated prior to extraction of the organs, and they really don’t feel a thing during the procedure. It just happens so quickly and then they wake up and are given hot chicken broth before they have to go back to laboring in the mines.

3. Key takeaways

There is no denying that the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, a national law which has been enacted by the highest legislative body in the PRC, has established a sweeping legal basis for the PRC government to counteract the long-arm jurisdiction of foreign sanctions.

R C.eb4e3884e4828865c14ed5fc1bb0ea0a — The daily cavity check is a staple in Chinese prisons. It’s a daily routine.

While the countermeasure list is yet to be finalised and it is yet to be seen how the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law will be applied in practice, for now, it is safe to conclude that no one can disregard the potentially profound consequences of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, and both PRC and foreign (especially those with a presence or assets in the PRC) companies should carefully assess the risks of this recently enacted national law.

R C.d94edbaf2708286d34f594d2587847e9 — Mass sentencing to death. China does not provide special privileges to companies or corporations. It doesn’t matter the magnitude of your guilt. Even borderline guilt is punishable by torture.

We recommend that PRC and foreign companies consider taking the following actions:

seeking legal advice on the implications of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law for their business operations in the PRC or when dealing with a PRC counterparty;
reviewing and improving their compliance systems to take into account the countermeasures imposed by the PRC – for example, taking note of and refraining from dealing with individuals and organisations named in the countermeasure list by the relevant departments of the State Council;
considering the incorporation of appropriate clauses into contracts to allow for a situation where the company may be subject to both U.S. and PRC sanctions; and
identifying practical options to minimise the legal risks of doing business in the PRC and foreign countries – for example, increasing use of non-U.S. dollars in transactions where possible.

Harsh Realities

Almost ALL of the companies that export from China to America are American companies. Under the Chinese anti-sanction law, they will now become Chinese companies and will be forbidden to export to the United States.

How bad will this be?

100% of cell phones are made (one way or the other) in China.
90% of medicines are made in China.
85% of automotive parts are made in China.
98% of all appliances are made in China.
65% of all furniture are made in China.
85% of all batteries are made in China.
All of the major restaurants and retailers (Walmart) operate inside of China, and the vast majority of their incomes comes from China.

Not only will Chinese exports to America go to zero, but American companies, facing losses from 50% to 90% of their tangibale assets will experience massive slide in the stock market.

No wonder China is saying “bring it on!”.

What can you all expect?

Hyper inflation will become hyper-hyper inflation.
Movement of American business owners outside of the USA will risk imprisonment.
International Trade to the USA will end.
Store shelves will be bare except for high-priced military weapons systems and their accessories.
Many manufacturing companies will have to close and lay off workers because they will not have the materials need to make their products.
Gas and products that use gas will go stratospheric.

But, you know, it’s all for a “good cause” , you know; to “punish Russia”.

Conclusion

Actually, I found this article a bit boring. But, you know, I had to pump it out. No one else on the planet is doing anything about this, so I have to.

Lazy fucks.

Why are you still here?

America is “exceptional”, and the Ukraine is kicking Russian butt. And everything is peachy, only there’s some inflation… pesky thing. But it’s all good. It’s Russia’s fault.

Don’t you know.

It’s all over the “news”.

So you know that any day now that the Ukraine will take over and march over Moscow. After all, you read the daily reports on Drudge, FOX, CNN and all the rest.

I read that the Russian solders are so fed up with Putin that they are throwing up, abandoning their weapons and running toward democracy™ as fast as their legs can carry them. Don’t you know!

Now leave. This will offend your world-view.

For you that stick around, ah… Here’s some sunny stuff to keep you all grounded on reality about China, life, and your part in it.

Chinese girl. These are PEOPLE that you God-damn people are talking about. Not some pile of french fries, you God-damn idiots. video

Here’s another one. These are people. Not things. video

Of course, if you are an American, you get a daily dose of “evil communist” this and that. Why they are the cause of all the problems in the United States. Oh, no. Not the goverment. Yeah. The communists!!!!!!!

Sheech!

Go ahead now. Run towards your next election, and then you can vote to make everything perfect!

It will work. Right?

Communist.

What the fuck is that. Most Americans coudn’t tell a communist from a dead armadillo at the side of the highway.

Remember, boys and girls, China is organized.

Here’s how the Chinese start first grade. video…

Here’s more. After all, you would never see this in America or the European Union.

Fact.

This is what China is today. Do you honestly think that the “West” can compete? video

But the West has “diversity”!

And it has freedom™…

I don’t know what it means. I guess when the ATF was established to infringe on the second amendment, freedom ceased to exist.

And let’s be real.

The Chinee population is 1.4 billion people; over five times the population of the United States, and every single one of them can fire a fully automatic assault gun, throw hand grenades, assault tanks and perform small platoon level operations. video. First grade.

I’d take Chinese elementary school against any American high schoolers any day. The Chinese are smart, talented, organized and trained. They operate by merit and they are hungry.

In America, the Military has to be able to do five entire push ups to qualify. The Chinese have to do one hundred. And tehy had best do it when they are in first grade. Video

Of course, this means nothing. America is the home of Rambo®. Freedom™ and democracy™. So of course it is exceptional™.

Bottom line.

If you want to fuck with China, China will FUCK with you. This is a front, that you do NOT want to get involved in. Capisce?

Capisce?

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 3

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A collection of really eye-popping articles and stories from 1950s and 60s Men’s pulp magazines

Ah, they don’t write stories like they used to.

I once read an article. It’s maybe six years ago that said that SJW types were scouring old used bookstores for “sexist” and “racist” books. Buying them up in huge lots and burning them, and generally trashing them outright.

I don’t know if it was true or not.

I certainly hope not.

What I do know is that my brother told me that when he visits the used books stores, he simply cannot find science fiction anthologies or collections of short stories anywhere. He said that he visited perhaps fifteen stores in the Colorado region and none could be had.

It would be a shame to see my boyhood erased simply becuase some bight-eyed utopian wanted to make the world better though tyranny.

Sigh.

But that’s the United States today. The internet is a corporate-technologist controlled dictatorship-based white-board. Things pop up, and then are erased as new narratives take hold, develop, conduct their purposes and then die.

Then new narratives materialize.

Now, it’s Ukraine. It was Coronavirus. Before that it was China. Before that was 5G radiation, before that was…

I need a beer.

By the way. You do know that beer goes great with steaks, meats, potatoes, and all sort of fine delicious and tasty foods. How about a fine, fine pot roast, eh?

2022 03 15 11 53 — Pot roast. Needs some thick gravy and some fine icy cold beer.

It’s an old clichéd joke to say you read adult magazines for the articles. However, if you’re talking about men’s mags from the 1950s and 60s, there might actually be some truth in your statement.

Magazines like Playboy, Adam, Jem, and Rogue often featured genuinely well-written articles and short fiction.

Getting published in a men’s magazine wasn’t the shameful smudge on an author’s reputation as it is today – in fact, it was a common stepping stone for soon-to-be-famous authors.

Like Ray Bradbury.

But it isn’t just the stories that deserve respect – it’s the artwork that complimented them. Often sleazy and purposefully outrageous, the illustrations were designed to entice you to read the story in a not-so-subtle way.

Here in this article, we are going to present some most excellent examples. Grab some snacks, pour a large bowl with potato chips, get some nice dip, and start reading.

Oh, and don’t forget a tall frosty glass of beer. Or, if you are like MM, a fine bottle of wine , and share with your beloved pet.

Have fun.

Be with your kitties.

I mean, more like this…

R C.ebdbbc4a191b046a8f43997e9a33c323 — Not shown is a book, magazine, and a beloved pet next to you.

Let’s begin our fun adventure…

They were two drunken lovers having an affair in her bed while her husband was away. But, was he away? Wasn’t that he – respected adviser to the President – they now overheard plotting to kill the man in the White House?

Lured by his smoldering eyes and magnetic personality, adoring women flocked to Rasputin. Peasant girls, prostitutes, princesses – they came, they saw, and they were conquered!

We got home about midnight. Shelia, the sitter, lay fast asleep on the couch. Maria woke her. Then I drove her home… an hour later, she’d been raped and strangled – and I was suspect number one!

Getting Avis pregnant, and other sinful shenanigans, proved that the passionate pastor simply didn’t practice what he preached…. it finally took the electric chair to deliver him from all evil.

As the whistling whip snaked across her back, the young woman writhed in pleasure. For this was the joy that she’d paid to feel and relish.

I could hear Ted’s screams, but I couldn’t get to him, the bull sea lions were surrounding me and the angry sea was at my back…

With a 2,000-horse-soldier combat team, the mad Russian set out to take all Asia for a harem. And he would have made it if he hadn’t touched the man millions call God.

The Sewer rats are the only ones you’ll share your secret with.

The couple’s honeymoon yacht turned into a craft of horrors when it was boarded by a lust-crazed psychopath who butchered anyone who dared invade his private inlet.

Big blondes in dime-store dresses, tender teenagers with eager smiles, they converge in front of fancy bars and good hotels in all the big towns bordering the hill country.

According to one automotive expert, these prestige-heavy imported hot rods are often badly made, unsafe, cash-eating tin cans perfectly designed for carrying you to the morgue.

A wanton, lush-bodied kitten of a blonde, she gave Mike Webster the sweetest, most loving hideout any murderer-on-the-run ever had.

Housemaids, heiresses, coeds and countesses – this brawling blackmailer sampled them all on a 75-year love binge so bawdy his memoirs still can’t be printed…

In life, she was a nymphomaniac with a very high taste in jewels and men. In death, she was Mike Shayne’s fourty-first murder case.

Laos was in flames, and in that bloody, steaming jungle hid a broken and dying pilot guarding a cargo the Reds would give their birthright to get…

In the waning days of world war two, Germany was in a state of utter collapse and chaos.

Angel terror across Dixie… Girl Rage Rampage!

In the grim violence of the Mate Grosso, two lusting men and two equally desire lashed females were stripped of all defenses before the furious onslaught of body-snatching banditoes…

…!

Jack Murphy primed her talents and showed her to the right people, all the while sating his desires on the sensuous blonde’s promise of passionate reward.

Roaring out of the back alleys of Los Angles on their souped-up hogs, four piston-fast “leather jacket looters” and their “desire debs” hatched a plot for the greatest armored truck robbery ever attempted.

…she didn’t even have time to…

A tough yank enforcer, two revenge-hungry nymphs vs. a crazed murder genius.

An Englishman who produced a .30 caliber carbine compact enough to fit in a cigarette pack…

Everyone in the third-floor room tried to laugh off what was happening to the girl on the bed – everyone but her boyfriend and the doctor, who found more in her stomach than just milk and cookies.

…he turned an island into a cross between Fort Knox and the sexiest Siegfried line ever built.

Those oriental Nazi dancing girls were all they were supposed to be… and more.

A murderer at the age of eleven, Ben Hogan led a life of crime and depravity that had no equal outside of Hell.

Blood was dripping from his slavering fangs…

With a bleching sound, the torrent gushed into the street. For tipplers it was a perfect way to die. For others it was an unheard of death.

…his wrist and ankles manacled to a steel bed.

Women, whiskey and dope made the Japanese town of Chitose “the wickedest city in the far east”.

They pumped two bullets into Al Cooke and left him for dead, but he wasn’t ready for the grave yet… not until he could get the laust laugh.

he was determined to even an old score. But the grim climax with the giant tusker was unexpected.

The trappers poured into camp hunting for their week of women…

Murderous females who were armed to the teeth tricked Fred hardin into stopping his car for them. Then, by threatening to slit the throat of his wife on a moment’s notice, forced him to accompany them on a journey through Hell.

To save his mate from a fate worse than death, the incredibly swift cat invaded a camp swarming with professional hunters, ready to kill or be killed if necessary…

Brother Briggs’s 3,300,00 members game kept his desert empire polygamy happy until the day the disciples caught on to the reason behind the leaders 9-1 ratio.

The Reds were bleeding the West of vital defense secrets. And even after a seven-year manhunt, counterintelligence had only one clue – a case of nylon undies.

“Being a Lady of the Night in jolly old London is never easy – but when somebody wants to carve you up, it’s sheer murder”

“He writhed in agony as they tore at his wife’s clothing… Dan’s car was the only weapon which could avenge their heinous crime.”

“Trapped by the mafia’s maniacal sadist, Garry had only one chance to save himself and the woman he loved”….And by the looks of things, Garry had damn well better hurry up!

“Reilly was doomed to a life without women – unless he could force the leprechaun to lift its double-whammy”

Possibly my favorite of all time.

One moment of frenzied passion could destroy his only chance for a perfect future.

“The telephone had killed his wife – and the telephone offered the perfect revenge”

Until he saw with his own eyes, the refused to believe a United Nations report -40,000 girls to be kidnapped this year in Europe and Africa and marched across the Sarah for sale to wealthy Arabian harem owners!

In an age of charm and delicacy, Madame Laramie was a demon incarnate.

The gallows beckoned and even Rand’s woman couldn’t save him from the gambler’s double-cross.

One minute you’re there, the next… poof! you’re ashes. Never a dull moment for drinkers.

Threatened with ultimate degradation, Mira became a slave to the strangest of passions.

The farewell party was so wild, he almost missed the journey…

Parker knew he must kill his wife’s lover… but he had one growing problem…

“Was Marie Antoinette a victim of character assassination, or did she diddle?”

“It was no ordinary shipboard romance. Her bull of a husband was along for the ride. Yet Allen knew he had to have her”

“Telsa had to save the mission from destruction because of Heroq’s passion to remain a Homo sapien”

As this illustration from 1968 demonstrates, artists were free to stylize their work by the late sixties, rather than stick to the somewhat homogeneous look of the mid-century illustrations.

“With five sex-starved wives to satisfy, a man can have a myriad of problems”

“Dollar for dollar, corpse for corpse, Holmes might have become America’s most successful lady killer – if one pretty doll hadn’t talked out of turn and exposed the most shocking mass murder in history”

“There are so many physiological differences between men and women that it is hard to believe they belong in the same species, says this noted psychologist”

The hang-up on the telephone saved him from getting hung up on the couch.

“The night was cold – and so was his wife. All of which led to Pete Landon’s tantalizing adventure.”

“Telling others what a big make out artist you are could very well help you become one”

All the hush-hush planning for the Allied invasion of Europe almost went out the window of a beautiful Hungarian’s bedroom.

“Iona screamed as Peggy stripped for the two men…. only one desperate gamble could stop the crazed convicts”

With a quick slap of the hand, Joe sent the shake-down artist to the floor.

He was a hostage of the Orient’s most notorious fighting brigade – a band of torture-trained females currently terrorizing the border region of Vietnam.

“If sexy strategist Suzanne had been a general, the South might have won the Civil War”

Broom and Board; a Witches tale.

“Hollywood’s a bad influence”… with the sordid Harvey Weinstein stories in the news of late, a very appropriate title. We’ll end here. Until next time.

Fun huh?

Yes. It was.

Back in the day, these magazines were everywhere. Young guys like myself would take our shoe-shine box and earn a few quarters spit-shing shoes and then use the money for candy and other treats. I used to happily get those comic books that were on this wire revolving display.

OIP C.qWuaUWJrSeL7I7qHXweviwHaOM — Comic book heaven.

This was at the local corner drugstore.

I would ride my bike there, and just leave it outside. There was no crime. And even if someone stole it, the community would easily track down who stole it and bring it back. I’d park my banana-seat, long handlebars, Schwinn bicycle outside and go in. The mesh screen door would slam behind me with this little tiny brass bell ringing as I entered.

At that store was a selection of scant housewares, household good, woman’s cosmetics, and a pharmacy in the back. They always had this counter at the side where you could get a simple hamburger platter, eggs and toast, a milkshake or some other delicious treat. Though, as a boy who only had coins, I would get a soda out of the machine outside.

These small town businesses have largely disappeared in America. The small towns are deserted. Big mega-retailers like Wal-Mart and other enormous “box stores” pretty much devistated the smaller communities. Which is a real shame.

A real shame.

a lunch counter in a five and dime store — A lunch counter in a five and dime store.

Oh, I’ll bet that you are all wonderign what these strange businesses might look like. Well, they came in many different sizes and shapes. Some were just standard brick storefronts, while others were standalone oeprations.

Here’s a very “modern” small-town drugstore.

2022 03 15 15 22 — Small town drugstore.

And what’s more, there were many, many other establishments in the small towns throughout the United States.

Here’s The Krystal. It’s a “fast food” hamburger “joint” that popped up and existed before McDonald’s acted like “The Borg” and assimulated all of them.

And there were all sorts of establishments to eat.

Most people, having two hour lunches, would eat and then go home and take a nap before returning back to work. In those days, long lunches with naps were the norm.

Here’s a typical restaurant at lunch time.

My father had a routine that he would have a lunch at the tavern across from the mill where he worked, and on Thursdays, he would mosey over to the Barber Shop for a haircut and trip afterwards.

Those were the days.

When I entered the work force, they were busy removing benefits left and right, eventually asking us to dash for a 15 minute drive through burger, and return back to a “Lunch Meeting”. This continued though the 1990s. Eventually they eliminated technnical and engineering / manufacturing work completely.

It wasn’t profitable, they said.

Conclusion

We have to understand what we lost before we can understand what we need to change.

The United States today is in turmoil. This is at every level. But if you want to simplify everything, it’s really easy. Greed and the search for profits over all has bankrupted the nation. It hollowed it out, and destroyed the population and society in the process.

It will change.

But right now, most people have no idea what they lost, so how are they supposed to regain any true and real freedoms?

I’ll tell you what…

Real freedom is going into a Men’s-only Barber Shop, picking up a “Girlie Magazine” while a baseball game plays in the backgound. You light up a cigarette, and inhale it deeply.

Is it sexist? Yes.

Is it racist? I don’t know.

Is it unhealthy? Probably.

But so what? It’s no ones business except yours alone.

Freedom is absolute.

You either have it or you do not.

Bye Bye America. You were a dream; and ideal that was never truly possible.

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When an American conservative warns against a war with Russia, you all had best pay attention.

The State Department is trying to get us into a war and the Pentagon is trying to keep us out. 

- Ron Paul

War sucks. I’m not going to be nice about it. It honestly, and really sucks. People get hurt and die. Innocents are maimed. Bad things happen. The wealthy that create the conditions for war flee, and the poor that work for them are sacrificed on the alter of ideology. What ever it might be.

There is nothing valiant about war.

Wars are fought by young men precisely because they don’t know any better. They cannot imagine themselves spending the rest of their lives in a retirement home without arms or legs. Or having their homes blown to bits and pieces.

And most especially for Americans. As well as for Candians, Australians and Britions. They cannot imagine it’s THEIR famies dying, and their neighborhoods being blown to smithereens and destroyed. Safe and isolated. That’s the way it’s always been.

Right?

And ideology… well, that’s the medium on how you can control others.

In the United States, the ideology is democracy. In Syria the ideology is in religion. In the Ukraine, the ideology is pure Nazism. Ideology gets people killed. Or worse. Don’t you know.

I’m really not a fan of ideologs. I know that from time to time I have moved about the political spectrum, but when you get my age, you just no longer can zip back from one point of view to the other. It makes you dizzy.

So you just are happy with simple things.

Simple things, like a beloved cat. A pet dog that is happy as can be to see you. A fine book, and a glass of nice tasty wine. A delicious steak, hamburger, or tasty thick soup. A roaring fire on a cold snowy night. A warm dry bedroom while it pours rain outside…

Simple things.

You know, my social media feeds are all clogged up with the mindless hordes that reguritates the NSA talking points. You don’t have to get too involved in the termonology. It’s all the same and predictable.

The callouts are the same “stooge for Putin”, “Russia is evil”, “crushing democracy in Ukraine”. Sigh.

You can easily replace the word “Russia” with “5G radiation”, and the meaning would be the same.

Replace it with “China”, and the meaning would be the same.

It could be “vaxx”, or “Swine Flue”, or “Y2K” it’s all the same.

If you do not agree with the United States official narrative, you are a traitor!

That’s exactly how all this works. Whatever the government says, must must agree with it. When the Trump administration was at war with China over technology, it was all about “evil Huawei”, and “arrest the evil CEO”, and “5G radiation destroys brain cells”.

I try to tell them that they are victims of Vault 7. But they are oblivious. Vault 7 is what is going on. Vault 7. If you don’t know what this is, then you are in a truly sad state indeed.

It’s not just controling your opinions. These algorithms control your thoughts.

As such they alter your body chemistry.

Once altered, you will NEED to take medicine to maintain your sanity, and your health. Your body chemistry changes. You start experiencing problems. You get anxiety. You suffer aches and pains. You get eating disorders, and start having helth problems with your liver, your kidnes, your stomach, and your heart.

Ask any one who is regurigating the American narrative if they are taking medicine. Any medicine, for any reason. Just ask.

So far, I have found 100% of the people who I asked say “yes” in the affirmative. America has become; seriously, a nation of zombies.

It’s stuff to think about.

Once I started to carefully vet what I read and watch, my life has really, substantially calmed down. That’s a fact.

Anyways. I tire of arguing with NPCs. So I penned this article. It winds the clock back in time to one month before the invasion of the Ukraine. By reading it, you can easily see how and why the war in the Ukraine started.

And NO, it’s not “Putin’s fault”.

It was planned to occur. And the planners were the United States Senate. And it’s all well known, and well understood. All you need to do is watch the historical archives from CSPAN.

I mean, come on, it’s all very damning.

They tell you right then and there. “America needs to start a war elsewhere. Not on American soil. And the Ukraine is the best place to have that war.”

This clip is from 2014.

fight russia in ukraine-2022-03-17_09.11.25

This is an absolutely great article by Paul Craig Roberts. He’s a major conservative voice in American politics. He’s pretty good, and I have been following him for a long time. He tends to discuss American domestic issues with detailed and thoughtful analysis, and takes a hard, critical look at American international issues.

This article was written one month before Russia invaded Ukraine. And during that time, in January 2022, the big news was about how the United States refused to take Russia seriously. This is that article. It’s truly poignant now, as we see what an absolute clusterfuck the United States has created for itself. And because of the enormity of that fuck-up, this article is even more valuable.

I am presenting it here, right now, to help us all have a better contextual understanding on what the Hell is going on in the Ukraine and in the Geo-Political circles.

Does Russia Understand She Is Dealing with Lunatics?

Paul Craig Roberts • January 9, 2022

In advance of the January 10 meeting, Secretary of State Blinken and NATO functionary Stoltenberg stupidly reduced Russia’s Options to Two: Surrender or Use Force.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/blinken-stoltenberg-unleash-unprecedented-diktat-ultimatum-russia-following-nato-fm-meeting/5766645

If these idiotic accusations were not enough, Blinken accused Putin of intending to restore the Soviet Union. It is impossible to understand how a person this stupid was confirmed by the US Senate as Secretary of State.

The last thing the Kremlin wants is all the problems of all of these countries. All the Kremlin wants is that they be independent countries, not US puppet states armed against Russia.

https://www.rt.com/russia/545516-russia-us-ukraine-ussr/

My take on the situation is that from foolish statements such as the above by Blinken and Stoltenberg and other ill-considered remarks from the White House and media, the Kremlin has concluded prior to Monday’s meeting (January 10) that Washington will not take seriously Russia’s security concerns.

I think the Russians have come to the conclusion that the West will not take them seriously until the Kremlin demonstrates forceful action.

The Russians are just giving diplomacy one last chance before they destroy the military installations that the US has built in Ukraine.

I came across this report from pravda.ru dated about a month ago (November 26) that Russian nuclear submarines were urgently sent to sea in a state of combat readiness.

This does not mean that the Kremlin is preparing a nuclear strike.

It is meant to forestall any stupid Washington response to Russian removal of perceived threats, just as the Israelis do routinely in their attacks on Iraqi, Syrian, and Lebanese territory.

https://english.pravda.ru/news/russia/149739-russian_submarine/

As I have reported on occasion, the Russians have had their fill of Washington and are not going to take anymore.

The Russians have concluded that only decisive action on their part has any chance of sobering up Washington from its hubris and restoring a sense of responsibility in Washington at least equal to the sense of responsibility that kept a lid on Cold War tensions. If Washington is unable to recover a sense of responsibility, the possibility of Armageddon will again hang over our heads.

My concern is that there is no one in the Biden regime or the decimated officer ranks of the US military that has five cents worth of intelligence.

The people with their hands on US foreign policy are Russophobes with delusions of American omnipotence.

Moreover, they believe their own propaganda, which prevents them from understanding the Russian view.

I don’t know if the Kremlin is capable of imagining a government as lunatic as the American one.

If the Kremlin does not understand they they are dealing with lunatics, the situation could quickly get out of hand.

And he was correct… absolutely correct.

One month later, Russia invaded the Ukraine, preventing a Ukrainian assault on the LDR and the DDR.

And the Western press were all ready with a flood of anti-Russian “news”, and sanctions, and all the rest. It was all perfectly timed and implemented.

And what became of it?

Well, let’s see what ol’ Fred has to say…

Snapshot

March 10, 2022 From HERE

By Fred Reed

Everybody and his goat are talking about the Ukraine. Why not me? You might ask, But Fred, what do you know about it? To which I would respond, Look, this is journalism. You don’t need to know anything, just wing it, preferably using words you can spell. Admittedly this is more of a limitation than it used to be. Anyway, here goes:

Why did Russia invade the Ukraine?

Contrary to American media, the invasion was not unprovoked. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, America has been pushing NATO, which is a US sepoy operation, ever closer to Russian borders in what, to anyone who took fifth-grade geography, is an obvious program of military encirclement. Of the five countries other than Russia littoral to the Black Sea, three, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria, are now in NATO. America has been moving toward bringing in the Ukraine and Georgia. After Georgia would have come Azerbaijan, putting American forces on the Caspian with access to Iran and Kazakhstan. This is calculated aggression over the long term, obvious to the—what? Ten percent? Fifteen percent?—of Americans who know what the Caucasus is.

Putin has said, over and over, that Russia could not allow hostile military forces on its border any more than the US would allow Chinese military bases in Mexico and China or missile forces in Cuba. Washington kept pushing. Russia said, no more. In short, America brought on the war.

Among people who follow such things, there are two ways of looking at the invasion. First, that Washington thought Putin was bluffing, and he wasn’t. Second, that America intentionally forced Russia to choose between allowing NATO into the Ukraine, a major success for Washington’s world empire; or fighting, also a success for Washington as it would cause the results it has caused.

From the latter understanding, America pulled off, at least at first glance, an astonishing geopolitical victory over Russia. Nordstream II blocked, crippling sanctions placed on Russia, many of its banks kicked out of SWIFT, economic integration of Europe and Asia slowed or reversed, Germany to spend 113 billion on rearming (largely meaning buying American costume-jewelry weaponry), Europe forced to buy expensive American LNG, and Europe made dependent on America for energy. All this in a few days without loss of a single American soldier. This presumably at least in part engineered by Virginia Newland who, though she looks like a fireplug with leprosy, seems effectively Machiavellian.

Next victim, China.

Divide and conquer. Or at least that’s the theory. At the same time reinstate the JCPOA and use economic baubles to try to pry Iran away from Beijing.

Here we need some context. Everything Washington does internationally aims at maintaining America’s largely military near-hegemony over the world. This involves several elements:

First, military dominance.

This includes the many hundreds of bases around the world, naval supremacy, and the huge military expenditure. Thy latter will be maintained at any cost to domestic needs, and apparently it is going to be increased.

Second, control of the world’s supply of energy.

Washington is trying to starve Venezuela, with its vast reserves of petroleum, into submission. Submission means letting American-dominated oil majors exploit the country’s oil. Washington is doing the same with Iran and its enormous reserves. It has troops in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, has confiscated Syria’s oil lands, crushed Libya, and so on. Keeping the European vassals from buying more Russian gas through Nordstream II is part of this energy control and an important part.

Third, and crucial, keep the EU from coalescing into a vast continent-spanning trade zone.

This is exactly what China contemplates in its BRI, Belt and Road initiative. This is too much subject for a few paragraphs, but some thoughts: China is a manufacturing juggernaut in explosive growth. Economic power is the basis of all power. China has the advantage of inner lines of communication: it can build rail, fiber optics, highway,s and pipelines in Asia, where America has little access. China has money because it has a for-profit economy, and America doesn’t. The pull of China’s gigantic market and manufactures was beginning to loosen America’s control of Europe. Eurasian integration had to be stopped.

Fourth, the dollar.

Washington controls the dollar, the IMF, SWIFT, and in general the international financial system. It uses this control brutally as a weapon to impose sanctions, crippling the economies of such countries as Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and now Russia. Seeing this intimidates other countries. Washington may have gone too often to this well. Having made England, its chief bootlicker, confiscate Venezuela’s gold reserves, and now freezing Russia’s reserves, Washington has served notice that no country is secure from this treatment. Here I speculate freely, but this may prove America’s worst mistake since 1619 as it may greatly accelerate the search for other payment systems—CIPS from China, SPFS from Russia, and the upcoming digital yuan. Washington, methinks, is betting the farm.

So much for the world…

Meanwhile, America seems to be sinking into irreversible decadence that must eventually—I would say soon—affect its international position. As the world’s economic and, laggingly, technological center of gravity moves east to Asia, an internally collapsing America will be less able to maintain the empire.

Consider:

[1] Printing of money out of nothing.

Washington’s printing of money, equivalent to the debasing of the coinage characteristic of failing societies, has resulted in high inflation and a potentially catastrophic national debt. This will cause political perturbation as voters seek to find which of the two essentially identical parties will not behave like the other one. Unrest will grow. Trust abroad in the dollar will decrease.

[2] Enormous Trade Deficit.

America suffers from a massive and growing trade deficit, largely with China, about which nothing can be done, certainly not soon, because America no longer makes things it needs. Manufacturing cannot be brought back, excep perhaps in niche markets like semiconductors, because the US no longer has the necessary engineers and trained work force, and American labor costs more than Chinese, so reshoring would increase inflation. The importation of cheap Chinese products keeps inflation down,.

[3] Wall Street / Military seizing all the money.

The heavy flow of national wealth into Wall Street and the military in addition to offshoring has led to real poverty in Appalachia, the Rust Belt, and the rural Deep South. This has produced some 100,000 opioid deaths annually in despairing populations. Simultaneously large and growing homeless aggregations appear in LA, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, St. Louis, on and on, estimated at 60,000 in LA and 50,000 in New York, making the subways dangerous. Bush world conditions presumably do not make for political stability, as neither does the governmental inattention to them.

[4] Massive Crime

Crime is out of control, not a sign of a healthy polity. Some 700 homicides annually in Chicago, 300 in Baltimore, and similar numbers elsewhere are now routine, almost all of the killers and killed being black. To countries like Japan and South Korea this must seem barbaric. The situation is not First World.

[5] Racial Problems

America’s racial problem is grave. The southern border is open, the southwestern states either majority Latino or soon to be. This is not as bad as it could be as the races seem to get along, but it imposes heavy economic and other costs. At the same time across the country cities have huge black ghettos with appalling semiliteracy, no prospects for the young, all of this apparently irremediable. Racial attacks on whites and Asians grow in number and so, almost everywhere, do racial killings, mostly by blacks. Governments at all levels fear blacks who they know will burn cities if provoked, which leads tax bases to flee from cities, making things worse.

This adds to potentially explosive resentment. There is a substantial White Nationalist movement, that wants no non-whites in America (a bit late for this), Republican Chambers of Commerce, that want more illegal Latinos for the cheap labor but won’t say so, and the high-tech sector, which wants more East Asian and Indian immigrants on which America, with a failing educational system, increasingly depends.

The Overall Prognosis is Poor

Overall, government is weak, unable to prevent crime, riots, and looting.

Washington does not control, but is controlled, being a storefront operation for special interests.

Elections do not change policy but only the division of the spoils.

Presidents perform their three essential duties, protecting Wall Street, Israel, and the military budget, but not much else.

Schooling is being dumbed down in stark contrast with China.

Excellence everywhere is discouraged in the name of equity. Native white talent dwindles in the elite schools, from high-end high schools through CalTech, as Asian majorities predominate.

Measures of talent, such as SATs and Medcats, are dropped or downplayed. English grammar and arithmetic are dropped as racist.

None of this seems likely to improve America’s future competitiveness.

Finally, the media are controlled.

This allows Washington freedom of action abroad as enough of the public will believe anything they are told by television (The Russians are coming, the Chinese are coming, the Iranians are coming, the Guatemalans….)

Internally censorship may keep the lid on, for now anyway, by keeping enough of the population from knowing what is going on.

By preventing discussion of problems, or their mention, it assures that nothing will be done.

I suspect this is having the effect of winding a spring.

Where is all of this leading?

Biden is playing as if this were 1960 and the US enjoyed rock solid military and economic superiority and the population were firmly behind him.

This is the world he remembers, being an aging cold warrior. He seems to believe that he consequently can do what he pleases with no repercussions for America. This may be true, or true enough. Perhaps he believes that Russia will collapse in domestic rebellion or simply surrender to the US.

It is not how I would bet.

But—and this is sheer speculation—it is not clear what would happen if Russia cut off gas and petroleum and wheat and such things as neon gas from Europe.

The West is accustomed to bombing remote countries, not to going without.

Would Russia collapse under privation before Europe decided it wanted to trade with Moscow after all?

If Biden and the hawks decide to play hardball with China, they may realize that America is an economic dependency of Beijing. If—again, very hypothetically—China cut off all trade with America, the US economy would die instantly.

Almost everything on American shelves is made in China.

An American public already very unhappy would explode, which it is on the point of doing for various reasons.

Reflect on the Floyd riots.

China would be hurt, but it has other markets and a nationalistic population more united than the American.

Them’s my thoughts, probably worth what you pay for them.

Speaking of China…

Declining empires and their ‘forever wars’? “As the US and NATO struggle to deal with the unfolding crisis in Ukraine, China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, has issued a warning to the Biden administration not to repeat the mistakes made in Europe by attempting to create a Pacific version of NATO to contain and constrain China.

He’s talking about the QUAD.

He’s talking about AUKUS.

Calling such plans “perverse actions” that “run counter to the common aspiration of the region for peace, development, cooperation and win-win outcomes,” Wang declared that if they were implemented by the US, “they are doomed to fail.”
– https://lnkd.in/eAJKmwJG

More excerpts:

◉ The Chinese concerns are not imaginary, but rather drawn from a direct reading of the guidance published by the Biden administration in the Spring of 2021.

◉ A plain reading of that text clearly shows that the US was pursuing a NATO-like alliance in the Pacific solely focused on the issue of “holding China to account.”

It is in this light that one must view partnerships such as the “QUAD”, a military partnership between the US, Japan, India, and Australia, and the newly constituted AUKUS alliance composed of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the US.

Both the QUAD, and AUKUS organizations exist solely to coordinate a military response to China’s presence in the Pacific region.

◉ “Wang also criticized the US for expanding its ties, including military cooperation and weapons sales, with Taiwan.

◉ Such policies, Wang warned, “not only push Taiwan into a precarious situation, but will also bring unbearable consequences for the US side,”

◉ Wang clearly stated, “Taiwan will eventually return to the embrace of the motherland.”

◉ Many experts and observers were surprised by Russia’s decision to intervene militarily in Ukraine. When it comes to China’s readiness to go to war over Taiwan, there should be no such uncertainty.

◉ “The Russian side reaffirms its support for the One-China principle, confirms that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and opposes any forms of independence of Taiwan,” it reads.

The fact that Russia signed on to such a statement knowing full well that China had committed to the use of military force to defend its claims regarding Taiwan underscores the seriousness of the Russian-Sino joint statement.

◉ China knows that any military action against Taiwan would bring with it economic retaliation on the part of the US and its allies.

◉ Like Russia, however, China holds significant cards in its hand, and any Western effort to punish it with economic sanctions would bring about a response which could cripple the economies of those targeted.

◉China has already developed an anti-sanction law, that automatically goes into action once a sanction is imposed. It was specifically written with the United States in mind.

Moreover, any military action against Taiwan would, in and of itself, have dire economic consequences for the United States, especially in the field of semiconductor manufacturing.

Any military conflict involving Taiwan would have a crippling impact on the American military electronics market, dependent as it is on the computer chips produced by Taiwan.

This is simply becuase ALL of the American military and high-technology IC chips have been outsourced to Taiwan. It is the sole and only source of supply for American military integrated electronics.

How will a war in Taiwan affect the global consumer market? The effect would be negligible. The vast majority of IC chips are already produced in the Chinese mainland.

What about the USD?

The movement to de-dollarize will be unstoppable and one of the lasting impacts of this war, not just rogue states, but US allies will also join in.

This must-read article in Foreign Affairs is a sobering read on de-dollarization as is this supporting article on sanctions in Quartz (https://bit.ly/3pN9Rfb)

When I started writing about de-dollarization almost three years ago I was widely considered a “Cassandra.”

I now have good company believing this, but admit that I take no joy in writing about a process artificially accelerated by the inhumanity of war.

So here’s what is at risk, from FA:

“These punitive sanctions may also backfire in another way. Biden’s flexing of American economic muscle will only embolden Russia and other US rivals, notably China, to deprive the US of the very power that makes sanctions so devastating.”

“Russia and China will expedite initiatives to “de-dollarize” their economies, building alternative financial institutions and structures that both protect themselves from sanctions and threaten the US dollar’s status as the world’s dominant currency.”

What is driving this is sanction fatigue, from Quartz:

“[Sanctions are] economic warfare at an unprecedented level. It’s true that, over the past decade, the global use of sanctions has exploded to the point of making them routine.”

With sanctions now “routine” nations are questioning their commitment to the dollar. It isn’t because they bear ill-will toward America but see reducing dollar dependence as “risk management.” They also see it as a way to bolster the use of their own currencies so are creating CBDCs.

Pushing the issue will be the global impact on food and energy prices from the unprecedented size of Russian sanctions (Quartz):

“But most of the time, [sanctions] are much narrower—aimed at certain individuals, institutions, or industries—or applied over a much longer timeline, or against a much smaller economy, as in the case of Iran. The speed, scale, and sweeping nature of the Russian sanctions make them the equivalent of an economic blitzkrieg.”

Now a stunning admission from the FA:

“Deteriorating U.S.-Chinese relations incentivize Beijing to join with Moscow in building a -credible- global financial system that excludes the US. Such a system will attract countries under US sanctions. It would even appeal to major US allies who hope to promote their own currencies to the detriment of the dollar.”

And that is the part that is inevitable, this new bi-polar financial system will appeal to US allies!

It should not be seen as a litmus test of friend or foe but instead “whose money offers the better deal?”

The US cannot reverse this change, and it will lead to a weakening of its global standing.

And so it is happening

And there’s many others.

The collapse of the USD as a “reserve currency” is nearing the end. It is collapsing vry fast. And will collapse even faster once the hyper inflation of the $30 trillion dollar bubble manifests, on top of the sanctions.

This will spell out many changes to the lifestyles of those that live in the West, and the nations that maintain trade and use of the USD.

The lifestyle of those in the West is about to change…

Now, you cannot say that you have been warned. But, Jeeze! You were. You all should have listened to Mr. Putin when he said “if you put your fucking nukes on my border, I will be forced to use military-technical measures”.

Sheech!

So when you are paying your $54 / gallon of gas to drive to the fast food resturant to buy your $200 hamburger (minus cheese), don’t go a calling me a “Putin Puppet”. You all brought this fiasco upon yourselves. Suck it up with a big toothy smile, your wishes came true, you mindless oafs.

The true and real actual United States GDP is about to come crashing down, and Americans will start living like trailer park trash in the rural hills of Kentucky. And that’s just the way it is.

I stand by my belief that theres more things down the pipe. Never forget about who you are all dealing with…

Illustrations depicting society life by Stephan Schmitz 55 New Pics 60f1374e7f90e 700 — America vs China.

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Howard Pyle’s illustrations of Blood-Thirsty Buccaneers and Cut-Throat Marauders

When I was a boy, my father bought me this used hard-cover book.

I was in the bedroom, playing around. He came home from work, and handed me the book. Stuck around a while, and then back downstairs. I way a young boy. Maybe eleven years old.

I loved the illustrations in it. They were well done, beautiful, really. I treasured that book. And I kept it with me for years and years until I was “retired”, and my belongings sold by my “friends” and “family” for what ever profit they could derive from our relationship.

2022 03 11 10 25 1 — *Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates*.

Later, as I got older, I realized what I once had. Sigh.

It’s called life.

Today, we will visit the beautiful illustrations of pirates and buccaneers that so colored my childhood with adventure, treasure and high piracy on the seven seas.

Pyle created images which made the public buy a magazine or a book for its cover alone.

Vincent Van Gogh admitted to his brother Theo, he was struck “dumb with admiration” when he saw Howard Pyle’s illustrations in a magazine. Pyle (1853-1911) was the top American illustrator circa 1880-1910. His work made top moolah pulling in five times the going rate or $75 for a double-page spread in Harper’s Bizarre, 1878.

Pyle created images which made the public buy a magazine or a book for its cover alone. In modern parlance: his work was cinematic, powerful, and dramatic. If he’d been born a few decades later, Pyle may have been a film director. He used strange angles to look down on battle scenes or cast figures centre frame while mayhem occurred all around. He sketched deserted figures in a landscape which explained the whole narrative in a single frame.

When I, as a boy of perhaps 11 or 12 was given the Book of Pirates by my father, I was enthralled.

The book was a collection of popular pirate stories, which mostly centered around brave non-pirates who crossed paths with an infamous pirate and yet who lived to tell the tale.

Sure, they were very romanticized stories focusing on the more adventurous side of piracy than the true aspect of it (though the sacking and slaughter of entire towns is mentioned, just not in gory detail). But for me, as a young boy, I found it all to be an enjoyable, quick read.

Pyle was born in Wilmington, Delaware. His parents early recognised his prodigious talent for drawing and painting. They encouraged him to focus on developing this talent. He was lucky he got sent to a private school which fostered his genius.

08 HOWARD PYLE KIDD WATCHES PIRATES BURY TREASURE

When he first moved to New York to become a magazine illustrator, he had no idea how to sell himself. He needn’t have worried.

One glance by the editor of Pyle’s artistry pulled in commissions.

He was soon illustrating books like the The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood which created the imagery we are all familiar with today. Or books about knights in shining armour like Men of Iron and Otto of the Silver Hand.

Publishers would hire Pyle knowing no matter how trashy the novel, Pyle’s artwork would make it a hit.

In the 1890s, Pyle, by then married with seven kids, was asked to teach drawing at university.

This led him to set up the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art in 1900. His school launched a whole new generation of artists who shaped the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

As a young boy, when I read the book, what really stood out were the absolutely stunning and beautiful illustrations throughout the book. Looking at them, you could smell the rum, fish and cannon powder and hear the ocean and gun shots.

Pyle’s imagination created a universal template for pirates.

Every book, magazine, and Hollywood film used Pyle’s illustrations of pirates to dress Errol Flynn as Captain Blood or Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow.

What is not well know, however, is that once he mastered his work, he turned to teaching others in his technique.

Howard Pyle was an instructor at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University) from 1894-1900, and in that time, he taught a generation of celebrated illustrators including, Maxfield Parrish, Jessie Wilcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Frank E. Schoonover, and Violet Oakley.

More than 20 oil paintings will hang in the Paul Peck Gallery, including Howard Pyle’s “Here, Andre! A Spy! (1897)” on display with a variety of works on paper, as well as accompanying artifacts.

A majority of the exhibit will be presented in the Paul Peck Alumni Center, which is a historic Frank Furness designed building itself.

Some of the featured original paintings and drawings decorated American homes during their time period — also gracing the covers of publications such as Ladies’ Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post.

“A.J. Drexel founded the Drexel Institute in 1891, and when he died, he made it clear that his vision should be accessible to men and women from all backgrounds, which was unique for a college of that time period,” said Paula Marantz Cohen, Pennoni Honors College dean.

“Pyle’s time at Drexel undoubtedly shaped the field of American Illustration. He was an early parallel advocate of Drexel’s philosophy of ‘learning by doing’ encouraging his students to go out into the world to study their subject matter, an approach reflected in Drexel’s present-day Co-op program.

Not long after Drexel’s founding, Philadelphia’s publishing industry took off — greatly influencing Pyle’s artistic philosophy.

Pyle honored Drexel’s mission of experiential, democratic learning. His influences greatly contributed to illustrative painting and drawing becoming one of the truest forms of applied art.

He taught his students to be practical and commercially focused by observing reality first-hand.

020 HOWARD PYLE DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES 1280x900 1 — 020 HOWARD PYLE DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES 1280×900 1

“Today everyone knows the name Norman Rockwell but few people know the name Howard Pyle, let alone his art or his impact on generations of artists and American illustration,” says Judy Goffman Cutler, co-founder of the National Museum of American Illustration.

After his death from Bright’s disease in 1911, a giant compilation of Pyle’s illustrations of swashbuckling buccaneers was published under the title Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates.

It became a go-to-book for Hollywood costumiers and pulp fiction illustrators when conjuring up those daring pirates of the seven seas.

The book that I dedicate this entire article towards is a formula for (almost) every piece of swashbuckling fiction, namely scarred pirate captains, roguish and witty surogates, forced romance and the triumph of the just and lawful citizen whose virtue is rewarded with oh-so-fairly-gained and definitely-not-tainted-by-piracy wealth.

It’s perfect fodder for the young boy in all of us, and yes, you girls too.

Many pirates were women. And I hear that many of them were absolutely ruthless.

I lament that I lost the book to someone who found more pleasure in getting the fifty cents from a used book store from it, than any real value. To others, I suppose it’s just an item to profit from. Not one that held value. For me, the greatest pleasures of this book are the occasional descriptions that place you on a ship or an island, where you can briefly feel yourself bobbing over the swells or smell the brine.

The illustrations in the book are phenomenal, and it reads like you are at the bar or a pub during a rainy day and your friend is recounting a story his grandfather once told him.

Here’s an excerpt from the book…

Then the pirates marched into the town, and what followed may be conceived. It was a holocaust of lust, of passion, and of blood such as even the Spanish West Indies had never seen before. Houses and churches were sacked until nothing was left but the bare walls; men and women were tortured to compel them to disclose where more treasure lay hidden.

Then, having wrenched all that they could from Maracaibo, they entered the lake and descended upon Gibraltar, where the rest of the panic-stricken inhabitants were huddled together in a blind terror.

014 HOWARD PYLE THE TREASURE WAS DIVIDED 1280x871 1 — 014 HOWARD PYLE THE TREASURE WAS DIVIDED 1280×871 1

I will admit that the writing style is old and not easy for all of us used to contemporaneous feeds.

After him came one Mansvelt, a buccaneer of lesser note, who first made a descent upon the isle of Saint Catharine, now Old Providence, which he took, and, with this as a base, made an unsuccessful descent upon Neuva Granada and Cartagena. His name might not have been handed down to us along with others of greater fame had he not been the master of that most apt of pupils, the great Captain Henry Morgan, most famous of all the buccaneers, one time governor of Jamaica, and knighted by King Charles II.

But for a young boy of eleven the stories were rich and ripe of adventure…

The attack of the castle and the defense of it were equally fierce, bloody, and desperate. Again and again the buccaneers assaulted, and again and again they were beaten back. So the morning came, and it seemed as though the pirates had been baffled this time. But just at this juncture the thatch of palm leaves on the roofs of some of the buildings inside the fortifications took fire, a conflagration followed, which caused the explosion of one of the magazines, and in the paralysis of terror that followed, the pirates forced their way into the fortifications, and the castle was won. Most of the Spaniards flung themselves from the castle walls into the river or upon the rocks beneath, preferring death to capture and possible torture; many who were left were put to the sword, and some few were spared and held as prisoners.

With the text and the illustrations, as well as the swash-buckling battles, it was a great escapist adventure for me to live out my boyhood dreams.

As for the bulls, as many of them as were shot served as food there and then for the half-famished pirates, for the buccaneers were never more at home than in the slaughter of cattle.

Then they marched toward the city. Three hours' more fighting and they were in the streets, howling, yelling, plundering, gorging, dram-drinking, and giving full vent to all the vile and nameless lusts that burned in their hearts like a hell of fire. And now followed the usual sequence of events—rapine, cruelty, and extortion; only this time there was no town to ransom, for Morgan had given orders that it should be destroyed. The torch was set to it, and Panama, one of the greatest cities in the New World, was swept from the face of the earth. Why the deed was done, no man but Morgan could tell. Perhaps it was that all the secret hiding places for treasure might be brought to light; but whatever the reason was, it lay hidden in the breast of the great buccaneer himself. For three weeks Morgan and his men abode in this dreadful place; and they marched away with one hundred and seventy-five beasts of burden loaded with treasures of gold and silver and jewels, besides great quantities of merchandise, and six hundred prisoners held for ransom.

Whatever became of all that vast wealth, and what it amounted to, no man but Morgan ever knew, for when a division was made it was found that there was only two hundred pieces of eight to each man.

The rest of them sailed away to the East Indies, to try their fortunes in those waters, for our Captain Avary was of a high spirit, and had no mind to fritter away his time in the West Indies, squeezed dry by buccaneer Morgan and others of lesser note. No, he would make a bold stroke for it at once, and make or lose at a single cast.

On his way he picked up a couple of like kind with himself—two sloops off Madagascar. With these he sailed away to the coast of India, and for a time his name was lost in the obscurity of uncertain history. But only for a time, for suddenly it flamed out in a blaze of glory. It was reported that a vessel belonging to the Great Mogul, laden with treasure and bearing the monarch's own daughter upon a holy pilgrimage to Mecca (they being Mohammedans), had fallen in with the pirates, and after a short resistance had been surrendered, with the damsel, her court, and all the diamonds, pearls, silk, silver, and gold aboard. It was rumored that the Great Mogul, raging at the insult offered to him through his own flesh and blood, had threatened to wipe out of existence the few English settlements scattered along the coast; whereat the honorable East India Company was in a pretty state of fuss and feathers. Rumor, growing with the telling, has it that Avary is going to marry the Indian princess, willy-nilly, and will turn rajah, and eschew piracy as indecent. As for the treasure itself, there was no end to the extent to which it grew as it passed from mouth to mouth.

And now Blackbeard, following the plan adopted by so many others of his kind, began to cudgel his brains for means to cheat his fellows out of their share of the booty.

At Topsail Inlet he ran his own vessel aground, as though by accident. Hands, the captain of one of the consorts, pretending to come to his assistance, also grounded his sloop. Nothing now remained but for those who were able to get away in the other craft, which was all that was now left of the little fleet. This did Blackbeard with some forty of his favorites. The rest of the pirates were left on the sand spit to await the return of their companions—which never happened.

As for Blackbeard and those who were with him, they were that much richer, for there were so many the fewer pockets to fill. But even yet there were too many to share the booty, in Blackbeard's opinion, and so he marooned a parcel more of them—some eighteen or twenty—upon a naked sand bank, from which they were afterward mercifully rescued by another freebooter who chanced that way—a certain Major Stede Bonnet, of whom more will presently be said. About that time a royal proclamation had been issued offering pardon to all pirates in arms who would surrender to the king's authority before a given date. So up goes Master Blackbeard to the Governor of North Carolina and makes his neck safe by surrendering to the proclamation—albeit he kept tight clutch upon what he had already gained.

It was a glorious thing for our captain, for here were thirteen Yankee crafts at one and the same time. So he took what he wanted, and then sailed away, and it was many a day before Marblehead forgot that visit.

Some time after this he and his consort fell foul of an English sloop of war, the Greyhound, whereby they were so roughly handled that Low was glad enough to slip away, leaving his consort and her crew behind him, as a sop to the powers of law and order. And lucky for them if no worse fate awaited them than to walk the dreadful plank with a bandage around the blinded eyes and a rope around the elbows. So the consort was taken, and the crew tried and hanged in chains, and Low sailed off in as pretty a bit of rage as ever a pirate fell into.

The end of this worthy is lost in the fogs of the past: some say that he died of a yellow fever down in New Orleans; it was not at the end of a hempen cord, more's the pity.

The cheat was kept up until the fruit of mischief was ripe for the picking; then, when the governor and the guards of the castle were lulled into entire security, and when Davis's band was scattered about wherever each man could do the most good, it was out pistol, up cutlass, and death if a finger moved. They tied the soldiers back to back, and the governor to his own armchair, and then rifled wherever it pleased them. After that they sailed away, and though they had not made the fortune they had hoped to glean, it was a good snug round sum that they shared among them.

Their courage growing high with success, they determined to attempt the island of Del Principe—a prosperous Portuguese settlement on the coast. The plan for taking the place was cleverly laid, and would have succeeded, only that a Portuguese negro among the pirate crew turned traitor and carried the news ashore to the governor of the fort. Accordingly, the next day, when Captain Davis came ashore, he found there a good strong guard drawn up as though to honor his coming. But after he and those with him were fairly out of their boat, and well away from the water side, there was a sudden rattle of musketry, a cloud of smoke, and a dull groan or two. Only one man ran out from under that pungent cloud, jumped into the boat, and rowed away; and when it lifted, there lay Captain Davis and his companions all of a heap, like a pile of old clothes.

Capt. Bartholomew Roberts was the particular and especial pupil of Davis, and when that worthy met his death so suddenly and so unexpectedly in the unfortunate manner above narrated, he was chosen unanimously as the captain of the fleet, and he was a worthy pupil of a worthy master. Many were the poor fluttering merchant ducks that this sea hawk swooped upon and struck; and cleanly and cleverly were they plucked before his savage clutch loosened its hold upon them.

Not a word was spoken after they had thus left the shore, and presently they might all have been ghosts, for the silence of the party. Barnaby True was too full of his own thoughts to talk—and serious enough thoughts they were by this time, with crimps to trepan a man at every turn, and press gangs to carry a man off so that he might never be heard of again. As for the others, they did not seem to choose to say anything now that they had him fairly embarked upon their enterprise.

And so the crew pulled on in perfect silence for the best part of an hour, the leader of the expedition directing the course of the boat straight across the harbor, as though toward the mouth of the Rio Cobra River. Indeed, this was their destination, as Barnaby could after a while see, by the low point of land with a great long row of coconut palms upon it (the appearance of which he knew very well), which by and by began to loom up out of the milky dimness of the moonlight. As they approached the river they found the tide was running strong out of it, so that some distance away from the stream it gurgled and rippled alongside the boat as the crew of black men pulled strongly against it. Thus they came up under what was either a point of land or an islet covered with a thick growth of mangrove trees. But still no one spoke a single word as to their destination, or what was the business they had in hand.

The night, now that they were close to the shore, was loud with the noise of running tide-water, and the air was heavy with the smell of mud and marsh, and over all the whiteness of the moonlight, with a few stars pricking out here and there in the sky; and all so strange and silent and mysterious that Barnaby could not divest himself of the feeling that it was all a dream.

So, the rowers bending to the oars, the boat came slowly around from under the clump of mangrove bushes and out into the open water again.

There he lay for I know not how long, staring into the darkness, until by and by, in spite of his suffering and his despair, he dozed off into a loose sleep, that was more like waking than sleep, being possessed continually by the most vivid and distasteful dreams, from which he would awaken only to doze off and to dream again.

It was from the midst of one of these extravagant dreams that he was suddenly aroused by the noise of a pistol shot, and then the noise of another and another, and then a great bump and a grinding jar, and then the sound of many footsteps running across the deck and down into the great cabin. Then came a tremendous uproar of voices in the great cabin, the struggling as of men's bodies being tossed about, striking violently against the partitions and bulkheads. At the same instant arose a screaming of women's voices, and one voice, and that Sir John Malyoe's, crying out as in the greatest extremity: "You villains! You damned villains!" and with the sudden detonation of a pistol fired into the close space of the great cabin.

Barnaby was out in the middle of his cabin in a moment, and taking only time enough to snatch down one of the pistols that hung at the head of his berth, flung out into the great cabin, to find it as black as night, the lantern slung there having been either blown out or dashed out into darkness. The prodigiously dark space was full of uproar, the hubbub and confusion pierced through and through by that keen sound of women's voices screaming, one in the cabin and the other in the stateroom beyond. Almost immediately Barnaby pitched headlong over two or three struggling men scuffling together upon the deck, falling with a great clatter and the loss of his pistol, which, however, he regained almost immediately.

What all the uproar meant he could not tell, but he presently heard Captain Manly's voice from somewhere suddenly calling out, "You bloody pirate, would you choke me to death?" wherewith some notion of what had happened came to him like a flash, and that they had been attacked in the night by pirates.

The vessel in which they sailed was a brigantine of good size and build, but manned by a considerable crew, the most strange and outlandish in their appearance that Barnaby had ever beheld—some white, some yellow, some black, and all tricked out with gay colors, and gold earrings in their ears, and some with great long mustachios, and others with handkerchiefs tied around their heads, and all talking a language together of which Barnaby True could understand not a single word, but which might have been Portuguese from one or two phrases he caught. Nor did this strange, mysterious crew, of God knows what sort of men, seem to pay any attention whatever to Barnaby or to the young lady. They might now and then have looked at him and her out of the corners of their yellow eyes, but that was all; otherwise they were indeed like the creatures of a nightmare dream. Only he who was the captain of this outlandish crew would maybe speak to Barnaby a few words as to the weather or what not when he would come down into the saloon to mix a glass of grog or to light a pipe of tobacco, and then to go on deck again about his business. Otherwise our hero and the young lady were left to themselves, to do as they pleased, with no one to interfere with them.

As for her, she at no time showed any great sign of terror or of fear, only for a little while was singularly numb and quiet, as though dazed with what had happened to her. Indeed, methinks that wild beast, her grandfather, had so crushed her spirit by his tyranny and his violence that nothing that happened to her might seem sharp and keen, as it does to others of an ordinary sort.

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Book of Pirates

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A first-hand experience at the starvation and famine in Shenzhen China by the Chinese CCP regime

Not the kind of title that you would expect from me, eh?

I woke up on Wednesday and found this article posted all over my LinkedIN feed. It’s from ZeroHedge, and discusses famine, starvation, disunity, sadness, in the evil gloom that lies under the shadow of the evil Chinese communist regime. The article goes to great lengths to describe a hopeless population, upset but powerless, to deal with on-going famine and the massive corruption of the CCP regime.

Here’s the article…

Well, I own a home in Shenzhen, and live across the bay from it. Everyday, I’m here, either looking at Shenzhen, or visiting it.

That’s what happens when you live next to a big city. You do know it’s population is 14 million people. That’s easily three times the size of New York City.

My relatives who live “on the island” (Long Island) feel the same way about “THE City” (New York).

Anyways. I live next door to Shenzhen, and own homes in Shenzhen. I visit it often, and I live right across the bay. From my living room, I can see the gleaming skyscrapers and glimmering light off the water.

I live in the Shenzhen region.

I live in the very place this article is written about.

It is now March. The same date and time when the article was written.

The purpose of this article is to present videos to show what life is like in Shenzhen, and the neighboring areas under the evil repressive Chinese communist regime. Especially, and most notably, at the time that this article was written and published.

I think videos do better than some text written by a moron who doesn’t even realize that it doesn’t even snow in Shenzhen. Never has. Never will. It’s a fucking tropical area. Sheech!

Snow?

Blizzard? Give me a break!

Shenzhen?

It’s tropical.

When was the last time it snowed in Hawaii? Sheech!

So I went and took videos all week to illustrate what it is like in the Shenzhen – Zhuhai area; my home.

We start with food. After all, that’s what the article is all about. It’s about a lack of food, resulting in starvation, followed by famine.

Food

There is no famine.

No starvation anywhere in China. And certainly NOT in Shenzhen.

I swear, Western “news reports” have morphed into fantasy / science fiction episodes with very little resemblance to reality. I am convinced that they are handed a bullet-list of bad things to say about China, and then write a fantasy narrative based upon the bad things.

It’s got to be exactly that.

No other explanation is possible. Not even remotely.

Who is doing this? It must be the people, or entities, that pay them. Either a government, or an NGO aligned “fake” pseudo organization. It must be. It takes time, and effort to write these articles. They just don’t magically appear out of the air.

I took all of these videos the SAME WEEK that this “news” report wrote about starvation in the Shenzhen / China area. I filmed in different middle-class restaurants throughout this general region. (You can tell by the different dishes and tablecloths.) None of these meals were overly expensive. Just typical middle-class Chinese fare.

Since I don’t eat at Fast Food, you won’t see any videos of the fast food franchises that are big here in China. Sorry, but it’s not my thing. I tend to eat at home, and then go out once or twice a day to a nice, reasonably priced restaurant. So I didn’t change my routine. Just filmed the food to show that there is no starvation, nor famine.

Pork with peppers and bitter melon. Very delicious. I ate this in one of the many local malls. Sorry for the noise, it like the rest of China, are filled with many people enjoying their time eating delicious food. video 26MB

Very Spicy Beef. Here’s a different restaurant. This one specializes in beef. Very delicious. video 31MB

Chinese Sloppy Joe and a fine wide noodle salad. All so very delicious. You can see why I have gained so much weight since I moved to China, eh? video 35MB

Stuffed Baozi with vegetables. Very delicious. I love the meat versions, especially the pork version. This was particularly delicious. video 53MB

Some Chinese vegetarian food. All good and healthy. Tasty too, but you know guys, I do love my meats. LOL. video 42MB

Handmade noodles with peanuts. Very, very delicious. I think most of my American readership would love these food dishes. Too bad you cannot get them out in the States. Just here in China. video 36MB

Guys. You DO KNOW, that if there were REAL famine and REAL starvation, you would not see meals like this anywhere. In a nation with a population of 1.4 billion people, you would be overwhelmed.

Even posting pictures on the (so called anonymous) internet would get you targeted. In China, no one is isolated, and no one is alone. We are all connected together.

Toys – Legos

Here are some videos that I took in a toy store. These are Chinese Lego’s. Same lovely Lego brand, only marketed to the Chinese. Interesting cultural differences, eh?

Military Lego kits. If I were still a boy, I would really enjoy playing with these Legos. Especially the DF-41, and the J-20. video 31MB

Chinese Harbin Ice Festival. There are all sorts of fascinating Chinese-themed Legos for the local markets. And of course, since the Chinese have so many things to celebrate, the diversity of the products are pretty intriguing. video 30MB

Starving girls in Shenzhen

All of these girls live in Shenzhen. According to my untrained eyes, these girls don’t look like they are starving, unhappy or desirous of regime change for democracy™. I guess that I am not so good at picking out starving, hungry waifs like the BBC, FOX “news” and CNN are.

But what do I know? I only live here, and I have never seen anyone starve. And I’ve been living here or nearly twenty years.

But I am not a qualified “journalist”. I guess that to qualify, you must accept money from a Western government, and then write to their narrative. There are many who have “sold their souls” for some gold coins and baubles. It has generated a small cottege industry. Don’t you know.

No one is starving.

I think much of it has to do with the fact that the Chinese government believe that food is a natural Right, and makes sure that it is plentiful and cheap. This is considered a REAL Right.

Not the psuedo “Rights” like the United States has. You know a Right with exceptions…

Freedom of Speech… controlled by the FCC, and Tech-oligarchy.
Right to bear arms… restricted by the government agency ATF.
Ninth Amendment… restricted by the FDA, FCC, NSA, and many, many others.
Tenth amendment…dead. A worthless, meaningless, phrase.

China believes that a fundamental Right is FUNDAMENTAL.

Of course, you’d never hear about that in the Western “news”. In that for-profit cesspool, everything comes at a price. It’s a land with a million tiny hands in your wallet.

Let’s look at the starving waifs yearning for freedom™ and democracy™…

We start with this slightly whisp of a lady…

video 2MB

And here’s the second gal. Love that fine tan dress. I like how it moves. You can tell that she’s hungry. After all, look at the sad and forlorn expression on her face.

video 1MB

Here’s a girl being sexy in the kitchen. Sorry that you can only see her backside. But I guess you might think that she is starving because she is not obese like so many American women. But that’s just cultural. The Chinese eat far better, healthier, and have far less stress than their American counterparts. video 5MB

Here’s another girl. She’s considered to be fat. In China, due to the diet, and perhaps genetics, the fat tends to go to the chest area, not to the stomach. As us, Americans and Europeans must deal with. I really think that the fact that GMOs are banned in China has a lot to do with it. video 2MB

This woman has great posture. I really cannot see the kind of starvation that resembles hunger like I saw when I lived in Pennsylvania. There, at that time, people couldn’t afford food, and with the collapse of the steel industry, many had to make due. They would fish, and eat rabbit, and other things to keep their bellies full. I’m not seeing it in China. Sorry. video 6MB

Elementary / kindergarten teacher. I suppose that this girl is borderline starving. You can tell by her sunken ass-cheeks and lack of stomach.

She reminds me of the many friends that I made when I first arrived in China. Many girls. Many dates. Many fun times.

But I must tell you, we all ate very well, and no one was starving. video 1.5MB

Life in Shenzhen / Nanshan / Zhuhai

Various “home” videos taken by myself. All in Shenzhen, and Zhuhai. All that I took with my fine four-year-old Huawei cellphone camera, with DouXing editing and music. Enjoy…

Afternoon outside my office. Video 11MB

Along the beach road. If you look at the water, you can see Shenzhen on the horizon. video 11MB

Riding the subway in Shenzhen. video 11MB

A view of the Shenzhen-Zhuhai-HK-Macao bridge. It’s that long bridge in the background. video 11MB

At the ferry port from Shenzhen to Zhuhai. This view is taken on the second floor of the Shenzhen side, where you go to the kiosks to get your tickets. video 11MB

One of our photo shoots. This was taken a few months ago. For you newbies, yea MM does photoshoots. It’s all a part of the affirmation campaigns along with thought direction for manifested reality, don’t you know.

Anyways, do these people look like they are starving and desirous for democracy™ and freedom™? video 26MB

Eating dinner in a small local restaurant at night. Friends, and family. That’s little mm playing with the cell phone. Oh, I’m so bad. Don’t worry, it was for less than 20 minutes. video 44MB

Here’s what it is like riding a bus at night. Do these people look like they are ready to revolt against the evil CCP regime? Sheech! You have got to be an idiot to believe the anti-China narrative. video 65MB

Prekindergarten education. Learning starts at two years old in China. Then there’s kindergarten, followed by elementary school, and military training, and into the pipe with middle school and upwards. video 45MB

What it is like on the streets. After all, the picture that is being sent to millions of people is snowy winter Shenzhen filled with unhappy and starving Chinese. So what’s the real story? video 2MB

Conclusion

Most “news” out of the collective West (in this case referring to China) are nothing more than made-up, fabricated lies. Lies that have no resemblance to the truth.

It’s a well-funded (to 5 billion dollars) effort (by the United States federal budget) to demonize China to the point where all Westerners (and most especially Americans) are filled with hate and loathing towards China.

This is for a build up for a major war.

Make no mistake. The USA is on a War-footing. A war, that the United States expects to win. For, after all, everyone knows, that it is exceptional™.

You don’t have to believe me.

But here it is.

This is what it is like. This is what China is like in Early March 2022, while articles on Gab, Zerohedge, Free Republic, and FOX regurgitate the “starving Chinese” lies.

This is the real deal, and no, I am not “brainwashed by the evil CCP”. Sheech! And no, I don’t live in exclusive areas. This is what it is like.

Lower-middle class life.

In Shenzhen / Zhuhai China. Real deal reporting. Real home-made videos. Real experiences. Real thoughts, and real reporting. All for free.

Soak it in and take a good, hard look at what “news” you read. Becuase if one simple thing like this can be distorted and twisted out of reality, what else can be? Eh?

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my China Index here…

China

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Law 39 of the 48 Laws of Power; Stir up waters to catch fish

This is law 39 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

This is the essence of the Law: When the waters are still, your opponents have the time and space to plot actions that they will initiate and control. So stir the waters, force the fish to the surface, get them to act before they are ready, steal the initiative. The best way to do this is to play on uncontrollable emotions—pride, vanity, love, hate.
Angry people end up looking ridiculous. It is comical how much they take personally, and more comical how they belief that outbursts signify power.
We should not repress our angry or emotional responses, but rather that realize in the social realm, and the game of power, nothing is personal.
Reveal an apparent weakness to lure your opponent into action.
In the face of someone angry, nothing is more infuriating than someone who keeps his cool while others are losing theirs.
Note: do not provoke those who are too powerful.
There are times when a burst of anger can do good, but it must be manufactured and under your control.

LAW 39

STIR UP WATERS TO CATCH FISH

JUDGMENT

ITAKURA SHICEMUNE GRINDS HIS OWN TEA

The Kyoto Shoshidai ltakura Suwo-no-kami Shigemune was very fond of Cha-no-yu (the tea ceremony), and used to grind his own tea while sitting in the court as judge. And the reason was this. He once asked a friend of his who was his companion in Cha-no-yu, a tea merchant named Eiki, to tell him frankly what was the public opinion about him. “Well,” said Eiki, “they say that you get irritated with those who don’t give their evidence very clearly and scold them, and so people are afraid to

bring lawsuits before you and if they do, the truth does not come out.” “Ah, I am glad you have told me that,” replied Shigemune, “for now that I consider it, I have fallen into the habit of speaking sharply to people in this way, and no doubt humble folk

and those who are not ready in speech get flurried and are unable to put their case in the best light. I will see to it that this does not occur in the future.” So after this he had a tea mill placed before him in court and in front of it the paper-covered shoji were drawn to, and Shigemune sat behind them and ground the tea and thus kept his mind calm while he heard the cases. And he could easily see whether his composure was ruffied or not by looking at the tea, which would not fall evenly ground to the proper consistency if he got excited. And so justice was done impartially and people went away from his court satisfied.

CHA-NO-YU: THE JAPANESE TFA CEREMONY A. L. SADLER, 1962

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

In January of 1809, an agitated and anxious Napoleon hurried back to Paris from his Spanish wars. His spies and confidants had confirmed a rumor that his foreign minister Talleyrand had conspired against him with Fouché, the minister of police. Immediately on arriving in the capital the shocked emperor summoned his ministers to the palace. Following them into the meeting right after their arrival, he began pacing up and down, and started rambling vaguely about plotters working against him, speculators bringing down the stock market, legislators delaying his policies—and his own ministers undermining him.

As Napoleon talked, Talleyrand leaned on the mantelpiece, looking completely indifferent. Facing Talleyrand directly, Napoleon announced, “For these ministers, treason has begun when they permit themselves to doubt.” At the word “treason” the ruler expected his minister to be afraid. But Talleyrand only smiled, calm and bored.

The sight of a subordinate apparently serene in the face of charges that could get him hanged pushed Napoleon to the edge. There were ministers, he said, who wanted him dead, and he took a step closer to Talleyrand—who stared back at him unfazed. Finally Napoleon exploded. “You are a coward,” he screamed in Talleyrand’s face, “a man of no faith. Nothing is sacred to you. You would sell your own father. I have showered you with riches and yet there is nothing you would not do to hurt me.” The other ministers looked at each other in disbelief—they had never seen this fearless general, the conqueror of most of Europe, so unhinged.

“You deserve to be broken like glass,” Napoleon continued, stamping. “I have the power to do it, but I have too much contempt for you to bother. Why didn’t I have you hanged from the gates of the Tuileries? But there is still time for that.” Yelling, almost out of breath, his face red, his eyes bulging, he went on, “You, by the way, are nothing but shit in a silk stocking…. What about your wife? You never told me that San Carlos was your wife’s lover?” “Indeed, sire, it did not occur to me that this information had any bearing on Your Majesty’s glory or my own,” said Talleyrand calmly, completely unflustered. After a few more insults, Napoleon walked away. Talleyrand slowly crossed the room, moving with his characteristic limp. As an attendant helped him with his cloak, he turned to his fellow ministers (all afraid they would never see him again), and said, “What a pity, gentlemen, that so great a man should have such bad manners.”

Despite his anger, Napoleon did not arrest his foreign minister. He merely relieved him of his duties and banished him from the court, believing that for this man humiliation would be punishment enough. He did not realize that word had quickly spread of his tirade—of how the emperor had completely lost control of himself, and how Talleyrand had essentially humiliated him by maintaining his composure and dignity. A page had been turned: For the first time people had seen the great emperor lose his cool under fire. A feeling spread that he was on the way down. As Talleyrand later said, “This is the beginning of the end.”

Interpretation

This was indeed the beginning of the end. Waterloo was still six years ahead, but Napoleon was on a slow descent to defeat, crystallizing in 1812 with his disastrous invasion of Russia. Talleyrand was the first to see the signs of his decline, especially in the irrational war with Spain. Sometime in 1808, the minister decided that for the future peace of Europe, Napoleon had to go. And so he conspired with Fouché.

It is possible that the conspiracy was never anything more than a ploy—a device to push Napoleon over the edge. For it is hard to believe that two of the most practical men in history would only go halfway in their plotting. They may have been only stirring the waters, trying to goad Napoleon into a misstep. And indeed, what they got was the tantrum that laid out his loss of control for all to see. In fact, Napoleon’s soon-famous blowup that afternoon had a profoundly negative effect on his public image.

This is the problem with the angry response. At first it may strike fear and terror, but only in some, and as the days pass and the storm clears, other responses emerge— embarrassment and uneasiness about the shouter’s capacity for going out of control, and resentment of what has been said. Losing your temper, you always make unfair and exaggerated accusations. A few such tirades and people are counting the days until you are gone.

In the face of a conspiracy against him, a conspiracy between his two most important ministers, Napoleon certainly had a right to feel angry and anxious. But by responding so angrily, and so publicly, he only demonstrated his frustration. To show your frustration is to show that you have lost your power to shape events; it is the helpless action of the child who resorts to a hysterical fit to get his way. The powerful never reveal this kind of weakness.

There were a number of things Napoleon could have done in this situation. He could have thought about the fact that two eminently sensible men had had reason to turn against him, and could have listened and learned from them. He could have tried to win them back to him. He could even have gotten rid of them, making their imprisonment or death an ominous display of his power. No tirades, no childish fits, no embarrassing after-effects—just a quiet and definitive severing of ties.

Remember: Tantrums neither intimidate nor inspire loyalty. They only create doubts and uneasiness about your power. Exposing your weakness, these stormy eruptions often herald a fall.

If possible, no animosity should be felt for anyone.... To speak angrily to a person, to show your hatred by what you say or by the way you look, is an unnecessary proceeding-dangerous, foolish, ridiculous, and vulgar.

Anger or hatred should never be shown otherwise than in what you do; and feelings will be all the more effective in action. in so far as you avoid the exhibition of them in any other way. It is only the cold-blooded animals whose bite is poisonous. ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER. 1788-1860

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

By the late 1920s, Haile Selassie had nearly achieved his goal of assuming total control over Ethiopia, a country he felt needed strong and unified leadership. As regent to the empress Zauditu (stepdaughter of the late queen) and heir to the throne, Selassie had spent several years weakening the power of Ethiopia’s various warlords. Now only one real obstacle stood in his way: the empress and her husband, Ras Gugsa. Selassie knew the royal couple hated him and wanted to get rid of him, so to cut short their plotting he made Gugsa the governor of the northern province of Begemeder, forcing him to leave the capital, where the empress lived.

For several years Gugsa played the loyal administrator. But Selassie did not trust him: He knew that Gugsa and the empress were plotting revenge. As time passed and Gugsa made no move, the chances of a plot only increased. Selassie knew what he had to do: draw Gugsa out, get under his skin, and push him into action before he was ready.

For several years, a northern tribe, the Azebu Gallas, had been in virtual rebellion against the throne, robbing and pillaging local villages and refusing to pay taxes. Selassie had done nothing to stop them, letting them grow stronger. Finally, in 1929, he ordered Ras Gugsa to lead an army against these disobedient tribesmen. Gugsa agreed, but inwardly he seethed—he had no grudge against the Azebu Gallas, and the demand that he fight them hurt his pride. He could not disobey the order, but as he worked to put together an army, he began to spread an ugly rumor—that Selassie was in cahoots with the pope, and planned to convert the country to Roman Catholicism and make it a colony of Italy. Gugsa’s army swelled, and some of the tribes from which its soldiers came secretly agreed to fight Selassie. In March of 1930 an enormous force of 35,000 men began to march, not on the Azebu Gallas but south, toward the capital of Addis Ababa. Made confident by his growing strength, Gugsa now openly led a holy war to depose Selassie and put the country back in the hands of true Christians.

He did not see the trap that had been laid for him. Before Selassie had ordered Gugsa to fight the Azebu Gallas, he had secured the support of the Ethiopian church. And before the revolt got underway, he had bribed several of Gugsa’s key allies not to show up for battle. As the rebel army marched south, airplanes flew overhead dropping leaflets announcing that the highest church officials had recognized Selassie as the true Christian leader of Ethiopia, and that they had excommunicated Gugsa for fomenting a civil war. These leaflets severely blunted the emotions behind the holy crusade. And as battle loomed and the support that Gugsa’s allies had promised him failed to show up, soldiers began to flee or defect.

When the battle came, the rebel army quicky collapsed. Refusing to surrender, Ras Gugsa was killed in the fighting. The empress, distraught over her husband’s death, died a few days later. On April 30, Selassie issued a formal proclamation announcing his new title: Emperor of Ethiopia.

THE MONKEY AND THE WASP

A monkey, whilst munching a ripe pear, was pestered by the bare-faced importunities of a wasp, who, nolens volens, would have a part. After threatening the monkey with his anger if he further hesitated to submit to his demand, he settled on the fruit; but was as soon knocked off by the monkey. The irritable wasp now had recourse to invective —and, after using the most insulting language, which the other calmly listened to, he so worked himself up into violent passion that, losing all consideration of the penalty, he flew to the face of the monkey, and stung him with such rage that he was unable to extricate his weapon, and was compelled to tear himself away, leaving it in the wound—thus entailing on himself a lingering death, accompanied by pains much greater than those he had inflicted.

FABLES, JONATHAN BIRCH, 1783-1847

Interpretation

Haile Selassie always saw several moves ahead. He knew that if he let Ras Gugsa decide the time and place of the revolt, the danger would be much greater than if he forced Gugsa to act on Selassie’s terms. So he goaded him into rebellion by offending his manly pride, asking him to fight people he had no quarrel with on behalf of a man he hated. Thinking everything out ahead, Selassie made sure that Gugsa’s rebellion would come to nothing, and that he could use it to do away with his last two enemies.

This is the essence of the Law: When the waters are still, your opponents have the time and space to plot actions that they will initiate and control. So stir the waters, force the fish to the surface, get them to act before they are ready, steal the initiative. The best way to do this is to play on uncontrollable emotions—pride, vanity, love, hate. Once the water is stirred up, the little fish cannot help but rise to the bait. The angrier they become, the less control they have, and finally they are caught in the whirlpool you have made, and they drown.

DITCH HIGH PRIEST

Kin ’yo, an officer of the second rank, had a brother called the High Priest Ryogaku, an extremely bad-tempered man. Next to his monastery grew a large nettle-tree which occasioned the nickname people gave him, the Nettle-tree High Priest. “That name is outrageous,”said the high priest, and cut down the tree. The stump still being left, people referred to him now as the Stump High Priest. More furious than ever, Ryogaku had the stump dug up and thrown away, but this left a big ditch. People now called him the Ditch High Priest.

ESSAYS IN IDLENESS. KENKO, JAPAN, FOURTEENTH CENTURY

A sovereign should never launch an army out of anger, a leader should never start a war out of wrath.

Sun-tzu, fourth century B.C.

KEYS TO POWER

Angry people usually end up looking ridiculous, for their response seems out of proportion to what occasioned it. They have taken things too seriously, exaggerating the hurt or insult that has been done to them. They are so sensitive to slight that it becomes comical how much they take personally. More comical still is their belief that their outbursts signify power. The truth is the opposite: Petulance is not power, it is a sign of helplessness. People may temporarily be cowed by your tantrums, but in the end they lose respect for you. They also realize they can easily undermine a person with so little self-control.

The answer, however, is not to repress our angry or emotional responses. For repression drains us of energy and pushes us into strange behavior. Instead we have to change our perspective: We have to realize that nothing in the social realm, and in the game of power, is personal.

Everyone is caught up in a chain of events that long predates the present moment. Our anger often stems from problems in our childhood, from the problems of our parents which stem from their own childhood, on and on. Our anger also has roots in the many interactions with others, the accumulated disappointments and heartaches that we have suffered. An individual will often appear as the instigator of our anger but it is much more complicated, goes far beyond what that individual did to us. If a person explodes with anger at you (and it seems out of proportion to what you did to them), you must remind yourself that it is not exclusively directed at you—do not be so vain. The cause

is much larger, goes way back in time, involves dozens of prior hurts, and is actually not worth the bother to understand. Instead of seeing it as a personal grudge, look at the emotional outburst as a disguised power move, an attempt to control or punish you cloaked in the form of hurt feelings and anger.

This shift of perspective will let you play the game of power with more clarity and energy. Instead of overreacting, and becoming ensnared in people’s emotions, you will turn their loss of control to your advantage: You keep your head while they are losing theirs.

During an important battle in the War of the Three Kingdoms, in the third century A.D., advisers to the commander Ts‘ao Ts’ao discovered documents showing that certain of his generals had conspired with the enemy, and urged him to arrest and execute them. Instead he ordered the documents burned and the matter forgotten. At this critical moment in the battle, to get upset or demand justice would have reverberated against him: An angry action would have called attention to the generals’ disloyalty, which would have harmed the troops’ morale. Justice could wait—he would deal with the generals in time. Ts‘ao Ts’ao kept his head and made the right decision.

Compare this to Napoleon’s response to Talleyrand: Instead of taking the conspiracy personally, the emperor should have played the game like Ts‘ao Ts’ao, carefully weighing the consequences of any action he took. The more powerful response in the end would have been to ignore Talleyrand, or to bring the minister gradually back to his side and punish him later.

Anger only cuts off our options, and the powerful cannot thrive without options. Once you train yourself not to take matters personally, and to control your emotional responses, you will have placed yourself in a position of tremendous power: Now you can play with the emotional responses of other people. Stir the insecure into action by impugning their manhood, and by dangling the prospect of an easy victory before their faces. Do as Houdini did when challenged by the less successful escape artist Kleppini: Reveal an apparent weakness (Houdini let Kleppini steal the combination for a pair of cuffs) to lure your opponent into action. Then you can beat him with ease. With the arrogant too you can appear weaker than you are, taunting them into a rash action.

Sun Pin, commander of the armies of Ch‘i and loyal disciple of Sun-tzu, once led his troops against the armies of Wei, which outnumbered him two to one. “Let us light a hundred thousand fires when our army enters Wei,” suggested Sun Pin, “fifty thousand on the next day, and only thirty thousand on the third.” On the third day the Wei general exclaimed, “I knew the men of Ch’i were cowards, and after only three days more than half of them have deserted!” So, leaving behind his slow-moving heavy infantry, the general decided to seize the moment and move swiftly on the Ch’I camp with a lightly armed force. Sun Pin’s troops retreated, luring Wei’s army into a narrow pass, where they ambushed and destroyed them. With the Wei general dead and his forces decimated, Sun Pin now easily defeated the rest of his army.

In the face of a hot-headed enemy, finally, an excellent response is no response. Follow the Talleyrand tactic: Nothing is as infuriating as a man who keeps his cool while others are losing theirs. If it will work to your advantage to unsettle people, affect the aristocratic, bored pose, neither mocking nor triumphant but simply indifferent. This will light their fuse. When they embarrass themselves with a temper tantrum, you will have gained several victories, one of these being that in the face of their childishness you have maintained your dignity and composure.

Image: The Pond of Fish. The waters are clear and calm, and the fish are well below the surface. Stir the waters and they emerge. Stir it some more and they get angry, rising to the surface, biting whatever comes near— including a freshly baited hook.

Authority: If your opponent is of a hot temper, try to irritate him. If he is arrogant, try to encourage his egotism…. One who is skilled at making the enemy move does so by creating a situation according to which the enemy will act; he entices the enemy with something he is certain to take. He keeps the enemy on the move by holding out bait and then attacks him with picked troops. (Sun-tzu, fourth century B.C.)

REVERSAL

When playing with people’s emotions you have to be careful. Study the enemy beforehand: Some fish are best left at the bottom of the pond.

I ask the reader to consider President Putin, and why he invaded the Ukraine on 22FEB22. Read the rest carefully with that in mind...

The leaders of the city of Tyre, capital of ancient Phoenicia, felt confident they could withstand Alexander the Great, who had conquered the Orient but had not attacked their city, which stood well protected on the water.

They sent ambassadors to Alexander saying that although they would recognize him as emperor they would not allow him or his forces to enter Tyre.

This of course enraged him, and he immediately mounted a siege.

For four months the city withstood him, and finally he decided that the struggle was not worth it, and that he would come to terms with the Tyrians.

But they, feeling that they had already baited Alexander and gotten away with it, and confident that they could withstand him, refused to negotiate—in fact they killed his messengers.

This pushed Alexander over the edge!

Now it did not matter to him how long the siege lasted or how large an army it needed; he had the resources, and would do whatever it took.

He remounted his assault so strenuously that he captured Tyre within days, burned it to the ground, and sold its people into slavery.

You can bait the powerful and get them to commit and divide their forces as Sun Pin did, but test the waters first. Find the gap in their strength. If there is no gap—if they are impossibly strong—you have nothing to gain and everything to lose by provoking them.

Choose carefully whom you bait, and never stir up the sharks.

Finally there are times when a well-timed burst of anger can do you good, but your anger must be manufactured and under your control. Then you can determine exactly how and on whom it will fall.

Never stir up reactions that will work against you in the long run. And use your thunder-bolts rarely, to make them the more intimidating and meaningful. Whether purposefully staged or not, if your outbursts come too often, they will lose their power.

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MM observations and thoughts about the war in the Ukraine

Ugh. It’s been an exciting last couple of days, eh?

As of the 1MAR22, the military movement map is on schedule. Anyone who says that it is going slowly is overly influenced by Western propiganda. It’s going to schedule and meeting all of its objectives. There are no problems here.

I am seeing pincer movements, and the creation of pockets and cauldrons (black lines.). You can observe them on the map above.

Like many of you, I have been spending a great deal of time keeping up with coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There’s so much bullshit out there, and much of it is in the English speaking press. It’s really awful.

I covered that elsewhere.

If you have been taking-in the Western propaganda, you might have all sorts of distorted views and illusions about what is going on. Such as this…

"I am very upset with the Russians for choosing to invade the whole country, because now a line has been crossed that will never, ever be able to be uncrossed.  From here on out, there will be endless wars and rumors of wars, and countless numbers of people are going to die.  In the future, some historians may look back and determine that the coming Chinese invasion of Taiwan was the start of World War III, and others may point to the coming conflict between Israel and Iran.  But to me, February 23rd, 2022 was the start of World War III, and nothing will ever be the same again."

Well, it’s not like that at all.

It was NATO and the United States that crossed the Russian “Red Lines”. This was the reaction that they were warned about. It’s reffered to as the “non-ultimation; ultimation by Putin“.

Google it, if you are unaware of it’s existence.

It demanded that both NATO and the United States abide to the treaties that they signed. In particular three treaties were specified. All three were in blatent violation.

The ultimation was totally ignored by the American press, and the American leadership.

Since most of you have been closely following news coverage of the war, I am not going to rehash the basic facts here. The Russians are winning victory after victory, and it appears that the battle for Ukraine could be over in a matter of weeks.

The following are some observations about the new World War (cold or hot, it doesn’t matter) which just started in Ukraine…

#1 The United States launched it’s long awaited World War III.

Everyone knew that this was coming in one form or the other. Whether it is via the Fourth Turning, or the Deagal Report, or any Prepper websites, it happened to schedule and on time. No surprises there.

And it was birthed directly by United States and NATO action. Make no mistake there, either.

For a roll of the die, it could have been China. In any event, it pushed Russia into a corner using the "Cuba Missile Crisis" technique, and Russia had to respond.

The United States is following the road map written decades ago and will not accept peer competitors from Asia.

#2 The propaganda is that it’s all Russia’s fault.

Of course. That's the standard American "play book". You omit any semblance of the truth, and then propagate the lie-based narrative. All the shrills and 'bots are fully mobilized. And it is outrageous.

#3 The conflict between the West and Asia will continue until one side or the other is totally defeated.

This is an all-or-nothing, winner-take-all, situation.

Certainly, the neocons in Washington, DC anticipate a long-drawn-out war of attrition; a quagmire in Ukraine, and a leashing of the EU, my personal opinion says otherwise. Once Russia suppressed the Ukraine threat, the USA will push for another military action. They will not allow things to subside.

#4 Nuclear Detonations are likely.

Both sides are armed with nuclear weapons, and it is just a matter of time before somebody decides to use them. However, the Asian leadership has gamed everything here. Nothing is unexpected.

Remember, both America and Europe are undefended. 

While both China and Russia ahve ABM technology that can shoot down any ICBM, SLBM, and cruise missiles sent to them.

#5 The stakes are well understood and public.

As he launched the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin warned other countries that he could use nuclear weapons against them if they attempted to intervene. Which is why you are not seeing any direct military movement from NATO or nearby nations right now.

The action is covert, and hybrid. But not kenetic.

#5 Everyone is lying.

The Biden administration, the Ukrainians and the Russians all lied to everyone over and over again. The matter is simple; no one is respected, no one deserves the truth, and thus the true reality is to find the nation with the highest likelihood of truthful information.

Since the United States is constantly at war, and constantly provoking wars, it is very easy to see what it actually is. This is true even though the American public has been dumbed down to the point of brainless zombie NPC.

Russia, on the other hand, is clearly in a worrisome situation. America almost got into nuclear war over a similiar situation in 1962.

And the Ukraine, is, like all the West, a puppet government doing the work desired by others. Like Australia. Like Japan. Like Canada. Mindless puppets.

#6 There are no diplomatic solutions.

The posturing by the United States, and the EU / NATO against Russia and China has been aggressive, "in-your-face", rude, arrogant, and bombastic. 

Anyone who berates Asia for not being diplomatic is an uninformed idiot. 

All you need to do is replay the Anchorage Alaska meeting in early April 2021 between the USA and China. 

Russia clearly laid down the "Red Lines". The United States and NATO decided to ignore them. What is happening is the consequece of that decision.

#7 The EU, NATO, and the United States are all conducting acts of war.

Personal sanctions against heads of state and individuals who work in government are de facto acts of war. 

Expect retaliation at some time. And remember, again, boys and girls, time is on the side of Asia. The West is on a clock that speeds up faster as energy, food, and commodities become scarse.

#8 The United States / EU are especially weak.

The West have no real defenses to handle an aggressive, peer-capable war. This is on all fronts, in every way. Whether it is cyber, bioweapon, social "color revolution", trade, financial, or military / technical.

It takes fighters; people with merit driven skills to operate and engage in real war. World War III will not be fought inside bunkers with office workers pressing buttons. It will be fought by, and won by, organized and motivated fighters who are led by experienced merit promoted generals.

#9 Russia and China can both inflict terrible pain.

Russia and China are unified. Make no mistake about that. The Russians have more than 1,000 different ways of making the West feel pain, and they are not afraid to play dirty.

#10 Ukraine is a puppet vassal state.

I think that Volodymyr Zelensky is a piss-poor head of state. However, he's not the exception, he's the rule.  He's a clone, with Scott Morrison, Joe Biden, and any of the EU clowns equally ill-infomed and technically powerless.

#11 Game over for the Ukraine.

Zelensky pushed all of his chips into the middle of the table when the Russians knew full well that he wasn’t holding any cards.  Now he is going to lose his entire country.

#12 The United States is a coward, bully.

It appears that Zelensky actually believed that the United States and other western powers would come to his aid if the Russians invaded.  After what we have witnessed over the past year, that was an incredibly foolish thing to believe. The United States cases jack-shit about the rest of the world. It only cares about it's elite. No one else.

#13 The Western push followed plan “B”.

The war against China failed. The blocking of the BRI failed. So Plan "B" was put into play; Force Russia into a war. 

The so-called "diplomatic solution" was [1] the placement of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and [2] it becomes a member of NATO. With [3] Russia backing down peacefully. [4] No one makes a big deal about the "Russian Red Lines", they are ignored and they disappear. 

That was the "diplomatic solution" that all the West are lamenting about.

Diplomatic solution = Nuclear weapons in a NATO Ukraine.
War solution = Russia ejects the minion government of Ukraine.

From the point of view of the collective West; it was a win-win. No matter what Russia did, the plan would run it's course.

#14 The isolation of Russia will fail.

At this stage, the Biden administration will try to turn the rest of the world against the Russians and will try to suffocate the life out of them economically.  

That isn’t going to work, because Russia is very self-sufficient when it comes to food, energy and other essentials, and Putin has also signed very extensive trade agreements with China.

#15 All of this is well-panned and well thought out.

Putin would have made this move if he didn’t have an understanding with China behind the scenes.  The Chinese are allowing the Russians to invade Ukraine.

This is all part of a grander plan.

The crazy United States monster is going to try to eat up Asia, one way or the other. If not Russia, it will be China. The nations have banded together for mutual protection.

#16 Taiwan

Now that the Chinese have seen how weakly the western powers have responded to the invasion of Ukraine, we can see how they might think about the reunification issue with Taiwan. 

It does NOT mean that it emboldens the Chinese to take action. They are following their own, well-thought-out timetable. And for them, Ukraine means nothing. It changes nothing.

No. Instead, it alerts the separatist political factions inside Taiwan of the hopelessness of their objectives. As well as the pitiful support that they would actually get from the United States. Now they know what will happen with an alliance with the United States.

To this end, an urgent flight with American government officials are flying (have flown) to Taiwan to assure them that “America will support them against mainland China. Now, you must realize that this is a provocation, and it is very dangerous for the United States to do this. Know your history. video 6MB

#17 Ukraine

It will be restructured, and rules will be put in place so that [1] color revolutions can never reoccur ever again, [2] NGOs / CIA are kept out, [3] and it will be a neutral and demilitarized nation.

#18 Food and minerals

The Western "leadership" have no clear idea how actual physical things work. Those cell-phones are made in China, and have batteries made from minerals mined in Russia. 

The USA placed sanctions on everything except what they need. But you know that Russia could easily say "fuck you" to them at the right moment, and not ship anything to them. 

The global food crisis has just continued to get worse as global food supplies have continued to get tighter and tighter.  Normally, Russia and Ukraine export vast quantities of food to the rest of the world, but the war is going to change that.  We really are facing a horrifying breakdown of our food and energy systems, and that is going to affect every man, woman and child in the collective West.

This war is going to make the global food crisis much worse.

#19 Energy

The global energy crisis is going to get a whole lot worse.  Russia exports a tremendous amount of energy, and European nations gobble it up like addicts.  This conflict threatens to dislocate the flow of global energy to a degree that we haven’t seen since World War II.

Already, the collective West are already facing the worst energy crisis since the 1970s before the war broke out, and Russia is one of the most important energy producers on the entire globe.  As energy markets are thrown into further turmoil, energy prices will go to unprecedented heights.

This war is going to make the global energy crisis much worse.

It will start with abnormally high energy prices, and then spiral into uncontrolable inflation. Then, it will get really bad...

#20 China & Russia financial transfers

SWIFT is going the way of the Doo-Doo Bird. And with the death of SWIFT will be a new reality where if you want things from China, you will have to pay using their system, and it requires to be backed up with gold reserves. The trouble is, the USA doesn't have any gold any longer.

#21 US Military is in sad shape.

The U.S. military is in the worst condition that I have ever seen in my entire lifetime.  At this point, the U.S. military is not at all prepared to fight the Russians or anyone else for that matter.

#22 Russians are Ruthless.

Many people out there love to criticize President Trump, but even he understood that you don’t mess with the Russians.  Unless they are messing with you, the best thing to do with the Russians is to just leave them alone.  

All throughout history, those that have chosen to pick a fight with Russia have ended up regretting it.  The Russians will do whatever it takes to win, and they are absolutely ruthless.

#23 Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is a no-show

It appears that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is either extremely courageous or he is flat out lying to us.  If he is still in Ukraine, and that is a big if, then I have to applaud his courage and bravery.  

So many others would have fled in the face of a Russian invasion, but if he has chosen to stay and fight then his people are right to regard him as a hero.  

But if he has already left Ukraine and is just acting as if he has stayed behind to fight, then that is the opposite of courage. 

It is odd that the Russians haven’t been able to find Zelensky yet, because they have definitely been hunting for him.

*Update* 

Zelensky fled to Poland. He abandoned his country and refused to negotiate with the Russians. Instead, he is staying in the United States Embassy. U.S. Embassy Warsaw Aleje Ujazdowskie 29/31 00-540 Warsaw Poland

#24 Begging for American Involvment

Zelensky is trying really hard to drag western powers into the war.  He is begging Joe Biden to establish a “no-fly zone” over Ukraine, but Biden understands that this would mean direct military conflict with the Russians.

#25 Polish and EU fighter jets

The EU has announced that they will be providing fighter jets to Ukraine.  This is an extremely dangerous thing to do, because Putin has warned that those that provide military equipment to Ukraine will be targeted as enemies.

This is a lie.

Yesterday's blazing headlines about European countries deciding to "give" fighter jets to Ukraine, to be based at an airfield in Poland, has completely fallen apart.  As of this morning, NO country will be giving ANY fighter jets to the Ukraine.  

It's official - Europe won't transfer fighter planes to Ukraine. 

Poland decided not to, and Slovakian defense ministry spokesperson confirms just now: “Slovakia will not provide fighter jets to Ukraine."  

Yesterday, shortly after the spectacular claim by Ukraine, one of the countries, Bulgaria, flatly denied it saying they don't have enough planes to defend their own country, never mind giving some to another country.

So once again, a spectacular claim by "officials" turns out to be an outright lie.

#26 NATO injection into the Ukraine

I don’t know why the EU believes that fighter jets will make much of a difference, because most of the military airfields under Ukraine’s control have already been destroyed. They would have to be based inside NATO and then fly into the Ukraine. In effect; an unofficial NATO incursion into war.

#27 Nuclear safties are OFF

The entire world was shocked when Putin put his strategic nuclear forces on alert over the weekend.  Putin definitely escalated things dramatically by making this move, but hopefully it will get people to understand that we really could end up with a nuclear war at the end of all this.

I was scratching my head with the moronic idiocy of the Western "leadership". The words "Duh!", and "Ya think!" come to mind.

#28 CIPS

Now that western powers have weaponized SWIFT, I think that there will be a mass exodus to China’s version.  Most people have not even heard of CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System) until now, but this crisis is going to make it a lot more prominent. Not just Russia, either. But most of the globe.

#29 Stalling at the “Peace Talks”

I would love it if the “peace talks” between Russia and Ukraine brought an end to the shooting.  Unfortunately, to me it appears that Ukraine is simply using those talks as a stalling tactic.  Zelensky still seems to think that western powers can be dragged into the conflict, and so he is trying to buy as much time as possible.

#30 If not NATO then, the EU.

When Zelensky signed an application for Ukraine to become a member of the European Union on Monday, that was another clear sign that he has no intention of turning Ukraine into a “neutral country” like the Russians are demanding.

#31 The Ukraine as it exists now is over

Dead man walking. If Zelensky cannot get anyone to come help Ukraine, he will lose this war.

#32 A United Asia

Russia is not isolated. China is not isolated. Together they represent the bulk of argultural products, mineral resources, technology, and manufacturing. Throw in a pro-Russia and Pro-China Africa, and you see a very mighty powerful block.

Meanwhiile, the West can play with their spreadsheets, their fianancial advisors, diversity experts and serve fast food to each other. The future of the world depends on Asia.

#33 Western Priorities

I think that Richard Moore, the chief of MI6, certainly revealed a lot when he tweeted this…

“With the tragedy and destruction unfolding so distressingly in Ukraine, we should remember the values and hard won freedoms that distinguish us from Putin, none more than LGBT+ rights. So let’s resume our series of tweets to mark #LGBTHM2022.”

#34 Russia and China are as one

A major narrative being promoted out of the propaganda mills is that "Russia tricked China", and that "China is now worried". Both ideas are totally false bullshit. The Chinese media does not reflect those opinions, and the people on "the street" do not feel that way at all. Inside China the over all feeling is that Russia is defending itself against the USA / NATO alliance, and that it needs to do so.

#35 Russia eliminated all the pricy expensive weapons systems in one day

The Russian attack began, as predicted, mostly by strikes with standoff weapons.  24 hour hours later the Ukrainian air force and navy ceased to exist.  In this initial phase, few Ukrainian units were directly engaged.

All of those very expensive fighter aircraft, electonic systems, high-technology weapons provided to the Ukraine by the United States (it has been the fourth largest recipient of American weapons) became useless slag in 24 hours.

#36 The United States won the propaganda war

On the informational war, the West gave Russia a thorough thrashing: RT and Sputnik are banned everywhere, absolutely insane rumors are circulating (see example below), I know for fact that some US colleges have banned their computers from accessing any .ru or .su websites –  yes entire domain names are being shut down – Russian diplomats get assaulted (in one of the 3Bs statelets if I remember correctly).

The western PSYOP onslaught is so powerful that even some people in Russia are fearful and sincerely worry “what will happen to us next?!”.

Western IT companies are disconnecting, throttling, while “private” western crackers are unleashing DDoS attack on pretty much all the main Russian websites, not only informational ones, but also those who are used to run the civilian infrastructure of Russia.  I am not impressed by how much (or little) Russian PR people did to prepare for this which was easy to see coming.  Here, again, the West so far is winning, but a huge margin.

The western society is displaying its hatred of all things Russian in every way it can: hundereds and maybe thousands of students are summarily expelled from western colleges (which used to be bastions of freedom).  In a Swiss city a child was beat up in school for being an “evil Russian”.  Artists are expelled, others pressured to condemn their own country and president, western presstitutes and politicians unceasingly vomit at Russia, Russians and everything Russian!

I have two videos that cover this particular subject that I want to present. The first is a pretty good, and short overview of just how absurd the fake news actually is. Its from RT and its banned in the West. Imagine that! Keep Americans and Europeans ignorant. video 27MB

The second video is about how the “news” reports are presented to the American public. It’s funny, but keep in mind, this is actually what happened. Its no wonder that Americans (and Brits) have no idea about how FUCKED they actually are. video 6MB

#37 Much of the situation is hidden

All of the "armchair generals", "talking heads", and "political analyists" are working with public dialog to base their impressions upon. 

The US government controls that dialog.

Thus, as a matter of course (like an iceberg) 90% of the real issues are hidden. 

There's things going on that are not being reported. So all these "experts" are living in an echo-chamber of ignorance.

#38 Life in the West is forever changed

If you live in the West, and you believe that your life will continue on as normal because the war between Russia and Ukraine is on the other side of the globe, you should think again.

The United States and the EU are consumer-driven societies. What happens when all products are cut off, inflation goes ballistic, and raw materials foodstuffs, and energy are denied to you? 

Thos electric cars all use batteries. In two years they will need to be replaced. And Russia and China controls the materials and the manufacture of those batteries.

60% of Americans are on life-sustaining medicines. And 90% of the medicines are made in China. What then? No prosac, viagra, blood-pressure, cancer, or pain medicine...

America will become a zoo.

#39 Inside of America there is a growing division of opinion

There are cracks in the Ukraine narrative. The American Conservative websites and media are starting to question why Biden went after Russia when they view China as the threat. To this end they are posting videos and narratives in suppor that the United States intentionally decided to engage Russia in war.

The most stunning was from Hall Turner who posted a video regarding the true situation.

#40 The Deagel Report is still profoundly accurate

All of the events as they transpire confirm the accuracy of the remote viewing of 2025.

#41 The Generational Theory and the Fourth Turning is all on schedule

Everything as predicted is falling in place along the generational time-table. Nothing strage indicated a deviation or that this period of time will be an exception. It's all happening now.

#42 The recent American deligations to Taiwan suggest the USA is opening a second front

Anticipate a crossing of China's "Red Lines", and a harsh reaction. I suspect sometime soon. Probably this year.

China tends to perform tit-for-tat actions. You destroy their VTOL carrier, and they destory yours. Etc. But somehow, I think that China might need to just cleans the Pacific of US Naval forces and their bases completely.

#43 Germany’s economy is set for wide-scale collapse

Russia has targeted the German automotive industry. This is the largest employer in Germany. Already two ships (HERE and HERE) loaded with German automobiles have sunk in the last week. 

And the Industry itself is laying off workers due to the inability to acquire parts.

#44 Bioweapons

15 bioweapons facilities set up by the United States and run by the United States were in place on the Russian border. 

During the initial salvo, every single one was hit with large thermobaric weapons. Most of them were absolutely and completely incenerated. None of this is reported anywhere in the West.

In spook language; this means that something was up BIG TIME.

#45 In spook circles it is believed that Putin prevented a NATO attack

Speaking of spook stuff…

Not published. Just unattributed raw intel.

But apparently Putin "jumped the gun" and prevented a nuclear attack that was to launch in the Summer of 2022. 

Only one week (actually some reports say days) NATO and USA nuclear weapons would have been in position in the Ukraine by 9MAR22. 

If so, then it would have been too late for Putin to stop the West. Doing so woould mean direct confrontation with NATO and American miltiary forces inside of the Ukraine.

#46 Many in the West assume that the entire world is collapsing

It is not. That's just an illusion.

Many Americans are angry, and the over all opinion is that the entire world is going to Hell. 

That is not correct. 

Only the West is falling towards Hell. Not the East. Of course, no one knows this because the news media never reports on what the rest of the world is like.

So yeah. Energy shortages, food shortages, high inflation, and decay are going to erupt all over the United States and their proxy nations. But not inside of Russia, the breadbasket of the world, and not inside of China, the manufacturer for the world.

Of course, those in Russia and China will continue to eat well.

video 6MB

Let’s start by taking a look at the impact that this war will have on food supplies. Even the Washington Post is admitting that the war in Ukraine will likely “push U.S. food prices even higher”…

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could push U.S. food prices even higher, as the region is one of the world’s largest producers of wheat and some vegetable oils. And the disruptions could drag on for months or even years, as crop production in the area could be halted and take a long time to restart.

This new inflation shock comes at a time when global markets remain extremely strained because of pandemic-related disruptions. The price changes impacted commodity prices in recent days and could flow through to higher costs at grocery stores and restaurants soon.

Food prices have already been rising very aggressively all over the world, and this has pushed millions upon millions of poor people at the bottom of the economic food chain into hunger.

But now this war threatens to push this crisis to a dangerous new level, because Russia and Ukraine typically produce “nearly a quarter of the world’s wheat”…

Russia and Ukraine together produce nearly a quarter of the world’s wheat, feeding billions of people in the form of bread, pasta and packaged foods. The countries are also key suppliers of barley, sunflower seed oil and corn, among other products.

So if exports from those two warring nations are reduced or completely cut off, how is the West possibly going to replace that output?

Does anyone have an answer for that?

Collectively, Russia and Ukraine usually account for “29 percent of all wheat exports and 75 percent of global exports of sunflower oil”…

Ukraine is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of both corn and wheat. It is also the world’s largest exporter of sunflower seed oil, an important component of the world’s vegetable oil supply. Together, Russia and Ukraine supply 29 percent of all wheat exports and 75 percent of global exports of sunflower oil, said Kelly Goughary, senior research analyst Gro-Intelligence, an agriculture data platform.

This isn’t just bad.

This is really bad.

The global agricultural production is going to be down all over the globe in 2022 because fertilizer prices have started to spiral out of control. In fact, in Africa alone it is being projected that enough food to feed 100 million people will not be grown this year because of the outrageous cost of fertilizer.

Well, guess what?

It turns out that Russia is one of the biggest global exporters of fertilizer…

Russia is a key global player in natural gas, a major input to fertilizer production. Higher gas prices, and supply cuts, will further drive fertilizer prices higher. Russia is one of the biggest exporters of the three major groups of fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Physical supply cuts could further inflate fertilizer prices.

One expert that was interviewed by the Washington Post admitted that we are “headed for a supply crunch that will be hard to resolve”.

That is one of the biggest understatements that I have heard in a long time.

Even before the war erupted, some types of fertilizer had doubled in price, some had tripled in price and some had actually quadrupled in price.

In the trade channels there’s some alarmist talk about American grown food. One industry insider told me about fertilizer prices. He warned that many farmers all over the U.S. simply will not be able to grow corn this year because it will not be profitable due to soaring fertilizer prices.

And now fertilizer prices are likely to go much higher.

This really is a nightmare.

Six months down the road, we are likely to see food riots all over the West.

Meanwhile, the global energy crisis is entering a very alarming new chapter.

According to USA Today, 30 percent of all natural gas that Europe uses is provided by Russia…

Russia accounts for more than 30% of Europe’s gas for home heating, industry and generating electricity, and other potential supply sources are not adequately prepared to bridge the gap if Russian gas is curtailed, Rystad Energy analysts say.

Europe is absolutely addicted to Russian gas, and without it normal life in many European cities would rapidly come to a grinding halt.

There are some that are suggesting that imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States could help while the war is raging…

Supplies of liquefied natural gas brought by ship from the U.S. has helped relieve some of Europe’s gas shortage this winter, but it’s expensive.

Meanwhile, natural gas prices in the U.S. are approximately 60% higher than a year ago, according to Rystad.

Sadly, natural gas prices all over the globe are going to continue to go higher.

As will propane prices.

As will coal prices.

And the price of oil will soon leave the $100 per barrel threshold in the rear view mirror for good.

Joe Biden is publicly saying that he will do all that he can to keep the price of gasoline down, but meanwhile his administration is working extremely hard “to freeze new oil and gas drilling leases”… by kingly decree.

As oil prices continue to rocket, now further helped along by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration is still fighting tooth and nail to freeze new oil and gas drilling leases – even after a court ruled against the administration for using a metric to estimate “the societal cost of carbon emissions” to justify their move.

Despite the court’s ruling, Biden’s administration has stopped new leases and permits for federal oil and gas drilling, MSN reported this week.

So when you are soon paying seventeen dollars for a gallon of gasoline, just remember who did this to you.

The United States “leadership”.

Conclusion

Everything is changing, and the months ahead are going to be extremely challenging.

I think that Mike Adams summed up the current state of affairs very well when he warned that the United States and the collective West are heading for a “total collapse”…

In all, these factors combine (food, war, fuel, inflation, currency, etc.) to create a total collapse of the world we once knew. 

Forget about affordable food or just-in-time delivery of anything. 

The world is about to become extremely inconvenient, expensive and broken. 

The supply chain disruptions will get FAR worse from here forward, and crime is going to absolutely skyrocket out of sheer desperation. 

Expect to see flash mobs looting grocery stores in broad daylight. Carjackings will skyrocket. Home invasions will become commonplace, even outside the cities as looting gangs hit suburbs.

So many of the things that myself and others have been warning about for so many years are starting to come to pass right in front of our eyes.

The collective West is really heading into a nightmarish breakdown of society, and everyone (state side and in Europe) will be shaken to the core as it happens.

This is truly a sad day, because this didn’t have to happen. But, it did, just like the remote viewers of 2025 predicted, and like the Fourth Turning predicted. The United States is on a bobsled heading straight into the firey gates of Hell.

There is nothing more than can be done, because World War III has already started. And it’s really going to hurt the United States and Europe really hard. Things are set up to start getting really bad. I anticipate checking the boxes on lists that Xi Peng and Putin created.

From this point forward, global events are going to escalate rapidly. I would encourage all of you to prepare accordingly.

…

The end of the world did not occur yet, and the sky is not yet falling. What you can do is enjoy what you have available to your right now.

That means, to eat well. Life is too short not to eat well.

To close this article, I would like to suggest a very nice pan-fried steak…

And it will look a little something like this…

And you know, it might look a little like this

MM video HERE. 52MB

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 3

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China and Integrated Circuit Manufacture latest news

There’s a lot of talk about IC chip (integrated ciruit) chip manufacture, and the need for the United States to keep the Taiwan factories “out of the hands” of the evil vile Chinese. Now, listen to me. It’s a distraction.

It’s a fabricrated illusion.

Why?

Because most of the world IC chips are made inside of China and used on Chinese products.

The very high-end stuff, the stuff that everyone is worried about is made from a Chinese factory in Taiwan, and it exports those high-end chips to the United States, and Korea / Japan for special applications.

It does not export those chips to China. That is an export restriction placed by the United States. America wants those high end IC chips for it’s own weapons systems, tanks and weapons systems.

Shutting down the Taiwan operations will not make any difference in the production of automobiles, cell phones, televisons or computer systems. So please just keep that in mind.

Or, let me put it to you in a different way.

The Chinese lead the world in Artifical Intelligence and robotics. Yet, they do not use these “high end” IC chips. Why? Because they don’t need to. Oh, maybe sometime in the future they will need to, but not right now.

Where are these high technology chips being used?

That is where you must start to fully grasp what is going on with this particular issue.

"Challenges also come in the form of advances in brain-like neuromorphic chips and the roll-out of 5G networks enabling IoT connected devices."

My understanding, for IoT, many chips do not need advanced process technologies,” 

“For sensors, mature processes and 8-inch fabs are adequate.”

-Jackson Hu, former chief executive of UMC

Most cell phones are made in China, and they cannot use Taiwan high-end chip manufacture. (As decreed by the God-almighty United States.) So what are these chips good for?

Not for televisions. Most are made in China.
Not for automotive electronics. Most are made in China.
Not for AI and Robots. Most are made in China.
Not for IoT. Most are made in China.
Not for cellphones. Most are made in China.
Not for bitcoin mining. Most are made in China.
Not for computers. Most are made in China.

So what are they used in?

They are used for American missiles. They are used for American top-secret aircraft. They are used for American avionics, submarines, and warships.

And thus, if China takes over Taiwan, a MASSIVE technology resource for the American military-Industrial cabal would be eliminated, and China would gain a production capabiity, while the United States would completely lose all access.

That’s why.

Chinese girl – handsome in blue

This is a fine “handsome” woman that would make a fine wife, and I’m sure a great mother. She looks smart, intelligent, capable, and oh so very sexy. She’s in her living room, and this is all very typical, don’t you know.

video

Nice.

And, at this point, let me interject some actual news from the United States that will help put everything into clear perspective. While China (and Russia)a re capable, traditional and trying to avoid conflict; the madhouse that the United States has become is going from insane to downright evil…

SHOP SAFE Will Stomp Out Online Sales of Used and Homemade Goods
```
SHOP SAFE would force pretty much any online service that allows people to buy and sell items to institute a draconian trademark protection system. If they don’t, they risk crushing liability for the actions of their users.
```
Government wants the corporatocracy because it can use legions of Useful Idiots to report and deplatform anyone but the safe big companies which censor in order to preserve revenue.

Chinese girl with an arrow

She’s probably an employee at the factory. This is pretty much what the office gals look like in China. Only it depends on what industry that you are in. If you are in banking or hi-tech, the women would pretty much wear short-short black skirts, impossibly high heels and these cute waist jackets that opens up wide to display a nice colored top underneith.

video

Ok.

Let’s start chatting about IC chips, fabricration, use and China. We begin this exploration by article number one. In it, regardless to the efforts by both the Trump and Biden administrations, the Chinese IC chip manufacturing industry profits have soared to amazing heights.

According the the United States media, the tariffs and sanctions, and restrictions should have hurt, harmed and even destroyed the Chiense industry. It did not such thing. Not at all…

[1] China’s top chipmaker’s profits soar despite US sanctions

SMIC’s all-time high revenue came as sales were propelled by worldwide demand

From HERE.

China’s largest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), has reported record revenue and a surge in profit last year amid a global chip shortage and strong demand.

According to its annual financial report published on Thursday, sales for calendar 2021 were up 39% on the year, at a record $5.4 billion.

Profit from operations for the year stood at $1.4 billion, which is a roughly four-fold increase from 2020.

That record performance came despite SMIC being hit with US sanctions, which the company said has had a major impact on its advanced technology development.

“The global shortage of chips and the strong demand for local and indigenous manufacturing brought the Company a rare opportunity, while the restrictions of the ‘Entity List’ set many obstacles to the Company’s development,” the chipmaker said in a statement.

SMIC is a competitor to the likes of Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung, but the Chinese firm’s technology is several generations behind.

The world’s two largest economies, US and China, have been racing to dominate in key technologies, including semiconductors.

China is significantly behind the United States in chip development, with SMIC aiming to wean itself off foreign technology.

Governments across the world are making efforts to bolster domestic chip production, after a global component shortage hurt the auto and electronics industries.

…

So they say. China is raking in the money.

Just what is the status of Chinese IC chip manufacture of design dominance? Not from the USA Western propaganda mills, but from industry sources…

Chinese girl in a swimsuit

Personally, I think that she looks good in this snow dot print. Though, I have to tell you all, the back looks really impossible to tie up. She’d certainly need a friend or two to help her out, don’t you think?

video

Lovely.

Now compare this to the madhouse that the United States is today…

Biden Admin To Fund Crack Pipe Distribution To Advance ‘Racial Equity’

The $30 million grant program, which closed applications Monday and will begin in May, will provide funds to nonprofits and local governments to help make drug use safer for addicts. Included in the grant, which is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, are funds for “smoking kits/supplies.” A spokesman for the agency told the Washington Free Beacon that these kits will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and “any illicit substance.”

HHS said the kits aim to reduce the risk of infection when smoking substances with glass pipes, which can lead to infections through cuts and sores. Applicants for the grants are prioritized if they treat a majority of “underserved communities,” including African Americans and “LGBTQ+ persons,” as established under President Joe Biden’s executive order on “advancing racial equity.”

The comedy comes full circle.

[2] China chip output grew 33% in 2021

China’s integrated circuit (IC) output grew over 33% in 2021, double the growth rate in 2020, reports the South China Morning Post. The country produced 359.4 billion ICs in 2021, from both local companies and foreign-owned factories, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). It marked a significant acceleration from 2020, when China’s IC output rose 16.2% to 261.3 billion units.

While the official data did not provide a breakdown by technology node—China is unable to produce the most advanced ICs—or by company, it highlighted the country’s efforts to boost output amid a protracted chip shortage and Beijing’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency.

The growth in output also provides fresh evidence that Beijing’s efforts to maintain China’s integration with global supply chains is paying off. A report issued by the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) earlier this month forecast that China’s semiconductor industry could account for 17.4% of global sales by 2024, up from 9% in 2020, if its current momentum is maintained.

Chinese girl – dancing

Everyone in China loves to dance. From little kids, to 90 year old grandmothers. Everyone dances, and shakes and sings. It’s all part of the culture, and no one cares if you are good, or bad. They only care that you are having a good time while you are doing it.

video

Isn’t she favorable?

Compare that to what the United States is today…

FDA Executive Officer on Hidden Camera Reveals Future COVID Policy: ‘Biden Wants To Inoculate As Many People As Possible…Have to Get an Annual Shot’
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“It’ll be recurring fountain of revenue. It might not be that much initially, but it’ll be recurring — if they can — if they can get every person required at an annual vaccine, that is a recurring return of money going into their company.”
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American industry has been destroyed so thoroughly by taxes, unions, regulations, and imposed costs like affirmative action that it has one business model left: get everyone to sign up for a recurring subscription.

They wanted us all to get flu shots for years, although that seemed to make people more likely to get the flu. The FDA was too willing to play along because FDA bureaucrats take Big Pharma money on a regular basis:

In the cool refuge of the conference room, advisers politely questioned company scientists and complimented their work. By day’s end, the panel voted seven to one to approve.

FDA, as usual, later signed off.

The drug, ticagrelor, marketed under the name Brilinta, sold rapidly, emerging as a billion-dollar blockbuster. It cuts risk of death from vascular causes, heart attacks, and strokes modestly more than its chief competitor—and currently costs 25 times as much.

Before the Brilinta vote, the agency mentioned no financial conflicts among the voting panelists, who included four physicians. As Brilinta’s sales took off later, however, AstraZeneca and firms selling or developing similar cardiovascular therapies showered the four with money for travel and advice.

For example, those companies paid or reimbursed cardiologist Jonathan Halperin of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City more than $200,000 for accommodations, honoraria, and consulting from 2013 to 2016.

During that period, for example, AstraZeneca says it paid Halperin more than $11,000 in expenses and fees for work on an advisory board, service on a data monitoring committee for a clinical trial of Brilinta led by the University of California, San Francisco, and for his service chairing the data monitoring committee for an AstraZeneca-sponsored multimillion-dollar clinical trial of Brilinta led by Duke University.

Voters love the idea of regulations; lawyers laugh at it. They know that when you give government a power, it gets sold to the highest bidder, whether that is CAIR, CCP, ADL, or AstraZeneca. The voters defeat themselves as usual.

[3] China’s IC industry speeds up advanced chip production: Expert

China’s integrated circuit (IC) industry is transforming from high-speed to high-quality development as more advanced homegrown chip-making processes make inroads across the whole industry chain, an expert said.

In an article published earlier this month at Guancha.cn, a Shanghai-based online news and comments aggregator, Dr. Bao Yungang, vice director of the Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), noted that China’s 14 nm and 28 nm chip-making processes are gaining ground and being used for many applications in various fields.

The country’s 14 nm process has navigated many technology difficulties with significant improvements to manufacturing techniques, packaging technologies and key equipment materials, said Bao.

He added that the 14 nm node is the most widely applied chip-making process in fields like high-end consumer electronics, high-speed computing, artificial intelligence and automobiles.

According to statistics, the global semiconductor market made around $200 billion in sales in the first half of 2019. The 14 nm chip-making process accounted for 65% of those sales.

Bao said China now has the capacity to mass produce 28 nm chips as it made important headway in developing some of the critical equipment and materials.

The 28 nm is the dividing line between low-to-mid range and mid-to-high end IC manufacturing, he explained.

Besides chips for central processing units, graphics processing units and artificial intelligence, other mainstream industrial products such as televisions, air conditioners, automobiles, high-speed trains, satellites, industrial robots, elevators and drones are the most common applications for the 28 nm technology process, Bao added.

“China urgently needs to move toward mid-to-high end chip production, and being able to produce 28 nm chips means that it can meet most of the demand for chips without relying on other countries,” said he.

In 2019, IC capacity for leading-edge (<10 nm) processes accounted for only 4.4% of the installed capacity across the industry, while processes above 28 nm accounted for 52% of the overall share, according to the IC Insights’ Global Wafer Capacity 2020-2024.

While the 14 nm and 28 nm chip-making process can meet much of domestic demand, China is eagerly promoting more cutting-edge processes to gradually break away from overseas reliance.

Wen Xiaojun, head of the Electronic Information Institute at the China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID), last month told China’s news portal huanqiu.com that the homegrown 14nm chip-making process is likely to be mass produced by next year.

As the world’s largest semiconductor market, China has been spending aggressively in semiconductor investment, acquisition, and talent recruitment to bolster the chip manufacturing industry and make it equal to those of the world’s top foundries.

A report by Goldman Sachs last year predicted that China may be capable of producing 7nm chips by 2023.

Given the dynamics of the chip production sector, domestic communication operators, equipment suppliers and communication service providers should explore new ways of service while innovating appliance architecture to gain trust from customers and boost technological improvement, noted Bao.

Bao believes that the key for new breakthroughs is to better integrate into the global innovation and collaboration system as the IC industry is truly a global industry and no country should be isolated from the industry chain.

…

Keep in mind that all these new technical breakthroughs are coming from factories and hard working gals like this gal here…

And for the United States…

US nuclear submarine engineer pleads guilty to trying to sell US secrets to a foreign power

The identity of the foreign power has never been revealed, although it is widely speculated to have been France. Investigators say the Toebbes contacted a friendly foreign power, rather than an adversary, with the information.

Diana Toebbe said her husband only wanted to flee the country because she hated Donald Trump, a court has been told.

One wonders what their Reddit usernames were.

[4] Market size of the integrated circuit (IC) design industry in China from 2016 to 2020 with an estimate for 2021

It appears that the “Trump and Biden trade wars” had zero effect.

[5] China makes breakthrough in a key step in chip manufacturing

A Chinese company has announced the successful production of an ion implantation machine made entirely with local technologies, marking a breakthrough in a key aspect of chip manufacturing, Xinhua reported on March 17.

China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, which announced the breakthrough, said on Wednesday that its products include ion implanters for medium-beam, high-beam, high-energy, specialty applications, and third-generation semiconductors, covering process segments up to 28nm.

An ion implantation machine is a type of high-pressure mini-accelerator that is widely used in the chip manufacturing process.

It is used for ion implantation of semiconductor materials, large-scale integrated circuits, and devices by obtaining the required ions from an ion source and accelerating it to obtain an ion beam stream of several hundred kilo electron volts energy.

In addition, it can also be used for surface modification of metallic materials and film making.

Ion implantation machines are widely used in doping processes and can meet the requirements of the shallow junction, low temperature, and precise control, and are essential equipment in integrated circuit manufacturing processes.

Last June, China Electronics Technology Group announced the successful development of a million-volt high-energy ion implantation machine with independent intellectual property rights, breaking a decade-long blockade of the technology by other countries.

As essential core equipment in chip manufacturing, China’s ion implantation machines rely heavily on foreign countries, especially the development of extremely difficult million-volt high-energy particle implantation machines.

At present, the most advanced international ion implantation machine is the PRHEI6Me produced by the German chip company Prima, which is the only 6-million-volt high-energy ion implantation machine in the world, and the only 6-million-volt high-energy ion implantation machine in the world that has been successfully commercialized.

Chinese girl – lovely in red

In all this craziness, let’s take a second to appreciate who the heck we are talking about when we are discussing technology, and it’s applications in our lives. As most people are not flying military jets, shooting hellfire missiles, or swimming deep under the sea in submarines. So who are these Chiense who build and use these IC ships?

Let’s have a look shall we?

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It’s nice to look at beauty when you are being sprayed with distortions, lies, hate and anger out of the United States.

[6] In battle with U.S., China to focus on 7 ‘frontier’ technologies from chips to brain-computer fusion

Published Fri, Mar 5 20213:11 AM EST

Arjun Kharpal @ArjunKharpal

[7] Chinese chipmaker SMIC makes breakthrough in ‘7nm-like process’

Innosilicon, a Chinese company focusing on customized chip design services, announced it has completed a chip tape-out and testing based on the FinFET N+1 technology of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s largest chipmaker.

A tape-out is the final phase of a chip design process before they are sent for manufacturing.

FinFET N+1, SMIC’s next-generation chip foundry node, is very similar to the advanced 7nm process used by other world leading chipmakers, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung in terms of performance, although it’s still 35 percent inferior, according to SMIC co-CEO Liang Mengsong.

Moreover, the N+1 foundry node may enable SMIC to break its reliance on top-level Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) machine made by Dutch microchip machine maker ASML, according to Liang. ASML is subject to U.S. export control as its products contain American technology.

Innosilicon said on its website that all the IPs are homegrown, and its functionality passed the test in one go following months of collaborative efforts with SMIC, paving the way for volume production of the latest manufacturing node.

The news has been taken as a major breakthrough by SMIC in its home-grown chip manufacturing process, sending its shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange 12.7 percent higher on Monday.

However, a tape-out success only means the technology meets performance targets in the lab. It still takes a lot of data support and repeated testing before it could be put into mass production, which could take a few months to several years, according to chip experts.

Critical time

The N+1 tape-out breakthrough came on the heels of SMIC’s falling onto the U.S.’ export sanctions list, as the latter has been relentlessly cracking down on Chinese high-tech firms.

The chipmaker acknowledged earlier this month that some of its suppliers had been restricted by U.S. export controls, and given the uncertainties in U.S. equipment supplies, its business may be affected.

The U.S. sanctions may disrupt SMIC’s next moves, including purchases of manufacturing equipment and raw materials, but the short-term impact would not be much given the Chinese firm’s inventories, said Ma Jihua, a veteran analyst in the high-tech sector.

Despite being years behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, SMIC is catching up, based on its reinvention of mature technologies, Ma noted. In comparison, the chip technology used by TSMC has gradually neared its limits.

TSMC is accelerating mass production of the 5-nm process. The higher version of the 5-nm chips will enter mass production in 2021. Its 3-nm process will be in mass production by the second half of 2022.

[8] Chinese firm to deliver 28nm chip manufacturing machine in 2021-2022: reports

Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE) will deliver the first domestic 28nm lithography machine between 2021 to 2022, helping narrowing the gap with the world’s chip-making technology, industry websites said.

The move is a leapfrog breakthrough for China’s semiconductor industry, according to domestic technology website mydrivers.com. Industry website icsmart.cn also reported it is good news for China’s semiconductor industry chain.

The US crackdowns on ZTE and Huawei awakened Chinese companies to explore self-developed lithography equipment, which has underscored the urgency and significance of China to develop advanced chip making ability in a bid to avoid being squeezed by the US amid an escalating tech war.

Xiang Ligang, a veteran industry analyst, told the Global Times on Sunday that once SMEE has the ability to deliver 28nm lithography equipment, it will have the opportunity to move forward to 14nm and 7nm lithography equipment, noting that the breakthrough helps the company “accumulate experience” to manufacture high-end chip-making equipment.

The whole world could take part in the chip-making industry instead of a particular country or particular company, so progress by any single company is valuable, Xiang noted.

Founded in 2002, SMEE is one of the advanced lithography machine makers in China and accounts for about 80 percent of the domestic market share, industry websites said.

Lithography machines are one of the core pieces of equipment in chip manufacturing. Netherlands-based chip equipment maker Advanced Semiconductor Material Lithography (ASML) remained a global team in churning out high-end lithography machines, followed by Nikon and Cano.

Liu Kun, a Beijing-based semiconductor industry analyst noted that even if the core component of the 28nm lithography equipment may not be made in China, it would be a breakthrough for the Chinese company to package such equipment.

It may take three to five years for companies like Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) to make the 28nm equipment by itself and there is still a long way to go, but Chinese companies are ramping up efforts, according to Liu.

Source: https://www.globaltimes.cn/

Chinese MILF

I think that this is a fine, fine woman. For those of you who feel the same way, check out her video here.

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[9] China Speeds Up Advanced Chip Development

Efforts underway to develop 7nm, DRAM, 3D NAND, and EUV domestically as trade war escalates.

June 22nd, 2020 – By: Mark LaPedus

China is accelerating its efforts to advance its domestic semiconductor industry, amid ongoing trade tensions with the West, in hopes of becoming more self-sufficient.

The country is still behind in IC technology and is nowhere close to being self-reliant, but it is making noticeable progress. Until recently, China’s domestic chipmakers were stuck with mature foundry processes with no presence in memory. Recently, though, a China-based foundry entered the 14nm finFET market, with 7nm in R&D. China also is expanding into memory. And in the fab equipment sector, China is developing its own extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system, which is a technology that patterns the most advanced features in chips.

It’s unlikely that China will develop its own EUV system in the near term. And for that matter, the nation’s foundry and memory efforts are modest, at least for now. And China won’t overtake multinational chipmakers anytime soon.

Nonetheless, it is developing its domestic IC industry for several reasons. For one thing, China imports most of its chips from foreign suppliers, creating an enormous trade gap. China has a sizeable IC industry, but it isn’t large enough to close the gap. In response, the nation is pouring billions of dollars into its IC sector with plans to manufacture more of its own chips. Simply put, it wants to become less dependent on foreign suppliers.

China recently accelerated those efforts, especially when the U.S. launched a multi-prong trade war with the nation. In just one example, the U.S. has made it more difficult for Huawei to obtain U.S. chips and software. And recently, the U.S. blocked ASML from shipping an EUV scanner to SMIC, China’s largest foundry vendor. China sees these and other actions as a way to hamper its growth, prompting it to speed up the development of its own technologies.

Meanwhile, the U.S. says its trade-related actions are justified, claiming that China is engaged in unfair trade practices and has failed to protect U.S. intellectual-property. China dismisses those claims. Nonetheless, the industry needs to keep an eye on the trade issues as well as China’s progress in semiconductors. They include:

SMIC is shipping 14nm finFETs, with a 7nm-like process in R&D.
Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) recently entered the 3D NAND market with a 64-layer device. A 128-layer technology is in R&D.
ChangXin Memory Technology (CXMT) is shipping its first product, a 19nm DRAM line.
China is expanding into compound semis, including gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC).
China’s OSATs are developing more advanced packages.

This all sounds impressive, but China is still trailing. “China is spending like crazy. China’s strategy is to be a player in semiconductor manufacturing. It comes from wanting to have a bigger share of its domestic manufacturing capabilities, as well as for security considerations,” said Risto Puhakka, president of VLSI Research. “But China’s share in memory is small. On the logic side, they are behind TSMC. China is far from being self-sufficient from any reasonable aspect.”

Those aren’t the only issues. “There are still many challenges for China, including the need for more talent and IP in semiconductor manufacturing, and the need to further narrow the gap in the leading process technologies,” said Leo Pang, chief product officer at D2S. “The top challenge is the tension between the U.S. and Chinese governments, which is causing uncertainty in the supply of manufacturing equipment and EDA software.”

China’s strategy
China has been involved in the IC industry for decades. In the 1980s, it had several state-run chipmakers with outdated technology. So at the time, China introduced several initiatives to modernize its IC industry. With help from foreign concerns, the country launched several chip ventures in the 1980s and 1990s.

Still, China found itself behind the West in semiconductor technology for several reasons. At the time, the West implemented strict export controls on China. Equipment vendors were prohibited from shipping the most advanced tools to China.

Then in 2000, China launched two new and modern domestic foundry vendors — Grace and SMIC. By then the export controls were relaxed in China. Equipment vendors simply required a license to ship tools to China.

Around that time, China became a large manufacturing base with low labor rates. Demand for chips skyrocketed. Over time, the nation became the world’s largest market for chips.

Starting in the late 2000s, multinational chipmakers began building fabs in China to gain access to the market. Intel, Samsung and SK Hynix built memory fabs in China. TSMC and UMC built foundry fabs there.

By 2014, China consumed $77 billion worth of chips, according to IC Insights, but it imported most of them. Plus, China only manufactured 15.1% of those chips, according to IC Insights. The rest were manufactured outside of China.

In response, and armed with billions of dollars in funding, the Chinese government unveiled a new plan in 2014. The goal was to accelerate China’s efforts in 14nm finFETs, memory and packaging.

Then, in 2015, China launched another initiative, dubbed “Made in China 2025.” The goal is to increase the domestic content of components in 10 areas — IT, robotics, aerospace, shipping, railways, electric vehicles, power equipment, materials, medicine and machinery. In addition, China hopes to become more self-sufficient in ICs and wants to increase its domestic production to 70% by 2025, according to IC Insights.

In 2019, China consumed $125 billion worth of chips, according to IC Insights, but it still imports most of them. China only manufactured 15.7% of those chips, so it’s unlikely the country will reach its production targets by 2025.

China faces other challenges, as well, particularly a shortage of technical talent. “China is still seeking more talent in semiconductor manufacturing,” D2S’ Pang observed. “That is mainly because China is building a dozen new fabs. It has already recruited thousands, if not tens of thousands, of experienced semiconductor engineers from fabs in Taiwan, Korea, Japan and even the U.S. by paying them with very attractive compensation packages.”

On the bright side, China made a quick recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year. In the first half of 2020, chip and equipment demand were strong in China and elsewhere. “200mm capacity has continued to be running full with a wide range of end applications. In the 300mm area, this has been a similar situation over this past year,” said Walter Ng, vice president of business development at UMC.

Others see similar trends. “China semiconductor test and packaging markets have been resilient throughout the Covid-19 period,” said Amy Leong, senior vice president at FormFactor. “The demand remains solid, fueled by the combination of the momentum built over the last few years from the ‘Made in China 2025’ initiative, and the recent ‘panic build/buy’ amid China-U.S. tensions. With this said, we are seeing an increasing level of demand uncertainties in China as the fear of a global economic recession mounts.”

The mood is also tense. Starting in 2018, the U.S. launched a trade war with China, slapping tariffs on Chinese-made goods. China has retaliated.

The trade war is escalating. Last year, the U.S. added Huawei and its internal chip unit, HiSilicon, to the “entity list,” saying the companies pose as a security risk. To do business with Huawei, a U.S. company must obtain a license from the U.S. government. Many U.S. vendors have been denied, which impacts their bottom lines.

Then, earlier this year, the U.S. expanded the definition of a “military end user” in China. This is designed to prevent China’s military from obtaining any U.S. technology.

In May, the U.S. moved to stem the flow of chips to Huawei from overseas fabs. “Going forward, an overseas fab must halt sales to Huawei if it meets the following three conditions: A) fab uses U.S. equipment or software to make chips; B) the chip is designed by Huawei; and C) the chipmaker has knowledge the item produced is destined for Huawei,” said Paul Gallant, an analyst with Cowen. “(This requires) foreign chipmakers using U.S. equipment to get a license before selling chips to Huawei. But the language of the new rule may not actually ban such sales. On the upside, the new rule only covers chips actually designed by HiSilicon, not all chips made by overseas fabs being sold to Huawei.”

At some point, TSMC may halt new orders to Huawei. It’s unclear how this will all play out. The rules are fuzzy and could change overnight.

Foundry, EUV efforts
Even before the trade war, China was in the midst of a major fab expansion program. In 2017 and 2018, China had 18 fabs under construction, according to SEMI’s “World Fab Forecast Report.” Eventually, these fabs were built.

China currently has 3 fabs under construction, according to SEMI. “Two of those fabs are for foundry. One is 8-inch and another is 12-inch. There is another one for memory (12-inch). Still on the drawing board are 7 more,” said Christian Dieseldorff, an analyst at SEMI.

The foundry industry makes up a large percentage of China’s fab capacity. China’s foundry industry is split into two categories—domestic and multinational vendors.

TSMC and UMC are among the multinationals. TSMC operates a 200mm fab in Shanghai. In 2018, TSMC began shipping 16nm finFETs in another fab in Nanjing.

UMC is manufacturing chips in a 200mm fab in Suzhou. UMC also has a new 300mm foundry venture in Xiamen, which is shipping 40nm and 28nm.

Meanwhile, China’s domestic foundry vendors, such as ASMC, CS Micro and the Huahong Group, all focus on mature processes. On the leading edge, startup HSMC is developing 14nm and 7nm in R&D.

SMIC, China’s most advanced foundry company, is the world’s fifth largest foundry vendor, behind TSMC, Samsung, GlobalFoundries and UMC, according to TrendForce.

Up until last year, SMIC’s most advanced process was a 28nm planar technology. In comparison, TSMC introduced 28nm a decade ago. Today, TSMC is ramping up 5nm with 3nm in R&D.

This is a sore spot for the Chinese government. Because China is behind, Chinese OEMs must obtain their most advanced chips from foreign suppliers.

On the other hand, there isn’t a gap for mature processes in China. “The technology node gap is not an issue for most fabs, since the majority of chips used in IoT and automotive applications do not require leading-edge nodes,” D2S’ Pang said.

Nonetheless, SMIC is trying to develop advanced processes. In 2015, SMIC, Huawei, Imec and Qualcomm formed a joint R&D chip technology venture in China with plans to develop a 14nm finFET process.

This is a big step. “Moving to finFETs at 14nm is not easy. Everybody struggled with it,” VLSI Research’s Puhakka said. “So did SMIC. It’s difficult what they are trying to do.”

Still, that move is essential to continue scaling. At 20nm, traditional planar transistors run out of steam. This is why in 2011 Intel moved to finFET transistors at 22nm. FinFETs are faster with lower power than planar transistors, but they are also harder and more expensive to manufacture.

Later, GlobalFoundries, Samsung, TSMC and UMC moved to finFETs at 16nm/14nm. (Intel’s 22nm process is roughly equivalent to 16nm/14nm from the foundries.)

Finally, after years of R&D, SMIC in 2019 reached a milestone by shipping China’s first 14nm finFETs. Today, 14nm represents a tiny percentage of SMIC’s sales. “Our customers’ feedback on 14nm is positive. Our 14nm is covering both communications and automotive sectors with applications including low-end application processors, baseband and consumer-related products,” said Zhao Haijun and Liang Mong Song, SMIC’s co-CEOs, in a conference call.

Still, SMIC is late to the party. For example, the application processor is the most advanced chip in a smartphone. Today’s smartphones incorporate application processors based on 7nm. Most other chips in smartphones, such as image sensors and RF, are based on mature nodes.

And 14nm isn’t cost-competitive for the most advanced application processors. “SMIC is starting to do 14nm. But if you look at smartphones, the designs are at 7nm,” said Handel Jones, chief executive of IBS. “If you look at the transistor costs at 7nm, a billion transistors cost from $2.67 to $2.68. A billion transistors at 14nm cost about $3.88. So you have a big cost difference.”

14nm is viable in other markets, though. “14nm technology can be used for low-end 4G and 5G smartphones, but not for mainstream or high-end smartphones. 14nm can be used for 5G infrastructure applications with the appropriate processor and system architectures,” Jones said.

Now, with funding from the government, SMIC is developing 12nm finFETs and what it calls “N+1.” 12nm is a scaled down version of 14nm. Slated by year’s end, N+1 is billed as a 7nm technology.

N+1 isn’t quite what it seems. “SMIC’s N+1 is equivalent to Samsung’s 8nm, which is slightly better than TSMC’s 10nm,” said Samuel Wang, an analyst at Gartner. “SMIC’s N+1 is unlikely for this year. 12nm may become production ready by the end of 2020.”

Once again, SMIC may miss the market window. By the time it ships 8nm in 2021, smartphone OEMs will move to 5nm for the application processor.

That’s not the only issue. SMIC could manufacture 8nm or 7nm using existing fab equipment. Beyond that, the current lithography equipment runs out of steam. So beyond 7nm, chipmakers require EUV, a next-generation lithography technology.

However, the U.S. recently blocked ASML from shipping its EUV scanners to SMIC. If SMIC can’t obtain EUV, the company is stuck at 8nm/7nm. “The U.S. blocked the EUV sale to SMIC (last year) under the Wassenaar agreement. I can’t envision a EUV shipment to China in the foreseeable future. But with 14nm just over 1% of SMIC’s sales, they don’t need EUV technology for a few years,” said Krish Sankar, an analyst at Cowen and Co.

At some point, though, China wants to go beyond 7nm. This is why China is working on its own EUV technology. China hasn’t developed a full-blown EUV scanner—it may never develop one. But work is underway in the arena. The EUV subsystems are being developed at several research institutes. For example, the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) last year described the development of EUV driven by a kilowatt laser. In 2020, researchers from the Institute of Microelectronics of the CAS published a paper on “EUV multilayer defect characterization via cycle-consistent learning.”

“There is a lot of research being done around different components of EUV,” VLSI Research’s Puhakka said. “I don’t think they have advanced to have a manufacturable EUV tool. Developing its own EUV will be a long process. I won’t say never, but it’s a long and hard road.”

Others agreed. “I assume that we see only part of what China is doing. It’s like an iceberg, most is hidden from view. Their academicians publish papers on EUV technology, but the work that I have seen has been mostly theoretical. I assume that there is some underlying hardware,” said Harry Levinson, principal at HJL Lithography.

Memory, non-memory efforts
China, meanwhile, has a huge trade gap in memory, namely DRAM and NAND flash. DRAM is used for main memory in systems, while NAND is used for storage.

China imports most of its memory. Intel, Samsung and SK Hynix operate memory fabs in China, which produce chips for both the domestic and international markets.

To reduce its dependence here, China is developing its domestic memory industry. In 2016, YMTC emerged with plans to enter the 3D NAND business. And CXMT is currently ramping up China’s first home-grown DRAMs.

Both are competitive markets, especially NAND. 3D NAND is the successor to planar NAND flash memory. Unlike planar NAND, which is a 2D structure, 3D NAND resembles a vertical skyscraper in which horizontal layers of memory cells are stacked and then connected using tiny vertical channels.

3D NAND is quantified by the number of layers stacked in a device. As more layers are added, the bit density increases in systems. But the manufacturing challenges escalate as you add more layers.

“There are two big challenges in scaling 3D NAND,” said Rick Gottscho, executive vice president and CTO at Lam Research. “One is the stress in the films that builds up as you deposit more and more layers, which can warp the wafer and distort the patterns. Then, when you go double deck or triple deck, alignment becomes a bigger challenge.”

Meanwhile, YMTC appears to have overcome some of those challenges. Last year, YMTC shipped its first product–a 64-layer 3D NAND device. Now, YMTC is sampling a 128-layer 3D technology.

The company is behind. In comparison, multinational vendors are shipping 92-/96-layer 3D NAND devices. They are also ramping up 112-/128-layer products.

Still, YMTC could become a factor, at least in China. YMTC’s chips are being incorporated in USB cards and SSDs from China-based companies. If Chinese OEMs adopt YMTC’s technology, “it could become a disruptive situation in NAND market share,” said Jeongdong Choe, an analyst with TechInsights.

To be sure, though, China has a long way to go in memory before it becomes a major competitor. “IC Insights remains extremely skeptical whether the country can develop a large competitive indigenous memory industry even over the next 10 years that comes anywhere close to meeting its memory IC needs,” said Bill McClean, president of IC Insights.

The same is true for analog, logic, mixed-signal and RF. “It will take decades for Chinese companies to become competitive in the non-memory IC product segments,” McClean said.

Meanwhile, several China-based GaN and SiC vendors have emerged in China. They appear to be foundry vendors and materials suppliers, but clearly, China is behind in the arena. GaN is used for power semis and RF, while SiC is targeted for power devices.

“The Chinese market represents a significant opportunity in the global power electronics industry, mainly in the automotive and consumer segments,” said Ahmed Ben Slimane, technology and market analyst at Yole Développement. “Driven by the electric-vehicle/hybrid-electric vehicle applications, SiC devices started to be adopted by leading Chinese car makers, such as BYD in its Han EV model. In the power GaN industry, the Chinese smartphone OEMs, such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo and Vivo have opted for GaN in fast charger technology. Driven by strong system makers in China, Chinese wafer and device players are certainly well-positioned in terms of cost-competitiveness and increasing quality given the current context of the U.S.-China conflict.”

This in turn is fueling the development of the ecosystem. “Following the emergence of wideband-gap semiconductors in the power electronics market, China is indeed pushing for innovative technologies and it has started building up its domestic value chain,” said Ezgi Dogmus, technology and market analyst at Yole Développement. “In the Chinese power SiC ecosystem, we see various players getting involved at wafer, epiwafer and device level. This includes players such as Tankeblue and SICC in wafers, Epiworld and TYSiC in epiwafer and Sanan IC in the foundry businesses. Regarding the power GaN market, starting from 2019, we have witnessed entry of competitive GaN device manufacturers such as Innoscience and various system integrators in the domain of fast chargers.”

Packaging plans
China also has big plans in packaging. JCET is China’s largest packaging house. It has several other OSATs as well.

“China’s OSAT technology is quite current to the mainstream industry capability, perceived as a much narrower technology gap compared to front-end wafer fabrication technology. They are capable of supporting nearly all popular package types,” FormFactor’s Leong said. “The emerging 2.5D/3D heterogeneous integration technology is still under development in China, noticeably behind the industry leaders like TSMC, Intel and Samsung.”

Potentially, though, advanced packaging is where China could close the gap. This is not just in packaging, but in semiconductor technology.

Today, for advanced designs, the industry typically develops an ASIC using chip scaling. This is where you shrink different functions at each node and pack them onto a monolithic die. But this approach is becoming more expensive at each node.

The industry is looking for new approaches. Another way to develop a system-level design is to assemble complex dies in an advanced package. “As Moore’s Law slows down, heterogeneous integration with advanced packaging technology represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for China to catch up in semiconductors,” Leong said.

…

Ah. Here’s a fine screen capture for your consideration. Remember that when we study any issue we must look at EVERYTHING, not just certain parts of the issue. Here is a picture from one of the videos above. Know the people who you are talkign about. Understand the context about what you are discussing.

[10] Lithography machine making technology breakthrough again! 14 nm to 9 nm

by：Transon 2021-01-08

High-tech enterprises in China is limited by North America after strengthened the demand for domestic supply, for the development of Chinese industry brought $300 billion of investment opportunities. At present, China has nearly 2000 chip design related enterprises, mainly include huawei, purple light show sharp, in accordance with the science and technology, the Chinese chip companies account for 13% of the global chip sales. And pay attention to below there will be a breakthrough, recent Chinese chip is ushered in the three big good news.

Point 1…China is building everything from scratch. China’s memory chip production will amount to 5% of the global accounted in the past five years due to suffer shortage of memory chips, set off an upsurge of memory chips development in China. This year, after unremitting efforts, China continuously made new breakthrough in the field of memory chips. According to Japanese media reports, China’s emerging chip industry production is expected to be at the end of 2020 account for about 5% of the global memory chip output, which accounts for almost zero than last year.

.
It is understood that in September this year the Chinese semiconductor companies purple light group, the Yangtze river storage has begun to independent research and development of 64 layer 3 d NAND flash memory chips for mass production. And according to its expected by the end of next year, the investment of $24 billion production of the new factory in wuhan will be increased by two times, reached 60000 pieces per month, accounted for 5% of global production. At the same time, xin long stored in hefei factory built by investing $8 billion production of DRAM chips will be increased by three times, reached 40000 pieces per month, 3% of the world production of DRAM.
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At present, the global production of NAND flash memory and DRAM chips are about 1. 3 million pieces per month. The two markets are dominated by the United States, South Korea and Japan’s manufacturers, such as samsung electronics, SK hynix, micron technology. Though, the Yangtze river and long xin storage added up to 100000 pieces of monthly shipments for big companies seem trivial, but, after the two markets in China are & quot; Zero production & quot; , 100000 pieces of this means that China’s efforts to promote technical self-sufficiency is a major breakthrough, is also a key to break the monopoly of America, Japan.

Point 2,Chinese 14 nm to 9 nm, domestic printing machine making technology breakthrough again!

in the general case, chip production process including two link, a link is a design, a link is made. In chip design link in our country, including well-known Chinese technology companies such as huawei haisi have developed 7 nm technological process of the chip, but it still chip manufacturing is the largest Chinese companies, after all is used for manufacturing chip lithography machine is a big problem. In consciousness to the chip manufacturing process after the disadvantages restricted to people will produce a chain, China started in the field of domestic printing machine for the huge investment, and heard the good news.

Now, some time ago, China’s independent research and development of 14 nm lithography has passed the preliminary acceptance and review panel, and after 14 nm process technology, a news came again, domestic printing machine again to achieve the new breakthrough. According to media reports, wuhan photoelectric GanZongSong team at the national center for research, has successfully developed 9 nm technology process of lithography. It is worth mentioning that, unlike traditional lithography machine, the domestic printing machine using two laser beam breakthrough the limitation of the diffraction limit, and this is technology with independent property rights in China.

Of course, it also means that domestic lithography technology difficulty has been breached, breaking the foreign technology blockade of China for a long time and limits, but even if the current domestic lithography breakthrough in 9 nm process technology, and with the Netherlands ASML have 7 nm technology process than there are still some gaps. But of course it is an important milestone in the history of the development of Chinese chip, once the domestic printing machine to realize mass production, we can see the future can break ASML monopoly.

Point 3, China’s semiconductor realize new breakthrough: successful foray into the world’s first 5 nm chip process production line. In addition, in addition to the lithography, etching machine is an indispensable step in the process of semiconductor. We have learned, lithography, etching machine and MOCVD equipment, known as the semiconductor technology along with all the three key equipment. Etching machine as a key equipment in the chip manufacturing, used for micro sculpture on the chip, to a certain extent determines the highest level chip manufacturing. However, little is known, our country domestic etching machines the world had a commanding lead.

Now, according to Moore’s law, the development of Taiwan semiconductor chip process has been developed from 14 nm to 5 nm, and will go into mass production node, and chip process constantly evolving, machining accuracy requirements for equipment also will increase. It is worth mentioning that it has been verified by TSMC, micro semiconductor self-developed 5 nm in plasma etching machine, excellent performance, will be used in the world’s first 5 nm chip process production line.

And micro 5 nm semiconductor etching machine successfully into the supply chain, TSMC means created yet another milestone in China’s semiconductor devices. As you can see, more and more evidence that China’s chip manufacturing is entering a new era, though, is now a line with the world level chip industry in China is still there is a certain gap, but we still should believe: the resistance and long, line will come.

Chinese girl built like a fish

Yes she is. This is known as the “Chinese ideal”.

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Chinese girl at her workstation

Calm, relaxed. Though, I’m not really all that fond of the print on the dress. Personally, I prefer the plain and simple bland colors.

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Chip manufacturing has always been the biggest shortcoming of the domestic semiconductor industry, and most of the chips we use, about 50% are purchased from the United States at high prices. According to statistics, from 2019 to 2020, Chinese chips The total amount of imports exceeds 300 billion, accounting for about 40% of the global semiconductor consumer market, far exceeding oil!

However, the old American, who has made a lot of money from the Chinese market, hates the rise of domestic high-tech companies such as Huawei. Industrial channels have caused Huawei HiSkong to have top-notch chip design skills, but it is useless.

The reason why we are trapped in the chip ban is largely due to the lack of EUV lithography equipment. However, ASML, the only Dutch giant that can produce EUV equipment in the world, is restricted by “export control” due to the American technology accessories contained in its production line, so that it has never been able to sell the equipment to us.

After Huawei was cut off, Ren Zhengfei visited the Chinese Academy of Sciences for help. The two sides reached a clear consensus: The key to breaking the ice of domestic chips is the EUV lithography machine.

In order to realize the rise of “China Core”, the Chinese Academy of Sciences took the initiative to take over the task and established a special EUV core technology research team, which is bound to complete the breakthrough in the shortest time.

Unexpectedly, when ASML learned that we were going to develop EUV on our own, they would sneer and say: Even if they give Chinese drawings, they will make them. Although engineering academician Wu Hanming also said: EUV is the crystallization of global wisdom, it is very unrealistic for us to research and develop on our own.

However, in the face of Lao Mei’s bottom-line suppression, we who are “stucked” have no room to “retire” at all. More importantly, the development of EUV is not only to clear the obstacles on the road to localization of chips, but also to safeguard the dignity of the nation!

Therefore, any doubts and ridicules cannot obliterate the determination of Chinese scientists to break through the EUV monopoly.

Sure enough, the good news came soon. Huazhuo Precision Technology took the lead and independently developed a dual-stage system, one of the core technologies of EUV, and became the second company in the world to master this technology after ASML.

Witnessing China’s R&D progress in the field of lithography, ASML, which once poured cold water, also immediately changed its tune. Not only did it show its favor to the Chinese market five times, it even began to “snatch”, saying: If the United States continues sanctions, China will be alone within 15 years. Created EUV lithography machine.

However, ASML obviously still underestimated the perseverance and strength of Chinese scientists, and never expected it to be so fast. In just one year, China’s EUV lithography machine was about to land.

In addition to the dual work stage system, EUV equipment has two core technologies, namely the light source and the optical lens.

In terms of light sources, the scientific research team led by Professor Tang Chuanxiang of Tsinghua University successfully explored a new type of particle accelerator light source “steady-state micro-bunching” in February this year. Ultraviolet light is the working light source of EUV. What’s more commendable is that China’s independent light source technology is not only suitable for EUV, but also has a wider range of application scenarios.

Only less than 6 months later, CCTV reported great news related to optical lenses.

The first domestic high-energy radiation light source equipment independently developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences has officially completed the installation and application.

At the same time, the linear Lloyd lens coating device and nano-focusing lens coating device developed by Zhongke Kemei have also been put into use.

These two devices combined with high-radiation light source equipment can almost meet the physical lens technology of all process requirements, including Zeiss lenses.

This means that the three core technologies of EUV lithography machines have all been broken, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has also fulfilled its promise.

Although EUV claims to have more than 100,000 precision parts, it has not yet broken through, but can it be more aircraft carriers? This is not a big problem for the huge Chinese manufacturing market.

Looking back over the past seventy years, under the blockade of the West, China’s scientific and technological development road has been very bumpy, but it has never stopped.

One by one, the first achievements are coming.

One super project has won the world, and scientific breakthroughs have benefited mankind. “Turning in circles, competing with hundreds of rivers” is the most appropriate description of China’s science and technology. What is the point of a small EUV lithography machine?

Chinese girl in a nice dress

And yes she is, and yes it is. I do love how this dress just hugs her body.

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Bill Gates says…

Not that it really pertains to this particular article, but there's all sorts of strange things going on right now. To this end, I would like to throw out this bit of intel to you all to mull over. I don't know if it is true or not. But it is thought-provoking.

https://www.rt.com/news/549937-bill-gates-omicron-vaccines/

Bill Gates is already on recent record as saying the next plandemic could be smallpox and HIV. Great foreshadowing in the BLPM.

American medical company Merck was recently caught with about 15 vials of smallpox, when it is supposed to be only kept in two high security L-4 biolabs, one in the US and one in Russia. Merck is a proven bioweapon producer.

Luc Montagnier said before he died that if you get the third GMO mRNA shot, to get tested for HIV.

Be Happy!

Take a note that you must accept life as it is, and not as you want it to be. Enjoy life, and savor it. it will be over soon enough. So just enjoy it and accept it as it is. Stop trying to swim upsteam. Embrace it. Live it.

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party-2022-02-18_21.28.43

Conclusion

I wrote this little piece for the next time I see some “article” about Taiwan and IC chip fabricration in terms of mainland China. The “news” has this ability to omit things, take things out of context and then just hammer lies over and over and over so that the public gets and entirely distorted picture of reality.

Remember…

The only electronics systems that NEED the high-end fabricration technologies inside of Taiwan right now are the American military industrial complex. China doesn’t use them. So they don’t need them.

That’s right.

The only ones all fixiated in a war with China over Taiwan are the Taiwanese oligarchy, and the American military industrial complex.

Don’t get caught up in the distrations.

Live life on YOUR terms.

And as far as the United States (the instigator of all these nuisance distractions) is concerned, well this link tells you all you need to know about it’s health and functionability…

Homeland Security torched for letting migrants use arrest warrants as ID

TSA has argued the arrest warrant, a Form I-200 from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to notify of immigration violations, works because it is a federal form.

But instead of being used to welcome illegal immigrants through TSA checkpoints, critics believe it should be a deportation trigger. These words are at the top of the form: “Warrant for arrest of alien.”

It is just comedic travesty at this point. But it’s going to end. You can be rest assured of that.

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 3

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A democracy of fools is no democracy.

This article underlines and underscores a point that I have made time and time again. Which is that the United States isn’t a democracy, and every single item and shred of evidence points to something quite bad, and very sinister. We can parse one item such as the first Amendment being “blown out of the water” by the government funding narratives that it wants….

Like all things USA, good news out of China is suppressed, while bad news is promoted with loud megaphones. Video 7MB

The death of free media-1-2022-02-13_10.42.42

Such activity is banned under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on December 16, 1966, by UN General Assembly Resolution 2200A (XXI). The first paragraph in Article 20 stipulates: “Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.”

What could be clearer? Still, maintaining a free hand has always been the main guiding principle for Washington and London.

While agreeing to be bound by the Covenant, the United States adopted the following reservation:

“Article 20 does not authorise or require legislation or other action by the United States that would restrict the right of free speech and association protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”

What role does the American government play in providing for the civilian population?

… to every evidence that the issues that are important to the civilian population has near zero influence on the elected officials voting records.

In this article we will look at the purposeful dilution of voting-power of the citizenry. For after all, the vast bulk of amendments to the United States constitution has been wholly devoted to watering down the power each individual vote has.

For after all, when the United States came into being, only the male head of households, who were land owners could vote. And they played an active role in governance.

Not so today.

I argue that the voting power has been diluted to such an extend that it is nonexistent. And without voting power direct to the government, democracy does not exist.

Such is the United States today.

Anyways, this here is a great article by Fred. Love his writing style, and his points are poignant.

The Care and Feeding of the Rabble: Democracy its Own Self

1987 Views February 11, 2022 Found HERE

By Fred Reed for the Saker Blog

Listening to Biden prattling about democracy, democracy, democracy, and how we must save American democracy from swarming threats to democracy, with the insistence and urgency of a starveling aluminum-siding salesman, I am filled with wonder. Convincing people that they live in a democracy is a lot of work, like pumping air into an inner tube with a leak. America is no more a democracy than it is a potted plant.

Functional Illiteracy at Fourteen Percent in America: Department of Education

Functional illiterates cannot fill out a job application, manage a checkbook, read a simple story in a newspaper, or use the social media. Those who can’t read don’t, and another large number who can barely read don’t either. At a low estimate they must amount to a quarter of the population. They vote.

Democracy is best suited to towns of a few hundred people who, however dim of wit in many cases, may understand such questions as should we build a new school which will cost me so many dollars in higher taxes. Even here the more crafty and avaricious will likely prevail.

Shocking Facts: 23 Statistics on Illiteracy in America

A problem in democracies—“democracies”—is of course that the dim, the inattentive, and those who are both dim and inattentive, will always outnumber the bright and informed. However, the syndrome worsens as the domain upon which the electorate is to make judgement expands from town to state to country to world. The number of unintelligent is constant. The number who are insufficiently attentive rises with the complexity of things needing attention. A cardiac surgeon is no fool, but has work, medical literature he needs to read, family, and a hobby or two. Little time is left to worry about semiconductor sanctions against China or Washington’s desire for Russia to invade the Ukraine.

Americans Know Literally Nothing About the Constitution

“Take your pick from this bouillabaisse of ignorance:

* More than one in three people (37%) could not name a single right protected by the First Amendment. THE FIRST AMENDMENT.

* Only one in four (26%) can name all three branches of the government. (In 2011, 38% could name all three branches.)

* One in three (33%) can’t name any branch of government.“

People so innocent of political grasp can have only the most vaporous notions of pressing political questions. They are either fools with minds best suited for working as gardeners or so little engaged with the surrounding society as to achieve the effect of being fools while still able to find their way home at night. Still others are not unintelligent but not interested. None of these should vote.

One in Four Americans Thinks the Sun Revolves Around The Earth

“A quarter of Americans surveyed could not correctly answer that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around, according to a report out Friday from the National Science Foundation.”

This is so astonishing that one might suspect it of coming from some crackpot blogger with no girlfriend living in his parents’ basement. But no. The National Science Foundation is about as respectable as they come. A quarter of the population are at the level of an undiscovered tribe living in the rain forests of the Amazon Basin and eating grubs fished from rotting logs. Little prospect exists that people in such darkness know much of anything else. Yet we encourage them to vote.

Several Baltimore Schools Report No Students Proficient in Reading, Math

“Six Baltimore City schools — five high schools and one middle school — were found to have not a single student who scored proficient in math or reading in 2016, Fox News reports.”

Others schools had only a handful of literate students. Math results were as grim. These “students “will be around for another fifty years if they are not shot, virtually unemployable. Yet they can vote.

The schools mentioned are all black, and similar figures would come out of similarly black schools in many other cities. What does this say about “democracy “in America?

Gallup: Forty-six Percent of Americans Believe in Creationism

The distribution of intelligence being symmetric, half of the population are below average. A man with an IQ of 90 is not actually stupid, doesn’t mumble or bump into things, and can successfully raise a family and drive a truck. Yet he is unlikely to grasp the foreign policy of the United States or, really, to have heard of it. If he has any knowledge at all of public affairs, it will be at the level of The Russians are bad, wherever exactly Russia is, so we need to spend more on Our Boys in Uniform.

A lot of people get their news from television, the medium of the illiterate and semiliterate. Obviously, not everybody who watches television is illiterate, but everybody who is illiterate watches television. Many don’t watch the news at all, it being complicated and mysterious and talking about the inexplicable and unknown, such as Kazakhstan and Nordstream Two. The consequence is that if MSNBC and CNN say over and over that the Chinese are doing something terrible, most will believe it. Judging by the intellectual level of much of television, a sentence with a dependent clause will exceed the capacities of many. They vote.

Lincoln famously said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” You don’t have to. Being a politician, he didn’t add that you can fool enough of the people enough of the time, and that is enough. This is the basis of American democracy.

77% Of Students At One Baltimore High School Read at Elementary, Kindergarten Level

”In reading, 628 Patterson High School students took the test. Out of those students, 484 of them, or 77%, tested at an elementary school reading level. That includes 71 high school students who were reading at a kindergarten level and 88 students reading at a first-grade level. Another 45 are reading at a second-grade level. Just 12 students tested at Patterson High School, were reading at grade level, which comes out to just 1.9%.”

Democracy? A democracy of fools is no democracy. It allows the very smart, concentrated in New York and Washington, the governing suites of major corporations and, nowadays, the distributed wunderkind of the tech firms, to run the country from behind the scenes. Whether intended or not, the drive to lower the voting age and enfranchise the ghetto populations serve only to further diminish the pitiable competence of the electorate and allow the elites to keep these untermenschen out of the hair of their betters.

Pelosi says she backs lowering voting age to 16

“I myself have always been for lowering the voting age to 16,” Pelosi said. “I think it’s really important to capture kids when they’re in high school, when they’re interested in all of this, when they’re learning about government, to be able to vote.”

The less bright, less informed, and less experienced of life are easier to mold and manipulate. Who could be better than children?

If America wanted a functional democracy, which it doesn’t, it would, first, raise the voting age to 25 or 30. The idea that adolescents of eighteen with no experience of life beyond libidinous frat parties, much less sixteen-year-olds, can vote intelligently is silly. (Not that I have anything against libidinous frat parties. They just aren’t qualification for voting)

This would require a recognition that voting should be a privilege, not an entitlement and that government should be done by people able to do it.

Second, a demanding version of the old literacy test would serve wonderfully. This should demonstrate at a minimum a reading fluency of political ideas express in standard English. A reasonable grasp of world geography and American government might profitably be required. Perhaps a measured IQ of 120 or better should be in the mix.

This would make the bamboozlement and competitive shooing of the puzzled much, much harder, which is why it will never fly with the elites who find an electorate of the easily led congenial.

These measures would also screen out various minorities disproportionately. They would also ignite the resentment against the bright and cultivated that forms the bedrock of American society.

Comprehensive ignorance extends to groups many of whom are presumably well educated. Consider the following:

Poll: 44% of liberals say more than 1k unarmed black Americans killed by police in 2019

“According to the Washington Post database, regarded by Nature magazine as the “most complete database,” 13 unarmed black men were fatally shot by police in 2019. According to a second database called “Mapping Police Violence”, compiled by data scientists and activists, 27 unarmed black men were killed by police (by any means) in 2019.”

This shows that forty-four percent of liberals are incompetent to vote. If the misestimate is reduced to five hundred, many more believe it. Similar numbers could probably be compiled for conservatives on other questions, conspiracy theories being promising candidates.

Race is the most dangerous, destructive, and intractable problem facing America, yet these people are too stupid, lazy, inattentive, emotional, or worm-eaten by ideology to have even a faint grasp of what is happening. But they vote.

If liberals, a category including academia, the media, and a great many of the highly educated believe such wildly erroneous numbers, it is likely that blacks, a group in large part poorly educated, believe these things at a higher rate. Do you suppose convincing them that they are being slaughtered en masse improves race relations?

The very bright will always rule, though not always obviously. An IQ of 140 is said to be entry level for Wall Street. This excludes well over ninety-nine percent of the population. Mike Pompeo, while a wretched human being, was first in class at West Point and editor of the Harvard Law Review, Hillary a National Merit Fninalist, putting her in the upper .5 percent of test-takers in Illinois. Bill was a Rhodes scholar.

Intellectual mediocrities will often be in prominent positions, Joe and Kamala being examples, in Congress and the White House, these being storefronts for the very smart. The brains, and the power, are in the shadows. But, methinks, a genuinely bright electorate would be less likely to anoint freaks and rogues.

Interesting question: What would be the effect of requiring an IQ of 130, the cutoff for Mensa, to vote? The idea will arouse shrieks from an American public famously resentful of excellence except in football. (I am reminded of a fellow fourteen-year-old in Athens, Alabama who, seeing me reading a book on biology, said angrily, “You ain’t no gooder’n me.”) A test for voting of course runs against the current policy of enfranchising the mentally lame and halt. Would the upper two percent of the population do a better job of electing leaders? They would certainly be much more difficult to con.

I will now go to the American Legion in Chapala, which makes really good huevos rancheros, which I will accompany with a double bourbon, and pretend that things aren’t as they are. Sometimes, it works.

Conclusions and some thoughts

Guys, it’s obvious that the United States is a Military Empire.

I mean you have to be a fucking idiot not to know this, and anyone who runs around saying “America has freedom”, and “democracy is the best” really needs their head examined. They are ignorant fools, and thus deserve the life that a military empire will provide for them; serf-servitude or slavery. Take you pick.

Now, I could insert a movie and video that clarifies this point. but I won’t it’s really very obvious.

The point of this article is that the United States is not at all what it claims to be. And that it relies on media and ignorance to maintain.

Media. Tell American how great, special and exceptional they are, while filling their minds with fear.

Ignorance. Dumb down the educational system. Ban all sources of information, and provide only sources that the government controls.

But the world is changing, and this kind of Military Empire is going the way of the Dodo bird. It’s not sustainable, and not practical, and once Asia implement global alternative for SWIFT, will become economically unfeasible.

To understand what Americ is today, we should not look at the tanks, the military aircraft and the people living in tents in the big American cities, but rather see what America used to be like. When there was still hope for a brighter and better future, and where jobs were plentiful, rights still existed, and it was affordable jsut to be alive.

At the time of my parents, one person could work in a job. They would be guranetted never to be laid-off, and obtain reasonable benefits to include free health care for thei family, month off for vacations, bonuses, and holiday parties at least two times a year.

Families could buy and afford a house that would be apid off in ten years, and brand new cars in cash.

They could relax and drink at work, at home, at the restrurants. There were no bans in anything. In fact, an America could even buy tanks, military aircraft and cannons without anyone blinking an eyelash.

The military was a place of honor. It was what you joined to defend your liberty and your freedom, and in those days, American really did have freedom. Americans didn’t need to wear seat belts, speed limits on roads were a rarity, school caferteris served generous helps of foods that included meats, and vegitables, where nothing was instant, pre-processed, or frozen.

While America has it’s own taboos, and traditions, people still were able to enjoy life and buildcompanies, magazines, and other venues without being crushed by the government, and other mega-corporations.

Like the Playboy empire.

Decorating the still furnished wall of the new Playboy Club in New York City are the shapely hostesses. The girls dressed in “Bunnie” costumes, (left to right), Elaine Gallo, Lynn Smith, Bette West, Laura Addams, Virginia Hebel and Morta Andersen had been trained to serve as waitress’ in the key club which had recently opened, ca 1970s.

Try opening a similiar venue today.

Do you think that it would be easy?

Consider what America was like when Playboy started to publish and started prenting “the girl next door” soft-core semi-nudes in it’s pages. Consider what America was like. Yet, still the Playboy empire was able to manifest.

Three young ladies prepare to have their pictures taken in Manhattan photo booths in April 1954.

Different times, and different social norms. Yes. That’s for certain.

But it’s more than just fashion and society. It is the very nature of the fabric of that society has changed. No longer run by talent, and patriots, the United States (as a nation) has been taken over completely by psychopathic personalities and sociopathic individuals who themselves have small armies of revenue-sucking toadies that combined siphon off money from the serf-slave electorate.

Sure, then as now, people are people. They live, and love. They eat food, and they work in various capacities.

But it’s the entire government strucutre has changed.

In the 1950’s America was a “democracy”.

Today, America is a Military Empire, and the actions and behaviors of the citizenry has been absolutely reflected by that change. If you look at history; from the lens of history, you will see that in every case, all military empires develop a strange collection of civilian behaviors domestically, and that is reflected in the laws that that society manifests for it’s people to live by.

Thus it should be no surprise that the American government is so pro-LGBT and so obscessed with everything progressive and novel.

But that was not the case when the American government was healthy, and was an actual functioning democracy.

So what can you do about it?

Well, historically these kinds of government eventually die off. They historical ways are well documented…

Internal revolt.
Defeat in a war.
Or collapse in stages to a much smaller entity.

Most people have very little say in the three above mechanisms. So I advise fleeing to “greener patures” and safer havens.

But…

In any event, the best thing that a person can do is to be a Rufus.

Rufus gives a guy a break. The poor guy cannot pay. So he give him all his food. The Rufus, while upset, puts the food back, and let’s the guy go.

Be the Rufus. Video. 96MB

Just say hi. You know, life will pass you buy. So smile more, and don’t over think. Most adults (not so much for teenagers and young people) will appreciate you talkign to them. SO say hi. Thell them what you think. Don’t do it for any other reason than to be nice.

Maybe good things will come out of it. Be the Rufus. Video. 98MB

Just, Be the Rufus. Video. 20MB

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my Corrupt America Index here…

Corrupt USA

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The topsy-turvy world of America trying to clumsily dance upon the global stage

This is America today.

I just read through the headlines on RT. It's incredible the West's relentless pounding of war drums in Ukraine. 

I suspect there will be some kind of Mukden/Gulf of Tonkin false flag, with which the BLPM will brainwash the world that it was the evil Vlad Putin who started it. 

If it happens, I hope the Russian army rolls all the way to the EU's borders. 

Jeff J. Brown

www.chinarising.puntopress.com
www.chinatechnewsflash.com

Eh?

More like, roll to Washington and Langeley. And say…

" So, you thought you could pull another WWII, destroy Europe and Russia, and pick up the pieces unscathed, Huh?

Yeah.

They are THAT stupid and ignorant.

From Z-Man blog…

The American media has brought down the cone of silence. Drudge has a government issued warning to Canada at the top. The New York Times and Washington Post are busy peddling their latest Russia fantasies. Soviet media was more informative that the American media is now. If you want to know anything about anything you have to dig around in Substack and independent sites. The American media is now a blanket of darkness thrown over the public square.

The other thing that comes to mind is how blatant the authoritarianism is now. I see the Canadian dictator just ordered the funds for the truckers frozen. He just made up some new rule apparently or his handlers did. Trudeau is most likely illiterate, so he has to rely on others to do these things. The US government is flying surveillance aircraft over the protest to intercept communications. They will then “share” this intel with their “partners” in the Canadian secret police.

This is the new game now. We saw this with Trump. The CIA asked Australia and Britain to spy on the Trump campaign. That got around the rule against the CIA spying on Americans and gave the FBI an excuse to do their own spying. Five years ago, they made up a phony story as cover, but now it is out in the open. We live in a country that has secret police that spy on people with impunity. America is becoming East Germany with better consumer goods.

That last bit is always the undoing of authoritarians. You can run a police state or you can have a happy productive society that has nice things. With posted inflation approaching double digits and real inflation much higher, the economic reckoning is quickly approaching. There is no easy way to tame inflation. It always means a recession and usually an ugly one. People are unhappy now. Imagine where things are when the economy is in the dumper.

The world is moving forward, and the United States is sitting still and pouting. They have their arms folded across their chest, and staring at the game board deciding whether or not to tip it all over and let the pieces crash all over the room.

Numerous people (obviously outside of the mainstream media) have noticed various aspects of the global Geo-Political situation and have written about it. Here, in this article we will look at some of those writings.

And…

Throw in some fine MM comment, thoughts and distractions to round out the presentation.

Let’s start off with some fine Rufus action to set up a positive mood…

Rufus behaviors are what the world needs today

Be the Rufus. This is China today. People are all part of the community and they all work together as one. video 20MB

Some Geo-Political chat

Always interesting to listen to. This is about the fiasco meeting between the USA and China in Alaska.

video 3.6MB

Race to 6G: Chinese researchers declare data streaming record with whirling radio waves

Experimental wireless line set up in Winter Olympics compound could stream over 10,000 high-definition live video feeds simultaneously, says Beijing research team
‘It is about introducing a new physical dimension, which can lead to a whole new world with almost unlimited possibilities,’ according to 6G researcher.

Stephen Chen in Beijing

Published: 12:00am, 10 Feb, 2022

Chinese researchers say they have achieved a record data streaming speed using a revolutionary technology that could help China take the lead in the global race for next-gen wireless communication, or 6G.

Using vortex millimetre waves, a form of extremely high-frequency radio wave with rapidly changing spins, the researchers transmitted 1 terabyte of data over 1km (3,300 feet) in a second.

The experimental wireless communication line, set up in the Beijing Winter Olympics compound last month, could stream more than 10,000 high-definition live video feeds simultaneously, the team led by Professor Zhang Chao, of the school of aerospace engineering at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said in a statement on Thursday.

The vortex waves, unlike anything in radio communication over the last century, added “a new dimension to wireless transmission”, said Zhang and his collaborators from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and China Unicom.

They said the experiment suggested China was “leading the world in research on potential key technologies for 6G”.

China to ‘help set international standards’ for 6G mobile technology

Existing mobile devices use electromagnetic waves that spread like ripples in a pond for communication. Information is represented by the “up and down” of these waves, which – from a mathematical point of view – have just two dimensions.

The vortex electromagnetic wave has a three-dimensional form like a tornado.

Extra information could be coded into the whirling, or orbital angular momentum (OAM), of these waves to massively increase the bandwidth of communication.

The spinning potential of radio waves was first reported by British physicist John Henry Poynting in 1909, but making use of it proved to be difficult.

Zhang and colleagues said their breakthrough was built on the hard work of many research teams across the globe over the past few decades.

Researchers in Europe conducted the earliest communication experiments using vortex waves in the 1990s. In 2020, a team with the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone company in Japan achieved a speed of 200Gbps over 10 metres (33 feet).

A major challenge is that the size of the spinning waves increases with distance, and the weakening signal makes high-speed data transmission difficult.

The Chinese team built a unique transmitter to generate a more focused vortex beam, making the waves spin in three different modes to carry more information, and developed a high-performance receiving device that could pick up and decode a huge amount of data in a split second.

A government researcher studying 6G technology in Shenzhen said the experiment in Beijing could be “the start of a revolution” in communications technology.

“The most exciting thing is not just about the speed. It is about introducing a new physical dimension, which can lead to a whole new world with almost unlimited possibilities,” said the researcher, who asked not to be named because he was involved in confidential research projects with China’s largest telecoms firms.

The Chinese government and telecommunications industry will focus mainly on the mass application of 5G in the coming years because the existing millimetre wave technology matured with decreasing cost, according to the researcher.

The commercial roll-out of 6G is expected by 2030, but the military could adopt the technology earlier because “they care more about performance than cost”, he said.

Zhang’s team said their experiment used W band, a radio frequency used in military applications. In 2018, they established a vortex wave link between a plane and a ground station over a distance of 172km, which remains a world record.

The Tsinghua team is also building a prototype quantum radar using similar technology that can accurately detect stealth aircraft.

A research team in Tianjin last month said they had developed a terahertz transmitter, another technological approach to 6G, for China’s hypersonic weapons programme.

The United States and Japan announced a US$4.5 billion programme in April last year as a joint effort to counter China’s rapid progress in 6G technology.

A survey by Nikkei and Tokyo-based research company Cyber Creative Institute in September last year found that China owned more than 40 per cent of the world’s 6G patent filings, followed by the US with 35 per cent, Japan (10 per cent), Europe (9 per cent) and South Korea (4 per cent).

Things used to be so difficult…

Now for a pretty Chinese girl

I just want to remind everyone who these people are that those neocons in Washington DC want to destoy, kill and turn destitute. It’s people like you and me. video 2MB

Not really Geo-political or Chinese but fun anyways.

Sorry, I can’t help but want to lighten up the mood here, don’t you know. It’s about cats, and music and it’s really kind of cute.

It’s videos like this that caused President Trump to ban Tictoc from the United States. It was listed as a “National Security” issue, when the truth was that they cut into the profit margins of the Trump political donor class.

Warning: Watching this video will corrupt your mind! And change you (gasp!) into a dreaded evil communist. Yikes!

Video 9MB

Again. The future belongs to those who have Rufus behaviors

This is a key point that all long-time MM readers will certainly recognize. The way out from the life that we endure is though our behaviors and our thoughts. We msut be better people, and we must all work together for the greater good of all. video 2MB

Well, you know this is after the Beijing Winter Olympics. And The Western media has flooded the media with the most outrageous things. Such as this…

Like this screen shot from the American “news” aggregator “DrudgeReport” 8FEB22.

Crying?

Seriously. Crying?

Well, the Olympic athletes have made all sorts of videos of their experiences, and the vast, vast bulk of them have been overwhelmingly positive.

Well, you know that that just doesn’t go well with the American (and Western) narratives.

Thus bringing out this article…

YouTube’s Olympics Highlights Are Riddled With Propaganda

The platform’s search engine is funneling sports fans into watching political content about China.

From Wired. HERE

The Earth Belongs to America

February 14, 2022

It’s not something it can come out and directly say, because admitting it sees itself as the rulers of the world would make it look tyrannical and megalomaniacal, writes Caitlin Johnstone.

By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com

The Wall Street Journal has an article out titled “U.S. Aims to Thwart China’s Plan for Atlantic Base in Africa“, subtitled “An American delegation wants to convince Equatorial Guinea against giving Beijing a launchpad in waters the U.S. considers its backyard.”

The article quotes the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy saying, “We’d really, really not like to see a Chinese facility” on the Atlantic, and discusses “American concern about China’s global expansionism and its pursuit of a permanent military presence on waters the U.S. considers home turf.”

The Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi has discussed the irony of WSJ yelling about China’s “global expansionism” over a potential military base in Equatorial Guinea without applying that label to the U.S., when the U.S. has hundreds of times the number of foreign military bases as China.

Antiwar’s Daniel Larison wrote an article back in December eviscerating the ridiculous claim that a military base some six thousand nautical miles from the U.S. coastline could be reasonably framed as any kind of threat to the American people.

A massive threat to America!

But what really jumps out is the insane way the U.S. political/media class routinely talks about virtually every location on this planet as though it is a territory of the United States.

The Wall Street Journal referring to the entire Atlantic Ocean as “America’s backyard” and “waters the U.S. considers home turf” follows a recent controversy over the U.S. president proclaiming that “Everything south of the Mexican border is America’s front yard.” This provoked many references to the so-called “Monroe Doctrine”, a nineteenth-century imperialist assertion that Latin America is off limits to any power apart from the United States, effectively declaring the entire Western Hemisphere the property of Washington, DC.

It also follows another incident in which Press Secretary Jen Psaki remarked on the ongoing tensions around Ukraine that it is in America’s interest to support “our eastern flank countries”, which might come as a surprise to those who were taught in school that America’s eastern flank was not Eastern Europe but the eastern coastline of the United States.

The Chinese government’s strategic ambition has expanded so that it now aims to dominate the entire world in military and economic power, according to Antony Blinken, whose country has 800+ bases around the world to China's four.https://t.co/OX3SmCYA7k

— Consortium News (@Consortiumnews) February 10, 2022

The casual way these people say such things reflects a collectively held worldview that you won’t find on any official document or in any schoolchild’s textbook, but which is nonetheless a firmly held perspective among all the drivers of the modern empire: that the entire world is the property of the U.S. government. That the U.S. is not just the most powerful government in the world but also its rightful ruler, in the same way Rome ruled the Christian world.

It’s not something they can come out and directly say, because admitting they see themselves as the rulers of the world would make them look tyrannical and megalomaniacal. But it’s certainly something they believe.

They’re about as obvious about it as could be. They make almost no effort to conceal it. And yet you’ll still get empire apologists like Michael McFaul saying nonsense like this:

There was a time, not long ago, when imperial powers like UK, France, Portugal etc claimed their colonies as their "sphere of influence." Thank God we didn't listen o them back then. So why now is it ok to let Russia exercise a sphere of influence over its former colony, Ukraine?

— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) February 7, 2022

McFaul knows very well that the U.S. is an imperial power and that it demands a very large “sphere of influence”.

Would you like to see a picture of America’s sphere of influence? Here you go:

To live in the western world is to be constantly inundated with made-up stories about tyrants who want to terrorize the world, while living under a globe-spanning power structure that is actually terrorizing the world. It’s just so bizarre watching these imperial spinmeisters try to frame nations like China and Russia as freakish and backwards while working to literally rule the world like a comic book super villain.

The U.S.-centralized empire is quantifiably the single most destructive and evil power structure in today’s world. We shouldn’t want anyone to rule over the entire planet with an iron fist, but these monsters are the very least qualified among us to do so.

Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly at Medium.  Her work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following her on Steemit, throwing some money into her tip jar on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of her sweet merchandise, buying her books Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix, Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone and Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.

This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com

Yes. America really is exceptional.

Exceptionally bad, evil, corrupt, self-serving and selfish.

Now for a pretty Chinese girl

I just want to remind everyone who these people are that those neocons in Washington DC want to destoy, kill and turn destitute. It’s people like you and me. They way they do this is to keep videos and pictures of their targetted enemies away from the American people. Like this gal.

video 18MB

Be the Rufus

I just cannot stress hard enough, how important it is for everyone to behave better, nicer and kinder; to be more considerate and to call out and cite psychopaths, sociopaths and the evil greedy folks that cause so much turmoil in our lives today. Be that Rufus! video 7MB

Caitlin Johnstone: Just Run the News Media Out of Langley

February 14, 2022

That way nobody needs to pretend they’re doing news reporting instead of intelligence agency stenography and the public is clear they’re being fed whatever story about reality the C.I.A. wants them to believe.

By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com

I think it would be a lot more efficient and straightforward if all English-language news media were just run directly out of C.I.A. headquarters by agency officials in Langley, Virginia. This way news reporters could eliminate the middleman and drop the undignified charade of presenting unproven assertions by western intelligence agencies as “scoops” that they picked up from “sources”.

I mean, right now the mass media are churning out stories about “intelligence” which says Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine very soon, citing government officials and anonymous sources. We are never shown the “intelligence”, and we are never shown any evidence of its veracity; we’re simply told what opaque and unaccountable government agencies want us to believe about a foreign government.

We’re not even reminded by the publishers of these C.I.A. press releases that western intelligence agencies have a very extensive history of lying about exactly this sort of thing, and we’re certainly not informed that Kiev appears to be ramping up aggressions in eastern Ukraine.

Seriously, look at this absurd tweet by CNN’s Natasha Bertrand:

Scoop: US and allies have new intel that suggests Russia could be planning to attack Ukraine prior to end of Olympics, contrary to previous assessments. New intel comes as officials have dramatically ramped up the urgency of public warnings related to Ukraine in past 24 hours.

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 11, 2022

That’s not a “scoop”. That’s just a news media employee repeating something she was told either directly or indirectly by the western intelligence cartel. She’s literally just telling us what an immensely powerful spy intelligence agency told her to say. And that’s become the norm for mass media reporting on all nations the western power alliance doesn’t like, especially Russia.

So why mess around? Why not just move CNN’s office into the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley and have the C.I.A. just publish its reports directly from there? I hear CNN needs a new president anyway. That way nobody needs to pretend they’re doing news reporting instead of intelligence agency stenography, the general public is clear that they’re being fed whatever story about reality the C.I.A. wants them to believe, nobody feels like they’re being treated like a fool, plus it saves a commute for all the intelligence agency insiders who already work in the mass media.

Because it must get pretty tedious, right? Where instead of just having your C.I.A. employer tell you to run a story you have to go through this whole song and dance where an agency officer contacts you and says “Ooh buddy, have I got a scoop for you!” and then you type up what they say in newsy-sounding language citing “sources familiar with the matter” and present it as a news story.

Clearly that’s not news reporting.

Clearly it’s nothing other than garden variety state propaganda.

So why not just be forthright about it? I know the C.I.A. has a lot going on right now, but surely it can make some space in all its domestic surveillance, lying, torturing, drug trafficking, coup-staging, warmongering and assassinations for a little more state media news punditry?

Ukraine Defense Minister: Russia is not invading anytime soon

Ukraine President: Russia is not invading anytime soon

Russia: We have no plans to invade Ukraine

The US: https://t.co/YbyyNA40p5
— Radio Free Amanda ??? (@catcontentonly) February 11, 2022

And of course we already know the answer.

Propaganda doesn’t work if its targets know they are being propagandized. It needs to be administered by institutions who the public trusts to tell them the objective truth about what’s going on in the world.

If the U.S. and its Five Eyes allies simply controlled all media through the government like overtly totalitarian regimes, their propaganda would actually be far less effective than the systems of domestic perception management they have in place currently.

The C.I.A. is officially forbidden from operating in the United States (though as we’ve seen many times since its creation and up to the present day this is treated more as a guideline than a restriction), but what it is not officially forbidden to do is contact the media directly or through a proxy under the pretense of feeding them a news story which just so happens to advance the interests of the agency. The plutocratic media who benefit from the same status quo that the C.I.A. protects then uncritically funnel that information into the minds of the unsuspecting public, and before you know it they’re rending their garments over a foreign government they’d previously not thought much about.

In an actual free society with an actual free press, the very idea of this would be outrageous and if such a thing ever occurred it would be immediately condemned as journalistic malpractice with severe consequences for everyone involved. In an inverted totalitarian dystopia with the most effectively propagandized population on earth, it’s just treated as normal.

Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly at Medium. Her work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following her on Steemit, throwing some money into her tip jar on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of her sweet merchandise, buying her books Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix, Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone and Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.

This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com

Be the Rufus!

No, I’m not going to ignore this most important aspect of change today. It’s one where everyone strives to be a better person and contribute inside their communites for the betterment of all. video 12 MB

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Law 46 of the 48 Laws of Power; Never appear too perfect

This is law 46 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.

Either dampen your brilliance occasionally, purposefully revealing a defect, weakness, or anxiety, or attributing your success to luck; or simply find yourself new friends. Never underestimate the power of envy.
The envy of the masses can be deflected quite easily – appear as one of them in style and values. Never flaunt your wealth, and carefully conceal the degree to which it has bought influence. Make a display of deferring to others, as if they were more powerful than you.
Use envy to motivate you to greater heights.
Keep a wary eye for envy in those below you as you grow more successful.
Expect that those envious of you will work against you.
Emphasize luck, and do not adopt a false modesty that will be seen through.
Deflect envy of political power by not seeming ambitious.
Disguise your power as a kind of self-sacrifice rather than a source of happiness for you. Emphasize your troubles and you turn potential envy into a source of moral support (pity).
Beware signs of envy: excessive praise, hypercritical people, public slandering.
Note: once envy is present, it is sometimes best to display the utmost disdain for those who envy you.

LAW 46

NEVER APPEAR TOO PERFECT

JUDGMENT

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

Joe Orton met Kenneth Halliwell at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London, in 1953, where both had enrolled as acting students. They soon became lovers and moved in together. Halliwell, twenty-five at the time, was seven years older than Orton, and seemed the more confident of the two; but neither had much talent as actors, and after graduating, having settled down together in a dank London apartment, they decided to give up acting and collaborate as writers instead. Halliwell’s inheritance was enough to keep them from having to find work for a few years, and in the beginning, he was also the driving force behind the stories and novels they wrote; he would dictate to Orton, who would type the manuscripts, occasionally interjecting his own lines and ideas. Their first efforts attracted some interest from literary agents, but it sputtered. The promise they had shown was leading nowhere.

Eventually the inheritance money ran out, and the pair had to look for work. Their collaborations were less enthusiastic and less frequent. The future looked bleak.

In 1957 Orton began to write on his own, but it wasn’t until five years later, when the lovers were jailed for six months for defacing dozens of library books, that he began to find his voice (perhaps not by chance: This was the first time he and Halliwell had been separated in nine years). He came out of prison determined to express his contempt for English society in the form of theatrical farces. He and Halliwell moved back in together, but now the roles were reversed: Orton did the writing while Halliwell put in comments and ideas.

In 1964 Joe Orton completed his first full-length play, Entertaining Mr. Sloane. The play made it to London’s West End, where it received brilliant reviews: A great new writer had emerged from nowhere. Now success followed success, at a dizzying pace. In 1966 Orton had a hit with his play Loot, and his popularity soared. Soon commissions came in from all sides, including from the Beatles, who paid Orton handsomely to write them a film script.

Everything was pointing upwards, everything except Orton’s relationship with Kenneth Halliwell. The pair still lived together, but as Orton grew successful, Halliwell began to deteriorate. Watching his lover become the center of attention, he suffered the humiliation of becoming a kind of personal assistant to the playwright, his role in what had once been a collaboration growing smaller and smaller. In the 1950s he had supported Orton with his inheritance; now Orton supported him. At a party or among friends, people would naturally gravitate towards Orton—he was charming, and his mood was almost always buoyant. Unlike the handsome Orton, Halliwell was bald and awkward; his defensiveness made people want to avoid him.

A greedy man and an envious man met a king. The king said to them, “One of you may ask something of me and I will give it to him, provided I give twice as much to the other. ” The envious person did not want to ask first for he was envious of his companion who would receive twice as much, and the greedy man did not want to ask first since he wanted everything that was to be had. Finally the greedy one pressed the envious one to be the first to make the request. So the envious person asked the king to pluck out one of his eyes.

JEWISH PARABLE, THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, SOLOMON SCHIMMEL, 1992

An admirer who feels that he cannot be happy by surrendering himself elects to become envious of that which he admires. So he speaks another language—the thing which he really admires is called a stupid, insipid and queer sort of thing. Admiration is happy self-surrender; envy is unhappy self-assertion.

SφREN KIERKEGAARD, 1813-1855

With Orton’s success the couple’s problems only worsened. Halliwell’s moods made their life together impossible. Orton claimed to want to leave him, and had numerous affairs, but would always end up returning to his old friend and lover. He tried to help Halliwell launch a career as an artist, even arranging for a gallery to show his work, but the show was a flop, and this only heightened Halliwell’s sense of inferiority. In May of 1967, the pair went on a brief holiday together in Tangier, Morocco. During the trip, Orton wrote in his diary, “We sat talking of how happy we felt. And how it couldn’t, surely, last. We’d have to pay for it. Or we’d be struck down from afar by disaster because we were, perhaps, too happy. To be young, good-looking, healthy, famous, comparatively rich and happy is surely going against nature.”

Halliwell outwardly seemed as happy as Orton. Inwardly, though, he was seething. And two months later, in the early morning of August 10, 1967, just days after helping Orton put the finishing touches to the wicked farce What the Butler Saw (undoubtedly his masterpiece), Kenneth Halliwell bludgeoned Joe Orton to death with repeated blows of a hammer to the head. He then took twenty-one sleeping pills and died himself, leaving behind a note that read, “If you read Orton’s diary all will be explained.”

Interpretation

Kenneth Halliwell had tried to cast his deterioration as mental illness, but what Joe Orton’s diaries revealed to him was the truth: It was envy, pure and simple, that lay at the heart of his sickness. The diaries, which Halliwell read on the sly, recounted the couple’s days as equals and their struggle for recognition. After Orton found success, the diaries began to describe Halliwell’s brooding, his rude comments at parties, his growing sense of inferiority. All of this Orton narrated with a distance that bordered on contempt.

The diaries made clear Halliwell’s bitterness over Orton’s success. Eventually the only thing that would have satisfied him would have been for Orton to have a failure of his own, an unsuccessful play perhaps, so that they could have commiserated in their failure, as they had done years before. When the opposite happened—as Orton grew only more successful and popular—Halliwell did the only thing that would make them equals again: He made them equals in death. With Orton’s murder, he became almost as famous as his friend—posthumously.

Joe Orton only partly understood his lover’s deterioration. His attempt to help Halliwell launch a career in art registered for what it was: charity and guilt. Orton basically had two possible solutions to the problem. He could have downplayed his own success, displaying some faults, deflecting Halliwell’s envy; or, once he realized the nature of the problem, he could have fled as if Halliwell were a viper, as in fact he was—a viper of envy. Once envy eats away at someone, everything you do only makes it grow, and day by day it festers inside him. Eventually he will attack.

It takes great talent and skill to conceal one’s talent and skill

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, 1613-1680

ENVY TORMENTS AGLAUROS

The goddess Minerva made her way to the house of Envy, a house filthy with dark

and noisome slime. It is hidden away in the depths of the valleys, where the sun never penetrates, where no wind blows through; a gloomy dwelling, permeated by numbing chill, ever fireless, ever shrouded in thick darkness. When Minerva reached this spot she stopped in front of the house ... and struck the doors with the tip of her spear, and at the blow they flew open and revealed Envy within, busy at a meal of snake’s flesh, the food on which she nourished her wickedness. At the sight, Minerva turned her eyes away. But the other rose heavily from the ground, leaving the half-eaten

corpses, and came out with dragging steps. When she saw the goddess in all the brilliance of her beauty, in her flashing armor, she groaned.... Envy’s face was sickly pale, her whole body lean and wasted, and she squinted horribly; her teeth were discoloretl and decayed, her poisonous breast of a greenish hue, and her tongue dripped venom. Only the sight of suffering could bring a smile to her lips. She never knew the comfort of sleep, but was kept constantly awake by care and anxiety, looked with dismay on men’s good fortune, and grew thin at the sight. Gnawing at others, and being gnawed, she was herself her own torment. Minerva, in spite of her loathing, yet addressed her briefly: “Instill your poison into one of Cecrop’s daughters—her name is Aglauros. This is what I require of you. ” Without another word she pushed against the ground with her spear, left the earth, and soared upwards.

From the corner of her eye the other watched the goddess out of sight, muttering and angry that Minerva’s plan should be successful. Then she took her staff, all encircled with thorny briars, wrapped herself in dark clouds, and set forth. Wherever she went she trampled down the flowery fields, withered up the grass, seared the treetops, and with her breath tainted the peoples, their cities and their homes, until at length she came to Athens, the home of wit and wealth, peaceful and prosperous. She could scarcely refrain from weeping when she saw no cause for tears. Then entering the chamber of Cecrop’s daughter, she carried out Minerva’s orders. She touched the girl’s breast with a hand dipped in malice, filled her heart with spiky thorns, and breathing in a black and evil poison dispersed it through her very bones, instilling the venom deep in her heart. That the reason for her distress might not be far to seek, she set before Aglauros’ eyes a vision of her sister, of that sister’s fortunate marriage [with the god Mercury], and of the god in all his handsomeness; and she exaggerated the glory of it all. So Aglauros was tormented by such thoughts, and the jealous anger she concealed ate into her heart. Day and night she sighed, unceasingly wretched, and in her utter misery wasted away in a slow decline, as when ice is melted by the fitful sun. The fire that was kindled within her at the thought of her sister’s luck and good fortune was like the burning of weeds which do not burst into flames, but are none the less consumed by smoldering fire.

METAMORPHOSES, OVID, 43 B.C.-C. A.D. 18

Only a minority can succeed at the game of life, and that minority inevitably arouses the envy of those around them. Once success happens your way, however, the people to fear the most are those in your own circle, the friends and acquaintances you have left behind. Feelings of inferiority gnaw at them; the thought of your success only heightens their feelings of stagnation. Envy, which the philosopher Kierkegaard calls “unhappy admiration,” takes hold. You may not see it but you will feel it someday—unless, that is, you learn strategies of deflection, little sacrifices to the gods of success. Either dampen your brilliance occasionally, purposefully revealing a defect, weakness, or anxiety, or attributing your success to luck; or simply find yourself new friends. Never underestimate the power of envy.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

The merchant class and the craft guilds to which medieval Florence owed its prosperity had created a republic that protected them from oppression by the nobility. Since high office could only be held for a few months, no one could gain lasting dominance, and although this meant that the political factions struggled constantly for control, the system kept out tyrants and petty dictators. The Medici family lived for several centuries under this system without making much of a mark. They had modest origins as apothecaries, and were typical middle-class citizens. Not until the late fourteenth century, when Giovanni de’ Medici made a modest fortune in banking, did they emerge as a force to be reckoned with.

Upon Giovanni’s death, his son Cosimo took over the family business, and quickly demonstrated his talent for it. The business prospered under his control and the Medicis emerged as one of the preeminent banking families of Europe. But they had a rival in Florence: Despite the city’s republican system, one family, the Albizzis, had managed over the years to monopolize control of the government, forging alliances that allowed them to constantly fill important offices with their own men. Cosimo did not fight this, and in fact gave the Albizzis his tacit support. At the same time, while the Albizzis were beginning to flaunt their power, Cosimo made a point of staying in the background.

Eventually, however, the Medici wealth could not be ignored, and in 1433, feeling threatened by the family, the Albizzis used their government muscle to have Cosimo arrested on charges of conspiring to overthrow the republic. Some in the Albizzi faction wanted Cosimo executed, others feared this would spark a civil war. In the end they exiled him from Florence. Cosimo did not fight the sentence; he left quietly. Sometimes, he knew, it is wiser to bide one’s time and keep a low profile.

Over the next year, the Albizzis began to stir up fears that they were setting up a dictatorship. Meanwhile, Cosimo, using his wealth to advantage, continued to exert influence on Florentine affairs, even from exile. A civil war broke out in the city, and in September of 1434 the Albizzis were toppled from power and sent into exile. Cosimo immediately returned to Florence, his position restored. But he saw that he now faced a delicate situation: If he seemed ambitious, as the Albizzis had, he would stir up opposition and envy that would ultimately threaten his business. If he stayed on the sidelines, on the other hand, he would leave an opening for another faction to rise up as the Albizzis had, and to punish the Medicis for their success.

Cosimo solved the problem in two ways: He secretly used his wealth to buy influence among key citizens, and he placed his own allies, all cleverly enlisted from the middle classes to disguise their allegiance to him, in top government positions. Those who complained of his growing political clout were taxed into submission, or their properties were bought out from under them by Cosimo’s banker allies. The republic survived in name only. Cosimo held the strings.

While he worked behind the scenes to gain control, however, publicly Cosimo presented another picture. When he walked through the streets of Florence, he dressed modestly, was attended by no more than one servant, and bowed deferentially to magistrates and elder citizens. He rode a mule instead of a horse. He never spoke out on matters of public import, even though he controlled Florence’s foreign affairs for over thirty years. He gave money to charities and maintained his ties to Florence’s merchant class. He financed all kinds of public buildings that fed the Florentines’ pride in their city. When he built a palace for himself and his family in nearby Fiesole, he turned down the ornate designs that Brunelleschi had drawn up for him and instead chose a modest structure designed by Michelozzo, a man of humble Florentine origins. The palace was a symbol of Cosimo’s strategy—all simplicity on the outside, all elegance and opulence within.

Cosimo finally died in 1464, after ruling for thirty years. The citizens of Florence wanted to build him a great tomb, and to celebrate his memory with elaborate funeral ceremonies, but on his deathbed he had asked to be buried without “any pomp or demonstration.” Some sixty years later, Machiavelli hailed Cosimo as the wisest of all princes, “for he knew how extraordinary things that are seen and appear every hour make men much more envied than those that are done in deed and are covered over with decency.”

Interpretation

A close friend of Cosimo’s, the bookseller Vespasiano da Bisticci, once wrote of him, “And whenever he wished to achieve something, he saw to it, in order to escape envy as much as possible, that the initiative appeared to come from others, and not from him.” One of Cosimo’s favorite expressions was, “Envy is a weed that should not be watered.” Understanding the power envy has in a democratic environment, Cosimo avoided the appearance of greatness. This does not mean that greatness should be suffocated, or that only the mediocre should survive; only that a game of appearances must be played. The insidious envy of the masses can actually be deflected quite easily: Appear as one of them in style and values. Make alliances with those below you, and elevate them to positions of power to secure their support in times of need. Never flaunt your wealth, and carefully conceal the degree to which it has bought influence. Make a display of deferring to others, as if they were more powerful than you. Cosimo de’ Medici perfected this game; he was a consummate con artist of appearances. No one could gauge the extent of his power—his modest exterior hid the truth.

Never be so foolish as to believe that you are stirring up admiration by flaunting the qualities that raise you above others. By making others aware of their inferior position, you are only stirring up “unhappy admiration,” or envy, which will gnaw away at them until they undermine you in ways you cannot foresee. The fool dares the gods of envy by flaunting his victories. The master of power understands that the appearance of superiority over others is inconsequential next to the reality of it.

Of all the disorders of the soul, envy is the only one no one confesses to.

Plutarch, c. A.D 46-120

The envious hides as carefully as the secret, lustful sinner and becomes the endless inventor of tricks and stratagems to hide and mask himself Thus he is able to pretend to ignore the superiority of others which eats up his heart, as ifhe did not see them, nor hear them, nor were aware of them, nor had ever heard of them. He is a master simulator. On the other hand he tries with all his power to connive and thus prevent any form of superiority from appearing in any situation. And if they do, he casts on them obscurity, hypercriticism, sarcasm and calumny like the toad that spits poison from its hole. On the other hand he will raise endlessly insignificant men, mediocre people, and even the inferior in the same type of activities.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788-1860

For not many men, the proverb says, can love a friend who fortune prospers without feeling envy; and about the envious brain, cold poison clings and doubles all the pain life brings him. His own woundings he must nurse, and feels another’s gladness like a curse.

AESCHYLUS, c. 525-456 B.C.

KEYS TO POWER

The human animal has a hard time dealing with feelings of inferiority. In the face of superior skill, talent, or power, we are often disturbed and ill at ease; this is because most of us have an inflated sense of ourselves, and when we meet people who surpass us they make it clear to us that we are in fact mediocre, or at least not as brilliant as we had thought. This disturbance in our self-image cannot last long without stirring up ugly emotions. At first we feel envy: If only we had the quality or skill of the superior person, we would be happy. But envy brings us neither comfort nor any closer to equality. Nor can we admit to feeling it, for it is frowned upon socially—to show envy is to admit to feeling inferior. To close friends, we may confess our secret unrealized desires, but we will never confess to feeling envy. So it goes underground. We disguise it in many ways, like finding grounds to criticize the person who makes us feel it: He may be smarter than I am, we say, but he has no morals or conscience. Or he may have more power, but that’s because he cheats. If we do not slander him, perhaps we praise him excessively—another of envy’s disguises.

There are several strategies for dealing with the insidious, destructive emotion of envy. First, accept the fact that there will be people who will surpass you in some way, and also the fact that you may envy them. But make that feeling a way of pushing yourself to equal or surpass them someday. Let envy turn inward and it poisons the soul; expel it outward and it can move you to greater heights.

Second, understand that as you gain power, those below you will feel envious of you. They may not show it but it is inevitable. Do not naively accept the facade they show you—read between the lines of their criticisms, their little sarcastic remarks, the signs of backstabbing, the excessive praise that is preparing you for a fall, the resentful look in the eye. Half the problem with envy comes when we do not recognize it until it is too late.

Finally, expect that when people envy you they will work against you insidiously. They will put obstacles in your path that you will not foresee, or that you cannot trace to their source. It is hard to defend yourself against this kind of attack. And by the time you realize that envy is at the root of a person’s feelings about you, it is often too late: Your excuses, your false humility, your defensive actions, only exacerbate the problem. Since it is far easier to avoid creating envy in the first place than to get rid of it once it is there, you should strategize to forestall it before it grows. It is often your own actions that stir up envy, your own unawareness. By becoming conscious of those actions and qualities that create envy, you can take the teeth out of it before it nibbles you to death.

Kierkegaard believed that there are types of people who create envy, and are as guilty when it arises as those who feel it. The most obvious type we all know: The moment something good happens to them, whether by luck or design, they crow about it. In fact they get pleasure out of making people feel inferior. This type is obvious and beyond hope. There are others, however, who stir up envy in more subtle and unconscious ways, and are partly to blame for their troubles. Envy is often a problem, for example, for people with great natural talent.

Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the most brilliant men at the court of Queen Elizabeth of England. He had skills as a scientist, wrote poetry still recognized as among the most beautiful writing of the time, was a proven leader of men, an enterprising entrepreneur, a great sea captain, and on top of all this was a handsome, dashing courtier who charmed his way into becoming one of the queen’s favorites. Wherever he went, however, people blocked his path. Eventually he suffered a terrific fall from grace, leading even to prison and finally the executioner’s axe.

Raleigh could not understand the stubborn opposition he faced from the other courtiers. He did not see that he had not only made no attempt to disguise the degree of his skills and qualities, he had imposed them on one and all, making a show of his versatility, thinking it impressed people and won him friends. In fact it made him silent enemies, people who felt inferior to him and did all they could to ruin him the moment he tripped up or made the slightest mistake. In the end, the reason he was executed was treason, but envy will use any cover it finds to mask its destructiveness.

The envy elicited by Sir Walter Raleigh is the worst kind: It was inspired by his natural talent and grace, which he felt was best displayed in its full flower. Money others can attain; power as well. But superior intelligence, good looks, charm—these are qualities no one can acquire. The naturally perfect have to work the most to disguise their brilliance, displaying a defect or two to deflect envy before it takes root. It is a common and naive mistake to think you are charming people with your natural talents when in fact they are coming to hate you.

JOSEPH AND HIS COAT

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colors…. And his brothers envied him….

And when they saw him afar off, they conspired against him to slay him. And now they said to one another, “Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we shall say, some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams”

OLD TESTAMENT, GENESIS 37:3—20

THE TRAGEDY OF THE TOMB

[When Pope Julius first saw Michelangelo’s design for his tomb] it pleased him so much that he at once sent him to Carrara to quarry the necessary marbles, instructing Alamanno Salviati, of Florence, to pay him a thousand ducats for this purpose. Michelangelo stayed in these mountains more than eight months with two workmen and his horse, and without any other provision except food.... Enough marbles quarried and chosen, he took them to the sea-coast, and left one of his men to have them embarked. He himself returned to Rome.

... The quantity of marbles was immense, so that, spread over the piazza, they were the admiration of all and a joy to the pope, who heaped immeasurable favors upon Michelangelo: and when he began to work upon them again and again went to see him at his house, and talked to him about the tomb and other things as with his own brother. And in order that he might more easily go to him, the pope ordered that a drawbridge should be thrown across from the Corridore to the rooms of Michelangelo, by which he might visit him in private.

These many and frequent favors were the cause (as often is the case at court) of much envy, and, after the envy, of endless persecution, since Bramante, the architect, who was loved by the pope, made him change his mind as to the monument by telling him, as is said by the vulgar, that it is unlucky to build one’s tomb in one’s lifetime, and other tales. Fear as well as envy stimulated Bramante, for the judgment of Michelangelo had exposed many of his errors.... Now because he had no doubt that Michelangelo knew these errors of his, he always sought to remove him from Rome, or, at least, to deprive him of the favor of the pope, and of the glory and usefulness that he might have acquired by his industry. He succeeded in the matter of the tomb. There is no doubt that if Michelangelo had been allowed to finish it, according to his first design, having so large a field in which to show his worth, no other artist, however celebrated (be it said without envy) could have wrested from him the high place he would have held.

VITA DI MICHELANGELO, ASCANIO CONDIVI, 1553

A great danger in the realm of power is the sudden improvement in fortune—an unexpected promotion, a victory or success that seems to come out of nowhere. This is sure to stir up envy among your former peers.

When Archbishop de Retz was promoted to the rank of cardinal, in 1651, he knew full well that many of his former colleagues envied him. Understanding the foolishness of alienating those below him, de Retz did everything he could to downplay his merit and emphasize the role of luck in his success. To put people at ease, he acted humbly and deferentially, as if nothing had changed. (In reality, of course, he now had much more power than before.) He wrote that these wise policies “produced a good effect, by lessening the envy which was conceived against me, which is the greatest of all secrets.” Follow de Retz’s example. Subtly emphasize how lucky you have been, to make your happiness seem more attainable to other people, and the need for envy less acute. But be careful not to affect a false modesty that people can easily see through. This will only make them more envious. The act has to be good; your humility, and your openness to those you have left behind, have to seem genuine. Any hint of insincerity will only make your new status more oppressive. Remember: Despite your elevated position, it will do you no good to alienate your former peers. Power requires a wide and solid support base, which envy can silently destroy.

Political power of any kind creates envy, and one of the best ways to deflect it before it takes root is to seem unambitious. When Ivan the Terrible died, Boris Godunov knew he was the only one on the scene who could lead Russia. But if he sought the position eagerly, he would stir up envy and suspicion among the boyars, so he refused the crown, not once but several times. He made people insist that he take the throne. George Washington used the same strategy to great effect, first in refusing to keep the position of Commander in Chief of the American army, second in resisting the presidency. In both cases he made himself more popular than ever. People cannot envy the power that they themselves have given a person who does not seem to desire it.

According to the Elizabethan statesman and writer Sir Francis Bacon, the wisest policy of the powerful is to create a kind of pity for themselves, as if their responsibilities were a burden and a sacrifice. How can one envy a man who has taken on a heavy load for the public interest? Disguise your power as a kind of self-sacrifice rather than a source of happiness and you make it seem less enviable. Emphasize your troubles and you turn a potential danger (envy) into a source of moral support (pity). A similar ploy is to hint that your good fortune will benefit those around you. To do this you may need to open your purse strings, like Cimon, a wealthy general in ancient Athens who gave lavishly in all kinds of ways to prevent people from resenting the influence he had bought in Athenian politics. He paid a high price to deflect their envy, but in the end it saved him from ostracism and banishment from the city.

The painter J. M. W. Turner devised another way of giving to deflect the envy of his fellow artists, which he recognized as his greatest obstacle to his success. Noticing that his incomparable color skills made them afraid to hang their paintings next to his in exhibitions, he realized that their fear would turn to envy, and would eventually make it harder for him to find galleries to show in. On occasion, then, Turner is known to have temporarily dampened the colors in his paintings with soot to earn him the goodwill of his colleagues.

To deflect envy, Gracian recommends that the powerful display a weakness, a minor social indiscretion, a harmless vice. Give those who envy you something to feed on, distracting them from your more important sins. Remember: It is the reality that matters. You may have to play games with appearances, but in the end you will have what counts: true power. In some Arab countries, a man will avoid arousing envy by doing as Cosimo de Medici did by showing his wealth only on the inside of his house. Apply this wisdom to your own character.

Beware of some of envy’s disguises. Excessive praise is an almost sure sign that the person praising you envies you; they are either setting you up for a fall—it will be impossible for you to live up to their praise—or they are sharpening their blades behind your back. At the same time, those who are hypercritical of you, or who slander you publicly, probably envy you as well. Recognize their behavior as disguised envy and you keep out of the trap of mutual mud-slinging, or of taking their criticisms to heart. Win your revenge by ignoring their measly presence.

Do not try to help or do favors for those who envy you; they will think you are condescending to them. Joe Orton’s attempt to help Halliwell find a gallery for his work only intensified his lover’s feelings of inferiority and envy. Once envy reveals itself for what it is, the only solution is often to flee the presence of the enviers, leaving them to stew in a hell of their own creation.

Finally, be aware that some environments are more conducive to envy than others. The effects of envy are more serious among colleagues and peers, where there is a veneer of equality. Envy is also destructive in democratic environments where overt displays of power are looked down upon. Be extrasensitive in such environments. The filmmaker Ingmar Bergman was hounded by Swedish tax authorities because he stood out in a country where standing out from the crowd is frowned on. It is almost impossible to avoid envy in such cases, and there is little you can do but accept it graciously and take none of it personally. As Thoreau once said, “Envy is the tax which all distinction must pay.”

Did ever anybody seriously confess to envy? Something there is in it universally felt to be more shameful than even felonious crime. And not only does everybody disown it, but the better sort are inclined to incredulity when it is in earnest imputed to an intelligent man. But since lodgment is in the heart not the brain, no degree of intellect supplies a guarantee against it.

BILLY BUDD, HERMAN MELVILLE, 1819-1891

Image: A Garden of Weeds. You may not feed them but they spread as you water the garden. You may not see how, but they take over, tall and ugly, pre venting anything beautiful from flourishing. Before it is too late, do not water indiscrimi nately. Destroy the weeds of envy by giving them nothing to feed on.

Authority: Upon occasion, reveal a harmless defect in your character. For the envious accuse the most perfect of sinning by having no sins. They become an Argus, all eyes for finding fault with excellence—it is their only consolation. Do not let envy burst with its own venom—affect some lapse in valor or intellect, so as to disarm it beforehand. You thus wave your red cape before the Horns of Envy, in order to save your immortality. (Baltasar Gracian, 1601-1658)

Know how to triumph over envy and malice. Here contempt, although prudent, counts, indeed, for little; magnanimity is better. A good word concerning one who speaks evil of you cannot be praised too highly: there is no revenge more heroic than that brought about by those merits and attainments which frustrate and torment the envious. Every stroke of good fortune is a further twist of the rope round the neck of the ill-disposed and the heaven of the envied is hell for the envious. To convert your good fortune into poison for your enemies is held to be the most severe punishment you can inflict on them. The envious man dies not only once but as many times as the person he envies lives to hear the voice of praise; the eternity of the latter’s fame is the measure of the former’s punishment: the one is immortal in his glory, the latter in his misery. The trumpet of fame which sounds immortality for the one heralds death for the other, who is sentenced to be choked to death on his own envy.

BALTASAR GRACIÁN, 1601-1658

REVERSAL

The reason for being careful with the envious is that they are so indirect, and will find innumerable ways to undermine you. But treading carefully around them will often only make their envy worse. They sense that you are being cautious, and it registers as yet another sign of your superiority. That is why you must act before envy takes root.

Once envy is there, however, whether through your fault or not, it is sometimes best to affect the opposite approach: Display the utmost disdain for those who envy you. Instead of hiding your perfection, make it obvious. Make every new triumph an opportunity to make the envious squirm. Your good fortune and power become their living hell. If you attain a position of unimpeachable power, their envy will have no effect on you, and you will have the best revenge of all: They are trapped in envy while you are free in your power.

This is how Michelangelo triumphed over the venomous architect Bramante, who turned Pope Julius against Michelangelo’s design for his tomb. Bramante envied Michelangelo’s godlike skills, and to this one triumph—the aborted tomb project—he thought to add another, by pushing the pope to commission Michelangelo to paint the murals in the Sistine Chapel. The project would take years, during which Michelangelo would accomplish no more of his brilliant sculptures. Furthermore, Bramante considered Michelangelo not nearly as skilled in painting as in sculpture. The chapel would spoil his image as the perfect artist.

Michelangelo saw the trap and wanted to turn down the commission, but he could not refuse the pope, so he accepted it without complaint. Then, however, he used Bramante’s envy to spur him to greater heights, making the Sistine Chapel his most perfect work of all. Every time Bramante heard of it or saw it, he felt more oppressed by his own envy—the sweetest and most lasting revenge you can exact on the envious.

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I had a farm in Africa…

This is one of my personal stories. It’s a true one, as all my writings are. And it relates to an adventure that I had back in the late 1990’s when I lived in Massachusetts. And at that time, I was able to buy a farm (in Zambia, Africa), staff it, and set it in motion using the pitiful amount of money that I collected and saved from my “day job” as an engineer.

This is the story of that adventure.

Some background

At that time in my life, I was living with a girlfriend in Wrentham, Massachusetts. She was African-African. Meaning, of course, that she was not a hyphenated African-American woman, but a real, honest to goodness traditional (and lovely) African woman.

She was a traditional, conservative, family-oriented girl, and we both “hit it off” and got together great! In short order, don’t you know. We were living together.

She was a lovely woman, and both of my parents absolutely LOVED her. She was kind, sweet, intelligent, and practical. She also had a “rocking” body. She had the most beautiful eyes and lips that I have ever experienced, and her skin was so soft… as were other parts of her magnificence.

And she could cook. OMG! Could she cook!!!!

I have never tasted steak the way she made the steaks. They were absolutely amazing.

And she treated me like a king, too. Formal sit down meals, and she would dress up just to be at home. Multiple healthy dishes. Real meats, with breads, cooked fresh vegetables, and desserts. Almost every day.

Saturdays were the day of house cleaning, and she kept our place spotless. My God!

We lived in a little cabin on Lake Pearl. It was rumored to have once been the home of Helen Keller. But I don’t know this for sure.

It was a rural and rustic location. It greatly resembled a scene from the movie “On Golden Pond”, and my many cats loved that environment. And you all should know, that Massachusetts is very, very beautiful.

We lived outside the town, and it was a little cul-de-sac that ended on a hillside bluff that overlooked the lake. It was tucked away and secluded. It was very woodsy.

We had a wood burning stove, an open kitchen, a little bedroom, and a great view of the lake. It was one of the most memorable places that I have ever lived, and to this day, when I remember those days, they are filled with the fondest memories. I consider those days… my “salad days”.

How it came about

We were eating in a diner, as we tended to do when we were washing our clothes in the local laundromat. The diner was down the road in Plainville, it was named “Don’s Diner” and my regular meal at the time was country fried steak and eggs.

The meal was something like this. And I would eat it with a nice cup of coffee. (My girlfriend really hated my habit of standing up to leave, and then (while standing) take a final sip of coffee. She thought it wasn’t gentlemanly.)

And of course, the food… well, it was delicious.

At the time, we were talking about (one of her) older sisters back in Zambia. Her (sister’s) son had just graduated from an agricultural college and was looking for work. He got great grades and had a real “nack” for farming and animal husbandry.

So we go on chatting away, and somehow the idea materialized that we could set up an egg farm. Her family had some land growing fallow, and he had the knowledge, and her other relatives had connections and all told, it looked promising. He could raise chickens and sell the eggs to the supermarkets and small stores in and around Lusaka, Zambia.

What was involved.

At that time, the United States dollar could buy a lot in Zambia. 1 USD was equal to about 6000 Zambian Kwacha. Today the value is around 20.

For a handful of dollars you could buy a bunch of apartments, buildings and land, and labor rates were insanely low.

So what I did was invested around $20,000 USD. (In gradual installments over time.) And ended up buying some land, hiring people to build some basic buildings and structures and allowing the relatives to set everything up. In this role, I was the financial partner, while my girlfriends’ family handled operations and marketing.

And that’s the way life is.

When you see an opportunity, you take it with the resources you have, and give it all that you can. You try to be realistic, and hopeful, but you realize that many things can go wrong.

Getting it set up.

When you go into these kinds of ventures, you either commit fully or you walk away from it. You cannot be timid. You must commit.

As they say…

Consider a plate of ham and eggs. The Chicken was involved, but the pig was committed.

And so, I did my part, and provided the funding and watched the budget.

The entire system came together rather quickly and about 8 to 9 months later, we had a fully functional chicken egg farm (not for meat), we produced eggs and sold them. We had customers and some were large chain supermarkets.

Now, of course, the profit was small, and miniscule, however we plowed the profits back into the enterprise, and the operation grew and grew again.

And collapse.

Then something happened.

After about two years of operations…

No word or reports from our budding, young operations director. All was quiet, and we didn’t know what was going on.

One full month passed by.

When the family went over to investigate, they found the farm abandoned and the chickens starting to die off, and everything locked up and abandoned.

What we discovered, was that our young operations manager was pocketing the profits, taking the investment moneys and pocketing all the profits and running up enormous bills.

Then he skipped town and went to South Africa.

!!!

We tried to hunt him down. We tried to resolve things, and tried to keep the venture alone, but without him, and his skill set and everything else, we were forced to abandon the entire project.

We gave up hunting for him, and wrote the entire project off as a big failure and a lesson learned.

Lessons learned.

The big thing, and the big lesson, is that you really are taking a risk when you put a young person in charge of your operations without vetting them. And the employment of a relative is perhaps a compounding mistake that can make things go from bad to worse.

I hate to say this, but it is true. Many, but not all, young people seem to believe that there is an endless stream of opportunities ahead of them in life, and that they can jump from one to the other without consequence.

If they are in the right place at the right time, they do not appreciate the great nugget of opportunity that they have so early on in their life. They seem to believe that it is just one of a long series of gold nuggets.

Us older folk realize the truth.

Maybe other opportunities came his way, but chances are that they didn’t. He had one great break early on, and like a typical 20-year-old, blew it all on the belief that bigger and greater things were in his future.

Like a shooting star, he shined bright and then dimmed into obscurity.

For me, I learned a lot.

Seriously I did.

And in the decades that followed, the many lessons continued. Many were quite painful. Almost all were financial failures, but I did end up meeting interesting people, going to strange new lands and experiencing life in broad brush strokes.

But, you know what? I have no regrets.

For, you must understand…

… I actually owned a farm in Africa.

Not the historical notion, but the real experience.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Happiness section here…

So you all wanted a trade war, eh?

Above image. Nothing quite captures the rot inside the United States today than the very foundations of New York City.

Calm cool, accurate, and easy to read. Here’s the reality as we move forward in January 2022.

From Strategic Culture…

Eamon McKinney

January 8, 2022

In a world of chronic shortages China has realized that commodities hold more value than cash.

The current trade war with China began at the very outset of the Trump administration. Apparently alarmed at America’s dependence on Chinese goods, particularly the extent to which its defense industries are reliant on Chinese components and rare earths, Trump had a point but may have better served to speak softly about this vulnerability. He mentioned only two dependencies, there are thousands of products that America relies on China exclusively for.

In moves that were simply anti-competitive practices he then launched in a “tech war” with China. Banning the sale of chips and semi-conductors, along with bans on Chinese 5G and Huawei the global leader in particular. Not content with that the U.S. launched a global push to pressure its “allies’ to also ban Huawei and its state of the art 5G technology. Not to be taken in isolation, the tech war was just part of an overall strategy to damage and restrain China’s economy. “Decoupling” had arrived into the general lexicon.

To an extent the measures worked, the chip shortage caused a slowdown among many tech dependent sectors, but not for long. China has developed its domestic production at a pace not possible anywhere else. It has also convinced China that it needed to greatly accelerate its self-sufficiency across all sectors.

As it stands today, America has nothing that China needs that it can’t make or buy elsewhere. America conversely needs China desperately, without China’s goods the American economy grinds to a halt. The extent of that dependency has been highlighted by Americaэs ongoing supply chain chaos. Manufacturing, retail, construction and countless other industry sectors have stalled without Chinese goods. No country in the world is as dependent on imports as the U.S. Attempts to find alternatives to China are fruitless, no other country can match the efficiency, infrastructure, economies of scale and cost that China can. American manufacturing only accounts for 20% of the American economy, self-sufficiency for Americans is a fantasy, even in the best case scenario, it is generations away.

Long spoken of is “China’s nuclear option”, dumping its dollar holdings and rendering the dollar worthless. China doesn’t want to do that. Firstly the loss of a trillion of its own dollar holdings is not to be taken lightly, and it would also damage the holdings and economies of its other trading partners around the world. Such a move would be an absolute last resort. China’s real nuclear option is the withholding of essential goods to America.

China has all but monopolised the rare earth industries, now accounting for more than 85% of global production. Without rare earths Americas tech and defence sectors would be paralysed.

Curious how President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, makgin American purchases of anything out of Xinjiang illegal. 

Funny thing though... all of the Chiense "rare earth" minerals come from Xinjiang and are mostly mined by Uighurs. 

Uh oh! (Head slap!)

All the seventeen critical rare earths are mined and refined in China in high volume. Some are mined in other countries in smaller volumes: developing alternative sources to China would a very lengthy process. For the foreseeable future, China decides who gets rare earths, and who doesn’t.

Unknown to many Americans the pharmaceutical industry is among the most heavily dependent of China. 80-85% of its products and precursors come from China, and there are currently few alternatives. I leave it to the reader’s imagination to visualize an America without medications, think Zombie apocalypse.

More than 131 million people — 66 percent of all adults in the United States — use prescription drugs. 

-Health policy institute at Georgetown

Some recent developments in China have given us a glimpse of the future. China is stockpiling food and other commodities at unprecedented levels. It is believed to hold more than half the world’s grain and maize already, other essential food stuffs are also being stockpiled at similar levels.

Iron ore, steel and other industrial raw materials are also being hoarded in previously unforeseen quantities. In a world of chronic shortages China has realised that commodities hold more value than cash.

More significantly, China just published a Governmental “White Paper.” It emphasises the need to conserve natural, finite resources (again think rare earths.) It also addresses the paradox that Trump was concerned about, why is China supplying parts to the U.S. military contractors? These among many other sectors will now require a “special export licence”. Read between the lines. China can apply these principles across any exported product it chooses. If they don’t like where it is headed, or what it will be used for, it isn’t going. Fertilisers, for which China accounts for about 30% of the world’s production are already banned from export. This is already forcing American many American farmers to switch from wheat to less fertiliser-intensive crops like soybeans.

China didn’t start or want this trade war, to date it is has been a one-sided assault on the Chinese economy by an increasingly desperate American government. China has not retaliated or employed any of the measures it could have in response, until now.

America now truly has its trade war, and more decoupling will follow, but from here on in, it will be on China’s terms.

…

From LinkedIN…

WHO WANTS A DOLLAR?
NOT CHINA

Dr Eamon McKinney

But America does need China – it needs the rare earths required for military production, automotive and high–tech manufacturing. All would come to a standstill without the rare earths which China has essentially monopolized.

Additionally, 85% of all Pharmaceutica used in the U.S. and their component chemicals come from China. Imagine what America would look like if supplies of
Pharmaceuticals were stopped. The truth, however unpalatable is that America needs China,

China no longer needs America.

What is now happening in China should alarm all Americans businesses. China no longer wants the dollar, China has too many dollars it doesn’t need any more of what it regards as increasingly worthless currency for tangible products.

Where trade is still being conducted many Chinese companies are no longer pricing their goods in Dollars, they are pricing in RMB and want to paid in
such. For the last 40 years, dollars came in and were exchanged into local currency, now, if you want Chinese goods, first buy RMB with your dollars.

First slide…

Second slide…

Third slide…

And China is not alone, widely unreported is the fact that many countries who are considered allies of America, The U.K, France, Germany, India and Mexico are also moving rapidly away from the Dollar and the institutions that sustain it. The swift payment system, the I.M.F. the World Bank and the Bank for International Settlements are all now being replaced by more equitable alternatives.

Trump’s tariffs have not affected China or hurt it any way. The tariffs have been paid by the American consumer. It has just added further inflationary pressure on the economy.

But that is the tip of the iceberg. Biden’s new $1.9 Trillion stimulus (actually a bailout) will plunge the dollar to new lows.

If that is not alarming enough, consider this: 40% of all the $US currently in circulation globally have been created in the last year.

The dollar has plunged in value some 15% over the last few months, and it continues to decline. We can only hope that as inflation inevitably increases
it will be gradual, the consequences of a more rapid decline are unthinkable, yet most certainly possible.

Denial appears to be the prevailing U.S. Government policy, but denial is not a useful strategy for the private sector. Companies must deal with the fact that global supply chains may soon to be a thing of the past for American companies.

As the dollar continues to decline, it’s reduced purchasing power is making foreign products uneconomical. The one positive is that the companies who have recognized these facts are bringing their supply chains home.

Re–shoring makes good economic sense, because it is possible that in the near future, the only people who will accept the US dollar are likely to only be other American companies.

…

Conclusion

You will not read about the collapse, the SHTF, or the various wars and brush fights in the American Government controlled media. But they are still going on. Here’s an insight as to what is going on.

Finance folk, bankers, accountants, and other FIRE industries have looted the United States, and gutted American society. It’s a big boated crusty shell with nothing but dust on the inside. Soon, very soon, there is going to be a mass realization of this reality.

It could be harsh, brash and catastrophic.

Or, it could be a serious of controlled implosions.

But it WILL HAPPEN.

There is no way out of this mess. None. The only thing that a person can do is hunker down in a smaller community away from the larger clusters of dependent citizenry, become active and involved in your respective communities, and be the Rufus; help others will no concern for personal profit.

I will advise you all to use all of the techniques provided on MM here to center your consciousness, and prepare.

Here’s a quick review…

Affirmation prayer campaigns.
Perform your Fate Forecasting, and monitor it closely.
Center your consciousness using Hemi-sync.
Conduct world-line travel and slides as necessary.
Be part of your community.
Be able to provide a service, or volunteer in your community.
Tune out the bullshit propaganda off the “news”.
Stock up your food larder. Have a garden.
Trade and barter with neighbors.
Ride a bicycle more often. Use the car less.
Surround yourself with cats, or dogs, or other animals.
Be kind. Be calm. Be neighborly.

Make your little area a bubble of kind softness. That way, no matter what changes hits your world, your little area will be mostly immune to them. Be great; be the Rufus.

I believe in you.

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 2

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Law 7 of the 48 Laws of Power; Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.

This is law 8 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

You must secure the credit for yourself.
Learn to take advantage of others work to further your own cause.
Use the past, a vast storehouse of knowledge and wisdom. Learn this and you will look like a genius.
Note: be sure to know when letting other people share the credit furthers your cause.

LAW 7

GET OTHERS TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU, BUT ALWAYS TAKE THE CREDIT

JUDGMENT

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

TRANSGRESSION AND OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

In 1883 a young Serbian scientist named Nikola Tesla was working for the European division of the Continental Edison Company. He was a brilliant inventor, and Charles Batchelor, a plant manager and a personal friend of Thomas Edison, persuaded him he should seek his fortune in America, giving him a letter of introduction to Edison himself. So began a life of woe and tribulation that lasted until Tesla’s death.

THE TORTOISE

One day the tortoise met the elephant, who trumpeted, “Out of my way, you weakling —I might step on you!” The tortoise was not afraid and stayed where he was, so the elephant stepped on him, but could not crush him. “Do not boast, Mr. Elephant, I am as strong as you are!” said the tortoise, but the elephant just laughed. So the tortoise asked him to come to his hill the next morning. The next day, before sunrise, the tortoise ran down the hill to the river, where he met the hippopotamus, who was just on his way back into the water after his nocturnal feeding. “Mr Hippo! Shall we have a tug-of-war? I bet I’m as strong as you are!” said the tortoise. The hippopotamus laughed at this ridiculous idea, but agreed. The tortoise produced a long rope and told the hippo to hold it in his mouth until the tortoise shouted “Hey!” Then the tortoise ran back up the hill where he found the elephant, who was getting impatient.

He gave the elephant the other end of the rope and said, “When I say ‘Hey!’ pull, and you’ll.see which of us is the strongest. ”Then he ran halfway back down the hill, to a place where he couldn’t be seen, and shouted, “Hey!” The elephant and the hippopotamus pulled and pulled, but neither could budge the other-they were of equal strength. They both agreed that the tortoise was as strong as they were. Never do what others can do for you. The tortoise let others do the work for him while he got the credit.

ZAIREAN FABLE

When Tesla met Edison in New York, the famous inventor hired him on the spot. Tesla worked eighteen-hour days, finding ways to improve the primitive Edison dynamos. Finally he offered to redesign them completely. To Edison this seemed a monumental task that could last years without paying off, but he told Tesla, “There’s fifty thousand dollars in it for you—if you can do it.” Tesla labored day and night on the project and after only a year he produced a greatly improved version of the dynamo, complete with automatic controls. He went to Edison to break the good news and receive his $50,000. Edison was pleased with the improvement, for which he and his company would take credit, but when it came to the issue of the money he told the young Serb, “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor!,” and offered a small raise instead.

Tesla’s obsession was to create an alternating-current system (AC) of electricity. Edison believed in the direct-current system (DC), and not only refused to support Tesla’s research but later did all he could to sabotage him. Tesla turned to the great Pittsburgh magnate George Westinghouse, who had started his own electricity company. Westinghouse completely funded Tesla’s research and offered him a generous royalty agreement on future profits. The AC system Tesla developed is still the standard today —but after patents were filed in his name, other scientists came forward to take credit for the invention, claiming that they had laid the groundwork for him. His name was lost in the shuffle, and the public came to associate the invention with Westinghouse himself.

A year later, Westinghouse was caught in a takeover bid from J. Pierpont Morgan, who made him rescind the generous royalty contract he had signed with Tesla. Westinghouse explained to the scientist that his company would not survive if it had to pay him his full royalties; he persuaded Tesla to accept a buyout of his patents for $216,000—a large sum, no doubt, but far less than the $12 million they were worth at the time. The financiers had divested Tesla of the riches, the patents, and essentially the credit for the greatest invention of his career.

The name of Guglielmo Marconi is forever linked with the invention of radio. But few know that in producing his invention—he broadcast a signal across the English Channel in 1899—Marconi made use of a patent Tesla had filed in 1897, and that his work depended on Tesla’s research. Once again Tesla received no money and no credit. Tesla invented an induction motor as well as the AC power system, and he is the real “father of radio.” Yet none of these discoveries bear his name. As an old man, he lived in poverty.

In 1917, during his later impoverished years, Tesla was told he was to receive the Edison Medal of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He turned the medal down. “You propose,” he said, “to honor me with a medal which I could pin upon my coat and strut for a vain hour before the members of your Institute. You would decorate my body and continue to let starve, for failure to supply recognition, my mind and its creative products, which have supplied the foundation upon which the major portion of your Institute exists.”

Interpretation

Many harbor the illusion that science, dealing with facts as it does, is beyond the petty rivalries that trouble the rest of the world. Nikola Tesla was one of those. He believed science had nothing to do with politics, and claimed not to care for fame and riches. As he grew older, though, this ruined his scientific work. Not associated with any particular discovery, he could attract no investors to his many ideas. While he pondered great inventions for the future, others stole the patents he had already developed and got the glory for themselves.

He wanted to do everything on his own, but merely exhausted and impoverished himself in the process.

Edison was Tesla’s polar opposite. He wasn’t actually much of a scientific thinker or inventor; he once said that he had no need to be a mathematician because he could always hire one. That was Edison’s main method. He was really a businessman and publicist, spotting the trends and the opportunities that were out there, then hiring the best in the field to do the work for him. If he had to he would steal from his competitors. Yet his name is much better known than Tesla’s, and is associated with more inventions.

To be sure, if the hunter relies on the security of the carriage, utilizes the legs of the six horses, and makes Wang Liang hold their reins, then he will not tire himself and will find it easy to overtake swift animals. Now supposing he discarded the advantage of the carriage, gave up the useful legs of the horses and the skill of Wang Liang, and alighted to run after the animals, then even though his legs were as quick as Lou Chi’s, he would not be in time to overtake the animals. In fact, if good horses and strong carriages are taken into use, then mere bond-men and bondwomen will be good enough to catch the animals.

HAN-FEI-TZU, CHINESE PHILOSOPHER, THIRD CENTURY B.C.

The lesson is twofold: First, the credit for an invention or creation is as important, if not more important, than the invention itself. You must secure the credit for yourself and keep others from stealing it away, or from piggy-backing on your hard work. To accomplish this you must always be vigilant and ruthless, keeping your creation quiet until you can be sure there are no vultures circling overhead. Second, learn to take advantage of other people’s work to further your own cause. Time is precious and life is short. If you try to do it all on your own, you run yourself ragged, waste energy, and burn yourself out. It is far better to conserve your forces, pounce on the work others have done, and find a way to make it your own.

Everybody steals in commerce and industry.

I’ve stolen a lot myself. But I know how to steal. Thomas Edison, 1847-1931

KEYS TO POWER

The world of power has the dynamics of the jungle: There are those who live by hunting and killing, and there are also vast numbers of creatures (hyenas, vultures) who live off the hunting of others. These latter, less imaginative types are often incapable of doing the work that is essential for the creation of power. They understand early on, though, that if they wait long enough, they can always find another animal to do the work for them. Do not be naive: At this very moment, while you are slaving away on some project, there are vultures circling above trying to figure out a way to survive and even thrive off your creativity. It is useless to complain about this, or to wear yourself ragged with bitterness, as Tesla did. Better to protect yourself and join the game. Once you have established a power base, become a vulture yourself, and save yourself a lot of time and energy.

A hen who had lost her sight, and was accustomed to scratching up the earth in search of food, although blind, still continued to scratch away most diligently. Of what use was it to the industriuus fool? Another sharp-sighted hen who spared her tender feet never moved from her side, and enjoyed, without scratching, the fruit of the other’s labor. For as often as the blind hen scratched up a barley-corn, her watchful companion devoured it.

FABLES, GOITCHOLD LESSING, 1729-1781

Of the two poles of this game, one can be illustrated by the example of the explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. Balboa had an obsession—the discovery of El Dorado, a legendary city of vast riches.

Early in the sixteenth century, after countless hardships and brushes with death, he found evidence of a great and wealthy empire to the south of Mexico, in present-day Peru. By conquering this empire, the Incan, and seizing its gold, he would make himself the next Cortés. The problem was that even as he made this discovery, word of it spread among hundreds of other conquistadors. He did not understand that half the game was keeping it quiet, and carefully watching those around him. A few years after he discovered the location of the Incan empire, a soldier in his own army, Francisco Pizarro, helped to get him beheaded for treason. Pizarro went on to take what Balboa had spent so many years trying to find.

The other pole is that of the artist Peter Paul Rubens, who, late in his career, found himself deluged with requests for paintings. He created a system: In his large studio he employed dozens of outstanding painters, one specializing in robes, another in backgrounds, and so on. He created a vast production line in which a large number of canvases would be worked on at the same time. When an important client visited the studio, Rubens would shoo his hired painters out for the day. While the client watched from a balcony, Rubens would work at an incredible pace, with unbelievable energy. The client would leave in awe of this prodigious man, who could paint so many masterpieces in so short a time.

This is the essence of the Law: Learn to get others to do the work for you while you take the credit, and you appear to be of godlike strength and power. If you think it important to do all the work yourself, you will never get far, and you will suffer the fate of the Balboas and Teslas of the world. Find people with the skills and creativity you lack. Either hire them, while putting your own name on top of theirs, or find a way to take their work and make it your own. Their creativity thus becomes yours, and you seem a genius to the world.

There is another application of this law that does not require the parasitic use of your contemporaries’ labor: Use the past, a vast storehouse of knowledge and wisdom. Isaac Newton called this “standing on the shoulders of giants.” He meant that in making his discoveries he had built on the achievements of others. A great part of his aura of genius, he knew, was attributable to his shrewd ability to make the most of the insights of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance scientists. Shakespeare borrowed plots, characterizations, and even dialogue from Plutarch, among other writers, for he knew that nobody surpassed Plutarch in the writing of subtle psychology and witty quotes.

How many later writers have in their turn borrowed from—plagiarized—Shakespeare

We all know how few of today’s politicians write their own speeches. Their own words would not win them a single vote; their eloquence and wit, whatever there is of it, they owe to a speech writer. Other people do the work, they take the credit. The upside of this is that it is a kind of power that is available to everyone. Learn to use the knowledge of the past and you will look like a genius, even when you are really just a clever borrower.

Writers who have delved into human nature, ancient masters of strategy, historians of human stupidity and folly, kings and queens who have learned the hard way how to handle the burdens of power—their knowledge is gathering dust, waiting for you to come and stand on their shoulders. Their wit can be your wit, their skill can be your skill, and they will never come around to tell people how unoriginal you really are. You can slog through life, making endless mistakes, wasting time and energy trying to do things from your own experience. Or you can use the armies of the past. As Bismarck once said, “Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others’ experience.”

Image: The Vulture. Of all the creatures in the jungle, he has it the easiest. The hard work of others becomes his work; their failure to survive becomes his nourishment. Keep an eye on the Vulture—while you are hard at work, he is cir cling above. Do not fight him, join him.

Authority: There is much to be known, life is short, and life is not life without knowledge. It is therefore an excellent device to acquire knowledge from everybody. Thus, by the sweat of another’s brow, you win the reputation of being an oracle. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

REVERSAL

There are times when taking the credit for work that others have done is not the wise course: If your power is not firmly enough established, you will seem to be pushing people out of the limelight. To be a brilliant ex ploiter of talent your position must be unshakable, or you will be accused of deception.

Be sure you know when letting other people share the credit serves your purpose. It is especially important to not be greedy when you have a master above you. President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to the People’s Republic of China was originally his idea, but it might never have come off but for the deft diplomacy of Henry Kissinger. Nor would it have been as successful without Kissinger’s skills. Still, when the time came to take credit, Kissinger adroitly let Nixon take the lion’s share. Knowing that the truth would come out later, he was careful not to jeopardize his standing in the short term by hogging the limelight. Kissinger played the game expertly: He took credit for the work of those below him while graciously giving credit for his own labors to those above. That is the way to play the game.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my “48 Laws of Power” Index here…

The 48 Laws

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New published directives to silence bloggers reporting from China

Do you know what I could use right now? Yup. I could use a nice hot bowl of Chili, with thick globs of cheese on top, and a side of crunchy garlic bread. That’s what.

And…

What I most like about this chili is substituting nice loaves of garlic bread to eat instead of the standard fare of crackers, goldfish crackers, or Doritos chips. I like nice garlic bread. Call me strange, but that’s what I like.

I like to eat it with a nice piping HOT cup of coffee, myself. But you know a icy cold beer, or a nice wine in a normal everyday glass is fine as well.

The point of this is to eat and enjoy.

And what ever you do, turn off the “news”. It’s all lies.

As the United States collapses it is IMPERATIVE that the inmate / serfs are kept ignorant and unaware of the life in the rest of the world. They must still believe that American “democracy” is the best!

Don’t you know!

The Western elites have so successfully numbed their populations, so instilled deep apathy within the masses that even their glibly constructed propaganda has lost all potency.

Their propaganda is so far removed from the lives and concerns of ordinary people that it is only the elites who care about it.

Like the orobouros, the elites produce, consume and finally become their own propaganda.

Regardless, the world moves on ...

Posted by: Arch Bungle

A Comparison

Here’s Image Search for “China”.

Here’s an image search for “China BBC”

Why…

bottom line - stereotyping china in the worst possible way in the western media is the name of the game.. if people can't pick up this much, we're all in trouble... we went thru this with the msm doing the same with russia, iran and venezuala for how long? now china.. who whudda thunk it? lol..

Posted by: james | Dec 20 2021 18:24 utc | 7

Why so out of touch. Why so focused on discord?

It’s an American government directive.

The West must look to be the leader, and the enemies of the West must be painted in the most horrible images imaginable, and any one who shows the reality MUST be silenced.

In a way, and for what is a rather small and inconsequential event after all, this story is a very nice illustration of the entire western narrative building system in action. Lie, exaggerate the lie, when called on it double down on the lie from another angle, attack strawmen, and then perhaps, months later, admit some version of the facts buried in an inside page with no correction of the original story.

In the meantime, of course, the concept of China as this authoritarian boogieman continues to be implanted and nurtured in the western mind, which is the primary target of all this, to the effect that majorities now view China as the new and forever enemy, against whom we obviously need to spend trillions of dollars preparing for Armageddon, which was the objective all along.

And so, once again, the Times and the rest of the approved media have earned their keep.


Posted by: Caliman | Dec 20 2021

Funding for articles, media and “news” to counter the Chinese positive good stuff…

$7.1b use in Asia include funding a lot of “news” agencies, “dissidents”…. etc. etc. etc.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4350/text

Your life in Shanghai sucks, okay?!: The West’s push to ban good news about China online

By Andy Boreham

I bet you never knew, before this week, that your life here in China is so miserable.

This week, The New York Times and an Australian think tank released their coordinated reports on foreign “influencers” and the supposed threat they pose.

Their verdict: Any positive news from China must necessarily be fake, funded by the Communist Party of China, and therefore should be labeled as “misinformation.”

The New York Times released a story titled “How Beijing Influences the Influencers,” which was created and strategically released in coordination with a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a think tank that is largely funded by the arms industry (no, seriously).

Their report is called;

 "Borrowing Mouths to Speak on Xinjiang."

Both reports posit foreign influencers in China posting positive and happy content online as agents of the state who need to be stopped at all costs.

Their crimes, according to The New York Times: painting

"...cheery portraits of life as foreigners in China."

They go on:

"Most of the YouTubers have lived in China for years and say their aim is to counter the West's increasingly negative perceptions of the country."

Evil stuff.

The ASPI report mainly focused on foreign influencers who have created content on Xinjiang. I happened to be included in their list because of some videos I made in Xinjiang exploring the ancient city of Kashgar and Urumqi, the regional capital.

They argued that content like mine aims to

 "reframe international narratives by displaying a wholly positive image of life in Xinjiang."

But here’s the thing: Neither Xinjiang nor any other part of China deserves to be framed in an overwhelmingly negative light just because the West says so, regardless of all the hideous accusations they make about mass murder, genocide or whatever else.

And just for the record, as someone who has visited Xinjiang, works for Chinese state media and has read all the reports under the sun, I wholeheartedly believe there is no systemic mass murder or genocide going on in Xinjiang.

If I came across anything to make me believe otherwise I wouldn’t be here doing what I do.

If you don't find that attempt by the West to monopolize the "truth" about China, from outside China, to be absolutely terrifying, then you clearly haven't read "1984." 

-Andy Boreham

The New York Times particularly took aim at videos like mine that portrayed Xinjiang without couching the entire content in politics, mass murder and genocide.

They attacked videos from a YouTube travel channel called The China Traveler because the videos were fun and colorful, and not covered in blood and filmed using the infamous “BBC gray” filter.

The "BBC Gray filter" is a real thing. They take stills from blogger's you-tube videos and turn the skies grey, turning the green trees grey, and turn the flowers ugly red grey.

In the videos, the host

"raves about the cuisine and interviews locals about how their lives have improved."

Great, sounds just like any other travel video on YouTube.

Oh, but they go on:

"Topics like re-education camps do not come up."

Wow.

Let me re-package what they are expecting of China travel vlogs and put the same requirements on US content, just to show you the level of ludicrous we’re dealing with here.

There's a consistent drum beat here from the U$A's propaganda driven MSM; Try to destroy the reputation of any nation who's seen as a competitor in commerce, or political system.

Posted by: vetinLA | Dec 20 2021 19:19 utc | 17

Most average people would concede that the US total messed up their response to COVID-19. Already around 800,000 people have died because of the pandemic. That’s nearly 1 million people – a tragedy in anyone’s eyes.

Using ASPI’s logic, no YouTube travel vlogs about the US should be posted without first detailing the 800,000 who have died unnecessarily from COVID-19.

China, China
Regime, regime.
Tennis player, rape, rape
China, China, regime, regime

This is the narrative tinnitus miracle and it is all that really matters.

Posted by: robin | Dec 20 2021 20:25 utc | 23

Chicago is, in many people’s estimations, a dangerous and lawless place. Innocent people are gunned down on the streets there every single week. Does that mean US travel vloggers visiting the city and profiling its amazing nightlife, art scene, food and people are spreading propaganda and “attempting to change the narrative” if they don’t also talk about the hideous crime rate there? Of course not!

So why do they expect the same from China content?

Basically what The New York Times, ASPI and other Western organs are suggesting with their reports is that any positive news or content coming from China is fake and that it is propaganda.

They want content like mine – which simply showed two beautiful cities in Xinjiang in order to entice other foreigners to go and see the place with their own eyes – to be labeled as “misinformation” and flagged by Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the like.

"Platforms could explore the introduction of specific policies about misleading information,"

the Aussie think tank suggests.

"Such policies could include enforcement measures against violations similar to those that Twitter has implemented for sharing false or misleading information about COVID-19."

If you don’t find that attempt by the West to monopolize the “truth” about China, from outside China, to be absolutely terrifying, then you clearly haven’t read “1984.”

A well funded effort

Just came across this 1.5-minute clip of China’s former ambassador to the US talking about China’s need to pick a careful path in the face of US hostility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OQwY6ohoys

Guess they see that the US is stopping at nothing, sparing no effort, to demonize China at every opportunity, and seem to be aware that this will likely get worse over the next few years.

After all, earlier this year, the US openly announced $1.2 billion for anti-China narrative efforts over the next four years (2022-2026) by the US Agency for Global Media …

The New York Times is one of the media herd leaders, and the establishment news media across the West – including here in Canada – all obediently follow the NYT/WaPo/CNN lead with no questions asked …

Orwell’s Ministry of Truth is well-funded and well-staffed. We will likely be getting even more Two Minutes Hate sessions over the next few years.

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Dec 21 2021 3:42 utc | 49

It is purposeful distortions to keep Americans (the West) ignorant.

Here’s an interview with a VOA journalist. VOA is the US governments main propaganda arm that oversees most all “news”. It is funded by the NED, which is turn is funded out of the CIA. Listen and learn. video 60MB

America is a military empire

Toivos | Dec 20 2021 18:09 utc | 5

". . . both of those US national propaganda rags are whipping up support for war against both China and Russia. I do hope that they begin to realize that the US will lose those wars as well before it is too late."

Yes it is. Obey or be crushed. Video 9MB

It’s all “us” vs. “them”.

Actually it has nothing to do with winning or losing. The US oligarchy simply demands that millions of working taxpayers continue shoveling their little bits of money to the billionaires, and the fastest and easiest way to get that done is to start wars. They don't care who wins or loses.


Posted by: AntiSpin | Dec 20 2021 20:53 utc | 26

And it is very dangerous and at all levels. Domestically and internationally. This keeps the wealthy in control while the rabble all fight amongst themselves. video 5MB

Anti China or not. You judge.

Face the realities of the world today. Not what you want to see, but what actually exists now today. video 3MB

Americans view war as normal

It is not. No. No. No. It is not normal, it should never be considered normal. video 8MB

The truth about America

Long, but accurate. video 160MB

Ah but it’s a changing…

I posted a take via The Guardian ( the cross Atlantic NYP) in the open thread.

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/12/the-moa-week-in-review-ot-2021-099.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef02942f8f2cb4200c#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef02942f8f2cb4200c

What is revealing about this ‘pushback’ against western propaganda is that it is part of a full spectrum attack on western/nato hagemony that has been well advertised by the Empire killers Russia and China for many months now.

From the initial meetings with the new ‘sane’ Biden administration with the latest NSA and State department apparatchiks to the now very public documents of surrender which have been presented to them.

Of course it is couched in a manner that doesn’t expect an unconditional surrender but it does require it.

What I perceive is that over the last decade the Chinese and Russians played the whipping boys to the economic onslaught from some obscure department of the US state that arbitrarily imposed sanctions and stole money from sovereign states because they could.

It has been Imperial hubris.

The smart humans chose to use that hubris against the perpetrators.

Now as they pretended to cower under that onslaught they not only firmed up their collective military spine but have enrolled many other countries who have been subjected to similar economic actions.

They have set up alternative world banking!

They have also invested heavily and long term without onerous terms that the Workd Bank imposes.

They have given vaccines for pretty much free.

Now they are taking on the major force the West/nato Empire has built into what they believe is a dominant weapon - the power of the ‘blag’ the news & cultural hagemony.

The West/Nato have been allowed to lull into a false sense of that power of Narrative control over populations.

Unfortunately it only works on the West/nato populations who all consume the same monopoly media guff.

Many alternative platforms have been set up and largely free of control.

Except for interference by the Western platforms and their controllers.

It is now moving to a open full spectrum, all frontal counter attack.

The last time it stopped in Berlin by pre agreement. This time ...with a modern China economic and human superpower and all the allies they are daily accumulating it is a done deal.

History may yet still record the Peng Shuai moment as a momentous point in this war of Empires.

Posted by: D.G. | Dec 21 2021 1:23 utc | 43

The BOTTOM LINE

Yes, he spells it out completely. This is the reality. Pure and simple. China has a political system that is determined by real practical results. Not on some nebulous ideal that can never be obtained, measured or implemented.

video 4MB

Conclusion

Enough of this bullshit. Within a few years any accurate reporting of China will be effectively squashed, and zero free press will be permitted. It’s all in the pipe and going to happen.

The methodology for getting around the First Amendment (In the Bill of Rights) is to have all the Social Media Platforms suppress any bloggers reporting on China unless it meets the Government approved narrative.

It’s all the lead up to war, don’t you know.

Of course, by then either [1] the Second civil war will be a raging, or [2] a nuclear exchange will take place. In which even there won’t be much of anyone reading the “news”.

Shee-it!

As I have said earlier in other posts, there are adults “in the room” who have the entire situation at hand. Let the USA isolate itself. Let it try to start a war. let it trash about and thrash, and squirm.

It’s not going to make a difference. It really won’t.

History is clear.

There just isn’t any way to escape the fated programmed obsolesce. There is no escape.

It’s time for me to chill and smunch. I’ll tell you what. Enjoy where you are right now. Enjoy who you are with right now. Enjoy what you have right now. Enjoy the weather, no matter what it is right now.

Right now.

Food, movie, chat with a friend, a coffee, a bike ride, a workout, a park adventure, a beer in a pub, some sex, hanging out with your beloved pet, and a good book. What ever you do, do it right now.

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 2

Articles & Links

Master Index

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

How to get around paywalls on internet news sites.

This is a very quick and short article. But it is my hope that the benefit that it provides to the MM readership makes up for it’s brevity.

Many traditional news websites expect you to face a barrage of annoying ads AND give up precious coin to pass through a paywall. They have various ways of doing this, though most have adopted an enormous screen filling dialog box that you must respond to in order to read their “news”.

While each such site may have a unique workaround, there are three simple ones that usually always work. They are;

Clear your browser history
Disable JavaScript
(or) Open the link in a private browsing tab.

Here we can talk about the easiest and most effective way to do so. You simply open the link in a “private browsing tab”. Here, We look at the different ways of doing this depending on the browser that you use…

Open the link in a private tab

For the last one, the added bonus is that Google, Big Brother, ad cookie traps, etc., etc., etc., can’t track you. Well, supposedly they can’t. I have learned in my long life, that anything is possible. Never say “never”.

Either follow the menu options at the top of your browser, or do the following:

CHROME

Incognito: Ctrl + Shift + N

Internet Explorer

In Private Browsing: Ctrl + Shift + P

FIREFOX

Private Window: Ctrl + Shift + P

BRAVE

Private Tab: Ctrl + Shift + P

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my Happiness Index.

Life & Happiness

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Orders from Washington DC; When China Does Great things you must Question Its Cost in all articles

"I didn't graduate from the 7th grade to put up with this shit!" 

-Chef, "Apocalypse Now"

When I was growing up, my parents raised me on a steady diet of television. Back then in the early 1960’s my favorite shows were “Diver Dan”, “The Jetsons”, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, “Get Smart” and “I dream of Genie”. These shows influenced me as I grew up. It was all about adventure, space and fighting those dastardly communists. Yikes!

I used to love Saturday mornings.

it would be a morning full of cartoons. I would go get a bowl of sugary cereal, add milk and even more sugar, and sit there in front of the television screen absorbing all the great child entertainment. My favorite cereals from those years were “Froot Loops”, “Coco puffs”, and “Rice Krispies”. I was, I tell youse guys, just a normal kid.

In those days, mind control via electronic media was unheard of. It had to be introduced and perfected, which it was indeed, over the next two to three decades.

Now we have very advanced systems to control the minds of people, and they do work. But every now and then, the absurdity of it all becomes so glaringly obvious. And it’s laughable. Really.

If it wasn’t so absolutely sad.

From MoA. Classic.

There seem to be general meme directives for ‘western’ outlets with regards to official enemies.

Russia is said to weaponize everything. The position of China is not (yet) seen as in military terms. The emphasis is on economic competition. Any undeniable Chinese achievement must be declared to have been a bad investment. The directive thus reads:

"When writing about China's achievements - question their costs."

The results:

Global Markets – 1st quarter 2007 : China powers ahead – but at what cost?
– Fin Law, Feb 09, 2007
China pumps up the Cambodian economy, but at what cost?
– Taipei Times Apr 07 2011
Luxury Property in China: Boom, but at what cost?
– Spears, Oct 18 2011

Tibet: Tourism Rises, But At What Cost?
– UNPO, Dec 28 2011
China brings jobs to Ethiopia but at what cost?
– Horn Affairs, May 31 2012
China: smartphone market domination…but at what cost?
– GFK, Feb 27 2014
China wants the Gold but at what Cost? – Disturbing Road to Olympic Stardom
– Linkedin, Aug 14 2016
Podcast: China Aims for Bluer Skies Ahead, But at What Cost to Commodity Demand?
– SPGlobal, 2017
Peter Bart: Hollywood Has Appetite For China’s Big Bucks, But At What Cost?
– Deadline, Mar 2 2017
China is driving a boom in Brazilian mining, but at what cost?
– China Dialogue, Jul 27 2017
Chinese Tech Firms Are at the Cutting Edge of Artificial Intelligence — But at What Cost?
– Global Voices, 28 Aug 2017
China Invests in Environment – but at What Cost?
– US News, Apr 20 2018
China’s Belt and Road poised to transform the Earth, but at what cost?
– Mongabay, Apr 24 2018
China’s Belt and Road poised to transform the Earth, but at what cost to the environment?
– Eco Business, Apr 25 2018
China May Become the World’s Leader in AI. But at What Cost?
– China File, Jul 30 2018
President Xi pledges $60 Billion to African Countries, but at what Cost?
– Medium, Sep 8 2018
Vatican–China relations are warming up, but at what cost?
– East Asia Forum, 23 Oct 2018
Gene-edited babies: China wants to be the world leader, but at what cost?
– The Conservation, Nov 26 2018
China’s economy looks to be stabilising, but at what cost?
– France24, Apr 17 2019
China’s Big Cities Get Cleaner Air, But at What Cost?
– Caixing, Oct 26 2019
China’s Experimental Cure for Cancer
China’s curing cancer faster and cheaper than anywhere else. But some worry they may be going too fast.
– Bloomberg, Dec 12th 2019
China is getting smarter – but at what cost?
– BBC, Dec 24 2019
Hou Jianbin wants to educate China. But at what cost?
– Protocol
A better, stronger China after the epidemic? But at what cost?
– Think China, Feb 21 2020
China May Forge Ahead of the Us in AI Chip Race, but at What Cost to Both?
– CIGI, Apr 9 2020
China’s Three Gorges Dam may be safe for now, but at what cost?
– Dams, Rivers and People, 27 Jul 2020
Serbia has rolled out the red carpet to China – but at what cost?
– Euronews, Oct 08 2020
The BRI’s Footprint in the Lower Mekong Region Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam all need infrastructure—but at what cost?
– RosaLux, Dec 15 2020
Chinese PD-1s secure broad reimbursement, but at what cost?
– Pharmaletter, Dec 28 2020
Green Transition in China: At What Cost?
– Green Europe Journal, 16 Jan 2021
Wuhan one year on: The city that appears safe from Covid – but at what cost?
– Telegraph, Jan 23 2021
China’s economy grows, but at what cost? (vid)
– SCMP, Jan 27,2021
China Is Imposing Strict Lockdowns To Contain New COVID Outbreaks. But There’s A Cost
– NPR, Sep 2 2021
China keeps virus at bay but at what cost?
– Sioux City Journal, Sep 21 9 2021
China keeps virus at bay at high cost ahead of Olympics
– ABC News, Sep 21 2021
China celebrates Meng Wanzhou’s return as a victory — even at the cost of its global image ´
– CNN, Sep 28 2021
Clean Air at What Cost? The Rise of Blunt Force Regulation
– US China Dialogue, Oct 21 2021
China Rewriting Economic Narrative – But At What Cost?
– BMF, Oct 27 2021
China’s ‘Zero Covid’ Efforts Come With a Cost
– New York Times, Nov 12 2021
China is now controlling the weather. What’s the environmental cost?
– Euronews, Dec 9 2021
Ultra-leftist voices are making themselves heard in China, but at what cost?
– SCMP, Dec 24 2021

Yah. There’s also an obsessed foreign policy subset of “weak/declining” china …

I read a few articles on China’s high speed train system, and in the most recent the cost versus revenue was a worry/criticism, even though it would be easy to argue or at least discuss about positive externalities worthy of subsidies.

Similar cost related criticism was laid on the huge program to develop new gas fields in Eastern Siberia and connect them with pipelines to China. It seems to be true that the long term contracts signed with China when the natural gas prices were very depressed were not best possible, but since those projects have to be considered in 20-50 year time frame, it was silly even then. Now the concerns about profitability of delivering natural gas to China in the future look hilarious.

There is an objective aspect in some “cost/global” articles. China is dominating so many commodity markets that decisions impacting import and export of China have tremendous impact on importers and exporters alike.

Most glaring is the lack of “at what cost” questions concerning the West. EU delays approval of North Stream II, but at what cost? Technocrats decreased investments in fossil fuels in EU and reliance on so-called clean fuels, but at what cost?

Both are phenomenal.

Madam Baerbock speaks her mind, but at what cost? This girl sends markets to panic which is not a part of her job description.

Ukraine “decreases reliance on Russia”, but at what cost?

Some estimate that the resulting losses are many times larger than gains from “western orientation”, western commentators do not attempt any such calculations. Freedom is worth every price if someone else pays for it (USA likes when the cost is born by EU, and EU likes when Ukrainians hold the short end of the stick).

Some thoughts…

Now I know to read any title that contains ‘China’ and ‘at what cost’ because it threatens the cult of U.S. hegemony.

1. Articles about environment: After skimming these articles, I agree, the ‘at what cost’ was so inappropriate for the content, it does look like it was planted, ‘will they succeed’ would have been more natural for these articles. Air quality has previously been notoriously bad in China, ongoing efforts to improve it was a very good thing.

2. articles about AI: ‘threatened by U.S.’ would be most accurate or some suitable alternative. This group of headlines says that China is vulnerable in the chip area. There is a condescending tone because it says, ML (Machine Learning) is data sets and processing power, and not so much about innovation, this is true. But I would not discount China’s ability to innovate. In using AI to implement a police state, ‘at what cost’, is appropriate here, as it conjures up everyone’s worst fears, even for our own govt. Pointing out how ML can be abused by a govt is a good thing. But even better is pointing out how it has eliminated rapes, kidnapping, child abductions, and fraud by leaderships inside of China is a great thing.

3. I can see how ‘at what cost’ can be used for the other categories but agree that the repetitious use wreaks of information war.

Infographic

Global Times provides this excellent infographic aimed directly at BigLie media’s propaganda meme as it’s titled, “China’s commitment to the world in 2021.”

Number two…

Number three…

Number four…

I am “chomping at the bit” in anticipation to see the United States versions of these meme’s.

Here’s an article out of Laos…

‘The country that bombed you is your friend. The one that built your new railway is your enemy’

Major bridge across the Yuanjiang River along the China-Laos railway in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. Xinhua

Tom Fowdy / RT

This is the Western media’s bizarre messaging to the people of Laos, a nation that was carpet bombed by America, and which is now being vilified for accepting a new $6 billion railway line paid for by China.

Thursday was National Day in Laos, a celebration marking 46 years since the landlocked Southeast Asian nation deposed its monarchy and became a revolutionary communist state, an effort which was supported by Vietnam.

This year, the anniversary had added significance, as it saw the opening of a major new project, an electrified high-speed and freight railway system connecting the capital city, Vientiane with its northern neighbour, China.

The $6 billion project is part of the Belt and Road Initiative, and has been hailed as one of its flagship achievements. It is the first commercial and industrial railway in Laos, which, given its geography and the fact it is surrounded by mountainous terrain, has not previously had many options to expand its exports and generate economic growth.

Now, though, it has a direct rapid link into the world’s second largest economy and the world’s largest consumer market by population, and a connection to the booming ports of Guangdong. In terms of what it will bring to Laos, it is a game changer. So, what’s not to like about it?

To nobody’s surprise, the mainstream media have responded to the railway with the usual anti-China negativity. A plethora of articles sought to paint the project as a ‘debt trap’, promoting the accusation that Beijing loans countries money for projects they cannot afford and then exerts political leverage over it.

The Financial Times, for one, ran with a cynical article headlined ‘Laos to open Chinese-built railway amid fears of Beijing’s influence’. It implied that somehow Laos feels threatened or fears the construction of this very pioneering railway project (which the country’s own leader made sure he was the first to travel on). This suggestion of ‘fears of Chinese influence’ has become a common feature on such stories, which seek to cast doubt over anything positive China may be achieving or doing.

A common Twitter meme among pro-China users which has followed from stories like this asks: “but at what cost?” highlighting the frequency of such negative coverage.

And if you Google “China, but at what cost?” you can find a great many examples of articles published in major outlets. In producing such pieces, the broader intention is to depict Beijing’s actions as unwanted, threatening and constantly facing opposition. In the case of the Laos railway project, the ‘problem’ is it was financed by debt, and therefore it is not a positive step.

Yet this argument is as insulting as it is outright insensitive to Laos’ contemporary history. Anyone who knows anything about Laos’ relatively recent past will be well aware that China is not the country to fear, but the United States – the nation that dropped over 260 million cluster bombs on Laos and completely devastated the country as an extension of the Vietnam War, making it the most single bombed nation in history and claiming over 50,000 lives.

Many of these bombs remain unexploded and litter the countryside of Laos, continuing to kill civilians. In constructing the new railway, workers first had to clear the unexploded ordnance. How is it that the world and the mainstream media remain indifferent to this atrocity? And how, by any stretch of the imagination, can they claim that China is the true threat to Laos, and that the US and its allies act in the true interests of the country?

Herein lies the problem. Such a mindset symbolizes the elitism, chauvinism and self-righteousness of the countries of the West, which are ideologically inclined to believe that they stand for the ‘true interests’ of the ordinary people in the countries they profess to liberate.

Western politics peddles the assumption that through countries’ adherence to liberal democracy, they exclusively hold a single, universal, impartial and moralistic truth, derived from the ontological legacy of Christianity, and they have an obligation to introduce it to others. The West always acts truthfully and in good faith, while its enemies do not. And therefore, so the logic goes, any policy the US or its allies direct towards Laos is motivated by sincere intent and goodwill for its interests, and in turn, anything that China does is bad-faith, expansionist and power-hungry behaviour motivated by a desire to influence or control the country.

This creates the bizarre scenario whereby Beijing is depicted as evil and sinister for building a railway to connect to its neighbour – but we should forget America dropping millions of bombs on the country because it was done in the name of ‘freedom’. I’m sure you can imagine how the media would react if China did the latter.

Those who push this narrative predictably omit any insight into how Laos itself thinks about the situation. Another piece which took a similar stance, published in The Diplomat, was titled ‘Laos-China Railway inaugurated amid mounting debt concerns’.

But like the ‘fears of Beijing influence’ expressed in the FT, who are these ‘concerns’ from? The report cites the “Washington-based Center for Global Development” and what it merely describes as a “US based analyst” as sources who push the ‘debt trap’ narrative. But nowhere in any of these articles is there an actual voice direct from Laos who raises any fear of China, or objects to the railway’s existence.

Instead, they simply talk on the country’s behalf, obscuring the reality that a communist state which suffered from extreme levels of aggression from the US probably does not see its northern neighbour – and its most important economic partner – as a threat to its regime. With many more articles running variations of the same theme, there is minimal effort given to the consideration that the railway will help the country rapidly expand its exports, sustain greater growth and help Laos pay for the project.

The Laos-China railway has provided a textbook example of how the media can distort a story in order to fortify an incriminating narrative, while brushing aside brutal realities. We are shown a lopsided world, where the travesty of a country being bombed into oblivion with consequences lasting decades is ignored, and the preference is to try to convince us how that same country’s first commercial railway line is, in fact, what it should really be scared of.

It is a demonstration of how the power of the English-language, pro-US media distorts reality itself and how they can blow up an issue, yet hide the truth, by professing to care dearly about the wellbeing and interests of a country which the West poured death, destruction and carnage upon in the name of freedom.

Here’s an article out of Cambodia…

Cambodia-US Relations: Cambodia is not the enemy of the US

Two U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52D Stratofortress bombers over Cambodia, 1970. Original description: “Aerial bombing of Cambodia: Operation Menu”. Wikipedia

America believes that Cambodia is China’s vassal state. And it does everything to solidify that belief. At the end, they justify their sanctions against Cambodia for being too friendly with China whom the US considers as the “malign actor” and “revisionist state” to the hegemonic order with the US at the top.

But then how much is called overdependent? How much sanction is considered enough against the alleged malign actor?

Americans warn Cambodians to beware of lucrative interactions with China. But Cambodia’s trade and investment with China is less than 10% of the whole of Southeast Asia. Statistically speaking, countries that are close with the US such as Singapore and Vietnam are in fact the highest beneficiaries from trade and investments with China.

Media that are anti-China can lie about Cambodia’s overdependence on China but numbers don’t lie. Impartial academics should look into those number by themselves and make comparison to the whole region to verify and question their established prejudice. The so-called independent minds should not become the trash collectors of all bad press about Cambodia with many hyperlinks to the anti-Cambodia puppet media and organizations.

Cambodia is currently the most sanctioned country in Southeast Asia, even more than the military junta in Myanmar, and the fact is that there is no sanction at all against communist Vietnam, who has no freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of expression. What does anyone say to these? None at all.

What does democracy mean to America when Cambodia is being treated this way by the American government and congress on the aspect of democracy and human rights?

Cambodia is among the few countries in Southeast Asia that has regular multi-parties election.

Cambodia is among the few countries where press, both domestic and foreign, operate freely, and some of the US’ affiliates like the Voice of America, the Voice of Democracy, and Radio Free Asia, bombards daily with verbal diarrhea against Cambodia as if Cambodian people are living in hell. Nothing can be seen positive from the point of view. And they still say that Cambodia has no freedom of expression.

Facebook operates freely in Cambodia. Internet freedom is among the fullest compared to countries in the region. Cambodian people are addicted to Facebook freedom. They really enjoy it. So long as they don’t defame, libel, slander, promote uprising, treason and the toppling of government, they are free to say anything.

Cambodia is hosting more than 5,000 civil society organisations but human right groups in Cambodia, funded by foreign governments, still has liberty to say that Cambodia lacks freedom of association as compared to Viet Nam which has only one state union. In the US, these organisations would have been banned or classified as “foreign agents”. According to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), passed in 1938, it is required that agents representing the interests of foreign powers in a “political or quasi-political capacity” disclose their relationship with the foreign government and information about related activities and finances.

But such kind of civil society organisations in Cambodia are hiding behind protection of their foreign embassies crying foul that Cambodia’s Law on NGO (LANGO) is too restrictive because they simply cannot disclose their finance and activities that are fundamentally foreign-owned, foreign-initiated and foreign-led.

What does America want from Cambodia? Does it want Cambodia to become the enemy of China and to fight China on America’s behalf? Where does Cambodia’s national interest stand in supporting the US and in making China its enemy? Where is the right to self-determination of Cambodia that the US often says that it respects fully? Does the US want Cambodia to commit suicide to express its sincerity in wanting friendship with the US?

Cambodia is considered as “gold-standard” in terms of cooperation with the US in area such as POW/MIA. Cambodia even accepted 300 Afghan refugees when only a few countries in the region are willing to do so.

But what does Cambodia receive in return? The US cut off scholarship for military students who are already in the US. The US imposed visa sanctions against high-ranking officials in the whole Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

They are sanctioning the very individuals that act as the main bridge of friendship and relations between Cambodia and the US.

This is too cruel a treatment from a friend. The US is treating Cambodia like an enemy.

While the US says that it stands with Cambodian people for its independence and march towards stable and peaceful democracy, Cambodia is in fact one of the most sanctioned countries in Southeast Asia, even worst than the so-called US enemies.

People might probably say sometimes, frankness is needed among sincere friends. But a friend should not express solidarity through piles of sanctions like what the US is doing towards Cambodia right now.

How could a friend be so cruel to treat another friend that way? What does friendship mean for the American government and congressmen?

Is this the best treatment that the American government can afford to Cambodia, which is the last beacon of hope of democracy in the Mekong region? Which country in the Mekong region that fares better than Cambodia in terms of democracy and human rights?

Cambodian people like America; they like American democracy; they aspire to have American democracy.

It is totally unfair for Cambodia that it needs to sacrifice its national interest to befriend with the US. Why is it so hard to befriend with the US?

The US should reconsider its relations with Cambodia from the heart, not from the brain of geopolitical strategy. The brightest brain like Henry Kissinger that was behind the dropping of millions of bombs on Cambodian people is not a friend of Cambodia. He is nothing but a war criminal. He should not be the one to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. What does peace prize mean for an individual that was behind the killings of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian people?

Which US congressman and policy-maker want to become the next Henry Kissinger, the war criminal that won a Nobel Peace Prize?

An American B-52 aircraft is not smart to distinguish between the Viet Cong and Cambodian civilians. The fact is that they killed more civilians than the Viet Cong that the US considered as US’ enemies.

There is no better definition than “war crime” and “crime against humanity” considering the US’ acts against Cambodia during the 1970s. America should never forget that. American government, American people, American policy-makers, American congressmen should never forget that. America should remember their atrocity against Cambodian people during the 1970s. Cambodian civilians and government are not US’ enemy.

And another article…

China’s Belt and Road rail services booming despite Covid-19

A train carrying 33 refrigerated containers departs from the Tengjun International Land Port in Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, for Laos. Xinhua

Beijing has inked more than 200 cooperation documents for the joint construction of the Belt and Road with 145 countries and 32 international organizations

Xinhua – Though the world remains haunted by the still ravaging COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2021, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has seen a boom in promoting world connectivity.

Under the BRI framework, railway construction is expanding across the global landscape. The iconic China-Europe Railway Express, the China-Laos railway and the railway line in Tanzania have all recorded milestone achievements over the past year.

These important railway projects provide important pillars for the BRI, and also contribute their due share to improving the global supply chain and the COVID-19 fight.

LINE OF HEALTH AND GIFTS

During days just before Christmas, when people in Western countries are worrying that they may not be able to receive their Christmas gifts on time due to clogged shipping lanes, China-Europe trains from different regions were sending products to Europe without delay.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of China-Europe freight trains. By the end of October, the China-Europe freight trains plying along 73 routes have reached 175 cities in 23 European countries with more than 50,000 kinds of goods.

Amid the pandemic, the number of China-Europe express trains as well as the volume of freight have continued to break new records.

Data from China’s National Development and Reform Commission shows that during the January-November period, the railway service linking the two sides operated 13,817 trains, carrying 1.332 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), an increase of 23 percent and 30 percent respectively compared with the year 2020.

At the end of November, the cumulative number of anti-epidemic equipment transported by the China-Europe freight trains reached 13.43 million pieces and 103,000 tons.

“China is very important for the global supply chain. And in most cases it’s faster (than the ocean shipping). Therefore, it’s a useful alternative to use the train, and it’s reliable,” said Axel Mattern, joint chief executive officer of Port of Hamburg Marketing.

According to global logistics company MEDILINK, the initial freight rate of the China-Europe rail network is often two-thirds higher than that of sea freight, but the current price is very competitive.

The current freight rates of the China-Europe freight trains are basically the same as those of sea freight, but it only takes nearly half the time, said Logistics industry insiders.

KEY FOR TRANS-ASIAN CONNECTIVITY

On Dec. 3, the China-Laos Railway officially started operation. It marks a crucial step for the trans-Asian railway network, which has been brewing for more than half a century. Since then, the journey from Vientiane to the border with China has been reduced from 2 days to 3 hours, and the journey to Kunming, capital of China’s Yunnan Province, can be made in a day.

“The China-Laos railway is conducive to promoting the development of areas that are located along the line. Countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion, including Thailand, Laos and China, will benefit from trade, agricultural products, consumer products, investment and tourism,” said Pichet Kunadhamraks, deputy director-general of the Department of Rail Transport under the Thai Ministry of Transport, in an interview with Xinhua.

The railway is expected to reduce transport costs between Vientiane and Kunming by 40 to 50 percent, said a World Bank report, noting transport costs from Thailand’s Laem Chabang port to Kunming are expected to fall by at least 32 percent.

It is estimated that by 2030, the annual volume of commercial goods in transit through the Laos section of the China-Laos Railway will reach 3.9 million tons, it added.

This year coincides with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations, and the two sides are advancing the BRI and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025.

On Jan. 1, 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will officially enter into force. Experts believe that the BRI will lead to the construction of the trans-Asian rail network and promote regional connectivity.

ROAD OF DEVELOPMENT

In mid-June this year, a ceremony was held to launch the Ithaca-Mwanza section of the Standard Gauge Railway of Tanzania’s Central Line, the construction of which is undertaken by a Chinese company.

After the completion of this project, it will become an important route connecting Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and other countries, providing a pathway to the Indian Ocean. It is of great importance for promoting the economic development of the countries in the region and improving the living conditions of the people.

From the Tanzania-Zambia railway built in the 1970s, to the Djibouti-Ethiopia and Mombasa-Nairobi railways, and the Standard Gauge Railway of Tanzania’s Central Line, the joint efforts of China and Africa have created jobs, trade opportunities and a better investment environment, thereby contributing to local prosperity as well as to the improvement of the living conditions of the local residents.

As of Dec. 16, China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents for the joint construction of the Belt and Road with 145 countries and 32 international organizations, and financial institutions such as China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Silk Road Fund have expanded financing channels for infrastructure construction.

According to Bambang Suryono, chairman of Indonesian think tank Asia Innovation Study Center, for many countries, a major obstacle to escape poverty is the weakness of transport infrastructure, and in this regard, China’s success can set an example.

Conclusion

When you measure everything against the cost structure imposed by western capitalism, everything China does inevitably looks costly.

Totally absent from the analysis is the question of benefits.

The west thinks only of profits. China thinks of the benefits not only to China and the Chinese people, but to the countries and peoples with whom they do business.

The West = Personal Profit
China = Benefits for Groups of People

The long term superiority of such a strategy is blindingly obvious to any open minded observer. It’s the reason why China and Russia will eventually pass through this contentious period of change, and prevail in a new better world.

Many other nations see this, and they do remember how the United States treated / treats them. When the shit hits the fan, and it will, the United States will be broke, penniless, scorned and friendless.

No matter how you spin it, it will not a good situation to be in.

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What if the largest experiment on human beings in history is a failure?

I have been directed to post this article.

I usually have tried to refrain from injections and Vaxx subjects, but this one is special. And during a Q&A with the Domain, yet to be published, I was instructed to send this out.

Here is the entire segment from the Q&A…

"Already systems are in place to suppress the desire to generate a major conflict against China. 

Within a year or two, a conflict will be the last thing in the minds of the United States leadership. 

Everyone will notice that something is amiss by the end of this year (2022), and it will be quite obvious by the end of the next (2023). 

Most sensible humans would come to the conclusion that a war would be ill advised. 

You will write about it tomorrow."

Here is the article. Complete.

What if the largest experiment on human beings in history is a failure?

Robert W Malone MD, MS

A seasoned stock analyst colleague texted me a link today, and when I clicked it open, I could hardly believe what I was reading. What a headline. “Indiana life insurance CEO says deaths are up 40% among people ages 18-64”. This headline is a nuclear truth bomb masquerading as an insurance agent’s dry manila envelope full of actuarial tables.

People frequently write to Jill and myself. People we have never met. They call, they arrive at the farm by appointment or unannounced, they fill our email in boxes with their inquiries. They all want something; time, attention, an interview. Many want to tell us about their fear, illness, nightmares, or (what often seems like) outright paranoid conspiracies. And then, over time, these fears and “conspiracies” keep getting confirmed. As Jan Jekielek (a senior editor with The Epoch Times) recently said to me, it is getting harder and harder to tell which ones are mere conspiracy theories and which are true reality.

One farm visitor told me of his foreshadowing massive numbers of deaths within three years consequent to the genetic vaccines, and that this was all about the “Great Reset” and the depopulation agenda of the World Economic Forum (WEF). I tried to reassure him that, in my opinion, this was highly unlikely- while privately thinking about how easily people fall into this type of conspiracy ideation, and how I need to be careful to avoid going there when confronting so many public health decisions that appear either incompetent or nefarious.

At the time, I only knew of the WEF as the host of a big annual party in Davos Switzerland where the uber rich and the hoi oligoi of the Western nations went to watch Ted talks, drink the best wine, see and be seen. Silly me. What a long, strange trip this has been. I doubt that even Hunter S. Thompson could have imagined it in his most drug and booze addled state. Suffice to say, I nominate Ralph Steadman as official illustrator of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Or a resurrected Hieronymus Bosch.

But I am wandering from a point that I am afraid to clearly state…

Uh oh

It is starting to look to me like the largest experiment on human beings in recorded history has failed.

And, if this rather dry report from a senior Indiana life insurance executive holds true, then Reiner Fuellmich’s “Crimes against Humanity” push for convening new Nuremberg trials starts to look a lot less quixotic and a lot more prophetic.

Here is what lit me up in this report from The Center Square contributor Margaret Menge.

“The head of Indianapolis-based insurance company OneAmerica said the death rate is up a stunning 40% from pre-pandemic levels among working-age people.

“We are seeing, right now, the highest death rates we have seen in the history of this business – not just at OneAmerica,” the company’s CEO Scott Davison said during an online news conference this week. “The data is consistent across every player in that business.”

OneAmerica is a $100 billion insurance company that has had its headquarters in Indianapolis since 1877. The company has approximately 2,400 employees and sells life insurance, including group life insurance to employers in the state.

Davison said the increase in deaths represents “huge, huge numbers,” and that’s it’s not elderly people who are dying, but “primarily working-age people 18 to 64” who are the employees of companies that have group life insurance plans through OneAmerica.

“And what we saw just in third quarter, we’re seeing it continue into fourth quarter, is that death rates are up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic,” he said.

“Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a one-in-200-year catastrophe would be 10% increase over pre-pandemic,” he said. “So 40% is just unheard of.””

So, what is driving this unprecedented surge in all-cause mortality?

“Most of the claims for deaths being filed are not classified as COVID-19 deaths,

“What the data is showing to us is that the deaths that are being reported as COVID deaths greatly understate the actual death losses among working-age people from the pandemic. It may not all be COVID on their death certificate, but deaths are up just huge, huge numbers.””

Take a moment to read the entire article. Now. Then let’s continue on, assuming that you have.

About the article

AT A MINIMUM, based on my reading, one has to conclude that if this report holds and is confirmed by others in the dry world of life insurance actuaries, we have both a huge human tragedy and a profound public policy failure of the US Government and US HHS system to serve and protect the citizens that pay for this “service”.

IF this holds true, then the genetic mRNC vaccines so aggressively promoted have failed, and the clear federal campaign to prevent early treatment with lifesaving drugs has contributed to a massive, avoidable loss of life.

AT WORST, this report implies that the federal workplace vaccine mandates have driven what appear to be a true crime against humanity. Massive loss of life in (presumably) workers that have been forced to accept a toxic vaccine at higher frequency relative to the general population of Indiana.

The problem is the mRNA vaccines themselves

FURTHERMORE, we have also been living through the most massive, globally coordinated propaganda and censorship campaign in the history of the human race. All major mass media and the social media technology companies have coordinated to stifle and suppress any discussion of the risks of the genetic mRNA vaccines AND/OR alternative early treatments.

IF this report holds true, there must be accountability. We are not just talking about running over the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States and grinding it into the mud with an army of artificial intelligence-powered heavy infantry.

This article reads like a dry description of an avoidable mass casualty event caused by a mandated experimental medical procedure. One for which all opportunities for the victims to have become self-informed about the potential risks have been methodically erased from both the internet and public awareness by an international corrupt cabal operating under the flag of the “Trusted News Initiative”.

George Orwell must be spinning in his grave.

MM Thoughts

I posted it as told.

It appears to indicate something odd is going on inside of the United States, and since the media is completely controlled by the government, no one really knows what is going on. However, if you look elsewhere there seems to be some alarming trends.

Taking the fact that I was told to post this article, and it was used in conjunction with a discussion of a situation that would dissuade the United States government from getting involved in a war with China, I think that it is significant.

The author is confirming that the actuarial tables (associated with Life Insurance policies) are clearly showing an unheard of association between an increase in deaths and the mRNA vaccines. There is apparently a direct correlation between the two.

Further, he accuses the media, the government and big business of a massive conspiracy. Whether it is part of some kind of depopulation agenda, a profit-motive, or just being malevolent, is not stated.

He suggests rallying up and demanding “Rights” and “accountability” fully oblivious that the United States is a Military empire and he is living in a Police State where he has no voice, no control, no power and no future.

Obviously the United States is a toxic place. But I wasn’t aware that it was this toxic. A 40% increase in a death rate is very concerning.

It’s a stealth SHTF event.

Obviously, if these trends continue or get worse, then the Deagel report will be vindicated, and there will not be enough people left alive in the United States to wage a war against China, let alone run the country.

Frightening stuff.

Special Considerations

There are MANY MM readers that might be shell-shocked from this information. I want to tell you all NOT TO WORRY. From what I understand, the human body adapts to the mRNA changes. You (if you have had an mRNA injection) will need to adapt to prevent what is apparently a potential bad series of side effects.

I do not understand it, but your body will require more oxygenation to prevent any adverse side effects.

This can be obtained via vitamin supplements, more exercise, walks outside in nature, and a reduction in super-processed food like sugary breakfast cereals, deep fried pig skins, and a reduction in fast food to perhaps once a week instead of five times a week.

It has been clearly relayed that once you obtain the mRNA injection, your body needs oxygenation at a greater level than what we all have come to live with. So you must alter your lifestyle with some vitamins, walks and a reduction in super-processed food intakes.

The article above suggests that people who do not alter their lifestyle behaviors towards more oxygenation, will start to see some health complications.

PissedLizard Comments

From an email communication... -MM

Absolutely. I am very familiar with Dr. Malone and the article referenced. I know what I am going to write goes against the narrative, but literally pick up a high school biology book and it’s right there.

…

The mRNA is from stem cells derived from fetal tissue.

So you are taking another human beings mRNA, mixing it with others, THEN running it thru CRISPR – which tells the mRNA in the vax to make spike proteins.

The thought is that if you naturally make the spike protein that Corona has, you will always have be able to produce anti- antibodies to the spike protein.

Sounds good in theory but you aren’t supposed to make virus spike protein. Although the HUMAN mRNA is programmed to make spike proteins – it could be programmed for anything – and that’s the boosters – but the spike proteins are getting thrown everywhere. They are sticking to the inside of the heart and irritating the blood supply of the middle “muscle” layer of the heart (myocarditis).

This is messed up. It has been from day 1. And for them – all blame goes to Trump. It’s “his vaccine”.

mRNA translates instructions from the nucleus to make a protein – which is basically almost every thing in you.

And all of these miscarriages and sterilizations – yeah. Of course… it’s fucking FETAL TISSUE. Of course mon is going to react. It usually isn’t overt but when you have billions getting the shots – as you see in other articles elsewhere – deaths in the USA up 40 – 60 percent and all non Covid. This shit is designed to kill.

And don’t be fooled about the sinovax either – follow that money for yourself to see EXACTLY what this shit is.

I hope this helps! If not or any other questions – let me know.

The spike proteins get lodged in capillary beds – that’s probably the “get oxygenated” thing though.

Final MM comments

Everyone in China is taking the “dead-host” vaccine. MM myself have taken two injections and am scheduled for a booster late February.

I have altered my lifestyle to accommodate.

I have severely cut down on my super-processed foods. I am trying (not quite as successfully as I would like) for more outside fresh air and exercise. And taking a daily vitamin supplement. The impression that I have is that this would be enough to compensate for any ill-adaptations as a result of the injections.

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What to do when it seems that your affirmation prayers are shooting blanks

This article is very important. I get a lot of comments from people who run an affirmation campaign, or two, and are surprised that nothing seems to be happening. They wonder what they are doing wrong. And it is very upsetting to them. So what I want to do here is explain a couple of things to put everything into perspective and to set the proper systems in place and corrective actions for those desirous of it.

So what happens? You are running two, three maybe ten campaigns of prayers. You are following the directions and the format exactly. You are doing everything that you are supposed to be doing, but still it doesn’t seem like you are getting anywhere. What is going on?

Introduction

It all began with this email that I got the other day…

I’m not sure if i should write you this like this or if i should put it in the comment section. The thing is this. It feels my prayers aren’t being answered or even getting closer to being answered. That’s the short version. Lol.

That’s pretty straightforward and clear.

The longer story is this: I started praying your way with some slight modifications in the wording in September 2020.

So you have been running affirmation campaigns for just over one year and you are not seeing any results.

One year is a extremely short span of time to expect results.

My rule of thumb is for every combined cluster of six months of affirmations, you see results in three years.

Depending, of course, on your situation, and the complexity and difficulty of your desires.

So lets’ s suppose you ran a total of eight weeks of prayers in campaigns. That equals a total of two months. My rule of thumb would then place your targeted goals out at about nine years from now.

Here’s my handly-dandy goal manifestation estimation table…

Of course, the personal situation and all things considered can mitigate these projected target dates. As well as how you do them, and all the rest. It’s just a guide that varies from person to person.

Now, the astute observer would notice something VERY interesting about this table above.

Let’s look at it again…

So what gives?

It doesn’t seem like it is worth it. An extra six months sooner for doubling the amount of prayers doesn’t seem to make sense. It’s a lot of extra work for just a slight decrease in the wait time.

Ah. But the point here is that you should all be having multiple affirmations in your campaigns. Not just one singular goal.

The more different affirmations the crunchier and compressed your manifestation dwell time.

Or to put it another way, you WANT to have more and varied descriptions of your goals, not less. And these extra prayers adds complexity that adds depth and breadth to your resultant objectives and colors to the results.

So in short. Don’t be impatient. Run your campaigns. Follow the formula, and know that they will manifest.

Let’s continue with the email contents…

The modifications i did are to pay respect to God. Being a Catholic. The way i say my prayers are still in a present tense and positive way.

There’s no problem with that. You do have to be care in one aspect of prayers, however. You CANNOT say…

God please grant me permission to have XXXXX…

Absolutely not.

You must say thing specifically in this manner…

I have XXXXX.

It is very important that you say things in a [1] positive, [2] present, [3] perfect [4] tense sentence structure.

I started by doing one month on and one month off. During the first pause a lot of things got worse. Just like you said. 

I figured, no worries just keep it up. 

After the second pause things got worse but some things also showed signs of improving. And because it seemed my prayers were being answered i decided to keep my prayers more or less the same.

Yes. You are correct. This is the way it works.

I specifically decided not to get greedy and ask for huge things or whatever. 

I felt grateful and just wanted the rest of my prayers to be answered. 

Now as you yourself know even better some prayers aren’t answered but you are given opportunities to do some things yourself to get to what you want.

Yes, this is how it works. No problem here.

Well up until my fourth pause , which was in april 2021 , things seemed to go that way. 

After that it just seems like my prayers are being blocked or stay just out of reach.

This indicates an issue. Some potential issues or causes, the top culprit being…

Conflicting affirmations (given your current situation). You would be amazed how certain words or phrases can completely derail your affirmations.

Other issues / contributors that are commonly encountered include…

Timing
Curses
Handicaps
Pre-birth world-line Templates
Expectations
Negative partner
Bombarded by electromagnetic radiation
Inauspicious fate

In the meantime some prayers were answered but still. 

One of my main prayers. Which is owning my own house seems to come in reach and then gets taken away just as quickly. 

Almost as if something out there doesn't like me.

This is a common enough experience, and I do know what is EXACTLY going on here in this particular issue.

It might seem like there is a barrier, and maybe there is. But I am willing to guess that there is a conflict in your affirmations. How?

Let me illustrate with two simple affirmations in a singular campaign.

I and my family are happy, safe and secure.
We own a nice house.

Then as time moves on, opportunities for a house appear. and you are just about ready to get the house deal, but then it falls through. So you try again. Same neighborhood. Again it falls through. So you see something at another part of the city, and still it falls through.

Chances are that sure… you might be able to buy the house. BUT… you will never be allowed to because if you lived in any of those houses you and your family will not be happy, safe and secure. You see, you have to turn off your mind from things cause and effect.

You need to start thinking fourth dimensional and asking for guidance. I would thus add these affirmations…

I am given direction and nudges that tell me which affirmations to change or alter so that I would be happy and healthy as would be my family as well.
They will provide me insight and feedback as to how successful my affirmation campaigns are working.

With this, you would obtain feedback loops and nudges as to how to direct your affirmation campaigns.

The same thing happened with some other prayers. 

Now there are a couple of things i noticed since April 2021 and i hope these things sound familiar to you. - Some things show up during the pause phase, but the also disappear during the same pause phase. - Those disappearing things drifting back into my life when i start praying again.

What is going on is that the supporting underlying structures are not fully mature for the affirmations to manifest.

Think of an individual affirmation as a hearty meat and potato stew. If you don’t allow the time for the stew to cook, it will be watery, trivial, and plain. You have to let it cook for hours to allow the potatoes to soften, and the meat to tenderize and the broth to form.

This has happened with me, OMG! Time and time again.

Like when I wanted a nice Cadillac automobile. And it manifested. And then six months later the Air Conditioning died, and I was living in Arkansas where it was hot and humid and I was sweltering in my nice car with no Air Conditioning. But to repair the A/C cost $8000 USD. Ugh!

What I said was…

I own a nice big impressive roomy executive automobile.

When what I should of said was something different. Early on, I noticed that when I put special “but” affirmations in my campaigns they would stop those mistakes from happening.

You OBVIOUSLY have a few “but” affirmations that are causing things not to manifest.

So what is going on here?

As I see it there are two things that are plainly going on…

You are not letting the affirmation campaigns cook. You want your goals NOW, and not in two years when you are fully ready for them.
There are some “but” affirmations that are preventing certain manifestations from happening.

This let me to think about shortening my pause phases.

No. No. No. You want to lengthen the pause phases. Not shorten them. Never shorten them.

Also because you wrote about how one can have shorter pauses. You wrote this in an older article. 

All though you never wrote why that can be done i figured this might be what i needed to do based on how things went the last year. So i decided to pray for six weeks starting in November and then resting for the rest of December. Which would be about 3 weeks.

You can have shorter pauses, but it is ill advised.

Think of the stew. Sure you can have a quick bowl of stew early on. But it will not be as tasty as one fully cooked. It’s like a pizza. Sure you can take the pizza out early, but the cheese won’t be melted, and the crust will be soft and wet.

And then on December 1 you put out your article in which you say that you can actually EXTEND your pause phase. Which now has me wondering even more on what to do. Shorten my pause or extend it?

Extend the pause phase. When in doubt or questions, always extend the wait time.

MM comments…

No worries. A lot here to unpack.

I am going to put your questions up to the Domain Commander later. But in the meantime, I am going to try to answer about prayer.

Your frustration is a common one, and I know EXACTLY what you are talking about.

First, the Catholic answer… God doesn’t grant every prayer. It’s pretty lame, I know. And it’s a point of contention that I have always had with the Catholic church and the Christian religion. But it’s not really true…

Now, the MM answer…

I have over four decades of affirmation prayers. I can tell you that I had a similar situation with a similar prayer.

"I own a house in Zhuhai".

Here’s a map of Zhuhai…

And for YEARS nothing happened. Meanwhile, you know, I’m living life, and believing that my wishes and goals will manifest. Life took over, and…

[1]

I got a job in Zhuhai. Yeah, my salary was cut, and then cut again, and then cut again. But I was living in Zhuhai. I was renting a house of the beach, and it was lovely, though very wet.

I was living inside of Zhuhai. I rented a house on the beach in Zhuhai, but I did not OWN a house in Zhuhai.

Life continues. I still kept that prayer in my affirmations.

[2]

Now, my daughter is born. I need to plan for her future, and in China that means that I have to establish a home town for her.

By default, that is my wife’s home town which was Wenzhou.

So we went forth to change it to Zhuhai household resister, medical insurance, and residency. A lot of work, but all the doors opened.

Difficult. Yes. Time consuming Yes.

But eventually she (and my wife) obtained Zhuhai residence. This is true, but we were still renting a house inside of Zhuhai. Not owning one, and the housing prices were prohibitively expensive.

Still, I kept this in my prayers.

[3]

Well, a new complex of houses were being constructed just outside of Zhuhai, and the prices for the new houses is a fraction of the prices inside of Zhuhai. .

Though only a few meters separated the homes from Zhuhai city lines. You cross the street and you are in a different administration center.

So we saw a nice reasonably big house, new, nice location, and bought it.

Price was about 1/6 that of a Zhuhai house.

The Zhuhai bus lines starts at my new house and goes deep throughout the city. The only thing is that my home physically lies just outside of the border.

Still never the less, I kept up my prayers.

[4]

Well, Zhuhai is growing. A new High Speed Train line is coming in very close to my new house. And this line will be a direct line between the mega-cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Good news. But my house is still outside of the city limits.

Still I kept up with my prayers.

[5]

Now discussions are underway to change the Zhuhai borders, and extend it outside and past where I live. Thus, making all of us living inside of Zhuhai city proper.

I await the rezoning effort, and then when that happens, I will remove that affirmation from my list.

Have patience.

Have faith. You are doing the right things.

Personal issues

The house is in the same geographical area. We can take the bus and go anywhere we normally go. It’s only that the administration is of a different community, the taxes and prices are different. That’s it. So in essence we have almost what we want, however, it is not EXACTLY what we want.

By keeping the affirmations in place, I can tell you all from experience that the desires, goals and dreams will absolutely manifest. You all just must be patient.

So please be patient. They always manifest. I have some of the most outlandish desires COME TRUE. Things that you would say “never in a million years” happen, but they did. So believe me. Follow the techniques and NEVER ever forget and do not doubt yourself.

Other issues

Now, for about 95% of the people the reasons why something is not manifesting is that you need to give things time. But there are other influences that can affect your affirmations as well.

Sigh.

There are numerous issues that could factor into why things seem to be taking a long time to manifest. I am going to break down some of the major event killers here. These are not every influence that might slow things down or cause you trouble, but they are all things that you need to pay attention to.

Here’s the list…

Timing
Curses
Handicaps
Templates
Expectations
Negative partner
Bombarded by electromagnetic radiation
Inauspicious fate
Conflicting affirmations

Timing

As I have stated.You are on a template, whether it is a pre-birth world-line template or a slide, but that template might have your goals further way or on “mountains” that will take some effort to get to. Do not lose hope.

Just keep plugging on and on and on. Then make sure that you have good long rest periods. And during those periods absolutely NO AFFIRMATIONS. Don’t even think about them. Let them “cook” and manifest. If you are thinking about your affirmations during the wait / pause time, you are doing things wrong.

Curses

Some people will put a curse on you. There are many, many, MANY people that do this. Not just intentionally, but inadvertently.

These curses need to be dealt with in your affirmations.

So in order to minimize the effects of curses, you need to add curse negation affirmations to your campaigns.

I purposely avoid negative, dangerous, bad, or problematic reality world-lines to achieve my goals.
I have broken apart any barriers to controlling my reality. These are barriers that are either self-created, or those created by others.
I define my reality, and undo any contrary spells, magick or alterations imposed upon me, or the reality around me by anyone or anything.
I block and shut out all negative, de-constructive, and dangerous thoughts from manifesting and altering my intentions listed herein.
These blocking protections extend to my family and include any malevolent efforts by anyone, or things against them.

Handicaps

You might have intentional problems that need to be resolved before certain affirmations can manifest. This is a big, huge subject and I have not even touched on it yet. What’s going on…?

Some people enter the physical realms in the General Population with a kind a handicap.

It’s an intentional set of chains, or restrictions and limitations that “handicaps” the person’s ability to live in the General Population MWI.

If you have such a handicap you need to contact your mantid directly and ask them to remove it and to give you insight why you have one in place and why. If you do not know how to communicate with your mantid, then you put the question in your affirmations.

I know what handicaps are inherent in my life.
I communicate with my mantids to remove or reduce any handicaps that I might have on me, my family, on on my goals.

My gut feeling is that maybe 20% to 25% of the population have a handicap of one type or the other imposed.

Templates

The template you are on might have some inherent faults, fissures or problems that will make obtaining your goals and dreams from manifesting. This is possible, but in my experience, it is not really all that common. It just manifests as long mountainous terrain.

You need to add affirmations that permit you to select the easiest paths towards your goals so as to avoid the mountainous terrain.

I always follow the path of least resistance to achieve my goals. In this way my life is smooth and calm, but also I do achieve my affirmation goals.

Expectations

Have realistic expectations. The best things take time. Do not be in such a rush. All will happen and all will occur.

Negative partner

The biggest influence on your life is your partner. They can enable you towards greatness or break you into nothing. If you partner is opposing you, you will need to keep your goals and dreams a secret. If they are still problematic, then you will need to change your partner.

Be realistic about your situation and your goals, dreams and desires. Be careful on what you are doing. Personal affirmations in an affirmation campaign are personal and are SECRET. Very few people, especially those close to you, should be isolated and kept away from your inner-most desires.

Bombarded by electromagnetic radiation

The USA and much of the West is bombarded by brain altering radiation used to manipulate. These things are very dangerous, but they also influence your affirmations. You need to center your consciousness, and you need to stay way from the “news”, especially the Western “news” as much as possible. It is toxic. Avoid it.

Inauspicious fate

As I have discussed in my “Fate Forecasting” Index, fate is tied to your entry point on the pre-birth world-line template and it is a physical gravity influence. You need to realize that when you are fated with inauspicious events, they will put a sever damper on your ability to manifest your goals, dreams and desires.

You will have to wait… still conducting your campaigns over and over again… until you pass through the inauspicious times. Then watch all your seeds sprout and bloom!

Conflicting Affirmations

As I discussed above. Make sure that your affirmations are working together and not in conflict with each other.

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Law 30 of the 48 Laws of Power; Make your accomplishments seem effortless

This is law 30 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work—it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

LAW 30

MAKE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS SEEM EFFORTLESS

JUDGMENT

KANO TANNYU. MASTER ARTIST

Date Masamune once sent for Tannyu to decorate a pair of gold screens seven feet high. The artist said he thought black-and-white sketches would suit them, and went home again after considering them carefully. The next morning he came early and made a large quantity of ink into which he dipped a horseshoe he had brought with him, and then proceeded to make impressions of this all over one of the screens. Then, with a large brush, he drew a number of lines across them. Meanwhile Masamune had come in to watch his work, and at this he could contain his irritation no longer, and muttering, “What a beastly mess!” he strode away to his own apartments. The retainers told Tannyu he was in a very bad temper indeed. “He shouldn’t look on while I am at work, then,” replied the painter, “he should wait till it is finished.” Then he took up a smaller brush and dashed in touches here and there, and as he did so the prints of the horse-shoe turned into crabs, while the big broad strokes became rushes. He then turned to the other screen and splashed drops of ink all over it, and when he had added a few brush-strokes here and there they became a flight of swallows over willow trees. When Masamune saw the finished work he was as overjoyed at the artist’s skill as he had previously been annoyed at the apparent mess he was making of the screens.

CHA-NO-YU: THE JAPANESE TEA CEREMONY A. L. SADLER, 1962

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I

The Japanese tea ceremony called Cha-no-yu (“Hot Water for Tea”) has origins in ancient times, but it reached its peak of refinement in the sixteenth century under its most renowned practitioner, Sen no Rikyu. Although not from a noble family, Rikyu rose to great power, becoming the preferred tea master of the Emperor Hideyoshi, and an important adviser on aesthetic and even political matters. For Rikyu, the secret of success consisted in appearing natural, concealing the effort behind one’s work.

One day Rikyu and his son went to an acquaintance’s house for a tea ceremony. On the way in, the son remarked that the lovely antique-looking gate at their host’s house gave it an evocatively lonely appearance. “I don’t think so,” replied his father, “it looks as though it had been brought from some mountain temple a long way off, and as if the labor required to import it must have cost a lot of money.” If the owner of the house had put this much effort into one gate, it would show in his tea ceremony—and indeed Sen no Rikyu had to leave the ceremony early, unable to endure the affectation and effort it inadvertently revealed.

On another evening, while having tea at a friend’s house, Rikyu saw his host go outside, hold up a lantern in the darkness, cut a lemon off a tree, and bring it in. This charmed Rikyu—the host needed a relish for the dish he was serving, and had spontaneously gone outside to get one. But when the man offered the lemon with some Osaka rice cake, Rikyu realized that he had planned the cutting of the lemon all along, to go with this expensive delicacy. The gesture no longer seemed spontaneous—it was a way for the host to prove his cleverness. He had accidentally revealed how hard he was trying. Having seen enough, Rikyu politely declined the cake, excused himself, and left.

Emperor Hideyoshi once planned to visit Rikyu for a tea ceremony. On the night before he was to come, snow began to fall. Thinking quickly, Rikyu laid round cushions that fit exactly on each of the stepping-stones that led through the garden to his house. Just before dawn, he rose, saw that it had stopped snowing, and carefully removed the cushions. When Hideyoshi arrived, he marveled at the simple beauty of the sight—the perfectly round stepping stones, unencumbered by snow—and noticed how it called no attention to the manner in which Rikyu had accomplished it, but only to the polite gesture itself.

After Sen no Rikyu died, his ideas had a profound influence on the practice of the tea ceremony. The Tokugawa shogun Yorinobu, son of the great Emperor Ieyasu, was a student of Rikyu’s teachings. In his garden he had a stone lantern made by a famous master, and Lord Sakai Tadakatsu asked if he could come by one day to see it. Yorinobu replied that he would be honored, and commanded his gardeners to put everything in order for the visit. These gardeners, unfamiliar with the precepts of Cha-no-yu, thought the stone lantern misshapen, its windows being too small for the present taste. They had a local workman enlarge the windows. A few days before Lord Sakai’s visit, Yorinobu toured the garden. When he saw the altered windows he exploded with rage, ready to impale on his sword the fool who had ruined the lantern, upsetting its natural grace and destroying the whole purpose of Lord Sakai’s visit.

When Yorinobu calmed down, however, he remembered that he had originally bought two of the lanterns, and that the second was in his garden on the island of Kishu. At great expense, he hired a whale boat and the finest rowers he could find, ordering them to bring the lantern to him within two days—a difficult feat at best. But the sailors rowed day and night, and with the luck of a good wind they arrived just in time. To Yorinobu’s delight, this stone lantern was more magnificent than the first, for it had stood untouched for twenty years in a bamboo thicket, acquiring a brilliant antique appearance and a delicate covering of moss. When Lord Sakai arrived, later that same day, he was awed by the lantern, which was more magnificent than he had imagined—so graceful and at one with the elements. Fortunately he had no idea what time and effort it had cost Yorinobu to create this sublime effect.

THE RESILING MASTER

There was once a wrestling master who was versed in 360 feints and holds. He took a special liking to one of his pupils, to whom he taught 359 of them over a period of time. Somehow he never got around to the last trick. As months went by the young man became so proficient in the art that he bested everyone who dared to face him in the ring. He was so proud of his prowess that one day he boasted before the sultan that he could readily whip his master, were it not out of respect for his age and gratitude for his tutelage.

The sultan became incensed at this irreverence and ordered an immediate match with the royal court in attendance.

At the gong the youth barged forward with a lusty yell, only to be confronted with the unfamiliar 360th feint. The master seized his former pupil, lifted him high above his head, and flung him crashing to the ground. The sultan and the assembly let out a loud cheer. When the sultan asked the master how he was able to overcome such a strong opponent, the master confessed that he had reserved a secret technique for himself for just such a contingency. Then he related the lamentation of a master of archery, who taught everything he knew. “No one has learned archery from me,” the poor fellow complained, “who has not tried to use me as a butt in the end.”

A STORY OF SAADI, AS TOLD IN THE CRAFT OF POWER, R.G. H. SIU, 1979

Interpretation

To Sen no Rikyu, the sudden appearance of something naturally, almost accidentally graceful was the height of beauty. This beauty came without warning and seemed effortless. Nature created such things by its own laws and processes, but men had to create their effects through labor and contrivance. And when they showed the effort of producing the effect, the effect was spoiled. The gate came from too far away, the cutting of the lemon looked contrived.

You will often have to use tricks and ingenuity to create your effects—the cushions in the snow, the men rowing all night—but your audience must never suspect the work or the thinking that has gone into them. Nature does not reveal its tricks, and what imitates nature by appearing effortless approximates nature’s power.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II

The great escape artist Harry Houdini once advertised his act as “The Impossible Possible.” And indeed those who witnessed his dramatic escapes felt that what he did onstage contradicted commonsense ideas of human capacity.

One evening in 1904, an audience of 4,000 Londoners filled a theater to watch Houdini accept a challenge: to escape from a pair of manacles billed as the strongest ever invented. They contained six sets of locks and nine tumblers in each cuff; a Birmingham maker had spent five years constructing them. Experts who examined them said they had never seen anything so intricate, and this intricacy was thought to make them impossible to escape.

The crowd watched the experts secure the manacles on Houdini’s wrists. Then the escape artist entered a black cabinet on stage. The minutes went by; the more time passed, the more certain it seemed that these manacles would be the first to defeat him. At one point he emerged from the cabinet, and asked that the cuffs be temporarily removed so that he could take off his coat—it was hot inside. The challengers refused, suspecting his request was a trick to find out how the locks worked. Undeterred, and without using his hands, Houdini managed to lift the coat over his shoulders, turn it inside out, remove a penknife from his vest pocket with his teeth, and, by moving his head, cut the coat off his arms. Freed from the coat, he stepped back into the cabinet, the audience roaring with approval at his grace and dexterity.

Finally, having kept the audience waiting long enough, Houdini emerged from the cabinet a second time, now with his hands free, the manacles raised high in triumph. To this day no one knows how he managed the escape. Although he had taken close to an hour to free himself, he had never looked concerned, had shown no sign of doubt.

Indeed it seemed by the end that he had drawn out the escape as a way to heighten the drama, to make the audience worry—for there was no other sign that the performance had been anything but easy. The complaint about the heat was equally part of the act.

The spectators of this and other Houdini performances must have felt he was toying with them: These manacles are nothing, he seemed to say, I could have freed myself a lot sooner, and from a lot worse.

Over the years, Houdini escaped from the chained carcass of an embalmed “sea monster” (a half octopus, half whalelike beast that had beached near Boston); he had himself sealed inside an enormous envelope from which he emerged without breaking the paper; he passed through brick walls; he wriggled free from straitjackets while dangling high in the air; he leaped from bridges into icy waters, his hands manacled and his legs in chains; he had himself submerged in glass cases full of water, hands pad- locked, while the audience watched in amazement as he worked himself free, struggling for close to an hour apparently without breathing. Each time he seemed to court certain death yet survived with superhuman aplomb. Meanwhile, he said nothing about his methods, gave no clues as to how he accomplished any of his tricks—he left his audiences and critics speculating, his power and reputation enhanced by their struggles with the inexplicable. Perhaps the most baffling trick of all was making a ten-thousand- pound elephant disappear before an audience’s eyes, a feat he repeated on stage for over nineteen weeks. No one has ever really explained how he did this, for in the auditorium where he performed the trick, there was simply nowhere for an elephant to hide.

The effortlessness of Houdini’s escapes led some to think he used occult forces, his superior psychic abilities giving him special control over his body. But a German escape artist named Kleppini claimed to know Houdini’s secret: He simply used elaborate gadgets. Kleppini also claimed to have defeated Houdini in a handcuff challenge in Holland.

Houdini did not mind all kinds of speculation floating around about his methods, but he would not tolerate an outright lie, and in 1902 he challenged Kleppini to a handcuff duel. Kleppini accepted. Through a spy, he found out the secret word to unlock a pair of French combination-lock cuffs that Houdini liked to use. His plan was to choose these cuffs to escape from onstage. This would definitively debunk Houdini—his “genius” simply lay in his use of mechanical gadgets.

On the night of the challenge, just as Kleppini had planned, Houdini offered him a choice of cuffs and he selected the ones with the combination lock. He was even able to disappear with them behind a screen to make a quick test, and reemerged seconds later, confident of victory.

Acting as if he sensed fraud, Houdini refused to lock Kleppini in the cuffs. The two men argued and began to fight, even wrestling with each other onstage. After a few minutes of this, an apparently angry, frustrated Houdini gave up and locked Kleppini in the cuffs. For the next few minutes Kleppini strained to get free. Something was wrong —minutes earlier he had opened the cuffs behind the screen; now the same code no longer worked. He sweated, racking his brains. Hours went by, the audience left, and finally an exhausted and humiliated Kleppini gave up and asked to be released.

The cuffs that Kleppini himself had opened behind the screen with the word “C–L–E– F-S” (French for “keys”) now clicked open only with the word “F–R–A–U–D.” Kleppini never figured out how Houdini had accomplished this uncanny feat.

Keep the extent of your abilities unknown. The wise man does not allow his knowledge and abilities to be sounded to the bottom, if he desires to be honored by all. He allows you to know them but not to comprehend them. No one must know the extent of his abilities, lest he be disappointed. No one ever has an opportunity of fathoming him entirely. For guesses and doubts about the extent of his talents arouse more veneration than accurate knowledge of them, be they ever so great. BALTASAR GRACIÁN. 1601-1658

Interpretation

Although we do not know for certain how Houdini accomplished many of his most ingenious escapes, one thing is clear: It was not the occult, or any kind of magic, that gave him his powers, but hard work and endless practice, all of which he carefully concealed from the world. Houdini never left anything to chance—day and night he studied the workings of locks, researched centuries-old sleight-of-hand tricks, pored over books on mechanics, whatever he could use. Every moment not spent researching he spent working his body, keeping himself exceptionally limber, and learning how to control his muscles and his breathing.

Early on in Houdini’s career, an old Japanese performer whom he toured with taught him an ancient trick: how to swallow an ivory ball, then bring it back up. He practiced this endlessly with a small peeled potato tied to a string—up and down he would manipulate the potato with his throat muscles, until they were strong enough to move it without the string. The organizers of the London handcuff challenge had searched Houdini’s body thoroughly beforehand, but no one could check the inside of his throat, where he could have concealed small tools to help him escape. Even so, Kleppini was fundamentally wrong: It was not Houdini’s tools but his practice, work, and research that made his escapes possible.

Kleppini, in fact, was completely outwitted by Houdini, who set the whole thing up. He let his opponent learn the code to the French cuffs, then baited him into choosing those cuffs onstage. Then, during the two men’s tussle, the dexterous Houdini was able to change the code to “F–R–A–U–D.” He had spent weeks practicing this trick, but the audience saw none of the sweat and toil behind the scenes. Nor was Houdini ever nervous; he induced nervousness in others. (He deliberately dragged out the time it would take to escape, as a way of heightening the drama, and making the audience squirm.) His escapes from death, always graceful and easy, made him look like a superman.

As a person of power, you must research and practice endlessly before appearing in public, onstage or anywhere else. Never expose the sweat and labor behind your poise. Some think such exposure will demonstrate their diligence and honesty, but it actually just makes them look weaker—as if anyone who practiced and worked at it could do what they had done, or as if they weren’t really up to the job. Keep your effort and your tricks to yourself and you seem to have the grace and ease of a god. One never sees the source of a god’s power revealed; one only sees its effects.

A line [of poetry] will take us hours maybe; Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought, Our stitching and unstitching has been naught. Adam’s Curse, William Buller Yeats, 1865-1939

KEYS TO POWER

Humanity’s first notions of power came from primitive encounters with nature—the flash of lightning in the sky, a sudden flood, the speed and ferocity of a wild animal. These forces required no thinking, no planning—they awed us by their sudden appearance, their gracefulness, and their power over life and death. And this remains the kind of power we have always wanted to imitate. Through science and technology we have re-created the speed and sublime power of nature, but something is missing:

Our machines are noisy and jerky, they reveal their effort. Even the very best creations of technology cannot root out our admiration for things that move easily and effortlessly. The power of children to bend us to their will comes from a kind of seductive charm that we feel in the presence of a creature less reflective and more graceful than we are.

We cannot return to such a state, but if we can create the appearance of this kind of ease, we elicit in others the kind of primitive awe that nature has always evoked in humankind.

One of the first European writers to expound on this principle came from that most unnatural of environments, the Renaissance court. In The Book of the Courtier, published in 1528, Baldassare Castiglione describes the highly elaborate and codified manners of the perfect court citizen. And yet, Castiglione explains, the courtier must execute these gestures with what he calls sprezzatura, the capacity to make the difficult seem easy. He urges the courtier to “practice in all things a certain nonchalance which conceals all artistry and makes whatever one says or does seem uncontrived and effortless.” We all admire the achievement of some unusual feat, but if it is accomplished naturally and gracefully, our admiration increases tenfold—“whereas … to labor at what one is doing and … to make bones over it, shows an extreme lack of grace and causes everything, whatever its worth, to be discounted.”

Much of the idea of sprezzatura came from the world of art. All the great Renaissance artists carefully kept their works under wraps. Only the finished masterpiece could be shown to the public. Michelangelo forbade even popes to view his work in process. A Renaissance artist was always careful to keep his studios shut to patrons and public alike, not out of fear of imitation, but because to see the making of the works would mar the magic of their effect, and their studied atmosphere of ease and natural beauty.

The Renaissance painter Vasari, also the first great art critic, ridiculed the work of Paolo Uccello, who was obsessed with the laws of perspective. The effort Uccello spent on improving the appearance of perspective was too obvious in his work—it made his paintings ugly and labored, overwhelmed by the effort of their effects. We have the same response when we watch performers who put too much effort into their act: Seeing them trying so hard breaks the illusion. It also makes us uncomfortable. Calm, graceful performers, on the other hand, set us at ease, creating the illusion that they are not acting but being natural and themselves, even when everything they are doing involves labor and practice.

The idea of sprezzatura is relevant to all forms of power, for power depends vitally on appearances and the illusions you create. Your public actions are like artworks: They must have visual appeal, must create anticipation, even entertain. When you reveal the inner workings of your creation, you become just one more mortal among others. What is understandable is not awe-inspiring—we tell ourselves we could do as well if we had the money and time. Avoid the temptation of showing how clever you are—it is far more clever to conceal the mechanisms of your cleverness.

Talleyrand’s application of this concept to his daily life greatly enhanced the aura of power that surrounded him. He never liked to work too hard, so he made others do the work for him—the spying, the research, the detailed analyses. With all this labor at his disposal, he himself never seemed to strain. When his spies revealed that a certain event was about to take place, he would talk in social conversation as if he sensed its imminence. The result was that people thought he was clairvoyant. His short pithy statements and witticisms always seemed to summarize a situation perfectly, but they were based on much research and thought. To those in government, including Napoleon himself, Talleyrand gave the impression of immense power—an effect entirely dependent on the apparent ease with which he accomplished his feats.

There is another reason for concealing your shortcuts and tricks: When you let this information out, you give people ideas they can use against you. You lose the advantages of keeping silent. We tend to want the world to know what we have done— we want our vanity gratified by having our hard work and cleverness applauded, and we may even want sympathy for the hours it has taken to reach our point of artistry. Learn to control this propensity to blab, for its effect is often the opposite of what you expected. Remember: The more mystery surrounds your actions, the more awesome your power seems. You appear to be the only one who can do what you do—and the appearance of having an exclusive gift is immensely powerful. Finally, because you achieve your accomplishments with grace and ease, people believe that you could always do more if you tried harder. This elicits not only admiration but a touch of fear. Your powers are untapped—no one can fathom their limits.

Image: The Racehorse. From up close we would see the strain, the effort to control the horse, the labored, painful breathing. But from the distance where we sit and watch, it is all gracefulness, flying through the air. Keep others at a distance and they will only see the ease with which you move.

Authority: For whatever action [nonchalance] accompanies, no matter how trivial it is, it not only reveals the skill of the person doing it but also very often causes it to be considered far greater than it really is. This is because it makes the onlookers believe that a man who performs well with so much facility must possess even greater skill than he does. (Baldassare Castiglione, 1478-1529)

REVERSAL

The secrecy with which you surround your actions must seem lighthearted in spirit. A zeal to conceal your work creates an unpleasant, almost paranoiac impression: you are taking the game too seriously. Houdini was careful to make the concealment of his tricks seem a game, all part of the show. Never show your work until it is finished, but if you put too much effort into keeping it under wraps you will be like the painter Pontormo, who spent the last years of his life hiding his frescoes from the public eye and only succeeded in driving himself mad. Always keep your sense of humor about yourself.

There are also times when revealing the inner workings of your projects can prove worthwhile. It all depends on your audience’s taste, and on the times in which you operate. P. T. Barnum recognized that his public wanted to feel involved in his shows, and that understanding his tricks delighted them, partly, perhaps, because implicitly debunking people who kept their sources of power hidden from the masses appealed to America’s democratic spirit. The public also appreciated the showman’s humor and honesty. Barnum took this to the extreme of publicizing his own humbuggery in his popular autobiography, written when his career was at its height.

As long as the partial disclosure of tricks and techniques is carefully planned, rather than the result of an uncontrollable need to blab, it is the ultimate in cleverness. It gives the audience the illusion of being superior and involved, even while much of what you do remains concealed from them.

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The Table is set for the economic collapse of the United States

And yes it is.

There’s many indicators. Don’t you know.

Like, well for instance, the kinds of books that are being published these days inside of America.

Obliviously, the USA is not a very healthy place.

How and why do you think the United States is spending trillions of dollars it does not have, on trivialities such as social re-engineering, and wars in foreign lands? It’s because the USA has forced the world to conduct international trade using American and European banks. This system of banks is known as SWIFT and is the root behind all the trouble and problems plaguing the world today.

The system takes a million tiny bites out of every financial transaction in the world, and that money is used to finance the enormous American economy, and mindless, and uncontrolled spending.

Well, guess what?

Yep. This dominance of SWIFT is coming to an end. And the rest of the world is eagerly looking forward to it happening. And with it, will be the harsh slap of reality when the ACTUAL value, and the actual worth of American money settles in place.

Some predict a catastrophic collapse.

I don’t.

Instead, I see a swift contraction of all things financial, and the economy will follow suit. If it is managed by a talented and alert bureaucracy, then it will be managed well. Otherwise, it will be a frightening time, and a time where the most unreasonable notions will enter the minds of the American leadership.

But first, let’s review…

[1] America has no REAL democracy

It is instead an oligarchy of selfish and evil corporations that use the American people as cattle to serve them. video 9MB

[2] America Believes that it owns 1/3 of the world

The facts speak for you cannot deny this truth, and the rest of the world is mighty pissed off about it. video 8MB

[3] America is a Military Empire where war is an every-day event

And that might be just fine for blowing up mud huts, and strafing goats and sheep, but it’s really dangerous when the USA tries to bully the BIG players. And that is exactly what is going on. Not only with military threat but hybrid-war at all levels. This is pissing them off to no end. video 8MB

[4] Everyone is suffering because of these facts.

Maybe the ultra-rich are happy, and their enablers are, but the rest of the world is hurting, and it is manifesting in horrible scenes throughout the United States. video 6MB

[5] The wealthy has sucked America bone dry.

How can a nation that is willing to spend trillions of dollars destroying other nations cannot provide food, shelter and health care for it’s own citizens? What is wrong with the system? Because it is broken very, very badly. It is NOT worthy of saving. video 4.7MB

Let’s talk about changing the system…

Well, the wealthy oligarchy in America doesn’t want to change. So “outsiders” will need to force the changes themselves. Thus this…

Washington hawks float expelling Russia from SWIFT but Moscow’s budding geo-economic alliance with Beijing will keep the money flowing

by Pepe Escobar December 16, 2021

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin spent an hour and 14 minutes in a video conversation on Wednesday. Geopolitically, paving the way for 2022, this is the one that really matters – much more than Putin-Biden a week ago.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, who generally carefully measures his words, had previously hinted that this exchange would be “extremely important.”

It was obvious the two leaders would not only exchange information about the natural gas pipeline Power of Siberia 2. But Peskov was referring to prime time geopolitics: how Russia-China would be coordinating their countercoups against the hybrid war/Cold War 2.0 combo deployed by the US and its allies.

While no substantial leaks were expected from the 37^th meeting between Xi and Putin since 2013 (they will meet again in person in February 2022, at the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics), Assistant to the President for Foreign Policy Yuri Ushakov did manage to succinctly deliver at least two serious bits of information.

These are the highlights of the call:

Moscow will inform Beijing about the progress, or lack thereof, in negotiations with the US/NATO on security guarantees for Russia.
Beijing supports Moscow’s demands on US/NATO for these security guarantees.
Putin and Xi agreed to create an “independent financial structure for trade operations that could not be influenced by other countries.” Diplomatic sources, off the record, say the structure may be announced by a joint summit in late 2022.
They discussed the Biden-hosted “Summit for Democracy,” concluding it was counterproductive and imposed new dividing lines.

Of all of the above, the third point is the real game-changer – already in the works for a few years now, and gaining definitive momentum after Washington hawks of the Victoria “F**k the EU” Nuland kind recently floated the idea of expelling Russia from SWIFT – the vast messaging network used by banks and other financial institutions to make money transfer instructions – as the ultimate sanctions package for the non-invasion of Ukraine.

Putin and Xi once again discussed one of their key themes in bilaterals and BRICS meetings: the need to keep increasing the share of the yuan and ruble in mutual settlements – bypassing the US dollar – and opening new stock market avenues for Russian and Chinese investors.

Bypassing a SWIFT mechanism “influenced by third counties” then becomes a must. Ushakov diplomatically put it as “the need to intensify efforts to form an independent financial infrastructure to service trade operations between Russia and China.”

Russian energy businesses, from Gazprom to Rosneft, know all there is to know not only about US threats but also about the negative effects of the tsunami of US dollars flooding the global economy via the Fed’s quantitative easing.

This Russia-China drive is yet another dimension of geoeconomic, geostrategic and demographic power rapidly shifting towards Eurasia and possibly foreshadowing the advent of a new world system related to other matters Putin-Xi certainly discussed: the interconnection of Belt and Road with the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), the expanded reach of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the coming Chinese presidency of BRICS in 2022.

The US – with US$30 trillion in debt, 236% of its militarized GDP – is virtually bankrupt. Russia-China have already experimented with their alternative payment systems, which will inevitably integrate.

The most important banks in both countries will adopt the system – as well as banks across Eurasia doing business with them, and then vast swaths of the Global South. SWIFT, in the long run, will be used only in exceptional cases if China and Russia have their way.

Maidan redux

Now to the heart of the geopolitical puzzle.

Ushakov confirmed that the Russian Federation has submitted proposals on security guarantees to the US. As Putin himself had confirmed even before talking to Xi, it’s all about “indivisible security”: a mechanism that has been enshrined all across the territory of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe since a 1975 summit in Helsinki.

Predictably, under orders of the powers that be, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg already rejected it.

Both Xi and Putin clearly identify how Team Biden is deploying a strategic polarization gambit under good old divide-and-rule. The wishful thinking at play is to build a pro-American bloc – with participants ranging from the UK and Australia to Israel and Saudi Arabia – to “isolate” Russia-China.

That’s what’s behind the narrative thunderously splashed non-stop all across the West – to which Biden’s Summit for Democracy was also tied. Taiwan is being manipulated against Beijing while Ukraine is being literally weaponized against Russia. “China aggression” meets “Russian aggression.”

Beijing has not fallen into the trap but has asserted at different levels that Taiwan will eventually be integrated into the mainland motherland, without any ludicrous “invasion.” And the wishful thinking that massive American pressure will lead to cracks inside the Chinese Communist Party is also likely generating zero traction.

Ukraine is a much more volatile proposition: a dysfunctional nightmare of systemic instability, widespread corruption, shady oligarchic entanglements and poverty.

Washington still follows the Zbigniew Brzezinski-concocted Maidan plan laid out for cookie distributor Nuland in 2014. Yet seven years later, no American “strategist” managed to understand why Russia would fail to invade Ukraine, which has been part of Russia for centuries.

For these “strategists”, it’s imperative that Russia faces a second Vietnam, after Afghanistan in the 1980s. Well, it’s not going to happen because Moscow has no interest whatsoever in “invading” Ukraine.

It does get more complicated. The ultimate fear dictating all US foreign policy since the early 20^th century is the possibility of Germany clinching a new version of Bismarck’s 1887 Reinsurance Treaty with Russia.

Add China to the combination and these three actors are able to control just about the entire Eurasian landmass. Updating Mackinder, the US would then be turned into a geopolitically irrelevant island.

Putin-Xi may have examined not only how the imperial hybrid war tactics against them are floundering against them, as well as how the tactics are dragging Europe further into the abyss of irrelevance.

For the EU, as former British diplomat Alastair Crooke points out, the strategic balance is a disaster:

“The EU has virtually ruptured its relations with both Russia and China – at the same time. Washington’s hawks wanted it. A ‘European Brzezinski’ certainly would have advised the EU differently: never lose both in tandem – you are never that powerful.”

No wonder the leadership in Moscow-Beijing can’t take anyone in Brussels seriously – be it assorted NATO chihuahuas or the spectacularly incompetent Ursula von der Leyen at the European Commission.

A faint ray of light is that Paris and Berlin, unlike the Russophobic Poland and the Baltic fringe, at least prefer having some sort of negotiation with Moscow over Ukraine as opposed to slapping on extra sanctions.

Now imagine Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explaining the ABCs of foreign policy to a clueless Annalena “Grune” Baerbock, now posing as German foreign minister while displaying a fresh mix of incompetence and aggressiveness. She actually placed the phone call.

Lavrov had to meticulously explain the consequences of NATO expansion; the Minsk agreement; and how Berlin should exercise its right to pressure Kiev to respect Minsk.

No leaks about it should be expected from Ushakov. But it’s fair to imagine that with “partners” like the US, NATO and the EU, Xi and Putin should conclude that China and Russia don’t even need enemies.

Big Big News

Next up is a second (!) excellent piece by Pepe Escobar giving details on the close collaboration between the Russian SPFSand the Chinese CIPS. It spells the doom for SWIFT.

SPFS = System for Transfert of Financial Messaging
CIPS = Cross-border Interbank Payment System

Not to mention the global geopolitical and geo-economical consequences examined in Escobar’s article.

Just to remind some relevant key moments :

1996

The Shanghai 5 created to solve some border problems & working together against terrorism. President Jiang Zemin & President Boris Yeltsine decided for cooperation in the post-Soviet space. Sergey Primakov played a key role.
The five are : China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan.

2000

President Vladimir Vladimirovitch Putin began to rule Russia.

2001

Uzbekistan joined and the group got a new name : Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) I also called “Sovereigns’ Coalition Organization.” Then, September 11, 2001 : 9-11 (NYC) occurred.

December 11, 2001

China is accepted into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

2007

Putin’s historic speech in Munich on American and NATO’s meddlings.

2010-2015

The CIA network in China decapitated. The endeavor started during the last 2 years of President Hu Jintao (2002-2012) and completed under President Xi Jinping.

2012

Iran excluded from using SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications).

November 2012

President Xi Jinping began to rule China

2013

Xi & Putin began their friendship and fruitful collaboration. Between 2013 and the last virtual Summit on December 15, 2021, they met 37 times (an average of ~ 4 times a year). They will meet again in February 2022 at the beginning of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

End of 2013

The Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) announced by President Xi Jinping first in Astana (for the Eurasian Landbridge) and in Jakarta (for the Maritime Silk Roads)

Feb 2014

The Maidan color revolution in Ukraine. Return of Crimea to Russia just after the Sochi Olympic Games.

2014

Leviathanesque gas deal between China & Russia.

February 2015

Minsk Accords between Kiev & the autonomous Republics of Donetz & Luhansk
Russia signed too as a witness.

July 2015

JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) signed by Iran, the US, Russia, China, the UK, France. and Germany. Iran can then use again the SWIFT system.

June 2017

India & Pakistan welcomed together at the historic Astana Summit into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization aka the Sovereigns’ Coalition Organization (SCO).

2018

Iran excluded a second time from the SWIFT system.

March 1st, 2018

Vladimir Putin announced to the world the new Russian weapons, including hypersonic missiles. (Avangard, Kinzhal, Poseidon, Burevestnik, Sarmat, etc.). Nuclear parity is restored.

Putin: 
"They did not listen to us then. Listen up now !"

March 26, 2018

The Petro-yuan was created at the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It was a Monday.

October 1st, 2019

Celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

January 7, 2020

Iranian General Qasem Soleimani murdered on January 7 by the US government.

2020

The Common Prosperity Initiative started in China. It is a concept created by His Excellency State Councillor Mr. Wang Huning, advisor to Presidents Jiang Zemin (1989-2002), Hu Jintao & Xi Jinping.

November 2020

The Chinese government announced the end of extreme poverty in China.

July 2021

Celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

August 2021

China tested a hypersonic gliding vehicle.

August 15, 2021

Fall of Kabul. The invasion & occupation of Afghanistan by the US lasted practically 20 years. Named “Operation Enduring Freedom” started on October 7, 2001.

September 2021

Safe return to Earth of the 3 taikonauts after 3 months living in the Chinese Space Station Tian Gong (Heavenly Palace)

September 2021

Iran accepted as full member of the SCO at the historic Dushanbe Summit (Tajikistan).

October 2021

A second crew of 3 taikonauts reached the Chinese Space Station including the first Chinese female taikonauts Miss Wang. They should be back to Earth in April 2022.

December 2021 (second week)

Immensely fruitful Putin’s visit to India, concluding many deals with Modi,
contributing to Eurasian Integration.

December 15, 2021

During a virtual Summit (lasting one hour & fourteen minutes),, President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping agreed to establish a financial platform independent of SWIFT. They confirmed closer collaboration within the framework of the already solid Sino-Russian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for a New Era.

THE SCO (WITH AT ITS CORE RUSSIA & CHINA) IS THE ONLY GROUP ON EARTH HAVING THE UNWAVERING INTENTION, THE DETERMINATION, THE RESOURCES, THE BRAINS, THE STAMINA, THE ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS, THE PATIENCE, THE DIPLOMATIC NETWORK, THE WEAPONS AND THE QUALITY LEADERSHIP ENABLING THEM TO DEAL WITH THE EVIL & MADLY HUBRISTIC KFC-AZAEL (Kakistocratic Feudal Conglomerate of the Anglo-Zio-American EstabLishment) aka the PBGC (Psychopathic Barbarian Genocidal Crusaders) OR SIMPLY THE CRUSADERS.

In French, the KFC-AZAEL is called le CaCA. ("Kakistocratique" in French can also be written "Cacocratique"), hence le CaCA is for "le Caco-Conglomérat Anglo-Siono-Américain")

Putin and Xi plot their SWIFT escape

Russia and China’s announcement of an independent financial trading platform will free nations under US sanctions from western intrusion into their commercial activities.

By Pepe Escobar

December 17 2021

Vladimir Putin got straight to the point. At the opening of his one hour and fourteen minute video conversation with Xi Jinping on 15 December, he described Russia-China relations as “an example of genuine inter-state cooperation in the 21st century.”

Their myriad levels of cooperation have been known for years now – from trade, oil and gas, finance, aerospace and the fight against Covid-19, to the progressive interconnection of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU).

But now the stage was set for the announcement of a serious counter-move in their carefully coordinated ballet opposing the relentless Hybrid War/Cold War 2.0 combo deployed by Empire.

As Assistant to the President for Foreign Policy Yuri Ushakov succinctly explained, Putin and Xi agreed to create an “independent financial structure for trade operations that could not be influenced by other countries.”

Diplomatic sources, off the record, confirmed the structure may be announced by a joint summit before the end of 2022.

This is a stunning game-changer in more ways than one. It had been extensively discussed in previous bilaterals and in preparations for BRICS summits – mostly centered on increasing the share of yuan and rubles in Russia-China settlements, bypassing the US dollar, and opening new stock market options for Russian and Chinese investors.

Now we’ve come to the crunch. And the catalyzing event was none other than US hawks floating the – financially nuclear – idea of expelling Russia from SWIFT, the messaging network used by 11,000+ banks in over 200 countries, as well as financial institutions, for rapid money transfers worldwide.

Cutting off Russia from SWIFT would be part of a harsh new sanctions package developed in response to an ‘invasion’ of Ukraine that will never happen – mainly because the only ones praying for it are professional NATO warmongers.

Profiting from a strategic blunder

Once again, an American strategic blunder offers the Russia-China self-described “comprehensive strategic partnership” the chance to advance their coordination.

Ushakov put it very diplomatically: it’s time to bypass a SWIFT mechanism “influenced by third countries” to form “an independent financial structure.”

That amounts to a serious game-changer for the entire Global South – as scores of nations yearn to be released from a de facto US dollar dictatorship, complete with recurring Fed quantitative easing circus packages.

Russia and China have been experimenting with their alternative payment systems for quite a while now: the Russian SPFS (System for Transfer of Financial Messages) and the Chinese CIPS (Cross Border Interbank Payment System).

It won’t be easy, as the most powerful Chinese banks are deep into SWIFT and have expressed their reservations about SPFS. Yet, they will have to inevitably integrate prior to the launch of the new mechanism, possibly in late 2022.

Once the most important Russian and Chinese banks – from Sberbank to the Bank of China – adopt the system, the path opens for other banks across Eurasia and the Global South to join in.

In the long run, SWIFT, prone to non-stop American political interference, will be increasingly marginalized, or restricted to Atlanticist latitudes.

Bypassing the US dollar, on trade and all sorts of financial settlements, is an absolutely central plank of the ever-evolving Russia-China notion of a multipolar world.

The road will be long, of course, especially when it comes to offering a solid counterpoint to the US-controlled global financial system, a maze that includes the humongous investment houses of the BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street variety, with their interlocking shareholding of virtually every major multinational company.

Yet a SWIFT escape will rapidly gain momentum, because it is inextricably linked to a series of developments that Putin-Xi touched upon in their conversation, the most important of which are:

1. The progressive interconnection of BRI and EAEU, offering expanding roles to the BRICS-run New Development Bank (NDB) as well as the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

2. The increasing geopolitical and geo-economic reach of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), especially after the admission of Iran in October.

3. And crucially, the upcoming Chinese presidency of the BRICS in 2022.

China in 2022 will invest deeply in BRICS+. This expanded BRICS club will be linked to a development process that includes:

1. The consolidation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – a massive East Asia trade deal uniting China, the ASEAN 10 and Japan, and South Korea, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

2. The African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA).

3. And the memoranda of understanding signed between the EAEU and MERCOSUR and between the EAEU and ASEAN.

Anchoring West Asia

Yaroslav Lissovolik, one of the world’s leading experts on BRICS+, argues that it’s now time for BRICS+ 2.0, operating in a system that opens “the possibility for bilateral and plurilateral agreements to complement the core network of regional alliances formed by BRICS countries and their respective regional neighbors.”

So if we’re talking about a major qualitative jump in terms of economic development across the Global South, the question is inevitable. What about West Asia?

All these interconnections, plus an escape from SWIFT, will certainly profit the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), arguably the flagship BRI project, to which Beijing plans to annex Afghanistan.

CPEC will be progressively connected to the future Iran-China corridor via Afghanistan, part of the 20 year Iran-China strategic deal in which BRI projects will be prominently featured. Iran and China already trade in yuan and rials, so settlements between Iran and China in a non-SWIFT mechanism will be a given.

What happened to Iran is a classic example of SWIFT becoming hostage of imperial political manipulation. Iranian banks were expelled from SWIFT in 2012, because of pressure from the usual suspects. In 2016, access was restored as part of the JCPOA, clinched in 2015. Yet in 2018, under the Trump administration, Iran was once again cut off from SWIFT.

None of that will ever happen with Iran joining the new Russia-China mechanism.

And that leads us to the interconnection of China’s BRI expansion in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. The reconstruction of Syria may be largely financed via the non-SWIFT mechanism. Same for China buying Iraqi energy. Same for the reconstruction of a Yemen possibly hosting a Chinese-owned port, part of the “string of pearls.”

Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Israel may remain in the US financial sphere of influence, or lack thereof. And even if there is no BRICS nation anchoring West Asia, and no regional integration economic agreement on the horizon, the role of the economic integrator is bound to be eventually played by China.

China will play a similar role to Brazil anchoring MERCOSUR, Russia anchoring the EAEU and South Africa anchoring the SADC/SACU.

Both BRI and the EAEU will get a tremendous boost by bypassing SWIFT. You simply can’t go multipolar if you trade using (devalued) imperial legal tender.

BRI, EAEU and those interlocking economic development agreements, combined with digital technology, will be integrating billions of people in the Global South.

Think of a possible, auspicious future spelling out cheap telecom delivering financial services and world market access, in a non-dollar environment, to all those who have been so far cut off from a truly globalized economy.

…

With that in mind, consider that the rest of the world is already moving away from the USD.

Iran to pay Chinese, Turkish builders in crude, minerals

Saturday, 18 December 2021 7:07 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 18 December 2021 7:07 PM ]

Iran will pay builders from China and Turkey in crude or minerals rather than cash if they become involved in housing projects in the country, says a member of the country’s Supreme Housing Council.

Ahmad Donyamali said on Saturday that Iran is in talks with Chinese and Turkish construction companies to get them involved in a tiny segment of its massive project to build four million affordable houses in the country in the next four years.

However, Donyamali said that a main condition for working with those companies will be to avoid paying them in cash because of restrictions facing Iran in banking and crude export issues.

“In talks with foreign companies we are seriously discussing the oil barter mechanism and we have declared that the condition for partnership … is that we will not pay any cash,” the official was quoted as saying by semi-official ILNA news agency.

Iran mulls selling crude to domestic private buyers

Iran’s state oil company NIOC says it will consider selling crude to qualified domestic buyers.

The comments are the latest to come from Iranian government officials about the need to use crude shipments to fund key projects or to pay for imports of basic goods into the country.

The oil barter mechanism has been highlighted as a major instrument to offset the impacts of American sanctions on Iran’s economy, especially since an administration came into office in August on promises that it will seek to neutralize the sanctions.

Donyamali said that Chinese or Turkish builders will have a small share of Iran’s affordable housing project, saying government’s policy will be to award around 90% of the contracts to Iranian companies despite their more expensive bids.

He said paying foreign builders in crude or minerals shipments was not yet final, saying main government departments have to reach a decision on the issue.

Conclusion

2022.

China and Russia will start performing monetary transactions using their SEO based systems. As more and more transactions use the Asian systems, the use of the USD dollar will decrease. That will radically change the transactional value of the US Dollar.

It will start to deflate towards it’s true and actual value.

Within a year or two, 2023 to 2024, the actual and real value of the US dollar will be exposed. The entire world will witness this. This will result in inflation domestically (perhaps hyper-inflation, depending on the financial adroitness of those in Washington DC), and financial consternation in all nations that are fundamentally tied to the US Dollar. There WILL be shock waves in any nation that is not being serious about taking care of their domestic needs.

It will be a “bumpy” time, but not a catastrophic one. Well, at least the measure of discomfort should be well controlled by skilled and talented leadership in the various nations so affected.

How the USA leadership will react to this is anyone’s guess.

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Why hurricanes and tornadoes decimate American communities, while much stronger typhoons do very little damage to Chinese communities

This is something that most people never consider. But it’s pretty darn obvious. A group of tornadoes or hurricanes will flood, and destroy hundreds if not thousands of homes in the USA. We would watch the sad pictures, and hear the sad stories and they play over and over, and over on the American news media. Yet, where much larger, much more violent storms and typhoons hit China, the damage is minimal. Why?

In this article we explore the prime culprit. Which is the cheap, cheap, cheap flimsy building materials used throughout American homes today, compared to the stone, cement and steel buildings that are common throughout China.

You see, most of the world does not build “American style” homes. You will not find “McMansions” in Finland, or Russia, or in Australia. You won’t find them in the heart of Africa either. They are a uniquely “American” thing, based on material design, local building codes, and big profit margins.

Tornado strike Late 2021

Tornadoes are fearsome things. I’ve lived through them in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi and Texas – Louisiana.

Text direct from Wikipedia.

A deadly late-season tornado outbreak, the largest and deadliest on record in December, produced catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across portions of the Southern United States and Ohio Valley from the evening of December 10 to the early morning of December 11, 2021. The event developed as a trough progressed eastward across the United States, interacting with an unseasonably moist and unstable environment across the Mississippi Valley. Tornado activity began in northeastern Arkansas, before progressing into Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

The most prolific activity was caused by a long-track supercell thunderstorm that produced a family of strong tornadoes that travelled across four Mid-South states. The first of these nocturnal tornadoes touched down in northeastern Arkansas, near Jonesboro and tracked through the Missouri Bootheel, ripping through towns such as Monette and Leachville, Arkansas, and Hayti and Caruthersville, Missouri. After crossing the Mississippi River into northwestern West Tennessee, that tornado dissipated, and a high-end EF4 tornado formed and moved through Western Kentucky, where the towns of Cayce, Mayfield, Benton, Princeton, Dawson Springs, and Bremen suffered severe to catastrophic damage.

Early estimates suggested that the tornado family—identified by some media outlets as the “Quad-State tornado,” due to the storm’s similar characteristics to the Tri-State tornado that occurred 96 years prior—may have cut a path of up to 250 miles (400 km) across the affected areas. If it had been a single tornado, it would have surpassed the March 18, 1925, tornado event (which carved a 219-mile [352 km] path across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana) in terms of path length.

However, storm surveys found that the path was composed of two distinct EF4 tornadoes, with a break in the damage path over northwestern Obion County, Tennessee. Other tornadic thunderstorms affected portions of eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, West and Middle Tennessee, and Western and Central Kentucky during the late evening into the overnight hours of December 11, including four intense tornadoes that hit Bowling Green, Kentucky; Dresden, Tennessee; Edwardsville, Illinois; and Defiance, Missouri. This included a second supercell and tornado family, which produced an EF3 tornado tracking nearly 123 miles (198 km) in Tennessee and southern Kentucky, as well as numerous tornadoes, including three more rated EF3, throughout southern and central Kentucky.

At least 91 people are confirmed to have been killed by the tornadoes, surpassing the Vicksburg, Mississippi tornado of December 5, 1953, which caused 38 fatalities, as the deadliest December tornado event ever recorded in the United States. Unconfirmed estimates suggest that the tornado outbreak may have caused over 100 deaths across five states, which would make it the deadliest tornado event in the United States since May 2011.

In Kentucky alone, at least 77 people have been confirmed dead so far, making the outbreak the deadliest tornado event in Kentucky history, surpassing the Louisville-area tornado of March 27, 1890, which killed 76 people; in addition, one person remains missing and at least 138 injuries have been reported in the state.

Super-Typhoon strike Zhuhai 2019

China has problems as well. There are typhoons, mud slides, massive rains, dust storms, and winter blizzards. The closest thing to a tornado strike like what hit the USA in December 2021 is a typhoon. Let’s look at the real nasty, big bad super typhoons that hit Zhuhai China and compare the damage.

From News24

The strongest typhoon to hit southern China in more than 40 years made its second landfall on Friday, authorities said, after leaving a trail of destruction and at least 64 dead in the neighboring Philippines.

Substantial damage to China’s many homes and buildings.

Super Typhoon Rammasun hit the city of Zhanjiang in south China’s Guangdong province on Friday night, local meteorological authorities said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

It first made landfall Friday afternoon on Hainan island, packing winds of up to 216km/h, China’s National Meteorological Centre (NMC) said.

The typhoon was expected to bring torrential rains and was the strongest storm to strike the country’s southern regions since 1973, the NMC said.

The damage is substantial, but unlike the damage in the USA, the buildings are still standing.

It claimed its first victim in China soon after coming ashore in Wenchang, Xinhua reported, when a man was killed by debris as his house collapsed.

State-run China Central Television in news bulletins showed images of wind-whipped trees in Hainan and high waves churned up by the typhoon.

“Strong Typhoon Rammasun is too frightening,” wrote one poster on Chinese social media, adding it “came ashore with fierce winds”.

“It’s raining so hard, the wipers won’t help and it’s hard to see the road ahead,” wrote another user riding in a taxi. “The road is full of water and tree branches, and the heavy wind has blown some branches onto the power cables.”

Why does it appear that American homes are so easily torn apart, while China homes still remain standing?

I argue that the reason lies in the basic construction features of American homes compared to the construction features of Chinese homes.

To use the old childhood story of “the three little pigs”; China builds houses out of bricks and stone, while America builds homes out of straw, sticks and paper.

The Three Little Pigs

Once upon a time there was an old mother pig who had three little pigs and not enough food to feed them. So when they were old enough, she sent them out into the world to seek their fortunes.

The first little pig was very lazy. He didn’t want to work at all and he built his house out of straw.

The second little pig worked a little bit harder but he was somewhat lazy too and he built his house out of sticks. Then, they sang and danced and played together the rest of the day.

The third little pig worked hard all day and built his house with bricks. It was a sturdy house complete with a fine fireplace and chimney. It looked like it could withstand the strongest winds.

The next day, a wolf happened to pass by the lane where the three little pigs lived; and he saw the straw house, and he smelled the pig inside. He thought the pig would make a mighty fine meal and his mouth began to water.

So he knocked on the door and said:

  Little pig! Little pig!
  Let me in! Let me in!

But the little pig saw the wolf’s big paws through the keyhole, so he answered back:

  No! No! No! 
  Not by the hairs on my chinny chin chin!

Then the wolf showed his teeth and said:

  Then I'll huff 
  and I'll puff 
  and I'll blow your house down.

So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down! The wolf opened his jaws very wide and bit down as hard as he could, but the first little pig escaped and ran away to hide with the second little pig.

The wolf continued down the lane and he passed by the second house made of sticks; and he saw the house, and he smelled the pigs inside, and his mouth began to water as he thought about the fine dinner they would make.

So he knocked on the door and said:

  Little pigs! Little pigs!
  Let me in! Let me in!

But the little pigs saw the wolf’s pointy ears through the keyhole, so they answered back:

  No! No! No!
  Not by the hairs on our chinny chin chin!

So the wolf showed his teeth and said:

  Then I'll huff 
  and I'll puff 
  and I'll blow your house down!

So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down! The wolf was greedy and he tried to catch both pigs at once, but he was too greedy and got neither! His big jaws clamped down on nothing but air and the two little pigs scrambled away as fast as their little hooves would carry them.

The wolf chased them down the lane and he almost caught them. But they made it to the brick house and slammed the door closed before the wolf could catch them. The three little pigs they were very frightened, they knew the wolf wanted to eat them. And that was very, very true. The wolf hadn’t eaten all day and he had worked up a large appetite chasing the pigs around and now he could smell all three of them inside and he knew that the three little pigs would make a lovely feast.

So the wolf knocked on the door and said:

  Little pigs! Little pigs!
  Let me in! Let me in!

But the little pigs saw the wolf’s narrow eyes through the keyhole, so they answered back:

  No! No! No! 
  Not by the hairs on our chinny chin chin!

So the wolf showed his teeth and said:

  Then I'll huff 
  and I'll puff 
  and I'll blow your house down.

Well! he huffed and he puffed. He puffed and he huffed. And he huffed, huffed, and he puffed, puffed; but he could not blow the house down. At last, he was so out of breath that he couldn’t huff and he couldn’t puff anymore. So he stopped to rest and thought a bit.

But this was too much. The wolf danced about with rage and swore he would come down the chimney and eat up the little pig for his supper. But while he was climbing on to the roof the little pig made up a blazing fire and put on a big pot full of water to boil. Then, just as the wolf was coming down the chimney, the little piggy pulled off the lid, and plop! in fell the wolf into the scalding water.

So the little piggy put on the cover again, boiled the wolf up, and the three little pigs ate him for supper.

Yum!

Let’s compare the construction methodology

This point came home to me rather abruptly as I work with many, many factories supplying building and construction parts and assemblies for export all over the world. Yet, not for the United States. You see, I work with domestic Chinese-owned factories. While the exports going to the United States are actually American factories inside of China using Chinese labor. It’s all about the money, you see.

Anyways, I have tried to supply windows to the United States market, but sheech! their price targets are too low, and the materials used (as specified by the architects and the builders) are so ridiculously flimsy and cheap.

Let’s show some examples so you all can get and understand what I am talking about. Ok?

Comparisons – Windows

Most American windows are ultra-cheap vinyl. Usually they are single-pane tempered glass of around 6mm thick. There are sometimes dual pane glass, with a specification for an inert gas between the layers, but that is very rare these days. Most everything is on the cheap, cheap, cheap.

Here’s a high-end dual pane American vinyl plastic window.

Most Chinese windows are thick dual pane glass with inner layers to prevent shattering. 20mm thickness is not unheard of. And the frames are not cheap plastic but are solid cast and machined aluminum, anodized and set on bearing hinges.

Here’s the Chinese equivalent of the above window…

Chinese windows are robust, well made, sturdy and using aluminum, quality fittings, and components. American windows are made out of the cheapest materials possible, arranged in the most cost effective method possible, and priced as high as possible.

Would you believe that the high quality Chinese windows are actually CHEAPER than the flimsy plastic vinyl windows used in America? Yeah. It’s important to keep American dumb and stupid so that they can be forever sheared as for-profit cattle.

Comparisons – Doors

No comparison. Most export interior doors to the United States are truly pathetic.

Cross section of an American hollow core door. Terrible in that it is flimsy and has zero sound proofing ability.

While inside China, all doors are either 100% solid wood, or wood over a closed cell sound insulation foam.

Typical interior door cross section as used in a Chinese home.

Comparisons – Counter tops

The big “thing” has been to use cheap stone countertops. These are made out of quartz and reinforced underneath. The importation of this cheap stone has been so enormous, that the US government has placed “dumping” restrictions on it. Never the less, local American quarries still produce the cheap countertops, but now charge large amounts of money for it.

The Chinese use higher quality stone. Mostly basalt, marble, and granite.

Comparisons – Walls

Most American homes these days are made out of 2×4 frames, and sheathed in drywall. This has changed, as there is now an even cheaper alternative to drywall (if you can believe that!) It’s compressed fiberboard. This video shows how pathetic it is… Video 9MB

While in China all homes are reinforced cement and stone, with marble, or granite, soapstone stone overlays over it. Yes, living in a typical Chinese house is like living in a museum.

Comparisons – Flooring

In America, the typical residential flooring is a foundational plywood deck, covered by carpet, or a hardwood laminate. Rarely are actual wood floors used in modern American homes any more.

An China, the typical residential flooring is cement supported stone slabs or either marble, granite, or basalt.

Some examples of Chinese house interiors

Conclusion

Perhaps you are starting to see my point.

If all of the “new” homes throughout America are made for little piggies who like twigs, straw and paper. While all the homes in China and Russia are made for little piggies who like bricks, concrete and stone (with reinforcement with steel rebar). Then what would happen if big bad wolves try to start a war?

Which homes would be easier to knock down? The flimsy cardboard and paper homes, or the stone and steel homes?

Obviously this part of the calculus has never entered the minds of the master leadership inside of Washington DC. If a mere CAT 1 tornado can take down a house anywhere in the USA, image what a 500 MT thermonuclear device would do.

It’s about risk. Like this…

Do you want more?

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Russia and China has (this week) laid down the terms for the surrender of the United States

"Get off our front porch. Get out of our front yard. And stay out of our backyard."

-Summary by Pat Buchanan

And it is not at all being reported in the Western “news”. I wonder why?

Guess.

There is a risk in giving an ultimatum. If the other side rejects this ultimatum (and the possibility is real) then Russia will have to react and will have to switch from diplomacy to military arguments.

If the ultimatum will be rejected it will inevitably lead to much worse bilateral relations and tensions never seen since 1962.

Time is on Russia’s side (each year Russia becomes more powerful militarily) so why taking the risk to dramatically escalate everything now?

The only reason I see is that with the current path Russia considers a clash as inevitable and they see their ultimatum as the only real possibility to avoid a conflict in the near future.

The positive side of the ultimatum is that if it’s a success then the risk of war will be substantially reduced.
The negative side is that if the ultimatum will be rejected then war will become even more likely and may start even sooner.

I'm sure the Russians realize their technical advantage can only be temporary, and are utilizing their advantages while they can.

Searching for the "Russian ultimatum" on the western corporate mouthpieces, it doesn't even register. I'm sure 99% of Americans are absolutely clueless. The propaganda masters are most probably formulating a line of bs that will make Russia look like they aggressor. There really is no access to the masses by non-corporate media.

The questions to me is, "can the East make the West uncomfortable enough without starting a nuclear holocaust to come to reason, or will the West spin the situation to increase its aggression?"

What truly frightens me is when the Empire develops its own hypersonic weapons and first strike tactics become very attractive to the idiots and sociopaths running the Western show.

A Throne of Chinese Skulls! Oh Yeah?

By Chris Faure for the Saker Blog

The hot question among a number of hot questions is: What will China do?

Is there clarity? I would argue yes there is .. some.

The paradox is that West pushes for terms of a new partitioning of the world (democracy summit, unending belligerence, cynical, and hypocritical paranoia), while Russia and China expect terms of surrender.

According to China, there has to be payback for past empire atrocities.

After all, it is well established that the United States has been unyielding attack of China with everything from Bio-Weapons (livestock and human), to color revolutions, to non-stop "hybrid-wars".

In such an environment a kinetic hot war makes little sense because there is no overt military threat against western leadership.

I would argue that Russia’s ultimatum is military containment by agreement, as a first step.

I would also argue that because we do not have insight into step 2 (military/technical counter-threats), we cannot reason that step 2 is not highly coordinated with China, to the nth degree.

Double negatives in the passive voice are confusing. To rewrite the statement: 

"There is no reason to believe that China and Russia are not coordinating step 2."

It is so that the USA is no longer the world’s only ‘indispensable nation’.

They are now both dispensable and replaceable in their current form and the only hope is that they will reform themselves.

As there is much that we do not know in terms of further steps, there is also much that we do not know about how China is going to interrelate.

What we do know is that they will be a part of the final dethroning of Western powers’ force for empire. We know this, because they said so and China is dead serious.

Russia made their proposals known.

China did too.

Just today…

20 December 2021

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on the United States to work with China to find out the way of peaceful coexistence between the two major countries.

He noted some people in the United States are [1] unwilling to admit that other countries also have the right to development, [2] unwilling to accept the fact that China is growing stronger and making progress, [3] unwilling to agree that China and the United States can achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, and [4] are trying to form a camp to contain and suppress China.

“The wrong words and deeds of the U.S. side not only seriously damage the interests of the two peoples, but also seriously impact world peace and stability” Wang said.

Here are the Chinese statements over the past few days:

Shortly after the Putin/Xi Jingping virtual meeting, this question was posed to Foreign Minister Spokesperson Wang Wenbin. Mr Wenbin is a highly competent diplomat.

Question from TASS: In his virtual meeting with Russian President Putin, President Xi Jinping said China will continue to carry out flexible and diverse cooperation with Russia and other member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to safeguard security and stability in the region. What challenges are China and Russia facing in this aspect? What can China and Russia do to safeguard regional security?

Wang Wenbin: On December 15, President Xi Jinping had a virtual meeting with Russian President Putin. The two heads of state had an in-depth exchange of views on core and major issues of common concerns including safeguarding regional security, and achieved new, important consensus.

Translation

The world is witnessing the combined forces of changes and a pandemic both unseen in a century against the backdrop of complex and profound changes in international and regional landscape.

We believe that China and Russia, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, take on an important mission in defending regional peace and stability and promoting development and revitalization of all countries.

For some time, certain countries have been drawing ideological lines, building new military blocs and stoking regional tensions, which have all brought grave threats and challenges to regional peace and stability and global strategic stability.

China and Russia firmly reject this.

We will continue to follow the two leaders’ consensus, take up responsibility, unite all forces that love peace and support peace, and make active contribution to realizing sustained, universal and common security in the region and the wider world.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/202112/t20211215_10470184.html

Certain sentences and words need to be lifted out of ‘diplo-speak’.

Note, the question from the TASS reporter is about regional security. Mr Wenbin, in his response, brought it back to the strategic stability of the wider world.

This sentence: Russia/China take on important mission in defending regional peace and stability and promoting development and revitalization of all countries.

Again, he then speaks about Global Strategic Stability and not only regional.

For some time, certain countries have been drawing ideological lines, building new military blocs and stoking regional tensions, which have all brought grave threats and challenges to regional peace and stability and global strategic stability.

And here is the shocker:

We will continue to follow the two leaders’ consensus, take up responsibility, unite all forces that love peace and support peace, and make active contribution to realizing sustained, universal and common security in the region and the wider world.

The phrase the two leader’s consensus indicates that all plans have been made, everyone stands at the ready, and Putin and Xi Jinping will take the next step probably on a phone call.

The fate of the world is now in the hands of Putin and Xi Jinping.

It is astonishing that China is subjecting itself to The Consensus of the Two Leaders and shows without a shadow of a doubt that they are acting in full concert, strategically, politically, economically coordinated, and we know militarily as well, we just don’t know to what extent.

Another statement from Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin: This statement is interesting in that it shows the emotion (which I’ve never seen him display) of the Chinese people. They are at the end of their strategic patience as well and this is how they feel.

“The era in which the USA acted arbitrarily in the world under the pretext of democracy and human rights is now over.”

CHINA: “The era in which the USA acted arbitrarily in the world under the pretext of democracy and human rights is now over.”

pic.twitter.com/TxIuQHn1GE
— ASB News / MILITARY〽️ (@ASBMilitary) December 15, 2021

Currently, the destruction that the Western powers waged on the world, is transparent. Take a look: Pentagon documents reveal ‘deeply flawed’ US air war: report

https://peoplesdaily.pdnews.cn/world/pentagon-documents-reveal-deeply-flawed-us-air-war-report-241188.html

Russia and China are stepping into alternative world relations…

…still based on the UN Charter and Law…

…and based on respect between countries.

And more than that, they are proving that it is possible since the first discussions of multi-polarity in the world in 2015 and the first public discussions of Belt and Road in 2013.

The Time Has Come

For years now Russia and China tried to help the Western powers out of their sorry state; but the time has come.

‘Gung-ho’ and ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’ seem to be over and at least from China side, this is a tipping point.

The Western powers need to face their downright self-inflicted humiliation.

This will happen economically by moving the world to a new economic system with new economic tools and will go right through to military intervention should the Western powers continue their arbitrary actions.

But nobody will be fighting the ‘West’s War’ and I submit we may see something quite unanticipated by our usual analysis and calculus.

It is already unprecedented that Mr. Lavrov published his diplomatic correspondence with France and Germany regarding the Ukraine.

It is also unprecedented for draft proposals from Russia to be open to the public at this stage.

We are in an unprecedented time.

Want peace, but…

The fact that both Russia, China, and Iran do not start the shooting, is incontrovertible proof that they are genuine in their statements that they want to bring peace.

China is in, boots ‘n all.

If a regional conflagration should break out and it is in Russia’s ballpark (the Ukraine), and Russia can deal with it on her own, China will make sure that the Russian soldiers are the best outfitted and supported of any modern military force that we have ever seen.

You will see a voentorg to beat all voentorgs. Russian forces will drink champagne and eat oysters (OK, this is shameless hyperbole, but it makes the point).

Taiwan has simmered down.

The latest words there from China in the person of Foreign Minister Wang Yi, is Taiwan’s reunification with China is a question of time. “China must and will be reunified,” he stressed.

He noted that there has been growing support for the ‘One-China’ principle around the world, referring to the recent decision by the government of Nicaragua to break ties with Taipei.

“Ten days ago, we resumed diplomatic relations with Nicaragua. The total number of countries with [whom China has] diplomatic ties has increased to 181, and the one-China consensus has been consolidated internationally,”

He said.

If there is a fight, no matter the size, or the manner of the fight, the Chinese are in and I would argue that they are in right now!

Nobody can beat them at producing what is necessary for a fight.

Their own aircraft carrier battle groups are out in the ocean through the near Pacific, South China Seas and other seas.

One has to get used to how China presents things.

Even the media reporting these maneuvers, puts scare quotes around the words “routine drills”. Battle groups are out for scare quoted “routine drills”. They do not say that China is readying herself for a defense of her own basin, in which case Russia will support in the same way that China will support Russia.

Will anyone be able to penetrate beyond and inside the first island chain?

So, it is clear that the Russia/China double helix is operating fine currently.

Mr Wang is not playing a good cop to Russia’s bad cop.

He is making it clear that what is happening is not only a Russian problem, but a problem of the strategic stability in the world, It affects not only Russia, but China as well, and no longer can one entity be allowed to attack others like fish in a barrel.

We cannot think of a multi-front war: the West cannot possibly be that deranged.

Yet, the ludicrous rhetoric in the Western spheres continues apace and distracts from reality.

It is hardly worthwhile rebutting every accusation.

China is not using much rhetoric currently but we can be sure that they note this rhetoric. Knowing the strategic situation in the world, they are not rebutting.

There is no need.

A Throne of Chinese Skulls

We need men ” … who want to sit on a throne of Chinese skulls …”

Tucker Carlson’s guest: 

“We don’t need a military that’s woman-friendly, that’s gay friendly” we need men “who want to sit on a throne of Chinese skulls, but we don’t have that now. We can’t get women off of naval vessels, that should be step one but most are pregnant anyway.” 

-pic.twitter.com/9uNzdbx0ON

— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) December 18, 2021

Andrei Martyanov is causing high hilarity about USA representatives that want to ‘kill themselves some Ruskis’ and even offers up a few:

This boy, obviously, despite his tour in Iraq never saw a real war and a real enemy who can actually kill you back even when one is in the bunker inside your own army base.

We can conclude then that the slew of accusations made to Russia, are similar in tone and also in substance, as those made to China.

The minds of these accusers cannot contemplate a peaceful world.

It seems to be impossible for them.

Although Russia is not threatening the Ukraine, and China is not threatening her own Taiwanese province, they believe their belligerent rhetoric can make it so.

Western states are slowly approaching the state of being disconcerted and soon now they will enter a stage of being stunned, as they are now being dictated to on the red lines of the other forces in the world.

We can never forget Iran, which showed everyone how to say NO!

There will be NO conformity to Western red lines.

I venture to say that the USA and cronies will NOT even be allowed to keep operating their Monroe Doctrine.

They will NOT be allowed a sphere of influence.

They will ONLY be allowed their space as a pole in multi-polarity.

The leftist candidate won the elections in Chile yesterday (although there are questions as to how ‘empire-proof’ he is). The one slogan that was visible is:

“If neocolonialism started in Chile, we will end it in Chile”.

Within China, China is looking after China.

They are developing their space program, their Belt and Road which is ‘a force for good’ in the world, and building their economy and continuing to create an increasingly varied and better life for their people. The Olympic Games will continue, and in time Taiwan will reunify.

They are also, with Russia and others, building out a new financial system for the world.

What can stop a war at this stage?

The West will lose. The West has a very strong and simple reason to avoid a new war: They will lose. Their actions are now futile.
The USA is dying. Xi and Putin can still decide to let it die and continue to stay out of the fray. But they have made the decision to enter a confrontational era. We could speculate as to why as the situation reveals itself.
Ready to strike the death blow. China, Asia or the AsiaPacific is ready to end the empirical era. Both Russia and China are ready to end the empirical era in such a way that retaliatory strikes are almost impossible. It is a most complex ballet of threat and counterthreat, coherently managed by the two countries. Russia is not arriving, China is not arriving and Iran is not arriving for the war that the hegemon is inviting them to. How frustrating for them.

What can stop a war?

China and Russia, the consensus of the two leaders probably can. I repeat:

“The era in which the USA acted arbitrarily in the world under the pretext of democracy and human rights is now over.”

Yankee Go Home!

Russia’s ultimatum to the West (IMPORTANT UPDATE)

To understand what just happened, we need to look at two things: how Russia chose to communicate her demands and then the contents of the demands themselves.

However, before I do that, I want to recommend two other points of view, both of which are, in my opinion, very helpful:

Andrei Martyanov’s https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2021/12/people-asked-i-respond-on-run.html
Bernhard’s https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/12/russia-details-secruity-demands-to-us-and-nato.html

I recommend you read them before we continue. This being said, let’s look in more detail at just what happened.

First, this was clearly an ultimatum. Second, it was a public ultimatum.

This is absolutely crucial, as it marks, at the very least, a total break with normal Russian (and Soviet) diplomatic practice.

It is also pretty obvious that both the form and the substance of that ultimatum would be unacceptable to the USA and the US colonies in Europe.

Which begs the question: what are the Russians trying to achieve here?

Some will say that the Russians (or Putin personally) are simply stupid and that they are too arrogant to realize that their ultimatum would never be accepted.

Well, if the USA (the only part of the “West” which matters because it has actual agency) ignores that ultimatum and then merrily continues on the path it has been on since at least Bill Clinton, and if the Russians (or Putin personally) do nothing, then those who believe that the Russians are stupid will be proven right.

Now let’s look at what else might happen.

The first thing we need to understand is that Russia holds all the military cards (read Martyanov for details I won’t bother repeating it all here).

So let’s quickly worst case: “Biden” ignores Russia and Russia replies by deploying weapon systems, including hypersonic weapons, which will threaten the US not only in Russia, but in Belarus, the Arctic, and the mid-Atlantic. Then the US will feel the same way Moscow does: 5 minutes away from annihilation. Will that be good for “Biden”?

Let’s imagine that “Biden” decides to play tough and creates some kind of incident that will force the Russians to either sink a USN ship or shoot down a USAF aircraft. That would mean war.

Here “Biden” would have two options: keep the war below the nuclear threshold and lose that war (the NATO military infrastructure would be gone) or go nuclear and risk a nuclear holocaust. Will either one of these be good for “Biden”?

Now let’s say that “Biden” agrees to negotiate with Russia (while, of course, keeping up with all the pretenses about “consulting with partners and allies”) and the two sides come to some kind of deal. How would that deal manifest itself? Well, that is quite obvious – NATO would have to give up its expansion while Russia would have to provide verifiable guarantees that she will not attack any NATO country. I know, I am skipping over a gazillion of details in which, as the expression goes, the devil lies, but for our purposes this is sufficient. Then, again, I would ask the same question as above: would that be a good outcome for “Biden”?

We need to look at this possibility even further:

First, some of the US EU vassals would be incensed and they would do two things: verbally protest as loudly as possible and engage in whatever action they could come up with to force the situation and create a crisis.

And no, that would not be good for “Biden” at all.

But, consider this: first, “Biden” can tell the EU vassals to shut up and behave. But even more importantly, that “bad option” will look “less bad” to “Biden” than either one of the two options mentioned above (place the entire USA 5min away from destruction or face a full-scale war).

Remember how I said that Russia holds all the military cards?

Russia also holds much stronger political and economic cards than the USA which has close to nothing.

Politically, Russia is now “more than an ally” to China, she is a close partner to India (to the fury of the White House) and politically, she is much less isolated than the USA!

Even the map above does not give the full measure of the situation. Why?

Because most of the “international community” which “supports” (well, obeys) the USA is the EU, which itself is in a terminal crisis on too many levels to count here!

Compare the red and the grey zones on the map, and ask yourself these questions: which zone has the most powerful military? Which zone has the most natural and human resources? which zone has the most promising trading routes? which zone has a real GDP, as opposed to a purely FIRE one? Which one is literally dying spiritually under the trans-national “Woke” ideology and which one has retained the willingness and ability to fight for its spiritual, cultural, and civilizational values? Finally, which zone has a viable vision of the future?

I could go on and on with many more such questions, but I think that you see my point: the USA is not only losing militarily, but it is also losing on all fronts!

Next question: what does the USA need most?

Well, there are plenty of things the USA need, but I would single out one: time. Why? Because the truth is that the USA has only two options left: a “Kabul style” retreat from Europe or an orderly, negotiated “rearrangement” of the European collective security system (which, let’s not forget, the USA screwed up all by itself, a true disaster for which the USA is now totally responsible for).

[Sidebar: there is not such thing as unilateral security.  All real security is always collective.  That truism is now a dangerous political heresy in the West for which folks get (figuratively) burned at the stake for.  Unilateralism is just a trigger for insecurity and, eventually, war.]

If there is no war, then NATO will survive, at least politically. If there is no war, “Biden” will be able to say that the West’s “firm and united” stance forced Russia to make concessions: remember how the Cuban missile crisis was presented by the USA as a US victory when, in fact, it forced the USA to withdraw missiles from Turkey?

It has been many decades since the Cuban missile crisis, yet something like 99% of the people in the US and EU sincerely believes that the US “won”!

The AngloZionist propaganda machine can easily repeat that once more.

Except for a “small” problem: this time around, Russia presented her ultimatum first and made so very publicly.

Why did the Russians choose this method?

Well, I don’t know, I cannot read the Kremlin’s mind, but my guess is that Russia wants way more than just a “draw” (which is what the Cuban missile crisis was). Russia wants a full victory which she would define as “defanging NATO“, at least in Europe. Why?

Now let’s look at Russia’s options:

Do nothing aka “more of the same”: that means full surrender to the West, followed by a partition of Russia and a US attack on China. To say that this is unacceptable to Russia would be an understatement.

Gradually step down from the demands of the ultimatum: that is a more interesting one and it is again a case of “the devil is in the details”. For example, the existence of NATO by itself means nothing to Russia. Ditto for the EU, by the way. All these are in reality are irrelevant Kaffeeklatsch pretexts for politicians with no future, and countries with no agency. The biggest mistake made by both the EU and NATO was its “glorious” expansion to the East only to find out that all this achieved was irreparably weaken both the EU NATO as the newcomers were, how shall I put it politely, quite terminally stupid, corrupt and infantile. When I listen to EU and NATO politicians, I think of a Kindergarten on crack cocaine or something equally insane (see here for a perfect example).

So one option for Russia would be to “creatively revisit” the terms of her ultimatum and then keep the substance while jettisoning the hostile tone and giving the West some symbolic “concessions”. Would that be a good option for Putin? Well, it all will depend on the mentioned “devil in details”. If at the end of the process NATO is defanged, then yes. If NATO remains as aggressively hostile as it is today, then no.

Which begs the question: what will Russia do in such a case?

Here we need to at least consider one option: a Russian recognition of the LDNR justified by Kiev’s total rejection (de facto and de jure) of the Minsk Agreements and the constant Ukronazi provocations and attacks on the LDNR: remember two things Putin said recently. He spoke of “not yet recognized republics” and he spoke of “genocide“.

“Responsibility to protect” anyone?

Of course, the Ukronazis would have to attack (even at least symbolically), which would allow Russia to make a military move against the Ukraine, free the LDNR and deploy Russian forces inside these republics, fully backed by Belarus, of course, and, possibly, even China (politically). Notice I did not say “invasion”.

Let’s imagine that Russia will use her standoff weapon systems to defang the Ukies, liberate the LDNR, and then will turn to the rest of Europe with a “smile” strongly suggesting the following “which of you guys wants to be next?” This would result in a total panic in Europe, especially in Mons, Brussels, and Warsaw.

And here is the beauty of that option: Russia can easily strike Mons and Brussels (or Warsaw) with conventional weapons and leave most of these cities in mint shape. And if the EU/NATO decides to strike back, then Russia will wage a full-scale war against the EU/NATO and she will win it.

What about the “Biden” administration in such a scenario? The Pentagon knows what Russian missiles can do to it and any other military objective in the continental USA. I very much doubt that the US deep state will be willing to commit mass suicide just to try (and fail!) to protect the EU. Besides, the Russians have no intentions or capabilities, to invade the EU anyway, so why destroy the USA for a threat which does not even exist?!

Does “Biden” want to go down in history as “the President who lost Europe”?

Would “the President who triggered a nuclear holocaust” sound any better?

So by making her demands public, Russia has (for the first time and finally!!) also sent a message to the people of the West. This message can be summarized like this: we don’t want war, but if you insist, we will oblige.

And, for the first time since 1991, Russia does have the objective means to achieve these goals.

So there, we have it, I think.

Now we also need to address the elephant in the room: the US War Party and, even more so, the EU infantiles on crack cocaine. For them, defanging NATO would be utterly unacceptable…

… or would it?

The US War Party is just that, US-based. And while some of the talking heads on the idiot tube do sound like real “hawks”, the military professionals in the US armed forces know the real score.

Not only that, but the “smart wing” of the War Party understands that the USA desperately needs time and an orderly draw-down, even if just a temporary one!

Their game is, as I said many times, a game of what I call “nuclear chicken” but, crucially, a game short of actual nuclear war which they don’t need at all (if only because they would likely die themselves).

Which leaves the EU infantiles on crack cocaine.

Here I am going to say something terrible, and I feel really bad for writing this, but I only see one method to get the Europeans back from la-la-land to the real world: Russia has to defeat them militarily, yet again, as she did over and over in her history.

Somehow, the narcissistic megalomaniacs who currently administer the European continent on behalf of the USA won’t read history and won’t rein in their deep sense of racial superiority over the subhuman Russian Asiatic hordes.

These modern wannabe Kulturtraegers and assorted Herrenvolk still hate Russia for defeating Hitler, Napoleon, and the rest of them, and for them, their phobia (in the sense of both hate and fear) of everything Russian is now part of their identity, something quite sacred to them and to hell with those who think otherwise!

The only effective way to bring the European Master Races back to reality is well-known (see picture).

I would argue that such an outcome goes directly against the interests of BOTH the USA and Russia. And, most obviously, it goes totally against the interests of the people of Europe.

But if the latter does nothing to prevent such an outcome, then it is for the USA and Russia to prevent it.

And if the USA won’t prevent it, then Russia will deliver.

As for the notion that boycotts, sanctions (even from hell!), or the cancellation of NS2 will stop the Russians -it is truly beyond ridiculous. Last time around, Russia lost 27 million people and then rebuilt her economy within a decade.

The Terms of Surrender

Found HERE.

Conclusion:

This is no Russian bluff but a real ultimatum.

In fact, it is so real that it was made public for two reasons I believe: first, of course, to try to appeal to the people of the West and, second, to morally “untie the hands” of Russia should it come to full-scale war.

Analysts in the West always assume that public gestures are somehow exclusively aimed at them. They are wrong.

This ultimatum is also addressed to the Russian people and Russian armed forces and says this to them:

“people of Russia, we tried all we could to avoid this, we pleaded and begged for decades, and we retreated on many fronts, yet in spite of that, the West keeps pressing on.  We will never allow a June 22nd to happen again.  Prepare for war“.

I will end with three quotes by Putin himself:

“As a citizen of Russia and the head of the Russian state I must ask myself: Why would we want a world without Russia?”

“Fifty years ago, the streets of Leningrad taught me one thing: If a fight’s inevitable, you must strike first”

“Any aggressor should know that retribution will be inevitable and he will be destroyed. And since we will be the victims of his aggression, we will be going to heaven as martyrs. They will simply drop dead, won’t even have time to repent,”

UPDATE: according to the Russian media citing “diplomatic sources”, China has given her full support to the Russian demands. What that actually means or implies is unclear, but this is the first indication that the Russian ultimatum was coordinated with the Chinese and that China will have some kind of role to play in the next move of the Russians if the US rejects the Russian demands.

The time has come to “man up” or “fuck up”.

Comments – Dmitry Orlov

Dmitry Orlov on December 20, 2021 · at 12:22 am EST/EDT

Why? Well, we definitely don’t know the answer to that because it’s a secret. But we can guess. And my guess is that Russia knows something: that, essentially, the US is much weaker than anyone in the US thinks and waiting any longer will leave the world in an untenable situation. Thus, Russia is eager to get these deals signed ASAP, while there is still someone in Washington who can hold a pen. And the last useful thing that Washington can do is, essentially, disband NATO (which is what signing Russia’s ultimatum would essentially accomplish).

I’ve written about all of this before, and it goes like this:
• A situation where offering a million dollars for a book of matches gets you a punch to the face
• No access to imports of any sort within the (former) US because there is no longer a credit mechanism for funding trade; no functioning utilities or transportation networks; a new economy based on looting and barter.
• My “Five Stages of Collapse” in chorus with 4-part harmony while Russia and China do their best to keep US nuclear and bioterror installations and facilities under control while repatriating their nationals and providing a bit of humanitarian aid to those who cooperate with them.

Look at the title of this article: it contains the word “ultimatum” for a really excellent reason. Russia is not negotiating; Russia is spelling out how it will all go down, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and that last bit is all that’s left to decide. But while the ultimatum is as public as possible, its implementation will be as secretive as possible. Essentially, we don’t know how it will happen because we are not allowed to know.

Comments – Whozhere

You are correct Dmitry…..

“that Russia knows something: that, essentially, the US is much weaker than anyone in the US thinks”

In a nutshell, the Biden operation has no access to the nuclear arsenal of the US.

Comments – Mike from Jersey

I live in the United States.

There is a dynamic playing out.

A very substantial amount of the population no longer supports the government or major institutions. They look on their own government/institutional structure as the enemy. They no longer consider this to be a flawed, but nonetheless, functioning system.

They consider themselves living under the heel of an occupying army which is suppressing them and their freedom. The numbers who take this position are large. Probably as much as thirty per cent or more.

On the other hand the people pulling the levers of power have no understanding of this erosion of faith. They act with a total lack of awareness that they are surrounded by large numbers of very angry citizens.

It may be that Russian intelligence understands what the American “intelligencia” does not.

Comment – Dmitry

The numbers the Russians have voiced are that 40% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans are in favor of disbanding the USA. This is quite far beyond what’s needed to make it happen with even a minimal external stress.

Comment – Eagle Eye

Looks like schadenfruede is going to get a workout shortly.

And if disbanding the USA happens, where does that leave Klaus Swabbe and his WEF Great Reset agenda? What happens to Wall Street and Operation Mockingbird media control in the collapse scenario and how does that play out globally?

“On the other hand the people pulling the levers of power have no understanding of this erosion of faith. They act with a total lack of awareness that they are surrounded by large numbers of very angry citizens.”
I see that same dynamic here in Australia at a state and federal level. Others are seeing it elsewhere. It is no longer an academic debate, but an existential problem. The media no longer accurately portray the public mood with the exception of grief following tragedy, like the local one where kids got killed in a freak playground accident. Beyond that the public reaction is endlessly spun to deliver the story “media” wants told, the truth be damned.

The danger for “the West” is that nominally democratic nations will fall to totalitarianism. There is a very interesting but disturbing interview with clinical psychologist, Professor Matthias Desmet at panedemic podcasts which should be on the must listen list of the readership. It details the steps to take to create a mass formation and what that psychological phenomenon is capable of delivering. In his well qualified view the management of the Covid Pandemic in the West can bring about such a response from the public. If it does the damage will compound with that from the USA collapse Dmitry forsees and the result will be truly biblical carnage.

Comment – Blackring

@Dmitry Orlov
“…while the ultimatum is as public as possible, its implementation will be as secretive as possible”

Ok, that explained lack of “else” in ultimatum. But because of showing too much patience to spoiled brats, now it is necessary to bitch-slap them to senses. As many times as it takes.

I do not see how this can be done secretly enough. Thanks to informational technology and MSM dominance, West have advantage in clandestine game.
In addition, since UKUS always preferred to use proxies, it is wise to embolden vassals to defect.

Russian advantage is in having hyper-sonic weapons, which allows tactics used by West against weak opponents without air defense. Maybe something like Israelis did in Gaza can be done to, say, Aegis Ashore in Romania. “Knock on roof”, followed with Big Kaboom after personnel runs away. Big hole in the ground – no casualties. After that, friendly talk can begin.

Seriously, it is long overdue that Empire get a taste of its own medicine.

Comment – Scuppers

Why now? Because it’s the right moment. I keep coming back to the game of chess, in my mind. White (the west in this analogy) starts the game with the initiative, and black (Russia in this analog) has the task of arresting that initiative, and stealing it. Black did that in 2015-2018, and locked the board. But white keeps trying to regain the initiative, and at this point, black blocks, but also ensures that every counter move makes white’s next move more catastrophic. And 3 years later, we are at the point that if white decides to start trading pieces, it will lose catastrophically. So you offer your opponent a way out. Tip your king and bow out, and come back another day to play again or get blown out and humiliated. There is a third option; throw the board in the air and everyone loses. Let us hope the west doesn’t choose option 3.

Comment – RZW

Why I agree with Orlov, my guess is that Russia has intelligence about false flag or attack on Donbass. Just for the record keep in mind 6th of January (Orthodox Christmas eve) and 4th of February (Opening of Olympic games, Putin in China).

Comment – Ted Richard

Andrei, ultimatums are generally if not always time dependent…. time specific, which is to say a Russian ultimatum declared today has a shelf life before agreement or action must be taken………that time is in your opinion……..years, months, weeks?

Comment – The Saker

To begin negotiations, the Russians said “tomorrow in Geneva”, but that was metaphorical.

A month, maybe 2 max.
But the key decisions might have already been taken.

I don’t think these people understand what is at stake here.

That is exactly my biggest fear too.

Comments – Razor

it seems logical to me that Russia has already decided what action it will take if, as likely, the West brushes off its ultimatum. I would assume that whatever action it takes, will be measured. A trip wire if you like, to show it means business, and to awaken the sleeping masses in EU US, while allowing the West to step back from Armageddon. And if that doesn’t create the desired result, they will also no doubt have planned for this eventuality, which could of course mean full pedal to the metal, God save us.

Comments – Peterd

I recently came across the wicked suggestion by somebody to counteract NATOs eastward expansion of Russia by offering Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg until 1946) as a naval/military base for China, sharing it with the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy. That would certainly put the cat among the euro-pigeons sandwiched as it is between Lithuania and Poland.

Comments – War is coming

These people need a ‘lesson’ teached by Russia to be sure they never come back again with their idiocy, wargames, sanctions, ‘kill some Russians” etc…they must have ‘the fear of their life’ at least once, otherwise they will double down forever.

Comments – GRI

I read on another site the following news: from February 1, 2022, for the first time in Russia, the national standard “Urgent burial of corpses in peacetime and wartime” is being introduced. It describes that the authorities must be prepared to bury thousands of people in mass graves. The standards for graves, labor costs, the amount of equipment and the way of storing corpses have been established. The question is whether the ultimatum and the introduction of the above-mentioned measures are correlated.

Comment – Vaughan

The reason for Russia’s hardened stance imo may be the absolute and quickened spiritual and moral decline of the West.

They’ve become like the bully in a bar room brawl who, will pounce with the killer blow once the peace deal and handshake have been made and the innocent victim looks away.

Russia has endured so much ridicule, lies and mockery via Western leaders now for the past 12-15 years now. There are too many statements to quote.

Russia and Putin in general, have become the ‘hit piece’ of mocking ridicule of the Western Leaders and US Generals and simply, their time is up.

I feel that Russia has finally taken as much as she can and the Russian Leaders KNOW that they can no longer trust a country like the USA who’s own people have lost faith in their once robust institutions.

The American people have lost faith in their democratic system, the media, the judiciary, and their stumbling bumbling President’s’.

Indeed, the people have become the enemy of their own government.

On the world stage, the US has become a joke unto herself. A mockery of the great country she once was and, the decline of that country and all that made her great have been systematically dismantled and white anted away.

Her leaders words mean nothing. Their deals mean nothing and their words mean nothing.

Sadly, truth to them, holds no value and is treated accordingly.

Words are used by them but their words mean nothing and have no weight. No long lasting reach. No true value. Therefore, their words have become like the wind, carrying with it a scent from where it was but not strong enough to have any value

Russia knows that unless they can draw the line now, a declaration of peace is impossible.

Russian leaders know that long lasting peace for Russia may not disappear with a bang but wither over time by a thousand cuts. A dissolving. A watering down of conditions, a watering down of borders and a watering down of understanding until soon enough, peace will no longer exist.

This kind of peace is no peace at all.
“Peace peace where there is no peace”.

War is an abomination but the dissolving of peace slowly before your very eyes is a burden no true Leader can entertain.

This is what has been happening since the Wall came down. A slow dissolving of peace.

The Russians have always seemed to attempt to turn the other cheek. They’ve used logic and were met with mockery. They’ve valued truth with a people who excelled in connivance.

They valued respect and were met with ridicule.

Finally, they’ve run out of humour. They’ve run out of hope that hope still exists in the West. They’ve been met with no truth, no logic and no respect

And now, we will see if these western ‘leaders’ have steel in their backbones or jelly in their pants.

I know what I believe we’ll see.

Comment – Band Itkoitko

“I only see one method to get the Europeans back from la-la-land to the real world: Russia has to defeat them militarily.”

Alternatively, and almost equivalently in term of a shock effect, is Russia completely defeating them economically. Let’s have Western people go and clean toilets in Asia or US Americans work in the fields of Mexico. Let the world reverse, they will be more than humbled and more than defeated. Their “greatness” illusion will be destroyed. Their ridiculous “superiority” will be vanquished.

Notably, the West is doing everything necessary to enact their own economic defeat. So no much effort on the Russian side is needed.

Comment – CDvision

Very smart move by Russia. They are likely convinced a conflict is unavoidable, but want to lay these documents down so that history will be unequivocally on their side.

At this point. I too am convinced that a conflict is inevitable. The collective West is finished economically, politically and culturally. Its their last gambit – to upset the board.

Should the peace terms be rejected (likely) then I expect Russia to have a Mike Tyson, punch in the face, at the ready. Paradoxically, 404 attacking the Donbass plays into Russia’s hands, and provides the cause for a Gotterdammerung. Then there will be a much shorter ultimatum sent to the West.

Comment – Tedrichard

the other half of the ultimatum neither written or spoken is the elegance of china moving against taiwan simultaneous to something happening in ukraine.

this places the pentagon and usa in an utterly untenable place where neither victory can be achieved and a massive loss of face.

if you are russia and china and you coordinate so many things now and for future it makes no sense NOT coordinate this geopolitical move resolving both problems at the same time with a minimum of fuss and which will overwhelm the western msm narrative manipulation.

Comment – MIJJ

My feeling is Russia/China have already won. What US is doing is what any ill-disciplined child would do to instinctively create a primitive sense of dominance – throw the chess board across the room, trample the pieces scream hate and yell threats to instinctively create a primitive sense of dominance.

If you hate a person , then you are defeated by them 
– Confucius.

MM Comments

Russia and China are SERIOUS.

I fully expect the USA to take zero action. Just like when China announced at the UN in 2020 that the United States had to answer for the 11 bio-weapon attacks against China.

Nothing apparently happened.

Well, nothing publicly visible happened.

And I fully expect the same thing; a repeat of the sloth, and arrogance of the United States government. Only this time, it will be visibly kinetic.

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Is America going to finally catch up to China? A look at Bidens “Build Back Better” trillions in investment

Oh my goodness! Trillions of dollars in rebuilding America. That means roads, bridges, trains, infrastructure, and factories. Trillions of dollars in spending. There is no doubt that with this enormous outlay of spending that American can catch up and overtake China. The inflation will be worth it. Right? Don’t be so sure.

There’s not much in the way of actual STEM budgeting. It’s all FIRE nonsense. Here we talk about it.

I Read Biden’s Build Back Better Plan and…Oh, My God

Ann Coulter

November 11, 2021

The White House’s official press release announcing the Build Back Better Act (BBB) pitches it as a “PLAN TO REBUILD THE MIDDLE CLASS.” It rhapsodizes about “working families” squeezed by the economy, and reminds voters that “Biden promised to rebuild the backbone of the country — the middle class.”

A cartoon illustrates the sort of person who would benefit from Biden’s Build Back Better programs: “Linda,” a white woman, who works at a manufacturing plant but struggles to raise her son, “Leo.”

One thing the White House’s official press release did not mention is that almost all of the $2 trillion doled out under BBB is expressly designated for Black, Latino, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander and non-English speaking individuals. White Americans will get nothing and like it.

“Even provisions that don’t explicitly exclude whites, turn out, on closer examination, to exclude whites.”

Over and over again, the bill is written expressly NOT to help the hardworking Linda, apparently because she is white.

Here are just a few examples:

— $1 billion to Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities for housing “needs.”

— $500 million for minority-serving schools of medicine.

— $112 million for teacher preparation programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).

— $75 million for culturally appropriate care management and services for older individuals who are racial and ethnic minorities or are underserved due to sexual orientation or gender identity.

— $75 million to study maternal health for pregnant and postpartum minority individuals.

— $50 million study maternal mortality among minorities.

— $50 million to improve behavioral health outcomes for communities of color with substance abuse.

— $75 million to increase research capacity at minority-serving institutions.

And on and on and on.

The very first item in Title II of the bill, titled “ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION,” is a program to distribute more than $100 million in grants to address “low diversity within the teacher and school leader workforce.”

To be eligible for a grant, the recipient must have a plan “to increase the diversity of qualified individuals entering into the teacher, principal, or other school leader workforce.”

Similarly, the first provision of BBB’s “ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT” section is: “Minority Business Development Agency.”

But wait — here’s a plot twist!

This part also includes something for rural America! (So Democrats have heard of Appalachia.)

Twenty-one percent of the country is rural. Twenty-four percent is non-white. Guess how the money is divvied up?

One billion dollars for minorities and $200 million for “rural business centers.”

Even provisions that don’t explicitly exclude whites, turn out, on closer examination, to exclude whites. I’ve never seen so many synonyms for “non-white,” such as “persistent poverty communities,” “historically economically distressed,” “historical injustice” and “underserved communities.”

Hang on, Ann — what makes you think “underserved” means “non-white”?

I refer you to page 111 of the bill:

“This section also defines an ‘underserved community’ as a group of people who have been systematically denied the full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life. Underserved communities include Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, other persons of color, [etc.].”

How about changes to our environmental laws?

White people love the environment!

Sorry, out of luck, again, white boy. BBB allocates almost $7 billion for …

“national service programs to carry out projects related to climate resilience and mitigation.”

Unfortunately, however, all those billions have to go to 

“entities that serve and have representation from low-income communities …; utilize culturally competent and multilingual strategies; … implemented by diverse participants from communities being served.”

One billion dollars of the “Climate Resilience and Mitigation” loot is specifically directed to “individuals who were formally incarcerated.” [Sic.]

Sure, climate change is important — but not as important as giving money to convicted felons!

What the hell happened to Linda?

Linda is wearing a hardhat, so her job has probably been outsourced. Maybe she’ll be helped by BBB’s humongous expansion of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program (TAA).

That’s the law passed in the 1960s to compensate American workers whose jobs have been shipped abroad by globalist swine who couldn’t care less about their fellow Americans and don’t mind that every single thing we need, including masks and medicine, is made in China.

Surely, some white people will qualify for that — steelworkers, autoworkers, glass, plastic and paper manufacturing employees.

In fact, the BBB hijacks the whole idea of compensating globalism’s losers and turns the TAA into just another massive welfare scheme.

Both the eligibility requirements and payment amounts are expanded beyond all reason, entitling “workers” to years and years of payouts, with no minimum employment period required, and no stipulation that trade has anything to do with the loss of their jobs.

Thus, for example, a program that is — again — meant to remunerate workers whose jobs were shipped abroad will now offer assistance to public sector employees.

How does a government employee lose a job at all — much less to trade? (I only wish we had Chinese people running our grade schools.)

Naturally, states will be required to work with “training providers” that have a proven track record serving “Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, other persons of color, members of other minority communities” and so on.

Republicans seem to think that if they just talk about how much Biden’s BBB plan costs, their job is done. They ought to read the bill. It might prompt them to finally say something about the Democrats’ clear animus against white Americans.

Conclusion

Imagine. Imagine trillions of dollars going into these urban enclaves to serve the 13% of society. What will be the result? Will it be many bright and shining cities full of impressive skyscrapers, fast high speed trains, and more parks and infrastructure?

Where will the money go to, and who will have it, and what will they use it on? Because you KNOW that there is going to be a lot of holes in those massive sacks of money. So who is going to really benefit?

The under-employed and under-privileged?
Or the very wealthy that runs the cities like the mob bosses of old?

And of the money that flows to these areas, and those that flow out, what about the rest of the nation? Like Trump’s budget that make the Wall Street Bankers fantastically wealthy, this is poised to make the city mob bosses fantastically wealthy as well.

Who will not get wealthy?

I see the makings of a massive and colossal storm, and I do not want to be at ground zero when it hits. Look I am not being racist, I am being real. You just cannot exclude people from a budget by their race, upbringing or social standing on a whim and NOT expect consequences.

I am worried about those consequences.

And you should be as well.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there was some balance in the budget, but there isn’t any. It’s all a lopsided manifestation of corruption.

I have no answers, but I see no real changes anywhere in government structure. Just more of the same race baiting, underhand dealings and crime and corruption. For a nation that is supposed to be color-blind to race, this bill is the most racist document I have ever heard and read about. And that is disturbing. Because, knowing what I do know about the see-saw of American politics, that when the tide of public opinion flows in the other direction…

…things are going to get really, really bad. video 26MB

Ann said

How does a government employee lose a job at all — much less to trade? (I only wish we had Chinese people running our grade schools.)

Well, it would American schools look like then? Well they would look like this…

Here’s a video about the roll call in first grade. video 25MB

Here’s a video on school food discipline, and eating everything that is on your plate. video 40MB

School; it would look like this. video 83MB

Second grade roll call. China. Discipline. video 6MB

School assembly practice. And it would look like this. video 55MB

And it would look like this. video 25MB

And like this too. video 27MB

America really needs to up it’s game instead of playing the blame game and pointing fingers. It needs to accept that the government is a travesty, the society is fucked up, and it is in it’s death thrall.

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my New Beginnings 2 index here… New Beginnings 2 .

China sitrep December 2021

Oh my goodness!

Amazing skills of Chinese Kids

Video 2MB

“Given the gigantic scale of China’s achievements, anyone with sense in the world will study these intently.”

– There was a time when such things needed not be said.

Impressive speed of Change in China

Really impressive. Video 5MB

China is part of the solution

Video 1.5MB

Chinese vs. American “democracy”

Video 5.8MB

China and Cambodia relations

Contrary to the bullshit “news” out of the “West” China is great friends with it’s neighbors. Here’s a brief interview worthy of review. video 8MB

Sitrep: Here Comes China – Taking the lead – a dialogue on democracy in China

By Amarynth for the Saker Blog including a number of data points from Godfree Roberts

Did you know that a huge International Forum on Democracy is ongoing in China right now? This is before the supposed Biden “Summit on Democracy” which is an attempt to divide the world into Democracies and Autocracies, according to the wishes of the rules-based international order.

As we have seen so often from China, they acted with incredible speed and presented their own high-quality International Forum. They also published a Chinese White Paper on Democracy and it outlines how their Whole Process People’s Democracy functions for their people: http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/1204/c312369-9928374.html

In addition, China released a full report on the state of US democracy: http://www.news.cn/english/2021-12/05/c_1310352578.htm

Interesting to note the tussle for the meaning of ‘democracy’ between PRC, or rather CPC, and the Empire in the CGTN piece.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-12-04/Opening-ceremony-of-international-forum-on-democracy-begins-in-Beijing-15IRPiuCnsI/index.html

China has learned over the past three years how to defend itself against accusations coming from the combined Western influence sphere. Although we know that the media in general still balances toward the combined Western Sphere, there is now a serious contender in the room with the ability, incredible speed of implementation, track record, education, and creative expressive talent to gain media supremacy in getting their message to the world.

Oh, the poor ‘partners’ …

Australia

The ‘partners’ are being led by their noses. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the US and its allies are the “biggest beneficiaries” of Australia’s trade row with China. Washington is in bed with Canberra, at the same time, it points the finger at Beijing and in the background, it picks up Australia’s lost Chinese trade. So, simply stated, all the trade that Australia lost in their trade row with China, from coal to iron ore to meat, the US quietly picked up.

Taiwan

From Taiwan, I hear a similar activity is taking place but this is not yet confirmed by the needed 3 sources. The idea of keeping the issues with Taiwan hot, is that the Taiwanese semiconductor foundry company (TSMC), the biggest employer in Taiwan with a raft of supporting industries around it, is being moved lock, stock, barrel, and existence to new facilities in Arizona. We will wait for more confirmation, but this is a very dangerous move to make, as TSMC is not only the biggest semiconductor company in the world, the industry itself depends on a highly educated and trained workforce. The Taiwanese workforce will lose its lunch.

But…

Following the US sanctions, China’s government stood up and took notice, and, being China, it wasn’t long before they developed a long term plan: Build from the ground up an entirely China developed chip manufacturing system that is 100% free from foreign companies and intellectual property.

Beijing hired over 100 TSMC specialists to help build their own semi-conductor industry and has been diligently building its own chips so it is not reliant on Taiwan:

https://sputniknews.com/20200812/beijing-seeks-100-tsmc-chip-staff-in-bid-to-boost-chinese-tech-self-reliance-in-major-trade-war-1080143216.html

To that end, a couple of years ago China set up several institutes of technology dedicated to training the physicists, engineers and workers needed to develop chip manufacturing techniques and technology that is free of western IP. The timetable is to be able to bulk manufacture 14nm chips (think PC desktops from two years ago) by 2024, to manufacture the current generation of chips by 2028 and to be equal with the best in the world by 2030.

The Chinese know that the “silicon tech route” is nearing its end and so they know that they can’t win the competition following that route. So their investments in the silicon route will remain limited.

The thinking in China is now focused on what comes after “Moore’s Law”. They know that the West is invested in the silicon route and needs to recuperate its huge investments by generating profits in that route. This means that the West will not be able to focus its investments on newer routes for the foreseeable future. Such a situation is seen as an opportunity : few competitors and the potential to being first to master these new technological routes.

Chinese technology institutes are fully immersed in these new routes. And huge investments are now being realized to try to leapfrog the Western Silicon Route by focusing on carbon chips or photonic-chips that seem to promise far higher speeds and far lower energy consumption…

China’s New Hypersonic Aircraft Is Based on a Rejected NASA Design

And it can go faster than five times the speed of sound.

A team of researchers in China has built and tested a prototype hypersonic flight engine that is allegedly based on a design that was scrapped by NASA over 20 years ago, according to a report from the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The prototype itself might not lead to a production version of hypersonic aircraft. Still, in a paper in the Journal of Propulsion Technology, the team behind the machine said “understanding its work mechanism can provide important guidance to hypersonic plane and engine development.”

NASA’s scrapped X-47C program is revived

The original design was proposed by Ming Han Tang, a former chief engineer of NASA’s hypersonic program in the late 1990s. Tang’s Two-Stage Vehicle (TSV) X-plane design was at the center of the Boeing Manta X-47C program, as per the SCMP report. However, before the program could verify the viability of the design, it was terminated by the U.S. government due to its high costs as well as a series of technical issues.

Unlike the majority of hypersonic aircraft proposals, which feature an engine on the underside, the TSV X-plane design by Tang has two separate engines on each side. At lower speeds, the engines work as normal turbine jet engines. With no moving parts, the configuration then allows the aircraft to quickly switch to high-speed mode to accelerate to more than five times the speed of sound.

Now, Professor Tan Huijun and colleagues at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Jiangsu, China, have constructed a prototype based on Tang’s original specifications. They were able to do this due to the fact that the blueprints for the Boeing Manta X-47C program were declassified in 2011. Huijun and his team tested the prototype in a wind tunnel that allows testing in conditions resembling flight at Mach 4 to Mach 8. The tests revealed that Tang’s proposed engine design works in these conditions, meaning they should be able to conduct further tests and build new iterations of their prototype.

The race to go hypersonic

The U.S. and China are in the midst of a space and aviation race. According to the SCMP article, a number of high-profile Chinese scientists quit NASA and other government engineering firms in the U.S. in the late 90s due to strained relations between the two countries. This reportedly coincided with the start of China’s hypersonic weapons program in the early 2000s.

China’s space agency recently announced that it is building a fission reactor for the Moon that will reportedly be 100 times more powerful than one in development by NASA. China’s government also announced earlier this year that it will collaborate with Russia on a lunar space station, which will directly rival NASA’s lunar Gateway program. In October, China also launched a hypersonic missile with “an advanced space capability” that took U.S. officials by surprise.

In July, meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force granted a hypersonic aircraft startup called Hermeus a $60 million contract to develop a prototype aircraft within three years that could travel at speeds of Mach 5 using only one engine. The race to go hypersonic is in full force.

China facts tell it all.

Seriously. When you see what the United States is, how it operates, and what it is doing you cannot help but come to the most obvious of obvious conclusions. video 60MB

Impressions of China

video 24MB

How Chinese Democracy works…

What most people seem not to know is that this internal process of representation in the party is mirrored at the level of state institutions :

— direct public elections take place at the local level of rural villages (since the nineties if my memory serves me well). Everyone can decide to be a candidate and all villagers can vote for the candidate of their choice. Cities rely on voluntary participation in local “quarters” (sorry I don’t know the right English word). The same goes on in the lowest party structure which is the local cell.

— the elected officials of the multiple villages then elect their representatives at the district level by choosing among themselves who they think is the most qualified to have authority over themselves in the future.

— and this representation mechanism is repeated at the higher institutional levels till the top echelon the Political Bureau.

The West calls democracy the fact of voting for representatives every 4 or 5 years. But in the meantime the citizens have no say over any decisions at the different institutional levels of state power.

In China things are quite different.

Representatives, elected directly by the people or elected among themselves, have to implement the will of the people. This is done through various consultation mechanisms.

Direct consultation means asking for the citizens’ opinions about the texts of a legislation before it is being voted upon… Some legislation texts come for public consultation then are reworked by the Congress and the reworked version comes back for further consultation…

Indirect consultation means various polling techniques. The implement of the will of the people necessarily implies that congress members know what the people want. Polling in China is not about getting someone elected. It is about legislating according to the will of the people…

A taste of China

Dancing at the gateway to the Tibetan plateau. video 4MB

William Buffet Explains

Video 2.4MB

The Chinese are able to save money

They they can. In a nation that is not for-profit, that cares about the well being of it’s people, of course families can save, strive and grow. video 6MB

All the latest from Godfree Roberts’ newsletter,

Here Comes China:

BeiDou conducted the first inter-satellite and ground station communication using using lasers instead of radio signals, transmitting data a million times faster than radio and increasing satnav accuracy 4000%. Read full article →

A high-speed railway linking China to landlocked Laos opened Friday. The 660-mile, 160 km/h line runs through mountains and ravines from Kunming to Vientiane. Read full article →

Premier Li Keqiang says the establishment of a centre in Hong Kong to handle Asia – Africa trade and investment disputes will strengthen the city’s role as an arbitration hub and “provide more convenient and efficient dispute resolution services” for parties in both regions. [It also bypasses the WTO–Ed.] Read full article →

China’s service trade rose 13% YoY to $659 billion in the first ten months of the year. Service exports rose 29% YoY, and service imports rose 1%. In October alone, the country’s service trade hit 414 billion yuan, up 24% YoY. Read full article →

China now leads the world in trade of both goods and services and its trading partners now cover 230 countries and regions. China contributed 35% of the growth in global imports in the past five years. Read full article →

Meeting its carbon goals could save China trillions: China could dodge $134 trillion in climate-related losses by meeting carbon neutrality targe. China is predicted to see an 81% reduction in its accumulative climate-related losses by 2100 if it achieves its carbon neutrality target, according to a new study from think tanks in Beijing and London. Read full article →

And extreme ethics violation in my view: In 2018, Dr. He Jiankui shocked the world by announcing that he had used the CRISPR genome-editing technique to alter embryos that were implanted and led to the birth of two children. Today, the children are healthy toddlers and Western researchers want to get their hands on their DNA. Read full article →

China has doubled installed renewable energy capacity since 2015, to one billion kW, or 43% of total installation: Wind power generation increased 30% year-on-year (299 million kWs), solar power generation grew 24% (282 million kWs), and hydropower remains at 385 million kWs; Cost inflation delays solar energy expansion. Read full article →

New groundwater regulations tackle overuse and contamination of 16 billion m³/year of water. Fines could reach $783,000 daily. Right now 44% of groundwater monitoring stations record Grade V, the lowest water quality. Read full article →

China is scouring the countryside to find native seed, animal and fish genetic resources in a national germplasm census to protect “family property” and gain self-reliance in crop and animal breeding. “Excellent” plant and animal resources will be protected on company-run farms if they are in danger of extinction or turned over to Chinese breeding companies to exploit their commercial potential to propel Chinese seed companies as global competitors. Read full article →

Guinea-Bissau and Eritrea join the Belt And Road Initiative. Guinea-Bissau covers 36,125 square kilometres, with a population of 1,874,303, and like China’s Macau, was once part of the Portuguese Empire. Eritrea also signed an MoU with China to join the BRI and is expected to cement China’s presence in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, with interests ranging from a military base to protect shipping, in addition to infrastructure projects in ports and railways. China has been investing in the country for some time. Read full article →

To conclude, China developed its policies to deal with its national issues. But in so doing it has created both practical and theoretical achievements which are the world’s most advanced. China has never asked other countries to learn from its example, but neither can if forbid them to do so. Given the gigantic scale of China’s achievements anyone with sense in the world will study these intently. The “Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century” is therefore not only key for China, it is a document of crucial importance for the entire world. Learning from China.

China is going to grow a lot more.

You bet that it will. video 5MB

China inspirational song

This is big all over China. Let the Western news media and their idiotic leadership howl. China ain’t taking shit from no one. Deal with it. video 5MB

How China selects and trains it’s leadership

So very, very different from the group of morns that run the West these days. It’s actually applaudable. video 80MB

Chinese High Speed Train

It’s commonplace all over China. Not a big deal. video 5MB

Conclusions

Do your best. Be good, and realize that there are places on the planet that have their act together. China is one of those places.

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my New Beginnings 2 index here… New Beginnings 2 .

Law 41 of the 48 Laws of Power; Avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes

This is law 41 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

If you cannot start materially from ground zero – it would be foolish to renounce an inheritance- you can at least begin from ground zero psychologically.
Never let yourself be seen as following your predecessor’s path. You must physically demonstrate your difference, by establishing a style and symbolism that set you apart.
Repeating actions will not re-create success, because circumstances never repeat themselves exactly.
Success and power make us lazy – you must reset psychologically to counter this laziness.

I have long argued that the people running America today are idiots who have inherited a great nation and turned it into a cesspool due to their incompetence. Obviously, they should have read this article. It’s too late for them, but we can all learn from their mistakes.

LAW 41

AVOID STEPPING INTO A GREAT MAN’S SHOES

JUDGMENT

What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

THE EXCELLENCE OF BEING FIRST

Many would have shone like the very phoenix in their occupations if others had not preceded them. Being first is a great advantage; with eminence, twice as good. Deal the first hand and you will win the upper ground.... Those who go first win fame by right of birth, and those who follow are like second sons, contenting themselves with meager portions.... Solomon opted wisely for pacifism, yielding warlike things to his father. By changing course he found it easier to become a hero.... And our great Philip II governed the entire world from the throne of his prudence, astonishing the ages. If his unconquered father was a model of energy, Philip was a paradigm of prudence.... This sort of novelty has helped the well-advised win a place in the roll of the great. Without leaving their own art, the ingenious leave the common path and take, even in professions gray with age, new steps toward eminence. Horace yielded epic poetry to Virgil, and Martial the lyric to Horace. Terence opted for comedy, Persius for satire, each hoping to be first in his genre. Bold fancy never succumbed to facile imitation.

A POCKET MIRROR FOR HEROES, BALTASAR GRACIÁN, TRANSLATED BY CHRISTOPHER MAURER, 1996

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

When Louis XIV died, in 1715, after a glorious fifty-five-year reign, all eyes focused on his great-grandson and chosen successor, the future Louis XV. Would the boy, only five at the time, prove as great a leader as the Sun King? Louis XIV had transformed a country on the verge of civil war into the preeminent power in Europe. The last years of his reign had been difficult—he had been old and tired—but it was hoped that the child would develop into the kind of strong ruler who would reinvigorate the land and add to the firm foundation that Louis XIV had laid.

To this end the child was given the best minds of France as his tutors, men who would instruct him in the arts of statecraft, in the methods that the Sun King had perfected. Nothing was neglected in his education. But when Louis XV came to the throne, in 1726, a sudden change came over him: He no longer had to study or please others or prove himself. He stood alone at the top of a great country, with wealth and power at his command. He could do as he wished.

In the first years of his reign, Louis gave himself over to pleasure, leaving the government in the hands of a trusted minister, André-Hercule de Fleury. This caused little concern, for he was a young man who needed to sow his wild oats, and de Fleury was a good minister. But it slowly became clear that this was more than a passing phase. Louis had no interest in governing. His main worry was not France’s finances, or a possible war with Spain, but boredom. He could not stand being bored, and when he was not hunting deer, or chasing young girls, he whiled away his time at the gambling tables, losing huge sums in a single night.

The court, as usual, reflected the tastes of the ruler. Gambling and lavish parties became the obsession. The courtiers had no concern with the future of France—they poured their energies into charming the king, angling for titles that would bring them life pensions, and for cabinet positions demanding little work but paying huge salaries. Parasites flocked to the court, and the state’s debts swelled.

In 1745 Louis fell in love with Madame de Pompadour, a woman of middle-class origin who had managed to rise through her charms, her intelligence, and a good marriage. Madame de Pompadour became the official royal mistress; she also became France’s arbiter of taste and fashion. But the Madame had political ambitions as well, and she eventually emerged as the country’s unofficial prime minister—it was she, not Louis, who wielded hiring-and-firing power over France’s most important ministers.

As he grew older Louis only needed more diversion. On the grounds of Versailles he built a brothel, Parc aux Cerfs, which housed some of the prettiest young girls of France. Underground passages and hidden stair-cases gave Louis access at all hours. After Madame de Pompadour died, in 1764, she was succeeded as royal mistress by Madame du Barry, who soon came to dominate the court, and who, like de Pompadour before her, began to meddle in affairs of state. If a minister did not please her he would find himself fired. All of Europe was aghast when du Barry, the daughter of a baker, managed to arrange the firing of Étienne de Choiseul, the foreign minister and France’s most able diplomat. He had shown her too little respect. As time went by, swindlers and charlatans made their nests in Versailles, and enticed Louis’s interest in astrology, the occult, and fraudulent business deals. The young and pampered teenager who had taken over France years before had only grown worse with age.

The motto that became attached to Louis’s reign was “Après moi, le déluge”—“After me the flood,” or, Let France rot after I am gone. And indeed when Louis did go, in 1774, worn out by debauchery, his country and his own finances were in horrible disarray. His grandson Louis XVI inherited a realm in desperate need of reform and a strong leader. But Louis XVI was even weaker than his grandfather, and could only watch as the country descended into revolution. In 1792 the republic introduced by the French Revolution declared the end of the monarchy, and gave the king a new name, “Louis the Last.” A few months later he kneeled on the guillotine, his about-to-be- severed head stripped of all the radiance and power that the Sun King had invested in the crown.

Interpretation

From a country that had descended into civil war in the late 1640s, Louis XIV forged the mightiest realm in Europe. Great generals would tremble in his presence. A cook once made a mistake in preparing a dish and committed suicide rather than face the king’s wrath. Louis XIV had many mistresses, but their power ended in the bedroom. He filled his court with the most brilliant minds of the age. The symbol of his power was Versailles: Refusing to accept the palace of his forefathers, the Louvre, he built his own palace in what was then the middle of nowhere, symbolizing that this was a new order he had founded, one without precedent. He made Versailles the centerpiece of his reign, a place that all the powerful of Europe envied and visited with a sense of awe. In essence, Louis took a great void—the decaying monarchy of France—and filled it with his own symbols and radiant power.

Louis XV, on the other hand, symbolizes the fate of all those who inherit something large or who follow in a great man’s footsteps. It would seem easy for a son or successor to build on the grand foundation left for them, but in the realm of power the opposite is true. The pampered, indulged son almost always squanders the inheritance, for he does not start with the father’s need to fill a void. As Machiavelli states, necessity is what impels men to take action, and once the necessity is gone, only rot and decay are left. Having no need to increase his store of power, Louis XV inevitably succumbed to inertia. Under him, Versailles, the symbol of the Sun King’s authority, became a pleasure palace of incomparable banality, a kind of Las Vegas of the Bourbon monarchy. It came to represent all that the oppressed peasantry of France hated about their king, and during the Revolution they looted it with glee.

CULT OF PERICLES

As a young man Pericles was inclined to shrink from facing the people. One reason for this was that he was considered to bear a distinct resemblance to the tyrant Pisistratus, and when men who were well on in years remarked on the charm of Pericles’ voice and the smoothness and fluency of his speech, they were astonished at the resemblance between the two. The fact that he was rich and that he came of a distinguished family and possessed exceedingly powerful friends made the fear of ostracism very real to him, and at the beginning of his career he took no part in politics but devoted himself to soldiering, in which he showed great daring and enterprise. However, the time came when Aristides was dead. Themistocles in exile, and Cimon frequently absent on distant campaigns. Then at last Pericles decided to attach himself to the people’s party and to take up the cause of the poor and the many instead of that of the rich and the few, in spite of the fact that this was quite contrary to his own temperament, which was thoroughly aristocratic. He was afraid, apparently, of being suspected of aiming at a dictatorship: so that when he saw that Cimon’s sympathies were strongly with the nobles and that Cimon was the idol of the aristocratic party, Pericles began to ingratiate himself with the people, partly for self-preservation and partly by way of securing power against his rival. He now entered upon a new mode of life. He was never to be seen walking in any street except the one which led to the market-place and the council chamber.

THE LIFE OF PERICLES, PLUTARCH, c. A.D. 46-120

Louis XV had only one way out of the trap awaiting the son or successor of a man like the Sun King: to psychologically begin from nothing, to denigrate the past and his inheritance, and to move in a totally new direction, creating his own world. Assuming you have the choice, it would be better to avoid the situation altogether, to place yourself where there is a vacuum of power, where you can be the one to bring order out of chaos without having to compete with another star in the sky. Power depends on appearing larger than other people, and when you are lost in the shadow of the father, the king, the great predecessor, you cannot possibly project such a presence.

But when they began to make sovereignty hereditary, the children quickly degenerated from their fathers; and, so far from trying to equal their father’s virtues, they considered that a prince had nothing else to do than to excel all the rest in idleness, indulgence, and every other variety of pleasure.

Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527

THE LIFE OF PIETRO PERUGINO, PAINTER, c.1450-1523

How beneficial poverty may sometimes be to those with talent, and how it may serve as a powerful goad to make them perfect or excellent in whatever occupation they might choose, can be seen very clearly in the actions of Pietro Perugino. Wishing by means of his ability to attain some respectable rank, after leaving disastrous calamities behind in Perugia and coming to Florence, he remained there many months in poverty, sleeping in a chest, since he had no other bed; he turned night into day, and with the greatest zeal continually applied himself to the study of his profession. After painting had become second nature to him, Pietro’s only pleasure was always to be working in his craft and constantly to be painting. And because he always had the dread of poverty before his eyes, he did things to make money which he probably would not have bothered to do had he not been forced to support himself. Perhaps wealth would have closed to him and his talent the path to excellence just as poverty had opened it up to him, but need spurred him on since he desired to rise from such a miserable and lowly position-if not perhaps to the summit and supreme height of excellence, then at least to a point where he could have enough to live on. For this reason, he took no notice of cold, hunger, discomfort, inconvenience, toil or shame if he could only live one day in ease and repose; and he would always say—and as if it were a proverb—that after bad weather, good weather must follow, and that during the good weather houses must be built for shelter in times of need. 

-LIVES OF THE ARTISTS, GIORGIO VASARI, 1511-1574

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

Alexander the Great had a dominant passion as a young man—an intense dislike for his father, King Philip of Macedonia. He hated Philip’s cunning, cautious style of ruling, his bombastic speeches, his drinking and whoring, and his love of wrestling and of other wastes of time. Alexander knew he had to make himself the very opposite of his domineering father: He would force himself to be bold and reckless, he would control his tongue and be a man of few words, and he would not lose precious time in pursuit of pleasures that brought no glory. Alexander also resented the fact that Philip had conquered most of Greece: “My father will go on conquering till there is nothing extraordinary left for me to do,” he once complained. While other sons of powerful men were content to inherit wealth and live a life of leisure, Alexander wanted only to outdo his father, to obliterate Philip’s name from history by surpassing his accomplishments.

Alexander itched to show others how superior he was to his father. A Thessalian horse-dealer once brought a prize horse named Bucephalus to sell to Philip. None of the king’s grooms could get near the horse—it was far too savage—and Philip berated the merchant for bringing him such a useless beast. Watching the whole affair, Alexander scowled and commented, “What a horse they are losing for want of skill and spirit to manage him!” When he had said this several times, Philip had finally had enough, and challenged him to take on the horse. He called the merchant back, secretly hoping his son would have a nasty fall and learn a bitter lesson. But Alexander was the one to teach the lesson: Not only did he mount Bucephalus, he managed to ride him at full gallop, taming the horse that would later carry him all the way to India. The courtiers applauded wildly, but Philip seethed inside, seeing not a son but a rival to his power.

Alexander’s defiance of his father grew bolder. One day the two men had a heated argument before the entire court, and Philip drew his sword as if to strike his son; having drunk too much wine, however, the king stumbled. Alexander pointed at his father and jeered, “Men of Macedonia, see there the man who is preparing to pass from Europe to Asia. He cannot pass from one table to another without falling.”

When Alexander was eighteen, a disgruntled courtier murdered Philip. As word of the regicide spread through Greece, city after city rose up in rebellion against their Macedonian rulers. Philip’s advisers counseled Alexander, now the king, to proceed cautiously, to do as Philip had done and conquer through cunning. But Alexander would do things his way: He marched to the furthest reaches of the kingdom, suppressed the rebellious towns, and reunited the empire with brutal efficiency.

As a young rebel grows older, his struggle against the father often wanes, and he gradually comes to resemble the very man he had wanted to defy. But Alexander’s loathing of his father did not end with Philip’s death. Once he had consolidated Greece, he set his eyes on Persia, the prize that had eluded his father, who had dreamed of conquering Asia. If he defeated the Persians, Alexander would finally surpass Philip in glory and fame.

Alexander crossed into Asia with an army of 35,000 to face a Persian force numbering over a million. Before engaging the Persians in battle he passed through the town of Gordium. Here, in the town’s main temple, there stood an ancient chariot tied with cords made of the rind of the cor nel tree. Legend had it that any man who could undo these cords—the Gordian knot—would rule the world. Many had tried to untie the enormous and intricate knot, but none had succeeded. Alexander, seeing he could not possibly untie the knot with his bare hands, took out his sword and with one slash cut it in half. This symbolic gesture showed the world that he would not do as others, but would blaze his own path.

Against astounding odds, Alexander conquered the Persians. Most expected him to stop there—it was a great triumph, enough to secure his fame for eternity. But Alexander had the same relationship to his own deeds as he had to his father: His conquest of Persia represented the past, and he wanted never to rest on past triumphs, or to allow the past to outshine the present. He moved on to India, extending his empire beyond all known limits. Only his disgruntled and weary soldiers prevented him from going farther.

Interpretation

Alexander represents an extremely uncommon type in history: the son of a famous and successful man who manages to surpass the father in glory and power. The reason this type is uncommon is simple: The father most often manages to amass his fortune, his kingdom, because he begins with little or nothing. A desperate urge impels him to succeed—he has nothing to lose by cunning and impetuousness, and has no famous father of his own to compete against. This kind of man has reason to believe in himself —to believe that his way of doing things is the best, because, after all, it worked for him.

When a man like this has a son, he becomes domineering and oppressive, imposing his lessons on the son, who is starting off life in circumstances totally different from those in which the father himself began. Instead of allowing the son to go in a new direction, the father will try to put him in his own shoes, perhaps secretly wishing the boy will fail, as Philip half wanted to see Alexander thrown from Bucephalus. Fathers envy their sons’ youth and vigor, after all, and their desire is to control and dominate. The sons of such men tend to become cowed and cautious, terrified of losing what their fathers have gained.

The son will never step out of his father’s shadow unless he adopts the ruthless strategy of Alexander: disparage the past, create your own kingdom, put the father in the shadows instead of letting him do the same to you. If you cannot materially start from ground zero—it would be foolish to renounce an inheritance—you can at least begin from ground zero psychologically, by throwing off the weight of the past and charting a new direction. Alexander instinctively recognized that privileges of birth are impediments to power. Be merciless with the past, then—not only with your father and his father but with your own earlier achievements. Only the weak rest on their laurels and dote on past triumphs; in the game of power there is never time to rest.

THE PROBLEM OF PAUL MORPHY

The slightest acquaintance with chess shows one that it is a play-substitute for the art of war and indeed it has been a favorite recreation of some of the greatest military leaders, from William the Conqueror to Napoleon. In the contest between the opposing armies the same principles of both strategy and tactics are displayed as in actual war, the same foresight and powers of calculation are necessary, the same capacity for divining the plans of the opponent, and the rigor with which decisions are followed by their consequences is, if anything, even more ruthless. More than that, it is plain that the unconscious motive actuating the players is not the mere love of pugnacity characteristic of all competitive games, but the grimmer one of father- murder. It is true that the original goal of capturing the king has been given up, but from the point of view of motive there is, except in respect of crudity, not appreciable change in the present goal of sterilizing him in immobility.... “Checkmate” means literally “the king is dead.” ... Our knowledge of the unconscious motivation of chess-playing tells us that what it represented could only have been the wish to overcome the father in an acceptable way.... It is no doubt significant that [nineteenth-century chess champion Paul] Morphy’s soaring odyssey into the higher realms of chess began just a year after the unexpectedly sudden death of his father, which had been a great shock to him, and we may surmise that his brilliant effort of sublimation was, like Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, a reaction to this critical event....

Something should now be said about the reception Morphy’s successes met with, for they were of such a kind as to raise the question whether his subsequent collapse may not have been influenced through his perhaps belonging to the type that Freud has described under the name of Die am Erfolge scheitern (“Those wrecked by success”).... Couched in more psychological language, was Morphy affrighted at his own presumptuousness when the light of publicity was thrown on [his great success?] Freud has pointed out that the people who break under the strain of too great success do so because they can endure it only in imagination, not in reality. To castrate the father in a dream is a very different matter from doing it in reality. The real situation provokes the unconscious guilt in its full force, and the penalty may be mental collapse.

THE PROBLEM OF PAUL MORPHY, ERNEST JONES, 1951

KEYS TO POWER

In many ancient kingdoms, for example Bengal and Sumatra, after the king had ruled for several years his subjects would execute him. This was done partly as a ritual of renewal, but also to prevent him from growing too powerful-for the king would generally try to establish a permanent order, at the expense of other families and of his own sons. Instead of protecting the tribe and leading it in times of war, he would attempt to dominate it. And so he would be beaten to death, or executed in an elaborate ritual. Now that he was no longer around for his honors to go to his head, he could be worshiped as a god. Meanwhile the field had been cleared for a new and youthful order to establish itself.

The ambivalent, hostile attitude towards the king or father figure also finds expression in legends of heroes who do not know their father. Moses, the archetypal man of power, was found abandoned among the bulrushes and never knew his parents; without a father to compete with him or limit him, he could attain the heights of power. Hercules had no earthly father-he was the son of the god Zeus. Later in his life Alexander the Great spread the story that the god Jupiter Ammon had sired him, not Philip of Macedon. Legends and rituals like these eliminate the human father because he symbolizes the destructive power of the past.

The past prevents the young hero from creating his own world—he must do as his father did, even after that father is dead or powerless. The hero must bow and scrape before his predecessor and yield to tradition and precedent. What had success in the past must be carried over to the present, even though circumstances have greatly changed. The past also weighs the hero down with an inheritance that he is terrified of losing, making him timid and cautious.

Power depends on the ability to fill a void, to occupy a field that has been cleared of the dead weight of the past. Only after the father figure has been properly done away with will you have the necessary space to create and establish a new order. There are several strategies you can adopt to accomplish this—variations on the execution of the king that disguise the violence of the impulse by channeling it in socially acceptable forms.

Perhaps the simplest way to escape the shadow of the past is simply to belittle it, playing on the timeless antagonism between the generations, stirring up the young against the old. For this you need a convenient older figure to pillory. Mao Tse-tung, confronting a culture that fiercely resisted change, played on the suppressed resentment against the overbearing presence of the venerable Confucius in Chinese culture. John F. Kennedy knew the dangers of getting lost in the past; he radically distinguished his presidency from that of his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and also from the preceding decade, the 1950s, which Eisenhower personified. Kennedy, for instance, would not play the dull and fatherly game of golf—a symbol of retirement and privilege, and Eisenhower’s passion. Instead he played football on the White House lawn. In every aspect his administration represented vigor and youth, as opposed to the stodgy Eisenhower. Kennedy had discovered an old truth: The young are easily set against the old, since they yearn to make their own place in the world and resent the shadow of their fathers.

The distance you establish from your predecessor often demands some symbolism, a way of advertising itself publicly. Louis XIV, for example, created such symbolism when he rejected the traditional palace of the French kings and built his own palace of Versailles. King Philip II of Spain did the same when he created his center of power, the palace of El Escorial, in what was then the middle of nowhere. But Louis carried the game further: He would not be a king like his father or earlier ancestors, he would not wear a crown or carry a scepter or sit on a throne, he would establish a new kind of imposing authority with symbols and rituals of its own. Louis made his ancestors’ rituals into laughable relics of the past. Follow his example: Never let yourself be seen as following your predecessor’s path. If you do you will never surpass him. You must physically demonstrate your difference, by establishing a style and symbolism that sets you apart.

The Roman emperor Augustus, successor to Julius Caesar, understood this thoroughly. Caesar had been a great general, a theatrical figure whose spectacles kept the Romans entertained, an international emissary seduced by the charms of Cleopatra— a larger-than-life figure. So Augustus, despite his own theatrical tendencies, competed with Caesar not by trying to outdo him but by differentiating himself from him: He based his power on a return to Roman simplicity, an austerity of both style and substance. Against the memory of Caesar’s sweeping presence Augustus posed a quiet and manly dignity.

The problem with the overbearing predecessor is that he fills the vistas before you with symbols of the past. You have no room to create your own name. To deal with this situation you need to hunt out the vacuums—those areas in culture that have been left vacant and in which you can become the first and principal figure to shine.

When Pericles of Athens was about to launch a career as a statesman, he looked for the one thing that was missing in Athenian politics. Most of the great politicians of his time had allied themselves with the aristocracy; indeed Pericles himself had aristocratic tendencies. Yet he decided to throw in his hat with the city’s democratic elements. The choice had nothing to do with his personal beliefs, but it launched him on a brilliant career. Out of necessity he became a man of the people. Instead of competing in an arena filled with great leaders both past and present, he would make a name for himself where no shadows could obscure his presence.

When the painter Diego de Velázquez began his career, he knew he could not compete in refinement and technique with the great Renaissance painters who had come before him. Instead he chose to work in a style that by the standards of the time seemed coarse and rough, in a way that had never been seen before. And in this style he excelled. There were members of the Spanish court who wanted to demonstrate their own break with the past; the newness of Velázquez’s style thrilled them. Most people are afraid to break so boldly with tradition, but they secretly admire those who can break up the old forms and reinvigorate the culture. This is why there is so much power to be gained from entering vacuums and voids.

There is a kind of stubborn stupidity that recurs throughout history, and is a strong impediment to power: The superstitious belief that if the person before you succeeded by doing A, B, and C, you can re-create their success by doing the same thing. This cookie-cutter approach will seduce the uncreative, for it is easy, and appeals to their timidity and their laziness. But circumstances never repeat themselves exactly.

When General Douglas MacArthur assumed command of American forces in the Philippines during World War II, an assistant handed him a book containing the various precedents established by the commanders before him, the methods that had been successful for them. MacArthur asked the assistant how many copies there were of this book. Six, the assistant answered. “Well,” the general replied, “you get all those six copies together and burn them—every one of them. I’ll not be bound by precedents. Any time a problem comes up, I’ll make the decision at once—immediately.” Adopt this ruthless strategy toward the past: Burn all the books, and train yourself to react to circumstances as they happen.

You may believe that you have separated yourself from the predecessor or father figure, but as you grow older you must be eternally vigilant lest you become the father you had rebelled against. As a young man, Mao Tse-tung disliked his father and in the struggle against him found his own identity and a new set of values. But as he aged, his father’s ways crept back in. Mao’s father had valued manual work over intellect; Mao had scoffed at this as a young man, but as he grew older he unconsciously returned to his father’s views and echoed such outdated ideas by forcing a whole generation of Chinese intellectuals into manual labor, a nightmarish mistake that cost his regime dearly. Remember: You are your own father. Do not let yourself spend years creating yourself only to let your guard down and allow the ghost of the past—father, habit, history—to sneak back in.

Finally, as noted in the story of Louis XV, plenitude and prosperity tend to make us lazy and inactive: When our power is secure we have no need to act. This is a serious danger, especially for those who achieve success and power at an early age. The playwright Tennessee Williams, for instance, found himself skyrocketed from obscurity to fame by the success of The Glass Menagerie. “The sort of life which I had had previous to this popular success,” he later wrote, “was one that required endurance, a life of clawing and scratching, but it was a good life because it was the sort of life for which the human organism is created. I was not aware of how much vital energy had gone into this struggle until the struggle was removed. This was security at last. I sat down and looked about me and was suddenly very depressed.” Williams had a nervous breakdown, which may in fact have been necessary for him: Pushed to the psychological edge, he could start writing with the old vitality again, and he produced A Streetcar Named Desire. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, similarly, whenever he wrote a successful novel, would feel that the financial security he had gained made the act of creation unnecessary. He would take his entire savings to the casino and would not leave until he had gambled away his last penny. Once reduced to poverty he could write again.

It is not necessary to go to such extremes, but you must be prepared to return to square one psychologically rather than growing fat and lazy with prosperity. Pablo Picasso could deal with success, but only by constantly changing the style of his painting, often breaking completely with what had made him successful before. How often our early triumphs turn us into a kind of caricature of ourselves. Powerful people recognize these traps; like Alexander the Great, they struggle constantly to re-create themselves. The father must not be allowed to return; he must be slain at every step of the way.

Image: The Father. He casts a giant shadow over his children, keeping them in thrall long after he is gone by tying them to the past, squashing their youthful spirit, and forcing them down the same tired path he followed himself. His tricks are many. At every crossroads you must slay the father and step out of his shadow.

Authority: Beware of stepping into a great man’s shoes—you will have to accomplish twice as much to surpass him. Those who follow are taken for imitators. No matter how much they sweat, they will never shed that burden. It is an uncommon skill to find a new path for excellence, a modern route to celebrity. There are many roads to singularity, not all of them well traveled. The newest ones can be arduous, but they are often shortcuts to greatness. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

REVERSAL

The shadow of a great predecessor could be used to advantage if it is chosen as a trick, a tactic that can be discarded once it has brought you power. Napoleon III used the name and legend of his illustrious grand-uncle Napoleon Bonaparte to help him become first president and then emperor of France. Once on the throne, however, he did not stay tied to the past; he quickly showed how different his reign would be, and was careful to keep the public from expecting him to attain the heights that Bonaparte had attained.

The past often has elements worth appropriating, qualities that would be foolish to reject out of a need to distinguish yourself. Even Alexander the Great recognized and was influenced by his father’s skill in organizing an army. Making a display of doing things differently from your predecessor can make you seem childish and in fact out of control, unless your actions have a logic of their own.

Joseph II, son of the Austrian empress Maria Theresa, made a show of doing the exact opposite of his mother—dressing like an ordinary citizen, staying in inns instead of palaces, appearing as the “people’s emperor.” Maria Theresa, on the other hand, had been regal and aristocratic. The problem was that she had also been beloved, an empress who ruled wisely after years of learning the hard way. If you have the kind of intelligence and instinct that will point you in the right direction, playing the rebel will not be dangerous. But if you are mediocre, as Joseph II was in comparison to his mother, you are better off learning from your predecessor’s knowledge and experience, which are based on something real.

Finally, it is often wise to keep an eye on the young, your future rivals in power. Just as you try to rid yourself of your father, they will soon play the same trick on you, denigrating everything you have accomplished. Just as you rise by rebelling against the past, keep an eye on those rising from below, and never give them the chance to do the same to you.

The great Baroque artist and architect Pietro Bernini was a master at sniffing out younger potential rivals and keeping them in his shadow. One day a young stonemason named Francesco Borromini showed Bernini his architectural sketches. Recognizing his talent immediately, Bernini instantly hired Borromini as his assistant, which delighted the young man but was actually only a tactic to keep him close at hand, so that he could play psychological games on him and create in him a kind of inferiority complex. And indeed, despite Borromini’s brilliance, Bernini has the greater fame. His strategy with Borromini he made a lifelong practice: Fearing that the great sculptor Alessandro Algardi, for example, would eclipse him in fame, he arranged it so that Algardi could only find work as his assistant. And any assistant who rebelled against Bernini and tried to strike out on his own would find his career ruined.

Do you want more?

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Fate Forecasting; How birth Pre-birth world-line template generates initial character attributes similar to that of a role playing game (Part 2)

This article discusses how the elements associated with one’s luck is established as a a “fate vector package” upon birth.

We look at the initial starting conditions of the pre-birth world-line template. As it fixes permanently the gravitational influences that surround the physical person.

It is these same gravitational influences influence the role of fate in one’s life.

In this way, a person can understand that birth is very similar to character generation during a role playing game. Much like you can generate the attributes for your character in the old board game Dungeons and Dragons, or any of the First Person Shooter games available in software.

The Fate Forecasting and World-line template mapping

For those who are unaware, this article discusses four very significant elements in control of your life, and future happiness.

[1] World-Line Templates

The use of world-line topography maps is a major part of life navigation in the MWI reality universe that we inhabit. You control your thoughts, and thus you navigate the terrain of entropy that is set up for you at birth.

This is conducted by Affirmation Prayer Campaigns. You use these campaigns to focus your thoughts for set periods of time. It's sort of like placing specific navigation beacons that you set your automobile route generating software towards.

What's more, you can actually change the entire terrain that you are operating upon. You can do this by "sliding". You can adjust your affirmation campaign to specify a change in the terrain that you inhabit. 

There are all kinds of terrains, and all kind of features. The one that you were established with at birth is known as the "pre-birth world-line template map". Newly generated template maps can go by other terms.

To study this issue, you can go to my Intention Campaign Index HERE.

[2] Fate Forecasting

Fate Forecasting is a method of measurement of the ebb and flow of luck in your life. This is important, as studies have shown that successful and wealthy people do not obtain their positions through merit. It has been proven, time and time again to occur through luck.

To study this issue, I have a index on this subject. It is the Fate Forecasting Index that this article is part of and which can be found HERE.

[3] Consciousness Centering

Consciousness Centering is necessary as there are all sorts of things that tug and pull at your brain and consciousness. To optimize your thoughts to be most efficient, and thus most successful, you need to be able to center your consciousness. To accomplish this, you need to use tools and techniques to do so. Here at MM we have provided Hemi-sync (FFR) to accomplish this. You can access the files to listen to and learn and center your consciousness HERE.

[4] Rufus Behaviors

Physical actions influences the thoughts of those around you. My surrounding yourself with other people who generate happy and positive thoughts when you are around, your world tends to move in positive directions. A study of "Rufus" actions can be found in the Rufus Index HERE.

Western horoscopes vs Chinese Bazi

Both systems use planetary alignments to estimate the fated luck that a person will endure in their life.

Western horoscopes tend to be simplistic, and only utilize planetary alignments and empirical observation to arrive at forecasts. They are only associated with the date of birth, are not tied to a given latitude or longitude, and do not recognize non-physical components. Further, the Newtonian physics takeover of the educational systems int he 19th century, pretty much relegated all horoscope prediction matters to the realm of disdain and pseudo-science. This is further aggravated by hoaxers who set up for-profit entities to fleece the gullible. Western horoscopes have been in existence in their current form around three thousand years.

Chinese BaZi horoscopes are more detailed, more exacting, and incorporate general geographical influences in their calculus. They also incorporate non-physical gravitational elements and have a much more involved interaction of play between the various elements involved. Further this method of divination has been around since the beginnings of Chinese written records which is at least 6000 years old.

The premise

The planetary gravitational influences on a biological being influences their life. We refer to this a “luck“.

Since the movements of the gravitational influences are fixed and immovable, the luck is fixed. We refer to this as “Fate“.

These gravitational influences are independent of other templates. So you cannot conduct a “slide” to another world-line template to change your fortune. Everyone must deal with the ebb and flow of their luck. This is their fate.

Since the gravitational forces change over time using Newtonian physics, we can predict the rise and fall of luck. We refer to this as “horoscope generation“.

Example

For the purposes of illustration, let’s consider a person born under the Western horoscope of Leo. Which is around July. Their Western horoscope would predict the relations of fate in their lives, and for the most part would seem to agree with what the person experiences.

But if you get into this further, you could look at the BaZi and discover that this person is a “Dog Sign” given their birth day, year, month, hour, second and geographic latitude and longitude. At the precise moment of birth, the planetary alignments and gravitational forces were fixed. And by using Newtonian astrophysics, the movements of the planets and their gravitational influences can be mapped out over the given life time.

So irregardless of what the pre-birth world-line template is, the fate will follow a predictive ebb and flow of luck.

Further, the BaZi breaks down the luck into components or “packages”. And the interaction of those packages will determine how the luck manifests.

Now, whether you are on a pre-birth world-line template, or slide to a new template, you luck (as fate) is still manifest.

Now, in this example, if the fate says that you have a high potential to be scammed in business, this will still occur. However, different world-line templates will have decidedly different manifestations of that luck.

A calm level topography template map

The business scam will be minor and easily avoided. There just aren't any  hills or mountains to indicate effort or discord. There are no problems with entropy. So (for example) the business discord might manifest as an employee stealing a box of pencils.

A mountainous topography map

In this case, you know that there is a massive build up of entropy. This will help trigger events that you will need to deal with. In this case, a business discord might be a customer that scams you out of a million dollars, steals your wife, and burns down your office building.

A easy-going topographical map with many valleys

In this case, the entropy is positive and the travel on the MWI world-line map tends to be easy going and not problematic at all. Yet the fate of some kind of business discord may still manifest. This could be something like some leaves blowing on the lawn of your office building, if anything at all.

What manifests in your fated luck depends on the terrain of your world-line template map. You need to be aware of your fate; what is auspicious and what is not, and adjust your MWI navigation through the world-line as necessary to avoid the most dangerous of event cycles.

Character generation and the Mantids

What apparently happens in Heaven is that the consciousness decides to “descend” into the General Population to experience “life”. Often this includes hardship and turmoil and personal sacrifice to obtain “growth”. The Mantids help the consciousness plan for the next foray into the earth environment. They do this by establishing a “Fate Path” that coincidences with the MWI in the Reality Universe.

A “pre-birth world-line template” is constructed. Then a “Fate profile” is used to generate a “Fate Path” that coincidences with the “Life line” that the consciousness would endure. This sets up the “Luck Triggers” that will keep the consciousness on the path to follow the adventures, experiences and lessons that the Mantid planned for the consciousness.

Key to all of this is the selection of parents and the DNA of their resulting offspring that will be the host skin suit for the consciousness to occupy.

Thus the Mantids create a character generation effort prior to the consciousness injection into the General Population on the Earth. This is similar to that of a role play game or first person shooter.

The attributes of skin-suit character generation are…

Pre-birth world-line template.
Entry date and time.
Entry geographical location on the MWI.
Parent selection and skin-suit DNA.
Fate profile. (For the Fate Path.)
Luck Triggers.
Tell tails, sign posts, and periodic alerts.

Tracking this process

Perhaps we can look at examples of people who remember their previous life for clues to this character generation process.

There are well-known cases of children remembering past lives, including two-year-old James Leininger, who had nightmares about being a WWII pilot, and four-year-old Ryan Hammons, who remembered being Marty Martyn (a dance director and manager of motion-picture actors) in a past life. And of course, stories of reincarnation are not limited to children. Several adults claim to have been someone else in a past life.

“This Is My Ship”

When William Barnes was four years old, he drew a ship with four smokestacks. He showed the drawing to his parents and told them, “This is my ship, but she died.”

Soon he started insisting that his family call him “Tommy”’ instead of William, and he wouldn’t stop talking about two brothers and other family members. None of what he was saying made any sense to his parents, and the situation escalated when William started having non-stop nightmares about a huge ship, freezing water, and steel slabs falling on top of him.

The nightmares continued, and it was only at the age of 25 that William sought help. He underwent hypnosis, and during the session, he could hear himself arguing about “the ship’s design.” As soon as he awoke from the hypnotic trance, he told the counselor, “My name is Tommy Andrews.”

Soon the fragmented pieces of William’s nightmares started forming a complete picture. He became increasingly convinced that he was the reincarnation of Titanic designer Thomas Andrews.

William Barnes was born on the date the Titanic sank, and during hypnotic age regression sessions later in his life, he spoke with a heavy Irish accent while detailing the sinking of the ship and how he died on the deck.

William now has his own website on which he details his experiences and presents proof of his claim to reincarnation fame.

This example does not seem to imply any pre-planning at all. It suggests that a consciousness died and then immediately went and occupied the first available physical body.

Because the memories are still fresh in the child's mind, it is obvious that this consciousness did NOT go through the "tunnel of light" and did not have their memories erased.

Two Past Lives

A three-year-old Thai boy named Dalawong became the focus of many studies and articles after he claimed to have had two past lives, one in which he was a deer killed by a hunter and then another one as a cobra when he was reincarnated after his death.

Three animal species.

[1] Deer.
[2] Cobra.
[3] Human.

While he was a snake, Dalawong found himself in a life-or-death fight with two dogs. The dogs’ owner intervened and killed the snake—aka Dalawong—but not before the slithery reptile bit him on the shoulder. The dog owner, Mr. Hiew, took the dead snake home, cooked and ate it, and shared some of the meat with a friend. That friend would become Dalawong’s father.

Fast forward to three years after Dalawong’s birth, the young boy recognized Mr. Hiew at a party taking place next door to his own house. He became instantly angry and tried to find a weapon to attack the man. Dalawong’s mother was stunned at her child’s anger and forced him to tell her what was happening. He related the snake tale to her, and when she confronted Mr. Hiew, he confirmed that he had indeed killed a snake a few years prior and that he had a mark from where the snake had bitten him on the shoulder.

Before this incident, human Dalawong and his family had never met Mr. Hiew.

Again, in this case very little time had passed between the last death and the new birth. That also suggests that there wasn't that much planning work for the current life. Further, we see that the reentry to the General Population is in close geographical proximity to the previous life.

In this case, as well as the previous case, the consciousness; the IS-BE immediately boomeranged back to the Reality Universe without an apparent visit to "Heaven".

Because the memories are still fresh in the child's mind, it is obvious that this consciousness did NOT go through the "tunnel of light" and did not have their memories erased.

Why Did You Let Me Die in That Fire?

In 2014, the parents of four-year-old Andrew Lucas began suspecting that their beloved boy may be possessed or have some kind of ghost inside of him. This happened after Andrew started crying almost non-stop and asking why his parents let him die in a fire.

When his mother, Michelle, asked him what fire he was talking about, Andrew started telling her little details of what was his past life as a U.S. Marine. Eventually, Michelle used these details to uncover the story of U.S. Marine Sergeant Val Lewis, who died in a bomb attack in Lebanon in 1983.

Because the details of what happened to Lewis and the story Andrew told her were so similar, Michelle decided to take the issue to the reality TV show Ghost Inside My Child. During the show, Andrew was given several photographs of military men to look at, and he immediately zoomed in on an image of Lewis.

Afterward, Michelle took her son to Lewis’s gravesite in Georgia, where Andrew laid flowers in front of it. He also ran to another grave and pointed to the name on it, saying, “That’s my friend.” It turned out that grave also belonged to a Marine.

This third example is also a relatively quick return. From 1984 to 2010 is 26 years. We can assume that in this case, 26 years is a long period of time to float around the General Population searching for a skin-suit to occupy. 

So the consciousness must have made arrangements with a Mantid to generate a pre-birth world-line template. However, the memories are still fresh in the child's mind. 

That implies that this consciousness did NOT go through the "tunnel of light" and did not have their memories erased.

Toddler Recalls Past Life Murder

A very unnerving story caused an uproar in 2014 when it was reported that a three-year-old Syrian boy had pointed out where his past life’s body had been buried after he was murdered. He also pointed out the murder weapon.

The boy, who belongs to the Druze ethnic group, has a long red birthmark on his forehead, which according to Druze beliefs, is related to how a person died in a previous life.

This belief was seemingly substantiated by the boy, who told his parents that he had been killed by an ax to the head in his previous life, hence the birthmark.

The elders of the village the boy stayed in took him to the home he lived in during his past life, getting the location from the details the boy gave. Eventually, standing in front of the house, the boy remembered the house, the village, and his old name.

The man whose house it was, had gone missing four years earlier, according to locals.

When the elders quizzed the boy about this turn of events, he told them the full name of the person who had killed him when he was the man who lived in the house.

He then led the elders to the spot where the body was buried, and sure enough, they uncovered a skeleton with a headwound that correlated to the boy’s birthmark as well as an ax.

When confronted by the elders and locals, the killer confessed to the crime soon after.

Again, this youthful memory of the death in a prior life, and a very short period between the death and birth in the same geographic area is suggestive of a consciousness that intentionally wants to stay in the General Population, does not want to go into "Heaven" and does not go through the "Tunnel of light".

This also implies that the planning for a life-line of substance and learning; the collection of lessons and experiences are missing.

Past Life During WWII

During her pregnancy, When Daw Aye Tin had a recurring dream about a Japanese soldier who told her he would be coming to stay with her and her husband in their Upper Burma (Myanmar) home.

She gave birth to her daughter, Ma Tin Aung Myo, on December 26, 1953. When her daughter turned four, she started talking about her “real home of Japan” and how much she missed it. She also made it known that she was afraid of planes and didn’t like English and American people.

Eventually, it became clear to When Daw Aye Tin that her daughter had lived before. Details provided by Ma Tin Aung Mao as she grew older included being a male soldier stationed in Nathul during WWII and running a small shop to provide for her children. She was killed when the Allies attacked, and a soldier shot at her from a plane.

10 to 15 years after death. Seems to be the norm. Yet she still remembered her past.

Reincarnated Lama

In 1996, four-year-old Sonam Wangdu was just another happy boy who loved watching Batman and Spiderman cartoons as well as Power Rangers. However, Sonam was anything but an ordinary child. He was recognized and revered by the Buddhist community in Nepal and Tibet as a reincarnated lama.

At the time, the boy was living in Seattle, but it was decided that the boy would travel to Katmandu for his formal education and that afterward, he would live in a monastery. He was given the name Trulku-la which means reincarnation in Tibetan. He was believed to be the reincarnation of the beloved lama, Deshung Rinpoche III, who taught at the University of Washington and co-founded the Sakya Monastery in Seattle.

Rinpoche was believed to have been the third reincarnation of the original lama, Deshung Rinpoche I, who lived in Tibet. Deshung Rinpoche III also told two of his students that he would be reborn in the Seattle area after his death.

Trulku-la had already had his enthronement ceremony two years before leaving for Katmandu and would be separated from his mother for the first eight years of his education. His mother, Carolyn Lama, had no qualms about seeing her son go off without her because she knew that he was special, and she only wanted the best for him.

A City of Dreams

When James Arthur Flowerdew was 12 years old, he began having strange dreams. These dreams were blurry and vague when they first started, but over time they became clear pictures. As he continued to dream, he saw a stone city carved into a cliff and various temples inside the city. He also saw a rock shaped like a volcano situated on the fringes of the stone city. Arthur didn’t know what to make of these dreams and tried to ignore them.

On one particular day, Arthur visited the beach with his family. As he was playing around with pebbles and bent down to pick them up, a vision slammed into his head. It was the city of his dreams. So intense was the vision that he could smell dry desert air. Dropping the pebbles made the image dissipate, leaving Arthur at a loss for words. He revisited the beach a short time later to see if the vision would happen again, and as soon as he picked up the pebbles, it did.

He saw more details the second time, such as a stone passage and military barracks. For the first time, Arthur started thinking that he may have been a soldier in this dream city and had been killed there by a spear. Arthur never had any explanation for his experiences. Many years later, when he was an old man, Arthur watched a documentary about the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. He instantly realized that this was his city of dreams, and he became convinced that he had lived there in a past life.

He contacted the BBC, who arranged an interview between Arthur and an archaeologist. The archaeologist was flabbergasted when he discovered how much knowledge Arthur had of the ancient city without ever having been there in his current life.

Eventually, the Jordanian government invited Arthur to visit Petra. Arthur found his way around the city without the help of a guide or map and pointed out sites that hadn’t been excavated yet. He talked about a military barrack where he worked with a check-in system for guards, and even provided facts about the area that experts were not aware of.

My Life as a Monk

In 1987, three-year-old Duminda Bandara Ratnayake started talking about the Asgiriya temple and monastery in Kandy, saying that he used to be an abbot there.

Duminda was born in 1984 to Sinhalese Buddhist parents and was the second youngest of three brothers. He talked about the temple non-stop and also told his mother that he had owned a red car, taught other monks, and died in a hospital where he was taken after experiencing sudden sharp pain in his chest. He also “recalled” having had a pet elephant.

The little boy soon started wearing his clothes in the way of a monk and visited a Buddhist temple twice a day. He also began reciting stanzas in the Pali language. His mother began fearing that her son would want to leave his family to become a monk.

By age five, Duminda’s interest in going to the temple waned somewhat, but by age six, his mother had permitted him to go to the monastery when he turned seven. At this point, he also didn’t want to go to a school with girls and didn’t want women, including his mother, to touch his hands. When the abbot of the Malwatta Temple died in 1990, Duminda randomly exclaimed that he had known him well.

It seemed that Ven. Mahanayaka Gunnepana, who died of a heart attack and owned a red car, could have been Duminda in a past life.

Gunnepana also had an elephant.

“I Am Anne Frank”

Barbro Karlen was born nine years after Anne Frank died. From a young age, she insisted that Barbro wasn’t her real name and that her family should call her Anne instead. She also told her parents that she knew they weren’t her real mom and dad. At that point, Barbro’s family wasn’t up to date with the Anne Frank story and thought that Barbro was losing her mind. They carted her off to a psychiatrist, thinking that she was somehow lost in a fantasy.

By age twelve, Barbro wrote a book of poetry that would become one of the most popular books in her native Sweden. She went on to write nine more volumes. However, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t who everyone thought she was. But she stopped talking about it after she realized who Anne Frank was and that people likely thought she was insane.

This was despite the trip to Amsterdam with her parents at age 10, during which they visited the house of Anne Frank. Barbro knew exactly how to get to the house and that the steps outside it had been changed. Her parents were stunned. Once Barbro entered Anne’s room, she felt an overwhelming fear but refused to leave. She knew that there had once been pictures on the wall, placed there by Anne, and when she told her mother this, the older woman finally understood what her daughter had been trying to tell them for years. She was Anne Frank in a past life.

Barbro met Anne’s cousin Buddy Elias years later, and he told reporters he believed that she was the reincarnation of Anne.

Born nine years after the death.

“The Floor Got Really Hot”

In March 2021, Tik Toker Riss White gave her account of what her daughter told her a few years ago. It was September 11, 2018, and Riss was looking at 9/11 memorial posts on social media.

One of the posts had a striking image of the Twin Towers, and when her then-four-year-old daughter saw it, she said to Riss, “Hey mom, I used to work there.”

Riss, feeling slightly uneasy, asked her daughter when this was, to which the young girl simply replied “before.”

She went on to tell her mother that during one morning at work she had to get up on her desk because the floor got really hot. She and her friends had tried to escape the hot floor by leaving through the door, but the door wouldn’t open. She then jumped out of the window and “flew like a bird.”

Riss was shaken and still can’t make sense of what her daughter told her. She also confirmed that the young girl had never been told about 9/11.

14 years had passed for this little girl. The fact that she remembered her past suggests that she did not experience memory erasure. Thus, either...

[1] She went to Heaven but did not have memory erasure, and had here pre-birth world-line template mapped out.

[2] She went elsewhere and had her pre-birth world-line template mapped out by others.

[3] She hung out on the prior life template as a disembodied spirit for 14 years and chose this life on her own.

Conclusions from above…

I really do not have all the answers, but apparently you are not forced in the “tunnel of light” and forced to undergo mind wipe. You have a choice.

[1] You can go into the “Tunnel of light” and arrive in Heaven. Once in Heaven you can stay, go to school, frolic and plan your next earth general population experience. The Mantid Prime will assist in this effort.

[2] If you refuse to go to “Heaven” then you are on your own to be a spirit, and then find a body to occupy on your own. All the time sticking close to your previous life-line world-line template. At this point you are a free roaming spirit. You are trapped in the Prison Planet Environment and fixed to the MWI world line template of your last incarnation.

[3] If you find a body that you want to occupy, then you simply take the body and claim it as yours and accept what ever world-line and Fate Forecast that goes with that body.

Derived conclusions about the Mantid Involvement…

In situation [1] above, your Mantid “hands you off” and you are left to go through the “tunnel of light” to be welcomed by friends, family, and Mantid Prime overseers. Consciousness goes from General Population Mantid control (GPM) to Mantid Prime control (MP).

In situation [2] above, your Mantid apparently abandons you and you are free to roam. There isn’t any Mantid interaction necessary. Mantid interaction in General Population is apparently limited to physical bodies even though they are trans-dimensional beings. I suspect that this is an evolved situation as the Prison Planet was not designed to have any “free roaming” disembodied spirits.

In situation [3] above, upon adopting and accepting a new body to reincarnate in, you accept the guidance of a new Mantid that will control the levers of your existence. All physical bodies in the MWI Reality Universe is apparently under the control and manipulation of specific Mantids that control the environments.

MM thoughts

In a previous post, I discussed my memories of my previous life prior to being MM. The difference in time from my death in the last reincarnated life to my present life was around 30 years.

I can confirm that when I entered this particular body that I told myself NOT TO FORGET that I was going on a great adventure that would be an extra special and exciting adventuresome life of great importance. I have never forgotten this fact, and this is from my own personal memories. Not from recovered memories by Past Life Hypnosis.

Taken together, it appears that MM had this life mapped out and planned intentionally.

And since I did not (apparently) experience the mind wipe though the “tunnel of light” we can make some conjectures on that fact…

I was programmed for this life outside of the Heaven / Mantid Prime environment. Or…
I did go to Heaven, and was programmed for this life, but that I was somehow able to get around the “memory wipe” of the “tunnel of light”. This conjecture is validated by my insistence (to myself) to REMEMBER that my adventure would be special.

In any event, my MM experience is different from those who have been listed above as remembering prior lives.

Which then again, confirms that once freed of the General Population prison “skin suit”, the IS-BE is supposed to be transferred from Mantid control to Mantid Prime control. However that system is corrupted / not well policed / fraught with holes and could be bypassed by any IS-BE consciousness that so desires.

The problem then is “what now”?

There are few scant options…

[1] Go to Heaven though the mind-wipe “Tunnel of Light” and be handed off to your Mantid Prime authorities.

[2] Stay in General Population as a disembodied spirit, floating around and hanging out on what ever MWI template that you died upon.

[3] Call on others to pluck you out of the MWI world-line template and get you out of the General Population area without going through the “Tunnel of Light”.

[4] Try to escape the Prison Complex on your own, recover your memories on your own, and avoid all the traps and snares on your own.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Fate Forecasting Index here…

Fate forecasting

Articles & Links

Master Index

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
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Optimization of affirmation prayer campaigns for effective manifestation of goals

This article helps you decide how long to conduct the affirmation campaign and how long to conduct the “dwell” or wait-period afterward. In previous articles I have greatly simplified the procedure. I offered a simple “rule of thumb”. Which was one week of no-affirmations for every week where you conduct a prayer affirmation campaign. This article will get more involved in the process and allow the user a greater degree of latitude in the campaign arrangement.

I am commenting NOW, simply because I am launching a brand new, multi-month Affirmation Campaign based upon my Fate Forecast for this year.

MM Comments

I am starting my new campaign in a few days. For the most of the last eighteen months, I have been running a 1 month on/off cycle. This was due to the Bazi that hit me about three years ago and resulted in some significant changes and issues. I had to make adjustments to my campaigns for my personal conditions, and the crazed insanity influence that the USA has had on where I live, my lifestyle, and my industry. I have managed to keep things under control.

Contemporaneously, in the Bazi it is believed that a person is surrounded by a non-physical reality. Within this non-physical are cyclic events and attributes that ebb and flow  depending on a host of causes and effects.



This non-physical reality differs from person to person. However, it consists of things that ebb and flow according to synchronized events that are triggered upon birth.

The Chinese have given these various components and their behaviors all sorts of names. They have created a series of "animal characteristics" such as dog, pig, and snake to describe a set of initial non-physical conditions. They have also created a series of names to describe how the non-physical components behave as a group. They go by such names as a "strong earth", or a "weak wood". It's easy for the ignorant to make fun of this entire system. To them, it sounds a lot like a more detailed version of Western astrology.

Now, that my “Bazi stars” are opening up back again, and becoming favorable, I can refocus on some postponed goals in my new campaign. So I am switching back to a 3 month on/off campaign cycle with an extended dwell time afterwards to maximize the effect. I will have more articles on the Bazi because it ties together very nicely with the MWI, prayer affirmation campaigns, and world-line travel.

While uncomfortable, I am leaving this Bazi time of change into a new state of being. And so far it appears to be far superior in many ways. Of course there are obvious changes…

Phone is HarmonyOS instead of Android.
Computer is Linux Mint instead of Microsoft Windows 10.
Payments in QR code instead of paper cash money.
Food is healthy / vegetarian instead of average fast fare.
Blood Pressure is 130/85 instead of 180/95.
Daughter is walking/talking/eating instead of crying/shitting/feeding.

And so on and so forth. Change is always uncomfortable, but once you get through it, you reach a plateau on the side of a mountain. And you can enjoy the view and rest a while and chill out before the next ascent upwards.

First things first

When you get to the stage of arranging your next affirmation prayer campaign, you need to layout, plan and structure the campaign. This means…

A review of your previous campaign(s).
- What worked, what still needs to work, and changes to them.
- What didn’t work, and corrective actions.
- New things, and elements to add to the campaign.
The structure arrangement of this next campaign (this article)
Those particular goals that you want to stress and emphasize.
Where and how you will read and vocalize your campaign.
A total review of your fate during the periods of active and dwell affirmations. This is called Fate Forecasting.

I just cannot emphasize how important this first basic step is. Some things might stay the same, but others might change drastically. Please take the time to plan, revise and implement properly. Now to the arrangements…

Fate Forecasting

Most people do not need to have a full BaZi reading for them. I have found it to be extremely useful. Instead, you can go the “easy” route and locate the year that you were born in… that will determine what animal sign you are.

Here’s a guide…

Then go on the internet and find out what the GENERAL Fate Forecast is for the months ahead for your “animal” association.

For instance…

Chinese monkey sign in 2023
Dog astrology in Chinese years 2022

Then you will see a general forecast for your sign. They tend to be pretty accurate on trending fate.

But if you want to put down some money, you can have a precise fate reading. The most accurate, and specific. readings are found when you conduct your own exact BaZi reading. I wrote about that HERE. Here, you can see your exact animal year, exact time, and exact general geographical coordinates at your place of birth.

Once you know what your fate has in store for you, you can move forward with what your affirmation campaign will look like. In my personal case now, I have a strong positive fate trend all year, so I am going to conduct a long solid campaign 3 on / 4 off. But the last few years has been not that great. So I have been conducting a 1 / 1 campaign.

The most basic arrangement

Three months on/off. This is the most basic arrangement. You conduct your affirmation campaign for three months. You start on it, and then you finish it after three months. Then you wait for three months so that the goals can simmer and manifest. This is the baseline campaign structure, and it is what I strongly recommend to all newcomers to this technique. Now, that being said, there are some variations to this arrangement…

Quick cycling technique

One month on/off I’ve utilized the quick cycling technique during difficult and contentious times where I needed to have strong affirmations to navigate through troubles, but still be able to adjust to changes and make course corrections on the MWI. This is a useful technique, but it is not desirable to maintain it for long periods of time. I suggest you only follow this technique for short periods of time. Certainly no longer than eight months in total. There are some slight variations that are worthy of consideration…

Heavy lifting / Serious change crowbar

Six months on/off Let’s suppose there is something that you really desire, or really want to get moving on. This technique is guaranteed to “put enough wind in your sails” so that your affirmation realization can “pick up her skirts and trot”. Things will happen, though they will not necessarily happen quickly. This will make things happen and are just great for long term desires. Some variations…

Basic Maintenance technique

One week on/off In general I do not recommend this variation technique. But it does have it’s uses. What it tends to allow is a basic level of control on the MWI. It’s not really all that good for new goals or objectives. But it will make sure that you are still following your plan and your vector path towards your ultimate results. There are no variations to this technique.

Dragon Loop

This is a creative method of manifesting intention, but it is rather advanced. You conduct the three month on/off affirmation campaign schedule, and then follow up with a one month on/off schedule. The second shorter period is for course corrections, and feed back purposes. Then you go back to the three month on/off sequence with the corrections in play.

Some final thoughts

This is a really short and abbreviated article. But I hope that it helps you in some way.

In always, the longer the duration of the active affirmation campaign phase, the more powerful the implementation will be.

I hope that your dreams, wishes and desires all come true. Because, you know what? You deserve them. You really, really do.

Be good and do great things. And never forget… To be the Rufus. Video 7.7MB

Remember to be the Rufus

Video 19MB

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Intention Prayer Index here…

Intention Campaigns

Articles & Links

Master Index

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You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
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Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.

Fate Forecasting using Chinese BaZi astrology as elements of consciousness control in the MWI (Part 1)

This article discusses fate forecasting. It is a technique of measurement to gauge the degree of luck that exists in your present and future.

All MM readers know that we as consciousness are free to move around by choice and action in our reality, but that the options offered to us are limited due to fate. This fate is known as the pre-birth world-line template.

Additionally, another component comes into play. This is the entry point (time and place) when the physical body is birthed. This point in time establishes the fate that the consciousness experiences during a life-time. It’s a measure of how easy or how difficult it is for the consciousness to experience events on their template.

When you look at the MWI world-line template map and you see all those hills and valleys, we tend to believe that they are equally difficult for us to climb or scramble down. But that is not actually the case. Consider our consciousness has another set of “baggage” that it must carry up and down those hills. This extra “baggage” is known as fate.

It is fixed, but can be measured.

Depending on the person, the “baggage” of fate (or you might call it a “fate setting”) might be light and positive, or heavy and oppressive. This will have two effects.

Firstly, it will affect how the consciousness WANTS to navigate on the MWI; Does it want to climb those mountains or go towards those hills. And…

Secondly, it will affect the apparent ease of climbing the terrain on the MWI in front of them.

This method is known as Chinese astrology and horoscopes in terms of quantum physics related to the MWI (reality universe) where our thoughts control our world-line movement. Let it be clear that while there are many unfamiliar terms and associations with astrology, the system, mapped out by the Chinese over many centuries, is an empirical solution and explanation for the rise and fall of “luck” that consciousness experiences during a lifetime.

This is part 1.

I have described an element of the Bazi in my life by studying the Ben Ming Nian when I turned sixty years old. Here I stated…

Contemporaneously, in the Bazi it is believed that a person is surrounded by a non-physical reality. Within this non-physical are cyclic events and attributes that ebb and flow  depending on a host of causes and effects.



This non-physical reality differs from person to person. However, it consists of things that ebb and flow according to synchronized events that are triggered upon birth.

The Chinese have given these various components and their behaviors all sorts of names. They have created a series of "animal characteristics" such as dog, pig, and snake to describe a set of initial non-physical conditions. 

They have also created a series of names to describe how the non-physical components behave as a group. They go by such names as a "strong earth", or a "weak wood". 

It's easy for the ignorant to make fun of this entire system. To them, it sounds a lot like a more detailed version of Western astrology.

But it is not.

It’s not bullshit

It’s an empirically obtained solution for rise and fall of fate and luck during one’s lifetime.

empirical
based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.

For over 5000 years, the Chinese have observed the rise and falls of fortunes.

They noticed that people with similar birth dates had similar luck, and this effect was studied and built upon. The entire effort; this trend for luck (good or bad) is well mapped out, and it is an empirically derived map that resembles the pre-birth world-line template.

It is called Bazi.

Basics

Bazi is known by different names; the most commonly used names in China are…

- - Eight Characters (八字) , BaZi.
  - Four-Pillars (四柱),
  - Zi Ping (子平).

It is a technique that is based on one’s precise birth date and time to the exact minute. At the moment of birth, the physical body enters the MWI on a specific world-line. This world-line moment in time sets the “fate rules” for the person so birthed.

In practice, the birth date/time is first translated into a Chinese calendar representation. This representation is described as 4 “pillars”. Each pillar represents YEAR, MONTH, DAY and HOUR. And each pillar contains 2 Chinese characters.

Four pillars, each having two characters means a total of eight characters, hence the term “the naming of Eight Characters.”

Bazi had long been used and practiced, but in Sung Dynasty, Xu Zi Ping, set the standard in using Bazi as the fortune of fate forecasting tool.

Bazi is a forecasting tool that measures one’s fate on the pre-birth world-line template. This aspect of fate is not changed when you slide off one template to another. Your fate is fixed with your physical body. It is not associated with the world-lines that you traverse.

The methodology

There are ‘two’ main fortune forecasting methods: (a) 神煞 and (b) 十神生剋制化.

[a] 神煞 (shén shà) “God is scant”

This is used by many practitioners. Simply because it much easier to use than [b] below.

[b] 十神生剋制化 (shí shén shēng kè zhì huà) “Ten gods are born and systematized”

Xu Zi Ping, of the Sung Dynasty, based his foretasting on this methodology. It is both much richer in its theoretical base as well as its application than [a].

Destiny considerations

One should note that bazi only uses the birth time for fate forecasting. It does not include where the person is born and what are the targeted person’s relationships. Both these aspects contributes a significant influence on one’s destiny.

So bazi can only provide an indicator of a possible prediction. This is critical as many people think bazi or any fortune telling tool can be used to predict with 100% accuracy, I will leave this to you to have a thought about it.

The other analogy of Bazi is DNA: with the advance of genealogy, it is now possible to predict one’s health condition and possibilities of getting certain diseases. Genealogy doesn’t say one WILL certainly get some diseases but only suggests that one may be more susceptible. Bazi is similar whereby it can be used as a guide to what may happen to one’s fate.

Good Luck and Bad Luck

The fate forecasting methodology relies on trending attributes for measurement. You have “auspicious” trends and “inauspicious” trends. Further these are further divided into strong and weak trends.

Good Luck

- - Strong likelihood of auspicious opportunities / events.
  - A weak trend towards auspicious opportunities / events.

Bad Luck

- - Strong likelihood of inauspicious opportunities / events.
  - A weak trend towards inauspicious opportunities / events.

A Bazi (Chinese Astrology) Primer

Chinese cosmology is a cohesive philosophy that undergirds every aspect of Chinese culture and society.

This primer is by no means meant to be a comprehensive treatment of Chinese cosmology. It is, however, meant to serve as an introductory guide to Bazi which is Chinese Astrology.

It is presented here on MM as a forecasting tool to measure fate influences as your consciousness travels the MWI and world-line movement.

MING MEANS FATE, OR LUCK

命运 (mìng yùn)

fate, destiny, fortunes, fates

Chinese cosmology has a holistic conception of “ming”, or fate/destiny. There are 3 kinds of fate of luck: heaven luck, earth luck, and man luck. These are hierarchical and define both the possibilities and impossibilities in a person’s life.

All 3 notions of fate, or luck, are beholden to time:

Heaven luck is astrology, how celestial phenomena occurring at specified times correlate to affairs on earth and the lives of men;
Earth luck is feng shui, the art of scheduling and positioning. It is the orientation of one’s self and life in relationship to the flow of qi (life force or energy);
Man luck is how one understands, respects, and works with or against their heaven and earth luck.

WU XING: FIVE PHASES OF QI

Essential to each of these studies of fate is “wu xing” which is the five elements (stages, phases, etc). The five elements are:

- - Wood
  - Fire
  - Earth
  - Metal
  - Water

Each of the five elements takes to forms, a yin form and a yang form giving us 10 primary presentations of qi (Life force energy).

Each of these yin/yang forms of qi governs a season.

Each season is comprised of 3 animal signs which are earthly manifestations of the qi/element that governs each season. Earth governs the periods between each of the seasons. See figure 1 for an example. Note that it changes yearly from one person to the next.

Each element interacts with every other element in several defined relationships.

But the most important interactions between elements are the production cycle and the controlling cycle.

Be careful not to assume that relationships is better than the other. Context is everything.

When we discover the flow of your chart we will come to understand which relationships are most important to support that flow.

ANATOMY OF A BAZI CHART

Bazi means eight characters.

The eight characters in your Chinese astrology chart are divided into two groups.

The [1] Heavenly Stems and [2] the Earthly Branches.

The Heavenly Stems are the pure qi, the five elements in their yin or yang forms. The Earthly Branches are the 12 animals (see Figure 1).

There are four pillars in your Bazi chart. The year pillar, month pillar, day pillar, and hour pillar.

Year pillar is grandparents and extended family members, it is your family background and upbringing.
Month pillar represents the parents or siblings, employment.
Day pillar is the self, spouse, home.
Hour pillar is children, aspiration, career.

Each pillar has one heavenly stem at the top, and one earthly branch on the bottom. Each part of the chart is identified in terms of its pillar and whether it’s a stem or a branch. See figure 3 for another example for a specific person on a specific year.

The two most important parts of a Bazi chart are the day stem and the month branch. The day stem is called the daymaster, and the month branch is the season of birth.

Once the daymaster is identified each of the other elements can be identified as well.

The daymaster (and its yin or yang counterpart) is the self (friends/enemies, peers, audience). It produces output.
The element that the daymaster produces is output (ideas, work ethic, talents, children in the chart of women). It produces wealth.
The element that output produces is wealth (assets, father, spouse or partner in the chart of men) it produces influence.
The element that wealth produces is officer (authority, superiors, spouse or partner in the chart of women, children in the chart of men). It produces resource.
The element that the officer produces is resource (mother, family support and upbringing, education, helpful people). It produces the self.

IDENTIFYING YOUR FLOW

The flow of a Bazi chart originates with the daymaster and the season.

The daymaster can be rooted or not rooted in the season. That means the animal in the earthly branch of the month pillar can be the same as or produce the element in the heavenly stem of the day pillar.

For example, Yi (Yin Wood) daymaster born in Spring (Wood season) or Winter (Water season) is rooted because the element of the season in the month branch matches the element of the day stem. Yi is rooted in Winter because the Water of Winter produces Wood. Yi (Yin Wood). Yi (Yin Wood) born in any other season is not rooted.

Whether or not the daymaster is rooted in the month branch determines the flow of the chart. The flow defines which elements are favorable and which elements are unfavorable to a chart. This is a complicated task that requires an understanding of how the stems and branches interact with each other. That is beyond the scope of this primer.

LUCK PILLARS

The Bazi chart and its flow determine the heaven luck you were born with. The annual and 10 (personal) year luck pillars determines when that flow is supported, disrupted or blocked.

Every 10 years, your personal luck pillar changes. Then you enter a new time period with a different focus. See figure 4 for another example.

Each year the annual luck pillar changes. It interacts with both your Bazi chart and your personal luck pillar to support, disrupt, or block the flow that your personal luck pillar adjusts every 10 years.

It is this part we focus on in the Bazi

Conducting the primary forecasting charts

Step 1 – Casting the chart

When casting your Bazi chart, you must convert your birth time to solar time. You can use this calculator to convert it.

Step 2 – Plotting the chart

Here is a calculator you can use to plot your Bazi chart for you. Here’s a sample of what it might look like…

It is very easy to make a mistake in this process. So I strongly recommend that you pay the fee and use an expert. The expert will give you direct and usable intel. Instead of just guidelines that you need to interpret. (And unless you are an expert, you could misinterpret the readings.)

Conclusions

This is just part 1. Don’t get too caught up in the terms and try to make heads or tails out of it. The over all beauty and symmetry of the system becomes evident once you study it.

In future article we will go step by step to tear into the individual components, and then things will become clearer. Of most importance is the idea of “stars” or rotational periodic influences that orbit the consciousness.

I do not recommend that you try to figure out your destiny on your own. Instead, I strongly recommend you locate a practitioner on the internet and they will generate a day to day forecast for you to go by. It has been my personal experience that it is uncanny how accurate it can be.

Here is the group that performed my fate forecast for me back in 2003. I was in the United States at the time, and they are a group in Singapore. No problem what so ever…

This is NOT an advertisement. This is their “line card”. It’s a Singapore based organization.

My personal experience

Here’s overview excerpts from the MM reading that I obtained back in 2003 from geomancy.net.

I found it interesting, but was not paying attention. I had no idea what “bad” + “Very inauspicious” would mean.

This is the period of time where I was “retired”. My life started to fall apart in August 2005, with arrest and incarceration later on in that year. My sentencing to the ADC was in 2006 where I began my five year prison sentence.

Here is the current period of time.

I can confirm that the first half of 2021 was a bit of a strain for me personally, but that the second half was much better. And things are looking brighter this up coming 2022.

The day to day summaries were very helpful. But again, they just show potentials and when you are getting a massive mountain of shit coming your way, the only thing you can do is hunker down and endure the storm.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Fate Forecasting Index here…

Fate forecasting

Articles & Links

Master Index

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE .
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.

Law 43 of the 48 Laws of Power; Work on the hearts and minds of others

For those of you who don’t understand what the Chinese BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) is all about, I present this law.

This is law 43 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.

Remember: The key to persuasion is softening people up and breaking them down, gently. Seduce them with a two-pronged approach: Work on their emotions and play on their intellectual weaknesses. Be alert to both what separates them from everyone else (their individual psychology) and what they share with everyone else (their basic emotional responses). Aim at the primary emotions—love, hate, jealousy. Once you move their emotions you have reduced their control, making them more vulnerable to persuasion.
Play on contrasts: push people to despair, then give them relief. If they expect pain and you give them pleasure, you win their hearts.
Symbolic gestures of self-sacrifice can win sympathy and goodwill.
The quickest way to secure people’s minds is by demonstrating, as simply as possible, how an action will benefit them.

LAW 43

WORK ON THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF OTHERS

JUDGMENT

CYRUS’S RUSE

Thinking of the means by which he could most effectively persuade the Persians to revolt, [Cyrus’s] deliberations led him to adopt the following plan, which he found best suited to his purpose. He wrote on a roll of parchment that Astyages had appointed him to command the Persian army; then he summoned an assembly of the Persians, opened the roll in their presence and read out what he had written. “And now, he added, I have an order for you: every man is to appear on parade with a billhook....” The order was obeyed. All the men assembled with their billhooks, and Cyrus’s next command was that before the day was out they should clear a certain piece of rough land full of thorn-bushes, about eighteen or twenty furlongs square. This too was done, whereupon Cyrus issued the further order that they should present themselves again on the following day, after having taken a bath. Meanwhile, Cyrus collected and slaughtered all his father’s goats, sheep, and oxen in preparation for entertaining the whole Persian army at a banquet, together with the best wine and bread he could procure. The next day the guests assembled, and were told to sit down on the grass and enjoy themselves. After the meal Cyrus asked them which they preferred—yesterday’s work or today’s amusement; and they replied that it was indeed a far cry from the previous day’s misery to their present pleasures. This was the answer which Cyrus wanted; he seized upon it at once and proceeded to lay bare what he had in mind. “Men of Persia,” he said, “listen to me: obey my orders, and you will be able to enjoy a thousand pleasures as good as this without ever turning your hands to menial labor; but, if you disobey, yesterday’s task will be the pattern of innumerable others you will be forced to perform. Take my advice and win your freedom. I am the man destined to undertake your liberation, and it is my belief that you are a match for the Medes in war as in everything else. It is the truth I tell you. Do not delay, but fling off the yoke of Astyages at once.”

The Persians had long resented their subjection to the Medes. At last they had found a leader, and welcomed with enthusiasm the prospect of liberty.... On the present occasion the Persians under Cyrus rose against the Medes and from then onwards were masters of Asia.

THE HISTORIES, HERODOTUS, FIFTH CENTURY B.C..

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

Near the end of the reign of Louis XV, all of France seemed desperate for change. When the king’s grandson and chosen successor, the future Louis XVI, married the fifteen-year-old daughter of the empress of Austria, the French caught a glimpse of the future that seemed hopeful. The young bride, Marie-Antoinette, was beautiful and full of life. She instantly changed the mood of the court, which was rank with Louis XV’s de baucheries; even the common people, who had yet to see her, talked excitedly of Marie- Antoinette. The French had grown disgusted with the series of mistresses who had dominated Louis XV, and they looked forward to serving their new queen. In 1773, when Marie-Antoinette publicly rode through the streets of Paris for the first time, applauding crowds swarmed around her carriage. “How fortunate,” she wrote her mother, “to be in a position in which one can gain widespread affection at so little cost.”

In 1774 Louis XV died and Louis XVI took the throne. As soon as Marie-Antoinette became queen she abandoned herself to the pleasures she loved the most—ordering and wearing the most expensive gowns and jewelry in the realm; sporting the most elaborate hair in history, her sculpted coiffures rising as much as three feet above her head; and throwing a constant succession of masked balls and fêtes. All of these whims she paid for on credit, never concerning herself with the cost or who paid the bills.

Marie-Antoinette’s greatest pleasure was the creation and designing of a private Garden of Eden at the Petit Trianon, a château on the grounds of Versailles with its own woods. The gardens at the Petit Trianon were to be as “natural” as possible, including moss applied by hand to the trees and rocks. To heighten the pastoral effect, the queen employed peasant milkmaids to milk the finest-looking cows in the realm; launderers and cheese-makers in special peasant outfits she helped design; shepherds to tend sheep with silk ribbons around their necks. When she inspected the barns, she would watch her milkmaids squeezing milk into porcelain vases made at the royal ceramic works. To pass the time, Marie-Antoinette would gather flowers in the woods around the Petit Trianon, or watch her “good peasants” doing their “chores.” The place became a separate world, its community limited to her chosen favorites.

With each new whim, the cost of maintaining the Petit Trianon soared. Meanwhile, France itself was deteriorating: There was famine and widespread discontent. Even socially insulated courtiers seethed with resentment—the queen treated them like children. Only her favorites mattered, and these were becoming fewer and fewer. But Marie-Antoinette did not concern herself with this. Not once throughout her reign did she read a minister’s report. Not once did she tour the provinces and rally the people to her side. Not once did she mingle among the Parisians, or receive a delegation from them. She did none of these things because as queen she felt the people owed her their affection, and she was not required to love them in return.

In 1784 the queen became embroiled in a scandal. As part of an elaborate swindle, the most expensive diamond necklace in Europe had been purchased under her name, and during the swindlers’ trial her lavish lifestyle became public: People heard about the money she spent on jewels and dresses and masked dances. They gave her the nickname “Madame Deficit,” and from then on she became the focus of the people’s growing resentment. When she appeared in her box at the opera the audience greeted her with hisses. Even the court turned against her. For while she had been running up her huge expenditures, the country was headed for ruin.

Five years later, in 1789, an unprecedented event took place: the beginning of the French Revolution. The queen did not worry—let the people have their little rebellion, she seemed to think; it would soon quiet down and she would be able to resume her life of pleasure. That year the people marched on Versailles, forcing the royal family to quit the palace and take residence in Paris. This was a triumph for the rebels, but it offered the queen an opportunity to heal the wounds she had opened and establish contact with the people. The queen, however, had not learned her lesson: Not once would she leave the palace during her stay in Paris. Her subjects could rot in hell for all she cared.

In 1792 the royal couple was moved from the palace to a prison, as the revolution officially declared the end of the monarchy. The following year Louis XVI was tried, found guilty, and guillotined. As Marie-Antoinette awaited the same fate, hardly a soul came to her defense—not one of her former friends in the court, not one of Europe’s other monarchs (who, as members of their own countries’ royal families, had all the reason in the world to show that revolution did not pay), not even her own family in Austria, including her brother, who now sat on the throne. She had become the world’s pariah. In October of 1793, she finally knelt at the guillotine, unrepentant and defiant to the bitter end.

Interpretation

From early on, Marie-Antoinette acquired the most dangerous of attitudes: As a young princess in Austria she was endlessly flattered and cajoled. As the future queen of the French court she was the center of everyone’s attention. She never learned to charm or please other people, to become attuned to their individual psychologies. She never had to work to get her way, to use calculation or cunning or the arts of persuasion. And like everyone who is indulged from an early age, she evolved into a monster of insensitivity.

Marie-Antoinette became the focus of an entire country’s dissatisfaction because it is so infuriating to meet with a person who makes no effort to seduce you or attempt to persuade you, even if only for the purpose of deception. And do not imagine that she represents a bygone era, or that she is even rare. Her type is today more common than ever. Such types live in their own bubble—they seem to feel they are born kings and queens, and that attention is owed them. They do not consider anyone else’s nature, but bulldoze over people with the self-righteous arrogance of a Marie-Antoinette. Pampered and indulged as children, as adults they still believe that everything must come to them; convinced of their own charm, they make no effort to charm, seduce, or gently persuade.

In the realm of power, such attitudes are disastrous. At all times you must attend to those around you, gauging their particular psychology, tailoring your words to what you know will entice and seduce them. This requires energy and art. The higher your station, the greater the need to remain attuned to the hearts and minds of those below you, creating a base of support to maintain you at the pinnacle. Without that base, your power will teeter, and at the slightest change of fortune those below will gladly assist in your fall from grace.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

In A.D. 225, Chuko Liang, master strategist and chief minister to the ruler of Shu in ancient China, confronted a dangerous situation. The kingdom of Wei had mounted an all-out attack on Shu from the north. More dangerous still, Wei had formed an alliance with the barbarous states to the south of Shu, led by King Menghuo. Chuko Liang had to deal with this second menace from the south before he could hope to fend off Wei in the north.

As Chuko Liang prepared to march south against the barbarians, a wise man in his camp offered him advice. It would be impossible, this man said, to pacify the region by force. Liang would probably beat Menghuo, but as soon as he headed north again to deal with Wei, Menghuo would reinvade. “It is better to win hearts,” said the wise man, “than cities; better to battle with hearts than with weapons. I hope you will succeed in winning the hearts of these people.” “You read my thoughts,” responded Chuko Liang.

THE GENTLE ART OF PERSUASION

The north wind and the sun were disputing which was the stronger, and agreed to acknowledge as the victor whichever of them could strip a traveler of his clothing. The wind tried first. But its violent gusts only made the man hold his clothes tightly around him, and when it blew harder still the cold made him so uncomfortable that he put on an extra wrap. Eventually the wind got tired of it and handed him over to the sun. The sun shone first with a moderate warmth, which made the man take off his topcoat. Then it blazed fiercely, till, unable to stand the heat, he stripped and went off to bathe in a nearby river. Persuasion is more effective than force.

FABLES, AESOP, SIXTH CENTURY B.C.

As Liang expected, Menghuo launched a powerful attack. But Liang laid a trap and managed to capture a large part of Menghuo’s army, including the king himself. Instead of punishing or executing his prisoners, however, he separated the soldiers from their king, had their shackles removed, regaled them with food and wine, and then addressed them. “You are all upright men,” he said. “I believe you all have parents, wives, and children waiting for you at home. They are doubtless shedding bitter tears at your fate. I am going to release you, so that you can return home to your loved ones and comfort them.” The men thanked Liang with tears in their eyes; then he sent for Menghuo. “If I release you,” asked Liang, “what will you do?” “I will pull my army together again,” answered the king, “and lead it against you to a decisive battle. But if you capture me a second time, I will bow to your superiority.” Not only did Liang order Menghuo released, he gave him a gift of a horse and saddle. When angry lieutenants wondered why he did this, Liang told them, “I can capture that man as easily as I can take something out of my pocket. I am trying to win his heart. When I do, peace will come of itself here in the south.”

As Menghuo had said he would, he attacked again. But his own officers, whom Liang had treated so well, rebelled against him, captured him, and turned him over to Liang, who asked him again the same question as before. Menghuo replied that he had not been beaten fairly, but merely betrayed by his own officers; he would fight again, but if captured a third time he would bow to Liang’s superiority.

Over the following months Liang outwitted Menghuo again and again, capturing him a third, a fourth, and a fifth time. On each occasion Menghuo’s troops grew more dissatisfied. Liang had treated them with respect; they had lost their heart for fighting. But every time Chuko Liang asked Menghuo to yield, the great king would come up with another excuse: You tricked me, I lost through bad luck, on and on. If you capture me again, he would promise, I swear I will not betray you. And so Liang would let him go.

When he captured Menghuo for the sixth time, he asked the king the same question again. “If you capture me a seventh time,” the king replied, “I shall give you my loyalty and never rebel again.” “Very well,” said Liang. “But if I capture you again, I will not release you.”

Now Menghuo and his soldiers fled to a far corner of their kingdom, the region of Wuge. Defeated so many times, Menghuo had only one hope left: He would ask the help of King Wutugu of Wuge, who had an immense and ferocious army. Wutugu’s warriors wore an armor of tightly woven vines soaked in oil, then dried to an impenetrable hardness. With Menghuo at his side, Wutugu marched this mighty army against Liang, and this time the great strategist seemed frightened, leading his men in a hurried retreat. But he was merely leading Wutugu into a trap: He cornered the king’s men in a narrow valley, then lit fires set all around them. When the fires reached the soldiers Wutugu’s whole army burst into flame—the oil in their armor, of course, being highly flammable. All of them perished.

Liang had managed to separate Menghuo and his entourage from the carnage in the valley, and the king found himself a captive for the seventh time. After this slaughter Liang could not bear to face his prisoner again. He sent a messenger to the captured king: “He has commissioned me to release you. Mobilize another army against him, if you can, and try once more to defeat him.” Sobbing, the king fell to the ground, crawled to Liang on his hands and knees, and prostrated himself at his feet. “Oh great minister,” cried Menghuo, “yours is the majesty of Heaven. We men of the south will never again offer resistance to your rule.” “Do you now yield?” asked Liang. “I, my sons, and my grandsons are deeply moved by Your Honor’s boundless, life-giving mercy. How could we not yield?”

Liang honored Menghuo with a great banquet, reestablished him on the throne, restored his conquered lands to his rule, then returned north with his army, leaving no occupying force. Liang never came back—he had no need to: Menghuo had become his most devoted and unshakable ally.

The men who have changed the universe have never gotten there by working on leaders, but rather by moving the masses. Working on leaders is the method of intrigue and only leads to secondary results. Working on the masses, however, is the stroke of genius that changes the face of the world.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, 1769-1821

LIFE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT

This long and painful pursuit of Darius—for in eleven days he marched 33 hundred furlongs—harassed his soldiers so that most of them were ready to give it up, chiefly for want of water. While they were in this distress, it happened that some Macedonians who had fetched water in skins upon their mules from a river they had found out came about noon to the place where Alexander was, and seeing him almost choked with thirst, presently filled a helmet and offered it him.... Then he took the helmet into his hands, and looking round about, when he saw all those who were near him stretching their heads out and looking earnestly after the drink, he returned it again with thanks without tasting a drop of it. “For,” said he, “if I alone should drink, the rest will be out of heart.” The soldiers no sooner took notice of his temperance and magnanimity upon this occasion, but they one and all cried out to him to lead them forward boldly, and began whipping on their horses. For whilst they had such a king they said they defied both weariness and thirst, and looked upon themselves to be little less than immortal.

THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, PLUTARCH, C. A.D. 46-120

Interpretation

Chuko Liang had two options: Try to defeat the barbarians in the south with one crushing blow, or patiently and slowly win them to his side over time. Most people more powerful than their enemy grab the first option and never consider the second, but the truly powerful think far ahead: The first option may be quick and easy, but over time it brews ugly emotions in the hearts of the vanquished. Their resentment turns to hatred; such animosity keeps you on edge—you spend your energy protecting what you have gained, growing paranoid and defensive. The second option, though more difficult, not only brings you peace of mind, it converts a potential enemy into a pillar of support.

In all your encounters, take a step back—take the time to calculate and attune yourself to your targets’ emotional makeup and psychological weaknesses. Force will only strengthen their resistance. With most people the heart is the key: They are like children, ruled by their emotions. To soften them up, alternate harshness with mercy. Play on their basic fears, and also their loves—freedom, family, etc. Once you break them down, you will have a lifelong friend and fiercely loyal ally.

Governments saw men only in mass; but our men, being irregulars, were not formations, but individuals.... Our kingdoms lay in each man’s mind.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T. E. Lawrence, 1888-1935

KEYS TO POWER

In the game of power, you are surrounded by people who have absolutely no reason to help you unless it is in their interest to do so. And if you have nothing to offer their self- interest, you are likely to make them hostile, for they will see in you just one more competitor, one more waster of their time. Those that overcome this prevailing coldness are the ones who find the key that unlocks the stranger’s heart and mind, seducing him into their comer, if necessary softening him up for a punch. But most people never learn this side of the game. When they meet someone new, rather than stepping back and probing to see what makes this person unique, they talk about themselves, eager to impose their own willpower and prejudices. They argue, boast, and make a show of their power. They may not know it but they are secretly creating an enemy, a resister, because there is no more infuriating feeling than having your individuality ignored, your own psychology unacknowledged. It makes you feel lifeless and resentful.

Remember: The key to persuasion is softening people up and breaking them down, gently. Seduce them with a two-pronged approach: Work on their emotions and play on their intellectual weaknesses. Be alert to both what separates them from everyone else (their individual psychology) and what they share with everyone else (their basic emotional responses). Aim at the primary emotions—love, hate, jealousy. Once you move their emotions you have reduced their control, making them more vulnerable to persuasion.

When Chuko Liang wanted to dissuade an important general of a rival kingdom from entering into an alliance with Ts‘ao Ts’ao, Liang’s dreaded enemy, he did not detail Ts‘ao Ts’ao’s cruelty, or attack him on moral grounds. Instead Liang suggested that Ts‘ao Ts’ao was really after the general’s beautiful young wife. This hit the general in the gut, and won him over. Mao Tse-tung similarly always appealed to popular emotions, and spoke in the simplest terms. Educated and well-read himself, in his speeches he used visceral metaphors, voicing the public’s deepest anxieties and encouraging them to vent their frustrations in public meetings. Rather than arguing the practical aspects of a particular program, he would describe how it would affect them on the most primitive, down-to-earth level. Do not believe that this approach works only with the illiterate and unschooled—it works on one and all. All of us are mortal and face the same dreadful fate, and all of us share the desire for attachment and belonging. Stir up these emotions and you captivate our hearts.

The best way to do this is with a dramatic jolt, of the kind that Chuko Liang created when he fed and released prisoners who expected only the worst from him. Shaking them to the core, he softened their hearts. Play on contrasts like this: Push people to despair, then give them relief. If they expect pain and you give them pleasure, you win their hearts. Creating pleasure of any kind, in fact, will usually bring you success, as will allaying fears and providing or promising security.

Symbolic gestures are often enough to win sympathy and goodwill. A gesture of self- sacrifice, for example—a show that you suffer as those around you do—will make people identify with you, even if your suffering is symbolic or minor and theirs is real. When you enter a group, make a gesture of goodwill; soften the group up for the harsher actions that will follow later.

When T. E. Lawrence was fighting the Turks in the deserts of the Middle East during World War I, he had an epiphany: It seemed to him that conventional warfare had lost its value. The old-fashioned soldier was lost in the enormous armies of the time, in which he was ordered about like a lifeless pawn. Lawrence wanted to turn this around. For him, every soldier’s mind was a kingdom he had to conquer. A committed, psychologically motivated soldier would fight harder and more creatively than a puppet.

Lawrence’s perception is still more true in the world today, where so many of us feel alienated, anonymous, and suspicious of authority, all of which makes overt power plays and force even more counterproductive and dangerous. Instead of manipulating lifeless pawns, make those on your side convinced and excited by the cause you have enlisted them in; this will not only make your work easier but it will also give you more leeway to deceive them later on. And to accomplish this you need to deal with their individual psychologies. Never clumsily assume that the tactic that worked on one person will necessarily work on another. To find the key that will motivate them, first get them to open up. The more they talk, the more they reveal about their likes and dislikes—the handles and levers to move them with.

The quickest way to secure people’s minds is by demonstrating, as simply as possible, how an action will benefit them. Self-interest is the strongest motive of all: A great cause may capture minds, but once the first flush of excitement is over, interest will flag—unless there is something to be gained. Self-interest is the solider foundation. The causes that work best use a noble veneer to cover a blatant appeal to self-interest; the cause seduces but the self-interest secures the deal.

The people who are best at appealing to people’s minds are often artists, intellectuals, and those of a more poetic nature. This is because ideas are most easily communicated through metaphors and imagery. It is always good policy, then, to have in your pocket at least one artist or intellectual who can appeal concretely to people’s minds. Kings have always kept a stable of writers in their barn: Frederick the Great had his Voltaire (until they quarreled and separated), Napoleon won over Goethe.

Conversely, Napoleon III’s alienation of writers such as Victor Hugo, whom he exiled from France, contributed to his growing unpopularity and eventual downfall. It is dangerous, then, to alienate those who have powers of expression, and useful to pacify and exploit them.

Finally, learn to play the numbers game. The wider your support base the stronger your power. Understanding that one alienated, disaffected soul can spark a blaze of discontent, Louis XIV made sure to endear himself to the lowest members of his staff. You too must constantly win over more allies on all levels—a time will inevitably come when you will need them.

Image: The Keyhole.

People build walls to keep you out; never force your way in—you will find only more walls within walls.

There are doors in these walls, doors to the heart and mind, and they have tiny key holes. Peer through the keyhole, find the key that opens the door,

and you have access to their will with no ugly signs of forced entry.

Authority: The difficulties in the way of persuasion lie in my knowing the heart of the persuaded in order thereby to fit my wording into it…. For this reason, whoever attempts persuasion before the throne, must carefully observe the sovereign’s feelings of love and hate, his secret wishes and fears, before he can conquer his heart. (Han-fei-tzu, Chinese philosopher, third century B.C.)

REVERSAL

There is no possible reversal to this Law.

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Law 26 of the 48 Laws of Power; Keep your hands clean

This is law 26 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.

Part 1: Conceal your mistakes – have a scapegoat to take the blame.

It is often wise to choose the most innocent victim possible as a sacrificial goat. Be careful, however, not to create a martyr.
A close associate is often the best choice – the “fall of the favourite”.

Part 2: Make use of the cat’s-paw.

Use those around you to complete dirty tasks to hide your intentions and accomplish your goals while keeping your hands clean.
An essential element in this strategy is concealing your goal.
Devices like this are best for approaching those in power, or planting information.
You may also offer yourself as the cat’s-paw to gain power.
Note: you must be very careful in using this tactic, as being revealed would be disastrous.

LAW 26

KEEP YOUR HANDS CLEAN

JUDGMENT

PART I: CONCEAL YOUR MISTAKES—HAVE A SCAPEGOAT AROUND TO TAKE THE BLAME

Our good name and reputation depend more on what we conceal than on what we reveal. Everyone makes mistakes, but those who are truly clever manage to hide them, and to make sure someone else is blamed. A convenient scapegoat should always be kept around for such moments.

The death of one roofer

A great calamity befell the town of Chelm one day. The town cobbler murdered one of his customers. So he was brought before the judge, who sentenced him to die by hanging. When the verdict was read a townsman arose and cried out, “If your Honor pleases—you have sentenced to death the town cobbler! He’s the only one we’ve got. lf you hang him who will mend our shoes?” “Who? Who?” cried all the people of Chelm with one voice.

The judge nodded in agreement and reconsidered his verdict. “Good people of Chelm,”he said, “what you say is true. Since we have only one cobbler it would he a great wrong against the community to let him die. As there are two roofers in the town let one of them be hanged instead.”

-A TREASURY OF JEWISH FOLKLORE, NATHAN AUSUBEL, ED.. 1948

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I

Near the end of the second century A.D., as China’s mighty Han Empire slowly collapsed, the great general and imperial minister Ts‘ao Ts’ao emerged as the most powerful man in the country. Seeking to extend his power base and to rid himself of the last of his rivals, Ts‘ao Ts’ao began a campaign to take control of the strategically vital Central Plain. During the siege of a key city, he slightly miscalculated the timing for supplies of grain to arrive from the capital. As he waited for the shipment to come in, the army ran low on food, and Ts‘ao Ts’ao was forced to order the chief of commissariat to reduce its rations.

Ts‘ao Ts’ao kept a tight rein on the army, and ran a network of informers. His spies soon reported that the men were complaining, grumbling that he was living well while they themselves had barely enough to eat. Perhaps Ts‘ao Ts’ao was keeping the food for himself, they murmured. If the grumbling spread, Ts‘ao Ts’ao could have a mutiny on his hands. He summoned the chief of commissariat to his tent.

“I want to ask you to lend me something, and you must not refuse,” Ts‘ao Ts’ao told the chief. “What is it?” the chief replied. “I want the loan of your head to show to the troops,” said Ts‘ao Ts’ao. “But I’ve done nothing wrong!” cried the chief. “I know,” said Ts‘ao Ts’ao with a sigh, “but if I do not put you to death, there will be a mutiny. Do not grieve—after you’re gone, I’ll look after your family.”

Put this way, the request left the chief no choice, so he resigned himself to his fate and was beheaded that very day.

Seeing his head on public display, the soldiers stopped grumbling. Some saw through Ts‘ao Ts’ao’s gesture, but kept quiet, stunned and intimidated by his violence. And most accepted his version of who was to blame, preferring to believe in his wisdom and fairness than in his incompetence and cruelty.

Interpretation

Ts‘ao Ts’ao came to power in an extremely tumultuous time. In the struggle for supremacy in the crumbling Han Empire, enemies had emerged from all sides. The battle for the Central Plain had proven more difficult than he imagined, and money and provisions were a constant concern. No wonder that under such stress, he had forgotten to order supplies in time.

Once it became clear that the delay was a critical mistake, and that the army was seething with mutiny, Ts‘ao Ts’ao had two options: apology and excuses, or a scapegoat. Understanding the workings of power and the importance of appearances as he did, Ts‘ao Ts’ao did not hesitate for a moment: He shopped around for the most convenient head and had it served up immediately.

Occasional mistakes are inevitable—the world is just too unpredictable. People of power, however, are undone not by the mistakes they make, but by the way they deal with them. Like surgeons, they must cut away the tumor with speed and finality. Excuses and apologies are much too blunt tools for this delicate operation; the powerful avoid them. By apologizing you open up all sorts of doubts about your competence, your intentions, any other mistakes you may not have confessed. Excuses satisfy no one and apologies make everyone uncomfortable. The mistake does not vanish with an apology; it deepens and festers. Better to cut it off instantly, distract attention from yourself, and focus attention on a convenient scapegoat before people have time to ponder your responsibility or your possible incompetence.

I would rather betray the whole world than let the world betray me.

General Ts‘ao Ts’ao, c. A.D. 155-220

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II

For several years Cesare Borgia campaigned to gain control of large parts of Italy in the name of his father, Pope Alexander. In the year 1500 he managed to take Romagna, in northern Italy. The region had for years been ruled by a series of greedy masters who had plundered its wealth for themselves. Without police or any disciplining force, it had descended into lawlessness, whole areas being ruled by robbers and feuding families. To establish order, Cesare appointed a lieutenant general of the region—Remirro de Orco, “a cruel and vigorous man,” according to Niccolõ Machiavelli. Cesare gave de Orco absolute powers.

With energy and violence, de Orco established a severe, brutal justice in Romagna, and soon rid it of almost all of its lawless elements. But in his zeal he sometimes went too far, and after a couple of years the local population resented and even hated him. In December of 1502, Cesare took decisive action. He first let it be known that he had not approved of de Orco’s cruel and violent deeds, which stemmed from the lieutenant’s brutal nature. Then, on December 22, he imprisoned de Orco in the town of Cesena, and the day after Christmas the townspeople awoke to find a strange spectacle in the middle of the piazza: de Orco’s headless body, dressed in a lavish suit with a purple cape, the head impaled beside it on a pike, the bloody knife and executioner’s block laid out beside the head. As Machiavelli concluded his comments on the affair, “The ferocity of this scene left the people at once stunned and satisfied.”

Interpretation

Cesare Borgia was a master player in the game of power. Always planning several moves ahead, he set his opponents the cleverest traps. For this Machiavelli honored him above all others in The Prince.

Cesare foresaw the future with amazing clarity in Romagna: Only brutal justice would bring order to the region. The process would take several years, and at first the people would welcome it. But it would soon make many enemies, and the citizens would come to resent the imposition of such unforgiving justice, especially by outsiders. Cesare himself, then, could not be seen as the agent of this justice—the people’s hatred would cause too many problems in the future. And so he chose the one man who could do the dirty work, knowing in advance that once the task was done he would have to display de Orco’s head on a pike. The scapegoat in this case had been planned from the beginning.

With Ts‘ao Ts’ao, the scapegoat was an entirely innocent man; in the Romagna, he was the offensive weapon in Cesare’s arsenal that let him get the dirty work done without bloodying his own hands. With this second kind of scapegoat it is wise to separate yourself from the hatchet man at some point, either leaving him dangling in the wind or, like Cesare, even making yourself the one to bring him to justice. Not only are you free of involvement in the problem, you can appear as the one who cleaned it up.

The Athenians regularly maintained a number of degraded and useless beings at the public expense; and when any calamity, such as plague, drought, or famine, befell the city ... [these scapegoats] were led about ... and then sacrificed, apparently by being stoned outside the city.

The Golden Bough, Sir James George Frazer, 1854-1941

KEYS TO POWER

The use of scapegoats is as old as civilization itself, and examples of it can be found in cultures around the world. The main idea behind these sacrifices is the shifting of guilt and sin to an outside figure—object, animal, or man—which is then banished or destroyed. The Hebrews used to take a live goat (hence the term “scapegoat”) upon whose head the priest would lay both hands while confessing the sins of the Children of Israel. Having thus had those sins transferred to it, the beast would be led away and abandoned in the wilderness. With the Athenians and the Aztecs, the scapegoat was human, often a person fed and raised for the purpose. Since famine and plague were thought to be visited on humans by the gods, in punishment for wrongdoing, the people suffered not only from the famine and plague themselves but from blame and guilt. They freed themselves of guilt by transferring it to an innocent person, whose death was intended to satisfy the divine powers and banish the evil from their midst.

It is an extremely human response to not look inward after a mistake or crime, but rather to look outward and to affix blame and guilt on a convenient object. When the plague was ravaging Thebes, Oedipus looked everywhere for its cause, everywhere except inside himself and his own sin of incest, which had so offended the gods and occasioned the plague. This profound need to exteriorize one’s guilt, to project it on another person or object, has an immense power, which the clever know how to harness. Sacrifice is a ritual, perhaps the most ancient ritual of all; ritual too is a well- spring of power. In the killing of de Orco, note Cesare’s symbolic and ritualistic display of his body. By framing it in this dramatic way he focused guilt outward. The citizens of Romagna responded instantly. Because it comes so naturally to us to look outward rather than inward, we readily accept the scapegoat’s guilt.

The bloody sacrifice of the scapegoat seems a barbaric relic of the past, but the practice lives on to this day, if indirectly and symbolically; since power depends on appearances, and those in power must seem never to make mistakes, the use of scapegoats is as popular as ever. What modem leader will take responsibility for his blunders? He searches out others to blame, a scapegoat to sacrifice. When Mao Tse- tung’s Cultural Revolution failed miserably, he made no apologies or excuses to the Chinese people; instead, like Ts‘ao Ts’ao before him, he offered up scapegoats, including his own personal secretary and high-ranking member of the Party, Ch’en Po- ta.

Franklin D. Roosevelt had a reputation for honesty and fairness. Throughout his career, however, he faced many situations in which being the nice guy would have spelled political disaster—yet he could not be seen as the agent of any foul play. For twenty years, then, his secretary, Louis Howe, played the role de Orco had. He handled the backroom deals, the manipulation of the press, the underhanded campaign maneuvers. And whenever a mistake was committed, or a dirty trick contradicting Roosevelt’s carefully crafted image became public, Howe served as the scapegoat, and never complained.

Besides conveniently shifting blame, a scapegoat can serve as a warning to others. In 1631 a plot was hatched to oust France’s Cardinal Richelieu from power, a plot that became known as “The Day of the Dupes.” It almost succeeded, since it involved the upper echelons of government, including the queen mother. But through luck and his own connivances, Richelieu survived.

One of the key conspirators was a man named Marillac, the keeper of the seals. Richelieu could not imprison him without implicating the queen mother, an extremely dangerous tactic, so he targeted Marillac’s brother, a marshal in the army. This man had no involvement in the plot. Richelieu, however, afraid that other conspiracies might be in the air, especially in the army, decided to set an example. He tried the brother on trumped-up charges and had him executed. In this way he indirectly punished the real perpetrator, who had thought himself protected, and warned any future conspirators that he would not shrink from sacrificing the innocent to protect his own power.

In fact it is often wise to choose the most innocent victim possible as a sacrificial goat. Such people will not be powerful enough to fight you, and their naive protests may be seen as protesting too much—may be seen, in other words, as a sign of their guilt. Be careful, however, not to create a martyr. It is important that you remain the victim, the poor leader betrayed by the incompetence of those around you. If the scapegoat appears too weak and his punishment too cruel, you may end up the victim of your own device. Sometimes you should find a more powerful scapegoat—one who will elicit less sympathy in the long run.

In this vein, history has time and again shown the value of using a close associate as a scapegoat. This is known as the “fall of the favorite.” Most kings had a personal

favorite at court, a man whom they singled out, sometimes for no apparent reason, and lavished with favors and attention. But this court favorite could serve as a convenient scapegoat in case of a threat to the king’s reputation. The public would readily believe in the scapegoat’s guilt—why would the king sacrifice his favorite unless he were guilty? And the other courtiers, resentful of the favorite anyway, would rejoice at his downfall. The king, meanwhile, would rid himself of a man who by that time had probably learned too much about him, perhaps becoming arrogant and even disdainful of him. Choosing a close associate as a scapegoat has the same value as the “fall of the favorite.” You may lose a friend or aide, but in the long-term scheme of things, it is

more important to hide your mistakes than to hold on to someone who one day will probably turn against you. Besides, you can always find a new favorite to take his place.

Image: The Innocent Goat. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest brings the goat into the temple, places his hands on its head, and confesses the people’s sins, transferring guilt to the guiltless beast, which is then led to the wilderness and abandoned, the people’s sins and blame vanishing with him.

Authority: Folly consists not in committing Folly, but in being incapable of concealing it. All men make mistakes, but the wise conceal the blunders they have made, while fools make them public. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is seen. If you can’t be good, be careful. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

PART II: MAKE USE OF THE CAT’S-PAW

In the fable, the Monkey grabs the paw of his friend, the Cat, and uses it to fish chestnuts out of the fire, thus getting the nuts he craves, without hurting himself.

If there is something unpleasant or unpopular that needs to be done, it is far too risky for you to do the work yourself. You need a cat‘s-paw-someone who does the dirty, dangerous work for you. The cat’s-paw grabs what you need, hurts whom you need hurt, and keeps people from noticing that you are the one responsible. Let someone else be the executioner, or the bearer of bad news, while you bring only joy and glad tidings.

THE MONKEY AND THE CAT

A monkey and cat, in roguery and fun Sworn brothers twain, both owned a common master, Whatever mischief in the house was done By Pug and Tom was contrived each disaster.... One winter’s day was seen this hopeful pair Close to the kitchen fire, as usual, posted. Amongst the red-hot coals the cook with care Had plac’d some nice plump chestnuts to be roasted, From whence in smoke a pungent odor rose, Whose oily fragrance struck the monkey’s nose. “Tom!” says sly Pug, “pray could not you and I Share this dessert the cook is pleased to cater? Had I such claws as yours, I’d quickly try: Lend me a hand—’twill be a coup-de-maître.” So said, he seized his colleague’s ready paw, Pulled out the fruit, and crammed it in his jaw.

Now came the shining Mistress of the fane. And off in haste the two marauders scampered.

Tom for his share of the plunder had the pain. Whilst Pug his palate with the dainties pampered. 

FABLES, JEAN OF LA FONTAINE. 1621-1695

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I

In 59 B.C., the future queen Cleopatra of Egypt, then ten years old, witnessed the overthrow and banishment of her father, Ptolemy XII, at the hand of his elder daughters —her own sisters. One of the daughters, Berenice, emerged as the leader of the rebellion, and to ensure that she would now rule Egypt alone, she imprisoned her other sisters and murdered her own husband. This may have been necessary as a practical step to secure her rule. But that a member of the royal family, a queen no less, would so overtly exact such violence on her own family horrified her subjects and stirred up powerful opposition. Four years later this opposition was able to return Ptolemy to power, and he promptly had Berenice and the other elder sisters beheaded.

In 51 B.C. Ptolemy died, leaving four remaining children as heirs. As was the tradition in Egypt, the eldest son, Ptolemy XIII (only ten at the time), married the elder sister, Cleopatra (now eighteen), and the couple took the throne together as king and queen. None of the four children felt satisfied with this; everyone, including Cleopatra, wanted more power. A struggle emerged between Cleopatra and Ptolemy, each trying to push the other to the side.

In 48 B.C., with the help of a government faction that feared Cleopatra’s ambitions, Ptolemy was able to force his sister to flee the country, leaving himself as sole ruler. In exile, Cleopatra schemed. She wanted to rule alone and to restore Egypt to its past glory, a goal she felt none of her other siblings could achieve; yet as long as they were alive, she could not realize her dream. And the example of Berenice had made it clear that no one would serve a queen who was seen murdering her own kind. Even Ptolemy XIII had not dared murder Cleopatra, although he knew she would plot against him from abroad.

Within a year after Cleopatra’s banishment, the Roman dictator Julius Caesar arrived in Egypt, determined to make the country a Roman colony. Cleopatra saw her chance: Reentering Egypt in disguise, she traveled hundreds of miles to reach Caesar in Alexandria. Legend has it that she had herself smuggled into his presence rolled up inside a carpet, which was gracefully unfurled at his feet, revealing the young queen. Cleopatra immediately went to work on the Roman. She appealed to his love of spectacle and his interest in Egyptian history, and poured on her feminine charms. Caesar soon succumbed and restored Cleopatra to the throne.

Cleopatra’s siblings seethed—she had outmaneuvered them. Ptolemy XIII would not wait to see what happened next: From his palace in Alexandria, he summoned a great army to march on the city and attack Caesar. In response, Caesar immediately put Ptolemy and the rest of the family under house arrest. But Cleopatra’s younger sister Arsinoe escaped from the palace and placed herself at the head of the approaching Egyptian troops, proclaiming herself queen of Egypt. Now Cleopatra finally saw her chance: She convinced Caesar to release Ptolemy from house arrest, under the agreement that he would broker a truce. Of course she knew he would do the opposite— that he would fight Arsinoe for control of the Egyptian army. But this was to Cleopatra’s benefit, for it would divide the royal family. Better still, it would give Caesar the chance to defeat and kill her siblings in battle.

Reinforced by troops from Rome, Caesar swiftly defeated the rebels. In the Egyptians’ retreat, Ptolemy drowned in the Nile. Caesar captured Arsinoe and had her sent to Rome as a prisoner. He also executed the numerous enemies who had conspired against Cleopatra, and imprisoned others who had opposed her. To reinforce her position as uncontested queen, Cleopatra now married the only sibling left, Ptolemy XIV—only eleven at the time, and the weakest of the lot. Four years later Ptolemy mysteriously died, of poison.

In 41 B.C., Cleopatra employed on a second Roman leader, Marc Antony, the same tactics she had used so well on Julius Caesar. After seducing him, she hinted to him that her sister Arsinoe, still a prisoner in Rome, had conspired to destroy him. Marc Antony believed her and promptly had Arsinoe executed, thereby getting rid of the last of the siblings who had posed such a threat to Cleopatra.

IIII CROW AND COBRA

Once upon a time there was a crow and his wife who had built a nest in a banyan tree. A big snake crawled into the hollow trunk and ate up the chicks as they were hatched. The crow did not want to move, since he loved the tree dearly. So he went to his friend the jackal for advice. A plan of action was devised. The crow and his wife flew about in implementation.

As the wife approached a pond, she saw the women of the king’s court bathing, with pearls, necklaces, gems, garments, and a golden chain laying on the shore. The crow- hen seized the golden chain in her beak and flew toward the banyan tree with the eunuchs in pursuit. When she reached the tree, she dropped the chain into the hole. As the kings’ men climbed the tree for the chain, they saw the swelling hood of the cobra. So they killed the snake with their clubs, retrieved the golden chain, and went back to the pond. And the crow and his wife lived happily ever after.

A TALE FROM THE PANCHATANTRA, FOURTH CENTURY, RETOLD IN THE CRAFT OF POWER, R. G. H. SIU, 1979

Interpretation

Legend has it that Cleopatra succeeded through her seductive charms, but in reality her power came from an ability to get people to do her bidding without realizing they were being manipulated. Caesar and Antony not only rid her of her most dangerous siblings— Ptolemy XIII and Arsinoe—they decimated all of her enemies, in both the government and the military. The two men became her cat’s-paws. They entered the fire for her, did the ugly but necessary work, while shielding her from appearing as the destroyer of her siblings and fellow Egyptians. And in the end, both men acquiesced to her desire to rule Egypt not as a Roman colony but as an independent allied kingdom. And they did all this for her without realizing how she had manipulated them. This was persuasion of the subtlest and most powerful kind.

A queen must never dirty her hands with ugly tasks, nor can a king appear in public with blood on his face. Yet power cannot survive without the constant squashing of enemies—there will always be dirty little tasks that have to be done to keep you on the throne. Like Cleopatra, you need a cat’s-paw.

This will usually be a person from outside your immediate circle, who will therefore be unlikely to realize how he or she is being used. You will find these dupes everywhere—people who enjoy doing you favors, especially if you throw them a minimal bone or two in exchange. But as they accomplish tasks that may seem to them innocent enough, or at least completely justified, they are actually clearing the field for you, spreading the information you feed them, undermining people they do not realize are your rivals, inadvertently furthering your cause, dirtying their hands while yours remain spotless.

HOW TO BROADCAST NEWS

When Omar, son of al-Khattab, was converted to Islam, he wanted the news of his conversion to reach everyone quickly. He went to see Jamil, son of Ma’mar al- Jumahi. The latter was renowned for the speed with which he passed on secrets. If he was told anything in confidence, he let everyone know about it immediately. Omar said to him: “I have become a Muslim. Do not say anything. Keep it dark. Do not mention it in front of anyone.” Jamil went out into the street and began shouting at the top of his voice: “Do you believe that Omar, son of al-Khattab, has not become a Muslim? Well, do not believe that! I am telling you that he has!”

The news of Omar’s conversion to Islam was spread everywhere. And that was just what he intended.

THE SUBTLE RUSE: THE BOOK OF ARABIC WISDOM AND GUILE, IHIRTEENTH CENTURY

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II

In the late 1920s, civil war broke out in China as the Nationalist and Communist parties battled for control of the country. In 1927 Chiang Kai-shek, the Nationalist leader, vowed to kill every last Communist, and over the next few years he nearly accomplished his task, pushing his enemies hard until, in 1934-1935, he forced them into the Long March, a six-thousand-mile retreat from the southeast to the remote northwest, through harsh terrain, in which most of their ranks were decimated. In late 1936 Chiang planned one last offensive to wipe them out, but he was caught in a mutiny: His own soldiers captured him and turned him over to the Communists. Now he could only expect the worst.

Meanwhile, however, the Japanese began an invasion of China, and much to Chiang’s surprise, instead of killing him the Communist leader, Mao Tse-tung, proposed a deal: The Communists would let him go, and would recognize him as commander of their forces as well as his, if he would agree to fight alongside them against their common enemy. Chiang had expected torture and execution; now he could not believe his luck. How soft these Reds had become. Without having to fight a rearguard action against the Communists, he knew he could beat the Japanese, and then a few years down the line he would turn around and destroy the Reds with ease. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain by agreeing to their terms.

The Communists proceeded to fight the Japanese in their usual fashion, with hit-and- run guerrilla tactics, while the Nationalists fought a more conventional war. Together, after several years, they succeeded in evicting the Japanese. Now, however, Chiang finally understood what Mao had really planned. His own army had met the brunt of the Japanese artillery, was greatly weakened, and would take a few years to recover. The Communists, meanwhile, had not only avoided any direct hits from the Japanese, they had used the time to recoup their strength, and to spread out and gain pockets of influence all over China. As soon as the war against the Japanese ended, the civil war started again—but this time the Communists enveloped the weakened Nationalists and slowly beat them into submission. The Japanese had served as Mao’s cat’s-paw, inadvertently ploughing the fields for the Communists and making possible their victory over Chiang Kai-shek.

Interpretation

Most leaders who had taken as powerful an enemy as Chiang Kai-shek prisoner would have made sure to kill him. But in doing so they would have lost the chance Mao exploited. Without the experienced Chiang as leader of the Nationalists, the fight to drive the Japanese out might have lasted much longer, with devastating results. Mao was far too clever to let anger spoil the chance to kill two birds with one stone. In essence, Mao used two cat‘s-paws to help him attain total victory. First, he cleverly baited Chiang into taking charge of the war against the Japanese. Mao knew the Nationalists led by Chiang would do most of the hard fighting and would succeed in pushing the Japanese out of China, if they did not have to concern themselves with fighting the Communists at the same time. The Nationalists, then, were the first cat’s- paw, used to evict the Japanese. But Mao also knew that in the process of leading the war against the invaders, the Japanese artillery and air support would decimate the conventional forces of the Nationalists, doing damage it could take the Communists decades to inflict. Why waste time and lives if the Japanese could do the job quickly? It was this wise policy of using one cat’s-paw after another that allowed the Communists to prevail.

There are two uses of the cat‘s-paw: to save appearances, as Cleopatra did, and to save energy and effort. The latter case in particular demands that you plan several moves in advance, realizing that a temporary move backward (letting Chiang go, say) can lead to a giant leap forward. If you are temporarily weakened and need time to recover, it will often serve you well to use those around you both as a screen to hide your intentions and as a cat’s-paw to do your work for you. Look for a powerful third party who shares an enemy with you (if for different reasons), then take advantage of their superior power to deal blows which would have cost you much more energy, since you are weaker. You can even gently guide them into hostilities. Always search out the overly aggressive as potential cat’s-paws—they are often more than willing to get into a fight, and you can choose just the right fight for your purposes.

Fables

A wise man, walking alone, Was being bothered by a fool throwing stones at his head. Turning to face him, he said: “My dear chap, well thrown! Please accept these few francs. You’ve worked hard enough to get more than mere thanks. Every effort deserves its reward. But see that man over there? He can afford More than I can. Present him with some of your stones: they’ll earn a good wage.” 

Lured by the bait, the stupid man Ran off to repeat the outrage On the other worthy citizen. This time he wasn’t paid in money for his stones. Up rushed serving-men, And seized him and thrashed him and broke all his bones. 

In the courts of kings there are pests like this. devoid of sense: They’ll make their master laugh at your expense. To silence their cackle, should you hand out rough Punishment? Maybe you’re not strong enough. Better persuade them to attack Somebody else, who can more than pay them back.

SELECTED FABLES, JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, 1621-1695

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW III

Kuriyama Daizen was an adept of Cha-no-yu (Hot Water for Tea, the Japanese tea ceremony) and a student of the teachings of the great tea master Sen no Rikyu. Around 1620 Daizen learned that a friend of his, Hoshino Soemon, had borrowed a large sum of money (300 ryo) to help a relative who had fallen into debt. But although Soemon had managed to bail out his relative, he had simply displaced the burden onto himself. Daizen knew Soemon well—he neither cared nor understood much about money, and could easily get into trouble through slowness in repaying the loan, which had been made by a wealthy merchant called Kawachiya Sanemon. Yet if Daizen offered to help Soemon pay back the loan, he would refuse, out of pride, and might even be offended.

One day Daizen visited his friend, and after touring the garden and looking at Soemon’s prized peonies, they retired to his reception room. Here Daizen saw a painting by the master Kano Tennyu. “Ah,” Daizen exclaimed, “a splendid piece of painting…. I don’t know when I have seen anything I like better.” After several more bouts of praise, Soemon had no choice: “Well,” he said, “since you like it so much, I hope you will do me the favor of accepting it.”

At first Daizen refused, but when Soemon insisted he gave in. The next day Soemon in turn received a package from Daizen. Inside it was a beautiful and delicate vase, which Daizen, in an accompanying note, asked his friend to accept as a token of his appreciation for the painting that Soemon had so graciously given him the day before. He explained that the vase had been made by Sen no Rikyu himself, and bore an inscription from Emperor Hideyoshi. If Soemon did not care for the vase, Daizen suggested, he might make a gift of it to an adherent of Cha-no-yu—perhaps the merchant Kawachiya Sanemon, who had often expressed a desire to possess it. “I hear,” Daizen continued, “he has a fine piece of fancy paper [the 300-ryo I.O.U.] which you would much like. It is possible you might arrange an exchange.”

Realizing what his gracious friend was up to, Soemon took the vase to the wealthy lender. “However did you get this,” exclaimed Sanemon, when Soemon showed him the vase. “I have often heard of it, but this is the first time I have ever seen it. It is such a treasure that it is never allowed outside the gate!” He instantly offered to exchange the debt note for the flower vase, and to give Soemon 300 ryo more on top of it. But Soemon, who did not care for money, only wanted the debt note back, and Sanemon gladly gave it to him. Then Soemon immediately hurried to Daizen’s house to thank him for his clever support.

THE INDIAN BIRD

A merchant kept a bird in a cage. He was going to India, the land from which the bird came, and asked it whether he could bring anything back for it. The bird asked for its freedom, but was refused. So he asked the merchant to visit a jungle in India and announce his captivity to the free birds who were there. The merchant did so, and no sooner had he spoken when a wild bird, just like his own, fell senseless out of a tree on to the ground. The merchant thought that this must be a relative of his own bird, and felt sad that he should have caused this death. When he got home, the bird asked him whether he had brought good news from India.

“No,” said the merchant, “I fear that my news is bad. One of your relations collapsed and fell at my feet when I mentioned your captivity.”.

As soon as these words were spoken the merchant’s bird collapsed and fell to the bottom of the cage. “The news of his kins-man’s death has killed him, too, ”thotight the merchant. Sorrowfully he picked up the bird and put it on the windowsill. At once the bird revived and flew to a nearby tree. “Now you know, ”the bird said, “that what you hought was disaster was in fact good news for me. And how the message, the suggestion of how to behave in order to free myself, was transmitted to me through you, my captor.” And he flew away, free at last.

TALES OF THE DERVISHES. IDRIES SHAH. 1967

Interpretation

Kuriyama Daizen understood that the granting of a favor is never simple: If it is done with fuss and obviousness, its receiver feels burdened by an obligation.

This may give the doer a certain power, but it is a power that will eventually self-destruct, for it will stir up resentment and resistance. A favor done indirectly and elegantly has ten times more power. Daizen knew a direct approach would only have offended Soemon. By letting his friend give him the painting, however, he made Soemon feel that he too had pleased his friend with a gift. In the end, all three parties emerged from the encounter feeling fulfilled in their own way.

In essence, Daizen made himself the cat‘s-paw, the tool to take the chestnuts out of the fire. He must have felt some pain in losing the vase, but he gained not only the painting but, more important, the power of the courtier. The courtier uses his gloved hand to soften any blows against him, disguise his scars, and make the act of rescue more elegant and clean. By helping others, the courtier eventually helps himself. Daizen’s example provides the paradigm for every favor done between friends and peers: never impose your favors. Search out ways to make yourself the cat’s-paw, indirectly extricating your friends from distress without imposing yourself or making them feel obligated to you.

One should not be too straightforward. Go and see the forest. The straight trees are cut down, the crooked ones are left standing.

Kautilya, Indian philosopher, third century B.C.

The Trump administration planning riots with the “pro democracy movement” in Hong Kong. All of china is wired for video, and audio and connected to very advanced AI. The result was that the entire CIA “color revolution” machinery set in motion by the Trump administration was exposed for the entire world to see.

KEYS TO POWER

As a leader you may imagine that constant diligence, and the appearance of working harder than anyone else, signify power. Actually, though, they have the opposite effect: They imply weakness. Why are you working so hard? Perhaps you are incompetent, and have to put in extra effort just to keep up; perhaps you are one of those people who does not know how to delegate, and has to meddle in everything. The truly powerful, on the other hand, seem never to be in a hurry or overburdened. While others work their fingers to the bone, they take their leisure. They know how to find the right people to put in the effort while they save their energy and keep their hands out of the fire. Similarly, you may believe that by taking on the dirty work yourself, involving yourself directly in unpleasant actions, you impose your power and instill fear. In fact you make yourself look ugly, and abusive of your high position. Truly powerful people keep their hands clean. Only good things surround them, and the only announcements they make are of glorious achievements.

You will often find it necessary, of course, to expend energy, or to effect an evil but necessary action. But you must never appear to be this action’s agent. Find a cat‘s-paw. Develop the arts of finding, using, and, in time, getting rid of these people when their cat’s-paw role has been fulfilled.

On the eve of an important river battle, the great third-century Chinese strategist Chuko Liang found himself falsely accused of secretly working for the other side. As proof of his loyalty, his commander ordered him to produce 100,000 arrows for the army within three days, or be put to death. Instead of trying to manufacture the arrows, an impossible task, Liang took a dozen boats and had bundles of straw lashed to their sides. In the late afternoon, when mist always blanketed the river, he floated the boats toward the enemy camp. Fearing a trap from the wily Chuko Liang, the enemy did not attack the barely visible boats with boats of their own, but showered them with arrows from the bank. As Liang’s boats inched closer, they redoubled the rain of arrows, which stuck in the thick straw. After several hours, the men hiding on board sailed the vessels quickly downstream, where Chuko Liang met them and collected his 100,000 arrows.

Chuko Liang would never do work that others could do for him—he was always thinking up tricks like this one. The key to planning such a strategy is the ability to think far ahead, to imagine ways in which other people can be baited into doing the job for you.

An essential element in making this strategy work is to disguise your goal, shrouding it in mystery, like the strange enemy boats appearing dimly in the mist. When your rivals cannot be sure what you are after, they will react in ways that often work against them in the long run. In fact they will become your cat’s-paws. If you disguise your intentions, it is much easier to guide them into moves that accomplish exactly what you want done, but prefer not to do yourself. This may require planning several moves in advance, like a billiard ball that bounces off the sides a few times before heading into the right pocket.

The early-twentieth-century American con artist Yellow Kid Weil knew that no matter how skillfully he homed in on the perfect wealthy sucker, if he, a stranger, approached this man directly, the sucker might become suspicious. So Weil would find someone the sucker already knew to serve as a cat‘s-paw—someone lower on the totem pole who was himself an unlikely target, and would therefore be less suspicious. Weil would interest this man in a scheme promising incredible wealth. Convinced the scheme was for real, the cat’s-paw would often suggest, without prompting, that his boss or wealthy friend should get involved: Having more cash to invest, this man would increase the size of the pot, making bigger bucks for all concerned. The cat‘s-paw would then involve the wealthy sucker who had been Weil’s target all along, but who would not suspect a trap, since it was his trusty subordinate who had roped him in. Devices like this are often the best way to approach a person of power: Use an associate or subordinate to hook you up with your primary target. The cat’s-paw establishes your credibility and shields you from the unsavory appearance of being too pushy in your courtship.

The easiest and most effective way to use a cat’s-paw is often to plant information with him that he will then spread to your primary target. False or planted information is a powerful tool, especially if spread by a dupe whom no one suspects. You will find it very easy to play innocent and disguise yourself as the source.

DAVID AND BATHSHEBA

At the turn of the year, when kings take the field, David sent Joab out with his other officers and all the Israelite forces, and they ravaged Ammon and laid siege to Rabbah, while David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his couch and, as he walked about on the roof of the palace, he saw from there a woman bathing and she was very beautiful. He sent to inquire who she was, and the answer came, “It must be Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite....” David wrote a letter to Joab and sent Uriah with it. He wrote in the letter: “Put Uriah opposite the enemy where the fighting is fiercest and then fall back, and leave him to meet his death.”... Joab... stationed Uriah at a point where he knew they would put up a stout fight. The men of the city sallied out and engaged Joab, and some of David’s guards fell; Uriah the Hittite was also killed. Joab sent David a dispatch with all the news of the battle.... When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him; and when the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her into his house. She became his wife and bore him a son.

OLD TESTAMENT, 2 SAMUEL,11-12

The strategic therapist Dr. Milton H. Erickson would often encounter among his patients a married couple in which the wife wanted the therapy but the husband absolutely refused it. Rather than wasting energy trying to deal with the man directly, Dr. Erickson would see the wife alone, and as she talked he would interject interpretations of the husband’s behavior that he knew would rile the husband up if he heard them. Sure enough, the wife would tell her husband what the doctor had said. After a few weeks the husband would be so furious he would insist on joining his wife in the sessions so he could set the doctor straight.

Finally, you may well find cases in which deliberately offering yourself as the cat’s- paw will ultimately gain you great power. This is the ruse of the perfect courtier. Its symbol is Sir Walter Raleigh, who once placed his own cloak on the muddy ground so that Queen Elizabeth would not sully her shoes. As the instrument that protects a master or peer from unpleasantness or danger, you gain immense respect, which sooner or later will pay dividends. And remember: If you can make your assistance subtle and gracious rather than boastful and burdensome, your recompense will be that much the more satisfying and powerful.

Image: The Cat’s-Paw. It has long claws to grab things. It is soft and padded. Take hold of the cat and use its paw to pluck things out of the fire, to claw your enemy, to play with the mouse before devouring it.

Sometimes you hurt the cat, but most often it doesn’t feel a thing.

Authority: Do everything pleasant yourself, everything unpleasant through third parties. By adopting the first course you win favor, by taking the second you deflect ill will. Important affairs often require rewards and punishments. Let only the good come from you and the evil from others. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

REVERSAL

The cat’s-paw and the scapegoat must be used with extreme caution and delicacy. They are like screens that hide your own involvement in dirty work from the public; if at any moment the screen is lifted and you are seen as the manipulator, the puppet master, the whole dynamic turns around—your hand will be seen everywhere, and you will be blamed for misfortunes you may have had nothing to do with. Once the truth is revealed, events will snowball beyond your control.

In 1572, Queen Catherine de’ Médicis of France conspired to do away with Gaspard de Coligny, an admiral in the French navy and a leading member of the Huguenot (French Protestant) community. Coligny was close to Catherine’s son, Charles IX, and she feared his growing influence on the young king. So she arranged for a member of the Guise family, one of the most powerful royal clans in France, to assassinate him.

Secretly, however, Catherine had another plan: She wanted the Huguenots to blame the Guises for killing one of their leaders, and to take revenge. With one blow, she would erase or injure two threatening rivals, Coligny and the Guise family. Yet both plans went awry. The assassin missed his target, only wounding Coligny; knowing Catherine as his enemy, he strongly suspected it was she who had set up the attack on him, and he told the king so. Eventually the failed assassination and the arguments that ensued from it set off a chain of events that led to a bloody civil war between Catholics and Protestants, culminating in the horrifying Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve, in which thousands of Protestants were killed.

If you have to use a cat’s-paw or a scapegoat in an action of great consequence, be very careful: Too much can go wrong. It is often wiser to use such dupes in more innocent endeavors, where mistakes or miscalculations will cause no serious harm.

Finally, there are moments when it is advantageous to not disguise your involvement or responsibility, but rather to take the blame yourself for some mistake. If you have power and are secure in it, you should sometimes play the penitent: With a sorrowful look, you ask for forgiveness from those weaker than you. It is the ploy of the king who makes a show of his own sacrifices for the good of the people. Similarly, upon occasion

you may want to appear as the agent of punishment in order to instill fear and trembling in your subordinates. Instead of the cat‘s-paw you show your own mighty hand as a threatening gesture. Play such a card sparingly. If you play it too often, fear will turn into resentment and hatred. Before you know it, such emotions will spark a vigorous opposition that will someday bring you down. Get in the habit of using a cat’s-paw—it is far safer.

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America has become the worst shithole nation ever to exist in history

Provocative title, huh? Well it is true.

This article is all about what America is today, and how it compares to the rest of the world. And for centuries there has been this non-stop promotion of the idea that “Americans have a far better life than anyone else in the world”. And Americans believe this. It is at best an exaggeration, and at worst a violent canard. As all the rest of the world is kept hidden from them.

My first exposure to this reality occurred when I started work related international travel back in the late 1980’s.

I was amazed that my colleagues in Australia were doing far, far, FAR better than I was. They had better medical, better housing, lived in a better city, had a better salary, free company car, much, much better employee perks and so on and so forth.

At that time I was living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I loved it. I loved the deep South, and the local foods were just wonderful.

I was living in a mobile home, as I didn’t have enough money to afford a proper brick and mortar home.

And when I met my colleagues from across the world I was astounded.I was working in Sydney, Australia at the time. And Australia is indeed very beautiful.

Not one of them had experienced a layoff, a company restructuring, or a slash and fire “resizing”. They never had to scramble to earn money, only to be unemployed without notice. And so they saved their money. It was easy to do since they weren’t taxed as severely as us Americans were.

Not to mention that they had a kind of lifestyle that I couldn’t even dream about. Like company beer in the office refrigerators. Nude pictures of girlfriends on their desks. Girlie calendars on the walls, the ability to wear tee-shits and jeans to work instead of the shirt and tie ensemble that I had grown accustomed to.

They could smoke at their desks, drink alcohol during lunch, got free coffee and snacks at their office, and were permitted to speak without having to use politically correct language.

I had to beg to take my yearly one week vacation, and it had to be justified in a form, with approvals from my boss and the group VP. While my equivalent; a project design engineer named Richard got an eight week vacation every year, that accrues over time. He (at that time) now was planning a trip around the world with his five months of accrued vacation.

You know, I would tell my colleagues back in the States about what it was like, and they would give me a “knowing look”, nod their heads politely and tell me “well you know the grass is always greener somewhere else“.

They didn’t “get it”. Things were not just different. They were BETTER. And not just a little bit better, either, but a heck of a lot better.

If an Australian was laid off, something that rarely happened, they got like 80% of their salary for (potentially) years afterwards. Which made a $98 / week Mississippi unemployment allotment for 36 weeks look like “spare change”.

But you would never hear about that in America don’t you know. Everybody “knows” that America is free™, exceptional™, and has democracy™.

Woo woo!

I will tell you that the rest of the world has changed since the 1980's. My understanding of Australia is that during the Bill Clinton and the Barrack Obama years, the Australians embraced American culture. And has since adopted a zero tolerance for cigarettes, a new "woke" society, and all sorts of restrictions on lifestyle and behavior. No where is that more evident than with the current Morrison regime. Australia has turned into a "mini" America.

And since no one is aware of what the world is like outside of America, you end up seeing remarks like this yahoo from my morning feed…

Curious how his job title is “institutional skeptic” instead of “unemployed loser troll”.

Ah. I am so sure that he is doing well, and so very happy to be living in the “land of the free” with all of his delicious and scrumptious democracy™.

What irritates me is his absolute ignorance.

But one day, when he reaches his mid 40’s he’s going to wake up and realize that he’s been living a lie.

There are truths and then there are truths.

The truth is there, but unless you LEAVE the United States you will never see it. Because Americans are trapped in a prison; a cage full of fear of the dark, dark world outside.

And you cannot rely on the internet. All American internet is enraptured with painting the forever picture and image of America is the greatest! And (put the current villainized nation name here) is the absolute worst and they must be destroyed ruthlessly!

(Sigh)

Now for centuries the United States has changed into the corrupted, mess of a monster that it is today. And it is a monster.

When it was first created back in 1776, it was a Republic for freedom! That lasted about 18 years. The wealthy at that time seized control of the nation and changed it into a democracy so that it would be mob rule where their manipulations would be able to control the mobs.

That’s a fact Jack.

And of course, just as Mr. Hamilton, and other other founders warned, it became an oligarchy. Which is the historical norm.

Republics tend to turn into democracies as that the only way that the wealthy can control the society, and it is in the very nature of man to do so.

And America, which somehow managed to pass by the pitchforks and lynching stage became a full-on military empire. It is the largest military empire in history. Not just in destructive ability, but in spending, global reach, technology, active participative wars, and casualty figures.

And as a military empire, it converted the American population into debt serfs to service the oligarchy. As it is the nature of all military empires.

All of them.

Don’t believe me? Name one military empire that didn’t abuse their civilian population in this manner.

The entire structure of the United States was revamped into a zillion tiny, tiny hands in your wallets, zero legal protections, or Rights, and a two tied justice system. One which served the oligarchy and their minions, while the other, a very harsh and fierce one that served their slave serfs.

The oligarchy spent the time and resources necessary to try to expand their influence and their accumulation of wealth. They set up wealth generation activities everywhere, and became near God-like in their fantastic accumulations of power. And they performed scorched earth activities on those that served them.

They addicted the entire nation of China in the start of the last century where everyone was addicted to opium. This persisted until the Boxer rebellion where China put it’s collective feet down and threw the bastards out.

America today now resembles the shambles of what China was once the oligarchy looted, raped and abused it. And what you see in America today is all the evidence that you need to see that CHANGE must occur. Because America is in the toilet right now and it is getting worse.

America needs…

…requires…

…CHANGE.

And here we take a look at the massive decay inside of America today. There is nothing outside of America that resembles this. The closest, perhaps, is 1950’s Calcutta.

America is the World’s Worst Shithole Country

Andrew Anglin September 3, 2021

You should watch some of the videos on YouTube showing what life is like now in various American cities. It’s really much worse than anything that has ever happened in the entire history of the world.

It’s definitely much worse than anything that is going on in the third world.

Here’s a recent drive through Philadelphia.

It’s a rough scene. Worse than anything we saw in San Francisco, pre-covid.

CharlieBo313 is a black guy on YouTube who goes through various black hoods and projects across the country and talks to people.

Here’s a video compilation of all the blacks that pulled out guns on camera when he was in Chicago.

That one is just short. You watch that video and you get nervous, like them niggas about to jump out the screen at you.

That is some straight up hardcore jungle stuff right there.

Not one of them was worried about being on video, and if you watch these videos, you’ll see a bunch of them shouting out their links. They are not afraid of anything. There is no law that can contain them. No police that they need to answer to. No leaders of government that can restrain them.

This is utter and complete lawlessness, right in the middle of all of our cities, and the media just isn’t talking about any of it.

Here’s a hood in Birmingham, Alabama. Short video. They’re all shouting out their Facebooks and Instagrams.

Just watch these blacks. These blacks are hardcore.

Now, imagine that they were unleashed from these areas onto white-collar suburbia.

Just this week, CharlieBo went to Ohio and posted a video from Toledo. I’m excited to see his videos in Columbus hoods, and maybe I can show some people from where I’m from what is about to be unleashed on them.

This is literally a situation like in The Lord of the Rings, where Sauron gathers his hordes in Mordor and prepares to unleash them. They have taken any restraints off of these urban ethnic blacks, and now they’re pumping them up. Enough of these youths just want to loot and burn and kill and rape that if they get unleashed on the rest of society, there is going to be no ability to contain the mayhem.

(Of course, the military will probably come in and contain it, then you’ll end up permanently occupied by the military.)

Obviously, it’s easy to say something like “Iraq is safer than Chicago,” or some other slogan. But I think people don’t understand really just how bad these American cities are getting, primarily because it isn’t really on the media.

The media sometimes gives statistics about shootings or violent crimes, but they very rarely show the actual footage. This stuff is just unbelievable. Truly.

The really unbelievable part is that most of this has developed since the beginning of the pandemic. Before that, it was mostly isolated to violent areas of Chicago, or drug-riddled areas of California. But with the pandemic taking over the economy and putting many people on drugs, and the cops pulling out of black neighborhoods as a result of BLM, it’s now just completely outrageous all across the country.

No serious country would allow this to happen, and no other country on earth allows this to happen. You can think of third world countries as being poor and dangerous, but the reality is, if you went there, you would mostly feel safe, and you absolutely would not see scenes of drug addicts shooting up and walking around naked on main throughways.

If a third world country had a scene of these blacks with their guns out like this, they would have them isolated by cops, to ensure the safety of the rest of the population.

The United States has already descended into hell, and they are hiding this fact from normal, middle class people by pumping them with fear about leaving their homes, restricting their movement, and refusing to show what is happening on TV.

You literally have no idea how bad things really are.

None.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

It’s everywhere. It’s not confined to the cities. Here’s some of the rural sections of America….

No jobs. No careers. No hope.

Living off drugs, both illegal and prescribed.

Getting by. Some robbing others. Some bartering. Some just making do.

This society is NOT one worth preserving. It needs to be destroyed and replaced with something better. Anything better. And it needs to happen soon.

And yet, some decry… “that’s not MY America. It’s not all THAT bad.”

So for fair balance, here’s some further pictures of what America is for the 85% of the bulk of Americans…

Shut down malls…

More deserted malls…

Malls took over from the downtowns all over America. Then they were left abandoned.

Yes. Many small towns collapsed as the local stores couldn’t compete against the malls. And thus not only did the small towns die, but when the malls died, there was nothing left. People stayed in their homes.

Of course, there would be hope if there was some industry. But industry in America is few and far between. Most left the Untied States and “off shored” for larger profits.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden both promised to “revise” American industry. But you know, it’s not as easy a flicking a switch.

Another great example of American exceptionalism.

The fact is that America; The United States is dying and it is in it’s last death throes. It is collapsing from many many ills, and the leadership are like the band playing happy music as the ship Titanic sinks into the cold wet sea.

It is almost at the point where the death rattles and the death spasms will occur.

That’s the frightening part.

That’s when the urban youth start to get hungry and leave their urban enclaves. That’s when supply lines and retail stores break down. That’s when the military desperately lashes out to other nations. That’s when unpredictable events start to occur with regularity.

That’s when you and yours have best be prepared.

Be part of your community.
Be a helpful understanding Rufus.
Have a skill that makes you useful.
Have a supply of food, a garden, and wood / coal.
Know and be part of a community watch / militia / police.
Have a bicycle.

Take care. Do your affirmations. And control your life.

Do not be afraid of what MIGHT occur. You are in control of what is going on right NOW. Make it worth while, and if you handle your life well now, then any problems that MIGHT occur in the future can be well taken cared for.

Oh, and what do I mean about being a Rufus? I mean this…

Video

And I mean this too…

Video

Be the Rufus.

Video

Do not be afraid. Do not cower in fear. Help others. Be the best that you can be. Start now. Start today. Like this taxi driver.

YOU can be that Rufus.

You don’t need to be a hero. You just need to be human and show some compassion like this woman here…

video

Finally

For those nations that want to grow and be prosperous, successful and maintain healthy happy families… be like China. Don’t follow the evil, greedy, selfish model that the United States presents. It will take you in, and strangle you until you are just a crusty old hulk.

Be the Rufus.

Make a difference.

Think on your own personal lives, friends, and community. Together we are STRONG.

Do you want more?

New Beginnings

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The USA is planning something BIG that will be a surprise to the world (uh oh alert)

Yes. There is something “big” in the works on the USA side. I am getting multiple confirmations from my resources. No one is saying anything tangible. And when you are in the “black world” (American special access programs – being a “spook”), this absence of Intel speaks volumes. Something “big” is planned. And the components and pieces are moving into place.

Head’s up everyone.

This is coming from numerous sources.

Including my own brother.

Today I was pleasantly surprised by an email from my brother. I was surprised because I haven’t heard from him in about a year, and he never answered my emails, skype messages or anything like that. It was just “dead air”. After a while, you know, you just stop and think “well, he’s lying low key” and let him be.

He’s gone “X ray”.

His email was interesting. He said that the reason why he wasn’t writing or answering any of my “pings” was because he was “too busy”.

People(!) no one is more busier than I am, and look at all that I churn out.

Anyways, I just let that all roll off my shoulders and read the content of the email.

He just came back from a visit with a mutual boyhood friend of ours. Who is now in San Diego and while he works in civilian government he is still directly tied to the US Navy and the submarine basing forces there.
Right after he chatted, and came back home, he told me that he had to send me an email.

He just “had” to send me an email.

The content reads…

It’s not “safe” in China.
I should get the next flight to the USA where it is “safe”.
Leave immediately, he said. Do not put it off. Leave THIS week.

Oh my!

Well, seeing that I have businesses, homes, not to mention a family with wife and children, and friends, and all of that, it seems rather strange for him to insist that I “bug out”. Leave my wife, and my children behind. Abandon my homes. My jobs. My lifestyle and my society for what ever the hell the United States is collapsing towards.

Especially since his ideas and impressions of what is safe and what isn’t doesn’t resemble anything that I experience. So maybe he is talking about world war III. Ah. If America cannot be number one, then no one can.

Anyways, there’s nothing in the USA for me. But it’s worse than that, the USA is collapsing head over heels.

Now, I don’t know what kind of “news” is popular in the United States today, I pretty must assume that it’s the same old repackaged lies of “China is collapsing”, “war is any moment now”, and all of that horse rot. But I am not falling for it, though it seems that everyone inside the United States is.

I don’t know what they all discussed on their visit, but I’ll be willing to wager that it is based on some absurd impressions from the “news”, and some observations from talking with other all of the same mindset. Like maybe this…

Anyways, I replied. I told him…

China is doing good. All is great here.
China and Russia are aligned militarily, and war against China will include Russia. And it will be nuclear.
Were a war to happen, the USA would be completely devastated. It would lose, and lose very badly.

Now, I am sure that he doesn’t want to hear that, but that’s the way it is.

He did say that he is now locked inside of the USA because the State Department sill not issue him a new replacement passport because the IRS has alerted the government that he is a “Tax Protestor”.

Funny that a person that is stuck inside the USA gulag wants me to join him. Misery loves company, perhaps?

This article

We all know this; the USA is pushing, pushing, and pushing in all levels of provocation to force a war with China. The American people are primed for this war. The military is ready, and the Washington DC folk are as excited as young children on Christmas eve. War is gonna happen, and the USA has special “tricks” that will make it happen.

Hoyeru says:
October 28, 2021 at 4:52 am GMT • 9.3 hours ago 

(This is a) strange column that somehow manages to miss the obvious. 

So i will add it: The US is so pissed and upset about china winning, they are willing to destroy the whole earth including themselves. 

If they can't control the world, nobody else will. 

It's pure spite.

We will start off with this great article I pulled from Ron’s operation…

Bumbling Menace Blinken Says Taiwan Should Join the UN

Andrew Anglin • October 27, 2021

• 2,600 Words • 88 Comments

Like every individual in the Biden Administration, the bumbling menace Antony Blinken stumbles from weird event to ensuing weird event.

His latest strange and confounding behavior is asserting the claim that the false country of Taiwan should join the UN.

What the Biden Administration is doing is the equivalent of poking China with a stick.

RT:

After the US secretary of state claimed Taipei’s accession to the UN would be pragmatic, Beijing hit back, reiterating that Taiwan should not be granted permission to join the body because the island was part of China.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing told reporters the UN was an international governmental organization made up of sovereign states – and Taiwan wasn’t one.

“Taiwan is a part of China,” Ma stated, adding, “Taiwan has no right to join the United Nations.”

The spokesman’s comments came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Tuesday marking 50 years since the UN General Assembly voted to replace Taipei’s seat with Beijing’s that he regretted Taiwan’s absence.

Blinken said the reason the island’s participation in the UN would be welcomed was not political but pragmatic. “As the international community faces an unprecedented number of complex and global issues, it is critical for all stakeholders to help address these problems. This includes the 24 million people who live in Taiwan.”

The statement is not political or pragmatic – it’s a provocation.

This is what the plan is, apparently: the Biden plan to “contain China” is a bullying harassment campaign.

Instead of just declaring war, they do things to attempt to publicly humiliate China.

The concept of “face”

It’s worth noting that decades ago, the West was trying to understand China and became fixated on the concept of “face.” They talked so much about it that we actually have the loan idiom from the Chinese language – “saving face.”

The Chinese – and general Asian – concept of “face” is similar to honor, but more complicated. It is also related to what we would call “prestige.”

It includes honor, just like our idea of honor: being a good member of the community and nation, who is respected and viewed as being morally righteous, and willing to sacrifice for others and the good of the community or nation.

But ” building face” also includes wearing certain clothing styles (now associated with brands), driving certain cars, living in certain areas, going on vacations, and other things we associate with prestige.

Another aspect, which I guess we would just call “power” or “authority,” is the ability of an individual to exercise his will in society, and to make things happen. (Just for example, if you ask someone to get you tickets to a sold out event and they deliver, that person would be “building face” as someone capable of making things happen.) All of this is combined to create a person’s “face,” which is his persona as seen by the world.

(For the record, the concept of “face” is also the basis of the social credit system, which is why virtually all Chinese people support the social credit system – it’s built on a foundational element of their society.)

Anyway, this is what the boomers who analyzed Chinese culture in the 1970s determined was the driving force behind Chinese psychology.

I think that is more or less true.

The United States is following a plan that is no longer viable, but doing so blindly out of ignorance.

As I explained in my very long piece about China a couple weeks ago, the current regime in America is clearly acting on plans laid by more competent men who are mostly dead.

So, when I see something like Blinken coming out and saying “hey, wouldn’t it be cool if Taiwan joined the UN?”, I am able to see that this is part of a very shoddy attempt to cause the Chinese authorities to “lose face.”

It’s very vulgar behavior, and it is intended to appear vulgar. What Blinken is attempting to do – more likely, what his advisors are attempting to do – is insult the Chinese authorities and make them look inept and incapable.

What isn’t clear is what exactly the goal of this is. It would make sense in the context of attempting to:

Humiliate the Chinese leadership to the point that the regime collapses (this isn’t possible, and the US authorities really should understand that by now), or
Try to bait the Chinese into doing something stupid to “save face” (Xi is not ever going to do anything he doesn’t mean to do, so this also doesn’t make sense)

Really, all I’m able to do personally is just observe.

America has no goals with China

I do not understand the goals of the US State Department and Department of Defense with regards to China, beyond the fact that they are fixated on regime change.

I’m not an expert on military strategy, and I’m highly skeptical of anyone who claims to understand how a war would unfold in this third decade of this third millennium after Christ.

However, given what I understand about the current social situation inside China, I am quite certain that there is no possibility of doing a Ukraine-style color revolution. It’s just not happening.

The Chinese people love Xi like they loved Mao, and just do a little bit of research on what the Chinese people tolerated from Mao.

I am completely unclear on how well the Washington establishment understands China, but having seen their actions, I would say not very well.

That’s why it looks to me as if Blinken’s team simply read some book talking about “face” and decided to attempt to humiliate them.

Mike Pompeo and the Deep State

We should also note that Mike Pompeo took a very similar approach, and that he is still planning State Department strategy at the Hudson Institute, where he is billed as an expert on foreign policy and China.

The State Department is one organization in the US government that is very obviously “deep state” in that it never changes from administration to administration. Whether officials are appointed by Republicans or Democrats, they move in and out of these same think tanks, which active government officials consult with so habitually that they are effectively extensions of the state.

Pompeo’s big play was to incite an Antifa revolution in Hong Kong.

I still do not understand what the purpose of that was, exactly. In theory, it would have been to cause Xi Jinping to lose face, to make it look like he was unable to control the city, and maybe to attempt to stir up discontent in the mainland.

Again, this shows a total lack of understanding of the situation.

The end result of the violence in Hong Kong was that Beijing closed the city down, and started banning all of the State Department’s schools for indoctrinating youth into revolutionary liberal ideology. If I had planned the strategy, I would not have wanted to have sacrificed the ability to influence Hong Kong so recklessly.

By fomenting those strange riots, the State Department gain literally nothing, and in fact they severely damaged their own image, and hardened the Chinese in all territories against the US.

Hilariously, the right-wing in Taiwan now cites the Hong Kong riots as a reason not to trust the West.

Chinese people are all very aware that these riots were incited by the West, and this is viewed as distasteful in the extreme, and also mystifying.

(In general, there is an overwhelming sense of confusion among the Chinese as to the intentions of the United States, but there is a certain amount of natural good will based on a positive perception of Hollywood and certain American companies, such as Apple. Instead of using that good will for definite ends, the State Department has pissed it away recklessly, and continues to do so.)

Clueless America

Obviously, the average American has literally no idea what is going on.

Even Americans who are semi-engaged with politics think that Taiwan is somehow a real country, that it is independent from China, and that China is planning to invade it.

In fact, Taiwan is not a country. It is a part of China.

Because it is an island, a separate revolutionary entity opposed to the CCP fled there during the 1940s. The Kuomintang had failed as China’s government and been overthrown by Mao’s forces, but the West protected them as they fled to the island. To this day, the “Republic of China” still claims to be the real government of China, despite the fact that it is nearly a century since they lost control of China in the 1930s.

At the end of World War II, just as the US quickly turned against their war ally the USSR, and established West Berlin, they also turned against their former ally the CCP, and established Taiwan. Modern Taiwan is as much of a relic of the post-war era as East Germany, it is simply that Taiwan still exists, because unlike the USSR, China was well-managed and did not collapse.

Illogical American leadership

The logical conclusion of any thinking person would be that the conflict between the East and West is over, and we should all just move on with our lives.

The US should negotiate a peaceful Chinese reunification, get a lot out of the deal in terms of reasonable Chinese concessions, and be done with it.

But that obvious thing cannot happen, because the regime that controls the United States – which, for a lack of a better term, can be referred to as “ZOG” (Zionist Occupation Government), is hellbent on creating a global government, and it is impossible to do that while China remains standing as an independent, traditionalist, nationalistic state.

So at this point, the purpose of Taiwan is to use it as a battering ram against the government of mainland China.

But there is no clear chink in the Chinese armor wherein to jam that battering ram. Thus, the State Department is instead opting for irate harassment and bullying.

Real Options

This is obviously not a long-term strategy, and given that the CIA has completely failed to create any significant fifth column inside of China, their only real option is to start a full on war with the Chinese and I guess just hope it works out.

If you understand all of this, it is really crazy to watch.

Apparently, they want to manipulate China into drawing first blood.

But then what happens?

What is step two?

The United States is going to have a nuclear war with China?

A nuclear war?

It’s unlikely that the US could win that war.

Frankly, the mere suggestion that people like Mark Milley and Lloyd Austin are going to successfully manage a war against China is both laughable and viscerally offensive.

It could be massively destructive, resulting in hundreds of millions of dead.

But a decisive victory by the US just doesn’t seem possible.

What’s more, there is no possibility of negotiation, given that the Chinese are so nationalistic, and have more or less zero interest in being part of the “international community” beyond selling people high quality products at reasonable prices.

What’s more, they are basically holding all the cards.

If you game out any potential outcome of this conflict, China wins.

Maybe the US could land a few nukes and wipe out some people, but if there’s one thing China has a lot of, it’s people. And unlike the US, the Chinese would be able to deal with being nuked.

The destruction of one or more major US cities, on the other hand, would completely obliterate the psyche of the American population.

You also have the fact that funding the war machine would be virtually impossible. The dollar as global reserve currency could not survive very much war, and it would come down to sheer raw productivity.

All previous wars have been won based on who had the bigger production output capacity, and the Chinese beat the US on that front, probably by an order of magnitude in real terms.

If the American leadership were smart…

If the people in Washington were smart, they would back off, and try to regroup. The problem is, they don’t have anything to regroup.

They’ve already gone all in on “diversity and inclusion,” putting what should be their most capable human capital on fentanyl or labeling them domestic terrorists.

If I was running this show, I would have skipped this moronic virus hoax and allowed Trump to remain in office on the condition that he start a war with the Chinese.

It still would have been a long shot, but it would have been within the realm of possibility. You could have stirred up the competent segments of American society with patriotic war energy, and used that to reestablish a production base in the United States.

But they didn’t do that.

They did something totally insane.

They stole the election for Joe Biden, who is probably the single least popular leader the country has ever had, with a plan to replace him with the much less popular Kamala Harris.

Then they effectively declared war on the native population of the country, labeling them domestic terrorists.

They are now attempting to force vaccinate the entire population, and they are willing to cripple the country’s productivity in order to force through this inexplicable gene therapy agenda.

Complete cluster fuck

If I had to guess, I would say that you have very little communication and possibly even very little awareness between whoever is running this plan for a war against China and whoever is running this domestic war against the domestic population.

The whole thing just looks totally chaotic and demented.

The bottom line is this: I do not think there is any possible way that the World Economic Forum’s “Agenda 2030” is going to come to fruition in 2030, or ever.

If the US were to back off of this push for conflict with Russia and China, they would simply end up totally crushed economically by China as they put their own population into extreme austerity using bizarre technological tyranny.

What is likely going to happen is that the US (and to various extents the rest of the West) is going to get increasingly brutal and weird, while China continues to advance economically, technologically and militarily.

You’re going to have a situation where the United States is just an utter mess, where no one really even understands what the goals or agendas are, and eventually the dollar is going to collapse, and that will be the end of the American Empire.

The end of the American Empire will be the beginning of the end of our tribulations.

For the American people, I do not think there is any solution to what is happening now, political or otherwise.

The only logical thing for an individual to do is try to stay out of the way while this lumbering beast staggers and eventually collapses.

After it collapses, we can reassess, and figure out how to build something new from the ashes.

The exciting part is that those of us who make it through this time of such trouble alive will probably live to see the other side. I’m as optimistic about the mid-to-late 2030s as I am pessimistic about the next decade.

So says one person

The truth is that no one really knows what lies in store in all of our futures. But we do know a couple of things. These are as obvious as the keyboard in front of my hands.

The USA “leadership” are following a script mindlessly.
The script is out of date.
The USA has numerous “bubbles” that are about to pop.
In a move that reeks of desperation, the USA is aggressively pushing and pushing and pushing for war.
The only way for these trends to be mitigated is for the USA to get on with it, and collapse already.

Now, there are many, many aspects of issues all tied in in regards to this. The next article looks at the IC, AI and supercomputing realms…

China has already reached exascale computing

October 30, 2021, 12:44 am

From HERE.

US is trying to kneecap China AI and Supercomputing by hitting it at the lower stacks (semiconductor fabs) but its in Chinese interest to reclaim its rogue provinence sooner than later…

Right now US is forcing Taiwan TSMC to cut ties with mainland Chinese firms yet prioritizing chip making for US origin firms like Intel, Apple, GM, Boeing etc…

The conflict between US and China is an economic conflict, not a political one.

The economic conflict arises exlusively from the the unnatural and unsustainable state and position of the US economy which operates as a global rent-seeker.

The US’ primary export good is the US dollar which is sold globally with the threat of force backing the sale. Officially the arrangement operates as follows: the US provides security – typically against a third party – and the “protected” countries in turn buy dollars. Unofficially the US uses direct threat – typically in an an indirect attack against the country’s economy and destabilization of its security – to facilitate USD sales.

This is in particular true of the so called “allies” – most importantly Germany and Japan in the 80s and 90s.

Though it might seem as a “security arrangement with a subscription fee payable in USD” in reality it is the exact opposite – and arguably always has been for any money producer throughout history.

The military establishment rarely seeks to expand its power as numerous examples of military dictatorships demonstrate. Military dictatorships tend to expand only as means of reinforcing their internal power structure. Consistently throughout history the primary driving force for war and imperialistic expansion are the banks.

Not the industry – as the industry has ways to compete for foreign markets through innovation or currency devaluation.

The banks however have only one product – money – and its value is entirely dependent on its unit of account and its purchasing power. What is also important it is the banks and fiat currencies that operate exactly on the principle of economic exploitation.

Marx was wrong about this being a general principle of “capitalist” mode of production and the 20th century provided evidence for that.

However when applied to the description of for profit production of money it necessarily works along the principles of exploitation since the nature of the good/product (money) makes it extremely inflexible in terms of deriving profits.

They can only be achieved through devaluation of purchasing power – which leads the users to abandon currency – or through increased demand. Money is literally a “unit of account”. There is no room for optimization. You either take it as it is or leave it as it is.

The only way to enhance money as a product is to package it with another basket of goods. Germany and the EU package the Euro with the access to highly valuable markets or export goods.

The US used to do so early in the history of the global dollar system (early after WW2) when the US had 40% of world’s industrial production, 60% o the world’s oil, a majority of the world’s food production and the world’s most potent military.

However this position was ruined by predatory behavior of American ruling class and currently the US offers very little in terms of voluntary transaction. Even the most dynamic industry – IT – operates on the basis of the theft of value (data) rather than the provision of it.

The problem arises from the mutually supporting structures of US global financial cartel and its military machine.

The financial cartel finances the military machine and the military machine enables the financial cartel.

One can’t exist without each other and the weakening of each will result in the necessary weakening of the other.

Here’s a short run-down of US vulnerability.

In nominal terms the US economy currently constitutes approximately 24,5% of world’s GDP. In comparison the Euro area constitutes approximately 15% of the world’s GDP. China in nominal terms, measured at the current artificially lowered exchange rate, has approximately 17,5% of world’s GDP.

In PPP terms the US economy is actually slightly smaller (due to the overvaluation of the USD), while Eurozone is slightly larger, and China is substantially larger.

Now compare it to the share of global currency reserves – the USD constitutes 59% of global reserves, the EUR constitutes 21% of reserves and the RMB constitutes 2% of reserves having been listed only since 2016.

This is crucial to understand American vulnerability.

The Euro

If Euro takes a hit on international markets it retains its natural ability to resist since its loss of value will improve the attractiveness of Eurozone exports which are the main source of demand for Euro. Even if Euro loses some of its demand it can be absorbed internally by the Eurozone.

In fact, this has been precisely the case since the Eurozone crisis which started a few years after 2008.

The vulnerability of the Euro is political (hence America’s attempts to destabilize the EU) and not economic.

Furthermore if the Eurozone was dissolved it would lead to the creation of a stronger currency – since Euro is the German Mark weighed down by various weak currencies like the Franc, Lira, Peso etc – that could take comparatively greater share of world reserves just like it was the case in the 80s.

The Chinese RMB

If Renminbi takes a hit on international markets it has almost no consequence at this point.

The US Dollar

If the US takes a hit on international markets then this hit will be translated through the magnitude of the global dollar reserves which are circa 140% greater than America’s share of the global economy at present moment.

The dollar reserves are helping to increase the nominal size of the US economy so any loss of demand will necessarily lead to smaller economy i.e. a death spiral since the US has largely deindustrialized and its industry is incapable of supporting its currency.

Therefore the dollar depends on the US military power and its ability to continue enabling forcible sales of USD.

The moment American “security” no longer is has value it results in loss of demand for USD.

How does American “security” loses value?

It has to be credibly challenged and made impotent.

This applies anywhere on the globe so if US is engaged in a protracted large conflict with China it means it can’t provide “security” anywhere else.

Remember that the UK won the WW2 and still lost the empire simply because they were not able to match supply of Sterling with the demand for it since they no longer provided global security for trade.

This means two things:

Any conflict over Taiwan is advantageous to China in the long term regardless of the outcome in the short term.

Any conflict over Taiwan is disadvantageous to America in the long term regardless of the outcome in the short term.

And this means that the conflict over Taiwan is not a real conflict in its own right, but a tool for something greater.

It is a tool for America’s attempt to physical separate its rent-generating properties from the globalized world which no longer allows them to retain their advantage in perpetuity.

America established a global economy under its hegemony because it was the global American empire with USD as its currency.

Now that the position of USD and the hegemon is vulnerable it wants to dissolve the empire and establish a new one, which will be then followed by inflationary escape from external debt (Weimar solution) and establishing of a “new dollar” backed by American military power.

In other words the US wants to return to the days of the cold war where “1st world is American sphere of influence” , “2nd world is China sphere of influence” and “3rd world” is the contested area.

Taiwan does not matter.

The US wants to change the rules of capital movement through state action so that the new rules continue to benefit its ruling class.

This is why

This is why they instigate tensions in Europe with Russia and push their European vassals to recognize Taiwan. It is all about decoupling the Eurozone from Russia and China and reinstating American military power as solution to “Russian threat” and “Chinese threat” as the foundation of its money production and rent-seeking.

And this explains also the psyop relating to Hongkong, Xinjiang and attacks at Chinese investments and commercial activities.

Not to mention Covid the covert CIA biovirus that carpet bombed the economies of the developing world.

It is not about attacking China since the US knows it is impossible.

It is about tearing the current global economy apart to protect its position.

American ruling class is attempting to secede from the international system to protect its position much in the same way as the ruling class of the American South seceded from the Union it created to protect its position.

Similarly the ruling class of United Kingdom seceded from the EU to protect its money-laundering and tax-evading industry.

An interesting perspective…

Both of these perspectives show reasons and observations. And they all seem to be pretty “spot on”.

Both argues that the USA is collapsing, and it is thrashing out of an ignorant leadership to pull back and regain or maintain some of it’s control. This is true whether it is military or economic, or social. I can understand that.

Now, let’s look at a third perspective.

Taiwan Demonstrates that the American Empire is a Paper Tiger

Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor

27 Oct 2021

Taiwan has long been the rationale for meddling in China’s affairs but the latest interference poses great danger for “paper tiger” nation.

Mao Zedong often referred to U.S. imperialism as a paper tiger. This is truer today than it was in the mid-20th century when Mao frequently employed the phrase. No matter how bellicose the American empire becomes, its strength is more appearance than fact. Brutal violence and exploitation are thus signs of weakness, not legitimacy or credibility. The U.S.’s recent military maneuvers around the issue of Taiwan clearly signal a growth in the decay of the American Empire.

Taiwan has been a topic of conversation in the U.S. corporate media throughout the month of October. Headlines have circulated that claim China has escalated military tensions by flying military aircraft over Taiwan’s so-called Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The ADIZ was created by the United States after World War II and isn’t recognized by international law. In fact, Taiwan’s so-called ADIZ includes large portions of mainland China. This hasn’t stopped the U.S. media from beating the drums of war with China.

The U.S. Department of Defense under Joe Biden has affirmed its commitment to threatening war with China over Taiwan. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby has warned China that its so-called “pressure campaign” on Taiwan requires the United States to step up efforts to “protect” the island from “danger.” Just days after Kirby’s speech, U.S. and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a show of joint military force not seen since the U.S. normalized relations with China in 1979. This blatant intensification of military aggression came just a week after reports surfaced that the U.S. had spent the last year secretly deploying special forces to Taiwan.

The American empire has a long history of using Taiwan to meddle in China’s affairs. After pouring heavy financial and military support into the Kuomintang’s (KMT) brutal war against the Communist-led revolution of 1949, the U.S. supported the KMT’s exile to Taiwan. The U.S. heavily militarized Taiwan and even threatened to use nuclear weapons in an attempt to undermine the Chinese revolution. More than two decades would pass before the U.S. cease the prevention of the People’s Republic of China to gain full recognition at the United Nations in place of the “Republic of China” government located in Taiwan. In 1972, the U.S. signed the Shanghai Communiqué —a document that stipulates U.S. recognition of Taiwan as part of China and clearly articulates that the U.S. will cease all attempts to military intervene in its affairs.

That Taiwan is part of China is not controversial outside of the parasitic lens of U.S. and Western imperialism. Taiwan has experienced centuries of colonial incursions. This includes a half-century of Japanese colonialism that ended only after Chinese resistance forces sacrificed more than fifteen million people to win historic victories against fascism in World War II. The return of Taiwan to China is thus an important victory for the anti-colonial movement. And it is this victory that the United States is currently working hard to reverse.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden have provided staunch support to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the separatist political party ruling in Taiwan. In 2019, Trump signed the TAIPEI Act into law which encourages the U.S. to facilitate deeper ties between international organizations and Taiwan’s separatist-led government. This blatant violation of the One-China policy has been followed up with billions worth in military arms deals to Taiwan. After Trump approved $1.8 billion in arms sales to Taiwan to end his administration, Biden signed off on $750 million more in military weapons transfers to Taiwan which included 40 M109A6 Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer Systems. These maneuvers bolster the Western-oriented government in Taiwan led by President Tsai Ing-wen, a devout separatist who has openly called Taiwan “vibrantly democratic and Western.”

U.S. interference in China’s relations with Taiwan has made a profound impact on U.S. public opinion. More than half of Americans now support U.S. military intervention in Taiwan . Of course, the poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs added “if China invades” to the question for added anti-China effect. That the poll would promote the propaganda that China could invade its own province should come as no surprise. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is funded in large part by the Pritzker Foundation . The Pritzker family’s enormous wealth derives not only the from the Hyatt hotel but also from its deep connections to war profiteering and the CIA.

Taiwan is the clearest expression of the U.S.’s agenda to reassert neocolonialism in the Asia Pacific as a means to counter China’s rise. However, attempts to bully China over Taiwan have no legitimate end goal. China will not bow down to the claims that Taiwan is an “independent country” since no such thing is acknowledged by international law. The United States must think long and hard about escalating militarily with China. Despite an enormous shift of U.S. military resources to the Indo-Pacific Command, war strategists and profiteers alike would face heavy casualties in a direct conflict with China’s high-tech military armed with a nuclear deterrence.

Unlike the first Cold War, the American Empire is in precipitous decline. Economic immiseration is all the American Empire has to offer the vast majority of humanity. U.S. military policy only facilitates death, destruction, and displacement. U.S. domestic politics are mired in stagnation and lack the capacity to address any fundamental problem facing working class and oppressed people. The paper tiger of American Empire is being ripped apart by its own contradictions. Crisis is the only stable feature left remaining of the American Empire’s so-called dominance.

China does not possess such problems. China’s government has shown consistent respect for international law with regard to Taiwan. China’s stable, prospering socialist economy has eliminated extreme poverty and contained COVID-19. These achievements alone have gained China’s socialist model immense prestige both with the Chinese people and the people of the Global South. Still, the American Empire remains dangerous precisely because its desperation requires the escalation of a New Cold War that threatens to bring about a confrontation between two nuclear powers.

Taiwan is but one piece on a chessboard designed by the United States to undermine China and thus the world from charting a course of history free of imperialist domination.

Anyone who calls themselves “the Left” would be foolish to follow the imperialist paper tiger into a trap of its own making with regard to Taiwan or any other feature of the U.S.’s New Cold War against China.

Yet this is exactly what has happened.

Most of the “left” has abdicated its responsibility to oppose U.S. imperialism and therefore shares responsibility with the right for the U.S.’s hostilities toward China.

U.S. interference in China’s affairs regarding Taiwan should thus be seen as an opportunity to reverse this dangerous course and place the demand for the U.S. to respect international law at the forefront of the movement.

Now, for my point…

I think all of these points are valid. But, I want to throw something else (a “monkey wrench”) into the mix.

Suppose that those who “lead” the United States, whether it is President Biden, political factions, the military or the oligarchy, are actually crazy psychopathic personalities. Perhaps they did not get to their positions through merit, but some other means, and they have a view of the world that we “normals” have a difficult time understanding.

And while we can point at the various strange actions of the United States leadership with our ideas, our historical or economic references, they do not address the frightening possibility that irrational people are in control of a very large and powerful nation with lots of nuclear bombs.

The entire globalist elite having devolved into a decadent and dumb state is the single explanation that explains everything that is going on right now, and does not require any kind of ridiculous leap in logic to mush everything together in a coherent way.

Now, I argue that the deafening silence on my black world contacts are screaming “Big Event” is on the way.

Heads down, alert up.

I hope to hell that I am wrong, but for all practical purposes, it appears that the USA is planning a first strike action against China and IT WILL be nuclear.

There is some degree of confidence in their ability to carry it though. Whether or not it is really well thought out or not is immaterial.

The fact is that the USA is going to do something very bad, very big, and it will change the global social economic calculus for centuries hence.

I believe that the USA is planning a first-strike nuclear sneak-attack against China.

From a MM contributor who is also a spook like myself…

I checked some old BBS's: Silent. I know my reasons why I have maintained radiosilence, but there is only one reason why other spooks have; something big is afoot.

What if the idiots are planning a 1st strike move on China?

Ran into this idiotic piece just now: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-nuclear-weapons-electronic-sensors-accuracy/2021/10/28/79533ff0-34cc-11ec-9bc4-86107e7b0ab1_story.html

Let’s see what happens. Remember that seriously mentally deficient people are running the US government today. They do not “have all their marbles.”

Here’s a thing which is happening: people – probably most of you reading this – are confusing the total power of the current US government for competence. 

This is very natural, psychologically – it makes fundamental sense that people with absurd amounts of power would have to have competence. 

But, if we break down the fact that these people inherited this power structure, then you might look at it like the logic of assuming a guy driving a Lamborghini must be rich, before you find out it was stolen. 

It took me a long while to process it myself, and I definitely didn’t have a full understanding of it until Joe Biden took over as our overlord, but these people are not competent. 

Upon closer inspection, we realize they are actual morons.

As a thought experiment: try to think of one single thing that the Democrats have done since assuming total domination of America that is indicative of competence. 

The only thing you will likely be able to think of is the fact that they’ve managed to keep this virus hoax rolling, but that is obviously virtually entirely managed by the media. And the success of the project is entirely dependent on the docility of the American people.

Prolog – Why I say that this might as well be the case.

For two decades I was married to a woman with a severe mental illness. It’s schizoaffective. And one of the things you learn, as a caregiver, is that they think and believe that they are making valid and good decisions, but in reality their decisions were terrible, based on all sorts of things, and off the wall.

I once asked her what the idiom “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” meant. She, in all seriousness, told me that the idiom meant that glass breaks and has sharp edges.

...people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones Those who themselves are open to criticism or vulnerable to attack should not attack others. 

This proverb dates from the time of Chaucer, who used a version of it in Troilus and Criseyde (ca. 1374).

-People who live in glass houses - Idiom

I am convinced that the American leadership, no matter who it is, is wildly dysfunctional and dangerous. They do not know that they are ill, and they have surrounded themselves with similar people who are equally crazy.

Do you want more?

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Law 38 of the 48 Laws of Power; Think as you like but behave like others

This is law 38 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it. Indeed this law holds many truths.

If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.
Flaunting your pleasure in alien ways of thinking and acting will reveal a different motive – to demonstrate your superiority over your fellows.
Wise and clever people learn early on that they can display conventional behavior and mouth conventional ideas without having to believe in them. The power these people gain from blending in is that of being left alone to have the thoughts they want to have, and to express them to the people they want to express them to, without suffering isolation or ostracism.
The only time it is worth standing out is when you already stand out—when you have achieved an unshakable position of power, and can display your difference from others as a sign of the distance between you.

LAW 38

THINK AS YOU LIKE BUT BEHAVE LIKE OTHERS

JUDGMENT

If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

THINK WITH THE FEW AND SPEAK WITH THE MANY

It is easy to run into danger by trying to swim against the stream. Only a Socrates could attempt to do that. Disagreement is regarded as offensive because it is a condemnation of the views of others; the numbers of the disgruntled grow, on account either of some matter that has been the object of censure or of some person who has praised it: Truth is for the few, error is as usual as it is vulgar. Nor is the wise man to be recognized by what he says in the marketplace, for he speaks there not with his own voice, but with that of universal folly, however much his inmost thoughts may gainsay it: The wise man avoids being contradicted as sedulously as he avoids contradicting; the publicity of censure is withheld from that which readily provokes it. Thought is free; it cannot and should not be coerced; retire into the sanctuary of your silence and if you sometimes allow yourself to break it, do so under the aegis of a discreet few.

BALTASAR GRACIÁN, 1601-1658

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

Around the year 478 B.C., the city of Sparta sent an expedition to Persia led by the young Spartan nobleman Pausanias. The city-states of Greece had recently fought off a mighty invasion from Persia, and now Pausanias, along with allied ships from Athens, had orders to punish the invaders and win back the islands and coastal towns that the Persians had occupied. Both the Athenians and the Spartans had great respect for Pausanias-he had proven himself as a fearless warrior, with a flair for the dramatic.

With amazing speed, Pausanias and his troops took Cyprus, then moved on to the mainland of Asia Minor known as the Hellespont and captured Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul). Now master of part of the Persian empire, Pausanias began to show signs of behavior that went beyond his normal flamboyance. He appeared in public wearing pomades in his hair and flowing Persian robes, and accompanied by a bodyguard of Egyptians. He held lavish banquets in which he sat in the Persian manner and demanded to be entertained. He stopped seeing his old friends, entered into communication with the Persian King Xerxes, and all in all affected the style and manner of a Persian dictator.

Clearly power and success had gone to Pausanias’s head. His army-Athenians and Spartans alike-at first thought this a passing fancy: He had always been a bit exaggerated in his gestures. But when he flaunted his disdain for the Greeks’ simple way of life, and insulted the common Greek soldier, they began to feel he had gone too far. Although there was no concrete evidence for this, rumors spread that he had gone over to the other side, and that he dreamed of becoming a kind of Greek Xerxes. To quell the possibility of mutiny, the Spartans relieved Pausanias of his command and called him home.

Pausanias, however, continued to dress in the Persian style, even in Sparta. After a few months he independently hired a trireme and returned to the Hellespont, telling his compatriots he was going to continue the fight against the Persians. Actually, however, he had different plans—to make himself ruler of all Greece, with the aid of Xerxes himself. The Spartans declared him a public enemy and sent a ship to capture him. Pausanias surrendered, certain that he could clear himself of the charges of treason. It did come out during the trial that during his reign as commander he had offended his fellow Greeks time and again, erecting monuments, for instance, in his own name, rather than in those of the cities whose troops had fought alongside him, as was the custom.

Yet Pausanias proved right: Despite the evidence of his numerous contacts with the enemy, the Spartans refused to imprison a man of such noble birth, and let him go.

Now thinking himself untouchable, Pausanias hired a messenger to take a letter to Xerxes, but the messenger instead took the letter to the Spartan authorities. These men wanted to find out more, so they had the messenger arrange to meet Pausanias in a temple where they could hide and listen behind a partition. What Pausanias said shocked them-they had never heard such contempt for their ways spoken so brazenly by one of their own—and they made arrangements for his immediate arrest.

On his way home from the temple, Pausanias got word of what had happened. He ran to another temple to hide, but the authorities followed him there and placed sentries all around. Pausanias refused to surrender. Unwilling to forcibly remove him from the sacred temple, the authorities kept him trapped inside, until he eventually died of starvation.

Bene vixit, qui bene latuit
“He lives well who conceals himself well.”

OVID, c. 43 B.C.-A.D. 18

Interpretation

At first glance it might seem that Pausanias simply fell in love with another culture, a phenomenon as old as time. Never comfortable with the asceti cism of the Spartans, he found himself enthralled by the Persian love of luxury and sensual pleasure. He put on Persian robes and perfumes with a sense of deliverance from Greek discipline and simplicity.

This is how it appears when people adopt a culture in which they were not raised. Often, however, there is also something else at play: People who flaunt their infatuation with a different culture are expressing a disdain and contempt for their own. They are using the outward appearance of the exotic to separate themselves from the common folk who unques tioningly follow the local customs and laws, and to express their sense of superiority. Otherwise they would act with more dignity, showing respect for those who do not share their desires. Indeed their need to show their difference so dramatically often makes them disliked by the people whose beliefs they challenge, indirectly and subtly, perhaps, but offensively nonetheless.

As Thucydides wrote of Pausanias, “By his contempt for the laws and his imitation of foreign ways he had made himself very widely suspected of being unwilling to abide by normal standards.” Cultures have norms that reflect centuries of shared beliefs and ideals. Do not expect to scoff at such things with impunity. You will be punished somehow, even if just through isolation—a position of real powerlessness.

Many of us, like Pausanias, feel the siren call of the exotic, the foreign. Measure and moderate this desire. Flaunting your pleasure in alien ways of thinking and acting will reveal a different motive—to demonstrate your superiority over your fellows.

Wise men [should be] like coffers with double bottoms: Which when others look into, being opened, they see not all that they hold.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH, 1554-1618

WHEN THE WATERS WERE CHANGED

Once upon a time Khidr, the teacher of Moses, called upon mankind with a warning. At a certain date, he said, all the water in the world which had not been specially hoarded, would disappear. It would then be renewed, with different water, which would drive men mad. Only one man listened to the meaning of this advice. He collected water and went to a secure place where he stored it, and waited for the water to change its character. On the appointed date the streams stopped running, the wells went dry, and the man who had listened, seeing this happening, went to his retreat and drank his preserved water. When he saw, from his security, the waterfalls again beginning to flow, this man descended among the other sons of men. He found that they were thinking and talking in an entirely different way from before; yet they had no memory of what had happened, nor of having been warned. When he tried to talk to them, he realized that they thought that he was mad, and they showed hostility or compassion, not understanding. At first he drank none of the new water, but went back to his concealment, to draw on his supplies, every day. Finally, however, he

took the decision to drink the new water because he could not bear the loneliness of living, behaving and thinking in a different way from everyone else. He drank the new water, and became like the rest. Then he forgot all about his own store of special water, and his fellows began to look upon him as a madman who had miraculously been restored to sanity.

TALES OF THE DERVISHES, IDRIES SHAH, 1967

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

During the late sixteenth century, a violent reaction against the Protestant Reformation erupted in Italy. The Counter-Reformation, as it was called, included its own version of the Inquisition to root out all deviations from the Catholic Church. Among its victims was the scientist Galileo, but an important thinker who suffered even greater persecution was the Dominican monk and philosopher Tommaso Campanella.

A follower of the materialist doctrine of the Roman philosopher Epicurus, Campanella did not believe in miracles, or in heaven and hell. The Church had promoted such superstitions, he wrote, to control the common folk by keeping them in fear. Such ideas verged on atheism, and Campanella expressed them incautiously. In 1593 the Inquisition threw him into prison for his heretical beliefs. Six years later, as a form of partial release, he was confined to a monastery in Naples.

Southern Italy was controlled by Spain at the time, and in Naples Campanella became involved in a plot to fight and throw out these invaders. His hope was to establish an independent republic based on his own ideas of utopia. The leaders of the Italian Inquisition, working with their Spanish counterparts, had him imprisoned again. This time they also tortured him, to discover the true nature of his impious beliefs: He was subjected to the infamous la veglia, a torture in which he was suspended by his arms in a squatting position a few inches above a seat studded with spikes. The posture was impossible to sustain, and in time the victim would end up sitting on the spikes, which would tear his flesh at the slightest contact.

During these years, however, Campanella learned something about power. Facing the prospect of execution for heresy, he changed his strategy: He would not renounce his beliefs, yet he knew he had to disguise their outward appearance.

To save his life, Campanella feigned madness. He let his inquisitors imagine that his beliefs stemmed from an incontrollable unsoundness of mind. For a while the tortures continued, to see if his insanity was faked, but in 1603 his sentence was commuted to life in prison. The first four years of this he spent chained to a wall in an underground dungeon. Despite such conditions, he continued to write—although no longer would he be so foolish as to express his ideas directly.

One book of Campanella’s, The Hispanic Monarchy, promoted the idea that Spain had a divine mission to expand its powers around the world, and offered the Spanish king practical, Machiavelli-type advice for achieving this. Despite his own interest in Machiavelli, the book in general presented ideas completely the opposite to his own. The Hispanic Monarchy was in fact a ploy, an attempt to show his conversion to orthodoxy in the boldest manner possible. It worked: In 1626, six years after its publication, the pope finally let Campanella out of prison.

Shortly after gaining his freedom, Campanella wrote Atheism Conquered, a book attacking free-thinkers, Machiavellians, Calvinists, and heretics of all stripes. The book is written in the form of debates in which heretics express their beliefs and are countered by arguments for the superiority of Catholicism. Campanella had obviously reformed—his book made that clear. Or did it?

The arguments in the mouths of the heretics had never before been expressed with such verve and freshness. Pretending to present their side only to knock it down, Campanella actually summarized the case against Catholicism with striking passion. When he argued the other side, supposedly his side, on the other hand, he resorted to stale clichés and convoluted rationales. Brief and eloquent, the heretics’ arguments seemed bold and sincere. The lengthy arguments for Catholicism seemed tiresome and unconvincing.

Catholics who read the book found it disturbing and ambiguous, but they could not claim it was heretical, or that Campanella should be returned to prison. His defense of Catholicism, after all, used arguments they had used themselves. Yet in the years to come, Atheism Conquered became a bible for atheists, Machiavellians and libertines who used the arguments Campanella had put in their mouths to defend their dangerous ideas. Combining an outward display of conformity with an expression of his true beliefs in a way that his sympathizers would understand, Campanella showed that he had learned his lesson.

Interpretation

In the face of awesome persecution, Campanella devised three strategic moves that saved his hide, freed him from prison, and allowed him to continue to express his beliefs. First he feigned madness—the medieval equivalent of disavowing responsibility for one’s actions, like blaming one’s parents today. Next he wrote a book that expressed the exact opposite of his own beliefs. Finally, and most brilliantly of all, he disguised his ideas while insinuating them at the same time. It is an old but powerful trick: You pretend to disagree with dangerous ideas, but in the course of your disagreement you give those ideas expression and exposure. You seem to conform to the prevailing orthodoxy, but those who know will understand the irony involved. You are protected.

It is inevitable in society that certain values and customs lose contact with their original motives and become oppressive. And there will always be those who rebel against such oppression, harboring ideas far ahead of their time. As Campanella was forced to realize, however, there is no point in making a display of your dangerous ideas if they only bring you suffering and persecution. Martyrdom serves no purpose— better to live on in an oppressive world, even to thrive in it. Meanwhile find a way to express your ideas subtly for those who understand you. Laying your pearls before swine will only bring you trouble.

Never combat any man‘s opinion; for though you reached the age of Methuselah, you would never have done setting him right upon all the absurd things that he believes. It is also well to avoid correcting people’s mistakes in conversation, however good your intentions may be; for it is easy to offend people, and difficult, if not impossible to mend them.

If you feel irritated by the absurd remarks of two people whose conversation you happen to overhear, you should imagine that you are listening to the dialogue of two fools in a comedy. Probatum est.

The man who comes into the world with the notion that he is really going to instruct it in matters of the highest importance, may thank his stars if he escapes with a whole skin.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788-1860

For a long time I have not said what I believed, nor do I ever believe what I say, and if indeed sometimes I do happen to tell the truth, I hide it among so many lies that it is hard to find.

Niccolò Machiavelli, in a letter to Francesco Gnicciardini, May 17, 1521

KEYS TO POWER

We all tell lies and hide our true feelings, for complete free expression is a social impossibility. From an early age we learn to conceal our thoughts, telling the prickly and insecure what we know they want to hear, watching carefully lest we offend them. For most of us this is natural—there are ideas and values that most people accept, and it is pointless to argue. We believe what we want to, then, but on the outside we wear a mask.

There are people, however, who see such restraints as an intolerable infringement on their freedom, and who have a need to prove the superiority of their values and beliefs. In the end, though, their arguments convince only a few and offend a great deal more. The reason arguments do not work is that most people hold their ideas and values without thinking about them. There is a strong emotional content in their beliefs: They really do not want to have to rework their habits of thinking, and when you challenge them, whether directly through your arguments or indirectly through your behavior, they are hostile.

Wise and clever people learn early on that they can display conventional behavior and mouth conventional ideas without having to believe in them. The power these people gain from blending in is that of being left alone to have the thoughts they want to have, and to express them to the people they want to express them to, without suffering isolation or ostracism. Once they have established themselves in a position of power, they can try to convince a wider circle of the correctness of their ideas—perhaps working indirectly, using Campanella’s strategies of irony and insinuation.

In the late fourteenth century, the Spanish began a massive persecution of the Jews, murdering thousands and driving others out of the country. Those who remained in Spain were forced to convert. Yet over the next three hundred years, the Spanish noticed a phenomenon that disturbed them: Many of the converts lived their outward lives as Catholics, yet somehow managed to retain their Jewish beliefs, practicing the religion in private. Many of these so-called Marranos (originally a derogatory term, being the Spanish for “pig”) attained high levels of government office, married into the nobility, and gave every appearance of Christian piety, only to be discovered late in life as practicing Jews. (The Spanish Inquisition was specifically commissioned to ferret them out.) Over the years they mastered the art of dissimulation, displaying crucifixes liberally, giving generous gifts to churches, even occasionally making anti-Semitic remarks—and all the while maintaining their inner freedom and beliefs.

In society, the Marranos knew, outward appearances are what matter. This remains true today. The strategy is simple: As Campanella did in writing Atheism Conquered, make a show of blending in, even going so far as to be the most zealous advocate of the prevailing orthodoxy. If you stick to conventional appearances in public few will believe you think differently in private.

THE CITIZEN AND THE TRAVELER

“Look around you,” said the citizen. “This is the largest market in the world.” 

“Oh surely not,” said the traveler. 

“Well, perhaps not the largest,” said the citizen, “but much the best.” “

"You are certainly wrong there,” said the traveler. “I can tell you....” 

...

They buried the stranger in the dusk.

FABLES, ROBERT Louis STEVENSON, 1850-1894

If Machiavelli had had a prince for disciple, the first thing he would have recommended him to do would have been to write a book against Machiavellism. VOLTAIRE, 1694-1778

Do not be so foolish as to imagine that in our own time the old orthodoxies are gone. Jonas Salk, for instance, thought science had gotten past politics and protocol. And so, in his search for a polio vaccine, he broke all the rules—going public with a discovery before showing it to the scientific community, taking credit for the vaccine without acknowledging the scientists who had paved the way, making himself a star. The public may have loved him but scientists shunned him. His disrespect for his community’s orthodoxies left him isolated, and he wasted years trying to heal the breach, and struggling for funding and cooperation.

Bertolt Brecht underwent a modem form of Inquisition—the House Un-American Activities Committee—and approached it with considerable canniness. Having worked off and on in the American film industry during World War II, in 1947 Brecht was summoned to appear before the committee to answer questions on his suspected Communist sympathies. Other writers called before the committee made a point of attacking its members, and of acting as belligerently as possible in order to gain sympathy for themselves. Brecht, on the other hand, who had actually worked steadfastly for the Communist cause, played the opposite game: He answered questions with ambiguous generalities that defied easy interpretation. Call it the Campanella strategy. Brecht even wore a suit—a rare event for him-and made a point of smoking a cigar during the proceedings, knowing that a key committee member had a passion for cigars. In the end he charmed the committee members, who let him go scot-free.

Brecht then moved to East Germany, where he encountered a different kind of Inquisition. Here the Communists were in power, and they criticized his plays as decadent and pessimistic. He did not argue with them, but made small changes in the performance scripts to shut them up. Meanwhile he managed to preserve the published texts as written. His outward conformity in both cases gave him the freedom to work unhindered, without having to change his thinking. In the end, he made his way safely through dangerous times in different countries through the use of little dances of orthodoxy, and proved he was more powerful than the forces of repression.

Not only do people of power avoid the offenses of Pausanias and Salk, they also learn to play the clever fox and feign the common touch. This has been the ploy of con artists and politicians throughout the centuries. Leaders like Julius Caesar and Franklin

D. Roosevelt have overcome their natural aristocratic stance to cultivate a familiarity with the common man. They have expressed this familiarity in little gestures, often symbolic, to show the people that their leaders share popular values, despite their different status.

The logical extension of this practice is the invaluable ability to be all things to all people. When you go into society, leave behind your own ideas and values, and put on the mask that is most appropriate for the group in which you find yourself. Bismarck played this game successfully for years—there were people who vaguely understood what he was up to, but not clearly enough that it mattered. People will swallow the bait because it flatters them to believe that you share their ideas. They will not take you as a hypocrite if you are careful—for how can they accuse you of hypocrisy if you do not let them know exactly what you stand for? Nor will they see you as lacking in values. Of course you have values—the values you share with them, while in their company.

Authority: Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you. (Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:6) Image: The Black The herd shuns the Sheep. black sheep, uncertain whether or not it belongs with them. So it straggles behind, or wanders away from the herd, where it is cornered by wolves and promptly devoured. Stay with the herd—there is safety in numbers. Keep your differences in your thoughts and not in your fleece.

REVERSAL

The only time it is worth standing out is when you already stand out—when you have achieved an unshakable position of power, and can display your difference from others as a sign of the distance between you. As president of the United States, Lyndon Johnson would sometimes hold meetings while he sat on the toilet. Since no one else either could or would claim such a “privilege,” Johnson was showing people that he did not have to observe the protocols and niceties of others. The Roman emperor Caligula played the same game: He would wear a woman’s negligee, or a bathrobe, to receive important visitors. He even went so far as to have his horse elected consul. But it backfired, for the people hated Caligula, and his gestures eventually brought his overthrow. The truth is that even those who attain the heights of power would be better off at least affecting the common touch, for at some point they may need popular support.

Finally, there is always a place for the gadfly, the person who successfully defies custom and mocks what has grown lifeless in a culture. Oscar Wilde, for example, achieved considerable social power on this foundation: He made it clear that he disdained the usual ways of doing things, and when he gave public readings his audiences not only expected him to insult them but welcomed it. We notice, however, that his eccentric role eventually destroyed him. Even had he come to a better end, remember that he possessed an unusual genius: Without his gift to amuse and delight, his barbs would simply have offended people.

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The truth about “forgive and forget”

Ah. I tire so about repeating myself.

Earth is a Prison Planet. There are systems within systems, within systems to control the inmates. It’s a big subject and I have covered it elsewhere. If you want to learn all the details, then you can browse around here on MM. But for now, I want to discuss one of the control mechanisms.

It’s the “forgive and forget” control mechanism.

I can tell you that criminals inside the United States use this method all the time to reduce their sentences, get away with crimes, and conduct “damage control” to lessen the impacts of their crimes to others.

I’ve explained this many, many times over.

If you can convince your victim to forgive you, then there is a great chance that they will not press charges or file a report on you. And thus you, as a criminal, can continue repeating your crimes over and over. All you need to do is follow the simple formula;

Hurt a person.
Have someone else convince them to “forgive you” and then “forget about the event”.
Repeat. And hurt a different person.

That is precisely why the police routinely look at first time offenders with an eye towards how many prior crimes they committed, but were not caught in.

It’s not just felony activity. It’s about everything. Thoughts, feelings and behaviors are all connected.

It’s a nice trite saying that is used to control you.

Learn this fact; children learn from their mistakes. A child that falls off a chair, then a ladder, then a table will stop accidentally falling down because it HURTS. But what if you mind-wipe the memories, and forget what it was like when you fell down? Well, the child would repeat again, and again, and again over and over.

If you are in a bad relationship, after a long string of bad relationships, you need to stop “forgiving and forgetting”; bone up. Grow a spine and learn from your mistakes.

And for the really brainwashed out there in internet land…

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Law 37 of the 48 Laws of Power; Create compelling spectacles

This is law 37 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it. It’s a really good law.

Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power—everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then, full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

Words often go astray, but symbols and the visual strike with emotional power and immediacy.
Find an associate yourself with powerful images and symbols to gain power.
Most effective of all is a new combination – a fusion of images and symbols that have not been seen together before, but that clearly demonstrate your new idea, message, religion.

LAW 37

CREATE COMPELLING SPECTACLES

JUDGMENT

ANTONY AND CLEOPATHA

She relied above all upon her physical presence and the spell and enchantment which it could create....

She came sailing up the river Cydnus in a barge with a poop of gold, its purple sails billowing in the wind, while her rowers caressed the water with oars of silver which dipped in time to the music of the flute, accompanied by pipes and lutes.

Cleopatra herself reclined beneath a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed in the character of Aphrodite, as we see her in paintings, while on either side to complete the picture stood boys costumed as Cupids who cooled her with their fans.

Instead of a crew the barge was lined with the most beautiful of her waiting-women attired as Nereids and Graces, some at the rudders, others at the tackle of the sails, and all the while an indescribably rich perfume, exhaled from innumerable censers, was wafted from the vessel to the riverbanks.

Great multitudes accompanied this royal progress, some of them following the queen on both sides of the river from its very mouth, while others hurried down from the city of Tarsus to gaze at the sight. Gradually the crowds drifted away from the marketplace, where Antony awaited the queen enthroned on his tribunal, until at last he was left sitting quite alone.

And the word spread on every side that Aphrodite had come to revel with Dionysus for the happiness of Asia. Antony then sent a message inviting Cleopatra to dine with him. But she thought it more appropriate that he should come to her, and so, as he wished to show his courtesy and goodwill, he accepted and went.

He found the preparations made to receive him magnificent bevond words, but what astonished him most of all was the extraordinary number of lights. So many of these, it is said, were let down from the roof and displayed on all sides at once, and they were arranged and grouped in such ingenious patterns in relation to each other, some in squares and some in circles, that they created as brilliant a spectacle as can ever have been devised to delight the eve.

LIFE OF ANTONY. PLIARCH. C. A.D. 46-120

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I

In the early 1780s, word spread through Berlin of the strange and spectacular medical practice of a Dr. Weisleder. He performed his miracles in an enormous converted beer hall, outside which Berliners began to notice ever longer lines of people—the blind, the lame, anyone with an illness incurable by normal medicine. When it leaked out that the doctor worked by exposing the patient to the rays of the moon, he soon became dubbed The Moon Doctor of Berlin.

Sometime in 1783, it was reported that Dr. Weisleder had cured a well-to-do woman of a terrible ailment. He suddenly became a celebrity. Previously only the poorest Berliners had been seen waiting outside the beer hall in their rags; now magnificent carriages were parked outside, and gentlemen in frock coats, and ladies with enormous coiffures, lined the street as sunset drew near. Even folk with the mildest of ailments came, out of sheer curiosity. As they waited in line, the poorer clients would explain to the gentlemen and ladies that the doctor only practiced when the moon was in its increscent phase. Many would add that they themselves had already been exposed to the healing powers he called forth from the rays of the moon. Even those who felt cured kept coming back, drawn by this powerful experience.

Inside the beer hall, a strange and stirring spectacle greeted the visitor: Packed into the entrance hall was a crowd of all classes and ethnic backgrounds, a veritable Tower of Babel. Through tall windows on the northern side of the hall, silvery moonlight poured in at odd angles. The doctor and his wife, who, it seemed, was also able to effect the cure, practiced on the second floor, which was reached by a stairway, at the end of the hall. As the line edged closer to the stairs, the sick would hear shouts and cries from above, and word would spread of, perhaps, a blind gentleman suddenly able to see.

Once upstairs, the line would fork in two directions, toward a northern room for the doctor, a southern one for his wife, who worked only on the ladies. Finally, after hours of anticipation and waiting in line, the gentlemen patients would be led before the amazing doctor himself, an elderly man with a few stalks of wild gray hair and an air of nervous energy.

He would take the patient (let us say a young boy, brought in by his father), uncover the afflicted body part, and lift the boy up to the window, which faced the light of the moon. He would rub the site of the injury or illness, mumble something unintelligible, look knowingly at the moon, and then, after collecting his fee, send the boy and his father on their way.

Meanwhile, in the south-facing room, his wife would be doing the same with the ladies—which was odd, really, since the moon cannot appear in two places at once; it cannot have been visible, in other words, from both windows. Apparently the mere thought, idea, and symbol of the moon were enough, for the ladies did not complain, and would later remark confidently that the wife of the Moon Doctor had the same healing powers as he.

Interpretation

Dr. Weisleder may have known nothing about medicine, but he understood human nature. He recognized that people do not always want words, or rational explanations, or demonstrations of the powers of science; they want an immediate appeal to their emotions. Give them that and they will do the rest—such as imagine they can be healed by the light reflected from a rock a quarter million miles away. Dr. Weisleder had no need of pills, or of lengthy lectures on the moon’s power, or of any silly gadgetry to amplify its rays. He understood that the simpler the spectacle the better—just the moonlight pouring in from the side, the stairway leading to the heavens, and the rays of the moon, whether directly visible or not. Any added effects might have made it seem that the moon was not strong enough on its own. And the moon was strong enough—it was a magnet for fantasies, as it has been throughout history. Simply by associating himself with the image of the moon, the doctor gained power.

Remember: Your search for power depends on shortcuts. You must always circumvent people’s suspicions, their perverse desire to resist your will. Images are an extremely effective shortcut: Bypassing the head, the seat of doubt and resistance, they aim straight for the heart. Overwhelming the eyes, they create powerful associations, bringing people together and stirring their emotions. With the white light of the moon in their eyes, your targets are blinded to the deceptions you practice.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II

In 1536 the future king Henri II of France took his first mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Diane was thirty-seven at the time, and was the widow of the grand seneschal of Normandy. Henri, meanwhile, was a sprightly lad of seventeen, who was just beginning to sow his wild oats. At first their union seemed merely platonic, with Henri showing an intensely spiritual devotion to Diane. But it soon became clear that he loved her in every way, preferring her bed to that of his young wife, Catherine de’ Médicis.

In 1547 King Francis died and Henri ascended to the throne. This new situation posed perils for Diane de Poitiers. She had just turned forty-eight, and despite her notorious cold baths and rumored youth potions, she was beginning to show her age; now that Henri was king, perhaps he would return to the queen’s bed, and do as other kings had done—choose mistresses from the bevy of beauties who made the French court the envy of Europe. He was, after all, only twenty-eight, and cut a dashing figure.

But Diane did not give up so easily. She would continue to enthrall her lover, as she had enthralled him for the past eleven years.

In the Middle Ages the symbolist attitude was much more in evidence. ... Symbolism appears as a sort of short cut of thought. Instead of looking for the relation between two things by following the hidden detours of their causal connexions, thought makes a leap and discovers their relation not in the connexion of cause and effects, but in a connexion of signification.... Symbolist thought permits an infinity of relations between things. Each thing may denote a number of distinct ideas by its different special qualities, and a quality may have several symbolic meanings. The highest conceptions have symbols by the thousand. Nothing is too humble to represent and glory the sublime. The walnut signifies Christ: the sweet kernel is His divine nature, the green and pulpy outer peel is His humanity, the wooden shell between is the cross. Thus all things raise his thoughts to the eternal.... Every precious stone, besides its natural splendour sparkles with the brilliance of its symbolic values. The assimilation of roses and virginity is much more than a poetic comparison, for it reveals their common essence. As each notion arises in the mind the logic of symbolism creates an harmony of ideas.

THE WANING OF THE MIDDLE AGES, JOHAN HUIZINGA, 1928

Diane’s secret weapons were symbols and images, to which she had always paid great attention. Early on in her relationship with Henri, she had created a motif by intertwining her initials with his, to symbolize their union. The idea worked like a charm: Henri put this insignia everywhere—on his royal robes, on monuments, on churches, on the facade of the Louvre, then the royal palace in Paris. Diane’s favorite colors were black and white, which she wore exclusively, and wherever it was possible the insignia appeared in these colors. Everyone recognized the symbol and its meaning. Soon after Henri took the throne, however, Diane went still further: She decided to identify herself with the Roman goddess Diana, her namesake. Diana was the goddess of the hunt, the traditional royal pastime and the particular passion of Henri. Equally important, in Renaissance art she symbolized chastity and purity. For a woman like Diane to identify herself with this goddess would instantly call up those images in the court, giving her an air of respectability. Symbolizing her “chaste” relationship with Henri, it would also set her apart from the adulterous liaisons of royal mistresses past.

To effect this association, Diane began by completely transforming her castle at Anet. She razed the building’s structure and in its place erected a magnificent Doric-columned edifice modeled after a Roman temple. It was made in white Normandy stone flecked with black silex, reproducing Diane’s trademark colors of black and white. The insignia of her and Henri’s initials appeared on the columns, the doors, the windows, the carpet. Meanwhile, symbols of Diana—crescent moons, stags, and hounds—adorned the gates and facade. Inside, enormous tapestries depicting episodes in the life of the goddess lay on the floors and hung on the walls. In the garden stood the famous Goujon sculpture Diane Chasseresse, which is now in the Louvre, and which had an uncanny resemblance to Diane de Poitiers. Paintings and other depictions of Diana appeared in every corner of the castle.

Anet overwhelmed Henri, who soon was trumpeting the image of Diane de Poitiers as a Roman goddess. In 1548, when the couple appeared together in Lyons for a royal celebration, the townspeople welcomed them with a tableau vivant depicting a scene with Diana the huntress. France’s greatest poet of the period, Pierre de Ronsard, began to write verses in honor of Diana—indeed a kind of cult of Diana sprang up, all inspired by the king’s mistress. It seemed to Henri that Diane had given herself a kind of divine aura, and as if he were destined to worship her for the rest of his life. And until his death, in 1559, he did remain faithful to her—making her a duchess, giving her untold wealth, and displaying an almost religious devotion to his first and only mistress.

Interpretation

Diane de Poitiers, a woman from a modest bourgeois background, managed to captivate Henri for over twenty years. By the time he died she was well into her sixties, yet his passion for her only increased with the years. She knew the king well.

He was not an intellectual but a lover of the outdoors—he particularly loved jousting tournaments, with their bright pennants, brilliantly caparisoned horses, and beautifully dressed women. Henri’s love of visual splendor seemed childlike to Diane, and she played on this weakness of his at every opportunity.

Most astute of all was Diane’s appropriation of the goddess Diana. Here she took the game beyond physical imagery into the realm of the psychic symbol. It was quite a feat to transform a king’s mistress into an emblem of power and purity, but she managed it. Without the resonance of the goddess, Diane was merely an aging courtesan. With the imagery and symbolism of Diana on her shoulders, she seemed a mythic force, destined for greatness.

You too can play with images like these, weaving visual clues into an encompassing gestalt, as Diane did with her colors and her insignia. Establish a trademark like these to set yourself apart. Then take the game further: Find an image or symbol from the past that will neatly fit your situation, and put it on your shoulders like a cape. It will make you seem larger than life.

There was a man named Sakamotoya Hechigwan who lived in upper Kyoto.... When [Emperor] Hideyoshi gave his great Cha-no-yu [tea ceremony] meeting at Kitano in the tenth month of 1588, Hechigwan set up a great red umbrella nine feet across mounted on a stick seven feet high. The circumference of the handle he surrounded for about two feet by a reed fence in such a way that the rays of the sun were reflected from it and diffused the colour of the umbrella all around. This device pleased Hideyoshi so much that he remitted Hechigwan’s taxes as a reward.

CHA-NO-YU: THE JAPANESE TEA CEREMONY, A. L. SADLER, 1962

Because of the light it shines on the other stars which make up a kind of court around it, because of the just and equal distribution of its rays to all alike, because of the good it brings to all places, producing life, joy and action, because of its constancy from which it never varies, I chose the sun as the most magnificent image to represent a great leader.

Louis XIV, the Sun King, 1638-1715

KEYS TO POWER

Using words to plead your case is risky business: Words are dangerous instruments, and often go astray. The words people use to persuade us virtually invite us to reflect on them with words of our own; we mull them over, and often end up believing the opposite of what they say. (That is part of our perverse nature.) It also happens that words offend us, stirring up associations unintended by the speaker.

The visual, on the other hand, short-circuits the labyrinth of words. It strikes with an emotional power and immediacy that leave no gaps for reflection and doubt. Like music, it leaps right over rational, reasonable thoughts. Imagine the Moon Doctor trying to make a case for his medical practice, trying to convince the unconverted by telling them about the healing powers of the moon, and about his own special connection to a distant object in the sky. Fortunately for him, he was able to create a compelling spectacle that made words unnecessary. The moment his patients entered the beer hall, the image of the moon spoke eloquently enough.

Understand: Words put you on the defensive. If you have to explain yourself your power is already in question. The image, on the other hand, imposes itself as a given. It discourages questions, creates forceful associations, resists unintended interpretations, communicates instantly, and forges bonds that transcend social differences. Words stir up arguments and divisions; images bring people together. They are the quintessential instruments of power.

The symbol has the same force, whether it is visual (the statue of Diana) or a verbal description of something visual (the words “the Sun King”). The symbolic object stands for something else, something abstract (such as the image “Diana” standing for chastity). The abstract concept—purity, patriotism, courage, love—is full of emotional and powerful associations. The symbol is a shortcut of expression, containing dozens of meanings in one simple phrase or object. The symbol of the Sun King, as explained by Louis XIV, can be read on many layers, but the beauty of it is that its associations required no explanation, spoke immediately to his subjects, distinguished him from all other kings, and conjured up a kind of majesty that went far beyond the words themselves. The symbol contains untold power.

The first step in using symbols and images is to understand the primacy of sight among the senses. Before the Renaissance, it has been argued, sight and the other senses

—taste, touch, and so on—operated on a relatively equal plane. Since then, however, the visual has come to dominate the others, and is the sense we most depend on and trust. As Gracián said, “The truth is generally seen, rarely heard.” When the Renaissance painter Fra Filippo Lippi was a captured slave among the Moors, he won his freedom by sketching a drawing of his master on a white wall with a piece of charcoal; when the owner saw the drawing, he instantly understood the power of a man who could make such images, and let Fra Lippi go. That one image was far more powerful than any argument the artist could have made with words.

Never neglect the way you arrange things visually. Factors like color, for example, have enormous symbolic resonance. When the con artist Yellow Kid Weil created a newsletter touting the phony stocks he was peddling, he called it the “Red Letter Newsletter” and had it printed, at considerable expense, in red ink. The color created a sense of urgency, power, and good fortune. Weil recognized details like these as keys to deception—as do modern advertisers and mass-marketers. If you use “gold” in the title of anything you are trying to sell, for example, print it in gold. Since the eye predominates, people will respond more to the color than to the word.

The visual contains great emotional power. The Roman emperor Constantine worshipped the sun as a god for most of his life; one day, though, he looked up at the sun, and saw a cross superimposed on it. The vision of the cross over the sun proved to him the ascendancy of the new religion, and he converted not just himself but the whole Roman Empire to Christianity soon thereafter. All the preaching and proselytizing in the world could not have been as powerful. Find and associate yourself with the images and symbols that will communicate in this immediate way today, and you will have untold power.

Most effective of all is a new combination—a fusion of images and symbols that have not been seen together before, but that through their association clearly demonstrate your new idea, message, religion. The creation of new images and symbols out of old ones in this way has a poetic effect—viewers’ associations run rampant, giving them a sense of participation.

Visual images often appear in a sequence, and the order in which they appear creates a symbol. The first to appear, for instance, symbolizes power; the image at the center seems to have central importance.

Near the end of World War II, orders came down from General Eisenhower that American troops were to lead the way into Paris after its liberation from the Nazis. The French general Charles de Gaulle, however, realized that this sequence would imply that the Americans now commanded the fate of France. Through much manipulation, de Gaulle made certain that he and the French Second Armored Division would appear at the head of the liberating force. The strategy worked: After he had successfully pulled off this stunt, the Allies started treating him as the new leader of an independent France. De Gaulle knew that a leader has to locate himself literally at the head of his troops. This visual association is crucial to the emotional response that he needs to elicit.

Things change in the game of symbols: It is probably no longer possible to pose as a “sun king,” or to wrap the mantle of Diana around you. Yet you can associate yourself with such symbols more indirectly. And, of course, you can make your own mythology out of figures from more recent history, people who are comfortably dead but still powerfully associative in the public eye. The idea is to give yourself an aura, a stature that your normal banal appearance simply will not create. By herself Diane de Poitiers had no such radiant powers; she was as human and ordinary as most of us. But the symbol elevated her above the human lot, and made her seem divine.

Using symbols also has a courtier-like effect, since they are often gentler than brutish words. The psychotherapist Dr. Milton H. Erickson always tried to find symbols and images that would communicate to the patient in ways that words could not. When dealing with a severely troubled patient, he would not question him directly but would talk about something irrelevant, such as driving through the desert in Arizona, where he practiced in the 1950s. In describing this he would eventually come to an appropriate symbol for what he suspected was the man’s problem. If he felt the patient was isolated, say, Dr. Erickson would talk of a single iron-wood tree, and how its isolation left it battered by the winds. Making an emotional connection with the tree as a symbol, the patient would open up more readily to the doctor’s probing.

Use the power of symbols as a way to rally, animate, and unite your troops or team. During the rebellion against the French crown in 1648, those loyal to the king disparaged the rebels by comparing them to the slingshots (in French, frondes) that little boys use to frighten big boys. Cardinal de Retz decided to turn this disparaging term into the rebels’ symbol: The uprising was now known as the Fronde, and the rebels as frondeurs. They began to wear sashes in their hats that symbolized the slingshot, and the word became their rallying cry. Without it the rebellion might well have petered out. Always find a symbol to represent your cause—the more emotional associations, the better.

The best way to use images and symbols is to organize them into a grand spectacle that awes people and distracts them from unpleasant realities. This is easy to do: People love what is grand, spectacular, and larger than life. Appeal to their emotions and they will flock to your spectacle in hordes. The visual is the easiest route to their hearts.

Image:

The Cross and the Sun. Crucifixion and total radiance. With one imposed over the other, a new reality takes shape— a new power is in the ascendant. The symbol—no explanation necessary.

Authority: The people are always impressed by the superficial appearance of things…. The [prince] should, at fitting times of the year, keep the people occupied and distracted with festivities and spectacles. (Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527)

REVERSAL

No power is made available by ignoring images and symbols. There is no possible reversal to this law.

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Law 36 of the 48 Laws of Power; Disdain things you cannot have: ignoring them is the best revenge

This is law 36 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it. It’s a great rule or law.

By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.

LAW 36

DISDAIN THINGS YOU CANNOT HAVE: IGNORING THEM IS THE BEST REVENGE

JUDGMENT

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

The Mexican rebel leader Pancho Villa started out as the chief of a gang of bandits, but after revolution broke out in Mexico in 1910, he became a kind of folk hero—robbing trains and giving the money to the poor, leading daring raids, and charming the ladies with romantic escapades. His exploits fascinated Americans—he seemed a man from another era, part Robin Hood, part Don Juan. After a few years of bitter fighting, however, General Carranza emerged as the victor in the Revolution; the defeated Villa and his troops went back home, to the northern state of Chihuahua. His army dwindled and he turned to banditry again, damaging his popularity. Finally, perhaps out of desperation, he began to rail against the United States, the gringos, whom he blamed for his troubles.

In March of 1916, Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico. Rampaging through the town, he and his gang killed seventeen American soldiers and civilians. President Woodrow Wilson, like many Americans, had admired Villa; now, however, the bandit needed to be punished. Wilson’s advisers urged him to send troops into Mexico to capture Villa. For a power as large as the United States, they argued, not to strike back at an army that had invaded its territory would send the worst kind of signal. Furthermore, they continued, many Americans saw Wilson as a pacifist, a principle the public doubted as a response to violence; he needed to prove his mettle and manliness by ordering the use of force.

The pressure on Wilson was strong, and before the month was out, with the approval of the Carranza government, he sent an army of ten thousand soldiers to capture Pancho Villa. The venture was called the Punitive Expedition, and its leader was the dashing General John J. Pershing, who had defeated guerrillas in the Philippines and Native Americans in the American Southwest. Certainly Pershing could find and overpower Pancho Villa.

The Punitive Expedition became a sensational story, and carloads of U.S. reporters followed Pershing into action. The campaign, they wrote, would be a test of American power. The soldiers carried the latest in weaponry, communicated by radio, and were supported by reconnaissance from the air.

In the first few months, the troops split up into small units to comb the wilds of northern Mexico. The Americans offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to Villa’s capture. But the Mexican people, who had been disillusioned with Villa when he had returned to banditry, now idolized him for facing this mighty American army.

They began to give Pershing false leads: Villa had been seen in this village, or in that mountain hideaway, airplanes would be dispatched, troops would scurry after them, and no one would ever see him. The wily bandit seemed to be always one step ahead of the American military.

THE ON AND THE CRAPES

A starving fox ... saw a cluster Of luscious-looking grapes of purplish luster Dangling above him on a trellis-frame. He would have dearly liked them for his lunch, But when he tried and failed to reach the bunch: “Ah well, it’s more than likely they’re not sweet—Good only for green fools to eat!”

Wasn’t he wise to say they were unripe Rather than whine and gripe?

FABLES. JEAN DE LA FONTAINE. 1621-1695

Once when G. K. Chesterton’s economic views were abused in print by George Bernard Shaw, his friends waited in vain for him to reply. Historian Hilaire Belloc reproached him. “My dear Belloc,” Chesterton said, “I have answered him. To a man of Shaw’s wit, silence is the one unbearable repartee.

THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF ANECDOTES, CLIFTON FADIMAN, ED., 1985

By the summer of that year, the expedition had swelled to 123,000 men. They suffered through the stultifying heat, the mosquitoes, the wild terrain. Trudging over a countryside in which they were already resented, they infuriated both the local people and the Mexican government. At one point Pancho Villa hid in a mountain cave to recover from a gunshot wound he received in a skirmish with the Mexican army; looking down from his aerie, he could watch Pershing lead the exhausted American troops back and forth across the mountains, never getting any closer to their goal.

All the way into winter, Villa played his cat-and-mouse game. Americans came to see the affair as a kind of slapstick farce—in fact they began to admire Villa again, respecting his resourcefulness in eluding a superior force. In January of 1917, Wilson finally ordered Pershing’s withdrawal. As the troops made their way back to American territory, rebel forces pursued them, forcing the U.S. Army to use airplanes to protect its rear flanks. The Punitive Expedition was being punished itself—it had turned into a retreat of the most humiliating sort.

Interpretation

Woodrow Wilson organized the Punitive Expedition as a show of force: He would teach Pancho Villa a lesson and in the process show the world that no one, large or small, could attack the mighty United States and get away with it. The expedition would be over in a few weeks, and Villa would be forgotten.

That was not how it played out. The longer the expedition took, the more it focused attention on the Americans’ incompetence and on Villa’s cleverness. Soon what was forgotten was not Villa but the raid that had started it all. As a minor annoyance became an international embarrassment, and the enraged Americans dispatched more troops, the imbalance between the size of the pursuer and the size of the pursued—who still managed to stay free—made the affair a joke. And in the end this white elephant of an army had to lumber out of Mexico, humiliated. The Punitive Expedition did the opposite of what it set out to do: It left Villa not only free but more popular than ever.

What could Wilson have done differently? He could have pressured the Carranza government to catch Villa for him. Alternatively, since many Mexicans had tired of Villa before the Punitive Expedition began, he could have worked quietly with them and won their support for a much smaller raid to capture the bandit. He could have organized a trap on the American side of the border, anticipating the next raid. Or he could have ignored the matter altogether for the time being, waiting for the Mexicans themselves to do away with Villa of their own accord.

THE ASS AND THE GARDENER

An ass had once by some accident lost his tail, which was a grievous affliction to him; and he was everywhere seeking after it, being fool enough to think he could get it set on again. He passed through a meadow, and afterwards got into a garden. The gardener seeing him, and not able to endure the mischief he was doing in trampling down his plants, fell into a violent rage, ran to the ass, and never standing on the ceremony of a pillory, cut off both his ears, and beat him out of the ground. Thus the ass, who bemoaned the loss of his tail, was in far greater affliction when he saw himself without ears.

FABLES, PILPAY, INDIA, FOURTH CENTURY

THE PRODIGY OX

Once, when the Tokudaiji minister of the right was chief of the imperial police, he was holding a meeting of his staff at the middle gate when an ox belonging to an official named Akikane got loose and wandered into the ministry building. It climbed up on the dais where the chief was seated and lay there, chewing its cud. Everyone was sure that this was some grave portent, and urged that the ox be sent to a yin- yang diviner. However, the prime minister, the father of the minister of the right, said, “An ox has no discrimination. It has legs—there is nowhere it won’t go. It does not make sense to deprive an underpaid official of the wretched ox he needs in order to attend court.” He returned the ox to its owner and changed the matting on which it had lain. No untoward event of any kind occurred afterward. They say that if you see a prodigy and do not treat it as such, its character as a prodigy is destroyed. 

ESSAYS IN IDLENESS, KENKO, JAPAN, FOURTEENTH CENTURY

Remember: You choose to let things bother you. You can just as easily choose not to notice the irritating offender, to consider the matter trivial and unworthy of your interest. That is the powerful move. What you do not react to cannot drag you down in a futile engagement. Your pride is not involved. The best lesson you can teach an irritating gnat is to consign it to oblivion by ignoring it. If it is impossible to ignore (Pancho Villa had in fact killed American citizens), then conspire in secret to do away with it, but never inadvertently draw attention to the bothersome insect that will go away or die on its own. If you waste time and energy in such entanglements, it is your own fault. Learn to play the card of disdain and turn your back on what cannot harm you in the long run.

Just think—it cost your government $130 million to try to get me. I took them over rough, hilly country. Sometimes for fifty miles at a stretch they had no water. They had nothing but the sun and mosquitoes.... And nothing was gained.

Pancho Villa, 1878-1923

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

In the year 1527, King Henry VIII of England decided he had to find a way to get rid of his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Catherine had failed to produce a son, a male heir who would ensure the continuance of his dynasty, and Henry thought he knew why: He had read in the Bible the passage, “And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.” Before marrying Henry, Catherine had married his older brother Arthur, but Arthur had died five months later. Henry had waited an appropriate time, then had married his brother’s widow.

Catherine was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, and by marrying her Henry had kept alive a valuable alliance. Now, however, Catherine had to assure him that her brief marriage with Arthur had never been consummated. Otherwise Henry would view their relationship as incestuous and their marriage as null and void. Catherine insisted that she had remained a virgin through her marriage to Arthur, and Pope Clement VII supported her by giving his blessing to the union, which he could not have done had he considered it incestuous. Yet after years of marriage to Henry, Catherine had failed to produce a son, and in the early 1520s she had entered menopause. To the king this could only mean one thing: She had lied about her virginity, their union was incestuous, and God had punished them.

There was another reason why Henry wanted to get rid of Catherine: He had fallen in love with a younger woman, Anne Boleyn. Not only was he in love with her, but if he married her he could still hope to sire a legitimate son. The marriage to Catherine had to be annulled. For this, however, Henry had to apply to the Vatican. But Pope Clement would never annul the marriage.

By the summer of 1527, rumors spread throughout Europe that Henry was about to attempt the impossible—to annul his marriage against Clement’s wishes. Catherine would never abdicate, let alone voluntarily enter a nunnery, as Henry had urged her. But Henry had his own strategy: He stopped sleeping in the same bed with Catherine, since he considered her his sister-in-law, not his lawful wife. He insisted on calling her Princess Dowager of Wales, her title as Arthur’s widow. Finally, in 1531, he banished her from court and shipped her off to a distant castle. The pope ordered him to return her to court, on pain of excommunication, the most severe penalty a Catholic could suffer. Henry not only ignored this threat, he insisted that his marriage to Catherine had been dissolved, and in 1533 he married Anne Boleyn.

Clement refused to recognize the marriage, but Henry did not care. He no longer recognized the pope’s authority, and proceeded to break with the Roman Catholic Church, establishing the Church of England in its stead, with the king as the head of the new church. And so, not surprisingly, the newly formed Church of England proclaimed Anne Boleyn England’s rightful queen.

The pope tried every threat in the book, but nothing worked. Henry simply ignored him. Clement fumed—no one had ever treated him so contemptuously. Henry had humiliated him and he had no power of recourse. Even excommunication (which he constantly threatened but never carried out) would no longer matter.

Catherine too felt the devastating sting of Henry’s disdain. She tried to fight back, but in appealing to Henry her words fell on deaf ears, and soon they fell on no one’s. Isolated from the court, ignored by the king, mad with anger and frustration, Catherine slowly deteriorated, and finally died in January of 1536, from a cancerous tumor of the heart.

Interpretation

When you pay attention to a person, the two of you become partners of sorts, each moving in step to the actions and reactions of the other. In the process you lose your initiative. It is a dynamic of all interactions: By acknowledging other people, even if only to fight with them, you open yourself to their influence. Had Henry locked horns with Catherine, he would have found himself mired in endless arguments that would have weakened his resolve and eventually worn him down. (Catherine was a strong, stubborn woman.) Had he set out to convince Clement to change his verdict on the marriage’s validity, or tried to compromise and negotiate with him, he would have gotten bogged down in Clement’s favorite tactic: playing for time, promising flexibility, but actually getting what popes always got—their way.

Henry would have none of this. He played a devastating power game—total disdain. By ignoring people you cancel them out. This unsettles and infuriates them—but since they have no dealings with you, there is nothing they can do.

And in this view it is advisable to let everyone of your acquaintance—whether man or woman—feel now and then that you could very well dispense with their company.

This will consolidate friendship. Nay, with most people there will be no harm in occasionally mixing a grain of disdain with your treatment of them; that will make them value your friendship all the more. Chi non stima vien stimato, as a subtle Italian proverb has it—to disregard is to win regard. But if we really think very highly of a person, we should conceal it from him like a crime. This is not a very gratifying thing to do, but it is right. Why, a dog will not bear being treated too kindly, let alone a man!

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788-1860

THE MONKEY AND THE PEAS

A monkey was carrying two handfuls of peas. One little pea dropped out. He tried to pick it up, and spilt twenty. He tried to pick up the twenty, and spilt them all. Then he lost his temper, scattered the peas in all directions, and ran away.

FABLES, LEO TOLSTOY, 1828-1910

This is the offensive aspect of the law. Playing the card of contempt is immensely powerful, for it lets you determine the conditions of the conflict. The war is waged on your terms. This is the ultimate power pose: You are the king, and you ignore what offends you. Watch how this tactic infuriates people—half of what they do is to get your attention, and when you withhold it from them, they flounder in frustration.

MAN: Kick him—he’ll forgive you. Flatter him—he may or may not see through you. But ignore him and he’ll hate you.

Idries Shah, Caravan of Dreams, 1968

As some make gossip out of everything, so others make much ado about everything. They are always talking big, [and] take everything seriously, making a quarrel and a mystery of it. You should take very few grievances to heart, for to do so is to give yourself groundless worry. It is a topsyturvy way of behaving to take to heart cares which you ought to throw over your shoulder. Many things which seemed important [at the time] turn out to be of no account when they are ignored; and others, which seem trifling, appear formidable when you pay attention to them. Things can easily be settled at the outset, but not so later on. In many cases, the remedy itself is the cause of the disease: to let things be is not the least satisfactory of life’s rules. 

BALTASAR GRACIÁN, 1601-1658

KEYS TO POWER

Desire often creates paradoxical effects: The more you want something, the more you chase after it, the more it eludes you. The more interest you show, the more you repel the object of your desire. This is because your interest is too strong—it makes people awkward, even fearful. Uncontrollable desire makes you seem weak, unworthy, pathetic.

You need to turn your back on what you want, show your contempt and disdain. This is the kind of powerful response that will drive your targets crazy. They will respond with a desire of their own, which is simply to have an effect on you—perhaps to possess you, perhaps to hurt you. If they want to possess you, you have successfully completed the first step of seduction. If they want to hurt you, you have unsettled them and made them play by your rules (see Laws 8 and 39 on baiting people into action).

Contempt is the prerogative of the king. Where his eyes turn, what he decides to see, is what has reality; what he ignores and turns his back on is as good as dead. That was the weapon of King Louis XIV—if he did not like you, he acted as if you were not there, maintaining his superiority by cutting off the dynamic of interaction. This is the power you have when you play the card of contempt, periodically showing people that you can do without them.

If choosing to ignore enhances your power, it follows that the opposite approach— commitment and engagement—often weakens you. By paying undue attention to a puny enemy, you look puny, and the longer it takes you to crush such an enemy, the larger the enemy seems. When Athens set out to conquer the island of Sicily, in 415 B.C., a giant power was attacking a tiny one. Yet by entangling Athens in a long-drawn-out conflict, Syracuse, Sicily’s most important city-state, was able to grow in stature and confidence. Finally defeating Athens, it made itself famous for centuries to come. In recent times, President John F. Kennedy made a similar mistake in his attitude to Fidel Castro of Cuba: His failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs, in 1961, made Castro an international hero.

A second danger: If you succeed in crushing the irritant, or even if you merely wound it, you create sympathy for the weaker side. Critics of Franklin D. Roosevelt complained bitterly about the money his administration spent on government projects, but their attacks had no resonance with the public, who saw the president as working to end the Great Depression. His opponents thought they had an example that would show just how wasteful he had become: his dog, Fala, which he lavished with favors and attention. Critics railed at his insensitivity—spending taxpayers’ money on a dog while so many Americans were still in poverty. But Roosevelt had a response: How dare his critics attack a defenseless little dog? His speech in defense of Fala was one of the most popular he ever gave. In this case, the weak party involved was the president’s dog and the attack backfired—in the long run, it only made the president more sympathetic, since many people will naturally side with the “underdog,” just as the American public came to sympathize with the wily but outnumbered Pancho Villa.

It is tempting to want to fix our mistakes, but the harder we try, the worse we often make them. It is sometimes more politic to leave them alone. In 1971, when the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers, a group of government documents about the history of U.S. involvement in Indochina, Henry Kissinger erupted into a volcanic rage. Furious about the Nixon administration’s vulnerability to this kind of damaging leak, he made recommendations that eventually led to the formation of a group called the Plumbers to plug the leaks. This was the unit that later broke into Democratic Party offices in the Watergate Hotel, setting off the chain of events that led to Nixon’s downfall. In reality the publication of the Pentagon Papers was not a serious threat to the administration, but Kissinger’s reaction made it a big deal. In trying to fix one problem, he created another: a paranoia for security that in the end was much more destructive to the government. Had he ignored the Pentagon Papers, the scandal they had created would eventually have blown over.

Instead of inadvertently focusing attention on a problem, making it seem worse by publicizing how much concern and anxiety it is causing you, it is often far wiser to play the contemptuous aristocrat, not deigning to acknowledge the problem’s existence. There are several ways to execute this strategy.

First there is the sour-grapes approach. If there is something you want but that you realize you cannot have, the worst thing you can do is draw attention to your disappointment by complaining about it. An infinitely more powerful tactic is to act as if it never really interested you in the first place. When the writer George Sand’s supporters nominated her to be the first female member of the Académie Française, in 1861, Sand quickly saw that the academy would never admit her. Instead of whining, though, she claimed she had no interest in belonging to this group of worn-out, overrated, out-of-touch windbags. Her disdain was the perfect response: Had she shown her anger at her exclusion, she would have revealed how much it meant to her. Instead she branded the academy a club of old men—and why should she be angry or disappointed at not having to spend her time with them? Crying “sour grapes” is sometimes seen as a reflection of the weak; it is actually the tactic of the powerful.

THE MAN AND HIS SHADOW

There was a certain original man who desired to catch his own shadow. He makes a step or two toward it, but it moves away from him. He quickens his pace; it does the same. At last he takes to running; but the quicker he goes, the quicker runs the shadow also, utterly refusing to give itself up, just as if it had been a treasure. But see! our eccentric friend suddenly turns round, and walks away from it. And presently he looks behind him; now the shadow runs after him. Ladies fair, I have often observed... that Fortune treats us in a similar way. One man tries with all his might to seize the goddess, and only loses his time and his trouble. Another seems, to all appearance, to be running out of her sight; but, no: she herself takes a pleasure in pursuing him.

FABLES, IVAN KRILOFF, 1768-1844

Second, when you are attacked by an inferior, deflect people’s attention by making it clear that the attack has not even registered. Look away, or answer sweetly, showing how little the attack concerns you. Similarly, when you yourself have committed a blunder, the best response is often to make less of your mistake by treating it lightly.

The Japanese emperor Go-Saiin, a great disciple of the tea ceremony, owned a priceless antique tea bowl that all the courtiers envied. One day a guest, Dainagon Tsunehiro, asked if he could carry the tea bowl into the light, to examine it more closely. The bowl rarely left the table, but the emperor was in good spirits and he consented. As Dainagon carried the bowl to the railing of the verandah, however, and held it up to the light, it slipped from his hands and fell on a rock in the garden below, smashing into tiny fragments.

The emperor of course was furious. “It was indeed most clumsy of me to let it drop in this way,” said Dainagon, with a deep bow, “but really there is not much harm done. This Ido tea-bowl is a very old one and it is impossible to say how much longer it would have lasted, but anyhow it is not a thing of any public use, so I think it rather fortunate that it has broken thus.” This surprising response had an immediate effect: The emperor calmed down. Dainagon neither sniveled nor overapologized, but signaled his own worth and power by treating his mistake with a touch of disdain. The emperor had to respond with a similar aristocratic indifference; his anger had made him seem low and petty—an image Dainagon was able to manipulate.

Among equals this tactic might backfire: Your indifference could make you seem callous. But with a master, if you act quickly and without great fuss, it can work to great effect: You bypass his angry response, save him the time and energy he would waste by brooding over it, and allow him the opportunity to display his own lack of pettiness publicly.

If we make excuses and denials when we are caught in a mistake or a deception, we stir the waters and make the situation worse. It is often wiser to play things the opposite way. The Renaissance writer Pietro Aretino often boasted of his aristocratic lineage, which was, of course, a fiction, since he was actually the son of a shoemaker. When an enemy of his finally revealed the embarrassing truth, word quickly spread, and soon all of Venice (where he lived at the time) was aghast at Aretino’s lies. Had he tried to defend himself, he would have only dragged himself down. His response was masterful: He announced that he was indeed the son of a shoemaker, but this only proved his greatness, since he had risen from the lowest stratum of society to its very pinnacle. From then on he never mentioned his previous lie, trumpeting instead his new position on the matter of his ancestry.

Remember: The powerful responses to niggling, petty annoyances and irritations are contempt and disdain. Never show that something has affected you, or that you are offended—that only shows you have acknowledged a problem. Contempt is a dish that is best served cold and without affectation.

Image: The Tiny

Wound.

It is small but painful and irritating. You try all sorts of medicaments, you com plain, you scratch and pick at the scab. Doctors only make it worse, transforming the tiny wound into a grave matter. If only you had left the wound alone, letting time heal it and freeing yourself of worry.

Authority: Know how to play the card of contempt. It is the most politic kind of revenge. For there are many of whom we should have known nothing if their distinguished opponents had taken no notice of them. There is no revenge like oblivion, for it is the entombment of the unworthy in the dust of their own nothingness. 

(Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

REVERSAL

You must play the card of contempt with care and delicacy. Most small troubles will vanish on their own if you leave them be; but some will grow and fester unless you attend to them. Ignore a person of inferior stature and the next time you look he has become a serious rival, and your contempt has made him vengeful as well. The great princes of Renaissance Italy chose to ignore Cesare Borgia at the outset of his career as a young general in the army of his father, Pope Alexander VI. By the time they paid attention it was too late—the cub was now a lion, gobbling up chunks of Italy. Often, then, while you show contempt publicly you will also need to keep an eye on the problem privately, monitoring its status and making sure it goes away. Do not let it become a cancerous cell.

Develop the skill of sensing problems when they are still small and taking care of them before they become intractable. Learn to distinguish between the potentially disastrous and the mildly irritating, the nuisance that will quietly go away on its own. In either case, though, never completely take your eye off it. As long as it is alive it can smolder and spark into life.

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You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
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Law 47 of the 48 Laws of Power; Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop

This is law 47 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.

Understand: In the realm of power, you must be guided by reason. To let a momentary thrill or an emotional victory influence or guide your moves will prove fatal. When you attain success, step back. Be cautious. When you gain victory, understand the part played by the particular circumstances of a situation, and never simply repeat the same actions again and again. History is littered with the ruins of victorious empires and the corpses of leaders who could not learn to stop and consolidate their gains.
The powerful vary their rhythms and patterns, change course, adapt to circumstance, and learn to improvise. They control their emotions, and step back and come to a mental halt when they have attained success.
Good luck is more dangerous than bad luck, because it deludes you into thinking your own brilliance is the reason for your success.
Note: There are some who become more cautious than ever after a victory, which they see as just giving them more possessions to worry about and protect. Your caution after victory should never make you hesitate, or lose momentum, but rather act as a safeguard against rash action. On the other hand, momentum as a phenomenon is greatly overrated. You create your own successes, and if they follow one upon the other, it is your own doing. Belief in momentum will only make you emotional, less prone to act strategically, and more apt to repeat the same methods. Leave momentum for those who have nothing better to rely upon.

LAW 47

DO NOT GO PAST THE MARK YOU AIMED FOR; IN VICTORY, LEARN WHEN TO STOP

JUDGMENT

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

In 559 B.C., a young man named Cyrus gathered an immense army from the scattered tribes of Persia and marched against his grandfather Astyages, king of the Medes. He defeated Astyages with ease, had himself crowned king of Medea and Persia, and began to forge the Persian Empire. Victory followed victory in quick succession. Cyrus defeated Croesus, ruler of Lydia, then conquered the Ionian islands and other smaller kingdoms; he marched on Babylon and crushed it. Now he was known as Cyrus the Great, King of the World.

After capturing the riches of Babylon, Cyrus set his sights on the east, on the half- barbaric tribes of the Massagetai, a vast realm on the Caspian Sea. A fierce warrior race led by Queen Tomyris, the Massagetai lacked the riches of Babylon, but Cyrus decided to attack them anyway, believing himself superhuman and incapable of defeat. The Massagetai would fall easily to his vast armies, making his empire immense.

In 529 B.C., then, Cyrus marched to the wide river Araxes, gateway to the kingdom of the Massagetai. As he set up camp on the western bank, he received a message from Queen Tomyris: “King of the Medes,” she told him, “I advise you to abandon this enterprise, for you cannot know if in the end it will do you any good. Rule your own people, and try to bear the sight of me ruling mine. But of course you will refuse my advice, as the last thing you wish for is to live in peace.” Tomyris, confident of her army’s strength and not wishing to delay the inevitable battle, offered to withdraw the troops on her side of the river, allowing Cyrus to cross its waters safely and fight her army on the eastern side, if that was his desire.

Cyrus agreed, but instead of engaging the enemy directly he decided to play a trick. The Massagetai knew few luxuries. Once Cyrus had crossed the river and made his camp on the eastern side, he set the table for an elaborate banquet, full of meat, delicacies, and strong wine. Then he left his weakest troops in the camp and withdrew the rest of the army to the river. A large Massagetai detachment soon attacked the camp and killed all of the Persian soldiers in a fierce battle. Then, overwhelmed by the fabulous feast that had been left behind, they ate and drank to their hearts’ content. Later, inevitably, they fell asleep. The Persian army returned to the camp that night, killing many of the sleeping soldiers and capturing the rest. Among the prisoners was their general, a youth named Spargapises, son of Queen Tomyris.

When the queen learned what had happened, she sent a message to Cyrus, chiding him for using tricks to defeat her army. “Now listen to me,” she wrote, “and I will advise you for your own good: Give me back my son and leave my country with your forces intact, and be content with your triumph over a third part of the Massagetai. If you refuse, I swear by the sun our master to give you more blood than you can drink, for all your gluttony.”

Cyrus scoffed at her: He would not release her son. He would crush these barbarians.

HELL CO

Two cockerels fought on a dungheap. One cockerel was the stronger: he vanquished the other and drove him from the dungheap. All the hens gathered around the cockerel, and began to laud him. The cockerel wanted his strength and glory to be known in the next yard. He flew on top of the barn, flapped his wings, and crowed in a load voice: “Look at me, all of you. I am a victorious cockerel. No other cockerel in the world has such strength as I. ” The cockerel had not finished, when an eagle killed him, seized him in his claws, and carried him to his nest.

FABLES. LEO TOLSIOY. 1828-1910

The queen’s son, seeing he would not be released, could not stand the humiliation, and so he killed himself. The news of her son’s death overwhelmed Tomyris. She gathered all the forces that she could muster in her kingdom, and whipping them into a vengeful frenzy, engaged Cyrus’s troops in a violent and bloody battle. Finally, the Massagetai prevailed. In their anger they decimated the Persian army, killing Cyrus himself.

After the battle, Tomyris and her soldiers searched the battlefield for Cyrus’s corpse.

When she found it she cut off his head and shoved it into a wineskin full of human blood, crying out, “Though I have conquered you and live, yet you have ruined me by treacherously taking my son. See now—I fulfill my threat: You have your fill of blood.” After Cyrus’s death, the Persian Empire quickly unraveled. One act of arrogance undid all of Cyrus’s good work.

Interpretation

There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more dangerous.

Cyrus had built his great empire on the ruins of a previous one. A hundred years earlier, the powerful Assyrian Empire had been totally destroyed, its once splendid capital of Nineveh but ruins in the sand. The Assyrians had suffered this fate because they had pushed too far, destroying one city-state after another until they lost sight of the purposes of their victories, and also of the costs. They overextended themselves and made many enemies who were finally able to band together and destroy them.

Cyrus ignored the lesson of Assyria. He paid no heed to the warnings of oracles and advisers. He did not worry about offending a queen. His many victories had gone to his head, clouding his reason. Instead of consolidating his already vast empire, he pushed forward. Instead of recognizing each situation as different, he thought each new war would bring the same result as the one before as long as he used the methods he knew: ruthless force and cunning.

Understand: In the realm of power, you must be guided by reason. To let a momentary thrill or an emotional victory influence or guide your moves will prove fatal. When you attain success, step back. Be cautious. When you gain victory, understand the part played by the particular circumstances of a situation, and never simply repeat the same actions again and again. History is littered with the ruins of victorious empires and the corpses of leaders who could not learn to stop and consolidate their gains.

THE SEQUENCE OF CROSS-EXAMINATION

In all your cross-examinations ..., most important of all, let me repeat the injunction to be ever on the alert for a good place to stop. Nothing can be more important than to close your examination with a triumph. So many lawyers succeed in catching a witness in a serious contradiction; but, not satisfied with this, go on asking questions, and taper off their examination until the effect upon the jury of their former advantage is lost altogether.

THE ART OF CROSS-EXAMINATION, FRANCIS L. WELLMAN, 1913

THE OVERREACHING GENERAL

We read of many instances of this kind; for the general who by his valor has conquered a state for his master, and won great glory for himself by his victory over the enemy, and has loaded his soldiers with rich booty, acquires necessarily with his own soldiers, as well as with those of the enemy and with the subjects of the prince, so high a reputation, that his very victory may become distasteful, and a cause for apprehension to his prince. For as the nature of men is ambitious as well as suspicious, and puts no limits to one’s good fortune, it is not impossible that the suspicion that may suddenly be aroused in the mind of the prince by the victory of the general may have been aggravated by some haughty expressions or insolent acts on his part; so that the prince will naturally be made to think of securing himself against the ambition of his general.

And to do this, the means that suggest themselves to him are either to have the general killed, or to deprive him of that reputation which he has acquired with the prince’s army and the people, by using every means to prove that the general’s victory was not due to his skill and courage, but to chance and the cowardice of the enemy, or to the sagacity of the other captains who were with him in that action.

NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI, 1469-1527

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

No single person in history has occupied a more delicate and precarious position than the king’s mistress. She had no real or legitimate power base to fall back on in times of trouble; she was surrounded by packs of envious courtiers eagerly anticipating her fall from grace; and finally, since the source of her power was usually her physical beauty, for most royal mistresses that fall was inevitable and unpleasant.

King Louis XV of France began to keep official mistresses in the early days of his reign, each woman’s good fortune rarely lasting more than a few years. But then came Madame de Pompadour, who, when she was a middle-class child of nine named Jeanne Poisson, had been told by a fortune-teller that she would someday be the king’s favorite. This seemed an absurd dream, since the royal mistress almost always came from the aristocracy. Jeanne nevertheless believed herself destined to seduce the king, and doing so became her obsession. She applied herself to the talents the king’s favorite had to have—music, dancing, acting, horseback riding—and she excelled in every one of them. As a young woman, she married a man of the lower nobility, which gave her an entrée to the best salons in Paris. Word quickly spread of her beauty, talent, charm, and intelligence.

Jeanne Poisson became close friends with Voltaire, Montesquieu, and other great minds of the time, but she never lost sight of the goal she had set herself as a girl: to capture the heart of the king. Her husband had a chateau in a forest where the king would often go hunting, and she began to spend a lot of time there. Studying his movements like a hawk, she would make sure he would “happen” to come upon her while she was out walking in her most alluring dress, or riding in her splendid coach. The king began to take note of her, making her gifts of the game he caught in the hunt.

In 1744 Louis’s current mistress, the Duchesse de Chateauroux, died. Jeanne went on the offensive. She placed herself everywhere he would be: at masked balls at Versailles, at the opera, wherever their paths would cross, and wherever she could display her many talents: dancing, singing, riding, coquetry. The king finally succumbed to her charms, and in a ceremony at Versailles in September of 1745, this twenty-four- year-old daughter of a middle-class banking agent was officially inaugurated as the king’s mistress. She was given her own room in the palace, a room the king could enter at any time via a hidden stairway and back door. And because some of the courtiers were angry that he had chosen a woman of low origins, he made her a marquise. From now on she would be known as Madame de Pompadour.

The king was a man whom the slightest feeling of boredom would oppress out of proportion. Madame de Pompadour knew that keeping him under her spell meant keeping him amused. To that end she put on constant theatrical productions at Versailles, in which she starred. She organized elaborate hunting parties, masked balls, and whatever else it would take to keep him diverted outside the bedroom. She became a patroness of the arts, and the arbiter of taste and fashion for all of France. Her enemies at the court only grew in number with each new success, but Madame de Pompadour thwarted them in a totally novel way for a king’s mistress: with extreme politeness. Snobs who resented her for her low birth she won over with charm and grace. Most unusual of all, she befriended the queen, and insisted that Louis XV pay more attention to his wife, and treat her more kindly. Even the royal family begrudgingly gave her their support. To crown her glory, the king made her a duchess. Her sway was felt even in politics: Indeed she became the untitled minister of foreign affairs.

In 1751, when Madame de Pompadour was at the height of her power, she experienced her worst crisis. Physically weakened by the responsibilities of her position, she found it increasingly difficult to meet the king’s demands in bed. This was usually the point at which the mistress would meet her end, struggling to maintain her position as her beauty faded. But Madame de Pompadour had a strategy: She encouraged the king to set up a kind of brothel, Pare aux Cerfs, on the grounds of Versailles. There the middle-aged king could have liaisons with the most beautiful young girls in the realm.

Madame de Pompadour knew that her charm and her political acumen had made her indispensable to the king. What did she have to fear from a sixteen-year-old who had none of her power and presence? What did it matter if she lost her position in the bedroom, as long as she remained the most powerful woman in France? To secure that position she became still closer friends with the queen, with whom she started attending church. Although her enemies at the court conspired to have her toppled from her official position as king’s mistress, the king kept her on, for he needed her calming effect. It was only when her part in the disastrous Seven Years’ War drew much criticism on her that she slowly withdrew from public affairs.

Madame de Pompadour’s health had always been delicate, and she died at the age of forty-three, in 1764. Her reign as mistress had lasted an unprecedented twenty years. “She was regretted by all,” wrote the Duc de Croy, “for she was kindly and helpful to everyone who approached her.”

Interpretation

Aware of the temporariness of her power, the king’s mistress would often go into a kind of frenzy after capturing the king: She would try to accumulate as much money as possible to protect her after her inevitable fall. And to extend her reign as long as possible, she would be ruthless with her enemies in the court. Her situation, in other words, seemed to demand from her a greed and vindictiveness that would often be her undoing. Madame de Pompadour succeeded where all others had failed because she never pressed her good fortune. Instead of bullying the courtiers from her powerful position as the king’s mistress, she tried to win their support. She never revealed the slightest hint of greed or arrogance. When she could no longer perform her physical duties as mistress, she did not fret at the thought of someone replacing her in bed. She simply applied some strategy—she encouraged the king to take young lovers, knowing that the younger and prettier they were, the less of a threat they posed, since they could not compare to her in charm and sophistication and would soon bore the monarch.

A man who was famous as a tree climber was guiding someone in climbing a tall tree. He ordered the man to cut the top branches, and, during this time, when the man seemed to be in great danger, the expert said nothing. Only when the man was coming down and had reached the height of the eaves did the expert call out, “Be careful! Watch your step coming down!” I asked him, “Why did you say that? At that height he could jump the rest of the way if he chose.” “That’s the point, ”said the expert. “As long as the man was up at a dizzy height and the branches were threaening to break, he himself was so afraid I said nothing. Mistakes are always made when people get to the easy places.” This man belonged to the lowest class, but his words were in perfect accord with the precepts of the sages. In football too, they say that after you have kicked out of a difficult place and you think the next one will be easier you are sure to miss the ball.

ESSAYS IN IDLENESS, KENKO, JAPAN, FOURTEENTH CENTURY

Success plays strange tricks on the mind. It makes you feel invulnerable, while also making you more hostile and emotional when people challenge your power. It makes you less able to adapt to circumstance. You come to believe your character is more responsible for your success than your strategizing and planning. Like Madame de Pompadour, you need to realize that your moment of triumph is also a moment when you have to rely on cunning and strategy all the more, consolidating your power base, recognizing the role of luck and circumstance in your success, and remaining vigilant against changes in your good fortune. It is the moment of victory when you need to play the courtier’s game and pay more attention than ever to the laws of power.

The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory.

Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821

KEYS TO POWER

Power has its own rhythms and patterns. Those who succeed at the game are the ones who control the patterns and vary them at will, keeping people off balance while they set the tempo. The essence of strategy is controlling what comes next, and the elation of victory can upset your ability to control what comes next in two ways. First, you owe your success to a pattern that you are apt to try to repeat. You will try to keep moving in the same direction without stopping to see whether this is still the direction that is best for you. Second, success tends to go to your head and make you emotional. Feeling invulnerable, you make aggressive moves that ultimately undo the victory you have gained.

The lesson is simple: The powerful vary their rhythms and patterns, change course, adapt to circumstance, and learn to improvise. Rather than letting their dancing feet impel them forward, they step back and look where they are going. It is as if their bloodstream bore a kind of antidote to the intoxication of victory, letting them control their emotions and come to a kind of mental halt when they have attained success. They steady themselves, give themselves the space to reflect on what has happened, examine the role of circumstance and luck in their success. As they say in riding school, you have to be able to control yourself before you can control the horse.

Luck and circumstance always play a role in power. This is inevitable, and actually makes the game more interesting. But despite what you may think, good luck is more dangerous than bad luck. Bad luck teaches valuable lessons about patience, timing, and the need to be prepared for the worst; good luck deludes you into the opposite lesson, making you think your brillliance will carry you through. Your fortune will inevitably turn, and when it does you will be completely unprepared.

According to Machiavelli, this is what undid Cesare Borgia. He had many triumphs, was actually a clever strategist, but had the bad luck to have good luck: He had a pope for a father. Then, when he had bad luck for real—his father’s death—he was unprepared for it, and the many enemies he had made devoured him. The good luck that elevates you or seals your success brings the moment for you to open your eyes: The wheel of fortune will hurtle you down as easily as up. If you prepare for the fall, it is less likely to ruin you when it happens.

People who have a run of success can catch a kind of fever, and even when they themselves try to stay calm, the people below them often pressure them to go past their mark and into dangerous waters. You have to have a strategy for dealing with these people. Simply preaching moderation will make you look weak and small-minded; seeming to fail to follow up on a victory can lessen your power.

When the Athenian general and statesman Pericles led a series of naval campaigns around the Black Sea in 436 B.C., his easy triumphs en-flamed the Athenians’ desire for more. They dreamed of conquering Egypt, overrunning Persia, sailing for Sicily.

On the one hand Pericles reined in these dangerous emotions by warning of the perils of hubris. On the other hand he fed them by fighting small battles that he knew he could win, creating the appearance that he was preserving the momentum of success.

The skill with which Pericles played this game is revealed by what happened when he died: The demagogues took over, pushed Athens into invading Sicily, and in one rash move destroyed an empire.

Is that not what is happening in America today? -MM

The rhythm of power often requires an alternation of force and cunning. Too much force creates a counterreaction; too much cunning, no matter how cunning it is, becomes predictable. Working on behalf of his master, the shogun Oda Nobunaga, the great sixteenth-century Japanese general (and future emperor) Hideyoshi once engineered a stunning victory over the army of the formidable General Yoshimoto. The shogun wanted to go further, to take on and crush yet another powerful enemy, but Hideyoshi reminded him of the old Japanese saying: “When you have won a victory, tighten the strings of your helmet.” For Hideyoshi this was the moment for the shogun to switch from force to cunning and indirection, setting his enemies against one another through a series of deceptive alliances. In this way he would avoid stirring up needless opposition by appearing overly aggressive. When you are victorious, then, lie low, and lull the enemy into inaction. These changes of rhythm are immensely powerful.

People who go past the mark are often motivated by a desire to please a master by proving their dedication. But an excess of effort exposes you to the risk of making the master suspicious of you. On several occasions, generals under Philip of Macedon were disgraced and demoted immediately after leading their troops to a great victory; one more such victory, Philip thought, and the man might become a rival instead of an underling. When you serve a master, it is often wise to measure your victories carefully, let ting him get the glory and never making him uneasy. It is also wise to establish a pattern of strict obedience to earn his trust. In the fourth century B.C., a captain under the notoriously severe Chinese general Wu Ch‘i charged ahead before a battle had begun and came back with several enemy heads. He thought he had shown his fiery enthusiasm, but Wu Ch’i was unimpressed. “A talented officer,” the general said with a sigh as he ordered the man beheaded, “but a disobedient one.”

Another moment when a small success can spoil the chances for a larger one may come if a master or superior grants you a favor: It is a dangerous mistake to ask for more. You will seem insecure—perhaps you feel you did not deserve this favor, and have to grab as much as you can when you have the chance, which may not come again. The proper response is to accept the favor graciously and withdraw. Any subsequent favors you should earn without having to ask for them.

Finally, the moment when you stop has great dramatic import. What comes last sticks in the mind as a kind of exclamation point. There is no better time to stop and walk away than after a victory. Keep going and you risk lessening the effect, even ending up defeated. As lawyers say of cross-examination, “Always stop with a victory.”

Image: Icarus Falling from the Sky. His father Daedalus fashions wings of wax that allow the two men to fly out of the labyrinth and escape the Minotaur. Elated by the triumphant escape and the feeling of flight, Icarus soars higher and high er, until the sun melts the wings and he hurtles to his death.

Authority: Princes and republics should content themselves with victory, for when they aim at more, they generally lose. The use of insulting language toward an enemy arises from the insolence of victory, or from the false hope of victory, which latter misleads men as often in their actions as in their words; for when this false hope takes possession of the mind, it makes men go beyond the mark, and causes them to sacrifice a certain good for an uncertain better. (Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527)

REVERSAL

As Machiavelli says, either destroy a man or leave him alone entirely. Inflicting half punishment or mild injury will only create an enemy whose bitterness will grow with time, and who will take revenge. When you beat an enemy, then, make your victory complete. Crush him into nonexistence. In the moment of victory, you do not restrain yourself from crushing the enemy you have defeated, but rather from needlessly advancing against others. Be merciless with your enemy, but do not create new enemies by overreaching.

There are some who become more cautious than ever after a victory, which they see as just giving them more possessions to worry about and protect. Your caution after victory should never make you hesitate, or lose momentum, but rather act as a safeguard against rash action. On the other hand, momentum as a phenomenon is greatly overrated. You create your own successes, and if they follow one upon the other, it is your own doing. Belief in momentum will only make you emotional, less prone to act strategically, and more apt to repeat the same methods. Leave momentum for those who have nothing better to rely upon.

Vietnam

Vietnam was the point in time where the United States had over-extended itself and needed to retract, and start focusing on it’s own domestic issues. Instead it did the opposite.

South Vietnamese Army helicopter that flew to an American aircraft carrier is tosses overboard as there isn’t any room left on the ship for it.

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Law 42 of the 48 Laws of Power; Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter

This is law 42 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual —the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoner of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them—they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

In every group, power is concentrated in the hands of one or two people.
When troubles arise, find the source, and isolate them – physically, politically or psychologically. Separate them from their power base.

LAW 42

STRIKE THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP WILL SCATTER

JUDGMENT

Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual —the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoner of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them—they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I

Near the end of the sixth century B.C., the city-state of Athens overthrew the series of petty tyrants who had dominated its politics for decades. It established instead a democracy that was to last over a century, a democracy that became the source of its power and its proudest achievement. But as the democracy evolved, so did a problem the Athenians had never faced: How to deal with those who did not concern themselves with the cohesion of a small city surrounded by enemies, who did not work for its greater glory, but thought of only themselves and their own ambitions and petty intrigues? The Athenians understood that these people, if left alone, would sow dissension, divide the city into factions, and stir up anxieties, all of which could lead to the ruin of their democracy.

Violent punishment no longer suited the new, civilized order that Athens had created. Instead the citizens found another, more satisfying, and less brutal way to deal with the chronically selfish: Every year they would gather in the marketplace and write on a piece of earthenware, an ostrakon, the name of an individual they wanted to see banished from the city for ten years. If a particular name appeared on six thousand ballots, that person would instantly be exiled. If no one received six thousand votes, the person with the most ostraka recording his name would suffer the ten-year “ostracism.” This ritual expulsion became a kind of festival—what a joy to be able to banish those irritating, anxiety-inducing individuals who wanted to rise above the group they should have served.

In 490 B.C., Aristides, one of the great generals of Athenian history, helped defeat the Persians at the battle of Marathon. Meanwhile, off the battlefield, his fairness as a judge had earned him the nickname “The Just.” But as the years went by the Athenians came to dislike him. He made such a show of his righteousness, and this, they believed, disguised his feelings of superiority and scorn for the common folk. His omnipresence in Athenian politics became obnoxious; the citizens grew tired of hearing him called “The Just.” They feared that this was just the type of man—judgmental, haughty—who would eventually stir up fierce divisions among them. In 482 B.C., despite Aristides’ invaluable expertise in the continuing war with the Persians, they collected the ostraka and had him banished.

After Aristides’ ostracism, the great general Themistocles emerged as the city’s premier leader. But his many honors and victories went to his head, and he too became arrogant and overbearing, constantly reminding the Athenians of his triumphs in battle, the temples he had built, the dangers he had fended off. He seemed to be saying that without him the city would come to ruin. And so, in 472 B.C., Themistocles’ name was filled in on the ostraka and the city was rid of his poisonous presence.

THE CONQUEST OF PERU

The struggle now became fiercer than ever around the royal litter [of A tahualpa, king of the Incan empire]. It reeled more and more, and at length, several of the nobles who supported it having been slain, it was overturned, and the Indian prince would have come with violence to the ground, had not his fall been broken bv the efforts of Pizarro and some other of the cavaliers, who caught him in their arms. The imperial borla was instantly snatched from his temples by a soldier. and the unhappy monarch, strongly secured, was removed to a neighboring building where he was carefully guarded.

All attempt at resistance now ceased. The fate of the Inca [Atahualpa] soon spread over town and country. The charm that might have held the Peruvians together was dissolved. Every man thought only of his own safety. Even the [Incan] soldiery encamped on the adjacent fields took the alarm, and, learning the fatal tidings, were seen flying in every direction before their pursuers, who in the heat of triumph showed no touch of mercy. At length night, more pitiful than man, threw her friendly mantle over the fugitives, and the scattered troops of Pizarro rallied once more at the sound of the trumpet in the bloody square of Cajamarca.... [Atahualpa] was reverenced as more than a human. He was not merely the head of the state, but the point to which all its institutions converged as to a common center—the keystone of the political fabric which must fall to pieces by its own weight when that was withdrawn. So it fared on the [execution] of Atahualpa. His death not only left the throne vacant, without any certain successor, but the manner of it announced to the Peruvian people that a hand stronger than that of their Incas had now seized the scepter, and that the dynasty of the Children of the Sun had passed away forever.

THE CONQUEST OF PERU, WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT, 1847

The greatest political figure in fifth-century Athens was undoubtedly Pericles. Although several times threatened with ostracism, he avoided that fate by maintaining close ties with the people. Perhaps he had learned a lesson as a child from his favorite tutor, the incomparable Damon, who excelled above all other Athenians in his intelligence, his musical skills, and his rhetorical abilities. It was Damon who had trained Pericles in the arts of ruling. But he, too, suffered ostracism, for his superior airs and his insulting manner toward the commoners stirred up too much resentment.

Toward the end of the century there lived a man named Hyperbolus. Most writers of the time describe him as the city’s most worthless citizen: He did not care what anyone thought of him, and slandered whomever he disliked. He amused some, but irritated many more. In 417 B.C., Hyperbolus saw an opportunity to stir up anger against the two leading politicians of the time, Alcibiades and Nicias. He hoped that one of the two would be ostracized and that he would rise in that man’s place. His campaign seemed likely to succeed: The Athenians disliked Alcibiades’ flamboyant and carefree lifestyle, and were wary of Nicias’ wealth and aloofness. They seemed certain to ostracize one or the other. But Alcibiades and Nicias, although they were otherwise enemies, pooled their resources and managed to turn the ostracism on Hyperbolus instead. His obnoxiousness, they argued, could only be terminated by banishment.

Earlier sufferers of ostracism had been formidable, powerful men. Hyperbolus, however, was a low buffoon, and with his banishment the Athenians felt that ostracism had been degraded. And so they ended the practice that for nearly a hundred years had been one of the keys to keeping the peace within Athens.

Interpretation

The ancient Athenians had social instincts unknown today—the passage of centuries has blunted them. Citizens in the true sense of the word, the Athenians sensed the dangers posed by asocial behavior, and saw how such behavior often disguises itself in other forms: the holier-than-thou attitude that silently seeks to impose its standards on others; overweening ambition at the expense of the common good; the flaunting of superiority; quiet scheming; terminal obnoxiousness. Some of these behaviors would eat away at the city’s cohesion by creating factions and sowing dissension, others would ruin the democratic spirit by making the common citizen feel inferior and envious. The Athenians did not try to reeducate people who acted in these ways, or to absorb them somehow into the group, or to impose a violent punishment that would only create other problems. The solution was quick and effective: Get rid of them.

Within any group, trouble can most often be traced to a single source, the unhappy, chronically dissatisfied one who will always stir up dissension and infect the group with his or her ill ease. Before you know what hit you the dissatisfaction spreads. Act before it becomes impossible to disentangle one strand of misery from another, or to see how the whole thing started. First, recognize troublemakers by their overbearing presence, or by their complaining nature. Once you spot them do not try to reform them or appease them—that will only make things worse. Do not attack them, whether directly or indirectly, for they are poisonous in nature and will work underground to destroy you. Do as the Athenians did: Banish them before it is too late. Separate them from the group before they become the eye of a whirlpool. Do not give them time to stir up anxieties and sow discontent; do not give them room to move. Let one person suffer so that the rest can live in peace.

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.

Chinese saying

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II

In 1296 the cardinals of the Catholic Church met in Rome to select a new pope. They chose Cardinal Gaetani, for he was incomparably shrewd; such a man would make the Vatican a great power. Taking the name Boniface VIII, Gaetani soon proved he deserved the cardinals’high opinion of him: He plotted his moves carefully in advance, and stopped at nothing to get his way. Once in power, Boniface quickly crushed his rivals and unified the Papal States. The European powers began to fear him, and sent delegates to negotiate with him. The German King Albrecht of Austria even yielded some territory to Boniface. All was proceeding according to the pope’s plan.

One piece did not fall into place, however, and that was Tuscany, the richest part of Italy. If Boniface could conquer Florence, Tuscany’s most powerful city, the region would be his. But Florence was a proud republic, and would be hard to defeat. The pope had to play his cards skillfully.

Florence was divided by two rival factions, the Blacks and the Whites. The Whites were the merchant families that had recently and quickly risen to power and wealth; the Blacks were the older money. Because of their popularity with the people, the Whites retained control of the city, to the Blacks’ increasing resentment. The feud between the two grew steadily more bitter.

THE WOLVES AND THE SHEEP

Once apon a time, the wolves sent an embassy to the sheep, desiring that there might be peace between them for the time to come. “Why,” said they, “should we be for ever waging this deadly strife? Those wicked dogs are the cause of all; they are incessantly barking at us, and provoking us. Send them away, and there will be no longer any obstacle to our eternal friendship and peace.” The silly sheep listened, the dogs were dismissed, and the flock, thus deprived of their best protectors, became an easy prey to their treacherous enemy.

FABLES, AESOP, SIXTH CENTURY B.C.

Here Boniface saw his chance: He would plot to help the Blacks take over the city, and Florence would be in his pocket. And as he studied the situation he began to focus on one man, Dante Alighieri, the celebrated writer, poet, and ardent supporter of the Whites. Dante had always been interested in politics. He believed passionately in the republic, and often chastised his fellow citizens for their lack of spine. He also happened to be the city’s most eloquent public speaker. In 1300, the year Boniface began plotting to take over Tuscany, Dante’s fellow citizens had voted him in to Florence’s highest elected position, making him one of the city’s six priors. During his six-month term in the post, he had stood firmly against the Blacks and against all of the pope’s attempts to sow disorder.

By 1301, however, Boniface had a new plan: He called in Charles de Valois, powerful brother of the king of France, to help bring order to Tuscany. As Charles marched through northern Italy, and Florence seethed with anxiety and fear, Dante quickly emerged as the man who could rally the people, arguing vehemently against appeasement and working desperately to arm the citizens and to organize resistance against the pope and his puppet French prince. By hook or by crook, Boniface had to neutralize Dante. And so, even as on the one hand he threatened Florence with Charles de Valois, on the other he held out the olive branch, the possibility of negotiations, hoping Dante would take the bait. And indeed the Florentines decided to send a delegation to Rome and try to negotiate a peace. To head the mission, predictably, they chose Dante.

Some warned the poet that the wily pope was setting up a trap to lure him away, but Dante went to Rome anyway, arriving as the French army stood before the gates of Florence. He felt sure that his eloquence and reason would win the pope over and save the city. Yet when the pope met the poet and the Florentine delegates, he instantly intimidated them, as he did so many. “Fall on your knees before me!” he bellowed at their first meeting. “Submit to me! I tell you that in all truth I have nothing in my heart but to promote your peace.” Succumbing to his powerful presence, the Florentines listened as the pope promised to look after their interests. He then advised them to return home, leaving one of their members behind to continue the talks. Boniface signaled that the man to stay was to be Dante. He spoke with the utmost politeness, but in essence it was an order.

And so Dante remained in Rome. And while he and the pope continued their dialogue, Florence fell apart. With no one to rally the Whites, and with Charles de Valois using the pope’s money to bribe and sow dissension, the Whites disintegrated, some arguing for negotiations, others switching sides. Facing an enemy now divided and unsure of itself, the Blacks easily destroyed them within weeks, exacting violent revenge on them. And once the Blacks stood firmly in power, the pope finally dismissed Dante from Rome.

The Blacks ordered Dante to return home to face accusations and stand trial. When the poet refused, the Blacks condemned him to be burned to death if he ever set foot in Florence again. And so Dante began a miserable life of exile, wandering through Italy, disgraced in the city that he loved, never to return to Florence, even after his death.

THE LIFE OF THEMISTOCLES

[Themistocles‘s] fellow citizens reached the point at which their jealousy made them listen to any slander at his expense, and so [he] was forced to remind the assembly of his achievements until they could bear this no longer. He once said to those who were complaining of him: “Why are you tired of receiving benefits so often from the same men?” Besides this he gave offense to the people when he built the temple of Artemis, for not only did he style the goddess Artemis Aristoboule, or Artemis wisest in counsel —with the hint that it was he who had given the best counsel to the Athenians and the Greeks-but he chose a site for it near his own house at Melite... So at last the Athenians banished him. They made use of the ostracism to humble his great reputation and his authority, as indeed was their habit with any whose power they regarded as oppressive, or who had risen to an eminence which they considered out of keeping with the equality of a democracy.

THE LIFE OF THEMISTOCLES, PLUTARCH, C. A.D. 46-120

Interpretation

Boniface knew that if he only had a pretext to lure Dante away, Florence would crumble. He played the oldest card in the book—threatening with one hand while holding out the olive branch with the other—and Dante fell for it. Once the poet was in Rome, the pope kept him there for as long as it took. For Boniface understood one of the principal precepts in the game of power: One resolute person, one disobedient spirit, can turn a flock of sheep into a den of lions. So he isolated the troublemaker. Without the backbone of the city to keep them together, the sheep quickly scattered.

Learn the lesson: Do not waste your time lashing out in all directions at what seems to be a many-headed enemy. Find the one head that matters—the person with willpower, or smarts, or, most important of all, charisma. Whatever it costs you, lure this person away, for once he is absent his powers will lose their effect. His isolation can be physical (banishment or absence from the court), political (narrowing his base of support), or psychological (alienating him from the group through slander and insinuation). Cancer begins with a single cell; excise it before it spreads beyond cure.

KEYS TO POWER

In the past, an entire nation would be ruled by a king and his handful of ministers. Only the elite had any power to play with. Over the centuries, power has gradually become more and more diffused and democratized. This has created, however, a common misperception that groups no longer have centers of power—that power is spread out and scattered among many people. Actually, however, power has changed in its numbers but not in its essence. There may be fewer mighty tyrants commanding the power of life and death over millions, but there remain thousands of petty tyrants ruling smaller realms, and enforcing their will through indirect power games, charisma, and so on. In every group, power is concentrated in the hands of one or two people, for this is one area in which human nature will never change: People will congregate around a single strong personality like planets orbiting a sun.

To labor under the illusion that this kind of power center no longer exists is to make endless mistakes, waste energy and time, and never hit the target. Powerful people never waste time. Outwardly they may play along with the game—pretending that power is shared among many—but inwardly they keep their eyes on the inevitable few in the group who hold the cards. These are the ones they work on. When troubles arise, they look for the underlying cause, the single strong character who started the stirring and whose isolation or banishment will settle the waters again.

In his family-therapy practice, Dr. Milton H. Erickson found that if the family dynamic was unsettled and dysfunctional there was inevitably one person who was the stirrer, the troublemaker. In his sessions he would symbolically isolate this rotten apple by seating him or her apart from the others, if only by a few feet. Slowly the other family members would see the physically separate person as the source of their difficulty.

Once you recognize who the stirrer is, pointing it out to other people will accomplish a great deal. Understanding who controls the group dynamic is a critical realization. Remember: Stirrers thrive by hiding in the group, disguising their actions among the reactions of others. Render their actions visible and they lose their power to upset.

A key element in games of strategy is isolating the enemy’s power. In chess you try to corner the king. In the Chinese game of go you try to isolate the enemy’s forces in small pockets, rendering them immobile and ineffectual. It is often better to isolate your enemies than to destroy them—you seem less brutal. The result, though, is the same, for in the game of power, isolation spells death.

The most effective form of isolation is somehow to separate your victims from their power base. When Mao Tse-tung wanted to eliminate an enemy in the ruling elite, he did not confront the person directly; he silently and stealthily worked to isolate the man, divide his allies and turn them away from him, shrink his support. Soon the man would vanish on his own.

Presence and appearance have great import in the game of power. To seduce, particularly in the beginning stages, you need to be constantly present, or create the feeling that you are; if you are often out of sight, the charm will wear off. Queen Elizabeth’s prime minister, Robert Cecil, had two main rivals: the queen’s favorite, the Earl of Essex, and her former favorite, Sir Walter Raleigh. He contrived to send them both on a mission against Spain; with them away from the court he managed to wrap his tentacles around the queen, secure his position as her top adviser and weaken her affection for Raleigh and the earl. The lesson here is twofold: First, your absence from the court spells danger for you, and you should never leave the scene in a time of turmoil, for your absence can both symbolize and induce a loss of power; second, and on the other hand, luring your enemies away from the court at critical moments is a great ploy.

Isolation has other strategic uses. When trying to seduce people, it is often wise to isolate them from their usual social context. Once isolated they are vulnerable to you, and your presence becomes magnified. Similarly, con artists often look for ways to isolate their marks from their normal social milieux, steering them into new environments in which they are no longer comfortable. Here they feel weak, and succumb to deception more easily. Isolation, then, can prove a powerful way of bringing people under your spell to seduce or swindle them.

You will often find powerful people who have alienated themselves from the group. Perhaps their power has gone to their heads, and they consider themselves superior; perhaps they have lost the knack of communicating with ordinary folk. Remember: This makes them vulnerable. Powerful though they be, people like this can be turned to use.

The monk Rasputin gained his power over Czar Nicholas and Czarina Alexandra of Russia through their tremendous isolation from the people. Alexandra in particular was a foreigner, and especially alienated from everyday Russians; Rasputin used his peasant origins to insinuate himself into her good graces, for she desperately wanted to communicate with her subjects. Once in the court’s inner circle, Rasputin made himself indispensable and attained great power. Heading straight for the center, he aimed for the one figure in Russia who commanded power (the czarina dominated her husband), and found he had no need to isolate her for the work was already done. The Rasputin strategy can bring you great power: Always search out people who hold high positions yet who find themselves isolated on the board. They are like apples falling into your lap, easily seduced, and able to catapult you into power yourself.

Finally, the reason you strike at the shepherd is because such an action will dishearten the sheep beyond any rational measure. When Hernando Cortés and Francisco Pizarro led their tiny forces against the Aztec and Incan empires, they did not make the mistake of fighting on several fronts, nor were they intimidated by the numbers arrayed against them; they captured the kings, Moctezuma and Atahualpa. Vast empires fell into their hands. With the leader gone the center of gravity is gone; there is nothing to revolve around and everything falls apart. Aim at the leaders, bring them down, and look for the endless opportunities in the confusion that will ensue.

Image: A Flock of Fatted Sheep. Do not waste precious time trying to steal a sheep or two; do not risk life and limb by setting upon the dogs that guard the flock. Aim at the shepherd. Lure him away and the dogs will follow. Strike him down and the flock will scatter—you can pick them off one by one.

Authority: If you draw a bow, draw the strongest. If you use an arrow, use the longest. To shoot a rider, first shoot his horse. To catch a gang of bandits, first capture its leader. Just as a country has its border, so the killing of men has its limits. If the enemy’s attack can be stopped [with a blow to the head], why have any more dead and wounded than necessary? (Chinese poet Tu Fu, Tang dynasty, eighth century)

REVERSAL

“Any harm you do to a man should be done in such a way that you need not fear his revenge,” writes Machiavelli. If you act to isolate your enemy, make sure he lacks the means to repay the favor. If you apply this Law, in other words, apply it from a position of superiority, so that you have nothing to fear from his resentment.

Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln’s successor as U.S. president, saw Ulysses S. Grant as a troublesome member of his government. So he isolated Grant, as a prelude to forcing him out. This only enraged the great general, however, who responded by forming a support base in the Republican party and going on to become the next president. It would have been far wiser to keep a man like Grant in the fold, where he could do less harm, than to make him revengeful. And so you may often find it better to keep people on your side, where you can watch them, than to risk creating an angry enemy. Keeping them close, you can secretly whittle away at their support base, so that when the time comes to cut them loose they will fall fast and hard without knowing what hit them.

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Law 27 of the 48 Laws of Power; Play on people’s need to believe to create a cult like following

This is law 27 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it. I am presenting it here with out much commentary. There are more than enough cult-leaders in America today. So I feel that I really don’t need to say too much more about it.

People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise ; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.

LAW 27

PLAY ON PEOPLE’S NEED TO BELIEVE TO CREATE A CULTLIKE FOLLOWING

JUDGMENT

THE SCIENCE OF CHARLATANISM, OR HOW TO CREATE A CULT IN FIVE EASY STEPS

In searching, as you must, for the methods that will gain you the most power for the least effort, you will find the creation of a cultlike following one of the most effective. Having a large following opens up all sorts of possibilities for deception; not only will your followers worship you, they will defend you from your enemies and will voluntarily take on the work of enticing others to join your fledgling cult. This kind of power will lift you to another realm: You will no longer have to struggle or use subterfuge to enforce your will. You are adored and can do no wrong.

You might think it a gargantuan task to create such a following, but in fact it is fairly simple. As humans, we have a desperate need to believe in something, anything. This makes us eminently gullible: We simply cannot endure long periods of doubt, or of the emptiness that comes from a lack of something to believe in. Dangle in front of us some new cause, elixir, get-rich-quick scheme, or the latest technological trend or art movement and we leap from the water as one to take the bait. Look at history: The chronicles of the new trends and cults that have made a mass following for themselves could fill a library. After a few centuries, a few decades, a few years, a few months, they generally look ridiculous, but at the time they seem so attractive, so transcendental, so divine.

Always in a rush to believe in something, we will manufacture saints and faiths out of nothing. Do not let this gullibility go to waste: Make yourself the object of worship. Make people form a cult around you.

The great European charlatans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries mastered the art of cultmaking. They lived, as we do now, in a time of transformation: Organized religion was on the wane, science on the rise. People were desperate to rally around a new cause or faith. The charlatans had begun by peddling health elixirs and alchemic shortcuts to wealth. Moving quickly from town to town, they originally focused on small groups—until, by accident, they stumbled on a truth of human nature: The larger the group they gathered around themselves, the easier it was to deceive.

The charlatan would station himself on a high wooden platform (hence the term “mountebank”) and crowds would swarm around him. In a group setting, people were more emotional, less able to reason. Had the charlatan spoken to them individually, they might have found him ridiculous, but lost in a crowd they got caught up in a communal mood of rapt attention. It became impossible for them to find the distance to be skeptical. Any deficiencies in the charlatan’s ideas were hidden by the zeal of the mass. Passion and enthusiasm swept through the crowd like a contagion, and they reacted violently to anyone who dared to spread a seed of doubt. Both consciously studying this dynamic over decades of experiment and spontaneously adapting to these situations as they happened, the charlatans perfected the science of attracting and holding a crowd, molding the crowd into followers and the followers into a cult.

It was to the charlatan’s advantage that the individuals predisposed to credulity should multiply, that the groups of his adherents should enlarge to mass proportions, guaranteeing an ever greater scope for his triumphs. And this was in fact to occur, as science was popularized, from the Renaissance on down through succeeding centuries. With the immense growth of knowledge and its spread through printing in modern times, the mass of the half educated, the eagerly gullible prey of the quack, also increased, became indeed a majority; real power could be based on their wishes, opinions, preferences, and rejections. The charlatan’s empire accordingly widened with the modern dissemination of knowledge; since he operated on the basis of science, however much he perverted it, producing gold with a technique borrowed from chemistry and his wonderful balsams with the apparatus of medicine, he could not appeal to an entirely ignorant folk. The illiterate would be protected against his absurdities by their healthy common sense. His choicest audience would be composed of the semiliterate, those who had exchanged their common sense for a little distorted information and had encountered science and education at some time, though briefly and unsuccessfully.... The great mass of mankind has always been predisposed to marvel at mysteries, and this was especially true at certain historic periods when the secure foundations of life seemed shaken and old values, economic or spiritual, long accepted as certainties, could no longer be relied upon. Then the numbers of the charlatan’s dupes multiplied—the “self killers,” as a seventeenth-century Englishman called them. 

THE POWER OF THE CHARLATAN, GRETE DE FRANCESCO, 1939

The gimmicks of the charlatans may seem quaint today, but there are thousands of charlatans among us still, using the same tried-and-true methods their predecessors refined centuries ago, only changing the names of their elixirs and modernizing the look of their cults. We find these latter-day charlatans in all arenas of life—business, fashion, politics, art. Many of them, perhaps, are following in the charlatan tradition without having any knowledge of its history, but you can be more systematic and deliberate. Simply follow the five steps of cultmaking that our charlatan ancestors perfected over the years.

Step 1: Keep It Vague; Keep It Simple. To create a cult you must first attract attention. This you should do not through actions, which are too clear and readable, but through words, which are hazy and deceptive. Your initial speeches, conversations, and interviews must include two elements: on the one hand the promise of something great and transformative, and on the other a total vagueness. This combination will stimulate all kinds of hazy dreams in your listeners, who will make their own connections and see what they want to see.

To make your vagueness attractive, use words of great resonance but cloudy meaning, words full of heat and enthusiasm. Fancy titles for simple things are helpful, as are the use of numbers and the creation of new words for vague concepts. All of these create

the impression of specialized knowledge, giving you a veneer of profundity. By the same token, try to make the subject of your cult new and fresh, so that few will understand it. Done right, the combination of vague promises, cloudy but alluring concepts, and fiery enthusiasm will stir people’s souls and a group will form around you.

Talk too vaguely and you have no credibility. But it is more dangerous to be specific. If you explain in detail the benefits people will gain by following your cult, you will be expected to satisfy them.

As a corollary to its vagueness your appeal should also be simple. Most people’s problems have complex causes: deep-rooted neurosis, interconnected social factors, roots that go way back in time and are exceedingly hard to unravel. Few, however, have the patience to deal with this; most people want to hear that a simple solution will cure their problems. The ability to offer this kind of solution will give you great power and build you a following. Instead of the complicated explanations of real life, return to the primitive solutions of our ancestors, to good old country remedies, to mysterious panaceas.

Step 2: Emphasize the Visual and the Sensual over the Intellectual. Once people have begun to gather around you, two dangers will present themselves: boredom and skepticism. Boredom will make people go elsewhere ; skepticism will allow them the distance to think rationally about whatever it is you are offering, blowing away the mist you have artfully created and revealing your ideas for what they are. You need to amuse the bored, then, and ward off the cynics.

THE OW WHO WAS GOD

Once upon a starless midnight there was an owl who sat on the branch of an oak tree. Two ground moles tried to slip quietly by, unnoticed. “You!” said the owl. “Who?” they quavered, in fear and astonishment, for they could not believe it was possible for anyone to see them in that thick darkness. “You two!” said the owl. The moles hurried away and told the other creatures of the field and forest that the owl was the greatest and wisest of all animals because he could see in the dark and because he could answer any question. “I’ll see about that,” said a secretary bird, and he called on the owl one night when it was again very dark. “How many claws am I holding up?” said the secretary bird. “Two,” said the owl, and that was right. “Can you give me another expression for ‘that is to say’ or ‘namely?’ ” asked the secretary bird. “To wit,” said the owl. “Why does a lover call on his love?” asked the secretary bird. “To woo,” said the owl. The secretary bird hastened back to the other creatures and reported that the owl was indeed the greatest and wisest animal in the world because he could see in the dark and because he could answer any question.

“Can he see in the daytime, too?” asked a red fox. “Yes,” echoed a dormouse and a French poodle. “Can he see in the daytime, too?” All the other creatures laughed loudly at this silly question, and they set upon the red fox and his friends and drove them out of the region. Then they sent a messenger to the owl and asked him to be their leader. When the owl appeared among the animals it was high noon and the sun was shining brightly. He walked very slowly, which gave him an appearance of great dignity, and he peered about him with large, staring eyes, which gave him an air of tremendous importance. “He’s God!” screamed a Plymouth Rock hen. And the others took up the cry “He’s God!” So they followed him wherever he went and when he began to bump into things they began to bump into things. too. Finally he came to a concrete highway and he started up the middle of it and all the other creatures followed him. Presently a hawk, who was acting as outrider, observed a truck coming toward them at fifty miles an hour, and he reported to the secretary bird and the secretary bird reported to the owl. “There’s danger ahead, ” said the secretary bird. “To wit?” said the owl. The secretary bird told him. “Aren’t you afraid?” He asked. “Who?” said the owl calmly, for he could not see the truck. “He’s God!” cried all the creatures again, and they were still crying “He’s God!” when the truck hit them and ran them down. Some of the animals were merely injured, but most of them, including the owl, were killed. Moral: You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.

THE THURBER CARNIVAI , JAMES THURBER , 1894-1961

The best way to do this is through theater, or other devices of its kind. Surround yourself with luxury, dazzle your followers with visual splendor, fill their eyes with spectacle. Not only will this keep them from seeing the ridiculousness of your ideas, the holes in your belief system, it will also attract more attention, more followers. Appeal to all the senses: Use incense for scent, soothing music for hearing, colorful charts and graphs for the eye. You might even tickle the mind, perhaps by using new technological gadgets to give your cult a pseudo-scientific veneer—as long as you do not make anyone really think. Use the exotic—distant cultures, strange customs—to create theatrical effects, and to make the most banal and ordinary affairs seem signs of something extraordinary.

Step 3: Borrow the Forms of Organized Religion to Structure the Group. Your cultlike following is growing; it is time to organize it. Find a way both elevating and comforting. Organized religions have long held unquestioned authority for large numbers of people, and continue to do so in our supposedly secular age. And even if the religion itself has faded some, its forms still resonate with power. The lofty and holy associations of organized religion can be endlessly exploited. Create rituals for your followers; organize them into a hierarchy, ranking them in grades of sanctity, and giving them names and titles that resound with religious overtones; ask them for sacrifices that will fill your coffers and increase your power. To emphasize your gathering’s quasi- religious nature, talk and act like a prophet. You are not a dictator, after all; you are a priest, a guru, a sage, a shaman, or any other word that hides your real power in the mist of religion.

Step 4: Disguise Your Source of Income. Your group has grown, and you have structured it in a churchlike form. Your coffers are beginning to fill with your followers’ money. Yet you must never be seen as hungry for money and the power it brings. It is at this moment that you must disguise the source of your income.

Your followers want to believe that if they follow you all sorts of good things will fall into their lap. By surrounding yourself with luxury you become living proof of the soundness of your belief system. Never reveal that your wealth actually comes from your followers’ pockets; instead, make it seem to come from the truth of your methods. Followers will copy your each and every move in the belief that it will bring them the same results, and their imitative enthusiasm will blind them to the charlatan nature of your wealth.

Step 5: Set Up an Us-Versus-Them Dynamic. The group is now large and thriving, a magnet attracting more and more particles. If you are not careful, though, inertia will set in, and time and boredom will demagnetize the group. To keep your followers united, you must now do what all religions and belief systems have done: create an us-versus- them dynamic.

First, make sure your followers believe they are part of an exclusive club, unified by a bond of common goals. Then, to strengthen this bond, manufacture the notion of a devious enemy out to ruin you. There is a force of nonbelievers that will do anything to stop you. Any outsider who tries to reveal the charlatan nature of your belief system can now be described as a member of this devious force.

If you have no enemies, invent one. Given a straw man to react against, your followers will tighten and cohere. They have your cause to believe in and infidels to destroy.

OBSERVANCES OF THE LAW

Observance I

In the year 1653, a twenty-seven-year-old Milan man named Francesco Giuseppe Borri claimed to have had a vision. He went around town telling one and all that the archangel Michael had appeared to him and announced that he had been chosen to be the capitano generale of the Army of the New Pope, an army that would seize and revitalize the world. The archangel had further revealed that Borri now had the power to see people’s souls, and that he would soon discover the philosopher’s stone—a long-sought-after substance that could change base metals into gold. Friends and acquaintances who heard Borri explain the vision, and who witnessed the change that had come over him, were impressed, for Borri had previously devoted himself to a life of wine, women, and gambling. Now he gave all that up, plunging himself into the study of alchemy and talking only of mysticism and the occult.

The transformation was so sudden and miraculous, and Borri’s words were so filled with enthusiasm, that he began to create a following. Unfortunately the Italian Inquisition began to notice him as well—they prosecuted anyone who delved into the occult—so he left Italy and began to wander Europe, from Austria to Holland, telling one and all that “to those who follow me all joy shall be granted.” Wherever Borri stayed he attracted followers. His method was simple: He spoke of his vision, which had grown more and more elaborate, and offered to “look into” the soul of anyone who believed him (and they were many). Seemingly in a trance, he would stare at this new follower for several minutes, then claim to have seen the person’s soul, degree of enlightenment, and

potential for spiritual greatness. If what he saw showed promise, he would add the person to his growing order of disciples, an honor indeed.

The cult had six degrees, into which the disciples were assigned according to what Borri had glimpsed in their souls. With work and total devotion to the cult they could graduate to a higher degree. Borri—whom they called “His Excellency,” and “Universal Doctor”—demanded from them the strictest vows of poverty. All the goods and moneys they possessed had to be turned over to him. But they did not mind handing

over their property, for Borri had told them, “I shall soon bring my chemical studies to a happy conclusion by the discovery of the philosopher’s stone, and by this means we shall all have as much gold as we desire.”

Given his growing wealth, Borri began to change his style of living. Renting the most splendid apartment in the city into which he had temporarily settled, he would furnish it with fabulous furniture and accessories, which he had begun to collect. He would drive through the city in a coach studded with jewels, with six magnificent black horses at its head. He never stayed too long in one place, and when he disappeared, saying he had more souls to gather into his flock, his reputation only grew in his absence. He became famous, although in fact he had never done a single concrete thing.

To become the founder of a new religion one must be psychologically infallible in one’s knowledge of a certain average type of souls who have not yet recognized that they belong together.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, 1844-1900

Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived. 

-NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, 1469-1527

From all over Europe, the blind, the crippled, and the desperate came to visit Borri, for word had spread that he had healing powers. He asked no fee for his services, which only made him seem more marvelous, and indeed some claimed that in this or that city he had performed a miracle cure. By only hinting at his accomplishments, he encouraged people’s imaginations to blow them up to fantastic proportions. His wealth, for example, actually came from the vast sums he was collecting from his increasingly select group of rich disciples; yet it was presumed that he had in fact perfected the philosopher’s stone. The Church continued to pursue him, denouncing him for heresy and witchcraft, and Borri’s response to these charges was a dignified silence; this only enhanced his reputation and made his followers more passionate. Only the great are persecuted, after all; how many understood Jesus Christ in his own time? Borri did not have to say a word—his followers now called the Pope the Antichrist.

And so Borri’s power grew and grew, until one day he left the city of Amsterdam (where he had settled for a while), absconding with huge sums of borrowed money and diamonds that had been entrusted to him. (He claimed to be able to remove the flaws from diamonds through the power of his gifted mind.) Now he was on the run. The Inquisition eventually caught up with him, and for the last twenty years of his life he was imprisoned in Rome. But so great was the belief in his occult powers that to his dying day he was visited by wealthy believers, including Queen Christina of Sweden. Supplying him with money and materials, these visitors allowed him to continue his search for the elusive philosopher’s stone.

Interpretation

THE TEMPLE OF HEALTH

[In the late 1780s] the Scottish quack James Graham... was winning a large following and great riches in London.... [Graham] maintained a show of great scientific technique. In 1772 ... he had visited Philadelphia, where he met Benjamin Franklin and became interested in the latter’s experiments with electricity. These appear to have inspired the apparatus in the “Temple of Health,” the fabulous establishment he opened in London for the sale of his elixirs.... In the chief room, where he received patients, stood “the largest air pump in the world” to assist him in his “philosophical investigations” into disease, and also a “stupendous metallic conductor,” a richly gilded pedestal surrounded with retorts and vials of “etherial and other essences.” ... According to J. Ennemoser, who published a history of magic in 1844 at Leipzig, Graham’s “house... united the useful with the pleasurable. Everywhere the utmost magnificence was displayed. Even in the outer court, averred an eye-witness, it seemed as though art, invention, and riches had been exhausted. On the side walls in the chambers an arc-shaped glow was provided by artificial electric light; star rays darted forth; transparent glasses of all colors were placed with clever selection and much taste. All this, the same eyewitness assures us, was ravishing and exalted the imagination to the highest degree.”

Visitors were given a printed sheet of rules for healthy living. In the Great Apollo Apartment they might join in mysterious rituals, accompanied by chants : “Hail, Vital Air, aethereal ! Magnetic Magic, hail !” And while they hailed the magic of magnetism, the windows were darkened, revealing a ceiling studded with electric stars and a young and lovely “Rosy Goddess of Health” in a niche.... Every evening this Temple of Health was crowded with guests; it had become the fashion to visit it and try the great twelve-foot bed of state, the “Grand Celestial Bed,” said to cure any disease.... This bed, according to Ennemoser, “stood in a splendid room, into which a cylinder led from an adjoining chamber to conduct the healing currents... at the same time all sorts of pleasing scents of strengthening herbs and Oriental incense were also brought in through glass tubes. The heavenly bed itself rested upon six solid transparent pillars; the bedclothes were of purple and sky-blue Atlas silk, spread over a mattress saturated with Arabian perfumed waters to suit the tastes of the Persian court. The chamber in which it was placed he called the Sanctum Sanctorum.... To add to all this, there were the melodious notes of the harmonica, soft flutes, agreeable voices, and a great organ.”

THE POWER OF THE CHARLATAN, GRETE DE FRANCESCO, 1939

Before he formed his cult, Borri seems to have stumbled on a critical discovery. Tiring of his life of debauchery, he had decided to give it up and to devote himself to the occult, a genuine interest of his. He must have noticed, however, that when he alluded to a mystical experience (rather than physical exhaustion) as the source of his conversion, people of all classes wanted to hear more. Realizing the power he could gain by ascribing the change to something external and mysterious, he went further with his manufactured visions. The grander the vision, and the more sacrifices he asked for, the more appealing and believable his story seemed to become.

Remember: People are not interested in the truth about change. They do not want to hear that it has come from hard work, or from anything as banal as exhaustion, boredom, or depression; they are dying to believe in something romantic, otherworldly. They want to hear of angels and out-of-body experiences.

Indulge them. Hint at the mystical source of some personal change, wrap it in ethereal colors, and a cultlike following will form around you. Adapt to people’s needs: The messiah must mirror the desires of his followers. And always aim high. The bigger and bolder your illusion, the better.

Observance II

In the mid-1700s, word spread in Europe’s fashionable society of a Swiss country doctor named Michael Schüppach who practiced a different kind of medicine: He used the healing powers of nature to perform miraculous cures. Soon well-to-do people from all over the Continent, their ailments both serious and mild, were making the trek to the alpine village of Langnau, where Schüppach lived and worked. Trudging through the mountains, these visitors witnessed the most dramatic natural landscapes that Europe has to offer. By the time they reached Langnau, they were already feeling transformed and on their way to health.

Schüppach, who had become known as simply the “Mountain Doctor,” had a small pharmacy in town. This place became quite a scene: Crowds of people from many different countries would cram the small room, its walls lined with colorful bottles filled with herbal cures. Where most doctors of the time prescribed foul-tasting concoctions that bore incomprehensible Latin titles (as medicines often do still), Schüppach’s cures had names such as “The Oil of Joy,” “Little Flower’s Heart,” or “Against the Monster,” and they tasted sweet and pleasing.

Visitors to Langnau would have to wait patiently for a visit with the Mountain Doctor, because every day some eighty messengers would arrive at the pharmacy bearing flasks of urine from all over Europe. Schüppach claimed he could diagnose what ailed you simply by looking at a sample of your urine and reading a written description of your ailment. (Naturally he read the description very carefully before prescribing a cure.) When he finally had a spare minute (the urine samples took up much of his time), he would call the visitor into his office in the pharmacy. He would then examine this person’s urine sample, explaining that its appearance would tell him everything he needed to know. Country people had a sense for these things, he would say—their wisdom came from living a simple, godly life with none of the complications of urban living. This personal consultation would also include a discussion as to how one might bring one’s soul more into harmony with nature.

Schüppach had devised many forms of treatment, each profoundly unlike the usual medical practices of the time. He was a believer, for instance, in electric shock therapy. To those who wondered whether this was in keeping with his belief in the healing power of nature, he would explain that electricity is a natural phenomenon; he was merely imitating the power of lightning. One of his patients claimed to be inhabited by seven devils. The doctor cured him with electrical shocks, and as he administered these he exclaimed that he could see the devils flying out of the man’s body, one by one. Another man claimed to have swallowed a hay wagon and its driver, which were causing him massive pains in the chest. The Mountain Doctor listened patiently, claimed to be able to hear the crack of a whip in the man’s belly, promised to cure him, and gave him a sedative and a purgative. The man fell asleep on a chair outside the pharmacy. As soon as he awoke he vomited, and as he vomited a hay wagon sped past him (the Mountain Doctor had hired it for the occasion), the crack of its whip making him feel that somehow he had indeed expelled it under the doctor’s care.

Over the years, the Mountain Doctor’s fame grew. He was consulted by the powerful —even the writer Goethe made the trek to his village—and he became the center of a cult of nature in which everything natural was considered worthy of worship. Schüppach was careful to create effects that would entertain and inspire his patients. A professor who visited him once wrote, “One stands or sits in company, one plays cards, sometimes with a young woman; now a concert is given, now a lunch or supper, and now a little ballet is presented. With a very happy effect, the freedom of nature is everywhere united with the pleasures of the beau monde, and if the doctor is not able to heal any diseases, he can at least cure hypochondria and the vapors.”

Interpretation

Schüppach had begun his career as an ordinary village doctor. He would sometimes use in his practice some of the village remedies he had grown up with, and apparently he noticed some results, for soon these herbal tinctures and natural forms of healing became his specialty.

And in fact his natural form of healing did have profound psychological effects on his patients. Where the normal drugs of the time created fear and pain, Schüppach’s treatments were comfortable and soothing. The resulting improvement in the patient’s mood was a critical element in the cures he brought about.

His patients believed so deeply in his skills that they willed themselves into health. Instead of scoffing at their irrational explanations for their ailments, Schüppach used their hypochondria to make it seem that he had effected a great cure.

The case of the Mountain Doctor teaches us valuable lessons in the creation of a cultlike following. First, you must find a way to engage people’s will, to make their belief in your powers strong enough that they imagine all sorts of benefits. Their belief will have a self-fulfilling quality, but you must make sure that it is you, rather than their own will, who is seen as the agent of transformation. Find the belief, cause, or fantasy that will make them believe with a passion and they will imagine the rest, worshipping you as healer, prophet, genius, whatever you like.

Second, Schüppach teaches us the everlasting power of belief in nature, and in simplicity. Nature, in reality, is full of much that is terrifying—poisonous plants, fierce animals, sudden disasters, plagues. Belief in the healing, comforting quality of nature is really a constructed myth, a romanticism. But the appeal to nature can bring you great power, especially in complicated and stressful times.

This appeal, however, must be handled right. Devise a kind of theater of nature in which you, as the director, pick and choose the qualities that fit the romanticism of the times. The Mountain Doctor played the part to perfection, playing up his homespun wisdom and wit, and staging his cures as dramatic pieces. He did not make himself one with nature; instead he molded nature into a cult, an artificial construction. To create a “natural” effect you actually have to work hard, making nature theatrical and delightfully pagan. Otherwise no one will notice. Nature too must follow trends and be progressive.

Observance III

In 1788, at the age of fifty-five, the doctor and scientist Franz Mesmer was at a crossroads. He was a pioneer in the study of animal magnetism—the belief that animals contain magnetic matter, and that a doctor or specialist can effect miraculous cures by working on this charged substance—but in Vienna, where he lived, his theories had met with scorn and ridicule from the medical establishment. In treating women for convulsions, Mesmer claimed to have worked a number of cures, his proudest achievement being the restoration of sight to a blind girl. But another doctor who examined the young girl said she was as blind as ever, an assessment with which she herself agreed. Mesmer countered that his enemies were out to slander him by winning her over to their side. This claim only elicited more ridicule. Clearly the sober-minded Viennese were the wrong audience for his theories, and so he decided to move to Paris and start again.

Renting a splendid apartment in his new city, Mesmer decorated it appropriately. Stained glass in most of the windows created a religious feeling, and mirrors on all the walls produced an hypnotic effect. The doctor advertised that in his apartment he would give demonstrations of the powers of animal magnetism, inviting the diseased and melancholic to feel its powers. Soon Parisians of all classes (but mostly women, who seemed more attracted to the idea than men did) were paying for entry to witness the miracles that Mesmer promised.

Inside the apartment, the scents of orange blossom and exotic incense wafted through special vents. As the initiates filtered into the salon where the demonstrations took place, they heard harp music and the lulling sounds of a female vocalist coming from another room. In the center of the salon was a long oval container filled with water that Mesmer claimed had been magnetized. From holes in the container’s metal lid protruded long movable iron rods. The visitors were instructed to sit around the container, place these magnetized rods on the body part that gave them pains or problems, and then hold hands with their neighbors, sitting as close as possible to one

another to help the magnetic force pass between their bodies. Sometimes, too, they were attached to each other by cords.

THE POWIROI II

In the town of Tarnopol lived a man by the name of Reb Feivel. One day, as he sat in his house deeply-absorbed in his Talmud, he heard a loud noise outside. When he went to the window he saw a lot of little pranksters. “Up to some new piece of mischief, no doubt.” he thought. “Children, run quickly to the synagogue,” he cried, leaning out and improvising the first story that occurred to him. “You’ll see there a sea monster, and what a monster ! It’s a creature with five feet, three eyes, and a beard like that of a goat, only it’s green !”

And sure enough the children scampered off and Reb Feivel returned to his studies. He smiled into his beard as he thought of the trick he had played on those little rascals. It wasn’t long before his studies were interrupted again, this time by running footsteps. When he went to the window he saw several Jews running. “Where are you running ?” he called out.

“To the sonagogue !” answered the Jews. “Haven’t you heard? There’s a sea monster, there’s a creature with five legs, three eyes, and a beard like that of a goat, only it’s green !” Reb Feivel laughed with glee, thinking of the trick he had played, and sat down again to his Talmud. But no sooner had he begun to concentrate when suddenly he heard a dinning tumult outside. And what did he see? A great crowd of men, women and children, all running toward the synagogue. “What’s iep?” he cried, sticking his head out of the window.

“What a question! Why, don’t you know?” they answered. “Right in front of the synagogue there’s a sea monster. It’s a creature with five legs, three eyes, and a beard like that of a goat, only it’s green!”

And as the crowd hurried by, Reb Feivel suddenly noticed that the rabbi himself was among them.

“Lord of the world!” he exclaimed. “If the rabbi himself is running with them surely there must be something happening. Where there’s smoke there’s fire!” Without further thought Reb Feivel grabbed his hat, left his house, and also began running. “Who

can tell?” he muttered to himself as he ran, all out of breath, toward the synagogue.

A TREASURY OF JEWISH FOLKLORE, NATHAN AUSUBEL, ED., 1948

Mesmer would leave the room, and “assistant magnetizers”—all handsome and strapping young men—would enter with jars of magnetized water that they would sprinkle on the patients, rubbing the healing fluid on their bodies, massaging it into their skin, moving them toward a trancelike state. And after a few minutes a kind of delirium would overcome the women. Some would sob, some would shriek and tear their hair, others would laugh hysterically. At the height of the delirium Mesmer would reenter the salon, dressed in a flowing silk robe embroidered with golden flowers and carrying a white magnetic rod. Moving around the container, he would stroke and soothe the patients until calm was restored. Many women would later attribute the strange power he had on them to his piercing look, which, they thought, was exciting or quieting the magnetic fluids in their bodies.

Within months of his arrival in Paris, Mesmer became the rage. His supporters included Marie-Antoinette herself, the queen of France, wife of Louis XVI. As in Vienna, he was condemned by the official faculty of medicine, but it did not matter.

His growing following of pupils and patients paid him handsomely.

Mesmer expanded his theories to proclaim that all humanity could be brought into harmony through the power of magnetism, a concept with much appeal during the French Revolution. A cult of Mesmerism spread across the country; in many towns, “Societies of Harmony” sprang up to experiment with magnetism. These societies eventually became notorious: They tended to be led by libertines who would turn their sessions into a kind of group orgy.

At the height of Mesmer’s popularity, a French commission published a report based on years of testing the theory of animal magnetism. The conclusion: Magnetism’s effects on the body actually came from a kind of group hysteria and autosuggestion. The report was well documented, and ruined Mesmer’s reputation in France. He left the country and went into retirement. Only a few years later, however, imitators sprang up all over Europe and the cult of Mesmerism spread once again, its believers more numerous than ever.

Interpretation

Mesmer’s career can be broken into two parts. When still in Vienna, he clearly believed in the validity of his theory, and did all he could to prove it. But his growing frustration and the disapproval of his colleagues made him adopt another strategy. First he moved to Paris, where no one knew him, and where his extravagant theories found a more fruitful soil. Then he appealed to the French love of theater and spectacle, making his apartment into a kind of magical world in which a sensory overload of smells, sights, and sounds entranced his customers. Most important, from now on he practiced his magnetism only on a group. The group provided the setting in which the magnetism would have its proper effect, one believer infecting the other, overwhelming any individual doubter.

Mesmer thus passed from being a confirmed advocate of magnetism to the role of a charlatan using every trick in the book to captivate the public. The biggest trick of all was to play on the repressed sexuality that bubbles under the surface of any group setting. In a group, a longing for social unity, a longing older than civilization, cries out to be awakened. This desire may be subsumed under a unifying cause, but beneath it is a repressed sexuality that the charlatan knows how to exploit and manipulate for his own purposes.

This is the lesson that Mesmer teaches us: Our tendency to doubt, the distance that allows us to reason, is broken down when we join a group. The warmth and infectiousness of the group overwhelm the skeptical individual. This is the power you gain by creating a cult. Also, by playing on people’s repressed sexuality, you lead them into mistaking their excited feelings for signs of your mystical strength. You gain untold power by working on people’s unrealized desire for a kind of promiscuous and pagan unity.

Remember too that the most effective cults mix religion with science. Take the latest technological trend or fad and blend it with a noble cause, a mystical faith, a new form of healing. People’s interpretations of your hybrid cult will run rampant, and they will attribute powers to you that you had never even thought to claim.

Image: The Magnet. An unseen force draws objects to it, which in turn become magnetized themselves, drawing other pieces to them, the magnetic power of the whole constantly increasing. But take away the original magnet and it all falls apart. Become the magnet, the invisible force that attracts people’s imaginations and holds them together. Once they have clustered around you, no power can wrest them away.

Authority: The charlatan achieves his great power by simply opening a possibility for men to believe what they already want to believe…. The credulous cannot keep at a distance; they crowd around the wonder worker, entering his personal aura, surrendering themselves to illusion with a heavy solemnity, like cattle. (Grete de Francesco)

REVERSAL

One reason to create a following is that a group is often easier to deceive than an individual, and turns over to you that much more power. This comes, however, with a danger: If at any moment the group sees through you, you will find yourself facing not one deceived soul but an angry crowd that will tear you to pieces as avidly as it once followed you. The charlatans constantly faced this danger, and were always ready to move out of town as it inevitably became clear that their elixirs did not work and their ideas were sham. Too slow and they paid with their lives. In playing with the crowd, you are playing with fire, and must constantly keep an eye out for any sparks of doubt, any enemies who will turn the crowd against you. When you play with the emotions of a crowd, you have to know how to adapt, attuning yourself instantaneously to all of the moods and desires that a group will produce. Use spies, be on top of everything, and keep your bags packed.

For this reason you may often prefer to deal with people one by one. Isolating them from their normal milieu can have the same effect as putting them in a group—it makes them more prone to suggestion and intimidation. Choose the right sucker and if he eventually sees through you he may prove easier to escape than a crowd.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my “48 Laws of Power” Index here…

The 48 Laws

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Master Index

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An exploration of what it is like to live in Cambodia as a Chinese security professional

You know, all that you get out of the American “news” is manipulation, and fear mongering. Meanwhile the rest of the world continues to live, exist and prosper. One of those nations is Cambodia. It is a pretty poor nation, but it is growing.

Americans (and Europeans) might have noticed a “blip” on the media last year when Cambodia refuted all efforts by Mike Pompeo to absorb it into the American proxy military sphere. They wanted no part of that. Not only did they say so, but they bulldozed all the structures that the United States built for the nation as a symbol of “good will”. As well as capturing and ejecting the NGO “regime change” forces that were mobilizing to cause strife and discord.

Cambodia wants no part of that.

And it was a top-down decision.

Cambodia is next door to China, and China wants to help them develop. In the eyes of China, it is in their advantage to be surrounded by prosperity and happiness. When nations and people are happy and prosperous, there isn’t strife or conflict. Which is the exact opposite of what the United States has been doing over the last 75 years.

What an idea!

Surround yourself with good healthy societies, and then you interact and trade with them. Let them live their lives as they see fit.

Imagine that!

Here’s some short movie clips taken by a Chinese man (and his family) living in Cambodia. It is part of a private security force that attends important Cambodian officials. You will see scenes from city life, rural life, social life, and work life in the clips. You will also notice that Cambodia uses American currency, and that the country is very, very poor.

You will also note that these clips are banned in the United States for some unknown reason. The American version of Tictok has banned this and some other sites from Cambodia.

I have no clue as to why.

I hope that watching these clips helps give you, the reader, an appreciation of other nations, other cultures and other ways of life. And no, it’s not at all like America. And perhaps that’s a good thing, don’t you know.

Start with the first video and then go down the list one by one. Most are very short, and easy to download and view.

The videos…

Conclusion

This was a little excursion out of the main stream media echo chamber and narrative. Never paid too much attention to Cambodia, eh? Well, that’s the way it is. There are all sorts of places all over the globe living life. These places live outside of the narrative of fear and manipulation.

So, in this instance, turn off the “news” about Afghanistan and how the world is collapsing in that section of the world. It isn’t. The American military presence left and they are sorting out the vacuum left behind. And I’ll tell you this, they want to be recognized as a stable and productive nation. Not an outlier.

So don’t believe the “news”. Look around you. Look at what is going on elsewhere. Pay attention to things the media is not reporting on.

Smile.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Happiness Index here…

Life & Happiness

Articles & Links

Master Index

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
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Law 24 of the 48 Laws of Power; Play the perfect courtier

This is law 24 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

According to Law 24 of the 48 Laws of Power, to thrive in whatever court or environment you’re playing for power in, learn the rules and know how to manipulate them. Even in modern times, a skilled courtier or functionary who can successfully navigate and thrive in the world of power has great power himself.

LAW 24

PLAY THE PERFECT COURTIER

JUDGMENT

The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the most oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.

COURT SOCIETY

It is a fact of human nature that the structure of a court society forms itself around power. In the past, the court gathered around the ruler, and had many functions: Besides keeping the ruler amused, it was a way to solidify the hierarchy of royalty, nobility, and the upper classes, and to keep the nobility both subordinate and close to the ruler, so that he could keep an eye on them. The court serves power in many ways, but most of all it glorifies the ruler, providing him with a microcosmic world that must struggle to please him.

To be a courtier was a dangerous game. A nineteenth-century Arab traveler to the court of Darfur, in what is now Sudan, reported that courtiers there had to do whatever the sultan did: If he were injured, they had to suffer the same injury; if he fell off his horse during a hunt, they fell, too. Mimicry like this appeared in courts all over the world. More troublesome was the danger of displeasing the ruler—one wrong move spelled death or exile. The successful courtier had to walk a tightrope, pleasing but not pleasing too much, obeying but somehow distinguishing himself from the other courtiers, while also never distinguishing himself so far as to make the ruler insecure.

Great courtiers throughout history have mastered the science of manipulating people. They make the king feel more kingly; they make everyone else fear their power. They are magicians of appearance, knowing that most things at court are judged by how they seem. Great courtiers are gracious and polite; their aggression is veiled and indirect.

Masters of the word, they never say more than necessary, getting the most out of a compliment or hidden insult. They are magnets of pleasure—people want to be around them because they know how to please, yet they neither fawn nor humiliate themselves. Great courtiers become the king’s favorites, enjoying the benefits of that position. They often end up more powerful than the ruler, for they are wizards in the accumulation of influence.

Many today dismiss court life as a relic of the past, a historical curiosity. They reason, according to Machiavelli, “as though heaven, the sun, the elements, and men had changed the order of their motions and power, and were different from what they were in ancient times.” There may be no more Sun Kings but there are still plenty of people who believe the sun revolves around them. The royal court may have more or less disappeared, or at least lost its power, but courts and courtiers still exist because power still exists. A courtier is rarely asked to fall off a horse anymore, but the laws that govern court politics are as timeless as the laws of power. There is much to be learned, then, from great courtiers past and present.

THE TWO DOGS

Barbos, the faithful yard-dog who serves his master zealously, happens to see his old acquaintance Joujou, the curly lapdog, seated at the window on a soft down cushion. 

Sidling fondly up to her, like a child to a parent, he all but weeps with emotion; and there, under the window. he whines, wags his tail, and bounds about. 

“What sort of life do you lead now, Joujoutka, ever since the master took you into his mansion? 

You remember, no doubt, how we often used to suffer hunger out in the yard. What is your present service like?” 

“It would be a sin in me to murmur against my good fortune, ” answers Joujoutka. 

“My master cannot make enough of me. I live amidst riches and plenty, and I eat and drink off silver. I frolic with the master, and, if I get tired, I take my ease on carpets or on a soft couch. 

And how do you get on?” “I?” replies Barbos, letting his tail dangle like a whip, and hanging his head. 

“I live as I used to do. I suffer from cold and hunger; and here, while guarding my master’s house, I have to sleep at the foot of the wall, and I get drenched in the rain. 

And if I bark at the wrong time, I am whipped. But how did you, Joujou, who were so small and weak, get taken into favor, while I jump out of my skin to no purpose?

What is it you do?” “‘What is it you do?’ A pretty question to ask!” replied Joujou, mockingly. “I walk upon my hind legs.”

FABLES, IVAN KRILOFF, 1768-1844

THE LAWS OF COURT POLITICS

Avoid Ostentation. It is never prudent to prattle on about yourself or call too much attention to your actions. The more you talk about your deeds the more suspicion you cause. You also stir up enough envy among your peers to induce treachery and backstabbing. Be careful, ever so careful, in trumpeting your own achievements, and always talk less about yourself than about other people. Modesty is generally preferable.

Practice Nonchalance. Never seem to be working too hard. Your talent must appear to flow naturally, with an ease that makes people take you for a genius rather than a workaholic. Even when something demands a lot of sweat, make it look effortless— people prefer to not see your blood and toil, which is another form of ostentation. It is better for them to marvel at how gracefully you have achieved your accomplishment than to wonder why it took so much work.

Be Frugal with Flattery. It may seem that your superiors cannot get enough flattery, but too much of even a good thing loses its value. It also stirs up suspicion among your peers. Learn to flatter indirectly—by downplaying your own contribution, for example, to make your master look better.

It is a wise thing to be polite; consequently, it is a stupid thing to be rude. To make enemies by unnecessary and wilful incivility, is just as insane a proceeding as to set your house on fire. For politeness is like a counter—an avowedly false coin, with which it is foolish to be stingy. A sensible man will be generous in the use of it.... Wax, a substance naturally hard and brittle, can be made soft by the application of a little warmth, so that it will take any shape you please. In the same way, by being polite and friendly, you can make people pliable and obliging, even though they are apt to be crabbed and malevolent. Hence politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788-1860

Arrange to Be Noticed. There is a paradox: You cannot display yourself too brazenly, yet you must also get yourself noticed. In the court of Louis XIV, whoever the king decided to look at rose instantly in the court hierarchy. You stand no chance of rising if the ruler does not notice you in the swamp of courtiers. This task requires much art. It is often initially a matter of being seen, in the literal sense. Pay attention to your physical appearance, then, and find a way to create a distinctive—a subtly distinctive—style and image.

Alter Your Style and Language According to the Person You Are Dealing With. The pseudo-belief in equality—the idea that talking and acting the same way with everyone, no matter what their rank, makes you somehow a paragon of civilization—is a terrible mistake. Those below you will take it as a form of condescension, which it is, and those above you will be offended, although they may not admit it. You must change your style and your way of speaking to suit each person. This is not lying, it is acting, and acting is an art, not a gift from God. Learn the art. This is also true for the great variety of cultures found in the modern court: Never assume that your criteria of behavior and judgment are universal. Not only is an inability to adapt to another culture the height of barbarism, it puts you at a disadvantage.

Never Be the Bearer of Bad News. The king kills the messenger who brings bad news: This is a cliche but there is truth to it. You must struggle and if necessary lie and cheat to be sure that the lot of the bearer of bad news falls on a colleague, never on you. Bring only good news and your approach will gladden your master.

Never Affect Friendliness and Intimacy with Your Master. He does not want a friend for a subordinate, he wants a subordinate. Never approach him in an easy, friendly way, or act as if you are on the best of terms—that is his prerogative. If he chooses to deal with you on this level, assume a wary chumminess. Otherwise err in the opposite direction, and make the distance between you clear.

Never Criticize Those Above You Directly. This may seem obvious, but there are often times when some sort of criticism is necessary—to say nothing, or to give no advice, would open you to risks of another sort. You must learn, however, to couch your advice and criticism as indirectly and as politely as possible. Think twice, or three times, before deciding you have made them sufficiently circuitous. Err on the side of subtlety and gentleness.

Be Frugal in Asking Those Above You for Favors. Nothing irritates a master more than having to reject someone’s request. It stirs up guilt and resentment. Ask for favors as rarely as possible, and know when to stop. Rather than making yourself the supplicant, it is always better to earn your favors, so that the ruler bestows them willingly. Most important: Do not ask for favors on another person’s behalf, least of all a friend’s.

Never Joke About Appearances or Taste. A lively wit and a humorous disposition are essential qualities for a good courtier, and there are times when vulgarity is appropriate and engaging. But avoid any kind of joke about appearance or taste, two highly sensitive areas, especially with those above you. Do not even try it when you are away from them. You will dig your own grave.

Do Not Be the Court Cynic. Express admiration for the good work of others. If you constantly criticize your equals or subordinates some of that criticism will rub off on you, hovering over you like a gray cloud wherever you go. People will groan at each new cynical comment, and you will irritate them. By expressing modest admiration for other people’s achievements, you paradoxically call attention to your own. The ability to express wonder and amazement, and seem like you mean it, is a rare and dying talent, but one still greatly valued.

Be Self-observant. The mirror is a miraculous invention; without it you would commit great sins against beauty and decorum. You also need a mirror for your actions. This can sometimes come from other people telling you what they see in you, but that is not the most trustworthy method: You must be the mirror, training your mind to try to see yourself as others see you. Are you acting too obsequious? Are you trying too hard to please? Do you seem desperate for attention, giving the impression that you are on the decline? Be observant about yourself and you will avoid a mountain of blunders.

Master Your Emotions. As an actor in a great play, you must learn to cry and laugh on command and when it is appropriate. You must be able both to disguise your anger and frustration and to fake your contentment and agreement. You must be the master of your own face. Call it lying if you like; but if you prefer to not play the game and to always be honest and upfront, do not complain when others call you obnoxious and arrogant.

Fit the Spirit of the Times. A slight affectation of a past era can be charming, as long as you choose a period at least twenty years back; wearing the fashions of ten years ago is ludicrous, unless you enjoy the role of court jester. Your spirit and way of thinking must keep up with the times, even if the times offend your sensibilities. Be too forward- thinking, however, and no one will understand you. It is never a good idea to stand out too much in this area; you are best off at least being able to mimic the spirit of the times.

Be a Source of Pleasure. This is critical. It is an obvious law of human nature that we will flee what is unpleasant and distasteful, while charm and the promise of delight will draw us like moths to a flame. Make yourself the flame and you will rise to the top. Since life is otherwise so full of unpleasantness and pleasure so scarce, you will be as indispensable as food and drink. This may seem obvious, but what is obvious is often ignored or unappreciated. There are degrees to this: Not everyone can play the role of favorite, for not everyone is blessed with charm and wit. But we can all control our unpleasant qualities and obscure them when necessary.

A man who knows the court is master of his gestures, of his eyes and of his face; he is profound, impenetrable; he dissimulates bad offices, smiles at his enemies, controls his irritation, disguises his passions, belies his heart, speaks and acts against his feelings.

Jean de La Bruyère, 1645-1696

SCENES OF COURT LIFE: Exemplary Deeds and Fatal Mistakes

Scene I

Alexander the Great, conqueror of the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East through to India, had had the great Aristotle as his tutor and mentor, and throughout his short life he remained devoted to philosophy and his master’s teachings. He once complained to Aristotle that during his long campaigns he had no one with whom he could discuss philosophical matters. Aristotle responded by suggesting that he take Callisthenes, a former pupil of Aristotle’s and a promising philosopher in his own right, along on the next campaign.

Aristotle had schooled Callisthenes in the skills of being a courtier, but the young man secretly scoffed at them. He believed in pure philosophy, in unadorned words, in speaking the naked truth. If Alexander loved learning so much, Callisthenes thought, he could not object to one who spoke his mind. During one of Alexander’s major campaigns, Callisthenes spoke his mind one too many times and Alexander had him put to death.

Interpretation

In court, honesty is a fool’s game. Never be so self-absorbed as to believe that the master is interested in your criticisms of him, no matter how accurate they are.

Scene II

Beginning in the Han Dynasty two thousand years ago, Chinese scholars compiled a series of writings called the 21 Histories, an official biography of each dynasty, including stories, statistics, census figures, and war chronicles. Each history also contained a chapter called “Unusual Events,” and here, among the listings of earthquakes and floods, there would sometimes suddenly appear descriptions of such bizarre manifestations as two-headed sheep, geese flying backward, stars suddenly appearing in different parts of the sky, and so on. The earthquakes could be historically verified, but the monsters and weird natural phenomena were clearly inserted on purpose, and invariably occurred in clusters. What could this mean?

The Chinese emperor was considered more than a man—he was a force of nature. His kingdom was the center of the universe, and everything revolved around him. He embodied the world’s perfection. To criticize him or any of his actions would have been to criticize the divine order. No minister or courtier dared approach the emperor with even the slightest cautionary word. But emperors were fallible and the kingdom suffered greatly by their mistakes. Inserting sightings of strange phenomena into the court chronicles was the only way to warn them. The emperor would read of geese flying backward and moons out of orbit, and realize that he was being cautioned. His actions were unbalancing the universe and needed to change.

Interpretation

For Chinese courtiers, the problem of how to give the emperor advice was an important issue. Over the years, thousands of them had died trying to warn or counsel their master. To be made safely, their criticisms had to be indirect—yet if they were too indirect they would not be heeded. The chronicles were their solution: Identify no one person as the source of criticism, make the advice as impersonal as possible, but let the emperor know the gravity of the situation.

Your master is no longer the center of the universe, but he still imagines that everything revolves around him. When you criticize him he sees the person criticizing, not the criticism itself. Like the Chinese courtiers, you must find a way to disappear behind the warning. Use symbols and other indirect methods to paint a picture of the problems to come, without putting your neck on the line.

Scene III

Early in his career, the French architect Jules Mansart received commissions to design minor additions to Versailles for King Louis XIV. For each design he would draw up his plans, making sure they followed Louis’s instructions closely. He would then present them to His Majesty.

The courtier Saint-Simon described Mansart’s technique in dealing with the king: “His particular skill was to show the king plans that purposely included something imperfect about them, often dealing with the gardens, which were not Mansart’s specialty. The king, as Mansart expected, would put his finger exactly on the problem and propose how to solve it, at which point Mansart would exclaim for all to hear that he would never have seen the problem that the king had so masterfully found and solved; he would burst with admiration, confessing that next to the king he was but a lowly pupil.” At the age of thirty, having used these methods time and time again, Mansart received a prestigious royal commission: Although he was less talented and experienced than a number of other French designers, he was to take charge of the enlargement of Versailles. He was the king’s architect from then on.

Interpretation

As a young man, Mansart had seen how many royal craftsmen in the service of Louis XIV had lost their positions not through a lack of talent but through a costly social blunder. He would not make that mistake. Mansart always strove to make Louis feel better about himself, to feed the king’s vanity as publicly as possible.

Never imagine that skill and talent are all that matter. In court the courtier’s art is more important than his talent; never spend so much time on your studies that you neglect your social skills. And the greatest skill of all is the ability to make the master look more talented than those around him.

Scene IV

Jean-Baptiste Isabey had become the unofficial painter of the Napoleonic court. During the Congress of Vienna in 1814, after Napoleon, defeated, had been imprisoned on the island of Elba, the participants in these meetings, which were to decide the fate of Europe, invited Isabey to immortalize the historic events in an epic painting.

When Isabey arrived in Vienna, Talleyrand, the main negotiator for the French, paid the artist a visit. Considering his role in the proceedings, the statesman explained, he expected to occupy center stage in the painting. Isabey cordially agreed. A few days later the Duke of Wellington, the main negotiator for the English, also approached Isabey, and said much the same thing that Talleyrand had. The ever polite Isabey agreed that the great duke should indeed be the center of attention.

Back in his studio, Isabey pondered the dilemma. If he gave the spotlight to either of the two men, he could create a diplomatic rift, stirring up all sorts of resentment at a time when peace and concord were critical. When the painting was finally unveiled, however, both Talleyrand and Wellington felt honored and satisfied. The work depicts a large hall filled with diplomats and politicians from all over Europe. On one side the Duke of Wellington enters the room, and all eyes are turned toward him; he is the “center” of attention. In the very center of the painting, meanwhile, sits Talleyrand.

Interpretation

It is often very difficult to satisfy the master, but to satisfy two masters in one stroke takes the genius of a great courtier. Such predicaments are common in the life of a courtier: By giving attention to one master, he displeases another. You must find a way to navigate this Scylla and Charybdis safely. Masters must receive their due; never inadvertently stir up the resentment of one in pleasing another.

Scene V

George Brummell, also known as Beau Brummell, made his mark in the late 1700s by the supreme elegance of his appearance, his popularization of shoe buckles (soon imitated by all the dandies), and his clever way with words. His London house was the fashionable spot in town, and Brummell was the authority on all matters of fashion. If he disliked your footwear, you immediately got rid of it and bought whatever he was wearing. He perfected the art of tying a cravat; Lord Byron was said to spend many a night in front of the mirror trying to figure out the secret behind Brummell’s perfect knots.

One of Brummell’s greatest admirers was the Prince of Wales, who fancied himself a fashionable young man. Becoming attached to the prince’s court (and provided with a royal pension), Brummell was soon so sure of his own authority there that he took to joking about the prince’s weight, referring to his host as Big Ben. Since trimness of figure was an important quality for a dandy, this was a withering criticism. At dinner once, when the service was slow, Brummell said to the prince, “Do ring, Big Ben.” The prince rang, but when the valet arrived he ordered the man to show Brummell the door and never admit him again.

Despite falling into the prince’s disfavor, Brummell continued to treat everyone around him with the same arrogance. Without the Prince of Wales’ patronage to support him, he sank into horrible debt, but he maintained his insolent manners, and everyone soon abandoned him. He died in the most pitiable poverty, alone and deranged.

Interpretation

Beau Brummell’s devastating wit was one of the qualities that endeared him to the Prince of Wales. But not even he, the arbiter of taste and fashion, could get away with a joke about the prince’s appearance, least of all to his face. Never joke about a person’s plumpness, even indirectly—and particularly when he is your master. The poorhouses of history are filled with people who have made such jokes at their master’s expense.

Scene VI

Pope Urban VIII wanted to be remembered for his skills in writing poetry, which unfortunately were mediocre at best. In 1629 Duke Francesco d‘Este, knowing the pope’s literary pretensions, sent the poet Fulvio Testi as his ambassador to the Vatican. One of Testi’s letters to the duke reveals why he was chosen: “Once our discussion was over, I kneeled to depart, but His Holiness made a signal and walked to another room where he sleeps, and after reaching a small table, he grabbed a bundle of papers and thus, turning to me with a smiling face, he said: ‘We want Your Lordship to listen to some of our compositions.’ And, in fact, he read me two very long Pindaric poems, one in praise of the most holy Virgin, and the other one about Countess Matilde.”

We do not know exactly what Testi thought of these very long poems, since it would have been dangerous for him to state his opinion freely, even in a letter. But he went on to write, “I, following the mood, commented on each line with the needed praise, and, after having kissed His Holiness’s foot for such an unusual sign of benevolence [the reading of the poetry], I left.” Weeks later, when the duke himself visited the pope, he managed to recite entire verses of the pope’s poetry and praised it enough to make the pope “so jubilant he seemed to lose his mind.”

Interpretation

In matters of taste you can never be too obsequious with your master. Taste is one of the ego’s prickliest parts; never impugn or question the master’s taste—his poetry is sublime, his dress impeccable, and his manner the model for all.

Scene VII

One afternoon in ancient China, Chao, ruler of Han from 358 to 333 B.C., got drunk and fell asleep in the palace gardens. The court crown-keeper, whose sole task was to look after the ruler’s head apparel, passed through the gardens and saw his master sleeping without a coat. Since it was getting cold, the crown-keeper placed his own coat over the ruler, and left.

When Chao awoke and saw the coat upon him, he asked his attendants, “Who put more clothes on my body?” “The crown-keeper,” they replied. The ruler immediately called for his official coat-keeper and had him punished for neglecting his duties. He also called for the crown-keeper, whom he had beheaded.

Interpretation

Do not overstep your bounds. Do what you are assigned to do, to the best of your abilities, and never do more. To think that by doing more you are doing better is a common blunder. It is never good to seem to be trying too hard—it is as if you were covering up some deficiency. Fulfilling a task that has not been asked of you just makes people suspicious. If you are a crown-keeper, be a crown-keeper. Save your excess energy for when you are not in the court.

Scene VIII

One day, for amusement, the Italian Renaissance painter Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-1469) and some friends went sailing in a small boat off Ancona. There they were captured by two Moorish galleys, which hauled them off in chains to Barbary, where they were sold as slaves. For eighteen long months Filippo toiled with no hope of returning to Italy.

On several occasions Filippo saw the man who had bought him pass by, and one day he decided to sketch this man’s portrait, using burnt coal—charcoal—from the fire. Still in his chains, he found a white wall, where he drew a full-length likeness of his owner in Moorish clothing. The owner soon heard about this, for no one had seen such skill in drawing before in these parts; it seemed like a miracle, a gift from God. The drawing so pleased the owner that he instantly gave Filippo his freedom and employed him in his court. All the big men on the Barbary coast came to see the magnificent color portraits that Fra Filippo then proceeded to do, and finally, in gratitude for the honor in this way brought upon him, Filippo’s owner returned the artist safely to Italy.

Interpretation

We who toil for other people have all in some way been captured by pirates and sold into slavery. But like Fra Filippo (if to a lesser degree), most of us possess some gift, some talent, an ability to do something better than other people. Make your master a gift of your talents and you will rise above other courtiers. Let him take the credit if necessary, it will only be temporary: Use him as a stepping stone, a way of displaying your talent and eventually buying your freedom from enslavement.

Scene IX

Alfonso I of Aragon once had a servant who told the king that the night before he had had a dream: Alfonso had given him a gift of weapons, horses, and clothes. Alfonso, a generous, lordly man, decided it would be amusing to make this dream come true, and promptly gave the servant exactly these gifts.

A little while later, the same servant announced to Alfonso that he had had yet another dream, and in this one Alfonso had given him a considerable pile of gold florins. The king smiled and said, “Don’t believe in dreams from now on; they lie.”

Interpretation

In his treatment of the servant’s first dream, Alfonso remained in control. By making a dream come true, he claimed a godlike power for himself, if in a mild and humorous way. In the second dream, however, all appearance of magic was gone; this was nothing but an ugly con game on the servant’s part. Never ask for too much, then, and know when to stop. It is the master’s prerogative to give—to give when he wants and what he wants, and to do so without prompting. Do not give him the chance to reject your requests. Better to win favors by deserving them, so that they are bestowed without your asking.

Scene X

The great English landscape painter J. M. W Turner (1775-1851) was known for his use of color, which he applied with a brilliance and a strange iridescence. The color in his paintings was so striking, in fact, that other artists never wanted his work hung next to theirs: It inevitably made everything around it seem dull.

The painter Sir Thomas Lawrence once had the misfortune of seeing Turner’s masterpiece Cologne hanging in an exhibition between two works of his own. Lawrence complained bitterly to the gallery owner, who gave him no satisfaction: After all, someone’s paintings had to hang next to Turner’s. But Turner heard of Lawrence’s complaint, and before the exhibition opened, he toned down the brilliant golden sky in Cologne, making it as dull as the colors in Lawrence’s works. A friend of Turner’s who saw the painting approached the artist with a horrified look: “What have you done to your picture!” he said. “Well, poor Lawrence was so unhappy,” Turner replied, “and it’s only lampblack. It’ll wash off after the exhibition.”

Interpretation

Many of a courtier’s anxieties have to do with the master, with whom most dangers lie.

Yet it is a mistake to imagine that the master is the only one to determine your fate. Your equals and subordinates play integral parts also. A court is a vast stew of resentments, fears, and powerful envy. You have to placate everyone who might someday harm you, deflecting their resentment and envy and diverting their hostility onto other people.

Turner, eminent courtier, knew that his good fortune and fame depended on his fellow painters as well as on his dealers and patrons. How many of the great have been felled by envious colleagues! Better temporarily to dull your brilliance than to suffer the slings and arrows of envy.

Scene XI

Winston Churchill was an amateur artist, and after World War II his paintings became collector’s items. The American publisher Henry Luce, in fact, creator of Time and Life magazines, kept one of Churchill’s landscapes hanging in his private office in New York.

On a tour through the United States once, Churchill visited Luce in his office, and the two men looked at the painting together. The publisher remarked, “It’s a good picture, but I think it needs something in the foreground—a sheep, perhaps.” Much to Luce’s horror, Churchill’s secretary called the publisher the next day and asked him to have the painting sent to England. Luce did so, mortified that he had perhaps offended the former prime minister. A few days later, however, the painting was shipped back, but slightly altered: a single sheep now grazed peacefully in the foreground.

Interpretation

In stature and fame, Churchill stood head and shoulders above Luce, but Luce was certainly a man of power, so let us imagine a slight equality between them. Still, what did Churchill have to fear from an American publisher? Why bow to the criticism of a dilettante?

A court—in this case the entire world of diplomats and international statesmen, and also of the journalists who court them—is a place of mutual dependence. It is unwise to insult or offend the taste of people of power, even if they are below or equal to you. If a man like Churchill can swallow the criticisms of a man like Luce, he proves himself a courtier without peer. (Perhaps his correction of the painting implied a certain condescension as well, but he did it so subtly that Luce did not perceive any slight.) Imitate Churchill: Put in the sheep. It is always beneficial to play the obliging courtier, even when you are not serving a master.

THE DELICATE GAME OF COURTIERSHIP: A Warning

Talleyrand was the consummate courtier, especially in serving his master Napoleon. When the two men were first getting to know each other, Napoleon once said in passing, “I shall come to lunch at your house one of these days.” Talleyrand had a house at Auteuil, in the suburbs of Paris. “I should be delighted, mon général,” the minister replied, “and since my house is close to the Bois de Boulogne, you will be able to amuse yourself with a bit of shooting in the afternoon.”

“I do not like shooting,” said Napoleon, “But I love hunting. Are there any boars in the Bois de Boulogne?” Napoleon came from Corsica, where boar hunting was a great sport. By asking if there were boars in a Paris park, he showed himself still a provincial, almost a rube. Talleyrand did not laugh, however, but he could not resist a practical joke on the man who was now his master in politics, although not in blood and nobility, since Talleyrand came from an old aristocratic family. To Napoleon’s question, then, he simply replied, “Very few, mon général, but I dare say you will manage to find one.”

It was arranged that Napoleon would arrive at Talleyrand’s house the following day at seven A.M. and would spend the morning there. The “boar hunt” would take place in the afternoon. Throughout the morning the excited general talked nothing but boar hunting. Meanwhile, Talleyrand secretly had his servants go to the market, buy two enormous black pigs, and take them to the great park.

After lunch, the hunters and their hounds set off for the Bois de Boulogne. At a secret signal from Talleyrand, the servants loosed one of the pigs. “I see a boar,” Napoleon cried joyfully, jumping onto his horse to give chase. Talleyrand stayed behind. It took half an hour of galloping through the park before the “boar” was finally captured. At the moment of triumph, however, Napoleon was approached by one of his aides, who knew the creature could not possibly be a boar, and feared the general would be ridiculed once the story got out: “Sir,” he told Napoleon, “you realize of course that this is not a boar but a pig.”

Flying into a rage, Napoleon immediately set off at a gallop for Talleyrand’s house. He realized along the way that he would now be the butt of many a joke, and that exploding at Talleyrand would only make him more ridiculous; it would be better to make a show of good humor. Still, he did not hide his displeasure well.

Talleyrand decided to try to soothe the general’s bruised ego. He told Napoleon not to go back to Paris yet—he should again go hunting in the park. There were many rabbits there, and hunting them had been a favorite pastime of Louis XVI. Talleyrand even offered to let Napoleon use a set of guns that had once belonged to Louis. With much flattery and cajolery, he once again got Napoleon to agree to a hunt.

The party left for the park in the late afternoon. Along the way, Napoleon told Talleyrand, “I’m not Louis XVI, I surely won’t kill even one rabbit.” Yet that afternoon, strangely enough, the park was teeming with rabbits. Napoleon killed at least fifty of them, and his mood changed from anger to satisfaction. At the end of his wild shooting spree, however, the same aide approached him and whispered in his ear, “To tell the truth, sir, I am beginning to believe these are not wild rabbits. I suspect that rascal Talleyrand has played another joke on us.” (The aide was right: Talleyrand had in fact sent his servants back to the market, where they had purchased dozens of rabbits and then had released them in the Bois de Boulogne.)

Napoleon immediately mounted his horse and galloped away, this time returning straight to Paris. He later threatened Talleyrand, warned him not to tell a soul what had happened; if he became the laughingstock of Paris, there would be hell to pay.

It took months for Napoleon to be able to trust Talleyrand again, and he never totally forgave him his humiliation.

Interpretation

Courtiers are like magicians: They deceptively play with appearances, only letting those around them see what they want them to see. With so much deception and manipulation afoot, it is essential to keep people from seeing your tricks and glimpsing your sleight of hand.

Talleyrand was normally the Grand Wizard of Courtiership, and but for Napoleon’s aide, he probably would have gotten away completely with both pleasing his master and having a joke at the general’s expense. But courtiership is a subtle art, and overlooked traps and inadvertent mistakes can ruin your best tricks. Never risk being caught in your maneuvers; never let people see your devices. If that happens you instantly pass in people’s perceptions from a courtier of great manners to a loathsome rogue. It is a delicate game you play; apply the utmost attention to covering your tracks, and never let your master unmask you.

Conclusion

Do not be in error to think that couriers are a thing of the past. They exist. And the only way that can accurately explain the strange behaviors in Washington DC these days. But you do not need to be a courier to a royal family or a leader to be effective. Anytime you are subservient to another, by position, or career, you must be forced to play the role of a courier. Be advised.

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Law 34 of the 48 Laws of Power; Be royal in your own fashion: act like a king to be treated like one

This is law 34 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated: In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.

LAW 34

BE ROYAL IN YOUR OWN FASHION: ACT LIKE A KING TO BE TREATED LIKE ONE

JUDGMENT

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

In July of 1830, a revolution broke out in Paris that forced the king, Charles X, to abdicate. A commission of the highest authorities in the land gathered to choose a successor, and the man they picked was Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orléans.

From the beginning it was clear that Louis-Philippe would be a different kind of king, and not just because he came from a different branch of the royal family, or because he had not inherited the crown but had been given it, by a commission, putting his legitimacy in question. Rather it was that he disliked ceremony and the trappings of royalty; he had more friends among the bankers than among the nobility; and his style was not to create a new kind of royal rule, as Napoleon had done, but to downplay his status, the better to mix with the businessmen and middle-class folk who had called him to lead. Thus the symbols that came to be associated with Louis-Philippe were neither the scepter nor the crown, but the gray hat and umbrella with which he would proudly walk the streets of Paris, as if he were a bourgeois out for a stroll. When Louis-Philippe invited James Rothschild, the most important banker in France, to his palace, he treated him as an equal. And unlike any king before him, not only did he talk business with Monsieur Rothschild but that was literally all he talked, for he loved money and had amassed a huge fortune.

As the reign of the “bourgeois king” plodded on, people came to despise him. The aristocracy could not endure the sight of an unkingly king, and within a few years they turned on him. Meanwhile the growing class of the poor, including the radicals who had chased out Charles X, found no satisfaction in a ruler who neither acted as a king nor governed as a man of the people. The bankers to whom Louis-Philippe was the most beholden soon realized that it was they who controlled the country, not he, and they treated him with growing contempt. One day, at the start of a train trip organized for the royal family, James Rothschild actually berated him—and in public—for being late. Once the king had made news by treating the banker as an equal; now the banker treated the king as an inferior.

Eventually the workers’ insurrections that had brought down Louis-Philippe’s predecessor began to reemerge, and the king put them down with force. But what was he defending so brutally? Not the institution of the monarchy, which he disdained, nor a democratic republic, which his rule prevented. What he was really defending, it seemed, was his own fortune, and the fortunes of the bankers—not a way to inspire loyalty among the citizenry.

Never lose your self-respect, nor be too familiar with yourself when you are alone. Let your integrity itself be your own standard of rectitude, and be more indebted to the severity of your own judgment of yourself than to all external precepts. Desist from unseemly conduct, rather out of respect for your own virtue than for the strictures of external authority. Come to hold yourself in awe, and you will have no need of Seneca’s imaginary tittor.

BALIASAR GRACIAN. 1601-1658

In early 1848, Frenchmen of all classes began to demonstrate for electoral reforms that would make the country truly democratic. By February the demonstrations had turned violent. To assuage the populace, Louis-Philippe fired his prime minister and appointed a liberal as a replacement. But this created the opposite of the desired effect: The people sensed they could push the king around. The demonstrations turned into a full-fledged revolution, with gunfire and barricades in the streets.

On the night of February 23, a crowd of Parisians surrounded the palace. With a suddenness that caught everyone by surprise, Louis-Philippe abdicated that very evening and fled to England. He left no successor, nor even the suggestion of one—his whole government folded up and dissolved like a traveling circus leaving town.

Interpretation

Louis-Philippe consciously dissolved the aura that naturally pertains to kings and leaders. Scoffing at the symbolism of grandeur, he believed a new world was dawning, where rulers should act and be like ordinary citizens. He was right: A new world, without kings and queens, was certainly on its way. He was profoundly wrong, however, in predicting a change in the dynamics of power.

The bourgeois king’s hat and umbrella amused the French at first, but soon grew irritating. People knew that Louis-Philippe was not really like them at all—that the hat and umbrella were essentially a kind of trick to encourage them in the fantasy that the country had suddenly grown more equal. Actually, though, the divisions of wealth had never been greater. The French expected their ruler to be a bit of a showman, to have some presence. Even a radical like Robespierre, who had briefly come to power during the French Revolution fifty years earlier, had understood this, and certainly Napoleon, who had turned the revolutionary republic into an imperial regime, had known it in his bones. Indeed as soon as Louis-Philippe fled the stage, the French revealed their true desire: They elected Napoleon’s grand-nephew president. He was a virtual unknown, but they hoped he would re-create the great general’s powerful aura, erasing the awkward memory of the “bourgeois king.”

Powerful people may be tempted to affect a common-man aura, trying to create the illusion that they and their subjects or underlings are basically the same. But the people whom this false gesture is intended to impress will quickly see through it. They understand that they are not being given more power—that it only appears as if they shared in the powerful person’s fate. The only kind of common touch that works is the kind affected by Franklin Roosevelt, a style that said the president shared values and goals with the common people even while he remained a patrician at heart. He never pretended to erase his distance from the crowd.

Leaders who try to dissolve that distance through a false chumminess gradually lose the ability to inspire loyalty, fear, or love. Instead they elicit contempt. Like Louis- Philippe, they are too uninspiring even to be worth the guillotine—the best they can do is simply vanish in the night, as if they were never there.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

When Christopher Columbus was trying to find funding for his legendary voyages, many around him believed he came from the Italian aristocracy. This view was passed into history through a biography written after the explorer’s death by his son, which describes him as a descendant of a Count Colombo of the Castle of Cuccaro in Montferrat. Colombo in turn was said to be descended from the legendary Roman general Colonius, and two of his first cousins were supposedly direct descendants of an emperor of Constantinople. An illustrious background indeed. But it was nothing more than illustrious fantasy, for Columbus was actually the son of Domenico Colombo, a humble weaver who had opened a wine shop when Christopher was a young man, and who then made his living by selling cheese.

Columbus himself had created the myth of his noble background, because from early on he felt that destiny had singled him out for great things, and that he had a kind of royalty in his blood. Accordingly he acted as if he were indeed descended from noble stock. After an uneventful career as a merchant on a commercial vessel, Columbus, originally from Genoa, settled in Lisbon. Using the fabricated story of his noble background, he married into an established Lisbon family that had excellent connections with Portuguese royalty.

Through his in-laws, Columbus finagled a meeting with the king of Portugal, Joao II, whom he petitioned to finance a westward voyage aimed at discovering a shorter route to Asia. In return for announcing that any discoveries he achieved would be made in the king’s name, Columbus wanted a series of rights: the title Grand Admiral of the Oceanic Sea; the office of viceroy over any lands he found; and 10 percent of the future commerce with such lands. All of these rights were to be hereditary and for all time. Columbus made these demands even though he had previously been a mere merchant, he knew almost nothing about navigation, he could not work a quadrant, and he had never led a group of men. In short he had absolutely no qualifications for the journey he proposed. Furthermore, his petition included no details as to how he would accomplish his plans, just vague promises.

When Columbus finished his pitch, João II smiled: He politely declined the offer, but left the door open for the future. Here Columbus must have noticed something he would never forget: Even as the king turned down the sailor’s demands, he treated them as legitimate. He neither laughed at Columbus nor questioned his background and credentials. In fact the king was impressed by the boldness of Columbus’s requests, and clearly felt comfortable in the company of a man who acted so confidently. The meeting must have convinced Columbus that his instincts were correct: By asking for the moon, he had instantly raised his own status, for the king assumed that unless a man who set such a high price on himself were mad, which Columbus did not appear to be, he must somehow be worth it.

Herodotus

In the next generation the family became much more famous than before through the distinction conferred upon it by Cleisthenes the master of Sicyon. Cleisthenes... had a daughter, Agarista, whom he wished to marry to the best man in all Greece. So during the Olympic games, in which he had himself won the chariot race, he had a public announcement made, to the effect that any Greek who thought himself good enough to become Cleisthenes’ son-in-law should present himself in Sicyon within sixty days—or sooner if he wished—because he intended, within the year following the sixtieth day, to betroth his daughter to her future husband. Cleisthenes had had a race-track and a wrestling-ring specially made for his purpose, and presently the suitors began to arrive—every man of Greek nationality who had something to be proud of either in his country or in himself.... Cleisthenes began by asking each [of the numerous suitors] in turn to name his country and parentage; then he kept them in his house for a year, to get to know them well, entering into conversation with them sometimes singly, sometimes all together, and testing each of them for his manly qualities and temper, education and manners.... But the most important test of all was their behaviour at the dinner-table. All this went on throughout their stay in Sicyon, and all the time he entertained them handsomely. For one reason or another it was the two Athenians who impressed Cleisthenes most favourably, and of the two Tisander’s son Hippocleides came to be preferred.... At last the day came which had been fixed for the betrothal, and Cleisthenes had to declare his choice. He marked the day by the sacrifice of a hundred oxen, and then gave a great banquet, to which not only the suitors but everyone of note in Sicyon was invited. When dinner was over, the suitors began to compete with each other in music and in talking in company. In both these accomplishments it was Hippocleides who proved by far the doughtiest champion, until at last, as more and more wine was drunk, he asked the flute-player to play him a tune and began to dance to it. Now it may well be that he danced to his own satisfaction; Cleisthenes, however, who was watching the performance, began to have serious doubts about the whole business. Presently, after a brief pause, Hippocleides sent for a table; the table was brought, and Hippocleides, climbing on to it, danced first some Laconian dances, next some Attic ones, and ended by standing on his head and beating time with his legs in the air The Laconian and Attic dances were bad enough; but Cleisthenes, though he already loathed the thought of having a son-in-law like that, nevertheless restrained himself and managed to avoid an outburst; but when he saw Hippocleides beating time with his legs, he could bear it no longer. “Son of Tisander, ”he cried, “you have danced away your marriage. ”

THE HISTORIES, Herodotus, FIFTH CENTURY B.C.

A few years later Columbus moved to Spain. Using his Portuguese connections, he moved in elevated circles at the Spanish court, receiving subsidies from illustrious financiers and sharing tables with dukes and princes. To all these men he repeated his request for financing for a voyage to the west—and also for the rights he had demanded from João II. Some, such as the powerful duke of Medina, wanted to help, but could not, since they lacked the power to grant him the titles and rights he wanted. But Columbus would not back down. He soon realized that only one person could meet his demands: Queen Isabella. In 1487 he finally managed a meeting with the queen, and although he could not convince her to finance the voyage, he completely charmed her, and became a frequent guest in the palace.

In 1492 the Spanish finally expelled the Moorish invaders who centuries earlier had seized parts of the country. With the wartime burden on her treasury lifted, Isabella felt she could finally respond to the demands of her explorer friend, and she decided to pay for three ships, equipment, the salaries of the crews, and a modest stipend for Columbus. More important, she had a contract drawn up that granted Columbus the titles and rights on which he had insisted. The only one she denied—and only in the contract’s fine print—was the 10 percent of all revenues from any lands discovered: an absurd demand, since he wanted no time limit on it. (Had the clause been left in, it would eventually have made Columbus and his heirs the wealthiest family on the planet. Columbus never read the fine print.)

Satisfied that his demands had been met, Columbus set sail that same year in search of the passage to Asia. (Before he left he was careful to hire the best navigator he could find to help him get there.) The mission failed to find such a passage, yet when Columbus petitioned the queen to finance an even more ambitious voyage the following year, she agreed. By then she had come to see Columbus as destined for great things.

Interpretation

As an explorer Columbus was mediocre at best. He knew less about the sea than did the average sailor on his ships, could never determine the latitude and longitude of his discoveries, mistook islands for vast continents, and treated his crew badly. But in one area he was a genius: He knew how to sell himself How else to explain how the son of a cheese vendor, a low-level sea merchant, managed to ingratiate himself with the highest royal and aristocratic families?

Columbus had an amazing power to charm the nobility, and it all came from the way he carried himself. He projected a sense of confidence that was completely out of proportion to his means. Nor was his confidence the aggressive, ugly self-promotion of an upstart—it was a quiet and calm self-assurance. In fact it was the same confidence usually shown by the nobility themselves. The powerful in the old-style aristocracies felt no need to prove or assert themselves; being noble, they knew they always deserved more, and asked for it. With Columbus, then, they felt an instant affinity, for he carried himself just the way they did—elevated above the crowd, destined for greatness.

Understand: It is within your power to set your own price. How you carry yourself reflects what you think of yourself. If you ask for little, shuffle your feet and lower your head, people will assume this reflects your character. But this behavior is not you—it is only how you have chosen to present yourself to other people. You can just as easily present the Columbus front: buoyancy, confidence, and the feeling that you were born to wear a crown.

With all great deceivers there is a noteworthy occurrence to which they owe their power. In the actual act of deception they are overcome by belief in themselves: it is this which then speaks so miraculously and compellingly to those around them.

Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900

KEYS TO POWER

As children, we start our lives with great exuberance, expecting and demanding everything from the world. This generally carries over into our first forays into society, as we begin our careers. But as we grow older the rebuffs and failures we experience set up boundaries that only get firmer with time. Coming to expect less from the world, we accept limitations that are really self-imposed. We start to bow and scrape and apologize for even the simplest of requests. The solution to such a shrinking of horizons is to deliberately force ourselves in the opposite direction—to downplay the failures and ignore the limitations, to make ourselves demand and expect as much as the child. To accomplish this, we must use a particular strategy upon ourselves. Call it the Strategy of the Crown.

The Strategy of the Crown is based on a simple chain of cause and effect: If we believe we are destined for great things, our belief will radiate outward, just as a crown creates an aura around a king. This outward radiance will infect the people around us, who will think we must have reasons to feel so confident. People who wear crowns seem to feel no inner sense of the limits to what they can ask for or what they can accomplish. This too radiates outward. Limits and boundaries disappear. Use the Strategy of the Crown and you will be surprised how often it bears fruit. Take as an example those happy children who ask for whatever they want, and get it. Their high expectations are their charm. Adults enjoy granting their wishes—just as Isabella enjoyed granting the wishes of Columbus.

Throughout history, people of undistinguished birth—the Theodoras of Byzantium, the Columbuses, the Beethovens, the Disraelis—have managed to work the Strategy of the Crown, believing so firmly in their own greatness that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The trick is simple: Be overcome by your self-belief. Even while you know you are practicing a kind of deception on yourself, act like a king. You are likely to be treated as one.

The crown may separate you from other people, but it is up to you to make that separation real: You have to act differently, demonstrating your distance from those around you. One way to emphasize your difference is to always act with dignity, no matter the circumstance. Louis-Philippe gave no sense of being different from other people—he was the banker king. And the moment his subjects threatened him, he caved in. Everyone sensed this and pounced. Lacking regal dignity and firmness of purpose, Louis-Philippe seemed an impostor, and the crown was easily toppled from his head.

Regal bearing should not be confused with arrogance. Arrogance may seem the king’s entitlement, but in fact it betrays insecurity. It is the very opposite of a royal demeanor.

Haile Selassie, ruler of Ethiopia for forty or so years beginning in 1930, was once a young man named Lij Tafari. He came from a noble family, but there was no real chance of him coming to power, for he was far down the line of succession from the king then on the throne, Menelik II. Nevertheless, from an early age he exhibited a self-confidence and a royal bearing that surprised everyone around him.

At the age of fourteen, Tafari went to live at the court, where he immediately impressed Menelik and became his favorite. Tafari’s grace under fire, his patience, and his calm self-assurance fascinated the king. The other young nobles, arrogant, blustery, and envious, would push this slight, bookish teenager around. But he never got angry— that would have been a sign of insecurity, to which he would not stoop. There were already people around him who felt he would someday rise to the top, for he acted as if he were already there.

Years later, in 1936, when the Italian Fascists had taken over Ethiopia and Tafari, now called Haile Selassie, was in exile, he addressed the League of Nations to plead his country’s case. The Italians in the audience heckled him with vulgar abuse, but he maintained his dignified pose, as if completely unaffected. This elevated him while making his opponents look even uglier. Dignity, in fact, is invariably the mask to assume under difficult circumstances: It is as if nothing can affect you, and you have all the time in the world to respond. This is an extremely powerful pose.

A royal demeanor has other uses. Con artists have long known the value of an aristocratic front; it either disarms people and makes them less suspicious, or else it intimidates them and puts them on the defensive—and as Count Victor Lustig knew, once you put a sucker on the defensive he is doomed. The con man Yellow Kid Weil, too, would often assume the trappings of a man of wealth, along with the nonchalance that goes with them. Alluding to some magical method of making money, he would stand aloof, like a king, exuding confidence as if he really were fabulously rich. The suckers would beg to be in on the con, to have a chance at the wealth that he so clearly displayed.

Finally, to reinforce the inner psychological tricks involved in projecting a royal demeanor, there are outward strategies to help you create the effect.

First, the Columbus Strategy: Always make a bold demand. Set your price high and do not waver. Second, in a dignified way, go after the highest person in the building. This immediately puts you on the same plane as the chief executive you are attacking. It is the David and Goliath Strategy: By choosing a great opponent, you create the appearance of greatness.

Third, give a gift of some sort to those above you. This is the strategy of those who have a patron: By giving your patron a gift, you are essentially saying that the two of you are equal. It is the old con game of giving so that you can take. When the Renaissance writer Pietro Aretino wanted the Duke of Mantua as his next patron, he knew that if he was slavish and sycophantic, the duke would think him unworthy; so he approached the duke with gifts, in this case paintings by the writer’s good friend Titian. Accepting the gifts created a kind of equality between duke and writer: The duke was put at ease by the feeling that he was dealing with a man of his own aristocratic stamp. He funded Aretino generously. The gift strategy is subtle and brilliant because you do not beg: You ask for help in a dignified way that implies equality between two people, one of whom just happens to have more money.

Remember: It is up to you to set your own price. Ask for less and that is just what you will get. Ask for more, however, and you send a signal that you are worth a king’s ransom. Even those who turn you down respect you for your confidence, and that respect will eventually pay off in ways you cannot imagine.

Image: The Crown. Place it upon your head and you assume a different pose—tranquil yet radiating assurance. Never show doubt, never lose your dignity beneath the crown, or it will not fit. It will seem to be destined for one more worthy. Do not wait for a coronation; the greatest emperors crown themselves.

Authority: Everyone should be royal after his own fashion. Let all your actions, even though they are not those of a king, be, in their own sphere, worthy of one. Be sublime in your deeds, lofty in your thoughts; and in all your doings show that you deserve to be a king even though you are not one in reality. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

REVERSAL

The idea behind the assumption of regal confidence is to set yourself apart from other people, but if you take this too far it will be your undoing. Never make the mistake of thinking that you elevate yourself by humiliating people. Also, it is never a good idea to loom too high above the crowd—you make an easy target. And there are times when an aristocratic pose is eminently dangerous.

Charles I, king of England during the 1640s, faced a profound public disenchantment with the institution of monarchy. Revolts erupted throughout the country, led by Oliver Cromwell. Had Charles reacted to the times with insight, supporting reforms and making a show of sacrificing some of his power, history might have been different. Instead he reverted to an even more regal pose, seeming outraged by the assault on his power and on the divine institution of monarchy. His stiff kingliness offended people and spurred on their revolts. And eventually Charles lost his head, literally. Understand: You are radiating confidence, not arrogance or disdain.

Finally, it is true that you can sometimes find some power through affecting a kind of earthy vulgarity, which will prove amusing by its extreme-ness. But to the extent that you win this game by going beyond the limits, separating yourself from other people by appearing even more vulgar than they are, the game is dangerous: There will always be people more vulgar than you, and you will easily be replaced the following season by someone younger and worse.

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Law 40 of the 48 Laws of Power; Despise the free lunch

This is law 40 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

What is offered for free is dangerous-it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price—there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

What is offered for free often has a psychological price tag – complicated feelings of obligation, compromises with quality, the insecurity those compromises bring, on and on. By paying the full price, you keep your independence and room to maneuver.
Being open and flexible with money also teaches the value of strategic generosity.

Avoid these people who fail to use money creatively and strategically, or turn their inflexibility to your advantage:

The Greedy Fish. The greedy fish take the human side out of money. Cold and ruthless, they see only the lifeless balance sheet; viewing others solely as either pawns or obstructions in their pursuit of wealth, they trample on people’s sentiments and alienate valuable allies. No one wants to work with the greedy fish, and over the years they end up isolated, which often proves their undoing. Easy to deceive with promise of money.
The Bargain Demon. Powerful people judge everything by what it costs, not just in money but in time, dignity, and peace of mind. And this is exactly what Bargain Demons cannot do. Wasting valuable time digging for bargains, they worry endlessly about what they could have gotten elsewhere for a little less. Just avoid these types.
The Sadist. Financial sadists play vicious power games with money as a way of asserting their power. They believe the money they give you allows them to abuse your time. Accept a financial loss instead of getting entangled.
The Indiscriminate Giver. These people give to everyone, and as a result no one feels special. Appealing as a mark, but you will often feel burdened by their emotional need.
Never let lust for money lure you from true power. Make power your goal and money will find it’s way to you.
Note: bait your deceptions with the possibility of easy money, and many will fall for it.

LAW40

DESPISE THE FREE LUNCH

JUDGMENT

What is offered for free is dangerous-it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price—there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

BURIED TREASURE

Many weak-minded persons in cities hope to discover property under the surface of the earth and to make some profit from it. In the Maghrib there are many Berber “students” who are unable to make a living by natural ways and means. They approach well-to-do people with papers that have torn margins and contain either non-Arabic writing or what they claim to be the translation of a document written by the owner of buried treasures, giving the clue to the hiding place. In this way, they try to get their sustenance by [persuading the well-to-do] to send them out to dig and hunt for treasure. Occasionally, one of these treasure hunters displays strange information or some remarkable trick of magic with which he fools people into believing his other claims, although, in fact, he knows nothing of magic and its procedures.... The things that have been said about [treasure hunting] have no scientific basis, nor are they based upon [factual] information. It should be realized that although treasures are found, this happens rarely and by chance, not by systematic search.... Those who are deluded or afflicted by these things must take refuge in God from their inability to make a living and their laziness in this respect. They should not occupy themselves with absurdities and untrue stories.

THE MUQADDIMAH, IBN KHALDUN, 1332-1406

MONEY AND POWER

In the realm of power, everything must be judged by its cost, and everything has a price. What is offered for free or at bargain rates often comes with a psychological price tag— complicated feelings of obligation, compromises with quality, the insecurity those compromises bring, on and on. The powerful learn early to protect their most valuable resources: independence and room to maneuver. By paying the full price, they keep themselves free of dangerous entanglements and worries.

Being open and flexible with money also teaches the value of strategic generosity, a variation on the old trick of “giving when you are about to take.” By giving the appropriate gift, you put the recipient under obligation. Generosity softens people up— to be deceived. By gaining a reputation for liberality, you win people’s admiration while distracting them from your power plays. By strategically spreading your wealth, you charm the other courtiers, creating pleasure and making valuable allies.

Look at the masters of power—the Caesars, the Queen Elizabeths, the Michelangelos, the Medicis: Not a miser among them. Even the great con artists spend freely to swindle. Tight purse strings are unattractive—when engaged in seduction, Casanova would give completely not only of himself but of his wallet. The powerful understand that money is psychologically charged, and that it is also a vessel of politeness and sociability. They make the human side of money a weapon in their armory.

For everyone able to play with money, thousands more are locked in a self- destructive refusal to use money creatively and strategically. These types represent the opposite pole to the powerful, and you must learn to recognize them—either to avoid their poisonous natures or to turn their inflexibility to your advantage:

The Greedy Fish. The greedy fish take the human side out of money. Cold and ruthless, they see only the lifeless balance sheet; viewing others solely as either pawns or obstructions in their pursuit of wealth, they trample on people’s sentiments and alienate valuable allies. No one wants to work with the greedy fish, and over the years they end up isolated, which often proves their undoing.

Greedy fish are the con artist’s bread and butter: Lured by the bait of easy money, they swallow the ruse hook, line, and sinker. They are easy to deceive, for they spend so much time dealing with numbers (not with people) that they become blind to psychology, including their own. Either avoid them before they exploit you or play on their greed to your gain.

The Bargain Demon. Powerful people judge everything by what it costs, not just in money but in time, dignity, and peace of mind. And this is exactly what Bargain Demons cannot do. Wasting valuable time digging for bargains, they worry endlessly about what they could have gotten elsewhere for a little less. On top of that, the bargain item they do buy is often shabby; perhaps it needs costly repairs, or will have to be replaced twice as fast as a high-quality item. The costs of these pursuits—not always in money (though the price of a bargain is often deceptive) but in time and peace of mind—discourage normal people from undertaking them, but for the Bargain Demon the bargain is an end in itself.

These types might seem to harm only themselves, but their attitudes are contagious: Unless you resist them they will infect you with the insecure feeling that you should have looked harder to find a cheaper price. Don’t argue with them or try to change them. Just mentally add up the cost, in time and inner peace if not in hidden financial expense, of the irrational pursuit of a bargain.

The Sadist. Financial sadists play vicious power games with money as a way of asserting their power. They might, for example, make you wait for money that is owed you, promising you that the check is in the mail. Or if they hire you to work for them, they meddle in every aspect of the job, haggling and giving you ulcers. Sadists seem to think that paying for something gives them the right to torture and abuse the seller. They have no sense of the courtier element in money. If you are unlucky enough to get involved with this type, accepting a financial loss may be better in the long run than getting entangled in their destructive power games.

The Indiscriminate Giver. Generosity has a definite function in power: It attracts people, softens them up, makes allies out of them. But it has to be used strategically, with a definite end in mind. Indiscriminate Givers, on the other hand, are generous because they want to be loved and admired by all. And their generosity is so indiscriminate and needy that it may not have the desired effect: If they give to one and all, why should the recipient feel special? Attractive as it may seem to make an Indiscriminate Giver your mark, in any involvement with this type you will often feel burdened by their insatiable emotional needs.

THE MISER

A miser, to make sure of his property, sold all that he had and converted it into a great lump of gold, which he hid in a hole in the ground, and went continually to visit and inspect it. This roused the curiosity of one of his workmen, who, suspecting that there was a treasure, when his master’s back was turned, went to the spot, and stole it away. When the miser returned and found the place empty, he wept and tore his hair. But a neighbor who saw him in this extravagant grief, and learned the cause of it, said: “Fret thyself no longer, but take a stone and put it in the same place, and think that it is your lump of gold; for, as you never meant to use it. the one will do you as much good as the other.”

The worth of money is not in its possession, but in its use.

FABLES, AFSOP, SIXTH CENTURY B.C.

TRANSGRESSIONS OF THE LAW

Transgression I

After Francisco Pizarro conquered Peru, in 1532, gold from the Incan Empire began to pour into Spain, and Spaniards of all classes started dreaming of the instant riches to be had in the New World. The story soon spread of an Indian chief to the east of Peru who once each year would ritually cover himself in gold dust and dive into a lake. Soon word of mouth transformed El Dorado, the “Golden Man,” into an empire called El Dorado, wealthier than the Incan, where the streets were paved and the buildings inlaid with gold. This elaboration of the story did not seem implausible, for surely a chief who could afford to waste gold dust in a lake must rule a golden empire. Soon Spaniards were searching for El Dorado all over northern South America.

In February of 1541, the largest expedition yet in this venture, led by Pizarro’s brother Gonzalo, left Quito, in Ecuador. Resplendent in their armors and colorful silks, 340 Spaniards headed east, along with 4,000 Indians to carry supplies and serve as scouts, 4,000 swine, dozens of llamas, and close to 1,000 dogs. But the expedition was soon hit by torrential rain, which rotted its gear and spoiled its food. Meanwhile, as Gonzalo Pizarro questioned the Indians they met along the way, those who seemed to be withholding information, or who had not even heard of the fabulous kingdom, he would torture and feed to the dogs. Word of the Spaniards’ murderousness spread quickly among the Indians, who realized that the only way to avoid Gonzalo’s wrath was to make up stories about El Dorado and send him as far away as possible. As Gonzalo and his men followed the leads the Indians gave them, then, they were only led farther into deep jungle.

The explorers’ spirits sagged. Their uniforms had long since shredded; their armor rusted and they threw it away; their shoes were torn to pieces, forcing them to walk barefoot; the Indian slaves they had set out with had either died or deserted them; they had eaten not only the swine but the hunting dogs and llamas. They lived on roots and fruit. Realizing that they could not continue this way, Pizarro decided to risk river travel, and a barge was built out of rotting wood. But the journey down the treacherous Napo River proved no easier. Setting up camp on the river’s edge, Gonzalo sent scouts ahead on the barge to find Indian settlements with food. He waited and waited for the scouts to return, only to find out they had decided to desert the expedition and continue down the river on their own.

The rain continued without end. Gonzalo’s men forgot about El Dorado; they wanted only to return to Quito. Finally, in August of 1542, a little over a hundred men, from an expedition originally numbering in the thousands, managed to find their way back. To the residents of Quito they seemed to have emerged from hell itself, wrapped in tatters and skins, their bodies covered in sores, and so emaciated as to be unrecognizable. For over a year and a half they had marched in an enormous circle, two thousand miles by foot. The vast sums of money invested in the expedition had yielded nothing—no sign of El Dorado and no sign of gold. Interpretation

Even after Gonzalo Pizarro’s disaster, the Spaniards launched expedition after expedition in search of El Dorado. And like Pizarro the conquistadors would burn and loot villages, torture Indians, endure unimaginable hardships, and get no closer to gold. The money they spent on such expeditions cannot be calculated; yet despite the futility of the search, the lure of the fantasy endured.

There is a popular saying in Japan that goes “Tada yori takai mono wa nai,” meaning: “Nothing is more costly than something given free of charge.”

THE UNSPOKEN WAY, MICHIHIRO MATSUMOTO, 1988

MONEY

Yusuf Ibn Jafar el-Amudi used to take sums of money, sometimes very large ones, from those who came to study with him. A distinguished legalist visiting him once said: “I am enchanted and impressed by your teachings, and I am sure that you are directing your disciples in a proper manner. But it is not in accordance with tradition to take money for knowledge. Besides, the action is open to misinterpretation.” El-Amudi said: “I have never sold any knowledge. There is no Imoney on earth sufficient to pay for it. As for misinterpretation, the abstaining from taking money will not prevent it, for it will find some other object. Rather should you know that a man who takes money may be greedy for money, or he may not. But a man who takes nothing at all is under the gravest suspicion of robbing the disciple of his soul. People who say, ‘I take nothing,’ may be found to take away the volition of their victim.”

THE DERMIS PROBE, IDRIES SHAH, 1970

Not only did the search for El Dorado cost millions of lives—both Indian and Spanish—it helped bring the ruin of the Spanish empire. Gold became Spain’s obsession. The gold that did find its way back to Spain-and a lot did—was reinvested in more expeditions, or in the purchase of luxuries, rather than in agriculture or any other productive endeavor. Whole Spanish towns were depopulated as their menfolk left to hunt gold. Farms fell into ruin, and the army had no recruits for its European wars. By the end of the seventeenth century, the entire country had shrunk by more than half of its population; the city of Madrid had gone from a population of 400,000 to 150,000. With diminishing returns from its efforts over so many years, Spain fell into a decline from which it never recovered.

Power requires self-discipline. The prospect of wealth, particularly easy, sudden wealth, plays havoc with the emotions. The suddenly rich believe that more is always possible. The free lunch, the money that will fall into your lap, is just around the corner.

In this delusion the greedy neglect everything power really depends on: self-control, the goodwill of others, and so on.

Understand: With one exception—death—no lasting change in fortune comes quickly. Sudden wealth rarely lasts, for it is built on nothing solid. Never let lust for money lure you out of the protective and enduring fortress of real power. Make power your goal and money will find its way to you. Leave El Dorado for suckers and fools.

Transgression II

In the early eighteenth century, no one stood higher in English society than the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. The duke, having led successful campaigns against the French, was considered Europe’s premier general and strategist. And his wife, the duchess, after much maneuvering, had established herself as the favorite of Queen Anne, who became ruler of England in 1702. In 1704 the duke’s triumph at the Battle of Blenheim made him the toast of England, and to honor him the queen awarded him a large plot of land in the town of Woodstock, and the funds to create a great palace there. Calling his planned home the Palace of Blenheim, the duke chose as his architect the young John Vanbrugh, a kind of Renaissance man who wrote plays as well as designed buildings. And so construction began, in the summer of 1705, with much fanfare and great hopes.

Vanbrugh had a dramatist’s sense of architecture. His palace was to be a monument to Marlborough’s brilliance and power, and was to include artificial lakes, enormous bridges, elaborate gardens, and other fantastical touches. From day one, however, the duchess could not be pleased: She thought Vanbrugh was wasting money on yet another stand of trees; she wanted the palace finished as soon as possible. The duchess tortured Vanbrugh and his workmen on every detail. She was consumed with petty matters; although the government was paying for Blenheim, she counted every penny. Eventually her grumbling, about Blenheim and other things too, created an irreparable rift between her and Queen Anne, who, in 1711, dismissed her from the court, ordering her to vacate her apartments at the royal palace. When the duchess left (fuming over the loss of her position, and also of her royal salary), she emptied the apartment of every fixture down to the brass doorknobs.

THE MAN WHO LOVED MONEY BETTER THAN LIFE

In ancient times there was an old woodcutter who went to the mountain almost every day to cut wood.

It was said that this old man was a miser who hoarded his silver until it changed to gold, and that he cared more for gold than anything else in all the world.

One day a wilderness tiger sprang at him and though he ran he could not escape, and the tiger carried him off in its mouth.

The woodcutter’s son saw his father’s danger, and ran to save him if possible. He carried a long knife, and as he could run faster than the tiger, who had a man to carry, he soon overtook them.

His father was not much hurt, for the tiger held him by his clothes. When the old woodcutter saw his son about to stab the tiger he called out in great alarm: “Do not spoil the tiger’s skin! Do not spoil the tiger’s skin! If you can kill him without cutting holes in his skin we can get many pieces of silver for it. Kill him, but do not cut his body.” While the son was listening to his father’s instructions the tiger suddenly dashed off into the forest, carrying the old man where the son could not reach him, and he was soon killed.

“CHINESE FABLE,” VARIOUS FABLES FROM VARIOUS PLACES, DIANE DI PRIMA, ED., 1960

Over the next ten years, work on Blenheim would stop and start, as the funds became harder to procure from the government. The duchess thought Vanbrugh was out to ruin her. She quibbled over every carload of stone and bushel of lime, counted every extra yard of iron railing or foot of wainscot, hurling abuse at the wasteful workmen, contractors, and surveyors. Marlborough, old and weary, wanted nothing more than to settle into the palace in his last years, but the project became bogged down in a swamp of litigation, the workmen suing the duchess for wages, the duchess suing the architect right back. In the midst of this interminable wrangling, the duke died. He had never spent a night in his beloved Blenheim.

After Marlborough’s death, it became clear that he had a vast estate, worth over £2 million—more than enough to pay for finishing the palace. But the duchess would not relent: She held back Vanbrugh’s wages as well as the workmen’s, and finally had the architect dismissed. The man who took his place finished Blenheim in a few years, following Vanbrugh’s designs to the letter. Vanbrugh died in 1726, locked out of the palace by the duchess, unable to set foot in his greatest creation. Foreshadowing the romantic movement, Blenheim had started a whole new trend in architecture, but had given its creator a twenty-year nightmare.

Interpretation

For the Duchess of Marlborough, money was a way to play sadistic power games. She saw the loss of money as a symbolic loss of power. With Vanbrugh her contortions went deeper still: He was a great artist, and she envied his power to create, to attain a fame outside her reach. She may not have had his gifts, but she did have the money to torture and abuse him over the pettiest details—to ruin his life.

This kind of sadism, however, bears an awful price. It made construction that should have lasted ten years take twenty. It poisoned many a relationship, alienated the duchess from the court, deeply pained the duke (who wanted only to live peacefully in Blenheim), created endless lawsuits, and took years off Vanbrugh’s life. Finally, too, posterity had the last word: Vanbrugh is recognized as a genius while the duchess is forever remembered for her consummate cheapness.

The powerful must have grandeur of spirit—they can never reveal any pettiness. And money is the most visible arena in which to display either grandeur or pettiness. Best spend freely, then, and create a reputation for generosity, which in the end will pay great dividends. Never let financial details blind you to the bigger picture of how people perceive you. Their resentment will cost you in the long run. And if you want to meddle in the work of creative people under your hire, at least pay them well. Your money will buy their submission better than your displays of power.

THE STORY OF MOSES AND PHARAOH

It is written in the histories of the prophets that Moses was sent to Pharaoh with many miracles, wonders and honors. Now the daily ration for Pharaoh’s table was 4,000 sheep, 400 cows, 200 camels, and a corresponding amount of chickens, fish, beverages, fried meats, sweets, and other things. All the people of Egypt and all his army used to eat at his table every day. For 400 years he had claimed divinity and never ceased providing this food. When Moses prayed, saying, “O Lord, destroy Pharaoh,” God answered his prayer and said, “I shall destroy him in water, and I shall bestow all his wealth and that of his soldiers on you and your peoples.” Several years passed by after this promise, and Pharaoh, doomed to rum, continued to live in all his magnificence. Moses was impatient for God to destroy Pharaoh quickly, and he could not endure to wail any longer. So he fasted for forty days and went to Mount Sinai, and in his communing with god he said, “O Lord. Thou didst promise that Thou wouldst destroy Pharaoh, and still he has forsaken none of his blasphemies and pretensions. So when wilt Thou destroy him?”

A voice came from The Truth saying, “O Muses, you want Me to destroy Pharaoh as quickly as possible, but a thousand times a thousand of My servants want Me never to do so, because they partake of his bounty and enjoy tranquillity under his rule. By My power I swear that as long as he provides abundant food and comfort for My creatures, I shall not destroy him.”

Moses said, “Then when will Thy promise be fulfilled?” God said, “My promise will be fulfilled when he withholds his provision from My creatures. If ever he begins to lessen his bounty, know that his hour is drawing near.”

It chanced that one day Pharaoh said to Haman, “Moses has gathered the Sons of Israel about him and is causing us disquiet. We know not what will be the issue of his affair with us. We must keep our stores full lest at any time we be without resources. So we must halve our daily rations and keep the saving in reserve.” He deducted 2, 000 sheep, 200 cows, and a 100 camels, and similarly every two or three days reduced the ration. Moses then knew that the promise of The Truth was near to fulfillment, for excessive economy is a sign of decline and a bad omen. The masters of tradition say that on the day when Pharaoh was drowned only two ewes had been killed in his kitchen. Nothing is better than generosity.... If a man is rich and desires, without a royal charter, to act like a lord; if he wants men to humble themselves before him, to revere him and call him Lord and prince, then tell him every day to spread a table with victuals. All those who have acquired renown in the world, have gained it mainly through hospitality, while the miserly and avaricious are despised in both worlds.

THE BOOK OF GOVERNMENT OR RULES FOR KINGS, NIZAM AL-MULK, ELEVENTH CENTURY

OBSERVANCES OF THE LAW

Observance I

Pietro Aretino, son of a lowly shoemaker, had catapulted himself into fame as a writer of biting satires. But like every Renaissance artist, he needed to find a patron who would give him a comfortable lifestyle while not interfering with his work. In 1528 Aretino decided to attempt a new strategy in the patronage game. Leaving Rome, he established himself in Venice, where few had heard of him. He had a fair amount of money he had managed to save, but little else. Soon after he moved into his new home, however, he threw open its doors to rich and poor, regaling them with banquets and amusements. He befriended each and every gondolier, tipping them royally. In the streets, he spread his money liberally, giving it away to beggars, orphans, washerwomen. Among the city’s commoners, word quickly spread that Aretino was more than just a great writer, he was a man of power—a kind of lord.

Artists and men of influence soon began to frequent Aretino’s house. Within a few years he made himself a celebrity; no visiting dignitary would think of leaving Venice without paying him a call. His generosity had cost him most of his savings, but had bought him influence and a good name—a cornerstone in the foundation of power. Since in Renaissance Italy as elsewhere the ability to spend freely was the privilege of the rich, the aristocracy thought Aretino had to be a man of influence, since he spent money like one. And since the influence of a man of influence is worth buying, Aretino became the recipient of all sorts of gifts and moneys. Dukes and duchesses, wealthy merchants, and popes and princes competed to gain his favor, and showered him with all kinds of presents.

Aretino’s spending habits, of course, were strategic, and the strategy worked like a charm. But for real money and comfort he needed a great patron’s bottomless pockets. Having surveyed the possibilities, he eventually set his sights on the extremely wealthy Marquis of Mantua, and wrote an epic poem that he dedicated to the marquis. This was a common practice of writers looking for patronage: In exchange for a dedication they would get a small stipend, enough to write yet another poem, so that they spent their lives in a kind of constant servility. Aretino, however, wanted power, not a measly wage. He might dedicate a poem to the marquis, but he would offer it to him as a gift, implying by doing so that he was not a hired hack looking for a stipend but that he and the marquis were equals.

Aretino’s gift-giving did not stop there: As a close friend of two of Venice’s greatest artists, the sculptor Jacopo Sansovino and the painter Titian, he convinced these men to participate in his gift-giving scheme. Aretino had studied the marquis before going to work on him, and knew his taste inside and out; he was able to advise Sansovino and Titian what subject matter would please the marquis most. When he then sent a Sansovino sculpture and a Titian painting to the marquis as gifts from all three of them, the man was beside himself with joy.

Over the next few months, Aretino sent other gifts—swords, saddles, the glass that was a Venetian specialty, things he knew the marquis prized. Soon he, Titian, and Sansovino began to receive gifts from the marquis in return. And the strategy went further: When the son-in-law of a friend of Aretino’s found himself in jail in Mantua, Aretino was able to get the marquis to arrange his release. Aretino’s friend, a wealthy merchant, was a man of great influence in Venice; by turning the goodwill he had built up with the marquis to use, Aretino had now bought this man’s indebtedness, too, and he in turn would help Aretino when he could. The circle of influence was growing wider. Time and again, Aretino was able to cash in on the immense political power of the marquis, who also helped him in his many court romances.

Eventually, however, the relationship became strained, as Aretino came to feel that the marquis should have requited his generosity better. But he would not lower himself to begging or whining: Since the exchange of gifts between the two men had made them equals, it would not seem right to bring up money. He simply withdrew from the marquis’s circle and hunted for other wealthy prey, settling first on the French king Francis, then the Medicis, the Duke of Urbino, Emperor Charles V, and more. In the end, having many patrons meant he did not have to bow to any of them, and his power seemed comparable to that of a great lord.

Interpretation

Aretino understood two fundamental properties of money:

First, that it has to circulate to bring power. What money should buy is not lifeless objects but power over people. By keeping money in constant circulation, Aretino bought an ever-expanding circle of influence that in the end more than compensated him for his expenses.

Second, Aretino understood the key property of the gift. To give a gift is to imply that you and the recipient are equals at the very least, or that you are the recipient’s superior. A gift also involves an indebtedness or obligation; when friends, for instance, offer you something for free, you can be sure they expect something in return, and that to get it they are making you feel indebted. (The mechanism may or may not be entirely conscious on their part, but this is how it works.)

Aretino avoided such encumbrances on his freedom. Instead of acting like a menial who expects the powerful to pay his way in life, he turned the whole dynamic around; instead of being indebted to the powerful, he made the powerful indebted to him. This was the point of his gift-giving, a ladder that carried him to the highest social levels. By the end of his life he had become the most famous writer in Europe.

Understand: Money may determine power relationships, but those relationships need not depend on the amount of money you have; they also depend on the way you use it. Powerful people give freely, buying influence rather than things. If you accept the inferior position because you have no fortune yet, you may find yourself in it forever. Play the trick that Aretino played on Italy’s aristocracy: Imagine yourself an equal. Play the lord, give freely, open your doors, circulate your money, and create the facade of power through an alchemy that transforms money into influence.

Observance II

Soon after Baron James Rothschild made his fortune in Paris in the early 1820s, he faced his most intractable problem: How could a Jew and a German, a total outsider to French society, win the respect of the xenophobic French upper classes?

Rothschild was a man who understood power—he knew that his fortune would bring him status, but that if he remained socially alienated neither his status nor his fortune would last. So he looked at the society of the time and asked what would win their hearts.

Charity? The French couldn’t care less. Political influence? He already had that, and if anything it only made people more suspicious of him. The one weak spot, he decided, was boredom. In the period of the restoration of the monarchy, the French upper classes were bored.

So Rothschild began to spend astounding sums of money on entertaining them. He hired the best architects in France to design his gardens and ballroom; he hired Marie-Antoine Carême, the most celebrated French chef, to prepare the most lavish parties Paris had ever witnessed; no Frenchman could resist, even if the parties were given by a German Jew. Rothschild’s weekly soirees began to attract bigger and bigger numbers. Over the next few years he won the only thing that would secure an outsider’s power: social acceptance.

Interpretation

Strategic generosity is always a great weapon in building a support base, particularly for the outsider. But the Baron de Rothschild was cleverer still: He knew it was his money that had created the barrier between him and the French, making him look ugly and untrustworthy. The best way to overcome this was literally to waste huge sums, a gesture to show he valued French culture and society over money. What Rothschild did resembled the famous potlatch feasts of the American Northwest: By periodically destroying its wealth in a giant orgy of festivals and bonfires, an Indian tribe would symbolize its power over other tribes. The base of its power was not money but its ability to spend, and its confidence in a superiority that would restore to it all that the potlatch had destroyed.

In the end, the baron’s soirees reflected his desire to mingle not just in France’s business world but in its society. By wasting money on his pot-latches, he hoped to demonstrate that his power went beyond money into the more precious realm of culture. Rothschild may have won social acceptance by spending money, but the support base he gained was one that money alone could not buy. To secure his fortune he had to “waste” it. That is strategic generosity in a nutshell—the ability to be flexible with your wealth, putting it to work, not to buy objects, but to win people’s hearts.

Observance III

The Medicis of Renaissance Florence had built their immense power on the fortune they had made in banking. But in Florence, centuries-old republic that it was, the idea that money bought power went against all the city’s proud democratic values. Cosimo de’ Medici, the first of the family to gain great fame, worked around this by keeping a low profile. He never flaunted his wealth. But by the time his grandson Lorenzo came of age, in the 1470s, the family’s wealth was too large, and their influence too noticeable, to be disguised any longer.

THE FLAME-COLORED CLOCK

During the campaign of Carnbyses in Egypt, a great many Greeks visited that country for one reason or another: some, as was to be expected, for trade, some to serve in the army, others, no doubt, out of mere curiosity, to see what they could see. Amongst the sightseers was Aeaces’s son Syloson, the exiled brother of Polycrates of Samos. While he was in Egypt, Syloson had an extraordinary stroke of luck: he was hanging about the streets of Memphis dressed in a flame-colored cloak, when Darius, who at that time was a member of Cambyses’s guard and not yet of any particular importance, happened to catch sight of him and, seized with a sudden longing to possess the cloak, came up to Syloson and made him an offer for it.

His extreme anxiety to get it was obvious enough to Syloson, who was inspired to say: “I am not selling this for any money, but if you must have it, I will give it to you for free. ” Darius thererepon thanked him warmly and took it.

Syloson at the moment merely thought he had lost it by his foolish good nature; then came the death of Cambyses and the revolt of the seven against the Magus, and Darius ascended the throne.

Syloson now had the news that the man whose request for the flame-colored cloak he had formerly gratified in Egypt had become king of Persia. He hurried to Susa, sat down at the entrance of the royal palace, and claimed to be included in the official list of the king’s benefactors.

The sentry on guard reported his claim to Darius, who asked in surprise who the man might be. “For surely,” he said, “as I have so recently come to the throne, there cannot be any Greek to whom I am indebted for a service. Hardly any of them have been here yet, and I certainly cannot remember owing anything to a Greek. But bring him in all the same, that I may know what he means by this claim.”

The guard escorted Syloson into the royal presence, and when the interpreters asked him who he was and what he had done to justify the statement that he was the king’s benefactor, he reminded Darius of the story of the cloak, and said that he was the man who had given it him. “Sir,” exclaimed Darius, “you are the most generous of men; for while I was still a person of no power or consequence you gave me a present—small indeed, but deserving then as much gratitude from me as would the most splendid of gifts today.

I will give you in return more silver and gold than you can count, that you may never regret that you once did a favor to Darius the son of Hystaspes. ”

“My lord, ” replied Syloson, ”do not give me gold or silver, but recover Samos for me, my native island, which now since Oroetes killed my brother Polycrates is in the hands of one of our servants. Let Samos be your gift to me—but let no man in the island be killed or enslaved.”

Darius consented to Syloson’s request, and dispatched a force under the command of Otanes, one of the seven, with orders to do everything that Syloson had asked.

THE HISTORIES. HERODOTUS. FIFTH CENTURY B.C.

Lorenzo solved the problem in his own way by developing the strategy of distraction that has served people of wealth ever since: He became the most illustrious patron of the arts that history has ever known. Not only did he spend lavishly on paintings, he created Italy’s finest apprentice schools for young artists. It was in one of these schools that the young Michelangelo first caught the attention of Lorenzo, who invited the artist to come and live in his house. He did the same with Leonardo da Vinci. Once under his wing, Michelangelo and Leonardo requited his generosity by becoming loyal artists in his stable.

Whenever Lorenzo faced an enemy, he would wield the weapon of patronage. When Pisa, Florence’s traditional enemy, threatened to rebel against it in 1472, Lorenzo placated its people by pouring money into its university, which had once been its pride and joy but had long ago lost its luster. The Pisans had no defense against this insidious maneuver, which simultaneously fed their love of culture and blunted their desire for battle.

Interpretation

Lorenzo undoubtedly loved the arts, but his patronage of artists had a practical function as well, of which he was keenly aware. In Florence at the time, banking was perhaps the least admired way of making money, and was certainly not a respected source of power. The arts were at the other pole, the pole of quasi-religious transcendence. By spending on the arts, Lorenzo diluted people’s opinions of the ugly source of his wealth, disguising himself in nobility. There is no better use of strategic generosity than that of distracting attention from an unsavory reality and wrapping oneself in the mantle of art or religion.

Observance IV

Louis XIV had an eagle eye for the strategic power of money. When he came to the throne, the powerful nobility had recently proven a thorn in the monarchy’s side, and seethed with rebelliousness. So he impoverished these aristocrats by making them spend enormous sums on maintaining their position in the court. Making them dependent on royal largesse for their livelihood, he had them in his claws.

Next Louis brought the nobles to their knees with strategic generosity. It would work like this: Whenever he noticed a stubborn courtier whose influence he needed to gain, or whose troublemaking he needed to squelch, he would use his vast wealth to soften the soil. First he would ignore his victim, making the man anxious. Then the man would suddenly find that his son had been given a well-paid post, or that funds had been spent liberally in his home region, or that he had been given a painting he had long coveted. Presents would flow from Louis’s hands. Finally, weeks or months later, Louis would ask for the favor he had needed all along. A man who had once vowed to do anything to stop the king would find he had lost the desire to fight. A straightforward bribe would have made him rebellious; this was far more insidious. Facing hardened earth in which nothing could take root, Louis loosened the soil before he planted his seeds. Interpretation

Louis understood that there is a deep-rooted emotional element in our attitude to money, an element going back to childhood. When we are children, all kinds of complicated feelings about our parents center around gifts; we see the giving of a gift as a sign of love and approval. And that emotional element never goes away. The recipients of gifts, financial or otherwise, are suddenly as vulnerable as children, especially when the gift comes from someone in authority. They cannot help opening up; their will is loosened, as Louis loosened the soil.

To succeed best, the gift should come out of the blue. It should be remarkable for the fact that a gift like it has never been given before, or for being preceded by a cold shoulder from the giver. The more often you give to particular people, the blunter this weapon becomes. If they don’t take your gifts for granted, becoming monsters of ingratitude, they will resent what appears to be charity. The sudden, unexpected, one- time gift will not spoil your children; it will keep them under your thumb.

Observance V

The antique dealer Fushimiya, who lived in the city of Edo (former name for Tokyo) in the seventeenth century, once made a stop at a village teahouse. After enjoying a cup of tea, he spent several minutes scrutinizing the cup, which he eventually paid for and took away with him. A local artisan, watching this, waited until Fushimiya left the shop, then approached the old woman who owned the teahouse and asked her who this man was. She told him it was Japan’s most famous connoisseur, antique dealer to the lord of Izumo. The artisan ran out of the shop, caught up with Fushimiya, and begged him to sell him the cup, which must clearly be valuable if Fushimiya judged it so. Fushimiya laughed heartily: “It’s just an ordinary cup of Bizen ware,” he explained, “and it is not valuable at all. The reason I was looking at it was that the steam seemed to hang about it strangely and I wondered if there wasn’t a leak somewhere.” (Devotees of the Tea Ceremony were interested in any odd or accidental beauty in nature.) Since the artisan still seemed so excited about it, Fushimiya gave him the cup for free.

The artisan took the cup around, trying to find an expert who would appraise it at a high price, but since all of them recognized it as an ordinary teacup he got nowhere. Soon he was neglecting his own business, thinking only of the cup and the fortune it could bring. Finally he went to Edo to talk to Fushimiya at his shop. There the dealer, realizing that he had inadvertently caused this man pain by making him believe the cup had great worth, paid him 100 ryo (gold pieces) for the cup as a kindness. The cup was indeed mediocre, but he wanted to rid the artisan of his obsession, while also allowing him to feel that his effort had not been wasted. The artisan thanked him and went on his way.

Money is never spent to so much advantage as when you have been cheated out of it; for at one stroke you have purchased prudence.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788-1860

Soon word spread of Fushimiya’s purchase of the teacup. Every dealer in Japan clamored for him to sell it, since a cup he had bought for 100 ryo must be worth much more. He tried to explain the circumstances in which he had bought the cup, but the dealers could not be dissuaded. Fushimiya finally relented and put the cup up for sale.

During the auction, two buyers simultaneously bid 200 ryo for the teacup, and then began to fight over who had bid first. Their fighting tipped over a table and the teacup fell to the ground and broke into several pieces. The auction was clearly over. Fushimiya glued and mended the cup, then stored it away, thinking the affair finished. Years later, however, the great tea master Matsudaira Fumai visited the store, and asked to see the cup, which by then had become legendary. Fumai examined it. “As a piece,” he said, “it is not up to much, but a Tea Master prizes sentiment and association more than intrinsic value.” He bought the cup for a high sum. A glued-together work of less than ordinary craftsmanship had become one of the most famous objects in Japan.

Interpretation

The story shows, first, an essential aspect of money: That it is humans who have created it and humans who instill it with meaning and value. Second, with objects as with money, what the courtier most values are the sentiments and emotions embedded in them —these are what make them worth having. The lesson is simple: The more your gifts and your acts of generosity play with sentiment, the more powerful they are. The object or concept that plays with a charged emotion or hits a chord of sentiment has more power than the money you squander on an expensive yet lifeless present.

Observance VI

Akimoto Suzutomo, a wealthy adherent of the tea ceremony, once gave his page 100 ryo (gold pieces) and instructed him to purchase a tea bowl offered by a particular dealer. When the page saw the bowl, he doubted it was worth that much, and after much bargaining got the price reduced to 95 ryo. Days later, after Suzutomo had put the bowl to use, the page proudly told him what he had done.

“What an ignoramus you are!” replied Suzutomo. “A tea bowl that anyone asks 100 pieces of gold for can only be a family heirloom, and a thing like that is only sold when the family is pressed for money. And in that case they will be hoping to find someone who will give even 150 pieces for it. So what sort of fellow is it who does not consider their feelings? Quite apart from that, a curio that you give 100 ryo for is something worth having, but one that has only cost 95 gives a mean impression. So never let me see that tea bowl again!” And he had the bowl locked away, and never took it out.

Interpretation

When you insist on paying less, you may save your five ryo, but the insult you cause and the cheap impression you create will cost you in reputation, which is the thing the powerful prize above all. Learn to pay the full price—it will save you a lot in the end.

A GIFT OF FISH

Kung-yi Hsiu, premier of Lu, was fond of fish. Therefore, people in the whole country conscientiously bought fish, which they presented to him. However, Kung-yi would not accept the presents. Against such a step his younger brother remonstrated with him and said: “You like fish, indeed. Why don’t you accept the present of fish?” In reply, he said: “It is solely because I like fish that I would not accept the fish they gave me. Indeed, if I accept the fish, I will be placed under an obligation to them. Once placed under an obligation to them, I will some time have to bend the law. If I bend the law, I will be dismissed from the premiership. After being dismissed from the premiership, I might not be able to supply myself with fish. On the contrary, if I do not accept the fish from them and am not dismissed the premiership, however fond of fish, I can always supply myself with fish.”

HAN-FEI-TZU, CHINESE PHILOSOPHER, THIRD CENTURY B.C.

Observance VII

Sometime near the beginning of the seventeenth century in Japan, a group of generals whiled away the time before a big battle by staging an incense-smelling competition. Each participant anted up a prize for the contest’s winners—bows, arrows, saddles, and other items a warrior would covet.

The great Lord Date Masamune happened to pass by and was induced to participate. For a prize, he offered the gourd that hung from his belt. Everyone laughed, for no one wanted to win this cheap item. A retainer of the host finally accepted the gourd.

When the party broke up, however, and the generals were chatting outside the tent, Masamune brought over his magnificent horse and gave it to the retainer. “There,” he said, “a horse has come out of the gourd.” The stunned generals suddenly regretted their scorn at Masamune’s gift.

Interpretation

Masamune understood the following: Money gives its possessor the ability to give pleasure to others. The more you can do this, the more you attract admiration. When you make a horse come out of a gourd, you give the ultimate demonstration of your power.

Image: The River. To protect yourself or to save the resource, you dam it up. Soon, however, the waters become dank and pestilent. Only the foulest forms of life can live in such stagnant waters; nothing travels on them, all commerce stops. Destroy the dam. When water flows and circulates, it generates abundance, wealth, and power in ever larger circles. The River must flood periodically for good things to flourish.

I took money only from those who could afford it and were willing to go in with me in schemes they fancied would fleece others. They wanted money for its own sake. I wanted it for the luxuries and pleasures it would afford me. They were seldom concerned with human nature. They knew little-and cared less-about their fellow men. If they had been keener students of human nature, if they had given more time to companionship with their fellows and less to the chase of the almighty dollar, they wouldn’t have been such easy marks.

“YELLOW KID” WEIL. 1875-1976

Authority: The great man who is a miser is a great fool, and a man in high places can have no vice so harmful as avarice. A miserly man can conquer neither lands nor lordships, for he does not have a plentiful supply of friends with whom he may work his will. Whoever wants to have friends must not love his possessions but must acquire friends by means of fair gifts; for in the same way that the lodestone subtly draws iron to itself, so the gold and silver that a man gives attract the hearts of men. (The Romance of the Rose, Guillaume de Lorris, c. 1200-1238)

REVERSAL

The powerful never forget that what is offered for free is inevitably a trick. Friends who offer favors without asking for payment will later want something far dearer than the money you would have paid them. The bargain has hidden problems, both material and psychological. Learn to pay, then, and to pay well.

On the other hand, this Law offers great opportunities for swindling and deception if you apply it from the other side. Dangling the lure of a free lunch is the con artist’s stock in trade.

No man was better at this than the most successful con artist of our age, Joseph Weil, a.k.a. “The Yellow Kid.” The Yellow Kid learned early that what made his swindles possible was his fellow humans’ greed. “This desire to get something for nothing,” he once wrote, “has been very costly to many people who have dealt with me and with other con men….

When people learn—as I doubt they will—that they can’t get something for nothing, crime will diminish and we shall all live in greater harmony.”

Over the years Weil devised many ways to seduce people with the prospect of easy money. He would hand out “free” real estate—who could resist such an offer?—and then the suckers would learn they had to pay $25 to register the sale.

Since the land was free, it seemed worth the high fee, and the Yellow Kid would make thousands of dollars on the phony registration. In exchange he would give his suckers a phony deed.

Other times, he would tell suckers about a fixed horse race, or a stock that would earn 200 percent in a few weeks. As he spun his stories he would watch the sucker’s eyes open wide at the thought of a free lunch.

The lesson is simple: Bait your deceptions with the possibility of easy money. People are essentially lazy, and want wealth to fall in their lap rather than to work for it. For a small sum, sell them advice on how to make millions (P. T. Barnum did this later in life), and that small sum will become a fortune when multiplied by thousands of suckers. Lure people in with the prospect of easy money and you have the room to work still more deceptions on them, since greed is powerful enough to blind your victims to anything.

And as the Yellow Kid said, half the fun is teaching a moral lesson: Greed does not pay.

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Law 45 of the 48 Laws of Power; Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once

This is law 45 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it. Americans should naturally understand this law, as it defines what America has been now for decades.

Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.

Borrow the weight and legitimacy from the past, however remote, to create a comforting and familiar presence.
Humans desire change in the abstract, or superficial change, but a change that upsets core habits and routines is deeply disturbing to them.
Understand: The fact that the past is dead and buried gives you the freedom to reinterpret it. To support your cause, tinker with the facts. The past is a text in which you can safely insert your own lines.
A simple gesture like using an old title, or keeping the same number for a group, will tie you to the past and support you with the authority of history.

LAW 45

PREACH THE NEED FOR CHANGE, BUT NEVER REFORM TOO MUCH AT ONCE

JUDGMENT

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

Sometime in the early 1520s, King Henry VIII of England decided to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, because she had failed to bear him a son, and because he had fallen in love with the young and comely Anne Boleyn. The pope, Clement VII, opposed the divorce, and threatened the king with excommunication. The king’s most powerful minister, Cardinal Wolsey, also saw no need for divorce—and his halfhearted support of the king cost him his position and soon his life.

One man in Henry’s cabinet, Thomas Cromwell, not only supported him in his desire for a divorce but had an idea for realizing it: a complete break with the past. He convinced the king that by severing ties with Rome and making himself the head of a newly formed English church, he could divorce Catherine and marry Anne. By 1531 Henry saw this as the only solution. To reward Cromwell for his simple but brilliant idea, he elevated this son of a blacksmith to the post of royal councillor.

By 1534 Cromwell had been named the king’s secretary, and as the power behind the throne he had become the most powerful man in England. But for him the break with Rome went beyond the satisfaction of the king’s carnal desires: He envisioned a new Protestant order in England, with the power of the Catholic Church smashed and its vast wealth in the hands of the king and the government. In that same year he initiated a complete survey of the churches and monasteries of England. And as it turned out, the treasures and moneys that the churches had accumulated over the centuries were far more than he had imagined; his spies and agents came back with astonishing figures.

To justify his schemes, Cromwell circulated stories about the corruption in the English monasteries, their abuse of power, their exploitation of the people they supposedly served. Having won Parliament’s support for breaking up the monasteries, he began to seize their holdings and to put them out of existence one by one. At the same time, he began to impose Protestantism, introducing reforms in religious ritual and punishing those who stuck to Catholicism, and who now were called heretics. Virtually overnight, England was converted to a new official religion.

A terror fell on the country. Some people had suffered under the Catholic Church, which before the reforms had been immensely powerful, but most Britons had strong ties to Catholicism and to its comforting rituals. They watched in horror as churches were demolished, images of the Madonna and saints were broken in pieces, stained- glass windows were smashed, and the churches’ treasures were confiscated. With monasteries that had succored the poor suddenly gone, the poor now flooded the streets. The growing ranks of the beggar class were further swelled by former monks. On top of all this, Cromwell levied high taxes to pay for his ecclesiastical reforms.

Celebrating the turn of the year is an ancient custom. The Romans celebrated the Saturnalia, the festival of Saturn, god of the harvest, between December 17 and 23. It was the most cheerful festival of the year. All work and commerce stopped, and the streets were filled with crowds and a carnival atmosphere. Slaves were temporarily freed, and the houses were decorated with laurel branches. People visited one another, bringing gifts of wax candles and little clay figurines.

Long before the birth of Christ, the Jews celebrated an eight-day Festival of Lights [at the same season], and it is believed that the Germanic peoples held a great festival not only at midsummer but also at the winter solstice, when they celebrated the rebirth of the sun and honored the great fertility gods Wotan and Freyja, Donar (Thor) and Freyr. Even after the Emperor Constantine (A.D. 306-337) declared Christianity to be Rome’s official imperial religion, the evocation of light and fertility as an important component of pre-Christian midwinter celebrations could nor be entirely suppressed. In the year 274 the Roman Emperor Aurelian (A.D. 214-

275) had established an official cult of the sun-god Mithras, declaring his birthday, December 25, a national holiday. The cult of Mithras, the Aryan god of light, had spread from Persia through Asia Minor to Greece, Rome, and as far as the Germanic lands and Britain. Numerous ruins of his shrines still testify to the high regard in which this god was held, especially by the Roman legions, as a bringer of fertility, peace, and victory. So it was a clever move when, in the year A.D. 354, the Christian church under Pope Liberius (352-366) co-opted the birthday of Mithras and declared December 25 to be the birthday of Jesus Christ.

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG, ANNE-SUSANNE RISCHKE, DECEMBER 25, 1983

In 1535 powerful revolts in the North of England threatened to topple Henry from his throne. By the following year he had suppressed the rebellions, but he had also begun to see the costs of Cromwell’s reforms. The king himself had never wanted to go this far— he had only wanted a divorce. It was now Cromwell’s turn to watch uneasily as the king began slowly to undo his reforms, reinstating Catholic sacraments and other rituals that Cromwell had outlawed.

Sensing his fall from grace, in 1540 Cromwell decided to regain Henry’s favor with one throw of the dice: He would find the king a new wife. Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, had died a few years before, and he had been pining for a new young queen. It was Cromwell who found him one: Anne of Cleves, a German princess and, most important to Cromwell, a Protestant. On Cromwell’s commission, the painter Holbein produced a flattering portrait of Anne; when Henry saw it, he fell in love, and agreed to marry her. Cromwell seemed back in favor.

Unfortunately, however, Holbein’s painting was highly idealized, and when the king finally met the princess she did not please him in the least. His anger against Cromwell

—first for the ill-conceived reforms, now for saddling him with an unattractive and Protestant wife—could no longer be contained. In June of that year, Cromwell was arrested, charged as a Protestant extremist and a heretic, and sent to the Tower. Six weeks later, before a large and enthusiastic crowd, the public executioner cut off his head.

Interpretation

Thomas Cromwell had a simple idea: He would break up the power and wealth of the Church and lay the foundation for Protestantism in England. And he would do this in a mercilessly short time. He knew his speedy reforms would cause pain and resentment, but he thought these feelings would fade in a few years. More important, by identifying himself with change, he would become the leader of the new order, making the king dependent on him. But there was a problem in his strategy: Like a billiard ball hit too hard against the cushion, his reforms had reactions and caroms he did not envision and could not control.

The man who initiates strong reforms often becomes the scapegoat for any kind of dissatisfaction. And eventually the reaction to his reforms may consume him, for change is upsetting to the human animal, even when it is for the good. Because the world is and always has been full of insecurity and threat, we latch on to familiar faces and create habits and rituals to make the world more comfortable. Change can be pleasant and even sometimes desirable in the abstract, but too much of it creates an anxiety that will stir and boil beneath the surface and then eventually erupt.

Never underestimate the hidden conservatism of those around you. It is powerful and entrenched. Never let the seductive charm of an idea cloud your reason: Just as you cannot make people see the world your way, you cannot wrench them into the future with painful changes. They will rebel. If reform is necessary, anticipate the reaction against it and find ways to disguise the change and sweeten the poison.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

As a young Communist in the 1920s, Mao Tse-tung understood better than any of his colleagues the incredible odds against a Communist victory in China. With their small numbers, limited funds, lack of military experience, and small arsenal of weapons, the Party had no hope of success unless it won over China’s immense peasant population. But who in the world was more conservative, more rooted in tradition, than the Chinese peasantry? The oldest civilization on the planet had a history that would never loosen its power, no matter how violent the revolution. The ideas of Confucius remained as alive in the 1920s as they had been in the sixth century B.C., when the philosopher was alive.

Despite the oppressions of the current system, would the peasantry ever give up the deep-rooted values of the past for the great unknown of Communism?

The solution, as Mao saw it, involved a simple deception: Cloak the revolution in the clothing of the past, making it comforting and legitimate in people’s eyes. One of Mao’s favorite books was the very popular medieval Chinese novel The Water Margin, which recounts the exploits of a Chinese Robin Hood and his robber band as they struggle against a corrupt and evil monarch. In China in Mao’s time, family ties dominated over any other kind, for the Confucian hierarchy of father and oldest son remained firmly in place; but The Water Margin preached a superior value—the fraternal ties of the band of robbers, the nobility of the cause that unites people beyond blood. The novel had great emotional resonance for Chinese people, who love to root for the underdog. Time and again, then, Mao would present his revolutionary army as an extension of the robber band in The Water Margin, likening his struggle to the timeless conflict between the oppressed peasantry and an evil emperor. He made the past seem to envelop and legitimize the Communist cause; the peasantry could feel comfortable with and even support a group with such roots in the past.

Even once the Party came to power, Mao continued to associate it with the past. He presented himself to the masses not as a Chinese Lenin but as a modern Chuko Liang, the real-life third-century strategist who figures prominently in the popular historical novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Liang was more than a great general—he was a poet, a philosopher, and a figure of stern moral rectitude. So Mao represented himself as a poet-warrior like Liang, a man who mixed strategy with philosophy and preached a new ethics. He made himself appear like a hero from the great Chinese tradition of warrior statesmen.

Soon, everything in Mao’s speeches and writings had a reference to an earlier period in Chinese history. He recalled, for example, the great Emperor Ch‘in, who had unified the country in the third century B.C. Ch’in had burned the works of Confucius, consolidated and completed the building of the Great Wall, and given his name to China. Like Ch‘in, Mao also had brought the country together, and had sought bold reforms against an oppressive past. Ch’in had traditionally been seen as a violent dictator whose reign was short; the brilliance of Mao’s strategy was to turn this around, simultaneously reinterpreting Ch’in, justifying his rule in the eyes of present-day Chinese, and using him to justify the violence of the new order that Mao himself was creating.

After the failed Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s, a power struggle emerged in the Communist Party in which Mao’s main foe was Lin Piao, once a close friend of his. To make clear to the masses the difference between his philosophy and Lin’s, Mao once again exploited the past: He cast his opponent as representing Confucius, a philosopher

Lin in fact would constantly quote. And Confucius signified the conservatism of the past. Mao associated himself, on the other hand, with the ancient philosophical movement known as Legalism, exemplified by the writings of Han-fei-tzu. The Legalists disdained Confucian ethics; they believed in the need for violence to create a new order. They worshiped power. To give himself weight in the struggle, Mao unleashed a nationwide propaganda campaign against Confucius, using the issues of Confucianism versus Legalism to whip the young into a kind of frenzied revolt against the older generation. This grand context enveloped a rather banal power struggle, and Mao once again won over the masses and triumphed over his enemies.

Interpretation

No people had a more profound attachment to the past than the Chinese. In the face of this enormous obstacle to reform, Mao’s strategy was simple: Instead of struggling against the past, he turned it to his advantage, associating his radical Communists with the romantic figures of Chinese history. Weaving the story of the War of the Three Kingdoms into the struggle between the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, he cast himself as Chuko Liang. As the emperors had, he welcomed the cultlike adoration of the masses, understanding that the Chinese could not function without some kind of father figure to admire. And after he made a terrible blunder with the Great Leap Forward, trying to force modernization on the country and failing miserably, he never repeated his mistake: From then on, radical change had to be cloaked in the comfortable clothes of the past.

The lesson is simple: The past is powerful. What has happened before seems greater; habit and history give any act weight. Use this to your advantage. When you destroy the familiar you create a void or vacuum; people fear the chaos that will flood in to fill it. You must avoid stirring up such fears at all cost. Borrow the weight and legitimacy from the past, however remote, to create a comforting and familiar presence. This will give your actions romantic associations, add to your presence, and cloak the nature of the changes you are attempting.

It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.

Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527

KEYS TO POWER

Human psychology contains many dualities, one of them being that even while people understand the need for change, knowing how important it is for institutions and individuals to be occasionally renewed, they are also irritated and upset by changes that affect them personally. They know that change is necessary, and that novelty provides relief from boredom, but deep inside they cling to the past. Change in the abstract, or superficial change, they desire, but a change that upsets core habits and routines is deeply disturbing to them.

No revolution has gone without a powerful later reaction against it, for in the long run the void it creates proves too unsettling to the human animal, who unconsciously associates such voids with death and chaos. The opportunity for change and renewal seduces people to the side of the revolution, but once their enthusiasm fades, which it will, they are left with a certain emptiness. Yearning for the past, they create an opening for it to creep back in.

For Machiavelli, the prophet who preaches and brings change can only survive by taking up arms: When the masses inevitably yearn for the past, he must be ready to use force. But the armed prophet cannot last long unless he quickly creates a new set of values and rituals to replace the old ones, and to soothe the anxieties of those who dread change. It is far easier, and less bloody, to play a kind of con game. Preach change as much as you like, and even enact your reforms, but give them the comforting appearance of older events and traditions.

Reigning from A.D. 8 to A.D. 23, the Chinese emperor Wang Mang emerged from a period of great historical turbulence in which the people yearned for order, an order represented for them by Confucius. Some two hundred years earlier, however, Emperor Ch’in had ordered the writings of Confucius burned. A few years later, word had spread that certain texts had miraculously survived, hidden under the scholar’s house. These texts may not have been genuine, but they gave Wang his opportunity: He first confiscated them, then had his scribes insert passages into them that seemed to support the changes he had been imposing on the country. When he released the texts, it seemed that Confucius sanctioned Wang’s reforms, and the people felt comforted and accepted them more easily.

Understand: The fact that the past is dead and buried gives you the freedom to reinterpret it. To support your cause, tinker with the facts. The past is a text in which you can safely insert your own lines.

A simple gesture like using an old title, or keeping the same number for a group, will tie you to the past and support you with the authority of history. As Machiavelli himself observed, the Romans used this device when they transformed their monarchy into a republic. They may have installed two consuls in place of the king, but since the king had been served by twelve lictors, they retained the same number to serve under the consuls. The king had personally performed an annual sacrifice, in a great spectacle that stirred the public; the republic retained this practice, only transferring it to a special “chief of the ceremony, whom they called the King of the sacrifice.” These and similar gestures satisfied the people and kept them from clamoring for the monarchy’s return.

Another strategy to disguise change is to make a loud and public display of support for the values of the past. Seem to be a zealot for tradition and few will notice how unconventional you really are. Renaissance Florence had a centuries-old republic, and was suspicious of anyone who flouted its traditions. Cosimo de’ Medici made a show of enthusiastic support for the republic, while in reality he worked to bring the city under the control of his wealthy family. In form, the Medicis retained the appearance of a republic; in substance, they rendered it powerless. They quietly enacted a radical change, while appearing to safeguard tradition.

Science claims a search for truth that would seem to protect it from conservatism and the irrationality of habit: It is a culture of innovation. Yet when Charles Darwin published his ideas of evolution, he faced fiercer opposition from his fellow scientists than from religious authorities. His theories challenged too many fixed ideas. Jonas Salk ran into the same wall with his radical innovations in immunology, as did Max Planck with his revolutionizing of physics. Planck later wrote of the scientific opposition he faced, “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”

The answer to this innate conservatism is to play the courtier’s game. Galileo did this at the beginning of his scientific career; he later became more confrontational, and paid for it. So pay lip service to tradition. Identify the elements in your revolution that can be made to seem to build on the past. Say the right things, make a show of conformity, and meanwhile let your theories do their radical work. Play with appearances and respect past protocol. This is true in every arena—science being no exception.

Finally, powerful people pay attention to the zeitgeist. If their reform is too far ahead of its time, few will understand it, and it will stir up anxiety and be hopelessly misinterpreted. The changes you make must seem less innovative than they are. England did eventually become a Protestant nation, as Cromwell wished, but it took over a century of gradual evolution.

Watch the zeitgeist. If you work in a tumultuous time, there is power to be gained by preaching a return to the past, to comfort, tradition, and ritual. During a period of stagnation, on the other hand, play the card of reform and revolution—but beware of what you stir up. Those who finish a revolution are rarely those who start it. You will not succeed at this dangerous game unless you are willing to forestall the inevitable reaction against it by playing with appearances and building on the past.

Authority: He who desires or attempts to reform the government of a state, and wishes to have it accepted, must at least retain the semblance of the old forms; so that it may seem to the people that there has been no change in the institutions, even though in fact they are entirely different from the old ones. For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities. (Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469- 1527)

Image: The Cat. Creature of habit, it loves the warmth of the familiar. Upset its routines, disrupt its space, and it will grow unmanageable and psychotic. Placate it by supporting its rituals. If change is necessary, deceive the cat by keeping the smell of the past alive; place objects familiar to it in strategic locations.

REVERSAL

The past is a corpse to be used as you see fit. If what happened in the recent past was painful and harsh, it is self-destructive to associate yourself with it. When Napoleon came to power, the French Revolution was fresh in everyone’s minds. If the court that he established had borne any resemblance to the lavish court of Louis XVI and Marie- Antoinette, his courtiers would have spent all their time worrying about their own necks. Instead, Napoleon established a court remarkable for its sobriety and lack of ostentation. It was the court of a man who valued work and military virtues. This new form seemed appropriate and reassuring.

In other words, pay attention to the times. But understand: If you make a bold change from the past, you must avoid at all costs the appearance of a void or vacuum, or you will create terror. Even an ugly recent history will seem preferable to an empty space. Fill that space immediately with new rituals and forms. Soothing and growing familiar, these will secure your position among the masses.

Finally, the arts, fashion, and technology would seem to be areas in which power would come from creating a radical rupture with the past and appearing cutting edge. Indeed, such a strategy can bring great power, but it has many dangers. It is inevitable that your innovations will be outdone by someone else. You have little control— someone younger and fresher moves in a sudden new direction, making your bold innovation of yesterday seem tiresome and tame today. You are forever playing catch- up; your power is tenuous and short-lived. You want a power built on something more solid. Using the past, tinkering with tradition, playing with convention to subvert it will give your creations something more than a momentary appeal. Periods of dizzying change disguise the fact that a yearning for the past will inevitably creep back in. In the end, using the past for your own purposes will bring you more power than trying to cut it out completely—a futile and self-destructive endeavor.

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Law 48 of the 48 Laws of Power; Assume formlessness

This is law 48 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.

The powerful are constantly creating form, and their power comes from the rapidity with which they can change.
The first psychological requirement of formlessness is to train yourself to take nothing personally. Never show any defensiveness.
When you find yourself in conflict with someone stronger and more rigid, allow them a momentary victory. Seem to bow to their superiority. Then, by being formless, slowly insinuate yourself.
The need for formlessness becomes greater as we age, as we become more likely to become set in our ways and assume too rigid a form. As you get older, you must rely even less on the past.
Remember: Formlessness is a tool. Never confuse it with a go-with-the-flow style, or with a religious resignation to the twists of fortune. You use formlessness, not because it creates inner harmony and peace, but because it will increase your power.
Finally, learning to adapt to each new circumstance means seeing events through your own eyes, and often ignoring the advice that people constantly peddle your way. It means that ultimately you must throw out the laws that others preach, and the books they write to tell you what to do, and the sage advice of the elder.
Note: when you do finally engage an enemy, hit them with a powerful, concentrated blow.

LAW 48

ASSUME FORMLESSNESS

JUDGMENT

By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.

In martial arts, it is important that strategy be unfathomable, that form be concealed, and that movements be unexpected, so that preparedness against them be impossible. What enables a good general to win without fail is always having unfathomable wisdom and a modus operandi that leaves no tracks. Only the formless cannot be affected. Sages hide in unfathomability, so their feelings cannot be observed; they operate in formlessness, so their lines cannot be crossed.

THE BOOK OF THE HUAINAN MASTERS, CHINA, SECOND CENTURY B.C.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

By the eighth century B.C., the city-states of Greece had grown so large and prosperous that they had run out of land to support their expanding populations. So they turned to the sea, establishing colonies in Asia Minor, Sicily, the Italian peninsula, even Africa. The city-state of Sparta, however, was landlocked and surrounded by mountains. Lacking access to the Mediterranean, the Spartans never became a seafaring people; instead they turned on the cities around them, and, in a series of brutal, violent conflicts lasting more than a hundred years, managed to conquer an immense area that would provide enough land for their citizens. This solution to their problem, however, brought a new, more formidable one: How could they maintain and police their conquered territories? The subordinate peoples they ruled now outnumbered them ten to one. Surely this horde would take a horrible revenge on them.

Sparta’s solution was to create a society dedicated to the art of war. Spartans would be tougher, stronger, and fiercer than their neighbors. This was the only way they could ensure their stability and survival.

When a Spartan boy reached the age of seven, he was taken from his mother and placed in a military club where he was trained to fight and underwent the strictest discipline. The boys slept on beds of reeds; they were allotted only one outer garment to wear for an entire year. They studied none of the arts; indeed, the Spartans banned music, and permitted only slaves to practice the crafts that were necessary to sustain them. The only skills the Spartans taught were those of warfare. Children seen as weaklings were left to die in a cavern in the mountains. No system of money or trading was allowed in Sparta; acquired wealth, they believed, would sow selfishness and dissension, weakening their warrior discipline. The only way a Spartan could earn a living was through agriculture, mostly on state-owned lands, which slaves, called helots, would work for him.

The Spartans’ single-mindedness allowed them to forge the most powerful infantry in the world. They marched in perfect order and fought with incomparable bravery. Their tight-knit phalanxes could vanquish an army ten times their size, as they proved in defeating the Persians at Thermopylae. A Spartan column on the march would strike terror in the enemy; it seemed to have no weaknesses. Yet although the Spartans proved themselves mighty warriors, they had no interest in creating an empire. They only wanted to keep what they had already conquered and to defend it against invaders. Decades would pass without a single change in the system that had succeeded so well in preserving Sparta’s status quo.

THE DOC WITH THE CROPPED EARS

“What crime have I committed that I should be thus mutilated by my own master?” pensively exclaimed Jowler, a young mastiff. “Here’s a pretty condition for a dog of my pretentions! How can I show my face among my friends? Oh! king of beasts, or rather their tyrant, who would dare to treat you thus?” His complaints were not unfounded, for that very morning his master, despite the piercing shrieks of our young friend, had barbarously cut off his long pendent ears. Jowler expected nothing less than to give up the ghost. As he advanced in years, he perceived that he gained more than he had lost by his mutilation; for, being naturally inclined to fight with others, he would often have returned home with this part disfigured in a hundred places. A quarrelsome dog always has his ears lacerated. The less we leave others to lay hold of the better. When one has but one point to defend, it should be protected for fear of accident. Take for example Master Jowler, who, being armed with a spiked collar, and having about as much ear as a bird, a wolf would be puzzled to know where to tackle him.

FABLES. JEAN DE LA FOMTAINE, 1621-1695

At the same time that the Spartans were evolving their warlike culture, another city- state was rising to equal prominence: Athens.

Unlike Sparta, Athens had taken to the sea, not so much to create colonies as for purposes of trade. The Athenians became great merchants; their currency, the famous “owl coins,” spread throughout the Mediterranean. Unlike the rigid Spartans, the Athenians responded to every problem with consummate creativity, adapting to the occasion and creating new social forms and new arts at an incredible pace. Their society was in constant flux. And as their power grew, they came to pose a threat to the defense-minded Spartans.

In 431 B.C., the war that had been brewing between Athens and Sparta for so long finally erupted. It lasted twenty-seven years, but after many twists of fortune, the Spartan war machine finally emerged victorious. The Spartans now commanded an empire, and this time they could not stay in their shell. If they gave up what they had gained, the beaten Athenians would regroup and rise against them, and the long war would have been fought for naught.

After the war, Athenian money poured into Sparta. The Spartans had been trained in warfare, not politics or economics; because they were so unaccustomed to it, wealth and its accompanying ways of life seduced and overwhelmed them.

Spartan governors were sent to rule what had been Athenian lands; far from home, they succumbed to the worst forms of corruption. Sparta had defeated Athens, but the fluid Athenian way of life was slowly breaking down its discipline and loosening its rigid order. And Athens, meanwhile, was adapting to losing its empire, managing to thrive as a cultural and economic center.

Confused by a change in its status quo, Sparta grew weaker and weaker. Some thirty years after defeating Athens, it lost an important battle with the city-state of Thebes. Almost overnight, this once mighty nation collapsed, never to recover.

Interpretation

In the evolution of species, protective armor has almost always spelled disaster. Although there are a few exceptions, the shell most often becomes a dead end for the animal encased in it; it slows the creature down, making it hard for it to forage for food and making it a target for fast-moving predators. Animals that take to the sea or sky, and that move swiftly and unpredictably, are infinitely more powerful and secure.

In facing a serious problem—controlling superior numbers—Sparta reacted like an animal that develops a shell to protect itself from the environment. But like a turtle, the Spartans sacrificed mobility for safety. They managed to preserve stability for three hundred years, but at what cost? They had no culture beyond warfare, no arts to relieve the tension, a constant anxiety about the status quo. While their neighbors took to the sea, learning to adapt to a world of constant motion, the Spartans entombed themselves in their own system. Victory would mean new lands to govern, which they did not want; defeat would mean the end of their military machine, which they did not want, either. Only stasis allowed them to survive. But nothing in the world can remain stable forever, and the shell or system you evolve for your protection will someday prove your undoing.

In the case of Sparta, it was not the armies of Athens that defeated it, but the Athenian money. Money flows everywhere it has the opportunity to go; it cannot be controlled, or made to fit a prescribed pattern. It is inherently chaotic. And in the long run, money made Athens the conqueror, by infiltrating the Spartan system and corroding its protective armor. In the battle between the two systems, Athens was fluid and creative enough to take new forms, while Sparta could grow only more rigid until it cracked.

This is the way the world works, whether for animals, cultures, or individuals. In the face of the world’s harshness and danger, organisms of any kind develop protection—a coat of armor, a rigid system, a comforting ritual. For the short term it may work, but for the long term it spells disaster. People weighed down by a system and inflexible ways of doing things cannot move fast, cannot sense or adapt to change. They lumber around more and more slowly until they go the way of the brontosaurus. Learn to move fast and adapt or you will be eaten.

The best way to avoid this fate is to assume formlessness. No predator alive can attack what it cannot see.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

When World War II ended and the Japanese, who had invaded China in 1937, had finally been thrown out, the Chinese Nationalists, lead by Chiang Kai-shek, decided the time had come to annihilate the Chinese Communists, their hated rivals, once and for all. They had almost succeeded in 1935, forcing the Communists into the Long March, the grueling retreat that had greatly diminished their numbers. Although the Communists had recovered somewhat during the war against Japan, it would not be difficult to defeat them now. They controlled only isolated areas in the countryside, had unsophisticated weaponry, lacked any military experience or training beyond mountain fighting, and controlled no important parts of China, except areas of Manchuria, which they had managed to take after the Japanese retreat. Chiang decided to commit his best forces in Manchuria. He would take over its major cities and from those bases would spread through this northern industrial region, sweeping the Communists away. Once Manchuria had fallen the Communists would collapse.

In 1945 and ’46 the plan worked perfectly: The Nationalists easily took the major Manchurian cities. Puzzlingly, though, in the face of this critical campaign, the Communist strategy made no sense. When the Nationalists began their push, the Communists dispersed to Manchuria’s most out-of-the-way comers. Their small units harassed the Nationalist armies, ambushing them here, retreating unexpectedly there, but these dispersed units never linked up, making them hard to attack. They would seize a town only to give it up a few weeks later. Forming neither rear guards nor vanguards, they moved like mercury, never staying in one place, elusive and formless.

One seductive and ultimately always fatal path has been the development of protective armor. An organism can protect itself by concealment, by swiftness in flight, by effective counterattack, by uniting for attack and defense with other individuals of its species and also by encasing itself within bony plates and spines.... Almost always the experiment of armor failed. Creatures adopiing it tended to become unwieldy. They had to move relatively slowly. Hence they were forced to live mainly on vegetable food; and thus in general they were at a disadvantage as compared with foes living on more rapidly “profitable” animal food: The repeated failure of protective armor shows that, even at a somewhat low evolutionary level, mind triumphed over mere matter. It is this sort of triumph which has been supremely exemplified in Man.

SCIENTIFIC THEORY AND RELIGION, E. W. BARNES, 1933

The Nationalists ascribed this to two things: cowardice in the face of superior forces and inexperience in strategy. Mao Tse-tung, the Communist leader, was more a poet and philosopher than a general, whereas Chiang had studied warfare in the West and was a follower of the German military writer Carl von Clausewitz, among others.

Yet a pattern did eventually emerge in Mao’s attacks. After the Nationalists had taken the cities, leaving the Communists to occupy what was generally considered Manchuria’s useless space, the Communists started using that large space to surround the cities. If Chiang sent an army from one city to reinforce another, the Communists would encircle the rescuing army. Chiang’s forces were slowly broken into smaller and smaller units, isolated from one another, their lines of supply and communication cut. The Nationalists still had superior firepower, but if they could not move, what good was it?

A kind of terror overcame the Nationalist soldiers. Commanders comfortably remote from the front lines might laugh at Mao, but the soldiers had fought the Communists in the mountains, and had come to fear their elusiveness. Now these soldiers sat in their cities and watched as their fast-moving enemies, as fluid as water, poured in on them from all sides. There seemed to be millions of them. The Communists also encircled the soldiers’ spirits, bombarding them with propaganda to lower their morale and pressure them to desert.

The Nationalists began to surrender in their minds. Their encircled and isolated cities started collapsing even before being directly attacked; one after another fell in quick succession. In November of 1948, the Nationalists surrendered Manchuria to the Communists—a humiliating blow to the technically superior Nationalist army, and one that proved decisive in the war. By the following year the Communists controlled all of China.

Interpretation

The two board games that best approximate the strategies of war are chess and the Asian game of go. In chess the board is small. In comparison to go, the attack comes relatively quickly, forcing a decisive battle. It rarely pays to withdraw, or to sacrifice your pieces, which must be concentrated at key areas. Go is much less formal. It is played on a large grid, with 361 intersections—nearly six times as many positions as in chess. Black and white stones (one color for each side) are placed on the board’s intersections, one at a time, wherever you like. Once all your stones (52 for each side) are on the board, the object is to isolate the stones of your opponent by encircling them.

The sage neither seeks to follow the ways of the ancients nor establishes any fixed standard for all times but examines the things of his age and then prepares to deal with them. There was in Sung a man, who tilled a field in which there stood the trunk of a tree. Once a hare, while running fast, rushed against the trunk, broke its neck, and died. Thereupon the man cast his plough aside and watched that tree, hoping that he would get another hare. Yet he never caught another hare and was himself ridiculed by the people of Sung. Now supposing somebody wanted to govern the people of the present age with the policies of the early kings, he would be doing exactly the same thing as that man who watched the tree.

HAN-FEI-TZU, CHINESE PHILOSOPHFR, THIRD CENTURY B.C.

A game of go—called wei–chi in China—can last up to three hundred moves. The strategy is more subtle and fluid than chess, developing slowly; the more complex the pattern your stones initially create on the board, the harder it is for your opponent to understand your strategy. Fighting to control a particular area is not worth the trouble: You have to think in larger terms, to be prepared to sacrifice an area in order eventually to dominate the board. What you are after is not an entrenched position but mobility. With mobility you can isolate the opponent in small areas and then encircle them. The aim is not to kill off the opponent’s pieces directly, as in chess, but to induce a kind of paralysis and collapse. Chess is linear, position oriented, and aggressive; go is nonlinear and fluid. Aggression is indirect until the end of the game, when the winner can surround the opponent’s stones at an accelerated pace.

Chinese military strategists have been influenced by go for centuries. Its proverbs have been applied to war time and again; Mao Tse-tung was an addict of wei–chi, and its precepts were ingrained in his strategies. A key wei–chi concept, for example, is to use the size of the board to your advantage, spreading out in every direction so that your opponent cannot fathom your movements in a simple linear way.

“Every Chinese,” Mao once wrote, “should consciously throw himself into this war of a jigsaw pattern” against the Nationalists. Place your men in a jigsaw pattern in go, and your opponent loses himself trying to figure out what you are up to. Either he wastes time pursuing you or, like Chiang Kai-shek, he assumes you are incompetent and fails to protect himself. And if he concentrates on single areas, as Western strategy advises, he becomes a sitting duck for encirclement. In the wei–chi way of war, you encircle the enemy’s brain, using mind games, propaganda, and irritation tactics to confuse and dishearten. This was the strategy of the Communists—an apparent formlessness that disoriented and terrified their enemy.

Where chess is linear and direct, the ancient game of go is closer to the kind of strategy that will prove relevant in a world where battles are fought indirectly, in vast, loosely connected areas. Its strategies are abstract and multidimensional, inhabiting a plane beyond time and space: the strategist’s mind. In this fluid form of warfare, you value movement over position. Your speed and mobility make it impossible to predict your moves; unable to understand you, your enemy can form no strategy to defeat you. Instead of fixing on particular spots, this indirect form of warfare spreads out, just as you can use the large and disconnected nature of the real world to your advantage. Be like a vapor. Do not give your opponents anything solid to attack; watch as they exhaust themselves pursuing you, trying to cope with your elusiveness. Only formlessness allows you to truly surprise your enemies—by the time they figure out where you are and what you are up to, it is too late.

When you want to fight us, we don’t let you and you can’t find us. But when we want to fight you, we make sure that you can’t get away and we hit you squarely ... and wipe you out.... The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.

Mao Tse-tung, 1893-1976

General Rommel surpassed Patton as a creative intellect.... Rommel shunned military formalism. He made no fixed plans beyond those intended for the initial clash; thereafter, he tailored his tactics to meet specific situations as they arose. He was a lightning-fast decision-maker, physically maintaining a pace that matched his active mentality. In a forbidding sea of sand, he operated in a free environment. Once Rommel ruptured the British lines in Africa, he had the whole northern part of the continent opened to him. Comparatively free from the hamstringing authority of Berlin, disregarding orders even from Hitler himself on occasion, Rommel implemented one successful operation after another until he had most of North Africa under his control and Cairo trembling at his feet.

THE ART OF WINNING WARS, JAMES MRAZEK, 1968

KEYS TO POWER

The human animal is distinguished by its constant creation of forms. Rarely expressing its emotions directly, it gives them form through language, or through socially acceptable rituals. We cannot communicate our emotions without a form.

The forms that we create, however, change constantly—in fashion, in style, in all those human phenomena representing the mood of the moment. We are constantly altering the forms we have inherited from previous generations, and these changes are signs of life and vitality. Indeed, the things that don’t change, the forms that rigidify, come to look to us like death, and we destroy them. The young show this most clearly: Uncomfortable with the forms that society imposes upon them, having no set identity, they play with their own characters, trying on a variety of masks and poses to express themselves. This is the vitality that drives the motor of form, creating constant changes in style.

The powerful are often people who in their youth have shown immense creativity in expressing something new through a new form. Society grants them power because it hungers for and rewards this sort of newness. The problem comes later, when they often grow conservative and possessive. They no longer dream of creating new forms; their identities are set, their habits congeal, and their rigidity makes them easy targets. Everyone knows their next move. Instead of demanding respect they elicit boredom: Get off the stage! we say, let someone else, someone younger, entertain us. When locked in the past, the powerful look comical—they are overripe fruit, waiting to fall from the tree.

Power can only thrive if it is flexible in its forms. To be formless is not to be amorphous; everything has a form—it is impossible to avoid. The formlessness of power is more like that of water, or mercury, taking the form of whatever is around it. Changing constantly, it is never predictable. The powerful are constantly creating form, and their power comes from the rapidity with which they can change. Their formlessness is in the eye of the enemy who cannot see what they are up to and so has nothing solid to attack. This is the premier pose of power: ungraspable, as elusive and swift as the god Mercury, who could take any form he pleased and used this ability to wreak havoc on Mount Olympus.

Human creations evolve toward abstraction, toward being more mental and less material. This evolution is clear in art, which, in this century, made the great discovery of abstraction and conceptualism; it can also be seen in politics, which over time have become less overtly violent, more complicated, indirect and cerebral. Warfare and strategy too have followed this pattern. Strategy began in the manipulation of armies on land, positioning them in ordered formations; on land, strategy is relatively two dimensional, and controlled by topography. But all the great powers have eventually taken to the sea, for commerce and colonization. And to protect their trading lanes they have had to learn how to fight at sea. Maritime warfare requires tremendous creativity and abstract thinking, since the lines are constantly shifting. Naval captains distinguish themselves by their ability to adapt to the literal fluidity of the terrain and to confuse the enemy with an abstract, hard-to-anticipate form. They are operating in a third dimension: the mind.

CHARACTER ARMOR

To carry out the instinctual inhibition demanded by the modern world and to be able to cope with the energy stasis which results from this inhibition, the ego has to undergo a change. The ego, i.e., that part of the person that is exposed to danger, becomes rigid, as we say, when it is continually subjected to the same or similar conflicts between need and a fear-inducing outer world. It acquires in this process a chronic, automatically functioning mode of reaction, i.e., its “character.” It is as if the affective personality armored itself, as if the hard shell it develops were intended to deflect and weaken the blows of the outer world as well as the clamoring of the inner needs. This armoring makes the person less sensitive to unpleasure, but also restricts his libidinal and aggressive motility and thus reduces his capacity for achievement and pleasure. We say the ego has become less flexible and more rigid, and that the abiliry to regulate the energy economy depends on the extent of the armoring.

WILHELM REICH, 1897-1957

Back on land, guerrilla warfare too demonstrates this evolution toward abstraction.

T. E. Lawrence was perhaps the first modern strategist to develop the theory behind this kind of warfare, and to put it into practice. His ideas influenced Mao, who found in his writings an uncanny Western equivalent to wei–chi. Lawrence was working with Arabs fighting for their territory against the Turks. His idea was to make the Arabs blend into the vast desert, never providing a target, never collecting together in one place. As the Turks scrambled to fight this vaporous army, they spread themselves thin, wasting energy in moving from place to place. They had the superior firepower but the Arabs kept the initiative by playing cat and mouse, giving the Turks nothing to hold on to, destroying their morale. “Most wars were wars of contact…. Ours should be a war of detachment,” Lawrence wrote. “We were to contain the enemy by the silent threat of a vast unknown desert, not disclosing ourselves till we attack”

This is the ultimate form of strategy. The war of engagement has become far too dangerous and costly; indirection and elusiveness yield far better results at a much lower cost. The main cost, in fact, is mental—the thinking it takes to align your forces in scattered patterns, and to undermine the minds and psychology of your opponents. And nothing will infuriate and disorient them more than formlessness. In a world where wars of detachment are the order of the day, formlessness is crucial.

The first psychological requirement of formlessness is to train yourself to take nothing personally. Never show any defensiveness. When you act defensive, you show your emotions, revealing a clear form. Your opponents will realize they have hit a nerve, an Achilles’ heel. And they will hit it again and again. So train yourself to take nothing personally. Never let anyone get your back up. Be like a slippery ball that cannot be held: Let no one know what gets to you, or where your weaknesses lie. Make your face a formless mask and you will infuriate and disorient your scheming colleagues and opponents.

One man who used this technique was Baron James Rothschild. A German Jew in Paris, in a culture decidedly unfriendly to foreigners, Rothschild never took any attack on him personally or showed he had been hurt in any way. He furthermore adapted himself to the political climate, whatever it was—the stiffly formal Restoration monarchy of Louis XVIII, the bourgeois reign of Louis-Philippe, the democratic revolution of 1848, the upstart Louis-Napoleon crowned emperor in 1852. Rothschild accepted them one and all, and blended in. He could afford to appear hypocritical or opportunistic because he was valued for his money, not his politics; his money was the currency of power. While he adapted and thrived, outwardly never showing a form, all the other great families that had begun the century immensely wealthy were ruined in the period’s complicated shifts and turns of fortune. Attaching themselves to the past, they revealed their embrace of a form.

Throughout history, the formless style of ruling has been most adeptly practiced by the queen who reigns alone. A queen is in a radically different position from a king; because she is a woman, her subjects and courtiers are likely to doubt her ability to rule, her strength of character. If she favors one side in some ideological struggle, she is said to be acting out of emotional attachment. Yet if she represses her emotions and plays the authoritarian, in the male fashion, she arouses worse criticism still. Either by nature or by experience, then, queens tend to adopt a flexible style of governing that in the end often proves more powerful than the more direct, male form.

Two female leaders exemplifying the formless style of rule are Queen Elizabeth of England and Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. In the violent wars between Catholics and Protestants, Elizabeth steered a middle course. She avoided alliances that would commit her to one side, and that over time would harm the country. She managed to keep her country at peace until it was strong enough for war. Her reign was one of the most glorious in history because of her incredible capacity to adapt and her flexible ideology.

Catherine the Great too evolved an improvisatory style of governing. After she deposed her husband, Emperor Peter II, taking sole control of Russia in 1762, no one thought she would survive. But she had no preconceived ideas, no philosophy or theory to dictate her policies. Although a foreigner (she came from Germany), she understood Russia’s moods, and how it was changing over the years. “One must govern in such a way that one’s people think they themselves want to do what one commands them to do,” she said, and to do this she had to be always a step ahead of their desires and to adapt to their resistance. By never forcing the issue, she reformed Russia in a strikingly short period of time.

This feminine, formless style of ruling may have emerged as a way of prospering under difficult circumstances, but it has proved immensely seductive to those who have served under it. Being fluid, it is relatively easy for its subjects to obey, for they feel less coerced, less bent to their ruler’s ideology. It also opens up options where an adherence to a doctrine closes them off. Without committing to one side, it allows the ruler to play one enemy off another. Rigid rulers may seem strong, but with time their inflexibility wears on the nerves, and their subjects find ways to push them from the stage. Flexible, formless rulers will be much criticized, but they will endure, and people will eventually come to identify with them, since they are as their subjects are— changing with the wind, open to circumstance.

Despite upsets and delays, the permeable style of power generally triumphs in the end, just as Athens eventually won victory over Sparta through its money and its culture. When you find yourself in conflict with someone stronger and more rigid, allow them a momentary victory. Seem to bow to their superiority. Then, by being formless and adaptable, slowly insinuate yourself into their soul. This way you will catch them off guard, for rigid people are always ready to ward off direct blows but are helpless against the subtle and insinuating. To succeed at such a strategy you must play the chameleon—conform on the surface, while breaking down your enemy from the inside.

For centuries the Japanese would accept foreigners graciously, and appeared susceptible to foreign cultures and influences. Joao Rodriguez, a Portuguese priest who arrived in Japan in 1577 and lived there for many years, wrote, “I am flabbergasted by the Japanese willingness to try and accept everything Portuguese.” He saw Japanese in the streets wearing Portuguese clothing, with rosary beads at their necks and crosses at their hips. This might seem like a weak, mutable culture, but Japan’s adaptability actually protected the country from having an alien culture imposed by military invasion. It seduced the Portuguese and other Westerners into believing the Japanese were yielding to a superior culture when actually the foreign culture’s ways were merely a fashion to be donned and doffed. Under the surface, Japanese culture thrived. Had the Japanese been rigid about foreign influences and tried to fight them off, they might have suffered the injuries that the West inflicted on China. That is the power of formlessness—it gives the aggressor nothing to react against, nothing to hit.

In evolution, largeness is often the first step toward extinction. What is immense and bloated has no mobility, but must constantly feed itself. The unintelligent are often seduced into believing that size connotes power, the bigger the better.

In 483 B.C., King Xerxes of Persia invaded Greece, believing he could conquer the country in one easy campaign. After all, he had the largest army ever assembled for one invasion—the historian Herodotus estimated it at over more than five million. The Persians planned to build a bridge across the Hellespont to overrun Greece from the land, while their equally immense navy would pin the Greek ships in harbor, preventing their forces from escaping to sea. The plan seemed sure, yet as Xerxes prepared the invasion, his adviser Artabanus warned his master of grave misgivings: “The two mightiest powers in the world are against you,” he said. Xerxes laughed—what powers could match his gigantic army? “I will tell you what they are,” answered Artabanus. “The land and the sea.” There were no safe harbors large enough to receive Xerxes’ fleet. And the more land the Persians conquered, and the longer their supply lines stretched, the more ruinous the cost of feeding this immense army would prove.

Thinking his adviser a coward, Xerxes proceeded with the invasion. Yet as Artabanus predicted, bad weather at sea decimated the Persian fleet, which was too large to take shelter in any harbor. On land, meanwhile, the Persian army destroyed everything in its path, which only made it impossible to feed, since the destruction included crops and stores of food. It was also an easy and slow-moving target. The Greeks practiced all kinds of deceptive maneuvers to disorient the Persians. Xerxes’ eventual defeat at the hands of the Greek allies was an immense disaster. The story is emblematic of all those who sacrifice mobility for size: The flexible and fleet of foot will almost always win, for they have more strategic options. The more gigantic the enemy, the easier it is to induce collapse.

The need for formlessness becomes greater the older we get, as we grow more likely to become set in our ways and assume too rigid a form. We become predictable, always the first sign of decrepitude. And predictability makes us appear comical. Although ridicule and disdain might seem mild forms of attack, they are actually potent weapons, and will eventually erode a foundation of power. An enemy who does not respect you will grow bold, and boldness makes even the smallest animal dangerous.

The late-eighteenth-century court of France, as exemplified by Marie-Antoinette, had become so hopelessly tied to a rigid formality that the average Frenchman thought it a silly relic. This depreciation of a centuries-old institution was the first sign of a terminal disease, for it represented a symbolic loosening of the people’s ties to monarchy. As the situation worsened, Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI grew only more rigid in their adherence to the past—and quickened their path to the guillotine. King Charles I of England reacted similarly to the tide of democratic change brewing in England in the 1630s: He disbanded Parliament, and his court rituals grew increasingly formal and distant. He wanted to return to an older style of ruling, with adherence to all kinds of petty protocol. His rigidity only heightened the desire for change. Soon, of course, he was swept up in a devastating civil war, and eventually he lost his head to the executioner’s axe.

As you get older, you must rely even less on the past. Be vigilant lest the form your character has taken makes you seem a relic. It is not a matter of mimicking the fashions of youth—that is equally worthy of laughter. Rather your mind must constantly adapt to each circumstance, even the inevitable change that the time has come to move over and let those of younger age prepare for their ascendancy. Rigidity will only make you look uncannily like a cadaver.

Never forget, though, that formlessness is a strategic pose. It gives you room to create tactical surprises; as your enemies struggle to guess your next move, they reveal their own strategy, putting them at a decided disadvantage. It keeps the initiative on your side, putting your enemies in the position of never acting, constantly reacting. It foils their spying and intelligence. Remember: Formlessness is a tool. Never confuse it with a go- with-the-flow style, or with a religious resignation to the twists of fortune. You use formlessness, not because it creates inner harmony and peace, but because it will increase your power.

Finally, learning to adapt to each new circumstance means seeing events through your own eyes, and often ignoring the advice that people constantly peddle your way. It means that ultimately you must throw out the laws that others preach, and the books they write to tell you what to do, and the sage advice of the elder. “The laws that govern circumstances are abolished by new circumstances,” Napoleon wrote, which means that it is up to you to gauge each new situation. Rely too much on other people’s ideas and you end up taking a form not of your own making. Too much respect for other people’s wisdom will make you depreciate your own. Be brutal with the past, especially your own, and have no respect for the philosophies that are foisted on you from outside.

Image: Mercury. The winged messenger, god of commerce, patron saint of thieves, gamblers, and all those who deceive through swiftness. The day Mercury was born he invented the lyre; by that evening he had stolen the cattle of Apollo. He would scour the world, assuming whatever form he desired. Like the liquid metal named after him, he embodies the elusive, the ungraspable—the power of formlessness.

Authority: Therefore the consummation of forming an army is to arrive at formlessness. Victory in war is not repetitious, but adapts its form endlessly…. A military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: The ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius. (Sun-tzu, fourth century B.C.)

REVERSAL

Using space to disperse and create an abstract pattern should not mean forsaking the concentration of your power when it is valuable to you. Formlessness makes your enemies hunt all over for you, scattering their own forces, mental as well as physical. When you finally engage them, though, hit them with a powerful, concentrated blow. That is how Mao succeeded against the Nationalists: He broke their forces into small, isolated units, which he then could easily overwhelm with a strong attack. The law of concentration prevailed.

When you play with formlessness, keep on top of the process, and keep your long- term strategy in mind. When you assume a form and go on the attack, use concentration, speed, and power. As Mao said, “When we fight you, we make sure you can’t get away.”

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Law 23 of the 48 Laws of Power; Concentrate your forces.

This is law 8 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it. Anyone who has ever played the simple board game known as Risk will understand this principle. You amass your resources, and then you hit the “weak spots” with “everything that you got”.

LAW 23

Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another—intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

Concentrate on a single goal, a single task, and beat it into submission.
Note: when fighting a stronger enemy, you must be prepared to dissolve your forces and be elusive.

LAW 23

CONCENTRATE YOUR FORCES

JUDGMENT

Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another—intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

In China in the early sixth century B.C., the kingdom of Wu began a war with the neighboring northern provinces of the Middle Kingdom. Wu was a growing power, but it lacked the great history and civilization of the Middle Kingdom, for centuries the center of Chinese culture. By defeating the Middle Kingdom, the king of Wu would instantly raise his status.

The war began with great fanfare and several victories, but it soon bogged down. A victory on one front would leave the Wu armies vulnerable on another.

The king’s chief minister and adviser, Wu Tzu-hsiu, warned him that the barbarous state of Yueh, to the south, was beginning to notice the kingdom of Wu’s problems and had designs to invade. The king only laughed at such worries—one more big victory and the great Middle Kingdom would be his…

THE GOOSE AND THE HOUSE

A goose who was plucking grass upon a common thought herself affronted by a horse who fed near her; and, in hissing accents, thus addressed him: “I am certainly a more noble and perfect animal than you, for the whole range and extent of your faculties is confined to one element. I can walk upon the ground as well as you; I have, besides, wings, with which I can raise myself in the air; and when I please, I can sport on ponds and lakes, and refresh myself in the cool waters. I enjoy the different powers of a bird, a fish, and a quadruped.”

The horse, snorting somewhat disdainfully, replied: “It is true you inhabit three elements, but you make no very distinguished figure in any one of them. You fly, indeed; but your flight is so heavy and clumsy, that you have no right to put yourself on a level with the lark or the swallow. You can swim on the surface of the waters, but you cannot live in them as fishes do; you cannot find your food in that element, nor glide smoothly along the bottom of the waves. And when you walk, or rather waddle, upon the ground, with your broad feet and your long neck stretched out, hissing at everyone who passes by, you bring upon yourself the derision of all beholders. I confess that I am only formed to move upon the ground; but how graceful is my make! How well turned mv lunbs! How highly finished my whole body! How great my strength! How astonishing my speed! I had much rather be confined to one element, and be admired in that, than be a goose in all!”

FABLES FROM BOCCAACCIO AND CHAUCER. DR. JOHN AIKIN, 1747-1822

In the year 490, Wu Tzu-hsiu sent his son away to safety in the kingdom of Ch’i. In doing so he sent the king a signal that he disapproved of the war, and that he believed the king’s selfish ambition was leading Wu to ruin. The king, sensing betrayal, lashed out at his minister, accusing him of a lack of loyalty and, in a fit of anger, ordered him to kill himself.

Wu Tzu-hsiu obeyed his king, but before he plunged the knife into his chest, he cried, “Tear out my eyes, oh King, and fix them on the gate of Wu, so that I may see the triumphant entry of Yueh.”

As Wu Tzu-hsiu had predicted, within a few years a Yueh army passed beneath the gate of Wu. As the barbarians surrounded the palace, the king remembered his minister’s last words—and felt the dead man’s disembodied eyes watching his disgrace. Unable to bear his shame, the king killed himself, “covering his face so that he would not have to meet the reproachful gaze of his minister in the next world.”

Interpretation

The story of Wu is a paradigm of all the empires that have come to ruin by overreaching. Drunk with success and sick with ambition, such empires expand to grotesque proportions and meet a ruin that is total.

Us Military: List Of Us Military Bases for United States Military Bases World Map – Printable Map

This is what happened to ancient Athens, which lusted for the faraway island of Sicily and ended up losing its empire.

The Romans stretched the boundaries of their empire to encompass vast territories; in doing so they increased their vulnerability, and the chances of invasion from yet another barbarian tribe. Their useless expansion led their empire into oblivion.

For the Chinese, the fate of the kingdom of Wu serves as an elemental lesson on what happens when you dissipate your forces on several fronts, losing sight of distant dangers for the sake of present gain.

“If you are not in danger,” says Sun-tzu, “do not fight.”

It is almost a physical law: What is bloated beyond its proportions inevitably collapses. The mind must not wander from goal to goal, or be distracted by success from its sense of purpose and proportion. What is concentrated, coherent, and connected to its past has power. What is dissipated, divided, and distended rots and falls to the ground. The bigger it bloats, the harder it falls.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

The Rothschild banking family had humble beginnings in the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt, Germany. The city’s harsh laws made it impossible for Jews to mingle outside the ghetto, but the Jews had turned this into a virtue—it made them self-reliant, and zealous to preserve their culture at all costs. Mayer Amschel, the first of the Rothschilds to accumulate wealth by lending money, in the late eighteenth century, well understood the power that comes from this kind of concentration and cohesion.

First, Mayer Amschel allied himself with one family, the powerful princes of Thurn und Taxis. Instead of spreading his services out, he made himself these princes’ primary banker. Second, he entrusted none of his business to outsiders, using only his children and close relatives. The more unified and tight-knit the family, the more powerful it would become. Soon Mayer Amschel’s five sons were running the business. And when Mayer Amschel lay dying, in 1812, he refused to name a principal heir, instead setting up all of his sons to continue the family tradition, so that they would stay united and would resist the dangers of diffusion and of infiltration by outsiders.

Beware of dissipating your powers: strive constantly to concentrate them. Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but it is sure to repent of every ill- judged outlay.

JOHANN VON GOETHE, 1749-1832

Once Mayer Amschel’s sons controlled the family business, they decided that the key to wealth on a larger scale was to secure a foothold in the finances of Europe as a whole, rather than being tied to any one country or prince. Of the five brothers, Nathan had already opened up shop in London. In 1813 James moved to Paris. Amschel remained in Frankfurt, Salomon established himself in Vienna, and Karl, the youngest son, went to Naples. With each sphere of influence covered, they could tighten their hold on Europe’s financial markets.

This widespread network, of course, opened the Rothschilds to the very danger of which their father had warned them: diffusion, division, dissension. They avoided this danger, and established themselves as the most powerful force in European finance and politics, by once again resorting to the strategy of the ghetto—excluding outsiders, concentrating their forces. The Rothschilds established the fastest courier system in Europe, allowing them to get news of events before all their competitors. They held a virtual monopoly on information. And their internal communications and correspondence were written in Frankfurt Yiddish, and in a code that only the brothers could decipher. There was no point in stealing this information—no one could understand it. “Even the shewdest bankers cannot find their way through the Rothschild maze,” admitted a financier who had tried to infiltrate the clan.

In 1824 James Rothschild decided it was time to get married. This presented a problem for the Rothschilds, since it meant incorporating an outsider into the Rothschild clan, an outsider who could betray its secrets. James therefore decided to marry within the family, and chose the daughter of his brother Salomon. The brothers were ecstatic— this was the perfect solution to their marriage problems. James’s choice now became the family policy: Two years later, Nathan married off his daughter to Salomon’s son. In the years to come, the five brothers arranged eighteen matches among their children, sixteen of these being contracted between first cousins.

“We are like the mechanism of a watch: Each part is essential,” said brother Salomon. As in a watch, every part of the business moved in concert with every other, and the inner workings were invisible to the world, which only saw the movement of the hands. While other rich and powerful families suffered irrecoverable downturns during the tumultous first half of the nineteenth century, the tight-knit Rothschilds managed not only to preserve but to expand their unprecedented wealth.

Interpretation

The Rothschilds were born in strange times. They came from a place that had not changed in centuries, but lived in an age that gave birth to the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and an endless series of upheavals. The Rothchilds kept the past alive, resisted the patterns of dispersion of their era and for this are emblematic of the law of concentra tion.

No one represents this better than James Rothschild, the son who established himself in Paris. In his lifetime James witnessed the defeat of Napoleon, the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, the bourgeois monarchy of Orleans, the return to a republic, and finally the enthronement of Napoleon III. French styles and fashions changed at a relentless pace during all this turmoil. Without appearing to be a relic of the past, James steered his family as if the ghetto lived on within them. He kept alive his clan’s inner cohesion and strength. Only through such an anchoring in the past was the family able to thrive amidst such chaos. Concentration was the foundation of the Rothschilds’ power, wealth, and stability.

The best strategy is always to be very strony first in general, then at the decisive point.... There is no higher and simpler law of strategy than that of keeping one’s forces concentrated.... In short the first principle is: act with the utmost concentration.

On War, Carl von Clausewitz, 1780-1831

KEYS TO POWER

The world is plagued by greater and greater division—within countries, political groups, families, even individuals. We are all in a state of total distraction and diffusion, hardly able to keep our minds in one direction before we are pulled in a thousand others. The modern world’s level of conflict is higher than ever, and we have internalized it in our own lives.

The solution is a form of retreat inside ourselves, to the past, to more concentrated forms of thought and action. As Schopenhauer wrote, “Intellect is a magnitude of intensity, not a magnitude of extensity.” Napoleon knew the value of concentrating your forces at the enemy’s weakest spot— it was the secret of his success on the battlefield. But his willpower and his mind were equally modeled on this notion. Single- mindedness of purpose, total concentration on the goal, and the use of these qualities against people less focused, people in a state of distraction—such an arrow will find its mark every time and overwhelm the enemy.

Casanova attributed his success in life to his ability to concentrate on a single goal and push at it until it yielded. It was his ability to give himself over completely to the women he desired that made him so intensely seductive. For the weeks or months that one of these women lived in his orbit, he thought of no one else. When he was imprisoned in the treacherous “leads” of the doge’s palace in Venice, a prison from which no one had ever escaped, he concentrated his mind on the single goal of escape, day after day. A change of cells, which meant that months of digging had all been for naught, did not discourage him; he persisted and eventually escaped. “I have always believed,” he later wrote, “that when a man gets it into his head to do something, and when he exclusively occupies himself in that design, he must succeed, whatever the difficulties. That man will become Grand Vizier or Pope.”

Concentrate on a single goal, a single task, and beat it into submission. In the world of power you will constantly need help from other people, usually those more powerful than you. The fool flits from one person to another, believing that he will survive by spreading himself out. It is a corollary of the law of concentration, however, that much energy is saved, and more power is attained, by affixing yourself to a single, appropriate source of power. The scientist Nikola Tesla ruined himself by believing that he somehow maintained his independence by not having to serve a single master. He even turned down J. P. Morgan, who offered him a rich contract. In the end, Tesla’s “independence” meant that he could depend on no single patron, but was always having to toady up to a dozen of them. Later in his life he realized his mistake.

All the great Renaissance painters and writers wrestled with this problem, none more so than the sixteenth-century writer Pietro Aretino. Throughout his life Aretino suffered the indignities of having to please this prince and that. At last, he had had enough, and decided to woo Charles V, promising the emperor the services of his powerful pen. He finally discovered the freedom that came from attachment to a single source of power. Michelangelo found this freedom with Pope Julius II, Galileo with the Medicis. In the end, the single patron appreciates your loyalty and becomes dependent on your services; in the long run the master serves the slave.

Finally, power itself always exists in concentrated forms. In any organization it is inevitable for a small group to hold the strings. And often it is not those with the titles. In the game of power, only the fool flails about without fixing his target. You must find out who controls the operations, who is the real director behind the scenes. As Richelieu discovered at the beginning of his rise to the top of the French political scene during the early seventeenth century, it was not King Louis XIII who decided things, it was the king’s mother. And so he attached himself to her, and catapulted through the ranks of the courtiers, all the way to the top.

It is enough to strike oil once—your wealth and power are assured for a lifetime.

Image: The Arrow. You cannot hit two targets with one arrow. If your thoughts stray, you miss the enemy’s heart. Mind and arrow must become one. Only with such concentration of mental and physical power can your arrow hit the target and pierce the heart.

Authority: Prize intensity more than extensity. Perfection resides in quality, not quantity. Extent alone never rises above mediocrity, and it is the misfortune of men with wide general interests that while they would like to have their finger in every pie, they have one in none. Intensity gives eminence, and rises to the heroic in matters sublime. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

REVERSAL

There are dangers in concentration, and moments when dispersion is the proper tactical move. Fighting the Nationalists for control of China, Mao Tse-tung and the Communists fought a protracted war on several fronts, using sabotage and ambush as their main weapons. Dispersal is often suitable for the weaker side; it is, in fact, a crucial principle of guerrilla warfare. When fighting a stronger army, concentrating your forces only makes you an easier target—better to dissolve into the scenery and frustrate your enemy with the elusiveness of your presence.

Tying yourself to a single source of power has one preeminent danger: If that person dies, leaves, or falls from grace, you suffer. This is what happened to Cesare Borgia, who derived his power from his father, Pope Alexander VI. It was the pope who gave Cesare armies to fight with and wars to wage in his name. When he suddenly died (perhaps from poison), Cesare was as good as dead. He had made far too many enemies over the years, and was now without his father’s protection. In cases when you may need protection, then, it is often wise to entwine yourself around several sources of power. Such a move would be especially prudent in periods of great tumult and violent change, or when your enemies are numerous. The more patrons and masters you serve the less risk you run if one of them falls from power. Such dispersion will even allow you to play one off against the other. Even if you concentrate on the single source of power, you still must practice caution, and prepare for the day when your master or patron is no longer there to help you.

Finally, being too single-minded in purpose can make you an intolerable bore, especially in the arts. The Renaissance painter Paolo Uccello was so obsessed with perspective that his paintings look lifeless and contrived. Whereas Leonardo da Vinci interested himself in everything—architecture, painting, warfare, sculpture, mechanics. Diffusion was the source of his power. But such genius is rare, and the rest of us are better off erring on the side of intensity.

Conclusion

This law has many applications.

Consider the myth of “multitasking”. Certainly women can seemingly and effortless multitask all the time, but men cannot. Do not believe me? Try having a deep conversation with your wife while the football game is on.

Women, start realizing that men cannot do things that you can do. And, men, please understand that you can only do one thing at a time.

Perhaps that is why many men just love to fish.

Men have this ability to just think about nothing. And it is wonderful…

The best way to illustrate this is by empty cardboard boxes.

For women, they put everything in one very large cardboard box, and when they need to access it, they just look inside and move things around and pull it out. Quick, more or less, and while somethings do occasionally need to be untangled from the rest, it's a pretty effective method.

Now men are not like this.

They have one box for each item.

When they need to get and do something, they go to their boxes (they have them in a room all neat and orderly and on carefully numbered shelves.) They find the box they are looking for.

They take it down, pull it out, and carry it to the table, where they carefully take everything out of the box one by one and study each item carefully. They note how they all fit together. They then reassemble them and put them back in the box when done, and carefully put back on the shelf.

Men do this for every single task, and every single problem.

And men have this one very special box. It is a box with absolutely nothing inside. Many times, men go to this box and use it to calm themselves, relax and to just unwind.

Women don't understand how important this box is, but men do.

It’s not just about war and conquest.

If you are going to plant a garden you focus on that task and do everything you can to make that garden happen. If your car is broken down and you need to fix it, the only way that that is going to get done is if you devote all your thoughts, attention and energy to fixing it.

In today’s modern world, everything is trying to take bites out of you. From a thousand tiny hands in your wallet in America, to the internet easily distracting you. Try to find out anything about “grey extraterrestrials” on the internet, you will be overwhelmed with an avalanche of bullshit. The key is to discern and then to focus on only the things that matter. Then tune everything else out.

Try driving a car while shaving, and reading the morning newspaper. Not a good combination.

Focus. Combine forces, and give it everything that you got. That is how you can achieve your goals with a successful resolution.

If a man is having a heart attack, you don’t turn on your phone to check the weather. You deal with the life and death situation in front of you. Concentrate your attention and your resources to achieve maximum success.

Do you want more?

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Law 28 of the 48 Laws of Power; Enter action with boldness

This is law 28 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

LAW 28

ENTER ACTION WITH BOLDNESS

JUDGMENT

THE TWO ADVENTURERS

The path of pleasure never leads to glory! The prodigious achievements of Hercules were the result of high adventure, and though there is little, either in fable or history, to show that he had any rivals, still it is recorded that a knight errant, in company with a fellow adventurer, sought his fortune in a romantic country. He had not traveled far when his companion observed a post, on which was written the following inscription: “Brave adventurer, if you have a desire to discover that which has never been seen by any knight errant, you have only to pass this torrent, and then take in your arms an elephant of stone and carry it in one breath to the summit of this mountain, whose noble head seems blended with the sky.” “But,” said the knight’s companion, “the water may be deep as well as rapid, and though, notwithstanding, we should pass it, why should we be encumbered with the elephant? What a ridiculous undertaking!” And philosophically and with nice calculation, he observed that the elephant might be carried four steps; but for conveying it to the top of the mountain in one breath, that was not in the power of a mortal, unless it should be the dwarf figure of an elephant, fit only to be placed on the top of a stick; and then what honor would there be in such an adventure? “There is,” said he, “some deception in this writing. It is an enigma only fit to amuse a child. I shall therefore leave you and your elephant.”

The reasoner then departed; but the adventurous man rushed with his eyes closed across the water; neither depth nor violence prevented him. and according to the inscription he saw the elephant lying on the opposite bank.

He took it and carried it to the top of the hill, where he saw a town. A shriek from the elephant alarmed the people of the city, who rose in arms; but the adventurer, nothing daunted, was determined to die a hero. The people, however, were awed by his presence, and he was astonished to hear them proclaim him successor to their king, who had recently died. Great enterprises are only achieved by adventurous spirits. They who calculate with too great nicety every difficulty and obstacle which is likely to lie in their way, lose that time in hesitation, which the more daring seize and render available to the loftiest purposes.

-FABLES. JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, 1621-1695

BOLDNESS AND HESITATION: A Brief Psychological Comparison Boldness and hesitation elicit very different psychological responses in their targets: Hesitation puts obstacles in your path, boldness eliminates them. Once you understand this, you will find it essential to overcome your natural timidity and practice the art of audacity. The following are among the most pronounced psychological effects of boldness and timidity.

The Bolder the Lie the Better. We all have weaknesses, and our efforts are never perfect. But entering action with boldness has the magical effect of hiding our deficiencies. Con artists know that the bolder the lie, the more convincing it becomes. The sheer audacity of the story makes it more credible, distracting attention from its inconsistencies. When putting together a con or entering any kind of negotiation, go further than you planned. Ask for the moon and you will be surprised how often you get it.

Lions Circle the Hesitant Prey. People have a sixth sense for the weaknesses of others. If, in a first encounter, you demonstrate your willingness to compromise, back down, and retreat, you bring out the lion even in people who are not necessarily bloodthirsty. Everything depends on perception, and once you are seen as the kind of person who quickly goes on the defensive, who is willing to negotiate and be amenable, you will be pushed around without mercy.

Boldness Strikes Fear; Fear Creates Authority. The bold move makes you seem larger and more powerful than you are. If it comes suddenly, with the stealth and swiftness of a snake, it inspires that much more fear. By intimidating with a bold move, you establish a precedent: in every subsequent encounter, people will be on the defensive, in terror of your next strike.

Going Halfway with Half a Heart Digs the Deeper Grave. If you enter an action with less than total confidence, you set up obstacles in your own path. When a problem arises you will grow confused, seeing options where there are none and inadvertently creating more problems still. Retreating from the hunter, the timid hare scurries more easily into his snares.

Hesitation Creates Gaps, Boldness Obliterates Them. When you take time to think, to hem and haw, you create a gap that allows others time to think as well. Your timidity infects people with awkward energy, elicits embarrassment. Doubt springs up on all sides.

Boldness destroys such gaps. The swiftness of the move and the energy of the action leave others no space to doubt and worry. In seduction, hesitation is fatal—it makes your victim conscious of your intentions. The bold move crowns seduction with triumph: It leaves no time for reflection.

Audacity Separates You from the Herd. Boldness gives you presence and makes you seem larger than life. The timid fade into the wallpaper, the bold draw attention, and what draws attention draws power. We cannot keep our eyes off the audacious—we cannot wait to see their next bold move.

OBSERVANCES OF THE LAW

Observance I

In May of 1925, five of the most successful dealers in the French scrap-metal business found themselves invited to an “official” but “highly confidential” meeting with the deputy director general of the Ministry of Post and Telegraphs at the Hotel Crillon, then the most luxurious hotel in Paris. When the businessmen arrived, it was the director general himself, a Monsieur Lustig, who met them in a swank suite on the top floor.

The businessmen had no idea why they had been summoned to this meeting, and they were bursting with curiosity. After drinks, the director explained. “Gentlemen,” he said, “this is an urgent matter that requires complete secrecy. The government is going to have to tear down the Eiffel Tower.” The dealers listened in stunned silence as the director explained that the tower, as recently reported in the news, desperately needed repairs. It had originally been meant as a temporary structure (for the Exposition of 1889), its maintenance costs had soared over the years, and now, in a time of a fiscal crisis, the government would have to spend millions to fix it. Many Parisians considered the Eiffel Tower an eyesore and would be delighted to see it go. Over time, even the tourists would forget about it—it would live on in photographs and postcards. “Gentlemen,” Lustig said, “you are all invited to make the government an offer for the Eiffel Tower.”

He gave the businessmen sheets of government stationery filled with figures, such as the tonnage of the tower’s metal. Their eyes popped as they calculated how much they could make from the scrap. Then Lustig led them to a waiting limo, which brought them to the Eiffel Tower. Flashing an official badge, he guided them through the area, spicing his tour with amusing anecdotes. At the end of the visit he thanked them and asked them to have their offers delivered to his suite within four days.

Several days after the offers were submitted, one of the five, a Monsieur P., received notice that his bid was the winner, and that to secure the sale he should come to the suite at the hotel within two days, bearing a certified check for more than 250,000 francs (the equivalent today of about $1,000,000)—a quarter of the total price. On delivery of the check, he would receive the documents confirming his ownership of the Eiffel Tower. Monsieur P. was excited—he would go down in history as the man who had bought and torn down the infamous landmark. But by the time he arrived at the suite, check in hand, he was beginning to have doubts about the whole affair. Why meet in a hotel instead of a government building? Why hadn’t he heard from other officials? Was this a hoax, a scam? As he listened to Lustig discuss the arrangements for the scrapping of the tower, he hesitated, and contemplated backing out.

Suddenly, however, he realized that the director had changed his tone. Instead of talking about the tower, he was complaining about his low salary, about his wife’s desire for a fur coat, about how galling it was to work hard and be unappreciated. It dawned on Monsieur P. that this high government official was asking for a bribe. The effect on him, though, was not outrage but relief. Now he was sure that Lustig was for real, since in all of his previous encounters with French bureaucrats, they had inevitably asked for a little greasing of the palm. His confidence restored, Monsieur P. slipped the director several thousand francs in bills, then handed him the certified check. In return he received the documentation, including an impressive-looking bill of sale. He left the hotel, dreaming of the profits and fame to come.

Over the next few days, however, as Monsieur P. waited for correspondence from the government, he began to realize that something was amiss. A few telephone calls made

it clear that there was no deputy director general Lustig, and there were no plans to destroy the Eiffel Tower: He had been bilked of over 250,000 francs!

Monsieur P. never went to the police. He knew what kind of reputation he would get if word got out that he had fallen for one of the most absurdly audacious cons in history. Besides the public humiliation, it would have been business suicide.

Interpretation

Had Count Victor Lustig, con artist extraordinaire, tried to sell the Arc de Triomphe, a bridge over the Seine, a statue of Balzac, no one would have believed him. But the Eiffel Tower was just too large, too improbable to be part of a con job. In fact it was so improbable that Lustig was able to return to Paris six months later and “resell” the Eiffel Tower to a different scrap-iron dealer, and for a higher price—a sum in francs equivalent today to over $1,500,000!

Largeness of scale deceives the human eye. It distracts and awes us, and is so self- evident that we cannot imagine there is any illusion or deception afoot. Arm yourself with bigness and boldness—stretch your deceptions as far as they will go and then go further. If you sense that the sucker has suspicions, do as the intrepid Lustig did: Instead of backing down, or lowering his price, he simply raised his price higher, by asking for and getting a bribe. Asking for more puts the other person on the defensive, cuts out the nibbling effect of compromise and doubt, and overwhelms with its boldness.

Always set to work without misgivings on the score of imprudence. Fear of failure in the mind of a performer is, for an onlooker, already evidence of failure.... Actions are dangerous when there is doubt as to their wisdom; it would be safer to do nothing. 

-BALTASAR GRACIÁN, 1601-1658

THE STORY OF HUH SAENG

In a lowly thatched cottage in the Namsan Valley there lived a poor couple, Mr. and Mrs. Huh Saeng. The husband confined himself for seven years and only read books in his cold room…. One day his wife, all in tears, said to him: “Look here, my good man! What is the use of all your book reading? I have spent my youth in washing and sewing for other people and yet I have no spare jacket or skirt to wear and I have had no food to eat during the past three days. I am hungry and cold. I can stand it no more!” … Hearing these words, the middle-aged scholar closed his book… rose to his feet and… without saying another word, he went out of doors…. Arriving in the heart of the city, he slopped a passing gentleman. “Hello, my friend! Who is the richest man in town?” “Poor countryman! Don’t you know Bvôn-ssi, the millionaire? His glittering tile-roofed house pierced by twelve gates is just over there.” Huh Saeng bent his steps to the rich man’s house. Having entered the btg gate, he flung the guest-room door open and addressed the host:“I need 10,000 yang for capital for my commercial business and I want you to lend me the money.” “Alright, sir. Where shall I send the money?”

“To the Ansông Market in care of a commission merchant.” “Very well. sir. I will draw on Kim, who does the biggest commission business in the Ansông Market. You’ll get the money there.” “Good-bye. sir.” When Huh Saeng was gone, all the other guests in the room asked Bvôn-ssi why he gave so much money to a beggarlike stranger whose family name was unknown to him. But the rich man replied with a triumphant face: “Even though he was in ragged clothes, he spoke clearly to the point without betraying shame or inferiority, unlike common people who want to borrow money for a bad debt. Such a man as he is either mad or self-confident in doing business. But judging from his dauntless eyes and booming voice he is an uncommon man with a superhuman brain, worthy of my trust. I know money and I know men. Money often makes a man small, but a man like him makes big money. I am only glad to have helped a big man do big business.”

-BEHIND THE SCENES OF ROYAL PALACES IN KOREA, HA TAE-HUNG, 1983

Observance II

On his deathbed in 1533, Vasily III, the Grand Duke of Moscow and ruler of a semi- united Russia, proclaimed his three-year-old son, Ivan IV, as his successor. He appointed his young wife, Helena, as regent until Ivan reached his majority and could rule on his own. The aristocracy—the boyars—secretly rejoiced: For years the dukes of Moscow had been trying to extend their authority over the boyars’ turf. With Vasily dead, his heir a mere three years old, and a young woman in charge of the dukedom, the boyars would be able to roll back the dukes’ gains, wrest control of the state, and humiliate the royal family.

Aware of these dangers, young Helena turned to her trusted friend Prince Ivan Obolensky to help her rule. But after five years as regent she suddenly died—poisoned by a member of the Shuisky family, the most fearsome boyar clan. The Shuisky princes seized control of the government and threw Obolensky in prison, where he starved to death. At the age of eight, Ivan was now a despised orphan, and any boyar or family member who took an interest in him was immediately banished or killed.

And so Ivan roamed the palace, hungry, ill clothed, and often in hiding from the Shuiskys, who treated him roughly when they saw him. On some days they would search him out, clothe him in royal robes, hand him a scepter, and set him on the throne—a kind of mock ritual in which they lampooned his royal pretensions. Then they would shoo him away. One evening several of them chased the Metropolitan—the head of the Russian church—through the palace, and he sought refuge in Ivan’s room; the boy watched in horror as the Shuiskys entered, hurled insults, and beat the Metropolitan mercilessly.

Ivan had one friend in the palace, a boyar named Vorontsov who consoled and advised him. One day, however, as he, Vorontsov, and the newest Metropolitan conferred in the palace refectory, several Shuiskys burst in, beat up Uorontsov, and insulted the Metropolitan by tearing and treading on his robes. Then they banished Vorontsov from Moscow.

Throughout all this Ivan maintained a strict silence. To the boyars it seemed that their plan had worked: The young man had turned into a terrified and obedient idiot. They could ignore him now, even leave him alone. But on the evening of December 29, 1543, Ivan, now thirteen, asked Prince Andrei Shuisky to come to his room. When the prince arrived, the room was filled with palace guards. Young Ivan then pointed his finger at Andrei and ordered the guards to arrest him, have him killed, and throw his body to the bloodhounds in the royal kennel. Over the next few days Ivan had all of Andrei’s close associates arrested and banished. Caught off-guard by his sudden boldness, the boyars now stood in mortal terror of this youth, the future Ivan the Terrible, who had planned and waited for five years to execute this one swift and bold act that would secure his power for decades to come.

Interpretation

The world is full of boyars—men who despise you, fear your ambition, and jealously guard their shrinking realms of power. You need to establish your authority and gain respect, but the moment the boyars sense your growing boldness, they will act to thwart you. This is how Ivan met such a situation: He lay low, showing neither ambition nor discontent. He waited, and when the time came he brought the palace guards over to his side. The guards had come to hate the cruel Shuiskys. Once they agreed to Ivan’s plan, he struck with the swiftness of a snake, pointing his finger at Shuisky and giving him no time to react.

Negotiate with a boyar and you create opportunities for him. A small compromise becomes the toehold he needs to tear you apart. The sudden bold move, without discussion or warning, obliterates these toeholds, and builds your authority. You terrify doubters and despisers and gain the confidence of the many who admire and glorify those who act boldly.

Observance III

In 1514 the twenty-two-year-old Pietro Aretino was working as a lowly assistant scullion to a wealthy Roman family. He had ambitions of greatness as a writer, to enflame the world with his name, but how could a mere lackey hope to realize such dreams?

That year Pope Leo X received from the king of Portugal an embassy that included many gifts, most prominent among them a great elephant, the first in Rome since imperial times. The pontiff adored this elephant and showered it with attention and gifts.

But despite his love and care, the elephant, which was called Hanno, became deathly ill. The pope summoned doctors, who administered a five-hundred-pound purgative to the elephant, but all to no avail. The animal died and the pope went into mourning. To console himself he summoned the great painter Raphael and ordered him to create a life-sized painting of Hanno above the animal’s tomb, bearing the inscription, “What nature took away, Raphael has with his art restored.”

Over the next few days, a pamphlet circulated throughout Rome that caused great merriment and laughter. Entitled “The Last Will and Testament of the Elephant Hanno,” it read, in part, “To my heir the Cardinal Santa Croce, I give my knees, so that he can imitate my genuflections…. To my heir Cardinal Santi Quattro, I give my jaws, so that he can more readily devour all of Christ’s revenues…. To my heir Cardinal Medici, I give my ears, so that he can hear everyone’s doings….” To Cardinal Grassi, who had a reputation for lechery, the elephant bequeathed the appropriate, oversized part of his own anatomy.

On and on the anonymous pamphlet went, sparing none of the great in Rome, not even the pope. With each one it took aim at their best-known weakness. The pamphlet ended with verse, “See to it that Aretino is your friend / For he is a bad enemy to have. / His words alone could ruin the high pope / So God guard everyone from his tongue.”

Interpretation

With one short pamphlet, Aretino, son of a poor shoemaker and a servant himself, hurled himself to fame. Everyone in Rome rushed to find out who this daring young man was. Even the pope, amused by his audacity, sought him out and ended up giving him a job in the papal service. Over the years he came to be known as the “Scourge of Princes,” and his biting tongue earned him the respect and fear of the great, from the king of France to the Hapsburg emperor.

Fear, which always magnifies objects, gives a body to all their fancies, which takes for its form whatever they conceive to exist in their enemies’ thoughts; so that fearful persons seldom fail to fall into real inconveniences, occasioned by imaginary dangers.... And the duke, whose predominant character was to be always full of fear and of distrust, was, of all men I have ever seen, the most capable of falling into false steps, by the dread he had of falling into them; being in that like unto hares.

CARDINAL DE RETZ, 1613-1679

The Aretino strategy is simple: When you are as small and obscure as David was, you must find a Goliath to attack. The larger the target, the more attention you gain. The bolder the attack, the more you stand out from the crowd, and the more admiration you earn. Society is full of those who think daring thoughts but lack the guts to print and publicize them. Voice what the public feels—the expression of shared feelings is always powerful. Search out the most prominent target possible and sling your boldest shot. The world will enjoy the spectacle, and will honor the underdog—you, that is— with glory and power.

A boy in the fields

A boy playing in the fields got stung by a nettle. He ran home to his mother, telling her that he had but touched that nasty weed, and it had stung him. “It was just your touching it, my boy,” said the mother, “that caused it to sting you; the next time you meddle with a nettle, grasp it tightly, and it will do you no hurt.”

Do boldly what you do at all.

-FABLES, AESOP. SIXTH CENTURY B.C.

KEYS TO POWER

Most of us are timid. We want to avoid tension and conflict and we want to be liked by all. We may contemplate a bold action but we rarely bring it to life. We are terrified of the consequences, of what others might think of us, of the hostility we will stir up if we dare go beyond our usual place.

Although we may disguise our timidity as a concern for others, a desire not to hurt or offend them, in fact it is the opposite—we are really self-absorbed, worried about ourselves and how others perceive us. Boldness, on the other hand, is outer-directed, and often makes people feel more at ease, since it is less self-conscious and less repressed.

This can be seen most clearly in seduction. All great seducers succeed through effrontery. Casanova’s boldness was not revealed in a daring approach to the woman he desired, or in intrepid words to flatter her; it consisted in his ability to surrender

himself to her completely and to make her believe he would do anything for her, even risk his life, which in fact he sometimes did. The woman on whom he lavished this attention understood that he held nothing back from her. This was infinitely more flattering than compliments. At no point during the seduction would he show hesitation or doubt, simply because he never felt it.

Part of the charm of being seduced is that it makes us feel engulfed, temporarily outside of ourselves and the usual doubts that permeate our lives. The moment the seducer hesitates, the charm is broken, because we become aware of the process, of their deliberate effort to seduce us, of their self-consciousness. Boldness directs attention outward and keeps the illusion alive. It never induces awkwardness or embarrassment. And so we admire the bold, and prefer to be around them, because their self-confidence infects us and draws us outside our own realm of inwardness and reflection.

NINON DE LENCLOS

But with those who have made an impression upon your heart, I have noticed that you are timid. This quality might affect a bourgeoise, but you must attack the heart of a woman of the world with other weapons.... I tell you on behalf of women: there is not one of us who does not prefer a little rough handling to too much consideration. Men lose through blundering more hearts than virtue saves. The more timidity a lover shows with us the more it concerns our pride to goad him on; the more respect he has for our resistance, the more respect we demand of him. We would willingly say to you men: “Ah, in pity’s name do not suppose us to be so very virtuous; you are forcing us to have too much of it....”

We are continually struggling to hide the fact that we have permitted ourselves to be loved. Put a woman in a position to say that she has yielded only to a species of violence, or to surprise: persuade her that you do not undervalue her, and I will answer for her heart....A little more boldness on your part would put you both at your ease. Do you remember what M. de la Rochefoucauld told you lately: “A reasonable man in love may act like a madman, but he should not and cannot act like an idiot.”

LIFE, LETTERS, AND EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY OF NINON DE LENCLOS, NINON DE LENCLOS, 1620-1705

Few are born bold. Even Napoleon had to cultivate the habit on the battlefield, where he knew it was a matter of life and death. In social settings he was awkward and timid, but he overcame this and practiced boldness in every part of his life because he saw its tremendous power, how it could literally enlarge a man (even one who, like Napoleon, was in fact conspicuously small). We also see this change in Ivan the Terrible: A harmless boy suddenly transforms himself into a powerful young man who commands authority, simply by pointing a finger and taking bold action.

You must practice and develop your boldness. You will often find uses for it. The best place to begin is often the delicate world of negotiation, particularly those discussions in which you are asked to set your own price. How often we put ourselves down by asking for too little. When Christopher Columbus proposed that the Spanish court finance his voyage to the Americas, he also made the insanely bold demand that he be called “Grand Admiral of the Ocean.” The court agreed. The price he set was the price he received—he demanded to be treated with respect, and so he was. Henry Kissinger too knew that in negotiation, bold demands work better than starting off with piecemeal concessions and trying to meet the other person halfway. Set your value high, and then, as Count Lustig did, set it higher.

Understand: If boldness is not natural, neither is timidity. It is an acquired habit, picked up out of a desire to avoid conflict. If timidity has taken hold of you, then, root it out. Your fears of the consequences of a bold action are way out of proportion to reality, and in fact the consequences of timidity are worse. Your value is lowered and you create a self-fulfilling cycle of doubt and disaster. Remember: The problems created by an audacious move can be disguised, even remedied, by more and greater audacity.

Image: The Lion and the Hare. The lion creates no gaps in his way—his movements are too swift, his jaws too quick and powerful. The timid hare will do any thing to escape danger, but in its haste to retreat and flee, it backs into traps, hops smack into its enemies’ jaws.

Authority: I certainly think that it is better to be impetuous than cautious, for fortune is a woman, and it is necessary, if you wish to master her, to conquer her by force; and it can be seen that she lets herself be overcome by the bold rather than by those who proceed coldly. And therefore, like a woman, she is always a friend to the young, because they are less cautious, fiercer, and master her with greater audacity. (Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527)

REVERSAL

Boldness should never be the strategy behind all of your actions. It is a tactical instrument, to be used at the right moment. Plan and think ahead, and make the final element the bold move that will bring you success. In other words, since boldness is a learned response, it is also one that you learn to control and utilize at will. To go through life armed only with audacity would be tiring and also fatal. You would offend too many people, as is proven by those who cannot control their boldness. One such person was Lola Montez; her audacity brought her triumphs and led to her seduction of the king of Bavaria. But since she could never rein in her boldness, it also led to her downfall—in Bavaria, in England, wherever she turned. It crossed the border between boldness and the appearance of cruelty, even insanity. Ivan the Terrible suffered the same fate: When the power of boldness brought him success, he stuck to it, to the point where it became a lifelong pattern of violence and sadism. He lost the ability to tell when boldness was appropriate and when it was not.

Timidity has no place in the realm of power; you will often benefit, however, by being able to feign it. At that point, of course, it is no longer timidity but an offensive weapon: You are luring people in with your show of shyness, all the better to pounce on them boldly later.

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Law 8 of the 48 Laws of Power; Make other people come to you, use bait if necessary (Full Text)

This is law 8 of the “48 Laws of Power” by Robert Green. Reprinted in it’s entirety. I hope that you all enjoy it.

When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains—then attack. You hold the cards.

The essence of power is keeping the initiative and forcing others to react, keeping them on the defensive.
Master your anger yet play on people’s natural tendency to react angrily when pushed and baited.

LAW 8

MAKE OTHER PEOPLE COME TO YOU—USE BAIT IF NECESSARY

JUDGMENT

When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains—then attack. You hold the cards.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

At the Congress of Vienna in 1814, the major powers of Europe gathered to carve up the remains of Napoleon’s fallen Empire. The city was full of gaiety and the balls were the most splendid in memory. Hovering over the proceedings, however, was the shadow of Napoleon himself. Instead of being executed or exiled far away, he had been sent to the island of Elba, not far from the coast of Italy.

Even imprisoned on an island, a man as bold and creative as Napoleon Bonaparte made everyone nervous. The Austrians plotted to kill him on Elba, but decided it was too risky. Alexander I, Russia’s temperamental czar, heightened the anxiety by throwing a fit during the congress when a part of Poland was denied him: “Beware, I shall loose the monster!” he threatened. Everyone knew he meant Napoleon. Of all the statesmen gathered in Vienna, only Talleyrand, Napoleon’s former foreign minister, seemed calm and unconcerned. It was as if he knew something the others did not.

Meanwhile, on the island of Elba, Napoleon’s life was a mockery of his previous glory. As Elba’s “king,” he had been allowed to form a court— there was a cook, a wardrobe mistress, an official pianist, and a handful of courtiers. All this was designed to humiliate Napoleon, and it seemed to work.

That winter, however, there occurred a series of events so strange and dramatic they might have been scripted in a play. Elba was surrounded by British ships, their cannons covering all possible exit points. Yet somehow, in broad daylight on 26 February 1815, a ship with nine hundred men on board picked up Napoleon and put to sea. The English gave chase but the ship got away. This almost impossible escape astonished the public throughout Europe, and terrified the statesmen at the Congress of Vienna.

Although it would have been safer to leave Europe, Napoleon not only chose to return to France, he raised the odds by marching on Paris with a tiny army, in hopes of recapturing the throne. His strategy worked—people of all classes threw themselves at his feet. An army under Marshal Ney sped from Paris to arrest him, but when the soldiers saw their beloved former leader, they changed sides. Napoleon was declared emperor again. Volunteers swelled the ranks of his new army. Delirium swept the country. In Paris, crowds went wild. The king who had replaced Napoleon fled the country.

For the next hundred days, Napoleon ruled France. Soon, however, the giddiness subsided. France was bankrupt, its resources nearly exhausted, and there was little Napoleon could do about this. At the Battle of Waterloo, in June of that year, he was finally defeated for good. This time his enemies had learned their lesson: They exiled him to the barren island of Saint Helena, off the west coast of Africa. There he had no more hope of escape.

Interpretation

Only years later did the facts of Napoleon’s dramatic escape from Elba come to light. Before he decided to attempt this bold move, visitors to his court had told him that he was more popular in France than ever, and that the country would embrace him again. One of these visitors was Austria’s General Roller, who convinced Napoleon that if he escaped, the European powers, England included, would welcome him back into power. Napoleon was tipped off that the English would let him go, and indeed his escape occurred in the middle of the afternoon, in full view of English spyglasses.

What Napoleon did not know was that there was a man behind it all, pulling the strings, and that this man was his former minister, Talleyrand. And Talleyrand was doing all this not to bring back the glory days but to crush Napoleon once and for all. Considering the emperor’s ambition unsettling to Europe’s stability, he had turned against him long ago. When Napoleon was exiled to Elba, Talleyrand had protested. Napoleon should be sent farther away, he argued, or Europe would never have peace. But no one listened.

Instead of pushing his opinion, Talleyrand bided his time. Working quietly, he eventually won over Castlereagh and Metternich, the foreign ministers of England and Austria.

Together these men baited Napoleon into escaping. Even Koller’s visit, to whisper the promise of glory in the exile’s ear, was part of the plan. Like a master cardplayer, Talleyrand figured everything out in advance. He knew Napoleon would fall into the trap he had set. He also foresaw that Napoleon would lead the country into a war, which, given France’s weakened condition, could only last a few months. One diplomat in Vienna, who understood that Talleyrand was behind it all, said, “He has set the house ablaze in order to save it from the plague.”

When I have laid bait for deer, I don’t shoot at the first doe that comes to sniff, but wait until the whole herd has gathered round. 

Otto von Bismarck, 1815-1898

KEYS TO POWER

How many times has this scenario played itself out in history: An

aggressive leader initiates a series of bold moves that begin by bringing him much power. Slowly, however, his power reaches a peak, and soon everything turns against him. His numerous enemies band together; trying

to maintain his power, he exhausts himself going in this direction and that, and inevitably he collapses. The reason for this pattern is that the aggressive person is rarely in full control. He cannot see more than a couple of moves ahead, cannot see the consequences of this bold move or that one. Because he is constantly being forced to react to the moves of his ever-growing host of enemies, and to the unforeseen consequences of his own rash actions, his aggressive energy is turned against him.

In the realm of power, you must ask yourself, what is the point of chasing here and there, trying to solve problems and defeat my enemies, if I never feel in control? Why am I always having to react to events instead of directing them? The answer is simple: Your idea of power is wrong. You have mistaken aggressive action for effective action. And most often the most effective action is to stay back, keep calm, and let others be frustrated by the traps you lay for them, playing for long-term power rather than quick victory.

Remember: The essence of power is the ability to keep the initiative, to get others to react to your moves, to keep your opponent and those around you on the defensive. When you make other people come to you, you suddenly become the one controlling the situation. And the one who has control has power. Two things must happen to place you in this position: You yourself must learn to master your emotions, and never to be influenced by anger; meanwhile, however, you must play on people’s natural tendency to react angrily when pushed and baited. In the long run, the ability to make others come to you is a weapon far more powerful than any tool of aggression.

Study how Talleyrand, the master of the art, performed this delicate trick. First, he overcame the urge to try to convince his fellow statesmen that they needed to banish Napoleon far away. It is only natural to want to persuade people by pleading your case, imposing your will with words. But this often turns against you. Few of Talleyrand’s contemporaries believed Napoleon was still a threat, so that if he had spent a lot of energy trying to convince them, he would only have made himself look foolish. Instead, he held his tongue and his emotions in check. Most important of all, he laid Napoleon a sweet and irresistible trap. He knew the man’s weakness, his impetuosity, his need for glory and the love of the masses, and he played all this to perfection. When Napoleon went for the bait, there was no danger that he might succeed and turn the tables on Talleyrand, who better than anyone knew France’s depleted state. And even had Napoleon been able to overcome these difficulties, the likelihood of his success would have been greater were he able to choose his time and place of action. By setting the proper trap, Talleyrand took the time and place into his own hands.

All of us have only so much energy, and there is a moment when our energies are at their peak. When you make the other person come to you, he wears himself out, wasting his energy on the trip. In the year 1905, Russia and Japan were at war. The Japanese had only recently begun to modernize their warships, so that the Russians had a stronger navy, but by spreading false information the Japanese marshal Togo Heihachiro baited the Russians into leaving their docks in the Baltic Sea, making them believe they could wipe out the Japanese fleet in one swift attack. The Russian fleet could not reach Japan by the quickest route—through the Strait of Gibraltar and then the Suez Canal into the Indian Ocean—because these were controlled by the British, and Japan was an ally of Great Britain. They had to go around the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa, adding over more than six thousand miles to the voyage. Once the fleet passed the Cape, the Japanese spread another false story: They were sailing to launch a counterattack. So the Russians made the entire journey to Japan on combat alert. By the time they arrived, their seamen were tense, exhausted, and overworked, while the Japanese had been waiting at their ease. Despite the odds and their lack of experience in modern naval warfare, the Japanese crushed the Russians.

One added benefit of making the opponent come to you, as the Japanese discovered with the Russians, is that it forces him to operate in your territory. Being on hostile ground will make him nervous and often he will rush his actions and make mistakes. For negotiations or meetings, it is always wise to lure others into your territory, or the territory of your choice. You have your bearings, while they see nothing familiar and are subtly placed on the defensive.

Manipulation is a dangerous game. Once someone suspects he is being manipulated, it becomes harder and harder to control him. But when you make your opponent come to you, you create the illusion that he is controlling the situation. He does not feel the strings that pull him, just as

Napoleon imagined that he himself was the master of his daring escape and return to power.

Everything depends on the sweetness of your bait. If your trap is attractive enough, the turbulence of your enemies’ emotions and desires will blind them to reality. The greedier they become, the more they can be led around.

The great nineteenth-century robber baron Daniel Drew was a master at playing the stock market. When he wanted a particular stock to be bought or sold, driving prices up or down, he rarely resorted to the direct approach. One of his tricks was to hurry through an exclusive club near Wall Street, obviously on his way to the stock exchange, and to pull out his customary red bandanna to wipe his perspiring brow. A slip of paper would fall from this bandanna that he would pretend not to notice. The club’s members were always trying to foresee Drew’s moves, and they would pounce on the paper, which invariably seemed to contain an inside tip on a stock. Word would spread, and members would buy or sell the stock in droves, playing perfectly into Drew’s hands.

If you can get other people to dig their own graves, why sweat yourself? Pickpockets work this to perfection. The key to picking a pocket is knowing which pocket contains the wallet. Experienced pickpockets often ply their trade in train stations and other places where there is a clearly marked sign reading BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS. Passersby seeing the sign invariably feel for their wallet to make sure it is still there. For the watching pickpockets, this is like shooting fish in a barrel. Pickpockets have even been known to place their own BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS signs to ensure their success.

When you are making people come to you, it is sometimes better to let them know you are forcing their hand. You give up deception for overt manipulation. The psychological ramifications are profound: The person who makes others come to him appears powerful, and demands respect.

Filippo Brunelleschi, the great Renaissance artist and architect, was a great practitioner of the art of making others come to him as a sign of his power. On one occasion he had been engaged to repair the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence. The commission was important and prestigious. But when the city officials hired a second man, Lorenzo Ghiberti, to work with Brunelleschi, the great artist brooded in secret. He knew that Ghiberti had gotten the job through his connections, and that he would do none of the work and get half the credit. At a critical moment of the construction, then, Brunelleschi suddenly developed a mysterious illness. He had to stop work, but pointed out to city officials that they had hired Ghiberti, who should have been able to continue the work on his own. Soon it became clear that Ghiberti was useless and the officials came begging to Brunelleschi. He ignored them, insisting that Ghiberti should finish the project, until finally they realized the problem: They fired Ghiberti.

By some miracle, Brunelleschi recovered within days. He did not have to throw a tantrum or make a fool of himself; he simply practiced the art of “making others come to you.”

If on one occasion you make it a point of dignity that others must come to you and you succeed, they will continue to do so even after you stop trying.

Image: The Honeyed Bear Trap. The bear hunter does not chase his prey; a bear that knows it is hunted is nearly impossible to catch and is fero cious if cornered. Instead, the hunter lays traps baited with honey. He does not exhaust himself and risk his life in pursuit. He baits, then waits.

Authority: Good warriors make others come to them, and do not go to others. This is the principle of emptiness and fullness of others and self. When you induce opponents to come to you, then their force is always empty; as long as you do not go to them, your force is always full. Attacking emptiness with fullness is like throwing stones on eggs. (Zhang Yu, eleventh-century commentator on The Art of War)

REVERSAL

Although it is generally the wiser policy to make others exhaust themselves chasing you, there are opposite cases where striking suddenly and aggressively at the enemy so demoralizes him that his energies sink. Instead of making others come to you, you go to them, force the issue, take the lead. Fast attack can be an awesome weapon, for it forces the other person to react without the time to think or plan. With no time to think, people make errors of judgment, and are thrown on the defensive. This tactic is the obverse of waiting and baiting, but it serves the same function: You make your enemy respond on your terms.

Men like Cesare Borgia and Napoleon used the element of speed to intimidate and control. A rapid and unforeseen move is terrifying and demoralizing. You must choose your tactics depending on the situation. If you have time on your side, and know that you and your enemies are at least at equal strength, then deplete their strength by making them come to you. If time is against you—your enemies are weaker, and waiting will only give them the chance to recover—give them no such chance. Strike quickly and they have nowhere to go. As the boxer Joe Louis put it, “He can run, but he can’t hide.”

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So folks, how’s World War III working out for ya? Not what you expected is it?

That’s the way it is. The world is in the middle of World War III.

Of course, this is NOT public knowledge. This is something that only the American “leadership”, and international leaders have any idea about.

Not the rabble.

Not people like you.

And let me be blunt. The United States owns the media, and all communication traffic over the internet. They don’t want any one getting near the truth. So if you all want to know what the truth is, look at what they are hiding. Look at what they are omitting. Look at what they are “glossing over”. Look at what they are ignoring.

What won’t they dare talk about?

What is right there, in your face, and yet it is omitted from all public discourse?

Yes. John Bolton -rabid anti-China neocon was put in charge of the Bio-Weapons office in Washington DC and launched a long and concentrated series of bio-weapons attacks against China. Mike Pompeo referred to it as a “live exercise”, and it was coordinated with other efforts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, XinJiang, and throughout the South East Asian environs.

But, the USA was unprepared for the blow-back.

Coronavirus is a bio-weapon that was patented nearly twenty years ago by the State Department, and they “threw caution to the wind” when they carpet bombed China with eight bio-weapons targeting food and livestock, and three new and “novel” never-before-seen viruses against the Chinese people.

Not expecting that China knew what was going on all the time.

Ah. That’s a total of eleven (x11) new and “novel” viruses that hit China “out of the blue” at the same precise moment when Trump decided to conduct a “hybrid war” against China.

But I covered all this elsewhere.

In fact, I even draped the overview on the main index for a spell…

All three bio-Weapons (used against China) are in America now

So America got everything all “fired up” and started the same old playbook. But once they realized that a traditional war was not in the “cards”, they decided to “soften up” China with some bio-weapons. But it didn’t work out as planned. Never the less, the plan is still a “go go go”, and everyone is following the timetable, no matter how insane it appears.

Well,,, let’s review for a second.

I have long argued that the USA under the Trump administration used three bio-weapons targeting Chinese civilians in 2020. The first, the COVID-19B hit on CNY, and supposedly the American population was inoculated from it by the COVID-19A strain.

I have further argued that all the bio-weapons would boomerang back to the United States either intentionally or inadvertently. You simply cannot isolate an infected area well.

And that is what we are seeing today.

Attack One. Brain Seizure Virus. While Americans were (supposedly) inoculated from the lethal “B 1.1.7 strain” of COVID-19 by the flu-like “A strain”, apparently the lethal strain has NOW hit America. I’ve tons and tons of movies knowing what it was like when it hit China.

See the movies HERE Chinese COVID-19 B Videos.

Videos of the COVID-19 Biological Attack events within China

Of course they were all banned by Trump by Executive Order, so Americans and their allies never saw any of them. Thus the sheeple bought into the lies that the COVID was just a slight cold.

This realization, that the lethal “B strain” is now all over America, is forcing the authorities to scramble for the mRNA vaccine. Which is designed as a multi-purpose solution that can be expanded with other “boosters” when new Bio-weapons events unfold. Read about it HERE.

Attack Two. Death by Vomiting Virus. The second bio-weapon to hit China occurred in July 2020 in Beijing. It was a tick borne virus, (Dabieshan tick virus and SFTSV) and should alert anyone because not only does Beijing not have ticks, but the nearest tick infested region is half a nation away. Roughly the distance between Florida and Maine.

As soon as the CIA assets turned over the vials to the PLA, Donald Trump was whisked off to a secure military base, and America went to Defcon One.

The Donald Trump evacuation to a secure military base happened at the same time that SADS-CoV was discovered in China.

The virus causes a disease called “Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome” (SFTS). Essentially your internal organs start to hemorrhage you vomit them out violently until you die. The STFS virus is transmitted to humans, and is thought to be fatal in 1 to 3 out of every 10 infections. The people die a long, drawn out and painful death.

Trump launched this virus against China when it was obvious that [1] China controlled COVID-19B, and that [2] Hong Kong was secure, and [3] the NGO (CIA agents) were escorted out of China.

Well it seems that the American “news media” is readying the American population for some blow back.

One year later, it appears that Los Angeles is expecting the second bio-weapon that hit China; the Death by violent-vomiting bio-weapon. Hitting Los Angles this Summer. Just peachy. And you know, this is a “new virus” of a completely different bio-weapon family. The COVID vaccine won’t protect anyone. Read about it HERE. So local California authorities are taking the necessary precautions for this event.

Attack Three. Death by Diarrhea Virus. The third bio-weapon, the Swine G4 virus is now hitting America. It’s the “spiteful” virus that causes death by diarrhea unless immediate treatment is provided.

Yeah, the infected shit themselves to death and shit out their entire organs though internal hemorrhaging. Just peachy. And you know, this is a “new virus” of a completely different bio-weapon family. The COVID vaccine won’t protect anyone. Trump launched it against China after his eight battle carrier flotilla sailed home in defeat in 2020.

The final result of the enormous military armada sent to the South China Sea by Trump in 2020, and why no one is talking about the aftermath of it.

Read about it HERE.

Remember boys and girls, real secrets are SECRET. And this is what is going on today. It’s World War III by bio-weapons.

My god, is that TRUE? 
We never see any of that on our mainstream media.

And that was the Covid-variant unleashed upon China in October-November 2019?

That is absolutely horrific and sadistically cruel.

It speaks not merely of cold-calculation, but a frothing, bottomless hatred. A demented, boundless desire to cause harm.

If it was deliberate, somebody has to pay, there has to be justice, and retribution.

-Anonymous[793] • Disclaimer said.

But all that is just an appetizer for what’s to come…

So that’s it, you might think.

The uninformed are waiting until “herd immunity” is attained against the “global pandemic” and then everything will return back to normal. Right? Isn’t that the impression that everyone has, eh?

Well it isn’t.

America is so thick-headed and run by idiots that they are just following the “marching orders” laid down years ago. And given the absolutely unexpected (by American elites) turn of events, that the actions being taken by America (by following out of date and obsolete orders) just makes America look like it’s being run by idiots.

"Not even North Korea is this nuts" 

- North Korean defector..

You cannot help but think that.

I think that the United States is so stuffed up with imbeciles inside Washington, the military, the government, and the media that both Russia and China are toying with them like a cat toys with a mouse…

America, as it is being run today, is helpless. And it shows.

Yeah.

It’s like this.

And I am not the only person to think so.

Consider this… fine article by Mr. E. A. ( I will provide a link to his site once I get it, and place it here.)

New article–NBC Reporter Give Putin the Third Degree.

I read both the transcript from the Kremlin as well as watched the whole spectacle on RT, it’s also on the Russian Insider YT channel, if you want to subject yourself to it.

NBC Reporter Gives Putin the Third Degree. (He left out the most important question—Mr. Putin, do you still beat your wife?)

On June 11th, President Putin met with NBC journalist, Keir Simmons.

Below, you can see the questions that he asked.

The full transcript is at http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/65861

Simmons started off expressing his appreciation for the first meeting after almost three years, and without pausing for Putin to acknowledge the greeting, immediately launched into this litany of accusations posing as questions.

What was so striking—if you’ll pardon the pun—was the accusatory assumption of guilt, implicit in the questions. It’s as if some presumed guilty serial killer (whoops, sorry, President Putin) was finally brought to the police station to be confronted with numerous allegations…….but no evidence.

Putin’s ability to keep his composure was pretty remarkable. It seemed as if he was in a ring, and letting his opponent throw multiple punches which he parried. Simmons assumed that he was in charge of the interview:

“Keir Simmons: It’s just that there’s a limited amount of time, Mr President. Unless we can have more time, I’d be very happy to have to keep going for another 30 minutes.

Vladimir Putin: I determine the time here, so don’t worry about time.”

The upstart Pulitzer Prize aspirant needed to be reminded who’s boss.

Reprising the Ugly American

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_American

It seems that since the 1958 release of this novel, the USA has still not learned its lesson:

What is the theme of the Ugly American?

Racism and Cultural Insensitivity. Despite living and working in another country, most members of the American Foreign Service hold racist views and lack awareness of the cultures they live amongst.

After patiently listening to a series of accusatory, “Guilty until proven innocent” questions, the topic turned to interference in Russia’s affairs, and accusations of Russia interfering in US affairs.

Simmons objected to Russia’s laws restricting the ability of foreigners’ activity in Russia. Putin noted that it is the USA itself that wrote such a law decades ago.

Putin summed it up by saying:

We have a saying: ”Don’t be mad at the mirror if you are ugly.“ It has nothing to do with you personally. But if somebody blames us for something, what I say is, ”Why don’t you look at yourselves?“ You will see yourselves in the mirror, not us.

Yet Another Instance of US Cognitive Dissonance and Psychological Projection.

President Putin gave a speech at the UN a few years back pointing out US destructive policies, and asked, “Can’t you see what you have done?” The tone of the interview was yet another example of the inability of the US media and presumably Washington Consensus complex, to see its own crimes, while assuming its own innocence—Cognitive Dissonance, while blaming others for what it does and has been doing—Psychological Projection.

This begs the question, what is going on here? Is this merely a psychological lapse?

Or is it something more contrived and cynical?

Accuse the victim of that for which you are guilty

Why Did Putin Agree to this Interview?

We of course can’t know, however, to this observer, it looks like he just gave NBC more editable fodder to feed the Western audiences.

The best example is this edited snippet.

Keir Simmons: … Mr President. Do you worry that your opposition to NATO has actually strengthened it? For six years, NATO has spent more on defense.

Vladimir Putin: Some defense. During the USSR era, Gorbachev, who is still, thank God, with us, got a promise, a verbal promise that there would be no NATO expansion to the east. Where is that…

Keir Simmons: Where is that…

Vladimir Putin: …promise? Two ways of expansion.

Keir Simmons: Where is that written down? Where is that promise written down?

Vladimir Putin: Right, right. Well done. Correct. You’ve got a point. Got you good.

Well, congratulations. Of course, everything should be sealed and written on paper. But what was the point of expanding NATO to the east and bringing this infrastructure to our borders, and all of this before saying that we are the ones who have been acting aggressively?

Why? On what basis? Did Russia after the USSR collapsed present any threat to the US or European countries? We voluntarily withdrew our troops from Eastern Europe. Leaving them just on empty land. Our people there, military personnel for decades lived there in what was not normal conditions, including their children.

We went to tremendous expenses. And what did we get in response? We got in response infrastructure next to our borders. And now, you are saying that we are threatening somebody. We’re conducting war games on a regular basis, including sometimes surprise military exercises. Why should it worry the NATO partners? I just don’t understand that.

Keir Simmons: Will you commit now not to send any further Russian troops into Ukrainian sovereign territory?

Vladimir Putin: Look, did we say that we were planning to send our armed formations anywhere? We were conducting war games in our territory. How can this not be clear? I’m saying it again because I want your audience to hear it, your listeners to hear it both on the screens of their televisions and on the internet.

We conducted military exercises in our territory. Imagine if we sent our troops into direct proximity to your borders. What would have been your response? We didn’t do that. We did it in our territory. You conducted war games in Alaska. God bless you. But you had crossed an ocean, brought thousands of personnel, thousands of units of military equipment close to our borders, and yet you believe that we are acting aggressively and somehow you’re not acting aggressively. Just look at that. The pot calling the kettle black.

So how was it edited?

Putin: Gorbachev, who is still, thank God, with us, got a promise, a verbal promise that there would be no NATO expansion to the east. Where is that…

Keir Simmons: Where is that…

Vladimir Putin: …promise? Two ways of expansion.

Keir Simmons: Where is that written down? Where is that promise written down?

Vladimir Putin: Right, right. Well done. Correct. You’ve got a point. Got you good. Well, congratulations.

In other words, it was perfectly fine to renege on repeated verbal promises.

So why did Putin accede to this interview? Good question.

Here is the list of questions, taken from the Kremlin transcript.

Russia is preparing, perhaps within months, to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system, enabling Tehran to track military targets. Is that true?
President Biden has defined his first trip to Europe as quote, ”about rallying the world’s democracies.“ He views you as a leader of autocrats, who is determined to undermine the liberal democratic order. Is that true?
President Biden asked you to meet with him. He didn’t make any preconditions. Were you surprised?
Will you go into the summit agreeing to begin more arms control talks immediately after the summit?
President Biden wants predictability and stability. Is that what you want?But he would say that you have caused a lot of instability and unpredictability.
You once described President Trump as a bright person, talented. How would you describe President Biden?
President Biden said one time when you met, you were inches away from each other, close to each other. And he said to you, ”I’m looking into your eyes, and I can’t see a soul.“ And you said, ”We understand each other.“ Do you remember that exchange?
President Biden is saying he told you to your face, ”You don’t have a soul.“ (Laughter.)
Would you have felt that was an inappropriate thing to say?
What do you think of the Black Lives Matter movement?
there is now a weight of evidence, a long list of alleged state-sponsored cyberattacks. Let me give you five.
The US intelligence community says Russia
interfered with the 2016 election.
Election security officials said Russia tried to interfere with the 2020 election.
Cybersecurity researchers said government hackers targeted COVID vaccine researchers, hacking for COVID vaccines.
In April, the Treasury Department said the SolarWinds attack was the world’s worst, including nine federal agencies.
And just before your summit, Microsoft says it has discovered another attack with targets including organizations that have criticised you, Mr Putin. Mr President, are you waging a cyber war against America?
Russian-speaking criminals is the allegation, are targeting the American way of life: food, gas, water, hospitals, transport. Why would you let Russian-speaking criminals disrupt your diplomacy? Wouldn’t you want to know who’s responsible?
You don’t ask for a truce unless you’re fighting in a [cyberspace] war.
Russia is fighting on that[cyberspace] battlefield. Correct? That if you can come to an agreement over hacking and election interference, then you’ll call off the hacking and the election interference if America agrees not to comment on your elections and your political opponents?
What should Americans worry about? What might happen next if there’s no agreement on cyber? Do you fear that American intelligence is deep inside Russian systems and has the ability to do you a lot of damage in cyber?
he’ll [Biden]raise the issue of Alexei Navalny, targeted for assassination, now in a Russian jail. Mr President, why are you so threatened by opposition?
In America, we call what you’re doing now ”whataboutism.“ ”What about this? What about that?“ It’s a way of not answering the question. Let me ask you a direct question.
Can I just ask you a direct question? Did you order Alexei Navalny’s assassination?
Mr President, are you a killer?
Anna Politkovskaya, shot dead. Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned by polonium. Sergei Magnitsky, allegedly beaten and died in prison. Boris Nemtsov, shot moments from the Kremlin, moments from here. Mikhail Lesin died of blunt trauma in Washington, DC. Are all of these a coincidence, Mr President?
Did you have prior knowledge that a commercial airliner would be forced to land in Belarus and that a journalist would be arrested?
You appear to have approved of it judging by your meeting with President Lukashenko soon afterwards. In the case of neighbouring Ukraine earlier this year, the European Union said you had more than 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. Was that an attempt to get Washington’s attention?
Mr President. Do you worry that your opposition to NATO has actually strengthened it? For six years, NATO has spent more on defence.
Where is that written down? Where is that promise [that Nato would not expand outside of Germany written down?]
Will you commit now not to send any further Russian troops into Ukrainian sovereign territory?
The Biden administration has said that at your summit they will bring up the case of two US prisoners in Russia, Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed. They are two former Marines. Trevor Reed is suffering from COVID in prison. Why don’t you release them ahead of the summit? Wouldn’t that show goodwill?
And on the prisoner swap question, is that something that you would consider? Are you looking to negotiate? You’re meeting with the President.
Just to be clear so we hear it from you, which Russian prisoners in the US would you be hoping to bring back to Russia by name?
ust quickly before I move on, on the subject of prisons, again with Alexei Navalny, will you commit that you will personally ensure that Alexei Navalny will leave prison alive?
You complain so much about NATO to your west. Why do you never complain about China’s militarisation to your east?
What do you think of China’s treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang?
There is the accusation of a million Uyghurs in so-called concentration camps. Is that your message to the Muslim communities in the former Soviet Union? You don’t think anything wrong is happening there?
It’s just a question of whether you are prepared to criticise China. China, for example, abstained on Crimea at the Security Council. China’s biggest banks have not contravened American sanctions against Russia. Do you think you get 100% support from China?
Why are you splitting off from the US space programme and moving forward with China?
If the People’s Liberation Army made a move on Taiwan how would Russia respond to that?
You’re threatening to close that crossing in July at the Security Council. Why would you do that, knowing that it will cause the death of refugees?
Mr President, you extended the Constitution so that you could be President of Russia until 2036. Do you worry that the longer you are in power and without any sign of someone to replace you, the more instability there may be when you finally do choose to leave office?

Meanwhile, while Russia is telling the USA to fuck off, so is China.

Why can America send troops and bombers to the border of Russia, and the border of China and expect that no one will shoot them down? Why does the Pentagon believe that they are somehow immune from a military combat event? Why does the USA assume that Russia and China won’t start behaving the same way that America has been behaving all these decades?

Maybe we are starting to see efforts that are telling the neocon “war hawks” in Washington DC, to SHUT THE FUCK UP, or go ahead and start a war. They are not going to play your fucking games any longer. And the morons in Washington DC are taking the bait. They are like moronic children playing with dynamite.

Hawaii-Based F-22s Scrambled On FAA Request But Nobody Will Say Why…

Hal Turner says that it is because…

China Sends Long-Range Bomber toward U.S. ADIZ Hawaii! U.S. Scrambles two F-22 Raptors – FULLY ARMED

Of course, the American alt-Right, and mainstream media won’t dare mention this. Probably right now there are meetings with professional diversity officers and LGBT advisors discussing how to manipulate the news feeds to calm the situation down. After they take internal polls, and get direction, will they come up with a new narrative that will support an aggressive China and Russia.

But that’s not all.

China just been flying 28 fighter planes in loops and circles all around Taiwan. You won’t find this news in America. I know, I looked.

Maybe tomorrow.

But right now it’s been all over the Chinese media for the last three days. America only displays news to box Americans into believing an approved narrative.

These actions and activities are all so new, and so unexpected, that the Pentagon and the CIA / NSA really hasn’t a clue as to how to spin them.

You can download the video HERE.

It seems like they want to provoke America to come out to play. So yeah, what else the fuck does it look like. Will America take the bait?

Curious Bullshit

But America is still playing the same old games. It is still pushing the same tired narratives.

What constitutes “news” from the United States is just getting crazier and crazier. Check out these two outlandish stores about China that I found on Drudge today;

China is using it’s water scarcity problem against it’s people

It's from the fierce neocon publication the National Review. But these people are so deluded. I don't even know where to begin. 

[1] There is no water scarcity problem in China in any form, shape or configuration anywhere. And secondly, [2] China IS the Chinese people. There just isn't a "ruling class" like you have in the West.

The point is that those who are in this "echo chamber" believe this nonsense. No wonder they seem to be like a moronic idiot monster thrashing about to us "normal's".

I mentioned this article to my Chinese friends inside of China and they actually laughed. Laughed! That is just how deluded, out of touch with reality, and insane these people are.

Western companies are leaving Hong Kong in droves over the laws related to NGO color revolutions

It's all a pile of bull manure. Not true in the least. But what do you expect from the neocon publication Wall street Journal. Again. Those in the echo chambers believe this nonsense. 

Not even remotely true.

That is the essence of propaganda: pick some big lies, repeat them endlessly, and accuse anybody who is willing to contradict them with consorting with the enemy.

Anybody who dares to challenge the propaganda narrative is automatically either a “Kremlin bot”, a “fifty center” or “Xi Peng stooge.”

This is, of course, a convenient dodge. When all sorts of things are going wrong, from lost wars to stolen elections to stolen retirements to stolen futures of one’s children to weapons systems that don’t work, it is easiest to find a single scapegoat.

For such a huge set of problems, the scapegoat has to be a very large one, and Russia and China just both happens to be the right size.

Jim Kunstler: 

I think what is really going on, what's sort of behind the insanity of this, is the very strange and mysterious collapse of the intellectual class in America. 

Now, you’ve got a class of people in the media and academia, highly educated people, the permanent bureaucracy in the government who now believe in crazy things and are proposing dangerous things and seem to have just completely lost it. 

It does demonstrate something about the madness of crowds. 

Some things, in a way, are beyond the rational reach of analysis. You know, you're just in kind of unchartered territory of group herd emotion whether it's wildebeests or lemmings or people on the upper east side of Manhattan setting their hair on fire.

I think the real question you have to ask is what happens to a society when the thinking class can't think anymore? To me, that's the most dangerous thing. And the mendacity they are showing is amazing.

Preparation for war

The United States made it perfectly clear what excuses that it would use for Congress to authorize a formal war declaration against China. These were all laid out in the March 2021 Anchorage, Alaska meeting.

And since that date, the world pretty much understands that when the “negotiation party” told China “We don’t want a war.” that it is now official. The USA will conduct a war against China.

And the “negotiations” are only a mere formality.

Both Russia and China are aware of what is going on.

And America is playing and following a script that was established years ago, based on [1] faulty data, [2] incorrect and false Intel, [3] corrupted perceptions and [4] moronic leadership. And they STILL haven’t deviated from that script.

As time moves forward, both China and Russia tick off the predictable check list of American actions, and one after the other each box is checked off, and the predictable actions take place.

Meanwhile, China and Russia maneuvers forces, political assets, Geo-political situations to their advantage. Always guarded to see if the American leadership will deviate form the old stale plan. But it doesn’t. Which might be a really pleasant surprise.

I would well imagine that maybe the USA is much smarter than this, and allowing Russia and China to be lulled into a state of comfortable deception. But I am not so sure that this is actually the case. Noting the neocon war hawks in Washington DC, they are very two-dimensional actors with little hard practical experience and shows linear thinking clouded by emotional distortion.

We, you and I, sit on the sidelines and watch all this take place.

It truly seems like the United States is being run by morons that are just following instructions from other morons who all don’t have a clue as to what the issues are, the stakes actually are, and are absolutely deluded by some kind of mental illness of their superiority when there is no actual advantage in any way, shape or form.

It’s pretty messed up.

To me, it seems that America is sleepwalking toward what it thinks will be a nice standard “boilerplate” “distant” war. From with [1] the military-industrial complex can profit from, [2] the government can use as an excuse to suppress American revolting elements, and [3] from which it can buy some time to rebuild key technologies, infrastructure and economic advantage.

But it is delusional.

Fundamentally it has no advantage. And digging a deep hole in beach sand will only result in more digging. Nothing will actually be accomplished.

And Russia and China consider this activity dangerous, and are positioning themselves to provide a “killing blow” if need be to “an insane and rabid dog”. And to me it seems like Russia and China are quite aware of this and are like a cat toying with a mouse that it caught.

Us outsiders who see the whole picture outside of the American propaganda machine can see this most clearly and we are both bemused and horrified at the same time.

It’s good that Americans are kept in the dark.

Can you just imagine the horror and internal strife if Americans found out the true extent of the American government’s actions, plans and desires.

Conclusions

Just because the world is fucked, doesn’t mean that you need be too.

No one really even understands who is coming up with all of these lunatic ideas, such as ...

“we have to stop the Chinese by doing an earth-shattering world war because we disagree with the way they are managing their Islamic terror threat and also we have a map that indicates they are violating Vietnamese fishing rights.”

-UNZ

My cats have taught me a lot over the years. One of the most valuable lessons that I have learned has become a major platform of my life. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to relearn this most fundamental lesson.

“Life is hard. Then you nap.”

Do you want more?

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Google is functionally the American CIA internationally, and the NSA domestically.

Google has taken on the role of the former East German Secret police, known as the Stasi . They have been implementing these cold war policies with the full blessings of the United States government, and it’s going to get far, far worse.

Head's up! I am using a ton load of dated references in this post. I do so out of necessity. 

It's this Republican said this, and that Democrat did that. 

It's all bullshit. 

Both political parties are playing a game. Don't fall for the details of the game. Pay attention to the tools that they are using to manipulate you.

Google.

Do not get upset by the dated references to Obama, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and all the rest. I used what was available to me. Keep in mind that the political figures are PUPPETS. When reading this article pay attention to how Google is used as a tool to manipulate you.

Google is no longer “just” a simple indexing medium for the Internet. It has grown in popularity, and has leveraged its finances to the extent of hiring brilliant people. As such, the United States, under President Obama has collaborated with it to greatly expand the NSA and surveillance capabilities of the government.

Google controls what you read and view on the Internet.

That is fine, if you have a very simplistic view of the world. As most humans do. It is our nature as herd animals.

“An under-the-radar startup funded by billionaire Eric Schmidt has become a major technology vendor for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, underscoring the bonds between Silicon Valley and Democratic politics.

The Groundwork, according to Democratic campaign operatives and technologists, is part of efforts by Schmidt—the executive chairman of Google parent-company Alphabet—to ensure that Clinton has the engineering talent needed to win the election. And it is one of a series of quiet investments by Schmidt that recognize how modern political campaigns are run, with data analytics and digital outreach as vital ingredients that allow candidates to find, court, and turn out critical voter blocs.

There is also another gap in play: The shrinking distance between Google and the Democratic Party. Former Google executive Stephanie Hannon is the Clinton campaign’s chief technology officer, and a host of ex-Googlers are currently employed as high-ranking technical staff at the Obama White House. Schmidt, for his part, is one of the most powerful donors in the Democratic Party—and his influence does not stem only from his wealth, estimated by Forbes at more than $10 billion.

According to campaign finance disclosures, Clinton’s campaign is the Groundwork’s only political client. Its employees are mostly back-end software developers with experience at blue-chip tech firms like Netflix, Dreamhost, and Google.”

 – From the article; Meet “Groundwork” – Google Chairman Eric Schmidt’s Stealth Startup Working to Make Hillary Clinton President

Google is not an investigative website like others. It is the most popular search tool used in the United States. The reader must recognize that, as such, it is absolutely controlled by the political machinery originating out of Washington, DC.

Thus, using Google to search to non-biased information is impossible. (A commentator suggested you do a google image search on “white couple” – he said the results would make your blood boil. He was right.)

All the searches are explicitly tailored towards a progressive-narrative that originates out of the United States government. (Just like Facebook.) This is fine for those whom only want a censored dialog presented to them.

However, that bodes poorly for the more open-minded and adventuresome in this world.

Google Integrated with the United States Government

There is a very good reason why China refuses to permit Google to operate inside China. They simply do not want the Internet habits of their citizens to be monitored and tracked. And who can blame them?

“Nobody wants to acknowledge that Google has grown big and bad, But it has. Schmidt's tenure as CEO saw Google integrate with the shadiest of U.S. power structures as it expanded into a geographically invasive megacorporation.”

-Julian Assange wrote in his book.

Assange became concerned about former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s ties with the State Department in 2009 when Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary of state. He has claimed that Schmidt, who is a chairman at the company, has worked with the Clintons for years, as Donald Trump accused Google of political bias saying that it suppresses negative news about Clinton.

Speaking by video link to an anniversary news conference in Berlin earlier this week, he said the leaks include ‘significant material’ on war, arms, oil, internet giant Google, the U.S. election and mass surveillance. (2016) WikiLeaks hoped ‘to be publishing every week for the next 10 weeks,’ Assange said.

Google tracks your location always

Google is facing new scrutiny in the wake of revelations that it stores users’ location data even when “Location History” is turned off.

Once caught, Google used to quietly change it’s illegal activities. Now it simply doesn’t give a damn.

Google quietly edited its description of the practice on its own website—while continuing said practice—to clarify that “some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other services, like Search and Maps.”

As a result of the previously unknown practice, which was first exposed by the Associated Press, Google has now been sued by a man in San Diego. Simultaneously, activists in Washington, DC are urging the Federal Trade Commission to examine whether the company is in breach of its 2011 consent decree with the agency.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court last Friday in San Francisco, attorneys representing a man named Napoleon Patacsil argued that Google is violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the state’s constitutional right to privacy.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status, and it would include both an “Android Class” and “iPhone Class” for the potential millions of people in the United States with such phones who turned off their Location History and nonetheless had it recorded by Google. It will likely take months or longer for the judge to determine whether there is a sufficient class.

Perhaps one of the reasons why Huawei was banned in the United States was because they did not preload Google spyware.

Also on August 17, attorneys from the Electronic Privacy Information Center wrote in a sternly worded three-page letter to the FTC that Google’s practices are in clear violation of the 2011 settlement with the agency.

In that settlement, Google agreed that it would not misrepresent anything related to

"(1) the purposes for which it collects and uses covered information, and (2) the extent to which consumers may exercise control over the collection, use, or disclosure of covered information."

Until the Associated Press story on August 13, Google’s policy simply stated:

"You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored."

This turns out to not be true.

Google did not respond to Ars’ request for comment.

Alphabet Inc.’s cloud-based Google Photos service

Every time you use Google or a Google-related product, such as their browser, etc., to upload a photo or use your camera to take a photo, or your computer to take a photo, Google keeps the image. Not only that, but they have created a database of images where facial recognition is used to link photos with geolocation data (as well as device data) and provide a photographic record of a given person.

So, if your friend uses Google Chrome to upload a harmless dessert picture up to (say for example) Tumblr, and a blurry image of you in the background is in the picture…congratulations! You are now part of the United States government data base, and they know where you were, and what you looked like at that time.

This software is functionally similar to the Facebook software known as Deepface.

Beware

In an interview, Google whistleblower Zach Vorhies, advises against having any association with Google. He warns of their dangerous practices and comments that they have declared war on anyone who is not a progressive socialist. They expect everyone to cower away in silence. Their expectations are that their consumers be placid and as non-threatening as possible.

The Google World infographic created by Overdrive Interactive is a visual representation of Google's projects, services, technologies, and companies acquired by Google. View the Google World or download it as a PDF with live links to over 200 assets. — .
How is this legal?
.
How is this not a monopoly?
.
Why it is permitted to exist int his form?
.
The Google World infographic created by Overdrive Interactive is a visual representation of Google’s projects, services, technologies, and companies acquired by Google. View the Google World or download it as a PDF with live links to over 200 assets.
.

Zach worked as a senior software engineer at both Google and YouTube for over eight years.

He has, and shares, his inside knowledge of his experiences and knowledge. He is convinced that Google and other software giants in silicon-valley possess a global monopoly. A monopoly that is both dangerous and evil. He also states that Google is not a reliable source of information any longer.

We should all heed his advice.

Google’s monopoly over search is mandated simply because of a continued reassurance that it is an unbiased search platform. Yet that is absolutely not true. Google is actively suppressing and censoring information. It is impossible to censor something and be unbiased at the same time.

Manipulation for political objectives

“…If you retained direct links, it was still there depending on the source, but Google wouldn't find it all of a sudden.  I started choosing what to read by searching with three or four engines and picking what Google seemed to be not finding but everyone else did.  Now, however that doesn't work, a lot of non-Google engines use Google, and the ones that don't have been biased corrupted also.”

-Orange Coffee

The absolute partisan support for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 general election should be enough to satisfy even the most ignorant reader of this manuscript. Google censored, lied, rewrote articles, modified search results, altered hash tags, and blanked out everything deemed a threat to their preferred nominee.

I get it. Not everyone reads the same kind of news, or is exposed to the same kinds of things as other people are. It is ok.

If the reader wants to think that Google is an unbiased tool, believe it. I don’t really care.

There was a time in my life when I actually believed that Santa Claus really existed. There also was a time when I believed that I needed to pay taxes to repair the roads. It’s crazy! As I lived in Pennsylvania at the time.

It was (maybe is) one of the most corrupt states where the DOT funds are routinely stolen from. OK.

Here’s some links for some of the more interested parties;

The entire company, all their money, all their employees and all their efforts were single focused on one objective; the [1] control of the election process (for the election of a puppet figurehead), and [2] a continuance of control over people that represents the desires of the oligarchy inside the United States

Well, the company is getting some negative repercussions from their activity. Go here.

Zach Vorheis has some things to say.

For the video, as well as links to the transcripts, visit Mercola.com here.

It’s pretty much well known, but the Untied States is owned by a handful of oligarchs. They utilize companies and manipulate the people in order to have them do their bidding. Thus, the point of sharing this information is that the largest mechanism for obtaining information in the world is terribly compromised.

Google is manipulating search results to influence our behavior. At the same time, denying this is happening.

The Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal published a a very thorough investigation covering these same points. As well as explaining the consequences of this behavior.

Disclosure of evil intent on Project Veritas

Zach Vorhies released about 950 pages of internal Google documents. These documents provide a comprehensive picture of what’s going on at the upper management within Google.

You can find all of those documents on the Project Veritas website.

They illustrate that Google has become corrupt, evil, political in nature and aligned with wealthy oligarchs who intend to use the platform to manipulate great masses of people. In order words, to use Google much the same way that “Over-seers” used to control plantation slaves.

What Happened to ‘Don’t Be Evil’?

Zach comments…

“Everything started out with Google really great,” Vorhies says.

“They had this mission statement of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful. They also had this idea of ‘Don’t be evil.’ It was built right into their initial public offering (IPO) statements.

I thought at the time, ‘This is great. This is exactly the kind of company that the world needs. We need to organize all the world’s information and make it universally accessible. We need to let the algorithms decide what goes to the top and let the users decide what’s most useful for them and then make sure that other people are able to find that information.’

Google stayed true to those principles all the way up until 2016, until Donald Trump won the election.

For some reason, they decided they were going to throw all these mission statements away and go after the president of the United States, censor the internet and distort the news so that people’s searches could be redirected towards anti-presidential sentiment.

This eventually morphed into not just censorship of the president, but censorship of information related to health …

I realized [that] if this was allowed to continue, then this agenda of Big Pharma would be able to become … ‘the truth’ …

Once I found out that Google was censoring a lot of information, I started looking at the information it was censoring with a new degree of ‘They wouldn’t be censoring it unless it was true,’ sort of thing.

It’s a strange heuristic to use to figure out what’s true in the world, but you’ve just got to figure out what they’re censoring. You kind of understand that they’re censoring it because it’s not Big Tech-friendly. It’s not friendly to the established players.

Some ‘Fake News’ Isn’t so Fake After All

Shortly after Trump won the presidential election, you started hearing more and more about the scourge of “fake news.” Google, like Facebook and others, decided they had to protect users from fake news. The problem is, who determines what’s fake and what’s not?

Exactly. 

As Jordan Peterson said  in regards to hate speech: "Who is going to regulate it? Who is going  to define it? 

I know the answer to that - the last people in the world you would want to."

Using Google’s internal search engine, Vorhies set out to determine what Google’s definition of fake news was.

He found several examples in a presentation.

However, in it were actual, verifiable real news events.

“I went, ‘Wait a minute. Is this about fake news or is this about controlling the narrative for like political purposes?'” Vorhies says.

He began collecting these documents because he knew they were explosive enough that Google would remove them if word ever got out about them.

In his continued search for real news presented as fake, he started unearthing other disturbing projects.

The main project responsible for Google censorship is a thing called ‘Machine Learning Fairness’ (ML Fairness).

As you imagine, they’re not going to call their censorship regime something bad. They’re going to call it something like ‘fairness.’

So, if you’re against that, you’re against fairness.

It’s a euphemism. I discovered there was this umbrella project, ‘ML Fairness,’ and there were these sub-components like ‘Project Purple Rain,’ which is a 24-hour response team that is monitoring the internet.

How Machine Learning Fairness Twists Perception of Reality

Just what is ML Fairness and how does it work? Vorhies explains:

Let’s say that this circle right here represents the entire spectrum of all possible artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. ML Fairness is a small part of that type of AI. It’s a relatively new type of AI. What machine learning does is it simulates brain neurons and how they fire.

If you remember how a brain neuron fires, it takes in as input signals from other neurons and then mixes those signals together and decides whether it wants to fire or not, based on the signals that it receives.

Well, these artificial neurons do something similar. They have a collection of inputs, depending on the internal rule set. It will fire depending on the inputs it gets … And then that output is used as input for further downstream processing.

If you have this collection of millions of simulated neurons … you can start to create very complex behavior that’s able to solve problems, like chess or the game Go …

It can classify hate speech. That’s the part that’s interesting to me — how this thing could be used to classify information across the internet.

ML Fairness is a type of AI that takes information on the internet, classifies it and then ranks it. And then the Google engine will figure out whether the information is fair or not. And if it is ‘fair,’ it goes to the top. If it’s not fair, then it gets pushed to the bottom. That’s what ML Fairness is in a nutshell.

What this manipulation ultimately ends up doing is presenting a twisted and false view of the world. What you’re seeing in your search results is what the AI algorithm decided is most fair — not what’s actually happening in the real world.

This is how you now end up getting automated search suggestions such as “men can have periods” and “men can have babies,” even though these are biological impossibilities. However, the algorithm deems the idea that only women can menstruate and bear children as “unfair” and basically “sexist,” and thus it’s pushing these ridiculous search suggestions to the top.

This obnoxious discrepancy is clear when using search terms like “men can …” The manipulation of reality will not be as transparent when using health or political search words, when you cannot be absolutely sure, ahead of time, about what the absolute truth is.

Did Google Conspire to Commit Treason?

Vorhies saw these changes starting to take place in early 2017.

Shortly afterwards, Google announced it was going to start assigning an “authoritativeness score” to all news content.

“I was able to see this ranking on internal documents. High rankings were given to outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

“These outlets, in my opinion, have been producing propaganda,” Vorhies says. “They led to us into war with Iraq with the weapons of mass destruction hoax. They’ve lied to us [about] Vietnam. They have a history of supporting every war and military encouragement around the world that has [led to] the destruction of millions of lives.”

In June 2017, chief executive officer of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, announced that this was how they were going to filter news content across the YouTube platforms.

As Vorhies expected, this led to a clamp down on anything that goes against the mainstream narrative.

“Around that time, I had the fortune of catching [another] seditious activity by Google. What I caught them doing was deleting words out of the translation dictionary from Arabic to English, in order to make a Trump tweet sound crazy.^2,3”

President Trump had recently come back from a visit to Saudi Arabia when, on May 31, 2017, he tweeted: “Despite the negative constant press, covfefe.” Originally, people were able to translate “covfefe” to “We will stand up.” Taken together, you could see President Trump’s tweet basically said, “Despite the negative constant press, we will stand up.”

“People got really excited about that,” Vorhies says. “Well, The New York Times decided that they were going to write an entire article saying, ‘Actually, this word is nonsense. And everyone who thinks there’s a decode is just wrong.’

The same day that this article came out, I believe it was June 1, 2017, a senior executive person at Google … of one of the AI divisions, wrote up a design document saying, ‘We translated this world from Arabic to English.

But according to The New York Times, that’s not right. That’s actually nonsense, so let’s get rid of the word.’

And so, they got rid of the word.

The team that was responsible for getting rid of this word called themselves the ‘Derrida Team.’ Why is that significant? Because there was a French philosopher by the name of Jacques Derrida, who advocated for the destruction of Western culture through the manipulation and censorship of language.

What a coincidence that this team responsible for censoring words would have the same name as this very significant philosopher who is considered the father of post-modernism.

About six days later, I saw the newspapers were making a push for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove a sitting president from office due to mental incapacitation. One of the reasons that they cited was how Trump was tweeting nonsense.

Now, wait a minute, that was made nonsense by this manipulation of the dictionary! I realized these people have gone too far. There’s obviously a collusion here. I have to bring this to attention no matter what.

This isn’t because I’m necessarily a Trump supporter — I didn’t vote for him — this is simply because they can’t be doing this to a sitting president of the United States. That just can’t happen. It’s treason.

If this is going to happen, then I’ve got to let the public [and] law enforcement know about it. Because if I don’t, then I’m part of a conspiracy of silence … It was at that point that I decided I could no longer sit in silence. I took my cache of documents and I started to prepare for a disclosure event.”

Comment: Finally, an explanation for the infamous covfefe tweet'! It's insane that this word was actually a translation, yet it was used to paint Trump as insane. And the fact that, up until this insider document dump, 

NO ONE KNEW THIS.

YouTube Censorship Has Had Lethal Consequences

In 2018, the real-world ramifications of censorship hit home when an Iranian YouTube creator who had recently been demonetized marched into YouTube headquarters and opened fire on employees and then shot herself.

"Her name was Nasim [Najafi Aghdam]. She had a video that went viral in Iran ... She was creating really bizarre videos that were just — I don't know — I watched them and I actually strangely loved them. I couldn't stop watching them. They were so weird.

She decided that she was going to quit her job and become a full-time content creator, like millions of others ... YouTube was the platform to do that. Everyone was getting a lot of subscribers and were trying to generate money, get monetized on the platform ...

They would get a cut of the ads that were running when people interact with the ads or view them ... What YouTube did is they made a blanket ban. Anyone under 10,000 subscribers got censored. By censorship, I mean demonetized. They lost all of the funding that they could get for their videos. They can still post videos, they just couldn't get any money [from Google Ads] for it.

And so, this person had just lost her job. She felt she was being oppressed by YouTube. She drove all the way from San Diego, came to the YouTube headquarters on 901 Cherry Avenue ... came into the lunch area patio, took out a handgun and started firing ...

She shot a couple of people. Ran out of ammo, reloaded and shot some more and then [shot] herself in the chest and [bled] to death ... Obviously, this person was mentally deranged but, also, she was triggered by Google's censorship. Now I've got this very personal story about how censorship has affected my safety.

You would think that maybe YouTube would [rethink] its censorship, but no. They didn't ... Every day I would come into work and I would think, 'You know, with this increase in censorship, is someone going to come in with a gun?'"

Google Attempts to Destroy Vorhies by ‘Lawfare’

Vorhies resigned from Google June 28, 2019, and was immediately put under investigation, as the company had logs showing the many documents he’d been searching for and reading through.

Vorhies tells the story of what happened next:

"When I went to Project Veritas, I went under anonymity. We only released two pages of the 950 that they had [been given]. My hope was that Google would leave me alone ... But they decided they weren't going to do that.

They decided they were going to attempt to financially destroy me by engaging in lawfare, which is warfare via the legal system.

Within a few weeks of me disclosing ML Fairness to Project Veritas, they sent me threatening letters, demanding access to all my data outside of work ...

I wrote them back a letter admitting I had retained files, telling them I had given them to law enforcement ... The NDA, the nondisclosure agreement I signed is nonenforceable in cases where the company is committing criminal activity. Sedition is criminal activity, which means that the NDA is null and void.

I can submit evidence of Google's criminal activity to the government and to the media when the company is engaging in unlawful activity. That's what I did. Also, I signed the NDA in good faith, believing that Google's word of organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful and 'Don't be evil,' were truthful statements ...

I met an attorney who was representing Kevin Cernekee, another Google engineer who attempted to blow the whistle in the most legitimate way possible, which was to notify the Federal Labor Relations Authority in California. Kevin gave these papers to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Google responded by ambushing him with HR, seizing his laptop, seeing all the documents that he had downloaded, and then firing him and creating a legal theory that he had hacked into Google to get documents so that he could reconstruct Google's legal strategy and maybe even sell it.

They applied criminal charges against him. They made him defend himself in court for his collection of evidence that he had sent to the NLRB. He's [spent] $100,000 dollars of his own money defending himself from Google, so I knew what was in store for me.

[Cernekee's] lawyer was like, 'Yeah. This is the first step in a very painful process that's going to drive on for years. They're going to make it very expensive. Their goal is to destroy you.' Well, in that case, I'm not going to fight in the legal law. I'm going to fight in the court of public opinion.

I decided at that point to come out to Project Veritas and disclose who I was so that I could get eyes [on me], and I said, 'If Google's going to take me down, then I'm going to leverage that so that everyone else can see what they do and what they're really about. And then we can make Google's censorship program part of the national discussion.'

I disclosed everything. I released it to the public, all 950 pages ... August 17, 2019 ... [I've] tried to become a cultural force so that we can hold Google to account of what they're doing, because their censorship is wrong.

It's wrong for America. It's anti-American. Their election meddling is something that needs to be looked at, needs to be watched, because they've meddled with the elections in the past. They're meddling in the elections now.

They were able to deactivate Tulsi Gabbard's ad account directly following the Democratic debates.

They've meddled in the Ireland elections.

They've meddled in the Brazil elections.

We know this because there was a Supreme Court ruling that released the evidence showing they had a secret agreement with one of the politicians to generate dirt and boost it up on the current president of Brazil."

How Autofill Can Shift Political Opinion

Vorhies goes on to explain and describe how Google tools such as autofill search recommendations can be used to sway public opinion on political (and other topics), which can have significant political consequences.

Autofill is what happens when you start typing a search query into a search engine and algorithms kick in to offer suggestions to complete your search. We’ve been led to believe that whatever the autofill recommendations are is what most people are in fact searching for — Google has stated that the suggestions given are generated by a collection of user data — but that’s not true, at least not anymore.

“This story about the autofill first got disclosed by Dr. Robert Epstein, who is a Harvard-trained psychologist and former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today,” Vorhies explains.

“What he said was that Google had flipped a bunch of votes for Hillary using this autosuggest feature. I’ve investigated this claim.

I’ve verified it to be true …

It turns out that a lot of the popular searches were being suppressed.

For example, you typed in ‘Clinton body count.’ It’s a popular search term. This brings up all the people who have died in the decades that were associated with Hillary Clinton.

Well, this search result has been deleted off the search suggestion. What’s happened instead is that a bunch of negative search terms have been inserted that went against the current president of the United States, Donald Trump.

So, when you’re typing in search queries for Trump, it’s autocompleting and suggesting, ‘Do you mean that he’s a liar? That he’s a crook?’ … And then you do the same for Hillary Clinton and it has all these positive terms … They were doing this on the political stuff.

The most significant thing about this feature is the fact that you don’t expect to have this part of your online experience to be hatched for political reasons. You think that this is legitimately what other people are searching for.

As a result, you don’t have your filters on. Your brain puts on these filters when it starts to evaluate politically charged information. When you read a newspaper article, you may be thinking to yourself, ‘This may be true, this may not.’ You’re skeptical.

But when you’re typing into a search, you don’t think that because you don’t think that’s rigged, so whatever bias is inherent in that search result slips through and goes directly into your subconscious. This is what Epstein was explaining.”

The Search Engine Manipulation Effect

Epstein developed a “black box test” (a method of software testing) to measure just how influential a tool like autofill can be. Remarkably, his test demonstrated that “Google’s ‘autocomplete’ search suggestions can turn a 50/50 split among undecided voters into a 90/10 split”^5,6 — all without anyone being aware of the manipulation.

Similarly, when Epstein looked at the power of search engine manipulation to shift preferences and perceptions, he found that:⁷

"(1) biased search rankings can shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20% or more, (2) the shift can be much higher in some demographic groups, and (3) such rankings can be masked so that people show no awareness of the manipulation."

The good news is, there are ways to lower this manipulation effect, but to do so, people have to be aware that biased ranking is taking place. In his 2017 paper, “Suppressing the Search Engine Manipulation Effect,” Epstein writes:⁸

“A recent series of experiments demonstrated that introducing ranking bias to election-related search engine results can have a strong and undetectable influence on the preferences of undecided voters.

This phenomenon, called the search engine manipulation effect (SEME), exerts influence largely through order effects that are enhanced in a digital context.

We present data from three new experiments involving 3,600 subjects in 39 countries in which we replicate SEME and test design interventions for suppressing the effect. In the replication, voting preferences shifted by 39.0%, a number almost identical to the shift found in a previously published experiment (37.1%).

Alerting users to the ranking bias reduced the shift to 22.1%, and more detailed alerts reduced it to 13.8%. Users’ browsing behaviors were also significantly altered by the alerts, with more clicks and time going to lower-ranked search results.

Although bias alerts were effective in suppressing SEME, we found that SEME could be completely eliminated only by alternating search results — in effect, with an equal-time rule.

We propose a browser extension capable of deploying bias alerts in real-time and speculate that SEME might be impacting a wide range of decision-making, not just voting, in which case search engines might need to be strictly regulated.”

As pointed out by Vorhies,

"We've got to watch out for Google, because ... they're going to try to rig the 2020 elections."

Based on Epstein’s results, Google certainly appears to have the power to do so. The only way to prevent it may be an information campaign that exposes this hidden agenda, thereby helping to suppress this search engine manipulation effect.

“Autocomplete predictions are produced based on a number of factors including the popularity of search terms,” spokeswoman Kara Berman said in a statement sent to The Daily Caller News  Foundation. “Our systems are periodically updated to improve Search, and our users’ search activity varies, so the terms that appear in Autocomplete may change over time. Additionally, our systems automatically filter a small set of offensive or inappropriate content from autocomplete predictions.”

-Google formal statement

This all should be quite understandable because, after all, there have been more than 250 people who have transitioned from Google to government or vice versa during the Obama administration.

At least two dozen among the group have taken jobs in key posts in government or Google in that span. These individuals include Mikey Dickerson, Robert Manhini, Nicole Wong, Jannine Versi, Michele Weslander, Sameer Bhalotra, Julie Brill, Will Hudson, Michelle Lee, Matthew Bye, Joshua Wright and Renata Hesse.

Former Google employees occupy several key slots in the federal government. These include:

Megan Smith, vice president new business development at Google 2003-12, vice president of Google 2012-14, chief technology officer at the Office of Science and Technology Policy 2014-present.
Alexander Macgillivray, deputy general counsel at Google 2003-09, general counsel at Twitter 2009-13, deputy chief technology officer at OSTP 2014-present.
Nicole Wong, vice president and deputy general counsel at Google from 2004-11 and deputy chief technology officer at OSTP 2013-14.
Jannine Versi, product marketing manager in Middle East and North Africa for Google 2010-2012, White House National Economic Council 2013-14, chief of staff International Trade Administration at U.S. Department of Commerce 2014-present.
Michelle Lee, deputy general counsel at Google 2003-12, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 2012-present.
Mikey Dickerson, site reliability manager at Google 2006-13, administrator U.S. Digital Service 2014-present. Dickerson also assisted with election day monitoring and modeling with Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and helped repair the broken HealthCare.gov website.

At least 18 former Google employees work or have worked for the U.S. Digital Service and its General Services Administration sidekick, 18F. USDS operates under the Executive Office of the President, consulting on big federal information technology projects.

Search Results for Roger Ailes

The former Chairman and CEO of Fox News, Roger Ailes, died in May 2017. He was arguably one of the most consequential individuals in media and politics in the last century, and he leaves behind a loving wife and son. He also leaves behind a cadre of loyal former employees who love and respect him.

However if you run a Google search on him, you’ll find that the top results consist almost entirely of articles from several liberal publications savaging his reputation as a person. The search results, both on mobile and desktop platforms, begin with entries that are strikingly cruel and meanspirited. This behavior raise new questions about Google’s objectivity. (As if there WERE questions to be raised.)

The top results on “Roger Ailes” include [1] a piece by leftist activist Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone declaring Ailes “one of the worst Americans ever,” [2] an article by NBC’s Joy Reid on Time stating that Ailes “built a kingdom on exploited bias,” and [3] a Bret Stephens op-ed in the New York Times, that calls him “the man who wrecked conservatism.” [4] An op-ed on The Guardian by Arwa Mahdawi condemning Ailes for helping to “create this nightmare world” shows up alongside the other articles savaging him, way above obituaries or any neutral pieces about the man.

Regardless the opinion anyone might hold about Roger Ailes, the only thing certain is that Google’s search algorithm is deeply biased. In fact, it is biased in favor of publications who oppose his role as a leader in the conservative movement.

Control of Search Results

Google, Inc., isn’t just the world’s biggest purveyor of information; it is also the world’s biggest censor.

The company maintains at least nine different blacklists that impact our lives. It does so without input or authority from any outside advisory group, industry association or government agency. Google is not the only company suppressing content on the internet. Indeed, Reddit has frequently been accused of banning postings on specific topics, and a recent report suggests that Facebook has been deleting conservative news stories from its newsfeed. (A practice that might have a significant effect on public opinion – even on voting. ) Google, though, is currently the biggest bully on the block.

When Google’s employees or algorithms decide to block our access to information about a news item, political candidate or business, things can happen. Control information, and you control thoughts. Opinions and votes can shift, reputations can be ruined and businesses can crash and burn. (Because online censorship is entirely unregulated at the moment, victims have little or no recourse when they have been harmed.) Eventually, authorities will almost certainly have to step in, just as they did when credit bureaus were regulated in 1970. The alternative would be to allow a large corporation to wield an especially destructive kind of power that should be exercised with great restraint and should belong only to the public: the power to shame or exclude.

If Google were just another mom-and-pop shop with a sign saying “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone,” that would be one thing. But as the golden gateway to all knowledge, Google has rapidly become an essential in people’s lives – nearly as essential as air or water. We don’t let public utilities make arbitrary and secretive decisions about denying people services; we shouldn’t let Google do so either.

The autocomplete blacklist.

This is a list of words and phrases that are excluded from the autocomplete feature in Google’s search bar. The search bar instantly suggests multiple search options when you type words such as “democracy” or “watermelon,” but it freezes when you type profanities, and, at times, it has frozen when people typed words like “torrent,” “bisexual” and “penis.” At this writing, it’s freezing when I type “clitoris.” The autocomplete blacklist can also be used to protect or discredit political candidates. As recently reported, at the moment autocomplete shows you “Ted” (for former GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz) when you type “lying,” but it will not show you “Hillary” when you type “crooked” – not even, on my computer, anyway, when you type “crooked hill.” (The nicknames for Clinton and Cruz coined by Donald Trump, of course.) If you add the “a,” so you’ve got “crooked hilla,” you get the very odd suggestion “crooked Hillary Bernie.” When you type “crooked” on Bing, “crooked Hillary” pops up instantly. Google’s list of forbidden terms varies by region and individual.

The Google Maps blacklist.

This list is a little more creepy, and if you are concerned about your privacy, it might be a good list to be on. The cameras of Google Earth and Google Maps have photographed your home for all to see. If you don’t like that, “just move,” Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt said. Google also maintains a list of properties it either blacks out or blurs out in its images. Some are probably military installations, some the residences of wealthy people, and some – well, who knows? See elsewhere in this manuscript for more details on this subject.

The Google account blacklist.

A couple of years ago, Google consolidated a number of its products – Gmail, Google Docs, Google+, YouTube, Google Wallet and others – so you can access all of them through your one Google account.

If you somehow violate Google’s vague and intimidating terms of service agreement, you will join the ever-growing list of people who are shut out of their accounts.

Which means you’ll lose access to all of these interconnected products. Because virtually no one has ever read this lengthy, legalistic agreement, however, people are shocked when they’re shut out, in part because Google reserves the right to “stop providing Services to you … at any time.”

And because Google, one of the largest and richest companies in the world, has no customer service department, getting reinstated can be difficult. (Given, however, that all of these services gather personal information about you to sell to advertisers, losing one’s Google account has been judged by some to be a blessing in disguise.)

The Google News blacklist.

If a librarian were caught trashing all the liberal newspapers before people could read them, he or she might get in a heap o’ trouble.

What happens when most of the librarians in the world have been replaced by a single company?

Google is now the largest news aggregator in the world, tracking tens of thousands of news sources in more than thirty languages and recently adding thousands of small, local news sources to its inventory. It also selectively bans news sources as it pleases.

In 2006, Google was accused of excluding conservative news sources that generated stories critical of Islam, and the company has also been accused of banning individual columnists and competing companies from its news feed. In December 2014, facing a new law in Spain that would have charged Google for scraping content from Spanish news sources (which, after all, have to pay to prepare their news), Google suddenly withdrew its news service from Spain, which led to an immediate drop in traffic to Spanish new stories. That drop in traffic is the problem: When a large aggregator bans you from its service, fewer people find your news stories, which means opinions will shift away from those you support. Selective blacklisting of news sources is a powerful way of promoting a political, religious or moral agenda, with no one the wiser.

The Google AdWords blacklist.

Now things get creepier. More than 70 percent of Google’s $80 billion in annual revenue comes from its AdWords advertising service, which it implemented in 2000 by infringing on a similar system already patented by Overture Services. The way it works is simple:

Businesses worldwide bid on the right to use certain keywords in short text ads that link to their websites (those text ads are the AdWords); when people click on the links, those businesses pay Google.

These ads appear on Google.com and other Google websites and are also interwoven into the content of more than a million non-Google websites – Google’s “Display Network.”

The problem here is that if a Google executive decides your business or industry doesn’t meet its moral standards, it bans you from AdWords; these days, with Google’s reach so large, that can quickly put you out of business. In 2011, Google blacklisted an Irish political group that defended sex workers but which did not provide them; after a protest, the company eventually backed down.

In May 2016, Google blacklisted an entire industry – companies providing high-interest “payday” loans. As always, the company billed this dramatic move as an exercise in social responsibility, failing to note that it is a major investor in LendUp.com, which is in the same industry; if Google fails to blacklist LendUp (it’s too early to tell), the industry ban might turn out to have been more of an anticompetitive move than one of conscience. That kind of hypocrisy has turned up before in AdWords activities.

Whereas Google takes a moral stand, for example, in banning ads from companies promising quick weight loss, in 2011, Google forfeited a whopping $500 million to the U.S. Justice Department for having knowingly allowed Canadian drug companies to sell drugs illegally in the U.S. for years through the AdWords system, and several state attorneys general believe that Google has continued to engage in similar practices since 2011; investigations are ongoing.

Privacy

Privacy is a pretty big issue with me. The entire concept of monitoring former W(U)-SAP members of MAJestic and other “black operations projects” requires that the agents no longer have any kind of privacy.

Well, I suppose that I could write reams of pages on this subject, but I won’t. If the reader is not aware of how important privacy is, then let it lie at that. I for one, tend to leave my cell phone at home hen I go out so that I know that if someone wants to talk to me or reach me, they will do so when I want them to, not when they want to. It’s my little wall of privacy that I have since erected.

Sigh. Another day, another reminder that companies don’t really have to abide by promises to not share your personal information. They have a big “but” in their contracts.

In 2016, millions of Sports Authority customers began receiving notices that their e-mail addresses and other data were about to be transferred to competitor Dick’s Sporting Goods. The transfer is legal because Sports Authority declared bankruptcy and sold off its spare parts this summer. Dick’s, smartly and legally, bought the customer information.

According to the L.A. Times, a treasure trove of 25 million e-mails and some other data cost Dick’s $15 million. So you might not think your data is valuable, but someone sure does.

But you probably didn’t know that. In fact, when Sports Authority asked for your email, you may have been told, “We won’t share it” by an employee or a web page. Consumers are often told that. It’s a lie, unless it includes the “but,” which is often casually omitted or otherwise missed by consumers.

The Google AdSense blacklist.

If your website has been approved by AdWords, you are eligible to sign up for Google AdSense, a system in which Google places ads for various products and services on your website. When people click on those ads, Google pays you. If you are good at driving traffic to your website, you can make millions of dollars a year running AdSense ads – all without having any products or services of your own. Meanwhile, Google makes a net profit by charging the companies behind the ads for bringing them customers; this accounts for about 18 percent of Google’s income.

Here, too, there is scandal:

In April 2014, in two posts on PasteBin.com, someone claiming to be a former Google employee working in their AdSense department alleged the department engaged in a regular practice of dumping AdSense customers just before Google was scheduled to pay them. To this day, no one knows whether the person behind the posts was legit, but one thing is clear: Since that time, real lawsuits filed by real companies have, according to WebProNews, been “piling up” against Google, alleging the companies were unaccountably dumped at the last minute by AdSense just before large payments were due, in some cases payments as high as $500,000.

The search engine blacklist.

Google’s ubiquitous search engine has indeed become the gateway to virtually all information, handling 90 percent of search in most countries. It dominates search because its index is so large: Google indexes more than 45 billion web pages; its next-biggest competitor, Microsoft’s Bing, indexes a mere 14 billion, which helps to explain the poor quality of Bing’s search results.

Google’s dominance in search is why businesses large and small live in constant “fear of Google,” as Mathias Dopfner, CEO of Axel Springer, the largest publishing conglomerate in Europe, put it in an open letter to Eric Schmidt in 2014.

According to Dopfner, when Google made one of its frequent adjustments to its search algorithm, one of his company’s subsidiaries dropped dramatically in the search rankings and lost 70 percent of its traffic within a few days.

Even worse than the vagaries of the adjustments, however, are the dire consequences that follow when Google employees somehow conclude you have violated their “guidelines”:

You either get banished to the rarely visited Netherlands of search pages beyond the first page (90 percent of all clicks go to links on that first page) or completely removed from the index.

In 2011, Google took a “manual action” of a “corrective” nature against retailer J.C. Penney – punishment for Penney’s alleged use of a legal SEO technique called “link building” that many companies employ to try to boost their rankings in Google’s search results. Penney was demoted 60 positions or more in the rankings.

Search ranking manipulations of this sort don’t just ruin businesses; they also affect people’s opinions, attitudes, beliefs and behavior, as my research on the Search Engine Manipulation Effect has demonstrated.

Fortunately, definitive information about Google’s punishment programs is likely to turn up over the next year or two thanks to legal challenges the company is facing. In 2014, a Florida company called e-Ventures Worldwide filed a lawsuit against Google for “completely removing almost every website” associated with the company from its search rankings.

When the company’s lawyers tried to get internal documents relevant to Google’s actions though typical litigation discovery procedures, Google refused to comply.

In July 2015, a judge ruled that Google had to honor e-Ventures’ discovery requests, and that case is now moving forward. More significantly, in April 2016, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the attorney general of Mississippi – supported in his efforts by the attorneys general of 40 other states – has the right to proceed with broad discovery requests in his own investigations into Google’s secretive and often arbitrary practices.

This brings me, at last, to the biggest and potentially most dangerous of Google’s blacklists – which Google’s calls its “quarantine” list.

The American quarantine list.

Google maintains a quarantine list for every nation that it services. The entities that go on that list are determined by the government of the host nation, and Google itself.

To get a sense of the scale of this list, I find it helpful to think about an old movie – the classic 1951 film “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” which starred a huge metal robot named Gort. He had laser-weapon eyes, zapped terrified humans into oblivion and had the power to destroy the world.

Klaatu, Gort’s alien master, was trying to deliver an important message to earthlings, but they kept shooting him before he could. Finally, to get the world’s attention, Klaatu demonstrated the enormous power of the alien races he represented by shutting down – at noon New York time – all of the electricity on earth for exactly 30 minutes.

The earth stood still.

Substitute “ogle” for “rt,” and you get “Google,” which is every bit as powerful as Gort but with a much better public relations department – so good, in fact, that you are probably unaware that on Jan. 31, 2009, Google blocked access to virtually the entire internet. And, as if not to be outdone by a 1951 science fiction move, it did so for 40 minutes.

Impossible, you say. Why would do-no-evil Google do such an apocalyptic thing, and, for that matter, how, technically, could a single company block access to more than 100 million websites?

The answer has to do with the dark and murky world of website blacklists – ever-changing lists of websites that contain malicious software that might infect or damage people’s computers.

There are many such lists – even tools, such as blacklistalert.org, that scan multiple blacklists to see if your IP address is on any of them.

Some lists are kind of mickey-mouse – repositories where people submit the names or IP addresses of suspect sites.

Others, usually maintained by security companies that help protect other companies, are more high-tech, relying on “crawlers” – computer programs that continuously comb the internet.

But the best and longest list of suspect websites is Google’s, launched in May 2007.

Because Google is crawling the web more extensively than anyone else, it is also in the best position to find malicious websites.

In 2012, Google acknowledged that each and every day it adds about 9,500 new websites to its American quarantine list and displays malware warnings on the answers it gives to between 12 and 14 million search queries. It won’t reveal the exact number of websites on the list, but it is certainly in the millions on any given day.

In 2011, Google blocked an entire subdomain, co.cc, which alone contained 11 million websites, justifying its action by claiming that most of the websites in that domain appeared to be “spammy.”

According to Matt Cutts, still the leader of Google’s web spam team, the company “reserves the right” to take such action when it deems it necessary. (The right? Who gave Google that right?)

And that’s nothing: According to The Guardian, on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009, at 2:40 pm GMT, Google blocked the entire internet for those impressive 40 minutes, supposedly, said the company, because of “human error” by its employees. It would have been 6:40 am in Mountain View, California, where Google is headquartered.

Was this time chosen because it is one of the few hours of the week when all of the world’s stock markets are closed? Could this have been another of the many pranks for which Google employees are so famous? In 2008, Google invited the public to submit applications to join the “first permanent human colony on Mars.” Sorry, Marsophiles; it was just a prank.

When Google’s search engine shows you a search result for a site it has quarantined, you see warnings such as, “The site ahead contains malware” or “This site may harm your computer” on the search result.

That’s useful information if that website actually contains malware, either because the website was set up by bad guys or because a legitimate site was infected with malware by hackers.

But Google’s crawlers often make mistakes, blacklisting websites that have merely been “hijacked,” which means the website itself isn’t dangerous but merely that accessing it through the search engine will forward you to a malicious site.

For instance, the website, http://drrobertepstein.com, was hijacked in this way in early 2012. Accessing the website directly wasn’t dangerous, but trying to access it through the Google search engine forwarded users to a malicious website in Nigeria.

When this happens, Google not only warns you about the infected website on its search engine (which makes sense), it also blocks you from accessing the website directly through multiple browsers – even non-Google browsers. (Hmm. Now that’s odd. I’ll get back to that point shortly.)

The mistakes are just one problem.

The bigger problem is that even though it takes only a fraction of a second for a crawler to list you, after your site has been cleaned up Google’s crawlers sometimes take days or even weeks to delist you – long enough to threaten the existence of some businesses.

This is quite bizarre considering how rapidly automated online systems operate these days. Within seconds after you pay for a plane ticket online, your seat is booked, your credit card is charged, your receipt is displayed and a confirmation email shows up in your inbox – a complex series of events involving multiple computers controlled by at least three or four separate companies.

However, when you inform Google’s automated blacklist system that your website is now clean, you are simply advised to check back occasionally to see if any action has been taken.

To get delisted after your website has been repaired, you either have to struggle with the company’s online Webmaster tools, which are far from friendly, or you have to hire a security expert to do so – typically for a fee ranging between $1,000 and $10,000.

No expert, however, can speed up the mysterious delisting process; the best he or she can do is set it in motion.

So far, all I’ve told you is that Google’s crawlers scan the internet, sometimes find what appear to be suspect websites and put those websites on a quarantine list.

That information is then conveyed to users through the search engine. So far so good, except of course for the mistakes and the delisting problem; one might even say that Google is performing a public service, which is how some people who are familiar with the quarantine list defend it.

But I also mentioned that Google somehow blocks people from accessing websites directly through multiple browsers.

How on earth could it do that? How could Google block you when you are trying to access a website using Safari, an Apple product, or Firefox, a browser maintained by Mozilla, the self-proclaimed “nonprofit defender of the free and open internet”?

The key here is browsers. No browser maker wants to send you to a malicious website, and because Google has the best blacklist, major browsers such as Safari and Firefox – and Chrome, of course, Google’s own browser, as well as browsers that load through Android, Google’s mobile operating system – check Google’s quarantine list before they send you to a website. (In November 2014, Mozilla announced it will no longer list Google as its default search engine, but it also disclosed that it will continue to rely on Google’s quarantine list to screen users’ search requests.)

If the site has been quarantined by Google, you see one of those big, scary images that say things like “Get me out of here!” or “Reported attack site!”

At this point, given the default security settings on most browsers, most people will find it impossible to visit the site – but who would want to? If the site is not on Google’s quarantine list, you are sent on your way.

OK, that explains how Google blocks you even when you’re using a non-Google browser, but why do they block you? In other words, how does blocking you feed the ravenous advertising machine – the sine qua non of Google’s existence?

Have you figured it out yet? The scam is as simple as it is brilliant: When a browser queries Google’s quarantine list, it has just shared information with Google.

With Chrome and Android, you are always giving up information to Google, but you are also doing so even if you are using non-Google browsers.

That is where the money is – more information about search activity kindly provided by competing browser companies. How much information is shared will depend on the particular deal the browser company has with Google. In a maximum information deal, Google will learn the identity of the user; in a minimum information deal, Google will still learn which websites people want to visit – valuable data when one is in the business of ranking websites. Google can also charge fees for access to its quarantine list, of course, but that’s not where the real gold is.

Chrome, Android, Firefox and Safari currently carry about 92 percent of all browser traffic in the U.S. – 74 percent worldwide – and these numbers are increasing. As of this writing, that means Google is regularly collecting information through its quarantine list from more than 2.5 billion people. Given the recent pact between Microsoft and Google, in coming months we might learn that Microsoft – both to save money and to improve its services – has also started using Google’s quarantine list in place of its own much smaller list; this would further increase the volume of information Google is receiving.

To put this another way, Google has grown, and is still growing, on the backs of some of its competitors, with end users oblivious to Google’s antics – as usual.

It is yet another example of what I have called “Google’s Dance” – the remarkable way in which Google puts a false and friendly public face on activities that serve only one purpose for the company: increasing profit.

On the surface, Google’s quarantine list is yet another way Google helps us, free of charge, breeze through our day safe and well-informed.

Beneath the surface, that list is yet another way Google accumulates more information about us to sell to advertisers.

You may disagree, but in my view Google’s blacklisting practices put the company into the role of thuggish internet cop – a role that was never authorized by any government, nonprofit organization or industry association.

It is as if the biggest bully in town suddenly put on a badge and started patrolling, shuttering businesses as it pleased, while also secretly peeping into windows, taking photos and selling them to the highest bidder.

Consider: Heading into the holiday season in late 2013, an online handbag business suffered a 50 percent drop in business because of blacklisting.

In 2009, it took an eco-friendly pest control company 60 days to leap the hurdles required to remove Google’s warnings, long enough to nearly go broke. And sometimes the blacklisting process appears to be personal: In May 2013, the highly opinionated PC Magazine columnist John Dvorak wondered “When Did Google Become the Internet Police?” after both his website and podcast site were blacklisted. He also ran into the delisting problem:

"It's funny, how the site can be blacklisted in a millisecond by an analysis but I have to wait forever to get cleared by the same analysis doing the same scan. Why is that?"

- John Dvorak

Could Google really be arrogant enough to mess with a prominent journalist? According to CNN, in 2005 Google “blacklisted all CNET reporters for a year after the popular technology news website published personal information about one of Google’s founders” – Eric Schmidt – “in a story about growing privacy concerns.” The company declined to comment on CNN’s story.

Google’s mysterious and self-serving practice of blacklisting is one of many reasons Google should be regulated, just as phone companies and credit bureaus are. The E.U.’s recent antitrust actions against Google, the leaked FTC staff report about Google’s biased search rankings, President Obama’s call for regulating internet service providers – all have merit, but they overlook another danger.

No one company, which is accountable to its shareholders but not to the general public, should have the power to instantly put another company out of business or block access to any website in the world.

How frequently Google acts irresponsibly is beside the point; it has the ability to do so, which means that in a matter of seconds any of Google’s 37,000 employees with the right passwords or skills could laser a business or political candidate into oblivion or even freeze much of the world’s economy.

Some degree of censorship and blacklisting is probably necessary; I am not disputing that. But the suppression of information on the internet needs to be managed by, or at least subject to the regulations of, responsible public officials, with every aspect of their operations transparent to all.

Other related issues

No one actually likes this kind of censorship. However, countries will permit it to occur as long as it furthers their political agenda and aims. Yet, the moment that a company self-censors in defiance of a given governmental requirement, expect great and rapid retribution.

Google suffered a major regulatory blow on Tuesday 27JUN17, when the EU’s antitrust regulator fined Alphabet’s Google a record €2.42 billion ($2.71 billion) fine for “abusing its dominance in search” and favoring its own comparison-shopping service in search results: a decision with far-reaching implications for both the tech sector and already strained transatlantic relations. The EU further ordered the search giant to apply the same methods to rivals as its own when displaying their services in search results.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, said Google “denied other companies the chance to compete” and left consumers without “genuine choice.”

“Google’s strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn’t just about attracting customers by making its product better than those of its rivals. Instead, Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors. What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules.”

Is any reader surprised?

Recording all Sounds around a Google Product

Google maintains a record of everything you have said around it (and products aligned with the Google enterprises) for years, and you can listen to the huge archives that if recorded of you yourself. The company quietly records many of the conversations that people have around its products.

The feature works as a way of letting people search with their voice, and storing those recordings presumably lets Google improve its language recognition tools as well as the results that it gives to people. It is considered a “value added” feature, but I for one consider it highly annoying and problematic.

The new portal was introduced in June 2015 and so has been active ever since that date. Therefore, Google now has a very full record of (assumingly non-catagorized) things you have said, which you assumed have been in private.

Google justifies this collection as a kind of audio diary.

The easiest way to stop Google recording everything is to turn off the virtual assistant and never to use voice search. But that solution also gets at the central problem of much privacy and data use today – doing so cuts off one of the most useful things about having an Android phone.

More here;

Google tracks offline shopping

Google is tracking billions of credit card transaction records to prove that its online ads are prompting people to make purchases – even when they happen offline in brick-and-mortar stores, the company said Tuesday, 23MAY17. The advance allows Google to determine how many sales have been generated by digital ad campaigns, a goal that industry insiders have long described as “the holy grail” of online advertising.

To power its multi-billion dollar advertising juggernaut, Google already analyzes users’ web browsing, search history and geographic locations, using data from popular Google-owned apps like YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps and the Google Play store. All that information is tied to the real identities of users when they log into Google’s services.

The credit card data enables the tech giant to connect these digital trails to real-world purchase records in a far more extensive way than was possible before. Privacy advocates said few people understand that their purchases are being analyzed in this way and could feel uneasy, despite assurances from Google that it has taken steps to protect the personal information of its users.

Of course the company said it took pains to protect user privacy, it declined to detail how the system works or what companies are analyzing credit and debit card records on Google’s behalf. Google, which saw $79 billion in revenues in 2016, said it would not handle the records directly but that its undisclosed partner companies had access to 70 percent of credit and debit card transactions in the United States.

“What’s really fascinating to me is that as the companies become increasingly intrusive in terms of their data collection, they also become more secretive,” 

-Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Google for years has been mining location data from Google Maps in an effort to prove that knowledge of people’s physical locations could “close the loop” between physical and digital worlds. Users can block this by adjusting the settings on smartphones, but few do so, say privacy experts.

This location tracking ability has allowed Google to send reports to retailers telling them, for example, whether people who saw an ad for a lawn mower later visited or passed by a Home Depot. The location-tracking program has grown since it was first launched with only a handful of retailers: Home Depot, Express, Nissan, and Sephora have participated.

“Google — and also Facebook — believe that in order to get digital dollars from advertisers who are still primarily spending on TV, they need to prove that digital works, these companies have to invest in finding the identity of the consumer at the moment when that shopper is at the cash register”

- Amit Jain, chief executive of Bridg, a digital advertising startup that matches online to offline behavior.

Google executives say they are using complex, patent-pending mathematical formulas to protect the privacy of consumers when they match a Google user with a shopper who makes a purchase in a brick-and-mortar store.

The mathematical formulas convert people’s names and other purchase information, including the time stamp, location, and the amount of the purchase, into anonymous strings of numbers.

The formulas make it impossible for Google to know the identity of the real-world shoppers, and for the retailers to know the identities of Google’s users, said company executives, who called the process “double-blind” encryption.

Consider “double-blind” encryption

The tech giant declined to describe its mathematical formulas in anything more than broad terms, citing a pending patent.

Dischler said the work was based on a 2011 research paper by three MIT scientists, which was funded by Google and Citigroup. The company would not say how merchants had obtained consent from consumers to pass along their credit card information.

Google said it requires its partners to use only personal data that they have the “rights” to use, but it would not say whether that meant the consumers had consented.

Paul Stephens from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a consumer advocacy group based in San Diego, said only a few pieces of data can allow a marketer to identify an individual, and he expressed skepticism that Google’s system for guarding the identities of users will stand up to the efforts of hackers, who in the past have successfully stripped away privacy protections created by other companies after data breaches.

“What we have learned is that it’s extremely difficult to anonymize data, if you care about your privacy, you definitely need to be concerned.”

Such data providers have been the targets of cybercriminals in the past. In 2015, a hack of data broker Experian exposed the personal information of 15 million people.

Google Tracks you even when off

Those of you that are not using Chinese Huawei or ShaoMi phones had best pay attention to any phones pre-loaded with Google Apps.

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Google is actually tracking you even when you switch your device settings to Location History “off”.

As journalist Mark Ames comments in response to a new Associated Press story exposing Google’s ability to track people at all times even when they explicitly tell Google not to via iPhone and Android settings, “The Pentagon invented the internet to be the perfect global surveillance/counterinsurgency machine. Surveillance is baked into the internet’s DNA.”

In but the latest in a continuing saga of big tech tracking and surveillance stories which should serve to convince us all we are living in the beginning phases of a Minority Report style tracking and pansophical “pre-crime” system, it’s now confirmed that the world’s most powerful tech company and search tool will always find a way to keep your location data.

The Associated Press sought the help of Princeton researchers to prove that while Google is clear and upfront about giving App users the ability to turn off or “pause” Location History on their devices, there are other hidden means through which it retains the data.

According to the AP report:

Google says that will prevent the company from remembering where you’ve been. Google’s support page on the subject states: “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.”

That isn’t true. Even with Location History paused, some Google apps automatically store time-stamped location data without asking.

For example, Google stores a snapshot of where you are when you merely open its Maps app. Automatic daily weather updates on Android phones pinpoint roughly where you are. And some searches that have nothing to do with location, like “chocolate chip cookies,” or “kids science kits,” pinpoint your precise latitude and longitude — accurate to the square foot — and save it to your Google account.

The issue directly affects around two billion people using Google’s Android operating software and iPhone users relying on Google maps or a simple search.

Among the computer science researchers at Princeton conducting the tests is Jonathan Mayer, who told the AP, “If you’re going to allow users to turn off something called ‘Location History,’ then all the places where you maintain location history should be turned off,” and added, “That seems like a pretty straightforward position to have.”

Google, for its part, is defending the software and privacy tracking settings, saying the company has been perfectly clear and has not violated privacy ethics.

“There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people’s experience, including: Location History, Web and App Activity, and through device-level Location Services,” a Google statement to the AP reads. “We provide clear descriptions of these tools, and robust controls so people can turn them on or off, and delete their histories at any time.”

According to the AP, there is a way to prevent Google from storing the various location marker and metadata collection possibilities, but it’s somewhat hidden and painstaking.

Google’s own description on how to do this as a result of the AP inquiry is as follows:

To stop Google from saving these location markers, the company says, users can turn off another setting, one that does not specifically reference location information. Called “Web and App Activity” and enabled by default, that setting stores a variety of information from Google apps and websites to your Google account.

When paused, it will prevent activity on any device from being saved to your account. But leaving “Web & App Activity” on and turning “Location History” off only prevents Google from adding your movements to the “timeline,” its visualization of your daily travels. It does not stop Google’s collection of other location markers.

You can delete these location markers by hand, but it’s a painstaking process since you have to select them individually, unless you want to delete all of your stored activity.

Of course, the more constant location data obviously means more advertising profits and further revenue possibilities for Google and its clients, so we fully expect future hidden tracking loopholes to possibly come to light.

This story about Google surveillance only surprising if you haven't read @yashalevine's Surveillance Valley. The Pentagon invented the internet to be the perfect global surveillance/counterinsurgency machine. Surveillance is baked into the internet's DNA https://t.co/31QcyeYVM5
— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) August 13, 2018

Beginning in 2014, Google has utilized user location histories to allow advertisers to track the effectiveness of online ads at driving foot traffic. With the continued possibility of real-time tracking to generate billions of dollars, it should come as no surprise that Google would seek to make it as difficult (or perhaps impossible?) as it can for users to ensure they aren’t tracked.

As for the government, we can only imagine the creative surveillance “fun” Washington’s 16+ intelligence agencies are having with such a powerful tool right now.

Google Owns KeyHole

Some of the revelations the former CIA anti-terrorism counter intelligence officer revealed CIA whistleblower, Kevin Shipp.included that

“Google Earth was set up through the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and InQtel.”

Indeed he is correct, the CIA and NGA owned the company Google acquired, Keyhole Inc., paying an undisclosed sum for the company to turn its tech into what we now know as Google Earth. Another curious investor in Keyhole Inc. was none other than the venture capital firm In-Q-Tel run by the CIA according to a press release at the time.

Google is the CIA.

Shipp also disclosed that the agency known as the Joint Special Ops Command (JSOC) is the “president’s secret army” which he can use for secret assassinations, overturning governments and things the American people don’t know about.

FBI warrantless searches violate the Fourth Amendment with national security letters, which Shipp noted enables them to walk into your employer’s office and demand all your financial records and if he or she says anything about them being there they can put your supervisor in jail or drop a case against themselves using the “State’s Secret Privilege law.”

What this means is that Google is connected to and linked into the United States covert investigative agencies.

In the shocking, explosive presentation, Shipp went on to express that there are “over 10,000 secret sites in the U.S.” that formed after 9/11. There are “1,291 secret government agencies, 1,931 large private corporations and over 4,800,000 Americans that he knows of who have a secrecy clearance, and 854,000 who have Top Secret clearance, explaining they signed their lives away bound by an agreement.

He also detailed how Congress is owned by the Military Industrial Complex through the Congressional Armed Services Committee (48 senior members of Congress) giving those members money in return for a vote on the spending bill for the military and intelligence budget.

He even touched on what he called the “secret intelligence industrial complex,” which he called the center of the shadow government including the CIA, NSA, NRO, and NGA.

Shipp further stated that around the “secret intelligence industrial complex” you have the big five conglomerate of intelligence contractors, [1] Leidos Holdings, [2] CSRA, [3] CACI, [4] SAIC, and [5] Booz Allen Hamilton. He noted that the work they do is “top secret and unreported.”

Censoring gmail

Gmail users are claiming that Google is filtering emails from Donald Trump’s campaign into their spam boxes.

There have been previous reports, denied by Google, that the search engine was manipulating search autocomplete results in favor of Hillary Clinton. Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, has previously said, “Google is directly engaged with Hillary Clinton’s campaign.”

In 2015, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt reportedly funded a startup, “The Groundwork,” with the objective of helping Hillary Clinton get elected.

Fact Checking

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

― George Orwell, 1984

Google is a latecomer to the plethora of Internet “fact check” sites. The announcement that Google would integrate a “fact check” system into their search engine occurred in 2016. I am sad to say that its creation was not the result of a “need” or the creation of a “value added” attribute to the search engine. No. It was the result of the political climate during the contentious election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

At that time, American disgust with the American media was at an all-time high. They had lost all credibility with the media, as the overwhelming support of the Democrat candidate by the media was absolute and unabashed. As such, the media through polling had discovered a number of disturbing trends, one of which was that they had lost their edge in credibility. People were turning to “fringe” and “alternative media”, as well as social media for their news (and here). This included not only the media but every established internet organization, including fact check websites. And HERE.

Time will tell how unbiased the fact checking by Google will be. However, it is well known that they have strong political ties to the Democrat party, and substantial communication with the United States Government.

Google to influence elections

Google Was "Working To Get Hillary Clinton Elected" With "Silent Donation" According To Leaked Internal Email

Tucker Carlson just blew the cover off the 2016 election influence charade, after he read an internal email on Monday night’s show from a senior Google employee who admitted to using company resources to make a “silent donation” to a liberal group that was creating ads and donating funds to bus Latinos to voting stations during the 2016 election in key swing states, in an effort to help Hillary Clinton win.

The email was sent by the former head of Google’s multicultural marketing department, Eliana Mario, on November 9, 2016.

“That email was subsequently forwarded by two Google VP’s to more staff members throughout the company,” says Carlson, adding “In her email, Mario touts Google’s multi-faceted efforts to boost Hispanic turnout in the election. She noticed that Latino voters did record-breaking numbers, especially in states like Florida, Nevada and Arizona – the last of which she describes as “a key state for us.” She brags that the company used its power to ensure that millions of people saw certain hashtags and social media impressions, with the goal of influencing their behavior during the election.”

Elsewhere in the email Mario says “Google supported partners like Voto Latino to pay for rides to the polls in key states.”

She describes this assistance as a “silent donation”

Mario then says that Google helped Voto Latino create ad campaigns to promote those rides. Now officially Voto Latino is a non-partisan entity, but that is a sham. Voto Latino is vocally partisan. Recently the group declared that Hispanics – ALL Hispanics are in President Trump’s “crosshairs.” They said they plan to respond to this by registering another million additional Hispanic voters in the next Presidential cycle.

It was, in effect, an in-kind contribution to the Hillary Clinton for President campaign.

In the end, Google was disappointed. As Mario herself conceded “ultimately after all was said and done, the Latino community did come out to vote, and completely surprised us. We never anticipated that 29% of Latinos would vote for Trump. No one did. -Tucker Carlson

So it looks like @Google executives have been caught red-handed trying to throw the election to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Maybe that's why they refused to appear before Congress last week?https://t.co/1YELagt8hH

— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) September 11, 2018

This, of course, isn’t the first evidence of Google doing all they could to help Hillary win the election. In an April 15, 2014 email from Google’s then-Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt found in the WikiLeaked Podesta emails, titled “Notes for a 2016 Democratic Campaign,” Schmidt tells Cheryl Mills that

"I have put together my thoughts on the campaign ideas and I have scheduled some meetings in the next few weeks for veterans of the campaign to tell me how to make these ideas better.  This is simply a draft but do let me know if this is a helpful process for you all."

Google head Eric Schmidt's secret strategic plan for the US election #PodestaEmails https://t.co/LskJODXyXn More: https://t.co/ZUfh7WDAT5 pic.twitter.com/llq5G9kp5V
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 31, 2016

While there are numerous curious nuances in the plan, presented below in its entirety, the one section that caught our – and Wikileaks’ attention – is the following which implicitly suggests Google planned the creation of a voter tracking database, using smart phones:

Key is the development of a single record for a voter that aggregates all that is known about them. In 2016 smart phones will be used to identify, meet, and update profiles on the voter. A dynamic volunteer can easily speak with a voter and, with their email or other digital handle, get the voter videos and other answers to areas they care about (“the benefits of ACA to you” etc.)

As a reminder, in late October of 2016 it was revealed that just days prior to the April 15, 2014 email, Schmidt had sent another email in which he expressed his eagerness to “fund” the campaign efforts and wants to be a “head outside advisor.” In the email from John Podesta to Robby Mook we learned that:

I met with Eric Schmidt tonight. As David reported, he's ready to fund, advise recruit talent, etc. He was more deferential on structure than I expected. Wasn't pushing to run through one of his existing firms. Clearly wants to be head outside advisor, but didn't seem like he wanted to push others out. Clearly wants to get going. He's still in DC tomorrow and would like to meet with you if you are in DC in the afternoon. I think it's worth doing. You around? If you are, and want to meet with him, maybe the four of us can get on to the project.

Another email from February 2015 suggested that the Google Chairman remained active in its collaboration with the Clinton campaign: John Podesta wrote that Eric Schmidt met with HR “about the business he proposes to do with the campaign. He says he’s met with HRC” and adds that “FYI. They are donating the Google plane for the Africa trip”

Meanwhile, according to a Breitbart report by Allum Bokhari, “By inserting negative search suggestions under the name of a candidate, search engines like Google can shift the opinions of undecided voters by up to 43.4 percent, according to new research by a team at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology and reported exclusively by Breitbart News.”

The lead author of the study, Dr. Robert Epstein, has previously conducted research into what he calls the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME). This research showed that the manipulation of results pages in search engines can shift the voting preferences of undecideds by anywhere between 20 and 80 percent, depending on the demographic.

His latest research looks at how search engines can affect voters by suggesting negative or positive search terms when a political candidate’s name is entered into the search bar. Dr. Epstein’s research found that when negative search terms are suggested for a candidate, it can have a dramatic effect on voter opinion. 

-Breitbart

So, despite Google’s best efforts to help Clinton win the election, it simply wasn’t enough.

Meanwhile, Google has yet to answer why their search results for the word “Idiot” are vastly different from DuckDuckGo.

Google as a Workplace Nightmare

Apparently, Google has a reputation as a fantastic place to work. They offer many “perks”, which in everyway seems to make the rest of corporate America look like evil slave plantations. It’s pretty “in your face” regarding this. Why “everyone knows” that Google is a great place to work. Why, there is even a Hollywood movie about this…

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of articles on this. Here are just afew of the top hits;

Ah, the usual suspects. Huffington Post, Slate, Inc., Forbes, Business Insider… With a pedigree like that, you must either conclude that one of two things is going on. Either [1] they truly are a fantastic company to work for, or [2] they have invested heavily on a major propaganda campaign.

Oh and having all that money (where do they get all their billions of dollars? They do not host advertisements, so SOMEONE must be paying them) they have made propaganda films about how great Google is…

“The Internship” 2013 by Director Shawn Levy.  Two salesmen whose careers have been torpedoed by the digital age find their way into a coveted internship at Google, where they must compete with a group of young, tech-savvy geniuses for a shot at employment.

Google might be a tool of the corporate elite, but they provide a great working environment for their employees. At least that is the impression that everyone seems to have.

Is this an accurate impression?

Well, in industy, companies always want to put on a “good face”. They want to have a good, clean and positive image. They invest money into their logo, and website. They produce marketing campaigns, and present television commercials to put everything in a favorable light (Remember the Sunbeam-Oster commercials in the 1990’s during the Al Dunlop years while he was gutting the workforce?).

Albert John Dunlap (born July 26, 1937) is a disgraced former corporate executive. He was best known as a turnaround specialist and professional downsizer, although it was later discovered that his reputed turnarounds were elaborate frauds. 

The ruthless methods he employed to streamline failing companies, most notably Scott Paper, won him the nicknames "Chainsaw Al" and "Rambo in Pinstripes". 

However, his career was effectively ended after he engineered a massive accounting scandal at Sunbeam Products, now Sunbeam-Oster, that ultimately cost that company its independence. 

He is barred from serving as an officer of a publicly traded corporation. 

His widespread layoffs and accounting frauds have put him on several lists of worst CEOs. I should know, I had the unfortunate experience to work under him.

They do everything in their power to produce a positive image. For image is everything.

It’s often very difficult to determine when a company is actually telling the truth or is trying to hide a harsh reality. I actually do not know what the story is with Google. However, what I do know is that there is one metric that guarantees whether or not a company has a positive work environment for their employees. That metric is “workforce retention”. Happy employees stay at a company. Unhappy employees leave.

So how does Google stack up?

Company	Work length at software companies (Years)
Facebook	2.02 years
Google	1.90 years
Oracle	1.89 years
Apple	1.85 years
Amazon	1.84 years
Twitter	1.83 years
Microsoft	1.81 years
Airbnb	1.64 years
Snap Inc.	1.62 years
Uber	1.23 years

This is how long (on average) employees stay in those companies. Note, that NONE of the values for the work lengths are in 6 month increments. Typically, in the rest of the world, if not in the industry, people work contracts for durations of 6 months, one or upto two years. This table does not show that at all. It shows that people are leaving in an unstructured, and unplanned manner.

This is suggestive of rapid terminations, or individual departures. Since the data was compiled during the “recession” of the Obama Administration, it is rather unlikely that the workers would voluntarily leave during an economic downturn. You simply don’t leave a job unless you have another one lined up, or you physically cannot stand working at that position any longer.

With a turnover like this, I’m impressed that they still manage to deliver a high-quality product. Here’s a telling quote from LinkedIN;

“It's understandable that most people use those companies as a springboard to get higher salaries and less stressful environment elsewhere, but as a hiring manager, I would cry if on my team the retention was like this.”

Indeed.

So WHY the investment that “Google is a great company to work for?”

I argue that if they are so very good at manipulating public opinion for to ohers (the NSA, the CIA, the political machinery) then why not do some things for themselves. And that is exactly what they did.

Conclusions

Yeah, I’m using a shit-load of ancient references that have fallen into the political dust. You, the reader should not be concerned. I used what I could find. And unfortunately most seems to be political in nature. Republicans said this, democrats said that. Blah, blah, blah.

The truth is that both political parties are playing a back and forth game against you. They keep the American people divided up and in constant fight against each other. Don’t fall for that game. Both are tools of the oligarchy.

Never forget that. They are puppets. They are actors. They are lies. They are entertainment.

Pay attention to how they use the systems currently in place. Google.

If you haven’t divorced Google, and blocked it completely from your browser, then DO IT NOW. This is only the “tip of the iceberg” and it’s a lot worse than anyone knows.

If you liked this article, you can read similar articles by viewing the master index for this class here;

Life & Happiness

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The West has created an imaginary, evil China for its people to hate and fear – and it’s working

This is another reprint. This one from RT. I suppose you can agree with the American media that it is Russian propaganda. But after all, isn’t that what American “news” is to begin with? Ugh. All this is a royal PAIN IN THE ASS, I’ll tell you what.

The American “news” has become the largest pile of steaming dog shit that I have ever had the unfortunate experience to encounter. There is absolutely ZERO redeeming qualities remaining in what passes for “news” out of America these days.

But you all know that, now, don’t you?

When I was a boy, maybe 13 or 14 years old, I went with my family to Florida to go to Disney Land. It was quite the adventure for me. And yes, on numerous levels. It was my first experience with real science fiction. As we rode int he long, long drive to central Florida, my father gave me a paperback book full of short science fiction stories, and I read away. I was amazed and loved every moment of it. The car ride passed by so quickly, and by the time we arrived at the park, I was refreshed and changed… ever so slightly.

Books can do that to a person.

Don’t you know.

While the ride was long, hot and boring, I was engrossed in a world that I did not know existed. I voraciously read every story, and after each one, I would put the book down and glance upwards and think about the twisty ending and what it meant to me. It was all so very profound.

You know, I did not expect to be so influenced, or changed by what I read. It was just a paper book that my father carelessly handed over to me to occupy my time in the car. He also provided me with a small puzzle game, and a game of dice and equations, both of which that I didn’t really do much of anything with. But it was the book that made all the difference in the world to me.

Sometimes the apparently non-essential aspects of our experiences can have the greatest impact in our lives.

The following is a reprint from RT. All the usual disclaimers follow. Please enjoy and contemplate.

The West has created an imaginary, evil China for its people to hate and fear – and it’s working

16 May, 2021 07:02

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Maitreya Bhakal is an Indian commentator who writes about China, India, the US, and global issues. Follow him on Twitter @MaitreyaBhakal

Western regimes are brainwashing their people with Sinophobia.

They want them to both hate and fear China to manufacture consent for anti-China aggression. A fictional, Mordor-like China has been created to achieve this aim.

If an alien landed on Earth today and read Western media reports on China, they would reach an unambiguous conclusion: China is a comprehensively and uniquely evil nation.

It [1] jails and kills civilians for no reason, [2] commits all sorts of atrocities on its people (who are apparently also filthy and spread diseases), [3] commits genocide on ethnic minorities, [4] obsessively controls people’s thoughts, [5] unleashes deadly plagues upon the world, [6] bullies other nations and traps them in debt, and [7] is a nation whose evil leaders are all fanatics, obsessed with power and bent on destroying the world.

The aliens could be forgiven for assuming that all evil on this planet is because of China…

…(and perhaps Russia and Iran thrown in for good measure)…

… and the US, while not perfect, is nevertheless a force for good, a global guardian angel, the benevolent superpower keeping the world together.

It is the sole driver of world peace and international solidarity, the solitary bulwark against the evil Chinese communist hordes.

Manufacturing powerhouse vs manufacturing consent

Ever since Chinese economic reforms began and China started ‘rising’, Western media has unleashed a massive propaganda campaign against it.

Every single Chinese action is scrutinized to death, every wrong deed or mistake criticized endlessly, and every achievement mostly ignored or downplayed.

Two factors help explain this Sinophobic hate campaign.

The first is the standard policy to ‘manufacture consent’ and manufacture hatred – the purpose of Western journalism, especially against the only nation on Earth that can counter US hegemony.

The second is plain-old racism – the core pillar of Western culture.

The middle kingdom

The US sees itself as the center of the universe, with other nations merely orbiting around it and paying homage.

America treats many of them like its minions, or “allies” and “partners”, to use the popular – if inaccurate – terminology.

Maintaining global and racial hegemony remains central to US foreign policy.

Any successful development model that doesn’t obey Western norms cannot be tolerated.

Thus, today, when the US sees another successful power center emerging, its Pavlovian response is to violently push back.

Since China is too successful, it has to be suppressed.

A non-allied nation that is not a Western-style “democracy” cannot be allowed to develop – whether technologically or financially, and certainly not militarily.

And since China is not even a white-majority nation, it needs to be crushed even more.

However, there is one small problem: China is not like America.

It [1] does not kill millions on false pretexts, it [2] does not bomb nations and their hospitals and schools, [3] it does not launch drone strikes against civilians, [4] it does not violate international law repeatedly while lecturing others to follow it, [5] it does not have an imperial empire for stealing and hoarding other nations’ wealth…

… it does none of the things that has made the West rich and prosperous.

China became rich largely without doing any of the above.

Dr. China and Mr. Hyde

Since China is not as evil as the West, an alternate, evil version of China has to be created – a mirror image in an alternate reality.

The West can then project anything they want into this imaginary China.

It can be accused of any evil in the world – based on equally imaginary evidence.

This alternate China requires massive doses of propaganda and lies to construct – and the lapdog Western media is all too willing to oblige.

After all, the US can’t openly say that it wants to destroy China in order to maintain US hegemony.

Thus, they lie through their teeth and spread conspiracy theories.

People can then be successfully brainwashed to hate and fear China.

In America, we refer to these manipulated people as "sheeple".

For example, when the US regime sanctions Chinese companies, it does so with the aim of preserving the dominance of Western companies that are unable to compete fairly.

However, this cannot be said out loud, since it goes against “free market” principles the US regularly espouses.

Thus, a strawman needs to be manufactured: that Chinese companies are a “threat to national security” or have “backdoors” in them that allow the evil Chinese to snoop on you.

Of course, this needs no evidence; the media will amplify US rhetoric without proof.

After all, in the West, freedom of the press includes the freedom to lie.

Freedom of the press includes the freedom to lie.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative is another glaring example.

Western loans from the IMF or World Bank are brutal and predatory in nature, and frequently impose tough repayment terms and severe austerity measures on host nations, often causing downright bankruptcy.

Recipient nations are required to privatize parts of their economy and surrender natural resources.

Thus, in the topsy-turvy, Catch-22 world of Western propaganda, China is accused of predatory lending and ‘debt-trap diplomacy’.

Even human lives are not spared.

Pfizer, a wicked US pharma firm, allegedly demanded that South American nations surrender their sovereign assets as collateral in exchange for life-saving Covid-19 vaccines.

Thus, as if on cue, China is accused of deploying “vaccine diplomacy” and taking advantage of smaller nations.

A superpower race – with a different race

Once a justification is created that China is evil…

…and that every action China commits is an act of evil …

… the US can paint itself as the good, benevolent superpower acting in the world’s best interests.

This ‘Good v Evil’ binary is constantly reinforced through stereotypical Sinophobic tropes.

The template is applied to every single story about China, from Hong Kong to Huawei.

Enter racism.

The way the West sees it, China is the proverbial “Other” – essentially a different civilization with different standards – almost a different type of human.

As the bigoted Rudy Giuliani, “America’s mayor” and a former Trump adviser once said, human life “doesn’t mean the same thing” to the Chinese as it does to the West.

Few Americans criticized his remarks.

Many agreed with him, secretly pleased that he said out loud what they couldn’t.

This is not an aberration.

Racism is central to US society, and Sinophobia is deeply ingrained in US culture and policy-making.

The former US president himself kept dog whistling “China virus” endlessly to anyone who would listen.

His cronies were no better.

Kiron Skinner (who is ironically black; Sinophobia in America transcends racial boundaries), the then-director of policy planning at the State Department, said openly that this is “the first time that we will have a great-power competitor that is not Caucasian,” and that the previous Cold War with the Soviet Union was at least “a fight within the Western family.”

Unsurprisingly, the Western corporate media largely ignored her remarks.

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently declared China a threat that requires a “whole-of-society” response.

This was an almost exact replication of 19th-century propaganda portraying Chinese people as evil hordes coming over to infiltrate and destroy the pure, innocent Western societies.

When COVID-19 stuck, western media openly blamed China for the disease.

The more conservative outlets pounced at the ‘lab-leak theory’ and defended the use of the phrase “China virus”, while the more liberal ones focused on the tried-and-trusted ‘Chinese authoritarianism’ trope.

The New York Times accused China’s “old habits” of “secrecy” and “controlling the narrative” of slowing the response.

It pinned the blame on China and tried to deflect from western countries’ own criminal neglect in controlling their outbreaks.

Yet, had the ‘democratic’ West adopted China’s ‘authoritarian’ methods, they wouldn’t have been on their knees today, struggling with recurrent waves.

Blaming China was a coping mechanism; today, more people have died from COVID-19 just in Orange county in California, US than in the whole of China.

So much for democracy.

Combine all this with the regular Sinophobic reporting, and a steady picture begins to emerge: Barbaric China is an existential threat to our enlightened Western civilization. The Communist Party of China is just a modern-day Fu Manchu, that will stop at nothing to take our “freedoms.”

After the Soviets and Muslims, it is now China’s turn to fill the role of the villain.

Such imaginary rogues are useful to the US regime to distract the proles from domestic problems.

A world without war

And herein lies the real reason why they hate China.

The West is prosperous today not because of hard work or perseverance, but because of centuries of imperialism, colonialism, and wealth hoarding.

China, though, is on the path to becoming a superpower without committing such atrocities.

This is what really riles them up; after all, jealousy is the root of most hatred.

China’s rise shows that an alternative, multi-polar world is possible, a world not besieged by endless wars and genocidal sanctions, a world where poverty and hunger are distant memories – a world where people can live happily without being afraid that a superpower from across the planet may bomb them into oblivion because they have something it wants.

And the US cannot allow that.

Conclusion

Ai!

I know you all realize this. Most MM readers are of the intelligence to be receptive to narratives that lie outside the normal government channels; Alt-Right, Alt-Let and mainstream. that’s not to say that any of us are perfect, we are all learning, and our thoughts and opinions change daily. So let’s not get too caught up on new ideas or different ways of doing things.

Just accept the differences. Relish in them, and move on.

Just what ever you do, don’t believe anything that the American media says. It’s all lies.

Do you want more?

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Law 6 of The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene; Court Attention at all Cost (Full Text)

Undoubtedly the woman who had come to epitomize what we recognize today as "celebrity", Zsa Zsa Gabor, is better known for her many marriages, personal appearances, her "dahlink" catchphrase, her actions, life gossip, and quotations on men, rather than her film career.

Perhaps you know her better as “Lisa” on the 1960’s television sit-com “Green Acres”.

Ah. Lisa darlink…

Anyways, for her, and just about everyone that you read about in the “news” today obey this law listed herein. It’s important, and it gave Donald Trump the Presidency of the United States.

LAW 6

COURT ATTENTION AT ALL COST

JUDGMENT

Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses.

PART I: SURROUND YOUR NAME WITH THE SENSATIONAL AND SCANDALOUS

Draw attention to yourself by creating an unforgettable, even controversial image. Court scandal. Do anything to make yourself seem larger than life and shine more brightly than those around you. Make no distinction between kinds of attention—notoriety of any sort will bring you power. Better to be slandered and attacked than ignored.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

P. T. Barnum, America’s premier nineteenth-century showman, started his career as an assistant to the owner of a circus, Aaron Turner.

In 1836 the circus stopped in Annapolis, Maryland, for a series of performances.

On the morning of opening day, Barnum took a stroll through town, wearing a new black suit.

People started to follow him.

Someone in the gathering crowd shouted out that he was the Reverend Ephraim K. Avery, infamous as a man acquitted of the charge of murder but still believed guilty by most Americans.

The angry mob tore off Barnum’s suit and was ready to lynch him.

After desperate appeals, Barnum finally convinced them to follow him to the circus, where he could verify his identity.

THE WASP AND THE PRINCE

A wasp named Pin Tail was long in quest of some deed that would make him forever famous. 

So one day he entered the kirrg’s palace and stung the little prince, who was in bed. 

The prince awoke with loud cries. 

The king and his courtiers rushed in to see what had happened. 

The prince was yelling as the wasp stung him again and again. 

The courtiers tried to catchthe wasp, and each in turn was stung. 

The whole royal household rushed in,the news soon spread, and people flocked to the palace. 

The city was in an uproar, all business suspended. 

Said the wasp to itself, before it expired from its efforts, “A name without fame is like fire without flame. There is nothing like attracting notice at any cost.”

INDIAN FABLE

Once there, old Turner confirmed that this was all a practical joke—he himself had spread the rumor that Barnum was Avery.

The crowd dispersed, but Barnum, who had nearly been killed, was not amused.

He wanted to know what could have induced his boss to play such a trick. “My dear Mr. Barnum,” Turner replied, “it was all for our good. Remember, all we need to ensure success is notoriety.”

And indeed everyone in town was talking about the joke, and the circus was packed that night and every night it stayed in Annapolis.

Barnum had learned a lesson he would never forget.

Barnum’s first big venture of his own was the American Museum—a collection of curiosities, located in New York.

One day a beggar approached Barnum in the street.

Instead of giving him money, Barnum decided to employ him.

Taking him back to the museum, he gave the man five bricks and told him to make a slow circuit of several blocks.

At certain points he was to lay down a brick on the sidewalk, always keeping one brick in hand.

On the return journey he was to replace each brick on the street with the one he held.

Meanwhile he was to remain serious of countenance and to answer no questions.

Once back at the museum, he was to enter, walk around inside, then leave through the back door and make the same bricklaying circuit again.

On the man’s first walk through the streets, several hundred people watched his mysterious movements.

By his fourth circuit, onlookers swarmed around him, debating what he was doing.

Every time he entered the museum he was followed by people who bought tickets to keep watching him.

Many of them were distracted by the museum’s collections, and stayed inside.

By the end of the first day, the brick man had drawn over a thousand people into the museum.

A few days later the police ordered him to cease and desist from his walks—the crowds were blocking traffic.

The bricklaying stopped but thousands of New Yorkers had entered the museum, and many of those had become P. T. Barnum converts.

Even when I’m railed at, I get my quota of renown.

PIETRO ARETINO, 1492-1556

Barnum would put a band of musicians on a balcony overlooking the street, beneath a huge banner proclaiming FREE MUSIC FOR THE MILLIONS.

What generosity, New Yorkers thought, and they flocked to hear the free concerts.

But Barnum took pains to hire the worst musicians he could find, and soon after the band struck up, people would hurry to buy tickets to the museum, where they would be out of earshot of the band’s noise, and of the booing of the crowd.

THE COURT ARTIST

A work that was voluntarily presented to a prince was bound to seem in some way special. 

The artist himself might also try to attract the attention of the court through his behaviour. 

In Vasari’s judgment Sodoma was “well known both for his personal eccentricities and for his reputation as a good painter.” 

Because Pope Leo X “found pleasure in such strange, hare- brained individuals,” he made Sodoma a knight, causing the artist to go completely out of his mind. 

Van Mander found it odd that the products of Cornelis Ketel’s experiments in mouth and foot painting were bought by notable persons “because of their oddity,” yet Ketel was only adding a variation to similar experiments by Titian, Ugo da Carpi and Palma Giovane, who, according to Boschini painted with their fingers “because they wished to imitate the method used by the Supreme Creator. ” 

Van Mander reports that Gossaert attracted the attention of Emperor Charles V by wearing a fantastic paper costume. 

In doing so he was adopting the tactics used by Dinocrates, who, in order to gain access to Alexander the Great, is said to have appeared disguised as the naked Hercules when the monarch was sitting in judgment.

THE COURT ARTIST, MARTIN WARNKE, 1993

One of the first oddities Barnum toured around the country was Joice Heth, a woman he claimed was 161 years old, and whom he advertised as a slave who had once been George Washington’s nurse.

After several months the crowds began to dwindle, so Barnum sent an anonymous letter to the papers, claiming that Heth was a clever fraud.

“Joice Heth,” he wrote, “is not a human being but an automaton, made up of whalebone, india-rubber, and numberless springs.”

Those who had not bothered to see her before were immediately curious, and those who had already seen her paid to see her again, to find out whether the rumor that she was a robot was true.

In 1842, Barnum purchased the carcass of what was purported to be a mermaid.

This creature resembled a monkey with the body of a fish, but the head and body were perfectly joined—it was truly a wonder.

After some research Barnum discovered that the creature had been expertly put together in Japan, where the hoax had caused quite a stir.

He nevertheless planted articles in newspapers around the country claiming the capture of a mermaid in the Fiji Islands.

He also sent the papers woodcut prints of paintings showing mermaids.

By the time he showed the specimen in his museum, a national debate had been sparked over the existence of these mythical creatures.

A few months before Barnum’s campaign, no one had cared or even known about mermaids; now everyone was talking about them as if they were real.

Crowds flocked in record numbers to see the Fiji Mermaid, and to hear debates on the subject.

A few years later, Barnum toured Europe with General Tom Thumb, a five-year-old dwarf from Connecticut whom Barnum claimed was an eleven-year-old English boy, and whom he had trained to do many remarkable acts.

During this tour Barnum’s name attracted such attention that Queen Victoria, that paragon of sobriety, requested a private audience with him and his talented dwarf at Buckingham Palace.

The English press may have ridiculed Barnum, but Victoria was royally entertained by him, and respected him ever after.

Interpretation

Barnum understood the fundamental truth about attracting attention: Once people’s eyes are on you, you have a special legitimacy.

For Barnum, creating interest meant creating a crowd; as he later wrote, “Every crowd has a silver lining.”

And crowds tend to act in conjunction.

If one person stops to see your beggarman laying bricks in the street, more will do the same.

They will gather like dust bunnies.

Then, given a gentle push, they will enter your museum or watch your show.

To create a crowd you have to do something different and odd.

Any kind of curiosity will serve the purpose, for crowds are magnetically attracted by the unusual and inexplicable.

And once you have their attention, never let it go.

If it veers toward other people, it does so at your expense.

Barnum would ruthlessly suck attention from his competitors, knowing what a valuable commodity it is.

At the beginning of your rise to the top, then, spend all your energy on attracting attention.

Most important: The quality of the attention is irrelevant.

No matter how badly his shows were reviewed, or how slanderously personal were the attacks on his hoaxes, Barnum would never complain.

If a newspaper critic reviled him particularly badly, in fact, he made sure to invite the man to an opening and to give him the best seat in the house.

He would even write anonymous attacks on his own work, just to keep his name in the papers.

From Barnum’s vantage, attention—whether negative or positive—was the main ingredient of his success.

The worst fate in the world for a man who yearns fame, glory, and, of course, power is to be ignored.

If the courtier happens to engage in arms in some public spectacle such as jousting ... he will ensure that the horse he has is beautifully caparisoned, that he himself is suitably attired, with appropriate mottoes and ingenious devices to attract the eyes of the onlookers in his direction as surely as the lodestone attracts iron.

Baldassare Castighone, 1478-1529

KEYS TO POWER

Burning more brightly than those around you is a skill that no one is born with.

You have to learn to attract attention, “as surely as the lodestone attracts iron.”

At the start of your career, you must attach your name and reputation to a quality, an image, that sets you apart from other people.

This image can be something like a characteristic style of dress, or a personality quirk that amuses people and gets talked about.

Once the image is established, you have an appearance, a place in the sky for your star.

It is a common mistake to imagine that this peculiar appearance of yours should not be controversial, that to be attacked is somehow bad.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

To avoid being a flash in the pan, and having your notoriety eclipsed by another, you must not discriminate between different types of attention; in the end, every kind will work in your favor.

Barnum, we have seen, welcomed personal attacks and felt no need to defend himself. He deliberately courted the image of being a humbug.

The court of Louis XIV contained many talented writers, artists, great beauties, and men and women of impeccable virtue, but no one was more talked about than the singular Duc de Lauzun.

The duke was short, almost dwarfish, and he was prone to the most insolent kinds of behavior—he slept with the king’s mistress, and openly insulted not only other courtiers but the king himself.

Louis, however, was so beguiled by the duke’s eccentricities that he could not bear his absences from the court.

It was simple: The strangeness of the duke’s character attracted attention.

Once people were enthralled by him, they wanted him around at any cost.

Society craves larger-than-life figures, people who stand above the general mediocrity.

Never be afraid, then, of the qualities that set you apart and draw attention to you.

Court controversy, even scandal.

It is better to be attacked, even slandered, than ignored.

All professions are ruled by this law, and all professionals must have a bit of the showman about them.

The great scientist Thomas Edison knew that to raise money he had to remain in the public eye at any cost.

Almost as important as the inventions themselves was how he presented them to the public and courted attention.

Edison would design visually dazzling experiments to display his discoveries with electricity.

He would talk of future inventions that seemed fantastic at the time—robots, and machines that could photograph thought —and that he had no intention of wasting his energy on, but that made the public talk about him.

He did everything he could to make sure that he received more attention than his great rival Nikola Tesla, who may actually have been more brilliant than he was but whose name was far less known.

In 1915, it was rumored that Edison and Tesla would be joint recipients of that year’s Nobel Prize in physics.

The prize was eventually given to a pair of English physicists; only later was it discovered that the prize committee had actually approached Edison, but he had turned them down, refusing to share the prize with Tesla.

By that time his fame was more secure than Tesla’s, and he thought it better to refuse the honor than to allow his rival the attention that would have come even from sharing the prize.

If you find yourself in a lowly position that offers little opportunity for you to draw attention, an effective trick is to attack the most visible, most famous, most powerful person you can find.

When Pietro Aretino, a young Roman servant boy of the early sixteenth century, wanted to get attention as a writer of verses, he decided to publish a series of satirical poems ridiculing the pope and his affection for a pet elephant.

The attack put Aretino in the public eye immediately.

A slanderous attack on a person in a position of power would have a similar effect.

Remember, however, to use such tactics sparingly after you have the public’s attention, when the act can wear thin.

Once in the limelight you must constantly renew it by adapting and varying your method of courting attention.

If you don’t, the public will grow tired, will take you for granted, and will move on to a newer star.

The game requires constant vigilance and creativity.

Pablo Picasso never allowed himself to fade into the background; if his name became too attached to a particular style, he would deliberately upset the public with a new series of paintings that went against all expectations.

Better to create something ugly and disturbing, he believed, than to let viewers grow too familiar with his work.

Understand: People feel superior to the person whose actions they can predict. If you show them who is in control by playing against their expectations, you both gain their respect and tighten your hold on their fleeting attention.

Image:

The Limelight. The actor who steps into this brilliant light attains a heightened presence. All eyes are on him. There is room for only one actor at a time in the limelight’s narrow beam; do what ever it takes to make yourself its focus.

Make your gestures so large, amusing, and scandalous that the light stays on you while the other actors are left in the shadows.

Authority:

Be ostentatious and be seen.... What is not seen is as though it did not exist.... It was light that first caused all creation to shine forth. Display fills up many blanks, covers up deficiencies, and gives everything a second life, especially when it is backed by genuine merit. 

(Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

PART II: CREATE AN AIR OF MYSTERY

In a world growing increasingly banal and familiar, what seems enigmatic instantly draws attention.

Never make it too clear what you are doing or about to do. Do not show all your cards. An air of mystery heightens your presence; it also creates anticipation—everyone will be watching you to see what happens next. Use mystery to beguile, seduce, even frighten.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

Beginning in 1905, rumors started to spread throughout Paris of a young Oriental girl who danced in a private home, wrapped in veils that she gradually discarded.

A local journalist who had seen her dancing reported that “a woman from the Far East had come to Europe laden with perfume and jewels, to introduce some of the richness of the Oriental colour and life into the satiated society of European cities.”

Soon everyone knew the dancer’s name: Mata Hari.

Early that year, in the winter, small and select audiences would gather in a salon filled with Indian statues and other relics while an orchestra played music inspired by Hindu and Javanese melodies.

After keeping the audience waiting and wondering, Mata Hari would suddenly appear, in a startling costume: a white cotton brassiere covered with Indian-type jewels; jeweled bands at the waist supporting a sarong that revealed as much as it concealed; bracelets up the arms.

Then Mata Hari would dance, in a style no one in France had seen before, her whole body swaying as if she were in a trance.

She told her excited and curious audience that her dances told stories from Indian mythology and Javanese folktales.

Soon the cream of Paris, and ambassadors from far-off lands, were competing for invitations to the salon, where it was rumored that Mata Hari was actually performing sacred dances in the nude.

The public wanted to know more about her.

She told journalists that she was actually Dutch in origin, but had grown up on the island of Java.

She would also talk about time spent in India, how she had learned sacred Hindu dances there, and how Indian women “can shoot straight, ride horseback, and are capable of doing logarithms and talk philosophy.”

By the summer of 1905, although few Parisians had actually seen Mata Hari dance, her name was on everyone’s lips.

As Mata Hari gave more interviews, the story of her origins kept changing: She had grown up in India, her grandmother was the daughter of a Javanese princess, she had lived on the island of Sumatra where she had spent her time “horseback riding, gun in hand, and risking her life.”

No one knew anything certain about her, but journalists did not mind these changes in her biography.

They compared her to an Indian goddess, a creature from the pages of Baudelaire—whatever their imagination wanted to see in this mysterious woman from the East.

In August of 1905, Mata Hari performed for the first time in public.

Crowds thronging to see her on opening night caused a riot.

She had now become a cult figure, spawning many imitations.

One reviewer wrote, “Mata Hari personifies all the poetry of India, its mysticism, its voluptuousness, its hypnotizing charm.”

Another noted, “If India possesses such unexpected treasures, then all Frenchmen will emigrate to the shores of the Ganges.”

Soon the fame of Mata Hari and her sacred Indian dances spread beyond Paris.

She was invited to Berlin, Vienna, Milan.

Over the next few years she performed throughout Europe, mixed with the highest social circles, and earned an income that gave her an independence rarely enjoyed by a woman of the period.

Then, near the end of World War I, she was arrested in France, tried, convicted, and finally executed as a German spy.

Only during the trial did the truth come out: Mata Hari was not from Java or India, had not grown up in the Orient, did not have a drop of Eastern blood in her body.

Her real name was Margaretha Zelle, and she came from the stolid northern province of Friesland, Holland.

Interpretation

When Margaretha Zelle arrived in Paris, in 1904, she had half a franc in her pocket.

She was one of the thousands of beautiful young girls who flocked to Paris every year, taking work as artists’ models, nightclub dancers, or vaudeville performers at the Folies Bergère.

After a few years they would inevitably be replaced by younger girls, and would often end up on the streets, turning to prostitution, or else returning to the town they came from, older and chastened.

Zelle had higher ambitions. She had no dance experience and had never performed in the theater, but as a young girl she had traveled with her family and had witnessed local dances in Java and Sumatra.

Zelle clearly understood that what was important in her act was not the dance itself, or even her face or figure, but her ability to create an air of mystery about herself.

The mystery she created lay not just in her dancing, or her costumes, or the stories she would tell, or her endless lies about her origins; it lay in an atmosphere enveloping everything she did.

There was nothing you could say for sure about her—she was always changing, always surprising her audience with new costumes, new dances, new stories.

This air of mystery left the public always wanting to know more, always wondering about her next move.

Mata Hari was no more beautiful than many of the other young girls who came to Paris, and she was not a particularly good dancer.

What separated her from the mass, what attracted and held the public’s attention and made her famous and wealthy, was her mystery.

People are enthralled by mystery; because it invites constant interpretation, they never tire of it.

The mysterious cannot be grasped. And what cannot be seized and consumed creates power.

KEYS TO POWER

In the past, the world was filled with the terrifying and unknowable— diseases, disasters, capricious despots, the mystery of death itself.

What we could not understand we reimagined as myths and spirits.

Over the centuries, though, we have managed, through science and reason, to illuminate the darkness; what was mysterious and forbidding has grown familiar and comfortable.

Yet this light has a price: in a world that is ever more banal, that has had its mystery and myth squeezed out of it, we secretly crave enigmas, people or things that cannot be instantly interpreted, seized, and consumed.

That is the power of the mysterious: It invites layers of interpretation, excites our imagination, seduces us into believing that it conceals something marvelous.

The world has become so familiar and its inhabitants so predictable that what wraps itself in mystery will almost always draw the limelight to it and make us watch it.

Do not imagine that to create an air of mystery you have to be grand and awe-inspiring.

Mystery that is woven into your day-to-day demeanor, and is subtle, has that much more power to fascinate and attract attention.

Remember: Most people are upfront, can be read like an open book, take little care to control their words or image, and are hopelessly predictable.

By simply holding back, keeping silent, occasionally uttering ambiguous phrases, deliberately appearing inconsistent, and acting odd in the subtlest of ways, you will emanate an aura of mystery.

The people around you will then magnify that aura by constantly trying to interpret you.

Both artists and con artists understand the vital link between being mysterious and attracting interest. Count Victor Lustig, the aristocrat of swindlers, played the game to perfection.

He was always doing things that were different, or seemed to make no sense.

He would show up at the best hotels in a limo driven by a Japanese chauffeur; no one had ever seen a Japanese chauffeur before, so this seemed exotic and strange.

Lustig would dress in the most expensive clothing, but always with something—a medal, a flower, an armband—out of place, at least in conventional terms. This was seen not as tasteless but as odd and intriguing.

In hotels he would be seen receiving telegrams at all hours, one after the other, brought to him by his Japanese chauffeur—telegrams he would tear up with utter nonchalance. (In fact they were fakes, completely blank.)

He would sit alone in the dining room, reading a large and impressive-looking book, smiling at people yet remaining aloof.

Within a few days, of course, the entire hotel would be abuzz with interest in this strange man.

All this attention allowed Lustig to lure suckers in with ease. They would beg for his confidence and his company. Everyone wanted to be seen with this mysterious aristocrat. And in the presence of this distracting enigma, they wouldn’t even notice that they were being robbed blind.

An air of mystery can make the mediocre appear intelligent and profound.

It made Mata Hari, a woman of average appearance and intelligence, seem like a goddess, and her dancing divinely inspired.

An air of mystery about an artist makes his or her artwork immediately more intriguing, a trick Marcel Duchamp played to great effect.

It is all very easy to do—say little about your work, tease and titillate with alluring, even contradictory comments, then stand back and let others try to make sense of it all.

Mysterious people put others in a kind of inferior position—that of trying to figure them out.

To degrees that they can control, they also elicit the fear surrounding anything uncertain or unknown.

All great leaders know that an aura of mystery draws attention to them and creates an intimidating presence.

Mao Tse-tung, for example, cleverly cultivated an enigmatic image; he had no worries about seeming inconsistent or contradicting himself—the very contradictoriness of his actions and words meant that he always had the upper hand.

No one, not even his own wife, ever felt they understood him, and he therefore seemed larger than life.

This also meant that the public paid constant attention to him, ever anxious to witness his next move.

If your social position prevents you from completely wrapping your actions in mystery, you must at least learn to make yourself less obvious.

Every now and then, act in a way that does not mesh with other people’s perception of you.

This way you keep those around you on the defensive, eliciting the kind of attention that makes you powerful.

Done right, the creation of enigma can also draw the kind of attention that strikes terror into your enemy.

During the Second Punic War (219-202 B.C.), the great Carthaginian general Hannibal was wreaking havoc in his march on Rome.

Hannibal was known for his cleverness and duplicity.

Under his leadership Carthage’s army, though smaller than those of the Romans, had constantly outmaneuvered them.

On one occasion, though, Hannibal’s scouts made a horrible blunder, leading his troops into a marshy terrain with the sea at their back.

The Roman army blocked the mountain passes that led inland, and its general, Fabius, was ecstatic—at last he had Hannibal trapped.

Posting his best sentries on the passes, he worked on a plan to destroy Hannibal’s forces.

But in the middle of the night, the sentries looked down to see a mysterious sight: A huge procession of lights was heading up the mountain.

Thousands and thousands of lights. If this was Hannibal’s army, it had suddenly grown a hundredfold.

The sentries argued heatedly about what this could mean: Reinforcements from the sea? Troops that had been hidden in the area? Ghosts? No explanation made sense.

As they watched, fires broke out all over the mountain, and a horrible noise drifted up to them from below, like the blowing of a million horns.

Demons, they thought.

The sentries, the bravest and most sensible in the Roman army, fled their posts in a panic.

By the next day, Hannibal had escaped from the marshland. What was his trick? Had he really conjured up demons?

Actually what he had done was order bundles of twigs to be fastened to the horns of the thousands of oxen that traveled with his troops as beasts of burden.

The twigs were then lit, giving the impression of the torches of a vast army heading up the mountain. When the flames burned down to the oxen’s skin, they stampeded in all directions, bellowing like mad and setting fires all over the mountainside.

The key to this device’s success was not the torches, the fires, or the noises in themselves, however, but the fact that Hannibal had created a puzzle that captivated the sentries’ attention and gradually terrified them.

From the mountaintop there was no way to explain this bizarre sight.

If the sentries could have explained it they would have stayed at their posts.

If you find yourself trapped, cornered, and on the defensive in some situation, try a simple experiment: Do something that cannot be easily explained or interpreted.

Choose a simple action, but carry it out in a way that unsettles your opponent, a way with many possible interpretations, making your intentions obscure.

Don’t just be unpredictable (although this tactic too can be successful—see Law 17); like Hannibal, create a scene that cannot be read.

There will seem to be no method to your madness, no rhyme or reason, no single explanation.

If you do this right, you will inspire fear and trembling and the sentries will abandon their posts.

Call it the “feigned madness of Hamlet” tactic, for Hamlet uses it to great effect in Shakespeare’s play, frightening his stepfather Claudius through the mystery of his behavior. The mysterious makes your forces seem larger, your power more terrifying.

Image: The Dance of the Veils—the veils envelop the dancer. What they reveal causes excitement. What they conceal heightens interest. The essence of mystery.

Authority:

If you do not declare yourself immediately, you arouse expectation.... Mix a little mystery with everything, and the very mystery stirs up veneration. And when you explain, be not too explicit.... In this manner you imitate the Divine way when you cause men to wonder and watch. 

(Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

REVERSAL

In the beginning of your rise to the top, you must attract attention at all cost, but as you rise higher you must constantly adapt.

Never wear the public out with the same tactic.

An air of mystery works wonders for those who need to develop an aura of power and get themselves noticed, but it must seem measured and under control.

Mata Hari went too far with her fabrications; although the accusation that she was a spy was false, at the time it was a reasonable presumption because all her lies made her seem suspicious and nefarious.

Do not let your air of mystery be slowly transformed into a reputation for deceit. The mystery you create must seem a game, playful and unthreatening.

Recognize when it goes too far, and pull back.

There are times when the need for attention must be deferred, and when scandal and notoriety are the last things you want to create.

The attention you attract must never offend or challenge the reputation of those above you—not, at any rate, if they are secure. You will seem not only paltry but desperate by comparison. There is an art to knowing when to draw notice and when to withdraw.

Lola Montez was one of the great practitioners of the art of attracting attention. She managed to rise from a middle-class Irish background to being the lover of Franz Liszt and then the mistress and political adviser of King Ludwig of Bavaria. In her later years, though, she lost her sense of proportion.

In London in 1850 there was to be a performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth featuring the greatest actor of the time, Charles John Kean.

Everyone of consequence in English society was to be there; it was rumored that even Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were to make a public appearance.

The custom of the period demanded that everyone be seated before the queen arrived.

So the audience got there a little early, and when the queen entered her royal box, they observed the convention of standing up and applauding her.

The royal couple waited, then bowed.

Everyone sat down and the lights were dimmed.

Then, suddenly, all eyes turned to a box opposite Queen Victoria’s: A woman appeared from the shadows, taking her seat later than the queen.

It was Lola Montez.

She wore a diamond tiara on her dark hair and a long fur coat over her shoulders.

People whispered in amazement as the ermine cloak was dropped to reveal a low-necked gown of crimson velvet.

By turning their heads, the audience could see that the royal couple deliberately avoided looking at Lola’s box.

They followed Victoria’s example, and for the rest of the evening Lola Montez was ignored.

After that evening no one in fashionable society dared to be seen with her.

All her magnetic powers were reversed. People would flee her sight. Her future in England was finished.

Never appear overly greedy for attention, then, for it signals insecurity, and insecurity drives power away.

Understand that there are times when it is not in your interest to be the center of attention. When in the presence of a king or queen, for instance, or the equivalent thereof, bow and retreat to the shadows; never compete.

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A Post-USA Ruled World; Yes, the rest of the world can develop new technology

I have decided to devote some time to a new series of posts / articles. These articles discuss the transition from a United States Military Empire led world reality, to a world governed by merit out of Asia. This is one such post.

In this post, we tear down one of the fundamental lies that the ginormous American propaganda machine spews out; That America is the machine, and the driver for all the success in the rest of the world, and that without America the rest of the world would be one big “shit hole”.

And along with this narrative comes the belief that Germany is nothing without American “rebuilding”.

Japan is nothing without American “rebuilding”.

That Korea is nothing without American “rebuilding”…

… and that any success that China has… is the result of American “rebuilding” in one form or the other.

This is false.

This is a lie.

The following article tears apart this lie, and discusses from whence the Chinese technological, and engineering success came from. It’s a good read. And whether or not you want to continue to believe the lies issued forth out of the American lie machine or not, it does give one pause to think… to contemplate… and to ponder.

Because…

The Chinese nuclear bomb technology was not stolen or copied. It was all home-grown. The American Congress made the technology top secret and prevented anyone from getting it. In fact, America executed two people for giving the technology to Russia.
The Chinese space station technology was not stolen, copied or partnered. It was home grown. The American Congress forbid Chinese participation in it.
The Chinese submarine technology was not stolen, or copied it was all home grown. The American Congress forbids export of military hardware or technology to “enemies”.
The Chinese lunar rover technology was not stolen, or copied it was all home grown. The American Congress forbids any Chinese participation with NASA.
The “Great Firewall of China” isn’t what you would think. China has opted out of the American dominated internet, and has created it’s very own intranet inside of the nation. It’s completely and absolutely and wholly Chinese homegrown internet technology.

And with a nation that is capable of all this home-grown independent research, development and engineering, is most certainly capable of many more great things.

For after all 5G is a wholly Chinese invention, and the USA is trying to play “catch up”. The same goes for AI, and while there are American innovations in robotics, the primary groundwork has been developed by Chinese researchers on American visas. Hyper-glide technology, swarm drone technology, digital financial transactions, and room-temperature vaccines for Covid are all Chinese innovations.

"I understand now why the Chinese like to travel to Western countries. It's so that they can travel back to the stone age."

And what is going on NOW…

Seriously this is what China is right NOW!

It’s like a scene from a cyber-punk anime cartoon, and it’s real.

And the rest of the world sees this and wants to join China, Russia and the rest of Asia to become prosperous and successful.

They no longer want the criminally corrupt psychopathic evil that is what the United States represents today.

Check out the video.

Click HERE to watch the reality of what Chinese is right now.

The following is from Gmachine, and copied as found with all credit to the author. It was edited to fit this venue.

Why Chinese do not owe anything to America for their success

In response to https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2021/05/three-thousand-years-and-115.html

The biggest lie obstructing Chinese-American repatriation to China is that Chinese somehow owe America for their success.

Chinese haven’t even gotten all that much from America.

Sure, some Chinese studied in America, including in STEM, before 1949. People like Qian Xuesen. Also humanities people like Hu Shih and Soong Mei-ling (Chiang’s wife) and Hsiang-Hsi Kung.

That class of humanities graduated people from Ivy League who entered higher echelons of KMT eventually lost the war and fled to Taiwan or America.

Also, for STEM, Europe was much better (to learn from and be educated in) than America especially in the early 1900s.

Chinese students would have benefited much more from studying STEM in Europe at that time. Unfortunately, it was the situation that arose after the suppression of the Boxer Uprising in 1900 (by Eight-Nation Alliance) that resulted in the Chinese studying in America over studying in Europe.

Modern China, especially the practical aspect of it, was far more influenced by USSR and Japan.

PRC had its industrial base in it’s Northeast region simply because the invading colonized Japanese colonized and industrialized it. It did so during it’s over 14 years of occupation.

As far as the military goes, the PRC’s military technology is based upon the very generous Soviet transfers in 1950s. And then again by the Russian ones in 1990s.

China also acquired some basic high speed rail technology from Japan and Germany in 2000s.

And most of the Chinese chemical industry technology came from Western Europe back in the 1970s.

There is little in terms of concrete practical high tech that China has gotten from America.

I think it’s without doubt that even though people like Qian Xuesen, Guo Yonghuai, and Deng Jiaxian (who were leaders of PRC’s nuclear and missile programs) had American PhDs, the Soviet influence on technology was substantially greater.

After all, USSR transferred to the PRC a missile that was an upgrade of V-2 in the late 1950s.

Without that, even with all those top talents in aerodynamics who had been professors or postdocs in America, it would have taken much much longer for PRC to develop its own missile program.

In contrast, if not for those top American returnees…

… as long as Soviets transferred the base technology…

… the other smart people in China, who never set foot in America, would have sooner or later figured it out too.

Provided, of course that the Chinese government made the decision to invest in that technology, (which I believe Qian influenced substantially).

I believe Qian after returning to China did not actually directly work at the “nuts and bolts” details level.

He was more of a strategist and administrator.

As well as the primary decision maker with respect to the PRC missile/rocket/space program.

He convinced the PRC political elites to invest in missiles instead of fighter aircraft.

And in hindsight, was an extremely important and correct decision.

And done at a time when the future of China was still uncertain.

The guy who actually most qualifies as the pure technical leader of PRC missile/rocket/space program goes by the name of Sun Jiadong. And he graduated from a Soviet university in the 1950s.

The thing is that those Chinese educated in America would have been just as good had they done their PhD or masters in Europe or Soviet Union.

Only that pre-1949 at that time, American graduate schools had more spots for Chinese students than European schools.

What China needed the most then was practical technology, and in this area, America did not really have any direct effect.

Actually, it was more like a negative effect.

This is because of the American embargo after the Korean War.

There were a few Chinese who studied in America who had actually did serious work in the American industry.

There were few Chinese who did not settle in America, and who ended up returning to China. And these precious few did not make any major contributions to Chinese technology. The historical record is quite clear on this.

However, after they returned to China, they obviously had to work from a much lower technology base to work with. And as such they ended up adapting their expertise and experience obtained in America for China.

There were certain things that could easily be done in America…

… a much richer country then…

… that was not really practically feasible in China due to lack of resources.

The Chinese who studied in Europe and USSR pretty much all returned.

While perhaps most of the Chinese who studied STEM in America pre-1949 stayed there instead of returning back to China.

China at that time, when STEM human capital was very important and needed, the government basically wasted a bunch of money and resources giving those “best and brightest” a higher education. They left China. They went to America. they learned technical skills. They obtained work, and they stayed there.

So I have a good reason to believe that America’s net effect on China in 20th century was rather negative.

I won’t even go into all the ideological and cultural “garbage” that America exports to the world.

Also, doing a higher degree abroad is not necessarily to great work in STEM in China.

Even during WWII, China already had some top or at least very good theoretical mathematicians, fluid dynamicists, or theoretical physicists.

The guy most responsible for PRC’s hydrogen bomb, Yu Min, never went abroad until he was pretty much retired.

As I’ve said, what China needed most then was the practical, industrial technology.

The difference between theoretical and practical uses in technology.

There were many top-notch theoretical brains. For the theoretical stuff, you need a top brain, access to books and journals, and an environment that let’s you concentrate on that stuff.

The practical stuff, on the other hand, despite being less g-loaded, is in practice much harder.

For China, America was more of an obstruction in that regard.

America enforced the embargo on PRC the most after the Korean War.

In contrast, in the 1950s and 1960s, while China could not get any help or technology from America, they were still able to obtain technology from Japan and Europe.

Unfortunately, so many people see the American PhD as a symbol of being technically top-notch.

It’s a fallacy.

It’s a legacy of America’s having been default destination for study abroad from 1900s on.

Many also studied in Japan, and there were good number of Japanese educated people who made it to the elite of CPC.

But, take particular note, there were no American educated ones.

The CPC simply cannot trust any American educated Chinese to any position of political decision making power.

They are considered to be contaminated by far too much cultural and ideological toxin.

Conclusion

And what is America right now? What happens when there is no longer any nations to loot? Any people to subjugate? What happens when the “house of cards” all falls down?

A house of cards is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structure or argument built on a shaky foundation or one that will collapse if a necessary element is removed. Structures built by layering in this way, such as Stonehenge, are referred to as "house of cards architecture", which dates back to the Cyclopean and Megalithic ages.

-House of Cards, Wikipedia

What we are all witnessing in America today is the exact opposite from what is happening in China. And thus, it is no wonder that the American oligarchy-ruled Military Empire wants to cripple, suppress or otherwise destroy the Chinese rise.

It is nice to believe the lie, the fantasy that the rest of the world is nothing without American guidance, American culture, American technology, and American “know how”. But it’s not true.

And the rest of the world is growing up.

They no longer believe in the Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus, or in other fabled childhood dreams.

And while it was nice to occasionally get a present or two under the tree, the rest of the world has realized that they are far better off with making their own way in the world unencumbered by the thousands of tiny American government hands in their wallets, and the millions of rules and regulations that limit their access to self determination. It’s not normal, and they are saying enough is enough.

As the world slowly adapts to the new reality of a sun-setted America, the sky looks clearer, better and frostier. There’s a feeling in the air. There is a lightness of being and a kind of anything is possible excitement that wasn’t possible under the oppressive yoke of the American oligarchy ruled military empire.

Obviously the United States is not taking this change in roles quietly, and there are all sorts of subterfuge and behind the scenes efforts going on to sabotage the global future so that the 0.0001 who rule the West can stay relevant.

But that too is doomed to fail.

Meanwhile, in the West…

They publish a “report” that the USA leads the world in innovation, and that China cannot innovate, which is total rubbish, but is targeted for the uneducated population to read.

Here’s a rebuttal to the technology growth in China, with a “Innovation index”. Which claims that there are so many western countries still ahead of China! What a rubbish.

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/china-s-innovation-dilemma

Let’s see it. Show me your cities.

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Is it really possible that a hot war, instigated by the US, would occur between China and Taiwan?

I think that is important to address the issue of Taiwan and China. I believe that I need to do so because the USA is trying to start a war there. The drums for war are beating loudly. Really, really loudly. What the HELL is going on?

America is a military empire and it needs a war to exist. It’s always wanted one, two or three, as well well know. Right now the USA is involved in eight simultaneous wars, which could be reduced to seven if the (so called Afghanistan pull out) actually occurs.

But yeah. All evidence is that the United States is “throwing it’s weight around” trying to provoke a mighty World War.

(To) throw one's weight around, to To use one’s wealth or standing to manipulate others; to act officiously. 

This expression dates from the early twentieth century and uses weight in the sense of “authority.” John P. Marquand had it in H. M. Pulham, Esquire (1941): “Bo-jo was a bastard, a big bastard.

-Throw weight around - Idioms by The Free Dictionary

All you need to do is read the slant of the “news” out of America. Such as this piece of reprehensible trash…

U.S. military experts: Taiwan would win showdown with China

Really?

Seriously?

Are you fucking kidding me?

I will admit that the anti-China articles have improved in their “sneakiness”. All you need to do is read the text to pull out the “boiler plate” anti-China screeds. Like this one from my Tech channels…

How China turned a prize-winning iPhone hack against the Uyghurs

And the source for all this information? Why it’s the “United States Government”. That’s it. No other information on names or actual validation channels. Jeeze!

So the USA is busily running their anti-China screed, and they are still poking the Panda. But will it result in a hot war over Taiwan?

We should look into this. Here we tie together some most excellent articles and then weave them together for a better, more comprehensive picture about what is going on, why and who the culprits are.

We will start with this, it is one of the better articles on the subject. Edited to fit in this venue and all credit to the author.

Taiwan Strait: A Shooting War Involving China, Taiwan and the US?

Washington’s Arms Sales to Taiwan

By Prof. Joseph H. Chung

Global Research, April 26, 2021

We are witnessing the fourth Cross-Strait Crises. Chinese and American armed forces are undertaking dangerous, spectacular and threatening show of military might. What makes the present crisis different from the previous ones is the fact that it happened during and after the mutual cold-war declaration by Washington and Beijing in Anchorage, Alaska on March 18-19, 2021

The world is wondering how far this military show will go. Many are afraid of a shooting war involving China, Taiwan and the U.S. Indeed, many are even afraid of the possibility of the third world war which will kill us all.

However, I do not share such pessimistic views. My view is that the inter-China cold war is likely to remain cold, not hot, because none of the three actors involved in the conflict – two Chinas and the U.S.- will gain from the shooting war.

The Sino-American shooting war – if there will be one – will be ignited somewhere else.

Summary

My argument may be summarized as follows.

First, the U.S. does not want the inter-China hot war, because through its ambiguous Taiwan policy, it can continue to sell weapons to Taiwan and, at the same time, keep Taiwan as the primary outpost of its China containment policy.

Second, China is not eager to declare a hot war with Taiwan, because Taiwan has not provided the reasons for China’s Taiwan invasion.

What would force an invasion of Taiwan by China?

There are four reasons for China’s Taiwan invasion including [1] the declaration of Taiwan independence, [2] internal turmoil inside of Taiwan, [2] military alliance with another country, [3] acquisition of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and [4] negotiations under the violation of the 1992 Consensus for “one-China”.

None of these conditions are present.

Therefore, China has no reason to invade Taiwan.

Taiwan does not want a war with China

Third, Taiwan does not want the hot war with China for the reason that it will be most likely defeated. As well as the cost of such defeat will be too high in terms of economic development and the loss of its identity. In fact, if and when China wins, it is extremely likely that both of the two China’s will be united under the banner of PRC.

The U.S. does not want inter-China hot War

To understand Washington’s role in the inter-China conflict, it is important to understand its Taiwan policy.

Washington’s Taiwan policy is based on [1] the three joint communiqués, [2] the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 (TRA) and [3] the Six Assurances imposed by Ronald Reagan in 1982.

The followings are the contents of the three Communiqués, TRA and the Six Assurances.

The First China-U.S. Communiqué (28 February 1972)

The U.S. Government acknowledges (not accept or recognize) that all Chinese in either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but One China
Taiwan is a part of China
The U.S. Government does not challenge this position
. It reaffirms its interest in peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by Chinese themselves
With this prospect in mind, it affirms its ultimate objective of the withdrawal of all the U.S. forces and military installations from Taiwan.

The Second China-U.S. Communiqué (January 1, 1979)

Neither should seek hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region or any other region of the world.
Each is opposed to efforts by any other country or group of countries to establish such hegemony
The government of the USA acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China
PRC is the sole legal government of China

Third China-U.S. Communiqué (August 17, 1982)

The U.S. Government attaches great importance to its relation with China.
It has no intention of infringing on Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity or interfering in China’s internal affairs or pursuing a policy of ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan.’
The U.S. Government states that it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan
Its arms sale to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms the level of those supplied in recent years
It intends to reduce gradually its sales of arms to Taiwan, leading over a period of time to a final solution.
The U.S. Taiwan policy cannot be changed by the president and requires the consent of the Congress.

The Taiwan Relations Act (enacted by the U.S. Congress on April 10, 1979)

The principal contents of the Act is in Section 2 of the Act

Taiwan is treated as a country, a nation or a state as sub sovereign nation
Informal diplomatic relations are carried out by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT)
The U.S. Government normalizes its diplomatic relations with PRC (Beijing) under the condition that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means.
Any efforts to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means including by boycotts, or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific are grave concern to the U.S.
The Sino (Taiwan)-U.S. Mutual Defence Treaty is terminated.
The U.S. Government does not intervene in case of invasion by People’s Republic of China (PRC)
The U.S. Government provides arms of defensive character and maintains the capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan
The decision related to the quantity and the quality of defence articles and services is determined by the Congress and the president.

The Six Assurances

The administration of Ronald Reagan unilaterally added in 1982 “Six Assurances” to the TRA and this has become the mains part of the U.S. Taiwan policy

The U.S. Government has not agreed to set a date of the termination of its arms sale to Taiwan.
The U.S. Government has not agreed to consult with PRC (China) or ROC (Taiwan) for arms sales to Taiwan.
The U.S. Government does not perform the mediation role between ROC and PRC
The U.S. Government has not agreed to revise the TRA
The U.S. Government has not revised its position regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan
The U.S. Government will not exercise pressure on Taiwan to enter into negotiation with PRC.

The positive aspect of Washington’s Taiwan policy is the termination of the bloody civil war between ROC and PRC which caused the two cross-strait crises (1954 and 1958); the civil war lasted until 1979.

But, the end of the inter-China civil war was also desirable for Washington as well, because Washington badly needed China to counter the aggressive assertiveness of the Soviet Union in Asia.

So, Washington and Beijing were strange bed fellows with different dreams. Another possible reason for the U.S. initiative to end the inter-China civil war was the fear of Beijing’s victory over Taipei, which means the loss of a lucrative American arms market and reliable outpost of China containment strategy.

On the other hand, Washington’s Taiwan policy is characterized by the amazing ambiguity of Washington’s perception of the cross-strait problems and tactics which was most likely designed to maximize the American interests at the expense of China’s interests.

What comes out of the three communiqués, the TRA and the six assurances may be summarized in terms of the issue of regional hegemony, the legal status of Taiwan and the American arms sales.

Regional ambiguity

In the second communiqué of 1979, there are items preventing China from becoming a hegemonic power in the region. Neither the U.S. nor China should seek for hegemonic power in Asia. But the U.S was already the hegemonic power there.

The second feature of Washington’s Taiwan policy is its contradictory and ambiguous position regarding the legal status of Taiwan.

In the joint communiqués, the U.S. acknowledges that China is one and Taiwan is a part of China and that Beijing is the sole legal government of China. But this should mean that since Taiwan is a part of China, Beijing should also govern Taiwan.

But, in the Taiwan Relations Act, Taiwan is given the status of a de facto sovereign country.

China can argue that Washington did not respect the contents of the joint communiqués. But Washington can say this: “We have never accepted one-China regime, we said we acknowledged the regime”. Here, we see the strategic political ambiguity of Washington.

In fact, in the TRA, it says that Taiwan is treated as a nation of sub sovereignty. The U.S. has established de facto diplomatic relations with Taiwan conducted through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

Here, Washington’s position regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan is not clear. The hidden purpose of the U.S. could be to make the sovereignty issue ambiguous so that it can change its position in function of needs.

Washington’s Arms Sales to Taiwan

Now, as for the issues of arms sales to Taiwan, the U. S. is even more ambiguous.

In the third communiqué, the U.S. says that it has no long-run plan of arms sales to Taiwan.

Yet in the same communiqué, the U.S. says that it will reduce arms sales, which contradicts each other.

In the TRA, the Sino (ROC)-U.S. defence Treaty is terminated.

This is a very, very important point. One that is purposely being left out of all media communication originating out of the United States. The TRA ended Taiwan as a US Protectorate.

Therefore, Washington should not intervene militarily if and when Taiwan is in armed conflict with Beijing.

But, already, in media, the US intervention in case of PRC’s Taiwan invasion is openly discussed.

One wonders what the reliability of the joint communiqués, the TRA and the Six Assurances is. It’s as if the United States simply ignores inconvenient rules, treaties, and agreements that it has signed.

Now, in the Six Assurances, it is written that the U.S. has no date for the ending of its arms sales to Taiwan. The U.S. is not obliged to consult PRC or ROC for its arms sales to Taiwan. So, Washington has absolute freehand in handling the arms sales to Taiwan.

In short, the U.S. Taiwan policy is so confusing and so ambiguous that it has useful flexibility for the sales of arms to Taiwan. The following table shows the pattern of American arms sales to Taiwan.

Table: Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan by U.S. Presidents

The table above allows these observations.

Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan has increased over the years, which is contrary to what the U.S. Government had promised.
The Trump administration spent as much as US$ 4.45 billion per year which represents as much as 30% of Taiwan’s annual defense budget of $15 billion
By and large, the Republican Party sells more than the Democrats.
Washington sells more when the anti-Beijing liberal party of Taiwan, the Democratic and Progressive Parry (DPP) is in power, that is, under the DPP government of Chen Shui-bian (2000-2008) and under the DPP government of Tsai Ying-wen (2016-2021)

This has an important meaning.

Remember that the DPP is the party which seeks independence of Taiwan.

Hence, the data can be interpreted as Washington’s strategy of encouraging the independence movement leading to ROC-PRC tension and more U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

So the United States is actively encouraging an armed conflict between Taiwan and China. Though everyone realizes that ultimately Taiwan would be absorbed into China as a result of the conflict.

So, Does the USA want a Hot War over the Taiwan strait?

Now, coming back to the question of whether the U.S. wishes hot war over the Taiwan Strait, the answer is that it will not want the hot war.

The USA does not really want a Hot War, even though it is provoking one.

The reason is because, the hot war means the unification of China and Taiwan will no longer be able to play the role of Washington’s primary China-containment outpost and its function of being the lucrative market of American military equipment’s.

Neither PRC (People’s Republic of China) nor ROC (Republic of China-Taiwan) wants the hot War.

Are Taiwan and China enemies as described in the Western media?

When we discuss Taiwan and China, it is important to remember that they once were enemies. This was around fifty years ago.

The army of the ROC was defeated in 1949 and Chiang Kai-sek fled to Taiwan and continued the Republic of China which was created in 1912 by Sun Yat-sen. The civil war between ROC and PRC continued until 1979.

Even though the civil war was terminated, the ROC and PRC relations have not been smooth partly because of the past history and partly because of different political and economic regimes. In other words, there are always the possibilities of hostility in the cross-strait relations.

However, they have established viable relations which have been beneficial to both through political and economic cooperation.

The Risk of full Taiwan Independence from China

Aside from the American and British media harping on the desire for Taiwan to be free of the “oppressive yoke” of the “brutal Communist Dictatorship”, the real truth is something else entirely.

The evolution of the Taiwanese political orientation may be measured in terms of the way in which its presidents consider the legal status of Taiwan vis-à-vis PRC.

The evolution of Taiwanese political leaders’ perceptions of Taipei-Beijing political relations is shown below. By and large, such relations have evolved by the following periods.

The civil war period (1949-1979)
The period of good relations (1979-1998)
The period of hostility (1998-2008)
The resumption of high level dialogue period (2008-2016)
The frozen relation period (2016-2021)

The period of civil war (1949-1979) was characterized by two cross-strait crises and never ending armed conflict between two Chinas.

During the friendly relation period (1979-1998), Deng Xiaoping met frequently the head of the Nationalist Party, Kuomintang (KMT) in order to develop cooperative relations.

President Chiang Ching-kuo (1980-1988) of KMT, son of Chiang Kai-shek, declared the three NOs:

- - No declaration of independence,
  - No unification of Chinas and
  - No use of force between the two Chinas.

On July 9, 1999, President Lee Teng-hui (1988-2000) of KMT defined the ROC-PRC relation as “country to country relations.” So, there is no need for the independence declaration.

However, Lee’s visit to the Cornel University Alumni in 1995 alarmed Beijing and it led to the 1996 show of military might of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of PRC.

This was, in fact, the third Taiwan Strait crisis.

During the period of hostility (1998-2008), President Chen Shui-bian (2000-2008) of the anti-PRC party, DPP, changed the name of “Chunghwa Post Co.” to “Taiwan Post Co.” He changed also the name of “China Petroleum Corporation” to “Taiwan Petroleum Corporation.”

But, under KMT president Ma Yong-Jeou (2008-2016), the old names came back. This episode shows how Taiwanese people are sensitive about the identity of Taiwan vis-à-vis China of main land.

In 2008, Ma Ying-Jeou of KMT (2008-2016) took over the power and the friendly relations across the Strait were resumed.

The year 2008 was marked by the efforts of PRCs president Hu Jintao to improve the bilateral relations across the Taiwan Strait. On March 26, 2008, he talked to President G.W. Bush, who endorsed the 1992 consensus on “One China”..

President Hu Jintao also met the Chairman of the KMT, Wu Po-hsing, who also accepted the 1992 Consensus.

As for President Ma, he defined the bilateral relations as “One Country on each side” or “two states in the same nation.”

In 2016 began the current period of contention. The power went back to DPP and Tsai Ying-wen became President. Tsai’s perception of Taiwan’s legal status was not more certain than those of other Taiwan presidents.

Her victory has put Beijing in even uncomfortable position. In 2016, Beijing cut all communications with ROC.

But, in the same year, some leaders in Taiwan being aware of the deteriorating cross-strait relations formed a Taiwanese delegation composed of eight magistrates and city mayors went to Beijing to improve the relations.

However, the cross-strait relations were not peaceful. In 2018, PLA conducted military exercises which surely alarmed Taiwan.

In 2019, Xi Jinping reaffirmed his position in favor of “one China, two systems.”

President Tsai Ying-wen refused Xi Jinping’s idea.

To the surprise of the world, in 2020 Tsai Ying-wen won the election again; the world was expecting that she would take more radical position regarding Taiwan’s independence.

True, her victory has encouraged the independence movement in Taiwan and pro-independence political parties and civic organizations asked for a referendum on independence.

However, Tsai maintained her position that since Taiwan is already independent country, there is no need for the declaration of independence.”

To sum up, none of the presidents of the major parties, the KMT and the DPP, opted for the declaration of Taiwan’s independence.

True, there are some pro-independence parties such as The Taiwan Independence Party, the Taiwan Solidarity and the Formosa Alliance, but they have no electoral support.

Thus, the danger of Taiwan’s declaration of independence seems nonexistent and therefore, Beijing has no reason to invade for now.

Taiwan People’s Perception

What has intrigued me is the Taiwanese people’s perceptions regarding Taiwan’s legal or political status. There are four public opinion polls which are meaningful.

In the poll of 2008 by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) no less than76% of the respondents rejected the idea of “one China, two systems.”

In the 2017 poll by MAC, 85% of the respondents said that the future of Taiwan should be determined by the Taiwanese themselves.

In the 2019 poll by MAC, 75% of the respondents rejected the 1992 Consensus (There is only one China which should be governed by PRC).

In the 2020 poll by the Academia Sinica, one finds very interesting phenomena.

73% of the respondents identified themselves as Taiwanese.
27.5% of them identified themselves as Chinese-Taiwanese
2.4% of them identified themselves as Chinese
52.3% of them would prefer the postponement of the question of Taiwan independence and keep the status quo
35.1% of them prefer immediate independence
5.5% of them would prefer immediate or eventual unification of China.

In the Poll of MAC, 90% of the respondents refused PLA’s military threats.

To sum up, the Taiwanese are eager to greater autonomy, even independence, but they seem to avoid military confrontation by postponing the solution of the independence issue.

In short, Taiwan does not want a shooting war with China.

Economic Cooperation

There is another reason why the ROC-PRC hot war will not take place. It is the cross-strait economic cooperation.

Taiwan has achieved a remarkable success in economic development.

In the 1960s, the per capita GDP was as low as $60. Now, in 2020, its GDP (nominal) was $730 billion USD and the per capita GDP was $32,000. This is, in fact, the miraculous achievements of the Taiwanese people.

The information industries account for 35 % of the country’s industrial production. The semi-conductor producers such as Taiwan Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and the United Microelectronic Corporation (UMC) are world leaders. Taiwan is the 13th largest producer of steel; its steel products are exported to 130 countries. The most spectacular entrepreneurial performance has been shown by the SMEs accounting for 85% of industrial outputs.

Such achievement has been possible because of the courage, the innovative entrepreneurial spirit, the productivity and, especially the hard work of the Taiwanese.

However, Washington’s economic aid, its imports of Taiwanese products and technology transfer have all contributed. In addition, we should not forget the cooperation between Mainland China and Taiwan.

Under President Chiang Ching-kuo (1978-1988), two important semi-official organizations were was established: the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF) under ROC’s Mainland Affairs Council and the Association of Relations across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) under PRCs Taiwanese Affairs Office.

These two organizations have been the center of bilateral political and economic cooperation. They have initiated the three links: postal services, transportation and trade.

The Taiwan’s Investment Guidelines and similar measures taken by ROC have led to mutual business investments.

In fact, 40 % of Taiwan’s outbound FDI stock went to Mainland China. Chinese tourists contribute to more than 40% of ROCs tourist industry. The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement of 2010 is another mechanism of the bilateral economic relations.

Above all, Taiwan depends heavily on China for trade. In 2020, the value of Taiwan’s total exports was $ 345 billion of which 29.7% went to China. In the same year, the value of Taiwan’s total imports was $ 286 billion of which 22% came from China.

It is true that the RCO-PRC relations are not peaceful. But these economic relations are beneficial enough to keep the status quo as long as possible.

The conclusion of my analysis is that none of the three actors involved in the cross-strait drama wants shooting war.

- - China doesn’t
  - Taiwan doesn’t
  - The United States doesn’t.

The United States. The U.S. does not want the hot war because it will mean [1] the unification of China, [2] the loss of Taiwan as the primary China-containment outpost and [3] the loss of the lucrative arms market.

Taiwan. Taiwan does not want the shooting war, because it will mean the complete destruction of its economy, and the loss of its autonomy becoming one of the Chinese provinces.

China. China does not risk the hot war because [1] Taiwan prefers the status quo; [2] it has no intention of getting weapons of mass destruction; [3] there is no internal turmoil; [4] it does not seek military alliances.

But the United States wants high stress and tension

However, even without the shooting war, as long as the Sino-U.S. cold war continues, the cross-strait tension will continue.

Washington will sell more military equipment and services and Taiwan will have to play the dangerous role of Washington’s the primary outpost of China containment strategy and that of main buyer of American military weapons.

I wish to add this.

The bilateral conflict between two Chinas like all other major bilateral conflicts is an integral part of Washington’s strategy of global hegemony. One of the most productive components of the American global hegemony is the proxy war, that is, some member country of Washington’s alliances will fight for the U.S.

Japan might be asked to play this role, because Japan is the best qualified for such task; it is a world class military power and it has the ambition of dominating Asia again; to do so, Japan has to destroy China. I hope I am wrong in thinking such an awful thing.

Finally, I would like add this too…

Taiwan is a country which has achieved an amazing economic miracle of which all Chinese should be proud. Taiwan has established viable democracy under very challenging conditions; this is a regime which will surely contribute to the further advancement of China’s socio-political system.

…

Well, perhaps it is the Taiwan oligarchy that is pushing this issue. Not the Taiwanese government, and not the American government. Perhaps it is the oligarchy inside of Taiwan, and the greedy evil neocons in America that is driving up the stress levels in the Taiwan strait.

Because if Taiwan, China and the USA doesn’t want a war, then why are we talking about this?

Tanks and Think Tanks: How Taiwanese Cash Is Funding the Push to War with China

By Alan MacLeod

Global Research, April 26, 2021

MintPress News 22 April 2021

Twenty years ago, a group of neoconservative think tanks used their power to push for disastrous wars in the Middle East. Now, a new set of think tanks staffed with many of the same experts and funded by Taiwanese money is working hard to convince Americans that there is a new existential threat: China.

At MintPress, we have been at the forefront of exposing how Middle Eastern dictatorships and weapons contractors have been funneling money into think tanks and political action committees, keeping up a steady drumbeat for more war and conflict around the world.

Yet one little-discussed nation that punches well above its weight in spending cash in Washington is Taiwan.

By studying Taiwan’s financial reports, MintPress has ascertained that the semi-autonomous island of 23 million people has, in recent years, given out millions of dollars to many of the largest and most influential think tanks in the United States.

This has coincided with a strong upsurge in anti-China rhetoric in Washington, with report after report warning of China’s economic rise and demanding that the U.S. intervene more in China-Taiwan disputes.

These think tanks are filled with prominent figures from both parties and have the ears of the most powerful politicians in Washington.

It is in their offices that specialists draw up papers and incubate ideas that become tomorrow’s policies.

They also churn out experts who appear in agenda-setting media, helping to shape and control the public debate on political and economic issues.

Twenty years ago, a group of neoconservative think tanks like the Project for a New American Century, funded by foreign governments and weapons manufacturers, used their power to push for disastrous wars in the Middle East.

Now, a new set of think tanks, staffed with many of those same experts who provided the intellectual basis for those invasions, is working hard to convince Americans that there is a new existential threat: China.

The Brookings Institute

In 2019, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) — for all intents and purposes, the Taiwanese embassy — donated between $250,000 and $499,999 to the Brookings Institute, commonly identified as the world’s most influential think tank.

Taiwanese tech companies have also given large sums to the organization.

In turn, Brookings Institute staff like Richard C. Bush (a former member of the National Intelligence Council and a U.S. national intelligence officer for East Asia) vociferously champion the cause of Taiwanese nationalists and routinely condemn Beijing’s attempts to bring the island more closely under control.

TECRO featured prominently among myriad defense interests on the donor rolls for both the Atlantic Council, left, and Brookings Institute

In mid-April 2021, Brookings held an event called “Taiwan’s quest for security and the good life,” which began with the statement that…

“Taiwan is rightly praised for its democracy. Elections are free, fair, and competitive; civil and political rights are protected.” 

...

“most consequential” challenge to the island’s liberty and prosperity is “China’s ambition to end Taiwan’s separate existence.”

According to another organization’s latest financial disclosure, TECRO also gave a six-figure sum to the Atlantic Council, a think tank closely associated with NATO.

The Atlantic Council

It is unclear what the Atlantic Council did with that money, but what is certain is that they gave a senior fellowship to Chang-Ching Tu, an academic employed by the Taiwanese military to teach at the country’s National Defense University.

In turn, Tu authored Atlantic Council reports describing his country as a “champion [of] global democracy,” and stating that “democracy, freedom and human rights are Taiwan’s core values.”

A menacing China, however, is increasing its military threats, so Taiwan must “accelerate its deterrence forces and strengthen its self-defense capabilities.”

Thus he advises that the U.S. must work far more closely with Taiwan’s military, conducting joint exercises and moving towards a more formal military alliance.

In 2020, the U.S. sold $5.9 billion worth of arms to the island, making it the fifth-largest recipient of American weaponry last year.

Other Taiwan-employed academics have chided the West on the pages of the Council’s website for its insufficient zeal in “deter[ring] Chinese aggression” against the island. “A decision by the United States to back down” — wrote Philip Anstrén, a Swedish recipient of a fellowship from the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs — “could damage the credibility of U.S. defense guarantees and signal that Washington’s will to defend its allies is weak.”

Anstrén also insisted that “Europe’s future is on the line in the Taiwan Strait.” “Western democratic nations have moral obligations vis-à-vis Taiwan,” he added on his blog, “and Western democracies have a duty to ensure that [Taiwan] not only survives but also thrives.”

The reason this is important is that the Atlantic Council is an enormously influential think tank.

Its board of directors is a who’s-who in foreign policy statecraft, featuring no fewer than seven former CIA directors.

Also on the board are many of the architects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and James Baker. When organizations like this begin beating the war drums, everybody should take note.

…

The Hudson Institute

Perhaps the most strongly anti-Beijing think tank in Washington is the conservative Hudson Institute, an organization frequented by many of the Republican Party’s most influential figures, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Vice-President Mike Pence and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.

The words “China” or “Chinese” appear 137 times in Hudson’s latest annual report, so focused on the Asian nation are they. Indeed, reading their output, it often appears they care about little else but ramping up tensions with Beijing, condemning it for its treatment of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Uyghur Muslims, and warning of the economic and military threat of a rising China.

Over the years, Hudson’s efforts have been sustained by huge donations from TECRO.

The Hudson Institute does not disclose the exact donations any sources give, but their annual reports show that TECRO has been on the highest tier of donors ($100,000+) every year since they began divulging their sponsors in 2015. In February, Hudson Senior Fellow Thomas J. Duesterberg wrote an op-ed for Forbes entitled “The Economic Case for Prioritizing a U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement,” in which he extolled Taiwan’s economy as modern and dynamic and portrayed securing closer economic ties with it as a no-brainer. Hudson employees have also traveled to Taiwan to meet and hold events with leading foreign ministry officials there.

The Hudson Institute also recently partnered with the more liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) to host an event with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who took the opportunity to make a great number of inflammatory statements about the “ever more challenging threats to free and democratic societies” China poses; applaud the U.S.’ actions on Hong Kong; and talk about how Taiwan honors and celebrates those who died at the Tiananmen Square massacre. TECRO gave the CAP between $50,000 and $100,000 last year.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

It is the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), however, that appears to receive the most Taiwanese money.

According to its donor list, Taiwan gives as much money to it as the United States does — at least $500,000 last year alone.

Yet all of the Taiwanese government money is put into CSIS’s regional studies (i.e., Asia) program. Like Hudson employees, the CSIS calls for a free trade agreement with Taiwan and has lavished praise on the nation for its approach to tackling disinformation, describing it as a “thriving democracy and a cultural powerhouse.”

Although acknowledging that the reports were paid for by TECRO, CSIS insists that “all opinions expressed herein should be understood to be solely those of the authors and are not influenced in any way by any donation.”

In December, the CSIS also held a debatesuggesting that “[w]ithin the next five years, China will use significant military force against a country on its periphery,” exploring what the U.S. response to such an action should be.

Like the Atlantic Council, the CSIS organization is stacked with senior officials from the national security state. Its president and CEO is former Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, while Henry Kissinger — former secretary of state and the architect of the Vietnam War — also serves on its council.

The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD)

The CSIS accepts money from the Global Taiwan Institute and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) as well. The former is a rather shadowy pro-Taiwanese group that appears not to disclose its funding sources.

The latter is a government-funded organization headed by former Taiwanese President You Si-kun.

Every year, the TFD publishes a human rights report on China, the latest of which claims that “the Chinese Communist Party knows no bounds when it comes to committing serious human rights violations” — accusing it of “taking the initiative” in “promoting a new Cold War over the issue of human rights” and trying to “replace the universal standing of human rights values around the world.”

Ultimately, the report concludes, China “constitutes a major challenge to democracy and freedom in the world.”

Joseph Hwang of The War College in Taiwan speaks at a CSIS about how Taiwan acts a buffer to protect US data infrastructure from China

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

The TFD has also been a major funder of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a far-right pressure group that insists that Communism has killed over 100 million people worldwide.

Last year, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation added all global COVID-19 fatalities to the list of Communist-caused deaths on the basis that the virus started in China.

The Foundation also employs Adrian Zenz, a German evangelical theologian who is the unlikely source of many of the most controversial and contested claims about Chinese repression in Xinjiang province.

Other funded anti-China Think-Tanks

In the past 12 months, TECRO has also donated six-figure sums to many other prominent think tanks, including…

- - The German Marshall Fund of the United States,
  - The Center for a New American Security,
  - The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

MintPress reached out to a number of these think tanks for comment but has not received any response.

“It would be naive to believe that Taiwan’s funding of think tanks is not pushing them to take pro-Taiwan or anti-China positions,” Ben Freeman, the director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, told MintPress, adding:

After all, why would Taiwan keep funding think tanks that are critical of Taiwan? There’s a Darwinian element to foreign funding of think tanks that pushes foreign government funding to think tanks that write what that foreign government wants them to write. Taiwan is no exception to this rule.”

TECRO is not just sponsoring American think tanks, however.

the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)

It has also given funds to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a hawkish and controversial group described as “the think tank behind Australia’s changing view of China.” The country’s former ambassador in Beijing described ASPI as “the architect of the China threat theory in Australia” while Senator Kim Carr of Victoria denounced them as working hand-in-hand with Washington to push “a new Cold War with China.”

ASPI was behind Twitter’s decision last year to purge more than 170,000 accounts sympathetic to Beijing from its platform.

“We must be ready to fight our corner as Taiwan tensions rise,” ASPI wrote in January, having previously castigated the West for being “no longer willing to defend Taiwan.”

Who is behind all this money, ultimately?

ASPI — like Brookings, the Atlantic Council and others — are directly funded by weapons manufacturers, all of whom also have a direct interest in promoting more wars around the world.

Thus, if the public is not careful, certain special interests might be helping move the United States towards yet another international conflict.

While the situation outlined above is concerning enough, the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative’s research has shown that around one-third of think tanks still do not provide any information whatsoever about their funding, and very few are completely open about their finances.

Freeman maintains that, while there is nothing inherently wrong with foreign governments funding Western think tanks, the lack of transparency is seriously problematic, explaining:

This raises a lot of questions about the work they’re doing. Are their secret funders saying what the think tank can do in a pay-for-play scheme? Are the funders buying the think tanks silence on sensitive issues? Without knowing the think tank’s funders, policymakers and the public have no idea if the think tank’s work is objective research or simply the talking points of a foreign government.”

Freeman’s study of the Taiwanese lobby found that seven organizations registered as Taiwan’s foreign agents in the U.S.

Those organizations, in turn, contacted 476 Members of Congress (including almost 90% of the House), as well as five congressional committees.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was their most frequent contact, the Californian being contacted 34 times by Taiwanese agents. Pelosi has been a great supporter of Taiwanese nationalists, successfully promoting pro-Taiwan legislation and proudly announcing that the U.S. “stands with Taiwan.”

Foreign agents working on behalf of Taiwan also made 143 political contributions to U.S. politicians, with former Alabama Senator Doug Jones the lead recipient (Pelosi was third).

Losing China, regaining Taiwan?

The reports listed above understand the dispute as purely a matter of Chinese belligerence against Taiwan and certainly do not consider U.S. military actions in the South China Sea as aggressive in themselves.

That is because the world of think tanks and war planners sees the United States as owning the planet.

America has the right to go and do anything that it desires anywhere on the globe at any time.

To this day, U.S. planners bemoan the “loss of China” in 1949 (a phrase that presupposes the United States owned the country).

After a long and bloody Second World War, Communist resistance forces under Mao Tse-tung managed to both expel the Japanese occupation and overcome the U.S.-backed Kuomintang (nationalist) force led by Chang Kai-shek. The United States actually invaded China in 1945, with 50,000 troops working with the Kuomintang and even Japanese forces in an attempt to suppress the Communists. However, by 1949, Mao’s army was victorious; the United States evacuated and Chang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan.

The Kuomintang ruled the island for 40 years as a one-party state and remains one of the two major political groups to this day.

The war between the Communists and the Kuomintang never formally ended, and Taiwan has now lived through 70 years of estrangement from the mainland. Polls show a majority of Taiwanese now favor full independence, although a large majority still personally identify as Chinese.

While many Taiwanese welcome an increased U.S. presence in the region, Beijing certainly does not.

American military is getting ready for a war

In 2012, President Barack Obama announced the U.S.’ new “Pivot to Asia” strategy, moving forces from the Middle East towards China. Today, over 400 American military bases encircle China.

In recent months, the United States has also taken a number of provocative military actions on China’s doorstep.

In July, it conducted naval exercises in the South China Sea, with warships and naval aircraft spotted just 41 nautical miles from the coastal megacity of Shanghai, intent on probing China’s coastal defenses.

And in December, it flew nuclear bombers over Chinese vessels close to Hainan Island.

Earlier this year, the head of Strategic Command made his intentions clear, stating that there was a “very real possibility” of war against China over a regional conflict like Taiwan.

China, for its part, has also increased its forces in the region, carrying out military exercises and staking claims to a number of disputed islands.

A new Director of National Intelligence (DNI) report notes that China is the U.S.’ “unparalleled priority,” claiming that Beijing is making a “push for global power.” “We expect that friction will grow as Beijing steps up attempts to portray Taipei as internationally isolated and dependent on the mainland for economic prosperity, and as China continues to increase military activity around the island,” it concludes.

In an effort to stop this, Washington has recruited allies into the conflict. Australian media are reporting that their military is currently readying for war in an effort to force China to back down, while in late April 2021 President Joe Biden met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to shore up a united front against Beijing vis-a-vis Taiwan.

In February, the Atlantic Council penned an anonymous 26,000-word report advising Biden to draw a number of red lines around China, beyond which a response — presumably military — is necessary. These included any military action or even a cyber attack against Taiwan. Any backing down from this stance, the council states, would result in national “humiliation” for the United States.

American fantasy dreams

Perhaps most notably, however, the report also envisages what a successful American China policy would look like by 2050:

[T]he United States and its major allies continue to dominate the regional and global balance of power across all the major indices of power;… [and head of state Xi Jinping] has been replaced by a more moderate party leadership; and … the Chinese people themselves have come to question and challenge the Communist Party’s century-long proposition that China’s ancient civilization is forever destined to an authoritarian future.”

In other words, that China has been broken and that some sort of regime change has occurred.

Forked tongue speak

Throughout all this, the United States has been careful to stress that it still does not recognize Taiwan and that their relationship is entirely “unofficial,” despite claiming that its commitment to the island remains “rock solid.”

Indeed, only 14 countries formally recognize Taiwan, the largest and most powerful of which is Paraguay.

Along with a military conflict brewing, Washington has also been prosecuting an information and trade war against China on the world stage.

Attempts to block the rise of major Chinese companies like Huawei, TikTok and Xiaomi are examples of this.
Others in Washington have advised the Pentagon to carry out an under-the-table culture war against Beijing.
This would include commissioning “Taiwanese Tom Clancy” novels that would “weaponize” China’s one-child policy against it.
And, bombarding citizens with stories about how their only children will die in a war over Taiwan.

Republicans and Democrats constantly accuse each other of being in President Xi’s pocket, attempting to outdo each other in their jingoistic fervor.

Last year, in 2020, Florida Senator Rick Scottwent so far as to announce that every Chinese national in the U.S. was a Communist spy and should be treated with extreme suspicion.

As a result, the American public’s view of China has crashed to an all-time low.

Only three years ago, the majority of Americans held a positive opinion of China. But today, that number is only 20%. Asian-Americans of all backgrounds have reported a rise in hate crimes against them.

Cash rules everything around me

How much of the United States’ aggressive stance towards China can be attributed to Taiwanese money influencing politics?

It is difficult to say.

Certainly, the United States has its own policy goals in East Asia outside of Taiwan.

But Freeman believes that the answer is not zero. The Taiwan lobby “absolutely has an impact on U.S. foreign policy,” he said, adding:

At one level, it creates an echo-chamber in D.C. that makes it taboo to question U.S. military ties with Taiwan. 

While I, personally, think there are good strategic reasons for the U.S. to support this democratic ally — and it’s clearly in Taiwan’s interest to keep the U.S. fully entangled in their security — it’s troubling that the D.C. policy community can’t have an honest conversation about what U.S. interests are. 

But, Taiwan’s lobby in D.C. and their funding of think tanks both work to stifle this conversation and, frankly, they’ve been highly effective.”

Other national lobbies affect U.S. policy.

The Cuban lobby helps ensure that the American stance towards its southern neighbor remains as antagonistic as possible.

Meanwhile, the Israel lobby helps ensure continuing U.S. support for Israeli actions in the Middle East.

Yet more ominously with Taiwan, its representatives are helping push the U.S. closer towards a confrontation with a nuclear power.

While Taiwanese money appears to have convinced many in Washington, it is doubtful that ordinary Americans will be willing to risk a war over an island barely larger than Hawaii, only 80 miles off the coast of mainland China.

You would think…

But now, I’m not so sure…

US Seeks South China Sea Conflict

By Tony Cartalucci

Global Research, April 24, 2021

New Eastern Outlook 20 April 2021

Despite hopes by some that with Joe Biden a new US foreign policy will follow – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reaffirmed Washington’s committment to seeking conflict in the South China Sea under the guise of “standing with Southeast Asian claimants.”

Reuters in their article, “US stands with SE Asian countries against China pressure, Blinken say” would claim:

Secretary Blinken pledged to stand with Southeast Asian claimants in the face of PRC pressure,” it said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, which is also a major trade route. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims.

The United States has accused China of taking advantage of the distraction of the coronavirus pandemic to advance its presence in the South China Sea.

The US announcement confirms that a confrontational posture toward China will continue regardless of who occupies the White House – as US tensions with China are rooted in unelected Western special interests and their desire to remove China as a competitor and potential usurper in what US policy papers themselves call “US primacy in Asia.”

US Primacy in Asia

One such paper titled, “Revising US Grand Strategy Toward China,”…

…published by the Council on Foreign Relations in 2015…

…not only spelled out the US desire to maintain that primacy in Asia vis-a-vis China…

… but also how it would use overlapping claims in the South China Sea as a pretext to justify….

…an expanded military presence in the region and as a common cause to pressure China’s neighbors into a united front against Beijing.

The paper would note specific US goals of militarizing Southeast Asia and integrating the region into a common US-led defense architecture against China.

It is a policy built upon the US “pivot to Asia” unveiled as early as 2011 and a policy that has been built upon in turn during the last four years under the Trump administration – demonstrating the continuity of agenda that permeates US foreign policy.

Turning Disputes into Conflict

Maritime disputes are common throughout the world – even in the West.

Just at the end of last year, the Guardian in an article titled, “Four navy ships to help protect fishing waters in case of no-deal Brexit,” would report:

Four Royal Navy patrol ships will be ready from 1 January to help the UK protect its fishing waters in the event of a no-deal Brexit, in a deployment evoking memories of the “cod wars” in the 1970s.

The 80-metre-long armed vessels would have the power to halt, inspect and impound all EU fishing boats operating within the UK’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which can extend 200 miles from shore.

In terms of such disputes, the waters of the South China Sea are no exception.

Not only does China have overlapping claims with the nations mentioned in the Reuters article – each nation listed has overlapping claims with one another.

This results in sporadic disputes between all of these nations – occasionally resulting in the seizing of vessels and the temporary detaining of boat crews.

However – these disputes are regularly settled through bilateral methods – including disputes between Southeast Asian nations and China itself.

A high-profile example of this unfolded in 2015 where a US-led legal case was brought to the Hague on behalf of the Philippines regarding Chinese claims over the South China Sea.

While the Hague ruled in the Philippines’ favor – Manila declined to use the ruling as leverage against Beijing or to seek Washington’s assistance – and instead pursued bilateral talks with Beijing directly on its own.

It is a case that demonstrates the desire by Washington to escalate what are ordinary maritime disputes, into a regional or even international crisis – not unlike the US’ strategy in the Middle East which it uses to justify its perpetual military occupation there.

More recently the issue of the South China Sea has come up at ASEAN Summits.

Al Jazeera in its article, “ASEAN summit: South China Sea, coronavirus pandemic cast a shadow,” would cite Malaysia’s take on the issue, noting:

“The South China Sea issue must be managed and resolved in a rational manner,” Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told the meeting. “We must all refrain from undertaking activities that would complicate matters in the South China Sea. We have to look at all avenues, all approaches to ensure our region is not complicated further by other powers.”

While the US poses a champion for Southeast Asia – it is clear that its efforts are unwelcome and viewed instead as a source of instability – not a path toward resolution.

It is almost certain that it is Washington the Malaysian foreign minister was referring to when he mentioned “other powers.”

Just as the US nominated itself as protector of European “energy security” in its bid to obstruct the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 pipeline – the US has inserted itself into relatively routine maritime disputes in the South China Sea – not to “stand with” the nations of the region, but to serve as an excuse to impose its “primacy” over them.

The nations of Southeast Asia count China among their largest trade partners, sources of tourism, and for several – a key military and infrastructure partner.

The prospect of a regionally destabilizing conflict originating over long-standing disputes in the South China Sea benefits no one actually located in Asia – and only serves the interests of those beyond Asia seeking to divide and reassert their rule over it.

Who are these people?

Who are these Taiwan Oligarchs that want to start World War III? Most are old men. The youngest is in their 60’s. Most are in their mid to late 70’s and much older. What are they trying to do, and why? Are they so fixated in what happened fifty years ago that they cannot see what is going on right now, and what a bright future lies ahead for them?

MM is providing their names right here for you all to see.

Zhang Congyuan			shoes
Tsai Hong-tu & Cheng-ta			finance
Daniel & Richard Tsai			finance
Wei Ing-chou, Ying-chiao, Yin-chun & Yin-heng			food
Jason & Richard Chang			semiconductors
Terry Gou			electronics
Tsai Eng-meng			food, beverages
Barry Lam			electronics
Pierre Chen			electronics
Lin Shu-hong			petrochemicals

Samuel Yin			retail
Andre Koo, Sr.			financial services
Tsai Ming-kai			semiconductors
Rudy Ma			finance
Morris Chang			semiconductors
Douglas Hsu			diversified
Tseng Cheng & Sing-ai			petrochemicals
Lin Ming-hsiung			supermarkets
K.C. Liu			manufacturing
Bruce Cheng			electronics

T.Y. Tsai			finance
Wang Chou-hsiong			footwear
Lin Chen-hai			real estate
Scott Lin			optical components
Chin Jong Hwa			auto parts
Chen Tei-fu			herbal products
Chao Teng-hsiung			real estate
William & Wilfred Wang			plastics
Shi Wen-long			plastics
Luo Ming-han & Tsai-jen Lo			tires

Xie Weitong			cobalt
Chen Yung-tai			real estate
Tony Chen			electronics
Thomas Wu			finance
Cho Jyh-jer			semiconductors
Archie Hwang			semiconductors
Yeh Kuo-I			manufacturing
Shirley Kao			food & beverage retailing
Eugene Wu			finance
Wang Ren-sheng			retail

Wu Chung-yi			manufacturing
Tsai Chi-jui			shoes
Allen Horng & Tien-Szu Hung			electronics
Wu Li-gann			electronic components
Tsao Ter-fung			food
Lee Tien-tsai			beverages
Quintin Wu			plastic
Yeh Min-yuen			cybersecurity
Huang Chung Sheng			recycling
Ho Kuang-chi			restaurants

Yeah. I wonder how much of a shame it would be for these people to suddenly stop provoking a war beacause of other issues that they need to deal with.

Conclusion to all of this

The governments do not want wars or conflict in the South China Sea, but the oligarchs do.

They are pushing, and pushing, and pushing for a war.

And “red lines” have been established.

For China to invade Taiwan.
For China to attack American cities.
For Taiwan to get involved with the United States.

And the wealthy oligarchy are pushing these limits.

And this is what is going on right now.

How successful will the oligarchy be? It’s a matter up to the government leadership.

A final word…

It’s propaganda that is pushing the world towards world war III. And this propaganda is very devious and very destructive.

The following is from the US defense department. It shows the nuclear delivery systems of American, China and Russia compared. Imagine that, the only nuclear delivery systems that America has according to the media are airborne!

From the US Department of Defense Nuclear Posture Review.

Do you believe it?

You shouldn’t. It’s false; it’s a lie.

But many do believe it. And that why there is an inherent danger in all these oligarchs pushing the world towards world war III.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my China Index here…

USA / China

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Some of the new “stuff” and developments that the Chinese are working on from a technology and gadget perspective.

China has been exploding with all sorts of new things, products and innovations. Most of which has yet to catch on in the West. There are many reasons for that, but the biggest one is regulation. People who possess new things; new products; new ideas, must get permission to use them. And in the West (especially inside America) this takes time.

For instance, in the 1990’s I was the Principal Engineer for a company that was leading the world in LED technology for automobiles. We were working on tail-lights, head-lights, and courtesy lights. We were pretty cutting edge for the time. And our products were great, and worked well.

The thing was that they could not be used in cars or trucks because the regulations that existed defined the characteristics of the lighting mechanism itself – an incandescent bulb, and not the end result; the ability to have a lighted area at a specific distance.

So in order to put our new, cheap and reliable system on the market we need to get around this “roadblock”. We had to petition to change the regulations to accept results-based measurement criteria as opposed to design-based measurement criteria. And when we started to do that, boy oh boy, did we “open up a can of worms”.

No one was happy.

It’s a long story and maybe I’ll get into it some other time. Anyways, LED technology did eventually enter the automobile market, and today it’s actually rare to see incandescent bulbs being used with the same kind of commonality that used to exist.

You must understand. Over the many years, the evil and corrupt, have corrupted business, technology and society and bent them to do THEIR bidding. And it was fine and well when no one noticed what was going on…

…and China has shown the way. Where big and small, everyone can live their lives and make, grow and innovate free of government interference’s. And while it is all possible that RAH! RAH! American exceptionalism will shine through…

…the fact is that it won’t.

Not until all those millions and millions of tiny little hands are out of your wallet. Sure, you can allocate 500 million dollars to a new hospital system. And you know what you will get? A bunch of reports “evaluating” the various studies on building the hospital system. You will not get a hospital.

All these little hands are put in place by decades of crime and corruption by the oligarchy. And they are not going away.

What am I talking about?

I’m talking about this…

Yeah. You can buy a complete box of 20 for under $1 at the local store.

Crime and corruption has ruining America. And because the government has done absolutely nothing about it, it will not matter what pity saying the leadership says, what speeches that they make, what money they allocate. Because nothing will actually get done.

Look at this example…

Video HERE.

Innovation is really more than just a trivial interest of mine. My non-MAJestic career spanned four decades of R&D, NPD and new emerging technologies all across the board.

Not only was I dealing with what ever the fuck I was dealing with in MAJestic, but also I held my “day job” which was involved in R&D, and NPD.

And today…

America is clueless. Absolutely clueless.

Stuff that America hasn’t a clue about.

Stuff that when America innovates that it uses Chinese interns, and Chinese immigrants on visas to design, make and develop. They work inside an American company. And it is the American company that gets the credit. Not the Chinese engineers and scientists.

Look at the winners of the World Mathematics Competition; it’s America!

Woo! Woo! America is number one! Yee-Hawwww!

But look closely…

Here we are going to talk about some of the “cool” things in China now.

I can have thousands of videos as the Chinese are “out of control” in innovation, engineering and design. Some of which is silly, some of which is awkward, and some of which is just… hum. But I picked some of the more interesting technologies in this post. I hope that you enjoy them.

This is a video dense article. Please allow time for the videos to load. For the most part, they are worth it.

5G AI Flooring

Lighted floors with movies and animation isn’t new in China. They have been around for at least a decade now and are semi-common in movie theaters, malls and KTV venues. But the latest designs are really very cool as they have motion sensors in the floor panels and 5G AI responses. The result is really interesting. As in this video…

Video can be accessed HERE.

As you move, the tiles light up and react to you.

I can see some great applications on dance floors and other venues of a similar nature.

Interesting applications for the tiles

Actually, these panels are really cool. They can sense a person on them, and near them as well as what you are doing. And as such they react appropriately. LOL!

Each panel has it’s own little micro-computer. And can work independently or as part of a cluster of times.

Video HERE.

Wall based AI

And, of course, what can go on the floor can also go on the wall. As this video clearly shows. Again, kind of nice. But the applications can be astounding. Think of advertising boards where you can touch the advertisement and interact it in language (any) or where it could link up with your cell phone.

Video HERE.

Drone jellyfish

Here’s a new type of drone. It’s based on jellyfish, and uses a bladder filled with a lighter than air gas…

Video HERE.

I can see cluster of jellyfish drones are working together in a swarm…

…silently, quietly and stealthily. All performing non-invasive tasks where no one takes notice.

Debit Card Technology

One way foreigners will use #CBDC in China during the 2022 Olympics will be with a CBDC card and automatic exchange machine!

Banks are going all-in on CBDC as it represents their return from payment irrelevance and are showing their latest tech at the China Digital Summit. 

Bank of China just revealed an automated exchange machine that looks like it will see use at the 2022 Olympics. 

“Overseas nationals with valid passports can put foreign banknotes into the machine, which will issue a physical e-CNY card based on the exchange rate. The card looks similar to the card-based digital yuan hardware wallet that was seen back in January.” 

“The prototype of the e-CNY card for foreigners also has a small screen that shows the available balance of the hardware wallet and can be used in shops that have an e-CNY payment terminal.” 

The same machine will also likely take foreign ATM cards according to patent filings I saw months back. 

I'm certain a bank sponsored e-CNY app will also be available for the Olympics as foreign cards are now accepted for tourists on #Alipay and #WeChat Pay. 

Fun to see the new developments! 

-The Block Crypto

In China, the debit cards show just how much money that you have in the account in real time…

Video HERE.

Add and delete money easily with no fees

And here’s another video showing how you can add or delete money to the account. Note that there are no fees to do this like in the USA. In fact, everything is fee-free and so easy and instantaneous.

Video HERE.

Recharging remotely

Of course, in China everyone uses electronic payments and banking. So it makes sense for you to recharge the card as necessary from your cell phone.

Video HERE.

Not that having a card is necessary. Most people no longer carry cards. They just carry their cell phone and that is it. But having a card is really handy for other purposes, like to give a gift to children, or to allocate a budget for the purchase of a particular item.

Next year most Westerners will experience this card during the Olympics.

Huawei Ring Innovation

”The U.S. embassy in Denmark threatening to cancel its subscription with a local newspaper if it used Chinese telecommunications equipment is an example of "coercive diplomacy," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Friday.”

“The Danish newspaper Politiken revealed on April 25 that it received an email from the U.S. diplomatic mission in the country asking it to verify whether it uses electronic devices, including routers, modems, and electronic communications equipment, from five Chinese companies, namely Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua and their subsidiaries and affiliates.” CGTN on Twitter.

-LinkedIN

Speaking of cell phones. Here’s a ring that you can use to control your cell phone with. Apparently it is an option on all the new Huawei phones.

Video HERE.

Huawei Automobile Innovation

Speaking of Huawei. You know Huawei hasn’t stopped with cell phones either. They have developed all sorts of really cool things for the automobiles. Not American automobiles, of course. For the Chinese automobiles. Like this…

Video HERE.

Granted many of the technologies are cool, but I don’t know how practical. Like this trunk opener. Maybe it’s all “Gee Wiz”, but do you really need it?

Video HERE.

Electronic window tinting

However, this next bit of technology is really cool. It’s self-tinting windows. Now available on Chinese cars. But, of course, it will takes years to be approved in America as you would have to run the SAE gauntlet as the various state agencies that regulate the innovation adaptation in automobiles. But in the rest of the world, it’s really cool.

Video HERE.

Swarm Drone Technology

Drones are “old news”. But what people don’t realize is that they are a Chinese technology with most of the commercial drones being made in China. And they are constantly innovating. The swarm drone technology is pretty much mature, and China has been using this for at least five years that I know of. What is really interesting is that the drones can create three dimensional images that your cellphone can scan in real time and link up with on the internet.

Video HERE.

Goopy Shit

Here’s some sticky goop for rodent, and crowd control. I’d hate to have to clean it up afterwards!

The direct video can be accessed HERE.

Fraken-camera

Here’s a Fraken-camera. It’s cool, and for a photography buff would probably be the “cat’s meow”, but gosh almighty it does seem like over kill, doesn’t it?

The video can be found HERE if it fails to load.

But you never see this in the American Media…

You NEVER read about Chinese innovation. So you assume that because you don’t see anything that China just is unable to innovate.

And with all the anti-China propaganda, this is what most American believe. Such as these quotes…

China doesn't innovate (central planning is incapable of innovation because creation/innovation requires market competitiveness and front-line payout/incentive).But central planning-based countries can cheat and steal. And that is what China does. 

-6 posted on 7/28/2019, 10:44:53 AM by RoosterRedux

Another sheeple on Free Republic chimes in…

Innovative my ass. Have yet to see anything innovative from the Chinese that they didn’t steal from us. That’s why they won’t fold to Trumps trade war. They know they would be screwed without their thievery.

-14 posted on 7/28/2019, 11:19:28 AM by Bommer

This is what Americans and the Western allied block think about China, but it is actually not true at all.

China can and does innovate. China has been the leader in innovation for a decade already. In fact, many people gloss over all the “tell tales” of innovation such as China lock on all the 5G patents, and it’s command of the patents on Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and manufacturing.

China today, is the leader in innovation.

You do not hear about innovation.

Instead all you hear about is how dangerous and evil China is.

And you know that this statement is true. The American media would rather die than say anything good about China. But what do you expect? America is a Military Empire, and it demands absolute servitude.

This too is very true.

In fact, this was so very obvious when you watched the absolutely arrogant Biden Administration layout it’s terms to a stunned Chinese audience in Alaska in April 2021.

Perhaps some clarity is needed WHY the American military Empire is so pissed that the Chinese isn’t backing down, and instead standing up to the Arrogant American bullies.

China knows what is at stake. It’s a merit-driven leadership that has read history, and know what to expect from America. So they have readied themselves against the huge dragon the snarls, spits fire, and eats up others in it’s never-ending appetite for gold, oil and riches.

China has prepared.

And America does not like it.

Not one bit.

I love this video. I posted it on another post, as this is a military unit stationed in XinJiang. But it’s an absolutely awesome video. And worth a look. China does not play.

I mean it.

China will use every method at their disposal to stop, and destroy radical CIA-backed terrorists from doing damage, and then they will go after their sources of funding, their training and their “safe” and “distant” handlers. As China grows, so does it’s muscle. If Turkey is involved, or if the United States is involved, you will see China establish covert and secretive units to take out the instigation elements (read: key people) in their homes in far away safe suburbs. It’s a new world.

Perhaps that is why America is starting to “shake in it’s boots”.

Let's see how safe AR Senator Tom Cotton, Neocon feels in his rural home in the mountains of Arkansas, or John Bolton, or Mike Pompeo. They might no longer be holding office, but they are still "pulling the strings and levers of power". China will put a complete end to all of this nonsense.

And it's war. Right?

This is what all these neocon jackasses have been saying. Read all their writings. Go ahead read the White House report when Trump left office, read the "Long Telegraph". They want to kill and remove the Chinese national leadership and replace them with Vichy people who will be puppets for their American global objectives. Of course China knows what the fuck is going on.

And it's fair game, eh?

You want to attack China. Well, it will fight back. With real, real claws. They have no fucking idea what kind of a "hornet's nest" they are kicking off the tree.

Watch the video.

This very cool video can be obtained directly HERE.

This is just a small picture of the vast array of defensive military that China has amassed to prevent any idiotic American dreams of another Syria, Yemen, or Iraq invasion for “democracy“, and to “rescue the Uighur’s“.

This entire video was filmed inside of Xinjiang.

Keep in mind that not only is the military presence large, but they are well-trained, run by merit, and utilize well maintained, state of the art equipment.

The idea that American troops can go into Xinjiang and “rescue the imprisoned Muslims from the concentration camps” is never going to happen.

Video can be obtained directly HERE.

But that’s exactly why the American propaganda machine is in full gear right now. To make it seem that China is one thing, that it really isn’t.

And we can see this is the comments on American Neocon websites…

“The PLA’s great weaknesses:”
I think you can add:

- Their recruitment pool has been halved by a government imposed one child policy that was maintained years after being understood as destructive by a government that can never admit mistakes.

- Their economy relying on resources (especially oil) that must be imported by sea along sea lanes that cross territory closer to and controlled by their enemies.

- Their economy relying on export markets made up of their major potential enemies.

- Their work force demographics currently transitioning from having a vast majority of highly experienced workers (those in the 45 - 65 age group) to having that group being retired.

-39 posted on 5/1/2021, 5:15:53 PM by conejo99

Obviously the commenters have never been to China, know nothing of China and repeat the neocon narratives as if they are factual.

And, you know, that’s why they are called “sheeple”. They have strong emotions about something that they have never experienced first-hand. Only from what they read. And so they respond out of extreme ignorance like this…

The PLA’s great weaknesses:

- They have no institutional knowledge on how to maintain force cohesion under fire that is HITTING.

- They cannot prevent strikes by a modern military against their homeland.

- Many of their new weapons systems are cartoon images of the real thing. (their stealth does not work)

- Their logistical infrastructure for manufacturing these new weapons is hopelessly corrupt.

- They STILL cannot manufacture a decent jet engine in numbers.

- You can hear their submarines leaving Hainan Island from Pearl Harbor.

How crushing it will be to them when they are handed their ass.

13 posted on 5/1/2021, 8:30:22 AM by Mariner

It used to be an operational assumption that the rigid, doctrinaire command structure of conscript Warsaw Pact and Chicom forces would result in disarray when key leaders were lost on the battlefield, and by contrast, US forces consisted of individual soldiers ready to step up and take initiative and assume leadership roles when situations demanded. From what I read and hear, I'm not sure those distinctions are as clear as they once were. 

-23 posted on 5/1/2021, 9:44:11 AM by Joe 6-pack

I have been reading these China is going to collapse anytime now stories for 20 years. They have only gotten more powerful.

- 31 posted on 5/1/2021, 10:24:34 AM by setter

They can't do logistics - they have never had to move lots of men and material under pressure. Something the US military is VERY good at (sometimes to our detriment). 

-32 posted on 5/1/2021, 10:25:42 AM by Psalm 73

I have to laugh at this one. “China cannot do logistics“.

It is always the same garbage narrative. China is an evil authoritarian regime and the people are huddled ignorant masses and they need rescuing from their evil overlords. Yada. Yada. Yada.

The Civil Police publicly beat and incarcerate people daily, and sometimes torture and kill - its no secret except from the West. Filming is rare because of the plainclothes cops are everywhere and will stop and destroy the camera/phone - as are the ubiquitous State cameras watching for people filming.

-42 posted on 5/1/2021, 7:56:47 PM by PIF

Again, the illusions that these people have are comically insane.

The only people on the forum that doesn’t agree with the neocon narrative are people who have actually been to China, or to Asia. And they say some sane things, but they are obviously in the minority.

No China did not ‘lie about’ their Covid totals, at least for the most case.

I am in Vietnam now. Some similarities between China, and Vietnam. And some BIG differences as well (like I don’t see Vietnam as a threat to America)

There have been a grand total of 35 deaths due to Covid.

Really.

Thirty five.

-48 posted on 5/1/2021, 11:15:04 PM by cba123

They are lone voices, often drowned out by the loud and the ignorant.

China does innovate. There are many technical devices that are made there that are not made here. Hell, you can't even find decent documentation for devices I use because no American companies neither design or make this stuff.

And of course there are some good comments.

America is the place where innovation is dying. How can we expect to produce engineers if there aren't jobs for them here?

26 posted on 7/28/2019, 10:17:45 PM by GingisK

He also responds to one of the sheeple’s comments…

..Have yet to see anything innovative from the Chinese that they didn’t steal from us...

Try to find something like an ESP32 that was made here first. Try to find a Bluetooth Low Energy transceiver on an XBee carrier that was made here first.

Those devices were both made in China. The ICs are made in the USA; however, there seems to be nobody here who will innovate products from them. Crap, people here can't get beyond Arduinos using peripherals that are created in China.

Few people understand how deep the damage to American innovation and engineering goes.

28 posted on 7/28/2019, 10:26:39 PM by GingisK

And this particular post addresses all the “Gung Ho” Sheeple that live off the illusion that the American media propaganda is correct…

... Few people understand how deep the damage to American innovation and engineering goes...
 
That's why I get so annoyed with the "Puff the Magic Tariff" brigades here on FR. Tariffs can work tactically if you have industries left to protect, otherwise they equate to putting expensive doors on an empty barn....while your horses are already grazing in the next county. A massive reduction in the Cost of Liberalism is the most important task to focus on.

30 posted on 7/29/2019, 4:45:36 AM by Mr. Jeeves

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A comparison of news articles from America and China

I have a premise that you can gauge the relative health of a nation by looking at what it is being promoted as “news” day in, and day out. While there are elements of information, promotion, propaganda, and scandal, over all by comparing the two sources you can get a general idea of the “social climate” in each individual nation. And from this, you can gauge it’s overall health and the direction of the society.

America

Here’s the “news” from Drudge on 29APR21…

Any articles about China are highlighted in Red.

China

Here’s the news from CGTN on 29APR21…

Chinese articles about America are shown in blue.

Comparisons

There are many comparisons that one can make.

For starters, in the articles about the “other” nation, it is very interesting.

American “news” warns about the bad things about China.
Chinese news reports on the given situations inside of America.

Most of the other news discusses the events that “buy papers”, or in other words, that are of interest to the readership.

Today, a huge segment of media has been taken over by video. While article about certain subjects continue to sell, a huge percentage of media rely on videos to get their messages across. In fact, all “news” organizations have video elements as part of their articles.

I’d post some from America, but almost all of the videos come from organizations that are banned in China because they are associated with American “alphabet” agencies.

Here’s some from China…

Videos.

In regards to videos, China is all about the latest technologies, the new space station and well, you get the idea…

This is very cool. 5G, AI controlled location and positioning overlay upon the arm…

Here, we have the new space station…

Here’s a pretty girl. She has this “fish shape” that is considered to be very beautiful within China.

Here’s another gal. This is another girl that is selling her light and easy pants. I like her. She has good appeal.

Of course the news about what is going on in India with the COVID-19 and the new “India Strain” is heartbreaking. Judging from the pictures it seems to be almost as bad as the “B” strain that was unleashed on China on CNY 2020. I wonder why you aren’t seeing these images in America?

And here’s one thing that you see pretty irregularly. It’s applications of technology that are in use. In this case we see a guy using a hand sensor to map out an old village that is being torn down for new homes.

And finally a comparison of cities for fun.

Conclusions

If left alone, with no major “fire-hose of disinformation” drenching everyone with the propaganda of the day, Most media are the same. They concentrate on the things that interest their readership.

Obviously, the hate-China narrative from 2016 through 2020 had an impact.

Chinese readership want to know about technology, good things, and what’s going on in the world. More or less presented in a “neutral” fashion and manner. American readership seems to want (whether they want it or not) things that are alarming, salacious, interesting, fearful or worrisome.

America…

The “news” from America tend to fall into these kinds of categories…

Salacious
Scientists say space SEX will be challenging...

Worrisome
India virus surge breaks health system... Developing...

Fearful
Your tech devices want to read your brain. What could go wrong? 

Alarming
Virus Alters Genes, Explaining Mystery Behind 'Long Haulers'...

And China…

While the news content and the presentation of it are quite different…

Exciting
China launches core module of space station 

Happy
Infrared cameras recorded the growth of a family-of-3 snow leopards 

New Possibilities
Xi: No one would be left behind on the way to poverty alleviation 

Curiosities
Watch traditional Tibetan costumes in 30 seconds

I believe that these trends are indicative of the way that the people think. As well as how the entire society thinks.

Perhaps instead of thinking about controlling people to do this, or to do that via fear (the American way), maybe you should give them hope instead. Provide hope, provide help and throw in a dash of compassion.

Its the Chinese way.

And a direction, that I must add, that President Biden is attempting to do in his most recent speech. It’s a nice change of pace from what most Americans have seen or been exposed to.

Maybe there is some hope for Western society after all.

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Law 12 from The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene; Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim (Full Text)

I do not advocate following this law, but you all should be made well aware of it. When you are outside of your friends and family you enter a zone of questionable trust. You do need to be somewhat guarded in your public dealings as not everyone is a friend. No matter what they say. The world is filled with all kinds of people, all involved with all kinds of agendas.

Please take note that there are others that prefer to use this technique. Be wary.

LAW 12

USE SELECTIVE HONESTY AND GENEROSITY TO DISARM YOUR VICTIM

JUDGMENT

One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift— a Trojan horse—will serve the same purpose.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

Sometime in 1926, a tall, dapperly dressed man paid a visit to Al Capone, the most feared gangster of his time.

Speaking with an elegant Continental accent, the man introduced himself as Count Victor Lustig.

He promised that if Capone gave him $50,000 he could double it.

Capone had more than enough funds to cover the “investment,” but he wasn’t in the habit of entrusting large sums to total strangers.

He looked the count over: Something about the man was different—his classy style, his manner—and so Capone decided to play along.

He counted out the bills personally and handed them to Lustig. “Okay, Count,” said Capone. “Double it in sixty days like you said.”

Lustig left with the money, put it in a safe-deposit box in Chicago, then headed to New York, where he had several other money- making schemes in progress.

The $50,000 remained in the bank box untouched.

Lustig made no effort to double it.

Two months later he returned to Chicago, took the money from the box, and paid Capone another visit.

He looked at the gangster’s stony- faced bodyguards, smiled apologetically, and said,

“Please accept my profound regrets, Mr. Capone. I’m sorry to report that the plan failed... I failed.”

Capone slowly stood up.

He glowered at Lustig, debating which part of the river to throw him in.

But the count reached into his coat pocket, withdrew the $50,000, and placed it on the desk.

“Here, sir, is your money, to the penny. Again, my sincere apologies. This is most embarrassing. Things didn’t work out the way I thought they would. I would have loved to have doubled your money for you and for myself—Lord knows I need it— but the plan just didn’t materialize.”

Capone sagged back into his chair, confused. “I know you’re a con man, Count,” said Capone.

“I knew it the moment you walked in here. I expected either one hundred thousand dollars or nothing. But this... getting my  money back ... well.”

“Again my apologies, Mr. Capone,” said Lustig, as he picked up his hat and began to leave. “

My God! You’re honest!” yelled Capone.

“If you’re on the spot, here’s five to help you along.”

He counted out five one-thousand-dollar bills out of the $50,000. The count seemed stunned, bowed deeply, mumbled his thanks, and left, taking the money.

The $5,000 was what Lustig had been after all along.

FRANCESCO BORRI. COURTIER CHARLATAN

Francesco Giuseppe Borri of Milan, whose death in 1695 fell just within the seventeenth century ... was a forerunner of that special type of charlatanical adventurer, the courtier or “cavalier” impostor.... 

His real period of glory began after he moved to Amsterdam. 

There he assumed the title of Medico Universale, maintained a great retinue, and drove about in a coach with six horses.... Patients streamed to him, and some invalids had themselves carried in sedan chairs all the way from Paris to his place in Amsterdam. 

Borri took no payment for his consultations: He distributed great sums among the poor and was never known to receive any money through the post or bills of exchange. 

As he continued to live with such splendor, nevertheless, it was presumed that he possessed the philosophers’ stone. 

Suddenly this benefactor disappeared from Amsterdam. Then it was discovered that he had taken with him money and diamonds that had been placed in his charge.







THE POWER OF THE CHARLATAN, GRETE DE FRANCESCO, 1939

Interpretation

Count Victor Lustig, a man who spoke several languages and prided himself on his refinement and culture, was one of the great con artists of modem times.

He was known for his audacity, his fearlessness, and, most important, his knowledge of human psychology.

He could size up a man in minutes, discovering his weaknesses, and he had radar for suckers.

Lustig knew that most men build up defenses against crooks and other troublemakers.

The con artist’s job is to bring those defenses down.

One sure way to do this is through an act of apparent sincerity and honesty.

Who will distrust a person literally caught in the act of being honest?

Lustig used selective honesty many times, but with Capone he went a step further.

No normal con man would have dared such a con; he would have chosen his suckers for their meekness, for that look about them that says they will take their medicine without complaint.

Con Capone and you would spend the rest of your life (whatever remained of it) afraid.

But Lustig understood that a man like Capone spends his life mistrusting others.

No one around him is honest or generous, and being so much in the company of wolves is exhausting, even depressing.

A man like Capone yearns to be the recipient of an honest or generous gesture, to feel that not everyone has an angle or is out to rob him.

Lustig’s act of selective honesty disarmed Capone because it was so unexpected.

A con artist loves conflicting emotions like these, since the person caught up in them is so easily distracted and deceived.

Do not shy away from practicing this law on the Capones of the world.

With a well-timed gesture of honesty or generosity, you will have the most brutal and cynical beast in the kingdom eating out of your hand.

Everything turns gray when I don’t have at least one mark on the horizon. Life then seems empty and depressing. I cannot understand honest men. They lead desperate lives, full of boredom.



Count Victor Lustig, 1890-1947

KEYS TO POWER

The essence of deception is distraction.

Distracting the people you want to deceive gives you the time and space to do something they won’t notice.

An act of kindness, generosity, or honesty is often the most powerful form of distraction because it disarms other people’s suspicions.

It turns them into children, eagerly lapping up any kind of affectionate gesture.

In ancient China this was called “giving before you take”—the giving makes it hard for the other person to notice the taking.

It is a device with infinite practical uses.

Brazenly taking something from someone is dangerous, even for the powerful.

The victim will plot revenge.

It is also dangerous simply to ask for what you need, no matter how politely:

Unless the other person sees some gain for themselves, they may come to resent your neediness.

Learn to give before you take.

It softens the ground, takes the bite out of a future request, or simply creates a distraction.

And the giving can take many forms: an actual gift, a generous act, a kind favor, an “honest” admission—whatever it takes.

Selective honesty is best employed on your first encounter with someone.

We are all creatures of habit, and our first impressions last a long time.

If someone believes you are honest at the start of your relationship it takes a lot to convince them otherwise.

This gives you room to maneuver.

…

Jay Gould, like Al Capone, was a man who distrusted everyone.

By the time he was thirty-three he was already a multimillionaire, mostly through deception and strong-arming.

In the late 1860s, Gould invested heavily in the Erie Railroad, then discovered that the market had been flooded with a vast amount of phony stock certificates for the company.

He stood to lose a fortune and to suffer a lot of embarrassment.

In the midst of this crisis, a man named Lord John Gordon-Gordon offered to help.

Gordon-Gordon, a Scottish lord, had apparently made a small fortune investing in railroads.

By hiring some handwriting experts Gordon-Gordon was able to prove to Gould that the culprits for the phony stock certificates were actually several top executives with the Erie Railroad itself.

Gould was grateful.

Gordon- Gordon then proposed that he and Gould join forces to buy up a controlling interest in Erie.

Gould agreed.

For a while the venture appeared to prosper.

The two men were now good friends, and every time Gordon-Gordon came to Gould asking for money to buy more stock, Gould gave it to him.

In 1873, however, Gordon-Gordon suddenly dumped all of his stock, making a fortune but drastically lowering the value of Gould’s own holdings.

Then he disappeared from sight.

Upon investigation, Gould found out that Gordon-Gordon’s real name was John Crowningsfield, and that he was the bastard son of a merchant seaman and a London barmaid.

There had been many clues before then that Gordon-Gordon was a con man, but his initial act of honesty and support had so blinded Gould that it took the loss of millions for him to see through the scheme.

A single act of honesty is often not enough.

What is required is a reputation for honesty, built on a series of acts—but these can be quite inconsequential.

Once this reputation is established, as with first impressions, it is hard to shake.

…

In ancient China, Duke Wu of Chêng decided it was time to take over the increasingly powerful kingdom of Hu.

Telling no one of his plan, he married his daughter to Hu’s ruler.

He then called a council and asked his ministers,

“I am considering a military campaign. Which country should we invade?”

As he had expected, one of his ministers replied, “Hu should be invaded.”

The duke seemed angry, and said,

“Hu is a sister state now. Why do you suggest invading her?”

He had the minister executed for his impolitic remark.

The ruler of Hu heard about this, and considering other tokens of Wu’s honesty and the marriage with his daughter, he took no precautions to defend himself from Cheng.

A few weeks later, Chêng forces swept through Hu and took the country, never to relinquish it.

…

Honesty is one of the best ways to disarm the wary, but it is not the only one.

Any kind of noble, apparently selfless act will serve.

Perhaps the best such act, though, is one of generosity.

Few people can resist a gift, even from the most hardened enemy, which is why it is often the perfect way to disarm people.

A gift brings out the child in us, instantly lowering our defenses.

Although we often view other people’s actions in the most cynical light, we rarely see the Machiavellian element of a gift, which quite often hides ulterior motives.

A gift is the perfect object in which to hide a deceptive move.

…

Over three thousand years ago the ancient Greeks traveled across the sea to recapture the beautiful Helen, stolen away from them by Paris, and to destroy Paris’s city, Troy.

The siege lasted ten years, many heroes died, yet neither side had come close to victory.

One day, the prophet Calchas assembled the Greeks.

Image: The Trojan Horse. Your guile is hidden inside a magnificent gift that proves irresistible to your opponent. The walls open. Once inside, wreak havoc.

“Stop battering away at these walls!” he told them. “You must find some other way, some ruse. We cannot take Troy by force alone. We must find some cunning stratagem.”

The cunning Greek leader Odysseus then came up with the idea of building a giant wooden horse, hiding soldiers inside it, then offering it to the Trojans as a gift.

Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, was disgusted with this idea; it was unmanly.

Better for thousands to die on the battlefield than to gain victory so deceitfully.

But the soldiers, faced with a choice between another ten years of manliness, honor, and death, on the one hand and a quick victory on the other, chose the horse, which was promptly built.

The trick was successful and Troy fell.

One gift did more for the Greek cause than ten years of fighting.

…

Selective kindness should also be part of your arsenal of deception.

For years the ancient Romans had besieged the city of the Faliscans, always unsuccessfully.

One day, however, when the Roman general Camillus was encamped outside the city, he suddenly saw a man leading some children toward him.

The man was a Faliscan teacher, and the children, it turned out, were the sons and daughters of the noblest and wealthiest citizens of the town.

On the pretense of taking these children out for a walk, he had led them straight to the Romans, offering them as hostages in hopes of ingratiating himself with Camillus, the city’s enemy.

Camillus did not take the children hostage.

He stripped the teacher, tied his hands behind his back, gave each child a rod, and let them whip him all the way back to the city.

The gesture had an immediate effect on the Faliscans.

Had Camillus used the children as hostages, some in the city would have voted to surrender.

And even if the Faliscans had gone on fighting, their resistance would have been halfhearted.

Camillus’s refusal to take advantage of the situation broke down the Faliscans’ resistance, and they surrendered.

The general had calculated correctly.

And in any case he had had nothing to lose: He knew that the hostage ploy would not have ended the war, at least not right away.

By turning the situation around, he earned his enemy’s trust and respect, disarming them.

Selective kindness will often break down even the most stubborn foe: Aiming right for the heart, it corrodes the will to fight back.

Remember: By playing on people’s emotions, calculated acts of kindness can turn a Capone into a gullible child. As with any emotional approach, the tactic must be practiced with caution: If people see through it, their disappointed feelings of gratitude and warmth will become the most violent hatred and distrust. Unless you can make the gesture seem sincere and heartfelt, do not play with fire.

Authority:

When Duke Hsien of Chin was about to raid Yü, he presented to them a jade and a team of horses. When Earl Chih was about to raid Ch’ou- yu, he presented to them grand chariots. Hence the saying: “When you are about to take, you should give.” 

(Han-fei-tzu, Chinese philosopher, third century B.C.)

REVERSAL

When you have a history of deceit behind you, no amount of honesty, generosity, or kindness will fool people.

In fact it will only call attention to itself.

Once people have come to see you as deceitful, to act honest all of a sudden is simply suspicious.

In these cases it is better to play the rogue.

…

Count Lustig, pulling the biggest con of his career, was about to sell the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting industrialist who believed the government was auctioning it off for scrap metal.

The industrialist was prepared to hand over a huge sum of money to Lustig, who had successfully impersonated a government official.

At the last minute, however, the mark was suspicious.

Something about Lustig bothered him.

At the meeting in which he was to hand over the money, Lustig sensed his sudden distrust.

Leaning over to the industrialist, Lustig explained, in a low whisper, how low his salary was, how difficult his finances were, on and on.

After a few minutes of this, the industrialist realized that Lustig was asking for a bribe.

For the first time he relaxed.

Now he knew he could trust Lustig: Since all government officials were dishonest, Lustig had to be real.

The man forked over the money.

By acting dishonest, Lustig seemed the real McCoy.

In this case selective honesty would have had the opposite effect.

…

As the French diplomat Talleyrand grew older, his reputation as a master liar and deceiver spread.

At the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), he would spin fabulous stories and make impossible remarks to people who knew he had to be lying.

His dishonesty had no purpose except to cloak the moments when he really was deceiving them.

One day, for example, among friends, Talleyrand said with apparent sincerity, “In business one ought to show one’s hand.”

No one who heard him could believe their ears: A man who never once in his life had shown his cards was telling other people to show theirs.

Tactics like this made it impossible to distinguish Talleyrand’s real deceptions from his fake ones.

By embracing his reputation for dishonesty, he preserved his ability to deceive.

Nothing in the realm of power is set in stone.

Overt deceptiveness will sometimes cover your tracks, even making you admired for the honesty of your dishonesty.

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Law 5 of the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene; So much depends on reputation, guard it with your life (Full Text)

The photo above reminds me so very much of the old Doc Savage paperbacks that I used to read when I was in Middle School. This is a promo image of Dwayne Johnson in one of his Jumanji movies.

Dwayne is an interesting person, but the thing is that few people hate him. He’s a kind soul, or at least tries to portray that image. And without that image, he’s just another smuck that went from weight-lifting to movies.

It’s difficult to keep your reputation. Certainly no one knows that better than myself who now has the ugly reputation of being a nasty filthy child predator now living inside the filthy evil communist Hell-hole.

And that’s the way it works, you know.

To destroy a person completely, you need only destroy his reputation so that no one wants to associate with him, employ him, listen to him, or be friends with him. Then alone, shunned, starving, and destitute he can die inside the hole you made for him to crawl into.

This is a great chapter by Robert Greene. Read it and learn from it.

LAW 5

SO MUCH DEPENDS ON REPUTATION—GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIFE

JUDGMENT

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I

During China’s War of the Three Kingdoms (A.D. 207-265), the great general Chuko Liang, leading the forces of the Shu Kingdom, dispatched his vast army to a distant camp while he rested in a small town with a handful of soldiers.

Suddenly sentinels hurried in with the alarming news that an enemy force of over 150,000 troops under Sima Yi was approaching.

With only a hundred men to defend him, Chuko Liang’s situation was hopeless.

The enemy would finally capture this renowned leader.

Without lamenting his fate, or wasting time trying to figure out how he had been caught, Liang ordered his troops to take down their flags, throw open the city gates, and hide.

He himself then took a seat on the most visible part of the city’s wall, wearing a Taoist robe.

He lit some incense, strummed his lute, and began to chant.

Minutes later he could see the vast enemy army approaching, an endless phalanx of soldiers.

Pretending not to notice them, he continued to sing and play the lute.

Soon the army stood at the town gates.

At its head was Sima Yi, who instantly recognized the man on the wall.

Even so, as his soldiers itched to enter the unguarded town through its open gates, Sima Yi hesitated, held them back, and studied Liang on the wall.

Then, he ordered an immediate and speedy retreat.

THE ANIMALS STRICKEN WITH THE PLAGUE

A frightful epidemic sent To earth by Heaven intent to vent Its fury on a sinful world, to call It by its rightful name, the pestilence, That Acheron- filling vial of virulence Had fallen on every animal.

Not all were dead, but all lay near to dying, And none was any longer trying To find new fuel to feed life’s flickering fires.

No foods excited their desires; No more did wolves and foxes rove In search of harmless, helpless prey; And dove would not consort with dove, For love and joy had flown away.

The Lion assumed the chair to say: “Dear friends, I doubt not it’s for heaven’s high ends That on us sinners woe must fall. Let him of us who’s sinned the most Fall victim to the avenging heavenly host, And may he win salvation for us all; For history teaches us that in these crises We must make sacrifices. Undeceived and stern-eyed, let’s inspect Our conscience. As I recollect, To put my greedy appetite to sleep, I’ve banqueted on many a sheep Who’d injured me in no respect, And even in my time been known to try Shepherd pie. If need be, then. I’ll die. Yet I suspect That others also ought to own their sins. It’s only fair that all should do their best To single out the guiltiest.”

“Sire, you’re too good a king,“the Fox begins; ”Such scruples are too delicate. My word, To eat sheep, that profane and vulgar herd. That’s sin? Nay. Sire, enough for such a crew To be devoured by such as you; While of the shepherds we may say That they deserved the worst they got. Theirs being the lot that over us beasts plot A flimsy dream-begotten sway.”

Thus spake the Fox, and toady cheers rose high, While none dared cast too cold an eye On Tiger‘s, Bear’s, and other eminences Most unpardonable offences.

Each, of never mind what currish breed, Was really a saint, they all agreed.

Then came the Ass, to say: ”I do recall How once I crossed an abbey-mead Where hunger, grass in plenty, and withal, I have no doubt, some imp of greed. Assailed me, and I shaved a tongue’s-breadth wide Where frankly I’d no right to any grass.”

All forthwith fell full cry upon the Ass: A Wolf of some book-learning testified That that curst beast must suffer their despite, That gallskinned author of their piteous plight.

They judged him fit for nought but gallows-bait: How vile, another’s grass to sequestrate! His death alone could expiate A crime so heinous, as full well he learns. The court, as you’re of great or poor estate, Will paint you either white or black by turns.

THE BEST FABLES OF LA FONTAINE, JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, 1621- 1695

Interpretation

Chuko Liang was commonly known as the “Sleeping Dragon.”

His exploits in the War of the Three Kingdoms were legendary.

Once a man claiming to be a disaffected enemy lieutenant came to his camp, offering help and information. Liang instantly recognized the situation as a setup; this man was a false deserter, and should be beheaded.

At the last minute, though, as the ax was about to fall, Liang stopped the execution and offered to spare the man’s life if he agreed to become a double agent.

Grateful and terrified, the man agreed, and began supplying false information to the enemy. Liang won battle after battle.

On another occasion Liang stole a military seal and created false documents dispatching his enemy’s troops to distant locations.

Once the troops had dispersed, he was able to capture three cities, so that he controlled an entire corridor of the enemy’s kingdom.

He also once tricked the enemy into believing one of its best generals was a traitor, forcing the man to escape and join forces with Liang.

The Sleeping Dragon carefully cultivated his reputation of being the cleverest man in China, one who always had a trick up his sleeve.

As powerful as any weapon, this reputation struck fear into his enemy.

Sima Yi had fought against Chuko Liang dozens of times and knew him well.

When he came on the empty city, with Liang praying on the wall, he was stunned.

The Taoist robes, the chanting, the incense—this had to be a game of intimidation.

The man was obviously taunting him, daring him to walk into a trap.

The game was so obvious that for one moment it crossed Yi’s mind that Liang actually was alone, and desperate.

But so great was his fear of Liang that he dared not risk finding out.

Such is the power of reputation.

It can put a vast army on the defensive, even force them into retreat, without a single arrow being fired.

For, as Cicero says, even those who argue against fame still want the books they write against it to bear their name in the title and hope to become famous for despising it. Everything else is subject to barter: we will let our friends have our goods and our lives if need be; but a case of sharing our fame and making someone else the gift of our reputation is hardly to be found. 

Montaigne, 1533-1592

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II

In 1841 the young P. T. Barnum, trying to establish his reputation as America’s premier showman, decided to purchase the American Museum in Manhattan and turn it into a collection of curiosities that would secure his fame.

The problem was that he had no money.

The museum’s asking price was $15,000, but Barnum was able to put together a proposal that appealed to the institution’s owners even though it replaced cash up front with dozens of guarantees and references.

The owners came to a verbal agreement with Barnum, but at the last minute, the principal partner changed his mind, and the museum and its collection were sold to the directors of Peale’s Museum.

Barnum was infuriated, but the partner explained that business was business —the museum had been sold to Peale’s because Peale’s had a reputation and Barnum had none.

Barnum immediately decided that if he had no reputation to bank on, his only recourse was to ruin the reputation of Peale’s.

Accordingly he launched a letter-writing campaign in the newspapers, calling the owners a bunch of “broken-down bank directors” who had no idea how to run a museum or entertain people.

He warned the public against buying Peale’s stock, since the business’s purchase of another museum would invariably spread its resources thin.

The campaign was effective, the stock plummeted, and with no more confidence in Peale’s track record and reputation, the owners of the American Museum reneged on their deal and sold the whole thing to Barnum.

It took years for Peale’s to recover, and they never forgot what Barnum had done.

Mr. Peale himself decided to attack Barnum by building a reputation for “high-brow entertainment,” promoting his museum’s programs as more scientific than those of his vulgar competitor.

Mesmerism (hypnotism) was one of Peale’s “scientific” attractions, and for a while it drew big crowds and was quite successful. To fight back, Barnum decided to attack Peale’s reputation yet again.

Barnum organized a rival mesmeric performance in which he himself apparently put a little girl into a trance.

Once she seemed to have fallen deeply under, he tried to hypnotize members of the audience—but no matter how hard he tried, none of the spectators fell under his spell, and many of them began to laugh.

A frustrated Barnum finally announced that to prove the little girl’s trance was real, he would cut off one of her fingers without her noticing.

But as he sharpened the knife, the little girl’s eyes popped open and she ran away, to the audience’s delight.

He repeated this and other parodies for several weeks.

Soon no one could take Peale’s show seriously, and attendance went way down.

Within a few weeks, the show closed.

Over the next few years Barnum established a reputation for audacity and consummate showmanship that lasted his whole life.

Peale’s reputation, on the other hand, never recovered.

Interpretation

Barnum used two different tactics to ruin Peale’s reputation.

The first was simple: He sowed doubts about the museum’s stability and solvency. Doubt is a powerful weapon: Once you let it out of the bag with insidious rumors, your opponents are in a horrible dilemma. On the one hand they can deny the rumors, even prove that you have slandered them. But a layer of suspicion will remain: Why are they defending themselves so desperately?

Maybe the rumor has some truth to it? If, on the other hand, they take the high road and ignore you, the doubts, unrefuted, will be even stronger. If done correctly, the sowing of rumors can so infuriate and unsettle your rivals that in defending themselves they will make numerous mistakes. This is the perfect weapon for those who have no reputation of their own to work from.

Once Barnum did have a reputation of his own, he used the second, gentler tactic, the fake hypnotism demonstration: He ridiculed his rivals’ reputation.

This too was extremely successful.

Once you have a solid base of respect, ridiculing your opponent both puts him on the defensive and draws more attention to you, enhancing your own reputation.

Outright slander and insult are too strong at this point; they are ugly, and may hurt you more than help you.

But gentle barbs and mockery suggest that you have a strong enough sense of your own worth to enjoy a good laugh at your rival’s expense.

A humorous front can make you out as a harmless entertainer while poking holes in the reputation of your rival.

It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than with a bad reputation.

Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900

KEYS TO POWER

The people around us, even our closest friends, will always to some extent remain mysterious and unfathomable.

Their characters have secret recesses that they never reveal.

The unknowableness of other people could prove disturbing if we thought about it long enough, since it would make it impossible for us really to judge other people.

So we prefer to ignore this fact, and to judge people on their appearances, on what is most visible to our eyes—clothes, gestures, words, actions. In the social realm, appearances are the barometer of almost all of our judgments, and you must never be mis led into believing otherwise.

One false slip, one awkward or sudden change in your appearance, can prove disastrous.

This is the reason for the supreme importance of making and maintaining a reputation that is of your own creation.

That reputation will protect you in the dangerous game of appearances, distracting the probing eyes of others from knowing what you are really like, and giving you a degree of control over how the world judges you—a powerful position to be in.

Reputation has a power like magic: With one stroke of its wand, it can double your strength.

It can also send people scurrying away from you.

Whether the exact same deeds appear brilliant or dreadful can depend entirely on the reputation of the doer.

In the ancient Chinese court of the Wei kingdom there was a man named Mi Tzu-hsia who had a reputation for supreme civility and graciousness.

He became the ruler’s favorite.

It was a law in Wei that “whoever rides secretly in the ruler’s coach shall have his feet cut off,” but when Mi Tzu-hsia’s mother fell ill, he used the royal coach to visit her, pretending that the ruler had given him permission.

When the ruler found out, he said, “How dutiful is Mi Tzu-hsia!

For his mother’s sake he even forgot that he was committing a crime making him liable to lose his feet!”

Another time the two of them took a stroll in an orchard.

Mi Tzu-hsia began eating a peach that he could not finish, and he gave the ruler the other half to eat.

The ruler remarked, “You love me so much that you would even forget your own saliva taste and let me eat the rest of the peach!”

Later, however, envious fellow courtiers, spreading word that Mi Tzu- hsia was actually devious and arrogant, succeeded in damaging his reputation; the ruler came to see his actions in a new light.

“This fellow once rode in my coach under pretense of my order,” he told the courtiers angrily, “and another time he gave me a half-eaten peach.”

For the same actions that had charmed the ruler when he was the favorite, Mi Tzu-hsia now had to suffer the penalties.

The fate of his feet depended solely on the strength of his reputation.

In the beginning, you must work to establish a reputation for one outstanding quality, whether generosity or honesty or cunning.

This quality sets you apart and gets other people to talk about you.

You then make your reputation known to as many people as possible (subtly, though; take care to build slowly, and with a firm foundation), and watch as it spreads like wildfire.

A solid reputation increases your presence and exaggerates your strengths without your having to spend much energy.

It can also create an aura around you that will instill respect, even fear. In the fighting in the North African desert during World War II, the German general Erwin Rommel had a reputation for cunning and for deceptive maneuvering that struck terror into everyone who faced him.

Even when his forces were depleted, and when British tanks outnumbered his by five to one, entire cities would be evacuated at the news of his approach.

As they say, your reputation inevitably precedes you, and if it inspires respect, a lot of your work is done for you before you arrive on the scene, or utter a single word.

Your success seems destined by your past triumphs.

Much of the success of Henry Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy rested on his reputation for ironing out differences; no one wanted to be seen as so unreasonable that Kissinger could not sway him.

A peace treaty seemed a fait accompli as soon as Kissinger’s name became involved in the negotiations.

Make your reputation simple and base it on one sterling quality.

This single quality—efficiency, say, or seductiveness—becomes a kind of calling card that announces your presence and places others under a spell.

A reputation for honesty will allow you to practice all manner of deception.

Casanova used his reputation as a great seducer to pave the way for his future conquests; women who had heard of his powers became immensely curious, and wanted to discover for themselves what had made him so romantically successful.

Perhaps you have already stained your reputation, so that you are prevented from establishing a new one.

In such cases it is wise to associate with someone whose image counteracts your own, using their good name to whitewash and elevate yours.

It is hard, for example, to erase a reputation for dishonesty by yourself; but a paragon of honesty can help. When P. T. Barnum wanted to clean up a reputation for promoting vulgar entertainment, he brought the singer Jenny Lind over from Europe.

She had a stellar, high-class reputation, and the American tour Barnum sponsored for her greatly enhanced his own image.

Similarly the great robber barons of nineteenth-century America were long unable to rid themselves of a reputation for cruelty and mean-spiritedness.

Only when they began collecting art, so that the names of Morgan and Frick became permanently associated with those of da Vinci and Rembrandt, were they able to soften their unpleasant image.

Reputation is a treasure to be carefully collected and hoarded.

Especially when you are first establishing it, you must protect it strictly, anticipating all attacks on it.

Once it is solid, do not let yourself get angry or defensive at the slanderous comments of your enemies—that reveals insecurity, not confidence in your reputation.

Take the high road instead, and never appear desperate in your self-defense.

On the other hand, an attack on another man’s reputation is a potent weapon, particularly when you have less power than he does.

He has much more to lose in such a battle, and your own thus- far-small reputation gives him a small target when he tries to return your fire.

Barnum used such campaigns to great effect in his early career. But this tactic must be practiced with skill; you must not seem to engage in petty vengeance.

If you do not break your enemy’s reputation cleverly, you will inadvertently ruin your own.

Thomas Edison, considered the inventor who harnessed electricity, believed that a workable system would have to be based on direct current (DC).

When the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla appeared to have succeeded in creating a system based on alternating current (AC), Edison was furious.

He determined to ruin Tesla’s reputation, by making the public believe that the AC system was inherently unsafe, and Tesla irresponsible in promoting it.

To this end he captured all kinds of household pets and electrocuted them to death with an AC current.

When this wasn’t enough, in 1890 he got New York State prison authorities to organize the world’s first execution by electrocution, using an AC current.

But Edison’s electrocution experiments had all been with small creatures; the charge was too weak, and the man was only half killed.

In perhaps the country’s cruelest state-authorized execution, the procedure had to be repeated. It was an awful spectacle.

Although, in the long run, it is Edison’s name that has survived, at the time his campaign damaged his own reputation more than Tesla’s.

He backed off.

The lesson is simple—never go too far in attacks like these, for that will draw more attention to your own vengefulness than to the person you are slandering.

When your own reputation is solid, use subtler tactics, such as satire and ridicule, to weaken your opponent while making you out as a charming rogue.

The mighty lion toys with the mouse that crosses his path—any other reaction would mar his fearsome reputation.

Image:

A Mine Full of Diamonds and Rubies.

You dug for it, you found it, and your wealth is now assured.

Guard it with your life. Robbers and thieves will appear from all sides. Never take your wealth

for granted, and constantly renew it—time will diminish the jewels’ luster,

and bury them from sight.

Authority:

Therefore I should wish our courtier to bolster up his inherent worth with skill and cunning, and ensure that whenever he has to go where he is a stranger, he is preceded by a good reputation.... For the fame which appears to rest on the opinions of many fosters a certain unshakable belief in a man’s worth which is then easily strengthened in minds already thus disposed and prepared. 

(Baldassare Castiglione, 1478-1529)

REVERSAL

There is no possible Reversal.

Reputation is critical; there are no exceptions to this law.

Perhaps, not caring what others think of you, you gain a reputation for insolence and arrogance, but that can be a valuable image in itself—Oscar Wilde used it to great advantage.

Since we must live in society and must depend on the opinions of others, there is nothing to be gained by neglecting your reputation.

By not caring how you are perceived, you let others decide this for you.

Be the master of your fate, and also of your reputation.

Conclusion

Let Dwayne Johnson tell you himself.

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The litmus test to determine if you are a “Sheeple”. Definition and criteria for membership.

"Trying to wade through the muck that passes as news today IS a fools errand."

A “sheeple” is a person who has very strong, visceral, and vibrant emotions about a subject that they have NO FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE about. That is how you can define what a “sheeple” is. It is an easily manipulated person that follows various “shepherds”, and listens to their “pied piper” song and dance. Even to their deaths.

In American, and conservative media you can often hear the term “sheeple” bantered about commonly. It tends to be a disparaging title directed towards others who seemingly, and mindlessly repeat narratives without thinking.

In conservative media, “sheeple” tends to represent everyone else outside of the “conservative news media”. It’s a rather catch-all phrase that is used to describe anyone else who believe anything else other than the conservative narrative.
In liberal media, while the term “sheeple” is used, the more common phrase is to “avoid the electric kool aide“, which refers to both the Reverend Jim Jones group suicide (by drinking poisoned Kool Aide punch), and the 1960’s counter-culture practice of lacing kool aide with LSD.

Combined, it features the words “sheep” and “people” to describe a human that maintains herd-like concepts of self.

As interesting as this is, the fact is that people of all political alignments qualify as sheeple. It’s not just “the other guy”. Probably you too, dear MM reader. It’s so very easy to get snookered in; sucked in a heavily promoted lie. (I’ve been sucked in. Many times in fact. So do not get too hot and bothered about it. It happens.)

"Simply put, the collective West--led by the America and the Anglosphere--resembles a civilization of paranoid schizophrenics, whose delusional ravings will drive them towards world war--total war."

Moreover, the method to determine whether or not you are a sheeple is very simple.

Here is the litmus test;

A "sheeple" is a person who has very strong, visceral, and vibrant  emotions about a subject that they have NO FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE about.

For instance…

Buying a used car

You buy a used car. After two months the motor dies, the transmission fails, and the bumper falls off. You get angry about this. And when you go to talk to the man who sold you the car, and he refuses to talk to you. Instead he responds that "all sales are final".

You get angry at him. Your anger is real, and full of anger and emotion.

Not a sheeple. Just a man who is angry at a man who swindled him.

Eating at a restaurant

You go into a restaurant, and order the "blue plate special". After you pay for the meal and leave, you notice that your stomach starts to churn. By the time you get home, you are vomiting uncontrollably. You spend the entire night on the toilet, and the next day your spouse has to cart you off to the hospital to have your stomach pumped.

You are angry at the restaurant, and vow never to eat there again.

Not a sheeple. Just a man who is angry at a restaurant that poisoned him.

Dating a person

You go on a date and that person is rude, obnoxious, and has terrible body odor. They refuse to pay for the meal, and makes a big "scene" inside the restaurant, and then afterwards demands sexual favors when you are clearly repulsed by them.

You are angry at this person and vow never to repeat this mistake ever again. From this moment forward, you never date anyone who even remotely reminds you of this "date from Hell".

Not a sheeple. Just a person who had a bad experience on a data and vows never to repeat that mistake ever again.

Reading about Slavery

You read an article about forced sexual slavery in a particular nation. Then two articles later, you read about how they are injecting malware into your computer. The next day the newspapers describe how they have caused the deaths of thousands of innocent cats and dogs, and how their children are trained to lie, cheat, and trip people.

You are angry, and whenever you calm down, there is yet another article that keeps your anger alive and fresh.

You are a sheeple. You are angry about something you have read, NOT at what you experienced.

Unless you have experienced the events that generate your anger personally, you are being manipulated by those that own the media companies that you use.

Summary

The 0.1% of the population that own 99.999% of the media use it to manipulate.

The manipulations turn normal thinking humans into creatures that maintain herd behaviors.

There are many, many variations on their techniques and on the subjects so utilized. The techniques are honed after decades of utility, and supplanted by artificial intelligence for improved efficiency.

No one is immune from these manipulations.

Most people are unaware that they are being expertly manipulated.

The most dangerous and effective manipulations are those that we WANT to BELIEVE.

The only way to guard from these manipulations is to perform a self check…

Self Check

Have you lived in the nation that you are angry about? (Yes / No)
Have you personally met a person that described to you a situation (that they experienced) that you are specifically angry about? (Yes/No)
Have you shared a meal, been to a hospital, or dated a person associated with the issue you are angry about? (Yes / No)
Is the beliefs that you hold about an issue from personal experience, or from something you read, or watched on the internet? (Yes / No)

Be very careful in what you read about.

The world is filled with evil, and powerful people that take absolute pleasure in manipulating people for their own gain.

Examples

Let’s take a look at an article found on “Free Republic”.

Forced COVID-19 Vaccination Widespread in China, Sources Say
4/4/2021, 3:16:34 AM · by SeekAndFind · 10 replies
Epoch Times ^ | 04/03/2021 | Frank Yue

Mounting evidence shows the Chinese Communist Party has been imposing vaccinations upon the public, despite concerns over efficacy and health implications. A female netizen named Duan Da Dan posted in Chinese on social media site Weibo on March 31: “I’m really annoyed that my employer forces me to receive jabs even if I’m planning to get pregnant. [They] never consider the possible impact on the fetus.” Another internet user claimed in Chinese-language Weibo post on March 30 that she had contracted hives twice, meaning she suffers from allergies. However, she was upset that her employer was pressuring her every day...

Of course, most people reading this article would believe it. As they have nothing to compare it against.

“forced vaccinations are widespread”
“sources say”
“posted on a social media site”
“upset her employer is pressuring her every day”

Damn those evil Chinese!

Further, if they are inclined to hold an anti-VAX stance, they would be infuriated that the evil Chinese would be so aggressive about forcing people to get vaccines.

Um. Yeah. Sure. What ever you say.

Let’s do a sanity check.

I’m here in China.

And the vaccinations take place inside the malls.

So, here’s what the vaccinations in China actually look like. It looks like a normal, everyday visit to the mall. This is a mall next to my house. The vaccinations are being conducted on the fifth floor, right off the elevator. It’s free for everyone (Chinese residents that show their ID card, and non-residents that have a residency stamp in their passport.) between the ages of 18 and 60.

I suppose that exceptions can be made if you are older or younger, but you will need to consult with the doctor first.

Here is a short video I took of the line on the fifth floor (from the fourth floor) for the vaccination process. You can see the people clearly lined up, calm. Patient. Unhurried.

You can also see the instruction cards (those three white rectangular marquis). On the other side would be the QR code that would automatically link your ID with the hospital and then log in your vaccination with your social scoring. ,You can see the registration counter and the injection area off to the right.

Do you see evil Chicom police forcing innocent people to get injections? Do you see people freaking out and “demanding their rights”? Do you see the horrors and anger that is so characteristic of how the Chinese are portrayed in American media?

Doe it resemble anything, at all, like the images you get in your “mind’s eye” regarding what China is like?

Are there crowds of hungry, starving, angry people? Is it dirty, filthy and disease ridden? Is the air so full of smog and filth? What about the infrastructure? Is it falling down? What about the police and military presence? Do you see police dogs, anyone with an AK-47?

I wish that I would have gotten a picture of one of those cute roving robots that are all over the place. But that’s the luck of the draw don’t you know. They respond back to you. If you go up to them you can see what they see on the video and they will ask you if you need anything. Then they will answer using your actual name! I guess the face recognition and the AI enables them to converse to you as a person.

And here’s another…

And for a strong comparison, let’s compare what my FIRST HAND, up front and personal video with what is written inside the American media…

"Chinese Communist Party has been imposing vaccinations upon the public, despite concerns over efficacy and health implications. "

Does the video, in any way what so ever, reflect what was written in America? Does the videos show people being coerced, being forced, or being made to do anything that they don’t want to do?

Can't see the videos? Then you can download a ZIP file of them HERE.

Conclusion

Most Americans are sheeple whether they like the title or not.

If you find yourself getting upset with something that you cannot verify with your own two eyes, or touch with your hands, or smell with your nose, then you are being manipulated.

If you believe those manipulations, then you are a sheeple.

Dangers of such manipulations

You might end up believing…

The President “has your back” if you decide to riot in Congress.
The United States is capable of fighting and winning World War III.
Using a 3G cell phone will not only give you brain cancer, but it will cause gasoline pumps to explode.
Social Security deductions from your pay are put in a “lock box”.
Unless you update your computer software with the new government approved version, the Y2K will rampage through your house and kill you.
Pizza is a vegetable. Coital silver supplements will give you a healthier life. And most vitamins are fake.
Eating a hamburger will turn you into a drooling moron though mad cow disease.
Using an e-cigarette will cause you to die of vaping.
Angry Zombie Killer Wasps (imported from China) will kill you.
Florine in your water is a way of altering your precious bodily fluids.
Senator Sessions is going to throw Hillary Clinton in jail, he has a plan with his enormous mind that is playing 54-d strategy.
The economy is roaring. Unemployment is way down, and America leads the world in satisfaction.

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Law 7 of The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene; Get others to do the work for you, you always take the credit (Full Text)

Here is another law from the 48 laws of power by Robert Greene. This is Law 7. Get others to do the work for you. We can see how this law is practiced throughout the United States. Steve Jobs. Bill Gates. Jeff Bezos. Eric Schmidt. Donald Trump. Can you name their “right hand men”? I’ll bet you cannot. For they are the figurehead and they get all the credit for the system that they are part of.

LAW 7

GET OTHERS TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU, BUT ALWAYS TAKE THE CREDIT

JUDGMENT

TRANSGRESSION AND OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

IIII TORTOISE THE LELP AND THE HIPPOPOI

One day the tortoise met the elephant, who trumpeted, “Out of my way, you weakling—I might step on you!” The tortoise was not afraid and stayed where he was, so the elephant stepped on him, but could not crush him. “Do not boast, Mr. Elephant, I am as strong as you are!” said the tortoise, but the elephant just laughed. So the tortoise asked him to come to his hill the next morning. The next day, before sunrise, the tortoise ran down the hill to the river, where he met the hippopotamus, who was just on his way back into the water after his nocturnal feeding. “Mr Hippo! Shall we have a tug-of-war? I bet I’m as strong as you are!” said the tortoise. The hippopotamus laughed at this ridiculous idea, but agreed. The tortoise produced a long rope and told the hippo to hold it in his mouth until the tortoise shouted “Hey!” Then the tortoise ran back up the hill where he found the elephant, who was getting impatient. He gave the elephant the other end of the rope and said, “When I say ‘Hey!’ pull, and you’ll see which of us is the strongest. ”Then he ran halfway back down the hill, to a place where he couldn’t be seen, and shouted, “Hey!” The elephant and the hippopotamus pulled and pulled, but neither could budge the other-they were of equal strength. They both agreed that the tortoise was as strong as they were. Never do what others can do for you. The tortoise let others do the work for him while he got the credit. 

-ZAIREAN FABLE

To Edison this seemed a monumental task that could last years without paying off, but he told Tesla, “There’s fifty thousand dollars in it for you— if you can do it.”

Tesla labored day and night on the project and after only a year he produced a greatly improved version of the dynamo, complete with automatic controls. He went to Edison to break the good news and receive his $50,000.

Edison was pleased with the improvement, for which he and his company would take credit, but when it came to the issue of the money he told the young Serb, “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor!,” and offered a small raise instead.

Tesla turned to the great Pittsburgh magnate George Westinghouse, who had started his own electricity company.

Westinghouse completely funded Tesla’s research and offered him a generous royalty agreement on future profits. The AC system Tesla developed is still the standard today— but after patents were filed in his name, other scientists came forward to take credit for the invention, claiming that they had laid the groundwork for him. His name was lost in the shuffle, and the public came to associate the invention with Westinghouse himself.

A year later, Westinghouse was caught in a takeover bid from J. Pierpont Morgan, who made him rescind the generous royalty contract he had signed with Tesla.

Westinghouse explained to the scientist that his company would not survive if it had to pay him his full royalties; he persuaded Tesla to accept a buyout of his patents for $216,000—a large sum, no doubt, but far less than the $12 million they were worth at the time.

The financiers had divested Tesla of the riches, the patents, and essentially the credit for the greatest invention of his career.

Once again Tesla received no money and no credit. Tesla invented an induction motor as well as the AC power system, and he is the real “father of radio.” Yet none of these discoveries bear his name.

As an old man, he lived in poverty.

You would decorate my body and continue to let starve, for failure to supply recognition, my mind and its creative products, which have supplied the foundation upon which the major portion of your Institute exists.”

Interpretation

Many harbor the illusion that science, dealing with facts as it does, is beyond the petty rivalries that trouble the rest of the world.

Nikola Tesla was one of those.

He believed science had nothing to do with politics, and claimed not to care for fame and riches. As he grew older, though, this ruined his scientific work. Not associated with any particular discovery, he could attract no investors to his many ideas. While he pondered great inventions for the future, others stole the patents he had already developed and got the glory for themselves.

He wanted to do everything on his own, but merely exhausted and impoverished himself in the process.

Edison was Tesla’s polar opposite.

He wasn’t actually much of a scientific thinker or inventor; he once said that he had no need to be a mathematician because he could always hire one. That was Edison’s main method.

He was really a businessman and publicist, spotting the trends and the opportunities that were out there, then hiring the best in the field to do the work for him. If he had to he would steal from his competitors. Yet his name is much better known than Tesla’s, and is associated with more inventions.

To be sure, if the hunter relies on the security of the carriage, utilizes the legs of the six horses, and makes Wang Liang hold their reins, then he will not tire himself and will find it easy to overtake swift animals. Now supposing he discarded the advantage of the carriage, gave up the useful legs of the horses and the skill of Wang Liang, and alighted to run after the animals, then even though his legs were as quick as Lou Chi’s, he would not be in time to overtake the animals. In fact, if good horses and strong carriages are taken into use, then mere bond-men and bondwomen will be good enough to catch the animals. 

-HAN-FEI-TZU, CHINESE PHILOSOPHER, THIRD CENTURY B.C.

The lesson is twofold:

First, the credit for an invention or creation is as important, if not more important, than the invention itself. You must secure the credit for yourself and keep others from stealing it away, or from piggy- backing on your hard work. To accomplish this you must always be vigilant and ruthless, keeping your creation quiet until you can be sure there are no vultures circling overhead.

Second, learn to take advantage of other people’s work to further your own cause. Time is precious and life is short. If you try to do it all on your own, you run yourself ragged, waste energy, and burn yourself out. It is far better to conserve your forces, pounce on the work others have done, and find a way to make it your own.

Everybody steals in commerce and industry. I’ve stolen a lot myself. But I know how to steal. 

-Thomas Edison, 1847-1931

KEYS TO POWER

The world of power has the dynamics of the jungle:

There are those who live by hunting and killing, and there are also vast numbers of creatures (hyenas, vultures) who live off the hunting of others. These latter, less imaginative types are often incapable of doing the work that is essential for the creation of power.

They understand early on, though, that if they wait long enough, they can always find another animal to do the work for them.

Do not be naive: At this very moment, while you are slaving away on some project, there are vultures circling above trying to figure out a way to survive and even thrive off your creativity. It is useless to complain about this, or to wear yourself ragged with bitterness, as Tesla did.

Better to protect yourself and join the game. Once you have established a power base, become a vulture yourself, and save yourself a lot of time and energy.

A hen who had lost her sight, and was accustomed to scratching up the earth in search of food, although blind, still continued to scratch away most diligently. Of what use was it to the industriuus fool? Another sharp-sighted hen who spared her tender feet never moved from her side, and enjoyed, without scratching, the fruit of the other’s labor. For as often as the blind hen scratched up a barley-corn, her watchful companion devoured it. 

-FABLES, GOITCHOLD LESSING, 1729-1781

Of the two poles of this game, one can be illustrated by the example of the explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. Balboa had an obsession—the discovery of El Dorado, a legendary city of vast riches.

Early in the sixteenth century, after countless hardships and brushes with death, he found evidence of a great and wealthy empire to the south of Mexico, in present-day Peru.

By conquering this empire, the Incan, and seizing its gold, he would make himself the next Cortés. The problem was that even as he made this discovery, word of it spread among hundreds of other conquistadors. He did not understand that half the game was keeping it quiet, and carefully watching those around him.

A few years after he discovered the location of the Incan empire, a soldier in his own army, Francisco Pizarro, helped to get him beheaded for treason. Pizarro went on to take what Balboa had spent so many years trying to find.

The other pole is that of the artist Peter Paul Rubens, who, late in his career, found himself deluged with requests for paintings.

He created a system: In his large studio he employed dozens of outstanding painters, one specializing in robes, another in backgrounds, and so on. He created a vast production line in which a large number of canvases would be worked on at the same time. When an important client visited the studio, Rubens would shoo his hired painters out for the day. While the client watched from a balcony, Rubens would work at an incredible pace, with unbelievable energy. The client would leave in awe of this prodigious man, who could paint so many masterpieces in so short a time.

This is the essence of the Law: Learn to get others to do the work for you while you take the credit, and you appear to be of godlike strength and power.

If you think it important to do all the work yourself, you will never get far, and you will suffer the fate of the Balboas and Teslas of the world.

Find people with the skills and creativity you lack.

Either hire them, while putting your own name on top of theirs, or find a way to take their work and make it your own. Their creativity thus becomes yours, and you seem a genius to the world.

There is another application of this law that does not require the parasitic use of your contemporaries’ labor: Use the past, a vast storehouse of knowledge and wisdom.

Isaac Newton called this “standing on the shoulders of giants.”

He meant that in making his discoveries he had built on the achievements of others. A great part of his aura of genius, he knew, was attributable to his shrewd ability to make the most of the insights of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance scientists.

Shakespeare borrowed plots, characterizations, and even dialogue from Plutarch, among other writers, for he knew that nobody surpassed Plutarch in the writing of subtle psychology and witty quotes. How many later writers have in their turn borrowed from—plagiarized—Shakespeare ?

We all know how few of today’s politicians write their own speeches.

Their own words would not win them a single vote; their eloquence and wit, whatever there is of it, they owe to a speech writer. Other people do the work, they take the credit. The upside of this is that it is a kind of power that is available to everyone. Learn to use the knowledge of the past and you will look like a genius, even when you are really just a clever borrower.

Their wit can be your wit, their skill can be your skill, and they will never come around to tell people how unoriginal you really are.

You can slog through life, making endless mistakes, wasting time and energy trying to do things from your own experience. Or you can use the armies of the past. As Bismarck once said, “Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others’ experience.”

Image: The Vulture. Of all the creatures in the jungle, he has it the easiest. The hard work of others becomes his work; their failure to survive becomes his nourishment. Keep an eye on the Vulture—while you are hard at work, he is cir cling above. Do not fight him, join him.

Authority: There is much to be known, life is short, and life is not life without knowledge. It is therefore an excellent device to acquire knowledge from everybody. Thus, by the sweat of another’s brow, you win the reputation of being an oracle. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)

REVERSAL

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When prayers counter act each other and cancel out in an affirmation campaign

Prayers can seemingly cancel each other out. Yikes!

This happens, and the larger the number of affirmations you have, the greater the risk you have in having them cancel out each other. It happens, and you have to be aware and careful about your affirmations. Most certainly, the simple and sweet rule applies. Do not get too hung up on elaborate campaigns. Keep things simple.

Let’s talk about this here.

An example

This is a true example that was sent to me.

A MM follower had a problem. (Most of us do, but this has to deal with his affirmations. He felt that he was “spinning his wheels”.) While there were all sorts of things going on in his life, his most important two affirmations had not yet been realized. It had been at least a year maybe longer.

And while I told him that it takes time for the more distant goals to be realized, he argued that he must be doing something wrong.

So, after a few probing questions, he let me see his list of prayer affirmations, and at the top, under the heading “Most important” were two affirmations. They were…

Be the CEO of a large and important company.
Have a nice calm, happy and peaceful life.

…

Now, of course, it is possible to have both. It is not impossible. For with affirmation prayers, anything is possible. It’s just that some things require more world-lines to traverse to get to.

I suggested to him to do one or the other. Not both simultaneously.

And why you might ask…

Pick the one that he desires first, and then work towards it.

The reason for this, is that the combination of both together is going to be a difficult one to obtain quickly. Now I said “quickly”. I did not say unobtainable. His combination made quick implementation of his desires rather problematic.

How to understand this…

When your objective prayers are not being realized that means that there might be one or more of a number of things going on.

Your prayer goal takes a large number of world-lines to traverse. It is farther away than your would like, and you have yet to reach it.
Your goal is in conflict with another goal, thus obtaining both goals together sends your ultimate objective further down the time track.
Your goal is off your pre-birth world-line template and you have not approved or blessed a slide to get off your fated life.
You are being blocked by non-physical issues that you are unaware of.
Your prayer is simply not possible within your template.

Regarding this last point…

Anything and everything is possible in our reality. In the movie The Craft (1996), the three other witches placed curses, hexes and spells on a girl in their coven. Her life turned to shit, and even her parents died. Then, after running a prayer / spell campaign she awoke to a new reality. One where her parents didn’t really die as was reported on television, it was all a bad mistake.

Anything is possible in this reality.

It’s just that there is a measure of your opposition to change that plays a role. And I want to discuss that right now.

Inertia

Our “reality universe” in both the physical reality, and the non-physical reality has this quality, or attribute known as “inertia”. It is measurable, and there have been many studies on it. Essentially, inertia is the resistance to change. We see this everyday.

If you are running and you want to stop suddenly, you end up toppling and going heads over heals. Or if you are trying to push a car that is broken down, its hard to get it moving, but once it starts to roll, it is so much easier. All of this is known as “inertia”.

Inertia 
Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to any change in its velocity. This includes changes to the object's speed, or direction of motion. An aspect of this property is the tendency of objects to keep moving in a straight line at a constant speed, when no forces act upon them.

This property affects everything. And it is not just the physical. It is the non-physical as well. And yes, thoughts and ideas also have inertia.

So you really cannot expect to start and stop affirmation prayers at will. While you physically might start and stop the actual vocalizations, you cannot stop the non-physical things that you set in motion.

It’s due to a non-physical attribute that is similar to inertia.

Now, I want the reader to take into account that there is no such thing as “time”, and since there is no such thing…

…that means that the affirmations that you made last year has the same validity or “juiciness” as if you were making them today. And thus all the affirmations and writings that you have ever done is part of the big stew that you have been cooking all your life to get to the point where you are now.

We can refer to this characteristic as the inertial component of an affirmation / prayer campaign.

An Illustration

Let’s look at this example.

We see that the “hills” and valleys” of a topographical world-line map that is representative of the MWI is a measure of how difficult, stressful, or contentious a person’s life might be RELATIVE to the other world-lines that preceded it.

And here we see that you can accumulate benefit by climbing these “hills”…

And here I make the point that effort, strife, discomfort accumulates a specific type of experience that the consciousness can use.

How it is used depends on many things.

As we go “up the hill” in the MWI topographical map, we can also go “down the hill” upon the topographical map. And the ease of your life would be wholly a function of the release of the “good stuff” or “good karma” that you have accumulated during your travels.

As shown here…

But we can consider the benefits and liabilities of this accumulated effort in dealing with strife to be similar to that of inertia.

You climb the “hills” and you experience discomfort. You do down the “hills” and you experience a relatively easy period of time.

If we consider it to be analogous to “karma” as well as “inertia” then we have a real actual characteristic that is fundamental to our movement within the MWI and when we go from world-line to world-line.

This can be counter intuitive. After all, how can you “gain something” when you expend effort?

And I am here to tell you that no matter what you do in life, everything is inner connected.

So when you make a prayer affirmation campaign a few years back, the impressions that they made still slings to your being. Even though (for instance) you recognize that that you made some grievous errors in judgment when you defined those prayers.

Back to the example

So here, let’s go back to the example of the follower who is upset that he is not achieving the life of comfort and success as he pictured in his affirmation prayer campaign.

His life apparently isn’t going anywhere.

He seems stuck in his current situation.

He is frustrated, and he desperately wants that vision of a new life. You know which one. Something like this…

Ah.

There are many things at play. But I am willing to wager that the primary contributors are that his prayers counter-act each other, and ended up putting his goals in a far-away location on the MWI, as well as residual inertial influence of previous desires, wishes and vocalizations.

Time does not exist.

So the things that he said, and the writings that he made, and the actions that he dreamed of and contemplated upon has created a “tablecloth” upon which his new (and latest) prayer affirmations rest upon.

And while we want to believe that each and every new affirmation prayer campaign is a “new slate” from which to conduct our desires and goals, it is in all actuality a new meal that is placed on a tablecloth already soiled by your previous dining efforts.

In this particular case, I believe that it is a combination of things going on that has set his goals far off “in the distance” (MWI speaking)…

Too complex of a goal.
Characteristics of that goal that are too specific for immediate implementation.
A history of other wishes, desires, actions, or verbalization’s that further remove his goal form easy direct access.

Such as…

“Oh the boss is an idiot. I would never work like he does”

or,

“It’s a hard life. having a calm life is just a dream and wishful thinking”

or,

“Who needs money and the lifestyle of a boss? I’m happy as I am right now”

For him to move forward, he needs to counter act all what he has created over the years and then build upon this new foundation with his affirmations. Then he needs to adjust his affirmation campaign to be simpler. Concentrate on it step by step and don’t but too many big enormous desires without laying a foundation to travel upon.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that everything we do has an accumulated characteristic that color and alters the prayer campaign. I do not believe that it can completely render the campaign inept and non-functional, but rather that they tend to add a few “extra” world-lines between you and your objective. For you to advance forward you need to be of clear mind and purpose, and control any negative and counter active thoughts and actions that might have developed into habitual problems within your life.

If you do, you can be guaranteed of speedier implementation of your desires.

Best Regards.

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More secrets the American mainstream news keeps quiet about; Chinese families are twice as wealthy as Americans

Number 6:
Everybody votes for a dictator.

You know, the Western “news” is just propaganda. Nothing more. It is used to instill fear, control and manipulate huge masses of people, and to bludgeon them into predefined and specific types of behaviors. And of the many things that propaganda does (lie, distort, and emphasize incorrect narratives) is ignore real and substantive actual news. And yeah. They do this for a reason, don’t you know. And this article is going to talk about one thing that the American media is very quiet about; the Chinese people are much more prosperous than Americans are.

So forget that neocon belief that the Chinese people are shivering in fear and oppression from their all-power Chinese Communist overlords (it is the de facto narrative). They aren’t. They are overwhelmingly happy, approve of their government, and just living their life in near carefree abandon.

Which is why I enjoyed traveling outside of America. When I went to Australia, the relationships with the folk there reminded me of my boyhood days in the 1960’s and 1970’s. And when I went to South East Asia, it reminded me of the days of “keg parties” and “hanging out”… you know. Doing ‘nothin. It was glorious.

It was everything I hoped it would be.

In those lands I wasn’t barraged with “news”. Even being connected to the USA though Wifi (much faster than what you get in the States, and for FREE!) no one read the “news” like I would (do so). They just pretty much ignored it. It was a much smaller part of their life. Certainly much smaller than what we from the States would think. And as a result they were far happier because of it.

Imagine that!

The lack of regulations, rules, policing control, laws, and just about everything else that is part and parcel of the regulatory and all-controlling America is absent in Asia. And it’s just glorious.

But anyways…

The American (and Western) “news” is just a big mill and den of lies and distortions. It is at all levels, and if you haven’t figured this out by now, you are either stupid or have mental problems. They lie. they distort. They cause you to live in fear. They spew hate. They are just awful.

The dangers of 3G; your brain will cook when you answer your cell phone.
Oh, and 5G, that terrible Chinese radiation is much worse!
Mad cow disease will kill you when you eat a hamburger.
Y2K is going to have your toaster jump and strangle you in the kitchen.
Killer zombie hornets is going to attack your community.
Donate money now to SAVE THE CHILDREN in far away Africa.
Dangerous child abductors are prowling all over your neighborhood.
Ask your doctor about Prozac Plus, the new gateway to happiness!
You too can get a free trial of unlimited internet only $9.99, special conditions apply don’t you know…

Do something. Now! Now! Nowwww!

Number 6:
Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment, and will die here like rotten cabbages.

Do you think I’m exaggerating? I’m NOT. It’s just that when you view the “news” narrative out of context, at a time when the media onslaught has subsided, it seems just so very silly.

Silly.

Like mixing wine and chocolate.

Um. I take that back. Make that’s a good pairing. I’ll have to give it a try. Anyone game to experiment with me?

Anyways back to the silliness about the United States. It is, really is, silly.

Sorry for being so darn harsh, but it’s true. American “news” is just plain silly. Like check out the latest “shit-storm” that’s a-brewing on Drudge today…

Ahem…

It’s sort of like this…

Anyways, lets leave the fairy tale world of American (and UK, Australian and Indian) “news”…

…and discuss something that really is intentionally omitted.

Number Two:
I'm the boss.

Number 6:
No. One is the boss.

It is the idea that not only is the rest of the world growing, and prospering, but that China is leading the pack and doing much, much… so much better than anything their American cousins can even realize.

What?

That’s right.

And that’s what happens when you have a capable, experienced leadership that is motivated to improve the lives of it’s people.

Observer:
Questions are a burden to others. Answers are prison for oneself.

The Communist Chinese are wealthier than Americans.

Ouch!

How about that for rubbing your face in a pile of shit?

This article is from Yicai global. You won't find it in the States, unless you perform a serious search. It's not that it's blocked, but perhaps it's more likely "shadow blocked". It's not gonna find it's way into your daily news feeds.  Reprinted as found with editing to fit this venue. All credit to the author Ben Armour.

There has been a lot of chatter in the [Chinese] press about the Chinese government’s setting a growth target for 2021. And specifically whether or not it was able to achieve its longstanding goal of doubling incomes in the last ten years.

While this year’s economic prospects are clouded by uncertainty, a recent study by researchers at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) indicates that China has already achieved its objective of building a moderately prosperous society (小康社会) – at least in its cities.

The study, published in the latest issue of China Finance, highlights the results of a comprehensive survey of urban families’ finances conducted at the end of 2019. It reports that median household net worth stood at CNY1.41 million or close to USD200,000.

Median household worth in China is $ 200,000 USD.

The US’s own Survey of Consumer Finances was last conducted by the Federal Reserve in 2016. If I adjust its findings for inflation, then median US household net worth was about USD104,000 in 2019.

Median household worth in the USA is $ 104,000 USD.

Thus, one can say that the typical US household is only about half as rich as the typical Chinese urban family.

Number 6:
[referring to the chess game] Why do you use people?

Chessmaster:
Some psychiatrists say it satisfies the desire for power. 'the only opportunity one gets here.

Number 6:
That depends what side you're on.

Chessmaster:
[quickly] I'm on my side.

Number 6:
[quickly] Aren't we all.

Chessmaster:
You must be new here. In time, most of us join the enemy - against ourselves.

How is this possible?

Since per capita GDP in the US is close to five times higher than in China, how can we explain such a surprising result?

The very unequal distribution of wealth in the US is a big part of the story.

The super wealthy is skewing all the numbers to be much higher than they would be otherwise.

The graph below shows that while median US household wealth is about half that of Chinese urban families, average US household net worth is about 80 percent higher than China’s USD413,000.

The ratio of average to median net worth is a measure of how equally wealth is distributed.

If everyone’s wealth was exactly the same, the ratio of the two net worth measures would be 1.0. China’s mean household net worth is double its median. The ratio in the US is seven times, pointing to a much more unequal distribution of wealth.

- - The Ideal = 1
  - China = 2
  - United States = 7

China has far better financial, and social equality than America has.

What are the attributes that contribute to this situation? Reason one.

Median Income. Since it lies right in the middle of the wealth distribution, we can think of the median household as “typical. ”Half the families are richer and half the families are poorer than it is.

On average, American families are wealthier than Chinese ones. There are a lot of really wealthy American families that pull that average up.

But the typical American household remains poorer than its Chinese urban counterpart.

Note that I am making these comparisons in 2019 US dollars and am not accounting for the fact that a US dollar buys more in China than it does in the US.

Reason Two

A second reason that Chinese urban households are relatively wealthy is that home ownership is quite widespread.

According to the PBOC study, 96 percent of urban households own residential property. The corresponding figure for the US is only 64 percent.

Median Data

96% of Chinese own their own homes.
64% of Americans own their own homes.

The gap between US and Chinese in home ownership is even more striking at the low end of the income distribution. In the US, only one-third of the families in the lowest income quintile own a home. In China, 89 percent do.

Low Income Data

89% of China’s poor own homes.
33% of American poor own homes.

In fact, many Chinese families own more than one property: 31 percent of them have two and 11 percent have three or more. On average, each urban family owns 1.5 residential properties.

Chinese home ownership

Average family owns 1.5 homes.
31% of Chinese own 2 homes.
11% of Chinese own three or more homes.

Chinese family wealth does not simply rest on inflated real estate values.

Residential property represents just under 60 percent of household assets, with financial assets and other real assets (shops, productive equipment, vehicles, etc.) each accounting for close to 20 percent.

Moreover, from the information in the study, I estimate that the price-to-income ratio of these households’ residential property holdings at 3.7. This is fairly close to the median house price-to-income ratio in the US, 3.6, according to Demographia’s most recent survey.

Home price / Income for China = 3.7
Home price / income for the USA = 3.6

Reason Three

The third reason for Chinese urban households’ high net worth is their relatively low indebtedness.

Seventy-seven percent of US households have assumed some sort of financial liability (a mortgage, a car loan, student debt, etc.). In China, only 57 percent of the urban households have incurred such liabilities.

In debt to financial loans – USA = 77%
In debt to financial loans – China = 57%

Not only do fewer Chinese households carry liabilities, but what debts they owe are small relative to their assets. The debts of the median Chinese household, which does have liabilities, only amounts to 16 percent of its assets. In contrast, the median indebted American household has a leverage ratio of 36 percent of its assets.

American debt to assets = 36%
Chinese debt to assets = 16%

Reason Four

The final piece of the puzzle is understanding how Chinese urban households can have such a high rate of home ownership and such a low rate of indebtedness.

Chinese households do have much higher savings rates than their US counterparts and that is an important factor. But more important was the way in which the housing stock was privatized.

Up until the late 1990s, almost all residential property belonged to state-owned institutions, which provided low-rent accommodation to their employees. As part of the state-owned enterprise reform program, the government relieved firms of the burden of providing housing for their workers. Urban households were able to purchase their apartments from their employers at reasonable prices, leading to today’s high rate of home ownership and supporting urban prosperity.

A China First

(Yicai Global) April 27 — China may be the first country in the world to have reached a 96 percent urban home ownership rate, according to the central bank.

China has a 96% home ownership rate in the cities.

In an article the People’s Bank of China published in its China Finance journal today it also noted that the bulk of assets held by urban families is physical.

Chinese assets tend to be tangible, physical “brick and mortar” items.
American assets tend to be intangible, stocks, bonds, pensions, potential worth.

Home ownership in developed countries is mostly around the 60 percent level, according to data from Trading Economics. In the US, the figure was 65.1 percent at the end of last year, US Department of Commerce statistics show. The PBOC report puts China’s home ownership 28.5 percentage points ahead of the US.

Chinese home ownership = 96% (urban)
USA home ownership = 65.1%
Typical (developed country) home ownership = 60%

The reports also said Chinese urban households prefer risk-free financial assets, with homes making up nearly 70 percent and financial assets 20.4 percent.

The average wealth of urban households is CNY3.18 million (USD449,200), with a median value of CNY1.63 million, per the report. The difference between the two is about CNY1.55 million, indicating an uneven distribution of household assets.

Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangsu province ranked as the top three for family riches, with CNY8.9 million, CNY8.1 million and CNY5.1 million, respectively. The lowest three provincial-level units are the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Gansu province in northwestern China and Jilin province in the northeast.

Households in urban areas generally take out loans. Some 56.5 percent of those surveyed are in debt. Among them, the total owed per household is CNY512,000 (USD72,346), with roughly 54 percent owing less than CNY300,000, 35.6 percent owing CNY300,000 to CNY1 million, while the remaining 10.5 percent owe over CNY1 million.

Mortgages constitute the bulk of household debt.

Some 77 percent of indebted households have home loans averaging CNY389,000, making up over three quarters of total household debt. The PBOC’s urban resident household assets and liabilities research team from its Statistics and Analysis Department canvassed more than 30,000 households in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and cities across the country in mid-to-late October.

Wow.

It’s time to celebrate!

Um. No, this isn’t right. Not enough food.

A real celebration requires FOOD!

Ah. Much better.

Pretty Amazing Stuff

Yes it is.

So what is not being reported in the American and Western press? It is that China is not some backwards, dirty, disease ridden infested dark smoggy slime-ball nation. But rather, a growing prosperous nation where most people own their homes. Where most people are debt free, and those that are in debt with loans are not too worried about it as the debts are small relative to their income stream. It’s a big, big change when you compare that to America.

How can Americans (and others in “the West”) have this kind of idea? Well consider what consists of “news”.

Here, today is a headliner article…

Westerners are increasingly scared of traveling to China as threat of detention rises

...The dramatic detention of a handful of foreigners in recent years has instilled a deep fear in some people, especially those with politically adjacent occupations. As President Xi breeds a culture of nationalism and forges increasingly hostile relations with Western governments, some fear that if a diplomatic spat between their government and Beijing occurred while they were in China they could become a target...

Um…

So just in this paragraph we see…

Dramatic detention of foreigners!
Deep fear is present.
President Xi breeds a culture of nationalism!
President Xi is hostile to nations in the West.

And that is just ONE lone paragraph.

Do I have to point out the absolute falsehoods, the manipulations, the distortions and the lies in the four bullet points above, or are you aware of the reality?

It’s a non-stop bullshit garbage narrative like this that is pumped relentlessly into the brains of Americans, non-stop, 24-7.

I makes me want to have a fine libation, and some delicious food, I’ll tell you what.

[over the opening of each episode - Number 2 played by various actors]
Number 6:
Where am I?

Number 2:
In the Village.

Number 6:
What do you want?

Number 2:
Information.

Number 6:
Whose side are you on?

Number 2:
That would be telling. We want information... information... information.

Number 6:
You won't get it.

Number 2:
By hook or by crook, we will.

Number 6:
Who are you?

Number 2:
The new Number 2.

Number 6:
Who is Number 1?

Number 2:
You are Number 6.

Number 6:
I am not a number, I am a free man.

Let’s take a look at what China is today, shall we. Here’s some videos (in no particular order) that I just pulled off my Douxing feed this morning. Just you click on the picture and it will open up in a new tab.

High Speed Trains.

There are everywhere in China. Fast. Cheap. Comfortable. Convenient. Takes you anywhere and everywhere. The American news is again talking about how soon, one day, America too will be as good as China. And the talk is all about having high speed trains, like China has.

Of course they never mention that America is literally twenty years behind China in this regard, or that America has already spent 77 billion dollars for a cardboard and fiberglass mock-up. Or that America started on the American HST at the same time that China did, but with over ten times the funding level. And while China today has hundreds of lines, thousands of Kilometers of track, hundreds of trains, and stations, the United States has nothing.

But some day soon. You just wait and see. Right?

In China, HST is average, normal, and no big deal.

Just click on the picture and the video will pop up in another tab.

Guangzhou

Guangzhou is a “working class” city. Much like Pittsburgh, PA is. It’s big. really big. But it’s got a real “local” feel to it. It’s not cosmopolitan like Beijing, or Shanghai are. It’s just full of average people. Going to work and living life.

Here’s some gals going out for a nice dinner, some great friendship and some wine. Wouldn’t you all wish that you were there with them? I do. I’ll tell you what.

Some young gals having a nice dinner in Guangzhou China.

Chinese Transport Air Force

The Chinese, since there have been so many restrictions placed on them by America, and the UK, were forced to develop their own systems. This is everything from their own space stations, and Mars lander to military aircraft, and computer systems. All “home grown” and mass produced at a frenzy and pace that is stunning to behold.

We hear about it all, but then when you see just how many state of the art systems are in use, it just boggles the mind.

A Typical Chinese family

Here we have a typical Chinese family in their home. Not some kind of dirt floored hovel, is it? Do they look like they are starving, and begging for American “democracy” to “save them”?

Why so many children? I thought that the Chinese kill babies and that you are only allowed to have one </sarcasm>. But take a look at the mother and her 19 year old daughter. The Chinese don’t age like Americans do, because they EAT MUCH HEALTHIER. No GMO hormones, and no one is taking anti-stress, and anti-depression medications.

Outside of Zhuhai

This chick is a dancing and carrying on in a park right outside the supermarket where I shop for my groceries. Yeah. It’s pretty much like this. This is obviously on the weekend, judging from all the people. Must be on a Sunday.

A typical park

The Chinese have made improving the lives of their citizens a top priority. This is ALL that the government does. I would say that a full 100% of their effort is towards helping the people, improving their quality of life, and setting up defensive measures so that evil people cannot run “color revolutions” against them.

Most parks are now, beautiful, well maintained, and tranquil. Like this.

Movie making

One of the big omissions in American “news” is that just about everything is made in China. But if you listen to them, you get the idea that China only makes cheap pens, rubber duckies and the low-end products for Wal-mart. It doesn’t. All of the high-tech stuff is designed and made in China. All of it.

All of it.

Like this movie camera kit that is used to make the movies that Americans are not permitted to watch. LOL.

All this is about reality

If the masses of people could think critically for themselves, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. By the way Rod, there is a war. It’s raging and has enveloped this planet. It’s a war for our minds. Many have been captured. I know, I see them every day. And I read what they write. 

-Ohio Guy

I think that most of us are living in an artificial construct; and artificial reality. it is one that is constructed and based upon lies and untruths. And so, believing these lies and untruths we live our lives, making decisions, and behaving in certain ways that do not… and should not.. be part of our reality.

I suppose that you could point this out to anyone. You could point at them and say..

"How dare you live like you do? Your ideas and your thoughts do not match mine. You must change and agree with me! For my reality, and my understanding is the only and correct way of thinking."

So, yeah. Let’s keep a real sense of perspective here.

It doesn’t matter what other people are doing. Not really. Not if they are Americans, or Chinese, or Zambians. All that matters is what you are doing with your life.

If you are happy, having fun, trust your government, then that is fine. You can keep on believing what you want to believe. You can keep on doing what you are doing, and listening to the news as you see it. It’s working for you. Keep it up.

But if you are not, then maybe you should reevaluate your life; your reality. You need to ask whether it is an actual reflection of the truth. Or instead, are you living something else instead.

Are you like “Number 6” in the 1968 television show “The Prisoner” where you live in a nice pleasant place, but you can never leave it. And no matter what you do, you never get any straight answers and never know your true and real situation?

"The Prisoner" is a unique piece of television. It addresses issues such as personal identity and freedom, democracy, education, scientific progress, art and technology, while still remaining an entertaining drama series. Over seventeen episodes we witness a war of attrition between the faceless forces behind 'The Village' (a Kafkaesque community somewhere between Butlins and Alcatraz) and its most strong willed inmate, No. 6. who struggles ceaselessly to assert his individuality while plotting to escape from his captors. 

-Written by Stuart Berwick <berws@essex.ac.uk>

I think that for many Americans, the answer is YES.

It’s all a big farce. Elections are held, but no one really has any power. The reality looks nice and pleasant, but there is this grinding negativity just under the surface, and no one ever gets to glimpse their real reality.

Since its initial telecast, back in 1967, this enigmatic classic has evoked every reaction from awe to contempt. Given the amount of serious critical attention THE PRISONER has received, and given that a whole society has been created in its honor, I'd say the awe has won out, and I vehemently agree that THE PRISONER deserves to be honored as one of the truly artistic programs created for commercial television.

However, I can also understand the frustration many viewers have felt. Over the course of its seventeen episodes, this offbeat spy thriller becomes further and further offbeat until it ultimately transforms into surrealistic allegory. I confess I'm not sure whether this transformation was intended as a complete surprise, or whether you were supposed to know where the show was going, but in either case, I think you can better appreciate the series if you can see the earlier episodes as preparation for what's to come.

THE PRISONER's title character is a British secret agent (series creator Patrick McGoohan) who may or may not be SECRET AGENT's John Drake. The story begins with him suddenly and mysteriously resigning, then just as suddenly and mysteriously being rendered unconscious and transported to a place known only as The Village, the location of which is known only to those who run it. The Village is a prison camp, but with all of the amenities of a vacation resort,. Attractive dwellings, shops, restaurants, etc. exist side by side with high-tech methods of keeping order and extracting information from those who won't give it up willingly.

Those who try to escape get to meet Rover, a belligerent weather balloon capable of locomotion, and seemingly of independent thought. It appears (to me anyway) that the authorities can summon Rover, send it away, and give it instructions, but that it acts more or less on its own initiative. Rover deals with fugitives by plastering itself against their faces, rendering them either unconscious or dead, depending on how bad a mood it's in. Twice, we see it haul someone in from the ocean by sucking them up into a whirlpool it creates.

Citizens of The Village, including those in authority, are identified only by numbers. Our protagonist is known only as No. 6 throughout the entire series. The Village is run by No. 2, who in turn reports to an unseen and unidentified No. 1. No. 1 is apparently an unforgiving boss, because No. 2 is always being replaced.

Shortly after he arrives in in the Village, No. 6 is informed, by the reigning No. 2, that he should count on remaining there permanently. If he cooperates, life will be pleasant and he may even be given a position of authority. If he resists -- well, the only restriction they're under is not to damage him permanently. To satisfy his captors, No. 6 need only answer one question: `Why did you resign?' His question in turn is, `Who runs this place? Who is No. 1?'

Most of the episodes deal with No. 6's attempts to escape, and/or his captors' attempts to break him, although there are a few side trips. Several episodes suggest that No. 6's own people may be involved with running The Village. Some of the episodes are fairly straightforward, while others leave you with questions as to exactly what went on. It's important to note that several of the more obscure episodes -- for example, `Free for All' and `Dance of the Dead' -- are among the seven episodes that McGoohan considers essential to the series.

And then we come to the final episode, `Fall Out,' which promises to answer all the burning questions the viewers have been anguishing over for seventeen weeks -- and which so frustrated and angered those viewers back in 1967 that McGoohan had to go into hiding for awhile. Of course, I can't reveal any of the really important details, because, as No. 2 says in the recap that begins most of the episodes, `That would be telling,' and as all of us IMBD contributors know, `telling,' is frowned upon. However, to come back to the point with which I started, you should be prepared for a resolution of an entirely different nature than the one you'll probably be expecting -- a resolution that forces you to rethink your entire concept of the Village, and of the intention of the series. If you aren't ready, you'll be frustrated. If you are, you can accept THE PRISONER is the spirit in which it was offered.

Yes. The 1968 version of the televisions show “The Prisoner” says it most clearly.

Astonishingly Original and Intelligent 
rlcsljo
14 March 2000

When I saw the first episode of this series, my jaw dropped in amazement. Here was a TV series that was entertaining and actually made you think. Nothing was ever what it appeared, no one had a real name, you never knew who was the good guy or the bad guy (or if they were one in the same!). The "final" episode was what could only be described as PSYCHEDELIC.

This TV series was, and still is, way ahead of its time.

Perhaps America today is a big prison. The inmates don’t realize that they are trapped in one, as it appears to be open and free. But in functional reality it is just one big enormous prison.

The New Number Two:
Good day, Number Six.

Number 6:
Number what?

The New Number Two:
Six. For official purposes, everyone has a number. Yours is number six.

Number 6:
I am not a number. I am a person.

The New Number Two:
Six of one, half a dozen of another.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my China and America Comparisons Index here…

China / USA comparisons

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Life is always about balance. Here we talk about the money vs freedom balance. Because that is the big tradeoff in America today.

After I exited the US Navy and “hit the road” looking for work (at a time when there were no jobs to be found anywhere) I discovered a number of “life truths” that have reshaped my life since. One of these truths is about personal labor. Where is that “sweet spot”? The point where you work just enough to provide for your family and have a good comfortable life, and yet live a happy unstressful life.

Because…I strongly discovered, as many of you too have as well, that in America it is either all-of-nothing. You either work in a corporate environment, devote a life to a career and obey the dictates of Human Resources in dress, behavior and life, or…

…Or you starve.

There is no “middle ground”.

Now, this is not true for everyone. Over time many people have discovered ways to enable them to somehow skirt the two extremes. While other’s like myself had to learn the “hard way” and didn’t reach that point until retirement.

The American culture is one where it is “every man for himself”, and you are a “success” if you climb to the top of a mountain of money and lord your life over all the rest. It’s the “King of the Jungle” attitude and exemplifies such people as Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.

Today, the base pay of those at the top is commonly 400 times that of their salaried staff, with many earning orders of magnitude more in stock options and perks. The elite one percent of Americans control $30 trillion of assets, while the bottom half have more debt than assets. The three richest Americans have more money than the poorest 160 million of their countrymen. Fully a fifth of American households have zero or negative net worth, a figure that rises to 37 percent for black families. The median wealth of black households is a tenth that of whites. The vast majority of Americans — white, black, and brown — are two paychecks removed from bankruptcy.

Though living in a nation that celebrates itself as the wealthiest in history, most Americans live on a high wire, with no safety net to brace a fall.

With the COVID crisis, 40 million Americans lost their jobs, and 3.3 million businesses shut down, including 41 percent of all black-owned enterprises. Black Americans, who significantly outnumber whites in federal prisons despite being but 13 percent of the population, are suffering shockingly high rates of morbidity and mortality, dying at nearly three times the rate of white Americans. The cardinal rule of American social policy — don’t let any ethnic group get below the blacks, or allow anyone to suffer more indignities — rang true even in a pandemic, as if the virus was taking its cues from American history.

COVID-19 didn’t lay America low; it simply revealed what had long been forsaken. As the crisis unfolded, with another American dying every minute of every day, a country that once turned out fighter planes by the hour could not manage to produce the paper masks or cotton swabs essential for tracking the disease. The nation that defeated smallpox and polio, and led the world for generations in medical innovation and discovery, was reduced to a laughing stock as a buffoon of a president advocated the use of household disinfectants as a treatment for a disease that intellectually he could not begin to understand.

As a number of countries moved expeditiously to contain the virus, the United States stumbled along in denial, as if willfully blind. With less than four percent of the global population, the U.S. soon accounted for more than a fifth of COVID deaths. The percentage of American victims of the disease who died was six times the global average. Achieving the world’s highest rate of morbidity and mortality provoked not shame, but only further lies, scapegoating, and boasts of miracle cures as dubious as the claims of a carnival barker, a grifter on the make.

...

Odious as he may be, Trump is less the cause of America’s decline than a product of its descent. As they stare into the mirror and perceive only the myth of their exceptionalism, Americans remain almost bizarrely incapable of seeing what has actually become of their country. The republic that defined the free flow of information as the life blood of democracy, today ranks 45th among nations when it comes to press freedom. In a land that once welcomed the huddled masses of the world, more people today favor building a wall along the southern border than supporting health care and protection for the undocumented mothers and children arriving in desperation at its doors. In a complete abandonment of the collective good, U.S. laws define freedom as an individual’s inalienable right to own a personal arsenal of weaponry, a natural entitlement that trumps even the safety of children; in the past decade alone 346 American students and teachers have been shot on school grounds.

The American cult of the individual denies not just community but the very idea of society. No one owes anything to anyone. All must be prepared to fight for everything: education, shelter, food, medical care. What every prosperous and successful democracy deems to be fundamental rights — universal health care, equal access to quality public education, a social safety net for the weak, elderly, and infirmed — America dismisses as socialist indulgences, as if so many signs of weakness.

How can the rest of the world expect America to lead on global threats — climate change, the extinction crisis, pandemics — when the country no longer has a sense of benign purpose, or collective well-being, even within its own national community? 

Flag-wrapped patriotism is no substitute for compassion; anger and hostility no match for love. Those who flock to beaches, bars, and political rallies, putting their fellow citizens at risk, are not exercising freedom; they are displaying, as one commentator has noted, the weakness of a people who lack both the stoicism to endure the pandemic and the fortitude to defeat it. 

Leading their charge is Donald Trump, a bone spur warrior, a liar and a fraud, a grotesque caricature of a strong man, with the backbone of a bully.Over the last months, a quip has circulated on the internet suggesting that to live in Canada today is like owning an apartment above a meth lab. 

Canada is no perfect place, but it has handled the COVID crisis well, notably in British Columbia, where I live. Vancouver is just three hours by road north of Seattle, where the U.S. outbreak began. Half of Vancouver’s population is Asian, and typically dozens of flights arrive each day from China and East Asia. Logically, it should have been hit very hard, but the health care system performed exceedingly well. 

Throughout the crisis, testing rates across Canada have been consistently five times that of the U.S. On a per capita basis, Canada has suffered half the morbidity and mortality. For every person who has died in British Columbia, 44 have perished in Massachusetts, a state with a comparable population that has reported more COVID cases than all of Canada. As of July 30th, even as rates of COVID infection and death soared across much of the United States, with 59,629 new cases reported on that day alone, hospitals in British Columbia registered a total of just five COVID patients.

-Rolling Stone

Which pretty makes it difficult for the “little guy”. You know the one. Like you and I. Where all we want is just to be left alone, do our best to provide for our families, and have a little bit of fun on the side.

And the purpose of a nation, any nation, is to support and protect a society of “little guys” who all are trying to “live life in the pursuit of liberty”.

But you and I both know, that that is not what America is today. It’s a multi-tiered concentration camp. With the strongest mob bosses at top and he rest of us toiling for some scraps that they toss below from their stratospheric heights.

So, is America so corrupted, so out-of-wack that a average, normal, decent guy can’t have a family, a life without working himself to an early grave?

Yes. That’s the way it is.

In the United States, as of 19FEB21. Life expectancy is how long a baby born today can expect to live, on average. For males it was 75.1 years and for females, 80.5 years. The current life expectancy for China in 2021 is 77.13 years, a 0.22% increase from 2020.

No kidding.

The American Military Emprie

Have you ever wondered what it was like to live within a Global Military Empire like Nazi Germany, The British Empire in the 1800’s, and Ancient Babylon? Well, it’s pretty much like the way Americans live today.

There’s always an external threat that needs a war to fight. There’s always an increase , ever rising, in the prices for goods and services, and there’s always a feeling like society is slipping and going down hill. David Copperfield describes the life during the British military empire. And if you add cell-phones, trailer parks, and food-stamps you have America today.

And while I can discuss about how one “Hellfire Missile” can build a ton-load of hospitals, rebuild bridges, and feed entire families for a year, consider what other nations are using their treasury dollars on.

I am inside of China, and they are using their monies to build roads, bridges, hospitals. They are upgrading all infrastructure, and building parks. They are updating ferries, and there is a the construction of a new Mag-Lev rocket-train, even faster than the high-speed trains (already criss-crossing the nation), that will go from Shenzhen to Shanghai in three hours. Faster than a direct flight!

Chinese high speed rail is commonplace all over China.

Local clinics are getting state-of-the art blood analysis equipment and patient diagnostic equipment. Clinics! Not like the USA where you need to get a doctors appointment to get you a hospital appointment, to get an analysis appointment to have anything done.

Blood work for my child, yesterday, occurred in 15 minutes. On site at a clinic. The entire cost was free. Because we are residents of the community. How much would it cost for us int he USA? How long would it take?

That is the difference between a nation that is investing in it’s people, and a Military Empire.

Sent to me by an influencer…

Save this series: Very good, very informative. Especially the series that criticised Pompeo lies 🤥 about Xinjiang by Uyghurs themselves. 

China maintain low prices for basic necessity such as housing, electricity, water, education, child care, food, public transport etc... And the reality that factory workers with free meals and accommodation, their income up to 5000 RMB a month are tax free. So factories workers in China can afford to own their own homes and form a family. The property they bought receive all basic council services without having to pay any property taxes and council service fees. 

Enjoy this super quality and informative series with uighurs telling their own stories. 

https://youtube.com/c/realxinjiang

Uyghurs like all Chinese citizens are well taken care of by the Communist Party. The factory workers are better off than a lot of working poors in the western world, Hong Kong, and south Korea where home ownership are low, and rental cost taken up most of the working poor income.

Back to the subject – Work & Life

I argue that when you live in a bad environment, whether it is a military empire, or a concentration camp, you are unable to find a work/life balance. It is just simply not possible. You have either one thing or the other thing. There is no balance.

So people find work-arounds.

If they do not, then they spend their entire life working and them when they reach retirement, they make do with what ever systems the government has in place for their retirement. And for Americans, it’s not good at all.

OK. Here’s a good article about this subject.

All credit to the author, reposted as found. No editing except to fit within this venue.

How to Come to Terms With Working For the Rest of Your Life

John Hawkins

This is a question every man has to answer,

How did you come to terms with working full-time for the rest of your life?

I graduated from college this past May and just started my full-time job three weeks ago. I am a salaried employee with a required minimum of 50 working hours per week.

I’m grateful to have a job, but how the hell did you accept the fact that you’ve essentially been born to work? I see very few routes outside of working what feels like endless hours until I’m 60 (optimistic!) and can retire… to just sit around all day because I’m too old to do much of anything else

My friend, 60 is VERY optimistic if you just got out of college because the chances Social Security will be around in its current form by then is basically nil. That means most people that age are likely to work until they die.

All that said, there are a lot of options for what you can do on the working front. In fact, it gets back to my all-time favorite quote.

“There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” — Thomas Sowell

The best jobs require a lot of hours. You want to be a CEO, run a successful small business, or be a doctor, you are going to put in some serious hours to do that. You want the big house, the money, the prestige, you are going to have to work for it. You want to live somewhere expensive like NYC or San Francisco, then you should be prepared to work like a dog to make it happen.

If you are willing to forego that and make some lifestyle trade-offs, you may be surprised at what you can do.

For example, if you are outside of the big cities, you can live pretty well working 40 hours a week. Over time, especially if you get married to a woman that works, you can get yourself a house and have a vacation a year, a big-screen TV, and generally live comfortably. If you’re frugal, you can even save up some money doing that. Unfortunately, most people in that position aren’t frugal and they struggle when they get an unexpected bill, but that doesn’t have to be you.

You can take it even further if you like. Back in the day, I once had a roommate who has a fantastic salesman. He worked half the year selling and took the other half of the year off. If you want to live with roommates and keep it cheap, you may be able to squeak by working part-time. If you want to live out in the boonies with a little garden out back and some convenient land nearby for hunting and fishing, you may not have to work forty hours per week to do it.

What all this means is that you have real options in life. It just depends on which trade-off you want to make and guess what? The one with the most hours probably isn’t the best for everyone. There are guys who wake up one day in their forties with lots of money, but bad health and no one that cares about them because they have been working 70 hours a week from the time they were young until now. Are they better off than the guy who worked 20 hours a week his whole life, but took care of himself, had friends, and had a happier life? That’s a question you have to ask yourself.

It begins by asking what motivates you, what you want to have in your life and how much of your life you are willing to trade to make that happen.

And isn’t that the case?

What are you going to do? Work like a crazy madman on the quest to become another Donald Trump, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs? So that you can sit upon billions and billions of dollars, while the nice day beckons outside, the fish are biting, and the cute girls would dearly wish that you would ask her out for a stroll on the beach and a cup of coffee.

Where are your friends? Where are your family in all this? Is that all there is to life? Work as some kind of corporate drone, and then retire as a starving old man?

Maybe there is another way… or, not.

We really need to take a good hard look at what the work environment is inside of America today. And compare it to the work environment in the rest of the world. And let me tell you… it is not pretty.

The following article is reprinted in it’s entirety, and edited to fit this venue. All credit to the authors.

“I’m gonna need you to come in on Saturday”: How “Office Space” got the modern workplace just right

Cubicles, layoffs, TPS report, flair — “Office Space” bombed at the box office, but endures because it was right

By Nikil Saval

The office could be any office. Cove fluorescents on a dimmer, modular shelving, the desk practically an abstraction. The whisper of sourceless ventilation. You are a trained observer and there is nothing to observe.

—David Foster Wallace, "The Pale King"

After the stock market crash, which emptied out the lofts and warehouses of San Francisco, eroding in an instant the frictionless, cloud-kicking fantasies of the dot-commers, another white-collar recession slung into place, and the office seemed to resume its role as the workplace everyone loved to hate.

Few cultural objects expressed this miasma of ill will better than the film “Office Space,” which appeared in 1999 at the very peak of the boom. Its theatrical run was a modest failure, but in retrospect it’s no surprise that a film so relentlessly dark and nasty would be overpowered by the delirium that gripped the end of the millennium.

This picture describes American workers all over America.

(From a reporter visiting a Microsoft annual meeting in 1997: “‘Why are we at Microsoft? ’ bellowed billionaire Steve Ballmer, then the company’s executive vice president, to a crowd of nine thousand employees packed into the Kingdome, Seattle’s indoor stadium. ‘For the money! ’ he screamed. ‘Show me the money! ’ The crowd responded with a roar: ‘Show me the money! ’ ”)

Running gags about staplers, misplaced memos, “Hawaiian Shirt Day,” and the specter of working lives wasted in dead-end, purposeless jobs for a gray tech company: no one appeared ready for that sort of humor in an era of raging exuberance—and anyway, the cubicle was dead, right?

Then the bubble burst; people woke up the following morning with their stock options erased; the beanbag chairs were gone, and they were in a cubicle again or unemployed and desperately searching for a cubicle. “Office Space” found new life on the small screen, a medium that suited the office worker existence depicted in the film: long days huddled in front of a computer, followed by short nights exhausted on the couch, staring at a television.

In 1999 it barely recovered its $10 million budget in box office receipts; by 2003, it had become a cult classic, with more than two and a half million copies sold on video. (It screens on Comedy Central with the sort of mindless regularity that suggests a bored television office staff behind it all. “What do we fill the 2 to 5 p.m. slot with? ” “Fuck it, let’s just put on ‘Office Space’ again.”)

Everyone knows very happy white-collar people who can quote “Office Space” with as much fervor and accuracy as a pastor does the Gospels, and it’s a plausible and routine assumption that repeated watchings of the film might offer a kind of therapy for stressed office workers: a vent for an inarticulate rage that helps keep them humming away at bad jobs.

But anecdotally, at least, it’s led to people quitting their jobs, and one Portland, Oregon, webmaster started a site, Bullshit Job, that doubled as both a tribute to the film and a page where workers could post all the insulting memos and e-mails their bosses sent out.

In other words, “Office Space,” and subsequent works in the general fraternity of office satire, helped office workers recognize themselves as belonging to a particular kind of group—a recognition that the office always seemed to deny, since no matter where you were in the office, you were always presumed to be on your way up. (Think of that line from the Stanwyck film: “Baby Face is moving out of your class.”) And part of the brilliance of the film was its insistence that the jobs weren’t bad simply because the office workers were oppressed: they were intrinsically bad jobs, in a bad environment.

Promotion for years of dedication to the new office in the basement.

The setup for “Office Space” represents a larger shift in the understanding of office life. The paradigmatic narrative had been the entry of the rural woman into urban white-collar life, with its attendant sexual terrors; by mid-century, it was the travails of the middle manager attempting to avoid the conformist spirit of organizational life. But the plot of “Office Space”—reflecting the larger changes in the American economy—is about people being forced to leave an environment they hate, through layoffs; the same is true of the British show “The Office” (called, in an even more insulting euphemism, “redundancies”) and of the recent American novels of office life “Then We Came to the End” and “Personal Days.”

The prospect of losing one’s job forces the personal crisis: you come to know who your friends are, what your loyalties are worth, and what your job really is.

In “Office Space,” consultants come to examine the company’s structure to give it a leaner form; though their method is unjust, they really do find people working useless jobs:

BOB SLYDELL ( JOHN C. McGINLEY) : What you do at Initech is you take the specifications from the customers, and you bring them down to the software engineers.

TOM SMYKOWSKI (RICHARD RIEHLE) : Yes, yes, that’s right.

BOB PORTER (PAUL WILLSON) : Well, then, I have to ask—why couldn’t the customers just take them directly to the software people?

TOM: I’ll tell you why. Because engineers are not good at dealing with customers.

SLYDELL: So you physically take the specs from the customer?

TOM : Well . . . no, my secretary does that. Or the fax.

PORTER : So then you must physically bring them to the software people?

TOM : Well, no. I mean, sometimes.

SLYDELL: What would you say you do here?TOM : Well, look, I already told you. I deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don’t have to. (Screaming.) I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can’t you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?

Tom Smykowski is defensive about his job, even though he can’t explain what it is he does. Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), the main protagonist, knows that his job—updating software for the Y2K switch—sucks, and he knows that it’s meaningless; from the vantage point of the new millennium, it seems especially useless.

Struggling to explain it to a waitress, Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), he says, “I sit in a cubicle, and I update bank software for the 2000 switch. Well, see they wrote all this bank software, and to save space they used two digits instead of four, so like 98 instead of 1998, uh, so I go through these thousands of lines of code and uh . . . It doesn’t really matter. I don’t like my job.”

Later Peter confesses to the consultants that his average workday consists of coming in fifteen minutes late and “just sort of spac[ing] out for about an hour . . . I do that for about another hour after lunch too. I’d say in a given week, I only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual work.”

The twist is that this honesty is exactly what the consultants prize—a kind of ironized version of the “truth-telling” organization man of “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.” Though Peter stops showing up to work and wrecks his work space by dismantling his cubicle walls, the consultants offer him a promotion. “[He’s] just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him,” one consultant says to Peter’s boss.

In return, however, they fire two engineers with actual experience, who happen to be Peter’s friends. This sets in motion the increasingly madcap (and implausible) third act, when Peter and his laid-off friends try to program a virus that would scam the company they despise out of thousands of dollars. At the end of the film, one of the company’s disgruntled employees, the sublime mutterer Milton Waddams (Stephen Root), sets the building on fire.

Peter’s engineer friends have moved from Initech to its competitor Initrode; Peter himself takes a blue-collar job in construction—preferring the outdoor life to his stationary warren of cubicles.

“Office Space” occupies such a tremendous place in the American office worker’s imaginary about his workplace it’s a shame that its effect—or the effect of the larger discourse it’s a part of—has tended to be shallow and focused on the cubicle and dumb bosses.

The “space” in “Office Space” was largely a symbol—of an uncaring, even ruthless organization.

Its real targets were the unholy expectations of the modern workplace, which asked for dedication and commitment, offering none in return.

It doubled the force of its condemnation by extending it to other kinds of workplaces. The waitress Joanna works in a chain diner called Chotchkie’s, whose absurd expectations closely resemble those of the office. Part of her job involves donning wacky buttons with slogans and symbols on them, called “flair.” At one point, her boss takes her aside to chastise her about her flair.

STAN (MIKE JUDGE) : Joanna! . . . We need to talk about your flair.

JOANNA : Really? I have fifteen pieces on (demonstrating).

STAN : Fifteen is the minimum, mmkay. It’s up to you whether you want to just do the bare minimum. Brian for example has thirty-seven pieces of flair—and a terrific smile.

JOANNA : Okay, so you want me to wear more?

STAN : (Sighing.) Look, Joanna,  people can get a cheeseburger anywhere, they come to Chotchkie’s for the atmosphere  and the attitude. That’s what the flair’s about. It’s about fun.

JOANNA : So . . . more, then.

STAN : Look, we want you to express yourself. Mmkay? Now, if you feel the bare minimum is enough, well, okay, but some people choose to wear more, and we encourage that. You do want to express yourself, don’t you?

Joanna’s boss occupies the same place as the office consultants: looking for intangible, personality-based outward expressions as signs of being a “straight shooter”—rather than establishing obvious benchmarks that one meets simply to garner a paycheck.

Her suspenders laden with flair suggest nothing so much as cubicle walls, decked out to show one’s “individuality.” The human attachments in “Office Space” were so strange and obsessive—Milton and his now infamous need to keep his red Swingline stapler—that it was hard to believe there was anything still left to express.

Those still immune to the satire of flair, however, are encouraged to check out the catalogs of the office supplier Baudville, which offers, among other choice items, rhinestone-encrusted lanyards as well as T-shirts for appreciation weeks with slogans like “Smells like Team Spirit” and “I Put the ‘Zing’ in Amazing.”

After such knowledge as “Office Space” offered, what orgiveness? How could one acknowledge the essential failure of the office to deliver on its promised utopia—and go on as if nothing had happened?

For many, the question was merely rhetorical: they were out of work and stringing together temporary gigs as best they could. But for others, the dream of a better office lived on in different ways: some saw technology as still offering a way of moving office work out of the office, into a broader sphere of public life; others saw that the office needed to be made vastly more humane and responsive to its increasingly apathetic denizens.

These two paths were united by a single goal: the desire to make work enjoyable, to return it to an innocence that generations of workplace mistakes had rendered corrupt.

In an arresting and bleak phrase, the sociologist Max Weber had described the progress of rationality and scientific demystification as leading to a gradual “disenchantment of the world.” Something like that had happened to office work: the rosy image of the office as a distinct, and distinctly middle-class, alternative to the travails of factory work and other manual labor had suffered too many jolts to survive. The office would have to be re-enchanted.

Excerpted from “Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace” by Nikil Saval.

Nothing new, right?

Ah. You all know about this, and have watched the movie.

And maybe things are changing… at a glacial pace. For those of you who have planned a life independent of the corporate treadmill, you are truly fortunate. You own your own businesses and define your hours to your own liking and your very own familial needs.

But for the rest of us…

…those that were taught in our public schools that the key for success was working hard, getting good grades and working for a company that would take care of us… (and provide us with a great pension)…

…what of us?

The way that white collar workers do their work didn’t just happen that way, but it was a result of deliberate choices – from the architecture of the buildings that the work is done in to the furniture that the workers sit on. I hadn’t thought too deeply about it, thinking that the way things are was just a bit like the way things were, only with computers. I was wrong, and Saval tracks the changes, focused on the United States from the industrial revolution on. The white-collar worker has not been devoid of the standardization and alienation that the blue-collar worker had and rebelled against. The white-collar worker just never saw their white-collar chains; instead, they looked up, hoping to move up the ladder (no matter how false that metaphor is or was).

The potential for striving has, writ large, been the barrier to class to recognition of the white-collar worker for generations. The lack of upward mobility except for into the white-collar ranks is what led to unionism and workers improving their lots. The myth of upward mobility in white-collar terms is a form of social control that is not readily seen.

Saval tracks this, and it makes me think if this has been a deliberate move. As production has been mechanized, there are fewer production workers and more support staff in ancillary roles to production. As more workers move out of production and the workforce is more and more professionalized, white-collar membership is the mass of workers. It is the cube that keeps them apart and alienated. Maybe it is a prison of sorts.

-A Novel History of the Place of Work

What of us?

Where is our “life balance”?

American Work-Life Balance

According to the Center for American PROGRESS on the topic of work and family life balance, “in 1960, only 20 percent of mothers worked. Today, 70 percent of American children live in households where all adults are employed.”. U.S. Department of Labor statistics back up this data, and notes that 75% of those women working full time. I don’t care who stays home and who works in terms of gender (work opportunity equality for all – it’s a family choice). Either way, when all adults are working (single or with a partner), that’s a huge hit to the American family and free-time in the American household.
The U.S. is the ONLY country in the Americas without a national paid parental leave benefit. The average is over 12 weeks of paid leave anywhere other than Europe and over 20 weeks in Europe.
Zero industrialized nations are without a mandatory option for new parents to take parental leave. That is, except for the United States.

American Average Work Hours:

At least 134 countries have laws setting the maximum length of the work week; the U.S. does not.
In the U.S., 85.8 percent of males and 66.5 percent of females work more than 40 hours per week.
According to the ILO, “Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers.”
Using data by the U.S. BLS, the average productivity per American worker has increased 400% since 1950. One way to look at that is that it should only take one-quarter the work hours, or 11 hours per week, to afford the same standard of living as a worker in 1950 (or our standard of living should be 4 times higher). Is that the case? Obviously not. Someone is profiting, it’s just not the average American worker.

American Paid Vacation Time & Sick Time:

There is not a federal law requiring paid sick days in the United States.
The U.S. remains the only industrialized country in the world that has no legally mandated annual leave.
In every country included except Canada and Japan (and the U.S., which averages 13 days/per year), workers get at least 20 paid vacation days. In France and Finland, they get 30 – an entire month off, paid, every year.
Then there’s this depressing graph on average paid vacation time in industrialized countries:

The Impact of Too Much Work

I’m not telling you to work less hours. If you genuinely love what you do and are doing it for the right reasons, you are more than entitled to spend all of your waking hours plugging away.

But for many of us, more work leads to more stress and a lower quality of life. Without time to unwind, take care of your home, spend time with loved ones, enjoy our hobbies, connect with friends, and generally live a more balanced life. Stress is the #1 cause of health problems – mentally and physically. And there are few things that stress us out on a consistent basis like work does, especially when it takes away from all of the other things that life has to offer.

Americans are the Outliers

And if all of this data tells anything, it’s that we are the outliers, not the norm. Why are we the outliers?

Our companies fairly ruthlessly let people go. We want to keep our jobs and not be a ‘low performer’ compared to others.
The decline of the union has led to less paid time off and other leave benefits.
Cultural value of money over everything else. We love money, we want more of it, and we think money can buy happiness. And the more we work, the more we get paid.
It’s been drilled in our heads that we are lazy compared to emerging market counterpart workers in India, Mexico, China, and other parts of Asia. Who isn’t? And what is our mental image of the work environments in those locales? To validate those fears, our jobs are being outsourced to the cheap labor in those countries. In reality, the U.S. trails only Norway and Luxembourg (2 tiny countries) productivity per person.
Our legislative branch of the government (on both sides of the aisle) has been bought and as a result has shied away from passing laws that protect workers that every other industrialized nation has passed.
We generally don’t fight for our working rights. We take what is given to us.

What we All Need to Remember

What we all need to remind ourselves is that it doesn’t have to be this way.

It’s OK to ask to move to fewer hours at work.
It’s OK to take a week-long vacation if we need to.
It’s OK to ask to work from home.
It’s OK to take a month of unpaid leave while you raise a child.
It’s OK… you get the idea.

Don’t let life pass you by in the name of fear, circumstance, greed, or misguided hopes. Sometimes you just need to draw a line in the sand and say “enough is enough”.

And yeah.

I can hear it now…

If you don't like America so much, then leave. 'Merica is the best! Rah Rah Rah.

U.S. Americans’ Work-Life Balance Is Exceedingly Imbalanced

Research shows many Americans who receive paid time off are afraid to take it because of workplace pressures. But it turns out the European vacation mindset could actually help boost productivity.

The European Union’s Working Time Directive guarantees EU workers at least 20 paid vacation days per year, contrary to the United States, which does not have a statutory minimum annual leave requirement. Some European countries mandate additional time off; the UK, France, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, and Sweden all require 25 or more paid annual leave days. OECD data shows more time off doesn’t have to translate to lower productivity. On the contrary, some of the most productive countries, measured by GDP per hour worked, were in Europe.

The United States ranks far lower.

And don’t tell me that there are worst places in the world. Sure there are. But that is not the issue. The issue is [1] what is going wrong, and [2] how to fix it.

Belgium
Workers here enjoy an average of 8.6 hours of leisure per day—which trumps their 7.4-hour work days. Locals really value quality family time, getting home in time for dinner each night, and taking a full month-long vacation over the summer to coincide with school breaks.

Austria

Many offices in Austria have an 8–5 workday—except for Fridays, when employees are encouraged to go home at 3 p.m. Never ending “summer Fridays” aside, the country is also one of the best in the world for people looking to relocate; 80% of expats in Austria said their work-life balance improved since moving there (compared to the 53% global average).

Germany

The German government has several regulations in place to make sure its citizens don’t overwork themselves. And the work-hour regulations (Arbeitszeitgesetz) state that workers cannot put in more than 48 hours a week—or work Sundays or national holidays.

Luxembourg

Working on Sundays is outlawed in Luxembourg (though exceptions include maintenance and security jobs). The country also scores well in the sleep and vacation departments, with citizens getting an average of 7.2 hours of sleep per night and a minimum of five weeks paid annual leave—in addition to national holidays.

Spain

Although many employees do not take advantage of early afternoon siestas there is still an annual vacation allowance of 30 days.

France

French workers spend the most time—9.3 hours per day—devoted to leisure and relaxation. In 2017, France also introduced a law that allows workers the “right to disconnect” from afterhours work emails.

The French work hard, but the OECD thinks that gender inequality in the workplace is holding it back. While 78 percent of women work full-time, they say, “access to the labour [sic] market of mothers of young or large families could be improved but would likely require a more equal share of caring activities between parents.” In other words, women could be having a better work-life balance in France if their partners stepped up their childcare and were given longer paternity leave, and other support structures from their employers. That’s also a factor that affects U.S. families, where paid paternal and maternal leave aren’t mandated by national law.

Finland

At first glance, work hours in Finland look pretty similar to those in the United States: Monday through Friday, 8–5. However, their lunch breaks are one to two hours long. A great advocate of healthy living and rejuvenation, the government gave its citizens four “Nature Days” to celebrate its 100^th birthday outdoors.

The Netherlands

Although the Netherlands only gives workers nine bank holidays per year, they compensate with the shortest work week of all the countries surveyed (averaging at 30.3 hours). Add to that 20 to 25 annual vacation days and extremely generous parental leave policies, this makes the Netherlands one of the highest-ranking countries for employees to enjoy a good work-life balance.

According to the OECD, the Netherlands had the best work-life balance in 2018, with Denmark, last year’s winner, losing out narrowly. In every area, the Dutch came out on top.

One of the big factors for the Dutch, says the OECD, is hours worked. “In the Netherlands, less than 0.5 percent of employees work very long hours, the lowest rate in the OECD where the average is one percent,” they write. About one percent of men work very long hours, compared with almost no women.” They define “long hours” as over 50 hours per week.

In the U.S., by comparison, the OECD says that 11 percent of employees put in long slogs, including 16 percent of men and 7 percent of women. The Netherlands has strict working week laws to prevent people working over 60 hours. Dutch culture doesn’t put as much emphasis on working till you’re exhausted, writes Business Culture, and encourages leaving leisure time. “They have clearly defined working hours and they respect them,” Business Culture writes.

You can take sick leave for up to two years and still receive 70 percent of your salary, according to a survey by the employment site Glassdoor. It’s the most generous sick-leave policy in Europe. Compared to the U.S., where there is no policy, it frankly boggles the mind.

Sweden
Sweden enjoys 25 annual vacation days, along with 16 months of paid family leave and 14 bank holidays per year, making it one of the more generous countries in terms of in Europe for employees.

Prisons in Sweden are meant to rehabilitate criminals, which helps explain why the country’s recidivism rate—how frequently people return to prison—is so low. In 2014, it was 40 percent, about half that of the U.S. And Swedish penitentiaries more closely resemble American offices or college dorm rooms than they do prisons, according to The Guardian.

Denmark
Denmark balances salary against cost of living well, and average daily leisure hours (8.8 per day) way outnumber work hours (6.6 per day). According to U.S. News & World Report, this is also the 2^nd best country in the world to raise children. Both mothers and fathers are entitled to 23 weeks of parental leave, plus mothers get an extra four weeks of leave before their expected due date.

Unemployed workers in Denmark get 90 percent of previous earnings for up to 104 weeks, the most generous unemployment benefits in the EU, the Glassdoor survey said. This far outpaces the U.S., where unemployment pays 40 to 50 percent of earnings for up to 26 weeks.

Only 0.5% of Dutch employees regularly work very long hours, which is the lowest rate in the OECD, where the average is 13%. Instead, they devote around 16 hours per day to eating, sleeping and leisurely pursuits.

The Netherlands also boasts very low rates of youth unemployment, high literacy levels, below average levels of child income poverty and high levels of life satisfaction in childhood – over 93% of 11-15-year-old children report above average life satisfaction, for instance.

Work responsibilities are also shared among Dutch families, with the number of women in employment doubling from 35% in the early 1980s to 69.9% today, which is well above the OECD average of 57.5%.

There is also a strong sense of community in the Netherlands, where 90% of people say they know a friend or family member they could count on in times of trouble. This is slightly better than the 89% reported across other OECD countries.

Australia

The OECD reports that “when asked to rate their general satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10, Australians gave it a 7.3 grade on average, higher than the OECD average of 6.5.” In the U.S., the grade is 6.9. Comparatively, though, Australia isn’t actually that good at work-life balance.

“Full-time workers devote 60 percent of their day on average, or 14.4 hours, to personal care (eating, sleeping, etc.) and leisure (socialising [sic] with friends and family, hobbies, games, computer and television use, etc.) — less than the OECD average of 15 hours,” says the OECD. It’s only just behind the U.S. in work-life rankings, ranking 32nd to the U.S.’s 31st. Less time for leisure and fun means a less balanced, more stressed country.

A recent report has found that the United States is the only advanced economy that does not require employers to provide paid vacation time. Almost 1-in-4 Americans do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays, trailing far behind most of the rest of the world’s rich nations, according to the report.

“No-Vacation Nation Revisited,” released earlier this year by the Center for Economic and Policy Research reviewed the international labor laws impacting paid vacation and holidays in 21 rich nations. The countries included 16 European countries, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States, all major economies that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Some highlights of the report:

For the United States:

Workers have no statutory right to paid vacations.

The sum of the average paid vacation and paid holidays provided to workers in the private sector ― 16 in total ― would not meet even the minimum required by law in 19 other rich countries, the report notes.

The lack of paid vacation and paid holidays is particularly acute for low-wage workers, part-time workers, and for employees of small businesses. (Workers in small businesses are less likely to have any paid vacation (69 percent) than those in medium and large establishments (86 percent); only 49 percent of low-wage workers have paid vacation, compared to 90 percent of high-wage workers; part-time workers are far less likely to have paid vacations (35 percent) than full-time workers (91 percent).

The gap between paid time off in the United States and the rest of the world is even larger when legal holidays are included. U.S. law does not guarantee any paid holidays, but most rich countries provide between 5 and 13 per year, in addition to paid vacation days.

For other rich countries:

Workers in the European Union are legally guaranteed at least 20 paid vacation days per year, with 25 and even 30 or more days in some countries.

Canada and Japan guarantee at least 10 days of paid vacation per year.

Five countries even mandate that employers pay vacationing workers a small premium above their standard pay in order to help with vacation-related expenses.

Most other rich countries have also established legal rights to paid holidays over and above paid vacation days.

Several foreign countries offer additional time off for younger and older workers, shift workers, and those engaged in community service including jury duty and for activities like union duties, getting married, or moving.

“The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation days and paid holidays,” John Schmitt, senior economist and co-author of the report, said in a statement. “Relying on businesses to voluntarily provide paid leave just hasn’t worked.”

Rebecca Ray and Milla Sanes were co-authors of the study.

The center studied this topic initially in 2007, but since then, little progress has been made, the researchers noted.

“It is striking that six years after we first looked at this topic absolutely nothing has changed. U.S. law and U.S. employer behavior still lags far behind the rest of the rich countries in the world,” Schmitt added.

So let’s get back to “brass tacks”

People need to have a plan to manage their lives within a crazy, ever-changing society. One that is very fast, and proceeding ahead faster and faster with technological advances. You cannot count on work, society, or your government to help you out. You need to plan on how to survive within the confines of what is at your reach.

We need a plan. And it has to be better than fighting over every single penny, and grasping for every little thing.

You have skills. Improve them. Advertise them. Use them.

You are part of community. Embrace your role. Be helpful and supportive of others in your community.

Realize that no one can help you. You are on your own. And as such, strengthen your bonds with others in your local community and make sure that you and your family have a great work/life balance. It is critical for your happiness and critical for your health.

And while other nations, other peoples and other societies have it better than you Americans do, do not get all upset about that. That’s not your problem. Getting to have the same kind of happiness and life balance that they have, is.

It starts with you.

As American culture, society, and industry has become isolated from PEOPLE and their families, so has the American government. This “double tap” has caused a deep impression on the combined American psyche. And it’s not a good one. In fact, I can argue that this effect has been so horrible that it has created a downward spiral with the United States seems to be entrapped within.

Click

There was an Adam Sandler movie made in 2006 titled “Click“. And this movie take a good comedic look at the Work/life balance that exists within the United States today.

Michael Newman (Sandler) is a hard working family man, who must please his boss (Hasselhoff), in order to get promoted. Problem is he gets less time with his family, and wishes for a remote in which he can control his life. This soon comes true for Newman, when he meets Morty (Walken), a crazy sales clerk, who has the ultimate remote. A remote in which he can do anything, including muting, skipping and dubbing his life. He finds this to be the opportunity in which he can not only skip every argument, but also skip to his promotion. He sees this as a good idea, until the remote goes horribly wrong. 

-Written by Film_Fan

It was Adam Sandler’s most underrated movie.His role was that of a ordinary workaholic of that time trying to put up a better living for his family but he misunderstood his priorities and try to make the family happy but instead went on avoiding their company. It a fine piece of art and a wonderful chemistry of husband and wife.

It’s a comedy, but it’s also a drama. It is something that maybe all of us need to take a good long look at.

Scrooge was granted visions of Christmas Past and Christmas Future, and reformed his life. What happens to Adam Sandler in “Click” is like what happened to Scrooge, except with a lot more Christmases. He needs more than one lesson and he gets more than one lesson. Way more.In “Being There,” the hero Chance has spent all of his life watching television. When he wanders out to freedom and is threatened on the street, he clicks a TV remote control to get another channel.

In “Click,” Sandler plays Michael, an architect who is given a universal remote that’s truly Universal. With it, he can take control of his life: freeze a scene, fast-forward, reverse, mute the sound, select the chapters of his choice and even witness his parents at the moment of his conception (that’s, of course, in the “Making of” documentary).

Of course.

The movie is being sold as a comedy, but you know what? This isn’t funny. Yes, there are some laughs, as when he finds he can turn the dog’s barking up and down, or play around with the settings for hue and contrast, or when he discovers the picture-in-picture feature that allows him to watch the ballgame no matter what else is going on around him. But the movie essentially involves a workaholic who uses the universal remote to skip over all the bad stuff in his life and discovers in the process that he is missing life itself.

Take away the gimmick of the universal remote, and this is what a lot of us do, and it’s sad.

Yes.

That’s me…

…and yes. That’s you.

It’s not just sad, it’s brutal.

There’s an undercurrent of cold, detached cruelty in the way Michael uses the magical device. He turns off the volume during an argument with his wife. He fast-forwards through a boring family dinner, and later through foreplay. He skips ahead to avoid a bad cold. He jumps to the chapter where he gets a promotion. Eventually, he realizes the family dog has died and been replaced by another, his kids have grown up, his wife is married to someone else, and he weighs 400 pounds. It happened while he wasn’t paying attention.

Surprisingly good 
25 June 2006I walked into the movie theater expecting to see Adam Sandler make a complete buffoon of himself. However, when I came out I was impressed. There was a depth to this movie I did not see coming, and it took me completely off guard. "Click" proved to be a powerful, emotional, and humorous piece of work. There was a certain philosophical message in this movie, in which I think, we all take for granted. Adam Sandler did a great job in playing a work-aholic.

Like many other Sandler movies, this one lingers studiously over bodily functions. After losing enormous amount of weight, for example, Michael plays with a big flap of loose skin around his stomach, plopping it up and down long after any possible audience curiosity has been satisfied. During an argument with his boss (David Hasselhoff), he freeze-frames the boss, jumps on his desk and farts. When he puts his boss back on “play,” the boss inexplicably decides his secretary has put feces in his salad. Anyone who can’t tell poop from lettuce doesn’t deserve to be a senior partner.

They teach you that in business school.

Maybe that’s why she decided to have a sex change.

But I digress…

Michael is surrounded by patient and saintly people. His wife, Donna (Kate Beckinsale), loves him but despairs of reaching him. She has that standard wifely role of complaining when he has to work late and can’t be at the swimming meet/Fourth of July party, etc. Michael’s parents (Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner) are sweet and loving but kvetch too much and talk too slowly, so Michael zaps right through the time he has remaining with them.

Like many of us do.

And then, before we realize it, they are all out of our lives forever.

We went ahead and chased that ‘almighty dollar”. We followed our careers, and we chased after the money to “make a better life for ourselves”, but you all know… it really wasn’t necessary.

As long as you can balance your TIME with your MONEY you will be fine. It is when you mistakenly believe that you need certain “essentials” instead of time with family and friends that things end up going wrong.

Here is the handy-dandy Metallicman cheat-sheet chart to help you all plan out your life…

And where are you on it right now?

It’s a valid question.

Now, let’s compare the work/life balance of Americans to the rest of the world, and let’s include the modern contemporaneous HR limitations about actions and behaviors on employees when they are not at work. Compare the USA work/life balance to the rest of the world…

America is truly the leader …

…in making a lot of money. But how about having a decent life to go along with that money that we all earn? I mean do we all have to end up becoming a mega-billionaire in order to be able to take a day off to watch our sons play a softball game? Do we need to work long, long days all the time, jsut to be able to afford one night out a week in a restaurant?

Think about it people!

The automobile

People now drive these amazingly expensive vehicles. They have all sorts of things. Such as heated seats, power windows, power seat adjustments, wifi, super-charged engines, custom colors and interiors, and all sorts of enhancements. And yeah. That is why they are all so expensive.

And to drive these cars, we all take out loans. Because the cars are so expensive.

But really, if you can get by without a car, you could save an enormous amount of money every month. And then use that money on the down payment on a house that you could rent out instead…

…or not.

The point is that you don’t really need an expensive car. If you have a great life, with great family and fantastic friends, do you REALLY need to have the most expensive car on the block, a ski boat, a pool in the backyard, and a five bedroom, three bath, McMansion?

I argue that you do not.

My co-workers got me a birthday cake, celebration at 3pm in the breakroom. Little did they know (nor did I) that the purpose of my prior meeting at 2pm with my manager was to lay me off. I was escorted out, I am in the parking lot, one of them just texted me now, photo of cake, saying they are “eating it in my memory”. hahaha I even requested that they all wear Hawaiian shirts, including me, so I got fired wearing my f___ing flowery Hawaiian shirt. Needless to say, I got no cake either.

And with that keep in mind that this need for making more and more money is a sickness. It is ingrained in our American culture and it is resulting in some very disturbing trends. Obesity, death rates, addictions, crime, and a general collapse of society. And any one who thinks that this all… this status quo needs to be preserved needs their head examined. It needs to change.

It needs to change.

Change starts with you.

I see cracks in the society that embraces this sickness, and while it all appears worrisome, it shouldn’t be. It should be welcomed. Because change is long, long overdue. America has to change. It’s citizens are dying in the society that the government has constructed for it.

Change starts with you.

Make your life a good one.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my life and happiness index, here…

Life & Happiness

Articles & Links

To go to the MAIN Index;

Master Index

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
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America is slowly being rebuilt brick by brick towards a more community focus instead of an automobile focus.

Who would have known?

Throughout history, nations rise when there is righteous leadership that cared for its citizens' welfare and do the greater good. When they are corrupt and self-serving, those nations fall. Learn from history because we live in a world governed by cause and effect. History will repeat itself.

-Tom Tan

Imagine that. A nation decides to adapt to the people instead of legislating behaviors for them to follow. I know, I know, it’s a long way to go. But to hear that this is happening in the United States is absolutely astounding. It really is.

Wow!

Good stuff!

Great.

It’s about time.

It’s a new world

Yes it is.

I see the global pandemic starting a trend. Actually a series of trends. One of which would be a severely curtailed movement of people across national borders. While others involve a decrease in the use of airlines and planes to go from place to place. You will see these venues downsize.

Just like American malls have down-scaled due to the loss of the American middle class.

the world is changing. you can see it everywhere.

Here’s a scanning robot that I encountered at the mall when I was out getting some groceries. (We go to the mall for fun, we really don’t need to. The delivery services of Er-le-ma and Kangaroo are quite functional.) He said a cheery “Ni Hao!” as I walked by.

Scanning robot in China. — It’s a new world out there.

But you all have got to get the stupid “elected officials” out of Washington DC and start working together to help Americans. All this finger pointing, first to Russia and then to China is just useless and very counter productive. Nothing good will come of it. You have to look inside and address the problems there.

Why is “democracy” so valuable?

It’s heavily promoted (don’t you know) that one-person, one-vote system is the pinnacle of “freedom” and “liberty” in the world. Which is rather strange as the founders of the United States said the absolute opposite.

And people are looking at these various systems of governance with a keen eye. Maybe there needs to be some changes they wonder…

Daniel Bell has put forward his views in favor of China's political meritocracy... against the one person one vote (Western Democracy model) as a mode of selection for political leaders. He has done this  in two books.

The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy
Princeton University Press, 2015. ISBN 9781400865505.
 
Dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University and professor at Tsinghua University (Schwarzman College and Department of Philosophy). He was born in Montreal, educated at McGill and Oxford, has taught in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and has held research fellowships at Princeton's University Center for Human Values, Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences and Hebrew University's Department of Political Science. 
 
Here:
https://youtu.be/e63ro_suARA

If you are fat and overweight, you change your diet, go to a doctor, exercise more, and monitor your vitals. You do not point at a thin and healthy person and blame them for your problems. Nothing positive or good will come out of it.

Speaking about blaming China…

Pause in WeChat, TikTok ban a positive signal for China-US ties: analysts
The Americans were going to ban WeChat and TikTok from the USA. Then they realized many of their businesses - specially the precious petite bourgeois "small businesses" - are only profitable with WeChat, while a whole sector of the "influencers" business only existed (and prospered) because of TikTok (the same way many glorified salesmen only exist in YouTube).

My bet is, if they can't outright expropriate WeChat and TikTok (Trump tried to expropriate TikTok, forcing it to include their algorithm and source code in the forced selling of their American branch of the business, essentially creating a second, American clone of the company), the Americans will simply let this legal aberration to slowly die and fade into oblivion.

China shows zero tolerance for fake news by banning BBC World News
Propaganda is not information. Fake news is not press. Lies are not speech. Therefore, the BBC is not press and is not speech.

The USA's response was hilarious. It basically stated that, because China has an oppressive system and the West has a free system (because of reasons), China is not entitled to ban Western news outlets, while the West is entitled to ban Chinese newspapers at will. Typical case of infantile "I'm better than you" rant.

Chinese consumption unabated on Spring Festival Eve despite 'stay put' policy
After months of double digit cases, Mainland China finally zeroed new cases and is holding its Spring Festival. Meanwhile, the self-governed province of Taiwan cancelled its Spring Festival after eight consecutive months of (officially) zero new cases and just some 20 cases in January (12 of which happened in a cluster, a hospital). Weird, somebody is cooking the books here...

UK economy hit by record slump in 2020 but double-dip recession avoided
The UK's economy fell double the expected - but at least it avoided a double-dip recession!

Why Japan Inc can’t and won’t quit China
Welcome to the world of capitalism, Mr. Pesek.

-Posted by: vk | Feb 12 2021 12:18 utc | 72

It’s actually pretty bad.

It’s sort of like this…

It’s the way of losers.

To blame others for things that you yourself cause. And yet I find it difficult to accept that America is populated with losers. Sure there are evil people in government, and dregs of society shopping at Wal-mart, but certainly decent people still exist, don’t you think?

America is a real mess

Tax freedom day this year fell on Aug. 12. That’s how long it now takes for the middle-class worker to fulfill his “obligation” to the leviathan. The Ponzi scheme that is our fiat money system is insatiable. It inflates away the savings and investments of Main Street America.

Angel protects. — Americans need some protection.

While the middle-class struggles, the entitlement class grows. High unemployment (who can even count the unemployed at this point), directly caused by government lockdown policies, pushes more people out of the middle class and into the parasite class. One in five American children now lives in poverty, according to a report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

But the parasites live well off the producers. They get “free” housing, “free” food, “free” cable television, “free” cell phones. Their kids eat “free” at school (meals are still handed out at schools, even in lockdown). These “entitlements,” along with ever-extended long-term unemployment benefits, become so attractive that the incentive to work is suppressed.

The workers look with disdain on the parasites. The parasites look with envy on the workers, wanting not their jobs but what they have. Recent riots in Great Britain demonstrate what happens when the parasites decide they want more.

Meanwhile, even the working class is at war with one another. This is encouraged by the elites, but the current Administration has doubled down. The thugocracy of the Labor Unions terrorize non-union workers and companies large and small.

We need to help each other. — .
In America, everyone is at war with each other. America should be offering a helping hand to others in need. Not trying to fight each other.

Tea Party members, at least those who gathered in 2009 and much of 2010 before the Republican Party began to co-opt the movement, were blue collar and white collar, owners of small businesses, retirees, former military, salt-of-the-earth people from all political spectrums who would not support toppling foreign regimes, making war on countries that have not attacked us “for democracy,” or perpetual wars.

And while they indicated they are fed up with the status quo, Tea Party rallies were peaceful and orderly gatherings: Americans engaging in their right to petition government.

Now? Capitol protestors are “terrorists.” Right wing, left wing? Republican, Democrat? Engage in your Two Minutes Hate. The lamestream media talking heads are proud.

The elites love war abroad and at home. It distracts the masses from government’s ongoing theft and manipulation. Anger with one another allows them to continue their looting. It promotes threats and violence, which allows them to further clamp down on freedom.

Endless wars, abroad and at home, equal totalitarianism. It’s totalitarianism under the sweet-sounding name of “democracy“.

American Police State. Domestic arrest within a military empire. What would the Founders of the United States think of this? Do you think that they would approve?

Lest you think this is not the case, ABC News reports that …

"The Pentagon will deploy more than 1,100 troops to five vaccination centers in what will be the first wave of increased military support for the White House campaign to get more Americans inoculated against COVID-19."

You all think that America isn’t a Oligarchy-run Military Empire?

We need some angels to intervene and set things right.

The American cult of the individual denies not just community but the very idea of society. No one owes anything to anyone. All must be prepared to fight for everything: education, shelter, food, medical care. What every prosperous and successful democracy deems to be fundamental rights — universal health care, equal access to quality public education, a social safety net for the weak, elderly, and infirmed — America dismisses as socialist indulgences, as if so many signs of weakness.

How can the rest of the world expect America to lead on global threats — climate change, the extinction crisis, pandemics — when the country no longer has a sense of benign purpose, or collective well-being, even within its own national community? Flag-wrapped patriotism is no substitute for compassion; anger and hostility no match for love. Those who flock to beaches, bars, and political rallies, putting their fellow citizens at risk, are not exercising freedom; they are displaying, as one commentator has noted, the weakness of a people who lack both the stoicism to endure the pandemic and the fortitude to defeat it.

-The Unraveling of America

Anyways…

Let’s get on a more positive note. And let’s start talking about rebuilding America into something better.

The People the Suburbs Were Built for Are Gone

A new book documents the “retrofitting” of obsolete suburban malls, box stores, office parks, parking lots, motels, and more. by Shayla Love written on January 22, 2021, at 1:00am. Edited to fit this venue. All credit to the author.

Last summer, Donald Trump and Ben Carson, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, co-bylined an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal promising to “protect America’s suburbs,” describing how they reversed policies that would allow for the creation of denser living structures in areas zoned only for single-family homes.Advertisement

“America’s suburbs are a shining example of the American Dream, where people can live in their own homes, in safe, pleasant neighborhoods,” they wrote.

But the suburbs, in the sense of the idyllic American pastoral Trump and Carson referenced, have been changing for some time—not necessarily the physical homes, stores, roads, and offices that populate them, but the people who live there, along with their needs and desires. Previous mainstays of suburban life are now myths: that the majority of people own their homes; that the suburbs are havens for the middle class; or that the bulk of people are young families who value privacy over urban amenities like communal spaces, walkability, and mixed-use properties.

This mismatch has led to a phenomenon called “suburban retrofitting,” as documented by June Williamson, an associate professor of architecture at the City College of New York, and Ellen Dunham-Jones, a professor of architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. They have a new book out this week: Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges.

Welcome to Metropica, a Supposed City of the Future

Allie Conti

Since the 1990s, Williamson and Dunham-Jones have been watching the suburbs evolve. They have found that much of the suburban sprawl of the 20th century was built to serve a very different population than the one that exists now, and so preserving what the suburbs once were doesn’t make sense.

Their book describes 32 recent instances in which suburban structures have been transformed into something new. Many of the cases in Williamson and Dunham-Jones first book from 2011 on the same topic were focused on underused parking lots being transformed into mixed-use spaces. But in this new book, the retrofitting projects have become more ambitious, as cities and towns turn old box stores, malls, motels, or office parks into places for people to live, work, eat, play, exercise, go to the doctor, or even watch Mexican wrestling.Advertisement

They have found that when the suburbs are retrofitted, they can take on an astonishing array of modern issues: car dependency, public health, supporting aging people, helping people compete for jobs, creating water and energy resilience, and helping with social equity and justice.

Motherboard talked with Williamson and Dunham-Jones about why and how we should retrofit the suburbs, and whether or not the COVID-19 has made the suburbs appealing again, or instead accelerated the desire to retrofit the burbs.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Motherboard: How do you define the suburbs—a slippery term with no concrete definition? You write in the book that you define something as suburban based on its “suburban form," not necessarily on location or city lines—what do you mean by that?

June Williamson: We’re architects and urban designers and so we are focused on the built environment. That means that when we’re looking at places, generally, that have been built out in the second half of the 20th century to be car dependent, not walkable, and have comparatively lower density.

Ellen Dunham-Jones: Similarly, you can look at the street networks. If you’ve got a grid, more or less, with small, walkable-sized blocks, that’s urban form. If you have a highway leading off into cul de sacs, that’s suburban form, which is a more treelike kind of pattern.

JW: That kind of development certainly characterizes most of the peripheral areas around the older urban cores in Northern American cities. But it can also be found within municipal boundaries of cities. We advocate for an erosion of oppositional thinking that you’re either in the city or the suburbs. When you look at a larger metropolitan area, suburban form can also be found near the center in need of retrofitting.

You argue that many of these suburban forms are obsolete today because they don't fit the needs of the people who live there now. Can you walk me through some of the major demographic changes that have led to these suburban forms becoming obsolete?

EDJ: One of the biggest shifts is that the U.S. now is a majority of one to two person households. And yet, the majority of land within regional urban boundaries is zoned for single-family houses. That already is something of a mismatch.

The expectation going forward is that something like 80 percent of new households that will form over the next 15 years will be these one to two person households. A lot of them would prefer an apartment or a condo—smaller units.Advertisement

Plus you have the aging of the society, that’s the other really big piece. Especially in the suburbs, a lot of elderly people loved their single-family house while they were raising the kids. But now that they’re empty nesters and retiring, it’s kind of lonely. They want to stay in their community with doctors and friends nearby. But a lot of them are looking for, frankly, a more urban lifestyle.News

Our Infrastructure Is Being Built for a Climate That’s Already Gone

Shayla Love

It's pretty interesting how the desires of both the younger millennials, Gen Z, and a lot of those aging boomers are converging on an interest in more walkable, mixed-use, compact urban places out in the burbs.

JW: Commuting has also been transformed dramatically over the past decade or so, too. The notion that people live in the suburbs and work in the cities just isn’t true anymore.

EDJ: We tend to think that the jobs are downtown. Since the 1980s, the majority of jobs have been more than three miles from the central business district. In places like Atlanta, where I live, it’s closer to 90 percent of jobs are way outside. The central business district often has high rises and so it’s really visible, but we’re really seeing something called job sprawl. I certainly see in Atlanta, we have a lot of reverse commuters in that situation.

So when you talk about retrofitting, you mean finding and altering underused or abandoned suburban buildings to better accommodate the demographics and desires of the people who live there now?

JW: Absolutely. And in most of the cases we’ve studied, this is happening because the built places have failed or are struggling to some degree. Advertisement

The dead and dying malls, the vacated office parks, the ghost box stores left behind. Rather than bring back the same thing, this is a tremendous opportunity.

It can be as simple as re-inhabiting, or an adaptive reuse—fixing up the building, or changing the parking lot for something that’s better suited to the times. Taking something that was commercial and turning it into housing.

It can also involve re-greening because so much of the suburbanization processes disrupted the regional ecologies and stormwater flow systems. Then it’s an opportunity for wider ranging benefits. There could be places of recreation or social exchange having small plazas and program parks. And then there is redevelopment. Taking a low density, car-dependent use-separated or mono-use place and mixing it up and investing in it.

I was really struck by the statistics in the book about how many parking spaces there are per household in certain cities. Like how there are 1.97 cars per U.S. household, but in Des Moines, Iowa, there are 19 parking spaces per household. In Jackson, Wyoming, there are 27. These all seem like really obvious places to re-think about how we're using land.

JW: These choices around parking we’ve made have been codified through regulations and naturalized as normal.

EDJ: We really have made it almost a right to park as opposed to a right to housing. Cars have much more protection than people do.Advertisement

There are these aging properties for the most part; a lot of them have become obsolete and those are places to retrofit. But sometimes [properties] are thriving. They’re doing well. Yet they still look at their parking lot as this underperforming asphalt. It’s not doing enough of the job. Sometimes there’s a mall that is doing well, and it makes more sense now to build a parking deck and build housing and bring in offices and make more mixed use. Tech

The Broken Algorithm That Poisoned American Transportation

Aaron Gordon

All of these: the parking lots, the dead space, the vacant spaces. Those are the opportunities for the suburbs to finally address really urgent challenges of equity, climate change, and health.

You’ve been documenting retrofitting since 2011, when your first book came out, and now this second book includes even more case studies. Is the retrofitting phenomenon increasing, or does it need a push?

EDJ: If you go into any architecture school or city planning school’s library, there are tons of books on downtowns. There’s remarkably little written about the suburbs or suburbia. Most of what is there are sort of condemning them as wasteful and ecological boring places.

We’re academics, we’re documenting this stuff, but we’re not exactly neutral. We are advocates. We’re advocates within our disciplines to to sort of say, hey, we really need to bring design to the suburbs

There’s so much opportunity. It is where most Americans live. We saw a lot of these projects happening and noticed that none of the architecture magazines would cover them because they weren’t cool looking enough. Advertisement

And yet this stuff was happening. We thought it was important both to say it’s important that the suburbs do retrofit and become more sustainable and resilient in just places. But it’s also really important to recognize this is actually happening. And that this should happen even more. A lot of communities are afraid to do something unless they know that some other community has already done it.

A former Big Lots box store and parking lot converted into the Collinwood Recreation Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

You discuss the many social challenges retrofitting can take on. Some are more obvious like reducing dependency on cars or becoming more environmentally friendly. But there are some less intuitive ways retrofitting can impact our lives, like improving public health.

JW: One of the observations in public health is that there are chronic diseases of our time in developed countries, and certainly in Northern America, related to obesity and the higher incidences of diabetes, and so on.

One way to address those kinds of diseases is simple physical activity, yet we’ve designed physical activity out of our environments. To design it back in is a kind of low cost way of getting people to move their bodies.

A lot of literature looks at how access to nature, being able to have a view of trees, but also being able to socialize with others is really important. That links back to the demographic prevalence of one and two person households. That leads to loneliness. How can our physical environments create places—not force people to be physically active or to socialize in any particular ways—but to support the possibility?Advertisement

Can you explain one specific facet of intentionally designed well-being called the "third place?"

JW: This is a sociological concept. The “first place” is home and then the “second place” is work. The third place is is a little harder to define.

You might know it as the coffee shop, barbershop, or pub—so it might be a privately owned place, a place of business. It’s where one habitually gathers with others, forms friendships, and is engaging in social life. These are the places that we can design into suburbs as a way to support the overall social body.

EDJ: The suburbs largely sold themselves on the value of the terrific private realm that they present. The suburbs emphasize privacy. As these demographics are changing, there’s more and more people recognizing, “I’m lonely. I would like a little bit more of a public realm.”

If your public realm is just a commercial corridor full of strip malls and parking lots, there’s not much opportunity.

What we see happening are both the incorporation of the third places, but also small programmed parks, little town greens that have places for yoga classes, farmers’ markets, concerts, movie nights, and those kinds of activities that don’t force people to talk to one another, but at least enable the building of community.

The atrium at Bell Works, formerly Bell Labs in Holmdel, New Jersey.

You also write how retrofitting the suburbs can be a tool for social equity, or minority community building—how does that work?

JW: When thinking about social equity, it’s about how people use their social relationships in their social network in order to get connected to opportunity. It really is worth a lot. And it’s one of the reasons we need to challenge the exclusionary practices that have been codified in suburban jurisdictions for decades now. And the coarse sorting that we find in suburbs.

Some of the ways to break out of that is in older retail properties, the rent might be less. There’s an opportunity for networks of immigrant groups with social and business relationships to form businesses, bring people in, and enliven a place. Advertisement

There is a number of examples of vanilla shopping malls that had seen better days that were dead and dying. They have been reinhabited and revitalized by reflecting the changing demographics of the neighboring areas.

One example is Grand Plaza in Fort Worth, what has been rebranded as a Latino mall. One of the large several story department stores was broken up into hundreds of stalls for very small businesses, like a mercato that you might find in Central America or Mexico. The central atrium space in the mall now hosts Mexican wrestling and other kinds of themed events that reflect the culture of the dominant ethnoburb demographics surrounding it.

These places can also become flash points in political movements. If you’re in the suburbs and you want to gather to have a peaceful protest, where do you go? One of the places you might go is the mall parking lot or along an arterial boulevard.

What is there still left to do when it comes to retrofitting the suburbs with social equity in mind?

EDJ: One of the other myths about suburbia is that the suburbs are middle class. Well, the middle class has been shrinking—we all know that. What we also see is that the suburbanization of poverty has really been tremendous. And yet it’s relatively invisible.

Poverty remains most highly concentrated in our cities. But there’s actually more Americans living in poverty out in the suburbs.Advertisement

We draw attention to some of the efforts that have been made. Sadly, we don’t yet see nearly enough examples of retrofitting that are really addressing the problem.

There have been some cases of aging garden apartments that are the housing of last resort for a lot of very, very poor people.

Those are just kind of aging out. In some cases, they’re being redeveloped into more expensive fancy apartments. We need a lot more attention to preserving and restoring a lot of those. It’s not solving a lot of ecological problems. These places are very auto dependent. But there’s such desperate need for more affordable housing out in the burbs.

JW: I don’t think we can emphasize enough that there are people in very precarious conditions across the metropolitan landscapes of North America, and that retrofitting is a way by increasing the mix and introducing supportive housing and other kinds of support services in places where people aren’t marooned if their car breaks down and so forth. It’s an important factor in this conversation. It’s not something that can be isolated as only a city or urban problem.

Remaking these garden complexes or old motels, if you’re going to add transit, make sure there’s access for lower income people, and also younger people who might be on the beginning stages of their kind of lifelong earning trajectory. They should be saving money and shouldn’t have all of their income poured into housing and supporting a vehicle.

There were a couple other case studies from the book I wanted to bring up. For example, I did not know that Bell Labs had been retrofitted!

JW: That’s a super interesting retrofit. Bell Labs is a storied mid-century modern research and development campus designed by Eero Saarinen, a famous architect who unfortunately died right near its completion.

All sorts of things were invented there: transistors and technologies that led to cell phones. But it lay vacant for many years.

It’s in an affluent exurb in New Jersey, and the municipality hoped to tear it all down and develop 50 or so McMansions there

But the Preservation Society and other groups rallied and a developer got interested, and now it’s become like a vertical downtown. It has a quarter-mile long atrium and dozens of businesses located on the ground floor. They have a farmer’s market, yoga, a hairdresser, a Montessori school, a branch of the local public library, and fireworks on the Fourth of July. It’s called Bell Works.

This kind of development concept is being repeated in another former AT&T property outside Chicago, so we’ll see how that goes.

EDJ: There’s well over 150 office parks that are now being urbanized in some way.

Bell Works is an example of mixing the uses of a space that used to be just offices, and where the assumption was that scientists would have epiphanies if they were isolated in their office looking at a pastoral landscape. Now, we tend to think of innovation as occurring in much more urban places, and it’s the chance encounters that trigger innovation.

It’s also being driven because employers recognize that the younger workers do not want to work in a cubicle in an office park. They do not want to work in a place that is only “work.”Advertisement

Another great example is the old box store that became a recreation center.

JW: Yes,in this case it was Big Lots in a relatively low-income neighborhood on the periphery of Cleveland that has been transformed into a recreational center.

It now has a running track through it, a pool, some outdoor recreational spaces, and it’s yards from the lake there, too.

There are opportunities to take these dead retail boxes all across the country—and there are thousands of them—and rethink not only the building itself, but the entire property and parking lots to support health, wellness, day care clinics, clinics for routine health care, libraries, and other kinds of sharing services.

Sometimes it's not about redeveloping these spaces, but about regreening them. Can you give an example of that kind of project?

JW: Back in the 19th century, Meriden, Connecticut lost all of its industrial use and job space, and so by the middle of the 20th century, a suburban, enclosed shopping mall had been built in the middle of downtown over in creek, and it failed miserably.

Every time there was a big storm event, the creek would flood and cause millions of dollars of damage to all the neighboring businesses and the town had become increasingly lower-income.

Formerly a mall and parking lot, Meriden Green, CT, now has relocated subsidized housing, and green infrastructure including a daylit brook and stormwater park.

What happened here was an incredible greening retrofit where the mall was demolished, the creek that had been put into concrete below ground was opened back up to the air. The ground was regraded—that’s a technical term, but basically the surface of the ground was made lower.

The whole property was turned into a park, which is a stormwater park. The next time there’s a big storm event, the park becomes like a big bathtub and water will drain there and eventually percolate into the soil and not cause all of the damages that it had in previous cycles.

There’s this beautiful amenity and then around it, lots of new housing is being built that then has the park amenity. There’s a train station right there that’s been rebuilt with increased service through central Connecticut. It has all of these kinds of connected benefits around taking away development.

Last summer, the New York Times wrote that "New Yorkers Are Fleeing to the Suburbs" because of the pandemic. There's been this narrative that people who live in urban areas are moving back to the suburbs—and they suddenly want the things that were previously obsolete. Do you think that's true, and would it put a stall on these kinds of retrofitting projects?

JW: Broadly, what we’ve seen in this past year is an intensification, or an acceleration, of some of the trends that were happening already. There was already the redistributing of populations to some of those locations, especially in metro areas like New York, which are so insanely expensive. If you could find something that was New York-like in New Jersey or Westchester or Long Island, it would make sense that those places might be attractive to people.

What we’re seeing right now, I think in New York certainly, is people who’d been thinking about this acting on it. But where are they moving in the suburbs? They’re not rejecting the urban lifestyle altogether. They’re being drawn to already urbanizing locations in the suburbs.

It’s not a complete rejection of one for the other, but it’s finding like for like. Still, the evidence is mostly anecdotal at this point. Time will tell.

I think it’s also understood that developers who are planning new projects in these suburban locations are looking to make mixed-use places, and are looking to add different housing types in their suburban projects.

EDJ: In the long run a lot of those suburbs that those folks are moving to, if they’re going to retain those households, they’re going to have to start providing more of the urban amenities.

I’m certainly seeing around Atlanta as one example, a lot more communities changing their zoning to allow for access to accessory dwelling units, to allow for what’s been called the “missing middle”—duplexes, quadplexes, townhouses—in existing neighborhoods with suburban neighborhoods that were single family [only]. Now they’re allowing that densification.

Those regulatory changes have happened just in the last eight months. There’s been a surge of that. And it’s very much in response to recognizing that there is the market, the demand. People want these more urban lifestyles, even if they are choosing to move to the burbs. A lot of people who have isolated themselves might still be craving places to be able to gather safely. And so it could accelerate the retrofitting of suburbia.

America is a real mess.

But it’s changing.

It is a constructed gulag for Americans and you all had best not get “out of line”. You must obey or suffer the consequences. I am reminded about how the jails and prisons are in Communist China. Did you know that they have been modeled after the Arkansas (American state) Hard-Labor Camps? Yeah, it was a surprise to me too. But when I was in the ADC, sure enough, there was a delegation from China there at Pine Bluff, and Brickey’s learning about how best to construct workable hard-labor camps.

You can see that they have taken a page from the American police state and improved upon it…

The Chinese Jail and Prison system. All modeled after the Arkansas hard-Labor system.

Now, the Arkansas hard-labor system was modeled by Nazi German immigrants after World War II who took former slave plantations such as Brickey’s North Arkansas Regional Unit and turned them into hard-labor camps. Which is why they greatly resemble the old “resettlement” camps that the Nazi’s constructed in Poland during World War II. Anyways, the Chinese see the efficiency of this system and have incorporated elements in their own prison system.

So yes, America is a model for the world!

Chinese Jail and Prison.

America is changing

Yes, it is.

After the crisis event during a fourth turning, the resulting America will be substantially changed afterwards. We can see that the changes are starting. And they are long over due. We do not know the full extent of the changes, but we do need to be aware that they are in process.

Forget your fantasies that America will relive the American Civil War, the American Reconstruction Period, or the growth of suburbia in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The resulting American will be quite different, and will NOT resemble any other nation on the globe. It will be a uniquely American change. Let’s pray and hope that it will be a good one

In the meantime, please keep your eyes open. Look for examples of change. That will provide you with insight on the future of America. It is your “weather vane” to judge the direction that America is heading towards. Keep in mind that the “news” is really a horrible medium to view changes. You need to take “deep dives” into other sources, and use your own eyes and ears to provide you guidance.

Fauci, Biden's top medical adviser, told CNN that the approaching deaths tally (of 500,000) was "a terribly historic milestone in the history of this country."

-Reuters

Evidence of the changes are all around us.

Cities starting to ban new gas stations.

Do you want more?

I have more posts along these lines in my Functional Notes Index.

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Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.

When the government wants to lace the air you breathe with LSD, you know that your nation is fucked.

Ah. Isn’t that the case?

Throughout history, nations rise when there is righteous leadership that cared for its citizens' welfare and do the greater good. When they are corrupt and self-serving, those nations fall. Learn from history because we live in a world governed by cause and effect. History will repeat itself.

-Tom Tan

But no one is addressing this enormous “elephant in the room”. They are all off in some la-la-land of finger pointing outside of America. The Liberal Democrats point their fingers at Russia and blame them for the mess that America is today. The Conservative Republicans point their fingers to China, and blame them. Looked from the outside inwards, you all look like crazed maniacs.

Republicans have been gushing hatred over China, especially since Trump lost the election.
 
Yes, there are the obvious reasons this board has mentioned many  times but it seems even more deep seated.  It's as if people like Laura  Ingraham are addicted to their hatred.  She's obsessed w/China and uses  China like a Club to try to discredit anyone to the left of Adolf  Hitler.  I love it when she then screams about the 'Cancel Culture'.  
 
I look at her twitter feed and she's totally unhinged.  She talks  about China like a deprived drug addict who finally found their stash.  I  feel like I'm missing something.
 
-Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Feb 11 2021 20:04 utc | 8

Oh, but you all know all of that, don’t you?

Why is “democracy” so valuable?

And people are looking at these various systems of governance with a keen eye. Maybe there needs to be some changes they wonder…

Daniel Bell has put forward his views in favor of China's political meritocracy... against the one person one vote (Western Democracy model) as a mode of selection for political leaders. 

He has done this  in two books.

The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy
Princeton University Press, 2015. ISBN 9781400865505.
 
Dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University and professor at Tsinghua University (Schwarzman College and Department of Philosophy). He was born in Montreal, educated at McGill and Oxford, has taught in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and has held research fellowships at Princeton's University Center for Human Values, Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences and Hebrew University's Department of Political Science. 
 
Here:
https://youtu.be/e63ro_suARA

Crazy, Crazy Government

The war machine is still at full throttle and has been for more than two decades. Do you realize there are now adults who have never lived during a time when the United States was not at war with a Middle Eastern nation? We are at war with Eurasia, or is it Eastasia?

It’s both, and it projects to continue for decades.

When Bill Kristol watches Star Wars movies, he roots for the Galactic Empire. The leading neocon recently caused a social media disturbance in the Force when he tweeted this predilection for the Dark Side following the debut of the final trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. 

 Kristol sees the Empire as basically a galaxy-wide extrapolation of what  he has long wanted the US to have over the Earth: what he has termed  "benevolent global hegemony." 

 Kristol, founder and editor of neocon flagship magazine The Weekly Standard, responded to scandalized critics by linking to a 2002 essay from the Standard's blog that justifies even the worst of Darth Vader's atrocities. In "The Case for the Empire," Jonathan V. Last made a Kristolian argument that you can't make a "benevolent hegemony" omelet without breaking a few eggs. 

-SOTT

The elected elites love war at home, too. They are fomenting war among the American people, and it is breaking out. As surely as class warfare is behind the riots in the Netherlands, it is on the cusp of erupting here. It’s a strategy of divide the people into little groups. Then have the groups fight each other.

Divided we all fall. — Americans are intentionally divided into groups to attack each other.

The elites play classes off one another. They denounce the rich as evil, and the media and the inured play along, hating all “billionaires,” as if Capitalism didn’t afford them the opportunity to have the very platforms upon which they complain.

The elites stealthily promote their lie in this way, lumping into a group both hard-working and innovative entrepreneurs who made it by the sweat of their brow and the crony capitalists they created themselves, and then call them all “rich” as if it’s an epithet.

Among the many misperceptions of the American Revolution and the  resulting constitutional order is the belief that these admittedly  monumental achievements created a self-sustaining system of governance.  Even in times of chaos and upheaval such as those we are living through  today, we have always at some level convinced ourselves that ours is a  system that can withstand most any assault, foreign or domestic. We lean  on a legend – that the bundle of constitutional rights guaranteed us  and our revolutionary system of checks and balances will be enough by  themselves to sustain liberty over the fullness of time.
 
It’s been said, regarding any memorable occurrence, that if there’s  truth and legend, go with the legend because it’s always a better story.  But the truth is, while we expect that our institutions will hold under  duress, Thomas Jefferson  himself – among others in the founding generation – was doubtful the  great experiment in liberty attained through blood, sweat, and tears  would last more than a generation. He was skeptical of the  sustainability of a system in which 51% of the people may take away the  rights of the other 49%. Jefferson was expanding on the sentiments of  fellow founder Benjamin Franklin, who when asked what form of government  the framers of the Constitution had settled on, famously replied, “a republic – if you can keep it.”

-Liberty Nation

They take an arbitrary monetary figure, pulled out of thin air, and set it as the Rubicon. Cross it and somehow you were luckier than most, got a break someone else never got. Yachts and airplanes are demonized, while the elected elites vacation on yachts bought by others and are ferried about in private jets paid for by others.

They accept “campaign contributions” from Wall Street, then, with a wink and nod, demonize Wall Street. Then, they print billions of dollars to prop up Wall Street; rewarding it for bringing down the economy. This keeps the contributions flowing and themselves in power.

And when people get angry about it, and march on Washington, an example is made of them. As an effigy and as a warning to others…

It’s all a racket.

They demonize Big Oil, Big Medicine, Big Pharma and Big Tobacco (which deserve to be demonized, surely) yet they enrich those industries with special subsidies and tax breaks and laws passed to their benefit. Their puppets in office who create those privileges are rewarded with more campaign cash and, when their time on Capitol Hill is done, cushy jobs lobbying their replacements.

Their policies destroy the middle class.

No middle class any longer. — The middle class no longer exists.

They preach fairness and set their pawns up as the arbiters of fairness. They create a parasite class with an entitlement mentality. Then they work to grow the parasite class to keep themselves in power by taking more and more from the wages of the middle class.

Let’s look at America, the nation of an “untouchable” oligarchy that treats the American citizenry as the sheep that serve them. Let’s remind ourselves just what we wave our “red, white, and blue” flags up high for…

Lace the air with LSD

This article was contributed by Mike Jay. It is reprinted as found. All credit to the author, and note that any editing involved went towards fitting this into the MM format.

It was during the fallout from Watergate that the American public first heard of MK-Ultra, the most notorious of the secret mind control programmes that the CIA ran through the 1950s and 1960s.

After Nixon’s men were caught breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in June 1972, Richard Helms, then director of the CIA, refused to help with the cover-up. In February 1973, after his re-election, Nixon fired Helms and replaced him with James Schlesinger. In an initiative to regain public trust as the crisis escalated, Schlesinger announced he was ‘determined that the law shall be respected’ and that anyone aware of illegal CIA activities was obliged to report them.

Nixon was finally forced to resign in August 1974. His successor, Gerald Ford, made Nelson Rockefeller, a reliable intelligence insider, his vice president, and asked him to produce a report on the CIA’s alleged historical abuses.

Rockefeller’s report was issued in June 1975. For the most part it was vague and non-incriminating, but it did conclude that the CIA had in the past conducted ‘plainly unlawful’ investigations, including the testing of ‘potentially dangerous drugs on unsuspecting United States citizens’.

There were references to secret sites and experiments on prison inmates, and some passages that begged explanation; in one incident, ‘an employee of the Department of the Army’ had crashed to his death through a 13th-storey hotel window after being dosed with LSD. But the commission had apparently reached a dead end. All records had been destroyed, and ‘all persons directly involved … were either out of the country and not available for interview or were deceased.’

Seymour Hersh, who had already written a front-page story for the New York Times about the CIA’s illegal domestic surveillance programme, determined that the man who had fallen from the window was Frank Olson, a chemist employed by the CIA. Hersh disclosed his findings to Olson’s family, who convened a press conference and announced that they would be suing the agency.

Ford’s chief of staff, Donald Rumsfeld, was alerted to the danger by his deputy, Dick Cheney. The Olsons received a settlement of $750,000 in exchange for dropping their legal action, and were invited to the White House, where Ford made them a public apology.

As the Rockefeller report foundered, a Senate commission under the Idaho member Frank Church dredged deeper in the CIA’s records. The files were heavily redacted but one name surfaced repeatedly: Sidney Gottlieb, who appeared to have been the director of a secret chemical division within the agency.

Gottlieb, it turned out, was now in India, where he and his wife were spending their retirement working as volunteers at a leprosy hospital. The Church Committee summoned him to testify, which he did in camera, under an alias and with a guarantee of legal immunity; the press was told that no photographs of him existed.

It was the Church Committee’s report in April 1976 that brought MK-Ultra to public attention. The programme, which ran from the early 1950s through to the mid-1960s, had investigated forms of mind control that might be deployed on civilian populations.

A particular interest had been taken in LSD, which was tested on such ‘expendable’ populations as prisoners and refugees, on the general public and, extensively, on the programme’s own agents.

Many of the subjects were dosed without their knowledge or consent – including Frank Olson, who had ‘leaped to his death’ in ‘what appeared to be a serious depression’ after his Cointreau was spiked with LSD at a CIA retreat. The Church Committee concluded that the full extent of MK-Ultra’s work, especially outside the US, would never be known, since records of it had been destroyed.

As it turned out, however, there was much more to come. In the late 1970s, John Marks, a journalist who specialised in intelligence matters, filed a Freedom of Information request that uncovered a trove of 16,000 documents, most of which hadn’t been sent for shredding because they were filed as financial records. In the course of examining thousands of invoices and bills of sale, Marks and his team of researchers unearthed some unexpected gems.

The diary of George Hunter White, a dead Federal Bureau of Narcotics agent, was particularly startling. White had worked as Gottlieb’s fixer in the underworlds of New York and San Francisco, conducting drug experiments on unknowing subjects in brothels or at parties he held in CIA safehouses.

In his diary, White wrote frankly about the corruption, drugs, sex and violence in which he happily participated: ‘Where else could a red-blooded American boy lie, cheat, rape and pillage with the sanction and blessing of the All Highest?’

This was not the CIA as the American public was encouraged to imagine it: a dapper Ivy League fraternity coolly dedicated to safeguarding the nation. The picture that emerged was of a game without rules, played recklessly and with impunity by, as Stephen Kinzer characterises it, a ‘cast of obsessed chemists, cold-hearted spymasters, grim torturers, hypnotists, electr0-shockers and Nazi doctors’.

With the publication in 1978 of Marks’s The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control, the story took up the position it has occupied ever since at the intersection of politics, conspiracy theory, psychology, drug culture, science fiction and espionage. Kinzer retells many of Marks’s stories, but organizes them around the fuller, though still partial, biographical picture of Gottlieb that has emerged since his death in 1999. The result is a bustling narrative that sets MK-Ultra in its institutional framework of federal government, the military and the intelligence services, swerving all the while between madcap farce and grim atrocity.

The story begins during the occupation of Germany at the end of the Second World War, when agents of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner to the CIA, discovered that the Nazis had been designing biological weapons such as anthrax bombs, and subjecting prisoners at Dachau and Buchenwald to experiments involving drugs, lethal pathogens, toxic gases and extremes of temperature. Some of this was exposed at the Nuremberg trials; OSS officers, meanwhile, were discreetly gathering research materials for their own purposes.

Nazi Party members were officially prohibited from entering the US, but arrangements were made under a secret programme codenamed Operation Paperclip to ‘bleach’ episodes involving slavery, torture and murder from the records of scientists who might be useful to US intelligence. More than seven hundred such scientists and engineers were quietly recruited to work at Camp Detrick, Maryland, headquarters of the US Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.

The OSS was abolished by Truman in 1945, the president having decided that the US didn’t need a secret intelligence agency in peacetime. But by 1947 he had changed his mind, and the CIA was formed.

The new agency began to undertake covert operations in Eastern Europe and paid close attention to the dramatic 1949 Soviet show trial of the Hungarian priest Cardinal József Mindszenty, in which Mindszenty confessed to absurd conspiracies such as attempting to steal the crown jewels and to re-establish the Austro-Hungarian empire, while swaying, staring blankly and reciting his testimony as if by rote. To those who knew him, it seemed as if Mindszenty had become a different person.

To the CIA, it was evidence that the Soviet Union had developed new techniques for personality modification and mind control. There were similar reports from China, where the Communist Party allegedly referred to such techniques as hsi nao, ‘washing the brain’.

In 1951, Allen Dulles, a former OSS officer, was appointed the CIA’s deputy director for plans. Dulles, who was convinced that the future would belong to the world power that could master the new ‘brainwashing’ technologies, was instrumental in shifting the agency’s research priorities from chemical and biological warfare to the inner battlefield of the mind. He had been one of the men responsible for drafting the National Security Act, the law that brought the CIA into being, permitting it to use ‘all appropriate methods’ in its operations. In 1950 the CIA had launched Project Bluebird to investigate the use of chemical and biological agents to control the minds of individuals.

When Dulles got hold of the programme, he renamed it Artichoke, and it was expanded to study the effects of exposure to gases, irradiation by infrared or ultraviolet light, high and low pressure environments, sonic torture, alteration of diet, electric shocks and a variety of psychological techniques, hypnosis chief among them.

The experiments were carried out on defectors, refugees and prisoners of war. These were the ‘expendables’ – people whose disappearance wouldn’t draw attention. The work was carried out at what would now be called ‘black sites’; it is in this period, as Kinzer points out, that the CIA began the habit of detaining people in other countries, beyond the reach of US law.

By early 1952 there were Artichoke teams in France, occupied Germany, Japan and South Korea; more were added later. Directives were issued specifying that interrogations be carried out in a ‘safe house or safe area’, with an adjoining room for recording equipment, and a bathroom, which might be found necessary thanks to the effects that ‘Artichoke techniques’ could have on subjects.

Kinzer tells the story of one site in particular, at Oberursel, a ‘sleepy German town’ north of Frankfurt. During the war the Nazis had used it as a transit camp for captured enemy pilots. The US army took it over in 1946, renamed it Camp King and used it for ‘special interrogations’, involving torture, beatings and drug injections, carried out by Counterintelligence Corps officers known as ‘rough boys’. The disposal of bodies was, one CIA officer recalled, ‘no problem’.

The ‘rough boys’ were too unrefined for Bluebird and Artichoke work. And the work was so secret that even Camp King wouldn’t do. In 1951 the CIA acquired a large house just a few miles away – Villa Schuster, named for the Jewish family that had lived there until the 1930s – and converted it for use by specialist teams flown over from the US to carry out their experiments without external supervision.

They did, however, benefit from the guidance of Camp King’s staff doctor, Walter Schreiber, the former surgeon general of the Nazi army, who had overseen research at concentration camps in which prisoners were frozen, injected with hallucinogens, and cut open to chart the progress of gangrene.

When he was given a contract to work in the US under Operation Paperclip (it didn’t work out, and after a scandal he ended up in Argentina), Schreiber was replaced at Camp King by another war criminal, Kurt Blome, the Nazis’ director of research into biological warfare, who had tested nerve gases and viruses on concentration camp inmates.

Sidney Gottlieb had been working for nearly ten years in government laboratories, and was a research chemist at Camp Detrick, when Dulles chose him to lead the CIA’s mind control research programme.

Gottlieb was born with a club foot, and had been rejected for war service; Kinzer writes that this had left him with a ‘store of pent-up patriotic fervour’. In other respects, he was a conspicuous outsider in the patrician ranks of the CIA: a Jewish immigrant from the Bronx who had made his way via City College, ‘the Harvard of the proletariat’, to a doctorate in biochemistry.

In private he was a nonconformist, living in a cabin in the Virginia backwoods with his wife, Margaret, who had grown up among Presbyterian missionaries.

As chief of the newly constituted Chemical Division of the Technical Services Staff, Gottlieb set about expanding and refining Dulles’s programme. The trials on ‘expendables’, in his estimation, had thus far produced nothing of value.

He set up new experiments to test the effects of electrical shocks, neurosurgery, sensory distortion and hypnosis, but his attention was increasingly taken up with mind-altering drugs.

His team tested cocaine on mental patients, heroin on students and cannabis on themselves; they also investigated amphetamines, mescaline, barbiturates and sodium pentothal, variously to disinhibit, disorientate, act as a ‘truth serum’, wipe memories or induce states of terror.

The experiments were carried out at Artichoke sites around the world. Kinzer quotes an earlier study which recorded Gottlieb’s trips to Tokyo, where four Japanese suspected of working for the Russians were injected with ‘a variety of depressants and stimulants’, then shot and dumped at sea; to Seoul, where 25 North Korean prisoners of war were given the same treatment; and to Munich, where ‘scores of “expendables”’ were given massive amounts of drugs in a series of failed experiments, after which they were ‘killed and their bodies burned’.

On becoming president in 1953, Eisenhower made Dulles director of the CIA. In a memo written at the time and since declassified, Dulles’s newly appointed chief of operations at the Directorate of Plans, Richard Helms, set out the terms of a new programme of research into ‘covert chemical and biological warfare’.

One aim in particular was singled out: ‘the development of a chemical material which causes a non-toxic aberrant mental state, the specific nature of which can be reasonably well predicted for each individual. This material could potentially aid in discrediting individuals, eliciting information, implanting suggestion and other forms of mental control.’ The programme was given a new codename: MK-Ultra.

Gottlieb’s budget was freed from the usual financial constraints, his research from external clearance or oversight. From time to time there were attempts to bring the CIA to heel. In 1953, for example, the US secretary of defence, Charles Wilson, issued a memo stating that all experiments involving volunteers required their consent, in compliance with the Nuremberg Code.

But this clearly wasn’t going to fly with the men in charge of finding ways to force individuals to provide information against their will, erase their memories or change their personalities.

In 1956 a proposal that Congress monitor CIA activities was firmly quashed by the White House. The assumption, as one CIA officer expressed it later, was: ‘We’re at war, so anything is justified. We’re smarter than most people, we operate in secret, we have access to intelligence, and we know what the real threats are. No one else does.’

From April 1953, when Dulles formally approved MK-Ultra, Gottlieb operated with impunity and on a much larger scale. Each of the programme’s many elements was called a ‘subproject’ and given a number.

Subproject 5 contracted a researcher at the University of Minnesota to test the use of hypnosis to induce anxiety, thwart lie detectors and increase cognitive capacity;

subproject 124 tested the use of carbon dioxide to induce trances;

subproject 63 studied the ‘use of alcohol as a social phenomenon’;

subproject 140, conducted at a hospital in San Francisco, tested the potential psychoactive effects of thyroid-related hormones. Scores of subprojects were devoted to investigating the use of drugs, alone or in combination with other techniques, to manipulate behaviour.

Kinzer has fun describing subproject 4: the use of a celebrity stage magician, John Mulholland, to teach CIA agents the techniques of misdirection and sleight of hand, the better to distract targets while drugging them. The manual Mulholland produced resurfaced in 2007, the ‘only full-length MK-Ultra document known to have survived intact’.

Artichoke work had been carried out in CIA safehouses abroad. Under MK-Ultra, the work was brought home. Two adjoining apartments were purchased at 81 Bedford Street in New York (subproject 3). George Hunter White was recruited by Gottlieb in June 1953 to trawl Greenwich Village posing ‘alternately as a merchant seaman or a bohemian artist’ and gathering up ‘drug users, petty criminals and others who could be relied on not to complain about what had happened to them’.

At one of the apartments in Bedford Street, White would serve his guests drinks surreptitiously laced with drugs, while in the other Gottlieb’s men filmed the effects through a mirror.

Two years later, in Operation Midnight Climax (subproject 42), White set up another safehouse in San Francisco, this time as a brothel, so that Gottlieb could gather evidence of ‘how people behave during and after sex’.

Gottlieb’s particular preoccupation was with a new psychoactive drug, LSD. (In 1951 he had asked Harold Abramson, a physician on his team, to supervise him in a self-experiment with the drug. Gottlieb reported ‘an out-of-bodyness … a sense of well-being and euphoria’.)

Some of his colleagues were interested in the potential effects of dispersing it on the battlefield, but Gottlieb believed LSD was the drug most likely, as Kinzer puts it, ‘to give initiates a way to control other human beings’ – a doomsday weapon in the new field of ‘brain warfare’. At first, there was a problem getting hold of it in sufficient quantities. A Swiss company, Sandoz, held the patent, and was said to be sitting on a stockpile of ten kilograms, a ‘fantastically large amount’.

In an attempt to corner the world’s supply of the drug, Dulles signed off on the $240,000 it would cost to buy everything Sandoz had, and sent two of his officers to Switzerland to bring it back. But when they arrived, it turned out the intelligence was wrong; the ten kilograms, they discovered, was actually ten grams. So Gottlieb still had a supply problem. He paid an American pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly, to devise a way of synthesising LSD from scratch.

That was part of subproject 6.

It took longer than a year, but by the end of 1954 Eli Lilly was in a position to produce the drug in ‘tonnage quantities’. The CIA, Kinzer writes, ‘was its main customer’.

The research into the effects of LSD extended way beyond observations at 81 Bedford Street. Gottlieb found a willing partner in Harris Isbell, the director of research at the Addiction Research Centre in Lexington, Kentucky.

The hospital ‘functioned more like a prison’, Kinzer writes, with a cohort of mostly African American inmates – a new group of ‘expendables’ – on whom Isbell could experiment at will. Gottlieb was interested in how much LSD was needed to ‘shatter the mind …

…leaving a void into which new impulses or even a new personality could be implanted’.

Isbell’s patients were fed escalating doses, some of them for days and weeks on end. Another enthusiastic collaborator, Carl Pfeiffer at Emory University, as part of his work on subproject 47, administered LSD to twenty inmates of the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary nearly every day for 15 months. Robert Hyde at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital paid hundreds of students from Emerson, Harvard and MIT $15 each to drink a vial of liquid that might induce an ‘altered state’; in the aftermath, one of the subjects hanged herself in a clinic bathroom.

As well as these knowing allies – and thanks to sympathizers at the National Institute of Mental Health and a network of philanthropic foundations willing to act as fronts for the dispersal of agency money – Gottlieb was also able to recruit scientists who had no idea they were working for the CIA. Kinzer gives a list of more than thirty universities, institutes and hospitals, many of them among the most renowned in America, that received funding to carry out Gottlieb’s research programme.

In the late 1950s, MK-Ultra entered its most baroque phase, as Gottlieb was tasked with coming up with ways to dispose of foreign leaders. His Heath Robinson schemes included using an aerosol to lace the air with LSD in the Havana studio where Fidel Castro made his radio broadcasts, sprinkling Castro’s boots with thallium salts to make his beard fall out and contaminating his cigars with botulinum. At one point Gottlieb turned up in Congo with a poison kit, ready for use in a CIA plot to kill Patrice Lumumba. None of these plans came to fruition. They resembled the popular fiction with which they had always been in dialogue.

Kinzer points out that the CIA’s belief, in the late 1940s, that the communists had discovered the key to mind control, was conditioned by the ‘ubiquitous fantasy’ of this possibility in American popular culture, movies in particular, from film representations of Svengali, Dracula and Frankenstein, to George Cukor’s Gaslight (1944), the Sherlock Holmes movie The Woman in Green (1945) and Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1956). The border between fiction and reality in the early years of the Cold War was blurred further as novelists began to mine the seam of science and skulduggery.

A pulp thriller from 1955, The Splintered Man, featured a CIA agent subjected to a nightmarish interrogation under LSD in East Berlin; it ended with an exhortation to US intelligence not to be left playing catch-up in the battle for the mind. The Bond movies led CIA officers to investigate the real-life feasibility of Q’s gadgets.

Richard Condon’s book The Manchurian Candidate (1959), in which a brainwashed sleeper agent is triggered by post-hypnotic suggestion to make an attempt on the life of an American presidential candidate, caught the zeitgeist best of all.

John Frankenheimer’s film adaptation came out in 1962; a year later it was seen as an eerie prefiguring of the Kennedy assassination. In fiction, the reality of covert mind control was taken for granted: if it wasn’t real, where was the story? Yet even as mind control technologies became a staple of popular culture in the 1960s, the faith of Gottlieb and his team in their potential was fading.

As the CIA psychologist John Gittinger later recalled, by 1963 ‘it was at least proven to my satisfaction that “brainwashing” so-called – as some kind of esoteric device where drugs or mind-altering kinds of conditions and so forth were used – did not exist … The Manchurian Candidate, as a movie, really set us back a long time, because it made something impossible look plausible.’

Privately, Gottlieb was at last coming to the same conclusion. He had abundantly demonstrated something that nobody had ever seriously doubted: that drugs, electroshock and other mental tortures could shatter minds and wipe memories. But he had been unable to put new personalities or memories in their place.

As Kinzer says, when Gottlieb started out on MK-Ultra, there were only two possibilities: ‘Either there is no such thing as a mind control drug or there is indeed such a thing and it is waiting to be discovered.’ The first was unthinkable: Gottlieb ‘had been hired to explore, not to give up’. So he pressed on through the 1950s with seemingly unshakeable conviction.

But ‘as of 1960,’ he later admitted in a memo, ‘no effective knockout pill, truth serum, aphrodisiac or recruitment pill was known to exist.’ Gottlieb’s master weapon, LSD, made subjects highly suggestible, but their beliefs and behaviors had proved impossible to control.

Yet his operations continued to expand. By the late 1960s he was running more behavioral laboratories than ever and his experiments were just as ambitious, not to say horrifying. In Saigon in 1968 a CIA team implanted electrodes in the brains of three Vietcong prisoners.

They were given knives and locked together in a room for a week, while the agents tried to rouse them to violence with radio signals from their remote-control handsets. They didn’t succeed. The team returned to Washington and, just as in Project Artichoke twenty years earlier, the prisoners were shot and burned.

Then came Watergate, the loss of Richard Helms’s protection, and John Schlesinger’s initiatives to detoxify the CIA. Before his departure in 1973, Helms ordered that all MK-Ultra’s records be destroyed. Gottlieb retired quietly later that year, first to his cabin in Virginia, then to India with Margaret to take up voluntary work. By 1977 the tide had turned decisively against him. During the Church Committee hearings the new director of the CIA, Stansfield Turner, assured Senator Edward Kennedy that ‘it is totally abhorrent to me to think of using a human being as a guinea pig …

I am not here to pass judgment on any of my predecessors, but I can assure you that this is totally beyond the pale.’ Summoned back to give evidence to the committee, Gottlieb testified that MK-Ultra had been a project ‘of the utmost urgency … to investigate whether and how it was possible to modify an individual’s behaviour by covert means’. Under cross-examination he displayed a vagueness that for some recalled Jozsef Mindszenty’s show trial, shot through with a streak of paranoia: ‘I feel victimised … My name is selectively left on released documents where all or most others are deleted.’

Gottlieb retreated to a large eco-home of his own design in the Blue Ridge mountains, where he died in 1999. He was harried by lawsuits to the end, and the cause of his death was never confirmed; many suspected suicide. There was no consensus about how, ultimately, he judged himself. To his neighbours, he seemed at peace: ‘an old hippie’, as one recalled, who rose early to meditate, wore sandals and cycled into town to collect his mail.

Others thought he must be in denial: it was as if he had ‘lost his former self’, the Washington Post reported, ‘walking backwards, sweeping his trail clean with a branch’. ‘Gottlieb was living as if he was in an ashram in India,’ wrote Seymour Hersh, who visited him in retirement. ‘He was trying to absolve himself, to expiate. If he’d been Catholic, he would have gone to a monastery.’ John Marks wasn’t so sure that Gottlieb was troubled by his conscience. ‘He was unquestionably a patriot,’ Marks told an obituarist. Gottlieb ‘never did what he did for inhumane reasons.

He thought he was doing exactly what was needed. And in the context of the time, who could argue?’ Kinzer wonders whether the contrast between his folksy lifestyle and his CIA work was as jarring as it seemed: both could be seen as expressions of a desire to live unconstrained by the usual rules and limits. Gottlieb, he concludes, ‘was not a sadist, but he might as well have been’.

Kinzer floats the argument, as others have before him, that MK-Ultra inadvertently gave rise to the psychedelic counterculture, as LSD ‘escaped from the CIA’s control’. The dots are there for all to join: Ken Kesey and Allen Ginsberg first took LSD in CIA-funded experiments; a covert CIA operative was present on the trip to Mexico in 1957 when Gordon Wasson encountered the ‘magic mushroom’; Gottlieb’s physician, Harold Abramson, became an early proponent of LSD psychotherapy. But there are other ways of telling the story that don’t involve the CIA at all. The most conspicuous influence on the emerging psychedelic culture was Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, published to great acclaim in 1954. Ginsberg, like many of his generation, had previously taken psychedelics on his own initiative.

From its base in Switzerland, Sandoz, as well as supplying the CIA with LSD, was at the same time giving it away free to interested psychiatrists; one such was the Hollywood therapist Oscar Janiger, whose celebrity clientele, including Cary Grant, Anaïs Nin and Jack Nicholson, spread the word enthusiastically in magazine interviews, essays and movie scripts. Timothy Leary was turned on to LSD by maverick enthusiasts who acquired the drug directly from Sandoz, as Leary himself did for his experiments at Harvard.

What seems remarkable today is not how much influence MK-Ultra had, but how little. The methods of coercive interrogation used more recently, such as those at Abu Ghraib or Bagram, haven’t owed much to the scientific techniques Gottlieb was investigating. Instead, they have more in common with what the ‘rough boys’ were up to at black sites in postwar Germany before Gottlieb’s men arrived.

MK-Ultra’s enduring influence is in popular fiction, where many of its ideas came from in the first place. Covert mind control programmes, usually run by the CIA, are a familiar plot device across the spectrum, from literary fiction (Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace) to mass-market movies (The Ipcress File, The Parallax View, Jacob’s Ladder, the Bourne franchise) and TV (The X-Files, Stranger Things).

The story is always the same: mind control is real, and those who know its secrets operate with impunity. The second assumption reflects historical truth, and resonates still in a post-Watergate world. The first was a chimera, and by the time the Cold War reached its apex, Gottlieb and his colleagues no longer believed it themselves.

Some thoughts

Aren’t you proud to be an American!

Look here, if this is how the government treats the citizenry, and it’s “not really bad“, then what happens when things get bad?

Lacing the citizens with LSD and other mind altering chemicals are only the things that we KNOW ABOUT. What about the things that we don’t know?

You know, America IS GOING to pick a fight…

Whether it is Russia or China, most Americans haven’t an idea. But here, I will tell you all the “secret” that the American “news” is hiding from you; it’s BOTH simultaneously.

Thursday, February 04, 2021, 22:52
 
China, Russia stress adherence to non-interference
 
By Xinhua
 
China and Russia said Thursday that the principle of non-interference  in other countries' internal affairs, one of the basic norms governing  international relations, should be upheld.
 
In a phone conversation between Chinese State Councilor and Foreign  Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the two  sides also pledged to jointly preserve global and regional strategic  stability.
 
...
 
The two heads of state have also agreed to celebrate this year the 20th  anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of  Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, pointing out the direction  for deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination  between the two countries, Wang said.
 
Both sides should take this opportunity to add new dimensions to this  important treaty and send a clear message to the world that the two  countries will safeguard the security of themselves and along their  peripheries, he added.
 
http://www.chinadailyhk.com/article/156995
-Posted by: Mao | Feb 11 2021 21:38 utc | 20

Yupper.

It’s not gonna be “goat herders” and “mud huts” getting blown up. It’s not going to be some American marines or SEAL’s taking HELO jumps into Chinese territory or an amphibious landing on one of the atolls surrounding China. It’s not going to be “US Navy sitting off the coast of China and launching cruse missile and plinking at targets”.

It’s gonna be on a completely different level. And if you all think that China is all blue-clad bicycle-riding peasants, you are going to be in for a big shock.

Chinese J-20 fighter. It is roughly equivalent to the F-22 Rapor fielded by the USA.

And, let’s have another look. You all aren’t gonna see these images on Rush Limbaugh, Hal Turner, Drudge Report, CNN, or FOX news. You will not see them on the BBC, the ABC, or on “60 minutes”.

Americans need to believe that they are invincible. They need to believe that they are the strongest, the best, and that no one would dare fight back.

That is the only way that the American citizenry won’t revolt at the prospect of another global war. Especially one that involved biological and nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

…don’t you know.

Chinese J-20 Jet Fighters.

Conclusion

Any nation that poisons it’s people with LSD or forces them to take chemical injections, while picking fights with very powerful, nuclear armed, nations is not a place where you want to live. And while the “news” make a lot of “noise” about all these people wanting to come to America for “freedom” and “democracy”, the ones that are actually coming are the illiterate, the destitute and the impoverished. In their minds, ANYTHING is better than the lives that they are leaving.

The illiterate arrive in America to help make it great.

I cannot predict the future.

However, the behaviors of the United States elite (the ruler class) are indicative of some severe faults. Faults, mind you, that are not easily corrected. And thus you all can expect some “fallout” to come your way from their failures in governance.

America is not a strong nation any longer. It is a “ripe” nation. It is a tree heavy with juicy fruit, and just waiting to be harvested.

This reminds me of the cities that thought that they could fight off Genghis Khan with their knights in shining armor. Nope. It’s did not work out good for them. And it worked out even worse for their families back in the cities. Women and children suffered a fate that no one should endure.

Rather than submit, the Abbasid caliph challenged the Mongols to  attempt to storm his city, if they dared. The nomadic army from Asia—led  by Hulagu Khan, one of Genghis Khan’s grandsons—did indeed dare. 

Doing  what they are most famous for, the Mongols thrashed Baghdad. 

In 10 days  of unremitting violence and destruction, Baghdad and its inhabitants  were completely and utterly vanquished. Almost without exception, the  population was either put to the sword or sold into slavery. The River  Tigris ran red—to cite one of the most over-quoted, and overwrought  phrases in history—with the blood of slaughtered men, women, and  children.
 
After this, every building of note in Baghdad—including mosques,  palaces, and markets—was utterly destroyed, among them the world-famous  House of Wisdom. Hundreds of thousands of priceless manuscripts and  books were tossed into the river, clogging the arterial waterway with so  many texts, according to eyewitnesses, that soldiers could ride on  horseback from one side to the other. Of course, the river turned from  red to black with ink.

-Great courses daily

America and Americans have never suffered defeat. The closest was the Southern States during the “Reconstruction Period”. But even that, many still kept their language, were able to keep their records and heirlooms, and build up a life for themselves. They never suffered a complete SACK of their cities, their societies, their cultures and their identity. They do not realize what a real defeat looks like.

Do you want to see similar posts?

I hope that you found this post curious. Please take care. You can view other similar posts in my SHTF Index, here…

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What it is like to apply for a job in the American corporate environment.

This post was long in coming. While everyone pretty much agrees that the United States is broken, from it’s “flawed democratic model“, to it’s culture of “lone wolf” money-oriented success, few write about the mess that American industry has become. Yet, when a movie points out these points, such as the movie “Office Space” it becomes a raging success. American work culture is just as messy as it’s economic culture, it’s political culture, and it’s social culture. And this article is going to discuss some elements of that aspect.

The last interview that I had in the United States was over a decade ago. It was typical, and it was brutal. After flying in to the city, and spending the night in a hotel, my day started at 9am. I met HR in the lobby, and after an hour going through papers, documents, manuals, and application procedures, I started my interview cycle.

I had six face to face one-on-one interviews in the morning. A brief lunch that consisted of a Subway sandwich (a foot long) and a large coke, followed by another three interviews, and a group interview by the “new hire committee”. I got a tour of the building and facilities, and I was then driven to the airport at 7pm to catch my plane home.

They didn’t hire me.

They said the “chemistry” wasn’t “right”.

This article / post is dedicated to every poor SOB that has to go through a gauntlet of interviews, hoops, and a paper trail to get a job. Because it’s not just the interview, don’t you know, it’s the application process on the internet as well.

And it sucks.

The point of this…

I have matured and moved past this hiring part of my life. It is what happens when you get retired, get old, leave America or become a felon. You no longer need to participate in the “American race for gainful employment“. And because of that, I want to thumb my nose at all those companies that made me jump through hoops to get a job. Jeeze!

Here’s my movie take on the American job-interview procedure. Please enjoy.

What getting a job in America is like.

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The little guys start to fight back, and the oligarchy is left hurting from the bitch slap.

This post is a little tad boring in that it relates to money and how money is used to generate more money. I find that boring. I also find it trivial.

However, this mechanism is ingrained in the United States and the West as the ONLY way for people to move upward in the class-caste structure that has been constructed.

The "big news" is that "the little guy" (people who live outside the oligarchy class) have devised a way to "get even" with the wealthy oligarchy that has been "sticking it to the rest of us" for decades now. And this "get even" event is well... it's fucking awesome.

Game Stop Corp

Late in January 2021, a few amateur stock trading nerds decided to promote a stock that was heavily shortened by certain hedge funds. The idea was to raise the stock price of Game Stop Corp., a vendor for computer games, by having lots of small stock traders to buy into it. The hedge fund that shortened the stock, and thereby bet on a dropping stock price, would then make huge losses while the many small buyers would potentially profit.

These people, who had joined up in the sub-reddit /r/WallStreetBets, were not driven by greed but by rage against the financial machine:

Instead of greed, this latest bout of speculation, and especially the extraordinary excitement at GameStop, has a different emotional driver: anger. The people investing today are driven by righteous anger, about generational injustice, about what they see as the corruption and unfairness of the way banks were bailed out in 2008 without having to pay legal penalties later, and about lacerating poverty and inequality. This makes it unlike any of the speculative rallies and crashes that have preceded it.

The movement was successful. The stock price of Game Stop Corp. rose from some $10 to over $400 within just a few days. The short seller had to take cover under a larger firm:

Hedge fund Melvin Capital closed out its short position in GameStop on Tuesday after taking huge losses as a target of the army of retail investors. Citadel and Point72 have infused close to $3 billion into Gabe Plotkin's hedge fund to shore up its finances.

Then the system hit back.

Discord, the company which hosted the server for the sub-reddit /r/WallStreetBets suddenly found that there was ‘hate-speech’ in the threads. It unplugged the server. (Discord had previously unplugged the sub-reddit /r/The_Donald.)

Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald - 0:53 UTC · Jan 28, 2021

What an absolutely extraordinary coincidence of timing that Discord happened to decide the r/Wall Streetbets sub-reddit had too much “hate speech” to tolerate on the same day hedge fund billionaires declared them a huge threat for the crime of winning at their expense!

Next the trading app Robinhood, which many of the amateur traders use, blocked further buys into the stock:

Robinhood, the fee-free investment app that has helped Redditors and other retail investors pump dark horse stocks like GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry, and Nokia, has stopped allowing users to buy those stocks and others YOLO picks.

According to screenshots shared on social media, on Thursday morning a notification appeared on Robinhood telling users that they could close their position on GameStop's stock, but not buy any additional shares. 

Redditors are currently panicking, looking for ways to transfer their shares of GameStop off of Robinhood to other platforms, and are generally furious at the platform.

In a blog post, Robinhood confirmed that it has placed restrictions on several stocks due to volatility.

“Volatility” = the prols are messing up Wall Street by doing legal stock transactions our overlords do not like. What an irony that a company named Robin Hood is protecting the rich from the poor.

The many people who use Robinhood can now only sell their shares and not buy additional ones:

This is likely to have a massive impact on Robinhood users and ultimately the company. According to a popup on the app's homepage, 56 percent of all Robinhood users own at least some GameStop stock. They are now unable to freely trade it; the app is only allowing users to close out their positions, meaning they can sell it but not buy more. This is potentially devastating for novice investors or those who simply want to follow the general marching orders of the r/WallStreetBets subreddit, which is to hold (and buy more) GameStop stock until further notice.

That outright manipulation of the stock markets was noticed and may even have consequences. Unlike Joe Biden it united legislators across the aisle.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC - 16:36 UTC · Jan 28, 2021

This is unacceptable.

We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.

As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I’d support a hearing if necessary.

—

Ted Cruz @tedcruz - 16:47 UTC · Jan 28, 2021
Retweeting @AOC
Fully agree.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will take care that nothing will comes from it. The system has proven again and again that it is rigged. No change to it will be condoned.

As Glenn Greenwald noted yesterday:

Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald - 13:49 UTC · Jan 27, 2021

To review:
- Politics is to be manipulated only by K Street.
- The stock market is to be manipulated only by Wall St.
- Dissemination of information is to be manipulated only by corporate media outlets.

Those are the rules.

The lesson they want us to learn: Don't even think of ever breaking those rules.

Posted by b on January 28, 2021 at 18:05 UTC | Permalink

It’s all been brutal.

Furthermore, everybody “understands” what happened with GameStop.  Unlike some other Wall Street stories, this one isn’t complicated. The  entire tale, in a nutshell, goes like this. One group of gamblers  announced, “Fuck you!” Another group announced back: “No, fuck YOU!”  That’s it. Or, as one market analyst put it to me this morning, “A bunch  of guys made a bet, got killed, then doubled and tripled down and got  killed even more.”

-Suck It, Wall Street  by Matt Taibbi

Why?

Well, because the oligarchy believe that they and their system were untouchable. That it was unassailable, and that they were forever free of the consequences of their actions. Does “Too big to fail” ring a bell.

Guess that the response from Joe Average and Suzi Average has been a little brutal. But can you blame them?

A best-selling fiction author could not have spun a more ironic tale so completely representative of our time.

Just as an unprecedented situation—COVID and lockdowns—unfolded over the past year and led to massive gains for corporate titans like Walmart and Amazon. Meanwhile governments have crushed small businesses and individuals…

And a new, unprecedented situation has unfolded.

Spilling off the pages of Reddit to become a substantial threat to the stock market’s stability Is amazing.

It is a microcosm of this tale of big business quashing the little guy.

It is a tale of Wall Street profiting despite the best, most subversive efforts of the underdogs.

In short, what started out as a long stock play in a subreddit full of rocketship and “diamond hand” emojis and anti-elitist snark has fueled a form of class warfare that extends well beyond rhetoric.

Big Tech and Wall Street are fighting back, and right now it appears they’re winning.

But in the long run, you do know, you can only tread water only for so long.

The subreddit has shown us the way forward.

You Do Need Some Background

The background of this story may seem dry to some, but as with “The Big Short” of ’08, the full extent of malfeasance and recklessness by big Wall Street players can’t be understood without some working knowledge.

Reddit user “u/DeepF*ckingValue” has been touting the potential of GameStop (GME) for months.

Seen as a dying retail breed, its stock price had hovered around $5 per share for several years as people move away from brick and mortar for video games and more towards digital copies of games and online purchases of consoles.

Enter Ryan Cohen.

He is the founder of Chewy, which he sold for a cool $3 billion back in 2018. This was after successfully competing with Amazon for the e-commerce dog food market.

Then, after stepping away from dog food domination, he turned his sights towards GameStop. Where he endedup buying a 13 percent share in the company and joining its board of directors in mid-January.

This move boosted the stock price, but it was still trading under $20.

While a visionary joining a failing company has brought about spikes in stock price in the past, GameStop had another unique factor against it.

Its stock, GME, was shorted at an astronomical rate by several hedge funds, including Melvin Capital.

A short position is taken when a person or fund believes the stock price will go down. They borrow against the current market price with the intention of paying it back when the market price is lower.

For example;

Stock A is trading at $3. 

Bob believes it will drop to $1 and shorts 100 shares of stock. Meaning he "borrows" the 100 shares.

He “sells” those "shorted" (borrowed) stocks immediately for $300. 

In a week, if the stock price goes to $1 he can close his stock position and buy the 100 shares he “borrowed” for only $100. 

At the end of it all, Bob makes $200.

However, if a week later the price rises to $5 per share, he could close out his short position by paying $500 for 100 shares at $5 per share. In the end, he’d lose $200 on his bet.

Yikes.

But…

Bob has another option.

He can hold on to it longer.

If his short position isn’t looking too hot with a current price of $5 per share. He could stick with his short position and hope it drops back down to $3 or less sometime in the future to cover his current paper loss. The risk with this is that his loss potential is theoretically unlimited. If he holds onto his short position for another week and the stock price rises to $10, he’s even more in the red.

The longer you wait; and hold on to the stock, the greater the risk or gain.

Well, this is only one of the ways you can short a stock.

The bigger you or your fund is, the more complicated a short position can become, all the way into “naked” short (selling a stock you haven’t even borrowed yet, akin to listing and selling a home you don’t even own), which are illegal but hard to track and therefore rarely prosecuted.

SEC.gov | Naked Short Sales
https://www.sec.gov/answers/nakedshortsale.htm

2010-7-23 · In a "naked" short  sale, the seller does not borrow or arrange to borrow the securities in  time to make delivery to the buyer within the standard three-day  settlement period.As a result, the seller fails to deliver securities to  the buyer when delivery is due; this is known as a "failure to deliver"  or "fail."

Back to GameStop

GameStop was shorted at 140 percent of all the shares available to purchase, meaning it is likely more shares were shorted than there were to buy back to cover those short positions.

140 %.

140%

Think about it. 100% is all you have to work with.

This should never happen.

It suggests the types of shorts that were used were questionable at best and illegal at worst.

And the US government, and SEC looked the other way. They always “look the other way”.

So “u/DeepF*ckingValue” and a group of redditors saw an opportunity: take advantage of those who are taking advantage.

What has unfolded over the past couple weeks has been a run on purchasing GME stock to try and buy up as much shares as possible to take advantage of this short position.

Buying all those shares naturally drove up the stock price, but it also did something else.

Every time the price went a little bit higher, hedge funds that had massive short positions took more and more of a loss as they were forced to buy an ever-increasing stock to cover their short positions.

As reddit user u/myne put it:

[Hedge funds] short-sold AT LEAST 40% more shares than ever existed. 

They’re obliged to buy back more shares than is possible. 

The only way out of that self-made trap is a complicated mess of desperately buying, returning, rebuying from the people you borrowed them from, and returning them with losses at every step. 

Imagine if I sold you 10 cars, but only delivered 6. 

You’re standing there with your WTF face and I say ‘Hey! how much would you sell those 4 cars for?’ 

You can name your price at this point. 

I pay it. Then I ‘finish’ my ‘10 car delivery.’

At this point, some fund managers and individuals exited their short position realizing that as long as people who were long GME held their position, the stock price would continue to go up and there was nothing they could do about it.

This is known as a short squeeze.

As short positions become due and shorters have to cover these positions, they’re forced to buy at the price set by the shareholder.

Since these same shorters shorted more stock than was available to buy to try and make an extra buck, they’re now at the mercy of those holding the shares, leading to exponentially increasing prices.

Uh oh!

Punishing Hedge Funds for Cheating

While some shorters realized the potential losses could be catastrophic, others decided to double down on their position.

Melvin Capital lost 30 percent of their portfolio value by Jan. 25, or close to $4 billion. On that day, Citadel and Steven Cohen gifted Melvin Capital $2.75 billion to help cover their losses. They then doubled down on their shorts and their losses have skyrocketed.

On Jan. 25, they announced they finally exited their short positions.

This is when the war with individual retail investors started.

While it cannot be technically proven that Melvin didn’t exit their short positions, short positions on GME as a percentage of available float were still at the same 140 percent.

Statistically, this should’ve fallen off hard if Melvin really did sell their short positions. Thousands of retail investors thus doubted this news and continued to hold onto their stocks.

GME stock had continued to skyrocket.

On Friday 22JAN21, it closed at $65 per share.

One week later it closed at $345 per share.

Last night, u/DeepF*ckingValue’s initial $50,000 position grew to $50,000,000, and he’s continuing to hold.

Now, a lot of short positions will become due by the end of the week, and that’s when the much-anticipated short squeeze is expected to kick in.

What started out as a humorous stock projection has become a realistic prediction.

We might see GME share prices above $1,000. With this attention on targeting heavily shorted stocks, other stocks have seen massive gains as well, including AMC, BB, and NOSS.

Recent aftermarket trading pushed GME close to $500 and bankruptcy for funds with heavy short positions seemed to become more and more probable.

It appeared that the underdog small-time investors betting against the big hedge fund pessimists successfully dealt a blow to Wall Street know-it-alls.

Robinhood Turns on the Little Guy

Then suddenly, Robinhood suspended the ability to purchase shares of GME, AMC, and others due to “market volatility.”

Of course, you still can sell these shares, you just can’t buy them.

And what happens to a stock when you can only sell it or hold it? People sell it and losses start to pile up.

Within an hour, GME dropped from $469 to $132 and AMC dropped from $12 to $7. Several traders reported orders being cancelled.

This may seem like a responsible reaction to slow volatility, but one doesn’t need to look that deeply to see what’s really going on.

Mega hedge fund Citadel gave Melvin Capital, the company with the most to lose the higher these prices go, a $2.75 billion bailout. According to Yahoo News, “Citadel’s founder is Ken Griffin, who also founded Citadel Securities, a big investor in Robinhood that also works with TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab.”

The company that touts “democratizing finance for all,” that many redditors have relied on to foil the fat cats’ plan to short a beloved videogame store, is really stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

Within an hour, billions have been transferred from individual retail investors to hedge fund managers in the name of Robinhood.

Its app store rating plummeted from 5 to 1.

This is a blatant act of market manipulation, and lovers of freedom on both sides of the aisle should be outraged.

In a free market, stocks should be able to be bought or sold at any time and foolish actions should reap negative consequences—even if those consequences come via spiteful “average joe” investors. Investors who’ve likely gone through a hellish year where they’ve felt squeezed and short-changed by establishment elites in government and big business.

You’re probably wondering what’s next.

That depends on the constitution of retail investors. The subredditors of r/wallstreetbets have received an overwhelming amount of support for the hold position as trade volumes indicate the price crash was caused by very few sellers but high-frequency small trades that artificially crashed the price.

This is Melvin’s/Robinhood’s/Citadel’s/Cohen’s last battle effort before the inevitable short squeeze.

As long as retail investors hold, they should see their position skyrocket.

But do they have the strength to do so as prices artificially tanked? Considering GME has recovered to $246, it appears they might. This is a once in a decade spectacle that has pitted retail investors against hedge fund managers, with irony off-the-charts: a platform called Robinhood screwing small-time investors?

Really?

Whether the trend of Big Business succeeding while the average American suffers continues through 2021 is anyone’s guess.

But we deserve a better ending than bitter irony.

The key point in this, and the actions of the government, clearly demonstrate in clear and unambiguous terms that there are no absolute laws. There are just what they can do, and lip service about what YOU can do.

Laws? Only For You. Bend Over

Let’s start with the law:

It is illegal to "manipulate" a stock or other security -- that is, it is unlawful to express an intent to sell or buy for any other reason than to actually sell or buy, and it is also illegal to intentionally mislead others about your reasons for doing so.

This is why “spoofing” (although almost-never prosecuted) is against the law.

“Spoofing” is the practice of laying in a bid or offer you have no intention of being filled on for the express reason of making other people think you want to sell or buy something, when in fact you want to do the opposite.

They attempt to follow your claimed “expression of intent” only to find your offer or bid has disappeared, the price moves and they come in on the other side.

It sounds like picking up pennies in front of a steamroller and it is, but it can be very profitable especially if your connection to the exchange is fast enough that the risk of getting filled is extremely low in that you can cancel your order before anyone can hit it.

This could be prevented on a trivial basis by the exchanges through a simple rule:

All orders must remain valid for enough time for the signal to travel around the globe twice (once there and once back) or until executed and you may not have more open orders at any given instant than you can clear (e.g. margin capacity.)

Now if you try to “spoof” you will get filled and the scheme fails.

But note that despite this being blatantly obvious not one exchange has implemented such a rule and neither has the SEC demanded it.

Gee, I wonder why not?  Might it be that they really don't give a rats ass so long as only the "right" people cheat?

Spoofing is an extremely common practice, a practice that especially screws small retail traders because we are nowhere near as fast with our fingers as a computer and also not sitting next to the exchange either…

… and a number of years ago one particular idiot was dumb enough to do it when the futures market was open over a holiday weekend.

It was caught on video and put on Youtube, which got the CME very pissed off.

Oh by the way, they never have gone after the “big guys” doing the same thing nor changed the rules on order validity.

Just the “little guys”.

Given how simple it would be to instantly stop this crap does that tell you everything you need to know?

But there is nothing illegal about bidding up (or shorting) a stock for a transparent and truthful reason that has nothing to do with its underlying value. The only requirement is that you not lie; witness firms like Tesla that have crazy valuations for which there is no rational justification, or Amazon, or similar.

They’re everywhere and always on the exchanges and always have been.

Fundamentally a company that pays no dividend has no value beyond the liquidation value of its assets in the free market when it comes to common stock. Therefore, if you want to get down to it every single stock that pays no dividend trades on nothing more than hype since there is no discounted cash flow to you as a holder, ever, and no expectation there will be.

That’s the dirty little secret that nobody wants to talk about when it comes to the stock market.

And that is why you can have a market that trades at 666 one year and a few years later trades at 3,700. Did the economy expand by a factor of five over that period? Did it even double? Not even close.

The sort of short squeeze that we’ve seen occurred due to fraud — but not by the people causing the squeeze.

And don’t get your panties in a wad about this either; yes, the “at home” trading cadre has materially expanded with the pandemic lockdowns and such, and we’re sending “stimulus checks” to a lot of young adults with nothing to do with their time, so staring at a trading terminal attempting to make money sounds pretty good, especially if you win a few times. But that’s not the whole story — not even close.

If you want to short a stock you are supposed to first borrow it.

That is, ordinary people cannot sell what they don’t have, so if you wish to short you must first borrow that which you want to sell. This is one of the ways brokers make money; they keep all the stock their customers have in “street name” and keep track of who has what.

They can (and if supply is limited do) charge you to borrow that stock.

There’s nothing wrong with this, provided the stock borrowed is real.

It’s one of the things you agree to allow if you have a margin account; as part of the “price” of that privilege the broker can loan your stock to others for the purpose of shorting it. However, since you own it if you demand it back because you wish to sell it the broker either has to find some other set of shares to replace what he lent out of yours or the short-seller is forcibly bought-in at the market because they have to return your shares.

If that causes to take a loss, tough crap.

There is an exception to this rule:

If you are a market maker then you can short naked, that is, without borrowing first.

Why? Because a market maker’s job is, as the name implies, to make the market — that is, to take the other side of whatever the customer wants to do. If I want to be long something in order to do it someone else has to sell it. Now in the physical security market this is easy; there either is or is not what I want to buy out there on the sheet offered by someone else.

But in the options market there is no physical security; the entirety of it is synthetic. This means if someone wishes to buy a CALL someone else has to sell one.

Well, that’s dangerous because naked short options positions are obligations to deliver.

Specifically if you are short an IBM CALL @ $100 (for example) then you are obligated to deliver 100 shares of IBM stock on demand at any time before expiration for $100 each.

It does not matter what IBM’s stock is worth; if the holder of the CALL exercises their option you must deliver them. If the shares cost $500 at that time you’re fucked.

Likewise I can buy a $20 PUT on some stock. This gives me the right to PUT that stock on the other person for $20/share up until expiration.  

IF the price is under $20 I of course have every reason to do that -- I can buy the shares for $10 and make you pay me $20!  

Who doesn't like that deal?  

Likewise, the market maker never wants that directional bet either since on the short side of an options trade you're obligated to perform if demanded by the long side.

Nobody would stay in business being a market maker if this sort of thing could happen to them, so as soon as they take the opposing side they execute a balancing trade on the other side.

In short if you’re a market maker you always want to be neutral on every security you make a market in; you make a (very) small profit on each transaction but you never, ever want to be exposed directionally because the amount you get paid is tiny compared to the risk, and one mistake will bankrupt you.

Therefore if you’re a market maker you can short without locating first for this explicit reason. This doesn’t lead to a problem generally because nobody in their right mind as a market maker wants a directional exposure, ever. As a result the failure to locate is transient and does not accumulate; you will lay that risk off and remove the imbalance if you have to since you can construct synthetic positions that perform financially the same as real ones.

So how do you get 140% of the available shares short?

It would seem impossible and is…

…. unless someone cheats.

There are some players in the market who have “market maker” status but also trade their own books or have cross-interests with those who do.

Allegedly there are “Chinese walls” between those pieces (or interconnected entities.) Quite obviously that is a load of crap because otherwise what you’ve seen would be impossible but it clearly not only has happened before but is still happening to this day.

These entities are how you wind up with short sales where the locate and borrow hasn’t happened first and the position remains open across time. This is supposed to be illegal but other than a few hand-slaps in the futures markets for physical commodities I’m not aware of any criminal prosecution for doing it.

And let’s be clear here: This practice is counterfeiting.

There is nothing wrong with borrowing a share of stock from someone and selling it, provided that if the person who you borrowed it from wants it back you are forced to deliver it. That is, if there are 100 shares of stock in the world the only entity who have the right to control how many total shares there are is the company itself. Provided there are 100 shares who loans them and on what terms is nobody’s business; that’s a private transaction and it’s perfectly legal. If I own something I have the right to lend or sell it to someone on whatever terms I choose.

But if you sell something without locating it first you are counterfeiting because you are now representing that there are 110 shares in the marketplace but the company never authorized the other 10.

You thus are in fact diluting every one of the existing and real shares by 10% and pocketing the money from those sales.  In short you are stealing by partially destroying the value of everyone else's holdings in that stock.

Counterfeiting is a criminal offense — always and everywhere.

So now you have some folks who have discerned that in fact there is more than 100% of the public float out short. This cannot happen through lawful trading activity, but it leads to an interesting conundrum: If you drive the price up you force those who committed that offense to cover their bets and there aren’t enough shares to do it. Oh, someone will eventually fork up their shares at ever-increasing prices to unwind the fraud but in the process the people who shorted naked get a telephone pole up their ass in terms of losses.

There is nothing illegal about targeting people who do this; you are not lying about your intentions and ramming someone’s criminal conduct up their ass is not only legal it’s what they deserve to have happen to them. Remember that no company stock is actually worth anything beyond liquidation value at any instant in time when it comes to hard valuation; the entire remainder of the price is speculative premium — that is, the expression of belief in future prospects.

Further, the folks on Reddit aren’t the whole story of the pressure either.

There appears to be a "gentleman's agreement" among hedgies that they don't go after this when done by their "friends."  The practice would never survive a day otherwise; competition is like that if it's honest competition.  The reason we ban collusion generally is because it destroys honest competition and that is bad.

But as with any thieves guild breaking ranks can make you a lot of money and when something like this gets going you can bet there are folks with lots of money happy to jump on the bandwagon and add a few telephone poles — or a few hundred — to the pile being shoved up the short side’s ass. Why not if they can profit from it especially if they don’t get identified to the other guild members as the ones who broke ranks?

So cry me a river, hedge fund mavens and screamers like Cramer — who, by the way, admitted on video many years ago how he used to manipulate markets before he had his own TV show. He never went to jail for that, did he?

What’s the difference?

These folks on WSB are telling you exactly why they're doing what they're doing -- they intend to shove a telephone pole up some cheater's asses and break it off, making a profit at the same time, which is the truth.  

That's legal.  

There's no deception at all; every one of their "buy" orders is in fact a bona-fide intent to purchase and they're being entirely transparent as to why.

That their intent has nothing to do with their view of the underlying company’s value in its present state means nothing; basically zero of the stock and option trades on the market, ever, are about today’s state of a given firm — they’re all about tomorrow’s beliefs which by the very nature of that being tomorrow are speculative.

Now one more thing: Why would Robinhood and others halt buys in a stock?

Not crank margin to 100% (or some multiple of it for a short), stop it entirely irrespective of cash in your account?

The broker does not care what the buyer and seller transact at and further, if there is no margin involved the broker also does not care if you grossly overpay and wind up with zero.  

He loses nothing and this was your own self-directed decision, not his recommendation. All an actual broker does is match buyers and sellers; they are not involved directionally.  

Well, not legally anyway.....

Further, there are claims that people not on margin were force-liquidated.  On what basis?  Legally, maybe you signed something saying they could liquidate you "if they believed you were placing at risk" or even "if they're at risk" (without you being the cause.)  

However the question still stands: Why did they liquidate the accounts if in fact they did?

National Review claims Robinhood and IB were “adults in the room.” Bullshit. Let me quote some of their nonsense:

Robinhood makes money by routing trades from its platform to large brokers, who compensate the company for its order flow. The larger the trading volume, the better for Robinhood. But Robinhood also makes money through various forms of lending, primarily margin lending to customers.

Which is immaterial, as they had already set margin to 100%. In other words, there were no margin loans on GME stock. You put up cash before you buy, or you don’t buy. If you have an existing position you can’t borrow against it. That’s perfectly legit and brokers do that all the time when things get volatile.

That generates no exposure for the brokerage.

From Robinhood’s perspective, the GameStop rally is beneficial insofar as it generates revenue from increased trading activity, but it is also extremely risky, because the brokerage platform is lending millions of dollars to retail investors buying a world-historically volatile stock. As more and more buyers have flocked to GameStop, Robinhood has lent out more and more money.

That’s a lie since they had already set margin to 100%. They’re not lending money against those positions; those are cash transactions and, allegedly and if nobody is cheating, all Robinhood is doing is matching buyers and sellers.

It’s unclear how much GameStop stock Robinhood has lent to hedge funds, but whatever the amount, they’ve been lucrative, commanding as much as 80 percent in interest due to the massive amount of money betting against the stock.

Ah…. now we’re getting somewhere.

You see, brokers do that; they lend out stock and, in cases of hard to borrow shares there is often a fee that can get quite steep.

The brokerage would lose that income stream if the short was closed.

But….

…so what? There’s no existential risk here — just lost opportunity. Which doesn’t explain the clamp-down, does it?

NR goes on to try to excuse this as being the “adults in the room.”

Nope. Once you have margin set to 100% of a long position (and, I remind you, if there is no available float then you can’t short without breaking the law) then there is no risk to the brokerage. If the bubble pops, it pops. Your job is to match buyers and sellers and so long as you’re doing that and not doing something you shouldn’t be there is no problem. The customer may lose his or her shirt but in a self-directed account with no margin loan outstanding against the position there is no risk to the firm provided everything you’re doing on the up and up.

THERE ARE ANSWERS TO THE “WHY” QUESTION and I’d love to hear one that doesn’t implicate criminal activity. National Review is, to be blunt, playing cover for people; their “explanation” makes no sense. So why publish it at all until and unless they can get the answer to the actual question: Why?

**So why did certain platforms do what they did?**

I’ll bet there’s a common thread in all of this, and you won’t like it if and when it comes out into public view….

Fallout

Um. Maybe. More than likely, however, nothing is going to happen.

A little review.

But so what?

Some teenagers found a missing clink in Smaug’s armor.

Smaug is portrayed as being psychopathic, extremely sadistic, confident, violent, cruel, arrogant, intelligent and greedy, possessing an unquenchable desire for gold. 

His most distinguishing characteristic (aside from his greed) is his arrogance, as Smaug proudly boasts of his superiority and impregnability to Bilbo during their encounter. 

However, this proves to be his downfall, as he unwittingly reveals the weak spot in his chest to Bilbo when showing the Hobbit how he had willfully coated…

-Smaug | The One Wiki to Rule Them All

Smaug roared back, and burnt them all to a dark crisp. A lesson will be made of them, and business will continue as normal. Right?

…

Perhaps a little review about what we have been dealing with is in order.

Let’s consider the fantastic “stimulus” check that the US government ave Americans. This stimulus check per person was $600 dollars. And was intended to “help” Americans deal with being unemployed for nine months. The cost of this stimulus was $900 billion and it was labeled the ” coronavirus relief package“. The United States population is 329.45 million people. Thus, the actual and real amount that should have gone to each American should have been $2,735,000.

So, if you simply take the total amount of money allocated to helping Americans out, and divide it by the number of Americans...

...each American should get a check for $2.7 million dollars.

But truthfully, an stimulus should go to each family. Not to each individual. THis was, after all, how the United States was first intended to operate.

And since 83.68 million families were living in the United States, in 2020, each family should have been given 10,843,000 dollars US.

So, if you simply take the total amount of money allocated to helping Americans out, and divide it by the number of American families...

...each American family should get a check for $10.8 million dollars.

So why do Americans only get a fraction of that amount?

$600.

What. The. Fuck.

Well, it’s all fun and games.

Now, heads up, when historians write about the collapse of the United States, you can be quite sure that they will list this event as one of the signs of the eventual downfall. The sign of the pathetic attempts of the “little guys” to “take down” the massive fraud and corruption that runs rampant inside of America today.

No matter what…

Keep in mind that everyone is rooting for the little “normal” people, and enjoy seeing the oligarchy hurt. That is, everyone except the oligarchy themselves. Depending on how the government reacts, you can see this as either…

A minor skirmish of class warfare.
A pivot point that enacts some much needed change.
Or, a spark that contributes to a major event to follow.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Front Row Seat Index here…

Front Row Seat

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Master Index

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American Sniper Jack Hinson and his tale of relentless revenge. Meet the real-life Terminator.

Listen, and understand. 

That terminator is out there. It can’t be  bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or  remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.

You all have watched the 1980’s movie “Terminator”, eh?

Well, it’s nearing the end of the Chinese Year. We exit the year of the rat, and say hello to the year of the bull. It’s a busy time in China as factories are trying to speed up production to send orders out before the one month shut down. Of course, this is still a strange time, and most people are staying home. Few are going to travel back to their families. It’s too dangerous with the two brand new viral strains floating around.

Two brand new viruses?

Yes. There are two brand-spanking-new, never before seen, “novel” viruses that hit China at the end of 2019.

No I’m not talking about the seizure inducing respiratory COVID-19B. Not the mild stain; the immunization strain in American the COVID-19A. That pathway and history has been substantially mapped out in great detail. https://lnkd.in/gBM2Fur.

I particularly like how the mild strains the COVID-19A (the immunization strain) was moving through America and Britain all Summer 2019. While the deadly strains, COVID-19B and COVID-19C hit China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia at the same time in January 2020. All traced back to the Military Games in Wuhan, and the hotel where the 300 military soldiers were housed.

But I am not talking about this.

I’m talking about the (yet to be named, but I’m naming it) COVID-20. A death by vomiting virus. New. Novel. Hit China right after Trump “gave up on Hong Kong”.

Seems that some the "cat's paw" Chinese drone operators who dispensed the 2018 - 2019 swine flu, "spilled the beans" to the PLA and the government. You see, the Chinese fellows that the CIA hired (to spray the swine flu to the pigs using drones), well they immediately went to the Chinese authorities when given these new viral containers by their CIA handlers.

Uh oh!

When Trump told the NED that “Let it (HK) all burn”, I guess that he didn’t count that everything in Hong Kong was under complete audio and video surveillance. And this pretty much upset Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, and Tom Cotton. And one or more of them gave the ok to release this very, very nasty virus in China.

Arrested and off to Thailand to start a color revolution there. — American and British passport holders, arrested and deported for training “color revolution” techniques, bomb-making, insurgency techniques, and how to provoke the government so that they would violently respond to the provocations.

And there is more.

There is the COVID-21. A death by shitting virus.

They are calling this a "tick borne" virus. This happened right after the seven battle assault carrier flotilla left the South China Sea and headed home with their tail between their legs. Seems to me that Trump wanted to really "sock it to China".

It’s funny. It broke out in Beijing. Where did everyone get this tick-borne virus? Inside of Starbucks?

The people in the United States, and Britain nod their heads. “Yup. China is dirty and filthy. Of course it’s full of germs and bad stuff”. LOL.

Hardly.

If you are an American you probably think that the pandemic is either fake, or a singular virus. Not realizing that China has been hit with a massive carpet-bombing of viral agents.

Anyways, to make a long story short, I went off to go to the local clinic to get my free swabs and measurements. You can never be too careful.

A visit to the local clinic

To get an idea of what it’s like in China, you have to understand that pretty much if you want to go to any public area or a mall (or anything like that) you need to have your QR code approval.

There’s different applications for this but basically you use your cell phone to scan a QR code and then they’ll tell you if you have traveled into a “hot” area where one of the viruses are active.

QR codes. — Scan to see if you have traveled to a “hot” area. You need to do this and pass before the security guard will allow you in the building.

The QR scan is immediate. And it will tell you whether you’re good to go or not. This morning, I’m dealing with some medical issues on top of our periodic evaluation and so of course we had to scan the QR code and this is what it looks like…

Good to enter the building. — A “clean” QR scan that says that you are “good to go”.

I don’t know what they’re doing in the states, but I can’t imagine they’re doing anything like this. Pretty much China’s is all QR codes, drones, IR scans, barcodes and scanning.

Really, nobody uses money anymore.

And everybody, of course is taking precautions or wearing mask especially this time of season. Oh sure, you’ll see a couple that aren’t but for the most part people take things very seriously, given all the events that happened this time last year.

I guess it’s kind of a crazy time to live, and I you know I suppose that this is going to go down in history books of course. And we’re living through it so that’s gotta be worth something right? They always say that you don’t realize how bad things were until you actually read about it in the history books.

Of course, the person (or people) who controls and writes the history books are the ones that control the narrative. Don’t you know.

Anyways…

An Oreo and Spam burger in China!

Lordy!

I read on my news feeds and Yahoo news, as well as the MSN and drudge report and all those other kinds of “News media” the stunning news! Apparently FOX News first reported that China has a new burger at McDonald’s.

It’s called an Oreo spam burger and everybody’s commenting how disgusting it is and how horrible the Chinese sense of tastes are. And just how crazy that the Chinese would eat (dare they!), eat such a thing. There’s a considerable amount of internet space on this…

… so it’s pretty shocking to me. As I live in China, and there’s nothing at all about this monstrosity. And since it is near CNY, there are McDonald’s advertisements everywhere showing their new CNY holiday menus.

A busy intersection. — McDonald’s holiday menu advertisements are up and are all over the place. Like this one at the corner of a busy intersection.

Here’s a close up of that picture. I had a zoom feature on my cell phone and snapped this picture. I think that it is clearer and show just what the McDonald’s holiday menu advertisement looks like.

Guess what?

No Oreo-spam burger. Anywhere!

Bucket of burgers. — Closer view showing the McDonald’s advertisement for the CNY 2021 holiday menu. Showing a “KFC bucket style” offering and a ton load of sides and desserts. All for 75 yuan (roughly $10 USD).

Well that’s a big mystery.

So what do I do…

I go to McDonald’s here in China and I ask him about it. Never heard of the thing they don’t know what the heck I’m talking about.

So I went over to the website and tried to find their attachment links the Fox news article, the Yahoo article has ton load of links and all the links point back to MSN and Yahoo. None of them point to an advertisement for this mysteriously terrible horrific burger. And, yes, I went to Fox news which is always anti-China and the same thing there they can’t show me a picture of this stupid burger.

Finally I found one.

But not on any McDonald’s website, or part of a McDonald’s advertisement or promotional campaign. I found it on the Hormel Foods website; the company that makes Spam. As best that I can figure out, there is some kind of “I’ll scratch your back, if you scratch mine”, between Hormel and one of the local independent McDonald’s franchises in Beijing. It’s not, NOT, a McDonald’s product.

It is a local franchise owner’s local product.

Hormel burger. — The Hormel / McDonald’s Frankenstein burger.

Anyways, now you know the entire story. You’ll never figure out this kind of background on your own by reading the American “news”. Sometimes you all just have to go off yourself and see things with your own two eyes.

For 99.9999% of the McDonald’s in China, it’s a completely different story.

This is what the front door to McDonald’s looks like, and THIS is the burger that they are actually promoting this 2021 CNY. It’s the year of the Bull. Why in Pete’s name would they promote a pork spam burger on a beef year?

Think people think!!!!!!

Ne McDonald's burger. — The door to the front of McDonald’s showing the new promoted breakfast burger. It is a beef sloppy-Joe with Chinese spices and flavorings on an extra large English Muffin. It should be pretty delicious. Price is around a $1.20 for a burger and a coffee.

Disappointing because I really wanted to see this thing up close and personal.

I was finally able to do a search for this burger. All of the pictures were in English. None was in Chinese. And none originated out of China. All the picture originated out of America, and had English text. I wonder who’s great idea this was? To market an unsavory burger to Americans in English and say that China is selling it?

Fox news?

CNN?

Sometimes I think that. American news. Is in another complete time track, in reality of their own making, it’s just something that’s completely off the wall.

However, McDonald’s does have a new holiday burger that’s out. It looks pretty good, it’s a beef patty with chicken-fried bacon toppings. And a kind of a mustard sauce that they’re happening all on this new kind of Sesame bun looks like. Looks pretty good price is pretty reasonable. Here’s the advertisement marquee poster on another window…

Another new McDonald's burger in China. Not Oreo and spam. LOL. — Sorry for the glare. Note that in China, no one advertises in English. And all Chinese advertisements tend to have characters from history, in one form or the other, within the advertisement.

Of course, you’ll never hear about that, nope, not at all, not in the American news.

At the medical clinic

So anyways, I trooped out to the local clinic. The local clinic is giving away free Coronavirus packages to everybody.

It’s a nice thing to do. You get scanned, you get swabbed, and you get a nice free check up. It’s on going and there just isn’t any really long lines. You go in, and get checked.

Here’s the banner showing the “care package” that you can get with the QR scan to apply for it.

Care package banner. — Banner to apply for the COVID care package at the clinic. Note the fire extinguisher box to the left of the the picture. This is how fire extinguishers are stored all over China.

Anyways, the packages come with a bunch of free masks disposable masks. Some hand sanitizer. Seventy five percent alcohol for swapping things. Some herbal medicines that (you know Chinese herbal medicines) are helpful when you have distress and discomfort. As well as some medicines to handle harsh distress, western medicines, well (actually) made in China but western medicines and of course a sticker with a magnetic back that you can put on your refrigerator. That has a scanning barcode (A QR code). You just scan and it immediately contacts the clinic.

It’s a direct line to the clinics and hospitals in the direct and immediate area.

I would imagine that there’s probably something along these lines in the states too. Maybe at the local clinics and hospitals, there’s probably something similar, I’m sure that you’ll probably will have to pay for it. It’s the American way, don’t you know. Everything for a buck. But the USA just has to be doing this. This is what all the responsible nations are doing. Whether they are in Europe, or Russia, of Africa. Nations are trying to meet the needs of their people.

It’s how reasonable and responsible nations behave.

But you know, China has this because after all, it has been a very difficult period to go though.

The end of the year. Woo woo!

Well, it’s almost the end of the Year of the Rat; 2020. Soon it will be the year of the Bull. 2021 was one Hell of a year. I think everyone can well agree with me on that. It really sucked.

You can tell just how much it sucked, by the kinds of jokes that floated around then…

My best friend got mad at me because he caught me sniffing his sister's panties
 
It didn't help that she was still wearing them.
 
Or that his whole family was there.
 
That made the rest of his sister's funeral kind of awkward.
 
And who thought you could make the funeral for such a small child more awkward than it already was..

Indeed, if a normal year would be a large Christmas banquet, 2020 would be discarded peanut shells inside an elephant cage.

Indeed, 2020 was a hard year.

If 2020 was a drink, what kind of beverage would it be?

Colonoscopy prep.

As nasty as the year was, America has it easy.

At least the rest of the world wasn’t carpet bombed with biological weapons, a non-stop anti-China propaganda campaign, and CIA-sponsored “pro-democracy” color-revolutions in their cities.

I know everything happens for a reason, but 2020? What the actual fuck!

Ah, but in China…

They. Do. Not. Play. They operate on another level entirely.

When the government went DEFCON ONE, and the militia and reserves were called up everything went harsh lock-down. And you can’t blame them actually. With an onslaught of biological weapons thrown at China from every angle they had to do something.

Do you remember hula hoops? Well if 2020 was a hula hoop you would probably need to visit the hospital after playing with it.

And so they did.

Six biological weapons aimed at grains and produce. Three targeting livestock, and even using drones to spray the viruses over the remote farms and ranches. And then finally, the grand finale, the Coronavirus COVID-19B released when China was most vulnerable on CNY. With two even worse viral agents COVID-20, and COVID-21 in an effort that really just appears to be spiteful, vengeful and (yes) desperate.

No wonder the 2020 meme’s rang true…

All things taken together most American and those outside of China know nothing of all this. To them, there is one unified pandemic. It is natural, and all nations are dealing with it the best that they can.

Though truthfully, America has handled this year the worst.

I suspect that it has to do with the leadership.

Xi Peng felt his nation was under biological weapons attack and went DEFCON ONE. Everything that could be done was done. No chances were taken.
Donald Trump felt that his nations was fine and that everything was going as planned. Let people get a minor sniffle and they would be forever immunized from the nasty lethal strain that attacked China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.

Psychologically, I believe that people act and behave differently during an emergency.

Have you ever been in a car crash when you were drinking. man, oh man, you sure sober up quick. I think that this is the same phenomenon here. Donald Trump didn’t treat this coronavirus; the COVID-19A as anything to be concerned about. he wanted everyone to get it. And he never thought that it would become a dangerous strain.

And so Americans had to suffer.

Some 2020 memes

It’s not just Americans mind you. But everyone.

Here’s from Australia…

The 2020 rat year hit and affected everyone. Absolutely and positively every one.

Is it safe to say that babies born in the year 2020 will be called....
           
...doomers?

And…

The year 2020 began with Australia on fire and over a billion animals dead.
           
Little did we know then that it would be the feel good story of the year.

And…

Back in time
Stop me if you heard this joke:

Jimmy magically traveled back in time hundreds and hundreds of years.

He walked around the village feeling very superior to these uneducated and backward people. Saw them practicing with bows and arrows, riding horses, etc.

He walked up to the men practicing with bow and arrows.

“You guys are so simple. I come from the year 2020. Where I come from, we have guns.”

*Guns?*

“Yes, we use gun powder, which explodes. The gun powder is in a small bullet and when it gets hit hard it explodes and sends the bullet out the end of a tube so fast it can kill instantly.”

*That’s amazing, can you make us this gun powder?*

“Uh, no. I don’t know how. Someone smarter than me figured it out.”

They shook their heads and went back to practicing.

Then he walked by a girl riding a horse.

He shook his head in sympathy, “Where I come from we ride around in cars.”

*Cars?*

“Yes, they were like your wagons, but they didn’t need horses. We poured gasoline into them, which gave it power when it burned and made the care move way faster than any horse.

*Can you make me this gasoline?*

“Uh, no. I don’t know how. Someone smarter than me figured it out.”

*Well, how could it go so fast over the bumpy ground?*

“We had long streets made of concrete which made it very smooth for miles and miles.”

*Wow, can you make us this concrete?*

“Uh, no. I don’t know how. Someone smarter than me figured it out.”

As night fell, he walked over to a small house, lit only by candles.

“Where I come from, there is light in every room, every street, we even carry light in our pocket if we need it.”

*How is that possible?*

“Electricity. It’s like the energy from lightning but we make it and then we store it in a battery and it powers everything in the world. “

*That’s amazing. Can you make us this electricity?*

“Uh, no. I don’t know how. Someone smarter than me figured it out.”

In the morning, he walked by a doctor taking care of a boy coughing.

“You should cover his mouth and nose with a cloth, so you and his family don’t get sick.”

*How do you know this?*

“Uh, I don’t know. But someone smarter than me figured it out.”

Not really a joke. Just wear a mask. Because someone smarter than you figured out it was the right thing to do.

Here’s a meme from England…

There’s a ton load of memes about this most crappy of years. And you can search the internet for many more examples of how everyone else thought about this year. I can say that I have good news and bad news.

I don't know what animal the year 2020 is in the Chinese calendar...
           
...but I'm pretty sure it has rabies

Well, 2020 was the year of the RAT.

Firstly the good news. 2020 is over, and in two weeks the Year of the Rat will end. Yay!

In the year 2020, the Lord came unto Noah, Who was now living in America and said:
           
“Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me."

"Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans."

He gave Noah the blueprints, saying:

"You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights."

Six  months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard -  but no Ark."Noah!," He roared, "I'm about to start the rain! Where is  the Ark?"

"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah, "but things have changed."

"I needed a Building Permit."

"I've been arguing with the Boat Inspector about the need for a sprinkler system."

"My homeowners association claim that I've violated the Neighborhood  by-laws by building the Ark in my back yard and exceeding the height  limitations. We had to go to the local Planning Committee for a  decision."

"Then the City Council and the Electricity Company  demanded a shed load of money for the future costs of moving power lines  and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's  move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but  they would hear none of it."

"Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the Greater Spotted Barn Owl."

"I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls - but no go!"

"When  I started gathering the animals, PETA took me to court. They insisted  that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the  accommodations were too restrictive and it was cruel and inhumane to put  so many animals in a confined space."

"Then the Environmental  Protection Agency ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd  conducted an environmental impact study on Your proposed flood."

"I'm  still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on  how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew."

"The Immigration Dept. Is checking the visa status of most of the people who want to work."

"The labor unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only union workers with ark-building experience."

"To  make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying  to leave the country illegally with endangered species."

"So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this ark."

"Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine and a rainbow stretched across the sky."

Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean you're not going to destroy the world?"

"No," said the Lord. " The Government beat me to it.

That was an American joke.

…

Now the bad news.

Certain (unnamed) nations have handled this what-ever-you-want-to-call-it outrageously poorly, and this will make containment much more difficult and harder. I anticipate that things will not get back to normal for some time. Years probably. So if you are thinking that everything is going back to normal in four to six months you can dream on. I really doubt that.

Ok, ok. I know that you just don’t want to be reminded of that nasty, nasty year.

But you all have to appreciate that the memes were on fire. I mean really. You can take a meme from America and show it to someone from South Africa or Brazil and they would end up on the floor laughing. Of course, there will be some minor cultural differences. Like no one else in the world were stupidly hoarding toilet-paper. That was just a uniquely American thing.

But for many, the American memes are quite relatable.

Or, perhaps just consider the strange and crazy things that were going on. I wonder what the history books will write. I mean, it’s been an unusually long year. Well at least it seems like it was. In fact, it seems like the year was maybe three times longer than a “regular” year.

It makes you wonder what our collective karma must have been. Right?

And of course, with everyone being locked inside their residences, the normal ways of doing things, the normal activities and the normal relationships all were turned on their heads.

Fathers who normally would be away at work “earning the money” now had to contend with six pre-school boys rampaging inside the house. And the mothers, who would enjoy a nice night out occasionally found out all about the romances that one can have at home.

Yup.

2020 upended a lot of lives. That’s for certain.

The new year; 2021.

In two weeks will by CNY 2021. Already everyone is making plans for the holidays, and the directives from the local governments is “nope, stay put.” So, that’s what most of us are doing. If we did decide to travel then we would need to allocated 7+14 +7 days on top of our holiday. And all the hotel quarantine expenses will be out of our personal pockets.

Yikes!

So guess what?

Yup. We are staying home.

Chinese kids. — Doing homework. Yah, and all the Chinese kids will spend their holidays continuing to study and strive to be the best that they can be. Here’s two kids outside of a local corner grocery store. This is typical China.

Anyways, being shut in and isolated from all the parties, KTV’s and the huge banquets is a bummer, but it at least gives me some time to read. And I do have a list don’t you know. And so, without further ado, let’s take a glimpse of some history.

We are going to find a cozy nook, and curl up with a nice book. Well, at least in our mind we will. And as we settle down with a nice tea, or mug of coffee, or glass of wine, let’s put another log on the fire and snuggle under a throw as we read about other bad years at other times.

If you’ve got a favorite pet, a cat or a dog, bring them in. Nothing is finer than spending reading time with a loved one.

A cozy reading nook. — Cozy reading nook.

I’m going to put this in my “Tales of the Little Guy” sub-Index of the SHTF Index. And yeah, it is a tale of the little guy. And while he was part of an Army that fought in the American Civil War, I cannot help but believe that his actions were very personal to him.

The following is a reprint of an article titled “Jack Hinson: A Civil War Sniper Hell Bent on Revenge” written on Apr 16, 2018 by Shahan Russell. It was found HERE, and reprinted as found with editing to fit this venue. All credit to the author.

Jack Hinson: A Civil War Sniper Hell Bent on Revenge

Apr 16, 2018 Shahan Russell

John W. “Jack” Hinson, better known as “Old Jack” to his family, was a prosperous farmer in Stewart County, Tennessee. A non-political man, he opposed secession from the Union even though he owned slaves. Friends and neighbors described him as a peaceable man, yet despite all this, he would end up going on a one-man killing spree.

Jack’s plantation was called Bubbling Springs, where he lived with his wife and ten children. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he was fiercely determined to remain neutral.

When Union Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant arrived in the area in February 1862, the Hinsons hosted the man at their home. The general was so pleased with the plantation that he even turned it into his temporary headquarters.

Even when one of their sons joined the Confederate Army, while another joined a militia group, Jack remained strictly neutral. They were content to manage their plantation despite the ongoing conflict.

Grant had stayed at the Hinson estate after capturing Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. In taking the last, he secured a vital gateway to the rest of the Confederacy. The Union’s victory at the Battle of Fort Donelson was also its first major one since the start of the Civil War.

His victory also meant that Union troops became a permanent fixture in the Kentucky-Tennessee border where the Hinsons lived. While the family had no problem with that, others did – and the Hinsons would pay dearly for it. In the end, so would many Union soldiers.

Since many in the region were sympathetic to the Confederacy, some turned to guerrilla tactics to deal with the better armed and trained Union soldiers. These were called bushwhackers, because they hid in the woods where they could attack Union troops before fading back into the wild.

It wasn’t just soldiers they went after, however.

There were many cases where they’d target Unionist farmers and sympathizers, as well. Still others were not so politically motivated. Some bushwhackers were bandits who took advantage of the deteriorating law-and-order situation to prey on isolated homesteads. In some cases, they even attacked entire communities.

After the fall of Fort Donelson to Union troops, guerrilla attacks on Union soldiers and their supporters increased. As a result, it became policy to torture and execute any suspected bushwhackers without a trial.

In the fall of 1862, Jack’s 22-year-old son George Hinson, and his 17-year-old brother, Jack, went deer hunting about a mile from their home as they always did. Unfortunately, they came across a Union patrol who suspected them of being bushwhackers.

The boys were tied to a tree then shot, after which their bodies were dragged back to town. There the corpses were paraded around the Dover courthouse square as an example of the Union’s zero-tolerance policy toward resistance.

The remains were then decapitated and left there, while the heads were brought to the Hinson plantation.

Ulysses Grant went on to become the 18th president. This picture of him taken between 1870 to 1880 is his official presidential portrait

Before the entire family, the heads were stuck on two gate posts as an example of Union justice.

The lieutenant in charge wanted to arrest the Hinsons for their relationship to the two alleged bushwhackers but was informed about Grant’s stay on the property. He was also told that the major general would not take kindly to any mistreatment of the surviving Hinsons, so they were left alone.

That was the lieutenant’s second mistake of the day.

Of Scottish-Irish descent, Jack could not let the murders of his sons go unpunished. He buried his children’s remains, then sent the rest of his family and slaves to West Tennessee to stay with relatives.

He then commissioned a special 0.50 caliber rifle with a percussion-cap muzzle-loader. Besides its lack of decorative brass ornamentation, this rifle was also unique because it had a 41” long octagonal barrel that weighed 17 pounds. The length of the barrel ensured that he could accurately hit targets from half a mile away.

As to the octagonal shape, it was based on the Whitworth Rifle. With its hexagonal barrel, it could shoot farther (2,000 yards) and more accurately than the Pattern 1853 Enfield (1,400 yards) with its traditional round rifled barrel.

Moving into a cave above the Tennessee River, Jack became a bushwhacker at the age of 57.

His first target was the lieutenant who ordered his sons shot and beheaded. The man was killed as he rode in front of his column.

The second target was the soldier who placed the heads on the gateposts.

It didn’t take the Union long to connect the dots, so they burned down the abandoned Hinson plantation.

The British Whitworth sharpshooting rifle which served as the basis for Jack’s own

The Tennessee and Cumberland rivers were major transport hubs, so he frequented both. From his higher vantage points, he targeted Union boats, picking off captains and officers, as well as disrupting the flow of river traffic.

The most spectacular story of his sniping career was when an entire boat of Union soldiers surrendered to him.

After Jack fired on the boat, the captain thought he was being attacked by Confederate soldiers. To avoid further bloodshed, the captain beached his boat, raised a white tablecloth, and waited to be captured. But Jack couldn’t possibly handle them all, so he retreated and let them wait.

With help from the locals and by constantly staying on the move, he avoided capture despite the massive manhunt for him.

Though he remained apolitical, he began helping the Confederate Army. In November 1864, for example, he guided Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest to Johnsonville to attack its Union supply center.

Jack died on 28 April 1874 and lies buried in the family plot in Cane Creek Cemetery.

With help from the locals and by constantly staying on the move, he avoided capture despite the massive manhunt for him. His family was not so lucky, however. Two of his younger children had died of disease, while the son who joined the army also died, as did another during a guerrilla raid.

Jack survived the war and cut 36 circles in the barrel of his rifle to mark the number of Union officers he killed. Union records, however, blame him for over 130 kills – though it’s believed that he may have killed “only” a little more than 100.

Kyle Reese:                             
Listen. Understand. That Terminator is  out there. It can't be reasoned with, it can't be bargained with...it  doesn't feel pity of remorse or fear...and it absolutely will not  stop.Ever. Until you are dead.

Some thoughts on this.

He tried to stay neutral. He tried to stay out of the fight. He tried to make peace. But trying to pretend that the political changes that whirl around you doesn’t affect you is a losing proposition. You are just as likely as not to be caught up in the whirlwind.

And you don’t want that.

You need to be completely aware of everything that is going on around you.

Americans fought and died. — 150 years ago Americans fought bloody battles against each other.

And you need to realize that during difficult time you must act and behave differently than you did during peaceful times.

2020 was a crap year. But was it any different in stress than what occurred 150 years ago? Maybe you aren’t watching long columns of men march down the dirt streets, or cheer on your brave men folk… but during times of upheaval it’s difficult to recognize exactly what is going on.

Who’s to say that America, or the rest of the world, isn’t going though the beginnings of stark and drastic societal change? Who’s to say?

No two wars are alike. Stop pretending that they are.

Everything, absolutely everything is personal. It is visceral and affects our own, our own reality. And just as society has advanced with bar codes, cell phones, internet, High Speed Trains, and ranch dressing in single-use packs, so has war and conflict advanced.

What you see today could very well be the start of a long, long period of long-drawn-out change.

What ever you do, learn as best as you can from the past. No matter how far away and seemingly distant to you.

Make the best with what you have.

Enjoy life.

Take care.

A woman's bathroom. — A woman’s bathroom in a mall in China. Tomorrow will be better.

And about the end of 2020 and into 2021

The meme’s just keep a rolling along.

New habits. — Things that I have learned.

And let’s not forget how everyone else celebrated the end of 2020. Does this remind you of yourself?

Ah, but you know that the government really cares about you. Why most other nations gave monthly and by-weekly stimulus checks to their citizenry all year. From January through December of 2020. For most people in Europe, Australia and some nations in South America it was as if there wasn’t a pandemic at all. You still got your checks and you still kept your house.

But “exceptional” America, of course, did the same. Well, sort of…

American stimulus check. — Americans got a “stimulus” check roughly equal to about one half of a month’s rent.

Ah, but we really can’t get too down on America. The government needs that money, don’t you know. If that multi-trillion dollar amount was divided equally by the number of Americans, each and every American (including children) would get hundreds of thousands of dollars. But that would (of course) take away from the real purpose of government…

…to protect it’s people and make sure that they are living life and the “pursuit of happiness.”

Now, if you are a fine MM reader, then you know that you can alter your reality and make your life better. Or at least certainly better than your peers.

MetallicMan Bonus

For those of you that are conducting Affirmation Prayer campaigns, I would suggest you incorporate this affirmation…

The year 2021 is a very lucky, prosperous, and wonderful year for me, and my family, as well as my business, career and income stream.

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my “Tales of the Little Guy” sub-Index of the SHTF Index.

Do you want to see similar posts?

I hope that you found this post curious. Please take care. You can view other similar posts in my SHTF Index, here…

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When progressive revisionists take control of our institutions, our society, and out art…

It’s difficult to measure the damage that an ideology can do on a society. Often you don’t realize what a mess things are until long after the great looting, and destruction. But you can notice events. Often singular events, and often whispered about quietly. And one such event is the purging of art in favor of the formless and meaningless.

Look at the painting above. It is titled “Consulting the Oracle” and was painted by John William Waterhouse. It’s great right? It’s large. It would occupy the wall in a nice sized living room. It’s 77 inches long and 46 inches high. And it’s beautiful. Right?

This painting was very quietly sold by the museum that held it for £5 ($7.50) to a private individual.

I’ve seen cups of coffee that cost more.

The excuse is that the museum needed the money. Bills needed to be paid, and new works of art needed to be purchased to “keep the museum alive and vibrant”. Of course that old “song and dance”. The excuse, a progressive excuse, that you must destroy the old to make room for the new.

Ok.

I’ll bite.

What “new” art was worthy of purchase. How about millions of dollars for this magnificent piece…

This undeniably strange-looking painting of a woman made Willem de Kooning and his estate a few millions richer. The painting recently changed hands to the tune of $137.5 million. This abstract painting was finished by Kooning in 1953. The painting became rather controversial in the 1970s, because it was refused for exhibit at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. This painting is currently privately owned. It spans 68 inches in height and 48.5 inches in width.

Yes. I cannot believe it. Can you?

And we are not alone either…

This painting is awful. 

I get that it’s an abstract expressionist  painting, but it is so hideous to look at. You honestly couldn’t  convince me to take it if I was walking down the street and saw that  laying on the grass. Clearly that means I have no taste because it sold  for a ridiculous $137.5 million in 2006. This made it the 4^th most expensive painting ever sold. 

It was created by painter Williem de Kooning in 1953. 

The buyer, David Geffen, is worth $6.5 billion, so nobody is going to step in and tell him how to spend his money… but are you kidding me?

-10 Ugly Pieces Of Art You Won't Believe Sold For Millions

Who in their right mind made this decision?

The Art Renewal Center chimes in…

From the Art Renewal Center…

Works of art worth tens of millions of pounds today have  been sold off quietly by museums over the past 50 years for a few  pounds. British art institutions such as the Fitzwilliam Museum in  Cambridge and the Exeter City Museum have disposed of pictures by  masters such as  Van Dyck  and  Henri Fantin Latour . They were sold without public notice, dismissed as too unimportant to  keep. Among the most serious cases is a painting by the 19^th-century master,  John William Waterhouse . In 1965, the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro sold it for £200 ($300) to a private collector; today it is worth more than £5 million ($7.5 million).         
                      
"Most of the works were sold off as they were deemed to be  artistically worthless", Christopher Wright, a leading Old Masters  scholar, said. He discovered evidence of the sales while preparing a  nationwide study of British art for Yale University Press. "They have  been sold off without public notice," he said. "Many of the museums  didn't dare make it public. They've all been proved wrong."         
                      
Mr Wright expressed disbelief at the decision of the Exeter  museum to "rape" its collection of 160 works - "there is no other word  to describe the destruction of an entire museum collection". The  auctions, which involved selling works for as little as £5 ($7.50),  included Waterhouse's Consulting the Oracle, four paintings by Fantin-Latour and one by  Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema . Caroline Worthington, fine art curator at Exeter, said that the sale  took place at Christie's in 1954, "when High Victorian art was deeply  unfashionable ... We would like them back, most definitely." "We're  talking household names", Mr Wright said, adding that many were bought  by the heavyweight dealers Agnews and Colnaghi, who clearly appreciated  the importance of the artists, even if the museums did not.         
                      
Tamsin Daniel, Truro's curator of art and exhibitions, said  that the museum had needed money for storage and a lift. She conceded  that the loss was painful. The Waterhouse went to a private collector  bidding at Christie's. The £200 ($300) it cost him, she said, was "a bit  different to what Andrew Lloyd Webber paid recently for a Waterhouse":  £6.6 million ($9.9 million).         
                      
Leeds City Art Gallery and Museum,  Mr Wright was told by an insider, actually disguised the provenance of  works when selling them through an auction house. "They were described  as property of Madame X," he said. "The sales were clandestine. They  didn't say Leeds was de-accessioning. They were all Victorian pictures  purchased from the Royal Academy. They got rid of dozens." Nigel Walsh,  curator of exhibitions, expressed surprise at the news, denying that the  gallery had sold anything. Nor did Evelyn Silber, its director, know  anything about it until contacted by The Times. She later discovered  that 37 paintings (nearly all Victorian) had been sold in 1939 under the  then director, Philip Hendey, who went on to head the National Gallery in London. The Fitzwilliam  in Cambridge sold more than 200 works in the 1950s. Although they were  marked "property of the Fitzwilliam" in the catalogs, they were mixed up  with hundreds of other lots, Mr Wright said. "They put them through the  salerooms in dribs and drabs."         
                      
Mr Wright said that the Fortune-teller with Soldiers "was sold off as a copy, but it has since been published as the real thing worth millions".         
                      
Craig Hartley, a Fitzwilliam curator, said: "In retrospect,  this seems a horrific thing to have done." Among other institutions to  have sold off paintings, Mr Wright said, were the National Maritime  Museum in Greenwich; the Cooper Art Gallery in Barnsley; the Holbourne  Museum of Art in Bath; and the Birmingham City Art Gallery.

-Art Renewal Center article by Dalya Alberge

I am horrified.

Just beyond my self.

So who ended up getting these magnificent works of art?

"They were described as property of Madame X," he said. "The sales were clandestine. They didn't say Leeds was de-accessioning. They were all Victorian pictures purchased from the Royal Academy. They got rid of dozens."

Well, you must understand that a museum collects works of art for pubic display and enjoyment. If they no longer wants to display that art to the public, they take if off display and put it in storage. Apparently these works took up too much space, so they sold them to “Art Dealers”. And these art dealers held auctions and auctioned them off to wealthy attendees.

Yes.

That’s right. The art was taken away from public display and sold off to the oligarchy for their own personal use.

What has been going on…

Get the entire picture. From a speech by Fred Ross at the Art Renewal Center…

Ladies and Gentlemen ... Artists,

The art of painting, one of the greatest traditions in all of human history has been under a merciless and relentless assault for the last one hundred years. I'm referring to the accumulated knowledge of over 2500 hundred years, spanning from Ancient Greece to the early Renaissance and through to the extraordinary pinnacles of artistic achievement seen in the High Renaissance, 17th century Dutch, and the great 19^th century Academies of Europe and America. These traditions, just when they were at their absolute zenith, at a peak of achievement, seemingly unbeatable and unstoppable, hit the twentieth century at full stride, and then ... fell off a cliff, and smashed to pieces on the rocks below. Since World War I the contemporary visual arts as represented in Museum exhibitions, University Art Departments, and journalistic art criticism became little more than juvenile, repetitive exercises at proving to the former adult world that they could do whatever they damn well wanted ... sadly devolving ever downwards into a distorted, contrived and contorted notion of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression? Ironically, this so-called "freedom" as embodied in Modernism, rather than a form of "expression" in truth became a form of "suppression" and "oppression." Modernism as we know it, ultimately became the most oppressive and restrictive system of thought in all of art history.

Every reasonable shred of order and any standards with which it was possible to identify, understand and to create great paintings and sculpture, was degraded ... detested ... desecrated and eviscerated. The backbone of the painters' craft, namely drawing, was thrown into the trash along with modeling, perspective, illusion, recognizable objects or elements from the real world, and with it the ability to capture, exhibit, and poetically express subjects and themes about mankind and the human condition and about man's trials on this speck of stardust called Earth ... Earth, hurtling through infinity with all of us along on board, along with everything we know and everything we hold dear.

Reason ... philosophy ... religion ... literature ... fantasy ... dreams, and all of the feelings, emotions and pathos of our every day lives ... all of it was no longer worthy of the painter's craft. Any hint by the artist at trying to portray such things was branded as banal, maudlin, photographic, illustration, or petty sentimentality.

Our children, going supposedly to the finest universities in the world, being taught by professors with Bachelors or Arts, Masters of Arts, Masters of Fine Arts, Masters of Art Education ... even Doctoral degrees, our children instead have been subjected to methodical brain-washing and taught to deny the evidence of their own senses. Taught that Mattisse, Cézanne, and Picasso, along with their followers, were the most brilliant artists in all of history. Why? Because they weren't telling us lies like the traditional painters, of course. They weren't trying to make us believe that we were looking at scenes in reality, or at scenes from the imagination, from fantasy or from dreams. They were telling us the truth. They were telling it like it is. They spent their lives and careers on something that was not banal, and not silly, insipid or inane. They in fact provided the world with the most ingenious of all breakthroughs in the history of artistic thought. Even the great scientific achievements of the industrial revolution paled before their brilliant discovery. And what was that discovery for which they have been raised above Bouguereau , exalted over Gérôme , and celebrated beyond Ingres , David , Constable , Fragonard , Van Dyck , and Gainsborough or Poussin ? Why in fact were they heralded to the absolute zenith ... the tiptop of human achievement ... being worthy even of placement shoulder to shoulder on pedestals right beside Rembrandt , Michelangelo , Leonardo , Caravaggio , Vermeer and Raphael ? What did they do? Why were they glorified practically above all others that ever went before them? Ladies and gentleman, they proved ... amazing, incredible, and fantastic as it may seem, they proved that the canvas was flat ... flat and very thin ... skinny ... indeed, not even shallow, lacking any depth or meaning whatsoever.

And the flatter that they proved it to be the greater they were exalted. Cézanne collapsed the landscape, Matisse flattened our homes and our families, and Pollock, Rothko and de Kooning placed it all in a blender and splattered it against the wall. They made even pancakes look fat and chunky by comparison. But this was only part of the breathtaking breakthroughs of modernism ... and their offshoots flourished. Abstract expressionism, Cubism, Fauvism, minimalism, ColorField, Conceptual, op-art, pop-art and post modernism ... and to understand it all ... to understand, took very special people indeed, since the mass of humanity was too ignorant and stupid to understand. Like that famous advertisement in the NY Times said so many years ago ... Bad art ... or Good art? You be the judge, indeed.

Of course, to justify this whole theoretical paradigm, all the artists that painted recognizable scenes with depth and illusion had to be discredited ... and discredited they were, with a virulence and vituperation so scathing and merciless that one would think they must have been messengers of the devil himself to deserve such abuse. And to put the final nail in their coffins, all of their art was banished and their names and accomplishments written right out of history. I graduated with a Master's in art education from Columbia University, and I'd never heard of Bouguereau , much less that he was President of the Academy and head of the Salon ... the most celebrated artist of his time who single handedly, using all of his influence as the most respected leader of art world, opened up L'Ecole Des Beaux Arts and the Salons to women artists for the first time in history.

During most of the 20th century, the type of propaganda that has been hurled at academic artists is so insidious that people have been literally trained to discredit, out-of-hand, any work containing well-crafted figures or elements, or any other evidence of technical mastery. All the beauty and subtlety of emotions, — interplay of composition, design and theme, — the interlacing of color, tone and mood, — are never seen. The viewer has been taught that academic painting on a prima facie basis is bad by definition — bad by virtue of its resorting to the use of human figures, themes or stories and objects from the real world.

Prestige suggestion causes them to automatically assume that a work must be great if it's by any of the "big names" of modern art, so they at once start looking for reasons why it must be proclaimed great. Any failing to find greatness is not considered a failing in the art but in the intelligence and sensibilities of the viewer. Students operating under that kind of intimidating pressure, you can be sure, will find greatness - no matter what they are looking at.

The reverse of this has been trained into them when they view academic paintings. They have been taught that works exhibiting realistic rendering are "bad art" and therefore any good that is seen is not due to qualities inherent in their artistic accomplishments, but are rather due to a lack of intelligence and taste in the viewer. The same intimidating pressure works in reverse to ensure that a work by Bouguereau , Lord Leighton , Burne-Jones , Gérôme , Frederick Hart , or any of the rest of you here, will not be seen as anything other than bad by definition.

No student in a school with this kind of dictatorial brain-washing will ever risk exploring or even listening to opposing views, for fear of being stigmatized from that point on, with some undesirable label and being universally despised ... sadly, a very effective deterrent to independent thought. Thus the visual experience of well-drawn representational elements is perceived as a negative, ad hominem, that proves with knee-jerk automaticity the presumed "badness" of the art and its creator.

It is especially ironic that these are the same people who trumpet the virtues and inalienable right to freedom of speech, while they surreptitiously and steadfastly conspire to remove that freedom from those with whom they disagree.

Equally ironic is the charge that academic painting is "uninspired," a proclamation issued by critics who are unable to see beyond the technical virtuosity for which they condemn it, to see what is being said. This rich visual language is wasted on eyes that will not see. It would be no different than dismissing out-of-hand a piece of music as soon as it was determined that notes, chords and keys were used, or dismissing any work of literature upon noticing words arranged in grammatically correct sentences.

That is not to say that all academic art is great, or above criticism - certainly, it is not. It would be no less fallacious to issue blanket praise to an entire category than to condemn it. Academic painting ranges from brilliantly conceived and deeply inspired, to trite and silly, depending on the subject and the artist.

That being said, I find even the worst of it more meaningful than art based on the ridiculous notion that it is somehow important to prove the canvas is flat, and/or that one needs no skill or technique to be an artist - views generally embraced by those who condemn the entire category of academic art. Their point seems to be to elevate to legitimacy that which has removed all standards and prior defining characteristics of art. In other words, by defining non-art as art, the logical conclusion is that art is non-art.

Modern artists are told that they must create something totally original. Nothing about what they do can ever have been done before in any way shape or form, otherwise they risk being called "derivative". How utterly absurd.

These critics like to say Bouguereau's work is really only derivative, harking back to earlier artists. Only in the 20th century has such a thing ever been scorned. To this I have one thing to say:

What, dear friends, is wrong with being derivative?

That's one of the core beliefs of modernism that must be soundly vanquished by common sense and logical analysis. Nobody can accomplish anything of merit if they are in fact not derivative. Only by mastering the accomplishments of the past and then adding to it can we go still further. Every other field of endeavor recognizes this truth. Without the knowledge of the past we are doomed to everlasting primitivism.

And, as far as holding our works up to the old masters, that's what we want to have happen. If we are to accomplish things of true merit and excellence, we must germinate and nurture great masters in the next millennium, too. Bouguereau was quite aware that his work would be compared on the altar of past accomplishments, as did his contemporaries. It was precisely because they mastered the techniques of the past, built upon them and then opened them up to an avalanche of new subject matter and Enlightenment ideals, that they accomplished the greatest half-century of painting in art history.

And when we talk about the basic criteria and parameters of the academic tradition that built from the 14th through 19^th centuries, Bouguereau , Lord Leighton and Alma-Tadema were second to none.

Could Bach and Beethoven and Mozart have achieved their masterpieces if someone before had not discovered scales and the circle of fifths? Does that mean these musical giants were nothing but derivative too? In fact all great literature exists due to the existence of advanced language. This upside down thought process would make Dosteovsky, Balzac, Chekhov, Shakespeare and the Brontë sisters derivative as well. If you think about it a bit you will see that these are exact analogies. There is nothing any more derivative about these 19^th century Traditional-Humanist-Academic masters.

Being derivative is entirely different from copying. Copying itself can have value, but only for the purposes of instruction. Obviously, a copied work is not original art. But modernist ideologues have disingenuously dismissed all realist art as "derivative" as if that were the same as copying.

Additionally, students today are taught that every parameter upon which any standard for quality and excellence can be deduced is improper, because it's "limiting to freedom of expression."

There can be no story, for then you have to stay within the "tight boundaries" of the tale.

There can be no illusion, for then you are "chained" by the need to recreate a sense of three dimensions.

There can be no drawing, as that can be "limiting" to objects or people or things taken from the real world.

They want to remove the "shackles" of modeling, perspective, or subject matter of any sort.

There certainly can be no attempt at harmonizing of the above parameters with composition, color and tonality, for that would "restrict" one to making everything work together.

On the contrary, they have been propagandized by modernism into believing that only those works that break boundaries, ignore standards, and show no interest in skill or technique can be truly "original" or "inspired." In fact originality of methods take precedence over all else. If something has been done before, or is derivative in any way of anything that was done before, it thereby loses value proportionate to those similarities. In such a "Through the looking glass" world, every would-be "artist" is placed in the untenable position of trying to create an entirely new art form in order to be considered relevant. The sheer glaring reality is that nothing could be more imprisoning, binding, restricting, chaining and shackling than the impossible limitations of modernism and post-modernism, that remove from the would-be artist every tool (including training) that could give him or her the ability to create great works of art. The simple truth is that each and every one of us (and I mean nearly every human being), is capable of thinking of something that has never been done before. Does that make it worth doing and the work of genius?

For example:

(1) I could carefully (with enough money) dig up an old bombed out tenement building in the Bronx, and have it transported to a special slab built for it in Central Park. Rope off the structure and aim lights at it at night and give it a title, and with enough pomp and circumstance think of twenty reasons why this is sheer brilliance and genius.

(2) I could boil the entrails of several different animals and then preserve them by imbedding them in clear plastic. I could then hang them from a mobile with similarly preserved body parts of cadavers, and have critics claim that this is the greatest artistic statement about the horrors of war since Guernica

(3) I could imbed into the walls, ceiling and floors of a small room, pieces of neon lights, parts from broken machines and engines, and broken pieces of structural building materials like bricks, beams and cinder blocks. Then I could glue between everything millions of nails, nuts and bolts, and have clever writers and critics point out how this room (which could be installed at MOMA or the Guggenheim) is the quintessential statement of the effects of the industrial age on human psychology.

Well, those three ideas took all of 3 minutes to think of. MY GOD! This must mean I'm three geniuses rolled into one. Why, at this rate I could come up with more brilliant ideas for Modernism than all of the modernist geniuses put together, if I just would put aside a week or two.

The thing here that really is interesting is not their art at all, but the statement it makes about the nature of our species — that so many seemingly intelligent people have been so easily snookered by the tongue-twisting, convoluted illogic of modernist rhetoric. Clearly for many people it is more important to feel that they are some part of an elitist in-group that is endowed with the special ability to see brilliance where the bulk of humanity sees nothing and is afraid to say so.

Since most people aren't devoted to or educated in fine art, they have successfully intimidated the bulk of humanity into cowering away in silence, feeling foolish for their inability to understand. The average person shrinks away from believing the reality of his or her own senses in the face of seemingly overwhelming numbers of people in this 20th century "establishment" who authoritatively dictate what is great art and what everyone should be seeing.

Modern and Post-modern Art is nihilistic and anti-human. It denigrates humanity along with our hopes, dreams, desires and the real world in which we live. All reference to any of these things is forbidden in the canonistic halls of modernist ideology. We can see that their hallowed halls are a hollow shell, a vacuous, vacant vault that locks their devotees away from life and humanity. It ultimately bores the overwhelming bulk of its would-be audience, who can find nothing with which to relate.

It has been called exciting and cutting-edge, but the sad truth is that it is incredibly humdrum and monotonous. Whether you glue together pieces of plastic or shards of glass, assemble metal scraps or piles of feathers. Whether you dribble little dollops of colors or drag fat uneven slashes of black. Whether you compile a mountain of paper or wrap the Statue of Liberty. The effect is always the same. MEANINGLESS PRIMITIVISM.

Modernism is art about art. It endlessly asks the question, ad nauseam: What is art? What is art? Only those things that expand the boundaries of art are good; all else is bad. It is art about art. Whereas all the great art in history, my friends, is ART ABOUT LIFE.

Of course, this isn't exactly the first time in history that ideas which were complete shams managed to engulf the belief systems of entire cultures and civilizations. In many of those in the past, the lunacy was enforced by the severest of punishments for anyone who would dare to speak out.

At least we live in a time and place where it's possible to speak against this consummate con that has been perpetrated against the greatest period of artistic development and achievement in the history of Western Civilization and culture over the last 500 years.

Three-quarters of the 20th century will go down in art history as a great wasteland of insanity — a nightmarish blip in the long road of the development of human logic and reason and art, from which we are only just starting to awake.

The artists of the 19^th century exhibited a deep, abiding respect for humanity and human feelings. A respect for our minds, our spirits and our reason, and a love of beauty, grace and true excellence and accomplishment. Bouguereau , Lord Leighton , Waterhouse , Burne-Jones and the other giants of the 19^th C. tried to capture those things that are good and decent in our species. Their accomplishments are the quintessential high point of hundreds of years of human study and development in the art of painting. They are arguably the greatest painters that history has ever produced. Bouguereau especially fits this description. How fitting and sadly obvious that he should be characterized as the chief villain by those who would destroy rather than build — who celebrate chaos rather than order and beauty.

He continues…

Recently, a contributor to an on-line art forum I subscribe to made the following comments about Picasso,             
                              
I love the way Picasso did that woman all shards and  angles. I don't recall the name of the work. But, he painted the woman  in her turmoil how she tore herself apart within, and how he saw what  her turmoil did to her. He painted the way he saw her, as fragmented as  he saw her. She was a beauty on the outside. Yet, he painted the ugly  face of her turmoil, and in so doing painted his turmoil as well.             
                              
Picasso worked in a turbulent time. I think it's why  some of his works appeared to be reflections in a broken mirror. Shards,  impressions all cut up and each with a voice about his subjects and of  Spain. His work shows a deeply sensitive artist and was a pivotal point  for the Russian avant garde school that said it was okay to feel in  paint, to get all the chaos out in paint ... I didn't love him until I  studied him ...             
                              
- Laurie

And he continues…

I thought it fitting to read here my response to her.

Laurie and Goodart subscribers,

I really need to address these ebullient expressions of praise for Picasso a bit more precisely.

Laurie, this is not to fault you at all, but to analyze the description you have made which reflects the gospel that is taught about him in most art history courses. His name and "achievements" have become so "untouchable" within the sacrosanct walls of modernist cathedrals, that to do any other than you have stated here would be like criticizing the cross or the bible in the College of Cardinals.

Let's look at this one idea at a time.

You said that, "He painted the woman in her turmoil how she tore herself apart within, and how he saw what her turmoil did to her".
I
n fact, all that he painted was a messy characterization of a woman in which the forms and shapes don't align or create any cohesive form. The drawing is virtually non-existent, and the disintegration of all artistic elements are self-consciously laid out for the express purpose of rejecting prior artistic standards.

There is no beauty in her face, or for that matter, ugliness. There isn't even a face ... but elements thrown together with just enough evidence to let the viewer know that it was meant to suggest a face.

Everything about the finished product is utterly awful and would be beneath the capabilities of a talented 12 year old.

Now, what if you are a theorist who needs to justify this hodge-podge of sloppy color and form? What can you creatively think of to place value and meaning, where none exists ... especially, if you are being paid to do just that?

It's simple: you need but approach the work as you would a Rorschach inkblot test, where anyone can use creative ability to make up a story, suggested by little, if any, information. If you want this man's work to be valued highly, you must create a tale of great importance, with meaning, which, when discussed or analyzed in intellectual circles, will be considered profound and meaningful.

The idea of a lady being ugly on the inside is a concept from literature, psychology, and in fact all of human history. Ugliness, mean-spiritedness, and turmoil are major concepts that tint all of human experience. So you simply say that the messiness represents that, and look how brilliant he is to have captured it.

But in truth he has done nothing of the kind. The writers who said that was what it means were the one who did it, and not the artist. Inner turmoil and ugliness on the inside is far more difficult to capture, and takes intense, subtle handling of story telling, composition, drawing, and realistic rendering to successfully convey so that it can be recognized without any words. Waterhouse's Lady of Shalott and Bouguereau's Divideuse both capture beautiful women loaded with inner turmoil, and Cabanel's Cleopatra testing poisons on slaves portrays intense inner ugliness within a beautiful face and figure infinitely better than these broken blotchy messes on canvas by Picasso.

But when the modernist professors say that's what it means, then implicit in their words is that if you don't see it too you're stupid and tasteless. Also to not see it becomes associated with not seeing how wonderful that subject matter would be. And it is after all truly wonderful subject matter. Only one problem; Picasso didn't paint it.

You say, "his work shows a deeply sensitive artist," but I don't conclude any sensitivity whatsoever. What is there is the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop, who stomps around breaking all the beautiful porcelain, and then with an army of critics lined up with their nostrils flaring dares anyone to criticize the dump he just left in the your living room.

"Either you love my turds or you are against freedom of expression."

If you don't want it in your museum, you're the enemy of freedom of speech. Faced with such intimidation surely many would rather line up in support. But there is truly nothing there. It's a trick of words and intimidation. An Illusion of social pressure and fearful conformity.

His school, "... said it was okay to feel in paint, to get all the chaos out in paint ... I didn't love him until I studied him."

Of course you didn't love him until you studied him. What you learned to love was all the explanations about worthwhile concepts and subjects. And with a training right out of Pavlov, you were taught to salivate when you were shown things that caused associations to those worthwhile ideas.

But Laurie, WHERE'S the BEEF? You're salivating at a symbol much the way people react to their country's flag. The flag comes to be seen as beautiful because it represents family, home and hearth, friends, loyalty, and the things we love. You've been taught to react to symbols instead of responding with the freedom of independent thought to works of art that are not supposed to be flag-like-symbols of great artistic ideas, but the great works of art themselves, which communicate, through a readily discernable visual language, some aspect of the human condition.

You had to be taught to love Picasso, because nobody would love him otherwise. But people don't need to be taught to love Rembrandt , Michelangelo , Bouguereau , or for that matter Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, or Tom Sawyer, The Grapes of Wrath, Alice in Wonderland, or The Christmas Carol.

Teaching and information can add to the depth of understanding of great works of art, but they are great initially by their ability to capture the soul and imagination of the viewer, without thousands of words to instruct us on how to deny the evidence of our own senses and to deny our innate sense of truth and reason.

Of course, what tends to happen to people who have allowed themselves to be convinced that the emperor is wearing beautiful clothes, is that they have become "ego invested" due to years of having parroted the same falsehoods ... and the associated humiliation that goes with acknowledging that one has been had. The more years, and the more said in support of Modernism, the greater the difficulty in breaking through the gestalts, and taking off the iconic blinders, shedding all the preconceptions and looking again with "innocent eyes" and describing what is really there (at least to yourself), and then comparing it to the maligned academics like Waterhouse , Bouguereau , Lord Leighton , Burne-Jones , Gérôme , and Alma-Tadema , and deciding with freedom of thought and an honest wish to find the truth, which of them indeed are works of art, and which are snake oil salesmen."

He continues…

And so I ended that letter.         
                      
The change in people's perceptions about this is happening  now very quickly. Even this austere institution, probably the greatest  museum in the Western Hemisphere, just a couple of summers ago had a  major retrospective of one of these maligned 19^th century  masters, Edward Coley Burne-Jones. 

And in their literature on the show  declared him one of the three greatest English artists of the last  century, along with Constable and Turner. In fact, the Metropolitan  Museum deserves great credit for being one of the first great  institutions to once again hang their Bouguereaus and Gérômes,  Meissonnier  and Burne-Jones, on permanent exhibit in the face of scathing criticism from the press back in 1980.         
                      
Soon after, Laurie followed this with a good-natured post  saying that although she felt that I may have insulted her intelligence,  she loved me all the same. To which I responded:

And …

Laurie,             
                              
It was not my wish to insult your intelligence. The very  brightest of people are just as vulnerable. It is in human nature to go  along to get along. I certainly did it too when I was in college and  grad school in fine art. Even when I was finally willing to speak my  mind about Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko and Warhol .... Picasso was  somehow sacrosanct, and I would pay lip service to his brilliance while  the works of the other modernists I allowed myself to see as they were.             
                              
It wasn't until I hit about 40 years old that I started  to more fully recognize the power of prestige suggestion and social  intimidation in forming opinions.             
                              
To truly judge your own feelings and opinion about a  work of art, you need to look at it as if it were painted by a complete  unknown, perhaps some student in another town, and then ask yourself  what your opinion of that work would be then. Would you think it was one  of the greatest works in the history of civilization, would it even be  great ... or good ... or mediocre .... or just plain bad?

So true.

He continues further…

I know now absolutely that nearly all the works by most of the famous Modernists are truly awful on all fronts.

I also know that the best works by Bouguereau and Waterhouse would thrill me to my bones even if they had been painted by complete unknowns. When I saw a Bouguereau for the first time, I had never heard of him, but my response was immediate unambiguous and self-validating. I needed no books or texts or convoluted explanations. The strength of the work was powerful, unique, immediate and overwhelming.

It was exactly as I had felt in the presence of Michelangelo's David. Ah, but when I saw the David I was already predisposed to see what history considered one of humanity's greatest masterpieces. However, it was that seminal experience at 18 that excited my interest in art. The Bouguereau that I saw, Nymphs and Satyr, was when I was 32 years old, and it's effect was equally profound, changing the course of my life, ultimately leading me to this podium here today.

Don't let pride get involved here. Don't even answer me. Just ask yourselves and answer honestly.

One common claim that you hear repeatedly is that the proof that some abstract expressionists were great artists, can be found in their high quality academic student drawings. My answer to this is that it's really irrelevant whether or not they could do a decent student drawing. If anything it only makes it sadder that promising young talent was wasted. The quality and value of their "mature" work is not helped a bit by showing that they could draw decently when young.

The best way to prove that is to consider the inverse.

Would Raphael or Bouguereau's mature work be somehow made the worse if their student drawings from decades earlier had been of poor quality? Their great paintings would still be just as great, and de Kooning's hideous smears for which he is so famous are still just as awful.

I am quite certain that every artist in this audience paints better than all of the famous modernists and post modernists, and is more deserving of societal attention and praise. Yet still, so-called "major works" of theirs can sell for between 2 and 25,000,000 dollars at auction. The dirty little secret, however, that the modernist establishment and the press has been hiding, is that those same works sold for two to three times those prices back in 1988 and 1989. While the prices of all the icons of modernism peaked at that time, and any money invested then has declined a whopping 50 to 80%, the market for Gérôme , Waterhouse , Bouguereau , Alma-Tadema , Burne-Jones , Rossetti , Millais and Lord Leighton , has increased between 2000 and 10,000 percent since 1975.

Every year, records are being broken again and again.

In 1977, the world record price for a Bouguereau was $17,000. Now, in the past 3 years, the world records for his work first topped a million dollars in 1997, then a million and a half in 1998, two and a half million in 1999, and last May, Charity sold for over $3,500,000. Additionally, last June the world record for any Victorian painting was completely trampled when Saint Cecilia, by John William Waterhouse, sold for just over $10,000,000 in London to Andrew Lloyd Weber.

There are only 826 Bouguereaus and about 465 Tademas in the world. Do you know how many Picassos there are? Can anybody here guess? There are 80,000 of them, and the balance between supply and demand has faltered, and like the dot com stocks of last year they will soon come crashing down along with hundreds of billions of paper profits lost in the dust of history. Like the tulip bulbs in the 17th century, or Tokyo Real estate in the 1980's, investors will be decimated. If I owned a work by any of those "Abstract artists" I would be racing to cash it in before the fall, and that has been my recommendation to dozens who have asked me.

Many of my friends in and out of ARC have told me that I shouldn't talk so much about the modernists. One of them recently wrote to me saying, "I really don't think we help our cause by helping talentless modernists get press coverage." Another fearfully said, "Don't criticize the modernists, just focus on what's good."

I replied as follows:

His reply…

When have the modernists ever held back from criticizing traditional and academic art? The problem with this attitude, while I also find it very appealing, is that our not talking about the modernists doesn't really mean much.

The fact is that they are being talked about with high praise, in nearly every university art department and art history course in the western world ... parroting the same things that they were taught. They are also being constantly celebrated and exhibited by the biggest and most prestigious museums and getting rave reviews in the newspapers as often as not.

If somebody doesn't explain to everybody why they're not really any good, and why they're not really even artists, and how the whole thing is a hoax, then they will continue their propaganda and continue brainwashing our children and intimidating them into feeling stupid if they don't go along to get along ... and they'll do it unopposed.

If we don't speak up and tell the world that the Emperor's naked, nobody else will. We may not want to talk about them, but we have to if we are going to have any chance of turning things around. We have to provide a theoretical and philosophical context for the feelings of the tens of millions of people out there who are disgusted and feel an aversion for Modernism ... but feel afraid to say so. They need to know that they are not alone and they need to have their feelings validated. And at the same time, we need to provide alternatives ... rich alternatives with great traditional art and with countless images of the greatest paintings in history.

So well put…

And now ladies and gentlemen ... artists ... portrait artists ... I come at this point ... to you. Who are you? Who do you think yourselves to be? Well let me tell you how I see you. You are beyond doubt, the true artistic heroes and heroines of the 20th century.

Many of you know that I am the chairman of the Art Renewal Center, which you can find at http://www.artrenewal.org. The Art Renewal Center is building the largest on-line museum on the internet, and is completely devoted to the return of standards, training and human themes and subjects in the visual arts. Modern Art is about expanding the definition of art.

They believe that "everything is art", or, "Whatever the artist says is art, is art."

Well, if everything is art, then nothing is art.

Any definition that includes everything is not a definition at all. As I said, Modern art is "art about art", while all the great art and literature and theatre throughout history is "Art about life."

I wrote about all of you, and your teachers, in the published Philosophy of the Art Renewal Center. Here's what I said:

Against all odds, and in the face of the worst kind of ridicule and personal and editorial assault, only a small handful of well-trained artists managed to stay true to their beliefs. Then, like the heroes and heroines who protected a few rare manuscripts during inquisitional book-burnings of the past, these 20th Century art world heroes managed to protect and preserve the core technical knowledge of western art. Somehow, they succeeded in training a few dozen determined disciples. Today, many of those former students, have established their own schools or ateliers, and are currently training many hundreds more. This movement is now expanding exponentially. They are regaining the traditions of the past, so that art may once again move forward on a solid footing. We are committed in every way possible to record, preserve and perpetuate this priceless knowledge.

That's who you are. So if some of you are having trouble selling your work, or haven't been able to command the prices you deserve ... if you feel infuriated at piles of bricks and elephant dung filling museum galleries, while you can only pay to have space allotted to you for an evening in a great museum like this ... don't despair.

Your time is coming. You have done humanity a service of such magnitude, that sadly you will never be properly repaid. Keep painting your great portraits, and when you can find the time, paint what your heart tells you to paint, too.

The modern world is a boiling cauldron of all sorts of great and absurd ideas, feelings, pathos, pathologies, psycho pathologies, humiliation, and dehumanizing ideas ... and yet ... yet even beauty, too, is still here amongst us, here in this hall and throughout the world, and her manifestations in modern times have been insufficiently expressed. So, find her in your homes, find her in the streets, find her in your communities and in nature, and especially, find her in each other ... and save her ... save her ... protect and cherish her ... and exalt her back to her rightful place ... a place of supreme prominence, and bring her back into these our greatest institutions and our highest citadels of society and culture.

Thank you.

So inspiring.

Here’s one of my lost paintings. Destroyed by the “new” America that exists for the few; the oligarchy that controls all.

My art. — I am not a master, but I like to believe that I could have been one. The idea that the oligarchy controlled government can destroy your life’s work, your purposes, and everything that you have created so that they can implement some kind of selfish utopia is distrubing. It show that they are, and the systems that they have created, are pure psychopaths and psychopathic in nature.

Psychopathic systems do not lend longevity to society. Instead they offer a means of destruction.

I aruge that the oligarchy can only continue upon this path that they tred upon by converting everyone to adopt their methodology, or to convert everyone into mindless, emotionless followers.

How about other examples…

"In retrospect, this seems a horrific thing to have done."

Ya. Think?

There are so many examples of great works of art that used to be owned by museums for public enjoyment, but that have been sold off to private collectors. And while some have been repurchased by other museums and are now available for viewing, the battle to obtain these “lost works” was contentious in many cases. We are , and should consider ourselves, to be lucky. Lucky that the oligarchy has allowed us to be able to view these works on the internet. Lucky to be able to recognize that they existed and still exist, and lucky that they were not burned in bonfires of progressive revisionism and fashion.

Examples of artworks that have been sold off…

Let’s look at just some of the art; the paintings that the museums around the world has sold off for the price of a cup of coffee…

Constant Afternoon Langour painting. — **Constant Afternoon Langour** by Jean-Joseph Constant (Benjamin-Constant) (1845-1902, France)

And…

Bramley Frank - A Hopeless Dawn — Bramley Frank – A Hopeless Dawn

And…

Herbert Draper Lament for Icarus — Herbert Draper – Lament for Icarus

Draper's vision of Icarus, crashed and dead on the rocks, stays true to the myth and yet has a drama to it that is definitely the making of a more contemporary mind. Nearly 50% of the canvas is covered by the image of Icarus' gigantic, broken, dark wings. The wings are so huge they are cut off at the top left of the canvas and at the middle right. 

This makes the image seem even larger than life. It is as if we look through a window that is not large enough to hold the view. It is possible that the advent of the camera influenced the artist's eye in choosing this unusual perspective. 

But the impact is successful, dramatic and highly emotional because of the skill in which the wings are painted. 

They are so huge, in fact, that they make shadows on much of what remains of the canvas. They are so immense and yet they have failed poor Icarus so completely. 

Icarus lies dead; a darkening figure still strapped to the useless wings, as a sorrowful and sensual nymph pulls his upper torso gentle towards her. Two other nymphs look on woefully. The canvas creates a heart breaking darkness with small splashes of gold light falling on the nymphs and the far rock wall. The golden light is reminiscent of the hope for freedom that Dadelus had once had for his son Icarus. 

All life, beautiful or not, comes to an end, and all our grand strivings lead us to the same end. The power in this work of art is the sense of loss it projects. If you read the text in the catalogue, it mentions other layers of possible meaning. Simon Toll makes note that Draper's father died shortly before this painting was executed and he suggests that this painting "may also be a private statement of loss." The text also suggests that the painting may be a tribute to the artist Leighton, who died two years earlier.

-ARC

And…

Lady Godiva by Lefevbre Claude Gheerbrant - Musée de Picardie — Lady Godiva by Lefevbre Claude Gheerbrant – Musée de Picardie

Examples of “art” that have been purchased by museums afterwards…

Let’s have a look at the kinds of art that the museums (all over the world) purchased once they discarded the “old” and “outmoded” art…

Would you believe that this ridiculous-looking canvas was sold for $3.8 million? This abstract painting, which is comprised of two straight lines, was created in 1954. Barnett is an American artist who is a strong follower of abstract expressionism.

Abstract Expressionism, broad movement in American  painting that became a dominant trend in Western painting during the  1950s. The movement comprised many styles varying in both technique and  quality of expression. Artists include Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko,  Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler.

-Abstract Expressionism | Definition

This painting, which follows the color field painting style, is one of the few pieces that he has created during his lifetime. Barnett is considered the greatest color field painters of his time. That is the reason why this expensive painting is very popular now.

Or how about a museum considering this to be a worthwhile addition…

This is one of the most basic paintings to date but don’t let its simplicity fool you. It was sold for a whopping $75.1 million during a Sotheby’s auction in November of 2012.

The painter, Mark Rothko, is a known abstract expressionist.

This painting date back 1954 and basically has three blocks of color – and that’s it. Rothko is an American painter with Russian and Jewish Roots. He is known for the color field method style of painting which was popular in New York during the 50’s.

Summary of Color Field Painting

Color Field Painting is a tendency within Abstract Expressionism, distinct from gestural abstraction, or Action Painting. It was pioneered in the late 1940s by Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and Clyfford Still,  who were all independently searching for a style of abstraction that  might provide a modern, mythic art and express a yearning for  transcendence and the infinite. 

To achieve this they abandoned all  suggestions of figuration and instead exploited the expressive power of  color by deploying it in large fields that might envelope the viewer  when seen at close quarters. Their work inspired much Post-painterly abstraction, particularly that of Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Jules Olitski, though for later color field painters, matters of form tended to be more important than mythic content.

-The Art Story

The idea is to paint the canvas with large blocks of solid colors giving off an impression of an uneven surface and a flat plane. This painting pretty much depicts that, although very simplistic that you can imagine a toddler painting this art piece, it has a surprisingly outrageous value.

To a lot of people, this can be viewed as a real abstract painting with a lot of character in it. There is no doubt about it- but to be valued at $300 million sparks a different kind of conversation.

As with all abstract art, most people can claim they can paint something similar, but in fact, there is more to this painting that meets the eye.

William de Kooning is a New York painter, but is originally from Netherlands. This artwork is an example of ‘action painting’ which is a technique where the artist spontaneously splash paint on canvas versus the traditional painting style that is meticulous and takes time to complete.

Action painting, direct, instinctual, and highly  dynamic kind of art that involves the spontaneous application of  vigorous, sweeping brushstrokes and the chance effects of dripping and  spilling paint onto the canvas. The term was coined by the American art  critic Harold Rosenberg to characterize the work of a group of American  Abstract Expressionists who utilized the method from about 1950.

-Action painting | art | Britannica

It is somehow a form of physical art.

This technique is made popular during the 40’s to 60’s and has coined the concept of abstract expressionism. This painting was made in 1955 and is now housed in the private collection of Kenneth C. Griffin.

This is one of the most boring paintings that you will ever see but you will be surprised to know that this blue colored canvas sold for over $43 million in 2013. It is one of the works of Barnett Newman, a known abstract expressionist. He has done a number of similar paintings such as this and has an entire “Onement” collection, which is basically composed of one dominant color and a division (what he calls a ‘zip’) right smacked in the middle. The zip is used to define the space of his paintings. This New York artist was born in 1905 and has made a following because of his color field art.

If you don’t know better, you might mistake this for a preschooler’s art project. This is actually a painting from the famed painter Paul Klee. It starts off with an odd old maroon color with asymmetrical and disorganized images of triangles and squares, and oh yes, an odd orange circle in off center. One can maybe make this out as a series of houses or even a castle- but, hey, what do we know. Paul Klee is a Swiss-German painter born in 1879. Most of his works are now housed in varied museums all over the globe.

If you hear the word ‘painting’ you might be imagining something with a lot of imagination, color gradients and creative imagery. This painting from Kazimir Malevich is far from being complicated or deep but it is one of the most significant work of art to date.

Malevich is actually the pioneer of geometric abstraction- that is pretty obvious with his love of squares and rectangles.

Geometric abstraction, through the Cubist process of  purifying art of the vestiges of visual reality, focused on the inherent  two-dimensional features of painting. This process of evolving a purely  pictorial reality built of elemental geometric forms assumed different stylistic expressions in various European countries and in Russia.

-Geometric Abstraction | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of ...

This artwork was sold in Sotheby’s auction for a staggering $60 million and is the most expensive piece of Russian artwork of all time.

To the naked eye, this painting may simply look like a piece of stringy lines splashed around using a yarn, just like those kindergarten art projects kids use to make. This is an artwork done by Jackson Pollock in the year 1948. It is quite a large piece of artwork measuring 8 ft by 4 ft. He is a known abstract expressionist.

This painting in fibreboard uses brown, yellow, white and grey paint. It is often tagged as a dense bird’s nest because of the way the strips of paint overlap each other. This artwork was reported to be sold for over $140 million to a private collector.

This oil painting was done in oil on linen and is now housed at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. As you would have realized by now, the painting is a mere black square. But there is a lot of philosophy and history behind this seemingly plain and dull painting. This piece is dubbed as the ‘zero point of painting’ and a combination of various art methods including futurism and constructivism. This is one of the prime works of Kazimir Malevich, who is the leader in Russian avant-garde art and has several pieces of similar works under this collection. He described this artwork as ‘liberated nothing’.

Conclusion(s)

One afternoon I toured an art museum while waiting for my husband to finish a business meeting.I was looking forward to a quiet view of the art works.
       
A young couple viewing the paintings ahead of me chatted nonstop between themselves.I watched them a moment and decided the wife was doing all the talk.I admired the husband's patience for putting up with her continuous talk.Distracted by their noise,I moved on.
       
I met with them several times as I moved through the different rooms of art.Each time I heard her constant burst of words,I moved away quickly.
       
I was standing at the counter of the museum gift shop making a purchase when the couple came near to the exit.Before they left,the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a white object.He extended it into a long stick and then tapped his way into the coatroom to get his wife's jacket.
        
"He's a brave man."The clerk at the counter said,"Most of us would give  up if wewere blinded at such a young age.During his recovery he made a  promise that his life wouldn't change.So ,as before,he and his wife come  in whenever there's a new art show."
       
"But what dose he get out of the art?"I asked,"He can't see."
        
"Can't see?You're wrong.He sees a lot.More than you or I do."The clerk said,"His wife describes each painting so he can see it in his head."
       
I learned something about patience,courage and love that day.I saw the patience of a young wife describing paintings to a person without sight and the courage of a husband who would not allow blindness to change his life.And I saw the love shared by two people as I watched this couple walk away hand in hand.

-MoFanGe

If you were in the role of the wife (as described above – explaining each painting to her husband), how would you go about describing the more traditional artworks that the museums have sold off? How long would each painting take to describe?

Likewise, how would you describe the new progressive artworks? How long do you think it would take to describe them?

Perhaps this simple measurement, this idea in how to describe the impressions of art that is presented to you, is an element of it’s value and worth. Not that of the amount of currency that is used to purchase it, but rather the emotions and feelings that are generated upon viewing it.

I have argued HERE that the oligarchy is populated with psychopathic individuals that not only are unable to emote, but are unable to feel or express real emotions. Instead they only mimic actions and facial expressions to manipulat others to follow and believe them. As such, these psychopathic individuals see no value in art. Their only value is how they can be used as an element in financial exchange and commerce.

And thus, the study of art, is the study of the oligarchy that rules us.

The oligarchy that rules 99.9% of humans have evolved into a new KIND of human.

They are in possession of a service-for-self sentience, and are extremely good at manipulation, creation and generation of money and currency, as well as the accusition of power as well as the control over others. They are weak in the ability to express emotions and cannot emote. Medically they are known as psychopathic personalities and a healthy society cannot afford to have individuals of this disposition near any positions of power.

As they see no value in the art like “normal” people, they have subverted the institutions that they control; the libraries, the museums, and the art world into something that they understand. They understand money and using objects as trade mediums. They do not conderstand or emote the value of art.

And finally…

This movement towards progressive revisionism can only originate from those that are unable to understand art. They have no idea or concept of evoked emotion via visual stimulation. It is alien to them. They couldn’t understand it in any of it’s myrid forms. Thus…

Indeed, thus…

The entire progressive revisionism movement from art, to culture to society is driven from the oligarchy downward. It is their efforts to redraw the world into a “utopia” that they can understand and embrace.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Art index here…

ART

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The big lie about rags to riches. So you want to be instagram famous, or make a ton of money with bitcoin?

It’s been one Hell of a year, eh? 2020 sucked big time. And I am sure that I am not the only person to feel this way either. My personal trials and issues were just one headache after the other.

For instance, my little dog is now 13 years old. Which is old for a dog, but not ancient. He’s maybe in his doggie 70’s. He’s an old dog. Well, he’s acting old. And this year it’s gotten really bad. First he lost his teeth, and now his eyesight is on the way out. Which pretty much sucks.

Why?

Well, he just cannot find anything. So he doesn’t know how to get around. And he figured out a work-around. You see, he’s figured out that if he pee’s everywhere that he can smell his way and orient himself in the house

So he’s been peeing everywhere.

Everywhere.

But then he figured out that I’ll pretty much mop up his messes when I discover them. So he’s been getting sneaky about where he pees. He now stealth-pees. He sniffs around and tried to find hard to find, and difficult to reach areas to pee.

But I’ve been finding them out also.

So he’s got a new technique. He has started peeing on things that’s really difficult to clean up. You know, like seat cushions, pillows, blankets, comforters, clothing (especially freshly cleaned clothes), and boxed up food that he can jump on top of.

Ugh!

Yessur! It’s been one fuck of a year.

The last straw was when he liberally saturated my baby’s Coronavirus plushie toy with dog pee. Jeeze! Can I get a break?

Any ways, trying to deal with shortfalls in income, raising taxes that Trump has levied on all expats (especially those in China – BTW, what is his fucking problem?), and the other issues that are magnified during a pandemic is just a real headache. And the answer is to start looking for alternative ways to earn a few extra dollars.

So the wife looks on the internet and low and behold are these other chicks. Perfect mothers all. Living in McMansions. Their children all perfectly behaved, and experts playing on the living room grand pianos and other bull shit. I tell her that it’s really obscene and ill-advised to flaunt your wealth, good fortune, or advantage when the entire fucking rest of the world is trying to pull through difficult times.

But she doesn’t care. She looks at me and say’s “why can’t we live like that?“

Sigh.

2020 really sucked.

Anyways. It got me to thinking. Why is everything so fake? Why is there this driving force that says that you MUST climb up to the top of the pile of money and then flaunt it to the rest of your peers? It really pisses me off.

Why is everything so difficult?

Why is it so hard just to make a “getting by” income?

Why did out parents, and our grandparents get by with a single breadwinner, a stay-at-home wife, a mortgage paid off in ten years, with only a high school diploma? What happened?

What the Hell happened?

…

Greed happened.

You too can be RICH!

It’s all over America. “You too can become a Bill Gates, or a Steve Jobs, or start Amazon, or use Kickstarter to become a multi-millionaire.

But it’s just bullshit.

Having patents won’t make you rich. Nor will blogging. Writing books, or being an artist won’t make you rich. Having a pretty set of boobs won’t make you rich, bitcoin won’t make your rich, and having a great APP won’t make you rich either.

Well I am here to pop your bubble and tell you the truth.

You see, the United States today (not what it was founded as) relies on a myriad of lies to exist. These lies are promoted through a government / oligarchy controlled propaganda organization. This organization has three main branches. All of which are controlled, and construct the narratives, that Americans are exposed to. They are…

Alt-Left
Mainstream
Alt-Right

It’s an enormous subject, and understanding it will help to explain why Americans are they way they are and the actions of the American government. But that is not really our focus at this time. Instead, we will discuss a MAJOR lie or theme that is propagated over and over inside of America which is…

“You can become rich all by yourself, alone. It just takes a little bit of work, some effort, and a pinch of luck.“

Now…

Well, we have all heard the stories, haven’t we?

How Steve Jobs started his “shoe string” business in a garage. We hear about Steve Jobs, about Google, about Amazon. We hear all these stories about the small guy, the little guy, who through hard work and scrimping and saving that he (or she) was able to make it BIG!

And I am going to bust your bubble.

Our Society, not our Government, is the driving force behind this kind of action…

If you look at all the lone individuals who became a success, you will notice that they have one thing in common.

They grew during a time of very little government oversight and regulation.

When the computer moguls (Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates) started, the local, state and federal governments didn’t even know what computers were. Let alone regulate them. And in the period of time, their small business enterprises grew…

…and as they grew, so did the need for the government to grow. And to make laws and regulations to control those new enterprises.

Look at how the “Railroad Barons” came into being in the last century. Or look at how the early investors in Fast Food franchises became rich.

Look at the software moguls (Google, Amazon), the same is true for them as well. They became large before the government had time to regulate them and stymie their growth (inadvertently, of course).

Then as soon as the slow sluggish government regulatory agencies, and the slow moving bureaucratic arm of the government got moving, they had all ready established a “home” for themselves in the business world. And the resulting regulations and laws served to keep their franchises alive, while making it extraordinarily difficult for any different new-comers to create competitive alternatives.

…

Ok, well this dynamic is also well understood.

It’s difficult, but not impossible, to create new software alternatives. And the same is true with other industries as well. It’s not not impossible, just difficult.

But the difficulty that one experiences today, in setting up their own business, is quite different than one of the “early pioneers” setting up a new business. And that is the BIG LIE that is functionally omitted by the government propaganda outlets. Instead, they constantly promote the idea that you too can become a mega wealthy oligarch.

You too, can be another Steve Jobs.

It’s not true.

The fundamental structure of the USA government is the culprit

I think the main problem are the two different approaches taken by the US or Chinese, which are diametrically different. The Chinese seem to use a "Cumulative" approach, while the US is based on what I call "Winnowing" as a state. Take their respective attitudes towards the poor.

First the Chinese; Cumulative, we are all in this together. If everyone has a "job" be it ever-so lowly, selling food on a street corner for example, then for the Chinese this is a "plus". The person is more or less responsible for his own well being, is not a burden on the State for handouts, and could be (potentially) taxable etc. The object being that ALL Chinese then become positive factors in the society. They are also more motivated because they have a "place" in society. The recent case of Jack Ma and an IPO is not the opposite, but he was trying to get ahead by means that would have led to more unemployment - on the back of the Chinese Government. He was not adding to the cumulative good of the country. Only his own riches. (The Chinese do have billionaires and riches - but are constrained by Corporate credit ratings as explained on a previous - very interesting - thread. Thanks to: psychohistorian | Jan 5 2021 2:08 utc | 162. The MoA Week In Review - OT 2021-001)

The US. The attitude is to beat out the chaff leaving only the "kernel". To "Winnow" the population leaving only the top. ie the poor are sidelined, they become a problem for the Government (needing support, food etc.). A net negative value to US society. (The Rich also get handouts from the Fed. as free money has become an habitude, but that is an another way of winnowing out the chaff - as others do NOT get the trillion dollar handouts) The poor have no "place" in a society that has rejected them and so are less motivated. They must fend for themselves and are expected to obey. If they do not there are always the police to enforce obedience.

"Cumulative = win-win", and "Winnowing = Only the top win".

Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 5 2021 20:26 utc | 11

I argue that the United States has become something else other than what it was intended to be, and like a the big monstrosity that it is has created all sorts of safeguards to keep the people separate. The super wealthy lives a life of protected ease, and the rest, live below in a caste system where everything has a price.

From having to pay for water, to taxes and regulations on your abode, to what you do when you are off work and in the privacy of your home, to even what you think about and read. To watch television to listen to music, there is always a price.

In the 1960’s, and 1970’s watching television, listening to music, and making tapes of what you listen to and watch, were all FREE!

Water fountains might be free, but are typically not filtered. But neither is the bottled water that you buy at the local convenience store either.

In the 1970’s water fountains were everywhere. Now if you want a drink of water, you have to buy a bottle of water. In the 1980’s if you wanted to send out a message to a friend you sent out a letter in the mail, and it’s privacy was protected by law. Today, if you want to do the same thing, you use either a “free” email service that collects all your personal information and tracks you, or you pay a yearly fee for that service. A fee mind you, many, many times larger than the cost of a postage stamp. And none of the aforementioned protections of privacy are provided.

This is not “freedom” by any stretch of the imagination. Nor, is it an “improvement”.

It’s the worst form of slavery.

I would add that Chinese Communist Party was great mostly because Mao Zedong and his comrades created a new culture not only for China in the past, but most probably will be for future humanity.  

That new culture empowered the ordinary people and created a new social climate in which the officials were supposed to live and work with common people, which is what real democracy should be.   

People would eventually realize what has enabled China to develop better is democracy rather than what the western press and politicians called authoritarianism. 

-Mr Pan

…

Anyways, we are going to discuss my argument that…

The idea that anyone can become a rich and wealthy person through “hard work” and a little bit of luck, is a fantasy inside of America today.

The basics of this post is what is known as “the bell curve”. And we are going to overlay upon that curve a concept that I like to call “the big lie”.

Essentially, people and their abilities (when plotted on a graph) form a nice bell-shaped curve, and you and your friends are somewhere on that curve. This curve is very well known and it is an important indicator on where individuals lie within a group setting.

The “big lie” is that the top 0.1% position on that curve is attainable by everyone. And it is simply not true. Particularly in the United States where there are nine levels of social strata or classes of people.

The “big lie” is the believe that you can duplicate the luck, conditions, skills, and environment of another to achieve their same results.

Here we are going to discuss some stories about all those “rich and wealthy” people that we read about in the internet, the social media and on television.

Confessions Of An Instagram Model

Reprinted as found. Originally titled “Confessions Of An Instagram Model” and written on November 24, 2020. All credit to the authors. Edited to fit this venue.

I am a fitness model with a big Instagram following (no I will not be sharing my IG or other accounts here, please don’t ask). Most people think we make most of our money from sponsorships and affiliate posts – we do make some money that way – but you’d still need a 9 to 5 to make ends meet unless you’re one of the top accounts. The open secret in the industry is that we get hired to spend time with really wealthy men overseas.

A typical instagram girl. — A typical Instagram girl. This one has a big chest and extra big pouty lips.

This happens almost entirely with rich men in Dubai, although I’ve been all over the world. Bali is another hot spot for meet ups. Basically they contact you directly offering a price and make sure you agree to what they want ahead of time. You always check their accounts to make sure they’re legit and lots of times they have other models who have already met them verify in case you have any doubts, but I’ve never had an issue.

They want all kinds off different things. The first ones I agreed too were just casual vanilla sex. But once I got comfortable with it and saw how much the money went up, I started doing crazier stuff and soon after that there were no more limits for me, the money was always worth it. I struggled with it at first but the money was so good and there is something liberating about being totally disgusting for someone. I went from an everyday promiscuous but mostly standard sex life to living a life that rivals porn stars. It’s easier to list things I haven’t tried at this point than what I have!

How old are you and how long have you been doing this?

I’m in my 20s been doing this about 4 years

Are you one of those big booty instagram models, or the workout in yoga pants one?

I have a booty but I do all around fitness modeling

How much money are we talking?

I made 5k my first time. I made 20k my most recent. I’ve made up to 35k for a week

How much do the men generally pay for different acts? Does the donation matter with the attractiveness/popularity of the model?

It depends on how popular you are and what you do.

What is the craziest thing you’ve done, sexually, that you wouldn’t have even considered before escorting?

Group sex and orgy type of stuff. I’m glad I was exposed to it because it’s beautifully intense and hot, but I was closed minded to it before. There are more extreme things that would be considered crazy too that I liked like BDSM, so it’s hard to pick one. But the one I’m most grateful for being exposed to is the group.

Most guys at once?

Most guys at once was 6

Most surprising interaction (whatever that means to you)?

Most surprising was a young, very short, very skinny guy – when he dropped his pants he was packing a horse dick LOL.

Who are these men?

Some are very wealthy businessmen, some are from wealthy families. Some are related to royalty and occasionally even a well known celebrity

Who was the celebrity?

An American actor staying in Dubai. I can’t share his name but I was totally starstruck!

Was he one of the vanilla ones or one of the disguisting ones?

Not disgusting but he was not vanilla either. He liked being a little rough and kinky

Are you picky with your clientele?

I was at first but not so much now unless what they want is totally off limits to me or if they come across as super weird.

Is there anything that is off limits for your clients no matter the price tag?

Anything that would involve blood, defecation, or being seriously hurt. Other than that I would probably negotiate most things

How do you find the interaction is with most of your clients? By this I mean do then tend to take you out and treat you like there girlfriend showing you off as arm candy or are you generally kept away at a house or resort and used more for sex?

It’s rarely being taken out. You kind of do that on your own time but on their dime

What was your most (positive) exciting experience on these adventures so far?

The overall experience is the most positive. I travel the world getting spoiled making tons of money and having wild sex while enjoying some internet fame. I did get to go skydiving in Dubai for the first time which was crazy exciting

Worst situation you ever found yourself in (in regards to being an escort) and how you handled it?

I was never in a truly bad situation, but some kind of were terrible in other ways. For example, I was booked at the same time as another girl for the same two guys. When I get there, it’s another model I know and we hated each other. It sucked and I wanted to bail because she’s such a bitch. But that would’ve caused issues so I stayed. The funny thing is though, these guys were brutally rough with us, and at one point we were holding each other’s hands as we grit our teeth through some painful rough anal and even cuddled each other for a little bit after. So we aren’t friends now but we kind of bonded.

What causes beef between Instagram models/escorts?

It’s not because of that it’s just because she has a terrible personality and attitude and makes rude comments about people that are supposed to be friends

Where you ever put in a situation where you didn’t feel safe?

It always feels a bit unsafe to tell you the truth, there’s no way to know you’re safe unless it’s someone you’ve been with a bunch of times. Even then, if they’re rough or into really kinky stuff you get nervous. But that makes it exciting too.

Besides talking to other models, how is a potential client vetted?

Honestly the person I pay to run my IG account verifies them for me so idk what goes into it exactly but I know that in some cases it’s an online presence or proof that they are who they say they are.

You’re going to want to contact via email or their managers email or something similar. DMs are rarely even checked when you have a huge account. And we won’t answer directly from our accounts either becuse a single screenshot can ruin our reputation.

How do you funnel the money? Isn’t it suspicious to receive 35k just for a weekend or is it deemed a “shoot” as a model even if nothing takes place?

My manager handles everything

How much do you pay your manager?

He gets 10 percent

How much were you making in your day job?

I was making like 30k a year before I started doing this with my day job.

What do you tell your family?

I just tell my friends and family it’s from my Instagram business

Sounds like you make loads of cash….. the gig wont last for ever, are you investing?

I definitely invest and take care of my money! Remember too that I don’t really pay for anything myself on these trips

Do you have simpler plans, like marrying and stuff?

I would love to get married and have a family one day but I don’t feel ready to settle down yet.

My Metallicman comments on this dialog.

So, here’s a young girl in her 20’s, making wads of cash. Is it really from just posting nice pictures on social media?

No.

She uses social media to advertise her body for sexual liaisons. In other words, she’s a courtesan. And throughout history, courtesans have been known to make good money.

Courtesan

Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism meaning a sugar baby, escort, concubine, mistress or a prostitute, for whom the art of dignified etiquette is the means of attracting wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term originally meant a courtier, a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.

Wikipedia

She’s no different than this…

I am not judging her.

If you are beautiful and you have the ability and skills necessary to become a courtesan, I say go for it. But realize that the amount of money that they get is from sexual activity, and not from pictures on Instagram.

Which is the point in all of this.

For us to grow and live, we need to realize the reality of the world that we live in. Because inside of America is is one lie on top of the other, on top of another, and another… and yet another.

And this all cause people to behave very strangely compared to the rest of the world.

Get rich from blogging!

Another big lie.

Um.

Not quite. You are not going to have people throw money at you because they like your personal stories. Oh, you might make a few dollars, but from your articles alone. No. The money comes from other sources that you advertise from your blog.

These other sources can be…

The sales of books.
Sales of vitamin or herbal supplements (Alex Jones)
Speaking engagements
Paid subscriptions
Videos

Anyways, blogging or having a website as MM can be used as PART of a mechanism for a for-profit venture. Must like the Instagram chick above, the internet is used as a tool to derive profits from.

Hey! You guys, do you see me using MM to sell books, videos, or products? Eh?

Well, truthfully I have been asked to write some books.  And truthfully I am considering it. But the books will have to provide more than what I offer for free here. Otherwise I will feel like I am taking advantage of my readership. This is complicated by the fact that there are some things that I am simply not permitted to discuss. Anyways, I am considering it. Maybe something about Prayer and Affirmation Campaigns. Or maybe about one of our benefactor species. Something unique and very different.

Which brings me up to the next subject.

Writing a book

Yes you can make a handful of change; a few dollars writing a book. It’s not much, and it is not going to be something that you can rely upon for a steady source of income.

So, unless you are big and famous, and can use it as a method to “launder money”, the odds of you getting wealthy are very slim. Oh, sure there are exceptions. Like the author of the Harry Potter series. But again, the exceptions do not describe the norm.

Nope.

It’s like anything else, you write because you like writing and you have something to say. But it’s not an avenue to get wealthy from.

It’s more often than not used as a way to launder money for bribes and pay-offs.

Creating a Patent

Oh Vey! What a big lie this one is. You will never get rich on having a patent. Oh sure there are all sort of stories about people who had this patent and became filthy rich. And there might just be one or two guys, but in general forget it.

Heck, I have 11 design patents to my name, and I haven’t even got the mandatory $1 transfer fee from the company. So forgetaboutit.

Grow rich through inventions and patents.

It’s one of those bullshit stories about a friend who knows a guys who… or an article that you once read about a guy who invented…

Just forget about this entire route. It’s a dead-end.

Painting or creating art

Oh, art is a great way to “launder money” because there are no restrictions on the amount and the value of art is subjective. But if you want to become rich doing it, then dream on. It’s a long tall mountain to climb. You must…

…guess what?

Paint because you love painting, and if someone pays you money for it, then that is a big plus. But expect to starve and live at the poverty level while you do so.

How do I know? It’s also one of my loves. And yes, I can paint, in oils. I paint figurines using the Flemish technique. And no. I haven’t made any money of significance out of this love of mine. At best, I broke even. Meaning the cost of the materials equaled the selling price. Labor costs were a loss.

Art is how the oligarchy moves enormous amount of money about legally.

Check out these following examples of using art to launder money. Obviously the oligarchy has been ridiculing the rest of us folk for decades if not much longer. It’s, well, insulting.

An example of overt money laundering disguised as "art".

Some examples of using art to launder money

So how much money is transferred in this money laundering technique? Let’s start at the low end. You know, “pocket change” for the oligarchy…

Blood Red Mirror by Gerhard Richter – $1.1 Million
Concetto spaziale, Attese by Lucio Fontana – $1.5 Million
Green White by Ellsworth Kelly – $1.6 Million

Some examples of using art to launder money

Now, let’s go into the mid-range transactions. Say $2 million to $80 million pop.

Untitled (1961) by Mark Rothko – $28 Million
Untiled (Stoffbild) by Blinky Palermo – $1.7 Million
Peinture (Le Chien) by Joan Miro – $2.2 Million
Untitled (1970) by Cy Twombly – $69.6 Million
Cowboy by Ellsworth Kelly – $1.7 Million
Blue Fool by Christopher Wool – $5 Million

All in all, it’s a very common way for the oligarchy to move money around.

Riot (1990) by Christopher Wool – $29.9 Million
Onement Vi By Barnett Newman – $43.8 million
Black Fire 1 by Barnett Newman – $84.2 Million
Orange, Red, Yellow by Mark Rothko – $86.9 Million
Anna’s Light by Barnett Newman – $105.7 Million

Another example of art money laundering.

Disgusted?

Well, you should be.

Well, unless you are a super wealthy oligarchy, painting and selling paintings for hundreds of millions of dollars isn’t in your future.

Well, what is?

Get rich with bitcoin!

Um. Sure.

Ugh. maybe if you bought bitcoin in the first couple of months when it was young and just being developed. Today… it is a potential, but highly risky venture. I would mark it as unlikely.

Like anything. There are potentials and avenues of success.

Is that part of your pre-birth world-line template? Are you destined to become filthy wealthy?

Only you know.

Selling Snake-oil

In a nation where a person’s value is determined by the size of their bank account, and success is measured in dollar signs and spreadsheet, it’s very difficult for good and stable people to make a difference.

Only those who are adept at making money, manipulating money, stealing money, or getting money become powerful and are considered meaningful.

And in this environment, ONLY those people will obtain positions of power and importance.

I need three hands to count the number of times myself and my design teams were let go from American companies simply because the company wanted to sell a division, down-size to make the value of a company attractive to investors, or discarded good robust designs in favor or low cost, disposable “improvements”. All for money. None for the great breakthroughs and technical innovations that we were working on.

That is the reality.

And it sucks.

There is something fundamentally wrong with exchanging tokens to represent labor, and then using that system to generate debt. I know it’s a difficult thing to consider. It will change your entire world-view upside down.

The United States is currently $25 trillion dollars in debt.

Who the fuck does America owe all that money to?

Jupiter?

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

Kind of depressing…

Ah, but it need not be.

In the American culture, you must be the “lone wolf” and climb up that mountain of success alone. “You can do it” we are told. It’s just a matter of hard work, perseverance and maybe a little luck.

Maybe.

Maybe.

But you know, in the American society (and the other societies in the West who have adopted this kind of culture) it’s difficult to break out and through the class barriers that surround your social class. It’s true and YOU KNOW IT. So let’s forget about the government’s propaganda narrative.

Instead let’s focus on looking at things from a completely different perspective. It’s a perspective that can be found in both China, Japan and Russia, as well as Brazil and parts of Europe. Which is…

…find your niche and become the best at it as you can.

Maybe you will get rich. Maybe you won’t.

But the issue about making money never enters the equation of the value of what you provide to your community or your society. And this is what is important.

Conclusion

The world needs, yes NEEDS, to move away from the primitive model of money for labor, and rather embrace the concept of participation within a society for the good of all. Instead of the selfish “me, me, me” of previous traditions.

Which is curiously…

…exactly the world as described by “time traveler” John Titor.

For he described a world (at least in America) where everyone was part of a community, and you needed to apply to become part of that community. Where no one was automatically a member, and once in a community, you needed to contribute to the good of all. No slackers, no welfare queens, and no lazy bums were permitted.

John titor inex

I like to believe that this will be the future, whether his predictions manifest or not.

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The nine classes of social stratification within the United States today.

If you try to find information on the stratification of America on the Internet, you will discover that the vast bulk of them claim that there are really just three classes of social stratification. This is incorrect. There are nine. Here we will discuss these nine social classes. This post is a prelude to another article that discusses how the United States is migrating from a class system towards a caste system. Buckle up, it’s going to be a real surprise.

First off, why nine?

I argue that many “experts” in this matter overlook the obvious, and classify distinctly separate classes with one of the three common classes. Perhaps this is due to force of habit, as the classes all pre-date the 1960s. But perhaps it is to conditioning. People, most especially Americans, have been accustomed to a new “normal”; an “ever changing normal”. This makes people, who are otherwise quite intelligent, ignore trends that lay there right in front of their eyes.

The three classes are, of course, the…

The Upper Class
The Middle Class
The Low Class

Additionally, one must take into account the 13th amendment which formally established…

The Slave Class

What? You say! The 13th Amendment banned slavery, not granted it.

Uh. No it did not. Read the text of the amendment…

Thirteenth Amendment. The full text of the amendment is: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Thirteenth Amendment | United States Constitution ...

So yes, any one who is convicted of a crime, and becomes a felon becomes a member of the Slavery Class. And maybe that will help everyone understand why so many blacks and Negros were arrested after the American Civil War. It also explains the great saturation of laws in the 1920’s that banned the habits, and vices of the Negro population, turning many of them into felons.

So, yeah. There is a fourth class; the slavery class. And once you are in it, it is extremely difficult to leave it.

Ah, there’s another class as well…

The Untouchables class

This class is the “Sex Offender Class”, and it is even worse than the Slavery Class. Once you enter that class, you have very little rights, no freedoms, and pretty much will live in poverty for the rest of your life. You can describe this class by income, or demographics, but the reality is that this class is mandated by law.

It’s to take evil child molester “off the streets”. And everyone believes it. Though it’s been my experience that of those arrested and convicted only a very tiny number fit that public narrative. Most are thrown into that class for other reasons.

But wait! There’s more!

There’s the…

Gig class.

This class is a newly formed class where the workers float between Low Class and Middle Class. They use their skills, time and effort as opportunities come and go. Unlike the low class, they can periodically rise out of that class, but then sink right back down when their “gig” dries up. This class consists of Uber Drivers, and IoT designers.

Similarly there is the…

Per Diem Class

This is similar to the Gig Class except that the skill level is much higher, the monetary rewards are much higher, and the time period cycle between jobs is much longer. These workers are much in demand, and command high salary rates with supportive Per Diem costs covered by monthly bonuses.

And there is the exclusive class…

The Oligarchy class

This class is the territory of the super rich, the mega-billionaires. They are not only rich and powerful, but they control major segments of the governments as well. They are, in effect, the “untouchables”. These people, these families, are far more powerful, capable and “connected” than the upper class. They are in a group of their own, and it amazes me that modern day sociologists do not recognize this class at all.

Finally, we have the…

The undocumented class.

Which is much larger than anyone knows. It mostly concerns non-citizens who live within the United States, who often work and collect benefits, but do not officially exist. To ignore this enormous segment of the population is disingenuous.

Summary of the Classes

OK. So here is a summary…

The Oligarchy class
The Upper Class
The Per Diem Class
The Middle Class
The Gig Class
The Low Class
The Slave Class
The Untouchables
The Undocumented Class.

The basic rules

A “class” is similar to a caste. In that it is extremely difficult to move from one class to another. Movement can happen, it’s just that it is extremely rare.

The primary difference between “class” and “caste” is that a caste system keeps you locked into your caste. While in “class” downwards movement to a lower class is always possible. While upwards movement is outrageously difficult, and extremely rate.

My GOD! America is like an old game of “chutes and ladders”.

Introduction

Let’s get started.

Aaron grew up on a farm in rural Ohio, left home to serve in the Army, and returned a few years later to take over the family farm. He moved into the same house he had grown up in and soon married a young woman with whom he had attended high school. As they began to have children, they quickly realized that the income from the farm was no longer sufficient to meet their needs. Aaron, with little experience beyond the farm, accepted a job as a clerk at a local grocery store. It was there that his life and the lives of his wife and children were changed forever.

One of the managers at the store liked Aaron, his attitude, and his work ethic. He took Aaron under his wing and began to groom him for advancement at the store. Aaron rose through the ranks with ease. Then the manager encouraged him to take a few classes at a local college. This was the first time Aaron had seriously thought about college. Could he be successful, Aaron wondered? Could he actually be the first one in his family to earn a degree? Fortunately, his wife also believed in him and supported his decision to take his first class. Aaron asked his wife and his manager to keep his college enrollment a secret. He did not want others to know about it in case he failed.

Aaron was nervous on his first day of class. He was older than the other students, and he had never considered himself college material. Through hard work and determination, however, he did very well in the class. While he still doubted himself, he enrolled in another class. Again, he performed very well. As his doubt began to fade, he started to take more and more classes. Before he knew it, he was walking across the stage to receive a Bachelor’s degree with honors. The ceremony seemed surreal to Aaron. He couldn’t believe he had finished college, which once seemed like an impossible feat.

Shortly after graduation, Aaron was admitted into a graduate program at a well-respected university where he earned a Master’s degree. He had not only become the first from his family to attend college but also he had earned a graduate degree. Inspired by Aaron’s success, his wife enrolled at a technical college, obtained a degree in nursing, and became a registered nurse working in a local hospital’s labor and delivery department. Aaron and his wife both worked their way up the career ladder in their respective fields and became leaders in their organizations. They epitomized the American Dream—they worked hard and it paid off.

This story may sound familiar. After all, nearly one in three first-year college students is a first-generation degree candidate, and it is well documented that many are not as successful as Aaron.

According to the Center for Student Opportunity, a national nonprofit, 89 percent of first-generation students will not earn an undergraduate degree within six years of starting their studies. In fact, these students “drop out of college at four times the rate of peers whose parents have postsecondary degrees” (Center for Student Opportunity quoted in Huot 2014).

What is Social Stratification?

In the upper echelons of the working world, people with the most power reach the top. These people make the decisions and earn the most money. The majority of Americans will never see the view from the top.

Sociologists use the term social stratification to describe the system of social standing. Social stratification refers to a society’s categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, race, education, and power.

You may remember the word “stratification” from geology class. The distinct vertical layers found in rock, called stratification, are a good way to visualize social structure. Society’s layers are made of people, and society’s resources are distributed unevenly throughout the layers. The people who have more resources represent the top layer of the social structure of stratification. Other groups of people, with progressively fewer and fewer resources, represent the lower layers of our society.

In the United States, people like to believe everyone has an equal chance at success. It’s a hopeful narrative and a lively premise, but (for the most part) it is false.

To a certain extent, Aaron illustrates the belief that hard work and talent—not prejudicial treatment or societal values—determine social rank. This emphasis on self-effort perpetuates the belief that people control their own social standing. In fact, this narrative is played often and over in America. It creates the illusion that everyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and make a life for themselves in America.

It has become a political rallying cry.

But it is false.

The data is as plain as day. It is as damning as it is clear. The rate of upward movement in the American class system is negligible at best, and completely absent for the vast majority of American citizenry.

Sociologists recognize that social stratification is a society-wide system that makes inequalities apparent. While there are always inequalities between individuals, sociologists are interested in larger social patterns. Stratification is not about individual inequalities, but about systematic inequalities based on group membership, classes, and the like. No individual, rich or poor, can be blamed for social inequalities.

The structure of society affects a person’s social standing.

Although individuals may support or fight inequalities, social stratification is created and supported by society as a whole. In America the rich people want to associate with other wealthy individuals, and shun the rest. Anyone who has tried to pledge in certain fraternities or sororities can well see this in action.

Likewise, the same holds true for the lower class strata as well.

Walmart class. — .
In America there is a stigma about association with a “lower” class than what you belong to. I cannot help but think that Donald Trump or Joe Biden would be loathe to help this poor woman up as she struggles to purchase a six-pack of Pepsi.

Factors that define stratification vary in different societies. In most societies, stratification is an economic system, based on wealth, the net value of money and assets a person has, and income, a person’s wages or investment dividends. While people are regularly categorized based on how rich or poor they are, other important factors influence social standing.

For example, in some cultures, wisdom and charisma are valued, and people who have them are revered more than those who don’t. In some cultures, the elderly are esteemed; in others, the elderly are disparaged or overlooked. Societies’ cultural beliefs often reinforce the inequalities of stratification.

One key determinant of social standing is the social standing of our parents.

Parents tend to pass their social position on to their children. People inherit not only social standing but also the cultural norms that accompany a certain lifestyle. They share these with a network of friends and family members. Social standing becomes a comfort zone, a familiar lifestyle, and an identity.

People inherit their position in society. — .
People inherit not only social standing but also the cultural norms that accompany a certain lifestyle. They share these with a network of friends and family members. Social standing becomes a comfort zone, a familiar lifestyle, and an identity. Therefore it is desirable for the parents to push their children to attend college and excel.

This is one of the reasons first-generation college students do not fare as well as other students.

Other determinants are found in a society’s occupational structure. Teachers, for example, often have high levels of education but receive relatively low pay. Many believe that teaching is a noble profession, so teachers should do their jobs for love of their profession and the good of their students—not for money. Yet no successful executive or entrepreneur would embrace that attitude in the business world, where profits are valued as a driving force. Cultural attitudes and beliefs like these support and perpetuate social inequalities.

Recent Economic Changes and U.S. Stratification

As a result of the Great Recession that rocked the United States economy in the last few years, many families and individuals found themselves struggling like never before. The nation fell into a period of prolonged and exceptionally high unemployment.

While no one was completely insulated from the recession, perhaps those in the lower classes felt the impact most profoundly.

Before the 1990’s, many were living paycheck to paycheck or even had been living comfortably. As the recession hit, they were often among the first to lose their jobs. Unable to find replacement employment, they faced more than loss of income. Their homes were foreclosed, their cars were repossessed, and their ability to afford healthcare was taken away. This put many in the position of deciding whether to put food on the table or fill a needed prescription.

But the Great Recession, like the Great Depression, has changed social attitudes.

Where once it was important to demonstrate wealth by wearing expensive clothing items like Calvin Klein shirts and Louis Vuitton shoes, now there’s a new, thriftier way of thinking. In many circles, it has become hip to be frugal. It’s no longer about how much we spend, but about how much we don’t spend.

Systems of Stratification

Sociologists distinguish between two types of systems of stratification.

Closed systems accommodate little change in social position. They do not allow people to shift levels and do not permit social relationships between levels.
Open systems, which are based on achievement, allow movement and interaction between layers and classes.

Different systems reflect, emphasize, and foster certain cultural values and shape individual beliefs. Stratification systems include class systems and caste systems, as well as meritocracy.

The Caste System – India

India used to have a rigid caste system until it was banned. The people in the lowest caste suffered from extreme poverty and were shunned by society. Some aspects of India’s defunct caste system remain socially relevant.

Caste systems are closed stratification systems in which people can do little or nothing to change their social standing. A caste system is one in which people are born into their social standing and will remain in it their whole lives.

People are assigned occupations regardless of their talents, interests, or potential. There are virtually no opportunities to improve a person’s social position.

In the Hindu caste tradition, people were expected to work in the occupation of their caste and to enter into marriage according to their caste. Accepting this social standing was considered a moral duty. Cultural values reinforced the system. Caste systems promote beliefs in fate, destiny, and the will of a higher power, rather than promoting individual freedom as a value. A person who lived in a caste society was socialized to accept his or her social standing.

Although the caste system in India has been officially dismantled, its residual presence in Indian society is deeply embedded. It still exists. It’s just that the government refuses to acknowledge it’s existence and provides “lip service” to any evidence of it’s existence.

In rural areas, aspects of the tradition are more likely to remain, while urban centers show less evidence of this past. In India’s larger cities, people now have more opportunities to choose their own career paths and marriage partners. As a global center of employment, corporations have introduced merit-based hiring and employment to the nation.

The Class System – United States, the UK, Australia

A class system is based on money, social factors, individual achievement, politics and law.

A class consists of a set of people who share similar status with regard to factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation.

Unlike caste systems, class systems are open. People are free to gain a different level of education or employment than their parents. They can also socialize with and marry members of other classes, which allows people to move from one class to another.

America compared to the rest of the world. — .
In the United States, the Oligarchy class, and the upper Class have no concern for the United States citizenry. They run the nation, and make the laws so that only their class benefits.

In a class system, occupation is not fixed at birth. Though family and other societal models help guide a person toward a career, personal choice plays a role.

In class systems, people have the option to form exogamous marriages, unions of spouses from different social categories.

Marriage in these circumstances is based on values such as love and compatibility rather than on social standing or economics. Though social conformities still exist that encourage people to choose partners within their own class, people are not as pressured to choose marriage partners based solely on those elements. Marriage to a partner from the same social background is an endogamous union.

Meritocracy – China

Meritocracy is an ideal system based on the belief that social stratification is the result of personal effort—or merit—that determines social standing.

High levels of effort will lead to a high social position, and vice versa. The concept of meritocracy is considered an ideal in the West. It is believed that it is unobtainable. That is because the Western societies simply cannot understand a society based on Confucian thought. Therefore, they argue that a society has never existed where social rank was based purely on merit.

Those in the West argue this because of the complex structure of societies, processes like socialization, and the realities of economic systems, social standing is influenced by multiple factors—not merit alone.

In the West, inheritance and pressure to conform to norms, for instance, and disrupts the notion of a pure meritocracy. Yet, China comes as realistically close to that ideal than any other nation in history.

The USA vs China. — The difference between an oligarchy class run government, and a meritocracy are stark.

Status Consistency

Social stratification systems determine social position based on factors like income, education, and occupation. Sociologists use the term status consistency to describe the consistency, or lack thereof, of an individual’s rank across these factors. Caste systems correlate with high status consistency, whereas the more flexible class system has lower status consistency.

To illustrate, let’s consider Susan.

Susan earned her high school degree but did not go to college. That factor is a trait of the lower-middle class. 

She began doing landscaping work, which, as manual labor, is also a trait of lower-middle class or even lower class. 

However, over time, Susan started her own company. She hired employees. She won larger contracts. She became a business owner and earned a lot of money. 

Those traits represent the upper-middle class. There are inconsistencies between Susan’s educational level, her occupation, and her income.

In a class system, a person can work hard and have little education and still be in middle or upper class, whereas in a caste system that would not be possible. In a class system, low status consistency correlates with having more choices and opportunities.

Social Stratification and Mobility in the United States

Most sociologists define social class as a grouping based on similar social factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation. These factors affect how much power and prestige a person has. Social stratification reflects an unequal distribution of resources.

In most cases, having more money means having more power or more opportunities.

Stratification can also result from physical and intellectual traits. Categories that affect social standing include family ancestry, race, ethnicity, age, and gender. In the United States, standing can also be defined by characteristics such as IQ, athletic abilities, appearance, personal skills, and achievements.

Additionally, in America, there are legal stratifications. That is, forced class membership by law.

All Felons enter the Slave Class.
All Sex Offender Felons enter the Untouchables Class.
All undocumented, or non-citizens, are in the Undocumented Class.

Standard of Living

In the last century, the United States has seen a steady rise in its standard of living, the level of wealth available to a certain socioeconomic class in order to acquire the material necessities and comforts to maintain its lifestyle.

The standard of living is based on factors such as income, employment, class, poverty rates, and housing affordability. Because standard of living is closely related to quality of life, it can represent factors such as the ability to afford a home, own a car, and take vacations.

In the United States, a small portion of the population has the means to the highest standard of living.

.
The Upper class are insulated from the realities of life in the other class segments. As time moves forward they become more and more insulated from reality, and live trapped in a bubble that represents a life that does not exist.

A Federal Reserve Bank study shows that a mere one percent of the population holds one-third of our nation’s wealth (Kennickell 2009). Wealthy people receive the most schooling, have better health, and consume the most goods and services. Wealthy people also wield decision-making power.

Many people think of the United States as a “middle-class society.” They think a few people are rich, a few are poor, and most are fairly well off, existing in the middle of the social strata.

But as the study mentioned above indicates, there is NOT an even distribution of wealth.

Millions of women and men struggle to pay rent, buy food, find work, and afford basic medical care. Women who are single heads of household tend to have a lower income and lower standard of living than their married or male counterparts. This is a worldwide phenomenon known as the “feminization of poverty”—which acknowledges that women disproportionately make up the majority of individuals in poverty across the globe.

In the United States, as in most high-income nations, social stratifications and standards of living are in part based on occupation (Lin and Xie 1988).

Aside from the obvious impact that income has on someone’s standard of living, occupations also influence social standing through the relative levels of prestige they afford.

Employment in medicine, law, or engineering confers high status. 

Teachers and police officers are generally respected, though not considered particularly prestigious. 

At the other end of the scale, some of the lowest rankings apply to positions like waitress, janitor, and bus driver.

The most significant threat to the relatively high standard of living that everyone is accustomed to in the United States is the decline of the middle class. The size, income, and wealth of the middle class have all been declining since the 1970s. This is occurring at a time when corporate profits have increased more than 141 percent, and CEO pay has risen by more than 298 percent (Popken 2007).

The decline in the American middle Class. — .
The decline in the American middle Class parallels the decline in union organizations.

G. William Domhoff, of the University of California at Santa Cruz, reports that “In 2010, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 35.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 53.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 89%, leaving only 11% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers)” (Domhoff 2013).

35.0% of wealth – Oligarchy Class.
53.5% of wealth – Upper Class

————————————————

89.0% of wealth – The top two classes

While several economic factors can be improved in the United States (inequitable distribution of income and wealth, feminization of poverty, stagnant wages for most workers while executive pay and profits soar, declining middle class), we are fortunate that the poverty experienced here is most often relative poverty and not absolute poverty.

Whereas absolute poverty is deprivation so severe that it puts survival in jeopardy, relative poverty is not having the means to live the lifestyle of the average person in your country.

Absolute poverty = Personal survival is difficult.
Relative poverty = Not having the means to live an average lifestyle.

As a wealthy developed country, the United States has the resources to provide the basic necessities to those in need through a series of federal and state social welfare programs. The best-known of these programs is likely the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture. (This used to be known as the food stamp program.)

The program began in the Great Depression, when unmarketable or surplus food was distributed to the hungry. It was not until 1961 that President John F. Kennedy initiated a food stamp pilot program. His successor Lyndon B. Johnson was instrumental in the passage of the Food Stamp Act in 1964. In 1965, more than 500,000 individuals received food assistance. In March 2008, on the precipice of the Great Recession, participation hovered around 28 million people. During the recession, that number escalated to more than 40 million (USDA).

However, for all practical purposes, the United States distribution of such aid is insufficient, spotty and fraught with fraud. It’s a “dead horse”, and fraught with inefficiencies, corruption and abuse.

Urban Dictionary: dead horse
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dead horse

dead horse Military term for an issue that has been addressed over and over and over again. Comes from the expression ”You’re beating a dead horse.”, meaning that talking about the issue is not going to change anything so drop it.

What to do when you are stuck riding a "dead horse". — What to do when you are stuck riding a “dead horse”.

Social Classes in the United States

Does a person’s appearance indicate class? Can you tell a man’s education level based on his clothing? Do you know a woman’s income by the car she drives?

For sociologists, categorizing class is a fluid science.

While I have identified nine classes in America, I am the outlier. Sociologists generally identify three levels of class in the United States: upper, middle, and lower class. Within each class, there are many subcategories. Wealth is the most significant way of distinguishing classes, because wealth can be transferred to one’s children and perpetuate the class structure.

One economist, J.D. Foster, defines the 20 percent of U.S. citizens’ highest earners as “upper income,” and the lower 20 percent as “lower income.” The remaining 60 percent of the population make up the middle class. But by that distinction, annual household incomes for the middle class range between $25,000 and $100,000 (Mason and Sullivan 2010).

One sociological perspective distinguishes the classes, in part, according to their relative power and control over their lives. The upper class not only have power and control over their own lives but also their social status gives them power and control over others’ lives. The middle class doesn’t generally control other strata of society, but its members do exert control over their own lives. In contrast, the lower class has little control over their work or lives. Below, we will explore the major divisions of U.S. social class and their key subcategories.

The Oligarchy Class

The upper class is considered the top, and only the powerful elite get to see the view from there. In the United States, people with extreme wealth make up 1 percent of the population, and they own one-third of the country’s wealth (Beeghley 2008).

The richest 1% know the secrets to building wealth, and nothing makes that more evident than the statistics about how they stack up to the 99% that most of us belong to. Additionally, once they reach a certain stage of wealth and income, they tend to use it to control the government, and thus create a bubble of isolation around themselves for protection. The laws do not apply to them.

1. It takes an annual income of $421,926 to join the 1% in the U.S.

When we think of the 1%, we often think of people raking in seven figures a year, but it only takes the comparatively modest figure of $421,926 to join the 1% in the U.S., according to data from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). That’s an average of about $35,161 per month or about $1,156 per day.

Being in the 1% of your state may cost more or less than this, though. Connecticut residents will need to earn a whopping $700,800 per year to join this elite group while Mississippi residents can join the 1% with a mere $254,362 in annual income.

2. The richest 1% earn 26.3 times more than the bottom 99%.

The average one-percenter can expect to earn almost $1,317,000 per year, according to the EPI study. By contrast, the average 99-percenter brings home just $50,107 per year. That puts the average 1% income about 26.3 times higher than the average income for the rest of the country.

This ratio also varies by state. New York has the largest income inequality gap with the top 1% taking home 44.4 times what the bottom 99% earn in that state. Alaska has the lowest income inequality gap. Its 1% only earns 12.3 times what its bottom 99% earn.

3. The top 1% holds 42.5% of the national wealth.

The wealthiest 1% of U.S. residents — about 3.29 million people — hold 42.5% of our national wealth, while the remaining 325.7 million people share the remaining 57.5%, according to Inequality.org.

No other country in the world has so much wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. In the Netherlands, which had the next-largest income inequality gap according to the Inequality.org survey, the 1% only holds 28% of the country’s wealth.

And how this manifests…

And, make no mistake, the Oligarchy Class IS the DE FACTO United States today…

As a fan of old movies in general and Sunset Boulevard in  particular, I keep coming back to how the psychological profile of Norma  Desmond’s character seems so reminiscent of the United States right now  – or more precisely the political class that dictates its policies and  the narrative used to maintain the illusion.  After the end of the Cold  War, Washington was the grand dame on the world stage, at the peak of  her powers economically and militarily.  And she wielded her power  without apology for years, becoming entitled to wield it – making  demands and bossing others around whom she perceived to be lesser  lights.   

 She’s declining now but doesn’t accept it –  continuing to bomb other  nations without remorse, assassinating foreign military leaders,  sanctioning 1/3 of the world’s population, dotting every corner of the  globe with military bases, and engaging in brinksmanship – all while  continuing to proclaim her greatness, exceptionalism and  indispensability.   Other players on the world stage seem to see through  the masquerade, but still feel the need to tiptoe around her.  

 Having a population whose life expectancy is decreasing, an  infrastructure that rates a D+ from civil engineers, doesn’t manufacture  much of its essential needs, and who can’t even competently handle a  public health crisis doesn’t upset the story that America continues to  tell herself.  Rather than accept her declining stature and use whatever  influence she still has to engineer a soft landing domestically and  work with the rest of the world toward a multi-polar order that values  peaceful co-existence, America seems to have chosen the Norma Desmond  path:  very entitled, very narcissistic, and dangerously deluded.  

-Is the US the Norma Desmond of the world stage?

Upper Class

Money provides not just access to material goods, but also access to a lot of power.

Range is $200,000 to $420,000 / year.

These people are the direct subordinates reporting to the owners; the oligarchy.

As corporate leaders, members of the upper class make decisions that affect the job status of millions of people.
As media owners, they influence the collective identity of the nation. They run the major network television stations, radio broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, and sports franchises.
As board members of the most influential colleges and universities, they influence cultural attitudes and values.
As philanthropists, they establish foundations to support social causes they believe in.
As campaign contributors, they sway politicians and fund campaigns, sometimes to protect their own economic interests.

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I used to hate cartoons like this. But I learned that this narrative is true. It is extraordinarily difficult to raise above and out of your social-economic class. While there are instances, from recent history of people who have climbed out, they are practically few, and far between. It is not as common as the “news” media wold lead you to believe.

U.S. society has historically distinguished between “old money” (inherited wealth passed from one generation to the next) and “new money” (wealth you have earned and built yourself). While both types may have equal net worth, they have traditionally held different social standings.

People of old money, firmly situated in the upper class for generations, have held high prestige. Their families have socialized them to know the customs, norms, and expectations that come with wealth. Often, the very wealthy don’t work for wages. Some study business or become lawyers in order to manage the family fortune. Others, such as Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, capitalize on being a rich socialite and transform that into celebrity status, flaunting a wealthy lifestyle.

However, new-money members of the upper class are not oriented to the customs and mores of the elite. They haven’t gone to the most exclusive schools. They have not established old-money social ties. People with new money might flaunt their wealth, buying sports cars and mansions, but they might still exhibit behaviors attributed to the middle and lower classes.

Ruling class is never seen as legitimate.

The Per Diem Class

This is a relatively transient class, that came into being in the 1980’s. They flourished during the 2000’s and are now sliding into obscurity. The members mostly being replaced by gig class, and middle class technical workers on a rotating basis.

Per diem the noun, is an amount of money someone allots to you for daily expenditure, such as for business. Similarly, the adjective "per diem" means "daily" and is usually related to costs or expenses that happen on a daily basis. Lastly, "per diem" is also an adverb meaning literally "by the day." If you only work on days you are needed, you work "per diem."

This is a class of professionals that have both the skills, education and experience to perform highly specialized tasks for limited periods of time. They are often considered “rent a engineers” by industry.

Per Diem Class — It is often difficult to find the properly qualified expert in certain fields. This is most especially true in the United States.

As such, they are very specialized and thus often sit between job opportunities without bringing in any income. Then, when an opportunity arises, they can command enormous rates for short-term work. These people are employed in advanced defense technologies, on oil rigs and in difficult situations.

They “float” between having the income of Upper Class, and having no income at all.

Middle Class

Many people consider themselves middle class, but there are differing ideas about what that means.

People with annual incomes of $150,000 call themselves middle class, as do people who annually earn $30,000. That helps explain why, in the United States, the middle class is broken into upper and lower subcategories.

Upper middle class – $100, 000 to $200,000
Middle, middle class – $50,000 to $100,000
Lower Middle class – $25,000 to $50,000

Upper-middle-class people tend to hold bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees. They’ve studied subjects such as business, management, law, or medicine. Lower-middle-class members hold bachelor’s degrees from four-year colleges or associate’s degrees from two-year community or technical colleges.

Comfort is a key concept to the middle class.

Middle-class people work hard and live fairly comfortable lives. Uppermiddle- class people tend to pursue careers that earn comfortable incomes. They provide their families with large homes and nice cars. They may go skiing or boating on vacation. Their children receive high-quality education and healthcare (Gilbert 2010).

In fact, what you do with your one to two week vacation time pretty much is an indicator as to where you reside on the Middle Class scale.

Packaged vacations every year = Upper middle class.
One packaged vacation a decade = middle, middle class.
Vacation is a road trip to see relatives = Low middle class.

In the lower middle class, people hold jobs supervised by members of the upper middle class.

They fill technical, lower level management or administrative support positions. Compared to lower-class work, lower-middle-class jobs carry more prestige and come with slightly higher paychecks. With these incomes, people can afford a decent, mainstream lifestyle, but they struggle to maintain it. They generally don’t have enough income to build significant savings. In addition, their grip on class status is more precarious than in the upper tiers of the class system.

Conventional explorations of why the middle class is shrinking focus on economic issues such as the decline of unions and manufacturing, the increasing premiums paid to the highest-paid workers and the rising costs of higher education and healthcare.

All of these factors have a role, but few comment on the non-economic factors, specifically the values that underpin the accumulation of capital that is the one essential project of middle class households.

Daniel Bell’s landmark 1976 book The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism held that

"capitalism--and the culture it creates--harbors the seeds of its own downfall by creating a need among successful people for personal gratification--a need that corrodes the work ethic that led to their success in the first place."

I would phrase this in the language of values and capital: The primary cultural contradiction of the Great American Middle Class is the disconnect between the values needed to build capital and those of gratification via debt-based consumption.

Arrayed against these capital-accumulation-disciplined values are the consumerist values of instant gratification, short-term horizons, lack of long-term goals, self-indulgence, impulse buying, keeping up with the Joneses (i.e. competitive consumption), and an obsessive focus on the social/consumption pecking order of one’s peers, all of which incentivize debt-based consumption that spends future earnings today on non-essentials.

Which is true, if you sacrifice. Live in a van. Eat dumpster food while scrimping and saving every penny, and enjoying free soup kitchens, and making free iced tea from courtesy lemon packets in the fast food franchises.

I was astonished to read in $100,000 and up is not enough – even the ‘rich’ live paycheck to paycheck that busy couples spend $2,000 to $2,600 per month eating out. That’s roughly $30,000 a year, the equivalent of a brand-new vehicle plus a used car or one year of college–or a down payment on a rental home in a non-bubble locale.

The article contends that

"Many 'rich' people have problems accepting that they aren't really that wealthy and the money will not last forever."

This is an excellent summary of the consumerist mentality: income, wealth and financial security are all grossly over-estimated…

… while debt is under-estimated.

Conventional Americans may wonder how recent legal immigrants with modest-paying jobs buy homes and pay off the mortgage in a few years and then send their kids to university with zero student loans. In a conventional consumerist household earning two times as much annual gross income, this is viewed as “impossible.”

Perhaps if most American too, lived in multi-generational homes with thirty family members sharing the rent/mortgage and contributing to the collective they might do better.

But America is the land of the "Lone Wolf". You are kicked out on the street at 18 years old, and must fend for yourself. Unless you have strong supportive family...

Like the Oligarchy Class.
Like the Upper Class.
Like the Undocumented Class.

You will always be at a disadvantage. Especially in a nation that has comprised laws designed to keep you firmly planted in the role that it establishes for you.

The Gig Class

The term “gig economy” refers to a free market system in which traditional businesses hire independent contractors, freelancers, and short-term workers to perform individual tasks, assignments, or jobs. The term comes from the world of the performing arts in which musicians, comedians, etc. are paid for their individual appearances, called “gigs.”

In the gig economy, businesses hire independent contractors to perform individual jobs, called “gigs.”
Hired and assigned via internet and smartphone applications, gig employees work remotely.
While contract gig workers enjoy great scheduling flexibility and extra income, they suffer from relatively low pay, lack of benefits, and increased stress.
In 2018, about 57 million Americans—nearly 36% of the total U.S. workforce—were full or part-time gig workers.

While such temporary arrangements offer tremendous advantages, like freedom and flexibility, workers in the rapidly-evolving gig economy are finding they face an increased risk of financial hardship.

How?

Without any support structures such as medical, retirement, pension, and similar systems, they are off alone and are totally responsible for their own income and benefits.

Much like traditional jobs, gig economy jobs are great—until they’re not.

In the “gig economy” or “freelance economy,” gig workers earn all or part of their incomes from short-term contracts under which they are paid for individual tasks, assignments, or jobs.

Typified by globally-recognized companies like Uber, and Lyft—which hire people to use their personal vehicles to provide taxi-like, on-demand ride services—gig economy companies use internet and smartphone-based applications to both hire and assign workers.

Each individual gig or assignment usually accounts for only a part of gig worker’s total income.

By combining several tasks for different companies, gig workers can realize cumulative earnings equal to those of conventional full-time jobs.

For example, some gig workers drive their cars for both Uber and Lyft, along with renting out rooms in their homes through Airbnb. Other people simply use gig jobs to supplement their regular income.

Another aspect of the gig economy involves so-called “digital earning platforms,” like eBay and Etsy, which allow people to earn money by selling their used items or personal creations, and online handyman services, like TaskRabbit.

In many ways, the gig economy reflects and facilitates the desire of millennial generation workers for greater flexibility in balancing their work-life demands, often changing jobs several times during their lifetimes. No matter what motives drive gig workers, the popularity of the internet, with its capability for remote work, has caused the gig economy to thrive.

But you all must be made aware... the idea that you can enter the Upper Class, or the Oligarchy Class from the Gig Class is a lie. It is not possible.

...You will NEVER become wealthy blogging.

...You cannot become a millionaire by posting sexy pictures in Instagram with 100 million followers.

...You are not going to enter the Upper class with an IoT invention.

All those ideas are fantastical lies promoted by the oligarchy class to keep the lower classes complaisant and content with their lot in life.

Lower Class

The lower class is also referred to as the working class. Just like the middle and upper classes, the lower class can be divided into subsets: the working class, the working poor, and the underclass.

Working Class
Working Poor
The Underclass

Compared to the lower middle class, lower class people have less of an educational background and earn smaller incomes. They work jobs that require little prior skill or experience and often do routine tasks under close supervision.

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Walter Williams advice is great, but terribly dated. It applies to China, Australia, Italy, Poland, Russia, but not to the United States. The best that this pre-1960’s advice can get you in the USA today is better placement within your social-economic class, nothing more.

Working-class people, the highest subcategory of the lower class, often land decent jobs in fields like custodial or food service. The work is hands-on and often physically demanding, such as landscaping, cooking, cleaning, or building. Beneath the working class is the working poor. Like the working class, they have unskilled, low-paying employment.

However, their jobs rarely offer benefits such as healthcare or retirement planning, and their positions are often seasonal or temporary. They work as sharecroppers, migrant farm workers, house-cleaners, and day laborers. Some are high school dropouts. Some are illiterate, unable to read job ads.

How can people work full-time and still be poor?

Even working full-time, millions of the working poor earn incomes too meager to support a family. Minimum wage varies from state to state, but in many states it is approaching $8.00 per hour (Department of Labor 2014). At that rate, working 40 hours a week earns $320. That comes to $16,640 a year, before tax and deductions. Even for a single person, the pay is low. A married couple with children will have a hard time covering expenses.

Members of the underclass live mainly in inner cities. Many are unemployed or underemployed. Those who do hold jobs typically perform menial tasks for little pay. Some of the underclass are homeless. For many, welfare systems provide a much-needed support through food assistance, medical care, housing, and the like.

Many socialists confuse the Slave, destitute and undocumented classes due to the type of income producing work they can obtain.

Each class has it's own set of criteria that extends beyond income alone.

The Slave Class

This class is mandated by law.

The 13th amendment allowed slavery in the United States whenever someone is convicted of a felony. Thus, in the USA today, all Felons are members of the Slave Class.

As such, it is very difficult, if not impossible to get any employment outside the Low Class range, and this class distinction also places other Rights at risk. For instance owning a firearm, voting, or even boarding an airplane (with the no-fly list) can be impossible.

Professionals such as Doctors, and Engineers discover that they are forever barred from ever practicing their occupation. Whether it is through membership in a professional organization, or through the Human Resources department of a company, this class is persona non grata.

If you are arrested in America, you face entering the Slave Class.

The only way out of this class is to have your felony expunged in a court of law. With a very small chance of this ever actually happening.

The Untouchable Class

This class is also mandated by law.

While the Slave Class has great hurtles, it is the untouchable class that lives within a real virtual prison. Every restriction possible by the local, state and federal governments apply. Where you live, where and how you travel, what you do, what you eat, and who you associate with are all regulated. Movement is redistricted if not curtailed, and all freedoms are absent.

Unable to work by law, and having housing restrictions, most end up trying to live in free-shelters or government housing. However new laws have made this impossible as any shelter that obtains federal funding is not permitted to accept members of this class.

The result is a destitute life.

It is extremely difficult to crawl out of the untouchable class.

There is no exit from this class. In the United States, once you are on the “Sex Offender” list, you are on it for life.

The Undocumented Class

Yale, MIT study: 22 million, not 11 million, undocumented aliens live in the USA. This is a huge number. Seeing that the population of New York city is 6 million people.

The large number of illegal aliens can be attributed to a number of factors, including:

Unsecured borders.
An explosion in sanctuary jurisdictions throughout the United States, where local law enforcement authorities refuse to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The availability of jobs. Illegal aliens know they will find work because America has yet to put in place mandatory E-Verify for all employers.
The increasing number of social welfare programs, and other benefits, given to illegal aliens by states and local governments – including in-state college tuition and driver’s licenses.
Easily exploited asylum laws, flawed detention policies and a growing immigration court backlog that, for years, have allowed illegal aliens to obtain release from ICE custody and disappear into the interior of the United States.
The on-going promise of amnesty by members of Congress and powerful special interests.

These individuals are recognized by the government legally, why they are not recognized socially is a mystery to me. I guess that it is just laziness on the part of sociologists.

This class has become somewhat of a political “football” used for distraction purposes. This class isn’t really “stealing jobs” from Americans, though it is deleting and siphoning away from the health and human benefits organizations that the Low Class uses to live off of.

It is unrealistic to believe that this class will eventually disappear though legislation. It is in America permanently.

Social Mobility

Social mobility refers to the ability to change positions within a social stratification system. When people improve or diminish their economic status in a way that affects social class, they experience social mobility.

Social mobility. Like this, perhaps…

Individuals can experience upward or downward social mobility for a variety of reasons. Upward mobility refers to an increase—or upward shift—in social class. In the United States, people applaud the rags-to-riches achievements of celebrities like Jennifer Lopez or Michael Jordan.

Bestselling author Stephen King worked as a janitor prior to being published. Oprah Winfrey grew up in poverty in rural Mississippi before becoming a powerful media personality. There are many stories of people rising from modest beginnings to fame and fortune.

But the truth is that relative to the overall population, the number of people who rise from poverty to wealth is very small.

Still, upward mobility is not only about becoming rich and famous. In the United States, people who earn a college degree, get a job promotion, or marry someone with a good income may move up socially. In contrast, downward mobility indicates a lowering of one’s social class. Some people move downward because of business setbacks, unemployment, marriage, or illness.

Dropping out of school, losing a job, or getting a divorce may result in a loss of income or status and, therefore, downward social mobility.

It is not uncommon for different generations of a family to belong to varying social classes. This is known as intergenerational mobility. For example, an upper-class executive may have parents who belonged to the middle class. In turn, those parents may have been raised in the lower class. Patterns of intergenerational mobility can reflect long-term societal changes.

Similarly, intragenerational mobility refers to changes in a person’s social mobility over the course of his or her lifetime. For example, the wealth and prestige experienced by one person may be quite different from that of his or her siblings. Structural mobility happens when societal changes enable a whole group of people to move up or down the social class ladder.

Structural mobility is attributable to changes in society as a whole, not individual changes. In the first half of the twentieth century, industrialization expanded the U.S. economy, raising the standard of living and leading to upward structural mobility. In today’s work economy, the recent recession and the outsourcing of jobs overseas have contributed to high unemployment rates. Many people have experienced economic setbacks, creating a wave of downward structural mobility.

When analyzing the trends and movements in social mobility, sociologists consider all modes of mobility. Scholars recognize that mobility is not as common or easy to achieve as many people think. In fact, some consider social mobility a myth.

Class Traits

Class traits, also called class markers, are the typical behaviors, customs, and norms that define each class. Class traits indicate the level of exposure a person has to a wide range of cultures. Class traits also indicate the amount of resources a person has to spend on items like hobbies, vacations, and leisure activities.

People may associate the upper class with enjoyment of costly, refined, or highly cultivated tastes—expensive clothing, luxury cars, high-end fund-raisers, and opulent vacations.

People may also believe that the middle and lower classes are more likely to enjoy camping, fishing, or hunting, shopping at large retailers, and participating in community activities.

While these descriptions may identify class traits, they may also simply be stereotypes.

Moreover, just as class distinctions have blurred in recent decades, so too have class traits. A very wealthy person may enjoy bowling as much as opera. A factory worker could be a skilled French cook. A billionaire might dress in ripped jeans, and a low-income student might own designer shoes.

Models of Global Stratification

Various models of global stratification all have one thing in common: they rank countries according to their relative economic status, or gross national product (GNP).

Traditional Model

Traditional models, now considered outdated, used labels to describe the stratification of the different areas of the world. 

Simply put, they were named “first world, “second world,” and “third world.” First and second world described industrialized nations, while third world referred to “undeveloped” countries (Henslin 2004). 

When researching existing historical sources, you may still encounter these terms, and even today people still refer to some nations as the “third world.”

More vs Less Developed

Another model separates countries into two groups: more developed and less developed. 

More-developed nations have higher wealth, such as Canada, Japan, and Australia. 

Less-developed nations have less wealth to distribute among higher populations, including many countries in central Africa, South America, and some island nations.

GDP

Yet another system of global classification defines countries based on the per capita gross domestic product (GDP), a country’s average national wealth per person. 

The GDP is calculated (usually annually) one of two ways: by totaling either the income of all citizens or the value of all goods and services produced in the country during the year. It also includes government spending. Because the GDP indicates a country’s productivity and performance, comparing GDP rates helps establish a country’s economic health in relation to other countries.

This method can be terribly skewed upwards by a wealthy oligarchy class, thus providing inaccurate comparative data.

But the thing is, the GDP is only a reflection of the general health of a nation as long as the wealth is shared in a linear manner through out the classes. When the oligarchy became super-wealthy and gobbled up all the wealth, they skewed the GDP into unrealistic and deceptive numbers.

GDP skewed in favor of the oligarchy class. — GDP migration skewed by the enormous wealth of the oligarchy class.

The solution to this problem, is to come up with a different way to determine the actual wealth of a nation. Thus we have the PPP.

Purchasing power parity (PPP)

GDP PPP refers to the GDP converted to US dollars using purchasing power parity rates and divided by total population. Purchasing power parity (PPP) is used to adjust the exchange rate differences among countries. This economic theory states that the exchange rate between two currencies is equal to the ratio of the currencies’ respective purchasing power. PPP provides an opportunity to compare countries that have different standards of living by recalculating the value of a country’s goods and services as if they were being sold at U.S. prices.

E.g. China and UK has a GDP of $200m and $175m respectively, where the GDP of China is more by $25m. Assuming a basket of goods cost $200 in China and $175 in the UK, 1 million baskets of goods can be purchased in China whereas 1.75 million baskets of goods can be purchased in the UK.

According to the above, a higher GDP does not necessarily make a country richer, the relative purchasing power is important. In order to make price comparisons across countries, a wide range of goods and services must be considered. This is a very exhausting exercise; however, this has been made convenient by the International Comparisons Program (ICP) founded by the United Nations and University of Pennsylvania. ICP generates purchasing power parity rates based on a worldwide price survey that compares the prices of hundreds of various goods. This information can be used to compare countries to arrive at GDP PPP.

What’s Next

Well, if America [1] doesn’t change internally, and there are [2] no (additional) external wars, we can expect a tenth social class to be added. That of Chinese-Americans…

America's future. — Coming soon to America, if SHTF doesn’t happen. The new tenth class of stratification; Chinese-Americans.

We can expect them to fit somewhere between the Slave Class and the Untouchables Class.

So what does this mean?

When you have a stratified class system, and…

When you have a small group of super wealthy people in control of most of the money, all of the government, and all of the services, media and policing actions you have a dictatorship by oligarchy.

When this organization is focused on external threats to the extent that wars are more desirable than repair of serious domestic emergencies, then you have an out-of-control military empire.

And with that, history has been very clear. They ALWAYS are destroyed catastrophically.

Summary

What Is Social Stratification?

Stratification systems are either closed, meaning they allow little change in social position, or open, meaning they allow movement and interaction between the layers.

A caste system is one in which social standing is based on ascribed status or birth.
Class systems are open, with achievement playing a role in social position. People fall into classes based on factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation.
A meritocracy is a system of social stratification that confers standing based on personal worth, rewarding effort.

Social Stratification and Mobility in the United States

There are nine main classes in the United States. Social mobility describes a shift from one social class to another. Class traits, also called class markers, are the typical behaviors, customs, and norms that define each class.

Conclusion

All this shit about stratification in the USA gives me a headache. You all don’t have to believe that it is stratified. You can believe that narrative that is being piped to you 24/7 by the “news” media… that anyone can become rich and wealthy and successful.

Just look at all those instagram models… for instance.

The truth is that the class that you inherited is pretty much the upper limit of where you will end up and retire into. All those articles about Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and the Jeff Bezos are just fantasies. They only apply to the 0.00001% of the population, and if you believe that you are part of that elite group then go for it.

Just realize that the “deck of cards” is all stacked up against you. Not just socially, and culturally, but also mandated by law. You are fucked.

If I sound like a grouchy old geezer, who is a little long in the tooth and disgruntled, then maybe I am. But I have good reason to be. So listen to me…

…the ONLY way that you can exit your birth class, as an American, is to leave America. Other than that, you are locked in place, and upward mobility is pretty much closed to you. As we used to say in Pennsylvania, “it’s a closed country club, and you ain’t in it.”

Overall, 2020 has been a God-damn shitty year!

It’s so very true. No one has yet to disagree. And with that being said, this all pretty much says it all…

Yah, but let’s end this post on a high note…

The Saturday Night Joke

Very heartwarming....read to the end. It's worth the read.

Every morning, the CEO of a large bank in Manhattan walks to the corner where a shoe shine is always located.
He sits on the couch, examines the Wall Street Journal, and the shoe shine gives his shoes a shiny, excellent look.

One morning the shoeshine asks the Executive Director:
"What do you think about the situation in the stock market?"

The Director asks in turn arrogantly:
"Why are you so interested in that - that topic?"

"I have a million dollars in your bank," the shoeshine says, "and I'm considering investing some of the money in the capital market."

"What your name? –"Asks the Director.

"John Smith."

The Director arrives at the bank and asks the Manager of the Customer Department:

"Do we have a client named John Smith?"

"Certainly –"answers the Customer Service Manager–, "he is a highly esteemed customer. He has a million dollars in his account."

The Director comes out, approaches the shoeshine, and says:
"Mr. Smith, I ask you this coming Monday to be the guest of honor at our board meeting and tell us the story of your life. I am sure we will have something to learn from you."

At the board meeting, the Executive Director introduces him to the board members:
"We all know Mr. Smith, who makes our shoes shine in the corner; But Mr. Smith is also our esteemed customer with a million dollars in his account. I invited him to tell us the story of his life. I am sure we can learn from him."

Mr. Smith began his story:
"I came to this country fifty years ago as a young immigrant from Europe with an unpronounceable name. I got off the ship without a penny. The first thing I did was change my name to Smith. I was hungry and exhausted. I started wandering around looking for a job but to no avail. Suddenly I found a coin on the sidewalk. I bought an apple. I had two options: eat the apple and quench my hunger or start a business. I sold the apple for two dollars and bought two apples with the money. I also sold them and continued in business. When I started accumulating dollars, I was able to buy a set of used brushes and shoe polish and started polishing shoes. I didn't spend a penny on entertainment or clothing, I just bought bread and some cheese to survive. I saved penny by penny and after a while, I bought a new set of shoe brushes and ointments in different shades and expanded my clientele. I lived like a monk and saved penny by penny. After a while I was able to buy an armchair so that my clients could sit comfortably while cleaning their shoes, and that brought me more clients. I did not spend a penny on the joys of life. I kept saving every penny. A few years ago, when the previous shoe shine on the corner decided to retire, I had already saved enough money to buy his shoeshine location at this great place. Finally, three months ago, my sister, who was a whore in Chicago, passed away and left me a million dollars."

-From Busted Knuckles
(Bless that ornery old' coot.)

Ah.

That’s all fun and games, but now for the REAL STORY…

A janitor making $4/hour walked into a Fortune 500 company boardroom. Shaking, he took a seat opposite the CEO. "So I had an idea..." he nervously began.

Years later, that idea would become an iconic consumer brand and make him worth ~$20M.
Here's how that meeting went:

1) Richard Montañez grew up in Cucamonga Valley, California, sharing a one-room cinderblock hut with 14 family members. He dreaded school. Barely able to speak English, he’d cry to his mother as she was getting him ready for class.

2) When asked, all other students in class would eagerly shout out their dream job: Astronaut, Doctor, Racecar driver. Richard had nothing to say. “There was no dream where I came from.”

3) He dropped out of school in 4th grade and took odd jobs at farms and factories to help make ends meet.
Some years later in 1976, a neighbor let him know of a job opening for a factory janitor at the Frito-Lay plant down the road. The $4/hour pay was more than he'd ever made.

4) As he was getting ready for his first day of work, his grandfather pulled him aside and said: “Make sure that floor shines. And let them know that a Montañez mopped it.”

5) Richard made it his mission to be the best janitor Frito-Lay had ever seen. He spent his off-time learning about the company's products, manufacturing, marketing and more. He even asked salesmen to tag along and watch them sell.

6) In the mid-1980s Frito-Lay started to struggle. The CEO announced a new initiative to all 300,000 employees. “Act like an owner” Trying to empower them to work more creatively and efficiently. Montañez listened.

7) Then, he called the CEO.

“Mr. Enrico’s office. Who is this?”
“Richard Montañez, in California”
“You’re the VP overseeing CA?”
“No, I work at the Rancho Cucamonga plant.”
“Oh, so you’re the VP of Ops?”
“No, I work inside the plant.”
“You’re the manager?”
“No. I’m the janitor.”

8) The CEO got on the line. Loving the initiative, he told Richard to prepare a presentation, and he set a meeting in 2 weeks time. Stunned, Richard ran to the library and picked up a book on marketing strategies. Then, he started prepping.

9) 2 weeks later, he entered that boardroom. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he started telling them what he'd learned about Frito-Lay and the idea he'd been working on.

10) “I saw there was no product catering to Latinos.”. On the sales trips he shadowed he saw that in Latino neighborhoods Lays, Fritos, Ruffles, and Cheetos, were stocked right next to a shelf of Mexican spices. Frito-Lay had nothing spicy or hot.

11) The Latino market was ready to explode, Monteñez explained. Inspired by elote - a Mexican street corn covered in spices - Richard had created his own snack. He pulled out 100 plastic baggies. He had taken Cheetos from the factory and coated them in his own mix of spices.

12) He’d even sealed the bags with a clothing iron, and had hand drawn a logo on each one.

The room went silent.

After a few moments, the CEO spoke, “Put that mop away, you’re coming with us”.

13) Flamin’ Hot Cheetos became one of the most successful launches in Frito-Lay history. They went on to become a viral, pop-culture sensation.

Richard became a VP and amassed a $20M fortune.

Not bad for a boy from Cucamonga.

-From Busted Knuckles
(Bless that ornery old' coot.)

As he said with open honesty and pluck…

“I can say with confidence that Mr. Monteñez has done more to help the human race than a hundred soy boys with bachelor’s degrees in Botswanian Lesbian Feminist Interpretive Tap-Dancing Studies with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt who’ve graduated with nothing but an unwarranted sense of entitlement and a sour attitude.

I have nothing to add to this story, other than reading it was like a breath of fresh air, and why don’t we hear more stories like this? Then I recall the inclinations of the people who are running our media, and the answer is obvious.”

…

The United States might be segregated and stratified by class, and by law, but you still have two hands and a brain. Whether you have the spunk and pluck to climb to the top of the oligarchy class, or not. Whether you have sunk to the untouchable class or not, your life is in your hands.

Make your life special.

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An American comparison of individual Coronavirus relief benefits from all around the world showing how the USA stacks up.

Spoiler alert; America is the most pathetic of the bunch. But you all need not worry. Businessmen in Washington DC can now deduct their three-martini lunches from federal taxes. Dictators in Africa get billions of dollars, and there are decreased taxes for the super-wealthy. Aren’t you so very proud to be an American?

While the world is reeling from the pandemic, the oligarchy toiling away in Washington DC have been using this pandemic to push for structural changes to the tax code. Many of the changes are stealth changes. Changes that have been been implemented silently over the last four decades or so. All of which is tax the poorer, working level citizenry, while providing benefits and tax relief to the wealthier people.

Greater taxes on the vast bulk of citizenry.
Less taxes on the higher social-economic citizens.

This is pretty well understood, if not at all reported.

And now, in the midst of a serious emergency; a global pandemic that America has completely bungled (politely stated, America has truly FUCKED UP on this issue), the oligarchy have been focused on making taxpayers subsidize lavish lunches for wealthy executives.

And their work has paid off in the latest Covid relief deal. Buried in the details of this modest aid plan is a provision to give executives unlimited tax deductions for their business meals for two years.

No. Not enough money to pay rent. (The last time my rent was under $600 was in the 1980’s.)

No. There isn’t any free treatments or hospital services if you get the coronavirus illness, like the FUCKING REST OF THE WORLD. You have to pay for the medical service out of your own pocket.

But this idea of giving extra benefits is pretty much the “old normal”. A normal that pre-dated the Ronald Reagan Presidency.

That’s how it worked back in the 1970s, when Presidential candidate George McGovern had this to say about it: “There’s something fundamentally wrong with the tax system,” he said, “when it allows a corporate executive to deduct his $20 martini lunch while a workingman cannot deduct the price of his bologna sandwich.”

"There’s something fundamentally wrong with the tax system when it allows a corporate executive to deduct his $20 martini lunch while a workingman cannot deduct the price of his bologna sandwich."

-George Mcgovern

President Ronald Reagan, of all people, actually agreed with McGovern. His 1986 tax-code overhaul, best remembered today for lowering overall rates, reduced the deductibility of business meals from 100 to 80 percent. In 1993, the Clinton administration pushed that deductibility rate down to 50 percent, where it has stayed ever since.

Now corporate lobbyists have managed to restore that 1970s-era perk – claiming, of course, that bigger tax write-offs for business meals would help struggling restaurants and the people they employ. It’s a real stretch. But those in Washington DC live in their own bubble of reality.

This argument that giving deductions to the activities of the upper-class would “trickle down” to the working-level folk has been proven to be a fallacy. Yet, it was used in the opposition to the Clinton-era tax reform. It was flawed then and it’s even more preposterous now.

Hey! Do you want to help the people working in the restaurants? Really? Then how about stop taxing tips.

Duh!

Which solution would best serve waiters and waitresses?

[1] Allowing the patrons to have tax deductions for their business lunches and alcoholic beverages.

[2] Stop taxing the tips that the waiters and waitresses get.

Today, when the real problem is a public health crisis that’s keeping people at home. The justification that lowering taxes on business meals will do anything to help struggling restaurant owners and employees is just bullshit.

This is not a true relief package. Relief would mirror the economic response of other western industrialized nations, where working people either receive regular monthly payments or are guaranteed up to 80% of their pre-Covid income. 

A real relief bill would have canceled mortgage and rental debt. 

Real relief would have included the expansion of Medicare and Medicaid to cover all medical debt resulting from the crisis. 

Congress knows that the bill won’t solve the problems of a household facing upwards of $6,000 in unpaid rent. 

They just hope it’s enough to distract from the utter lack of care and compassion that they have shown to people.

In this time of crisis, any support for corporations should encourage executives to treat their workers well, trim their own fat paychecks, and pay for their own lunches.

It’s never going to happen though. No one ever listens to me.

Why are we not surprised that the peons will get a one time check for $600, but a billionaire CEO will get to write off his $600 “business lunch” each and every day, all year long. You know, I can’t help but figure that this was thrown in for one reason, and one reason only. A giant middle finger to the working class. A quick brutal reminder that they indeed own the political class, and they are in charge.

That the stratification of America into a caste system, along the lines of India, is in process and there is nothing that Americans can do about it.

How do we know?

That’s a pretty damning statement. How do we know that is this the case?

Well, if you compare how citizens are treated around the world by their governments during this global pandemic, you can see this all quite clearly.

In nations that have governments that care for their citizens and take on the role of protectors and actuators, you can see that there are very large outlays given to the citizenry. But in nations that have either a very repressive government, or that possess one that is socially stratified (either officially or unofficially) they pretty much resemble America.

A comparison between different coronavirus stimulus packages.

The U.S. has passed a third stimulus bill Monday night and an  international comparison shows that it has been high time. According to  an analysis by think tank Bruegel, the U.S. is the country currently offering a much lower level of coronavirus  financial aid and stimulus than other developed nations. The bill's  $900 billion in aid will up the level of stimulus from previously 14  percent (of 2019 GDP) to approximately 18 percent. 

While that  will still leave the U.S. at the lower end of the comparison, the  country's share of immediate fiscal impulse is higher than elsewhere.  Since cash checks for citizens are once again included in the new bill,  the high level of immediate spending will likely remain the same after  the new bill is entered into the Bruegel calculation, which has last  been update on Nov 24, 2020.

April's checks for $1,200 to all  Americans in a certain income bracket came to US$600 billion, the  biggest single item in the entire stimulus package, which consisted of  almost $2 trillion in direct stimulus and $560 billion each in deferrals  (of payroll tax and student loans) and in liquidity/guarantee measures.

All the details

Yeah. All the details are available on the internet. Though you would be hard-pressed to find them in any American “news”. If you want to check out the details, you can find a pretty comprehensive listing at the (American based) Tax Foundation.

For the most part, except for the United States and India, most (but not all) nations follow the following guidelines…

Tax relief should be broad-based.
Tax relief should be in keeping with good long-term policy.
Using refundable tax credits designed for future credits.
Repair distortive tax policies that could impede recovery efforts.

Compared to America, most other nations are very generous. Even if they are tiny, or are short in resources.

Consider Australia as an example…

Australia Coronavirus Tax Relief

Australia has announced federal relief proposals that total around $320 billion (AUD). State governments have also announced relief packages and in some cases deferrals of payroll tax payments (Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia).

The federal relief package includes direct payments to citizens. For job seekers impacted by the downturn, there will be payments of $550 every two weeks in addition to current income support payments. The government expects these payments to cost $14.1 billion. There is also a broad-based, $750 one-time payment to eligible recipients—this is expected to cost $4 billion. Individuals will also be able to temporarily access up to $10,000 from certain retirement accounts.

Through a new wage-subsidy scheme, employers will be able to receive a $1,500 payment per retained worker every two weeks. Businesses qualify for the subsidy if their revenues have fallen by 30 percent (50 percent for businesses with revenues greater than $1 billion) in the relevant time period relative to a year earlier. The subsidy will be in place for six months.

The aid packages provide relief to businesses through subsidized loans and central bank lending, and temporary relief from insolvency laws, immediate expensing (instant asset write-off), and accelerated depreciation.

Immediate expensing will now be available for assets costing less than $150,000 on a per-asset class basis. Eligibility is expanded to include businesses with annual revenues of less than $500 million (the current cap is $50 million). This measure applies until the end of June.

Accelerated depreciation will be provided temporarily for businesses with less than $500 million in revenues. In addition to current depreciation deductions, the policy allows an additional 50 percent deduction but only applies to assets purchased after March 12, 2020 and put into service by June 30, 2021.

Businesses subject to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) can apply for deferred payments if they are facing cash-flow challenges. Also, businesses that receive credits or refunds under the GST can switch from quarterly to monthly filings to speed up their refunds. Importers may also apply for the deferred GST scheme.

Two states—South Australia and Western Australia—announced land tax relief for landlords who have provided rent relief to tenants in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Australia makes America look really, really bad.

It really does.

But you know what? It’s not just Australia. It’s just about every nation on the planet. And while there are certain differences between each and every plan, most nations are putting relief efforts for the day-to-day working-citizens of their nations FIRST, with consideration for the wealthy LAST, if at all. Not so in the United States.

For I have been saying that the American “benefit package” is along the lines of what India has. It is a stratified system of benefits where the wealthiest get the most support, and the rest of the citizenry get token relief.

Wealthy get the greatest benefit from the “Coronavirus relief legislation”.
Average people get little relief, or token benefits.

So…

You don’t believe my narrative, eh? That this is a fundamental principle of stratified communities. Well…

Let’s look at India…

India Coronavirus Tax Relief

India has provided a fiscal support package of 150 billion rupees focused on the health system’s response to the outbreak. State-level fiscal support has also been announced. Tax filing has been postponed from March 31 to June 30 for income tax returns and goods and services tax returns. There is also a reduced interest rate for tax payments made by June 30, and late filing penalties are waived. Goods and services tax (GST) deadlines for March, April, and May are extended to the end of June.

India is also working on a relief package for the airline industry including deferring aviation fuel tax. Refunds for Goods and Services Tax and customs duties will be accelerated. Companies’ income tax refunds up to INR 500,000 will be accelerated. Deadline extended for FATCA and CRS returns from May 31 to June 30. The deadline for March’s provident fund contributions has been extended from April 16 to May 15.

But what does this matter?

You know, you all can slice and dice the data any which way that you want. You can make a pile of dog shit smell like roses if you want, and I am sure that there are many people in the MM audience that might think that I am too “salty” on this matter. That “America is number one and the best”, and yada, yada, yada…

My argument is rather simple.

Nothing shows how absolutely stratified the United States has become, than the comparisons in Coronavirus relief measures globally.
The only nations that share in the same type of American-style relief programs are those representative of severe social stratification. Like India.

And if you don’t want to believe it, that’s just fine.

Americans know this

You might not want to believe this, but most Americans (today) realize that the nation is a private club and they ain’t in it. There are two sets of laws, two sets, of rules, two sets of living areas, and two sets of people.

It’s just that most do not want to face the ugly truth.

So they fight back. You know, like sheep baa-ing in their pen, or monkeys howling in their cages. Modern Americans protest using meme’s. Most are far too timid to do anything more aggressive than that.

American protest memes

Here’s some “protest” meme’s regarding the grandiose coronavirus relief plan…

Seems strange – right?

Yes. Non-Americans won’t really understand the meme’s. So let me put this in perspective…

Here is some comparative data from the Zumper National Rent Report: December 2020. And keep in mind the following;

Most American live in 2 to 4 bedroom homes.
Those that do not rent, have a mortgage that has typically much larger monthly payments.

Combined means that the data is damning.

Why?

Because Congress has this information, and already knows this.

Knows what?

This…

Typical monthly rent for Americans all over the United States.

Which pretty much means that, for a nation where…

Most citizens live paycheck to paycheck.
Most citizens have no savings.

Will result in most citizens at a point of eviction from their homes, with little compensation, no savings, no cushion, and ZERO support from the American government.

This is setting up a “perfect storm”.

A perfect storm

It appears that the long-awaited “fork in the road” has arrived. Americans can either accept the role as destitute indentured-serfs or they can revolt against an uncaring, inefficient, and criminal government.

And maybe it is already happening….

A perfect storm is brewing.

You have [1] a “clueless”, psychopathic American leadership, supported by [2] selfish minions that have [3] become blatant in their treatment of the 99% of the rest of America. You have [4] an oligarchy that is trying to create strife and discord for the sole purpose in obtaining personal advantage. [5] You have a completely disillusioned serf-citizenry that is [6] waking up to their reality, while [7] the government controls all the media that is fed to them, and [8] a government desirous of sparking a violent “hot” war in a “distant land” to unify the [9] balkanized Americans for a common goal.

And no one wants to do the “hard stuff”.

“Hard stuff” ?

Yeah. The “hard stuff” as described in this lengthy article (shown below) and pointed out at the end…

Across the political spectrum, there is widespread agreement that America must get serious about the threat posed by China. As the Trump administration comes to a close, the State Department has just released a document called ‘The Elements of the China Challenge’. A distillation of conventional wisdom among national security experts and government officials, it argues that the U.S. needs a concerted effort to push back against Beijing. On its first page, the document tells us that “the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has triggered a new era of great-power competition.” If there was a major intellectual thread running through Trump’s foreign policy, or at least that of the people he appointed, it was that confronting China was the national security issue of our time. America during the Trump era was single-minded in its focus on turning up the pressure on Beijing, including unprecedented support for Taiwan, sending ships more often through the South China Sea, and attempting to stop the spread of the telecom giant Huawei.

The idea of the China threat will not end with the Trump administration. Michèle Flournoy, once thought to be the frontrunner to become Biden’s Secretary of Defense, argued in Foreign Affairs that the U.S. has not been steadfast enough in its military commitments in East Asia. Sometimes, great power competition is presented as an imperative of history; in the formulation of Graham Allison, a former Pentagon official and the current professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, the two powers are involved in a “Thucydides Trap.” Looking at the last 500 years of world history, Allison believes that when the ambitions of a rising power conflict with those of an established power, war becomes likely.

But what are we afraid of China actually doing? Reading foreign policy analysis can often be frustrating to those who believe arguments should proceed in a straight line, with clearly defined terms, and logical connections between ends being sought and the means being recommended. Once can read op-eds and government reports on “great power competition” or the “China challenge” and never understand clearly what the U.S. and China are actually competing for. ‘The Elements of the China Challenge’ from the State Department adopts a strategy of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks, accusing China of everything from being too successful in trade, to trying to dominate the world, and being racist against African migrants.

This kind of ambiguity about what a conflict is actually about has not existed throughout most of history. The two world wars nominally centered around rivalries between Germany and its neighbors over specific territories one could locate on a map, such as Alsace-Lorraine. The Cold War was a struggle between the capitalist and communist systems. But why, exactly, are the U.S. and China rivals? Beneath the comparisons to any number of classical or modern conflicts, the reality is very different. China is not a threat in the way traditionally understood. There is nothing vital to American security or prosperity that China threatens. While the U.S. will be less powerful in the coming decades in relative global terms, that is inevitable with the rise of the developing world more generally, a trend Washington has encouraged.

China’s true menace is neither military nor geopolitical, but rather ideological. Its continuing success, even if it in no way harms the prosperity or security of most Americans, poses a major threat to the American political establishment, how it justifies its own power, and its understanding of the U.S. role in the world.

What is the China Threat?

In the last three decades, China has experienced a rate of economic growth unprecedented in modern history. Between 1990 and 2019, GDP per capita increased 32 times. In terms of total GDP, China may become wealthier than the U.S. in the next two decades—and by some measures, already is. For the sake of comparison, in 1980 the Soviet Union had a GDP that was about 40% that of the U.S., with the trendlines actually favoring the West. Recently, when the economist Branko Milanovic suggested that the Nobel Prize in his field should go to scholars who study the most important questions out there, he pointed to Chinese growth as an example, calling it “40 years of the most extraordinary increase in income for the largest number of people ever.”

This would be frightening if the U.S. and China coveted territory from one another. Azerbaijan’s recent military victory over Armenia in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh can be attributed to the former growing economically, and therefore militarily, stronger than the latter over the last two decades. Yet the two modern superpowers are on opposite sides of the world and have no similar dispute between them. It is true that the U.S. seeks to preserve the territorial integrity of allies and partners, such as Taiwan and Japan, that may be threatened by Beijing. The incoming Biden administration will likely have a policy of willingness to defend the Senkaku Islands, an uninhabited five rocks and three reefs that the U.S. considers part of Japan. But why America should risk nuclear war over this issue is rarely explained. To the extent such objections are addressed, they are buried under appeals to morality that forgo any kind of cost-benefit analysis, and buzzwords such as preserving an undefined sense of American credibility or the broad goal of reinforcing deterrence.

Another idea, popular among pundits and the general public, is that Chinese growth is necessarily bad for the U.S. But in reality, Chinese growth has so far directly benefited U.S. consumers: it is undisputed among economists that trade with China made America better off by lowering the price of goods. Despite the temptation to political amnesia, the fact is that U.S. policy privileged these economic gains for many years, and its relationship with China was explicitly informed by these political decisions.

While this has undermined U.S. economic capacity in important ways, the cause wasn’t cheating, trickery, or even growth on the part of China. Instead, the cause was the success of American policy priorities. If there is a problem, it is most immediately that those priorities were misguided. The U.S. has the right to conduct trade on its own terms. It can choose what kind of strategy it wants in trade negotiations, and is free to deal with the downsides of neglecting domestic industry and increased competition for jobs through whatever means it considers appropriate. To see China as a civilizational enemy over such issues, however, is bizarre.

The same is true regarding IP theft. While the practice has been estimated to cost the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars a year, it is nonetheless normal for developing economies, with South Korea and Taiwan having had similarly bad records as their economies began to grow. No other state was considered a fundamental threat to the U.S. over the issue, with a mix of external pressure and internal incentives leading them to ultimately develop more rigorous patent laws and enforcement. Many corporations, the parties most directly affected, treat the problem as the price of doing business.

Perhaps, then, the threat is that China seeks to remake the world in its own image? This is a popular trope among the national security establishment. H.R. McMaster, perhaps the quintessential representative of this class, says China is “leading the development of new rules and a new international order that would make the world less free and less safe.” When one scratches the surface of these arguments, it is clear that most of the indictment against China involves things that every country does, but only looks frightening if you completely ignore American behavior. Chinese loans to poor countries are said to trap them in debt, but the evidence doesn’t bear this out. The same criticisms don’t often extend to the sorts of loan programs offered by the International Monetary Fund, even though these have often been as controversial as, and much more comprehensive than, any Chinese financial aid.

But despite the growth of this position among the American establishment, still others accuse it of strategically respecting the sovereignty of other states. In March, Daniel Tobin of the Center for Strategic and International Studies testified to Congress that China continues to promote the normative principles of “mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual nonaggression, mutual noninterference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and cooperation for mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.” Ted Piccione of the Brookings Institution writes of China under Xi putting forth “orthodox interpretations of national sovereignty and noninterference in internal affairs…”

While China is not blameless, one could reasonably make the argument that, from an international perspective, it has had easily the most peaceful rise to great power status of any nation of the last several hundred years. While China has carried out the re-annexation of Tibet, blockaded Taiwan diplomatically, and launched internal colonization of territories like Xinjiang, such actions always occur under the ideologically important claim that they are internal to China. The U.S., conversely, undertook external colonial ventures during its rise and still regularly sanctions unquestionably sovereign nations. China’s territorial claims are naturally controversial internationally, but are modest compared to those sought by other powers—not least the U.S. itself, which early in its history declared the entire Western Hemisphere as off limits to the nations of Europe. Its interventionist policies since then have led to the overthrow of governments, the killing of leaders, and the economic sanctioning of entire nations.

Perhaps, as the McMasters of the world claim, this is all because Beijing is biding its time in hopes of world domination. Alternatively, China may be an inwardly focused civilization that, while it may have disputes with its neighbors, is not on a mission to fundamentally remake the world. While it would naturally prefer rules that favor it and resists any principles that would legitimize regime change supported from abroad, Beijing does not seek to fundamentally replace the U.N. or rewrite international law. Its strategy has mostly sought stability and growth within the rules of the system developed by Western democracies in the aftermath of the Second World War. While its current position of strength is recent, it has not yet broken from this precedent.

This interpretation is most consistent with past behavior and, given the costs of American militarism abroad, with common sense about how a rational actor should be expected to act. It is also consistent with the arguments of the most honest kind of “China hawk,” who argues that the real problem with Beijing is not that it wants to dominate the world, but that it might stop the U.S. from doing so in a unipolar manner.

The Threat to the National Security Elite

Given the incoherence of these arguments, one must look below the surface to see what motivates political hysteria towards China. To understand the motivations of analysts, think tank fellows, and generals, one must comprehend how they see themselves and the American role in the world. For decades, the ideology of the American government in its dealings abroad has been based on the necessity of creating a liberal democratic world—a necessity which, as the Soviet model proved an ineffective threat and the Cold War ultimately ended, became seen as ever more natural. The assumptions supporting this view have, in various ways, driven American leaders since the post-WWII era.

The collapse of the Berlin Wall increased this confidence. While the possibility of nuclear war had to be managed, and it was assumed that communists might hold on to their captive populations indefinitely, the spread had been contained. During the entire Cold War, the trend was towards more democratic governance and the opening of markets.

The 1990s saw the U.S. engage in what can be described as mop-up operations against the few holdouts against the trend towards democratic capitalism like Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic. Academics even before Francis Fukuyama saw democratization as a natural consequence of people demanding more of a voice in their governments, as incomes rose, and as they became more educated. Countries like Chile, South Korea, and Taiwan seemed to validate this view.

None of this meant that the U.S. was to stand back and let history unfold. An expansive military presence abroad was necessary for all these projects, and even after the Cold War to address WMD proliferation and protect civilians abroad from human rights violations, and to stop Islamic terrorism after 9/11. The assumption was that, while the move towards democratic capitalism was natural and maybe even inevitable, it could be delayed by communists, terrorists, or Baathists if the U.S. did not lead.

The result was a paradox. The greater the inevitability of this grand historical arc, the more urgently it had to be backed up by force, and the more unreasonable and deviant all resistance seemed. Even the language of a “clash of civilizations” as the War on Terror commenced did not radically depart from the larger story. This justified a large military establishment with costs that dwarfed those of every other potential rival combined. American global leadership was pushing on an open door.

China Versus Western Political Science

China is something completely new. The Soviet Union had military power and appealed to Western intellectuals, but was clearly an economic basket case that could not deliver on its promise of rising standards of living. Islamic terrorists could kill Westerners and destabilize countries, but had little overall effect on American security, and did not threaten either U.S. hegemony or its justifications. Modern day Russia can seek to have an influence on our culture and politics, but nobody looks to it as a model, and it nominally accepts the legitimacy of competitive elections.

China, however, rejects liberal democracy—the idea that leaders should be chosen on a one-person, one-vote basis—even as an ideal or ultimate destination. As Daniel Bell explains in The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy, Chinese leaders have implemented a system in which government officials are selected and promoted based on examinations, performance reviews, and the meeting of objective criteria at lower levels. Its political qualification is not electoral support, but party membership and loyalty. This system is not justified on the grounds simply that the Chinese people or their institutions are “not ready for democracy,” a line sometimes taken even by Middle Eastern dictators like Bashar al-Assad. Critiques of democracy certainly are not foreign to the West; Plato is possibly the most famous anti-democratic thinker in history, and today modern skeptics use the language of economics when they talk about concepts like the influence of interest groups and the “rational irrationality” of voters. Yet opposition to the principle of democracy as such is unthinkable for an American leader, and even for most prominent intellectuals.

What went wrong with political science models that generalized from a moderately large number of cases in which economic growth led to democratization? To see how they erred, one could imagine a social scientist at the end of the first millennium arguing that the whole globe would become Christian because princes across Europe had all adopted that religion. If statistical models existed then, one could have done a regression and “proved” this hypothesis. The most common statistical models used today rely on the assumed independence of observations. The logic of regression analysis and hypothesis testing as applied to political development says that if we see the same patterns across time and space, then we may be able to infer a causal chain of events.

But the spread of economic and social systems operates in the realm of path dependence and network dynamics. Under this view, the move towards democratization after the Second World War depended on the power and missionary zeal of the U.S. more than the laws of history. If American power declines, its focus on world affairs wanes, or democracy loses its luster due its perceived shortcomings, the connection between economic growth and democratization can break down.

China is not simply passing the U.S. in overall GDP. Other measures one might use to measure the health of society also indicate that leaders in Beijing have been doing a better job than those in Washington in recent years. Are dictatorships more conflict prone at home? China’s murder rate is a fraction of that of the U.S., and the country has practically none of the rioting and political violence Americans have gotten used to. Are dictatorships more likely to menace countries abroad? China has not been to war since 1979, while the U.S. has been at war almost every year since that date. Are dictatorships less innovative? In 2020, China passed the U.S. in publications in the natural sciences, and its children score higher than American students on IQ tests and international standardized exams. While in 2008, the U.S. recorded over 16 times as many international patents as China, already by 2018 the gap had shrunk to 2.4 times as many, with trend lines indicating that China could surpass the U.S. before long.

With the American post-war liberal consensus having staked much of its legitimacy on providing better results, China’s development is an ideological threat regardless of how benevolent its rulers might theoretically be. American elites can tolerate a more successful system on a smaller scale. Lee Kuan Yew, the founder and long-time leader of Singapore, was explicitly anti-democratic, and horrified American elites with stances like his belief in eugenics. Yet his nation’s population has never even approached that of the largest American cities, and Lee was happy to geopolitically align his country with the U.S.

China’s ideology, and the success it is achieving, is ultimately threatening because of its size. Of course, as a country moves from Third World status to the most powerful nation in the world, it should be expected to become more geopolitically confident. Recently, China has begun asserting its will in a century-old border dispute with Bhutan, a country of 800,000 people, after 24 rounds of previous talks. Such results in this dispute and others like it are inevitable.

So, what question should American leaders be asking? It is not whether China will become more powerful, which it certainly will, or whether it will democratize, which is out of American hands and not relevant to its security anyway. Rather, it’s whether China has ambitions beyond what the U.S. can live with. All else equal, a few rocks in the South China Sea are not worth the possibility of war, or even worth forgoing the benefits of trade and potential collaboration on issues of global importance like climate change and containing pandemics.

In that case, what about Chinese financing? What about IP theft? What about Taiwan? Rather than invoking concerns about ethereal leadership or precedent, it would behoove American leaders well to explicitly set out their red lines, and tie their arguments for action to why crossing them threatens America’s fundamental interests. This also requires honesty about why certain actions are provoking concern. If the real worry is ideological, it should not be cloaked in rumors about predatory debt.

The answer to the China question would therefore be easier if American leaders were simply looking after the economic or security interests of the nation, or even the concrete concerns of a formalized alliance. Unfortunately, they also have financial, bureaucratic, and ideological reasons for being opposed to China’s rise. If universal democratization is not the ultimate endpoint of history—or even an imperative for development, peace, and prosperity—how can the American role in the world be justified? What will it say about the American system if the U.S. is no longer the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world, having been surpassed by a country that became the dominant power in East Asia without even paying lip service to democratic ideals?

Ultimately, Americans themselves might begin asking themselves difficult questions about how well they have been served by their own system, including the sacrifices in blood and treasure they are regularly asked to make abroad.

How Will the U.S. Manage Its Decline?

The rise of China is based on long-term economic trends. Washington can no more stop or contain it than European powers in the mid-twentieth century could hope to hold on to their colonies in the midst of population growth in Asia and Africa, the rise of mass media, and their national declines relative to the U.S. and the Soviet Union. American leaders debate questions such as whether to reduce trade with China, call Beijing out on human rights violations, ban apps like TikTok, or undertake more naval missions through the South China Sea. Even if the hawks get their way on each of these issues—like they did under Trump and are unlikely to under Biden—none of these policies are going to significantly impede the rise of China.

At present, Beijing has demonstrated no desire for territory far from its borders; nor does it seem to want veto power over what governments do in distant lands, as the U.S. has exercised over large swaths of the world. Chinese leaders have always reasonably acted as if such entanglements are not worth the cost. While we cannot predict what future opportunists may attempt, it would be a mistake to craft our approach to the Chinese relationship as if this was not the case.

Understanding this, perhaps the most important question becomes the extent to which the U.S. is to play a game of chicken in the South China Sea. This is the real Thucydides Trap, though the concept only applies if both sides consider hegemony in an area important. China has built an impressive collection of fortified artificial islands in the South China Sea that will be useful in any dispute in Taiwan. Nonetheless, an all-out invasion is unlikely. Rather, Chinese economic strength should be enough to make most countries of the region take its side in any disputes and isolate Taiwan. At that point, various scenarios are imaginable, from an indefinite continuation of the status quo, to overwhelming economic pressure and attempts to force the island nation into submission, to a blockade or invasion. Only the very last of these risks war with the U.S. Assuming we avoid such a scenario, American leaders can be expected to easily forget about Taiwanese independence and democracy and move on.

Recent events in Hong Kong and Belarus demonstrate the limited nature of U.S. commitments to faraway nations most Americans know little about. Over the last two years, both of these places have seen pro-democracy protests that were given rhetorical support by the United States. In both situations, authoritarian governments were able to reassert authority and hold on to power. In the aftermath, the U.S. puts sanctions on the guilty parties, but the issue recedes from the headlines, and things go back to normal. Just as America lost interest in Tibet, it will eventually lose interest in Hong Kong and the Uighurs.

This quiet decline in the Asia-Pacific influence is the most likely scenario, even if the same military commitments remain. The U.S. can keep troops in Japan and South Korea as long as those two countries agree to host them, especially since China is unlikely to force this issue in the near future. Despite relying on the U.S. for defense, South Korea already aligns with China over the U.S. on a host of important geopolitical issues, from welcoming Huawei as a 5G provider to accepting the view of Hong Kong as an internal manner. Should political winds change direction in Japan, U.S. bases will not do anything to prevent better relations between Tokyo and Beijing. Just last month, China and Japan joined 13 other nations to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a free trade agreement that will expand trade and cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific. Nothing about the American military presence prevents the region from resisting any attempts to isolate China.

Ultimately, the danger for American elites is not that the U.S. may become less able to accomplish geopolitical objectives. Rather, it is that more Americans might begin to question the logic of U.S. global hegemony. Perhaps not every state is destined to become a liberal democracy, and nations with very different political systems can coexist peacefully, as many countries in East Asia do. Maybe the U.S. will not always be at the frontier of military and economic power, and the country that overtakes it may have completely different attitudes about the nature of the relationship between government and its citizens.

While most Americans will never experience a ride on a Chinese bullet train and remain oblivious in differences in areas like infrastructure quality, major accomplishments in highly visible frontiers like space travel or cancer treatment could drive home the extent to which the U.S. has fallen behind. Under such conditions, the best case scenario for most Americans would be a nightmare for many national security and bureaucratic elites: for the U.S. to give up on policing the world and instead turn inward and focus on finding out where exactly our institutions have gone wrong.

-Richard Hanania is the President of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and a research fellow at Defense Priorities. He holds a PhD in political science from UCLA and JD from the University of Chicago. He tweets @RichardHanania.

Yes.

The article is comparative. And that comparison is damning.

America has long, long past the time needed to restructure it’s failing and corrupt institutions. It has long past the time when the “policing elements” of “democracy” (such as the media) have become corrupted to the point where they are no longer functional. It has long past the time when the American Military Empire needs to be scaled back…

…firstly wind back 20 years to just an oligarchy…

…then wind back 40 years to just a “federal democracy”…

…then wind back 100 years to a “democracy”

…then wind back 100 years again to go back to a republic…

…then on to individual fully autonomous States…

…but you know…

…that isn’t going to happen. At least not peacefully. Abrupt change is required at this late stage “in the game”. The cancer has metastasized. It’s eating the host and it is on life-support.

Someone needs to pull the plug…

…press the reset button…

…perform a CTRL – ALT – DEL…

…and reboot.

You all know this, right? You know that the roller coaster has no brakes, and that it is careening out of control on a shoddy track, rotten by termites, broken in places, and run by drunk madmen.

Conclusion

I would be very surprised if any of this is new to you the reader.

What I am just doing here is something that you will not see in the American news. NO alternative media, mainstream media or anyone else is comparing the American ‘stimulus” packages with the rest of the world. Only here. And the comparisons are damning.

Just horrific.

Do you want to see similar posts?

I hope that you found this post curious. Please take care. You can view other similar posts in my SHTF Index, here…

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A view from outside the American echo chambers and a glimpse of what the rest of the world thinks of America today.

Here’s some articles that you just will not find in any American media. But they are very descriptive and pretty accurate regarding what the rest of the world thinks about America today. No, you won’t find Rush Limbaugh quoting from these articles, nor will you find a reference to them in Politco or MSNBC. These are the type of articles that the oligarchy; the rulers of the American government do not want the tax-serfs to read.

It’s not so hard to find articles in the American media. They run the gambit from “America is great and the best”, to fear-mongering “the world outside of America looks like a save the children commercial”. But you won’t find anything really critical or persuasive about what America is going through right now. That is the kind of information that Americans MUST NOT SEE.

Well, surprise! You are going to read some of these articles right here and right now, and they are (for the most part) not very flattering.

It’s not that America or Americans are bad. They are not. It is that the entire nation is run by evil psychopaths.

Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is traditionally a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been used throughout history that are only partly overlapping and may sometimes be contradictory.

-Wikipedia

These leaders possess behaviors are dangerous and will will end up destroying the entire world if they are not suppressed. It’s like the drunk friend who is trying to pick a fight with everyone in the bar, and you and your friends just roll your eyes, and after a spell, you all need to leave early before some “shit goes down”. Damn!

Have any of you been in that situation?

Well, that is America today. And it’s pretty bad, and very dangerous.

That’s why the articles outside of the USA are not finding their way into the “approved” American media.

Yes. The reason why these negative articles about America are not cropping up inside of any of the “approved” American media outlets is because they are more than just unflattering. The psychopaths that run America do not want the serf-slaves to revolt against them. So they deliberately suppress any contrary news related to them or their true personalities.

Psychopathy is a condition characterized by the absence of empathy  and the blunting of other affective states. Callousness, detachment and  a lack of empathy enable psychopaths to be highly manipulative.  Nevertheless, psychopathy is among the most difficult disorders to spot. 
 
Psychopaths can appear normal, even charming. Underneath, they lack any semblance of conscience. Their antisocial nature inclines them often (but by no means always) to criminality.
 
Psychopaths spark popular fascination and clinical anguish:  Adult psychopathy is largely resistant to treatment, though programs  exist to treat callous, unemotional youth in hopes of preventing them  from maturing into psychopaths.
 
Brain anatomy, genetics,  and a person’s environment may all contribute to the development of  psychopathic traits. For more on causes, symptoms, and treatments of the  related condition called antisocial personality disorder, see our Diagnosis Dictionary.

Ol’ Busted Knucke’s said it best when he said that Russia and the USA have a lot to offer each other. Why not work together and concentrate on our similarities, instead of threatening each other about some imaginary differences. And he’s right, but you and I know that that is not going to happen as the USA is run by a bunch of maniacal evil villains.

What are we dealing with here…

Well, what are we dealing with? Am I being glib concerning who is actually running the American nations, or am I being painfully accurate?

The term “con artist” or “conman” comes from one of American history’s earliest scammers, a man by the name of William Thompson. In 1849, Thompson was arrested in New York City for a slew of successful scams during which he duped unassuming passersby on the street into lending him their valuables before vanishing with them.

Thompson was consequently known among local authorities as “the confidence man,” which was eventually shortened to “con man.” But Thompson was hardly alone in his clever grifts. According to historian Karen Halttunen, approximately 10 percent of all criminals in New York City in the 1860s were con artists.

Nearly all “confidence men” or scam artists are charming. Take Victor Lustig, for example. This conman managed to “sell” the Eiffel Tower and allegedly even swindled notorious mobster Al Capone. He was fittingly dubbed “the Count” by authorities because he was so debonair.

Beyond the smooth talkers, there are also those conmen who play on people’s biases like Anna Sorokin, who cheated her way into the ranks of New York City’s elite by pretending to be a rich heiress named Anna Delvey. The scam artist’s former friends, nearly all of them wealthy socialites, alleged that she had convinced them to loan her cash for lavish vacations abroad only to never be repaid.

Today, the term “Ponzi scheme” is used to describe an illegitimate operation. But the term actually came from the real-life Charles Ponzi, whose $15 million investment scheme claimed to turn the average American working man into a multimillionaire overnight.

-All that's interesting

The Signs of a Psychopath

The following is from Psychology Today.

Psychopathy is a spectrum disorder and can be diagnosed using the 20-item Hare Psychopathy Checklist, which features traits such as lack of empathy, pathological lying, and impulsivity, each scored on a three-point scale based on whether the item does not apply (0), applies to a certain extent (1), or fully applies (2) to the individual. The bar for clinical psychopathy is a score of 30 or higher; serial killer Ted Bundy scored 39.

The checklist was developed in the 1970s by the Canadian researcher Robert Hare. A true assessment should be conducted by a mental health professional.

The revised version of the checklist includes the following characteristics:

The first group really describes Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Mike Pompeo and Barrack Obama, don’t you all think?

glibness/superficial charm
grandiose sense of self-worth
need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
pathological lying
conning/manipulative
lack of remorse or guilt

And these other traits can be applied to the American leadership just as well.

shallow affect (i.e., reduced emotional responses)
callous/lack of empathy
parasitic lifestyle
poor behavioral controls
promiscuous sexual behavior

The sexual exploits of Bill Clinton are legendary. And do you really think that being a member of the Senate for 60 years isn’t a “parasitic lifestyle”? What about banning coal and sending the citizenry of five states into poverty? Doesn’t that count as a “lack of empathy”?

The list continues…

early behavioral problems
lack of realistic, long-term goals
impulsivity
irresponsibility
failure to accept responsibility for one’s own actions

And what about Donald Trump. It’s always someone else’s fault isn’t it? And those 70+ tweets per night, isn’t that a sign of impulsivity?

many short-term marital relationships
juvenile delinquency
revocation of conditional release (from prison)
criminal versatility (i.e., commits diverse types of crimes)

If this does not describe American leadership, Congressmen and Senators, then I don't know what does.

What percentage of people are psychopaths?

Psychopaths exist across cultures and ethnic groups. It has been estimated that approximately 1 percent of males and 0.3–0.7 percent of females could be classified as psychopaths. An individual may show elevated levels of multiple traits associated with psychopathy without qualifying as a psychopath according to a measure such as the Hare checklist.

When we refer to the oligarchy or the PTB, we often refer to them as the 1%. I find it curious that this is also the same percentage of psychopaths in society. Could it be the natural inclination of psychopaths to rise over others and seize the levers of control of a society, and if so, isn’t that a very, very dangerous situation?

Let’s learn about the American Leadership

From ThoughtCo…

Psychopaths are incapable of feeling guilt, remorse, or empathy for their actions or the objects of their actions. They are generally cunning and manipulative. They know the difference between right and wrong but don't believe the rules apply to them.

First Encounter With a Psychopath
On first impression, psychopaths generally appear charming, engaged, caring, friendly, logical, and reasonable, with well thought-out goals. They give the impression that they can reason, that they know the consequences for antisocial and unlawful behavior and will react appropriately. They appear capable of self-examination and will criticize themselves for mistakes.

Under clinical evaluation, psychopaths don't show common symptoms associated with neurotic behavior: nervousness, high anxiety, hysteria, mood swings, extreme fatigue, and headaches. In situations that most normal people would find upsetting, psychopaths appear calm and void of fear and anxiety.

An About-Face
Initially, psychopaths appear reliable, devoted, and trustworthy, but, suddenly and without provocation, become unreliable, with no regard for how their actions affect the situation, regardless of its importance. Once viewed as honest and sincere, they do a sudden about-face and begin lying without concern, even in small matters when there is no benefit in lying.

Because psychopaths have mastered the art of deception, those around them are slow to accept the abrupt change. When psychopaths are confronted with their lack of responsibility, honesty or loyalty, it generally has no impact on their attitude or future performance. They are unable to perceive that other people value truthfulness and integrity.

Can't Accept Responsibility for Failure
Psychopaths turn into performers who can mimic normal human emotions that they have never felt. This holds true when they're faced with failure. If they appear to be humble and own up to their mistakes, their true goal is to be perceived as the martyr or sacrificial lamb willing to accept blame so others don't have to.

If the ploy fails and they are blamed, they will emphatically deny any responsibility and, without feeling shame, turn to lies, manipulation, and finger-pointing. When psychopaths can't convince others that they are innocent, they fume and obsess over it, often murmuring sarcastic comments and plotting revenge.

Risky Behavior With No Gain
Antisocial behavior—cheating, lying, robbing, stealing, agitating, fighting, committing adultery, killing—appeals to psychopaths, whether or not they reap any rewards. They appear drawn to high-risk antisocial behavior that has no apparent goal. Some experts theorize that psychopaths like to put themselves into dangerous situations because of the adrenaline rush they experience. Because psychopaths generally don't feel many emotions that normal people do, any extreme sensation feels good. Others believe that they do it to reinforce their sense of superiority and to prove that they are smarter than everyone, including the police.

Horrible Judgment
Although psychopaths are logical thinkers and view themselves as highly intelligent, they consistently exhibit bad judgment. Faced with two paths, one to gold and the other to ashes, the psychopath will take the latter. Because psychopaths can't learn from their experiences, they are prone to taking the same path again and again.

Egocentric and Unable to Love
Psychopaths are highly egomaniacal, to the point that a normal person has difficulty comprehending it. Their self-centeredness is so deeply rooted that it renders them incapable of loving others, including parents, spouses, and their own children.

The only time psychopaths show an ordinary response to kindness or special treatment by others is when it can be used to their advantage. For example, a psychopathic father still loved by his children despite the deep suffering he has caused them may put on a show of appreciation so that they continue to put money into his prison account or pay his legal fees.

Conventional Treatment Empowers Psychopaths
Most studies indicate that there are no conventional methods to cure psychopathic behavior. When conventional methods have been used, psychopaths become empowered and react by improving their cunning, manipulative methods and their ability to conceal their true personality, even from trained eyes.

Difference Between Psychopaths and Sociopaths
Psychopaths and sociopaths share a diagnosis as having antisocial personality disorder and similar traits, but there are significant differences. Psychopaths are more deceptive and manipulative and maintain more control over their outward personas. They are able to lead what appear to be normal lives, sometimes throughout their lifetime. When psychopaths become criminals they believe they are smarter than the average person and invincible.

Sociopaths often let their inner rage surface with violent episodes, verbally and physically. They become reckless and spontaneous and have little control over what they say or how they act. Because they are impulse driven, they rarely consider the consequences of their actions. It is difficult for sociopaths to live normal lives, and because of their imprudence many of them drop out of school, can't hold jobs, turn to crime, and end up in prison.

Which Is More Dangerous?
Sociopaths have a difficult time hiding their disorder, while psychopaths pride themselves on their manipulative abilities. Psychopaths are masters of disassociation and less likely to feel guilt or remorse for their actions or for the pain that they cause others. Because of this, psychopaths are considered to be more dangerous than sociopaths.

Well, we know that the USA is run by a bunch of crazed lunatics with some severely dangerous tendencies…

What now? Americans, for the most part are unaware of this. And they follow them in the belief that the leaders represent them and their beliefs. But the rest of the world does not see this, and are frankly aghast at the United States for “electing” these people to the levers of power.

And they write articles about this.

The more “mainstream” articles tend to be rather sanitized. But the alternative articles tend to be very spot-on and even vicious. Here we are going to look at some of the articles. It’s a venting of what the world thinks of what America has become and exists as it sits today, in the closing months of 2020.

The US Has Lost Global Power, and Is Now Just Faking It

This article from the Russian Insider archives was first published on RI in April 2018 by Dmitry Orlov . It was republished on Sun, Dec 13 2020 | 1510 words 26,694 Comments

Orlov is one of our favorite essayists on Russia and all sorts of other things. He moved to the US as a child, and lives in the Boston area.
 


He is one of the better-known thinkers The New Yorker has dubbed 'The Dystopians' in an excellent 2009 profile, along with James Howard Kunstler, another regular contributor to RI (archive). These theorists believe that modern society is headed for a jarring and painful crack-up.

He is best known for his 2011 book comparing Soviet and American collapse (he thinks America's will be worse). He is a prolific author on a wide array of subjects, and you can see his work by searching him on Amazon. He has a large following on the web, and on Patreon, and we urge you to support him there, as Russia Insider does.
 
If you haven't discovered his work yet, please take a look at his archive of articles on RI. They are a real treasure, full of invaluable insight into both the US and Russia and how they are related.

The US Has Lost Global Power, and Is Now Just Faking It

"If the US manages to convince enough people, at home and around the world, that it is still dangerous, then it will be able to hide its increasing enfeeblement for a while longer."

It’s a hard job being a global hegemon and the world’s sole superpower.

You have to keep the entire planet in line. Every country needs to be taught its place, and kept there, by force if need be. Now and again a country or two has to be conquered or destroyed, just to teach others a lesson. Plus you have to relentlessly meddle in other countries’ politics, rigging elections so that only US-friendly candidates can win, run regime change operations and organize colored revolutions. Stop doing this, and some countries will start ignoring you. And then the rest will quickly realize that you are losing control and go their separate ways while ignoring you.

Is the United States still the world’s greatest power, in control of the entire planet, or has that moment in history already come and gone? We are constantly hearing how the situation is becoming dire: relations between the US and NATO countries and Russia are going from bad to worse; there is a trade war going on with China; North Korea remains an intractable problem and an embarrassment.

Many people maintain that we are very close to a world war. But does “very close” actually mean anything? It is quite possible to stand for hours with your toes hanging over the edge of a cliff and never jump. Suicide is a big decision: big even for a person, much bigger for a large country.

On March 1, 2018 president Putin unveiled Russia’s new weapons systems against which the United States is defenseless and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Previously, the plan was to surround Russia with military bases and missile batteries, then launch a preemptive first strike, destroying its ability to retaliate and forcing it to capitulate.

This plan has now conclusively failed, and a US/NATO attack on Russia is once again assured to be an act of suicide. Worse than that, even limited military confrontations are now mostly unthinkable, because Russia can now inflict unacceptable damage on US/NATO forces from a safe distance and without putting any of its own assets at risk. If Russia won’t attack and the US/NATO can’t attack, then how likely is a war?

The new weapons systems have made it possible to start ignoring the US. It is still important to maintain a credible military posture, but politically the US is no longer in control, and neither are the global institutions on which it has relied. Instead, what we are seeing is the reemergence of nation states, and even of empires.

The political future of Syria is being decided by Russia, Turkey and Iran, with no useful input from the United States at all.

Significantly, whereas Russia and Iran are in categories of their own as far as the US is concerned, Turkey has been a US ally and the second-largest armed force in NATO. The fact that Turkey is no longer eager to please the Americans is quite telling.

Except during the strange and tumultuous twentieth century during which the US briefly flashed across the world stage, these three countries went by different names, which all ended in “empire”: the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire. Of these three, the Russian and the Ottoman empires were heirs to the Holy Roman Empire, whose eastern half, with its capital Constantinople, went on for centuries after Rome had turned into a depopulated ruin and a dark age had descended on Europe.

After Constantinople fell to the Turks and Islam took over the region, the center of Orthodox Christianity migrated north to Moscow. Now add China, or the Chinese Empire if you like, which is now aligned with Russia, and complete the picture: all of the greatest and most ancient Eurasian empires have come back and are talking and cooperating, while the has-been upstart on the other side of the planet isn’t even invited.

Given this situation, what is the US to do?

It has three choices.

The first is to start a major war, thus committing national suicide (while taking other countries with it). It lacks the political will to make this decision, although it could blunder into a major war by accident.

The second choice is to basically just fold: give up trying to project power around the world, retreat into its own borders and lick its wounds. It lacks the political will to do this as well; all that remains in the realm of possibility is to pretend that everything is still fine for as long as possible.

But how is it possible to pretend that everything is still fine even as everything is falling apart? The answer is to start faking it.

If the US manages to convince enough people, at home and around the world, that it is still dangerous, then it will be able to hide its increasing enfeeblement for a while longer. It may no longer be capable of achieving any of its aims, but it is still very much capable of mass murder, as was recently demonstrated by the US “coalition” bombings of Mosul and Raqqa, which now lay in ruins. Similar wanton acts of mass murder have been committed America’s Saudi-Arabian proxy in Yemen, and by their Ukrainian proxies in the Donbass.

But even the opportunities to commit mindless mass murder with impunity are now becoming fewer and farther between, forcing the US to resort to more boutique acts of violence. To justify these acts, the US (and much of Europe) curtains itself off from the rest of the world using an elaborately constructed wall of complete nonsense.

A favorite trope has to do with dreamed-up chemical weapons as the main frightener. Take a look at the recent Israeli rocket attack on Syria. It was justified using obviously fake video footage produced by the White Helmets—a group known for staging fake terror events. At this point, they don’t even care how fake their product looks: this time around, they didn’t bother editing out the clapper (used to sync up video with sound). The setting was obviously a movie set, but production values were rather missing. Instead, we had actors, some wearing white helmets, but no protective gear whatsoever, dumping buckets of water over shivering children. How is that even supposed to make any sense?

And then note that the rockets (five which got shot down by the Syrians, with only three making it through) came from Israel. Why Israel? Because the Russians had warned the US that they knew the fake chemical weapons provocation was being organized as a pretext to launch a rocket attack, and that they were going to shoot not just at the rockets but also at those who launch them. Therefore, Americans decided that it would be too risky to launch the attack from navy ships, and instead asked the Israelis to do the honor of lobbing a few missiles at a remote airbase in Syria, correctly thinking that the Russians wouldn’t immediately retaliate against Israel if no Russians would hurt, and knowing that there would be no Russians at that airbase during their attack. This is, on the one hand, quite pathetic, but on the other it shows that the Americans are still capable of a modicum of rational thought.

This, then is the strange period of history we are going through. The US is lying nonstop (since truth is not on its side) while pretending to still be dangerous by committing wanton acts of mass murder (small-scale ones, which it can be sure to carry out with impunity).

Meanwhile, both national suicide (via large-scale war) and the decision to shut down the whole imperial project both remain politically impossible. How long this strange, unstable period of murderous nonsense can persist isn’t known—your guess is as good as mine—but it obviously can’t go on for ages.

Give it a few years, or less.

Perhaps you can understand why Rush Limbaugh is not talking about this kind of analysis, or why Alex Jones isn’t. Or why Politico or the Huffington Post isn’t. Or why MSNBC isn’t.

Their calculus uses examples of news articles that are not well-promoted in the USA.
Their conclusions are based on unflattering narratives.
The key players involved in the decision making process are not glorified.

Thus this kind of opinion will not be promoted in any of the “approved” American media. Neither the mainstream, the Alt-Right or the Alt-Left.

Times have changed all across the board. America is nothing like it was intended to be. Instead it is a prison-nation that enslaves citizens under a service-for-self oligarchy run by psychopaths. And us “Joe Averages” haven’t any say in the matter.

America Has Traded God for Empire, Narcissism, Militarism, Usury, Sodomy

Fr. Joseph Gleason, is editor of the website titled “Russian Faith” . In this article he explains America’s current predicament. This article comes from the Russian Insider archives and was first published on RI in February 2019. It is written by Mark Dankof on Wed, Oct 21 2020 | 1120 words 8,438 Comments . All credit to the author.

America Has Traded God for Empire, Narcissism, Militarism, Usury, Sodomy 
                                                                                                   

It goes without saying that Father Joseph Gleason of Russian Faith is making his mark in the world for the Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. His theological journey has finally taken him into the priesthood of the  Russian Orthodox Church. Geographically, the journey he and his family  have embarked upon has taken them from the United States to Russia and a place called Rostov-The-Great.  His is a story worth following on an ongoing basis. I sense his personal odyssey may prove larger in history than he or anyone else imagines right now.

His most recent entry on the Russian Faith website is entitled, “Homosexuals Persecuting Christians in America:  Do You Feel The Walls Closing In?”  

This marvelous piece is 5,050 words long.  My succinct initial response  to his labors before even reading the essay itself was–and is–a simple “Yes.”

I  do not come to this conclusion quickly or without study and  engagement.  Since 9-11, I have set aside most of the rest of my life to  attempt to bring the people of America to an awareness of how late the  hour is, and the perilous state of both individual souls and a  collective people that has turned its back on God in favor of an Empire  built on narcissism, militarism, usury, and sodomy. 
 
But the painful truth is that I have failed.  

I have lost 17  years of my life in the process. I admitted as much some years ago in a  well publicized essay entitled, “Why We’re Finished.”  Later, I found myself being pilloried by the Jerusalem Post and the international Jewish press for telling Press TV Iran the truth after the infamous Obergefell Supreme Court decision of 2015 about who played a pivotally disproportionate  role in bringing this latest advance of Cultural Marxism to pass in the  United States, as was the case in the Roe v Wade decision of January of 1973.  

Joseph Biden said the same thing I did,  only he hailed the development as a new dawning in America. 

I didn’t.   

Thus, I was in the cross-hairs of the usual suspects.  Not one of my  Lutheran colleagues in the United States came to my public defense.  I  was on my own and I knew it, just as I have been for years in these  circles for discussing 9-11, Empire foreign and military policy, the  Kennedy Assassination, and the abortion and LGBTQ issues among many others.
   
Nothing in the last 4 years has changed the equation.  

I said as much in an essay entitled, “A ‘Communist’s’ Thoughts on the 4th of July,” appropriately retitled, “Russia is a Beacon of Promise for a Christian Future” for Russia Faith and Russian Insider readers.   

The thousands of hits on those sites revealed I had struck a chord or a  raw nerve depending on the perspective of the reader, which is why  editors like Charles Bausman and Father Joseph Gleason have increasingly  come under attack by MSM rags in the United States like The Daily Beast as agents of the Kremlin, which assaulted me well before it did these fine people.  I wore that as a badge of honor. I still do.
 
Which brings me back to Father Gleason’s latest post.  His  conclusions about what the LGBTQ movement and the power elite’s goals  are in both the United States and globally in regard to authentic  Christianity and its adherents are no different than what Rod Dreher  wrote in Time Magazine after the Obergefell decision,  only sharper in focus in the implications.  This sharpening of focus  leads the American Christian who prayerfully contemplates the reality of  the homeland advances of the New World Order to examine his or her  position very carefully as the Holy Spirit of God leads and directs.
 
For the record, after examination over time, I humbly conclude personally that:
 
1) Father Joseph Gleason has made the right decision for himself and his family in moving to Russia;
 
2) Recent developments in that country and  elsewhere make it clear to me that Orthodoxy is especially being used of  God in the proclamation of the Gospel in an age of advancing heresy and  apostasy–not declining Lutheranism, Catholicism, or a Protestant  Evangelical movement overcome with worship of Zionism and increasing pop  accommodation to cancerous American and European cultures headed for  absolute shipwreck; 
 
3) For young believers around the world including a  couple I have recently read about in Brazil, and young American  Christians feeling bewildered and embattled as they Feel the Walls Closing In,  examine the Lord’s will very closely in regard to the beckoning of  Father Gleason and his migrating minions to the place that the Triune  God is restoring at this eschatological hour in history to counter the  evil plans of a Western Globalist and Zionist movement bent on using  moral and sexual perversion, mass media manipulation, consumerism,  economic sanctions, and overt military aggression to achieve Satan’s  final victory in this present realm; 
 
4) The latest actions of the United States in the Ukraine in  sewing discord in the Orthodox Church only underscore the depths to  which the political leadership in America will go on behalf the  objectives of the New World Order, along with the entire spectrum of  moves being made by The Empire against Iran, Syria, Russia, and  Venezuela;  

5) When all of this is understood in discernment by the  Christian believer in the West in terms of prophetic developments, those  of us whose circumstances mandate remaining in our earthly homeland in  exile must do so only in the clear understanding that the outcome is not  merely an exilic experience of alienation and marginalization, but one  which promises martyrdom itself.
   
My last public address to  a Lutheran group discussed this.  

I’m still not sure those in the  lecture hall in upstate Wisconsin last year really had the foggiest  notion of what I was trying to say in the Lord to them.  But Father  Joseph Gleason knows of what I speak, and so do most of his readers at Russian Faith. 

There are a few Christian homeschoolers in Texas who  certainly understand. For those in the United States and the West in a  position to make choices for themselves and their families on the basis  of their individual circumstances and Christian witness for the truth in  history, follow him to higher ground.  

Get out of Dodge while you can.
 
I believe God has truly raised this man up at this most  critical and final hour in world and redemptive history. Consider his  witness and his words carefully. That is my best advice to you. The clock is ticking to midnight.
             

Wholesome tradition or degenerate empire, take your pick

His opinion is dire and gloomy. He does not feel that he is free to practice his religious freedom, nor raise his family safely or properly in the United States. There was a time, don’t you know, where this was the measurement by which the “freedom” and “liberty” offered by the United States was measured. But it no longer exists.

You will note that none of the American government controlled media; the mainstream, the Alt-Left and the Alt-Right will cover this subject it’s all the same nonsense. Over and over.

Ugh! When I think about the United States government, I get a headache. I just want to chill out and be left alone.

American Collapse – Great Podcast About How and When – with James Howard Kunstler

Now, we go to James Howard Kunstler.

“Personally, I expect our collapse to be as sudden and unexpected as the USSR’s … and to express itself first in the financial markets …”

This article from our archives was first published on Russian Insider in April 2018. Written by Mr James Howard Kunstler on Mon, Dec 14 2020 | 1000 words 11,640 Comments . All credit to the author.

The author is a prominent American social critic, blogger, and podcaster, and one of our all-time favorite pessimists. We carry his articles regularly on RI. His writing on Russia-gate has been highly entertaining.
 
He is one of the better-known thinkers The New Yorker has dubbed 'The Dystopians' in an excellent 2009 profile, along with the brilliant Dmitry Orlov, another regular contributor to RI (archive). These theorists believe that modern society is headed for a jarring and painful crack-up.
 
You can find his popular fiction and novels on this subject, here. To get a sense of how entertaining he is, watch this 2004 TED talk about the cruel misery of American urban design - it is one of the most-viewed on TED. Here is a recent audio interview with him which gives a good overview of his work.

And the article in question…

American Collapse - Great Podcast About How and When - with James Howard Kunstler

I had a fellow on my latest podcast, released Sunday, who insists that the world population will crash 90-plus percent from the current 7.6 billion to 600 million by the end of this century. Jack Alpert heads an outfit called the Stanford Knowledge Integration Lab (SKIL) which he started at Stanford University in 1978 and now runs as a private research foundation. Alpert is primarily an engineer.

Anyway, that state-of-life may be a way-station so something more dire.

Alpert’s optimal case would be a world human population of 50 million, deployed in three “city-states,” in the Pacific Northwest, the Uruguay / Paraguay border region, and China, that could support something close to today’s living standards for a tiny population, along with science and advanced technology, run on hydropower.

The rest of world, he says, would just go back to nature, or what’s left of it. Alpert’s project aims to engineer a path to that optimal outcome.

Obviously, my own venture into the fictionalized future of the World Made by Hand books depicted a much kinder and gentler re-set to life at the circa-1800 level of living, at least in the USA. Apparently, I’m a sentimental softie.

Both of us are at odds with the more generic techno-optimists who are waiting patiently for miracle rescue remedies like cold fusion while enjoying re-runs of The Big Bang Theory. (Alpert doesn’t completely rule out as-yet-undeveloped energy sources, though he acknowledges that they’re a low-percentage prospect.) We do agree with basic premise that the energy supply is mainly what supports the way we live now, and that it shows every evidence of entering a deep and destabilizing decline that will halt the activities necessary to keep our networks of dynamic systems running.

A question of interest to many readers is how soon or how rapid the unraveling of these systems might be.

When civilizations crumble, it tends to fast-track.

The Roman empire seems to be an exception, but in many ways it was far more resilient than ours, being a sort of advanced Flintstones economy, with even its giant-scale activities (e.g. building the Coliseum) being accomplished by human-powered work.

In any case, the outfit really fell apart steadily after the reign of emperor Marcus Aurelius (180 AD).

Our financialized economy — like everything else we do — operates at levels of complexity so baffling that even its supposed managers at the central banks are flying blind through fogs of debt, deception, and moral hazard. When that vessel of pretense slams into a mountain top, the effects are likely to be quick and lethal to the economies on the ground below.

In our time, the most recent crash of a major socioeconomic system was the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990-91.

Of course, it happened against the backdrop of a global system that was still revving pretty well outside the USSR, and that softened the blow. Ultimately, the Russians still had plenty of oil to sell, which allowed them to re-set well above the Fifth Century peasant level of existence.

At least for now.

The Soviet Union collapsed because it was a thoroughly dishonest system that ran on pretense and coercion. Apparently, the US Intel Community completely missed the signs that political collapse was underway.

They seem to be pretty clueless about the fate of the USA these days, too.

If you consider the preoccupations of two very recent Intel chiefs — John Brennan of CIA and James Clapper, DNI — who now inveigh full-time on CNN as avatars of the Deep State against the wicked Golden Golem of Greatness.

Personally, I expect our collapse to be as sudden and unexpected as the USSR’s, but probably bloodier because there’s simply more stuff just lying around to fight over.

Of course, I expect the collapse to express itself first in banking, finance, and markets — being so deeply faith-based and so subject to simple failures of faith. But it will become political and social soon enough, maybe all-at once. And when it happens in the USA, it will spread through the financial systems the whole world round.

It’s heavy dose of “doom and gloom”, but you know, I am much more optimistic about the future.

There will be an American collapse, and systems are in place to keep it localized to the North American hemisphere. There will be economic global ramifications of course, and no nation will really remain unscathed, but the vast amount of damage and hurt will be in America. And of that, it will be localized. If you are prudent and a member of a local community, you should be able to weather “the storm”, and you and yours will survive to carry on through the 2030’s and 2040’s.

Perhaps is best if Americans believe that the rest of the world is a “shit hole”.

Korcula, Croatia. — The rest of the world is actually quite beautiful.

AMERICA: A Gigantic Clown Car Being Driven Into a Ditch

And another article from James Howard Kunstler. This article from the Russia Insider archives and was first published on RI in September 2017, with a reprint on Sunday, Dec 13 2020 | 900 words 18,995 Comments.

“This homework assignment should be given to the Democratic members of congress, since they are otherwise preoccupied only with hunting for Russian gremlins and discovering new sexual abnormalities to protect and defend.”

AMERICA: A Gigantic Clown Car Being Driven Into a Ditch
                                                                                                                   
Poor old Karl Marx, tortured by boils and phantoms, was right about one thing: History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.  Thus, I give you the Roman Empire and now the United States of America.  Rome surrendered to time and entropy. Our method is to drive a gigantic clown car into a ditch.
 
Is anyone out there interested in redemption? 

I have an idea for the political party out of power, the Democrats, sunk in its special  Okefenokee Swamp of identity politics and Russia paranoia: make an  effort to legislate the Citizens United calamity out of  existence. 

Who knows, a handful of Republicans may be shamed into going along with it. 

For those of you who have been mentally vacationing on  Mars with Elon Musk, Citizens United was a Supreme Court decision — Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission 558  U.S. 310 (2010) — which determined that corporations had the right, as  hypothetical “persons,” to give as much money as they liked to political candidates.
             
...

We've made important contributions to world culture   
 
This “right” devolved from the First Amendment of the constitution,  the 5-4 majority opinion said — giving money to political candidates and  causes amounts to “freedom of speech.” The Citizens United ruling  opened the door for unlimited election spending by corporations and  enormous mischief in our national life. Then-President Obama — a  constitutional law professor before his career in politics — complained  bitterly about the opinion days later in his State of the Union address,  saying that the court had “reversed a century of law to open the  floodgates, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in  our elections.”
 
And for the next seven years he did absolutely nothing about it, nor  did the Democratic Party majority in congress. Rather, they vacuumed in  as much corporate campaign money as possible from every hokey political  action committee (PAC) from sea to shining sea, especially in the 2016  presidential election starring Hillary “It’s My Turn” Clinton. It turned  out to not be her turn in large part because the voters noticed the  stench of corruption wafting off this toxic flow of corporate money,  which Hillary was using to vastly outspend her billionaire opponent,  troll that he was.
             
It's been a heck of a ride, and it's coming to an end ...   
 
Of course, corporations have not always been what they are deemed to  be today. They evolved with the increasingly complex activities of  industrial economies. Along the way — in Great Britain first, actually —  they were deemed to exist as the equivalent of legal persons,  to establish that the liabilities of the company were separate and  distinct from those of its owners. In the USA, forming a corporation  usually required an act of legislation until the late 19th century.  After that, they merely had to register with the states. Then congress  had to sort out the additional problems of giant “trusts” and holding  companies (hence, anti-trust laws, now generally ignored).
 
In short, the definition of what a corporation is and what it  has a right to do is in a pretty constant state of change as economies  evolve. And insofar as the current economy is sinking like the USS  Titanic — and our republic as a mode of governance with it — surely the  time has come to redefine in legislation the role and existential nature  of a corporation in this polity. This homework assignment should be  given to the Democratic members of congress, since they are otherwise  preoccupied only with hunting for Russian gremlins and discovering new sexual abnormalities to protect and defend.
 
The crux of the argument is that corporations cannot be said  to be entirely and altogether the equivalent of persons for all legal  purposes. In law, corporations have duties, obligations, and  responsibilities to their shareholders first, and only after that to the  public interest or the common good, and only then by pretty strict  legal prescription. It may be assumed that the interests of corporations and their shareholders are in opposition to, and in conflict with, the  public interest. And insofar as elections are fundamentally matters of the public interest, corporations must be prohibited from efforts to  influence the outcome of elections.
 
That’s your assignment Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of  the Democratic Party leadership. Get serious. Show a little initiative.  Do something useful. Draw up some legislation. Get behind something real that might make a difference in this decrepitating country.
 
Or get out of the way and let a new party do the job.

Politics are a pin in the ass, but even those outside of the USA can see that the United State is wholly out of control. “What planet do they live on” is a common phrase that I am starting to hear in day to day conversation.

For the rest of us, the craziness of Washington DC doesn’t resemble anything in our normal day-to-day lives…

Dear America – You Are Delusional, and Failing at Everything You Undertake

Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Russia sanctions – “All of these harebrained schemes, hatched in Washington, have backfired grandly.”

“Those who have pushed for them are now reduced to just two face-saving maneuvers: blaming their political opponents; and blaming Russia. And these two maneuvers are set to backfire as well.”

This article from the Russia Insider archives and was first published on RI in November 2017. Written by Dmitry Orlov Fri, Dec 11 2020 | 1610 words 43,193 Comments .

Dear America - You Are Delusional, and Failing at Everything You Undertake

Back in the days when I was still trying to do the corporate thing, I regularly found myself in a bit of a tight spot simply by failing to keep my mouth shut.

I seem to carry some sort of gene that makes me naturally irrepressible. I can keep my mouth shut for only so long before I have to blurt out what I really think, and in a corporate setting, where thinking isn’t really allowed, this causes no end of trouble. It didn’t matter that I often turned out to be right. It didn’t matter what I thought; it only mattered that I thought.

American involvement in the middle-eastern project is now limited to Putin’s sporadic courtesy calls to Trump, to keep him updated.

Of all the thoughts you aren’t allowed to think, perhaps the most offensive one is adequately expressed by a single short phrase:

“That’s not gonna work.”

...

The end is near ...

Suppose there is a meeting to unveil a great new initiative, with PowerPoint presentations complete with fancy graphics, org charts, timelines, proposed budgets, yada-yada, and everything is going great until this curmudgeonly Russian opens his mouth and says “That’s not gonna work.”

And when it is patiently explained to him (doing one’s best to hide one’s extreme irritation) that it absolutely has to work because Senior Management would like it to, that furthermore it is his job to make it work and that failure is not an option, he opens his mouth again and says “That’s not gonna work either.” And then it’s time to avoid acting flustered while ignoring him and to think up some face-saving excuse to adjourn the meeting early and regroup.

I lasted for as long as I did in that world because once in a while I would instead say “Sure, that’ll work, let’s do it.” And then, sure enough, it did work, the company had a banner year or two, with lots of bonuses and atta-boy (and atta-girl) certificates handed out to those not at all responsible for any of it. Flushed with victory, they, in turn, would think up more harebrained schemes for me to rain on, and the cycle would repeat.

America seems to be blissfully unaware of how it comes across to the rest of the world

It is probably one of the main saving graces of corporations that they do sometimes (mainly by mistake) allow some thought to leak through. The mistake in question is a staffing error in promoting those constitutionally incapable of keeping their mouths shut or shutting off their brains. Such errors create chinks in the monolithic phalanxes of corporate yes-men and yes-women.

Trump is too old to be a reformer or a revolutionary. He is of an age when men are generally mostly concerned about the quantity and consistency of their stool and how it interacts with their enlarged prostates.

The likelihood of such mistakes increases with the agony of defeat, which causes attrition among the ranks of qualified yes-sayers, creating holes that can only be plugged by promoting a few non-yes-sayers. However, this only seems to work in the smaller, hungrier corporations; the larger, better-fed ones seem to be able to avoid experiencing the agony of defeat for a very long time by moving the goal posts, outlawing any discussion of said defeat or other similar tactics. Eventually the entire organization goes over the cliff, but by then it is of no benefit to anyone to attempt to inform them of their folly.

It is much the same with governments, except here the situation is even worse. While the smaller, hungrier governments, and those blessed with a fresh institutional memory of extreme pain, do not have the luxury of lying to themselves, the larger political agglomerations—the USSR, the EU, the USA—have the ability to keep themselves completely immunized against the truth for historically significant periods of time.

The USSR clung to the fiction of great socialist progress even when it was clear to all that the cupboard was bare and there were rats gnawing through the rafters. The EU has been able to ignore the fact that its entire scheme is one of enriching Germany while impoverishing and depopulating eastern and southern Europe, neglecting the interests of the native populations throughout. And the amount of self-delusion that is still currently in effect in the USA makes it a rather large subject.

Regardless of how great the lies are and how forcefully they are defended, a moment always comes when the phalanx of truth-blocking yes-men and yes-women stops marching, turns and runs. This event results in a tremendous loss of face and confidence for all involved.

It is the crisis of confidence, more than anything else, that precipitates the going-off-a-cliff phenomenon that we could so readily observe in the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s. I have a very strong hunch that similar cliff-diving exercises are coming up for the EU and the USA.

But for the time being I am just another disembodied voice on the internet, watching from the sidelines and periodically saying the unfashionable thing, which is: “This isn’t gonna work.” However, I’ve said this a number of times over the years, on the record and more or less forcefully, and I feel vindicated most of the time.

Internationally, for example:

• Carving the Ukraine away from Russia, having it join the EU and NATO and building a NATO naval base in Crimea “wasn’t gonna work.” The Ukraine is a part of Russia, the Ukrainians are Russian, and the Ukrainian ethnic identity is a Bolshevik concoction. Look for a reversion to norm in a decade or two.

• Destroying and partitioning Syria with the help of Wahhabi extremists and foreign mercenaries supported by the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel while Russia, Iran, Turkey and China stand idly by “wasn’t gonna work”; and so it hasn’t.

• Giving Afghanistan “freedom and democracy” and turning it into a stable pro-Western regime with the help of invading NATO troops “wasn’t gonna work,” and hasn’t. Western involvement in Afghanistan can go on, but the results it can achieve are limited to further enhancing the heroin trade.

• Destroying the Russian economy using sanctions “wasn’t gonna work,” and hasn’t. The sanctions have helped Russia regroup internally and achieve a great deal of self-sufficiency in energy production and other forms of technology, in food and in numerous other sectors.

All of these harebrained schemes, hatched in Washington, have backfired grandly. Those who have pushed for them are now reduced to just two face-saving maneuvers: blaming their political opponents; and blaming Russia. And these two maneuvers are set to backfire as well.

In the meantime, the world isn’t waiting for the US to shake itself out of its stupor.

The fulcrum of American influence in the Middle East is Saudi Arabia and the petrodollar. In turn, Saudi Arabia rests on three pillars: the Saudi monarchy, Wahhabi Islam and the petrodollar. As I write this, the next king, Mohammed bin Salman, is busy hacking away at all three: robbing, imprisoning and torturing his fellow-princes, working to replace the Wahhabi clerics with moderate ones and embracing the petro-yuan instead of the now very tired petrodollar.

Not that any of these three pillars were in good shape in any case: the defeat of ISIS in Syria was a defeat for the Saudi monarchy which supported it, for the Wahhabi clerics who inspired it and, consequently, for the petrodollar as well, because Saudi Arabia was until now its greatest defender.

The new guarantors of peace in the region are Russia, Iran and Turkey, with China watching carefully in the wings. American involvement in the middle-eastern project is now limited to Putin’s sporadic courtesy calls to Trump, to keep him updated.

And so here’s my latest prediction: Trump’s goal of “making America great” “isn’t gonna work” either.

The country is so far gone that just taking the first step—of allowing the truth of its condition to leak through the media filters—will undermine public confidence to such an extent that a subsequent cliff-dive will become unavoidable. It’s a nice slogan as slogans go, but Trump is too old to be a reformer or a revolutionary. He is of an age when men are generally mostly concerned about the quantity and consistency of their stool and how it interacts with their enlarged prostates.

Perhaps he will succeed in making America great… big piles of feces, but I wouldn’t expect much more than that.

And time has proven him to be correct.

Remember that the American government controls all mainstream, and Alt-Left and Alt-Right media inside of America.

Now that it is official, and Biden is President, I scan the “news”…

Suddenly all the anti-China narrative has collapsed. the only anti-China article (15DEC20) that I can find is this one…

And this is just “only” a lite narrative with some segmented Chinese political infighting. Nothing about how horrible and awful China is. Not like before. But compared to the average of five to twelve articles per day about how terrible China is, this is really nothing.

But on Russia…

Imagine that! Who would figure?

Russian Missile Tech has Made America’s Trillion Dollar Navy Obsolete

“Times have changed and America can no longer project its military power like it did in Iraq. Those days are over. ”

This article from the archives was first published on RI in April 2018. Written by Dmitry Orlov Fri, Dec 11 2020 | 1400 words 52,084 Comments

Russian Missile Tech has Made America's Trillion Dollar Navy Obsolete

For the past 500 years European nations—Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, Britain, France and, briefly, Germany—were able to plunder much of the planet by projecting their naval power overseas. Since much of the world’s population lives along the coasts, and much of it trades over water, armed ships that arrived suddenly out of nowhere were able to put local populations at their mercy.

A financially crippling military brontosaurus

The armadas could plunder, impose tribute, punish the disobedient, and then use that plunder and tribute to build more ships, enlarging the scope of their naval empires. This allowed a small region with few natural resources and few native advantages beyond extreme orneriness and a wealth of communicable diseases to dominate the globe for half a millennium.

The ultimate inheritor of this naval imperial project is the United States, which, with the new addition of air power, and with its large aircraft carrier fleet and huge network of military bases throughout the planet, is supposedly able to impose Pax Americana on the entire world. Or, rather, was able to do so—during the brief period between the collapse of the USSR and the emergence of Russia and China as new global powers and their development of new anti-ship and antiaircraft technologies. But now this imperial project is at an end.

Prior to the Soviet collapse, the US military generally did not dare to directly threaten those countries to which the USSR had extended its protection. Nevertheless, by using its naval power to dominate the sea lanes that carried crude oil, and by insisting that oil be traded in US dollars, it was able to live beyond its means by issuing dollar-denominated debt instruments and forcing countries around the world to invest in them.

It imported whatever it wanted using borrowed money while exporting inflation, expropriating the savings of people across the world. In the process, the US has accumulated absolutely stunning levels of national debt—beyond anything seen before in either absolute or relative terms. When this debt bomb finally explodes, it will spread economic devastation far beyond US borders. And it will explode, once the petrodollar wealth pump, imposed on the world through American naval and air superiority, stops working.

New missile technology has made a naval empire cheap to defeat. Previously, to fight a naval battle, one had to have ships that outmatched those of the enemy in their speed and artillery power. The Spanish Armada was sunk by the British armada. More recently, this meant that only those countries whose industrial might matched that of the United States could ever dream of opposing it militarily.

But this has now changed:

Russia’s new missiles can be launched from thousands of kilometers away, are unstoppable, and it takes just one to sink a destroyer and just two to sink an aircraft carrier. The American armada can now be sunk without having an armada of one’s own. The relative sizes of American and Russian economies or defense budgets are irrelevant: the Russians can build more hypersonic missiles much more quickly and cheaply than the Americans would be able to build more aircraft carriers.

Equally significant is the development of new Russian air defense capabilities: the S-300 and S-400 systems. These systems can essentially seal off a country’s airspace. Wherever these systems are deployed, such as in Syria, US forces are now forced to stay out of their range.

With its naval and air superiority rapidly evaporating, all that the US can fall back on militarily is the use of large expeditionary forces—an option that is politically unpalatable and has proven to be ineffective in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There is also the nuclear option.

And while its nuclear arsenal is not likely to be neutralized any time soon, nuclear weapons are only useful as deterrents. Their special value is in preventing wars from escalating beyond a certain point. But that point lies beyond the elimination of their global naval and air dominance.

Nuclear weapons are much worse than useless in augmenting one’s aggressive behavior against a nuclear-armed opponent; invariably, it would be a suicidal move.

What the US now faces is essentially a financial problem of unrepayable debt and a failing wealth pump.

It should be a stunningly obvious point that setting off nuclear explosions anywhere in the world would not fix the problems of an empire that is going broke.

Events that signal vast, epochal changes in the world often appear minor when viewed in isolation.

Julius Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon was just one river crossing. Soviet and American troops meeting and fraternizing at the Elbe was, relatively speaking, a minor event—nowhere near the scale of the siege of Leningrad, the battle of Stalingrad or the fall of Berlin. Yet they signaled a tectonic shift in the historical landscape.

And perhaps we have just witnessed something similar with the recent pathetically tiny Battle of East Gouta in Syria.

Where the US used a make-believe chemical weapons incident as a pretense to launch an equally make-believe attack on some airfields and buildings in Syria. The US foreign policy establishment wanted to show that it still matters and has a role to play, but what really happened was that US naval and air power were demonstrated to be almost entirely beside the point.

Of course, all of this is terrible news to the US military and foreign policy establishments, as well as to the many US Congressmen (in whose districts military contractors operate or military bases are situated).

Obviously, this is also bad news for the defense contractors, for personnel at the military bases, and for many others as well.

It is also simply awful news economically, since defense spending is about the only effective means of economic stimulus of which the US government is politically capable.

Obama’s “shovel-ready jobs,” if you recall, did nothing to forestall the dramatic slide in the labor participation rate, which is a euphemism for the inverse of the real unemployment rate. There is also the wonderful plan to throw lots of money at Elon Musk’s SpaceX (while continuing to buy vitally important rocket engines from the Russians—who are currently discussing blocking their export to the US in retaliation for more US sanctions).

In short, take away the defense stimulus, and the US economy will make a loud popping sound followed by a gradually diminishing hissing noise.

Needless to say, all those involved will do their best to deny or hide for as long as possible the fact that the US foreign policy and defense establishments have now been neutralized.

My prediction is that America’s naval and air empire will not fail because it will be defeated militarily, nor will it be dismantled once the news sinks in that it is useless; instead, it will be forced to curtail its operations due to lack of funds.

There may still be a few loud bangs before it gives up, but mostly what we will hear is a whole lot of whimpering.

That’s how the USSR went; that’s how the USA will go too.

Things are in the process of change. It is my hope that the changes will be calm and peaceful, but those that live off the old systems will fight “tooth and nail” against change.

The United States fields some very impressive and advanced military systems. But [1] are they sustainable against a large and peer-capable, aggressive nations? And if they are, [2] is it worth the risk of mutual global annihilation for the egos of the psychopathic American leadership?

But you know, I fear that I am not making my point clear. War is not something that you read about in your daily feed. It is something that you endure with heartache and sadness. It is something that destroys relationships, cultures and societies. It destroys civilizations. But the psychopaths don’t care. But you and I should…

War is a horror.

Things are dire.

From my email feed…

We are in a situation bleaker than during the last Cold War, and similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
And  US media is not reporting on any of it.  Most of you know this. But I'm  posting it because it points out things that most people don't know,  because it's suppressed.
 
This interview with Ray  McGovern, who advised US presidents and briefed them daily for many  years talks about the very precarious state of US Russia relations.  Frankly this dwarfs controversy about the election.
 
Please watch this. And share with friends and family.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHaBjdRI-DU

Many people who live outside the United States think that the USA is a corrupt nation that is bound to collapse any day now.

EPIC FAIL: Why Most US Weapons Systems Are Worse than Russia’s

“Two reasons: complexity, and too much money .”

This article from the Russia Insider archives was first published on RI in April 2018. It was written by Jacob Dreizin Wed, Dec 9 2020 | 2300 words 52,407 Comments

EPIC FAIL: Why Most US Weapons Systems Are Worse than Russia's
                                                                                                   

The F-35: Insanely expensive, its costs keep soaring - and it's worse than Russian planes which cost 20 times less
Lately  we have seen some good analysis on the limits and vulnerabilities of  the American military in light of events in the former Ukraine and  especially Russia’s demonstrated competence in Syria.  
 
So we have the “what” of the issue, but how about the “why”?  
 
As a U.S. Army veteran and a longtime resident of the  Beltway—including four-and-a-half years living on Crystal Drive in  Arlington, Virginia, which has probably the densest concentration of  “defense” contractors anywhere in America — I think I understand what is  fundamentally wrong with the U.S. military-industrial complex (MIC.)
 
First and foremost, the MIC has long been incapable of producing durable, efficient, versatile weapons.  
 
We don’t even have to look to the F-35 on this one.  
 
(America's latest fighter which has turned into a spectacular technical failure and massive  ($1.5 trillion!) expense  - see our super-popular article about how this plane stacks up against the Russian competition- edit)   
 Just consider the most basic item, the M-16. 
 
The M-16 Assault Rifle
 
My field experience with this piece of junk is that it runs into problems in the presence of even a small amount of sand. When  enough sand gets in to the chamber and mixes with the lube oil on the  bolt assembly, the grit thus formed results in up to every second round misloading.
 
God forbid you should brush an oiled open breach against the side of  your foxhole—you are out of commission.  In the absence of air or  artillery support or sheer overwhelming numbers on your side, you are  dead meat against anyone with a gun that functions in a sandy  environment.  

And why?  

Because, as I was told in boot camp (whether  it’s true or not), this thing is perfectly built to have zero fault  tolerance.  
 
Supposedly, just about every metal component in the M-16 is cast and/or machined to perfection rather than stamped.  Contrast this with  Russian or Chinese weapons that are said to be built like can-openers to spray lead under any conditions.  In other words, the M-16 is so  sophisticated that it doesn't work well.
 
It is now acknowledged that the M-16 with its 5.56mm rounds  is insufficiently lethal beyond a couple of hundred meters, making  it unsuited to long-distance firefights over open terrain (again those  deserts, or perhaps shootouts between mountain ridges.)
 
The M-1 Abrams tank

Another great example - this can be a real dog.  The engine is a gas  turbine, like with an aircraft, except that it is being driven around in  deserts and even sandstorms, making it extremely finicky and  high-maintenance.  (Would you fly your Boeing into a sandstorm?)  Of  course, the Abrams was designed to fight in Germany where sand is not an  issue.  But during the Iraq adventure, sand so tore up the turbine fans  (or whatever) that over 1000 of these million-dollar "power packs" had  to be removed and sent up for depot-level maintenance or refurbishment  stateside.  
 
Yes, that’s right—these things cannot even be fixed in the  field.  All you can do is pull them out with a crane and ship them back  to the civilians at enormous expense.  At the height of the Iraq  adventure, around 2007, the maintenance backlog was so bad that even the  national media got wind of it.  
 
Of course, when you have the world’s reserve currency, you can afford  all that and more—the entire world is paying for your wars.  
 
But the waste and inefficiency are a fact.
 
The Basic Problem :  Excessive Complexity
 
I think the problem here is that American war planners and  logisticians prefer originality, complexity, and/or  expense-for-the-hell-of-it over versatility and ease of use and  maintenance.  This is no surprise given America’s wealth and the  longtime generous funding of its armed forces.  After all, every  military reflects its own society. 
 
Unfortunately for Uncle Sam, what he gets is equipment that may work very well in one environment but not another.
 
But so much for American equipment per se.  Let’s talk about  Crystal Drive (a neighborhood in suburban Washington where many defense  contractors have offices - edit.) —or more broadly, the MIC.
 
The Military Industrial Complex (MIC) is failing on a massive scale
 
It is clear now that the MIC cannot build anything for less  than 200 percent of its original planned budget (and that’s  being extremely conservative.)  Nor can anything it cranks out nowadays  meet performance or survivability expectations.  Besides the  never-ending supersonic train wreck known as the F-35, we have other  boondoggle failures such as the Littoral Combat Ship, which by all  accounts is less capable and more vulnerable than the 20 to 30  year-old vessels it was supposed to replace.
 
Or, going back a few years, we see the Army’s “Commanche” helicopter,  an intended replacement for the Apache, which blew through $6.9  billion—in 1983-2004 dollars, probably over $10 billion today—before the  entire program was scrapped.  That’s right, over $10 billion  for nothing—not one Commanche was ever delivered for permanent use to an  Army operational unit!  
 
Where did that money go, if they didn’t actually manufacture anything  besides a few prototypes?  Did they spend $10 billion on PowerPoint  presentations?  
 
My brain cannot even wrap around this.  Can you imagine what Russia or China could do for $10 billion?  
 
However, even that pales before the Army's cancelled Future  Combat Systems program, which burned through an estimated (no one knows  exactly) $20 billion from 2003 to somewhere between 2012 and 2014  (depending on what termination milestone you go by), with almost nothing  to show beyond a few prototypes, a lot of concept art, and a 29-pound toy robot made by iRobot of "Roomba" vacuum cleaner fame.   In fact, I can’t think of one big new U.S. weapons system that has  succeeded in the last 25 years, other than perhaps the Stryker armored  car (though some have argued that point, and I just don’t know enough  about it.)
 
As pointed out by many other observers, part of the blame lies  with our political system, where MIC corporations buy politicians and  then receive favors in the form of contracts, whether or not the  contracts make any sense. However, I think this is not the only problem,  nor even necessarily the biggest.  
 
Fundamentally what I think we have is systemic over-complexity resulting in nothing getting done, or done well anyway.
 
US intelligence agencies have the same problem
 
This is akin to the deep systemic crisis in Uncle Sam’s intelligence  agencies, where from 9/11 to the Arab Spring to Crimea to the ISIS  conquest of Mosul to Russia in Syria, the word is always “we didn’t  expect…”  In this case, we have numerous agencies—some of them with  overlapping functions—that are drowning in paperwork and garbage data  (or too much data) and are almost totally useless.  
 
As some readers will remember, it got so bad that in April 2014 the  State Department released a photo collage aiming to prove that (among  other things) a bearded Chechen battalion commander going by the name  Hamza, who appeared in Russian TV footage of the 2008 Olympic War, was  none other than the bearded, overweight Slaviansk militiaman going by  the call-sign “Babai”—in other words, Russian special forces have  invaded the Donbass.  (The New York Times ran with this and was then  oh-so-vaguely and gently reproached by its own ombudsman.)  
 
Shouldn’t this awful joke have been prevented by the Office of the  Director of National Intelligence, which is supposed to promote  info-sharing among agencies and centrally vet all claims and  conclusions—especially those being trumpeted on the State Department’s  website or at its briefings?  Apparently not!
 
Bureaucratic bloat
 
On the other hand, what the U.S. lack-of-intelligence complex is very  good at—besides hiring way too many buxom, flirty young things straight  out of college and with no language skills or any experience at  all (DIA and NGA, you know your ex-military managers like to beautify  their offices)—is providing employment for tens of thousands of its own  staff as well as tens of thousands of grotesquely-overpaid contractors,  including those who build and run billion-dollar eavesdropping centers  that have proven incapable of picking up anything useful, perhaps  because when you try to listen to everything, you end up hearing  nothing. 
 
The lesson here is that the more offices and agencies, the more  managers and political appointees who will seek to justify and expand  their turf and budgets by shoveling out as much money on as many  contracts as possible, as quickly as possible, in many cases even paying  contractors to do little more than just sit around (sometimes at home)  waiting for the next contract.  (I have seen this many times in  Washington.)  
 
Then you get so big that people simply trip over each other and the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.
 
The US MIC worked great 50 years ago because less money and people were involved
 
So I think this is what’s going on not only in the intelligence  apparatus, but in the MIC as a whole.  We have hundreds of thousands of  staff and contractors as well as military officers assigned to liaise  with them, all kinds of project managers and “six-sigma black belts” and  other buzzwords, juggling millions of PowerPoints across the river from  Washington and throughout the country, and they can’t field a  helicopter after spending $10 billion on it. 
 
Really?  How did this great country ever defeat the Japanese Empire?
 
Go to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington; you will see  the most amazing things—e.g. generators designed to operate on the  surface of the Moon, drawing electricity from the heat of plutonium  decay—that were developed when there was no Crystal Drive, no Tysons  Corner, etc.  
 
Then go to the museum’s extension near Dulles airport and check out  the SR-71 “Blackbird”, the fastest and highest-flying airplane ever  built (this was about 50 years ago.)  
 
How did they do it?  
 
Although there were more men in uniform back then, the MIC itself (or  should I say the  Military-Industrial-Intelligence-Homeland-Insecurity-Complex (MIIHIC)) -  had but a fraction of today’s civilian workforce.  Luckily, most of  those paper-pushing “systems integrators” and PowerPoint rangers did not  exist.  Blueprints were drafted with pencil and paper.  
 
Today, Uncle Sam can’t even build a heavy rocket engine, not to mention a good helmet or ejection seat for his F-35.
 
No hope for change going forward
 
So it seems that as a technical civilization we are degenerating.  
 
Sure, there are constant advancements in microelectronics (a.k.a.  integrated circuits) and the programs they allow, but in terms of heavy  engineering—of which the MIIHIC and other government initiatives like  the space program were at the forefront since WWII—it seems that the  U.S. is tapped out.  
 
And you know what?  Throwing more money at it is just going to make it worse. 
 
The organizations with their budgets and their perfectly  reasonable-sounding arguments for ever-greater budgets will grow, their  workforces will grow, the contracting sector will grow, more shiny  office buildings will go up, but the result will be an  ever-increasingly-negative marginal return.  
 
John McCain and all the other broken records in and out of the  Pentagon will say we still don't have enough funds to counter a  pointless Russian invasion of parasitic, inconsequential Lithuania  (currently headed by a longtime communist) or any other 1990s-era  speculative wargame training scenario that somehow carried over into the  public consciousness and morphed into the Greatest Threat to World  Peace.
 
Of course, as long as the U.S. has the money to send gazillion-dollar  armies and armadas against illiterate natives armed with sharp sticks  and coconuts, this may not visibly threaten its hegemony.  Almost any  problem or mistake can be papered over with money, for a long time  anyway.  
 
But eventually, even if the money spigot does not constrict, we will  get to the point where the military really can’t be used as anything  more than a façade or a gunboat road-show, hoping no one calls the  bluff, because the stuff just doesn’t work like it’s supposed to, or  else is too vulnerable (witness the evacuation of the U.S. aircraft  carrier from the Persian Gulf after Uncle Sam found out that Russia has  cruise missiles with a range of at least 1500km, or the ridiculous  sail-around of China's little islands which had the sense to infringe  only very slightly and briefly on that country's imaginary territorial  waters), or the natives can devise their own countermeasures. 
 
In fact, I would say we are at that point already.  Not to mention,  the U.S. Army and the Department of Veterans Affairs are still so  tapped-out after Iraq and Afghanistan that another major ground  operation is unthinkable.  (At this point, Washington is more  likely to launch nukes at somebody than risk another ground war.)
 
So you can anticipate a lot of hand-wringing and a lot more money  being thrown into the breach.  That’s simply what the machine does;  there is no chance to reform it, nor will the Hegemony dissipate  willingly (although lately it’s done a good job of  dissipating unwillingly.)  
 
But all that money may as well be flushed down the can. 
 
The threshold has been reached and it's all downhill from here.

This is all pretty much standard knowledge within the defense industry. The MIL-STD-810 (whatever revision it is now) is all about this particular issue. But the things is that the money is NOT in making better weapons systems for use, but rather as a system to make a lot of money to the owners of the military-industrial industry.

And that is already very well known.

Russia’s Airborne Forces Differ Greatly from NATO’s (Cool Video)

Many analysts consider them the best in the world and totally unique.  Why?
They are much bigger (50,000 troops fully combat ready)
They are mechanized (they parachute heavy equipment in with troops)
They are constantly innovating and have legendary esprit de corps
Interesting:  They include a saint among their veterans  
 
-This article from our archives was first published on RI in August 2015

This article originally appeared at The Vineyard of the Saker. The Saker (The Vineyard of the Saker) Wed, Dec 9 2020 | 1100 words 16,197 Comments

Russia's Airborne Forces Differ Greatly from NATO's  (Cool Video)
                                                                                                   

What I want to share with you today is a promo movie by Zvezda TV,  the semi-official TV channel of the Russian Ministry of Defense, at the  occasion of the 85th anniversary of the Russian Airborne Forces.  So  don’t expect a hard-hitting documentary asking the tough questions and  making critical comments. 
 
However, this is nonetheless a very interesting  video and when I saw it, I begged Alena Scarecrow and Tatzhit to  translate and subtitle it, which they very kindly did.  Before letting  you watch the video, I would like to share with you a few thoughts about  the Russian Airborne Forces (called ‘VDV’ in Russian) and about their  military, social, political and even spiritual role in modern Russia.

The Russian Airborne Forces

The Russian VDV are truly an absolutely unique phenomenon and they should not be confused with any other airborne force.

For one thing, the VDV are fully mechanized.   

Firstly. So while they are ‘paratroopers’, these paratroopers are not just light  infantry (like, say, the US 82nd AB), but a very mobile force, fully  mechanized and with a *lot* of firepower.  In the movie you are about to  watch, you will see some of their armored vehicles and artillery pieces  which, uniquely, can also be delivered by parachute.  What the movie  does not show is the artillery of the VDV which includes such systems as  the 2S9 Nona,  the D-30 howitzer or the 2S25 self-propelled tank destroyer.

Second,  the VDV are a numerically huge force which currently totals 50’000 men  and includes 5 Airborne Divisions and 6 Airborne Brigades (including the  45th Special Forces of the VDV Brigade).  All of them air-deployable  and on a top-level or readiness.

Thirdly, the VDV truly are the  embodiment of military valor and tactical skills and they have played an  absolutely crucial role in many Soviet and Russian battles, but  probably never more so than during the worst tragedy in their long  history: the battle for Ulus-Kert in which the entire 6th Airborne  company perished. 

I don’t have the space and time to  recount in detail what happened on that day of early 2000 but to those  interested by this amazing event I would recommend the article “ULUS-KERT: An Airborne Company’s Last Stand” by Sergeant Michael D. Wilmoth, US Army Reserve, and Lieutenant Colonel Peter G. Tsouras, US Army Reserve, Retired, in the Military Review of July-August 1991, pp 91-96 (click here for  this article reposted on this blog).   Keep in mind that this article  was not written by the promotions department of Zvezda TV, but by two US  military experts who are very critical of many aspects of what took  place that day (and rightly so).

What is absolutely crucial for the understanding of the importance of this battle for Hill 776 in  Ulus-Kert is that the year 2000 marked the absolute rock-bottom of the  “democratic experiment” (aka the American colonization) of Russia.  

Yes,  Putin has just come to power, but the country was absolutely devastated  by a decade of Soviet stagnation followed by another decade of  “democratic reforms” and Putin was just making his very first steps as a  new head of state. 

What the 6th company achieved on Hill 776 was  an immense wake-up call to the entire Russian nation saying “enough is  enough” and “not one single step back”.  

The article by Wilmoth and  Tsouras accurately describes all the failures in command and execution  which resulted in the tragedy of the 6th company, but it is precisely these  failures which made the sacrifice of these men so amazing: the country  had essentially abandoned its own military, but the young men of the VDV  did not hesitate to die, all of them, to resist the face of evil (and, in those days, nothing embodied absolute evil as much as the Chechen  Wahabis and their reign of terror and medieval atrocities). 

It is  hard to over-estimate the contribution which the Russian Airborne  Forces have made to the rebirth of Russia.  But this goes even further.

I  strongly believe that it is not a coincidence that the Russian Airborne  Forces have even produced an Orthodox martyr and saint: Evgenii  Aleksandrovich Rodionov.  You can read a short summary of the life and  death of Rodionov in the Wikipedia article under his name.

What  is so important about the case of Rodionov is that died as a martyr  because he refused to abandon his Orthodox faith and that his podvig (spiritual feat) happened away from everybody at a time when, as the sad expression went, “every boy wanted to become a criminal thug and every girl a prostitute” as people used to say in 1996, in the midst of the “democratic hell” Russia had become. 

Though  I cannot prove it, I am personally deeply convinced that the fact that  Rodionov was a solider of the Airborne Forces is not a coincidence.  I  have met enough Airborne officers and soldiers myself and I know that  their level of patriotism and spiritual awareness is exceptionally high  because they live by an honor code, an ideal, which has it roots in the  most ancient Russian military traditions which have always been immersed  in spiritual and moral values far beyond just winning a battle.

Now, please don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying  that all the soldiers of the VDV are some kind of invincible saints or  anything like that.  Far from it.  It is enough to see the footage of  the kind of silly drunken nonsense these guys display each August 2nd  (the day of the Holy Prophet Elijah, Patron of the Russian Airborne  Forces) to lose any such illusions:

And one reality should not overshadow the other one: they are both equally Russian and equally typical of the VDV.
What  I am trying to illustrate by all of the above is that the Russian  Airborne Forces are an absolutely unique, and uniquely Russian,  phenomenon and that they are a truly formidable force by any measure.   Now for a more US-style promo movie, with lot’s of high-tech hardware  and “cool” shots, please see the following video. 

It will show  you that the Russian VDV are also very modern and forward looking  military forces with over 85 years of development behind their back.   And, having watched that video, ask yourself this simple question: how impressed to you think these guys are with the new multi-national NATO “spearhead” and “rapid reaction” forces?

the day of the Holy Prophet Elijah, Patron of the Russian Airborne Forces — The day of the Holy Prophet Elijah, Patron of the Russian Airborne Forces.

You know…

Yeah, you know, that it’s a really cold day in Hell when the American news would say anything good about any other military force, whether it is Russian on Chinese. But here, on MM we try to provide insight.

As I have tried to state elsewhere, if you want to hear about what other narrative is being promoted in the American echo chambers (election fraud, political bribes, mind control, etc) you need not come to MM. This is a completely different type of site. We are not a “me too” of the preferred NSA narrative venue cabal.

Here’s a taste of what the echo chambers in the USA report on Chinese and Russian military forces… America is the best! America is the largest, strongest and best trained. China and Russia military are “push overs”. We are undefeated, and the most powerful military in the history of the world!

American military. — American military in the eyes of American media.

The experts have spoken and Americans are ready to die for “their” country…

Russia

Not So Scary: This Is Why Russia's Military Is a Paper Tiger. Certainly Moscow’s military forces will continue to modernize, but Russian military might—other than its nuclear forces—is an ...

-National Interest

Russia banned from using its name, flag at next two Olympics
 
Russia will not be able to use its name, flag and  anthem at the next two Olympics or at any world championships for the  next two years after a ruling Thursday by the Court of Arbitration for  Sport.

In other words: this doping scandal never existed; but it was never  about sports: it is all - and always was - about propaganda. Russian  athletes will continue to compete normally - only without the Russian  symbols.
This is a clear attack against Russia.

China

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Wednesday that while China has  more ships, it'll be a while before it can match the power of the US  Navy.
 
"I want to make clear that China cannot match the United States when it comes to naval power," Esper explained at a RAND Corporation event.

"Even  if we stopped building new ships, it would take the [People's Republic  of China] years to close the gap when it comes to our capability on the  high seas," he said. "Ship numbers are important, but they don't tell  the whole story."

And of course, there is the obligatory bullshit reporting on how strange China is. Uh. Sure….

Anti China news. — Is this a thing? Only inside American newspapers.

Meanwhile…

What does all this mean?

Well, I have been promoting the idea that America as it stands today is not sustainable. But I am NOT a “lone voice in the wilderness”. Many others have also made these observations. For instance…

But you all don’t need to be a reader to follow this. All you need to do is take a casual look around you. Just look.

The stench of decay permeates America at all levels…

America today. — Women offer sex for McDonald’s food.

Not yet convinced?

Cheap sex. — I guess that sex comes cheaply in the United States.

I guess that if the American leadership are all psychopaths, and that they rigged the elections in their favor so that the serf-slaves serve them, then everything is pretty much following the natural progression of order. It ‘s a stratification of society into a ruler class and a servant class, and that’s just the way it is. If this keeps up, castes will form, and America will resemble the caste system within India.

Any your boys and girls who read this will be in the lower, servant, classes.

If not, then the United States will collapse upon itself. Which is why everyone is writing about this issue, no one wants to face the idea that the USA can continue and be permitted to set up a stratified society. One of the Haves, and the other a “disposable class”.

So, as uncomfortable as it is, let’s all hope for the collapse of the USA.

Difficult. — It’s very difficult to argue otherwise.

Let’s trust that the global oligarchy have successfully managed to isolate the USA on the global stage to the extent that any damage during the American meltdown will be limited to the North American region. I sincerely hope that this remains the case.

That is my “gut” feeling. And that is what I am betting on.

But others seem to think that if America collapses, then the entire world will collapse as well. In their minds the USA …IS THE WORLD. And thus it’s collapse will destroy the world (more or less). Nope.

Nope.

Not true.

But you can read for yourself and come to your own conclusions…

That Collapse You Ordered…?

At 600 million, the living standard in the USA would be on a level with the post-Roman peasantry of Fifth century Europe, but without the charm, since many of the planet’s linked systems — soils, oceans, climate, mineral resources — will be in much greater disarray than was the case 1,500 years ago. Anyway, that state-of-life may be a way-station to something more dire. Alpert’s optimal case would be a world human population of 50 million, deployed in three “city-states,” in the Pacific Northwest, the Uruguay / Paraguay border region, and China, that could support something close to today’s living standards for a tiny population, along with science and advanced technology, run on hydropower. The rest of world, he says, would just go back to nature, or what’s left of it. Alpert’s project aims to engineer a path to that optimal outcome.

I hadn’t encountered quite such an extreme view of the future before, except for some fictional exercises like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. (Alpert, too, sees cannibalism as one likely byproduct of the journey ahead.) Obviously, my own venture into the fictionalized future of the World Made by Hand books depicted a much kinder and gentler re-set to life at the circa-1800 level of living, at least in the USA. Apparently, I’m a sentimental softie.

A question of interest to many readers is how soon or how rapid the unraveling of these systems might be. When civilizations crumble, it tends to fast-track. The Roman empire seems to be an exception, but in many ways it was far more resilient than ours, being a sort of advanced Flintstones economy, with even its giant-scale activities (e.g. building the Coliseum) being accomplished by human-powered work. In any case, the outfit really fell apart steadily after the reign of emperor Marcus Aurelius (180 AD).

The Romans had their own version of a financialized economy: they simply devalued their coins by mixing in less and less silver at the mint, so they could pretend to pay for the same luxuries they had grown accustomed to as resources stretched thin. Our financialized economy — like everything else we do — operates at levels of complexity so baffling that even its supposed managers at the central banks are flying blind through fogs of debt, deception, and moral hazard. When that vessel of pretense slams into a mountain top, the effects are likely to be quick and lethal to the economies on the ground below.

In our time, the most recent crash of a major socioeconomic system was the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990-91. Of course, it happened against the backdrop of a global system that was still revving pretty well outside the USSR, and that softened the blow. Ultimately, the Russians still had plenty of oil to sell, which allowed them to re-set well above the Fifth Century peasant level of existence. At least for now. The Soviet Union collapsed because it was a thoroughly dishonest system that ran on pretense and coercion. Apparently, the US Intel Community completely missed the signs that political collapse was underway.

They seem to be pretty clueless about the fate of the USA these days, too. If you consider the preoccupations of two very recent Intel chiefs — John Brennan of CIA and James Clapper, DNI — who now inveigh full-time on CNN as avatars of the Deep State against the wicked Golden Golem of Greatness. Personally, I expect our collapse to be as sudden and unexpected as the USSR’s, but probably bloodier because there’s simply more stuff just lying around to fight over. Of course, I expect the collapse to express itself first in banking, finance, and markets — being so deeply faith-based and so subject to simple failures of faith. But it will become political and social soon enough, maybe all-at once. And when it happens in the USA, it will spread through the financial systems the whole world round.

Conclusion

I need a beer.

…

[Result 1] So all evidence points to a massive collapse with the inclusion of civil strife, civil war, and global war set up as distractions that quickly get out of hand.

If this does not happen…

[Restult 2] Then evidence points to a fully enslaved nation of dumbed-down slaves that service the wealthy in a forced stratification system that would resemble the caste system in India.

You will not hear any of this in the American “news” because you are not to know of it. Your rulers are all psychopaths that indeed want either of the two outcomes to manifest. They want either result one or two. Nothing else is acceptable to them.

Some John Titor Stuff…

John Titor visits to our primary world line template, showing the deviation values.

A final Thought

And my thoughts…

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Law 11 of The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene; Learn to keep people dependent on you (Full Text)

What is “welfare”? It is “free stuff” from the government, as long as you meet their criteria. And since it is important to “them” to maintain their budgets, the natural inclination for the welfare system is to grow. To grow larger, and larger, and even larger. All the while, those on welfare are becoming dependent upon the government.

Fun Fact: China doesn't have "welfare". You either work or die.

Their system is free work for anyone. You join the work collective, and you are given free food, free housing, free clothes, and a modest stipend to live off of. If you cannot do the bare minimum work requirements, the collective will kick you out, and you will either beg or starve.

And the end result of decades of this behavior, and this system, is to create a class of people that act as pawns for those that dish out the benefits.

Let’s look at the techniques that criminal masterminds use to keep people dependent upon them, and have them doing things that they naturally would be abhorrent towards.

LAW 11

LEARN TO KEEP PEOPLE DEPENDENT ON YOU

JUDGMENT

To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

Sometime in the Middle Ages, a mercenary soldier (a condottiere), whose name has not been recorded, saved the town of Siena from a foreign aggressor. How could the good citizens of Siena reward him? No amount of money or honor could possibly compare in value to the preservation of a city’s liberty. The citizens thought of making the mercenary the lord of the city, but even that, they decided, wasn’t recompense enough. At last one of them stood before the assembly called to debate this matter and said, “Let us kill him and then worship him as our patron saint.” And so they did.

The Count of Carmagnola was one of the bravest and most successful of all the condottieri. In 1442, late in his life, he was in the employ of the city of Venice, which was in the midst of a long war with Florence. The count was suddenly recalled to Venice. A favorite of the people, he was received there with all kinds of honor and splendor. That evening he was to dine with the doge himself, in the doge’s palace. On the way into the palace, however, he noticed that the guard was leading him in a different direction from usual. Crossing the famous Bridge of Sighs, he suddenly realized where they were taking him—to the dungeon. He was convicted on a trumped-up charge and the next day in the Piazza San Marco, before a horrified crowd who could not understand how his fate had changed so drastically, he was beheaded.

THE TWO HORSES

Two horses were carrying two loads. The front Horse went well, but the rear Horse was lazy. The men began to pile the rear Horse’s load on the front Horse; when they had transferred it all, the rear Horse found it easy going, and he said to the front Horse: “Toil and sraeat! The more you try, the more you have to suffer.” When they reached the tavern, the owner said; “Why should I fodder two horses when I carry all on one? I had better give the one all the food it wants, and cut the throat of the other; at least I shall have the hide.” And so he did. 

FABLES. LEO TOLSIOY, 1828-1910

Interpretation

Many of the great condottieri of Renaissance Italy suffered the same fate as the patron saint of Siena and the Count of Carmagnola: They won battle after battle for their employers only to find themselves banished, imprisoned, or executed. The problem was not ingratitude; it was that there were so many other condottieri as able and valiant as they were.

They were replaceable.

Nothing was lost by killing them. Meanwhile, the older among them had grown powerful themselves, and wanted more and more money for their services. How much better, then, to do away with them and hire a younger, cheaper mercenary. That was the fate of the Count of Carmagnola, who had started to act impudently and independently. He had taken his power for granted without making sure that he was truly indispensable.

Such is the fate (to a less violent degree, one hopes) of those who do not make others dependent on them. Sooner or later someone comes along who can do the job as well as they can—someone younger, fresher, less expensive, less threatening.

Be the only one who can do what you do, and make the fate of those who hire you so entwined with yours that they cannot possibly get rid of you. Otherwise you will someday be forced to cross your own Bridge of Sighs.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

When Otto von Bismarck became a deputy in the Prussian parliament in 1847, he was thirty-two years old and without an ally or friend. Looking around him, he decided that the side to ally himself with was not the parliament’s liberals or conservatives, not any particular minister, and certainly not the people. It was with the king, Frederick William IV. This was an odd choice to say the least, for Frederick was at a low point of his power. A weak, indecisive man, he consistently gave in to the liberals in parliament; in fact he was spineless, and stood for much that Bismarck disliked, personally and politically. Yet Bismarck courted Frederick night and day. When other deputies attacked the king for his many inept moves, only Bismarck stood by him.

THE CAT THAT WALKED BY HIMSELF

Then the Woman laughed and set the Cat a bowl of the warm white milk and said, “0 Cat, you are as clever as a man, but remember that your bargain was not made with the Man or the Dog, and I do not know what they will do when they come home.” 

“What is that to me?” said the Cat. “If I have my place in the Cave by the fire and my warm white milk three times a day, I do not care what the Man or the Dog can do.” 

... And from that day to this, Best Beloved, three proper Men out of five will always throw things at a Cat whenever they meet him, and all proper Dogs will chase him up a tree. 

But the Cat keeps his side of the bargain too. 

He will kill mice, and he will be kind to Babies when he is in the house, just as long as they do not pull his tail too hard. 

But when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up and the night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone. 

-JUST SO STORIES, RUDYARD KIPLING, 1865-1936

Finally, it all paid off: In 1851 Bismarck was made a minister in the king’s cabinet. Now he went to work. Time and again he forced the king’s hand, getting him to build up the military, to stand up to the liberals, to do exactly as Bismarck wished. He worked on Frederick’s insecurity about his manliness, challenging him to be firm and to rule with pride. And he slowly restored the king’s powers until the monarchy was once again the most powerful force in Prussia.

When Frederick died, in 1861, his brother William assumed the throne. William disliked Bismarck intensely and had no intention of keeping him around. But he also inherited the same situation his brother had: enemies galore, who wanted to nibble his power away. He actually considered abdicating, feeling he lacked the strength to deal with this dangerous and precarious position. But Bismarck insinuated himself once again. He stood by the new king, gave him strength, and urged him into firm and decisive action. The king grew dependent on Bismarck’s strong-arm tactics to keep his enemies at bay, and despite his antipathy toward the man, he soon made him his prime minister. The two quarreled often over policy—Bismarck was much more conservative—but the king understood his own dependency. Whenever the prime minister threatened to resign, the king gave in to him, time after time. It was in fact Bismarck who set state policy.

Years later, Bismarck’s actions as Prussia’s prime minister led the various German states to be united into one country. Now Bismarck finagled the king into letting himself be crowned emperor of Germany. Yet it was really Bismarck who had reached the heights of power. As right-hand man to the emperor, and as imperial chancellor and knighted prince, he pulled all the levers.

Interpretation

Most young and ambitious politicians looking out on the political landscape of 1840s Germany would have tried to build a power base among those with the most power. Bismarck saw different. Joining forces with the powerful can be foolish: They will swallow you up, just as the doge of Venice swallowed up the Count of Carmagnola. No one will come to depend on you if they are already strong. If you are ambitious, it is much wiser to seek out weak rulers or masters with whom you can create a relationship of dependency. You become their strength, their intelligence, their spine. What power you hold! If they got rid of you the whole edifice would collapse.

Necessity rules the world. People rarely act unless compelled to. If you create no need for yourself, then you will be done away with at first opportunity. If, on the other hand, you understand the Laws of Power and make others depend on you for their welfare, if you can counteract their weakness with your own “iron and blood,” in Bismarck’s phrase, then you will survive your masters as Bismarck did. You will have all the benefits of power without the thorns that come from being a master.

Thus a wise prince will think of ways to keep his citizens of every sort and under every circumstance dependent on the state and on him; and then they will always be trustworthy. 

-Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527

THE I I.M-IRI I AND THE AND

An extravagant young Vine, vainly ambitious of independence, and fond of rambling at large, despised the alliance of a slately elm that grew near, and courted her embraces. Having risen to some small height without any kind of support, she shot forth her flimsy branches to a very uncommon and superfluous length; calling on her neighbor to take notice how little she wanted his assistance. “Poor infatuated shrub,” replied the elm, “how inconsistent is thy conduct! Wouldst thou be truly independent, thou shouldst carefully apply those juices to the enlargement of thy stem. which thou lavishest in vain upon unnecessary foliage. I shortly shall behold thee grovelling on the ground; yet countenanced, indeed, by many of the human race, who, intoxicated with vanity, have despised economy; and who, to support for a moment their empty boast of independence, have exhausted the very source of it in frivolous expenses.” 

-FABLES, ROBERT DODSLFY, 1703-1764

KEYS TO POWER

The ultimate power is the power to get people to do as you wish. When you can do this without having to force people or hurt them, when they willingly grant you what you desire, then your power is untouchable. The best way to achieve this position is to create a relationship of dependence.

The master requires your services; he is weak, or unable to function without you; you have enmeshed yourself in his work so deeply that doing away with you would bring him great difficulty, or at least would mean valuable time lost in training another to replace you. Once such a relationship is established you have the upper hand, the leverage to make the master do as you wish. It is the classic case of the man behind the throne, the servant of the king who actually controls the king. Bismarck did not have to bully either Frederick or William into doing his bidding. He simply made it clear that unless he got what he wanted he would walk away, leaving the king to twist in the wind. Both kings soon danced to Bismarck’s tune.

Do not be one of the many who mistakenly believe that the ultimate form of power is independence. Power involves a relationship between people; you will always need others as allies, pawns, or even as weak masters who serve as your front. The completely independent man would live in a cabin in the woods—he would have the freedom to come and go as he pleased, but he would have no power. The best you can hope for is that others will grow so dependent on you that you enjoy a kind of reverse independence: Their need for you frees you.

Louis XI (1423-1483), the great Spider King of France, had a weakness for astrology. He kept a court astrologer whom he admired, until one day the man predicted that a lady of the court would die within eight days. When the prophecy came true, Louis was terrified, thinking that either the man had murdered the woman to prove his accuracy or that he was so versed in his science that his powers threatened Louis himself. In either case he had to be killed.

One evening Louis summoned the astrologer to his room, high in the castle. Before the man arrived, the king told his servants that when he gave the signal they were to pick the astrologer up, carry him to the window, and hurl him to the ground, hundreds of feet below.

The astrologer soon arrived, but before giving the signal, Louis decided to ask him one last question: “You claim to understand astrology and to know the fate of others, so tell me what your fate will be and how long you have to live.”

“I shall die just three days before Your Majesty,” the astrologer replied.

The king’s signal was never given. The man’s life was spared. The Spider King not only protected his astrologer for as long as he was alive, he lavished him with gifts and had him tended by the finest court doctors.

The astrologer survived Louis by several years, disproving his power of prophecy but proving his mastery of power.

This is the model: Make others dependent on you. To get rid of you might spell disaster, even death, and your master dares not tempt fate by finding out. There are many ways to obtain such a position. Foremost among them is to possess a talent and creative skill that simply cannot be replaced.

During the Renaissance, the major obstacle to a painter’s success was finding the right patron. Michelangelo did this better than anyone else: His patron was Pope Julius II. But he and the pope quarreled over the building of the pope’s marble tomb, and Michelangelo left Rome in disgust. To the amazement of those in the pope’s circle, not only did the pope not fire him, he sought him out and in his own haughty way begged the artist to stay. Michelangelo, he knew, could find another patron, but he could never find another Michelangelo.

You do not have to have the talent of a Michelangelo; you do have to have a skill that sets you apart from the crowd. You should create a situation in which you can always latch on to another master or patron but your master cannot easily ,find another servant with your particular talent. And if, in reality, you are not actually indispensable, you must find a way to make it look as if you are. Having the appearance of specialized knowledge and skill gives you leeway in your ability to deceive those above you into thinking they cannot do without you. Real dependence on your master’s part, however, leaves him more vulnerable to you than the faked variety, and it is always within your power to make your skill indispensable.

This is what is meant by the intertwining of fates: Like creeping ivy, you have wrapped yourself around the source of power, so that it would cause great trauma to cut you away. And you do not necessarily have to entwine yourself around the master; another person will do, as long as he or she too is indispensable in the chain.

One day Harry Cohn, president of Columbia Pictures, was visited in his office by a gloomy group of his executives. It was 1951, when the witch- hunt against Communists in Hollywood, carried on by the U.S. Congress’s House Un-American Activities Committee, was at its height. The executives had bad news: One of their employees, the screenwriter John Howard Lawson, had been singled out as a Communist. They had to get rid of him right away or suffer the wrath of the committee.

Harry Cohn was no bleeding-heart liberal; in fact, he had always been a die-hard Republican.

His favorite politician was Benito Mussolini, whom he had once visited, and whose framed photo hung on his wall. If there was someone he hated Cohn would call him a “Communist bastard.” But to the executives’ amazement Cohn told them he would not fire Lawson. He did not keep the screenwriter on because he was a good writer—there were many good writers in Hollywood. He kept him because of a chain of dependence: Lawson was Humphrey Bogart’s writer and Bogart was Columbia’s star. If Cohn messed with Lawson he would ruin an immensely profitable relationship. That was worth more than the terrible publicity brought to him by his defiance of the committee.

Henry Kissinger managed to survive the many bloodlettings that went on in the Nixon White House not because he was the best diplomat Nixon could find—there were other fine negotiators—and not because the two men got along so well: They did not. Nor did they share their beliefs and politics. Kissinger survived because he entrenched himself in so many areas of the political structure that to do away with him would lead to chaos. Michelangelo’s power was intensive, depending on one skill, his ability as an artist; Kissinger’s was extensive.

He got himself involved in so many aspects and departments of the administration that his involvement became a card in his hand. It also made him many allies. If you can arrange such a position for yourself, getting rid of you becomes dangerous—all sorts of interdependencies will unravel. Still, the intensive form of power provides more freedom than the extensive, because those who have it depend on no particular master, or particular position of power, for their security.

To make others dependent on you, one route to take is the secret- intelligence tactic. By knowing other people’s secrets, by holding information that they wouldn’t want broadcast, you seal your fate with theirs. You are untouchable. Ministers of secret police have held this position throughout the ages: They can make or break a king, or, as in the case of J. Edgar Hoover, a president. But the role is so full of insecurities and paranoia that the power it provides almost cancels itself out. You cannot rest at ease, and what good is power if it brings you no peace?

One last warning: Do not imagine that your master’s dependence on you will make him love you. In fact, he may resent and fear you. But, as Machiavelli said, it is better to be feared than loved. Fear you can control; love, never. Depending on an emotion as subtle and changeable as love or friendship will only make you insecure. Better to have others depend on you out of fear of the consequences of losing you than out of love of your company.

Image: Vines with Many Thorns. Below, the roots grow deep and wide. Above, the vines push through bushes, entwine themselves around trees and poles and window ledges. To get rid of them would cost such toil and blood, it is easier to let them climb.

Authority: Make people depend on you. More is to be gained from such dependence than courtesy. He who has slaked his thirst, immediately turns his back on the well, no longer needing it. When dependence disappears, so does civility and decency, and then respect. The first lesson which experience should teach you is to keep hope alive but never satisfied, keeping even a royal patron ever in need of you. (Baltasar Gracián, 1601- 1658)

REVERSAL

The weakness of making others depend on you is that you are in some measure dependent on them. But trying to move beyond that point means getting rid of those above you—it means standing alone, depending on no one. Such is the monopolistic drive of a J. P. Morgan or a John D.

Rockefeller—to drive out all competition, to be in complete control. If you can corner the market, so much the better.

No such independence comes without a price. You are forced to isolate yourself. Monopolies often turn inward and destroy themselves from the internal pressure. They also stir up powerful resentment, making their enemies bond together to fight them. The drive for complete control is often ruinous and fruitless. Interdependence remains the law, independence a rare and often fatal exception. Better to place yourself in a position of mutual dependence, then, and to follow this critical law rather than look for its reversal. You will not have the unbearable pressure of being on top, and the master above you will in essence be your slave, for he will depend on you.

Conclusion

Powerful people; those with near limitless pools of money, can easily make others dependent upon them. By using this dependence, they can use them as an army; or as a resource to achieve far greater deeds than what thy can attempt alone. We must realize that EVERYONE who has money in America uses this technique.

Whether it is Progressive Marxists that have the welfare of the poor in their hands, or whether it is the Conservative Republicans that have the Social Security incomes of the elderly. All the wealthy use this technique.

How manipulated are you?

What are you willing to do to maintain the status quo? That is the truest measure of your enslavement.

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The great danger of electronic books. Heed this warning.

One of the “givens” that I pretty much have come to accept as normal is the belief that if you bought something, you owned it. If you bought a pair of shoes, it was yours and you could do what ever you wanted with it. If you bought a pack of cigarettes, you could smoke them or throw them away. It was your possession and you could do what you wanted with it. Unfortunately, this is no longer true in the United States.

It all began with housing. The days of full-ownership of a house in America are long, long over. And I am not talking about a mortgage either. I am talking about taxes, and regulations, and fees and requirements. If you have to ask permission, then you don’t own it. If you have to pay more money on it, you don’t own it. If someone can change it or alter it without your permission you don’t own it.

Ownership is the bedrock of freedom.

Unfortunately it no longer exists in the United States.

And what is much sadder is that all Americans don’t realize this loss; this loss in the ability to own things, and to use them as you feel fit. They see it as normal. “Of course, you need to ask the local Home Owners Association permission to remodel your house.” “Of course, you cannot smoke cigarettes in a restaurant, or on the street or in a park…” “Of course, you need to pay the upgrade fee on your software program. You don’t really own it, don’t you know.”

This encroachment is sickening to me.

People! If you cannot own things, you are not free. Do you know who else cannot own things?

Slaves.

That’s who.

Back in the day, I had a library of books. No, I am not exaggerating. I had my walls plastered floor to ceiling with books, and my entire house was cluttered with my tomes and books. I loved those things, and I lost them. This story of how they came to disappear is noteworthy in-itself, but, let’s not get sidetracked. With the advent of computerized software, you can have entire libraries that can fit inside an object no bigger than the palm of your hand. Great huh?

Maybe not so.

I once had a iPod with perhaps 10,000 songs on it. I had collected music from all over the internet, mostly “Limewire”, but I also used other services. Then one day, the system reset for a software update. It erased my entire collection! Why? Why in God’s name did this happen?

I will tell you why.

I did not buy the songs from iTunes. (Which is the monopoly that Apple has constructed around it’s iPod platform.)

Was the iPod my property?

Apparently not.

Now the purist might say that I needed to read the fine print in my purchaser’s agreement. And to that I must counter… with this…

You do not own anything that requires that you read “fine print” that defines how you must use that object.

Ah. Let that sink in.

Remember that personal ownership is a fundamental pillar of freedom. If you cannot own things, free and clear, you are just renting them on loan.

And it’s not just me speaking. The United States government and the courts have reinforced this belief. You don’t own much of anything. In fact, it is even against the law to collect rainwater! I mean there is something seriously wrong if you cannot own the rain that falls on you from the skies above.

Let’s talk about books.

Paper Books Can’t Be Shut Off from Afar

“The idea that the books I buy can be relegated to some kind of fucking software license is the most grotesque and awful thing I can imagine,” Doctorow said.

This is a reprint of the great article titled “Paper Books Can’t Be Shut Off from Afar”. Published on Jun 30, 2019 12:00PM EDT Maria Bustillos. All credit to the author.

Private ownership—in particular the private ownership of books, software, music and other cultural information—is the linchpin of a free society. Having many copies of works of art, music and literature distributed widely (e.g., many copies of the same book among many private owners, or many copies of the same audio files, torrents or blockchain ledger entries on many private computers) protects a culture against corruption and censorship. Decentralization strategies like these help to preserve press freedom, and individual freedom. The widespread private ownership of cultural artifacts guarantees civil liberties, and draws people into their culture immanently, persistently, giving it life and power.

Cory Doctorow’s comment on Friday at BoingBoing regarding private ownership of books is well worth reading; he wrote it because Microsoft is shutting down its e-books service, and all the DRM books people bought from them will thus vanish into thin air. Microsoft will provide refunds to those affected, but that isn’t remotely the point. The point is that all their users’ books are to be shut off with a single poof! on Microsoft’s say-so. That is a button that nobody, no corporation and no government agency, should be ever permitted to have.

“The idea that the books I buy can be relegated to some kind of fucking software license is the most grotesque and awful thing I can imagine,” Doctorow said.

At this very moment, governments are forbidding millions of people, Chinese people, Cubans, Belarusians and Egyptians and Hungarians and many, many others all over this world, from reading whatever they want.

So if there is to be a fear of the increasing adoption of e-books such as those offered by Microsoft, and to a far greater degree, Amazon, that’s by far the scariest thing about it. Because if you were to keep all your books in a remotely controlled place, some villain really could come along one day and pretty much flip the switch and take them all away — and not just yours but everyone’s, all at once. What if we had some species of Trump deciding to take action against the despicable, dangerous pointy-heads he is forever railing against?

Boom! Nothing left to read but The Art of the Deal.

I don’t intend on shutting up about this ever, and I’m sure Doctorow won’t either, bless him.

In 2010, techno-utopianism was in full swing, with e.g. Nick Negroponte going around saying that physical books would be mass-produced for only maybe another five years (yeah, sorry guy). His reasoning seems to have had something to do with the fact that books are hard to send to Africa.

Anyway my husband gave me a Kindle for my birthday that year, and I loved it a lot. Thousands and thousands of books fit on this pretty, if potentially sinister, little machine. I’d just go over to Project Gutenberg and vacuum stuff up every which way, because I have no literary discernment whatsoever and will gladly spend the afternoon reading Agatha Christie or really, literally almost anything.

Project Gutenberg is now up to more than 59,500 free e-books, all out of copyright and so classics, mostly. And no need to feel the least bit guilty as you might even at a thrift shop, where whatever you buy, it’s going to take up room on bookshelves that you know you don’t have; these books took up no extra room at all.

I bet you will be surprised to hear when Project Gutenberg first started. 1971 (!) is the true answer, and could they ever destroy every Final Jeopardy contestant with that one, I bet.

Its founder, Michael Hart, was a most unusual and interesting man. The ultimate anti-corporatist. Like Yoda, Mr. Hart doesn’t appear to have possessed much glamour or power on the outside, but he was brimming with these and other virtues on the inside.

He didn’t care two pins about money, wouldn’t take a salary for years and years, and acquired the few bits of stuff he seemed to need at garage sales.

In the 1970s, nobody knew that computers would eventually be used for the mass storage of culture. It hadn’t occurred to anyone yet that the computer would be useful for anything aside from just computation. It was so shockingly, incredibly good at that! There was such a lot of computation that needed doing, so computation was first in line.

Now it is clear as day that whoever controls computer storage will effectively control the media commons.

There are a lot of champions in this fight, but Michael Hart saw it all coming about half a century ago and started typing his fool head off, dozens and dozens of whole books, long before OCR was a gleam in a programmer’s eye.

Hart did more to secure the future of the public domain than anyone else in the world, I believe. Project Gutenberg’s widely distributed books cannot be taken away—and when they’re downloaded and stored on private devices and media, it’s like insurance for Western Civ.

My first few times on Project Gutenberg I downloaded a lot of rare early Wodehouse (highly recommended: The Swoop! or, How Clarence Saved England) and also a lot of Thackeray, Gibbon, pretty much all of Mrs. Gaskell and, just by accident, Émile Gaboriau’s La Vie Infernale — the fruitiest, most marvelous 19th-c. French melodrama (in two parts: The Count’s Millions and Baron Trigault’s Vengeance. I just love those.) Plus Shakespeare and the King James Bible and that sort of stuff.

I am no fan of Amazon, and even back then I resisted spending money there, but I did buy an e-book copy of Infinite Jest, which is far and away my favorite modern novel.

A few days later, I was having a little dispute with my husband over whether or not Wallace misuses the word “ilk” in that book, which with the Kindle’s search feature took about twenty seconds to settle (A: not really; the solecism appears just once, in the quoted speech of Madame Psychosis.)

It’s all thrillingly searchable, and browsable, plus once you get a book on your Kindle (or Nook, or equiv.) you can highlight things and also make your own notes. By now scholars, researchers, historians and journalists will want both a searchable ebook copy and a paper copy, I would think, of anything they’re really interested in.

I also learned that having an e-reader meant that one might quite easily wind up buying more books than before, if anything, because the getting of books was on one’s mind more.

So all that is the upside of owning e-books.

But my Fahrenheit-451-paranoia was fanned into a giant flaming ball of fear-napalm when I looked into the personal ownership of the files and books on my own Kindle. And things have only gotten a lot worse since then.

Almost exactly ten years ago, you may remember, Amazon came stealthily along and deleted e-copies of 1984 (no seriously, they did) and Animal Farm from people’s Kindles — copies they’d already paid for and downloaded — because it turned out that there was a rights problem with the e-publisher.

Jeff Bezos wound up apologizing all over himself and taking it all back and promising never to do that ever again, but the fact remains that Amazon has some kind of access to your Kindle files and can literally remove them, if they feel like it, which is downright creepy, and if it were your computer you would not like it one little bit.

Having learned this, I went along and had a closer look at the then-current Kindle License Agreement.

There was some simply petrifying stuff on there. For starters, then as now, you don’t “own” Kindle books, you’re basically renting them. (“Kindle Content is licensed, not sold, to you by the Content Provider.”)

Amazon’s current terms of use now specify explicitly that they can look over your shoulder while you read. Check this out!

Information Provided to Amazon. The Kindle Application will provide Amazon with information about use of your Kindle Application and its interaction with Kindle Content and the Service (such as last page read, content archiving, available memory, up-time, log files, and signal strength).

They can change the software on you whenever they like, or just shut it down completely, without so much as a by your leave:

Changes to Service; Amendments. We may change, suspend, or discontinue the Service, in whole or in part, including adding or removing Subscription Content from a Service, at any time without notice.

That is how a totalitarian state might go about confiscating books, if they wanted to. There is nothing in this agreement to stop Amazon from modifying the Kindle software to make it impossible for you to read any of your own files on the device.

Such a step is not forbidden to Amazon by this agreement; they are under no apparent obligation to protect any data you might be storing. That’s not to say that there aren’t laws, at least in some states, that might allow you to sue for damages; I don’t know. I’m just saying, this agreement doesn’t require Amazon to protect your data.

A bad government could just grab the controls from them and have at it.

Changes to Service; Amendments.We may change, suspend, or discontinue the Service, in whole or in part, including adding or removing Subscription Content from a Service, at any time without notice. We may amend any of this Agreement’s terms at our sole discretion by posting the revised terms on the Amazon.com website.

Or they might decide to shut just your account down:

Termination. Your rights under this Agreement will automatically terminate if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement. In case of such termination, you must cease all use of the Service, and Amazon may immediately revoke your access to the Service without refund of any fees.

Keep in mind these are your books that you bought or collected. Can you imagine a bookseller or publisher asserting rights over the contents of your bookshelves in your house? That’s basically what we’re talking about, here.

After reading all this back in 2010, I rang the (excellent, and very polite) Kindle customer service up to learn more, especially about privacy issues. One thing I wanted to know was exactly how much access Amazon had to my private, personal Kindle files (such as .txt and .pdf files that I’d made myself.) But after being bumped up through a couple of layers of supervisors, I didn’t get very clear answers. For instance, on the question of Amazon’s remote access to my personal stuff. “We don’t have access to your files,” I was first told. But can you see my personal files? And if you wanted to delete my personal files, as was done with the Orwell books, could you do it?

“We don’t do that.”

Eight or nine years down the road, we can be pretty sure that if a tech behemoth suddenly feels like doing something horrible, they just will do it. Please buy paper books.

A portion of this piece appeared in somewhat different form in 2010 at The Awl.

Conclusion

I used to have an account on Tumblr. I enjoyed it for the strange and beautiful pictures that I would collect there, and when people started to use it to distribute some high quality porn, I collected those images as well. I really liked that webpage and social network.

Then it was bought up or sold to Yahoo!. Every assurance was made that promised that nothing would ever change and that the private collections of pictures would remain intact.

Then came the war on porn. Yahoo! suddenly, yes after saying that they wouldn’t, decided to wholesale delete images, accounts, data and histories. And all my lovely photos about America in the 1930’s, pictures of military conflicts, fantastic and unusual works of art, and yes my on-line porn collection was vaporized in a nanosecond.

Foolish me.

I believed that when a company promised to do something that they would at least try to keep their word.

Three years ago, was my twenty year anniversary of my membership on the Free Republic website. Over the twenty years that I was a member I was one of the most prolific posters with over 10,000 articles that I had posted (and which readied me for the role that this Metallicman venue provides). And then, one of my articles did not meet the desires of one of their censors, and without notice, and any kind of appreciation they deleted my entire account. Jim Robinson probably didn’t have any idea that they did it. But there it was. All my FR contacts, my notes, my articles (no backups either) and my opinions and comments, all deleted.

Poof.

Gone.

Look. I get it. I’m a “big boy”. I should have known better than to put my trust and faith in others. I should have made complete hard-paper backups, and had electronic versions in portable storage media. I was naive.

And when I was “retired” and saw what happened to my life, my possessions and my histories, I saw that I was a “big nothing”. I only existed at the pleasure of others. I only lived in whatever lifestyle that I could scrounge up at the pleasure of others, and what I owned, down to my underwear was all at the mercy of what others might decide to do.

The only way to change this course that the United States is on is to terminate it’s existence catastrophically. It needs to be sudden, and abrupt and a replacement government needs to take it’s place. This sounds so awful, but it need not be.

I advocate that the Federal government be abolished. And the individual states regain their original roles, and maintain their original existence as it was initially intended prior to 1776.

We can let the individual citizens of any given state decide what limits that they want to place on the ownership of property. Not those in California, or Washington DC. And people would no longer be citizens of the United States of America, but would be the sovereign citizen of Pennsylvania, or of Maryland, or of Colorado, or of Wyoming.

The sovereign citizen movement is a loose grouping of American litigants, commentators, tax protesters, and financial-scheme promoters. 

Self-described "sovereign citizens" see themselves as answerable only to their particular interpretations of the common law and as not subject to any government statutes or proceedings. 

In the United States, they do not recognize U.S. currency and maintain that they are "free of any legal constraints". They especially reject most forms of taxation as illegitimate. 

Participants in the movement argue this concept in opposition to the idea of "federal citizens", who, they say, have unknowingly forfeited their rights by accepting some aspect of federal law. The doctrines of the movement resemble those of the freemen on the land movement more commonly found in the Commonwealth, such as Australia and Canada.

-Wikipedia

So says Wikipedia.

For now.

Then they will arbitrarily change it yet again.

But, you know, it’s so easy to be misunderstood. And for me, it’s better not to “fight city hall”, or “beat a dead horse”. You live life to the best of your ability, and if you find that you are not able to live life to your satisfaction then you “move to greener pastures”.

Which is what I did.

I live in China, and I do own my houses. I don’t rent them. I don’t have mortgages on them. I never pay taxes on them, and I am not subject to any rules or regulations regarding them. Nor do I need to ask permission to renovate them.

That is what freedom is.

Stop.

Take a realistic appraisal of what you really own. Do not include anything that requires payments, fees, regulations that you must abide by, or that is subject to inspections, or random investigations. If you are an American you will discover that you actually own very little.

You own, functionally, just about the same as what a Roman slave would own.

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Law 13 from The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene; When asking for help, appeal to people’s self interest, never to their mercy or gratitude (Full Text)

Ah. And this is true about anything. Find out what the person wants, and then appeal to that. This formula applies for those courting an attractive young lady, or a young man trying to get a job. It functions well when you are trying to get customers, or when you just want to get something done. Approach people, and then find out what they want or need. Then you appeal to that side of their personality.

This is one of those chapters where people start screaming that they didn’t realize that you were such a dick, or that you were so cold, callus or calculating. But, it’s really not the case at all. To understand others is to have a strong EQ; a strong Emotional Quotient. Most women (not all, but most) have this. Men, well, sorry to say guys, we don’t. In fact, it’s only after we’ve been around women for long extended periods of time that we finally “get with the program”, and learn a few things.

When someone comes to me for a job, I let them give me their pitch. They tell me about themselves, and all the time I seeing if they can fit in with my little team of go-getters. I see if they will “be a fit”. But also, I am seeing what they can “bring to the table”. What they can give me, as say compared to another applicant.

To get what you desire, you need to make yourself desirable to others. To do that, you need to appeal to their self-interest.

LAW 13

WHEN ASKING FOR HELP, APPEAL TO PEOPLE’S SELF- INTEREST, NEVER TO THEIR MERCY OR GRATITUDE

JUDGMENT

If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

THE PEASANT AND THE APPLE-TREE

A peasant had in his garden an apple-tree, which bore no fruit, but only served as a perch for the sparrows and grasshoppers. 

He resolved to cut it down, and, taking his ax in hand, made a bold stroke at its roots. 

The grasshoppers and sparrows entreated him not to cut down the tree that sheltered them, but to spare it, and they would sing to him and lighten his labors. 

He paid no attention to their request, but gave the tree a second and a third blow with his ax. 

When he reached the hollow of the tree, he found a hive full of honey. Having tasted the honeycomb, he threw down his ax, and, looking on the tree as isacred, took great care of it. 

Self-interest alone moves some men. 

FABLES, AESOP, SIXTH CENTURY B.C.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

In the early fourteenth century, a young man named Castruccio Castracani rose from the rank of common soldier to become lord of the great city of Lucca, Italy. One of the most powerful families in the city, the Poggios, had been instrumental in his climb (which succeeded through treachery and bloodshed), but after he came to power, they came to feel he had forgotten them. His ambition outweighed any gratitude he felt. In 1325, while Castruccio was away fighting Lucca’s main rival, Florence, the Poggios conspired with other noble families in the city to rid themselves of this troublesome and ambitious prince.

Mounting an insurrection, the plotters attacked and murdered the governor whom Castruccio had left behind to rule the city. Riots broke out, and the Castruccio supporters and the Poggio supporters were poised to do battle. At the height of the tension, however, Stefano di Poggio, the oldest member of the family, intervened, and made both sides lay down their arms.

A peaceful man, Stefano had not taken part in the conspiracy. He had told his family it would end in a useless bloodbath. Now he insisted he should intercede on the family’s behalf and persuade Castruccio to listen to their complaints and satisfy their demands. Stefano was the oldest and wisest member of the clan, and his family agreed to put their trust in his diplomacy rather than in their weapons.

When news of the rebellion reached Castruccio, he hurried back to Lucca. By the time he arrived, however, the fighting had ceased, through Stefano’s agency, and he was surprised by the city’s calm and peace. Stefano di Poggio had imagined that Castruccio would be grateful to him for his part in quelling the rebellion, so he paid the prince a visit. He explained how he had brought peace, then begged for Castruccio’s mercy.

He said that the rebels in his family were young and impetuous, hungry for power yet inexperienced; he recalled his family’s past generosity to Castruccio. For all these reasons, he said, the great prince should pardon the Poggios and listen to their complaints. This, he said, was the only just thing to do, since the family had willingly laid down their arms and had always supported him.

Castruccio listened patiently. He seemed not the slightest bit angry or resentful. Instead, he told Stefano to rest assured that justice would prevail, and he asked him to bring his entire family to the palace to talk over their grievances and come to an agreement.

As they took leave of one another, Castruccio said he thanked God for the chance he had been given to show his clemency and kindness.

That evening the entire Poggio family came to the palace. Castruccio immediately had them imprisoned and a few days later all were executed, including Stefano.

Interpretation

Stefano di Poggio is the embodiment of all those who believe that the justice and nobility of their cause will prevail. Certainly appeals to justice and gratitude have occasionally succeeded in the past, but more often than not they have had dire consequences, especially in dealings with the Castruccios of the world. Stefano knew that the prince had risen to power through treachery and ruthlessness. This was a man, after all, who had put a close and devoted friend to death. When Castruccio was told that it had been a terrible wrong to kill such an old friend, he replied that he had executed not an old friend but a new enemy.

A man like Castruccio knows only force and self-interest.

When the rebellion began, to end it and place oneself at his mercy was the most dangerous possible move. Even once Stefano di Poggio had made that fatal mistake, however, he still had options: He could have offered money to Castruccio, could have made promises for the future, could have pointed out what the Poggios could still contribute to Castruccio’s power—their influence with the most influential families of Rome, for example, and the great marriage they could have brokered.

Instead Stefano brought up the past, and debts that carried no obligation. Not only is a man not obliged to be grateful, gratitude is often a terrible burden that he gladly discards. And in this case Castruccio rid himself of his obligations to the Poggios by eliminating the Poggios.

Most men are so thoroughly subjective that nothing really interests them but themselves. They always think of their own case as soon as ever any remark is made, and their whole attention is engrossed and absorbed by the merest chance reference to anything which affects them personally, be it never so remote.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788-1860

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

In 433 B.C., just before the Peloponnesian War, the island of Corcyra (later called Corfu) and the Greek city-state of Corinth stood on the brink of conflict. Both parties sent ambassadors to Athens to try to win over the Athenians to their side. The stakes were high, since whoever had Athens on his side was sure to win. And whoever won the war would certainly give the defeated side no mercy.

Corcyra spoke first.

Its ambassador began by admitting that the island had never helped Athens before, and in fact had allied itself with Athens’s enemies. There were no ties of friendship or gratitude between Corcyra and Athens. Yes, the ambassador admitted, he had come to Athens now out of fear and concern for Corcyra’s safety. The only thing he could offer was an alliance of mutual interests. Corcyra had a navy only surpassed in size and strength by Athens’s own; an alliance between the two states would create a formidable force, one that could intimidate the rival state of Sparta. That, unfortunately, was all Corcyra had to offer.

The representative from Corinth then gave a brilliant, passionate speech, in sharp contrast to the dry, colorless approach of the Corcyran. He talked of everything Corinth had done for Athens in the past. He asked how it would look to Athens’s other allies if the city put an agreement with a former enemy over one with a present friend, one that had served Athens’s interest loyally: Perhaps those allies would break their agreements with

Athens if they saw that their loyalty was not valued. He referred to Hellenic law, and the need to repay Corinth for all its good deeds. He finally went on to list the many services Corinth had performed for Athens, and the importance of showing gratitude to one’s friends.

After the speech, the Athenians debated the issue in an assembly. On the second round, they voted overwhelmingly to ally with Corcyra and drop Corinth.

Interpretation

History has remembered the Athenians nobly, but they were the preeminent realists of classical Greece. With them, all the rhetoric, all the emotional appeals in the world, could not match a good pragmatic argument, especially one that added to their power.

What the Corinthian ambassador did not realize was that his references to Corinth’s past generosity to Athens only irritated the Athenians, subtly asking them to feel guilty and putting them under obligation. The Athenians couldn’t care less about past favors and friendly feelings. At the same time, they knew that if their other allies thought them ungrateful for abandoning Corinth, these city-states would still be unlikely to break their ties to Athens, the preeminent power in Greece. Athens ruled its empire by force, and would simply compel any rebellious ally to return to the fold.

When people choose between talk about the past and talk about the future, a pragmatic person will always opt for the future and forget the past. As the Corcyrans realized, it is always best to speak pragmatically to a pragmatic person. And in the end, most people are in fact pragmatic—they will rarely act against their own self-interest.

It has always been a rule that the weak should be subject to the strong; and besides, we consider that we are worthy of our power. Up till the present moment you, too, used to think that we were; but now, after calculating your own interest, you are beginning to talk in terms of right and wrong. Considerations of this kind have never yet turned people aside from the opportunities of aggrandizement offered by superior strength. 

-Athenian representative to Sparta, quoted in The Peloponnesian War, Thucydides, c. 465-395 B.C.

KEYS TO POWER

In your quest for power, you will constantly find yourself in the position of asking for help from those more powerful than you. There is an art to asking for help, an art that depends on your ability to understand the person you are dealing with, and to not confuse your needs with theirs.

Most people never succeed at this, because they are completely trapped in their own wants and desires.

They start from the assumption that the people they are appealing to have a selfless interest in helping them. They talk as if their needs mattered to these people—who probably couldn’t care less. Sometimes they refer to larger issues: a great cause, or grand emotions such as love and gratitude. They go for the big picture when simple, everyday realities would have much more appeal.

What they do not realize is that even the most powerful person is locked inside needs of his own, and that if you make no appeal to his self-interest, he merely sees you as desperate or, at best, a waste of time.

In the sixteenth century, Portuguese missionaries tried for years to convert the people of Japan to Catholicism, while at the same time Portugal had a monopoly on trade between Japan and Europe. Although the missionaries did have some success, they never got far among the ruling elite; by the beginning of the seventeenth century, in fact, their proselytizing had completely antagonized the Japanese emperor Ieyasu. When the Dutch began to arrive in Japan in great numbers, Ieyasu was much relieved. He needed Europeans for their know-how in guns and navigation, and here at last were Europeans who cared nothing for spreading religion—the Dutch wanted only to trade. Ieyasu swiftly moved to evict the Portuguese. From then on, he would only deal with the practical-minded Dutch.

Japan and Holland were vastly different cultures, but each shared a timeless and universal concern: self-interest.

Every person you deal with is like another culture, an alien land with a past that has nothing to do with yours. Yet you can bypass the differences between you and him by appealing to his self-interest.

Do not be subtle: You have valuable knowledge to share, you will fill his coffers with gold, you will make him live longer and happier. This is a language that all of us speak and understand.

A key step in the process is to understand the other person’s psychology. Is he vain? Is he concerned about his reputation or his social standing? Does he have enemies you could help him vanquish? Is he simply motivated by money and power?

When the Mongols invaded China in the twelfth century, they threatened to obliterate a culture that had thrived for over two thousand years. Their leader, Genghis Khan, saw nothing in China but a country that lacked pasturing for his horses, and he decided to destroy the place, leveling all its cities, for “it would be better to exterminate the Chinese and let the grass grow.”

It was not a soldier, a general, or a king who saved the Chinese from devastation, but a man named Yelu Ch‘u-Ts’ai.

A foreigner himself, Ch‘u- Ts’ai had come to appreciate the superiority of Chinese culture. He managed to make himself a trusted adviser to Genghis Khan, and persuaded him that he would reap riches out of the place if, instead of destroying it, he simply taxed everyone who lived there. Khan saw the wisdom in this and did as Ch‘u-Ts’ai advised.

When Khan took the city of Kaifeng, after a long siege, and decided to massacre its inhabitants (as he had in other cities that had resisted him), Ch‘u-Ts’ai told him that the finest craftsmen and engineers in China had fled to Kaifeng, and it would be better to put them to use.

Kaifeng was spared.

Never before had Genghis Khan shown such mercy, but then it really wasn’t mercy that saved Kaifeng. Ch‘u-Ts’ai knew Khan well. He was a barbaric peasant who cared nothing for culture, or indeed for anything other than warfare and practical results. Ch‘u-Ts’ai chose to appeal to the only emotion that would work on such a man: greed.

Self-interest is the lever that will move people. Once you make them see how you can in some way meet their needs or advance their cause, their resistance to your requests for help will magically fall away. At each step on the way to acquiring power, you must train yourself to think your way inside the other person’s mind, to see their needs and interests, to get rid of the screen of your own feelings that obscure the truth. Master this art and there will be no limits to what you can accomplish.

Image: A Cord that Binds. The cord of mercy and gratitude is threadbare, and will break at the first shock.

Do not throw such a lifeline. The cord of mutual self-inter est is woven of many fibers and cannot easily be severed. It will serve you well for years.

Authority: The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interests to promote yours. (Jean de La Bruyère, 1645-1696)

REVERSAL

Some people will see an appeal to their self-interest as ugly and ignoble.

They actually prefer to be able to exercise charity, mercy, and justice, which are their ways of feeling superior to you: When you beg them for help, you emphasize their power and position. They are strong enough to need nothing from you except the chance to feel superior. This is the wine that intoxicates them. They are dying to fund your project, to introduce you to powerful people—provided, of course, that all this is done in public, and for a good cause (usually the more public, the better). Not everyone, then, can be approached through cynical self-interest. Some people will be put off by it, because they don’t want to seem to be motivated by such things. They need opportunities to display their good heart.

Do not be shy. Give them that opportunity. It’s not as if you are conning them by asking for help—it is really their pleasure to give, and to be seen giving. You must distinguish the differences among powerful people and figure out what makes them tick. When they ooze greed, do not appeal to their charity. When they want to look charitable and noble, do not appeal to their greed.

Conclusion

A perfect example of this law is in the television show (a spin off from Breaking Bad) called Better Call Saul. There is a scene (season 1, episode 2) where the big bad Drug Boss, named Tuco Salamanca, was going to kill these two tricksters that got in his way.

From Digitrends….

What is Tuco doing in the mix here, anyway? As it turns out, the reason is nothing more than a cruel cosmic joke.

Rewind to the premiere: Jimmy hired two skateboarding siblings to pull one over on Betsy Kettleman, the wife of a county treasurer who stole $1.5 million from the state. Their mission was to skateboard into Betsy’s car, set up a situation where Saul can swoop in as her hero, and sweep her off her feet as his new prize client.

The twins played their part perfectly, but they got the wrong car — the very, very wrong car.

Tuco is thinking. Thinking. — Saul convinces Tuco not to kill these two rascals. But to break their legs instead.

The car belongs to Tuco Salamanca’s grandmother — his “abuelita,” as he calls her — and when the brothers follow her home, Tuco finds nothing funny about the scam these two “biznatches” are trying to pull.

He beats them down and ties them up, spilling some “salsa” on his carpet as a result. Before long, Jimmy McGill shows up at Tuco’s, and he’s one wrong sentence away from joining the bound-and-gagged brothers in Tuco’s basement.

The second episode got off quickly with Tuco telling his grandma that she should just watch her stories while he deals with the two hustling skaters. Tuco knows how to get rid of a senior citizen in order to lay down a beating to those in need.

The two skaters have no idea who they are messing with still, as they insult Tuco’s granny and show no respect whatsoever to Tuco.

The two skinny boys should learn to read people a bit better if they are gonna be in the con game. When Tuco cracks the guys with granny’s walking cane, they must have realized at that moment that they were in over their nappy heads.

Lesson to all you would be scammers, don’t threaten someone unless you are 100 percent sure they will not attack you physically.

While Tuco is handling his business downstairs, ‘grandma hit and run’ is enjoying a snack on her Hyman Roth lunch tray while watching her stories. She can’t ignore all the thumping and banging going on below her, so she checks it out only to be assured by Tuco that everything is fine and he is taking care of the matter.

What grandma is going to doubt her grandchild, especially after the two skaters have acted a fool at her home.

Our boy Saul, better known as Jimmy McGill at this point, makes the mistake of being the one who knocks on the door of Tuco. Claiming to be an “officer of the law” was not the right move either.

Tuco puts the biggest pistol known to man in McGill’s face and brings him inside. McGill is nervous enough without seeing the blood stain on the rug, which granny is plenty concerned about as well. She just cares about the rug though.

Jimmy uses his bronze tongue to wade into the issue of whether his clients are still alive.
Crazy Tuco seems to halfway believe the story that they just got the wrong house in a zany mix up. Jimmy wants to just leave as if none of this lunacy ever even happened.

It turns out that both clients are still alive and tied up in the garage. That’s good news, but the bad news is that the skaters are still really dumb.

The second the duct tape is off one of the guy’s mouth he starts to blame Jimmy for this entire mess.

If I’m laying on the floor tied up with tape over my mouth, I would take a few seconds before saying anything. The skaters were not doing too well before Jimmy arrived on the scene so they should have given him at least a minute to see where it went.

All three were on their way out of danger, but the loud mouth put them back in mortal danger.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire of the desert went the three scammers.

Tied up in the desert is about 10 times worse than tied up in a residential garage. Neither situation is great, but the former is just more convenient to bury a victim. Jimmy McGill tries something that Saul would not use as much in the future, the truth.

He tells Tuco all about who the scam was intended for and that they just got unlucky by getting hit by his granny. The truth didn’t work very well and Tuco went on the offensive with a toolbox full of torture.

He was convinced that these guys were some kind of undercover police force, so Jimmy told the nut job just that. A man will say anything if he is about to have his fingers disconnected with a pair of pruners.

Lies were about as helpful as the truth since Tuco ordered them killed after Jimmy claimed to be with the FBI.

Lucky for Jimmy, Tuco’s partner Nacho Varga didn’t believe the story and convinced the maniac that they didn’t have to whack the lawyer.

Tuco agreed but still felt the need to defend his granny’s honor by wasting the skaters.

If I’m Jimmy, I just walk away from this mess and get back to another money making idea. And that’s just what happened, except Jimmy felt the tinge of guilt since he was the one who enlisted the skate bros after all.

I was a little surprised at his change of mind, but he is not an evil guy of course.

It would have been a bad look for the hero to let these two get killed because of his plan. To be fair, they were the ones who screwed up and followed the lady and went in her house. I will likely be justifying Jimmy McGill’s actions just as I did with Walter White, all the way to the end.

Jimmy spent the next few minutes trying to convince a neanderthal not to kill his guys.

Tuco is not very reasonable of course, so Jimmy put on quite a show.

He puffs up the drug dealer’s ego by making it out like Tuco is the judge in this case….which he is in fact.

Judge Tuco finally agrees to simply break a leg on each of the skaters after McGill’s impassioned lie about how their moms would be hurt if they were killed off.

Knowing a broken leg is coming isn’t easy on one’s mind and these two weaklings freaked right out. Jimmy carried them to the ER once they were free to go and was insulted by skater #1 saying McGill was the worst lawyer in the world.

Jimmy replied, “Hey, I talked you down from a death sentence to six months’ probation. I’m the best lawyer ever.”

He had a solid point.

-Movie TV Tech Geeks

And so Tuco followed that advice. He spared the crooks, but left them both with broken legs as a warning to others not to mess with him.

Tuco puts the biggest pistol known to man in McGill’s face and brings him inside.

What follows is an impromptu trial, with windswept sand and cacti replacing the court room, with Tuco serving as judge, jury and executioner. Jimmy appeals to Tuco’s ego — “You want justice, but you’re fair!” — and talks the psychopath down from giving the kids Colombian neck-ties to a lesser Hammurabian sentence: “One leg each,” they agree.

It’s a lucky break for everyone involved, even if the broken twins don’t immediately agree.

Later, Jimmy goes on a date. It does not go well. Nearby diners crack into breadsticks, and the harmless act brings the sickening crunch of broken legs back to mind.

From there, it’s a quick trip to the bathroom, an unhealthy amount of vomiting, and an even unhealthier amount of drinking.

Such is the price that Jimmy (Saul Goodman) has to pay.

You appeal to peoples’ needs and expectations if you want to see results.

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Is anything real any longer? Are likes, and comments, and opinions real or just manufactured?

After a solid year of [1] hate-China spewing from all my feeds, [2] comments that I have made mysteriously being erased, and [3] the most contentious articles being flooded with “likes”… you have to wonder if you are in some kind of fake-mirror world.

It really seems that way.

We, as humans, have feelings and thoughts, ideas, and relationships. We have emotions, both good and bad, and we have desires, goals and yearnings. Yet, if we try to participate in any of the American forums… our opinions are often scrubbed and erased.

I’m not talking about swearing. Nor am I talking about being racist or making threats. I am talking about saying something innocuous like “I like hamburgers”, and then finding that you offended a vegan, who immediately pressed the “alert” button.

Yes, “safe” areas have sprung up all over the internet where people of “like minds” can communicate and put forth their opinions. Such as “Gab”. But even there, you risk banishment if your comments do not fit the appropriate target audience in the associated “news” venue.

Venue Example	Association	Non-compliance result
salon.com	Alt-Left	Ban
Yahoo.com	Mainstream	Ban
freerepublic.com	Alt-Right	Ban

Table of the three major venues for American discussion.

It’s pretty much evidence that people are being put into nice tidy boxes based upon their thoughts.

And this, boys and girls, are how governments isolate, control and manipulate people. Which should give everyone reason to pause and think.

Historically, this has resulted in people's names going onto lists. And then later on, the police and military rounding up people on those lists, and doing very, very bad things to them.

Now, I know it’s hard to absorb if you are right now sitting in the middle of all this. So, instead of looking at the American media reality, maybe take a gander at another nation.

Like India…

If you read (for example) the Indian news media, you would be convinced that India is ready to invade China, and walk straight into Shanghai and no one can stop them. If you read Alex Jones or Hall Turner, you will be convinced that Donald Trump will win next weeks election in a landslide, and if you read CNN you will be convinced of the absolute opposite. Nothing is moderate or neutral. It’s all just nonsense.

Or is it really?

Are we really reading “news articles” and listening to the “comments” by others like ourselves? Or, as I believe, we are reading “fake news” which are really articles designed to manipulate, with comments and opinions and “likes” generated by ‘bots and software algorithms.

No longer “news”; a reporting of events.

Let’s look at the morning Drudge Headliners.

Drudge Report 29OCT20

Instead, of “news”, we now see the generation of “articles of manipulation”. These articles are fully intended to change how the reader thinks. They are not designed to inform. You know, like these…

Media election planners prepare for night of mystery…

What news? Every election is like this. No one really knows who will win an election. So is this news, or is it something else?

Biden vows to unify and save country…

Indeed. Isn't what they all say? Elect me and I will make everything all right!

HEBDO cartoon of Erdogan lifting woman’s burqa to see naked body sparks fury…

Oh, every six months of so, someone writes a book, draws a cartoon, makes a statement, writes a poem, and fundamentalist islamic's are enraged and demand death! Is this news?

DEBT CLOCK TICKS PAST $27 TRILLION…

Oh yeah. This debit clock thingy has been in the read for decades now. Why keep track? No one really cares, at least those who have the power to do anything about it.

Second night of clashes in Philadelphia after police kill Black man…

The police shoot and kill a black man, and the black folk in ghettos riot. Black folk riot. It's what they do.

It's sort of a cause and effect kind of thing. But is this news? You all ever been to a black ghetto in Philly? Do you know him? Is Pennsylvania on your radar screen?

COSTCO pulling products allegedly made with forced monkey labor…

Seriously? 

I think that the real interest in an article like this is how any one can train monkeys to do anything. Than how to create a for-profit model around it.

Beijing Invasion of Taiwan Has Already Started…

Of course Drudge must have the obligatory anti-China article. It's a thing in America, don't you know.

So any-day-now Beijing is gonna invade Taiwan!  Taiwan is a state of China. Just like Texas is a state within America. The Taiwanese all have Chinese passports, speak the Chinese language, learn Chinese history, and so forth.

It's sort of like "any day now, Washington DC will invade Texas." Silly, I know. But the American audience has been so enormously dumbed-down that they just are not able to discern how ignorant they are.

To me, it looks a lot like a science fiction horror flick where the people haven’t a clue as to how badly they are being manipulated.

Let’s look at this.

Let’s look at (what I like to call) Internet Forum Manipulation…

Internet Forum Manipulation

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all innocently comment on articles that we read on the Internet, and then our thoughts can be read by others. Others could read our thoughts and there would be a free exchange of ideas and thoughts. Oh, wouldn’t it be nice…

Not so. It turns out that the control of thoughts and ideas is one of the most important tools in the arsenal of power and control. (Not to mention world-line alteration and redirection.)

As such, those in power, whether rich, wealthy, powerful or in government are totally desirous of harnessing this avenue to serve their own purposes.

It’s a horrible reality.

There are several techniques for the control and manipulation of an internet forum no matter what, or who is on it. We will go over each technique and demonstrate that only a minimal number of operatives can be used to eventually and effectively gain a control of a ‘uncontrolled forum.’

Professor identifies "moderate" websites. — Professor identifies “moderate” websites. The only thing is that the websites that he lists are all “Alt-Left” websites. Which is, of course, propaganda. Is this what is being taught in schools today? White is black. Happy is sad. Good is bad. Right is wrong?

Let’s look at some of the techniques that those in power use to control us.

PTB - The Powers that Be.
The Oligarchy - The top 1% of the richest in a society.
The deep state - The long-employed unelected government employees.
The elected - The visible face of the government farce.

The caretakers - Actually, they are not involved at this level.

Forum Sliding

If a very sensitive posting of a critical nature has been posted on a forum – it can be quickly removed from public view by ‘forum sliding.’

A very popular technique on Freerepublic.com.

In this technique a number of unrelated posts are quietly prepositioned on the forum and allowed to ‘age.’ Each of these misdirectional forum postings can then be called upon at will to trigger a ‘forum slide.’ The second requirement is that several fake accounts exist, which can be called upon, to ensure that this technique is not exposed to the public.

To trigger a ‘forum slide’ and ‘flush’ the critical post out of public view it is simply a matter of logging into each account both real and fake and then ‘replying’ to prepositined postings with a simple 1 or 2 line comment. This brings the unrelated postings to the top of the forum list (“bump to the top” or BTTT), and the critical posting ‘slides’ down the front page, and quickly out of public view. Although it is difficult or impossible to censor the posting it is now lost in a sea of unrelated and unuseful postings.

By this means it becomes effective to keep the readers of the forum reading unrelated and non-issue items.

Altering Opinion & Reviews

Your opinion does not matter. If it did, then you would be able to speak freely and without fear.

There would be no such thing as “freedom of speech zones”, and “no hate” campuses.

The days of the first amendment protections are over. The first amendment only applies to those who regurgitate the narrative as defined by the government, or their owners; the oligarchy.

Here, in this section we discuss just some of the techniques that those in power use to suppress your thoughts, opinions and activities. The reader should be well advised that it is terribly out of date and obsolete. Such is the situation in the United States today.

“The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government, which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation … The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. 

They practically control both parties … [and] control the majority of the newspapers and magazines in this country. 

They use the columns of these papers to club into submission or drive out of office public officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government. 

It operates under cover of a self-created screen [and] seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection.”

– John F. Hylan, Mayor of New York City from 1918-1925

It is common knowledge that businesses and even individuals can alter the behavior of those on the Internet. But what is not so well known is that the Government takes this kind of manipulation very seriously and is doing their best to replicate it.

Consider these examples that have somehow become public knowledge.

Facebook Manipulation

“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.”

-George Orwell

Facebook Quietly Admits to Censoring information regarding the WikiLeaks DNC Links, but doesn’t say why.

Well, we know why.

Facebook and the DNC are partners in the collection of raw data of American citizens. I am sure that their efforts are quite extensive, and because of this, I shall only offer one or two examples of their efforts. If the reader chooses to disbelieve my conclusions in this matter, it will make no difference to me. So believe what you want.

Previously, Facebook was discovered to have removed a Live video of Philando Castille dying, and posts of the Bastille Day aftermath were scrubbed from the newswire.

Its news bar has also come under fire for being biased.

Facebook can call the issues disparate, but they’re not — not to users. At some point, the ignorance and blind claims of ‘damn that algorithm’ have to end. If Facebook wants us to turn to it for news and treat it seriously, then it has to be much more open.

Afterall, no one want’s to be spoon fed censored material.

The WikiLeaks link issue has reportedly been fixed, which is great — but also not really the point.

The fact links to the archive was blocked at all suggests there’s a very tight reign on what’s allowed on Facebook across the board, and that’s a problem.

Americans in America today. — Americans are both figuratively and physically tethered to a unified way of thinking. As time progresses, this system becomes stronger, more invasive and all encompassing.

Not to mention, that this manipulation can be directed from outside the organization as well, such as from government agencies.

“More than 1,800 requests were so-called “emergency disclosures,” which are granted to law enforcement on a case-by-case basis, and are a subject of some controversy. 

They include, for instance, requests to suspend someone’s account, as was the case with Korryn Gaines, a 23-year-old mother who was shot and killed by police in 2016, after she reportedly threatened officers with a weapon. 

She was broadcasting her confrontation on Facebook, and police asked the company to shut down her account, saying that other users were egging her on.”

-Hanna Kozlowska in the article titled “Facebook is giving the US government more and more data” (I guess that the First Amendment no longer has any validity.)

Google Manipulation

Google could influence who voters pick to be America’s next president. This is the conclusion that research psychologist Robert Epstein came to after studying the demographics and algorisms used by the software firm. Writing for Politico Magazine, Epstein, contends the Google search engine behemoth (as well as others) has;

"…amassed far more power to control elections … to control a wide variety of opinions and beliefs … than any company in history has ever had."

He continues;

"America’s next president could be eased into office not just by TV ads or speeches, but by Google’s secret decisions, and no one — except for me and perhaps a few other obscure researchers — would know how this was accomplished,"

According to Epstein, Google’s search algorithm can easily shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20 percent or more and even up to 80 percent in some demographic groups.

Even if we ignore that voting is the imposition of a majority’s will on a minority, facilitated by wielding the violence of the state. Even if we disregard that voting only allows its participants the choice between two entrenched, corrupt, archaic political parties (while third party and independent voices are intentionally blocked, ridiculed and plowed under.) 

We must then begin to confront the fact that electronic voting is such an openly obvious fraud to any “democracy” that would insanely choose to use it. 

To have an unverifiable invisible counting mechanism, a proprietary, secret software and hardware platform, a meaningless archiving and recount system, a closed-source software system that cannot be audited and inspected is essentially and deliberately the worst possible implementation. 

Not only does our country have the obvious electronic voting problems to deal with, but we have also implemented electronic voting in the most counter-intuitive, corrupt and problematically designed manner that it can possibly be implemented.

Epstein points to one telling experiment in which participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups in which search rankings favored either Candidate A, Candidate B or neither candidate.

In the experiment, the participants were given brief descriptions of each candidate and then asked how much they liked and trusted each candidate and whom they would vote for.

Then they were allowed up to 15 minutes to conduct online research on the candidates using a Google-like search engine. Each group had access to the same 30 search results, but the ordering of the results differed among the three groups.

When our participants were done searching, “opinions shifted in the direction of the candidate who was favored in the rankings,” he writes. “Trust, liking and voting preferences all shifted predictably.”

"Perhaps the most effective way to wield political influence in today’s high-tech world is to donate money to a candidate and then to use technology to make sure he or she wins…"

- Robert Epstein

It is interesting to note that while Google had been extremely active in attempting to manipulate the 2016 election in favor of their preferred candidate Hillary Clinton, they ultimately failed.

It was not because of their techniques however, but rather due to their expectation that the race would be close with Hillary leading by five points. Their manipulations did not take into account other scenarios.

Google is facing new scrutiny in the wake of revelations that it stores users’ location data even when “Location History” is turned off.

In the past, Google quietly edited its description of the practice on its own website—while continuing said practice—to clarify that “some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other services, like Search and Maps.”

As a result of the previously unknown practice, which was first exposed by the Associated Press, Google was sued by a man in San Diego. Simultaneously, activists in Washington, DC urged the Federal Trade Commission to examine whether the company is in breach of its 2011 consent decree with the agency.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in San Francisco, attorneys representing a man named Napoleon Patacsil argued that Google is violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the state’s constitutional right to privacy.

The lawsuit seeked class-action status, and it would include both an “Android Class” and “iPhone Class” for the potential millions of people in the United States with such phones who turned off their Location History and nonetheless had it recorded by Google.

Further Reading

Google’s new scheme to connect online to offline shopping scrutinized

Also on August 17, attorneys from the Electronic Privacy Information Center wrote in a sternly worded three-page letter to the FTC that Google’s practices are in clear violation of the 2011 settlement with the agency.

In that settlement, Google agreed that it would not misrepresent anything related to "(1) the purposes for which it collects and uses covered information, and (2) the extent to which consumers may exercise control over the collection, use, or disclosure of covered information.

"Until the Associated Press story on August 13, Google's policy simply stated: "You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored."

This turns out to not be true.

Amazon Manipulation

Sorry, but I am going to use an example from politics. Hopefully this one (being so dated) will not be offensive to my readership. Just remember people, politics in America is just a big game of "bread and circuses for the masses". All the participants work together.

Amazon can and will change and manipulate reviews for political reasons. With the proper amount of money, they will do so for ANY reason. (And, we all know, that the United States government has a bottomless supply of money…)

Let’s go back to later 2016, early 2017…

Hillary 2016 Book – Stronger Together

Here’s a funny story that wasn’t reported in the mainstream media. It took place during the 2016 election between Hillary Clinton and Donald trump. Both had written books to promote their causes and beliefs. However, Hillary Clinton’s book tanked and was poorly received. Here’s a screen shot;

Hillary Clinton’s book was just not selling.

As The New York Times reported at the time, the book was a disaster. Both Mrs. Clinton and her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine, have promoted the book on the campaign trail, but the sales figure, which tallies about 80 percent of booksellers nationwide and does not include e-books, firmly makes the book what the publishing industry would consider a flop.

“Stronger Together,” whose cover shows Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kaine waving, arrived closer to Election Day than most of these types of books. Named after the campaign’s slogan, “Stronger Together” offers readers, according to the book jacket,

“specific and practical solutions, while also articulating a bold and expansive vision of change and renewal.”

Its roughly 250 pages intersperse bullet-point policy ideas, like “launch a national initiative for suicide prevention” and “humanely address the Central American migrant crisis,” with photographs of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kaine on the campaign trail, charts in the campaign’s signature chunky font and highlights from Mrs. Clinton’s speeches.

Unfortunately the book was a flop.

No one wanted it, and the one’s whom actually bought the book gave it negative reviews. So, as with everything else in this ‘new normal rigged’ world, something had to be done and (Washington Post) WaPo-owner Jeff Bezos’ Amazon reviews appear to have been ‘tweaked’.

They apparently changed the reviews and the stats to reflect a much more favorable view of the book.

Indeed, more than doubling Hillary’s top reviews.

But, as WND.com explains, Amazon’s steps to ‘fix’ Hillary’s book reviews has resulted in 5-star ratings with scathingly negative comments. (I guess that is what happens with the literate masses object to such blatant manipulation.)

If you can’t even win when the rules are changed in your favor, things must be REALLY bad.

That’s how it looks for Hillary Clinton’s new 2016 campaign book, “Stronger Together,” co-authored with running mate Tim Kaine. WND reported this strange turn of events when the book was being savaged on Amazon.com with negative reviews, with 81 percent one-star ratings and an average of only 1.7.

Of course denials were everywhere, and the Clinton organized shrills quickly lashed out at “trolls” they said were criticizing the book only because they oppose the Democrat’s presidential candidacy.

It’s really quite funny.

Once it became news what Amazon was doing, other purchasers of the book had to chime in. WND previously reported there were more than 1,200 reviews, and the number grew to than 2,000.

Zero Public interest did not fit the Public Narrative.

However, that just couldn’t possibly stand, and by Thursday afternoon, the amount was yet again culled (again!) until there were only 255 reviews, with many of the most critical reviews removed by Amazon, whose CEO, Jeff Bezos, owns the Washington Post, which created an army of 20 reporters and researchers to investigate the life of Donald Trump.

Victory for the Clinton book, however, remains out of grasp, with the negative, one-star responses, outnumbering positive, five-star responses nearly 2-1. The one-star ratings Thursday were 62 percent, to 35 percent for five-star ratings.

And, of course, knowing the DNC manipulation of all their reviews, the book reviewers simply punched the five-star button then made harshly critical condemnations of the book and Hillary Clinton.

That way their opinions were still posted…

"I didn’t buy this book or read this book, but I have read the reviews, and enjoyed hours of entertaining, fun filled reading, expressing the TRUTH, about a crooked, lying, corrupt, terminally ill Presidential candidate, who stole the nomination from Bernie Sanders, and who is about the steal the Presidency with the use of election fraud. 

10 Stars to the authors of these reviews. 

Proof that not only are Amazon.com shoppers of superior intelligence, but thye call it like they see it…. Amazon shows this as a verified purchase, when I didn’t buy the book … how fun!”

- From suz702, who posted a five-star ranking

On and on, there’s pages of this stuff…

 “the book confirms the hrc is a racist. every matter in her mind is about racies (sic). but reality is she does not care about the black people. just look at the ever increasing trend of black population that are relying on welfare since the obama rule. the fundermental (sic) cause of this result is the fact that lefties of the country favor the riches by allowing outsourcing jobs to other countries. black people should wake up, stop supporting dnc and hrc, who is effectively a puppet of the elite class. the book is simply a propaganda.”

- Ian alexander, another five-star reviewer said.

Just two days earlier, out of 1,244 reviews, 81 percent were one-star and 16 percent five-star. The book plunged from No. 840 earlier this week to No. 1,538 on Thursday. It was No. 5 in the subcategory “Books-Politics & Social Sciences-Politics & Government-Elections & Political Process-Leadership.”

The reviews dripped sarcasm, both before the Amazon edits to the reviews and after.

“I bought this thinking it would be a how-to book. 

I wanted ‘How to set up your own Foundation for fun and profit.’ Also, would like to have seen a chapter on ‘Ten easy steps to setting up your own secure server in a bathroom,'”

-Elaine.

And, here’s another…

“Not only no but hell no. I’d rather read Mein Kampf,”

- Anthony Messina.

Chjhores said:

“Pre-ordered an autographed copy but had to return it after this week’s announcement as I was worried it was contaminated with pneumonia bacteria. 

I didn’t want to end up exposed to the illness like her grandkids in Chelsea’s apartment she was playing with on 9/11 after she collapsed, or the little girl she was hugging in the street afterwards. Thought about ordering the Kindle version but I thought it might open my device up to being hacked by communist countries. I wasn’t too surprised to see Tim Kaine on the front cover giving the traditional National Socialist salute (“Heil Hitler!”), I felt it fitting.

Strongly recommended for those who believe the USA isn’t anything special and should be more like the peaceful utopias of North Korea, Iran, or Cuba.”

And kpm said,

“Imagine my dismay when key parts of her life were omitted, would have made for far better reading if she had included all of the below starting with flunking the D.C. Bar Exam to:

Was removed from her House Judiciary Committee staffer job because of incompetence and lying.
The Whitewater scandal.
Married a serial liar and cheater, who occasionally had sexual encounters with nonconsenting partners.
Lied about “sniper fire” in an attempt to simulate exposure to danger in a war zone.
The subject of a “vast right-wing conspiracy” that led to the impeachment and disbarment of her husband
Took crockery, furniture, artwork and other items from the White House — had to return and/or pay for them.
Said “what difference, at this point, does it make” about four brave people killed in Libya as a direct result of her failure to protect them on the anniversary of 9/11.
Totally ignored the structure and rules for the handling of sensitive national security information.
Amassed a personal fortune with “speaking fees” and payments from private sector political donors and foreign governments into transparent “foundations” in obvious exchange for future political favor.”

Nearly 1,500 people found that review “helpful.”

But more than 3,400 found helpful the comments from Daniel B.:

“I was going to read this book … I really was. 

But just as I got started, I found myself under sniper fire, passed out, and fell and hit my head. After that I got double vision and had to wear glasses that were so damn thick I couldn’t even see to read. 

As if that wasn’t enough, I then had an allergic reaction to something and started coughing so hard I spit out what looked like a couple of lizard’s eyeballs, my limbs locked up, and I passed out and fell down again, waking up only to find out I had been diagnosed with pneumonia 2 days earlier. 

Somehow I managed to power through it all, but it’s a good thing I was able to make a small fortune on this random small trade in the commodities market (cattle futures or some such thing) and then, miracle of all miracles, a few banks offered me a few million to just talk to their employees for a few minutes – and all that really helped out because I swear I was dead broke and couldn’t figure out how I was gonna come up with the 6 bucks to pay for this book, let alone pay the $1,500 for my health insurance this month. 

I still want to read it, but, honestly, what difference at this point does it make? I hear it sucks anyway.”

Clinton’s 2015 book, “Hard Choices,” received an average of only three stars despite garnering 2,460 customer reviews.

Here’s some screen captures of the “Stronger Together” reviews, because by the time this manuscript is released all of these reviews will be erased to fit the new narrative.

Of course Bezo would manipulate the data his company controls. It is in his own best interests. WND also has documented Bezos’ interest in the election outcome, with the Post’s army of investigators looking into Trump’s life.

As WND reported this summer, Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward told the National Association of Realtors Convention in Washington Wednesday:

“There’s a lot we don’t know. We have 20 people working on Trump. We’re going to do a book. We’re doing articles about every phase of his life.”

Woodward said he has been investigating Trump’s real-estate deals in New York. Why a book on Trump and not Hillary and her 22 biggest scandals?

“[W]e have years and years of reporting on Hillary Clinton to draw from, including her last presidential campaign, her time as secretary of state, and her position as U.S. senator, Because Trump’s involvement in political life is far more limited, the Post newsroom decided to embark on a book as a special project. In order to complete the book in a timely fashion, reporters from throughout the newsroom have been assigned to work for a brief period on particular aspects of his life and career.”

Coratti explained.

The one-star reviews for the Clinton book also continued. All were dripping with sarcasm. Just Thursday afternoon, Jimsdun wrote:

“Well I’m disappointed. This doesn’t tell me how to create a faux charitable foundation and then use it for money laundering.”

Hillary 2017 Book – What Happened

You would think that Amazon would know better than to repeat their manipulative techniques, but obviously they do not read alternative media. They are still drinking off the teat of mainstream media and are completely unaware of the public knowledge of their actions.

In what many have dubbed a flagrant intervention by Amazon itself to seemingly boost the rating of Hillary Clinton’s new book “What Happened“, the Telegraph first reported, and subsequently many others observed first hand, that Amazon has been monitoring and deleting 1-star reviews of Hillary Clinton’s new book “which was greeted with a torrent of criticism on the day it was released.”

Reviews of What Happened have been mixed, with some accusing Clinton of using it as an opportunity to blame others, such as former FBI head James Comey, Bernie Sanders, Vladimir Putin, social media and pretty much everything else, for her failure, rather than herself.

Even The New York Times, which supported Clinton’s campaign, wrote that the book is “a score-settling jubilee”.

What is fascinating, is how few one-star reviews have remained on the website amid reports and screen-grabs showing that reviewers used the space to criticize the former First Lady. One 1-star review, which remained on the website earlier, read:

"Read all the promotional excerpts, which combined come close to book length – pretty good novel. It is fiction, isn't it? Surely, someone is playing a joke."

Another wrote…

"Picked this book up at Wal-Mart out of sheer morbid curiosity. Returned it, claiming I bought the wrong book"

While this is not the first time Amazon has intervened to “adjust” the ratings of its products, in November negative comments under a book by anti-Trump broadcaster Megyn Kelly appeared to be removed by the retailer, it has rarely “adjusted” reviews of such a prominent product so publicly.

Speaking to Fortune, an Amazon spokesperson said:

"In the case of a memoir, the subject of the book is the author and their views. It’s not our role to decide what a customer would view as helpful or unhelpful in making their decision. We do however have mechanisms in place to ensure that the voices of many do not drown out the voices of a few and we remove customer reviews that violate our community guidelines."

So how does this change reality….

Well just look though the lens of a clock.

And then seven hours later…

What Amazon.com shows as of today 29OCT20;

Yes, it’s a best seller!

Man! If only my writings could become a best seller. What’s her secret? Are her ghost writers all that great. Truthfully, I am terribly jealous.

Screen cap. 29OCT20. — Hillary Clinton is obviously a well-beloved and liked person, who is an excellent writer and who has made the world a better place for everyone.

Twitter Manipulation

Perhaps one of the most manipulated social media platforms is Twitter. I don’t use it. I signed up for it when it first came out, and then lost interest after two days. That is the sum total of my twitter experience. However, I am an outlier. Others, such as Donald Trump, use it quite frequently.

Let’s look at some of the ways it is manipulated to serve the needs of those in power.

Twitter Manipulation – Shadowbanned

Following the permanent banning of [1] conservative commentator Milo Yiannopoulos from using its service; the [2] suspension of the account of Glenn Reynolds, aka @instapundit and creator of the Instapundit blog, a University of Tennessee law professor and a conservative columnist for USA TODAY; and [3] blocking veteran reporter Mahir Zeynalov after bowing to pressure from Turkish president Erdogan; October 2016 saw the [4] ‘shadowbanning’ of thoughtful – non-violent – twitter-er Scott Adams – the creator of the Dilbert cartoon character.

Scott Adams asked his followers for examples of Clinton supporters being violent against peaceful Trump supports in public… which seems to have ‘triggered’ some people and got Adams “Shadowbanned” from Twitter…

“This weekend I got “shadowbanned” on Twitter. It lasted until my followers noticed and protested. Shadowbanning prevents my followers from seeing my tweets and replies, but in a way that is not obvious until you do some digging.

Why did I get shadowbanned?

Beats me.

But it was probably because I asked people to tweet me examples of Clinton supporters being violent against peaceful Trump supporters in public. I got a lot of them. It was chilling. 

Late last week my Twitter feed was invaded by an army of Clinton trolls (it’s a real thing) leaving sarcastic insults and not much else on my feed. There was an obvious similarity to them, meaning it was organized. 

At around the same time, a bottom-feeder at Slate wrote a hit piece on me that had nothing to do with anything. 

Except obviously it was politically motivated. 

It was so lame that I retweeted it myself. The timing of the hit piece might be a coincidence, but I stopped believing in coincidences this year. 

All things considered, I had a great week. I didn’t realize I was having enough impact to get on the Clinton enemies list. I don’t think I’m supposed to be happy about any of this, but that’s not how I’m wired.”

Twitter Manipulation – Bots

“Or take the right to vote. In principle, it is a great privilege. 

In practice, as recent history has repeatedly shown, the right to vote, by itself, is no guarantee of liberty. 

Therefore, if you wish to avoid dictatorship by referendum, break up modern society’s merely functional collectives into self-governing, voluntarily co-operating groups, capable of functioning outside the bureaucratic systems of Big Business and Big Government.” 

-Aldous Huxley, in Brave New World Revisited (1958)

In a 2014 report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the social networking site Twitter estimated that more than 23 million of its active user accounts were being run by “bots” — software agents or bits of code that act on their own to respond to news and world events. They interact with real users, never revealing their true nature.

Bots of this kind have been used in efforts to sway public opinion in Central America already for a decade. The hacker and political operative Andrés Sepúlveda claims to have employed armies of bots to influence at least a half-dozen major election results in Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua and elsewhere.

Could the same happen in the U.S. and Europe?

Probably so, given findings on bot activity ahead of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. As part of the Computational Propaganda Research Project at Oxford University researchers looked at some 300,000 Twitter accounts and found that a mere 1 percent of them generated about one third of all tweets relevant to the Brexit debate.

1/3 of all Brexit debate were generated by 1% of accounts.

They believe that many of those accounts were run by bots, because human users could not have sustained such a level of activity without the help of automation. It’s not clear whether the activity swayed the result, though the Leave campaign did generate more automated tweets.

This issue is far bigger than Brexit: The disturbing reality is that computational propaganda is already with us.

In the 2016 U.S. presidential race, Twitter bots support both Trump and Clinton. Bots of various kinds live on cloud servers and operate 24 hours a day, and account for about 50 percent of all activity on the web.

According to the Central American hacker, Sepúlveda, peoples’ opinions tend to be swayed more by views they see as coming spontaneously from real people than by views expressed on television or in newspapers.

Twitter Exposed by the NY Times

Most of the reports regarding the manipulation by the media are buried deep down in the lower nooks and crannies of the mainstream media. Obviously they do not want people to know how they manipulate and conspire to alter viewpoints and opinions. Yet, occasionally an excellent article comes out that just “kicks the door down” regarding just this type of activity.

The New York Times wrote just this kind of article regarding Twitter. It’s worthy of a read. Here is what political commentator Rush Limbaugh (The New York Times Exposes the Fakery of Twitter, on 29JAN18.) has to say about this article;

Folks, I have to tell you something. The New York Times put on their website late Saturday and published in their newspaper on Sunday one of the most phenomenal stories. Now, I know. I am on record as having lost respect for the New York Times, and I am on record as having said many times that my instinctive reaction to anything in the New York Times is not to believe it. However, this story I happen to know is true — and it is phenomenal.

It is a very, very long story. I would recommend that you read this story on your computer so that you can benefit and experience the amazing graphics that they use to illustrate the point. The point of the story is that you, anybody, can buy followers on Twitter and Facebook. You can buy retweets. In other words, you can buy fake human beings and have them reported as following you. The names of people who have done this are listed in the story. They run from actors, to athletes, to pundits, to journalists.

These are bots. You know, I’ve found a lot of people — when I say a Twitter bot or a Facebook bot — say, “What is that?” Well, the easiest way to explain it is it’s just an automatic script. It’s just a little piece of code that is triggered by anything the creator wants it to be triggered by. It’s called a robot or a bot because there’s no real person behind it. It’s a fake. It’s made to look like an actual human being with a Twitter account but no human being exists.

It’s totally fake, made up. Some of these bots are actually based on real people whose identities are stolen and modified ever so slightly so that you wouldn’t notice it to the naked eye. And others are just manufactured out of whole cloth. There’s an actor mentioned here in this story that has 975,000 followers with the vast majority of them unreal. They have been purchased. The number one company selling these bots is right here in West Palm Beach, above Rocco’s Tacos on Clematis Street!

Not to be confused with the Rocco’s Tacos on PGA Boulevard. The Rocco’s Tacos on Clematis Street is where this little guy’s office is. He’s 27 years old. He makes people think that his office is in Manhattan. It’s exceedingly cheap. You can buy 100,000 followers for 10 bucks. The guy has earned six to $7 million selling fake followers. My friends, what this means is that very little is real on Twitter, ditto Facebook when you can buy followers.

Ray Lewis, future Hall of Fame linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens is listed as one who has purchased followers. Now, some of these people are gonna say, “I — I didn’t know! My agent must have done that.” But the bottom line is, you can create bots to do anything. The reason I know this is true is because — as I have shared with you on countless occasions — we have run up against this procedure, this technique trying to damage our business here. And we have found out in our investigational research, it is exactly what happened.

In our case it was 10 people who were flooding our advertisers with massive amounts of emails made to look like it was coming from tens of thousands of people, and it was 10 people creating fake Twitter users, fake customers, fake everything. So it’s one thing to create bots to bombard your enemies. It’s another thing for you to knowingly go out and purchase followers. So what it means is that when you’re on Twitter and you’re looking at somebody that is somewhat known, not the well-known at all, a YouTube star that has millions of followers, the likelihood it is it is nowhere near true.

But look at the influence that it has had. This is why followers are purchased. Look at how often the Drive-By Media quotes Twitter in every story they do. How many times have you heard in reaction to a story “Twitter is melting down”? And you are being led to believe that a story happens, whatever it is, and on Twitter there is this massive reaction to it, either positive or negative — and then you are further led to believe that that story is huge and that millions of Americans have an opinion on it.

And the likelihood is that very little of that is even true. Now, you might be asking, “Why would the New York Times be doing this?” It’s very clear to me. The New York Times had to weigh a couple of things here. On the one hand, these bots can be used to really damage your enemies — business enemies, business opponents, political opponents, political enemies, personal enemies — because you can create fake bots, and you can make it look like a person is literally despised and hated when that person isn’t.

And you can turn it around. You can make it look like a person is universally loved and adored and renowned by gazillions, and that isn’t true. It’s a way to earn fake popularity. Everything is fake on this social media. Not everything. So much of what social media is is fake. So much of it is unearned. So much of it is the result of shortcuts. I’m certain the New York Times did this because they’re fed up with Twitter having more influence than they do. “The New York Times is the paper of record!

“The New York Times is the media of record. Who the hell, what the hell is this Twitter business?” they have probably been saying themselves. I mean, it is a long story. It has many different writers and reporters on it. The evidence is pretty clear. As I say, if I didn’t have firsthand knowledge of this, then I would be highly suspicious of the reporting, of the agenda, the whole narrative. But since I know that this stuff happens. Now, by the way, I have to tell you, I did not know — and I’m happy admitting this.

It makes me sound like I’m a bit naive. I did not know you could buy followers. I didn’t know that. But a lot of people have found out you can buy followers. Do you realize the power of that, folks? Let’s say you’re a B actor or a B pundit, you’re a YouTube star. In reality, you don’t have millions of people watching. Ridiculous! Streaming hasn’t grown that much yet. But yet there’s all these “YouTube stars.” Can I give you some evidence of this? There was some YouTube guy. I forget his name.

I don’t mean this to be critical of the YouTube guy. Please do not misunderstand. But some YouTube guy was creating very clever videos. I don’t even know what the genre was. His first name was Casey. So CNN thought this guy had this massive Millennial audience. And they signed this guy up to start producing videos for them. And they got zilch. The guy finally had to admit that he didn’t know how to do what CNN wanted . He didn’t know how to… So… Well, what the real problem was, the guy didn’t have anywhere near the number of followers and audience that it was made to appear that he did.

See, when did you live by the fake sword, you die by it. When you want fame but it isn’t real, it’s gonna come back and bite you. When you want wealth but that isn’t real — you’ve stolen it, you’ve cheated it, you haven’t earned it — that’s gonna come back and bite you. You want popularity. And everybody on social media does. And this is just one side of social media that’s bad. The other side is just the absolute sewer that it is with the cultural-destroying language and behavior that is used on these social networks, the discourse and all of that.

And then the third element of this is all the lying about what great lives people have and how exciting their lives are. And people read this and think their lives are miserable and they get depressed. I mean, this is… It’s bad all the way around, and now adding this buying followers to it. So how many people have now comfortably gotten a false, totally incorrect opinion of the popularity of certain issues, of the popularity of certain people, when you can go buy it all? And I’m telling you, it’s cheap.

You can buy 100,000 followers for 20 bucks, folks. All you have to do is know where to go do it. Some of these bots are actual real people who do not realize they’re being used. Their e-mail address is changed with one letter. A capital I might become a small I so that nobody would notice it. The user photo might be compressed a little bit so that it looks slight different color but not enough so you wouldn’t notice it without a side-by-side comparison. They make up people and they take actual people and steal their identities, ’cause you have to have some legitimate feel of the follower scam to work.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: This Twitter debauchery is even worse. You can kill a stock. You can drive a company’s stock down or the other way with some of these fake bots, the followers and so forth. I’ll tell you what. James O’Keefe, folks, his latest book involving his expose on the political nature Twitter and how they literally ban conservative thought is called American Pravda . It’s been outs a couple of weeks. If you read books, and if you want to learn — at least get a primer on what Twitter really is and how it operates — James O’Keefe, American Pravda.”

Altering Product Reviews

Talk about a glowing review: one five-star review given to a light-up USB cable for sale on Amazon had a headline claiming that this product “has lit up my life.” That review was not only glowing, it was steaming, Amazon says.

In today’s world, anything can be bought for the right price.

This includes written opinions about products and services. One particularly worrisome example is with the book reviews on the website Amazon.com. It turns out that there is a high percentage of them (relatively) that are fake; fabricated and simply made up to deceive either one way or the other.

In the case of the glowing review of the light-up USB cable; The review was fake, purchased by a third-party Amazon seller, the online retailer claims, and probably cost the manufacturer between $19 and $22 (£13 and £15) to write it and have it listed on the Internet for (assumingly) forever. Those are the accusations Amazon has made in its first-ever lawsuit against sites that sell reviews.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Seattle’s King County Superior Court, accuses Jay Gentile, a California resident, and the websites [1] buyamazonreviews.com, [2] buyazonreviews.com, [3] bayreviews.net and [4] buyreviewsnow.com, of trademark infringement, false advertising and violations of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and the Washington Consumer Protection Act.

The sites sell packages of reviews, from as few as 3 to as many as 100. Promises include “drip-feed delivery” that won’t raise Amazon’s suspicions and a “100 percent stick guarantee” for reviews, promising to replace any that Amazon deletes or filters out.

One of the sites Gentile is accused of running, buyazonreviews.com, sounds like it’s on the up-and-up:

“We use real people that are sourced from all around the world to deliver high quality unbiased reviews on your products.”

The fine print sounds just as legit:

“We are not receiving any money for your reviews nor are we paying reviewers. Your payment goes towards review sourcing, database management, and operation costs. “

But Amazon says that the reality “is far different.”

In this, its first ever crackdown on fake reviews since it debuted the review platform 20 years ago (with its first review of Dr. Seuss’s “The Butter Battle Book”), Amazon accuses Gentile of promising to “provide as many five-star reviews as the purchaser wanted” and to “slow drip” them onto Amazon’s product pages so that the company would have a “more difficult time detecting them”.

In the complaint, Amazon also accuses Gentile of advising his customers to “do a few verified purchase reviews … so as not to raise any eyebrows with Amazon.

"The reviewers don't actually have to receive the products, Gentile allegedly told customers.  Rather, his clients could just send empty boxes to try to fool Amazon into thinking that the reviewer was a "verified purchaser."

The complaint quotes the advice Gentile allegedly gave:

Note: You do not have to actually ship the item unless you want to. We suggest that for tracking purposes is that you just ship out an empty box or envelope, this will show [A]mazon that the item was actually shipped.

When one clueless reviewer working for buyazonreviews.com complained about not having actually received a product, Gentile allegedly reassured his client that she’d be brought in line:

“All our reviewers know of the process and I am not sure as to why she sent this to you but I will ensure it does not happen in the future.”

Amazon gave a number of examples of what it says are phony reviews, such as the USB cable five-star review:

This has lit up my life
By j9 on March 31, 2015

Verified Purchase

“Review: I was kinda doubtful about the "electroluminescent technology" of this USB cable. That it actually would work. But it actually did. Not only did the blue light function as they should, they were clear and bright, plus they turned off when the charge was finished. It's rad. They should make them in other colors too. Let's just say we're really impressed and are going to order a few more...”

Amazon is bringing claims of [1] trademark infringement, saying the websites are using the company’s name and logo without authorization. It’s also accusing the websites of [2] cybersquatting by hosting sites with names “identical to or confusingly similar to” Amazon’s own site. Amazon has asked the court to force the various websites to stop using its name and trademarks and to stop selling Amazon reviews. It’s also seeking triple damages and attorney’s fees.

Imagine a world where if individuals can set up a cheap website and system to do this, what powerful and well-funded governments can do.

It should not be believed that they would do nothing, for the maintenance of those in power (regardless of where they reside) are all heavily dependent upon securing the mass opinions of the populace. The reader should view everything on the Internet with suspicion, from news reports, to product reviews. The Internet is a wonderful tool, and it’s use in shaping your opinion on various matters is a well-honed and well-sharpened skill.

Flooding the Forum with “Likes”

In most forums, those posts with the greatest number of “likes” are presented first (or at the top of the forum). By controlling and altering the number of “likes” by various computer bots, one can effectively control the postings on a given internet forum.

This is a very common practice, and is common at Facebook, and Google where the actual software companies takes control of the forums in this manner. However, outside entities can also manipulate the forum using this technique.

Bangladesh “Click Farm”

The idea behind a click-farm is simple, but it takes a little explanation to understand how they came to be.

In the old days, when social media likes and website views were incredibly valuable, many webmasters turned to the dark side of the Internet to find ways to inflate them. Earning 1,000 likes or 1,000 website hits was a tough process, but it could be made a lot easier by setting up a program to refresh the page over and over. For Facebook, those bots would register accounts and use them to like the page.

Robots are easy to detect.

Facebook fan page likes could easily find these fraudulent accounts and remove them. Something needed to be done to make those number-inflating accounts less visible. Something to make them look more legitimate.

The answer, as it turned out, was just to make them legitimate – or as legitimate as it was possible to make them, anyways.

Bangladesh “Click Farm”. — Bangladesh “Click Farm”

Webmasters pay people in developing nations like Bangladesh, where an annual income of $120 is acceptable, to create Facebook accounts. Or, more likely, webmasters pay a company that in turn pays these people.

These people register accounts, sometimes dozens, and sit idle until the money comes in. They receive a payment and a target Facebook account, and they relentlessly like the page with their accounts.

Even this was fairly easy to detect.

After all, if 10,000 accounts all mobilize in the span of a week and they all like the same selection of 10 pages, those ten pages very obviously purchased likes from a click farm.

At one point, Facebook purged so many fraudulent accounts it totaled nearly 10% of their entire user base. Unlike YouTube wiping views, however, Facebook’s deletions didn’t remove fake likes.

The modern version of a clickfarm still works the same way, only the people running the accounts take steps to obfuscate their traffic.

In addition to liking the pages they’re paid to like, they also click through ads and related pages on Facebook and like pages they aren’t paid to follow. This is how your page, running legitimate Facebook ads, can run afoul of a click-farm. The flurry of “organic” likes makes it much harder to pick out the mobilization of a click-farm for purchased likes.

The Chinese “Click Farm”

In 14MAY17, an unnamed person disclosed the operational details of a Chinese “click farm” used to manipulate the number of “likes” on a given Internet forum[i]. Photos were provided and some details were presented. From the article;

The bizarre ‘click farm’ of 10,000 phones that give FAKE ‘likes’ to our most-loved apps

Pages on social media websites are given fake ‘likes’ to make them look more popular by thousands of phones

“Footage has emerged of a giant "click farm" that uses more than 10,000 mobile phones to give product ratings and pages on social media websites phoney "likes". 

Companies reportedly pay thousands to get their apps more likes by using services like this massive plant offers. 

This covert clip in China shows rows and rows of like-making machines all wired to other devices in a factory. And there are said to be thousands more phones in the same building all made for the same purpose.”

The reader should note some details regarding all of the cell phones. They are all smart phones, typically generic or “off make” brands (probably due to cost considerations).

Note that the camera is covered by tape so that if any agency wanted to turn on the camera, it would not be able to record any video. Notice the screens, all of them are slightly different, but the forum that they are posing on is identical. The computer software provides a kind of software personality that automates the clicking algorithm.

A Russian man took video footage of the like-making machines and shared it online. But social media users reacted angrily to this clip. One viewer wrote: “Is everything in the modern world ‘fake’?” While, a third furious user shared: “Is anything actually real anymore?”

To which I must educate the reader.

Yes. Everything on the Internet is fake.

The Thailand “Click Farm”

Three Chinese men arrested in Thailand have acknowledged that they were operating a “click farm,” using hundreds of cellphones and several hundred thousand SIM cards to run up “likes” and views on WeChat, a Chinese social media mobile application, Thai police reported on 13JUN17.

Immigration Police Capt. Itthikorn Atthanark said the men explained they were paid according to how many likes and views they generated, each earning 100,000-150,000 baht ($2,950-$4,400) per month. Click farms are hired to inflate an online site’s viewership for prestige and profit.

Some politicians boast of how many followers they have on social media, while clicks can generate ad revenue.

WeChat is China’s most prominent online social media platform, incorporating a text-messaging service as well as marketing for online stores.

Police seized 476 cellphones and around 347,200 SIM cards during the arrests Sunday at a house in Sa Kaeo province, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) east of Bangkok. The men, identified as Wang Dong, Niu Bang and Ni Wenjin, were charged with working without a permit and importing the phones without paying taxes.

Itthikorn said the arrests followed a police stakeout at the Sa Kaeo house after receiving reports of suspicious activity. He said a police search Monday at another residence believed to be engaged in the same activity came up empty-handed, though police believe others connected with the business are still at large.

Russian “troll farm”

Not only can you find “click farms” in Russia, but they are also used with ‘bots to flood the social media with trolls and other denizens of internet discussion. These farms park themselves and place ‘bots fully intended to disrupt the discussion on social media sites.

And what’s more, they are open for hire, and will do so for any social media. Apparently some of their biggest clients reside in the United States where they make princely amounts disrupting discussion as tolls on social media. So in Russia, not only do you have click-farms, but they also double as ’bout farms, and bit-mining operations.

The Internet is full of articles on this subject…

Consensus Cracking

A second highly effective technique (which you can see in operation all the time at www.abovetopsecret.com) is ‘consensus cracking.’

Pig Farts are destroying the Ozone Layer
Posted by Trustworthy Joe Average

Everyone knows that XXXXXX. It has been proven that XXXXXXX. And since XXXXX is a Y-chromosome, and Brando is good for plants, that DNA is great with JAVA, and the study clearly indicates that bovine farts are safe, while pig farts are dangerous.

To develop a consensus crack, the following technique is used. Under the guise of a fake account a posting is made which looks legitimate and is towards the truth is made – but the critical point is that it has a VERY WEAK PREMISE without substantive proof to back the posting.

Once this is done then under alternative fake accounts a very strong position in your favor is slowly introduced over the life of the posting. It is IMPERATIVE that both sides are initially presented, so the uninformed reader cannot determine which side is the truth. As postings and replies are made the stronger ‘evidence’ or disinformation in your favour is slowly ‘seeded in.’ Thus the uninformed reader will most like develop the same position as you, and if their position is against you their opposition to your posting will be most likely dropped.

This works on most websites, such as Facebook.

However in some cases where the forum members are highly educated and can counter your disinformation with real facts and linked postings, you can then ‘abort’ the consensus cracking by initiating a ‘forum slide.’

In April 2020, my LinkedIN feed was filled with articles stating that the Italian government was being overwhelmed with lawsuits against China for "mishandling" of the Coronavirus.

The only thing was, all of Italy was in lock-down at that time, and mail, servers and the Judicial apparatus were not functioning. They didn't even begin to resume operation until July.

Obviously it was a big lie. 

No legal actions were taken inside of Italy against China at all, but you would never realize that if you were not aware of the situation within both Italy and China, and how the legal systems works. Things that most Americans are unaware of, which is why this technique is so prevalent in America today.

Topic Dilution

Topic dilution is not only effective in forum sliding it is also very useful in keeping the forum readers on unrelated and non-productive issues.

This is a critical and useful technique to cause a ‘RESOURCE BURN.’ By implementing continual and non-related postings that distract and disrupt (trolling ) the forum readers they are more effectively stopped from anything of any real productivity. If the intensity of gradual dilution is intense enough, the readers will effectively stop researching and simply slip into a ‘gossip mode.’ Which is the ideal outcome.

In this state they can be more easily misdirected away from facts towards uninformed conjecture and opinion.

The less informed they are the more effective and easy it becomes to control the entire group in the direction that you would desire the group to go in.

Caution is often warranted. It must be stressed that a proper assessment of the psychological capabilities and levels of education is first determined of the group to determine at what level to ‘drive in the wedge.’ By being too far off topic too quickly it may trigger censorship by a forum moderator.

Information Collection

Information collection is also a very effective method to determine the psychological level of the forum members, and to gather intelligence that can be used against them.

In this technique in a light and positive environment a ‘show you mine so me yours’ posting is initiated.

From the number of replies and the answers that are provided much statistical information can be gathered. An example is to post your ‘favorite weapon’ and then encourage other members of the forum to showcase what they have. In this matter it can be determined by reverse proration what percentage of the forum community owns a firearm, and or a illegal weapon. This same method can be used by posing as one of the form members and posting your favorite ‘technique of operation.’ From the replies various methods that the group utilizes can be studied and effective methods developed to stop them from their activities.

This method has become famous by various anti-gun groups who intentionally collected information on gun owners in selected cities in anticipation of a anti-gun government.

Anger Trolling

This technique is known as anger trolling.

Statistically, there is always a percentage of the forum posters who are more inclined to violence. In order to determine who these individuals are, it is a requirement to present a image to the forum to deliberately incite a strong psychological reaction.

From this the most violent in the group can be effectively singled out for reverse IP location and possibly local enforcement tracking.

To accomplish this only requires posting a link to a video depicting a local police officer massively abusing his power against a very innocent individual. Statistically of the million or so police officers in America there is always one or two being caught abusing there powers and the taping of the activity can be then used for intelligence gathering purposes – without the requirement to ‘stage’ a fake abuse video.

This method is extremely effective, and the more so the more abusive the video can be made to look. Sometimes it is useful to ‘lead’ the forum by replying to your own posting with your own statement of violent intent, and that you ‘do not care what the authorities think!!’ inflammation.

By doing this and showing no fear it may be more effective in getting the more silent and self-disciplined violent intent members of the forum to slip and post their real intentions. This can be used later in a court of law during prosecution.

JTRIG

One of the many pressing stories that remains to be told from the Snowden archive is how western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction. It’s time to tell a chunk of that story, complete with the relevant documents.

Over a period of several weeks, NBC News published a series of articles about “dirty trick” tactics used by GCHQ’s previously secret unit, JTRIG (Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group). These were based on four classified GCHQ documents presented to the NSA and the other three partners in the English-speaking “Five Eyes” alliance.

As of 2015, another new JTRIG document, in full, entitled “The Art of Deception: Training for Online Covert Operations.” Was published with goes into great detail how the United States government intentionally smears and destroys the reputation and credibility of anyone whom it wants to. It does this through pure application of honed Nazi and KGB techniques.

By publishing these stories one by one, NBC reports highlighted some of the key, discrete revelations: [1] the monitoring of YouTube and Blogger, [2] the targeting of Anonymous with the very same DDoS attacks they accuse “hacktivists” of using, [3] the use of “honey traps” (luring people into compromising situations using sex) and [4] destructive viruses. But, here, specifically, lets focus and elaborate on the overarching point revealed by all of these documents: namely, that these agencies are attempting to control, infiltrate, manipulate, and warp online discourse, and in doing so, are compromising the integrity of the internet itself.

Among the core self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two primary tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable. To see how extremist these programs are, just consider the tactics they boast of using to achieve those ends: [1] “false flag operations” (posting material to the internet and falsely attributing it to someone else), [2] fake victim blog posts (pretending to be a victim of the individual whose reputation they want to destroy), and [3] posting “negative information” on various forums.

Gaining Full Control

It is important to also be harvesting and continually maneuvering for a forum moderator position. Once this position is obtained, the forum can then be effectively and quietly controlled by deleting unfavorable postings – and one can eventually steer the forum into complete failure and lack of interest by the general public.

The goal is to only have forum postings favorable to your desired point of view present.

This is the ‘ultimate victory’ as the forum is no longer participated with by the general public and no longer useful in maintaining their freedoms. Depending on the level of control you can obtain, you can deliberately steer a forum into defeat by censoring postings, deleting memberships, flooding, and or accidentally taking the forum offline. By this method the forum can be quickly killed.

However it is not always in the interest to kill a forum as it can be converted into a ‘honey pot’ gathering center to collect and misdirect newcomers and from this point be completely used for your control for your agenda purposes. The object is to gain full control.

Prohibit Non Approved Opinion

The powers-that-be understand that if the government can control speech, it controls thought and, in turn, it can control the minds of the citizenry. In fact, some of this past century’s greatest dystopian authors warned of this very danger.

In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, reading is banned and books are burned in order to suppress dissenting ideas, while televised entertainment is used to anesthetize the populace and render them easily pacified, distracted and controlled.
In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, serious literature, scientific thinking and experimentation are banned as subversive, while critical thinking is discouraged through the use of conditioning, social taboos and inferior education. Likewise, expressions of individuality, independence and morality are viewed as vulgar and abnormal.
In George Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother does away with all undesirable and unnecessary words and meanings, even going so far as to routinely rewrite history and punish “thoughtcrimes.”
And in almost every episode of Twilight Zone, Rod Serling urged viewers to unlock their minds and free themselves of prejudice, hate, violence and fear. “We’re developing a new citizenry,” Serling declared. “One that will be very selective about cereals and automobiles, but won’t be able to think.”

Conclusion

Yes, the manipulation of speech is an important tool for the control of people.

And we see a lot of this in regards to politics. Specifically in politics related to “democracies”, which pretty much rely upon “mob rule” to select the leadership. Thus we see that data in democracies are subject to popular opinion and thus must also be manipulated.

So, we see that in a “democracy”…

Leadership and politics are heavily involved in censorship and manipulation.
And in data sets and metrics of success, leadership also manipulates heavily.

But this is not the case in other forms of governance.

In totalitarian, and Republic forms of governance, there is no need to appease the population, thus there really isn’t a need to manipulate or censor. You can use China as a good example.

China
There was an outbreak of COVID-XXX in ZhangXin on March XXXX. 2,338 were infected, 388 died, and 78 were arrested for non-compliance with the mask law.

The Chinese don’t need to lie about these figures, or the presentation of them. They are facts. And whether you like them or not, agree with them or not, or anything else has no bearing on the issue. They do not CARE about your opinion.

Compare that to America, where mob opinion is very important and can result in positive or negative opinions of the leadership. Eventually resulting in their termination if things go bad.

USA
COVID-XXXX hits Boston. 456 infected, 34 deaths. But these figures are not verified by a secondary source and there are indications that they might be artificially enlarged by confusing it with the influenza. A government spokesperson admitted that there were a "few" deaths, but that everything was under control and a vaccine is under production right now to prevent further infections. Further, the vast majority of those that died had prior conditions, were old and feeble, or had other complication.

Sound familiar?

Remember these techniques are only effective if the forum participants DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THEM.

Once they are aware of these techniques the operation can completely fail, and the forum can become uncontrolled. At this point other avenues must be considered such as initiating a false legal precedence to simply have the forum shut down and taken offline. This is not desirable as it then leaves the enforcement agencies unable to track the percentage of those in the population who always resist attempts for control against them.

Do you want more?

I have more posts along these lines in my Functional and practical notes section of my SHTF Index…

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Some notes out of the Prayer Affirmation Campaign handbook

Here, in this post, we will cover some passages that I pulled out of my Affirmation Campaign notebook. Yeah. I’ll bet you all never realized that I have an affirmation “handbook”, well I do. I have a ton load of notebooks and notes all lying around everywhere. Being “old school”, I don’t rely on the computer alone.

One computer crash and you lose everything. One raid by religious fundamentalists in Arkansas and you’ll never see your notes ever again. One lost password, and you will be forever locked out of your writings.

OK.

Well, anyways, this post is a collection of my notes and thoughts on affirmation campaigns. I am including techniques and thoughts that I actually use within my very own personal campaigns. I like to think that others might find these techniques to be of use.

The first technique that I will cover is “font shading”.

Font Shading

I like to use “font shading” to keep track of the weighed importance of a given affirmation.

Font shading is very useful in keeping the size of a prayer / affirmation campaign down to a practical size. If you have a large affirmation list, like I do, you will find that it is very time consuming to read the list out loud. Most people keep lists that they can read in under ten minutes. While mine tend to be very lengthy.

In general, if your list is over fifteen minutes long when you read your affirmations, you need to either cut it down or conduct your campaign using the “font shading” technique.

The use of this technique is very simple. As follows…

Text in black color – read out loud.
Text in light grey color – just read silently with your eyes.

It enables the same results in a fraction of the time when conducting an affirmation prayer campaign. Just make sure that the “highlighted” text in black are the most significant important elements of your campaign.

Pacing Techniques

Pacing refers to the system that you use for on / off affirmation campaigns. I have discussed this subject in other posts. Essentially, with each and every affirmation campaign are three elements. Which are…

Reading / reciting your affirmations for a set period of time.
A complete stop with zero affirmation reading for a set period of time.
The start of the follow-up affirmation campaign.

And as I had stated earlier, it is critically important that all prayer / affirmation campaigns follow the same template. You define a set period of time where you read out your affirmations, and then stop. The period that you stop should be approximately the same length as the time devoted to the affirmations. Then once the period of time is complete, you repeat only with revised affirmations.

Here, we are going to look at some of the many variations of this process.

And they are;

Trot
Stroll
Mosey
Gallop

The pacing of this process depends on you and what you intend to get out of the process. It depends on your personality. It depends on your situation. It depends on you.

How you want your life to turn out is wholly dependent on how your conduct your affirmation campaigns.

Now…

Let’s look at the different kinds of ways to pace your affirmation campaigns.

The Trot – (2 month 1 on / 1 off cycle)

The Trot is exactly like it is presented. It is a steady, but relentless sequence and series of campaigns all separated by equal duration breaks. After a while in experimenting with different systems, I (myself) have settled on this pace for me personally. I run a relentless one month on, then one month off, then repeat. For me, it has been working out splendidly, as it permits me to actively adjust thought navigation quickly and get near immediate feedback on the relative success of the campaigns.

The Stroll – (6 month 3 on / 3 off cycle)

This is a more leisurely pace, and a pace that I recommend for newbies to prayer affirmation campaigns. The length of a campaign is one season. It is three months long. Followed by three months off. What is great about this pace is that you can get the best mixture of observed results and learned skills, while at the same time avoiding over all fatigue and depression that things seem to be taking too long to manifest.

The Mosey – (1 year 6 on / 6 off cycle)

This is a much longer affirmation effort. You typically run the affirmation campaign for around six months, and then stop for six months. Because the campaign runs for so long, you need to make sure that your affirmations are at an easy to recite size. Too long, and you will tend to give up quickly. This system is perhaps one of the best systems, and the nice long pause really gives you time to reflect, think and enjoy life. But one of the problems with this is that the pause is so long (six months) that you might forget to start a new affirmation follow-up campaign afterwards.

The Gallop – Sawtooth effort.

This is a rather different technique for pacing your prayer campaigns. It requires some planning. In this technique you use different prayer affirmation lists and then rotate the lists through the campaign.

You have two affirmation lists. (You can call them “A” and “B”, or “Red” and “Blue”, if you want to.) One week you read your “red” affirmations. Then the next week you stop. Then on the third week, you read your “blue” affirmations. Then you stop for a whole week. Then you repeat this cycle. You do this for a minimum of two months.

Sawtooth prayer affirmation campaign. — “Sawtooth” Affirmation campaign.

This system has advantages.

It enables you to cut down the size of your affirmations to something more manageable. The drawback however should be obvious. If the “red” objectives differ substantially from the “blue” objectives, you will end up zig-zagging back and forth in the general directions of your objectives, but have a difficult time arriving there. However, if your objectives are complementary, or mutually exclusive, you will be able to enjoy the objective realization in a shorter amount of time.

Our expectations are influenced by the media, not reality.

Many people put goals and desires in their affirmations based upon their impressions made by the media. This is a danger. It might have you investing in a $75,000 car instead of spending the year cavorting with pretty girls on the beach. It might have you spending thousands of dollars on the latest outfits instead of having your house paid off. It might misdirect your desires to what you SHOULD own, instead of what your heart needs.

Don’t let your decisions be influenced by appearance.

Hollywood and media provide dangerous illusions.

The truth is that everyone is different.

People tend to evaluate the same situation differently depending on the environment. This was proven by an experiment where people were asked to evaluate products that were located in 2 areas, one with laminate flooring and another with carpet. Respondents walking on the carpet gave the same products better feedback.

I remember a study that was comparing restaurants. The food was identical, the environment was identical, but one restaurant had heavy plates and massive silverware. The other had cheap plates and light flatware. Obviously the customers preferred the more robust eating environment.

For instance, when choosing a job, you might accept one with a nice office, while rejecting another opportunity with better career growth. So to make decisions that will lead you to financial success, try to make sure that visual attributes don’t affect you.

And this means, don’t let the idea “this is a great job” or everyone knows that you will be happier if you XXXXXXX. It’s all a lie.

Search your heart about what matters to you. Define what it is, and navigate to that objective.

Introductory Transition Mechanisms

If your goal is really “far out”, complex or distant, you might want to break it down into bite sized steps. For instance, if you want to become the President of the Untied States, you might want to start with affirmations closer to your current situation. Then move forward thinking of a series of battles and campaigns to get you where you want to be. Like this, perhaps…

Dog catcher.
Local Sheriff.
State Representative.
Federal Representative.
Federal Senator.
VP of the USA.
President of the USA.

In a like way, you need to be able to map our your most cherished and distant desires so that your objectives are manifested.

What do I mean?

I mean something like this…

2020 through 2026 – local government.
2026 through 2034 – State government.
2034 through 2045 – Federal government.

Plan things out in detail, and have a long term vision that matches your long term plans.

Affirm the NOW

I suppose that everyone has heard the (tired old) saying “live in the now“. But, gosh and golly, is it ever so important when conducting a prayer affirmation campaign.

Mindfulness, or living in the now, is making the choice to focus on our present and live in our experiences. It sounds like something that should be easy, but it takes effort and practice. If you are struggling to live in the now, it might be because of one of these seven things.

-7 Things That Keep You From Living In the Now | Power of Positivity

In the movie “Wayne’s World” there is even a parody of this saying. Where the main character tells his “side kick” Garth to “live in the now!”. It’s actually pretty darn funny.

But…

The point of this should not be lost on anyone.

The "NOW" is a very specific point in your travels on the MWI and world-lines.  It is a description of the world-line that you are inside at the moment that you made the affirmation statement.

When you conduct your prayer affirmation campaign you must specifically define the time for the affirmations to take place. You can do this a number of ways, and the way that I recommend is this…

Do NOT state a date, or a time for it to manifest.

Of course, it is pretty much a given that the affirmation will manifest. But it will do so in accordance with the balance (the rest of) your other affirmations, and what ever your current life situation actually is.

If your affirmation campaign has prayers; A, B, C, D and E in it, then the entire campaign will not distinguish the priority of the implementation of any of those prayers. Rather, instead, they will manifest in the greatest likelihood of manifestation given your current navigational vector.

The only way to control this is to say something like. A will happen first, then B, then C, then D, and finally E.

But, all this being stated, there are things that you MUST NOT do.

You should NOT use any of the following terms regarding when the affirmation will manifest…

General dates like “soon”, “near”, “going to happen”, “one of these days”, “eventually”, “after a while”, “later”, and other terms that point to a general time somewhere in the future.

Don’t say an affirmation anything like this…

Eventually, some day, my dream of having a little raise in salary might come true.

Because what you want is things to start NOW. Maybe not manifest NOW, but to start to move things in place NOW.

You see, the moment you verbalize a word, you are generating a thought AT THAT MOMENT. How that thought will materialize in your physical reality is a direct function of the sentence structure.

If you say something like…

Really soon, I will get a big salary increase.

You can guarantee that you set your “world-line navigation system” destination coordinates towards “a big salary increase”. It’s input into your navigation console, and you are already on the path towards that goal.

But…

Wait!

What will actually happen?

Well, look at it plotted or charted out, and see.

Pretty Soon. — Pretty soon my dreams will come true.

You stated “really soon”. This modifier is “soft”. Meaning that it is not precise and well defined. In terms of glaciers, really soon could mean 500 years. In terms of an old many, it could mean five years. In terms of an infant, it could mean five minutes.

What you want to do is avoid “soft” affirmations.

You want everything to be immediately encoded (which is automatic), but implemented within a reasonable amount of time. In fact, you want the implementation to be within a reasonable amount of time IN ALIGNMENT with the rest of the prayers during your current prayer campaign.

So I would recommend something along these lines, instead…

I am given a big salary increase.

It’s straight forward, simple, defined and is not modified by any aspect of time.

Now, of course, you can just as well say something along these lines…

Now, my reality is strongly conducive for a big salary increase.

But, isn’t that a bit complex? I would argue that simpler is better. And let the navigation engine move your consciousness to those world-lines properly.

My salary has been increased by a large amount.

This doesn’t place your reality somewhere in the future. Instead, it places you past that event. Which is what you actually want.

All your affirmation is your prayer campaign should describe a point where as your reality is well past the time when the goal or event occurred.

So I must advise to plot your navigation for each specific affirmation such that you are in a reality where that event has already happened in the past. Knowing, full well, that while it has not yet happened, the systems are happening now to bring you to the point.

And…

Well, this is pretty much how all your affirmations should read. Your campaign should describe what your life is like AFTER the affirmations manifest.

If it does not, then you are not doing things efficiently.

There are exceptions, of course. You can describe how the affirmations implement in real time, For example.

Incorporate all the characteristics of success in your campaign

It doesn’t really matter what your affirmation campaign consists of or what details you have within it. The basic elements of a successful life should have some part or role in your affirmation campaign.

Of course, you can go ahead to any website on the internet and you will see such things listed as [1] creativity, [2] resourcefulness, [3] persistence, and so on. And while all those things are certainly important, they are also part of your personality. Something that was formed in your early childhood by the age of three.

I am not talking about that.

Though, go ahead and add these elements to your campaign if you want to. Here’s some links to get you started…

So, if you want to be and have a success, you might want to go ahead and use the affirmation campaign to alter your personality to incorporate these characteristics.

But…

That is NOT what I am talking about here.

I am talking about incorporating those elements that your personality, your experience, your friendships, your knowledge, and your skills have no control over…

Luck
Being in the right place at the right time.
Having the right set of skills and connections when you need them.
A favorable environment.
Awareness.

And, if there is one thing that I know. It’s this. Those business owners, for the most part, just so happened to be at the right place at the right time and they pounced on the opportunity. For you to have the life that you desire it will require a combination of numerous aspects and changes in your life. It will require your resourcefulness, your ability to know that an opportunity has arrived. It will require you to use your skills, and to have the knowledge on how to use the tools at your disposal. And…

It will also include some “luck”.

And “luck” is actually the positioning of a desirable world-line within close proximity.

So, what this aspect of your affirmation campaign is to specify, specifically that the “pivot point” (that will make your affirmations occur) will exist and happen in one of your immediate world-lines.

Luck is always part of my life. 
I am always in the right place at the right time. 
I have the right set of skills, and connections whenever I need them. 
My affirmations have found a fertile and favorable environment from which to grow and manifest.

Ah, but this isn’t just “opportunity”…

Opportunities

You need to be diabolically precise when stating that “opportunities” will manifest for you. You would be surprised at the kinds of “opportunities” used to come my way until I reigned them in and forced them to conform to my desires.

In my affirmations I said that that “opportunities” would come into my life. Yet, I failed to associate those opportunities with my goals. So what happened?

Yeah. You guessed it.

All sorts of “out of the blue” things were presented to me. All were opportunities, but nothing that was of interest to me specifically.

Like…

Given a chance to gather companies to sponsor European Soccer (football) teams. You know, wear their logos on their clothing. A lot of work. But an opportunity.
Given a chance to sell Generic Viagra in Iran. No problem, except that I am an American passport holder. This could get me in a full shit-load of trouble.
Being on a Judge Committee for English language students to debate the differences between ancient Chinese and Japanese history in English.
Create an on-line marketplace (B2B) to sell caskets to funeral homes around the world.
Run a crew of people that would decontaminate public places, hotels, and vehicles from those who had COVID and other infectious diseases.

And many more.

Unless you specify that you want the “opportunities” to be germane to your other affirmation goals, you will end up getting a ton load of useless opportunistic ventures. Sure, eventually with some hard-work and “elbow grease” you can make things happen. But unless they are part of your over-riding goals, you will just ignore these opportunities as worthless.

So, be careful on what you desire as “opportunities”. Connect them with specific results.

I have an opportunity that will make me a large fortune.

I am provided an opportunity to meet the woman of my dreams.

I have an opportunity to buy my dream house at a dirt cheap price.

Always specify specifically what your opportunity will provide for you.

Visualization of your target life.

Oh, it’s not just enough to say the affirmations. You need to visualize you enjoying your target goals.

You need to have a reminder at the end of your affirmation list, to visualize your goals. Visualization will speed up the implementation. Maybe something like this…

Visualize you living in the situation that you affirm during your prayer campaign. Doing so will accelerate the manifestation of that situation.

Don’t allow counter productive bad habits.

So, you are spending every day doing your affirmations. You say them out load and you visualize. But when people talk you normally, at home, in the bar, or on the street, you become self-depreciating. They ask you how you are doing and you say “oh, so-so”, or your friends ask you if you have plans or what you are going to do, and you “oh, I don’t know. I’ll just do nothing”.

If you have nothing good to say… then say nothing.

From now on every thing out of your mouth must be an extension of your vocalization. Do not allow anything bad out of your mouth. Do not vocalize anything negative. Do not be gloated into negativity.

Each negative statement erases one affirmation campaign session.

Stifle your depreciating natures, and for good golly sakes STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM NEGATIVE PEOPLE.

Conclusion

I have become VERY GOOD at manifesting my desires. I think that I am doing “something” right. And I like to help others duplicate my success. Thus this series in Prayer and Intention Manifestation.

Never the less…

Every now and then I check out what is going on in the rest of the internet on thoughts regarding things that I am focused on. This includes China, MAJ, American culture, and Intention.

What a big disappointment!

China…. hate, hate, hate, lies, distortions and more hate.
MAJ… nothing. Zero. Na-da.
American culture… cluster fuck going down the commode.
Intention… they all haven’t a fucking clue.

I figured that it was high time to continue my writings on this subject after I read a particularly erroneous piece. I mean, their hearts are in the right place, but boy oh boy, is their advice wrong.

Seriously you need to be careful and not “rubber stamp” other’s mistakes. Here’s an example of one of the “better” websites out there. Here a partial list of the suggestions for affirmations.

I am worthy of love.
I carry strength and resilience with me.
My every step is one of courage.
I have the ability to overcome any challenge life gives me. (Find out how compassion can improve your life: Overcome...
Abundance and love flow from me.
I am pure beauty.
I am a radiant and joyous person.
I am cocooned in the loving energy of the Universe.
I am successful.
I am enough.

-50 Self-Loving Affirmations – Uncover Your Joy

All in all, it’s not really a BAD group of affirmations. It’s just that they are primarily focused on changing the persons attitude about life, emotions and themselves. Not about world-line navigation. This is a pretty common problem that I can see is duplicated all over the internet.

Here’s another example.

This website suggests that you perform these affirmations every evening. I am sure that you will be a very trusting person afterwards…

Ah.

For certain, you will be a more trusting person. But will it buy you an ice cream cone the day after?

As I have said, it seems to me that many of these prayer / affirmation suggestions are not associated with world-line navigation or any sort of defined campaign. Rather they are just nice sayings to make you feel better about yourself.

How about this list…

List of 37 Abundance Affirmations

1. Whatever I can conceive, I believe.
2. If I see it in my mind, I am going to hold it in my hand.
3. I open myself to receiving abundance of the Universe.
4. The Universe provides me with all that I will ever need.
5. I am richly blessed.
6. I am love.
7. I am One with Spirit.
8. My higher self rules over my ego.
9. My spirit dances in step with joy in my heart.
10. I am whole and in perfect health
11. Every cell in my body vibrates with health and positive energy.
12. Beauty is the breath of my soul.
13. I see beauty everywhere I go.
14. I am financially wealthy!
15. Checks arrive in my inbox every single day.
16. My wealth grows in ever increasing amounts.
17. I love my car!
18. I live in the house of my dreams; in tranquil surroundings filled with love, a blessed family and happy kids!!
19. I attract love everywhere.
20. My relationships are harmonious!
21. I work as and when I want to, anywhere I want to.
22. My business is a resounding success!
23. I enjoy absolute freedom!
24. I experience the world in all its glory.
25. I have a wealth of fond memories.
26. My life is one big adventure.
27. I serve the community with love.
28. I help those in need.
29. My teachers inspire me to live in the now!
30. My inner home is a peaceful retreat, a storehouse of practical wisdom.
31. I celebrate life.
32. Inspiration flows easily to me.
33. Opportunities arrive at the right time in the right place
34. I am divinely guided in all that I do.
35. Miracles manifest everyday in wondrous ways!
36. My prayers are always answered, in support of my dreams!
37. Love and gratitude…Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Hey! You long term MM readers and affirmation students, can you pick out the mistakes in the list? There’s a bunch, don’t you know, but some are ok.

Maybe I should take a “whack” at it, eh?

I have a wealth of fond memories.

Um. Really? That's what you want in your intention campaign. I mean different strokes for different folks and all that. But, doesn't it imply that you will be living in your past?

Or…

I love my car!

Pretty general. Easy to obtain, but you will have an obsession with a material possession. I cannot see that as being good.

I see a lot of these affirmations as pleasant distractions. They will take you places, and many will have your going around and around in circles. But still, many of those creating these affirmations have their heart in the right place. The results of the manifestations will improve that particular person in some way. Most seem to relate to feelings and emotions that the person has.

Certainly getting a hold of out-of-control emotions is a good thing.

So, you all need not be as critical as I am.

Just be mindful of what you affirm. As this article stated, “opportunities” can be wildly off target. And if you follow these pre-packaged affirmations you might end up going to places that you might not to be. Be careful.

33. Opportunities arrive at the right time in the right place

Be careful.

I hope that in some way that I can improve the dreams and lives of those that this MM venue touches.

Do you want more?

I have more posts along these lines in my prayer / affirmation campaign index, here…

Intention Campaigns

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Fuck Social Security. Vending Machines are the way to obtain income during your retirement.

Ok. The fact is that I have numerous avenues funneling small amounts of money to pay for my retirement, and little pleasures in life. I guess that life has taught me that you just cannot rely on one source of income. But rather, you need to have a lot of tiny sources of income. The more, the better.

But you know, it wasn’t always like this.

All my life I was told that if I got a job working for a “good company” that I would be set for life. That I could retire with a pension when I hit my middle 40’s and would have a great life with all my medical needs taken cared for.

It did not happen.

My life has been a constant struggle. And on the employment scene, it’s been a “gig economy” long before the rest of society caught up with that reality.

Over the years, I have tried to set up various mechanisms for earning and making money. Most of the time, however, I had (out of necessity) taken jobs working for others. Most of which didn’t deserve me. Today, I have a combination of low-income venues that provide a steady income. It’s not what you read on the internet or see in Hollywood. It’s just enough for a comfortable life, but there are no Maybach or Ferrari’s in my life, thank you.

One of the mechanisms that I use to earn a few bucks is to incorporate a few vending machines to my income stream. And I do mean incorporate. You add these elements of extra work to your daily routine, and you include the revenue income into the family budget for the wife to handle.

It’s a matter of persistence and trial and error. Like anything else, you invest some money, and you learn how things works by serving the machines. Many locations are terrible. Some locations change and cause upsets, and every now and then you “hit a pot of gold”. Don’t poo-poo this.

In my mind anything that puts some extra money in your wallet is something deserving of consideration. Anything.

Here’s a pretty good article on this subject.

The following article is titled “The economics of vending machines”, written by Zachary Crockett | @zzcrockett October 3, 2020. It was edited to fit this venue. All credit to the original author.

The economics of vending machines

The pandemic has boosted interest in vending machine ownership. But just how lucrative is the business? We spoke to 20+ operators to find out.

Three months ago, Jalea Pippens — a phlebotomist at St. John Hospital in Detroit — had her hours cut.

In the midst of the pandemic, the 23-year-old found herself in dire need of a second income stream. One night, while scrolling through search results for “ways to make extra money,” she came across vending machines.

The daily minutiae of owning a vending machine seemed a bit dull: buying bulk candy at Sam’s Club, stocking machines, collecting weathered bills and buckets of coins. But Pippens saw an opportunity to be her own boss.

She partnered up with her boyfriend and another business partner, bought a vending machine on Facebook Marketplace for $1.6k, and plunked it down at a local auto parts store, where it now grosses $400 per month.

“I’d never really thought about vending machines,” she tells The Hustle. “I didn’t even know you could own one.”

Pippens is one of thousands of individual operators who make up the bulk of the vending machine ecosystem.

During the pandemic, the relatively low barrier of entry has attracted a new generation of vending machine entrepreneurs — schoolteachers, nurses, mechanics, students — who measure profits in $1 bills and utilize new technologies to monitor and scale their operations.

But are vending machines really a viable side hustle? How much does the average machine bring in? And what does the job entail?

To find out, The Hustle surveyed and interviewed 20+ vending machine operators all over America.

A glimpse at the market

It is estimated that roughly ⅓ of the world’s ~15m vending machines are located in the US.

Of these 5m US-based vending machines, ~2m are currently in operation, collectively bringing in $7.4B in annual revenue for those who own them. This means that the average American adult spends ~$35 per year on vending machine items.

What makes the vending industry truly unique is its stratification: The landscape is composed of thousands of small-time independent operators — and no single entity owns >5% of the market.

(Zachary Crockett / The Hustle)

Some big corporations, like Pepsi and Coca-Cola, own their own arsenal of machines. But vending requires so many moving parts and brings in such slim profits per machine that it’s better suited for smaller operators who can minimize overhead costs.

According to a 2020 IBISWorld report, the nation’s 2m in-use machines are owned by 17.6k small businesses, the vast majority of which employ just a few people.

The vending industry is broad and encompasses everything from $0.50 gumballs to — well:

Live hairy crabs (~$4 each)
Beluga caviar ($500 per ounce)
Engagement rings ($800)
Live earthworms for fishing ($3.50 for a dozen)
Morning-after pills ($25)
COVID-19 essentials like hand sanitizer and masks ($4.25 to $14.50)

Oddities aside, the majority of vending machines (72.4%) house standard snacks and beverages — what are known as “full-line” machines in vending parlance.

(Zachary Crockett / The Hustle)

Several things attract new operators to vending:

Relatively low startup costs: An operator can find a decent machine and buy inventory for <$2k.
Scalability: Early revenue can be reinvested in expansion to leverage economies of scale.
A largely passive routine: Restocking and cash collection can be reduced to a few times per month.
A flexible schedule: Like the gig economy, vending allows operators to set their own hours.

But starting out in the business comes with its share of hurdles — the first of which is finding the right machine.

A new machine straight from a manufacturer can run from $3k to $8k+ — though used machines can be purchased on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace for as little as $300.

As Paul Valdez, a 39-year-old Miami operator, learned, those machines often end up being more trouble than they’re worth.

“I bought 4 machines on Craigslist for cheap and fixed them,” he tells The Hustle, “but they were all so crappy and old that no business wanted them.”

Once an operator like Valdez has secured the right machine, the next obstacle is finding a quality home for it.

Location can make or break a machine’s success — and finding a good one is often a steep challenge for people who are new to the business.

Zachary Crockett / The Hustle

Many of the best locations — places with heavy foot traffic, or large worker populations — are already saturated with machines.

Some owners we talked to have to make 100+ calls before landing a decent location. In the end, they often end up paying the owner a commission of 10%-25% of gross sales to drive home the deal.

Other owners resort to buying pre-established “routes” — machines that are already placed on-site somewhere — or attempt to knock out existing operators by offering a better service.

“It can be dog-eat-dog,” says Alyssa Howard, a 28-year-old who owns 22 snack machines in Colorado. “You have to treat it as a zero-sum game.”

The reason for this competition is simple: There is a tremendous variance in how much revenue a machine can bring in, based on where it is.

Good margins, small volumes

We surveyed 23 vending machine owners with various-sized operations and found that the average operator in our sample owned 13 machines that gross $309 per machine per month.

But self-reported revenue per machine per month ranged from just $75 to $650.

Note: This data comes from a survey of 23 operators and isn’t meant to be definitive; some vending machines make far less than the figures listed here; others make far more. (Zachary Crockett / The Hustle)

Most vendors we spoke with noted big differences in revenue across their own machines.

“I have one machine that does $25 every 2 weeks, and another that does $600,” says Everett Brown, a 32-year-old Lyft driver from Minneapolis who vends part-time. “Every location is different; some places suck, and others are gold mines.”

Jaime Ibanez got into vending in 2018. Fresh out of high school, he dropped $2.5k — about half his savings — on a refurbished snack machine and found a home for it at a local barbershop in Dallas.

Today, he owns 35 machines that gross $10k in revenue every month. His best location, a hotel, earns him $2.8k; his worst sometimes only sees $200.

And remember: these figures are pre-expenses. The business comes with its share of overhead costs.

For starters, ~50% of revenue goes toward the cost of items that go in the machines.

Many operators buy their wares in bulk at Sam’s Club and Costco and sell them for roughly 2x the price they paid. Here’s a look at how a typical vending machine’s margins might look by item:

(Zachary Crockett / The Hustle)

Among the other operating costs reported by vending machine owners:

General liability insurance (~$500/yr for <$100k in annual sales)
Commissions paid to locations (5-25% of revenue)
Transaction fees for card purchases (~5-6%)
Card reader analytics fees ($10/mo)
Storage space for unused machines (~$100/mo)
Gas and transportation ($50-$100/mo)
Taxes (10-37% of adjusted gross income)
Routine maintenance and vandalism repairs ($50-$250/yr)

Even something like logistics can be a burden: Vending machines are extraordinarily heavy — 600-800 lbs. — and often require special equipment to pick up and move.

All costs considered, an operator who makes $5k per month in revenue might take home something like $2k in profit.

To make vending work as a full-time gig, an operator typically must implement economies of scale, building the business up to dozens of machines that collectively generate a livable wage.

Operators like Ibanez are constantly reinvesting in expansion.

Ibanez with a few of his 35 vending machines in Dallas (via Jaime Ibanez)

The biggest input cost of all — the amount of time a vendor spends on-site — has been minimized by technology in recent times.

“I can visit all my machines in 2 days and not have to go back for 2 weeks,” says Ibanez.

Twenty years ago, operators had to drive to each machine on a semi-daily basis and jot down the items they needed by hand. Today, telemetry tools have largely allowed newcomers to operate remotely.

Roughly 70% of today’s vendors use some form of tech (card readers, apps, iPads) to monitor sales and inventory in real-time.

On a typical site visit day, Ibanez will get up at 6am, check his apps for inventory, and load up on his bestsellers — Honey Buns, M&M’s, and Snickers — at Sam’s Club. After restocking, collecting money, and doing an occasional repair, he’s home by 4pm.

This seemingly dull routine has piqued the interest of hundreds of thousands of young entrepreneurs on the Internet.

Ibanez’s YouTube channel, which chronicles his life as a vendor, boasts 362k subscribers and now earns more than his machines.

“People love to see the stacks of cash getting pulled out,” he says.

But something else is driving this fascination: the allure of a semi-passive income has led to a spike in vending during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 boom

Barry and Lori Strickland, a married couple in San Diego, run The Vending Mentors, an educational resource that offers an online course ($297) and ongoing consulting services ($97/mo) for new vendors.

Their journey into vending began back in 1989, when Barry — then a 30-year-old special education teacher — bought a few machines to make extra income during the summer.

Eventually, the couple grew the business to 250 machines and $500k in annual revenue before selling it.

Lory and Barry Strickland have seen an uptick in their vending machine course during the pandemic (Barry and Lory Strickland)

Since the pandemic, the Stricklands say they’ve seen a huge uptick in interest. This year, 200 vendors have signed up for their course.

“A lot of blue-collar workers are realizing their jobs are not as secure as they thought they were,” says Mr. Strickland. “We’re getting tons of interest from people who lost their jobs, or had hours cut, and are turning to vending to take things into their own hands.”

Mr. Strickland says that most vendors he knows have seen a 10-50% dip in revenue this year due to the stressors of the pandemic.

Radical shifts in consumer behavior, physical interaction, and health guidelines have shifted the vending landscape. Vendors who rely on schools have been hit especially hard; other locations, like nursing homes, have continued to perform well.

Despite the shakeup, Mr. Strickland maintains the market is ripe for entry.

“Vending machines are relatively safe compared to food prep — there isn’t as much human contact,” he says. “It’s also a business that a lot of people consider to be recession-proof.”

In particular, the Stricklands have noticed an uptick in Black and Latino vending machine owners — a trend they attribute to accessibility and relatively low startup costs.

VendingNation, a popular private Facebook group for new venders, has grown from 6k to 14.5k members since January — a 142% increase — and many of the new members are from underrepresented groups.

Jalea Pippens with a new machine — one of 15 she co-manages with her partners, Steven Lee and Gabriel McKinnon, in Detroit (Jalea Pippens)

Among them is Jalea Pippens, the phlebotomist from Detroit.

After buying her first machine 3 months ago, she launched Literally Lit Vending with her boyfriend (a nurse), and his best friend.

“The pandemic made us into entrepreneurs,” she says.

Over the past 3 months, Literally Lit has grown to encompass 15 machines all over Metro Detroit. Recently, they landed their biggest deal yet: 5 machines at a steel manufacturing warehouse.

Collectively, the machines now bring in $4k in monthly revenue — most of which is being reinvested into the company.

“When I used to see a vending machine at the hospital, I’d spend at least $5,” she says. “Now I’m on the other side, collecting the bills.”

Conclusion

Yes. I know. I can (personally) make great money with my knowledge and experience and uniqueness. After all, I am a Rocket Scientist, who speaks multiple languages and who lives smack dab in the middle of manufacturing central. In fact, I have interviewed for positions that pretty much were talking about paying me about ten times that of a commercial airline pilot. Which is a lot of money. A lot of fucking money.

But…

Is that all there is?

Money.

What about being your own boss? Having a relaxed lifestyle? Eating fine food, drinking wine and cavorting with pretty girls?

What about those things?

Is money all there is to life? — What about “cavoring around”?

What about spending time with your children? Not being stressed out? Walking out in the early morning and setting down to your daily routine without your phone ringing off the hook?

What about those things?

We all have to make a determination on what our life is to be, and we all need to make an individualized determination of how that will manifest. For me, it is the following…

A membership in a community.
Multiple sources of income that I control.
Doing the the kind of work that I love.
Meeting up with interesting people.
Living in a beautiful location.
Eating and drinking good delicious food.
Surrounded with love.

I suggest to the reader to forget about all that Hollywood nonsense.

Think small. Not large.
Think many avenues of income, not one.
Think many friendships and relationships. Not a few.
Think about having a lot of free time, not a little.

And you all might want to consider vending machines.

It will not make you rich. But it will pay for by-weekly steaks, pot roasts, and fine delicious sea food. Not to mention cases of fine delicious wine, and an unlimited amount of cigars.

Just a thought. You all.

Think small. Think community. Think skill. Think resources and relationships. Think about participation. Think about contribution.

Think about lifestyle.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Happiness Index here…

Life & Happiness

Do you want to see similar posts?

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Ghost Gliders: Spanish Narco-Submarines

One of the things that I truly appreciate is how we all somehow come up with solutions to problems. Some of those solutions are truly amazing and noteworthy. As (for example) what Eddie Van Halen did to his guitar when he couldn’t afford a wah-wah petal. And as a tinkerer, and inventor, I just cannot help but be attracted to DIY articles and stories of making… stuff and things.

Here’s an interesting article about narco-submarines. These are miniature submarines that are used to transport contraband (illegal to own objects) to a hungry clientele behind the United States grand wall of isolation. We read about these vehicles and objects from time to time, but this is the first article that I have come across that had some real depth to it.

The following article is titled “Ghost Gliders: Spanish Narco-Submarines” written by H I Sutton, on Mon, 08/31/2020 – 7:38pm. It came from the Small Wars Journal. All credit to the author. Please note that it was reproduced pretty much intact with only minor editing to fit this venue.

Ghost Gliders: Spanish Narco-Submarines

By H I Sutton

We tend to think of (so-called) narco-submarines as a Latin American phenomenon.

Properly speaking they are LPVs (Low Profile Vessels); alternatively SPSS (Self-Propelled Semi-Submersible—I do not use this term).

Locally in Latin America they are known as ‘narcosubmarinos’ or ‘semisumergibles.’ Now we have another Spanish name to add to the list, ‘planeadora fantasma,’ meaning ‘Ghost Glider.’

This is because narco-submarines are not confined to the Americas. Similar methods being used elsewhere, most noticeably in Spain.

The most widely reported Spanish narco-submarine (and I use this colloquial term unapologetically), was found on 24 November 2019 on the Galician coast. The 72 feet long craft was large and carried over 3 tons of narcotics, but it was otherwise like the ones found in the Pacific or Caribbean.

In contrast, the one found in the same area on 13 August 2006 was completely unique. And the same can be said of the latest ‘Ghost Glider,’ found on 27 August 2020. The basic difference is that the November 2019 boat was built in Latin America while the other two were built in Spain.

Different ideas, conditions and modus operandi have led to different approaches in design.

Locally in Latin America they are known as ‘narcosubmarinos’ or ‘semisumergibles.’ Now we have another Spanish name to add to the list, ‘planeadora fantasma,’ meaning ‘Ghost Glider.’ — Ghost Glider designs.

Three ‘Types’ of Spanish Narco-Submaries: ‘Vigo’ FSV, ‘Transatlantic’ and LPV, ‘Ghost Glider’ LPV/GFV. Source: H I Sutton, 2020.

2006 Vigo Narco-submarine

An elaborate artisan submarine was found abandoned off Spain’s Galician coast near Vigo on 13 August 2006…

This is about the time that narco-submarines, as we would recognize them today, were beginning to be interdicted in Latin America.

It was a FSV (fully submersible vessel), 36ft (11 meters) long and 6.5ft (2 meters) across. And unlike LPVs, was able to fully submerge, down to a depth of about 10ft (3 meters).

Underwater it was powered by batteries driving two electric motors.

And it had over 1,000 gallons of fuel for surface running. It was estimated to be capable to carrying about 1 ton of cargo. Other aspects were also relatively advanced, including a folding snorkel mast and radar antenna.

Despite its sophistication there is no suggestion that this tiny craft was suitable for transatlantic voyages. More likely it was intended to rendezvous with another ship offshore, pick up the drugs and transport them back to the Spanish shore.

2019 Narco-Submarine

A regular LPV of the style we see in Latin America.

There is compelling evidence that this was designed by the same master boat builder who is responsible for several others. Design details, such as a small splitter plate ahead of the cockpit windows and the V-shaped hull, create a ‘designer’s fingerprint’. This allows us to tie together multiple incidents.

The first LPV from this designer was interdicted by the Colombian Navy on 3 January 2019. Since then at least four more have been found, the most recent being found in its jungle boat yard on 6 August 2020. This last one was unusually large, being about 100 feet (30 meters) long. In fact all of the LPVs attributed to this unknown master boat builder stand out against their peers.

But we should not make too much of the particular designer. If the 2019 narco-submarine could cross the Atlantic, virtually any large LPV could. In overall terms it was not remarkable. This should be more alarming to Law Enforcement than if it was in some way special.

Current thinking, based on publicly available information, is that it was built in the Colombian jungle near the inland border with Brazil. It then sailed all the way down the Amazon to the coast before setting off across the Atlantic. It went via the Azores before heading towards Galicia.

planeadora fantasma

This latest craft sits between the go-fast vessel (GFV) category and LPVs.

Again, it is a unique design unlike those seen in Latin America. It takes a power boat hull, adds a hard RIB collar and then a built-up covered superstructure. It is not currently—based on public sources—possible to say how low it sat in the water. Possibly the collar was part of a ballast system. However we can say that it was intended to avoid detection, hence ‘ghost glider’. It was painted in a way that appears intended to deceive any observers.

It takes a power boat hull, adds a hard RIB collar and then a built-up covered superstructure. It is not currently—based on public sources—possible to say how low it sat in the water. Possibly the collar was part of a ballast system. However we can say that it was intended to avoid detection, hence ‘ghost glider’. It was painted in a way that appears intended to deceive any observers. — Ghost Glider; *planeadora fantasma*.

The term ‘planeadora’ refers to a speed boat, and ‘planeadora fantasma’ has previously been used to describe the custom go-fast vessels also used off Spain. These craft are often RIBs and several have been specially modified for the task. Most famously the massive 59ft (18 m) seven engine ‘Monstruo’ stopped in 2009.

This latest vessel is about 39 ft (12 meters) long and could possibly carry a few tons of cocaine. The extensive grab rails and aft-sloping cargo hatch suggest that it is designed to be loaded at sea, which makes sense. So like the 2006 Vigo submarine, it is likely intended to meet other ships offshore and then bring the drugs ashore.

It could easy be put into the GFV category instead. But its elaborate construction and emphasis on deception (as opposed to raw speed) makes a strong case for it being a narco-submarine. It is certainly not just a typical GFV.

Going Transatlantic

The Spanish narco-submarine traffic appears to be centered, on Galician drug gangs. This may be skewed by reported incidents, but all three have been discovered in Galicia in the North of Spain. Portugal, Ireland, France and the United Kingdom also appear to be logical landing points.

My suggestion is that the Cape Verde Islands and Azores are stopping off points for transatlantic narco-submarines. They likely meet supply vessels in the area.

ACK 3, a Spanish company specializing in defense, intelligence and security consulting which advises European and Latin American military and law enforcement units suggests that language may be a factor. Brazilian crews can communicate with the local population on these islands using Portuguese.

Some of the transatlantic narco-subs may transship their cargo to other vessels along the way. Trawlers operating out of Spain seem the most obvious candidates. But I have not seen any information in the public domain to substantiate this theory. Another possibility is that the drugs are transferred to large cargo vessels heading to Northern Europe or even to North America.

These vessels may be coming from a low-risk port so not be tainted in the way that a cargo ship crossing from Latin America might be.

So we can speculate that a Latin American built LPV could set off from Brazil (or Venezuela, Suriname or Guyana) and rendezvouses with a cargo ship off Cape Verde or the Azores. The cargo would be transshipped and the cargo vessel (or fishing vessel) heads north towards Europe. Off the Portuguese or Spanish coast, while still out at sea, it is met by a ‘ghost glider’ like the one seized in August 2020. The transshipping can occur at night, and the drugs are landed in a remote beach in Galicia. Local drugs gangs may only be able to control access to the landing point for a few hours. So some of the drugs may be dropped in pre-determined lurks awaiting retrieval by scuba divers at a later time.

Outlook

It seems that it is now a case of when, rather than if, another transatlantic narco- submarine appears. And even if none are interdicted, it seems a sure bet that they are out there. And together with ‘ghost gliders’ and less exotic means, drugs trafficking organizations are still able to land their products on European shores.

The narco-submarine model for cocaine trafficking presents European law enforcement with a number of challenges. Detection, tracking and interdiction may all be different compared to the Pacific and Caribbean. And the vast expanse of ocean, often in harsh weather, may stretch existing patrol forces; however, SIGINT, UAVs and new satellite technology such as the Hawkeye 360 constellation may prove powerful tools.

Conclusion

Nations and governments use “vices” to control the population. When they ban or tax, or regulate things, people find ways to engage in their vices without government interference. While dug abuse is a big problem in America, it’s not a problem in areas that don’t ban the drugs.

Mexico doesn’t have half the drug problem that America has, but it doesn’t have the same laws either. The same is true for China. Yes, smoking marijuana is seriously against the law, but that is pretty much the only thing that is. You can get just about any medication over the counter without a doctor’s prescription and there just isn’t a serious drug abuse problem there.

Anyways…

I am not advocating the use of drugs.

What I am saying is that governments use up a ton load of money, personnel and resources trying to ban things. While, instead they should be dealing with those individuals who have a physiological problem with drugs. You go after the problem. Not the symptoms.

The world needs to start looking at things in new ways with new “eyes”.

The old ways are failing left and right. The solution to the problems that ails the world isn’t more bans, regulations and restrictions, but rather a complete loss of control by the few at the PTB level.

More freedom on the individual level.

Less power and control from the governing bodies.

Do you want more?

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What is all this stuff about cryptocurrency and blockchain? And what does it mean to society?

"The US federal budget is on an unsustainable path, has been for some time. But this is not the time to give priority to those concerns."

- Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell

The world is changing. As I have covered in other posts, the technology that mankind is adopting is causing a great deal of social change. But not like one would expect. It’s not just using a smart phone instead of a rotary dial up phone. It’s not just using a Car Ride APP instead of hailing a taxi. It’s more than that…

It is disrupting many “imprisonment” and “stratification” schemes. Schemes that have become so ingrained into society that we (mistakenly) believe that they are a fundamental part of what our society is.

A stratification scheme is one in which a sentience (or a way of thinking and acting) forces upon society a special system of control. It is a system where they have advantage over other groups of people. And they control the access to this system. They let some people in, and leave others out. It's an exclusive system. As the saying goes in America "they control what will happen, and you ain't a part of it".

The caste system in India is a good example of this. But there are many others.

Most especially in America. 

Think of any system where you need to go through a "gauntlet of approvals" to get something done. And then discover that the ones who "had it easy", and did not need to fight through that gauntlet (such as the wealthy and the "well connected") were sitting here smug when you finally (after many hoop jumps) arrived. These systems have saturated America today.

It is at a point that a "diversity" movement has organized to give others (who normally are restricted from entering these stratified societies) a chance to "break through" those invisible "glass walls".

These schemes…

… such as the Banking System, and the University System, and the Media System are all under stress and being replaced. (There are many others, such as the Judicial system, the Professional Registration System, and the Internet Paywall systems.) These schemes developed over time as a way for one group of people to have benefit over others. It was a way to control others (not overtly) but through quiet manipulation.

Most Americans are aware that corruption exists.

However, they point to some other nation. A nation that they read about in the “news”, and repeat loudly “America is the best nation on the earth!”. “America has problems” they retort, but it is not as bad as the rest of the world.

How do they know this mantra?

The American “news” media told them. That’s how.

Just stay in your little prison you mindless, deplorable debit serfs. Be content with your pathetic way of life. And work! Work! Work! If not, then the system will keep you so drugged up that you will be incapable of rising up and rebelling.

True, to some degree, more or less, the rest of the world engages in petty corruption. A cup of tea here, a few dollars there. However, in America, it is institutionalized and legalized at an enormous wholesale level. All by serious long-time crooks and con-artists.

The Presidential election of 2016 was a choice between two "mafia" bosses;

[1] Democrat - The Clinton Crime Syndicate. Hillary Clinton.
[2] Republican - A New York Casino Owner - Donald Trump.

But, people fought back…

The control of the media was the first battle.

Seemingly overnight, in the 1990’s, all sorts of alternatives to the mainstream media popped up. And the PTB were ending up exhausted trying to fright this “wack a mole” phenomenon. But they eventually won. The alternative media tended to cluster in groups by political extremes. So the PTB, and their government bodies, just simply ended up controlling the multiple media outlets. They now control the narratives for all Alt-Left, Alt-Right, and Mainstream media. And, the battle is not over. They are tightening their control over this medium in all sorts of ways.

The control over who works and who doesn’t is controlled by “the University System”. Over time, now a days, almost all positions except for semi-skilled and unskilled work requires a university degree. It’s pretty bad when a receptionist position needs to have a four year college education to work.

Well, that system is starting to fracture and crash.

And as I see it, it is going down in flames, and very little in the way of alternatives (in America) are replacing it. Overseas, in Europe and China, it’s a completely different matter. I think that I will cover this issue later on in another post, as it is interesting, and very complex.

And the control of the money / Banks is what I just talked about in my latest post. The systems have been set up to permit a small number of people great control over the lives of the rest of us, and it has resulted in ridiculous levels of wealth and poverty. And other nations (better run, stronger, and more capable) are coming up with solutions. Solutions complete with armed police to prevent corruption and abuse of the system.

Key to these new replacements for the paper-backed (not gold backed) banking industry is something called Cryptocurrency.

The following is a complete reprint of the article titled “What is Cryptocurrency?” written by Adam Levy (TMFnCaffeine) on Mar 11, 2018. It was edited to fit this venue. All credit to the author.

What Is Cryptocurrency?

Everything you need to know about this new form of electronic cash.

Cryptocurrency went mainstream in 2017 as the price of bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, soared over 13-fold during the year.

It’s often called “digital gold,” as some of the characteristics of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are similar to the precious metal often used as a store of value. But that comparison doesn’t do it justice.

Cryptocurrency is an electronic cash system that doesn’t rely on central banks or trusted third parties to verify transactions and create new units. Instead, it uses cryptography to confirm transactions on a publicly distributed ledger called the blockchain, enabling direct peer-to-peer payments.

That definition might seem downright cryptographic right now, but by the end of this overview, you won’t need a decryption key to understand crypto.

Today we’ll cover:

The creation of bitcoin and the blockchain, the underlying technology of all decentralized cryptocurrency.
How the blockchain solves the problems associated with prior virtual currencies.
How cryptocurrency transactions work without central banks.
The function of cryptocurrency “miners.”
How to buy cryptocurrency.

The early history of cryptocurrency

In 2009, a programmer using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto created bitcoin, the first ever cryptocurrency. Satoshi also created the blockchain technology, which makes all decentralized cryptocurrencies possible.

The blockchain was created as a solution to the “double-spending problem,” which arises in virtual currencies because it’s easy to duplicate digital information. A person could make a copy of his or her digital currency information and send both the original and the copy to separate parties.

Sort of like using a Xerox machine to make extra stacks of dollar bills.

Before bitcoin and blockchain, virtual currency relied on trusted third parties to prevent double spending. But Satoshi wanted to develop a decentralized currency, which meant finding a way for the network of bitcoin users to verify transactions.

“The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work,” Satoshi wrote in the abstract of the white paper announcing bitcoin.

This was the earliest description of the blockchain.

Why is it called a blockchain?

A block is a collection of transaction data on the cryptocurrency network.

It basically says Person A sent this much to Person B.

It also includes important information that allows the rest of the network to verify the validity of the block -- such as the solution to a complex math problem -- called a proof-of-work. While the math problem is hard to solve, it's very easy for others to verify a valid solution. — The Block-Chain Process.

As well as saying Person X sent this much to Person Y.

In a way, it is like the sales receipt that the chick at Burger King gives you when you buy a #1 Whopper Meal.

It also includes important information that allows the rest of the network to verify the validity of the block — such as the solution to a complex math problem — called a proof-of-work. While the math problem is hard to solve, it’s very easy for others to verify a valid solution. New blocks cannot be amended to the blockchain without a valid solution.

A block also includes a reference to the block that immediately precedes it. Thus, the blocks create a chain linking one to another through those references.

New blocks cannot be amended to the blockchain without a valid solution. — A “block chain” is created by linking all the blocks together.

The reference to the preceding block is accomplished through something called a cryptographic hash function. A hash function takes a set of data and maps it to a string of letters and numbers called a digest. If anything in the data changes, the resulting hash digest will change as well.

Chaining blocks together by using a hash function to reference the preceding block adds a great level of security to the system. To change a block in the ledger, a hacker would have to reproduce the entire chain of blocks following it, since it would create a chain of invalid hash values referencing the previous block.

It is sort of like making Xerox copies of your Burger King receipt and sending the copies (marked "copy") to everyone in your city.

GIF of how the block-chain system works. — How block-chain works.

How does a cryptocurrency transaction work?

Cryptocurrency is used for direct peer-to-peer payments anywhere in the world.

The speed of transactions varies based on currency and confirmation requirements, but it’s generally very fast compared with traditional banking systems. Where banks can take days to transfer money, cryptocurrency transfers happen in minutes.

Bank transactions = days.
Cryptocurrency transactions = minutes.

In general, cryptocurrency transactions go through the following steps before they get added to the blockchain.

A person requests a transaction, and the request is sent to the entire network.
Each computer on the network collects all concurrent transactions into a block, along with a timestamp for each transaction.
Each computer works on solving the difficult math problem to add the block to the blockchain. This process is called “mining.”
Once a computer finds a valid solution, it broadcasts the block to the rest of the network.
The network checks the solution as well as compares transactions in the block against the current blockchain to prevent double spending.
The block is added to the chain, showing the transaction was completed.

Once a block is added to the chain, that block gets hashed and is used to create the next block. The process continually repeats itself.

As such, transactions are practically irreversible, much the same way as if you give someone cash (hence calling it an electronic cash system). As mentioned, the chaining of one block to another means someone would have to edit the entire chain of blocks to change a transaction.

Since blocks are continually added to a chain, it’s extremely unlikely someone will be able to propagate an updated chain of blocks to the network before the rest of the network produces the next block and extends the chain further.

Every transaction needs a signature

Just as credit cards use your signature to verify you authorized a purchase, cryptocurrency uses a signature as well …

… a digital signature.

Transactions are secured through a cryptography system called public key encryption. Each user has both a public key and a private key associated with his or her account.

To authorize a transaction, users must prove they know their private key by using it as an input into a cryptographic hash function similar to the one used to link blocks together in the blockchain. That’s called signing the digest. The private key is used to write that “digital signature,” so it’s very important that the private key remains private.

Public Key = Each person in the transaction gets a copy.
Private Key = One (and only one) for each person involved.

What do miners do?

With no central banks deciding when to print more money, a cryptocurrency needs to define how to create new units of the currency. Many cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, distribute new units to miners as an incentive for verifying transactions on the blockchain.

“Cryptominers” verify transactions on the blockchain.
They are paid in bitcoin for their labors.

Miners work to solve the difficult math problem or other proof-of-work systems within every block of the blockchain. They also work to verify the solutions. Running all these calculations have real-world costs, including buying hardware and using electricity.

The difficulty of the math problem for bitcoin blocks is automatically adjusted such that the combined processing power of the network takes about 10 minutes to solve the problem on average.

When a miner successfully adds a block to the bitcoin blockchain, that miner also earns the right to take a reward. The winning miner’s bitcoin address is recorded in the block.

For instance…

The reward started at 50 bitcoins per block.
That number is halved every 210,000 blocks (or about every four years).
The current reward for adding a block is now 12.5 bitcoins, and that number will fall to 6.25 around June 2020.

At some point, the reward for solving a block in the bitcoin blockchain will become extremely small. By 2140, miners will have mined all 21 million bitcoins that will ever be in circulation. At that point, the incentive for miners to update and verify the blockchain will come from transaction fees. Some cryptocurrencies already rely on relatively high transaction fees to offer miners incentive.

Bitcoin miners (cryptominers) used to make their money in bitcoin for mining. Now, their primary source of income is in (high) transaction fees.

Transaction fees are currently relatively small for bitcoin, but if transaction volume doesn’t climb to compensate for the decrease in block rewards, transaction fees will have to increase to compensate miners.

How to buy cryptocurrency

It’s no longer practical to use your home computer, or even a custom-built bitcoin mining computer, to mine bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies.

Most people will get a better return by buying it through a cryptocurrency exchange.

A cryptocurrency exchange allows consumers to change their fiat currency, like U.S. dollars, into cryptocurrency like bitcoin.

A cryptocurrency exchange works just like any other exchange, such as a stock exchange. It matches buyers and sellers based on a book of orders. As orders are added to the book, the exchange matches buyers willing to pay the same amount (or more) than sellers are requesting.

“What is cryptocurrency” revisited

To recap, I defined cryptocurrency as …

"an electronic cash system that doesn't rely on central banks or trusted third parties to verify transactions and create new units. Instead, it uses cryptography to confirm transactions on a publicly distributed ledger called the blockchain, enabling direct peer-to-peer payments."

Let’s break that down.

“An electronic cash system“: Cryptocurrency has no physical form. Ownership is determined by the digital record found in the blockchain.
“Uses cryptography“: Transaction requests are authorized and confirmed through public key encryption. The blockchain also uses encryption to link blocks to one another.
“Confirm transactions“: The chain of transaction data in the blocks allows the network to verify that a transaction hasn’t already occurred — the double spending problem — and to add new transactions to the ledger.
“A publicly distributed ledger“: The blockchain ledger is available to all the computers on the network. In fact, its publicity is essential to making the entire system work. By keeping an updated transaction ledger on every computer on the network, the system is able to protect against changes to the blockchain and verify transactions and ownership.
“Direct peer-to-peer payments“: Payments never go through a central banking system or trusted third party but instead simply move from payer to payee. This process increases the speed of transactions and reduces the fees associated with transferring money.

Cryptocurrency is a complex new form of electronic cash. With no reliance on central banks to confirm transactions or authorize the creation of new units, it can dramatically reduce the fees and time associated with moving money around the world.

Conclusion

People are still coming up with new applications for blockchain technology and new cryptocurrencies every day. With this basic overview of what cryptocurrency is, you can start developing a deeper understanding of the various currencies available.

"The only stable and viable solution for the species to survive is a new eco-civilisation, based on a global non-market economic system, in which the private tyranny of the market – a global plutocratic elite of profit mongers – and anti-democratic oligarchic political systems do no longer rule the destiny of the people," 

-Dieterich

Make no mistake, banking systems, and the way they operate is changing. Whether it will happen soon (with the e-yuan system currently in use) or in the distant future,(if the PTB that control America has their way), it will happen.

I think that it is important to understand that things are changing and the old way of doing things are being supplanted with better, fairer and more complete systems. And those that lived off the corruption of the old systems are not going to go away peacefully in the night. Instead they will fight. They will fight tooth and nail to keep the status quo.

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The benefits of being able to fight

After 75 years of non-stop narrative that “fighting is the last resort of fools”, and that a “kinder and gentler nation” is at hand, what has America turned into? Instead of being a male-driven patriarchal society, what has the feminization movement brought America to? Is it actually a well-behaved, respectful and fair place?

No.

No it isn’t.

It’s a non-stop sequences of cat-fights, and verbal assaults with regulations on just about every action that you could think of.

It’s true. Have you ever wondered about Social Media? Doesn’t it more resemble two teenage girls fighting in eighth grade than two grown adults having a conversation?

Well. Guess what? It’s a Western phenomenon. It is something that has occurred in nations that have adopted a progressive social structure, the r/K society has developed and all discourse has degenerated to that level. While other nations, more traditional in nature, really doesn’t have this problem.

Guess what else this “improvement” on society has created?

The Karen.

My mom is a Karen whose name is actually Karen. Simply put, I haven’t seen her in over a year because I couldn’t take it anymore. Living with her was just an exhausting nightmare.

Karen’s world revolves around Karen. Nobody else’s issues matter. If you tell her that you had a bad day, she’ll give you 20 reasons why her day was worse. You worked 60 hours this week? Well, when she was your age, she would work 80. You’re in the hospital after having major surgery? She has a pinched nerve in her arm, which is somehow worse. Your boyfriend cheated on you? She couldn’t even begin to tell you about all the heartbreak she’s experienced in her life.

She complains left and right about anything and everything. If you’re taking a week break after just getting back from college, she’ll ask why you haven’t gotten a job yet and claim you’re lazy. If you’re out to eat at a restaurant the food is always too cold or too burnt or too salty. You can only ever go to the places SHE wants to go to, because everything else is crap. My entire graduation dinner she complained about how cold the food was.

She THRIVES in getting attention and constantly seeks it, but she has very few ACTUAL friends. Facebook is her lifeblood and she’s always looking to start something on there. She’s the queen of sharing uninformed, misguided, conservative propaganda, which always starts fights in her comments. Also, if a tragedy happens in the family (like the passing of my teenage cousin), she’ll make a big scene on Facebook and expect condolences from anyone and everyone, and makes note of the people who don’t give her what she wants.

Don’t even get me started on the blatant racism. I’ve heard everything from, “watch out for black people on the subway. They’ll try to take your purse” to “It should be illegal for those Muslims to cover their faces. You should be able to see someone’s face.” One of my best friends is black and she once told me, “He’s one of the good ones. They should all be like him.”

-12 People Reveal What’s It Like To Be Related To A ‘Karen’

So, in nations that have not adopted the progressive societal structure, they are able to have more or less pretty inoffensive comment sections on social media. The people tend to be more respectful and much more polite.

Like…

Poland.
Brazil.
Russia.
China.
Japan.

Ah. America. Home of the pussy-ants pansies beta clucks.

I argue that traditional management of society from the personal level through to the government level is a very important element of the success of that nation. When you try to “improve” it by implementing change, you need to set forth a sequence of trials, and monitor their results carefully. You just don’t set up some kind of movement and force the rest of the world to conform to your madness.

America changed.

And today everything that you see around you is a consequence of that change.

And I, for one, do not like it.

I like family units where everyone has a role. I like polite discussion and discourse. I like to be able to buy something and not pay hidden fees, taxes, or read down a long list of warnings and advisement. I like a world where I can shake someones hand, look him in the eye, and make a lasting contract. I like a world where mothers are respected, and grandparents live in your house with you. I like a world where you are respected as a person.

Sigh.

Ah. There is nothing wrong with human nature, and if you all want to be passive, beta clucks. Fine. But you all will be eaten alive by very vicious, hungry wolves.

This is a great article worth a read. It’s about one of the aspects of what a man is. He’s a person who is not afraid to kick up a little bit of dust from time to time.

The following is a complete reprint of “14 Indisputable Benefits of Learning How to Fight“. It was written on 7 October 2020. Edited to fit this venue, and all credit to the author.

14 Indisputable Benefits of Learning How to Fight

Scene from the television show the Sopranos. — Just some guys talking. Right? But you know, don’t you, you know not to cross them or mess with them. Why? Is is because they are going to say things that will hurt your feelings? Is that why you don’t want to mess with them.

Everybody knows the benefits of lifting weights but it isn’t the only game in town that can build your body and mind. Learning how to fight also has a place as one of the key things all men (and wo

men) should do to get the most out of their life experience. Sound like an exaggeration? It’s really not, especially when you consider learning how to fight has been a rite of passage since the beginning of time in many dominant cultures. It is only in recent times that the practice of channeled aggression has been given a bad rap.

The practice of fighting, or learning a martial art, is especially valuable for men, for whom the acting out of aggression, the desire to dominate, the ability to look after ones’ family or tribe, as well as having the camaraderie of like-minded males, is a huge factor in wellbeing and something that modern society constantly deprives them of.

The ability to challenge others, to endure pain, and the knowledge that you can look after yourself physically, are very underrated factors that contribute to high levels of functioning in other areas of life. Learning how to fight doesn’t mean you have to go around bashing heads in but, knowing you could if you had to, can make all the difference between a timid boy and a dominant man.

If you are still not sure how learning how to fight can benefit you, the 12 reasons below should clear up any confusion.

1) Learning how to fight builds unbreakable confidence

Have you ever seen a fighter who looks timid and scared of the world?

Didn’t think so.

The knowledge of knowing you can take anyone on and, in all probability, defeat them in a physical contest can do wonders for self-confidence. You may think this is crude or uncivilized. Nevertheless, we are fighting animals that have survived because of our ability to think and defeat enemies.

Most of the giant ancient civilizations that we know were masters of violence and war, and this is still true today.

Being able to fight gives us the assurance we can take care of ourselves and the people who are dear to us. It also ensures that our confidence is not based on anything external, like possessions or material goods.

Our confidence, therefore, cannot be taken away and is literally unbreakable.

2) Learning how to fight teaches persistence

If you hadn’t already guessed, learning how to fight is tough.

Training to get into fighting shape is brutal.

The actual fighting is dangerous and extremely violent.

Even sparring is rough if you underestimate what you are up against. All of this combines over time to build your mental and physical toughness.

As you go forward and resist the urge to quit, you learn persistence and why it is so valued as the secret of success. It takes persistence to get up when you keep getting your ass kicked. It takes persistence to throw another kick when it feels as though your leg is about to drop off.

Learning to take action anyway will deeply affect your success in other areas of life.

3) Learning how to fight teaches us how to control our emotions

When we are first learning how to fight, things are not going to be rosy.

Our bodies (and, quite possibly, our faces) are going to get beaten up.

We are going to be tired beyond our wildest dreams.

One thing that fighting does during this process is teach us how to control our emotions.

We will no doubt come up against a lot of fear, anger and frustration as we master techniques and get knocked down by more experienced challengers. We may encounter some negative emotions that we have stuffed down since childhood that fighting is finally allowing us to let go of. Though this process is bumpy at best, it is cathartic. Over time, we will learn to do what we have to do to achieve our goals, regardless of how we are feeling.

This mastery of thoughts and emotions is priceless, for lasting confidence and well being.

4) Learning how to fight is a great way to relieve stress

As we mentioned above, the process of learning how to fight can be physically exhausting. Keeping your mental edge during a fight so you don’t get knocked the hell out is exhausting.

There is natural satisfaction that comes from good, honest physical work – however violent – and when we are done for the day we will feel good.

After a few hours you will be soaked in sweat, with muscles shaking, and all you will want to do is eat something and go to sleep. Over time, this routine of hard work and pushing through the pain will eliminate a huge amount of stress from your life.

5) Learning how to fight takes you a long way from your comfort zone

There is nothing more uncomfortable than being thrown into our situation you are not familiar with.

Learning how to fight is no exception in this case.

It is unlikely, upon first entering the gym you wish to train in, you will be met by big smiles and fireworks. Instead, you are going to have to earn the respect of the more experienced people in there.

You will have to work hard and show you are not another person who is going to come for two weeks and then not show up again.

Voluntarily sailing away from you comfort zone like this is courageous act and, in overcoming what you were afraid of in the first place (new people, no experience etc.), you will be rewarded with a level of self-esteem that can never be taken away from you.

Experience stepping out of your comfort zone more and more often and it will rapidly start to expand.

6) Learning how to fight will get you in the best shape of your life

It doesn’t matter how much weight lifting you do or how many miles you run during the week – training to fight is another ballgame entirely.

For one, you will need to work for many hours before you are competent at certain skills, and even then you will be nowhere near mastering all of the nuances that come with real fighting.

The training fighters do to be able to withstand punishment and dish it back out is brutal and your conditioning is going to level up as a result. Sparring or grappling for 3-5 minute rounds is no joke, even for an elite athlete. One huge bonus of all this punishment? You will actually look as tough as you are for once, rather than looking hard but running scared like a lot of bodybuilders.

With the right set of rules governing your training and nutrition, you should be able to stay in shape all year with no extra effort needed.

7) Learning how to fight teaches you discipline

The skill and sport of fighting shares this with all other types of physical competition.

Its takes prolonged discipline to see the fruits of your labor.

This means getting up early to fit in a training session, eating right, living right, foregoing too much alcohol and getting a good night’s sleep.

Having the mental discipline to stick to this routine, despite all of the obvious temptations of instant gratification around you, will set you apart from others as time goes by.

Success is not an overnight thing but, with continuous discipline, it will come to you just as sure as the hands on the clock will continue going around.

8) Learning how to fight will force you to get out of your own head

Too many of us spend days feeling self-conscious and disempowered because we spend too long in our own heads.

From birth and childhood, we have been implanted with a lot of negative beliefs that don’t serve us, all of which are going around in a continual loop in our subconscious minds.

To sit and listen to them for too long is tantamount to throwing all of our hard-earned confidence and self-esteem out of the window.

Aside from consciously practicing positivity, we also need to spend time out of our heads, doing something physical. Hitting the gym can be good. Having sex is good. Learning how to fight is a great way to do this. We have no choice but to be totally present in our bodies and to reject intruding thoughts, or else we might catch a sharp right to the jaw.

Forcing ourselves to be in the moment – rather than withdrawing mentally and emotionally – is great practice for other pressure situations that may occur in our lives, including business meetings or family emergencies.

9) Learning how to fight allows you to express yourself physically

Despite what modern thinking will tell you, men are inherently physical and prone to violence.

According to Rodney King, in his essay How Martial Arts Can Supercharge Your Man Spirit, 90% of violent acts that happen today will be committed by men.

The great majority of the victims of this violence will be men. The physical expression of aggression and the thrill of war have long been swept under the rug as the dark side of the human psyche.

In today’s world, our violence is played out in movies, in computer games, in the board room, or in politics.

As entertaining as this, it leaves a lot of men feeling repressed and emasculated.

Learning how to fight remedies this need for challenge and violence completely. Through training and sparring you can express yourself physically in a relative safe, socially-condoned environment, which will make you finally feel like the dominant person that you are.

Don’t believe it?

Go and find out for yourself and report back.

10) Learning how to fight gives you the opportunity to compete for something

Just as men inherently crave confrontation and violence, they also crave competition for something.

In this day and age, most major competition is relegated to professional sports or business.

When you learn how to fight, and decide to fight against others in competition, you unleash that latent part of you. You will learn the reward of real competition and putting it all out there, willing and finding a way to win.

Make no mistake – we all want to win.

This is not ‘bad’ or to be punished.

It is just natural.

Fighting in proper environment can give us the buzz of competition without any unfavorable repercussions.

11) Learning how to fight forces us to take action and master ourselves

We aren’t all born with the action habit.

Some of us are never taught that no-hesitation killer instinct that sets the super-achievers apart from the crowds.

Many of us procrastinate and put things off, mostly because we fear being rejected by those who are close to us.

When we learn how to fight, we have to tackle this inability to take action head on. We have to learn to act, regardless of how we feel, otherwise we are going to get our lights turned out.

This ability to do things when we don’t feel like it is one of the secrets of really productive people that always seem to be achieving something.

Master yourself and cultivate the habit of taking action and you will see huge changes in the direction of your life. All of a sudden, you will be in control.

12) Learning how to fight puts us into contact with more dominant, like-minded individuals

There is a famous quote that states we are a combination of the 5 people we hang out with the most.

Whether this is true or not, the people we spend a lot of time have a huge influence on our thoughts and behavior. Prolonged interaction will make certain traits ‘rub off on you’, whether you are aware of it at the time or not.

Hanging out with others who are learning how to fight then, in an MMA gym or dojo or whatever, ensures you are interacting with like-minded individuals who are aware of who they are inside. Think about the people who fight – dominant, powerful, alpha individuals who set goals and get what they want.

Having that camaraderie, as well as that mindset rub off on you, is never going to hurt anything.

13) Learning how to fight makes you far more attractive

As much as women (and men) protest that they don’t like violence and hate people who fight, its mostly all lies fed by society.

The fact is, people (especially women) are attracted to those who can hold their own physically and win a fight.

This shows in many ways that they are a dominant individual who is more than capable of looking after a family – a very attractive trait.

Most fighters are also very at ease in their own skin and super-confident in themselves, which comes through in their body language and the way they interact with people. This is a far-cry from some weightlifters who compensate for their inner anxieties by building large muscles.

The fact is, women don’t care all that much about big muscles.

They want a strong, confident man who can take care of things and keep them safe.

Want to be more attractive?

Learn how to fight.

14) Learning how to fight supplies us with a powerful, positive philosophy of life that we can carry with us always

Acquiring the will, skill and attitude of the warrior is not all about physical ability.

Most fighting schools, and in particular martial arts, are brilliant for instilling a philosophy of respect, discipline and hard work upon their students.

These ancient philosophies help us keep things in perspective, keep our egos from running wild, and ensure we treat our newfound powers with great respect and responsibility.

This code of honor is not just applicable on the training mats, in the ring or in the octagon – it can be applied to all areas of life and absolutely should be.

Internalizing this philosophy gives us confidence and purpose – a mission that was perhaps not there before. This is the one thing that all mentally strong people have in common – without exception – and will serve you well for the rest of your life.

“Prize fighting is short. You get in, get rich and get out. But martial arts are for life. It’s for life.” 

– Conor McGregor

Conclusion

It’s an outstanding article and very true.

Men need to be able to fight. We need that feeling of control and power. We need to feel that we are in control of our life. And when we get that feeling, it reflects upon us, and as a result…

…big changes in our life takes place.

Be who you are. Fuck the rest of the world. — Tony Soprano Enjoying life.

We start to eat better, we find the house tidy at the end of the day, and people tend to respect us more. No. It’s not because we threaten everyone with a punched nose. It’s because we have a self-confidence that we carry with us everywhere.

Men are not women.

Yet we are the same.

I am immensely attracted to a self-confident woman. It’s something that I just cannot control myself about. It’s like Sharon Stone in the movie Casino. Self Confidence is addictive.

For men…

…we can get this through learning how to fight and the discipline that comes with it.

And maybe, just maybe, those “Karens” in our lives would be a tad more respectful to the rest of us.

My sister AND sister in law are both Karen’s. I will show up to restaurants 15 min early to warn them. I tell them if it’s not done to their liking they WILL hear about it and they will make your shift hell. I’m just there as a warning.

I used to work in restaurants and those people made life hell. I do what I can to help. Generally my drinks are better and we get a free appetizer as soon as those two tornados walk in all hell breaks loose. Not enough ice, table is too cold, it’s too loud, etc. I also tip really big because I DON’T want to be associated with the two tornados.

I live overseas so I only see them 2 weeks out of the year. So it’s manageable. I only put up with their attitude because they could take my nieces and nephews away from me. I pick my battles. I need my nieces and nephews to know I’m always here for them and they can talk to me about anything. I can’t risk our relationship being tampered with, especially since I only see them 2 weeks a year.

Remember, being able to fight is not the same thing as fighting. It is a simple thing really.

It makes for a polite society.

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When America can no longer build things, do the bean-counters pick up shovels and pickaxes?

The signs of decay and collapse of the American Empire are all around us. I have written about this in other posts. It’s not a popular subject. Americans take “greatness” and “exceptionalism” for granted. They don’t care if the garbage gets collected, just as long as it disappears. They don’t care who designs and make the cars as long as they are available. They don’t care about education, as long as the proper check boxes are checked off on your social scoring balance sheet.

America is collapsing everywhere.

And the lack of skilled talent, and collapse of the educational and support systems that use them, and the rampant corruption at all levels has created a very toxic environment. It is a place where things are breaking down, and there just isn’t anyone remaining who can fix and repair them.

You know it’s really bad when…

…fucking bridges fall down!

I mean, this is ancient technology. If pre-historic Romans and Egyptians could build bridges with their bare hands, what’s stopping modern American society?

Social progressivism.

What is the real cause behind this collapse?

What is behind all this; what is the root and reason for all this collapse? Is it a particular political party? Because that is what all the articles seem to point towards…

…it’s the “democrats” fault. It’s their damn social progressivism.

Ah, but people. It’s not the Democrats fault.

It’s not the Republicans fault.

It’s OUR COLLECTIVE FAULT. We have allowed and permitted lazy and corrupt millionaires to let America fall apart and denigrate. We allowed them.

It’s our fault.

Own up to it.

Our fault?

This level of collapse, and destruction is not due to one person or a group of people. It is due to the structure and the very fabric of our society.

The American nation, and everything that it stands for, created this situation. You cannot deny it. No one president, no one group of people, and no one situation created it. America has evolved in a natural progression. It is natural. It is organic.

Deal with it.

This is the truth.

A Republic that allows other forms of governance does not last long.
Mob rule is a guaranteed path to an oligarchy.
Oligarchies always turn into military empires.
Military empires require dumbed-down, illiterate slaves/servants to operate.

And when you are standing around, take a good long hard look at your life. When you are paying $10 for a fucking simple cup of coffee. When everything you do is taxed and regulated, and any projects that are make “for the good of society” just spins around and around like some 5 GB movie that you are trying to download.

There are better ways.

There are more efficient ways.

But first you need to kill off all the slime-balls that have their hands in the till. All of them. Not punish. Kill. And make examples of them. Then you need to put new systems in place. Systems that will never allow a repeat of the past mistakes.

Until that day comes, the dysfunctional America will continue to stay dysfunctional. And all these plans for a railroad from Alaska to California, HST all over the nation, moon bases, walls on the borders, high technology transports, and college of the future are all just…

…wishful thinking.

For they will never come to fruition. Not until you start training and employing people who actually fucking make things. And the way the United States is today, that will NEVER happen.

Making things.

The future belongs to the nations that make things. Not to the nations that destroy things.

Which brings me to what America is today…

The following is a complete reprint of an article titled “2 + 2 = 5 means more bridges will collapse” and written on 4OCT20. It is reprinted as found with only minor editing to fit this venue. All credit to the author.

Reality is true even if you don’t want it to be. And it has certain characteristics, which include the fact that you need to do engineering right.

Firm blamed for deadly FIU pedestrian bridge collapse suspended from federal contracts.

There has been a lot of talk about how Mathematics is racist, and that Math is sexist.

Well, math also describes the way the universe works, and if you want things like electric power, electric vehicles, better internet and computers, and bridges that don’t fall down, someone had better understand the math and the physics.

The FIU pedestrian bridge designed by FIGG Bridge Engineers collapsed in March of 2018 while it was still under construction. Six people died. Faulty design, due to incorrect calculations of load factors, was blamed.

Last month, the Federal Highway Administration placed FIGG on immediate suspension of any projects that involve federal funding. The FHWA also proposes that FIGG be debarred from any federally funded work for 10 years.

The company won’t survive under those conditions.

Texas decided to review work that the same design firm was doing for TxDOT. They didn’t like what they found. Harris County Commissioners vote unanimously to change engineer of $962 million Ship Channel bridge.

I am not an engineer, but clearly there was something wrong with either the design of the FIU bridge or the construction, or both.

The other thing wrong was that FIU spent something like 12 million dollars for a bridge that could have been built for less than 1 million.

There was a federal grant!

I don’t know how to gauge the quality of their designs, but when you get bridges designed incorrectly, they fall down.

They usually don’t fall down before they are in use.

Harris County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to change the engineer of record on the Sam Houston Tollway Ship Channel Bridge after a review found one portion that had not yet been built contained a potential design flaw.

The @HCTRA plans to temporarily stop construction on the Ship Channel Bridge replacement project. An independent consultant found a design issue with the curved portions of the pylon legs. (1/2) @KHOU #KHOU11 Photos courtesy: HCTRA pic.twitter.com/ICdRu0zVR0

— Chris Costa (@ChrisCostaTV) January 7, 2020

That design was done by FIGG. FIGG is saying it all fine. They were also replaced on another bridge in Texas. New designer named for Corpus Christi’s Harbor Bridge replacement after FIGG fired.

In removing FIGG from the project, TxDOT cited a National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the 2018 Miami bridge collapse. The report released in October cited load and capacity calculation errors by FIGG for the pedestrian bridge’s design.

You can find more info about the FIU bridge collapse at this link. It is what started this whole review process.

It’s a God-damn cluster fuck.

And no amount of bafflegab is going to change that.

America is not supposed to be like this.

You have to understand that America, as founded, was the most amazing nation ever to grace this good earth. There are many reasons for this, but nothing can say it better than this…

America's founders embraced a previously unheard-of political philosophy which held that people are "...endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights.." This was the statement of guiding principle for the new nation, and, as such, had to be translated into a concrete charter for government. The Constitution of The United States of America became that charter.

Other forms of government, past and present, rely on the state as the grantor of human rights. America's founders, however, believed that a government made up of imperfect people exercising power over other people should possess limited powers. Through their Constitution, they wished to "secure the blessings of liberty" for themselves and for posterity by limiting the powers of government. Through it, they delegated to government only those rights they wanted it to have, holding to themselves all powers not delegated by the Constitution. They even provided the means for controlling those powers they had granted to government.

This was the unique American idea. Many problems we face today result from a departure from this basic concept. Gradually, other "ideas" have influenced legislation which has reversed the roles and given government greater and greater power over individuals. Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of individual freedom and limited government and warned, over and over again, that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve that freedom for posterity.

-Footnote: "Our Ageless Constitution," W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III: ISBN 0-937047-01-5

You see, America today in no way resembles what our Constitution says it is supposed to be. It has turned in to a huge enormous monstrosity.

"Allow me, just now old enough to  apprehend the freak show for what it is, to put something radical to my  conservative forbearers: 

Little about the present state of American life is worth conserving. Nothing of what the Founders envisioned remains."

-Andrea Yung

We Americans, living in this mess, move along with the flow and ebb of the political and social winds. Often making the most absurd statements, and rationalizations. Thus this fellow that I was chatting with.

He then went on to say that “We need to police the world. We need to spread democracy... ...the rest of the world is one big shit-hole, seriously.” And then asked me, “Have you ever seen the Mexican side of the border?“

American houses in the suburbs. — America is very beautiful once you leave many of the urban areas. The sky is often awesome, the roads are wide and often clear of traffic. Many of the houses are large and spacious. When compared to other nations, the United States appears to be (hands down) the most desirable place to live. So it is natural to assume every other place is a hell-hole.

Now this is coming from a guy who doesn’t even has a passport, has never tried to get a visa, and his only experience outside the borders of our country was by watching reruns of Baywatch.

Ah. that old “no one has it better than us Americans” argument. We are so fortunate. Eh. Well, it plays well in Peoria. And it’s a good conversation stopper. As we, as Americans, have all seen the “Save the Children” commercials. That money-generating venture brought images of poverty into the living-rooms of Americans for decades.

So the argument seems to have some validity.

Seems to.

Being older with some experiences…

But, you know, I am from a different generation. I grew up in the 1970’s, and at that time between all the smoking blue haze we came to appreciate the strengths of the American system. We did so cranking Jimmi Hendrix, Robin Trower, Yes, Jefro Tull, Alice Cooper, Boston, Manfred Mann, Traffic, Uriah Heep and Three Dog Night.

"I'd love to change the world... but I don't know what to do.

That 70s show. — That 70s show was a television comedy that sort of reflected what it was like living and growing up in the 1970’s.

And…

We knew, since the Vietnam war was still fresh in our minds, that America should be for Americans. We did not need to be off throwing money, and wasting lives in some off-the-beaten track for some globalist oligarch.

We knew that America was wasting money in Vietnam. We knew that people were dying there, and many of them were friends, or relatives. We knew that what ever benefit would come of that war, none of us would ever see that benefit. 

We knew that the war was just pissing away American resources.

Scene from Vietnam. — Americans in Vietnam. We fought and died there for “democracy”. When the truth was that it was an effort with the wealthiest in America to game the situation for their very own personal advantage.

We, almost my entire generation, felt betrayed by those older than us. Those who ended up throwing away lives in far off rice paddy’s, and making laws against marijuana that everyone was obviously breaking. What was the matter with these people? We asked.

Why can’t they just let us be? Why do they have to take too much of our money, regulate too much of our lives, and go off fighting wars that are too far away? Why?

The 1980's meme. — Things were so different the. We weren’t expected to apologize for being born. We weren’t ashamed of our nation. We were American gosh darn it!

Well, that was only the tip of the iceberg.

A few more years passed. Ronald Reagan did put the breaks down to some degree, but he made some other blunders that (sad to say, eventually) set the stage for what was to come…

Geoprge Bush Senior — President Bush Senior spent most of his Presidency trying to undo the good works of Ronald Reagan. In many ways he was very successful.

First, was President Gerald ~~Ford~~ Bush (Senior) who made it his life’s work to undo “Reaganomics”, and implement The New Global Order. Then came a succession of socialist criminals, such as Clinton, Bush Jr and finally Obama.

Each one, in their own way, contributed to the state of affairs that America is enduring today. Each one played a role. Each one created the situation leading to all the complaints that we Americans have about “our” government.

They snipped the brake-lines to the American Constitutional government, and it has been in free-fall ever since.

Free-fall.

Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Those of us, still trapped in a rapidly decaying world try to grasp for straws trying to make out some sense of reason to the hordes of pink-haired ignorance, the black-thugs of Antifa and the BLM that seem to want to put average Americans in concentration camps.

So we listen to the news. Many, well meaning of course, have no idea just how tainted it really is. They believe the news.

They believe what it says.

Here’s some “oldies but goodies”…

America is full of the manipulated, living inside an echo chamber created by the military oligarchy to control and subdue the “citizenry”. Meanwhile, as the military empire trudges on, the quality of life of the peasants (oh I mean “citizens”) falls dramatically.

Nothing works any longer.

When a nation can no longer build bridges and walls…

… homes, and houses won’t be far behind.

Conclusion

Should I bring up China? Yeah. That nation run on merit that is populated with engineers? That are building bridges and High Speed Rail at a breathtaking rate? Nah. It’s far too easy.

China is a merit based nation of hard workers.

And…

America is what?

A nation run by a corrupt Casino owner…

Is a $500 scoop of ice cream served to you by an unkempt and illiterate moron just as good as a $1 scoop served by an attractive cheerleader / honors student?

Not until you start training and employing people who actually fucking make things. Instead of accountants, stock brokers, bankers and bean-counters who can count and look at spreadsheets. The world needs people who make things. Not people who stand by and approve of what others say.

If you were trapped on a desert island, who would you want to share it with? A handyman with a set of tools, or a a stock broker who doesn't have electricity for his computer?

America is deep into decay. And you all know what?

It’s gonna get a whole lot worse.

Do you want more?

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The real reason why NASA sent a probe to land on the 433 Eros Asteroid

The decision to land a probe on the asteroid 433 Eros, and place a spacecraft in orbit around it was not by random chance. No particular scientist looked at a tabulated list of the thousands of asteroids and picked it out randomly. There was a real good reason. And that reason, boys and girls, is because MAJestic (through NASA) wanted a close look at the extraterrestrial facility there.

What the public is told…

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR)

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) was designed to study the near Earth asteroid 433 Eros from close orbit. It was designed to operate for over a period of a year. It was designed quickly (for a NASA program) and was successfully launched in February 1996. It traveled for four years until it was able to enter orbit around the asteroid in February 2000.

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft took 4 years from launch until it became the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid in February 2000. 

A month later, the spacecraft was re-named "NEAR Shoemaker" to honor the late Eugene Shoemaker. 

To save launch costs, the mission used a special 2-year-period trajectory with an Earth gravity assist. On the way, the spacecraft imaged the asteroid 253 Mathilde. 

On 20 December 1998, NEAR’s large engine misfired, failing to brake it for entry into orbit about 433 Eros. Another attempt 2 weeks later succeeded, but the spacecraft was almost a million kilometers away and took over a year to reach the asteroid. 

The mission was recovered thanks to a generous fuel supply and robust contingency planning. 

The implementation of the spacecraft’s daring orbital maneuvers is described, including those used to land on Eros’ surface in February 2001.

-NEAR Mission Design

In 1991, a “Discovery” Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission was proposed, and competitive proposals for it were prepared by APL and by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The APL proposal was selected and system definition studies were carried out in 1992–1993.

The studies first concentrated on direct flight paths to small near-Earth asteroids that lay on the Ecliptic plan. The initial plan was with a mission to (4660) Nereus that would launch in January 1998.

Jan 01, 2000 · The Apollo type asteroid (4660) Nereus (1982DB) is recognized as one of the most accessible asteroid, and it is a candidate for the target of MUSES-C project, i.e. the first asteroid sample return mission by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS).

-Photometric observation of (4660)Nereus - ScienceDirect

Strangely, some vocal but un-named scientists were concerned that an intensive orbital survey of such a small asteroid might not be very productive. They INSISTED that the entire mission be re-scoped to a completely different asteroid.

So these un-named scientists had the program target changed.

They argued that the 433 Eros asteroid would be a much better target since it has dimensions of about 14 x 14 x 33 km, about 400 times the area and over 6000 times the volume of 4660 Nereus. It was much, much, larger.

4660 Nereus. The initial size estimate for Nereus came from an optical R-band study (Ishibashi et al., 2000a, 2000b) which concluded that it is an elongated object with diameter between 1.1–1.3 km
433 Eros. Much larger at 33 x 13 x 13 km.

Unfortunately, problem was that 433 Eros was way, way out of the way. It was not on nor lay closely upon the Ecliptic Plane as all the other asteroids that were being considered. It was “in the boondocks”, and way out of the way. Making a trip to visit is outrageously difficult.

Eros’ orbit is inclined 11° to the ecliptic (Earth’s orbit plane), requiring, for direct transfers, high declination of launch asymptotes and launch energies that are too high for a reasonably sized spacecraft with the Discovery-baselined Delta-class launch vehicle. 

This problem was solved by using a 2-year delta V-Earth Gravity Assist (delta VEGA) trajectory. 

The spacecraft would be launched into an orbit with an approximately 2-year period in the ecliptic plane 23 months before the latest minimum-launch energy departure date on 22 or 23 January 1998. 

Near aphelion of this orbit, a delta V maneuver would be performed to target an Earth swing-by at the optimum date. At the Earth return, the spacecraft’s velocity relative to the planet would be increased considerably, allowing a swing-by low over the Northern Hemisphere that would bend the trajectory into Eros’ orbit plane with its 11° inclination to the ecliptic.

-NEAR Mission Design

In mid-1993, the delta VEGA trajectory to Eros was adopted as the baseline for the NEAR mission. At aphelion in early 1997, the space-craft would be behind the Sun as seen from the Earth, so the deep space delta V was moved to early March, several days after the NEAR spacecraft (re-christened NEAR Shoemaker in March 2000 to honor the late Eugene Shoe-maker) left the solar exclusion zone within 3° of the Sun, where communications with the spacecraft would be difficult or impossible.

Trajectory for the NEAR spacecraft to visit 433 Eros.

After a four year travel, the NEAR spacecraft approached the asteroid and started to make it’s approach. This approach involved a lot of fuel, but unusually good planning on the part of NASA made sure that the spacecraft would be able to get into a fine parking orbit around the asteroid.

The table below, lists several parameters for each of the propulsive maneuvers performed by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft. In the last column, under “Mode,” the table

The table below, lists several parameters for each of the propulsive maneuvers (changing trajectory planes) performed by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft. In the last column, under “Mode,” the table indicates the basic strategy for orienting the spacecraft according to the options available (and described elsewhere).

It’s all very interesting (to me at least), but let’s not get too bogged down on all the interesting details. In short, the spacecraft needed to maneuver to get into orbit. This took generous amounts of fuel and energy. And, as specified earlier, this is simply because the spacecraft was moving to a difficult to visit, and difficult to go into orbit about, asteroid.

Here’s a summary of the orbital and trajectory firings, if you don’t believe me…

Orbital firings of the engines for the NEAR spacecraft.

Objectives

The primary scientific objectives of NEAR were to return data on the bulk properties, composition, mineralogy, morphology, internal mass distribution and magnetic field of 433 Eros. Secondary objectives include studies of asteroid regolith properties (loosely consolidated surface material), interactions with the solar wind, possible current activity as indicated by dust or gas and the asteroid spin state.

NASA’s NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft, met all its scientific goals in orbiting the asteroid Eros and successfully accomplished a controlled descent to the surface of the asteroid on 12 February 2001. The chief goal of the controlled descent to the surface was to gather close-up pictures of the boulder-strewn surface of 433 Eros, more than 196 million miles from Earth.

DESIGN

The NEAR spacecraft design is mechanically simple and geared toward a short development and test time. Except for the initial deployment of the solar panels and protective instrument covers, the spacecraft has only one moveable mechanism. Its distributed architecture allows parallel development and test of each subsystem, yielding an unusually short spacecraft integration and test period.

Several innovative features of the NEAR design include the first use of an x-band solid-state power amplifier for an interplanetary mission, the first use of a hemispherical resonator gyroscope in space and extremely high-accuracy, high voltage power supply control.

Equipment layout of the NEAR spacecraft. — Equipment layout of the NEAR Spacecraft.

The spacecraft has the shape of an octagonal prism, approximately 1.7m on each side. It has four fixed gallium arsenide solar panels in a windmill arrangement, a fixed 1.5m X-band high-gain radio antenna with a magnetometer mounted on the antenna feed and an X-ray solar monitor on one end (the forward deck). The other instruments are fixed on the opposite end (the aft deck). Most electronics are mounted on the inside of the decks. The propulsion module is contained in the interior.

PROPULSION

The craft is three-axis stabilized and uses a single bipropellant (hydrazine/nitrogen tetroxide) 450 Newton (N) main thruster and four 21N and seven 3.5N hydrazine thrusters for propulsion, for a total delta-V potential of 1,450m/s. Attitude control is achieved using the hydrazine thrusters and four reaction wheels. The propulsion system carried 209kg of hydrazine and 109kg of NTO oxidizer in two oxidizer and three fuel tanks.

NEAR Spacecraft showing deployment of the solar panels.

Power was provided by four 1.8m x 1.2m gallium arsenide solar panels that can produce 400W at 2.2AU (NEAR’s maximum distance from the Sun) and 1,800W at 1AU. Power was stored in a 9A/hr, 22-cell rechargeable super nickel-cadmium battery.

INSTRUMENTATION

The spacecraft also featured Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) for imaging Eros in multiple spectral bands to determine its shape and surface features and to map mineral distributions. It had a NEAR Infrared Spectrometer (NIS) for measuring the near-infrared spectrum to determine the distribution and abundance of surface minerals and a NEAR Laser Rangefinder (NLR). This is a laser altimeter that measures the range to the surface to build up high-resolution topographic profiles (giving a global shape model of Eros).

It also has an X-ray/Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (XGRS) detecting X-ray fluorescence from elements on the asteroid surface. Some of the emissions are excited by cosmic rays and some are from natural radioactivity in the asteroid. There is also a Magnetometer (MAG) that searches for and maps any intrinsic magnetic field around Eros and a Radio Science, which is a coherent X-band transponder measuring radial velocities of the spacecraft relative to Earth, helping to map the gravitational field of Eros.

The Landing of a probe onto the asteroid

NEAR-Shoemaker became the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid and send signals back from its surface.

NEAR spacecraft trajectory and crash site.

Since the robot spacecraft was not designed for such activity, the success of the landing on asteroid 433 Eros was not assured. In short, after the orbital mapping was completed, the NASA team crashed the spacecraft into the asteroid. They tried to do it gingerly, but they pretty much smashed it onto the surface.

The last picture taken by the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft prior to impact.

Shown above is the last picture taken by NEAR-Shoemaker before its touchdown.

The streaking on the lower part of the image was caused by the loss of telemetry as the satellite impacted the surface.

The image was taken 130 meters above the surface and spans 6 meters across. Rocks as small as a human hand are visible.

The Official Narrative…

Feb. 12, 2001 — After an apparently gentle descent, the first spacecraft ever to land on an asteroid touched down today shortly after 3 p.m. ET.

The 1,100-pound craft settled on a saddle-shaped depression of the asteroid, Eros, and then continued transmitting signals to Earth, suggesting it was not damaged as it struck the asteroid’s rock-strewn surface.

Asteriod Landing Animation “I am happy to report that the NEAR has touched down,” said Robert Farquhar, the NEAR mission director, just after the craft transmitted its zero altitude location. “We are still getting signals!”

Not only was the dicey landing the first successful touchdown on an asteroid, it was also the most faraway landing ever attempted — at a distance of 196 million miles from Earth. The NEAR Shoemaker robot craft has no legs or landing gear and was never designed to land. To ensure a successful landing, controllers managed to slow the craft from about 20 to about 3 miles per hour.

First, controllers at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., triggered the craft to thrust its engines so the compact car-sized probe was knocked from its orbit and aimed for the asteroid. Then the team used a series of four rocket firings to slow the craft as it drifted toward the asteroid.

“We’re right on the money,” said NEAR Mission Operations Manager Robert Nelson as the NEAR probe drifted toward Eros. By just before 3 p.m. ET, the probe was less than a mile from the asteroid and approaching slowly. During its final descent scientists snapped about two photos of the asteroid every minute.

At one point controllers believed the craft had landed and then bounced away from the asteroid, but soon they received data suggesting it was resting on the rocky celestial outpost. The craft landed nearly on time, touching down on a 6-mile-wide, saddle-shaped depression at Eros’ side at 3:07 p.m.

“It’s an exciting area geologically because we’re on the edge of this large depression — which is probably a very large impact crater — and we’ll be getting images of its interior as well as of the heavily cratered terrain on the outside,” says NEAR imaging team member Mark Robinson of Northwestern University.

Now that it has managed a gentle landing, the tin-can shaped probe is expected to provide unprecedented up-close images and data from the asteroid for up to three months…

NEAR landing site on Eros. — (NEAR landing site on Eros)
Take a look at these high-quality, close-up images of Asteroid 433 Eros that NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft transmitted as it floated to a historic landing on the rocky surface nearly 200 million miles (322 million kilometers) from Earth on Monday, February 12, 2001.

Science Fiction Landings

As far as I know, the first story about landing a craft on an asteroid was written by Edward Drax in 1931. In The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens, minor navigation problems result in a landing on an asteroid:

"I had not seen it as soon as I had seen Mars, on account of its being so near to the line of the Sun... I couldn't make out anything, as most of the orb was in darkness... 

I got into the darkness at last and switched on my engines, and flew till I came to the very first edge of twilight that gave light enough for me to land... 

And that was how I came to make a bad landing, with my wheels deep down in a marsh..."

A more technical approach to landing on an asteroid was completed by Robert Heinlein. In his 1939 short story Misfit, young men without a trade were given another chance in the Cosmic Construction Corps. One job was to make a livable space habitat on selected asteroids.

He walked over by the lookouts at stereoscopes and radar tanks and peered up at the star-flecked blackness. Three cigarettes later the lookout nearest him called out.

"Light ho!"

"Where away?"

His mate read the exterior dials of the stereoscope. "Plus point two, abaft one point three, slight drift astern." He shifted to radar and added, "Range seven nine oh four three."

"Does that check?"

"Could be, Captain. What is her disk?" came the Navigator's muffled voice from under the hood.

The first lookout hurriedly twisted the knobs of his instrument, but the Captain nudged him aside. "I'll do this, son." He fitted his face to the double eye guards and surveyed a little silvery sphere, a tiny moon. Carefully he brought two illuminated cross-hairs up until they were exactly tangent to the upper and lower limbs of the disk. "Mark!"

The reading was noted and passed to the Navigator, who shortly ducked out from under the hood.

"That's our baby, Captain"

...McCoy forced them to lie down throughout the ensuing two hours. Short shocks of rocket blasts alternated with nauseating weightlessness. Then the blowers stopped and check valves clicked into their seats. The ship dropped free for a few moments -- a final quick blast -- five seconds of falling, and a short, light, grinding bump. A single bugle note came over the announcer, and the blowers took up their hum.

Public Discoveries

Of course, the entire data pool from the NEAR spacecraft is available for “armchair” and regular scientists to study. Of course, NASA has to “clean up” the data before releasing it. Don’t you know. There were things that might not be easy to explain or might be confusing to “Joe and Suzy Average”.

The photos of the asteroid have been very nice.

433 Eros is an S-type near-Earth asteroid approximately 34.4×11.2×11.2 kilometers (21.4×7.0×7.0 mi) in size, the second-largest near-Earth asteroid after 1036 Ganymed. It was discovered in 1898 and was the first near-Earth asteroid discovered. It was the first asteroid orbited by an Earth probe (in 2000). It belongs to the Amor group.
Eros was one of the first asteroids to be visited by a spacecraft, and the first to be orbited and soft-landed on. NASA spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker entered orbit around Eros in 2000, and came to rest on its surface in 2001.

Well, the public will never know what was really discovered or found out.

Instead we get to see nice pictures of dust, rocks and dirt.

This view of asteroid 433 Eros is part of an image mosaic taken in the early hours of October 26, 2000, during NEAR Shoemaker's low-altitude flyover of Eros. Taken while the spacecraft's digital camera was looking at a spot 8 kilometers (5 miles) away, the image covers a region about 800 meters (2600 feet) across. Rocks of all sizes and shapes are set on a gently rolling, cratered surface. Locally, fine debris or regolith buries the rocks. The large boulder at the center of the scene is about 25 meters (82 feet) across. — This view of asteroid 433 Eros is part of an image mosaic taken in the early hours of October 26, 2000, during NEAR Shoemaker’s low-altitude flyover of Eros. Taken while the spacecraft’s digital camera was looking at a spot 8 kilometers (5 miles) away, the image covers a region about 800 meters (2600 feet) across. Rocks of all sizes and shapes are set on a gently rolling, cratered surface. Locally, fine debris or regolith buries the rocks. The large boulder at the center of the scene is about 25 meters (82 feet) across.

What we are told instead is the geology of the asteroid itself. And while this is very interesting, most people wouldn’t really care about it at all. They just don’t.

433 Eros had a past full of impacts and the resulting craters.

Eros is 20 miles (33 kilometers) long and about 8 miles (13 kilometers) wide. It is the most well studied asteroid. NEAR-Shoemaker mapped Eros in detail back in 2000-2001 before officials executed a controlled and dramatic crash landing, the first-ever touchdown on an asteroid.

Like any asteroid, Eros been banging around the solar system in some form for about 4.5 billion years.

In the early days of the solar system, when things were more crowded, collisions were frequent. Some large asteroids become smaller. Some small rocks stuck together and grew. Many were scooped up by the fledgling Earth and the other planets.

Two examples of evidence for a joint and fracture structure underlying the regolith layer on 433 Eros, imaged by the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft, in the form of: (A) several structurally controlled, `square' impact craters (MET 132151598, 218.91 W, 16.64 S, 5.57 m/pixel); and (B) a network of criss-crossing ridges and grooves, with a few, small, structurally controlled craters (MET 136266921, 218.72 W, 42.00 N, 4.58 m/pixel). — Two examples of evidence for a joint and fracture structure underlying the regolith layer on 433 Eros, imaged by the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft, in the form of: **(A)** several structurally controlled, `square’ impact craters (MET 132151598, 218.91 W, 16.64 S, 5.57 m/pixel); and **(B)** a network of criss-crossing ridges and grooves, with a few, small, structurally controlled craters (MET 136266921, 218.72 W, 42.00 N, 4.58 m/pixel).

The asteroids that remain, confined mostly to a belt between Mars and Jupiter, harbor a tale of the solar system’s formation. But first scientists have to figure out how to read their language, with an alphabet of craters and cracks and a grammar based largely on mineral composition and density.

Among Eros’ most striking features is an impact crater 4.7 miles (7.6 kilometers) wide that scientists have determined was carved fairly recently. Another curious aspect to Eros is that across nearly 40 percent of its surface, all craters up to about a third of a mile (0.5 kilometers) wide have been erased.

Smooth surface.

The smooth surface has puzzled scientists since the NEAR landing.

The new study, led by Cornell University researcher Peter Thomas, nixed one theory by determining that the vanished craters could not have been covered by material ejected in the recent large impact. Further, the locations of the erased craters suggests they were jiggled out of existence by the internal vibrations caused in the impact.

Two examples of ponded deposits on 433 Eros, imaged by the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft. Note the marked difference in morphology between these ponds and the degraded craters shown Fig. 1(D) and Fig. 15, indicative of different formation processes. The ponds shown here are located on the low surface-gravity (2.5-3.0 mm sec^-2) 'nose' of the asteroid, which also spends a longer than average amount of time near the terminator (light/dark boundary). (A) A beautiful 100 m diameter ponded deposit containing an embedded 25 m boulder. Note the extremely flat surface containing a tiny (few-meter diameter) impact crater (MET 155888598, 179.04 W, 2.42 S, 0.55 m/pixel). (B) A smaller 75 m diameter ponded deposit. Note the difference between the smooth, fine-grained pond surface and the coarse, boulder strewn terrain surrounding the deposit (MET 155888731, 183.88 W, 3.21 S, 0.63 m/pixel). — Two examples of ponded deposits on 433 Eros, imaged by the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft. Note the marked difference in morphology between these ponds and the degraded craters shown Fig. 1(D) and Fig. 15, indicative of different formation processes. The ponds shown here are located on the low surface-gravity (2.5-3.0 mm sec^-2) ‘nose’ of the asteroid, which also spends a longer than average amount of time near the terminator (light/dark boundary). **(A)** A beautiful 100 m diameter ponded deposit containing an embedded 25 m boulder. Note the extremely flat surface containing a tiny (few-meter diameter) impact crater (MET 155888598, 179.04 W, 2.42 S, 0.55 m/pixel). **(B)** A smaller 75 m diameter ponded deposit. Note the difference between the smooth, fine-grained pond surface and the coarse, boulder strewn terrain surrounding the deposit (MET 155888731, 183.88 W, 3.21 S, 0.63 m/pixel).

The hypothesis, if right, can be used to glean an idea of how the asteroid is constructed. Scientists have long wondered if asteroids were solid rocks or, as is likely in at least some cases, loose piles of rubble that have undergone many collisions and managed to hang together.

"Our observations indicate that the interior of Eros is sufficiently cohesive to transmit seismic energy over many kilometers, and the outer several tens of meters [yards] of the asteroid must be composed of relatively non-cohesive material," 

-Thomas and his colleague, Mark Robinson of Northwestern University, write in the July 21 issue of the journal Nature.

That outer non-cohesive stuff would be regolith, which on Earth is called dirt and on our nearest natural satellite is known as Moon dust.

"For the first time, the authors provide convincing evidence that makes this conclusion more than just reasonable conjecture," 

- Erik Asphaug, a scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz who was not involved in the study.

The non-public discoveries

Famous Taiwanese ufologist Scott Waring, studying NASA official images, regularly publishes his findings and shares his opinions. And, this time, he studied the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Eros from a photograph taken by NASA, and found something interesting on it.

According to the ufologist, on the surface of the asteroid Eros clearly visible unnatural structure, which has a rectangular shape.

NASA has reported that there is a large rectangular shaped object that rests upon 433 Eros.

The ufologist found it very funny that NASA noticed this structure, but the space agency’s explanations turned out to be very predictable and primitive.

According to NASA scientists, this is a “large rectangular object that measures 45 meters (148 feet) across“. There are no further explanations for this finding. (Ah. They know what is going on, and they know that they cannot comment on it.)

It is possible that this object is a mining station that was used by an advanced alien civilization to extract valuable metals. — It is *possible* that this object is a mining station that was used by an advanced alien civilization to extract valuable metals.

No further information regarding this feature has been made available.

NASA has nothing further to say about this matter.

What is this thing?

So anyone who looks at this photograph can conclude that this object looks to be of some kind of artificial construction. Why?

The shape is rectangular.
In the exact center of this object is another rectangular object.
The light reflecting off this object is different is type and magnitude from the surrounding terrain.
The shadow of this object shows a rectangular cross section.
The shadow indicates that the front protrusion hangs out and over the terrain, like a gantry crane or some kind of access tube.

Because of the above, those that study this matter believe that this object is not of natural construction.

One thing is clear. The object in the picture is NOT the NEAR Shoemaker probe from NASA. It is something altogether different.

The probe did not “fire” or launch any objects into the asteroid. This is a photo from the NEAR spacecraft as it orbited the asteroid. In so doing it caught a picture of this rectangular object resting on the surface of the asteroid. Then it was ordered to crash into the asteroid.

This object does not appear to be of natural construction. — *Non-human probe discovered on 433 Eros.*
This is a photo of the NASA raw feed for the NEAR Shoemaker Probe as it orbited the 433 EROS asteroid. It shows an object that appears to be a series of interconnected rectangular boxes and containers. There are those that state that these are suggestive of mining operations, but what their true purpose is remains unknown.

Debunkers have their say…

Well, there is no way that this can be “swamp gas”, can it?

Debunkers offer alternative solutions to the observed anomaly. They postulate that [1] it is a Photoshop fraud, or that [2] it is a NASA photo from the Hubble Space Telescope that imaged a photo of the NEAR spacecraft itself on the surface of the asteroid. (If so, then it doesn’t look anything like the spacecraft.) They also postulate that [3] it is merely debris that was ejected from the NEAR spacecraft that happened to land on the asteroid in the fashion shown, and finally [4] it is just a pixilation error caused by a gamma-ray burst that caused an erroneous image pattern.

Interesting stretches of imagination.

But I can personally assure the readership that as of 2004 the MAJestic organization formally considered this object to be an extraterrestrial probe or structure of unknown purpose. That I can tell you all.

Conclusions

In the image of the asteroid Eros made by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft on May 1, 2000, when it was at an orbital altitude of 53 km (33 miles), it is visible, a large rectangular object, 45 meters in diameter.

The size of four (40′ GP) shipping containers laid end to end.

Considering the fact that data from the spacecraft collected on Eros in December 1998 suggest that it can contain 20,000 billion kilograms of aluminum and a similar amount of other metals that are rare on Earth, such as gold and platinum.

The weight of Eros is 6.69 · 1015 kilograms, which is a bit even for an asteroid. However, if we take into account the size of the asteroid – 34.4 km in diameter in the widest place – it turns out that Eros is quite dense, about 2.67 g / cm³. The same density would have an aluminum monolith of similar dimensions. Similar characteristics have the crust. By the way, even with its small size, Eros is the second largest among near-Earth asteroids.

The shape of Eros is irregular, elongated and often compared with peanuts. Because of this, the center of gravity shifts, which creates extremely interesting effects. Moving in its orbit, Eros does not rotate, like spherical bodies – and somersaults, like a boulder rolling from the hill. This also leads to differences in gravitational force. However, it is very easy to overcome it. A man would be able to leave Eros with the help of a foot thrust.

It is possible that this object is a mining station that was used by an advanced alien civilization to extract valuable metals.

The asteroids converging with the Earth are a group of small celestial bodies whose orbit has a chance in future to cross with our planet. The asteroid Eros – is among the most studied asteroids in the solar system.

Eros belongs to the class of asteroids S – the so-called stone asteroids, the material of which consists of silicon and metals.

Orbital characteristics of Eros – its main attraction. Around the Sun, he turns for 1.7 of the Earth year, around his own axis – for 5 and a half hours. But the real feature of Eros is that it belongs to the group of Cupids – asteroids, whose orbit is similar to the terrestrial, but lies further from the Sun. So, none of the Cupids can approach the Sun closer than 1.017 “standard” distance from the Sun to Earth – an astronomical unit. By the way, the Earth itself can move away from the Sun at such a distance – when reaches aphelion, the maximum distance from the luminary. This happens in the middle of summer, between 3 and 7 July.

Due to this they are quite bright – the largest objects of the S-class can be seen in a regular binocular.

Such asteroids also contain a large amount of minerals. After analyzing the composition of Eros, the scientists once again started talking seriously about the industrial development of outer space.

This is an interesting object.

If I were a betting man, I would guess that this object is either a robotic mining droid or a monitoring station of some sort.

But I do not know.

As of 2004, neither did MAJestic.

Anyways…

When someone tries to tell you that sooner or later the US Government is going to release “findings” and conduct “studies” on the “UFO issue”, you can laugh in their face. MAJestic has known for years about the population of our solar system by extraterrestrials. It’s just that there are limits to how we can go about in the discovery of these entities and their technologies.

Anyways, enjoy the few precious snippets that you can find on the internet now. The suppression of NASA related images is now “tighter than a drum”. You won’t find much more in the future moving forward.

And this object…

It’s either a robot, a probe, a station, a mining vehicle, or some other mechanism that was not made by humans. It rests upon the asteroid 433 Eros, and does it’s thing. Whatever it’s “thing” is.

MAJestic knows about it. And perhaps it radiated some signals or gave away it’s presence way back in the late 1990’s. Meaning that it was active at that time.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my MAJestic Index here…

MAJestic

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China sat down and planned to become a manufacturing leader. It was not accidental. This is the result of good national leadership.

If you read the American media, one thing that runs through all the propaganda, and it’s an on-going theme. It’s pretty much this; [1] China is hard-core communist, and thus [2] everything they do is a lie. [3] America must disengage from that lie. And, [4] when the time is right, America destroy China completely.

This is a pretty big departure from the “most favored trading status nation” to “America’s number one enemy”.

I call it the “Trump effect”. Which is pretty much a nation being run upon delusions and fantasy. You all can thank Trump and his “God fearing” neocon advisers who (foolishly) believe that America is Heaven on earth, and it is their God-Given right to rule the world, and remake it into an American vassal state.

For decades, China labored and provided goods to America. Once America could no longer afford those goods, the American leadership wanted to crush China completely and seize everything inside China for their own personal use.

This is really, seriously, all messed up.

This isn’t 1840, don’t you know.

But China is not what the American leadership thinks it is. China is a serious, serious nation. It is run by leadership who where tops in their classes, experienced hardship by working their way from the very bottom of society to where they are now, and who have displayed merit over and over again. It’s a big change from the “clowns” and “misfits” that currently run America.

In this post we will look at what China has been doing over the last few decades while America has gotten, fat, lazy, slothful and rich. We will look at the efforts that they made to become a world-leader in manufacturing. And then, we will look at where this effort has got them, and what China has become as a result of it; indeed, what China is today.

To start off, however, we need to look at how China started out, and what they did to become where they are today.

Hint:

It took [1] real leadership, and [2] structural changes within the government.

We start with a post titled “Just Cheap Labor? How China Became a Manufacturing Powerhouse” by The World Affairs Blog. Posted on 13SEP20. Reprinted as found with only minor alternations to fit this venue. All credit to the writers and editors.

Just Cheap Labor? How China Became a Manufacturing Powerhouse

Many people have simple narratives about China’s rise as a manufacturing powerhouse. And this misunderstanding (ignorance?) is also the reason why the same people believe that multinational corporations are going to quickly move or re-shore factories out of China. The logic behind this narrative mostly boils down to, “China has cheap labor and thus became a manufacturing giant.”

It’s just not true.

For starters, if poverty is the sole requirement to become a manufacturing center, obviously every other developing country would have performed well. Consider this: while China and India have almost the same population, China’s manufacturing is almost 10x India’s. Thus, let’s analyze this phenomenon more closely.

China’s growth in manufacturing over the last forty years has been nothing but astonishing. Consider that, in 1980, US manufacturing output was almost five times as large as China’s. However, just thirty years later — in 2010 — China surpassed the US as the world’s #1 manufacturing country. This was also quite momentous, since the US had been the manufacturing leader for the previous 110 years!

One more astonishing data: in the last one year, China’s trade surplus in manufactured goods was … whopping $1 trillion.

Of course, cheap labor made a big difference in the 1980s, 1990s and even until 2006 or so. However, after that, China’s wages caught up with other middle-income developing countries. Now, Chinese wages are 2.5x higher than in Mexico or 5x higher than in Vietnam.

Thus, while the Chinese wages tripled over a decade (2008-2018), China’s share of global manufacturing value added almost doubled from 15% to 28%!

So, obviously, there’s lot more than cheap labor.

In fact there are dozens of holistic factors that make a country a successful manufacturer. (Not all of them are positive — for example, lax environmental laws — but that’s the dark side of manufacturing). Understanding these will help see what a daunting challenge foreign companies will face in finding new countries to replace China.

There’s no one magic bullet, and all the ten factors listed below are critical:

**1. Skilled, Productive and Disciplined Labor: Yes, more than being cheap, even the lowest paid workers must have all these three qualities. The people making shoes or assembling gadgets still need skills and consistency. Products and requirements change all the time, and the workers should be able to adapt. Moreover, these people must show up for work every day and consistently perform. In many countries, you can’t find such high-quality workers.

**2. Medium and Hi-tech Manufacturing Factories: A plastic toy or a bulb may seem very simple, but there’s a lot of chemistry, metallurgy, materials science and much more behind how to make them from raw materials. Now imagine TVs, car engines etc. Factories need very sophisticated engineers to make the products to specifications at the right cost. There’s a lot of innovation here behind the scene. Here’s a quick note from Tim Cook (Apple’s CEO) on this topic:

https://video.wordpress.com/embed/re5h9oLH?preloadContent=metadata&hd=1

**3. Producing at Scale: Assembling 100,000 iPhones a day requires a totally different factory from the one that churns out 1,000 smartphones a day — every process will be different from end to end. Automation, smart factories, robots, and 5G will be increasingly crucial in the factories of the future.

**4. Elasticity and Flexibility: Can you handle a sudden extra request for 1 million new gadgets to meet demands for Christmas? Can you quickly switch from one version to another version of a product? For example, China was able to quickly build huge mask factories and COVID19 testing labs within 2-3 weeks.

Is that possible in Vietnam? In Britain? In Canada? In the United States?

**5. Design to Prototypes to Products: Customers just come up with vague or highly complex product designs and then expect the manufacturer to do all the work. Chinese firms have so much talent and experience that they can often create a prototype within a couple of days. And these firms must be creative enough to suggest alternative designs and features. These are invaluable skills that just can’t be developed in a few months.

**6. Logistics: How do you make sure that the parts and raw materials are always available for the factories? How do you manage all the workers? How about testing and shipping out all the products on time? How do you work with customers from all over the world and deal with different languages, legal issues etc.?

**7. Infrastructure: The Chinese government has to make sure that the factories have land, electricity, water, buildings, warehouses, roads, Internet etc. And they must be affordable. These may sound easy to someone in the US, but developing nations like India or Indonesia may struggle to provide high-quality infrastructure. For example, until recently, massive power outages used to be very common in India.

**8. Transportation: Although this falls under infrastructure, it must be spelled out. A bullet train that reduces travel time by 60% … deep sea ports that can handle massive ships and millions of containers … new strategically located airports all over the country … freight trains that can travel thousands of miles (like from Xian, China to Barcelona, Spain) … these are monumental projects in which no country can match China. This is why Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative is truly visionary.

**9. Ecosystem: This is a unique success factor for China. There is an ecosystem for every kind of factory. For example, a clothing factory would greatly benefit if there are dozens of nearby factories that specialize in different kinds of materials — cotton, wool, silk, denim, nylon, polyester etc. Similarly, a smartphone company would like to work closely with other firms that specialize in microphones, speakers, cameras, screens, printed circuit boards etc. Other services experts such as international lawyers, marketing consultants, and designers are also indispensable. Without such 360-degree ecosystems, no country can expect to be a manufacturing superpower. Shenzhen, the electronics capital of the world, is a stellar example of such ecosystems.

**10. Tax Breaks, Subsidies, Incentives, Trade Agreements: Finally, you need a very smart and visionary government that plans 5, 10, 20 years in advance, makes huge investments, knows how to attract and keep foreign and domestic investors, provide tax cuts and subsidies, negotiate smart trade agreements etc. to create a win-win environment.

Elon Musk at Shanghai Tesla factory that was built in just one year!

So, these are the secrets behind China’s success. Other countries can try to replicate this model, but they need to be prepared to invest a lot and plan for the long term.

While low-end manufacturing will move out of China because of high Chinese wages and China’s desire to improve its environment, Americans shouldn’t dream of quick decoupling or re-shoring factories. This is why 75% of US manufacturers in China say they won’t move any production out of China! Moving out of China in any meaningful way will take a decade … if other developing nations execute their manufacturing strategy flawlessly.

And now that you know about how China got to where it is, you can see how this all affects it’s global standing…

The following is also from the World Affairs Blog and it is titled “China’s GDP is now $14.4 trillion. Within ten years …“, it was edited to fit this venue and all credit tothe author.

China’s GDP is now $14.4 trillion. Within ten years …

China slowed down a bit, thanks to trade war and tariffs, but didn’t suffer a lot.

The mainstream media gave it a spin as “China’s economy grows at the slowest pace in 29 years!” However, the slowdown in China’s growth is natural at this stage of its development. Nothing can grow at 15% forever.

What is not mentioned by the China-haters is that China grew much faster than the US economy and left other major economies like EU and Japan in the dust.

Here are the numbers for GDP growth in 2019 — China: 6.1%, USA: 2.2%, EU: 1.4% and Japan: 0.7%.

Note that, the official GDP growth are always inflation-adjusted. This is a strange norm that distorts reality. We don’t do this to other stats like stock market or wages. Thus, in real life, China’s GDP actually grew 10% … from Ұ90 trillion to Ұ99 trillion.

Thus, last year, China’s GDP grew by Ұ9 trillion… which translates to $1.4 trillion. For comparison, the US economy grew by $1 trillion. See the difference? This is how China catches up to the US.

Every year from now on, China will reduce the gap with the US by $400 billion or more.

World Beyond the US

How did China achieve this growth? How come the trade war and tariffs didn’t wreck the Chinese economy?

There are two answers:

One, the significance of American economy is shrinking.

In 2019, the US became the third trading partner for China! Not number one. Not number two. Third.

The top two were EU and ASEAN (a group of 10 countries in Asia). The Belt and Road countries also increased their trade with China.

Two, China’s economy is no longer dominated by manufacturing.

Services sector — “tertiary industry” — is now 54% of the economy; and manufacturing is only 40%. Since services depend mostly on domestic consumption, trade war doesn’t have much impact.

Thus the “Trade War” does not affect domestic consumption. Only international trade with China’s third largest trading partner; America.

Future

If you look at the relative size of China to the US over the last 30 years, you can see how China is catching up:

With 4x as many people — who also work very hard — and a government that surprisingly plans and coordinates the economy very well, it should be no surprise that China will surpass the US by 2030 in nominal GDP. (Don’t forget that China has been #1 in terms of PPP GDP since 2014).

Of course, the trajectory is based on the assumption there won’t be any major financial crisis or hot wars in the coming decade, which are all quite possible…

Conclusion

It should not be any mystery to anyone not drinking the “electric kool-aide” from the American (and Western) media. China is successful precisely because of it’s leadership, planning and hard work.

It is not a “democracy” where public opinion can change the leadership on a whim. It is a Socialist Republic run by merit. It doesn’t need to lie. They just tell you what things are, and you can accept it or not.
All Chinese leadership worked to get where they are today. They lead China into what it has become.
The Chinese people, culture and the Chinese society, along with proper investment and long term planning has created a situation where China is the global leader that America considers so much a threat.
China will continue this path that it is on, and the only thing that can slow it down (but not stop it) would be a “hot war” with America.
To this end, China is working with other nations. Creating and building long-lasting friendships and relationships. While America is tearing down relationships, ignoring treaties, and generally being a global nuisance.

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my China Index here…

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It is in process, the world is disengaging from the United States Dollar as a global unit of trade. What does that mean for America?

“At some point, a crisis of confidence in this so-called money is inevitable. People aren’t going to trust it forever if you continue to create trillions and trillions backed by nothing but a promise from a central bank and a promise from governments. That’s the flaw in all of this. You can’t sustain the perceptions of moneyness forever. 

History has many examples of how money is destroyed by over-issuance, and now we’re watching it in real time.”

Doug Noland
Doug Noland: It’s Too Late To Turn Back Now… I Believe You Should Take Cover!
August 5, 2020

It has begun.

Nations are running away from using the United States dollar. Instead they are choosing to use other methods to pay back their debts and engage in trade. They are using such things a as gold, eyuan, or commodity trading (like oil, wheat or rice).

A new world monetary system is being set up right now which will completely kill the US dollar, which is the world’s reserve currency. At least 23 countries (60% of the world’s GDP) are setting up swap lines which bypass the dollar and SWIFT, which is the dollar-based worldwide financial transaction system. These countries include Russia, China, India, and even Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

Kevin: You know, I think about where the two of them agree. They would both say that we’re past the point of no return, that money turned into credit, and we’re now in a credit expansion. Noland would say kicking the can down the road is ultimately going to end in dystopia. What Duncan would say is, it’s our only chance at utopia. And they both know that credit probably ends badly, but I think Duncan would just like to have it end badly after he passes away.

David: That may be, so if we have a shot at utopia, let’s spend a little bit more. And that’s a little bit like looking at the hair of the dog as the real solution to a problem with alcoholism.

You’re right. It will take away some of the consequence in the short run.

Kevin: Do you remember Ian McAvity said that a doctor told him to not stop smoking because he had smoked so much that it would probably kill him.

David: That’s right. “You quit now and you’re dead.” That’s really what we’re talking about.

Doug Noland
Doug Noland: It’s Too Late To Turn Back Now… I Believe You Should Take Cover!
August 5, 2020

For several years, financial analysts, primarily those outside the mainstream of academia, have been warning that any day could be the black swan event that collapses the dollar. This collapse will end U.S. hegemony as caretaker of the world’s reserve currency.

That day had arrived last year on 18NOV19 when a former head trader for a major financial institution issued a harbinger. He stated that 23 countries, and 60% of the world’s GDP, are or have setting up new swap lines which bypass the dollar. These systems not only bypass the USD, but they bypass SWIFT, and the BIS.

All of this is ushering in a new global currency system. It is a system that will kill the US dollar.

Who’s abandoning the USD?

Countries are growing weary of losing money on the falling dollar. Many of them want to protect their financial interests, and a number of them want to end the US oversight that comes with using the dollar. Although it’s not clear how many of these countries will actually follow through on an abandonment of the dollar, it is clear that its status as a world currency is in trouble.

Obviously, an abandonment of the dollar is bad news for the currency. Simply put, as demand lessens, its value drops. Additionally, the revenue generated from the use of the dollar will be sorely missed if it’s lost. The dollar’s status as a cheaply-produced US export is a vital part of our economy. Losing this status could rock the financial lives of both Americans and the worldwide economy.

Here’s just a few of the numerous nations that are running away from using the United States Dollar…

Saudi Arabia

The Telegraph reports that for the first time, Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates along with the US Federal Reserve.

This is seen as a signal that a break from the dollar currency peg is imminent. The kingdom is taking “appropriate measures” to protect itself from letting the dollar cause problems for their own economy.

They’re concerned about the threat of inflation and don’t want to deal with “recessionary conditions” in the US.

Hans Redeker of BNP Paribas believes this creates a “very dangerous situation for the dollar,” as Saudi Arabia alone has management of $800 billion. Experts fear that a break from the dollar in Saudi Arabia could set off a “stampede” from the dollar in the Middle East, a region that manages $3,500 billion.

Sudan

Sudan is, once again, planning to convert its dollar holdings to the euro and other currencies. Additionally, they’ve recommended to commercial banks, government departments, and private businesses to do the same.

In 1997, the Central Bank of Sudan made a similar recommendation in reaction to US sactions from former President Clinton, but the implementation failed. This time around, 31 Sudanese companies have become subject to sanctions, preventing them from doing trade or financial transactions with the US. Officially, the sanctions are reported to have little effect, but there are indications that the economy is suffering due to these restrictions.

A decision to move Sudan away from the dollar is intended to allow the country to work around these sanctions as well as any implemented in the future. However, a Khartoum committee recently concluded that proposals for a reduced dependence on the dollar are “not feasible.” Regardless, it is clear that Sudan’s intent is to attempt a break from the dollar in the future.

Russia

In 2006, Russian President Vladmir Putin expressed interest in establishing a Russian stock exchange which would allow “oil, gas, and other goods to be paid for in Roubles.”

Russia’s intentions are no secret–in the past, they’ve made it clear that they’re wary of holding too many dollar reserves.

In 2004, Russian central bank First Deputy Chairmain Alexei Ulyukayev remarked, “Most of our reserves are in dollars, and that’s a cause for concern.”

He went on to explain that, after considering the dollar’s rate against the euro, Russia is “discussing the possibility of changing the reserve structure.” Then in 2005, Russia put an end to its dollar peg, opting instead to move towards a euro alignment. They’ve discussed pricing oil in euros, a move that could provide a large shift away from the dollar and towards the euro, as Russia is the world’s second-largest oil exporter.

South Korea

In 2005, Korea announced its intention to shift its investments to currencies of countries other than the US.

Although they’re simply making plans to diversify for the future, that doesn’t mean a large dollar drop isn’t in the works. There are whispers that the Bank of Korea is planning on selling $1 billion US bonds in the near future, after a $100 million sale this past August.

Switzerland

Switzerland chooses gold over paper wealth backed by US dollar

Iran

China

China just announced that it will stop purchasing our debt (holding dollars in reserve). This will force The Federal Reserve to print even more dollars than the $85 billion it’s currently printing.

Russia, China Sign Deal to Bypass Us Dollar | Al Jazeera

A few months ago, the second largest economy on earth (China) and the third largest economy on earth (Japan) struck a deal which will promote the use of their own currencies (rather than the U.S. dollar) when trading with each other. This was an incredibly important agreement that was virtually totally ignored by the U.S. media. The following is from a BBC report about that agreement:

“China and Japan have unveiled plans to promote direct exchange of their currencies in a bid to cut costs for companies and boost bilateral trade. The deal will allow firms to convert the Chinese and Japanese currencies directly into each other. Currently businesses in both countries need to buy US dollars before converting them into the desired currency, adding extra costs.”

Germany

France

France plans currency swap line with China: paper – Reuters

United Kingdom

Japan

Way back in 2016, the second largest economy on earth (China) and the third largest economy on earth (Japan) struck a deal which will promote the use of their own currencies (rather than the U.S. dollar) when trading with each other. This was an incredibly important agreement that was virtually totally ignored by the U.S. media. The following is from a BBC report about that agreement:

“China and Japan have unveiled plans to promote direct exchange of their currencies in a bid to cut costs for companies and boost bilateral trade. The deal will allow firms to convert the Chinese and Japanese currencies directly into each other. Currently businesses in both countries need to buy US dollars before converting them into the desired currency, adding extra costs.”

India

In December 2018, India and the United Arab Emirates sealed a bilateral exchange swap agreement to boost trade and investment in their own currencies.

A swap is an international contract that is sealed off from a stock exchange and states that the two parties agree to exchange one financial instrument for another within a predetermined term and conditions.

Iran

China (in particular) appears determined to risk US sanctions in order to make a huge investment in the Iranian economy.

The US Treasury Department can only sanction firms that trade in dollars with Iran or that also trade with the US.

China intends its projects in Iran to be funded with soft-money currencies it has accumulated through its vast global trade. In accepting those African and other currencies, Iran will suffer a 30% loss, but it will escape the American net. Rendering American sanctions worthless.

Turkey

In 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his plans to end the US dollar monopoly by pursuing a policy aimed at excluding the dollar from trading with its partners. According to the president, Ankara is preparing to carry out commercial transactions with China, Russia and Ukraine using national currencies. In addition, it is possible that Turkey will replace the dollar in trade with Iran.

This decision was prompted by both political and economic reasons. Relations between Ankara and Washington deteriorated after the failed coup attempt of July 2016. That year, several media outlets reported that Erdogan suspected that the US was involved in the coup attempt. The Turkish leader also accused Washington of harboring the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, who, according to the Turkish authorities, orchestrated the attempted coup.

Venezuela

Venezuela holds little loyalty to the dollar. In fact, they’ve shown overt disapproval, choosing to establish barter deals for oil.

These barter deals, established under Hugo Chavez, allow Venezuela to trade oil with 12 Latin American countries and Cuba without using the dollar, shorting the US its usual subsidy.

Chavez is not shy about this decision, and has publicly encouraged others to adopt similar arrangements. In 2000, Chavez recommended to OPEC that they “take advantage of high-tech electronic barter and bi-lateral exchanges of its oil with its developing country customers,” or in other words, stop using the dollar, or even the euro, for oil transactions.

In September, Chavez instructed Venezuela’s state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA to change its dollar investments to euros and other currencies in order to mitigate risk.

Why are they abandoning the USD?

Historically, new world reserve currencies are backed by gold.

China surpassed the US in terms of GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP), becoming the largest in the world by this measure, International Monetary Fund data show. In 2014 China reached $17.6 trillion or 16.48 percent of the world’s purchasing-power-adjusted GDP, while the US made slightly less, 16.28 percent or $17.4 trillion, the FT reported citing IMF data.

China is sitting there and wondering why the U.S. dollar should continue to be so preeminent if the Chinese economy is about to become the number one economy on the planet.

It’s an advantage for China. It’s an advantage for the rest of the world, and yes even for the USA it’s an advantage…

Why America Should Relinquish Reserve Status for its Dollar

And so, China, and other emerging powers such as Russia, have been quietly making agreements to move away from the U.S. dollar in international trade over the past few years [and, as such,] the supremacy of the U.S. dollar is not nearly as solid as most Americans believe it to be.

As most Americans have this fantasy where America is empowered by GOD to exist and lord over the rest of the world. It is what all that “exceptionalism” means and refers to…

The U.S. Dollar: Too Big to Fail?

But, like the elephant in the room, sooner or later, you have to face up to the facts.

As the U.S. economy continues to fade, it is going to be really hard to argue that the U.S. dollar should continue to function as the primary reserve currency of the world. Things are rapidly changing, and most Americans have no idea where these trends are taking the nation.

Most Americans are in a state of denial.

They cannot believe that any other nation would have a currency as important or as valuable as the vaulted US Dollar.

Is There a Viable Alternative to the Dollar as the Reserve Currency?

But you know, all you need to do is sit down and reason it all out. It makes quite a bit of sense when you get down to it…

The Ten Reasons

The following are 10 reasons why the reign of the dollar as the world reserve currency is about to come to an end:

#1: China And Japan To Use Own Currencies In Bilateral Trade

#2: The BRICS Plan To Use Own Currencies When Trading With Each Other

BRICS is an acronym for the combined economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

-Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) Definition

The BRICS continue to flex their muscles. A new agreement will promote the use of their own national currencies when trading with each other rather than the U.S. dollar. The following is from a news source in India:

“The five major emerging economies of BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — are set to inject greater economic momentum into their grouping by signing two pacts for promoting intra-BRICS trade…

The two agreements will enable credit facility in local currency for businesses of BRICS countries…[which is] expected to scale up intra-BRICS trade that has been growing at the rate of 28% over the last few years but, at $230 billion, remains much below the potential of the five economic powerhouses.”

#3: China and Russia Use Own Currencies In Bilateral Trade

Leaders from both Russia and China have been strongly advocating for a new global reserve currency for several years, and both nations seem determined to break the power that the U.S. dollar has over international trade.

In fact, both Russia and China have been using their own national currencies when trading with each other for a couple of years now.

Will the Trickle Out of the U.S. Dollar Now Become a Torrent?

#4: Use Of Chinese Currency Growing In Africa

Who do you think is Africa’s biggest trading partner? It isn’t the United States. In 2009, China became Africa’s biggest trading partner, and China is now aggressively seeking to expand the use of Chinese currency on that continent.

China seems absolutely determined to change the way that international trade is done. At this point, almost all Chinese companies in Africa are using Chinese currency in cross-border transactions.

#5: China and United Arab Emirates To Use Own Currencies In Bilateral Trade

China and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to ditch the U.S. dollar and use their own currencies in oil transactions with each other.

The UAE is a fairly small player, but this is definitely a threat to the petrodollar system. What will happen to the petrodollar if other oil producing countries in the Middle East follow suit?

#6: India To Use Gold To Buy Oil From Iran

Iran has been one of the most aggressive nations when it comes to moving away from the U.S. dollar in international trade. For example, it has been reported that India will begin to use gold to buy oil from Iran.

#7: Saudi Arabia Likely to Abandon Use of Petrodollar in Dealings With China

Who imports the most oil from Saudi Arabia? It is not the United States, it is China…Saudi Arabia and China have teamed up to construct a massive new oil refinery in Saudi Arabia…so how long is Saudi Arabia going to stick with the petrodollar if China is their most important customer?

2012: The Beginning of the END for the U.S. “Petrodollar”!

#8: The United Nations Continues to Push For A New World Reserve Currency

The United Nations has been issuing reports that openly call for an alternative to the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency of the world. In particular, one UN report envisions “a new global reserve system…that no longer relies on the United States dollar as the single major reserve currency.”

And this pretty much says it all…

UN wants new global currency to replace dollar

#9: The IMF Has Been Pushing For A New World Reserve Currency

The International Monetary Fund has also published a series of reports calling for the U.S. dollar to be replaced as the reserve currency of the world. In particular, one IMF paper entitled “Reserve Accumulation and International Monetary Stability” actually proposed that a future global currency be named the “Bancor” and that a future global central bank could be put in charge of issuing it….

IMF Proposing New World Currency to Replace U.S. Dollar and Other National Currencies!

“A global currency, bancor, issued by a global central bank (see Supplement 1, section V) would be designed as a stable store of value that is not tied exclusively to the conditions of any particular economy. As trade and finance continue to grow rapidly and global integration increases, the importance of this broader perspective is expected to continue growing.”

#10: Most Of The Rest Of The World Hates The United States

Global sentiment toward the United States has dramatically shifted, and this should not be underestimated. Decades ago, we were one of the most loved nations on earth [but] bow we are one of the most hated.

I've said for decades now that the US needs shut down the CIA and close ALL its foreign military bases and bring the troops, planes, ships, and drones home. The CIA has toppled democratically elected governments all over the globe and as a result created hatred for the US. The CIA is the exact opposite of what we believe the US should stand for and support. We need to stop being an empire and start taking care of business right here at home. If we actually do that, maybe in a few decades the rest of the world might forgive us… might… maybe…

-pimaC Aug 17

If you doubt this, just do some international traveling. Even in Europe (where we are supposed to have friends), Americans are treated like dirt. Many American travelers have resorted to wearing Canadian pins so that they will not be treated like garbage while traveling over there.

If the rest of the world still loved us, they would probably be glad to continue using the U.S. dollar but because we are now so unpopular, that gives other nations even more incentive to dump the dollar in international trade.

An Acceleration of the abandonment of the USD

Well, since Donald Trump became President, his foreign policy has been reckless, ruthless and a complete disaster. Other nations now view the United States as a very unstable nation with many problems, that breaks long-standing treaties and contracts, and tries to imposes it’s own rules and laws in areas where it has no authority. In their mind, it’s best to just be isolated from this “train wreck” of a nation.

Trump’s Six-Point Legacy

Bully Allies
Belittle Friends
Break Good Deals
Invoke Disastrous Trade and Sanction Policies
Amplify Racial Hatred
Drive Countries Into Deals With China

In regard to points 4 and 6, Trump’s trade and sanction policies have been a disaster on every front.

Most Americans are unaware of this, and they are myopic and are only concerned with the Donald Trump domestic agenda. The Left hate’s it, and the Right love’s it. Only a very small fraction of Americans care about what goes on outside the confines of the United States.

What to expect…

What will happen if the U.S. dollar’s reign as the world reserve currency comes to an end? The answer is simple, as it is clear. The demise of the dollar will also bring radical changes to the American lifestyle.

When this economic tsunami hits America, it will make the 2008 recession and its aftermath look like no more than a slight bump in the road. It will bring very undesirable changes to the American lifestyle through:

massive inflation,
high interest rates on mortgages and cars,
substantial increases in the cost of food, clothing and gasoline and
a much harder time financing its debt.
- Right now, there is a huge demand for U.S. dollars and for U.S. government debt since countries around the world have to keep huge reserves of U.S. currency lying around for the sake of international trade but what if… the appetite for U.S. dollars and U.S. debt dried up dramatically? That is something to think about.

What Would USD Collapse Mean for the World?

What happens when fewer and fewer nations use the USD?

As more of these countries realize how irrelevant we have become, I would imagine Americans are about to find out the hard way about the huge trading advantage we have had all along--the world's reserve currency. When they dump the dollar as the main trading tool…

-Rocky Raccoon
17AUG20

A dollar collapse is when the value of the U.S. dollar plummets.

In that scenario, anyone who holds dollar-denominated assets will sell them at any cost. That includes foreign governments that own U.S. Treasurys. It also affects foreign exchange futures traders. Last but not least, it will hit individual investors.

When the crash occurs, these parties will demand assets denominated in anything other than dollars. The collapse of the dollar means that everyone is trying to sell their dollar-denominated assets, and no one wants to buy them.

This will drive the value of the dollar down to near zero. It would make hyperinflation look like a day in the park.

The conditions that will cause other nations to stop using the USD

There are two conditions that would lead to the crash of the USD;

There are alternatives to the USD, whether it is gold, another currency or a commodity such as gold, silver, ore, or food.
When the bedrock of the value of the dollar is put in jeopardy by excessive debt.

And make no mistake, then other nations stop using the USD, the currency will “crash” and hyperinflation will be the result.

Right now both conditions are in play in the United States in September 2020.

Explaining how this hyperinflation can occur

The following is compiled from “Explaining How Hyperinflation Could Come To The US” By Andrew Bieszad on August 14, 2020. Reprinted in it’s entirety with very little in the way of editing except to fit this venue.

There are no Americans alive today who remember as older adults the Great Depression. I speak of working men in their thirties or forties already on jobs here. By comparison, the Great Depression was very short, since from the decadence of the 1920s to the crash of 1929, and then twelve years to the entrance of the US in a serious way into World War II, the time from misery to true recovery was twelve years. In fact, the US recovered so well that massive industries grew, people found work, debt was paid down, families were able to settle down, and the country truly grew. The US victory in World War II that followed took the World War II induced economic boom and amplified it many times over, providing a wave of true prosperity that ushered in a small “golden age” in America which lasted until about 1965 if one considers the true effects, and until 2007 if one considers the expansion of credit as a way to prolong the economic effects of World War II through financialization at the expense of the integrity of the dollar.

It is known that around 1965, the post-World War II prosperity boom came to an end. This is also the same time where over the next decade, from 1965 to 1975, there were several major social changes, which for our purposes we will focus on the massive welfare expansions through Johnson’s “great society” reforms and then the subsequent decoupling of the US dollar from the gold standard with the opening up of “free trade” with China in 1973 under the Nixon administration that lead to the decline and death of most US manufacturing alongside the expansion of credit. Since this was all intentional, one can argue that the very towns which the US built up during and after World War II- the famous “mill towns” throughout semi-rural areas that today now are too often defined by drugs, crime, degeneracy, broken families, poverty, and misery compiled upon hopelessness -were manufactured from prosperity to decline per economic policy, knowing this would happen but not caring for the consequences because the economic ability to manipulate trade balances was valued more than the people who would be consuming the traded goods.

As one who grew up in the late 1990s and early 2000s before the economic crisis, I saw a lot of this decadence and credit spending as a child, but would not have called it such. Rather, I and many others would have called it “life as normal”, for this is what Millennials and some late Gen-Xers, as well as Zoomers, the arguable children of mostly Boomers and early Gen-Xers, knew to be normal. Life had a certain “pattern” to it, and it was one to follow this pattern if one wanted success. Indeed, there is an argument that can be made that such a pattern was not a bad thing for a time because it was based on a Boomer model of prosperity created by the Silent Generation as a result of World War II prosperity- essentially, one could call it exploiting the benefits of the spoils of war for public use.

But this was not normal, and given the generational gap, few could not have been expected to know otherwise. This is a reason why there is so much anger directed towards Boomers, for giving their children material goods and a pattern of life but not explaining how or why things work, and not giving them a way to fend for themselves if the pattern should fail (because they believed that it would not fail) and that life would continue to go on as normal. In a sense, life always does- even in a war torn zone such as Iraq. The problem is that life is very difficult when one does not know what to do if all one knows is one paradigm to be true.

This was violently exposed in 2007 and into 2008 when after six decades and two years since World War II, and four decades and two years since the Great Society Reforms, and thirty-four years after the dropping of the gold standards and the liberalization of free trade with China that the US dollar was exposed as being insolvent. The reasons for this are simple to understand- a combination of lots of bad debt, questionable financial practices that involved taking debt in the form of mortgages regardless of the viability of the owner to pay back his mortgage, “cutting up pieces” of the mortgage, mixing those pieces in with other mortgages “cut up” in the same way, and selling “bundles” as debt made up of untraceable ownership and questionable stability presented just as good as a Treasury bond but with no way to “re-piece” the trail of ownership if one “link” in the “chain” should default, created a crisis of liquidity and ownership. Nobody could get loans because nobody knew what monies went to who for what, and when this is combined with public debt loads on account of simple overspending and bad financial practices, the result is always the same- default and chaos.

At this point, the US had two theoretical options- she could either allow the economy to slow down naturally and in a Japanese-like scenario, see fluctuating prices along with falling wages and decreased purchasing power that could last decades, or she could service the debts as the way that governments throughout history have traditionally done in such a case, which is to create the money that was needed in circulation to keep people spending, but at a cost of lowering, even if only slightly, the value of the currency itself.

This is the reason why ever since the economy was declared “recovered” in 2009, the US has been theoretically in the middle of deflation. Since it is really a global depression, for the last decade one has seen the manipulation of aggregate demand levels and aggregate asset prices as never before arguably in history. In other words, since 2008, the U.S. and world economies have been slowly circling around the proverbial drain waiting to be flushed into the sewer, a process that if played out, would result in a Japan-like scenario that could last for decades.

However, the U.S. government has been continuing to run massive deficits as it seeks to prop up demand levels by way of “stimulus” spending, but this has simply not been enough to offset the fall in consumer spending. Since 2007, the government has become the “supporter” of all things business, and until recently, propping up all assets, including U.S. Treasuries, by way of “quantitative easing”, which is another way of saying “money printing”.

The Federal Reserve Bank- a private corporation not owned by the government but who controls the money the government issues -knows that a deflationary “death-spiral” as defined by a lack of liquidity (no available cash) will cause less spending, which leads to diminished demand, which leads to more unemployment, which leads to lower consumption, to still lower spending, until the economic machine goes to a halt.

In response, the Federal Reserve Bank bought up assets of all kinds in order to inject liquidity into the system and support prices so as to prevent this deflationary deep-freeze. This has been policy since 2010, and is a “one-size-fits-all” approach”. The danger of this is it sort of like a plumber whose only tool is a wrench- and every problem looks like a bolt or a nut to be turned.

Call it what you want- money printing, quantitative easing, price stabilization -it is all the same result, which is turning on the printing presses and printing money as fast as the machines can put it out (theoretically speaking- most of this is done electronically, so it’s more accurate to say “button pressing”).

This is how the Fed has expanded its balance sheet from about $900 billion in Fall 2008, to about $2.3 trillion in Fall 2010 alone- just two years from the “recession” to the “recovery”, and now that it is 2020, to 6.9 trillion

But is this true deflation, where bond yields (interest return) is low, and unemployment continues to grow?

I wish it was. Rather, we need to talk about something I have been warning about for a long time, which is the Weimarian ghost of that horrible word, hyperinflation.

Why? Because the next step down in this world-historical Global Depression which we are experiencing will likely be hyperinflation.

Most people dismiss the idea of hyperinflation occurring in the United States as something only for the mentally ill, conspiracy fantasists, gold bugs, and survivalists. There is a point to this, for there are a lot of foolish ideas who have their own acolytes..

But what I speak of here is not fantasy. This is not about reading “conspiracies”, or projecting a desire onto a situation.

Apart from what happened with the Weimar Republic in the 1920’s, Western economies have no experience modern with hyperinflation. There were plenty of hyperinflationary events in the 19th century and before, but through careful economic management, the “advanced” economies have learned their lessons and so well that it’s been forgotten.

But there are some countries where one can draw experience from. Most talk about Zimbabwe- as so also have I done -but I would like to use a different example, since the case of Zimbabwe is a classic African example of war leading to mismanagement and corruption. I want to turn to Chile, as while in the Hispanic world, it is highly “europeanized” and yet went through a period of hyperinflation during the Allende government in the early 1970s (1970-1973).

In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected president by roughly one-third of the nation. A hard-core Socialist who headed a coalition called Unidad Popular (Popular Unity), under his government socialists, Communists, and assorted left-leaning parties took over the administration of the country and began to radically transform Chile on a road to left-wing socialism.

What happened was similar to the Russian and Ukrainian experience under life in the post-revolution days. There were land exproprations, nationalization of companies and mines, and the subsequent failure of them as a combination of corruption and inexperience rendered them unable to be used and just brought to run in the same path that the ZANU followed in Zimbabwe with the confiscation of farms that lead to mass starvation in once the arguably most bountiful food producing nation in Africa.

One of the key policies Allende carried out was wage and price controls. He froze prices of basic goods and services and augmented wages- basically, forcing businesses to pay workers more while refusing to allow them the freedom (in a non-greed oriented sense) to increase prices based on market demand. The most common parallel one can draw in our times to this is the “fifteen dollar” minimum wage laws in certain cities for McDonald’s restaurant workers. Yes, the wages increase, but as one can remember in the American cases (as there are multiple areas in which this has happened), employee hours were significantly cut, a lot of workers were fired or laid off, robotics was brought in to replace workers, and prices for food had to increase to the anger of the customer in order to accommodate the wage increases.

At first, this measure worked, as workers had more money, and goods and services still had the same old low prices. The people loved this, and so did what Americans did with toilet paper leading up to the COVID-19 crisis- they went on a shopping spree and rapidly emptied stores and warehouses of consumer goods and basic products. Meanwhile, Chile’s version of the “McDonalds” experiment detailed above, by forcing private companies to raise worker wages while maintaining their same price structures, caused bankruptcy. Allende then nationalized said companies for “the people” and put them back to work, but with the government spending money to keep them running for the same economic reasons, thus operating at a net loss.

This is where hyperinflation fits in, because Allende printed the money needed to pay for expenses for these state-run companies to cover for his irresponsible policies.

This is how hyperinflation came to Chile. Workers had plenty of cash in hand but it was no better than having Monopoly money, since one could not buy goods with it.

So what followed? Rationing and “ration cards”, with preference given to the friends of Allende. However, with no real economic fix in sight, people did what happens in all countries, which is they started black markets in staple goods, and only accepting American dollars because due to Allende’s policies, the Chilean escudo was worthless.

By 1973, the crisis was so miserable that the stock market and housing market collapsed as people lost everything they had. Nothing was safe from sale on the black market for all practical purposes as people traded very precious things simply for a little food and drink to stay alive. The crisis resulted in the success of the CIA-backed coup that overthrew Allende in September 1973 and installed the dictator Augusto Pinochet.

So having this context, and knowing how serious hyperinflation can be, let’s take a look at deflation and inflation again, and see how the various movements of the economic world differ.

In a deflationary environment, where commodity prices are more or less stable, wages drop, asset prices fall, and credit markets shrink, for in such an environment, there is really no inflation, for one cannot have overvaluing (inflation) if values are dropping. To say such is a contradiction.

Inflation and hyperinflation are thus not merely the same thing. It is not that the latter is on “steroids” but, like the goat and the sheep, two animals that share a similar look but are very distinct.

Inflation is when assets become overvalued because people want them so much. To use car language, it’s when the economy “overheats”. Think people paying one-hundred dollars for a “Beanie Baby” during the Beanie Baby craze of the late 1990s. A Beanie Baby is worth three to five dollars, not one hundred. But, if people will pay one hundred dollars for it, who is to say a business will not charge that? Greed yes, but such is the nature of man. This is inflation as a textbook definition- when an economy’s consumables (labor and commodities) are so “in-demand” because of (theoretical) economic growth and easy access to money (meaning either you are earning a lot, have a lot saved to draw on, or are borrowing the money on credit) that lets people spend money like a sailor in a bar. It is classic “supply and demand”, the “if they build it they will come” mentality.

This mentality should not be considered a modern thing either. It has been seen in Europe with the “Tulip speculation” of the 17th century, and was a main reason for the “boom-bust” economics of the 19th century that would destroy wealth as fast as it would create it, since the cycle, while it can be a brutal thing, is actually a natural process on the sine-wave of economic growth, for there is a start, a demand that grows, followed by a peak, a small decline, then a major decline, then a recovery to normalcy, back to interest again that the cycle continues on. This is found in all countries and peoples, and what the desire of government through “central planning’ has always been is to keep the “highs high and the lows gone”, meaning to always push for stability or growth so that money is made and either to minimize or completely eliminate any downturn in the economy so that money is not lost or that what money is lost is lost on people who are poor and not in the “economic club” of the wealthy.

But hyperinflation? Not so at all, for this is the loss of faith in the currency. Prices rise in a hyperinflationary environment like in an inflationary environment not because people want more money for their labor or for commodities, but because people are trying to get out of the currency -so they will pay anything for a good which is not the currency because the currency is becoming merely worth the paper it is printed on.

Right now, the U.S. government is indebted tremendously, varying from 108% to 159% depending on how it is measured.

Pick the percentage you wish, it does not really matter because it is all bad. The reason for this is because the Federal Reserve is printing money to do all things, from purchasing Treasuries in order to finance the fiscal shortfall existing, to bail out the public, and to keep major corporations from having to cease production due to deficits. The overall purpose of this is to try to maintain aggregate demand levels and support asset prices for the benefit of those invested into them. It is a process of the continued financialization of the economy that has been happening since the 1970s.

A deflationary cycle would last decades, and it would be very economically difficult, but with decreasing prices and the resulting job losses and business closures that would follow, it would overall result in the same thing, which is a recovery in the economy by way of a return to “normalcy”.

But this is not going to happen. Forget talk of “double-dip” recessions and that nonsense because the US is still in the first economic “dip” since 2007. No matter all the stimulus, no matter all the “liquidity” injections for over 10 years not, the economy is going down and both the Federal government and the Federal Reserve are going to use the same- and only tool -they have used to fix it, which is money printing.

This is the paradox. It’s these very fixes that are pulling us closer to the edge of a fiscal cliff because they have undermined faith in the currency itself and the ability of the US to service her debts. Treasury bonds? They are useless, and yet they are literally the only thing(s) holding the whole economy together because it is debt being used to service debt that is merely more debt.

We are talking about a financial “minefield” here- one mistake, and the thing explodes.

So then, how could hyperinflation happen?

First, there needs to be a reality check. It won’t be forever, so forget about Mad Max type scenarios, for those are fantasies of films and not reality.

Second, realize that life will go on, and America will be pretty much like it is today, with more poor people. In reality, at this point, as I have noted, hyperinflation is probably the only way that the economy will (in a practical sense) reset to better times, as a collapse in the currency, just like with a true bankruptcy, abolishes debt.

Third, the same rules of history apply. The famous saying “Buy when there’s blood on the streets” is the literal truth in this point. The best way to prepare for this is, in my personal opinion (and not giving any sort of financial advice, but just observations on the counsel of history) to lower personal debts, purchase useful commodities, and consider tangible assets that preserve value such as metals and even one may also regard land as doing the same.

Fourth, in hyperinflation, asset prices don’t skyrocket save on paper. They collapse, both nominally and in relation to real commodities. To use an example with housing, a $500,000 house falls to $70,000 or less, or better yet, 50 ounces of silver becomes something that can actually buy you expensive stuff you normally could not purchase in “normal” times such as land or heavy machinery.

Likewise, I’m not saying “when” this will happen, and hopefully there may be intervening circumstances that delay or even partially hinder the potential of paying $500 instead of $5 for a Starbucks latte. What happens after is also anyone’s guess, since while there are patterns, it would function in harmony with political changes, which can mean anything from a decline in currency value repegged against the old currency for a buyback (such as “buying back” into the new currency at a 30% discount such as what happened during the Great Depression), or an outright dictatorship with wage-price controls.

My observation is that no matter what happens, the current situation cannot continue. The Global Depression we are in is being exacerbated by the very measures being used to fix it, and in a story like this one cannot have a good ending.

The way that any of such crises will happen will be with an event. Right now, COVID-19 is being blamed for “destroying” the economy, but in reality just exposed the rot that was already there. The printing of money under COVID-19 with an upcoming second stimulus check is also only going to worsen the current scenario.

So let’s take this into consideration- how could this happen, an using COVID-19 as an example?

One word: homes.

Before the emergence of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), most mortgages were issued by a local savings or loan company. The note of debt usually didn’t go anywhere save down the street. But once mortgage loan securitization happened, things fell apart.

Basically, what happened was personal mortgages were sold off in “slices” in bundles with other mortgages. These were “bundled” into special arrangements designed to hold the loans for tax purposes and sold off as bonds with safety equivalent to those issued by the US treasury, backed by the ability of people to pay their mortgages.

But the big question- what happens if people borrow more than they can, or lie on their statements of assets, or lose a job?

Here is the sinister part. When an MBS was first created, all the mortgages were in good standing because they were all brand new loans. Statistically, some would default and some others would be paid back in full, but no one knew which one or how. Yet by the process of “cutting up” these loans into multiple “bundles”, nobody knew anymore who had ownership of what part as there were so many scattered pieces.

To use the example of the Three Stooges (since this is the level of financial mismanagement we are talking about) consider that a man gets a mortgage. His bank sells his mortgage note to Moe, who sells a piece of it to Larry, who chops another part off and sells it to Curly, and all our notarized signatures are actually, physically on the note, one after the other as holding a share of the profits from the same mortgage note. If for whatever reason, the original holder skips any payment, then the chain of title is said to be broken. Therefore, legally, the mortgage note is no longer valid. That is, the person who took out the mortgage loan to pay for the house no longer knows whom to pay. The result? The bank just forecloses on the man who failed to pay in an effort to get money back for the Three Stooges without giving him ever a change to remedy his situation. The Stooges walk away with at least some money back in their pockets, and the common man suffers a debilitating financial loss.

But this is just the start. Expand this to real estate, and rental properties for landlords. If COVID-19 puts people out of work, how can anyone pay? Likewise, what happens if businesses cannot pay their mortgages or rentals on commercial real estate, who are also indebted to banks? Likewise, what happens when multiple mortgages owned by separate people are bundled together?

Do you see the can of worms that’s opening up? We are talking about a chain reaction like a nuclear bomb.

No job
—> cannot pay rent/mortgage —> forces foreclosure/eviction
—> cannot get renter to make up difference —>
—> disrupts ability of landlord/company to pay for his mortgage —>
—> forces foreclosure —> big real estate goes back to bank —>
—> bank tries to sell it —-> nobody wants to buy because no money and too big —>
—> real estate falls to disrepair —> now nobody wants it —>
—> prices have to go down —> people lose money, including banks —>
—> people need money for a bailout like the rest of the country —>
—> more bailouts devalues the currency —>
—> the devolution of the currency means more poverty and job losses and back to he beginning.

This is not a recovery. This is a death spiral that we are circling.

It is estimated that 33% of renters or 12 million people, to make their full payment in July, meaning that 12 million could be on the cusp of eviction in a matter of months. In total, about 40 million- or about the size of Poland as a nation -are at risk of losing their homes. In addition, landlords are set to lose billions of dollars this year over the inability of tenants to pay rent.

This year alone, tens of millions of Americans were pushed into instant poverty, many face housing insecurity and homelessness as the labor market recovery reserves. This has led to millions of permanent job losses. Many Americans already had insurmountable debts and no savings, because they simply could not due to rising prices and a dead economy.

But this is nothing. Watch as more big corporations are go bankrupt, more businesses fail, more workers are laid off, and the financial dominoes start to fall at lightning speed.

Over the last 4 months, more than 50 million Americans have filed new claims for unemployment benefits, mostly with the specter of a permanent job loss looming. As we reported, one survey from USA Today discovered that 47 percent of all unemployed workers now believe that their “job loss is likely to be permanent”.

In April, 78% of those in households experiencing job loss felt that that situation would be temporarily. But now, 47% think that job loss is likely to be permanent, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

This isn’t a joke.

People are really suffering and are going to suffer more in the future, and this is why I have been warning this Christmas there will not be a Christmas “sleigh ride”- such as going through the snow on a horse-drawn sleigh that is popular in American lore -but rather a “slay ride”.

A “slay ride”, implying violence and a sort of butchery found in a horror film, except this time the film is real life.

And the slaughter will be to people’s personal finances and the retail market since being forced to spend money on essentials such as food, water, and utilities, and maybe not even having enough for that.

The retail sector is going to be absolutely decimated since 25% to 40%, as I have noted before is made in the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas. With most likely poor sales for the future, there will inevitably be more layoffs, more job destruction, and more poverty.

If one wants to see what the retail sector is going to look like, one only needs to go to a local mall.

Many of them are dead or dying as evidenced by the ongoing store closures, the proliferation of people “hanging out” but not shopping (as in looking for a warm place to stay, not actually going there for leisure purposes) has continued to grow, and the fact that many of the stores are disorganized, dirty, or just falling apart. The mall, being a creation of the consumerist post-World War II economy is, like the post-World War II world, falling apart at the seams.

So what is the answer from Congress?

Two words, as noted before: money printing.

Consider that in the last few months, the US printed more money than all that was printed in the first two centuries of the US’s existence.

“The United States printed more money in June than in the first two centuries after its founding,” Morehead wrote. “Last month the U.S. budget deficit — $864 billion — was larger than the total debt incurred from 1776 through the end of 1979.” (source)

Buy why continue to print, if it will destroy the economy? As noted above, to question money-printing as the one-size-fits-all solution to every economic problem is to question the power structure of the status quo and the only tool used to manage said problem. Basically, it is telling the plumber with the wrench he needs a different tool, but since he has no other tools, he doubles-down and insists on using the wrench.

But what happens when people cannot pay their bills and still do not have a job? They already are going to get two checks- essentially 2007-type bailouts.

Who is to stop a third?

A fourth?

A fifth?

Money being thrown out of helicopters?

There is nothing. Nothing at all. The people figured out they can print themselves the treasury.

Historically speaking, there is a point in any human society that people can get the idea into their heads that they can “print their way to prosperity”, sometimes also called “voting themselves the treasury” while providing less than what is required to sustain those benefits.

This means in every case death for a society because it destroys the value of the means of exchange in one case, and in a more insidious example, in the name of “fairness” it can create polarizing factions that demand special fiscal handouts, to which other groups form and demand “justice” in the form of equal handouts, until eventually the money runs out, people become angry, and start fighting.

In both cases, the trust needed to sustain a society is destroyed, and chaos results that has to be restored by a new currency and many times, since economics is the predecessor to political change, a new government has to be instituted to restore the loss of order.

For people wondering, the US has already been on this road for decades, beginning with the ponzi scheme of Social Security, for while it was well-intentioned and may have worked in select cases, the philosophy, composition, and size of the US make it very difficult for such a system to successfully function in the US without causing a complete breakdown at some point.

The “Great Society” programs had a similar effect, for while it is true that all societies give welfare, the welfare given was not managed through churches or based upon available resources, but was funded through financialization at which the root was money printing.

It is one thing to help people with money that one has, but an entirely different matter to do the same thing but on credit that one cannot pay back without destroying one’s own finances. This is not even a matter of taxation either, since the taxes collected do not even pay into the actual programs, but rather are interest payments to the Federal Reserve Bank (a private company) on the money that they loan to the US government at her request to run said programs.

Thus the argument of “my money is going to welfare junkies” (as so many will say) is absolutely not true- the problem is not “those people on welfare”, but rather the criminally irresponsible financial policies and practices that “we the people” voted for and have continued to accept because it provides to the public the surface benefit of “extra wealth” by letting the same individuals buy fancy cars, nice homes, take big vacations, and dine luxuriously through borrowed money to be paid at a later time but which mathematically can never be paid off lest the value of the money itself collapse. Welfare is not ultimately paid for by taxes and arguably has not been since 1973, as it has all been paid for by money printing.

But to stay on the topic of “welfare junkies”, the biggest of such are not poor people in apartments in the inner cities or trailers in the woods, but are the very same corporations and their CEOs that are called “captains of industry” and “business leaders” that Americans are told to hail as intelligent and model citizens. These people are largely not leaders or admirable, but criminals in suits and with lots of servants to help them perform their actions (whether those working for them realize the totality of what is happening or not).

The reason for this is because it is they who lobby for either lower taxes for themselves or for increased tax schemes so that they can force average to small business owners out of business through excessive taxes while at the same time through as series of deceptive accounting tricks (like the “Double Irish” or the “Dutch Sandwich”) pay little to no taxes at all.

Thus having the effect of paying less while it appears to the public that these are “responsible corporate citizens” who are encouraging “their fellow businessmen” to “pay their fair share” since they are “good patriotic American citizens”, when the reality is they are just con men peddling dishonesty and criminality for their own gain at the loss of everyone.

Back in 2007, when millions of people had their finances destroyed by the crash, did the public receive a financial bailout? Absolutely not. Instead, it was major corporations who received it in the form of the TARP plan.

Now it should be made very clear that the bailouts were not good, and they should never have happened. However, noting this, if major companies were bailed out at the ostensible taxpayer expense and thus putting the country on a long-term road to either a very painful deflationary depression that would likely persist for decades or the more likely chance of hyperinflation, why should the general public, who was deceived by these same companies and politicians for years, not receive a bailout too?

The only way to fix the financial problems, regardless of now or 2007, was to fix the debt issue, and the only way to do this would be either to pay it back- which is mathematically impossible because of how the Fed system works -or to declare a jubilee, disown the debt, shut down the Federal Reserve Bank, arrest the officers of the bank, and seize control over money creation, which would plunge the US into about a decade of financial disorder but would be long-term healthy for the country as it would reset the currency and allow asset prices to stabilize and permit for real value to be created so that all men and companies, small or big, could benefit for true long term prosperity.

But that is not what has been allowed to happen and is likely not going to be allowed to happen, and especially at the current time. The only way to fix the current problems of the system is either a debt jubilee or to allow it to be run as it is until it naturally and inevitably will collapse. In both cases, such will be at a point when the debt can be disposed of and the economic system rebuilt.

This has been the greatest benefit of COVID-19 and the ensuing first and soon to be second stimulus check that will follow from Congress. Some people complain as to why the government is “giving away taxpayer money”, when not only is the reality that the government is just printing money and handing it out regardless of what the taxpayers give, but if the government will give nearly limitless amounts of welfare to major corporations for decades yet continue to force the common taxpayer to pay ever more money to the government, what reason is there that the taxpayer, who is most likely (based on statistical analyses about debt per person) overloaded with debt, should not be given a financial bailout too? Legally speaking companies are people in the US (“non-human persons”), so if a non-human person can get a bailout, is it not more important that “human persons” receive them, since societies are made of people? There is no real argument, if one supports the bailout of corporations, not to bail out the general public, because the philosophy is the same, and if the government will insist upon bailouts for companies, it is hypocrisy to deny the common man what a company would receive.

The end of the world is coming for the US economy as we understand it through a post-World War II paradigm, and that is something which all must accept but is not necessarily a bad thing, as all things come to an end.

The real trick, however, is to prepare for after the end of the “apocalypse” because life must continue on- it will go on in the middle of chaos (as it does in any war zone) as well -and how one prepares will determine one’s future after the crisis is over, and likely as in the case with World War II for many decades to come, so the impact will last beyond one’s life and extend to family and future generations.

The discussion of how to handle this for specifics is another topic for a different time. But returning to the issue of inflation versus hyperinflation, the concern now is not to fight policies being instituted or to make bold public statements- since these rarely do any good unless there is already an organic or manufactured groundswell of support guiding the end goal that such a public declaration would support to the exact same end -but to focus on the current fiscal path that has been chosen and is going to be chosen.

Hyperinflation is not the choice of most people, but rather it is the choice being forced on the average citizen that he cannot control happening but rather how he deals with in based on the current circumstances.

For example, say that you are placed in front of a massive floodgate. The gate is going to be opened upon you, and you cannot hide from it. 

You are going to get hit by the water and it is going to knock you around, and there is no way to avoid this. 

However, you have twenty-four hours to prepare.What would you do? 

Would you just “show up” to the gates and do nothing? Or instead, would you take some precautions? For example, you could buy a lifejacket. But would you stop there? Would you possibly consider with that lifejacket a helmet to prevent head trauma, and maybe a wetsuit too? If you had the money, would you consider investing in a pair of goggles and even maybe some flippers so you could swim? 

If you had a lot of money and wanted to try to make the best, would you consider purchasing a set of scuba gear so that you could swim with the currents and even explore them?

The choice is for you to make, but at the very least, a good lifejacket is in order because if you have that, you may lose consciousness, you may be cold, you may have a lot of pain to endure, but it is very, very unlikely you will drown. This is something that all people can do for themselves that is very effective.

Take this same example and apply it to the situation of the financial markets with inflation and hyperinflation. Most people are not rich and cannot afford a lot of the expensive measures that those with greater financial means could employ. However, they can take basic measures to protect themselves.

Hyperinflation is not a fun thing to think about.

However, it is real, it is historical, it can happen to anyone, and knowing the principles by which it can come to pass helps one to avoid its effects. Knowing the signs of the times, it would be wise to pay attention, as the signs are becoming too clear.

So what is the USA actually doing to mitigate this situation?

At the moment, the global financial system is centered on the United States but that will not always be the case.

As far as international monetary policy goes the United States under Trump has been radical.

The Trump administration has pursued a unilateralist and bilateralist vision for foreign exchange policy. This policy is vastly different from the multilateralist approach of its predecessors over the prior 25 years.

Treasury secretaries in the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations avoided commenting on currency markets, and when forced to do so simply backed a “strong dollar.” This gave administrations the moral high ground to criticize others, especially Japan, when they sought to weaken their currencies. That high ground is gone.

The United States led the G7 and G20 in 2013 in developing new currency commitments—orienting macroeconomic policies toward achieving domestic objectives using domestic instruments; not targeting exchange rates for competitive purposes; and refraining from competitive devaluation.

Now, the president and some advisers tweet to promote dollar weakness, alleging that foreign monetary policy accommodation, for example by the European Central Bank (ECB), is tantamount to currency manipulation.

Monetary policy transmission works through a number of channels—lending, asset prices, yield compression, and confidence, for example. 

Exchange rates are also a key monetary policy transmission channel.

But the administration disregards that euro-area growth is anemic and inflation persistently well below target, giving the ECB strong internal reasons to pursue accommodation.

U.S. growth performance has been superior to that in Europe and Japan, and thus U.S. rates are higher. The administration’s trade wars and tariff threats reinforce a risk-off market environment, further supporting dollar appreciation. Massive U.S. fiscal deficits also push the U.S. current account deficit higher, while boosting the need for capital inflow. If the president wishes to see a weakening in the dollar, the best way to achieve that is not to tamper with U.S. out-performance but to work with others to boost their performance, while ending trade wars.

In August, as the renminbi (RMB) fell below 7.0 per dollar after an intensification of U.S.-China trade tensions, the president ordered Treasury to designate China for “currency manipulation.” The designation was unwarranted. The RMB is managed, not “manipulated.” China could prevent the RMB from falling by drawing down reserves. But the currency fell in large part because market participants viewed depreciation as offsetting the competitiveness hit from higher tariffs.

The designation contradicted the Treasury’s own criteria for assessing whether “manipulation” and harmful currency practices were being pursued. China’s current account surplus in 2018 was around 0.5 percent of GDP, a relatively small surplus; on a net basis, China sold a small amount of dollars in market intervention. To be sure, China has a large bilateral surplus with the United States, but economists dismiss the relevance of bilateral balances.

A country “manipulating” its currency to gain an unfair competitive advantage in international trade would be expected to purchase dollars to hold its currency down and run large current account surpluses as a share of GDP. China does not fit that bill.

More generally, Treasury is undermining the integrity of its Foreign Exchange Report. It recently cut its current account “monitoring” threshold from 3 to 2 percent of GDP in order to pick up more countries, but this level is too low given economic structures. At one point, it placed India on its monitoring list, even though India ran a current account deficit. Italy and Ireland, too, were placed on the list. Prior to the manipulation designation, China was on the monitoring list, even though it only tripped one (the bilateral balance) trigger, whereas placement on the list requires triggering two criteria. On the plus side, Treasury has acted to expand the report’s country coverage, encompassing a number of smaller Southeast Asian surplus nations.

According to media reports, the administration has debated intervening in currency markets to push the dollar down. For example, the United States could buy euros or RMB, pushing up their values and thus the dollar down.

In the rare instances when the United States intervened in the past two decades, it did so on a concerted basis with G7 partners. There is little reason to believe any current U.S. operation would be concerted. A solo U.S. euro operation would not likely succeed—unless the Fed stood ready to print unlimited dollars to intervene, U.S. resources are highly constrained; the euro/dollar market is vast; the ECB could buy as many dollars as the United States could sell.

Such considerations would pertain to intervention in the Chinese currency. The Chinese authorities can exert a strong influence over banks operating in the on and offshore markets. Even if such an operation occurred, the United States would confront difficult operational issues about investing the currency proceeds.

The administration put forward a Commerce Department rule proposal to treat currency undervaluation as a countervailable subsidy, an idea the Bush administration rejected.

The proposal is problematic. Currency values are determined by balance of payments flows, not just trade accounts, and in turn by monetary and fiscal policies. There is no precise way to assess currency undervaluation. Even if one could, that would not address whether undervaluation was attributable to that country’s policies, or perhaps the flip side of policies in the overvalued currency country. The undervaluation of a country’s multilateral exchange rate also does not tell one the amount of bilateral undervaluation versus the dollar. For example, the subsidy would differ if the optimal bilateral balance deficit between the United States and China were $400 billion or zero.

The administration is aggressively pursuing trade provisions in currency deals, and this trend started under the Obama administration. The Trump administration amped up, pushing welcome side understandings on intervention alongside the revised United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) deal. The United states-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) provisions, though, allow certain exchange rate transparency and reporting issues, unrelated to monetary policy, to be included in dispute resolution. While the practical import of the USMCA currency provisions is minor, their inclusion in dispute resolution sets a precedent that could errantly allow trade authorities to stray into macroeconomic policy settings.

Some in the administration have also discussed taxing foreign inflows, consistent with a draft Senate bill of Senators Hawley and Baldwin. Such policies would stand in strong opposition to the longstanding openness of U.S. capital markets.

The administration’s robust unilateral use of financial sanctions could also corrode the dollar’s future global use. Past administrations sought to build multilateral coalitions for deploying financial sanctions. In doing so, officials balanced considerations on using sanctions with the implications for the dollar’s financial and reserve currency roles.

The Trump administration has used financial sanctions far more aggressively and unilaterally. While there is no realistic alternative to the dollar for the foreseeable future, our traditional allies have been put off by the administration’s unilateralism, as best reflected in Europe’s effort to create the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges or INSTEX, a plan to circumvent the dollar’s use to allow Europe to trade with Iran.

The Trump administration’s views on the dollar, foreign exchange policy, and external developments are a major departure from the practices followed by the United States over the past 25 years.

These policies and practices are alienating allies and eroding the multilateral fabric underpinning the international monetary system.

And the largest, and most powerful nation that is able to influence the USD and the international monetary system is China. And President Trump has declared “war” on China. labeling it an “enemy”, conducting a “hybrid war” with it, and engaging it in every way (s0 far) short of a nuclear exchange (aside from the BRI explosion)…

How China Could Crash the US Dollar on a Whim

Over the last 30 years, China’s economy has grown at an average annualized rate of nearly 10%. While this statistic alone is jaw-dropping, what is more impressive is the extent to which the nominally Communist country’s economy has become intertwined in the global economy.

China now exerts enormous influence over the economies of virtually every country in the world, and a slight change in its domestic economic policy has the potential to send shock-waves rippling throughout the world.

Nowhere is this more apparent-and frightening-then in China’s economic relationship with the United States, which is very much at the mercy of China when it comes to prices, wages, interest rates, most importantly, the value of the Dollar.

The precariousness of this relationship is already the subject of significant publicity, redolent of the Japanaphobia of the 1980’s that saw American economists scare-mongering about Japanese control of the US economy. [Of course this later turned out to be unfounded, but that is beyond the scope of our discussion.]

With regard to China, most of the analysis is focused on its growing foreign exchange reserves, the majority of which are held in Dollar-denominated assets. Here, from US house prices to global commodity prices, from interest rates to inflation rates, we will observe how China could cripple the US economy, both willfully and unintentionally, if so desired.

Forex Reserve Diversification

Let’s begin with an examination of China’s forex reserves, which is probably China’s biggest bargaining chip in its economic relationship with the US. Up until a decade ago, China’s currency, the RMB or Yuan, was pegged to the Dollar.

As with any peg, there often develops a discrepancy between the fixed value of the currency and the value that the market would assign if the currency were permitted to float. As China’s economy surged ahead, especially over the last five to ten years, tremendous pressure began to build under the RMB. In order to maintain the peg and hold down the value of the RMB, China began accumulating foreign exchange reserves by withdrawing foreign currency from circulation. Today, China’s foreign exchange reserves are massive, at $1.4 trillion as of September 2007.

In the eyes of American policy-makers, this presents a problem because the majority of these reserves are held in Dollar-denominated assets, namely in the form of US Treasury securities. The US government theoretically could not be happier that foreign Central Banks are willing to finance its perennial budget deficits. However, this borrowing has reached a point where foreigners now control over 40% of the US national debt. Moreover, long-term US interest rates are market-driven, based on the buying and selling of US government bonds. In other words, the US has gradually ceded control of its long-term interest rates to foreign Central Banks, namely China and Japan.

As the Dollar has depreciated, many Central Banks have begun “diversifying” their forex reserves, by switching from Dollar assets to assets denominated in other currencies.

This is problematic for the Dollar for two reasons.

First, switching from US assets to European assets, for example, directly causes the Dollar to depreciate.

Second, the bulk sale of US treasury securities (whether or not they are replaced with other US-assets) causes US bond prices to decline and hence, yields to increase.

Thus, if China suddenly decided to diversify its reserves, for economic and/or political reasons, it could potentially crash the Dollar and send US long-term interest rates skyward.

Since mortgage rates are tied directly to government bond yields, a rise in interest rates would probably also affect US real estate prices. Higher interest rates would make borrowing for a home more difficult, which would lower the demand for houses and thus, the value of American real estate.

In fact, China created the China Investment Co. Ltd., capitalized with almost $300 Billion, charged with investing its vast forex reserves in higher-yielding assets. However, the company’s inaugural investment was a stock purchase in the Blackstone group, an American private equity firm.

Thus, while it seems likely that China will gradually discard some of its stock of US Treasury Securities, the affect on the value of the Dollar will be minimal. Besides, while China would certainly punish US businesses and consumers by unloading US Treasuries on the market, it would punish itself even more, since the value of the government bonds that it didn’t sell would decline.

This is considered “the nuclear option”.

Currency Manipulation

The second aspect of the China-US economic relationship which China could wield to its advantage is the RMB, itself. American public officials enjoy criticizing China for failing to allow its currency to appreciate more quickly. But it’s really all lies and distortions.

What policymakers don’t realize is that a rapid appreciation in the RMB would actually harm the US economy.

Coupled with its growing role as the world’s factory, China’s cheap currency has made Americans wealthier, by increasing their purchasing power. As production of labor-intensive goods was outsourced to China over the last decade, prices for finished products began to fall both in real terms and in nominal terms. While the effect on US employment trends is debatable, its effect on prices has been unambiguous. Thus, even while the American economy boomed, inflation remained relatively modest by historical standards. This allowed the Federal Reserve Board to hold interest rates down and foment economic growth.

As the RMB appreciates, Chinese producers will become ever-more forced to pass along some of the price increase to consumers. Now, if China was to suddenly revalue its currency by the 25%-30% that western policy-makers are demanding, prices on a whole host of Chinese products would jump up overnight.

This would adversely affect American purchasing power and limit consumption to such an extent that the US would be in danger of slipping into recession.

While the trade deficit that is the bane of American politicians’ existence might decrease in the long-term, it would skyrocket in the short-term. Besides, as many analysts have been quick to point out, there is not much overlap between Chinese and American production.

Thus, a more expensive Yuan would send production to other parts of Asia, rather than back to America. As is what is currently going on with some of the cheaper and simpler products.

Direct Competition with US Exporters

A more potent (and plausible) weapon would be to compete more directly with US exporters, by expanding into high-technology products. America currently leads in a handful of high-technology industries.

Business
Financial
IT services
Aircraft and spacecraft,
Semiconductors,
Specialized computers,
Pharmaceuticals,
Measuring and control instruments.

China has specialized in manufacturing labor-intensive products, which have long since been manufactured outside of the United States. As previously stated, a revaluation of the Chinese Yuan would surely not return production to the US. However, if China were to expand into capital-intensive and/or high-technology products, it could easily steal market-share and jobs from the US.

Key points
Many observers doubt that China can assume global technological leadership, but there are very good reasons to believe it will.

Four factors comprise ‘technology leadership’: 

[1] Research and development (R&D) intensity, 
[2] R&D personnel, 
[3] number of scientific publications, 
[4] The number of patent applications.

Three factors contribute to China’s growing technology capacity and eventual global technology leadership: 

[1] China offers technology innovators a massive domestic market.
[2] China’s government has the authority to shape industrial policy and provide infrastructure.
[3] Globalization has benefited and will continue to benefit China through technology transfer and spillovers.

Limiting the Importation of US Products

Of course, there is also the imports side of the trade equation.

China is one of the United States’ largest export markets. Which isn’t saying much, America just doesn’t manufacture or create much inside of America any more. Never the less, limiting the importation of US goods and services would certainly be felt in the US. Though, truthfully, aside from aircraft and food products like wheat, it doesn’t amount to much.

Some anti-competitive options include tariffs, import taxes, quotas, or a simple ban on the importation of certain types of products.

Raw Material Pricing

In addition, there is the impact that China’s economic growth has exerted on global raw material prices. It has been said that 25% of the world’s construction cranes are currently located in China, to support the country’s building boom. These massive development and infrastructure projects require proportionally massive quantities of raw materials, namely cement and steel.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists, in a note, point out that the U.S. Department of Defense has termed China’s domination of the rare earth market as potentially dangerous, given the offshoring of manufacturing and vulnerabilities in America’s manufacturing and defense industrial base.

China produced about 78% of rare earths in 2018, and owns about 40% of global resources. Bank of America strategists noted the dominance of China is due to the fact that its government classified them as a strategic resource and has emphasized exploration and extraction of the raw materials for about 100 years.

The analysts said China made the materials available at a low cost in the 1990s, hurting competitors and limiting expansion of rival producers. There are 17 rare earth elements, which are not actually rare but refining them from ore is costly and results in pollution.

— With reporting by CNBC’s Eunice Yoon and Fred Imbert.

Competition for Energy

China was responsible for three quarters of the world’s energy consumption growth, followed by India and Indonesia. The U.S. and Germany posted the largest declines.

-Fossil Fuels Still Supply 84 Percent Of World Energy

China is now the world’s largest consumer of energy, the largest producer and consumer of coal, and the largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Over the last half century, China’s large manufacturing-based economy has primarily been fueled by coal. From 1990 to 2018, China increased its coal consumption from 0.99 billion tons to 4.64 billion tons.

The nation that consumes the most fuel and raw materials can also control the pricing.

Conclusion

America has been printing money “like it there is no tomorrow”.

This will eventually lead towards hyperinflation of some magnitude.

How bad or severe the influence will be on America, the American economy, and on Americans will depend upon the international relationships that America maintains. Most significantly the relationships that it has with the largest and most influential nations. namely; China.

But there is a problem.

President trump despises China. He has set China up as the big old “boogie man”, the evil villain from which all the woes of American can be blamed upon. You have to be living under a rock not to realize this.

Now, of course, China could respond in kind. And in doing so, the entire American “house of cards” would come tumbling down.

But it hasn’t.

Not yet, at least.

In short, China has several economic “weapons” at its disposal for countering the US, ranging from the manipulation of its currency to the diversification of its burgeoning stock of forex reserves. It also has several less blunt options to choose from, such as enabling Chinese companies to compete more directly and effectively with US companies, and opposing the US in securing a domestic energy supply.

On all of these fronts, the US is essentially “playing with fire”, since it has become so dependent on China as the world’s factory.

Ultimately, it seems unlikely that China will deliberately butt heads with the US unless it is first provoked, but America should nonetheless be respectful to China, since its economy hangs in the balance.

And it is because of this that someone should slap Trump and his neocon advisors at the side of their heads and ask them WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY DOING? Because, like it or not, China is the nation that is holding “all the cards”. Not the United States. And the only reason why Americans are not paying $67 for a gallon of gasoline is because China has decided that the likelihood of Trump remaining in office for eight years is unlikely. And that any replacement would be in the best interests of China at this time.

But that is not how the USA sees things.

The ONLY way that the USA can get out of this future cluster-fuck is to engage in a war with China, and then blame all the subsequent collapsing on China. But, as the events of 2020 has shown, the planned results will not unfold as is desired and expected. Thus we have three very likely scenarios;

[1] Full-on World War III. Whether with China or with Asia. As there is no fucking way that the oligarchy is going to accept an internal revolt of the American peasantry and their eventual torture and beheadings. This is ultimately the most undesirable outcome. The USA will strike first, without Congressional approval. Then after the fact, the Senate will “rubber stamp” the approvals.

[2] A gradual collapse of the United States unfolding with greater and greater alarm. Attempts to distract attention of the American peasantry away from the turmoil has been met successfully. Thus, the oligarchy has decided that an uprising of the surfs is the lesser of two evils. This is the outcome of the more retrospective of the oligarchy who have support networks outside of the area of hostilities. This is, after all, something that they can continue to manage, as complex and ugly as it appears.

[3] An increasing civil war scenario as in scenario #2 (above), only with an attempt to distract the peasantry with an external villain (scenario #1 above). That would mean a few years of gradually increasing Civil War style events. Maybe two to three years worth, followed by a move of desperation to “rally America together to fight some evil”. With the rally a complete failure, and a full on World War III being the result. This is the most probable outcome.

What’s your opinion? One, two or scenario three?

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Dangerous times ahead; the new global realignments from 2020 through to 2030.

This article was compiled back in 2018. 

It is a "Franken-article" comprising a selection of elements from other articles that I have read, by other authors. I collected the key points, and had annotations linking to the articles, and then suffered a rather catastrophic computer failure, leaving my note in RTF format without links. Anyways, to make a long story short, the following is a Fraken-article compiled  together to make a point. 

Originally it discussed 2018 through 2028. I've updated it to 2020 through 2030.

This article was written before the Trump Trade war onslaught, and before the COVID-19 Bioweapon that Trump unleashed on the Chinese New Year celebrations. It was written before any of the riots and protests in Portland, Chicago or Los Angeles.

This was written in 2018. And I could see that…

There are dangerous times ahead.

Every 80 years, nations often experience colossal events. There are different theories about this cycle – for example, the Fourth Turning theory focuses on the cyclical strengths of institutions versus individuals. Others surmise that four generations after a major crisis, there are no more older people to warn the society, and the younger people take peace and prosperity for granted.

Well, exactly 80 years ago, America was mired in Great Depression, and World War II was about to begin. Yet, predictably, most Americans and Europeans now cannot even fathom such scenarios repeating in their lifetime.

There are two major catalysts that can ignite catastrophic wars in the next decade. They are;

The debt/economic crisis in the West.
Growinge great-power rivalries (US + EU versus Russia + China).

Geopolitical tensions that are simmering now will reach a crescendo very soon. (I predicted in 2018.) Without extraordinary caution and prudence, we’re destined to become another victim of history’s inexorable cycle of conflict and collapse.

America is #2

Pretty much.

How many American politicians and elites will say, “America is the second largest economy in the world”? How will Americans react when they hear it for the first time?

For certain, there will be shock, anger, denial and a lot of blame and finger-pointing. However, most Americans fail to realize that not only is this scenario almost inevitable, but it will happen within the next 6-10 years.

Consider that China’s nominal GDP grew 200% since 2008, while the US grew only 35%. Even if China slows down a lot and grows only 100% and the US continues at the same pace, China will be #1 before 2028.

Chart of real GDP growth USA (blue) vs. China (red).

What does China’s rise mean to western corporations and the globalists who control them? Loss of power and wealth. And that’s something the globalists aren’t going to just let happen.

There’s more to China’s rise than just GDP.

In late 2017, US News and World Report ranked China’s Tsinghua University as #1 for computer science and engineering, dethroning MIT.

In hi-tech areas such as 5G, driverless vehicles, electric vehicles, passenger drones (“flying cars”), 3D printing, Artificial Intelligence, super computers, quantum computing and numerous other fields, China is #1. America is #2.

Throughout history, an established power has never passively watched a rising power take its spot. As Harvard Professor Graham T. Allison points out, 75% of the time, the established power goes to outright war with the rising power.

I wrote an article about this.

The USA and China are now entangled in the Thucydides Trap; this is the entire story.

Mother Russia Comes Back to Life

After the fall of the Soviet Union, American intellectuals’ favorite phrase was “the end of history.”

And John Bolton famously claimed that there should be only one country in the UN’s Permanent Security Council:

USA! America  has the won the Cold War and will stay as the hyper-power forever!  Everyone will embrace America’s exceptionalism and remain submissive.

Alas, Putin came along and resuscitated the Russia.

He[1] thwarted the globalists in Ukraine and [2] Syria, [3] survived a Wall Street-engineered drop in oil price (from $115 to $45 in mere six months), [4] prevented the collapse of the Russian economy in spite of severe sanctions, [5] shored up enormous gold and foreign exchange reserves, and [6] even managed to develop hyper-sonic ICBMs that can evade America’s vaunted missile defense systems.

Worse, Putin is also working with the Chinese on US-independent versions of the Internet, banking system, credit card system etc.

All these have turned Putin into the globalists’ public enemy #1.

In the 1960s, the CIA came up with all sorts of false flag attacks to blame Russia – [1] killing Cuban refugees in Miami, [2] buying Russian planes to attack US military installations etc. Now, it’s the [3] Russia hacking/interference claim and [4] the spy-poisoning drama are just the previews…

… expect much more in the coming months and years.

The Middle East is in play.

In the 1990s, Neocons in Israel and the US (remember PNAC?) dreamed of hegemony over the Middle East.

All you need to do is take out Iraq and Iran, and the domination is complete.

Imagine controlling all that oil and the strategic waterways through which much of global trade passes.

And if western firms can construct oil/gas pipelines from the Middle East to Europe, the latter can say, “Nyet” to Russian oil/gas. Without Europe as the customer, Russia will suffer immensely and surrender.

Controlling the Middle East also means controlling the land and the sea routes of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. A few “moderate rebels” in strategic locations can greatly disrupt China’s Europe-bound trains.

Thus my article on the mini-nuke in Beirut;

2020 the year that President Trump opened Pandora’s box and used both bio-weapons and nuclear weapons against China

The BRI suppression

In response to the belligerent comments by Esper and the Australian report, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said “China is firmly on a path of peaceful development and our national defense policy is defensive in nature”. 

China has gone further by providing a cooperative framework under the Belt and Road Initiative which is built around the brilliant political agenda of providing diplomatic solutions to geopolitical points of tension through economic development strategies that enrich all participants. 

This approach has provided China great payback through the defusing of tensions with other nations claiming territory within the South China Sea- especially under the pro-BRI orientation of Malaysia’s Dr. Mahathir Mohammed and the Philippines’ President Duterte.

-America Loses Asia-Pacific as Full Spectrum Dominance Continues to Fail

Road and Belt. This requires Pakistan agreements and ports in the Mediterranean. Everything has been going well. That is up until a massive explosion that some have referred to as a “mini-nuke” totally and completely gutted the Lebanon port in Beirut. An interesting assessment;

The Port of Beirut poses the biggest geostrategic threat to American power projection because China’s Silk Road is fast creeping towards the docks at Beirut Port. The US, having recently forced Israel to cancel its Haifa rail contract with China, has dampened the Chinese advance in the eastern Mediterranean, and what remains now in the path of the US is the Beirut Port. The US must either invade it to block the Chinese geostrategic mission creep, or else destroy it.

https://thesaker.is/china-newsbrief-sitrep-3/

And then it appears that a great accident destroyed it.

Moreover, the Port of Beirut also poses the biggest geostrategic threat for the US’s eastward-bound power projection where China and its new Silk Road operation is fast creeping westwards and is attempting to land at the eastern coastal strip of the Mediterranean, right where the Beirut Port docks. The US having recently forced Israel to cancel its Haifa contact with China has somewhat dampened the Chinese advance in the eastern Mediterranean, and what remains now in the path of the US is the Beirut Port. The US must either invade it to block the Chinese geostrategic mission creep, or else destroy it.

Evidently, the US has chosen the latter option – with Israel assigned the task of accomplishing the destruction of Beirut Port. After all, for different reasons, both benefit greatly from Beirutshima.

And so very timely is this destruction of the Beirut Port as the Lebanese government has very recently been in official talks with the Chinese over their offer to vastly invest in and develop the Beirut Port: a much needed gateway port and bridge into Europe for China, which represents an absolutely intolerable equation for the US’s hegemony in Europe. The Beirut Port’s rebuilding to its previous standard of activity will be contingent on strict conditions imposed by the US and Israel on the Lebanese government, if the port is allowed to be rebuilt at all, that is. Most certainly, the US is determined not to allow the Chinese any executive, investment or managerial access to it.

...

And this larger US project has everything to do with the current US war on China, albeit presently a non-military war, but a war nevertheless, a war that the Pentagon is militarily preparing for – hence the ever increasing and breathtakingly high defense budget that Congress has been allocating to the US military throughout the terms of the last three Presidents.

The US having lost Pakistan to the China sphere of influence, thus losing an attack dog bordering China, and having recently assigned Turkey as its new enforcer in the middle east, it now behooves the US to use its Mideast allies of both Turkey and Israel, two infamous terrorist states who regularly break international law with impunity: use them as spoilers and saboteurs against an advancing China and against any of Beijing’s Mideast regional allies. 

Beirutshima is clearly an apparent US endeavor to push-back the Chinese advance in the highly strategic eastern Mediterranean, as the US attempts to simultaneously pivot eastwards itself through secured territories wherever China is successfully backtracked by the US and its regional henchmen.
But, can this grand geostrategic plan really work for the benefit of the US? Can the US really succeed at remaining the only superpower in the world by the incessant knee-capping of China’s new Silk Road project?

This is yet to be determined. But judging by the deep budgetary and societal crisis engulfing the US homeland, with no sign whatsoever of its deepening troubles abating, analysts doubt that the US has lungs large enough to last the whole race through with China. Here I will add that the US-China fight over the Beirut Port is not yet over. One wonders what went through the mind of the wily Chinese ambassador in Lebanon to witness the Beirut Port exploding as it shockingly did: to witness his pet project and assignment be destroyed right before his eyes and right before a signed agreement was made between him and the Lebanese government of Diab.

-UR

A War to Contain China

China’s Achilles heel is that it’s surrounded by America’s vassal states – Taiwan, Japan and South Korea for now.

The Philippines used to  be America’s puppet, but it’s now leaning towards China and Russia,  thanks to Duterte. How North Korea will turn out is yet to be seen.

India, which was colonized by the British for 200 years, is experiencing amnesia and is quickly ceding its sovereignty to the US.

Japanese elites – under pressure from globalists – are trying to change their constitution so that Japan can build up its military again. This is obviously an ominous sign.

Thus globalists have a lot of options to wage a proxy war on China. Asia has been growing rapidly and enjoying unprecedented prosperity, but there’s a good chance they will screw it up by becoming sacrificial pawns in the geopolitical chessboard.

Drawing China and Russia together

China knows what the neocons are doing. China and Russia share intel data, and combined saw that America was an active and real threat. If China collapses, Russia would be next. If Russia collapses, China would be next. So what did they do?

Then at the same time, they started to warn the United States to stop; just stop… please just stop…

Among the myriad, earth-shattering geopolitical effects of coronavirus, one is already graphically evident. China has re-positioned itself. For the first time since the start of Deng Xiaoping’s reforms in 1978, Beijing openly regards the US as a threat, as stated a month ago by Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference during the peak of the fight against coronavirus.

Beijing is carefully, incrementally shaping the narrative that, from the beginning of the coronovirus attack, the leadership knew it was under a hybrid war attack. Xi’s terminology is a major clue. He said, on the record, that this was war. And, as a counter-attack, a “people’s war” had to be launched.

Moreover, he described the virus as a demon or devil. Xi is a Confucianist. Unlike some other ancient Chinese thinkers, Confucius was loath to discuss supernatural forces and judgment in the afterlife. However, in a Chinese cultural context, devil means “white devils” or “foreign devils”: guailo in Mandarin, gweilo in Cantonese. This was Xi delivering a powerful statement in code.

When Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, voiced in an incandescent tweet the possibility that “it might be US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan” – the first blast to this effect to come from a top official – Beijing was sending up a trial balloon signaliing that the gloves were finally off. Zhao Lijian made a direct connection with the Military Games in Wuhan in October 2019, which included a delegation of 300 US military...

-https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/china-locked-in-hybrid-war-with-us/

They also watch with some degree of hope that the intel information was incorrect, and that the United States would stop. That the United States would end it’s anti-Chinese propaganda campaign, it’s anti-China technology assault, and it’s anti-China biological warfare programs…

…but that is not in the cards. Not yet, anyways.

Financial Wars

If the globalists have mighty military and vassal states to impose their hegemony, they have one tremendous weakness: a fake economy based on debt and money-printing.

America’s enormous strength is based on petrodollar – an unfair system that forces other countries to buy oil and other commodities in US dollar.

Take that away, the American Empire starts to wobble. Without enormous demand for the US dollar and treasuries, interest rates will go up, debt will become expensive, and interest payments on existing debt will skyrocket.

This is why China, the largest importer of oil, just started oil futures that trade in Yuan. China has implemented systems where one can directly buy and sell oil in Yuan. If China were to get out of the globalist hegemony, there’s no better way than to establish petroyuan, especially if it’s backed by gold.

And of course…

US will go to war to stop emergence of petro-yuan …

US will go to war to stop emergence of petro-yuan !

The introduction of oil trading in yuan is a very bold move by the Chinese, because the US will not give up the basis of its hegemony – the dollar as the world’s reserve currency – without a fight. The Chinese plan to roll out a yuan-denominated oil contract is a very “brave” move, since countries who “tried to exit the oil-dollar matrix have met terrible ends,”.

...

The US financial sector and its military-industrial complex are unlikely to give up the dollar hegemony without a fight, though, as the dollar is both the basis and the main product of America. And the US will use its other favorite tool for it – war…

“Maybe they will start a war between Japan and China, and maybe they will start a war with North Korea. America will do anything to keep the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency,” “They will invade the countries, like Afghanistan, they will stop at nothing. Because this is the basis of the US empire. It’s not land-based, it’s not based on material goods, it’s based on rent-seeking. It’s based on landing dollars, getting out income and when countries can’t pay they dismantle the assets and take them over. We saw it in Latin America, South America, this is how America built its empire.”

What’s Next?

America’s military impotence when faced with the new cutting edge technologies unveiled by Russia and China was outlined in a recent report released by the US Studies Center at the University of Sydney which stated that “America no longer enjoys military primacy in the indo Pacific and its capacity to uphold a favorable balance of power is increasingly uncertain.”

Referring to China’s advanced anti-aircraft weapons, the report says “Chinese counter-intervention systems have undermined America’s ability to project power in the Indo-Pacific region” which the authors say, could be rendered impotent within the first 8 hours of conflict.

-America Loses Asia-Pacific as Full Spectrum Dominance Continues to Fail

Thanks to Deep State and the Democrats, US-Russia relations will continue to deteriorate as sanctions pile on. Globalists will also use the anti-Russia hysteria to create an EU army, bolster NATO, and provoke Russia with missile defense systems and military build up on its borders. Russia’s neighbors — Ukraine, Georgia, Lithuania, Sweden, Poland etc. — will all be used as pawns to needle and threaten Russia.

The US will continue to build its troops to encircle China, saber rattle in the South China Sea, incite Muslim separatists in Western China (Xinjiang), and try to turn Asian countries against China.

I’ve covered all the elements in other posts in far greater detail. There you can see the details. Links are as provided herein.

This is just an overview.

Create strife in HK. The “pro-democracy” protests were implemented by NED / NID insurgents under the guise of being “journalists”. <HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE>

Create strife in Xinjiang. Radicalized and CIA trained Muslim insurgents creating “fifth column“ activities. <HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE>

Forced Starvation. Destruction of the pork industry via drones and aerosol viruses, destruction of the chicken industry, the wheat and rice industries, and multiple waves of germ attacks. <HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE>

African Incentives. This is ongoing. Though lately a number of nations are demanding that China pay billions of dollars to them for COVID-19 damage. I cannot help but see a CIA hand in all this. <HERE><HERE><HERE>

Incentivize American Businesses. Enormous amounts of money has been handed to American companies throughout trumps first term of office, the greatest amounts came during the 2020 “COVID bailout”. However, no companies have shown any interest in returning operations to America. <HERE><HERE><HERE>

Anti-China propaganda campaign. This is hot and heavy. Apparently it’s working a full 30% of Americans hate China and blame it for all the American ills. <HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE>

Anti-China technology campaign. Well the arrest of the Huawei President and the suppression of 5G technology is only the tip of the iceberg. <HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE>

A Pandemic that would suppress China but ignore America. This is the highlight of the plan and really interesting. Three strains. A, B, and C. All unleashed on the world. Lethal strain B is for China. It is dangerous and lethal. However, Americans get the A virus. This virus is mild and safe. It self inoculates (or was intended to). It is designed for Americans to have “Herd Immunity”. <HERE><HERE><HERE><HERE>

An Alliance of other nations. By building a coalition of nations, the entire group could gang up against China in bulk. This includes strong showings by Australia, Canada, and the UK. <HERE>

Establish American Bases on Taiwan. Ongoing and NOT public.

There will also be endless economic, propaganda and hybrid wars against both Russia and China in the coming years.

US, EU, Russia and China will be developing many dangerous and effective weapons in the near future. This will include miniaturized nuclear bombs, weaponized satellites, and possibly a combination of both — satellites armed with nukes. Then there are hypersonic missiles that travel at 20 times the speed of sound, killer robots and fleets of armed drones.

Biological and germ warfare are also being developed by the US in many vassal countries. It’s a multi-dimensional and hybrid arms race that’s more lethal and destructive than ever before.

Conclusion

America is only 5% of the world’s population. It cannot expect to rule the other 95% forever. America’s unipolar dominance is a blip in the history. Americans have to learn to coexist with other great powers and focus on creating a peaceful, prosperous world.

Instead, America’s elites are filled with hubris and hegemonic fantasies of full spectrum dominance.

Full-spectrum dominance also known as full-spectrum superiority, is a military entity's achievement of control over all dimensions of the battlespace, effectively possessing an overwhelming diversity of resources in such areas as terrestrial, aerial, maritime, subterranean, extraterrestrial, psychological, and bio- or cyber-technological warfare.

-Wikipedia

The US is formally committed to dominating the world by the year 2020. With President Trump’s new Space Directive-4, the production of laser-armed fighter jets as possible precursors to space weapons, and the possibility of nuclear warheads being put into orbit, the clock is ticking…

Back in 1997, the now-re-established US Space Command announced its commitment to “full spectrum dominance.” The Vision for 2020 explains that “full spectrum dominance” means military control over land, sea, air, and space (the so-called fourth dimension of warfare) “to protect US interests and investment.” “Protect” means guarantee operational freedom. “US interest and investment” means corporate profits.

-Countdown to “Full Spectrum Dominance”

Americans – and sadly most Europeans now as well – are ignorant about geopolitics, easily swayed by propaganda, and programmed to accept wild stories without demanding proof or evidence. The combination of ruthless elites and gullible masses is extremely dangerous.

Without great restraint, diplomacy, wisdom and compromises, we will be sleepwalking into a nuclear disaster in the next decade.

2020 to 2030.

All the warning signs and signals are lit up and flashing.

Those American military officials promoting the obsolete doctrine of Full Spectrum dominance are dancing to the tune of a song that stopped playing some time ago. Both Russia and China have changed the rules of the game on a multitude of levels, and can respond with fatal force to any attack upon their soil with next generation weaponry beyond the scope of anything imagined by ivory tower game theorists in the west.

-America Loses Asia-Pacific as Full Spectrum Dominance Continues to Fail

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The Trump war on Chinese cell phone applications

Yeah. Trump is really pushing this. But we all know what is going on. If it is Chinese, it is bad. It’s a all-hands-on-deck assault on China, short of nuclear war. And the ONLY reason why America is not invading China, and blasting the living fuck out of it’s cities is because Trump knows that America will become completely destroyed and radioactive in the process. China does not play.

So he’s going all-out against everything Chinese. And part of that is the software applications that are Chinese, and being used all over the world. We have read about Huawei, and wechat, which most Americans know nothing about. So they just go with the flow and say Yah! China Bad!

China Bad!

Well, there’s a lot of articles on this. Most are propaganda justifying banning software and technology.

Little thought is whether the President of the United States actually has the power to ban anything. After all, it took a constitutional amendment to ban alcohol back in 1913. Since when did the President become a King?

But I digress.

The excuse is “National Security”. It’s a catch-all phrase which means “I can do what I want and not give any reasons or justification for it”.

Anyways, this article is a pretty decent overview on this subject and is well worth a look. It is titled “Huawei, Tik-Tok and WeChat” written by Larry Romanoff on August 8, 2020 it has 201 Comments . It was found on the UNZ website and all credit to the author. It was edited to fit this venue.

Huawei, Tik-Tok and WeChat

First, let’s dispel the combined notion that China spies on everyone and the US spies on no one. There is so much public evidence to destroy both these assertions that I won’t bother repeating them here. I will however remind readers that a few years ago China more or less banned Windows 8 from the country because it was discovered that the O/S had a built-in NSA back door.[1]

It seems that Germany reported on this first, but the devastating proof was at an IT conference where a Microsoft executive was interrupted during a speech with precisely this accusation.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

He did not deny it because the person making the accusation was the person who discovered it and had with him the proof, but refused to discuss it and changed the subject.

But this is hardly news. Forty years ago it was proven that all Xerox copy machines delivered to foreign embassies and consulates in the US were “espionage-ready”.[10][11]

Also, for at least 20 years, and perhaps much more, it was common knowledge that when any foreign embassies, consulates, banks and other corporations ordered computers and similar hardware from US suppliers, those shipments were intercepted by UPS, delivered to the CIA and/or NSA for installation of “extra” hardware and software before delivery to their destinations. This was one of the confirmations by Edward Snowden.[12][13][14][15]

Any search on this will give you millions of hits unless Google chooses that moment to lose its memory.

Huawei

Trump’s problems with Huawei are twofold.

The most obvious is that China is eating America’s lunch when it comes to innovation and invention and Trump would like to slow this down by destroying Huawei and is clearly making every possible effort in this regard, including bullying and threatening half the known world against using Huawei’s products. But this is the small part of the problem; the real issue is espionage.

There is no practical value in disputing the assertion that Cisco and other American hardware and software firms install back doors to all their equipment for the convenience of CIA and NSA access. But suddenly Huawei is replacing Cisco and those other American firms with its better and less expensive equipment.

That part is okay, but how can the CIA and NSA approach Huawei and ask the company to build back doors into its equipment so the US can spy on China – among all other countries?

There is no solution to this problem other than to trash Huawei’s reputation by accusing it of being an espionage threat and having the company’s equipment banned. And this applies not only to the US, but to the entire Five Eyes Espionage Network, involving the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.[16]

Briefly, this was set up to break laws while pretending no laws were being broken.

It is generally against the law for a government to spy on its own citizens, but that law doesn’t apply to a foreign government. So Canada spies on Australian citizens and sends the information to the Australian spooks who can claim they did nothing wrong.

Rinse and repeat.

The sad part is that the “intelligence” received is usually of little interest to the four minor participants but all of it is shared with the US who are frothing to spy on the entire world and to take possession of “every communication” of every kind in the entire world. Thus, it isn’t sufficient to ban Huawei only from the US because this company’s equipment would castrate the NSA’s effort in the other four nations. Thus, US bullying to ensure each of its five eyes is Huawei-free.

And that’s the entire story, like it or not.

Tik-Tok

Tik-Tok is nothing of consequence, except that it is in direct competition with similar American platforms and has proven too popular and too competitive to be permitted to survive.

This is just a cheap, below-the-belt and illegal-as-hell shot at China.

No threat, no nothing.

However, as with all similar IT products and platforms it contains much personal information especially useful for marketing, which has so far been the private property of people like Google, Facebook and Twitter.

Thus, Trump kills two birds with one stone: either simply kill Tik-Tok on some trumped-up accusation (if you’ll excuse the expression) of espionage, or force a sale to an American company.

Either way, China loses massively while the political oppression and marketing value of that personal information remains safely in trusted American hands.

WeChat

Since few Americans are familiar with WeChat, let me give you a description. Many of these functions are available in the West through various platforms, but not always to the same extent nor with the same convenience.

With WeChat we can transmit text and voice messages, photos and videos, and other files of any description even of many Mb in size.

FOR FREE.

We can send and receive both text and voice messages in any language because WeChat has an excellent translation function in combination with one of its partners which translates not only text and voice, but will extract and translate all text contained in photos, handy for restaurant menus if you can’t read Chinese.

FOR FREE

We can place not only voice calls but video calls to anyone anywhere that transmit over the internet.

FOR FREE

It is so convenient that WeChat is the default communication choice for a great many people for most purposes. WeChat also has a Moments platform where we can post text, photos, videos, that are visible to those on our contact lists while selecting those who can view and who cannot, reserving some posts for close friends and others more generally public.

In China we have two primary online payment systems, one operated by Alibaba (called Alipay) and the other by WeChat. Its use is nearly universal in China and both are free to the user. Unlike PayPal…

ITS FREE

During the past several years I cannot recall a single instance where I had cash in my pocket (even small change) when I went anywhere or was shopping for anything. Even to purchase a small bunch of green onions at a street market, the vendor has a QR code which my phone scans and the payment into their bank account is automatic.

With WeChat, we can send money to each other.

FOR FREE

If we want to share the cost of lunch, you can pay the entire bill and I transfer my share to you through WeChat. If I ever need cash, I could go to any shop or even approach a complete stranger and ask for 1,000 RMB and instantly repay him into his WeChat account.

It is frequently used to transfer money internationally this way, sending dollars to a friend in one country and receiving RMB into a WeChat account in China.

Instant, secure, and free of all fees.

FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE

It all happens within a second, with a concurrent text message confirmation from the bank of both sides of the transaction. WeChat is the main reason people can travel anywhere in China with only a mobile phone and passport (and a change of clothing). Through WeChat, people can purchase plane or train tickets, pay taxi fares and hotel bills, restaurant tabs, in the same way.

FOR FREE

Another useful WeChat function is real-time GPS location sharing. If a group is traveling to a destination in several cars, WeChat displays an active GPS map showing all locations in real space and time. If I am meeting a friend at a shopping mall or park or other large location, with this GPS function we can see each other’s location in real time and I know which way to walk to encounter my friend.

We have WeChat groups which we can create with any number of participants for any convenient purpose. During the COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai we had a temporary WeChat group for the purchase of meat and vegetables that functioned better than any supermarket and with much less trouble. If I want to have a Christmas party I form a group of those I plan to invite, and all our discussions and planning take place within that platform. Most communities (small portions of residential districts) have a WeChat group for notification of community events and sharing important information.

The point with Trump’s “sanction” of WeChat is first that it will terminally disrupt international communications between China and the US for students, scientists, diplomats, media reporters, for all those in the US who have frequent communications with China, effects felt more seriously by those in China, which is a plus for Trump.

Second, Trump’s administration is uncomfortable with the extent to which WeChat is encroaching on the American turf of Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and more, with already around 100 million downloads in the US, and his actions are partially to reclaim that turf by simply banning a competing medium that is threatening to take over and seriously downgrade the popularity of similar American platforms.

But most important is the espionage and censorship role of Trump’s initiative.

As the censorship noose tightens around Facebook and Twitter, Americans are naturally moving to WeChat. The real issue is not that WeChat poses any danger to the US in any sense but, as with Huawei, the CIA and NSA cannot very well approach WeChat and ask for automatic sharing of all that personal relationship data.

Therefore, under the guise of China being untrustworthy, the US government simply bans WeChat and thus no one in the US can send or receive any message without the NSA having a copy.

A huge plus is that any news not fitting the official narrative will then be strangled at birth, as Google, Facebook and Twitter are now doing.

If Microsoft or another American firm were to buy WeChat, then of course all is well since it is US firms, not Chinese, who automatically share all personal contact data with their government.

Movie Time

Notes

[1] https://www.cnet.com/news/china-bans-windows-8-from-government-computers/

[2] https://www.rt.com/news/windows-8-nsa-germany-862/

[3] https://www.technobuffalo.com/nsa-windows-8-exploit

[4] https://wccftech.com/windows-nsa-backdoor-shadow-brokers/

[5] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2047332/is-windows-8-a-trojan-horse-for-the-nsa-the-german-government-thinks-so.html

[6] http://techrights.org/2013/06/15/nsa-and-microsoft/

[7] https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/11/12/windows-10-security-alert-hidden-backdoor-found-by-kaspersky-researchers/

[8] https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1160914-how-nsa-access-was-built-into-windows/

[9] http://techrights.org/2013/06/15/nsa-and-microsoft/

[10] http://electricalstrategies.com/about/in-the-news/spies-in-the-xerox-machine/

[11] https://www.unz.com/lromanoff/state-sponsored-commercial-espionage-the-global-theft-of-ideas/

[12] https://www.extremetech.com/computing/173721-the-nsa-regularly-intercepts-laptop-shipments-to-implant-malware-report-says

[13] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-nsa-intercepts-computer-deliveries/

[14] https://www.computerworld.com/article/2487222/the-nsa-intercepts-computer-deliveries-to-plant-spyware.html

[15] https://www.infoworld.com/article/2608141/snowden–the-nsa-planted-backdoors-in-cisco-products.html

[16] https://americanfreepress.net/five-eyes-network-sees-all/

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Some solid information about prostitution within China

People have asked me, shyly (of course) if I could tell them a few things about how sex works within China. Ai! It’s a big subject, for certain. But you know what? It isn’t all that different from sex anywhere else in the world. You have people who fall in love and have relationships and have sex as part of that relationship, and then you have people who do not. These people trade sex for money instead.

Since China has always been the subject of sensational lies so that others may profit, it’s difficult to find any reasonable and good information on the internet about these subjects short of going on a “monger” website.

Monger
Short for whoremonger, i.e., one who frequents whores and prostitutes.

-Urban Dictionary: monger

Most people who visit Metallicman aren’t really “mongers”. Most are just healthy normal folk with a pretty decent interest in the universe around them. And that means just about everything.

That’s a good thing.

This post is some old information that I had buried in one of my pages. Um. Pages are different than posts. And unless you are an expert in the layout of Metallicman, the chances of you finding some of my intentionally buried pages will be difficult. I resurrected this page, updated it with some information and am placing it here as a post. If you have never seen it before, then you are in for a treat. Enjoy.

I found this on Daspora-ChinaSmack. It describes how an American got involved in the KTV scene and got tangled up with prostitutes in China. It’s a good read, even though the spelling is atrocious …

Also please take note, again, that this was not written by myself. It is the opinions of that author as he relates his experiences in regards to KTV’s, girls who charge for sexual services and how it works. He is responding to a long chain of discussion in which people are talking about prostitution inside of Asia, and China in particular. Here we pic-up his comments after a few pages of nonsense by basement millennials, holier-than-thou women, ignorant teenagers, and a few genuine people looking for answers…

Southernorthener

You guys actually have all the facts but kinda lose sight of reality..

Ive been in china for years.. i have a regular blog but its a rated since i have a normal life i lead that is quite in the spotlight so to speak..but i actually want to write this down desperately..

i have another life in the north of china.

Its hard to explain, and sort of unbelievable, even for me at times, but i'm going to go out on a ledge here since i cant change a whole nations opinion, but i can at least share my experiences with you folk and hope that someone listens…

Here it goes..

I'm basically like a pimp...

...a real nice pimp, and i work in the KTV and security industry when I'm not doing my day job..and I'm a foreigner.

It sounds so different than it actually is though…

First off…let me just correct some wrongs and wrong some writes..

[1] (The girls) They aren't forced into KTV...

[2] The money is certainly theirs, only some goes to the mommies, but the cash they get in their hands is theirs.

[3] Not all are what we call “chu tai de”, which means that go out, for sexs, The ones that do go out range from old and desperate with a pimp, or young and horny without a pimp and all the variations in between.

So remember..they are not all hookers...

...why would they be when there are saunas every other block with actual skilled sex workers?

What happened to me was that i started doing business with a guy that had a factory...

... but was actually a gangster...

... or not even a gangster, where I'm from, gangsters have guns and they are ruthless..

These guys are a bunch of semi successful middle aged men who have groups of young guys from anhui, henan, dongbei just buzzing around them with shaved heads gold chains and nike sneaks..

Thug life. — Photo is from a phone that was “found” by an interested person. On it were numerous photos of a mob boss and his crew. This is, we must assume, his crew. It is representative of the kind of people that this article talks about.

They get paid to protect them from...

I don't even know what...

...and they live in dorms like little goons working for the man, but hardly any of them can fight, and only if you have thirty of them with machetes to they actually become dangerous...

So this one guy I was doing business with is friends with a big KTV owner, another balding “gangsta”... who's got like fifty boys who all work security for the KTV...

... you'd be surprised about how much they get used...

So I became a relative lieutenant in the ranks of these boys, and the cheering and the free ciggies never stop flowing from the ranks upwards...

I happen to come from a quite violent upbringing and actually was a real little thug, petty shit though growing up in the ghettos of the states... 

But unthinkable for some of these so called gees...

...so for me fitting in with this crowd was natural...

...although I myself have changed my ways, and I stopped to steal cheat or...

...well lets leave it at that.

So I gets hooked up with a KTV girl, my family is in the South of course, Chinese wife, kids, the lot..

Shes super young and she doesn't fuck for money...

She takes the 400 rmb a night and spends it pretty fast but takes care of her drunken father and grandparents...

...the mom is in sechuan somewhere and doesn't give a flying fuck...

So since i was being taken to KTV every night by the Chinese bosses for like eight months, I basically would help her get paid...

...and help her to book the room, which they get perks for...

...she was damn hot, and everyone wanted to bang her, but no one knew she was actually just 17, standing taller than I, at 5’10.

Mob boss at the KTV. — Chinese mob boss with some of his staff and some KTV girls in a KTV. It’s a pretty typical scene in China. Photos apparently came off a phone that used to belong to a “Chinese Mob Boss”.

She was totally in love with her current boyfriend that had gone to Japan, and was actually supporting him by working at KTV...

...but he was there...

...I was here...

...basically though we hit it off because in this city I, was a foreigner , but I was doing business, and getting taken out by gangsters and business people every night...

...so ...

...basically she only started to like me because I wasn't just an English teacher...

... aka I had money, and I had friends that could help her if she got into trouble...

To make a long story short, I got an apartment, with four rooms, went back to the South, came back , and four of her girlfriends were staying in the house...

...all known prozzies (prostitutes)...

...even one that I possibly have done, I could never be sure if it was actually her, at any rate she never caused any grief with the lil missus...

...little wife...xiao lao pou..the new mamasan in town.

Mob Boss in the KTV with some friends. — Chinese triad gangster in a KTV with friends and some KTV hostesses. The drinks and the cigarettes flow easily.

Everyone in the city (in the game) started to hear that she was getting them business and shed get a cut...

...so in fact it was her who started the pimpstressing...

... but later when my big bro found out, he told me to be careful and gave me the numbers to a few boys that would come if anything went down and I kinda took over in the protection area...

...eventually things did go down ...

...when a guy didn't wanna pay and kept a girl in a hotel room...

...suffice to say the ending was not pretty...

...for him, and I started receiving extra income...

Going forward more, and back to the conversation at hand ...

...it's business...

...they all know what they are involved in and the cash is theirs to keep...

...the cut to the pimp is actually protection fee, and its not nearly as exorbitant as it is in the states...

its actually pretty legit...

...most the girls are all pulled from the hometowns and some go on to open clothes and make up shops...

...which my KTV girl eventually ended up doing...

The nasty part is there though...

...and there are clients that want the girls to do ice with them before sexs...

...huge cost though and usually there are boys nearby...

...but then again, there are girls who choose to do that since in one night you can make four nights money...

Its strange I know...

...and I don't know exactly how I got involved , but I did...

...then there's a whole world of DJ's! That actually make almost as much as the girl but they only clean up and pour drinks!

Those are great to date...

...also KTV's themselves range from nasty group-on sexs in the room to fucking 30000 rmb bottles of lafitte and all college educated girls...

...lafitte mixed with sprite...

You'd be surprised a lot of these places the girls go to school, work on and off...

...its up to them, they get multiple males all paying things for them, which in my opinion...

...more power to them...

...they are not all bimbos and hoes...

...that's were some of you are wrong...

...they are not all slaves...

...and the work can range from easy to difficult, sadly directly correlative with their appearances...

(At) some KTV's you can grab them anywhere you want and the mamasans scream at them to be more open...

...others, the boys will come in and beat the shit out of you if you touch the wrong girl...

...in this case my girl...

...its weird that people actually pay up and beyond a hundred USD just for the company but for their sake...

...that's their newfound cash culture...

...whether its right or not its too early to tell...

But then again look at our potato chip eating fatty couch surfing culture we have...

...that we basically got the same way. By being a developing nation that eventually has a bunch of people getting exactly what they want since they got the cash to spend...

You know the problem I see is that a lot of foreigners can't and will never be able to see the real truth...

One, because ...

...I'm talking a minimum expenditure of over ten thousand rmb a night at some of these places...

And two, because to actually know if shes smart or not, or if she knows what the hell shes doing...

... you have to be able to speak with her...

...and not conversational Chinese (either)...

Mob Boss and girls in KTV — Another photo of the mob boss inside yet another KTV. This is pretty typical for China.

I'm talking speaking in shanghainese for hours upon hours finding out what this person has up there...

...that's when you get the real picture...

...and sadly those foreigners are few and far between...

...I'm one of them, and funnily enough I never asked to be, but I have a nack for languages...

...and hustlin...

Just know that the KTV world is way more complex than it seems...

...and that with everything in life stereotypes exist for a reason, but there will always be exceptions to that rule..

...and in china...

...exceptions can be millions of girls who know exactly what they are doing and are taking advantage of rich men's horny tendencies and deserve a little more respect than most tend to give them...

I got a lot of respect for them gals.

Southernorthener

Oh and I forgot to say...

...I didn't know she was 17 either ! Hahahahah

Anyway...

...I know I'm no saint...

...and rereading this I'm wondering why the fuck I just said all that to a bunch of you-all strangers...

...but thing is I think I got a pretty unique outlook round these parts...

...and I read diaspora and china smack all day..

... (the) thing is I never comment, because I got funny grammar due to a lack of formal education...

...and I'm always a bit scared of being misunderstood or laughed at ...

...never found something I really wanted to comment about until now...

Diaspora is funny though...

Because I feel like backwards diaspora...

I've been here so long all my foreigner friends tell me I've become Chinese...

...and I came here so young and stupid, that I basically grew up here...

...plus I'm not even fully American, so I don't feel American, that's for sure...

...and to top it all off I live fully Chinese...

...to the point where people think I'm Chinese?!

They all think im xinjiangy...

...its kind of weird...

...in the end ...

...Chinese culture seems to go over the heads of the Chinese so much that I would find it fucking hard for most foreigners or ABC's or whatever to fully get it after a year or two or even five living here...

Also its so layered...

...there's cultures for every class...

...for every province for every city! There's languages for fuck sake between cities...

...you can expect huge culture differences as well...

...china reminds me a lot of America actually..,

...just more open about there Americaness than even Americans...

...cheating lying backstabbing bribery violence prostitution drugs...

Its what America was built on...

...yet know that we've kind of cleaned up certain aspects of our western lives we are here to point piss and shit in the general direction of the big red brother yeah?

I don't know..its all fucked isn't it.

Do you want more?

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Why the greedy oligarchy is destined to get its comeuppance when the Great Reset occurs

In 2016, Carol Highsmith got a cease-and-desist letter from Getty Images threatening to take her to court if she didn’t take down a photograph (shown above) she’d put up on her website.

This was strange—because she’d taken the photograph herself, and she’d put it in the public domain.

A few years before, Highsmith had donated 100,000 of her photographs to the Library of Congress so that they could be used royalty-free by anyone who wanted.

The Library of Congress saw it as “one of the greatest acts of generosity in the history of the Library”…

… and Getty Images, it seems, saw it as one of the greatest acts of a total sucker in the history of getting rich off of somebody else’s work.

They copyrighted 18,755 of Highsmith’s public domain photographs and started sending people cease-and-desist letters for using them—including Highsmith herself. Highsmith, full of righteous fury, took them to court for $1 billion. But the truly messed up part of this story is that it doesn’t have a happy ending.

The court ruled in Getty’s favor, saying: “Public domain works are regularly commercialized, and the original authors hold no power to stop this.”^[REF] In other words, even though Highsmith’s donation had given everyone the legal right to use her photographs for free, it didn’t stop Getty from threatening people into paying them money for them, anyway. (They still conceded that the letter sent to Highsmith was a mistake, but they got off with a slap on the wrist at the most.)

Anyone who wants to can go around demanding that people pay them for things that are in the public domain all that they want. Nobody actually has to pay them—but they’re under no obligation to tell anyone that fact.

What the fuck is going on here?

Well, you probably guessed it. You see, when an American does something nice, and tries to make the world a better place by offering things for free, or cheaply, or giving destitute people free haircuts, there is some evil son-of-a-bitch that is going to either have it stopped, and / or try to profit from it.

America has become a land of the “dog eat dog”, and this single-minded selfish behavior has resulted in the terrible America that exists today.

I do wish that I could say that this is a singular instance, but it’s not.

It’s the norm.

Inefficiency or fraud?

When you give money to an agency, you know like “Save the Children”, or “The Salvation Army”, or “Toys for Tots” you believe that most of what you will give will go straight to the charity’s good works. If, for instance, you gave $100 to an agency that helped homeless people living on the street, you should reasonably expect at least $90 out of the $100 to go towards helping people.

Unfortunately that is not the case.

For all their nice commercials and “feel-good” slogans, many of today’s largest American nonprofit organizations are extremely inefficient.

In fact, I argue that they are so inefficient that it is suggestive of something else. I argue that they are for-profit organizations that use the cover of “helping the needy” to swindle millions of dollars from people like you and I.

They are inefficient simply because they dedicate the majority of their resources to other aspects of their organization. Leaving little left over in the way of resources for their actual causes.

I know, I know, every organization has overhead costs, but a staggering number of charities today are way, way off the “deep end” in this regard.

At one time, the American Cancer Society spent only 26 percent of its national multibillion-dollar budget on actual medical research, allotting the other three-fourths to “operating expenses.”

American Cancer Society

26% - Medical Research
74% - Salaries, overhead, office furniture, "training sessions" in Los Vegas.

In 2005, the Phoenix New Times reported that the Arizona branch of the organization spent a gasp-inducing 95 percent on overhead costs. Yes, that is correct, and that meant that they left actual cancer victims “only the crumbs.”

Phoenix Arizona branch - American Cancer Society - 2005

05% - Money to people with cancer.
95% - Salaries, offices, cars, and other "incidentals" of the owners.

At the Arizona branch, the nonprofit spends 22 times as much on paying employees, maintaining the offices, and keeping the coffee machine running than on the cancer victims they are supposedly aiming to save.

Consider another cancer support organization…

A peer organization of the American Cancer Society, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, is also a mechanism to swindle money for personal profit. Still, the foundation, which organizes the annual Breast Cancer 3-Day walking events nationally, can only manage to put forward 13 cents to its cause for every dollar it raises. Those 3-Day t-shirts must be some pretty high quality cotton.

Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

13% - Helping people with cancer
87% - Salaries, bonuses, trips, office, coffee, etc.

Of course, inefficiency is hardly limited to cancer-fighting organizations. The Greenpeace Fund—widely known for its environmental and conservation goals—is among the least efficient of environmental charities. It commits upwards of 82 percent of its fundraising to overhead costs. Costly tree-hugging.

The Greenpeace Fund

18% - Goes to helping the environment.
82% - Salaries, bonuses, office, trips, and nice furnishings.

Several groups assess and rate nonprofits’ efficiency, equipping donors with the tools to pick their charities. Charity Navigator, one such group, ranks charities based on a five-star rating scale of efficiency and publishes data on the breakdown of nonprofits’ organizational spending.

Charity Navigator bestows only one star upon the American Cancer Society, while the marginally more efficient Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation wins three stars. The popular March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation wins a two-star efficiency rating for spending 82 cents of every dollar it raises on overhead costs.

March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation

18% - Helps families with children that have birth defects.
82% - Salaries, bonuses, overhead, offices

Americans, for all their supposed generosity, are not discerning enough when it comes to giving. They pour money into organizations like the American Cancer Society and the March of Dimes, because these organizations appeal to people’s publicity sensitivities.

Too many worthy and efficient nonprofits are pushed aside by massive money-eating charities because wealthy donors prefer to go to galas than to actually do something noteworthy and good.

Traditionally, the reasons to contribute to the health of society were fairly banal: [1] general compassion for others; [2] feeling good about yourself as you lie in bed at night pondering your life; [3] political gains; and [4] the occasional tax deduction.

But now, the charity culture has taken on new form.

In the new fundraising world, the strategy is making amusements. Charitable organizations attract philanthropists through “fun” incentives. Nonprofits organize events throughout the year that are booked as good times: the American Cancer Society puts on the Relay for Life event, and the March of Dimes Foundation organizes its famed annual walk to save premature babies— with its measly 18 cents per dollar raised.

Few people ask whether their money is being used wisely, but these events are wildly successful: Americans from a wide variety of demographics and socioeconomic networks turn up in droves. People are attracted to organizations like the American Cancer Society because they are glamorous and glitzy. The nonprofits pull in donors with promises of celebrity appearances and festive awareness-raising parties.

Although this trend of glamorous charity seems fantastic for the world of nonprofits, or at least innocuous, it is actually calamitous, because insincere philanthropy enables quasi-fraudulent inefficient charities.

Insincere philanthropy enables quasi-fraudulent inefficient charities.

What is going on?

We have people who donate their belongings for public consumption, and some greedy SOB tries to profit from it. We have charities that are supposed to help people, and then they run up huge enormous expenses with little to show for the very people that they are supposed to help.

When I lived in Indiana, I used to walk among the few remaining strands of trees that were not taken over by farm fields, and housing developments. My wife and I would walk on these shallow paths up and down the ravines, in and out through the wooded glades, and up and down the various streams.

I will never forget this one event.

It is was in Marion, Indiana. There was a new housing complex going up, and they were bull-dozing all the trees and virginal forests to make way for flat spaces to build roads and single story wood-frame buildings upon. We had just gotten out of a particularly dense section of the forest, when suddenly we encountered a pile of dirt and up-rooted trees. We had to climb over the mess to continue in the woods…

…and there I saw it.

It was a bent metal sign, on a metal post that was partially standing when the bulldozer plowed into it.

The sign was telling.

This land is donated by the XXXXXXX family to the City of Marion, Indiana on 1972 so that it may remain pristine and virginal to the end of time. May you and your children and their children forever have access to this area. Remember that the Lord is everywhere and the best way to see his good works is to experience it first hand. These lands are for you and your children to enjoy forever.

We went back down the path two weeks later. The sign was gone, and a construction team was laying down some asphalt where it used to be.

Suckers!

In America today, you get the over all impression that if you are not “on the hustle” then you are a fool and a rube and that you deserved to be swindled. Ah. many a good person has fallen for this contemporaneous belief, and it is wrong. It is really, really wrong.

You are not a fool for trying to help others.

It’s not you.

You are a victim of someone else to misrepresented themselves, their organization and their role in society. They themselves, have created a for-profit model this is vacuuming up money from everyone so that they can maintain their nice and lavish lifestyles.

In 2014, the March of Dimes received $196 million in revenue, with the majority ($187 million) from contributions, fundraising events, and grants (the other $9 million came from investment income, program services and other sources).

$96 million (49%) was spent on salaries, pensions, employee benefits, and payroll taxes. 129 individuals received more than $100,000 in compensation. 60 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation. 10 executives (President, Executive VP, Asst Secretary, Asst Treasurer, Medical Director and five Senior VP’s) received a collective $3.3 million (ranging from $255,000  to $510,000).

-Where does your $1 to March of Dimes go?

But, that is not all…

As I have ranted about this in other posts. I have argued that America is a nation where the common man dies a death by a million small paper-cuts. Whether it is an endless stream of taxes or fees, to all sorts of other “charges”, it is near impossible for the average American to save up any money at all.

Not that it matters to me. I don’t live there any longer.

But what about this comeuppance?

Ah.

Well, you see, our universe, and our reality is based upon thought. Right? And while we occupy a given particular world-line alone, it’s actually not an isolated world-line. It is instead connected to an “ocean” of other world-lines that are all inner-connected and wired up together.

And behaviors, and thoughts, and manifested emotions all tug on these interconnections in all sorts of ways.

You can call them as waves, as radiation, as fluxes within the universal void, as dark-matter or anything else you might want to refer them as. The point is that thoughts of others, not on your particular world-line, at any given moment, affects your world-line. It affects the templates. It affects the baseline. It affects how the paths, the arrows of time, are followed, and the rules for slides. It affects everything.

Well…

If you think good thoughts, and do good things, you can be assured that the universe will somehow bend to your advantage.

And..

If you think bad thoughts, and do bad hurtful and spiteful things, you can expect that the universe would also bend to your thoughts and create situations that would be very uncomfortable for you.

And…

If you use people, treat them as dupes all on the promise that you are "helping people" then you can be rest assured that this will have an equally hurtful effect upon your life.

So, while I cannot predict what will happen in each individual case, I can pretty much confirm that bad people will get to experience some bad things. And good people, will get to experience some good things, and greedy people will get to experience A GREAT LOSS OF MONEY AND STANDARD OF LIVING.

It’s the way the universe works.

And the oligarchy…

Well you can run, and you can hide, but the universe has a way of sniffing you out. You will most certainly get your comeuppance.

Do you want more?

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You can find out more about the author HERE.
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Law 29 Plan all the way to the end (full text) from the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.

This is the free full text in glorious HTML of law 29 from Robert Greene’s work titled “The 48 Laws of Power”. This law is titled “Plan all the way to the end”. It is a great read, and contains a lot of wisdom on many levels. Indeed, anyone who has ever managed a project can attest to the validity of this law.

LAW 29

PLAN ALL THE WAY TO THE END

JUDGMENT

The ending is everything.

Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others.

By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop.

Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

In 1510 a ship set out from the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) for Venezuela, where it was to rescue a besieged Spanish colony.

Several miles out of port, a stowaway climbed out of a provision chest: Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a noble Spaniard who had come to the New World in search of gold but had fallen into debt and had escaped his creditors by hiding in the chest.

There are very few men—and they are the exceptions—who are able to think and feel beyond the present moment.

-CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ, 1780-1831

Balboa had been obsessed with gold ever since Columbus had returned to Spain from his voyages with tales of a fabulous but as yet undiscovered kingdom called El Dorado.

Balboa was one of the first adventurers to come in search of Columbus’s land of gold, and he had decided from the beginning that he would be the one to find it, through sheer audacity and single-mindedness.

Now that he was free of his creditors, nothing would stop him.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa could very well be represented by the Character Aguirre in “The Wrath of God”.

Unfortunately the ship’s owner, a wealthy jurist named Francisco Fer nández de Enciso, was furious when told of the stowaway, and he ordered that Balboa be left on the first island they came across.

Before they found any island, however, Enciso received news that the colony he was to rescue had been abandoned.

This was Balboa’s chance.

He told the sailors of his previous voyages to Panama, and of the rumors he had heard of gold in the area.

The excited sailors convinced Enciso to spare Balboa’s life, and to establish a colony in Panama.

Weeks later they named their new settlement “Darien.”

Darien’s first governor was Enciso, but Balboa was not a man to let others steal the initiative. He campaigned against Enciso among the sailors, who eventually made it clear that they preferred him as governor.

Enciso fled to Spain, fearing for his life.

Months later, when a representative of the Spanish crown arrived to establish himself as the new, official governor of Darien, he was turned away.

On his return voyage to Spain, this man drowned; the drowning was accidental, but under Spanish law, Balboa had murdered the governor and usurped his position.

Balboa’s bravado had got him out of scrapes before, but now his hopes of wealth and glory seemed doomed.

To lay claim to El Dorado, should he discover it, he would need the approval of the Spanish king—which, as an outlaw, he would never receive.

There was only one solution. Panamanian Indians had told Balboa of a vast ocean on the other side of the Central American isthmus, and had said that by traveling south upon this western coast, he would reach a fabulous land of gold, called by a name that to his ears sounded like “Biru.”

Balboa decided he would cross the treacherous jungles of Panama and become the first European to bathe his feet in this new ocean.

From there he would march on El Dorado. If he did this on Spain’s behalf, he would obtain the eternal gratitude of the king, and would secure his own reprieve—only he had to act before Spanish authorities came to arrest him.

THE TWO FROGS

Two frogs dwelt in the same pool. The pool being dried up under the summer’s heat, they left it, and set out together to seek another home. 

As they went along they chanced to pass a deep well, amply supplied with water, on seeing which one of the frogs said to the other: “Let us descend and make our abode in this well, it will furnish us with shelter and food.” The other replied with greater caution: “But suppose the water should fail us, how can we get out again from so great a depth?” 

Do nothing without a regard to the consequences.

-FABLES, AESOP, SIXTH CENTURY B.C.

In 1513, then, Balboa set out, with 190 soldiers. Halfway across the isthmus (some ninety miles wide at that point), only sixty soldiers remained, many having succumbed to the harsh conditions—the blood-sucking insects, the torrential rainfall, fever.

Finally, from a mountaintop, Balboa became the first European to lay eyes on the Pacific Ocean. Days later he marched in his armor into its waters, bearing the banner of Castile and claiming all its seas, lands, and islands in the name of the Spanish throne.

Look to the end, no matter what it is you are considering. Often enough, God gives a man a glimpse of happiness, and then utterly ruins him.

-THE HISTORIES, HERODOTUS, FIFTH CENTURY B.C.

Indians from the area greeted Balboa with gold, jewels, and precious pearls, the like of which he had never seen.

When he asked where these had come from, the Indians pointed south, to the land of the Incas. But Balboa had only a few soldiers left. For the moment, he decided, he should return to Darien, send the jewels and gold to Spain as a token of good will, and ask for a large army to aid him in the conquest of El Dorado.

When news reached Spain of Balboa’s bold crossing of the isthmus, his discovery of the western ocean, and his planned conquest of El Dorado, the former criminal became a hero.

He was instantly proclaimed governor of the new land.

But before the king and queen received word of his discovery, they had already sent a dozen ships, under the command of a man named Pedro Arias Dávila, “Pedrarias,” with orders to arrest Balboa for murder and to take command of the colony.

By the time Pedrarias arrived in Panama, he had learned that Balboa had been pardoned, and that he was to share the governorship with the former outlaw.

All the same, Balboa felt uneasy.

Gold was his dream, El Dorado his only desire.

In pursuit of this goal he had nearly died many times over, and to share the wealth and glory with a newcomer would be intolerable.

He also soon discovered that Pedrarias was a jealous, bitter man, and equally unhappy with the situation. Once again, the only solution for Balboa was to seize the initiative by proposing to cross the jungle with a larger army, carrying ship-building materials and tools.

Once on the Pacific coast, he would create an armada with which to conquer the Incas.

Surprisingly enough, Pedrarias agreed to the plan—perhaps sensing it would never work.

Hundreds died in this second march through the jungle, and the timber they carried rotted in the torrential rains.

Balboa, as usual, was undaunted—no power in the world could thwart his plan—and on arriving at the Pacific he began to cut down trees for new lumber. But the men remaining to him were too few and too weak to mount an invasion, and once again Balboa had to return to Darien.

Pedrarias had in any case invited Balboa back to discuss a new plan, and on the outskirts of the settlement, the explorer was met by Francisco Pizarro, an old friend who had accompanied him on his first crossing of the isthmus.

But this was a trap: Leading one hundred soldiers, Pizarro surrounded his former friend, arrested him, and returned him to Pedrarias, who tried him on charges of rebellion.

A few days later Balboa’s head fell into a basket, along with those of his most trusted followers. Years later Pizarro himself reached Peru, and Balboa’s deeds were forgotten.

THE KING. THE SUFI. AND THE SURGEON

In ancient times a king of Tartary was out walking with some of his noblemen. At the roadside was an abdal (a wandering Sufi), who cried out: “Whoever will give me a hundred dinars, I will give him some good advice.” 

The king stopped, and said: “Abdal, what is this good advice for a hundred dinars?” 

“Sir,” answered the abdal, “order the sum to be given to me, and I will tell it you immediately.” 

The king did so, expecting to hear something extraordinary. 

The dervish said to him: “My advice is this: Never begin anything until you have reflected what will be the end of it.” 

At this the nobles and everyone else present laughed, saying that the abdal had been wise to ask for his money in advance. 

But the king said: “You have no reason to laugh at the good advice this abdal has given me. No one is unaware of the fact that we should think well before doing anything. But we are daily guilty of not remembering, and the consequences are evil. I very much value this dervish’s advice. ”

The king decided to bear the advice always in his mind, and commanded it to be written in gold on the walls and even engraved on his silver plate.

Not long afterward a plotter desired to kill the king. 

He bribed the royal surgeon with a promise of the prime ministership if he thrust a poisoned lancet into the king’s arm. 

When the time came to let some of the king’s blood, a silver basin was placed to catch the blood. 

Suddenly the surgeon became aware of the words engraved upon it: “Never begin anything until you have reflected what will be the end of it. ” 

It was only then that he realized that if the plotter became king he could have the surgeon killed instantly, and would not need to fulfill his bargain.

The king, seeing that the surgeon was now trembling, asked him what was wrong with him. And so he confessed the truth, at that very moment.The plotter was seized; and the king sent for all the people who had been present when the abdal gave his advice, and said to them: “Do you still laugh at the dervish?”

-CARAVAN OF DREAMS. IDRIES SHAH, 1968

Interpretation

Most men are ruled by the heart, not the head.

Their plans are vague, and when they meet obstacles they improvise.

But improvisation will only bring you as far as the next crisis, and is never a substitute for thinking several steps ahead and planning to the end.

Balboa had a dream of glory and wealth, and a vague plan to reach it.

Yet his bold deeds, and his discovery of the Pacific, are largely forgotten, for he committed what in the world of power is the ultimate sin: He went part way, leaving the door open for others to take over.

A real man of power would have had the prudence to see the dangers in the distance—the rivals who would want to share in the conquests, the vultures that would hover once they heard the word “gold.”

Balboa should have kept his knowledge of the Incas secret until after he had conquered Peru.

Only then would his wealth, and his head, have been secure.

Once Pedrarias arrived on the scene, a man of power and prudence would have schemed to kill or imprison him, and to take over the army he had brought for the conquest of Peru.

But Balboa was locked in the moment, always reacting emotionally, never thinking ahead.

What good is it to have the greatest dream in the world if others reap the benefits and the glory? Never lose your head over a vague, open-ended dream—plan to the end.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

In 1863 the Prussian premier Otto von Bismarck surveyed the chessboard of European power as it then stood. The main players were England, France, and Austria.

Prussia itself was one of several states in the loosely allied German Federation.

Austria, dominant member of the Federation, made sure that the other German states remained weak, divided and submissive.

Bismarck believed that Prussia was destined for something far greater than servant boy to Austria.

This is how Bismarck played the game. His first move was to start a war with lowly Denmark, in order to recover the former Prussian lands of Schleswig-Holstein. He knew that these rumblings of Prussian independence might worry France and England, so he enlisted Austria in the war, claiming that he was recovering Schleswig-Holstein for their benefit.

In a few months, after the war was decided, Bismarck demanded that the newly conquered lands be made part of Prussia.

The Austrians of course were furious, but they compromised: First they agreed to give the Prussians Schleswig, and a year later they sold them Holstein. The world began to see that Austria was weakening and that Prussia was on the rise.

Bismarck’s next move was his boldest: In 1866 he convinced King William of Prussia to withdraw from the German Federation, and in doing so to go to war with Austria itself.

King William’s wife, his son the crown prince, and the princes of the other German kingdoms vehemently opposed such a war.

But Bismarck, undaunted, succeeded in forcing the conflict, and Prussia’s superior army defeated the Austrians in the brutally short Seven Weeks War.

The king and the Prussian generals then wanted to march on Vienna, taking as much land from Austria as possible.

But Bismarck stopped them—now he presented himself as on the side of peace.

The result was that he was able to conclude a treaty with Austria that granted Prussia and the other German states total autonomy.

Bismarck could now position Prussia as the dominant power in Germany and the head of a newly formed North German Confederation.

The French and the English began to compare Bismarck to Attila the Hun, and to fear that he had designs on all of Europe.

Once he had started on the path to conquest, there was no telling where he would stop.

And, indeed, three years later Bismarck provoked a war with France.

First he appeared to give his permission to France’s annexation of Belgium, then at the last moment he changed his mind.

Playing a cat-and-mouse game, he infuriated the French emperor, Napoleon III, and stirred up his own king against the French. To no one’s surprise, war broke out in 1870. The newly formed German federation enthusiastically joined in the war on France, and once again the Prussian military machine and its allies destroyed the enemy army in a matter of months.

Although Bismarck opposed taking any French land, the generals convinced him that Alsace-Lorraine would become part of the federation.

Now all of Europe feared the next move of the Prussian monster, led by Bismarck, the “Iron Chancellor.” And in fact a year later Bismarck founded the German Empire, with the Prussian king as the newly crowned emperor and Bismarck himself a prince.

But then something strange happened: Bismarck instigated no more wars.

And while the other European powers grabbed up land for colonies in other continents, he severely limited Germany’s colonial acquisitions.

He did not want more land for Germany, but more security.

For the rest of his life he struggled to maintain peace in Europe and to prevent further wars. Everybody assumed he had changed, mellowing with the years. They had failed to understand: This was the final move of his original plan.

He who asks fortune-tellers the future unwittingly forfeits an inner intimation of coming events that is a thousand times more exact than anything they may say.

-WALTER BENJAMIN, 1892-1940

Interpretation

There is a simple reason why most men never know when to come off the attack: They form no concrete idea of their goal.

Once they achieve victory they only hunger for more.

To stop—to aim for a goal and then keep to it—seems almost inhuman, in fact; yet nothing is more critical to the maintenance of power.

The person who goes too far in his triumphs creates a reaction that inevitably leads to a decline.

The only solution is to plan for the long run.

Foresee the future with as much clarity as the gods on Mount Olympus, who look through the clouds and see the ends of all things.

From the beginning of his career in politics, Bismarck had one goal: to form an independent German state led by Prussia. He instigated the war with Denmark not to conquer territory but to stir up Prussian nationalism and unite the country. He incited the war with Austria only to gain Prussian independence. (This was why he refused to grab Austrian territory.) And he fomented the war with France to unite the German kingdoms against a common enemy, and thus to prepare for the formation of a united Germany.

Once this was achieved, Bismarck stopped. He never let triumph go to his head, was never tempted by the siren call of more. He held the reins tightly, and whenever the generals, or the king, or the Prussian people demanded new conquests, he held them back. Nothing would spoil the beauty of his creation, certainly not a false euphoria that pushed those around him to attempt to go past the end that he had so carefully planned.

Experience shows that, if one foresees from far away the designs to be
undertaken, one can act with speed when the moment comes to execute them.

-Cardinall Richelieu, 1585-1642

KEYS TO POWER

According to the cosmology of the ancient Greeks, the gods were thought to have complete vision into the future. They saw everything to come, right down to the intricate details.

Men, on the other hand, were seen as victims of fate, trapped in the moment and their emotions, unable to see beyond immediate dangers. Those heroes, such as Odysseus, who were able to look beyond the present and plan several steps ahead, seemed to defy fate, to approximate the gods in their ability to determine the future. The comparison is still valid—those among us who think further ahead and patiently bring their plans to fruition seem to have a godlike power.

Because most people are too imprisoned in the moment to plan with this kind of foresight, the ability to ignore immediate dangers and pleasures translates into power.

It is the power of being able to overcome the natural human tendency to react to things as they happen, and instead to train oneself to step back, imagining the larger things taking shape beyond one’s immediate vision.

Most people believe that they are in fact aware of the future, that they are planning and thinking ahead.

They are usually deluded: What they are really doing is succumbing to their desires, to what they want the future to be. Their plans are vague, based on their imaginations rather than their reality.

They may believe they are thinking all the way to the end, but they are really only focusing on the happy ending, and deluding themselves by the strength of their desire.

Athens

In 415 B.C., the ancient Athenians attacked Sicily, believing their expedition would bring them riches, power, and a glorious ending to the sixteen-year Peloponnesian War.

They did not consider the dangers of an invasion so far from home; they did not foresee [1] that the Sicilians would fight all the harder since the battles were in their own homeland, or [2] that all of Athens’s enemies would band together against them, or [3] that war would break out on several fronts, stretching their forces way too thin.

The Sicilian expedition was a complete disaster, leading to the destruction of one of the greatest civilizations of all time.

The Athenians were led into this disaster by their hearts, not their minds. They saw only the chance of glory, not the dangers that loomed in the distance.

France

Cardinal de Retz, the seventeenth-century Frenchman who prided himself on his insights into human schemes and why they mostly fail, analyzed this phenomenon.

In the course of a rebellion he spearheaded against the French monarchy in 1651, the young king, Louis XIV, and his court had suddenly left Paris and established themselves in a palace outside the capital.

The presence of the king so close to the heart of the revolution had been a tremendous burden on the revolutionaries, and they breathed a sigh of relief.

This later proved their downfall, however, since the court’s absence from Paris gave it much more room to maneuver.

“The most ordinary cause of people’s mistakes,” Cardinal de Retz later wrote, “is their being too much frightened at the present danger, and not enough so at that which is remote.”

The dangers that are remote, that loom in the distance—if we can see them as they take shape, how many mistakes we avoid.

How many plans we would instantly abort if we realized we were avoiding a small danger only to step into a larger one. So much of power is not what you do but what you do not do—the rash and foolish actions that you refrain from before they get you into trouble.

Plan in detail before you act—do not let vague plans lead you into trouble.

Will this have unintended consequences? Will I stir up new enemies? Will someone else take advantage of my labors? Unhappy endings are much more common than happy ones—do not be swayed by the happy ending in your mind.

French Elections

The French elections of 1848 came down to a struggle between Louis-Adolphe Thiers, the man of order, and General Louis Eugène Cavaignac, the rabble-rouser of the right.

When Thiers realized he was hopelessly behind in this high-stakes race, he searched desperately for a solution.

His eye fell on Louis Bonaparte, grand-nephew of the great general Napoleon, and a lowly deputy in the parliament.

This Bonaparte seemed a bit of an imbecile, but his name alone could get him elected in a country yearning for a strong ruler.

He would be Thiers’s puppet and eventually would be pushed offstage.

The first part of the plan worked to perfection, and Napoleon was elected by a large margin.

The problem was that Thiers had not foreseen one simple fact: This “imbecile” was in fact a man of enormous ambition.

Three years later he [1] dissolved parliament, [2] declared himself emperor, and [3] ruled France for another eighteen years, much to the horror of Thiers and his party.

The ending is everything. It is the end of the action that determines who gets the glory, the money, the prize. Your conclusion must be crystal clear, and you must keep it constantly in mind. You must also figure out how to ward off the vultures circling overhead, trying to live off the carcass of your creation. And you must anticipate the many possible crises that will tempt you to improvise. Bismarck overcame these dangers because he planned to the end, kept on course through every crisis, and never let others steal the glory. Once he had reached his stated goal, he withdrew into his shell like a turtle. This kind of self-control is godlike.

When you see several steps ahead, and plan your moves all the way to the end, you will no longer be tempted by emotion or by the desire to improvise. Your clarity will rid you of the anxiety and vagueness that are the primary reasons why so many fail to conclude their actions successfully. You see the ending and you tolerate no deviation.

Image:
The Gods on
Mount Olympus.
Looking down on
human actions from the
clouds, they see in advance the
endings of all the great dreams that
lead to disaster and tragedy. And
they laugh at our inability to see beyond
the moment, and at how we delude ourselves.

Authority: How much easier it is never to get in than to get yourself out! We should act contrary to the reed which, when it first appears, throws up a long straight stem but afterwards, as though it were exhausted ... makes several dense knots, indicating that it no longer has its original vigor and drive. We must rather begin gently and coolly, saving our breath for the encounter and our vigorous thrusts for finishing off the job. In their beginnings it is we who guide affairs and hold them in our power; but so often once they are set in motion, it is they which guide us and sweep us along. 

(Montaigne, 1533-1592)

REVERSAL

It is a cliché among strategists that your plan must include alternatives and have a degree of flexibility. That is certainly true. If you are locked into a plan too rigidly, you will be unable to deal with sudden shifts of fortune. Once you have examined the future possibilities and decided on your target, you must build in alternatives and be open to new routes toward your goal.

Most people, however, lose less from overplanning and rigidity than from vagueness and a tendency to improvise constantly in the face of circumstance. There is no real purpose in contemplating a reversal to this Law, then, for no good can come from refusing to think far into the future and planning to the end. If you are clear- and far-thinking enough, you will understand that the future is uncertain, and that you must be open to adaptation. Only having a clear objective and a far-reaching plan allows you that freedom.

Conclusion

Today we see the United States, led by Donald Trump trying unsuccessfully to “suppress” China. We see and watch China just continuing on as normal. Just smiling and investing money on new constructions and investments.

Donald Trump might have a long term strategy, but it appears that all his actions are focused on the resultant opinions of the American electorate. This is a short-term strategy. It is seemingly focused on the results of the November 3rd 2020 election results.

Meanwhile, the Chinese, though Xi Peng are investing in ten, twenty and fifty year duration projects along a vision that describes China in 2030, 2030 and 2050.

While no one knows what will happen between these two nations, what we can be assured of is that China will be following the paths mapped out by the Chinese leadership today, while the Americans within America will run from one objective to the other without any apparent cohesive strategy.

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Death by a zillion paper cuts, with holes in your wallet. A look at life back in the 1970’s.

I’m not going rehash what has happened since the late 1960’s to the present. It’s pretty obvious. Everyone in America started to monetize everything. Nothing was off limits, and now today, you have to pay for everything. Everything in America comes with a price and nothing is free any longer. It happened in America and the other Western “democracies” followed America’s lead. The UK, Canada, Australia all became enraptured towards money… money… money. All with zero thought going towards how the society would change in the process.

Here, I am just going to remind everyone about some things about everyday life before Americans were turned into “cash cows” for others to profit from.

Introduction

I am minding my own business when I came across this comment…

It wasn't all that long ago that you could come out of High School, get a job, start a family, and the two of you could raise the kids with one staying home to do so while the other went off to work. It might not be glamorous but you could make it work in a decent little 3br, 1ba house. Four people, three bedrooms, a couple sharing one and one for each kid. Television was free over the air, not $100 a month for a "package" from DISH or a cable company. I grew up in one of those houses; there was no A/C, the phone was on a desk with a cord going into the wall and long-distance calls were $2/minute -- and that was when $2 would buy you a pound of high-quality steak!

Well, I have been musing about this for some time.

I have mentioned this to others, and they just laugh at me.

My conservative friends tell me that it’s simply because of inflation. But that is a good thing because look at all the cool things we have today. Like ATM’s, computers, cell phones, and the Internet. Inflation is a sign of progress.

My liberal friends tell that this is a sign of change. Change is good. We don’t want women to be oppressed and toiling alone in the kitchen all day, being barefoot and pregnant. We need things to be higher cost to make the world a better place.

Um.

I think that are both rationalizing everything.

But it did get me to thinking. And I started to think about my boyhood days growing up in Western Pennsylvania. Ah. It’s certainly a beautiful place. let me tell you.

Typical Pennsylvania with hills and meandering rivers and streams, with old railroad lines that followed the rivers through the large wooded lands.

Here’s some of the many things that we pay for without even thinking about it…

Water was free!

When I was young, water was free. No shit! It came out of the tap in these mechanisms known as “drinking fountains”. You would be able to walk up to one and press the lever and a nice stream of ice-cold, refrigerated, water would come out for you to have.

Public drinking fountain in Dallas Texas. It is quite popular and creates quite the sensation.

When I was young, these drinking fountains were everywhere, and contrary to the contemporaneous narrative about “racism”, I never saw a “white” only drinking fountain. That was something reserved for the Southern States like Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama. I grew up in the mid-West. Our water fountains were either white ceramic or sheet metal affairs.

There weren’t any signs about color.

It was very common to grab a quick drink from one of these contraptions. It wasn’t until I was in High School that the school district allowed vending machines to be installed in the school. The Senior Class would be able to make money from these vending machines to collect money for various school activities. This would be supplemented by such things as school dances, parades, bake sales, and candy bar drives.

When growing up, we would drink from the water hose. It was always very warm from the sun, and tasted like plastic. It had a bronze contraption at the end like a miniature fireman’s hose. You could twist the mechanism by turning it. It would change the water from a spray into a tight laser-beam that you could use to water distant parts of the yard with (and clean away tough debris).

When I was in sixth grade or so, my father hooked up this micro mini water fountain to the water faucet at the side of the house. It was identical to that of drinking water from the lawn hose. Except that it didn’t taste like like plastic. It was just room temperature water that came straight from the tap. It was nearly identical to that of drinking from the kitchen sink.

It was identical to this…

Boyhood adventures

When we were out hiking or riding our bikes, we would drink from our canteens, or from a hand-pump well. These hand pumps were large metal contraptions that were placed all over the rural covered wells. This happened sometime around the 1940’s I guess. As children and folk had a tendency to fall down the sides of these wells. Not a good thing, don’t you know.

Most of the time the hand-pump would be a cast steel mechanism that sat on top of a cement platform. We would, as kids, pump the handle furiously, and after about five to eight pumps water would start gushing out. One person would pump the water while the other person would try to drink from the fountain. We would either use cupped hands or put our open mouth under the spigot. We would also use this fountain to fill up our army surplus canteens, or boy scout canteens.

Cast iron, or cast steel, hand water pump.

Now, along side the rural roads of Western Pennsylvania were all sorts of natural mountain springs. Here, you really didn’t need a pump at all. You would just dip your hands into the cool water and take a drink, or a gulp of ice cool refreshing water. The water came from a multitude of artesian wells. Some of which had access in the back yards of many a home and farm, but many were also right there along side the roads.

In almost every case, these wells came from a rusty pipe that was shoved into the side of a hill. It would pour out a continuous flow of water and would empty into an old galvanized tub or other such arrangement. Sometimes it would be an old massive kitchen sink, while other times it would be something else. At all times the tub would be murky with moss and other plants associated with it. It would also be mostly overgrown with the typical shrubbery of back road Pennsylvania, such as blackberry bushes, and elderberry vines.

Many rural folk, who lived far away from the towns would make weekly trips to these springs and fill up as many buckets and bottles that they could fit in their truck. They claimed that the water tasted much better than the purified tap water. I would tend to agree with them. The minerals in the water certainly made the water taste nice.

The only problem of course, was thirty years later when I ended up with kidney stones from drinking all that hard water. But, as you can guess, that’s another story for another time. And no, it’s not directly traced back to the Pennsylvania springs.

Coke-Cola

Oh, and yes…

There were coke machines. A bottle of coke ran you ten cents, but you needed to drink it right there, and put the bottle back in the wooden box besides the machine. But, I’ll tell you that the glass bottle was really thick and heavy. It felt good in your hand. It fit it well.

Coke machine that dispensed in bottles. The cost was ten cents per bottle, and you had to replaced the used bottle in a wooden crate next to the machine.

Also, it was cold. Ohhh man! So very cold. No, I’m not talking about a refrigerator temperature, I am talking about frosty cold, like borderline freezer temperatures. These were fine memories when you would be able to drink a frosty ice-cold coke for a dime, and relax a spell.

When I got my first job, we had a soda dispensing machine. In it were cans of soda. But none of them had pull up tabs until the mid 1970’s. Instead you needed to use this pointed can opener that hung by the side to punch a triangular hole in the top of the can to drink from.

It would hang on the side of the soda machine by a dirty white string. No one ever took it, or stole it or anything like that. No one even thought about doing so. It was a different time, and people thought differently.

The opener had a sharp pointy side for opening cans, and a blunt rounded end for opening bottles and popping the tops off…

Vintage Vaughn USA 58 Bottle Opener Can Opener, 3.5″ Long

This was used for sodas and just about everything else. This was true with beer as well. When those pull up tabs were introduced, it revolutionized everything! Let me tell you!

A special Event

But really, and quite seriously, drinking soda (or pop) was really a “special” occurrence. For the most part we drank water, milk or Kool-Aide. This was a powder that our mothers would mix with water and put in the refrigerator for us to drink. It came in different flavors like cherry, strawberry and orange. You heat up some water, add the powder, and then add a ton load of white sugar. Stir. Place in the refrigerator.

Easy peasy. Lemon squeezy.

At Supper, we would have a big glass of milk or water. Both would be very cold. Winter or Summer. Cold beverages was considered a good thing. In fact, if we had water at the table, you can guarantee that it was served with ice cubes. Frosty. Oh, so very frosty.

But the soda, well that was for visits to our grandparents.

Typical Pittsburgh basement. Our grandparents would store cases of beer and soda on the stairs leading down to the basement.

Prior to every visit, our grandparents would go to the “State Store” and buy some cases of beer and soda for us kids. These cases would sit in the cool basement, and while we were visiting, we would be able to drink all the soda that we were capable of.

Now, in Pennsylvania the only place your could buy alcohol is though a “State Store”. These are government stores that enable you to buy booze. They had the distinction of being open during government hours, and tended to be inconvenient. So what we all would do is make a “beer run” prior to the weekend to stock up on the libations for the weekend.

Now of course, things are different.

You can buy beer in convenience stores, and other places that are so authorized. But in those days the government had a complete monopoly on the distribution of alcohol. Why? Well, it was for the children, don’t you know.

Today…

I would say that most people who drink soda would probably get it as part of a fast food meal. My guess is that this would be the greatest revenue generation source. Aside from that they would purchase these huge… HUGE… bottles of mega-cola from Walmart or some other retailer.

Judging from the appearance of most Americans, I would guess that they drink a lot of sugary drinks.

They also might like to buy a bottled water from a 7-11 or some other convenience store. They come in all sizes and shapes. They are pretty cheap.

But…

Not as cheap as in “free”. Don’t you know.

Which is where I will make this important point. Most expensive bottled water is nothing more than plain tap water put in a nice bottle and assigned a heavy price. Just like this picture so clearly indicates…

Students at Humboldt State University created this display to educate peers on the perceived ills of bottled water, ahead of a campus-wide ban.

And we know that most bottled water is simply repackaged tap water. Because we have tested the water and that is exactly what it is…

So… when?

So why am I ranting on so? What is the point that I am trying to make? Why does this matter? And what is the point of all of this?

When did we reach this point where we all thought it was fine to start paying for things that were free? When did we start tearing out the water fountains, and buying plastic bottles of water?

Not only that…

When did we stop getting free packs of stick matches at the restaurant counters everywhere, to buying disposable lighters? At what point in time did we think that paying for a disposable lighter was a more attractive option than a free package of matches?

Or…

When did the transformation from a blue plate meal in a unique family restaurant be replaced with a fast food pre-packaged burger in a styrofoam package? What ever happened to the heavy white plates? The thick (bang on the counter) mug of coffee, and the sprig of parsley at the side of the plate?

Or…

At what point in time were washable linen tablecloths replaced with plastic tabletops, cloth napkins with paper tissue, and silverware replaced with disposable plastic cutlery? Why did everyone switch from reusable linens, to disposable plastic? Why are only the establishments that cater to the wealthy retaining the old ways?

Or even worse…

When did buying a tea, or a decaffeinated coffee at a fast food restaurant equate a hot paper cup of water and a package of mix? What’s the point?

Ah. But no one asks these questions. No one does.

But they should. You should.

Why do we line up to the “self service” pump to pump our own gas? Why not have the Gas Station Attendant take care of it for us? Is it really about saving money like we have been led to believe…?
Why do Americans still pay using paper checks instead of QR code?
If cigarettes, cigars, beer, and alcohol can be banned from the workplace “for the children”, then why not unhealthy food, candy, and coffee? And why the workplace, I thought that children couldn’t work until they were of age?

Which makes you wonder…

At what point in time did we allow someone to place the dividing line between what is allowable and what is illegal and give up our own personal decision making process? Since when are there others who can decide what is best for us? Who assigned them to be better than us…

Who?

In 1913, a group of oligarchs decided that everyone must pay taxes and report all their financial transactions to the federal government.

Well, it is 2020. How did it all work out?

In the 1970’s glass fibers were banned from use. This resulted in most buildings (above the first floor) in the small cities and towns of America being empty and uninhabitable. This in turn, contributed to people moving outside and away from these community centers. Thus creating sprawling suburbs and a decay of down-town community life.

Who was the genius that thought this all up?

Everything is interconnected

Everything is interconnected. You change one thing, and other things will change. Often the smallest change might result in a great deal of massive changes. Changes that might alter the fabric of society.

You make a law that trash can only be collect on Thursday, and the trash from the weekends will pile up in big heaps on the sidewalks.

Thus making children walk on the streets to avoid the refuse.

Thus creating a dangerous situation for the children and the drivers of the cars.

Eventually, someone will get hit.

All because someone made a law by proclamation.

Now, it’s very difficult to pin-point singular changes.

There were other contributing factors.

In the case of the banning of asbestos glass fibers, there were studies that pointed to dangers. And yes, there were other changes going on at the same time. Such as changes in the work-place, and others all within society. And yes, all of these contributed to the end results. And, to be honest, no one could actually predict what the long term consequences would be of their decision making.

But no one cared. All they cared about was the short term impacts. Or, as we like to say in the USA, “the bottom line for the fiscal quarter”.

The United States might officially pretend to work in one way. However, the United States functionally operates pretty much like this;

Someone wants a change.
Money exchanges hands.
One person gets very rich.
The public accepts the changes.

Time passes…

Consequences of these changes are felt.
More money exchanges between different hands.
New laws and rules are made.
The public accepts the new changes on top of the old changes.

After over two centuries of this, America is [1] a nation of rules, and laws, on top of [2] rules and laws, on top of [3] rules and laws, on top of [4] rules and laws…

It’s a mess.

And the people are upset. And they are starting to lash out.

This is not how to run anything. Not a business. Not a sports team. Not a game. Not a town. Not a factory. Not a school. Not a train. Not an airplane. You cannot run ANYTHING in this way. Things cannot operate in a sustainable manner if you conduct business this way.

Just imagine operating a business like this. Just imagine. 

You run a restaurant. A customer comes in give you $1000 to stop serving bacon. You stop serving bacon. Half of the customers stop coming in.

Another gives you $500 to play advertisements at rock-concert levels.

Another gives you $750 to house livestock in the kitchen.

Two years of this, and the restaurant would be a complete and total wreck.

You just cannot.

Which is why the United States is in such a mess right now.

China used to be like this

Yup. China used to be like this.

The Beijing leadership would act like autocratic king, and make proclamations. Much like is being done in America today. This is America today…

You MUST have permission to fish.
Tiktok is banned. No American is permitted to own, use or have it on their phones.
WeChat is banned. Don’t even think about having anything to do with it.
Chinese students are banned from Attending American universities.
You are forbidden to eat sunny-side-up eggs.
You are forbidden to drink jumbo-sized cokes and soft drinks.

China was like this too.

Then, after a great deal of turmoil, China changed. This received scant reports in the American media, but it was earth-shattering in China. It was called “The Cultural Revolution”, and it forced the government to come up with new ways of doing things. Maybe you heard about it, eh?

Here, a proposal is made…

A trial run is conducted.
Results are weighed in pros and cons.
A pilot run is conducted with the improvements.
Results are again weighed in pros and cons.
Implementation phase on a local / state level.
Again results are monitored over set period of time.
A go / no go decision is reached. To either scrap the process, or improve it, or leave as is.

Since this has been implemented in just about every level within China, the implementation of changes has become rapid and successful. Bad ideas are quickly discarded, while good ones are retained.

Of course, no one in the West knows any of this. To them, China is a “regime” run by the evil communist party who makes rules and laws and squashes the helpless citizenry yearning for “freedom” and “democracy”. Ah. All so that America can gin up support for world war III.

Nonsense.

America needs to step up to the plate and up it’s game.

It’s probably too late to do so in any meaningful way.

But…

It’s better late than never.

Oh where was I…

Oh, yeah.

Water.

Water is your most essential consumable. If you do not have fresh potable water, you will die. We have become accustomed to getting water at will. Whether it is from a water fountain, or from a bottle that you pay for in a store, it is something that we take for granted.

Were I to be an evil person, I would secure access to water. So that only those whom I wanted could drink and use it. The rest of the water would be of questionable quality. For all it takes is to drink some bad water and you get a bacterial or viral infection. And if you don’t have antibiotics…

…you will die.

Water is something that we take for granted. We see shelves and shelves of bottled water. We assume that they are good and potable. We see water run out of the tap and take long luxurious showers in it. We never stop to think what it would be like were we to be forced to collect water from a nearby muddy stream or from catch basins.

Conclusion

Water is good, and a valuable part of life. We, in our comfort, have taken it’s availability for granted. We really shouldn’t. back one hundred years ago baths were once a month activity. Water, potable water was a treasure, and all farms and communities husbanded their water supplies.

While I greatly lament the monetization of nearly everything in the United States, we must realize that that this is an artificial reality. Water, like air, and shelter are necessary to life. Those that try to profit from these basics are those that do not care about your life, your family or your well being.

And any government that allows this, should be replaced with one that does.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Happiness Index here…

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What is freedom?

In this post we will address one of the most common misconceptions found in the world. We will address what freedom is and what it is not. And the reason why we are going to do so is simply because brutish rulers use the ignorance of their people to enslave them. And part of that enslavement is to convince them that they have this intangible “thing”; this “freedom”. And, if you are one of those people who think that you are “free”, and that you proudly wave your flag and shout how “free” you are, perhaps this post is written for you.

What it is not.

The first thing that we must make perfectly clear is define what freedom is not. Because many people confuse “freedom” with other things. Like [1] trains that run on time, [2] having ATM machines, [3] having fast food restaurants, [4] being able to vote, or [5] having a “democratic system of governance”. Ah. None of those things have anything to do with freedom. Not one thing. None of them.

In fact, when the United States was initially founded, the people who founded it wrote an entire book on why they founded the nation, and how it was designed to work. This book was called “The Federalist Papers” and you can see it online (for free in full free text), if you don’t believe anything that I have written herein. And one of the most important principles within that book was a warning that democracies take away freedom. And, that the (then newly formed Republic) should be guarded from ever the encroachment of democracy.

So, keep in mind that if you reside within a “democracy” the chances of you having any kind of freedom is practically zero.

That’s not me talking. That’s Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and the rest of the crew that first established the United States back in 1776.

Well, if a democracy is not freedom, then what is?

What freedom is…

It’s actually very simple. It’s the ability for YOU to live life on YOUR terms without any kind of interference.

If you want to go walk down the street, the freedom to get up and walk down it should be cherished. This includes the freedom if you want to eat a hotdog, or listen to a song on a radio, or being able to swim in a pond. The ability to do any of these things are freedoms.

Even the strange and the odd, maybe even especially those things.

Having the freedom to live your life on your terms is what freedom is all about. And if you cannot, then you do not have freedom.

Freedom is the ability to live life on your terms no matter what other people think. Here’s a picture of a man holding his cock out for the entire world to see.

But that is not realistic…

Now, that is where things start to get tricky. You see, there are all sorts of people, “busybodies” as I like to call them, who have a vision of a “better world”. And more often than not, their vision requires you to act in some way that they feel is proper. So they make rules, laws, add fees, and taxes, and prohibitions and bans to stop you from exercising your freedoms.

Any action that you do that has any of the following attached to it is NOT a freedom;

A regulation.
A rule.
A tax.
A fee.
A membership.
A prohibition.
A ban from use.
Forced used.
Forced sharing.
Permit.

So, if you like to eat a triple greasy hamburger with a sunny-side-up egg on top, with a beer, and your dog beside you inside a restaurant in New Jersey, but…

There is a ban on triple hamburgers.
There is a ban on sunny-side-up eggs.
You are prohibited from bringing your dog in a restaurant.
You must pay tax on your meal.
You must be carded to check your age for the beer.
You must finish before 2 am in the morning.

You are NOT free. You are enslaved.

Ah. But how do you measure it?

Well, surprisingly enough, freedom can be measured by the same set of criteria that was laid out in The Federalist Papers.

It’s the ability to have [1] life, [2] liberty, and [3] the pursuit of happiness. With part one [1] life being further divided into [1a] food, [1b] clothing, and [1c] shelter.

And, following the guidelines as listed above, any encroachment of any of those five items is a subtraction of freedom from your life.

Since most people are confused what freedom is, and how you can measure it, let’s go one by one through those five characteristics as listed…

[1a] Food

The ability to put anything you want in your body, at any time, and at any amount free of taxes, regulation, rules, bans or prohibitions of any type is a freedom. Failure to do so is tyranny. If you and your nation is somewhere in between it is “an encroachment of tyranny”.

One person’s freedom is another person’s horror. Here, many Hindu’s from India would be horrified by this meal, and would ban this meal and probably lynch you for eating it.

It does not matter if it is a tuna fish sandwich or a tab of LSD. The freedom to ingest, inject, or partake in anything into your own body free of outside influence, regulation, fees or taxes, let alone bans or prohibitions is a freedom.

[1b] Clothing

The ability to wear what you want, when you want and how you want is a freedom. If you are forced to wear a hat, a scarf, or a head-covering, you are not free. The same is true if you must wear a uniform. Whether it is a type of dress style for your corporate office, or a uniform as part of a para-military unit. True freedom involves personal dress selection.

This also includes hair styles, and makeup and other adornments.

One person’s freedom is another person’s horror. In America many companies would forbid you to wear these outfits as part of the “dress code”.

[1c] Shelter

The ability to own things is the bedrock of freedom.

Throughout history, up until the last century, people would build houses and would put their belongings within those houses. All of which they would totally and completely own.

Now, however, things are quite different.

You rent out your house to the bank on a thirty year mortgage. Your home is subject to real estate taxes, and school taxes, and you must obey the regulations set by your neighborhood from everything that you do to change the house. In fact, often you must get permission to cut down the trees on your property, or suffer with fines and fees for the failure to maintain your property up to community standards.

Because certain areas are too restrictive in the United States, people move out of the heavily taxed and restrictive areas (such as California) and more to less restrictive areas, such as Alabama.

If anyone can place rules, regulations, prohibitions, taxes, fees, or anything else on your home, you do not own it. Failure to own things is (historically) a trait of the slave and sub-servant classes.

[2] Liberty

According to the dictionary, “liberty” is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.

In other words, while the first three characteristics involved property (1a,1b, and 1c) this involves thought, belief and political views.

If you are unable to express them, or are constrained in writing about them, reading about them, or discussing them with others, you do not have liberty. It has been taken from you.

Some regions restrict how you think about things and what you actually think. To these other people, your thoughts and the resulting lifestyle that you embrace is a threat to their well-ordered life and society. Thus they do everything that they can to ban your behaviors and actions.

[3] Pursuit of Happiness

Finally, whether you have freedom or not, the ability to forge towards getting freedom is important. And this act, trying to have freedom is known as the “Pursuit of Happiness”.

However, if someone places laws, regulations or obstacles in front of you that prohibits or prevents you from obtaining your freedoms, they are interfering with your pursuit of happiness.

The Ideal vs. the Actual

Now the astute reader will note that the ideal cannot be found anywhere on the planet. There simply isn’t anywhere where people can have all five elements of freedom unencumbered. That is fine. Not perfect, but fine.

It leaves plenty of room for the pursuit of happiness, don’t you know.

Instead, we can measure things comparatively.

United States and China

Of course, the United States says that it has “freedom and democracy”. But does it really? According to the criteria above, the answer is a big flat no. On every level, the amount of freedom that a person has in the United States is actually quite scant.

What about China?

Well, according to the American media, China is a horrible, terrible and repressive place. It is a place full of sad impoverished people and a terribly corrupt nation. Well, that is what the powerful American press says.

Well, those expats who has visited it can confirm that it doesn’t look anything like what the American media narrative says it is. And, I can say and confirm that while there are many things that aren’t free (like not being allowed to take recreational drugs, for instance), on the whole, most Chinese people experience a far greater, wider and more diverse set of freedoms than Americans do. And if you don’t believe me, hop on a plane an see it for yourself.

Conclusion

It is easy to repeat the mindless mantras as spewed forth by the mainstream and the alt-press media. It’s far harder to engage in rational thought with those that do. This post is my “baseline”.

It’s simple.

You are either free or you are not.

If you move from a place that doesn’t have certain freedoms to a place that does, you are enjoying the “pursuit of happiness”.

And that’s exactly what I have done.

I went from a place where every single purchase of alcohol required me to show some picture identification, to where I just raise my hand and it is brought over wordlessly.

I went from leaving my dog in the truck to taking him inside of restaurants with me.

I went from taking a few drags of an expensive cigarette in the rain in the company parking lot, to smoking cigars in my large spacious office.

I went from paying yearly taxes, and reporting it to the federal government, on my house every year, to owning homes with zero taxes, zero reporting, and zero regulations.

Freedom.

You either have it or you do not.

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Law 19 – Know who you’re dealing with – do not offend the wrong person (48 Laws of Power)

This is the complete text of law 19 from the book by Robert Greene titled “The 48 Laws of Power”. It is a book that lists (for good or bad) numerous ways that people interact with each other in the pursuit of the obtainment of power. While you might not want to use any of the techniques that he has listed, you must certainly can agree that you must be aware of how others might use them against you. As knowledge is, in itself, power.

LAW 19

KNOW WHO YOU’RE DEALING WITH—DO NOT OFFEND THE WRONG PERSON

JUDGMENT

There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then—never of fend or deceive the wrong person.

OPPONENTS, SUCKERS, AND VICTIMS: Preliminary Typology

In your rise to power you will come across many breeds of opponent, sucker, and victim. The highest form of the art of power is the ability to distinguish the wolves from the lambs, the foxes from the hares, the hawks from the vultures. If you make this distinction well, you will succeed without needing to coerce anyone too much. But if you deal blindly with whomever crosses your path, you will have a life of constant sorrow, if you even live that long.

When you meet a swordsman, draw your sword: Do not recite poetry to one who is not a poet.

-FROM A CH’AN BUDDHIST CLASSIC, QUOTED IN THUNDER IN THE SKY, TRANSLATED BY THOMAS CLEARY, 1993

Being able to recognize types of people, and to act accordingly, is critical.

The following are the five most dangerous and difficult types of mark in the jungle, as identified by artists—con and otherwise—of the past.

[1] The Arrogant and Proud Man.

If you end up in Prison, you will meet many people. One of the most dangerous are the members of the gay community. For they will be brutal on the slightest whim. Do not get involved with these people, and do not become involved within any kind of relationship triangles either.

-Metallicman.

Although he may initially disguise it, this man’s touchy pride makes him very dangerous.

Any perceived slight will lead to a vengeance of overwhelming violence.

You may say to yourself, “But I only said such-and-such at a party, where everyone was drunk….”

It does not matter.

There is no sanity behind his overreaction, so do not waste time trying to figure him out.

If at any point in your dealings with a person you sense an oversensitive and overactive pride, flee. Whatever you are hoping for from him isn’t worth it.

The Revence Of [Lope De] Aguirre

[Lope de] Aguirre’s character is amply illustrated in an anecdote from the chronicle of Garcilaso de la Vega.

Who related that in 1548 Aguirre was a member of a platoon of soldiers escorting Indian slaves from the mines at Potosi [Bolivia] to a royal treasury depot.

The Indians were illegally burdened with great quantities of silver, and a local official arrested Aguirre, sentencing him to receive two hundred lashes in lieu of a fine for oppressing the Indians.

“The soldier Aguirre, having received a notification of the sentence, besought the alcalde that, instead of flogging him, he would put him to death, for that he was a gentleman by birth…. All this had no effect on the alcalde, who ordered the executioner to bring a beast, and execute the sentence. The executioner came to the prison, and put Aguirre on the beast…. The beast was driven on, and he received the lashes….”

When freed, Aguirre announced his intention of killing the official who had sentenced him, the alcalde Esquivel.

Esquivel’s term of office expired and he fled to Lima.

Three hundred twenty leagues away, but within fifteen days Aguirre had tracked him there.

The frightened judge journeyed to Quito, a trip of four hundred leagues, and in twenty days Aguirre arrived.

“When Esquivel heard of his presence, ” according to Garcilaso, “he made another journey of five hundred leagues to Cuzco; but in a few days Aguirre also arrived, having traveled on foot and without shoes, saying that a whipped man has no business to ride a horse, or to go where he would be seen by others. In this way, Aguirre followed his judge for three years, and four months.”

Wearying of the pursuit, Esquivel remained at Cuzco, a city so sternly governed that he felt he would be safe from Aguirre. He took a house near the cathedral and never ventured outdoors without a sword and a dagger.

“However, on a certain Monday, at noon, Aguirre entered his house, and having walked all over it, and having traversed a corridor, a saloon, a chamber, and an inner chamber where the judge kept his books, he at last found him asleep over one of his books, and stabbed him to death. The murderer then went out, but when he came to the door of the house, he found that he had forgotten his hat, and had the temerity to return and fetch it, and then walked down the street.”

-THE GOLDEN DREAM: SEEKERS OF EL DORADO, WALKER CHAPMAN, 1967

[2] The Hopelessly Insecure Man.

This man is related to the proud and arrogant type, but is less violent and harder to spot.

His ego is fragile, his sense of self insecure, and if he feels himself deceived or attacked, the hurt will simmer.

He will attack you in bites that will take forever to get big enough for you to notice.

If you find you have deceived or harmed such a man, disappear for a long time. Do not stay around him or he will nibble you to death.

[3] Mr. Suspicion.

Another variant on the breeds above, this is a future Joe Stalin.

He sees what he wants to see—usually the worst—in other people, and imagines that everyone is after him.

Mr. Suspicion is in fact the least dangerous of the three: Genuinely unbalanced, he is easy to deceive, just as Stalin himself was constantly deceived.

Play on his suspicious nature to get him to turn against other people. But if you do become the target of his suspicions, watch out.

[4] The Serpent with a Long Memory.

If hurt or deceived, this man will show no anger on the surface; he will calculate and wait.

Then, when he is in a position to turn the tables, he will exact a revenge marked by a cold-blooded shrewdness.

Recognize this man by his calculation and cunning in the different areas of his life.

He is usually cold and unaffectionate.

Be doubly careful of this snake, and if you have somehow injured him, either crush him completely or get him out of your sight.

[5] The Plain, Unassuming, and Often Unintelligent Man.

Ah, your ears prick up when you find such a tempting victim.

But this man is a lot harder to deceive than you imagine.

Falling for a ruse often takes intelligence and imagination—a sense of the possible rewards.

The blunt man will not take the bait because he does not recognize it.

He is that unaware.

The danger with this man is NOT that he will harm you or seek revenge, but merely that he will waste your time, energy, resources, and even your sanity in trying to deceive him.

Have a test ready for a mark—a joke, a story. If his reaction is utterly literal, this is the type you are dealing with.

Continue at your own risk.

TRANSGRESSIONS OF THE LAW

Transgression I

In the early part of the thirteenth century, Muhammad, the shah of Khwarezm, managed after many wars to forge a huge empire, extending west to present-day Turkey and south to Afghanistan. The empire’s center was the great Asian capital of Samarkand. The shah had a powerful, well-trained army, and could mobilize 200,000 warriors within days.

In 1219 Muhammad received an embassy from a new tribal leader to the east, Genghis Khan.

The embassy included all sorts of gifts to the great Muhammad, representing the finest goods from Khan’s small but growing Mongol empire. Genghis Khan wanted to reopen the Silk Route to Europe, and offered to share it with Muhammad, while promising peace between the two empires.

Muhammad did not know this upstart from the east, who, it seemed to him, was extremely arrogant to try to talk as an equal to one so clearly his superior.

He ignored Khan’s offer.

Khan tried again: This time he sent a caravan of a hundred camels filled with the rarest articles he had plundered from China. Before the caravan reached Muhammad, however, Inalchik, the governor of a region bordering on Samarkand, seized it for himself, and executed its leaders.

Genghis Khan was sure that this was a mistake—that Inalchik had acted without Muhammad’s approval.

He sent yet another mission to Muhammad, reiterating his offer and asking that the governor be punished. This time Muhammad himself had one of the ambassadors beheaded, and sent the other two back with shaved heads—a horrifying insult in the Mongol code of honor.

Khan sent a message to the shah: “You have chosen war. What will happen will happen, and what it is to be we know not; only God knows.”

Mobilizing his forces, in 1220 he attacked Inalchik’s province, where he seized the capital, captured the governor, and ordered him executed by having molten silver poured into his eyes and ears.

Over the next year, Khan led a series of guerrilla-like campaigns against the shah’s much larger army.

His method was totally novel for the time—his soldiers could move very fast on horseback, and had mastered the art of firing with bow and arrow while mounted.

The speed and flexibility of his forces allowed him to deceive Muhammad as to his intentions and the directions of his movements. Eventually he managed first to surround Samarkand, then to seize it.

Muhammad fled, and a year later died, his vast empire broken and destroyed. Genghis Khan was sole master of Samarkand, the Silk Route, and most of northern Asia.

Interpretation

Never assume that the person you are dealing with is weaker or less important than you are.

Some men are slow to take offense, which may make you misjudge the thickness of their skin, and fail to worry about insulting them. But should you offend their honor and their pride, they will overwhelm you with a violence that seems sudden and extreme given their slowness to anger.

If you want to turn people down, it is best to do so politely and respectfully, even if you feel their request is impudent or their offer ridiculous.

Never reject them with an insult until you know them better; you may be dealing with a Genghis Khan.

THE CROW AND THE SHEEP

A troublesome Crow seated herself on the back of a Sheep. 

The Sheep, much against his will, carried her backward and forward for a long time, and at last said, “If you had treated a dog in this way, you would have had your deserts from his sharp teeth.”

To this the Crow replied, “I despise the weak, and yield to the strong. I know whom I may bully, and whom I must flatter; and thus I hope to prolong my life to a good old age.

-FABLES, AESOP, SIXTH CENTURY B.C.

Transgression II

In the late 1910s some of the best swindlers in America formed a con-artist ring based in Denver, Colorado. In the winter months they would spread across the southern states, plying their trade. In 1920 Joe Furey, a leader of the ring, was working his way through Texas, making hundreds of thousands of dollars with classic con games.

In Fort Worth, he met a sucker named J. Frank Norfleet, a cattleman who owned a large ranch.

Norfleet fell for the con.

Convinced of the riches to come, he emptied his bank account of $45,000 and handed it over to Furey and his confederates. A few days later they gave him his “millions,” which turned out to be a few good dollars wrapped around a packet of newspaper clippings.

Furey and his men had worked such cons a hundred times before, and the sucker was usually so embarrassed by his gullibility that he quietly learned his lesson and accepted the loss.

But Norfleet was not like other suckers.

He went to the police, who told him there was little they could do.

“Then I’ll go after those people myself,” Norfleet told the detectives. “I’ll get them, too, if it takes the rest of my life.”

His wife took over the ranch as Norfleet scoured the country, looking for others who had been fleeced in the same game. One such sucker came forward, and the two men identified one of the con artists in San Francisco, and managed to get him locked up.

The man committed suicide rather than face a long term in prison.

Norfleet kept going.

He tracked down another of the con artists in Montana, roped him like a calf, and dragged him through the muddy streets to the town jail.

He traveled not only across the country but to England, Canada, and Mexico in search of Joe Furey, and also of Furey’s right-hand man, W. B. Spencer.

Finding Spencer in Montreal, Norfleet chased him through the streets.

Spencer escaped but the rancher stayed on his trail and caught up with him in Salt Lake City. Preferring the mercy of the law to Norfleet’s wrath, Spencer turned himself in.

Norfleet found Furey in Jacksonville, Florida, and personally hauled him off to face justice in Texas.

But he wouldn’t stop there: He continued on to Denver, determined to break up the entire ring.

Spending not only large sums of money but another year of his life in the pursuit, he managed to put all of the con ring’s leaders behind bars. Even some he didn’t catch had grown so terrified of him that they too turned themselves in.

After five years of hunting, Norfleet had single-handedly destroyed the country’s largest confederation of con artists. The effort bankrupted him and ruined his marriage, but he died a satisfied man.

Interpretation

Most men accept the humiliation of being conned with a sense of resignation. They learn their lesson, recognizing that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and that they have usually been brought down by their own greed for easy money.

Some, however, refuse to take their medicine.

Instead of reflecting on their own gullibility and avarice, they see themselves as totally innocent victims.

Men like this may seem to be crusaders for justice and honesty, but they are actually immoderately insecure. Being fooled, being conned, has activated their self-doubt, and they are desperate to repair the damage.

Were the mortgage on Norfleet’s ranch, the collapse of his marriage, and the years of borrowing money and living in cheap hotels worth his revenge over his embarrassment at being fleeced?

To the Norfleets of the world, overcoming their embarrassment is worth any price.

All people have insecurities, and often the best way to deceive a sucker is to play upon his insecurities. But in the realm of power, everything is a question of degree, and the person who is decidedly more insecure than the average mortal presents great dangers.

Be warned: If you practice deception or trickery of any sort, study your mark well. Some people’s insecurity and ego fragility cannot tolerate the slightest offense. To see if you are dealing with such a type, test them first—make, say, a mild joke at their expense. A confident person will laugh; an overly insecure one will react as if personally insulted. If you suspect you are dealing with this type, find another victim.

Transgression III

In the fifth century B.C., Ch‘ung-erh, the prince of Ch’in (in present-day China), had been forced into exile.

He lived modestly—even, sometimes, in poverty—waiting for the time when he could return home and resume his princely life. Once he was passing through the state of Cheng, where the ruler, not knowing who he was, treated him rudely.

The ruler’s minister, Shu Chan, saw this and said, “This man is a worthy prince. May Your Highness treat him with great courtesy and thereby place him under an obligation!”

But the ruler, able to see only the prince’s lowly station, ignored this advice and insulted the prince again.

Shu Chan again warned his master, saying, “If Your Highness cannot treat Ch’ung-erh with courtesy, you should put him to death, to avoid calamity in the future.”

The ruler only scoffed.

Years later, the prince was finally able to return home, his circumstances greatly changed. He did not forget who had been kind to him, and who had been insolent, during his years of poverty.

Least of all did he forget his treatment at the hands of the ruler of Cheng.

At his first opportunity he assembled a vast army and marched on Cheng, taking eight cities, destroying the kingdom, and sending the ruler into an exile of his own.

Interpretation

You can never be sure who you are dealing with. A man who is of little importance and means today can be a person of power tomorrow. We forget a lot in our lives, but we rarely forget an insult.

How was the ruler of Cheng to know that Prince Ch’ung-erh was an ambitious, calculating, cunning type, a serpent with a long memory? There was really no way for him to know, you may say—but since there was no way, it would have been better not to tempt the fates by finding out. There is nothing to be gained by insulting a person unnecessarily. Swallow the impulse to offend, even if the other person seems weak. The satisfaction is meager compared to the danger that someday he or she will be in a position to hurt you.

Transgression IV

The year of 1920 had been a particularly bad one for American art dealers. Big buyers—the robber-baron generation of the previous century—were getting to an age where they were dying off like flies, and no new millionaires had emerged to take their place. Things were so bad that a number of the major dealers decided to pool their resources, an unheard-of event, since art dealers usually get along like cats and dogs.

Joseph Duveen, art dealer to the richest tycoons of America, was suffering more than the others that year, so he decided to go along with this alliance. The group now consisted of the five biggest dealers in the country. Looking around for a new client, they decided that their last best hope was Henry Ford, then the wealthiest man in America.

Ford had yet to venture into the art market, and he was such a big target that it made sense for them to work together.

The dealers decided to assemble a list, “The 100 Greatest Paintings in the World” (all of which they happened to have in stock), and to offer the lot of them to Ford. With one purchase he could make himself the world’s greatest collector.

The consortium worked for weeks to produce a magnificent object: a three-volume set of books containing beautiful reproductions of the paintings, as well as scholarly texts accompanying each picture. Next they made a personal visit to Ford at his home in Dearborn, Michigan.

There they were surprised by the simplicity of his house: Mr. Ford was obviously an extremely unaffected man.

Ford received them in his study.

Looking through the book, he expressed astonishment and delight. The excited dealers began imagining the millions of dollars that would shortly flow into their coffers. Finally, however, Ford looked up from the book and said, “Gentlemen, beautiful books like these, with beautiful colored pictures like these, must cost an awful lot!”

“But Mr. Ford!” exclaimed Duveen, “we don’t expect you to buy these books. We got them up especially for you, to show you the pictures. These books are a present to you.”

Ford seemed puzzled.

“Gentlemen,” he said, “it is extremely nice of you, but I really don’t see how I can accept a beautiful, expensive present like this from strangers.”

Duveen explained to Ford that the reproductions in the books showed paintings they had hoped to sell to him. Ford finally understood. “But gentlemen,” he exclaimed, “what would I want with the original pictures when the ones right here in these books are so beautiful?”

Interpretation

Joseph Duveen prided himself on studying his victims and clients in advance, figuring out their weaknesses and the peculiarities of their tastes before he ever met them.

He was driven by desperation to drop this tactic just once, in his assault on Henry Ford. It took him months to recover from his misjudgment, both mentally and monetarily.

Ford was the unassuming plain-man type who just isn’t worth the bother.

He was the incarnation of those literal-minded folk who do not possess enough imagination to be deceived. From then on, Duveen saved his energies for the Mellons and Morgans of the world—men crafty enough for him to entrap in his snares.

KEYS TO POWER

The ability to measure people and to know who you’re dealing with is the most important skill of all in gathering and conserving power.

Without it you are blind: Not only will you offend the wrong people, you will choose the wrong types to work on, and will think you are flattering people when you are actually insulting them.

Before embarking on any move, take the measure of your mark or potential opponent. Otherwise you will waste time and make mistakes.

Study people’s weaknesses, the chinks in their armor, their areas of both pride and insecurity. Know their ins and outs before you even decide whether or not to deal with them.

Two final words of caution: First, in judging and measuring your opponent, never rely on your instincts. You will make the greatest mistakes of all if you rely on such inexact indicators. Nothing can substitute for gathering concrete knowledge. Study and spy on your opponent for however long it takes; this will pay off in the long run.

Second, never trust appearances. Anyone with a serpent’s heart can use a show of kindness to cloak it; a person who is blustery on the outside is often really a coward. Learn to see through appearances and their contradictions. Never trust the version that people give of themselves—it is utterly unreliable.

Image: The Hunter.

He does not lay the same trap for a wolf as for a fox. He does not set bait where no one will take it. He knows his prey thoroughly, its habits and hideaways, and hunts accordingly.

Authority: Be convinced, that there are no persons so insignificant and inconsiderable, but may, some time or other, have it in their power to be of use to you; which they certainly will not, if you have once shown them contempt. Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it for ever. (Lord Chesterfield, 1694-1773)

REVERSAL

What possible good can come from ignorance about other people? Learn to tell the lions from the lambs or pay the price. Obey this law to its fullest extent; it has no reversal—do not bother looking for one.

Principles of Law 19

In your quest for power, you can’t treat everyone the same way. According to Law 19 of the 48 Laws of Power, there are many different types of people, and you need to be able to recognize which type you’re dealing with and respond appropriately.

Here are the five most dangerous types, most of whom you should avoid dealing with because it’s either a waste of time or it will come back and bite you. With these types especially, you should know who you’re dealing with.

Oversensitive and egotistical: Overreacts, often violently and disproportionately, to any perceived slight.
Insecure and fragile: Lets hurt feelings simmer, then attacks with small cuts that eventually add up.
Pathologically suspicious: Imagines everyone is after him. Like Stalin, genuinely unhinged but easy to fool. You can get him to turn against others, but take care that he doesn’t target you.
Cold and calculating: Doesn’t show anger when offended, but calculates the right moment for revenge and waits for it. He’s a snake — crush him rather than injuring him.
Slow-witted or literal: Lacks the intelligence and imagination (to envision potential rewards) to fall for a scheme. You’ll waste time trying to fool him. Test him by telling a joke to see if he gets it, or reacts literally. If the latter, move on to someone else.

To wield power it’s essential to be able to read people and know who you’re dealing with. If you don’t understand your targets — choosing the wrong person or doing the wrong thing — you’ll waste time at best. At worst, you bring trouble on yourself, for instance, by insulting people when you think you’re flattering them, or by triggering their insecurity. This is essential to understand when following Law 19 of the 48 Laws of Power.

Before dealing with someone, do your research. Never trust your instincts, or trust appearances. People can easily hide their true nature. Do not offend the wrong person.

Putting Law 19 to Work

Here are just a few of the many examples of how not to apply Law 19 of the 48 Laws of Power. These people underestimated or failed to understand their opponents. They did not follow Law 19: Know Who You’re Dealing With—Do Not Offend the Wrong Person.

Oversensitive and egotistical: A powerful shah who had a huge empire dissed Genghis Khan by ignoring his offers of an alliance, and was destroyed. His mistake was assuming that Genghis Khan was weaker than he, and he rejected his overtures with insults. Khan turned out to be both sensitive to insults and extremely powerful.
Oversensitive and egotistical: In 1910 there was a con artist ring operating out of Denver, led by Joe Furey. Furey suckered a Texas rancher into giving up a fortune. But unlike most suckers in Furey’s experience, he didn’t just slink away quietly in embarrassment. He set out to take down Furey and the entire con artist ring, a feat that took him five years and great expense. Furey didn’t understand that he was dealing with an insecure man who wouldn’t tolerate offense.
Literal: Because he was a simple man who took things literally, Henry Ford stymied a consortium of art dealers who tried to sell him a collection of 1,000 paintings. To whet his appetite for the works, the dealers created a beautiful book of the paintings, which they presented to Ford as a gift. His response was to question why he should buy the paintings, when he had a book that depicted them so beautifully. Because the dealers hadn’t done their homework, they wasted their time and money dealing with an immovable target.

Conclusion

I would advise that you remain kind and neutral to everyone that you meet. I strongly suggest that you put the ideas of “winning” or “conquering” over others under advisement, instead, I urge you to try to work with people in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Unfortunately, this is not always possible. There will come times when you are dealing with people that have their own agendas, their own ways of doing things, and their own objectives.

Such is the case when Donald Trump instigated the “Trade War” against China in 2016 which pretty much lasted throughout his entire term. And while China assumed that Trump wanted a Win-Win situation, the truth was that he desired a Lose-Lose situation and did everything in his power to make sure that China would lose more than America would.

It didn’t work out that way.

Why?

Because the intel that Donald Trump and Pompeo was getting on China was not only incorrect, but it was dangerously inaccurate, outdated, and colored with a bias that did not factually exist. And no matter what Donald Trump threw at China, they simply stepped to the side and continued their life unimpeded.

Currently, the conservative neocons are advising for a “hot war” scenario. As it is the only remaining course of action. To which I must respond with the statement from Law 19…

The highest form of the art of power is the ability to distinguish the wolves from the lambs, the foxes from the hares, the hawks from the vultures. If you make this distinction well, you will succeed without needing to coerce anyone too much. But if you deal blindly with whomever crosses your path, you will have a life of constant sorrow...

... if you even live that long.

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On the remote control of insects…

It’s funny how life can take you on interesting roads, and on journeys that you might otherwise not have taken. Here, we are going to discuss my experience on an R&D project that I headed while I was working in Boston, Massachusetts. It’s not associated with MAJestic in any way, though I cannot help but think that I was “led” towards it by my thoughts and intentional “signposts”. This R&D project involved the remote control of insects.

The Time and the Place

This entire story took place within a two year span of time from 1990 to 1992 (plus or minus six months either way). The company that I was working with at that time was Holmes Products, which was THE top supplier of consumer appliances to Walmart, and Target (as well as some others).

I was the Head of New Product Development, and my title was “NPD Manager”. The company was located Milford, Massachusetts. It was located in “Granite park”, which was a small mountain of rock that jutted up outside of Milford.

One of the many fond memories that I have of this company, and this area is the concept of “Summer hours”. The Company owner allowed us to only work seven hours a day in the Summer instead of eight. We would get off one hour earlier to enjoy the warm Summer afternoons. To make this happen, he would tack on a half-and hour to the days leading up to the Summer. It was a great system and we really did appreciate it.

The Background Story

It turns out that five years previously, a (former) employee at Holmes Products worked in the drafting group. He drew up the CAD drawings on the CAD software known as ProE. He was fired. He was a troublemaker, lazy, and a liar. He had concocted schemes to obtain over-time pay, when all he was doing was just clocking in and out without actually sitting at his station.

Anyways. He was fired.

Five years later he comes to his old boss, now my supervisor, with this invention of his. He had movies, and ugly-ass prototypes made out of children’s metal lunch boxes. He was able to clearly demonstrate that some mosquitoes would be attracted to his invention and that they kept on trying to “bite” the metal surface of the lunch-boxes.

The long-story-short is that the owner of Holmes Products, Jerry Khan was intrigued and asked me and my boss if we could develop this products. We said yes, and offered a timeline, and a budget, and he gave us the “green light” a “go-ahead” to develop it with specific milestones that must be met. If we couldn’t meet those milestones we would abort the project and continue on with other projects that we were working on (at that time).

The inventor would be given a salary (to keep him happy and out of our hair) and be permitted to observe our efforts, and work with us in the remote testing of this project.

The Blue Light

There are a lot of mosquito killing traps on the market that utilizes a UV blue light to attract and kill mosquitoes. THEY DO NOT WORK. This machine might attract moths and an occasional fly, but they do not work on biting insects… insects that bite humans and animals as part of it’s life cycle. These lights do not work on “blood feeders”.

Some types of mosquitoes found in the Untied States. — Some types of mosquitoes found in the United States.

We setup a R&D Project

This project was named “The Elephant Project”.

As with most R&D, and NPD efforts, it’s usually just done with a small and tight knit of people. Maybe the software world more resembles the science-fiction concept of the development of new devices and systems, with enormous teams of engineers and billions of dollars in funding, but not us in military, or consumer appliances. We had a small team of five people, of which all also were working on other projects as well simultaneously.

We had a lab inside the office complex, with a lock and closed circuit television. The lab had maybe eight bench / tables, compressed air source and was adjacent to the small machine shop that was staffed with four experienced machinists and model makers.

I hired a project manager / lead engineer to supervise the development process. My role was being his boss. As I had many other simultaneous projects in development at that time. That does not mean that I was “hands off”. I took a special interest in this project from the Git-go, and made sure that the project kept on track and did not stray too far off the “project road map”. As well as get “my hands dirty” building prototypes and working the various issues that come up in every R&D / NPD project.

We collaborate with the inventor

Now, of course, the inventor wanted to “be the boss”, and acted like a “little Napoleon”. Honestly and truthfully, he was a royal pain in the ass, and would make surprise visits and expect us to treat him to free lunches, mess up our schedules, come in and wreck up the lab with one of his frequent alarmist explosions of anger and just be a general asshole.

But that was the price that we had to pay. So we “took it on the chin” and just accepted it.

Now, he might have “invented” this concept, and went ahead with promoting it, but he knew nothing about project management, the theory of experimentation, the actual design of mechanical systems, and mechanical development. All he knew was how to draw pretty pictures on a computer screen.

After a few of his disruptions, we pretty much kept him away at “arms reach” and went our own way with product development efforts.

In short, we developed the product and he was able to take what we did, fly off to Steamy Florida with the prototypes and test them in the semi-tropics. It was an agreeable situation for everyone involved.

Development of Prototypes

The thing was that we didn’t know what was making the mosquitoes want to bite the metal. If we could discover their “secret” then we could replicate it in different ways. Perhaps cheaper, and consumer product friendly ways, that would make a viable product for sale in the market place.

So, the first thing in our development plan was to try to figure out just what was attracting these mosquitoes.

So we built up a number of prototypes with this in mind. They consisted of an electrical mesh (to entrap and kill the mosquitoes) that surrounded the test mechanism. With most mechanisms being a tin of heated water that is pumped into a pulsed array of tubing that would move and vibrate with each pulse.

We made a number of these prototypes. Perhaps ten solid testing units and four experimental units that were used to various modifications and to help us answer a few questions as they would come up. (As they always do in a new development venture.)

We had a little production facility making these hand-crafted prototypes, and a special rack that we would sit them in. On the top of each one was a number (we used the big number stickers from Home Depot that people put on their front porches to give their addresses with), and tracked the changes on each unit as time went on.

Testing of Prototypes

Now, since Holmes Products also made Air Purifiers and Humidifiers, we had a testing chamber. This was a small room that was 2 meters by 2 meters by 2 meters. It was a nice square chamber. Next to it was a window and a control booth.

What we would do is obtain 100 pure bred female mosquitoes (Aedes Vixis) and release them in the chamber for one hour. We would count the attempts at biting by using a capacitance sensor when they landed on the (electrical killing) grid.

We would also take turns being a human subject. Here we would strip down to shorts and a tee shirt, and sit on a chair in the room for one hour. We would then count the number of bites that we would have. Yes.

No kidding!

At the start of the project, we noticed that a machine was capable of replicating approximately 20% that of a human.

After eight to nine months, with successive improvements, we were able to have the machine equal to that of a human with approximately the same number of bites on the machine that a human would receive. But even at that it wasn’t the “wow!” moment that we were looking for.

Breakthrough!

One day while filming a test, we noticed that one of the prototypes (number 5) was malfunctioning. One of the latex tubes had a kink in it and with each pulse of hot water into the tube the tube would shutter and expand, and then contract. It resembled a glove that you blow air into, and then release. Each time the tube would grow bigger, and the walls of the latex get thinner. And with each increase in size, the mosquitoes would pause in mid flight.

They wouldn’t bite, though. But boy oh, boy did they take notice.

Finally, at one split second of time, when the tube was blown up to enormous size before contracting again, all 100 mosquitoes in the chamber simultaneously converged on the moving, vibrating bubble of tubing…

…right before it exploded.

Working with Tufts University

Well, we discovered the mechanism. It had to do with vibration, heat, and a certain set of conditions. But how could we best understand what is going on?

Well, we went to the local university and asked an expert to work with us. We found a mosquito entomologist.

And we worked with us, and observed the chamber trials, and the field trials. Though his suggestions and advice, we were able to improve and tweak the machine to replicate 800% that of the performance of a human.

Seriously, it was amazing.

The little buggers would swarm over the machine.

It would attract all kinds of mosquitoes from five miles out, and they would converge on the machine in huge piles. It looked like old coffee ground piling up on top of the machine. Each mosquito was busily trying to climb over all the others to feed on the machine.

Human feeders, dog feeders, bird feeders. It did not mater what their preferred host animal was. They wanted the machine!

How it worked

Well, it turns out that there are these little tiny hairs on the legs of the female mosquitoes. They feel the subsonic vibrations of their preferred feed hosts blood capillaries. And what the machine did was replicate the vibrations that the tiny hairs would feel. And this would trigger the female biting mosquitoes to head towards the source of those subsonic vibrations.

And it wasn’t just mosquitoes either. It was all biting insects, from flea to ticks and anything in between.

Success

We constructed a few “demonstrator units” that were absolutely stunning in effectiveness. And while the team started work on pilot models prior to production, I started on work for the remote control of these critters.

I had developed a system where I could selectively beam subsonics to the creature and confuse it as to where the source of the subsonic originated from. In short, I created a “carrot and stick” method to lead the mosquitoes to a given target.

Whether the target was an electrical killing grid, or a person that I was angry at made no difference. I could remotely control entire swarms of blood-feeding mosquitoes.

The company is sold

While all this was going on, the company that I was working in was sold. the owner, Jerry Khan got $300 million dollars for it. The new owners decided to make some structural changes.

This was 1992, remember.

So we had layoffs, and you might call them up-sizes, or down-sizes or restructuring efforts. But the point was that all new product development and R&D would end.

The engineers would be laid-off, and instead the existing products would be kept on “life support” without any further development efforts (no “living development” of existing products) in favor of acquisition of other appliance companies.

The Project is killed

The project, as will all the other on-going projects, were all killed. Development efforts all stopped. The model shop was reduced in staffing, the R&D group shuttered, and the NPD group reduced to only one or two people.

The Sales force (however) was increased, as was efforts to acquire other companies. To this end “experts” were hired whose entire role was the acquisition of companies. So in short, the company completely changed once it was acquired. It grew larger and absorbed many smaller appliance companies, it cut staffing levels, and grew enormous levels of dept.

But that didn’t really matter to me. I was out of work and “on the street“.

I am laid off

I was given one hour notice and escorted out the building on a Friday. At the time this was pretty much standard practice. And it really sucked.

At the time I was married to my first wife who was showing signs of her mental illness. The layoff, sent her “off the deep end”, and her behavior became unbearably erratic. She started to paint the bathroom mirror with fingernail polish, started to read and collect discarded egg shells, and started to break into people’s houses because she “heard the screams of trapped women in the basements”.

I dealt with things to the best of my ability while conducting a full-scale job-search. I worked some fast-food (Wendy’s) to make ends meet, and dealt with my wife going through a full-blown schizophrenia episode….

And YES, it really sucked.

And YES, I was still part of MAJestic at the time.

And YES, I was still going in and out of slides as part of my MWI mission parameters.

And YES, it has made me a very different man. And when I was retired with all the associated unfairness, my thoughts were very, very black.

The project is sold off to Lentek

The entire project, all prototypes, technical information, and email trail was sold to another company for a few hundred thousand dollars. This other company was Lentek which had an interest in using carbon dioxide plumes to attract mosquitoes.

The only association that the new owners of the project had with us is their association with the mosquito entomologist that we had worked with. The rest of us were considered to be “disposable” and no longer useful.

And that was that.

Lentek goes broke and is acquired by American Biophysics

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. & ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 2004--The United States Bankruptcy Court, Middle District Florida, Orlando Division, recently awarded American Biophysics Corporation (ABC), manufacturer of the Mosquito Magnet(R) Advanced Mosquito Defense System(TM) (www.mosquitomagnet.com), all of the intellectual property rights, including all trademark and patent rights, for Orlando, Florida-based Lentek International, Inc.'s (Lentek) carbon dioxide-generating "Mosquito Traps." Lentek filed for bankruptcy on July 11, 2003 and was liquidated by court order on June 17, 2004.

The bankruptcy court ruling in favor of ABC is the result of an investigation ABC initiated with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against Lentek in November 2003, alleging a violation under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as amended (19 U.S.C. 1337). ABC accused Lentek of violating its patent rights relating to methods and devices for trapping insects - including its patented Counterflow(TM) and propane combustion technology - by Lentek's manufacture and distribution of their insect trapping devices, known as the Protector Mosquito Trap or the Mosquito Killing Machine.

American Biophysics “sits” on the technology

Well, was the market flooded with this new technology?

Nope.

It turned out that American Biophysics has their own method of entrapping and luring mosquitoes. They would use Carbon Dioxide plumes and then vacuum up the mosquitoes. Their device worked, though not nearly as well as our “elephant project” did.

However, the business model was far superior. You see, their device for catching mosquitoes required that the owner continuously purchase tanks of carbon dioxide. This steady revenue flow was exactly what the owners of the company wanted. they didn’t make money on the devices themselves, just on the the replacement tanks of gas.

Our device was a “one buy deal”. You bought it, and it would last for twenty to forty years. It might be super effective in attracting and killing mosquitoes, but no sustainable business model could be wrapped around it.

In short, the new owner of the technology embraced the use of carbon dioxide plumes and order to attract mosquitoes provided that replaceable packets would provide a stead income stream for the company. Our “Elephant Project” which used the generation of subsonics to lure and trap mosquitoes was shelved simply because it could not offer a stead revenue stream.

Conclusion

This is simply a story about one of the many, many projects that I worked on while I was involved in my role within MAJestic. As I lived life, I was monitored and my reality adjusted accordingly. I was (I suppose) “the canary in the coal mine“.

Canary in a coal mine

Something or someone who, due to sensitivity to his, her, or its surroundings, acts as an indicator and early warning of possible adverse conditions or danger. Refers to the former practice of taking caged canaries into coal mines. The birds would die if methane gas became present and thereby alert miners to the danger.

This little story has many lessons within it. I do hope that someone benefits from the knowledge that I wish to share.

Just because you have a “better mousetrap” does not mean that it will automatically be marketed and sold.
The people who develop, invent, and design these products are considered an expendable resource to use and discard.
It was China who snapped up all the technical expertise while America was throwing them away like used toilet paper. Now, the USA is complaining and crying. Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo! China bad! America Great! You reap what you sow, fuckers.
Were I to be a malevolent fuck, I could use my expertise for personal gain, and create weapons that would really would be on a level far, far above that of “Joe Average”.
Everything that is going on right now is being monitored, observed, and a great reset is building. You all have no idea of the magnitude of the tsunami that is building up.

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Why Vault 7 matters. It’s not about collection of your information, instead it’s about control of your mind.

All the people writing about the intrusive nature of the NSA, and the collection of data through the cell-phones by back-door access has got it all wrong. It’s not about the collection of data. It’s about using your phone to control your mind.

All these “back doors” and secret embedded code within your electronics, your chips, and your cell-phones is not simply about collecting your personal information. That is the obvious purpose, but that is not the ultimate purpose.

The ultimate purpose is to enable the embedding of special algorithms and embedded code that allow the government to manipulate what you see, read and hear. These enormous (and hidden) embedded programs overlay instructions to your mind. They alter the selection of programs that you might want to use, they change the access and ease of access to websites. They alter the type, range and frequency of information on your feeds, and change what you would watch, see and listen to.

Have you ever been on your cell phone, and musing about something... thinking about a memory or an event... and then suddenly you see a link or an article related to a similar type of event?

No. It's not coincidence.

It's intentional. 

You are being subconsciously manipulated to act, think, and behave as part of a herd of humans, that the oligarchy wants to shepherd into certain defined behaviors.

And the revelations by Wiki-leaks in Vault 7 proves this.

Vault 7

Whenever you mention the “power” that the United States has over the ~~serfs~~ citizens living there, you really need to mention “Vault 7”. “Vault 7” proves, beyond all and any shadow of a doubt, that the United States government has complete distain for the Bill of Rights, and everything that it stands for. Americans have no protections. ZERO. Americans exist at the mercy of their government.

Democrat Senator Feinstein trying to put limits on the the first amendment to the Bill of Rights.

Americans are just monitored cattle. They are monitored by their owners; those handful of Billionaires that fully control the government.

WikiLeaks has published what it claims is the largest-ever release of confidential documents on the CIA. It includes more than 8,000 documents as part of “Vault 7”, a series of leaks on the agency, which have allegedly emerged from the CIA’s Center For Cyber Intelligence in Langley, and which can be seen on the org chart below, which Wikileaks also released:

A total of 8,761 documents have been published[v] as part of “Year Zero”. This “Year Zero” is the first in a series of leaks the whistle-blower organization has been dubbed “Vault 7.” WikiLeaks said that “Year Zero” revealed details of the CIA’s “global covert hacking program,” including “weaponized exploits” used against company products including “Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones.”

WikiLeaks tweeted the leak, which it claims came from a network inside the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.

Among the more notable disclosures which, if confirmed, “would rock the technology world“, the CIA had managed to bypass encryption on popular phone and messaging services such as Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram. According to the statement from WikiLeaks, government hackers can penetrate Android phones and collect “audio and message traffic before encryption is applied.”

Another profound revelation is that the CIA can engage in “false flag” cyberattacks which portray Russia as the assailant. Discussing the CIA’s Remote Devices Branch’s UMBRAGE group, Wikileaks’ source notes that it “collects and maintains a substantial library of attack techniques ‘stolen’ from malware produced in other states including the Russian Federation.

“With UMBRAGE and related projects the CIA cannot only increase its total number of attack types but also misdirect attribution by leaving behind the “fingerprints” of the groups that the attack techniques were stolen from. UMBRAGE components cover keyloggers, password collection, webcam capture, data destruction, persistence, privilege escalation, stealth, anti-virus (PSP) avoidance and survey techniques.”

As Kim Dotcom summarizes this finding,

"CIA uses techniques to make cyber attacks look like they originated from enemy state. It turns DNC/Russia hack allegation by CIA into a JOKE"

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 7, 2017

But perhaps what is most notable is the purported emergence of another Snowden-type whistleblower: the source of the information told WikiLeaks in a statement that they wish to initiate a public debate about the “security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyberweapons.” Policy questions that should be debated in public include “whether the CIA’s hacking capabilities exceed its mandated powers and the problem of public oversight of the agency,” WikiLeaks claims the source said.

The FAQ section of the release, shown later, provides further details on the extent of the leak, which was “obtained recently and covers through 2016”. The time period covered in the latest leak is between the years 2013 and 2016, according to the CIA timestamps on the documents themselves. Secondly, WikiLeaks has asserted that it has not mined the entire leak and has only verified it, asking that journalists and activists do the leg work.

Weeping Angel

Among the various techniques profiled by WikiLeaks is “Weeping Angel”, developed by the CIA’s Embedded Devices Branch (EDB), which infests smart TVs, transforming them into covert microphones. After infestation, Weeping Angel places the target TV in a ‘Fake-Off’ mode, so that the owner falsely believes the TV is off when it is on. In ‘Fake-Off’ mode the TV operates as a bug, recording conversations in the room and sending them over the Internet to a covert CIA server.

As Kim Dotcom chimed in on Twitter,

BREAKING: CIA turns Smart TVs, iPhones, gaming consoles and many other consumer gadgets into open microphones. #Vault7

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 7, 2017

Dotcom also added that “Obama accused Russia of cyberattacks while his CIA turned all internet enabled consumer electronics in Russia into listening devices. Wow!”

Obama accused Russia of cyberattacks while his CIA turned all internet enabled consumer electronics in Russia into listening devices. Wow!

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 7, 2017

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks editor stated that

“There is an extreme proliferation risk in the development of cyber ‘weapons’. Comparisons can be drawn between the uncontrolled proliferation of such ‘weapons’, which results from the inability to contain them combined with their high market value, and the global arms trade. But the significance of “Year Zero” goes well beyond the choice between cyberwar and cyberpeace. The disclosure is also exceptional from a political, legal and forensic perspective.”

Key Highlights

“Year Zero” introduces the scope and direction of the CIA’s global covert hacking program, its malware arsenal and dozens of “zero day” weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products, include Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones.
Wikileaks claims that the CIA lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal including malware, viruses, trojans, weaponized “zero day” exploits, malware remote control systems and associated documentation. This extraordinary collection, which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code, gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA. The archive appears to have been circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive.
By the end of 2016, the CIA’s hacking division, which formally falls under the agency’s Center for Cyber Intelligence (CCI), had over 5000 registered users and had produced more than a thousand hacking systems, trojans, viruses, and other “weaponized” malware. Such is the scale of the CIA’s undertaking that by 2016, its hackers had utilized more code than that used to run Facebook.
The CIA had created, in effect, its “own NSA” with even less accountability and without publicly answering the question as to whether such a massive budgetary spend on duplicating the capacities of a rival agency could be justified.
Once a single cyber ‘weapon’ is ‘loose’ it can spread around the world in seconds, to be used by rival states, cyber mafia and teenage hackers alike.

CIA targets iPhones, Androids, smart TVs:

CIA malware and hacking tools are built by EDG (Engineering Development Group), a software development group within CCI (Center for Cyber Intelligence), a department belonging to the CIA’s DDI (Directorate for Digital Innovation). The DDI is one of the five major directorates of the CIA (see this organizational chart of the CIA for more details).

The EDG is responsible for the development, testing and operational support of all backdoors, exploits, malicious payloads, trojans, viruses and any other kind of malware used by the CIA in its covert operations world-wide.

The increasing sophistication of surveillance techniques has drawn comparisons with George Orwell’s 1984, but “Weeping Angel”, developed by the CIA’s Embedded Devices Branch (EDB), which infests smart TVs, transforming them into covert microphones, is surely its most emblematic realization.

The attack against Samsung smart TVs was developed in cooperation with the United Kingdom’s MI5/BTSS. After infestation, Weeping Angel places the target TV in a ‘Fake-Off’ mode, so that the owner falsely believes the TV is off when it is on. In ‘Fake-Off’ mode the TV operates as a bug, recording conversations in the room and sending them over the Internet to a covert CIA server.

As of October 2014 the CIA was also looking at infecting the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks. The purpose of such control is not specified, but it would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations.

The CIA’s Mobile Devices Branch (MDB) developed numerous attacks to remotely hack and control popular smart phones. Infected phones can be instructed to send the CIA the user’s geolocation, audio and text communications as well as covertly activate the phone’s camera and microphone.

Despite iPhone’s minority share (14.5%) of the global smart phone market in 2016, a specialized unit in the CIA’s Mobile Development Branch produces malware to infest, control and exfiltrate data from iPhones and other Apple products running iOS, such as iPads. CIA’s arsenal includes numerous local and remote “zero days” developed by CIA or obtained from GCHQ, NSA, FBI or purchased from cyber arms contractors such as Baitshop. The disproportionate focus on iOS may be explained by the popularity of the iPhone among social, political, diplomatic and business elites.

A similar unit targets Google’s Android which is used to run the majority of the world’s smart phones (~85%) including Samsung, HTC and Sony. 1.15 billion Android powered phones were sold last year. “Year Zero” shows that as of 2016 the CIA had 24 “weaponized” Android “zero days” which it has developed itself and obtained from GCHQ, NSA and cyber arms contractors.

These techniques permit the CIA to bypass the encryption of WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Wiebo, Confide and Cloackman by hacking the “smart” phones that they run on and collecting audio and message traffic before encryption is applied.

Take aways…

CIA malware and hacking tools are built by EDG (Engineering Development Group), a software development group within CCI (Center for Cyber Intelligence), a department belonging to the CIA’s DDI (Directorate for Digital Innovation). The DDI is one of the five major directorates of the CIA (see this organizational chart of the CIA for more details).
The increasing sophistication of surveillance techniques has drawn comparisons with George Orwell’s 1984, but “Weeping Angel”, developed by the CIA’s Embedded Devices Branch (EDB), which infests smart TVs, transforming them into covert microphones, is surely its most emblematic realization.

CIA malware targets Windows, OSx, Linux, routers

The CIA also runs a very substantial effort to infect and control Microsoft Windows users with its malware. This includes multiple local and remote weaponized “zero days”, air gap jumping viruses such as “Hammer Drill” which infects software distributed on CD/DVDs, infectors for removable media such as USBs, systems to hide data in images or in covert disk areas ( “Brutal Kangaroo“) and to keep its malware infestations going.

Many of these infection efforts are pulled together by the CIA’s Automated Implant Branch (AIB), which has developed several attack systems for automated infestation and control of CIA malware, such as “Assassin” and “Medusa”.

Attacks against Internet infrastructure and webservers are developed by the CIA’s Network Devices Branch (NDB).

The CIA has developed automated multi-platform malware attack and control systems covering Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris, Linux and more, such as EDB’s “HIVE” and the related “Cutthroat” and “Swindle” tools.

Also cars,

As of October 2014 the CIA was also looking at infecting the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks.
The purpose of such control is not specified, but it would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations.

This is quite suggestive of the CIA having a role in the death of Michael Hastings.

And computers:

The CIA also runs a very substantial effort to infect and control Microsoft Windows users with its malware.
This includes multiple local and remote weaponized “zero days”, air gap jumping viruses such as “Hammer Drill” which infects software distributed on CD/DVDs, infectors for removable media such as USBs, systems to hide data in images or in covert disk areas ( “Brutal Kangaroo”) and to keep its malware infestations going.

Hoarding of Zero Day exploits:

In the wake of Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA, the U.S. technology industry secured a commitment from the Obama administration that the executive would disclose on an ongoing basis — rather than hoard — serious vulnerabilities, exploits, bugs or “zero days” to Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other US-based manufacturers.

Serious vulnerabilities not disclosed to the manufacturers places huge swathes of the population and critical infrastructure at risk to foreign intelligence or cyber criminals who independently discover or hear rumors of the vulnerability. If the CIA can discover such vulnerabilities so can others.

The U.S. government’s commitment to the Vulnerabilities Equities Process came after significant lobbying by US technology companies, who risk losing their share of the global market over real and perceived hidden vulnerabilities. The government stated that it would disclose all pervasive vulnerabilities discovered after 2010 on an ongoing basis.

“Year Zero” documents show that the CIA breached the Obama administration’s commitments. Many of the vulnerabilities used in the CIA’s cyber arsenal are pervasive and some may already have been found by rival intelligence agencies or cyber criminals.

As an example, specific CIA malware revealed in “Year Zero” is able to penetrate, infest and control both the Android phone and iPhone software that runs or has run presidential Twitter accounts. The CIA attacks this software by using undisclosed security vulnerabilities (“zero days”) possessed by the CIA but if the CIA can hack these phones then so can everyone else who has obtained or discovered the vulnerability. As long as the CIA keeps these vulnerabilities concealed from Apple and Google (who make the phones) they will not be fixed, and the phones will remain hackable.

The same vulnerabilities exist for the population at large, including the U.S. Cabinet, Congress, top CEOs, system administrators, security officers and engineers. By hiding these security flaws from manufacturers like Apple and Google the CIA ensures that it can hack everyone &mdsh; at the expense of leaving everyone hackable.

Take aways…

In the wake of Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA, the U.S. technology industry secured a commitment from the Obama administration that the executive would disclose on an ongoing basis — rather than hoard — serious vulnerabilities, exploits, bugs or “zero days” to Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other US-based manufacturers.
Serious vulnerabilities not disclosed to the manufacturers places huge swathes of the population and critical infrastructure at risk to foreign intelligence or cyber criminals who independently discover or hear rumors of the vulnerability. If the CIA can discover such vulnerabilities so can others.
Please see the table of contents for the full list of projects described by WikiLeaks’ “Year Zero”. (Over 500 and counting…)

Proliferation of leaked/hacked Cyberwar programs:

While nuclear proliferation has been restrained by the enormous costs and visible infrastructure involved in assembling enough fissile material to produce a critical nuclear mass, cyber ‘weapons’, once developed, are very hard to retain.
Cyber ‘weapons’ are in fact just computer programs which can be pirated like any other. Since they are entirely comprised of information they can be copied quickly with no marginal cost.
Over the last three years the United States intelligence sector, which consists of government agencies such as the CIA and NSA and their contractors, such as Booze Allan Hamilton, has been subject to unprecedented series of data exfiltrations by its own workers.
Once a single cyber ‘weapon’ is ‘loose’ it can spread around the world in seconds, to be used by peer states, cyber mafia and teenage hackers alike.

The U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt is a covert CIA hacker base

In addition to its operations in Langley, Virginia the CIA also uses the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt as a covert base for its hackers covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
CIA hackers operating out of the Frankfurt consulate ( “Center for Cyber Intelligence Europe” or CCIE) are given diplomatic (“black”) passports and State Department cover.
The instructions for incoming CIA hackers make Germany’s counter-intelligence efforts appear inconsequential: “Breeze through German Customs because you have your cover-for-action story down pat, and all they did was stamp your passport”

Examples of CIA projects

The CIA’s Engineering Development Group (EDG) management system contains around 500 different projects (only some of which are documented by “Year Zero”) each with their own sub-projects, malware and hacker tools. The majority of these projects relate to tools that are used for penetration, infestation (“implanting”), control, and exfiltration.
Umbrage: The CIA’s Remote Devices Branch’s UMBRAGE group collects and maintains a substantial library of attack techniques ‘stolen’ from malware produced in other states including the Russian Federation. With UMBRAGE and related projects the CIA cannot only increase its total number of attack types but also misdirect attribution by leaving behind the “fingerprints” of the groups that the attack techniques were stolen from.
Fine Dining: Fine Dining comes with a standardized questionnaire i.e menu that CIA case officers fill out. The questionnaire is used by the agency’s OSB (Operational Support Branch) to transform the requests of case officers into technical requirements for hacking attacks (typically “exfiltrating” information from computer systems) for specific operations. Among the list of possible targets of the collection are ‘Asset’, ‘Liason Asset’, ‘System Administrator’, ‘Foreign Information Operations’, ‘Foreign Intelligence Agencies’ and ‘Foreign Government Entities’. Notably absent is any reference to extremists or transnational criminals.
‘Improvise’; a toolset for configuration, post-processing, payload setup and execution vector selection for survey/exfiltration tools supporting all major operating systems like Windows (Bartender), MacOS (JukeBox) and Linux (DanceFloor).
HIVE: HIVE is a multi-platform CIA malware suite and its associated control software. The project provides customizable implants for Windows, Solaris, MikroTik (used in internet routers) and Linux platforms and a Listening Post (LP)/Command and Control (C2) infrastructure to communicate with these implants. The implants are configured to communicate via HTTPS with the webserver of a cover domain; each operation utilizing these implants has a separate cover domain and the infrastructure can handle any number of cover domains.

Evading forensics and anti-virus

A series of standards lay out CIA malware infestation patterns which are likely to assist forensic crime scene investigators as well as Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Nokia, Blackberry, Siemens and anti-virus companies attribute and defend against attacks.

“Tradecraft DO’s and DON’Ts” contains CIA rules on how its malware should be written to avoid fingerprints implicating the “CIA, US government, or its witting partner companies” in “forensic review”. Similar secret standards cover the use of encryption to hide CIA hacker and malware communication (pdf), describing targets & exfiltrated data (pdf) as well as executing payloads (pdf) and persisting (pdf) in the target’s machines over time.

CIA hackers developed successful attacks against most well known anti-virus programs.

These are documented in AV defeats, Personal Security Products, Detecting and defeating PSPs and PSP/Debugger/RE Avoidance.

For example, Comodo was defeated by CIA malware placing itself in the Window’s “Recycle Bin”. While Comodo 6.x has a “Gaping Hole of DOOM“.

CIA hackers discussed what the NSA’s “Equation Group” hackers did wrong and how the CIA’s malware makers could avoid similar exposure.

UMBRAGE

The CIA’s hand crafted hacking techniques pose a problem for the agency. Each technique it has created forms a “fingerprint” that can be used by forensic investigators to attribute multiple different attacks to the same entity.

This is analogous to finding the same distinctive knife wound on multiple separate murder victims. The unique wounding style creates suspicion that a single murderer is responsible. As soon one murder in the set is solved then the other murders also find likely attribution.

The CIA’s Remote Devices Branch’s UMBRAGE group collects and maintains a substantial library of attack techniques ‘stolen’ from malware produced in other states including the Russian Federation.

With UMBRAGE and related projects the CIA cannot only increase its total number of attack types but also misdirect attribution by leaving behind the “fingerprints” of the groups that the attack techniques were stolen from.

It’s easy to have the NSA place “digital fingerprints” on their hacking efforts using these tools, and then blame another nation.

UMBRAGE components cover keyloggers, password collection, webcam capture, data destruction, persistence, privilege escalation, stealth, anti-virus (PSP) avoidance and survey techniques.

Unless maintained, the Bill of Rights becomes useless and superannuated.

Fine Dining

Fine Dining comes with a standardized questionnaire i.e menu that CIA case officers fill out. The questionnaire is used by the agency’s OSB (Operational Support Branch) to transform the requests of case officers into technical requirements for hacking attacks (typically “exfiltrating” information from computer systems) for specific operations.

The questionnaire allows the OSB to identify how to adapt existing tools for the operation, and communicate this to CIA malware configuration staff. The OSB functions as the interface between CIA operational staff and the relevant technical support staff.

Among the list of possible targets of the collection are ‘Asset’, ‘Liason Asset’, ‘System Administrator’, ‘Foreign Information Operations’, ‘Foreign Intelligence Agencies’ and ‘Foreign Government Entities’. Notably absent is any reference to extremists or transnational criminals. The ‘Case Officer’ is also asked to specify the environment of the target like the type of computer, operating system used, Internet connectivity and installed anti-virus utilities (PSPs) as well as a list of file types to be exfiltrated like Office documents, audio, video, images or custom file types. The ‘menu’ also asks for information if recurring access to the target is possible and how long unobserved access to the computer can be maintained. This information is used by the CIA’s ‘JQJIMPROVISE’ software (see below) to configure a set of CIA malware suited to the specific needs of an operation.

Improvise (JQJIMPROVISE)

‘Improvise’ is a toolset for configuration, post-processing, payload setup and execution vector selection for survey/exfiltration tools supporting all major operating systems like Windows (Bartender), MacOS (JukeBox) and Linux (DanceFloor). Its configuration utilities like Margarita allows the NOC (Network Operation Center) to customize tools based on requirements from ‘Fine Dining’ questionairies.

HIVE

What is an "implant"?

It is the embedded code that instructs your brain what to do and how to behave when you are using electronics technology.

It is the software that has the back of your mind musing about certain things, issues of the day, or getting all emotionally upset about something.

HIVE is a multi-platform CIA malware suite and its associated control software. The project provides customizable implants for Windows, Solaris, MikroTik (used in internet routers) and Linux platforms and a Listening Post (LP)/Command and Control (C2) infrastructure to communicate with these implants.

The implants are configured to communicate via HTTPS with the webserver of a cover domain; each operation utilizing these implants has a separate cover domain and the infrastructure can handle any number of cover domains.

Each cover domain resolves to an IP address that is located at a commercial VPS (Virtual Private Server) provider. The public-facing server forwards all incoming traffic via a VPN to a ‘Blot’ server that handles actual connection requests from clients. It is setup for optional SSL client authentication: if a client sends a valid client certificate (only implants can do that), the connection is forwarded to the ‘Honeycomb’ toolserver that communicates with the implant; if a valid certificate is missing (which is the case if someone tries to open the cover domain website by accident), the traffic is forwarded to a cover server that delivers an unsuspicious looking website.

The Honeycomb toolserver receives exfiltrated information from the implant; an operator can also task the implant to execute jobs on the target computer, so the toolserver acts as a C2 (command and control) server for the implant.

Similar functionality (though limited to Windows) is provided by the RickBobby project.

See the classified user and developer guides for HIVE.

Conclusion

“You could have all the crazy thoughts you wanted, as long as you smiled and kept them to yourself.”

― Mara Purnhagen, Past Midnight

99.9% of the articles (on the internet and in books) discuss how “unconstitutional” the collection of information, by the NSA, is. They argue (and rightfully so) that the United States government should not be doing this, that it is against the Constitution, the law, the purpose of government, and is a dangerous precedent. Ah. We all get this and understand it.

I argue something a little different.

The reason why the United States wants your reading, watching, listening, and Geo-location information (as well as your passwords, your friends, and your associations) is not so much to track your actions and behaviors. But instead, to be able to feed embedded algorithms into your phone.

These hidden and secretive signals direct your subconscious actions.

They control what you look at, what you listen to, and what you are exposed to.

Thus, they “box you in” to a particular “mind set”. And in so doing, they control you.

And the American PTB (Deep State) Oligarchy leadership are believing that this 2D manipulation of minds will guarantee their successful implementation of change; guarantee that they will remain in power forever, and guarantee that their goals and societal adjustments will occur without any opposition.

But the universe is far more complex than any 2D operation. It’s at a bare minimum, an 11D exercise. And pushing this controlling narratives into the minds of millions of Americans will have , or is having…

… unexpected, or unintended consequences.

It should be no surprise that the United States is now balkanized into violently radical warring factions. All of which are attuned to certain pre-defined narratives. Individual, independent thought no longer exists. You are either “A”, or “B” or “C”. And they have further classified you in to a direct subcategory all for the purposes of your control. “A-4”, or “B-7”.

Vault 7 exposes this.

Now a cursory look at the files might (indeed) give you the impression that it’s just advanced techniques for the collection and gathering of information. I urge the reader to think past that. Any nation that has an intimate knowledge of your “private papers” and “personal privacy” in real time has the ability to control you.

It’s all about control.

The control of what and how you think, by a very powerful government.

And this is why Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo are all up in arms about 5G, and Huawei. It's not that the technology is better, dangerous, or would have "back doors". It is that the stranglehold of the American government control over people would come to an end as less and less people use programs with these embedded algorithms.

If you want to protect yourself from being manipulated by hidden, invisible and secret manipulations, you need to start using phones, and software developed outside of the United States. Those products that are being “banned from American use” such as Huawei and Xiaomi are almost certainly devoid of NSA malware.

Though, perhaps the best thing might be to just move away from all electronic media and live a far simpler life.

Do you want more?

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How to have a baby in China and give it Chinese citizenship when you are a foreigner.

This was so interesting for me to see, because I've experienced the same thing - people I know who have lived & worked there (China)  have such a different view from those who haven't. 

And if you talk positively about China in the US, you are viewed with skepticism at best, at worst - viewed as a traitor. Judged by people who have never been to China!

-Greg Reed

How to have a baby in China. This article discusses what it is like for a foreigner to have a baby inside of China and give it Chinese citizenship. If you do not want to give it Chinese citizenship then there are few other options available for you. The baby would be born within China and be a “stateless person”. It would be your responsibility to apply for citizenship at the nearest embassy or consulate.

Why not automatically make it American?

I cannot tell you, my dear reader, how many times people have asked me this. They ask “Why didn’t you give your Child American citizenship?” As if, suddenly the American citizenship would grant my child an automatic and wonderful life…

American family — A sizable population of Americans are not working, and are instead being paid existence money. I want my children to be productive and make the world a better place as opposed to subsisting.

Hey! Have you been watching the United States lately?

But I will describe it in the simplist way possible.

Imagine three children;

Tom. Chinese born. Chinese citizen. Raised in China.
Dick. Chinese born. American citizen. Raised in China.
Harry. Chinese born. American citizen. Raised in America.

If you look at the three children, you can pretty much say that “Tom” represents most Chinese people. They are born in China of Chinese parents, and they attend Chinese schools, and have excellent opportunities within China.

Dick is the kind of child that a number of expats are faced with. As an expat, they come to China as part of a two or three year long duration package as part of a career move. They want their children to be raised where ever they live, but they want them to be American citizens to “enjoy” the rights and privileges of “being an American”.

Harry represents a scenario that many rich Chinese face. They want to move to America and raise their children as American citizens. So while the child might be born inside of China, they are raised in America as an American.

The Trade offs…

Well, most people reading this are neither native Chinese living in China (the “Tom” situation), nor a rich and wealthy Chinese who emigrated to China. (The “Harry” situation.) They are in the “Dick” situation.

And their question is simple.

Should the baby apply for Chinese citizenship or American (or other country) citizenship?

Well, to make the decision process easier, I have broken it down. Keep in mind that it is a far greater amount of work to make your baby a Chinese citizen than to make it an American citizen.

[1] Baby as a Chinese citizen…

You must follow the application procedures and be approved. The government will monitor the healthy of the baby and you must take tests and attend classes during the entire pregnancy.

Once the baby is born, it can attend Chinese schools, and be treated as a Chinese citizen even if one of it’s parents is non-Chinese. It gets social insurance, and placement in schools and the educational process.

When it grows up, it will have a “Family Register”, with a history, and be able to set up businesses within China. It will be subject to Chinese income tax which (for around 80% of citizens) is under 3% of the yearly income taken directly from the paycheck with no annual reporting requirements.

[2] Baby as a American citizen…

The baby can be birthed anywhere and no tests or procedures are required. However, it will not be granted a birth certificate. So the parents must work with the embassy before the birth to apply for citizenship. If you give birth, and do not have a birth certificate, you have until the baby is five years old before the difficulty in application process goes exponential.

Once the baby is approved and is an American (or other national), it can live pretty much like it’s expat parents, except…

It cannot go to most schools. Only Chinese students can go to the local school. It must go to an “approved” school that is permitted to take foreign students.

Can Foreigners Go to Primary or Secondary School in China?

While most international schools will only accept Chinese students who hold a foreign passport, Chinese public schools are required by law to accept children of legal foreign residents.

Admissions requirements vary but most schools require an admissions application, health records, passport, visa information, and previous school records. Some, like nurseries and kindergartens, require a birth certificate. Others require recommendation letters, assessments, on-campus interviews, entrance exams, and language requirements.

Students who cannot speak Mandarin are usually held back a few grades and usually start in first grade until their language skills improve. All classes except English are taught entirely in Chinese. Going to a local school in China has become a popular choice for expat families who live in China but can’t afford the high price of international schools.

The admissions materials at local schools are typically in Chinese and there’s little support for families and students who do not speak Chinese. Schools in Beijing that accept foreign students include Fangcaodi Primary School (芳草地小学) and The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China Beijing Ritan High School (人大附中).

There are over 70 schools approved by China’s Ministry of Education to provide foreign instruction. Unlike local children, foreigners must pay a yearly tuition which varies but starts at about 28,000RMB.

-What Is School in China Like

So your child has three options.

[1] If you live in a big city like Shanghai, Beijing, or Shenzhen, there is the possibility that an “approved” school will take in your child. Be prepared to pay a fee, and your child will probably need to go down a few grades until their Chinese language skills are improved.

[2] You child can be home schooled.

[3] Your child can attend “International Schools”. In China, the international schools are among the most expensive in the world with costs approaching $10,000 / month or 70,000 rmb/month.

Then once the baby gets older, it must obey American tax law where ever it lives. Which means that if the child decides to stay in China, it must pay both American taxes to the IRS as well as Chinese taxes. It will be double taxed for the rest of it’s life. This handicap MUST be taken into consideration in any calculus regarding the child’s future.

Things have mitigated somewhat for expats, but Americans do need to be careful and file yearly reports to the government. These requirements of reporting income, telling the American government what you do and why, and asking permission on how you handle financial affairs, whether it results in tax liabilities or not, are repugnant to a free person. It is up to you to decide if you want to saddle your child with this reporting nightmare.

Applying for Citizenship.

Most people assume that China is like their nation. That it has birth-right citizenship. You know, like America has. And that all you need to do is have sex, go to a hospital or even to a parking-lot, and have some witnesses that sign a birth certificate, and zoom! Your baby is a citizen.

Birthright citizenship is the legal principle that any person born on U.S. soil automatically becomes a citizen of the United States. 

Birthright citizenship was established in 1868 by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and confirmed by the US Supreme Court in the 1898 case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark.

-Birthright Citizenship in the United States

Nope. China doesn’t have this. Not in the least. And that is a good thing. It helps mitigate if not eliminate entirely many of the ills that America is facing with unrestricted immigration, “birthright immigration” and a “welfare state”.

If you want your baby to become a citizen of China, you must apply.

In short, you need to go down to the local government office, and fill out the application form; “Application for a baby to become a Chinese citizen while still in the womb.” (Or something like that.)

The rules are very strict. You either meet them or you do not. There is no “wiggle room” for borderline cases.

To become a citizen in China, you need to have a [1] male father, a [2] female mother, and [3] one of the parents must be of Chinese ancestry. Further, you need to apply with these criteria, to the local government office, and be approved by them.

If they approve, then they will issue you with two books. (And they are books.) One is white and one is pink. You will use these books to record and monitor the baby health while in the womb.

Monitoring the prenatal growth of the fetus.

The local government watches and maintains records of the baby’s growth in the womb. They provide mandatory training sessions for the mother, and pay for the tests to make sure that the baby will not have any defects or any sort of retardation.

If the baby has a physical, or mental defect, you will have a problem.

In short, you will not be permitted to have the baby and obtain citizenship for it.

Yes. You can still have the baby if your really want to. It’s just that it will not be a Chinese baby.

However, you will [1] need to pay for all the medical care and support by yourself. It will be a great financial burden, and [2] it will not be a citizen. Which means additional headaches.

In short, the odds that a parent would want to continue and give birth to the baby once it was found to have a defect at some level, like an inherited illness, a genetic defect that might cause a mental or psychological disorder, or a physical disorder is very… very small.

During the entire nine months of pregnancy a series of tests must occur that includes bloodwork and exams of the mother, as well as scans of the baby in the womb.

In order to prevent termination of the embryo because it might not be of the preferred gender (typically male in remote rural areas, like the Xinjiang Muslim areas), strict rules are in place that keeps the baby gender unknown until the moment of birth. This goes through every test. Including the DNA test.

In the DNA test, a needle is inserted into the womb and extracts a DNA sample of the baby. It then goes to a lab and is studies for all sort of inherited or rare illnesses or unusually allergies that might be present in abnormal DNA. The DNA that determines whether it is a boy or a girl is intentionally blacked out so the parent is unable to see what sex the baby would be.

Birthing Hospital

While any hospital can give birth to a baby, the local government would prefer you to use a “birthing hospital”. This hospital deals in one thing… anything about giving birth from the moment of conception to post birth problems.

These are busy places.

They usually are part of a big, wide campus. And on that campus are various buildings for pre-birth training, and what to expect for young mothers. As well as traditional Chinese medicine services. (Which actually DO WORK.)

Story time…

When we were trying to get pregnant (my wife that is), we were having a difficult time at it. We used artificial insemination, and yet, we had four (x4) miscarriages. Yikes! It’s was not only totally and completely expensive but a roller-coaster ride of emotion. After the fourth miscarriage, we went to the head doctor who said that we were doing everything right, but it wasn’t working. So she had us go to the Chinese traditional doctor section.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

So we went to the “Traditional Chinese Medicine” wing of the sprawling hospital complex. We made an appointment with the doctor there.

The doctor sat her down. Looked at her hands. Looked at her mouth. Looked at her feet. Then studied her spine. After examining her, the doctor said “well, of course!” She explained. “Your womb is cold!” She elaborated. “You can never give birth if your womb is cold and not receptive. You need to make it warm”.

Now the terms “warm” and “cold” are not direct translations for the Chinese terms. For there are no English terms for what they were describing. But it was close enough.

So she had to make these terrible concoctions of drinks that she quaffed down. She was put on a strict diet of what she could eat and drink. She also had to perform a kind of smoke therapy with this “smoke box” that she put on her belly and burned these kinds of strange grasses and plants on top of it with.

After four months of this, the doctor looked at her tongue and hands, then examined her feet and said “ok, you are ready and ripe to have a baby”.

Then, we went and had another artificial insemination (her egg and my little guys) and it took! So yeah, nine months later we had a beautiful Chinese baby girl.

Nay-Sayers say that this was just coincidence. But nope. It’s not. This and other events have 100% convinced me of the benefits of Traditional Chinese medicine.

The paperwork was automatic. Not only did she get a birth certificate, but she was placed in the “Family Register”. This is a book that lists all the members of a given household.

Inoculations

The government has an entire operation and system for monitoring the growth and well-being of young children. That includes monitoring of the child’s growth and weight. A review of the condition of the mother and the family environment. As well as all inoculations.

This is tied together with the local police.

If you do not attend the training course, or the doctor visits, the police will call you up and ask you if everything is going ok. I am not taking about missing a few scheduled appointments. I am referring to missing one singular appointment.

The Chinese view the early development of children to be the future of society; the bedrock of the Chinese nation and culture, as well as important to the future health of the economy of the world.

Certain regions have this police interaction all automated, and in Wenzhou there is an APP that is a straight direct line to the local police.

Yes. The local police knows who your baby is and everything about your child. If you child is lost or disoriented, it can go into any police station and they will be able to find out who it is and where it lives. If a new child appears in any police districts, it is noticed. And thus added to the central database. Thus stolen or lost childen are quickly found and accounted for.

Buying a house so the child can attend school.

Free government schools do not exist in China.

The schools are all associated with the local communities. For your child to attend a local school in the neighborhood, you must own a house. Housing complexes have kindergarden, primary and middle schools attached.

Chinese children all get a primary and middle school public education. Each class averages 35 students. After middle school, parents must pay for public high school.

-What Is School in China Like

Now, unlike the USA, there are limits in house ownership. While it depends on the region, I can tell you that the limits for house ownership in Zhuhai, China are as follows…

Three house limit for the Father to own.
Three house limit for the Mother to own.
If the parent is a foreigner, then it is a two house limit.
The child is permitted to own no more than three houses.

Thus, a family of three (father, mother and baby) can own at most nine homes in Zhuhai, China.

Some notes.

Houses in China typically are part of enormous housing developments with schools and businesses set up in clusters.

Houses tend to be smaller than American houses.

Houses tend to be much more expensive than American houses.

In China property is not taxed. The Chinese believe that real freedom is the ability to own property, and real ownership of this means that it is free of taxiation and regulation.

Once you obtain a house, then your child can potentially attend the local school there. There is a criteria that is used for placement within the school, and it all revolves around your own personal family stability and social history.

Housing complex in Zhongshan China. The three schools are circled in red, and the central administration area for the local police, and government is circled in blue.

When I mention this to Americans the “knee jerk” reaction is to think that that most Chinese students then don’t attend school. Their reasoning is that since most Americans are either renters or paying a mortage, that this must be true in the rest of the world as well. But actually the exact opposite is true. Most Chinese people OWN their houses. Renting is what is typically done by unmarried couples, or people who have to work away from their homes.

Obtaining the certificate of motherhood.

In order to assure that your child is able to get a seat within a local school, you will need to meet certain criteria based on your roles, your work, your career, and your contribution to society. This is the much maligned “social credit scoring” that you hear so much about in the American media.

But it’s not really a bad thing. Just don’t be rude, a criminal, or disruptive. You can increase your social rating through community efforts, being helpful, and other means.

If you are a troublemaker with a history of scamming people, or polluting, or just being rude, your score will be lower than someone who isn’t.

If you participate in the riots in Hong Kong, for example, your social rating is now zero… forever.
If you pushed someone on the bus or had some kind of altercation, or just threw trash on the road and was filmed by a road cam in the process, you will have a reduction in your social rating.

Now, in order to guarantee high placement of your child in a local school you will need to take a class in being a mother. You will get a certificate, and that grade and the presence of the certificate will guarantee placement in the best classes of students in the best schools.

This class is a very comprehensive and difficult class that involves books, movies, first-hand class instruction and homework. You must get over a 90% to pass the class and obtain the certificate. My wife took the class, and it consists of two tests. The first being 1000 questions and the second being 300 questions.

Conclusion

The decision to have a child in China is a big one, but need not be frightening. China is a fair and just place that is well organized, if very large and populated. The key to your child’s health and well being lies with you. And the very first decision you should make is what citizenship should your child have.

In this case, do you want Chinese or American citizenship?

American citizens get to have all sort of free stuff, like free healthcare, free food, and free housing. While in China, the citizens must work or die.

As an American citizen, I chose Chinese citizenship for my children. I see China in 2040 bigger, stronger, happier and better in just about every way compared to a 2040 America. But that is just me. Many others disagree with me, and believe the opposite; that America is the best, always was and always will be.

Well…

Only time will tell.

Best Regards.

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False Positives in an affirmation intention campaign and what to do about them.

One thing that can be pretty common in an intention campaign is the presence of “false positives”.

What is a “false positive”?

False positives are events or things that appear to match your verbal affirmations in substance, but have some glaring defect that makes them unusable.

Which is why you need to be very specific in what you affirm.

Ah, but you'd better be very specific.

Here's some wishes that an Craven Morehead wanted if he could have three wishes granted by a genie. It is found in this chat room titled "Genie grants you three wishes, what are they?"

   Better vision, no more glasses
   Better teeth
   Bigger dick

Now, if you were a mischievous person, how would you twist those wishes into something undesirable? Think about it a second.

Now, instead of that nice fairy-tale fantasy. Consider quantum physics and the nature of the universe. Thoughts create reality. So, if those are your wishes, then imagine a totally impartial world-line cross over where you head directly to the world-line that first offers you those destinations.

Is the first world-line that offers you a "bigger dick" the one that you want to inhabit?

   Kenyan's enormous penis means he cannot have sex
   Penis Enlargement Gone Wrong: A Wealthy Diamond Trader ...
   Yes, a Penis Can Be Too Big To Fit Inside a Vagina

Personally, I would prefer to have "free, unlimited sex with anyone I want at any time" over "a bigger dick". But that is just me.

These attributes are called “false positives”, but they can just as well be called an “echo image” of your target desire. Here we are going to discuss this.

Like ripples in a pond, a target object or situation can often create “ghost” or “echo” images. These items are not necessarily exactly what you are striving for. Though, it might (truthfully) be exactly what you are asking for.

Thoughts within the MWI are like ripples in a pond. And when you have a strong directed goal, it is like a big ripple. Sometimes, the ripple is not exactly what we want. It is instead, exactly what we asked for. Thus it is a "ghosted echo image". — Thoughts within the MWI are like ripples in a pond. And when you have a strong directed goal, it is like a big ripple. Sometimes, the ripple is not exactly what we want. It is instead, exactly what we asked for. Thus it is a “ghosted echo image”.

I will use an example from my own life to illustrate this.

An example

This is an actual true to life example. It's my example and it is about me.

Metallicman is not a wealthy man. He lives a comfortable life; a “rich” life. But it is not a wealthy life.

If you do not know the difference between a “wealthy life” and a “rich life” then watch the movie “Bronco Billy” starring Clint Eastwood. Pay attention to Miss Lilly.

Bronco Billy.
Pay attention how Miss Lilly went from a wealthy life to a rich life.

To survive, and put food on the table, Metallicman often runs “projects”, works, and efforts that help himself and his family with the day to day needs of life. One of which is a small company that he owns that provides services.

It’s not big, or noteworthy other than to say that it provides a periodic income when needed. And, aside from income, it also provides purpose and meaning. All men, especially Metallicman, must have an occupation and a purpose that provides for their family and to their community.

So after losing a customer, Metallicman decides that he wants to obtain a new customer. But a substantial one. One that has a lot of money to work with, and who would provide a stable source of labor and income to his business.

So Metallicman adds this line to his “affirmation campaign”…

I am in charge of billions of dollars of worth/value.

Now, Metallicman did not say that he was a billionaire. He did not say that he wanted to be rich and wealthy. He added a line to a affirmation campaign that referred to his business. That his business would expand to a point where he would be in charge of billions of dollars of worth / value.

Safe, huh?

The affirmation campaign ends. The “pause” sequence begins. Then approximately three months after the completion of the last affirmation campaign, while in the midst of the “pause”, he is introduced to a new (potential) client.

The client’s story

Well, Metallicman is in China. Most of his clients are not Chinese though. They are mostly Europeans, with a smattering of Australians and Africans. But this new client is a Chinese American. He’s a Chinese man who emigrated to America and holds American citizenship.

His story…

Now, while he was in China, over the last twenty years, he would take the United States Dollars that Americans would use to set up companies, and convert them into RMB and give the RMB back to the new Americans starting their businesses within China. He would exchange, for a price, USD to RMB.

United States dollars were exchanged for Chinese RMB.

Then he would keep the United States dollars himself. For he did not trust the Chinese yuan. And in those days, having “green backs” could open up a lot of doors for you.

It kind of became an obsession with him, and he started collecting more and more United States currency. And using it to create even more United States currency.

He would have piles of currency in his home, and they would get larger and larger. Until he had to rent out a large building to store them in. It was a real-life scene from the movie “Blow”.

Scene from the movie "Blow" starring Johnny Depp. — Scene from the movie “Blow” starring Johnny Depp.

Well, apparently, the care-taking of the money became too much for him. He ran out of space in his multiple holding locations, and went to a local bank.

He opened up an account, all completely legal, and deposited the money into the account. “Phew!” he thought. No longer did he have to worry about rats chewing up his money, or some punks breaking into the buildings and running off with the cash.

A year or two passed.

Then, as part of an anti-corruption campaign, the Chinese government made some laws designed to combat fraud and corruption. They established a new branch of the government called the “Corruption Police” and passed a slew of laws designed to tightly control money flow and reduce corruption.

Part of this was drastic measures in the use of non-Chinese money; the RMB.

The key was that you can only use Chinese money in China. Which is (pretty much) a “duh! moment”. But for the longest time, people were conducting all sorts of “back room” deals and activities hidden from public oversight.

Anyways, the law was that no one can move non-Chinese currency inside of outside China without oversight.

Max use limit is 50,000 USD/year per person. (In / out or transaction.)
All movement of money must have an approved reason, and documentation. Mostly paperwork, but used as part of your citizen profile.
You cannot use USD inside of China legally. You must use RMB.

So in effect, he has all this money, but he cannot use any of it (aside from a very small amount).

Metallicman opportunity

So this man comes up to Metallicman though his financial advisor and asks if Metallicman can help him convert this money into legal RMB currency.

Metallicman listens.

Metallicman thinks.

Metallicman asks “how much money is it”?

And Metallicman is shown some banking financial records that confirm that the money is real, and it is in legal storage with an authorized Chinese bank.

And…

… as far as how much money is involved, Metallicman is shown this statement…

Bank statement. — A golden opportunity for Metallicman.

What this means.

People. This is a lot of money.

It’s floor to ceiling stacks of one hundred dollar bills. It’s not just a large number in a ledger or spreadsheet. It’s stacks and stacks of one hundred dollar bills piled on top of each other.

It’s an amazing amount of money.

Here is what one billion dollars looks like if you used $100 bills;

What one billion dollars looks like using $100 dollar bills.

Now, that is a lot of money.

But, you know, it’s not just one billion dollars. It’s many many times that amount.

The thing is that he has 23.6 billion dollars. That is twenty three times the amount shown in the picture. Or roughly 276 pallets full of $100 dollar bills.

(whistle!)

And, he was asking Metallicman to help him convert it to Chinese RMB.

A one-in-a-lifetime opportunity? Eh?

The Options

Essentially in situations such as this, you [1] come up with ways to solve the problem / situation, and [2] work out a system of payment for your time and efforts (and resources).

So that is exactly what Metallicman did.

The first option was really simple. You just find enough people, and each person individually converts 50,000 USD to an equivalent amount in Chinese RMB. The only problem with this is that you need a lot of people to do so. Like 472,000 people.

That’s really not a practicable solution.

Finding people that want to convert this money one-on-one for free is difficult. But to find more than a handful is really difficult, and well finding 472,000 people is down right impossible.

So the direct legal option is out.

But there are other options, as well.

You can use option two. Here, you can use the money on large scale buildings, or purchase property or large projects directly. The restrictions on this is that [1] you must first find someone wanting and willing to accept USD for property or objects, and secondly [2] it must be within the geographic legal boundaries of the local government. (In China, while Beijing makes the rules, everything is governed at the local level.)

Well, apparently he did just that. And already used up a bunch of the money in the process. So much, apparently, that the builders, and real-estate developers in his region are simply no longer willing to accept United States dollars for their projects. He saturated the market.

Option Three. There is an option that he can obtain Beijing approval to use the money outside of the local region for a specific project. This option allows him to conduct large-scale investments and building projects using USD as long as there is complete Beijing and corruption police monitoring.

He was not keen on this idea.

He did not say why, but I suspected that it might have to do with some “bad blood” in Beijing or perhaps some history regarding how he was able to come up with so much currency in the first place.

So that leaves…

Option Four. I came up with option four knowing my relationships with factories and other hard industry within China. I came up with a process that would use the money to produce ingots or other raw materials bought in USD, and then sell it to Chinese factories that would pay in RMB. It was simple. It was legal. It was useful.

The drawback was that there would be operation costs to run the operation, but that would be offset by the profits from the transactions. In my mind, this was the best option to disperse the money, follow Chinese law, and make a profit.

But the Billionaire had other ideas…

Well, Metallicman made the presentation with his aide over dinner with the financial advisor and her partner. After a round of talking and drinks it became obvious what the billionaire was looking for.

A direct conversion of USD to RMB. Cash to cash.
Large scale transactions with nothing smaller than increments of $10 million.
He would pay 1% transaction fee. (around $10,000 per 1 million dollars)

And, with a great deal of sadness and regret, I had to say “no”.

Why I turned it down…

There were many reasons, but let’s stick to the basics…

I do not know that many people who are desirous to convert their RMB to USD directly. The need is not there.
The number of people who do want to do so is very small. The desire to conduct “under the table” dealings in untraceable bills is even smaller. In China, with all the electronic “checks and balances” it is a very risky operation. To do so needs a strong and compelling reason.

Thus…

While not directly illegal, it skirts the law in legality. It’s risky.
To find these people, locate them, meet them, have dinner with them, and convince them to trust you… takes time, money and a substantial amount of “wining and dining”.
A mere $10,000 dollar per one million dollars will not be sufficient. There would need to be some type of expense account, and it would exceed the payment terms by a factor of five or ten.

So what does this mean?

A false positive.

A "False Positive";

A test result which incorrectly indicates that a particular condition or attribute is present.

This 23.6 billion dollar opportunity was unobtainable to me. While it did meet my verbal affirmation prayer campaign literally, it did not meet its’ intent. I was unable to use the money in any way to provide a stable source of income to me and my family.

If you recall, my affirmation stated…

I am in charge of billions of dollars of worth/value.

Indeed, for a very brief period of time, I was actually “in charge of billions of dollars of worth and value“. But it was not sustainable. I could not profit from it because the limitations placed upon it by the owner were not appropiate for my management.

Yet, even as I was unable to [1] find people that were [2] willing to convert the transaction, my prayer affirmations were still valid and did actually materialize…

But it was not what I wanted.

Why?

I was willing to work for a payment scheme, but the scheme suggested by the client was not realistic for the task / opportunity.
What the client wanted was outside my skill base, my knowledge level, and my network of contacts.
(In regards to my affirmation campaign), I did not specify exactly how I would profit from this relationship, just that I would be “in charge”.

This is a pretty dangerous condition to place within your affirmation campaign.

Open ended.
Not specifying how you would benefit from it.

For instance, if you state something along the lines of “I work in a big company”, you could very well end up…

…in a situation that you might not like…

…like, perhaps, being the janitor (figuratively) “handcuffed” to a job you might not want or like.

You do not want that.

In this universe you need to work from the world-line that you are inhabiting, and then adjust your thoughts accordingly so as to best fit your desires.

Let me explain…

You are always “half way” there…

While the objective of managing a multi-billion dollar account is still in place, it is not exactly what I desire. As it stands. But…

But…

… do not give up. The game is not yet over.

Get a grip! The game is not yet over. You need to calm down, and come up with a plan. You now know more than what you did before. You know what options you have and are far closer to realizing your objectives than before.

You are still in play. The thoughts are still working for you and they are still manifesting the reality that you desire.

You just need to adjust them.

You need to perform a “course correction”.

What is a course correction? 

When a spacecraft gets off of its trajectory, or path through space, it must be put back on the right path. The location of the spacecraft is determined and its course vector (the speed and direction of its flight) is calculated.

-What is a course correction?

Of all the millions of world-lines that I traversed in the MWI, I did manage to reach a cluster that contained “billions of dollars in resources” that I can exploit.

Just because that particular opportunity is not my ideal condition, it does not mean that the opportunity is gone. It’s not. Rather you are actually looking at the outside of a very enormous iceberg, and you need to conduct a course correction to exploit it to your advantage.

Here's a mind exercise.

Imagine that you want to become a figurative painter in Paris, France. 

To this end, you conduct a prayer affirmation campaign.

And after a few years you suddenly find yourself in Belgium. It is not France, but it is close.

You are not painting figures, but you are dating a woman with a large dancing studio with enough room for you to "dabble in your hobby". You occupation in Belgium permits you to have plenty of time to drink wine, paint (a factory that makes oils for painting is down the street - offering discount prices), and continue your painting dream.

It's not exactly what you want, but it is getting closer and closer to your goal.

In this situation…

Well in this situation, what options do I have?

There are numerous options, let’s review them.

Accept the terms of the Billionaire. Try to find clients and convert USD to RMB and accept his payment terms.
Renegotiate with the Billionaire. Try to find clients to convert USD to RMB but with payment terms to my own satisfaction plus all expenses paid for.
Renegotiate with the Billionaire, have him accept my proposal to perform factory to factory commodity trading to convert the money.
Drop the entire opportunity completely.

In any event, regardless as to how the physical matter is dealt with, there does need to be a readjustment and course correction to the verbal affirmations used within the prayer / affirmation campaign.

It should have elements that maintain…

Sustainability and duration. Or how long will this goal last for.

This reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode. Where she granted a man his wish to be able to fly. 

So he jumps of the 50 story building window, and indeed he could fly. He laughed and flew. He felt the wind on his face and on his arms.

The only thing was that the contract did not specify the duration of his ability. And so after 30 seconds he fell to his death.

Funny thing about this contract, it did not specify the duration of how long you could fly for…

Do not assume anything in regards to your affirmations. If you want to have a nice, long duration customer, that will use your services, and from which you can profit from; then SPECIFY IT.

I am in charge of this money for many years.

And secondly, you need to specify how this relationship will benefit you personally…

I make a very nice salary, profits, interest, and margin in transactions regarding this money.

I am able to use the money to provide a stable source of income to me and my family.

I attend KTVs, eat fine food, meet interesting and sexy girls as part of dealing with this money.

A false positive

False positives often occur within affirmation / prayer campaigns.

Our natural reaction when a false positive occurs is to assume that exactly what we have specified within our prayer campaign has actually manifested. But this is an illusion. We need to study what has manifested, and then adust our affirmations accordingly. Remember, just because it looks like what you asked for, might not be what you actually want.

…

This might be such things as “the man of your dreams”, or “the house of your dreams”. You take what is presented to you, and then you make course corrections.

Your prayer affirmation campaigns never end. They only adjust and reorient to new information, and you should be constantly and constantly refining and redefining them.

May your deepest dreams come true.

Do you want more?

I have more posts on this subject in my Intention Index here…

Intention Campaigns

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Some stories from prison. How other people ended up being locked up. The landscaper.

Prison is full of stories. Some are lies. Some are half-truths and some are truths that add insight to the human condition.

When you are in prison, you adjust. You adapt. You make friends and alliances. You survive.

You get to know other people; other inmates. And you hear their stories. And you learn from them.

Here is one such story…

The Landscape Business Owner

He wasn’t a rich man, but he was making a good living. He had about fifteen steady customers and a small crew that helped him mow lawns and trim hedges. He had a truck (new) that pulled a trailer that held the tools of his trade, and emblazoned on the side of the truck was his landscape businesses name and his logo.

He lived in a modest middle class house in a nice neighborhood. He was making mortgage payments, but they would be paid off in five years and then the home would be his completely.

His life was easy. It was relaxed and very low stress. He would get up in the morning, eat a nice breakfast and coffee at the local diner, and pick up his crew at 9 am, so that they could start work on the lawns while his clients were working at their regular 9-5 jobs in town.

He described the work as easy.

The crew would do the hard boring tasks and he would supervise and do the tasks that he wanted to do. Like, perhaps, planting flowers, or arranging bushes, or trimming moss. He told me that he would just enjoy the day. Do the job. (Take a) Break for lunch. Take a nap in the truck, and then resume work.

Then he would come home on time and his wife would make the dinner while the kids would be off doing kid stuff.

Then one day…

As he was leaving the house in the morning, getting ready for his normal routine… (two eggs, over medium, whole wheat toast, chicken fried steak with gravy and grits with coffee)…

…two police cars pulled up.

One blocked the truck in. The other pulled behind the truck.

“Friendly officer” Dan came out and asked him if he was Mr XXXXXXX. Well, of course he was. He knew the officers himself. Everyone knew everyone else.

His neighborhood was small enough that it would fit within a Norman Rockwell painting.

They told him to turn around, put his hands behind his back, and they loaded him into the squad car to take to the office.

What is going on?

Once he was handcuffed, they informed him that he was arrested for forgery, creating false documents and accessory to crimes valued at the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What?

He was 46 years old. Running a laid-back landscape business, that had been in operation for at least 15 years. His greatest crime that he could recall was being late paying his water bill.

What was going on?

Well, as it turned out the anti-terror legislation passed in the wake of 9-11, eliminated the statute of limitations for anything that could be used by terrorists. So an entire swath of crimes, which normally had a seven year statue of limitations now were open-ended and had no “sunset date”.

Forgery
Identity Theft
Interstate criminal activity
Use of the internet to conduct crimes
Use of a road to conduct crimes
Use of computers to commit crimes…

Any law can be twisted to serve a purpose…

Further, certain states had agreed to match the requirements of the Federal statutes and his (our) state was one of them.

Which meant that he was being dragged into the “system” by federal anti-terror legislation for crimes committed a long time ago, and was being charged on both the federal and the state level. Two sets of charges for one singular crime.

How is this even possible?

What happened?

Well, it seemed that over twenty five years ago, when he was in college, he set up a small operation making fake driver’s licenses. In America, they have minimum drinking ages, and you cannot buy alcohol or cigarettes or even enter a restaurant, bar or club unless you were over that minimum age requirement.

In America you need to show identification showing that you are of legal age to drink beverages that contain alcohol.

What he would do is make a fake ID.

With a fake ID the kids could get around that legal requirement. They could enter bars, clubs and restaurants that served alcohol. They could also go into liquor stores and buy beer, wine, and hard alcohol.

The client would give him a name, and he would make an ID for them that resembled a state driver’s license in every detail. He had worked out a system where he got original blanks for the ID’s, and used the same machines that the state used. Thus producing a genuine appearing, but fake ID.

He did this for his friends.

And then, as his reputation expanded, for others in other schools as well.

At the time, a fake driver's license was not difficult to make, and had no serious criminal penalties attached with it. — At the time, a fake driver’s license was not difficult to make, and had no serious criminal penalties attached with it.

He did this for a few years, and then about two years after he graduated, he shut the business down. He no longer associated with the younger set of “kids” and moved on to bigger and better things.

Yet…

His cards were still out there. Still being used. Not just thrown into a cluttered drawer of old socks and brick-a-brack. Not just forgotten. Not just discarded when the clients got older.

Some were no longer being used to buy alcohol…

The events…

Well it turned out, that of the thousands of cards that he sold to students, one was sold to a girl…

…who was now a grown woman.

And who used that fake identification to procure an entire slew of bank credit cards. And she used those card to purchase all kinds of things.

Expensive clothes.
Television screens.
Expensive watches.
Fine clothing.
and automobiles…

When she was caught, she had racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent purchases.

And while under investigation, the FBI and the DHS were able to ascertain her system and method. They were able to track down everything back to a lone fake ID that was made some 25 years previously.

She of course, was looking at state and federal charges for wire fraud, and an entire slew of interstate commerce violations.

But…

She used a fake identification. And fake identification, the generation and creation of it, is now a federal issue that involves terrorism and the Department of Homeland Security.

Thus the arrest, and imprisonment.

Long story short

He was facing both State and Federal charges. He was threatened with everything from Gitmo, to twenty five years in a Federal prison, to life at hard labor in a State Prison.

He accepted a plea bargain.

He got two years of prison in a State Prison (Brickeys – North Arkansas Regional Unit) at hard labor. And that is where I met him.

A look at the issue of “Rights”

One of the first things that you realize when you hit prison is that the idea of what a Right is, and what it actually is do not match. We are told that we have “Rights” and a “Rule of Law”. But that is not true.

The laws in America, at both the States and Federal levels are capricious.

They are whatever those with the guns say they are.

They are in constant change; in flux, and anyone can get snared in them.

Anyone.

Including you.

If the American Federal and State constitution were being followed, this entire event sequence would be avoided.

Following the Statute of limitations.
The criminal activity charge must fit the actual actions.
Local crimes do not apply to international issues.
A trial for jury should never be usurped by a plea bargain.
No double jeopardy.

But none of that matters now.

I am sure that he is out and back to living life.

Presently

Last I heard, his wife took over the business and ran it while he was absent. When he got out, I’m sure that after he was able to readjust, he went back to work. And his life went on and continued.

He fared better than others that I have met. Their stories are also quite interesting and illustrative. I’ll discuss some of them in further posts.

Do you want some more?

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The rest of the world is living life, what is holding you back? Is it the belief that you are somehow “special”?

Americans are constantly reinforced how dark and gloomy the rest of the world is. They are told that America must fight wars all over the globe to “free people” from the evils of Communism, and “to spread democracy” and the “American way of life”. It’s all a big nasty lie. The rest of the world is doing just fine thank you. And Americans need to straighten up, get their collective shit together and stop putting their nose in everyone else’s’ business.

This post consists of some videos from the rest of the world. And no, it doesn’t look like a “save the children” commercial either. People are living life, having fun and just enjoying themselves. They are not probed, monitored, reported on, and over taxed. They are doing just fine. And we are going to have some glimpses into their lives right about now.

Meanwhile in America

Ah. The Drudge Report offers us a snapshot of how America is doing. It’s a fucking mess, I’ll tell you what.

I will tell you how bad things are.

Even O’ Remus from the Woodpile Report has gone dark.
Charlie Daniels has died.
The lead singer from Bad Company has died.
Leading Democrats in Congress want to ban Home Ownership.

I know that change is a normal art of life, but man….

And yet, if you go on American social media it’s still the same old narrative. America is so fantastic and so wonderful and so great that it must be the “will of God”, and all the rest of the world is evil. America needs to get involved and “teach them lessons”.

Today, Sen. Ernst says, we face a different supply chain threat: China.
"We rely on communist China for far too much," she explains.

She hasn't only been talking about the Chinese threat. Sen. Ernst recently wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in which she stressed that the U.S. must be more aggressive toward China, particularly after the communist regime's mishandling and cover-up of the coronavirus. China's role in the pandemic resulted in the loss of thousands of American lives, as well as devastating economic consequences.

-Joni Ernst Focuses on China in First TV Ad of the Year

Oh Fucking Brother!

"...the communist regime's mishandling and cover-up of the coronavirus..."

Please give me a fucking break.

The videos of people dying all over China during CNY were everywhere.  I myself have collected thousands.  And while this was going on, you had President Trump telling everyone that "nothing is going on", and that you don't need to wear a mask. The idea that there was some sort of coverup is just political theater.

What “mishandling”?

Six days after discovery, everything went public and under lock-down. If anyone is mishandling anything it is the idiots running the United States right now.

Anyways…

America is in bad shape. And the general “rule of thumb” (historically) is to claim some foreign threat. Then launch a war, claiming that it’s all in “self-defense”. Right now, the build up is all against China.

But if Trump loses the election, the build up will be redirected against Russia.

And if so, then it looks like the John Tutor narrative will really start to have some legs...

… Nuclear War.

But of course, the PTB, the Oligarchy aren’t thinking this. They just simply cannot envision a life where they are not inside their nice comfortable homes living life and sipping tea while fondling with their pearl necklaces. They cannot envision major change on the order of Genghis Khan level disruptions.

Instead, they are pushing the same, tired old, narrative…

Export “democracy” to the rest of the world so that they can be as fantastically wonderful as Americans are, with all those American “freedoms”!

American freedoms in action. Let's export this to the rest of the world! — American freedoms in action. Let’s export this to the rest of the world! Woo woo!

Well…

Let me tell you’se guys. The rest of the world doesn’t want any “American exceptionalism”. They just wish to be left alone, and the dearly wish that America would just “go away”.

Why?

Because the are NOT suffering. They are NOT some starving village out of a “Save the Children” commercial. And most people are very, very far removed to that 0.0003% of people who live in the elitist bubble in Washington DC where stocks, bonds and public manipulation are the norm.

They are having fun.

They are living life.

Having fun like everyone used to back in the day, in America before all those progressive "improvements". — Having fun like everyone used to back in the day, in America before all those progressive “improvements”.

Here's some glimpses into the rest of the world. The images are from South East Asia. This includes Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Burma. Now, there is a lot of cultural back-and-forth going on in these areas, so there is a chance that I am mixing up a few regions with nearby societies. lease excuse the mistakes if appropriate.

Burma Music Video

Most Americans don’t know where Myanmar is.

It’s a small nation West of Thailand. It’s relatively poor, but peaceful. The only time most Americans hear about it has to do with some military excursion one way or the other. Then suddenly the news is plastered with buzz-words and trigger phrases. You know the drill “democracy”, “military junta”, “regime” and “communist”.

But aside from that, Americans are kept ignorant.

Americans just do not care.

“Out of sight is out of mind” as we all used to say.

At most, Americans might look at the news and see what constitutes as a video portrayal of events and daydream of starting a KFC franchise, introducing those “poor starving people” to ATM machines, and American social media. Not realizing of course, that they already have all of this. Each and every bit, only under their terms. Not under the oppressive terms of the iron-fisted American empire.

Anyways…

Here’s what it’s really like.

This is what the rest of the world is like.

And while you Americans were out having a BBQ with some chicken, some hamburgers, bags of potato chips, and watermelon, this is what other people were doing. While you were flying the red, white and blue flag on your porch, and drinking some fine Budweiser beer or PBR. Only…

Only…

…they didn’t need an official government holiday to do it. They just went out and lived life. Because for the rest of the world, just about every day is a holiday.

Check out this (partial) MV video from Burma…

Burma music video.

Ah it’s one of my favorites.

Now for some bad news…

THE PENTAGON IS PREPARING A NEW WAR IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA
Political Islam against China
by Thierry Meyssan

You are probably aware that you are incompletely informed about what is brewing in Myanmar, and you probably haven’t heard about the military coalition that is preparing to attack that country. And yet, as Thierry Meyssan reveals here, these current events have been in preparation by Riyadh and Washington since 2013. Don’t take sides before you read this article and digest the information.

https://www.voltairenet.org/article198141.html

All in the name of “freedom” and “democracy”…

But, take a gander. Do these people seem to need “democracy”, or “The American way of life”, or “American exceptionalism” that Donald Trump so loudly proclaim?

DO you really think that they want ANYTHING that America exports right now?

Do they look like they eat a lot of McDonald’s hamburgers, are all worked up and stressed about the IRS reporting dates, the up coming November elections, the new laws on social distancing on beaches or fishing? Nope. They are not. Because that nightmare world that all Americans live within is far, far removed for the lifestyle, and the societies of the rest of the world.

Thirteen years ago my life changed forever.

Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State and the most credible person in George W. Bush’s cabinet, made the case for war in Iraq on February 5, 2003.

As a young military intelligence officer at the time, watching from a makeshift army base in Kuwait not far from the Iraq border.

Back then I was a true believer, trusting that the government was a force for good “making the world safe for democracy. . .”

But that night it all changed.

Powell told the world unequivocally that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, an assertion that history has proven categorically wrong.

But within the intelligence community, many people knew the appalling truth immediately.

That night it became clear to me that the government was lying and that the whole case for war was being fabricated.

It was crushing, like finding out everything I’d been told throughout my life was total bullshit.

So for the first time, I broke out of the spell and began questioning. Everything.

I started learning about the extraordinary political power of the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned about.

That led me to the fraud of many previous wars going as far as the Mexican War in 1845, one deeply criticized by Abraham Lincoln himself.

That led me to the Constitution, to which all military officers swear an oath to support and defend…

… and it surely didn’t seem like supporting or defending the Constitution in waging an ill-conceived, illegal war.

Needless to say I couldn’t talk to my professional colleagues. Everyone was so gung-ho, I felt like an outcast.

When I returned home, things didn’t improve.

While I was away the country had noticeably turned into a police state.
Yet people seemed oblivious to the change, drinking in the propaganda like a spiked punch bowl.

All the loud, bombastic nonsense and pledges of allegiance were merely illusions masking modern day serfdom.

-Simon Black

And now, well America is really knee-deep in shit. And it desperately needs a major military conflict for the PTB to stay in control and they are all “chomping at the bit” to make it happen.

It’s terrifying.

Yes. I know. I am in a “safe place”. And I know that change is going to happen. But, you all do know that I want peaceful change. Not violent change. And these elitists sitting in Washington DC are just delusional. On both sides of the isle. They do not know what they are asking, and the result will NOT be what they expect.

Hey!

Did the starvation of China work? How about the mass riots in Hong Kong? What about the UN going against the Uighur “concentration camps” (nonsensical, but still) or of course the COVID-19 bioweapons attack against China on the CNY eve 2020? How did it all pan out.?

Do you all somehow think that a war with a major power is going to be a “walk in the park”?

The United States needs to leave the rest of the world alone.

It needs to concentrate on it’s own problems and start fixing things.

No one believes the United States any longer. All the masks of self-righteous truth and Godliness has been stripped away to expose the evil dark underneath.

Instead of filling their own pockets and letting the rest of the nation suffer. And that is what is going on right now. Those trillions of dollar bailouts are not going tot he citizens. They are, instead, going to the politically connected and the cronies that support the PTB. This is not good…

It’s like throwing kerosene on a smoldering fire.

Yet…

The rest of the world is living life. Having fun. Chilling.

Let’s go to Thailand.

Local Thailand Music

Of course, in Thailand you can hear classic American Rock blaring from the bars and nightclubs, but if you listen carefully and go outside the tourist areas you can find real genuine local music. And it’s all pretty darn cool.

One of the most curious things that fascinated me is that the local music, and the styles all tended to resemble the hotter sections of Southern Mexico. And I am not the first to notice it.

A curious new trend has emerged in Bangkok, where young Thai men are identifying as “Mexican gangsters.”

On the outside, many of these Thais resemble the Cholos who inspire them. Their clothes, tattoos, and hairstyles emulate those sported by real homies.

What became clear is that the Thai obsession with these groups is simply an appreciation of their aesthetic. All of the men we spoke with were captivated by “the clean and simple style” that “worked well in this (Thai) weather,” as one gang member said.

So while they might appear and look like Mexican gangsters, they really emulate their style and appearance. As they both have a similar build / stature, a similar family lifestyle, a similar society, and similar weather. One should not, however, think that they aren’t able to handle themselves were “push comes to shove”. Thailand is the land of “kick boxing” and they do not play.

I dont know about the clothes but on a hand to hand combat fight my moneys on the thai boys! 

They would kick their ass in about 2 seconds with that martial arts shit! 

As for the idiot who wondered wtf this story got to do with anything? Get the f**k outta here! U need a change of pace sometimes! 

I saw a little woman from thailand once bring a grownass man to the floor with a damn broom handle once honest! If i hadnt seen it myself i wouldnt have believed it! 

I was like dayuum!

Anonymous
March 20, 2014 at 11:19 PM

Perhaps what most separates the Thais from the Mexicans they imitate is that almost all of them hold innocuous 9-5s as teachers, policemen and bureaucrats. Many are family men, and some admitted to consulting their wives before getting certain tattoos.

Thailand Music Video

In a nutshell, this is a brotherhood of style-conscious men who bond over baggy white shirts and gothic-baroque tattoos.

That’s not to say that the Thais don’t have an understanding of the fierce take-no-shit Cholo attitude. Thanks to Youtube and movies they’re very much aware of that culture’s hyper-aggressiveness and machismo. One Balcony Pain gang member – Mr. Shiro Local – bared his inner gangster to us when he rapped a few lines from an original song he had written called “Fuck the Popo” in which he compared corrupt Thai police to parasites in his scrotum. 

Such outright vitriol is rarely directed towards people in authority in Thailand, where the dominant culture is one of extreme deference towards the powerful. Yet, you’d be hard pressed to find Thais who disagree with Mr. Local’s assessment of Bangkok’s cops. Perhaps a little more Mexican gangstah chutzpah is exactly what Thailand needs.

Just some local Thai men being themselves and living life.

Nice. Eh?

Local societies doing local things. People living life.

Good. Right?

Well…

Not everyone thinks so…

Now all this is going on while the PTB and the Oligarchy are moving military forces around the world. Both the American and English forces are moving in preparation for the World War that America so desperately needs…

What this article in fact announces is the state of war between the Anglo-American Empire and the PRC which with characteristic euphemism is called "hybrid".

https://www.ft.com/content/20910e6d-5ae7-4026-aaee-947e22c3dd60

"Britain’s armed forces pivot east to face growing China threat
Security and defence review dominated by ways to counter Beijing’s hybrid warfare"

The FT as a mouthpiece of the Establishment is announcing that the conventional warfare elements are being mobilised as cover for covert operations already in progress for at least 18 months.
By placing visible assets near the "front" any PRC responses to covert action can be dressed as provocations justifying selective escalation.

Since the AAE is aware that it is unable to challenge PLAN elements in Chinese territorial waters or EEZ, these naval elements serve to inhibit or disrupt maritime traffic toward or from China.

The preoccupation with repeated instances of viral infection not only consume resources but reinforce the negative public image of the PRC and force its "self-isolation".

Since at the same time the promoters of the "pandemic" are determined to drive Trump out of office at all costs, both to restore control over the W**** House and hence the state bureaucracy and to continue the rollout against China and Russia unobstructed, there is little reason to expect any change in the WHO status before December.

By that time the scale of basic economic disaster will require the draconian "public health (in fact policing) measures" on a far more coordinated scale than at present is apparent.

We are going through what might best be called an indoctrination phase. This is a shift from overt criminal policing or political repression to a general "health and safety" doctrine- already well anchored in Britain and the US (the white dominions).

My gut feeling is that the protests in the US are in fact a managed "watertight integrity" test. The natural anger and opposition to all sorts of real and imagined injustice is being selectively detonated. This will starve the real opposition of the "oxygen" it needs to resist the next phase of suppression.

It would be nice to think that it is all more chaotic and less subject to management than I describe above. However, I see little cause for optimism of this sort.

Dr. T. P. Wilkinson
魏巴克

Yeah.

I know that it is depressing. It’s like you have this really nice calm life. It’s fine and tranquil and then suddenly American planes zoom overhead and release a fireball that completely wipes out your small village.

Like what happened in Panama…

In Libya…

In Afghanistan, Syria…

And many, many other places…

Syria before and after America spread "democracy" and let them have a fine taste of American "freedom". — Syria before and after America spread “democracy” and let them have a fine taste of American “freedom”.

Hey! I know it’s depressing.

You want to know what’s even more depressing?

It’s that any attack on China or Russia will end up with nuclear attacks on American soil. And yet somehow, somehow and in some crazy way, the American and British PTB Oligarchy leadership doesn’t think that this will happen. Thinking that a war with China will be limited to conventional weapons in the South China Sea is absolutely foolish.

What is the matter with these people?

It will not be limited to conventional weapons.
It will not be limited to the South China Sea.

Don’t they realize that on the grand scale of things that you just cannot move about… being a destroyer of things and NOT have some “flash back”?

Look at these videos.

America is a bubble of insanity.

Has anyone seen this from Rod Campbell of Australia Institute? He claims thousands of bot accounts controlled by US government spread the Wuhan bioweapons narrative nearly 5 million times in the first half of 2020:
 
https://www.facebook.com/HongKongGoodNews/videos/200057774713941/

The life of the people in the rest of the world is…

… normal.

The life of Americans in America is…

…abnormal.

People… the rest of the world is not like this. The rest of the world is normal and doing well. The rest of the world is living life and having fun. They are not in the same kind of extremes that Americans are enduring.

It is like night…

… and day.

They are not living in this bubble of extreme freak-out that exists within the USA today. They are innocents. They are just minding their own business. And when the brave American bombs start dropping, there will be a response…

… you want to avoid the areas where the response(s) will end up.

…

Come on…

Look at the rest of the world.

What about life in Cambodia?

How about checking things out there…eh?

America Needs a War

As I am trying to make the point, I want you the reader to pay attention and listen. It’s simple really.

Americans are living within a “bubble”.
The rest of the world lies outside this “bubble”.

They are happy, doing well, and want to be left alone. They are now protected with strong military alliances with peer-capable weapons, serious and powerful leadership, and an understanding of the stakes and the evils of the American Military Empire as it exists today.

America needs a war. It is the only technique remaining in the arsenal of control that will allow the United States to stay coherent and not break apart through internal division.

The severity of the internal American discord is an indicator of how serious the projected war that America wants…

…and the rest of the world is aware of this.

If you all think that the Chinese, and the Russians are going to sit back and allow the America to go initiate a global war to preserve their control over the rapidly crumbling American structure…

…you are sadly mistaken.

Right now, and keep this in mind… China is STILL at DEFCON ONE. Last week they just called up all of the national reservists. All of them. (What? You didn’t see this in the American or Western press did you?) If you think that China is going to permit the five aircraft (2 + 3 = 5) carriers heading to China right now, and the two invasion flotillas to be a threat, you are crazy.

Chinese and Russian military advisors have been having a flurry of meetings over this last month.

Do not think that the rest of the world is going to sit back and pretend that nothing is going on? Don’t be silly. The leadership of both China and Russia are experts that obtained their positions through merit. Not though some diversity checklist and under-the-table bribes.

Meanwhile…

…In Cambodia.

Party Time in Cambodia

It’s “party time”. There, just like it used to be in America, people would customize their vehicles and make them into mobile party-centers. Then all they would need to do is go to an empty parking lot and have a good time. Sort of like this…

Cambodian Music Video

Yeah.

The rest of the world is just having fun. They are just enjoying themselves. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But, you would never know that this was going on from reading the American news…

To Americans within their own bubble, they are convinced that they are “special”, and “wonderful”, and all is “great”.

How could they get this kind of idea?

Well…

It’s because it has been drummed into them ever since they first started attending school, and getting participation trophies for showing up.

But…

I’ve got news for everyone.

Americans are NOT special. In fact, most aren’t really functional at the most basic level. The PTB realize this, and many people are starting to wake up to this frightening situation.

Here’s one…

The following is the full text of an article titled “RAW TRUTH: Why 97% of lives really DON’T matter at all to the future of humanity” by Mike Adams. It was found on Natural News and all credit to the Author.

The opinions are of the author and not necessairly that of Metallicman. So please take advisements. Realize that there are changes and you need to be a participant or else you will be flushed down the drain with the rest. Be advised.

Aside from that. Realize that other people are starting to "wake up" and look around...

RAW TRUTH: Why 97% of lives really DON’T matter at all to the future of humanity

Sunday, July 05, 2020 by: Mike Adams

(Natural News) The mantra of “Black Lives Matter” has been pounded into our heads 24 hours a day, and we’re told it’s an enlightened, progressive statement while anyone who claims “White lives matter” is somehow a racist bigot. Even worse, those who utter “ALL lives matter” are now threatened with being killed by this Harvard graduate, and people are being fired from their jobs for claiming “all lives matter.”

In truth, almost no lives really matter to the future of humanity, and that’s because roughly 97% of the people are oblivious, clueless consumers who are doing absolutely nothing to help secure a legacy of truth and freedom for future generations.

If you are sitting on your ass, watching The View and devouring Weight Watchers donuts as you allow the TV to fill your brain with mush, your life actually doesn’t matter. If you were to cease to exist, nothing about the future of human history would change one iota.

If you are still watching CNN and predominantly using Facebook, Twitter and Google because you don’t realize all the voices of truth have been banned by the authoritarian Left, your life probably doesn’t matter. You are nothing but a mind puppet of the globalist-run corporate propagandists (Big Tech and Big Media).

If you conform to the insane demands of the progressive left-wing fascists because you cower in fear over being “cancelled,” your life doesn’t matter, either.

If you’re not standing up against the lunatic left-wing mob to defend logic, reason and rationality, your existence really doesn’t matter. You aren’t changing history; you’re being used as a “useful idiot” to help achieve the aims of the anti-human globalists who despise human populations.

If you’re not fighting for the right to speak, the right to disagree and the right to question the lunacy of the mob, your life doesn’t matter.

If you’re doped up on a dozen prescription drugs to the point that you’re mentally incapacitated and can barely process events happening right in front of you, your life doesn’t matter. (But you might get nominated as the Democratic Presidential candidate, notably.)

If you vote for candidates based on political tribalism without having any real clue what those candidates stand for, your life doesn’t matter.

If you think you are owed everything without having to work for anything, your life doesn’t matter.

If you think the answer to today’s existential threats to our nation, our freedom and our Bill of Rights are no big deal and everybody should just “think positive,” then your life doesn’t really matter. You will accomplish nothing that matters.

Approximately 97% of the lives of Americans today don’t matter one bit. They are NPCs — Non-Player Characters — also known as PLFs (Programmable Life Forms), and they will do whatever they are told by the media, the corporations and the fake establishment “authorities.” They add exactly zero value to society and if they vanished tomorrow, the course of human history wouldn’t be altered one bit.

Here’s a video showcasing some members of the 97% — the clueless masses whose lives are pointless and inconsequential. Watch as they explain how the United States of America achieved its independence “in 1964” by fighting “the Civil War” against “America.” Seriously… and two of them are teachers!

Whose lives matter? Those who are informed and who make a difference. The 3%.

Only about 3% of the population have any clue about our history and are actively engaged in shaping our future. That’s fewer than 10 million people nationwide.

It is these 10 million people who will determine our shared future and whether or not we end up enslaved under left-wing tyranny or are able to reclaim our constitutional republic and defeat the anti-American forces that are rising.

So out of a nation of 330 million people, about 320 million lives make no difference at all. They are what globalists call “useless eaters,” and they are on the list to be exterminated via global depopulation efforts that are now underway via the plandemic and the coming coronavirus “vaccine.”

Another way to look at this is by simply being active in the effort to spread the truth and defend humanity against tyranny, you matter more than any 33 other people who are oblivious. Your life “counts” more, in other words, because you’re fighting to make a difference. And the 97% figure for the clueless masses is actually quite generous. The real number is probably more like 99%, which means one active, aware person “matters” more than 99 other people who are clueless.

What makes your life matter isn’t the color of your skin or your political affiliation. What determines whether you matter is how committed you are to fighting for human freedom and opposing authoritarianism and tyranny. Notably, people who really matter are self-selected: They alone determine that they wish to take a stand and make a difference. No one can appoint you to this position of relevance; you must seize it for yourself and become a person whose life really does make a positive difference in the world.

How to make your life matter

If you are an oblivious conformist who surrenders to the lunatic mob, your life is pointless and redundant. But if you want your life to really matter, you must break away from the mob and start thinking (and acting) for yourself.

There are many, many people who have set the example of independent thinking that you might allow to inspire yourself to do the same:

Luke Rudkowski of We Are Change. WeAreChange.org
James O’Keefe at Project Veritas. ProjectVeritas.com
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. of ChildrensHealthDefense.org
Stefan Molyneux of Freedomain.com
Alan Keyes of IAMTV. (See OathKeepers.org
Steve Quayle of SteveQuayle.com
Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.com
Autism resolution expert Kerri Rivera at KerriRivera.com

… and many others. There are lots of examples out there. Are you among these types of independent thinkers who challenge the status quo and work to truly empower and uplift humanity with wisdom and knowledge?

Don’t go through life on a pointless, narcissistic rampage of a cult-like obedience to the puppet masters of our time: Think for yourself. Learn history. Share knowledge. Branch out and away from the content controllers at Facebook, YouTube, Google and Twitter. Change the channel and stop allowing yourself to be brainwashed by CNN, MCNBC and NPR.

Use alternative platforms for sharing real knowledge, like…

Brighteon.com
Spreely.com
Parler.com.

Seek out uncommon knowledge and use it to empower yourself. Create your own channels and post your own videos, texts or articles.

Freedom is so easily accessible that you can find it by typing a URL into your browser. Instead of typing “Facebook.com,” type “Brighteon.com” and discover a whole new world.

Be someone who matters.

Change the future for the better. Join those of us who are doing this work every single day, dedicating our lives to protecting human freedom and a sustainable future of abundance and liberty for all.

97% of lives don’t matter, but yours can. What will you choose to do with it?

Be the Rufus

Make no mistake. Those that will survive and be permitted to procreate and live life through this tumultuous time period with be those that are aware, kind and knowledgeable. But most certainly have the kind of sentience deserving of mankind.

Sitting on a couch, smunching on pork rinds, and demanding that taxes get raised so that you can still keep using your food stamps is not representative of the future of mankind.

This is…

The rest of the world is starting to fight back.

The rest of the world is changing.

The way things have been is coming to an end, and people are starting to fight back. They demand stability, families, and stable relationships. They tire of the vermin… rich and the poor that prey on the rest of society. Now, with the proper tools, and the proper motivation they have declared a new order of society.

Have you noticed?

The CIA/NED instigation of the Hong Kong “pro-democracy” movement and the pay-offs of the Judges to let the criminals have a pass. Even when it came to killing people, damaging critical infrastructure, and maiming people.

And…

China changing the law. Throwing out the judges. Shutting down the CIA/NED “safe spaces”. Arresting and severely punishing the wrong-doers. Organ harvesting with life-time of hard-labor in the salt mines for many many years. No wonder that even Joshua Wong has disbanded his organization.

It’s all starting to come down. It’s all starting to fall apart.

And the petty criminals and the evil folk in positions of power must change or else they will face the consequences.

Remember this;

A functional nation devotes 100% of it's time, energy and resources on bettering the lives of it's people.

If it is unable to do that, or devotes a smaller percentage of time, money and effort to the domestic needs of it's people, it is disfunctional.

The world, and the human race, needs functional, healthy and substantive people, organizations and governments. Anything less MUST be purged and culled from existence.

Do you want more?

I have more articles like this in my Happiness Index here…

Life & Happiness

Articles & Links

To go to the MAIN Index;

Master Index

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE .
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.

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Metallicman discusses the absurdity of “Commander X”.

Let’s discuss others that have tried to make a buck off of the UFO, or Extraterrestrial issue. Let’s look at their motivations behind the creation of enormous amounts of disinformation that is nothing short of a fire-hose spewing out the most confusing and perplexing nonsense regarding our extraterrestrial benefactors. Here, we talk about some such person. We talk about “Commander X”.

We all have opinions of others. In fact, I have included memes regarding this characteristic of humans within this Metallicman blog.

The truth is that we shouldn’t judge others. We really shouldn’t, and that includes me. Yup, yours truly should NOT judge others. Those whom live in glass houses should not advocate throwing rocks.

There are those whom tread upon my “turf” and, naturally, I end up having opinions regarding them and the statements that they make. With this in mind, I wish to devote an entire post to an individual known as “Commander X”.

A person known as “Commander X” who claims to be an “insider” in such matters is a perfect example of how people can believe the simple narrative.

"Commander X is alleged to be a retired Military Intelligence Official turned author who writes about controversial subjects related to secret United States government programs.  Commander X also released an DVD which is compiled of a person with a blacked out face giving lectures. Critics say the sound effects made by the audience ( coughing and clapping ) are made artificial.   Rumors are that Commander X is the same person as Timothy Beckley Green.  

I neither support nor disparage the statements made by this individual.  I am only commenting on them.

He just does not understand that the world is large and complex and that the relationships between people are governed by sentience. This person is an example of how a person can pick a political target and use it as their dartboard for blame. It is a very good example of how a non-insider can exploit the apparent reality and try to profit from it.

In truth, this clown knows “jack shit” (nothing) about MAJestic.

I use him as an example. He is a great example. I don’t know for positive what his association is. I do not know if he is [1] legitimate (highly unlikely), or a [2] hoaxer, [3] disinformation expert, or [4] profiteer (probable).

I just do not know.

My experiences were of a very limited scope, and were not anyway as inclusive as the experiences that he claims to have been privy to. In any event, he has very strong opinions related to the Republican political party (RNC) and their relationship with the New World Order (NWO) and extraterrestrial treaties.

I strongly disagree with him.

The extraterrestrials that I have had contact with do not care one way or the other about American centric politics. They do not care if the person is a Democrat, a Republican, a Libertarian, or a Communist. They simply do not care.

(Can I make this any clearer?)

The extraterrestrial species that I had close, face to face, and physical contact with had absolutely zero interest in what I thought, felt, desire, cared about, or yearned for They did not care about politics or the group behaviors of large masses of humans.

They did not care about it.

There is no massive secret and hidden agenda that some people allude to. Instead there are multiple agendas and objectives that various clandestine human groups work toward. The human race does not need to know about the individual efforts, nor the participatory members.

All that one needs to know and understand is that their own personal thoughts and their own personal actions define their existence. It defines their sentience, and sentience will determine their own personal evolutionary future.

His Books

If the reader wishes to investigate the simple narrative, then they should read the large volume of books written by this person. He has made quite the small “cottage industry” writing and producing such blather;

Underground Alien Bases: Flying Saucers Come from Inside the Earth!
The Philadelphia Experiment Chronicles: Exploring the Strange Case of Alfred Bielek and Dr. M.K. Jessup
Time Travel – Fact Not Fiction: Time Slips, Real Time Machines, And How-To Experiments To Go Forwards Or Backwards Through Time
Invisibility and Levitation: How-To Keys to Personal Performance
Reality of the Serpent Race and the Subterranean Origin of UFOs
The Philadelphia Experiment Revelations!: An Update on The Philadelphia Experiment Chronicles – Exploring The Strange Case of Alfred Bielek & Dr. M.K. Jessup
Nikola Tesla: Free Energy and the White Dove
Commander X’s Guide to Incredible Conspiracies
Mind Stalkers: UFO’s, Implants & the Psychotronic Agenda of the New World Order
William Cooper: Death of a Conspiracy Salesman
The Controllers: The Rulers of Earth Identified
Teleportation: From Star Trek to Tesla
Incredible Technologies of the New World Order: UFOs – Tesla – Area 51
The Ultimate Deception
The Smoky God and Other Inner Earth Mysteries: Updated/Expanded Edition
Strange and Unexplainable Deaths at the Hands of the Secret Government
Planet X: The Coming of the Guardians
Behind the Mask: An Inside Look at Anonymous
Time Travel: A How-To Insiders Guide
Morgellons: Level 5 Plague of the New World Order
The Commander X Files
Supressed Intelligence Reports: News They Dare Not Print!
Underground Alien Bases
America’s Top Secret Treaty With Alien Life Forms: Plus The Hidden History Of Our Time
The Final Nail in Your Coffin! – A Pox to All of Mankind: Morgellons and Red Mercury Plagues Created in NWO Labs of Mad Scientists
Behind The Mask: An Inside Look At Anonymous
America’s Top Secret Treaty with Alien Life Forms: Plus the Hidden History of Our Time
Mind Stalkers
Commander X Teleportation Update (Book & Cd)
The Philadelphia Experiment Chronicles – REVISED EDITION: Exploring the Strange Case of Alfred Bielek and Dr. M.K. Jessup
Mind Controlled Sex Slaves And The CIA
Magick And Mysteries Of Mexico: Arcane Secrets and Occult Lore of the Ancient Mexicans and Maya
Plans For Time Travel Machines That Really Work – Revised And Updated Edition: How To Move Through Time And Space
The Dulce Wars: Underground Alien Bases and the Battle for Planet Earth
Nikola Tesla’s Death Ray and the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster
2012 and the Arrival of Planet X
Dead Men Talking; Exposing The New World Order Conspiracy And The Evil Agenda Of The Brotherhood Of Illuminati (Book And Dvd Set)
Teleportation: A How to Guide: From Star Trek to Tesla
Out of the Darkness: UFO Revelations and the Arrival of the Mysterious Planet X
The Final Nail In Your Coffin! – A Pox To All Of Mankind
Coming of the Space Guardians – UFO Rescue Squad, Millions to Be Saved
Out Of The Darkness
Mind Matrix: Covert Electronic Harassment Mind Control Program
Matrix of the Mind: UFO Abductions – Mk Ultra – And Electronic Harassment Technology Designed to Warp Your Brain
Mind Stalkers: Mind Control of the Masses
Levitation and Invisibility: — Learn to Use the Incredible Super Powers Within You!
The Conspiracy Summit Dossier: Whistle Blower’s Guide To The Strangest And Most Bizarre Cosmic And Global Conspiracies!
Fighting the Federal Reserve — The Controversial Life and Works of Congressman
Mind Machines: How to Understand Them- How to Build Them – Applying Their Basic Technology
Mysterious Disappearances: They Never Came Back
UFO’s Nazi Secret Weapons?
The Secret Lost Diary of Admiral Richard E. Byrd and The Phantom of the Poles

My thoughts on this matter.

Just a mere glance at the prodigious quantity of books authored by this individual speaks volumes about who this individual is, their actual knowledge, true MAJestic association and their purposes. May I indulge the reader;

MAJestic is compartmentalized. No one person knows the full details of many of the sub-projects and sub-programs. The prodigious volume of works for this author betrays the fact that he is neither from the top of the MAJestic organization, nor a working-level person.
- Those at the top of the management structure only know executive summaries without extensive details.
- Those in the middle echelon know substantial details of a very VERY limited range of subjects.
- Those at the lowest levels know nothing except to perform their own unique and specialized task.
MAJestic is secret. You have hardwired probes in your skull that prohibits memory recall. To have the abundance of memories that this individual claims would require the same kind of botched retirement sequence that I went through.
MAJestic operates from a HQ located in another reality. This reality occurs on a different planet, at a different time, and in a different world-line. To access any of the information that has been so prodigiously published would mandate travel to the centers of control. This means portal access.
The moment the first book was released, the person would have been tracked down and killed. There would not have been a second book, or any of the many many other books.
Finally, any and all disclosures are at the behest of our benefactors and our “up-line” within our individual cell. The only way we can disclose anything is with their approvals.

Therefore, everything written by this author is to be considered suspect.

A criticism of this opinion.

Let it be well understood that “Commander X” has a following of believers. And they do not agree with my contentions.

“This is rich. It really is.

There is absolutely nothing that is different between this Commander X person and yourself. The only real difference is that he has a far better business model than you do. He is making money in his books, while you are just squandering away your nonsense for free (or at cost).

Your objections to this person only come from your failed profit model. Your writings about him is nothing more than a school-yard bullying. Face it, you and he are both the same.”

The mechanism.

The mechanism behind how a person can create a profit model through writing a large number of books is to tell people what they want to believe. No one wants to read that they are overweight and fat. Instead, they want to believe that a “miracle pill” will make you thin, young and youthful. No one wants to believe that America is falling apart and it’s government is terribly corrupt. They want to read about American “exceptionalism” and the wonderful “freedom” and “democracy” that they possess.

He capitalizes on this.

His subject matter is certainly interesting. He has made a science of vacuuming up the most popular of the “fringe” and “alternative” memes and subjects, added his own opinions, and fantasies and mixed it all up with some researched facts here and there to flush-out the body of his books.

He likes to rage on about the Powers That Be (PTB), the New World Order (NWO), and the “Secret” or “Hidden Agenda”.

Now, they do exist, but you all must know that there is no secret handshake, annual planning sessions, and ceremonial attire that they wear and engage in. They are in all actuality a loose collection of very powerful interests that are collaborative in nature with shared objectives.

But you all know this. Right?

And there are “overlapping” organizations that dance in and out of the PTB (or the ) NWO such as MAJestic.

What he does is take these “known and well understood” realities and creates a fiction around them. It makes for great reading, and maybe some of what he writes is actually true. Some of it is certainly plausible.

One of his key “writing points” is the New World Order (NWO). It’s a globalist objective that has a modern progressive view of nations where there are no borders, but a sole centralized government.

There are other definitions, don't you know, but this is mine.

New World Order (NWO)

In a keynote luncheon at RIMS 2010, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, best-selling author of The Black Swan, told the story of a turkey who is fed by the farmer every morning for 1,000 days. 

Eventually the turkey comes to expect that every visit from the farmer means more good food. After all, that’s all that has ever happened so the turkey figures that’s all that can and will ever happen. 

But then Day 1,001 arrives. It’s two days before Thanksgiving and when the farmer shows up, he is not bearing food, but an ax. The turkey learns very quickly that its expectations were catastrophically off the mark.

And now Mr. Turkey is dinner.

My experiences with extraterrestrials were entirely positive. There were no political motivations or influences that I was aware of.

All those who worked on the projects were loyal Americans with a moderate degree of patriotism and had no inclinations toward a New World Order or anything like that at all.

Even though we sometimes referred to the triangular symbology when contacting each other, the association with the New World Order is most likely coincidental.

Some of the people I worked with were very liberal in their political beliefs, while others were much more conservative in their leanings. (It was always a personal belief forged by one’s own experiences.)

If anything, and this is speculation on my part; the NWO is a desirable end-achievable towards meeting the requirements as set forth by treaty by the Type-I greys.

Implementation will be problematic, and probably will not happen in my lifetime (I hope. I am not a big fan of it.).

I believe that as such, MAJestic has a vested goal in achieving this kind of one-world government to meet their treaty obligations with the Type-I greys.

Indeed, it is very important that for the human race to advance, in alignment with the goals set forth by the Mantid species, that we [1] incorporate a global wide governmental body with [2] a strong degree of control over the earth’s population, [3] decrease the enormous pollution “foot print” currently accelerating globally and [4] stabilize our conflict resolution. The United Nations, as it stands today, is not sufficiently strong enough to meet the guidelines as established by the Mantids.

It just simply does not meet their requirements.

+ + +

The environment and world view by those truly involved in the MAJestic Umbrella is very, very far removed from the nuances and limited world view of a political machine that is earth-centric.

While many might have their own private thoughts, they tended to keep them to their selves. All extraterrestrial-related black projects are politically sterile. Don’t get caught up in the narrow focus of those in power in America.

Apparent power.  They are all “puppets” of the Banking (or powerful) global elite.  Who are thus “puppets” of the more powerful extraterrestrial policing species such as the Type-I greys.

They are, generally, not involved in the MAJestic operation.

Ronald Reagan and George Bush aside, most presidents, elected officials (Senators and Representatives), appointed political appointees, celebrities, and popular stars are not involved in the MAJestic organization.  They are but “window dressing” for the masses of human population to ease control over.  

Truthfully, humans are a prized commodity; and must be treated properly and carefully.  Selection of those whom interface and work with the extraterrestrial leadership is carefully done and strictly maintained.  

Popular clowns; most presidents, television personalities, and pop stars are just entertainment.  They have absolutely no bearing on the reality of the human condition, in a multi-dimensional quantum reality that is nurtured by Mantid extraterrestrials.

Conclusion

There are those that have created a for-profit mechanism from which to obtain wealth via capitalization on the distrust of Americans for their government. This includes everything related to UFO’s, Extraterrestrials, wealthy elite, secret societies and such things as the PTB and NWO.

The person known as “Commander X” is one such person.

In itself, he and his writings are pretty harmless. Rather he creates interesting fiction to supply those looking for answers, and makes a few dollars in the process. He utilizes known situations (UFO’s, PTB, NWO, and the Greys) and generates disinformation for personal profit.

The reader should beware of anyone who is trying to profit from the “extraterrestrial issue”.

Why?

That is because, to have that desire to make money off of others (on this issue) is to be a ‘Service to self” sentience. And MAJestic membership is limited to “Service to others” only. You can only be a Rufus if you are involved in MAJestic and extraterrestrial interaction.

Do you want more?

I have other posts along this line, if you are interested, please check out my MAJestic index here…

MAJestic

Articles & Links

To go to the MAIN Index;

Master Index

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE .
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.

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An army of fake disclosures; or how the Internet is flooded with disinformation.

Yeah…

Let’s talk about profiteers. People who will make rules, bend laws, or create situations so that they can make a buck out of it.

It is people like this that caused the disappearance of public water fountains in favor of bottled water that you can purchase. It is people like this that has made it so that all of us have to endure “child safety caps” on our medicines bottles. It’s people like this that have contributed so much to the destruction of the selfless side of human nature… and who has instead replaced it with a selfish, greedy nature.

“Anything for a buck.”

About three months ago or so, I received an email that pretty much stated that they would copy my website and re-post it online, intentionally distorted, so as to mess up my SEO ranking on Google. What they said that they would do is copy my website word for word, and interject all sorts of lies, and easily proven hoaxes within it. In short making Metallicman just another “hoax website”.

They said that they would do any number of number of things…

Mess up my SEO ranking on search engines.
Post NSFW content that would ban the site from many rankings.
Fill it with outrageous lies, known and proven hoaxes.
Plant bit-mining software in it.
Plant malware in it.
And in many ways render it unreadable.
Not to mention destroy my image / reputation.

The solution to avoid this was to deposit a few thousand US dollars worth of bitcoin to their account. If I didn’t do so, then my website will be “toast”, and my reputation would be shit.

You all would be surprised at all the hoaxes, and scams that invade my Metallicman mailbox. Most are trolling bots, or mass mailings. Typically I just ignore them. 

Whether it is my great, great uncle who died and left three hundred billion dollars in an abandoned account...

Or, someone who wants me to join the Illuminati...

Maybe, some dude who says that they have a video of me masturbating to movies on the internet...

Or yet one of hundreds of "invoices" from people who want my "products"...

I pretty much ignore them all.

But this one was different…

Well…

To be honest, I really don’t give a fuck if there is a few hundred copies of this website all messed up and corrupted with malware and porn. Those that are supposed to see this site are already connected. For this site is not monetized, and has no other purpose except to provide information to a very select few.

I can live without it.

It’s more of a pain than anything else.

So it does not matter to me if the SEO ranking sucks. Nor does it matter if it is confused with other similar sounding websites. I really don’t care. Not to mention that I simply don’t have a couple of thousand US dollars to give to someone to blackmail me with.

If it came down to that, I’d just simply pull the site.

I’d let the fakes propagate and go buy myself a girl and get drunk. I really don’t give a flying fuck about what could happen, or who might miss out, or what might happen to my “reputation“.

It’s already fucking shit, for God’s sakes…

…

Well, about two weeks after I ignored this first email, I received another email from those in control of domain names for websites.

It turns out that some jackass tried to buy the Metallicman website name in various forms. The (domain name guardians) asked me if I had any business associated with China as the fucker was trying to purchase the Metallicman.cn domain name.

Metallicman.com is the registered domain. And they tried to buy the Metallicman.cn registered domain.

Now, normally, this wouldn’t be much of an issue. Most Americans who use the dot-com domain registration don’t have any business with China. But I am different. Not only is my contact address Chinese, but my email system, and funding mechanisms are all Chinese.

So they had to do something they normally bypass. They asked me if I had any business associated with China in any way.

I of course, told them that I was not only inside of China, but that I conduct business with Chinese entities. Were they to grant this request, there could be all sorts of disruptions within internet commerce.

Thus no one aside from myself can own this domain name.

The FCC does not permit spoofing other websites. So if it appears that someone is trying to spoof or copy your website they will not be allowed to do so. As it is not only illegal, but it is a felony.

OK. Long story short. He could not carry forth on his threat. I am sure that were it to be his desire, he would probably register with other domains. But my gut feeling is that he was just disappointed and just stopped this shit, and went on to “greener pastures”.

Issue over.

Oh. Don’t worry about me. Nothings going on here.

But…

But, that guy who tried to blackmail me, well…

…“he’s a bad man, a very bad man”.

That poor fuck however, is set to encounter some awfully bad luck in his future. And no, it’s not going to be the color of his socks changing either. (I do so hope you get that reference.) No evil deed goes unpunished, and eventually bad people come across things that can generate real actual real-life nightmares.

It’s not a measured response either.

It’s the stuff that real, honest to God, nightmares are made of.

This is a portrayal of a nightmare. It's one of those things where you hope you'll wake up. It's about an entire community that has been taken over by a child brat who is totally self centered and sociopathic. He probably doesn't realize the error of his ways. Any effort to educate him would result in being "sent to the cornfield." This is a state of limbo. When your adversary has no conscience, he cannot be approached in a rational way. This story is about fear. Not only are the people under constant threat, the world the boy is creating is one that is becoming bleak and vacuous. We never know if he has the power to bring things back, but it appears not. We know at some point he will be all that is left. Everyone has a breaking point. Billy Mumy is a great choice for the child monster. The other characters sweat and frown. In their efforts to survive they have the constant mantra "That was a good thing you did. A real good thing." This is an episode of the Twilight Zone where we never get to relax. See it if you never have. — This is a portrayal of a nightmare. It’s one of those things where you hope you’ll wake up. It’s about an entire community that has been taken over by a child brat who is totally self centered and sociopathic. He probably doesn’t realize the error of his ways. Any effort to educate him would result in being “sent to the cornfield.” This is a state of limbo. When your adversary has no conscience, he cannot be approached in a rational way. This story is about fear. Not only are the people under constant threat, the world the boy is creating is one that is becoming bleak and vacuous. We never know if he has the power to bring things back, but it appears not. We know at some point he will be all that is left. Everyone has a breaking point. Billy Mumy is a great choice for the child monster. The other characters sweat and frown. In their efforts to survive they have the constant mantra “That was a good thing you did. A real good thing.” This is an episode of the Twilight Zone where we never get to relax. See it if you never have. HERE.

Other Disclosures

What if, this fucker was well versed in doing this kind of nonsense? Can you actually believe that I was the very first person that he tried this nonsense with? Nope. I’m sure that he has been doing this for some time, and has had others pay him in bitcoin.

So, what about those other people who have “disclosures”? What about them?

Are they real? Are they fake? Are they sincere, or trying to create a fiction for their own purposes? What’s the story?

“The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.”

-George Orwell

There are other people who have stated that they were posted on Mars.

And I am interested in this because <redacted>.

You see, the Martian facility is <redacted>. <redacted>.

So, I read their stories with a great deal of interest and more than a little bit of incongruity. Whether they are intentional elements of a disinformation scheme designed to preemptively advert any actual disclosure, or just isolated profiteers trying to capitalize on the mysteries of the UFO and ET abduction experience, I do not know. (Though I have my own opinions.) In most instances their reported experiences differ from mine substantially.

Of course, my interpretations of my experiences might be erroneous…

They all, however, do accurately describe the transport portal, but do so in a very, very inaccurate manner.

While others describe their entry into the programs intentionally or unintentionally omitting the fact that they had to be implanted with probes to do so. Hum… Let me be terrifyingly specific.

Only people with implanted probes get to go to Mars, boys and girls. (The dimensional portal will not work for you without the probes.) Additionally, if you want to join a top secret program; well then, that is not what it is called.

It is a SAP, W-SAP a U-SAP, or if you are an active MAJestic member a W(U)-SAP. It is not a super (dooper) top secret, grade “X” program. Best get your nomenclature correct. All of this tells me something quite clear; many of them are (perhaps) full of bullshit.

Oh, excuse me, let me say this nicer. Let me sound more reasonable and understandable. Let me be clear in a more polite manner; all of this is suggestive to me of fraud and deceit. 

I am afraid that, as open minded as I am, I just simply do not believe many of them. I do not believe them at all. 

The reader is thus cautioned not to associate my disclosure with these other individuals or their disclosures. Because even if they are telling the truth, their stories differ from mine in many profound ways that they have no bearing with my story in any way.

It is these kinds of occluded statements that tend to render a real and actual disclosure like mine into the rubbish bin without giving it its fair and just consideration. 

That is what would most probably happen. It is, perhaps, their intention.

The truth is, honestly, if they actually did teleport to Mars; if they are actually important enough to be considered for any Mars related program then they will have the implanted probes in their head. 

This is a fact; period. End of discussion.

I don’t give much credence to any of them unless they can pass the x-ray test.

Let’s see those probes boys and girls. Let’s see them. Everyone that was involved in MAJestic has these probes. Everyone who was involved in my specific program has these probes. (According to the lecture on the base in Florida; everyone who is even associated with this program has these probes.)

There are many such examples of such rubbish.

Anyone who is states that Mars has [1] standing water…

Standing water requires an atmosphere with a specific pressure range and a suitable temperature.  This is basic thermodynamics.  All one needs to do is look up the appropriate chart in any classical thermodynamics textbook.  Water;  if the necessary conditions are not present, there will not be any water standing.

Pressure - Enthalpy (h) table for water. — Pressure – Enthalpy (h) table for water.

[2] plant life on its surface…

When I refer to (my) Mars, it is an alternative world line Mars.  Other people might also be relating an alternative world-line Mars as well.  

However, any alternative world-line Mars would be similar to ours in most significant ways.  

To deviate, for instance, to a world-line where the is life on Mars, with indigenous life would also be a Mars with at least a 40% deviance from our reality.  

The greater the deviance, the greater the impact on the consciousness and the soul that “farmed” that consciousness. 

When the consciousness returned back to this (normal) world-line (or something similar with a 1% deviance), there would be manifest changes in their experiences.  It’s the “carry over” effect, that occurs when you move across world-lines.  

The larger the deviance, the greater the effect. 

Consciousness is not a “stand alone” attribute.  It is a very vibrant controlling “ball” or quanta that can alter and manipulate the physical world. 

When it moves in and out of different world-lines it affects the physical world (after all, was I not a “dimensional anchor”?). 

The greater the change between world-lines, the greater the adverse affect on the consciousness.  That does not benefit the soul. Therefore, it is very advantageous for the soul to limit the alterations to the consciousness, because the purpose of the creation of realities is to obtain experiences. 

Consciousness is what helps to define the realities that the soul will experience.  (Not the other way around.)

[3] carved statues, [4] religious burial crypts, [5] rodents that scurry about the surface, [6] huge pyramid structures or [7] faces that stare up to the sky, [8] native animals or [9] intelligent naturally evolved life…

… is a nutcase.

Either that or they are intentionally trying to throw such an amazing amount of disinformation at the reader that everything becomes distasteful and confused, or they are ignorantly delusional.

Do not believe any of it.

OK, then. Here are just some of the many examples of such disinformation; disinformation intentionally designed to render any real disclosures inert. I culled many of these references from books or the Internet. I present them here with my comments.

I am biased.

Please be prepared for some rather harsh criticism. (Wince.)

Captain Kaye

Let me start this discourse with a Mr. Randy Cramer (Captain Kaye).

The reader needs to understand that once I became retired and my life started to settle out, I began an active search for others who were in the program that I participated in. I wanted to meet up with them, chat with them, and compare notes. It was my hope that they could fill in some blank areas of my memories, or fill in some thoughts that I have had regarding my experiences. However, alas, I have been mostly unsuccessful.

One of the first of these individuals that I started to focus my attention on was “Captain Kaye”.

He is (by his own words) a former US Marine who has claimed that he spent 17 years of his career on MARS. The ex-naval infantryman, who uses the pseudonym Captain Kaye. He states that he was posted to the Red Planet to protect five (!) human colonies from indigenous Martian life forms.

FACT:  In this universe, there are no (current) indigenous life forms on Mars bigger than a fossilized microbe. At least this guy doesn’t charge for his bullshit.  You can watch him chat about his “experiences” on you-tube at https://youtu.be/ktjuDsAt0yo .

Mr. Randy Cramer also known as "Captain Kaye". — Mr. Randy Cramer also known as “Captain Kaye”.

He claims he then spent nearly three years serving in a secret ‘space fleet’ run by a multinational (!) organization called the Earth Defense Force, which recruits military personnel from countries including the US, Russia and China. Captain Kaye said he was trained to fly three different types of space fighters…

And, by the way, just who were the Earth at war with?  Indeed, if we were at war with any known extraterrestrial species that I know of, we would all be long eviscerated by now.  Truth.  They could swat us like a fly and there would be nothing that we could do about it.

and three bombers.

In testimony released to ExoNews TV.

He added that training took place on a secret moon base called “Lunar Operations Command”, Saturn’s moon Titan, and in deep space.

On Titan?  Why would anyone want to locate a command and control center there?  It is far from being a neutral and calm place to settle.  

The hydrocarbon atmosphere would, I would imagine, cause more headaches and hassles to the inhabitants than any vacuum world or moon would. 

Observations from the Voyager space probes have shown that the Titanean atmosphere is denser than Earth's, with a surface pressure about 1.45 times that of Earth's. Titan's atmosphere is about 1.19 times as massive as Earth's overall, or about 7.3 times more massive on a per surface area basis. 

It supports opaque haze layers that block most visible light from the Sun and other sources and renders Titan's surface features obscure. 

The atmosphere is so thick and the gravity so low that humans could fly through it by flapping "wings" attached to their arms.

Titan's lower gravity means that its atmosphere is far more extended than Earth's; even at a distance of 975 km.  The atmospheric composition in the stratosphere is 98.4% nitrogen—the only dense, nitrogen-rich atmosphere in the Solar System aside from the Earth's—with the remaining 1.6% composed of mostly of methane (1.4%) and hydrogen (0.1–0.2%). 

Because methane condenses out of Titan's atmosphere at high altitudes, its abundance increases as one descends below the tropopause at an altitude of 32 km, leveling off at a value of 4.9% between 8 km and the surface.

There are trace amounts of other hydrocarbons, such as ethane, diacetylene, methylacetylene, acetylene and propane, and of other gases, such as cyanoacetylene, hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, cyanogen, argon and helium. 

The orange color as seen from space must be produced by other more complex chemicals in small quantities, possibly tholins, tar-like organic precipitates. The hydrocarbons are thought to form in Titan's upper atmosphere in reactions resulting from the breakup of methane by the Sun's ultraviolet light, producing a thick orange smog.

Titan also has no magnetic field.  Whether there is life on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is at present an open question and a topic of scientific assessment and research. 

Titan is far colder than Earth, and its surface lacks stable liquid water; factors which have led some scientists to consider life there unlikely. 

On the other hand, its thick atmosphere is chemically active and rich in carbon compounds. On the surface there are bodies of liquid methane and ethane; some scientists speculate that these liquids might take the place of water in living cells different from those on Earth.

In short, if you were to walk and operate upon the surface of Titan, it would be more like wearing a deep-sea diving outfit as your trudge your way through a soup of oils and hydrocarbons. It is not an ideal place to set up any kind of base of operations.

Captain Kaye’s testimony reveals that the main human colony on Mars is called Aries Prime which is located inside a crater. Aries Prime serves as the headquarters for the Mars Colony Corporation. According to Captain Kaye, the air is breathable on the surface of Mars…

The atmosphere on Mars is not, nor ever has been, breathable by humans.  While there is some oxygen in the atmosphere, the combination of temperature, and pressure, as well as the presence of other gasses in the atmosphere precludes the suitability for organic human life on the surface.

…and the temperature could be warm at times.

Yes, the temperature on Mars near the equator can, at times, approach a human comfort level for a short and brief period of time.

He claims that there are two indigenous species on Mars, both of which are highly intelligent. One of these was a Reptilian species that was very aggressive in defending its territory.

The other was an Insectoid species that was equally capable of protecting its territory.

He said that indigenous Martians are not particularly interested in expanding their territory, only maintaining it. Captain Kaye said that as long as the Mars Defense Force and Mars Colony Corporation did not encroach on the territory of the indigenous Martians, there would be stable relations.

After serving 17 years of a 20 year tour of duty, events changed dramatically when virtually all combat personnel from the Mars Defense force were asked to retrieve an extraterrestrial artifact from a cave sacred to the indigenous Reptilians.

Captain Kaye described how over 1000 (one thousand!) men and women were killed in a subsequent battle and only 28 of his colleagues, including himself, survived. Captain Kaye says he retired after a 20 year tour of duty, describing a retirement ceremony on the moon that he claims was presided over by VIPs including ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

My commentary on all of this; he is full of BULLSHIT.

I just do not know where to begin. It is so outlandish, and so full of just complete nonsense.

The physics concerning the planet are just wrong. The presence of life, whether intelligent or not is incorrect. (Even taking into account the possibility that he might have used dimensional travel to go to a world-line where Mars has a human-friendly atmosphere, he wouldn’t have returned to our world-line. There are limits to the technologies employed. (For the planet Mars to have a breathable atmosphere…) He would be so far off “the beaten path” that returning to this kind of world-line would be near impossible.)
All SAP agents in MAJestic are implanted. If he was part of the organization he would have similar probes to mine. (Again, let’s see those probes.)
There are no wars, nor is there a need to maintain a military garrison on Mars to defend humans or other creatures from aggressor forces.
There are no warlike or aggressive reptilians that we need to worry about. (The truth is, the Mantids and the Type-I extraterrestrials are so far advanced technologically, that if they wanted to, they could eradicate humans off the face of the globe within days and there isn’t a thing that we could do about it.)
If you join a W(U)-SAP, you will NOT sign an enormous document (that is what you need to do if you go through American legal channels), you sign a one page document. If you violate it, you are killed. End of story. There just simply isn’t the need for a huge legal document because violators of the MAJestic confidentiality oaths would not go through the American court system. They would be taken into a room and shot in the head.
If what he says were true, then he would be retired as a sex offender, and like me, scared as shit of being killed for his public disclosures.
Additionally, the idea that 1000 people can die on Mars without anyone noticing is just short of mind-boggling.
The greys, of whatever race (supposedly contacted) do not “feel” evil or dangerous. (This is another loud “tell-tale” sign of a lying profiteer.) They do not “ “ooze” a kind of evil dark”.

Summary; I just simply do not believe anything that Captain Kaye has said. It is all hogwash.

Corey Goode

According to alleged Secret Space Program whistleblower Corey Goode, who in October 2016 released a press release about human activity and Mars.

http://spherebeingalliance.com/news/whistleblower-discloses-shocking-new-intel-humans-on-mars-since-the-1930s.html

In it he states that we are already present on Mars and have been for a long time. And he’s not the only one who’s saying that. This also comes as less of a surprise given the recent WikiLeaks’ documents, suggest that human and extraterrestrial collaboration that’s been happening for some time.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/10/08/breaking-wikileaks-releases-new-emails-exposing-clintons-podestas-knowledge-of-extraterrestrial-intelligence/

He stated…

“Mars was first visited by the Germans as far back as the 1930s, but during the 70s, US space programs were actively exploring Mars and other planets to establish bases. In 1980 the US SSP became – Solar Warden. Under Project Solar Warden vast development and colonization occurred on Mars and other planets. Goode continues, “Bases on Mars were built under the surface.”

-Corey Goode

The reader can watch more on this in detail on GAIA.com where Corey Goode & David Wilcock host Cosmic Disclosure.

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=zv60G6QL/TU&offerid=418693.10001161&type=3&subid=0

He claims he was recruited through one of the MILAB programs at the young age of 6, and trained and served there from 1976-1986/87. Toward the end of his time as a MILAB he was assigned to an IE support role for a rotating Earth Delegate Seat (shared by secret Earth government groups) in a “human-type” ET Super Federation Council.

MILAB refers to the military abduction of a person who is then indoctrinated and trained for any number of military black ops programs.

Apparently, Goode’s IE abilities played an important role in communicating with non-terrestrial beings as part of one of the Secret Space Programs (SSP). During his 20 year service he had a variety of experiences and assignments, including the Intruder Intercept Interrogation Program.

Corey Goode from the US Secret Space Program (SSP) said, “There are humans already on Mars and it’s been colonized.” In Dec. 1986, Goode was recruited into SSP – U-SAP (Un-Acknowledged Special Access Programs) under Project Solar Warden. He was assigned to a research vessel in space to study the solar system from Dec. 1986 – Dec. 2007.

Darren Perks while conducting research for Huffington Post on the “Solar Warren” program, made an FOI (freedom of information) request with the DoD (department of defence) in 2010.

He received a very interesting response in an email;

“About an hour ago I spoke to a NASA rep who confirmed this was their program and that it was terminated by the President. He also informed me that it was not a joint program with the DoD. The NASA rep informed me that you should be directed to the Johnson Space Center FOIA Manager.I have ran your request through one of our space-related directorates and I’m waiting on one other division with the Command to respond back to me. I will contact you once I have a response from the other division. Did NASA refer you to us?”

Interesting. This was obviously a “slip up”.

NASA hacker, Gary McKinnon hacked into U.S. Space Command computers several years ago and learned of the existence of “non-terrestrial officers” and “fleet-to-fleet transfers” and a secret program called “Solar Warden”, he was charged by the Bush Justice Department with having committed “the biggest military computer hack of all time”, and stood to face prison time of up to 70 years after extradition from UK.

But trying earnest McKinnon in open court would involve his testifying to the above classified facts, and his attorney would be able to subpoena government officers to testify under oath about the Navy’s Space Fleet.

To date the extradition of McKinnon to the U.S. has gone nowhere.

McKinnon also found out about the ships or craft within Solar Warden. It is said that there are approx eight cigar-shaped motherships (each longer than two football fields end-to-end) and 43 small “scout ships.

The Solar Warden Space Fleet operates under the US Naval Network and Space Operations Command (NNSOC) [formerly Naval Space Command]. There are approximately 300 personnel involved at that facility, with the figure rising.

Read the rest here; http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/darren-perks/solar-warden-the-secret-space-program_b_1659192.html

+ + +

His experiences are very different from mine. They are so different that there are no points of common reference. Some points;

If he is real, he would have probes inbedded in his skull like mine. All extraterrestrial interaction, and technology transfer falls under MAJestic perview. As such, he would have memory controlling devices, a core kit one inside his skull. He need not have to use the dimensional portal, but he would need to be implanted.
If he spent any period of time on Mars from 1986 until 2004, I would be aware of it.
He would not be part of any kind of research or study unless he possessed a minimum of a technical degree, either in engineering or one of the sciences. This is fundamental. People are not active members in MAJestic unless they have this minimum requirement.
If what he said is true, then he would have been retired as a sex offender.

I think he is full of shit and is a BULLSHIT artist. I do not know why he has made such outrageous statements.

However, that being said, he does know something.

Whether it is in passing, or through a friend of a friend is not clear. I do not believe he is who and what he says he is. I personally believe that he took the little bits and scraps of truth that he discovered and fabricated a large story around them to fit a more conventional narrative in regards to geo-political weapons and technology that was moved to an outer space environment.

What does he know?

Solar Warren

Could he be referring to a SAP known as “Solar Warren”?

When Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 21, 2011 and headed to a museum, we were told that the U.S. Government no longer had any space-capable vehicles, and that we would have to rely on other countries and private companies to get into orbit and service the Space Station.

And we have. For decades, it has been the Russians that provided shuttle capability for LEO operations.

But according to others, who have elaborated on the Solar Warden project, they have stated that this program is an active Space Fleet!

This program, code-named 'Solar Warden', apparently has now grown to 85 small disc-shaped "scout ships" and 10 elongated-delta-shaped motherships [each longer than three football fields joined end to end]. (There are also apparently additional intermediate-length deltoid spacecraft as well. )

The Solar Warden Space Fleet is operated by Naval Network Warfare Command's subcomponent Naval Network and Space Operations Command (NNSOC), headquartered at Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, VA. 

The Solar Warden Fleet utilizes launch facilities at Vandenberg AFB, Lompoc, California and the Utah Test and Training Range in the desert west of Ogden, Utah.

Apparently NNSOC has approximately 365 personnel on Earth and in space. NNSOC operates in cooperation with the Central Security Service-Operations Division and its work to protect extraterrestrials in near-space and on the ground.

The Solar Warden Space Fleet's vessels are staffed by Naval Space Cadre and Marine Space Cadre officers, whose training has earned them the prestigious 6206-P Space Operations specialty designation, awarded after they have graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California with a Master of Science degree in Space Systems Operations. 

Space Cadre Officers receive space operations training at NASA, and after graduating and a space flight are awarded the Naval Astronaut or Naval Flight Officer Astronaut insignia.  

Other member countries' Navies and Marines furnish men and women officers to this program also.

That’s pretty amazing! Not only is this program enormous, but it is integrated within existing systems BUT not associated with MAJestic or even use the ONI oversight!

Their justification for the existence of this super-dooper top secret amazing program is two-fold.

One part [1] of the Space Fleet’s mission is to prevent rogue countries or terrorist groups from using near space to conduct warfare against other countries, or to fire from space on Earth-bound targets. The Federation has made it quite clear that space is to be used for peaceful purposes only.
A second part [2] of Earth’s Space Fleet’s mission is to prevent the rogue global-elite control group, the Cabal or related organizations, from using its orbital weapons systems, including nuclear missiles and directed-energy beam weapons, to intimidate or attack anyone or any group on Earth it decides to target or extort.

Because this Space Fleet has the job of being “Space Policeman” within our solar system, its program has been named Solar Warden.

WOW! Not only isn’t it part of MAJestic, but it’s not part of the UN either!

How to they justify this?

The Space Fleet operates under authority granted by a secret Resolution of the UN Security Council. 

The U.S. component is so highly classified that when British civilian Gary McKinnon hacked into U.S. Space Command computers during 2001-2002 and learned of the existence of "non-terrestrial officers", "fleet-to-fleet transfers", and a secret program called "Solar Warden", he was charged by the Bush Justice Department with having committed "the biggest military computer hack of all time."

Corroboration and Verification

What makes all these flights of fantasy believable is selective extracts of defense authorization bills.

But, let me tell youse guys something. Waived SAP authorizations are not provided within authorization acts in anything other than an alpha-numerical designation. If this was an actual SAP, there would not be any white paper trail at all.

Thus this statement below is just disinformation…

Lest anyone think that Solar Warden is an errant flight of fancy, important corroboration of this information is found in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2012. Section 912 of that Defense Bill refers to the Secretary of Defense being authorized to purchase and take delivery of "space vehicles". (Relevant Section 912 shown here.)

Summary; Not only do I not believe Corey Goode, but I also do not believe the story about Solar Warden either.

It does not mean that I am an expert and that my opinions are gold, but that I am part of MAJestic and everything associated with this Corey Goode disclosure seems like bullshit to me. Sorry to say. I know that many, many of you all believe his story and the idea that there is a space fleet as part of the Solar Warden fantasy.

It’s just simply not true. There is only one singular umbrella organization. It is MAJestic, and if the information disclosed regarding this Goode / Solar Warden nonsense is incompatible with it.

Sorry.

Michael Relfe

Here is another “new age” “nut case” trying to cash in on the financial opportunities presented by the gullible. I present the following for the reader to make heads or tails out of it and to determine if my appraisal has any validity.

“My name is Michael Relfe and I helped produce “The Perfect Health System”. My wife Stephanie supplied the talent, healing expertise and the raw determination to create a training system that would allow anyone to learn kinesiology and possess a technology that would help them make fantastic improvements in their life.”

“I want to tell you a little about myself and why you need Disk 11 (The Wernicke’s Correction). I have spent 24 years in the IT industry and have been an employee or consultant for Fortune 50 companies such as AMEX, IBM, American Airlines and The US Navy. I hold a degree in Computer Science and am a graduate of United States Naval Nuclear Power School. I am not sharing these things to attempt to impress you or to be a smartass. I want to help you understand that your success in life and the completion of your goals is in your hands and that with kinesiology….a special kind of kinesiology, you now have the technology to change your situation and get what you want out of life…”

“Kinesiology is scientific. Chiropractors and Licensed Massage Therapists using Kinesiology put treatments on insurance. And this is the actual hands on, repeatable, meat-and-potatoes kinesiology correction. Some kinesiology corrections are for your body. This kinesiology correction is for your brain. And it is demonstrated completely in "Perfect Health With Kinesiology & Muscle Testing - Disk 11"”. And no, it's not available separately. You need to learn Kinesiology from the other disks before you can use it correctly.

After the sales pitch he describes how he found out about this marvelous scientific breakthrough. Of course it involves an adventure of sorts on the surface of Mars. This adventure is outlined in the work titled “The Mars Records”, Book 1 and book 2[i]. Essentially it involves a convoluted mix of astral projection[ii], hypnotic regression[iii], reincarnation[iv], and general gallivanting around the surface of the planet meeting all kinds of curious and interesting individuals. Some of which are quite dangerous; such as those pesky Reptilians[v].

[i] http://www.themarsrecords.com/

[ii] Astral projection (or astral travel) is an interpretation of out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and capable of travelling outside it. Astral projection or travel denotes the astral body leaving the physical body to travel in an astral plane. The idea of astral travel is rooted in common worldwide religious accounts of the afterlife in which the consciousness' or soul's journey or "ascent" is described in such terms as "an... out-of body experience, wherein the spiritual traveller leaves the physical body and travels in his/her subtle body (or dreambody or astral body) into ‘higher’ realms." It is frequently reported in association with dreams, and forms of meditation.

[iii] Past life regression is a technique that uses hypnosis to recover what practitioners believe are memories of past lives or incarnations, though others regard them as fantasies or delusions or a type of confabulation. Past life regression is typically undertaken either in pursuit of a spiritual experience, or in a psychotherapeutic setting. Most advocates loosely adhere to beliefs about reincarnation, though religious traditions that incorporate reincarnation generally do not include the idea of repressed memories of past lives

[iv] Reincarnation is the religious or philosophical concept that the soul or spirit, after biological death, begins a new life in a new body. This doctrine is a central tenet of the Indian religions. It is also a common belief of various ancient and modern religions such as Spiritism, Theosophy, and Eckankar and is found in many tribal societies around the world, in places such as Siberia, West Africa, North America, and Australia.

[v] Reptilians (also called reptoids, reptiloids, or draconians) are purported reptilian humanoids that play a prominent role in science fiction, as well as modern ufology and conspiracy theories. The idea of reptilians on Earth was popularized by David Icke, a conspiracy theorist who claims shape-shifting reptilian aliens control Earth by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate our societies. Icke has claimed on multiple occasions that many of the world leaders are, or are possessed by, reptilians.

It all begins so innocently;

“The Mars Records, authored by Stephanie Relfe, is a 300-plus page document http://www.surfingtheapocalypse.com/mars_records.html chronicling the biofeedback sessions of her husband Michael who discovered he had been involved in a secret black project while in the Navy. Michael was astonished to find thathe had been living a double life as a covert operative for The Mars Defense Force. Some of his assignments were covert ops, piloting spacecraft, remote viewing, psychic defense and even psychic assassinations.

Michael’s recruitment, training and service for Mars Defense Force was carried out via sophisticated alien and military mind control technology. This included implants, hypno-programming, dissociation of specifically trained alter personalities, advanced psi training, speed learning, psi enhancing drugs and time travel. Michael’s case is unique and very important because he is one of a very handful of persons who have been able to clear, recall and deprogram the sophisticated alien and military mind programming. His success in memory retrieval and deprogramming is due to deliverance prayer and the excellent therapeutic skills of his wife, Stephanie Relfe. She uses a combination of biofeedback clearing sessions and kinesiology .”

-From an interview with Eve Lorgen

I do not believe anything that is written here. I think that this is just simply a traditional “snake oil salesman” who have updated their time honored technique to fleece the gullible by using the opportunities presented by the New Age movement. I believe that activities such as this make real and actual disclosures fall into the realm of the insane.

Henry Deacon(Project Camelot)

Arthur Neumann is his real name. He has made some remarkable statements. Part of which involved the participation in top secret programs authored by the United States government. Initially, when he first came forward he did so under an assumed name (Henry Deacon) to protect himself and his family. In 2009 he decided to come forward under his real name.

He has a background as a physicist and is now engaged in a profitable money making project known as “Project Camelot”.

http://projectcamelotportal.com/

On his website one can purchase all kinds of video and audio transcripts as well as books that describe the upcoming US –China war in 2008 (WTF?) and the secret conspiracies involving the United States government and time portals.

As of 2020, there were no overt hostilities between the United States and China.

Interesting stuff, but I rather doubt all of it. Of course it doesn’t really match or fit anything that I was exposed to, but that means nothing. What is important and germane to this discussion is what part of his testimony agrees or disagrees with mine.

Sorry, but I do not believe in time travel.  The concept of time is a human fabrication to describe a universally evolving universe subject to the thoughts of all sentient creatures that inhabit it.  It's world-line travel.

However, I do believe in dimensional portals. Please read elsewhere to see how a person can utilize dimensional travel to achieve apparent time-travel.

On July 25, 2009, at the European Exopolitics Congress in Barcelona, Mr. Neumann publicly stated,

“There is life on Mars. There are bases on Mars. I have been there.”

The following day, Mr. Neumann participated in Future-talk, a Project Camelot documentary interview, in which he provided details of his teleporting to a base on Mars and participating in a one-hour project meeting, which was also attended by representatives of an intelligent civilization that lives in cities under the surface of Mars.

This experience is indeed, similar to mine in that he describes [1] teleporting to a place, but he fails to discuss the process, the equipment and the mandatory implantation. That sounds quite strange to me. He describes [2] cities under the surface of Mars that are [3] occupied by creatures belonging to an intelligent civilization. That <redacted>.

If fact, if he just left his experiences to the “bare bones”, no-nonsense aspects of visiting the facility, and discusses his implantation I would believe him. But he relates such a large amount of disinformation that it has polluted anything of value that he must contribute to this discussion. In effect, he renders his testimony null and void.

My conclusion of this individual is that he actually might of teleported to the facility, but the other things that he discusses are wholly outside my experience range and thus appear fantastical to me.

I do NOT think he is a crackpot. However, the other statements garnered from him are so far-fetched and outlandish that they make it difficult for me to want to associate with his testimony in any way. I want to believe him. I want to say to him; “Yes, I too was involved in similar programs!” But, alas his descriptions of life on Mars; time portals that bend time and space and strange secret cabals are beyond my experience base. I want to believe him, but I just cannot.

Our mutual experiences are too different.

Andrew D. Basiago(Project Pegasus)

Andrew D. Basiago is a Vancouver, Washington lawyer. As a side project, he runs Project Pegasus. This is a group dedicated to lobbying the government to release the secrets of teleportation and time travel. Basiago also refers to himself as “the discoverer of life on Mars.”

Andrew D. Basiago running for the US Presidency.

He makes many amazing and fantastic claims. They are just and wild and crazy as my own. For instance, he claims to be one of two “planetary-level whistle blowers”. He claims to have teleported to Mars in the 1980s[i] as an Earth ambassador[ii] to the Martian civilization[iii]. Which is why he is mentioned here.

[i] I teleported in the 1980’s, why couldn’t he have also?

[ii] As such, this implies an organization that represents the earth.  He has to be an ambassador who he would represent .  There isn’t any.  The closest organization would be MAJestic, and that organization is primiarily a United States organization that represents human interests in a fractured and dysfunctional global alliance of nations.

[iii] On our dimensional track, there isn’t any indigenous native intelligent Martian life.

This is strange because when he published his article nearly three decades later, he claims to have been “astonished” to discover life on Mars. Along with William B. Stillings, a comrade he dug up somewhere, Basiago now claims that President Obama was a fellow Mars traveller back in the day, then living under the moniker “Barry Soetoro.” In fact, the fact that Barack Obama used to go by Barry Sotero may be the only truth in Basiago’s claims. Basiago and Stillings say they met Obama on Mars, and the government is now covering up the president’s space travel past.

Barrack Obama, or what ever name he used, was NEVER at the facility where <redacted>.  The only people who visited the facility were MAJestic members tied with industry and space technologies.  No political personages, lawyers, attorneys, or “grass root” fundraisers were ever granted permission to visit the facility.  Selection of the particular individuals who would visit was determined by our extraterrestrial partners.  They had no interest in any “service to self” individual ever being privy to the projects that we were all involved in.

Mr. Basiago was featured in a six-hour interview posted by Jessica Schab on YouTube. The name of this video is “A Conversation with Andrew D. Basiago” . ( I would hazard a guess that the interview was too controversial for mainstream media.)

Curiously, he has stated that he was involved in time travel.  Another person known as Vonheldon also has a compelling narrative.  His photos are convincing, though anyone can use Photoshop these days, so that might not be convincing enough.  I think this person has a lot to say, but as far as his experiences compared with mine are concerned, I have to offer a “shrugged shoulders” expression.  I find all of these stories quite interesting, but unfortunately are far beyond my realm of experience to offer any kind of verification or validity.

In the 39-part interview, he related his experiences in DARPA’s Project Pegasus as one of America’s early time-space explorers during the period 1969-72 and narrates the seven episodes over 40 years in which the CIA, in possession of a “quantum access” capability since 1967-68, briefed him about his destiny as a public figure who would one day be principally associated with the discovery of life on Mars.

Could this be the same as the dimensional portal that I was transported in?

Ms. Schab writes that in this,

“…six-hour interview, American lawyer Andrew D. Basiago, 47, narrates the hidden history of his discovery of life on Mars in 2008 and reveals the fact that by 1968 the US intelligence community was already aware of aspects of his later Mars work. Andy tells the phenomenal story of seven briefings over 40 years in which he was shown evidence of his destiny involving the discovery of life on Mars, and explains how the emergence of time travel and this epochal future event were interlinked.

According to Andy, by 1968, the CIA was already teleporting individuals to the past and future to retrieve artifacts there and bring them back, while propagating holograms of past and future events with devices called chrono-visors to also gather intelligence.

Incredibly, as a result of this quantum access, Andy was given a copy of his landmark paper The Discovery of Life on Mars in 1971 and asked to read and remember it, so that when, in 2008, he wrote it, it would contain as much data about Mars as possible!”

I know nothing about his version of time travel. I know nothing about the CIA. I know nothing about the “discovery of life on Mars” in 1971. They are beyond my base of experience.

As I understand it, “time travel” as is perceived today is not possible.  However, apparent “time travel” is possible, but this isn’t so much as  travelling forward and backwards in time as it is mostly dimensional swapping.  By swapping in and out of the multi-world reality, one could experience universes that were apparently further back or forth in time relative to our departure universe.

Ms. Schab continues,

“During his lecture, Andy shared numerous photographic images evidencing his discovery of life on Mars, including many photos of humanoid beings, different animal species, carved statues and built structures on Mars that put him at the forefront of Mars research.

Throughout the weekend, Andy lectured at his table to small groups of conference-goers, who came and sat in rapt attention as he shared stories about his experiences as a child in Project Pegasus, the secret US research program in which time travel was the focus. 

I know that, like me, everybody who took part in those impromptu seminars was certain that Andy is, as Bill Ryan of Project Camelot stated recently, the real deal - a truth-teller with significant new information to share about the real Philadelphia Experiment.”

Again, I must state that I know nothing about “Project Pegasus”, and the “Philadelphia Experiment”. To me it all sounds so fantastical and outrageous. Maybe that is its intention. However, anyone who would actually spend any time of significance on Mars would work in conjunction with us at the base. I do not know any of the afore mentioned people. I never saw them there (not that that means anything), and so their testimony, while outlandish does not mesh up well with my experiences.

Aside from the movie and what I read in the book.  It all sounds too fantastical to me.  Chances are that it, at most, is derived partially from truth with a lot of fiction thrown in for good measure.

On the other hand, some of the things that he says does absolutely agree with my experience. Though, I never recall seeing him at the facility in any capacity. (This is critical. I was there at the facility through entanglement. It was a large facility, but a small community. We all knew each other quite well, and thus knew everything that went on around us. I knew when we had visitors and who they were. Though I generally did not meet the visitors myself, we monitored them, and knew what was going all at all times. I do not ever recall anyone like him at the facility where I was entangled.)

He states that;

He had secretly teleported to bases on Mars.
There is the existence of a permanent teleportation mechanism linking Earth and Mars.
An intelligent civilization lives under the surface of Mars.

This Mr. Basiago says some pretty outlandish things; things that absolutely do not mesh with my experiences at all. Was he really on Mars, or was he somewhere else? Is all this a big lie, or is there really some truth in what he has to say? For me, it all seems nonsensical and just out and out lies. He for instance, makes the following statements;

There is the existence of native life forms on the “ecologically fragile” surface of Mars.
The US government has had a fully operational teleportation capability since 1967-68[i].
By 1969-70 the United States government was already training a cadre of gifted and talented American schoolchildren, including himself, to become America’s first generation of “chrononauts” or time-space explorers.

Look guys; the planet Mars is pretty much a sterile world today.

The actual surface of Mars within a 2% world-line variance.

It is mostly rocks with some frozen liquids in the shape of crystals scattered about. There once was flowing water on the planet, but it was geologically a long; long time ago [ii]. And, when the water did flow there was not enough time [iii] for any kind of evolutionary process to take place. There are no statues, or ruins on Mars suggestive of a great glorious human-compatible civilization. There are no carved faces the size of mountains on the planet. There are no statues or fossilized bones or remains to be seen.

[i] Perhaps they did.  Nevertheless, how would he actually know this.  No one told us anything about how the system was developed.  They only taught us how to use it.  This date he gives places this capability to transport humans across the distances of space before Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon.  I just can’t reconcile this statement that he made.  We only started to investigate the facility in the late 1970’s.  I just can’t believe this statement.

[ii] Perhaps two billion years ago.  That is over a billion years before the first microbes started to form on the earth.

[iii] By all accounts; the presence of standing liquid water on the surface of Mars was a relatively short lived event.  Certainly lasting more than a few million years.  One must take into account that it took about 700 million years to go from microbes to humans on the earth.

Mars does have relics; bases and facilities. But nothing approaches the size; scope and breadth as what is proclaimed by many of these Martian enthusiasts (Who perhaps want to relive the fictional adventures on Barsoon.).

Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs.The world of Barsoom is a romantic vision of a dying Mars. Writers and science popularizers like Camille Flammarion were convinced that Mars was at a later stage of evolution than Earth and therefore much drier, took the ideas farther and published books like Les Terres du Ciel (1884), which contained illustrations of a planet covered with canals.

There are no native Martian inhabitants. There are extraterrestrial colonists who live there underground but there is no way that anyone could mistake them as being native to Mars.

The Mars-analog in this world-line possess none of the things outside of the dimensional portal that this individual claims. If he conducted operations in another world-line, it would have to be so different from this one that returning here would be a near impossibility. (Just saying.)

The problem with disinformation is that the actual is often mixed up with the fantastical. Thus polluting the entire narrative. Taken in total, this is more like an intelligent profiteer who is trying to capitalize on a niche segment of the population for personal gain.

Laura Magdalene Eisenhower

In a public statement, Laura Magdalene Eisenhower, great-granddaughter of former President Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969), has exposed her attempted recruitment from April 2006 through January 2007 by a secret Mars colony project. (This is pretty amazing, precisely because of her relationship with a former United States president.)

Ms. Eisenhower’s account of her [1] targeting by time travel surveillance and [2] attempted manipulation by trained intelligence agents attached to a Mars colony project were revealed in an ExopoliticsRadio.org interview. Further, there is an extensive written statement at Ms. Eisenhower’s website. Ki’ Lia, a Stanford-educated artist, futurist and colleague of Ms. Eisenhower (!), has provided a corroborating first hand witness account of her and Ms. Eisenhower’s attempted recruitment into a secret human survival colony (!) on Mars. The alleged purpose of the secret Mars colony was to provide a survival civilization for the human race on Earth in the event of a planned (such as HAARP or bio-weapon induced) or natural cataclysm (such as by solar flares) that might depopulate the Earth.

+ + +

What can I say? I know nothing about all of this. Their experiences are wholly different than anything that I have experienced. It all sounds so fantastical, and outrageous, not to mention that odd and obscure Science-fictiony name of Ki’Lia.

LOL, Look if you really are going to do some actual technical work regarding another race use simple and easy to remember and pronounce names for Pete’s sake.  Jeeze!  Even though my drone pilot was an extraterrestrial, I always considered him as a “Paul”.  I don’t know why.  I just did.  It is human nature.  We humanize things that we know in comfortable terms that we can understand.  We vilify that which we do not understand and do not know with strange words, terms and iconography.

I personally think she is more than just a little off. Her belief structures and experiences are quite unlike mine. For me, she appears crazy. But you know, she might not be; instead she might just be a lousy communicator. In any event, I do not want what I write to be associated with her experiences in any way. She is a little way too “new age-y” for my tastes.

Oh, by the way... LOL is an abbreviation of slang that arose during the growth of the Internet in the 1990’s. If you don’t already know that LOL stands for Laughing Out Loud, then welcome to the Internet! 

Other variations of this include ROFL and LMAO.  

ROFL is another way to say LOL and it stands for Rolling On Floor Laughing. 

LMAO is yet another alternative to LOL or ROFL and it stands for Laughing My Ass Off.

(Yet) This woman is apparently a great expert on time-travel and alternative realities. In fact, she claims that she can open up her own time and dimensional portals at will! (Wow!) I suppose the best thing for me to present to the reader is what this woman writes on her own website, and let the reader come to their own conclusions;

“…She is also a Whistleblower and has been speaking out about being recruited to go to a Colony on Mars that represented a time-line that she refused to go along with. She has been able to uncover some necessary truths and agendas that humanity is being kept in the dark about and lectures and does workshops on these issues along with topics such as Global Alchemy, Christ-Sophia, Sacred Union, ET races, Esoteric Cosmology, the Positive Time-line and seeks to empower the individual so that harmony can be restored.

For more than 15 years, she has been providing clairvoyant readings and transformative healings for individuals with the assistance of many divination tools and astrology. Focusing on chakra systems, Laura has advised on topics such as soulpath, abduction, mind-control, core issues, relationships, past lives and physical ailments. She has been strategizing to solve the roots of major world problems including epidemics, war, environmental degradation and injustices that have been a result of the misuses of power of the shadow government. She also covers hidden agendas connected to ET races and the exile of the Divine Feminine energies.

Going through an intense World Soul journey of the labyrinth, Laura has discovered an ability to open a Natural stargate by co-creating with the Venus transits and weaving through the multi-dimensions of the higher and lower worlds. Clearing portals and moving past gatekeepers, Laura works to free us from the 3-D holographic time-loop and guide us back to the Pleroma, the totality of divine powers. With great passion and courage, she is helping to return Sacred Union, divine wisdom, and the many faces of the Goddess that have been buried and forgotten for thousands of years.”

What can I say? I am speechless.

Conclusion

I think that along with all these other individuals, my story seems just as far fetched. It seems just as fantastical, and just as insane and unlikely.

And perhaps, that’s exactly the point, eh?

But if I could disclose EVERYTHING, well, then things would make much more sense, I’ll tell you what. But I can’t, and thus, you need to discern.

Discernment.

An underappreciated fundamental.

Let’s compare why these people all say that they were part of a top secret program…

Captain Kaye. Space Marines to protect the Earth!
Corey Goode. Space Police to protect the Earth!
Michael Relfe. Space Army to protect Mars!
Henry Deacon. Martian time travel to prevent war!
Andrew D. Basiago. Ambassador to the Martian civilization.
Laura Magdalene Eisenhower. World War III life boat.

What do all these people have in common? Can you figure it out? Aside from all the standard cliche’s like California going to slide into the Pacific Ocean, an upcoming war, or climate change, or social upheaval, or the need to defend the earth from those dangerous extraterrestrials, what is it? Is it the military, war, Martian life, time travel…

… heck, we’ve even got Barrack Obama involved as a time-travelling politician! I mean according to all these people anyone can become a member of a top secret super-dooper program. We’ve got everyone from a jar-head to a confused woman who was asked to preserve the human species on Mars. I’m just surprised there’s no LGBT or “women of color” on the list.

Now.

Discern.

My MAJestic disclosure…

Sentence evolution of the human race within a nursery used for the emergence of young developing species.

So I have to ask you. Now think about it. Really, think about it. Can you tell the difference between Metallicman and all the other “disclosures”? Is this “just another disclosure” in a long, long string of disclosures? Or is it something different?

It’s very easy to confuse the real with the fake if you do not have the tools of discernment.

This is true whether you are trying to figure out things about your life, about the United States government, top secret projects or if you are trying to scam someone.

You need the power of discernment.

You need the power of discernment, or else you risk being led astray by the confused. You can be lead off the edge of a cliff, or follow the pied piper who would gleefully empty your bank accounts. Or even worse.

Worse.

You could end up messing around with the wrong person. And sometimes that person can be way, way out of your league.

Do you want more?

I have more posts along these lines in my MAJestic Index, here…

MAJestic

Articles & Links

To go to the MAIN Index;

Master Index

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE .
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.

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The joys of a good shoeshine.

Have you ever woke up, grabbed a cup of coffee, checked your feed… only to have some hysterical SJW shouting you in big capital letters about some issue or the other?

Yeah.

It’s upsetting and irritating.

It’s the reason why men like to golf.

Why men like to fish, and to just stare out in space…

Have you ever just sat in your truck.... — …

I want to take a moment to discuss the little joys in life, and in particular those little joys that we take for granted, or just ignore out of habit. I want to talk about Summer afternoons, baseball, old men in barbershops, and getting donuts and coffee. I want to talk a little about life.

This post was inspired by Rush Limbaugh when he related a story from his childhood…

RUSH: Did you hear what the CEO of Chick-fil-A said? Maybe he’s the former CEO. Dan Cathy, is that his name? He said that white people should be shining the shoes of black people to learn what — yeah, he did. In fact, I have the sound bite. Let me find where it is. It’s toward the back of the list here, I think. That’s how I learned about it. Audio sound bite number 16. Yeah. This was Sunday in Atlanta at the Passion City Church during a roundtable discussion, Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy said this about how to help improve race relations in America.

CATHY: We need to just go right on over and shine their shoes. And whether they got tennis shoes on or not — maybe they got sandals on — it really doesn’t matter. But, there’s a time in which we need to have some personal action here and maybe we need to give them a hug, too. I bought about 1,500 of these [shoeshine brushes] and I gave them to all our Chick-fil-A operators and staff a number of years ago. So any expressions of a contrite heart, of a sense of humility, a sense of shame, a sense of embarrassment begat with an apologetic heart.

RUSH: So the reason this appeals to me is not what you may think. I’ve been there, done that. This is a cutting edge of societal evolution moment. My first job, the first job I ever had outside of the house, you know, chores and that kind of thing, the first paying job I had was to shine shoes in a barbershop, 13 years old. I was fascinated with making shoes shine. I wanted to be the best at it. I wanted to figure out how to do it. And I had that job for three months. I earned $50 in three months. And it was such an educational experience in all kinds of ways.

I eventually had to give the job up because there was public pressure. I didn’t need the job. I had a relatively affluent family, and the job should have gone to a more needy person. And that was a partial factor in why, but also school starting. I did it during the summer. And school starting and having some after-school activities would have limited my ability to get to the barbershop. But one of the things, when I first got the gig, the shoeshine stand was as far back in the barbershop as you could go, and I’d sit back there and I’d wait for customers to show up, and nobody would show up.

And after the first four or five days, one of the barbers — the owners — said, “What are you gonna do to change this? You think they’re just gonna come to you back there?” I said, “Well, if I wanted a shoeshine…” He said, “Exactly. They don’t want a shoeshine. You gotta understand: Everybody’s shoes you’re gonna shine in here does not want one, so what you’re gonna have to do…” He gave me an idea.

He said, “Whenever we have somebody…” We had four barber chairs. “Whenever somebody’s in the chair, just go up and start buffin’ the shoes, and they’re gonna say to you, ‘Wait, wait, wait! Wait! I don’t want you to do that. I’m not paying for this,’ and you say, ‘I’m not charging you, sir. This is a service offered by me and the barbershop at no charge.'”

The barber said to me, “You watch how many of them will then ask you to go ahead and do it for real, ask you what you charge for it,” and that’s exactly what happened. So I gave ’em a free buff, and it led to — I’d say — over half of the customers wanting a shoeshine. Then when they saw how good I was at it and how I could pop that shoeshine buff rag, I learned something else.

You go to the barber supply store, and you have access to pieces of equipment and various types of shoeshine and other things that were never sold retail. It’s the same thing in the restaurant business. Restaurant supply stores have things that you’ll never find at even the biggest grocery store or Costco or what have you. So I would always use that.

“I’ve got stuff you can’t get at home. I’ve got stuff that will make your shoes shine like you can’t make your own shoes shine.” I said, “I have studied the spit-shine technique of the U.S. military. I’ve perfected it. You want to see how it works?” “Oh, yeah!” So, 50 bucks in three months at 50 cents a pop. I loved it — absolutely loved it — and now you’ve got the CEO of Chick-fil-A saying, “Yeah, that’s what we need to do. We need to start shining the shoes of…”

(interruption) “When is this embarrassing groveling gonna stop?” I don’t know, but it will at some point, because it’s all going to consume itself somehow. It will at some point. I can’t predict why because nobody can.

So…

Oh, so many things to say about this.

But…

When was the last time that you had a good ol’d spit shine?

December 1940. Brockton, Massachusetts. "Men and a woman reading headlines posted in window of Brockton Enterprise newspaper office on Christmas Eve." 35mm Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. — December 1940. Brockton, Massachusetts. “Men and a woman reading headlines posted in window of Brockton Enterprise newspaper office on Christmas Eve.” 35mm Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.

I know most people now wear tennis shoes, short canvas uppers, maybe work boots, or sandals. But, certainly, you men out there, you have a nice set of shoes. So…

When was the last time that you went out and had a professional shoeshine for a buck or two?

Have you ever?

It’s more than just a shiny set of shoes, you know.

It’s a foot massage, it’s the joy of being pampered, and looking good. After you go ahead and get a well done shoeshine, you will walk a little straighter. You will feel a little bit better. Your head will be a little bit taller, and the day will look a little bit brighter.

Now…

If the misses is complaining, and yelling (screeching) why you’d waste money on that? And you have more “important” things to do, and all the rest of that rigmarole, you just tell her to move on. Then you, and your boys can sit down and experience one of those lost arts…

… a man getting a shoeshine.

A newspaper, cigar or pack or cigarettes are optional. I might suggest, however, you avoid turning on your smart-phone. And instead just “grok” the entire scene. Soak it up. Enjoy it.

Manly pleasures

Now, I can discuss other things that I like to lump together as “manly pleasures”. I do so because these are things that men enjoy but women tend to find it rather boring, consider unnecessary, or just don’t see the benefit of.

Yeah.

We men have a lot of “manly pleasures”.

Some of which involve the opposite sex, but many do not.

Some are surprising. Like riding a lawn mower with a colt-45 (it’s a brand of beer you all) between your legs, and a set of headphones on where you can listen to some fine, fine tunes.

Some seem boring to others. Like paddling on a quiet lake on a lake during a full moon all alone and listening to the sounds fo the forest as the water slides by on the sides of the boat.

Some are pleasures that seemingly everyone enjoys. Like dogs and cats, and (dare I say it) a weasel. Oh, how I do love to wrestle with my furry friends.

And some are often taken for granted. Like getting a trim at the local barber.

From Shorpy; "Dad ran a barbershop at our house. Two chairs and no appointment needed. I remember one customer who paid for his cuts in produce from his little farm.

Dad's partner in the shop ate dinner with us every night because he lived too far away to travel home to his wife and kids in time to eat.

And; we burned the hair that accumulated on the shop floor because back then, there was no trash service in rural communities. I can tell you the neighbors always knew when the hair was burning." — From Shorpy; “Dad ran a barbershop at our house. Two chairs and no appointment needed. I remember one customer who paid for his cuts in produce from his little farm. Dad’s partner in the shop ate dinner with us every night because he lived too far away to travel home to his wife and kids in time to eat.
And; we burned the hair that accumulated on the shop floor because back then, there was no trash service in rural communities. I can tell you the neighbors always knew when the hair was burning.”

The women argue that the wife of the house needs to go to the beauty salon to get her hair done because… well, she’s a woman and she needs to look good. But a man, a father. Nah. She can trim the hair at home. Save some money for the children, etc.

Nope.

Men need that little space in time to go down to the local barber. hang out with other men. Go through the old hunting magazines, and newspapers and talk about the latest local sports game, some politics or what’s going on at the local fair. A man needs some “guy time”.

Don’t you think?

Small Town America

You know, the longer I live away from the ‘States, the more I miss the simpler things. I know, I know, that the United States doesn’t resemble anything like I remember. Yet, still, I do hold fond memories of certain places, certain things, and a certain “feeling” that I had back then…

…at a time when I was a young boy growing up in the Summer of the 1960’s into the 1970’s.

My have times changed. Look at these prices. Also take note of the lunch menu. Many of the things on the menu are unobtainable today. Not actually unheard of, but try to a find a restaurant that will serve them today. Yikes!

I would like to talk a little bit about life…

… life in a small town.

I grew up in a small town in the hills of Western Pennsylvania on the banks of the Allegheny River. Most people never heard of it, until my classmate Jim Kelly became a star quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. Then it was famous for a spell. Old East Brady. Home of Jimmy Kelly.

Well…

Then…

…. it was all forgotten again.

August 1941. "The Connecticut River at Bellows Falls, Vermont, and on the far side of the river, North Walpole, New Hampshire." Car Heaven. Medium-format negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. — August 1941. “The Connecticut River at Bellows Falls, Vermont, and on the far side of the river, North Walpole, New Hampshire.” Car Heaven. Medium-format negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.

As a boy, we would ride our bikes along the streets and access-roads alongside the many rail spur-lines that criss-crossed the hills of Western PA. We would sing the pop songs of the day, much like they did in the movie “Stand by me” as they walked the tracks on their day hike.

Have You Ever Seen the Rain? – CCR
Draggin’ the Line – Tommy James & the Shondells
Family Affair – Sly & The Family Stone
Get it on – T Rex
Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves – Cher
Me & You & a Dog Named Boo – Lobo
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – Joan Baez
Don’t Pull Your Love – Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin
Baby I’m a Want You – Bread
Mr Bojangles – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Sweet City Woman – The Stampeders

Indeed, my boyhood was very American, and very typical.

Like yours maybe…

We would go through sunny fields where the wheat would blow in waves with the wind against a bright riveting blue sky occupied with glorious white puffy clouds. And then delve deep into the cool gloom of the dark forest canopy. Where the cool moisture would refresh our bones, and where we would find an old spring or two to fill our canteens with.

The refreshing darkness of a deep forest far away from the town, and the sunny fields of corn, barley and wheat.

So what is that all about?

The punchline

Earlier this morning, I woke up went to the kitchen… poured myself a coffee and opened up the laptop to check the news. Drudge is all… well the same old shit. (Projectile vomit.)

So I checked my LinkedIN feed.

Usually, the responses and information on the feed is more intelligent than other social networks as most people MUST be an adult to have a CV. Don't you know. 

So LinkedIN tends to be populated with adults who are either in possession of a career, a business or are networking towards some goal.

There are exceptions however. 

There are scammers who make a very tiny profile and try to scam you. Some are women looking to seduce you to get on Tinder. Some are trolling for my long lost uncle who they have a couple of billion dollars of pure bullion just waiting for me, as long as I give them just a few hundred dollars.

And some are "journalists" or NGO folk. They have a title (usually impressive) and some kind of funding (whether George Soros if they are liberal, or the CIA / NED / NID if they are conservative) and just post in all the comments sections with their "opinions". Which pretty much mirror the narratives of their NGO organization.

And here is this shrill demanding that I respond to her insane request for… XYZ.

It immediately set my mood from “neutral… shifting into start the day” to “insulted, angry, and go into attack mode”.

Luckily I did nothing.

I guess I’m too old for this bullshit.

Men, you all don't need to take shrilling anger off a SJW stranger who is making demands of you online. — Men, you all don’t need to take shrilling anger off a SJW stranger who is making demands of you online.

What stopped me?

Yeah.

What was the mechanism that stopped me?

Why didn’t I immediately pounce, and lash back? What stopped me?

I’ll tell you what.

It was an image that just popped into my head that very moment…

I keep on remembering what the older men in the barbershop would say if this shrill was in front of us personally.

I just could picture it so vividly…

Can you?

When you are with a group of other men, often much older, will not be afraid to tell you what they think of female shrills and their insulting behaviors.

And maybe that’s what is so important.

It’s a deconstruction of that modern progressive narrative that has been carefully constructed over the years. A narrative that says…

Everyone has an equal voice on the internet.
You need to respect others, even if they are insulting to you.
You must accept what they say, and accept the fact that it can make you angry, sad, upset or disturb you.
You need to be accepting of others, even if they are unreasonable and don’t agree with you.

Bull Fucking Shit.

I perma-banned her from my feed. I did not respond. I just completely cut her out of my life forever.

I can rest easy that she will no longer be permitted to remotely trigger my emotions in any way. For I have defanged her. I have declawed her and neutered her ability to interfere in my life.

And people…

It was my old fashioned memories of my “tribe” and my membership in a group of others who understood these kinds of things that made it happen. It comes from a time of shoeshines, barbershops, tree houses, railroad walks through deep forests, and brotherhood.

It comes from playing baseball with other boys in the empty football field down the street. It comes from late nights leaving the local bar and throwing the empty glass bottles into the woods while we peed at the side of the road. It comes from putting in a hard days of work in the mines, where you are covered head to toe with grease and black dust and you go to your home, pull out a TV dinner and pop it in the microwave while “Three’s Company” starts to come on.

It comes from history.

It has been my experience that those that come from a hard life; you know the type “hard scrabble”, hard working labor, and a life of “being disposable”… where you are considered to be “fly-over people” and “deplorable” and unimportant…

… just don’t pick fights with other people.

They just walk away to their pickup truck. Get inside. Check the glove box to make sure the 357 is still loaded. And slowly drive away. Playing some tunes. It’s not that we are going to do anything hurtful, it’s just comforting to know that we could really fuck someone up if we wanted to.

Sometimes, it’s that thin line of self-confidence that prevents us from making some pretty disastrous mistakes.

We can thank our friends, and our experiences for that.

And those that are not like this… well, they aren’t one of us.

It’s easy to hide behind the safety of the internet video screen. But the truth be told, this crappy assed bitch wouldn’t dare say that to my face. She just wouldn’t. She’d be just another old biddy that looks away in shame when I walk down the sidewalk.

So do not forget where you came from, and who you are. Never forget who you are.

Never allow anyone to interfere in your life, no matter what their excuse.

Live a good happy life.

Excise the bad out of it.

Do you want more?

I have other posts along these lines in my Happiness Index. You can see it here…

Life & Happiness

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To go to the MAIN Index;

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You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
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The shocking evidence that the United States is a full-on Oligarchy.

If you ever have the misfortune to read the comment sections of the social media on the internet, you will discover that 99% of American do not know what the United States is. Some say that it is a “Republic”. While others say that it is a “Democracy”. There are reasons why people use these terms, but they are all wrong. Today, the United States behaves functionally as an Oligarchy. And this post will prove it.

Now, you the reader might ask, why is this important?

Well, it is very important for the very simple reason that oligarchies do not last. They never last, and when they collapse it is often catastrophically.

Thus to fully appreciate what this post is saying, you need to recognize that no one can live on “borrowed time” for long. Eventually, everyone “must pay the dues” that accrue. This was true back three thousand years ago and it is true right now.

This post was written in January 2020, right before the COVID-19 coronavirus forced China to go into a full military DEFCON ONE lock-down, and right before the economic collapse of the United States in early March 2020.

The following is a reprint of an article titled “Oligarchy in America: How the 0.1% Rob Everyone Else Blind – 31 Shocking Data Points” with a sub-title that says “The rich are getting richer, and everyone else is getting poorer” . It was written by Jon Hellevig on Friday 17JAN20. It was edited to fit this venue, but aside from that, no other changes were made. All credit to the author and original editors.

The rich are getting richer, and everyone else is getting poorer.

There is no hiding anymore, the United States has become an oligarch owned banana republic with nukes, and with a monopoly currency which has allowed it to rig the markets for half a century. But now we are only a couple of hours from curtain – Midnight in America.

With the stock market at all-time highs, virtually no unemployment (or so they say), and brisk GDP growth (supposedly) in the last decade, economic analysts would declare that the US economy is in excellent shape.

This was written just before the United States collapsed economically in March 2020.

But, it isn’t in “excellent shape”.

The stock market is a central bank inflated asset bubble, and what GDP growth there has been, is an illusion brought about by the very same financial bubble and by pumping the economy up with record federal borrowings to finance the deficits that America cannot afford.

Rigged statistics showing artificially low inflation serve to hold together the Trumped-up American economic narrative. (About the rigged inflation statistics, see this report). And the low unemployment figure is nothing but a chimera based on misleading.

The US Economy is failing

Actually, as of 20MAY20, it has failed. And people are now considering just how far it will collapse. Even the most optimistic are thinking in terms of months. When the reality might very well be decades.

In reality, the US economy is failing – and the country with it. At least two-thirds of the population has seen dramatic declines in living standards and half are back to levels of developing nations – without the development.

People are turning into impoverished serfs.

The big story covered up by all the happy macroeconomic figures repeated by rote by the US establishment – everybody from the president to cable television pundits and Trump fanboys – is the gradual impoverishment of the American worker.

In the early 1970's, the wages of workers stopped matching the rise in productivity. Now, the rise in productivity was necessary to meet investor dividends. As inflation was eating away at profits. Thus, the only area where the costs to make things were cut were in employee wages. Thus, for most workers, inflation-adjusted wages were frozen at 1970 levels. — In the early 1970’s, the wages of workers stopped matching the rise in productivity. Now, the rise in productivity was necessary to meet investor dividends. As inflation was eating away at profits. Thus, the only area where the costs to make things were cut were in employee wages. Thus, for most workers, inflation-adjusted wages were frozen at 1970 levels.

That’s an inconvenient truth increasingly difficult to hide as the American dream has turned into a nightmare for huge swathes of the population.

The rich are now obscenely wealthy.

As the figures we present below show, the rich are really getting richer, the middle class has been decimated, and half of Americans are poor and destitute of any financial wealth.

Keep in mind that an Oligarchy is rule by the rich. It is in their best interests to have a dual-tiered government and system. One for them, and one for everyone else. Thus, it makes sense that in an oligarchy, the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer.

The super-rich are gobbling up an ever-increasing slice of the American pie at the cost of all the rest who get nothing but table scraps on one side and leftover crumbs on the other, if anything.

The rich are getting richer. The poor are getting poorer, and gap between both is getting bigger and bigger.

The resulting stratification of society has brought back a medieval servant economy, where the have-nots are doing odd jobs, cleaning houses, fetching groceries, running errands and deliveries for the feudal rich and the remaining shrinking middle class.

Thanks to the Fed (the American oligarch owned central bank) pushing easy money into the hands of the privileged elite…

… now the super-rich Dismal Decimal – the top 0.1% – …

…have by now amassed as much wealth as they had just before the Great Depression. A depression that started with the stock market crash in 1929.

A lesson not learned.

Back to square one. How will it end this time?

Information Data Source

This article is based on an Awara Accounting study titled “Widening Income and Wealth Gap and Stagnating Wages in America.” Links and source references to all the facts presented here can be found in said study.

BTW all the data in this report is derived from official US government sources and American experts analyzing them.

Just how the Oligarchy has rigged the game against the citizens…

During the last decades, the financial rewards from the rigged markets first flew exclusively into the pockets of Top 10%, but later it was increasingly Top 1%, which pocketed most, perfectly illustrated by the charts below.

1. Income for the rich just accelerates upward.

The income of Top 1% has grown five times as fast as that of Bottom 90% income since 1970, who now earn double the amount of income than 160 million poor of the lower 50% stratum.

The fortunes of Top 1% and Bottom 50% are now reversed.

2. The rich now own almost all the available money.

Top 1% now holds as much wealth as Bottom 50% combined.

Income inequality obviously leads to wealth inequality, but here the figures are yet more striking in showing the magnitudes of the grab at the top. Since 1989, Top 1% captured $21 trillion in wealth, while Bottom 50% lost $900 billion, actually pushing them down to negative wealth, meaning they have more debt than they have assets.

On a net analysis, half of Americans own nothing of real value.

The Change began under President Reagan.

Until the creeping coup under Reagan, income equality was improving

It was bad enough in 1995 when Top 1% earned as much as Bottom 50%, but today the richest 1% already take 20% of all income leaving the bottom half with only 12%. As the chart shows, back in 1978 – before the neoliberal creeping coup really got going – the trends were reversed. Below chart compares income growth since 1920 of Top 1% to Bottom 90% (that is, all the rest except Top 10%). We see that right after Ronald Reagan entered the presidency with his Chicago School snake oil influenced backers, the income growth of the 1% started its dizzying growth, which is continuing to this date.

Up until around 1982 the income growth for the top 1% of earners was rather flat. But after President Reagan, it accelerated dramatically.

4. Rich became super-rich.

Money isn't the only system being used to isolate the oligarchy from the common people.

"Phoenix is the conceptual model for the DHS (US equivalent of RSHA under the NSDAP- my note). Both are based on the principle that governments can manage societies through implicit and explicit terror. The strategic goal is to widen the gap between the elites and the mass of the citizenry, while expunging anyone who cannot be ideologically assimilated."

-Dr. T. P. Wilkinson

Back in 1962, the share of Top 1% of America’s wealth at 33% was equal to that of Bottom 90%, but in the early 1980s the share of Bottom 90% started a steep descent and by 2016 their share had dwindled down to 21%.

Especially after the Federal Reserve shifted its market rigging low-interest-rate money-pumping policy into high gear from the beginning of 2000s, the superrich have experienced a massive rise in their fortunes, as illustrated by below chart.

The Rich became super-rich, while the middle class became poor.

But by today Top 1% are losers compared with Top 0.1% – the Dismal Decimal – who are where the music plays.

5. Top 0.1% now holds as much wealth as Bottom 90% combined.

A recent study revealed that the concentration on the top is yet much more pernicious.

It’s not any more a question of Top 10%, and not even Top 1%, as it is the Top 0.1% – the Dismal Decimal – that has now concentrated the wealth of the nation (and half the world) in their greedy hands.

Top 0.1% now holds as much wealth as Bottom 90% combined.

As the below chart shows, we are essentially back to the Roaring Twenties…a lesson not learned.

Actually, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, America entered an unprecedented era of four decades of prosperity with a more equal distribution of wealth as Bottom 90% recovered strongly in distribution of wealth at the expense of Top 0.1% parasites.

6. Top 0.1% earnings grew 347% between 1979 and, while Top 1% “only” gained 157% – the rest gained nothing

Top 0.1% earnings grew 347%
Top 1% earnings grew 157%
The rest 98.9% grew 0%.

The advent of opportunity for most Americans has become a zero-sum game.

7. The share of total income is oligarch in nature.

The next chart takes a longer perspective – while widening the sample to Top 10% – and shows their share of the total income since 1910 to 2010.

The Roaring Twenties – the period before the 1929 stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression – experienced the same level of glaring inequality as today’s America.

With Franklin D. Roosevelt’s reforms the egregious average income inequality was tamed and stayed relatively low until Reagan’s fatal presidency. And it’s been downhill ever since – or uphill, if we look at it from the perspective of the rich.

The percentage share of the total national income for the top 10%.

8. The GDP

The only economic figure that has managed to look good is the GDP, but that is so only until you bother to find out where it comes from – from the Federal Reserved fueled asset bubble and massive federal budget deficits financed by record national debts.

For an excellent exposé of how rigged and debt-ridden the US economy is, I refer to my earlier report published on the Saker blog: “New World Order in Meltdown, But Russia Stronger Than Ever” found at https://thesaker.is/new-world-order-in-meltdown-but-russia-stronger-than-ever/

Shortly: The US economy must be seen as a giant Ponzi scheme, which will implode sooner or later. And we are getting to that sooner part now.

20MAY20. We have arrived.

8a. Stock Market

Trump habitually and regularly brags about the stock market reaching another all-time high. But that’s really being out of touch with the electorate.

Stock market gains exclusively flow to the rich increasing inequality and the cost of living for the rest.

Thing is that, beyond the richest 10% very few Americans have a stake in the stock market.

In 2016, the richest one percent held more than half of all outstanding stock, financial securities, and all other sorts of equity. The remainder of those asset categories were held by the rest of Top 10%, who owned over 93% of all stock and mutual fund ownership.

What wealth the remaining 90% may own is largely residential housing, the homes where they live.

According to Jonathan Tepper, the wealthiest 1% own nearly 50% of stock and the top 10% more than 81%. The so-called middle class owns only 8% of all stock.

This also kills the myth that record highs on the stock market would be good for American retirement savings – with the richest few holding all the shares there’s nothing in it for the overwhelming majority.

8b. Pension plans.

A recent report also showed that only 10% of Americans are invested in pension plans. That is down from 60% in 1980.

And those who are, are traditionally more weighted towards bonds and money-market instruments, which suffer from the rigged markets with the artificially low interest rates.

The pension savers are hence literally paying for the super gains flowing into the pockets of Top 1%.

On the other hand the super low interest rates are out of grasp for the all but Top 1% who gobble up the wealth of the nation with that largesse delivered to them by their Federal Reserve.

At the same time the common household is paying double-digit rates on their credit card debt traps.

9. Household wages have been stagnant.

Below Top 10% wages and total household income have been stagnant, at best.

10. Stagnation of incomes for the bulk of Americans.

Average income of the bottom 50% has stagnated at around $16,000 since 1980, while the income of the top 1% has skyrocketed by 300% to approximately $1,340,000 in 2014

11. Almost half of Americans are impoverished.

45% of Americans earn annually only 18,000 or less. A recent study found that 53 million Americans or 44% of the working age population earn a median average annual salary of only $18,000. Basically then, at least half of the Americans are working-poor.

12. Zero change in income for the middle class.

Middle-class households had in 2015 basically the same income as they had in 1979

13. Only the rich got richer.

In the two decades from 1997 to 2017, only Top 5% of households saw their income increase

14. Most American wages did not change at all.

For most American workers, real wages have barely budged in decades. By end of 2018, the real inflation-adjusted average wage had about the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago.

15. Minimum wages have not changed.

As the below chart illustrates, the real average hourly wage which was $20.27 in 1964 had only inched up to $22.27. David Stockman calculated that the real hourly worker’s wage was in 2019 still at 1972 levels.

16. Men’s wages at all levels have fallen.

For full-time employed men real wages have fallen 4.4% since 1973, according to economist Paul Craig Roberts. The total average income of men at $51,212 in 2015, was lower in real terms than it had been in 1974.

17. Rise is “gig work”.

As of 2014, the average hours worked per week had fallen from around 39 hours in 1970s to under 34 hours. Economist Mike Shedlock calculated that the actual hours worked and the average hourly earnings would deliver a weekly income of $690, well below its $825 peak back in the early 1970s. If we multiply the hypothetical weekly earnings by 50, we get an annual figure of $35,497. That would in 2014 have translated to a 16.4% decline from its peak in October 1972.

18. All productively benefit has gone to the rich.

All labor productivity growth since the 1970s have gone to the robber capitalists. From 1973 to 2013, hourly compensation of a typical (production/nonsupervisory) worker rose just 9% percent while productivity increased 74%.

19. CEO pay has skyrocketed.

Nowhere is income inequality and the egregious worsening trend as manifest as in the case of CEO pay.

In the 1970s, CEOs made 30 times what typical workers made, but by 2017 the CEOs made 361 times the workers’ pay. According to the Economic Policy Institute CEO compensation has grown 940% since 1978, while typical worker compensation has risen only 12% during that time.

The Fed fueled financial market orgy is the main cause for the windfall riches of CEOs as stock options and the accompanying share buybacks make up a huge part of CEO pay packages. This rising pay of executives was the main factor in Top 0.1%’s super grab of household income

20. Americans struggle for the basics

A 2017 study found that 40% of US adults struggle to pay for basic necessities like food, healthcare, housing, and utilities.

21. Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

Most Americans have depleted all their spare resources as a staggering 78% of full-time workers are reported to live from paycheck to paycheck.

22. Most American have zero savings.

Nearly 70% of Americans have virtually no savings. Bottom 55% have zero savings, while the following 24% – the core of the former middle class – have only $1,000 stashed away.

Infographic: Most Americans Lack Savings | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

Of course the Oligarchy doesn’t want this information to be widely disseminated. And so they counter with this…

It’s Simply Not True That Most Americans Don’t Have $1,000 …

23. Most Americans own nothing of value.

Correspondingly Bottom 70% of Americans don’t own any real wealth (beyond rapidly depreciating durables).

24. The other side of the (non-existent) coin is that the same 50% of Americans would obviously struggle to come up with $400 for an unexpected expense. By extension, the former middle class – those with the miserly savings of $1,000 – would also have real troubles in coping with any kind of bill for medical treatment without dipping into more debt. Considering the above reported findings (see the chart) only the Top 10% would be financially secure in a medical emergency.

25. According to shocking findings by the American Cancer Society, 137.1 million US residents suffered medical financial hardship in 2018. Americans had to resort to borrow a total of $88 billion in 2018 only to cover for essential medical treatment.

26. A third of young adults, or 24 million of those aged 18 to 34, lived with in their parents’ home because they cannot afford a home of their own.

27. The income and wealth gap pictures get worse yet when we look at the age distribution of wealth. Younger generations are earning less and own next to nothing (that is, if you are not the golden youth of the 10%). Baby Boomers born between the end of the Second World War and 1964 currently hold wealth that is 11 times higher than that of millennials.

Median Income for Younger and Older Families in Inflation-Adjusted Dollars

28. Growth of “real” Jobs is zero.

The number of full-time jobs with life-sustaining wages – what economist David Stockman calls breadwinner jobs – have not been growing since 2000, by 2014 their number was still 3.5 million or 5% lower than it was at the peak in early 2001. In the same period 4 million part-time and gig jobs were created.

While the official unemployment figure is presently near historical lows – and at levels what some economists would like to call full employment – there are some big problems with it.

1. Problems with the official unemployment statistics. The officially touted unemployment figure (so-called U3 unemployment) record only those who have been looking for a job during the last 4 weeks, while discouraged long-term unemployed are cleansed from the statistics and left unrecorded as if they would not be in the workforce at all – makes stats look beautiful for the powers that shouldn’t be.

2. The labor participation rate has been falling.

3. New job creation has amounted to only a third of the annual increase in working age population.

4. Part-time and gig jobs count as full-time employment. Any person who takes a part-time or gig job for just a few hours a month is recorded among the employed, although they would rightly be considered unemployed merely clutching at straws.

5. Connected with the previous point, there is also a more general problem with the quality of jobs created. Most jobs created in the last two decades are low-paid low-skill jobs that do not provide a life-sustaining income considering the cost of living in the United States.

More than one third (36%) of U.S. workers are in the gig economy, doing part-time work or side hustles for companies like Uber, Lyft, Etsy, Amazon Mechanical Turk, Freelancer.com, Ebay or just any odd job they can get from time to time.

29. Debt Peonage.

To make up for the shrinking earnings, the American regime is pushing the American population into 21^st century debt peonage.

Ensnared in the debt trap, US households had nearly $14 trillion in outstanding debt at the end of the third quarter 2019. That debt load now equals 73% of GDP. By end of 2019, consumption debt alone (not including asset acquiring mortgages) was up by $2 trillion since 2014.

Since 2004, the weight of the student loan millstone has gone up fivefold from only $250 billion to today’s $1.5 trillion.

That’s due to the huge price inflation in higher education. The cost of both public and private college escalated by 40% over the general consumer price inflation between 2005 and 2015.

30. Huge increase in the cost of living in the USA.

We mistakenly believe that the increase in the cost of living is universal around the world. Nope. It isn’t. Only the cost of living in the United States and Zimbabwe have increased exponentially. The rest of the world, not so much.

Because of the huge rise in the last few decades in cost of living in the US, in Russia, you get the same standard of living for a fraction of the American cost. A Moscow average monthly salary equal to $1,600 (annual $19,200) gives the same purchasing power as a monthly salary of $6,000 in Chicago (annual $72,000). Meaning, you live in Moscow (at least as well for a monthly paycheck of $1,600 as you live in Chicago for a paycheck of $6,000.

Russia vs America real income comparison

31. The “American Dream” is dead.

The present oligarch controlled rigged crony capitalist system has killed the American dream, the belief that anyone, regardless of parents’ social status and incomes can attain success and wealth by hard work and ingenuity.

The gates for upward mobility have been shut for the overwhelming majority.

The monopolization of practically all sectors of the economy, the ever increasing bureaucratic restrictions on doing business, the extreme concentration of ownership, and the rigged financial markets have made it increasingly hard for people outside the top echelon of penetrating the financial membrane protecting the elites.

A 2017 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland found that the probability that a household outside the top 10% made it into the highest tier within 10 years was twice as high during 1984-1994 as it was during 2003-2013.

The United States is an oligarchy

This concentration of the income and wealth on the top, proves that the United States is an oligarchy.

A 2014, study by Princeton University https://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4 demonstrated how the US is a political oligarchy.

With this report showing the insanely widening income and wealth inequality, my aim is to show, that the country is an economic oligarchy, too.

In fact, economic super riches are the precondition for their political power, too.

In America, as always, the oligarchy has achieved their uncontested power in a hermeneutical feedback loop, where the initial wealth of the superrich has bought them increased political power, which has given them increased riches, which has bought them more political power, and so on, until today, when they own practically the whole economy and the entire government.

Clearly the source of higher inequality has been Fed policies, which has pushed cheap money into the pockets of the already rich, who have exclusively then benefited from soaring stock and real estate prices.

Fittingly, we got end of 2019 a report revealing that the world’s richest people increased their wealth in the year by $1.2 trillion, a staggering 25%, most of which belong to the oligarchs of the United States.

Intentional or Accidental?

The question – which I have set to explore in my series of Capitalism in America – is whether there has been a game plan, a long-term strategy or whether intermittent achievements have just spurred the oligarchs on to new economic and political power grabs in the course of establishing their totalitarian rule.

I tend to think, there has been a long-term plan ever since the establishment of the Federal Reserve.

Thank you President Wilson.

The economic and political history of the United States provide so much circumstantial evidence, which supports the view that there has been a conspiracy of the Wall Street elite.

I shall return to this hypothesis in further installments to this series of Capitalism in America.

It is however clear – whether through a long-term plan or by a series of ad hoc interventions – the US financial elite has by now completed a creeping coup, which have delivered them absolute economic and political power.

In my investigation of the oligarchization of America – the creeping neoliberal oligarch coop, which set in full force since Reagan – I have so far completed these instalments:

The first installment was a study showing how all corporate ownership has been concentrated in the hands of the oligarchy, titled Extreme concentration of ownership in the United States http://blogengine.hellevig.net/post/2019/05/13/Extreme-concentration-of-ownership-in-the-United-States-.aspx

The second part was a study revealing how the oligarchy has totally taken over US media, titled The Oligarch Takeover of US Media http://blogengine.hellevig.net/post/2019/05/13/The-oligarchy-wields-totalitarian-control-over-the-media-through-just-a-few-corporations.aspx

The third installment was a report published on the Saker blog titled New World Order in Meltdown, But Russia Stronger Than Ever https://thesaker.is/new-world-order-in-meltdown-but-russia-stronger-than-ever/

The fourth installment, The Oligarch Takeover of US Pharma and Healthcare https://thesaker.is/the-oligarch-takeover-of-us-pharma-and-healthcare-and-the-resulting-human-crisis/ was also on the Saker blog.

Next due is a fifth report showing how from point of view of political science the oligarchy has destroyed the social fabric of the US economy and deliberately enacted laws that favor the few over the people. Of particular interest here is how the oligarchy has rigged the political system by institutionally solidifying the mendacious Janus- faced two-party system in order to remove any potential challenge to their rule.

Conclusion

Three points;

Point One

There are two classes in the United States; the rich and the poor.

Actually there are nine classes. But for this discussion it's the 0.1% against the 99.9%.

The 9 classes are...

The Oligarchy
The wealthy
The Per Diem
The upper class
The middle class
The Gig class
The low class
The Felon Class
The Sex Offender Class.

The door has slammed shut for most Americans. It is already decided. You are part of one group or the other. The days of being able to leave the “impoverished” and join the ranks of the wealthy are over. It is a fine childhood fantasy, but it will never happen. They best you can do is be slightly better than your peers. That’s all that you can possibly hope for.

Point Two

The United States is stratified by finances. There are two main class groupings of people; the rich and the poor. The government is controlled by the rich, which is a textbook definition of an oligarchy.

oligarchy

noun, plural ol·i·gar·chies.
a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.
a state or organization so ruled.
the persons or class so ruling.

America, the United States, is an Oligarchy.

Part Three

The oligarchy, and the PTB (The Powers That Be) are one and the same. Nothing that is written here is unknown to them. They know about all of this, and they do expect everything to crash, or go through a “big reset”.

They plan on this, and have predicted it. They expect it to happen, and fully expect to survive through it. In their viewpoint, they will end up better placed afterwards.

Though, to the vast bulk of Americans, it is new information. Often dismissed as “conspiracy rubbish”.

It isn’t.

So what does all this mean?

The United States is neither a Republic or a Democracy. It is an Oligarchy.
Those that are in the Oligarchy realize that all Oligarchies collapse, and they have been trying to manage this collapse for the last decade.
In fact, they want this collapse to happen, for they believe that not only will they survive it, but that their position, and the world, and society would be better afterwards.
Those not part of the PTB Oligarchy will suffer.
However, those that are resilient, able to discern, and adaptable will be able to “ride the waves of discord” and survive just as well as the oligarchy can.

You just need to change your ideas and attitudes about who you are and what your role is.

Last minute note…

https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/american-families-only-half-as-rich--as-those-in-chinese-cities

Some food for thought (and controversy): Is the median net worth of American families really only HALF the net worth of Chinese families? 

When looking at median net worth (rather than average!) this seems to be the case and points to significantly higher inequality in the US compared with China, which has its fair share of inequality nonetheless. 

In addition, Chinese families are sitting on very valuable self-owned properties (often more than one actually), are less indebted and have higher savings. 

What conclusions shall we draw from these perplexing numbers? 

-Dr. Shirley Yu

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Americans today are living within a failed state.

This is a pretty good article written by George Packer that was printed in the Atlantic and has pretty much been circulating everywhere. My friends from both sides of the political spectrum are discussing it, and urging me to read it. So I have, and I found his points… oh so delicious. Here is his article and I think that you all would see that he makes some good points no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on.

The COVID-19 event, regardless of what caused it, has exposed America for what it is. And the picture is decidedly not pretty.

You might not agree with everything that he has to say. You might not like the dish of food that he serves to you, but you must admit that the COVID-19 has exposed America to be fully and completely incapable of governing during a serious emergency. And while the idea for “Make America Great Again” is laudable, it is unfortunately beyond the reach of everyone inside the monstrous American government.

It’s a good read. All credit to the author.

We Are Living in a Failed State

George Packer

When the (COVID-19) virus came here, it found a country with serious underlying conditions, and it exploited them ruthlessly. Chronic ills—a corrupt political class, a sclerotic bureaucracy, a heartless economy, a divided and distracted public—had gone untreated for years. We had learned to live, uncomfortably, with the symptoms.

It took the scale and intimacy of a pandemic to expose their severity—to shock Americans with the recognition that we are in the high-risk category.

America responds to the COVID-19

The crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational, and collective.

The United States reacted instead like Pakistan or Belarus—like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering.

The administration squandered two irretrievable months to prepare.

From the president came willful blindness, scapegoating, boasts, and lies. From his mouthpieces, conspiracy theories and miracle cures. A few senators and corporate executives acted quickly—not to prevent the coming disaster, but to profit from it.

When a government doctor tried to warn the public of the danger, the White House took the mic and politicized the message.

American Citizens caught in the middle.

Every morning in the endless month of March, Americans woke up to find themselves citizens of a failed state. With no national plan—no coherent instructions at all—families, schools, and offices were left to decide on their own whether to shut down and take shelter.

When test kits, masks, gowns, and ventilators were found to be in desperately short supply, governors pleaded for them from the White House, which stalled, then called on private enterprise, which couldn’t deliver.

States and cities were forced into bidding wars that left them prey to price gouging and corporate profiteering.

Civilians took out their sewing machines to try to keep ill-equipped hospital workers healthy and their patients alive. Russia, Taiwan, and the United Nations sent humanitarian aid to the world’s richest power—a beggar nation in utter chaos.

Presidential Leadership

Donald Trump saw the crisis almost entirely in personal and political terms.

Fearing for his reelection, he declared the coronavirus pandemic a war, and himself a wartime president.

But the leader he brings to mind is Marshal Philippe Pétain, the French general who, in 1940, signed an armistice with Germany after its rout of French defenses, then formed the pro-Nazi Vichy regime. Like Pétain, Trump collaborated with the invader and abandoned his country to a prolonged disaster.

And, like France in 1940, America in 2020 has stunned itself with a collapse that’s larger and deeper than one miserable leader.

Some future autopsy of the pandemic might be called Strange Defeat, after the historian and Resistance fighter Marc Bloch’s contemporaneous study of the fall of France.

Despite countless examples around the U.S. of individual courage and sacrifice, the failure is national. And it should force a question that most Americans have never had to ask: Do we trust our leaders and one another enough to summon a collective response to a mortal threat?

Are we still capable of self-government?

A major crisis

This is the third major crisis of the short 21st century.

The first, on September 11, 2001, came when Americans were still living mentally in the previous century, and the memory of depression, world war, and cold war remained strong. On that day, people in the rural heartland did not see New York as an alien stew of immigrants and liberals that deserved its fate, but as a great American city that had taken a hit for the whole country. Firefighters from Indiana drove 800 miles to help the rescue effort at Ground Zero. Our civic reflex was to mourn and mobilize together.

Partisan politics and terrible policies, especially the Iraq War, erased the sense of national unity and fed a bitterness toward the political class that never really faded.

The second crisis, in 2008, intensified it.

At the top, the financial crash could almost be considered a success. Congress passed a bipartisan bailout bill that saved the financial system. Outgoing Bush-administration officials cooperated with incoming Obama administration officials. The experts at the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department used monetary and fiscal policy to prevent a second Great Depression.

Leading bankers were shamed but not prosecuted; most of them kept their fortunes and some their jobs. Before long they were back in business. A Wall Street trader told me that the financial crisis had been a “speed bump.”

Ah, but the American middle class…

All of the lasting pain was felt in the middle and at the bottom, by Americans who had taken on debt and lost their jobs, homes, and retirement savings.

Many of them never recovered, and young people who came of age in the Great Recession are doomed to be poorer than their parents.

Inequality—the fundamental, relentless force in American life since the late 1970s—grew worse.

This second crisis drove a profound wedge between Americans: between the upper and lower classes, Republicans and Democrats, metropolitan and rural people, the native-born and immigrants, ordinary Americans and their leaders.

Social bonds had been under growing strain for several decades, and now they began to tear.

The reforms of the Obama years, important as they were—in health care, financial regulation, green energy—had only palliative effects.

The long recovery over the past decade enriched corporations and investors, lulled professionals, and left the working class further behind. The lasting effect of the slump was to increase polarization and to discredit authority, especially government’s.

No one noticed.

Both parties were slow to grasp how much credibility they’d lost.

The coming politics was populist. Its harbinger wasn’t Barack Obama but Sarah Palin, the absurdly unready vice-presidential candidate who scorned expertise and reveled in celebrity. She was Donald Trump’s John the Baptist.

Trump came to power as the repudiation of the Republican establishment.

But the conservative political class and the new leader soon reached an understanding. Whatever their differences on issues like trade and immigration, they shared a basic goal: to strip-mine public assets for the benefit of private interests.

Republican politicians and donors who wanted government to do as little as possible for the common good could live happily with a regime that barely knew how to govern at all, and they made themselves Trump’s footmen.

Like a wanton boy throwing matches in a parched field, Trump began to immolate what was left of national civic life.

He never even pretended to be president of the whole country, but pitted us against one another along lines of race, sex, religion, citizenship, education, region, and—every day of his presidency—political party.

His main tool of governance was to lie.

A third of the country locked itself in a hall of mirrors that it believed to be reality; a third drove itself mad with the effort to hold on to the idea of knowable truth; and a third gave up even trying.

The American government

Trump acquired a federal government crippled by years of right-wing ideological assault, politicization by both parties, and steady defunding.

He set about finishing off the job and destroying the professional civil service.

He drove out some of the most talented and experienced career officials, left essential positions unfilled, and installed loyalists as commissars over the cowed survivors, with one purpose: to serve his own interests.

His major legislative accomplishment, one of the largest tax cuts in history, sent hundreds of billions of dollars to corporations and the rich. The beneficiaries flocked to patronize his resorts and line his reelection pockets. If lying was his means for using power, corruption was his end.

This was the American landscape that lay open to the virus: in prosperous cities, a class of globally connected desk workers dependent on a class of precarious and invisible service workers; in the countryside, decaying communities in revolt against the modern world; on social media, mutual hatred and endless vituperation among different camps; in the economy, even with full employment, a large and growing gap between triumphant capital and beleaguered labor; in Washington, an empty government led by a con man and his intellectually bankrupt party; around the country, a mood of cynical exhaustion, with no vision of a shared identity or future.

COVID-19 exposed America for what it is.

If the pandemic really is a kind of war, it’s the first to be fought on this soil in a century and a half.

Invasion and occupation expose a society’s fault lines, exaggerating what goes unnoticed or accepted in peacetime, clarifying essential truths, raising the smell of buried rot.

The virus should have united Americans against a common threat.

With different leadership, it might have.

Instead, even as it spread from blue to red areas, attitudes broke down along familiar partisan lines. The virus also should have been a great leveler. You don’t have to be in the military or in debt to be a target—you just have to be human.

But from the start, its effects have been skewed by the inequality that we’ve tolerated for so long.

When tests for the virus were almost impossible to find, the wealthy and connected—the model and reality-TV host Heidi Klum, the entire roster of the Brooklyn Nets, the president’s conservative allies—were somehow able to get tested, despite many showing no symptoms.

The smattering of individual results did nothing to protect public health.

Meanwhile, ordinary people with fevers and chills had to wait in long and possibly infectious lines, only to be turned away because they weren’t actually suffocating. An internet joke proposed that the only way to find out whether you had the virus was to sneeze in a rich person’s face.

When Trump was asked about this blatant unfairness, he expressed disapproval but added, “Perhaps that’s been the story of life.”

Most Americans hardly register this kind of special privilege in normal times. But in the first weeks of the pandemic it sparked outrage, as if, during a general mobilization, the rich had been allowed to buy their way out of military service and hoard gas masks. As the contagion has spread, its victims have been likely to be poor, black, and brown people. The gross inequality of our health-care system is evident in the sight of refrigerated trucks lined up outside public hospitals.

Right now…

We now have two categories of work: essential and nonessential. Who have the essential workers turned out to be?

Mostly people in low-paying jobs that require their physical presence and put their health directly at risk: warehouse workers, shelf-stockers, Instacart shoppers, delivery drivers, municipal employees, hospital staffers, home health aides, long-haul truckers.

Doctors and nurses are the pandemic’s combat heroes, but the supermarket cashier with her bottle of sanitizer and the UPS driver with his latex gloves are the supply and logistics troops who keep the frontline forces intact.

In a smartphone economy that hides whole classes of human beings, we’re learning where our food and goods come from, who keeps us alive. An order of organic baby arugula on AmazonFresh is cheap and arrives overnight in part because the people who grow it, sort it, pack it, and deliver it have to keep working while sick.

For most service workers, sick leave turns out to be an impossible luxury. It’s worth asking if we would accept a higher price and slower delivery so that they could stay home.

Dangerous parasites

The pandemic has also clarified the meaning of nonessential workers. One example is Kelly Loeffler, the Republican junior senator from Georgia, whose sole qualification for the empty seat that she was given in January is her immense wealth. Less than three weeks into the job, after a dire private briefing about the virus, she got even richer from the selling-off of stocks, then she accused Democrats of exaggerating the danger and gave her constituents false assurances that may well have gotten them killed. Loeffler’s impulses in public service are those of a dangerous parasite.

A body politic that would place someone like this in high office is well advanced in decay.

Political Nihilism

The purest embodiment of political nihilism is not Trump himself but his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

In his short lifetime, Kushner has been fraudulently promoted as both a meritocrat and a populist. He was born into a moneyed real-estate family the month Ronald Reagan entered the Oval Office, in 1981—a princeling of the second Gilded Age.

Despite Jared’s mediocre academic record, he was admitted to Harvard after his father, Charles, pledged a $2.5 million donation to the university.

Father helped son with $10 million in loans for a start in the family business, then Jared continued his elite education at the law and business schools of NYU, where his father had contributed $3 million.

Jared repaid his father’s support with fierce loyalty when Charles was sentenced to two years in federal prison in 2005 for trying to resolve a family legal quarrel by entrapping his sister’s husband with a prostitute and videotaping the encounter.

Jared Kushner failed as a skyscraper owner and a newspaper publisher, but he always found someone to rescue him, and his self-confidence only grew.

In American Oligarchs, Andrea Bernstein describes how he adopted the outlook of a risk-taking entrepreneur, a “disruptor” of the new economy. Under the influence of his mentor Rupert Murdoch, he found ways to fuse his financial, political, and journalistic pursuits. He made conflicts of interest his business model.

So when his father-in-law became president, Kushner quickly gained power in an administration that raised amateurism, nepotism, and corruption to governing principles.

As long as he busied himself with Middle East peace, his feckless meddling didn’t matter to most Americans. But since he became an influential adviser to Trump on the coronavirus pandemic, the result has been mass death.

In his first week on the job, in mid-March, Kushner co-authored the worst Oval Office speech in memory, interrupted the vital work of other officials, may have compromised security protocols, flirted with conflicts of interest and violations of federal law, and made fatuous promises that quickly turned to dust.

“The federal government is not designed to solve all our problems,” he said, explaining how he would tap his corporate connections to create drive-through testing sites.

They never materialized.

He was convinced by corporate leaders that Trump should not use presidential authority to compel industries to manufacture ventilators—then Kushner’s own attempt to negotiate a deal with General Motors fell through.

With no loss of faith in himself, he blamed shortages of necessary equipment and gear on incompetent state governors.

To watch this pale, slim-suited dilettante breeze into the middle of a deadly crisis, dispensing business-school jargon to cloud the massive failure of his father-in-law’s administration, is to see the collapse of a whole approach to governing.

It turns out that scientific experts and other civil servants are not traitorous members of a “deep state”—they’re essential workers, and marginalizing them in favor of ideologues and sycophants is a threat to the nation’s health.

It turns out that “nimble” companies can’t prepare for a catastrophe or distribute lifesaving goods—only a competent federal government can do that.

It turns out that everything has a cost, and years of attacking government, squeezing it dry and draining its morale, inflict a heavy cost that the public has to pay in lives.

All the programs defunded, stockpiles depleted, and plans scrapped meant that we had become a second-rate nation. Then came the virus and this strange defeat.

Our fight against the COVID-19

The fight to overcome the pandemic must also be a fight to recover the health of our country, and build it anew, or the hardship and grief we’re now enduring will never be redeemed.

Under our current leadership, nothing will change.

If 9/11 and 2008 wore out trust in the old political establishment, 2020 should kill off the idea that anti-politics is our salvation. But putting an end to this regime, so necessary and deserved, is only the beginning.

Facing a stark choice.

We’re faced with a choice that the crisis makes inescapably clear. We can stay hunkered down in self-isolation, fearing and shunning one another, letting our common bond wear away to nothing.

Or we can use this pause in our normal lives to pay attention to the hospital workers holding up cellphones so their patients can say goodbye to loved ones; the planeload of medical workers flying from Atlanta to help in New York; the aerospace workers in Massachusetts demanding that their factory be converted to ventilator production; the Floridians standing in long lines because they couldn’t get through by phone to the skeletal unemployment office; the residents of Milwaukee braving endless waits, hail, and contagion to vote in an election forced on them by partisan justices.

We can learn from these dreadful days that stupidity and injustice are lethal; that, in a democracy, being a citizen is essential work; that the alternative to solidarity is death. After we’ve come out of hiding and taken off our masks, we should not forget what it was like to be alone.

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It’s time that we Americans start to question the need for a Federal Government. I argue that we all would be better off just simply having singular State Governments.

Think about it. What benefit does the United States Federal Government provide that the State governments cannot?

And, is that benefit worth the extra multiple layers of taxation?

I strongly believe that it is not worth it at all. The United States today is an out of control corrupt empire, and almost everything it does benefits a mere handful of people, while Joe and Suzy Average derives very little benefit. I would like to expound on this, through the lens of history.

The following article; “The Antifederalists Were Eerily Prophetic” is a most excellent article from the Mises Institute. Written 17NOV19. All credit to the author; Gary M. Galles.

The Antifederalists Were Eerily Prophetic

What the Antifederalists predicted would be the results of the 1776 Constitution turned out to be true…

… in almost every respect.

By Gary M. Galles

Most school kids are left with the impression that the US Constitution was the inevitable follow-up to the Declaration of Independence and the war with King George. What they miss out on is the exciting debate that took place after the war and before the Constitution, a debate that concerned the dangers of creating a federal government at all.

The Antifederalist Movement

Everyone knows about the Federalists who pushed the Constitution. But far less known are the Antifederalists who warned with good reason against the creation of a new centralized government, and just after so much blood had been spilled getting rid of one.

The first of the Antifederalist Papers appeared in 1789.

The Antifederalists were opponents of ratifying the US Constitution as (they feared) it would create what would become an overbearing central government.

What the Antifederalists predicted would be the results of the Constitution turned out to be true in most every respect.

As the losers in that debate, they are largely overlooked today. But that does not mean they were wrong or that we are not indebted to them.

Those that fight the Deep State are antifederalists.

Confusing nomenclature.

In many ways, the group has been misnamed.

Federalism refers to the system of decentralized government. This group defended states’ rights—the very essence of federalism—against the Federalists, who would have been more accurately described as Nationalists. Nonetheless, what they predicted would be the results of the Constitution turned out to be true in most every respect.

The Antifederalists warned us that the cost Americans would bear in both liberty and resources for the government that would evolve under the Constitution would rise sharply.

That is why their objections led to the Bill of Rights, to limit that tendency.

Their Oppositions to the Constitution

Antifederalists opposed the Constitution on the grounds that its checks on federal power would be undermined by expansive interpretations…

… of promoting the “general welfare” (which would eventually be claimed for every law)…

… and the “all laws necessary and proper” clause (which would be used to override limits on delegated federal powers)…

… thus creating a federal government with unwarranted and undelegated powers that were bound to be abused.

One could quibble with the mechanisms the Antifederalists predicted would lead to constitutional tyranny.

For instance, they did not see  that the Commerce Clause would come to be called “the everything clause” in law schools...

...justifying almost any conceivable federal intervention...

...because the necessary distortion of its meaning was so great even Antifederalists couldn’t imagine the government could get  away with it.

It merits remembering the Antifederalists’ prescient arguments and the virtual absence of modern Americans who share their concerns.

And they could not have foreseen how the 14th Amendment and its interpretation would extend federal domination over the states after the Civil War.

But despite that, it is very difficult to argue with their conclusions in light of the current reach of our government, which doesn’t just intrude upon, but often overwhelms Americans today.

We need to listen to the Anti-federalist argument.

Therefore, it merits remembering the Antifederalists’ prescient arguments…

… and how unfortunate is the virtual absence of modern Americans who share their concerns.

One of the most insightful of the Antifederalists was Robert Yates, a New York judge who, as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, withdrew because the convention was exceeding its instructions.

Yates wrote as Brutus in the debates over the Constitution.

Given his experience as a judge, his claim that the Supreme Court would become a source of almost unlimited federal overreaching was particularly insightful.

Expanded Judicial Power

Brutus asserted that the Supreme Court envisioned under the Constitution would become a source of massive abuse…

… because they were beyond the control “both of the people and the legislature,” …

…and not subject to being “corrected by any power above them.”

When the opportunity arises the corrupt officials will spring into action and restricts the rights of Americans so that they can gain personally.

As a result, he objected to the fact that its provisions justifying the removal of judges didn’t extend to rulings that went beyond their constitutional authority…

…thus, leading to judicial tyranny.

Brutus argued that when constitutional grounds for making rulings were absent…

… the Court would create grounds “by their own decisions.”

He thought that the power it would command would be so irresistible that the judiciary would use it to make law, manipulating the meanings of arguably vague clauses to justify it.

Expanded judicial power would empower justices to shape the federal government however they desired.

The Supreme Court would interpret the Constitution according to its alleged “spirit”…

… rather than being restricted to just the “letter” of its written words (as the doctrine of enumerated rights, spelled out in the 10th Amendment, would require).

Further, rulings derived from whatever the court decided its spirit was would effectively “have the force of law,”…

… due to the absence of constitutional means to “control their adjudications” and “correct their errors.”

This constitutional failing would compound over time in a “silent and imperceptible manner,” through precedents that build on one another.

Expanded judicial power would empower justices to shape the federal government however they desired…

… because the Supreme Court’s constitutional interpretations would control the effective power…

…power vested in government and its different branches.

That would hand the Supreme Court ever-increasing power, in direct contradiction to Alexander Hamilton’s argument in Federalist 78 that the Supreme Court would be “the least dangerous branch.”

Judicial Tyranny

Brutus predicted that the Supreme Court would adopt “very liberal” principles of interpreting the Constitution.

He argued that there had never in history been a court with such power and with so few checks upon it…

… giving the Supreme Court “immense powers”…

…powers that were not only unprecedented, but perilous for a nation founded on the principle of consent of the governed.

Given the extent to which citizens’ power to effectively withhold their consent from federal actions has been eviscerated, it is hard to argue with Brutus’s conclusion.

Brutus accurately described both [1] the cause (the absence of sufficient enforceable restraints on the size and scope of the federal government) and [2] the consequences (expanding burdens and increasing invasions of liberty) of what would become the expansive federal powers we now see all around us.

We need to understand their arguments and apply them to a NEW Constitution, if there is to be any hope of restraining the government to the powers it was actually granted in the Constitution.

Today

It’s well past time for a change.

But today, Brutus would conclude that he had been far too optimistic.

The federal government has grown exponentially larger than he could ever have imagined…

In part because he was writing when only direct,  e.g., excise taxes and the small federal government they could finance  were possible before the 16th Amendment opened the way for a federal  income tax in 1913.

…far exceeding its constitutionally enumerated powers, despite the Bill of Rights’ constraints against it.

The result burdens citizens beyond his worst nightmare

Conclusion

The judicial tyranny that was accurately and unambiguously predicted by Brutus and other Antifederalists shows that in essential ways, they were right and that modern Americans still have a lot to learn from them.

We need to understand their arguments and take them seriously now, if there is to be any hope of restraining the federal government. Constraining it precisely to the limited powers it was actually granted in the Constitution. This is absolutely necessary given its current tendency to accelerate its growth well beyond enumerated Constitutional limits.

In my mind, the first step to controlling the out-of-control beast is to reestablish State sovereignty. Then, through concentrated and systematic efforts, starve the beast. Allow it to whither and die on the vine.

If Americans are unable to control this raging nasty beast, the rest of the world will need to call Animal Control to put it down, and that will certainly not be a pleasant event to witness.

This is America today. Look around you. The rest of the world is moving forward, and the enormous American empire remains dark and immovable.

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The actual trade imports that China obtains from the United States.

One of the often cited misconceptions that many Americans have is that China would collapse if the United States were to stop trading with her. The idea is that “China needs us more than we need them”. It’s not true, and it’s not even remotely true. Here, is the actual import data that China imports from the United States. Take a good long hard look at it.

China could very well have an embargo of the United States, and would do just fine.

The items that China imports from the United States.

Here’s a graphical summary.

While most Americans, and certainly most Alt-Right conservative Americans are under the impression that China imports an enormous amount of good from the United States, this is not the case.

Import data on what China imports broken down by type and classification.

Key Points

By looking at the graph above, the only manufactured items that are of significance to China (from the United States) are aircraft. Other manufactured products actually represent a very tiny percentage of imports by type. For instance, American-made machines represent only 5% of the total machines imported by China.

Conclusion

In the global sphere of things, the United States is not a dominant supplier of things that China wants or needs. Therefore, America has very little leverage to influence China to do its’ bidding.

In order to cajole or manipulate the Chinese government to take on positions that America wants, there has to be other systems in play. These manipulations and adjustments of global power projection such as [1] the threat of war, [2] famine, [3] sickness, or [4] regional revolt are the tools that the United States is, and has been, using to force China to bend to it’s will.

It is not at all outlandish to believe that the CIA, NED, the NID and other arms of the enormous United States bureaucracy has a “dark hand” at play at this time. It’s the only “cards” that America can play.

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It is now official; The United States cannot be saved. It must be permitted to consume itself from within.

The United States is beyond saving. It has passed the threshold whereas punitive and preventative measures will no longer make a difference in the future course of events regarding American evolution.

Instead, it will continue to collapse. It will start to burn and then consume itself in the process. Eventually it will burnout. Perhaps in a decade or two. In the interm will be some testy and spicy times. 

This is the case because the Justice Department found that Hillary Clinton didn't commit ANY crimes.

MSN reports the Justice Department has released their findings in the Clinton investigation, finding what they expected to find. Namely and to wit: nothing.

A Justice Department inquiry launched more than two years ago to  mollify conservatives clamoring for more investigations of Hillary  Clinton has effectively ended with no tangible results, and current and  former law enforcement officials said they never expected the effort to produce much of anything. 
           ... They included the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One  matters, along with the FBI’s handling of the investigation into Hillary  Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of  state and alleged leaks by former FBI director James B. Comey.

This settles the matter. We’re not to speak of it again.

A review of the crimes…

Lying Under Oath in a Deposition
Lying Under Oath to a Grand Jury
Lying Under Oath as a Lawyer
Abuse of Power
Obstruction of Justice
Treason
Sedition
Corruption
Coercion
Graft
Bribe Solicitation
Taking Bribes
Bribery of Cabinent Members
Bribery of State Officials
Commercial Bribery
Commercial Bribery Recieving
Illegal Gift-Taking
Falsifying Business Records
Misapplication of Property
Criminal Use of a Computer
Misuse of Franking Privelege
Recieving Dual Compensation
Recieving Unlawful Gratuities
Malfeasance of Office
Perjury
Subornation of Perjury
Perjury by Inconsistent Statements
Criminal Trespass
Witness Intimidation
Witness Tampering
Jury Tampering
Tampering With Physical Evidence
Tampering With Public Records
Ethics Violations
Intentional Interference in the Administration of Justice
Refusing to Assist a Judicial Officer
Hindering Prosecution in the First Degree
Hindering Prosecution in the Second Degree
Unlawful Contact in the First Degree
Misrepresentation
Civil Contempt of Court
Criminal Contempt of Court
Contempt of Congress
Contempt of the American People
Deception
False Information or Report
False Accusation
False Testimony
Factually False Testimony
False Swearing
Unsworn Falsification
Misappropriating Funds
Misconduct
Marital Misconduct
Serious Misconduct
Professional Misconduct
Official Misconduct
Notorious Misconduct
Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance
Obstruction of the Judicial Process
Misuse of Confidential Information
Interference With Official Proceedings
Recklessness
Grand Larceny
Extortion
Embezzlement
Vandalism
Blackmail
Cruelty to Animals
Obstruction of Highways
Substance Abuse
Evidence Suppression
Illegal Foriegn Campaign Funding
Aiding and Abetting Espionage
Aiding and Abetting Foriegn Dictators
Aiding and Abetting Arsonists
Aiding and Abetting a Known Felon
Aiding and Abetting Terrorists and Terrorist Organizations
Terroristic Threatening
Providing Material Support to Terrorists
Engaging in Transactions with Terrorists
Improper Exports of Sensitve Technology
Attempted Intimidation of Prosecutors
Failure to Declare Income
Failure to Investigate Drug Trafficking
Scheme to Defraud
Real Estate Fraud
Voter Fraud
Mail Fraud
Wire Fraud
Interstate Transportation to Defraud
Destruction of Business Records with Intent to Defraud
Criminalizing Frauds on Financial Institutions
Use of State Police for Personal Purposes
Illegal Loan Extraction
False Reports by Medical Examiners and Others Investigating Suspicious Deaths
Improper Futures Trading
Illegal Use of the Executive Branch
Character Defamation
Destruction of Evidence
Political Espionage
Money Laundering
Criminal Negligence
Possesion of False Papers
False Acknowledgment
False Declaration Before a Court
Wrongful Handling of Public Documents
Concealing or Covering Up of Material Fact
Misprison of Felony
Criminal Deception
Disclosure of Confidential Information
Failure to Account for Public Money
Recieving or Concealing Stolen Goverment Property
Failure to Deposit Federal Monies
Wrongful Solicitation of Embezzlement or Gifts
Use of a Public Building to Solicit Political Funds
Accepting Fee for Federal Employment
Offering to Procure an Appointive Public Office
Taking Illegal Kickbacks
Racketeering
Investing Racketeering Income
RICO Conspiracy
Conspiracy
Conspiracy to Conceal
Conspiracy to Murder
Conspiracy to Engage in Racketeering
Conspiracy to Defraud the Federal Government
Wrongful Destruction of War Records
Malicious Injury to Property
Acquiring an Enterprise Through Racketeering
Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property
Offering Gratuities or Graft to a Public Official
Soliciting or Accepting Illegal Gratuities
Offering Gratuities to a Witness
Seeking or Accepting Illegal Compensation
Influencing or Injuring Officers, Jurors or Witnesses
Obstructing Agency Proceedings
Obstructing Criminal Investigations
Threatening Victims, Witnesses or Informants
Harassing Victims, Witnesses or Informants
Retaliating Against Victims, Witnesses or Informants
Falsely Making or Forging a Public Record
Falsely Making or Forging a Document
Uttering or Publishing a False Public Record
Transmitting a False Record to the United States
Misuse of Government Files
Desecration of Federal Ethics Laws
Judicial Intimidation
Conflict of Interests
Illegal Campaign Activity
Misuse of Corporate Assets
Ordering Politically Motivated Audits
Ordering Politically Motivated Investigations
Timing of War Influenced by Political Considerations
Foreign Influence Peddling
Regular Influence Peddling
Providing False and Misleading Testimony
Misapplying Funds
Criminal Violation of the Privacy Act
Evisceration of the Right to Habeas Corpus
Misuse of Taxpayer Funds
Interfering with a Court Order
Theft of Government Property
Abuse of Taxpayer Financed Travel
Anti-American Espionage
Jeopardizing National Security
Aiding and Abetting Drug Traffic
Aiding and Abetting Organized Crime
Aiding and Abetting Terrorism
Murder by Accessory by Witness Tampering
Murder by Accessory by Forgery
Solicitation to commit murder by accessory
Accessory to Multiple Deaths
Accessory to Murder in the Second Degree
Accessory to Aggravated Murder
Accessory to Felony Murder
Accessory to Criminal Libel
Accessory to Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution
Accessory to Arson
Accessory to Criminal Negligent Burning
Accessories After the Fact
Accessory to Abduction
Accessory to Causing Mental Harm to a Child
Custodial Interference in the First Degree
Child Endangerment
Cruelty to Persons
Sexual Harassment
Indecent Exposure in the Second Degree
Indecent Assault
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Malicious Wounding
False Imprisonment
Sexual Abuse of Employees
Lewd and Lascivious Conduct
Exchange of Promotions or Benefits for Sexual Favors
First Degree Sexual Assault
Second Degree Sexual Assault
Third Degree Sexual Assault
Fourth Degree Sexual Assault
Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
Statutory Rape
Sexual Battery
Intent to Rape
Suspicion of Rape
Rape
Forcible Rape
Oral Copulation
Misdemeanor Sexual Assault
Sexual Misconduct in the First Degree
Criminal Sexual Conduct by Force and Coercion
Unlawful Sexual Contact
Unlawful Sexual Activity with a Minor
Consensual Digital Penetration
Lewd Proposal
Sexual Battery
Penetration by a Foriegn Object
Failure to Register as a Sexual Offender
Deriliction of Duty
Corrupting Public Discourse
Contributing to the Delinquincy of a Minor
Unfit to hold a law license
Conduct Unbecoming a President
Impersonating a Public Servant
Squandering the Public Trust

There’s a pretty good collection of information HERE.

According to the “experts” in the Judicial department, the FBI and the DOJ, Hillary Clinton is completely and absolutely innocent of any charges. There is no need to investigate further.

Let the just, and righteous woman live her life free of worry or concern. For she is innocent.

Some thoughts…

This reminds me of the movie “The Lawnmower man“.

There is a scene where a (very “sooped up”) lawnmower/tiller machine autonomously chases a guy into his house and up the stairs. It chews up everything. And, of course, kills the guy.

The detectives come to the crime scene and are aghast of all the gore and blood. The house is all torn up. Walls, floors, furniture are all reduced to kindling, and all soaked in gore and entrails.

But, just then, the “Lawnmower man” snaps his fingers and the detectives completely change. It’s like night and day.

“Nothing here.” They say as they are standing ankle deep in blood, gore and splinters. “It’s obviously just a suicide, it’s an open and shut case.”

Some links to more details on these crimes…

Yeah, but this isn’t Hollywood. It’s America and this is real life.

Here’s some links going into some detail about the crimes that he was part of. After all, even she thought that she was guilty.

"... former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a 2016 email to then-Acting Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile, 

“If that f**kin bastard wins, we’re all going to hang from nooses! You better fix this s**t!” 

-  WikiLeaks - Hillary Clinton Email Archive

Of course, Snopes proved that this email is just Fake News. So you can believe them, right?

The Judicial Opinion

Hillary Clinton did not commit any crimes. It is all a “witch hunt” against an innocent woman.

What this means

If the Average American can do hard time for operating a lemonade stand in their front yard, serve years as a felon for jay-walking, and spend decades in prison for having photos on their computers…

… while people like Hillary Clinton can break every law on the books and still be found absolutely innocent…

… then the Justice system no longer functions as an agent of justice. It has another role.

Deal with the situation.

As such, Americans can either [1] accept this fact, or [2] change it.

Knowing what I know of Americans, there will be a period of discomfort and then everyone will just soak the ground with kerosene and light it up. There will be no safe, and secure ways out of the mess that currently exists.

So you all might as well rest easy.

The future is all mapped out and Mr. Sessions, or Mr. Barr will not matter any longer. You might as well forget about “Q” and all the Alt-Right hyperbole. Nothing is going to get done. The USA is a big crime syndicate.

It is now official.

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Why America is unable to shake off the grip of the oligarchy that controls it, a great video that explains it all.

Now that President Trump has released almost all of the documentation related to the President Kennedy murder, a full picture surfaces. It’s an ugly one, indeed. We now know in full detail how the President was assassinated, who the people were who participated in it, who covered it up, and the motivations behind it. It’s very interesting, but a very long study because it touches on a number of principles that Americans are uncomfortable with…

The wealthy guard their money and power ruthlessly.
They have complete control of the American media.
They have complete control of the American police.
They have complete control of the American military.
They treat Americans as farm animals (cash cows).
They kill anyone that stands in their way.

The following video is a long one, but is very complete. Watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYyw8mDDqPE&feature=youtu.be

We can now see the entire state of affairs about what our nation is, what is actually stands for and how it actually operates. So when I speak about the “oligarchy”, it should be taken to mean…

Oligarchy = Secret American Government

And, as such… it has affected everything. From technology acquisition (MAJestic), to geopolitical interactions, to society. Our world, our nation, the life that we live is what has been created for us by this oligarchy.

Yupper.

Let that sink in.

There will be a reset of sorts within America, but how it will “play out” and evolve is anyone’s guess. What you can expect is that the oligarchy will not relinquish their control or power easily. That a return to a more democratic representative, or republican form of government is impossible without serious conflict. And, that there will be a period of discomfort during this adjustment period.

I do NOT know how it will evolve. Certainly there are both human and “other” elements that favor the status quo, and they will permit an enormous amount of strife, as long as they can control it’s outcome and utility.

Those that control the United States are far too powerful, too dangerous, and too ruthless for removal. As such, the individual must plan accordingly.

If you enjoyed this post, I have others that can be found in various links such as this…

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You can find out more about the author HERE.
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A comprehensive review of the dangers of ANY association with Google.

This stuff was all over the news a few months ago. Then, guess what? Life moved on. And people, being who they are, forgot the message.

People, please listen up.

A private company has taken on the role of the former East German Secret police, known as the Stasi . They have been implementing these cold war policies with the full blessings of the United States government, and it’s going to get far, far worse.

This private company is Google.

Zach worked as a senior software engineer at both Google and YouTube for over eight years.

We should all heed his advice.

Zach Vorheis has some things to say.

For the video, as well as links to the transcripts, visit Mercola.com here.

Google is manipulating search results to influence our behavior. At the same time, denying this is happening.

The Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal published a a very thorough investigation covering these same points. As well as explaining the consequences of this behavior.

Disclosure of evil intent on Project Veritas

Zach Vorhies released about 950 pages of internal Google documents. These documents provide a comprehensive picture of what’s going on at the upper management within Google.

You can find all of thosedocuments on the Project Veritas website.¹

What Happened to ‘Don’t Be Evil’?

Zach comments…

“Everything started out with Google really great,” Vorhies says.

Google stayed true to those principles all the way up until 2016, until Donald Trump won the election.

This eventually morphed into not just censorship of the president, but censorship of information related to health …

I realized [that] if this was allowed to continue, then this agenda of Big Pharma would be able to become … ‘the truth’ …

Some ‘Fake News’ Isn’t so Fake After All

Exactly. 

As Jordan Peterson said  in regards to hate speech: "Who is going to regulate it? Who is going  to define it? 

I know the answer to that - the last people in the world you would want to."

Using Google’s internal search engine, Vorhies set out to determine what Google’s definition of fake news was.

He found several examples in a presentation.

However, in it were actual, verifiable real news events.

“I went, ‘Wait a minute. Is this about fake news or is this about controlling the narrative for like political purposes?'” Vorhies says.

He began collecting these documents because he knew they were explosive enough that Google would remove them if word ever got out about them.

In his continued search for real news presented as fake, he started unearthing other disturbing projects.

The main project responsible for Google censorship is a thing called ‘Machine Learning Fairness’ (ML Fairness).

As you imagine, they’re not going to call their censorship regime something bad. They’re going to call it something like ‘fairness.’

So, if you’re against that, you’re against fairness.

How Machine Learning Fairness Twists Perception of Reality

Just what is ML Fairness and how does it work? Vorhies explains:

If you have this collection of millions of simulated neurons … you can start to create very complex behavior that’s able to solve problems, like chess or the game Go …

It can classify hate speech. That’s the part that’s interesting to me — how this thing could be used to classify information across the internet.

Did Google Conspire to Commit Treason?

Vorhies saw these changes starting to take place in early 2017.

Shortly afterwards, Google announced it was going to start assigning an “authoritativeness score” to all news content.

“I was able to see this ranking on internal documents. High rankings were given to outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

In June 2017, chief executive officer of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, announced that this was how they were going to filter news content across the YouTube platforms.

As Vorhies expected, this led to a clamp down on anything that goes against the mainstream narrative.

But according to The New York Times, that’s not right. That’s actually nonsense, so let’s get rid of the word.’

And so, they got rid of the word.

What a coincidence that this team responsible for censoring words would have the same name as this very significant philosopher who is considered the father of post-modernism.

Comment: Finally, an explanation for the infamous covfefe tweet'! It's insane that this word was actually a translation, yet it was used to paint Trump as insane. And the fact that, up until this insider document dump, 

NO ONE KNEW THIS.

YouTube Censorship Has Had Lethal Consequences

“Her name was Nasim [Najafi Aghdam]. She had a video that went viral in Iran … She was creating really bizarre videos that were just — I don’t know — I watched them and I actually strangely loved them. I couldn’t stop watching them. They were so weird.

She decided that she was going to quit her job and become a full-time content creator, like millions of others … YouTube was the platform to do that. Everyone was getting a lot of subscribers and were trying to generate money, get monetized on the platform …

They would get a cut of the ads that were running when people interact with the ads or view them … What YouTube did is they made a blanket ban. Anyone under 10,000 subscribers got censored. By censorship, I mean demonetized. They lost all of the funding that they could get for their videos. They can still post videos, they just couldn’t get any money [from Google Ads] for it.

And so, this person had just lost her job. She felt she was being oppressed by YouTube. She drove all the way from San Diego, came to the YouTube headquarters on 901 Cherry Avenue … came into the lunch area patio, took out a handgun and started firing …

She shot a couple of people. Ran out of ammo, reloaded and shot some more and then [shot] herself in the chest and [bled] to death … Obviously, this person was mentally deranged but, also, she was triggered by Google’s censorship. Now I’ve got this very personal story about how censorship has affected my safety.

You would think that maybe YouTube would [rethink] its censorship, but no. They didn’t … Every day I would come into work and I would think, ‘You know, with this increase in censorship, is someone going to come in with a gun?'”

Google Attempts to Destroy Vorhies by ‘Lawfare’

Vorhies resigned from Google June 28, 2019, and was immediately put under investigation, as the company had logs showing the many documents he’d been searching for and reading through.

Vorhies tells the story of what happened next:

“When I went to Project Veritas, I went under anonymity. We only released two pages of the 950 that they had [been given]. My hope was that Google would leave me alone … But they decided they weren’t going to do that.

They decided they were going to attempt to financially destroy me by engaging in lawfare, which is warfare via the legal system.

Within a few weeks of me disclosing ML Fairness to Project Veritas, they sent me threatening letters, demanding access to all my data outside of work …

I wrote them back a letter admitting I had retained files, telling them I had given them to law enforcement … The NDA, the nondisclosure agreement I signed is nonenforceable in cases where the company is committing criminal activity. Sedition is criminal activity, which means that the NDA is null and void.

I can submit evidence of Google’s criminal activity to the government and to the media when the company is engaging in unlawful activity. That’s what I did. Also, I signed the NDA in good faith, believing that Google’s word of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful and ‘Don’t be evil,’ were truthful statements …

They applied criminal charges against him. They made him defend himself in court for his collection of evidence that he had sent to the NLRB. He’s [spent] $100,000 dollars of his own money defending himself from Google, so I knew what was in store for me.

[Cernekee’s] lawyer was like, ‘Yeah. This is the first step in a very painful process that’s going to drive on for years. They’re going to make it very expensive. Their goal is to destroy you.’ Well, in that case, I’m not going to fight in the legal law. I’m going to fight in the court of public opinion.

I decided at that point to come out to Project Veritas and disclose who I was so that I could get eyes [on me], and I said, ‘If Google’s going to take me down, then I’m going to leverage that so that everyone else can see what they do and what they’re really about. And then we can make Google’s censorship program part of the national discussion.’

I disclosed everything. I released it to the public, all 950 pages … August 17, 2019 … [I’ve] tried to become a cultural force so that we can hold Google to account of what they’re doing, because their censorship is wrong.

It’s wrong for America. It’s anti-American. Their election meddling is something that needs to be looked at, needs to be watched, because they’ve meddled with the elections in the past. They’re meddling in the elections now.

They were able to deactivate Tulsi Gabbard’s ad account directly following the Democratic debates.

They’ve meddled in the Ireland elections.

They’ve meddled in the Brazil elections.

How Autofill Can Shift Political Opinion

“This story about the autofill first got disclosed by Dr. Robert Epstein, who is a Harvard-trained psychologist and former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today,” Vorhies explains.

“What he said was that Google had flipped a bunch of votes for Hillary using this autosuggest feature. I’ve investigated this claim.

I’ve verified it to be true …

It turns out that a lot of the popular searches were being suppressed.

For example, you typed in ‘Clinton body count.’ It’s a popular search term. This brings up all the people who have died in the decades that were associated with Hillary Clinton.

The Search Engine Manipulation Effect

Similarly, when Epstein looked at the power of search engine manipulation to shift preferences and perceptions, he found that:⁷

“(1) biased search rankings can shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20% or more, (2) the shift can be much higher in some demographic groups, and (3) such rankings can be masked so that people show no awareness of the manipulation.”

This phenomenon, called the search engine manipulation effect (SEME), exerts influence largely through order effects that are enhanced in a digital context.

Although bias alerts were effective in suppressing SEME, we found that SEME could be completely eliminated only by alternating search results — in effect, with an equal-time rule.

As pointed out by Vorhies,

“We’ve got to watch out for Google, because … they’re going to try to rig the 2020 elections.”

Do a Google Detox

How can you prevent getting sucked into the false-reality vortex that is Google? Vorhies offers a number of suggestions for how to minimize Google’s influence over your life:

Stop using Google search. Options include DuckDuckGo⁹ and Startpage¹⁰

Stop using Gmail. ProtonMail,¹¹ which provides end-to-end encryption and less spam, is an excellent option, and one which I use here.

Switch from an android phone (powered by Google) to an iPhone. (I use Chinese cell phones. 5G and unhackable by the NSA in America.)

There are alternatives for most if not all Google products, and by using these other companies, we can help them grow so that Google becomes less and less relevant.

“Use iPhone, use DuckDuckGo and use Protonmail. Those three things will get most of Google out of your life,” Vorhies says.

“I’ve been a lot happier because of that. I know [Google is] able to read everything that I write when I’m on Gmail or I’m using one of their services. I’ve had people who want to interview me on YouTube, and then their YouTube pages get destroyed.”

Stop using Google docs (Digital Trends has published an article suggesting a number of alternatives¹²).
If you’re a high school student, do not convert the Google accounts you created as a student into any type of personal accounts.
Both the Chrome and Firefox browsers have been compromised by Google, so consider switching if you’re on either of those.
Brave is my personal favorite, but the Opera browser is another alternative.¹³
Vorhies is also a fan of Brave.

He says…

“The guy who created this browser, Brave … added features to eliminate all the ads. Now my MacBook runs like new.

I’ve got a 2012 MacBook. I thought I had to upgrade it in order to make it run fast. [Using] Brave instead, my computer operates five times faster when it opens a lot of browser tabs.

It’s phenomenal.

Not only do I get to Google detox, but I get a better experience by not using Google. It’s a no-brainer.

People should just use it. And all of the plug-ins I use, like LastPass, which contains all of my passwords, they all install.” Support Vorhies’ ‘Disclosure Tour’

In the interview, Vorhies recounts a long harrowing incident in which Google instructed local police to perform a mental wellness check on him. Pretty crazy stuff. Which eventually escalated into a full-blown evacuation of the entire street due to a fake bomb threat. Obviously a ruse, confabulated in an effort to get him out of his apartment.

Crazy stuff during crazy times.

He also discusses how Google’s censorship of things like holistic health and clean energy developments is actually evidence that a better future is ahead. The drug and oil industries are starting to lose their grip as safer, less expensive and more effective alternatives are gaining ground.

He argues that censorship is a last-ditch effort to hold on to a crumbling paradigm.

Raising Awareness of the dangers of Google

As Vorhies mentioned earlier, his primary focus right now is to raise awareness about Google and to create a cultural force for change.

You can follow Vorhies on Twitter. His handle is PerpetualManiac (Twitter.com/PerpetualManiac).

“If you click the follow button, you’ll be part of a collection of patriots who are looking to ensure the survival of the republic, to ensure sovereignty and to bring Google to account for the censorship they’re doing.

People are helping me raise awareness by retweeting the things I’m saying. Because honestly, I’m fighting giants,”

“If [Google is] going to take me down, then I’m just going to go down fighting. I’m going to leverage everything they do to further the great awakening that’s happening right now in the United States and across the world.”

“I’m doing that because, ultimately, I’m in service to a higher power … I believe this magnificent creative force in the universe wants people to be free. It’s up to us to ensure that the freedoms we enjoy are handed down to our children … our grandchildren and our collective future.”

Sources and References

Conclusions

If you haven’t divorced Google, and blocked it completely from your browser, then DO IT NOW. This is only the “tip of the iceberg” and it’s a lot worse than anyone knows.

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Very interesting patents are coming out from the United States Navy, and being denied because there isn’t any supporting technology. Huh?

Patent documents indicate that the U.S. and China are actively developing radical new craft that seem eerily similar to UFOs reported by Navy pilots.

The United States Secretary of Navy is listed as the assignee on several curious aviation technologies patents. These are highly unusual patents, devices and mechanisms.

Highly unusual.

These patents were generated by an aerospace engineer working at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) headquarters in Patuxent River, Maryland.

They are very interesting.

Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) headquarters in Patuxent River, Maryland.

The patents are very interesting.

One of these patents describes a “hybrid aerospace-underwater craft”. You know, one that can swim through the water as easily as it can fly through the air or jet through space.

Vehicle from the movie "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow". — Vehicle from the movie “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”.

According to the patent, it is capable of truly extraordinary feats of speed and maneuverability in air, water, and outer space. It is truly a revolutionary electromagnetic propulsion system.

Very exciting. Bordering (or perhaps, crossed over) the line between accepted scientific paradigms and God-like technology.

A scientific paradigm is a framework containing all the commonly accepted views about a subject, conventions about what direction research should take and how it should be performed. 

- What Is A Paradigm? - Explorable.com

To most classically educated scientists, it sounds pretty far fetched.

Imagine trying to get a patent for it!

Trying to get a patent.

A primary patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) thought that they were too fantastic to approve. And as such, he denied the patent applications as “too fantastical” to be considered in any degree of seriousness.

“Brawndo has what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes.”

This did not sit well with the United States Navy.

No sir. Not at all.

They absolutely and urgently, wanted these patents to be granted. They believed that it was in the best interests of “National Security”.

Washington has been incapable of coping with the great changes that have taken place in recent years, including the rise of emerging markets and developing countries, and national security has become an excuse it leans on when it wants to act on its suspicions about the economic development and technological progress of other countries. 

- The phony excuse of national security - CGTN

The Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of the Naval Aviation Enterprise personally wrote a letter addressed to the examiner. He claimed that the U.S. needs the patent. As the Chinese are already “investing significantly” in these aerospace technologies.

His argument is that the patents were necessary for “American Defense superiority”.

UFO’s? No way!

The descriptions on the patents sound very, very similar to the UFOs reported by Navy pilots.

They do.

Why is that, you suppose?

Well, everyone know that there’s no such things as “little green men”, extraterrestrials or “star people”. That’s just nonsense for school children. Right?

Right?

And since the USA would never keep secrets and technologies hidden from the American people, we know that they would tell us about extraterrestrials and their technologies. They would be open and transparent.

Open and transparent is the way America always does things. Right?
That’s what it’s like to live within the best democracy in the history of the world. Right?
The government is open and has no secrets. Don’t you know!

So, there are no extraterrestrials at all. After all, President Obama got on the Ellen DeGeneres show and said that to an audience of millions. Millions!

US President Barack Obama has awarded the USA's highest civilian honor to various actors, musicians and athletes during a ceremony at the White House. — *US President Barack Obama has awarded the USA’s highest civilian honor to various actors, musicians and athletes during a ceremony at the White House*.

It must be the dastardly Chinese or Russians!

Since it cannot be extraterrestrials that are using these technologies, then it MUST be those terrible Chinese or Russians! Right?

Damn Commies!

It's easy to find demonization of the Chinese on the internet. Oh, they are so evil... right? — It’s easy to find demonization of the Chinese on the internet. Oh, they are so evil… right?

This raises the question, are the Chinese developing (or even already flying craft) leveraging similar advanced technology and is the American Navy now scrambling to catch up?

I rather doubt that the Chinese are anywhere near this level of development, and I am a pretty strong supporter of the Chinese. Yes, it is true that many Chinese cities look like something out of the "The Jetsons", but this level of technology is centuries more advanced than what is publicly available in peer review journals.

-Metallicman

And I am not alone…

I deeply doubt  that the Navy is playing catch-up to what the Chinese have secret  developed. Tingly and Rogoway do not appear to be aware of the many  insiders who have come forward with their startling testimonies about  U.S. reverse engineering programs involving captured flying saucer  technologies that go back as far back as the 1940s. 

-EXOpolitics

Why not reverse engineering of extraterrestrial craft?

Why not?

I mean, you have to be a rather retarded block head not to realize that the universe is a very big place, and time goes on a long long way. To think that the world, as we know it, and the beliefs that we hold are absolutely fundamentally correct, is absolute lunacy.

Extraterrestrials exist.

The Untied States government knows about them, and has treaties with numerous entities. They have been reverse engineering their technologies for decades now, and it’s only a matter of time when the research will pay off with some kind of hybrid developmental vehicles.

It’s only a matter of time.

Maybe like now.

And if the reverse engineering has reached a point where actual prototypes can be manufactured, perhaps it would also be a good time to secure intellectual patents protections. Right?

Right?

The Wondrous Inventions Of Dr. Salvatore Cezar Pais

Maybe a look at some of these patents might give us some insight.

Maybe we can take a peek at the strange aerospace patents filed by Salvatore Cezar Pais, an aerospace engineer at NAWCAD.

Aerospace engineers work and develop the technologies and systems that go into vehicles that fly though the air and space.

Let it be well understood that there are some supplemental documents in the USPTO’s databases that imply that Navy leadership knows that these technologies are actually feasible.

Throughout the supplemental documents are references to actual validation tests and observations. All of which point to the idea that these parents are not just “ideas of merit”, but rather “technical protection documents for technology that has been proven to work”.

Little information can be found about Salvatore Cezar Pais; he has virtually no web presence.

What is known is that he received a PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1999. We also know that he currently works as an aerospace engineer for NAWCAD at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. This facility is one of the Navy’s top aircraft test bases.

Pais has published several articles and presented papers at American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conferences over the years.

With all the "hush hush" and top secret development work in the deep black SAP's, it's just a simple matter of time before some of the technologies will need to be patented. — With all the “hush hush” and top secret development work in the deep black SAP’s, it’s just a simple matter of time before some of the technologies will need to be patented.

In those papers he covers his work in electromagnetic propulsion, and revolutionary room temperature superconductors. Not to overlook such topics like his PhD dissertation: “Bubble generation under reduced gravity conditions for both co-flow and cross-flow configurations.”

NASA helped fund his dissertation.

A copy of his dissertation is here.
A full list of his publications can be found here.

The Navy’s Patented Hybrid Underwater Aerospace Craft

Pais is named as the inventor on four separate patents for which the U.S. Navy is the assignee:

A curiously-shaped “High Frequency Gravitational Wave Generator;”
A room temperature superconductor;
An electromagnetic ‘force field’ generator that could deflect asteroids;
And “Craft Using An Inertial Mass Reduction Device.”

While all are pretty outlandish-sounding, the last one is the one that the Chief Technical Officer of the Naval Aviation Enterprise personally vouched for.

This is the patent that he claimed that the Chinese are already developing similar capabilities.

The patent was first applied for on April 28, 2016, over a decade after the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group encountered strange Tic Tac-shaped aircraft. It is also nearly a year after Navy pilots across multiple squadrons flying out of Naval Air Station Oceana and NAS Norfolk experienced a string of bizarre encounters with unidentified aircraft. Some of which, like the Tic Tac UFO, seemed to possess exotic performance capabilities.

The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group encountered strange Tic Tac-shaped aircraft. It is also nearly a year after Navy pilots across multiple squadrons flying out of Naval Air Station Oceana and NAS Norfolk experienced a string of bizarre encounters with unidentified aircraft.

The hybrid aerospace-underwater craft in Pais’ patent, meanwhile, is described as being capable of incredible feats of speed and maneuverability. It can fly equally well in air, water, or space without leaving a heat signature.

This is possible, Pais claims in the patent, because the craft is able to “engineer the fabric of our reality at the most fundamental level” by exploiting the laws of physics.

“…engineer the fabric of our reality at the most fundamental level”

The concept is fairly simple, although the engineering required to make it a reality is another issue all together.

The basic theory…

All matter contains energy on the quantum level.

All particles are ripples in fields and have energy; photons are not special in this regard. Photons are stuff; energy is not. The stuff of the universe is all made from fields (the basic ingredients of the universe) and their particles. At least this is the post-1973 viewpoint.

-  Matter and Energy: A False Dichotomy

By theoretically creating its own incredibly dense and polarized energy field, the hybrid craft is claimed to be able to create a quantum ‘vacuum’ around itself. This vacuum allows it to repel any air or water molecules with which it interacts.

Thus, the craft can essentially ignore aerodynamic or hydrodynamic forces, or so it is claimed in the patent.

The hybrid craft is claimed to be able to create a quantum 'vacuum' around itself which allows it to repel any air or water molecules with which it interacts. — The hybrid craft is claimed to be able to create a quantum ‘vacuum’ around itself which allows it to repel any air or water molecules with which it interacts.

Throughout his patents and publications describing the hybrid aerospace underwater craft (HAUC), Pais writes that the radical feats of speed and maneuverability (of which the craft is supposedly capable of) can be achieved by coupling “high-frequency axial spin” or “accelerated vibration” with “high-frequency vibrations of electrically charged systems.”

High speeds are possible with [1] High frequency axial spin (or vibration) and [2] high frequency vibrations of electrically charged systems.

In other words, if you can [1] create a room temperature superconductor capable of storing an incredibly high amount of energy and [2] get the energy field created by that superconductor moving at incredibly high speeds around or within the craft, then…

… you can create a polarized energy vacuum around it.

This then, allows it to basically ignore the energy of the air or water around it, thereby removing its own inertia and mass from the equation.

The application of the theory…

In his most recent publication, Pais describes the hybrid aerospace / underwater craft as a roughly cone-shaped vehicle that would appear round from the front or rear.

“the HAUC is conical in  configuration, with an elliptical cross-section, similar in geometry to a  hypersonic glide vehicle / dart.”

Interestingly enough, the descriptions of the craft in several of Pais’ publications and even the patent for “Craft using an inertial mass reduction device” include room for a crew compartment shielded by a Faraday cage.

The radical vehicle would have room for a crew compartment. Maybe something along the lines of the space shuttle, where the pilot and NFO would sit side by side.

Shortly after the patent for the hybrid craft was approved in 2018, Pais presented another related paper, “Room Temperature Superconducting System for Use on a Hybrid Aerospace Undersea Craft” .

He presented it at the 2019 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech Forum in San Diego on January 2019.

Man, with all these papers of a great diversity of subject matter and content, you would think this guy is either a genius, or is the designated patsy for technical patent assignments for IP.

In the paper, Pais writes…

"the achievement of room temperature superconductivity (RTSC) represents  a highly disruptive technology, capable of a total paradigm change in  Science and Technology,” and adds that its “military and commercial  value is considerable."

The capabilities described in the paper should certainly sound familiar to anyone who’s been following the Navy UFO stories over the last several years:

"the achievement of room temperature superconductivity (RTSC) represents a highly disruptive technology, capable of a total paradigm change in Science and Technology,” and adds that its “military and commercial value is considerable." — “the achievement of room temperature superconductivity (RTSC) represents a highly disruptive technology, capable of a total paradigm change in Science and Technology,” and adds that its “military and commercial value is considerable.”

From the paper…

It  is possible to envision hybrid aerospace-undersea craft (HAUC), which  can function as a submersible craft capable of extreme underwater speeds  (lack of water-skin friction) and enhanced aerial/underwater stealth  capabilities (non-linear scattering of RF and sonar signals). 

This  hybrid craft would move with great ease through the air/space/water  mediums, by being enclosed in a Vacuum/plasma bubble/sheath, due to the  coupled effects of EM field-induced air/water particles repulsion and  Vacuum energy polarization.

Dr. Brian Collett provides his opinions

Dr. Brian Collett, is a Hamilton College physics chair who teaches courses in electromagnetic theory and quantum physics. He has some thoughts on these patents and what they might imply.

Collett stated that patents and peer-reviewed articles about theoretical physics are one thing, however the descriptions of the HAUC and the claims in Pais’ research…

"...bear no more  resemblance to quantum physics as I understand it than does ‘The Force’  from Star Wars."

Moreover, Collett adds,

"a working room temperature  superconductor would have far more radical uses that are actually within the bounds of possibility"

…than a hybrid craft that can theoretically create a quantum vacuum around itself.

Other physicists have stated the same thing – although most of them refused to go anywhere near on the record concerning the hybrid craft patent based on how outlandish it seems.

But…

But, why then would the Naval Aviation Enterprise CTO personally vouch for this patent to the USPTO?

Is it possible?

Just because something is patented doesn’t mean it’s currently in production or even possible.

Private entities and the U.S. government both regularly patent forward-looking technologies to ensure that they own the rights to them when or if they’re ever fully realized. The patent for the hybrid craft is set to expire on September 28, 2036.

That being said, the unorthodox circumstances surrounding the approval of this patent have us wondering why the Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Naval Aviation Enterprise, Dr. James Sheehy, personally vouched for the legitimacy of this beyond-revolutionary aerospace technology in the Navy’s appeal to the USPTO.

Take important note. Sheehy assured the patent examiner in charge of this application that the aircraft propulsion method described in the patent is indeed possible or will be soon based on experiments and tests NAWCAD has already conducted.

Never the less, the application was initially rejected by Patent Examiner Philip Bonzell on the grounds that “there is no such thing as a ‘repulsive EM energy field,'”

While repulsive fields are well known in physics, the patent examination did not agree that this new type of repulsive field was possible. He saw no evidence that it could be constructed, tested or applied.

Further, he argued it was outrageous. Here;

"when referring to the specifications as to ascertain  about the microwave emitters needed in this system it is seen that for a  high energy electromagnetic field to polarize a quantum vacuum as  claimed it would take 10^9 [T]eslas and 10^18 V/m."

That’s roughly the equivalent to the magnetic strength generated by most magnetars and more electricity than what is produced by nuclear reactors.

What would be needed to generate such amounts of energy is perhaps the potentially revolutionary room temperature superconductor described in one of Pais’ other patents for which the Navy is listed as the assignee.

Obviously, the examiner believed it’s impossible with today’s technology. He believed that it was impossible to create the insane amount of energy needed to generate the EM field. And this is what would be required to propel this craft in the manner described in the patent application.

More New Technology…

The implication is that another type of new technology would be required.

Well, to do A, you need to have B, C, and D.

Well, imagine that! All these things are suddenly available simultaneously for patent. 

Wow oh wow!

Either an army or geniuses have been toiling away in the dark, in secret, and being fed through their cages for decades, or we have been secretly reverse engineering very advanced technologies based on principle that make the internal combustion engine, electronics, and rocket engines look like "Romper room play toys".

What would be needed to generate such amounts of energy is a revolutionary room temperature superconductor . One, mind you, already described for in one of Pais’ other patents for which the Navy is listed as the assignee.

Hum…

Superconductors are materials that can conduct electricity with zero resistance, meaning the electrical currents carried through them never degrade or dissipate like they do in metals, such as copper or silver.

After it was rejected, the NAWCAD’s patent attorney, Mark O. Glut, appealed the decision and submitted further documentation to ensure the patent office that this craft is indeed "enabled," meaning it can actually be built and can perform as described in the patent. — After it was rejected, the NAWCAD’s patent attorney, Mark O. Glut, appealed the decision and submitted further documentation to ensure the patent office that this craft is indeed “enabled,” meaning it can actually be built and can perform as described in the patent.

Superconductors also create their own repulsive magnetic fields when placed near magnets, enabling applications like the levitating Maglev trains currently floating at high-speed in Japan and China.

Most  superconductors today require extremely low temperatures to operate,  however, making them impractical for most uses outside of laboratories  or large scale industrial applications. Room temperature superconductors  for years have been something of a "Holy Grail" of science for  engineers, because, once realized, they would open the doors for  incredible new forms of power transmission and storage, electric motors,  and magnetic levitation devices.

According to documents available to the public at the USPTO website, the Patent Office rejected Pais’ and the Navy’s application for this craft on March 30, 2018.

After it was rejected, the NAWCAD’s patent attorney, Mark O. Glut, appealed the decision and submitted further documentation to ensure the patent office that this craft is indeed “enabled,” meaning it can actually be built and can perform as described in the patent.

NAWCAD’s patent attorney, Mark O. Glut, appealed the decision and submitted further documentation to ensure the patent office that this craft is indeed "enabled," meaning it can actually be built and can perform as described in the patent. — NAWCAD’s patent attorney, Mark O. Glut, appealed the decision and submitted further documentation to ensure the patent office that this craft is indeed “enabled,” meaning it can actually be built and can perform as described in the patent.

This craft has already been built…

One of the most compelling items in the collection of appeal documents is the letter accompanying the final appeal written CTO Sheehy concerning the U.S. Patent Office’s rejection of “Craft Using an Inertial Mass Reduction Device.”

This craft is indeed “enabled,” meaning it can actually be built and can perform as described in the patent.

In the letter dated 15 December 2017, Dr. Sheehy claims that Salvatore Pais has “already begun a series of experiments to design and demonstrate advanced High energy Density/High Power propulsion systems” that are described in the patent.

Furthermore, Sheehy claims that…

"the realization of this result demonstrates that  this patent documents the future state of the possible and moves  propulsion technology beyond gas dynamic systems to field-induced  propulsion based hybrid aerospace-undersea craft."

Have a look at the letter yourself:

"the realization of this result demonstrates that this patent documents the future state of the possible and moves propulsion technology beyond gas dynamic systems to field-induced propulsion based hybrid aerospace-undersea craft." — “the realization of this result demonstrates that this patent documents the future state of the possible and moves propulsion technology beyond gas dynamic systems to field-induced propulsion based hybrid aerospace-undersea craft.”

It’s important to note that Sheehy doesn’t go so far as to say on the record that the Navy currently possesses this technology and instead notified Patent Examiner Philip Bonzell that he agrees that…

"this mode of  acceleration/movement is beyond the state of the possible, at least at  present."

Sheehy, of course, adds that…

"China is already investing  significantly in this area" and "would prefer we [the U.S.] hold the  patent as opposed to paying forever more to use this revolutionary  technology" as he asserts "this will become a reality."

Remarkably, it seems to boil down to the ol’ “we must not allow an Inertial Mass Reduction Device gap!”

Heh. Heh.

Approved patent.

Perhaps because of that threat from the Chinese looming, the USPTO finally issued a notice of allowance for “Craft Using an Inertial Mass Reduction Device” to the Department of the Navy on October 31, 2018, at a fee of $1,000 USD.

No reason was given for why the patent was eventually approved.

It’s important to note, as well, that U.S. patent law ends at America’s borders. The Navy can patent anything it wants to, but those patents would not necessarily keep a foreign country from developing and patenting similar technologies.

The Dawn Of Electromagnetic Propulsion?

Normally, I would agree with others that these patents are likely just the Navy ensuring that when or if this technology does become available, the U.S. will be able to control it.

However, these are not normal times.

Thanks to To the Stars Academy (TTSA), the Department of Defense, and the media at large, the Navy pilots have witnessed aircraft behaving exactly like the craft these patents describe. Additionally, some of the pilots’ visual descriptions of those anomalous aircraft even seem to be uncannily similar to the drawings of the aircraft as depicted in Pais’ patents.

One of those patents depicts a curiously and distinctly shaped gravitational wave generator that resembles the Tic Tac-shaped object reported by retired U.S. Navy Commander David Fravor and other NimitzCarrier Strike Group pilots in encounters that took place in 2004 off the Baja Coast.

The so called “Tic Tac” encounter.

In regards to claims that these patents may simply be speculative “math theory,” as the patent examiner called them in one of the rejections. Never the less, it’s important to remember that scientific and engineering research sometimes reach tipping points. Tripping points in which incremental progress made over decades suddenly culminates in large paradigm shifts. Shifts, mind you, that bring the theoretical into the realm of the possible. (Of course, massive bursts of associated funding also can really help, of course.)

The patents appear to draw upon established theoretical research. Included in the Navy’s patent appeals and Pais’ most recent publication are references to decades’ worth of peer-reviewed research in room temperature superconductors and macroscopic quantum effects. Additionally, there are even notated copies of several studies related to Pais’ research.

In the publication, Pais also thanks Naval Aviation Enterprise CTO Dr. James Sheehy…

"for the many hours of thought-provoking discussions on the  concept at hand."

To the Stars Academy.

Interestingly enough, both Pais’ research and some of his patents also contain acknowledgments to the work of Dr. Harold E. Puthoff.

Dr. Harold E. Puthoff is the co-founder and Vice President of Science and Technology of To the Stars Academy.

Dr. Harold E. Puthoff is an electrical engineer and inventor who has published research on polarized vacuums, but has also been extensively involved with paranormal and somewhat pseudoscientific topics such as remote viewing.

According to their website,

TTSA’s goal is to advance “our current understanding of scientific phenomena and its technological implications.”
The stated mission of TTSA’s Aerospace division is to find “revolutionary breakthroughs in propulsion, energy, and communication”.
The company claims it is “currently working with lead engineers from major Department of Defense and aerospace companies with the capability to pursue an advanced engineering approach to fundamental aerospace topics.”
This includes Space-Time Metrics Engineering (STME). (This is a theoretical concept in which quantum vacuums are engineered as a means of propulsion.)

It remains unclear how TTSA intends to follow through with and secure funding for these ambitious goals.

Physicist Harold White stunned the aeronautics world when he announced that he and his team at NASA had begun work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, an ingenious re-imagining of an Alcubierre Drive, may eventually result in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks — and all without violating Einstein’s law of relativity.

In a press release marking the official launch of TTSA on Oct. 11, 2017, former Program Director for Advanced Systems at Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programs at the Skunk Works, Steve Justice, described how TTSA was working on developing revolutionary “Advanced Electromagnetic Vehicles”.

These are vehicles that will “dramatically reduce the current travel limits of distance and time” and “mimic the capabilities observed in unidentified aerial phenomenon by employing a drive system that alters the space-time metric.”

Without a doubt, these advanced electromagnetic vehicles that TTSA says it plans to develop sound uncannily like the electromagnetic hybrid aerospace underwater craft in Pais’s patent.

Few Answers, But Plenty Of Questions

NAWCAD has a liaison for pubic communication.

Kurt Larson is NAWCAD’s Public Affairs Director.

Larson states that…

"when it comes to  patent applications, [NAWCAD] cannot provide any context outside of the  filed patent application documents."

Similarly, USPTO policy states that applications for patents are not generally open to the public, and…

"no information concerning them is released except on written authority  of the applicant, his or her assignee, or his or her attorney, or when  necessary to the conduct of the business of the USPTO."

As striking as the similarity between the claimed capabilities of the hybrid craft and those of the objects described by Navy personnel, it’s still unknown whether these patents are related to the ongoing UFO revelations.

It is important to note that if the Navy had wanted this patent to remain classified, it could have filed the patent under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 (35 U.S.C. ch. 17).

This is a law which allows patents to remain classified if they might pose a possible threat to the national security of the United States.

Instead of doing that, however, all of Pais’ patents are currently fully available to the public.

If such a propulsion technology was so revolutionary and if the Navy indeed wanted to keep this technology out of others’ hands, it’s curious that they would choose to make the patent public.

Maybe the Navy is signaling to its adversaries that it, too, is aware of this revolutionary capability and to whom it belongs.

It is important to note that if the Navy had wanted this patent to remain classified, it could have filed the patent under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 (35 U.S.C. ch. 17).

Also, consider the fact that Senators, including the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Community, have been briefed in recent weeks by Navy officials about the unexplained sightings Navy pilots have reported.

Even President Donald Trump recently stated in an interview that the Navy UFO reports could be due the fact that pilots

 "see things  a little bit different from the past,"

This is a comment which could be taken to mean that pilots are witnessing new types of aerospace technology for the first time.

Trump seemed to indicate that he does not believe the objects reported by Navy pilots are evidence of anything extraterrestrial. As such he took his interviewer’s UFO question in stride without any apparent surprise. This could be an indication of just how far into the mainstream the UFO discussion has become.

A Technology “UFO” Race

Consider as well the comments made by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, reportedly a key figure in securing funding for programs like the now-infamous Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program and its associated studies.

Has China and Russia also been reverse engineering exotic extraterrestrial spacecraft as well?

Earlier this year, Reid stated that the U.S., Russia, and China are currently in a “UFO race.”

We know the Chinese have already publicly made major strides in electromagnetic naval capabilities including railguns and aircraft catapults, as well as other highly advanced defense technologies.

Could Reid have meant that these three military powers are currently scrambling to be the first to master the technology behind a hybrid aerospace-undersea craft and deploy it on a substantial scale? If so, where does the Navy, and the Pentagon as a whole, currently stand in that clandestine race?

Well known in "UFO circles" that the Russians have been working with extraterrestrial species for decades and has various vehicles in their possession. — Well known in “UFO circles” that the Russians have been working with extraterrestrial species for decades and has various vehicles in their possession.

Furthermore, Pais notes in the paper that such a technology…

“would permit swift movement of the HAUC beyond our Solar System.”

Is this an undisclosed reason why we suddenly need a Space Force? Is this what Air Force Lieutenant General Vera Linn Jamieson was referring to last year when she casually dropped during an unrelated interview that in…

 "different galaxies in the future we’re going to actually have  capability that we have right now in the air”?

And this is hardly the only highly peculiar thing that Air Force leadership has spouted off about in regards to the future of America’s military footprint in space.

Image is from a source who claims China will be releasing Hi Res images taken by the Chang’e-2 moon orbiter, which clearly show buildings and structures on the moons surface.

It’s also possible that this patent is just another facet of an information operation that goes along with a larger UFO narrative to promote the Pentagon’s undisclosed interests.

But…

But the inclusion of China, a very terrestrial potential foe and America’s chief technological adversary, as a direct competitor when it comes to the technology seems odd and even counterproductive if that were the case.

On the other hand, some may say that this could be proof of two superpowers struggling to mimic the capabilities of something they are observing, but do not fully understand on a technological level. Considering all the unknowns, all possibilities are worth examining.

... some may say that this could be proof of two superpowers struggling to mimic the capabilities of something they are observing, but do not fully understand on a technological level.

Other thoughts on this…

Exo Politics – US Navy Disclosing Secret Space Program Technologies through Patents System

Credits to the original Authors and links.

Much of this was inspired and compiled for the great work on The Drive;

Much of this work and investigation are being “bird dogged” by Brett Tingley and Tyler Rogoway. They are doing some great work. Now, of course, they know nothing of MAJestic or any thing related to it, so they are doing the necessary journalistic ground work with a healthy dose of skepticism. Well, good for them!

In any event, I would strongly advise the interested reader to follow their work and observe that the US Navy is making headway in the understanding and development of technologies that mimic that of our extraterrestrial benefactors.

Check out the patents yourself…

To view them for yourself, visithttps://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair and search for application number 15/141,270. Once there, click on the “Image File Wrapper” tab.

The Inventor speaks out

I hate it when other people get credit for work that you do. I know, it has happened to me, more than just a few times.

Comment or Message

The article on patents held by the Navy make me feel angry because I have an unmet need for the US Government to acknowledge my patents on gravitomagnetic energy. https://patents.google.com/patent/US10177690B2/en I observe I also filed for a patent in China too.

They denied the patent even though the US had already granted it. I feel suspicious that they stole my invention along with the US Navy. I have an outstanding FOIA request on this with the Navy.

I have analyzed the Navy's Tic Tac UAP video to demonstrate spacetime metric engineering effects.

I observe I have some research results I would like to share. Here's a report I conducted with correspondence with Dr. Hal Puthoff of TTSA. There's a few of the slides in the beginning that cover my background.

http://www.calfree.com/TicTacUhtm.pptx

Also I have several GIF files I created to share to show some of the UAP technology in action I would like to explain in more detail. It makes me feel happy to know your curious. I request you check out the following background information that goes with the PowerPoint presentation. I suggest you run the presentation software to operate the Gif on quantum tunneling; slide 7. My explanation of the presentation is in the form of a dialog.

Where do slides 6-11 come from? Are they your research, or from Dr. Puthoff? Both? Somewhere else?

Observe the information in slide 6 from Hal’s paper which I cite on the upper left of the slide. Spacetime metric engineering allows for altered spacetime. Basic hypothesis in altered spacetime: denser spacetime (g00 <1, |g11| > 1) time dilates, length shrinks “gravitational”, and, expanded spacetime (g00 > 1, |g11| <1) time shrinks, length dilates “antigravitational”.

Observe slide 7 explains how quantum entanglement [quantum tunneling] works and its possible to move information through spacetime instantaneously.

I feel this is useful to explaining the concept of wormholes. Observe slide 8 explains the concept of gravitational frame dragging using nano-bump [empirical] data from the mass spin-valve device.

My invention is called the mass spin-valve or gravitational rectifier, aka gravity diode. Observe slide 9 explains using nano-bump [empirical] data from the mass spin-valve device to support the creation of denser spacetime (g00 <1, |g11| > 1) time dilates, length shrinks “gravitational” energy at the nano-scale.

Observe slide 10 explains using nano-pit [empirical] data from the mass spin-valve device to support the creation of expanded spacetime (g00 > 1, |g11| <1) time shrinks, length dilates “antigravitational” energy at the nano-scale.

Observe slide 11 explains that utilizing data from variable area nano-bumps and nano-pits we are able to show that moving objects at the nano-scale produce parabolic pull force of nano-gravity and hyperbolic push force of nano-antigravity [like a balloon].

The term 'antigravity bubble', I'm not quite sure what that is -- how it operates or what it looks like. So, when you mention balloons (i.e. 'a dark torus shaped balloon', 'A balloon shaped brighter region', or 'small dark oval shaped balloon') -- are you saying 'balloon' because they appear balloon-shaped?

That is to say -- they aren't physical balloons travelling alongside the craft? Observe denser spacetime (g00 <1, |g11| > 1) force magnitude of gravity |g11| is greater than 1 G force and anti-gravity force is less than 1 G, and, expanded spacetime (g00 > 1, |g11| <1) force magnitude of gravity |g11| is less than 1 G force and anti-gravity force is greater than 1 G. I hope this helps your understanding of slide 6.

Greater G force means time dilates, length shrinks “gravitational” energy while lower G force means time shrinks, length dilates “anti-gravitational” energy. This is based on principals of General Relativity, Einstein's theory of geometric gravitation and the data.

http://www.calfree.com/TicTacSpacetimeMetricEngineering.gif

No, [not a real balloon] the dark balloon shaped region over the top of the UAP appears to be a region of expanded spacetime. The other balloon shaped regions on the right of the UAP are also regions of altered spacetime used to open a wormhole on the left of the UAP. These regions appear to be utilized to create gravitational winding spring like force that propels the craft to the left at the entrance to the wormhole. Empirical evidence is from slides 7-11. This second GIF includes this first one above. Above the UAP is the anti-gravity balloon I explain in slide 11. The left of the image is where a worm hole is opened and the right side is where the UAP is spacetime engineering a gravitational bow, like in a bow and arrow, where the UAP is the arrow. This second GIF shows the arrow being released; aka warp drive. http://www.calfree.com/TicTacWarpDrive.gif This third GIF shows something I felt was pretty cool. It appears the UAP as hitting the Nimitz aircraft with an EMP pulse which saturates the IR detector array. http://www.calfree.com/TicTacEMPattack.gif Are you suggesting that the Air Force acted aggressively towards the UAP -- possibly hitting it with some type of hypersonic weapon? -- 'These slides make me feel uncomfortable. I have an unmet need for reassurance of future nonviolent interaction with UAPs.

I request the support for further failure analysis and for development of protocols for remedial measures.' My experience as an Archaeologist necessitates me to intercommunicate with native Americans about their culture. This requires a feeling of trust be established so I don’t go where I am not invited.

The UAP appears to be hitting the Nimitz aircraft with an electromagnetic pulse that charged the IR detector array fanout on the back of the array causing it to saturate. The image observed shows the fanout behind the array in that frame. I don’t know what the Nimitz aircraft did to the UAP that would be considered hostile by the UAP.

Michael Boyd (408) 891-9677 PS the GIFs are mine so feel free to use them.

MAJestic Related Posts – Training

These are posts and articles that revolve around how I was recruited for MAJestic and my training. Also discussed is the nature of secret programs. I really do not know why the organization was kept so secret. It really wasn’t because of any kind of military concern, and the technologies were way too involved for any kind of information transfer. The only conclusion that I can come to is that we were obligated to maintain secrecy at the behalf of our extraterrestrial benefactors.

MAJestic Related Posts – Our Universe

These particular posts are concerned about the universe that we are all part of. Being entangled as I was, and involved in the crazy things that I was, I was given some insight. This insight wasn’t anything super special. Rather it offered me perception along with advantage. Here, I try to impart some of that knowledge through discussion.

Enjoy.

The Fuselage embedded within the rocks of Victoria Falls.

Mystery of the oil lamp found inside a block of coal.

Did extraterrestrials set up a colony in Pennsylvania?

The Progenitors as remote viewed by Joseph McMoneagle.
Joseph McMoneagle, one of the most successful Army-trained remote viewers, peered into the past to look into the possible origins of human history. To everyone’s surprise, he “saw” something quite different from the evolution of intelligent apes. Instead we observed that we were fabricated. We were cultivated and our DNA were created by intelligent beings in what he called a ‘laboratory.’ These intelligent beings are quite different from most of the creatures that zoom about the earth and watch and monitor us from afar. These are our “creators”. As such, they are known as the “progenitors”.

Utilizing Intention

Using Intention to make your life sparkle.

Influencer Questions

Here are posts that have gathered a series of questions from various influencers. They are interesting in many ways and could help all of us unravel the mysteries of the lives that we live.

MAJestic Related Posts – World-Line Travel

These posts are related to “reality slides”. Other more common terms are “world-line travel”, or the MWI. What people fail to grasp is that when a person has the ability to slide into a different reality (pass into a different world-line), they are able to “touch” Heaven to some extent. Here are posts that cover this topic.

John Titor Related Posts

Another person, collectively known by the identity of “John Titor” claimed to utilize world-line (MWI egress) travel to collect artifacts from the past. He is an interesting subject to discuss. Here we have multiple posts in this regard.

They are;

Articles & Links

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Some thoughts of the collapse of the American Empire and how it will manifest.

Nope, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill “doom porn”. Instead, most everyone realizes that the Untied States is in the process of some changes. Some predict that the changes are merely “adjustments” towards a better, more improved, society. While others stand outside holding a sign saying “The End of the World is Near!”. Here are my thoughts on the changes that America will go through during the decade of the 2020’s.

It could be anything from a whimper to a bang…

The Sky is Falling!

Not so very long ago, societal collapse was a big topic of conversation. Most critics of the current world order wrote in screeching big bold letters that the entire financial “house of cards” was going to fall apart. Usually they centered on economics, as the financial system has become so complex that no one can explain it, let alone predict it. It became a monster, a hydra, that was careening out of control.

Indeed, the run-up to the mortgage crisis had tons of people promoting economic collapse theories.

A decade earlier, the Y2K panic ushered in theories of technological collapse. Of course, the zombie apocalypse movies and TV shows are a regular part of the pop media rotation.

Scene from the ever-popular "Walking Dead" television show. — Scene from the ever-popular “Walking Dead” television show.

Societal collapse, however, is probably not in the cards.

Tainter comments.

The best known treatment of the issue is by Joseph Tainter.

In his Collapse of Complex Societies, Tainter makes the point that collapse in the modern age is unlikely. He states this belief under the assumption that all complex societies are dependent on one another.

Normaly or Normacy bias. — Normalcy bias. The belief that things are never changing, that they have always been that way and will always continue to stay that way.

Therefore, when one society begins to fail, the rest will provide support to prevent the rapid disintegration of the failing society.

In other words, the modern age is a network of reciprocal relationships between complex societies.

In the case of America, the rest of the world needs America in order to remain intact. Some nations more than others. Thus, a crisis in America will be met with a response from Europe, Asia and even South America.

In 2018, China shipped 18% of its exports to the United States. That contributed to a $419 billion trade deficit. China's trade with Hong Kong, at 14%, was almost as much. Its trade with Japan, which was at 6%, and South Korea, at 4.5%, was much less. 

- China Economy: Facts, Effect on US Economy

The internal response to crisis will include global support for repairing the internal problems of America.

Of course, this network of relationships may not arrest the decline, but it will prevent complete collapse. The rest of the complex societies will ease America into the autumn of its existence, thus buying themselves time to adjust.

They will “decouple” from the USA. They will no longer being so closely tied to the economic, financial, social, military and political networks established int he United States.

There is evidence that this is already in process.

U.S. Decoupling From China Forces Others To Decouple From U.S. 

The U.S. is decoupling itself from China. The effects of that process hurt all global economies. To avoid damage other countries have no choice but to decouple themselves from the U.S..

-MoA

An alternative view.

An alternative to this analysis comes from John Michael Greer. He wrote a paper on what he termed catabolic collapse.

The general theory is that all human societies create complex institutions and social structures that require maintenance. Over time, the cost of maintaining them begins to exceed capacity. The solution is a deliberate downsizing where these complex systems are abandoned in order to focus resources on the core functions of society.

Complex societies don’t collapse. They downsize.

The Global Elites do not see what is coming. They believe that they can hide away in NZ or inside the bunkers far away from the areas of conflict and strife. Nope. That is not going to happen. Know your history, and recognize that now things are different and the game is going to be tortuously lethal.

Greer’s idea is a variation of the Tainter theory, in that it focuses on the material aspects of society.

In the Tainter view, collapse is like bankruptcy that ends in a liquidation of the society. Greer’s view is a bankruptcy that leads to a reorganization of society going through bankruptcy, so it can reemerge simpler and more viable.

In reality, both ideas are working from the same assumption. That is, human societies grow inefficient over time and that inefficiency eventually reaches a tipping point.

Cycles in America. — KaLa cycle lineup for a span of time since 2000 into the middle of the new century. The tipping point is the period from around 2010 to around 2027.

The Collapse Event

One issue that is a problem when discussing these theories of societal collapse is we tend to think of collapse as something that happens relatively quickly.

That is, it happens not just in our lifetime, but overnight.

One day things are going along just fine and the next day the wheels are coming off the cart. It is the image of Rome at its peak compared to the image of hairy barbarians scaling the walls. We naturally want to think of collapse as the sudden, unexpected death of society.

Collapse is most likely experienced in fits and starts, with those fits and starts spanning lifetimes. For example, the men who founded the American empire in the early 20th century passed out of this world seeing their creation in the throes of the cultural revolution of the 60’s and 70’s. The so-called greatest generation that inherited the empire from the founders, were re-engineering American society so their rotten kids would stop rioting in the street and burning the college campus.

The generation that founded the empire probably thought it was headed for collapse, but by that point they were too old to care. It did not collapse. American society stabilized, regained its footing and started to recover in the 1980’s and 1990’s, with the great economic and technological boom.

Scene from the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street". The 1980's and 1990's were a period of time when money flew abundantly to the "power players". — Scene from the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”. The 1980’s and 1990’s were a period of time when money flew abundantly to the “power players”.

Ironically, the baby boomers are experiencing what their grandparents experienced as they head for the void. They are seeing what appears to be the collapse of American society in a spasm of multicultural rage.

A half century ago, California was the epicenter of the cultural revolution that threatened to collapse society. It is the test bed for the multicultural favela the rage heads in the ruling class have planned for the nation.

Today, they have rolling blackouts in a third world effort to keep from setting the state on fire. Their efforts to manage air pollution, a great crusade in the 1860’s and 1970’s, is beginning to fail. Their pension system is effectively bankrupt, just waiting to collapse in the next decade.

In other words, the spasm of decline and near collapse of a half century ago was part of a cycle of decline.

An interregnum

This crisis will probably be followed by some correction, where things settle for a while, but never return to the prior normal. Just as the 1980’s never reached the level of social accomplishment of the post-war years, the next period of tranquility will fall far short of the 1980’s and 1990’s.

It will simply be an interregnum between one period of crisis and the next, another step down the ladder of collapse.

At some point, the old social capital of the prior greatness is exhausted. The Romans were a spent people for over century before the collapse. In fact, they were arguably done in the third century.

The real question about the late Roman Empire is how it managed to stagger on for so long.

That may be where we are now in present day America. The next step down the ladder of decline may be so unstable that the weight of past error crashed society through to the bottom.

The case for this theory of collapse is the rapidly shrinking white middle-class.

Shrinking of the White Class

It’s not just shrinking as an economic institution, but as a cultural one. The dominant culture today is one that celebrates degeneracy and barbarism. Bourgeois culture remains, but unlike the 1980’s, it is not front and center, offering a stabilizing point to arrest the cultural turmoil of the day.

The antidote to what’s happening today is not a man in a sundress demanding the rest of us pretend he is a girl.

Facing the fall…

In addition to the shrinking influence of bourgeois white culture, there is the growing sense that what’s left of America is not worth saving.

Everyday, more and more white people come to the conclusion that the people they see in politics, the media and popular culture are incompatible with the world they want for themselves and their decedents.

That old bourgeois white culture is looking at America like the family exhausted by an alcoholic relative. It’s time to cut our losses.

Conclusions

America is collapsing. It will collapse in a long, slow drawn out manner. It will not be fast, though there will be some very spectacular events that will stun the viewing audience. Many people who have the knowledge and ability to retard the collapse are quietly scurrying to protective safe havens and enclaves.

Perhaps, you the reader, should also take heed.

America is not afraid of the consequences of using Nuclear Weapons. They do not think that any nation would use nuclear weapons in retaliation. Nor do they believe that American cities might be affected. They are living in a dangerous and crazy illusion.

SHTF and Related Index

The Climax of the Fourth Turning in 2025.

2025 - the Fourth Turning Crisis - A nuclear response

Historically, how preppers failed during periods of turmoil.

What is planned for American Conservatives - Part 2

What is going to happen to conservatives - Part 3.

What is planned for conservatives - part 4

What is in store for Conservatives - part 5

What is in store for conservatives - part 6

We can no longer build. As we enter the Fourth Turning.

America is no longer a nation. When you cannot enforce a border, enforce laws, and prosecute criminals, you no longer have a nation. America is no longer a nation. It might still be the remains of a once great empire, sort of like Rome was after the Vandals sacked it, but as a functioning nation, it is no longer. When you cannot enforce a border, enforce laws, and prosecute criminals, you no longer have a nation. I argue that the United States is no longer a nation. Forget about being a nation that follows the Constitution. Rather, I argue that it is not longer a nation in the crudest, simplest, and most primitive terms. What it is is up for debate. But, a nation... no it is not.

A reassessment of American republican democracy.

Why neocons are so adamant on maintaining proxy wars all over the globe. This article connects hawkish neocons with outrageous theft of enormous amounts of money. They sponsor a war, people die, and they cart away pallet loads of money. This has happened time and time again, but few talk about it. But it's a real thing, and it's a real problem. Here we talk about it.

Kala Rhythms as an adjunct to the Fourth Turning generational cycles theory. How everything all fits together.
What is the world coming to? Is everyone crazy? Are all the governments corrupt? Is all that we have to look forward to is yet another war? Well, there are answers to these questions. Here we postulate that the “generational turnings” that are described in the “Fourth Turning” are similar to other methods of societal evolution. We observe that numerous people and organizations have noticed that history tends to repeat. Thus, as such, tried to map out these events to identify future events. In particular, we will take a look at the KaLa Rhythms as being similar to that of the generational turnings as described in the Strauss-Howe generational theory.

Some prepper humor…

Articles & Links

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You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
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This is who is funding the Hong Kong protests, and no, they are not organic.

Here we look at the protests in Hong Kong and who is funding and training them. For they are using sophisticated urban combat techniques, as well as creating very sophisticated bombs, and handmade weapons. Obviously, some agent wants this group to cause damage and trouble in Hong Kong.

Who are they, and who funds them?

I pretty much sat down and wrote most of this after reading the onslaught of negative news reporting out of the USA after the Senate passed an anti-China resolution regarding HK and American businesses operating inside of China.

U.S. Senate Passes Hong Kong Democracy Bill, Drawing … 

I don't like lies and characterizations in general, but this affects me personally, and it thus pisses me off.

To quote Q;

Control of narrative = control of public opinion
Control of public opinion = power
How do you control the narrative?
Information warfare.
Q

Well for starters, for the most part, the most radical instigators are not Hong Kong citizens. The instigators are NOT the “figureheads”, they are educated agitators, with knowledge in urban warfare, and close combat strategies.

Those “leaders”, “trainers” and “agitators” that have been captured by police are neither students, nor (in most cases) Hong Kong residents. While the vast bulk of the protestors are indeed, HK residents, their leadership is not.

What’s going on?

The demonstrations in Hong Kong, now an open confrontation with the People’s Republic of China, have a global impact. So, as such, what are the forces behind this movement? Who provides the funds and who stands to benefit?

Who?

Protests in Hong Kong routinely carry the US flag and photos of Donald Trump.

The increasingly violent demonstrations in Hong Kong are completely embraced and enthusiastically supported by the United States government, including Donald Trump, the US Congress and the Senate. The American news media is having a near feeding frenzy over all this news, and the U.S. corporate media is eating it all up.

This should be a danger sign to everyone fighting for change and for social progress. U.S. imperialism is never disinterested or neutral. It’s always for a objective.

The protesters now use the same violent methods that were used in the Maidan protests in the Ukraine. The U.S. seems to hope that China will intervene and create a second Tianamen scene. 

That U.S. color revolution attempt  failed but was an excellent instrument to demonize China. 

A repeat in  Hong Kong would allow the U.S. to declare a "clash of civilization" and  increase 'western' hostility against China. But while China is prepared to intervene it is unlikely to do the U.S. that favor. Its government expressed confidence that the local authorities will be able to handle the issue. 

-Moon Over Alabama

That objective is almost always to institute a “puppet government” taking the form of a dictatorship under the disguise of “fighting for democracy”. It’s a model that has worked for many decades, and should be so well known by now to everyone…

The Vietnam war was for democracy.
The Kuwait war was for democracy.
The Iraq war was for democracy.
The Grenada war was for democracy.
The Panama war was for democracy.
The Libyan war was for democracy.
The Yemen war was for democracy.

Now, the war drums are for what? Democracy?

A war in Hong Kong for democracy…

Only this time it isn’t against a long tiny third-world back-water nation. It will not be Libya, Yemen, Syria, or Grenada. This would be a war against China, on Chinese soil.

And China will fight back…

…in a nuclear fashion.

Why does China want Hong Kong?  

Well, Hong Kong was always a part of  China.  The English seized the city during the Opium Wars, as part of a  treaty that put an end to one of the steps of English aggression against  China.  Even then, the English only got a 99 year lease.  That expired  towards the end of the 20th century.  

China was of course happy to see a  part of their country that had been stolen by the English returned to  them.  

Can't really think of an example where the USA has had a portion  of its nation stolen from them, but it isn't hard to imagine that they'd  want it back.  They were certainly willing to kill a lot of people just  to get back a part of America that seceded and tried to tell the  Yankees that they weren't all that into them anyways.
 
-Posted by: Who Dat | Aug 14 2019 15:51 utc | MOA

And make no mistake about it, parsing the details to confuse Americans will not work on the global audience. You would be dealing against a nuclear-armed global super-power. How do you seriously think it’s going to pan out? Are you willing to engage in nuclear war with Russia and China simultaneously? Because, that’s what’s going to happen…

China and Russia will share their resources.

And make no mistake about this either, China (even if alone) is no slouch in the ICBM, MIRV nuclear arena. They would “kick some ass” and have enough left over…

For decades, the United States has taken China’s ballistic missile capability for granted, assessing it as a low-capability force with limited regional impact and virtually no strategic value. But on October 1, during a massive military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Beijing put the U.S., and the world, on notice that this assessment was no longer valid. In one fell swoop, China may have nullified America’s strategic nuclear deterrent, the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and U.S. missile defense capability. Through its impressive display of new weapons systems, China has underscored the reality that while the United States has spent the last two decades squandering trillions of dollars fighting insurgents in the Middle East, Beijing was singularly focused on overcoming American military superiority in the Pacific. If the capabilities of these new weapons are taken at face value, China will have succeeded on this front. — For decades, the United States has taken China’s ballistic missile capability for granted, assessing it as a low-capability force with limited regional impact and virtually no strategic value. But on October 1, during a massive military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Beijing put the U.S., and the world, on notice that this assessment was no longer valid.

In one fell swoop, China may have nullified America’s strategic nuclear deterrent, the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and U.S. missile defense capability. Through its impressive display of new weapons systems, China has underscored the reality that while the United States has spent the last two decades squandering trillions of dollars fighting insurgents in the Middle East, Beijing was singularly focused on overcoming American military superiority in the Pacific. If the capabilities of these new weapons are taken at face value, China will have succeeded on this front.

Nothing is what it appears. It’s all manipulations and lies to mask the true purposes.

Those that want confrontation with Beijing are delusional, and you are, in a few short years, going to pay the price of their idiocy.

The official statement of the Chinese Embassy in the Russian Federation regarding the events in Hong Kong (in Russian).
 
The words at the end of the statement are very revealing, given the  recent intentional provocations and riots of a bunch of marginals (aka  "Russian liberal opposition") in Moscow:
 
A comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction have been  established between China and the Russian Federation in a new era. Both  countries have been unjustly charged for their level of freedom,  democracy, and human rights. We are confident that we will meet the same  attitude among the general public of the Russian Federation on the  issues of Xiangang. We are confident in the understanding by the  Russians of the determination and perseverance of China in protecting  state prestige and sovereignty.

- Posted by: alaff | Aug 14 2019 16:23 utc | MoA

Manipulation in Hong Kong

One of the most significant examples of US aggression against China is the instigation of a color protest or color revolution in Hong Kong.

The aim is to provoke China into reacting harshly and violently, which would reinforce the Western perception that China is heavy-handed, tyrannical and totalitarian.

China has already moved troops to its southern mainland border, just across the water from Hong Kong.

It is possible that another US objective is to push the protestors into declaring Hong Kong independent of China. There are some who say the Hong Kong protests are a grassroots affair. There is usually a grassroots element to many of these protests, but almost always the bigger factor in the shadows is US interference (or US-UK, or US-UK-Israeli, interference).

Here is a very telling comment about the Hong Kong protests found under the article Violent Protests In Hong Kong Reach Their Last Stage on the MoonOfAlabama.org website.

“The Extradition Law revision that started this was only a convenient proxy for those wanting chaos in HK to create chaos. The instigators behind the initial protest march are the same ones who started Occupy Central five years ago. They are the ones who huddle with operatives from US/UK Consulates, who travelled to the Washington/London/Brussel/Taipei, etc. to see politicians and plot strategies, to arrange for funding, and to recruit dare devils for the carnage.

Lucky for them that HK was ripe for such shenanigans because HKers in general are sullen over their loss of superiority complex against mainland Chinese, brainwashed subconsciously through schools and churches about CCP wickedness, and desperately stressed under HK’s economic realities. Most of the protesters don’t even know what the Extradition Law is all about …”

“The instigators, however, are well versed in all the intricacies. They know who they can easily recruit and order to do violence … they know the fifth column within the government and business … If large casualties result what do they care? … [T]hey know their foreign backers are only too glad to see Chinese killing Chinese …”

“By the way, the US Consulate in HK has over 1,000 on payroll (an estimated 200 CIA agents), UK’s is over 500 (among them MI6 agents). That size of consulate in a city of less than 400 sq. miles of land (over half of which mountainous) is a laughable anomaly, wouldn’t you think? What are they all there for?”

-The Freedom Articles

The disruptive actions involve helmeted and masked protesters using gasoline bombs, flaming bricks, arson and steel bars, random attacks on buses, and airport and mass transit shutdowns.

HK protestors are set on burning down the entire city.

Among the most provocative acts was an organized break-in at the Hong Kong legislature where “activists” vandalized the building and hung the British Union Jack flag. As well as burning down a university campus.

U.S., British and Hong Kong’s colonial flags are prominent in these confrontations, along with defaced flags and other symbols of People’s China.

The New York Times described the airport shutdown:

“The protests at  the airport have been deeply tactical, as the largely leaderless  movement strikes at a vital economic artery. Hong Kong International  Airport, which opened in 1998, the year after China reclaimed the  territory from Britain, serves as a gateway to the rest of Asia. Sleek  and well run, the airport accommodates nearly 75 million passengers a  year and handles more than 5.1 million metric tons of cargo.” (Aug. 14)

U.S. media have consistently labeled these violent actions “pro-democracy.”

But are they?

Even if the leaders of these reactionary actions decide to pull back from the brink and re-calibrate their tactics, there is pause for concern. For based on the Chinese government’s unequivocally strong warnings, it is important to understand a movement that has such strong U.S. support.

The protestors want “freedom”

This is a rally cry that evokes strong emotions with Americans.

Though it shouldn’t. Most Americans haven’t tasted freedom for at least one hundred years, and have no concept of what it actually is.

The cognitive dissonance has been overwhelming these past months.  "Pro-democracy protesters" who use black bloc tactics of arson and  vandalism. "Students yearning for freedom" who organize Molotov cocktail  factories. Complaints of excessive "police brutality" when by objective  international standards the police were remarkably constrained. 

"Hong  Kong is a repressive police state" says Joshua Wong, and yet it is  consistently near the top of the list in the Cato Institute world  freedom index. 

The protesters are "fighting for democracy" even though  Hong Kong is democratic, and demand a "universal suffrage" that in  practice very few jurisdictions, least of all their beloved US/UK,  enjoy. 

Add a dollop of uninformed virtue-signalling from the usual  clueless western cheerleaders, and it has been a festival of delusion  which somehow ends with the image of a petrol-bomb-wielding black bloc  protester as the new face of "freedom" (as seen on twitter).
 
-Posted by: jayc | Nov 22 2019 21:14 utc | 19

People, freedom is being able to drink booze, and smoke, and plop your dog Fido next to you in a public restaurant. It means that you can ride in a car without a seat-belt, drink large size coke’s and have sunny-side up eggs whenever you want. It means that you can hunt and fish without a permit, and buy most medicines without a prescription.

America had freedoms, but when FDR and Wilson removed the SCOUS defense of the ninth amendment, American became a nice, safe, gulag.

Today, most Americans can only have small brief glimpses on what freedom used to be like…

The Fitzgeralds arrived in New York in the early autumn of 1922—after a rocky start working as an ad man in his bachelor days, Scott was finally making headway as a celebrated author. They checked into the Plaza and began partying, not even sobering up to go house hunting, but then what was the point, they weren’t going to be sober while they lived there. Zelda was an incorrigible flirt when drunk and she also had a habit of taking her clothes off and dancing naked in fountains or parading down railway tracks. Scott, although less of an exhibitionist, was equally out of control. In December of the same year the couple’s ‘house rules’ for weekend guests at their home in Great Neck, Long Island included a polite directive “not to break down doors in search of liquor, even when authorized to do so by their host and hostess,” and warned that “the invitation to stay over Monday, issued by the host and hostess during the small hours of Sunday morning, must not be taken seriously.” They needed the occasional sober Monday, if only to write the letters of apology they constantly had to send excusing their drunken antics and bad behavior, but in many ways the Fitzgeralds could do no wrong. They were young, beautiful—Dorothy Parker described them as looking “as though they had stepped out of the sun”—and fast. In a complex case of life imitating art, and vice versa, they both typified and immortalized the Jazz Age—their extravagant lifestyle funded by the handsome payments Scott received from the magazines that published his flapper fictions and the publishers who bought his novels. That he plundered his and Zelda’s lives for his work is old news, so too is the fact that he’s widely acknowledged as the chronicler of the period, but in her new study of the Jazz Age couple, the Jazz Age novel, and the historical moment, American-born, British-based academic Sarah Churchwell proves herself a master mixologist combining meticulously researched historical detail, equally tantalizing biographical tidbits and a subtle reading of Gatsby—the resulting cocktail is an intoxicating biography of a novel. — The Fitzgeralds arrived in New York in the early autumn of 1922—after a rocky start working as an ad man in his bachelor days, Scott was finally making headway as a celebrated author. They checked into the Plaza and began partying, not even sobering up to go house hunting, but then what was the point, they weren’t going to be sober while they lived there. Zelda was an incorrigible flirt when drunk and she also had a habit of taking her clothes off and dancing naked in fountains or parading down railway tracks. Scott, although less of an exhibitionist, was equally out of control. In December of the same year the couple’s ‘house rules’ for weekend guests at their home in Great Neck, Long Island included a polite directive “not to break down doors in search of liquor, even when authorized to do so by their host and hostess,” and warned that “the invitation to stay over Monday, issued by the host and hostess during the small hours of Sunday morning, must not be taken seriously.”

They needed the occasional sober Monday, if only to write the letters of apology they constantly had to send excusing their drunken antics and bad behavior, but in many ways the Fitzgeralds could do no wrong. They were young, beautiful—Dorothy Parker described them as looking “as though they had stepped out of the sun”—and fast. In a complex case of life imitating art, and vice versa, they both typified and immortalized the Jazz Age—their extravagant lifestyle funded by the handsome payments Scott received from the magazines that published his flapper fictions and the publishers who bought his novels.

So, I find it very curious, and you the reader should as well, that a nation-state that is #1 in personal and economic freedom would want to be more like a nation that is #25 at best in the same category.

For the past 25 years, including this year, Hong Kong has been ranked No. 1 in the Heritage Foundation’s list of countries with the “greatest economic freedom”—meaning the least restraints on capitalist profit taking.

Why do the HK protestors want less democracy and freedom? The answer is that this is not really their goal. It is instead the mechanism from which they can instigate disruptions.

Hong Kong’s ranking is based on low taxes and light regulations, the strongest property rights and business freedom, and “openness to global commerce and vibrant entrepreneurial climate … no restrictions on foreign banks.”

That has not changed. No where has the mainland placed new laws, regulations or changes to that model of governance. When the HK local government wanted to open up extradition to other nations, the protests erupted, and the government backed down.

So what the heck is going on? The protestors are not asking for more. They are demanding less.

WTF?

China has a right to intervene

It must be strongly stated that China is not invading Hong Kong if it moves against these violent disruptions. Hong Kong is part of China. This is an internal matter, and the call for independence for Hong Kong is an open attack on China’s national sovereignty.

Hong Kong is a part of China.
The idea that any American military force will come to “liberate” or “save” Hong Kong is an invasion of China.
Any attempted invasion of China will result in the nuclear destruction of most major United States cities.

As it stands today, and what is NOT being reported in the United States media, is that under Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the constitution for the city, the government is legally allowed to request help from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

China is not Syria.

China is not Bolivia.

China is not Venezuela.

China will fight back. They will not permit this, and frankly, I am quite surprised that they have permitted this to go on so long. They have been very polite and have kept causalities to a minimum. Were this kind and level of damage to have taken place in the United States, people would have been killed.

Here is an article that explains one key way that Washington is meddling in the affairs of Hong Kong:
 
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2019/08/how-washington-is-meddling-in-affairs.html
 
While the ideals of democracy are admirable and desirable, Washington's  version of democracy is tainted by big money and has developed into a  system where politicians are for sale to the highest bidder.
 
-Posted by: Sally Snyder | Aug 14 2019 16:10 utc | MoA

China has announced that it will take action if things escalate.

The Chinese government has announced that it will intervene militarily to defend China’s sovereignty.

Top government officials have labeled the most extreme acts as “terrorism” and denounced U.S. support.
Several times officials raised the analogy to the Western “color revolutions” that violently overturned governments in Serbia, Ukraine, Libya and Haiti and were attempted in Venezuela and Syria.

China is aware of what is going on and they will take appropriate and measured action. the problem is that the United States people, haven’t seen measured and appropriate responses since the 1940’s.

Americans are not expecting military push-back. For if they were, they would be terrified of all the war-drum beating by the American press.

“The ideologues in Western governments never cease in their efforts 
to engineer unrest against governments that are not to their liking, even though their actions have caused misery and chaos in country after country in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. 

Now they are trying the same trick in China,” 

-China Daily explained on July 3rd, 2019

Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to Britain, told reporters that their country was still acting as Hong Kong’s colonial master. (nbcnews.com, July 4)

“A spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry claimed Tuesday that 
recent comments from American lawmakers [Nancy] Pelosi (D-Ca.) and 
[Mitch] McConnell (R-Ky.) demonstrate that Washington’s real goal is to incite chaos in the city,” according to CNBC. 

“By neglecting and distorting the truth, they whitewashed violent crimes as a struggle for human rights and freedom.” (Aug. 14)

Where is U.S. support for other resistance?

Hong Kong police are denounced in the U.S. media for violence, but actually have shown great restraint. Despite months of violent confrontations, with flaming bottles constantly thrown, no one has been killed by the police.

That is NOT going to last for long.

There are rumors that some Hong Kong oligarchs were originally behind the protests to prevent their extradition for shady deals they made in China. There may be some truth to that.

China's president Xi Jingpin is waging a fierce campaign against corruption and Hong Kong is a target rich environment for fighting that crime.

The former British colony is ruled by a handful of oligarchs who have monopolies in the housing, electricity, trade and transport markets:

The book to read is Land and the Ruling Class in Hong Kong (2010) by Alice Poon, which explains how the lack of competition law created outrageous wealth for the tycoons. It’s a complex subject but the key point is that in Hong Kong all land is leasehold and ultimately owned by the government, which uses it as a means of raising revenue.

This goes back to the days of empire when British policy required colonies to be self-funding. The system kept taxes down and attracted business – but one side-effect was that it gave the government an interest in rationing land to keep it expensive. That didn’t matter much when the local economy comprised a few traders but, in the modern technological world of 2012, it puts the government at odds with every person and business wanting affordable space.

Indeed, it induces the government to distort and damage the economy, and indeed society. This system paved the way for a handful of Hong Kong families to become unimaginably wealthy by getting their hands on cheap land back in the days before the city started to boom.

Rents and apartment prices in Hong Kong are high. People from the mainland who buy up apartments with probably illegally gained money only increase the scarcity. This is one reason why the Cantonese speaking Hong Kong protesters spray slurs against the Mandarin speaking people from the mainland. The people in Hong Kong also grieve over their declining importance. Hong Kong lost its once important economical position. In 1993 Hong Kong's share of China's GDP was 27%. It is now less than a tenths of that and the city is now more or less irrelevant to mainland China.

-Moon over Alabama

Demonstrations in Honduras. Americans haven't a clue or idea that any of this is going on. They only care what they are told to care about, at that time. Nothing else. — Demonstrations in Honduras. Americans haven’t a clue or idea that any of this is going on. They only care what they are told to care about, at that time. Nothing else.

There is no such favorable media coverage or support from U.S. politicians for demonstrations of desperate workers and peasants in Honduras, Haiti or the Philippines, or for the Yellow Vest movement in France.

There is never an official condemnation when demonstrators are killed in Yemen or Kashmir or in weekly demonstrations in Gaza against Israeli occupation.

Demonstrations in Haiti. Americans haven't a clue or idea that any of this is going on. They only care what they are told to care about, at that time. Nothing else. — Demonstrations in Haiti. Americans haven’t a clue or idea that any of this is going on. They only care what they are told to care about, at that time. Nothing else.

These struggles receive barely a mention, although in every case scores of people have been killed by police, targeted for assassination or simply just disappeared.

Demonstrations in the Philippines. Americans haven't a clue or idea that any of this is going on. They only care what they are told to care about, at that time. Nothing else. — Demonstrations in the Philippines. Americans haven’t a clue or idea that any of this is going on. They only care what they are told to care about, at that time. Nothing else.

Hong Kong has always been part of China. It was seized by the British  in order to facilitate the illegal drug traffic of the East India  Company. The Chinese government, concerned at the social and economic  mayhem caused by imported opium, paid for in silver, banned its import.  The British government, which relied on the revenues it got from  exporting cheap Indian opium, grown on stolen land, insisted that China  allow the trade to continue. And enforced its demands militarily-the  Opium Wars. Within fifty years of these wars and Hong Kong's occupation  by the British on a 99 year lease, a significant proportion, close to  20% of China's men were addicted to opium.

 That is why China wanted to regain sovereignty over Hong Kong. As to  the assertion that the local people don't want Chinese rule but long for  the British-now under US rule- to return, that is simply untrue.

As b has been pointing out the troubles in Hong Kong are almost certainly organised by the US government.  
  
Laguerre suspects that the same is true of the gilets jaunes. Does  anyone else believe that Macron is being attacked by the US government? 
  
-Posted by: bevin | Aug 14 2019 16:18 utc | MoA

Demonstrations in Malawi. Americans haven't a clue or idea that any of this is going on. They only care what they are told to care about, at that time. Nothing else. — Demonstrations in Malawi. Americans haven’t a clue or idea that any of this is going on. They only care what they are told to care about, at that time. Nothing else.

While Hong Kong protests receive widespread attention, there is no similar coverage of or political support for Antifa, Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the U.S. or the masses protesting racist Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and roundups of migrants.

It seems to be a narrow focus on China, and only on China.

U.S. pressure continues

Months of violence and chaos in Hong Kong have US dirty hands all over them.

 Orchestrated by the CIA in cahoots with other anti-democratic US  agencies and anti-government Chinese hooligans, there’s nothing  spontaneous about what’s going on endlessly.

 Days earlier, the Trump regime’s State Department (up to its ears in  what’s happening) expressed phony grave concern about violence and chaos  in the city — ignoring US responsibility for what’s ongoing.

 Pompeo threatened China, saying all options are on the table,  including direct US intervention, if Beijing’s military intervenes to  quell what’s unacceptable and must be stopped.

 Over the weekend, masked hooligans clashed with police at Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University.

 On Sunday, police surrounded the campus, warning elements involved in rioting and vandalism to leave or be dealt with harshly.

 The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that a “sedan without  license plates tried to ram a group of police officers,” a live round  and rubber bullet fired at the vehicle.

 “(M)asked radicals” occupying the campus clashed violently with police, dozens arrested, hundreds more involved.

 Highly inflammable “dangerous materials” that can be used for  explosives were seized from elements arrested — “stolen” from the  university’s labs, adding:

 “(R)adicals shot arrows and hurled petrol bombs and  bricks (at police) – sometimes from catapults mounted on the roof of  campus buildings.”
 “Police fired a large quantity of tear gas and deployed two water cannons and armored vehicles.”

 Clashes raged for hours, a police statement saying: “Anyone who  enters or stays on the campus and assists the rioters in any way will  risk committing the offense of ‘taking part in a riot.’ ”

 Hooligans arrested were not university students.Police called them  outsiders. On Monday, classes at all Hong Kong universities were  suspended — a Polytechnic Univ. statement saying in part:

 “All classes have been forced to be suspended and all operations on the campus have been halted,” adding:

 “The University is gravely concerned that the spiraling radical  illicit activities will cause not only a tremendous safety threat on  campus, but also class suspension over an indefinite period of time.”

 “They are concerned about the safety on the campus, and they do not want to see the campus being destroyed further.”

 A commentary published by Beijing’s official People’s Daily  broadsheet on Monday said ending months of violence and chaos in Hong  Kong “is a critical matter,” adding:

 In multiple parts of the city, “rioters have been rampantly  committing acts of vandalism and arson, paralyzing public transport,  trashing rail tracks, hurling petrol bombs at running trains,  indiscriminately causing bodily harm to civilians and even turning  campuses into battlefields.”

 If what’s going on isn’t stopped and the rule of law restored, “there  would be no guarantee for the peaceful life of residents, to say  nothing of Hong Kong’s future development.”

 On Monday, SCMP’s deputy executive editor Zuraidah Ibrahim said the following:

 “Hardcore mobs upped their violent game when they took  over tertiary campuses last week, as bureaucrats came under fire for  doing little and the police warned the city was on the brink of total  breakdown,” adding:
 “In the north, radicals occupying Chinese University took over the  Tolo Highway. At Polytechnic University, they have shut down the  Cross-Harbour Tunnel for five days, the longest forced closure ever.”

 “The mobs broke into the campuses’ chemical laboratories and set up  petrol bomb mills overnight and practiced throwing fire bombs with  catapults and arrows.”

 “Fiery battles between protesters and police spread across several  universities, as mainland and international students evacuated.”

 “The radicals finally withdrew, except at PolyU where a stand-off  continues as I write this. Last week, the People’s Liberation Army  soldiers took to the streets with brooms – not guns – to clean up, as  did volunteers fed-up with the violence and their pockmarked streets. We  still don’t see an end in sight.”

 US dirty hands are all over months of violence, vandalism, chaos in  the city, attacking China’s soft underbelly, trying to destabilize and  weaken the country.

 Beijing knows what it’s up against — US imperial rage challenging China’s sovereign independence. 

- US Dirty Hands Escalate Hong Kong Violence

Despite China’s warnings of possible martial law, strict curfews and military intervention to restore order, protesters have shown no signs of retreat.

The U.S. and Britain are determined to propel forward those hostile political forces they have cultivated over the past two decades.

This is really, really dangerous.

What a fucking mess the Empire has made over the last century. 
 
Trying to reconcile my belief in democracy with non-intervention  makes this one tricky. I have no desire to support the fascist United  States in attempting to subvert another country's government. 

The  cultural gap (and therefore lack of knowledge and understanding) between  the west and China is so vast it makes attempting to separate genuine  journalism from McCarthy-ist era style propaganda about the country very  difficult, thus making a merits based comparison between the 2 spheres  of power almost impossible. 

Most of the stories I hear about Chinese  repression are obvious pro-western propaganda, which makes it tempting  to dismiss other pieces of information out of hand. 
 
I can only wish the best for the people of Hong Kong and China, whatever they decide that may be. 

Laguerre hints at an interesting point I'd not considered with  regards to the yellow vests in France - are they US aided? I'm still  inclined to lean towards it being a more genuine grass roots movement  from the limited bits I've seen, though I'd be intrigued to see what  connections could be verified there. US state department attempting to  push Frexit would certainly be a new angle to think about for a lot of  us. 

-Posted by: Northern | Aug 14 2019 16:22 utc | MoA

Methodology

The escalating demonstrations are linked to [1] the U.S. trade war, [2] tariffs and [3] military encirclement of China.

Four hundred—half—of the 800 U.S. overseas military bases surround China. Aircraft carriers, destroyers, nuclear submarines, jet aircraft, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile batteries, and satellite surveillance infrastructures are positioned in the South China Sea, close to Hong Kong.

Media demonization is needed to justify and intensify this military presence. And it is ongoing and ruthless.

John Reed at Foreign Policy describes “how the U.S. is encircling China with military bases.”

The U.S. military is encircling China with a chain of air bases and military ports. The latest link: a small airstrip on the tiny Pacific island of Saipan. The U.S. Air Force is planning to lease 33 acres of land on the island for the next 50 years to build a “divert airfield” on an old World War II airbase there. But the residents don’t want it. And the Chinese are in no mood to be surrounded by Americans.

…In addition to the site on Saipan, the Air Force plans to send aircraft on regular deployments to bases ranging from Australia to India as part of its bulked up force in the Pacific. These plans include regular deployments to Royal Australian Air Force bases at Darwin and Tindal, Changi East air base in Singapore, Korat air base in Thailand, Trivandrum in India, and possibly bases at Cubi Point and Puerto Princesa in the Philippines and airfields in Indonesia and Malaysia, a top U.S. Air Force general revealed last month.

As I’ve written in the past, these Pentagon plans are part of the Air-Sea Battle strategy. The idea is to have enough US bases and Air Force capabilities peppered throughout the region so that China would be too surrounded to safely attack in the event of a conflict.

“Stealthy American bombers and submarines would knock out China’s long-range surveillance radar and precision missile systems located deep inside the country,” reports the Washington Post. ”The initial ‘blinding campaign’ would be followed by a larger air and naval assault.”

Not surprisingly, Beijing is none-too-pleased with the fact that Washington is planning contingencies to “battle” China, and militarily encircling China in the Pacific. Imagine the calls for war in Washington if China was backing various Latin American countries with money and weapons and building air and naval bases in the Caribbean with the explicit aim of bombing United States to smithereens.

I haven’t seen such demonization since World War II against the Nazi Germans.

Encouraging the demonstrations goes hand-in-hand with international efforts to bar Huawei 5G technology, the cancellation of a joint study of cancer and the arrest of Chinese corporate officers.

All these belligerent acts are designed to exert maximum pressure on China, divide the leadership, destabilize economic development and weaken China’s resolve to maintain any socialist planning.

The Trump Admin has come out with all guns blazing against Huawei,  China’s telecommunications giant, which is now the 2nd biggest  smartphone producer in the world, second only to Apple and within  striking distance of them.  

The USG has accused Huawei of assisting  Chinese Intelligence by placing backdoors in its software and hardware  that allow surveillance by Chinese authorities (but not the NSA). 

Trump has even pressured  allies like the UK to stop using Huawei altogether, despite the fact  that Britain relies heavily of Huawei for its infrastructure. 

The  attacks against Huawei escalated on December 1st 2018, when the US  orchestrated a totally illegal kidnapping and illegal detention of Meng  Wanzhou, Huawei’s CFO (Chief Financial Officer). Wanzhou is still being  held against her will in Canada on US orders. 

-The Freedom Articles

Martial law in Hong Kong, a major financial center, especially for international investment funds coming into China, would impact China’s development.

And that, my friends, is the objective.

Capitalist economic “freedom”

British imperialism, in the 155 years it ruled Hong Kong, denied rights to millions of workers. There was no elected government, no right to a minimum wage, unions, decent housing or health care, and certainly no freedom of the press or freedom of speech. These basic democratic rights were not even on the books in colonial Hong Kong.

The British were ruthless when they owned Hong Kong, and treated the native Chinese there with scorn and dismay.

For the past 25 years, including this year, Hong Kong has been ranked No. 1 in the right-wing Heritage Foundation’s list of countries with the “greatest economic freedom”—meaning the least restraints on capitalist profit taking. Hong Kong’s ranking is based on low taxes and light regulations, the strongest property rights and business freedom, and “openness to global commerce and vibrant entrepreneurial climate … no restrictions on foreign banks.”

For this Hong Kong is well considered the “freest society in the world.”

This “freedom” means the world’s highest rents and the greatest gap between the super-rich and the desperately poor and homeless. This is what Hong Kong youth face today. But the youth are consciously being misdirected to blame the city administration for the conditions Hong Kong is locked into under the “One Country, Two Systems agreement.”

Ah, if only HK was independent, free of China, would everything become equal, fair and just. Only if...

An unequal colonial treaty

Hong Kong is stolen land.

This spectacular deep water port in the South China Sea at the mouth of the Pearl River, a major waterway in south China, was seized by Britain in the 1842 Opium Wars.

Hong Kong was seized by Britain, and used as a staging platform to get the Chinese addicted to Opium so that the wealthy in Britain could profit.

After negotiations with Britain had dragged on through the 1980s, the British imposed another unequal treaty on the People’s Republic of China.

Hong Kong under British rule in the 1970's. — Hong Kong under British rule in the 1970’s.

Under the 1997 “One Country, Two Systems” agreement that officially returned Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories to the PRC, Britain and China agreed to leave “the previous capitalist system” in place for 50 years.

China, determined to reassert its sovereignty over land stolen by the British, also needed funds for development.

Most money in Asia moved through the Hong Kong banking system. So in 1997 China was anxious to reach a smooth transition that would not destabilize the transfer of investment funds into the 99.5 percent of China that had previously been denied development funds.

To understand this situation, you must realize that ever since the Chinese Revolution in 1949, China had been sanctioned and blockaded from accessing Western investment and technology.

China had been denied development funds for many years. The plan was to keep them backwards and primitive. So that they could continue to be a low-cost resource for the Western nations.

U.S. and British imperialism took full advantage of the 1997 concession that maintained their economic control of the former colony. Their hope was that Hong Kong could serve, as it had in the past, as an economic battering ram into China.

Their hopes were not realized.

In 1997 Hong Kong’s gross domestic product was 27 percent of China’s gross domestic product. Today it’s a mere 3 percent and falling. Much to U.S. and British frustration, the world’s largest banks are now in China and they are state-owned banks.

What confounds the capitalist class, far more than China’s incredible growth, is that the top 12 Chinese companies on U.S. Fortune 500 list are all state-owned and state-subsidized. They include massive oil, solar energy, telecommunications, engineering and construction companies, banks and the auto industry.
 
-Fortune.com, July 22, 2015

U.S. corporate power is deeply threatened by China’s level of development through the Belt and Road Initiative and its growing position in international trade and investment.

U.S., Britain built a network of collaborators

When Britain and China signed the One Country, Two Systems agreement, all foreign intervention and colonial claims on Hong Kong were supposed to end. Full sovereignty was to return to China.

However, U.S. and British efforts to undercut Hong Kong’s return began in advance of the signing.

Just before the transfer of sovereignty, Britain hastily set up, after 150 years of appointed officials, a partially elected, although still mainly appointed, government. They quickly established and funded political parties, composed of their loyal collaborators.

Millions of dollars were openly and secretly funneled into a whole network of protected social service organizations, political parties, media and social media, student and youth organizations, and labor unions established to undercut support for China and the Communist Party of China.

Think about it. Of course this would happen. Neither the USA nor the UK were stupid.

The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) receives U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funding, along with British support. It promotes “pro-democracy, independent unions” throughout China. The HKCTU was established in 1990 to counter and undercut the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions founded in 1948, which is still the largest union organization with 410,000 members.

The HKFTU suffered years of brutal repression under British colonial rule as it fought for basic protection of workers’ rights. A strike organized by the HKFTU shook British colonial rule in 1967. The strike became a citywide rebellion sparked by mass layoffs of workers from the plastic flower factory.

 "They seem to want a Tiananmen Square outcome as success." 
 
The Tiananmen Square outcome was–media accounts to the contrary–that  the kids all left the square safely by 7:20 am, just as all the HK  demonstrators are unharmed. 

 There was a riot led by professional thugs elsewhere in  Beijing, in Chang'An Avenue, but that was a different matter entirely  and one with an interesting sequel. The leader of that riot was  exfiltrated to the UK by MI6 and subsequently convicted of robbing and  murdering an elderly Londoner. Sweet.

- Posted by: Godfree Roberts | Nov 22 2019 23:23 utc | 34

British colonial authorities harshly suppressed the uprising, resulting in 51 deaths and hundreds injured and disappeared. The HKFTU supports China and opposes the reactionary demonstrations.

NED funding = CIA support

Allen Weinstein, a founder of the NED, told the Washington Post in 1991;

“A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the  CIA.” (Sept. 21, 1991)

The NED funds, coordinates and weaponizes nongovernmental organizations and social organizations with the capacity to put tens of thousands of misdirected, idealistic and alienated youth on the streets.

Funding from the NED, the Ford, Rockefeller, Soros and numerous other corporate foundations, Christian churches of every denomination, and generous British funding, is behind this hostile, subversive network orchestrating the Hong Kong protests today.

While you would NEVER hear about this in the mainstream American media, it of course makes sense. All you need to do is follow the money trail. 

In HK, for instance, when the protestors receive payments through the NED, or NID, they get a tattoo on their arm (to prevent multiple payouts),a nd you can see this clearly on the exposed skin of rioters.

The NED bankrolls the Hong Kong Human Rights Movement, the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the Civic Party, Labor Party and Democratic Party. They are members of the Civil Human Rights Front that coordinates the demonstrations.

This role of the NED in China is increasingly harder to obscure.

Alexander Rubinstein reported in “American Gov’t, NGOs Fuel and Fund Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Protests” (mintpressnews.com, June 13):

“It  is inconceivable that the organizers of the protests are unaware of the  NED ties to some of its members.” (tinyurl.com/y6nhmapz)

The goal is to promote a hostile and suspicious attitude toward China and toward communism and to foster the false concept of a past democratic Hong Kong with a distinct identity.

China Daily warns:

“In  recent years, there have been warnings that color revolutions are  emerging as a new form of warfare employed by the West to destabilize  certain countries.” (Aug. 12)

Which system works better?

The Aug. 13 New York Times refers to Hong Kong as a “bastion of civil liberties” to counter “Beijing’s brand of authoritarianism.”

British colonial past is deeply mythologized. Twenty-two years of constant nostalgia for this past, supposedly glorious time has influenced increasingly impoverished youth.

The most violent rioters, amongst them those who hold the US flag, have obviously the order or to kill somebody, better a policeman ( as the clear intend on the GT journalist shows... ) or to provoke some killing of a protester, or by accident of a journalist ( who, btw, astonishingly, remain in the middle of the melee always...

I find this very suspicious, which is their insurance company? I want it for my travels...Most probably not journalists themselves but rioters in disguise ), as these intends of assassination happened very timely, almost simultaneously with or consecutive to Trump´s Twitter on that he expected nobody will result with any harm.... obviously from his terrorists side...

BTW, this behavior have time ago passed from ghastly to straight criminal, under any country´s law.

In the US, none of these terrorists would still remain alive, they would never had been able to get so close to any policeman so as to grab his batton leaving him unarmed. They would had been shot in place, the whole bunch of them...as we so usually watch happens with black people there....

Why The Donald ( and Bannon, the Pepe Frog exposes him all the way, they already do not even try to conceal anymore...) thinks any country in the world would have to allow this?

I posted some of these videos yesterday in the week review thread ( and I am glad "b" gave them some greater visibility..) and to my view, some of these rioters, especially those who talk with the travelers seem to be on drugs....

It´s an appreciation on how their tongue slide so much plus the slowness with which they talk, in such stressant situation, very contrasting with, for example, the elder summoning the rioter in the subway. See the very thin guy talking with the Australian businessman in the video i posted in the week and review thread....

I wonder whether these could be people taken from jail or correstionals, as they were part of the ISIS recruits who flew to Turkey to be tarinned and then to Syria, their behavior is clearly antisocial, no wonder any real complaint they could have ...

In the video on "strangers" supplying the rioters, there are two totally masked and covered women ( all the way the ISIS handlers style...) who, by their physical complexion and hair, seem to not be Chinese women at all, but Westerners...at 2:21 footage....Most probably NED/CIA operatives...

-Posted by: Sasha | Aug 14 2019 16:06 utc | MoA

Listen up. Much of what you read is a myth.

Despite decades of multimillion-dollar Western funding, Hong Kong has a poverty rate of 20 percent (23.1 percent for children) compared to less than 1 percent in mainland China. In the past 20 years, mainland China has lifted countless millions of people out of poverty.

Poverty rate in HK = 20%
Poverty rate in mainland China <1%

Just across the river from Hong Kong sits the city of Shenzhen.

It is one of the Special Economic Zones established to lure Western technology. These zones, originally with thousands of labor-intensive factories and millions of workers earning low wages, were centers of capitalist exploitation and enormous profits for U.S. and other global capitalists.

Shenzhen grew from a city of 30,000 in 1979 to a megacity of 20 million, with the largest migrant population in China.

Shenzhen had a population three times the size of Hong Kong. With investments via Hong Kong, this new city became a massive polluted factory town with sweatshops spewing out clouds of dark toxic smoke.

In the past five years, through city and national urban planning, Shenzhen is today one of the most livable cities in China, with extensive parks, tree-lined streets and the largest fleet of electric buses in the world (16,000), along with all-electric cabs.

Shenzhen aims to have 80 percent of its new buildings green-certified by 2020. It is full of apartment blocks, office towers and modern factories with advanced equipment manufacturing, robotics, automation and giant tech startups.

For the last 10 years wages have been stagnant in Hong Kong while rents have increased 300 percent; it is the most expensive city in the world. In Shenzhen, wages have increased 8 percent every year, and more than 1 million new, public, green housing units at low rates are nearing completion.

United States Demands

The U.S. is demanding that China abandon state support of its industries, the ownership of its banks and national planning. But contrasting the decay, growing poverty and intense alienation in Hong Kong with the green vibrant city of Shenzhen across the river shows that there are two choices for China today, including the angry forces mobilized in Hong Kong: modern socialist planning or a return to the super-exploitation and imperialist domination of the colonial past.

For decades Britain and the U.S. used the people of Hong Kong for cheap labor. Now they are using the same population for cheap political propaganda. This cynical maneuver is just one more weapon in a desperate effort to disrupt China’s further development.

U.S. corporate power is incapable of meeting any of the desperate needs for housing, health care, education and a healthy environment for people here. Instead, in a relentless drive for profits, enormous resources are squandered on militarism to threaten countries around the world.

Today…

The Hong Kong protests are escalating, just as the US-China trade war is also escalating. None of this is out of the blue.

For quite some time now, the US has been shifting the focus of its hegemonic and imperial ambitions towards China, recognizing it – even more than Russia – as its main rival superpower.

Author Graham Allen published his 2017 book entitled Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? addressing growing US-China tension and the potential for a future US-China war.

James Corbett also offered his analysis.

The term Thucydides trap is derived from ancient  Greece to describe a situation when a rising power gains enough  strength to challenge and disturb the existing ruling power. With this  phenomenon in mind, let’s take a look at the background to the current US-China trade war (which is becoming more bitter and intense by the week) and the Hong Kong Protests.

Identifying the Enemy

Quotes from top US officials, military and non-military alike, show that China has gradually been replacing Russia as the #1 enemy, although this is not clear cut; there is still a lot of hatred towards and fear of Russia.

In 2018, the USA changed its official defense strategy.

Terrorism was no longer the #1 threat and was replaced by Russia and China.

The DoD report accused China of wielding predatory economics and building fake islands in the South China Sea to intimidate nearby countries.

“China remains our biggest long-term challenge.  Without focused involvement and engagement by the United States, and our  allies and partners, China will realize its dream of hegemony in Asia.”

- Admiral Harry Harris, former commander of the US Pacific Command, said this about China in 2018.

He also said this:

“China’s intent is crystal clear. We ignore it at our  peril. I’m concerned China will now work to undermine the international  rules-based order … China’s impressive military build-up could soon  challenge the United States across almost every domain.”

Earlier this year, DNI (Director of National Intelligence) Dan Coats said:

“[The] rule of law, international norms, and fairness  in trade and international engagements is not the Chinese model …  Chinese leaders will increasingly seek to assert China’s model of  authoritarian capitalism as an alternative—and implicitly  superior—development path abroad, exacerbating great-power competition  that could threaten international support for democracy, human rights,  and the rule of law.”

- DNI (Director of National Intelligence) Dan Coats said:

Previously in 2018 Coats had followed Trump’s lead by blaming China for interfering in US elections (where have I heard that one before?). He stated:

“[China is targeting] state and local governments and officials … It  is trying to exploit any divisions between federal and local levels on  policy, and uses investments and other incentives to expand its  influence.”

- DNI (Director of National Intelligence) Dan Coats said:

All this rhetoric comes against a backdrop of intertwined economies, where many US companies have outsourced and offshored their labor to China.

Targeting Chinese Institutions, Initiatives and Projects

The US has taken a dim view of practically every Chinese effort to develop itself in the last decade.

The US has opposed China’s gigantic OBR (One Belt, One Road) Initiative which has been dubbed the New Silk Road.
The US has directed propaganda against BRICS, China’s SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), its development bank and many other trade initiatives.

The US accuses China of trying to control the world, yet such accusations must be difficult to receive with a straight face given that the US routinely threatens both its allies and enemies with economic warfare, sanctions, trade wars, governmental overthrow, invasion or even nuclear annihilation if they don’t toe the American line.

Funding and Training Muslim Uyghurs – Sometimes as Part of ISIS

You may not have heard of them, but there is a Chinese minority group known as the Uyghurs or Uighurs. Many are Muslim and of Turkic ethnicity. They live in the semi-autonomous region of north-west China in a province called Xinjiang.

Well, guess what?

The United States government has been funding them to aggressively fight against the Chinese government.

The funny thing is that a little bit of effort and the whole thing becomes apparent even through the traditional media reports. Recall that early media reports said there were 1.7 million protesters "according to the organiser's estimates". Once you remember that, then every time you hear millions is a hint to look up the Police estimate (150k) and estimates of maximum numbers in space available - also 150k or thereabouts.

More stories hint of high protester numbers but don't mention numbers -so check the accompanying pictures and videos - we a few thousand (ie well down on ever factual early numbers) and more recently just a few hundred. Police violence - yet every picture or video show large numbers of police acting very very peaceably (compare Paris). HK democracy - yet all the pictures recently have been exclusively of masked blackshirts and if you dig deep most of the violence has been blackshirt on passers by.

There must be picture editors who are stunned by the reports they run.

And obviously the story they are all looking for is the China overreaction that was never going to happen.

The whole thing runs in parallel with the obvious Ujghur 1 million in prison lie (it would be equivalent to every male aged 16-29) where the only witnesses to speak to western journalists have been fed to the press in Istanbul. We all know that Chinese muslims in Istanbul are going to or already in ISIS. James Le Mesurier doing a little extra press feeding in his spare time.

- Posted by: Michael Droy | Nov 22 2019 22:17 utc | 29

So when ever you hear, or read about the Chinese concentration camps and the imprisonment of those “poor” Uyghur Muslims, keep in mind that it is the Untied States that has the largest prison population in the world. China doesn’t even come close.

The United States is THE prison nation, and locks up more citizens than any other nation on the surface of the earth, and has put more people in prison behind bars than Hitler did in Nazi Germany, Stalin did in the Soviet Union, and Pol Pot did in Cambodia. Compared to China, it's not even on the "radar screen". — The United States is THE prison nation, and locks up more citizens than any other nation on the surface of the earth, and has put more people in prison behind bars than Hitler did in Nazi Germany, Stalin did in the Soviet Union, and Pol Pot did in Cambodia. Compared to China, it’s not even on the “radar screen”.

So America is great because of “freedom” and “liberty” and protections afforded by the “Bill of Rights”, Eh?

The White House has asked the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals to  place an emergency stay on a ruling made last week by a federal judge so  that the president’s power to indefinitely detain Americans without  charge is reaffirmed immediately.

On Wednesday, September 12, US District Court Judge Katherine Forrest  made permanent a temporary injunction she issued in May that bars the  federal government from abiding by the indefinite detention provision in  the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, or NDAA.  

Judge Forrest ruled that  a clause that gives the government the power to arrest US citizens  suspected of maintaining alliances with terrorists and hold them without  due process violated the Constitution and that the White House would be  stripped of that ability immediately. 

- White House demands military prisons for Americans under NDAA

The bullshit is amazing to me!

In America, you can get incarcerated for the tiniest of reasons, or commit enormous crimes and be totally immune from prosecution.

We all need to look at things objectively and at the “big picture”. Just why is the United States government pushing the anti-China narrative? Why are they making a big deal of “concentration camps for Muslim terrorists” when the largest number of inmates are in the USA itself? What is going on?

Follow the money trail…

Neocon Marco Rubio, and warhawk, sponsored this 2018 bill pushing the US to get involved.

Rubio, for those who don’t recall, was the very same guy itching for war with Venezuela earlier this year in 2019. War is so great with these people. They think that America will forever be isolated and protected and war can never come to roost inside the United States.

"I think China needs to stop interfering in the internal affairs of  the United States because our treatment of Hong Kong is an internal  matter," says @MarcoRubio.

 https://twitter.com/SquawkCNBC/status/1197511188092985345

He was also the one who mysteriously happened to find out before almost anyone else that Venezuelans’ power grid has been taken down.

Hmmm.

Hong Kong’s opposition unites with Washington hardliners to ‘preserve the US’s own political and economic interests’

While claiming to fight for “self-determination,” Hong Kong opposition leaders are collaborating with regime-change neoconservatives in Washington to “preserve the US’s own political and economic interests.” A new DC lobbying front has become their base of operations.

The Grayzone piece linked above misses the real man behind the lobbying. Andrew Duncan who is a main sponsor of Senator Marco Rubio who is the main promoter on the hill for "activist" and U.S. darling Joshua Wong. Duncan is also one of the producers (financiers) of a film about Wong.

Watchdog group files complaint in shadowy gift to super PAC aiding Marco Rubio

An election watchdog organization filed a complaint Friday with the Federal Election Commission over a $500,000 donation to a super political action committee aiding Marco Rubio from a mystery firm headed by a New York investor.

...

The complaint from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, seeks an investigation into IGX LLC for masking the donation and to determine whether the Conservative Solutions PAC was aware of the origins of the contribution. The actual donor, Andrew Duncan, of Brooklyn, New York, acknowledged to the Associated Press earlier this month that he had routed his contribution through IGX, a business entity registered last year in Delaware.

- Posted by: b | Nov 22 2019 20:17 utc | 12

However, much of the funding is done under-the-table by the soft power network of NGOs, illustrious among them the National Endowment for Democracy of NWO (New World Order) insider George Soros.

The UHRP (Uyghur Human Rights Project) admits on its website that it was “founded by the Uyghur American Association (UAA) in 2004 with a supporting grant from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).”

 Got the following email today from my "representative" U.S. Senator  Jeff Merkley (for whom I have never voted) on the reason for his vote:  "The world is watching, and we must step up to hold the Chinese  government accountable. Please know that I will continue to fight for an  America that brings moral leadership to the international stage."

 Merkley remains the darling of self-styled Oregon "progressives", who  have no clue about the real meaning of moral leadership.  He pulled a  stunt a year ago trying to get into an immigration gulag and was refused  entry.  He conveniently forgot to mention that privatized corporate  immigration gulags were established by Democrats under President Obama. 

 I used to call his office to express my opinion, but no longer bother, he's just another war party flack.

- Posted by: Trisha | Nov 22 2019 22:22 utc | 31

Since when does the USG deeply care about oppressed minorities in other nations? It’s a rhetorical question, but I’ll answer it this time: if – and only if – US interests are aligned with that minority, and for the (usually short) time period the interests are aligned.

In his article Turkish-Uyghur Terror Inc. – America’s Other Al Qaeda, geopolitical author Tony Cartalucci writes:

“The alleged “struggle” by the Uyghur people in  Xinjiang, referred to by the terrorists and their foreign sponsors as  “East Turkistan,” consists of two essential components – a foreign  harbored political front including the Washington D.C. and Munich-based  World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and a militant front clearly backed by the  US and NATO through intermediary groups like Turkey’s Grey Wolves …  Encouraging separatism in China’s western Xinjiang region, if  successful, would carve off a substantial amount of territory. In  conjunction with US-backed separatism in China’s Tibet region, an  immense buffer region stands to be created that would virtually isolate  China from Central Asia.”

So, just as the US funded and trained Operation Gladio warriors to fight communism in Europe, Mujahideen fighters to battle the USSR, ISIS to battle Syria, it is also preparing for war with China by funding and training the ‘separatists’, whoever they may be, in this case the Uyghurs.

In another article, all the way back in 2014, Cartalucci quoted a Reuters article that admitted that ISIS was training the Uyghurs:

“Chinese militants from the  western region of Xinjiang have fled from the country to get “terrorist  training” from Islamic State group fighters for attacks at home, state  media reported on Monday.”

Initiating a Trade War

There is no doubt that it was the US under Trump who initiated the US-China trade war. As such, these series of HK protests are part of the negotiating strategy.

The U.S. does not understand China.  In addition to little Marco's bill We support HK rioters there is shoot them in the foot conflict on policy.

Over the last 4 days

Ban Huawei. 
No, we won't. 
Yes, we will.
No. License Granted to Microsoft to Export 'Mass-Market Software' to Huawei
Yes, Ban Huawei: FCC Votes 5-0 To Ban China's Huawei, ZTE From Gov't Subsidy Program

- Posted by: Likklemore | Nov 22 2019 22:32 utc | 32

Even before he took office, Trump took to twitter bashing China for its supposed economic exploitation of the US. Trump says the objective is a better trade deal with China to benefit all Americans, but this trade war is producing a massive fallout and host of negative effects for American consumers, farmers and manufacturers.

Chris Kanthan writes:

“How about China’s economy? Are Trump’s tariffs  crushing the Chinese economy? Not really. During Jan-May 2019, China’s  exports to the US fell about 5%, but China’s exports to the EU rose more  than 14%. And, guess what, EU is China’s #1 trading partner (and ASEAN  is the #2 trade partner), while the US is #3. So, China keeps growing at  a healthy pace — even the IMF predicts a healthy 6.2% real GDP growth  for China this year!

But here’s the kicker. While China’s exports to the US fell 4.8%,  the reverse — US exports to China — fell by a whopping 24% (for the  first five months of 2019). So, US exporters and farmers are hurting  real bad. And Trump cannot win re-election without the support of those  “great soybean/corn/pork farmers.””

Instigating a Color Revolution by way of the Hong Kong Protests

One of the most significant examples of US aggression against China is the instigation of a color protest or color revolution in Hong Kong. The aim is to provoke China into reacting harshly and violently, which would reinforce the Western perception that China is heavy-handed, tyrannical and totalitarian.

China has already moved troops to its southern mainland border, just across the water from Hong Kong. It is possible that another US objective is to push the protestors into declaring Hong Kong independent of China. But, you know what, they are going to hold back. They will not give the USA what it so obviously wants.

The idea behind the protests and the rioters In Hong Kong was all along to provoke another Tian An Men incident. This was quite obvious since the start of the protest. It now gets publicly acknowledged:

 BBC Newsnight @BBCNewsnight - 11:00 UTC · Nov 19, 2019 “Some of the protesters seem to have an objective to provoke a  military confrontation with China. They seem to want a Tiananmen Square  outcome as success.”

 Fmr Foreign Sec @Jeremy_Hunt says he is “concerned with the tactics” with some of #HongKong’s protesters.
 
 Had China moved troops to Hong Kong, or allowed more force to be used  against the protesters, the U.S. would have used that to press its  allies to put strong sanctions on China. The protesters' violence was  designed to achieve that outcome. The plan was part of the larger U.S.  strategy of decoupling from China.

 The plan failed because China was too smart to give the U.S. what it  wanted. Now it is Trump who is under pressure. He needs the trade deal  with China because the current trade war is doing harm to the U.S.  economy and endangers his reelection.

 Which is probably the real reason why the protests have died down.

- Posted by b on November 22, 2019 at 19:02 UTC | Permalink

There are some who say the Hong Kong protests are a grassroots affair. There is usually a grassroots element to many of these protests, but almost always the bigger factor in the shadows is US interference (or US-UK, or US-UK-Israeli, interference).

Here is a very telling comment about the Hong Kong protests found under the article Violent Protests In Hong Kong Reach Their Last Stage on the MoonOfAlabama.org website:

“The Extradition Law revision that started this was  only a convenient proxy for those wanting chaos in HK to create chaos.  The instigators behind the initial protest march are the same ones who  started Occupy Central five years ago. They are the ones who huddle with  operatives from US/UK Consulates, who travelled to the  Washington/London/Brussel/Taipei, etc. to see politicians and plot  strategies, to arrange for funding, and to recruit dare devils for the  carnage. Lucky for them that HK was ripe for such shenanigans because  HKers in general are sullen over their loss of superiority complex  against mainland Chinese, brainwashed subconsciously through schools and  churches about CCP wickedness, and desperately stressed under HK’s  economic realities. Most of the protesters don’t even know what the  Extradition Law is all about …”

“The instigators, however, are well versed in all the  intricacies. They know who they can easily recruit and order to do  violence … they know the fifth column within the government and business  … If large casualties result what do they care? … [T]hey know their  foreign backers are only too glad to see Chinese killing Chinese …”

“By the way, the US Consulate in HK has over 1,000 on payroll (an  estimated 200 CIA agents), UK’s is over 500 (among them MI6 agents).  That size of consulate in a city of less than 400 sq. miles of land  (over half of which mountainous) is a laughable anomaly, wouldn’t you  think? What are they all there for?”

And yes, there is proof. The senior US consulate member Julie Eadeh was photographed secretly meeting with the top 2 leaders of the Hong Kong protests, Joshua Wong and Nathan Law.

The senior US consulate member Julie Eadeh was photographed secretly meeting with the top 2 leaders of the Hong Kong protests, Joshua Wong and Nathan Law.

Remember – the NED now does overtly what the CIA did covertly decades ago. Allen Weinstein, one of the founders of NED, confessed that “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”

Update

Update 28JUN20. Donald Trump decided to stop funding the protests in Hong Kong.

Conclusion

NED has been equipping the HK protestors out of CIA enclaves inside of Hong Kong.

To an American, I sound like some kind of Chinese lover / Communist sympathizer. But the difference between myself and Joe and Suzy average is that I LIVE HERE. I see the changes and the differences FIRST HAND.

I can compare things directly, and I don’t need to be told what to believe by an actor playing a newscaster on television.

I'm a Hongkonger, so allow me to inject some perspectives here as a very concerned onlooker to what is happening. I'd admit my views are in the slim minority among fellow Hongkongers, and likely be laughed off as a conspiracy-theory monger or a Commie groupie.

The Extradition Law revision that started this was only a convenient proxy for those wanting chaos in HK to create chaos. The instigators behind the initial protest march are the same ones who started Occupy Central five years ago. They are the ones who huddle with operatives from US/UK Consulates, who travelled to the Washington/London/Brussel/Taipei, etc. to see politicians and plot strategies, to arrange for funding, and to recruit dare devils for the carnage. Lucky for them that HK was ripe for such shenanigans because HKers in general are sullen over their loss of superiority complex against mainland Chinese, brainwashed subconsciously through schools and churches about CCP wickedness, and desperately stressed under HK's economic realities. Most of the protesters don't even know what the Extradition Law is all about, but what the heck, it seemed like a good party to participate in, no?

The instigators, however, are well versed in all the intricacies. They know who they can easily recruit and order to do violence; they know the Basic Law and its fuzzy edges; they know the influences of clergy/university,high-school teachers; they know the fifth column within the government and business; they know HKers' irrational sensitivity towards so-called world opinions; they know that the foreign judges (which consist of 95% of the court) and foreign press are solidly behind them. Thus, they wanted to sock it to China; the more direly the better. If large casualties result what do they care? None of their own children were among the crowd and casualties would surely enlarge that blackeye they were to deliver. And they know their foreign backers are only too glad to see Chinese killing Chinese.

Like someone said in posts before mine, this incident is more similar to Maidan than any other color revolution prior. US/UK/Taiwan/Oz/Japan are enjoying their 5-minutes of glory and celebration at this point. The blowback, however, will come years and decades later.

By the way, the US Consulate in HK has over 1,000 on payroll (an estimated 200 CIA agents), UK's is over 500 (among them MI6 agents). That size of consulate in a city of less than 400 sq. miles of land (over half of which mountainous) is a laughable anormaly, wouldn't you think? What are they all there for?

-Posted by: Oriental Voice | Aug 14 2019 19:22 utc | MoA

The USA is collapsing, and like a snarling, rabid dog is snapping and thrashing about as it plummets further and further into the black, black abyss. The idea that somehow, the USA can wrestle back some of it’s old “greatness” by stalling the rise of China is a chimera.

America the ntation that was founded as a republic no longer exists. — America the nation that was founded as a republic no longer exists. it has been replaced with something different. First a “democracy”. Then after untold number of amendments, “mob rule”. Then with the consolidation of the mainstream press, an oligarchy.

It’s just an illusion. It’s not going to happen.

Evil Outlaw US Empire planners in their hubristic zeal to decouple  from China's economy erred massively in thinking China would be the one  harmed and come begging for a trade deal. Instead, China's geoeconomic  strategy is clearly working and is more potent than what the Empire can  bring to the table--Oops! China can now play Trump. 
  
- Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 22 2019 21:16 utc | 20

But in the meantime, these are dangerous times we live in, and Nuclear warfare is nothing to trifle with.

What the American media is showing are distortions and lies. They are dangerous.

To understand what is going on you need to see the FULL picture. Not only what the “deep state” wants you to see to the exclusion of all else.

Links about China

Here are some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader, might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.

The US involvement in the HK "Democracy Now" movement.

Chinese reaction to the Trump Tariff Wars.

When foreign interventionism goes terribly wrong; how the CIA botched up the integration of China into the USA sphere of influence.
Here we discuss the plan that the American empire had to ensnare the globe under the yoke of "democracy" which was really just serfdom under global oligarchy. We look at what went wrong and steps being taken to take control of the situation.

The logistics of relocating a facotry from China back to the USA.

When the SJW movement took control of China

How to get work in China if you have HIV.

China and America Comparisons

As an American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.

The Chinese Business KTV Experience

This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.

Learning About China

Who doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in China.

Contemporaneous Chinese Music

This is a series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and enjoyment.

Part 3 - The contemporaneous music of China.

part 3B - The contemporaneous music of China.

Part 4 - The contemporaneous popular music of China.

Part 5 - The contemporaneous music of China.

Part 5C - The music of contemporary China.

Part 5F - The contemporaneous music of China.

Post 6 - The contemporaneous music of China.

Post 7 - The contemporaneous music of China.

Post 8 - The contemporaneous music of China.

Part 9 - The contemporaneous music of China.

Post 11 - The contemporaneous music of China.

Parks in China

The parks in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.

Really Strange China

Here are some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events, while others are just representative of the differences in culture.

What is China like?

The purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world, outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank you.

And while America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources, and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and you can see this in their day-to-day lives.

Summer in Asia

Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…

Some Fun Videos

Here’s a collection of some fun videos taken all over Asia. While there are many videos taken in China, we also have some taken in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea and Japan as well. It’s all in fun.

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

When foreign interventionism goes terribly wrong; how the CIA botched up the integration of China into the USA sphere of influence.

Globalists Wanted to Exploit Asia, but China Surprised Them.

So, here I am, checking out my various social media feeds and see all sorts of chaos and tumult. And, as I get past the sensationalism, and the horror, I see a common thread. Some how and in some way, the United States, through various agents, agencies, or funding venues, lie at the root of all the unrest.

Is this what it seems to be?

The kicking, thrashing, and screaming of a dying empire? Or is it something else? In my mind, it seems an awful lot like the American empire is dying, and it is NOT going away quietly in the night. It is going down, and thrashing about everywhere in shrieking pain.

Thus…

This post.

This post is about an ingenious plan that went awry and altered the trajectory of history. And we, well, we are living during this fourth most Tumultuous period in American history.

The previous three periods were…

The Revolutionary War
The American Civil War
World War II

This plan was doomed to fail from the get-go, simply because it relied on far to many assumptions about non-Americans. And now, well, we are starting to witness that failure in all it’s ugly glory.

What do all these presidents have in common? They all believed that they could take control of China and annex it just like they did to Japan in the 1980's. — What do all these presidents have in common? They all believed that they could take control of China and annex it just like they did to Japan in the 1980’s.

The plan was conceived and implemented over a century by many of my colleagues and (or course) their predecessors. These people were, collectively, the smartest and the most visionary people in the world.

A mere 25 years ago, the plan seemed to have come to fruition, and western intellectuals talked not only about the end of the Cold War, but the “end of history.”

The first stage implementation of the NWO - The New World Order, where the Earth would be divided into shared "estates". — The first stage implementation of the NWO – The New World Order, where the Earth would be divided into shared “estates”.

We were all so excited about the imminent New World Order (which is now referred to as the “international rules-based order”). Everything was lining up and falling into place.

Then Asia happened.

The Big Grand Plan

After WWII, we Americans, established an unprecedented system to control half the world. As such by 1992, we were confident about bringing in the other half.

We were so close to total global control and domination.

So close…

In the early 1990s, China and India represented not only 40% of world’s population but also a vast pool of consumers and diligent workers. At the same time, my colleagues also appreciated the opportunity to make trillions of dollars.

It was win-win.

Unlike the average westerner who saw Asia only as a land of poor and uneducated people, we understood its potential. After all, for the first 1800 years of the last 2000 years, the two largest economies in the world were … China and India.

The gross world product (GWP) is the combined gross national product of all the countries in the world. Because imports and exports balance exactly when considering the whole world, this also equals the total global gross domestic product (GDP). According to the World Bank, the 2013 nominal GWP was approximately US$75.59 trillion.

Of course, bringing more than 2 billion people into our system would also mean sudden loss of jobs, drastic reduction in wages, and a painful drop in the standard of living for many Americans and Europeans.

No matter, however.

We deliberately ignored or downplayed these inevitable ramifications. We all figured that we would deal with the complexities of these issues later on… down the road.

So, how did our plan turn out? Let’s look.

First, the original plan for the New Global Order. This is the blueprint that was established and how it was intended to be set up as.

This is the original plan for the New Global Order. It was drawn up in the 1940's. 1942 to be exact. — This is the original plan for the New Global Order. It was drawn up in the 1940’s. 1942 to be exact.

India

India worked out splendidly, just as we planned. Although India was hesitant about opening up their economy — understandable, given their experiences with British colonialism — we gained their trust by helping millions of Indians emigrate to the West.

In return, India privatized most of their major industries, including their media, and allowed us to become major shareholders. Now, India is tightly integrated into our system.

China

But then there’s China.

The biggest prize slipped away from our fingers. Most people don’t realize that the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989 was actually a “color revolution”. It was manufactured by the CIA, MI6 and social engineering experts, Gene Sharp and George Soros. Indeed, we even had recruited China’s Gorbachev – Zhao Ziyang, the top leader of the Chinese Communist Party.

Alas, the strategy failed, and Zhao Ziyang ended up spending the rest of his life in house arrest.

After that, we decided to pursue a patient approach, since we didn’t want to lose China’s efficient and cheap factories. Furthermore, we assumed that:

As China got richer, its people will NATURALLY get rid of the communist party, and replace it with “democracy”.
Western products will ALWAYS dominate the Chinese consumer market
Chinese manufacturing will FOREVER remain stuck in the low/medium-end of the value chain, since (everyone knows) innovation is impossible in an authoritarian society
China will become, at the best, only a regional power. After all, throughout its history, China had never demonstrated much desire in foreign relations.

Americans are seemingly looking more and more like a parody of idiocracy." — Americans are seemingly looking more and more like a parody of idiocracy.”

Well, guess what?

Yup. Every one of our assumptions turned out to be wrong. China’s GDP grew 27-fold from 1989 to 2017, and yet 84% of Chinese are happy with their socialist government. Also, what was supposed to be just a factory for the West, became the largest trading partner for more than 130 countries.

Confounding our expectations, China has become #1 or #2 in many areas of hi-tech industries including solar energy, electric vehicles, smartphones, supercomputers, Artificial Intelligence and mobile payments. 9 out of the top 20 most valuable internet companies are now Chinese.

Most Americans have no idea that there is prosperity in Xinjiang. All that they know is that China is bad and eats dogs. China is communist and represses everyone, and the Muslims in Xinjiang want "freedom" and "democracy" most urgently. — Most Americans have no idea that there is prosperity in China. China’s GDP grew 27-fold from 1989 to 2017, and yet 84% of Chinese are happy with their socialist government.

The fact that a Chinese company, ZTE, made the world’s first 5G phone call earlier this year should be a “Sputnik Moment” for us.

Worst of all, China has proved the benefits of public banking.

Without the government getting into debt, Chinese public banks give massive long-term loans for infrastructure at extremely low interest rates. This has enabled China to build 25,000 Km of high-speed railway systems, modern cities and other infrastructure projects that benefit the Chinese people.

Such socialistic model makes our private banking system look bad!

We shouldn't spend tax money on Americans in America. No! The money should be spread out all over the globe to fight for Democracy! Yessur! — America is trying to grapple with a changing global power base. In order for us to control the rest of the world, we need to invest that money in military might around the world to control others, other nations, and obtain advantage for the American way of life! Yessur! We shouldn’t spend tax money on Americans in America. No! The money should be spread out all over the globe to fight for Democracy! Yessur!

Finally, we never thought that China would develop a grand vision such as the Belt and Road Initiative (the modern Silk Road).

While we build military bases around the world, China is building high-speed railways, highways, seaports, airports, power plants and pipelines in 65 different countries. If this continues, there’s no doubt who’s going to have more global influence in the near future.

The biggest threat to western dominance is the Made in China 2025 plan. If they achieve expertise in semiconductor chips and a few other industries, we Americans will lose our global hegemony.

“China must be stopped” is the rallying cry of the oligarchy elite.

Hows Stuff Works is for fags. Electrolytes are what plants crave. Duh.

Rest of Asia

Something remarkable has been happening all over Asia (I will narrowly use the word here to refer to only Asia Pacific. Technically, Asia extends all the way from Russia to the Middle East).

After WWII, Japan succeeded in a brilliant way, which inspired the Asian Tigers – South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. However, the wild fire of enthusiasm really caught on when China lifted 700 million people out of extreme poverty and created the world’s largest middle class.

No. 66 Middle School in Urumqi, northwest China is home to 2,400 children from 13 different ethnic groups. They are all part of a Chinese government programme helping ethnically diverse students in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to receive higher quality of education. Known as the Xinjiang Class, the programme was introduced in 2000 to offer children living in the region’s remote areas the possibility to attend a top junior high school (ages 12-15), preparing students to then attend a senior high school in one of 17 cities across the country.

Now, every country from India to Indonesia to Vietnam feels optimistic and confident that they can succeed as well, and many of them are consistently growing at breakneck rates of 6-7% per year. Economists say that 88% of the next 1 billion people to enter the global middle class will be from Asia. Thus it’s no wonder that Asians are now far more optimistic than westerners about the direction of their countries.

Asian countries – including even North Korea – have realized that wars and conflicts only get in the way of prosperity. This is, of course, very bad for our divide-and-rule strategy — we were hoping to use Taiwan, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and India to contain China.

Map of China and Japan. Showing the location of the "contested" Senkaku / Diaoyu islands. If Japan can control these islands, then the United States can place a military base there, right next to China. Therefore it is a critically important location from which American can control China. — Map of China and Japan. Showing the location of the “contested” Senkaku / Diaoyu islands. If Japan can control these islands, then the United States can place a military base there, right next to China. Therefore it is a critically important location from which America can control China.

If Asia continues to enjoy peace and cooperation, the geopolitical center of gravity will shift dramatically. Many people don’t realize that, in terms of purchasing power, China is already larger than the US. In nominal GDP, by 2030, China will be bigger than the US, India will be bigger than Germany, and Asia will account for 40% of global GDP.

By 2050, the top five world economies might consist of four Asian countries.

While the rising Asian middle class is a lucrative consumer market for our corporations, we dread the rise of multi-national Asian corporations in a decade or two.

In other words, we want Asians to be rich enough to buy Colgate and Pampers, but not too rich to mass produce toothpaste and diapers; we don’t mind Asians becoming the CEOs of Google and Microsoft, we just don’t want them to develop their own search engines and operating systems. We want to be in control. Us, and us alone.

Who knows what this will lead towards, if the rest of the world is prosperous?

For this reason, China must be stopped. The New Silk road must be thwarted. China needs to be put back into it’s rightful place as a servant to the American consumer and puppet to the global leadership.

Steps are being taken.

We have Hong Kong “fifth column” actions in progress.

We also have radical Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Both of these efforts will stymie the development of the Silk Road and enable the United States to maintain a global leadership role.

The key to containing China is to deny trade along the “Belt and Road Initiative”. This means that every effort must be taken to militarize the portals in XinJiang with the Uyghur Muslims, and in Hong Kong with the “pro democracy” students. By making those two areas unstable (by the CIA, and NED operatives), the United States can prolong the implementation of the Chinese “Road and Belt Initiative” long enough for the United States to build military bases surrounding China to contain it. You know, for “democracy”.

Conclusion

In the early 1970s, David Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger convinced the Chinese elites to open up their economy.

Then we created the WTO in 1995 and enlisted 128 countries, knowing very well what it would do to American/European manufacturing.

Letting China into the WTO in 2001 accelerated the outsourcing of jobs from Europe and the US. To hide the devastation, we created the housing bubble on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Now, we’re also effectively using mass immigration and other social engineering tools to keep people distracted.

I will admit that, blinded by hubris and greed, we misjudged the rise of Asia, especially China.

America will still be able to control the world, it's just a slight setback while the superior knowledge and skills of the American leadership arrange the globe to fit our needs. — America will still be able to control the world, it’s just a slight setback while the superior knowledge and skills of the American leadership arrange the globe to fit our needs.

However, let me remind you that we have brought down many empires over the last 250 years. We’re not going to simply sit back and let revisionist powers rewrite the world order. This is why the next decade will be both fascinating and dangerous.

A Final Note

I wrote this “tongue in cheek” from the point of view of someone in favor of the United States maintaining global control. But, this is not the 1960’s and the world is indeed a dangerous place. The United States is going through “death spasms” and if we are all not careful, it could bring the rest of us down with it.

I do not like this situation. I am fearful of it. If there is anything that I could advise, it would be for people to calm down, have a few beers and stop trying to control other people. Let everyone else prosper. If they are doing well, good for them. It’s not your problem. Stop trying to fight, fight, fight.

There’s enough to go around for everyone.

This is what New York City will look like if America tries to initiate another proxy war with a major nuclear-armed superposer. They are a serious, serious nation. They DO NOT PLAY. — This is what New York City will look like if America tries to initiate another proxy war with a major nuclear-armed superpower. They are a serious, serious nation. They DO NOT PLAY.

Links about China

Here are some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader, might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.

China and America Comparisons

As an American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.

The Chinese Business KTV Experience

This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.

Learning About China

Who doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in China.

Contemporaneous Chinese Music

Parks in China

The parks in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.

Really Strange China

What is China like?

Summer in Asia

Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…

Some Fun Videos

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Why neocons are so adamant on maintaining proxy wars all over the globe.

This article connects hawkish neocons with outrageous theft of enormous amounts of money. They sponsor a war, people die, and they cart away pallet loads of money. This has happened time and time again, but few talk about it. But it’s a real thing, and it’s a real problem. Here we talk about it.

Executive summary

When there is a war, there is a great deal of confusion. The nation involved in the strife loses control of their assets, and the attacking forces live in a period of confusion. Funds, often enormous, are poured into the region, to help “stabilize” it. However, the fact remains that the funds, the moneys and all the banks in the disputed combat areas are all “up for grabs”. Thus offering an enormous bonanza for the people who are involved in the subjugation of a given region.

It becomes a wonderful mechanism for military leaders, and politicians, to become enormously wealthy within a short period of time.

War is a way for politicians to become insanely wealthy in a short period of time.

And as such, the United States has turned this into a racket.

The basis for this article

This article was inspired by another article titled; The case of the missing $6.6 billion. In which the author Bill Ardolino asked on June 13th, 2011 what happened to the billions of dollars in “humanitarian aid”, and “infrastructure investments” that the United States gave to Iraq to rebuild their nation.

He argued that Iraq still looks like a pile of mud huts with pot-hole filled dirt roads and a nation devoid of any kind of serious infrastructure rivaling that of before the Iraq conflict. He is right.

Iraq is a big mess with no obvious reconstructive efforts by any measurable degree. What happened? Where did the money go, and why are Americans still expected to pick up the tab?

Billions of dollars. Billions.

Pallets of US currency arriving in Iraq. Source: US Congress, House Committee on Government Reform.

Q Chimes in

The Corrupt System Has Been Ripping Off the US Taxpayer                                                    
Q!!mG7VJxZNCI                           
24 Nov 2019 - 4:24:25 AM                                                
                                                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNqKhRcpktU📁
[16:00]
"Are we going to be sending massive amounts of money that simply goes into other people's [personal] bank account(s) [theft]." - POTUS

Who audits where foreign aid actually goes? 
Nobody.

Foreign aid > Country [X] > Personal Bank Accts [+US person(s) involved].

Think Iran.
Think Paris Accord [attempt].
Think All.
Corrupt system. 

Do you think [GS] is spending his own money re: push of radical viewpoint adoption? 

US TAXPAYER payments [aid] > directly/indirectly [GS] organizations? 

Re-read drops re: 'Foreign Aid'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2qIXXafxCQ&feature=youtu.be📁
[Listen carefully]

RETURNING POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
DRAINING THE SWAMP.
POTUS IS FIGHTING FOR YOU.

It's been a long time since we've had a non_corrupt POTUS who cares for the people, and not himself.
Q

That’s “billion,” with a “B”:

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the  George W. Bush administration flooded the conquered country with so much  cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects in the first year  that a new unit of measurement was born.

Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo  plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills.  They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other  flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials  believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time. 

This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing  the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite  years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot  say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash — enough to run the Los  Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a  year, among many other things.

And it’s not only the “humanitarian funds” send by well-wishing Americans and generous Congressmen, but rather the entire gold bullion of the nation in strife…

Gaddaf al-Dam recalled that in 2011, the Libyan state had approximately $600 billion worth of assets inside and outside the country, including $200 billion in bank accounts abroad, along with tons of gold and silver. Six years on, all of this has been plundered. "During these six years, not a single brick has been laid. The streets of the capital have no electricity, the water supply has been turned off, wages are not paid." Schools are not functioning. "This all a time bomb, and poses a threat to the future." — Gaddaf al-Dam recalled that in 2011, the Libyan state had approximately $600 billion worth of assets inside and outside the country, including $200 billion in bank accounts abroad, along with tons of gold and silver. Six years on, all of this has been plundered. “During these six years, not a single brick has been laid. The streets of the capital have no electricity, the water supply has been turned off, wages are not paid.” Schools are not functioning. “This all a time bomb, and poses a threat to the future.”

The post-invasion chaos in Iraq was severe enough that massive sums of money regularly went missing, the majority (is) thought to have found its way into the pockets of those Iraqis who were early to adopt dialogue with Coalition forces.

Some of it undoubtedly funded the insurgency.

American neocons love wars because they can plunder without consequence, and they can become enormously wealthy in the process. We are not talking about a nice mansion. We are talking about purchasing hundreds of mansions for one corrupt neocon politician.

In 2008, an Iraqi politician told the LWJ his positive assessment that the “major” corruption, the deals worth “hundreds of millions of dollars,” were over.

But he anticipated that the “middle to lower-level corruption will continue for a long time and will be a huge problem.” This was progress of a depressing sort, I thought at the time.

Last we heard, Iraqi's gold was all taken by the Americans already, immediately after the Iraq invasion. The gold now was bought by the new Iraq army by selling the weapons they received from American military aid. I'm sure ISIL would've preferred to have those weapons instead of this gold. — Last we heard, Iraqi’s gold was all taken by the Americans already, immediately after the Iraq invasion. The gold now was bought by the new Iraq army by selling the weapons they received from American military aid. I’m sure ISIL would’ve preferred to have those weapons instead of this gold.

The lack of effective accounting controls in place to manage Iraqi use of funds, both oil receipts and international aid, was shocking then, and continued to surprise, despite noticeable improvements at the ministry and ground levels.

A relevant amount of corruption along the lines of baksheesh and “ghost soldiers” is culturally inevitable in Iraq, but the fact that individuals and organizations could steal that quantity of money is a big deal, and potentially very harmful to US security interests.

It almost goes without saying that billions can buy lots of people, Kalashnikovs and IED components.

In fact, the best case scenario is that a number of Americans, Iraqi political figures, and Iraqi businessmen are merely living incredibly large off ill-gotten gains and pumping most of the money into the economies of Jordan and Dubai.

Fingers crossed.

Moon over Alabama adds his two cents…

The Washington Post liberated some 2,000 pages of more than 400 interview transcripts and summaries from the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The interviews were with officials and soldiers involved in the war on Afghanistan.

Reading through the three part series on the papers is depressing. The opinions and narrations of the insiders are, as could be expected, devastating:

“We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn’t know what we were doing,” Douglas Lute, a three-star Army general who served as the White House’s Afghan war czar during the Bush and Obama administrations, told government interviewers in 2015. He added: “What are we trying to do here? We didn’t have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking.”

Since 2001 the U.S. has spent more than $1 trillion on Afghanistan. Most of the money has flown back to 'contractors' in the United States. A significant part, whatever bribes and corruption would generate, was invested by Afghan officials in real estate in Dubai.

In public, U.S. officials insisted they had no tolerance for graft. But in the Lessons Learned interviews, they admitted the U.S. government looked the other way while Afghan power brokers — allies of Washington — plundered with impunity. Christopher Kolenda, an Army colonel who deployed to Afghanistan several times and advised three U.S. generals in charge of the war, said that the Afghan government led by President Hamid Karzai had “self-organized into a kleptocracy” by 2006 — and that U.S. officials failed to recognize the lethal threat it posed to their strategy.

Little of the money reached the common people of Afghanistan. Where it did it was wasted on projects that Afghanistan will never be able to sustain. The corruption is one reason why many Afghans tolerate or even favor Taliban rule.

- Some Truth About The War On Afghanistan

The United States government responds.

Well, having the claim that neocons and the government are after gold and riches does not fit the narrative that those in power want to project. They want to keep on continuing with their plunder unabated. So they utilize “fact checking” organizations to validate their narrative (and they pay them handsomely, don’t you know.)

Here’s a link to their version of the story. Note that it does not address the lack of infrastructure growth, new public works, or anything that they infrastructure investment is supposed to create. All they do is say… “Nah. It’s false, don’t you know.”

Did the United States steal trillions of dollars of gold and oil?

And here is an expose on the story behind one such “fact checking organization”. Know who you are dealing with and what is going on, why don’t you.

The history of plundering gold…

All attribution to JMBullion.com with this graphic.

A certain degree of error is expected and excusable in the circumstances of post-invasion Iraq.

But $6.6 billion-worth is not.

Soldiers can become enormously wealthy by plundering the banks of the land that they seize. They can also acquire all the money sent from home for humanitarian reasons and purposes. They can "pocket" it and build a couple of hundred mansions and hire security guards to protect their gains. — Soldiers can become enormously wealthy by plundering the banks of the land that they seize. They can also acquire all the money sent from home for humanitarian reasons and purposes. They can “pocket” it and build a couple of hundred mansions and hire security guards to protect their gains.

SHTF and Related Index

Some prepper humor…

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

A serious reassessment on the American oligarchy; the contempt, arrogance, and audaciousness is mind boggling.

I believe that it is time for all Americans to take a serious re-look at what America stands for; our “democracy”, and our way of life as it exists today. Is it really all that great?

Is America living up to the grand ideals set forth in the “Great Experiment of 1776”?

Or, it is just going to be yet another big mistake heading towards the “great collapse” of society?

I think that a serious reappraisal of [1] what America is, [2] what notions it is founded upon, and [3] how it is structured needs to be re-thought out. It is time to take a good long hard look at [4] what America has become, and [5] how we got here. And [6] what needs to change once [7] corrective measures have been put in place.

I ask this.

Really, is democracy; “rule by popularity” ideal for Americans?

Can the Constitution be protected from “well meaning”, or “the greedy”, or “evil” such as President Wilson, or FDR, or Obama from rewriting and re-interpreting it to fit their various nefarious ends?

Well, can it?

Because if we cannot, using the current governmental structure, then we must change it into something different.

Indeed, simply hoping that our progeny will be “ever vigilant” is just wishful thinking, and history has proven, for certain, that it does not work. And at that, we must well understand that it will NEVER WORK in the future.

Can the Constitution be protected from "well meaning", or "the greedy", or "evil" such as President Wilson, or FDR, or Obama from rewriting and re-interpreting it to fit their various nefarious ends? — Can the Constitution be protected from “well meaning”, or “the greedy”, or “evil” such as President Wilson, or FDR, or Obama from rewriting and re-interpreting it to fit their various nefarious ends?

What’s going to stop another Wilson, another FDR, another Obama, another Bush from rewriting the Constitution, or reinterpreting it to fit their nefarious ends? What’s it going to take?

What is it going to take?

But my thoughts are this matter are perhaps a little too harsh to the general American public. No one wants to hear that a democracy is flawed, or rather so flawed that America will collapse upon itself within a decade. No one wants to hear this.

Americans have a Pavlovian response to the phrase “freedom and  democracy,” and it’s no surprise that so many of them are rooting for  the protesters in Hong Kong. 

-World Affairs Blog

Well, others, better word-smiths than myself have some things to say about this subject. One of the best comes from Mr. Noonan in his article titled “A Clean Break“. He wrote this article on 29 September 2019, and I personally think that it is brilliant. He isn’t so prone to offending people as I am.

For I earnestly believe that America has neither "democracy" nor "freedom". We just parrot the words without talking a good look around us at what America has devolved into.

Here I present it for your viewing pleasure.

This article is copied as written without much editing aside from some paragraph formatting and the fonts used in this template.  

I added some "pull away" text for highlighting and maybe interjected on or two personal comments along the way (though you will be able to easily see that they are from your's truly.)  

I have added my own pictures to help illustrate some of his fine points.

After reading the article, I would suggest the reader go to his original article and read some of his other works. This fellow is brilliant and a word-smith.  

All credit to the author Mr. Noonan writing in Blogs for Victory.

A Clean Break

September 29, 2019 M.

As the last few weeks have played out in politics, it has forced me to do a complete re-assessment of how I’ve looked at the world for my entire adult life.

To be sure, this reconsideration has been ongoing for about a decade, or maybe a little more, but it has really crystalized out recently. It is time for a complete, clean break with what went before and to chart a new path forward.

Although rated worse than any other institution in the country, federal  lawmakers are not alone in facing mass disdain by a US electorate who  increasingly thinks that the system has stopped working.  

- Poll: 80% of Americans Think Government, Banks, Corporate Media are Corrupt

As the last few weeks have played out in politics, it has forced me to do a complete re-assessment of how I’ve looked at the world for my entire adult life. To be sure, this reconsideration has been ongoing for about a decade, or maybe a little more, but it has really crystalized out recently. It is time for a complete, clean break with what went before and to chart a new path forward. — As the last few weeks have played out in politics, it has forced me to do a complete re-assessment of how I’ve looked at the world for my entire adult life. It is time for a complete, clean break with what went before and to chart a new path forward. Maybe the American Constitution is flawed in some very serious ways, and it is up to use to seek out those flaws and eliminate them completely.

What Hunter Biden did is nothing new; it isn’t in the least remarkable.

He was merely the recipient of what people in his position routinely receive: a special deal which allows him to be very rich for little or no effort.

Hunter Biden was merely the recipient of what people in his position routinely receive: a special deal which allows him to be very rich for little or no effort.

This way his life can be devoted to what really matters: hanging around with other rich people, attending conferences and galas and generally having a swell time.

And if he decided to follow in Daddy’s political footsteps, the way would be cleared for him in some safe (Congressional) seat.

If you start looking into it – as Matt and I did in our 2007 book, Caucus of Corruption – you just see that it is everywhere. In that book, for political reasons, we concentrated on the Democrat side of the aisle (given that our goal was to show the absurdity of the Democrats 2006 campaign against a so-called “GOP culture of corruption”), but we could easily have written it about politics, in general.

Corruption is everywhere in the United States.

What it really shows is that people who go into politics – with a few very rare exceptions – are in it for themselves.

The advent of legalized corruption launched by the  Supreme Court empowers the superrich to fund their own presidential and  congressional campaigns as pet projects, to foster pet policies, and to  represent pet political enclaves. You have a billion, or even several  hundred million, then purchase a candidate from the endless reserve  bench of minor politicians and make him or her a star, a mouthpiece for  any cause or purpose however questionable, and that candidate will mouth  your script in endless political debates and through as many television  spots as you are willing to pay for. All legal now.

To compound the political felony, much, if not most, campaign  financing is now carried out in secret, so that everyday citizens have a  decreasing ability to determine to whom their elected officials are  beholden and to whom they must now give special access. As recently as  the 2014 election, the facts documented this government of influence by  secrecy: “More than half of the general election advertising aired by  outside groups in the battle for control of Congress,” according to the  New York Times, “has come from organizations that disclose little or  nothing about their donors, a flood of secret money that is now at the  center of a debate over the line between free speech and corruption.”

Of this handful, the largest by far is WPP (originally  called Wire and Plastic Products; is there a metaphor here?), which has  its headquarters in London and more than 150,000 employees in 2,500  offices spread around 107 countries. It, together with one or two  conglomerating competitors, represents a fourth branch of government,  vacuuming up former senators and House members and their spouses and  families, key committee staff, former senior administration officials of  both parties and several administrations, and ambassadors, diplomats,  and retired senior military officers.

WPP has swallowed giant public relations, advertising, and  lobbying outfits such as Hill & Knowlton and BursonMarsteller, along  with dozens of smaller members of the highly lucrative special interest  and influence-manipulation world. Close behind WPP is the  Orwellian-named Omnicom Group and another converger vaguely called the  Interpublic Group of Companies. According to Mr. Edsall, WPP had billings last year of $72.3 billion, larger than the budgets of quite a number of countries. 

 – From the Gary Hart article, Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption

Corruption is part of democracy.

They want power and money and attention and fame and praise and so they go into politics – and almost invariably, if they are even modestly successful at winning office, wind up richer than they did when they started.

And it has been going on for a long time, folks; throughout all the Western democracies.

Just a small quote from Chesterton about 1910 will suffice to show it:

There are, I believe, some who still deny that England is  governed by an oligarchy. 

It is quite enough for me to know that a man  might have gone to sleep some thirty years ago over the day’s newspaper  and woke up last week over the later newspaper, and fancied he was  reading about the same people. 

In one paper he would have found a Lord  Robert Cecil, a Mr. Gladstone, a Mr. Lyttleton, a Churchill, a  Chamberlain, a Trevelyan, an Acland. 

In the other paper he would find a  Lord Robert Cecil, a Mr. Gladstone, a Mr. Lyttleton, a Churchill, a  Chamberlain, a Trevelyan, an Acland. 

If this is not being governed by  families I cannot imagine what it is. I suppose it is being governed by  extraordinary democratic coincidences.

…extraordinary democratic coincidences.

Funny, huh? How people from the same family can keep winding up on top. Either they are families of geniuses, or someone is making things happen.

What are the odds that the son of an American Senator would be just the person an oil company needs to pay $50,000.00 a month to?
That the daughter of a President would be just right for that $600,000.00 news gig?
Or that another daughter of a different President would prove to be perfect to host the fourth hour of the Today show?

You know that is all bullsh**.

I know it is, too.

They know it as well.

But, it just keeps happening and happening because, well, that’s just the way it is. And it wouldn’t be so bad if they were at least any good at being an oligarchy!

But they aren’t.

Back in Chesterton’s day, there was the cold, hard reality that Winston Churchill was at least as talented as his father, Randolph. There was something there – there was, that is, a justification for Winston getting a leg up (and he did) to enter politics based on his father’s previous efforts.

These days, you get to benefit even if the previous person in line was a complete, rotten failure. And rotten failure is all we’ve gotten – and I’m getting very ecumenical in that, by the way. I’m not excusing anyone on partisan grounds any longer.

To be sure, the Republicans I voted for in the past were at least  better than the Democrats I voted against (with the exception of McCain:  knowing that I’m the co-author of Worst President,  please understand that I believe McCain would have been even worse than  Obama proved to be).

But they were only better in degree, not in kind.

Republicans are corrupt.

I mean, let’s face some cold, hard facts here: President Bush the Younger was re-elected with 51% of the vote in 2004 and came into his second term with high approval ratings and a Republican Congress.

With all this, he couldn’t even manage to de-fund Planned Parenthood or NPR!

It could have been done, easily, in a budget reconciliation between House and Senate and there would have been nothing the Democrats could have done about it.

On a more personal level, how can public service be promoted as an ideal to young people when this sewer corrupts our Republic? At this point in early twenty-first-century America, the greatest service our nation’s young people could provide is to lead an army of outraged young Americans armed with brooms on a crusade to sweep out the rascals and rid our capital of the money changers, rent seekers, revolving door dancers, and special interest deal makers and power brokers and send them back home to make an honest living, that is, if they still remember how to do so.

Our ancestors did not depart Europe and elsewhere to seek freedom and self-government alone. They came to these shores to escape social and political systems that were corrosive and corrupt. Two and a quarter centuries later, we are returning to those European practices. We are in danger of becoming a different kind of nation, one our founders would not recognize and would deplore.
In addition to the rise of the national security state, and the concentration of wealth and power in America, no development in modern times sets us apart more from the nation originally bequeathed to us than the rise of the special interest state.

There is a Gresham’s law related to the republican ideal. Bad politics drives out good politics. Legalized corruption drives men and women of stature, honor, and dignity out of the halls of government. Self-respecting individuals cannot long tolerate a system of election and reelection so dependent on cultivating the favor of those known to expect access in return. Such a system is corrosive to the soul.

– From the Gary Hart article, Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption

This was “better” than a President Kerry who probably would have increased PP funding, but not really better in that the taxes of pro-life Americans were still going to fund something they consider abhorrent…and which Bush and the entire GOP campaigned on getting rid of.

I know some will say that this is just our GOP screwing it’s base and that the Democrats don’t do that. But, they do.

Democrats are corrupt.

Obama was elected in 2008 with 53% of the vote and came into office with a Democrat Congress and a filibuster-proof Senate majority…and he couldn’t even get the single payer health system Democrats say they want.

It would have been easy.

The GOP could have done nothing to stop it. Enact a 10% payroll tax to fund it and just start passing out the cash to people who need health care.

 A former senator from Colorado, Gary Hart, has written an extremely  powerful and accurate critique of the unfathomably corrupt and crony  state of the U.S. government in 2015. It covers several very important  angles, including how appalled and disgusted our founders would be at  the current state of affairs. How a once great republic has devolved  into a thieving oligarchy in which the pursuit of money at power at the  expense of the public good has been elevated into something that’s not  just tolerated, but actually celebrated and encouraged amongst an ethics  deprived status quo. 

-Liberty Blitzkreig

That you and I know it would have been a disaster is neither here nor there – our side had lost the election and the Democrats won all the power they could possibly need to make all Democrat dreams come true…and they couldn’t do something like that.

Once you are in politics, it's all on for party on good times. You swindle and funnel money left and right and no one gives a damn about the American people. This includes both sides of the Congress, and all their cronies from the war-mongering generals to the intellectuals pushing climate change, and radical social change down our throats. — Once you are in politics, it’s all on for party-on good times. You swindle and funnel money left and right and no one gives a damn about the American people. This includes both sides of the Congress, and all their cronies from the war-mongering generals to the intellectuals pushing climate change, and radical social change down our collective throats.

They instead wound up with the abomination known as Obamacare which even if it had worked as planned would still have left millions out in the cold and cost like the devil – but they couldn’t even write something that worked!

Meanwhile, not only did Obama not end the wars they campaigned against in 2008, he started new one’s…

droning the living sh** out of every poor, brown skinned person they could target (well, those they weren’t letting in as unvetted refugees, that is).
A public works bonanza that didn’t create any public works.
A slew of new spending which improved nothing.

This is what the Democrat voters get for investing their time and effort? Yep – in other words, nothing: but lots and lots for whomever is the crony. Democrat cronies made out like bandits. But your average purple-haired Democrat wanting more safe spaces? Not much.

By that standard, can anyone seriously doubt that our republic, our government, is corrupt? There have been Teapot Domes and financial scandals of one kind or another throughout our nation’s history. There has never been a time, however, when the government of the United States was so perversely and systematically dedicated to special interests, earmarks, side deals, log-rolling, vote-trading, and sweetheart deals of one kind or another.

What brought us to this? A sinister system combining staggering campaign costs, political contributions, political action committees, special interest payments for access, and, most of all, the rise of the lobbying class.

Worst of all, the army of lobbyists that started relatively small in the mid-twentieth century has now grown to big battalions of law firms and lobbying firms of the right, left, and an amalgam of both. And that gargantuan, if not reptilian, industry now takes on board former members of the House and the Senate and their personal and committee staffs. And they are all getting fabulously rich.

Frustrated, irate discussions of this legalized corruption are met in the Washington media with a shrug. So what? Didn’t we just have dinner with that lobbyist for the banking industry, or the teachers’ union, or the airline industry at that well-known journalist’s house only two nights ago? Fine lady, and she used to be the chairman of one of those powerful committees. I gather she is using her Rolodex rather skillfully on behalf of her new clients. Illegal? Not at all. Just smart . . . and so charming.

There is little wonder that Americans of the right and many in the middle are apoplectic at their government and absolutely, and rightly, convinced that the game of government is rigged in favor of the elite and the powerful. Occupiers see even more wealth rising to the top at the expense of the poor and the middle class. And Tea Partiers believe their tax dollars are going to well-organized welfare parasites and government bureaucrats.

– From the Gary Hart article, Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption

And as far as the social disintegration we’ve seen over the past 60 years – we’ve been blinded by the Democrats pushing the disintegration that we haven’t noticed the Republicans letting them do it.

And when they have power to roll it back, doing nothing of the sort.

 The Administrative state and its  regulators, a creation of previous congress’s, have grown into a  bureaucracy so entrenched that worker’s can’t even be fired. They lurk  in the darkness of their own regulations and use their powers to punish  those who fail to comply. Regulators are great for making and executing  rules and regulations, and taxing, but not so good at designing those  regulations to advance unproven political theories, that most often come  undone.

 The unrealized dangers of delegating  rules and regulations making, is that Congress removes itself from accountability. Legislators govern by theory, proposing ideas that are  then delegated to an agency charged to “make” it work. To ensure their  schemes work, Congress politicized the Federal judicial benches,  including the Supreme Court, to support their legislative agenda  regardless of the unconstitutionality, through judicial activism. Judges  don’t make laws! 

- Why Should We Accept Corrupt Government?

Their actions are disgusting.

And now we see in the Epstein case the reason why it might have all been allowed to happen: Lord only knows how many of the high and mighty are caught in that web…

…but what better way to get out from under that rock than by making the rock legal?

Hey, Paul Ryan, you’re the guy in charge of the House. You’re the Speaker of the House. You had half a decade to figure out what to REPLACE Obamacare with and you came up with … bupkis? — Hey, Paul Ryan, you’re the guy in charge of the House. You’re the Speaker of the House. [1] You had half a decade to figure out what to REPLACE Obamacare with and you came up with … bupkis? [2]. Hey, Paul Ryan, you had more than a hundred days to fashion a piece of legislation after you knew President Trump won — even with all the “budget resolution”, three tranche, inside baseball baloney and it came as a surprise that the Freedom Caucus wasn’t on board? [Pro tip: Check with your own caucus first. OK, that’s better.] Hello, America, Paul, babe — that was your job. We gave you one stinking job — to fashion a clean repeal and replacement of Obamacare — and you were surprised the Freedom Caucus wasn’t genuflecting and kissing your ring? A week out, you tell the President you “have the votes” and the day of the vote you come to the White House and say, “Uhhh, maybe not. Maybe not, Mr. President. Poorly played, Paulie. Very poorly played. [3]. Hey, Paul Ryan, this shit is on you not the President. You suck at your job.

By making you, a normal person, the bad guy if you point out some of the disgusting actions?

Illegal immigration to provide votes for Democrats and cheap labor for Republicans.
Wars which don’t end in victory or defeat.
Enforcing immorality against popular wishes.
Providing government sinecures to anyone who will toe the line – and who won’t be got rid of no matter how corrupt or stupid they prove.
Accepting money from foreign entities who want the United States destroyed.

Will you fucking Republicans stop criticizing President Trump for following through on his campaign promises? He ran on them. He told you what they were. He won on them. He is delivering on them and you snowflakes act like you just discovered them.

Both sides, all the time – and on top of being this stupidly destructive, raking it in for themselves, their families and their friends. It is time to bring an end to all that. By peaceful means if possible but, ultimately, by any means necessary.

Our peaceful means are “President Trump”.

President Trump is the hero of the common man.

Trump isn’t part of the system, you see.

Dimwits look at his billions and go, “he must be one of them”. But, the bottom line is that he’s not.

He’ll hang out with them. Be friends with them. But he never was of them. He made his own way and got his pile of money…and then looked around and saw, from the 1980’s, what was happening to his country and started to wonder why, and if there were anything he could do about it?

He essentially first let Bill Clinton have his chance.

Then Bush the Younger.

Then even Obama.

But he found out something – it didn’t matter who was in charge, they were all in on it, together. That is, regardless of stated political philosophy, the primary goal of nearly everyone in politics was personal enrichment and making sure no outsider pushed his or her way in.

Trump found out something – it didn’t matter who was in charge, they were all in on it, together. That is, regardless of stated political philosophy, the primary goal of nearly everyone in politics was personal enrichment and making sure no outsider pushed his or her way in.

Trump decided to push his way in.

And now he’s there – and outside of a precious few (Cruz, Paul…and, oddly, McConnell), he’s nearly alone fighting for one thing: us.

The United States of America.

We, the people.

And everyone inside is furious and terrified and so are lashing back as much as they can hoping that something, anything will turn up to get rid of Trump.

And, make no mistake about it, they are already planning on punishing us for electing Trump. They don’t propose to allow this sort of thing to happen again.

And, make no mistake about it, they are already planning on punishing us for electing Trump. They don’t propose to allow this sort of thing to happen again.

And everyone inside is furious and terrified and so are lashing back as much as they can hoping that something, anything will turn up to get rid of Trump. And, make no mistake about it, they are already planning on punishing us for electing Trump. They don’t propose to allow this sort of thing to happen again.

The “big con game” is up.

I’ve mostly stopped arguing with liberals these days – first off, it is pointless but, secondly, I’m starting to pity them; nearly as much as I pity that shrinking number on the right who still stand aloof from Trump: they simply can’t shake free from the line they’ve been fed.

And none of us can get high and mighty about that: to one degree or another, all of us were suckered at one time or another.

No other government is as corrupt as the United States government.

All of us believed in some aspect of the con being used to keep us confused, frightened and divided while the Ruling Class stays fat and happy.

All of us. Including myself.

But for those of us who have awakened from the con, it is time for a clean break – a refusal to accept that anything over the past 60 years was any good…a desire, that is, to move forward in an entirely new way, unshackled to whatever we might have said or done in the past.

We have learned all about the great con game, and we are fed up. We know know what is going on and we are pissed, and desire real, substantive change. But for those of us who have awakened from the con, it is time for a clean break – a refusal to accept that anything over the past 60 years was any good…a desire, that is, to move forward in an entirely new way, unshackled to whatever we might have said or done in the past. — We have learned all about the great con game, and we are fed up. We know know what is going on and we are pissed, and desire real, substantive change. Now, for those of us who have awakened from the con, it is time for a clean break – a refusal to accept that anything over the past 60 years was any good…a desire, that is, to move forward in an entirely new way, unshackled to whatever we might have said or done in the past.

We can see what happened; we can see what needs to be done – we can’t trip ourselves up (nor allow our opponents to slow us down) by fussing over what views we might have expressed previously.

Our desire is a Constitutional Republic of free people – our means of getting there must be “whatever works”, not adherence to a dogma which might, upon review, only have been a means whereby the con artists kept us in line in the past.

I, for one, will only defend what I find defensible and will attack whatever I see as wrong.

Republicans Are Terrified Because Their Candidates Are So Fucking Lazy. As a number of Democrats win high-profile special election victories in deep red districts, fewer and fewer safe Republican strongholds seem to be off limits.

We still have a magnificent window to win this thing and fix our nation – naturally, the first requirement is protecting President Trump.

We need a complete review of EVERYTHING and ask “is it good”

But the next step is just as important: a complete review of everything and asking the question, “Is this good?”.

We’ve already learned that so-called “Free Trade” wasn’t what many of us thought it was – take that as your template and ask yourself, “is this thing I’ve adhered to really in the interests of a free people? Or is it something which only serves the well-connected?”.

As Lincoln once said, it is time to think anew and act anew: not to create something different (nothing can be more magnificent than the United States, as far as human effort allows), but to recreate what we had, but even better than before.

It is time to think anew and act anew: not to create something different, but to recreate what we had, but even better than before.

And if that mission requires us to knock a few off their pedestals, then that’s just what will have to happen.

 The problems of government are systemic.  The reason for government should be a primary concern of anyone wanting a  better government but this cannot be accomplished with people of  socialist persuasion who scream, yell and interrupt other speakers in an  effort to kill free speech. 

 Trump has thrown a wrench into the gears  of socialisms advancement. Socialists are reeling in confusion but don’t  count on them staying there. A revolution is coming. The question is,  who’s going to lead it, them or us? 

- Why Should We Accept Corrupt Government?

SHTF Related Index

This is a collection of my posts related to prepping, SHTF (Shit Hit The Fan), CWII (American Civil War 2), Fourth Turning (Strauss–Howe generational theory) and other posts related to the very sad and sorry tatters that America is today. Actually, I am a little stunned that I have written so much about these matters. But America today is very ill and there are things that really should be said.

Here are the posts.

SHTF and Related Index

Some prepper humor…

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

How we’ve devolved into orderly lawlessness; the catastrophe that is America today.

This article suggests that of the numerous forces tearing America apart, one such force is an out-of-control legal system. No, we are not talking about the US Prison system that incarcerates a full 25% of the inmates on the planet. Though, yes it is a problem. We are instead going to talk about laws and regulations in the United States and the damage to liberty that they have forged. This article argues that when the laws and regulations have become so numerous and complex, that the entire system devolved into lawlessness.

Now, of course, there are numerous forces that are tearing the United States apart, and eventually (sure as shit) it will crumble and die, and a New America will rise up from the ashes. What it will look like, no one knows.

Though, I have painted some pretty dark and gloomy pictures of what could happen in other posts. Don’t you know.

These forces are numerous and include such things as…

The socialists Marxist movement started 100 years ago by President Wilson.
The greedy oligarchy that is gobbling up everything that they can lay their hands on.
The upper middle class which is following the (winning) strategy of the oligarchy.
A collapsing culture and morals.
A decaying infrastructure.
A collapsed educational system churning out imbecile serfs ready to work on “the plantation”.

And, many more.

Here is an article that was written by Alec Orrell . I think that is is really very good. He mapped out how we devolved into orderly lawlessness. His article is titled Legitocracy in America, and it is worth the time to read.

This article is copied as written without much editing aside from some paragraph formatting and the fonts used in this template. 

I added some "pull away" text for highlighting and maybe interjected on or two personal comments along the way (though you will be able to easily see that they are from your's truly.) 

I have added my own pictures to help illustrate some of his fine points, but there are a couple of decorative "splash" pictures on his originally posted venue. 

After reading the article, I would suggest the reader go to his original article and read some of his other works. This fellow is brilliant and a word-smith. (Though he tends to write on a university level, where I tend to be far more plebeian.)

All credit to the author Alec Orrell writing in Human Events.

Legitocracy In America.

How we’ve devolved into orderly lawlessness.

By Alec Orrell on October 10, 2019

The commentariat across the political spectrum have recently reveled in predicting imminent authoritarianism and the “literal death of democracy” unless sundry bugbears are stopped.

As Murray sees it, the United States’ hyper-complicated  and outrageously voluminous law is much the same as no law at all for  the ordinary citizen.

The catastrophizing is quaint.

Perhaps they are too terrified, distracted, or dissembling to utter the truth obvious under closer examination: the United States ceased to operate as a constitutional democratic republic at least 100 years ago. Democracy isn’t “in peril”—it’s dead and buried.

The United States ceased to operate as a constitutional democratic republic at least 100 years ago. Democracy isn’t “in peril”—it’s dead and buried.

How did we get here?

How did we get here? Social scientist Charles Murray (The Bell Curve) penned a fascinating but little-remarked book titled By The People in 2015. There, Murray argued the United States has become, in effect, a lawless society.

His assertion may strike some as odd, because lawless usually calls to mind a breakdown in order, like in Afghanistan or Somalia.

But countries maintain order without righteous law all the time.

Dictators the world over regularly keep the peace using suppression and intimidation. There’s no shooting in the streets, but there’s no sense of justice or predictability, either.

LAWS, LAWS, AND MORE LAWS

As Murray sees it, the United States’ hyper-complicated and outrageously voluminous law is much the same as no law at all for the ordinary citizen. The oppressor isn’t a dictator but an incomprehensible and unpredictable justice system passed from one set of leaders’ hands to another, from one political party to another.

Murray writes:

[L]et’s talk about the legal system not as it looks from thirty thousand feet to law professors, where everything can be fit together and rationalized, but how it looks at ground level to ordinary law-abiding citizens … 

I am reminded of science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke’s famous observation that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” 

From ground level, our encounters with today’s legal system as it actually functions are often indistinguishable from lawlessness.

Consider that, between federal, state, city, county, and judge-made law—along with truckloads of regulations and codes by state and federal agencies which carry the full force of law—an American today lives under something like 100 times as much law as his or her great-great-grandfather. That’s a chilling comparison.

An American today lives under something like 100 times as much law as his or her great-great-grandfather.

Further, consider that the average American thoroughly understands few or none of the laws governing him.

Sure, he possesses a vague sense of the basics and some traffic law, but that’s all.

Should the internal functions of the miraculous device go awry, the average citizen is helpless. He usually cannot afford skillful lawyers to interpret the laws or to defend him when he is forced to confront the legal system. A lawsuit or a criminal prosecution ruins him, regardless of his culpability.

New study finds 98% of FDA rules over 17 years are unconstitutional

Washington, D.C.; April 29, 2019: A study released today shows that the vast majority of Department of Health and Human Services regulations issued over a recent 17-year period are unconstitutional. The first-of-its-kind study reviewed 2,952 rules issued by HHS and found that 71% of final rules from 2001 through 2017 were issued by low-level officials and career employees who lack constitutional authority to do so.

Such rules are unconstitutional. The Constitution requires that significant government decisions must be made solely by “principal officers” appointed by the president after Senate confirmation. Issuing a regulation with the force of law is one of those actions that only principal officers can perform.

The majority of unconstitutional rules were issued by the Food and Drug Administration. Just 2% of FDA rules were issued by principal officers, while 1,860 rules were finalized and issued by career employees.

“In a democracy, those who make the rules need to be accountable to the people,” report co-author Thomas Berry, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, explained. “That’s why the Framers included the Appointments Clause in the Constitution. Only properly-appointed officers in the executive branch may issue regulations that are binding on the public. This preserves democratic accountability for significant executive branch actions.”

One such rule is the controversial “Deeming Rule,” which classifies tobacco-free vaping products as tobacco products. The rule prohibits Steve Green, a California vape shop owner, from telling his customers his story about using vaping to stop smoking and recover from early signs of emphysema. PLF filed three lawsuits challenging the rule last year.

“Among the hundreds of illegal FDA rules, 25 rules were classified as significant because they had an impact on the American economy of at least $100 million or had other significant economic impacts,” said Angela Erickson, PLF’s strategic research director and co-author of the report. “Congress and the White House should ensure that this practice ends and agencies comply with the law.”

The full report is available at pacificlegal.org/HHSreport.

He usually cannot afford skillful lawyers to interpret the laws or to defend him when he is forced to confront the legal system. A lawsuit or a criminal prosecution ruins him, regardless of his culpability.

The law is like an iPhone: a miraculous device at which he glances all the time and uses for simple tasks without knowing the first thing about how the internal functions perform their magic.

Should the internal functions of the miraculous device go awry, the average citizen is helpless.

He usually cannot afford skillful lawyers to interpret the laws or to defend him when he is forced to confront the legal system. A lawsuit or a criminal prosecution ruins him, regardless of his culpability.

In the United States, Federal drug defendants who won’t plead guilty pay dearly, according to our new report, “An Offer You Can’t Refuse.” Prosecutors use their ability to vary the charges to seek longer mandatory sentences for people who turn down plea bargains. Defendants who go to trial receive sentences that, on average, are three times as long. Not surprisingly, 97 percent of drug defendants are convicted by pleas, not trial.

The wrongfully accused regularly plea bargain to avoid being crushed by the legal process.

The vast majority of criminal cases in the United States end not in courtroom trials but in negotiated agreements between prosecutors and defense lawyers. Plea bargaining dates to the 1800s and has often been controversial. Law-and-order advocates say the practice lets criminals get lower sentences, while some defense lawyers and civil libertarians say it coerces defendants to give up their legal rights. Most prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges, however, say the practice helps produce justice while reducing strains on the court system. Defense lawyers last year cheered a court ruling that would have barred prosecutors from offering leniency in exchange for a defendant’s testimony against accomplices. But prosecutors celebrated last month when the ruling was overturned.

The citizen is told that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it, but he cannot correct his ignorance himself nor pay to have others supplement it.

James Madison wrote in Federalist #62:

It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow. 

Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?

Madison’s sketch of run-amok law bears an uncanny resemblance to the United States today.

He highlights a fundamental truth Americans have forgotten amidst the partisan bickering over which byzantine laws to pass:

Representative lawmaking does not produce democracy when demos (“the  people”) cannot grasp the laws, either to express their disagreement  with them or to follow them.

In Madison’s view, such edicts aren’t real law, just dressed-up tyranny divorced from the ethos of a constitutional republic.

Taxation of Social Security benefits. The complicated formula and the 20 step worksheet used to determine the percentage of benefits (up to 85%) subject to tax aren’t new, but they are affecting more Americans as the number receiving Social Security grows. Back in 1997, my then editor, Forbes' Investment Strategies Editor William Baldwin, used his Harvard degree in applied math to reduce this tax madness to an amusing equation and graphic — Taxation of Social Security benefits. The complicated formula and the 20 step worksheet used to determine the percentage of benefits (up to 85%) subject to tax aren’t new, but they are affecting more Americans as the number receiving Social Security grows. Here is the equation as i stood in 1997.

Were Madison alive to witness the present debacle, he might opine:

The United States possesses no authentic law, only enforced order.

A tyrant who inflicts his will with rifles and a legal priesthood who inflict their will with occult laws are functionally equivalent. In both cases, citizens lose all confidence in a coherent moral order of their own design underlying their day-to-day existence.

The United States possesses no authentic law, only enforced order.

RULE BY LAWYERS

The United States today might be better called a legitocracy—a government by the legal priesthood for the legal priesthood.

Judges, lawyers, prosecutors, regulators, law schools, bar associations, and legal-activism conglomerates like the ACLU and GLAAD use their specialized knowledge to function as gatekeepers of society’s rules, politics, and culture.

Nothing is accomplished without the involvement of the legal priesthood.

Armies of lawyers draft the bills for elected lawmakers, who enact their recommendations with only a vague understanding of their mandates.

Then lawmakers turn the laws back over to prosecutors, regulators, and jurists for implementation and enforcement. More often than not, lawmakers come from the ranks of the law-schooled themselves.

Representative lawmaking does not produce democracy when demos (“the people”) cannot grasp the laws, either to express their disagreement with them or to follow them.

Thus the legal priesthood operates in a closed system, disconnected from the populace and unaccountable in practice to anyone but themselves.

To be sure, the priesthood declaims with great eloquence about “democracy,” a “nation of laws,” and “the people”; but they amount to an insular social class—the card carriers in a one-party state.

The rest of us are merely along for the ride.

One is reminded of the famous maxim:

“Those who vote decide nothing.  Those who count the votes decide everything.” In this case, one might  say: “Those who enact the laws and vote for lawmakers decide nothing.  Those who interpret and enforce the laws decide everything.”

Much like the aristocracies and theocracies of bygone days, the chieftains of the legitocratic class have fallen into warlording over which of them gets to make the rules that control the society and the state.

They bicker over bizarre ideologies and disrupt elected government at every turn with nuisance lawsuits and politically-motivated prosecutions. They divert political and cultural issues from legislatures and elections into courtrooms.

They divert issues away from legislatures and elections and into the courtrooms instead.

For example, Americans recently were treated to the groaning spectacle of a federal judge deciding how the President may operate his personal Twitter account, and whether biological men must be allowed in women’s locker rooms when they identify as women.

As in all warlordism, the resulting instability destroys the average citizen’s peace, predictability, and trust.

He may not be able to articulate the government’s devolution into feuding legitocracy; nevertheless, he senses that he lives in a failed state.

He senses that he lives in a failed state.

He sees no sacred or impartial justice emerging from the legal system anymore.

Virtue and common sense have no place and no reward.

All he sees are wizards in tailored suits hurling thunderbolts at one another and terrorizing his day-to-day existence with their staggering litigiousness and self-righteous culture crusades.

The average citizen hesitates to publicly speak his mind,  defend his person, establish a business, worship openly, or seek  redress for real injuries.

Should anyone bother to ask him, the citizen will declare that the words chiseled on the Supreme Court building (“Equal Justice Under Law”) have turned to bitter irony.

He watches with ballooning cynicism as the legal priesthood deploys word games to exonerate one another’s heinous manipulations, then turn and damn ordinary citizens like him to years of legal hell for standing up to their diktats.

Justice is no longer a sacred right grounded in fear of God and His mystery. It is something you hire or receive as a reward for loyalty.

Justice is no longer a sacred right.

The legitocratic class has changed the motto of the United States from “In God, We Trust” to “There Is No God—Trust Us.”

Thus, the average citizen hesitates to publicly speak his mind, defend his person, establish a business, worship openly, or seek redress for real injuries.

He fears to resist the legal system’s incessant cultural bullying, lest he gets sucked into the vortex and land in Oz for years pursued by flying monkey lawyers.

He can’t say how it happened, but the citizen knows he dwells at the bottom of a multi-tiered, politically corrupt, unchecked cabal of a legal system that cares nothing for his well-being.

Will the legal priesthood reform themselves?
Will activist judges voluntarily give up their arrogated and unconscionable power of nationwide injunction?
Will the Supreme Court allow voters and lawmakers to address questions of culture and politics through elections and legislation once again, rather than dictating both from the bench?
Will law schools cease to operate as seminaries of progressive social engineering, imperious elitism, state-enforced credentialism, relativism, nihilism, identity politics, and other ever-shifting philosophies?
Will the legal priesthood stop terrorizing the unanointed and favoring their own, demanding with one voice that the law revert to a form comprehensible and accessible to the average citizen?

Of course they will, right after unicorns fly out of Chief Justice John Roberts’ robes.

He can’t say how it happened, but the citizen knows he dwells at the bottom of a multi-tiered, politically corrupt, unchecked cabal of a legal system that cares nothing for his well-being. Happiness has been replaced by trinkets and freedom by tax rebates, and liberty... well, it just doesn't exist. — He can’t say how it happened, but the citizen knows he dwells at the bottom of a multi-tiered, politically corrupt, unchecked cabal of a legal system that cares nothing for his well-being. Happiness has been replaced by trinkets and freedom by tax rebates, and liberty… well, it just doesn’t exist.

PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN

One cannot do better than echo Thomas Paine: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

Americans live in denial of their rationalized, systemic oppression.

Over the last five or so generations, legalistic authoritarianism has progressively choked the average citizen’s pursuit of happiness, like a slow garroting in a collar of recondite laws.

If one doubts this, it’s only because he hasn’t experienced the extremities of the legal system’s insanity himself yet—the Kafkaesque horror of an endless, politically motivated IRS audit, or a court telling a father he must call his 6-year-old son a girl. The law and government do not serve the will of the people; it’s the other way around now.

The law and government do not serve the will of the people; it’s the other way around now.

Where does that leave the citizen?

He is reduced to hoping the orderly lawlessness of the legal system remains confined to the courts and the government, that disorderly lawlessness does not erupt in public.

He is right to be concerned.

Americans are quarreling with one another in frustration. A growing number of individuals and groups misidentify the root of the tyranny and endanger public order, blaming vague and simplistic concepts like “white supremacy,” “fascism,” “the patriarchy,” “capitalism,” etc. for the oppression they sense.

Meanwhile, disturbed young male shooters at the end of their tether scapegoat women and minority groups for the proliferation of politically correct rules under which they feel smothered.

Tracing their anxieties back reveals a common source: alienation from the rules that govern them.

Unsurprisingly, the legal priesthood plays both sides to lengthen their reach and tighten their grasp: The root problem is not that the people toil under mountains of legal minutiae and can’t even breathe without violating at least five laws.

No, according to them the problem is always too much freedom requiring (you guessed it!) more laws.

Laws restricting firearms.
Laws restricting hurtful speech.
Laws restricting plastic straws.

Laws, laws, laws.

A violent response.

Rooftop Koreans taking matters into their own hands when the government failed them.

A militia-like civil defense response from ordinary citizens akin to the Roof Koreans of the L.A. riots seems well within the realm of possibility these days.

Fed-up citizens arm themselves in ever-greater numbers.

Scene from the television series "The Walking Dead". Americans are getting ready for the cloflict that lies ahead. They are "prepping" and make no mistake, it will happen unless drastic action takes place immediately. — Scene from the television series “The Walking Dead”. Americans are getting ready for the conflict that lies ahead. They are “prepping” and make no mistake, it will happen unless drastic action takes place immediately.

They worry about losing the capability to manage both social instability and the last vestiges of fundamental civil rights.

American citizens must be brought to understand that the struggle gripping the country does not fundamentally pit liberals against conservatives or Democrats against Republicans.

The struggle pits average citizens who want to live under clear, predictable, and widely understood laws against the legal priesthood’s empire of complication and confusion.

And that is the way it is.

One of the first things that you notice when you move to another nation is just how simple it is. 

If there is a tax, it's only one singular tax. There are no regulations, and the things that you can do, from driving without a seat-belt, to having your five year old buying a beer for you is astounding. 

Here in communist China, I am afforded so many, many MANY freedoms that Americans haven't a clue to what they have lost. That's a fact Jack. Deal with it.

If the public can grasp that their system of government has slowly changed without their consent, the legal priesthood’s magical powers will evaporate and the U.S. legal system will be seen for what it is: a recondite abomination propped up by platitudes. At that time, rescuing the democratic republic back from the pit of legitocracy stands a chance.

Until that time, the wizards will continue to rule, and may God help us all.

SHTF Related Index

Here are the posts.

SHTF and Related Index

Some prepper humor…

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

The history of how Australia obtained Sheilas; the story of The Lady Juliana, The 18th-Century Prison Ship Filled With Women

This is the story of the Lady Juliana. This was a special ship designed to convey female convicts from England to Australia. The idea was that a boat load of female convicts would happily link up with a colony of convicts in Australia. Thus making everyone very, very happy, and reform the colony in New South Wales.

They were right.

And this motley crew of British women ultimately had a lasting impact on the history of Australia.

A little background information.

Great Britain began colonizing Australia in 1787 with the departure of the so-called “First Fleet” of ships. Aboard these ships were male and female prisoners, as well as officials whose goal was to establish a penal colony around modern-day Sydney. The Lady Juliana was part of the Second Fleet of ships meant to bring another round of convicts along with food and supplies for the young colony.

Seventeen years after Cook discovered Botany Bay, on May 13th, 1787, a fleet of eleven ships left England – the First Fleet which would begin the colonization of Australia. Under the command of Commodore Arthur Phillip, these ships carried 1530 people – 736 of whom were convicts.

The British government specifically commissioned the Lady Juliana to transport a group of no fewer than 200 female convicts to Australia.

Pulled from British prisons, these convicts were torn from their families and communities to undertake a lengthy sea voyage to the other side of the world. Though conditions aboard the Lady Juliana were better than they were on most male-convict ships, it was still a long, hard journey – the ship left England in July 1789 and didn’t reach its final destination until June 1790. That’s almost an entire year.

As the first exclusively female convict transport to Australia, the voyage of Lady Juliana is of great historical significance. Lady Juliana was also the first convict transport to arrive in Australia after the First Fleet and the only transport of the Second Fleet not to have been chartered by slave traders Camden, Calvert & King.

About the convicts…

Though they were prisoners being transported against their will, many of the women of the Lady Juliana ultimately made the most of their circumstances. This was both during and after the voyage. They were quite busy with side hustles in ports of call and their romantic bartering aboard the ship. Indeed, their journey has gone down in history books as one of the most legendary.

Some Of The Passengers Sold Themselves At Ports En Route To Australia. This was a common enough activity, and enabled the sailors to be happy and productive throughout the long year-long trip. During ports of call, the convicts were also permitted to perform some side-activity to enable them to come up with some side money.

The voyage to Australia lasted about 10 months, as the Lady Juliana voyaged from port to port in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The ship’s stays in places like Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town could last several weeks. The convicts made the most of their global tour by selling their services in these ports.

As John Nicol, the ship’s steward, euphemistically remembered, “We did not restrain the people on shore from coming on board through the day. The captains and seamen, who were in port at the time, paid us many visits.” The women were very busy being in high demand at the ports of call.

British Home Under-Secretary Evan Nepean. Nepean decided that, in order for the new colony to prosper, it would need more than just increased provisions and supplies — it would need the stability created by more women, children, and families. To this end, Nepean ordered a shipment of female convicts to immediately be sent to Sydney Cove and “upon landing, promote a matrimonial connection to improve morals and secure settlement.”

The ladies kept at least part of their earnings. Some of the ship’s officers and sailors allegedly even got in on the business, and their involvement raises serious questions about the degree to which these captive women were coerced into their activities.

 One, a Scottish girl, broke her heart and died in the river; she was  buried at Dartford. Four were pardoned on account of his Majesty's  recovery. The poor young Scottish girl I have never yet got out of my  mind; she was young and beautiful, even in the convict dress, but pale  as death, and her eyes red with weeping. She never spoke to any of the  other women or came on deck. She was constantly seen sitting in the same  corner from morning to night; even the time of meals roused her not. My  heart bled for her, - she was a countrywoman in misfortune. I offered  her consolation, but her hopes and heart had sunk. When I spoke she  heeded me not, or only answered with sighs and tears; if I spoke of  Scotland she would ring her hands an sob, until I thought her heart  would burst. I endeavoured to get her sad story from her lips, but she  was silent as the grave to which she hastened. I lent her my bible to  comfort her, but she read it not; she laid it on her lap after kissing  it, and only bedewed it with her tears. At length she sunk into the  grave, of no disease, but a broken heart. After her death we had only  two Scottish women on board, one of them a Shetlander. 

-John Nicol

In response to Nepean’s command, 225 female thieves, prostitutes, con artists, and some five infants were rounded up from prisons in London and the English countryside to be shipped off to the failing Sydney Cove colony aboard the Lady Juliana. For the English government, the female convicts were to serve two purposes: to prevent the starving and isolated male colonists from engaging in “gross irregularities” and to act as a breeding stock for the troubled settlement.

Many Of The Ship’s Sailors Took The Convict Women As ‘Wives’.

Whether out of love, lust, coercion, or necessity, many of the women on board the ship became the “wives” of the ship’s officers and crew members. As the ship’s steward John Nicol recalled in his memoir of the voyage: “When we were fairly out at sea, every man on board took a wife from among the convicts, they nothing loath.”

 'I went every day to the town to buy fresh provisions and other  necessaries for them. As their friends were allowed to come on board to  see them, they brought money, and numbers had it of their own,  particularly a Mrs. Barnsley, a noted sharper and shoplifter. She  herself told me her family for one hundred years back, had been  swindlers and highwaymen. She had a brother a highwayman, who often came  to see her, as well dressed and genteel in his appearance as any  gentleman.
 
 'Those from the country came all on board in irons; and I was paid half a  crown a head by the country jailors, in many cases, for striking them  off upon my anvil, as they were not locked but rivetted. There was a  Mrs. Davis a noted swindler, who had obtained great quantities of goods  under false names and other equally base means. We had one Mary Williams  transported for receiving stolen goods. She and another eight had been a  long time in Newgate where Lord George Gordon had supported them. I  went once a week to him and got their allowance from his own hand all  the time we lay in the river. 

 -John Nicol

While these marriages were not legal, they nonetheless served a practical purpose: taking a lover onboard the ship often meant better sleeping arrangements for the women.

The women slept in the orlop deck, just above the ship’s bilge, which contained the ship’s holding water, human waste, and remnants of food. Despite such hardships, the ship’s conditions may have seemed preferable to many of the women compared with those they had left behind in London’s prisons. For some of these women, the journey to Sydney Cove itself offered an opportunity for them to better their positions. Women who became “wives” of crewmembers aboard the ship could get access to better provisions and sleeping arrangements. Some women, like Elizabeth Barnsley — a wealthy and successful shoplifter convicted of theft — used their money and influence to procure better lodging and even to create business opportunities on the ship. Prostitution was not unusual in Georgian England or within the shipping industry, and the Lady Juliana soon became something of a “floating brothel.” Crewmembers and, possibly, some of the ship’s female cargo profited from the sex trade in various ports of call, and money earned from prostitution could in turn be used to gain influence on the ship or upon arrival at Sydney Cove. — The women slept in the orlop deck, just above the ship’s bilge, which contained the ship’s holding water, human waste, and remnants of food. Despite such hardships, the ship’s conditions may have seemed preferable to many of the women compared with those they had left behind in London’s prisons. For some of these women, the journey to Sydney Cove itself offered an opportunity for them to better their positions. Women who became “wives” of crewmembers aboard the ship could get access to better provisions and sleeping arrangements.

But at least one partnership was rooted in genuine feeling: Nicol seemed to have fallen in love with prisoner Sarah Whitlam. Though he intended to marry her once her term ended, the two never wed. Nicol had to go back to Britain, leaving Whitlam and their child behind in Australia. He attempted to reunite with her, but they never saw each other again.

We had on board a girl pretty well behaved, who was called, by her acquaintances a daughter of Pitt. She herself never contradicted it. She bore a most striking likeness to him in every feature, and could scarce be known from him as to looks. We left her at Port Jackson. Some of our convicts I have heard even to boast of the crimes and murders committed by them and their accomplices; but the far greater number were harmless unfortunate creatures, the victims of the basest seduction.

When we were fairly out at sea, every man on board took a wife from among the convicts, they nothing loath. The girl with whom I lived, for I was as bad in this point as the others, was named Sarah Whitelam. She was a native of Lincoln, a girl of modest reserved turn, as kind and true a creature as ever lived. I courted her for a week and upwards, and would have married her upon the spot, had there been a clergy man on board. She had been banished for a mantle she had borrowed from an acquaintance. Her friend prosecuted her for stealing it, and she was transported for seven years. I had fixed my fancy upon her from the moment I knocked the rivet out of her irons upon my anvil, and as firmly resolved to bring her back to England, when her time was out, my lawful wife, as ever I did intend anything in my life. She bore me a son in our voyage out. What is become of her, whether she is dead or alive, I know not. That I do not, is no fault of mine, as my narrative will show.

- Excerpt from The Life and Adventures of John Nicol, Mariner printed in the Spirit of the English Magazines

Not all partnerships were as affectionate as Nicol and Whitlam’s appears to have been. The lack of privacy for prisoners on convict ships meant that crew members had access to them, and their relations and interactions could be coercive. The age of consent in 18th-century Britain was 10 years old, so some crew members took teenage wives during the voyage.

Some women, like Elizabeth Barnsley — a wealthy and successful shoplifter convicted of theft — used their money and influence to procure better lodging and even to create business opportunities on the ship. Prostitution was not unusual in Georgian England or within the shipping industry, and the Lady Juliana soon became something of a “floating brothel.” Crewmembers and, possibly, some of the ship’s female cargo profited from the sex trade in various ports of call, and money earned from prostitution could in turn be used to gain influence on the ship or upon arrival at Sydney Cove.

Historian Pamela Horn identified 14-year-old Jane Forbes as one such young wife – she had a baby before reaching Australia.

Colonial Officials Wanted The Women To Prevent Men From Sleeping With Each Other.

 Mary Wade and Jane Whiting were transported on the Lady  Juliana......This day the sessions at the Old Bailey, which began on  Wednesday last, ended, when 18 convicts received sentence of  death......... Of all the criminals who received lenience, those most to  be regretted were two young girls, the eldest only fourteen, the  youngest eleven, in whom the seeds of wickedness had taken such deep  root, as to have rendered them callous to all sense of shame or feeling.  These two artful hussies, Jane Whiting, and Mary Wade, seeing a child  between six and seven years old in the street alone, easily decoyed it  into a privy, under the Treasury wall, where they stripped and then left  it to perish, with cold. Fortunately its cries attracted the notice of  people nearby by, who humanely conducted the child to its friends.. 

(Gentleman's Magazine)

There was not an even distribution of men and women among the convict-colonists in early British Australia. Of the 759 convicts sent to Australia aboard the First Fleet, 568 were men while only 191 were women. As a result, officials worried about how all those men would find partners – some were concerned that they would turn to one another.

For their part, many of the women convicts experienced a newfound sense of freedom at Sydney Cove. Freed from the strictures of traditional society and class, these women saw their new home as a chance to create a new life for themselves — a life filled with unprecedented opportunities.

To correct what 18th-century Britain perceived to be “gross irregularities” in romantic partnerships in Australia, officials begged for more women. The Female Prisoners Were Expected To Civilize The Colony

The women of the Lady Juliana had a particular purpose: Colonial officials hoped that a shipload of women would help civilize the budding convict colony. According to one British official, the increased presence of women would “promote a matrimonial connection to improve morals and secure settlement.”

Mary Talbot was one of the women who was embarked on the Lady Juliana. Mary, with other female prisoners, managed with assistance of their families, to escape from the Lady Juliana while still in port. Mary Talbot was re-captured and eventually transported on the Mary Ann. Another of the escapees Mary Burgess managed to remain at large for 3 years. She had been found guilty of stealing in a dwelling house in October 1787 and received a sentence of death which was afterwards through the Royal mercy pardoned on condition of being transported for 7 years. She was put on board the Lady Juliana and after escaping was spotted by a police runner and apprehended at Christ Church. In her defence she claimed to have been very ill, fell over board, and was taken up by a fisherman. She was recommended to mercy because of her good conduct since and because no wilful escape was proved. — Mary Talbot was one of the women who was embarked on the Lady Juliana. Mary, with other female prisoners, managed with assistance of their families, to escape from the Lady Juliana while still in port. Mary Talbot was re-captured and eventually transported on the Mary Ann. Another of the escapees Mary Burgess managed to remain at large for 3 years. She had been found guilty of stealing in a dwelling house in October 1787 and received a sentence of death which was afterwards through the Royal mercy pardoned on condition of being transported for 7 years. She was put on board the Lady Juliana and after escaping was spotted by a police runner and apprehended at Christ Church. In her defense she claimed to have been very ill, fell over board, and was taken up by a fisherman. She was recommended to mercy because of her good conduct since and because no wilful escape was proved.

They were to marry male colonists, which would supposedly create and maintain respectable family life in the new colony. The women’s prison sentences aimed to transform them into moral vessels that would enable the re-creation of the British family unit abroad.

Most Of The Women Onboard The Ship Had Committed Petty Offenses

The women being transported to New South Wales on the Lady Juliana were prisoners, but their lives were upended for infractions that appear minor in the 21st century. Though some of the women aboard the Lady Juliana might have been ladies of the night, that’s not why they were sent to Australia – harlotry was not a transportable offense. Most of the women on the ship had been arrested and sentenced for various degrees of theft.

Their offenses ranged from highway robbery to shoplifting and pickpocketing. Mary Hook, for example, was around 20 years old when the British court commuted her punishment for stealing her employer’s money and goods from capital punishment to a seven-year sentence in New South Wales.

On the ships to Australia, the prettiest were rumoured to have been shared amongst the military officers. Upon arrival in Australia, the women were lined up like cattle to be selected as servants or wives. If they were not selected, a life of prostitution was their only real hope for survival. — On the ships to Australia, the prettiest were rumored to have been shared amongst the military officers. Upon arrival in Australia, the women were lined up like cattle to be selected as servants or wives. If they were not selected, a life of prostitution was their only real hope for survival.

As the ship prepared to depart, a small group managed to escape. Being sent to the other side of the world may have been preferable to more severe penalties, but it was nonetheless a terrifying experience for many women; some left England with heavy hearts as they were ripped away from friends and family. They worried about their uncertain future on a new continent.

Elizabeth Barnsley Became An Enterprising Madam Aboard The Ship

One of the most notable convicts on the ship was Elizabeth Barnsley. Her offense: stealing some cloth. She quickly became a leader during the voyage. As John Nicol, steward of the Lady Juliana, recalled, “She was very kind to her fellow convicts, who were poor. They were all anxious to serve her. She was as a queen among them.”

Female convicts were a varied bunch. They ranged in age from children to women in old age, but most were in their twenties or thirties. Many were single, but some were married and some were widowed. A small proportion brought children with them on their journey of transportation. Most left family behind in their homeland. Some were transported with family members, or family members had come before them, or came after them.

Barnsley made the most of her circumstances and turned her position into profits – she was instrumental in overseeing her fellow convicts’ economic activities at every port along the way.

Some Of The Women Might Have Been Sex Workers In England

Though they were not being transported to New South Wales for prostitution, many of the women aboard the Lady Juliana may have been ladies of the night. A robust harlotry economy existed in 18th-century Britain, so it’s reasonable to assume that some of the 200-plus convicts took part.

Many of the crimes for which they were transported are considered minor offences by today's standards. The most common crime was stealing—food, clothing, money, household items—nothing worth more than £5. Relatively few of the women were transported for a first offence. A few of the women even courted transportation—deliberately committing crimes such as arson in order to be transported. Perhaps a few were wrongly accused, but the majority, according to the laws of the day, deserved to be transported to the other side of the world, away from kith and kin. — Many of the crimes for which they were transported are considered minor offenses by today’s standards. The most common crime was stealing—food, clothing, money, household items—nothing worth more than £5. Relatively few of the women were transported for a first offense. A few of the women even courted transportation—deliberately committing crimes such as arson in order to be transported. Perhaps a few were wrongly accused, but the majority, according to the laws of the day, deserved to be transported to the other side of the world, away from kith and kin.

Moreover, many of the passengers’ stories fell into the “fallen woman” trope that had become popular in novels and plays. John Nicol believed many of the women had been seduced at some point in their lives. He wrote about how Sarah Dorset, for example, had “fallen” into a life of alleged folly and sin:

She had not been protected by the villain that ruined her above six  weeks; then she was forced by want upon the streets, and taken up as a  disorderly girl; then sent onboard to be transported.

The Lady Juliana Provided Better Living Conditions Than Other Convict Ships And British Prisons.

The women aboard the Lady Juliana came from British prisons. Though a prison reform movement began to grow in the late 18th century, the prison conditions they escaped were deplorable. Prisons were overcrowded, and diseases spread swiftly.

It was still a prison ship, and most of the passenger-convicts slept just above the ship’s garbage and sewage deck. But the women of the Lady Juliana had something that their land-imprisoned counterparts didn’t: consistent access to medical care. The ship had a surgeon and was kept relatively clean.

The meagre number of convict women brought with the First Fleet were ravaged by the men on their first night on land, Aboriginal women were sexually assaulted and soon one of the youngest colonists, an eight year old girl was raped by a marine. To save it from moral collapse, the settlement was in dire need of rescue. Help would come from the most unlikely quarter. Welcome to the startling, shocking and stinking world of Georgian London! Meet some of the motley collection of street-girls, bagsnatchers and con-women who are plying their trade and turning their tricks… Rachel Hoddy is a mischievous prostitute who drags men back to her home not just to relieve them of their money ...but also their clothes. Little Mary Wade, an eleven-year-old street urchin, is hardly the picture of innocence either. Ann Mash has been convicted for stealing just a bushel of wheat. And finally, there's the doyenne of the London crime scene, Mrs. Elizabeth Barnsley. — The meagre number of convict women brought with the First Fleet were ravaged by the men on their first night on land, Aboriginal women were sexually assaulted and soon one of the youngest colonists, an eight year old girl was raped by a marine. To save it from moral collapse, the settlement was in dire need of rescue. Help would come from the most unlikely quarter. Welcome to the startling, shocking and stinking world of Georgian London! Meet some of the motley collection of street-girls, bagsnatchers and con-women who are plying their trade and turning their tricks… Rachel Hoddy is a mischievous prostitute who drags men back to her home not just to relieve them of their money …but also their clothes. Little Mary Wade, an eleven-year-old street urchin, is hardly the picture of innocence either. Ann Mash has been convicted for stealing just a bushel of wheat. And finally, there’s the doyenne of the London crime scene, Mrs. Elizabeth Barnsley.

Also, the women weren’t chained up like prisoners on other convict ships, and they could barter for improved conditions through various favors. John Nicol credited the ship’s captain with being “a humane man” who “did all in his power to make the convicts as comfortable as their circumstances would allow.”

Part of the reason the passengers on the Lady Juliana enjoyed better conditions was because the British government oversaw it, unlike the other ships in the Second Fleet. All the other vessels were operated by Camden, Calvert, and King, a notorious and prolific slave trading company. Only five women perished aboard the Lady Juliana, compared to the 267 deaths reported by the other ships.

About 1 In 5 Of The Passengers Was A Teenager

The vast majority of the women who embarked on the Lady Juliana were in their 20s and 30s. But no fewer than 51 of them – or around 22% – were teenagers. Mary Wade was one of these. Though scholars debate her exact age – recent research says she was 13, while earlier records show she was only 11 – she was the youngest convict on the ship.

Incarcerated for their ‘crimes’ and reprieved from death sentences these women are swept up in a government plot to rescue the starving colony at Sydney Cove. But these women will never be at the mercy of the bigwigs of the British Empire. Aboard The Lady Juliana, they criss-cross the oceans and at each port of call the women show they have quite a head for enterprise. Turning the boardwalks into catwalks they convert the ship into a floating brothel, the sure means to feeding themselves and staying alive. These women are survivors and doing business is in their blood. Sydney Cove will get more than it bargained for when this lot arrive. This is the rip-roaring tale of a boat-load of women who sailed to the ends of the earth to breath life into a dying colony. But together they would give Sydney and the nation of Australia something much more – a future. As their descendents discover the story by unearthing diaries, court records and documents they begin to draw parallels with their own twenty-first century lives, and discover they have inherited more than just their genes - but also the incredible entrepreneurial spirit of their forebears. — Incarcerated for their ‘crimes’ and reprieved from death sentences these women are swept up in a government plot to rescue the starving colony at Sydney Cove. But these women will never be at the mercy of the bigwigs of the British Empire. Aboard The Lady Juliana, they criss-cross the oceans and at each port of call the women show they have quite a head for enterprise. Turning the boardwalks into catwalks they convert the ship into a floating brothel, the sure means to feeding themselves and staying alive. These women are survivors and doing business is in their blood. Sydney Cove will get more than it bargained for when this lot arrive. This is the rip-roaring tale of a boat-load of women who sailed to the ends of the earth to breath life into a dying colony. But together they would give Sydney and the nation of Australia something much more – a future. As their descendents discover the story by unearthing diaries, court records and documents they begin to draw parallels with their own twenty-first century lives, and discover they have inherited more than just their genes – but also the incredible entrepreneurial spirit of their forebears.

Like many of her shipmates, Wade ultimately married and had a large number of children in Australia.

Drunkenness Was The Biggest Disciplinary Problem On The Ship

Though it took the Lady Juliana nearly 11 months to reach Australia, there were relatively few disciplinary problems among the convicts on the ship. One notable issue did arise involving drunkenness leading to disorderly behavior.

To curb her so-called “rowdiness,” crew members made passenger Nance Ferrel wear a repurposed wooden barrel “jacket.” When that didn’t work, they resorted to flogging her 12 times.

On arrival, female convicts were sent directly to the Female Factory. Many only remained a day or so before they were assigned to settlers to work as domestic servants, and many were married soon after arrival. Any man wanting to marry one of the women could apply to the authorities for permission to do so. The women were then lined up at the Factory and the man would drop a scarf or handkerchief at the feet of the woman of his choice. If she picked it up, the marriage was virtually immediate.

Many Colonists Were Annoyed When The Ship Arrived Carrying Women Instead Of Provisions

The First Fleet of convict-colonists arrived in 1788. So by the time the Lady Juliana sailed into Sydney in June 1790, the people already there were desperate to replenish their severely dwindled supplies. Many of them were disappointed to learn the Lady Juliana was a ship carrying people, not goods. One government official grumbled that the Lady Juliana carried “a cargo so unnecessary and so unprofitable as 222 females, instead of a cargo of provisions.”

Although some convict women were classed as depraved and prostitutes, others had been in domestic service in England and were transported for stealing from their employers or shops. After arrival, though, many had to take up prostitution to survive; and the system of selection of servants often meant that the gentry and officers would choose the young and the pretty amongst the women convicts.

Though the ship didn’t bring much in the way of food and goods, it did bring long-awaited news from home, such as dispatches that first alerted the colonists in Australia to the French Revolution that had erupted in 1789.

The Women On The Ship Had To Wear Convict Dresses

As prisoners, the women going to Australia on the Lady Juliana were expected to wear convict dresses. At least one fashionable prisoner protested this. According to the ship’s steward, Elizabeth Barnsley actually “petitioned the government agent and captain to be allowed to wear her own clothes” while the ship prepared to sail. Her request was denied, but the crew allowed her to wear whatever she wanted once the boat went to sea.

"Whore" and "prostitute", in England during the Georgian era, were bandied about to serve the moral views of middle-class ideology. However, in the lower classes neither the male nor the female convicts thought it disgraceful, or even wrong, to live together out of wedlock. The sexism of English society was brought to Australia and then amplified by penal conditions. A convict woman needed unusual strength of character not to be crushed by its assumptions. Language itself confirmed her degradation, and some sense of this may be gleaned from the slang and cant words applied to women in those times—a brusque, stinging argot of appropriation and dismissal. — “Whore” and “prostitute”, in England during the Georgian era, were bandied about to serve the moral views of middle-class ideology. However, in the lower classes neither the male nor the female convicts thought it disgraceful, or even wrong, to live together out of wedlock. The sexism of English society was brought to Australia and then amplified by penal conditions. A convict woman needed unusual strength of character not to be crushed by its assumptions. Language itself confirmed her degradation, and some sense of this may be gleaned from the slang and cant words applied to women in those times—a brusque, stinging argot of appropriation and dismissal.

Since the convicts all wore issued dresses, the ship’s captain had the right to dispose of all the passengers’ clothing – but he didn’t, and instead held it for them. He reasoned that the garments “would be of use to the poor creatures when they arrived at Port Jackson.

Some Of The Women Brought Their Children, And Others Gave Birth On The Way

Some of the women aboard the Lady Juliana were already mothers before the ship departed England, and so they brought their children with them. Many of the convict-passengers became pregnant and even gave birth during the long voyage.

A woman was a bat, a crack, a buntel, a case for cattle, a mort, a burick, or a convenient. If she had a regular man, she was his natural or peculiar. If married, she was an autem mott; if blonde, a bleached mott; if a very young prostitute, almost a child, a kinchin mott; if beautiful, a rum blowen, a ewe, a flash piece of mutton. If she had gonorrhea, she was a queer mott. This language was the lower millstone; the upper was the pompous moral phraseology of the establishment, the good flogging Christians. The double-bind to which they were condemned was piercingly illustrated by the remark of one Scottish settler, Peter Murdoch—who had more than 6,000 acres in Van Diemen's Land and had helped set up the penal station on Maria Island—to the 1838 Select Committee in London: "They are generally so bad," he said, "that the settlers have no heart to treat them well." — A woman was a bat, a crack, a buntel, a case for cattle, a mort, a burick, or a convenient. If she had a regular man, she was his natural or peculiar. If married, she was an autem mott; if blonde, a bleached mott; if a very young prostitute, almost a child, a kinchin mott; if beautiful, a rum blowen, a ewe, a flash piece of mutton. If she had gonorrhea, she was a queer mott. This language was the lower millstone; the upper was the pompous moral phraseology of the establishment, the good flogging Christians. The double-bind to which they were condemned was piercingly illustrated by the remark of one Scottish settler, Peter Murdoch—who had more than 6,000 acres in Van Diemen’s Land and had helped set up the penal station on Maria Island—to the 1838 Select Committee in London: “They are generally so bad,” he said, “that the settlers have no heart to treat them well.”

Historians generally believe five to seven babies were born on the ship, but steward John Nicol suggested no less than 20 had been born while the ship was in port at Rio. They were prepared for the births – the ship had received a small donation of baby linens before leaving England.

Life In Australia Brought New Freedoms And Opportunities For Some Of The Passengers

Unlike other convicts on prison ships, the women aboard the Lady Juliana were not chained together. They were even allowed to move freely around the boat.

And once they arrived in New South Wales, they quickly discovered they could enjoy new freedoms there that they couldn’t in England, even though they were prisoners with few rights who were put in difficult and often dangerous positions.

Instead of iron gangs, troublesome and hardened female prisoners were retained at the female factory. The first such factory was built at Parramatta in 1804 and initially consisted of a single long room with a fireplace at one end for the women to cook. Women and girls made rope and spun and carded wool. At night they slept on the piles of unspun wool.

Women arriving in Australia were free from certain British moral codes, even while colonial officials expected them to be vessels of morality. English laws that marked children of unwed mothers as illegitimate, for example, were not enforced.

 The rituals of  courtship on Norfolk Island  were, to put it mildly, brusque. We see the  "bright intelligent" Kimberley pursuing a  married convict woman named  Mary Ginders with an axe, shouting that "if she did not come  and live  with him he would report her to the Major and have her placed in the   cells." Major Foveaux got the woman of his choice, Ann Sherwin, away  from  one of his subordinate officers by throwing him in jail on a  trumped-up charge  "so that," claimed the Irish rebel leader Joseph  Holt, a Norfolk  prisoner at the time, "the poor fellow, seeing the  danger he was in,  thought it better to save his life, and lose his  wife, than to lose both". At least their union lasted: Foveaux married  Ann Sherwin in England in 1815.
                 
In  such a moral environment, although male convicts had some rights,  however  attenuated, the women had none except the right to be fed; they  had to fend for  themselves against both guards and male prisoners.  "England for white slaves, why were they sent  here," Jones scribbled in  one of his outbursts of delayed guilt, while  reflecting on the fate of  three women sent to Norfolk   Island for the "crime" of abortion, for  crimes that required pity more than punishment. "Heaven  forbid England   if that is her way of populating her hellholes. What would our noble  persons  think of our virgin settlements and their white slaves. In  every case the women  treated as slaves, good stock to trade with and a  convict having the good chance to possess one  did not want much  encouragement to do so." 

-Convict Women

The women of the Lady Juliana were also fortunate in that they avoided the fate that awaited future generations of convict women bound for Australia – the notoriously brutal Parramatta Female Factory didn’t open until 1821, well after their sentences ended.

Life was quite difficult for convict women. Most were sentenced in England for minor crimes such as pickpocketing or theft. As punishment, not only were they exported from their country, many were forced to endure of a life of sexual exploitation. On the ships to Australia, the prettiest were rumoured to have been shared amongst the military officers. Upon arrival in Australia, the women were lined up like cattle to be selected as servants or wives. If they were not selected, a life of prostitution was their only real hope for survival.

Though being transported to a new colony to get married and propagate British family life was no doubt daunting, many women made the most of their circumstances in Australia.

Because the women carried a very negative stigma, morals crusaders often tried to educate them regarding the folly of their ways. Women who simply stood in an "immoral pose" risked having their heads shaved and being forced to wear a collar around their neck as a mark of disgrace. The most difficult women were sent to female factories, which were essentially forced labour camps. Here they continued to be educated about the virtues of morality.

At the Cascades Female Factory in 1838, the moralising became too much for the women and they decided to make a point. The governor of Van Diemen's Land visited the factory and attended a service in the chapel. Entertaining the governor was the Reverend William Bedford, a morals campaigner whose hypocrisy had elicited the ladies' scorn. Keen to impress the governor with a fine speech, Bedford addressed the women from an elevated dais and then: "The three hundred women turned right around and at one impulse pulled up their clothes showing their naked posteriors which they simultaneously smacked with their hands making a loud and not very musical noise. This was the work of a moment, and although constables, warders etc. were there in plenty, yet 300 women could not well be all arrested and tried for such an offence and when all did the same act the ringleaders could not be picked out."

This cheeky behaviour "horrified and astounded" the governor and the male members of the party. As for the ladies in the governor's party, it was said, in a rare moment of collusion with the convict women, "could not control their laughter".

-Convict Women

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Australian colonies were societies on the rise – and they created new opportunities. Some Lady Juliana passengers became upwardly mobile once their prison terms ended.

The Lady Juliana was the first convict ship to carry women. It had been "opened" on the ports on the way to Australia and had thus become known as "the floating brothel." It arrived in Port Jackson in 1790. As the women were disembarked, a drunken orgy broke out. Sailors and convicts were in and around the women's tents, some queuing for sex, others making love with women they had forged attachments with on the voyage. Perhaps the women were willing parties in the orgy, but if they weren’t, they probably didn’t have much choice other than to go along. Either way, the convict women became regarded as depraved and immoral. One witness to the orgy wrote, "The women, cooped up on the voyage and for another 10 hot and intolerable days outside Sydney Cove, had not too many chaste figures among them." — The Lady Juliana was the first convict ship to carry women. It had been “opened” on the ports on the way to Australia and had thus become known as “the floating brothel.” It arrived in Port Jackson in 1790. As the women were disembarked, a drunken orgy broke out. Sailors and convicts were in and around the women’s tents, some queuing for sex, others making love with women they had forged attachments with on the voyage. Perhaps the women were willing parties in the orgy, but if they weren’t, they probably didn’t have much choice other than to go along. Either way, the convict women became regarded as depraved and immoral. One witness to the orgy wrote, “The women, cooped up on the voyage and for another 10 hot and intolerable days outside Sydney Cove, had not too many chaste figures among them.”

While some returned to England, others remained in Australia to make their fortune. Ann Marsh, for one, found success after being abandoned by her ship husband. She started and ran a variety of businesses, including a liquor shop and a ferry company. These women had a lasting impact on the land, becoming the so-called “founding mothers of Australia.”

On another occasion, Reverend Bedford was crossing the courtyard of the Female House of Correction, when "some dozen or twenty women seized upon him, took off his trousers and deliberately endeavoured to deprive him of his manhood. They were, however, unable to effect their purpose in consequence of the opportune arrival of a few constables who seized the fair ladies and placed them in durance vile."

The brutalization of women in the colony had gone on so long that it was virtually a social reflex by the end of the 1830s. The first full account of it was given by Robert Jones, Major Foveaux's chief jailer on Norfolk Island in the early 1800's, who thought the lot of the women prisoners there "must surely have been greater than the male convicts.... Several have not recovered yet from their treatment at the hands of the Major." Passages in Jones's memoir show how absolute the chattel status of women was. "Ted Kimberley chief constable considered the convicts of Norfolk Island no better than heathens unfit to grace the earth. Women were in his estimation born for the convenience of men. He was a bright intelligent Irishman." Jones's sentiments are echoed in a fragmentary letter from a free settler on Norfolk Island, an ex-missionary turned trader named James Mitchell. "Surely no common mortal could demand treatment so brutal," he wrote around 1815. "Heaven give their weary footsteps their aching hearts to a better place of rest for here there is none. During governorship of Major Foveaux convicts both male and female were held as slaves. Poor female convicts were treated shamefully. Governor King being mainly responsible."

-Convict Women

A new start

The hardships endured by the women appeared to build a strong sense of female solidarity. The women sang songs, which were often labelled “very disgusting”. When matrons tried to separate agitators from the group, the entire group would sometimes chant “we are all alike, we are all alike.”

Not only did the actions protect individual women, they also made convict life a bit more bearable.

The True Colonist reported in 1837 that while the “horrors of the crime class” had shocked the inhabitants of Van Diemen’s Land, what was more disagreeable to evangelical moral sensibilities was the fact that many women prefer this class to the others, because it is more lively!

There is more fun there than in the others; and we have been informed, that some of the most sprightly of the ladies divert their companions by acting plays!”

As is often the case, out of something bad came something good.

The hardships endured by the convict women seemed to build an ethic to alleviate the hardships in others. Successful convict women such as Molly Morgan never forgot their own hardships earlier in life, and donated freely to establish schools, hospitals and even churches.

Free immigrants like Caroline Chisholm also decided to do something about the suffering they saw around them. She took some women into her house and traveled the colony to find employment for others.

Within two years she had found employment and accommodation for over a thousand women and girls. She then went on to found the Family Colonization Loan Society to help break the cycle of dependence and poverty.

Chisolm’s compassion always came with strings attached.

In her hostels, she employed a tough love approach in which she made it clear that guests should never get too comfortable because they should be out looking for a job.

Mother Mary McKillop was another whose compassion probably flowed from seeing the horrors of the day. Mary took a vow of personal poverty and always shared the hardships of the people she was trying to help.

She was able to personally survive largely because people helped her as well. A society that started off as one in which everyone looked out for themselves, evolved into one in which people started looking out for others.

A society that started off as one in which everyone looked out for themselves, evolved into one in which people started looking out for others.

America, take note.

Posts Regarding Life and Contentment

Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.

The Navy is scrapping the F/A-18 Hornet.

Excuses that we use that keep us enslaved.

Funny Pictures

Be the Rufus – Tales of Everyday Heroism.

Be the Rufus, part II. More tales of heroism.

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The US involvement in the HK “Democracy Now” movement.

Here, in this article, we look at the United States involvement with HK. We [1] study how the United States uses Hong Kong to exert pressure on China for trade and geopolitical advantage. We also [2] take a look at the various people “behind the scenes” that are pushing for American involvement, for their own personal gain. Finally, [3] we study the role that the American media plays that the stereotypes that they cultivate in order to manipulate Americans. This is perhaps the most comprehensive overview of the USA / China involvement in Hong Kong that you will find on the internet.

For starters, you the reader should recognize that global politics are often complicated, and convoluted. People will say one thing and then do the other. That there are forces, all with their own agendas, manipulating, jockeying, and vying for positions of power and advantage. All of this takes place on a canvas that is painted by the media. Often, a picture that doesn’t at all resemble what is actually going on behind the scene.

Or has everyone forgotten the "Trump is going to prison for conspiring with Russia to steal the election" narrative from the mainstream media from 20016 though to 2019?

The HK / USA / China issue is typical in geo-political posturing. It is like an onion. It really is.

You look at the onion, and you see the outside as portrayed to you. Much like how you observe the news media reporting. Then, you peel away the first layer. There you see the actions, and turmoil behind the scene. Your eyes will often burn. Because the truth what is going on was unknown to you. You then peel away the second layer, and find out just how deep all this goes.

You continue deeper and deeper.

You peel each layer away, one by one. And then finally you reach the true truth of the matter and take a good hard look at what is involved. In this particular situation, there are nine (x9) levels or layers of this “onion”. Ah, yes, and in this article we will investigate each one.

The HK - China - USA "free democracy" protests during 2019, and their complexity relative to the comparison to that of the layers of skin in an onion. — The HK – China – USA “free democracy” protests during 2019, and their complexity relative to the comparison to that of the layers of skin in an onion.

Here, we will proceed forward and address this issue in all of it’s complexity. We will move forward from the outside inward, and study each layer in relative detail.

The layers in this issue are;

News media reporting and bias.
Constructed and cultivated stereotypes.
The actual physical events.
The people who caused the events.
The people who are driving the events forward and pushing.
The people who provide financial support, training, and logistics.
The rise of the risks involved.
Reactions and the casualties of war.
The root effects; the trade relationships between the USA, HK and China.

As such, we will begin here…

News media reporting and bias.

President Donald Trump tweeted on August 13 that he “can’t imagine why” the United States has been blamed for the chaotic protests that have gripped Hong Kong.

Donald Trump doesn't understand how anyone could link the Summer of 2019 HK riots with the Summer of 2019 Trade Wars with China. — Donald Trump doesn’t understand how anyone could link the Summer of 2019 HK riots with the Summer of 2019 Trade Wars with China.

Trump’s befuddlement might be believable considering [1] the carefully managed narrative of the US government. As well as [2] the mainstream American media apparatus. Yeah, I get it. Even VP Mike Pence repeats this ludicrous narrative. But come on! Do you really think that the world believes this? After Syria? After Libya?

What? You think that the Chinese will believe that you are sincere?

This GIF pretty much sums up how it looks like to the rest of the world…

I am shocked! Shocked! That there is a connection between the **Summer of 2019 HK riots** and the **Summer of 2019 trade wars**.

I believe that the Hong Kong protest is influenced by the US.

The rioters are well-trained, organized and commanded, knowing what  to do and when to do it, they have a united uniform, they know where the  cameras are and they know how to disable them, they know how to fight  against tear gas. 

The violent protests are not simply targeting the  extradition law amendment bill, but also aiming to throw Hong Kong into  disarray, to drag down the SAR government. 

- Ty Yang (Hong Kong , China)

You think that they do not have informants? You think that HK is independent and immune from Chinese mainland observation? You think China doesn’t have cameras, video surveillance, wiretaps on telephones, and are not monitoring their insurgents?

Of course they are. And of course, they know full well what is going on. They know.

Keep your hands off Hong Kong! 

US has no authority to lecture China on  our own sovereign territory. How can US warmongers like Mike Pence even  have the legitimacy to talk about HK, when the US is still illegally  militarily occupying Syria with their US bases. Syria gave no permission  for the US to build bases in Syria. How can the US think they have any  god-given right to smack to China? 

-  MrBudha888 (China)

And we shouldn’t take their (apparent) lack of action on these matters as a weakness. Instead, we should consider it with the upmost caution. They do not make decisions based on what they see on CNN. They make their decisions off other criteria.

So it would be the height of follow to assume that the Chinese are simpletons, backwards, inept, and foolish. They are not. They know the game, and how it is played. They have over 5000 years of political intrigue, and they most certainly will not base their decisions off of what they see on the news.

The suspicion of US manipulation behind the scenes is gaining traction in the online world. 

The US has gained notoriety for using subterfuge to interfere with other sovereignty's affairs. 

It's not like the world is oblivious to that. 

- Joseph Kuan (US)

This reporting has been very “black and white”.

They report that the protests are some kind of organic “pro-democracy” expression of young idealistic grassroots youth. That they only want “freedom”, American style “democracy”, and a “slice of the American pie”. They just do not want to be considered Chinese, and they certainly don’t want anything to do with mainland China.

Oh. If only it were TRUE…

Why are they asking for World War III? Are they out of their collective minds? — The protests have been staged and arranged for an American audience, because that is the insurgents’ primary funding source.

However, a look beneath the surface of this oversimplified, made-for-television script reveals the truth.

It’s all a stack of cards. It’s all an illusion. It’s all a manipulation. It’s all a line and nonsense. And the Chinese are all well-aware of this.

US is everywhere in other countries' affairs! What a joke!
  
Nothing will distract China from focusing on economic development and  raising the standard of living for the 1.4 billion Chinese people.
  
The US should do the same, concentrating its resources and energy to  improve American people's lives. There is so much more to be desired for  the most advanced country of the world. 

- Miyya Z (China)

The truth is that there is a small but extremely vocal and well-funded, ferociously anti-Chinese network behind the demonstrations. They hate China. They really, seriously do.

But, it’s more than just hating China.

They hate America as well. They also hate Britain. They are so filled with hate that you would think that they were members of the American terrorist groups Antifa, and BLM. I mean, after all, they look like them, they act like them, and they use the exact same strategies as their American counterparts, the Antifa.

What? You think the Antifa and BLM love America? That’s what you think?

When a masked radical is shouting and screaming at you and is tellin you that they want you hurt, tortured, and killed, you should believe them. — When a masked radical is shouting and screaming at you and is telling you that they want you hurt, tortured, and killed, you should believe them. The mainland Chinese are listening to them, and as a result they are amassing military forces in the event that things spiral out of control.

But they will cover up and hide their hate. Most of the time they will put on masks and pretend to be something else. They will act nice and courteous, and seem and appear reasonable. Anything to obtain their goals.

Frangfang (Hong Kong, China)

The US is linking the current situation in Hong Kong to the US-China  trade negotiations, using Hong Kong as leverage to pressure compromise  from China. Such 'bargaining', in essence using Hong Kong as a 'trading  chip', would be a gross insult to the Hong Kong people.

And their goals are simple ones. It’s what every dictator and tyrant wants. They want their own fiefdom; they want Hong Kong as their own, and then they want to join the rest of the world as global oligarchs.

And America plays along.

Jimmy Lai (HK billionaire) meets with American VP Mike Pence. — Jimmy Lai (HK ultra-billionaire) meets with American VP Mike Pence. His goal is to disrupt the relationship between the United States and China so that he can have financial and economic advantage in Hong Kong. His primary and sole goal is to INTERRUPT the relationship between China and America.

This network has been cultivated, funded, and trained with the help of millions of dollars from the US government. (Read on to see the funding amounts, the agencies, the American officials involved, and other particulars.) Not to mention a particularly vocal progressive globalist Washington-linked local Hong Kong media tycoon. (Jimmy Lai with dreams of his own nation, and a near religious cult of followers.)

Constructed and cultivated stereotypes.

The way that the events are portrayed in Hong Kong is to fit the appetite for the American news-consuming audience. In particular, to appeal to the emotions of two especially and diametrically opposed groups;

The Progressive, Liberal Democrat Marxists.
The Traditional, Conservative Republicans.

The protests in HK are staged to pander to the American consumer. They are designed most especially to trigger emotional responses from AMerican. This is most especially true when the protestors sand the Star Spangled Banner. I ask the reader this, how many of you can sing the Chinese national anthem? — The protests in HK are staged to pander to the American consumer. They are designed most especially to trigger emotional responses from Americans. This is most especially true when the protestors sang the Star Spangled Banner. I ask the reader this, how many of you can sing the Chinese national anthem?

Let’s start with the appeals to the liberal democrat progressive Marxists in America. Look at the progressive media show DemocracyNow! (DN!) as one example. It is a prominent media outlet on the “progressive” end of the spectrum. They have been quite busy “reporting” on all the protests in Hong Kong. They report on them as if they are part and parcel of the same kinds of Antifa and BLM protests in the United States. So, of course, they would report on everything. Right?

From April through August 28, there  have been 25 brief accounts (“headlines” as DN! calls them, each  amounting to a few paragraphs) of the events in Hong Kong and 4  features, longer supposedly analytic pieces, on the same topic.  Transcripts of the four features are here, here, here and here.

Democracy Now! is an hour-long American TV, radio and internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman, who also acts as the show's executive producer, and Juan González. The show, which airs live each weekday at 08:00 ET, is broadcast on the internet and by over 1,400 radio and television stations worldwide. — Democracy Now! is an hour-long American TV, radio and internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman, who also acts as the show’s executive producer, and Juan González. The show, which airs live each weekday at 08:00 ET, is broadcast on the internet and by over 1,400 radio and television stations worldwide.

There is not a single mention of [1] possible US involvement or the meetings of the various leaders of the protest movement with [2] Pompeo, [3] Bolton, [4] Pence, or [5] the “Political Counselor” of the US Hong Kong consulate. It’s almost like they ignore the news that doesn’t fit their narrative. Imagine that!

And this silence on US meddling is true not only of most progressive commentators but also most conservatives.

On the Left when someone cries “Democracy,” many forget all their  pro-peace sentiment. And similarly on the Right when someone cries  “Communism,” anti-interventionism too often goes down the tubes.

In fact on its August 12 program, DN! managed a story taking a swipe at Russia right next to the one on Hong Kong – and DN! was in the forefront of advancing the now debunked and disgraced Russiagate Conspiracy Theory.

Amy Goodman is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement and Chevron Corporation's role in Nigeria. Since 1996, she has been the main host of Democracy Now!, a progressive global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the Internet. — Amy Goodman is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement and Chevron Corporation’s role in Nigeria. Since 1996, she has been the main host of Democracy Now!, a progressive global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the Internet.

Yes, on the other side of the political spectrum, is an appeal to American conservatives.

Protesters in Hong Kong waving the American flag and singing the American National anthem as they advocate for democracy. Wow! pic.twitter.com/CKyFstud22 

— Kaya Jones (@KayaJones) August 12, 2019

Displays of pro-American “jingoism” in the streets of Hong Kong have been like catnip for the international traditional conservative right. Conservatives LOVE to hear that people are throwing down the chains of Marxist socialism and embracing liberty and freedom. Even though they are actually calling for “democracy”, instead.)

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host and conservative political commentator. He resides in Palm Beach, Florida, where he broadcasts The Rush Limbaugh Show. According to December 2015 estimates by Talkers Magazine, Limbaugh has a cume of around 13.25 million unique listeners, making his show the most listened-to American radio station.

Conservative Joey Gibson

Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson recently appeared at an anti-extradition protest in Hong Kong, live-streaming the event to  his tens of thousands of followers. 

A month earlier, Gibson was seen roughing up antifa activists alongside ranks of club wielding fascists. 

In Hong Kong, the alt-right organizer marveled at the crowds. “They love our flag here more than they do in America!” Gibson exclaimed as marchers passed by, flashing him a thumbs up sign while he waved the Stars and Stripes.

In Hong Kong, Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson marveled at the crowds. “They love our flag here more than they do in America!” .

Personally, I like to refer to these narratives a “two dimensional”, “black and white”, “cardboard cutouts”. It’s a simplified narrative useful for emotional manipulation of large groups of simple-minded people.

Boris and Natasha are card-board cut-outs (a two dimensional portrayal) of Russian Communists dueing the 1960's and into the 1970's. — Boris and Natasha are card-board cut-outs (a two dimensional portrayal) of Russian Communists during the 1960’s and into the 1970’s.

The actual physical events.

Throughout the summer of 2019 the world has watched as protests shook Hong Kong.

A man in Taiwan murdered his girlfriend and then fled to Hong Kong. The Taiwan government wanted HK to extradite him to face justice. To facilitate this (and other similar cases), an extradition bill was proposed and about to be signed, when suddenly all Hell broke loose.

It turned out that (apparently, out of the blue), a large number of Hong Kong residents didn't like the idea of being forcibly extradited to another country to face legal charges.

As early as April they began as peaceful demonstrations which peaked in early June, with hundreds of thousands, in protest of an extradition bill.

That bill would have allowed Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, to return criminals to Taiwan, mainland China or Macau for crimes committed there – after approval by multiple layers of the Hong Kong judiciary.

In other words, if you commit a crime in Taiwan and flee to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong police would no longer provide you with a safe-haven. They would return you back to the Taiwan where you committed the crime.

Ai! This was considered an assault in "freedom" and "liberty".

Protestors in Hong Kong protesting the passage of the extradition bill.

In the wake of those enormous nonviolent demonstrations, Carrie Lam, CEO of Hong Kong, “suspended” consideration of the extradition bill, a face-saving ploy. To make sure she was understood, she declared it “dead.”

The large rallies, an undeniable expression of the peaceful will of a large segment of the Hong Kong population had won an impressive victory. The unpopular extradition bill was slain.

But that was not the end of the story.

The protests continued.

Carrie Lam, CEO of HK, meets with Xi Peng the PResident of Mainland China. — Carrie Lam, CEO of HK, meets with Xi Peng the President of Mainland China.

They… continued.

They continued, even after their goals were met.

They continued, even after the head of the HK government admitted to bowing down to the demands of the protestors. Yes, it’s true. A smaller segment continued the protests. (The Hong Kong police at one point estimated 4,000 hard core protesters.)

They pressed on with other demands, beginning with a demand that  the bill be “withdrawn,” not simply “suspended.” Well, it's all a matter of terminology. By “suspension” is every bit as terminal as death by “withdrawal.”  The most recent news confirms that Corrie Lam has now formally withdrawn the bill.

But even at that, the protests are continuing by this group of hard-core radicals.

They still continued to protest.

The people who initiated, inflamed or caused the events.

On the surface, it seems very simple. An extradition bill was up for ratification. Protests against the ratification were initiated, and the bill was withdrawn. Victory, right?

Nope.

Radical elements are pushing for more protests. These are violent protests, and they pull at the heartstrings of American democrats who can see their faces behind the black-hoods and face masks of the protestors, as well as American conservatives who get "goosebumps" when they see their American flags being waved along side for calls for freedom and democracy.

Who are the public people who are getting everyone all riled up and agitated on both sides of this issue (oh, yes, there are two sides to this issue. Even though the mainstream America only shows one side.)?

As the summer passed, two iconic photos presented us with two human faces that captured two crucial features of the ongoing protests; they were not shown widely in the West. They are, apparently, not considered to be “newsworthy” enough for the American viewing public.

Fu Guohao

First, Fu Guohao, a reporter for the Chinese mainland newspaper, Global Times, was attacked, bound and beaten by the radical protesters. This occurred during their takeover of the Hong Kong International Airport.

FuGuohao, a reporter for the Global Times, a nationalistic Communist Party-run newspaper, has become an overnight sensation. He is being hailed as a hero on Chinese social media after he was tied up and beaten by protesters as Tuesday’s demonstrations at Hong Kong’s airport descended into violence. 

- Chinese Reporter Assaulted at Hong Kong Airport

When police and rescuers tried to free him, the protesters blocked them and also attempted to block the ambulance that eventually bore him off to the hospital.

Protestors fought the police.
Protestors blocked the ambulance.
Protestors bound, taunted and tortured Mr. Fu Guohao.

The photos and videos of this ugly sequence were seen by netizens across the globe even though given scant attention in Western media.

Where were the stalwart defenders of the press in the US as this happened? As one example, DemocracyNow! (DN!) was completely silent as was the rest of the US mainstream media.

Fu’s beating came after many weeks when the  protesters threw up barriers to stop traffic; blocked closure of subway  doors, in defiance of commuters and police, to shut down mass transit;  sacked and vandalized the HK legislature building; assaulted bystanders  who disagreed with them; attacked the police with Molotov cocktails; and  stormed and defaced police stations.

The protestors seem to be trying to provoke mainland China to take action. However, HK is standing firm and allowing the protestors a great deal of leeway in their actions and damage.

Fu’s ordeal and all these actions shown in photos on Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, a paper leaning to the side of protesters, gave the lie to the image of these “democracy activists” as young Ghandis of East Asia.

The South China Morning Post is based in  Hong Kong and its readership is concentrated there so it has to have some reasonable fidelity in reporting events; otherwise it loses credibility – and circulation. 

Similarly, much as the New York Times abhorred Occupy Wall Street, it could not fail to report on it.

Joshua Wong

A younger generation of political HK activists emerged during the 2014 Occupy Central protests with a new brand of localized politics. It is a brand that appealed to the American conservative (anti-Chinese) Right.

Joshua Wong was just 17 years old when the Umbrella Movement took form in 2014. After emerging in the protest ranks as one of the more charismatic voices, he was steadily groomed as the pro-West camp’s teenage poster child.

Joshua Wong meets with Sen. Marco Rubio in Washington on May 8, 2017 — Joshua Wong meets with Sen. Marco Rubio (R) in Washington on May 8, 2017

Wong received lavish praised in Time magazine, Fortune, and Foreign Policy as a “freedom campaigner,” and became the subject of an award-winning Netflix documentary called “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower.”

Unsurprisingly, these puff pieces have overlooked Wong’s ties to the United States government’s regime-change apparatus. For that is what he is. He is the face of the American conservative foreign branch.

For instance, National Endowment for Democracy’s National Democratic Institute (NDI) maintains a close relationship with Demosistō, the political party Wong founded in 2016 with fellow Umbrella movement alumnus Nathan Law.

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a U.S. non-profit soft power organization that was founded in 1983 with the stated goal of promoting democracy abroad. It is funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress in the form of a grant awarded through the United States Information Agency (USIA). It is an American agency that obtains funds directly from the American federal government.

National Endowment for Democracy’s National Democratic Institute (NDI)

To find out a little bit more about this “shadowy” and “well funded” machine for causing protests, turmoil, and discord in other nations, read this…

It’s a bit long. You can skim over it, or ignore it as you wish. It’s just some really interesting background information on how front organizations, funded by the United States government, can be used to create proxy protests, and turmoil for American geo-political advantage.

“They’re meddling in our politics!” That’s the war cry of outraged Clintonites and neocons, who seem to think election interference is something that Russians do to us and we never, ever do to them.

But meddling in other countries has been a favorite Washington pastime ever since William McKinley vowed to “Christianize” the Philippines in 1899, despite the fact that most Filipinos were already Catholic. Today, an alphabet soup of U.S. agencies engage in political interference virtually around the clock, everyone from USAID to the VOA, RFE/RL to the DHS—respectively the U.S. Agency for International Development, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Department of Homeland Security. The last maintains some 2,000 U.S. employees in 70 countries to ensure that no one even thinks of doing anything bad to anyone over here.

Then there is the National Endowment for Democracy, a $180-million-a-year government-funded outfit that is a byword for American intrusiveness. The NED is an example of what might be called “speckism,” the tendency to go on about the speck in your neighbor’s eye without ever considering the plank in your own (see Matthew 7 for further details). Prohibited by law from interfering in domestic politics, the endowment devotes endless energy to the democratic shortcomings of other countries, especially when they threaten American interests.

In 1984, the year after it was founded, it channeled secret funds to a military-backed presidential candidate in Panama, gave $575,000 to a right-wing French student group, and delivered nearly half a million dollars to right-wing opponents of Costa Rican president Oscar Arias—because Arias had refused to go along with our anti-communist policy in Central America.

A year later, it gave $400,000 to the anti-Sandinista opposition in Nicaragua and then another $2 million in 1988. It used its financial muscle in the mid-1990s to persuade a right-wing party to draw up a “Contract with Slovakia” modeled on Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America; persuaded free marketeers to do the same in Mongolia; gave nearly $1 million to Venezuelan rightists who went on to mount a short-lived putsch against populist leader Hugo Chavez in 2002; and then funded anti-Russian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine in 2005, and the later anti-Russian coup there in 2014.

What all this had to do with democracy is unclear, although the NED’s role in advancing U.S. imperial interests is beyond doubt. Rather than “my country right or wrong,” its operating assumption is “my country right, full stop.” If Washington says Leader X is out of line, then the endowment will snap to attention and fund his opponents.

If it says he’s cooperative and well-behaved, meaning he supports free markets and financial deregulation and doesn’t dally with any of America’s military rivals, it will do the opposite. It doesn’t matter if, like Putin, the alleged dictator swept the last election with 63.6 percent of the vote and was declared the “clear” winner by the European Union and the U.S. State Department. If he’s “expanding [Russia’s] influence in the Middle East,” as NED President Carl Gershman puts it, then he’s a “strongman” and an “autocrat” and must go.

America’s own shortcomings meanwhile go unnoticed. Meanwhile, the NED, as it nears the quarter-century mark, is a bundle of contradictions: a group that claims to be private even though it is almost entirely publicly funded, a group that says democracy “must be indigenous” even though it backs U.S.-imposed regime change, a group that claims to be “bipartisan” but whose board is packed with ideologically homogeneous hawks like Elliott Abrams, Anne Applebaum, and Victoria Nuland, the latter of whom served as assistant secretary of state during the coup in Ukraine.

Historically speaking, the NED feels straight out of the early 1980s, when Washington was struggling to overcome “Vietnam Syndrome” in order to rev up the Cold War. The recovery process began with Ronald Reagan declaring at his first inaugural, “The crisis that we are facing today [requires] our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God’s help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. After all, why shouldn’t we believe that? We are Americans.”

The U.S. was apparently not just a nation, but something like a religion as well. Additional input for the new NED in 1983 came from spymaster William Casey, CIA director from 1981 to 1987, who, after the intelligence scandals of the 70s, had swung around to the view that certain covert operations were better spun off into what the British call a “quango,” a quasi-non-government organization. “Obviously we here should not get out in front in the development of such an organization,” he cautioned, “nor do we wish to appear to be a sponsor or advocate.” It was a case of covert backing for an overt turn.

Others who helped lay the groundwork were:

Neoconservative ideologue Jeane Kirkpatrick, Reagan’s ambassador to the UN, famous for her argument that “traditional authoritarian governments” should be supported against “revolutionary autocracies” because they are “less repressive” and whose UN aide Carl Gershman would become NED president and serves to this day.

Human rights Democrats who believe that America’s job is to enforce democratic standards throughout the world, however idiosyncratic and self-serving they may be Old-fashioned pluralists who maintained that the power to succeed existed in different groups’ working separately toward a common goal, in this case, spreading democracy abroad .

The result was an ideologically lethal package that assumed whatever Americans did was democratic because God is on our side, that old-fashioned CIA skullduggery was passé, and that the time had come to switch to more open means. “We should not have to do this kind of work covertly,” Gershman later explained. “We saw that in the 60s, and that’s why it has been discontinued. We have not had the capability of doing this, and that’s why the endowment was created.”

In the interests of pluralism, the NED adopted a quadripartite structure with separate wings for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, the GOP, and the Democrats, each working separately yet somehow together.
Pluralism helped tamp down debate and also shore up support on Capitol Hill. Liberal Democrats were initially skeptical due to the NED’s neocon tilt. Michigan Congressman John Conyers Jr. tried to kill it in 1985, and The Nation magazine complained a few years later that the group served as little more than “a pork barrel for a small circle of Republican and Democratic party activists, conservative trade unionists, and free marketeers who use endowment money to run their own mini State Department.”

But when the House voted unexpectedly to defund the agency in 1993, beneficiaries sprang to its defense. Major-league pundits like George Will, David Broder, and Abe Rosenthal “went into overdrive,” according to The Nation, as did the heavy hitters of the Washington Post editorial page. Vice President Walter Mondale, a member of the NED board of directors, worked the phones along with Lane Kirkland, George Meany’s successor as head of the AFL-CIO.

Ronald Reagan wrote a letter, while Senators Richard Lugar, Orrin Hatch, and John McCain pitched in as well. So did prominent liberals like Paul Wellstone, John Kerry, Tom Harkin, Ted Kennedy, and Carol Moseley-Braun. These people normally couldn’t bear to be in the same with one another, but they were of one mind when it came to America’s divine right to intervene in other nations’ affairs.

The anti-NED forces didn’t stand a chance. Twenty-five years later, the endowment is again under attack, although this time from the right.

Gershman started the ball rolling when, in October 2016, he interrupted his busy pro-democracy schedule to dash off a column in the Washington Post accusing Russia of using “email hackers, information trolls and open funding of political parties to sow discord” and of “even intervening in the U.S. presidential election.” Since there was no question whom Russia was intervening for, there was no doubt what the article amounted to: a thinly veiled swipe at a certain orange-haired candidate.

Never one to forget a slight, Trump got his revenge last month by proposing to slash the NED budget by 60 percent. The response was the same as in 1993, only more so. Uber-hawk Senator Lindsey Graham pronounced the cut “dead on arrival,” adding: “This budget destroys soft power, it puts our diplomats at risk, and it’s going nowhere.”

Gershman said it would mean “sending a signal far and wide that the United States is turning its back on supporting brave people who share our values,” while Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin moaned that the administration was guilty of an “assault on democracy promotion.” The ever-voluble Democratic Congresswoman Nita Lowey accused the administration of “dismantling an agency that advances critical goals.”

“The work our government does to promote democratic values abroad is at the heart of who we are as a country,” added Senator John McCain. America is democracy, democracy is America, and, as history’s first global empire, the U.S. has an unqualified right to do unto others what others may not do unto the U.S. Only a “Siberian candidate,” “a traitor,” or “a Russian stooge” could possibly disagree.

- The National Endowment for (Meddling in) Democracy by Daniel Lazare

Julie Eadeh

In August, a candid photo surfaced of Wong and Law meeting with Julie Eadeh, the political counselor at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong, raising questions about the content of the meeting and setting off a diplomatic showdown between Washington and Beijing.

Julie Eadeh

People, it’s pretty obvious that Washington D.C. is involved in the HK protests, when you have photos of the protest leaders meeting with American presidential aides!

This is very very embarrassing.  Julie Eadeh, a  US diplomat in Hong Kong, was caught meeting HK protest leaders.  It  would be hard to imagine the US reaction if Chinese diplomat were  meeting leaders of Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter or Never Trump  protesters. pic.twitter.com/JfiU2O2HZq 

— Chen Weihua (@chenweihua) August 8, 2019

Of course, this kind of nonsense won’t be tolerated by China.

The Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong submitted a formal complaint with the US consulate general, calling on the US “to immediately make a clean break from anti-China forces who stir up trouble in Hong Kong, stop sending out wrong signals to violent offenders, refrain from meddling with Hong Kong affairs and avoid going further down the wrong path.”

So the United States wants to get involved in Chinese affairs.

Well, then be prepared for some “push back”. The pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao doxxed Eadeh. They published personal details about Eadeh, including the names of her children and her address.

But, Washington, D.C. is not used to “push back”.

State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus lashed out, accusing the Chinese government of being behind the leak but offering no evidence. “I don’t think that leaking an American diplomat’s private information, pictures, names of their children, I don’t think that is a formal protest, that is what a thuggish regime would do,” she said at a State Department briefing.

Totally ignoring the already issued formal protest from China.

Aside from the official American government protests bout the doxxing, the leaked Mariott photo underscored the close relationship between Hong Kong’s pro-West movement and the US government.

There is ample proof that the United States government has been coaching, and supporting the protests in Hong Kong.

Since the 2014 Occupy Central protests that vaulted Wong into prominence, he and his peers have been assiduously cultivated by the elite Washington institutions to act as the faces and voices of Hong Kong’s burgeoning anti-China movement.

This has continued a pace.

In September 2015, Wong, Martin Lee, and University of Hong Kong law professor Benny Tai Lee were honored by Freedom House, a right-wing soft-power organization that is heavily funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and other arms of the US government.

Freedom House

Just days after Trump’s election as president in November 2016, Wong was back in Washington to appeal for more US support. “Being a businessman, I hope Donald Trump could know the dynamics in Hong Kong and know that to maintain the business sector benefits in Hong Kong, it’s necessary to fully support human rights in Hong Kong to maintain the judicial independence and the rule of law,” he said.

Wong’s visit to Washington DC provided occasion for the Senate’s two most aggressively neoconservative members, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton, to introduce the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,”.

Wong’s visit provided occasion for the Senate’s two most aggressively neoconservative members, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton, to introduce the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,” which would “identify those responsible for abduction, surveillance, detention and forced confessions, and the perpetrators will have their US assets, if any… frozen and their entry to the country denied.”

Marco Rubio
Tom Cotton

Wong was given the “royal carpet treatment”. He was then taken on a junket of elite US institutions including the right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank and the newsrooms of the New York Times and Financial Times. He then held court with Rubio, Cotton, Pelosi, and Sen. Ben Sasse.

Heritage Foundation
Nancy Pelosi
Ben Sasse

In September 2017, Rubio, Ben Cardin, Tom Cotton, Sherrod Brown, and Cory Gardner signed off on a letter to Wong, Law and fellow anti-China activist Alex Chow, praising them for their “efforts to build a genuinely autonomous Hong Kong.” The bipartisan cast of senators proclaimed that “the United States cannot stand idly by.”

Ben Cardin
Sherrod Brown
Cory Gardner

A year later, Rubio and his colleagues nominated the trio of Wong, Law, and Chow for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.

Honored to have met Joshua Wong, a student leader who led a big protest demanding universal suffrage in Hong Kong. pic.twitter.com/sSb46j7zIX

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) November 18, 2015

Washington’s support for the designated spokesmen of the “retake Hong Kong movement” was supplemented with untold sums of money from US regime-change outfits like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and subsidiaries like the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to civil society, media and political groups.

National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
National Democratic Institute (NDI)

As journalist Alex Rubinstein reported, the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, a key member of the coalition that organized against the now-defunct extradition law, has received more than $2 million in NED funds since 1995.

Other groups in the coalition reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars from the NED and NDI last year alone.

While US lawmakers nominate Hong Kong protest leaders for peace prizes and pump their organizations with money to “promote democracy,” the demonstrations have begun to spiral out of control.

The people who are driving the events.

25th August 2019 – (Hong Kong) The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has funded the 2014 Occupy Central in the past but many have begun to wonder if the Americans did indeed have a hand in the latest anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong. Numerous meetings between pro-democracy political activists, representatives from NED and top government officials have left us wondered if NED has funded the frontline protesters .

We have mentioned earlier in our previous article that, there are in principle two factions of protesters, the genuine protesters (90%) and the frontline protesters (10%). Only the 10% frontline protesters are potentially funded by the Americans as the mass of Hong Kong protesters fit naturally into their agenda.

What is NED? NED is a U.S. non-profit soft power organization that was founded in 1983 with the stated goal of promoting democracy abroad. In principle, NED is a grant-making foundation, distributing funds to private non-governmental organisations for promoting democracy abroad. NED does not directly fund any political party, as this is forbidden by law. According to NED, it funds election monitoring and also civic education about voting, such as student-led “get-out-the-vote” campaigns.

However, according to American Conservative, in 1984, the year after it was founded, it channeled secret funds to a military-backed presidential candidate in Panama, gave US$575,000 to a right-wing French student group, and delivered nearly half a million dollars to right-wing opponents of Costa Rican president Oscar Arias—because Arias had refused to go along with our anti-communist policy in Central America.

- Is United States involved in the current civil unrest in Hong Kong via its National Endowment for Democracy (NED)?

The protesters’ stated goals remain vague. No one now knows what exactly they are protesting for.

HK Riot police can only take so much violence before some serious accidents will occur.

Joshua Wong, one of the most well known figures in the movement, has since put forward a call for the Chinese government to [1] “retract the proclamation that the protests were riots,” and [2] restated the consensus demand for universal suffrage.

Wong is a bespectacled 22-year-old who has been trumpeted in Western media as a “freedom campaigner,” promoted to the English-speaking world through his own Netflix documentary, and rewarded with the backing of the US government.

Hey! This kid is doing really well for himself. He's getting millions of dollars from various political American movements. He was up for the Peace Prize, and has his own Netflix documentary. Pretty good for a a young unemployed Hong Kong millennial. It's nice to see where all our campaign donations and tax dollars goes to.

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong released from prison, vows to continue actions of violence.

But behind telegenic spokespeople like Wong are more extreme elements such as the Hong Kong National Party, whose members have appeared at protests waving the Stars and Stripes and belting out cacophonous renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner. The leadership of this officially banned party helped popularize the call for the full independence of Hong Kong, a radical goal that is music to the ears of hardliners in Washington.

Xenophobic resentment has defined the sensibility of the protesters, who vow to “retake Hong Kong” from Chinese mainlanders they depict as a horde of locusts.

The demonstrators have even adopted one of the most widely recognized symbols of the alt-right, emblazoning images of Pepe the Frog on their protest literature. While it’s unclear that Hong Kong residents see Pepe the same way American conservatives do, members of the US far-right have embraced the protest movement as their own, and even personally joined their ranks.

Protesters in Hong Kong have adopted the popular “Pepe the Frog” meme as one of their symbols of resistance amid ongoing demonstrations against a proposed extradition bill. The frog’s familiar face has appeared on signs in various protests calling out violent police crackdowns against demonstrators. One meme showing Pepe with an injured eye focused on a police assault which left a first responder blind after being shot with a bean bag round at close range.

Which brings us to the second key photo of importance. It is much more important to US citizens. It clearly shows a “Political Counselor” from the US Consulate General in Hong Kong with radical anti-government protestors at the HK Marriot hotel.

The official was formerly a State Dept functionary in the Middle East – in Jerusalem, Riyadh, Beirut, Baghdad and Doha, certainly not an area lacking in imperial intrigues and regime change ops.

That photo graphically contradicted the contention that there is no US “black hand,” as China calls it, in the Hong Kong riots.

In fact, here the “black hand” was caught red-handed, leading Chen Weihua, a very perceptive China Daily columnist, to tweet the picture with the comment:

“This is very very embarrassing. … a US diplomat in Hong Kong, was caught meeting HK protest leaders. It would be hard to imagine the US reaction if a Chinese diplomat were meeting leaders of Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter or Never Trump protesters.”

And that photo with the protest leaders is just a snap shot of the ample evidence of the hand of the US government and its subsidiaries in the Hong Kong events.

There is substantial and ample evidence that the United States government has been very active in functing, advising and supporting the anti-government protestors in Hong Kong. — There is substantial and ample evidence that the United States government has been very active in funding, advising and supporting the anti-government protestors in Hong Kong.

Perhaps the best documentation of the US “black hand” is to be found in Dan Cohen’s superb article of August 17 in The Greyzone entitled, “Behind a made-for-TV Hong Kong protest narrative, Washington is backing nativism and mob violence.”

The article by Cohen deserves careful reading; it leaves little doubt that there is a very deep involvement of the US in the Hong Kong riots.

Of special interest is the detailed role and funding, amounting to over $1.3 million, in Hong Kong alone in recent years, of the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), ever on the prowl for new regime change opportunities.

Perhaps most important, the leaders of the  “leaderless” protests have met with major US political figures such as  John Bolton, Vice President Pence, Secretary Pompeo, Senator Marco  Rubio, Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel, Nancy Pelosi and others, all of whom  have heartily endorsed their efforts.

This is not to deny that the protests were home grown at the outset in response to what was widely perceived as a legitimate grievance. But it would be equally absurd to deny that the US is fishing in troubled Hong Kong waters to advance its anti-China crusade and regime change ambitions.

People! China is a serious, serious nation. They do not mess around. If you think that they will not take this meddling as some kind of physical attack, then you are living in a fantasy world. They WILL take action. You all just have no idea what it will be. Nor will you know when they will take action.

The people who are activating the events.

As has been demonstrated so far, there are various individuals who are playing the "global high-power" politics role in all this. This includes American Senators, Congressmen, and various American sponsored "freedom" organizations. 

But there are also others. Other people who have their own personal interests for "stirring up the pot". Here we look at others, who have a bigger personal stake in all of these protests.

Jimmy Lai

Among the most central influencers of the demonstrations is a local tycoon named Jimmy Lai. The self-described “head of opposition media,” Lai is widely described as the Rupert Murdoch of Asia.

The United States is intimately involved in the HK protests.

For the masses of protesters, Lai is a transcendent figure. They clamor for photos with him and applaud the oligarch wildly when he walks by their encampments.

Lai established his credentials by pouring millions of dollars into the 2014 Occupy Central protest, which is known popularly as the Umbrella Movement. He has since used his massive fortune to fund local anti-China political movers and shakers while injecting the protests with a virulent brand of Sinophobia through his media empire.

Sinophobia - definition of Sinophobia by The Free Dictionary

Sinophobia synonyms, Sinophobia pronunciation, Sinophobia translation, English dictionary definition of Sinophobia.  n. 1. Fear of or contempt for China, its people, or its culture. 2.  Behavior based on such an attitude or feeling. Si′no·phobe′ n.  Si′no·pho′bic adj.

Jimmy Lai (HK billionaire) meets withAmerican VP Pompeo. — Jimmy Lai (HK billionaire) meets with American VP Mike Pence. Politically he is a progressive leftist who became one of the most powerful men in HK. He desires to leverage his relationship and power to have the USA perform proxy interceptions within China and HK relationships for his own personal benefit.

Though Western media has depicted the Hong Kong protesters as the voice of an entire people yearning for freedom, the island is deeply divided. This August, a group of protesters mobilized outside Jimmy Lai’s house, denouncing him as a “running dog” of Washington and accusing him of national betrayal by unleashing chaos on the island.

#HongKong tycoon Jimmy Lai criticized as conspirator behind violence in HK pic.twitter.com/B9PFgtK2YP 

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) August 11, 2019

Days earlier, Lai was in Washington, coordinating with hardline members of Trump’s national security team, including John Bolton. His ties to Washington run deep — and so do those of the front-line protest leaders.

John Bolton

Jimmy Lai has been working with President Trump's national security advisor John Bolton in how to work with China.

In this relationship, it is obvious that both Jimmy Lai and John Bolton want to take a very hard-line with China. As such, we can well expect John Bolton to sabotage any tariff agreement between Xi Peng and Donald Trump.

Personally, I believe that for there to be any kind of mutually-beneficial trade relationship and agreement between the USA and China, John Bolton would have to step down from being an advisor to Donald Trump.

Millions of dollars have flowed from US regime-change outfits like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) into civil society and political organizations that form the backbone of the anti-China mobilization. And Lai has supplemented it with his own fortune while instructing protesters on tactics through his various media organs.

With Donald Trump in the White House, Lai is convinced that his moment may be on the horizon. Trump “understands the Chinese like no president understood,” the tycoon told the Wall Street Journal. “I think he’s very good at dealing with gangsters.”

Born in the mainland in 1948 to wealthy parents, whose fortune was expropriated by the Communist Party during the revolution the following year, Jimmy Lai began working at 9 years old, carrying bags for train travelers during the hard years of the Great Chinese Famine.

Inspired by the taste of a piece of chocolate gifted to him by a wealthy man, he decided to smuggle himself to Hong Kong to discover a future of wealth and luxury. There, Lai worked his way up the ranks of the garment industry, growing enamored with the libertarian theories of economists Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, the latter of whom became his close friend. 

Friedman is famous for developing the neoliberal shock therapy doctrine that the US has imposed on numerous countries, resulting in the excess deaths of millions. For his part, Hayek is the godfather of the Austrian economic school that forms the foundation of libertarian political movements across the West.

Lai built his business empire on Giordano, a garment label that became one of Asia’s most recognizable brands. In 1989, he threw his weight behind the Tiananmen Square protests, hawking t-shirts on the streets of Beijing calling for Deng Xiaoping to “step down.”

It was a year after the Communist Party of China, led by Deng Xiaoping, put forward the policy of reform and opening-up. Under the policy, individuals nationwide were encouraged to run businesses and set up private companies. That meant that family enterprises like the Nian’s sunflower seed business became legal. Deng’s visionary move fueled the growth of private enterprise and set a milestone for China’s market-oriented economy.

In other words, Mr. Deng introduced China to Reganomics. And while President Bush stopped all of the Reaganomics that he started, Mr. Deng continued, creating the China that exists today.

Lai’s actions provoked the Chinese  government to ban his company from operating on the mainland. 

A year  later, he founded Next Weekly magazine, initiating a process that would  revolutionize the mediascape in Hong Kong with a blend of smutty  tabloid-style journalism, celebrity gossip and a heavy dose of  anti-China spin.

The vociferously anti-communist baron soon became Hong Kong’s media kingpin, worth a whopping $660 million in 2009. 

Today, Lai is the founder and majority stakeholder of Next Digital, the largest listed media company in Hong Kong, which he uses to agitate for the end of what he calls the Chinese “dictatorship.” His flagship outlet is the popular tabloid Apple Daily, employing the trademark mix of raunchy material with a heavy dose of xenophobic, nativist propaganda.

In 2012, Apple Daily carried a full page advertisement depicting mainland Chinese citizens as invading locusts draining Hong Kong’s resources. The advertisement called for a stop to the “unlimited invasion of mainland pregnant women in Hong Kong.”

(This was a crude reference to the Chinese citizens who  had flocked to the island while pregnant to ensure that their children  could earn Hong Kong residency, and resembled the resentment among the  US right-wing of immigrant “anchor babies.”)

Ad in Lai’s Apple Daily: “That’s enough! Stop unlimited invasion of mainland pregnant women!”

The transformation of Hong Kong’s economy has provided fertile soil for Lai’s brand of demagoguery. As the country’s manufacturing base moved to mainland China after the golden years of the 1980s and ‘90s, the economy was rapidly financialized, enriching oligarchs like Lai.

Left with rising debt and dimming career prospects, Hong Kong’s youth became easy prey to the demagogic politics of nativism.

Many protesters have been seen waving British Union Jacks in recent weeks, expressing a yearning for an imaginary past under colonial control which they never personally experienced.

In July, protesters vandalized the Hong Kong Liaison Office, spray-painting the word, “Shina” on its facade. This term is a xenophobic slur some in Hong Kong and Taiwan use to refer to mainland China.

The anti-Chinese phenomenon was visible during the 2014 Umbrella movement protests as well, with signs plastered around the city reading, “Hong Kong for Hong Kongers.”

支那(Shina) is Japanese word for China that became  derogatory during Sino-Japanese War. Post-War Japan gov ban its use in  Kanji form (Chinese characters) in official document. Yet some people in  Hong Kong and Taiwan use it to insult people from Chinese mainland.  It=“Chink” in Eng https://t.co/Oe8LCXgak8

— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) July 22, 2019

This month, protesters turned their fury on the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, spray-painting “rioters” on its office. The attack represented resentment of the left-wing group’s role in a violent 1967 uprising against the British colonial authorities, who are now seen as heroes among many of the anti-Chinese demonstrators.

Edward Leung

Besides Lai, a large part of the credit for mobilizing latent xenophobia goes to the right-wing Hong Kong Indigenous party leader Edward Leung. Under the direction of the 28-year-old Leung, his pro-independence party has brandished British colonial flags and publicly harassed Chinese mainland tourists. In 2016, Leung was exposed for meeting with US diplomatic officials at a local restaurant.

Though he is currently in jail for leading a 2016 riot where police were bombarded with bricks and pavement – and where he admitted to attacking an officer – Leung’s rightist politics and his slogan, “Retake Hong Kong,” have helped define the ongoing protests.

A local legislator and protest leader described Leung to the New York Times as “the Che Guevara of Hong Kong’s revolution,” referring without a hint of irony to the Latin American communist revolutionary killed in a CIA-backed operation. According to the Times, Leung is “the closest thing Hong Kong’s tumultuous and leaderless protest movement has to a guiding light.”

Andy Chan

The xenophobic sensibility of the protesters has provided fertile soil for Hong Kong National Party to recruit. Founded by the pro-independence activist Andy Chan, the officially banned party combines anti-Chinese resentment with calls for the US to intervene.

"I ask President Trump to bring full-scale of sanction on to Hong Kong. The sanctions brought on China must [be] brought on Hong Kong because China can escape sanctions through Hong Kong. I would like to take the chance to reiterate my advocacy again: to revoke the 1992 Hong Kong Policy Act passed by the United States Congress. It allows Hong Kong to enjoy a special status apart from China. However, it turns out to be a back door of the free world that could be accessed and manipulated by China. Moreover, over 70% of foreign direct investment goes in to China through Hong Kong. Hong Kong is the main window that China obtains U.S. dollars from. Therefore, shut it down."

-Andy Chan

Images and videos have surfaced of HKNP members waving the flags of the US and UK, singing the Star Spangled Banner, and carrying flags emblazoned with images of Pepe the Frog, the most recognizable symbol of the US alt-right.

It is a very small group. With only a handful of members. While the party lacks a wide base of popular support, it is perhaps the most outspoken within the protest ranks, and has attracted disproportionate international attention as a result.

Independenc party banned in HK. — “I ask President Trump to bring full-scale of sanction on to Hong Kong. The sanctions brought on China must [be] brought on Hong Kong because China can escape sanctions through Hong Kong. I would like to take the chance to reiterate my advocacy again: to revoke the 1992 Hong Kong Policy Act passed by the United States Congress.

It allows Hong Kong to enjoy a special status apart from China. However, it turns out to be a back door of the free world that could be accessed and manipulated by China. Moreover, over 70% of foreign direct investment goes in to China through Hong Kong. Hong Kong is the main window that China obtains U.S. dollars from. Therefore, shut it down.”

Chan has called for Trump to escalate the trade war and accused China of carrying out a “national cleansing” against Hong Kong. “We were once colonized by the Brits, and now we are by the Chinese,” he declared.

The risks if this manipulation cannot be constrained.

Such xenophobic propaganda is consistent with the clash of civilizations theory that Jimmy Lai has promulgated through his media empire. It is useful. It has a proven record of success, and is useful to obtain his objectives at this time.

“You have to understand the Hong Kong  people – a very tiny 7 million or 0.5 percent of the Chinese population  – are very different from the rest of Chinese in China, because we grow  up in the Western values, which was the legacy of the British colonial  past, which gave us the instinct to revolt once this extradition law was  threatening our freedom,” Lai told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo. “Even  America has to look at the world 20 years from now, whether you want the  Chinese dictatorial values to dominate this world, or you want the  values that you treasure [to] continue.”

During a panel discussion at the neoconservative Washington-based think tank, the Foundation For Defense of Democracies, Lai told the pro-Israel lobbyist Jonathan Schanzer,

“We need to know that  America is behind us. By backing us, America is also sowing to the will  of their moral authority because we are the only place in China, a tiny  island in China, which is sharing your values, which is fighting the  same war you have with China.”

While Lai makes no attempt to conceal his political agenda, his bankrolling of central figures in the 2014 Occupy Central, or Umbrella movement protests, was not always public.

To find out what is going on here, all you need to do is "follow the money". — To find out what is going on here, all you need to do is “follow the money”.

Leaked emails revealed that Lai poured more than $1.2 million to anti-China political parties including $637,000 USD to the Democratic Party and $382,000 USD to the Civic Party. Lai also gave $115,000 USD to the Hong Kong Civic Education Foundation and Hong Kong Democratic Development Network, both of which were co-founded by Reverend Chu Yiu-ming. Lai also spent $446,000 USD on Occupy Central’s 2014 unofficial referendum.

Lai’s US consigliere is a former Navy intelligence analyst who interned with the CIA and leveraged his intelligence connections to build his boss’s business empire.

Mark Simon

Named Mark Simon, the veteran spook arranged for former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin to meet with a group in the anti-China camp during a 2009 visit to Hong Kong.

Five years later, Lai paid $75,000 to neoconservative Iraq war author and US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz to organize a meeting with top military figures in Myanmar.

This July, as the Hong Kong protests gathered steam, Lai was junketed to Washington, DC for meetings with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton, and Republican Senators Ted Cruz, Cory Gardner, and Rick Scott.

Bloomberg News correspondent Nicholas Wadhams remarked on Lai’s visit, “Very unusual for a [non-government] visitor to get that kind of access.”

Today: Hong Kong publisher and democracy advocate  Jimmy Lai met National Security Adviser John Bolton in DC. After  meetings with @SecPompeo and @VP, this is meant to send a signal to Beijing. Very unusual for a nongovt visitor to get that kind of access. pic.twitter.com/6rvqsGJzru

— Nicholas Wadhams (@nwadhams) July 10, 2019

Hong Kong publisher and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai met National Security Adviser John Bolton in DC. After meetings with @SecPompeo and @VP, this is meant to send a signal to Beijing. This continued as the proxy protests continued in HK. In this picture a protestor was arrested trying to sneak into the HK international airport.

One of Lai’s closest allies, Martin Lee, was also granted an audience with Pompeo, and has held court with US leaders including Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Joseph Biden.

Martin Lee
Nancy Pelosi
Joseph Biden

Among the most prominent figures in Hong Kong’s pro-US political parties, Martin Lee began collaborating with Lai during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

A recipient of the US government-funded National Endowment for Democracy’s “Democracy Award” in 1997, Lee is the founding chairman of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, now considered part of the pro-US camp’s old guard.

These latest groups of protests are not about HK law. They are about armed militarized conflicts against the HK government. They choose not to work with the government, instead they want to embrace violence.

After the extradition law was scrapped, the protests moved into a more aggressive phase, launching “hit and run attacks” against government targets, erecting roadblocks, besieging police stations, and generally embracing the extreme modalities put on display during US-backed regime-change operations from Ukraine to Venezuela to Nicaragua.

AJE in position to cover HK protesters' "hit and run strategy." 

Here's William Engdahl on Otpor!, the CIA-backed Serbian group that  trained thousands of youth activists in countries around the world in  color revolution swarming tactics: https://t.co/jvCk2QBNhK https://t.co/I8oGScbpsS pic.twitter.com/a3JZzGwDb9

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) August 13, 2019

The techniques clearly reflected the training many activists have received from Western soft-power outfits. But they also bore the mark of Jimmy Lai’s media operation.

In addition to the vast sums Lai spent on political parties directly involved in the protests, his media group created an animated video “showing how to resist police in case force was used to disperse people in a mass protest.”

While dumping money into the Hong Kong’s pro-US political camp in 2013, Lai traveled to Taiwan for a secret roundtable consultation with Shih Ming-teh, a key figure in Taiwan’s social movement that forced then-president Chen Shui-bian to resign in 2008. Shih reportedly instructed Lai on non-violent tactics to bring the government to heel, emphasizing the importance of a commitment to go to jail.

According to journalist Peter Lee, “Shih supposedly gave Lai advice on putting students, young girls, and mothers with children in the vanguard of the street protests, in order to attract the support of the international community and press, and to sustain the movement with continual activities to keep it dynamic and fresh.” Lai reportedly turned off his recording device during multiple sections of Shih’s tutorial.

“Shih supposedly gave Lai advice on putting students, young girls, and mothers with children in the vanguard of the street protests, in order to attract the support of the international community and press, and to sustain the movement with continual activities to keep it dynamic and fresh.”

One protester explained to the New York Times how the movement attempted to embrace a strategy called, “Marginal Violence Theory”: By using “mild force” to provoke security services into attacking the protesters, the protesters aimed to shift international sympathy away from the state.

As I have repeated stated in this article, it seems like the protestors want the police and military forces to engage them. Per this quote in the use of "mild force", it seems obvious that this is their strategy.

As the protest movement intensifies, its rank-and-file are doing away with tactical restraint and lashing out at their targets with full fury. They have thrown molotov cocktails into intersections to block traffic; attacked vehicles and their drivers for attempting to break through roadblocks; beaten opponents with truncheons; attacked a wounded man with a US flag; menaced a reporter into deleting her photos; kidnapped and beat a journalist senseless; beat a mainland traveler unconscious and prevented paramedics from reaching the victim; and hurled petrol bombs at police officers.

A Hong Kong protester continued to attack Chinese reporter for @globaltimesnews with American flag  even as Paramedics finally freed him from the crowd and tried to rush him to hospital  pic.twitter.com/AIULKRW76t

— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) August 13, 2019

The charged atmosphere has provided a shot in the arm to Lai’s media empire, which had been suffering heavy losses since the last round of national protests in 2014. After the mass marches against the extradition bill on June 9, which Lai’s Apple Daily aggressively promoted, his Next Digital doubled in value, according to Eji Insight.

Meanwhile, the protest leaders show no sign of backing down.

Nathan Law, the youth activist celebrated in Washington and photographed meeting with US officials in Hong Kong, took to Twitter to urge his peers to soldier on: “We have to persist and keep the faith no matter how devastated the reality seems to be,” he wrote.

Nathan Law

Law was tweeting from New Haven, Connecticut, where he was enrolled with a full scholarship at Yale University. While the young activist basked in the adulation of his US patrons thousands of miles from the chaos he helped spark, a movement that defined itself as a “leaderless resistance” forged ahead back home.

By A Political Junkie Global Research, August 18, 2019 Viable Opposition 14 August 2019

While there has been growing coverage of the unrest in Hong Kong, there has been minimal coverage of what may lie behind the pro-democracy protests.

As you will see in this posting, it is entirely possible that a Washington-based and Congressionally funded institution is responsible, at least in part, for the lack of calmness in Hong Kong.

American involvement in the affairs of other nations is well established. It should come as no surprise to anyone that America would fund and instigate protests and violence in China’s backyard. For more information, go to this posting on the National Endowment for Democracy or NED, America’s instrument of democratic promotion around the world, that is, democracy American style. NED was founded in 1983 during the Reagan Administration with the following Statement of Principles and Objectives:

“Democracy involves the right of the people freely to determine their own destiny. 

The exercise of this right requires a system that guarantees  freedom of expression, belief and association, free and competitive  elections, respect for the inalienable rights of individuals and  minorities, free communications media, and the rule of law.“

While NED touts itself as a “private” foundation, in other words, it is independent of government. That could not be further from the truth. Here’s what NED has to say about itself that belies its true character:

“NED is a unique institution. The Endowment’s nongovernmental character gives it a flexibility that makes it possible to work in some of the world’s most difficult circumstances, and to respond quickly when there is an opportunity for political change. NED is dedicated to fostering the growth of a wide range of democratic institutions abroad, including political parties, trade unions, free markets and business organizations, as well as the many elements of a vibrant civil society that ensure human rights, an independent media, and the rule of law.

This well-rounded approach responds to the diverse aspects of democracy and has proved both practical and effective throughout NED’s history. Funded largely by the U.S. Congress, the support NED gives to groups abroad sends an important message of solidarity to many democrats who are working for freedom and human rights, often in obscurity and isolation….

From its beginning, NED has remained steadfastly bipartisan. Created jointly by Republicans and Democrats, NED is governed by a board balanced between both parties and enjoys Congressional support across the political spectrum. NED operates with a high degree of transparency and accountability reflecting our founders’ belief that democracy promotion overseas should be conducted openly.”

NED receives its funding through an annual appropriation from Congress through the Department of State making it little more than another mouthpiece for Washington’s agenda. NED promotes Washington’s global agenda through direct grants to more than 1600 non-governmental groups that are working for “democracy” in more than 90 nations around the world.

Despite its proclamation that it has a “nongovernmental 
character”, NED receives its funding through an annual appropriation from Congress through the Department of State making it little more than another mouthpiece for Washington’s agenda.  NED promotes Washington’s global agenda through direct grants to more than 1600 non-governmental groups that are working for “democracy” in more than 90 nations around the world.

Let’s look at NED’s activities in Hong Kong for 2018 according to its website. Here are the projects that were funded over the period from 2015 to 2018.

Notice that the 2018 funding to the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs was granted to “facilitate engagement on Hong Kong’s growing threats to guaranteed rights”.

NED spent a total of $1,357,974 on grants to organizations that were promoting freedom, democracy and human rights in Hong Kong over the period from 2015 to 2018. — Policemen clash with demonstrators on a street during a protest in Hong Kong, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019. Hong Kong police have rolled out water cannon trucks for the first time in this summer’s pro-democracy protests. The two trucks moved forward with riot officers Sunday evening as they pushed protesters back along a street in the outlying Tsuen Wan district. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

That certainly sounds like promoting democracy to me. NED spent a total of $1,357,974 on grants to organizations that were promoting freedom, democracy and human rights in Hong Kong over the period from 2015 to 2018.

Unfortunately, we don’t know what NED spent on promoting democracy in Hong Kong in the time frame prior to 2015. While, in the grand scheme of what Washington spends this is not a great deal of money, it is the principle of what Washington is attempting to create in Hong Kong that is of concern.

This is a very clear example of meddling in the internal affairs of China and Hong Kong, actions that will only serve to anger China who is the also the recipient of a great deal of NED’s attention.

It is also key to remember that there are likely other taxpayer-funded programs through which Washington is attempting to influence what happens in Hong Kong.

In my opinion, this tweet by the conservative-leaning Washington Examiner is a dead giveaway to the source of the unrest:

Video from Hong Kong shows pro-democracy protesters waving American flags and singing the American National Anthem.  Demonstrations have shutdown the city's airport for a second consecutive day and put the entire Chinese city on edge. pic.twitter.com/ZrYE5DzZYU 

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) August 13, 2019

While the ideals of democracy are admirable and desirable, Washington’s version of democracy is tainted by big money and has developed into a system where politicians are for sale to the highest bidder.

Meanwhile, the Chinese themselves are not falling for this (same old, same old) lie…

huaqiao (Expat in China)

The rioters are trying to force the police to act and then certain  foreign media will report it as "police brutality" while ignoring the  rioters' assault against the police. This is a planned, deliberate act  to show the world China's system is not working.

But the fact is China's  system is working and is the envy of many nations, but certain "free  world" countries cannot accept that. The value of "democracy" is  overstated and these rioters show the effect of being overdosed with  "democracy" and act senselessly.

While the ideals of democracy are admirable and desirable, Washington’s version of democracy is tainted by big money and has developed into a system where politicians are for sale to the highest bidder.

This is not the democracy that most of the world wants.

Long-term Congressional meddling in other nations internal affairs through its funding of the National Endowment for Democracy is little better than the nation reengineering exercises undertaken by the Central Intelligence Agency since the end of the Second World War.

Reactions and serious attempts to control the situation

This situation is in the process of being resolved. Much of what is going on is behind the scenes, but we can get some glimmerings of the various events.

Point One

As of 10 September 2019, the United States president Donald Trump tweets out that he no longer needs the services of John Bolton. John Bolton, the national security adviser.

So, obviously Bolton has been fired. (paraphrasing) “I told Bolton I no longer need his services. I disagreed with many of the suggestions that he has made.”

The president is saying he asked for Bolton’s resignation; it was not Bolton’s idea. So now people are trying to speculate, “What is this about?” He’s the national security adviser, and there are any number of things it could be and there’s no way of knowing. We just have to wait. It will come out at some point.

Oh, I’m sure it will. Though, I’d be really surprised if they would address the truth. Which is the fact that he has been working personally with the key super-billionaire oligarchy opposition forces in Hong Kong against China, and against any resolution to the China – USA trade disputes.

The Friggin' idiot. That's not his job. His job is to assist President Trump, not to oppose his efforts. No matter how impassioned he might feel about Neocon-ism.

Donald Trump fired John Bolton. He obviously felt that John Bolton was not "on the same page" in resolving the issues with China at this time. — Donald Trump fired John Bolton. He obviously felt that John Bolton was not “on the same page” in resolving the issues with China at this time.

As I have previously stated, John Bolton is a war-hawk and a neo-con from the “deep state”. He has opposed every effort that Trump has made to negotiate with China, North Korea, and Iran. In his world view these are all dictatorial nations and America must stand firm in opposing them in every way possible.

Trump loves meeting with these people because he’s got dreams of ending disagreements with these people, bringing peace and tranquility to the humanity of earth. Bolton doesn’t see eye-to-eye with any of that. It could also be about troop withdrawals in Afghanistan. You know, there are factions in the White House that want to get us out of there. It’s been announced that we’re getting out of there. We’ve been over there for I don’t know how many years, and some people say we don’t even know why we are still there.

Bolton would not want to pull out of Afghanistan. Bolton would not want to withdraw from any presence in places like Syria. So it could well be that this is just the culmination of systemic policy differences that have led to this.

Bolton has a reputation as a hardliner, doesn’t take any guff, is not one of these touchy-feely, politically correct guys. He’s a war hawk and fully supports all eight (x8) proxy wars that the United States is currently mired in.

“Let’s try to make ’em like us. Let’s find out why they don’t like us and change.” That’s not Bolton. He don’t care that they don’t like us. We just gotta beat ’em. We gotta pummel ’em.

That might not be appropriate at this time when dealing with China. China is a serious, serious nation that would absolutely take meddling in their own affairs very, very seriously.

Point Two

On Wednesday 4SEP19, President Trump reached out to China’s President Xi in a tweet:

“I know President Xi of China very well. He is a  great leader who very much has the respect of his people. He is also a  good man in a ‘tough business.’ I have ZERO doubt that if President Xi  wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it.  Personal meeting? ”

-Donald Trump

So what is Donald Trump saying?

That’s he’s ready to stop the HK protests if Xi Peng negotiates.
Or, perhaps that China can use their military to enter HK.

Point Three

China has begun arresting American advisors to the protestors and their aides to the protest movements in HK. You see, China does not mess around. They know who all these players are, they know the funding sources, and have surveillance cameras everywhere. If you want to stir up a hornets next, do not allow yourself to get stung.

China has identified all the leadership of these protest groups, and their subordinates. They have since followed them and watched them. They have all been under observation. They have filmed these advisors instructing the protestors in behavior, and strategy.

Then, independently they have targeted these individuals and collected them in public near the protests. It's all on film.

What?

You haven’t heard about this? You mean it’s not reported on the American mainstream media? Imagine that!

Here is a video of a “so called” reporter instructing the HK protestors on how to behave. It’s all on video, and how the HK riot police comes after him and carts him off for “processing”. The video praises the HK riot police for nabbing these “instigators”, and claims that 53 CIA-related advisory staff have been arrested.

They say he’s CIA, but he’s really probably a member of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) or the National Endowment for Democracy’s National Democratic Institute (NDI) . All American front organization that receives Federal Funding for the purposes of disrupting the stability in other nations.

Here’s some of the arrests. The video shows three Americans arrested and being detained. I am sure that there are many more.

The point is that China knows full well what is going on and THEY DO NOT PLAY AROUND. China is a serious nation that does not pretend that everyone is playing on the same playing-field.

The root effects – trade renegotiation with China.

Anonymous (Italy)

This sudden chaos without major motivation is indeed a sign of  interference. As a foreigner, I am Italian and married to a local, I do  fully support Chinese mainland on this matter. People in Hong Kong that  are doing this are ignorant and do not even know their own history.

It began as a promise to the American people. Donald Trump, if elected would renegotiate trade with the Chinese in such a way that it would be a two-way street to mutual respect and fairness.

When things were looking favorable, suddenly everything went to sh@t. There were rumors that some of the negotiators were hard-line deep-state plants that informed the Chinese to wait Donald Trump out. That he would not be reelected.

So the negotiations stalled, and Trump put full pressure on China. Simultaneously when he raised tariffs on Chinese goods 30%, protests broke out in Hong Kong. It appeared that the pressure was enormous on China, and (according to the United States media) China was really suffering.

30% tariffs
HK protests
Banning Huawei
Diplomatic pressure on Europe

But, you know what? It’s all a big lie, or at the very most, an exaggeration. China wasn’t suffering like the American mainstream media reported.

Ah, it’s partially true. But, not as bad as most Americans believed. China’s exports are not 90% to the USA and 10% to the rest of the world. Nope. Its actually 11% to the Untied States. And 89% to the rest of the world. So China has dealt with it.

Meanwhile, the tariffs has pretty much put the global economy into a malaise and it has backfired and hit the American consumer. It will need to be resolved before the 2020 elections or else it is potentially feasible that it will effect the elections.

And China’s reaction?

Nothing. Ride it out. Don’t go on the offensive. Don’t go on the defensive. Let things sizzle for a while and ride it out. They realize that the present Trump strategy is to force China to agree to a range of demands.

Implement “democracy” in China.
Stop the reeducation of radical Muslim separatists.
Allow Tibet independence.

China said no, and won’t do anything. They want favorable trade but not at the risk of their national identity and global sovereignty.

The idea that liberal or Western-style democracy and the country’s  long-term stability are incompatible is deeply entrenched in the Chinese  mind. Most Chinese believe that the current level of maturity in  Chinese society does not allow for a “one man one vote” system. It is  broadly accepted that China will disintegrate if it recklessly adopts  Western-style democracy.

-   The construction of the Singapore Model in Mainland China

How would you feel, if China demanded that;

America implemented Communism?
Integrate Muslim extremists in key leadership roles in government?
Allow California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arazona and Texas to be an independent nation?

It’s all pretty silly. It’s obscene and an insult.

Well, that’s how the Chinese feels. They have plenty of trade relationships with other nations. Contrary to what the mainstream American news say, and they are healthy and chugging away just fine. You see, China realizes that they can under-price any American company on the global stage.

And so, they are just waiting everything out.

Thus the worst effects of the trade war backfired and are now squarely on the shoulders of America. John Bolton, of course is all happy about this. But there are far other considerations than the John Bolton Neocon narrative, and Donald Trump has a nation to take care of.

So, Donald Trump is regrouping and removing the Neocon planks from the trade demands and will continue to work with China on resolving this.

The end results…

The Trade war will end.
The HK protests will end.
Things will continue much as they had, only there would be more favorable trade terms for the United States.

Let’s see how correct my fortune telling ability is, shall we? Maybe I’m right or maybe I’m wrong. We will see. Eh?

CIA agent arrested directing the HK riots

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/5lcA5Huc8PiGYPb0pWE47w

Anyways about the video. He's going on in English about the "rule of law" and then switches in Cantonese. Anyways, his goose is cooked. 

Once HK passed the insurrection law which permitted the arrest of agitators who forment revolution, regardless of nationality, and extration ot the mainland for lengthy prison sentences and organ harvesting… everything changed. 

For months, if not years, the Chinese have documented everyting on video, and then seized the computers and technical data form the foreign newspapers operating inside of HK. 

So it's over for this cat. He doesn't have a hope in Hell. In China, there isn't any court negotations between attorneys. Instead, they look over the documentation and evidence and assign punishment(s).

BTW. I don't know if I told you this. But a lot of retired men in HK and China participated in the protests because if they did so, they would get a $200 USD check. Well, of course, they all started to deposit it in their own individual bank accounts. Right? Guess what happened?

Every account that has a $200 USD deposit during a specific time period is assumed to be a paid-for-riot paycheck. So every person who got that money… young and old… suddenly has their social security balance set to zero and frozen for the rest of their life.

Finally, we conclude with a decent editorial

US fooling no one with claims of innocence in HK: Opinion

By Ian Goodrum

For no particular reason I’ve been thinking of Claude Rains in Casablanca lately. You remember him; the Moroccan police captain who is “shocked, shocked” to find gambling in Humphrey Bogart’s establishment during a raid, only to be handed his winnings without missing a beat.

You might wonder at the relevance of that famous movie moment. I’ll explain.

Amid ongoing violence and turmoil in Hong Kong, Chinese media outlets have brought up a few relevant facts: That “pro-democracy” opposition heads had met with politicians in the United States, protest leaders had been in contact with State Department officials and major figures like Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi have issued statements supporting the demonstrators. With all this in mind, it’s been suggested the US has been inflaming tensions in the city and encouraging escalation in an already heated environment.

To wit, the Claude Rains moment: Members of the diplomatic corps were “shocked, shocked” by this news. Why, it’s unthinkable that the US, that bastion of democracy and freedom, would ever attempt to interfere in the affairs of another country! China was called a “thuggish regime” for even bringing this up — naturally, the “free press” was all crickets when it came time to do their purported jobs and speak a little truth to power.

Safe to say none of these faux-outraged government functionaries or their lapdogs in the media bothered to ask a Libyan what they thought of the idea. The NATO intervention there in 2014 turned the African country with the highest standard of living into a disaster zone, complete with open-air slave markets.

They wouldn’t have asked an Iraqi, either. I’m sure the families of the million-plus people killed by the US military since 2003 would have a few things to say about their invaders’ good intentions.

Or a Haitian. Or a Syrian. Or a Venezuelan. Or a Honduran. Or an Iranian. The list goes on.

The truth is US “diplomacy” has never been that innocent, and everyone knows it. State Department personnel — in league with military and intelligence agencies — have spearheaded countless interventions since the turn of the 20th century, destroying countries or political formations they saw as counter to US interests. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and especially after the Cold War began, this meant subverting communists or socialists and materially supporting anti-communists and fascists.

Among the best-known examples of this skullduggery are the hundreds of assassination attempts on Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro — none successful; he died at 90, probably laughing at the US as he went — and the overthrow of democratically elected Chilean Marxist Salvador Allende. The US loved democracy so much in the latter case they replaced Allende with a military dictator. These and many other interventions were overseen by the same sort of “diplomats” who now act offended at the notion they may be doing something untoward in Hong Kong.

But things are a little different now. These clandestine activities used to be the sole purview of the Central Intelligence Agency, and when word got out the US’ definition of “liberty” really meant “not being communists”, quite a few people were furious. So in a long process which began in the 1970s, the CIA delegated its regime change responsibilities to a host of organizations, each given a degree of separation with some legalese and clever accounting.

Though the Agency remains a potent force for subversion — and you would have to be truly naïve to think their cloak-and-dagger era is over — the interventional landscape has been somewhat diversified, with a host of non-governmental organizations taking the place of traditional spies. The National Endowment for Democracy, the largest among them, has of course given a great deal of money to “pro-independence” forces in Hong Kong. Nothing to worry about, I’m sure.

Allan Weinstein, an early leader of one such think tank, admitted it outright when he said “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.” While this makes US influence operations easier to track, it also gives them a veneer of respectability among the general public. It’s a bigger deal when a government agency is funding rebellious elements in another country; much less so if it’s some “non-governmental” cutout with a bit of plausible deniability.

When news of CIA activity broke in the past, it was big news. That was bad for optics. Somewhere along the way, powerful government figures and capitalists realized by doing all their influencing in the open — and with a media that had long since stopped pretending to question motives — the scandal brought by secrecy would go away. This has worked wonders on a browbeaten population fed a steady diet of propaganda. It turns out if you’re told every other country on earth is inferior to yours, you’ll start thinking intervention is great for everybody else.

Some people normally skeptical of official US narratives look back on this sordid history and conclude it’s a thing of the past, the stuff of ancients. But what’s changed between then and now? Why would any empire stop consolidating its influence if it had the ability to continue? In fact, the US’ capacity for interference has only grown more sophisticated since the end of the Soviet Union. With that country’s dissolution in 1991, the world lost a counterweight against imperialism — and logic dictates things would get worse rather than better in an era of unilateral hegemony.

So the question remains: Why would the US’ well-established, well-funded campaigns of subversion suddenly cease? Well they wouldn’t, of course. There’s an equally bizarre notion from otherwise right-thinking people that intervention stops at certain countries’ borders. This is patently ridiculous. If it can happen in Venezuela, Iran, Libya, Cuba or Syria, it can happen in Hong Kong — a geographically small Chinese territory with longstanding ties to the West. It is, in fact, perfectly positioned as a pressure point for the rest of China.

And it’s not just a question of economic or political systems anymore. The US doesn’t trust anyone, even its own imperial allies; recall that the National Security Administration had German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone tapped for years. There’s no telling how they’re keeping tabs on other NATO members. Because the US has the largest economy and military many times over, however, leaders who might otherwise speak out against this treatment stay silent. Yet the idea of US benevolence still has a hold on the world’s imagination. I encourage anyone on the fence to think about it this way: If this is how the US treats its friends, imagine what it tries to do to its enemies.

And make no mistake, the US considers China an enemy. It says so in official statements and policy briefings, and academics and journalists uncritically launder these claims for a mass audience on their enormous platforms. No matter how many times China says it wants peace and to handle its own affairs, the myth of the “China Threat” persists — stoked by US “diplomats” and their lackeys in the press.

These inflammatory statements serve a twofold purpose. On a personal level, they attract attention to the authors’ work and better position them for career advancement. More broadly, they further US interests and provide cover for narratives that wouldn’t get consideration by the public if they came straight from the military-intelligence apparatus. It’s a win-win for everyone — except the US’ victims.

None of this is to say that things in Hong Kong are perfect, or that everyone in the city was happy as a clam before the State Department and NED came along. Severe inequality plagues the city, and must be addressed for the government to enjoy continued support from the people. But bad actors take advantage of existing negative sentiments and amplify them, turning issues that could be handled peacefully into profound existential crises.

This playbook has worked for decades now, undermining countless sovereign governments whose existence ran counter to the interests of the United States; it’s the height of foolishness to think it can’t happen here.

The author is a copy editor with chinadaily.com.cn.

28NOV20 Update

It is pretty well established that the CIA has been well involved attempting a “color revolution” inside of Hong Kong as part of the Trump Trade Wars of 2017 – 2020. There are all sorts of articles on this subject. Here’s a worthwhile read…

Writer reveals CIA funding for the HK Protests

A secret high-level committee of Hong Kong senior activists worked with Western agents from the CIA to coordinate and amplify the leaderless protests against the fugitive law amendment last year, Nury Vittachi claims in his book The Other Side of the Story: A Secret War in Hong Kong.

Vittachi, a veteran journalist and a columnist for The Standard, accused the CIA of funding anti-government activities in the SAR. He said Hong Kong protesters have received practical training in street-protest strategy and media control from members of the professional revolution industry since January 2013.

The book named three US-based groups - the Oslo Freedom Foundation, the Albert Einstein Institute and the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies - which were directly involved in last year's social unrest.

He added that public records had shown that the National Endowment for Democracy, the CIA's regime-change arm, had sent HK$170 million to the mainland or Hong Kong since 2014 to "advance the cause of democracy."

https://lnkd.in/dwnSU-S

Other (really great) Links

Links about China

Here are some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader, might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.

China and America Comparisons

As an American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.

The Chinese Business KTV Experience

This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.

Learning About China

Who doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in China.

Contemporaneous Chinese Music

Parks in China

The parks in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.

Really Strange China

What is China like?

Summer in Asia

Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…

Some Fun Videos

Articles & Links

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The logistics of relocating a factory from China back to the United States.

"A recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China shows that  41% of the respondents considered relocating or had relocated  manufacturing facilities outside of China, but only 6% were considering  moving back to the United States. Southeast Asia was the top  destination. "

-Townhall

This is an overview of the complexities and issues that a company must deal with in order to relocate their factory out of China and place it back in the United States. It’s not as easy as it sounds, and we discuss the issues involved independently outside of the contentious American political scene.

We discuss the functional and practical issues with relocating a factory back to the United States from China. Not, the political issues, nor the need for America to reclaim it's manufacturing base. Those are other issues that will not be addressed here.

Though, let it be clearly understood, that I stand with Donald Trump in that there is a serious need to restart the American industrial machine and fire it up back to a level of productivity in order for the USA to maintain a global leadership role.

Donald Trump is going to bring American jobs back to America.

This entire issue came to a head when President Trump “ordered” American factories currently in China to “uproot” and Return back to the United States. It made all the headlines, don’t ya know?

All in all, it sounds so easy.

However, the truth is that is it is extraordinarily difficult thing to do. And no, as much as I would like all of youse guys to hire me, you just can’t hire an “expert” to handle things and expect them to be done to your satisfaction. It doesn’t work that way.

Sorry.

American progressive greed killed the little guy.

While there are ways to accomplish this task, there will be a hit in quality, price, and delivery time. All of these issues will affect the market share of the companies that agree to relocate. This damage to the market share for the companies involved should not be discounted. For many, it will manifest as a dance with death.

Here we discuss the most important issues that a company CEO, or owner would need to consider when contemplating relocating his company out of China.

Full Disclosure

For starters, I must make the full disclosure. Please take note that I was one of those “evil” Americans who relocated factories out of America and placed them in China. It was my job and maintained this role for a solid fifteen years if not longer.

Call me an a$$hole if you like.

It's difficult being the person that everyone hates. — It’s difficult being the person that everyone hates.

It’s not like I wanted to do it, so much as starving in a food-stamp line really sucked. I followed the money. You take what work is available and you do not question the person cutting you a paycheck. Sure beats scrubbing toilets, hauling manure, or judging the sex of chickens. Truth this.

It was difficult scraping by in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. I was just happy to get a job any job when unemployment (actual) was in the double figures.

For decades, people like Trump’s trade director Peter Navarro have warned us that something like this would happen someday. But we were condescendingly told, This is capital seeking the most efficient market! And, anyway, if China screws with us, we’ll just make it ourselves.

Really? With broken-down buildings, a dispossessed workforce and no machinery? Unfashionable working-class people in the industrial Midwest were discarded long ago. They may as well have had “obsolete” stamped on their foreheads.

-Ann Coulter

Ah. Maybe you the reader are unaware of the existence of the “rust belt” and us sorry sacks that lived there.

Unemployment line. In this June 23, 2014 photo, people wait in line to meet with recruiters during a job fair in Philadelphia. The Labor Department reports on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

I was hired for that task and did it to the best of my ability for numerous companies throughout the late 1980’s into the new century. Once Bill Clinton came to office, it just seemed like the “flood gates” opened up and just about everyone wanted to uproot and move their operations to China.

So, I do know what I am talking about.

A map showing the location of United States manufacturing plants in China as of 2008. As today is 2019, you can well appreciate that tall these plants are joint-ventures, and not WOFE and thus the American ownership of these companies are at 49% or less, with the Chinese partner owning a 51% controlling stake in the factory. — A map showing the location of United States manufacturing plants in China as of 2008. As today is 2019, you can well appreciate that all these plants are joint-ventures, and not organized as WOFE and thus the American ownership of these companies are at 49% or less, with the Chinese partner owning a 51% controlling stake in the factory.

And no, moving American factories back to America from China is not as simple as Donald Trump, Fox news, CNN, WaPo and the Drudge Report makes it out to be. It’s complicated. If handled poorly the entire American industry segment can be wiped out completely (rather than just simply outsourced).

Listen up!

Let it also be clearly understood that it was much easier to relocate a factory to China than it would be to reverse the effort, and relocate it to the United States. Yes. It’s like eating a delicious pizza. Once you eat it, you cannot regurgitate it up and present the vomit for resale. Now, can you? Nope you cannot.

We will cover some of these points in this article.

China makes everything

Most Americans are under the impression that the only things that China makes is cheap and useless junk. That is because of three things. [1] Ego, [2] Mainstream American media, and [3] Walmart.

The truth is that China is the manufacturer for the world.

Most computers are made in China.
Most clothes washers are made in China.
Most cell phones are made in China.
Most automobile engines are made in China.
Most transmissions are made in China.
Most tires are made in China.

So do not be under the erroneous assumption that it’s easy to relocate a factory back to the USA. These are, for the most part, not low-technology factories. (The low-technology factories have long since moved to even cheaper nations with less regulation, like Vietnam and Cambodia.)

Today, most American owned factories in China are much more advanced, than what is assumed. They are far more automated than the American mainstream news media lets on.

Take a look at what these factories make…

ACME Widget Technology Inc.

To better help understand the issues involved, we will use a fictitious American company. This company is based on a number of actual companies that I worked at where I relocated the factories to China. It is an amalgamation of numerous actual companies that I am sorry that I'd rather not announce publicly. As I did sign NDA's at all the companies.

This fictitious company is called ACME Widget Technology Inc. This company was a very prosperous consumer appliance company that was established in the 1950’s and was a major player in the consumer market during the 1960’s into the 1970’s.

They manufactured a wide selection of consumer appliances ranging from “white goods” (washing machines, stoves, and other large appliances), to “kitchen appliances” (microwave ovens, toasters, coffee makers) to “Lawn and Garden” appliances (weed-wackers, lawn-mowers and chainsaws).

White goods and other large appliances on display in a well known appliance store.

At their peak they employed over 10,000 American workers.

They operated numerous individual specialized factories, each one customized for a specific product line. As such there was one factory for personal scales, a different factory for heated cooking appliances, a factory for outdoor grills, and another one for washing machines. For all the various product lines, there was, perhaps, 30 to 45 factories at the middle of the 1990’s.

Most of these factories were in the Southern states, with the bulk of the factories in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee.

(They were initially in the North in the Great Lakes region, but relocated during the 1970's to the South East. They did so for lower wages (1/4 the rate) and the ability to skirt the onerous regulatory and union requirements.)

While the factories were in the Southern states to take advantage of the low labor rates, and “friendly” (at that time) business climate, the corporate offices were elsewhere. Marketing, Sales and the Commercial management offices were located in a suburb of Chicago. Perhaps you heard of it, Schaumburg Illinois?

While Engineering, Quality, Tooling and Test facilities were located within a days drive of any of the specialized factories in the deep South. Their offices were in the town center of one of the many numerous small Southern towns. Hattiesburg, Mississippi, perhaps you have heard of it?

Local engineering and related quality offices in small town America in the Deep South.

A 1980’s Hostile Takeover

In the 1980’s a group of investors seized control of the company. It was hostile, and thus the term “hostile takeover” become commonly used. (Remember the movies “The secret of my success”, and “Other people’s money”.) They laid off a significant percentage of the workers, shut down and sold off various factories and divisions (Remember the movie “Pretty Woman”?) and “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap?

It was a “bloodbath”.

Their goal was to strip-mine the company for personal profit. They felt that they could do with the company as they wished as they held controlling interest in it. And, since no one was doing anything to stop them from this (terribly unethical) activity, they were correct.

Without enforcement of the laws, or the selective application of laws... they functionally do not exist.

Given the crimes of the Washington oligarchy, this should be painfully obvious to everyone in America today.

After laying off thousands of people, Al Dunlap retired to a life of luxary and ease, playing golf and smoking cigars. — After laying off thousands of people, Al Dunlap retired to a life of luxury and ease, playing golf and smoking cigars. Meanwhile the workers that he laid off ended up destitute, many lost their homes, and went into bankruptcy. Today, many live in mobile homes, and are employed in low-paying unskilled labor employment.

I was hired to move companies to China.

Within this contentious environment, where the wealthy and successful were guzzling XO and cavorting with high-paid hookers, (while us working “normals” were discarded as “useless riff raff”), they hired me to do three things;

Relocate specific factories to China
Create Joint Ventures with existing Chinese factories
“Farm out” specific product lines to existing Chinese factories and create a partnership whereas we would purchase complete products from them though our Purchasing organization.

They wanted to move the plants to China for the simple reason that the wages were far less, the rate of exchange USD to Yuan was in the favor of the United States ownership, and that regulations, laws, and controls were lax, or in many cases, not present at all.

The operational costs American facility vs Chinese facility + Logistics costs were like "night and day". It was absolutely mind blowing how much cheaper it was to manufacture products in China compared to the USA.

Not to mention, of course, that the Chinese were actively courting American businessmen to “sell their soul”, “sell out their countrymen”, for a life of ease, prostitutes and a never-ending supply of recreational drugs.

 First, they hired slick American marketing firms and convinced giant  U.S. companies to relocate manufacturing to China by providing $1 leases  for comparable plants and abundant cheap labor. Wall Street fell for  it.

Secondly, state-subsidized Chinese companies flooded U.S.  markets with products at one-third the prevailing price. The result: In  short order, most American manufacturers had to file for bankruptcy.  Then, these same Chinese firms shamelessly swept in and bought up our  manufacturers’ now-unused equipment for pennies on the dollar.We were asleep.  Sure, it cost China some money in the early stages, but per their  long-term plan, China became the world’s top manufacturer and resource  for such fire-sale buy-outs at the same time. The plan was masterful,  the U.S. and American stakeholders fell for it hook, line and sinker.

I personally observed this wholesale takeover up close from 1990 to 2010. 

-Townhall

Note on the quote above: No American citizen can lease under the terms mentioned in the quote. Only the Chinese partner can take advantage of that lease arrangement. While the quote is a good one, it is very deceptive.

But moving into China was not as straight forward as it appeared. You just don’t hop on a plane with a suitcase full of cash, point to a factory and say “I want that one”. To operate in China (up until around 2008 or so) you needed to create a joint-venture partnership with an existing Chinese factory. So that is what ACME did. They partnered up with existing Chinese factories.

The primary advantages in having a joint venture in china was labor rates, regulations, and favorable trade terms. Anything else is speculative.

A comparison in hourly wages for manufacturing workers in the United States as compared to China.

The Dismantling of American Industry

These actions took place throughout the 1990’s and by the tail end of the decade, almost the entire product line for ACME was manufactured in China.

All in all, it took nearly a decade to move operations off shore without seriously affecting market share and the confidence of our customers. Our name brands remained intact. Commercial campaigns for the sales of ACME products were given top spots on television and through newspapers.

The Design, and Quality staff remained in the United States.

However, that too began to be outsourced as well. With Engineers from India, and China working alongside American Engineers. Eventually, the complete Engineering and Quality groups were wholly outsourced to China.

None remained in America.

Customer Service Staff at a CS operations room in India.

Customer Service activity was outsourced to India. None remained in America.

This remained true even after a flood of complaints about the quality of the customer service. They worked for a fraction of the cost of Americans, and with that pittance lived a upper-middle class lifestyle in India. The company savings went directly into the pockets of the owners of ACME.

Thus the resultant reorganization of the company resulted in very competitive prices that appealed to the major retailers. Walmart, Target, Sears, Home Depot, Walgreens and others all placed ACME Widget products in key SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) locations in their stores.

In other words, displayed predominantly, at eye-level on shelves, and in high visibility locations within stores.

A graph of the decline in American manufacturing employment (and conversely ability) in order to meet the profit targets of Wall Street, the globalst cabal that runs Washington, DC, and the progressive political leadership in America. — A graph of the decline in American manufacturing employment (and conversely ability) in order to meet the profit targets of Wall Street, the globalist cabal that runs Washington, DC, and the progressive political leadership in America.

Product Placement in Stores

The complexity of product placement in stores is unknown to most Americans, but it shouldn’t be. The largest profits from the sale of ACME products went to the “Box Retailers”, not to the manufacturer. They made a profit margin of around 30% on each appliance, compared to the paltry 2-3% that the factory earned for making it.

Walmart
Sears
Target
JC Penny
Walgreens
K-Mart

Additionally, these stores placed pricing pressure on ACME to lower the price every year. Walmart had a policy of price reduction that equated to 1.5% off each model, each year.

Now this price reduction was not passed on to the consumers. Nope. The store kept the savings.

Though the price to the “Box Store” would decrease, the sales price would not. Thus resulting in a net gain in profits for the local stores of 1.5% each year for each existing product. This was important, as Walmart maintained a solid 30% mark-up over the factory cost. (The the factory cost mark-up was rarely more than 3%.)

That $100 vacuum cleaner cost $67 to make and ship. The store that you bought it from made $30, the factory made $3.

Globalism was fantastic for the wealthy. Their profits were never larger.

Though, not so good for the local, “Joe Blow” who had a family and needed to work to earn enough to meet the basics of a roof from the rain, cheap food to feed the family, and some beer to dull the senses.

Power Tool Isle in Home Depot in the United States. All of which are made in China and rebranded with American-friendly names.

As such, the profits were enormous for the company, and the owners (the ones that conducted the “hostile takeover”) rolled in the cash in mind-boggling amounts.

The amounts of profits were truly mind-boggling.

They used that money to “diversify” their company portfolio. They bought hotels, cruise liners, travel agencies, and were getting involved in Savings and Loan banking. Such was the high-flying life in the 1990’s. (Anyone remember the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”.)

President Obama represented the Global Interests of a global socialistic community. He did not care for local Americans, as he viewed them as a part of an "old order" that must be discarded in favor of a new, more "enlightened" progressive way of doing things. — President Obama represented the Global Interests of a global socialistic community. He did not care for local Americans, as he viewed them as a part of an “old order” that must be discarded in favor of a new, more “enlightened” progressive way of doing things.

Unfortunately, many of these side ventures failed. Thus additional rounds of layoffs, and downsizing’s continued a pace.

This continued to be the story throughout the industry as the competition to ACME also implemented their modus operandi.

Then came the election of Donald Trump.

President Trump starts a “Trade War”

In 2016 though 2019 he raised tariffs on Chinese made products. With the percentage of tariffs constantly increasing. This continued until late Summer of 2019 when he demanded that American companies working and trading with China return their operations back to America.

It most certainly shook the will of most nations around the world.

I know it shook Wall Street, and afterwards, globally all consumers and manufacturers started to slow down operations to take a slower more conservative bent on the matters at hand. They slowed everything way… way down.

It started in 2016, and over the next three years, the global economy started to slow down and cool off. Orders out of America limped forward hesitantly, while orders from Europe kept pace, but were more cautious than before.

Nothing “crashed” as predicted by the “screeching heads” on the “blue panel” debates on television. (All actors reading scripts, and playing roles, don’t ya know.) But things slowed down. Things cooled off. Investors became cautious.

I get a phone call.

In September 2019, I was walking my dog along the beach near my house when my cell phone rang.

I normally don't keep my cell phone with me. But, for reasons related to habit, I had it in my satchel with me.

An old boss of mine, from my ACME days, tracked me down (How he was able to do so, I do not know.) and wanted to know if I would be willing to help them sort out the issues related to relocating their factories back to the United States.

I should have said no.

After all, our history was contentious. For, as soon as I completed my tasks with ACME, they immediately fired me, and made me sign a NDA in order to guarantee that I could get food stamps. No back pay, no severance package nothing. I couldn’t even go back to my office to get my personal effects. Pretty harsh, especially when you consider my very own personal situation…

… I had a wife with a very serious mental illness. And I was splitting my time between dealing with insanity of work issues and visiting her at the hospital. The layoff, at a time when my wife was suicidal, was a severe hardship. Well, for me at least.

Maybe you can handle an hysterical deranged wife painting the bathroom mirror with fingernail polish, while you are trying to “hit the streets” looking for new employment. I could not.

But that’s life. No one gives a rat’s ass about you.

Dilbert comic. It's so funny because it is (sort of) true. LOL. — Dilbert comic. It’s so funny because it is (sort of) true. LOL

It’s (as they say in America) “just business”. It’s the “American Way”, don’t you know. And you, as an American, should know. This is the truth, and this is the way it is. This is the real deal.

In America… it’s “just” business.

Being laid off without notice, or severence really blows. But that's the story of being an American worker during the last three decades. — Being laid off without notice, or severance really blows. But that’s the story of being an American worker during the last three decades. It’s the American way.

As was true through most of the 1990’s, treating employees as disposable paper cups often resulted in some bloody events.

But, in this case I said “yes” to my old boss. I asked a (relatively) enormous sum of money (expecting them to decline), and they agreed. Imagine that! I guess they were desperate.

After about two weeks of sorting out my personal affairs, we had a meeting in the conference room in one of their plush offices. It was on the 16th floor in this really nice (curtain wall) glass and steel structure that resided in Florida. What a life. They had really been doing well. Everything was new, and polished. It was a big change from the “hand me down” desks and cubicle walls that I dealt with back in the 1990’s.

Yeah. It looked something a little like this…

After the initial pleasantries and handshakes (You know, how was the flight, and did I like the hotel, etc.) , they asked me what was involved in moving the factories back to the United States, and so I put together some bullet points and made a PPT presentation to the upper management.

Capital Expenditures

The first point raised, of course, was costs. If you are going to move operations from one physical location to another, you will incur costs. What would those costs be?

The costs incurred would fall under numerous general categories;

Relocating heavy machinery and equipment (or the purchase of the replacements thereof).
Rules, fees, taxes and the costs associated with agency regulations that one must pay in the United States to operate a factory there. Do not be under the impression that you can just cut down a tree, install a power line, pave a road, and start putting up a pole building without having American government regulation at all levels involved.
Fees, charges, and associated bribes that you must pay when you are dealing with local American government. Make no mistake this is a very real issue and one that is kept quite hidden. After all it is quite illegal, and you all don’t want the pristine agencies of the FBI and DOJ putting their retainers on your efforts.
Rent or construction of new facilities.
The hiring of new staff to replace the Chinese staff. This will include all benefits as well as the various associated taxes, fees and social security benefits.
Associated relocation costs.
Associated tariffs in moving product inventory, and equipment from China to the USA.

It’s not so simple.

If you want to do something, it will cost money. Imagine that you are moving your house from Illinois to Los Angles. There will be costs. There will be the costs for the movers, the gas, the rental of the vehicle and the employment of the moving crew. The same is true for a business. There will be costs.

Some Key Points

Now, I would like to make some relatively important key points regarding moving a factory to China as compared to moving it back to China.

Firstly, consider what ACME did when the relocated the factory from America to China.

In the mid 1990’s, ACME formed a joint partnership / joint-venture with a Chinese company. ACME would take 70% of the profits, and the Chinese partner would take 30% of the profits.
ACME then shipped all their heavy manufacturing equipment from America to China. They physically removed it from the American factories, and shipped it to China. Then at the factory, they utilized both American and Chinese labor to set the equipment up, debug it, and shim the mechanisms into working condition.
However, it was well understood that once you set up a factory within China, you MUST have partial Chinese ownership. You absolutely cannot operate any factory in China without significant Chinese ownership. At that, let it be well understood that the Chinese co-owners MUST have at least 51% ownership in the company. The American owners will NEVER have more than 49% ownership of anything that they own and bring to China. It is Chinese Law (at least back in the 1990’s it was).

Also, let it be well understood that the upper management at ACME knew full well that this was the case. But they did not care. 

Their focus was on the short term profits, as was their charge. They fully expected that the company would eventually collapse long before there would ever be the need to relocate the factories back to the United States.

Semi-automated production line typically used in appliance assembly. — Semi-automated production line typically used in the appliance assembly. Picture is of a Bosch line prior to export to a Chinese assembly line.

Thus, any equipment brought into China will now require the co-owner’s (Chinese national) approval to remove from the Chinese factory and ship elsewhere.
In practice, this is often a big “NO!” There are some cases where the Chinese owner will permit the removal of old or antiquated equipment at a price. Often the price will be at market value or higher.
So, when ACME moved the equipment into China it was very simple. They moved it, and used their inherent labor to set it up and debug.

Yes, so when ACME relocated entire factories to China, it was a simple matter of firing all the American employees, boxing up the equipment, and handing it over to a Chinese partner. They, in turn, would own the equipment, train and staff the Chinese workers to use the equipment and ship the products back to America.

It was a model that worked well from the 1990’s up to around 2019. Everyone was doing it. American industry, as was Wall-Street, were all focused on quarterly profits. They could not see further than a few years in the future. The Chinese, on the other hand, think in terms of centuries.

However, to remove the equipment, they will NOW need the Chinese co-owner’s approval. This will often not be easy and it will come at a price. For they will be asking permission from their (now wealthy) Chinese partner to give up all of the capital equipment that resides in his factory. (And make no mistake, at 51% ownership, it is his factory.)
Please keep in mind that the cost of these manufacturing and assembly machinery are in the millions of dollars. As an example, an automated “brake” used to cut and bend aluminum sheet will equal the cost of a Lamborghini. Now, figure that each factory might have ten such machines at minimum. That is a lot of money.

Factories utilize so many different types of automation, that it is difficult to quantify exacly which ones are critial to the production end line goal, and which ones can be replaced by American manual labor. — Factories utilize so many different types of automation, that it is difficult to quantify exactly which ones are critical to the production end line goal, and which ones can be replaced by American manual labor. Photo is of an actual American joint-venture factory within China.

In short, what all this means is that American ownership of a Chinese factory is, at best, at 49%. As such removal of the equipment to America is problematic and will probably NOT occur. The Chinese business partner would keep the equipment, dissolve the partnership once the sales dissolve (easy enough under Chinese law) and end up owning the complete factory himself.

Thus the American partner is then forced to purchase all brand new assembly equipment from scratch and start off all over again. Only this time, due to the ravaging effects of inflation, the cost of the equipment is much more expensive than the initial purchase in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Thus capital equipment expenditures would seriously end up in the hundreds of millions of dollars alone.

Relocating a factory from China back to the United States is a prohibitively expensive exercise that costs an enormous amount of money. The only way around these costs are to emply Americans in an entirely manual assembly role and cut out all automation, quality checks and basic assembly standards. — Relocating a factory from China back to the United States is a prohibitively expensive exercise that costs an enormous amount of money. The only way around these costs are to employ Americans in an entirely manual assembly role and cut out all automation, quality checks and basic assembly standards.

Quick summary;
American manufacturing capital equipment is 100% American company owned when shipped to China.

American manufacturing capital equipment is only 49% American owned when shipping out of China. 

The difference in ownership will result in serious costs regarding the purchase of new capital equipment equipment for use within a factory in the United States. 

If the American management wants to go the legal route to resolve any issues with the Chinese partner, the Chinese legal system will rule in favor of the Chinese national. They ALWAYS rule in favor of the Chinese national. This is the way it works.

To put this in another way; to purchase new automation equipment for an American factory will entail enormous costs.

The only way that a business can purchase replacement capital equipment is with favorable banking and loan arrangements, but even with that, the amortization costs on most typical appliances will be on the order of an increase in 30% to 55% increase in the costs of the appliance.

Bill Clinton was quite satisfied with the trade arrangments with China, and supported it whole heartedly. — Bill Clinton was quite satisfied with the trade arrangements with China, and supported it whole heartedly.

Is it fair? No. But that is the situation that President’s Clinton, Bush and Obama were all quite satisfied with.

Technically Skilled Leadership

Another issue is the technical staff.

This is something that is given quite a bit of “lip service” in the industry, but is actually just a big smoke screen. If talented technical staff were actually important they would never be laid off. Right?

Well… Right?

Right?

Yet we know, by salary and HR surveys that the average duration for a technical (American) degreed professional (in America) at a singular job is less than two years. And, at that, the vast reason for their egress from the company was through firings, layoffs, right-sizing or what ever euphemism that might be popular at the time of the layoff.

Like I said. It’s a lot of words with no substance.

How to fire someone in America. Soften the blow so they don't go postal on you. — How to fire someone in America. Soften the blow so they don’t go postal on you.

Well, that is all just fine and day, except when you are talking about relocating a factory.

For you NEED these people, and you NEED their expertise. Otherwise, you will have all sorts of problems in production, resulting in quality disasters, and severe production delays.

Production Engineers are critical to the smooth operation of the production lines in a factory.

No we are not talking about line supervisors, and accounting clerks. We are talking about the engineers that maintain and operate the complex automated machinery. We are talking about the design, industrial, manufacturing, and mechanical engineers that make the production lines hum efficiently.

Oh, yeah.

They used to be plentiful in the United States, but over the last three decades they have become a dying breed. Most, once laid off, could not find other similar work and so they migrated into other occupations.

When our nation’s coal miners found themselves out of work, the  left-media gleefully told them that they need to “learn to code.”  After  all, they were dinosaurs working, literally, with dinosaur fuels and  needed to be reeducated for the global, technological economy.  

The condescending chant that rained down from the privileged ivory towers of the leftist elite:  Learn. To. Code. 

-Legal Insurrection

Some became bakers, while other ended up delivering mail for the Post Office. Some became teachers, while others became Bus Drivers. Maybe some even “learned to code”, as the Mainstream News Media laughingly taunted the unemployed professionals.

Design, production, manufacturing, industrial, quality and maintenance engineers are key talents that all factories require. Though over the last three decades, most of them have been Chinse, not American. — Design, production, manufacturing, industrial, quality and maintenance engineers are key talents that all factories require. Though over the last three decades, most of them have been Chinese, not American.

They, like myself, were forced to migrate to where the work is. If you are lucky, you never need to change and swap jobs. But during the 1990’s this was a near impossibility.

There are very few active technical factory experts in the United States today that are able and willing to relocate to a new post-China startup. They exist, but are decidedly no longer as plentiful as they once were. As such, once you find them, you will need to pay them a premium salary for their knowledge and experience.

Manufacturing engineers make sure that the process is set in place and the the workers can best manufacture complex and high quality products. WIthout them, the facotry will be plagued with all sort os quality problems, arguments, failures and delays. — Manufacturing engineers make sure that the process is set in place and the the workers can best manufacture complex and high quality products. Without them, the factory will be plagued with all sort of quality problems, arguments, failures and delays.

Now, that does not mean that they cannot be found.

They exist and are available in America. However you will need to pay them American salaries, and American benefits. Often with a benefit package that is ten times that of what the companies have been accustomed to paying their Chinese technical staff.

Process Engineers have an important role in the successful operation of any factory, especially those involving chemical and treatment processes.

So ,yes there are technical staff that can be hired within America to work and maintain the factories. However, the cost to employ them will require a budget at lest ten times larger than the budget that is already allocated for the staff at a comparative Chinese factory. This cost will be added on to the cost of the product manufactured at the factory.

Training of staff

Compared to the two previous issues, this one is not as serious. It simply means that all those American workers that ACME must hire to work in the newly relocated factory must be trained. You would think that it wouldn’t be too much of an issue. We have been training workers to work in factories in America for many, many decades.

Only one problem though.

Factory manufacturing techniques have changed drastically since the mid 1990s. The Chinese staff will need to train unskilled American workers to operate the relocated equipment, and learn the process parameters.

The people who know how to make the specialized products that ACME makes no longer exist in the USA. The Americans that used to know are all gone. Either they found new work when they were fired back in the 1990’s, or are now retired.

The ones that know how to operate the (new and improved) machinery, check the quality of the product, and are knowledgeable to quickly debug the process when things go wrong are all Chinese.

Which means, of course, to train your new workers, you must use existing skilled Chinese workers to do so.

Chinese supervisory staff training an American worker on site in America.

You have two options;

Obtain a H1-B visa for the Chinese staff and use them to train and supervise the new American workers.
Ship all the new American workers to China for hands-on training at the Chinese factory prior to shipping the equipment back to the United States.

Both options have been used by various companies over the last few years. Each option has some pros and cons associated with it.

Chinese management training Americans on site in the factory inside China.

However, the reader should note that due to the availability of the H1-B visa in the United States, the ACME leadership discovered that they would have to wait a year to apply for new visas, as all the existing visas were taken by software engineers out of India. Thus forcing the more expensive route to ship Americans to China to train how to use the equipment.

Training of Americans to work in the returned factory from China will necessitate the training by Chinese nationals. This will be conducted either in China or in the United States depending on the availability of visa access.

Breakup of Global Relationships

Of course, in order to return an American factory out of China and back to the United States, there will have to be a period of contentious negotiation between the owners.

PPT on the key points in negotiating with the Chinese.

After all, and I hope that I made this clear, an “American” company residing in China is NOT 100% American owned. No. Instead it is a joint venture / partnership with the Chinese partner owning controlling interest of the entire factory, technical skills, intellectual property and capital equipment.

For any American company to do this will create a period of discomfort and strife, as most Chinese owners will not want to relinquish any controlling interest, nor deplete their internal resource pool. He would fight, aggressively, any attempts to dissolve the relationship, ship components back to the United States and have access to stock and supplier interests.

Trade negotiations between Xi Peng and Donald Trump. The Chinese are tough negotiators. Do not think for a minute that they will not take full advantage of any situation.

This entire matter would be contentious. As a result, most American corporate executives would refer the entire matter to their American legal branch to handle. But, and you all should know and realize this, American law has no jurisdiction in China. Chinese law is what is followed, and the courts will almost always rule in favor of the Chinese nationals.

The Chinese legal system will ALWAYS rule in favor of the Chinese national.

When ACME tried to dissolve their partnership with the joint venture, and went the Chinese legal route, the courts ruled that not only did the American firm not have any legal standing, but they then awarded the American 49% legal controlling interest to the Chinese factory owner as punitive punishment.

Thus as a result, the ACME American company ended up with 0% ownership of the company, with their Chinese partner ended up with 100% ownership.

China is a serious, serious nation. They do not fool around, and they have laws that protect Chinese nationals. Americans should realize this and consider alternative solutions to any legal issues instead of going through the “proper” legal avenues.

Loss of Market Share in China

How things have changed. I’ve since returned to China many times, and  I’ve watched its economy grow to become the second-largest in the world.  

Based on purchasing power parity (PPP), it’s the largest. And according to Credit Suisse,  the size of China’s middle class has for the first time overtaken the  U.S. to become the world’s most populous—109 million Chinese compared to  92 million Americans. 

-Frank Talk

It might surprise many typical Americans, but China is a POTENTIALLY much larger consumer market than America is.

Presently the United States is the world leader in consumer product purchases, but that will change in the future. Most projections place China in the leadership role in the early to middle 2030’s.

China is growing, and the amount of growth just boggles the mind, and Americans are absolutely oblivious to this fact.

Thus, if you want to have a global “slice of the pie” for what ever products you make, you will need to sell them in China.

China Then and Now, in Pictures

Now, in order to sell products in China, you will need a Chinese “presence”. This can be a regional headquarters, a partner factory, or some other kind of legal entity to “open the door” for your products to be sold in China.

China is a huge market that can be exploited by American factories and businesses. However, they must be free to be able to sell their products to Chiese consumers. Were China to implement Trump-style tariffs, this will not occur, and Germany, Japan and Korea will capture those markets. — China is a huge market that can be exploited by American factories and businesses. However, they must be free to be able to sell their products to Chinese consumers. Were China to implement Trump-style tariffs, this will not occur, and Germany, Japan and Korea will capture those markets.

Do not be under the erroneous assumption that you can just carry some of your products to China and then just sell them openly. Nope.

All products must meet Chinese regulatory requirements.

It is similar to that in the USA. (Remember the Billionaire Boys Club where they were having a difficult time importing Mercedes Benz automobiles into the USA because they would not meet the emissions requirements?)

Now, it is far, far easier to sell American made, or American sourced (out of a Chinese joint-venture, or a WOFE) than trying to exporting the product directly to China. There is already a legal presence within China.

An opportunity exists for American companies to sell to China. However, they must do so carefully and maintain their name recognition.

Corporate Identity

What ever you do, you must maintain your logo and trademark or else you would no longer have any kind of “product identity” associated with your products. However, if you have partnered with a Chinese factory to make your products, then THEY, not you, own the registration and trademarks within China.

By relocating the “American” factory to America out of China, ACME ran the risk of totally closing off the Chinese Market. This is because their Chinese partner OWNED all royalties, Logos, Copyright, and trademarks for the ACME brand. Under Chinese law, as practiced, the Chinese person who first manufactures a logo, or uses a symbol automatically owns the rights to it. Once ACME leaves, they can never return back to China and use their brand. If they did so they would be in violation of Chinese law.

Long Term Consequences

 I long ago concluded that the world will eventually essentially  divide into two spheres: China and the United States. But what I have  not been able to figure out is what that will mean overall nor what that  will mean for particular regions and countries. In particular, I get  stuck when trying to figure out which countries will go to which side.

 I have always believed some countries will essentially be required to  choose between the United States and China, some countries will want to  choose between the United States and China, and some countries will  want to straddle between the United States and China. 

-China Law Blog

China is growing and it appears that the United States does not appreciate competition. The USA wants to maintain it’s role as a global superpower, fighting and policing the globe by taxation of it’s citizenry. While China is looking for economic dominance through cooperation with national partnerships.

Non-American Factory Sites

You know, you do not need to relocate the factory back to America. you can relocate it to another nation with similar conditions to China. Here, you can make a joint venture partnership between the Chinese factory and a local factory, say in Cambodia, Vietnam, or Laos.

Pass-Through Trade Logistics

There are work-arounds. Products made in China, can be shipped to a nation that does not have Trump-level tariffs against it. The shipping container would then go to this second “pass through” nation, the documents would then specify that it was made and originated out of the third nation. Then shipped to the United States.

Of course, it is possible that the economic pain China is feeling from the trade war has been mitigated by some businesses trying to “work around” the tariffs. This is typically done by exporting to an unsanctioned country where some “value added” is created before being shipped onto the final destination – thus avoiding the tariff.

This is a tried and tested formula with one of the more extreme examples being Russia. It takes time to find alternative suppliers from different countries or to develop domestic ones. When sanctions were first imposed on imports from the EU, Russia companies used business relationships to import EU products via 3rd party countries, including Belarus. This put up costs, but ensured supply chains could continue functioning until alternatives were found.

If that has indeed been happening as a result of the US-China stand-off, the most likely avenue is Vietnam. While US imports from Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan have certainly increased, it is from Vietnam that they have surged. ...

... It is difficult for an economy to build extra production capacity and related supply chains in a short period of time to substitute even part of the production from China. Vietnam’s manufacturing production growth was quite flat at around 10% year-on-year in 2019. It was even slower in 2018. It is hard to believe that the surge in Vietnam’s exports to the US (in US dollar terms, remember) has all come from production within Vietnam.
The obvious response is that it hasn't. Chinese exports to Vietnam have displayed a strong upward growth trend in 2019, which is in contrast to the slowdown in 2018, and also in contrast to the moderately flattish growth of Vietnam’s production.

-ING

This is a mature solution. Many of the products that American believe are made in Germany, Japan and Korea are actually made in China. They are made in China and then shipped and stored in the respective warehouses for later shipment to the United States.

This option might increase the price of the products from 1% to 5%. This is a viable solution as opposed to the 30% to 40% tariffs that Donald Trump is talking about.

Some Really Good Links

Conclusion

"The Trump administration made a very serious miscalculation in launching the ‘trade war’ with China. It believed that either, or both, the leadership of China would submit to the Trump administrations threats or the Chinese population would not be prepared for a serious struggle with the US. Both calculations have proved entirely wrong. China’s leadership did not surrender to but hit back against the US attacks. Furthermore anyone who follows China’s domestic discussion, on what is now by far the world’s largest internet community, knows that this line was strongly supported by the Chinese population."

- China prepares for economic ‘prolonged war’ with Trump

There are many considerations that a company must take into account when faced with a Presidential decree that the company relocate from China to the United States. It’s a complex issue with many facets.

When discussing relocation of American factories back to America you must also include the contentious corporate history over the last four decades that led up to the situation that exists today. Nothing happens in isolation. It is all the result of society, and corporate behaviors that are nurtured by the political class in Washington D.C..

In any event, it is up to each individual company to determine what actions would be in their own corporate interests. I would advise obtaining knowledgeable legal representation, and employment of experienced “old hand” expats residing in China, rather than some “expert” out of an “ivory tower” in Los Angles.

Links about China

Here are some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader, might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.

China and America Comparisons

As an American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.

The Chinese Business KTV Experience

This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.

Learning About China

Who doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in China.

Contemporaneous Chinese Music

Parks in China

The parks in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.

Really Strange China

What is China like?

Summer in Asia

Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…

Some Fun Videos

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Is it clear enough for you? It’s time to hunker down, or get ready to rumble.

Well, it’s been (almost) three solid years into the Donald Trump Presidency and not one treasonous criminal action has been punished. Not one. ZERO. Zilch. Na-da.

Take for example when Hillary Clinton literally laughed out loud at a  question about her email investigation — had to wipe her eyes, she  laughed so hard. She laughed at us, at America, for being so clueless as  to think she’d ever answer to our laws.
  
And she’s still laughing, because she’s right: she’s  untouchable. The consensus is that even though we know that the first  email investigation was rigged by the FBI to clear Hillary, no one will  reopen the case. 

-Cold Fury at hold your breath.

Nope. All we (the people) have are promises. Promises that someday, at some time, all the 5d machinations of the DOJ will “get to the bottom” of things. They’re “experts” don’t ya know. Don’t ya know.

Promises.

You know, like all those promises that the government has given us year, after year. Year after year. Promising to make changes. Promising to fix potholes. Promising to do things. But doing nothing.

Promises.

Same old. Same old.

Watching FBI agent Peter Strzok battle with Congress, my initial reaction was pure anger. 

His repeated, arrogant insistence that he had done nothing wrong despite tons of evidence to the contrary convinced me he deserved immediate firing — if not the firing squad.

Gradually, though, anger gave way to amazement as Strzok grew increasingly combative and condescending. Given his predicament, the sneering and smirking were stupid, and yet he persisted.

Who is this jerk, I wondered, and how in the hell did he get to be a big shot at the FBI? And why are taxpayers still paying for the privilege of his malignant presence on the FBI payroll?

My answers can be summarized in four names: James Comey, Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray. They are chief culprits in the death of public trust in the Department of Justice.

-Michael Goodwin

Meanwhile, those who have committed the most blatant abuses of their offices in the history of the world, are walking free in their mansions, and enjoying the “good life”. They are still on the media networks. They are still cavorting with “our betters”. They are still eating expensive steaks and drinking high-end Chardonnay. They are still cavorting with the rich and famous. They are still behaving like they always have.

They are rubbing their privilege in our faces.

Real privilege is begin able to avoid getting arrested when you break laws. Real privilege is knowing that you are immune from the Justice system, and that you can do what ever you want in life and no one will lift a finger against you.

Blatantly.

Real privilege is killing a threat in public. While in Federal custody, and having all the guards asleep, the cameras turned off, and the documents erased.

Real privilege is doing it blatantly, in an "in your face" assault, with zero consequences.

The adventures of Liz Barsomain. — The pure audacity and brazenness of these crimes are mind blowing and staggering in their audaciousness.

They are doing so because they know there isn’t a FU@KING THING that we can do about it. We are powerless, and our illustrious president; Donald Trump is actually powerless to stop them.

Real privilege is operating in the open, in public, where everyone knows that you have this privilege.

Powerless.

Full of hot air.

Every day, it seems more and more likely that Donald Trump is just a clown to entertain us "normal's" with the hope for change, when in all actuality, nothing substantive is getting resolved.

Now, do not misunderstand.

Oh, for certain, he has done some good works. Yes he has. Yes, he is miles ahead of any other Republican President, including Ronald Reagan.

But…

It’s all fun and games. The expression on all those “Holier than thou” smug (in your face) progressive Marxists is precious. And, yes, I do enjoy sitting down with a big bowl of popcorn and watch their heads explode.

But Trump is NOT doing the dirty and nasty work that he needs to do…

Getting us out of the eight wars (x8) that we are currently fighting. There is no reason at all for us to be fighting and dying in Yemen. None.
Elimination of those progressively-armed Federal Agencies; IRS, ATF, FDA, EPA, and for certain FBI and the DOJ. They are now armed military forces with their own law-making branches, their own judicial branches, and their own processes. All of which lie OUTSIDE our elected Congressional representatives. They police, and enforce, the two-tiered justice system.
Arresting and trials, with death sentences for treasonous activity…

It’s a treasonous bunch for certain, but nothing is getting done.

It appears, by all substantive measure, that AG Barr is just as ineffective as AG Sessions was. "Ineffective" is a polite word for "corrupt".

Ah. The Progressive globalist oligarch cabal.

Their crimes vary from committing outright treason, stealing and embezzling millions (if not billions) of dollars, and cover-ups at an extraordinary scale. All these people should have been left hanging from a scaffolding with back hoods over their heads.

Yet nothing has happened.

Donald Trump with Ronald Reagan. — As much as I admire Trump for taking on the wild beast that the United States has become, the fact remains that serious action MUST occur to slay the lawless oligarchy that rules our nation. Unless that is taken cared of, everything will subside and revert back to the gallop of rampant progressive Marxism.

Our patience has worn thin. We are no longer the hopeful, wide eyed people we once were. We can see the evil straight up. We know the score, and no media spin, or RINO-conservative article is going to change our assessment.

These people…

Louis Learner
Hillary Clinton
James Clapper
Imran Awan
James Comey
Rod Rosenstein
John Brennan
Peter Strzok
Jeff Sessions
Michael Flynn
Andrew McCabe
Christopher Wray
Bill Priestap
Lisa Page
Jim Baker
Andrew McCabe
Eric Holder
Barrack Obama
Christine Blasey Ford

Crimes?

Comey got the last laugh. He is above the law. He earned that by keeping the Clintons above the law. 

- From Don Surber

How about greed for personal gain. How about treason for personal gain. How about murder for personal gain. How about coverup for personal gain.

One quibble: I met Randy Weaver at a Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot one year, and spent about an hour hanging out and casually conversing with him. At NO point did he strike me as an “outspoken white separatist”; white separatist he may have been, which is not a crime (yet).

But he wasn’t an “outspoken” anything at all. He was instead very quiet and humble—almost diffident, really. The one thing that stood out most about him was how deeply he was still haunted by FBI scumwad Horiuchi’s wanton, vicious murder of his entire family.

Weaver’s grief over their execution by federal death-squad was still as raw and agonizing as if it had been fresh, several years after his own despotic government inflicted it on him.

I hadn’t known of Barr’s sordid history before, but it does clearly establish one thing: the very idea of him ever ensuring justice against Deep State coup d’état plotters is no better than wholly ludicrous.

That Barr would defend such an outrage against all decency and humanity as the FUSA government’s murder of unarmed and innocent civilians at Ruby Ridge—a youth shot in the back as he fled the monstrous agents of a monstrous tyranny; his dog killed for no purpose other than to terrorize him; his mother sniped from hiding as she committed the heinous crime of standing in the doorway of her own home with her infant child in her arms—puts paid to that nonsense.

-Cold Fury. Put no faith in the stalwart AG Barr. He's a deep swamp plant.

They should have been arrested, incarcerated, and hung until dead. That didn’t happen, and now it seems that Barr is just another Sessions. It’s all a dog-and-pony show,

Nothing is going to happen.

Let THAT sink in.

No one was arrested. No one was charged. Nor does it look like it’s ever going to happen.

President Obama gave away seven billion dollars to South Africa to “improve” their national electrical grid.  He gifted $100 billion to the UN,  then he gave them yet another $500 million to fight climate change. He gave $7 billion to Kenya, for reasons that I am not clear on. He gave away 150 billion dollars to Iran under a most flimsy excuse. And, another $400 million in pure raw cash as well. Obama gave $221 million to the Palestinian Authority on the way out the door. He gave $500 million to the UN for “climate change”. He gave Mexico $75 million to build a wall on their southern border. He gave $90 million to Laos.  He even gave George Soros $9 million dollars. Not to mention, the billions of dollars to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Syria.

You know, in my High School Civics class we were told that Congress, and not the President controlled how money was spent. I was also told that the government collects that money to help us Americans. Now it is the other way around. Isn’t it?

They should have all been hung.

Every last one of them.

This "investigation" into the treason of the Deep State is proving to be the equivalent of a 25-month pregnancy, and counting. 

- From Col. B. Bunny at Liberty's Torch

It’s all a fraud

 One of the features of the current year is the regular reminder that  western style democracy is a complete fraud. According to the political  class, democracy allows for public policy to reflect the will of the  people. The parties put forward candidates offering various policy  proposals and the public signals their preferences by voting for one or  the other candidates. The winners then set about trying to implement the  policies they proposed. That’s how we’re told representative democracy  works.

 In reality, nothing like this happens. Instead, the parties put on a  show for the voters, rarely intending to actually do what they claim.  Instead, they manufacture differences between one another, so they can  pretend the choice before the voters is stark. Once the election is  over, the politicians go back to living their lives of leisure, waiting  for instructions from the people who actually run things. The  politicians are like robot actors, brought out for elections, then put  back in storage.

 The obvious example of this is the most recent American presidential  election in which Donald Trump scored a stunning upset on the promise to  reduce immigration, crackdown in illegal immigration and address the  gross inequality resulting from globalization. So far, none of that has  been done. Instead, he spent most of his presidency fighting a seditious  coup to get him out of office. In fact, Trump’s three years are pretty  much what Jeb Bush promised when he was running in the 2016 primary. 

-The Z man Blog

Before…

Russian oligarchy prior to the 1916 October revolution. Most, if not all, of the people in this photograph were killed, or fled the country to safe havens elsewhere.

After…

We know what will happen. It has been well documented. People will be collected. They will be rounded up into urban areas, or centers. The men will be separated out from the group. They will be led to an isolated area, a cellar, a warehouse, a cluster of tree, an area behind a bulldozer. They will then be held down by two people and shot dead.

Well, were the criminals arrested?

But, that didn’t happen did it? Nope. Instead what did we get? We got a media onslaught of a “Russian Narrative”. We got trade wars that increased the prices of our purchases, and we got a promise with more wars “down the pipe”. The latest being with Iran.

Meanwhile in America, in the “heartland”, we are arrested and incarcerated for the slightest offense. It’s really sad and alarming to the most wide-eyed believer.

This is what is called a “two-tied” ,”unequal“, or “Medieval” Justice system. Hell would freeze over before the likes of Louis Learner would be arrested for anything resembling jaywalking.

The Joke Police are looking to strip Dave Chappelle of his speech  rights, which once again proves we are coming to a decision point in  this country. That’s what this whole godforsaken Woke Crusade boils down  to — a choice, and the choice is this: Are we going to allow ourselves  to become second class citizens in our own country? Are we going to  allow far-left activists and their allies in the media, Silicon Valley,  and Hollywood to bully us into creating a two-tiered class system? 

- Great little slice of outrage from John Nolte.

Heck! Hillary Clinton could be filmed stabbing an illegal migrant to death in the town square with hundreds of onlookers, and the news media would report that Donald Trump did it.

What we get is “bread crumbs”. A monthly feed of hope…

Hope…

But, people… Hope is not actionable by itself.

People, a two tiered justice system is not sustainable.

Two Tiered Justice

If you have one set of laws for the members of the government and  another set for everyone else, you are not being governed, you are being  ruled. 

- SteveF, comment at Daily Pundit, via Cold Fury

And this quote…

“How do I recognize that the SHTF is very close?”
 
One of as closest answers possible to give there is this: “You know it is close when people stop worrying about repercussions (punishment from the law and the system).” 

-Organic Prepper

Yeah, and this…

Then as now, the pleasant skin of “Yay, democracy!” has been  sloughed off to reveal the naked sinews of power and wealth and  violence beneath. There’s no crisis like there was in 2008. The world  isn’t ending like it was in 2008. But I’m telling you that it feels the same to me.

They’re. Not. Even. Pretending. Anymore. 

-Epsilon Theory

Give him some time…

The conservative argument is always “give it some time”. “It’s a big mess and Donald Trump is only one lone man.”

Yes. I get that.

But we don’t have all day. We do not have an unlimited amount of time. We have THIS window. Maybe another four years. Maybe…

Maybe…

Yes, there are things that need to be put into place. I get that…

The thing is that there just isn’t a lot of time.

There really isn’t.

You either do things NOW, or accept the fact that they will never get done.

Don’t believe me? Well then do some comparisons…

Obama implementation of ACA ObamaCARE … months.
Obama giving 7 billion dollars to South Africa … weeks.
Wilson in the formation of the Federal Reserve … months.
Wilson in the creation of the IRS … months.
Passage of the 12th amendment … months.
Entry into the war in Iraq … months.
Entry into the war in Yemen … months.
FDR stacking the SCOTUS … months.
Impeachment of Nixon for Watergate … months.
Arrest, trial, sentencing and execution for Lincoln’s death … months.

Meanwhile…

Arrest, trial, sentencing for contemporaneous treason … years

Don’t you all see that there is something seriously wrong here? Don’t you see that time IS AN ISSUE?

Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it is raining.

Lewis Powell Payne 2. A UNIQUE INSIGHT into the Civil War Confederates has been brought to light in the form of rare photographs that have been enriched with colour. The authentically colourised pictures depict the tragic circumstances of the war with two dead men lying on the ground in Maryland, USA; a confederate buried and a federal unburied. Other photos include a portrait of American confederate soldier and commander of the Confederates States of America, Robert Edward Lee, and Lewis Powell Payne, who conspired with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln, leaning against a wall. Further images expose the aftermath of the war with a confederate soldier in Petersburg, Virginia, lying lifelessly on the ground with blood on his face. The vintage photographs were carefully colourised by CEO, Mads Madsen (23), from Horsens, Denmark, who spent between 12 to 14 hours to colourise the pictures of the dead men at Dunker Church and Antietam alone. Mads Madsen / mediadrumworld.com

Meanwhile

Yeah. Meanwhile, it’s the same old. Same old.

It’s nearing the next election cycle. They know how to predict our behavior. They know how to manipulate us. They know what buttons to push.

They are following the same old tired formula. They are expecting us to react in the same old tired manner.

Who cares what conservatives do, say, or think anymore? They didn't  conserve America. They didn't conserve the ladies room. They couldn't  even conserve the two human sexes! 

- Vox Day at Vox Popoli

They are expecting to move us “normals” to pull the lever to whomever they want us to.

You know strike at the curtain, not at the man behind the curtain. Fight and get all worked up with the political hot-button items of the day. From “Red Flag” laws, to “global warming”, to LGBT bathrooms.

No one, of course, no one is talking about the REAL issues.

That is the sustainability of an oligarchy under the guise of a democracy / partial republic. No one is talking about this. For they, the Kingly rulers, believe that they have sufficiently dumbed down the populace to a point where we are unaware of their crimes and their manipulations.

They are chomping at the bit, as all this has been in the works for a century at least and it is just about ready for fruition. All they need is to disarm a large enough segment of the population. If they can’t do it overtly, they will do it covertly though “red flag” laws, and when that happens, it will just be a matter of months before they can exert full dictatorial control.

As if they don't have it already. 

People, if you can get arrested in your own yard for making and selling lemonade, you ARE living in a dictatorship. If you have to pee in a cup to get a job, you are living in a dictatorship. If you need to undress to your underwear to board a plane, take a train, or travel you are living in a dictatorship.

It’s just a matter of months.

Voting?

Elections provide the illusion of control.

However, every study conducted on this issue has proven that the issues that matter to the voting public are not what the fellows in Washington DC promote. They have a totally different agenda.

Americans in America today. Many on drugs. Many unemployed or underemployed. Many getting their information from questionable sources.

It is a globalist agenda and they follow the money path and directions from the global oligarchy.

Today, we are fighting PROXY wars in the Middle East. Not because mainstream Americans demand that we fight Yemen to protect our "interests", but rather because it is what the donors to our political class desire.

Sometimes, in a once in a century event, a candidate will be elected (like Donald Trump) that will try to do the “right thing”, and who will make the hard and the difficult choices.

But, what if all the people that he has to work with are corrupt? What if they do not answer to their constituents simply because they are not beholding to them. What if they don’t need to try?

What then?

Knowledge is power

It should be clear enough for everyone that the “Deep State” is far larger and far more powerful than any citizen voted initiative, even when it is the President of the United States. There is nothing that we can do about it. We can only react to it. There are three options.

Except accept our fate, fight back, or flee.

We crossed the Rubicon.

We must now accept our fate. As well as how it will develop in the next few years, or…
We need to jump ship. Escape while it is still possible. Just like the multimillionaire software oligarchs are doing. Or…
We need to fight and take back what is ours.

Face the facts. Face it. Our nation is a full-on oligarchy, run like the most evil and corrupt mob organization ever conceived.

Meanwhile, us citizens are treated like dirt. We are the money-cows that have zero rights and are ear-marked for the gulag as soon as a Progressive Democrat gets control of the armed forces. You know this is true, or do I need to provide links and data to convince you all?

They have already nullified key sections of the Bill of Rights. Since when can any Congress make any law infringing upon any of the Rights within the Bill of Rights? Or, do you think that everything will magically reverse and go away?

Read this letter…

They have already nullified key sections of the Bill of Rights. Since when can any Congress make any law infringing upon any of the Rights within the Bill of Rights? Or, do you think that everything will magically reverse and go away? Negating the Bill of Rights.

Be Sensible

Here is my attempt to talk you, the reader, out of dangerous violent action.

Most conservatives are sitting tight and looking around trying to see what other conservatives are doing. Then, they plan to take action themselves. No one wants to make the first move. They are waiting on the mainstream American news media to somehow report on other traditional conservatives taking action…

The thing is that the American mainstream media controls information dissemination.

There is no way to know positively if other conservatives are taking hard action. Thus, as a result you risk becoming the lone “gun man” who is disturbing the tranquility of “our republic”.

Listen to me.

War is ugly.

People die. Including you, your friends, your family and your loved ones.

It should be avoided at all costs.

People get tortured, and sadness abounds.

Dying ain't much of a living. — Dying ain’t much of a living.

If you are truly unhappy with the way things are today, then leave the United States.
If you are unhappy, but do not want to hurt anyone, just lie low and hunker down. Go with the flow. Do what everyone else is doing. Accept things as they are, and hope that your children will turn things around.
Violence is a last resort item that will probably get YOU KILLED. Heed my words.

…

Let’s take a breather and look at our options. There are three, and only three options.

[1] – Protect your own.

Option one. You can, if you wish, to accept servitude and slavery. There is no shame in that. As the saying goes in North Korea…

"It's better to be miserable than dead."

That’s fine. I’m sure that is your deep desire. Let it all blow over, and some day everything will change. Most (so called) Conservatives will accept this reality. My guess is that 94% will.

Pretend that some day it will all go away.

Think about other things. Think about your family. Think about your career. Think about your favorite sport team.

It was the summer of 1996, early June, and I was teaching a course at Simmons College in Boston to make some extra dough. Jennifer was clerking for a lawfirm down in Dallas, pregnant with our first child. 

My dad called. He and my mom were in London, where they had rented a small flat for a month. Did I want to come over and stay for a few days? 

As it happened, I had five days free, perfect for a long weekend trip. I walked down to a cheapo travel agency on Boylston (yes, a physical travel agency), and found a ticket for $600 or thereabouts. 

Seemed like a lot. I could have afforded it, by which I mean there was room on my credit card to buy it, not that I could really afford it. $600 was a lot of money to me. 

That said, I hadn’t seen my parents since Christmas, and my dad sounded so … happy. This was a special trip for them, a chance to LIVE in a city that my father LOVED, and this was my chance to share it with them. But $600. I dunno. 

I called my father and told him that I just couldn’t swing it. He understood. He was a very practical guy. The call lasted all of 20 seconds. You know, international long distance being so expensive and all.

I never saw my father again. He died a few weeks after he and my mother got home.

You must make the choices in life that mean a lot to you.

The EZ solution to handling life's problems. — My cat taught me this trick; “Life is hard. Then you nap.”

Up until now, this has been the status quo for most of America and most certainly for most Conservatives, and “normals”. We have accepted our lot. We don’t like it, but we accept it.

We pay our taxes.
We don’t protest when the government is out of control.
We accept the fact that we must undress to travel.
We shrug off the latest restrictions on our freedom.

We have adapted to the chains around our wrists, and the shackles on our legs.

This is true though many do not want to admit it. Listen up! Here is the harsh truth…

Let me tell you that it’s only going to get worse. It’s going to get a whole lot worse. But maybe you can survive. Ride the waves, so to speak.

There are a lot of sick and perverse people around us. We are simply not seeing them. They are waiting for the SHTF. 

- Selco at Organic Prepper

Ride the waves.

Accept your place in the world.

American mainstream media telling us "normals" what they fully intend to do with us once they reacquire the reins of power. — American mainstream media telling us “normals” what they fully intend to do with us once they reacquire the reins of power.

This is what the United States government wants you to do.
It is what the progressive liberals want you to do.
This is what the American mainstream media wants you to do.
This is what the “deep state” wants you to do.
This is what the “swamp in Washington DC” wants you to do.

This is also probably what your friends and family want you to do as well. It’s a female trait; safety over freedom. Even if that safety is probably going to be short lived.

 Washington Post opinion writer Jennifer Rubin appeared on MSNBC's "AM  Joy" Sunday and said that not only does Trump have to lose in 2020, but  there must be a purging of "survivors" who still support the  commander-in-chief.

"It's not only that Trump has to lose, but that all his  enablers have to lose," she said. "We have to collectively, in essence,  burn down the Republican Party."

"We have to level them because if there are survivors — if there are people who weather this storm, they will do it again." 

-  Nick Givas at Fox News, about the 2020 national election

Your freedom, if you wait, will be short lived.

Progressive Marxist plans for when they obtain the reins of power fully. — Progressive Marxist plans for when they obtain the reins of power. Only this time, it will be forever.

The erosion of rights we have seen won’t continue in a linear fashion. It will accelerate. 

- John Wilder at Wilder, Wealthy, and Wise

[2] – Flee

Option two. Alternatively, you can do what I did. Leave. My guess that a small minority will join me, but you all had best consider this option. Time is fleeting and the window of opportunity is closing.

It’s not a comfortable option. You must discard most of your belongings. Move away from all you know and love. Lose your support network, your friends and your family.

You will need to embrace a new place, a new culture, a new society and a new way of doing things and living life. You might need to learn a new language, take up a new occupation, and live at a standard of life that you are not accustomed to. Are you up to it?

Yup.

That’s right. You can leave.

Leave America.

It’s no longer my business who gets rich and who suffers in the USA. It’s one big enormous cluster f@ck and I want no part of it. Not at all. I really do not want to get embroiled in any kind of spitting match between progressive and traditional nationalists.

Not.

My.

Problem.

When you get older in life, you learn that there are some things worth fighting for, and other things that are important to you. You learn to pick and choose your battles selectively. You know what is important, and what hasn’t a hope in Hell in occurring.

So you make decisions based on YOUR own personal circumstances.

In my case, for me, it’s one of moving to a freer nation. One where I can live life on my very own terms. And let others battle the mess that the United States is today.

Maybe I cannot get a NY Style slice of pizza, but I can get other things just as great. — Maybe I cannot get a bagel or an authentic NY Style slice of pizza, but I sure can get other things just as wonderful.

For those of you who would prefer to live to a grand old age, and have no desire to observe blood spilled, I would advise you to leave America. I would advise you all taking some immediate actions to secure a safe-haven and protect you and yours from the encroaching darkness.

Life is far too short to get killed, watch your family suffer through hardship or endure a life crippled.

Do what I did, and flee.

Spicoli GIF — Spicoli telling it like it is. Wars and strife are for younger idealistic mean to deal with. Old grizzly coots like myself would rather stay far from all the strife and life the rest of our life in peace. While it is impossible to find the best island to hide upon, we can make reasonable choices and hunker down for the protracted shit-storm that is about to be unleashed.

That's what many Jews did in the 1930's when Hitler rose to power. Some made it to the USA, but only a few. Some made it to Shanghai, and there they huddled in their enclaves while the war waged around them. While others went next door to Poland. But that didn't help them at all.

Call me a coward, if you will.

While the USA goes through the “big reset”, I will be out here, minding my own business. I will not need to fight, or witness atrocities. And I will be safe.

The days of the United States fighting a three or four year long war are long over. Today, the United States fights long-duration decade-long wars that never end.

Instead of the second American Civil War (CWII) being over in a short period of time (like the first American Civil War), it might be prolonged for decades. 

Decades, or even longer. Maybe something resembling the Palestine vs. Israel conflict. The "forever" war.

Are you willing to permit you and your family to endure that?

Instead, I will be surrounded by people who will not be affected by anything going on in the USA. Just like youse guys aren’t affected by anything going on in Lusaka, Zambia. Just like your family is not affected by what is going on in Spain right now. Or Singapore. Or Taipei.

When you live in another nation, it’s a different world, and I’m doing just fine, thank you.

Outside of the USA, everything is just fine.

Call me what ever names you want. I just do not want to be either a slave or embroiled in the SHTF CWII, Fourth Turning that is gathering momentum in America today.

And, make no mistake, it is gathering momentum.

While I had hope that the election of Donald Trump would reverse and undo the damage of progressive Marxism, he has not.

He has failed.

Hey! Instead of tweeting about buying Greenland, how about shutting down the ATF, or at least downsizing it... severely.

Outside the United States, everything is just fine.

Yes. Donald Trump.

He’s done some nice things, and he’s a hoot to listen to, but he’s not doing the real hard and uncomfortable things that need to be tasked.

It's as if the United States is a big car wreck. With broken windows, flat tires, a fire in the engine, with wounded and dying people inside. And Donald Trump, is well, washing the rear view mirror instead of tending to the damage and the destruction that urgently needs his attention.

A great example of that is former AG Jeff Sessions and his war on medical marijuana instead of prosecuting for treason. It's the same thing. Just different personalities.

Donald Trump has failed to reverse the century of Progressive ideology and oligarchy control. He has not undone the mistakes of Wilson, and FDR. Nor has he taken affirmative action to restore liberty crashed by Bush, Clinton and Obama. America is just treading water.

Realize that, and take appropriate action.

[3] – Go on the offensive.

Option three. The “into the black” option.

I’m not moping around waiting to die. I’m not lazing around eating bonbons. The present is for DOING. The present is FLEETING. I’ve got something to SAY before I go. I’ve got a future to SECURE for my children, because in them I can still see future’s promise and not just future’s threat. 

-Epsilon Theory

Do not misunderstand. Just because I am quiet and kind, does not mean that I am incapable of being entirely and dangerously violent.

Disclaimer.

It is natural to fight for freedom and liberty. That being said, it is ugly, ugly business and should only be undertaken as a last resort. You should not go about it cavalierly. You need to plan and strike with maximum effectiveness at the root causes, the generals and the masterminds of those who are sealing your freedom.

You can, if you wish to stay, go on the offensive and fight back. (As the saying goes; Be a man gosh-darn it!) Though, you must realize that you are taking a big and dangerous risk. Be careful.

The Stoner 63. This was exactly the kinds of weapons that the founders intended the people to arm themselves with. Not single-shot .22 round BB pellets.

You are only a single person and the problems going on in America are far to large and deep for a single person to handle. You know this, right?

However…

However, regionally, YOU can make a difference.

Warning:  If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you  read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don’t  you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly  can’t think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so  impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that  claim it? Do you read everything you’re supposed to read? Do you think  everything you’re supposed to think? Buy what you’re told to want? Get  out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the  excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove  you’re alive. If you don’t claim your humanity you will become a  statistic. You have been warned. 

- Chuck Palahniuk, “Fight Club” (1996)

Regionally… locally… YOU can make a difference.

Regionally.

Locally.

Contrary to the Mainstream media narrative, conservatives, and traditional patriots do not strike out at innocents. We are not progressives who want to shoot up a elementary school, run down people on a sidewalk, or shoot up a Walmart. Nope.

No.

We only fight as a last resort.

However, when we fight, we aim at the target, and we do our best to hit that target. And we do not care how we do it.

You will know. — You will know when real conservatives are taking action. It won’t be a school full of innocents shot up. No. It will be a counsel member, a congressman, or a labor leader strung up and lynched. It could be a university professor, a member of the mainstream media management, or a software mogul.

We study. We prepare. We plan. Then, we hit where it matters the most. When playing chess, we go after the King and The Queen. We don’t bother with the pawns.

We go after leadership.

Make sure that your entire family is properly trained in the use of firearms.

The progressive liberal cabal, and their RINO enablers, treat Americans as animals. Like cattle and that they can ratchet up the intensity of their progressive agenda slowly without worry of a backlash. They view this entire matter; the adjustment towards progressive Marxism as a giant rheostat. 

However traditional conservatives do not look at things that way. We look at it as an on/off switch. We are petrified that it might go to on. But if it does, we will NOT have any mercy. It will be a real bloody nightmare.

The conservative populace will target the progressive leadership in precise surgical attacks. Avoid the innocent. Hit those singular individuals that run the oligarchy in your region. Do not waste your time on the little guys. Target those in charge. Then go down the list and hit their enablers.

Ai! And it’s certainly a target-rich environment.

Operational Zone

In the map below you can easily identify where you live and what social-geographic region that you inhabit. That is your operational zone.

Select your operational zone.

Compile a target list.

Plan each one thoroughly.

America is comprised a different regions with different cultural norms and history. — America’s cultural enclaves. America is not a homogeneous society. It is a collection of social-economic regions. *America’s cultural enclaves.* *(Image* *Source*)

You need to [1] identify the progressives that live within that area, you need to [2] identify the enclaves of the wealthy and [3] their points of egress, such as small regional airports. You need to identify [4] bridges and [5] choke-points and [6] you need to target those enemies of Liberty…

The Marxist cabal.

Operational Plans

Go after the key and central figures that are running the Marxist plan and take them down. (One George Soros is equivalent to 10,000 social justice warriors. ) Do not waste your time on the enablers, and the vast bulk of society. Do not hurt innocents, or the misinformed. Protect where possible, but stick to your mission parameters.

A word of caution.

If this is your preferred avenue of approach, and I have been unable to talk you out of it, then take the necessary precautions.

1. Go "X-ray" leading up to any action. Zero internet. Zero cell phone. Zero electronics. Communicate face to face or not at all. There is an over-reliance on electronic communication monitoring systems. In war, you go full X-ray.

2. Tell no one what your plans are. No one. Not even your dog. Missions are secret, for a reason.

3. Leave no records, or justification of your actions. They should speak for themselves. You do not need to hope for death and leave some kind of manifesto to prove yourself. You are not some ego deprived, basket head-case. You do not need to justify your actions.

4. If you want to target a person, consider other means aside from (noisy and easy to trace) firearms. For "surgical" strikes, nothing beats poison, radiation or "accidents". Remember Antonin Scalia. It's worked great for the progressive cabal. Adopt their strategy.

5. Any target worth your effort will be protected. Either by personal surveillance, guards, or other means. If not, then they are just plain foolish in their arrogance.

6. Threaten no one. Avoid arguments. Be as low-key and innocuous as possible. Be the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Former Marine said he’d ‘slaughter’ antifa. The FBI took his guns away…

Listen up!

With that understood by most of the readers here, I’m sure you can all see how these RFL (Red Flag Laws) may eventually become the confiscation we’ve been warned about all along. RFL allow the state to use almost any reason they desire to go to your home, enter it and take your firearms away from you. All they have to do is justify it to themselves.

Make an angry, politically-charged Facebook post? A RFL can be used to confiscate your guns. It has happened.

Make a Twitter post that “authorities” interpret as being Islamophohic? A RFL can be used to confiscate your guns. It has happened.

You get in an argument with your woman and piss her off? A RFL can be used to confiscate your guns. It has happened.

Spare me the talking points on the legal limits of RFL at the present time. All they needed to do for now is get the laws into place. Rest assured they will be administratively and bureaucratically tweaked and adjusted so that it gets EASIER for the boys wearing the Oakleys to kick your door in, and those bureaucratic and administrative tweaks will make it harder and more expensive for you to get your guns back. Assuming that you ever get them back at all.

RFL are the tool that willll be used to get guns away from anyone and everyone that those in charge don’t want to have them.

All the talk that’s been had in your group about being quiet about your guns… Put that into action now. Ditch the NRA stickers, stop the good old boys gun discussions down at the local watering hole, remove the vanity pics from Facebook (why do you still have FB?). No one needs to know about your guns if they don’t live in your house. It won’t be easy to change those habits, but it’s time now.

The legal framework for taking your guns away simply for being a wrong-thinker is in place. The local Kommissar has his eyes open and the police will follow their orders to knock on your door when they get the order.

-American Partisan

Study Materials

Anything worth doing is worth doing well. If you are going to sit and stay put and be passive, then put on the “neutral” camouflage and go with the flow. If you are going to flee, then prep and make the leap. And, of course, if you are going to strike against the progressive cabal study.

Here’s some tools.

Please be safe

If you are desirous of taking matters into your own hands, be realistic about it. It will not be like any television show, or movie that you have watched. It will be up front and personal. It will NOT go the way you planned, and it will NOT be pleasant.

Think. Think very carefully if you really want to do this. Bugging out and high-tailing it to a foreign land is a much easier and less risky thing to do.

In the early stages of SHTF, the government will still be functional and they will have the resources to track you down and kill you dead. Realize this. They will protect their elite members and protected classes of people and will strike back harshly at you and yours… their inferiors.

Realize it, and take the appropriate measures.

Advantage lies in secrecy, surprise, planning, and backup plans. Trust no one. Plan on the worst possible outcome, and keep frosty and alert.

If you are not ready to kill someone with a knife, up close and personal, then you are not ready to do anything. Option three is not for you. You should reconsider options one or two.

Life isn’t fair. Deal with it.

When one anonymous phone call can cause police to descend on your house,  seize your firearms, and shoot you if you resist, then you no longer  live in a nation of laws. 

- Staff at Amerika

I have a friend here in China named Ronald. He’s from South Africa.

He fled his home nation when the social Marxists came to power and started to implement their war on “white people”. (Within months of Barrack Obama giving 7 billion dollars to South Africa to “improve their energy grid”. Who’d have thought?)

He lost just about everything that he owned. But… he’s alive. He has a roof over his head and trying to make it at 65 years old in a strange land with strange customs.

But at least he doesn’t have to worry about gangs of black urban youth riding technicals, crashing through his doorway and abusing his family and friends.

His point of view is that while things are a real struggle for him at this time, it is far better for him now in China that were he to have stayed in South Africa. He’s a lucky man and has his nut.

Sometimes it's better to flee than to stay and risk your life and the life of your family. — The holy grail of nuts.

Conclusion

Don’t put too much faith in Donald Trump and the Republican crew to reverse centuries of progressive Marxism. They are floundering. They are not doing anything. It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s that they do not have that ability.

As a result all this is just leading youse guys along.

  As Bill Barr slowly and efficiently covers up the seditious plot and  other crimes committed by the FBI and DOJ during the Obama years, it is  not unreasonable to wonder how far down the scale this moves the  political center. Twenty-five years ago, most dissidents would have  thought this level of corruption was improbable, if not entirely  impossible. The typical normie was still sure the next election would  bring reformers, who would chase off the crooks and clean up the  system...

           One thing we know is that dissident ranks are growing. Even  the Left is admitting it. The popularity of dissident sites, podcasts  and video shows are at record highs. More important, the general sense  within dissident ranks is that reform is impossible... 

           Whatever you may think of Trump, the result of the last  three years is proof that elections don’t matter. This shameless refusal  by public officials to apply the law to Washington insiders makes a  mockery of the rule of law. Throw in the stunning dishonesty of the mass  media and the metastasizing surveillance state and it is impossible for  even the most gullible to remain a civic nationalist. 

-Z man blog via Remus

Do not be caught off guard. You are a man and have responsibilities.

Newsflash: Red Flag Laws are already being enforced across the country, even in some die hard Red States.

My advice to Armed Patriots is still the same:

DUMP ALL Social Media 
Do NOT advertise anything about Firearms on your vehicle or person 
Keep your Personal Business to yourself 
NEVER willingly install Listening Devices in your House such as SIRI and ALEXA 

Big Brother is listening and watching 24/7.
Stay Alert, Armed and Dangerous! 

-The Tactical Hermit

Take your responsibilities seriously and make the hard and difficult choices.

Choose one of the following three options and go full blast at it. You do not have forever. Now is the time. You are the person. Be smart. Be frosty. Be serious.

Stay and accept a life as a serf in a two-tiered society.
Flee for greener pastures.
Fight the bastards, but be smart about it.

The BIG GAME is coming.

" this past weekend i was at the local having a pint. out of no where there was a commotion by the pool tables behind me. i looked and there stood a kid 17-18ish, yelling at a guy standing with his hair in a ponytail.

he had a slight smirk on his face. he never said a word, he just stood staring back with a shit eating grin.

eventually the manager walked over, and ended up kicking the kid out.

the manager came back sat next to me and the bartender walked over. i looked at the manager and said, “that kid was gonna get pounded if it went to blows.” the bartender (an Irish guy and former hell raiser) nodded and the manager quickly agreed. “OH YEAH!!!!” manager spent a year in prison for involuntary man slaughter. guy pulled a gun on him, he took the gun and he shot the man in the face, point blank.

when he told me the story he did it in the most chilling voice i’d ever heard from his mouth.

guys that fight, NEVER talk shit. there’s a disagreement and either a fight begins or does not. when a fist lands on your face, that’s the primary sign you are in a fight. there’s a certain way i fight if i KNOW it’s gonna down. don’t ask, i ain’t telling.
“when you are short on everything but the enemy, you are in combat.” -murphey’s laws of combat.

guy ended up coming up to the bar to get a drink. i looked over at him and said, “god dammit i was hoping you were gonna unload on him.” he smiled and said, “nah, i only fight men.” i told the bartender i was covering his beer. he shook my hand, thanked me and i asked his name.

“Mike, you.”

i answered, “Danny. nice to meet you. stay the fuck up Dude.”
he turned and walked back to his game of pool.
stay up.

- ITLR: The Barking Doggy

Wake up call

James Kunstler says …

“… if Barr & Durham fail to deliver a bale of indictments, they will be putting a bullet in the head of this republic. There will be no hope of restoring trust in the system …” There’s more.

“What is most perilous for our country now, would be to journey through a second epic crisis of authority in recent times without anybody facing the consequences of crimes they might have committed. The result will be a people turned utterly cynical, with no faith in their institutions or the rule of law, and no way to imagine a restoration of their lost faith within the bounds of law”.

The first epic crisis was the finance debacle of 2008,

“… fraudsters and swindlers in that orgy of banking malfeasance were never marched into a courtroom, never had to answer for their depredations, and remained at their desks in the C-suites collecting extravagant bonuses”.

The FBI, the Department of Justice, the CIA, the FISA Court, the Department of State, et al, originated and assisted this clunky coup attempt and continue to cover up the misdeeds of their participants. Piles of actionable evidence have been part of the public record for some time now, yet we still await reason to believe the Barr and Durham investigations are being conducted in good faith. Given events thus far an objective observer would bet the other way.

As Mr. Kunstler points out, trust, perhaps legitimacy itself, is slipping away from DC. Consider their serial crimes, not merely unpunished but flouted as insider jokes. Consider the malicious partisanship and sponsored assaults by DC’s core agencies, openly applauded in DC as brave and heroic. Consider past and ongoing “legislating from the bench” specifically intended to undo the express will of the people. The emerging message is plain enough now to be unmistakable. Our votes don’t count. Because we don’t count.

Bonus

Most SHTF and Prepper articles concentrate on self-preservation. Now, Self-preservation is important, but it will not take our Republic back. Always remember that. Fighting a Defensive war is a losing proposition.

NO ONE ever wins a war fought on the Defensive.

Highlights from Part one. Staple this to your Brain.

1) Government identification records are the clerical basis for mass murder and other atrocities: No, not every government ID scheme leads to genocide and expatriation. But for the collectivists of both the German Reich and the USSR, each victim’s identity card was both part of the initial targeting and the final “production record”.

2) Get to the forest early if you want to live: If you think they will be coming for you, you are probably right. Plan not to be where they know you work and live. Act early if you want to maximize your chances. You and your family will die if you are at your government-approved address.

3) The Bad People will have lots of help from your neighbors:The most disturbing moment for me in the KGB museum was not in the execution or interrogation/torture cells. It was realizing, while moving through the excellent exhibits on the mass deportations of Lithuanians after “liberation” by the Soviets in 1944, that most of the deportees (many of whom were subsequently executed or starved or died of exposure and disease) had been betrayed to the NKVD/KGB by their neighbors.

4) “Fascism” is not the only mortal enemy of freedom and life; the real enemy is collectivism in any form: At each of the memorials, one could tell the provenance of any signage by its reference to “fascism”. Mostly, such markings were from the Soviet era, during which — not coincidentally — many more millions of innocent human beings were killed by the “enlightened” Communists than had been slaughtered by the Hitlerites and their collaborators. While it is too much to expect the Soviets to acknowledge these facts, it is essential that freedom-minded folks grok that collectivism, in any form, can and usually does lead to the mass grave.

5) Never report en masse when ordered to do so: Nothing good ever happens to folks who do.

6) Food and ammunition will be the vital shortages you must address in order to live: Empty weapons and bellies a successful resistance does not make.

7) The Bad People will torture and kill those who help you: Get used to the idea. Retribution killing is a standard totalitarian play. Try to avoid jeopardizing your allies to the extent possible, but know that they too will be swept into the whirlwind.

8) The Bad People will torture and kill your family
members:Sippenhaft ain’t just a chapter in Vanderboegh’s long-awaited novel. The KGB museum was filled with execution orders with notations indicating that not only had the subject been killed per order of the Party, but that “special measures” had or would be taken against the victim’s family.

9) You must be prepared to fight until victory or death: Once you go to the woods, you are there for the duration. The Baltic “forest brothers”stayed out until they were killed or captured. More on them in the next part of this report.

10) If you think it can’t happen here, you are wrong. The Polish and Lithuanian Jews who were ground into dust by the Einsatzgruppenthought the same thing. So did the Lithuanians who couldn’t believe that the Communists under Stalin and subsequent regimes would hold their passionate patriotism against them.

Almost all of those folks who believed “it couldn’t happen” died.

A few survived by running into the woods, or by bearing up under the brutal realities of the Gulag, year after year after year.

Each of them knows the single biggest lesson from Lithuania: naked, brute force can and does triumph over kindness, love of kin and country, and simple human decency — often for decades or more.

Lose your illusions.
While there is still time.
Stay Alert, Armed and Dangerous!

SHTF Related Index

This is a collection of my posts related to SHTF (Shit Hit The Fan), CWII (American Civil War 2), Fourth Turning (Strauss–Howe generational theory) and other posts related to the very sad and sorry tatters that America is today. Actually, I am a little stunned that I have written so much about these matters. But America today is very ill and there are things that really should be said.

Here are the posts.

SHTF and Related Index

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Chinese reaction to Donald Trump tariff wars…

Not, that I want to get too political, but this video that is playing all across China pretty much says it all. It’s all about the Trump Trade War. And it shows how the Chinese feel about it.

This post is about a movie that is playing all over China this Summer. It is allegorical. While it is a story about a British Boxing champion, and his involvement within China, there are very CLEAR parallels about what is going on in the Trump Tariff situation.

China has this alligorical movie about the Trump USA trade war with China that has been playing all over CHina during the Summer of 2019. — China has this allegorical movie about the Trump USA trade war with China that has been playing all over China during the Summer of 2019. It’s well worth the watch, and it says quite a bit if you only just listen.

Viewing it garners mixed feelings from the precious few Americans who have watched it. There are two types of reactions;

[1] On one hand, Yeah! They don’t like the tariffs and trade situation. Great! Well, tough cookies! Suffer! See what we care. We can wait this out. You must play by our rules. If you don’t like it, well then too bad! We can always find other trading partners.
[2] On the other hand, well… um… maybe China would be a far better friend than an enemy. Who knows what they are really capable of or have planned.

Rush Limbaugh comments

To understand the situation let’s look at Rush Limbaugh. He’s a major voice in Conservative circles in America, and perhaps one of the few Republicans that haven’t sold out the American people for some song and dance. You know, like Jeff Sessions, Jeb Bush, and John McCain has. He’s still a trooper, slogging through the Washington swamp, and enduring the slings and missiles from the American mainstream media.

Here’s what Rush (El’ Rush-bo) has to say on the “Trump Chinese Tariff issue”…

RUSH: 
So the president started here with China. He is dead set on winning  this trade war with the ChiComs. 

Now, the thing about this that I think will go over a lot of people’s heads unless there’s somebody like me  explaining this, is he takes what to most people is a complex issue: The China trade deals. 

I mean, it is a miasma to a lot of people. 

It’s so  convoluted and confusing that nobody knows really what the stakes are.  

Why is it happening? 

What’s it all about? 

Trump takes this complex issue that nobody has even paid attention to for decades and does his best to make it understandable and important, and here is how that sounded.

THE PRESIDENT: 
We’re talking to China. We’re not ready to make a  deal. But we’ll see what happens. 

But, you know, we’ve been hurt by  China for 25, 30 years. Nobody’s done anything about it, and we have no choice but to do what we’re doing. 

We called them on manipulation, and they brought their numbers back, and they brought ’em back rapidly. 

We have an open dialogue. 

We’ll see whether or not we keep our meeting in September. If we do, that’s fine; if we don’t, that’s fine. But it’s time that somebody does what we are doing.

RUSH: 
When he talks about “the numbers,” he’s talking about their  currency manipulation. They tried to deflate their currency on  Wednesday, and it worked to the point of rocking our stock market down  900-some-odd points, and then Trump had some harsh words for ’em and  they revalued the next night, and the stock market rebounded. 

Of course,  the panic that ensued on that one day when the market dropped 900  points was typical of the kind of reporting we get in the media today.

Rush is correct. This is exactly what has happened. (More or less.)

Though, the truth is closer to the fact that China has been keeping the USD-to-Yuan rate artificial for the last twenty years or so. Not, as you might have the impression, naturally at 6.3:1 and then suddenly changed. So yes. They stopped propping up the rate, and it fell like a brick and messed up the USA stocks.

However, how it is being reported is a bit of a lie and a manipulation.

As reported; The USD to Yuan rate has been normal for the last twenty years. Suddenly China manipulated it’s currency to hurt the USD.

But that is a partial truth, equating to an outright lie. The last twenty years has been anything but normal. Here’s a better picture…

The True Situation: China has been artificially propping up the USD – Yuan exchange rate to slow down it’s hyper-active business section for the last twenty years. It has done this for selfish reasons, and the USA has benefited with this exchange rate. When the Trump Tariff wars hit a “road bump” the Chinese stopped propping up the exchange rate. They did so purposefully, (I personally believe) in order to aid in their tariff negotiations with President Trump. They did this to achieve negotiation advantage.

The trade wars initiated by Donald Trump has had an effect on China, though it is not as severe as the mainstream America makes it out to be.

So yeah. The exchange rate was artificial.

And yeah, China affected it, causing a drop in the USA stock exchange.

However, the details on this event and this exchange are not being reported accurately at all. Instead it is being reported in such a way as to make it appear that China is manipulating the currency exchange rate for their benefit. When the exact opposite occurred. They STOPPED manipulating their currency rate.

Want to know more?

Confusion in America.

So even El’ Rush-bo is confused. He’s sitting pretty in the USA. He’s never been to China. Knows nothing about China except what he’s read from “experts”. Most of whom haven’t been to China in years.

Hey! If I am going to talk about golfing (for example). I sure as heck better know the difference between a driver and a putter. What a slice is, and how it differs from a hook. As well as to know what a "slow green" is.

I just can't watch a baseball game, eat a hotdog and chat about golf, when I have never been on a golf course. Played a round. Or owned any clubs.

Rush calls them “Chi-Coms”, Chinese Communists. Which they actually call themselves, but which means something totally different when heard by a Chinese compared to an American.

American Person;
"Chinese Communism" means hard-core tyrannical Marxist government. Similar to what is present in North Korea, and Cuba.

Chinese Person;
"Chinese Communism" is socialism with Chinese characteristics. 

There are no political parties as all of the Chinese people want the same thing; a traditional life that is safe from interference. Free Market Reaganomics implemented by Mr. Deng in the 1980's led to the "great recovery" resulting in what China is today.

I would say that the problem with American media is that no one ever really … I mean… really reports. They just put their own individual “spin” on the day’s events. Their popularity within America is determined whether their audience agrees or disagrees with what they have to say.

Even if it is completely and totally wrong.

How the American mainstream media reports the effect of the Trump Tariffs on China as a while. Absolutely not accurate at all. Bloodied, but in no way knocked out of the going. — How the American mainstream media reports the effect of the Trump Tariffs on China as a whole. Absolutely not accurate at all. Bloodied, but in no way knocked out of the going.

The goal of the American mainstream media is to manipulate the people. This manipulation serves a purpose. It keeps Americans living in a constant state of fear and anxiety, from which they can be easily manipulated. Much like sheep, cattle, or chickens. They have been doing so for decades.

American mainstream media manipulation of reported content to invoke fear and mob-behaviors in the public by controlling the dialog.

The Movie

Now, this here is the Chinese response to the Donald Trump “Trade War” with China. It is a (sort of) friendly warning (China to President Trump) that is playing in all the movie theaters in China this Summer.

Bet you all weren’t aware of that!

I wonder why? Where’s all those “Chinese experts” and “China policy planners”, aren’t they aware of this? What about all those “talking heads” on the mainstream news, and the conservative political commentators?

No where to be found.

That is simply because they are all actors playing a role. Which, of course, is to manipulate. They tell you what YOU WANT TO HEAR, or arouse a fear to manipulate you to take some kind of action.

Nah. They have about as much awareness about China, as you the reader does about the block buster Pop hit 芒种. Which is absolutely zilch.

News reporting in America is dead. It only took about twenty years for the people to start realizing it. Today, it’s all just actors and actresses reading scripted lines. Those rare few that remain genuine to their beliefs, such as Rush Limbaugh, are only as good as their experiences. Without personal first-hand experiences, they are just fellow strangers espousing opinions.

Anyways…

This micro video runs for 1.47 minutes. It’s short but sweet and is a message straight from Beijing to Washington. I do think that it is worth a watch, even if you don’t like China, Chinese people, or Chinese food.

Watch it for the reasons why other Americans have watched it… to either gloat and feel superior, or to sit back and ponder the enormity of the situation.

I think it is well worth the watch, and so here it is…

Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.

—– Video Start

—- Video End

WISE UP!

The “old rules” of global politics will no longer work.

Oh, you don’t think that it has anything to do with trade? Watch the clip again, and pay attention to the English dialog…

Who do you think you are?

You collect money from me. You don't share it.

Do as I say.

You are not qualified to make deals with me.

And the discussion continues…

If you quit, you can take this business too. I can get anybody to take care of it.

And then, the sheer arrogance of the Westerners reaches an explosion point when he says…

Will somebody get this yellow piece of fat to get out of here!

After that we see how the Westerner battles and demolishes the Chinese man. It’s strong. It’s vicious, and he dies.

He’s dead. The Westerner has won.

Then, it’s payback time.

That's the clip and that's the message. The point is that Westerners misunderstand politeness for strength and advantage. It takes merit, skill and ability to defeat arrogance, bravado and strength.

Now, let me tell you my take…

America is a global power on the decline.

China is a rising global power.

China would prefer to work with America for their own benefit. While America would like to use China to advance their social-economical standing.

Well… duh!

You might not want to hear this, but it is true. Compare the stats. How many new parks were built in the USA compared to China? How many skyscrapers? How many bridges? How many High Speed Trains? How many hospitals? How many new schools.

Of course, the statist would simply point and say “ah, well… China is a third world nation, it doesn’t take much to move it forward“. Except that it isn’t, and wasn’t. The tyranny of communism devastated it. It took up until 1976 until it was finally vanquished, and Reaganomics was instituted by Mr. Deng that turned the nation around.

Don't thank Mr. Deng. Yes, he introduced it, but it was the Great Ronald Reagan that introduced the technique to the world. Too bad that the Bush dynasty made fun of it, and allowed progressive politics under the guise of RINO activists to force America to become what it is today.

Meanwhile, [1] China is growing. That is simply not mistakable.

And [2] America, held down with the burden of progressive Marxism, a swamp-like government filled with crooks and swindlers, is on the decline.

But don’t believe me. Look at the charts why don’t ya…

Why there is a trade tariff war between the USA and China now. — Whether you believe me or not, this chart tells the entire story quite succinctly. The “trade wars” is happening and reaching a peak in 2019 simply because the United States wants to remain the dominant economic leader in the world. It’s all really that simple.

These kind of charts abound, and while they might differ by a few months one way or the other, the message is all quite clear. The USA is in decline, and China is ascendant.

Chart of real GDP comparing the United States with China. Check out the dates. Now compare the dates with the implementation of the Trump Tariff Wars.

Americans don’t want either of these two things to occur. They want the status quo. They want inflation to stop, and for the march of progressiveness to end, and for them to get back just a few of the freedoms that they have lost over the years. Nothing too demanding. Just a few things…

Some things to ponder

It’s pretty difficult to “bring back American industry” to America when all the manufacturing talent is Chinese. Yeah. That’s right. Who the heck do you all think has been making those products that you have been buying for the last 20 to 30 years? Elves? Dwarfs?

Here, Manufacturing Talent represents skilled and educated factory professionals. Process engineers, manufacturing engineers, build planners, tool and die makers, test and quality experts and other similarly skilled people.

America used to have them. But spending twenty years in soup kitchen lines has caused many of them to change careers and take up other occupations. Most especially during the Obama presidency.

It’s going to be pretty difficult to disassemble the manufacturing equipment, and process tanks when they are now the property of Chinese nationals. When a non-Chinese company wants to operate in China they must create a joint-venture with a Chinese national. This person will, by law, own 51% of the company and if forbidden by law to give controlling interest to a non-Chinese person. (Which is why WOFE business structures were created in China.)

Just to put this in perspective, a single automated "break"... the machine that cuts and folds sheet metal panels is the cost of an Lamborghini. A company is not going to start from scratch and order up five or six of these units without passing on the costs to the consumer.

It’s going to be pretty difficult to train American workers to work in the (brought back) factories. American can do the work. Though it will be at roughly 10x the rate of the Chinese worker, and maybe 20x if it is a union factory.

You see the only people that can train them will be denied the required H1-B or Q1 visas (as all are now in the hands of software engineers out of India).

Even if everything went well, it will take a minimum of two years to “bring a factory back” to the United States. There are regulations to meet, people to pay off (and yes, boys and girls, capital-project bribery is common in the United States), and agency approvals to meet. After all, consider the difficulties and hurtles one must go through to make sure that the tiger-striped bo-bo fly isn’t endangered.

These are all HARD and REAL issues that no one is addressing.

At that, the company owners will need to make a strong business decision.

China does not mess around. They are a serious, serious nation that deserves respect. Do not poke the dragon. They have read the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, and they well know Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally .

This decision is, “what is the easiest and most cost effective solution to the Trump Tariff Wars with China?”

Leave the factory in China. Allow the USD-Yuan exchange rate to plummet, and charge American consumers for the difference.
Relocate the factory to the United States. Retrain staff from scratch. Order brand new processing equipment all over again, from non-Chinese sources. Have the equipment paid for out of the capital budget (somehow). Wait until it is made, debugged, and then start trial production in two years. In the mean time, work out other temporary “work around” solutions.
Relocate the factory to a cheap labor nation other than China. Here there would be the same issues as with relocating the factory to the United States. However, it will cost less to do, have far less regulation to deal with, and will have substantially reduced labor costs.

The answer is clear.

So, if American companies start to do this, how will it benefit America and Americans?

The Bigger Picture

Both the IMF and the World Bank now rate China as the world’s largest economy  based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), a measure that adjusts  countries’ GDPs for differences in prices. In simple terms, this means  that because your money stretches further in China than it would in the  US, China’s GDP is adjusted upwards. 
 
And it won’t be too long before China’s economy surpasses the  US’s by other measures, too. The Centre for Economics and Business  Research (Cebr) predicts it will happen in 2029. 

- The World Economic Forum

Every world leader can see the trends and using the forecasts as a kind of crystal ball, they can see where to “place their bets” for long term trading and economic policy. It’s not with the United States.

Ah. You don’t believe me? Well, check out the data…

Europe views China as the world's leading economic partner. Not the USA, and long term strategies and alliances will increasingly indicate that fact. — Europe views China as the world’s leading economic partner. Not the USA, and long term strategies and alliances will increasingly indicate that fact.

And while there are all sort of other factors that might enter the picture, and alter the outcome to some degree or the other, the fact is quite clear…

The USA can no longer afford to conduct business as usual. The world is changing. And like the contentious business climate (1980’s through 2010) that forced companies to down-size, up-size, re-size, re-structure and go though all sorts of gyrations (while the bloated US government just got bigger and bigger), the US government will have to go through that as well.

Requires a serious downsizing of the military and the scope of it’s use. America can no longer afford fighting eight nations simultaneously, policing the globe, operating thousands of military bases on foreign lands and being the proxy fighting force for the global oligarchy.
America requires a serious downsizing, or elimination, of numerous agencies. They are too large. Far too bloated. Filled and staffed with inefficient workers that take in far too much operational costs compared to their output.
Requires “Business Level” staff cuts, and budget cuts all across the Federal Government.
Requires a serious replacement for the Federal Reserve. (Of course!)

None of this will be easy, and it will be fought aggressively by the progressive cabal.

Group photo of the American Senate in 2019.

Knowing this, and the reader must agree, these steps must be taken immediately to sustain and continued American economic dominance in the global arena.

Oh, and about 芒种…

Now, here’s your opportunity to “get a leg up” on all those “experts” pontificating on China and the Trump “trade war”. Learns something that these “experts” haven’t a clue about, why don’t ya.

Yeah, 芒种 is a very popular song all over China, and everyone is singing and dancing to it. It’s sort of a Austin, Texas version of a Korean pop song, done to Chinese traditional beat.

Look, all that I am saying is that unless you open your eyes to see things AS THEY REALLY ARE, and stop listen to the news that tells you what you want to hear you will follow the pied piper to a very dark place.

Most Americans haven’t a clue as to what China is, how it operates, and how formidable it is. They think it is a backward, but huge, version of Mexico, North Korea, or Cuba.

They are convinced that the ONLY things China makes is cheap and inexpensive junk products. Not realizing that China has been supplying most of the world’s electronics for decades and designing and manufacturing the engines, mechanisms, and equipment used in high end cars and jet aircraft for years as well.

Americans pontificate on this false narrative, carrying on and on about the “junk” that “China floods” the USA with. Not at all giving credit to the American retailers that are actually the ones doing it. Factually, China manufactures just about everything. But most of the low-quality and cheap products end up in the USA simply because the American retailers want it that way.

Which is really strange when you think about it. The disconnect between reality and perception is so amazing and so stark that it is mind-blowing to me.

"OMG! What my friends and family think about China is so... so... off the wall, and nonsensical that it blows my mind. China is really, really, REALLY not what everyone thinks. They seriously have no idea, and they are wrong... really wrong about everything."

-My intern Aijia (from London) discussing the perceptions her friends have of China compared to her experiences after spending one month in China.

As far as all that “freedom” that everyone talks about having in America…

The USA hasn’t been a Republic since the 12th amendment.

It hasn’t been for small government since the American Civil War, and the citizens haven’t had any Rights since President Wilson and FDR changed the Constitution. Not to mention given Congressional power to the Judicial courts, and Federal agencies.

What Rights do you have if you have to pee in a cup to work?

Today America is a progressive Marxist “utopia” and it is only a few short years away from full implementation of hard-line Stalinist controls. Yes. It is. It really, really is.

Just follow all the “bread crumbs” from President Wilson , through FDR up to and including Clinton and Obama. America today looks nothing like the 1789 Constitution. (1776 Constitution + 1789 Bill of Rights.)

America is not what everyone thinks it is.

With that being plainly understood take note. China is not what everyone thinks it is either.

Ya all, best open up your eyes before it’s too late.

Trade wars are dangerous things to get involved in. Ultimately you want a win-win situation where every party gets some advantage.

While I do appreciate what Donald Trump is trying to do with the Chinese, he’d best stop listening to the moron (deep state RINO plants) that are advising him. They are only going to get the USA backed into situations that will be very uncomfortable.

How America handles this ascendancy of China at this time, will determine the future relationship with the largest and (will be) the most important nation on the planet. I do think it would be a very good idea to keep on their good side.

For our children.

Just sayin’ you all.

Links about China

Here are some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader, might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.

China and America Comparisons

As an American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.

The Chinese Business KTV Experience

This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.

Learning About China

Who doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in China.

Contemporaneous Chinese Music

Parks in China

The parks in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.

Really Strange China

What is China like?

Summer in Asia

Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…

Some Fun Videos

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Free Intention Dream Boards

Here are some free Intention / Dream boards for your use. I would suggest that you copy the (presented image) photos to your computer and alter and customize it to fit your own personalized intentions. As such, please feel free to download and use to your heart’s content.

A dream board is a collage of images, pictures and written affirmations of the intentions and desires you wish to achieve. It helps you through visualization, thus activating the Universal Law of Attraction, or “likes attract like.” 

- 6 Tips for Making a Dream Board - Fit Bottomed Girls

The so called “Law of Attraction” is an element of the quantum physics law known as the “observer effect“. It has been repeatedly proven that a person’s thoughts alter the reality that they experience.

Though many people outside of MAJestic haven’t a clue as to the mechanism for this behavior.

Here are some attempts to explain this curious effect, and how a person can utilize it for their own personal use. If you are the kind of person that wants to know what all this is all about, and why it is important, these following links might be of help.

Now of course, us in MAJestic (well, at least those in my particular program) actually know how the universe works. We know how to manipulate it, and we do know the dangers of thought imposition.

How it works

Ah, I covered this subject in great detail in other posts.

However, for now, let’s just keep it simple. The universe is nothing like we think it is. Seriously. It does not resemble anything that is being taught in universities, or being promoted in any of the world’s religions.

Time is the movement of consciousness in and out of adjacent world-line variations.

The thoughts generated by the consciousness navigate the movement through these realities.

By controlling your thoughts, you can set destination realities for you to inhabit.

Which, by the way, means that you must be the pilot for your consciousness. You must keep your destination in mind, and your objectives clear. You have to avoid the “rocky shores” or disruptive thoughts. Thus you need to stay away from discordant news, and toxic people.

Dream Boards

I often go on the Internet and see examples of Intention / Dream boards. Their heart is in the right place but they are going about it wrong.

Firstly, a “Dream Board” is one element of “Intention Projection”.
Secondly, a “Dream Board” is useless without an associated prayer.

Also the theory behind how it works, as promoted on the internet, is really not accurate. To fully understand how an Intention / Dream board works, you need to understand just how our universe works. And, you know what, everyone has it wrong.

Prayer

Unless you are backing up your vision board with prayer, you will not derive full benefit from your dream board. It is your thoughts that define your reality. To navigate in and out of the realities that are constantly evolving and shifting around us, you must pilot your consciousness. You need to be the Captain of your consciousness.

To navigate, you need to control and master your thoughts. You need to do the following…

Pray. These are thoughts that show your intentions, and desires.
Create a vision board, or vision “splash screen” on your electronic media.
Isolate yourself from negative media; news, music or movies.
Isolate yourself from negative or disruptive people.

Use of the Vision Board / Splash Screen

You use the sample image as a desktop background. When ever you see the desktop image in the background you say your prayer associated with it. Thus is you want to use multiple backgrounds on a rotating basis, it becomes helpful to have a nice list of intention prayers that you read once a day.

Setting in Microsoft Windows 10. — In the Windows control panel, this is the setting that will enable you to control your desktop splash screen.

Remember, that in order the intention board to work, you must recite your prayers out loud. (This is can be in a whisper, don’t you know.)

The longer you do this, the more “stable” your destination reality will become. However, there will come a point in time when you will “tire” of the prayers and dream boards. When this occurs, let it go and forget about it all. (It’s an important evolution that is established by your consciousness.)

You can do a different prayer and dream board, if you want. Just know that your intention will most certainly manifest.

The Things people wish for

I went on the handy dandy internet, and researched the things that most people wish for. Then I compiled them into a list and I am presenting intentions splash screens for each item on the list. Please consider these splash screens as an idea from which you can base your very own intention splash photos off of. Or use them raw as shown. It’s all up to you.

The Samples

The samples provided are just that. Samples. If you want to use them, feel free, but you MUST include an associated daily prayer with them.

Also note, that providing the samples here does not mean that I agree with the thought projections. Some of the samples offer vices, and other elements that do not fit my personal preferences. They are offered as suggestions for you the reader to base your own dream boards on.

Please take note that all these images and dream board splashes are made using the Microsoft Visio application. It is amazingly easy to use and simple. You just create a picture and add other pictures and text to your desired image.

Further, please take note that there is a trade off between a singular image with prayer, and a collage of images. A group of images will offer the person a greater degree of latitude and versatility in how the intention manifests. This latitude enables the manifestation to occur quicker. A singular image properly prayed for with strong intentions take much longer to manifest, but the results are more exacting.

Here we provide (mostly) singular images for your study and enjoyment.

Power

This intention desktop “splash” is related to POWER.

If you are desirous of increasing your apparent power within the reality that you inherit, then this image is for you. You are free to use it as is, or make your own along these lines. Alternatively, you can fill the entire image screen with smaller images that illustrate the kinds of power that you might wish to evoke.

Power intention — This is the image that you can use if you want to use the power of intention to manifest power for yourself. Feel free to “left click” and save the image to your “Pictures” folder. Then set the desktop background on your computer to this image.

Please note that you must use the following dialog in your prayers associated with this image…

I utilize the desktop image display on my computer to help cultivate the reality that my world-line is.

In all cases, the dominant male figure portrayed in the image(s) represent myself.

Images that portray mafia figures, or "bad people" portray myself in similar roles of power. They do NOT, however, manifest these kinds of people arrayed against me.

If you do not take care in your prayers, and in the application of the desktop display intention splash, it could easily “backfire” against you. Therefore, it is critically important for you to have a very clear and well defined image intention with an associated prayer.

After all, unless you are careful on how your thoughts manifest, you might end up having this crew come a knockin’ at your door…

Chinese triad gangsters. If you are not careful and try to use the power of intention to alter your reality towards one of power, you could just as easily invoke the more negative manifestations that come with that territory. This could include Chinese Triad gangsters.

Success in business

Again, here is a a different intention desktop splash. This is for people who are desirous of having a very successful business, and the rewards that come with it.

Again, it’s not enough just to use this image as a desktop background display. You need to associate it with a prayer. I would suggest that what ever prayer that you utilize, that you incorporate the following prayers / affirmations…

I utilize the desktop image display on my computer to help cultivate the reality that my world-line is.

In all cases, the dominant male figure portrayed in the image(s) represent myself.

Images that portray "bad people" portray myself in similar roles of power. They do NOT, however, manifest these kinds of people arrayed against me.

Suave

This is for you men who desire to be considered charming, confident, and elegant by others. Whether that is members of the other sex (women) or men, it does not matter.

charming · sophisticated · debonair · urbane · worldly · worldly-wise · polished · refined · poised · self-possessed · dignified · civilized · gentlemanly · gallant · smooth · smooth-talking · smooth-tongued · silver-tongued · glib · polite · well mannered · civil · courteous · affable · tactful · diplomatic · slick · cool · mannerly

Suave — Here is the intention dream splash image for a person who would like to be suave within their reality. Always remember that we cannot change others, all that we can do is alter the reality that surrounds our souls. In so doing the perceptions that others have for us can change in alignment with our desires.

And again, you must associate this image display with your prayers…

I utilize the desktop image display on my computer to help cultivate the reality that my world-line is.

In all cases, the dominant male figure portrayed in the image(s) represent myself. 

The manifestation of this reality is gradual and safe and is in alignment with my deepest desires.

Good Health

Good health is something that we take for granted, and it isn’t until we get older when we start to panic at how our bodies age. There are things that we can do, of course. We can eat better, stay away from bad people and negative thoughts, and do some moderate exercise.

Also we must not neglect the role that good, directed thoughts play in shaping our life.

While you cannot simply wish or pray to be healthy, it can help assist in the movement of world-line selection towards the manifestation of your desires. The formula works a little like this…

Modest physical efforts + strong directed thoughts = Attainment

Here is a nice splash image for your desktop. In all cases laid out here, from the Power to the Fame, you MUST provides some kind of minimum physical action from which the desired world-lines can manifest.

Wishing for something to happen = nothing will happen.
Physically working for things = maybe might happen.
Directed thoughts for things = a possibility can happen.

But… you should take careful note…

Physically working towards things + Directed thoughts = cause your desires to manifest.

Please kindly keep that in mind when you utilize these desktop displays and splash screens. These intention boards are only part of a much more inclusive system that requires your participation to work.

You can manifest the world-lines that will be favorable to your intentions, and thus they will appear to manifest for you.

To put it in another way, laying on a couch / sofa eating potato chips and just leaving a intention dream canvas splash display rotate passively on the computer will result in NOTHING.

You must pump your thoughts full of directed thoughts, you must use the desktop display and view it from time to time to refresh your imagery, and you must do a moderate amount of physical action to generate a baseline from which your thoughts can manifest upon.

I have generated two splash intention dream canvas. One is for a man and the other is for a woman. Those of you who are of confused gender, you can follow the guidelines to create your very own specialized splash screen.

Men

Desktop splash screen for a man for good health.

Woman

And do not forget to add this prayer…

I utilize the desktop image display on my computer to help cultivate the reality that my world-line is.

In all cases, the dominant figure portrayed in the image(s) represent myself.

Fame

The desire for fame is one of the most popular desires that people have. Yet, it’s perplexing why this is. Personally, I think that it is rather silly. Why do you want fame? To have followers, groupies or get offered free sex on demand?

People, if that is what you want, then you just go ahead and ask for it directly. If you want to have loads of sex with strangers who are enraptured with you, then ask for that in your intention prayers. You don’t need to ask for “fame”.

The problem with fame is “thought imposition”. The associated thoughts and quantum environment associated with others will severely influence your life. Trust me, you DO NOT want large groups of people thinking negatively about you. Or, even if it is positive, these thoughts can severely impact your ability to direct your own thoughts.

Never the less, I am placing the free desktop splash photo for those desirous of “Fame” here. In every case, you absolutely MUST associate it with the following affirmation / prayer.

I utilize the desktop image display on my computer to help cultivate the reality that my world-line is.

In all cases, the dominant male figure portrayed in the image(s) represent myself. 

The manifestation of this reality is gradual and safe and is in alignment with my deepest desires. However, at any event, the manifestation of fame as pictured will be positive in every way, and will not have any negative connotations or spawn negative associated events.

Here’s my suggested image desktop splash intention photo;

Sex

Sex. It’s a biological driven human attribute. If you do not have the desire to reproduce, or at least go through the motions of reproducing, then you are not living life. All humans desire sex.

It might not be politically correct, but that is the way it is.

Which is one of the reasons why tyrannical governments ban vices, such as sex out of marriage in order to control people. It is a very common and human element that is very easy to use to control others with.

As are other things, like mind altering substances (alcohol) and things that are fun. It's a way of controlling people.

“Everything I love is illegal, banned or dangerous.”

When constructing you very own dream splash canvas, you can be very generous with the images used. However, take most special attention to their selection.

Improperly selected images, and splash screens without a detailed prayer / intention affirmation can easily result in conditions, situations and environments that you might find undesirable. Be very careful, precise and exact when selecting the images that you wish to use.

Desktop splash image for generating an intention prayer of Sex to manifest. Be very careful in your selection of images to use. If you are not careful, the more undesirable elements of thought generation can manifest with negative consequences. Be careful.

Happiness

The reader will notice that all of the images depict people and are representative of situations that people are in. That’s the way a dream / intention canvas works.

Picture and image the situations.

Do not image things.

You cannot display pictures of money and expect that it is to be associated with you having lots of money in your wallet. Instead, it is just a picture of an item. And you, constantly seeing that item, turns it into a kind of world-line scenery; Something that might lie around you, but not anything that you are associated with.

Not exactly what you want.

You see this all the time. People set up dream intention boards with nice expensive cars, pictures of houses, and images of a lot of nice things. They will include words that describe what they want to accomplish in their life.

While it will contribute to the world-line direction that the creator intended, it will be done so inefficiently. You need to explicitly map out your desires and intentions and navigate properly in a very careful manner.

After all, you don’t want to make the same kinds of mistakes that our hero Elliot made in the movie “Bedazzled“, do you?

Elliot Richards (Brendan) would give  anything to have Allison Gardner (Frances O'Connor) in his life, or so  he says. Who should overhear? The devil (Elizabeth Hurley) of course.  She offers him "seven absolutely fabulous wishes for one piddling little  soul". Only Elliot finds out that you don't always get what you wish  for.

Elliot as a basketball star. He’s a great star, bigger in life in so many ways… well every way except for one teeny, tiny thing. Just a small thing, really.

The image you use, or the images you select MUST have a special meaning and association with you personally. Which is why many intention / dream splash screen canvases must be made intentionally for your own wishes and desires, as well as to have a prayer dialog that you must recite daily that will reset your thought direction, for world-line navigation, properly.

Here is a sample splash screen for a Happiness directed intention.

Happiness directed intention / dream splash screen photo.

Wine and Cats

The most effective intention splash screens are those that represent people, and actions. However, you the reader should note that there are other techniques that can be used in a dream splash canvas. Here we explore one such concept.

Here is a splash screen for a person who wants a life filled with wine and plenty of kitty-cat friends…

Wine & cats intention splash image for the desktop.

There are no limits

There are really no limits to the direction that you want your life to evolve into. You simply think about your goals and dreams, all the time, while also removing all the nonsense from others, the news, and other’s manufactured problems. Stay pure, and you will walk the path to your deepest desires.

You can use many clusters of pictures

Many people create an Intention / Dream board that they place on their wall. This is often filled with photographs and images that were cut out of magazines. Every time they see this board, they are instantly reminded of their goals and dreams, and thus it serves it’s most exacting purpose.

In today’s computerized age, I suggest using the computer to do the same thing, and while my examples have one singular photo on it, in my own personal case, I use multiple images myself, creating a collage.

Here is an example of a “fairly decent” dream board. They use imagery that is important to them, and use words to specify the purpose and utility for the images.

A example dream board found on the internet. It describes possessions, lifestyle, and other aspects of the desired world-line goals that are intended to manifest.

You see, everyone is different.

We all have different desires, goals, needs, wants and interests. So each dream splash screen will be different for different people. And, while I argue that you need to let the intention splash screen be a part of a tool kit for manifesting your reality, how you use the tools will depend on your own experiences, lifestyle and needs.

Here’s another example.

Another example of an inspiration / dream / intention board. This one is better than most as the use of images tie together to describe an overall theme or lifestyle.

Warnings

When you get on the internet, you will see all kinds of examples of people describing their intention / dream boards. You will also find many that monetize this effort.

Do not fall for that trap. The United States has become one great big vending machine and the people are the commodity.

Keep this most important fact in mind. You do not need to pay anyone for anything regarding how you think.

Also… Your thoughts are private.

We have come to accept the idea that you can police discourse on the internet, that the government agencies can extract history, reasoning, and behaviors from you at will, and that your thoughts are subject to scrutiny.

That is false.

Not only is it all against the 1st, 4th and 9th amendments to the United States Constitution, but it is a fundamental nature of yourself as a human. Privacy is a human need.

No. The "elected" officials in the United States are NOT doing their job, nor have they been since the last 150 years or so. But that is a subject for another time.

You need NEVER justify why you desire something to manifest in your life. It is secret and only between you and your God.

Everyone’s mind works differently

When I use the term “mind” I am referring to HOW the consciousness implants thoughts into the brain. It also includes how the brain reacts to the physical stimulus that surrounds it in this reality (that it inhabits).

Everyone’s mind works differently.

Oh we are often under the impression that while there might be deviance in thoughts from the baseline “normal”. That is all false. Really, really false. We all think differently. Do not assume that others will understand you or accept your thought processes. They won’t. It’s a foregone conclusion and do not even bother trying to explain anything.

His vrs Her thoughts. — It’s funny because it is so very true. Girls and guns. So very funny.

Do not assume anything. Live your own life to the best of your ability. Do not care, or give any consideration to what others think of you, your actions or your thoughts.

Conclusion

Creating an inspiration or dream board is a fundamental technique for a person to pilot their life to manifest their desires.

It works on the quantum physics principle of the observer effect.

Why it works is not well understood outside of MAJestic. That is because the vast bulk of the world has absolutely zero concept of how the universe works. However, we in MAJestic (well at least those in my sub-project) know quite well the mechanism involved.

It’s simple really.

There is no singular fixed reality. Instead there are a near infinite number of realities.

Our consciousness moves through each one, forming a path.

This path is called time.

We travel at a rate, more or less, around 4Hz.

The selection of the next reality for us to inhabit is determined by our thoughts. Typically, we migrate to realities that are defined by our thoughts that are influenced by the world around us. This can be dangerous and evil people use media to manipulate, and thus cause our travel path to bend and twist towards realities that we might not want to participate in.

Therefore, to manifest the life that we desire to live, we need to do three things…

Turn off all negative, distracting, and disruptive thoughts that surround us.
Stay away from people with strong thoughts and personalities that are contrary to our desires.
Focus our thoughts on our ultimate goals.

A vision dream (intention) splash desktop will help accomplish this. Provided that it is linked to a daily prayer that includes the subject matter listed.

Final Note

This is how it works people. And, at that, perhaps this is my MAJestic gift to the world.

The things we did with our extraterrestrial benefactors was intended to help sort out the sentience selection for the human species. It seems to me that it is still in flux, but that need not concern you all. What you should be concerned with is how you can truly embrace the life that we live and customize it to fit your ultimate desires.

Being able to control our thoughts is the FIRST step in mastery of our life. You can do this through [1] prayer, and [2] visualization.

There is a reason why ritual is important. For ritual permits proper direct visualization so that prayer can be conducted without distraction.

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What is going on in Hollywood? Have they lost their collective minds?

Here, I argue that Hollywood is not using their innate and basic movie-making skills when pandering to their progressive causes. I argue that not only are they losing money in the process, but they are alienating their viewership base. I thus offer some suggestions to this end to prevent a hemorrhaging of the Hollywood profit model.

Ah. Hollywood.

So famous, and so taken for granted.

The more that I think about it, the more that I am convinced. Indeed, I am convinced that those in Hollywood have found a new profit model. As, it seems, the movies that they are releasing today do not follow the traditional profit model.

Traditional Hollywood Profit Model
You know; you make a good movie, and people pay to watch it. If the movie is really good you get rich. If the movie is poor, you lose money.

Today, however, it seems that there is a totally different profit model being followed.

Contemporaneous Hollywood Profit Model
Some wealthy oligarch gives you an enormous sum of money to promote some sort of social justice cause and you pocket the money. Whether the movie is popular or not has no bearing on the profit motive.

Yeah. That’s pretty much it. Isn’t it?

Hollywood has become a SJW propaganda arm.

It’s like a nightmare that no matter how hard you try to run, it never ends. It’s like wack-a-mole. As soon as you hear about one bout of obscenity, there pops up another. Ugh!

License To Drive, the comedy that starred the two Coreys (Haim  and Feldman) and a young Heather Graham in 1988, is being rebooted with  female leads thanks to producer John Davis and 20th Century Fox. 

-Deadline

These kinds of reports flow pretty hard and fast. Yet, I wonder. Just who is this John Davis, and what inspired him to make all-female leads?

League of Extraordinary Ladies

Ah. But this is not the only all-female Hollywood production. If it was, we would just accept it as it is on face value. But, no. It is part of a long on-going trend towards flooding the American movie scene with pale imitations of great movies. All of which that pander to the feminist-wing of the SJW movement.

The first film of Kevin O'Neill and Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentleman remains  most known for the fallout between star Sean Connery and director  Stephen Norrington. Connery hasn't acted since, and Norrington hasn't  directed. 

The new film is being produced by John Davis, and he's  promises a more "female-centric" take on the material for the upcoming  reboot. No director has thus far been appointed, though, but it's very  much an active project. 

-Den of Geek

Yeah. John Davis strikes again! Just who is this John Davis, and why does he want to do this?

I’m being truthful in this. So please, hear me out.

My off-hand impression is that he wants to avoid the SJW backlash and be associated with the Casting Couch like Harvey Weinstein. He needs to protect himself. So he panders to the SJW folk.

I do not know if this is the actual true case or not. What I do know is that is the most likely explanation for the observed trends. Yes. In my “outsider” mind, the most likely scenario.

I’ll bet you all that there’s a lot of truth in this supposition. Trust your gut instincts, boys and girls.

And for what?

That we, the movie watching public has to endure SJW crap all because John Davis took liberties with his casting couch. Is that why Americans need to put up with all these pale imitations of our treasured movies? Because the producers in Hollywood are afraid of the Weinstein-backlash?

OK.

So the The League of Extraordinary Gentleman is going to be redone. What’s it gonna be called? The League of Extraordinary Ladies. After all, “he promises a more “female-centric” take“. Groan.

It’s a new world.

I used to treasure going to the movies.

Then for a while, I worked as a Movie Theater Manager for a cineplex in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Mann National Twin.) I loved everything about it. I loved the atmosphere, the smell of popcorn, the drapes, the lights and the projector booth. Yes, the hours sucked, but it was “showbiz”.

I loved the movies.

It was important to me. I enjoyed it. It was a good two hours of relaxed imagination. I could go to a movie and be teleported into another world, into another time and another place. If the movie was truly great, I would be moved, put into a great mood, and ponder the lessons of the movie for weeks afterwards.

Strictly Ballroom. — People, it is not our similarity to others that makes us special. It is the uniqueness, and our differences. Yes, being a full woman is just as great as being a full-on man. Why try to pretend that our roles and feelings are interchangeable? We are unique individuals with strengths, emotions, and all the warts that one can well imagine. It is our differences that we should promote and admire, not our similarities.

Not so today.

I don’t know about youse guys, but I have stopped watching movies. I ditched Netflx, and any movies I use are either bought, viewed though a much cheaper paid service or through Torrents. These new “improved” movies are all dog shit.

They really, really are.

Why the “new” movies suck.

These new movies promote the progressive socialist narrative. Which is;

Everyone is inherently equal.
Differences between all of us must be eliminated.
There are no biological differences in gender.
Anyone who does not agree with the above is evil.

Yet, for all the promotion of this nonsense, the fact remains that only women can naturally have babies. That babies cannot be created naturally without a male sperm. And that these differences manifest in all sorts of social and cultural constructs that have similarity to each other irregardless of geolocation or historical venue.

So, now we have Hollywood wanting progressive equality. You know like in China where everyone wore the same type of clothing. Or in Cambodia where all the intelligent people were killed.

When you try to PUSH that narrative on Americans, we tune it out and walk away.

Oceans 11 Reboot

The trailer for the new all-female “Ocean’s 11” reboot was unveiled this week. The Hollywood Reporter called it "the capstone 2017 needed." 

Most regular people called it awful and stupid.

What  else could it be other than awful and stupid? It’s a reboot of a remake  of a remake, which means it already has all the fun and freshness of  dried vomit. 

The feminist twist just gives it an extra touch of preachiness and pandering, like a vomit stain that comes to life and  lectures you about the patriarchy. 

-Dailywire

Hey, I have a message for all the Hollywood Producers out there. Stop doing things out of fear of the SJW crowd. It has been my experience that most of what we are afraid of never happens.

To quote from the great movie “Strictly Ballroom“; A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.

“A life lived in fear is a life half lived.” 

-Fran (Strictly Ballroom)

Out of touch with the movie audience.

I sat through the (all female) remake of The Ghost-busters and it was like watching people push needles in little puppies eyes. Ouch it hurt that much. Seriously, just how out of touch can people in Hollywood be to produce such a horrific and painful movie?

The answer is way…way… WAY out of touch.

Seriously. Do you, yourself, personally want to spend time watching this kind of drivel that you are producing? Or, do you think that "normal" Americans are some sort of cattle that you can prod about and feed what ever GMO-enhanced nonsense you desire?

How in the world can anyone, most especially a talented producer, even try to improve upon the Ghost-buster franchise with an all-female flick? Don’t they realize the huge numbers of people that they will alienate?

Message to Hollywood;

Are you all that friggin' blind NOT to realize how out of touch you are with your audience? 

You need to fire your marketing groups because they are spending way too much time in urban high-end Starbucks, and not doing enough "grass roots" research.

Hollywood is a business model. And you, yes you (!) are throwing it out the window so nonchalantly that it astounds me and just about everyone else in America. What exactly is your malfunction?

Maybe that’s it. They don’t understand that they are being very offensive to Joe and Suzy Normal in viewership land. Or… maybe they know, but do not care.

Listen to me.

Yes. Radical feminism, even when presented comically, is offensive.

Radical Feminism is Offensive.

But I expect it won’t be any worse than the fantastically terrible and  pointless female “Ghostbusters” film from a few years ago. 

That one set  the bar for the others, a group that will soon include a  female remake of “Lord of the Flies,” and a female remake of “Dirty  Rotten Scoundrels,” and a female remake of “The Rocketeer.” 

There's also  a female remake  of some movie called "License to Drive," originally starring Corey  Feldman and Corey Haim. The movie is being described as a "female  version of 'Superbad.'" 

I was going to joke that they’re even planning a  female “Expendables” but then I checked and apparently they really are planning a female “Expendables.” 

-Dailywire

Hey! I don’t want to be rude, but for Pete’s Sakes!

Are you all so afraid of the twitter mobs, and SJW types that you would willingly torpedo your friggin’ life’s work? Are you so timid, and worried about what they might think? Are you so terrified that you might end up in prison?

If so, then you disgust me.

We had the chance, but we were scared. We walked away. WE LIVED OUR LIVES IN FEAR.

-Doug Hastings (Strictly Ballroom)

We lived our lives in fear. — In the movie “Strictly Ballroom”, the father sees a repeat of his mistakes in his son’s actions. During the pause when the son is deciding on what to do, the father screams out (don’t make the same mistakes we made) ” We had the chance, but we were scared. We walked away. WE LIVED OUR LIVES IN FEAR. “.

Do not live a life in FEAR.

I am actually astounded that so many well-known and well-established Hollywood producers are so timid and fearful. You have created great works over the decades. You have made movies that us “normals” loved and admired.

Yet, you are all willing to throw all that away, and replace your great works and talent on producing mediocre sub-par movies to appease the radical feminist movement.

In fact, what is so astounding about this, is that the (so called) movement only has a mere handful of active radicals. The rest is all twitter farms, Facebook farms, and other electronic illusionary measures. They look bigger than they really are.

You can stand up to your fears. “In all likelihood, Luhrmann’s film’s attacks on the Dance Federation are just… attacks on the Dance Federation. Luhrmann’s mum was a ballroom dance teacher herself (much like Scott’s parents in the film), so the director presumably grew up with more than a little exposure to the world of competitive dance. There’s a broader message about close-mindedness running through the film – a message that might be even broader than you’d think, if this Luhrmann quote is anything to go by: “It sounds incredible, but we did it at first in response to the Cold War…it was a statement that the individual is not ALWAYS without power.””

Here’s how the rest of America reacts to these progressive causes…

When the Football game on the television set in the local sports-bar starts having (what can best be described as) a Black-hate-fest against “White Privilege” Neo-Nazi rally style that television set gets turned OFF.

When a commercial tries to accuse me of toxic masculinity, I stop using their products. Hey! Growing up, I was the kid being picked on. I do not, absolutely and positively, do NOT appreciate being lumped in with bullies simply because we share the same gender. I set my sights on that product range to OFF.

And when a movie, television show, or actor wants to preach to me in ways that I find RUDE, demeaning, insulting, or in any other way, distasteful, I leave and turn it all OFF.

What’s the matter with youse guys? Or are you all too weak limp-wristed to understand what an insult is and what isn’t?

Tony Soprano tells it like it is. Maybe you don’t like his frankness, or his tones, or the choice of words that he uses. However, he is speaking clearly and directly.

Listen to me now.

Or is everyone in Hollywood stuck in an echo-chamber? Are you all being lead around by the cleat in your noses by some radicals that enslave you by fear? Is that what you are?

What are you? Let your creativity shine through. — Whatever the intent, Strictly Ballroom’s moral has a simple resonance. As you’d expect, the film concludes with a triumphant scene of Scott and Fran quite literally dancing to their own beat at the Pan-Pacific Championships. We’ve learned that Barry’s tale of Scott’s father (Barry Otto) jettisoning his chances through refusing to bow to convention was a lie. We’ve learned that Barry’s reign as president was fundamentally corrupt. But, critically, we never learn who wins. While the precise target of Strictly Ballroom’s satire might be unclear, its underlying philosophy – that art is about creativity, not awards – is unmistakable.

I write this to Hollywood, the producers and all those people who have added life, adventure, and romance to the films that I have loved. Do not allow your great works to fade into rust. Do not allow those who want to force you into fear-controlled boxes, destroy your great works. For they are doing so.

Do great things. Stop pandering to those who are driving your actions by fear.

Meanwhile…

Female James Bond

Watch out! Here comes a new “improved” 007 James Bond!

They’ve decided to kill the James Bond franchise by making the next 007 a woman. This is just stupid. Bond is a male fantasy: we kill the bad guys while dressed well and looking sharp and get all the hot women. No man will want to go see Super Chick do that…nor will women, I suspect.

The James Bond franchise will shake things up completely for its  25th instalment, casting a black actress to take over from Daniel Craig  as the new 007 – since re-doing old stories with a PC angle is easier  than writing new ones.     

The UK’s Daily Mail  reports that British actress Lashana Lynch will take over from Craig as  codename 007 in the as-yet-untitled film. The movie will reportedly see  Craig retain the title role, however, being called out of retirement in  Jamaica for one last mission. 

The revelation is not so surprising in an era when 
political correctness has become something of a new religion – and 
naturally, the casting has somewhat ironically prompted much 
divisiveness on social media, where there have been both celebrations of
 the daring move and anger that the long-established brand of the male, 
martini-sipping Bond would be fundamentally changed forever.

People…

What is wrong with Hollywood that they cannot see that this is a big mistake?

The thing that puzzles me is do many women want to see male leads taken by females? 

I  am a great believer in equal rights and when I was about 13 led a, what  now seems very amusing, protest at my school because girls had to take  cookery while boys took metalwork and not being particularly interested  in cookery  I was far more interested in getting my hands on a welding  implement! so I naughtily took the majority of my class to stand in line  outside the metalwork classroom week after week until the headmaster  got fed up and we girls were allowed to have three weeks of metalwork,  the metalwork teacher was a lovely man who was very much on our side and  showed us how to design and make jewellery, i wish I still had the  pendant I made.  I made a lot of enemies though, the boys in my year  hated me because the cookery teacher refused to take them into her  classroom and teach them and so they had to do extra maths lessons  instead and the cookery teacher never forgave me for being so  disruptive.  Everything had changed by the time my boys were in school  and they had cookery classes with the girls and the girls had what is  now called 'design and technology' together with the boys.

But this is just silly, what next? Goldiluke and the the three bears?  a remake of the sound of music with a singing monk?  

-Cobis

How is the 007 franchise improved? Why, by replacing the lead and iconic male figure with a strong female figure. That’s how! Of course all the social progressives are so excited about this latest remake and are flooding their social media accounts with all sorts of praise!

When is someone going to stand up and say this new female James Bond is a load of bollocks??

The  clue is in the title, James Bond is a man, stuff this equality shit!  It's a flipping film character! What next? Cinders a male, Jaws 4 as a  dolphin! Get a grip ffs

— Telvis (@Telv1s) July 15, 2019

Why I just can’t wait to see a strong female version of James bond, seducing weak-willed men who are just comic jokes and props. Yessur! That will be fun to watch.

NOPE!

Someone needs to BITCH SLAP those idiots that think a re-gendered James Bond is going to be a success. Yeah, just like the re-gendered Star Trek was…

Re-gendered Star Trek

Really bad writing - in fact the worse I have ever seen in a show.  They  hired show-runner from the CW with no sci-fi experience (and CW is  bottom of the barrel in a time when there are tons of good content out  there on streaming services).   

They hired her because they wanted a female show runner and didn't look past gender when setting up the show. Star Trek Discovery is really really bad - If you wondered what network TV is putting out these days, this is one you should watch one episode of to see how bad a show can get.  

This is a perfect example of what happens when someone casts a show based on social justice warrior checklists and has a team of untalented  writers putting out garbage. CBS will not cancel the show because it would be embarrassing for them and the ratings they get are from football and not this show (all access).  

Forget the social justice warrior nonsense, this show is unwatchable if you watch everything star trek. 

-Christopher T (Rotten Tomatoes on Star Trek Discovery)

But hey! If it is so good then why is it universally considered the absolute worst Star Trek franchise out there? Most fans feel like this fellow…

Jesus **** Christ this show is dog **** It's like a horrible soap  opera that is terribly written and it couldn't be further from what Star Trek was when it was good. It's a mess that morons are going to lap up.  The writers of this show can go **** themselves.

Or this fellow…

This is not Star Trek, it's a show centered in the character of Michael  Burnham, and I had enough of her. 

The "know it all" attitude, the  dramatics, the never stop crying, the every plot centered around her is  highly unnerving. I liked Captain Pike a lot and Saru as well, but the  other characters get on my nerves as well, the camaraderie between them  seems forced, and there is too much drama and crying.

Other problem is the Klingons, that ugly prosthetic that make their faces look rubbery and the muffled voices. Horrible!

Or this fellow…

I am actually glad Gene Roddenberry is dead so he did not have to see  this abomination. 

Well if he was alive he would not have allowed this  awful show to move forward. It might have made a decent action show but  this is in no way shape or form a Star Trek. 

Just call it something else  or cancel, please? 

I am almost sorry I lived long enough to see my  beloved series destroyed.

It’s pages upon pages of dislike…

Can this tripe get any worse? Don't bother, go watch The Orville instead. The true new home of ST.

People, you should NOT rely on twitter or electronic media to determine whether or not a show is popular. Those things can be easily spoofed by electronic farming. You should go into the fan communities, into the areas where most people enjoy these shows and talk to them FACE-to-FACE.

Meet people who live outside your community. This includes your community of business associates, your community of friends, and your local geographical community. You need to reach out to those outside your world.

Why ‘Star Trek Discovery’ Season 1 was a cosmic dud

You will find that in just about every case, people would prefer a NEW movie franchise based up new characters, instead of altering a well-established franchise to fit a SJW narrative.

Truth This.

Anyways, back to James Bond.

Female James Bond

James Bond in Dr. No. James Bond got into all sorts of interesting situations. Often with women who used their beauty to seduce him into compromise. Though he was better than that and always had the upper hand.

There are actors and actresses timidly commenting on the absurdity of gender-swapping this character…

Mirren added: “But that time was different; we could never even have imagined a woman playing that role.”

The actress’ statement comes just two days after former Bond girl Halle Berry said casting 007 as a woman would be a bad call.

“I want women to be tough but I don't know if Bond should be a woman,” the 50-year-old told Entertainment Tonight. 

“I mean, that series is steeped in history, you know from Ian Fleming’s stories. I don't think you can change Bond to a woman.” 

The Die Another Day actress went on: “We can create a new Bond  character that's a woman, and give her a new name, based on that  theory. 

“But I don't know if Bond should be a woman.” 

- Could Helen Mirren be the first female 007?

There are all sorts of rumors of who will play the new female version of James Bond. Knowing what I know of the idiots in the coastal cities, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is played by Omarosa Manigault.

I call them idiots. Why? Because they are permitting a profitable enterprise to collapse. All to the disdain of its’ shareholders.

What? You think that there are no alternatives to Hollywood? Do you think that it has a forever lock on movies, music, and entertainment? You think that Bollywood will never encroach on the American audience, and that China will never take over...

Have you been paying attention lately?

Nope. You are all in your closed progressive Hollywood bubble, and it is getting smaller and smaller and soon you will suffocate within it.

Progressives are all for change… as long it is change that they can control. But, you know what? It’s a fantasy. Control is only an illusion. Most of your life there are forces that are beyond what you can control. The only thing that you can control is your very own actions.

That’s all.

So for goodness sakes. Don’t live a life in fear. Stop pandering to the radical feminists.

Female Captain Jack Sparrow

Let me get this straight. Casting Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow wouldn’t really be fitting. So, what’s the answer?

Why, you need to cast a strong woman in this role. Sort of a female version of Captain Jack Sparrow. Maybe a Jacklin Sparrow. yeah! That will just bring in swarms of people to sit through a two hour long feature length movie.

Stop pandering to the radical feminists.

All Female Ghostbusters

Director/co-writer Paul Feig's no-one-asked-for "Ghostbusters" remake  opens with a big "ugh" and never recovers. 

Naturally, it's a joke aimed at Donald Trump and his supporters -- a heavy-handed haha about an "anti-Irish fence." 

Yep, even before the movie can even cast its spell, the spell is shattered forever by divisive partisanship. From there,  instead of relaxing, you're on guard throughout for the next left-wing sucker punch. 

 -Daily Wire

Yeah, this went over like a lead balloon.

It was absolutely positive revolting. It was an insult to the original movie, the cast, and all the moviegoers who watched it in theaters when it came out… bought the Betamax tapes, the VHS tapes, the DVD discs, or rented from Blockbuster or viewed it on Netflix.

Screenshot of Ghoastbusters review of the all-female version. — Screenshot of Ghostbusters review of the all-female version. Captured before the Internet could rewrite the historical dialog.

It was a total and complete cluster-FLUXXX.

Look at this cluster of losers…

All Female Ghostbusters — One of the worst movies ever made in the history of movies was the ill-advised remake of Ghostbusters. In it they used females in all the leading roles. It fit them like putting a sock over a snail. It did not fit. NO FRIGGIN’ WAY.

Did I like it? Hell no! I’d rather swim in a pool of pig feces than endure that monstrosity… that horrid… horrid insult to humanity ever again. What the Hell were they thinking?

They weren’t. That’s the point.

As expected, Feig's disaster has a flaming feminist chip on its  shoulder. Every male character is either an asshole, an idiot, or both.  

Which begs the question: Where in the world does this grudge emanate  from? Certainly not the original that gave us Weaver's classy,  independent, sophisticated Manhattan woman and Annie Potts' knowing,  street-smart receptionist.  

-Daily Wire

Read some of the reviews of this monstrosity…

Stop pandering to the radical feminists.

Female John McClane

Why not? Eh?

I mean you’ve got Ocean’s eleven all female, and all the classics are being remade into the progressive socialist narrative, of course there will need to be an all female version of Die Hard.

So…

John McClain in the movie “A good day to die hard”. He always plays an average Joe, a regular guy who is confronted with extraordinary circumstances where he and only he alone must confront. Which is the core MALE attribute in all MEN.

These has been no announcements on who would play John or Joan in this role. (My guess is that the backlash has been so negative, that the articles are pulled off the Internet within hours of being posted.) Though, I am betting that it might be someone like Mindy Kaling.

There are more than just a few remakes of movies planned. Some one with deep, deep pockets is flooding Hollywood with all sorts of cash. Seems like a Barrack Obama, or George Soros trademark.

Pause and let that sink in…

I just can't help but think that all those many, many programs that were put in place over the years had some kind of financial feed-back mechanism (illegal, of course) for "social progress".

Or, as I have been saying… stop pandering to the radical feminists.

A (female) American Werewolf in London

Well, the original movie featured a guy who was bit by a werewolf while in London. Why not a female? Well… it’s coming true. It’s been announced.

Heck! Why stop there.

Make her a hijab wearing LGBT transgender person. Right? That way the movie goers can get the full force of SJW immersion, as well as sticking a sharp knife into the sides of all those deplorable Trump followers. Eh?

Besides, it’s well known that London is a progressive global city with Muslim majorities. It would make absolutely and perfect sense. There are far, far, FAR more Muslims in London than Americans.

Yeah.

Make the American Werewolf in London a Muslim. It would be quite fitting. Yeah. Everyone would be breaking down the doors to get in.

Escape from New York

Oh, it’s Snake Plissken all right.

Only this time he is dispatched to New York city to save and rescue a female Senator from the clutches of the despicable deplorables entrapped inside that urban ghetto. I’ll bet you 8 to 10 that she will look a little like Hillary Clinton, Maxine Walters or some other prominent liberal democrat.

Great fare for the cash-heavy urban blacks that follow this narrative.

Untitled Female Expendables

Yeah. An all-women expendables. I suppose that it all began here when some feminists were musing about the take over of the industry.

It has long passed the silly, and entered the world of the absurd.

The expendables. — The original Expendables had enough male movie stars in black to go around. It’s possible some of your relatives are in this picture.

In defiance of history. In defiance with genetics, and the social variances between those with “Y” chromosomes and those without it, this movie is moving forward.

Hey! All youse guys in the room, raise you hand up if you want to watch this absurdity. Obviously the marketing group in Hollywood was on crack when they promoted this film. Why not alienate 99% of the “Expendable” viewing audience, won’t ya?

Stop living your life in Fear of the radical feminists.

Stop living your life in fear of the radical progressive feminists. You need to start living life on YOUR terms, and not let others define what your legacy will become.

Stop living your life in fear. Stop pandering to the radical feminists. Stop allowing them to define what your film legacy will become.

All of Me

Instead of Steve Martin, you now have a woman in the role.

A dying millionaire finds her soul has been transferred to the body of her lawyer. A remake of the 1984 comedy 'All of Me'. 

-IMDB

A life that is lived in fear is a life that is half-lived. Stop allowing your fear of the radical feminists to define your legacy.

Overboard (2018)

It’s a role reversal of the original comedy. Instead of a rich woman falling overboard and forgetting who she is, it’s a rich man who falls overboard.

Kate Sullivan is a single mom of three daughters who works two  jobs while studying to be a nurse. She is assigned to clean carpets on a  yacht owned by spoiled, arrogant playboy Leonardo 'Leo' Montenegro. Leo  makes rude remarks towards Kate and fires her without pay when she  refuses to bring him food. When Kate calls out his behavior, Leo pushes  her off the boat along with her cleaning equipment. Meanwhile, in  Mexico, Leo's sisters Magdalena and Sofia are tending to their ailing  father. Furious when Leo is announced as his successor to run the  family-owned company, Magda decides to visit him. That night, Leo slips  off the yacht and falls into the ocean unnoticed. He wakes up on a beach  with amnesia and no recollection of his identity. He wanders through  town and eventually reaches the hospital. Magda finds him and leaves him  there unclaimed after learning he has amnesia. She returns home and  falsely reports that Leo has died. Sofia suspects Magda is lying. 

-IMDB

Stop allowing the radical feminists to define your life.

Ocean’s Eight (2018)

Debbie Ocean gathers an all-female crew to attempt an impossible heist at New York City’s yearly Met Gala. Pretty much the same plot as the original Ocean’s Eight, only with role reversal. It’s expected to be a great hit with all the progressive millennials in the Untied States today.

This  is just another Hollywood attempt at "Hey! Lets take a classic movie  and flip the casts gender!!!" It's pure pc propaganda. The only reason  that I'm giving it a 2 is because I don't trust these ratings sites  algorithms to take 0's and 1's into account. They may be getting smarter  though and will stop dropping any score below 5. 

-MysticDingo

Just  an all female Reboot of a good and beloved Movie Trilogy. Rihannas  poorly acting skills make this film unwatchable. Don´t do this to  yourself and watch that movie, except you are a fat Feminazi that  rather watches a bad movie with female cast than an actually good movie  with diverse group of men. 

-Metacritic

                                                                 Another gender swap movie  trying to show equality and how "empowered" women are.. It belongs in  the garbage bin along with the people it caters to.

- Zisis151  Jun 10, 2018

Stop living your life in fear. Make the best movies that you can make and fear not who you offend.

Make the best films that you are able to. Do not pander to the radical feminists. A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.

What about all these remakes?

Well there certainly seems like everything is up for grabs in Hollywood. Everything, apparently, can be recast now as either all-female roles or gender swapped. It’s the progressive way. Don’t you know.

But all this is being done absolutely wrong. They are redoing successful films to fit a SJW narrative. Of course, it is bound to fail. People, you produce movies and shows to ENTERTAIN. Not to lecture, or push a particular political agenda.

Concentrate on entertainment.

Concentrate on entertainment of your audience. — Concentrate on the entertainment of your audience.

Concentrate on entertaining your audience.

Some Ideas

Here’s some ideas on how to properly implement progressive ideas into Hollywood movies in such a way that you will not alienate your viewing audience.

First of all, you can have strong female roles that are uniquely female. You do not have the need to apprehend those roles from men…

Entertainment.

The purpose of movies are to entertain. There are many ways to do this. But, no matter what, do not be under the impression that Hollywood has the sole ownership of this medium.

If Hollywood continues to produce lackluster films, the cash-paying audience will start to ignore the movies as not worthy of their time. They will go elsewhere.

You need to entertain.

Thirdly, absurdity is fine.

It’s ok. Everyone knows that this is fiction. So you can create movies as off-the-wall as you would like.

Now. Here’s some ideas…

Some are all-female.
Some are gender swaps.
Others are race or religion swaps.

It’s all part of the new progressive reality. Come on! You’ve got to be fair about it all, right? But only, this time, please concentrate on entertainment.

The Rat Patrol.

Here we have a famous 1960’s series about four men who fight the Nazi’s in Africa by riding jeeps in the desert. We could gender swap them to four women. We could modernize them. Yeah! That’s right. Four women riding high, machine gunning ISIS warriors in the hot desert heat.

They can all be Muslim, head scarves and all, and are fighting the evil ISIS’s and their paternity, and Privilege. They can all wear veils, and long flowing African outfits and carry Tommy guns and Beretta’s under their flowing garments. They could rescue captured women at slave auctions, perform night raids in ISIS camps, and assassinate ISIS leadership.

Have them attractive. Have them wear attractive Arabic clothing. Something like this beauty…

Acacia clothing label. — Beautiful Muslim woman wearing the latest in fashion.

Have them riding specially modified Lamborghini’s and Ferrari’s. You know, with a twin barrelled .50 caliber machine gun, and all sorts of 007 James Bond style high-tech gadgetry. Make it a cross between Raging Women getting back at people who abused them, and a fully equipped mad-scientist lair. Take elements from Miami Vice, and blend it with a little bit of Doctor Phibes.

Make it DIFFERENT.

Oh, and make their outfits extraordinary. Make women want to wear Arabic styled clothing.

You need to understand. By using a “Rat Patrol” template you can create an entirely new series with entirely new characters and situationals without any association from whence the idea was derived from.

Be brave. Push yourself.

The Rat Patrol took place during a tiny sliver of time (5 years) when the Nazi’s actually controlled portions of Northern Africa. I propose the much longer period of time (8+ years) when the ISIS controlled Syria.

The Munsters

We can have comedies.

Here, we could gender-swap Herman Muster for Harriet Munster, and have Lester (instead of Lilly) as his wife. (Or, maybe a same-sex relationship.) Maybe she could be an Uber driver who is also a Rastafarian who uses comically conspired voodoo on riders in her car.

It would be in color instead of black and white. It could take place on 1313 bad luck lane on a hilly portion of San Francisco. They would be on food stamps, and live in a “colorful” section of town.

Use different theme music. Maybe some kind of upbeat rap.

Make it outrageous. Make it stand apart. Make it so offensive to everyone, and make fun of everything, and the more politically incorrect the BETTER.

have jokes that cater to both Conservatives and Progressives. Mix it up. Make it outrageous!

Grandpa will be replaced with a vampire transgender Grandma, you know, like a Frankenstein creature gone loopy. And the kids can stay the same. That would work, wouldn’t you all think? As an added bonus, we could have Eddie Munster a Muslim Female, and his sister a black transgender gender-less person with three boobs.

The more absurd, the better.

The jokes can all be about modern progressive lifestyle where everyone is just as crazy as they are, and how it is like to fit into modern life in San Francisco. Have them fall in love with an Antifa activist, and have them play checkers with lit candles.

The gags can abound.

For instance, Fido can be free-spirited saber-toothed tiger. Each week with a different hair style and color. They could have ties to the Addams Family, and Harriet Munster can work at the county morgue. They can make comments about the staff filming the episodes, and joke about Hollywood insiders.

Just let it out and sway in the wind.

The Munsters. — The Munsters is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters starring Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein’s monster-type head-of-the-household Herman Munster, Yvonne De Carlo as his vampire wife, Lily Munster, Al Lewis as Grandpa, the over-the-hill vampire who relishes talking about the “good old days”.

The Andy Griffith Show

You can take traditional America and turn it on it’s head. Just take a normal traditional show and twist and distort it into something completely different. Use different names, and different circumstances.

How about an all-woman Andy Griffith show.

Yeah in small town Mayberry RFD, a woman sheriff and her female deputy keep order in the town. You’ve got a female Otis, and a female Gomer, and a cast of characters that includes a female hairdresser, a female mayor and the daughter of the sheriff. Call it Mayberry Woman’s Auxiliary RFD.

Put elements of food in it. Each week, nice juicy closeups of food porn. All with oozy melted cheese, and sizzling images of meat, and slow motion cutting of fresh bread.

Now, don’t look at me cross-eyed. It could work.

If you are willing to step outside of your West-coast bubble, do some REAL marketing, and brush off some good-old-fashioned movie skills and work… work… work.

The Andy Griffith Show is a syndicated family situation comedy series created by Sheldon Leonard and Aaron Ruben, which was broadcast on CBS for eight seasons from 1960 to 1968. Episodes involve Sheriff Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith) and his family and friends’ life in a small rural town called Mayberry, North Carolina.

All Female remake of Kelly’s Heroes

Of course, we should have a rolling good time with a all-female remake of Kelly’s Heroes. How about that?

During World War II, Lieutenant Kelly learns of a  German bank located behind enemy lines containing 16 million dollars in  gold bars. His platoon, led by Big Joe, has three days of R&R  coming, so, with the aid of hustler Crapgame, anachronistic hippie  Oddball, three Sherman tanks and a touch of irreverence, Kelly leads his men deep into French territory to steal the gold for themselves. 

-123 Movies

Do it differently. Have the gaggle of gals break into a military base and steal three tanks and then go on a USA-wide bank-robbing spree. Put it in the mid-1990’s and play popular Grunge music from that time period. Have it so that they end up having a parade of people following them sort of like “Forrest Gump” in the running scene.

Model the FBI and other police agencies as a kind of updated “Keystone Cops”.

Have the news media reporting but as a real parody of themselves. Show them making up news, interviewing actors pretending they are eye-witnesses, and generally clueless.

Make it a cross between the movies “9 to 5”, “One Crazy Summer”, and “The Great Train Robbery”.

Follow the same kind of model that was used in the movie “Brother where art thou”; the tales of the adventures of Ulysses. You couldn’t tell the source inspiration for the movie could you?

Kelly's Heroes. — Film is based upon a true incident. The caper was covered in a book called “Nazi Gold: The Sensational Story of the World’s Greatest Robbery – and the Greatest Criminal Cover-Up” by Ian Sayer and Douglas Botting. The heist was perpetrated by a combination of renegade Nazi and American officers. It was also listed as the “biggest” robbery ever in the Guinness Book of Records, in the 1960s.

The Dukes of Hazzard

In this remake, we can have an urban version of the Dukes of Hazzard.

Only it can be about a gang of black urban youth called “The Dukes” who live in a fictional section of Chicago called “The Hazzard” which is a dangerous old industrial area. (You know with pits of sulfuric acid, rusty chains hanging everywhere, lots of metal grid scaffolding, and tons of long deserted buildings and machinery.) They fight the corrupt “Boss” of the town as they cart meth from one end of the town to another, while dealing with the local constables and a pimp that goes by the name of Boss Hog.

Oh, and they drive in a pimped out white BMW that they call the Lil Layzie . The series can feature different rap songs every episode. It could work. I tell you.

The Dukes of Hazzard. — The Dukes of Hazzard is an American action-comedy television series that was aired on CBS from January 26, 1979, to February 8, 1985. The show aired for a total of 147 episodes spanning seven seasons. The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.

Roots

Oh boy! I can see all the BLM howling. But, it makes sense, actually. The very first slaves to the Americas were Irish. It might not be the politically correct thing to say, but it is historically truthful.

Of course the progressives have done their best to rewrite this narrative. You can find their rebuttals at the very top of all the Google and Bing search results. But, it's not a fantasy. Personally, it's a small part of my very own family legacy.

Yeah, now let’s have a gender swap and race swap of the television series Roots. Yeah. After all that is what progressiveness is all about, isn’t it?

Or is it about POWER?

Conclusion

You can gender swap all you want using similar themes and context, however the movie (or television show) should stand alone on it’s own merits.

You absolutely cannot produce a female version, or a different racial version, of a long held and long established character, theme or franchise successfully.

The reason for this is simple. People gravitate to the familiar, and are repelled by that they are unaccustomed to.

You should branch out and try something different that can stand alone and aloof. Give it depth and breadth and substance. make it immersive, and people will fall in love with your for it.

Follow the Lord of the Rings model.

You will know that you are successful when few people would associate your new creation with the movie or show that you might have spawned if off of.

The failures (in Hollywood movies) that we see today, are due to inappropriate pandering to an aggressive SJW army for “progressive justice” in lieu of actual content that can be successfully monetized.

I argue that while there might be protective and conservative reasons for accepting this pandering venue, it is counter productive in the long run.

As such I argue that the creative license should be used creatively, and in such a way that the final product cannot, would not, or in any way be associated with some sort of SJW revisionism effort.

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How to manage a family household

Here we discuss how to manage a family household. We show that it is really a very easy thing to do. However, there are rules and roles that MUST be followed for it work perfectly.

Unfortunately today, this is considered to be something that everyone knows how to do automatically. It is not taught. It is not carried down from parent to child. It is just considered to be unimportant. Therefore, very few people know how to really manage a household.

As such there is a dearth of practical information on this subject.

Lovely family. — In well run and well-managed households, people follow rules and take their roles seriously. This picture, and this article describes a traditional conservative household arrangement.

The information herein describes how to manage, and run, a family household in the traditional manner. Here, we discuss the importance of roles, rules, and responsibilities. Also known as “the three “r’s” of family happiness.

Introduction and Summary

There are two ways to manage a household. They are;

Progressive. There are no rules. There are no roles. There are no responsibilities. Everyone does their “own thing”.
Traditional. Managed with fixed roles, set rules and firm responsibilities.

There are NO other ways to manage a household. Partial, or experimental rules are always temporary. Unless there are strong and fixed rules, any familial management is progressive. Or to put it in another way, if you do not have roles and rules, you are running the household progressively.

Dinners in the 1960s. — In the 1960 and 1970s, most people had a traditional family. In a traditional family, the husband works, and gives all of his earning to the wife. The wife in turn, budgets the money, provides fresh and healthy meals, makes sure that the house is clean, and that everyone is happy. She is in charge of the education of the children, and supervises it and runs off to the school if anything does not pass her muster.

Special important note

While there are some similarity between political usage of this nomenclature, the relationship ends there. There are many politically progressive social liberals that maintain traditional conservative households. For instance, Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama, and Joe Kennedy. They all have very progressive liberal political interests, however they all run and manage their households in a traditional conservative manner.

Obama in the kitchen — While many American political personalities are staunchly progressive liberal, their home life is often quite conservative and traditional. In the case above, we have former President Obama washing the dishes after a family dinner in his household.

Historical background

America was founded upon and used traditional household management techniques from the very beginning. This served Americans well. It was a time-honored method with centuries of success. Everyone ran their families in the traditional manner. From the immigrants from South America to the American Indians, to the European Settlers. Everyone managed their families using the traditional model.

Classic American house in the suburbs. — The single dwelling, single family house has been a stable of American society for many, many decades. This is what most young couples dreamed of someday owning.

In the traditional model, the man of the house would be the “bread winner”. He would go out and work. He would bring home his earnings and give all of it to his wife. She, in turn, would budget the money for the family. She would handle all domestic issues, the house, the family, the education, the meals and the clothing. Thus freeing up the man to concentrate on one solitary thing; making more money.

It worked well.

Then, around 1913, some new progressive ideas started to take hold of society. This included the Federal Income Tax, the Federal Reserve, and all the “modern progressive” lifestyles.

1920s girls wearing knickers. — Here is a small group of girls dressing like men in the 1920’s. they are wearing boy’s knickers, ties and men’s attire. It was so very shocking at the time.

Women and girls started to smoke, wear men’s clothes and flaunt promiscuity. Traditionalists were shocked and tried to downplay these behaviors. But they gained popular attention and were popularized by Hollywood, thus making the progressive lifestyle mainstream.

These ideas were such that rules, roles, and responsibilities would be rejected in favor of a new and improved way of managing families. That is to say, one that has no rules, no roles, and no responsibilities.

Flapper — In the 1920’s, it became popular to become a flashy “flapper”. This was a name that was coined by the rubber overshoes that the girls would wear at the time. They wouldn’t button them secure, and thus they would “flap” back and forth as the flappers walked.

This festered in tiny pockets in urban areas up until the 1960’s where it began to become popular due to the need for both parents to work to support the family. (It’s fundamentally due to the rise of inflation caused by federal mismanagement of the US dollar. But that is a discussion for another time.)

The 1970’s saw wide-scale implementation of progressive family management. Which was pretty much management of nothing, using no rules, no roles, and no responsibility. It was kicked off by the SJW Feminist movement in the 1970’s which pretty much put the “kill shot” into traditional family management, and family longevity.

Don’t believe me? Facts don’t lie.

Divorce rate in the United States over time. — This is a chart of the divorce rate in the United States over time. You can clearly see that the SJW feminist movement during the 1970’s played a major role in the divorce rate in America and the reduction on parental education for the children. This was coincidentally ALSO the time when the majority of American households migrated away from traditional conservative family arrangements to progressive arrangements wither there are no rule, no role, and no responsibilities. What is truly sad about this is that most Americans today, having been raised in families after 1975, have no idea how wonderful a traditional conservative family arrangement could be.

Today, the vast bulk of families manage using the progressive model. There are no roles, no rules, and few (if any) responsibilities. The rare hold-outs are traditionalists that can be found outside the mainstream society.

That is why you will find many people eating fast food for lunch, the rise of poor food choices, and the increase in obesity. That is why most families need to have two incomes. As no one is able to budget on one income.

Here, this post discusses how to run a family using the traditional model. And yes, do so today, in the heavily taxed, stressful, reality that the United States is today.

America has changed. — America has changed substantially in many, many ways from what it was first established as. Traditionalists, and conservatives lament these changes. While progressive socialists embrace the changes.

The Two Roles

In a traditionally managed household, there are two main roles. These are absolute and defined roles with ZERO shared responsibilities.

The “Man of the House”. He is the figurehead, and the “leader” of the home. He is the sole earner of the family. He gives 100% of his earnings to the family. His job is primarily towards earning money, maintaining household related equipment and repairs, and discipline.
The “Housewife”. She is totally responsible for the household budget, investment, savings, and all things financial. She is responsible to see that the household is clean, in good care, and that all domestic issues are taken cared for. She selects, chooses, budgets and handles all clothing and food choices for the family. It is her responsibly to make sure that the children are well behaved and being good in school.

In a well-run household, the wife would tell the man what to wear. She would select his clothing. Laying out his work clothes for the day, and his “house clothes” for him (with slippers) when he gets home from work.

Contrary to the progressive narrative, house clothes and slippers are a functional way to keep the house clean. Often the man would work dirty and filthy factory jobs. He would need to strip off his dirty and filthy attire before the housewife would ever let him put a step in the house. 

Which has led to such things as basement bathrooms (in Pittsburgh) and "Mud Rooms".

The housewife. — The housewife is responsible for all domestic affairs. This includes the house, the clothing, the food, and the children. She is totally and completely responsible for it all. To assist, she might ask her husband to behave in certain ways, or assist at times, but she is ultimately the person in full control of the domestic environment.

The wife is responsible for good, nutritious meals that are both healthy and tasty. She is responsible for the behavior of the children and teaching them about their roles in the family, in the community, and in society. She is also responsible for their spiritual and moral development.

 "After three years of happy marriage, and getting stressed out by her job in a busy payroll department, she decided in 2018 to turn back time — and live like a 1950s housewife. 

That’s when Holte, 30, transformed her Hillsboro, Oregon, home into a suburban shrine to the pre-ERA era, busying herself cleaning, making dresses using vintage patterns — and getting dinner on the table by the time her husband, Lars, 28, gets home from his job as an engineering manager. 

“I feel like I’m living how I always wanted to. It’s my dream life and my husband shares my vision,” she says as a vinyl Doris Day soundtrack plays in the background. “It is a lot of work. I do tons of dishes, laundry and ironing, but I love it and it’s helping to take care of my husband and that makes me really happy.” 

- The woman quits her job to spoil her husband like a 1950s housewife

The man, on the other hand MUST make and earn money. He must not fail at this task. If the housewife says that there isn’t enough money in the budget, then he must plan on how to bring more money in BY HIMSELF. It is his responsibility.

A happy relaxed family man. — When the household is in good hand, well maintained, and budgeted for, the man can relax. he can concentrate in earning money for the family. There is an old saying “Behind every successful man is a strong woman.” That is very, very true.

When the husband and the wife are working together as a team, there is nothing that they cannot resolve. The man, unencumbered by day to day squabbles and strife, can best work and plan on making more money to improve the family lifestyle.

The Main Rules

One of the characteristics of a traditional family is that there are rules associated with roles. Each role will have a set of rules associated with it.

Scene from THE STEPFORD WIVES. — Here is a scene from the Hollywood comedy titled “THE STEPFORD WIVES”. It makes a parody of the traditional family and ridicules it. In this scene the housewife gets all excited that the food that she purchases for the children is new and improved. In real life, most housewives would provide healthier selections of food for the children.

Roles with rules are fundamental to the operation of any organization. It’s much like in a hospital. The janitor cleans the floor. The nurse attends to the day to day needs of the patients, the doctor makes medical diagnoses, and the patient just lies on the bed and concentrates on getting well.

The rules for the “Man of the House” are…

Earn money.
Give all the money to the housewife to budget.
Represent the family in appearance, action, and behavior.
Repair and maintain things as needed.
Maintain and discipline the children as needed.
Assist in the education of the children as advised by the wife.
Enforce rules.

The housewife is a key and important part of the family. — The housewife will place limits on televisions, iphone, and electronic media. She will determine the amount of time allocated in recreation, chores, and study. She will be responsible of the care and behaviors of the children. It will not be automatic. It is learned, and it is up to the mother to teach this.

The rules for the “Housewife” are…

Budget the money.
Create numerous savings accounts.
Maintain and keep the household, clean, tidy and presentable.
Cook, and plan fine delicious and healthy meals.
Make sure that everyone is well attired with clean clothes.
Maintain a “warm hearth”; a household free of stress.
Represent the family in the community, church, and society.
Teach the children.

Girls playing bridge. — One of the most important roles of a family is to maintain a good standing in the community. Both the man and the woman cultivate this role. However, the woman makes and takes special care that the local organizations are represented and cultivated. That way the family gains social standing in the community that can aid and support the family in times of trouble and distress.

 God forbid I go into someplace like Harbor Freight with a big wad of cash.

 Yeah, give me a sec and I’ll back right up to the front door to  making loading all this crap I don’t need into the back of my rig  easier.

 This is why the Wifely Unit takes care of the money around here. I’m  horrible about that shit . That is why our bills get paid on time and  why I now actually have a killer credit score. 

-Busted Knuckles

Characteristics of a Traditionally Managed Family household

You might find the following characteristics within a traditional conservative household…

Savings to cover any emergency.
Cleaned and ironed clothes.
Toothbrushes replaced bi-monthly.
Trim and fit family members.
Formal sit-down meals.
Well tended yard.
“His” chair.
“Her” bathroom.
House shoes (slippers) beside the front door.
A pantry that is full. (A consequence of budgeting.)
Well behaved, and respectful, children.
Hours where the kitchen is “closed” from use.
A lack of dirty dishes. (The sink is always clean and spotless.)
Formal sit-down dinner meals.
Rules about smart-phone use in the house.
A fully stocked refrigerator.

A well stocked refrigerator. — One of the characteristics of a conservatively run traditional household is a well-stocked refrigerator. It is by far the easiest way to determine if the household is run progressively or in a traditional manner. A full stocked refrigerator is a consequence of budgeting. The housewife will buy healthy delicious fruits, meats and vegetables. Then use them to prepare very cost-effective meals. Progressively run households do not have the time, the inclination, or the routines to maintain this kind of quality life.

Some things that a Progressive Liberal family cannot do

If a family falls into the progressive liberal “trap”, often out of necessity, they will have a difficult time. They will be unable to enforce any type of traditional conservative family rules. It’s simple really. When people live a life without rules, they resent any rules when they are put in place. It’s human nature.

Thus, here are some things that progressive liberal families have to struggle with. Traditional conservative families won’t experience these problems.

The things that progressive liberal families have trouble with include…

Formal dinners at dinner time. Most progressive liberal families have a very difficult time with this. They find it difficult to set aside time and have difficulty in getting everyone to recognize the importance of communal dinners. When they do manage to set time aside, it is often short, and the experience becomes a mere formality. It is never a daily event.
Chores and roles. Progressive liberal families are disgusted by roles and greatly resent taking on any kind of responsibility. they have a very negative view of any kind of male or female role and avoid it where at all possible. As a result, the household tends to become cluttered, messy, dirty, and disheveled.
Saving Money. Most progressive liberal families have an understanding that what a person earns is theirs to do with they wish. Thus it is very difficult for them to save money. Especially saving money for family purposes.
Discipline. When children are raised in a progressive Liberal household; one where there are no rules, the children become unruly and directionless. They often develop emotional and behavioral issues. This becomes a burden to the rest of the family.

Some good links

I have numerous other posts specifically related to this subject. If you enjoyed this article, then you might find the other articles quite interesting and enlightening. Please click on any of the links. They will open up into another tab on your browser.

In addition, I have some thoughts on some “tools” that might be beneficial to the wife and husband…

Here is a post that might help the housewife balance the family budget when the income source drops from a two-person income to that of a singular wage-earner…

Conclusion

There are two ways of managing a family. You can manage either progressively, or traditionally. If you want to manage traditionally, you will need to take on a completely different mind-set. In the long run you will be healthier and happier, but the adjustment might be painful for some.

Posts Regarding Life and Contentment

Posts about the Changes in America

America is going through a period of change. Change is good… that is, after it occurs. Often however, there are large periods of discomfort as the period of adjustment takes place. Here are some posts that discuss this issue.

Stories that Inspired Me

Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.

Space Cadet (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein

Starman Jones (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein.

The Lottery (Full Text) by Shirley Jackson

Farnham's Freehold (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein

Invisible Boy (Full Text) by Ray Bradbury

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Why Can’t America have High-Speed Bullet Trains?

Well, California Governor Gavin Newsom has abandoned plans to build a high-speed railroad between Los Angeles and San Francisco. After spending billions of dollars in funds, much of it from the Federal government, the Governor said that the project should be shelved.

He cited that the project was too expensive.

The face of American politics today. This is the slick and well-packaged oligarchy pick for California. Mr. California Governor Gavin Newsom. Look how plastic he appears. Why, he could be right out of one of those political villains from a 1980’s John Cusack movie.

Managerial elites, Of Two Minds - The sole output of  America's managerial elite is self-serving hubris. The Deep State can't  be fired, nor does it ever stand for election. 

As systems become more  complex, the need for a professional class to manage the overwhelming  complexity grows. 

"Stakeholders" multiply in endless profusion, dooming  every project to a glacial process that increases the sums paid to  manage the glacial process and pushes the final cost to the moon. 

The  managerial elite always has one answer for every problem: give us more  money. 

The system is broken, and the managerial elite will keep it  broken because it serves their interests to keep it broken.

Some History

It all began ten years ago. Back then, President Obama called for a network of high-speed railroads to criss-cross the country “within 25 years”. The nation roared with glee and cheering his forward thinking.

Perspicacious = To be far-sighted in understanding things.

At that time, of course, the rest of the world had already implemented High Speed Rail. America was going to get involved in a game of “catch up”.

Only this time, progressive values and liberal management would lead the way.

Obama and high speed rail. — Look back. The year is 2009; “President Obama’s goal of building a high-speed rail network that at least 80 percent of Americans will have access to by 2025, is facing major resistance in Congress. Earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden announced a $53 billion, six year plan to get the U.S. high-speed rail network going with $8 billion over the next year spent towards building new lines and upgrading existing passenger lines in areas such as the northeast and midwest.:

His plan, began its’ implementation through California.

Of course, compared to the rest of the world, it’s pretty modest. The idea was to link the two largest cities in California together. This would occur by placing rail lines through the large entirely rural California valley. The top speed would be limited to 220 MPH, which is the global norm. The most ambitious plans would have 800 miles of rail line, paid in part by the Federal government and bonds issued by the (insolvent) California government.

Killing the High Speed rail program.

The decision to cancel this program was welcomed by Conservatives, and derailed by Liberals. Both for reasons related towards political considerations. However, in my mind, everyone loses.

What’s worse, rubbing salt in the wound, comes President Trump. He rightfully questioned the decision to kill the project. As a businessman, you do not casually start of kill things without study, and an analysis of the consequences. Obviously, there were concerns that the decision to kill the project were not carefully thought out.

Seriously. It is like going to a restaurant and expecting to pay $100 for the meal. You wait and you wait, and you wait. Finally, the waitress comes to the table. The bill is $2000. 

You get angry! 

Where is my food? Why has it taken so long? What the heck are the cooks doing? What do I have to show for all my time; for all my money? What?

And the waitress looks at you condescendingly, and points to the toothpick that is on that table.

"You have a toothpick", she says.

Thus, in summary, and rightfully so, President Trump demanded that California be fiscally responsible and return the Federal funds given to them.

California fights back and builds the High Speed rail… somewhat.

These were funds earmarked for the doomed program. However, the Governor rebuked him. He argued that no funds needed to be returned. He said the state would still build a portion of the system. It would build the section still under construction in the rural Central Valley.

You demand to see the Manager, or better yet, the owner of the restaurant. A few minutes, he comes out of his office. You interrupted him from playing the game of poker he had with the other workers.

We wipes the beer off of his beard and takes a puff of his cigar.

"Wadda ya want, bub?"

You calmly, and clearly, state that you paid for a meal. And that you want the meal, and you want it at the price that is advertised on the menu.

He snorts!

"Sure, wadda ever ya say. That will be another $4000."

You get angry, and suddenly all the workers in the restaurant come out and line up with the Manager. They start yelling at you. Calling you names like "deplorable", "uneducated hicks", and "racist". They carry on so much, that you eventually slither out of the restaurant.

You cut your losses. You reason, at least you got a toothpick.

So, California is going to build the high-speed rail after all.

By doing so, he could legally claim that he met the requirements that California build a High Speed rail line. It wouldn’t need to be very much rail. Not even a few hundred miles or so of rail. Five, ten or fifteen miles would be all that would be needed.

Everyone files back into the back room, and continues their game of poker. Another case of beer is brought in. No one notices the line of people at the front door waiting to be served and led to their tables.

His advisors suggested something a little more practical, though. So a little over a hundred miles will (some day… eventually) be built.

Mock up of high speed rail. — A plywood, and paint mock up of the American High-speed rail engine. It only cost a few million to make such a fancy plywood “doll house” for kids to play in. take note that the progressive plan for the design,and manufacture for the locomotives would be from the German multi-national company Siemens. No American design. No American factories. No American construction. This would be a fully funded international, and globalist initiative. So very progressive!

Everybody gets their cut…

Once the labor unions get their cuts, the environmentalists get their shares, the local labor bosses get to skim off some money, and the politicians in Sacramento each get another new mansion, can the tiny amount of rail line be built.

California High-Speed Rail Project Whistleblower Comes Forward

Look here! So wonderful!

CA Map. — California High Speed Rail as envisioned by the Democratic Governor. The cost of many billions of dollars will be used to provide a non-vehicular transportation method for those commuters between Merced and Bakersfield.

This couple of miles of track would be enough to prove that the rail was built in “good faith”. (And not a scheme to siphon Federal funds into the pocket of various special interest groups.)

So, there! You evil non-progressive, you!

Progressive justification for the “new” High Speed rail.

Of course, the need for a High Speed rail to travel a distance that a person could drive in a little over an hour is rather silly. However, the Governor denied that it would be a “train to nowhere.”

He justified his plans stating that many people would want to abandon their cars for public transportation between Merced and Bakersfield. (Then use public transport, such as taxis and public buses, to get around in those cities.)

Of course, it is debatable whether he actually believes this statement personally. Were it to function he, and his family would never use it. They are members of the elite. They travel by private jet. They don’t travel by “cattle car” like the rest of us.

Though the administration bills the program as "high-speed rail," most  U.S. projects won't reach the speeds seen in Europe and Asia. 

-Obama doles out money for High Speed Rail

He defended his decision on reasons of fiscal responsibility. (Of course he would. It “sounds good”, like the words “fresh”, “green”, and “healthy” does.)

Map of the california boondogle. — The usefulness of the California 77 billion dollar high speed rail program. Map shows the major population areas of California for reference, and to show that the rail does not impact any of these areas. The reader should note that 77 billion far, far dwarfs the amount of money that NASA spent to send men to the Moon. To me, by looking at the map, they put this rail line in the absolutely middle of frigging nowhere. How in the world is it supposed to help anyone out there?

California needed the money for it’s many social programs. It needed the money to support the influx of illegal migrants, and it needed the money to support the rising number of unemployed poor. California needed the money for yet another study on the endangered bo-bo-tiutsi fly, and the impact on plastic straws have on “global warming”.

Important things. Don’t ya know.

Plastic straw ban. — Memes erupted all over America when the various progressive liberal governments announced banning of plastic straws. Here’s one such meme.

He would not give any of money back.

Not that he could mind you. Too many people accepted bribes. Too many studies" on the dangers of coffee and the need for LGBT education in Kindergarten needed to be funded. Where the heck do you all think all those crazy radical progressives get their money to live off of? Do you actually believe that they work in a company like a normal person would?

After spending over 77 Billion dollars, he said the state would not send any money back to the federal government. He did not want it to be spent by President Donald Trump.

China started planning and implementing High Speed rail back in the 1990’s. Today, High Speed rail transport in China is ubiquitous. It is “old news”. Eventually, in China, all rail will be replaced with High Speed Transport.

Construction has been underway for the last couple of years on a section of 220 miles of rail. This section consists of the system from Silicon Valley to the Central Valley, with expected passenger service in 2025. (Now, delayed until 2035.) The announcement to kill the plan has resulted in a much smaller stretch of rail being realized.

The fares were expected to average $89 per person per trip.

Which is about 2x (two times more expensive) than Chinese High-Speed rail, cover a mere tiny percentage of a fraction of the distance that Chinese rail covers, and start roughly 35 years later than when China built their first High Speed rail line.

Not that it matters. Just sayin'

All of this is silly.

In reality, this is not a technical issue, or even a fiscal issue. It is a political issue. It is a mechanism from which politicians, beholding to donors will be able to pay them back for the money that they lent to the progressive liberal democrats.

Amtrack bathroom. — Interior of an Amtrak bathroom. American rail is not maintained, or treated with the care that is required for rail transport. This is evident to anyone who rides on Amtrak.

It is so very obvious, and so blatant, I will not insult the reader by showing pages and pages of justification. If you can’t see the reality, then, maybe you need to go back to school and learn some discernment skills. You know, like elementary school.

77 Billion Dollars and NOTHING to show for it!

The corruption in the USA, and California is so very bad, that 77 Billion dollars and 20 years can not complete a single spur line of high speed rail! Well, China started at the same time as California did.

Look where China is today…

Chinese rail lines. — Chinese High Speed rail as of 2019. All of these lines are in the process of conversion to High-Speed access, and old-style rail will be obsolete and phased out over time. Look what you can do without legalized bribery, and absolute corruption.

Chinese High Speed Rail

Now, China just so happened to decide to implement High Speed rail at the same time that California did. The result is quite different. Why?

Chinese High Speed Trains are the absolute best.

Well, let’s do some comparisons shall we.

First off, let me be clear that NOT every line is high-speed rail. This is a work in process. Secondly, it it also be clear that China is an enormous nation and right now the High Speed rail only connects major population centers.

Today, these are the active High-speed rail lines…

Chinese high-speed rail active map. — Active 2019 high-speed rail map in China listing all the station names. This is the map that you can use today to plan a high-speed travel anywhere in China. Click on the image to see a full-scale, enlarged view.

Here is a typical Chinese bullet train. (I just cannot show you any United States bullet trains because they haven’t even been constructed yet. Though there are some nice colorful mock-ups. See above.)

Oh, and I must add that the cardboard, wood and fiberglass (hollow) mock up of the California high speed rail COST MORE than an actual high-speed locomotive by many millions of dollars. Consider that will ya!

Inside a Chinese bullet train

Bullet trains are all over China. There is an enormous network of them. They are very comfortable to ride in, and their cost is reasonable. Notice how calm the ride is. Note the water in the bottle.

And…

America’s Plan for a Progressive Future

Under Obama, and other progressive leadership in the seaboard corridors, they had (and still have) a very progressive vision for America. In their vision, the states would be discarded in favor of a new America of “regions”.

States would become obsolete, and over time, discarded.
Administration regions would replace independent states.
High Speed Rail would connect the administrative centers.

Control would be centralized in the mega-cities on both the East and the West. Thus, High-Speed trains would cart people through the barren “waste lands” between the “two important” regions of the United States.

As shown in this map from the New York Times…

A new vision of America. — The High Speed rail is just a part of the new progressive vision the left has for America. It’s no secret, though it isn’t publicized to the masses. With the election of DJT, everything was put on hold until the Left can retake the reigns of power and continue on their march towards socialism.

Ah, but the corruption prevents the ideal.

That looks so nice, but it’s never gonna happen. It implies that enough money will be available to manage and manufacture the progressive utopia.

As soon as Obama came to office he started throwing money at this. And, like high-absorbancy disposable dish towels, the money evaporated.

Obama and your money. — Obama was very liberal with the tax monies, as well as the money not yet collected. He gave it away like party favors at a drunk frat party.

Just check out the amazing amount of corruption. Check out this map from the US government. Where did the money go? Eh?

Money spent, and money stolen. — Obama threw billions of dollars towards High Speed rail transport system, and his cronies all took the money for their own purposes. You know, like a new swimming pool for their third mansion, and redecoration of their Lear Jet. Ah, well that is life in America today. It’s not pretty, but that is just he way that it is.

Comparisons of High Speed Rail

I looked at various sites on the internet, and it’s a hoot how everyone tries to justify the superiority of Amtrak compared to China’s bullet trains. They imply that China’s bullet trains are nothing to be proud of.

It’s funny, but sad too. You know, the first step in recognizing you have a problem is to face up to it, and announce that you have a problem. (12 step program for those of you who don’t know the reference.)

Comic of American crime and corruption. — Crime and corruption in the USA is institutionalized and regulated in legal means. Thus it is not officially considered a crime. Pretty slick, eh?

They do one on one comparisons and come to the conclusion that they are similar. What a laugh. The trains are similar. How can you possibly come to that conclusion?

The one article (linked above) starts off straight forward enough…

Comparision of China's bullet train to amtrack.

But then it starts to show a bunch of photos how they are really just pretty similar, aside from the price, and speed. As if the train stations are identical. (Have you been to an Amtrak train station lately? Talk about a run-down 1960’s era ghetto.)

Really?

Here’s a screen capture from the article listed above.

amtrack comparison 1 — In the comparison they say that the two systems are pretty much the same. After all, it is the politically correct thing to say. Right?

What’s what the article says.

Then, it shows this following picture…

Is that the only difference? A hat?

Really? Are you so dumb founded blind in political correctness not to notice the differences right in front of your face?

In China, the stewardesses are all female. They are all attractive, and rated in beauty, physical appearance, and weight. They are all under 35 years of age. They are trained to be demure and act very respectfully.

Chinese hostesses 1 — Chinese hostesses. They are judged not only on their ability, and their scores on tests, but in their appearance. That is why when you go to China all of the hostesses are very attractive and giving and providing the best to you, the customer.

Fingernail failure. — Hostess rejected because her fingernails were not good enough. In China everything must be perfect and done to the best of one’s ability. There just isn’t any acceptance of inferior job performance due to any of the criteria that plagues Western society.

In America on Amtrak, there are no age, appearance, weight or gender requirements. The attendants can be polite or not, fat or not, ugly or not, burly or not. In the progressive reality that is America today that is the reality. But don’t deny what is right in front of your eyes just for the sake of political correctness.

American stewardess — American rail; Amtrak stewardess. I have nothing against older people working, whether they are male or female or confused-gender. However, it must be recognized that the Chinese put more emphasis on appearance and ability than what is present in the United States.

Chinese High Speed Train Appearances

This is what the interior of one looks like…

And here’s the view outside…

Oh, and while I am at it, here is what the over all appearance and image that the Chinese bullet trains have in China and around the world.

In contrast Amtrak is viewed as sluggish, antiquated, and brutish. Check out the video and then go ride on Amtrak to see what I am talking about.

Train Stations

Here’s a quick comparison in train stations.

First, we check out Amtrak’s stations. The photo below is a historical station known as Sandpoint. Now, don’t get the wrong idea.

I do happen to love history and American rail has had so many absolutely awesome train stations. What about the one on Allegheny avenue in Pittsburgh, or the massive complex in Detroit? Ah, but they are all gone now.

All that remains are little quonset hut kind of affairs. You know the kind used to give the impression of progressive advancement by tearing down the old. Sad.

Here’s the current interior of the Amtrak rail station in Jamestown, Pennsylvania. It looks like the rest of the world has passed it by. It’s really, really sad.

And, I don’t like it one bit.

Jamestwon PA train station. — Interior of the Amtrak station in Jamestown, Pennsylvania. It’s sad really. So much history, so much that can be done to keep and preserve it.

Now, let’s look at the train stations that you would encounter were you to board a train in China. This is from the 3nd tier city Tianjin. It’s third tier, ya all! It’s just a little Po-dunk city.

Chinese train station. — Chinese train station in Tianjin, China. It is new. Well taken cared for, and well maintained. There are no beggars and the floors are so clean that you could eat off them.

China high speed rail. — Chinese high-speed rail. Look at all those bullet trains. How many billions and billions of dollars was spent for the California high-speed rail, and what? Only 15 miles were completed, and not one single train was fabricated? What a waste. America is much better than that.

Ask yourself how, and why can China do this, but much bigger, and better USA cannot? Maybe fighting eight simultaneous wars and spending 65% of welfare benefits on illegal aliens has something to do with it. Eh?

Maybe. But I also like to think that part of it is because China is a meritocracy.

Here is Amtrak rail. This is what passes for American High Speed rail today. You know, as someone who can compare different ways of doing things, it is just so obvious the crime, decadence and corruption at Amtrak is just horrible.

For all the money being thrown at Amtrak, this is the best America can do? Really?

American high speed rail railroad engine. — Modern Amtrak in the North East region. This is what American high-speed looks like.

America has so much to be proud of, yet we have let our achievements grow fallow, and our leadership become corrupt. We, our parents, and our grandparents are all responsible for the sad, sad state of affairs in America today.

Pittsburgh train station. — Pennsylvania Railroad Station Pittsburgh

Chinese Stewardess Training

In China, it is very important to maintain a very positive image. This is reflective of the company, the brand and the service that one provides. Thus, there is a very rigorous selection process to become a stewardess on a Chinese train, and a long and involved training program.

Here is a video showing how the stewardess are trained to walk.

And, here are how they are trained to act and greet people…

Of course, the criteria in the United States is quite different.

The American rail system is controlled by Amtrak and it is a government funded agency. As such, it is very progressive, and very “modern” and “diverse”. You won’t find attractive women, or training on how to behave at Amtrak. Instead you will find other criteria that is “more important” being used.

Some other criteria…

Amtrak stewards and stewardesses. — Amtrak is a very “forward thinking”, progressive liberal government agency. Everything is top-down controlled by the Washington DC central office, and all the management got into their positions of power through liberal progressive leanings and “other means” (not to be discussed here). You can easily see how wonderful this has been when you compare Amtrak with train and rail lines in the rest of the world. Yessur!

These other criteria are things that you cannot speak about, but everyone knows about.

You know, like how certain famous people got their children into Harvard and Yale, or like how some cute starlets got their start in Hollywood by visiting a couch.

It is like how you have to show some cleavage to get the Pennsylvania department of transportation to fill the pot-hole in front of your house, or how the Mexican dishwasher gets paid for washing pots and pans. That is how things are really done in America today. If you haven’t experienced this, then you haven’t really experienced the America that the “rest of us” has to endure.

Eh? Maybe you have a silver spoon in your mouth. Or a Starbucks coffee. It’s the same thing really.

Reality. You know, like the child molester teacher that lives down the street, or the potholes in the road that never get fixed, or the “extra” “fees” that you have to pay the gal behind the window to get some attention to your issue.

Ah, all so very progressive.

Just like things used to be done in the Soviet Union under Stalin, or how things were done in China under Mr. Mao. So equal. So diverse. So progressive.

 “The toilets in your car are not working anymore. Please, use the ones  of the car in front of you. Do not enter the sleeper cars. I repeat…”  

The day has barely started when we hear the announcement. I am exhausted  after a sleepless night on a half-reclined chair."

-Roaming about on Amtrak

Amtrak uniforms. — Amtrak workers showing their uniforms and attire. Notice how progressive and diverse they are. That’s fine for a nice liberal progressive reality. However, I personally like the way rail used to be run in the United States…by merit, not by the color of one’s skin. Which is one of the reasons why Chinese high speed rail is light years more effective than anything in the United States.

Just how far did America go down the drain?

It’s hard to vocalize. I like to think that the best years of Amtrak were in the 1930’s. It was a time that I did not experience. All that I could picture were the faded images of massive locomotives, and advertisements of luxury travel inside old Life and National Geographic magazines.

City of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie

I’m pretty saddened by it, actually.

1:30pm: We are stopped and the power disappears with a buzzzzz.  

No AC, no lights, no nothing. 

Soon, it becomes quite hot. The  electricity has had hiccups before (ask Mark who has to re-set our  router each time), but never this long.  Apparently, one of our engines  has a problem. 

The power returns, the passengers sigh; the train is  still motionless. 

 -Roaming about on Amtrak

Amtrak boarding — Boarding trains in the Untied States tends to be like this, crowded and rushed. There just isn’t the kind of order that is demanded in Chinese train stations.

7:25pm: The train stops in Cleburne, TX to offload the passengers going  to Oklahoma who take a bus from here, because they missed their  connection in Fort Worth. 

We sit at this station for half an hour and  don’t know why. This is becoming infuriating! No information, just a  grumbling crowd. 

The way Amtrak “solves” problems is the epitome of  inefficiency. On all accounts. 

-Roaming about on Amtrak

High speed rail in the United States today. — America high-speed rail today. Here is a picture of contemporaneous American rail.

Like most passengers on the Texas Eagle that day (and, believe it or  not, but all the trains we took were fully booked), we are tempted to  say “Never Again”! 

Long-distance train journeys have a certain appeal.  Each one is an adventure. The ones on Amtrak even more so, it appears.  

What we have learned first-hand is that all the rumors about Amtrak are  true. The company is ran very inefficiently and nobody seems to care  about multiple-hour delays, reroutings or change of  itineraries/schedules except for the passengers. 

It was an experience,  but we are not jumping to do it again. Beware: anyone traveling on  Amtrak’s long distance trains should have lots of time, and no  connections! 

-Roaming about on Amtrak   

Let me tell you Liesbet that train looks absolutely first class compared  to our train and trip overnight from New York to New Orleans.  

What a  nightmare trip!!  

Let me guess why the trains are so bad going down  south.  Disgusting!!  The train was on freight lines so was very bumpy  and very uncomfortable.  

We did book first class, the guy laughed when  we asked where that was.  Yes, we were stood out like a sore thumb on  the train!! 

-  globalhousesitterX2

High Speed Rail elsewhere

The rest of the world uses High Speed rail. It’s a mature technology, and provides benefit to the people who live in the nations that have it.

Everyone has it. Except the United States.

Don’t believe me, well then take a look at these maps here. Here’s Europe.

European high speed rail map. — European High Speed Rail.

And how about tiny South Korea…

South Korean High SPeed Rail. — South Korean High Speed Rail.

Japanese High Speed Rail…

And, here’s Australia’s High Speed rail network (in construction)…

Here is the high speed rail in Brazil. It connects the largest cities for low cost, and fast transport for it’s citizens.

Brazil high speed rail. — Brazil high speed rail map. Showing the rail corridor that connects the largest cities together.

Here’s the high speed rail network for Italy…

Even tiny Java has high speed rail. What is America’s malfunction? Eh?

High speed rail in Java, Indonesia map. — High speed rail in Java, Indonesia.

Russia is in a class by itself

Russia has had rail for as long as the United States. However, they have worked out various agreements with the Chinese, and are now upgrading their trans-Siberian route to be High Speed Rail. And what an upgrade it is.

I mean, well I really admire Chinese High Speed rail, but OMG the Russians have taken it to the next step! And you can find out about their “budget” travel HERE.

Here’s a map of what it looks like.

Russia & Chinese High Speed Rail map. The Russians have collaborated with the Chinese to improve existing rail lines and upgrade them to High Speed Rail.

And here are some cross sections of the various cars. I particularly like the first class cabins. Maybe I can pretend to be James Bond and travel West with a Femme Fatale. Eh?

A femme fatale is a stock character of a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art. -Wikipedia

Golden eagle imperial class. — Golden Eagle Imperial class stateroom for first class passengers on the Russian trans-Siberian rail that is being upgraded by the Chinese to High Speed rail.

Golden eagle Gold class. — This is the staterooms for the Golden Eagle “Gold” class for the trans-Siberian High Speed rail.

The Golden Eagle is your luxurious hotel-on-wheels. Unpack just the once and settle into your well- appointed and comfortable en-suite cabin as you begin this voyage of a lifetime. One of your cabin attendants, available at all times, will be on hand to look after all of your needs.

The Golden Eagle, comprising three categories of cabins, featuring state-of-the-art amenities, and all offering en-suite facilities, is the only private train of its kind operating in this part of the world.

Our newly introduced Imperial Suites are the most spacious cabins on the Golden Eagle, and on any train in Russia. The Gold and Silver Class accommodation has been cleverly designed to maximise the available space as cabins covert from a sitting area by day into a comfortable sleeping accommodation by night.

On the occasions where we travel by day, your cabins provides a calm, personal space in which to read, enjoy a DVD or simply watch the landscape unfold through the large picture window and the facility to adjust the air-conditioning for your own personal comfort.

All three classes of cabin benefit from an evening turndown service and the services of a cabin attendant who is on call 24 hours a day. Our onboard cabin attendants are highly regarded by our guests for their impeccable service. In each cabin you will also find an excellent selection of L’Occitane shower gels and shampoos, complemented by premium bath robes, slippers and a hairdryer.

-The Trans-Siberian Travel Company

Golden Eagle Imperial Class Golden Eagle Gold Class Golden Eagle Silver Class Shangri La Diamond Class Shangri La Heritage Class — There are three classes that you can can have when you travel by rail. Golden Eagle Imperial Class. Golden Eagle Gold Class. Golden Eagle Silver Class. There is also a Shangri La Diamond Class, and the Shangri La Heritage Class

Trans-Siberian high speed rail car layout.

Causes and Commentary

America is out of pace with the rest of the world in regards to high-speed, modern mass transit. America relies on personal automobiles, the airlines, and an antiquated railroad system that is corrupt and bureaucratic.

There are many reasons why America is unable to have high speed rail. The primary ones are politics, and corruption associated with politics.

In America, criminal enterprise that siphons enormous taxpayer funds into various “programs” has been institutionalized and made legal. These moneys are no longer available to American taxpayers for programs that support their life, their community, or their future.

They are siphoned away for “other” purposes.

America is throwing away money. — How about spending some of this money on American bridges, American public transportation, American education, American needs, and American rail? How about it eh? Or, are there too many wealthy people siphoning the money away?

An Intolerable Situation.

Interior of an American train car. — Vintage American rail. Art Deco design, with traditional order and behavior. It was a glad and welcome time; a time when men could work for a living and still keep almost all of his money without being bothered by the tax man.

Personally, I find this situation intolerable, as I have a personal love and affinity for AMERICAN rail. As a boy, I used to walk the railroad tracks that wound in and out of the hills of Western Pennsylvania. I used to explore the tunnels and old rail side communities. I used to stand in awe to those enormous engines that hauled the coal from the depths of the earth.

What American rail was. — This is what American rail used to be. It was large, powerful and proud. Not the wimpy bureaucratic corruption filled organization that it is today.

My first train ride was to university and I traveled the “red eye” from Erie, PA to Syracuse NY. I fell in love with rail from that moment on.

I loved everything about it.

I loved the stewards in the dining car with their white starched uniforms, to the big burly train conductor and his cheery announcements. I loved watching the countryside go by, and having a 5am breakfast of coffee and toast in the dining car.

American rail of bygone days. — In traditional conservative America, people were proud of America and it’s accomplishments. One of which was the rail lines. This is the America from my boyhood. What happened?

I lament this loss, and this post is my anger that corrupt people have taken something so wonderful, so fantastic, and turned it in to what it is today. Today it is nothing more than a failed business model staffed with the bland and the politically acceptable.

It is my hope; my prayer that other lovers of AMERICAN rail will wake up and wrest the rail industry from the corrupt politicians back to the people where it belongs.

Glory days of American rail. — The America that used to be, or it is it really over? What can we do to regain America to take back it’s glory days?

Article was posted on FR 26MAY19

This article was posted (well, the first three or so paragraphs, anyways) on the conservative website Free Republic on 26MAY19. The post is HERE, and some selected comments (from people who obviously didn’t read the article).

Here’s some of the best comments.

I used to work for this company that had a contract with a large corporation and I used to have to go in to the large Corporate Offices occasionally and I would go in early to grab a little breakfast in their cafeteria. That’s what I noticed that everybody who was on the “early work schedule” would get there early and then leisurely eat a breakfast and be up with their desks just before the normal 8 to 5 people showed up. Pretty sneaky, because the early workers left early… but didn’t put in a full day…that’s when I learned that having an early staff is probably inviting a little cheating into the workplace.

As a Ferroequinologist (railroad fan), I’m going to say, we can but let private companies do it. Virgin Trains is expanding Brightline from West Palm to Orlando…and onto Tampa…

Conclusion

So, to answer the question; “Why can’t America have High Speed Rail transportation?”, if you set aside all the rationalizations and justifications, there is but one conclusive answer.

In some ways, extreme populism actually is a symptom of this  institutional failure, and this brings me to my last point. Due to our  lack of a functioning institutional system, we are no longer able to  undertake great, long-term projects, or to address seriously deep  structural problems in our system in the long term. 

We suffer from a  kind of “tyranny of myopia.” We are incapable of operating as a country  on anything resembling a serious and long-term time horizon. 

-American Greatness

America does not have the ABILITY to create modern public transportation.

 I have not been to Niagara Falls in close to 30 years even though I  live 80 miles from there. I have driven by it many times over the years  but it was one of those things that since I had been there repeatedly as  a kid, I saw no need to go there again. 

Well, my kids are now 10 & 12 years and it was time to take them to see it. 

The  city of Niagara Falls is a total dump. It might as well be Detroit,  Newark NJ, The level of devastation is identical. It might as well be  the third world. 

Then, there is the New York State Park around  the American Falls. Like every park in New York state, it is a complete  embarrassment. This park should be a showplace, and yet it is a total  shithole. I was stunned at the complete lack of maintenance the shoddy  landscaping and the overall poor condition of the park as a whole. 
Obviously, the state has the money to squander on illegal aliens but the parks are a complete mess and an embarrassment. 

The  Canadian side park was well kept and was an attractive and enjoyable  place to be. The city of Niagara Falls, Ontario as a whole is not the  welfare basketcase that Niagara Falls NY is. 
Andrew Cuomo, Louise  Slaughter (now dead), and every other NY democRAT ('Nadless I'm looking  at you) should be ashamed of themselves for turning this place into a  disgrace. 

-Vanity Post

Some Updates

$14B Texas High-Speed Rail Contract Goes to Salini Impregilo-Lane JV

 A joint venture of Milan-based contractor Salini Impregilo and its  U.S. subsidiary Lane Construction Corp. have won a $14-billion  design-build contract for the planned high-speed rail project to connect  Dallas and Houston, with a total estimated cost of some $20 billion.

 Salini-Lane will provide civil and infrastructure scope for the  project, which includes design and construction of all 131 viaduct  sections and 130 embankment sections along the 240-mile route,  installation of the track system, and construction of all buildings and  services that will house maintenance and other equipment.

Not going to be made by Americans or American companies, though. Also the scope is going to be rather modest. 240 miles for $20 billion dollars.

Links about China

China and America Comparisons

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This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.

Learning About China

Contemporaneous Chinese Music

Parks in China

The parks in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.

Really Strange China

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Take control over your life by using “the rule of eight”.

Today, in fact ever since the 1970’s, it has become easy for Americans to fall into debt. Here we are going to discuss how to gain control of your life financially. We are going to talk about the implementation of the “rule of eight”.

Implementation of “the rule of eight” is the fundamental first step in gaining control of your finances. I know. I know. It’s a boring subject. But, hear me out.

The trick to keeping your money and living the lifestyle that you deserve is in spending your money properly. And, that, boys and girls means that you don’t just spend money on things you want. It means, instead, that you plan on how to spend your money.

You plan on how to spend your money.

Because having full control over your money means that you will obtain full control over your life.

Full control of your money = Full control of your life.

The “rule of eight” is a very simple rule. It just means that everything that you buy must full under the “rule of eight”.

There are three (x3) parts to this rule.

Part 1 – Wait eight days before you buy something.

This little rule destroys impulse buying.

Most credit card purchases are impulse buys. Most of the things that get us into trouble financially are due to impulse buys. In fact, most sales in stores and on-line revolve around “sales” that are intended to get you to perform a purchase on impulse.

In fact, the source of the biggest problems in families today is that there “isn’t enough money” to live off of. Yet, if you look at their budget, you would find that the money has disappeared into a deep deep black hole. This black-hole is impulse purchases.

Stop.

You must end the impulse buying nightmare and get off the treadmill of debt.

Info-graph of impulse buying. — By controlling the purchases you make through use of the “rule of eight”, you will be able to have a very successful family budget. As such, you can then gain control of your life and steer it towards what ever goals that you set for our and your family to attain.

In practical application, the person in the household who controls the budget (this would be the woman of the house if you are in a traditional conservative family), or the owner of a wallet (if you are in a progressive family) would have money set aside as “spending cash”. In companies this goes by the term “petty cash” but the idea is simple; a set amount of money is provided for each person to use as they need for minor sundries.

Depending on the person, this could vary from $5 to $20 /week.

The rest of the money is formally budgeted. The budget would consist of “containers” where money is allocated into different uses. Again, in a traditional household, the woman (or house-person if a same-sex household) would do the budgeting.

Woman stocking the refrigerator. — Since the “Woman’s Rights” movement of the 1970’s came about, having a woman in control of all the money has been demonized. When a man insists on working, and the wife wants to tend to the children and teach them how to grow up and learn, it is considered to be a throw-back to primitive repressive times. Feminists refer to the woman as a “Handmaids Tale”, which is really nonsense. Women, most especially mothers, are far better at budgeting and managing a household than a man is. Men and women both have their strengths and weaknesses. A traditional household leverages those strengths superbly.

Some budget items might include such things as…

Food for home cooked meals.
Eating out for the one or two meals outside.
House payments or rent.
Utilities (electricity and gas)
Savings
The various payments on outstanding debt (car, college)
Planned purchases
“Petty Cash”

In the rule of eight, you wait eight days for purchase of anything outside of “petty cash” or budgeted expenses. This is eight days, or one day more than a week.

Here is an example. 

Imagine that you have a traditional conservative household. The man works a 40 hour/week job, and the wife handles the domestic responsibilities of household and childcare. Further assume that the man makes $1000 / month.

He, as a traditional conservative, would give 100% of his salary to the wife. Then she would budget the money accordingly.

Rent - $400
Groceries - $200
Utilities - $50
Savings - $150
Pay off debt - $100
Petty Cash - $50 ($20 to the man, $20 to the wife, and $5 child allowance)
Discretionary Funds - $50

With a budget, you now have a monthly allocation of $50 to use for discretionary purposes. You can plan on what to use it on. That is how a budget works.

Having a budget, and following the “rule of eight” gives you time to determine if the purchased item has value more than a momentary emotional appeal.

You will find, that the rule of eight plays a very important role in the ability to save money, budget food, and master your own household. Instead of a home filled with clutter and junk, most people who follow the rule of eight find their house to become uncluttered, and tend to eat better. They also tend to save money.

Vintage advertisement for a refrigerator. Showing the role of the housewife in the proper raising of the children. — When you have a family budget, you have a far better degree of control on what happens to the money that you make. Some families set aside large amounts of money towards saving, while others put an emphasis on delicious home cooked meals. While others spend very little, but what they do purchase is of the very best quality. Having control over your money is a fundamental staple of a happy household.

This first part of the rule of eight, effectively eliminates spontaneous impulse purchasing. As such, it is probably the most important part of this rule.

You wait EIGHT DAYS on the purchase of anything not already budgeted for.

Part 2 – Purchase by quality value.

The next component of the Rule of Eight is the quality component. This little rule assigns value to what your purchase.

What has more value? A breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and unlimited coffee at a family diner for $4, or an $8 cup of Starbucks coffee?

You start to purchase things based on their value to you.

LIve your life well; eat good food. — I well remember a restaurant that I went to. They had a special on their dinner, and the wife and I went inside to try the food and save some money. I will never forget that meal. It was the worst meal that I had ever tasted in my life. People, life is far too short to eat sub-standard quality food.

The idea here is that you start managing the quality of the products that you use.

In general, you try to avoid low-quality items for they will always, eventually one way or the other, detract from your standard of life. And, while you might want to have everything “high quality”, it will be prohibitive to do so, as they tend to be expensive.

Think of the quality of any item you purchase on a 10-point scale: a “one” is the lowest quality/throwaway item and a “10” is the highest quality available.

Free sugar at a fast food restaurant. (Free = zero value.)
Disposable plates and silverware.
Cheap plastic toys for children.
Walmart quality appliances.
Canned food at a supermarket.
Frozen food.
Fresh fruits, vegetables, cuts of meat.
Upper level quality appliances. (The “sweet spot”.)
Best quality anything.
Best quality on a “name brand” item. (Super expensive.)

The Rule of Eight says that once the quality of any purchased item exceeds eight on the 10-point scale, the price rises very rapidly. It rises exponentially. However, the usefulness of the item (economists call this the “utility” of the item) barely changes at all.

For example;

You can buy a second-hand car (maybe two years old) for far less than a brand new car right off the sales lot. Yet, both of them would be able to give you the same kind of functionality in the five-year period of ownership.

Because of this relationship, items that are eight and larger on the scale are considered to be “luxury items”.

Chart of the rule of eight. — Chart of the “rule of eight”. If you plot out the prices of everything sold in the world, you would get a chart a little like this. You can characterize the value of each item by using a numerical value. Eight is the “sweet spot”. This is the area where you would get the most value for your purchase.

The “sweet spot”, or the area where you get the best quality at the most reasonable price is just under the value of eight. This is to the left of the red line.

Obviously not every purchase will be in that area. However, if you use the “rule of eight” to make quality decisions, then you will discover that heavy-use items (such as automobiles, tools, and appliances) should have values from 6 to 9. Most other items can range from 5 to 7.

The relationships between good, cheap and fast. — Good and cheap won’t be fast. Fast and good will not be cheap. Cheap and fast will not be good. These are basic truths that everyone should well understand.

And by the way, keep in mind that forays into the very cheap and the ultra expensive need to be justified by careful thought and consideration.

Part 3 – Control the quantity of items purchased.

The final component of the Rule of Eight is quantity. You need to spend the vast bulk of your money on the items that provides value.

This is an easy one: 80% of your purchases should conform to the Rule of Eight. So, in practice this means that most of your spending will not be on super-high quality brands and items.

Nor will it be on the cheapest junk you can afford.

It will be somewhere in between. If the items are going to be put through daily use, like for instance, a computer or a cell phone, then you need to get a good sturdy reliable model. If, however, the item is going to only be used a few times, then the quality of that item can be far less and you can discard it when finished.

Most of the items you purchase should reside somewhere in the middle 80% of the mainline price range. Remember, you get what you pay for.

Utility plot — When you follow the “rule of eight” you will find that almost all of your products that you purchases will fall within a 80% region. You will stop buying cheap things, and no longer waste money on expensive things. Take coffee for instance. Why go to Starbucks when you can obtain a better up of coffee for a better price?

What does all this mean?

By implementing the “rule of eight” you will start to find that you are in control of your money. Not someone else.

To implement it, most people discover that they need to make some changes in their lives. Most of the changes are fundamental. That is, the most successful families are ones that have adopted traditional ways of running a household.

The household sets up rules that people follow.
Roles are established to process the rules; a “bread-earner”, a “finance manager” , and someone in charge of “domestic affairs”.
Members follow the rules.
There will be a minor period of adjustment to the rules.

What this means, is that once you are in control of your finance, that all sorts of good things start to happen to your life. I have covered them in other posts, and you might want to read about them here…

Here we talk about the two different types of familial structures that are present in the United States and how they work…

If you decide to have a traditional conservative type of family, then you will start to eat better, and the meals at the house will take on an entirely new dimension…

Now, the reason why there is so much confusion as to roles and rules is because society has changed. American society has changed, and no one has been monitoring that change. Here, I talk about it…

Of course, the theme behind this post is that men need guidance on how to carve their life out in the world. As such, I try to offer some support here.

As well as other posts along this same theme…

Posts Regarding Life and Contentment

Posts about the Changes in America

Stories that Inspired Me

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How a Chinese Business KTV works – NSFW Parties

This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.

This is part 9B of 17.

Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.

NSFW Parties

What are we? Children? All the term “NSFW” is designed “to protect the children”, yet at most of these venues there isn’t anyone under the age of 25. So, it’s all kind of silly trying to maintain NSFW standards designed to protect pre-adolescent children.

In America everything is so PC. There is even a term for hiding behavior in such a way that you might not lose your job. NSFW means Not Safe For Work. Heck, only in America or some selected European Socialist "Paradises" perhaps. Not in China.

So everybody is well fed, well drunk and you’ve had your fill of beer, karaoke, weird Chinese snacks and “hands on” strip shows – now what? It’s up to you… usually.

Sometimes, depending on the arrangement with the girls manager, the parties can get really fun, as these two videos can attest…

The girls will typically have a good time. I know that I certainly do.

Their enjoyment is directed by their manager, who works out what ever arrangement that is proper with the host boss. They will be edged on by the other girls who might inspire playful acts of a sexual nature and other curious events.

LAGNAF!

The basic idea is to get drunk. Lower your inhibitions and have a good time.

As these videos attest, being with a cute gal (both of you) getting drunk and playing around is a great reward for an ambitious boss.

The KTV is a refuge. It is a controlled environment where a person can become someone else and behave differently. In China, everyone wears a mask. This is a face (mingzi) that defines their role and how they conduct their business. For many bosses they only have two roles; Boss and Family head. Each time, they must exist within that role.

They come home and the wife and the children expect the father to be a traditional father. He will play with the children. He will help them learn. He will support the wife and take care of things that she needs help with. He will do this within the role and the face that he must wear.

Then, he goes to work. He puts on the Boss face. Here there is actions and behaviors that he is culturally restrained to follow. He must maintain that appearance. He must always be calm and collected and stern and in control.

The problem is…

There is never an opportunity for him to let loose and be himself. Never. Never, that is until he goes to a KTV. There, once he is inside the doors, he is in a world where he can be himself. It is a protected world. The doors are closed and sealed. Guards protect the people inside. Female entertainment is provided, and if the KTV is half decent, the girls are vetted to make sure they do not prey on the clients.

KTV-typical — In a KTV environment, the boss gets to “let his hair down” which is a very difficult thing to do in the Asian culture. In Western cultures everyone is “doing their own thing”. Not so in Asia. Thus the need for a release value where a hard working alpha male can have a release from the stress of life.

He eats, drinks and is merry. Then he can go upstairs to the hotel room and have a nice long happy ending with the girl that he had selected. Else, she might ride home with him to a different hotel. All of which is under the helpful and watchful eyes of his aides, the girls and KTV managers, and the security guards that are stationed for protection.

The KTV is a place for fun.

Now who doesn’t like to smoke, drink, sing and dance with pretty girls? It’s a rare person indeed. When I grew up we used to have keg parties in the woods and we always would sing, and carry on. We always loved it when the girls would play with us and have fun. This is universal.

There are all kinds of fun activities that take place. They vary from singing and dancing to smoking cigars, and playing poker. One of the most common things to do is play “rock, paper and scissors”. This is an ancient Chinese drinking game. I guess that it was ported to the United States during the great migration of Chinese right after the American Civil War.

Here’s some chicks playing during dinner…

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What happened to Brian, and why didn't you get with the other sister?

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Still fantastic boob photos but at this point why bother covering them up with clothes or bras. Set them free!